Amelia and Ernest Wamster, Orphan Train Riders

Amelia Wamster (1882 - 1953) was sent to Illinois in 1895 with her brother Ernest Wamster. They were taken in by the George Hewerdine family in Fisher, Champaign County, Illinois. In 1901 Amelia married Joseph Dixon, a farmer. They farmed a rented farm in 1910, but in 1930 they owned the farm they lived on in Winamac, Shelby County, Indiana. In 1935 they lived in California, but returned to Shelby County by 1940. They had 6 children Bertha, Mildred, Lloyd, Virgil, Velma and Forrest. Amelia's parents were John Wamster and Bertha Helsle, two German immigrants to New York. Amelia died April 29, 1953, of ovarian cancer in an Indianapolis hospital.

Ernest Wamster (1883 - 1965) lived in Tulare, California by the time he registered for the draft in 1917. He was working as a box maker for Pacific Trust Exchange and was single. He gave his sister's name as his contact on the draft card. In 1940 he was still working as a box maker in Los Angeles. He died in 1965 in California, but was buried in Indiana with his sister.