Grace, Anne & Agnes Milne

Grace Milne was sent to Illinois in 1905 by the New York Juvenile Asylum to live with a family here, but in 1910, Grace Milne was a "lodger" in an orphan house managed by Ora McGlasson in DuQuoin, Perry County, Illinois. Grace was the oldest lodger and was the only child from New York. The birthplace of ten of the children was given as "unknown" and the rest were born in Illinois, except for one girl born in California. Although Grace wrote a little scornfully of the children who had not stayed in their homes, she apparently did not remain in her first home and had to be placed in a local orphanage. This orphanage, however, was part of the Illinois Children's Home and Aid Society, another placing out society. Grace would have been placed out again. A family story says that Grace was place with a banking family in Gifford, Illinois and that she married there. Her husband was Alfred Carlson and they raised a family together. Grace died in 1982 and was buried in Rantoul.

A 1910 report on benevolent societies listed the DuQuoin Orphanage as an arm of the Illinois Children's Home and Aid Society. During 1910 a total of 94 children were referred to the DuQuoin orphanage by public officials, but by the end of the year there were only 26 children living in the home. None of these children were there because they were given up by their parents or other relatives -- they were all placed there by public officials. This orphanage included large porches and was intended to hold just 25 children. All of these facts illustrate the fact that many children would have been in the home for a very short time before being sent out to live with a family, which was the goal of the Society. (Here are two recent news paper stories about the DuQuoin Orphanage: one & two.)

Agnes Milne was also sent to Illinois in 1905. Agnes settled in Springerton, White County, the same place where she was placed with John and Madaline Rose. In the 1910 census she was listed as a 12 year old servant in the Rose home and a special note was made that she "recently" came from a New York orphanage. "Helen" Agnes married in Springerton to Felix Oren Savage and had two children with him. She was buried in the Kittie Sweetin Cemetery in Springerton with her husband and foster family. Her daughters were Anna Louise Savage Bryant and Mary Eloise Savage Garrett.

A third sister, who did not write a letter to the Asylum in 1910, was possibly also sent to Illinois. According to family history, Annie Milne was taken in by John and Nellie Hamm, residents of Litchfield, Montgomery County. In 1911 Annie was married in Birmingham, Alabama to Roy Luverne Wallace. Annie had one child, William James Wallace. (Her foster parents died in Alabama.)

The Milne sisters were the children of Peter J. Milne and Julia McCue, immigrants from Scotland. In New York, Peter worked as a plasterer. Family trees report that Julie died in 1902, leaving her daughters motherless. Because the girls were sent to Illinois in 1905, it appears that they were quickly surrendered to the New York Juvenile Asylum or an associated refuge. Peter died in 1911 according to family records. This family portrait includes Annie and her parents.