On the Move

 In today’s jet-setting world, we tend to forget how laborious and time-consuming travel used to be. Sure, we occasionally think of the Oregon Trail and the people who traversed the western United States along its continuous pathway. We even like to read stories with characters that are struggling to cross those endless plains and mighty mountains. However, I’ve noticed a trend in my own writing, and a connecting one in some of my readers’ minds when they read my historical western romances. You see, in my historical western romances, my characters are on the move. Since my stories take place long after the prime era of the Oregon Trail migration, railway travel is the mode my characters most often use. And, well, they use it a lot. How exactly they manage to pay the expensive travel fare is something I usually leave up to the reader's imagination.

 

 

In my first Pinkerton Matchmaker book, An Agent for Elizabeth, however, I had 18-year-old Elizabeth purchase a train ticket for $122 to travel from Kansas City to Denver. I, along with a few of the authors in the series, made an educated guess based on a travel log that one of the authors was able to pull up online. Turns out that we were pretty close! Other sources I have since run across mention that train fare cost 2-3 cents per mile, and in 1870, a trip from New York to San Francisco cost around $136 if traveling first-class in a Pullman car. That was quite a lot of cash for the average person to hand over back then. It was Elizabeth's stepmother who provided her with the funds to make this trip. What neither of them knew was that Elizabeth wasn’t just going to meet her beau—who didn’t know he was her beau—she would need to become a Pinkerton agent in order to snag his interest!

 

As for my heroine, Susannah Eversoll, in my Brides of Hope Hollow story, Hope Springs Eternal, she migrated from Missouri, where she grew up, to Dakota Territory, when her first husband took a job there, and then to Piedmont, Wyoming. I imagine, as the general notion goes, most regular folks in those days didn’t travel more than five to ten miles beyond their childhood homes is true. However, as Laura Ingalls Wilder, along with other journals from people who lived back then have proven, there were some brave souls who did step into the great unknown and make long treks for the purpose of bettering their lives. My own ancestors were some of these folks. I’m not sure how desirous they were for seeking riches or seeing parts of the country they hadn’t seen before, but they were Mormons who were being driven out of their homes and needed a place of refuge. They traveled right alongside the folks who were going to Oregon or to the California gold fields, only they stayed on one side of the Platte River while the rest of the travelers stayed on their side, mainly for protection against anyone who might hold strong sentiments against them and therefore cause more trouble than they’d already faced back East.

 

Back to Susannah, though. She and her husband wouldn’t have traveled by rail up to Dakota Territory from Missouri. This was during the time of the Civil War. They left that state because of the conflicts that were happening (and unbeknownst to Susannah, her husband was deeply involved in them). Maps from that era show there were no rail lines heading up that way. It would have been a long and arduous journey, especially since their daughter, Melissa, was so young at the time.

 

Courtesy of Library of Congress

 

One reason that I chose to place Susannah and her first husband in Dakota Territory, even though it didn’t have a huge bearing on the story, was that in 2019, my family and I traveled up from Arizona to Wyoming, stopping at Independence Rock. From there, we went into Deadwood, South Dakota, and then down to western Nebraska, visiting a few historic places there, and home through Colorado and New Mexico. So it was one big loop for us—and an incredibly enlightening trip for me. In South Dakota, I fell in love with the beautiful, fragrant blossoms there. I never imagined the prairie land looking and smelling so vibrant and fresh. I was amazed! Perhaps someday I’ll write a book that fully takes place there. Here are a few pictures from that trip. It’s definitely time to take another one!

 

 

As you can also see from the map above, there were no rail lines going straight into southern Oregon from Wyoming and Idaho in the 1880s, where the Brides of Hope Hollow series takes place, so my brides have to travel through California and then up that way. Ariana, the schoolteacher in my last BofHH story, On the Wings of Hope, did some major traveling before finally settling in Hope Hollow. Her reason? She was being chased by a strange man. She started teaching in western Nebraska and then made her way to Rawlins, Wyomings, then to Carson City, Nevada, and a fictional town in northern California. And still the man followed her! I don’t know about you, but I would keep on the move if I were a lone woman in 1882 and a man whom I didn’t know kept showing up in the places I moved to!

 

Courtesy of Union Pacific website

 

Incidentally, Ariana's story doesn't begin in Nebraska. She was a rider on an orphan train. As you can see from this map, at the time Ariana rode the rails to her new home, the Union Pacific Railroad only went a little ways past Omaha, and that's where she was adopted into a not-so-loving family.

 

 So while the stories of these women traveling such far distances, and many times on their own, might seem farfetched, there were actually several brave females who did this in real life (check out the real life story of Charley Parkhurst here). And I want to pay homage to them. I don’t know that I would have had the fortitude to do such a thing. Perhaps some of them were escaping a bad situation at home. Perhaps they felt there were no opportunities for them. I especially like the fact that they put their trust in God to bring them to a place of prosperity. I am of the mindset that we shouldn’t settle for less than happiness. Yes, the old adage to bloom where you’re planted is a good one. But we can also plant ourselves where the soil is more fertile.

 

I hope these women and others in your life inspire you to take a leap of faith into the unknown. No matter what, we must keep plowing ahead until we reach our goals. 

 

One step at a time.

 

 

To learn more about Julia’s books, visit her Amazon page.

CHILDREN FOR WESTERN PIONEERS

The Children’s Aid Society was founded in 1853 by a small group of clergymen and social reformers concerned about the general conditions of homeless, neglected, and delinquent children. One of the principals of this group was a 26-year old Congregational minister, Rev. Charles Loring Brace. He had been working as an assistant minister in the Five Points Mission, located in one of the most impoverished neighborhoods of the city. He also occasionally visited the New York City Almshouse on Blackwell’s Island, further exposing him to the degrading and dehumanizing conditions prevalent in large sections of the city.

Home for destitute children, New York City

Rev. Brace, a Yale College graduate, was selected to become the first Secretary/Director of the Children’s Aid Society. Rev. Brace knew that American pioneers could use help settling the American West and arranged to send orphaned children to them. This became known as the Orphan Train Movement. Many people think of the orphan trains as the beginning of the modern foster care system.

Searching through rubbish for food

Between 1854 and 1929, an estimated 200,000 orphaned, abandoned, and runaway children in the East were sent via trains to Midwestern farming communities. The first group of children went to Dowagiac, Michigan in 1854. The last official train ran to Texas in 1929. 

Lined up to board train

Children were taken in small groups of 10 to 40, under the supervision of at least one western agent, traveled on trains to selected stops along the way, where they were taken by families in that area. Agents would plan a route, send flyers to towns along the way, and arrange for a screening committee in towns where the children might get new homes. The towns where they stopped, naturally, had to be along a railroad line. The screening committee was usually made up of a town doctor, clergyman, newspaper editor, store owner and/or teacher.

Put on view for possible adoption

In the recent anthology UNDER A MULBERRY MOON, the novellas of Jacquie Rogers' A FAMILY FOR POLLY and my A FAMILY FOR MERRY deal with sisters who were adopted from the orphan train and later adopt their own children from an orphan train. Only 99 cents for a limited time! Amazon buy link: http://a.co/99Odsch 

For many years I have been interested in the orphan trains and the children who were taken from the streets of New York by the Children’s Aid Society. Most of the children went to a better life than they had. In spite of the few failures, I admire what the Children’s Aid Society intended.

Homeless children sleeping in an alley

Can you fathom a child being sent to prison because he had no home? Imagine children living on the streets with no way to buy clothes or food and no safe place to sleep. Sadly, there are still such children in many places, especially large cities!

The National Center on Family Homelessness reports that one in every thirty children in the United States is homeless, for a staggering 2.5 million children each year in America. Of course, some of those are with their parents, but many are alone. Nevertheless, this one-in-thirty number shocks me!

An orphan train stopped for photos

Rev. Brace received financial support from New York businessmen and other philanthropists such as the Roosevelt, Astor, and Dodge families to ensure the physical and emotional well-being of children and provide them with the support needed to become successful adults. The only options available to the thousands of abandoned, abused, and orphaned children were begging, prostitution, thievery, and gang membership unless they were committed to jails, almshouses, or orphanages. Rev. Brace believed that institutional care stunted and destroyed children. (I certainly agree that being sent to prison for being homeless is not the right solution!) His opinion was that only work, education, and a strong family life could help them develop into self-reliant citizens.

A "gang" of thieves and their adult leader in New York

The history of the railroads is deeply tied to the history of the Orphan Trains Era in America. Railroads were the most inexpensive way to move children westward from poverty filled homes, orphanages, poor houses, and off the streets. In the West and Mid-west, Rev. Brace believed, solid, God-fearing homes could be found for the children. Food would be plentiful with pure air to breathe and a good work ethnic developed by living on a farm would help them to grow into mature responsible adults able to care for themselves.

One of the things I found upsetting is that siblings were often split up, never to be reunited—something I believe occasionally happens today in foster care. A child’s last name was often changed and that meant the chance of contacting a sibling later was almost impossible.

When it began, the program was quite controversial. Since this was before the Civil War, abolitionists viewed it as a form of slavery, which for some failures it was. Pro-slavery advocates saw it as part of the abolitionist movement because the labor provided by children made slaves unnecessary.

Since a significant percentage of poor children in Manhattan were Irish Catholic and would be raised outside their faith once transported, some Catholics called the program anti-Catholic. In response, the Archdiocese of New York upgraded their  child-welfare programs. They improved their parochial school system and built more Catholic orphanages. In addition, they created a 114-acre training center on farmland in the Bronx which they called the Catholic Protectory.

A joyous arrival from an orphan train

The Children’s Aid Society included in their first annual report: “We have thus far sent off to homes in the country, or to places where they could earn an honest living, 164 boys and 43 girls, of whom some 20 were taken from prison, where they had been placed for being homeless on the streets. The great majority were the children of poor or degraded people, who were leaving them to grow up neglected in the streets. They were found by our visitors at the turning point of their lives, and sent to friendly homes, where they would be removed from the overwhelming temptations which poverty and neglect certainly occasion in a great city. Of these 200 boys and girls, a great proportion are so many vagrants or criminals saved; so much expense lessened to courts and prisons; so much poisonous influence removed from the city; and so many boys and girls, worthy of something better from society than a felon’s fate, placed where they can enter on manhood or womanhood somewhat as God intended that they should.” 

(Source: The Victor Remer Historical Archives of the Children’s Aid Society, Children’s Aid Society of New York City.)

The Orphan Train Heritage Society maintains an archive of riders’ stories. The National Orphan Train Museum in Concordia, Kansas maintains records and also houses a research facility.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Aid_Society

https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/organizations/childrens-aid-society-of-new-york/

https://www.childrensaidnyc.org/about/history-innovation

Through a crazy twist of fate, Caroline Clemmons was not born on a Texas ranch. To make up for this tragic error, she writes about handsome cowboys, feisty ranch women, and scheming villains in a small office her family calls her pink cave. She and her Hero live in North Central Texas cowboy country where they ride herd on their rescued cats and dogs. The books she creates there have made her an Amazon bestselling author and won several awards. Check out her website and sign up for her monthly newsletter to receive a FREE western historical novella titled Happy Is The Bride. Find Caroline here:

Website http://carolineclemmons.com

Facebook http://Facebook.com/CarolineClemmonsRomances

Twitter http://Twitter.com/CarolinClemmons (no E in Caroline)

Sign up for her newsletter here and receive a FREE novella, HAPPY IS THE BRIDE. Newsletters are sent only when there is a new release or contest. No salesman will call.

New Release: In His Arms, and the Orphan Train

By: Peggy L Henderson


My recent book release, In His Arms (Book 3 in the Blemished Brides Series) deals with a young woman who is not only facing a physical handicap, but she was also a rider of the orphan train.  

There is so much history to be found with the Orphan Train movement, which gave me the creative freedom to come up with my own circumstances for my characters.

The number of orphans or children of poor and destitute families continued to climb from early colonial days well into the nineteenth century. Private charities were established to care for these children, and the New York Orphan Asylum Society was one of the first private children’s charity, formed in 1806. It required that children be placed as soon as they received basic education.

By 1854, the first annual report by the Children’s Aid Society reported that there were at least 10,000 vagrant children in New York. Publicly funded programs failed to adequately deal with these orphans, which gave rise to over 100 private charities between 1850 and 1860. Many of these charities placed these children into indentured servitude for boys by the age of 12 and girls by the age of 14. Due to the lack of jobs in the eastern states, charities began sending the children to rural areas in the west where child labor was needed. This soon became known as the Orphan Train Movement, a phrase first used in 1854.

These children could be placed anywhere, with no geographical restrictions. The participating charities would ask the families who received the children to sign an agreement that the child would be accepted into the family, but there was generally very little enforcement or oversight.

Committees were formed in towns where the orphan trains would stop, and advertisements would be placed in local newspapers announcing the children. Prospective families could specify what child they were looking for ahead of time. 

The children were usually placed into two groups - those who were selected for adoption and those who were not. Selected children went home with their families. The others got back on the train and rode to the next stop. Siblings were often separated from each other and, in many cases, never saw each other again. 

The orphan train movement ended in 1929, partly due to labor no longer being needed in the west, and railroad expansion in the US was finished and most railroads no longer subsidized the charities for moving the children.

Excerpt from In His Arms:

“You didn’t tell me what happened to your leg.”

Grace glanced down, his words taking her off guard. She shook her head slightly.

“It’s an old injury,” she stammered. “A wagon wheel ran over my leg when I was younger. It was never set properly.”

The corners of Levi’s eyes twitched as they narrowed. He looked unsure, as if he wanted to say something, but couldn’t bring himself to say any more than was necessary.

When he finally spoke, it was a low grumble. “I rode the orphan train, too.”

Grace’s eyes widened, and she stared up at him. The cold air around her vanished. Their eyes connected and held, as if some invisible string suddenly wound itself around them, and neither could look away. She shared a connection with this man through the orphan train?

“How’d you and your sister end up in Montana Territory?”

He asked his question before she could open her mouth to find out how he’d ended up in a remote cabin in the mountains. Grace swallowed back the constricting feeling in her throat. How much should she tell him? Not that it mattered. She and Rose were two of so many who had faced a similar plight.

“I only have vague memories of my life on the streets of New York,” she began. “My family was too poor to properly care for me and Rose. To bring home food, I was sent to beg in the streets.” She sniffed, and wiped the back of her hand under her cold nose, and laughed scornfully. “When a vegetable vendor accidentally ran over my leg with his cart, my father had thought it a lucky turn of events. He said that folks would take pity on me, and give me more money.”

“He never took you to get your leg set by a doctor?” A spark of anger blazed in Levi’s eyes.

Grace laughed again. “He would rather spend any money we received on liquor than getting me seen by a doctor.” She sucked in a deep breath, then exhaled slowly, letting the mist swirl around her face.

“My mother died in childbirth, along with my baby brother when I was about ten. Soon after, Pa left one morning and never came back. I took care of Rose on my own, until an Alms House picked us up. Years later, we were put on a train and sent out west.” She shrugged to hide her pain, and gazed off into the distance as old memories resurfaced.

How would her life have turned out if she’d stayed in New York? Her hope for a future there had been just as bleak as it had been on the journey west. No one wanted a cripple. No one, until Harlan Randall took a look at her during one of the adoption stops. Why her sister kept getting passed over time and again remained a mystery, but then again, many of the orphans rode the train for years, with no hope of finding a family willing to take them in.

Peggy L Henderson

Western Historical and Time Travel Romance

“Where Adventure Awaits and Love is Timeless”

Author of:

Yellowstone Romance Series

Teton Romance Trilogy

Second Chances Time Travel Romance Series

Blemished Brides Western Historical Romance Series

               

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | iTunes | Blog |Facebook |

Facebook Group | Pinterest | Twitter |mailing list