When I was a kid growing up in Midway, I didn’t have a clue as to what an ORPHAN was. There were seven kids in our family, so the idea of a kid not having a Father or Mother was not in my scope of thinking. I knew kids that were being raised by a grandparent or other relative, but the idea of a kid being an ORPHAN never entered my mind.

However, there were Orphan Trains from New York City to places in the West, mid-West, and deep South. Some of these trains came to New Orleans, Bunkie, Opelousas, Mansura, and Marksville.

The ORPHAN train phenomenon is one of the most fascinating areas of Louisiana history. In Louisiana, thousands of people are descended from someone who arrived here as a homeless child escorted on their one-way train ticket sometime between 1854 and 1929.

It’s hard to imagine that about 250,000 abandoned children were moved primarily from the ghettos and poverty areas of New York City to the Southern, Midwestern, and Southwestern parts of the United States to mostly rural families. Most families wanted the orphans to help with farming duties. The real purpose of the orphan train was to get the children out of their destitute situations to the possibility of a decent life in a rural area.

Alexandria’s famous historian Gordon Newton says the orphaned children were homeless, abandoned, often in poor health, living off the streets, or having dead parents. These kids could not be absorbed by State Institutions, so they lived as beggars. Many were abused and otherwise mistreated. They had absolutely no future.

Funds for the ORPHAN trains were obtained from many organizations, private donations, and philanthropy of wealthy individuals.

People wishing to receive an orphan would request one or more to the orphan train operators. Families would request certain types of children to fit their needs. The family wanting an orphan would be notified of the pending arrival of their new child. They would be waiting at the local train station looking for a designated number assigned to their child upon the trains arrival. Escorts on the train would put the children off the train on to the loading dock. The local families would then look for their child by matching the number they had to the same number on the child’s jacket. Can you imagine an orphan from Italy coming to South Louisiana where people there spoke French. It was a frightening experience for the child. Worse yet, would be the child that no one picked up. They would be put back on the train to go back to New York.

This may seem archaic and even cruel to our modern sensibilities but back then these children either found a loving wanting family this way or died miserably in the streets of starvation or disease.

One man, Gordon Newton’s great grandfather arrived this way in early 1870. Young Frederick Newton arrived probably at Mansura at the Parish train depot. His family already had a wife and eight children. Mr. Newton wanted more FREE help with his many farm duties.

Some of the orphans went to other States and became Mayors, Governors (Alaska and North Dakota).

For more information on the Louisiana Orphan Train phenomenon there is a museum on the Orphan Train in Opelousas. There is also a book entitled: From Cradle to Grave; Journey of the Louisiana Orphan Train Riders.

It warms my heart to know that people opened their homes and hearts to these orphans and gave them a new chance to become responsible citizens of a community.

(Narrative and photo provided by Jena native Gale Trussell)