30/11/2025
Have you heard of the Orphan Train Movement? Between 1854–1929, more than 200,000 East-coast children were sent by rail to new homes across the American Midwest and West. Some were true orphans; many had living parents facing poverty or crisis. Placements ranged from loving foster families to harsh “free labour” situations.
Today, their descendants are using records and DNA to reconnect to birth families -and to the Irish, German, and other roots many of these children carried with them.
