1 00:00:01,120 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Hi, my name is Addie Skillman, and this is Loving 2 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:10,440 Speaker 1: versus Virginia, the stepping stone for equality in America. Every year, 3 00:00:10,560 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 1: at the National History Day Contest, middle and high school 4 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:18,159 Speaker 1: kids from across the country gathered to compete, presenting on 5 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:22,480 Speaker 1: a range of historical topics, turning the Times, reward of 6 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:26,840 Speaker 1: victory rise, the appeal, taking a stand against prohibition, Root 7 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:32,240 Speaker 1: sixty six, Road of Possibilities, what costs a Louis Chaplin, 8 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:37,680 Speaker 1: Missouri alcoholicy? It's as pretty to get your kids at 9 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:41,920 Speaker 1: sixty six. But the topic that grabbed my attention was 10 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:45,960 Speaker 1: one presented by a fifteen year old from Minnesota, Claire Isaacson. 11 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:50,519 Speaker 1: Orphan Train to compromise the children on the right trucks. 12 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:53,559 Speaker 1: I'd never heard of the Orphan Train, but from her 13 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:57,960 Speaker 1: first line, Claire had me hooked. Your parents are not 14 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:04,759 Speaker 1: your parents, Your past is not your past. Your life 15 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:12,000 Speaker 1: begins when you are chosen. Your life begins when you 16 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:15,880 Speaker 1: were chosen, an apt way to describe the Orphan Train, 17 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:21,399 Speaker 1: mostly forgotten nineteenth century movement that rescued abandoned children from 18 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:25,000 Speaker 1: the crowded streets of East Coast cities and delivered them 19 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:29,720 Speaker 1: by train to new families. Across the country. In her presentation, 20 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:34,480 Speaker 1: Claire channeled real life orphan train rider Victoria Moe, a 21 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:37,959 Speaker 1: child of Irish immigrants, as she made the trip west. 22 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:41,400 Speaker 1: We cross our fingers and pray that we get a 23 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 1: loving home. Many older children were scared and tried to run. 24 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:50,960 Speaker 1: Our pasts were left behind on that train station. We 25 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:53,560 Speaker 1: were going to have a totally different life in our 26 00:01:53,640 --> 00:02:01,000 Speaker 1: new homes. I spoke to Claire after her performance, and 27 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:04,120 Speaker 1: I'm a little embarrassed that I'd never even heard of 28 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:09,000 Speaker 1: this before. Yeah, I know, it's crazy, and that's why 29 00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:11,440 Speaker 1: I'm thankful that I did the topics, so I can 30 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:15,160 Speaker 1: hopefully make more people know about it, because it's really 31 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:20,520 Speaker 1: a secret and kind of hidden. How big was this movement? Well, 32 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:25,120 Speaker 1: a quarter million children. We're moved west from eighteen fifty 33 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:28,560 Speaker 1: four to nineteen twenty nine. A quarter million people. That's 34 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:31,280 Speaker 1: like the population of Cleveland. That's a lot of people. 35 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 1: As I dug into our archives at CBS News, more 36 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:41,120 Speaker 1: voices began to surface, voices of orphan train riders from 37 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:44,920 Speaker 1: years past, all of them children who had been lifted 38 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:49,400 Speaker 1: from dire situations and scattered across the country for hope 39 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:55,799 Speaker 1: of a better life. They sent me out west to 40 00:02:55,960 --> 00:03:01,160 Speaker 1: Colorado Springs. I went to Wayne County. I had never 41 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:04,919 Speaker 1: heard of anything ar Kansas. In this episode, we'll tell 42 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:08,440 Speaker 1: you the story of the largest mass migration of children 43 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:12,760 Speaker 1: in American history. And I'll travel to Texas to talk 44 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:16,640 Speaker 1: to the last known surviving orphan train rider. They took 45 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:19,400 Speaker 1: you when you were such a little baby, the smallest, 46 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:25,920 Speaker 1: smallest train from CBS Sunday Morning and Simon and Schuster. 47 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:36,160 Speaker 1: I'm Morocca and this is mobituaries. This mobit the Orphan Train. 48 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 1: May thirty first, nineteen twenty nine, death of an American experiment. 49 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:52,760 Speaker 1: Extra Extra read all about it. The Boston molasses disaster 50 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 1: of nineteen nineteen. It's a slow reader. If you happen 51 00:03:57,600 --> 00:04:00,880 Speaker 1: to be outside Penn Station in New York City last tune, 52 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:05,360 Speaker 1: you might have seen a familiar face. What else extract 53 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:08,560 Speaker 1: Star read all about it. Warren Harding dead. It was 54 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:11,480 Speaker 1: the one hundredth anniversary of the New York Daily News, 55 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 1: and I had joined their street team for the day 56 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:17,560 Speaker 1: to pass out papers. Look, I love any opportunity to 57 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:21,480 Speaker 1: need to shout random historical facts at strangers. Extractor read 58 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:23,840 Speaker 1: all about it. The Sultan, the swat traded to the 59 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:30,160 Speaker 1: Yankees called the Babe Newsy Walt. I love the Baboruth thing, 60 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:32,360 Speaker 1: but I also wanted to get a feel for what 61 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: it was like to be a Newsy on the streets 62 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:38,159 Speaker 1: of New York. You know, newsies, they're the plucky, dancing 63 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:49,080 Speaker 1: paperboys from that Disney musically loved, But it turns out 64 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:53,080 Speaker 1: it wasn't all song and dance. Newsies worked long hours 65 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:57,200 Speaker 1: on poor wages. Most of them were abandoned children, and 66 00:04:57,320 --> 00:04:59,800 Speaker 1: in the mid eighteen hundreds, New York City had a 67 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:05,919 Speaker 1: crisis of abandoned children. Enter Charles Loring Brace. Charles Loring Brace, 68 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:09,480 Speaker 1: from a young age to his dying day, really tried 69 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:14,200 Speaker 1: to be the best he could be for others. Sherley 70 00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:17,279 Speaker 1: George is the head curator of the National Orphan Train 71 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:21,080 Speaker 1: Complex in Concordia, Kansas. And to tell the story of 72 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:23,600 Speaker 1: the Orphan Train, you have to tell the story of 73 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:27,159 Speaker 1: Charles Loring Brace, who was born in eighteen twenty six 74 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:30,920 Speaker 1: into a well to do family in Lichfields, Connecticut. What 75 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:35,360 Speaker 1: was he raised to do? Yeah? Well, his father, who 76 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:38,400 Speaker 1: was a teacher, thought that Charles would follow in his footsteps, 77 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:40,760 Speaker 1: and he thought, okay, Charles is going to be a teacher, 78 00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:43,280 Speaker 1: and then Charles decides to be a pastor. But then 79 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:45,480 Speaker 1: he realizes that you don't have to be a pastor 80 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:49,360 Speaker 1: that stands behind a pulpit. The patrician Charles was going 81 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:53,440 Speaker 1: to become a missionary, an idea that greatly concerned his father, 82 00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:56,080 Speaker 1: because being a pastor, you know, it's kind of nice, 83 00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:58,120 Speaker 1: you get invited over to dinner, You've got a nice 84 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:00,560 Speaker 1: place where you live. But I mean, when you're missionary, 85 00:06:00,920 --> 00:06:02,920 Speaker 1: you're kind of rolling up your sleeves and getting out there. 86 00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:07,440 Speaker 1: He truly jumped into the depths that were being ignored. 87 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:12,719 Speaker 1: In the eighteen fifties, mass immigration from Europe, mostly Irish 88 00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:17,560 Speaker 1: and German Catholics, overwhelmed New York City. Poor sanitation and 89 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:22,960 Speaker 1: wild pigs roaming the streets spread diseases like cholera and tuberculosis. 90 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:29,000 Speaker 1: Non Existent labor laws meant unsustainable wages and unsafe working conditions, 91 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:32,360 Speaker 1: And while the wretched state of affairs touched people of 92 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:37,919 Speaker 1: all ages, children felt the effects hardest. There was infanticide 93 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:41,799 Speaker 1: happening in New York where these kids were actually literally 94 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:45,360 Speaker 1: dying in the streets in the gutters. These babies were 95 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:50,119 Speaker 1: tossed out of homes. Renee Wendinger has written several books 96 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:53,520 Speaker 1: about the orphan train movement. She has a personal connection 97 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:57,640 Speaker 1: to the subject. Her mother, Sophia, was a rider. Have 98 00:06:57,839 --> 00:07:00,720 Speaker 1: you ever wondered what would have happened here mother had 99 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:04,480 Speaker 1: she stayed in New York. I don't think in that 100 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:08,440 Speaker 1: time frame she would have survived. Charles Loring Brace was 101 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:13,400 Speaker 1: determined to help. Remember the newsies. He created lodging houses 102 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:16,200 Speaker 1: for them, but there were far more children in need 103 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:19,120 Speaker 1: than there were jobs for newsboys. Give me a sense 104 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 1: of the scale of the problem. At one point they 105 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:25,280 Speaker 1: say ten thousand kids are on the street. At another turn, 106 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:31,160 Speaker 1: it's thirty thousand, thirty thousand homeless children at a time 107 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:34,440 Speaker 1: when New York had fewer than six hundred thousand people total. 108 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:39,480 Speaker 1: Charles Loring Brace saw all this firsthand. It's eighteen fifty 109 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:41,440 Speaker 1: three in the February of that year. He starts going 110 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:48,200 Speaker 1: out into the streets and quickly realizes that we're spending 111 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:51,280 Speaker 1: more money imprisoning children because you could be arrested for 112 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:54,920 Speaker 1: being a vagrant child, and he wants to help. Now. 113 00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:59,040 Speaker 1: Orphanages existed back then, but they were overcrowded and so 114 00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:03,680 Speaker 1: called poor houses put children and adults together, a dangerous 115 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:07,960 Speaker 1: situation for kids, So maybe it was best to get 116 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:11,400 Speaker 1: them out of New York altogether. He really believed in 117 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:13,920 Speaker 1: the idea of getting kids out of the city and 118 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:17,600 Speaker 1: out of vice. Vice. It seems like the perfect word 119 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:20,440 Speaker 1: what he sees going on in the cities of these kids. 120 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:25,440 Speaker 1: He just sees it as kind of a cauldron of sinfulness, basically. 121 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:28,520 Speaker 1: But he really doesn't see a way for children to 122 00:08:28,640 --> 00:08:31,680 Speaker 1: grow up and not be touched by it, not be 123 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:35,920 Speaker 1: drawn into it, to live in an orphanage and then 124 00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:39,360 Speaker 1: be let out at eighteen, and not fall into a prison. 125 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:43,040 Speaker 1: So Brace comes up with a plan to move children 126 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:46,360 Speaker 1: on mass to a place where they'll stand a better chance. 127 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:50,240 Speaker 1: Put simply, Charles Laying Brace says, We're going to put 128 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:53,400 Speaker 1: some kids on a train. Yeah. In eighteen fifty three, 129 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:57,559 Speaker 1: Brace founds the Children's Aid Society to help carry out 130 00:08:57,679 --> 00:09:01,600 Speaker 1: his grand plan. First, he needs to find people willing 131 00:09:01,679 --> 00:09:06,360 Speaker 1: to take in abandoned children. He basically selects a community 132 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:09,559 Speaker 1: where he knows someone. They're going to go through that 133 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:13,520 Speaker 1: church and require that people who apply for them bring 134 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:18,040 Speaker 1: two references from their pastor and from their courthouse, and 135 00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:20,959 Speaker 1: they're going to place them out under the guardianship of 136 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:24,120 Speaker 1: the Children's Aid Society. Why is he confident that they're 137 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:26,880 Speaker 1: even going to be placed I think he truly believed 138 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:29,000 Speaker 1: that people weren't going to come to New York and 139 00:09:29,080 --> 00:09:31,960 Speaker 1: take kids out of orphanages. But if he brought them 140 00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:36,040 Speaker 1: to them, put them in their face, there was no 141 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:39,160 Speaker 1: way they could say no, And so he took a chance. 142 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:42,760 Speaker 1: Brace makes a deal with a pastor he knows in 143 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:47,360 Speaker 1: the small town of Dowagiac, Michigan, and the Children's Aid 144 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:51,360 Speaker 1: Society begins to gather the forty five children who will 145 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:55,479 Speaker 1: be the passengers on the first orphan train. The majority 146 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:58,839 Speaker 1: come from the New York Juvenile Asylum, and technically that 147 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:03,679 Speaker 1: first train we now know by historical records, is paid 148 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:06,880 Speaker 1: for in half by children they had studiy near juvel 149 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:11,240 Speaker 1: Asylum or any of the kids coerced, pressured or is 150 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:14,560 Speaker 1: this something that they all wanted. It's seemingly like they 151 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:20,679 Speaker 1: wanted it, But of course what's the alternative now? Orphan 152 00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:24,559 Speaker 1: train is a slight misnomer. It takes multiple trains and 153 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:27,959 Speaker 1: boats to get from New York City to Michigan. For 154 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:31,000 Speaker 1: many of these children, it's their first time ever leaving 155 00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:33,719 Speaker 1: New York City. How scary that must have been on 156 00:10:33,760 --> 00:10:38,760 Speaker 1: the choppy water and the cliffs and how many trees 157 00:10:38,840 --> 00:10:40,760 Speaker 1: there are. Yeah, for these kids, it must have been 158 00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:44,160 Speaker 1: like going to another planet. Oh. Absolutely. A memory of 159 00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:47,520 Speaker 1: this kind of crossing even made it into Claire's Orphan 160 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:52,880 Speaker 1: Train performance, I've been crossing the Hudson River. I wonder 161 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:57,000 Speaker 1: that filled our eyes. Oh we had to receive sorrowing pain. 162 00:10:57,720 --> 00:11:02,440 Speaker 1: What a new world this was for us. The children 163 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:05,960 Speaker 1: arrive and to watch yak in late September eighteen fifty four, 164 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:09,480 Speaker 1: and no one, not the children, not their caretaker, not 165 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:13,200 Speaker 1: the townspeople, really knows what to expect. So they get 166 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:15,199 Speaker 1: off the train and to watch yac and then what happens. 167 00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:17,839 Speaker 1: The kids are so excited. They're finally in Michigan, their 168 00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:23,000 Speaker 1: final destination, and they take off. That's right, they run 169 00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:26,400 Speaker 1: in all directions. Look, they're kids, they've been cooped up 170 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:28,920 Speaker 1: on a train for days. Their caretaker can't keep up. 171 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:31,240 Speaker 1: He just goes to wait for them at the hotel. 172 00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:34,920 Speaker 1: Finally the kids start rolling in and they have stolen 173 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:39,800 Speaker 1: everything green apples and pumpkins and acorns, and have shoved 174 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:44,000 Speaker 1: grass and leaves up their shirts, up their shirt sleeves, 175 00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:47,720 Speaker 1: in their hats, down their pants, in their pockets because 176 00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:51,880 Speaker 1: they're so excited. They've never seen everything where it grows. 177 00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:55,000 Speaker 1: And I'm curious, do they know that you're not supposed 178 00:11:55,040 --> 00:12:00,120 Speaker 1: to steal? Possibly not, And I'm trying to imagine what 179 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:04,160 Speaker 1: the people in the town are thinking. I bet they're alarmed. 180 00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:09,920 Speaker 1: They probably are alarmed. The people of Dowagiac, after all, 181 00:12:10,200 --> 00:12:13,000 Speaker 1: are scheduled to meet the Orphan train riders that day 182 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:17,880 Speaker 1: at church. You can imagine that already they're regretting welcoming 183 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:21,400 Speaker 1: the orphans to town. But when they get to church, 184 00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:26,080 Speaker 1: they're greeted with a surprise. The first thing that they 185 00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:29,880 Speaker 1: really hear from the kids are our Sunday hymns, and 186 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:40,880 Speaker 1: they are singing Kumye Center's poor and needy. The kids 187 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:44,520 Speaker 1: went over the town. They're placed within a week, all 188 00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:47,560 Speaker 1: of them, So this first ride had to be considered 189 00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:52,440 Speaker 1: a success. Absolutely. Two months later, a second train leaves 190 00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:56,640 Speaker 1: New York and the Orphan Train movement begins in earnest 191 00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:02,640 Speaker 1: and now a pop quiz because I love pop quizzes. 192 00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:09,360 Speaker 1: It's easy to overlook, but so much of America's history innovation, arts, 193 00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:13,600 Speaker 1: and entertainment politics has been driven by individuals who grew 194 00:13:13,720 --> 00:13:17,160 Speaker 1: up adopted or in foster families. I'm going to give 195 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:20,079 Speaker 1: you some clues, and you have to guess which famous 196 00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:23,480 Speaker 1: orphan I'm describing. If you get two out of three, 197 00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:29,120 Speaker 1: you win. There are no prizes. Our first clue before this, 198 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:33,680 Speaker 1: former president, Stanford graduate and self made millionaire was roasted 199 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:36,920 Speaker 1: in the Broadway musical Annie for his role presiding over 200 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:40,400 Speaker 1: the Great Depression. He was raised by distant relatives in 201 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:52,400 Speaker 1: Oregon after losing both of his parents to pneumonia. It's 202 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:56,600 Speaker 1: Herbert Hoover fun Backed. One of his nicknames was the Hermit, 203 00:13:56,720 --> 00:14:01,760 Speaker 1: author of Palo Alto. Next. This fast food mogul, whose 204 00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:05,959 Speaker 1: grandma's advice not to cut corners inspired his decision to 205 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:10,199 Speaker 1: make his iconic burghers square instead of round. Was adopted 206 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:13,280 Speaker 1: as a baby and used his wealth and influence to 207 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:17,360 Speaker 1: help others with childhoods like his, creating a foundation that 208 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:23,400 Speaker 1: still supports foster children around the country. I'm Dave Thomas. 209 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:28,800 Speaker 1: I started Wendy's were One restaurant. It's Dave Thomas fon fact. 210 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:32,200 Speaker 1: Before he created Wendy's, he was the mastermind behind the 211 00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:36,800 Speaker 1: fried Chicken bucket that put KFC on the map. Finally, 212 00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:40,280 Speaker 1: this adopted child would become famous at the ripe old 213 00:14:40,320 --> 00:14:43,360 Speaker 1: age of ten, playing the lead role in a series 214 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:46,960 Speaker 1: about a family living on the prairie in Minnesota in 215 00:14:47,040 --> 00:14:53,480 Speaker 1: the eighteen seventies. I decided something, what's that happening? Home 216 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:57,600 Speaker 1: is the nicest word there is. It's Melissa Gilbert. Her show, 217 00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:00,520 Speaker 1: Little House on the Prairie would have stori lines were 218 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:04,360 Speaker 1: evolving around orphans throughout its run, including one played by 219 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:08,440 Speaker 1: friend of the podcast, Chase and Bateman. Well, we hope 220 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:10,720 Speaker 1: you meant what you said about how you want us 221 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:16,200 Speaker 1: to stay, because that's what we want to Speaking of 222 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:19,720 Speaker 1: little houses and prairies, let's get back on that orphan train. 223 00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:25,360 Speaker 1: As the Children's Aid Society grew, it sent hundreds, then 224 00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:29,360 Speaker 1: thousands of children all across the country. Now almost none 225 00:15:29,400 --> 00:15:32,200 Speaker 1: of the riders are alive today. But back in nineteen 226 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:36,840 Speaker 1: seventy nine, my CBS Sunday Morning colleague, the great Martha Tischner, 227 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:42,320 Speaker 1: interviewed sisters Anna and Margaret Fuchs. They and their third sister, Helen, 228 00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:45,960 Speaker 1: rode the orphan train when they were just ten nine 229 00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:49,800 Speaker 1: and seven years old, they were orphaned after losing both 230 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:55,160 Speaker 1: their parents to tuberculosis. Margaret remembered seeing their mother's burial. 231 00:15:55,680 --> 00:15:58,520 Speaker 1: The thing that really got to me was seeing that 232 00:15:58,680 --> 00:16:02,480 Speaker 1: coffin being lord, and I can remember trying to jump 233 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:05,440 Speaker 1: into that grave because that was my mother down there. 234 00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:08,160 Speaker 1: When the children were put on a train in nineteen 235 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:10,920 Speaker 1: twenty four, they didn't even know where they were headed. 236 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:16,400 Speaker 1: As Anna remembered, had very strong ideas that I was 237 00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:20,400 Speaker 1: going to California. I didn't know there was any other 238 00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:23,240 Speaker 1: stake besides New York and California, as far as I 239 00:16:23,400 --> 00:16:27,400 Speaker 1: was concerned. Margaret described their arrival in the tiny town 240 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:30,760 Speaker 1: of McPherson, Kansas. First thing I did was to look around. 241 00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:33,920 Speaker 1: How come they letting us out in the middle of nowhere. 242 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:36,760 Speaker 1: I couldn't see any buildings. I was looking for skyscrapers. 243 00:16:37,160 --> 00:16:40,880 Speaker 1: Whenever orphans sent by the Society arrived at their destination, 244 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:43,960 Speaker 1: they were lined up on a train platform or on 245 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:46,720 Speaker 1: the stage of a theater so that families could walk 246 00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:49,960 Speaker 1: down the line and pick out their preferred kid. As 247 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:54,480 Speaker 1: author Renee Wendinger explains, this process actually gave rise to 248 00:16:54,560 --> 00:16:57,320 Speaker 1: a familiar turn of phrase. Some of the children would 249 00:16:57,320 --> 00:17:00,360 Speaker 1: have stood on a little box called the soapbox, and 250 00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:04,080 Speaker 1: that's how the term put up for adoption became known 251 00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:07,920 Speaker 1: as we know it today. If it sounds impersonal, well 252 00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:12,320 Speaker 1: that's an understatement. Here's how fifteen year old Claire Isaacson 253 00:17:12,520 --> 00:17:16,600 Speaker 1: described it in her National History Day performance. These were 254 00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:21,399 Speaker 1: usually chised first, then a tougher, stronger looking voice. Us 255 00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:25,240 Speaker 1: girls were usually chosen last. We watched people come and 256 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:29,120 Speaker 1: go and inspect of the children. We saw them looking 257 00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:32,560 Speaker 1: at their teeth and even having some boys to push us. 258 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:37,359 Speaker 1: Martha Teichner asked Anna Fuchs about her experience. Did you 259 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:40,840 Speaker 1: ever feel any outrage or any anger at the fact 260 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:43,320 Speaker 1: that you were being kind of lined up there and say, okay, 261 00:17:44,440 --> 00:17:48,560 Speaker 1: I got a kid. No, I don't think so. I 262 00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:51,920 Speaker 1: think it's a matter of you sort of blame yourself 263 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:55,440 Speaker 1: for having lost your folks. The sisters were all selected, 264 00:17:55,720 --> 00:17:59,200 Speaker 1: but by different families. How big a thought was that 265 00:17:59,359 --> 00:18:01,760 Speaker 1: when you were standing there the day that you were 266 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:05,879 Speaker 1: both selected by families, seeing each other and seeing goodbyes 267 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:09,760 Speaker 1: and wondering what's going to happen. I think it was 268 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:11,760 Speaker 1: sort of the case that there was so much confusion 269 00:18:12,119 --> 00:18:16,320 Speaker 1: and all that We didn't really have that much chance 270 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:18,840 Speaker 1: to think about it, did we. I don't think the 271 00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:25,320 Speaker 1: thought entered my mind at all until I got third 272 00:18:25,359 --> 00:18:27,680 Speaker 1: and sat on that step ladder in the kitchen, and 273 00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:31,840 Speaker 1: then it finally hit me. You are alone. That was 274 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:36,960 Speaker 1: when you started, and that's when I start in Sibling 275 00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:41,240 Speaker 1: separation was an added trauma thousands of orphan writers suffered 276 00:18:41,359 --> 00:18:46,200 Speaker 1: over the years. Were you scared? Yes, I think we 277 00:18:46,359 --> 00:18:47,760 Speaker 1: just wanted to be sure that we were going to 278 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:51,800 Speaker 1: be close enough together so that we get to wouldn't 279 00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:56,240 Speaker 1: lose each other. Why was that so important? What was it? 280 00:18:57,160 --> 00:18:59,359 Speaker 1: We were a family, and that was all the family 281 00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:04,560 Speaker 1: there were. Even though Anna and Margaret were both taken 282 00:19:04,600 --> 00:19:07,760 Speaker 1: in by families in the same town, their lives took 283 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:12,240 Speaker 1: very different turns. Anna became extremely close to her new mother, 284 00:19:12,560 --> 00:19:16,800 Speaker 1: Jenny Bankston. She was a person I could trust when 285 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:19,240 Speaker 1: I first came here. When I came out here, that 286 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:23,720 Speaker 1: was one thing I did not trust anyone. I had 287 00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:28,320 Speaker 1: lost faith in people. I really feel like I've had 288 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:31,960 Speaker 1: two mothers. Margaret, meanwhile, was taken in by the Runnyan 289 00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:36,120 Speaker 1: family who ran a local boarding house. They enlisted Margaret 290 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:39,159 Speaker 1: to help with cleaning and cooking for guests. It was 291 00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:42,560 Speaker 1: a pretty cold, business like relationship. I always had the 292 00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:44,240 Speaker 1: feeling that I was there in place of a maid. 293 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:48,440 Speaker 1: Now these weren't formal adoptions, at least not at first, 294 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:52,840 Speaker 1: but the families writers ended up with were bound by contract. 295 00:19:53,480 --> 00:19:56,000 Speaker 1: Parents had to make sure the children went to school 296 00:19:56,119 --> 00:20:00,560 Speaker 1: and church. There were expectations for the kids as well. Yes, 297 00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:03,639 Speaker 1: the child had to be a child and listen to 298 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:06,440 Speaker 1: those parents and help bat around the house, and a 299 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:09,520 Speaker 1: household at that moment operated like a little business, whether 300 00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:11,600 Speaker 1: you were the birth child, or the adopted child, or 301 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:14,320 Speaker 1: the foster child. Basically, what you're saying is being a 302 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:17,600 Speaker 1: kid in the nineteenth century wasn't very fun. No, no, 303 00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:21,960 Speaker 1: absolutely not. But that didn't make it any easier for 304 00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:25,679 Speaker 1: orphaned children hoping to find a family. Arriving to one 305 00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:29,119 Speaker 1: like Margaret's was hard. I honestly don't remember what I 306 00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:31,040 Speaker 1: called him mom and dad, or what I call him mister, 307 00:20:31,119 --> 00:20:34,720 Speaker 1: miss Brennan. What does I tell you about your experience? Well, 308 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:39,440 Speaker 1: it just that there wasn't that kind of love there, 309 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:43,000 Speaker 1: or affection of any kind. Does it hurt you that 310 00:20:43,080 --> 00:20:49,520 Speaker 1: you never had that? Does it? Oh? Yes, yes, particularly 311 00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:52,040 Speaker 1: when I knew the kind of a home that Anna 312 00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:56,000 Speaker 1: was him where she was getting that kind of affection 313 00:20:56,119 --> 00:21:01,480 Speaker 1: at all. Margaret's situation wasn't rare, but spurred by the 314 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:06,359 Speaker 1: Children's Aid Society's success, other organizations began to follow suit, 315 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:10,400 Speaker 1: and in eighteen sixty nine, the second largest orphan train 316 00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:17,840 Speaker 1: institution began. Earlier, I quizzed you on some of America's 317 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:21,720 Speaker 1: most prominent real life orphans, but they're not nearly as 318 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:26,080 Speaker 1: famous as some fictional orphans. Remember that Herbert Hoover song 319 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:29,080 Speaker 1: from about ten minutes ago, Well, it's from a musical 320 00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:32,159 Speaker 1: centered around an orphan. Why any kid would want to 321 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:42,159 Speaker 1: be an orphan is beyond me. Little Orphan Annie was 322 00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:45,880 Speaker 1: a star, first of comic strips, then of the Broadway stage. 323 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:49,320 Speaker 1: In my opinion, the nineteen eighty two movie is only 324 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:52,359 Speaker 1: worth mentioning for Carol Burnett's Miss Hannigan. And if this 325 00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:56,880 Speaker 1: floor don't shine, I could talk with the Presner building 326 00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:05,000 Speaker 1: or backside? Will you stand yes? Miss Hagen? On television, 327 00:22:05,119 --> 00:22:08,240 Speaker 1: the nineteen eighties, As It Happens, were a boom time 328 00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:12,440 Speaker 1: for orphan centered sitcoms, starting with Arnold and Willis on 329 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:17,720 Speaker 1: Different Strokes, Don't Get too used at his place, and 330 00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:21,960 Speaker 1: there was Punky Brewster. What does Manu and Womy? It's 331 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:26,399 Speaker 1: flow with me. Nothing's wrong with you. You don't want me, 332 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:30,360 Speaker 1: neither my mom that's why she did me and who 333 00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:37,280 Speaker 1: could forget Webster? Are getting used to you, guys. You 334 00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:40,960 Speaker 1: know what, We're getting kind of used to you too. 335 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:45,639 Speaker 1: It's surprising, given our love of a good orphan story, 336 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:50,639 Speaker 1: that the Orphan Train has been so overlooked. By the 337 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:53,840 Speaker 1: time the Civil War ended in eighteen sixty five, the 338 00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:58,160 Speaker 1: Children's Aid Society had placed twelve hundred children with families 339 00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:03,520 Speaker 1: in America's heartland, but Charles Loring Brace's organization placed children 340 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:07,520 Speaker 1: primarily in Protestant homes, regardless of the fact that many 341 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:11,440 Speaker 1: of those babies were born to Catholic immigrant mothers. Enter 342 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:16,239 Speaker 1: the New York Foundling Hospital once again Shaley George from 343 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:20,199 Speaker 1: the National Orphan Train Complex. The New York Foundling Hospital 344 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:23,640 Speaker 1: starts in eighteen sixty nine with two sisters, Sister Theresa 345 00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:27,320 Speaker 1: and Sister Anne, and then their head of their found 346 00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:31,719 Speaker 1: sister Mary Irene Fitzgibbons. And so they start the New 347 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:35,680 Speaker 1: York Founling hospitalist tiny little Brownstone, and within the night 348 00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:38,880 Speaker 1: a baby's left on their doorstep. The demand for their 349 00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:42,919 Speaker 1: services caught them totally off guard, and by the end 350 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:44,840 Speaker 1: of the month they have forty five infants. By the 351 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:47,119 Speaker 1: end of the year, they have over a hundred, and 352 00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:52,600 Speaker 1: so their mission turned to placing Catholic babies in Catholic homes. 353 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:55,399 Speaker 1: Not all of those babies were Catholic when they were 354 00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:58,280 Speaker 1: left at the door the Foundling Hospital, but as one 355 00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:01,200 Speaker 1: orphan train rider set about the Foundling, you might go 356 00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:03,720 Speaker 1: in one way, but you'll leave a Catholic Following in 357 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:07,000 Speaker 1: the tracks of the Children's Aid Society, the Foundlings started 358 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:11,000 Speaker 1: placing children on trains headed west, but these children were 359 00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:15,600 Speaker 1: much younger, mostly infants, and specifically chosen to resemble the 360 00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:19,119 Speaker 1: families they were joining. They believe that placing out younger 361 00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:23,680 Speaker 1: children who matched the family by eye color, hair color, age, 362 00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:26,680 Speaker 1: and gender would cut back on the stigma from the 363 00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:29,840 Speaker 1: surrounding community because they looked like the family that they 364 00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:31,800 Speaker 1: were placed in. So it's sort of the reverse of 365 00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:35,320 Speaker 1: Children's Aid Society, where the Children's Aid Society sends kids 366 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:41,760 Speaker 1: out and then prospective parents choose the kids. Then here 367 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:46,000 Speaker 1: it's more of a mail order system, right. Basically, that's 368 00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:49,520 Speaker 1: what happened to Anne Harrison, who was featured on CBS 369 00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:52,440 Speaker 1: Sunday Morning back in two thousand and two when she 370 00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:56,040 Speaker 1: was a spry ninety three. They had asked for a 371 00:24:56,480 --> 00:25:00,280 Speaker 1: two and a half year old girl with brown and 372 00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:03,880 Speaker 1: brown eyes. Well, they got a two and a half 373 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:09,200 Speaker 1: year old girl that had auburn hair and hazel eyes. 374 00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:13,720 Speaker 1: But that was close enough. Because she was so young 375 00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:16,720 Speaker 1: when she arrived. Anne grew up not even knowing she 376 00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:20,600 Speaker 1: was adopted. Her father made sure of that. Her father 377 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:24,520 Speaker 1: basically threatened the entire town to not tell her she 378 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:27,560 Speaker 1: was adopted. Her father never wanted her to feel less 379 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:31,800 Speaker 1: than to be thought of that she was not truly 380 00:25:33,359 --> 00:25:36,800 Speaker 1: his daughter. But despite her father's best efforts, the other 381 00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:40,800 Speaker 1: kids and her own teachers never quite accepted her. I 382 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:43,960 Speaker 1: was never popular in school, and that bothered me, and 383 00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:48,760 Speaker 1: I seemed to always be the odd ball. Orphans or 384 00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:53,639 Speaker 1: adopted children were not really as good class as the 385 00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:57,680 Speaker 1: other people. I think that was just a general thought 386 00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:02,560 Speaker 1: that you were bad see if you came from people 387 00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:07,440 Speaker 1: that they didn't know. So a lot of the orphan 388 00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:10,240 Speaker 1: train writers had to contend with people who were not 389 00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:14,560 Speaker 1: pleased with them being in town. The idea is that 390 00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:19,640 Speaker 1: you're going to inherit traits of poverty, of vice from 391 00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:22,920 Speaker 1: parents that some never knew. Almost like the orphan train 392 00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:26,680 Speaker 1: writers are tainted. Yeah, the negativity of immigration is there 393 00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:30,359 Speaker 1: from the get go, the negativity of your parents didn't 394 00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:33,600 Speaker 1: want you, your parents lost you because they were a 395 00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:38,040 Speaker 1: drunk or abusive or in prison. Anne would grow up, 396 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:42,119 Speaker 1: moved to Chicago and become a professional nightclub singer. She 397 00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:44,840 Speaker 1: wouldn't find out she was adopted until she was twenty 398 00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:48,399 Speaker 1: seven years old. And that wasn't the only surprise waiting 399 00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:52,240 Speaker 1: for the woman who'd been baptized to Catholic In nineteen 400 00:26:52,359 --> 00:26:56,240 Speaker 1: eighty nine, I get this letter from the New York 401 00:26:56,320 --> 00:27:01,120 Speaker 1: Health Department. Open it up, and there's my rich birth certificate, 402 00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:10,000 Speaker 1: Mabel Ruben. My mother's name was of Jenny Rubin. My 403 00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:14,960 Speaker 1: father's name was Mokne. Well. I looked at that and 404 00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:20,280 Speaker 1: I just split into laughter. She just thought, well, I'll 405 00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:22,359 Speaker 1: just go on and add a Star of David to 406 00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:26,439 Speaker 1: my crucifix necklace and just keep going, because what can 407 00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:31,600 Speaker 1: I do? Well? My Jewish friends said, we know it 408 00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:38,439 Speaker 1: all the time. The Foundling and Children's Aid Society together 409 00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:41,359 Speaker 1: set the lion's share of those two hundred and fifty 410 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:45,240 Speaker 1: thousand children west until the last orphan train left for 411 00:27:45,359 --> 00:27:49,600 Speaker 1: Sulfur Springs, Texas, on May thirty first, nineteen twenty nine. 412 00:27:50,359 --> 00:27:54,240 Speaker 1: The world had simply outgrown the orphan train. Communities in 413 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:57,400 Speaker 1: the Midwest now had their own abandoned children to help. 414 00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:02,440 Speaker 1: But the story doesn't end there. We know how a 415 00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:06,159 Speaker 1: quarter million children found their way west, but what happened 416 00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:10,879 Speaker 1: after they grew up? Do you know the name that 417 00:28:11,119 --> 00:28:18,960 Speaker 1: was given to you at bern Sophia? Who names your Sophia? 418 00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:24,920 Speaker 1: Or my mother or my dad? That's Renee Wending her 419 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:30,159 Speaker 1: interviewing her mother, Sophia Hillesheim Kaminski. Sophia had been an 420 00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:34,080 Speaker 1: orphan train writer, taken in by Anna Grime, a single 421 00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:38,800 Speaker 1: woman in Springfield, Minnesota, who spoke only German. She really 422 00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:43,960 Speaker 1: didn't know how to reraise children. She could not be English, 423 00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:47,239 Speaker 1: so I had to learn German. Then when I went 424 00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:50,880 Speaker 1: back to school, then I had to relearn that the 425 00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:53,480 Speaker 1: English because I could only talked German all the time. 426 00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:57,960 Speaker 1: So what did you do for entertainment? I didn't have 427 00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:01,320 Speaker 1: any entertainment. I had to work all the But that 428 00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:04,880 Speaker 1: wasn't the worst of it was Anna physically abusive, Yeah, 429 00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:08,320 Speaker 1: she was. She had a little whip that she kept 430 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:11,280 Speaker 1: in the corner. It was a snake handled whip, and 431 00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:13,320 Speaker 1: by that I mean it was sort of a leather 432 00:29:13,560 --> 00:29:16,719 Speaker 1: handled whip, and that's the way she would flog her 433 00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:20,920 Speaker 1: and she'd say, now you remember this, and remember not 434 00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:27,520 Speaker 1: to do that again. Sophia's orphan train story is a 435 00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:30,880 Speaker 1: sad one, but it doesn't end at her childhood. She 436 00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:34,680 Speaker 1: would grow up to become someone vastly different from Anna Grime. 437 00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:38,760 Speaker 1: Here's how Renee describes her mother. She just had such 438 00:29:38,800 --> 00:29:43,000 Speaker 1: a warm, open heart. There is no one that ever 439 00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:46,680 Speaker 1: knew her would say anything bad about her because she 440 00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:51,280 Speaker 1: was just a warm, loving person. You know, it's funny 441 00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:53,560 Speaker 1: that your mother's story and so many of these other 442 00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:59,280 Speaker 1: orphan train writers stories, it sort of underlines how vulnerable 443 00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:03,520 Speaker 1: children are, but also how resilient they were the type 444 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:06,080 Speaker 1: of people that would just sort of kind of pull 445 00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:09,480 Speaker 1: the bootstraps up and they would carry on. But my 446 00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:13,160 Speaker 1: mother would always say, I was just so thankful to 447 00:30:13,240 --> 00:30:15,480 Speaker 1: have a roof over my head. Your mother had a 448 00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:18,280 Speaker 1: lot to be angry about, she really did, but she 449 00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:21,920 Speaker 1: did not have that in her heart. And you know, 450 00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:25,040 Speaker 1: I don't know if that's something that we inherit Is 451 00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:30,000 Speaker 1: it biological? Do we have the influences around us? Is 452 00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:34,160 Speaker 1: it our geography? I have no idea. But her arms 453 00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:38,880 Speaker 1: were always outreached to people. But Renee's mother didn't find 454 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:41,800 Speaker 1: peace until near the end of her own life. Did 455 00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:46,760 Speaker 1: your mother ever forgive Anna? She did not forgive her 456 00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:51,480 Speaker 1: until she was about I think she was like ninety 457 00:30:51,560 --> 00:30:57,320 Speaker 1: six years old, and she asked me one day if 458 00:30:57,400 --> 00:31:00,600 Speaker 1: I would take her to the cemetery. She said, it's time. 459 00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:03,680 Speaker 1: I need to go to the cemetery and I need 460 00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:07,479 Speaker 1: to forgive her. So you took your ninety six year 461 00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:10,360 Speaker 1: old mother to the cemetery. And what did she say 462 00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:14,360 Speaker 1: when she was at the tombstone of Havannah? I have 463 00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:19,080 Speaker 1: no idea what she spoke inside her heart and we 464 00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:23,640 Speaker 1: walked away and she said, it's done. I needed to 465 00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:25,640 Speaker 1: do that. She said, I should have done that a 466 00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:38,040 Speaker 1: long time ago. Now, all the Orphan train riders you've 467 00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:42,560 Speaker 1: been hearing from in this episode, Renee's mother, Sophia, Anna, 468 00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:47,760 Speaker 1: and Margaret Fuchs, Anne Harrison, they're all voices from the past. 469 00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:52,120 Speaker 1: They're all gone. But I wanted to talk to a 470 00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:56,360 Speaker 1: rider myself, and so I went down to Texas to 471 00:31:56,520 --> 00:32:03,880 Speaker 1: meet the last known surviving orphan train ride her okay, 472 00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:07,959 Speaker 1: testing testing regular. I'm in a conference room at an 473 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:12,280 Speaker 1: assisted living facility in East Bernard, Texas, an hour outside 474 00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:16,040 Speaker 1: of Houston, sitting with me a host of eager relatives 475 00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:23,240 Speaker 1: surrounding ninety seven year old Beatrice Voytech, an actual orphan 476 00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:26,120 Speaker 1: train rider. The only thing is we don't ninety seven. 477 00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:29,640 Speaker 1: She's doing great. That's her son, George. You're a terrific 478 00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:34,280 Speaker 1: looking ninety seven and appreciating you may be the last 479 00:32:34,400 --> 00:32:39,160 Speaker 1: surviving orphan train rider. How does that feel what I'm 480 00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:43,520 Speaker 1: kind of make believe that because I was the smallest 481 00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:47,840 Speaker 1: on that train, she's a national treasure. Did you hear 482 00:32:47,920 --> 00:32:53,160 Speaker 1: that you're a national treasure? You are because you are you? 483 00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:59,920 Speaker 1: Absolutely I appreciate it, But I'm thinking nothing extra from 484 00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:04,480 Speaker 1: from any other orphan. Beatrice, the daughter of an Irish immigrant, 485 00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:07,280 Speaker 1: was only fourteen months old when she made the trip 486 00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:10,800 Speaker 1: from New York City, landing with a Czech family in Texas. 487 00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:14,760 Speaker 1: She's got a fascinating story, but in the end, the 488 00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:19,240 Speaker 1: person that seems least interested in it is Beatrice. I 489 00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:22,320 Speaker 1: asked her about discovering she was an orphan, train writer. 490 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:25,840 Speaker 1: You didn't know that you'd been adopted. I didn't know 491 00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:28,440 Speaker 1: I was an orphan. I didn't know anything. I've just 492 00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:31,080 Speaker 1: read it a lot of time. You mama, and you mama, 493 00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:34,400 Speaker 1: you my mind, you mama, and I didn't pay attention 494 00:33:34,520 --> 00:33:37,120 Speaker 1: to it. I asked her about her birth mother, who 495 00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:39,640 Speaker 1: was twenty nine when she had her. If she used 496 00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:43,600 Speaker 1: she stood that chance of getting pregnant, then she should 497 00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:47,520 Speaker 1: have known that she fit to provide for that baby. 498 00:33:47,880 --> 00:33:50,480 Speaker 1: Do you wonder what the rest of her life was like? 499 00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:55,719 Speaker 1: You mean my real mother? No, I asked Beatrice if 500 00:33:55,760 --> 00:33:57,960 Speaker 1: she ever wondered what she might have missed out on 501 00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:02,640 Speaker 1: having been scooped up and moved so far away so young. Well, yeah, 502 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:07,160 Speaker 1: I mean I was adopted into a into a family, 503 00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:11,000 Speaker 1: and and that was my family. That was that, you know, 504 00:34:11,200 --> 00:34:14,960 Speaker 1: that was my life. You've never imagined, even for a moment, 505 00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:17,480 Speaker 1: what your life would have been like if you stayed 506 00:34:17,520 --> 00:34:20,520 Speaker 1: in New York. Oh yeah, oh yeah, I thought about? 507 00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:23,919 Speaker 1: And what did you think? What were you? Thank God, 508 00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:29,960 Speaker 1: I'm I'm here in Texas. I'm satisfied with my life 509 00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:34,160 Speaker 1: the way it is, and and I'm so blessed with 510 00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:39,279 Speaker 1: you know, the people that adopted me and and and 511 00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:43,879 Speaker 1: wrote me up and raised me right and probably much 512 00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:47,880 Speaker 1: better than my real parents with And if you ever 513 00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:49,800 Speaker 1: do want to come to New York, I've got a 514 00:34:49,840 --> 00:34:56,799 Speaker 1: gast room. We'll go see a Broadway show. You ever 515 00:34:56,840 --> 00:35:03,040 Speaker 1: see Phantom of the Opera? No, it's terrific. Yeah. There 516 00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:08,000 Speaker 1: was no dramatic revelation from Beatrice, no rosebud moment. She 517 00:35:08,120 --> 00:35:11,279 Speaker 1: didn't render a sweeping verdict on whether the Orphan Train 518 00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:15,120 Speaker 1: was good or bad as she saw it. She rode 519 00:35:15,160 --> 00:35:19,200 Speaker 1: the train, she grew up, she moved on. It was 520 00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:24,400 Speaker 1: what it was. But when Beatrice herself passes on, that 521 00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:27,640 Speaker 1: won't be the end of the Orphan Train story. Descendants, 522 00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:32,720 Speaker 1: historians and budding historians like Clara Isaacson are still telling 523 00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:37,000 Speaker 1: it today. Does this give you kind of a new 524 00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:42,000 Speaker 1: appreciation of the importance of preserving history. I believe it does. Yeah, 525 00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:47,200 Speaker 1: and especially this movement, because it's not well known at all. 526 00:35:47,440 --> 00:35:51,520 Speaker 1: And I've joined the little community of the Orphan Train 527 00:35:51,680 --> 00:35:54,640 Speaker 1: rider people trying to keep the story alive, and the 528 00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:58,040 Speaker 1: main way of preserving it is through Orphan Train reunions. 529 00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:01,080 Speaker 1: When they first started in the nineteen sixties. They were 530 00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:06,200 Speaker 1: places for the writers themselves together. What these writers would 531 00:36:06,239 --> 00:36:08,880 Speaker 1: do with stand up and tell their stories, and I 532 00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:13,640 Speaker 1: found them so intriguing and so interesting. These riders when 533 00:36:13,719 --> 00:36:18,360 Speaker 1: they got together, they celebrated for three straight days. Unstruck 534 00:36:18,440 --> 00:36:22,440 Speaker 1: by how you used the word celebrate, What do you 535 00:36:22,520 --> 00:36:29,520 Speaker 1: mean celebrate? They celebrated their togetherness as orphan trained brothers 536 00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:33,000 Speaker 1: and sisters. But as the number of riders has dwindled, 537 00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:36,520 Speaker 1: they've become a chance for descendants to share memories and 538 00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:39,680 Speaker 1: stories of their loved ones who have passed on. It's 539 00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:43,520 Speaker 1: quite amazing. In fact, we feel very much a kinship 540 00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:47,000 Speaker 1: with each other. We all know what our parent felt 541 00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:52,120 Speaker 1: or our grandparents felt, and soon, hopefully a grandchildren of 542 00:36:52,200 --> 00:36:56,200 Speaker 1: these writers will take over the legacy of the Orphan 543 00:36:56,239 --> 00:37:00,359 Speaker 1: Train movement isn't easy to quantify. While all the ers 544 00:37:00,440 --> 00:37:04,399 Speaker 1: were impacted by their new communities and families, many grew 545 00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:07,400 Speaker 1: up to make their own impact on the world. The 546 00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:10,600 Speaker 1: kids went on to serve in the Civil War, World 547 00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:13,200 Speaker 1: War One, World War two, Korea. We have some that 548 00:37:13,320 --> 00:37:17,400 Speaker 1: served in Vietnam. Just thinking politically, you know, speaking the 549 00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:21,440 Speaker 1: people who served in our state governments in our Congress. 550 00:37:23,520 --> 00:37:25,800 Speaker 1: Just some of the Orphan Train riders who went on 551 00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:30,000 Speaker 1: to lead lives of distinction. Andrew Burke became the second 552 00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:33,640 Speaker 1: governor of the state of North Dakota. His friend John 553 00:37:33,719 --> 00:37:36,719 Speaker 1: Greene Brady, who wrote the same Orphan Train, would become 554 00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:41,360 Speaker 1: governor of the Territory of Alaska. Henry L. Jost became 555 00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:45,319 Speaker 1: mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, his nickname the Orphan Boy 556 00:37:45,400 --> 00:37:49,799 Speaker 1: Mayor before joining the United States Congress. Joe Aya would 557 00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:53,840 Speaker 1: become head football coach at Louisiana Tech University and inducted 558 00:37:53,920 --> 00:37:57,080 Speaker 1: into the College Football Hall of Fame. And while we 559 00:37:57,120 --> 00:38:00,239 Speaker 1: can't confirm it, there's a longstanding rumor in the orphan 560 00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:04,320 Speaker 1: train community that a former United States Supreme Court justice 561 00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:07,920 Speaker 1: was a writer, but kept its secret because of the stigma. 562 00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:10,840 Speaker 1: If you think you know who it was, let us know. 563 00:38:12,040 --> 00:38:15,640 Speaker 1: The writers certainly made their mark. The Children's Aid Society 564 00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:20,160 Speaker 1: estimates that there are over two million Orphan Train descendants 565 00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:24,719 Speaker 1: alive today. Yeah, they helped shape America, But on a 566 00:38:24,840 --> 00:38:28,399 Speaker 1: personal level, the trains meant something different to each child 567 00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:32,200 Speaker 1: who wrote them. For Anna Fuchs, it was the best 568 00:38:32,360 --> 00:38:36,120 Speaker 1: possible solution to a terrible situation. It took a lot 569 00:38:36,200 --> 00:38:39,600 Speaker 1: of kids off of the streets of New York who 570 00:38:39,680 --> 00:38:44,319 Speaker 1: might have become prostitutes and beggars and thieves, and gave 571 00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:47,479 Speaker 1: them another chance of life. For her sister Margaret, though 572 00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:52,320 Speaker 1: its benefits couldn't justify the pain it caused for that time. 573 00:38:52,480 --> 00:38:55,120 Speaker 1: I guess it was as good as anything. It was 574 00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:58,000 Speaker 1: all it was, but I certainly can't go along with it. 575 00:38:58,719 --> 00:39:02,359 Speaker 1: I feel that the idea of taking children and having 576 00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:05,000 Speaker 1: them lose all contact with any any of the relatives, 577 00:39:05,080 --> 00:39:09,280 Speaker 1: I think is wrong. And Harrison never let the inauspicious 578 00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:12,000 Speaker 1: start to her life slow her down. I've had a 579 00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:18,680 Speaker 1: good life, you think so. Yes, I just took opportunities 580 00:39:18,800 --> 00:39:22,360 Speaker 1: when they came, and when I couldn't find the opportunities, 581 00:39:22,440 --> 00:39:27,759 Speaker 1: I lived with what was there. But it's Renee Wendinger's 582 00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:31,640 Speaker 1: perspective that will stick with me the longest. I am 583 00:39:31,719 --> 00:39:36,880 Speaker 1: a grandmother, and every time my grandchildren have turned the 584 00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:41,279 Speaker 1: age of two, I look at them and I think, oh, 585 00:39:41,400 --> 00:39:45,480 Speaker 1: my gosh, this is what my mother would have looked 586 00:39:45,600 --> 00:39:49,040 Speaker 1: like when she boarded that train at Grand Central Terminal. 587 00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:55,200 Speaker 1: And I really cannot imagine that little child getting on 588 00:39:55,320 --> 00:39:59,280 Speaker 1: a train to somewhere to nowhere. I have no idea 589 00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:05,120 Speaker 1: what my life is going to be like. Wow, and 590 00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:10,120 Speaker 1: two year olds is so vulnerable, absolutely so vulnerable. It 591 00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:13,759 Speaker 1: hits your heart. You know, I don't know anyone that 592 00:40:13,880 --> 00:40:28,799 Speaker 1: does not have a heart for any child. Next time 593 00:40:28,920 --> 00:40:33,480 Speaker 1: on Mobituaries, Fred Ormiston joins me for a salute to 594 00:40:33,640 --> 00:40:39,240 Speaker 1: the ultimate square and Badass bandleader and TV host Lawrence Welk. 595 00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:41,759 Speaker 1: Could it be seen as something a little bit like 596 00:40:42,239 --> 00:40:45,080 Speaker 1: and I'm not trying to be like make a shocking comparison, 597 00:40:45,160 --> 00:40:47,800 Speaker 1: but like it's a little bit of like what the 598 00:40:47,880 --> 00:40:52,200 Speaker 1: Grateful Dead did in that like just keep going, just 599 00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:55,520 Speaker 1: keep going. This is definitely the first Lawrence Well Grateful 600 00:40:55,560 --> 00:40:57,919 Speaker 1: Dead comparison ever. But I totally hear what you're saying. 601 00:40:58,880 --> 00:41:02,359 Speaker 1: I certainly hope you enjoyed this mobituary. May I ask 602 00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:05,719 Speaker 1: you to please rate and review our podcast. You can 603 00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:09,279 Speaker 1: also follow Mobituaries on Facebook and Instagram, and you can 604 00:41:09,320 --> 00:41:13,319 Speaker 1: follow me Morocca on Twitter at Morocca. For more great 605 00:41:13,400 --> 00:41:17,040 Speaker 1: content about the Orphan Trains, please visit mobituaries dot com. 606 00:41:17,440 --> 00:41:20,799 Speaker 1: You can subscribe to Mobituaries wherever you get your podcasts. 607 00:41:21,440 --> 00:41:24,840 Speaker 1: This episode of Mobituaries was produced by Harry Wood and 608 00:41:25,080 --> 00:41:29,120 Speaker 1: Gideon Evans. Our team of producers also includes Megan Marcus 609 00:41:29,280 --> 00:41:33,080 Speaker 1: and me Morocca. It was edited by Harry Wood and 610 00:41:33,239 --> 00:41:38,120 Speaker 1: engineered by Dan de Zula. Indispensable support from Genius Daneski, 611 00:41:38,520 --> 00:41:43,840 Speaker 1: Kate mccauliffe, Sam Egan, Renee Wendinger, Shalley, George Jason Saca, 612 00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:48,720 Speaker 1: Alberto Rovina, Richard Roher, and everyone at CBS News Radio. 613 00:41:49,480 --> 00:41:51,399 Speaker 1: Thank you to the New York Daily News for letting 614 00:41:51,440 --> 00:41:55,120 Speaker 1: me join you for your one hundredth anniversary celebration, and 615 00:41:55,239 --> 00:41:57,680 Speaker 1: to the New York Foundling for welcoming us to your 616 00:41:57,719 --> 00:42:01,800 Speaker 1: one hundred and fiftieth anniversary that it's a competition. Thanks 617 00:42:01,840 --> 00:42:06,080 Speaker 1: also to CBS News correspondent Bob McNamara for his two 618 00:42:06,120 --> 00:42:09,680 Speaker 1: thousand and two interview of Anne Harrison. We'd like to 619 00:42:09,760 --> 00:42:13,600 Speaker 1: thank Greg Markway, the families of Anna and Margaret Fuchs 620 00:42:13,640 --> 00:42:18,360 Speaker 1: and Anne Harrison, Beatrice Foytek and her family, and Linda Fomer, 621 00:42:18,560 --> 00:42:21,400 Speaker 1: the orphan trained descendant and researcher who connected us to 622 00:42:21,480 --> 00:42:26,359 Speaker 1: Beatrice special Thanks to our bold, budding young historians from 623 00:42:26,480 --> 00:42:31,719 Speaker 1: National History Day, Addie Skilling, Tucker Ulshevie, Jacob Reid, Evelyn Carpenter, 624 00:42:31,960 --> 00:42:36,880 Speaker 1: Katie Marakovitz, Jack Anderson, Jader Briggs, Megan Swancutt, Datona Foley, 625 00:42:37,120 --> 00:42:41,120 Speaker 1: Logan Smith, and of course Claire Isaacson and her mom Joy. 626 00:42:41,920 --> 00:42:45,480 Speaker 1: Our theme music is written by Daniel Hart and as always, 627 00:42:45,920 --> 00:42:49,919 Speaker 1: undying thanks to Rand Morrison and John carp without whom 628 00:42:50,280 --> 00:43:01,800 Speaker 1: Mobituaries couldn't live. Hi, It's Moe. If you're enjoying Mobituaries 629 00:43:01,880 --> 00:43:05,600 Speaker 1: the podcast, may I invite you to check out Mobituaries 630 00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:09,960 Speaker 1: the book. It's chock full of stories not in the podcast. 631 00:43:10,520 --> 00:43:13,840 Speaker 1: Celebrities who put their butts on the line, sports teams 632 00:43:13,920 --> 00:43:18,520 Speaker 1: that threw in the towel for good, forgotten fashions, defunct diagnoses, 633 00:43:18,880 --> 00:43:25,360 Speaker 1: presidential candidacies that cratered whole countries that went caput. And dragons, Yes, dragons, 634 00:43:25,560 --> 00:43:27,600 Speaker 1: you see. People used to believe the dragons will reel 635 00:43:27,719 --> 00:43:31,640 Speaker 1: until just get the book. You can order Mobituaries the 636 00:43:31,680 --> 00:43:35,000 Speaker 1: Book from any online bookseller, or stop by your local 637 00:43:35,040 --> 00:43:37,759 Speaker 1: bookstore and look for me when I come to your city. 638 00:43:38,200 --> 00:43:42,239 Speaker 1: Tour information and lots more at mobituaries dot com