Orphan Train Children

From the mid 1850s to 1929 between 150,000 to 200,000 orphaned or abandoned children made their way west from the U.S. East Coast to be adopted into new homes and families in the Midwest, West and Canada. Because they moved primarily via trains they were commonly known as orphan train children.

Kansas played a role in this movement as a final destination for many children and continues to remember them, their families of origin, adoptive families and their life changing experiences with a museum and research center in Concordia.

The links below connect you to the tragic and triumphant stories of the children and adults who were involved in this great social experiment. We've emphasized information resources for Kansas but have included other related sources as well.

National Orphan Train Complex
http://www.orphantraindepot.com/index.html
(Located in Concordia, Kansas, the Complex has a museum and research center. The website includes a history of the orphan trains and personal stories by adoptees)
---Museum Virtual Tour
---Orphan Train History
---Orphan Train Rider Stories
---Website Archives
---Links to Primary Resource Facilities

Orphan Trains of Kansas
http://www.kancoll.org/articles/orphans/
(History, stories, newspaper accounts, graphics and references provided on the Kansas Collection website)

Bibliography of Printed Material on Orphan Train Children
http://sites.google.com/site/ks150slk/orpantrains
(prepared by the Kansas Collection and State Library of Kansas)

Library Holdings at the State Library of Kansas, Kansas State Historical Society and Washburn University (ATLAS online catalog)
ORPHAN TRAINS

The Orphan Trains
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/orphan/index.html
(website for a PBS special TV program)

The Orphan Trains/Children's Aid Society
http://www.childrensaidsociety.org/about/history/orphantrain

Orphan Trains of Nebraska
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/topic/trains//Orphan.htm

Orphan Trains
http://www.nebraskahistory.org/sites/mnh/orphans/index.htm
(Nebraska State Historical Society)

Orphan Train
http://iagenweb.org/iaorphans/
(Iowa GenWeb Project)

Some Orphan Trains Genealogy Links
http://www.genealinks.com/orphantrain.htm

Orphan Trains (Cyndi's Genealogy List)
http://www.cyndislist.com/orphans.htm#Orphans

Orphan Train (song) written by Utah Phillips
---The Song Lyrics
http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/folk-song-lyrics/Orphan_Train.htm
---The Song on YouTube (performed by Dry Branch Fire Squad)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-og-66Bzwzw

Article contact: Bill Sowers

Carry A. Nation (a.k.a. Carrie A. Nation)

(November 25, 1846 - June 9, 1911)

Born Carrie Amelia Moore in Garrard County, Kentucky, Nation came to describe herself as “a bulldog running along at the feet of Jesus, barking at what He doesn’t like.” Her first marriage was to a doctor named Charles Gloyd in 1867. This marriage was brief and he died a drunkard shortly after the divorce. Nation attributed her hatred of liquor to her failed first marriage. Her second husband, David A. Nation, was a newspaper editor, minister and lawyer. A few years after their marriage in 1877 the couple moved to Medicine Lodge, Kansas. It is here that Nation began her temperance work and crusade against alcoholic intake. While living in Medicine Lodge she began jail evangelism and helped create the local chapter of the Women’s Christian Temperance Movement (WCTM) which spoke out against drink and tobacco, to name just a few.

In 1881, Kansas outlawed the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages. However, enforcement of such laws was largely ignored. Becoming one of the most famous figures of the Temperance Movement, she adopted the name “Carry A. Nation” and used it as a slogan, even going so far as to have it registered as a trademark in the state of Kansas. Hatchetations, as they became known, took place in saloons and bars around the state of Kansas. The first such incident occurred around Kiowa, KS. This smashing occurred without a hatchet, for which she would later be known. A roadside marker describes the ordeal. Nation referred to her supporters as “Home Defenders” and together they were successful in shutting down a number of “joints.” Jailed a number of occasions for the destruction of liquor establishments, Nation sold souvenir pin hatchets in order to cover the cost of fines.

Two houses are listed on the National Register of Historic Houses as “Carry A. Nation House.” The Carrie Nation House in Medicine Lodge, Kansas, is also known as the Carry A. Nation Home and Museum. Her birthplace in Lancaster, Kentucky is the other Carry A. Nation House.

Nation is buried in Belton, Missouri; a historical marker is in Cass County, MO. The inscription on her gravestone reads- “Faithful to the cause of Prohibition- She hath done what she could.”

Biographical information

Biographical information
(Kansas State Historical Society)

Online Exhibit
(Includes a link to a Curriculum Guide)

Carry Amelia Nation Papers, 1870-1919

Rootsweb
(Contains image of Carry A. Nation House in Medicine Lodge, KS. Biographical information provided including references to a bridge named in her honor in Barber County.)

Medicine Lodge, Kansas - Historic Happenings

Kansas Heritage Group

Encyclopedia of Arkansas history and culture

Handbook of Texas Online

American Heritage

History on the Web

The Kansas State Historical Society has a variety of information on their website as well as within their digital historical repository- Kansas Memory.

People - Notable Kansans (Nation, Carry Amelia, 1846-1911)

Collections – Photographs (Nation, Carry Amelia)

Collections – Manuscripts (Nation, Carry Amelia)

Additional information

Read the full-text online of “The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation” by Carry A. Nation

There is a festival in her honor located in Holly, Michigan. The CarryNation Festival began in 1973 and marks “a historical moment in time when a very prominent woman visited Holly and made her mark on the community.

In Wichita, relocated from the Old Cowtown Museum and now located along a walk in Naftzger Park, stands a drinking fountain “erected to the memory of Carry A. Nation by the Women’s Christian Temperance Union of Kansas, 1918.”

Listen to the audio file- Carrie Nation in Kansas by Steve Porter (1901) which contains a satirical song about Nation and how "women wear the pants in Kansas."

The Kansas State Historical Society (KSHS) has a tradecard series which includes a Carry A. Nation card. Also, Carry Nation’s Hammer, Carry Nation’s Purse, Carry Nation Lecture Poster, and a Carry Nation’s Portrait.

C-SPAN interview of author Fran Grace discussing her biography Carry A. Nation: Retelling the Life

Alcohol, Prohibition and the Temperance Movement
History of Alcoholic Beverages in Kansas
(Kansas Department of Revenue- Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC))

Prohibition
(Digital History: using new technologies to enhance teaching and research)

The Dry Years
(Selected images relating to Prohibition from the Collections of the Library of Congress- Prints & Photographs Room)

Kansas Women’s Christian Temperance Movement / Mary Evelyn Dobbs Collection
(Kansas State Historical Society)

Community Life – Clubs and Organizations - Reform/Advocacy
(Kansas State Historical Society- Kansas Memory)
Women’s Christian Temperance Union
Kansas State Temperance Union
National Temperance Society

Government and Politics – Reform and Protest
Prohibition and Temperance

Government and Politics - Political Parties
Prohibition

Article contact: Megan Schulz