Orphans and Orphan Trains

During the years between 1854 and 1929, over 200,000 (estimate) children were taken from the orphanages and streets in the larger cities and shipped off to the Midwest and the West to families willing to take them in. Tragically, some of these children ended up in virtual slavery. As you are researching your ancestors and find an "adopted" child in America during the above time period, it is possible that the child was one of these orphans.

For more extensive history about the Orphan Train Movement see the following:

• Wikipedia: Orphan Train
• American Experience, The Orphan Trains
• The Children's Aid Society, The Orphan Trains
• National Orphan Train Complex
• A History of the Orphan Trains
• Riders on the Orphan Train
• The Adoption History Project, Orphan Trains
• The Orphan Train, Washington Post
• The New York Children
• Orphan Trains of Nebraska
• Orphan Trains
• Orphan Train Myths and Legal Reality

I would suggest that you read the last referenced document first as it is the most detailed and has dozens of further citations. It is entirely possible that an unrelated person residing with a family and listed as a "laborer" in the U.S. Census, could, in fact, be a transported orphan.