Daily AncestorOrphan train
An orphan train carried poor, orphaned or abandoned children from eastern cities to new homes in rural areas, mostly in the Midwest and West, from 1854 to 1929.
The Children's Aid Society of New York, founded by Charles Loring Brace, sent its first group of 46 children to Dowagiac, Michigan, in 1854. The New York Foundling Hospital, the New York Juvenile Asylum and other agencies followed; Foundling groups of small children were called baby trains. An estimated 250,000 children rode before the last train in 1929.
Many riders were not true orphans. Clues include a child born on the East Coast who appears in a census as a boarder, servant or inmate with a western family, or whose surname changes in childhood.
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Daily Ancestor. "Orphan train." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/poor-relief/orphan-train. Last checked 2026-10-03.