Christina had documented conversations with some of the Orphan Train riders she had spoke with and even though the survivors are now in their later 90’s, they still say they always felt something was missing – while they may have been placed in good homes, they still felt somewhat disconnected and knew that “these were not my people.” Over that time more than 100,000 children were placed in homes – many with no records of who they were or where they came from. They were chosen and signed for with very little paper work – and yes, like in the book Orphan Train, some were abused. Adoption meant inheritance and people did not want these children to inherit their lands. Most of the children were not adopted by the families that took them in. Christina had articles where they specifically said they do not want any red headed children claiming that they were more prone to disobeying and fights. No one wanted red headed children or children with freckles. Harder yet to place, Christina said, was red heads. The hardest to place were girls as they could not do the physical labor that was needed and they were more underfoot as girls did not sleep in the barns but in the homes instead. Babies were the next in demand and these trains of babies were called Mercy Trains. Preferred were boys between the ages of 9 and 14 as they were handy to use on the farms and they could sleep in the barn. The children mainly were between the ages between 2 and 14. Christina said that you did not want your children outside after dark for fear that they be snatched and put on the trains. Many were abandoned, and some were even taken. It was sad to learn that only 30% of the children were orphans. Wow.Īs you can see, Minnesota was one of the higher states as far as the count of orphans were that road the trains. When Christina asked the audience if anyone knew someone who had been on an orphan train, a third of the rooms hands shot up. She put an impressive amount of research into the book, fueled on to the topic as her husband’s grandfather was an orphan on the train. Christina Baker Kline was a delight to listen to.

When we went to see the author of Orphan Train speak we were in for a real treat. Bookies discussing Orphan Train over dinner. Then our Library secured her to come and speak in our town, AND it just happened to be on the day our book club normally meets AND happens to be the Bookies Anniversary month (13 years!), it sounded like a fun night. First, our Book Club won the books from a Harper Collins on line contest. The whole Orphan Train experience has been fun. Last night, the Bookies Book Club met for pizza and reviewed this book as well and then followed up by seeing the author speak. A few days ago I posted my thoughts on Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline.

Orphan train author