One
of my favorite books to write was a historical romance called KING’S FANCY. It
was my first foray into the world of the mail-order bride. I recently offered
it as a free promotion for a few days and one reviewer pointed out that it was
an unusual take on the subject. I took that as a compliment. When I prepare to
write a new book, I start out with a central idea, usually a problem. In this case , that idea was the desperation; a young woman faced with no way to make a living and no family to fall back upon.
In
the early history of the US, there was very little in the way of welfare. The
need for aid began to force change and new systems were slowly put into place.
Very slowly. There was no organized social welfare program in our country until
1935. Before that, the stress on society was huge and several different systems
were created to serve as a relief valve – one of those was the orphan trains.
The
orphan trains existed from the mid-1800’s to the early 1900’s. As a result of
poverty in homes where the parents engaged in crime, or abused alcohol, or were
unfit in some other way, there were children who were abandoned or forced to
live on the street. Many were orphaned when they lost their parents in one of
the epidemic waves of typhoid, yellow fever, or the flu that swept across our
nation. Labeled as ‘street urchins’ or ‘street Arabs’, these orphaned children
were considered a problem in cities. Worthy of note was that a good majority of
these children were of Irish descent.
Led
by a minister from New York by the name of Charles Loring Brace, The Children’s
Aid society was founded in 1853. Although
orphanages and asylums did exist, Reverend Brace deemed that these homeless
children would benefit from a loving family, an opportunity to work, and ample fresh
air. Who wouldn’t? Right? This idea came to fruition in the creation of the Orphan
Trains. Unfortunately, not every child found that loving family life at the end
of their journey. What wasn’t known or heeded at the time was that Mr. Brace
was well known for his anti-Catholic sentiments. In his mind, he wanted to take
the unfortunate Catholics off the dirty city streets in order to introduce them
to Protestantism.
Several
other programs began to feed homeless children onto the Orphan Trains – the New
York Foundling Asylum and The New England Home For Little Wanderers in Boston.
I find the names for these organizations to be a little on the creepy side,
like from an indie horror film. Maybe, it’s just me.
As
industrialization brought more people to the cities and railroads were
constructed, this influx both exacerbated the problem and seemed to create a
solution. The railroads leading west offered an avenue of relocating this
excess of problem youth to another location. That sounds cold, doesn’t it?
Well…it was.
These
associations and others began to ship unwanted and orphaned children in groups
on trains out to families or farms on the frontier. Indentured forms were
filled out by the people who accepted the child, with indenture lasting until
they were at least eighteen years of age. It’s sad to note that the majority of
these children who were sent to be taken in by the families out west were never
adopted at all, but became indentured servants. Adopted children, by law, were
entitled to the same treatment as a birth child, including inheritance.
Indentured children, of course, did not receive any of those benefits or
protections.
Between
the years 1854 to 1929, the orphan trains shipped in excess of 200,000 homeless
children, ages two to fourteen from the East Coast to the Midwest and beyond to
be adopted or taken in for foster care. Now, we know many ended up little
better off than slaves. After the Civil War when slaves were freed, this left a
gap in the labor force. In many cases, the riders of the orphan trains filled
that gap.
This
unfortunate page in our history is not well known. It’s not a comfortable
historical truth to run across. When King’s Fancy was free, it garnered one
reviewer who questioned that indentured servants even existed in the US at that
time. We’re more used to the term ‘indentured’ being used when the colonies
were being formed and people were sold into servitude as they migrated to America.
But to have children who were born here, American citizens, being placed into indentured
servitude is something we’d rather not dwell on. Thus, many are not aware of
this blot on our record.
Perhaps
it wasn’t the fault of the nuns and the operators of those Eastern asylums and
orphanages to think they were providing a better life for the children. Westward
expansion and life on a farm or ranch were being idealized to a great extent by
journalists, writers, and those who read their work. Of course, it was also
true that the act of shipping these unwanted children out West made them
someone else’s problems. Of course, one thing that made this flawed plan work
out as well as it did was due to the need for cheap labor in the West. The
children were caught between a rock and a hard place – a risky move to an
unknown future or the reality of urban poverty.
Imagine
with me this uncomfortable and sad scene: A train full of street urchins,
orphans, and those deemed to be juvenile delinquents are herded onto a train
and sent west. When they reach the first town, they’re pulled off, and put on
display on makeshift stages. The townspeople assemble and are encouraged to
inspect the children, to examine their teeth, to feel of their muscles. They wore
a cloth patch on their shirt which showed their names. Some possessed birth or
baptismal certificates, some didn’t. Most did have an indenture paper which
would legalize the exchange. Seems very barbaric to me.
Anyone
interested could select one or more of these children to take home with them. Those
who were not chosen were put back on the train and suffered through the same
scenario in town after town. When they were chosen, there was no system in
place to check the suitability of those taking the children or the circumstances
they were offering. True, some families were really looking for children to
adopt, but others just needed extra hands to work the farm or take care of
their house.
The
main objective of those back East was to find a ‘good home’ for the child, alas
– this term was very loosely defined and rarely enforced. The youngest, the
infants, were first to be chosen. Boys were wanted for their ability to do
manual labor. Last and least wanted were girls – like Fancy. We’d like to think
that the majority of these kids found a home where they were loved, but we fear
that many walked a much rockier path.
When
one studies the accounts of these children who rode the orphan train, you’ll
find something even more disconcerting…for many were neither adopted or
indentured. Their fate is unknown, they just slipped through the cracks. No one
knows if they were abused, or became victims of violence, or even sexual
exploitation. This is hard for us to consider, but we must realize that the
modern thought about human rights and the innocence of childhood is a fairly
new concept. Laws to protect the defenseless were a long time coming – and even
now seem to be problematic.
As
I mentioned earlier, many of the riders of the orphan trains were Irish
children. Fancy, in my book, KING’S FANCY, was of Irish descent with her
strawberry red hair and freckles. Today, in our oft confused state of what is
racism and what is not, we don’t want to remember that the Irish weren’t always
considered to be white - which is mind-boggling to me. Irish folk were
sometimes considered to be no more than savages, in part because they were
mostly Catholic. The anti-Irish sentiment was rampant in some areas. One
newspaper article stated that the orphan trains would not allow redheads –
which would have been unfortunate for Fancy. In summation, Catholicism in
America at that time wasn’t considered to be a form of Christianity. As a
person descended from Louisiana Cajun Catholics, this is hard for me to
swallow. This shift in racial identity is a process we don’t often explore.
Injustice,
unfortunately, comes in many forms. We tend to push what we don’t know and
understand away. In Britain, the Scotch-Irish were pushed to Ireland and in
Ireland they were pushed to America. The reformers of welfare shipped the
unfortunate children, some of whom were Irish, westward. The Native Americans
were pushed even further westward, even to reservations, where their children
were forcibly sent to boarding schools where their very culture was forbidden.
All
of this together, paints an ugly picture that isn’t pleasant to look at.
Orphan
trains and indentured servants were just part of that picture – but a very real
part.
Here
is an excerpt from KING’S FANCY. In this excerpt Fancy speaks of the orphan
trains and it also introduces the hero of the next in my Wild West Series –RENO’S JOURNEY
Fancy
was talking too much, she knew she was – but she was nervous, and she didn’t
know how to stop. “I’m so glad you came along when you did, Mr. Black. If you
hadn’t, I probably would’ve tried to walk to the ranch. I didn’t want to
disappoint Mr. Ramsay, not after he’s so kindly agreed to marry me. I know my
weaknesses and I can’t afford to neglect so kind an offer, I probably wouldn’t
get another one.”
Reno
listened, speaking when he got a chance. “You wouldn’t have gotten far on an
empty stomach, that’s for sure.”
“Yes,
your arrival was very fortuitous.” She clasped her hands in her lap and sighed.
“I love it out here, this is so different from anywhere I’ve been before. The
countryside is gorgeous. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of looking at these
rolling green hills and beautiful limestone cliffs.” Fancy sighed. “I’ve never
belonged anywhere or to anyone before. I just can’t wait to get to my new home.
I’ll be the best wife any man has ever had.”
“Fortuitous
is a fancy word, Miss Fancy,” Reno chuckled. “You must have excelled in
school.”
Fancy
laughed. “I’m self-taught. Mostly. I worked for a school master for a year and
a half. He let me use his library.” She smiled, remembering Mr. Tomlinson with
fondness. He’d been easy to please and kind to her when it mattered. “At other
times books weren’t so easy to come by.” Her voice lowered to a near whisper.
“I remember once getting beaten for borrowing a novel at another place I lived.
They accused me of stealing, I spent a few days incarcerated. They were going
to…molest me, but I wasn’t pretty enough. They just whipped me and let me go.”
Reno
didn’t know how to react. The information she passed along was said so
offhandedly. He felt anger build up within him at anyone who would raise a hand
at so defenseless a creature. “King has a wall full of books, that’s one thing
you two will have in common.”
Fancy
hugged herself when a shiver of anticipation made her tremble with excitement.
“I look forward to many exciting discussions with my husband.”
Knowing
Cap’s feelings about his ex-fiancée, he was still having trouble processing the
fact that King had connected with this unusual woman and offered to marry her.
“Why were you working in so many different jobs?”
“To
survive,” she said simply. “My parents died when I was small, and I was placed
in an orphanage. When I turned eight, they placed me on one of the orphan trains.
I was taken off in St. Louis and bought by a family with four small children.”
“Bought?”
“Yea,
that’s the way the orphan trains worked for most kids. Some were adopted out to
families, but most were sold to farms and factories for an indentured servant’s
price. If you can’t save up to buy your own freedom, you’re sold to someone
else for a profit and the price goes up.” She sighed. “It’s very difficult.”
“How
did you escape the system?” He was beginning to see that he wasn’t the only one
with problems.
Fancy
gave him a satisfied grin. “I was rewarded for a good deed, a deed I would’ve
done a thousand times over for nothing.” At his quizzical look, she elaborated.
“A house in the neighborhood caught fire and I happened to be passing by. When
I heard the little girls screaming, I couldn’t walk away. I raced into the
building and brought them out.”
“By
yourself?” Reno was astonished.
“Yes,
there was no time to wait for the fire brigade. There were other people
standing about, but I was younger and faster, I guess.” She rubbed her palms,
which still bore the scars. “Their father was very glad to have them safe and
sound. He gave me a reward large enough to buy my freedom. There was even a
write up in the newspaper.” She blushed profusely. “They took my photograph.”
Fancy looked up at Reno. “Did you happen to see the article?”
“No,
I didn’t. Sorry.”
She
nodded, understanding. “After leaving St. Louis, I traveled to Kansas City. Of
course, I worked there also, but the jobs were my choice. For the most part, I
was treated fairly,” she told him calmly. “It is very hard for a woman to make
it on her own, so I decided to try and find a husband.” She straightened her
skirt and sat up primly. “I am almost certain that King saw the write-up about
me in the paper. What other reason could there be for him to notice me?”
Reno didn’t have a clue. This was all a
surprise to him. “The sun will be going down soon. I’m sorry you aren’t
chaperoned properly, but I think it would be wise to stop for the night. You
can sleep in the back of the wagon and I’ll put a bedroll down by the
campfire.”
“Camping
out!” Fancy was all smiles. “I think this will be a grand adventure.”
Once
he stopped, she helped him by gathering wood and settling the horses for the
night. “I don’t have any food for us with me, I wasn’t expecting company.”
“No
problem.” She patted her stomach. “I’m still stuffed from the stew.”
“Well,
I have water.” He held up the canteen. “When you’re thirsty, just say so.”
“These
accommodations are first class,” Fancy assured him. “I’ve spent many nights in
much worse circumstances.”
Her
reassurance didn’t go very far in making Reno feel better. He still felt like
he was walking into a trap of some kind. “Well, catch some shut-eye. The sooner
we go to sleep, the sooner we can get on the road.”
“I’ll
be out like a light in just a few seconds.” Fancy settled down on the blanket
he’d left for her, her mind racing with the possibilities that tomorrow held.
Love, Sable
3 comments:
Wow! What a lot of history, and some of it so sad. I knew about the orphan trains, how some kids were adopted and others not, but the way the Catholic religion was viewed, I didn't know, and I'm Catholic. That is an era that is seldom talked about in church. (The same applies to the Irish people not being considered white. Strange.) Thank you for sharing Sable. and thanks for the excerpt. Loved it!
Your comment about Catholics was true even as Kennedy was being elected. There was a great deal of discussion about having a Catholic in the White House.
It is good to be reminded that the stylized version many have of the West and its history was more complex than most imagined. Doris
Thank you Julie and Renaissance Woman - I do appreciate our comments. And yes it is so strange to imagine - I do remember my parents speaking of Kennedy's election. Of course, they were Yellow Dog Democrats and embraced whoever ran on the ticket. Prejudices both past and current are difficult too fathom
sometimes. Thank you both for taking time to read my post. I love history and research as much as I do writing and combining the
three is a joy.
Sable
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