CBS Orphan Trains Report
Madeline F. Wills Kurtz
No amount of orphanages could hold all the homeless children. But Brace had an idea. He wanted to send as many children as possible west to find homes with farm families.
They rode the Orphan Trains New York's homeless children sought better lives in the Midwest. Many found the home they never had with families in Missouri and other states.
Marion Bright 1909 Warrensburg MO.
1909 Tamre Brooks was taken by Abbey Clark Bright and her brother Ed may have been involved. (from official records)
1909 Tamre Brooks was taken by Abbey Clark Bright and her brother Ed may have been involved. (from official records)
A. C. came to Missouri in a controversial late 1800′s to early 1900s program that sent trainloads of young orphans from the East Coast to the Midwest. Adopted by the Young family who preceded the Cheatham's in the banking industry, A. C. would go on to serve our country in World War I and become the State Commander of the American Legion.
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| Augustus C. "Gus" Bass Orphan Train Adoptee Warrensburg, Missouri American Legion Commander Photograph 1946   |
Augustus Bass, Warrensburg, MO 1896, Mrs. Russell Magees lived with the Young family. (from official records)
Children from New York's orphanages came to the Midwest by the trainload in a huge migration that lasted 75 years. Estimates put the number of children relocated at 150,000 to 400,000, with some 100,000 coming to Missouri.
Picture the plight of the poor immigrant coming to America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In most cases, they left poverty and oppression. Unfortunately, they often discovered conditions were little better in the new world The immigrants found few jobs. There was no labor union, no sick leave, and no insurance. A steady supply of willing replacements meant low wages and appalling conditions. Worse, dangerous jobs meant numerous accidents and no safety net for those who suffered disabilities.
Madeline Wills Kurtz
In 1854 estimates put the number of homeless children in New York City at 34,000. Clearly, something had to be done for this class of people called "street Arabs" or "the dangerous classes". Small wonder the children of these families suffered terribly. Many found their parents unable to care for them, and in desperation turned to the streets to sell newspapers, beg for food or steal to get by.
Moved by what he saw around him, Charles Loring Brace founded the Children's Aid Society of New York in 1853. Ordained as a Methodist minister, Brace decided at age 26 that he wasn't cut out to preach. He found his calling instead among the cast-off waifs of New York City.
He tried to establish schools to teach them skills they would need to find work. But attendance was poor and few learned a trade.
"In every American community, especially in a western one, there are many spare places at the table of life," Brace wrote. "There is no harassing struggle for existence. They have enough for themselves and the stranger too."
Brace's plan was simple. He would send notices to Midwest towns announcing the time and data a train-load of orphans would be arriving. The trains would leave New York City carrying the children and two adult agents from the society.
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| Orphan Train |
| Wanted HOMES for CHILDREN |
| A company of homeless children from the East will arrive at TROY, Missouri., ON FRIDAY, FEB. 25th, 1910 |
 WM. YOUNG G. W. COLBERT |
| An address will be made by the agent. Come and see the children and hear the address. Distribution will take place at the Opera House, Friday, Feb. 25, at 1:30 p.m. |
B. W. TICE and MISS A. L. HILL, Agents, 105 E. 22nd St., New York City. Rev. J. W. SWAN, University Place, Nebraska, Western Agent |
The advertisement on which the above is based appeared in the Troy Free Press on Feb 11, 1910. Troy, Missouri is in Lincoln County.
As the train made its stops the children would be paraded in front of the crowd of onlookers. Some needed another farm hand. Others genuinely wanted to give a child a home. The train left a small part of its cargo at each stop until finally, all the children found homes. The first such "orphan train" went to Dowagiac, Michigan, in 1854. The trains would run for 75 years with the last one pulling into Trenton, [Grundy County] Missouri in 1929.
Missouri's location as a railroad crossroads made it the perfect destination for many trains. Researchers estimate that 150,000 to 400,000 orphans were sent west. As many as 100,000 may have been placed in Missouri.
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| Orphans Boarding the Trains like this one came to Warrensburg, Holden - Missouri and into Kansas |
Brace's group wasn't the only one sending orphans to the rural Midwest. Catholic Charities of New York also got into the act, perhaps because they saw Catholic children being placed in Protestant homes. In 1869 the Sisters of Mercy started the New York Foundling Hospital. Soon the Catholic group was sending its own "mercy trains" west.
While following Brace's lead, the Catholic trains differed in that they found homes for the children before they left New York. The parish priest served on the screening committee. He would announce the trains from the pulpit and those who wanted a child signed up, specifying whether they wanted a boy or a girl.
One of the orphans who came to Missouri from the Foundling Hospital was Irma Craig Schnieders. Irma arrived in Osage City [Osage County] in May of 1901 when she was just shy of her third birthday. She had the number 32 pinned to her dress. The George Boehm family from nearby Taos [Cole County] had a matching number.
Irma told her children that she was pampered by her new family. She loved them and in return was loved by her foster parents. In the home, German was spoken, and Irma had to learn the new language.
Her foster mother died when Irma was 10 and she went to live with a second family. She was accepted by the community, went to St. Francis Xavier School until eighth grade, and was class valedictorian. She went to college at what was then the Warrensburg Normal School, became a teacher, married, and raised eight children.
Hers was a happy tale, as was that of Mary Ellen Pollock, an orphan train rider who spoke on June 14, 1997, at a reunion of orphan train riders and their descendants in Taos.
Mary Ellen came to Sedalia [Pettis County] in 1923 because the agent, the Rev. J. W. Swan, knew her grandparents who lived there. She was five months old when she rode the train west, and a couple from East St. Louis adopted her. They never told her she was adopted.
One day while her mother was at a church meeting Mary Ellen opened the strongbox she knew was in the closet. Inside she found her adoption papers. She was around 10 years old but kept the secret without ever telling her parents she knew.
"Back then children were seen and not heard," she said. "No one in the family ever mentioned it though they must have known. It didn't bother me. I had a good life."
She remembers that whatever she asked for she usually got, "not because they were rich but because they did without."
Others were less fortunate. Jessie Teresa Martin of Hays, Kansas says orphans like her were "a disgrace to the town. We were told, 'no one likes you; your mother didn't.'"
Jessie was 9 days old when her mother took her to the New York Foundling Hospital. When she was 4 she rode an orphan train to Kansas and found a new home. While she didn't feel loved, she was treated well.
In 1979 Jessie began searching for her relatives. That's when she discovered her parents had been Jewish, and that they had named her Jessie. (Her foster parents named her Teresa.) "My mother was Jewish. They took all religions (at the hospital) but you didn't leave until you were Catholic."
Today Jessie embraces both faiths, wearing a cross and a Star of David wherever she goes. "There was a time when I didn't have a relative in the world," she says. "Now I have 14 grandchildren and 29 great-grandchildren."
No one knows why the orphan trains ended. A 1901 Missouri law banning them certainly wasn't effective because it was never enforced. Most likely the social programs that came about in the 1930s made them unnecessary.
In many cases the orphan train experiment was successful, in others, the right match between foster parent and orphan didn't happen. There were instances of abuse and neglect, forced labor, and not enough food.
But there were far more who opened their doors for all the right reasons, like the Markway family of Wardsville [Cole County] which had 12 children but found room for one more. The orphan trains represented one of the most tragic and at the same time heartwarming stories in Missouri's history.
The story of the orphan train has a place in the history of just about every Missouri town located anywhere near a railroad. These tales of kindness and cruelty, of hope amid despair are being preserved so that others can know the orphan train story.
From Rural Missouri, July 1997. Reprinted with permission.
For more information about the orphan trains, contact The Orphan Train Heritage Society of America, 614 East Ema Av., Suite 115, Springdale, AR 72764.
We are hoping to make a connection and piece our lost family together.
Between 1910 and 1911 in New York 2 siblings were placed out and on the Orphan Train to Missouri.
They were Elizabeth S Fuller born about 1904/1905 and her brother William C Fuller Born about 1907, both in New York. They are said to have about 5/6 other siblings. The family story is that due to financial problems were the youngest they were given up. They arrived in Warrensburg Missouri. They were lucky to both be taken in by John Millar and their wife Mary and raised by them.
Both are deceased now but the family is trying to fill in the pietheirf their family before Missouri. We are contacting all the agencies that may have had involvement and of course the Orphan Train Group.
We are seeking to find any family of the siblings that were left behind. The children that made their way to Missouri were young and remembered little except the train ride.
If there is anyone out there to who this sounds familiar PLEASE CONTACT ME. There is a family out there looking
Thanks, VaGirl
‘Sent West’: An American orphan story
While studying a 19th-century record book of children from the orphanage in my old New Jersey neighborhood, I noticed that a number of them ended up a long way from the Garden State.
Every so often a group of names appeared with repeated notations in the “where sent” column:
To Columbus, Missouri.
With J.P. Brace to Columbus, Missouri.
To Warrensburg, Missouri.
In one case, six children all carried the same notation:
Sent West with the Children’s Aid Society.
Anyone familiar with studies of foundlings in 19th-century America would look twice at that.
Founded in New York City by Charles Loring Brace in 1853, the Children’s Aid Society promoted a radically different vision of child welfare from what prevailed before. Brace rejected the almshouse/workhouse model of warehousing the poor. Instead, he believed programs should nurture children and encourage self-sufficiency. He championed free kindergartens, job training, reading rooms, supervised lodging houses for boys — and the Orphan Trains.
Orphans recently arrived in the West. Image in the collection of National Orphan Train Complex, Concordia, Kansas.
The basic plan, begun in 1853, was to relocate impoverished urban children to farm families in rural areas. New England and rural New York State were early destinations. After the Civil War, the emphasis shifted westward. Between 1865-74 nearly 1,000 children per year were sent to Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Michigan, and other Midwestern states.
Missouri and Kansas are the two states specifically mentioned in the ledger for the Children’s Home in my neighborhood, and several other entries say only “West.”
In a few entries, a “J.P. Brace” is listed as accompanying the children westward. This strengthens the possibility of the home’s link with the Orphan Trains. James P. Brace was Charles’ brother, and one of the most prominent of the “Western Agents” who shepherded Orphan Train children to the West. When James died in 1881 of a fever contracted in Missouri during one of his Orphan Train trips, the New York Times eulogized him: “The thousands of boys who journeyed with him from the great Metropolis, where sin and temptation abound, to the West, where through his influence, bright and happy homes awaited them, will ever remember him with thankful hearts.”
Not everyone agreed with that, even during the Brace brothers’ lifetimes. Some modern scholars contend that the Orphan Train movement often equated poverty with bad parenting, pressuring the poor to surrender children to the trains to “give them a real chance,” rather than emphasizing ways of keeping families together. Some children were abused and exploited. (There were also success stories. Two Orphan Train boys, John Brady, and Andrew Burke, eventually became governors of Alaska and North Dakota, respectively.)
The ledger I studied contained both kinds of orphanage stories — those that ended with a parent finding their feet and reuniting the family, and those that ended with a child being surrendered to adoption and, perhaps, a journey west. Although the Children’s Home worked closely with the Orphan Train movement, it didn’t seem to rely on its philosophy totally.
When I was a child, the big Victorian was a place where we played hide-and-seek and rode our bicycles. I never would have imagined it as a staging point for the frontier. But that, apparently, is what it was for some of the children who came there long ago.
Further reading: The National Orphan Train Complex website includes wonderful illustrations and educational materials. The Children’s Aid Society’s official site contains an overview of Brace and his career. Finally, here is a detailed look at the orphans and how they ended up on the trains.
The Orphan Trains PBS info
Missouri Orphan Trains File transcribed and contributed for use in the
Orphan Train Heritage Society of America, Inc. USGenWeb Archives by Mary Ellen Johnson, director
USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent.
Birth First Name Birth Surname Adopted/Other Surname Adopted?
Birth year Town took to State taken to Year taken on the train Person submitting information
Walter Adair? Linhorst yes 1904 Hillsboro MO 1913 Judith Biegner Edmund J. Anderson Grimes? 1877 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Viola May Avery/Every 1883 Racine MO 1898/99
Eda Olney lived with the Gilstrap family and Mary Bailey Smith? 1876 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Henry Benjamin Bartlett 1873 Maryville MO 1881 Evelyn Bartlett Flood granddaughter
Augustus Bass America Baschetta Testerman? 1880 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS.
Warrensburg MO 1896 Mrs. Russell Magees lived with the Young family
Dorothy Mae Baylord Crenshaw 1898 Maitland MO Beulah Still
Dorothy Bond McPike yes 1902 Vandalia MO 1910 Elenore Shewe stayed was ith twin sister, Susie
Edith Beatty 1900 Mexico MO 1907 Dorothy Hougland
August Bowers No 1865 Fayette MO 1908 Allie Mae Dickey relationship-daughter; had 1 brother and 2 sisters Susie Bond McPike yes 1902 Vandalia MO 1910 Elenore Shewe stayed with a twin sister, Dorothy
Francis Brogan 1899 Jefferson City MO 1900/1901 Jeannine Stegeman George Boyle 1889 Mound City MO Louise E. Heck lived with William Praisewater family Frank William Brower No 1881 Neosho MO 1873 Harvey Brower relationship-grandson
James Burleson Cuba MO June Albrecht had a brother placed in another state Harold Brummer 1900? Plattsburg MO 1888? Helen Farr lived with Dan Loutermilcks family Margaret Burke No 1908 St. Louis MO 1904 Margaret Carstens OTR Isiah Ansen Cale Warren Counts 1915 Mt. Vernon MO 1912 Mrs. Violet L. Counts born in Kingston NY
William Noble Cawthorn 1863 Princeton? MO 1903 Elsie Nelson brother: Isaac; lived with Gilbert family Gracie Campbell Brown 1900 Joplin MO 1903 Iris M. Goucher Mabel Carmody Wallace 1898 Tarkio MO 1880s Dixie J. Cook Mabel Carmody 1899 Tarkio MO 1908 Dianne Pier born in NJ relationship-great niece Edward Chester 1881 Quitman MO 1917 Marjory Wheeler
Peter Cornell 1854 Burlington Junction MO 1861 Charles Cornell born in Schoharie Co., NY Bessie Cohen/Kahn Rose Mary Gentges 1899 Frankenstein MO 1899 Geraldine Robertson Rose Colen? Hazel Marie Becker 1909 St. Charles MO 1884 Hazel McCann OTR Elizabeth Conlin Bessie Elizabeth Bartmess 1894 Milan MO 1897? Eunice Reeser married name: Stroh
Henry Delong 1885 Kirksville MO Rhoda Prall lived with Rudd family Irma Craig 1888 Osage City MO 1901 Shirley Andrews relationship-daughter married name Schneider Edith Curran 1902 Versailles MO 1897 Mary Ann Meek Annie Davis 1882 Mexico MO 1901 Ken Polston lived with White family; married name: Fox Alfred Dean Conine? 1882 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS
Mary Katherine Eidman or Eidmon 1900 Slater MO 1907 Gary Wayne Dennis relationship-grandson Burford Dine King City MO Mary Sealey Ezekial Dougherty 1879 Fairfax MO 1913 Mrs. Albert Evans lived with Jerry and Florence Evans Annie Driscoll Otto 1898 Lynn MO 1909? Jeri Sorenson Anna Dulio Tindill Greenfield MO Valparaiso, IN Newspaper 2-Mar-98 William Dunlap Taylor 1898 Rockport MO Carlon and Vicky Taylor
Alfred Bernard Fexeck Frazier no 1907 Salisbury MO Holly Seiler "JW Swan transported us-put name tags on our sleeves" ran away at 16 Leela Mable Eisele no 1896 Centralia MO 1908 Russell Plybon placed by CAS with Arison and Ellen Burnette Emma Farren MO Ruthena Grimes lived with Bridewell family John Farron or Farrin John Farron Longdon 1890 Lexington MO 1922 James Duncan name on 1900 census was John Houston Steve Ferns 1889 St. Elizabeth MO 1901 Luella Buhman possibly had an older sister
Matilda Frank Rose Ellen Rogers No 1892 Higginsville MO 1860? Rosemary Keys Ernest Finger Ernest Henry Howes Yes 1897 Kirksville MO 1912 E. Gene Howes relationship-son; 2 brothers, Floyd and an older one Christopher C. Fitzgerald same 1856 Breckenridge MO Dr. Paul R. Fitzgerald 2 sisters: Julia and Mary Harvey Flanagan Harry Leo Harritz 1897 Marceline MO 1889 Sara Deatherage died at age 26 in train accident Mary Elizabeth Frances Dorothy/Dot Luesley 1897 Springfield MO Thomas Purnell, Jr. married name: Purnell
John Hamilton 1885 Marshall MO John R. Walden Margaret Gibbs? Furst 1902 St. Charles MO Leona Smith Emily Gindele Clinton MO Patty Dromeshauser Mary Gindele Clinton MO 1877 Patty Dromeshauser Robert Walter Goodwin no 1872 St. Louis MO 1872-1880 Robert Walter Goodwin III 4 brothers William Orm Graff 1905 MO James Bishop Henry Seward Gridley Sisson Yes 1900 Bowling Green MO 1925 Tom W. Sisson relationship-son Mabel Elizabeth Gumersell Erickson 1896 Mound City MO Norma Poling
Erath Heild Gruber? 1879 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Frank Hanko Frank Hanko Brown 1885 Neosho MO Rosemary Garretson relationship-daughter; had 1 brother and 1 sister T. Sidney Harvey Harley 1906 Centralia MO 1883 T. Sidney Harley OTR; had 1 sister Emily; lived w/ Dr. S. E. Harley family Joseph Hastely 1892 Pilot Grove MO 1887 Lawrence Lang baptized on March 16, 1892, in NYFH chapel Phillip Hatt Allen? 1876 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Ida Heild Gruber? 1883 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS
Sophia Marie Kaminsky/Kamin/Kaminski Greim Yes 1915 Springfield MO 1914 Sophia Kral OTR Thomas Ernest Higham Ernest Thomas Eddleman No 1903 Vandalia MO 1906 Mrs. Velma Schutz Elizabeth Jane Hobbs 1862 Eaglesville MO Sr. Anne Brigid relationship-great granddaughter Augustine Hoffman 1898 Brinktown MO 1925 mary Otto lived with Anna Brink family Henry Hopkins 1890 Monett MO Henry Hopkins Frank Howard 1859 Clark County MO Frank Howard taken in by Mr. Frazier who lived near Fairmont Ernest Howes MO Velma A. Coll Henry Jost Hopkins MO 1881 Annette Fry became mayor of Kansas City, MO in 1912
Mattice Lester Studer yes 1913 Falls City MO 1917/18 Lester Studer William Mattice came with Lester. Wm. Died 5/17/39 Anna Katz Richmond MO Betty Cary Brownfield brother Anthony, taken by neighbor farmer August Katz Richmond MO Betty Cary Brownfield German in origin, taken by Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio Anthony Lon Kemp King City MO Mary Sealey Celia or Cecilia Kimmick Krumrey Yes 1908 Ballwin MO Mary Ann Druhe relationship-daughter Monmouth Kinney Manning? 1875 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS William Knapp Shades 1911 Maryville MO 1895 Helen Shades sister, Eva Arthur Lawyer 1902 Savannah MO 1887 John W. Murphy Noah Lawyer? Lawyer? Sleeper MO 1914 Helen Berg
James Lewis McCarthy 1896 MO 1911 James M. Melton relationship-son William Luster No 1897 St. Louis MO Della Luster Lang relationship-daughter; had a brother, Jesse Jennie MacDowell Holman yes Lebanon MO 1910 History of Laclede Co., Missouri placed in the home of Joe and Belle Holman of Orla Harry MacDowell Lebanon MO 1910 History of Laclede Co., Missouri sister was Jennie Holman, placed in home on another side of town Marie Martin Stahlschmidt 1899 West Alton MO Anita Stimac Clarence Martine Walcott? 1876 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Addie McAndrew Thrykill MO Mardelle M. Davis relationship-granddaughter
Richard Miller 1885? Fayette MO 1896 Sandra Maenner lived with the Thompson family William McCarty 1867 Roanoke MO 1877 William McCarty picked up on the streets of NY with other boys placed with James Robertson Otis Royal McGaw 1902 Wright County MO 1910 Ann Duckworth Had a sister named Helen McGaw William Menshon Normile? 1874 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Frank Paul Michalson Tingler 1882 Maryville MO 1903 Leland Puttcamp lived with Tingler family; brother, William Jacob Gretchen Mikel Murphy? 1875 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Robert Miles Robert Frances Summers 1891 Lexington MO 1891-1897 Robert Francis Summers II Placed with Luke and Mary Ellen Summers
Amelia (Emily) Obrieste Starke 1897 Dixon MO 1913 Ruth Starke Leonard Milton, Wilton? Leonard Winget yes 1906 Versailles MO 1913 Leonard Winget placed through the CAS and taken by Ulysses Grant and Fannie Winget Charles James Monroe 1896? Springfield MO 1923-24 Lucille Monroe Garrett Charles Moss 1883 Stansberry MO Darlene Simpson had a brother Elijah Nelson Zannow 1881 Oronogo MO Virginia Charleston, Carrie Ness Sevier? 1875 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Alfrieda Newholm Sullivan 1910 Lamar MO Alfrieda Smith Edward John Newman Trenton MO 1929 Newman Brothers OTR found a brother, Peter Smith in Rogersville MO Frank Nyburg Dickey? 1875 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Gustav Ornes 1902 Versailles MO 1889 Lynne L. Ornes Norman Ornes MO 1909 Velma A. Coll had 3 brothers
Albert Richter No 1890 Freeburg MO 1892-93 Bernice Chappie relationship-daughter Norman Ornes MO 1909 Velma A. Coll had 3 brothers William Outwater Cloud? 1881 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS George T. Outwater Manning? 1879 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Jason Outwater Bradfield? 1883 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Desdemona Patterson Schoenborn? 1879 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Katherine Peckman Monroe City MO Annette Fry placed in the home of Lute and Maud Fitchen Julia Pepple Watts 1898 Osage City MO Mrs. Donald Joannes married name: Koetting George Wendell Reiss 1887 Mountain Grove MO 1904 Wendell B. Reiss brother Louis stayed in NY Albert Richter No 1890 Freeburg MO 1892-93 Bernice Chappie relationship-daughter
James Edward Rimmer 1869 MO Harriett Rimmer Joyce Rifenberg Greenfield MO Helen Berg father named Howard Rifenberg Joyce Rifenberg Greenfield MO Helen Berg father named Howard Rifenberg Howard Rifenburg Lebanon MO 1909 History of Laclede Co., Missouri Lucy Rifenburg Lebanon MO 1909 History of Laclede Co., Missouri mother died and father was in the coal mines Nelson Rifenburg Lebanon MO 1909 History of Laclede Co., Missouri came in a group of 12 children Steve Rifenburg no Lebanon MO 1909 History of Laclede Co., Missouri placed in the home of Joel Davis of Morgan Virgil Rifenburg Lebanon MO 1909 History of Laclede Co., Missouri Hazel Ethel Riley Nicholas 1896 Burlington Junction MO 1925 Marty E. Goodwin relationship-g/granddaughter; had 1 brother, Robert William Riley Springston 1875 Troy MO 1899, Richard Springston
Carmen Shanahan Roloff yes 1914 Brookfield MO 1916 Marjorie Bagley placed through NYFH and adopted by Robert Roloff Emma Roe Elkins or Elkinhhaus 1899 Mound City MO 1901 Emma Elkins born to Christopher Elkinhaus and Catherine B. List Catherine Agnes Rowe (Roue) Nold Yes 1893 Pilot Grove MO Wanda Donaghue relationship-granddaughter Stella M. Sarten Stella M. Rinker Aurora MO 1900 Mrs. Gene Reid married name: Reid Frank Schuman Needham 1880 Pierce City MO Shirley James relationship-granddaughter; 3 siblings: Charles, Henry, Annie Sadie Schwartz/Swartz Bruckerhoff 1908 St. Louis MO Sadie Miederhoff married name: Brandel/Miederhoff Olga Sebala Anna Faye Popbes 1921 Monroe City MO Ann Wheat Francis Seiglar/Siglar Jimmy Johnson 1918 Maryvale MO 1893 Charlotte Jones Sophia Selle Obermeyer Savannah MO 1908 Ann Taylor.
Charles Webber Smith? 1877 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS CeCelia Sheehan Bell 1892 Higginsville MO 1907 Mrs. John Senko, Jr. had an older brother Fred Filmore Shoaf 1909 Farmington MO 1871 Bonnie H. Shoaf brother, Author Ray Shoaf Annie Smith Miller? 1879 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Charles St. John 1869 Spring Hill MO Shelly St. John Myrtle Standlea King City MO Mary Sealey Anna Sophia Stoning Stitt Burlington Junction MO 1898 Roberta Hahn sister Ella was also adopted; lived w/ Stitt family Rethal Ethel Turner No 1883 Jenkins/Galena/Cassville MO Frances Farley relationship-granddaughter; current last name: Larkin Rethel (Ethel) Turner Barry County MO Frances Sheldon Rethel (Ethel) Turner Barry County MO Geri Applegate Cornelius Van Tassel/Tassle 1906? Maryville MO Mary Mahg Ethel May Ward Fitch 1890 Ada MO Sue McIntire granddaughter William Weber Stilwell 1909 Butler MO Evelyn Stanfill John Joseph Welsh 1889 Pierce City MO Mary L. Droska relationship-daughter
Philopena Platzer 1897 Paris MO 1906 Philopena Platzer Mary Ann Wheeler 1890 West Plains MO Willard E. Innis lived with Davidson family Jennie Elizabeth Williamson Landreth 1910 Neosho MO Jean Landreth Sexton had 2 brothers: William and Kirk and sister, Alice Oliver Wright Gray 1915 Maryville MO 1921? Oliver Gray siblings: Greta, Harry, Marshall Harry Alfred Wright Pistole Yes 1911 Maryville MO 1900 Harry A. Pistole Vera Wright Lamar MO 1902/03 Republican Sentinel Robert Allen 1875? Harrisonville MO Mary Brackinridge he had 4 brothers and sisters, a twin brother Marion Bright yes 1909 Warrensburg MO 1909 Tamre Brooks taken by Abbey Clark Bright-her brother Ed may have been involved Archie Diekhaus 1892 Higginsville MO Donald A. Dieckhaus lived with Eugene and Emma Dieckhaus Gerald Fears Trenton MO Glen Danielson Katherine Fortune 1889 MO Charles M. Miller may have the middle name of Irene or May
Jennie Alice Holman Lebanon MO 1904 Donald Raymond, Jr. married name: Davis Henry G. Sisson Vandalia MO 1878 Peggy Diesel relationship-niece
Lela Idell LaVine Schnegelberger No 1914 MO? Lela Idell Newcombe OTR Anna 1898? St. Peters MO Lucille Florman Homer 1893 possibly St. Louis MO 1902 Nancy Baty current name: Homer Owsley Jim? 1899 Stoddard MO 1875 Jimmie Sue Rogers current name: Jim Patrick Jones Lamar MO 1892 Doris Flaker agents traveling w/ group were: M/M C. E. Swan Irma Craig No 1898 Osage City, Cole County MO Shirley Andrews Relationship-Daughter David Graham Hoffman 1886? MO & TX Joan Willis Earl Clarence Shaw 1916? MO or AR Carrie Ann Shaw had a brother and sister he could remember-sister maybe Margaret, he ran away from the farm at 13 Martha or Mattie Stewart No 1862 MO or KS 1914 Carol Elledge Relationship-Granddaughter
Thomas Albert Hamilton 1858 MO or MT 1901? Gloria J. Jackson's relationship-g/granddaughter; had 3 siblings.
Between 1910 and 1911 in New York 2 siblings were placed out and on the Orphan Train to Missouri.
They were Elizabeth S Fuller born about 1904/1905 and her brother William C Fuller Born about 1907, both in New York. They are said to have about 5/6 other siblings. The family story is that due to financial problems were the youngest they were given up. They arrived in Warrensburg Missouri. They were lucky to both be taken in by John Millar and their wife Mary and raised by them.
Both are deceased now but the family is trying to fill in the pietheirf their family before Missouri. We are contacting all the agencies that may have had involvement and of course the Orphan Train Group.
We are seeking to find any family of the siblings that were left behind. The children that made their way to Missouri were young and remembered little except the train ride.
If there is anyone out there to who this sounds familiar PLEASE CONTACT ME. There is a family out there looking
Thanks, VaGirl
‘Sent West’: An American orphan story
While studying a 19th-century record book of children from the orphanage in my old New Jersey neighborhood, I noticed that a number of them ended up a long way from the Garden State.
Every so often a group of names appeared with repeated notations in the “where sent” column:
To Columbus, Missouri.
With J.P. Brace to Columbus, Missouri.
To Warrensburg, Missouri.
In one case, six children all carried the same notation:
Sent West with the Children’s Aid Society.
Anyone familiar with studies of foundlings in 19th-century America would look twice at that.
Founded in New York City by Charles Loring Brace in 1853, the Children’s Aid Society promoted a radically different vision of child welfare from what prevailed before. Brace rejected the almshouse/workhouse model of warehousing the poor. Instead, he believed programs should nurture children and encourage self-sufficiency. He championed free kindergartens, job training, reading rooms, supervised lodging houses for boys — and the Orphan Trains.
The basic plan, begun in 1853, was to relocate impoverished urban children to farm families in rural areas. New England and rural New York State were early destinations. After the Civil War, the emphasis shifted westward. Between 1865-74 nearly 1,000 children per year were sent to Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Michigan, and other Midwestern states.
Missouri and Kansas are the two states specifically mentioned in the ledger for the Children’s Home in my neighborhood, and several other entries say only “West.”
In a few entries, a “J.P. Brace” is listed as accompanying the children westward. This strengthens the possibility of the home’s link with the Orphan Trains. James P. Brace was Charles’ brother, and one of the most prominent of the “Western Agents” who shepherded Orphan Train children to the West. When James died in 1881 of a fever contracted in Missouri during one of his Orphan Train trips, the New York Times eulogized him: “The thousands of boys who journeyed with him from the great Metropolis, where sin and temptation abound, to the West, where through his influence, bright and happy homes awaited them, will ever remember him with thankful hearts.”
Not everyone agreed with that, even during the Brace brothers’ lifetimes. Some modern scholars contend that the Orphan Train movement often equated poverty with bad parenting, pressuring the poor to surrender children to the trains to “give them a real chance,” rather than emphasizing ways of keeping families together. Some children were abused and exploited. (There were also success stories. Two Orphan Train boys, John Brady, and Andrew Burke, eventually became governors of Alaska and North Dakota, respectively.)
The ledger I studied contained both kinds of orphanage stories — those that ended with a parent finding their feet and reuniting the family, and those that ended with a child being surrendered to adoption and, perhaps, a journey west. Although the Children’s Home worked closely with the Orphan Train movement, it didn’t seem to rely on its philosophy totally.
When I was a child, the big Victorian was a place where we played hide-and-seek and rode our bicycles. I never would have imagined it as a staging point for the frontier. But that, apparently, is what it was for some of the children who came there long ago.
Further reading: The National Orphan Train Complex website includes wonderful illustrations and educational materials. The Children’s Aid Society’s official site contains an overview of Brace and his career. Finally, here is a detailed look at the orphans and how they ended up on the trains.
The Orphan Trains PBS info
Missouri Orphan Trains File transcribed and contributed for use in the
Orphan Train Heritage Society of America, Inc. USGenWeb Archives by Mary Ellen Johnson, director
USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent.
Birth year Town took to State taken to Year taken on the train Person submitting information
Walter Adair? Linhorst yes 1904 Hillsboro MO 1913 Judith Biegner Edmund J. Anderson Grimes? 1877 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Viola May Avery/Every 1883 Racine MO 1898/99
Eda Olney lived with the Gilstrap family and Mary Bailey Smith? 1876 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Henry Benjamin Bartlett 1873 Maryville MO 1881 Evelyn Bartlett Flood granddaughter
Augustus Bass America Baschetta Testerman? 1880 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS.
Warrensburg MO 1896 Mrs. Russell Magees lived with the Young family
Dorothy Mae Baylord Crenshaw 1898 Maitland MO Beulah Still
Dorothy Bond McPike yes 1902 Vandalia MO 1910 Elenore Shewe stayed was ith twin sister, Susie
Edith Beatty 1900 Mexico MO 1907 Dorothy Hougland
August Bowers No 1865 Fayette MO 1908 Allie Mae Dickey relationship-daughter; had 1 brother and 2 sisters Susie Bond McPike yes 1902 Vandalia MO 1910 Elenore Shewe stayed with a twin sister, Dorothy
Francis Brogan 1899 Jefferson City MO 1900/1901 Jeannine Stegeman George Boyle 1889 Mound City MO Louise E. Heck lived with William Praisewater family Frank William Brower No 1881 Neosho MO 1873 Harvey Brower relationship-grandson
James Burleson Cuba MO June Albrecht had a brother placed in another state Harold Brummer 1900? Plattsburg MO 1888? Helen Farr lived with Dan Loutermilcks family Margaret Burke No 1908 St. Louis MO 1904 Margaret Carstens OTR Isiah Ansen Cale Warren Counts 1915 Mt. Vernon MO 1912 Mrs. Violet L. Counts born in Kingston NY
William Noble Cawthorn 1863 Princeton? MO 1903 Elsie Nelson brother: Isaac; lived with Gilbert family Gracie Campbell Brown 1900 Joplin MO 1903 Iris M. Goucher Mabel Carmody Wallace 1898 Tarkio MO 1880s Dixie J. Cook Mabel Carmody 1899 Tarkio MO 1908 Dianne Pier born in NJ relationship-great niece Edward Chester 1881 Quitman MO 1917 Marjory Wheeler
Peter Cornell 1854 Burlington Junction MO 1861 Charles Cornell born in Schoharie Co., NY Bessie Cohen/Kahn Rose Mary Gentges 1899 Frankenstein MO 1899 Geraldine Robertson Rose Colen? Hazel Marie Becker 1909 St. Charles MO 1884 Hazel McCann OTR Elizabeth Conlin Bessie Elizabeth Bartmess 1894 Milan MO 1897? Eunice Reeser married name: Stroh
Henry Delong 1885 Kirksville MO Rhoda Prall lived with Rudd family Irma Craig 1888 Osage City MO 1901 Shirley Andrews relationship-daughter married name Schneider Edith Curran 1902 Versailles MO 1897 Mary Ann Meek Annie Davis 1882 Mexico MO 1901 Ken Polston lived with White family; married name: Fox Alfred Dean Conine? 1882 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS
Mary Katherine Eidman or Eidmon 1900 Slater MO 1907 Gary Wayne Dennis relationship-grandson Burford Dine King City MO Mary Sealey Ezekial Dougherty 1879 Fairfax MO 1913 Mrs. Albert Evans lived with Jerry and Florence Evans Annie Driscoll Otto 1898 Lynn MO 1909? Jeri Sorenson Anna Dulio Tindill Greenfield MO Valparaiso, IN Newspaper 2-Mar-98 William Dunlap Taylor 1898 Rockport MO Carlon and Vicky Taylor
Alfred Bernard Fexeck Frazier no 1907 Salisbury MO Holly Seiler "JW Swan transported us-put name tags on our sleeves" ran away at 16 Leela Mable Eisele no 1896 Centralia MO 1908 Russell Plybon placed by CAS with Arison and Ellen Burnette Emma Farren MO Ruthena Grimes lived with Bridewell family John Farron or Farrin John Farron Longdon 1890 Lexington MO 1922 James Duncan name on 1900 census was John Houston Steve Ferns 1889 St. Elizabeth MO 1901 Luella Buhman possibly had an older sister
Matilda Frank Rose Ellen Rogers No 1892 Higginsville MO 1860? Rosemary Keys Ernest Finger Ernest Henry Howes Yes 1897 Kirksville MO 1912 E. Gene Howes relationship-son; 2 brothers, Floyd and an older one Christopher C. Fitzgerald same 1856 Breckenridge MO Dr. Paul R. Fitzgerald 2 sisters: Julia and Mary Harvey Flanagan Harry Leo Harritz 1897 Marceline MO 1889 Sara Deatherage died at age 26 in train accident Mary Elizabeth Frances Dorothy/Dot Luesley 1897 Springfield MO Thomas Purnell, Jr. married name: Purnell
John Hamilton 1885 Marshall MO John R. Walden Margaret Gibbs? Furst 1902 St. Charles MO Leona Smith Emily Gindele Clinton MO Patty Dromeshauser Mary Gindele Clinton MO 1877 Patty Dromeshauser Robert Walter Goodwin no 1872 St. Louis MO 1872-1880 Robert Walter Goodwin III 4 brothers William Orm Graff 1905 MO James Bishop Henry Seward Gridley Sisson Yes 1900 Bowling Green MO 1925 Tom W. Sisson relationship-son Mabel Elizabeth Gumersell Erickson 1896 Mound City MO Norma Poling
Erath Heild Gruber? 1879 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Frank Hanko Frank Hanko Brown 1885 Neosho MO Rosemary Garretson relationship-daughter; had 1 brother and 1 sister T. Sidney Harvey Harley 1906 Centralia MO 1883 T. Sidney Harley OTR; had 1 sister Emily; lived w/ Dr. S. E. Harley family Joseph Hastely 1892 Pilot Grove MO 1887 Lawrence Lang baptized on March 16, 1892, in NYFH chapel Phillip Hatt Allen? 1876 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Ida Heild Gruber? 1883 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS
Sophia Marie Kaminsky/Kamin/Kaminski Greim Yes 1915 Springfield MO 1914 Sophia Kral OTR Thomas Ernest Higham Ernest Thomas Eddleman No 1903 Vandalia MO 1906 Mrs. Velma Schutz Elizabeth Jane Hobbs 1862 Eaglesville MO Sr. Anne Brigid relationship-great granddaughter Augustine Hoffman 1898 Brinktown MO 1925 mary Otto lived with Anna Brink family Henry Hopkins 1890 Monett MO Henry Hopkins Frank Howard 1859 Clark County MO Frank Howard taken in by Mr. Frazier who lived near Fairmont Ernest Howes MO Velma A. Coll Henry Jost Hopkins MO 1881 Annette Fry became mayor of Kansas City, MO in 1912
Mattice Lester Studer yes 1913 Falls City MO 1917/18 Lester Studer William Mattice came with Lester. Wm. Died 5/17/39 Anna Katz Richmond MO Betty Cary Brownfield brother Anthony, taken by neighbor farmer August Katz Richmond MO Betty Cary Brownfield German in origin, taken by Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio Anthony Lon Kemp King City MO Mary Sealey Celia or Cecilia Kimmick Krumrey Yes 1908 Ballwin MO Mary Ann Druhe relationship-daughter Monmouth Kinney Manning? 1875 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS William Knapp Shades 1911 Maryville MO 1895 Helen Shades sister, Eva Arthur Lawyer 1902 Savannah MO 1887 John W. Murphy Noah Lawyer? Lawyer? Sleeper MO 1914 Helen Berg
James Lewis McCarthy 1896 MO 1911 James M. Melton relationship-son William Luster No 1897 St. Louis MO Della Luster Lang relationship-daughter; had a brother, Jesse Jennie MacDowell Holman yes Lebanon MO 1910 History of Laclede Co., Missouri placed in the home of Joe and Belle Holman of Orla Harry MacDowell Lebanon MO 1910 History of Laclede Co., Missouri sister was Jennie Holman, placed in home on another side of town Marie Martin Stahlschmidt 1899 West Alton MO Anita Stimac Clarence Martine Walcott? 1876 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Addie McAndrew Thrykill MO Mardelle M. Davis relationship-granddaughter
Richard Miller 1885? Fayette MO 1896 Sandra Maenner lived with the Thompson family William McCarty 1867 Roanoke MO 1877 William McCarty picked up on the streets of NY with other boys placed with James Robertson Otis Royal McGaw 1902 Wright County MO 1910 Ann Duckworth Had a sister named Helen McGaw William Menshon Normile? 1874 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Frank Paul Michalson Tingler 1882 Maryville MO 1903 Leland Puttcamp lived with Tingler family; brother, William Jacob Gretchen Mikel Murphy? 1875 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Robert Miles Robert Frances Summers 1891 Lexington MO 1891-1897 Robert Francis Summers II Placed with Luke and Mary Ellen Summers
Amelia (Emily) Obrieste Starke 1897 Dixon MO 1913 Ruth Starke Leonard Milton, Wilton? Leonard Winget yes 1906 Versailles MO 1913 Leonard Winget placed through the CAS and taken by Ulysses Grant and Fannie Winget Charles James Monroe 1896? Springfield MO 1923-24 Lucille Monroe Garrett Charles Moss 1883 Stansberry MO Darlene Simpson had a brother Elijah Nelson Zannow 1881 Oronogo MO Virginia Charleston, Carrie Ness Sevier? 1875 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Alfrieda Newholm Sullivan 1910 Lamar MO Alfrieda Smith Edward John Newman Trenton MO 1929 Newman Brothers OTR found a brother, Peter Smith in Rogersville MO Frank Nyburg Dickey? 1875 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Gustav Ornes 1902 Versailles MO 1889 Lynne L. Ornes Norman Ornes MO 1909 Velma A. Coll had 3 brothers
Albert Richter No 1890 Freeburg MO 1892-93 Bernice Chappie relationship-daughter Norman Ornes MO 1909 Velma A. Coll had 3 brothers William Outwater Cloud? 1881 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS George T. Outwater Manning? 1879 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Jason Outwater Bradfield? 1883 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Desdemona Patterson Schoenborn? 1879 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Katherine Peckman Monroe City MO Annette Fry placed in the home of Lute and Maud Fitchen Julia Pepple Watts 1898 Osage City MO Mrs. Donald Joannes married name: Koetting George Wendell Reiss 1887 Mountain Grove MO 1904 Wendell B. Reiss brother Louis stayed in NY Albert Richter No 1890 Freeburg MO 1892-93 Bernice Chappie relationship-daughter
James Edward Rimmer 1869 MO Harriett Rimmer Joyce Rifenberg Greenfield MO Helen Berg father named Howard Rifenberg Joyce Rifenberg Greenfield MO Helen Berg father named Howard Rifenberg Howard Rifenburg Lebanon MO 1909 History of Laclede Co., Missouri Lucy Rifenburg Lebanon MO 1909 History of Laclede Co., Missouri mother died and father was in the coal mines Nelson Rifenburg Lebanon MO 1909 History of Laclede Co., Missouri came in a group of 12 children Steve Rifenburg no Lebanon MO 1909 History of Laclede Co., Missouri placed in the home of Joel Davis of Morgan Virgil Rifenburg Lebanon MO 1909 History of Laclede Co., Missouri Hazel Ethel Riley Nicholas 1896 Burlington Junction MO 1925 Marty E. Goodwin relationship-g/granddaughter; had 1 brother, Robert William Riley Springston 1875 Troy MO 1899, Richard Springston
Carmen Shanahan Roloff yes 1914 Brookfield MO 1916 Marjorie Bagley placed through NYFH and adopted by Robert Roloff Emma Roe Elkins or Elkinhhaus 1899 Mound City MO 1901 Emma Elkins born to Christopher Elkinhaus and Catherine B. List Catherine Agnes Rowe (Roue) Nold Yes 1893 Pilot Grove MO Wanda Donaghue relationship-granddaughter Stella M. Sarten Stella M. Rinker Aurora MO 1900 Mrs. Gene Reid married name: Reid Frank Schuman Needham 1880 Pierce City MO Shirley James relationship-granddaughter; 3 siblings: Charles, Henry, Annie Sadie Schwartz/Swartz Bruckerhoff 1908 St. Louis MO Sadie Miederhoff married name: Brandel/Miederhoff Olga Sebala Anna Faye Popbes 1921 Monroe City MO Ann Wheat Francis Seiglar/Siglar Jimmy Johnson 1918 Maryvale MO 1893 Charlotte Jones Sophia Selle Obermeyer Savannah MO 1908 Ann Taylor.
Herman Julius Selle 1894 Savannah MO 1908 Ann Taylor James John Shea 1892 Ritchey MO 1895 Rose Mary Timbrook relationship-daughter born in Binghamton, NY placed through NYFH
Charles Webber Smith? 1877 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS CeCelia Sheehan Bell 1892 Higginsville MO 1907 Mrs. John Senko, Jr. had an older brother Fred Filmore Shoaf 1909 Farmington MO 1871 Bonnie H. Shoaf brother, Author Ray Shoaf Annie Smith Miller? 1879 Neosho MO 1889 Neosho Newspaper agent Mr. Trott placed by CAS Charles St. John 1869 Spring Hill MO Shelly St. John Myrtle Standlea King City MO Mary Sealey Anna Sophia Stoning Stitt Burlington Junction MO 1898 Roberta Hahn sister Ella was also adopted; lived w/ Stitt family Rethal Ethel Turner No 1883 Jenkins/Galena/Cassville MO Frances Farley relationship-granddaughter; current last name: Larkin Rethel (Ethel) Turner Barry County MO Frances Sheldon Rethel (Ethel) Turner Barry County MO Geri Applegate Cornelius Van Tassel/Tassle 1906? Maryville MO Mary Mahg Ethel May Ward Fitch 1890 Ada MO Sue McIntire granddaughter William Weber Stilwell 1909 Butler MO Evelyn Stanfill John Joseph Welsh 1889 Pierce City MO Mary L. Droska relationship-daughter
Philopena Platzer 1897 Paris MO 1906 Philopena Platzer Mary Ann Wheeler 1890 West Plains MO Willard E. Innis lived with Davidson family Jennie Elizabeth Williamson Landreth 1910 Neosho MO Jean Landreth Sexton had 2 brothers: William and Kirk and sister, Alice Oliver Wright Gray 1915 Maryville MO 1921? Oliver Gray siblings: Greta, Harry, Marshall Harry Alfred Wright Pistole Yes 1911 Maryville MO 1900 Harry A. Pistole Vera Wright Lamar MO 1902/03 Republican Sentinel Robert Allen 1875? Harrisonville MO Mary Brackinridge he had 4 brothers and sisters, a twin brother Marion Bright yes 1909 Warrensburg MO 1909 Tamre Brooks taken by Abbey Clark Bright-her brother Ed may have been involved Archie Diekhaus 1892 Higginsville MO Donald A. Dieckhaus lived with Eugene and Emma Dieckhaus Gerald Fears Trenton MO Glen Danielson Katherine Fortune 1889 MO Charles M. Miller may have the middle name of Irene or May
Jennie Alice Holman Lebanon MO 1904 Donald Raymond, Jr. married name: Davis Henry G. Sisson Vandalia MO 1878 Peggy Diesel relationship-niece
Lela Idell LaVine Schnegelberger No 1914 MO? Lela Idell Newcombe OTR Anna 1898? St. Peters MO Lucille Florman Homer 1893 possibly St. Louis MO 1902 Nancy Baty current name: Homer Owsley Jim? 1899 Stoddard MO 1875 Jimmie Sue Rogers current name: Jim Patrick Jones Lamar MO 1892 Doris Flaker agents traveling w/ group were: M/M C. E. Swan Irma Craig No 1898 Osage City, Cole County MO Shirley Andrews Relationship-Daughter David Graham Hoffman 1886? MO & TX Joan Willis Earl Clarence Shaw 1916? MO or AR Carrie Ann Shaw had a brother and sister he could remember-sister maybe Margaret, he ran away from the farm at 13 Martha or Mattie Stewart No 1862 MO or KS 1914 Carol Elledge Relationship-Granddaughter
Thomas Albert Hamilton 1858 MO or MT 1901? Gloria J. Jackson's relationship-g/granddaughter; had 3 siblings.