We Rode the Orphan Trains

Book excerpt: They were "throwaway" kids, living on the streets or in orphanages and foster homes. Then Charles Loring Brace, a young minister in New York City, started the Children's Aid Society and devised a plan to give these homeless waifs a chance at finding families they could call their own. Thus began an extraordinary migration of American children. Between 1854 and 1929, an estimated 200,000 children ventured forth on a journey of hope. Here, in the sequel to Orphan Train Rider: One Boy's True Story, Andrea Warren introduces nine men and women who rode the trains and helped make history so many years ago.