Book Availability---ORPHAN TRAIN RIDERS, Vol 1 and ll

My two reference books,ORPHAN TRAIN RIDERS, Vol. l and ll should be in every genealogical library. They are are the outcome of my discovery of 26 boxes of a treasure trove of Americana dating from 1832-1929 in an old barn at the Rockland Historical Society in New City, NY in 1991. These Original Source documents were first catalogued by me. Realizing their historical importance the RHS later shipped the documents to Mary Ellen Johnson in Sprindale, Arkansas. The volunteers there helped indexed tens of thousands of the names of children sent on Orphan Trains. It was the largest single discovery of records related to the Orphan Train Era (1854-1929. It was also the cause for revision of historical thought about the work of early Temperance Societies. When social safety nets were absent in the 19th Century Christian Temperance Societies came to the aid of tens of thousands of destitute children in the slums and ghettos of the Five Points area of Manhattan. Find out about these amazing women and what the did for children.

Speech Before German Genealogy Group in Hicksvile, Long Island

I was invited to speak to the German Genealogy Group at their monthly gathering at the VFW in Hicksville about my books, ORPHAN TRAIN RIDERS, Vol. l and ll. At the meeting in which over 100 peeople attended I pointed out that the largest ethnic groups sent out on Orphan Trains were of English, Irish and German ancestry. I estimated that anywhere from 50,000-70,000 children who were placed on Orphan Trains were of full or part German ancestry. If we estimate from good sources that 400,000-600,000 children rode the orphan trains during a 75 year period (1854-1929) we can get an estimate that makes the Orphan Train Era relevant to genealogy groups. It also begs the question-who were these people and what do we know about them. Genealogy groups from around the country should devote more interest in these children who were in many ways America's forgotten children. They offer the genealogists a great challenge because some of these children changed their name to the loving foster parents who took them in and gave them a home. I ask genealogy groups everywhere to fill in the gaps left by these children lest they be orphaned twice, first by lost or uncaring parents, second by history and unknown ancestors.

Another view of the terrible conditions that existed in the Five Points District was expressed in an article in the May 14, 1951 edition of Newsweek. The article was entitled "Five Points to Happiness" and is reprinted below.
"When in 1850, the members of the Ladies Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Epicopal Church in New York discovered that the Rev. Lewis Pease had not preached a sermon in 2 days, they severed their connection with him. His mission stood near "Murderers Alley,' in lower Manhattan in an area known as the Five Points. Charles Dickens once described this section as an appalling 'world of vice and misery...men, women and boys slink off to sleep, forcing dislodged rats to move away in quest of better lodging.'
Mr. Pease believed in a neighbohood with 270 saloons and several times that many dance halls and bawdy houses, preaching the Gospel was not enough. The following year he established the Five Points House of Industry along with a Ladies Auxiliary of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Its goal was to educate and find work for residents of the most dismal slum in America. Since then over 45,000 children have been helped by that institution.