Book Description

This is the second book by Mrs. Inskeep that breaks new ground with respect to the estimated 200,000 poor and abandoned orphaned children who were shipped from New York City orphanages to western families for adoption between 1853 and 1929. These children were placed primarily by the New York Foundling Hospital (NYFH) and the Children's Aid Society (CAS) and are now referred to as "Orphan Train Riders." Information as to the identities of a large number of these children has been preserved in federal and state censuses taken between 1855 and 1925, as well as in the 1890 New York City Police Census, and represents a potential boon to the descendants of these foundlings. This book, the sequel to Mars. Inskeep's 1995 work on the orphans from the New York Foundling Hospital, treats the residents of the Children's Aid Society.