Genealogical Society to hear about Orphan Train

The Cedar & Vernon County Genealogical Society will meet at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, April 18, in the John Smith Library in El Dorado Springs.

Kathy Dains will speak about the “Orphan Train”, a train that brought abused, neglected or abandoned children from New York and Boston to the farming communities of the Midwest. Cheap fares, the central location of the state and numerous small farming towns along the railroad tracks made Missouri the perfect hub for the orphan trains.

Researchers have estimated that from 150,000 to 400,000 children were sent out on orphan trains, with perhaps as many as 100,000 being placed in Missouri. As the orphan train crossed the country, it left part of its cargo at each stop–a few children in one small town and a few in another.

The guest speaker, Kathy Dains, worked 28 years at the State Historical Society of Missouri as a research assistant, associate editor of the Missouri Historical Review and associate director of the State Historical Society.

The Cedar & Vernon County Genealogy meet the third Tuesday of each month alternating between the El Dorado Springs Library and the Nevada Library.  For further information, call 417/876-2633 or 417/667-2457.