"They put us all on a big platform in some big building while people came from all around the countryside to pick out those of us they wished to take home. I was four years old, and my sister was only two . . ."

This is how one woman remembered her 1914 orphan train experience, one that she shared with at least 200,000 others from 1853 to 1929. The orphan trains carried children, teenagers, and some adults (mostly women) out of eastern cities to rural communities. They were removed from poverty and want, incarceration and institutionalization. Some went to Connecticut, Vermont, Illinois, Nebraska, Virginia, and Texas. By the time the relocation program ended, youngsters were scattered across the breadth of America.

When it began, the program was called "placing out." Today it is know as the "orphan trains." The practice began with the New York Children’s Aid Society, but it was taken up by other charities - the Children’s Mission to the Children of the Destitute (Boston), the New York Juvenile Asylum, the New England Home for Little Wanderers (Boston), and the New York Foundling Hospital. By the late 1800s, charities in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois also adopted the program, sending children to states farther west. Each agency had its own placement policies; the New England Home for Little Wanderers, for example, strongly encouraged legal adoption, but New York Juvenile Asylum placements were by legal indenture only. Agencies, however, varied little in procedure.

As a rule groups of children were gathered together and put under the charge of agents employed by the placing charity. The groups traveled to pre-planned destinations where local citizens had been told to expect the children. Upon arrival, the children were taken to "some big building" - an opera house, a church, or courthouse - where they were displayed before the curious citizenry who had turned out for the orphan train. Local families or "employers" chose who they wanted to take home, and the agents were supposed to ensure that the homes were suitable. Some youngsters found themselves in homes where they were treated as members of the families; some discovered that they were to be a new farmhand or housekeeper. Obviously, there were good experiences and bad. Some children and teenagers ran away from their new homes - especially when agents did not remove them from abusive environments.

Marilyn Irvin Holt is the author of The Orphan Trains: Placing Out in America (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1992).

The third grace class of Briggs Elemetary School in Maquoketa, Iowa, compiled a list of Iowa cities where the Orphan train stopped - but Dougherty is not listed among the stops.

The following reference is to an Orphan Train stop in Dougherty in 1885. It is unknown at the present whether the Orphan Trains made just one stop in Dougherty or multiple stops over the years. The 1900 census of Dougherty Township contains a number of adopted children, all born in New York. There are also several adopted children in the census with birthplaces in Iowa. It is unknown whether these children had any connection with the Orphan Trains.

There were three stops listed for Mason City - presumably the train would have stopped at Dougherty at these dates as well.

There is no evidence in the 1880 census however that any children in Dougherty were adopted in 1871. Which leaves the stop in 1889 as a possible date. The ages given for the children in the census would tend to support the 1889 date, with the exception of James Brislen, born ca. 1895. But the dates of birth given in the censuses are notoriously unreliable as a comparison between dates on tombstones in St. Patrick's cemetery and corresponding entries in the census will illustrate.

The following reference and date for a Dougherty adoption came from the internet - without any documentation.

                                                      Place of Birth

Brislen, James Jan 1895 5                  adopted           NY
Burke, Leavis Oct 1886 13                  adopted           NY
Campbell, Ella (McMenimen) 1886 13         adopted           NS
McKenna, Robert  Aug 1885 15               adopted           NY
Boyle, William Oct 1885 14                 adopted           NY
Kelly, Patrick Apr 1883 17                 adopted           NY 
O'Connor, George 1888 12                   adopted           NY
Gaheran , Elizabeth Feb 1886 14            adopted           NY
Ormsby, George Apr 1885 15                 adopted           NY
McLaughlin, Rose 16                        adopted           NY
Murphy, George Apr 1886 14                 adopted           NY

Burke, Mary H. 5                           adopted           IA
McGee, Joseph Nov 1886 13                  adopted           IA

In nearly every one of these orphan train adoptions, the place of birth of the person is listed as New York - Unk. - Unk. In the case of Ella Campbell (in the list above) her birthplace is given as NS - Unk - Unk. (or unknown for the birthplace of her parents). It is not clear at all what the NS stands for.

There are several other such entries in the 1900 census - and these may also be orphan train riders - but in the censuses they are not listed as adopted but generally appear as boarders or servants with a different surname.

Vinton, John 22            servant-lab.       NS - unk - Unk
Danson, Harney 24          servant-lab.       NS - Unk - Unk.
(both living on the farm of Daniel Dougherty)

More?, Patrick             boarder-merchant   NS - Unk - Unk
(living on the farm of James Dougherty)

Most of the tenants with Charles Mertz in the town of Dougherty follow the same pattern. Their place of birth is written unknown - but this is erased and written over with an NS., followed by unknowns for the birthplace of their parents.

McGinnis, Roy             servant-lab.        NS - Unk - Unk
(living on the farm of James H. Smith)

According to the History of Dougherty, Iowa (When Irish Eyes are Smiling) the orphan train came to Dougherty in 1890.

"During the year 1890 a trainload of orphans were brought to the area. These children were from New York City and were left homeless when their parents became deceased or abandoned them.

The children were brought to the area by a group of Catholic Sisters, named the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Many families of Cold Water were encouraged to adopt a children or children. Families of the time were often large and still there was always room for one children or more at their table or in their home.

In all there were 24 orphans and they had no identification as their records had been destroyed by fire in New York. Their ages were from two to five years of age and the group was all boys with the exception of two girls.

A total of 24 children were adopted by the people of Cold Water. Some families adopted more than one child. Some of the children received new given names and they all received new surnames.

Some of the surnames given were: Monahan, Boyle, Toner, Kyle, McKenna, Coyle, Murphy, McMonagle, Kelsh, McCauley, Hogan, Dougherty, Ormsby, Burke, McGee, O'Connor, Campbell, McGahren.

These children were all placed in good homes and were a blessing to their new found family and the community.

If anyone has any additional information on the Dougherty, Iowa Orphan Train stop, please send me an email (Lochlan@aol.com).