I was on the ORPHAN TRAIN - Herbert W Armstrong - April 1984

Herbert W Armstrong

A crisis grows over the "adoption triangle"-the adopted, their biological parents, their new families. We asked vibrant 87-year-old Henrietta Wiens to tell about her life as an orphan, in the hope it may help other adopted persons. At the turn of the century "orphan trains" were running from New York City to the American heartland. During a span of about 50 years, 100,000 children were placed on farms and in villages in the Midwest. I was one of that 100,000. Immigrant families were arriving from Europe, seeking a better life. The Homestead Act of 1862 brought many to the land of opportunity. But opportunity often stopped knocking in New York City when immigrants found themselves running out of funds with which to continue their journeys. There was desertion, poverty and sometimes death. - Information Supplied By: Herbert W Armstrong Library