Orphan Trains - Wm Jennings Duckett

[Don McCorcle]

Are there sources of information relating to the children placed on
orphan trains? I am specifically searching for ancestors of William
Jennings Duckett that was placed on an orphan train from a Catholic
home in New York and sent to Texas.

[/Fidonet]

- Gated via NewsHound 1.1

[Melissa W. Calhoun]

mcco...@cyberramp.net (Don McCorcle) wrote:
>Are there sources of information relating to the children placed on
>orphan trains?

Yes.

(1) The Orphan Train Heritage Society of America, P.O. Box 496, Johnson, AR 72741-0496.

(2) "Children of Orphan Trains from New York to Illinois and beyond" by J. Coble,
published by Ill. State Genealogical Society, 1994. This is a name index to reports of
the western placing agency of the New York Juvenile Asylum (now called Children's
Village)

(3) "The New York Foundling Hospital : an index to its federal, state, and local census
records (1870-1925)" by C. R. Inskeep, 1995. Printed for Clearfield Co. by Genealogical
Pub. Co.
The names in this volume represent 13,000 children who lived in the NY Foundling
Hospital, many of whom were sent to adoptive families in the West. The NY Foundling
Hospital was a Catholic placing agency.

If anyone knows of other published references listing names of children, I'd like to
hear from you.

Melissa Calhoun
mel...@outfitters.com

[Lawerence Brown]

Have no specific knowledge as to Duckett question, but suggest a Letter
to Editor in Rogers, Springdale, mcco...@cyberramp.net (Don McCorcle)

wrote:
>Are there sources of information relating to the children placed on

>orphan trains? I am specifically searching for ancestors of William
>Jennings Duckett that was placed on an orphan train from a Catholic
>home in New York and sent to Texas.
>

and Fayetteville, Arkansas newspapers. Several orphans distributed this
vicinity, and believe several still live nearby. Perhaps they can help if
they respond.

Have casually met one or two. Best of Luck.

[John R. Heydt]

Contact:
Orphan Train Heritage Society of America, Inc.
4912 Trout Farm Road
Springdale, AR 72764

Nancy

[Lara Gibson]

So....This group probably isn't active anymore and I'm not sure if it will still be seen by anyone, but William Jennings Duckett was my great-grandfather. Two of his daughters are still living (two sons and one other daughter have already passed). You may email me directly at La...@stevegibson.com, if you see this and want to respond. I am researching his genealogy now and trying to use DNA to determine his parentage. I live in Austin, TX.

[Lara Gibson]

I've done a Google search and saw a Mr Don McCorcle from Colorado City, TX appears to have passed away in 2016. I know it's a very long shot, but if anyone knew Mr McCorcle and knows what information he may have had, please contact me! Lara Gibson La...@stevegibson.com or 512-636-5545. My great-grandfather that he was asking about was born in New York City in 1894 and rode an "Orphan Train" to Texas in 1905. His case has been written about by several genealogists and historians and we are still trying to determine his lineage. DNA (from two of his children, one grandchild and several great-grandchildren) is pointing us to the Armsden family from Bedfordshire, England on one side and the Davies/Jones/Williams/Griffiths family from Caernarvonshire, Wales on the other side. But that's all the information that we've been able to glean, thus far. Very difficult to narrow down. Not sure if Mr McCorcle had specific information about our family or if he was researching Orphan Train history. It's an interesting topic, for sure, and several books/plays/articles have been written about it.