Orphan Trains facts
While investigating facts about Orphan Trains, I found out little known, but curios details like:
Janusz Korczak was a man who accompanied 192 orphans to a concentration camp, refusing to save himself, while cheering and entertaining the children. He boarded the trains with them and was never heard from again.
Sarah Breedlove, an orphan born to freed slaves, became the 1st self-made female millionaire in US history around early 1900's by inventing & selling homemade hair-care products through her own factory. She even built a beauty school to train sales agents. $1 million then = $13 million today.
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 18 of the best facts about Orphan Trains I managed to collect.
-
Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia adopted 40 Armenian Orphans from a monastery in Jerusalem 1924 and trained them to play musical instruments becoming Ethiopia's first Official orchestra.
-
A noblewoman (a widow of a samurai lord & descendent of a long line of ninjas) recruited, trained, & led an all-female group of 200-300 ninja agents—consisting of ex-prostitutes, orphans, & civil-war victims—who were successfully deployed for the Takeda clan against rival warlords in 1500s Japan
-
Abdul Sattar Edhi founded Edhi foundation which has rescued over 20,000 abandoned infants, rehabilitated over 50,000 orphans and has trained over 40,000 nurses. It also runs the world's biggest ambulance service.
-
Between 1854 and 1929, over 250,000 orphans and unwanted children were given away at train stations throughout the US.
-
About the orphan trains which sent orphans from New York city to various parts of the US in hopes that the children would be adopted along the way.
-
The phrase “put up for adoption” comes from the 1800s orphan trains, which took children from crowded cities across the country. Farmers would select them off the podiums and “adopt them,” putting them to work in the fields.
-
Between 1854 and 1929, orphaned children were transported on trains and put on display in various towns across the US. Prospective foster parents would examine and question the children during the "viewing" and pick out the ones they wanted, taking them home that same day.
-
Abdul Sattar Edhi, a Pakistani man, rescued over 20,000 abandoned infants, rehabilitated over 50,000 orphans, has trained over 40,000 nurses and runs the largest ambulance network in the world. He also donated all his body parts before passing away.
-
From 1853 - 1929 Orphan Trains relocated 250,000 orphans from Eastern cities to rural Midwest farms
-
Today is the birthday of Pakistani "Father Teresa" Edhi. Over his lifetime, he established a network of 1,800 ambulances, rescued over 20,000 abandoned infants, rehabilitated over 50,000 orphans and has trained over 40,000 nurses, runs more than 330 welfare centres.
What is true about orphan trains?
You can easily fact check it by examining the linked well-known sources.
In early 19th century Britain, only corpses of criminals, suicide victims, and bodies of orphans could be used in teaching of Anatomy. The high demand of corpses gave rise to grave robbers (known as resurrection men), some of which even killed people to sell bodies for medical training.
Cult Leader Taylor Helzer Planned to Overthrow Mormon Church by Adopting Brazilian Orphans and Training them to be Assassins - source
The story of Station Jim a stuffed dog on display at Slough train station who collected money for the Great Western Railway Widows and Orphans Fund by performing tricks for passers by.
about the so-called Orphan Train. Over several decades, a quarter of a million street children from the overcrowded east coast were sent to families in middle America. - source
Abdul Sattar Edhi was penniless when he started his charitable organization. As of today, his organization had rescued over 20,000 abandoned infants, rehabilitated over 50,000 orphans and had trained over 40,000 nurses. Mr. Edhi died today at the age of 88.
