'Orphan Trains in Vermont' is the next OLLI program

Daniel Bean will present "Orphan Trains in Vermont," the next Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) program at 2 p.m. Tuesday March 22, at the Nolin Murray Center.

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2016-03-12 / Local 'Orphan Trains in Vermont' is the next OLLI program SPRINGFIELD — Daniel Bean will present "Orphan Trains in Vermont," the next Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) program at 2 p.m. Tuesday March 22, at the Nolin Murray Center next to St. Mary’s Catholic Church on Pleasant Street in Springfield. Between 1905 and 1928 thousands of very young orphan children, foundlings from the streets of New York City, were shipped by train — called “Orphan Trains” — all over the United States and Canada to families willing to give them a home. Bean, a retired St. Michaels College biology professor, is the descendant of one of those young riders who disembarked in Enosburg Falls in 1905. His father was taken in by a local family. Bean is a 7th generation Vermonter on his mother’s side. To trace his family heritage, Bean has researched orphan trains and will present an overview of the trains and their riders. Information on orphan trains is sketchy at best. Many of the riders never mentioned the circumstances to their families, or if they did, tended to downplay it. Among the passengers disembarking in Enosburg Falls on Nov. 11, 1905, were eight children, seven girls and one boy, accompanied by their supervisors. Within a short time, all the children had been handed over to local couples and left with them for an unknown future. Most of the children on these orphan trains were welcomed into the families, but some were treated as indentured servants to help on the farms. The concept of sending New York’s street children and foundlings out of the city and into the countryside for adoption or indenture was the brainchild of Charles Loring Brace, founding director of the Children’s Aid Society of New York City. By the time Congress put a stop to the practice in 1928, it is estimated that about 250,000 children had been “shipped out” of New York City. They traveled to every state, territory and Canada. A report by the CAS in 1910 lists 125 children having been sent to Vermont. That list does not include the children sent from the New York Foundling Hospital run by the Sisters of St. Vincent. OLLI-Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, affiliated with the University of Vermont, is a local membership program geared towardseniors 50 years and older who want to engage in meaningful learning, “just for the fun of it!” Membership is $45 for the semester which includes nine programs. Non-members are encouraged and welcome to attend individual lectures for a single program fee of $8. Brochures have been distributed throughout the area towns at businesses, the local libraries, town halls and Chamber of Commerce offices. The complete Springfield and state-wide program list is available on the internet at www.learn.uvm.edu/olli Choose statewide programs from the menu, and then scroll to Springfield.