A Different World for Orphans

Orphans as defined by the Bible are children who are without fathers and many references associate them with widows. One notable scripture where widows and orphans are mentioned together is James 1:27, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

The word orphan is a Greek derivation meaning a child who has lost both parents through death. The American Judicial System defines an orphan as a person who is without parents and has been abandoned from all familial associations.

Many prominent people were orphans: Johann Sebastian Bach was orphaned at the age of 10, but had other relatives. George Washington Carver was orphaned as an infant but was adopted by a family who were not his relatives. Herbert Hoover, orphaned at the age of 10, had other family. Percy Spencer (inventor of the microwave), who was orphaned at age 3, had other relatives. Leo Tolstoy, orphaned at age 9, also had relatives. Society labeled them as orphans because they had lost parents, but they all had relatives to rely on with the exception of George Washington Carver who was adopted by an unrelated married couple. They overcame the societal derogative term orphan in times of difficulty and challenge.

Society in the United States began to realize that there was a need to do something with the growing population of unclaimed children in the 19th century, whereas England and Europe had a large population of unwanted children living on the streets beginning in the 18th century. With no living relatives to care for these children, they were sent to almshouses, which were first established in Britain in the 10th century. They offered charitable housing for the poor, widows, and orphans. In Europe, children with adults housed in such facilities were often expected to work in some type of manual labor that was accompanied by physical abuse. Before the United States implemented the Social Security Program in the 1930s, there was no protection or labor employment law. Poverty, indigence, and orphaned were derogatory labels for anyone who did not have the means to take care of themselves. Children mostly became orphans from being born out of wedlock or women dying in childbirth. The Civil War left numerous children without relatives and family.

In the 18th century many abandoned children lived on the streets in New York. Local governments established institutions known as orphanages for many street children during this time. In 1850, New York had 27 orphanages operated by the government and private finances. The population of abandoned children grew in the New York area to over 10,000 and the government needed to find solutions for them. They attempted to introduce the idea of adoption to new parents, but couples are more open now to this concept than they were in the 1800s. Because it was not a suitable arrangement at that time for parents to adopt abandoned children, New York City decided to ship them to families on farms in the Midwest and they were given train tickets to Texas, Arkansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma on trains which became known as the Orphan Trains. Several children were adopted by farmers.