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page updated
on 08/10/2010
Allamakee Co. Orphans & Orphan Train Riders
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If you can add to this list, have a photo or additional information on any of the Orphan Train riders, please contribute it for this page.
| Lansing, Iowa - About twenty-eight years
ago a New York Orphans home sent out to this place a
company of twenty-four boys in charge of Mr. Trott. These
boys were taken into homes here and many of them turned
out well. H. Schierholz took the colored boy, Sam Addison, who
afterward became a dentist in Chicago; Capt. Bascom gave
a home to Braddy Black,
who is married and living in the north; Andy McLaughlin
was taken by P. Kernan of Lafayette, and others were
scattered in town and through the country. Wm. Wendel
took home with him George
Taylor and he remained with the family for
eight years, afterwards going back to New York. What was
the surprise of the family to receive a call the past
week from Mr. Taylor, now a man grown, and for fourteen
years a motorman in the city. He has only words of praise
for the kind treatment he received from Mr. and Mrs.
Wendel. ~La Crosse Tribune, January 30, 1908 |
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Allamakee County Orphans & Orphan Train Riders
| Addison, McNear Addison, McCune Lear
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Alton,
P.
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Bencke,
Oscar C.
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Black, Braddock
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Buckley,
Dan
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Buell,
Willie
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Clark,
John
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Cronin,
George
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Dunn,
Charles
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| Eadie,
Gilbert Harrison
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Eadie,
Walter
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Eldridge,
Edmond
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Ellsworth,
Charles
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Esztergalyos,
Laszlo Janos
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Frederick,
Elsie
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Garry,
John
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Hanson,
Olga
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Hanson,
Sophia
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Hooligan,
John
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Jackson,
William
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Jennings,
Sherman
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Kench,
Arthur
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Kench,
Helen
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Kerns,
Margaret
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Kesselburg,
Jacob
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Kesselburg,
William
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King,
Edward
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Merker,
Charles
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Merrill,
Andrew
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McLaughlin, Andrew
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Piederit,
Theodore
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Preston,
Louis
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Quince,
Bella
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Reese,
Emily F.
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Riehl,
Frank
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Riehl,
Helen
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Riehl,
Josephine
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Rogers,
John
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Rude,
William
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Ryan,
William
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Schaefer,
Henry
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Schaffer,
William
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Schoner,
Ladislau
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Simpson,
Clinton
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Stair,
Harry
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Stevens,
George
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Stork,
George
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Taylor, George W.
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Travers,
Anna
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Travers,
Lena
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Traynor,
Michael
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Uhl,
John
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Veritzen,
Minnie
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Weir,
Henrietta
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Wilson,
Erma V.
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Likely Allamakee co.
orphan train riders contributed by Allamakee researchers.
If you have more information on any of them,
please contact the Allamakee co.
coordinator.
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Sisters,
62 And 64, Have First Meeting on left: Ethel
Adams |
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Mrs. Ethel Adams of Sea Ranch, Port Richey, Florida came to Waukon last week to visit her sister, Erma Rumph. But this wasn't just an ordinary visit; it was a momentous occasion, the first time the sisters, 64 and 62 years of age, had ever seen each other, and to make it doubly wonderful, it was on Erma's 62nd birthday. There were a few tearful moments while they greeted each other, but it didn't take long to start filling each other in on the past. The story started in New York state when the four oldest Wilson children, Wilbur, Gladys, Edith and Ethel, were placed with the Children's Aid Society in New York City, as the parents were unable to care for them in the home. After Erma's birth, she was also placed in the home and the mother died a few months later. The older children were placed in foster homes and Erma was brought to the Midwest by the social worker for the Aid Society. That family did not keep her so she was "reclaimed" by the worker while in this area in May, 1918, while checking on previous placements. The worker would stay at a local hotel and hire a livery rig to make her rounds. She had no place for a child almost four years of age, so called Mr. and Mrs. John C. Rumph, farmers living about 10 miles south of Waukon, and who had previously adopted a six year old boy, and asked them to care for the little girl for a few days. When she was ready to leave the area, she called them and they started to town with the child. Enroute, 10 year old Oscar asked where Erma was going and he was given an explanation. The child looked at his parents and said, "Why don't we keep her?" The idea took root and by the time they were at the place of delivery they had decided to take her home for theirs. It proved to have a most wonderful decision, for no natural parents with two natural children could have had a happier home. Time went on, and Oscar left for his own home, continuing to be a dutiful son, but Erma remained and during several illnesses the parents gave her loving care. When the couple became aged and moved to town, they were tenderly cared for by their daughter until the father's death at the age of 83 and the mother's death at age 97. The other children had no contact with Erma until she was about 12 years old, when they finally got an address, and since then they have been in contact by letter, phone and pictures. Gladys and Edith have made trips here to see her. It has been a busy week of visiting and catching up but one never to be forgotten. A reception was held for the sisters at the Allamakee County Care Facility in Waukon (where Erma makes her home) on Sunday, July 4, with many friends attending. ~Allamakee Journal, Lansing, Iowa, July 7,
1976 |
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