A company of homeless children will arrive at Waukon this week from New York city to be placed in as many Allamakee county homes as possible. Miss Comstock, of Des Moines, is the placing agent.
~November 1913, news clipping

~La Crosse Tribune, January 30, 1908
~contributed by S. Ferrall

family: Schierholz, H.
place: Lansing

Notes: My great aunt Mattie and great uncle Herman Schierholz adopted "McNear Addison." I always understood that when my great uncle found him sitting on the sidewalk in front of the Schierholz large Victorian home on Front street, Uncle Herman asked him his name and why he was sitting there. He told him that he was McCune Lear Addison and that nobody wanted him. My uncle took him in and said something like..."Well, that's a big name for a small boy. We'll call you Sam." Sam was an African American. He went to school in Lansing and then my great uncle sent him to dental school in Chicago where he married and had children. I have a letter, written by his widow, Susie C. Addison on October 24, 1909 from Chilicothe, Ohio saying: "God came and took my Dear Husband home to rest Tues. eve at fifteen minutes after ten." My great aunt and uncle traveled extensively and in my uncle's journal he mentions stopping in Chicago on their way to Europe and seeing Sam. He was truly a son to them.
~contributed by Darlene Markley Weiland Johnson, February 2010

1880 census for Hanover Township:
P. Alton, age 8, born New York; and Dan Buckley, age 14, born New York

Both boys were adopted by Morris and Hanora Bresnahan.
~contributed by Sheila Mellick

family: Rumph, John C.
place: Waukon

Notes: Oscar (born Bencke) Rumph - married first to Jeanne M. McGeough (June 7, 1932) at Waukon, and after her death he married Mrs. Harold Lasser (January 17, 1960) in Illinois. He lived in Waterloo, Black Hawk co. Iowa. Oscar's adopted sister, Erma V. Wilson, was also an Orphan Train Rider. According to Erma's story, Oscar played a big role in the Rumph family adopting her.

family: Bascom, E. B.
place: Lansing Willie Buell

1880 census for Hanover Township:
Dan Buckley, age 14, born New York; and P. Alton, age 8, born New York

Both boys were adopted by Morris and Hanora Bresnahan.
~contributed by Sheila Mellick

Throught the efforts of Poor Commissioner Sol Burdick, Willie Buell, aged 16 years, an inmate of orphan asylums, has been found a home with relatives. A week ago, the youth was brought to Officer Burdick and his assistance was invoked in the search for the boy's relatives. Buell said that he believed that he had relatives at Waukon, Iowa. Accordingly correspondence with the officials of that town brought out the information that an uncle of the boy's by the name of King resided at Waukon and also that an uncle of the boy's mother lives there. Buell's father died when he was two years old, his mother following his father to her grave a year later. Buell will be sent to Waukon where a home has been found for him with his relatives who never knew where the boy might be, believing that the youth had died or been lost in the world.
~LaCrosse Tribune, February 6, 1905
~contributed by S. Ferrall

family: not given
place: Lansing
(returned to Chicago)

family: Carr, Daniel
place: Lansing

family: Michael S. Brady
place: Lansing

Gilbert Harrison Eadie, the son of John and Delia (Kelly) Eadie, was born November 12, 1902, in New York City, New York. Upon the death of his parents in 1911, he was placed, together with his younger brother Walter, in the Brace Farm School for boys in Valhalla, New York. On July 17, 1913, a group of sixteen children, between the ages of 1½ to 16, were placed on an Orphan Train leaving from New York City to Pratt, Kansas. They were taken to the farm home of Mr. and Mrs. Wright. Their stay there was only six months when Mr. Wright sold his farm and moved to Pennsylvania. On January 24, 1914 Gilbert and Walter were brought to Allamakee County, Iowa. They were taken in by Dan and Nettie Kelly, both unmarried. Neither child was adopted.
~Postville newspaper clipping of his obituary, April 2000
~contributed by Mary Durr

see also: Biography

Walter Eadie, the son of John and Delia (Kelly) Eadie, was born in New York City, New York. Upon the death of his parents in 1911, he was placed, together with his older brother Gilbert, in the Brace Farm School for boys in Valhalla, New York. On July 17, 1913, a group of sixteen children, between the ages of 1½ to 16, were placed on an Orphan Train leaving from New York City to Pratt, Kansas. They were taken to the farm home of Mr. and Mrs. Wright. Their stay there was only six months when Mr. Wright sold his farm and moved to Pennsylvania. On January 24, 1914 Walter and Gilbert were brought to Allamakee County, Iowa. They were taken in by Dan and Nettie Kelly, both unmarried. Neither child was adopted.
~Postville newspaper clipping of Gilbert Eadie's obituary, April 2000
~contributed by Mary Durr

family: John Lindstrom
place: Lansing

family: John Edgar
place: Lansing

Photo Caption: That grin on the face of Laszlo Esztergalyos has made him a happy part of life in Postville, where he lives with Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Hoth.  Here he is working in the Hoth Hardware Store.  Laszlo, now 16, was taken from his Hungarian home by Germans to do Nazi work.  Those days are gone -- today he is becoming as American as the bicycle, ice cream, comics and movies that he loves here.

Story: As congress wrestles with the problem of Europe's homeless, some Iowa families have already provided refuge to orphans from abroad.  Some of the children have come directly from relatives in Europe.  Some, like Laszlo, have been brought to the U.S. under immigration quotas by the U.S. Committee for Care of European Children.  This committee screens them carefully and then turns them over to welfare groups in the U.S.   Laszlo is one of 11 children brought to Iowa by the Lutheran Welfare Society.  Some of the youngsters are with foster parents, and some are self-supporting and under the direct care of the Lutheran group.   Since May 1946, better than 1,045 orphans have come to the U.S. by way of the U.S. care committee.  Most of them (684) are boys.  Workers found a tragic absence of girls in Europe--they had been kidnapped by Nazis.  Gone, too, were children between 7 and 13--they could not survive without parents.   The children brought to the U.S. are today fitting happily into the American scene and show promise of becoming stalwart new citizens.
~Des Moines Register, January 4, 1948
~contributed by Errin Wilker 

Laszlo Esztergalyos, age 15, arrived in New York on June 7, 1947 aboard the 'Marine Marlin' from Bremen, Germany. Nationality listed as 'stateless', visa no. quota 838 Hungarian. Destination: USCC, New York, N.Y.
~Alien Passenger Manifest, USS Marine Marlin; New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957; Ancestry.com database

Decorah Hungarian DP Enlists in Air Force
Decorah, Ia. - Laszlo Esztergalyos, 19, Hungarian DP, enlisted in the United States air force in Decorah last week and was sworn in at Des Moines last Saturday. He will receive his training at San Antonio, Tex.
~LaCrosse Tribune, December 13, 1950
~contributed by S. Ferrall

L. Jon Esztergalyos - Sandra Hall
Mr. and Mrs. L.W. Hall, 506 East A, announce the recent marriage of their daughter, Sandra, to Staff Sgt. L. Jon Esztergalyos at Carswell Air Force Base, Fort Worth, Texas. Mrs. Esztergalyos attended Hutchinson Junior College. The bridegroom, a native of Hungary, attended school in Budapest and completed his education in Decorah, Iowa. He is serving in the U.S. Air Force, assigned to Hahn Air Force Base, Hahn, Germany, where Mrs. Esztergalyos will join him.
~Hutchinson News, December 20, 1963
~contributed by S. Ferrall

Laszlo J. Esztergalyos b. September 1931 d. July 26, 2008. Last residence: Henderson, North Carolina
~Social Security Death Index

family: Rev. Vornholt
place: Waukon

family: Conrad Steiber
place: Lansing

family: A. D. Bender
place: Waukon

family: A. D. Ingalls
place: Waukon

family: John Mahoney
place: Lansing

family: John Hoy
place: Lansing

family: William Weham
place: Lansing

family: George Thompson
place: Waukon

family: George Thompson
place: Waukon

family: Reuben Bakewell
place: Waukon

family: Henry Kostbauer
place: Lansing

family: Charles Kunner
place: Lansing

family: Patrick O'Brien
place: Lansing

family: O. A. Ross
place: Lansing

family: L. Crane
place: Lansing

family: Patrick Kernon
place: Lansing

Notes: On the Allamakee Co census for 1880 is listed '1st waif from New York' with the family of Patrick Kernan. The Kernan family history mentions an orphan from the orphan train. His name may have been Andrew McLaughlin age 15."
~contributed by Mary Kay Simon Gleisner

Teddy Piederit Robbins and Jeremiah O'Hare, 1917

William Robbins 1929 Waukon HS graduation

Adopted by the W.H. Robbins family of Waukon when he was two years old, he took the name William Teddy Robbins. He graduated from Waukon HS in 1929.

Notes: Jeremiah O'Hare was the husband of Maude Marsden. Maude was  a cousin to Ella Robbins, the adoptive mother of Theodore 'Teddy' Piederit.

~notes and photo of Teddy & Jeremiah were contributed by Tammy O'Hare Kuhn. Interested researchers can contact Tammy at her email address found in the surname registry for O'Hare.

~the graduation photo of William Robbins was contributed by Jan Miller from the 1929 Waukon HS yearbook.

family: James McNerney
place: Lansing

family & place: 1) T. C. Hatten, Sidney
family & place: 2) W. H. Robbins, Waukon
family & place: 3) Stazell, Oakland

family, place & date: 1) Parker, Chicago, Mar. 1906
family, place & date: 2) Brown, LeClaire, Ia, Aug, 1906
family, place & date: 3) Kellogg, Lansing, Jan.8, 1908
family, place & date: 4) C. H. Mikkelson, Wisconsin, 1908
family, place & date: 5) Geo. Courtney, Janesville, Wis., April 1910

family: A. H. Gast
place: Waukon

family: John Buntrock
place: Waukon

family: O. B. Kelley
place: Waukon

family: Leopold Trentle
place: Lansing

family: T. C. Medary
place: Lansing

family: James M. Thompson
place: Lansing

family: John Arnold
place: Waukon

family: Stephen Neal
place: Lansing

family: John Dornbush
place: Lansing

family: Otto Helming
place: Waukon

family: J. W. Foster
place: Lansing

family: Henry Steiber
place: Lansing

family: A. C. Hagemeier
place: Lansing

family: William Wendell
place: Lansing

family: George Clark
place: Waukon

family: George Clark
place: Waukon

family: John C. Conrad
place: Lansing

family: unknown
place: Lansing

family: Nelson
place: Waukon

family: Lillard
place: Waukon

family: John Rumph
place: Waukon

Notes: See Erma's story & photo below

"I was going through the 1880 Census and noticed that my Gr-Gr-Grandparents Michael and Margaret Degnan had a son Peter Mullen, age 13, born in New York who had to have been adopted. Degnan's had 2 daughters I know of and they were born in Iowa. While I was looking through the census I noticed just in the Harpers Ferry area/Taylor Township that there were a minimum of 9 boys between the ages of 11 and 14. All the boys listed were born in New York. It would be great if someone knew the story behind these boys"

Michael Degnan 68 - Peter Mullen 13
James Murphy 68 - Paterick Foley 13
Thomas Sullivan 60 - John Duffy 13
William Seanlin 59 - William Hoey 14
Margaret Ryan 50 - John Owens 14
Edward Owens 74 - Michael Calaher 11
Michael Clark 56 - Henery McQuade 13
Thomas Gilliece 50 - Cornealis Calaher 12
Michael Barry 65 - Edward Owens 11

~contributed by Betty Palmer

on left: Ethel Adams
on right: Erma Rumph

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
~contributed by Errin Wilker