SKYPE AN AUTHOR

What does "SKPYE AN AUTHOR" mean, you might ask? I too found myself asking that question after the opportunity was brought to my attention by a tech savey teacher in northern NJ who was looking for a way to invite me into their classroom to speak about the Orphan Train Movement, but did not think the school's budget would be able to swing the speaking/travel fees associated with my visit. Sure, that's a great idea I responded, having no idea what I was agreeing to.

What to do? QUICK! Do some research on SKYPE.....turns out it's a way to speak - like a phone service - from computer to computer. It's free of charge if both people have a SKYPE account (which is also free) and the only other thing you need is a microphone and speakers. OKAY....got that! But wait, there's more. You want the students to be able to see me in real time on the White Board at the front of the auditorium??? SURE! No problem. GEEZ! What did I just agree to? How do I make that happen? QUICK! More research.... Google Search for "Skype an Author" and low and behold, many authors are already doing this! Okay, click on http://www.skypeanauthor.wetpaint.com/ ... well, look at that. Step by step instructions on how to become an author who "SKYPES" - complete with recommendations on what webcam to purchase to obtain the best quality presentation. Webcam purchased, hubby helps out by hooking everything up, and TAA DAA! SKYPE AN AUTHOR ready to go!

Now that I am official....I figure why not go for broke! Back to the website and sign up to be on the list of authors that skype - here's my page! http://skypeanauthor.wetpaint.com/page/Donna+Aviles

After a test session to get the kinks out, I am set to go with my first SKYPE presentation to over 200 5th graders in Northern NJ on April 13th. And if that isn't exciting enough..... a second school has already found me through my wetpaint link above and scheduled a SKYPE presentation for mid-May!

Could this be the future of Classroom Author Visits????? I'll keep you posted!

WELCOME! & BOOK TOUR UPDATES

A very grateful WELCOME to my two new "followers" Beverly Stowe McClure and Kevin Atteridg. I hope you will scroll down and begin reading from the beginning - January 19th. I also welcome you to comment on anything you find interesting or anything that gets you thinking and generates a question! I'm happy you're here!

SALINA BOOK TOUR UPDATES: Things are really heating up with my book tour to Kansas which is scheduled for April 19-30th. I have three classroom presentations on Monday the 19th followed by a speaking engagement at the Eaglecrest Retirement Community @ 7:15 that evening. Tuesday the 20th I have four classroom presentations and Wednesday the 21st will find me at four different schools during the day and at the Salina Public Library @ 4:00 pm. Thursday the 22nd I will have three classroom presentations and will be the guest speaker for a fundraiser at the Smoky Hills Museum in Salina. This will be a fun event with attendees receiving train "tickets" in the name of an orphan train rider. At the end of the evening they will discover what became of "their child". Dinner will also be served. On Friday the 23rd I will have four school presentations and on Saturday the 25th I will be the guest speaker at a fundraiser for the National Orphan Train Complex in Concordia, KS. WHEW!! And that is only week #1. More updates to come on week #2.....

Be sure and Check out today's blog post at http://www.yayashome.blogspot.com/ for part #1 of a 3-part interview with Joany Erickson of YAYA'S CHANGING WORLD!

RIDING THE ORPHAN TRAIN

In September of 1854, the first ORPHAN TRAIN departed New York City for the state of Michigan with 46 boys ranging in age from 7 to 15. In the following 75 years, over 250,000 children would be transported from east coast cities to communities in every one of the 48 contiguous states. Most, however, were concentrated in the Midwest. While many of the children were indeed orphans, there were just as many half orphans, as well as children who were abandoned by living parents who could not care for them. Taken from orphanages as well as off the streets of the cities, these children would travel together either in boxcars or in passenger cars with their passage donated by the railroad companies or purchased at a reduced rate by the sending agency. The above picture is a Boys Cottage at the Children's Village - an orphanage in Dobbs Ferry on Long Island where my grandfather Oliver Nordmark spent one year before being chosen to ride the train to Bern, Kansas.

With some variability, the orphan trains worked basically like this: Notices would be sent to newspapers in farm communities along the train's route announcing the date and time that a "company of orphan children, under the auspices of The Children's Aid Society" would be arriving in town. Farmers and merchants were encouraged to come and see the children, hear the address to be given by the Escort explaining where the children were from and that they were in search of homes, and then hopefully leave with a new child in tow. Once the train arrived in town, the children were taken to whatever large gathering place was available in town. Often times this was an Opera House where vaudeville performances were frequently staged. If not an Opera House, perhaps a town hall or large church. The children would be lined up on chairs on the stage of the Opera House and then the townspeople would come in, hear the address, then walk along the line of children, inspecting them, and perhaps choosing one to take home. People taking children were expected to treat them as their own children, properly clothe and feed them, send them to school and sunday school, and have them help out on the farm and around the house.

Once placed in a new home, the plan was for a representative of the placing agency to go and check on each child at least once a year to make sure that everything was okay and that both the child and the family were happy with the placement. In truth, this did not always happen. Imagine a train full of 30 children stopping in one small town and those children chosen by farmers who had come in to town that day. Farmers may have traveled as much as 30-40 miles to be there for the train's arrival. With children disbursed at a 40 mile radius around the town, it was not always possible for the agent to get to every child. So, what might happen is that the agent might ask about a particular child while in town and get a good report from a teacher or merchant who knew the family. Or, as has been reported by riders themselves, the agent would always come when the child was at school and the foster parent would vouch for the placement when in fact, the child was terribly unhappy or even abused. The system was not without flaws, that's for sure.

Any child not chosen during the stop would board the train and travel to the next town on the route to try again. If any children remained when the train reached the end of the line, they would travel back to NYC to try again another day on another route. The more the railroad system was built up, the further west, south and north the children traveled.

CHECK BACK SOON to see how the Sisters of Charity operated their "BABY TRAINS"!

SISTER MARY IRENE FITZGIBBON

Around the same time that Reverend Brace was beginning his work on behalf of the homeless children in New York City, another person of faith, Sister Mary Irene Fitzgibbon of the Sisters of Charity, felt God’s calling as well. With beginning capital of just five dollars, Sister Irene sought help from charitable women and raised enough money to rent a small house located at 17 E. 12th Street where, on October 11, 1869 she began preparations for opening what would be called the New York Foundling Hospital. The mission would be to save the thousands of infants and very young children who were being left to perish in alley ways and trash heaps around the city. Appropriately enough, October 11th is the Feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Sister Irene, along with the other Sisters of Charity, intended to take three months to get the home ready to open, but on the very first night an infant was left on the front steps and without ceremony, the Foundling Home was in operation. By January 1, 1870, when the Sisters had originally intended to open their doors, they had 123 babies in residence.

Placing a white cradle in the foyer of the Home, while leaving the front door unlocked, word was sent out that a desperate mother could enter the Home and leave her child in the cradle with no questions asked. All the Sisters asked was that when leaving, the mother ring the bell by the front door so that the Sisters would know that there was a new little one to be gathered up and brought upstairs with the other babies.

Prior to the opening of the Foundling Home, abandoned infants found alive on the streets were taken by police to Blackwell’s Island (a prison and workhouse) where they were cared for by aging prisoners. Few survived infancy.

In the following six years, the NY Foundling home relocated twice to larger buildings to accommodate more children. By 1876 it became apparent that another solution was needed to solve the problem of homeless infants….Mercy Trains, or Baby Trains as they were sometime called, would be the answer….

REVEREND CHARLES LORING BRACE

A well-to-do Connecticut minister, Rev. Charles Loring Brace was born in Hartford in 1826. After completing his education, he felt a calling toward missionary work as opposed to church ministry. Brace did not believe in “survival of the fittest” but felt instead, that there was much society could do to improve the lives of the very poorest classes. After working in NYC’s Blackwell’s Island Prison, he was convinced that the adult poor were a hopeless cause and from that time forward, devoted his efforts to saving the children of poverty in the city.

Brace established the Children’s Aid Society in 1853. His first efforts included lodging houses for the thousands of newsboys who lived on the streets, as well as industrial schools, a farm school and even a summer home on Long Island. But his most ambitious endeavor, and the one for which he will forever be known, was “placing out."

Rev. Brace strongly believed that the best place for a child to grow up was in the home of a Christian farmer. With an idealized view of what life was like in the West, and the realization that the growing number of homeless children in the city would one day translate into a serious crime problem, Brace began his “placing out” program in 1854 with a group of boys traveling to Michigan. The effort was a success and began what would be a seventy-five year movement on the part of the Children’s Aid Society to save more than 100,000 urban children living in poverty.

Upon his death in 1890, Brace’s sons, Robert and Charles took over their father’s work through the Children’s Aid Society until their retirements in 1931 and 1927 respectively. The brothers established many new in-city programs to help the poor, including the foster home programs, but they continued to support their father’s work of relocation.

The Children’s Aid Society is still in operation today and still helping children both in urban and rural settings. They were instrumental in helping my father and his siblings during the Great Depression….but I’m getting ahead of myself!

Check back next week for the story of Sister Irene Fitzgibbon of the Sisters of Charity followed by an examination of just exactly HOW the placing out process worked……

HOW IT BEGAN......

In the middle of the 1800’s, New York City was awash with immigrants from European countries. From 1840-1860, 4 million people entered the city through Ellis Island and amazingly, most of them stayed. With barriers related to language, transportation and income, new arrivals were soon confronted with the reality of their new life. The Land of Milk and Honey with Streets Paved in Gold was in fact, a crude existence plagued with overcrowding, a shortage of jobs, unsanitary living conditions, and difficult - often heartwrenching - decisions.

With no social programs available (no food stamps, workman’s compensation, unemployment, welfare, etc.) families were left to their own devices. If a father was hurt on the job and left unable to work, there would always be another immigrant ready to take his place. Often, with a lack of resources and a growing number of children to try and care for, parents were forced to make the difficult choice of sending their older children (ages 8 and up) out on the streets to fend for themselves.

Commonly known as “street arabs” “waifs” or “street urchins”, these children would often band together in small groups for protection and friendship. Selling newspapers, shining shoes, or begging a few coins was their only means of support. By 1853 it is estimated that 30,000 children were living on the streets of New York City. This growing problem was soon to be addressed by two people: Reverend Charles Loring Brace of Connecticut, and Sister Mary Irene Fitzgibbons of the Sisters of Charity. Both Rev. Brace and Sister Irene felt called by God to help the thousands of children who not only struggled to eek out their existence, but also posed a growing threat to the crime problem in the city.
More to come…..