United States Orphan Research

United States Orphans and Orphanages

The Sick, the Poor, and the Orphaned America: the land of opportunity. With available land, abundant natural resources, and an entrepreneurial minded society, it is easy to have an idyllic vision of life for our ancestors. However, not everyone realized the American dream.

Poverty was also part of the American landscape. Urban slums were rife with disease due to overcrowded, unsanitary conditions. Medical science had barely begun to understand the role of microorganisms in the spread of disease.

Our rural ancestors were not immune to poverty or disease. Bad weather could wipe out an entire crop—and with it the bulk of the family’s income. Doctors were few; access to trained medical care was scarce.

Whether through circumstance or choice, through nature or nurture, some of our ancestors became dependent upon others for care and support. In this module we will look at institutions which served the sick, the poor, and the orphaned.

Contents:    Internet sites and databases:


 * History of Orphanages
 * List of Early Orphanages
 * Genealogy Today, Orphanage Records
 * [[Children's Aid Societ], NYC, archives searches ($) for adoptions, and orphan train riders.
 * New York Foundling Hospital, can do records research for close relatives only of placed-out children.
 * [[Family History Librar], Salt Lake City, 450 computers, 3,400 databases, 3.1 million microforms, 4,500 periodicals, 310,000 books of worldwide family and local histories, censuses, civil, church, immigration, ethnic, military, and Mormon records.
 * United States Adoption Research Research Wiki article.
 * Bobbie's Genealogy Classroom

For Further Reading:

The Rise and Demise of the American Orphanage ____________________________________________________________________ Information in this Wiki page is excerpted from the online course [http://www.genealogicalstudies.com/eng/courses.asp?courseID=213 US: Institutional Record[[Category:Institutionoffered by [http://www.genealogicalstudies.com The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. To learn more about this course or other courses available from the Institute, see our website. We can be contacted at [mailto:wiki@genealogicalstudies.com wiki@genealogicalstudies.co