Orphan Train Riders: A Brief History of the Orphan Train Era (1854-1929) with Entrance Records from the American Female Guardian Society's Home for the Friendless in New York, Volume 1

New York City in the nineteenth century could be a brutal place for a child. A magnet to immigrants and the poor in search of jobs, the city was also a haven for gamblers, thieves and murderers. When adults fell victim to alcoholism, prostitution or drug addiction, their children were the ones who suffered the most. Temperance organizations such as the American Female Guardian Society stepped in, establishing orphanages and homes for unwed mothers and battered women: "homes for the friendle...