Retracing the Orphan Train Event: In Buffalo, Julia Park Tracey takes on the Origins of the Orphan Trains
Julia Park Tracey, author of The Bereaved will don a mourning gown to discuss her historical novel about the Orphan Train and the mothers left behind on Monday, October 16, 5:30-6:30 pm at the Buffalo Public Library, Crane Branch. She’ll discuss the social pressures that prompted wealthy train barons in New York City and their do-gooder wives under the auspices of the Home to the Friendless to start shipping the masses of street kids roaming the City out on the Orphan Trains. She’ll talk about the lack of rights widowed mothers had, the view society had of them, the lack of support they had, and their limited choices which often resulted in them turning their children over to the Home so their children could be fed and housed. She’ll also discuss her research that led to the discovery of her great, great grandfather’s origins as a child rider on the Orphan Train and ultimately led her to write this novel. In partnership with Talking Leaves Books and Buffalo Public Library. The event will take place at the Crane Brach Library, 633 Elmwood and is open and free to all. For more info or RSVP, click here.
The Bereaved in Buffalo. Buffalo was a stop along the railroad that the children in The Bereaved would have taken. In those days (1850s), trains traveled by only daylight, and contained no sleepers, dining cars or bathrooms. Trains stopped for overnight accommodations and for meals; trackside vendors sold fruit and other food to passing trains. Any train lights were whale oil. Orphan children would have stayed the night in Buffalo before children were delivered to families that had requested a child.
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