Around 1859, a train arrived in Hamilton County IN carrying orphans
from the New York area to western rural areas. This train dropped off
27 orphans that day in Hamilton County. Those 27 orphans were part
of the 200,000 children from New York and Boston area that were sent
west between 1853 and 1930. A large number of these children ended
up in Indiana.
A project to gather information on these is at
http://members.aol.com/sharcraig/otr.htm and the following from
Decatur, Rush and Shelby Counties are currently listed.
Name, Family given to, DOB, County
"Elizabeth Betty","John Dwenger",,"Decatur",,
"William Sidney Emay","Duncan",1853,"Rush"
"William Shaw",,"1853NY","Rush",,
"Daniel Callahan","Conrad Kuhn",,"Shelby",,
"Dennis Callahan","William Burnett",,"Shelby",,
"Josephine Slavick","Ruhlman",1907,"Shelby",,