MISSING,ORPHANED, AND WORKING CHILDREN 1870-1942
Missing children in the 19th were often put in orphanages when their parents died or could not take care of them Other children were caught up in the wanderlust of being Hobo's and riding the rails. Other children left home because their families couldn't take care of them. Other children sought work in dangerous occupations.
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MISSING CHILDREN ARTICLES FOR 2011
THE PLIGHT OF CHILDREN 1870-1942
Published on 05 September 2011
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In the early 1900s, orphans weren't always defined as children without parents. Very often, orphans were neglected kids of single parents, families in financial arrears or homeless children who were living on the streets. Sometimes children sought out orphanages -- some were called asylums back then -- because the living conditions were better there than with their families. Unfortunately, orphanages were scarce and many children were left on their own. The orphanage system changed dramatically in the 1900s, making way for revised child labor laws, adoption services, the development of the foster care system and vocational training.
HITTING THE ROAD AS A CHILD
Out in the cold world and far away from home,
Some mother's boy is wandering all alone,
With no one to guide him or keep his footsteps right,
Some mother's boy is homeless tonight.
Oh, bring back to me my wandering boy,
For there is no other who's left to give me joy,
Tell him his mother, with faded cheeks and hair,
Is at the old home awaiting him there.
This popular lament of an anguished Mother
reflects the problem of children running off
to ride the rails. The railroad was the airplane
of the 19th and early 20th century. HOBO'S
THE DANGEROUS WORLD OF CHILDREN
What wass the world like for those children that didn't end up in Orphanages or working in Mines and as lumberjacks ?
