Phyllis, My great grandparents raised a foster child who was illegitimate and his mother was in a local county "poor farm" where she died when he was quite young; he was never legally adopted. I also know that there were many children "taken in" by families in Arkansas and other mid-western states from the Orphan Trains that came west from the East around the turn of the century. I had a great uncle who was transported west via an Orphan Train, but he was legally adopted, though his biological history is well known. Many of those children were not legally adopted, but were raised by the foster parents. Go to the following website to learn more about the Orphan Trains (very interesting): http://pda.republic.net/or_train/index_new.html . There are a number of books and articles on this interesting, sometimes sad and sometimes happy, method of "placing out" children. Delores ----- Original Message ----- From: Phyllis Campbell <belann@wirefire.com> To: <AGS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, June 05, 2000 7:09 AM Subject: [AGS] Foster Children > My great-grandmother, Martha Ann Williams Kirkland raised a foster son. His name was Ernest Wilson and I would like to find more information on him. Does anyone know how I would do this? I believe this would have been in the early 1900s. Where and how would a person get a foster child in that time? > > Phyllis > > > ==== AGS Mailing List ==== > http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/GenSoc/Ar/AGS >