Hi Jan: In NY (at the county level) the wills and estates would be handled by the Surrogate's Court of that county. But, that would really only address those children for whom the parents had some money. If both parents died and they had no money, chances are the children would either be taken in by relatives (who could afford them) or institutions such as the Children's Aid Society (Charles Loring Brace of the Carmine Street Presbyterian Church 1853) or the New York Foundling Hospital (Sisters of Charity 1869). Both were particularly active in local private placement of children and orphan train placements where the children were sent out west or down south. There were several others that were ethnically or religiously based, such as the Hebrew National Orphan Home that Walter directed you to. Two excellent books that give a brief history of the institutions as well as all available census enumerations for all years are: The New York Foundling Hospital by Carolee R. Inskeep The Children's Aid Society of New York by Carolee R. Inskeep Good luck and best regards. Nancy. Nancy Coleman NLColeman@worldnet.att.net Professional NYC & LI Research Services www.GenealogyPro.com/ncoleman.html ncroots@worldnet.att.net Coordinator, Nassau County GenExchange http://www.genexchange.org/county.cfm?state=ny&county=nassau List Administrator, LI-Rooters http://www.genexchange.org/MailListForm.cfm?cat=NY ----- Original Message ----- From: "Janice Miller" <jgrellim@sbcglobal.net> To: <NY-LONGISLAND-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2004 5:10 PM Subject: [NY-LONGISLAND] Orphans Court? > Today in class there was reference to Orphan's Court. I hadn't heard that before--perhaps because I paid little attention, although I do know there were Orphan Trains from East Coast cities to the mid-west in the 1800s. It seems reasonable then to accept the existence of Orphan's Courts. > > Where would I start to look for such a court--in particular, NYC. If so, I would presume there might be the same for Boston or Philadelphia at one time or another as well. > > I have one family in which both parents were dead by 1839 and the youngest child was only 1 1/2. There were slightly older siblings, so now I am curious as to how those 6 young children were cared for. > > Because I expressed interest, I was given the research of Orphan's courts as my task for next class! Jan > > > > > Jan G. Miller > jgrellim@sbcglobal.net > > > ==== NY-LONGISLAND Mailing List ==== > Karima, List Administrator mailto:NY-LONGISLAND-admin@rootsweb.com > List Guidelines: http://userweb.springnet1.com/quest/LongIslandWelcome.html >