My grandpa came on the orphan train from NYC. We spent 50 yrs trying to find his birth cert. We were told that all the records at the Foundling hospital were destroyed in a fire. We later found out that wasn't true and I was able to get the microfiche records from his file though they weren't very legible. I finally contacted the lying-in Hospital in NYC and asked to look for his birth on the date we thought his birthday was. Turns out we thought his real name was Francis Braun - that is what the nuns led everyone to believe. His mother's name was Frances Braun. She named him John Braun and BINGO I got the birth cert. Took 50 years. He was "Indentured" in MN. I have been told you couldn't adopt back then. We thought he came when he was 13 since that is what the indentured papers said. BUT he is on the census at 5 years of age so we assume he was small when he came. From my research there were Catholic kids and protestant kids that came from the Children's home so! ciety. The catholic kids supposed already had a family where they were going to. The Protestant kids were loaded up and displayed at each train stop and people could pick a child. There is an Descendants of Orphan train gathering here every year still in MN. Julie Bruggenthies Menomonie, WI -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of maurath1 via Sent: Tuesday, November 10, 2015 5:24 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [NYC-ROOTS] Little orphan girl goes from New York to Illinois This is about my great-grandmother, who was sent as a little girl from New York to Illinois to live with a German immigrant farm family by the names of Valentin and Maria Magadalena ROOS (sometimes, ROSS, ROSE, etc.) in Millstadt, St. Clair County, Illinois. We don't know my great-grandmother's original birth name, but we assume that it could be Caroline LORAN, based on the 1880 census, which also showed "adopted", "state of New York". All other subsequent records show her name as Carmelitta "Carrie" ROOS, born in New York City on June 1, 1876. The name Carmelitta Mary ROOS was apparently given to her by the ROOS family, and later shortened to Carmelite or Carme. Valentin and Magdalena ROOS were already in their 60's at the time of the 1880 census, and they had two grown daughtes still living at home with them, and so we assumed that Caroline could have been an illegitimate daughter of one of these two, but research has not been able to prove this, and all records show New York City as the place of Caroline's birth in 1876, while the ROOS family had lived continuously in St. Clair County from the time of their arrival in this country until the 1880 census, and subsequently. The 1880 census of St. Clair County, Illinois, also shows several other children from "New York" who were "adopted" by local farm families. No local adoption records have been found so far for Carmelite/Caroline LORAN or for ROOS. We have checked Orphan Train records and have researched through the Orpahn Train Society, but with no luck. The ROOS family did not tell Caroline/Carmelite much about her origins (maybe they didn't really know themselves). One time they told her that her biological parents were killed in a "car" accident (assuming that this meant streetcar or railroad car). Another time, they told her that her real surname was GORDON, and another time they told her JORDAN. One time they told her that her ancestry was Irish, and another time they told her that her ancestry was Spanish. She married at the young age of 19 to Louis MAURATH and had 3 children. She died in 1928 in St. Louis, MO at the young age of 52. You can see her wedding picture at ... http://zither.us/zitherist.louis.maurath This is one of those dead-end brick walls, as I've been researching for Caroline/Carmelite's origins since I was young, for over 30 years, and even hired researchers a couple of times, but with no luck. So, I just thought I'd throw this out there again, and maybe someone is researching for their ancestors young sister name Caroline LORAN who was sent away from the family, for whatever reason. Or maybe some new leads have appeared? So, if anyone out there has any other ideas or suggestions or can help in any way, I'm open to hearing from you, and would really appreciate it. Thank you so much. John Maurath St. Louis, MO [email protected] s ____________________________________________________________ Fast, Secure, NetZero 4G Mobile Broadband. Try it. http://www.netzero.net/?refcd=NZINTISP0512T4GOUT2 ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message