A few days ago, when I briefly visited the Milwaukee Area Health Center at 2220 E. North Avenue (northeast corner of Prospect and North), it became clear to me that the small modern buildings now there are on the approximate site of the razed old Milwaukee Orphan Asylum building (built in the 1880s?). I'm told that St. Aemilian Lakeside, Inc., occupied these small buildings up until about ten years ago, when this social service agency moved to its present location at 8901 W. Capitol Dr., Milwaukee, WI 53222-1706 (phone: 414-463-1880). My guess is that several decades ago Saint Aemilians may have absorbed the old Milwaukee Orphan Asylum and its 2220 E. North Ave. property-- but I haven't yet contacted St. Aemilians (note to Rev. Bob of Brookfield-- PLEASE try to call them also). Perhaps St. Aemilians took over the mission of several other old Milwaukee orphanages-- and hopefully they have some ancient RECORDS on many of the orphans they helped. Does anyone have more info on St. Aemilians?? Last Tuesday, when I quickly checked the Milwaukee Sentinel Index cards (1837-1890 only) at the main Milwaukee Public Library, I found that planning for the Milwaukee Orphan Asylum (sometimes also called the Protestant Orphan Asylum) began in 1849, and it was formally established in early 1850. But I'm unclear whether a similar Catholic organization may have been spun off from this Asylum at about the same time-- a spin-off that may have become St. Rose's Orphan Asylum of the 1860s-- as referred to by Mary <tepalmer@execpc.com> on 8/15/01. Presumably Milwaukee's St. Aemilians agency honors Italy's St. Jerome Emiliani, 1481-1537 (see below) and his special focus on orphans. But is Milwaukee's old St. Rose's an ancestor of St. Aemilian's Orphan Asylum?? ........John (in Chicago) PS: the above ties in with the info in this June 13, 1879, obit of one of my g-g-grandmothers-- Sarah (Higby) Eldred, 1802-1879. This Milwaukee newspaper clipping begins: "DEATH OF MRS. ELISHA ELDRED. The community will learn with regret of the decease, this morning at 9:15, of Mrs. Sarah A., relict of the late Elisha Eldred, who was widely known as one of the pioneers and substantial citizens of Milwaukee..... Mrs. Eldred came to this city with her husband in 1842, from Otsego County, New York. She was one of the oldest communicants of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, and was one of the founders of the Protestant Orphan Asylum, of which she was a director to the day of her death....... [etc., etc.] ======================================================= Milwaukee's early orphanages & hospitals---> Subj: [WiMilwau] Re: Milwaukee Orphan Asylum Date: 8/15/01 4:54:49 PM Central Daylight Time From: tepalmer@execpc.com Reply-to: WIMILWAU-L@rootsweb.com To: WIMILWAU-L@rootsweb.com John...... In the book Milwaukee The History of a City by Bayrd Still Chapter 10, page 237 the following benevolent societies are listed as existing in the 1860's: Milwaukee Hospital, founded by Dr. W. A. Passavant in 1863 [JQM note: probably connected with Chicago's old Passavant Hospital, recently absorbed by (or renamed as) Northwestern Memorial Hospital] St. Mary's Hospital [JQM note: Ashley thinks St. Mary's might be Milwaukee's oldest hospital] St. Rose's Orphan Asylum Milwaukee Orphan Asylum, established by the Ladies' Benevolent Society and partly subsidized by the council Home of the Friendless, opened in 1867 Hebrew Relief Society, founded 1867 Union Bethel Mission societies Hope this helps, Mary ======================================================= http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08343a.htm from the Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Jerome Emiliani (1481-1537)-- << Founder of the Order of Somascha; b. at Venice [Italy], 1481; d. at Somascha [Italy], 8 Feb, 1537; feast, 20 July..... In the year of plague and famine (1528), he seemed to be everywhere and showed his zeal especially for the orphans, whose number had so greatly increased..... The principal work of the Somascha community: the care of orphans, poor, and sick..... At present the order has ten houses in Italy two of which are in Rome. The general resides in Rome at S. Girolamo della Carita. >> =======================================================