The Crete Public Library District reached out via social media to find descendants of orphan train riders who want to share their stories for programming related to an upcoming exhibit.
Sarah Wegley, marketing and programming coordinator for the library, said she is hopeful Facebook posts on pages for the library, Crete community groups and Descendants of the Orphan Train yield potential panel discussion participants by Jan. 10.
About a year ago identical twins and Crete residents Mary Conley and Barb Gerk, whose great-grandmother Lillian Whitehouse was an orphan train rider, approached Wegley about bringing in the All Aboard the Orphan Train! exhibit from the National Orphan Train Complex, a museum in Kansas.
“We’re actually going to be the only place in Illinois in 2025 for the exhibit to come,” said Wegley, who underscored that people in the community sharing their story got the ball rolling for others to learn about the Orphan Train Movement. “I knew nothing about orphan trains before this.”
Most orphan train riders came from Boston and New York City, but other children were sent out from orphanages across the United States primarily to the Midwest and West, with New England and the South also receiving some children, according to National Orphan Train Complex’s website.
“They left behind everything they knew,” Wegley said. “Some of them went to farms. They were from the city so they knew nothing about farms. They had to learn a whole new life and adjust to a whole new family. Sometimes it was a good situation. Sometimes it wasn’t.”
A six-volume set featuring passenger lists of some orphan train riders from a New York orphanage was donated by Conley and Gerk to the library. The information also included orphans’ names and most recent birthdays, dates when they were placed or indentured, and foster parents’ names and residences.
“I found 63 orphan train riders who found homes in Kankakee,” Wegley said. “For Kankakee County, there was 184 and then for Will County, 133.”
Conley and Gerk will participate in a panel discussion with descendants of orphan train riders at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 30 as part of the programming for All Aboard the Orphan Train: Traveling Exhibit from Jan. 13 to Feb. 1 in Crete. The library, 1177 N. Main St., is closed on Sundays and Jan. 20.
“This Orphan Train exhibit is a tribute that tells a complex story, which is part of our family history,” the sisters said in a statement about their great-grandmother. “Her ancestry is unknown. The Orphan Train exhibit offers insight to what Lillian went through as a baby and child.”
“She was part of the first organized social movement to help orphaned or homeless children in the United States. She was given to an orphanage in New York at 2 days old and indentured to a family in Chicago at 5 years old. She grew up and became free,” Conley and Gerk said.
Whitehouse eventually had eight great-grandchildren who all grew up or are growing up in Crete.
“She was active in her church and her community. Lillian was a businesswoman and seamstress and was loved dearly. By learning about the Orphan Train, we honor Lillian and the thousands of children and families who also share that past,” the sisters said.
Flossmoor resident Sandra McKay pitched the idea for the panel discussion, which she will lead after reading from her novel “A Place for Me, An Orphan’s Journey Home.” The event will also include a signing for the book based on her grandmother Dora, who was an orphan train rider.
“They wanted to show when you were an orphan train rider, things were different for you,” Wegley said.
She said the panelists will focus on how to research orphan train ancestors.
“There were problems when the author’s grandmother wanted to get married. She didn’t have a birth certificate,” she said.
Orphan train rider descendants interested in participating in the panel discussion may contact Wegley at [email protected] or 708-672-8017.
All Aboard the Orphan Train: Traveling Exhibit is sponsored by Crete-based Independence Physical Therapy, which is owned by Gerk. The display of informational panels is billed as offering an overview of the Orphan Train Movement and a few stories of orphan train riders.
“I planned a bunch of programs because I want people to be able to get more than coming in and looking at some panels,” Wegley said. “I want them to have a more interactive experience.”
The free programming kicks off at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 14 with The Faces and Fictions of the Orphan Train featuring Heather Bigwood, curator of the National Orphan Train Complex, livestreaming from Kansas. Registrants may participate remotely or at the library.
The Orphan Trains at 1 and 6:30 p.m. Jan. 21 will offer a screening of the titular PBS American Experience video about minister Charles Loring Brace’s Children’s Aid Society and other charities sending more than 150,000 neglected children by train to 47 states to begin new lives.
“It gives more background and will make the stories come alive. I was touched when I watched that film because it’s got actual orphan train rider stories,” Wegley said. “This film was made in the ’90s. Probably these people are passed away. It’s a real treasure that they captured their stories in their own words.”
Orphan Train Book Discussion at 1 and 6:30 p.m. Jan. 28 focuses on Christina Baker Kline’s novel “Orphan Train,” which moves between contemporary Maine and Depression-era Minnesota in a tale of upheaval and resilience, second chances and unexpected friendship.
“The most important thing of all is to get people to connect with it,” Wegley said.
Some Crete-Monee Middle School students will view the exhibit during a field trip.
“I hope (the exhibit) will connect people with a part of history they might not have known about,” she said. “A lot of people in our area are very interested in history, and this is a little-known chapter in American history.”
Jessi Virtusio is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
