Children's Aid Society Orphan Train arriving in Blue Rapids, Kansas, 1908 

What follows is a brief history of the Orphan Trains that came to Iowa.  From 1853 to 1929, cities on the east coast, primarily New York City and Boston, in order to clear overcrowding in those cities of the orphan population, shipped anywhere from 200,000 to 300,000 to towns in the Midwest that were on the rail routes.  Iowa had welcomed 6,673 children from 1853 to 1910, and a total of 10,000 from 1853 to 1929. Some were adopted, most were fostered and some were sent back east.

Michael J. Goss, 2024

The Orphan Trains to Lawler, Iowa (1885-1895) represents over a year's worth of investigation and research by Mr. Goss into the Orphan Train and its Riders whose final destination was Lawler, Iowa.

The document does not have a table of contents. Instead, the research is divided up into the following sections:

• Parts One through Six covers the different Riders that were able to be found who came to Lawler. Each part also contains a Summary of each Rider's family information that was able to be found.

• An Addendum, which discusses Father John Hawe, the Sisters of the Presentation, and the Milwaukee Road railway

• The Epilogue which also includes a section to assist you in conducting your own research into a specific Orphan Train Rider

• An Addition and Corrections page

• An acknowledgements page

The Orphan Trains to Lawler, Iowa (1885-1895) is a living document, and will be updated as needed to reflect the most current information available about the Riders and their histories. The most recent update was Dec, 2025

All updates will be located at the end of each individual Riders Summary Page or at the end of the article.  Updates will be dated.  This should make it easier for you to keep current.  Remember, page numbers will change as information is added so do not rely on page numbers for personal reference.