Orphans with Parents: Very Common in the 18th and 19th Centuries

Southside of Chicago, September 1897––Asleep in the street in a neighborhood teeming with saloons, gambling, and prostitution, a young boy named Andrew was “rescued” by one of the newly-minted social reformers on the southside and turned over to the juvenile court system. Although Andrew’s parents were alive and well, they were saloon keepers and not mindful of where their son was spending time; nor did they seem to have any clear plans for his education or future. Andrew was sent to a boys’ school, where he was deemed an orphan. Six months later, the now ten-year-old was handed over, via a train ride to rural South Dakota, to a Russian-German immigrant farmer and his family, with whom he spent the next decade and a half of his life. Andrew's story, and that of many others in our families was all too common in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Read on for more information.

Orphans in the Family?

Sometimes, because we are so used to the way we do things, we forget it wasn’t always that way. We assume that if an ancestor changed their name, they went to court to do so because that’s what most people do now. We also assume that if a child was adopted, some well-defined legal pathways were followed––again, because that’s what is expected today. However, the reality is that names were changed all the time without anyone taking any legal steps, and children were handed over to friends, clergy, family members, and other willing takers, quite often with no paper trail. Orphanages held thousands of children who still had one or more living parent, and children struggling to survive in poverty were often literally snatched off the streets and placed in institutions, sometimes without parental consent.

Finding St. Louis Orphanages in the 1950 Census

Did you know the term "orphan" refers to both full orphans and half-orphans? A full orphan means both parents have died or deserted the child. A half-orphan refers to children with one parent still living. Every year, our Ask Louie genealogy advice service receives many questions on researching orphaned ancestors, and this year is no different. With the release of the 1950 U.S. census, we've been busy updating St. Louis orphanage information on our website.  If you are researching an ancestor who was orphaned or half-orphaned in St. Louis and are a member of StLGS, you can access a great deal of information about St. Louis orphans and orphanages on our website.

Announcing the StLGS 2020 Fall Speaker Series!

Because so many people have been enjoying our online programs, we are especially excited to offer our new, virtual Fall Speaker Series! We are focused on bringing you unique webinars that will enhance your research skills, and this lineup of speakers and topics is sure to hit that sweet spot! We hope you will join us for the livestreamed event, but even if you can't, you will have access to the digitally recorded talks and can watch them at your leisure for three months! Here's what you need to know to register:

StLGS August Genealogy Meetings and Events

As we continue our months of quarantine, we hope you are staying healthy and productive. Behind the scenes, the volunteers at St. Louis Genealogical Society are working actively to provide our members and guests with as much as we can, given the public health crisis. We have been delighted with how well our online events, meetings, and classes are going and truly appreciate the positive feedback we have received. Here is our revised schedule for August featuring more exciting online events, information about ongoing opportunities, and (cue the trumpets!) an announcement about our upcoming Fall Speaker Series, which will be open for registration very soon.

Updates to Orphanage Care in St. Louis: St. Bridget's Half-Orphan Asylum for Girls

(Thanks to StLGS treasurer, Viki Fagyal, for contributing this week's blog post.) 

Questions about orphans and orphanage care in St. Louis are among the most frequent inquiries we get from genealogy researchers at St. Louis Genealogical Society. If you are a member of the society, we have quite a bit of information to help you on this topic on our website. Log into the site and go to the orphanage home page to start learning about the various institutions in St. Louis. The orphanage page will also give you basic information on orphan trains and available records in St. Louis.

St. Bridget's Half Orphan Asylum for Girls

St. Bridget’s Half-Orphan Asylum for Girls was established in 1858 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet and was located on Lucas Avenue and Beaumont Street. The home served female half-orphans from five to twelve years old, who were placed by the surviving parent. Part of the founding mission of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet was St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf in St. Louis. This put the order in the unique position of being able to serve deaf orphans and half-orphans.

Of the ninety-nine white females between the ages of four and twenty-one listed in the 1870 census, twenty-five of the girls showed handicapping conditions: four were marked "idiotic," fifteen marked "deaf and dumb," one marked "deaf, dumb, and blind," two marked "blind," and three marked "mute." Of the ninety-four white females between the ages of ten months and nineteen years listed in the 1880 census, nine of the girls showed handicapping conditions: six were marked "deaf and dumb," two marked "idiotic," and one marked "disabled." This is remarkable because St. Bridget’s served a population not seen in the other orphanages.

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet gave permission for the St. Louis Genealogical Society to place a list on our website of deaf children cared for and taught at St. Bridget’s. The data includes their names, birth places, parents’ names, when they left the asylum, and sometimes some additional information. This list can now be found at the top right of the Orphanages page on our website in the box labeled "More Orphanage Information." You can also go directly to it here, once you are logged into the site.

There is little history available for St. Bridget’s Half Orphan Asylum for Girls. In 1866 it was placed under the control of the Board of Managers of the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylums of St. Louis. The archives of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet deals only with the sisters; they do not have student records. The St. Louis Archdiocesan Archives does not have records for St. Bridget’s Half Orphan Asylum for Girls either.

More on St. Louis Orphanages

The StLGS website includes a bibliography of orphanage histories and articles, a finding aid for locating orphanages in the 1850 through 1940 censuses, a timeline of the locations for each orphanage through all their moves, and an Index to the Journal of Commitments for the House of Refuge.

The most comprehensive resource for St. Louis orphanages is Researching Orphans and Orphanage Care in St. Louis, written by Viki Fagyal ($13 members/$15 nonmembers), and available in our society's store. Don't forget to log in and get your member coupon code for the lower price.