LITTLE FALLS - The 54th Annual Orphan Train Conference will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Oct. 11 at the St. Francis Center, 116 Eighth Ave. SE, Little Falls.
A silent auction, meeting, entertainment, lunch and orations by orphan train rider descendants will fill the day.
Keynote speaker is John Rys, genealogy DNA, Family Discovery, and will take place at 10:15 a.m.
Between 1854-1929, over 250,000 children were placed out on orphan trains from the East Coast, venturing into unknown territory in the West by train, to settle with unfamiliar families across America.
The transfer was the first emigration plan and largest mass migration of children ever to take place on American soil, formulating our counties first child welfare system. For many of these children arriving in new family homes throughout America, the placement left them facing kind and loving families, or as indentured servants bound to hard labor.
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Descendants and interested persons gather annually to celebrate and discover the saga of those little pioneers drawn into a social experiment spanning a three quarters of a century (over 75 years).
There are less than 50 surviving orphan train riders existing throughout the United States today.
The conference is open to any interested persons. Walk-ins are welcome.
Contact Kim Piehl at tkdplace@brainerd.net or 829-5912 for any questions and or registration.
