By Suzanne Morris Ledford, Cadiz
My father, Charles Morris, was a well-known historian and genealogist in Kentucky. Born in Owensboro, he moved to Cadiz in 1963 to be near family. After retiring from AT&T, he spent time talking to people, hearing their stories, and using that information to research and record local history. Dad was well known for his genealogical research for friends and people across the United States. He also was involved in gathering information for books being published about Trigg County, wrote several books about his family’s history, and, most recently, wrote the Kentucky Orphan Train books.
His interest in Kentucky Orphan Train children began many years ago when my sister, Paula Anderson, asked him to research her husband’s family. Her father-in-law had been sent from eastern Kentucky to the Kentucky Children’s Home (KCH) in Louisville. He was then put on a train and ended up in Trigg County. Dad also recalled his grandfather talking about going to Cadiz one morning and seeing children from the train lined up in front of the courthouse. My great-grandfather brought three brothers home to stay with their family for the winter.
Dad decided that there had to be more of those children in Trigg County and began asking friends if they knew of any Orphan Train children. He began to research and gather information on the names he was given. His online research about the KCH led him to the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives (KDLA) in Frankfort. Fortunately, a few years ago, several old ledgers and most of the files of the KCH children were located in an old whiskey warehouse in Louisville. These were saved from destruction and transferred to the KDLA for preservation.
Dad discovered that among those ledgers were 14 large handwritten books containing the names of 7,800 children sent to the KCH from when it opened in 1895 through 1936. After being granted access in 2015 to the ledgers and files, Dad, along with my mom, Jenny, made several trips to the KDLA to review the ledgers. They located more than 100 children from across the state who had been brought to Trigg County during those years, including 15 children who had been sent to the KCH from Trigg County. Many friends urged him to put this information in a book for family members and future generations.
Thus began the process of reviewing the children’s files, doing computer research, and interviewing those who were still living or their family members. The compilation of this information led to the publication of his book, The Trigg County Connection to The Kentucky Children’s Home, in late 2016. The book contains the history of the Kentucky Children’s Home, along with copies of newspaper articles and examples of paperwork found in the files. The majority of the book contains individual stories about every child who left Trigg County or arrived here by train and were fostered or adopted by local families.
The KCH relied on charitable donations for funding. During cold winters, children were sent by train to stay with families across the state to reduce the operating cost of keeping them in Louisville. After staying in the foster homes, many of the children were adopted or kept by their foster families. The KCH attempted to make sure that children were sent to opposite ends of the state from where they were raised so that “family [would] not interfere with their placement.” This resulted in many of the children never knowing if they had siblings or other family members.
This book is full of interesting anecdotes, stories of happiness, and tales of unbelievable sadness. Some of the foster children were adopted, while others were sent back to the KCH for no other reason listed except “we no longer want this child.” There are stories of children put in jail because no family member would take them. There is a story of a stepfather who poisoned his stepchildren, resulting in the death of one child. One of Dad’s favorite stories was of a teenager who liked living in Trigg County so much that each time he was sent back to the KCH, he would run away and walk back to Trigg County from Louisville. Each story is unique and historically significant. Dad’s purpose in writing the book was to make sure the children and their stories were never forgotten.
As Dad attended meetings and family reunions around western Kentucky talking about his book, people began to ask him how to find the names of the children who had come to their county on the Orphan Train. After inquiring at the KDLA about other ledger books, one was located that lists the name of all the children from every county in Kentucky and the date they were sent to the KCH. Dad compiled that information and in 2017 published a companion book, KCH Orphan Train Children by Home County. This second book is useful for family members trying to find loved ones who had been sent to the KCH.
In the years following the publication of his books, Dad saw the impact they had on families through letters, calls and personal visits. One of his greatest joys was reuniting families. His books have been sold in most states and around the world, including in England, Germany and Australia. Dad passed away in June 2021.
If you have a family member who was sent to the KCH and you are interested in obtaining a copy of their file, please contact me and I can give you details on how to proceed. Also, if you would like to purchase one or both books, please email me at kychbook@gmail.com.