In some cases, as adults, the orphan train riders were very positive about their adoptive family, felt they were treated well, loved, and given a better chance in life. However, in many cases, the children were taken into a new home only for the work they were expected to do. Some were mistreated. In many cases, siblings were separated from each other and consequently, from the only family they knew. Family history research about Orphan Train Riders is often a difficult undertaking.
Records can be scarce.
As adults, children often did not remember or did not discuss their previous life in the east. Illinois became the new home of many of the children who rode the Orphan Trains. Index to the children mentioned in the Annual Reports of the New York Juvenile Asylum. 1880 Federal Census of New York Juvenile Asylum and House of Reception . Both were transcribed by Verna Drake and are presented by the Illinois State Genealogical Society.