The children below are from a list of over 65,000 children who appear in the records of various New York City orphan asylums for whom information is available via Mr. Kidder.

Search Tips: It was very difficult to discern the letter “n” from the letter “u” in some of the old handwritten records so please keep this in mind when searching the list below. You may also wish to search using just a few letters of the last name in case part of the last name was unreadable on the original record. Keep an open mind as officials recorded how they heard the name rather than how it was actually spelled. Same for year of birth. Many children would lie about their age for one reason or another. For instance, if too old they may face prison instead of an orphan asylum. If your ancestor’s year of birth falls within four years (either side) of the year given in the list below, it would be worth having Mr. Kidder check for a positive match.

For those not sure if their ancestor was in a New York Orphan Asylum, but have found a name in the List of Children below that may be a match, Mr. Kidder will perform a “Family Discovery Search” for a base fee of $20.00 per individual or family being researched. Guests must fill in the Research Services form to provide information on the individual they want to confirm is in the existing records. There is no refund on the flat fee if no records are found in the original records, but Mr. Kidder will  (when applicable) identify additional possible avenues of research at other archives, etc. that may have pertinent information on the individual or family being researched. Allow up to two weeks for completion. More information about this search and the “Detailed Family Search” (for those who have confirmed their ancestor is a match to one in the list below) can be found under Types of Records Searched. Contact Mr. Kidder using the Research Services form for confirmation of which research service to order if you are uncertain.

Make a donation to Mr. Kidder to help him continue his work on documenting America’s Orphan Train Movement and indexing old records.

Jump to Last Names:

A B C D E F G H I J K L Ma-Mc Me-My N O P Q R Sa-Sh Si-Sz T U V W X Y Z