Orphans

[Lukie]

Hi, can anyone help me to find out what would happen to children who were orphaned in the 1870's, would they go to a poor house or somewhere else.

Lukie

[Su]

Hi Lukie,
Welcome to Rootschat.

I discovered some of my orphaned ancestors were living with other relatives i.e. grandparents or aunts and uncles.  Other Rootschatters have found theirs in orphanages or even workhouses.

If you put up a post requesting help in finding them, I'm sure someone will point you in the right direction.

If you know which County they came from, go to that site and put your post up there.  Someone who researches that area might have an idea as to where to find them.

Good luck
Su

[Bee]

Hi Lukie,

If they were orphaned in the 1870's and you know their names and approximate ages then you should be able to find them on the 1881 census at
http://www.familysearch.org

happy hunting

Bee

[Little Nell]

My gt-gt-grandmother and her siblings were orphaned in 1865.  She was only 7 at the time.  Her mother had a large number of sisters, but in 1871 her elder sister was in the workhouse (where her mother had died and she herself died a year later), she was at an orphanage in Surrey "being trained for service" along with lots of others.  I can't find her brother until 1881, when he was living with one of his aunts.  Then he too disappears.

Nell

[Headbanger Veron]

How sad Nell I always feel so sorry for those poor families, losing one or both parents and then being split up from each other in the workhouse 

My great grandmother was brought up by her grandparents, her father had died of smallpox when she was only 2, and I haven't yet worked out whether her mother then died too shortly after, or married someone else and left her firstborn to be brought up by her own parents.  Either of those two things would be pretty sad but at least she wasn't sent to the workhouse.

Veron

[wheeldon]

Hi luke, could they also have been sent to a mill to work?  I know it's before the industrial revolution but just an idea.  Alos, I wonder if you wrote to the local council they may be able to provide you with details of orphanges.  It's alos a good idea to see if there is a local heritage society which may help.