Foundling
This file appears in: Unwelcome Children
The fate of this foundling baby, sent home for the night with the girls who discovered him, illustrates the general lack of infrastructure present to support children in distress in 19th century America. They showed the baby to John Boyer of Jeffersonville, who advised them to take the child to the county trustee on the next day. At that time, county trustees had responsibility for most social welfare activities.
This file appears in: Unwelcome Children
Unwelcome Children
Rather than run a local orphanage, Catholic churches in much of Southern Indiana sent children to large orphanages elsewhere. In America, Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish organizations vied to prevent people from leaving their flocks and to recruit…