The Little Hands That Helped Shape the West

Ciara Gold,
author and artist


The Little Hands
that Helped
Shape the West
by Ciara Gold

The old west is filled with many stories and situations that become a writer’s playground for ideas. One such situation is the orphan train and the many lives affected by the transportation of orphans from New York to rural areas in the west. The practice began in 1854 when Charles Loring Brace and a group of business men formed the Children’s Aid Society. At the time, New York City became overwhelmed with homeless and abandoned children who were living on the streets under the worst impoverished conditions imaginable. With western expansion, rural folks had a need for large families to work the land so it just seemed logical to place these waifs with farmers and ranchers who wanted and needed children. Some of the children were accepted as part of the family while others weren’t so lucky.

The “train” wasn’t always a locomotive. Transportation could have been by ship, train or wagon, but arrangements for placement of the children varied. In some cases, the children were spoken for prior to placement. In other situations, a group of children would be put on the train with a case worker. At each scheduled stop, a representative of the town (most often a clergyman) would conduct an auction of sorts. The prospective parents could meet the children and make their selections. The case worker had papers for parents to sign, and the children were given new homes. Those not chosen would be put back on board for the next stop, and the process started all over again. Case workers were supposed to come back within a few months to make sure the children had been placed in decent situations.

The heroine for Once Jilted, Shauna, is loosely based on a real person. My mother’s best friend’s mother, Agnes, ended up in Texas as an orphan train rider. The woman did not have a pleasant time of it when she was adopted and had a very difficult childhood until she turned eighteen and left to make her own way.

Agnes was to be adopted by a family when she was five and rode the ship from New York to Texas, then boarded a train that would take her to her new family. The trip took more than a month, but when she arrived, the couple decided they didn't want her because she didn’t speak their language, and they couldn’t understand her and vice versa. She had to return to the local church rectory, only this time - alone, with no other orphans to keep her company.

Afterwards, she stayed at the rectory until she was at last spoken for. The couple who took her did so to please the husband's mother as it was she who was taken by the little girl. Agnes spent her remaining childhood with rural folks who treated her more like an indentured servant than a beloved daughter.

Once Jilted's Shauna is fashioned after Agnes. The story starts out with Shauna at the altar and no groom. She’d been jilted, but her family isn’t surprised. After all, she’s not the best catch and would do best to just stay with them. She hadn’t loved the groom. He was just a means of escape from her current situation, but she resigns herself to her fate until she sees an ad on the store wall announcing the arrival of orphans for adoption. So her story begins. Her foster parents want to take in another child because Shauna has outlived her usefulness, and Shauna is determined to thwart their efforts.

Brenda Talley of the Romance Studio wrote: "The escapades of this strong-minded woman were so intricately written it was impossible to not love Shauna and hope for love and happiness to find her. Her counterpart was an Irishman, Kane McKenna, whose mannerisms made him a stand-out, perfect compliment for Shauna. …This book was an emotional one for me. I have to admit that I laughed out loud, but I also shed several tears. And the ending—not what I was expecting.”

Jacquie, thanks so much for letting me visit Romancing the West. I enjoyed giving a bit of background to the story. ~Ciara Gold

Enter to Win a Free Book!

For those that leave a comment on either of this week's posts (read her interview and an excerpt of Once Jilted), Ciara will give away a signed print version of Once Jilted. She’ll announce the winner on her own blog on July 15 and you can then send her an email with your snail mail address. So – visit Ciara's blog to find out who won.  Winner will also be announced, as usual, right here at the RTW's Sunday Chicken Dinner.

Small print: USA mailing only.  To enter the contest, email address must be included with your comment.  Comments without contact information will not be entered.  Drawing will be held at 9pm Pacific Time on July 14, 2012.