title: Searching for Home: 3 Families from the Orphan Trains, a True Story
author: Martha Nelson Vogt
description: "I will never forget my children.  I have carved you on the palm of my hand."  Isaiah 49
  
  "The best adventure stories often turn out to be real life, more gripping, touching, and life-changing than any other kind.  This book -- "the one that started it all" -- is the only true narrative of three families of orphan train children: orphaned, half-orphaned, and abandoned, creating a unique microcosm of the long-hidden story of Orphan Trains.  From 1853 to 1929, nearly 100,000 children were brought from the East to small towns and farms in the Midwest.  Yet nothing about this segment of American history has been captured from those who experienced it until "Searching for Home" was first published in 1979.  This book has timeless appeal, for it shows lessons of overcoming adversity, of forging new family life, and examples of courage, character, love and commitment.  Six years of primary research from these families, neighbors, friends, and other sources resulted in this unique touching family story and historic document.  "Searching for Home" is a tribute to the human spirit, for it shows even young people working to survive, to fit in, to be loved, in new surroundings, and among strange faces and accents.  The story also reveals the faith that many of these children found, to strengthen them in the hardest times and make their sense of belonging complete." (From the back cover)
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  # STRANGER SON
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##  Book Three of the  
  Bridge Daughter Cycle
  
  
  ## Jim Nelson
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
  Copyediting: Beth at bzhercules.com  
  Cover: The Cover Collection at thecovercollection.com  
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
  This is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and
  situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is
  unintentional and coincidental.
  
  
  No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
  or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
  photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of
  the copyright owner.
  
  
    
  
  
  Copyright © 2020 Jim Nelson
  
  
  All rights reserved
  
  
    
  
  
  ISBN 978-0-9904802-5-9
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## The Bridge Daughter Cycle
  
  
  Bridge Daughter
  
  
  
  
  
  Hagar's Mother
  
  
  
  
  
  Stranger Son
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Other books by Jim Nelson
  
  
  Edward Teller Dreams of Barbecuing People
  
  
  
  
  
  A Concordance of One’s Life
  
  
  
  
  
  Everywhere Man
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Con