By Linda Fulmer GRANDDADDYS BEGINNINGS - Johnny Janda Grandaddy’s story started in 1903, two and a half years before his long journey to Texas. We know that he was born November 3, 1903 at Sloane Maternity Hospital to Daisy Wilson Dunn [Dunne],age 26. She listed his father as John Dunn [Dunne], age 34, an actor. She gave their residence as 142 Manhattan Ave and said that they were married. However, they may not have been, as Sloane would have required her to say she was married to be admitted. So far, there is no evidence of a New York marriage record, and John J Dunn [his father, the actor ] was again living with his parents at the time of the 1905 New York State Census. At the time of his birth record, baby John was still unnamed. Daisy must have given Grandaddy’s name to the Sisters as John J Dunn, because he was shown that way on the 1905 State Census, and living at the Foundling Home. At the age of one month, he was left at the Foundling Home by Daisy on December 5 at 5:30 PM. She told them his birth date and that he had been born at Sloane. There is no other information about this event in the records. On the 7th he was baptized by Rev. J.H. Durkin under the authority of St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church, located one block away. The church answered our inquiry that there is no entry in their records, indicating that he was baptized in a chapel located at the back of the Foundling Home building, which was the usual practice. Renee Wendinger is president of Orphan Train Riders of New York and the author of “Extra! Extra! The Orphan Trains and Newsboys of New York.” She is the daughter of an Orphan Train rider of 1917 and has done extensive research on the Foundling Home for her mother, and for her book. Much of this new information about the Foundling Home comes from conversations with her, and from her book, which is an invaluable resource. Her book includes many details about the history of the Foundling Home. In the early days so many babies were left on the steps of the Home that the Sisters of Charity placed a cradle outside. Later it was moved inside the foyer so that mothers would speak to the Sisters before leaving a child. Upon receiving a child, the Sisters pinned an identifying card with a number and name on the waist of the clothing. When a child was undressed for sleep, the card was pinned to the next day’s clothing and stayed with the child at all times. Babies were cared for by wet-nurses hired by the Home. These were usually women who were currently nursing their own infants, or had lost infants. Sometimes they came to the Home, but often a Foundling Home infant was “boarded out” to a nursing mother’s home. When this occurred, the card stayed with the child and attached to clothing. Grandaddy would have been wet-nursed by one of more New York women. All of the accounts I have read confirm that the Sisters gave the children good care. It was the goal to place the children into homes before they started school. Children who were not placed by then went into Catholic schools, mostly in New York City. Children were usually sent out for placement only after toilet training. The reason that some photos of young boys at the home show them in gowns is because the gowns were easier before they were trained. The Foundling Home used a system of indenture into foster care, since most of the children were not legally adopted. In this case, “indenture” did not mean a form of servitude, but a legal contract describing requirements and policies. One of the requirements was to give the child any advantages that parents gave their own biological children, including school. However, indentured children did not inherit from foster parents without special provision in a will. The Home retained legal custody and the legal recourse to remove a child without court action if a placement was unsatisfactory. The indenture form was separate from the “receipt” form signed by parents. An unidentified newspaper article that I found at La Grange library was dated May 1906 and described the departure of 58 children from the Foundling Home in NYC on the steamship Proteus, bound for northern and central Texas and 58 waiting families. So the family story was confirmed. Another resource for us is a reconstructed schedule of Grandaddy’s journey, prepared by Mr.John Shontz, a railroad historian who works with the Orphan Train Project. He gave us some of the details listed below. A New York Times article of May 10, 1906 shows that the children departed the day before, bound for New Orleans. Grandaddy, along with the other children, was fed that morning of the 9th and dressed in new clothes in preparation for travel. Toys and books were packed for the journey, as well as a change of clothing for each child. The Sisters took them by street car to a pier on the Hudson River where they boarded the steamship Proteus and departed at noon. During the beginning of hurricane season, the trip required 5 or 6 days, and it was direct to New Orleans. The children occupied a large salon on the steamship and played with toys and books. The children were accompanied by a doctor, four nurses, and Mr. G. Whiting Swayne, the traveling agent for the Foundling Home. He likely gave the information for the news stories. He said that in 1906 there were 2400 “babies” needing homes. On Grandaddy’s record beside “By whom placed”, there is a name that appears to be “Mr. Swayne”. It was the policy of the Home that the children were told that they had been at school and were returning to their parents. The foster parents were also encouraged to make the children believe this story. It was thought to be in the child’s best interests and to help him adjust to a new situation. But it is easy to see how this policy reinforced secrecy about being an orphan. A Southern Sentinel article of May 15 says that the children had arrived in New Orleans, six days later. They spent part of a day, and then boarded a train for central Texas. They were described as healthy-looking and good-natured. They went by street car from the dock to Union Station on Rampart St. There they boarded a train at 5 PM on Tuesday and arrived in La Grange on Wednesday the 16th at 5:50 PM. The article referred to a special train car for the children. It would not have been a sleeping car due to expense. A 1908 Minnesota paper told that the Sisters on another journey created beds by placing boards across seats, with several children in one “bed”, and stretched sheeting across the tops of the seats to protect from cinders and dust. Perhaps Grandaddy slept in a similar bed traveling from New Orleans. The train into La Grange was met by 48 families, including Leopold and Minna Janda, the foster parents chosen for Johnny. They were German and Czech, and he grew up speaking some “Bohemian”. It was not until age 15 that he learned he was Irish. Apparently 10 of the 58 children were bound for north Texas. Grandaddy arrived with an identifying tag sewn into the collar of his shirt or jacket. This tag was made of stiff white gauze and either handwritten or typewritten with a number and Grandaddy’s name and date of birth. In addition he wore a colored ribbon on the outside of his clothes with a number to be matched to a number on the Jandas’ arrival notice. The colors indicated the state destinations of the children [color for Texas unknown] and the number meant the city of arrival. There also may have been a card sent from the Home to the Jandas with a number to be matched to Grandaddy’s clothing tag. The Jandas signed a “receipt for a child” and took him home. That “receipt” record does not survive at the Home. Also, the Home required a photo to be taken by the foster parents and returned to them. That photo does not survive in the files either. Mamaw said that his head was shaved due to lice. The photo of Grandaddy by the picket fence and gate is said to be taken in front of the Home in NYC, but it could be a studio setting. It definitely does not resemble a photo of the building at that time. Also, the fact that we even have a copy makes me wonder if that photo is a copy of the one sent back to NYC by the Jandas, and actually taken in Texas. It is interesting that the receiving families were described as “prosperous” and “well-to-do”, and I wonder if the farming families of Fayette County perceived themselves that way. But the Jandas owned land and could afford to take in another child. Since some of the Foundling Home children were rescued out of poverty, the farmers must have seemed well-to-do by contrast. With a journey of 1650 miles, Grandaddy left urban life, arrived in rural Texas, and became, as the New Orleans newspaper stated a “Southern child”
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 18:00:22 +0000
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