Orphan Train Romance

Between 1850 and 1930, around 250,000 abandoned and orphaned children traveled from the East Coast of the US to various cities and towns throughout the nation on what would be known as the orphan trains. Most came from New York City. Posters were placed around town advertising "Homes Wanted for Orphans"; usually a committee was formed to help facilitate the adoption. These children were supposed to be adopted and treated as family members, but this was not always the case however, and sometimes they were placed in less than ideal circumstances. 

Lydia finds out at her father’s deathbed that he has arranged for her to marry the son of an old family friend to cancel a debt. At first, Lydia rejects the idea, but then circumstances suddenly make it so she feels she needs to honor her father’s last wishes, and she travels to Texas to meet the man her father has chosen.

What if you were given the opportunity to travel with an orphan train to be adopted by a new family? Anna travels on an orphan train with 18 other children to a small town in Texas. She is taken in by an older couple that owns the town’s General Store. Even though her new family isn’t cruel to her, they expect her to work for her keep, and they definitely don’t give her the love she desperately wants. When she is an adult, she answers a mail-order bride ad she sees in the local newspaper, and agrees to marry a rancher, the oldest of three brothers.