Mr. Michael Goss reached out to us recently with information he came across pertaining to Lawler, Iowa and The Orphan Train in 1888. Here is the information he provided:

Part One -- Research & Descriptions, by M. Goss

ORPHAN TRAIN LAWLER, IOWA 1888

From 1853 to 1929, cities on the east coast, primarily New York City and Boston, in order to clear overcrowding in those cities of the orphan population, had shipped anywhere from 200,000 to 300,000 (I have seen both numbers in my research) to towns in the Midwest that were on the rail routes. Iowa had welcomed 6,673 children from 1853 to 1910. Not all were adopted; some were fostered and some were sent back east. There was a girl in Iowa that had been with 10 different families before being sent back to New York. She must have had that Irish attitude. Lawler, as far as what I can tell, welcomed 5 children (3 girls and 2 boys). Some of the children listed on iagenweb.com did not have locations posted after their name, but these are the five in Lawler, starting with my great-great aunt Zita O'Byrne:

Zita (O'Byrne) Haan (1886-1974) married John B Haan (1888-1964) in Lawler, Iowa, 1909. They lived in Crystal Lake, Woden, Garner, Forest City, and in Minnesota for a short time. They were vegetable farmers in all these locations. Zita passed away in Garner, and she and John are buried in Saint James Cemetery in Forest City, Iowa. They had eleven children, 5 boys and 6 girls, and lost a child in Woden, Iowa. I am not sure if the child was one of the eleven.

On April 26, 2023, I made a post on here about the identities of a family member on a postcard that happened to be Peter O'Byrne, my great-great grandfather. Peter O'Byrne (1829-1916) and his wife Mary (Mullen) O'Byrne (1827-1901), the start of our O'Byrne line in America, buried at OLMC Cemetery and Lawler pioneers from the early 1860's, adopted Zita at the age of two and raised her as their own. The photo from that post in April shows Zita at the age of about three, so I am sure it was a family portrait to add her to the family. I had thought she was born on a visit to New York to visit Mary's family, but I did not know about her being on the Orphan Train at that time. Some have misspelled her name as Zeta, but it was Zita. I am sure she led a tough, fruitful, and happy life. Peter O'Byrne was a pioneer of Lawler and was instrumental in organizing the building of OLMC church. The first Catholic Mass in Lawler was in his home south of Lawler on the Waucoma road where the Carolan's live now. The statue in OLMC Cemetery was erected by him to honor his wife Mary, who died in 1901. They were married in 1853. The statue was restored by my cousins, the Quirk brothers, a few years back; I am not sure when, but they did a great job. Most of the burials around the statue are O'Byrnes and a few Mullens, as well as my parents, Joseph Goss (1920-2009) and Signora (Attleson) Goss (1924-2005), and my burial as well will be there.

Marietta (Axtell) (Hand) Fisher (1886-1938) was the second girl on the train, and she married Louis (Fred) Fisher (1881-1975) in Lawler in 1908. They are both buried in North Cemetery in Lawler, Iowa. Gertrude Martin, Dint Martin's wife, was their eldest child of eight children, three boys and five girls. Marietta was adopted by James Hand (1815-1890) and his wife Catherine (Smith) Hand (1828-1901) when Marietta was two years old. When she was four, James passed away in 1890, and then when she was fifteen, Catherine passed away in 1901. Both are buried at OLMC Cemetery in Lawler, Iowa. The James farm was in the southwest corner of Utica Township (1892 plat map, Chickasaw County), north of Lawler. She could have looked out her bedroom window and seen the cemetery she would be buried in. Marietta was raised by her adoptive sister at that time, Mary Rose (Hand) Barnes (1873-1967) and her husband Andrew Barnes (1870-1959) until she married in 1908. They had taken over the Hand farm (1915 plat map, Chickasaw County) after Catherine passed away and then moved to Cresco in 1936. Mary and Andrew are buried in Calvary Cemetery in Cresco, Iowa, where Andrew's family was from. They lost a son, George Barnes (1904-1908), buried at OLMC Cemetery in Lawler, Iowa. I have some ancestor ties to Marietta as well as to Zita because her uncle John Hand Jr. (unknown-1891), James's brother, married my great-great aunt Catherine (Canty) Hand (1858-1940), daughter of Jeremiah (1825-1873) and Johanna (Hanah) (Stanton) Canty (1825-1910), who were the start of our Canty line in America. Jeremiah is buried in the Pioneer cemetery in Monona, Iowa, and Johanna, it says Hanah on her tombstone, is buried at OLMC Cemetery in Lawler, Iowa. She came here after Jeremiah died at forty-eight years old with seven children to raise. Her family arrived from Monona and settled in Lawler, Iowa, either 1874 or 1875. John Hand Jr. is buried in OLMC Cemetery in Lawler, Iowa, next to two young children, and Catherine is buried in Pleasant Ridge Cemetery in Armour, South Dakota, next to her two surviving children. Her and her children left Lawler after John died and moved to Armour. Marietta passed away young at 52, and Axtell was her real surname. Born in New York, as was Zita.

Nettie E. Oviett is an unknown but was fostered, I believe, in three towns: 1. Nashua, 2. Charles City, and 3. Lawler, or the other way around. Her name might have been misspelled from Oviatt or Oviette. Oviatt is a quite common name in the U.S., but the other two are not, from what I could find.

Albert J. Coates was fostered by a person with the name of Heath. I could not find any other information about him.

Charles H. Smith. There is a Charles Smith (1884-1954) buried at Saint Mary's Cemetery in Waucoma, Iowa, and his wife's name is Mary (Schmitz) Smith (1883-1957). He would have been four years old when the train came, so there is a possibility it is the right Charles Smith, as he would be close to Lawler. I just could not trace anything back to him, as information was very limited. No family listed on Find A Grave, just his wife. There was a Charles Smith of St. Paul, Minnesota, listed in an obituary of Edward Terence Smith (1858-1934) married to Margaret (Masterson) Smith (1862-1938) and buried at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Reilly Ridge. Edward might have been a relative of Catherine (Smith) Hand. That would make me related to Zita, Marietta (both for sure), and maybe Charles. It is such a common name, but the years sort of match. Both of the Charles Smiths may be a long shot. This one gave me a headache.

I realize that this is quite long, so I hope it will not be boring. I just wanted to put as much information as possible about the Orphan Train. I only started researching this since the last week of June based on a post on iagenweb.com about Marietta. Then I discovered my own great-great aunt Zita on the list also. I had not known this about Zita, and our information on her was a bit limited, but I found it all, all the way to the present with all her descendants. All material gathered from Find A Grave.com and Billion Graves.com. I hope I did the town of Lawler justice, especially my ancestors. Check out our family webpage, put together by my cousin Michael Guenther. It is a safe site and has a bunch of empty spaces in the information that maybe some Lawlerites can help fill: https://www.thiptaramassage.com/anirishheritage/index-2.html

Zita and Marietta were the same age and more than likely were in the same grade at the same school (after county schools closed) until graduation. If not, I am sure they were acquainted and maybe friends. Not sure when the schools were built in town. I wonder if they knew their story or not while they grew up, as adoption was rarely discussed in families at that time. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did researching it. Makes me proud to be from Lawler. Tip of the Irish hat to Bill Sheridan. We have Sheridan relations also. Many blood relative names on the website are local, plus I found so many more local names by marriage. The website covers a bit, but there is more I need to find.

Michael J. Goss, July 2024