by D. Bruce Ayler

  The following website is a collection of magazines, books, newspapers, newsletters, photos, and interviews. Most of them have been published in one form or another. Where the original source is known, it is specified.

The purpose of this site is to help educate the American Public about this chapter of American History. This is one part of our heritage that has been ignored. There are those who will claim that it never happened. Over the years, I have met many living witnesses to these events. These are their stories. There are too many similar stories to be ignored. This is no where near a complete listing of all those children. For every story documented, there are many more that are not. The majority of these children have grown up, contributed to the welfare of America, had their families, and passed on to their reward. Although there are still many living witnesses, they are in their 70s and 80s. Soon, the living witnesses will be gone. A much more complete listing is kept at the National Headquarters in Concordia, Ks. To protect their privacy, all personal contact with these Riders, must be cleared through the National Office. See the Contacts link to contact the National Office..

There has been a debate as to re-establish the Orphanage system. This collection includes comments from both sides of the debate. Some surprising comments come from orphans themselves. These articles are included to stir some thoughts--not to express the opinions of the National Organization.

Another source of debate is whether to open sealed adoption records. The lack of official records has caused many legal problems for the Riders. In many cases, the laws do not apply to the Riders. Many were never officially adopted. Papers of Indenture are not legally the same thing as adoption. Thus political pressure builds to have these records opened. Some agencies are beginning to open their records to Riders, or relatives of deceased Riders. See "Adoption Records" for more information.

Since this site has gone on line, there has been a massive increase in the number of research requests and questions from our readership. As we have a very limited research staff in the National Office, this increase has caused a unavoidable delay in replying to these questions. Please be patient. We will get back to you as quickly as possible.

The Information Exchange is fast becoming a place to request information on lost riders from other searchers. Please check it out to see if someone else is looking for your relative.