Oretha Ruetti

When many babies were being left on the doorstep of the Foundling home the Sisters placed a wicker cradle just inside the door so the babies were not left out in the cold.

"I think I was a crib baby," said Marie Cote, 85, of Concordia as she displayed a white lace-trimmed baby bonnet. Number 25 on a piece of blue paper was attached to this bonnet which Marie wore on an Orphan Train that stopped in Belleville on its way to Nebraska in 1910.

Joseph and Philomene Francoeur, Concordia, holding a piece of paper with the number 25 on it, were waiting, at the station for the 16 month-old girl they had applied for.

Marie explained her parents learned about the train coming and filled out an application form stating the sex, age and characteristics of the child they wanted. "It was like ordering a child from the Sears catalog," Marie said laughing.

Francoeurs were in their late 50s and had raised eight of 16 children born to them. Infant deaths and diseases claimed the others, but they wanted a young child in their home again and Marie was loved and cherished. With all the older brothers and sisters she admits she was "spoiled rotten."

One day at school Marie talked about "my Mama" and another child told her, "She's not your mama. You're just an orphan." She ran home crying.

Said Marie, "Mama held me in her arms and said, I am your in mother and I will always be your mother. Adoption wasn't mentioned but I knew then, and I was satisfied. A woman from the Foundling Home came every year to check on my welfare until I was 16. I never had any desire to learn about my birth parents for I had the most happy blessed home any child could ever hope for."

Francoeurs are all deceased now, and Marie misses them. Her husband died in '72, but she has two daughters, grandchildren, great-grand children and a pleasant attentive nephew who brought her to the reunion.

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