A Last Survivor of the Orphan Trains: A Memoir

by Victoria Golden, William Walters

SHORTLISTED, NORTHERN CALIFORNIA BOOK AWARDS, CREATIVE NONFICTION
WINNER, DA VINCI EYE AWARD FOR COVER DESIGN, ERIC HOFFER BOOK AWARDS
HONORABLE MENTION, E-BOOK NONFICTION, ERIC HOFFER BOOK AWARDS
FINALIST, E-BOOK NONFICTION, NEXT GENERATION INDIE BOOK AWARDS
FINALIST, MEMOIRS (Overcoming Adversity), NEXT GENERATION INDIE BOOK AWARDS

Homeless at age four, William Walters found an extraordinary path through nine decades of U.S. history.

From 1854 to the early 1930s, the American Orphan Trains transported 250,000 children from the streets and orphanages of the East Coast into homes in the emerging West. Unfortunately, families waiting for the trains weren’t always dreams come true—many times they were nightmares.

William Walters was little more than a toddler when his sister deposited him and his brother on an Orphan Train heading to destinations unknown. Separated from his brother and handed over to a cruel New Mexico couple, William faced a terrible trial. Through his strength and resilience, however, his life became a remarkable adventure.

Whether he was escaping his abusers, jumping freights as a preteen during the Great Depression, infiltrating Japanese-held islands as a teenage Marine during World War II, or courting the woman with whom he would finally build a loving home, William’s astonishing quest paralleled the tumult of the twentieth century—and personified the American Dream.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography Memoir, Memoir

378 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 11, 2018

About the author

Victoria Golden is a former public relations writer, editor, and book reviewer, and she is the author of A Last Survivor of the Orphan Trains with William Walters; Independent Photography with photographer Robert Foothorap; and The Readers’ Choice: 200 Book Club Favorites. The latter was the first book to feature titles based on recommendations from multiple reading groups. She lives with her husband in the northern California wine country, where she is currently writing fiction.

Victoria's interest in writing was spurred by her father, a Broadway playwright turned public relations and marketing executive. However, while he turned from creative writing to public relations, she began her professional life with public relations and found her way to books.

Victoria's latest book, A Last Survivor of the Orphan Trains, seems the natural outcome of her several years as a volunteer in a group home for foster youth. In writing the life story of William Walters, who was sent West as little more than a toddler on an American Orphan Train in 1930, Victoria was reminded of the many modern-day children who've lost their birth families. For William, the fateful train ride away from home marked the beginning of an extraordinary trajectory through nine decades of U.S. and world history.

Reviews

[Cherney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read other books about the orphan trains and wondered who in their right mind could think that those children would find anything better then what they were leaving. This book allows the reader to have an insight that only a surviver of the ordeal could relate. I can only imagine the pain and hurt those children felt and experienced through William Walters we get a first hand knowledge of what he went through and how he took charge and made his way in a world that let him down.

[Donna Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

William was 4 years old living in Pennsylvania when his mother died in 1930. He and his brother were placed on an Orphan Train by his sister. These trains heading west would make stops along the way And people would gather to choose which child they wanted. The intention of these trains was to give homes to homeless and orphaned children. The results were not always good. William lead a hard and abused life. Boys Town and becoming a marine were highlights in his life until he met and married a wonderful woman. He was a hard worker throughout his life and was quite skilled with his hands. This is a very well researched and detailed story of William's survival and his life.

[Darlene Christensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Walter and his brother was placed on an orphan train after the death of their mother. The brothers were separated being p!aced in different homes in different towns. Walter was placed with people who were abusive while being seen as upstanding people. Walter ran away may times and was finally able to be in his own. In New York Walter ended up at the Newsboy Home where he made a few friends and even meet his future spouse When WWII broke out he !ied about his age and became a Marine. Walter seen action, came down with dengue that recurred often. Walter married Listeria and had two sons and one daughter. The coup!e moved many times with both locating employment at each new town. This is a book about the life of one person and the effects not only on that person but his family as well. A very interesting book.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not usually one for too many memoirs, but every once in awhile one will catch my eye and I am intrigued to read it. This is how I felt about this memoir and just thinking of how the idea of an orphan train was ever really a thing to do. There is nothing that isn't already painful about an orphan and seeing a child not have a family. When you read this book and have been around kids in group homes and such it hits close to home thinking about children stuck in a broken system, or other times throughout history when children weren't cared for. To be separated from siblings and not have anyone that is family still happens in some cases to this day. Abuse still happens to this day and has all throughout history to vulnerable children who either parish under what broke them or become resilient from the same. A child alone to fend for themselves will mean they will always have a hard existence whether it be from their past, present, or future it follows them and is never really forgotten. Memoirs like this hit hard but are also so inspiring to see where one started to how they climbed out of the fire and what they can teach us from their own experience. This book is intimate, eye opening, and you can feel the heartache as you read. The bitter honesty of how life will no matter the time be hard for some compared to others just puts into perspective to count the blessings we all have individually. If stories like these weren't told we wouldn't have history to learn from although one could argue are we paying enough to history to not keep letting it repeat itself as a wolf in sheep's clothing? Thank you BookTrib for the contest win! I like that every contest that BookTrib has each book I have received doesn't require review but I like to do it and I really like that every book has had a personal not come from the author(s) to really add to being personable to their work! I enjoyed the read even if some moments were hard to get through.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

A truly amazing memoir. It's incredible that so much was packed into one man's life. William was sent West on one of the last Orphan Trains, sadly ending up with an abusive family. Stints at Boys Town in Nebraska (where he cast as an extra in the Spencer Tracy movie Boys Town); riding the rails while a teenager during the Depression; and combat duty in WWII followed, among other adventures.

While William did realize his cherished dream of having a family of his own, he was not able to completely shake off the demons and damage of his childhood. When he died, both of his sons had cut off contact with him, a sad culmination to a long and action-packed life.

[Melinda M · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Last Survivor of the Orphan Trains: A Memoir by Victoria Golden is biography of one of the last children on a orphan train and his life as told to the author. This is an important account of what happened with the orphan trains. It is an important historical account. Walter told his story over 4 years to Victoria Golden. It is interesting and heartbreaking but an important story to learn. It is the story of surviving and creating the American Dream and living a life well even with a rocky start at best.
I received a copy thru a Goodreads Giveaway.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

I originally researched and read orphan train books to learn about the movement since my grandfather was an orphan train rider. I had given presentations in Oshkosh about the orphan train and my grandfather's life. I was recently asked to again give my presentation in Albuquerque where I currently live. I decided to research the orphan train movement in the Southwest and was happy to learn about this book. William's story will be a great addition to my talk.

[Debk · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a true story of a boy who was on the orphan trains as told to the writer. It was a hard read due to the nature of the children who were often sent into horrible home situations, this one being particularily terrible.

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

239: 2024
This was absolutely fascinating. I actually really liked Golden's organization in not having it all be linear. I've read several Orphan Train stories but this might be the only biography. Definitely recommend for anyone who enjoys first hand accounts of American history.

[Joni Pflumm · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was interesting, but I read this on kindle and sentences were cut off at the end of paragraphs and words were run together. As a result, it was hard to read and I had to figure out was being said. It was like it had never been proofread.

[Eric McDowell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This co-written memoir reveals painful truths about the effects of Orphan Trains on Depression-era children in the United States. In its attempt to find stable homes for children away from crowded cities, the Children’s Aid Society had noble intentions in creating Orphan Trains. However, Walters’s story reveals how a healthy placement depended on pure chance; in his case, after being separated from his co-traveling older brother, he was physically and sexually abused by his adoptive couple. After finally escaping the abusive pair (one attempt resulted in his confinement to Boys Town for a year), Walters learned life on the road by hopping freight trains and working jobs as he found them. This precarious existence becomes the pattern for his life, as, after serving in World War II, Walters toils at a succession of varied occupations as he struggles to raise his family. Yet those struggles spark and embolden his resilience, which sends an inspirational message to readers and provides a sense of resounding hope.

The memoir’s episodic nature is balanced by Golden’s analysis in alternating chapters. Walters narrates past events, while Golden discloses future events by means of dialectic prose and how they inform Walters’s character. This alternating time sequence not only provides a satisfying organizational rhythm but produces a noteworthy sense of dramatic irony. Thus, Golden provides more than the voice of a Greek chorus. The tenuous nature of family ties is a dominant theme as we see how the Walters family dynamic breaks down from a lack of communication and breeds tragedy. Other separations are sadly beyond anyone’s control, as Walters wistfully muses after a reunion with his brother: “Events carried us far apart, and when I found my brother again, it was too late for us to understand each other.” This outstanding memoir is a fully-realized treasure.

Copyright @2019 by the US Review of Books

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I interview American veterans for the Library of Congress' Veterans History Project.
I read this book because William Walters was a veteran of WWII. His service as a Marine infiltrating Japanese-held islands in the Pacific for intelligence gathering before US invasion is a unique story. While I read the book because of his military experience, I found his life touched so many areas that I feel a read can benefit any American.
As a former teacher, I would recommend this book for college students in the study of the Great Depression, orphan trains, World War II, New York Newsboy housing, child abuse, dysfunctional families, entrepreneurship, California and Sonoma County history.
Besides a wonderful relating of William's life experiences, Victoria Golden's introspective additional writings help the reader understand how the harsh experiences of his childhood created drive, resilience, but also constant change of job and residence for his family and ultimately, estrangement of his sons.
I would recommend this read for high schoolers, but the description of the sexual abuse he suffered, which he was so reluctant to ever share, is not something teenagers should have to hear.
The other members of my oral history team are currently reading this book. We are sorry we did not hear about this veteran to interview before his death.

[Cate White · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a gripping tale! The story moves along at a brisk clip through events of 20th century America as it was experienced by a young boy cast out into a terrifying adventure. I have never before felt such an intimate connection to the history of my country. I actually choked up a few times, sometimes by the traumas young William experienced, but mostly by his resilience, ambition and insatiable taste for freedom. I read this book months ago and still find myself reflecting on how this single, anonymous human being's story embodies the character of our shared national identity. Golden did a great service to him and us by shaping his unknown life into such a rich psychological and historical narrative. A deeply satisfying read. Highly recommended.

[Elizabeth Duffey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book wasn’t what I’d hoped it would be. I hoped to learn more about the orphan trains in general, but the train was only mentioned at the beginning. After all, the book is memoir, so I might have expected what I got. I didn’t think it was particularly good memoir, although I felt for the poor man and his struggles to overcome his abusive upbringing. My first thought was how horrible the whole concept of packing kids on trains and sending them west to be selected like cattle by people who lived along the rails was, but then, things haven’t really changed. Worse things are occurring at our southern border right now, and our whole foster care system is broken, if it ever was whole. Maybe if kids had big dollars and could buy lobbyists...

[Debjani Ghosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF-ed.