Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Their story is in Volume 6, and currently is a display at NOTC, and one window covering honors them, and now a statue.
We all probably have read or heard about puppies/kittens to be given away but it is quite unusual to hear about children to be given away. This emphasizes that in this time of American history that children had very few rights and or societal standing.
The subtitle of this article states—"Will have probably 15 in need of homes here November 19. Will stage the event.” And staged they were at the Beloit Opera House. Former Jamestown resident James Hill and his brother Charles were among the 15 orphans who were sent to Beloit, Kansas, from New York as Orphan Train riders in 1909.
These children shared a common grim existence. Many were homeless, neglected, living in orphanages, streets or slums of New York City with little or no hope of a successful future. Charles Loring Brace, the founder of the Children’s Aid Society of New York City, believed that there was a way to change the futures of these children. By removing the youngsters from the poverty of the city streets and placing them in morally upright farm families, Mr. Brace thought the children would have a chance of escaping a lifetime of suffering.
James Charles Hill was born at Long Island, Manhattan, New York, on May 1, 1903 and Charles Edward Hill was born April 28, 1905. Their birth parents were Charles C. Hill (born in New York City) and Martha V. Kietzmann Hill (born in Germany). The mother Martha died and father Charles had no way to be able to work and take care of his boys. Father Charles placed the boys, James, age 4, and Charles, age 2, at Five Points House of Industry on March 26, 1907. Five Points was a rough area of New York City. The Five Points House of Industry was an enormous charity nursery school set up in 1856 with over 400 children.
The two Hill boys were transferred from Five Points into the care of the Children’s Aid Society, New York City, on November 16, 1909. (CAS still exists today, and was a major organization that placed children out). The Hill boys’ father Charles was a janitor at a farm school of the Children’s Aid Society and lived there.
In 1909 Mr. Swan, a western placing out agent from the Children’s Aid Society and also superintendent out of Nebraska, came to Beloit. His unusual mission was finding families desirous of attaining any children. Mr. Swan spread the word that anyone wanting to give a home to any orphans could make a choice on November 19, at the Beloit Opera House.
Before the 1909 orphan train came to Beloit Mr. Swan obtained a committee made up of local Mitchell County businessmen, who helped the superintendent decide who among the applicants would best be able to keep and care for a child or children. The local men from the Beloit area who consented to be on the committee included Amzie Jordan, C.A. Boyles, J.F. Robinson, C.P. Bartleson, J.E. Tice, and F. R. Bracken.
So in 1909 after a very short stay at CAS, the two Hill brothers, James, age 6, and Charles age 4, left the Children’s Aid Society. It was a lengthy 1600 mile trip from New York to Beloit.
Upon arrival the children were taken to the Beloit Opera House where they were seated in a semi-circle on the stage. James and his brother Charles were among them. The children were shown to applicants twice that day, once in the morning and again that afternoon. Rev. Chappell opened the meeting with prayer. Then Mr. Swan introduced Mr. Tice of New York City. One by one Mr. Tice took the children and told the audience something about the children’s lives and parentage and how they became wards of the Children’s Aid Society.
Some of the local applicants who could not get the particular child they wanted on their first choice, did not take any. However, some foster parents, like the Lon Seamans, had put down their choice on the application that they wanted a girl, but they ended up taking the little brothers “who were among the favorites.” They were James and Charles Hill. The boys were thankful that they were able to stay together and not be separated into different homes. So many brother and sister groups were separated.
People from the Beloit area who applied for and had children placed with them that November day in 1909 are in the following list. (The first is their choice, and the second is who they chose that day.)
Some had not applied earlier, but selected some children on that day:
The following applied but did not take any of the children that first day:
Mrs. Charles Hewett, girl; James Offield, girl; JB Eads, no choice; Mrs. I.F. Williams, boy; Mrs. E.W. Roberts, a girl; Mrs. George Roberts, girl; Charles Harmon, boy; Mrs. G.G. Heidrick, boy and girl; Mrs. C.A. Kent, girl; Mrs.Grout; Mrs. J.W. Johnson girl; Hugh Crawford, boy; Newt Kinslow, girl
The November 25, 1909, issue of The Beloit Gazette contained an article about the day the children came to town. It was entitled “Children Find Homes.” Subtitle was “Little Family makes pathetic scene at Opera House. 16 Children and 25 applicants. A drama in real life.”
James’s Children’s Aid Society of New York card, which he carried and kept, is dated November 16, 1909. That is the only item that James had of his past.
The Lon Seamans later took in three other orphan train riders—all girls. They were Tressie Hazlett, Marcia Kent, and Lillian Aldreth Reed. Some of the children who went west were unhealthy because of their poor living conditions in New York. One of the orphan girls of the Lon Seamans, Lillian Aldreth Reed, died in her youth and is buried in Beloit. In Daniel Alonzo (Lon) Seaman’s (foster father of James and Charles) obituary it states, “They opened their home to others and tenderly reared four orphan children.”
The foster parents of James and Charles Hill had numerous reasons for taking in orphan train children. The couple was childless and wanted children. They were wealthy farmers who were both lonesome and in need of labor. “Lon” as the father was familiarly known, was engaged in stock feeding and farming four miles south of Beloit. He was one of the wealthiest farmers in Mitchell County. The Seaman foster father was born March 25, l859, and died November 26, 1945.
On September 25, 1914, James Hill got a letter and Christmas card from Evert Jansen Wendell from CAS of New York. It stated,
“My dear Little Jimmy,” I am very glad indeed to have your welcome letter, and I hasten to reply to it at once and to thank you for writing to me,” Sincerely, your friend, Evert Jansen Wendell
School records show that the James and Charles went by their foster last name of Seaman in their elementary grades at a one room schoolhouse (District #73, Mitchell County, Kansas) south of Beloit. However, when James graduated from Beloit high school in 1924, he returned to using Hill. Charles joined the military and used Hill as his enlistment name. Most children tried to hide the fact that they were adopted or were a foster child.
Anna Laura Hill, from the Children’s Aid Society, came to Beloit to check on the children. James always thought that Anna Laura Hill was some relative since she came and checked on them and had the same last name. Anna Laura Hill’s statue is the large one welcoming visitors to Concordia. NOTC was the recipient of the Anna Laura Hill collection of photographs she had of children she checked on. Among her collection was a photograph of Charles and James Hill throwing snowballs at each other. The photograph is labeled “James Hill #6469, 15 years, and Charles Hill, #6468, 12 years.” This photograph is a window shade at the museum. The family had never before seen this photo before the collection was received.
James Hill graduated from Beloit High School on June 5, 1924.
James Hill married Isabelle Irene Werts on September 8, 1926. She was a niece of the Seamans. James’s children, called the Seamans Grandpa and Grandma, but James’s wife Isabelle called them Uncle and Aunt, because she was their niece. Since James was never officially adopted by the Seaman family, Isabelle and James were cousins but not blood relatives, so they married. That is why the kids did not know whether to call the Seamans Grandpa and Grandma, or Aunt and Uncle (great).
After their marriage James and Isabelle farmed for a period of time and then moved to Jamestown. Eight children were born to that marriage, five boys and three girls. They raised their eight children in a two room house in Jamestown. Many of the Werts and Hills are buried in the Scottsville Cemetery.
Listed are the eight James Hill children and their birthdates. All are now deceased. James Eugene 1927, Kenneth 1929, Mabel Irene 1931, Wanda June 1934, Leland Duane 1937, Rosalie Jan 1941, Robert Edward 1942, (married Judy Hill mayor of Jamestown for 17 years), Daniel Leroy 1944,
James worked for thirty years as a section hand for the Missouri-Pacific Railroad and retired in 1961. The train had brought a new life for James when he was young, and then the train provided him with a job to support his family, and money for retirement.
James could play the mouth harp, and yodel. He was also a skilled corn husker, winning contests. James was a very strong, muscular man. The Jamestown legend is that once a worker was sent to the rail line to help James unload some railroad ties. When the worker walked up to the train car, all of a sudden a railroad tie came flying over the side. James could pick up a large railroad tie with one hand. James always had a large garden.
Joyce Hardaway of Jamestown interviewed James, just before he moved away from Jamestown to be closer to his children in the Wichita area. James said
“ I became very strong and a good football player, boxer, and wrestler. It was all lined out for me to go to California to become a professional boxer, but I met my wife and that became the end of that dream.”
Charles never married. In his early years Charles moved to Arizona. James never saw his brother after 1940.
In 1942 Charlie wrote a couple of letters to his brother James and stated that he was living on “fifty cents a week” and he was very thankful for the two dollars that James had previously sent him. Charles said he was eating fine and weighed about 120 pounds, didn’t smoke or drink, but do some cussing and his letter went on to state:
Dear Jimmie, “you better sit down or have someone hold you up for I know when you get this you are going to fall over. I am in the army. I guess you have heard the Japs are making a big drive on Alaska, so I expect to go there on some island. I don’t know if I will make it as a soldier.”
Charles was stationed at Seattle, Washington, and sent to the Adak Islands in the Aleutians by Alaska. Sometime after May 17, 1943, he was injured and sent to Temple, Texas, to recuperate at McClaskey General Hospital. His back injury required the grafting of a leg bone into his back. He had to wear a harness for three months and that meant he could not sit. He either had to stand or lie down. Quote from an unknown newspaper article: “He is improving nicely. Charlie has had a lot of suffering but is in good spirits and willing to do his share in ridding the world of Japs.” The War Department wrote a letter in 1944 to James from Fort Benning, Georgia, and asked if he knew Private Charles Hill’s whereabouts. The Army could not locate in their records where he was located. He was in the hospital. After the War Charles returned to Arizona for health reasons. There, at Cave Creek, Arizona, Charles opened up a business of the Arizona Agate Mines. A brochure verified that Charles owned a mine. The last contact that James had with his brother Charles was a letter in 1950.
When James Hill was near death at a hospital near Wichita in 1994, his dying wish to an attending minister was that his brother Charles be contacted. The minister tried but was unable to reach Charles in the hinter mountain area of Arizona. A park ranger said that it would take over two days on horseback to get to where Charles lived. So James died without seeing or hearing from his brother.
James’s wife Isabelle passed away February 16, 1975, and James died February 5, l994. Death records show Charles died November 28, 1997, in Arizona.
Orphan train rider James’ son Robert married former Jamestown Mayor Judy Hill. Mayor Judy’s son Jeff lived in Tucson, Arizona, and Jeff did some research to find out about Charles. Jeff tracked where Charles’ last Social Security check was sent, and from it was able to pin down an area where Charles had lived. Jeff researched newspapers around Charles’ known death date and finally found an obituary. Memory Chapel Mortuary helped the family with arrangements. It stated that Charles, 92, died Friday, November 28, 1996, at his home in Mayer, Arizona. It stated that Charles was a sheriff deputy in Crown King area for a while. It also stated that Charles’ hobby was to hunt and photograph mountain lions, and he had many award-winning pictures.
Charles was a loner and lived much of his life in a mining shack up in mountains of Bloody Basin, Arizona. The mortuary gave the lawyer’s name who handled the estate. The lawyer contacted the executor of the estate, Nels Wise. Nels Wise gave the lawyer permission to give out his phone number. Jeff called Nels, and at first, for whatever reason, Nels was reluctant to give any information. There had been a little money from the mining operation so maybe Nels thought he would have to give it up. Jeff assured him that we were not after the money, just information.
March 9, 2005, Jeff received an envelope, It contained a photo of James Hill, 4 postcards from Evert Jansen Wendell, CAS of New York City, two were Christmas cards for 1911 and 1912 (one each to James and Charles), and just a note postcard from Evert to James in care of Lon Seaman. Included were a dozen pictures of Charles and his mountain lions, and even a picture of his miner’s shack.
The letter said:
Enclosed are some pictures that my mother had when she passed away 4 years ago in Alaska. My brother had all of her things up there and recently sent these to me. I thought you might like to have them for your family. Thank you for the letters you sent to me. If you or your family would like to visit regarding Charlie, I will be happy to take you to Bloody Basin and show you where his ashes were scattered and where his house was. I would recommend that you did not visit in the summer as it is too hot.
