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The children lived in cottages, with between forty to fifty children in each building. In later years, the home housed only fifteen children in each cottage. Children at the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home received a traditional education, as well as training in various occupations. The boys also received some military training, and upon attaining adulthood, several of the boys joined the armed forces. In 1901, the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home was the largest institution of its kind in the world.
In May 1871, the board of managers authorized the construction of additional cottages to meet the demand. Any child under sixteen years of age of “deceased, indigent and permanently disabled soldiers and sailors who served during the rebellion,” were eligible for admittance to the created homes. The legislation directed that the first home be constructed at White Sulphur Springs in Delaware County, Ohio, unless the area proved to be unsuitable per the board of managers. This location was also home to Ohio’s Industrial School for Girls. Per the bill, any site selected for the initial home should be able to provide housing and care for 250 children. Finally, the legislation authorized thirteen thousand dollars for the home’s construction.
Early history
At a public meeting held that day, Howard E. Gilkey, an orphaned child from Cleveland, Ohio, gave an impassioned speech, asking the State of Ohio to assume control of and to increase financing for the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home. Following the Civil War, the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization for Union veterans, sought to create an orphans’ home for the children of Ohio’s veterans. In many cases, the children were truly orphans, most commonly having lost their fathers during the Civil War and their mothers either during or soon after the conflict. In other cases, mothers sought to turn their children over to this institution due to the mothers’ inability to financially care for all or some of their children. In 1998, the State of Ohio sold the Ohio Veterans' Children's Home's buildings to Legacy Ministries International, which leases the site to different businesses and organizations.
At this point, the home also housed children deemed to be troubled. These children were typically not orphans but were the sons and daughters of live veterans. The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System allows name searching for soldiers.
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The "Home" was commissioned by Abraham Lincoln, and was a self-contained community with a farm, dairy barn, hospital, power/heating plant, gymnasium, banquet hall, chapel, and residence halls. Lincoln challenged the states to bind up the wounds of the Civil War by meeting the needs of widows and orphans created by the conflict. Ohio members of the Grand Army of the Republic took up that challenge, and, through a donation of 100 acres by a Xenia farmer, created the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home. This institution was the predecessor of the Ohio Veterans' Children's Home.
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Ohio Soldiers' & Sailors' Orphans' Home, Ohio Veterans' Children's Home, Student Records, 1869-1995
See the Vietnam War wiki article for information on records and their availability. The Spanish-American War was largely fought in Cuba and the Philippines. Spanish-American War records might exist in the state from which the soldier served or in a state where the veteran later resided. The U.S. Military Records Wiki article provides more information on federal military records and search strategies. With substantial funds now available, the Grand Army of the Republic proceeded to appoint a board of commissioners to oversee construction. The board included General George B. Wright, Major M.S. Gunckel, Colonel H.G. Armstrong, Eli Millen, Judge White, Mrs. Lucretia Hayes, wife of Governor Rutherford B. Hayes, Mrs. H.L. Monroe, and Mrs. Ann E. McMeans.
The outbreaks usually occurred in late autumn, once the blankets were returned to the beds. Thorough cleaning of the blankets reduced the measles and scarlet fever outbreaks. During the American Civil War, Ohio contributed approximately 330,000 men for military service with the United States of America. During the conflict, 11,237 Ohio men died from wounds received on the battlefield, while another 13,354 soldiers perished from disease. Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. The Vietnam War was a conflict between North Vietnam and South Vietnam (with support of its anti-communist allies, including the United States).
Every year, the Association of Ex-Pupils, an organization consisting of former wards of the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home or of the Ohio Veterans’ Children’s Home, holds reunions on July 4, at the home’s former grounds. Military service records are also found in the office of each county auditor and county recorder. The FamilySearch Library has microfilms of discharge papers, dating from the Civil War to 1920 , for about half the counties in Ohio. Opened the institution to orphans of all military conflicts and the children of all veterans.
Behind Collier Chapel lies a nearly 100-year-old cemetery which is the resting place for many of the home's victims of a 1918 diphtheria outbreak. Athletic teams at Woodrow Wilson High School competed as the "Cadets". State Championships and athletic records were transferred to Xenia High School upon the home's closure. Ohio Memory includes a number of items documenting the history of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home. Greene County Records Center and Archives has contributed several photographs that were part of a time capsule placed in the cornerstone of the Greene County Courthouse in 1901 and opened in 2001.
edit source]A series of books entitled "Young American Patriots", published shortly after the war, documented the service of soldiers from different states including Ohio. The series of books included photos and a short biography of some of the soldiers from the state. By 1890, about 40 percent of the Civil War veterans were members of the Grand Army of the Republic .
Beginning in April 1876, the home put out their own paper, titled the Home Weekly. The list of family names above represents unique last names of individuals found in these Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home records. See Ohio in the Civil War for information about Ohio Civil War records, web sites, etc. with links to articles about the Ohio regiments involved in the Civil War. The regimental pages often include lists of the companies with links to the counties where the companies started. Men in the companies often lived in the counties where the companies were raised. Knowing a county can help when researching more about the soldiers and their families.
The children also enjoyed such extra-curricular activities as choir, orchestra, concert band, military band, drum corps, and athletics. Beginning in April of 1876, the home put out their own paper, titled the Home Weekly. There were a number of cottages on the campus, which served as dormitories for the home residents and students. In the last days of use these buildings were not well maintained and during the period of time when the campus was unused the buildings began to deteriorate. Due to the state of disrepair these were not used when Legacy Ministries International took control of the property in 1999. A few of the cottages were renovated for use as residence halls for Athletes in Action.
The Home is the largest institution of its kind in the world, and has a long history of active educational work. Graduates from its schools are filling honorable positions in the civil, political, financial, military and naval departments of American life. Buckland of Fremont, Ohio, James Barnett of Cleveland, Ohio, J. Warren Keifer of Springfield, Ohio, Benjamin F. Coate of Portsmouth, Ohio, J.S. Jones of Delaware, Ohio, and M.F. The managers met in Delaware, Ohio on May 13, 1870 and determined that the land adjacent to the Industrial School for Girls was unsuitable for the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home. The home conducted church services, established a regular school curriculum as well as education in several trades, started a library, and supplied on-site medical attention. The list of trades is impressive, including tin smithing; wood carving; knitting; dress making; tailoring; farm, florist, and garden work; butchering and slaughtering; telegraphy, and blacksmithing.
In some cases, the children had not lost their parents, but the veteran was physically, emotionally or financially unable to care for his family. By 1874, approximately six hundred children resided at the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home. The large number of children caused several health outbreaks to occur during this time period, including “watery eyes” , measles, and scarlet fever.
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