FUTURE RECIPE: Ramona Mallison of Smethport sends along her
thoughts for a brighter tomorrow, called “Recipe for a Future.”

Take a large, empty world –

Into the chasm sift together:

Many ample armloads of love

As much compassion as you can find

Tons of nurture for the hungry

Rows of dwellings for the homeless

Justice for everyone oppressed

Jobs for all those unemployed

Acceptance of every race and nationality

Stir with vigor until evenly blended.

Spread the mixture to cover the whole world.

Sprinkle with equality, peace and understanding.

Serve large helpings with slices of kindness, joy and
security.

Leftovers should be carefully stored for future
generations.”

ORPHAN TRAIL: A Pitt-Bradford student working on her master’s
degree in social work is looking for some information about a
Bradford connection to the Orphan Trains that ran from
1854-1929.

Molly Lewis tells us she is doing an independent research
project about the Orphan Trails, most of which originated in New
York and took orphaned children to other parts of the country for
families to raise.

A woman named Nona Groesbeck of Michigan contacted the
university to find information about her family’s past.

Three members of her family – her grandfather Elmer Ellsworth
Kithcart; his brother John Washington Kithcart; and a sister Mary
Louise Kithcart – were placed in an orphanage in New York City in
1867.

Mary Louise was adopted from the orphanage, but Elmer and John
were placed on Orphan Trains. Elmer was 2 years old and was placed
with a family in Michigan.

John, who was approximately 9 years old when he was placed on
the train, was initially placed in Michigan but for various reasons
the placement didn’t work out.

The last record of John was him being placed with David Rodgers,
P.O. Box 42, Bradford.

Ms. Lewis writes, “I have tried to obtain some sort of paper
trail to find out what happened to John but haven’t been able to
find anything. I am wondering if there are any ancestors of Mr.
David Rodgers around in Bradford that would have any
information.”

“I have been to the McKean County Courthouse to look at their
records but have found nothing and have contacted some of the
Orphan Train agencies that do investigative work but have come up
empty there, too.”

If you have any information, please let us know. We can pass it
along to Ms. Lewis.