After learning this, I knew I had to try to track down more information about this orphanage. If anything to share it with my newfound family. At the time, I was a newbie to doing this kind of research (only been researching for about two years) so I had no clue where to go or what to do to start out. I decided to start with the Census record I had.
Thanks to the 1910 Census, I was able to determine the address of the St. Vincent Orphanage: 1400 Hogan Street, St. Louis, Missouri. From there I performed a Google search for St. Vincent Catholic Orphanage with the address. I came across this article on the website, StLouis.GenealogyVillage.com, The article is called Historical Sketch of the German St. Vincent's Orphan Association by Rev. John Rothensteiner. [b] After skimming through this article, I learned some more information about St. Vincent's German Orphanage.
FOUNDATION OF THE GERMAN ST. VINCENT'S ORPHAN SOCIETY
"The year 1849 became memorable in the history of St. Louis through two terrible visitations: the cholera that swept away five thousand lives, and a devastating fire. The diocesan orphanages were crowded. As about half of the Catholic population of the city consisted of German immigrants, the number of Catholic orphans of German parentage was very large. The German Catholic Clergy under the leadership of Vicar-General Joseph Melcher showed a deep interest in the plan. There were at the time only two German Parishes in the city, St. Mary's and St. Joseph's. Father Melcher was pastor of the former, with Father Simon Sigrist as assistant; St. Joseph's was attended by the Jesuit Fathers Hofbauer and Seisl. St. Vincent's served as a Parish Church for both the German and the Irish. SS. Peter and Paul's and Holy Trinity were in their initial stages. The German Catholics of St. Louis of that time were mostly young beginners. Not one could be called wealthy. But they possessed the two virtues, so characteristic of the pioneer age, generosity and strong faith; and these were sufficient to clear away all the obstacles they met in their pathway...
"On the 12th day of June 1850 the following appeal to the German Catholics of the city was issued by a Committee of priests and laymen: - For a long time the Catholics of St. Louis have felt the need of a German Roman-Catholic Orphan-Home, and the wish to found such an institution has often been expressed by the charitably disposed. Such an institution would have certainly been established long since, if the necessary means could have been raised by individuals. Now, as the means of the few are not sufficient to carry out this difficult project of satisfying this pressing demand, it seems advisable to organize a society. The undersigned Gentian Catholics avow it as their intention to build a German Catholic orphanage, so that support and education may be provided for the helpless orphans of both sexes, and they entertain the hope, that their compatriots, both far and near, will join the society, or at least, give their support to the undertaking...
"The appeal found an immediate response. On June 14 a meeting of German Catholic men was held at the Rectory of St. Mary's Parish under the presidency of Vicar General Melcher, at which it was unanimously resolved, to organize under the name of the German St. Vincent Orphan Society. The Society at once began operations. A plot of ground on Hogan Street be-, tween Cass Avenue and O'Fallon Street was bought for the Society by Father Elet, S. J...
On March 1st 1851 the German St. Vincent Orphan Society was incorporated by the State Legislature." - "Remembrance of the Diamond Jubilee - June 21, 1925 - 1850-1925 - German St. Vincent's Orphan Society" [b]
Read more about the Orphanage on the page itself. I read down a little further and was able to determine this definitely was the correct orphanage that this family was living in.
"The German St. Vincent Orphan Association, an incorporated body, founded in 1850, has since that time successfully conducted an Orphan Home at 1421 Hogan Street.”[b]
The address listed on the 1910 Census had the address of 1400 Hogan Street. Bingo! So the questions now are: what happened to the orphanage? Are there any surviving documents? How do we find out more? Turns out, a few years after this census, it was determined that they would need a new building.
"1914 - In later years these premises and buildings have become inadequate and unsuitable for their purposes, and the necessity of erecting a new Orphan Home in more suitable surroundings became more urgent from day to day... After a painstaking and careful search for a suitable site by a Committee appointed for that purpose, a plot of ground in Normandy Park was accepted and purchased by the Society."[b]
The survived through a Civil War, two World Wars, the Great Depression, and many other conflicts continuing to meet the needs of the orphans. Over the years, as the need for orphanages diminished, they transitioned to a Residential Treatment Center for at-risk teens called St. Vincent Home for Children.[c] Their building is currently located on Florrisant Ave in St. Louis.
It was important to trace the orphanage to find out where the original documents could be housed. Sometimes you just need to follow the trail until you hit paydirt. I found the website for the St. Vincent Home for Children and reached out to them via their contact form. I fully expected them to come back and tell me they had no clue where the records ended up or that they were destroyed. So you can imagine my surprise when I got some emails from the Director of Human Resources, Dennis Wasmer.
Dec 9, 2014
We retain the records from that time period, however there are not a lot of them, unfortunately. If you could give me the name of the relative that lived here, I will be glad to look them up and see what, if anything we have.
Dec 10, 2014
I was able to locate the record that we have for your relatives. The nuns who ran St. Vincent Home for Children were not the best record keepers, so what we have from that time is fairly sparse.
I was beyond ecstatic, to say the least. They were very generous to make copies and send them to me. And for their time, I made sure to send a donation to their organization since they did not require any form of compensation. While there isn't a whole lot, this was still a huge find. It's always so rewarding tracking down original documents from a time in your ancestor's life.
I wrote this post to hopefully help others who might be researching the St. Vincent's German Orphanage. There was a post made in the St. Louis Genealogy Facebook group just the other day asking for help, so I shared with them what I knew. That's what made me decide to put this in a blog post. I hadn't looked at the information since 2014, so I revisited all the documents and data I had gathered. I also decided to reach out to the Missouri History Library and Research center for more information about the orphanage as well. Dennis Northcutt got back to me fairly immediately with some more leads about researching the Orphanage itself. He also sent me a link to something I didn't expect. A picture of the orphanage from 1911; that's the time period the family would have lived there. Another little special surprise. I wrote Dennis back to inform him that the St. Vincent Home for Children has some documents from the original orphanage in case they were interested in acquiring them to add to the Research Library for safekeeping.
German St. Vincent Orphan Home
1421 Hogan Street
St. Louis, Missouri
1911
Sometimes you need to follow a long trail to find the answer you are looking for. And that's what I did with this research. I shared my trail so you would understand how I got to where I ended up. I do hope this helps and if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. If I don't know, I will send you along to someone who hopefully does know. Happy Hunting!
Sources[a]: 1910 US Federal Census - Family Search.org
[b]: Historical Sketch of the German St. Vincent's Orphan Association by Rev. John Rothensteiner
[c]: St. Vincent Home for Children - https://www.saintvincenthome.org/
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