Let's discuss orphans and other parentless children. Foster care is not a new thing. There have been state orphanages for eons. Orphans have birth records. The parents are usually listed on this record. If the person you are looking for is in an orphanage, work house or home for wayward girls (not really an orphanage) then there will be records. Depending on the individual institution, the records may or may not be available. This is particularly true for any medical records and for the homes for girls.

To research your orphan, you need to start with where they last resided. Trace them from the most current location as far back as you can. Be sure to read local newspapers for information about accidents, natural disasters, and disease epidemics. Take Galveston Texas for example. There was a hurricane that wiped out the entire island. Many children were orphaned. Many more people were killed. It was a horrible event and many lives were forever changed. The earthquake in San Francisco back in 1902 was another event that caused mass destruction. There have been many severe flu epidemics and typhoid fever epidemics. These again were the cause of many orphans. However, there is good news: these events are well documented. Many times the local papers published the names of those that perished. You can use many sources to piece together if this is how the parents died. A combination of vital records, census records and other documents can help.