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Male and female residents lived in separate cottages based upon gender. When not in class, the boys worked the home’s farm, including additional acreage that the board of managers purchased in 1872, while the girls primarily cared for the cottages, the classrooms, and performed laundry and cooking services. In 1873, the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home added fruit orchards, for which the boys cared. In 1869, the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans Home opened in Xenia, Ohio, after much lobbying from the Grand Army of the Republic, a veterans’ organization that was established in 1866 to support veterans of the Civil War. The institution originated as a home for children of veterans of the war who had died, or those children of veterans whose families lacked sufficient resources to care for them. Over a span of 128 years, however, the home’s mission grew, accepting children of veterans of all military conflicts that occurred during its existence before eventually closing its doors in 1997.
Between 1870 and 1901, the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home could not accept all of the children seeking assistance. Additionally, Chaplain George W. Collier is credited with being the first to suggest the idea of a home to the GAR. Originally, the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home provided Ohio children who lost their father in the American Civil War with a place to live. Due to financial difficulties, a veteran and/or his spouse might leave their children at the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home in the care of the State of Ohio. Between 1870 and 1901, the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home could not accept all of the children seeking assistance. In the Home was thus established far in advance of similar public institutions, a Manual Training School supported by public funds for public uses.
History of the OSSO/OVCH
On November 15, 1887, 668 children lived at the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home. Of the students, girls accounted for 242 of the pupils, approximately one-third of the orphans enrolled at the institution. At this time, Major Noah Thomas served as the orphanage’s superintendent, while his wife, Alice Thomas, was the institution’s matron. The Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home employed seventeen teachers, twenty matrons—one in each student cottage—and one additional matron in the hospital.
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Mexican War (1846- [edit | edit source]
Administration building at the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home in Xenia, 1901. Courtesy of the Greene County Records Center and Archives via Ohio Memory.Students/residents of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home, 1901.
These collections may have additional materials to help you with your research. Also called the "trades building", was used as a second school building. The logo of the Association of Ex-PupilsThe Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home (Later known as the Ohio Veterans' Children's Home) and sometimes abbreviated OS&SO/OVCH, was a children's home that was located in Xenia, Ohio. It is now home to Legacy Christian Academy, Athletes in Action, and other Christian ministries. The Home employs thirty-two cottage matrons, thirty-two teachers in the regular course, fourteen foremen of industrial branches and trades and gives a home and instruction to about 950 children in average attendance.
Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home 1889 Report
The Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphans’ Home was originally located in a rented building in Xenia, Ohio, but in 1869, Xenia residents provided the GAR with 150 acres of land to build a permanent facility. The average age of the children was eleven years in 1888, approximately two years older than the average age of the original residents in 1870. Support for each orphan equaled approximately 140 dollars per year in 1888, the same cost for children in other institutions that the State of Ohio operated at this time.
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.
In August 1999, Legacy Ministries International bought the land, in order to expand the campuses of the Xenia Christian Schools. Since then, this historic site has undergone extensive renovation. Collier ChapelCollier Chapel, built in 1873, is one of the oldest buildings that remains standing on campus. It was renovated around 1994, but is currently in need of repairs.
In 1869, Xenia residents provided the GAR with 150 acres of land to build a permanent facility. It is a matter of course that the requirements for admission should be changed with changing conditions. In 1870 no children were entitled to admission but those whose fathers were killed in action, or had since died from the wounds or disabilities of war. During the twentieth century, the State of Ohio opened the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home to orphaned children of any Ohio soldier from any military conflict. Student records include date of birth, date of admission, county of origin, and notations regarding whether records on file contain social service records, medical records, education records, and/or admission card only.
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.
Residents of the home received a traditional education as well as training in a trade before being released at the age of eighteen. Residents of Xenia donated one hundred acres of land to the Grand Army of the Republic to construct the home. The board accepted the property at this meeting and also ordered the construction of four cottages to house children. Children soon began arriving, even before construction was completed. The Grand Army of the Republic rented a building on Main Street in Xenia to house the children temporarily.
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.
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 several of them later joined the armed forces. In 1901, the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home was the largest institution of its kind in the world.
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