The Children of Mount Saint Mary’s Orphanage.
On April 2, 1866 four siblings from Sierra County arrived at Mt. Saint Mary’s. Two months later the sisters had 30 “orphans” in their care. At any time between 1870 and 1900 over 150 orphans resided here. There were three types.
Whole Orphans: Children with no living parents. Generally placed here by the state with a small yearly stipend for care. These children often came long distances to Grass Valley.
Half Orphans: Children with one living parent. Placed here by the state or by the lone parent. Many kept family ties and moved back in with their parents when older. There are cases of half orphans admitted more than once due to unstable home lives.
Abandoned Children: Parents whereabouts unknown. Drinking and desertion which impacted the life of many families was a major cause of child abandonment. Children were listed as abandoned if they knew their name and as foundlings if too young to talk.
Girls at Mt. Saint Mary’s outnumbered boys. Boys left for work as teenagers, often at 13-years-old, but girls commonly remained until age 18. On August 22, 1932 the last orphans were moved to Sacramento where they could all earn high school diplomas. In a strange turn of fate a plane from Beale Air Force base crashed into the building that once housed the boys.
