An Inside Look at Sayville's Orphans

Local author spoke to patrons at the Sayville Library recently for an inside look and discussion on his recent book, “Sayville Orphan Heroes.” The book delves into the history of the St. Ann’s Cottages beginning in 1924.

Whitehouse has an intimate interest in the subject as his father was one of the children who grew up in the cottages. “I intended this booked as a family project and it basically just got out of hand,” he told the audience. “When I started my research I was always under the impression that orphanages were like the movie ‘Annie.’ But in New York State in the early 1900s, only 10 percent of the children in New York orphanages had no parents; 90 percent had one or both parents or a legal guardian.” The children in the cottages weren’t up for adoption.

So why were so many children living in orphanages during that time? “We didn’t have the social network programs we have in place now – Medicare, Medicaid, welfare, etc. There was no social safety net if you were a parent and ran into a financial hardship,” Whitehouse said. It was also the time of the Great Depression. The orphanages were more of a boarding school.

The St. Ann’s cottages were operated by the Episcopal Church Charity Foundation from July 1924 to August 1943. (The orphanage closed in 1943 due to lack of funding.) There were three buildings – the Girls Cottage, the Gray House and the Boys Cottage, housing a total of 43 children at any given time.

The reason the cottages were opened in Sayville was thanks for the charitable donation of Ida Gillette. She learned about a fire in the Brooklyn orphanage in 1912 and decided to donate some of her land for a new orphanage in Sayville. The Church Charity Foundation took a few years to make a decision but eventually took her up on the offer.

Any mentally and physically healthy child between the ages of five and 12 was accepted on a space available basis. Children were accepted on a non-sectarian basis but their upbringing at the cottage featured a very strong Episcopal faith.

“Many people in Sayville would sort of ‘adopt’ these children,” Whitehouse said. “The cost was $500 per year.” The cost per capita in 1933 was about $600 per year or $26,000 for 43 children. The Church Charity Foundation provided about $100 per child, so the extra $500 per child needed to come from other sources. Their primary expenses were food, clothes and education. The Sayville Board of Education decided to charge $100 per child for tuition.

Each child was expected to perform chores, and they would be paid a small allowance in return. “The children were taught about money; the directors definitely didn’t baby these kids,” Whitehouse said. “The day after they finished high school they were kicked out of the cottage. If they didn’t have any money saved, they would be in really bad shape. The women would usually go into nursing because it was the only job available at the time. Many of the boys went into the military but a few did go on to college.”