My Husband's Family: The Holding's

Edgar Lawrence Harris, Sr. with wife, Louanna, and two children.

My husband, Edgar Joseph Harris, (aka Edgar Lawrence Harris, Jr.), was related to the family of Harry and Blanche Holding on his mother's side.  In fact, Harry was his maternal grandfather.  (See Harry's profile at FamilySearch, PID  

Whether the two ever met is a question that I can't answer, (research in progress), but also due to the hardships that faced the young family in which Ed was the oldest child.

When my husband was just about six years old, his mother and father separated.  The three older children of that marriage were put into the orphanage at Vincennes, Indiana.  The youngest child was dispatched to the care and keeping of Catholic Social Services and the baby was subsequently adopted out.  Little Ronald Harris was born in 1944 in Indiana.  

Here is one account I found online, by googling "Saint Vincents Orphanage":  
I lived as an orphan at St.Vincents for 11 years, from 1937 to 1948. I held the record for the longest time there. At the time, I didn't know any better about the outside world, since I was only 2 years old at the time that I arrived. I had nothing to compare it to when I was little. I worked on the farm for about 6 or 7 years and the Robert Duffy Family ran the farm for the Catholic Church. The pries that I remember were Fr. Laughtner and Fr. Victor. The Head Nun, who I thought was very mean, was Sr. Norberta. My favorite nun was Sr. Rita Jane who ran Dormitory 1, which ad the older boys. Sr. Reginald was the Cook and was really good. All my memories now are very good. I've always wanted to go back for a visit but now I am 81 and Indiana is a long ways away from California. I can now recall St. Vincents, the buildings, the barns, the orchards, everything just as if I were there now. St. Vincents was really good for me. I received a good education, a good work habit, and a good moral compass. I was there during the WWII years when things were tough in this country. We always had a lot of food to eat, good clothes, though we did not wear shoes in the summer, and the people of Vincennes were very good to the orphanage. I think that all things considered, I was very lucky to have spent my youth at St. Vincents. 

Ancestry has a message board for this orphanage/location also:  https://www.ancestry.com/boards/localities.northam.usa.states.indiana.counties.marion/7111/mb.ashx

My husband, Ed, didn't have a great deal of positive memories about his experience at the orphanage.  He was separated from his brother and his sister, probably according to age and gender.  However, at some point there was a farm couple who came to take the boys (foster parents).  Their sister was eventually adopted out and raised by a couple.  I can perhaps provide more information at a later time.

The Holding family in 1910 (my husband's mother was a Holding):  The location, here, is Indianpolis Ward 14, Marion County, Indiana, Roll T624_367; Page 12 A.  Harry Holding is the Head of Household; he is age 21.  His wife, Blanche, is age 18, and their sole child at this time, Katharine, is age 1.  [This family would grow over the years; Harry and Blanche had 14 children!]  The source for the 1910 Census  was Ancestry.com.