Anna Laura Hill, born in Burlington Borough, Pennsylvania, to Randolph and Celia Hill and raised in nearby Elmira, New York, spent several years as a teacher before discovering the Emigration Department of the Children's Aid Society at age 26. The society soon recognized her talent and passion, naming her a lead Western Placing Agent in 1907. She became one of the most influential figures of the Orphan Train Movement through nearly 30 years of service finding homes for children, supervising them in their new homes, leading more than 163 orphan train trips, and performing check-ups for the state of Kansas and later Texas. Her dedication is reflected in the hundreds of photographs she took while placing children and checking on them, and in her own words about the work's demands for physical strength, fearlessness, imagination, sense of humor, love of children, and a missionary spirit. Hill was also a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Chemung Chapter, Elmira, New York, from 1922 until her death in 1963, tracing five patriots in her lineage and serving as Chapter Historian from 1942 to 1944 and Chapter Registrar from 1947 to 1953. She preserved her work through writings, photographs, and media coverage, believed the country was responsible for these children and that treating them equally was a patriotic duty, and remained in correspondence with many of the children she had placed, receiving their graduation announcements and wedding invitations until she died. She never married, impacted the lives of thousands of children, and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira, New York, among multiple other orphan train agents.