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YATES REPORT
1824 LAW
1857 REPORT EXPLANATION
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YATES REPORT:
| Note: locations named without boldface = an entry designated
"no return" |
| ANNUAL REPORT of the SECRETARY OF STATE
p 989-995 |
| A TABLE showing the number of Paupers supported at
the public expense in the county of GENESEE, during the twelve
months preceding April 21, 1823, with other particulars, derived from
public documents and reports furnished the Secretary of State. |
| TOWNS |
Total number of paupers
supported during the
whole of the last year. |
Total number relieved
during a part of the last year. |
M
A
L
E
S |
F
E
M
A
L
E
S |
C
H
I
L
D
R
E
N |
Total expenses of supporting
and relieving paupers (including fees and expenses of
officers, removals and appeals) for the last year.
Dolls. Cts.
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Expenses and cost of officers
and appeals during same period.
Dolls. Cts.
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Number of paupers removed
during the last year. |
| Alexander |
0 |
Not stated. |
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22.00 |
2.00 |
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| Attica |
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| Batavia |
5 |
10 |
6 |
9 |
5 |
241.70 |
44.87 |
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| Bethany |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
124.91 |
21.11 |
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| Bergen |
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| Bennington |
0 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
5.00 |
Not stated. |
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| Barre |
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| Byron |
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| Castile |
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| China |
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| Clarendon |
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| Covington |
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| Elba |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
61.16 |
6.75 |
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| Gaines |
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| Gainesville |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
150.00 |
50.00 |
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Note: There was
obviously an error in the reporting or recording of the above
statistics. PHL |
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| Le Roy |
5 |
13 |
7 |
11 |
4 |
440.00 |
50.00 |
|
| Middlebury |
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| Murray |
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| Northton |
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| Oak Orchard |
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| Orangeville |
1 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
71.60 |
19.00 |
|
| Pembroke |
8 |
1 |
3 |
6 |
3 |
461.55 |
22.50 |
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| Perry |
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| Ridgeway |
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| Stafford |
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| Shelby |
6 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
4 |
100.00 |
20.00 |
|
| Sheldon |
|
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| Warsaw |
0 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
33.50 |
10.00 |
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| Wethersfield |
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| Yates NR |
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... |
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| Sums of money raised by tax, in the county of Genesee,
by tax, for the support of the poor, in the years 1816, 1817, 1818,
1819, 1820, 1821, 1822.
In the year
1826,
$ 967
1817,
895
1818,
1,295
1819,
2,335
1820,
2,148
1821,
1,166
1822,
1,462
Total,
$10,268
In the town of Alexander there is on hand
a fund of $99.87, for the support of the poor. In the town of
Bennington, there is a like fund of $150. In the town of Elba,
there is a like fund of $185; and in the town of Warsaw, a like fund
of $250.
ALEXANDER.
I would suggest for consideration, the propriety of
having all accounts of overseers of the poor, for the support of foreign
paupers, examined and adjusted, by a town board, to consist of the
supervisor, town clerk, and one or more magistrates, who would be better
able to judge of the equity of such accounts than the board of
supervisors. And it should be the duty of said town board, to meet
at a certain time and place, a little previous to the annual meeting of
the board of supervisors, (and at any other time they should deem
expedient) and examine and adjust all the accounts of overseers of poor,
for the relief of foreign paupers, and certify under the oaths of their
respective offices, that the said accounts (after being adjusted as
aforesaid) are just and reasonable, and a proper and legal charge
against the county. [Letter from the supervisor of Alexander.]
BENNINGTON.
I take the liberty to say, that many facts
have fallen under my observation, that might be proper to state, shewing
the defects of the present system, but as they are of such nature as
will be discovered, I think proper to omit them mostly, and will only
add, that I have seen a very unequal distribution of justice in
consequence of the difficulty of removing paupers, that never gained a
residence in the state; and the justices perhaps, with more caution than
mercy, allowed paupers to suffer extremely, rather than afford the
necessary relief, or make an order for removal, for feat they might be
returned; while others have been removed in a situation very improper,
not able to sit up, to throw the expense on other towns, where no doubts
were entertained. And on the other hand, where towns have been in
possession of large funds for the support of the poor, extravagant
charges have been allowed, and the towns stripped of their funds, very
unjustly, and the principal part paid to justices, and overseers, for
their services. And I think I may venture to say, in country towns
like ours,
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| 1824 LAW (required establishment of poorhouse vs. exempted):
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1857 INVESTIGATION:
Located in the town
of Bethany, it consists of a single main building attached to which is a
wing designed and used for the accommodation of the insane. The main structure is of brick, thirty by forty feet, the addition of
stone, forty by thirty feet. Connected
is a farm of 133 acres, yielding a revenue of $1,300.00. There are no basements. There
is no ventilation; the main building is warmed by stoves, the asylum by a
furnace.
The number of inmates
was seventy-five, forty-five males, thirty females; of these twenty-five are
foreign born, fifty native, embracing fifteen children under sixteen years of
age. The sexes are separated
during the night but mingle together during the day. They are under four keepers, two males, two females. In the house are thirty rooms or wards, ten of which are occupied by
the insane. In those occupied by
the paupers ten persons are sometimes placed; in the asylum, but one.
The average number of
inmates is ninety, supported at a weekly cost of seventy-two cents each, in
addition to the products of the farm. Able
bodied men amoung the paupers are employed on the farm, the women about the
house. The house has been visited
once during the year by the board of supervisors. It is supplied with Bibles and in the summer a Sunday school
is sustained with occasional religious service. For about seven months in the year a common school is taught in the
house. The superintendents of the
poor in conjunction with the supervisors, procure supplies for the house and
prescribe rules regulating the diet. At
suitable ages the children are bound out by the superintendents. A physician is employed by the year. During the past year there have
been two births and seventeen deaths. A
shower bath and tub is provided for bathing. There is no pest house. Of
the inmates, twenty are lunatics, seven males and thirteen females. Five of these are received from other counties. Fifteen are paupers. Five
lunatics have been admitted during the year. They are under the care of the keeper assisted by two attendants, and
receive medical assistance only from the house physician. But a single one is confined and he by a chain in his room. The rest are restrained in separate rooms at night, though mostly at
liberty during the day. Two have
been cured during the past year, and one-fourth are considered improved. The construction of the house is such as to permit their
classification. The power of
discharge is exercised only by the superintendent. The lunatic asylum has been erected about ten years. Since its erection the condition of the insane is materially improved. Classification is allowed, ventilation is in a measure, though not
sufficiently introduced and the rooms are well warmed.
The accommodations
are so ample that the superintendents receive and provide for the insane poor
of adjoining counties, at a charge to those counties of the actual expense
of their support. It is believed
by the management, that of the new cases committed here, as many are cured as
at other asylums. Of the paupers,
about ten are idiotic, four males and six females. One blind. About one-third
of the paupers are reduced to their present condition through intemperance.
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Transcribed by PHS-Volunteer, Cheramie Breaux in Louisiana
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PERSONAL NOTES FROM READERS:
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| LOCAL
NOTES:
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FIFTY-EIGHT YEARS IN THE POOR HOUSE |
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The Progressive Batavian |
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Batavia, Genesee Co., N.Y. |
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January 29, 1886 |
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| FIFTY-EIGHT YEARS IN THE POOR
HOUSE.--Miss Phebe White was found dead in her room in the County
House on Sunday morning last. She was 67 years of age. For 58 years
she had been an inmate, never having spent a single night away from
that institution. The County House was completed in 1827 and Miss
White entered it at 9 years of age in 1828, thus becoming one of the
first recipients of its care and protection. Miss WHITE is a distant
relative of the Ben WHITE who was hung in Batavia in 1843. |
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RECORDS:
Poorhouse INMATE REGISTRATION CERTIFICATES
Microfilm Series A1978 Roll
Number(s) 37-38 more information
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CEMETERY:
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| We are hoping to build this base of information about the poorhouse in GENESEE county through the helpful participation of readers. All are requested to submit items of interest by sending
e-mail
to The Poorhouse Lady.
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