The Poorhouse Story NEWSLETTER   02/24/2002 (Fourteenth issue)

Well, I'll be ... on time for the first time in recent memory! This (so-called now) bi-monthly newsletter is coming out two months to the day from the last one. I may break my arm patting myself on the back. (And try to forget all the times it was late.) 

If you have visited The POORHOUSE STORY website recently ...  you may have noticed something new. 

It is something I thought about (agonized over, actually) for a long time.  We are strongly committed to keeping this website non-commercial.  To me that means that all of the data is available for free to anyone who comes here to learn poorhouse history. And it also means we don't want visitors to be plagued with those obnoxious advertisements popping up all over the place. Finally, and maybe most importantly, it means that no corporation gets to dictate our editorial policy.

All of those conditions still prevail -- but now we are accepting and soliciting advertising and affiliation with companies whose advertisements we will post very discretely at various places on the website. We had no choice but to do this. Frankly, the project is becoming expensive and very time-consuming. And the paradox is: while the growth in usage of the site demonstrates its value, that very growth threatens our ability to maintain it without some financial assistance.

So here is what we are doing. On most major pages we now have a box that looks like this:

There are two ways in which you and other viewers can help us with this project. First, whenever you have the need to purchase any books or genealogy services on-line -- consider coming first to The POORHOUSE STORY to click on one of our affiliate links to   AMAZON.com   or ANCESTRY.com  or BARNES & NOBLE  (or our future affiliates.) And you can encourage friends and family members to do the same.  When you do that,  our website receives a small commission.  

Secondly, many of you who regularly read this newsletter own local regional publishing companies (which specialize in local history and/or genealogy) or are professional genealogists.  An inexpensive advertisement on one of our state or county pages may help you make your business better known to just the specific audience whom you are trying to reach. If you would like to consider this, please e-mail me at phlady@austin.rr.com to discuss how we can best create a win/win situation.

In future newsletters we hope to keep you advised (in the stats section) of the success of this project.  Of course, if we succeed in raising enough to replace the equipment or software we need -- we may be jumping up and down with joy in this section!

Thanks,
Linda ( & Maddie, too )

REFLECTIONS
SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE!

excerpt:

...  "Dr. Horn 
[the Bush administration official who oversees the welfare program] 
...  does want the federal government to promote and encourage marriage more aggressively among low-income people, and the administration is proposing to spend $100 million a year to do just that."

Click on the link above to read the
full on-line text of the article.

REMARKABLE MARRIAGE -

By reference to the marriage notices in our columns this morning, it will be seen that a rather remarkable marriage is reported to have taken place in Pittsford not long ago; the happy bride and bridegroom being respectively 67 and 54 years of age, and both town paupers. The reason, says our informant, given by the overseer of the poor for this proceeding is that he was crowded for room and gained the use of an apartment by the operation. Our informant further suggests that as a matter of economy it might be well for other towns to follow this example.

MARRIAGES:

SMITH-MILLINGTON - In Pittsford, October 1, 1862, by M.C. Bogue Esq., assisted by R.R. Drake, Esq., Titus Smith and Mary Millington, both town paupers, the bridegroom being 54 and the bride 67 years of age.

MEET THE PRESS  
(recent mainstream newspaper articles)

More and more frequently lately, we are being consulted by newspaper reporters wishing to obtain background information for articles they are writing about their own local poorhouse issues. We will share these with you & hope you will give us a "heads up" when you spot such material in the media. 

                NEW YORK TIMES  -- February 4, 2002, Monday
"Forsaken in Life, Forgotten in Death"

     ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH -- February 11, 2002, Monday
"Paupers' Cemetery Rises from Neglect"

Wouldn't you know it!
My own state ... Texas ... has proven to be
especially difficult to research for poorhouses.
So we have put together sketchy data from various documentary and published sources.

MAP of POORHOUSES in TEXAS       

Table    "Showing the Number of Paupers in the State, 
by Counties, how Kept, and the Average Cost per Month of Supporting Them."
1887-1888

This lady should get a trophy! What a huge work!  PHL

"The Poorhouse Revisited"

FEATURED ARTICLES
(We didn’t create them; 
we just show them!)

A  great website article about the history of social services for the poor in North Dakota.  
(i.e. Cass County Poor Farm.)                >>>

Food for the hungry, shelter for the poor
By Ellen Crawford
The Forum - 10/17/1999

 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH -- February 11, 2002, Monday
"Paupers' Cemetery Rises from Neglect"  

Recent DISCOVERY OF REMAINS from the POOR FARM CEMETERY in Meade County SD      (for what was allowed to be done in the past)
                                  (for what they seem to be well on the way to
                                                  doing to make amends now)  posted Feb. 2002

Here is a wonderful Photo Album of the DeKalb County [Illinois] Cemetery  
  (See above in FEATURE PROJECTS)

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