"Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place.  If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that." 
               The Queen [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]

 "Amen!"  PHL 

Well, I don't really want to get anywhere else; but I do want to get caught up.  So I am going to disregard the Queen's advice.  Instead of running faster I am going to slow down.  Over the next couple of months I will be concentrating on getting caught up on responding to e-mail which has piled up over many many moons, working on postponed projects, completing things that seem to have taken up permanent residence on the back burner.  Update some pages like the Cemetery and Records pages (which have not been updated since my friend, Brenda, helped me out almost a year ago. Sheesh!)  You know ... get organized.  Those loose ends tend to get lost; so if you have e-mailed me and not gotten any follow-up ... you may hear from me in the next few weeks.  Soooo...you may not be seeing as many announcements of the posting of new material for a while. But don't think we have shut down; this is just maintenance time. And please feel free to keep those e-mail tips and submissions coming.  Hopefully they may get answered soon.  

Have a Great 4th of July and a Wonderful Summer!

Linda 

REFLECTIONS
 Okay, okay.   This one really does read like a sermon.
So if you are more into great stories and statistics, rather than sermons -- just scroll down. 

NOTE: What is amazing about this article >>>>
is the degree to which very personal details of the inmates lives are recounted in such a public manner! We at first felt somewhat reluctant to even post this on the internet ... 130 years later!  But we decided it was important to the historical record to document and realize that poorhouse inmates were accorded so little privacy during that era. PHL

"The County Alms-House Its General Condition
-- The Number and Character of its Inmates"

The Democrat
 2 Feb 1871

Detailed description of the Huntington County Indiana Infirmary, 
including profiles of 13 inmates.

...  "A great moral responsibility attaches to some one for this crime against humanity.  We will not stop to discuss now the policy of keeping the insane at home instead of in state institutions.  It is sufficient that they were kept on the poor farm.  Why were they not cared for?  Who is to blame for the shocking barbarity of leaving nine unfortunate human beings unable to take care of themselves alone in a building to perish like so many rats?" ...

"Eight Persons Cremated"

A Sickening Tragedy

name of newspaper not known
January 1894 

Disaster at the County [poorhouse] Insane Asylum.

Boone County, Iowa

See excerpt below.

Source: from reprint of "Clarke County History", Lewis Pub., Chicago, 1886. p. 266.

"Probably the most interesting character among the inmates at the Poor Farm is the venerable James Madison Walters, who has made his home there for the past 5 years. Mr. Walters is now 88 years old, is tall, erect, and vigorous in body and intellect. His history is an interesting one ...  In portions of his life he has had wealth, friends, political influence and official rank and prestige, yet he is spending his declining years in the poor house, waiting for the grim reaper.

Sixty-five years ago Mr. Walters settled on land in Marion county, Iowa, which he secured from the government. The early settlers of that time and vicinity selected him for his intelligence and enterprise as their first Justice of the Peace, and he exercised jurisdiction over a vast territory. When Marion county was organized, he was elected the first Sheriff of that county and served two terms. Afterward he was made postmaster at Knoxville, in which office he served several years. Subsequently he was sent for two terms as representative in the legislature from Marion county. Afterward he pursued a varied business life, at one time having considerable wealth. In later years he came to Clarke county living near Murray. One evening about five years ago he came walking to the poor house and asked for admission. He was an old man, then 83 years old, and he announced that he was through, was destitute, and must make that his home. From that time he has remained an inmate of the place. He keeps neatly dressed, is a ready and willing conversationalist, of intelligence and culture. With various old time acquaintances and with his few relatives he maintains regular correspondence. The success of no man's life can be accurately measured until its close."

NOTE:  We considered referring to this merely as "a web page" with no link or credits -- as they did when quoting extensively from material we had previously posted. But we decided not to be as tacky as they were.  Sigh.  PHL    >>>

OLD COUNTY HOME Partially Collapses ... 

We lost another old poorhouse building
with this collapse in Franklin County NY

CHRISTMAS IN JULY!

We were delighted when Dr. Marc Alan Peterka wrote to tell us about his mother ...

      The Poorhouse Keeper's Daughter ...

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

Here we have scanned the pages from this 1911 publication which deal with the history of the following related institutions:

• The [Blair County] Almshouse

• Children's Industrial Home

• Blair County Hospital for the Insane
  
  
  This section contains a very richly detailed description of the day to day operation of these facilities which paints a very vivid picture of what life must have been like as an inmate during the early Twentieth Century.
  
  Click on the image to the right to read the story. >>>
  

 Nothing new reported recently.

The NYS Archives are having difficulty meeting the demand for access to these records; we would like to find a way to help improve the situation.  PHL

Recently I really DID take time to read -- not one book but two!   PHL

While these may not be books about poorhouses, they are on a subject important for understanding the poorhouse era. In 19th century America a defining demographic was the Irish immigrant.  And in 19th century Ireland, second only to the church, the defining institution may have been  the poorhouse. (The defining event undoubtedly  was the Great Famine.)

The books are in a somewhat new genre -- creative non-fiction.  They are novels about the Irish struggles for independence.  Each book starts with a list of characters -- divided into historical characters and fictional characters. The fictional characters carry the plot and provide an opportunity to personalize or "flesh out" the varied ideas and beliefs of the participants in these historic events.  But the integration of the historical characters allows their actions and words to inform that wonderful rarity -- a really great historical read!!!

1921  

A Book of the Irish Century

1916: A Novel of the Irish Rebellion  

Return to ARCHIVED NEWSLETTERS                       HOME