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Greetings!
The activities of the past month have been really
gratifying. When we review the list (shown in the table below) of things
we have added to The POORHOUSE STORY during the past month it could look
like the Poorhouse Lady has been very very busy. (I have!) But
the really nice thing is that this clearinghouse is truly becoming a cooperative
effort. As awareness of the site grows, more and more people are
submitting material for inclusion on the site. And the best thing is --
many of them are becoming really good about sending information in a
form that requires less work on our part to make it ready for
posting! If they were not doing that it would have been impossible
to post that much material. Of course, we don't always expect
publication-ready material; there will always be people who do not have
sophisticated computer skills or equipment who want to make a
contribution -- their contributions are appreciated and snail mail still
works just fine! We are grateful for every kind of participation.
The satisfaction that comes with this increased
participation by other people goes way beyond a desire to have our work
made easier.
On our homepage we stated some specific goals for the website; but
underlying all of those is a desire to see a change in the
consciousness of our society. The ultimate goal is probably respect
for the lives of people -- sometimes called the "little
people" (those who may have been of normal size in life, but for
whom there are no monumental statues erected) or the "common
man" (who was just as often a woman and who was often uncommonly
successful in being a good human being despite a lack of financial
success) -- who were unfortunate enough to spend time in the only
institutions our society was committed enough to provide for them.
But there are growing signs that this consciousness
is indeed becoming more respectful!
You could go directly to the following list of updates made to the site
and discover this for yourself -- if you read between the lines.
But I hope at least some of you will allow me to share my observations
and will read the following...
REFLECTIONS
Notwithstanding the influence of television and the
internet, newspapers are probably still the medium through which
most people learn of the issues of concern to them in their communities.
And many newspapers ... even small hometown papers ... are going on-line
with some of their articles. That has given us the chance to hear
of the growing number of articles giving coverage to poorhouse
issues -- so we could put them on The POORHOUSE STORY. But such coverage
of poorhouses is not a new thing. Almost a quarter of a century ago a
newspaper called the Frontier Times published one of the very
best overviews
of a county poorhouse (in Texas) that we have ever encountered. (The
page takes a while to load because of the photographs.) At that time we
were emerging from a period during which we tended to romanticize life
and gloss over some of the more gritty details of life. The article
reflects that transitional process. It does tell the story in a somewhat
nostalgic sentimental way. But it still weaves the complex tapestry
which was the poorhouse. The warp and woof of that tapestry consisted of
the warm human compassion trying to manifest through the layers of cold
harsh bureaucracy. The more recent newspaper coverage is often more
brutal in its criticism of abusive or disrespectful conditions. (You may
want to review the News
Alerts link off our homepage.) That coverage, along with the
exposure which sites such as ours can provide, can create the will to
correct injustices ... and celebrate the success of people who
"do the right thing." Sometimes the implementation of that
requires a court decision;
but sometimes it just takes the voluntary dedication of one or two
people -- like the couple who are preserving
a poorhouse and creating a museum in Virginia.
These show us that there is a definite (raised
consciousness) change for the better ... in the air, everywhere.
But I guess we see it best through the increasing
numbers of submissions from people who are willing to go back and dig
through their files (like the lady who dug through her
"selectmen" parents records to find old annual
town reports to submit) to find poorhouse information which they
previously through would not be of interest to many other people ... or
to recognize that something that they worked on for some other purpose,
like transcribing a census report, has additional significance because
it contains information about a poorhouse.
Yes, I know these reflections contain a lot of
terribly run-on sentences; but that's how my reflections run! Especially
when I am as happy as I have been with the work I have been privileged
to do this month. As Martha would say .... It's (been) a goooood thing.
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Table of STATISTICS and NEW ITEMS
ADDED to The PHS Website
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(since site counter went up on
5/8/200)
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Total
Visits to Homepage -- as of
9/30/2000
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16,000+
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Total Visits to Homepage – as of
10/30/2000
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nearly 23,000
(almost 7,000 visits or approximately 233/day)
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E-mail
Subscribers to Monthly
Newsletter
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273 as of 9/30/2000
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335 as of
10/30/00
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FEATURED PROJECTS
(based
on readers submissions)
Good
News after we published this story! >>>
Don’t miss this one!)
>>>>>>>
Great LESSON about Annual Town Reports >>
(and how much genealogical information can
be found in those boring, dry financial accounts!)
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Wisconsin (Milwaukee)
Poorhouse History
Submitted by Jennifer Fleishmann
JenF@clr.wels.net
http://www.poorhousestory.com/WISC_jennifer_fleischmann_files.htm
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Jean Gilley JGilley@TXK.net
sent us the BEST newspaper article
we have ever seen about a
poorhouse! From the 1974 Frontier Times, it tells the story of
the Poor Farm in CASS COUNTY, TEXAS.
(See more information in narrative of newsletter above.)
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Sylvia Sebelist (whose mom and dad both served as town "selectment"
for the Town of Waterford (Oxford County, Maine) was kind enough to scan
and share with us pages from their 1892 Annual Town Report (which
reported on expenses for the poor during 1891). We have been able
to use this in a very helpful presentation
about how genealogical researchers can use such reports to locate
information about people who were residing on the Town Farm -- a form of
poorhouse.
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FEATURED ARTICLES
(We didn’t create them; we just show
them!)
(We
LOVE it! Read it and rejoice!) >>>>>>>
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Click here to see (off-site) a WONDERFUL research
project for Indiana on the HENRY
County Paupers Asylum -- complete with photos, original historical
documents, and much more! (Click
on the link to the left that says County Home.)
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Click here to see (off-site) another WONDERFUL
story -- about the successful efforts of a married couple to restore
the poorhouse in WYTHE County VA ... and turn it into a museum!
We are featuring that in our News Alerts section ... to inspire others
in other locations to follow their dedicated example.
at http://www.mtnlaurel.com/poorfarm/poorfarm.htm
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Wythe County Virginia County Poorhouse restored and
turned into
a museum.
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Jennifer's community in Wisconsin is cleaning up an abandoned poorhouse
cemetery
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A court in Newark NJ has ordered the cleanup of a Potter's Field
cemetery.
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HONORED STATES
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Current
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PENNSYLVANIA: has demonstrated a remarkable degree
of commitment to the preservation of poorhouse history! That has
expanded to the inclusion of on-line name indexes for the
poorhouse inmate registers (an on-going project).
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Previous
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Illinois & Tennessee
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Picture Postcards
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IN
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Adams County
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KS
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Graham County
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MN
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Olmsted County
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NH
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Cheshire County/Hillsboro
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NY
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Oneida County
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OH
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Mahoning /Butler/Ashland/Miami
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PA
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Clearfield/Indiana/Mercer/Fayette/Bradford/Clarion/Cambria
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Notes from Readers/Local Notes
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AR
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Polk County
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IL
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Shelby/Vermillion County (re:
records)
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IN
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Henry County
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IO
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Chickasaw County
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KS
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Reno County
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KY
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Christian County
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MI
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Schoolcraft
County
/ Pontotoc
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OK
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Garfield
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OR
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Multnomah (re: others)
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SC
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Charleston County
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TN
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Hamblen
County
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TX
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Bowie County
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VA
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Patrick County
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VT
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Lamille County (Stowe)
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WA
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Cowlitz
County
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WV
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Cabell
County
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Cemetery
Lists
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MI
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St. Joseph County Infirmary Cemetery
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MO
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Cooper County Poorhouse Cemetery
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TX
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Fannin County Home Cemetery
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VA
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Patrick County Deaths (from records and obits)
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WA
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King County Poor Farm Cemetery (Seattle)
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Poorhouse Resident
lists from CENSUS
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MI
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Grand Travis
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1920
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(new material or
off-site links to the web)
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MO
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Stone
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1920
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OH
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Belmont
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1860
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PA
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Somerset
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1860
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TN
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White
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1910
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VA
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Patrick
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1850/1860/1870
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WV
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Marshall
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1870
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No new entries.
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STATE ARCHIVES Holdings
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MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Poorhouse Holdings
http://www.poorhousestory.com/MINN_MHS_holdings.htm
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MICHIGAN STATE ARCHIVES Poorhouse Holdings
http://www.poorhousestory.com/MICH_Archives_holdings.htm
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Thanks for your continued support.
Linda Crannell
(aka=The Poorhouse Lady)
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HOME
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