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Caption reads: Wayne County Home, Lyons, N.Y.
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The notes below have been abstracted from the following reports.
To obtain further information on these reports click on the appropriate button.
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YATES REPORT
1824 LAW
1857 REPORT EXPLANATION
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| YATES REPORT:
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| 1824 LAW (required establishment of poorhouse vs. exempted): required
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1857 INVESTIGATION:
This house is located
near Lyons. The main building
is constructed of stone, forty by sixty feet, two stories, connected with
which is a farm of one hundred and ninety acres, which yields an annual income
of $1400. The basement of this
house is occupied for domestic uses and
cells. There is no special
provision for ventilation or bathing. Sixteen
rooms are appropriated to the use of the paupers--sixty of whom we found in
the house; forty males and twenty females; of these forty were foreign and
twenty native born, including fifteen children. From four to five are usually placed in a room but when crowded from
fifteen to sixteen. At night
there is a complete separation of the sexes, which is preserved but partially
during the day. The establishment
is in (the) charge of one keeper and his wife, who are assisted by the paupers
according to their ability to labor. The
average number supported in this house is sixty-seven, at a weekly expense of
$1.55 each. The fare furnished is
good, plain substantial food, and in sufficient quantity. Religious services are maintained in the house every Sabbath. It is also supplied with Bibles and a school taught in the house the
whole time. The superintendent of
the poor exercises the power to discharge lunatics. The supplies for the house are purchased by the keeper, who also
prescribes rules regulating the diet of the inmates. The board of supervisors visit the house once a year. The superintendents of the poor visit it once a month. A physician is employed, who visits the house whenever called, charging
fifty cents a visit, and ten cents additional for each patient. There have been ten deaths during the year.
Of the inmates seven
are lunatics; five males and two females, all paupers; two have been received
during the year. There have been
recoveries but none during the present year. The lunatics have no special attendants, or special medical attention. The mode of restraining them is by confinement in cells.
Four of the paupers are
idiots' two males and two females, all of whom are fit subjects for the State
Idiot Asylum. There is one blind. No corporeal punishment is employed.
Eight-tenths of all who
are received into this house are brought here consequent upon habits of
inebriation. This house seems to
be well kept; order, cleanliness, and contentment were every where apparent. But the buildings are insufficient to properly answer the necessary
wants of so large a family.
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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:
"County Poor House becomes County Home"
[Article from Courier-Gazette, digital edition -- includes photograph]
http://www.cgazette.com/towns/Lyons/history/887302525484.htm
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| RECORDS:
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Records of Wayne County Poor House  |
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Poor Books, 1838-85;
Poor Relief Outside Poorhouse, 1833-68;
Superintendent of the Poor Accounts, 1854-93;
Poor House Relief, 1885-1900;
Poor House Admissions, 1905-40. |
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Wayne County Historian's Office
21 Butternut Street
Lyons, New York 14489. |
The Residents of the Wayne County Poorhouse from the 1850, 1860 and 1890
census reports can be found on the Wayne County GenWeb site at http://www.rootsweb.com/~nywayne/index.html
Note: This site is organized differently from most other such sites. Best to
start at the main page and click on HISTORICAL ARTICLES and scroll down to
find these items. NOTE: Excellent essays about the history and
demographics of these poorhouse populations accompany the actual listing of
inmates.
Poorhouse INMATE REGISTRATION CERTIFICATES
Microfilm Series A1978 Roll
Number(s) 212-214 more information
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| CEMETERY:
The Wayne County Poor House (Lyons) Records of Death (1915-1934)
http://www.rootsweb.com/~nywayne/
[click on CEMETERIES and scroll down to Lyons]
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| We are hoping to build this base of information about the poorhouse in WAYNE 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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