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HISTORY:
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The following is an excerpt from a U.S. Government REPORT
summarizing various state poor laws in 1904. .
Click on the link above for more information. |
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| "Calloway and McCracken counties had a separate,
physical location for their poor house occupants. For many years
my great grandfather Utterback owned a part of the land on which the Calloway
County poorhouse was built..
As nearly as I can determine, the other counties in the Jackson
Purchase region [ Marshall, Graves, Fulton, Hickman,
Ballard, and Carlisle] boarded their poor in private
homes or in actual boarding houses. The exception might be Graves
County, as Charles Collier was shown in the 1860 census as having the
poor farm.
It is hard to determine, given the fact that 98% of the Graves
County records were destroyed in a courthouse fire in 1887, whether they
had a physical county building, or if the people were housed in
homes.
I plan, at some point, to transcribe all of the information on each
individual which is contained in the "Defective, Delinquent and
Dependent" [DDD] Schedule. from the 1880 Census
Unfortunately, in the Jackson Purchase region, the enumerators did a
very poor job, in most cases, with the DDD Schedule, leaving many
columns blank and thus depriving us today of what could be valuable
genealogical information.
There are a fair number of poor house occupants who also are shown in
other parts of the DDD Schedule(such as in the homeless children,
idiots, deaf-mutes, blind, etc., categories), which might be useful
information to descendants, especially those doing medical histories of
their ancestors."
Bill Utterback [billco@ARN.NET]
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| Note: Scroll below to RECORDS section to see Bill's initial DDD
lists.
PHL |
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NOTES FROM READERS:
"My great-grandfather ran a Poorhouse in
Olive Hill, [Carter County] Ky. His name was Robert Jessie (the
rest of his family spelled their name Jessee.) I remember my grandmother
saying she was in the Poorhouse. I just thought she meant she was not
wealthy. My grandmother and her brothers and sisters would have to feed
everyone that stayed there. My mother said there were little houses
behind my great-grandfather's and that is where the people stayed. I
would love to find some information on this Poorhouse."
S. Holland wholland@casagrande.com
"I know there was one poor house in Liberty [Casey County] Ky, I had an uncle who died
there. And the story about 'When my rich uncle gets out of the poorhouse" I
will buy you that, was said a lot in our house. But in our case it was
true.
Supposely, when my Uncle Porter died, he had a red cushion that he always
carried with him, and when he would sit down, he would sit on it, everyone
always thought it was for his hemorrhoids or something, but after he died, they
unzipped the cushion and found bunches of money!"
Laura Wright lsllwright@fuse.net
[OK, I promise not to create a new category for posting poorhouse jokes... I
think I've heard 'em all and most of them are awful; but this one was too
good to pass up. And besides ... the levity was tempered with some facts we
needed. PHL]
"I have a death certificate for someone who died in 1920
in Christian County Kentucky. The City on the death certificate says
"Christian County Poor House". The Voting Pct. listed is "Concord
#29".
Dawn Hills Email: dhills@peoplepc.com
"Isn't there a poorhouse in Grant County, Kentucky? A building
still stands and is maintained by the county. I was always told it was once the
poorhouse of Grant County. The building is in the city of Crittenden. Please let
me know if I am wrong.
LolaLively@aol.com
" Our home was built in the
1860's as the Harrison County Poorhouse. It is in Berry Ky. I am
currently researching its history."
Phyllis Couch ecouch@kymail.com
"I was looking through the 1880 US Census [Jefferson County] for
my family and found George W. McCrocklin's occupation as 'Keeps Poor House.'
His wife Susan, daughters Marian and Agnes, and son Alfred J. lived with
him along with several people with an occupation listed as 'Pauper.' "
(Note: Scroll down to the RECORDS section for this census location. PHL
)
Mike McCrocklin ChiefPMM@aol.com
"My grandfather grew up in a Poor House in Morgan
Co., KY. I found this out when reading the 1900 census. I recall that my
grandfather always answered the phone "County Poor Farm" as a joke. I
was surprised to find that he actually lived in one. His father, William Bonham
Greear, was the overseer of the poor. The farm was located near Greear in Morgan
Co.on Hwy 460. Poor House Fork of Grassy Creek runs parallel to Hwy 460."
Mary South marysouth@mediaone.net
[Note: See the 1900 Census list for this poorhouse below. Mary
submitted these notes to us. PHL ]
"It is said in my family that my Grandfather's sister, Pearl
(Wilson) Copenhaver ran a poorhouse in Betsey, KY, located in Wayne
Co., KY. I'll have to check, but I believe the census records I reviewed
years ago reflect that."
Dan Wilson DWilson296@aol.com
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LOCAL NOTES:
US GenWeb Archives item --
from "History of Kentucky and Kentuckians" by E. Polk Johnson
a bio
of LLEWELLYN JONES
"The superintendency of the admirably conducted poorhouse
and farms of Jefferson county is entrusted to Lewellyn (sic)
Jones, and his administration has been marked by utmost efficiency as
well as by kindly solicitude for the unfortunate wards of the county.
Mr. Jones is a native of Kentucky and is a representative of a family
whose name has been identified with the history of this favored
commonwealth for virtually an entire century." (continued at link
above)
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Monroe County Court Notes
Requiring Paupers to Report to the Poorhouse
1872 |
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Monroe County -- Miscellaneous Records |
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Keeper of the Poorhouse & terms
of hire -- Court of Claims, Reg. 1903 |
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| RECORDS:
Poorhouse List
from Allen County 1880 Census
Poorhouse List
from Barren County 1900 Census
List of poorhouse residents and other indigent dependents from the 1880 Census
special schedule:
"Defectives, Dependents and Delinquents" for Barren County. 
List
of poorhouse residents and other indigent dependents from the 1880 Census
special schedule:
"Defectives, Dependents and Delinquents" for Calloway
County.
List
of poorhouse residents and other indigent dependents from the 1880 Census
special schedule:
"Defectives, Dependents and Delinquents" for Fulton
County.
List
of poorhouse residents and other indigent dependents from the 1880 Census
special schedule:
"Defectives, Dependents and Delinquents" for Graves
County.
List
of poorhouse residents and other indigent dependents from the 1880 Census
special schedule:
"Defectives, Dependents and Delinquents" for Hickman
County.
The Jefferson County poorhouse list can be found in the 1880 Census,
District 91,
Jeffersontown, Jefferson County, Kentucky, page 105A.
List
of poorhouse residents and other indigent dependents from the 1880 Census
special schedule:
"Defectives, Dependents and Delinquents" for McCracken
County.
Poorhouse List
from Madison County 1850 Census
Poorhouse List
from Monroe County 1880 Census
Poorhouse List
from Morgan County 1900 Census
Poorhouse List
from Ohio County 1920 Census
Poorhouse List
from Scott County 1850 Census
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CEMETERIES:
Calloway County Poor House Cemetery list
County
Farm Cemetery -- LaRue County
Monroe County (Poor)House Cemetery (Est. 1892) Photo
Trigg County Poor Farm Cemetery
http://www.kyseeker.com/trigg/kylines/cemetery/county.html
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We are hoping to build this base of information about poorhouses in KENTUCKY 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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