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Caption: The Poor Farm, Salem, Mass.
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HISTORY:
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LOCAL NOTES:
| Brookfield Poor Farm -- Worcester County --
Historical Notes |
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from a 1939 Works Progress Administration (WPA)
interview
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"Boston's
Pauper Institutions" by William I. Cole
| Title: |
The New England magazine. / Volume 24, Issue 2 |
| Publisher: |
New England Magazine Co. |
Publication Date: |
April 1898 |
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| This article is apparently the third in a series and deals
with the "principal Almshouse, on Long Island." It is
rich in detail and full of wonderful old historic photographs which
evoke the detailed texture of life in a city poorhouse in those times
and tells of the evolution of the almshouse and its relationship to
other institutions. (The link will take you to the article on the
Cornell University website.) PHL |
The following are
all items about the Hampden County Home
which Roberta Cyr has generously allowed us to copy from
her family webpage. Our Thanks! PHL Note: These are
all scans of newspaper articles, photographs, etc. --
which take quite a while to load. (But they are well worth the
time!) |
August 21, 1873 Newspaper
Article:
"The City
Alms-House
The Newest of Our Public Buildings
A Picturesque Structure on a Noble Site:
Its Details, Excellences, and Faults."
This one is fascinating and hilarious! PHL |
| June 6, 1933 Newspaper
Article: New Bay Path Cemetery to be Dedicated |
1986 Transcript-Telegram
Article:
Early Holyoke cared for its own
(an excellent historical survey) |
| 1988 Union-News Article:
100-year-old "poor farm" |
| August 23rd 2000 Newspaper
Article: Almshouse Burying Ground
[also called the Bay Path Cemetery] in Blunt Park,
Springfield, MA. |
| To read Roberta's
chronological summary of the history of this cemetery and information
about where the records may be found -- scroll down and click the
link in the CEMETERY section. |
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Historical Notes
about POOR
RELIEF Practices
in West Springfield [Hampden Co.] |
| from the book, "West
Springfield, Massachusetts a Town History" by Esther Swift,
published 1969. |
| submitted
by Rusty
Clark rclark@map.com |
Photographs
and obituary
for Waldo Lamb, who served as Superintendent of the town poor farm for 26
years and then, after retirement, served as an overseer of the poor. [We believe
this was in the community of Leicester in Worcester County, MA. The obituary is
undated. We would welcome any further information about this remarkable
man. PHL ]
We are very grateful to
Timothy T. Orwig for sharing information about his
master's thesis:
THREE NINETEENTH-CENTURY
MASSACHUSETTS ALMSHOUSES
AND THE ORIGINS OF AMERICAN POORHOUSE ARCHITECTURE
This involves the following
poorhouses:
Haverhill in ESSEX County.
Cambridge in MIDDLESEX County.
Milton in NORFOLK County.
See the abstract
and table of contents.
Sally Neale has generously provided us with historical
notes about the Almshouse and State Primary
School in Monson [Hampden County]. (See below for information about
Records.)
Historical notes
about the Almshouses and Workhouses of Hingham [Plymouth County]
Massachusetts are contained in the final chapter of the History of Hingham,
Massachusetts.
"Before 1868, Charles Spear moved to Dorchester and was superintendent of streets there as well as
taking charge of the poor farm."
(See RECORDS below.)
Poor Farm Conservation Area in Lexington, MA (with map)
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NOTES FROM READERS
| Click here to read notes
which provide memories and tips which may help others locate records
they may be seeking. PHL |
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Hampden / Middlesex / Worcester |
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| RECORDS:
Hudson
Poor Farm -- Middlesex County
Inmate
Information (1867 to 1887) 
extracted from Town Reports.
Clicking on the link above will open an Excel spreadsheet list
generously prepared and shared with us by Janet Lyman squash1909@mindspring.com
who writes ... "After that the names were not listed in the
town reports." NOTE: If you cannot open this on your own
computer (because you do not have a spreadsheet program), you should be
able to go to your nearest public library which has internet access for
the public (which most now have) to open this list ... and even print it
out at the library, should you wish to do so.)
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This document has recently been
offered for sale on eBay. Having little context for this except
my previous research into other poorhouse records ...
I am uncertain about the nature of this payment. I suspect
it involves a payment or reimbursement for one town's portion of
the County Home's expenses. Any further information would be
greatly appreciated.
PHL |
List
of Residents of the Poor House in Haverhill -- Essex
County -- 1850 Census
(Scroll to entry 772-988)
Barbara Tourtillott [wpbear@marketrends.net]
has done a wonderful job of transcribing on her website the
list of Alms House Occupants of the Easton Alms House
in Bristol County
from the 1880 Federal Census.
She has also done the same great job transcribing on her other website the
list
of Alms House Occupants of the Taunton Alms House in Bristol County
from the 1880 Federal Census.
Sally Neale has generously provided us with notes
about the records available from the Almshouse
and State Primary School in Monson [Hampden County]. (See above for
historical notes.)
Charles Spear
Records, 1856-1888
Volume 4 - "Dorchester, Massachusetts Travellers [sic] lodged and persons
sent to State Almshouse" 1864-1870. Volume contains chronological entries with name, date, color, age, sex,
height, complexion of men, women and children seeking shelter.
Box 5 - Contains two folders: (1) Bills, memoranda, payroll sheets, and certificates, 1870-1872, relating
to Spear's duties as Superintendent of Streets in Dorchester; and (2) material removed from Volume 4
including governor's pardon, bills, receipts, petition to pay for female poor, and replevin bonds.
In the 1880 United States Census ...you can find the
"Poorhouse and Farm, Salem, Essex, Massachusetts".
Source: FHL Film 1254532 National Archives Film T9-0532 Page 568A.
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CEMETERIES:
No. 5: Historical Archaeology at the Hudson Poor Farm Cemetery
a publication
of the Massachusetts Historical Commission
Almshouse
& Burial Grounds, Springfield, [Hampden County] MA.
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STATE ARCHIVE NOTES:
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Timeline
1852Expenditures for state almhouses authorized
(St. 1852, c. 275)
first almshouse opens in 1854 |
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Suggested
Topics for History Day 2002
(with accompanying record holdings cited)
... almshouses ... as early models of reform
[Human service records:
Board of Alien Commissioners (HS2);
Board of State Charities (HS3);
State Almshouse at Bridgewater (HS3.04);
State Almshouse at Monson (HS3.06);
State Almshouse at Tewksbury (HS6.11) ... ]
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OTHER INSTITUTIONS: (These may also be of interest to those researching
poorhouse records.)
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We are hoping to build this base of information about poorhouses in MASSACHUSETTS 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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