Pauperism in Chenango County, NY (1877)

Pauperism in Chenango County, New York 

Bainbridge Republican, Bainbridge, NY, April 12, 1877

We are in receipt of the Tenth Annual Report of the State Board of Charities in which the result of the Committee's visits to our public building is thus summed up.

"This county has made very good provisions for its dependent classes.  The poorhouse is a commodious frame building, in good repair and properly designated for its use.  A comfortable building nearby is used for the chronic insane, most of this class being retained under county care.  The institution is pleasantly situated near Preston, about six miles from Norwich [Chenango Co. NY].  It will accommodate one hundred and twenty-five inmates, exclusive of the insane.  The number of persons under care at the time of the examination, including twenty-two chronic insane, was eighty-five of whom thirty-nine were males and forty-six females.  Four of these were colored.  Sixty-one, or nearly seventy-two percent were born in New York; ten in other United States, and eight in foreign countries.  In six cases the place of birth could not be determined.  The birth of the parents was also mostly native, a considerable portion being of the New England States.  There were only eight inmates of the house under sixteen years of age, two of these being infants. Twenty-four were between the ages of sixteen and forty; twenty-five between the ages of forty and sixty; twenty-three between sixty and eighty, and five had passed eighty years of age.  Four became dependent at birth; sixteen before they had reached the age of twenty years; thirty-seven when between the ages of twenty and fifty; twenty when between the ages of fifty and seventy; and eight after they were seventy years old.  Eleven had been in the house less than one year; twenty-one over one year and less than five years; forty-nine, five years and less than twenty; three, twenty years and less than forty; and one more than forty years.  The summing up showed that the average time spent in the institution by the then inmates, was 7.02 years, or an aggregate of five hundred and ninety-seven years.

In the families of the inmates examined, there were known to have been, in three generations, one hundred and five dependents; thirty-two insane; eighteen idiots, and thirty-seven inebriates.  Twenty-two of the inmates were heads of families, having, as far as could be ascertained, sixty-one living children.  Of those, five were in poorhouses, six in asylums, and ten bound out; twenty-nine, it was said, were maintaining themselves; the condition of eleven could not be learned.  It is thought seventy-five of the persons examined will hereafter remain paupers; one probably will go out, and one may be so trained as to be self-supporting, while the future of eight is involved in doubt.

The following facts obtained regarding a portion of the cases examined are here given, as showing the general character of the dependent persons of this county, and, at the same time, throwing light upon the source of pauperism, disease and insanity.

• A man fifty-one years old, vagrant and idle, recently admitted; had a pauper sister.
• A man aged twenty-one years, illegitimate and an idiot, thirteen years in the State Idiot Asylum.
• Mother licentious and dissolute, a boy thirteen years old, congenital deformity of the lower extremities, is bright and intelligent but entirely helpless.
• Parents said to be temperate and respectable, an idiot male, aged thirty-six years, thirty years an inmate and said to be an illegitimate
• A girl aged sixteen years, born in the poorhouse of an adjoining county, committed to this house as a vagrant at the age of fourteen years, offers but little hope of reformation.
• A girl of eighteen years old, was thrown into the fire when an infant by her mother, who was at the time intoxicated, and then sent to the poorhouse, where she has since remained, is badly deformed in the face and probably without remedy.
• A woman aged thirty-four years and feeble minded, had a pauper brother, but no information obtained as to her parentage.
• A girl fourteen years old, remarkably intelligent, two months an inmate, confirmed in habits of vagrancy and vice, and said to have been neglected in early childhood.
• Father intemperate, a man aged forty-eight years, unknown in the county, committed on account of sickness, is believed to have been guilty of criminal practices and probably has been in State prison.
• An unmarried girl seventeen years old, fairly intelligent, recently admitted, was orphaned at the age of twelve years, since which time she has been homeless and at service.
• A woman said to be one hundred and two years old, and twelve years an inmate, parentage and habits in early life unascertained.
• A single woman aged eighty-six years, of New England parentage, twelve years in the house, is temperate, fairly intelligent and respectable, the last of her family generation, and a fair type of some twenty other inmates.
• An idiot boy thirteen years old, five years an inmate, is filthy and beastly in his habits, and the father said to have been grossly intemperate.
• A vagrant boy thirteen years old, admitted at the age of seven years, placed afterwards in an asylum but returned to the house.
• An epileptic girl aged nineteen years, recently admitted, father intemperate.
• An insane woman fifty years old, once at the State asylum and fourteen years an inmate of the house, abandoned by her husband and hopelessly incurable.
• Another insane woman also fourteen years an inmate, after treatment at the State asylum and likewise deserted by her husband.
• A widowed woman eight years insane, two years at the State Asylum, no other insanity in her family.

The helpless condition of the inmates of this house will be seen by the following statement of the conclusions arrived at during the examination, regarding their future:  Seventy-five will hereafter, probably, remain paupers; one seemed likely to go out, and one may probably be trained so as to become self-supporting.  The future of the others was considered doubtful.