“No report.”
1864 Onondaga County Poor House
Reply
Tag Archives: New York State Poor Houses
1864 Oneida County Poor House
“There are 560 inmates in the poor house of Oneida county, ninety-seven of whom are insane; forty-three are males, and fifty-four females. Fifty-five are natives and forty-two are of foreign birth. Within the year four have died, nine have been discharged and two have absconded. Sixty of the whole number have been treated in the State asylum, and been returned as incurable or for some other reason. Most of the number have been received into the county asylum since 1850, though the admittance of one dates back to 1843.
About forty of the whole number are capable of performing some labor, half of whom are males. None of the females labor out of doors. Those who are unable to labor have out of door amusements, such as “pitching quoits, playing ball, swinging, fiddling, dancing and singing.” The females are amused with books and papers. Fourteen require occasional restraint from destructiveness to their clothing; for this purpose leather muffs, straight jackets, cold baths and fixed chamber chairs are used. Thirteen are filthy; five are past seventy years, and one is eighty-eight. The building has a full supply of water, and one bath tub in each department, and beside daily ablution, the insane are required to bathe weekly. The building is heated by furnaces, and every room is ventilated from the ceiling. There are no basement cells. The building is of brick, two stories and a basement, with ceilings of ten feet; the single rooms are five feet by nine, and the double one seven by eleven feet, and the sitting room halls twelve by sixty-four feet, and all well lighted. In no case does more than one sleep in a bed; the ticks are filled with straw: sheets, quilts and straw pillows constitute the bedding. The fare is wholesome and simple; the patients all come into the dining hall to the table and are waited upon by attendants.
In the winter all the rooms are heated, and a comfortable temperature is maintained. The building has five wards, and allows of some accommodation for the various grades of the insane. It admits of complete separation of the sexes, and the whole is under the care of a man and his wife, with female assistants. Perfect cleanliness is maintained and good ventilation.
The institution does not provide for recent cases; they are sent to the State asylum in Utica. All have shoes and stockings, and some change of clothing, the same as sane paupers. The building is designed to accommodate about ninety patients. A physician is employed who visits the institution twice every week or oftener if necessary, but the treatment has no reference to ultimate recovery. The pauper insane are probably better cared for than in almost any of the other counties of the State excepting New York and Kings. The occasion of this may doubtless be attributed to the liberal influence that is exerted over the public mind by the State asylum at Utica. The fact that it makes no pretentions to the care of recent cases is most commendable, and the portion who first receive treatment at the State asylum is therefore large.”
1864 Niagara County Poor House
“One in four and three-quarters of the inmates of the poor house of Niagara are insane, there being eighty-nine inmates, of whom twenty-one are lunatics. Nine of them have received treatment in an asylum. Ten are of native and eleven of foreign birth. Seven are males and fourteen are females. Twelve are confined to the house; fourteen are mild cases. Three males and one female are capable of doing some labor; six are destructive to their clothing, and the same number are restrained either by straight jackets or leather muffs. The whip is sometimes, though rarely, used to enforce discipline.
The yard is supplied with cistern and spring water; there is one bathing tub. There are basement cells in the building with cement floors, but they are not often used. The bedsteads are of wood, not fastened to the floor; one sleeps in each bed; three sleep on straw without other bedding. Such as are able come to the table with the sane paupers.
The building is heated with a furnace, but no attention is paid to the uniformity of heat or ventilation. Rooms with barred doors and grated windows, cells and wards, furnish the only means of grade for the insane. The apartments, with one or two exceptions, were very clean. The sexes are separated but the attendants are paupers. All had changes of under clothing and shoes, but not all had stockings. Twenty-five is the full number that the house is designed to accommodate. Recent cases are received; four were received in 1864. The medical attendance has no reference to ultimate cure, nor is compensation for medical service rendered with such a view.”
1864 Montgomery County Poor House
“The population of Montgomery county poor house is eighty-three, ten of whom are lunatics. None of them are capable of labor. Nine are males and one female; seven are of native and three of foreign birth. Eight of this number have been treated in the asylum. They have been severally admitted since 1849. Five of the number are under thirty years of age. Three are destructive and one requires occasional restraint by muff and strap, or cold bath. The house has a supply of water, but no bath tub; the hands and face are “partially” washed daily. The bedding is straw in ticks on bedsteads, one sleeping in each bed. One sleeps on straw without other bedding. The diet is plain and substantial. The rooms are heated by a stove in the main hall. The rooms are generally clean, and the atmosphere of the rooms good. Their garments are changed every week; three had shoes and one had neither shoes or stockings during the winter. Fourteen can be accommodated in separate cells, but thirteen is the greatest number confined there. One escaped during the year who was not returned. The institution receives recent cases but they do not receive care with reference to their ultimate recovery.”
1864 Monroe County Poor House
“The Monroe County Insane asylum is, by a special act of the Legislature, made a separate and distinct institution from that of the poor house, and is under the control of the board of supervisors of the county. It is a three story brick building, the basement being 10 feet ceiling, and the other two stories 12 feet each. The single rooms are 5 x 10 feet, and the double rooms 8 x 10 feet. The windows are 2 x 7 feet. There are four rooms without windows opening out of doors. The building is heated by stoves; and in winter the temperature is maintained uniform by the indication of a thermometer. The lunatics are confined in four separate wards; four occupy the same room. The whole number confined during the year is 105; but the number has been reduced by patients discharged, deaths and absconding, so that only 74 have been in confinement at any one time: 46 were males, 59 females; 38 American, 67 of foreign birth; 54 were mild, and 18 were filthy; 27 had been treated in the State asylum. Ten males and ten females were capable of labor; but those who could not labor were unprovided with occupation or amusement. Fifty-four human beings, with at least some intellect in action, though not guided by reason, shut up in one building, with neither occupation or amusement! The only restraint resorted to, aside from handcuffs, is close confinement and cautious showering. This asylum has one bath tub, but not a full supply of water. The lunatics are required to wash daily. All the rooms have single iron bedsteads; some are fastened to the floor. Only one sleep in a bed, and the bedding is comfortable. The diet is respectable. About two-thirds come to a table; the remainder are served in the wards or their rooms. The sexes are kept separated, and all are under the care of the warden and his wife, assisted by two females. The rooms are clean, and the air in the upper rooms good. All had shoes during the winter. This asylum, recently erected, was designed to accommodate 48 patients; 74 are crowded into the space designed for 48 to occupy! Three escaped during the year, who have not returned. The supervisors appoint a physician, who visits the institution twice every week, and oftener if necessary, but with reference only to the physical condition of the inmates. Dr. Thomas Arner remarks of the building, “Its design is for the physical welfare of the insane poor, without reference to their ultimate recovery. * * * The personal cleanliness of the inmates, and that of the wards and sleeping apartments, the quantity and quality of food, together with the admirable discipline adopted and maintained, are all that can be desired, and reflect the highest praise upon the warden and others, upon whom devolves the care of this unfortunate class of people. There are deficiencies of an important character still to be provided for, in order to render the institution in all respects complete. In its present capacity the building is designed to accommodate forty-eight persons only, eleven of which number are provided for in the basement. The impropriety of crowding seventy-four insane persons into this limited space, some of which is damp and unhealthy, needs no remark, (it needs the severest censure from all humane citizens.)” Increased capacity is essentially necessary to the physical welfare of the inmates of this institution. There should also be a more bountiful supply of water, increased facilities for bathing, and for cooking, and for washing, enlargement of the dining halls, and better provision for exercise in the open air. The question whether, in an institution of this character, the treatment adopted should have in view the ultimate recovery of the inmates, cannot at the present be easily determined; and its solution properly rests with those upon whom devolves the responsibility of their care. The following facts are submitted:
All the insane formerly confined in the poor house (under the old system) have very much improved in every respect, by cleanliness and kind treatment, since their removal to the asylum.
Cases that have been returned as incurable from the State asylum at Utica, have afterwards improved to a marked degree, and in two or three instances nearly well.”
1864 Madison County Poor House
“The statistics from Madison county reveal a most deplorable condition of the insane poor. It is shocking, it is shameful.
The poor house contains ninety-four paupers, twenty-five of whom are insane. They are, with three exceptions, of American birth. The records of the institution do not show the dates of their admission. Inspection shows that fifteen of this number are filthy in their habits, and that only five have ever been treated in an asylum. Nine are capable of doing some labor. The remainder have nothing to do; fourteen are destructive to their clothing. The house has no bathing tub, the insane are not even required to bathe at all, and the violent insane not even to wash their hands and face. It is idle to describe the building, it is heart-sickening to describe what is in it. Eighteen sleep on straw, without bed or bedding; the straw is changed once a week. The food is distributed in tin dishes. No uniformity of heat in winter seems to be aimed at. The mild cases have their liberty during the day. Not so the violent. The only care they receive is from the hands of incompetent paupers. Those confined in the cells are extremely filthy, most of them not using vessels, and their excrements are mixed with the straw on which they lie. Their straw is changed only once in a week; and these lunatics, with their “bodies besmeared with their own excrements, not allowed to come daily to the open air, eating in the same filthy apartments, are not washed from one years end to another.” The cells in which they are confined are only 4 x 6 feet, with a ceiling of 7 feet, and open into a hall, so that they can have no ventilation. “A bad stench” issues from them; and in this stench the lunatics are forced to live—live a life more terrible than a hundred deaths. Three males were in a state of nudity; the females wore only chemises; but the mild cases are clothed like other paupers. Fourteen had neither shoes nor stockings during the winter!!
This vile prison is designed to make confirmed maniacs of twenty-five persons; that is, it pretends to have accommodations for twenty-five, and their treatment would only serve to make them incurable. The books do not show what is the greatest number confined there at any one time. They are not visited by a physician, and receive no care with reference to their ultimate recovery.
Cannot the voice of humanity be awakened? Shall not legislative authority be exercised for their relief?”
1864 Livingston County Poor House
“There are in the county poor house of Livingston one hundred and fifteen paupers, of whom fourteen are lunatics. Six are males and eight females; eight are of native birth. They have been admitted at various intervals, since 1848. Eight of the cases are mild, and several are violent only by paroxysms. Five have been treated at the State asylum. Five males and four females are capable of labor. The amusement for the others is reading, and walking in the yard and grounds. Two require occasional restraint, either by straight jacket or by being shut in cell. The house has water, but no bath tub. The insane are required to wash every week, and hands and face daily. Each room and cell has a window opening out of doors. The building is heated by large coal stoves. All the rooms are warmed. The building is superior to most of those in the rural districts. Dr. D.H. Bissell says: ”The treatment of the insane in our county house is all that can be desired for the insane confined there. They are mostly old and confirmed cases, not benefitted by medical treatment. They are generally mild in their behavior, with two or three exceptions, and they are only occasionally violent.” The inmates are fed, comfortably clothed, and well warmed in winter. The sexes are kept separated, and their care is not committed to paupers The rooms are scrubbed every week, and the air in them is as good as can he expected where so many are congregated. They have clean under garments every week. The county does not receive recent cases, but supports them at the asylum at Utica. It has ten cases there at this date. All had shoes and stockings during the winter. The building was designed to accommodate twenty, but twenty-four have been confined there at one time. Two escaped within the year who were not returned. Those who are kept at the county house, are considered incurables and receive no treatment.”
1864 Lewis County Poor House
“There are only forty-one paupers in the Lewis county poor house. Eleven are insane, three males and eight females. It is creditable to the authorities that six of this number have received treatment in an asylum. The oldest resident is a female who was admitted in 1829—thirty-five years ago. She has never received treatment in the State asylum, as hers was a chronic case long before that institution came into existence. Five of the number are able to labor; three arc destructive; and three require occasional restraint with leather muffs. The house has a full supply of water, though no bathing tubs.
The building is of brick, two stories high and basement. The rooms are located in the middle of the floors with halls on the outside, (after the style of cells in a prison,) and the windows open into the halls, (so that the rooms or cells receive light, if at all, through the doors opening into the halls,) and the bedsteads are fastened to the walls. For bedding straw is used, which is changed as often as necessary, for some, every two or three days. Those who are able, go to the table, and others receive their meals in tin dishes. The building is heated with a furnace. The sexes are not kept entirely separated; male attendants are occasionally employed to care for female lunatics, and pauper help to the keeper of the house is the care they receive. This institution is designed to accommodate sixteen. No case receives care with reference to its ultimate recovery.”
1864 Jefferson County Poor House
“The poor house of Jefferson county has a population of one hundred and seventy-four; sixty-one of whom are lunatics. Twenty-two are males, and thirty-two are females, who have been admitted at various dates within the last twenty years; the records do not show the period at which many were admitted. Five were admitted in 1864. Thirty-seven are mild cases. Only four of these have been treated in an asylum. Of the sixty-one, six males and sixteen females are capable of labor. All the males working out of doors. There is inclosed an acre of ground on which to exercise, and a swing is erected for amusement. [To what extent are these useful in the winter and stormy days, and what indoor amusements are furnished?] Eight are destructive to their clothing, and seventeen require occasional restraint by straight jacket, or handcuffs; confinement in cells and a bath are occasionally resorted to, to enforce restraint. The house has a very scant supply of water. It has one bath tub, and the insane are required to bathe once a week and to wash hands and face daily. It is very rarely that any are confined in cells without the privilege of coming daily to the open air. There are bedsteads of wood in all the rooms except the basement. Q. “What is the greatest number who sleep in one bed?” A. “Three to five idiots at times in a large bunk.” Straw is used for bedding, which for the idiots is changed weekly, for others less often. The building is heated by furnace and stoves, and a comfortable temperature is maintained.
There is no efficient accommodations for the various grades of the insane. The sexes are not entirely separated. Aside from the keeper and the assistant keeper of the poor house, there are none but paupers employed in the immediate care of the lunatics. Q. Did you look for vermin on their persons? A. Now and then there are lice. The county receives in its charge recent cases. Five were without either shoes or stockings last winter. Fifty of the lunatics are separated from the paupers and are in the asylum building; eleven are in common with the paupers. Eleven were removed by their friends, between November 1, 1863, and November 1, 1864. Three died during the year, and sixteen were discharged. An attending physician, at a salary of $150, visits the institution twice a week by requisition, and oftener if required. Cases receive care with reference to recovery if not thought incurable.
The county house consists of two separate buildings—”the old poor house,” and “the new asylum.” Most of the insane are in the asylum. This in the main is well planned and constructed for its purpose, and is well ventilated. The poor house part is very badly ventilated. Both are deficient in a supply of water and conveniences for bathing. The grounds attached are sufficiently large. The main rooms of the asylum are of good size, well lighted and very cheerful. The bedrooms are separated from the main body of the rooms by upright bars, of about 3 x 4 inches (transverse section,) leaving some four inches in space between each two bars. [A sort of cage.] * * There are thirty-eight bed rooms in the asylum and they are generally without fault.”
1864 Herkimer County Poor House
“In the county poor house for Herkimer county there are one hundred and forty-eight paupers, thirty-one of whom are insane. Seventeen are males and fourteen are females. Fourteen of this number are mild cases of insanity; nine are violent, and eleven are confined to the house; eleven are of filthy habits; thirteen have been treated in the State asylum. Most of the cases have been admitted since 1850; but one case has been in the institution since 1844. One female is capable of labor, and three males of out door labor. The others have nothing to do in the way of amusement or pleasure. Handcuffs and straight jackets are used for restraint. The yard of the building has water in it, and tubs. The only ventilation is secured by lowering the windows. One inmate is confined in the basement cell, with the privilege of coming to the open air, once in three days!
The buildings used are one story, one being of wood and one of stone, the ceilings being 8 and 10 feet respectively, and the rooms severally 8 x 5 and 8 x 6.
The bedsteads are of wood. The ticks are filled with straw, which is changed twice each week. Three sleep on straw .alone, without bedsteads or bedding. The breakfast is bread and barley coffee; dinner, meat, potatoes and bread; bread and milk for tea. Each mess is taken to the room for the women. Most of the men eat at a long table in the hall. The house is heated with wood and coal stoves, but no attention is paid to uniformity of heat in the winter, though the stoves are kept constantly burning. The mild cases associate with the sane and sleep with them. There are no accommodations for the various grades, and to the wisdom of paupers is committed the care of the violent.
The full number that the institution can accommodate is twenty-four. The surplus number are kept with the sane. One escaped during the year who has not returned. A physician visits the institution twice weekly, or oftener, if sent for, but the care is merely temporary. The whole arrangement of the institution is bad, and there is nothing about it calculated to improve the condition of the insane; nothing sufficient to make them comfortable.”
The Inmates of Willard 1870 to 1900 / A Genealogy Resource 