Tag Archives: New York State Poor Houses

1864 Columbia County Poor House

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“It is a sad spectacle to humanity, that which is revealed in the condition of the insane paupers of Columbia county. There are at the poor house one hundred and twenty-seven inmates, twenty-seven of whom are lunatics. They have been admitted to the poor house at various periods since 1840. Sixteen are males and eleven are females. Twenty-one cases are mild in character. Twenty-six are noted as filthy! Only two have ever been treated in an asylum. Eight males and three females are capable of doing some labor. Others have no amusement provided for them. Five require occasional restraint. There is an inadequate supply of water; there is no bath tub; the lunatics are not required to wash hands and face daily. Cleanliness, ventilation and uniformity of heat in winter are not observed to any particular degree. The rooms have not bedsteads in all of them. Twelve sleep on straw without bedsteads. The straw is changed once or twice a week. The building is heated by coal “poorly applied.” Mild cases are put with the sane paupers. There are no accommodations for the various grades of the insane. One assistant keeper is aided by the sane paupers in the care of lunatics. The atmosphere in the rooms was very impure and unhealthy. The county takes recent cases. Several were admitted in 1863 and 1864. The females have a change of under garments every week; the males none. None had had stockings during the winter; all had shoes. There is no convenience for out of door exercise. No provision is made for medical treatment; they do not receive any medical attendance at all, nor care of any sort with reference to ultimate recovery. Confirmed lunacy and hopeless idiocy is the fate that threatens the unfortunate who passes this threshold.”

SOURCE: Documents of the Assembly Of The State Of New York, Eighty-Eighth Session, 1865, Volume 6, Nos. 199 to 112 Inclusive, Albany: C. Wendell, Legislative Printer, 1865, Pages 187-188.

New York State County Poor Houses.

1864 Clinton County Poor House

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“No report.”

SOURCE: Documents of the Assembly Of The State Of New York, Eighty-Eighth Session, 1865, Volume 6, Nos. 199 to 112 Inclusive, Albany: C. Wendell, Legislative Printer, 1865, Page 187.

New York State County Poor Houses.

1864 Chenango County Poor House

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“There are seventy paupers in the Chenango county house. Twenty are insane. Ten are males and ten are females. They have been admitted since 1840. Fifteen of the cases are mild; about one-third have received treatment at Utica, Eight are capable of some labor. Some effort is made to amuse those who do not labor. Three are destructive to their clothing, one requires constant restraint. The leather muff is used for such purpose. The institution has two bathing tubs in the department for the sane poor, with a full supply of water. It is designed that all shall wash every day, hands and face; but the violent do not always. The building is apart from the one used for sane paupers, is a fine building, has sixteen rooms; ten of them are provided with beds; four cells are provided with bunks fastened to the wall and floor; one and two sleep in each bed; the straw in the beds is changed each month, or every year, according to its use. All the inmates go to a common table. The building is heated with stoves, which through ventilators from the halls, warm the rooms occupied. There are no accommodations for the various grades of the insane. A man and a woman are employed by the year to take care of the lunatics. The rooms appear clean, and the air good as can reasonably be expected. The institution receives recent cases, and will accommodate from twenty to thirty, though never more than twenty have been confined at any one time. Two were removed by friends during the year, and one was transferred to the sane department. The lunatics have no regular medical attendance nor care with reference to ultimate recovery.”

SOURCE: Documents of the Assembly Of The State Of New York, Eighty-Eighth Session, 1865, Volume 6, Nos. 199 to 112 Inclusive, Albany: C. Wendell, Legislative Printer, 1865, Pages 186-187.

New York State County Poor Houses.

1864 Chemung County Poor House

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“The poor house in the county of Chemung contains forty-eight paupers, eight of whom are insane; just one-sixth of the whole number. Four are males and four are females; all are native born. Two males and one female are capable of doing some out of door labor. Those who cannot work are furnished with neither employment or amusement. They are all represented as being destructive and tear off their clothing; but they require no restraint other than confinement to their rooms. The building is supplied with water from springs at the distance of ten rods off. It has no bath tub or other convenience for bathing, and no special attention is paid to either cleanliness, ventilation, or the uniformity of heat in winter. The building is of wood, two stories high; the height of ceiling being eight feet, and the rooms 8×10. The food for the insane is the same as that for the other inmates of the institution, and served to them by the sane paupers. The lunatics are all confined in one ward, without other than pauper attendants, and without any accommodation for the various grades of their disease. No attention is paid to their ultimate recovery, and a physician only visits them when he is sent for. None of them have shoes, because it is “impossible to keep them on.” As to cleanliness and ventilation, the rooms are bad. Dr. Morse, who made the investigation, adds: “The condition of the insane paupers in Chemung county is deplorable in the extreme; and there is no adequate provision made to remedy the evil.”

SOURCE: Documents of the Assembly Of The State Of New York, Eighty-Eighth Session, 1865, Volume 6, Nos. 199 to 112 Inclusive, Albany: C. Wendell, Legislative Printer, 1865, Page 186.

New York State County Poor Houses.

1864 Cayuga County Poor House

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“In the poor house of Cayuga county, situated in the outskirt of Auburn, there are seventy-five paupers, twenty-nine of whom are insane. Thirteen are males, sixteen are females. Eight are natives, seventeen are foreigners, and four unknown. They have been admitted at various periods since 1845. Eleven of these cases are mild, fifteen are violent, sixteen are of filthy habits. Nine of these cases have received treatment at the State asylum at Utica.

Ten are capable of performing labor, the others have no amusement or occupation provided for them; twelve are destructive to their clothing and require occasional restraint; the leather muff and confinement in cells being the form used. The house is supplied with water by a well and cistern, but it has no bath tub, nor have the insane any special time for bathing except when filthy. There is a standing rule requiring the hands and face of the insane to be washed daily. [Is it thoroughly enforced ?]

The building is of brick, three stories with basement of nine feet, other stories twelve feet, with rooms 8×12. There is a bedstead in each room; sometimes two sleep on one bed, but generally only one. The bedding in ticks is of straw and changed as occasion requires, not regularly. The diet is ample in variety and substance. The building is heated by furnaces, and designed to be made comfortable. The mild and inoffensive have the range of the basement and yards together, but the violent are confined in cells. Several mild cases occupy a room together, but the violent are kept in separate cells. They have only such care as can be forced from pauper attendants. The keeper said that vermin were sometimes found on the persons of lunatics. It is designed on the part of the county to send recent cases to the State asylum. The building is designed to accommodate thirty persons. Dr. Sylvester Willard, of Auburn, who made the investigation, remarks: “All the males are kept in the basement which is above ground, where they eat and sleep, and when not in the yard spend their time in the huge hall together, with the exception of the four who labor on the farm. Some cells are especially strong with iron grated doors, for the safe keeping of the violent and destructive. These strong cells being in proximity to the halls may be kept in comfortable temperature in cold weather, but are very deficient in ventilation. They have no windows or other openings and no communication with outer atmosphere, except from the hall through the grated door. At the time of my examination two cells were occupied, with one violent and destructive lunatic in each. Their beds were torn into shreds, and contents scattered over the floor. They were filthy in a superlative degree, and their excrements spread over the floor, on the walls and over their persons; with no means for ventilation or change of air the stench at their cell door was excessively offensive. Under the circumstances it may have been difficult to have had it otherwise. It is due to the keeper to say, that with the exceptions of these cells, the rooms were clean and neat.

The medical treatment is by a homeopathic physician, who visits the house regularly once a week, and oftener if required. No medical treatment is made with reference to their ultimate recovery.”

SOURCE: Documents of the Assembly Of The State Of New York, Eighty-Eighth Session, 1865, Volume 6, Nos. 199 to 112 Inclusive, Albany: C. Wendell, Legislative Printer, 1865, Pages 184-185.

New York State County Poor Houses.

1864 Chautauqua County Poor House

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“Chautauqua county poor house has one hundred and twenty inmates, twenty-seven of which are insane. They have been admitted at various periods since 1848. Two of these cases have been treated in an asylum. Sixteen of the cases are mild, two are violent, and five are filthy. Ten are confined to the house. Four males and five females are capable of doing some labor. No amusement is provided for any who do not labor. In dry weather the supply of water is insufficient and is brought about a half a mile by teams.

The insane are kept in two buildings; one building is of brick, and the bedsteads in the rooms of this building are of iron, and fastened to the floor. Only one sleeps in a bed, except in one bed, which is occupied by two persons. One sleeps on straw without any bed. The beds are filled with straw, except such as are occupied by the sick, which are of cotton or feathers. The mild cases are kept in one building, and the excitable or violent in another. A man and his wife are jointly employed in the care of the violent cases. The rooms are all heated by a box stove, with wood, from the lower floor, the pipes encased passing through the floor above, it is believed by the overseer that no inmates suffer with cold in the winter.

Paupers arc employed to take care of the mild cases. The rooms are clean and the atmosphere in them is not bad. All are furnished with shoes in the winter, only one would not wear them. The building is designed to accommodate twenty-two, but thirty have at times been confined there. There is no regular medical attendance, nor is ultimate recovery held in view. The duties of the keeper appear to be discharged in a kind manner, and as well as could be done by any one not experienced in the management of the insane. Dr. Barrett observes and justly, “The attendants ought not to be all paupers.” The deficiency in water must be a great drawback to the comfort of the inmates, and the question might properly be raised whether the system of heating is sufficient to warm the building in winter.”

1864 Cattaraugus County Poor House

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“Cattaraugus county house has forty-nine inmates, seventeen of whom are insane. The lunatics have been admitted at several periods since 1838. Thirteen are of American birth. Thirteen are likewise mild cases; seven are of filthy habits. None have ever been treated in an asylum. Two cases were admitted in 1864, previous to August 12th. Five males and six females are capable of doing some labor. The others have no form of occupation. The violent are restrained by locking them up in a dark room. The house has no bathing tub. Some of the bedsteads are of iron and a part are fastened to the floor. In some of the beds two persons sleep. Straw is used for bedding and is changed as often as it becomes foul. The food is distributed in dishes to each one. No attention is given to free ventilation, nor to uniformity of heat in the winter. When indoors the sexes are kept separately; the keeper and his wife having a general superintendence over them. They have clean clothing once a week and oftener if necessary. One had no shoes during the winter. The building is designed to confine twenty lunatics, but nineteen is the highest in confinement at any one time. The insane are visited by a physician every week, and oftener if they are ill, but circumstances do not allow of any treatment with reference to recovery. They are as clean and comfortable as the system of management is calculated to make them.”

SOURCE: Documents of the Assembly Of The State Of New York, Eighty-Eighth Session, 1865, Volume 6, Nos. 199 to 112 Inclusive, Albany: C. Wendell, Legislative Printer, 1865, Pages 183-184.

New York State County Poor Houses.

Pages 183-184.

1864 The Willard Asylum and Provisions For The Insane – County Poor House Investigation

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“THE WILLARD ASYLUM, AND PROVISION FOR THE INSANE. 

By an Act of the New York Legislature, passed on the 30th day of April, 1864, the Secretary of the State Medical Society was authorized to investigate the condition of the insane poor in the various poor-houses, alms-houses, insane asylums, and other institutions, where the insane poor are kept, not including, however, such institutions as are now required by law to report to the Legislature of the State.

The law directed the Secretary to arrange a series of questions, such as in his judgment would be likely to elicit the greatest amount of information on this subject, procure them printed, and transmit them to each county judge in the State. It directed the county judge, on the reception thereof, to appoint a competent physician, a resident of the county, to visit the county poor-house, or institution where the insane poor are kept, and to examine into the condition and treatment of the insane inmates, and to transmit the result of the investigation to the Secretary, who was thereupon directed to condense the information so received and report the same to the Legislature.

Dr. Willard, the Secretary of the Medical Society, entered at once upon the service assigned him, and the following January his report was presented to the Legislature. This document bears ample testimony to the earnestness, fidelity, and zeal with which the author executed the duties of his commission; and although he died, prematurely and lamented, before the passage of the law creating a new institution for the insane, a grateful commonwealth has perpetuated his memory and name in the Willard Asylum for the Insane.

The leading features of the law, passed by the last Legislature, authorizing the establishment of a State Asylum for the chronic insane, and for the better care of the insane poor, are as follows:

It provides for the appointment, by the Governor, of three Commissioners to select, contract for, and purchase a suitable site for the building, -said site to be first sought for in any property owned by the State, or upon which it has a lien; the construction, by the Commissioners, of suitable asylum buildings, or the modification of buildings already erected and not occupied for other State purposes; the appointment by the Governor of seven trustees, who shall have power to appoint a medical superintendent, one assistant physician, a steward and a matron, and adopt the necessary by-laws for the government of the asylum, and fix the rate per week, not exceeding two dollars, for the board of patients, and, with the approbation of the Governor, designate the counties from which the chronic pauper insane shall be sent to the said asylum.

The chronic pauper insane from the poor-houses of the counties thus designated, shall be sent to the said asylum by the county superintendents of the poor, and all chronic insane pauper patients who may be discharged, not recovered, from the State Lunatic Asylum at Utica, and who continue a public charge, shall be sent to the asylum for the insane hereby created.

The county judges and superintendents of the poor in every county of the State, except those counties having asylums for the insane, to which they are now authorized to send such insane patients by special legislative enactments, are hereby required to send all indigent or pauper insane coming under their jurisdiction, who shall have been insane less than one year, to the State Lunatic Asylum at Utica.

Seventy-five thousand dollars are hereby appropriated for the purpose of carrying into execution the provisions of this act. The asylum hereby created shall be known as the Willard Asylum for the Insane.”

SOURCE: American Journal Of Insanity, October 1865, Pages 1-5.
New York State County Poor Houses.