This county poor house report really hits home knowing that my great-great-grandmother, Charity, lived in this place of squalor, with three of her children after her husband and eldest son, my great-great-grandfather and great-grandfather respectively, enlisted in the Union Army on January 18, 1862, at PennYan – Company B, 3rd Regiment, NY, Artillery. It has been a humbling experience uncovering the layers of the untold stories of my ancestors.
“Yates county poor-house has eighty-seven paupers, fifty-four males and thirty-three females. Six are insane, one male and five females; four of the females work a little, or, if unable to work, they amuse themselves in the care of pauper children. The male patient requires occasional restraint, but only confinement in a cell is resorted to to enforce restraint. The house has one bathing room, and is supplied with water, except in dry times in the summer. The insane are required to bathe every one or two weeks, and to wash hands and face daily. The more rational, room and sleep with the paupers, and eat at a common table with them. One male and one female are each confined in a separate cell. The county receives recent cases for treatment, and they are visited by a physician about once a week. They are usually healthy, and have the appearance of being comfortably and carefully taken care of.”
RESOURCES:
New York State County Poor Houses.
Yates County Cemetery Project – Part VII: Cemeteries in the town of Jerusalem.
YATES COUNTY, NY: GenWeb Page.
The Inmates of Willard 1870 to 1900 / A Genealogy Resource 