Much of the history we learned about in school — and in all those epic movies and miniseries since then — is the story of the ruling class and the wealthy.
If your ancestors weren’t among those lucky few, as far as history books are concerned, it’s almost as if they didn’t exist. And if they weren’t landowners or gainfully employed by landowners, how did they get by?
Fortunately, there are some written records in England and America which give us some insights into the question, “What was life like for your poorest ancestors?”
English Laws Establish Records of the Poor
A series of laws first put in place by Queen Elizabeth I established official responsibility for the least fortunate, and as a result, they began to show up in “history” as we know it.
In the midst of a recession, the English Poor Laws of 1601 put local parishes in charge of overseeing the care of the poor and allowed them to levy taxes to pay for it.
Assistance came in the form of either handing out tools, food, and clothing for those who could work, or of establishing poorhouses where those who couldn’t work had to live.
The American colonies followed this model, which continued through much of the 19th century in both countries.
The Poor in American Records
In some rural American towns, the poor were auctioned off at town meetings. The winning bidder was the one who would house the impoverished individuals or families at the lowest cost to the town, and in return be able to put their new “purchase” to work. (I know!)
There aren’t many official records of the individual sales (called “articles of vendue”) preserved for history, but if you look closely at the advertisements in old newspapers from the 18th and 19th centuries, you can find these auctions subtly advertised. You can also find newspaper accounts of the towns paying individuals for keeping paupers.
In cities, poorhouses (also called workhouses, or almshouses) became the norm in the 19th century. If you’ve read or seen Oliver Twist, you probably have a picture of what those houses looked like: humiliating, dirty, hopeless.
The Harsh Reality of the Poorhouses
The rulebook of the Orange County Poorhouse in New York indicates the condescending attitude those in charge had toward the poor, who were kept in line for their own good. The rules state,
“All shall be obliged to keep themselves washed and combed, and their clothes neat, and whole, and to change their shirts or shifts once a week.”
At meals, it was stipulated, “None shall speak loud or whisper at table on pain of being removed and deprived of that meal.”
If a resident claimed to be too sick to work, he or she would be examined by a doctor, and
“…if it appear by his report and other concurring circumstances that those persons made false excuses, they shall be punished by confinement in a cell or some other solitary place, and fed on bread and water until they comply.”
The Infamous Tewskbury Almshouse, Home of Annie Sullivan
What did they get in exchange for their work and obedience? There may well have been poorhouses that made its residents feel comfortable and safe. But what we have today are horrifying accounts, such as the Lowell Weekly Sun’s coverage of the corrupt Tewksbury Almshouse in Massachusetts in 1883.
At the behest of Governor Benjamin Butler, the state legislature heard testimony from former residents and employees:
- Residents were made to bathe in used water after others who had open sores
- Medical students and a local tanner said they’d been sold corpses from the house
- Patients in the insane ward “had holes eaten in their heads by vermin”
- Rats “gnawed the toes off a sick old woman.”
The legislature didn’t believe all of these accounts, but they did replace the house’s management and make some changes.
There are a few who got out of those places with all their limbs intact. Before Tewksbury was reformed, it was the home of one Annie Sullivan, the girl who would grow up to be Helen Keller’s brilliant teacher and friend.
She and her brother Jimmie entered the home after their mother died and father abandoned them, and Jimmie died there after just a few months. The 1880 census (available on Ancestry) included an entire supplemental schedule of “Dependent, Defective, and Delinquent Classes” that documented the indigent, mentally ill, deaf, blind, disabled, imprisoned, and homeless in 21 states.
In the supplemental schedule, you can find the page that shows Annie Sullivan’s residency at the almshouse at age 14.
That same year, Sullivan was able to leave the almshouse to attend the Perkins School for the Blind.
Charlie Chaplin at the Newington Workhouse
Across the pond and two decades later, another boy was admitted to a London workhouse around the same time. Charlie Chaplin first went to the Newington Workhouse in 1896 at age 6, with his mother, brother and sister.
Their admission records are available on Ancestry, in association with the London Metropolitan Archives. In My Autobiography, Chaplin wrote about being separated from his mother when they were admitted:
“Then the forlorn bewilderment of it struck me; for there we were made to separate, Mother going in one direction to the women’s ward and we in another to the children’s.”
In order to see her children one day, Chaplin’s mother discharged them all from the workhouse for an afternoon outing in the park, only to have them all re-enter later that afternoon.
These are painful stories to relive, even secondhand. But if you think your ancestors’ names exist in, say, the New York Census of Inmates in Almshouses and Poorhouses, 1830-1920, take heart: You are their success story.
This is your chance to reach back in time and claim them as a very real part of history.