Lewis County N.Y. Poorhouse - 1850

Residents of the Lewis County N.Y. Poor House in 1850


The census of the residents of the Lewis County Poor House, located in the Town of Lowville, was filed July 29, 1860. The keeper of the poor house was Orlando Babcock, who had a separate residence. At the time of the reading there were 48 residents, of which a dozen were children aged 10 and under, 3 adults classified as "insane," 4 adult women classified as "idiotic," 6 of "Old Age," 17 adults who were sick, 4 intemperate, and 5 who were specifically labeled as poor. There was some mixing of classification. A dozen claimed foreign birth and 3 claimed birth in Massachusetts. The majority of residents of the poorhouse were resident due to sickness of mind or body, infirmities of old age, or were small children most of whom were related to resident adults.

This is a literal transcription, letter for letter. Where I couldn't discern a name, or it made no sense, I've noted so with a "?". Poor house records are an often underutilized or unknown resource when looking for aged parents or children who are missing from a family group, or siblings who have "disappeared."

RESIDENTS OF THE LEWIS COUNTY N.Y. POOR HOUSE - 1850
Name Age Occupation Place of Birth Status
BABCOCK Orlando 48 Keeper of Poor House NY value of real estate $2,800
BABCOCK Alvira 46
NY
BABCOCK William 19 Keeper of Poor House NY
EROISE (?) Michael 88 Old Age Mass. Pauper
BUEL Putman 79 Old Age NY Old Age
GORDON Leonard 80 Old Age NY Old Age
THOMPSON Charles 60 Intemperance NY Intemperance
KINZER Christian 75
Germany Old Age
HINKLEY Henry 65 could not discern ditto marks for place of birth
Insane
SIMPSON(?) Urick 35 could not discern ditto marks for place of birth
Sickness
DICKERSON Francis 60
Ireland Sickness
FARRELL James 55
Ireland Sickness
BUEL Alexander 50
France Intemperance
JOHNSON Joseph 27
NY Intemperance
BROWN John 74
NY Intemperance
BARNETT James 45
NY Sickness
MAGINNIS Michael 60
Ireland Sickness
McCOY James 35
Ireland Sickness
FLOOD John 70
Ireland Old Age
DAVEY Almira 47
NY Insane
MOVA Mary 40
Ireland Sickness
VOGLER Hannah 54
Germany Poverty
CUMMINGS Mary 30
NY Sickness
STANTON Matilda 38
NY Sickness
DOUB Irena 58
NY Idiot
WELMONT Catherine 35
Ireland Idiot
STODARD Maria 40
NY Sickness/Pauper
COOK Marind 27
NY Sickness/Pauper
TUTTLE Malinda 33
NY Sickness/Pauper
ALGER Hannah 67 listed in the 1860 poorhouse, age 75, b. Connecticut NY Old Age
BROWN Abigal 63
NY Old Age
STANTON Almina 34
NY Sickness
DUPEYSTER Mary 18 listed in the 1860 poorhouse as "idiotic", age 28, b. NY Germany Sickness
MASACRE(?) Martha 30
NY Sickness
MONEY Margaret 50 listed in the 1860 poorhouse, age 56, b. France France Idiot
COOK Louisa 55
NY Sickness
BISHOP Phebe 35 listed in the 1860 poorhouse as "idiotic", b. NY, still age 35 Mass. Sickness
FARWELL Ellen 45
Mass. Idiot
DICKINSON Maria 40
NY Insane
STANTON Simeon 9
NY Infancy
CLARK Ambrose 8
NY Infancy
BUEL Bradford 10
NY Infancy
DICKSON William 8
NY Infancy
DICKSON John 6
NY Infancy
TUTTLE Charles 8
NY Infancy
___ Mary 7 surname might be Tuttle but no ditto marks NY Infancy
SHAW Elizabeth 9
NY Infancy
STANTON Benjamin 5
NY Infancy
GAMBLE Rachel 1
NY Infancy
COOK Marinda 1
NY Infancy
GREGORY Albert 3
NY Infancy


Source: This electronic text was transcribed from original microfilm of the 1850 US census by Martha S. Magill, Coordinator of Herkimer/Montgomery Counties NYGenWeb. Due to the difficulties in transcribing old and stylized handwriting, the original census should be referred to.

Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this full paragraph remains on all copied material. These electronic pages, with commentary and underlying source code, cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or other presentation, nor may this copyrighted original electronic text be used on any other site or CD-ROM.

Copyright © 2000 Martha S. Magill

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