Hi Betty, You've already confirmed that the older wife was a widow, but was her daughter also a widow? My guess is that one or both were in receipt of Parish Relief through the Poor Law Union, thus the Pauper label. It was common and more economical for it to be offered as Outdoor Relief, which supported them in their own home rather than to move a whole family into the Workhouse, and relief was usually granted where a person was unable to fully support themselves and/or their family because of age or handicap and they had no other means of support. Regards, Colin ----- Original Message ----- From: Bette McIntosh To: DUR-NBL@rootsweb.com Sent: Saturday, November 25, 2006 6:42 PM Subject: [DUR-NBL] "Pauper, family coal miner's wife" Dear Listers, Given that I do understand the meaning of the conventional term "pauper" as it relates to a person without any personal means of support, other than from welfare or charity. I welcome comments on how this terminology would apply to a 1861 Crawcrook, Gateshead Census for a family of eight persons whose head was a woman, age 68 years, who lived with a married daughter, age 30 years, and six grand-children of various ages & surnames. In the census column headed " Rank, Profession or Occupation" I read "Pauper, family coal miner's wife". Would I assume from this that the household was living on a dole; a stipend of money, food etc. given at regular intervals in charity? Would this have been the case even thought the family was residing in their own home and not in a workhouse setting? Was it a common practice in the UK during the time period to enumerate such circumstances, in the census, in such a public manner? Thank you, Bette ==== DUR-NBL Mailing List ==== To Post a message to this list send it to, DUR-NBL-L@rootsweb.com ==== DUR-NBL Mailing List ==== List Web Page http://www.communigate.co.uk/ne/durhamgenealogy/index.phtml ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DUR-NBL-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message