>Hello.. >Does anyone know about Poor Farms? In the days before social security, poor farms a.k.a. alms houses were not uncommon. They were a sort of public safety net, supported by varying mixtures of public and private funding. Unfortunately they sometimes were not the most wholesome of places, and usually considered a place of last resort. Perhaps you have heard the expression "end up in the poor house." Just as is the case now, there were many elderly people with no surviving relatives, and also people were not always able to care for all their family members. However back then social pressure was much greater, in that large extended families were the norm and nursing homes had not come into fashion. Thus I would imagine that it was not uncommon for the obituaries of people that died in poor houses to not cite it as the place of death. I guess one could say that it was just rather unfashionable. >I am trying to find information on a place called Hallsville Poor Farm in Dewitt County. About three months back , Bob Halsey posted the following two messages that refer to the Hallsville home in particular. The County Nursing home is still there, I believe on the same grounds, and is currently undergoing rennovations. It is on the North side of Illinois Route 10, near the western border of DeWitt County. Hope this helps. Glen Earliene, I think I have found your Poor House. I have another article written in 1873, two years after the first article, by a Rev. Fred H. Wines. He calls it an "Alms House" and states that it is eight miles west of Clinton, (ten by road), at a little station on the I. B. & W. Railway, called "Hallsville", and not more that a quarter of a mile from the depot. He also, says that Bentley MILLS bought the property, which is Section 28, Barnett Township. I also, checked my 1956 "Aerial County History" book, and Hallsville is at the south end of Section 28. Also, the book has a picture of the "County Farm", and there is a large building in the middle that looks just like the main building described in the old articles. I would guess that your 105 ancestor is buried somewhere near there. I don't have any information on cemeteries in or around Hallsville. Maybe someone on the e-mail list could check? Bob Halsey [email protected] Viera, FL THE DE WITT COUNTY ALMS-HOUSE IN 1873 The following article appeared in the 28 August 1873 issue of The Clinton Public and was written by Rev. Fred H. Wines, Secretary of the State Board of Public Charities, following his official visit to DeWitt County. The Alms-House. The almshouse in De Witt county . . . is situated eight miles west of Clinton, (ten by the road), at a little station on the I. B. & W. Railway, called Hallsville, and not more than a quarter of a mile from the depot. The farm contains two hundred acres, of which forty acres are timber land. It was purchased of Bentley MILLS, in 1870, for $9,500. At the time of the purchase, there were upon the place an old frame house, considerably dilapidated, with six rooms, and still more dilapidated log barn. The county has since erected a new frame house, twenty-four feet by forty-four, two stories in height, and a frame carriage house and corn crib. Mr. Frank MC GUIRE has been keeper from the time of opening the almshouse and under his management the condition of 'the farm has been much improved. The land is good, though not extra, but needs manure. About one hundred acres are in cultivation with the plough, principally in corn, the remainder is in meadow and pasture. Mr. MC GUIRE set out three quarters of a mile of Osage orange hedge, this spring, with plants grown upon the farm. The farm is well stocked and furnished with a complete set of farming implements, of good patents and in good order. The county owns four mules, eleven cows, some yearlings and calves, and about seventy-five head of hogs. Everything on the farm belongs to the county, in whose interest the land is worked, the county paying all expenses, and allowing the keeper seven hundred dollars a year or the services of himself, his wife, and one girl, which he regards as too little compensation. The buildings upon the farm are cheap and inconvenient. They admit of only a partial separation of the sexes, and there is no proper provision for the care of the insane. Two rooms for the insane have been finished off, it is true, over the kitchen in he keeper's house, but they are unsecured, although provided with a very light grating over the windows, and also with a grated opening into the hall, near the stove, for the admission of heat. Their position is such, that any violence on the part of any persons confined in them disturbs the keeper's family and all the paupers in the house with him; and in case of a filthy patient their proximity to the kitchen and relation to it is very objectionable. The result is that they are not used as places f confinement, but a violent and dangerous crazy man upon the premises is allowed to no about, with 2 hall and chain attached to both ankles, and at night, or by day also, at times, when it appears necessary, he is chained to a ring and staple in the floor r of one of the rooms in the old house. He has no bed, but sleeps on the floor on account of his filthy habits, and he is kept in subjection n by occasionally threatening to take his life with a gun or a revolver. Another dangerous patient, a woman, was one day hung one of the children in a fork of an apple tree and left him there, is occasionally whipped. The county authorities certainly ought to obviate the necessity for such treatment, which belongs to a past age . . . . With this exception the paupers appeared to be as comfortable and well cared for as usual. There are, however, no facilities whatever for bathing the inmates. The county physician visits the farm once a week, and oftener if called upon. The pauper expense of DeWitt county, for twelve months, from June 1st, 1872, to June lst, 1873, as appears from the records in the county clerk's office, is as follows: Paid to keeper $ 646.33 Medical attendance at farm, 305.13 Supplies and labor on farm 1047.06 Total expense of farm $1998.52 Medical attendance outside 2125.20 Out door relief 443.69 Inquests 39.00 Burials 86.50 Pauper transportation,. . . 20.00 Total expense outside $1684.39 Total pauper expense $3682.91 This amount is not large in proportion to the population of the county, though one of the items, outside medical relief, is disproportionate to the rest, and apparently might be reduced. To the amount named, however, there must be added another item, viz. a payment of $2,788.51 on the purchase of the farm, which makes the aggregate footing $5,471.42. The removal of the farm to such a distance from the county seat is an unwise act, because it increases the expense of transportation, and renders proper supervision very difficult, if not impossible. Very little attention appears to be paid in this county y to the farm or to the paupers, on the part of the supervisors. The farm is unnecessarily large, also . . . . Bob Halsey [email protected] Viera, FL