my gr grandfather died while working at a poor farm in iowa in 1888-sadly 70yrs later his son spent his last years in the very building that existed in the 1800's, only it was a "county facility" by then-still a dump. when mother and i stopped in 1997 at the courthouse, looking for records, we asked at the county relief office about any poor farm records-nice lady pointed at the wire cart in which old files were piled up-said county attny said to destroy them for lack of space-100 yr old records!-and she couldnt let us look at them because of confidentiality! told us our portion of the alphabet was already gone! but then she went in the back room and brought us-i still cant believe it-my greatuncles "dog tax" statements and a little bank folder with his name on it-gave us a middle initial we didnt have. by the end of the day we learned who his nieces were-one was that county's relief director for many years before her death!!! so i suggest contacting the county attny's office. they may have destroyed records or its confidentiality taken to the extreme! visit:http://community.webtv.net/web-angie/Webspinsters (always evolving)