Hi everyone, I recently found out that an ancestor of mine, John Armbruster, died in the Warren County Almshouse on 16 October 1908. His family lived in Phillipsburg. I was wondering if anyone was familiar with the Almshouse records that exist from 1908 and could suggest where and how I might access them. Thanks so much! ~Michael Messinger~

About five years ago, I sent this record to a web site called the Poorhouse Lady. The webmaster added my email address and said I would discuss the topic further, which wasn't accurate because I'd sent all that I knew and really wasn't interested in discussing further. To make matters worse, the site seems to have not been updated for several years and I can't get that sentence or my email address removed. In the mean time, here's what I sent to her. I'm sure there are people on the list who will know more. "On the subject of poorhouses in Warren County, it should be noted that the records for the Mansfield Poor House are kept at the Warren County Historical Society, in file drawers in an attic area. They're not in any particular order, so a researcher should have a date range in mind before searching them and might also want to make an appointment beforehand as searching may take longer than the scheduled two hours when the library is open to the public. I searched records covering 1875-1878 but don't know the full extent of the records they have. I don't know if Warren County had more than this one poorhouse during those years. Later, I believe, Warren Haven in Oxford was where indigents were supported...someone can confirm this, I'm sure. I was led to the poorhouse records originally by requesting a death certificate from Trenton. They sent me a photocopy of a whole page of deaths recorded at the poor house." Questions for other people on the list would be, When did Warren Haven in Oxford begin? Were there more than one poorhouse at any one time? Finally, you should be aware that the records will give you little information even if you can find them. In my case, what I found was the name of the person, when he entered, where he came from and when he died. What I wanted to know was, why he was taken there in the first place since he had a wife and family with assets who survived him. In other poor house records, I get the feeling that they were used as, maybe, nursing homes would be used today. If you look at census records for poor houses, there are often very, very old people living there, as well as widows and orphans. Those were the days before Social Security when there weren't many options when a person fell sick or destitute. Marilyn ----- Original Message ----- From: <mmessinger@macalester.edu> To: <NJWARREN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2006 10:06 PM Subject: [NJWARREN] Warren County Almhouse Records 1908 > Hi everyone, > I recently found out that an ancestor of mine, John Armbruster, died in > the Warren County Almshouse on 16 October 1908. His family lived in > Phillipsburg. I was wondering if anyone was familiar with the Almshouse > records that exist from 1908 and could suggest where and how I might > access them. Thanks so much! > ~Michael Messinger~ > > > ==== NJWARREN Mailing List ==== > You can contact the listowner at: Judy@BirdGenealogy.org > > ============================== > New! Family Tree Maker 2005. Build your tree and search for your ancestors > at the same time. Share your tree with family and friends. Learn more: > http://landing.ancestry.com/familytreemaker/2005/tour.aspx?sourceid=14599&targetid=5429 >