unsubscribe ----- Original Message ----- From: Michelle Lynch <[email protected]> Date: Friday, December 3, 2010 6:56 Subject: Re: [PABERKS] PABERKS Digest, Vol 5, Issue 302 To: [email protected] > > "From the History of Berks County by Morton Montgomery, 1909: > HOUSE OF GOOD SHEPHERD, first established at Fourth and Pine > streets, Reading, in.1889, by the Roman Catholic Church, for the > care of young girls; and transferred to Glenside in Bern > township, where a superior structure was erected, in 1900, on a > commanding site along the river opposite North Reading. Inmates > in 1909 were 180 girls; 47 Magdalens, and 20 Sisters." >   > It has always been my understanding that the House of the Good > Shepherd was a home for unwed pregnant women, who were > considered "fallen women" in the 19th and early 20th > centuries.  The 47 "Magdalens" (named for Mary Magdalen of > the New Testament, who was widely believed to have been a > "fallen woman") were girls/women who came to the house while > pregnant, delivered their babies (which were given up for > adoption), and stayed on in a servile capacity.  >   > In that era, many women who became pregnant out of wedlock and > who did not succeed in getting the fathers of their babies to > marry them, were banished from their homes by strict Catholic > (or otherwise religious) fathers/parents.  They were often > considered unemployable and became destitute outcasts of > society.  Girls/women in such a position (those who had > nowhere else to go) remained at the House of the Good Shepherd > after the births and adoptions of their babies and worked for > the sisters as > servants.                                               >  ==== PABERKS Mailing List ==== >        [email protected] > > To contact the List Administrator: > Rick Berkheiser, [email protected] > > To visit the Berks Message Board: > http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=localities.northam.usa.states.pennsylvania.counties.berks > > To visit the Berks County, PA website: > http://www.pa-roots.com/~berks/ > Hosted by Nancy Freehafer > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PABERKS- > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >