OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List Issue 285 *********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 00 : Issue 285 Today's Topics: #1 Cambridge Childrens Home, Guernsey [MMacmurph@aol.com] Administrivia: To unsubscribe from OH-FOOTSTEPS-D, send a message to OH-FOOTSTEPS-D-request@rootsweb.com that contains in the body of the message the command unsubscribe and no other text. No subject line is necessary, but if your software requires one, just use unsubscribe in the subject, too. ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #1 Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2000 13:51:41 EDT From: MMacmurph@aol.com To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <12.2bb444d.27023c2d@aol.com> Subject: Cambridge Childrens Home, Guernsey, Co. Ohio Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Stories of Guernsey County, Ohio by William G. Wolfe Published by the Author Cambridge, Ohio 1943 Copyright, 1943, by William G. Wolfe Typography, Printing and Binding in the USA by Kingsport Press, Inc., Kingsport, Tennessee. ----------------- According to On-line Database of all the on-line library card catalogs anywhere in the world (OCLC): Reprint. Originally published: Cambridge, Ohio: the author, 1943. work has lapsed into the public domain. --------------------- Transcribed and/or paraphrased and submitted by: Marilyn M Murphy, Ft. Worth, TX, 2000 MMacMurph@aol.com Pg. 488-489 The Children's Home Care of Children at First. - A Guernsey county institution that was established in behalf of the weakest and most helpless of its population - the children who have been abandoned, who are orphans, who have been neglected, or whose parents are unable to provide for them - is the Children's Home on Highland Avenue, in Cambridge. It is maintained at public expense. The county commisssioners include the expense of its maintenance in their annual budget, and each taxpayer pays his proportional share. However, nobody objects to the slight increase in his taxes for this purpose. Before 1866 these unfortunate children in Ohio were cared for in almshouses, along with the adult inmates. They were often surrounded by influences that were vicious and degrading. The General Assembly passed a law authorizing county commissioners to establish homes where such children could be placed and kept apart from older indigent persons. This was the first law of its kind in the United States. Counties were slow to act under its provisions, and as late as twenty years after its enactment, homes had been established in less than half of the counties of the state. The first home for the care of the unfortunate children of Guernsey county was opened in a large brick residence at the top of the Dewey Avenue hill, under the management of Rev. J.H. Nash, a United Prebyterian minister. Although successfully operated, it was soon evident that it was inadequate for the accommodation of the many children of the county, needing public care. Built in 1886 - In 1886 the site of the present Children's Home, consisting of ten and one-half acres, was purchased for $2,500, and steps were immediately taken for the erection of a building. The original cost of the building was $17,000. Such a structure would cost much more that that amount today. [1943] Since it was built many additions and improvements have been made. Control and Administration - Although the county commissioners have general control of the institution, its administration is placed in the hands of a non-partisan board of trustees, composed of five members. This board is appointed by the county commissioners, one member each year, for a term of five years. The present [1943] trustees are E.C. Allison, J.B. Stewart, T.H. Lewis, David Cox and Fred J. Hall. The trustees elect superintendent, who, as general manager, is directly responsible for the conduct of the home. T.C. McDowell has efficiently served as superintendent since 1920. Rev. J.H. Nash, who was the only superintendent of the old home, was the first of the new. He resigned in 1887 and was succeeded by J.S. Prouse, Mrs. J.S. Prouse succeeded her husband. Then Gay Merry, F.M. Secrest and the present incumbent followed in the order named. Mr. McDowell is assisted in his care of the home by a head matron, a boys' governess, a girls' governess, a cook, a laundress, and a dining room girl. At the present time there are fifty-five children in the home, twenty-eight boys and twenty-seven girls, whose ages range from two to seventeen years. During the past thirteen years the least number of children in the home at any time was forty; the largest, seventy-two. It was during the flu epidemic, when many children were made orphans, that the home contained the largest number. The present number is about an average of those of all the years since the home was established. Admission is made through the Probate Court. Children of the county, for whom there are none who may be charged with their support, are placed here after a careful investigation has been made. One of the duties of the trustees is to find homes in private families for the children. Much care is taken that they shall always be placed where they will be surrounded by proper influences. Education - The children of school age are enrolled in the Cambridge schools, several of them in the high school. Excepting those admitted from the city, the cost of their education does not fall upon the taxpayers of Cambridge. It is borne by the village or rural district from which they come. At the end of each school year a list of all pupils and their addresses is given the county auditor and the tuition costs are transferred from the funds of the districts in which they last resided, to the school fund of the Cambridge city district. Each child in the home, that is old enough to work, is assigned a regular daily task. The boys care for the large garden and the lawn, and perform other work about the place. The older girls assist in the kitchen and dining room, in the laundry, and in the care of the rooms. They thus acquire habits of industry; also of neatness and order, which are necessary for their success and happiness after they leave the home. -end -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V00 Issue #285 *******************************************