ANDERSON COUNTY POOR FARM CEMETERY, Anderson County, SC A.K.A. Version 2.3, 24-Jan-2005, A230.TXT, A230 **************************************************************** REPRODUCING NOTICE: ------------------- These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format for profit, or presentation by any 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. Paul M Kankula Seneca, SC, USA Anderson County SC GenWeb Coordinator Anderson County SC GenWeb Homestead http://www.rootsweb.com/~scanderson2/ **************************************************************** DATAFILE INPUT . : Paul M. Kankula at (visit above website) in Dec-2003 DATAFILE LAYOUT : Paul M. Kankula at (visit above website) in Dec-2003 G.P.S. MAPPING . : Gary L. Flynn at (visit above website) Jan-2004 HISTORY WRITE-UP : Noted IMAGES ......... : Paul M. Kankula at (visit above website) in Jan-2004 TRANSCRIPTION .. : Dean Craft at harolddcraft@bellsouth.net in Jul-2000 **************************************************************** CEMETERY LOCATION: ------------------ The Anderson County Home Cemetery is located approximately 3 miles northwest of the center of the city of Anderson. From the County Court house, travel north for three miles on North Main Street to the intersection of Mall Road (on your left). Turn left into Mall Road and travel (to the 3rd traffic light) approximately 1 mile where you will see the Anderson Civic Center on your right. The cemetery is on your left, although it is hidden from view at this angle of approach. Make a quick U turn at the traffic light and come back approximately 100 yards. Turn right at the sign identifying the "Anderson County Recycling and Educational Center" and then look immediately your left. Observe a long white picket fence near a covered picnic area. The cemetery is adjacent to the picnic structure. Latitude N34 32.238 x Longitude W82 40.587 CHURCH/CEMETERY HISTORY: ------------------------ I spoke with a man today who was an officer at the Anderson Detention Center. He is Tom Cross and is now retired. He confirmed that the cemetery near the Civic Center is the Poor Farm Cemetery. He was there when the cemetery was cleaned up. He said it had been neglected and overgrown. He and a group of inmates cleaned it up and it is now being kept. He told me that as best he remembered only two graves are marked. He said they used a probe and found graves which were marked with some kind of metal with no information because there was none. He said a fence has been placed around the cemetery. The burials he said were people who had lived in the Old County Home. I hope this information helps. by: Grace Lee o----------o Anderson, South Carolina, at one time in the past, operated a facility known as "The County Home". This facility had responsibility for the overall care of those who could not provide for themselves or who had little or no assistance available through family or friends. There was a cemetery associated with the facility but it had been long forgotten until the 1999 time frame. The cemetery was rediscovered as land was cleared and construction started on a group of convention and recreational facilities. Small ground level stones have been placed on each spot that has been identified as a grave. These stones contain only a simple floral scroll. To the extent possible, those buried in the cemetery have been identified. Each individual has been remembered by having their name placed on a plaque that is attached to a single monument. Each plaque contains 4 names. Dean Craft at harolddcraft@bellsouth.net in Jul-2000 o----------o WHAT WERE POORHOUSES: The matter of how to deal with the poor, how to treat them, has been an age-old problem. Questions about the poor were constantly before the public officials. Society seemed to always have a certain number of people that were not able to make it on their own. The blind, the lame, the elderly. "What to do about the poor?" is a question that has baffled mankind for thousands of years. How can you best care for those, who can't care for themselves? and this usually raises another question. "who's responsibility is it?" In Kansas, in the early days of statehood, the responsibility of caring for the poor usually fell to the individual counties. And the most common way of dealing with those less fortunate, was to send them to the poor farm. Mary Douglas, Genealogist, Salina: And that system lasted in England and part of the United States for 250 years. We're getting poor farm legislation in Kansas in 1859. It's written into the constitution. You get enabling legislation about 1862 and by the mid 1870's, most counties had some kind of poor relief. When county populations were still relatively small, the poor were often housed by local families who were then reimbursed by the county for their expenses. But as populations grew, so did the number of needy individuals. at some point the county would usually purchase a farm complete with house and outbuildings. later, those homes were often replaced by the more familiar, institutional style buildings. It was a catch-all for society. First off, it was the forerunner of our hospitals and insane asylums. A lot of people were here that were passing through. A lot of them were railroad workers, single men that had been injured and didn't have anyplace else to go. And a lot of them were people that were blind or retarded or deaf and the family didn't know what to do. You have widows, you have unmarried mothers you had the elderly and you had the poor. Families were not required by law to take care of their families. Narrator: The residents of poor farms were usually referred to as "inmates", and abuse was not uncommon. The poor farms were actual working farms, and inmates were expected to work if they were able. Sometimes even if they weren't able. Mary Douglas: You have to understand that the farm was leased out to a farmer and his wife who had no training in dealing with exceptional people. That they're there to make a buck off the farm. The county commissioners wanted to make the farm a paying proposition. The law said it was people who couldn't support themselves. So you have a clash going on right from the beginning of people who are not able to work being forced to work and then the insane were frequently tied to their beds. The blind, the deaf, the dumb were left pretty much to their own devices. They were fed, they were clothed, when they got sick they called a doctor. But there was no provision for training them, and the mentally ill particularly, because they were hard to get along with, hard to deal with, hard to manage, were abused. Of course, poor farm conditions and operating procedures varied from county to county. Not every superintendent was abusive to the inmates. In the early nineteen hundreds, attitudes towards the poor began to change. At some point, people began calling poor farms "county farms" because of the negative connotations of the word "poor". Then in the 1930'S, the poor farms began to disappear. The reason that they closed down is because of President Roosevelt and his "New Deal" incentives that set up a Social Security, set up new ways. And so counties started finding reasons to deal with people that needed to be in the poor farms such as nursing homes, insane asylums, schools for the poor, schools for the blind. So the poor farms kind of just died out because there was no need for then anymore. Some of the poor farms buildings are still around today. In fact, some are still being used to provide community social services. But unfortunately, many of the poor farm records haven't survived.....records that could provide a wealth of information to genealogists. You run into brick walls. And sometimes the brick wall comes down when you do poor farm research, because somebody may have been put in the poor farm for a season, or a year. And the registers, when we can find them, say where they came from and where they went. By: KTWU Channel 11, Washburn University, Topeka, Ks. 66621 o----------o WHAT WERE POORHOUSES: They were often called Poor Farms -- and several similar terms -- or referred to with the older term - Almshouses. Poorhouses were tax-supported residential institutions to which people were required to go if they could not support themselves. They were started as a method of providing a less expensive (to the taxpayers) alternative to what we would now days call "welfare" - what was called "outdoor relief" in those days. People requested help from the community Overseer of the Poor ( sometimes also called a Poor Master) - an elected town official. If the need was great or likely to be long-term, they were sent to the poorhouse instead of being given relief while they continued to live independently. Sometimes they were sent there even if they had not requested help from the Overseer of the Poor. That was usually done when they were found guilty of begging in public, etc. [One misconception should be cleared up here; they were not technically "debtors' prisons." Someone could owe a great deal of money, but if they could still provide themselves with the necessities for remaining independent they might avoid the poorhouse.] BEFORE POORHOUSES: Prior to the establishment of poorhouses the problem of what to do with paupers in a community was dealt with in one of three ways: 1. Outdoor Relief provided through an Overseer of the Poor: When people fell upon hard times and members of their family, friends or members of their church congregations could not provide enough assistance to tide them over, they made application to an elected local official called the Overseer of the Poor. Within a budget of tax money, he might provide them with food, fuel, clothing, or even permission to get medical treatment to be paid out of tax funds. 2. Auctioning off the Poor: People who could not support themselves (and their families) were put up for bid at public auction. In an unusual type of auction, the pauper was sold to the lowest bidder (the person who would agree to provide room and board for the lowest price) -- usually this was for a specific period of a. year or so. The person who got the contract got the use of the labor of the pauper for free in return for feeding, clothing, housing and providing health care for the pauper and his/her family. This was actually a form of indentured servitude. It sounds a lot like slavery -- except that it was technically not for the pauper's entire lifetime. And it had many of the perils of slavery. The welfare of the paupers depended almost entirely upon the kindness and fairness of the bidder. If he was motivated only by a desire to make the maximum profit off the "use" of the pauper, then concern for "the bottom line" might result in the pauper being denied adequate food, or safe and comfortable shelter, or even necessary medical treatment. And there often was very little recourse for protection against abuse. (See scan of an authentic record of an auction in 1832 in Sandown NH.) 3. Contracting with someone in the community to care for Paupers: In this situation the care of a group of paupers was delegated to the person(s) who would contract to provide care at, again, the lowest price. This system allowed the opportunity for somewhat better supervision as indicated in the terms of the contract -- which might specify what minimum standard of care must be provided and that community officers would do inspections, etc. There were still often the same opportunities for abuse that were noted above. Note: In some cases (before state laws began to require the establishment of County Poorhouses) local communities had already discovered that a place to house paupers helped reduce the cost of poor relief. These small town poorhouses were the prototypes for the later state-required county poorhouses. Those earlier poorhouses often instituted the use of an adjacent farm on which the paupers could work to raise their own food, thus making the houses more self- sufficient (relying less on local tax funds). That is how the term "poor farm" came into being. THE BEGINNING of the COUNTY POORHOUSE SYSTEM: During the second quarter of the 19th century, as the industrial revolution had its effect on the United States, the importation of the factory system from England was followed almost immediately by the full scale adoption of what seemed to be an inherent component of that system -- the Poorhouse System. These poorhouses were built with great optimism. They promised to be a much more efficient and cheaper way to provide relief to paupers. And there was a fervent popular belief that housing such people in institutions would provide the opportunity to reform them and cure them of the bad habits and character defects that were assumed to be the cause of their poverty. THE DISILLUSIONMENT: By mid-century, people were beginning to question the success of the poorhouse movement. Investigations were launched to examine the conditions in poorhouses. They had proven to be much more expensive than had been anticipated. And they had not significantly reduced the numbers of the "unworthy poor" nor eliminated the need for "outdoor relief". [ This was public assistance given to those living outside the poorhouses. It was given somewhat grudgingly to those considered to be (perhaps!) more "worthy" poor --who might only briefly and temporarily require assistance to procure food or fuel or clothing when they fell on very short-term hard times.] THE CIVIL WAR: But the Civil War was the major preoccupation of American society during the third quarter of the century. Major systematic changes in social welfare policy had to await calmer times. Ironically, the faltering poorhouse system was sheltered from the impact of the poverty produced by the war itself. The war created widows and orphans; and it deprived elderly members of families of the support they might have had in their old age, had their sons and grandsons lived or remained able to work. While many looked forward to the time ... "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again"... many soldiers limped home to be disabled for the rest of their lives. However, a relatively small proportion of these casualties of the war ever wound up living in poorhouses. The poorhouses were spared this circumstance for two reasons. Special laws were passed requiring that any needed assistance to veterans and their families had to be provided as outdoor relief -- specifically prohibiting placement in the poorhouse. And the Civil War Pension Plan provided -- although belatedly and awkwardly and controversially -- for soldiers and their family members. (An entire book could be devoted to this -- and it has been!) THE TRANSITION: By 1875, after the regulation of poorhouses in most states became the responsibility of the State Board of Charities, laws were passed prohibiting children from residing in poorhouses and removing mentally ill patients and others with special needs to more appropriate facilities. The poorhouse population was even more narrowly defined during the twentieth century when social welfare legislation (Workman's Compensation, Unemployment benefits and Social Security) began to provide a rudimentary "safety net" for people who would previously have been pauperized by such circumstances. Eventually the poorhouses evolved almost exclusively into nursing homes for dependent elderly people. But poorhouses left orphanages, general hospitals and mental hospitals -- for which they had provided the prototype -- as their heritage. By: Unknown Author TOMBSTONE TRANSCRIPTION NOTES: ------------------------------ a. = age at death b. = date-of-birth d. = date-of-death h. = husband m. = married p. = parents w. = wife A single monument, with multiple plaques honors those buried in the Anderson County Home Cemetery by noting their name and date of death. ADAMS, Silas, d. 5-2-1943 BROWN, Sam, d. 1-23-43 CAROLL, Riley, d. 11-29-51 CLEAVES, Josie, d. 10-3-46 COKER, Jimmie, d. 5-13-47 DEVOREX, Martha, d. 4-26-42 EVANS, Perry, (no date provided) FARMER, W.E., d. 12-26-63 FORMNEK, Pete, d. 6-4-49 GENTRY, John Lankfor, d. 1-13-1918 (*) GILLIAM, Andy, d. 9-13-41 GREENLEAF, Floyd, d. 11-11-57 GULLEY, James, (No date provided) HARRISON, James, d. 10-16-50 HILL, Sherrard, d. 9-11-49 HUNT, Millie, d. 2-1-41 JAMES, Thomas, d. 8-18-53 JOHNSON, John, d. 6-4-39 JOHNSON, Vanna, d. 9-11-39 KENNEDY, James, d. 7-25-53 LACOUNT, Thelma, d. 4-13-59 MANNING, Arthur, d. 1-21-41 McKINNEY, Martin, d. 1-12-51 MOORE, Forest, d. 2-4-51 MOORE, Lizzie, d. 9-22-56 MOORE, W.C., d. 5-30-39 PARKS, Ernest, (No date provided) PARSHELL, Siras, d. 1-17-40 PITTS, Genola Ella Smith, d. 10-9-57 ROACH, Warren, d. 2-1-54 SEARS, Mary, d. 7-15-50 SHERARD, John, d. 1-10-41 STAFFORD, L.C., d. 2-24-54 THOMPSON, Arthenia, d. 2-2-53 WILLIAMS, George, d. 6-29-39 WOFFENBARGER, C.L., d. 1956 (**) There are three grave markers (in the cemetery) containing names and/or information as noted below but not found on the monument plaques: A partial stone with the name Berry Bryant and date June 14, 1906 A funeral home style marker: Thelma Le Count 1959 A funeral home style marker: Senola A. E. Pitts 1895 - 1956 The monument plaques note two individuals for which there are also partial grave stones containing information not found on the plaques. * The stone for John Lankfor Gentry notes that his name is "James Lankfor Gentry" and provides his dates of birth and death: October 10, 1836 and January 13, 1918 ** The stone for C. L. Woffenbarger gives years of birth and death: 1892 -- 1956 o----------o Anderson County SCGenWeb Project Poor House Census 1850 & 1860 1850 CENSUS ANDERSON CO., SC POOR HOUSE Transcribed by Joy King The Western Division of Dist. of Anderson State of SC 1st day of August 1850 Wm. Steele Pp.170B-171A House 212 Family 214 Poor House Name Age Sex Occupation Real Estate State Born In Attended school within the year Other: George TIPPENS 42 M Steward of Poor House 2000 SC . . Anna TIPPENS 39 F . . SC . . . James TIPPENS 11 M . . SC Yes . . Elizabeth J. TIPPENS 10 F . . SC Yes . . Margaret TIPPENS 6 F . . SC Yes . . B.F. TIPPENS 4 M . . SC Yes . . Mary Ann TIPPENS 2 F . . SC No . . Hetty EDMONSTON 55 F Pauper . SC . Pauper . Elizabeth MYERS 70 F Pauper . SC . Do . Prisey KING 50 F Pauper . SC . Do Frances JEANES 8 F . . SC . Do . Sarah JEANES 3 F . . SC . Do . Judith ROLAND 88 F . . SC . Do . Alsey ROLAND 55 F . . SC . Do . Betsey HARRIS 45 F Pauper . SC . Pauper . Viney WHITE 20 F Pauper . SC . Do . Eliza WASSON 73 F Pauper . SC . Do . . M. H. ANDERSON 58 F Pauper . SC . Do . Anna SMITH 35 F Pauper . SC . Do . Newton SMITH 7 M Pauper . SC . Do . 1860 CENSUS ANDERSON CO., SC POOR HOUSE Transcribed by Joy King The 42d Regiment in the County of Anderson State of South Carolina 28th day of June 1860 M.L. McCay P.291A [Note JK: This listing starts with p.290B, I only have p.291] Household Name Age Sex Occupation State Born In Other: Other: Cornelia McCONNEL 8 F . SC . . . . Robert McCONNEL 6 M . SC . . 572/584 . Martha ANDERSON 69 F . SC . Pauper . . Margaret CASTLEBURG 65 F . SC . Pauper Insane . . Rebecca SIZEMORE 95 F . SC cannot read or write Pauper . . Jane BAGEWELL 9 F . SC Attended school w/yr Pauper . . Barbary BAGWELL 7 F . SC Attended school w/yr Pauper 573/585 . Elsey ROWLAND 70 F . SC cannot read or write Pauper . . Hetty EDMONDSON 65 F . SC cannot read or write Pauper Blind . . Elizabeth WADDLE 70 F . SC . Pauper Paralytic 574/586 . John SADLER 80 M . SC . Pauper . . Sarah SADLER 35 F Weaver SC cannot read or write Pauper . . Mary SADLER 14 F . SC Attended school w/yr Pauper . . Frances SADLER 11 F . SC Attended school w/yr Pauper . . Elizabeth SADLER 6 F . SC Attended school w/yr Pauper . . Franklin SADLER 1 M . SC . Pauper . . Elizabeth TUFFNELL 80 F . SC cannot read or write Pauper . . Lavinia WHITE 35 F . VA cannot read or write Pauper 575/587 . Benoni FOWLER 102 F . TN . Pauper Paralytic . . Burrell CARPENTER 75 M . NC cannot read or write Pauper Idiotic . . William LEAVELL 15 M . VA . Pauper Idiotic 576/588 . Jemima PUCKET 95 F/B SC cannot read or write Pauper