The welfare system employed by the towns of Windham County, Connecticut, in the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries worked in this way: the names of the indigent, homeless, orphans, elderly, and the sick were brought up at town meetings to be auctioned (bid off) to the lowest bidder for their care. An undated Ashford entry reads, "The three persons at William Johnson's are at 77 cents expense per head per week." Sometimes the whole group was bid off to one person who would be responsible for procuring medicines and doctoring, a sort of Early American HMO. This data, extracted from the Selectmen's Records, includes funeral expenses (including rum and grave digging), those sick and dying (most of whom are not noted in vital records), warnings out, town lawsuits, indentures, emancipations, some marriages and the names of those poor souls relegated to the insane asylum. Sometimes family relationships are noted as well as former and new residences. Thorough name, subject and place indexes have been included to help the reader. This never before published material is a previously unexplored resource that will undoubtedly enrich your historical research or family history.
Marilyn L. Labbe
2005, 5½x8½, paper, index, 522 pp.
ISBN: 9780788431937
101-L3193
