The census of the residents of the Montgomery County Poor House in Glen, New York, was filed June 29, 1870. Similar to the 1860 poor house census, there are few residents with early county surnames, and the residents could be categorized primarily as aged, mentally ill, disabled, and single unemployed males. The Montgomery County poor house again has a new poor master, Robert Wemple, whose property was worth $16,000 and whose personal assets were $6,000. He was assisted by the newly-wed couple Sylvanus and Catharine Quackenbush. The post office address of the poor house is given as Fultonville.
In reading the order of the residents it appears that either the insane and "idiotic" were now housed separately or they were brought to one location to be enumerated. Census taker Austin Fish has written in large letters across the second page of the census "Impossible to get the occupation of the inmates with any certainty". Although we do not know his reasons for stating that, his reference to the residents as "inmates" reflects a changed perception of the poor, aged and disabled by the general society and the institutions taking care of them. The early sympathetic view of the Montgomery County Commissioners of the Poor, who saw their poor neighbors as unfortunates, has been replaced by the later 19th century perspective of viewing them as criminal, sick or objects of scorn.
The 1870 Census had more categories than previous years, most notably that category indicating whether parents were of foreign birth. Two other new categories under the heading of "Constitutional Relations" are:
Male Citizen of U.S. of 21 years of age and upwards, and
Male Citizen of U.S. of 21 years of age and upwards, whose right to vote is denied or abridged on other grounds than rebellion or other crime.
Male citizens of the Montgomery County poor house who were classified as either insane or idiotic, as well as the one man "deaf and dumb", were not allowed to vote.
Austin Fish's handwriting was legible and spelling more than adequate. Again, I've made a literal transcription, letter for letter. Where I'm fairly sure he spelled a name incorrectly I've put "sp". Where I'm totally in the dark I've noted so with a "?". I would welcome anyone reading the original census rolls to send in corrections or new interpretations. Poor house records are an often underutilized or unknown resource when looking for people who have "disappeared", and valuable as a reflection of social conditions and attitudes.
| RESIDENTS OF THE MONTGOMERY COUNTY POOR HOUSE - 1870 |
|---|
| Name | Age | Occupation | Place of Birth | Status |
| WEMPLE, Robert | 39 | farmer | New York | |
| WEMPLE, Sarah M. | 40 | keeping house | New York | |
| WEMPLE, Adam J. | 15 | farm laborer | New York | attended school |
| WEMPLE, Eve Anna | 12 | New York | attended school | |
| WEMPLE, Seymour | 10 | New York | attended school | |
| WEMPLE, Sarah | 7 | New York | attended school | |
| WEMPLE, Marshall | 5 | New York | ||
| QUACKENBUSH, Catherine M. | 21 | without employment | New York | married the previous December |
| QUACKENBUSH, Sylvanus | 24 | farm laborer | New York | married the previous December |
| PRUSIAN (sp?), Eliza | 23 | tailoress | New York | parents of foreign birth |
| UPDYKE, Garret | 70 | New York | insane; cannot read or write; unable to vote | |
| HALL, Charles | 12 | New York | insane; attended school | |
| ROBERTS, John | 65 | New York | insane; cannot read or write; unable to vote | |
| VAIL, James | 40 | New York | idiotic; cannot read or write; unable to vote | |
| BASS, Charles | 40 | Bavaria | insane; parents of foreign birth; U.S. citizen; unable to vote | |
| BLESSING, Mariah | 45 | Pennsylvania | insane; cannot read or write | |
| FARRELL, James | 21 | Ireland | idiotic; cannot read or write; parents of foreign birth; U.S. citizen; unable to vote | |
| HOAG, Mahala | 65 | New York | idiotic; cannot read or write; was in 1850 and 1860 poor house census | |
| HINEMAN, Jacob | 64 | New York | insane; cannot read or write; unable to vote; in the 1860 census Jacob was not listed as insane | |
| REGAN, John | 50 | Ireland | insane; cannot read or write; parents of foreign birth; U.S. citizen; unable to vote | |
| YORKS, James | 36 | England | idiotic; cannot read or write; parents of foreign birth; U.S. citizen; unable to vote | |
| FARRELL, Edward | 33 | Ireland | insane; cannot read or write; parents of foreign birth; U.S. citizen; unable to vote | |
| BENSON, Catherine | 40 | New York | insane; cannot read or write; parents of foreign birth | |
| DINGMAN, Josephine | 22 | New York | insane; cannot read or write | |
| SHAGAN, James | 55 | Ireland | insane; cannot read or write; parents of foreign birth | |
| KELLER, Samuel | 21 | New York | insane; cannot read or write; unable to vote | |
| PHILLIPS, Margaret | 45 | New York | idiotic; cannot read or write | |
| DUNLAP, Jane | 46 | New York | insane; cannot read or write | |
| CAMPBELL, Rutha | 46 | New York | idiotic; cannot read or write | |
| KEY, James | 41 | Ireland | idiotic; parents of foreign birth | |
| CORNELL, Nathaniel | 39 | New York | deaf and dumb; cannot read or write; unable to vote | |
| BRADT, Edward | 27 | Saxony | insane; parents of foreign birth | |
| LEVVINGS, Mary | 18 | Prussia | idiotic; cannot read or write; parents of foreign birth | |
| PINCKNEY, John C. F. | 15 | New York | idiotic | |
| LAYMON, Patrick | 64 | Ireland | cannot read or write; parents of foreign birth | |
| HART, William | 25 | New Jersey | cannot read or write | |
| ONIEL, Darby | 57 | Ireland | cannot read or write; parents of foreign birth | |
| CAMPBELL, Irving | 6 | New York | attended school; mother of foreign birth | |
| CAMPBELL, John | 3 | New York | mother of foreign birth | |
| CAMPBELL, John Sr. | 59 | New York | ||
| ELSWORTH, John | 65 | Massachusetts | ||
| MURPHY, Daniel | 61 | Ireland | cannot read or write; parents of foreign birth; U.S. citizen | |
| MURPHY, Catharine | 43 | Ireland | parents of foreign birth | |
| MURPHY, Joanna | 7 | New York | parents of foreign birth | |
| MURPHY, Hannah | 2 | New York | parents of foreign birth | |
| McKINNEY, Catharine | 36 | Ireland | parents of foreign birth | |
| CARROLL, Denis | 22 | Ireland | parents of foreign birth; U.S. citizen | |
| GILLBRIGHT, Nathan | 19 | Ireland | parents of foreign birth | |
| CRAMER, Louis | 35 | France | parents of foreign birth; U.S. citizen | |
| CHAMBERLAIN, John | 50 | Ireland | idiotic; parents of foreign birth; U.S. citizen; unable to vote | |
| CORNWALL, Elizabeth | 9 | New York | attended school | |
| CORNWALL, Malinda | 16 | New York | attended school | |
| STONE, Mary A. | 72 | Ireland | cannot read and write; parents of foreign birth | |
| CORNWALL, Phoebe | 10 | New York | attended school | |
| STONE, Anna | 50 | New York | parents of foreign birth | |
| EAGAN, Barney | 68 | Connecticut | parents of foreign birth; U.S. citizen | |
| BETRAN, George | 46 | Ohio | ||
| GAINER, James | 31 | Ireland | cannot read and write; parents of foreign birth; U.S. citizen | |
| STEPHENS, John | 32 | ireland | cannot read and write; parents of foreign birth; U.S. citizen | |
| McNEICE, William | 42 | New York | ||
| O'CONNELL, John | 53 | Ireland | parents of foreign birth; U.S. citizen | |
| FISHER, John | 104 (not an error) | Poland | cannot read or write; parents of foreign birth; U.S. citizen | |
| CASY (sp), William | 31 | Ireland | cannot read and write; parents of foreign birth; U.S. citizen | |
| PERLER, Lany | 80 | New York | cannot read or write | |
| BROWN, Polly | 71 | New York | cannot read or write | |
| EAKER, John | 74 | New York | cannot read or write | |
| BROOKS, Jeremiah | 41 | Switzerland | parents of foreign birth; U.S. citizen | |
| MEAD, David | 60 | Ireland | blind; cannot read or write; parents of foreign birth; U.S. citizen | |
| VANDERVILLE, Jeremiah | 79 | New York | ||
| EDWARDS, Edward | 41 | Ireland | cannot read or write; parents of foreign birth | |
| BROOKMAN, John | 27 | New York | ||
| DAVIS, John | 19 | England | parents of foreign birth | |
| DARREN, Charles | 34 | Ireland | cannot read or write; parents of foreign birth; U.S. citizen | |
| WEATLEY, William | 27 | Ireland | parents of foreign birth; U.S. citizen |
Source: This electronic text was transcribed from original microfilm of the 1870 US census by Martha Magill. Due to the difficulties in transcribing old and stylized handwriting, the original census should be referred to.
Copyright © 1997 Martha Magill
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