In 1755, a law was passed by the North Carolina General Assembly for “relief of the poor and the prevention of idleness.”
Later, in 1817, a tax was approved, and through private donations and will bequests, funding for the poor slowly came about. Not much was done formally until well into the antebellum period, when the Nash County Wardens of the Poor was formed, and in 1834 the organization purchased 238 acres from local planter Henry Blount to build the area’s first poor house.
The deed refers to the property as lying along Little “Sappone” Creek (spelled Sapony now). The area was referred to as Charity Plain. The wardens included some of the best-known citizens at that time and surnames that endure to this day in Nash County: Turner Westray, John Ricks, James Dozier, James Harrison, Thomas Savage, Marmaduke Ricks, and Hardy Pridgen. The price tag was $317.33.
The new poor house and its necessary buildings would be funded by property taxes and managed by a rotating board of wardens. A superintendent or overseer was appointed and contracted each year, and citizens nominated for the board faced penalties for refusing to serve. The wardens had great latitude in how funds were used, and records from the time show payments for food, clothing, and whiskey (for medicinal purposes), as well as reimbursing citizens for caring for or transporting residents to the poor house, sewing, and services such as coffin building and ditch digging.
There were four methods of caring for the poor in North Carolina:
1. An allowance could be given to the pauper.
2. The pauper could be “let” on contract to a farmer, manufacturer, or business person.
3. The pauper could be sold or a contract made with an individual to take care of the pauper.
4. The pauper could be admitted to the poor house.
Life was no picnic, and a letter to the neighboring Edgecombe County Tarborough Press summed it up best, stating the purpose of the poor house should be “to graduate the support of paupers to the very lowest point fit for mankind, otherwise they would offer inducements to pauperism.”
The central figure of my book, Galvanized: The Odyssey of a Reluctant Carolina Confederate, ran the Nash County Poor House for years. The murder that takes place late in the book came about at least partially over a dispute originating at the Poor House.
Eventually, the Poor House became the “County Home” in the 1920s and some of the buildings still stand in and around Country Home Road in the Momeyer/White Oak area outside of Nashville.
Source:
Galvanized
“Inducements to pauperism” sounds like some of the current governmental programs.
Interesting how times change.
I grew up near Momeyer. It would be interesting to know where some of the old buildings are located.
Some are still standing, some have been moved. You can spot a few on Old County Home Road.
I thought I remembered the reference from your book. Interesting stuff! Keep it up…
Thanks for reading the book!
In my very years, the county home was still called the poor house. I remember a large red brick building in Nashville.
Several of the buildings are still around in Momeyer – I’ve had them pointed out to me, but most are moved from the original location. I also remember people at church talking about the poor house.