Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Poor Relief in North Carolina
The poorhouse of the early days Of-the State's history to a very much greater extent even than the county home of today, was the dumping ground for all the misfits of society. It was the direct descendant of the old Eng lish workhouse. It was maintained quite as much for the purpose of dis posing of certain undesirable classes of the population as of caring for the indigent. The first attempt at legislation for poor relief in North Carolina was a bill introduced in the Colonial Assembly, April 7, 1749, designated a bill for the relief of the poor and the prevention of idleness. Likewise the first law enacted by the Colony, 1755, provided for the restraint of vagrants as well as for making provision for the poor.
Since vagrants and other minor Offenders, able-bodied people, were to be sent to the poorhouse-s, which were gradually provided in the various coun ties, it was wisely decided that the able-bodied inmates. Should contribute to their own support. The most natural thing in the early days of the State was to decide that this could be best accomplished by putting these inmates to work on the farm. It became the custom, therefore, to place the poor house ou a farm and to expect it to be largely self-supporting.
There is little reason to believe that these farms, except perhaps in rare instances, were ever successfully operated. 'often the determining factor 'in securing land for the poor farm was that a large number Of acres could be purchased for a small sum of money. Often the land selected was unde sirable for farming because of its lack of fertility, or its inaccessibility, or both. The management, both from the point of View of equipment and of supervision, was usually as unintelligent as the purchase.
The population Of the county home has change-d. Vagabonds and rogues are still sent to the county poor farm, but not in so great numbers as for merly. Children are not found in nearly so great numbers as was once the case. The violent insane and the epileptics have in large measure been provided for. A beginning has been made toward State care for the feeble minded. But the poor farm remains. Practically all the county homes in the State have considerable farms, or at least areas of land, attached. As shown by a careful census made in 1922, Of the ninety-four counties owning poor farms only six counties - Beaufort, Carteret, Dare, Hyde, Pasquotank, and Tyrrell - have holdings of less than twenty-five acres. Eight others Craven, Lenoir, Madison, Moore, Richmond, Robeson, Wilson, and Yancey report acreages ranging from twenty-five to fifty. Twenty-nine counties have farms of from one hundred to two hundred acres; twenty counties, of from two hundred to four hundred acres; and nine, of more than four hundred acres. Within the last two years Alamance, Chatham, Vance, Nash, and Halifax have built new homes on reduced acreages.
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