The census of the residents of the Wayne County Poor House, located in the Town of Lyons, was filed November 29, 1850, and taken by G. W. Barnard. Israel Clapp and family was under contract to care for the poor. The unknown stories of the individuals listed below would reflect circumstances and social problems that are familiar to us in 1998. Residents included displaced immigrants, the homeless, the aged, single mothers with young dependent children, widows, orphans, the disabled, ne'er-do-wells, and people just down on their luck. Poor house records are an often underutilized or unknown resource when looking for aged parents, children who are missing from a family group, or siblings who have "disappeared."

The reader is hereby "put on notice" that Mr. Barnard's handwriting was not the best. I've made a literal transcription, letter for letter. Where I had difficulty interpreting his writing I've noted so with a "?". As is often the case with census takers, he had difficulty attempting a spelling for the foreign born, as well as the illiterate who could not assist him. We would welcome anyone reading the original census rolls to send in corrections or new interpretations. No further information is known by myself or the other coordinators of this site about any individuals listed below. If you see your ancestors, please contact the Wayne County Office of History and Tourism - History Division, address on our cover page.

Source: This interpretation was made by and digital text was transcribed from original microfilm of the 1850 US census by Martha Perry Magill. Due to the difficulties in transcribing old and stylized handwriting, the original census should be referred to.
Copyright © 1998 Martha Perry Magill

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