Find Ancestors in Almshouse & Poorhouse Records

Discharge Ledger 1923-1926

Almshouses (also known as  poorhouses, or hospital) are charitable housing provided to impoverished people in a community.

Almshouses were originally formed as extensions of the church system and were later adapted by local officials and authorities.

 Below are links to online Almshouse records - some free and some pay-to-view. You will also find more links at http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/almshouse/

United States Almshouse Records

New York Almshouse Records 1782-1813. Records contain name of ancestor, date admitted, age, where from or born, complaint [illness], discharged, died, remarks. 

New York Almshouse Registers

Almshouse Records New York 1819-1840

Almshouse Records New York City 1855-1858

Society for Relief of Half-Orphans & Destitute Children 1900, Manhattan New York

Milwaukee County Almshouse & Poor Farm Cemeteries Wisconsin List of Burials 1872-1892; 194-1974 available at http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/almshouse/

Child Apprentices (Orphans & Impoverished Children) in America from Christ's Hospital, London 1617-1778: Child Apprentice

Chester County, Pennsylvania, U.S., Poor House Admissions Index, 1800-1910   
    
Chester County, Pennsylvania, U.S., Poor School Children, 1810-1841   
   
Canada Almshouse Records

Poor Law Union Immigrants England to Canada 1836-1871

Ireland Almshouse Records

Return of Destitute Poor Removed from England to Ireland, from the 1st day of December 1860 till the 1st day of December 1862

Poor Law Union Removals From England to Ireland, 1859-1860

Ireland, Poor Law and Board of Guardian Records, 1839-1920

Ireland, Sustainability Loan Fund, 1812-1868   

Ireland, Poor Law Union Removals From England, 1859-1860   

UK Almshouse Records

London, England, Poor Law Hospital Admissions and Discharges, 1842-1918
    
London, England, Poor Law School District Registers, 1852-1918

Leeds Moral & Industrial Training School, Yorkshire, England 1881

Bedfordshire, England, Workhouse and Poor Law Records, 1835-1914


Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland, Poorhouse Records, 1888-1912

North Lanarkshire, Scotland, Poor Law Applications and Registers, 1849-1917 

   
Swansea and Surrounding Area, Wales, Poor Law Union Records, 1836-1916    

Dorset, England, Poor Law Settlement and Removal Records, 1682-1862   
    
Dorset, England, Poor Law Apprenticeship Records, 1623-1898   
    
Medway, Kent, England, Poor Law Union Records, 1836-1937   
       
West Yorkshire, England, Select Removal and Settlement Records, 1689-1866   
    
West Yorkshire, England, Select Poor Law and Township Records, 1663-1914   
    
London, England, Workhouse Admission and Discharge Records, 1764-1930   
    
England, Norfolk Poor Law Union Records, 1796-1900   
    
London, England, Selected Poor Law Removal and Settlement Records, 1698-1930   
       
Warwickshire, England, Parish Poor Law, 1546-1904   
       
Dorset, England, Poor Law and Church of England Parish Records, 1511-1997   
    
London, England, Poor Law and Board of Guardian Records, 1738-1926

Poor Law Records on Oxfordshire County Council Heritage Search

Oxfordshire County Council Heritage Search is my new find! If you have Oxfordshire ancestors you will want to check this out. For example I searched "removal order" (without using a surname) and got 500 hits in Oxfordshire History Centre - Poor Law Name Index

This is an index of individuals and families named in the Oxfordshire Poor Law records, 1601-1861.

This index contains details of named individuals derived from records created in the administration of the Poor Law in Oxfordshire. The Poor Law was the system for providing a form of social security in operation in England from the 16th century until 1834. Individual parishes were responsible for administering the Poor Law and maintaining paupers and their families. The main types of records created were settlement examinations and certificates, removal orders, bastardy bonds, and apprenticeship indentures. Surviving examples of these records for Oxfordshire parishes are held at the Oxfordshire History Centre.

Also see the Poor Law Union Records online on Olive Tree Genealogy

23 ship names were given with the names of passengers on board. This is a first for most of these ships as no full passenger list is known to exist. Included in this Poor Law Union Immigrants to Canada Project are the names of emigrants for a 15 year period - no ship names were recorded but the researcher may be able to use the dates and years provided to compare with a list of known ship passages to Canada.

Don't Overlook Almshouse & Poorhouse Records

If you have not yet searched Almshouse records for an elusive ancestor, you're missing out on a great source of information. People were sent to the Almshouse (or Poorhouse) for reasons other than poverty. Children were sometimes sent if they were found living on the streets.

OLIVE TREE GENEALOGY FREE PROJECTS

There are many sources for these records. Several years ago Olive Tree Genealogy transcribed various New York almshouse records. If you have an ancestor who settled in New York City 1819 or earlier, you may want to have a look at the transcribed names in  Alms House Admission Foreigners & Nativity Records with Ships Names 1819( New York City, NY) and New York Almshouse Records 1782-1813

page from the 1855 Almshouse Records New York City

There is a gap and then I found this lovely set of records:  Alms House Admission Foreigners & Nativity Records with Ships Names 1855-1858 (New York City, NY)

Of course as with all records on Olive Tree Genealogy, the three transcribed above are free to view.

PAY TO VIEW RECORDS

Ancestry offers this set of almshouse records for 1830-1920 New York, Census of Inmates in Almshouses and Poorhouses 1830-1920 

FREE POOR LAW UNION RECORDS

A little known set of records are those created in England for the Poor Law Union.  Poor law unions were collections or groups of parishes brought together to administer poor relief. Earlier 'unions' were referred to as 'incorporations' and some of these existed until the 1860s. The Victorian poor law was predicated on the 'workhouse test'. This is where poor relief would be offered via the 'deterrent workhouse', designed to be an institution of last resort.


The records of the Poor Law Commission and the Poor Law Board are in The National Archives. They are not particularly easy to use, as the lists are very uninformative, so any search is likely to be lengthy, but it can be very rewarding. Olive Tree Genealogy has extracted the names of individuals who qualified for passage to Canada from England between the years 1836 to 1853 and in 1871. There is a gap from 1854-1870 inclusive.

See POOR LAW UNION IMMIGRANTS TO CANADA for names of those being sent to Canada so that their home parish would no longer have to support them

Find an Ancestor to Canada in Poor Law Union Records

Are you looking for an ancestor coming to Canada between 1836 and 1853? You may already know that this is a challenging time period in which to find a ships passenger list, as Canada did not archive Canadian ships passenger lists until 1865.

Sample Poor Law Union Record

But there are substitutes, including Olive Tree Genealogy's names of those found in Poor Law Union Records of individuals being sent to Canada from England.

Other substitute immigration records for pre-1865 immigration to Canada include

• Immigrants proceeding to Upper Canada via New York 1817-1819 Index to online Passes for 199 individuals who were issued passes to go from New York to Upper Canada shortly after arriving in the USA  
• Alms House Admission Foreigners & Nativity Records with Ships Names 1819 - 1840 (New York City, New York) includes individuals who had sailed into Canada first
•  Emigrants from England in New York City Almshouse 1818-1830 - 254 names of English immigrants to Canada & USA including the name of the ship they sailed on 
• Ships passenger lists for Peter Robinson Settlers sailing 1825 Ireland to Canada (includes passenger lists and surgeon's logs of the sick and dying, plus 180 Settlers Survey Responses 1823-1825)  
• Passenger Books of J & J Cooke, Shipping Agents with sailings from Londonderry Ireland to Quebec and St. John New Brunswick from 1847 to 1871. 
• Index of Names of Emigrants from the 1845-1847 Records of James Allison, Emigrant Agent at Montreal
• Return of Emigrants Landed at the Port of Kingston Ontario, Canada 1861-1882 gives the final destination of the individuals, their date of arrival at Kingston and more.   

There are many more substitute immigration records listed, with links, at Canadian Ships Passenger Lists Before 1865

Updated! Almshouse (Poorhouse) Admission Records New York

One of the projects I have been working on over at Olive Tree Genealogy is records of Almshouses (poorhouses) and Orphan Homes, in particular for New York. Yesterday I updated the Almshouse Records for New York City.

These New York City Almshouse records are my favorite to work with as they contain details of admitted individuals' immigration to the City. Following are links for admission books from 1782 to 1858 (with gaps from 1840 to 1855). Please note that this is an ongoing project and not all records have been transcribed. These records are free for all to search, as are all record sets on Olive Tree Genealogy.

New York Almshouse 1782-1813 Surnames "A" | Surnames B | Surnames C. Records contain name of ancestor, date admitted, age, where from or born, complaint [illness], discharged, died, remarks.

Almshouse Records New York 1819-1840. These records contain Date of Admission; Foreigner (Surname); Foreigner (First Name); Age; Place of Birth; Vessel Name; Where From

Almshouse Records New York City 1855-1858. These records contain Date of Admission, Name, Age, Nativity, Time of Arrival, Port Sailed From, Port Arrived At, Ship, Captain, Married or Single, Who Can Identify Them, How Many Times on The Island, Remarks

Photo: Randall's Island House of Refuge, New York

Ask and Ye Might Receive!

Have you ever hit that proverbial brick wall and wondered where to look next for a reclusive ancestor? Often we genealogists find ourselves stuck because the records we want are in another country and we aren't sure how to access them.. or  if they even exist!

Don't overlook asking Libraries, Archives and Museums for help. My husband's ancestor Michael Jackson (yes truly that is his name) lived in Nenagh, Tipperary Ireland. Finding details on him or his family have been challenging! 

Marriage Michael Jackson & Mary Moynahan 1835

What I had found in my research was that Michael married a woman named Mary Moynahan (Minihan) on 14 February 1835 in Monsea Parish, Tipperary. I found the christening records of three children in the online Catholic Parish Registers at the National Library of Ireland. I also found instances of Michael and a man I believe is Mary Moynahan's brother in  Parish Poor Law Union Records for Loughnora, which is where the two families lived. 

4 February 1847: Rate for the Relief of the Poor of Nenagh Union: Michael Minihan"  house and land, Sarah Minihan, Michael Jackson 

But I wanted details! After a search of various websites to find out where these records might be held, I learned from the National Archives of Ireland that the Tipperary Public Library had the Rate Books. An hour on their website didn't yield any information that led me to believe they offered any research services, and I could not find a working email address. 

Since I'm not one to give up, I ended up "creating" a few email addresses based on their domain name tipperarylibraries.ie. Most websites have an admin address and other standard ones such as "info".  So I wrote to info@tipperarylibraries.ie and a few others I thought might work. None bounced back so that seemed successful. Of course whether or not anyone would respond was another matter. I kept my email request concise but provided necessary details, offered to pay for research services and requested assistance.

To my surprise and delight, early this morning I received a lovely email from a woman who is part of a Tipperary Studies project. I guess one of my emails was forwarded to her. She took quite a bit of time to research all the Rate books on my behalf, as well as gravestone inscriptions and prison records. She also provided a link to a subscription Irish Newspaper site where I could search for the individuals in question. 

What a lovely surprise that was! I now have more details on Michael Jackson and his possible brother-in-law Michael Minihan. 

So never hesitate to ask.  Offer to pay for services, keep your email brief but be sure to give details needed (names, dates, locations), and ask for help with ONE question. You never know - you might get lucky.

I Learned Something New From Who Do You Think You Are?

Who Do You Think You Are? on  TCL  in partnership with Ancestry.com featured Country & Western singer Trisha Yearwood last night.

For me this was a very interesting episode as I learned something quite new. Trisha was given her ancestry back to Samuel Winslett, born in England in 1744 who emigrated to Georgia around 1760.

Notice: Spoiler Alert if you have not watched this episode!

Samuel and one of his brothers (Aside: what happened to the third brother who was part of the deer taking??) were found guilty of killing deer that did not belong to them and sentenced to hanging. They were then reprieved and sent to Georgia as convicts. Samuel's sentence was 14 years and once he arrived in America, he and other convicts were sold at auctions. This blew me away! I knew of convict transportation to Australia, and I knew of indentured servants but I have never read or heard about convict transportation to America.

So I had a look around this morning and found an interesting article about this little-known period of American history.  Convict Transportation to America: Epilogue is part of a series on Convict Transportation to the American colonies. History fascinates me and I plan on reading the entire series today. Then I will purchase the Kindle version of the book Bound with an Iron Chain: The Untold Story of How the British Transported 50,000 Convicts to Colonial America 

Many of my readers know that I'm fascinated with immigration. My first exciting find in genealogy was one of my immigrant ancestors and that set me on a path to discover every immigrant ancestor I have. I'm fascinated with the stories - why did an ancestor immigrate? And what was behind their choice of settlement? What was their journey like? That's why my website Olive Tree Genealogy specializes in Ships Passenger Lists and immigration substitutes.

One of my secondary passions is learning about the lives of those who were impoverished and sent to almshouses, workhouses and poor houses, or removed from their homes in Great Britain and sent to the colonies. I scour little known records such as the Poor Law Union Records to find names and stories of those who were forced from their homes. Many of these "convicts" were sentenced for crimes that involved hunger or poverty and as such I find myself once again caught up in the tragedies.

Do you have a story of a convict ancestor sent to America? I'd love to hear about him or her!

Finding Ancestors on Ships Passenger Lists to Canada Before 1865

Before 1865 Ships Passenger lists on Ships Sailing to Ports in Canada did not have to be archived. It is a challenging time period to find passenger lists! But there ARE alternate records - shipping agent records, emigration agent ledger books, newspaper extracts are only a few

One such set of records are the Irish Canadian Emigration Records, 1823-1849 This database contains various records and reports of Canadian emigration agents James Allison and A.J. Buchanan. Among the various records are some emigration and orphan lists. These lists are searchable by name.

As well, Filling in the Gaps has links to 21 online databases for alternate immigration records for pre-1865 Canada. These include links to immigration officer records, steamship sailings up the St. Lawrence River, Custom House Passenger Lists, J J Cooke Shipping Agent Records, Poor Law Union Immigration from England and more. 

Many of these links are to Olive Tree Genealogy free projects. Some are to free websites not associated with Olive Tree Genealogy and a few are pay-to-view databases on other sites. 

If you  are stuck looking for your ancestors on a ships list arriving in Canada before 1865 you should take a look at Filling in the Gaps

NEW! Poor Law Union Immigrants to Canada 1836-1871 ONLINE

For the past six months Olive Tree Genealogy has been working on a new project to reconstruct names of passengers on ships sailing from England to Canada before 1865.

I'm pleased to announce that 23 ships with the names of pauper immigrants sent from England sent by the Poor Law Union to Canada between 1836 and 1853 are now online and freely searchable.

The Poor Law Union Act of 1834 was responsible for determining if impoverished individuals and their families were to be sent to the Workhouse, supported by their parishes, or given passage to a British colony such as Canada, New Zealand and Australia. 

As well as the newly reconstructed ships passenger lists, there are hundreds of immigrant names listed by year from 1836 to 1871. The yearly lists are individuals who were offered passage on board ships sailing to Canada, but the specific ships each sailed on are not named.

There are no comprehensive ships passenger lists of immigrants arriving in Canada prior to 1865. Until that year, shipping companies were not required by the government to keep their passenger manifests. This reconstructed set of passenger lists and emigrants by year is a valuable tool for those genealogists whose ancestors left England for Canada in this time period.

Please take a few minutes to have a look at POOR LAW UNION IMMIGRANTS TO CANADA

You can also consult the other projects for ships passenger lists to Canada before 1865 at Filling in the Gaps

This new project consists of names extracted from the Poor Law Union records. More information and details on individuals can often be found by using the reference sources given on each page, and sending a request to National Archives UK. 

I have also included bits and pieces of extraneous detail that helps us understand the plight of these impoverished people. For example the ship Albion sailed to Quebec in 1836. Included in the Poor Law Union correspondence is a lengthy and interesting description of the passengers being held for 24 hours on arrival in Quebec. It seems the master of the ship did not receive his money (poll tax) from the Poor Law Union. So he demanded it from the passengers, who could not pay. This resulted in him imprisoning them on board until they were ordered released.

Hopefully you will find an ancestor or two in this new, never before published, lists!