Wilfrid Laurier University’s Social Innovation Research Group launches a website today that sheds light on the everyday life and struggles of poorhouse residents — the indigent, elderly and people living with mental and physical impairments who were unable to support themselves or be supported by their families.
The website, Waterloo County House of Industry and Refuge, is terrific resource for genealogists in Canada, especially in Ontario, and even in the United States because it provides information about poverty and social status in the 19th century with links to many other sources.
The creators of the website “seek to reveal the stories, experiences and perspectives of residents, staff and community leaders associated with the House.”
The House of Industry and Refuge was one of the first institutions built, financed, and governed by Waterloo County and was one of the first municipally funded poorhouses in Ontario to admit an inmate. The House was located in the village of Berlin, Ontario; renamed Kitchener in 1916.
Poverty
Genealogists, historians, and students will be drawn to the section, A People’s History: Poverty in Ontario, that includes several sub-sections, such as Children, Disability, Immigration, Labour, Old Age, Race, Sickness, Social Policy, and Women.
Women
The sub-section, Women, looks at the social policy surrounding women in the 19th century and how that affected their entry, their roles, and their treatment within the poorhouse. Within this sub-section are even more subsets: Working Women, Women’s Rights, Women’s Role at the Poorhouse, Motherhood, Spinsters, Women’s Fight for Equality.
A paragraph on the stigma of being an unmarried woman in the 1800s help us understand how society viewed some of our ancestors. “Being a spinster at an older age meant you were a burden on society, not helping to expand the population or take care of the men.”
Rules and regulations
Of course, poorhouses had rules. Among the Rules and Regulations for the House is number 15 that states inmates are required to take a tub bath once every two weeks.
Lots of good info
This is a well-designed website, chock full of content. Although created by academics, it has been written for the average person to understand. Sources are provided for much of the information.
