Temperance Times, Children's Home, and more!

It is a beautiful Sunday in our neck of the woods and we see a couple of
crocus and a snowdrop blooming outside. We have indoor iris (Twelve
Apostle plants) that are blooming profusely. And the blossom is so
sweet. The Amaryllis are not doing as well this year for whatever
reason but we do have some in bloom. I am thinking that they will bloom
in the garden this summer and then we won't have any next winter.
Well, as in all things, there are good times and there are bad.

The old mid to late 1800's newspapers have lots of articles about
Temperance as it was a time when there was a big push on to do away with
intoxicating liquors. They would make some headway and then it would go
back to the way it was. I think that because most of the medicines in
that day were some form of alcohol or had addicting drugs in them, that
it was not going to be possible to stop some people from wanting or
liking liquor. And lets face it, times were hard, people worked hard,
and there wasn't much in the way of relaxation and enjoyment to be
had. People could get a prescription for alcohol from a doctor and go
to the druggist and they would give them the bottle of rum or whiskey or
whatever. Liquor was also sold in secret (until they got caught). ( I
will write more about that at a later time). And like today there were
always people who would get drunk and beat their wives, children, or
lacking that they just spent most of the money they did earn and their
families would go without food, etc. They would get picked up for being
drunk and usually ended up going to Brooklyn jail as they did not have
the money to pay the fine and costs. Many accidents occurred and in
many of them liquor was involved and so rum became known as "demon
rum." Murders were committed in some cases because of liquor.
Families suffered terribly from this and their are some sad cases
reported where the children were walking around in the streets without
warm clothes, unkempt and dirty. Many were taken away and put in the
Windham County Temporary Home for Children in Putnam. Of course, that
was not the only reason children were put in the home. If they lost
both parents, or even one, and there was no one to care for them, it was
better to be sent to the home than to end up on the street. Many were
adopted or family situations improved and they went back home. Others
were not so lucky and stayed in the home till they were of age and able
to care for themselves. What the conditions were like I cannot say as
the records don't tell us. I do know that authorities were sent to
check on conditions and they were reported in the paper. And there were
many generous people who contributed to their support in one way or
another and who remembered them at Christmas. But the main objective
was to get those children into good homes. It was not an ideal
situation, but what is? When the home burned down the children were
put into people's homes temporarily and in some cases towns took them
back until another home could be built.

As in all times, there were couples who did not get along. I think
many of them put up with some form of abuse, but in many cases they
didn't. There were divorces (even back in the 1700's) and it got to be
more and more common in the 1860's and on. Reasons: Intemperance,
cruelty, desertion, & more. One of the things that show up in the
papers are Wife Notices. Such as these two in the 16th Sept. 1880
paper. Wife Notice: Whereas my wife, Addie E. Tucker, has left my
bed and board, I forbid all persons harboring or trusting her on my
account after this 15th day of Sept. 1880. W. A. Tucker, E. Killingly.
Wife Notice: I hereby forbid all persons from harboring or
trusting my wife, Mary E. Burdick, on my account, after this date, as
she has left my bed and board without suitable provocation. Alexander
S. Burdick, Plainfield, Ct., 1st Sept. 1880.

In some cases, there were rebuttals published in the paper by the
missing wives. I looked for them in my databases but they didn't come
up. Must be a computer thing!