Introduction: What can we learn from these five microhistories? -- Overseer of the poor: How William Larned spent public funds on the needy -- Warned out: How Cuff Roberts was banished by poor law officials -- Healthcare for the poor: How "One-Eyed" Sarah saved paupers' lives -- Hard-working single mother: Lydia Bates and poor relief in a small town -- Stuck in the poorhouse: William Fales and the experience of institutionalization -- Epilogue: What can we learn from these five lives?
Summary:
"The year George Washington was finishing his first term as president, 1792, William Larned was beginning his first term as overseer of the poor for Providence, Rhode Island. Larned would be re-elected for another thirty-five one-year terms and arguably exercised more authority over locals than any president could. Larned's long career in this little-known but powerful local government position illustrates several aspects of early American poor laws. Overseers of the poor could be life-savers to locals in need. They could also upend lives, forcing families out of town. They controlled the largest portion of local tax dollars, which dwarfed state and federal tax levies from the individual taxpayer's perspective. Overseers used these tax dollars to provide food, housing, healthcare, and other necessaries to people in need. An ancillary benefit was that these dollars also buoyed the incomes of local government relief contractors"-- Provided by publisher.
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