Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, Volume 3, Number 3, September 1993 Page: 111
[68] p. : ports. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Indigent Care and the County Poor Farm
by Bill Stein
On January 7, 1868, the Police Court of Colorado County voted to pay Fritz
Otell $10 per month for the support of an indigent man named Georg Olbrecht. Olbrecht
thus became the first known individual on the county's pauper list. The county earlier
had made sporadic payments of various types to support paupers, orphans, and
individuals identified as idiots or lunatics,' but had apparently never before provided a
regular stipend for the support of anyone.
Over the next fifteen years, the monthly stipend became the county's
principal method of supporting the poor. An individual could be added to the list of those
receiving such stipends, which became known as the pauper list, if he or a number of
his neighbors declared that he was a pauper and if the police/commissioners court
accepted him as such. Though, of course, there was a stigma attached to inclusion on
the pauper list, from the point of view of the indigent, it must certainly have been more
palatable to appear before the commissioners once and receive automatic monthly
payments thereafter than to appear irregularly and request larger sums of money
whenever they were needed.
By 1883, the pauper list had grown so much that the county was spending
more than $2,000 annually to support its poor. Between 1880 and 1883, 75 different
people were on the county pauper list at one time or another.2 Most of the people who
were on the list were aged. Of the 75 known paupers, only 22 could be definitely
matched to an individual on the 1880 federal census of Colorado County. They were
Isaac Bostick, John K. Coalson, Phoebe Coalson, J. G. Dement, Henry Jones, Lizzie
Jones, Helene Klussmann, Helen Maxwell, Jack McKinney, Carsten Meyer, Margartha
Meyer, John Perkins, Martin Pilger, Mary Preston, Sarah Preston, Helene Schmie-
dekamp, Christian Schomer, Margaretha Steinmetz, Peter Waddell, George Walker,
Sylvia Walker, and Speaker Wynn.3 Eleven of these were men, eleven women. Twelve
were white, ten black. Half of them were at least 70 years old in 1880, three others were
in their sixties. Five of the women, J. G. Dement, Helen Maxwell, Sarah Preston, Helen
Schmiedekamp, and Margaretha Steinmetz, were widows in their thirties. Steinmetz,
who is described as a "helpless sick woman" in the commissioners court minutes, had
just one dependant child, the others at least four. Sarah Preston was blind, and her oldest
child, Mary, who was 14 in 1880, was also on the pauper list. Only two individuals,
Schomer, a 45 year old (in 1880) white male, and Waddell, a 50 year old black male,
had no obvious reason to be on the pauper list.
1 For instance, during the previous year the court had approved payment of $100 to Toney Morgan
for "taking care of Peggy Morgan an idiot, f. w. c. [free woman of color] for the year commencing March 1st
1867" (see Police Court Minutes 1862-1876, Office of the County Clerk, Colorado County, Texas, p. 91), two
payments for the support of an orphan named Bradley (pp. 99 and 100), another "for a sum sufficient for the
purpose" to care for "the Idiot Negro girl Harriet" (p. 102), a $10 payment to Ann Guy "for one month board
of Blind woman" (p. 103), and a direct payment of $35 to Frank f. m. c. [free man of color] "for his maintenance
and support" (p. 100).
2 Yet when the 1880 federal census was taken, only thirteen people were included on the pauper
schedules.
3 The commissioners court records often gave some detail that helped identify people admitted to
the pauper list. For instance, the records provide the information that the Coalsons, the Jones', the Meyers,
and the Walkers were married to each other. It was only by this clue that the Jones' and the Walkers could
be positively identified.111
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Nesbitt Memorial Library. Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, Volume 3, Number 3, September 1993, periodical, September 1993; Columbus, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth151389/m1/3/?q=nesbitt%20memorial%20library%20journal: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Nesbitt Memorial Library.