Was this how it really was?!? SERIOUSLY?!?
“There shall be poorhouses erected and built in each of the counties of this State. * * * The said trustees are authorized to contract with workmen to build in the plainest and most substantial style, good, strong, sufficient and convenient houses for the reception of the poor of said counties. * * * Any two of the Trustees or any two Justices of the Peace are authorized to bind out as apprentices to trades all orphan children likely to become chargeable to the County. * * * Every poor person received into either of the poorhouses aforesaid, shall wear on his or her left arm, made of red cloth, in Roman characters, the letters P. N. for New Castle County ; P. K. for Kent County ; and P. S. for Sussex County."
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It is sad that the poor were labeled. I know that people dreaded going to the poorhouse/workhouse. My third great grandmother and her sister were "adopted out" to work in hotels in Michigan. I have researched the families that took them in, and I hope that these Christian families were good to them. I hope that these girls were treated as family members. I recognize that families often required the labor of children to survive. These girls didn't have much of an alternative when they were 9-11 years old, so I choose to be glad that they didn't have to stay in the poorhouse after they were abandoned by their parents.
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I feel so bad for these people. I can’t imagine what they went through. And the poor children 😔 I cant imagine. But on a lighter note, lol I’d love to know how they got these kids to do all this work! I can’t even get my kids to make their beds without having to ask nicely 900 times, beg, plead, bribe, etc etc 🤣
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