Seventeen microfilm reels of inmate registration certificates for public almshouses and poorhouses are the latest addition to historical information at the Cattaraugus County Museum.
The data covers Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie and Wyoming counties from 1875 to 1920. The records are not complete. There are gaps of one or more years in each county.
During the mid-1870s, states created State Boards of Charities to deal with matters concerning the poor.
New York state required an annual census of persons housed in county and state alms or poorhouses.
The records are arranged in admissions date order or by inmate record number. Sometimes the record numbers appear out of sequence due to readmission of the individual or reuse of the number. At this time, there is no index of names.
Some of the information included on the certificates is: sex, age, color, marital status, birthplace, inmate education, children, parental information, occupation, siblings, what labor inmate can perform and disabilities or inappropriate habits.
General information concerning poorhouses is available online at www.poorhousestory.com. There is also an article in the May/June 2006 issue of “Everton’s Genealogical Helper.”
The records were purchased through the New York State Archives, Series A1978 Certificates of Poorhouse Registration. Requests for the reels may also be made through local libraries’ inner-library loan program.
The Cattaraugus County Museum is located in the Stone House, 9824 Route 16, Machias.
Hours of operation are Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Stone House is the only remaining building of the Cattaraugus County Poorhouse.