Thursday, NOVEMBER 4, 2021 AT 7 PM – 9 PMPoor Houses and Town Farms: The Hard Row for Paupers
A New Hampshire Humanities event hosted by:
Haverhill, NH Conservation Commission Online Event
Click here to register on Zoom: https://zoom.us/meeting/
Former NH Commissioner of Agriculture, Steve Taylor will be presenting on the topic of the rural poor farms that once existed in the Upper Valley.
From its earliest settlements, New Hampshire has struggled with issues surrounding the treatment of its poor. The early Northeastern colonies followed the lead of England’s 1601 Poor Law, which imposed compulsory taxes for maintenance of the poor but made no distinction between the “vagrant, vicious poor” and the helpless, and honest poor. This confusion persisted for generations and led directly to the establishment in most of the state’s towns of almshouses and poor farms and, later, county institutions which would collectively come to form a dark chapter in New Hampshire history. Steve Taylor will examine how paupers were treated in these facilities and how reformers eventually succeeded in closing them down.
New Hampshire Humanities programs are made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Click here to register on Zoom: https://zoom.us/meeting/
We hope to see you there,
conservation@haverhill-nh.com
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