Health & Fitness
A Little Bit of History
Our County took care of the poor who were unable to totally care for themselves. Many were women with children. Some were sick. They also were cared for including death and burial.
Once upon a time in Fairfax County, there were people who provided for the "poor", whether those who were just able to keep themselves going and those who could not at all. Fairfax County had a poor farm. But then again, while driving around Virginia I have come upon signs "Poor House Road." They don't exist any more. There is another system to provide help. The last of them was "Birmingham Green" in Manassas. Their final role was to be a home for Fairfax and Prince William Counties. Now, they are a retirement home.
For those who needed help, they could take a piece of script to certain stores and buy food and coffee/tea and canned goods, shoes, yard goods to make clothes for themselves, and I suppose for others. Some made things for others and thereby were paid in some way for the items. Some put themselves to work for the local part of the county. a pair of woman's shoes was about $2.50 cents.
The county was told who was on the role of "in need" and provided the script for a certain amount, according to how many in the family and whether there were children in the family. Generally those in need would show up on a specific day. From past experience, the storekeeper would know what they were getting. No tobacco and certainly no alcoholic drinks. In some cases, children would come to get their mother's supplies. In some cases a neighbor. Most of the people were illiterate, no surprise there. If the doctor was needed, the word would get to him and he would go to the person and tend as needed. He also was paid. In his case, he turned in a paper detailing what he did, or maybe would continue to do for the person. At the death of the person, the county would direct someone to collect the body, dig the grave and bury the person. The grave site may or may not have been at the poor house.
Later, the Board of Supervisors decided they wanted to know all this history and directed the Fairfax County Archives to list all of this information. As one of the volunteers on the project, we started with the earliest files and script that we could locate. As I remember, the earliest files were about 1840 or maybe a little earlier and finally disappeared just about the early part of the 1930s (if I remember correctly).
The storekeeper kept monthly files and turned them in along with a total record of everything spent. The county then did their part in putting the files together and I suppose used them to budget for the coming year. What we did as volunteers for the Archives took two years plus. The county decided to quit the history and it is now dead. The people's names became real people to me. We felt that we truly were doing something that is a very real part of our past. We looked for them as we listed who went to what store and what they bought. Lots of lard, I do remember that. The county leaders met to go over what was spent and set up each year's budget. The files themselves were carefully stored in safe, archival plastic sleeves and then in special boxes. It is good to know that our past is not thrown away.
