Connecticut Paupers 1844 – 1907

Index to Town Claims to the Connecticut State Comptroller for payment for care of State Paupers, 1844-1907

In February of 1846, the Connecticut State Comptroller, Abijah Carrington received an urgent letter from the selectmen of the Town of Newtown. They were seeking to inform the Comptroller that a transient individual by the name of Ephriam Rixon had appeared in that community seven weeks earlier and had applied for town assistance. As a result, the town had supported Mr. Rixon since that time. The Selectmen of Newtown were putting Mr. Carrington on notice as State Comptroller that they would be requesting that the State of Connecticut be held liable financially for the care and support for Mr. Rixon as provided by Connecticut state law.

This simple document not only served a necessary bureaucratic function but highlighted the life of an individual in need. From this single, short, primary source document we learn that Ephriam Rixon was from Sweden and about seventy years of age in 1846. Further, it indicates that he came to this country some forty years earlier (circa 1806) and had never established himself as a resident of a single community. Such information holds great value to local historians and family genealogists researching people from all social and economic backgrounds. This document also provides important information on the migration patterns of people in Connecticut and beyond during the 19th century.

This item is one of thousands of such documents found in the Connecticut State Archives as part of archival record group (RG) # 008, Records of the Connecticut State Comptroller, Town Claims for State Paupers, 1844-1920. These documents detail the lives of individuals, or whole families, facing an uncertain future in Connecticut during a time of great economic and social upheaval.

Personal information such as individual names, ages, place of prior origin (whether another Connecticut municipality, state or foreign country), time spent in Connecticut along with other migration patterns such as entry into the United States and movement in the country as well as the specific cause or need for support may be included. Destitution, illness, accidents, childbirth or burial fees, and costs for passage home are just a few of the possible support details listed on these documents which may shed light on the plight of individuals and families during that time.

To bring to light these individual’s stories and provide better access to these underutilized records, the staff of the Connecticut State Library has created an index to much of these records covering the 1844 to June of 1907 time-period and encompassing thousands of documents and over 11,500 database entries.

This index includes the individual’s surname and given name, Connecticut city or town submitting the letter to the State Comptroller, date of letter, remarks of note document, as well as the citation of where the original item was found in the State Comptroller records in the Connecticut State Archives.

People may request a copy of the letter by contacting the History & Genealogy Unit staff by telephone (860) 757-6580 or by email. The request should include the name of the individual, Connecticut location, date of original letter, and the specific archival box and folder citation as provided in the database. Please understand that some records may be extremely fragile and may not be able to be reproduced or read with ease.

For more information about records of the Connecticut State Comptroller stored at the Connecticut State Library, please see a scanned copy of the old finding aid to this collection at:
<a href="https://libguides.ctstatelibrary.org/ld.php?content_id=76679657">Records of the Connecticut State Comptroller, 1758-1954</a>.

<strong>Terminology Disclaimer</strong>

Please be advised that some of the terminology used in the original resource documents–particularly those created in previous eras–contain descriptions for ancestral, racial, ethn

Tags: csl, ct-state-library, paupers, poverty, state-comptroller
Organization: State of Connecticut