Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1876-10-14
WIDOWS FOR SALE.
widow Selling i'm Old Times.

Widow Selling i'm Old Times.
From the New York Evening Post.
The thoughts of the people of Ware
ham. Mass, 100 years ago, were occupied
mainly by the war and the widows. The
war they did not bring Oh; the willows
were an inheritance. The people were
ready to adopt the sentiments of the
town of Boston about the war, and tax
| themselves in mel aud mOney-tO carry it
through. The widows of Wareham were
not war widows. They were = domestic
product that lad to be annually market
ell. Although the most troublesome of
| them first called upon the town treasury
when the war began. AMI dropped out of
sight when peace came, the widow Lowell
was not the first nor the last of her kind.
Before her was Jane Bump; and the
selectmen of 1747. being sorely perplexed
''tOjdO something for Geen BUMP" as
the town clerk. Bishup. records it paid to
Philip Bump el2 for keeping her year.
Then, i'm l754, there appeared 1.-THE Will
| Ow Reliance Bumpus, :; who placed her
whole reliance upon the town treasury.
Bishupv says that, ''when the ovota-
BILE Inhabitants had convened rim his
Majesty's name," September "a. 1854,
John Bumpus We Sd came into We meet
! ing and Maid We offer that he wonld keep
ye Wd. Reliance Bumpus one year Kun
ing tor six pounds thirteen shillings and
foure pence Lawful money, and We Mod
orator Put it to vote to know We minds of
We town whether they were willing to al
low We sd. JnO. Bumpus We 81 the money
! he asked to keep ye aforesaid widow a
year and we vote Past i'm the Affarma-
tive
Thus the widows Bump and Bumpus
got into history. In 1853 they were
joined by Jane George, tor keeping of
whom a year the selectmen paid Sala-
thiel Bumpus 16 shillings. 1t must not
be inferred that all the Inhabitants of the
town were either Bumps or Bumpuses,
although it must be noted that MIR.
| Bump or Mr.. Bumpus was always OH
hand TO bid off widow at the expense
of the town. Perhaps there was money
init" In ITO the market price of the
widows had become uniform at 93 each.
The keeping of them probably became
so profitable i'm money and services re-
ceived, us 20 induce the town to vote, as
it did i'll january, l774 mot to build a
IpoOrhouse.' a new plan for dispOsing
of the widows was then adopted. The
town started IL pauper traffic by selling
the poor annually lat vcndue." and it
continued this business during many
years.
In january, l77G, 1.-The widow Lowell was
added to the annual liss, and ut avendue
the said Widow Lowell was struck OFF TO
Josiah Stevens for to keep one year for
the sum of go 6S. and if she did not live
t'.e year ia he to have i'm that proper
tom" The Widow Lovell's disposition
was migratory. Although sold and
h. NJ hn hnx orr
seems To have considered her poor bar
gain, literally. for i'm Il few months JOSH
TIA Briggs had her in his house, and also
| had bill of el4 against the town for
! keeping and clothing her. She became
AN expensive property to the town. After
she had been hawked from pillar to post,
her value rising 1T every call for bid.
she was, on the 18th of January, 1776,
'.vendued to see who would board her.
and struck off to Isaac Slavery ut 70 l4S
per week, the town to provide her with
clothing and pay her doctors bill" In
June, 1850, the price of the Widow Low
ell haG risen to SO 1Ss per week, when
jeremiah Bump tried her. He gave her
ND i'm September, and Seth Witherell bid
her off at $47 per week.
In 1871 the widow market fell. Mis-
tress Lowell brought only 81 hard dollar
week. while Jane George was taken at
SIG per wear, and the Widow Chubbacx
ut $2S. In 1882 the town voted to buy
the Widow Lowell IL shirt" She was
then "set up" as usual, and, after various
sales. her death is 1T last discovered in
these words of the town record OF Sep
TENDER, 1884: ssVOted for winding sheet
and SHIFT for the Widow Lowell, s shil-
lings.
But Jane George lived on, and out
/ lived all who had been her cOtempOra-
ries. Through nearly two genei atiOns
the standing inquiry among the farmers
was, ..Who's going to buy George?" 1t
passed into saying, and thus, 9. By
George!' became the town eXpletive.
In 1906 she was sold for $5S %. She be-
gan to be one of the towns poor in 1853,
and was set up ut velidue for the last
time i'm 1908.
The town was pleased with the bust
ness and persistently voted mot to build
pOOrhOuse" OH every occasion when it
was proposed. The widows gradually
increased i'm number, and they were sold
to the lowest bidder, every year, without
any expression of sentiment. Thus. in
December, 1905, it was voted to vendue
the "widOw of the late Jonathan Perry
| and child. and also two more of the
Youngest children. and also one cow and
heifer.'' In this way children were some
times rated with cattle. and separated
from their mothers. pa'it r. tt'1
In 1923, it was voted to put up the
poor i'm lump, or together, and if they
will not 90 So lower altogether, why then
they are to go separately" But this
plan did not succeed, and the sale of wild
ows i'm 1924 is thus recorded april 9TH.
1924. The poor of the town was then
set up to be kept one year, and their
clothing to be kept in repair or to be re-
turned as they now are" Sales: Mary
Nye, $3S; Ada Bumpus, SIS 80; Salome
Bumpus, $17; Mary Bumpus, $42 20;
Lydia Bumpus, $24 80; W'd Long, $29
so; Lois Chubbuck, S37; Merna Hatha-
way, $3S so; Mary Burrows, $43.
This method of disposing of the towns.
poor may have been good one under
the circumstances of the times. But it
was accompanied by some acts which
must be considered as scandalous to any
community that favored them, and which
tended to destroy all family affection.
For example, in 1898, Rowland Sturte-
want was paid by the town '.for keeping
his brOtherr' In 1906 William Pierce
was paid by the town $50 '.fOr keeping
his mother" and IS 0S ''fOr supplying
his fathers" and the town also voted to
give this man $3.50, for which he prom
ised to support his mother during his
natural life!" Even as late AS 1922 the
town voted to give one Slavery $25 year
to pay him for supporting his own sister
and his own mother! -ogc3-s
Such things show that some of the
blood in those days was a good deal thin