Historical sketch for the fiftieth anniversary

HISTORICAL SKETCH: NEW HAVEN ORPHAN ASYLUM (1883)

Author: H. M. Packard. Printed by O. A. Dorman, New Haven.
Occasion: Semi-centennial, February 26, 1883.
Source: https://archive.org/details/1883HistoricalSketchOfTheNewHavenConnecticutOrphanAsylumCT

TRANSCRIPTION NOTE: This is the source-provided OCR with repeated whitespace normalized for readability. OCR errors and original historical language remain. Verify quotations, names and numbers against the scanned PDF. It is not an individual death register.

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Monday Evening, Feb. 26th, 1883.

Press of 0. A. Dorman , Manufacturing Stationer, 196 Chapel Street, New Haven, Conn .

§33

1883

PROGRAMME.

Anthem.

Reading of Scripture,

Rev. Mr. Lines

Singing,

“ Wake a song of gladness,

Wake a song of praise.”

Choir and Children

Prayer,

Rev. Dr. H awes

Singing,

“ Open the door.”

Children

Historical Sketch.

Hymn 457,

Address,

Address,

doxology.

Congregation

Prof. Northrop

Rev. Dr. Todd

Benediction.

Historical Sketch.

In February, 1833, fifty years ago, New Haven was not the large
and bustling city it now is. Its population numbered but little
over 10,000, instead of the present 60 or 70,000. Everybody knew
where everybody lived; a city directory had not been dreamed of.
There was a daily mail from New York, but it came by stage and
was not to be confidently relied upon by gentlemen eager for
Webster’s or Calhoun’s last speech in Congress. Perhaps this
February was a month of heavy snows, certainly the Connecticut
Herald, issued on the 26th day of it, contains two items that look
that way, viz: that the New York stage had not come through for
four days, and the stage for Hartford had upset a mile from New
Haven. This very Connecticut Herald was only a weekly. In
these days there were still chatty breakfast tables; master and
mistress were their own autocrats, and were not silenced or domi¬
nated by the morning paper, as at present.

Our Orphan Asylum was started in a pleasant, human sort of a
way. The first public intimation of it is a notice in the Connecti¬
cut Herald, of Feb. 18th, of “A meeting held with a view to en¬
courage the establishment of an Orphan Asylum.” Dr. Jonathan
Knight and Dr. Croswell, pastor of Trinity Church, find suddenly
left upon their hands four little orphan children, the youngest only
a few weeks old. The two good men, physicians, one to the body,
the other to the soul, have met at the bedside of the dying mother;
the father had died of cholera a few months before. They cannot
bear to send the children to the Almshouse, so, knowing the ladies
were ready to commence the work, they call a meeting of gentle-

4

men to encourage them in it. Many a talk there must have been
before this, over “ those poor little Daniells children.” Many a
motherly heart must have compassionated them and planned for
them, and now the husbands and fathers step in to pledge their
support to the plans. At the meeting these resolutions were
passed : “ 1st. That this meeting cordially approve of the design

proposed by several ladies of this city, to establish an Asylum
for the protection and education of destitute orphans within the
city, and will most cheerfully unite with them in any measures
calculated to effect this desirable object. 2d. That Messrs.
Silliman, Boardman, Knight, Brewster and Winthrop, be a com¬
mittee to communicate to the ladies alluded to in the preceding
resolutions, the sentiments of this meeting with regard to their be¬
nevolent design, and to co-operate with them in its prosecution.”

The ladies were so effectually encouraged that they met, on Feb.
26th, to organise. They met in Franklin Hall, a large room fre¬
quently used for college festivities, on the second floor of what
had been the stage house and main hotel of New Haven, a long,
white, wooden building, with a gilded bust of Franklin in front,
on the corner of Church and Crown streets, nearly opposite the
present Post Office.

At this meeting a society was formed under the name of “ The
New Haven Female Society, for the relief of Orphans, Half Or¬
phans and Destitute Children.” A constitution, that disagreeable
but necessary thing, was read, and officers chosen. This constitu¬
tion was retained, as originally drawn up by Henry White, Esq.,
until 1874, when it was revised, mainly by our President, Miss
Foster, with great care and pains. It has been rewarding to find
that since the revision it has not only worked well in our own insti¬
tution, but has been helpful to others, who have adopted many of its
provisions and have sent their thanks for its suggestions. The
charter given by the Legislature in 1833 has been amended, or
revised, twice since. The ladies whose names appear in this charter
were as follows: Mrs. Abram Heaton, Mrs. Jonathan Knight, Mrs.
Win. Bristol, Mrs. Francis Winthrop, Mrs. Benj. Silliman, Mrs.

Charles L. Strong, Mrs. Abel Burritt, Mrs. Daniel Whiting, Mrs.
Charles Atwater, Mrs. Henry White, Mrs. Elias Hotchkiss, Mrs.
Eleazer T. Fitch, Mrs. Abigail Hull, Miss Fanny Miller and others.
We can only wish the others had all been named in full. Of this
number only Mrs. Henry White, and Mrs. Whiting, now Mrs.
Brainard, are living. Mrs. Heaton was the first President.

These ladies were given a committee of gentlemen, called “ Ad¬
visers,” to assist them in important decisions. It was not until 1865
that the Legislature, in view of the property acquired by the
institution, constituted this committee a Board of Trustees. I give
the names of those among these Trustees who have held the office

twenty years, or nearly that time:
Wm. W. Boardman.

Dr. Jonathan Knight.

Wm. Fitch.

Benjamin Silliman.

Henry White.

Of course, this by no means includes all the early friends of the
Asylum. Among others who gave to it in 1833 or 1834, we find
the names:

Sidney M. Stone.
Atwater Treat.
R. S. Fellowes.
Abram Heaton.
Wyllis Warner.

Dr. Croswell.

Noah Webster.

Joel Root.

Amos Townsend.
Thaddeus Sherman.
Elihu Sanford.
Abram Bishop.

S. B. Chittenden.
Prof. Woolsey.
Titus Street.

James Brewster.

Col. Trumbull.

Sam’l St. John.
John Anketell.

M. G. Elliot.

J. Forbes and Son.
Asa Bradley.
Deacon Geo. Smith.
Alfred Daggett.
Aaron Skinner.
Timothy Bishop.
Dr. Hunt.

The constitution and the officers were excellent things for the
children, but next to them must be a house. So seems Dr. Knight
to have thought, for we next find him buying a cottage on Grove
St., near Church, the one occupied not long ago by the Misses

6

Churchill’s school, and immediately renting it to the ladies at $80
a year. It did not take long to furnish this little Grove St. house;
the hearts of its friends were big and it was not. The first quilting
party held in its parlor is still remembered, and how it was laugh¬
ingly moved and carried that each lady should write her name on
a square of their first Asylum quilt. By the first week in May, the
Paniells children, who had been scattered among friendly families,
were brought together under its roof. Three new children, from
the Almshouse, were also brought in, but the young matron, Miss
Amelia Goodyear, aged twenty-four, was quite able to look after
them all, at the salary, as it was called, of $75 for the first year.

The Asylum has been blessed in its matrons; there have been
but seven in all: — Miss Goodyear, Miss Colburn, Miss Bush, Miss
Williams, Mrs. Curtis, Mrs. Bardwell, and Mrs. Kingsley, who
has been with us longest of all. They have all been women who
loved the work and did it well, making the children both love
and respect them, and regretted at their departure by children and
managers.

But to return. At the end of this first year it is thought best to
buy the Grove St. house. The Secretary wisely remarks at the
close of her first report: “The location is as good as could possibly
be selected, being retired and yet convenient to the city, and the
lot (65 ft. front and 200 ft. deep) is sufficiently large for building
any additions that will ever be required.” The purchase was effec¬
ted in 1835, the price paid being $1125.00. This was the day of
small things. It was perhaps easier to be personally interested
when one could run in any time at the little Asylum around the
corner, and could know each child by name; when Dr. Knight
could send in the milk from his cotv, and Mrs. Baldwin and Mrs.
Prichard, and the other kind ladies, could rummage out from their
attics what would just fit into this corner, or that space, in the
needy little building. Your historian never knew most of these
kind, good people, but in collecting the records of their work she
is constantly reminded that it seemed very small in their own eyes;
they did not realize that in each little gift they were helping on a

7

work which should endure so long as this city endures; that the
hours and strength, snatched for this from their busy days, had a
stronger flavor of immortality about them than the rest, for their
influence would surely reach out over many generations. When
in 1835 Mr. Heaton sent a Christmas dinner to the fifteen children
in whom his wife was so much interested, did he fancy for a mo¬
ment that he should go on doing that, and his daughter, Mrs. Rob¬
ertson, after him, to this very winter of 1882-3 ? And yet that is
a very poor, matter-of-fact way of putting it; did he think he was
fostering an undying charity, was only standing among the first
in an innumerable, unending procession of earnest workers ?

It may be interesting to know what it cost to support a child at
this time, when potatoes were 60 cts. a bushel, whale-oil $1.12-J
a gallon, and eggs 12 cts. a dozen. While the number was small
it cost $1.00 a week; as it grew the cost sank to 75 cts. a week.
But there was always difficulty in meeting the expenses. The
first contribution was from the Dorcas Society, the sewing circle of
New Haven, at which small sums, ninepences, quarters and half
dollars, were contributed for the Orphans. In 1836 a united service
was held in one of the principal churches, a sermon preached in be¬
half of orphans and destitute children, and a collection taken,
amounting to $80.61. This united service was continued until 1850,
but the sum raised was never very large, usually less than $100,
rising once to $300, and when in 1850 it was given up and each
church took its separate collection, each one was often as large as
the whole previous contribution.

The encouraging result of this change was most opportune, for
in this very year, 1850, the Secretary, Miss Blake, now Mrs.
McWhorter, says: “All the income to be depended upon is the
$1.00 subscription of 250 ladies.”

In 1 838, during Mrs. James L. Kingsley’s presidency, the Asy
lum family had so increased that it was necessary to buy or
rebuild. So a house was bought in Oak Street, near Asylum, at
an advance of $750 on the price for which the Grove Street home
was sold. This removal taxed all energies. Not only does one of

8

our present managers still remember the exciting hours she spent as
a child, entertaining the children at her own home on the eventful
day, but from it dates the joy of every Asylum child’s and manager’s
heart— Donation Day. It began as a house-warming; an innocent
tea-drinking of ladies and children, with almost unnoticed cash
receipts — the first recorded being $9.00 in 1841. At the monthly
meetings for a year or two before tbe date of this removal, 1838,
and for long after, the ladies sewed on clothes for the children,
who were too many to depend longer on casual supplies. For the
first two years they stayed to tea, the tea being provided by the
two ladies who were visitors for the month, who always took care
to have enough left for the children. It appears, too, that after
this removal a cow had to be bought, now that Dr. Knight’s was
so distant.

Somewhere in these years, our friend Miss M. P. Twining,
entered upon the Asylum work, soon taking the post of treasurer,
whose duties she discharged for thirty-five years, with the most
faithful care, and with that admirable judgment which always
characterized her.

And now came dark days in the history of the Asylum. There
are no records for some years; but in 1844 the Secretary, Miss H.
S. Foster, says: “The receipts have not met our expenses, and our
little fund, $594, has been drawn upon. Our reliable income is
only $300, and we are obliged to conduct affairs on the narrow
principle of ‘ Do as well as you are able,’ not ‘ Do as well as is pos¬
sible.”’ It was in this year that Mrs. R. S. Baldwin raised money
for bringing the well-water to a pump in the kitchen of the Oak
Street house, which then contained twenty-three children. This
was a very grand improvement. In eleven years from this time
the fund had risen to $600, six dollars gain, but there were forty-
eight children in the crowded little house. It was wearing work
to be President of so needy an institution; to be anxious almost
from day to day for bread and clothing, instead of being free
to help on the children with one’s best thoughts and time. After
Mrs. Kingsley’s presidency of eleven years, we have two shorter

9

terms to chronicle, Mrs. Charles Atwater occupying the post
from 1847 to 1850, and Mrs. Tomlinson from 1850 to 1853. It
was found to require almost unlimited time and care, and in 1853
it was taken by one who had both to give, and the consecrated
will to give them — Miss H. S. Foster. More truly a Sister of
Charity than many who bear that name, she has given her life to
this Asylum work, and verily it hath prospered in her hands.

But we have left our story, and at one of its gloomiest crises.
It would he impossible to mention all the friends who were raised
up for the Asylum from time to time; hut the reports of these try¬
ing years are full of gratitude to Dea. George Smith, who helped
along in every possible way — by advice, by encouragement, and
by going about most cheerfully in the ungrateful task of collecting
the means for daily bread, in connection with Messrs. Henry
White, Henry Kingsley, Wm. C. De Forest and other gentlemen.

While all this business worry was pressing, the internal manage¬
ment of the Asylum seems to have been most successful. When
the children were under the exclusive care of one or two, much in
the way of character and intellect was needed in that one or two,
and much seems to have been granted. The school was neces¬
sarily a family school of all ages, but the reports point with pride
to the progress of the children in learning. The town helped in
the school expenses, at first to the amount of #36 yearly, then,
from 1841 to 1849, #50 is acknowledged as School Fund. From
1850 to 1866, the appropriation was #100; but meantime, in 1862,
the schools were taken under the care of the Board of Education,
and the appropriation ceased to be called School Fund, and was
paid as board, at least in part, of those children whom the Town
Agent commits to our care, usually from the Almshouse. In this
form it has gradually increased until in this fiftieth year of Asy¬
lum history, it is #2,000.

It is interesting to glance over the list of occasional donations,
starting from the time of this removal to Gak Street with one of
#495 from a young ladies’ fair. Such fairs occur often in it,
interspersed with such items as “Avails of two little girls’ needle

10

work,” “ F rora some members of the Fire Department,” “ Prof.
Olmstead’s lecture,” “Sale of flowers.” Here comes in a legacy
from Mr. Davenport, a toy dealer, of property at that time worth
$8,000, subject to the life interest of his wife. He said his money
came mostly from children, and it was right it should go hack to
them. Then follows, “Benefit of Panorama of Holy Land,”
“Signor Blitz $50,” and that twice; “Fair held by little girls of
St. Paul’s Church,” “Concerts of Ancient Harmony,” “Tableaux
Yivants at Miss Dutton’s,” “ Chapel Street Sewing Circle,” until
we come to the startling item, “ Orphans’ Fair at Alumni Hall,
$6,384.00” in 1864, and in 1866, “Promenade Concert, $4,023.00.”
But long before this another great donation had been made by
Mr. James Brewster, who, with his friend Mr. Heaton, had been
much interested in this charity from the first. At the Managers’
meeting of March, 1854, a letter from Mr. Brewster was read
offering to build an edifice for the use of the Asylum, on condition
that the town provide the ground, and that the comparatively
small building then in use should be transferred to him. These
easy conditions were of course complied with. Abram Heaton
and E. Iv. Foster were appointed to solicit a lot from the town,
which they did speedily and effectively, for within a month the
deed of gift of the present Asylum site was executed. Mr. Sidney
M. Stone gave his services as architect and supervisor, a gift of
$2,000. Mr. Austin generously offered his assistance, and the
work of building went on rapidly. The Asylum had not hitherto
been a beloved and well-known charity in the town. It had
received four or five legacies, but no large gifts from living men.
Mr. Brewster was a man who had felt it his duty all his life to
devote a certain portion of his income to charity, and had con¬
scientiously carried out his convictions. While still a young man,
from 1825 to 1832, he was associated with the Rev. Claudius Her¬
rick in maintaining a Sunday service at the old Almshouse, which
stood on the lot adjoining the present Asylum premises. He
then saw the crying need of some provision for orphan children,
and made a “ covenant with God ” to do something in the future,

11

as circumstances might warrant. He was led to move in the
matter at this special time by a visit made in company with his
wife, in 1854, to the crowded Oak Street Asylum. He never re¬
gretted the step. It was a constant source of pleasure and thanks¬
giving.

His offer was to erect such a building as the Managers deemed
necessary and convenient. He gave them $200 to use in visiting
other institutions, that tlipy might the better know what they
wanted. One can see how his heart grew into the work. In eight
years he wanted to build a new wing, and did so; and we find him
setting aside $2,000 as a repair fund, making his gifts amount to
$20,000. His friend Mr. Heaton took pleasure in supplementing
these gifts; to him the Asylum owes the laying out, grading and
fencing of its grounds, the introduction of water, an additional
$2,000 of repair fund, a lot in the Cemetery, and other things.
Mayor Skinner presented the 100 evergreen trees which now adorn
and distinguish the Asylum enclosure.

While the walls of the new building were rising, the treasury is
reported as empty, a debt of $280, a family of forty-eight, and it
must have seemed doubtful to those interested how the removal,
with all the attendant expenses, could be effected. But the build¬
ing helped to furnish itself. Visitors came from far and near to see
it, and citizens gave liberally to furnish it, though some of this
money was, by a dire necessity, used for daily expenses; the same
dire necessity that has compelled, nearly every year until the present
one, the use of legacies not expressly appropriated by the testator,
in the same way. The needs of the Asylum at this time made so
deep an impression upon Mr. Joseph E. Sheffield that he presented
it with fifty New Haven and Northampton Railroad shares, from
which he intended that it should have some little regular income,
and he took care, during many years of depression of the stock, to
pay over to the Asylum, from his own purse, the income he had
planned it should receive.

The present Asylum was occupied in 1855, but it was hard to
get the money for living in it. Measles, scarlatina and small-pox

12

invaded the new airy building, and brought expenses with them.
The best nursing was given, witness the one death of these two
years of epidemics, but the treasury was overdrawn to secure and
pay for it. It would be tiresome to record with particularity
these worries about ways and means. But this is, perhaps, the
best place to acknowledge the great and continued indebtedness of
the Asylum to the physicians of the city for their gratuitous ser¬
vices, beginning with Drs. Knight and Tomlinson, and including
Dr. Eli Ives, Dr. Worthington Hooker, Dr. Austin, Drs. Charles
Ives and Buddington, who visited during the prevalence of small¬
pox, Dr. Bishop, Dr. Henry Pierpont, Drs. Foster, Bradley and
Hotchkiss. Dr. Pierpont, our regular physician for the last
twenty years, gave his services for eight years, and would no
doubt have done so longer had not the ladies felt it right to vote
to him some small acknowledgment yearly.

The small-pox epidemic, to which allusion has been made, was
truly “ a time to try men’s souls,” and women’s, too. All the em¬
ployees left in alarm, except the cook and the temporary matron,
who fell ill, though not with the small-pox, and took to her bed.
Dr. Cleveland made an appeal from the pulpit for some lady to
take care of the school, which was responded to by a young lady
visiting in town, a Miss Fanny Graves, from Hatfield, Mass. But
this heroic young stranger could not assume entire charge of the
institution, nor was it asked of her. Miss H. S. Foster took up
her abode at the Asylum, and was assisted part of the time by her
sister, Miss Caroline Foster, and by Mrs. Wm. Fitch. Nurses
were procured from among the Almshouse women, though not
enough for all the care of the sick. None of those who thus
braved the disease were attacked by it.

In 1861-2, when the thoughts of all were turned to the saving
of the country, the fate of the Asylum seemed to tremble in the
balance. The Secretary, Miss E. W. Davenport, writes of the
year just passed: “The uncertainty of a future support saddened
the hearts and unnerved the hands of the Managers; they were
weary of occupying the attitude of paupers when they should be

13

the almoners of an enlarged Christian liberality, and they went
forward in their work, sustained alone by faith in the God of the
poor and fatherless.” This year the thought of possible disso¬
lution pressed hard upon all Asylum friends. Expenses had made
a sudden leap up — not so receipts; and a new class, the children of
soldiers, were beginning to crowd in, and still further add to the
burden. To this point I quote from a note of Miss Foster’s: “It
seems as if I could see the Second Regiment (Col. Terry) march
on to the Green for a leave-taking, and to receive the stand of
elegant flags prepared for them by the ladies; could hear the ten¬
der farewell speeches, in which the men were solemnly promised
that during their absence their families should be kindly cared for.
How I questioned in my mind whether that promise would be ful¬
filled. Little did I imagine at the time what an important part
our financially poor Asylum was to enact in accomplishing the ful¬
filment of that promise, not only for the Second, but also for
every regiment in the State, by securing from the Legislature aid
for indigent families. Another important item is the fact that
through the efforts made in behalf of soldiers’ children the Asy¬
lum was first adopted by the community at large as an institution
to be valued, cherished and liberally supported.”

It may seem strange that such efforts were necessary, since to
Connecticut belongs the honor of maintaining the indigent children
of soldiers during the war more generously than any other State.
But many fathers enlisted in regiments of other States, leaving
their children with no right to the Connecticut bounty, yet these
little ones needed food and shelter, and it fell to the Asylum to
supply their need. In 1864 it was proposed by the ladies of the
city, quite independently of our Managers’ Board, to give a grand
Orphans’ Fair in Alumni Hall. The offer was most gratefully
accepted, with the one stipulation, that there be no raffling. This
seemed to many a very unnecessary bit of strictness, and dismal
results were foretold, but the Fair proved, notwithstanding, a
grand success, netting for the Asylum $6,384.52. The enthusiasm
that fired all hearts, and quickened all feminine fingers the whole

14

North over at that time, and which, in many places, culminated in
the Sanitary Fairs, here in New Haven carried through this effort
for children whose fathers were lighting in the service of their
countiy. It was not entirely a feminine effort, however, by any
means, but received most important aid from Mr. Wm. Fitch, Mr.
R S. Fellowes, Mr. II. O. Hotchkiss, and other gentlemen. This
86,000 seemed a great result, but in two years it was all swallowed
up, and then the gentlemen of the city volunteered a Promenade
Concert, to be conducted on strictly temperance principles. This
was also a success, bringing in over 84,000. Meantime, at the close
of the war, in 1865, the Executive Committee of the “Soldiers’
Rest” had appropriated, unsolicited, the balance of funds in their
hands, 82,121, to the use of the Asylum, and a large amount of
stores had been sent to it by the officers of the Sanitary and Chris¬
tian Commissions. One cannot help seeing the hand of the Lord in
it, as gift after gift pours in. He has inclined the hearts of his peo¬
ple to succor the fatherless, the God of whom he truly is. In 1864-5
Mr. Ezra C. Read, impressed with the precariousness of the Asylum
support, made an effort to raise a permanent fund of 850,000, the
income only to be available for Asylum use. Subscriptions were
to be binding only in case the whole sum was made up. This was
not done, but most of the subscriptions were paid in, so that it
now amounts to about 835,000. It is held by a self-perpetuating
Board of Trustees, quite independent of the Asylum management.
On the other hand, the “General Fund,” as it is called, is in the
hands of the Trustees of the Asylum, and amounts at the present
time to about 840,000.

It is certainly true that nothing makes you feel as much like
giving as (jivinfj, and so it proved in this case. New Haven’s
gifts at Donation Day increased greatly in these years of generous
out-pouring in other ways. It was not until 1873 that Donation
Day blossomed out anew in the “ Solicitation Tour,” which now
brings it to the notice of the city, and culminates in the gay pro¬
cession of loaded wagons with flags and music, and much shouting
from the Asylum children. Mayor Lewis, E. E. Hall and John B.

15

Hotchkiss, were the chief workers in inaugurating this movement,
so important to the very life of the Asylum. Perhaps it is not
generally known how very important this is; it may be thought
that the Asylum is a comparatively rich institution. It certainly
has an income of about §3,500 a year from its various funds, and
the town has paid to it this last year or two §2,000, making §5,500
in all. But it has 130 children to feed and clothe, and the closest
economy will not bring their food, clothing and care below two
dollars per week for each child, which mounts up to §13,500 in a
year. So that it is easy to see how welcome was the §7,333 of last
Donation Day, and how, even after such generosity, legacies may
have to be used, and even the general fund somewhat encroached
upon, to meet the regular expenses. There have been large be¬
quests made to the Asylum, subject to various life interests, which
will probably, in the future, add greatly to its income. Let us
hope that they will not subtract from the love of its friends, but
increase the efficiency of its work.

Now we have spent a good deal of time on the Asylum history,
its originators, its benefactors, its houses, the ups and downs of its
money affairs, and have said little or nothing of its little inhabi¬
tants, the 1600 little reasons for its existence that figure on its
books. Who are they ? How do they come here ? Are they tol¬
erably healthy and happy ? What becomes of them ?

And first, who are they ? Visitors sometimes say, “ These chil¬
dren cannot be from the poorest class.” But we can reply emphat¬
ically that most of them are. There is always a careful investiga¬
tion before receiving a child; there must be, as to receive a child
means to assume, on behalf of the community, an expense of §100
a year for perhaps ten years. Such investigation leads to the
estimate that three-quarters of the poverty thus relieved is caused
by intemperance. We rescue children from what seems a hell upon
earth, sometimes. Often, however, there has been sickness, and
the poor, hard-working mother, who has hitherto kept her flock to¬
gether, can do so no longer; if we can only tide her over this hard
spot she will gladly welcome them home again. Then how glad

16

we are that our charter includes destitute and half-orphan children.
This lending a helping hand to those who are temporarily under a
burden too heavy to bear alone, is one of the pleasantest parts of
our work. But our charter does not allow us to take all orphan
children; they must belong to New Haven before they can belong
to us, and the fact that they all do belong in this town of ours gives
them a claim upon us and makes it our interest, as well as pleasure,
to do well for them. Who was it that said: “Would you do a
truly disinterested act, do it to the little child who can neither un¬
derstand what you do nor make you any return”? I do not know,
but it is a beautiful and true saying, and that is just the kind of act
that we as Christians, or as mere loving human beings, fain would do.
But to us, as towns-people, this other pithy saying comes more for¬
cibly: “For every child gathered into the Asylum and sent out
to a home where it will be taught to lead a useful life, the Jail may
be spared an inmate, the Almshouse a pauper.”

We have told of the process of admitting a child to the Asylum.
In the early days such a child entered immediately into a company
of all ages. In school the little ones must have had to do a great
deal of plain sitting still, if the older ones were to learn anything
from their one teacher. Now the very little ones lead a nursery life,
with a motherly matron all to themselves; and when too old for
that, are helped in pleasant ways over the hard beginnings of learn¬
ing by a teacher devoted to them. This is a greater gain than can
easily be imagined. If a humble older person, deeply impressed
with the importance of the children of the' present day, would like
to feel that older people too have an excuse for being, let him watch
our Asylum children. Their greatest need is more constant con¬
tact with mature minds. If we could subdivide them still farther,
giving a teacher to every ten, instead of to every thirty or forty,
we should send out brighter children. In this way the young la¬
dies, who have taught sewing to the older girls during the last
twenty years, have done good they did not plan. Not only have
they helped on the making of quilts, rag carpet and under-garments,
and unawares set the fashions for many a doll’s outfit; but the

IV

children have heard new words, picked up fresh thoughts, learned
to meet just so many more human beings. In our hospital room
hangs framed a saying of Mrs. Maria Beers Tomlinson, one of our
former Presidents: “What these children most need is sympathy
and love.” One’s heart warms toward the loving woman who felt
this their need so strongly; but they need, beyond this, contact
with more human beings; even unloving ones would be of service
in giving a little knowledge of the world outside. They owe much
to their teachers, who have many of them generously given of their
hard-earned leisure, after school hours were over, to help them on
this social side; letting them have little meetings for games and
chat, or sometimes for prayer. These prayer-meetings are long re¬
membered, and are often mentioned in the children’s letters.

There is a Library at the Asylum, first started in 1 865, by an
“Easter Gift from an unknown Friend” in St. Paul’s Church, $50,
which gift was continued for eleven years. Since then there have
been various gifts for the replenishing of the Library, among
others a legacy from Mrs. W. Hotchkiss, in 1881. There are play¬
rooms for boys and girls in the cellar, whose great advantage lies
in their furnishing to each child a box for its own belongings, in
the way of toys, books, etc. Some of these boxes, by ingenuity,
become baby-houses fit to win the heart of any little girl, rich or
poor. The children’s food is very simple, and evidently suited to
them, as proved not only by their excellent average health, but by
their power to resist epidemics, when they invade the household.
There have been but forty-six deaths among them in the last fifty
years, notwithstanding the fact that diseased and sickly children
are so often brought to the Asylum. They are plainly dressed,
and somewhat uniformly, as that is a great saving of labor, but
there is an effort made to vary the cut and color of their clothes
from year to year, so that they need not feel singular or conspicuous
among the other children in the Sunday school they are so happy
to attend. Their life goes on with little event from week to week.
Their little world has its ambitions, like ours, and distinction in it
is obtained by having one’s name upon the Roll of Honor, to be

18

noticed by all visitors. Then soon after Donation Day there must
be great searchings of heart among them, and longings among the
naughty ones for a chance to live the year over again, for then
are distributed rewards to the best behaved children. Such
rewards were first offered in 1878 by Mr. H. H. Bunnell, the
generous head, for several years, of the Solicitation Committee,
and by Rev. Mr. Pattison. Since then those children who try
hardest either to improve, to do best in scholarship, or to be neat,
have been admitted to the hope of reward through the gifts
of Messrs. H. II. Bunnell, N. D. Sperry, Elias Pierpont, E. S.
Greeley, Geo. II. Ford, and Thomas R. Trowbridge, Jr.

In the summer kind friends sometimes treat the children to a trip
to Savin Rock, or send in the heaps of strawberries that are needed
when so many are to partake. They have learned to count con¬
fidently on Capt. Richard Peck’s summer steamboat excursion, and
we can only hope it does him as much good as it does them. They
have bits of gardens, and plant them with varied crops; but fortu¬
nately do not depend on them for their only taste of summer vege¬
tables, of which the large Asylum garden yields a good sup¬
ply. In autumn comes Donation Day, and Thanksgiving with
its bountiful dinner, provided for several years, in the early
times, by Deacon A. II. Maltby, whom many will remem¬
ber, and in these later years by Mrs. E. A. Mitchell. Deacon
Maltby was perhaps the first offerer of rewards to the children,
promising, in 1839, twelve-and-a-half cents to each child who
should learn the psalm beginning; “Oh Lord, thou hast searched
me and known me.”

Christmas has always been a joyful day with the children. The
dinner has been mentioned, and in it centers a large share of their
anticipations. They usually have a Christmas tree, and often some
pleasant entertainment is arranged for them by kind volunteers.
In the old reports a Christmas fish-pond is sometimes spoken of,
probably taking the place of the tree.

On Sunday, in the old time when the Asylum was in Grove St.,
the matron took the children to Center Church, where they sat up

by the pulpit, and at any uneasiness among them she felt tlie eyes
of the congregation upon her. Dr. Bacon felt their presence, we
may be sure, and was interested in them. He offered prayer at the
second annual meeting of managers, and as the secretary, Mrs.
Whiting, says, “ after leaving the room he quietly slipped in again,
taking a seat near the door, to my great embarrassment, as I had
just commenced reading the report.” He wanted to hear about his
juvenile parishioners.

Then and long after they went to church twice a day, but since
their removal, in 1872, from the Howe St. Church, which they had
long attended, to the North Church, they have left the Asylum but
once in the Sunday, starting early enough for the Sunday school,
and staying through the afternoon service. The kindly welcome
and Christian teachings and helpfulness that have always awaited
them in this church have done them untold good. A morning ser¬
vice is held for them at the Asylum, which was first conducted by
Deacon Amos Townsend for two years, as long as his strength
would allow; and afterwards by Bev. Mr. Whittlesey for seven
years, until ill health obliged' him to call upon some young men
connected with the Y. M. C. A. for assistance. In 1881, one of
these gentlemen, Mr. Clarence Willis, took entire charge of this ser¬
vice, which he has but just relinquished. It has always been much
enjoyed by the children.

So much for the Sunday. But the training of the children in
knowledge of the Bible, in uprightness and in noble thoughts does
not end with this day, but is constantly the aim of the teachers and
matrons. In 1879 there was a quiet, unforced revival among them,
and several who then felt that they became Christians, have since
united with the churches where they live.

We seldom have serious trouble with the children. Once in a
while, (three times in fifty years, perhaps), a feeling of restlessness
will spring up, and perhaps one or two of the older boys try run¬
ning away, or setting fire to something. Summer is the most
restless time; two months with nothing interesting to do. It is then
that we wish for some industrial training for our boys, and for more

20

ease in giving them days in the country and baths in the salt
water.

One event must, one would fancy, be much looked forward to
and dwelt upon by the Asylum child; its going to a place of ser¬
vice. Every now and then one is called from the school-room, per¬
haps never to re-enter it again. One would think it would seem to
them a little like death. It is certainly a new life, but perhaps
they think of it as little as we do of death. Here we touch upon
the most anxious part of Asylum work. If it needs wisdom and
experience to judge rightly in regard to the admission of children,
how much more is required for this first start in their life out in
the world. Our plan is to find them homes when they are about
twelve years of age, with kind, Christian people, where they will be
brought up in good New England ways. We require very full
references, and the child goes at first on trial. If the trial proves
satisfactory to both parties, the child is indentured, usually till it
is eighteen years of age. Our regular system of indenture began
in 1860, and one hundred and six children have been thus placed out.
One hundred and six times have we had occasion to thank the
Judges of Probate for their services, always cheerfully given,
whether in this or in other connections. During the last thirty
years there have been three hundred and fourteen children sent to
service places, six hundred and ten returned to the parent, twenty-
five taken for adoption, six by selectmen of other towns, seventy-
nine by relatives or friends.

We do not mean to leave the children alone with strangers with¬
out making sure of their welfare, and we try to visit them at least
once a year, or to have them visit the Asylum. Many of them re¬
main on wages after the time of indenture has passed, having
grown too fully into the home to easily break away from it. Most
of them are in Connecticut, and there are many little clusters of
them in different towns, twelve in New Milford for example, who
meet at church and in school, and who let us know of each other’s
welfare. After the war eleven children went from the Asylum to
Kansas with New Haven families, friends of our last matron, Mrs.

21

Bardwell, who also went out for a time. Miss Foster, who knew
every child in the Asylum personally, and watched over them with
motherly thoughtfulness, used to grieve over the impossibility of
doing so by this little colony. But a letter recently received
gives most pleasant accounts of the prosperity of most of them.
This was the Mrs. Bardwell who was so earnestly loyal during the
war, and taught the children to pray every night; “God bless the
soldiers, God bless the sailors, God save our country.” She kept
them posted in the progress of the war, where were fighting the
fathers or kinsmen of many of them, and twenty-five or thirty old
Asylum boys; and few of them can ever forget that night of Lee’s
surrender, when she called them from their beds to dress and come
out into the still moonlight, to raise the flag and shout and sing
hymns of praise, while bonfires were blazing and cannon were
booming on the crowded New Haven green.

Friends of the Asylum will wish to know what these children
amount to in after life. We think we may say with truth that
they turn out as well as the same number of children taken from
our rural towns and who are not the children of poverty and vice,
as so many of these are. There are many cases of more than
average respectability among them, young ministers, doctors,
business men, girls very pleasantly married; and many of these of
the most degraded parentage. But we might give great pain by
more particular mention of such cases.

Their letters are often gratifying, not only in the tidings they
bring of advance in all good things, but in the way in which they
ascribe such advance to Asylum training. On general holidays
they like to come “home.” At Christmas, in 1 878, twenty came
to spend the day, and one of them said to the children: “The
Asylum is such a pleasant good home; it is a real home.” One
day the matron heard singing in the parlor, and found the visitors
assembled there singing “ Home, Sweet Home.” Another instance
of the same feeling came under the eye of one of the managers.
It was a young girl who had been unruly and disobedient in the
Asylum; every means, kind and severe, of influence and cor-

22

rection had been tried by the matron, until it was decided to give
it up, and send her away. Yet this girl, sometime after, was evi¬
dently sad, and suddenly broke out: “I don’t see why Mrs.
Kingsley doesn’t write to me. IIow would you like it, not to hear
from home for six months ?”

Now these are very simple little incidents, but upon the feeling
beneath them our Asylum rests its claim to love and respect.
Many an other institution of the kind has finer buildings, finer
grounds, proper laundry-rooms, bathing-rooms, gathering-rooms
for the children, things, some of which we sorely need; but where
will you find one that more truly mothers the orphans it draws to
its loving care ? This spirit of mother-love first started the work
fifty years ago in the little cottage on Grove Street, and has been
its controlling impulse ever since. Let us workers in a later day
never lose it. May the Father above fill us each with it! Then
shall the truest prosperity attend us in the unstunted, unthwarted,
sweetly ripening characters of the children we care for.

We should not close without a special recognition of her to
whom the Asylum owes much of its success. Others have given it
money, many some share of time and thought, but only one has
devoted forty years and more, in various offices, to the conduct of
its affairs, the welfare of its children in small and great things.
To her wisdom and patience arc due thanks and praise from us all.
Those left behind in the work can scarcely get along without her,
and no one of us all can dream of filling her place; indeed, it has
been judged absurd to ask any one to do so until the work had
been reorganized in a way to make that of the President possible
to the average woman. Long may she live, and enjoy the bless¬
ings that her old co-workers and hundreds of children she has
helped call down upon her head.

H. M. Packard.

1833-1883.

Young travelers in untried paths —

Is there no hand to lead them?

Lambs wand’ring far from shelt’ring fold —
No Shepherd nigh to feed them?

Treasures east up by storm and wreck —
Does no one seek, none find them?

Flowers broken rudely from the stem —
Will no one care to bind them?

Ah, then were gentle women’s souls
Filled with a tender yearning

To guide, to help, to seek, to save,

Sorrow to gladness turning.

Soon rose the Home, upreared, sustained
By hearts where pity lingers,

And year by year the latch-string hung
In reach of Children’s fingers.

Year after year, year after year,

Ranks thinning, filling, ever,

Weak hands upheld by faith and love,
“Barrel and cruse” fail never.

Year after year they come, they go,

Each year with changes laden,

And many a sturdy boy departs,

And many a comely maiden.

Not ours to know if Fortune smile,

Or trials sore oppress them ;

We bade them when they left God-speed,
And still we pray, God bless them!

•24

Some reaped reward of honest toil
In quiet country places,

Some sought the city, some strange lands,
Where courage danger faces.

Wheu War’s dark cloud hung low, ere rose
For Peace the glad “ Hosanna!”

On many a field of strife, “ Our Boys”
Upheld the starry banner.

And when the bells, at midnight rung,
Proclaimed the joyful story,

Our children’s hands unfurled the flag, —
They sang, “To God be glory!”

As through the Century’s half closed gate
We peer with eager glances.

Note where the darkest shadows lie,

And where the sunshine dances, —

Behold the long procession pass,

Hear of those years the story,

“ His banner over us” we raise
To whom belongs the glory.

And as Faith greets the Future, while
The Past a moment lingers.

She sees the latcli-string hanging still
In reach of Children’s fingers.

ADDENDA.

A CARD.

In the process of collecting data for the use of our historian,
many additional facts were ascertained; a few of which, refer¬
ring more or less to Asylum history, are here given in the belief
that they may be of interest to the friends of the Institution.
The records of the earlier years are very incomplete — in many
cases wanting entirely — so that there are doubtless many errors
and omissions, both in Sketch and Addenda.

S. E. Champion, Seo'y.

PRESIDENTS.

MRS. PHOEBE M. HEATON, (Abram) - - 1833 to 1836

MRS. LYDIA KINGSLEY, (James L.) - - - 1836 to 1847

MRS. MARY ATWATER, (Charles) - - - 1847 to 1850

MRS. MARIA B. TOMLINSON, (Henry A.) - - 1850 to 1853

MISS HARRIET S. FOSTER, - 1853 to 1882

Miss Foster’s connection with the work began in 1841 as Sec¬
retary.

LEGACIES RECEIVED BY THE ASYLUM.

1837— Mrs. Meritt.

1843 — Elihu Monson.

1845 — Samuel St. John.

1853 — W. & M. Canada.

1856 — Mrs. Mary Ann Clark.

26

1863 — Miss Anna E. Beach.

1863 — Mrs. Maria Atwater.

1863 — Mrs. Admiral Foote.

1864 — William Bostwick.

1866 — Mrs. Maria S. Williams.

1866 — Smith Tuttle.

1866 — William II. Elliott.

1867 — Mrs. Eliiiu Atwater.

1867 — Stephen Bishop.

1868 — M«s. Maria M. Tuttle.

1868 — William Lewis.

1869 — Mrs. J. A. Mine.

1869 — Miss Susan Trowbridge.

1869— Mrs. Abigail S. Salisbury.

1870 — Mrs. Lois Chaplain.

1871 — James W. Goodrich.

1871 — G aius F. Warner.

1872 — Mrs. A. H. Maltby.

1874 — Mrs. Emily II. Patton.

1874 — Mrs. Jane Humphrey.

1874 — Mrs. Arabella Upson.

1874 — Miss Elizabeth C. DeForest.

1874 — Mrs. Emily Baldwin.

1875 — Miss Mary Salisbury.

1877 — Mrs. Eliza P. Treat.

1877 — Miss Saraii J. Thompson.

1877 — Miss Lucy" Starr.

1877 — Morris Tyler.

1878 — Miss Harriet J. Perry.

1878 — George B. Rich.

1878 — Mrs. Ann M. Smith.

1879 — Nelson A. Hotchkiss.

1881 — Miss Lucy Hotchkiss.

1881 — Mrs. Mary A. Hotchkiss.

1882 — Mrs. Elizabeth M. Davies.

27

In only seven years since 1844, have the receipts equaled the
expenses; and the deficiency has been, of necessity, made up from
these legacies which form the General Fund.

These gifts have been in sums from $33 to that of Wm. Lewis,
of $10,000 (less government tax) and that of Smith Tuttle, of
Fair Haven, of about the same amount. Only twelve of them
have exceeded $1,000.

Besides these legacies there have been gifts of stock from Harvey
Sandford, Timothy Bishop and -Dr. E. H. Bishop; that from Mr.
Sheflield has been mentioned.

PERMANENT FUND.

In 1864, Ezra C. Read, Esq., proposed to “raise, by subscription,
a fund of $50,000, the income only of which shall be applied to
this object.”

The following persons^ contributed to that fund, which amounts
to about $35,000:

Joseph E. Sheffield.

James Brewster.

Ezra C. Read.

E. C. Scranton.

Nathan Peck.

Joseph Sampson.

Stephen Bishop, (legacy)

Timothy- Bishop.

N. B. Ives.

Abram Heaton.

Henry Farnam.

Eli Whitney.

Phillip Maret.

William Leyvis.

John English.

C. S. Bushnell.

Nath’l A. Bacon.

Wm. W. Boardman.

Abby Salisbury.

Burton Mallory.

W. & E. T. Fitch.

Wm. Spencer.

H. W. Benedict.

Elihu Atwater.

Mary W. Nicholson.

R. S. Fellowes.

Names of original Trustees of Permanent Fund and successors:
Wm. W. Boardman. Nathan Peck.

William Fitch. Ezea C. Read.

Richard S. Fei.lowes.
E. E. Salisbury.
Arthur D. Osborne.

Henry Farnam.
Geo. W. Curtis.

It is a noticeable fact, in the history of the Asylum, that all exten¬
sive movements to aid it, have originated outside the Board of
Managers.

CLASS OF CHILDREN RECEIVED. ,

Besides “ Orphan and Half Orphan Children,” who, perhaps,
have included one-half the number admitted, our Charter names
“ Destitute Children.”

Under this head are entries such as — “ From Alms House,”
“Deserted by Father,” or “Mother,” “by both;” “Father” or
“Mother intemperate,” or “both;” “Father” or “Mother in Jail;”
“Mother in Hospital;” “Parent sick,” or “insane,” and “Soldier’s
children.”

In October 1861, the first year of the war, two little boys,
children of a soldier, were received, their mother having just died;
and in the years that followed, no “soldier’s child ’’was refused
admittance.

RELIEF OF SOLDIERS’ CHILDREN.

The State had, in 1861, passed a “ Bounty Act ” providing a sum,
“not to exceed §10 per month, to the family of a soldier during
service, or to one who had died or been disabled in service.”

The last payment under this Act, was in January, 1867. The
amount disbursed by the State under this Act was §2,418,514Tt^r.

After the close of the war, the ladies connected with the Asylum
inaugurated a movement, whose far reaching benevolence they did
not foresee.

A petition was prepared by them and presented to the Legisla¬
ture on their assembling in New Haven, May, 1866, praying for
“ aid for the children of soldiers who had died in service.” At

29

first the application met with opposition, but after a committee
from the Legislature had held a long consultation with some of
the managers, at Mr. Brewster’s residence, and had made repeated
visits to the Asylum, investigating all its workings, they reported
favorably on the petition; and a bill was passed, June 30, 1866, to
take effect the next day, granting from the State Treasury the sum
of $1 per week to the children of deceased soldiers in the New
Haven Orphan Asylum; and also to those in the Hartford Asylum,
and Fitch’s Home at Darien.

Seventy-five cents a week was also appropriated to the same
class of children, if needy, outside those Institutions.

The actions of the managers having aroused interest, the Legis¬
lature in 1868 passed an Act giving $1.50 per week to all children
included in Act of 1866.

Under these two Acts the total amount payed out is about
$l,057,589r9(j9¥; of this, to the New Haven Asylum $5,778^^-.

In October, 1875, the last payment was made to the Asylum, all
of that class of children in the Institution having reached the age
of twelve years.

It is estimated that in 1869 at least 1968 orphan children in the
State were thus, in a measure, provided for.

BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES.

The Dorcas Society, mentioned in the Sketch, was probably the
first benevolent Society among the ladies of New Haven. It was
organized Dec. 9, 1814, and was undenominational. Its object was
to make and provide clothing for poor church members. The
Society continued in active operation till May 1, 1871, and has
since continued its chartered existence in order to distribute the
interest of a small fund.

In 1832, about a year earlier than the founding of the Asylum,
the needs of the poor children in the western portion of the city
led to the formation of the “ Broadway Charity School Society,”

30

with Miss Sophia Ives as the teacher and moving spirit. At first
she gathered the children from “ Poverty Square,” as part of the
section west of Howe St. was called, into her own house, where she
taught them. As the school grew and friends increased, a two-
story wooden building was put up on the corner of Whalley Ave.
and Howe St., on what was then known as the “ President’s pasture
lot.” The lower story was used as a Sunday School room, the upper
for the day school, which generally numbered seventy-five.

It was supported in part by the taxes of the ladies who formed
the society, and who at their monthly sewing meetings, made
clothes for the children, many of whom came from inexpressibly
wretched homes.

A share of the money received by the state, from the sale of
“Western Reserve” lands in Ohio, was given to the School by the
city.

The School continued many years under different teachers, after
Miss Ives’ death.

In 1 836 the Society united with the Orphan Asylum, in an appeal
to the state for the “ Roylance property,” but not being incorpora¬
ted, the petition was presented in the name of the Asylum only.
It was granted, and the rent of the house, $9.00 a year, was divi¬
ded between the two Societies.

In 1845 the house was sold for $250, and the money also divided.

NOTE.

The petition presented to the Legislature, in May, 1836, sets forth
that “ William and Anna Roylance, did by the practice of decep¬
tive beggary, and by imposing upon the kind feelings of the people,
accumulate property; and dying without heirs or will — the same
reverting to the state — pray that the state relinquish its title, that
the same may be distributed in charity as was originally intended.”

The property consisted of a house and lot in Goffe St. and a
little money in the Savings Bank.

About the same time, possibly a little later, a number of young
ladies, touched by the forlorn condition of a colored babe at the

Alms House, whose mother had just died from the effects of expos¬
ure and want, formed a society under the name of the “ Ladies
Association for the relief of Orphan Children.”

A constitution was drawn up by Rev. Amos Blanchard, D.D., of
Lowell, Mass. — then a Theological student at Yale — and printed by
Rev. Eastman Minor, afterwards missionary to Ceylon.

The Society was formed at Mrs. Isham and Comstock’s school,
corner of Chapel and Olive Sts., where the young ladies met on
Saturday mornings to sew and earn money to pay the board of
Joseph Ashmun- Applethwaite, who had been taken from the Alms
House and was cared for by a Mrs. Grimes.

It has been suggested that this had some connection with the
founding of the Orphan Asylum, but as the Society disbanded soon
after the death of the child, at the age of six months, it seems to
have been an independent movement.

THE BIBLE IN THE SCHOOLS. •

When in 1877 the Board of Education prohibited all exercises of
a devotional character in the schools, the Board of Managers
presented an earnest appeal for the restoration of the Bible. The
general sentiment of the community favoring the repeal of the
measure, it was repealed within a year from its adoption.

ORPHAN ASYLUMS IN THE UNITED STATES.

The Rew Haven Orphan Asylum was the seventeenth Protestant
Asylum founded in the United States:

Savnnnali, Ga . ... 1740

Charleston, S. C . 1790

Boston, Mass. (Female) . 1800

Baltimore, Md. (Episcopal) . 1801

New York, N. Y . 1806

Baltimore, Md . 1807

Philadelphia, Penn . 1814

New Orleans, La . 1817

Brooklyn, N. Y . 1823

Portland,. Me . 1828

Hartford, Conn . 1822

Albany, N. Y . 1830

Utica, N. Y . 1830

Boston, Mass. (Asylum and Farm School) . 1832

Cincinnati, Ohio . 1832

Alleghany, Penn . 1832

New Haven, Conn . 1833

At this time there were six Roman Catholic Orphan Asylums
and one Jewish Asylum in the country.