Overview
The Alexander County Poor Farm was founded in 1870 to serve the poor, paupers, destitute, and needy of Alexander County, Illinois. The Poor Farm was first located on five acres in Thebes. By 1886, the almshouse located at Thebes was “abandoned” and “the poor who need house care are sent to St. Mary’s Infirmary, Cairo.”[1]
In 1891, Alexander County purchased a farm at Beach Ridge, containing 440 acres, and erected a 1.5 story frame building to be used as the almshouse. “The house was opened for the reception of paupers about January 1, 1892. The number of paupers present was twelve.”[2]
By 1929, Alexander County closed the Poor Farm and rented out the property. The property was later sold in 1959 to John A. Stelle and Russell T. Stelle, sons of the former governor John H. Stelle.
Institution Name and Type
Alternative Names: Alexander County Farm and Almshouse; Alexander County Poorhouse; Poor Farm in Alexander County; Poor Farm
Type of Institution: Almshouse
Location and Building
Location #1: Thebes (from 1870-around 1886)
- “Beginning at the southeast corner of the north half of the southwest quarter of the southwester quarter of section nine, township number fifteen, south range three, west, running along the south line of said tract to the Thebes and Unity road, thence along said road to the east line of said tract, thence along that line to the beginning, containing five acres, more of less, lying in the southeast corner of the north half of the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section No. nine, township fifteen, south of range three, west of the principal mereidian.”[3]
Location #2: Beech Ridge (from 1892-around 1929)
- Beech Ridge was founded in 1878. It was located in the center of section 32, township 16 south, range 1 west. It was about four miles north of Cairo. A post office was established there in 1879 and it was a station on the St. Louis & Cairo Railroad (later called the Gulf Mobile & Ohio Railroad). In 1906, tracks for the Cairo & Thebes Railroad were laid from Beech Ridge to northwest. Most citizens in the town were African Americans. The post office was closed in 1914 and the town no longer exists.
- Information taken from “Ghost Towns and Settlements, Alexander County Illinois Genealogy Trails.” Alexander County Illinois Genealogy Trails. Accessed 27 September 2023. https://genealogytrails.com/ill/alexander/ghosttowns.html.
County: Alexander
State: Illinois
Administration Information
Date of Founding: 1870[4]
Dates of Name, Place, Mission Change, or Merger: Before 1892[5]
Date of Closure: 1929[6]
Administration: Alexander County
Notable People
Mr. Thomas A. Brown: caretaker and in charge of the almshouse from about 1873 to at least December 1884.[7]
Benjamin Jones: superintendent of the Poor Farm in September 1913.[8]
J. Raymond. Bunch: superintendent of the County Farm in 1914-1915.[9][10]
William J. Childres: superintendent of the county farm in 1910.[11]
Intake Information and Requirements
Intake Gender/Sex: Female, Male
Intake Age:
- 1880: Adults, Children
Intake Ethnicity/Race:
- 1910: white and colored individuals admitted
Intake Specifics:
- 1880: Adults ($7/month), Children ($4/month for under 16 years of age); “when visited, there was only one insane inmate;” “the county requires all paupers to go to the county farm.”
- 1912: “Insane, crippled, feeble-minded and aged inmates share the same conditions…”[12]
Number of Residents:
- 1892: 12
- 1910: 19 residents, 6 deaths
Previous Residents:
- R. Talleofeus: resident in 1872 who passed away at the almshouse on 18 October 1872.[13]
- Mrs. Sarah Burkhart: resident at the Poor Farm for 10 weeks in 1913. Her board was paid by Mrs. J. W. Coy. She was the widow of a union soldier.[14]
- Pearl O’Rourke: a blind girl who resided in the Poor Farm from 31 May 1913-9 September 1913.[15]
Records
“An almshouse register has been kept since 1870.”[16]
Libraries and Archives
Cairo Public Library
Shawnee Community College Library
- Local history project: https://shawneecc.edu/library/local-history-project
Cemetery
According to Alexander County Illinois Genealogy Trails, there was a Alexander County Poor Farm Cemetery located at Route 3 and 127. There was also another one at Thebes.
Obituaries and Death Notices
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ilgssi/Cairo.html
See also: newspapers.com and other online newspaper sites.
1910 Census Trascription
Alexander County, Beech Ridge
| Name | Relation to Head | Sex | Race | Age | Single/Married/Yrs Children #/ Living # | Occupation | Place of Birth |
| Raina, Beek | Head | m | w | 24 | m-0 | Farmer | IL |
| —–, Vida | wife | f | w | 23 | m-0-0-0 | IL | |
| Burkhart, Sarah | pauper | f | w | 58 | wd | IL | |
| Chism, Maude | pauper | f | w | 33 | s-1 | IL | |
| Pirtes, James | pauper | m | Mu | 40 | s | IL | |
| Darnels, Jeff | pauper | m | b | 44 | s | IL | |
| Hutchinson, Joe | pauper | m | w | 52 | s | England | |
| Malander, Wm | pauper | m | w | 53 | s | VA | |
| Brown, Grant | pauper | m | w | 42 | m1 | IL | |
| Brooke, Lula | pauper | f | w | 49 | wd-0-0 | US | |
| Lire, Harry | pauper | m | b | 23 | s | MO | |
| Clark, John | pauper | m | w | 51 | s | IL | |
| Johnson, Charley | pauper | m | w | 60 | s | Germany | |
| Mullins, Guss | pauper | m | w | 30 | s | LA |
Sources
Board of State Commissioners of Public Charities. 1870. First Biennial Report of the Board of State Commissioners of Public Charities of the State of Illinois, December 1870. Springfield: Illinois Journal Printing Office. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Biennial_Report_of_the_Board_of_State_Co/0vVLAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1.
—. 1880. Sixth Biennial Report of the Board of State Commissioners of Public Charities of the State of Illinois, November 1880. Springfield, Illinois: H. W. Rokker, State Printer and Binder. https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/OobIAAAAMAAJ.
—. 1886. Ninth Biennial Report of the Board State Commissioners of Public Charities of the State of Illinois, November 1886. Springfield, Illinois: H. W. Rokker, State Printer and Binder. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Reports_Made_to_the_General_Assembly_of/T2obAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1.
—. 1893. Twelfth Biennial Report of the Board State Commissioners of Public Charities of the State of Illinois, October 1892. Springfield, Illinois: H. W. Rokker, State Printer and Binder. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Reports_Made_to_the_Senate_and_House_of/sGVKAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1
“Ghost Towns and Settlements, Alexander County Illinois Genealogy Trails.” Alexander County Illinois Genealogy Trails. Accessed 27 September 2023. https://genealogytrails.com/ill/alexander/ghosttowns.html.
United States Bureau of the Census. 1915. 1915. Paupers in Almshouses, 1910. Washington, D.C.: Governmental Printing Office. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Paupers_in_Almhouses_1910/cETPJ29AjYMC?.
[1] 1886. Ninth Biennial Report of the Board State Commissioners of Public Charities of the State of Illinois, November 1886. Springfield, Illinois: H. W. Rokker, State Printer and Binder. 123.
[2] Board of State Commissioners of Public Charities. 1893. Twelfth Biennial Report of the Board State Commissioners of Public Charities of the State of Illinois, October 1892. Springfield, Illinois: H. W. Rokker, State Printer and Binder. 129-130.
[3] “The voters in the county are very much…” The Cairo Bulletin (Cairo, Illinois), 25 October 1881, p. 1, col. 5.
[4] Board of State Commissioners of Public Charities. 1870. First Biennial Report of the Board of State Commissioners of Public Charities of the State of Illinois, December 1870. Springfield: Illinois Journal Printing Office. 119.
[5] Board of State Commissioners of Public Charities, 1893. 129-130.
[6] “Stelles Buy Poor Farm to Hunt Geese,” Mt. Vernon Register-News (Mt. Vernon, Illinois), 11 May 1959, p. 2, col. 9.
[7] Board of State Commissioners of Public Charities, 1880. 228.
[8] “County Board Proceedings,” The Cairo Bulletin (Cairo, Illinois), 20 November 1913, p. 5, col. 3-5.
[9] “Raymond Bunch Again Appointed as Manager of County Poor Farm,” The Cairo Bulletin (Cairo, Illinois), 5 January 1915, p. 1, col. 2.
[10] “County Board Proceedings,” The Cairo Bulletin (Cairo, Illinois), 28 May 1914, p. 7, col. 1-2.
[11] “County Board Proceedings,” The Cairo Bulletin (Cairo, Illinois), 31 August 1910, p. 2, col. 4.
[12] “Poor Farm Said to be Disgrace to this County: The Bulletin Has Consistently Labored for Years to Correct Many Abuses,” The Cairo Bulletin (Cairo, Illinois), 31 December 1912, p. 1-2.
[13] “To the Honorable County Court…” The Cairo Bulletin (Cairo, Illinois), 10 January 1873, p. 4, col. 3-4.
[14] “County Board Proceedings,” The Cairo Bulletin (Cairo, Illinois), 20 November 1913, p. 5, col. 3-5.
[15] “County Board Proceedings,” The Cairo Bulletin (Cairo, Illinois), 20 November 1913, p. 5, col. 3-5.
[16] Board of State Commissioners of Public Charities, 1880. 228.
Institution Guide by Katharine Korte Andrew 