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GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1833 03294 4784
Gc 974.402 B65bar Barrow, Lillian. The challenge of a heritage
The Challenge of a Heritage
One Hundred Years of Service to Children
RELIGIOUS TRAINING
RECREATION HOME-LIFE
HEALTH CHARACTER O
Hd VOCATIONALTRA NING
THE CHURCH HOME SOCIETY
1855-1955
Record
of the
M
E
For
Orphan and D
¿stitute Children,
C Organized 1855.
From the first Record Book of The Home for Orphan and Destitute Children.
The Challenge of a Heritage One Hundred Years of Service to Children 1855-1955
by LILLIAN AND RALPH BARROW
IOUS TRAINING
RE
HEAL
HOME-LIFE
RECREATION
HARACTER
THE CHURCH HOME SOCIETY For the Care of Children of the Protestant Episcopal Church Founded 1855 Incorporated 1858 NO. 5 WALNUT STREET, BOSTON 8, MASSACHUSETTS
Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street PO Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
Copyright, 1955 by The Church Home Society
THOMAS TODD COMPANY PRINTERS BOSTON
TO THE MEMORY OF ELIZABETH ELLIOT FAY AND WILLIAM LAWRENCE
THIS HISTORY OF THE CHURCH HOME SOCIETY IS DEDICATED
" Through such Souls . . . God shows sufficient of His light for us in the darkness to rise by."
AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This volume has rightfully been dedicated to Elizabeth Elliot Fay and William Lawrence
to whom we shall always be indebted. Their leadership and devotion have enabled The Church Home Society to take its place among those community agencies established for and dedi- cated to Christian service. It is characteristic of and in keeping with the traditions of the Fay and Lawrence families that the children of these two honored friends have generously helped make the publication of this history possible.
We are also indebted to Lillian and Ralph Barrow who, in preparing this life story of our Society, have given unsparingly of their time. They have sought to incorporate every significant and recorded incident in order that this history might be truly com- plete in fact as well as in spirit. We and those who follow us will always be appreciative that our first 100 years have been so well recorded and documented.
ROLLIN JONATHAN FAIRBANKS,
President
Maundy Thursday, 1955
" Lovest Thou Me? Feed My Lambs " -
S UCH, in the words of our Master, was the quiet, insistent plea of the Rev. Charles Mason, D.D., Rector of Grace Church,* Boston, to his people throughout the fifteen years of his ministry - 1847-1862. So profound was his entreaty, so Christlike his “ spirit of active, comprehensive and practical charity " that several members of his parish in 1848, banding themselves into a small Society, made systematic arrangements for clothing the children of the poor in order to bring them under the influence of Sunday School instruction. According to the earliest reports of this little group " a room in a central situation was engaged and a competent person employed, who gave her whole time to the work."
In June 1854 a house was hired in North Russell Street, Boston, where parents and children were admitted, food and clothing furnished and rooms leased at low rents to the poor.
Six months later, in 1855, a house at No. 18 Charles Street, Boston, was leased for a period of three years and seven children were received into it for care.
Encouraged by the success of their efforts as time went on, and believing that the benefits conferred on the small group might be extended to a larger number of children with a pro- portionably small expense, the Managers sought the aid of others in promoting the usefulness of their undertaking.
As the object proposed was " the religious training and educa- tion of the lambs of the fold," they turned to the Diocese and to " the brethren of their own fold who held the same faith and worshipped at the same altars."
* Grace Church, Boston, was organized in 1830 with three communicants. In 1836 a staunch band of sixty communicants built a Church on Temple Street, Boston, in which they, and those who joined them, worshipped and worked for twenty-eight years. In 1864 the Church property was sold to the Methodist Episcopal Corporation of North Russell Street, Boston, and the Grace Church communicants attached themselves to other Episcopal parishes.
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Courtesy of Trinity Church
THE SECOND TRINITY CHURCH, SUMMER STREET, BOSTON
THE FOUNDING
On the evening of November 23, 1855, in the Vestry of Trinity Church, Boston, the Bishop of the Diocese, the Rt. Rev. Manton Eastburn, D.D., presiding, the " Home for Orphan and Destitute Children " was founded.
" Excited by a common and religious faith, which is the great source of charitable effort."
BOARD OF TRUSTEES.
PRESIDENT : The Rt. Rev. MANTON EASTBURN, D.D.
VICE-PRESIDENTS : The Rev. ALEXANDER II. VINTON, D.D., CHARLES MASON, GEORGE M. RANDALL, D. D.,
IIon. ROBERT C. WINTHROP.
SECRETARY : TREASURER :
J. NELSON BORLAND, M. D.
JOHN JEFFRIES, JR.
JOHN B. ALLEY, M. D. Mr. GEORGE E. HEAD,
Mr. OTIS DANIELL,
" WILLIAM R. LAWRENCE,
" ISAAC EMERY,
" ROBERT M. MASON,
" ROBERT FARLEY,
" NATHAN MATTHEWS,
" SAMUEL H. GREGORY, F. E. OLIVER, M. D.
Mr. FOSTER WATERMAN.
Mrs. ALCOTT, Mrs. RICHARD S. FAY,
" WILLIAM APPLETON, Miss EUNICE HOOPER,
" WILLIAM APPLETON, Jr.
Mrs. JOSEPH KIDDER,
" CHARLES L. ANDREWS,
" GEORGE H. LYMAN,
Miss ELLEN ANDREWS,
" WILLIAM R. LAWRENCE,
Mrs. M. WOOLSEY BORLAND,
Miss JANE MASON,
" BENJAMIN C. CLARK,
Mrs. SAMPSON,
" JOHN CODMAN,
" SAMUEL SNELLING,
Miss MARTHA CUSHING,
RICHARD SULLIVAN,
Mrs. Dr. TUCKER.
From the first Report of the Board of Trustees of The Home for Orphan and Destitute Children.
[4]
BOARD OF MANAGERS.
PRESIDENT : MRS. RICHARD S. FAY.
SECRETARY : MRS. CHIARLES L. ANDREWS.
TREASURER : MISS EUNICE HIOOPER.
Mrs. ALCOTT,
WILLIAM APPLETON,
Miss EUNICE HOOPER,
" WILLIAM APPLETON, Jr.
" CHARLES L. ANDREWS,
GEO. H. LYMAN,
Miss ELLEN ANDREWS,
"' WILLIAM R. LAWRENCE,
Mrs. M. WOOLSEY BORLAND,
Miss JANE MASON,
BENJAMIN C. CLARK, Mrs. SAMPSON,
.
SAM'L SNELLING,
Miss MARTHIA CUSHING,
RICHARD SULLIVAN,
Mrs. Dr. TUCKER.
PHYSICIANS : W. W. MORLAND, M. D., GEORGE II. LYMAN, M. D.
MATRON : MRS. E. CAVERLY.
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" JOHN CODMAN,
Mrs. RICHARD S. FAY,
Mrs. JOSEPH KIDDER,
.
THE REV. CHARLES MASON The Founder
THE RT. REV. MANTON EASTBURN, D.D. The First President
Incorporation
In 1858 a Committee applied to the Legislature for an Act of Incorporation for the Society which the Legislature declined giving under the name Home for Orphan and Destitute Children, " objecting that it was too nearly like the title of a sister Society in Boston, and that trouble might occur at some future period, should any bequests be made to either Institution."
Early records show that there were at this time in Boston " four Institutions for the permanent reception of children " - The Female Orphan Asylum and the Children's Friend Society, sustained by Protestant denominations; St. Vincent de Paul's Female Orphan Asylum and an Asylum for Boys, sus- tained by the Roman Catholic Church, " all faithfully conducted and ac- complishing the objects of their establishments as far as they have the means of doing so."
Therefore at a meeting of the Society called for the purpose, it was voted to permit the Act of Incorporation to pass to a Society called " Church Home for Orphan and Destitute Children " in Boston, for the purpose of providing for such children a home, education, moral and religious training, in accord- ance with the usages of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
This Act was approved by the Legislature on March 1, 1858.
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1855-1868
During the first year between forty and fifty applications were made for the admission of children, but owing to the limited accommodations of the Home only twenty were received. These were children of all denominations between the ages of four and eight; " children of widowed mothers; of women neglected or deserted by their husbands; children of parents in destitute cir- cumstances, incapacitated by accident and loss of support; chil- dren, sometimes half-starved, of vicious and intemperate parents."
As a legal safeguard A Form of Agreement was drawn up and signed on the admission of each child. However, no parental ties were ever broken - Trustees and Managers feeling that the chil- dren were "lent to be reclaimed by the parents when by patient labor they can in time support them "; the Home being a " Home for the Orphan and Destitute until destitute no longer; a Home, but not a home for life." It must be remembered that these were the turbulent days preceding and of the Civil War, when families were being torn apart and children were being made orphans and Orphan Asylums were springing up throughout the country.
The children at No. 18 were " constant at Church and Sunday School "; they attended Public School regularly, the Home pro- viding a summer vacation teacher "to instruct them for a few hours each day and to walk with them."
Two Boston physicians, W. W. Morland, M.D., and George H. Lyman, M.D., with infinite patience and skillful management voluntarily cared for the physical welfare of the children, “ often exercising a most excellent influence on certain of them."
Rooms were set aside for children who were ill and for isolation in cases of contagious diseases.
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Before the first two years in Charles Street had passed, the Board of Lady Managers urged the Board of Council (Gentle- men Trustees ) to make alterations in the Home providing for a nursery that younger children might be admitted; for extra dormi- tories; baths; play and school rooms; and for a fenced-in outside playground, the only play space then available being the street. The urgency of their plea brought about the purchase of the Charles Street House in 1860, together with a small building in its rear; the buildings were connected, the alterations made and the total cost was $3,996.34.
The capacity of the Home was now limited to thirty-five or forty children - the Managers saying "to receive more would destroy the family aspect and feeling now so pleasant," while the physicians argued that the new accommodations were not suffi- cient really for more than thirty children. In one year over one hundred applicants were refused admission. It was necessary therefore to exercise great care in admitting only those who were in extreme need.
The Committee on Dismission was charged with the " special duty of providing suitable homes for such children as were pre- pared to leave the Institution; for ascertaining the character and circumstances of those applying for children, and seeking homes for others for whom there had been no application. In doing this they sought in the first instance to place them in families attached to the Protestant Episcopal Church, but in cases in which this was impracticable, they obtained homes for them with families of various Christian denominations where they had reason to hope they would be taught to lead a Godly and Chris- tian life."
According to an Article added to the By-laws at this time each Manager kept in touch with one or more children who had left the Home and reported at least semi-annually on the child's condition.
In 1864 the enormous number of pressing applications and the
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constant outlay of money for repairs on the old Home forced the appointing of a Committee to consider the expediency of pro- viding a new building. The Committee reported that it was " not only expedient, but absolutely essential for the prosperity of the Institution to procure a new building " and that $15,000, to- gether with the sum then in the hands of the Treasurer, plus the anticipated amount which would be available on selling the Charles Street property, would be needed for the accomplish- ment of this object. Two of the Managers undertook to circu- late a "Subscription Book," and thanks to their untiring effort and energy $17,000 was soon pledged.
Another year passed before the Committee, having examined all available land within the city limits and adjacent towns, re- ported on a lot in South Boston as the " most eligible, being healthfully and pleasantly located and sufficiently large to accom- modate a commodious building and a large playground." This they believed could now be obtained from the City on very favor- able terms. After careful thought and mature deliberation it was decided to purchase the lot, and plans for a building designed to receive at least one hundred children were projected.
Fifty Years in South Boston, 1868-1918
In the Spring of 1868 the new Church Home for Orphan and Destitute Children situated on N Street, South Boston, and extending from Broadway to Fourth Street, was completed, furnished and occupied.
The architects, Messrs. Sncll and Gregerson, described the building as " adopted from that of the medieval architecture of England in which so many buildings for conventual and chari- table purposes were then built ... whose style is better fitted for adaptation to the requirements of similar modern buildings than the Roman style frequently adopted here in Boston."
The building was substantial, roomy and thoroughly com-
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THE CHURCH HOME
modious, containing large and well-ventilated dormitories; two comfortable school rooms; play rooms and sick rooms, and a Chapel in which memorial stained glass windows were fitted - one being to the Rev. Charles Mason, the Founder of the Institution. The architects contributed an ornamental cross for the Chapel and the " mechanics " gave a portion of their time as their gift to the Home.
The eost as reported by the Treasurer, Charles J. Whitmore, in November 1868 was-
Land - 61,750 feet and the expense of Grading $10,041.71 64,759.49
Building
Total $74,801.20
Gifts of furniture, furnishings, money, clothing, food and sup- plies from friends old and new; from Churches and Sunday Schools; from Sewing Circles; from the Massachusetts Charitable Fire Society, were received and gratefully acknowledged, the secretary of the Board of Managers having written into her report for the year - " We rejoice to say that we are today quite free from debt - land, building, furniture, all, are paid for leaving a small balance in the Treasury."
With the new building and its facilities in use, the number of children accepted for eare increased from 50 in 1868 to 100 in 1875, but the policy of admitting boys from four to six years of age and girls under eight years, except at the discretion of the Admissions Committee, held.
The older children attended the neighboring Public School; the younger children were taught at the Home.
In 1870 the Rev. Phillips Brooks became a member of the Board of Trustees and " so great was his interest in the Home that in the Spring of that year he preached a sermon in Trinity Church which materially aided it."
In 1872 the Rt. Rev. Manton Eastburn, D.D., dicd. Since the
3 1833 03294 4784
THE CHAPEL
Home's founding he had been its faithful and loving friend. He was succeeded by Bishop Benjamin Henry Paddock - the fifth Bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts.
Bishop Paddoek was a great favorite with the children - " his presenee alone being at any time enough to make a jubilee for the children," and when he and the Rev. Leighton Parks, then the Reetor of Emmanuel Church, Boston, and a Vice-President of the Church Home, celebrated some festival together " with bright, lively talks, recitations and singing, the day was marked with a white stone in the Home's calendar."
These were the years of comparatively smooth sailing - the Home was filled to capacity; the children attended sehool regu- larly; were taught to share in the routine of the Home; delighted in the serviees in their own Chapel - choir singing and festival serviees; were baptized and confirmed.
Matrons, fine consecrated women, among these Mrs. E. D. Caverly and the Misses Dexter, who tried to be, within the bounds of limited experience, all things to all children, came and went.
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The four walls of brick and mortar permitted no further ex- pansion; the waiting list of applicants, and especially of children under four years, continued to grow; the realization that the older boys and girls within the Home needed training, farm or industrial, to fit them for life and independence; and the fact that contribu- tions of money which had reached a high peak in the building years were fluctuating and falling, gave rise to a new concern among the Trustees and Managers. As they faced their financial problems, necessary budget and needed contributions, they urged their fellow communicants of the Episcopal Church throughout the Diocese to regard anew the Collect for the Sunday next before Advent -
" Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may by thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
The Budget, set at $10,000 in 1870, varied little through the years - $10,000 - $11,500 - $11,300 (the item for food ranging from $4,000 to $5,200)- the annual per capita cost of the one hundred children being $100.
Life Membership, the paying of $50.00 or more into the Treasury with no liability for further contribution, advanced from 290 in 1868 to 360 in 1888.
Annual Subscriptions - 205 in 1868; 120 in 1888, brought in an average of $1,500.
Donations and Contributions of money fell from $7,000 to $4,000.
Invested Funds, the tangible proof that a testament is of force after men are dead, mounted from $7,044 in 1868 to $95,700 in 1888.
The following items are typical of the gifts made to the Home month after month -
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Baskets and barrels of apples and pears; bushels of peanuts; quarts of strawberries; small buckets of marmalade; Gibraltars (hard candy) and sponge cakes; overcoats and flannel skirts; croquet sets, sleds and velocipedes; St. Nicholas Magazine and The Youth's Companion; and " three silver thimbles as prizes for darning."
Out of the burning crucible of four decades of experience with the Institutional care of children - limited intake; congregate living; inability to give individual training to older children with uneven degrees of physical and intellectual powers; difficulties in placing older children, both boys and girls, who because of age could no longer be kept in the Home; lack of Board Member time in finding, appraising and supervising foster homes; plus criticisms of some neighboring Agencies on unwise placements - change came.
Stanwood School, 1888-1904
Toward the end of 1888, the Trustees accepted with great thanks the gift of the Topsfield home of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph E. Stanwood, together with their farm of twenty-five acres, its buildings and implements.
Here for sixteen years under the competent supervision of House Parents, illustrating to a remarkable degree, so a Report of the times states, the German idea of housefather and house- mother (and in a measure the Cottage System of Institutional care in the 1900's ), an average of eighteen boys between the ages of nine and twelve were taught the rudiments of farming, orchard culture, especially the raising of small fruits, and the handling of tools.
There were regular hours for play, for outdoor and house games, for reading and entertainments during the regular terms at the Town School, which the boys attended, and in vacation periods.
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STANWOOD SCHOOL
Great emphasis was placed on the development of mechanical skills and crafts as preparation for the future, and as a result many of the boys, under the direction of students and faculty members from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who volunteered their time, became quite skillful in carpentry and in making and designing simple pieces of furniture which were used in both the School and the "Parent Home " in South Boston.
The Swedish Sloyd System was introduced under a trained sloyd teacher, developing in the boys the love of order, exactness and cleanliness; teaching economy and cultivating diligence, perseverance and the power of concentration.
FARM CROPS IN AVERAGE YEAR
160 Bushels Potatoes.
12 Bushels Tomatoes.
5 Bushels Pickles,
40 Barrels Apples.
(Cucumbers.)
12 Bushels Beans.
200 Quart Boxes Strawberries.
60 Bushels Beets, Mangolds, Turnips and Carrots.
1450 Quart Boxes Raspberries and Blackberries.
6 Bushels Pears.
1-2 Acre Sweet Corn and Peas.
3 Bushels Quinces.
5 Bushels Parsnips.
4 Bushels Grapes.
150 Bunches Celery.
350 Cabbages.
9 Tons Hay and Rowen.
Raised 100 Chickens and Ducks.
Sent to Church Home, South Boston, 31 Barrels Produce consisting of Apples, Potatoes, Pears, Squash and other Vegetables, also 24 Dozen Eggs.
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15 Barrels Squash.
At the " Parent Home," in vacation time, the older girls were taught fire-making; cooking; table setting and serving; dishwash- ing; kitchen gardening; dressmaking; basketmaking and mat weaving; laundry instruction being given at Emmanuel House in Boston through a special agreement between the two Institutions.
In 1891 Bishop Paddock, the President of the Church Home for fourteen years, died and Bishop Phillips Brooks, the sixth Bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts, became the third Presi- dent of the Church Home for Orphan and Destitute Children, serving with faithfulness and devotion until his death in 1893.
Bishop William Lawrence then became President, and the Secretary of the Board of Managers wrote into her Report the following lines of anticipation, " With Bishop Lawrence as our new President, we have with us one who has always been most friendly toward the Home, and having had so many of those near and dear to him represented among its officers, we feel his interest is already assured." Bishop Lawrence's aunt was Mrs. Charles Mason, and Dr. Mason, the founder of the Church Home for Orphan and Destitute Children, was his godfather.
Lack of room; cost of living; constant repairs; increasing num- bers of applications from parents and parishes, especially for the care of older children; plus difficulties in home finding forced the Trustees and Managers to consider selling both properties - South Boston and Topsfield - and building two houses, one for boys and one for girls.
At this time the wise and almost prophetic vision of Bishop Lawrence began to be felt (in a letter to the Treasurer he wrote " the whole drift of modern charity seems to be against such institutions ") in consultations and questionings on the placing- out system with established Boston Agencies, especially with the Council of Children's Agencies and the Boston Children's Aid Society of which Mr. Charles W. Birtwell was the General Secre- tary. Through Mr. Birtwell's efforts the Council of Children's Agencies had come into being.
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The Children's Aid Society consented to give the Church Home the benefit of its advice and experience and to share with it the time and expense of an "Agent " for Stanwood School. Mr. Seymour H. Stone of the Children's Aid Society's Placing- Out Department became the first " Visitor," and the era of pro- fessional home finding and supervision was entered into.
The methods of " Placing-out " then used by the Children's Aid Society still hold as some of the basic tenets of child placing - the following being an excerpt from one of Mr. Birtwell's reports on Mr. Stone's work with the boys at the Stanwood School.
" The methods of the Children's Aid Society in its placing-out work were agreed to. They included the rigid scrutiny of proposed homes for the boys, not merely through presumably friendly references given by the applicants, but also through independent and confidential sources of information; the gathering of full information of boys and places in order that each boy should be sent to the family best suited to him; the accompanying of the boy to his future home by an experienced visitor, who should have the knowledge and the time at the very outset to break the ground for the boy, and get the family into a true and helpful attitude toward him, and the boy as well into a right attitude toward the family; active correspondence with boy and family, and visits as needed, all by the same visitor, to watch, educate and encourage boy and family in their relations to each other, to secure the interest of the public school teacher, to develop the relations of the boy with pastor, Sunday School teacher, neigh- bors, playmates, workmates, to anticipate or meet misunderstand- ings or difficulties, in fine, to make a good grafting of the boy upon the home and community."
The circular of conditions used by the Children's Aid Society was brought into requisition, a printed statement to the people who took the boys, covering requirements and suggestions as to correspondence, clothing, wages, public school, Sunday school, church, discipline, etc., ending with the statement that " what we
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want for our boys is kind care, moral training, real friends, every- thing, in fact, that a welcome in a good home implies."
In addition to the printed circulars given to foster parents at the time of placement, a letter appealing for homes was sent to 261 clergymen in New England with the request that it be read to their parishioners and, if possible, published in their local newspapers.
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