USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1898 > Part 34
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
P. S. - CHAP. 83. SECT. 2. Nothing in the preceding section shall be construed to give to any person the right to acquire a settle- ment, or to be in process of acquiring a settlement, while receiving relief as a pauper, unless within five years from the time of receiving
623
REPORT OF THE OVERSEERS OF THE POOR.
such relief he reimburses the cost thereof to the city or town furnish- ing the same.
SECT. 3. No person who actually supports himself and his family shall be deemed to be a pauper by reason of the commitment of his wife, child, or other relative to an insane hospital or other institution of charity, reform, or correction by order of a court or magistrate, and of his inability to maintain such wife, child, or relative therein ; but nothing herein contained shall be construed to release him from liability for such maintenance.
SECT. 4. No person who has begun to acquire a settlement by the laws in force at and before the time when this chapter takes effect, in any of the ways in which any time is prescribed for a resi- dence, or for the continuance or succession of any other act, shall be prevented or delayed by the provisions hereof ; but he shall acquire a settlement by a continuance or succession of the same residence or other act, in the same time and manner as if the former laws had continued in force.
SECT. 5. Except as hereinafter provided, every legal settlement shall continue till it is lost or defeated by acquiring a new one within this state ; and upon acquiring such new settlement all former settle- ments shall be defeated and lost.
P. S. - CHAP. 425. SECT. 2. ACTS OF 1898. All settlements not fully acquired subsequent to the first day of May in the year eighteen hundred and sixty are hereby defeated and declared to be lost, except where the existence of such settlement prevented a subse- quent acquisition of settlement in the same place : provided, that whenever a settlement acquired by marriage has been thus defeated, the former settlement of the wife, if not defeated by the same pro- vision, shall be thereby revived. All persons absent from the Com- monwealth of Massachusetts for ten years in succession shall lose their settlement.
SECT. 3. The kindred of such poor persons, in the line of degree of father or grandfather, mother or grandmother, children or grand- children, by consanguinity, living in this state and of sufficient ability, shall be bound to support such paupers in proportion to their respective ability, and hereafter the same legal obligation to support her pauper children shall rest upon the mother as now by law rests upon the father : provided, however, that the mother shall not be liable to criminal prosecution for the enforcement of such legal obligation.
624
ANNUAL REPORTS.
SECT. 4. Any justice of the superior court sitting in equity in the county where any one of such kindred to be charged resides, upon complaint of any city, town, or kindred, who has been at expense for the relief and support of such pauper, may, on due hearing, assess and proportion thereto such sum as he shall deem reasonable for or towards the support of the pauper to the time of such assess- ment, and may enforce payment thereof by execution in common form : provided, that such assessment shall not extend to any expense for relief afforded more than two years previous to the filing of the complaint.
SECT. 5. A city or town may furnish aid to poor persons found therein, having no lawful settlement within the state, if the overseers of the poor deem it for the public interest ; but, except in case of sickness, not for a greater amount than two dollars a week for each family during the months of May to September, inclusive, or three dollars a week for the months of October to April, inclusive, and the overseers shall, in every such case, give immediate notice by mail to the state board of lunacy and charity, which board shall examine the case, and should they direct discontinuance, shall remove such persons to the state almshouse or to any state or place where they belong, when the necessities of such persons or the public interest require such removal, and the superintendent of said almshouse shall receive the persons so removed thereto the same as though sent in accord- ance with the provisions of section twenty-one of chapter eighty- six of the Public Statutes, as amended by chapter eighty-four of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and ninety-one, and a detailed statement of expenses so incurred shall be rendered, and after approval by the state board of lunacy and charity, such expenses shall be paid from the state treasury.
This report, with accompanying tables, is respectfully sub- mitted.
(Signed) ALBION A. PERRY, Chairman, ex officio. HERBERT E. MERRILL, Ward One.
EDWARD B. WEST, President, Ward Two. EZRA D. SOUTHER, Ward Three. JAMES H. BUTLER, Ward Three. ALBERT W. EDMANDS, Ward Four.
Board of Overseers of the Poor.
625
REPORT OF THE OVERSEERS OF THE POOR.
TABLE NO. 1.
FULL SUPPORT (DURING THE YEAR).
In Almshouses 18
In private families . 25
In hospitals for the sick .
94
In Massachusetts School for the Feeble-minded
4
Insane persons in private families
3
Insane persons in hospitals
75
TABLE NO. 2.
FULL SUPPORT (AT PRESENT TIME, DECEMBER 31, 1898).
In out-of-town almshouses 13
In private families . 12
Insane in hospitals (we are reimbursed for 4) . 58
Insane in private families
3
In hospitals, sane
3
TABLE NO. 3. SOMERVILLE HOSPITAL.
Cases on city's account 81
Cases having settlement in Somerville 28
Cases having settlement in other cities or towns
23
Cases having no settlement (chargeable to State)
30
Money expended
$3,134.76
Amount to be reimbursed to the city
1,580.05
Net cost to the city
$1,554.71
TABLE NO. 4.
PARTIAL SUPPORT (OUT-DOOR RELIEF).
Families aided
314
Persons aided .
1,274
Burials .
21
Permits to the Tewksbury almshouse
5
626
ANNUAL REPORTS.
TABLE NO. 5.
RECAPITULATION.
Appropriation .
$20,000.00
Reimbursements
6,552.98
Total receipts .
. $26,552.98
Total expenditures
28,522.21
Account overdrawn
. $1,969.23
Net expenditures
. $21,969.23
TABLE NO. 6.
REIMBURSEMENTS.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
$2,233.49
City of Boston
1,208.66
" Cambridge
604.80
" Lowell
88.15
" Lynn .
14.75
" Malden
68.30
" Marlborough
49.58
" Newton
38.03
Quincy
50.94
66 " Revere
3.00
66
" Springfield .
2.45
66 " Woburn
51.45
" Worcester
9.85
Town of Brookline .
10.00
" Canton
2.93
66 " Clinton
10.50
66 " Danvers
49.14
66
" Hingham
89.47
66
" Leominster
1.25
'Mattapoisett
4.00
66 " Merrimac .
12.30
66 " No. Andover
96.68
Amount carried forward $4,699.72
REPORT OF THE OVERSEERS OF THE POOR.
627
Amount brought forward .
$4,699.72
Town of Plymouth .
3.50
66 " Watertown
10.00
Highway Dept. for labor .
212.00
Guardian and Relatives
1,592.76
Money refunded
7.00
Sale of flags
28.00
$6,552.98
TABLE NO. 7. EXPENDITURES, IN DETAIL, FOR THE YEAR 1898.
1898.
Rent.
Board.
Groceries.
Towns and Cities.
Public In- stitutions.
Boots and Shoes.
Dry Goods.
Burial.
Salaries.
Fuel.
Sundries. Medicine.
Total.
January . .
38
$172.38
$503.85
$810.77
$2,655.38
$21.75
40
$278.51
$39.19
$4,559.83
February .
38
126.00
312.90
201.10
429.48
14.80
$7.80
9
273.17
$357.41
43.25
1,812.91
March
38
219.18
563.44
56.00
2,345.21
10.00
287.49
122.90
8.57
3,650.79
April
31
153.41
220.13
381.59
545.40
13.20
13.00
40
270.83
10.38
60.96
1,739.90
May .
31
186.60
248.27
59.03
628.28
12.25
June
31
185.30
271.54
62.01
2,466.23
11.93
5
258.33
44.25
$292.09
3,627.68
July .
20
139.50
220.86
660.59
531.98
20
258.33
85.32
40.41
1,984.09
August .
7
154.21
245.73
47.00
215.42
35
258.33
21.00
61.80
1,045.49
September
31
285.87
293.06
726.63
2,127.74
15.00
5
258.34
24.30
73.65
3,840.59
October
19
131.36
210.01
160.16
305.57
7.75
258.33
63.61
44.95
1,200.74
November
19
119.28
350.45
22.06
688.63
1.00
258.33
120.24
16.85
54.90
1,668.49
December
19
170.29
284.97
643.95
331.29
10.60
9.60
60
258.34
105.46
23.95
59.65
1,977.10
322
$2,043.38
$3,725.21
$3,830.89
$13,270.61 $122.45
$51.08
214
$3,126.67
$716.39
$472.08
$627.45
$28,522.21
.
·
ANNUAL REPORTS.
TABLE NO. 8. GROSS EXPENDITURES FROM 1885 *to 1898, INCLUSIVE.
1885. $16,430.32
1886. $14,341.83
1887. $13,430.89
1888. $13,375.98
1889. $14,610.92
1890. $15,261.14
1891. $15,980.49
1892. $17,015.30
1893.
1894. 1895. $17,799.58 $19,733.13 $20,755.46
1896.
1897. 1898. $21,990.79 $25,681.47 $28,522.21
.
.
·
.
·
.
.
.
.
.
·
.
17.75
·
·
208.34
40.83
1,414.60
7.10
·
628
·
.
REPORT OF THE
CITY PHYSICIAN.
CITY OF SOMERVILLE.
IN BOARD OF ALDERMEN, January 11, 1899.
Referred to Committee on Printing, to be printed in the annual reports. Sent down for concurrence.
GEORGE I. VINCENT, Clerk.
IN COMMON COUNCIL, January 11, 1899.
Referred to Committee on Printing, to be printed in the annual reports, in concurrence.
CHARLES S. ROBERTSON, Clerk.
CITY OF SOMERVILLE.
OFFICE OF CITY PHYSICIAN, January 11, 1899.
To
THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOMERVILLE.
Gentlemen : - The report of my year's service as City Physician, together with a few suggestions, is here presented to your honorable body.
From January 21, 1898 to December 31, 1898 : -
Twenty-two hundred and twenty-nine (2,229) calls have been made at the houses of patients.
Two hundred and two (202) office advices have been given.
Two hundred and twenty-one (221) children have been vac- cinated.
Twenty-three (23) patients have been attended during child- birth.
Twenty-six (26) calls have been made at the Police Station.
Three (3) men were examined for the police force.
Two (2) for permanent positions in the fire department.
Twelve (12) certificates were signed for deaths where no physi- cian had been in attendance.
Eight (8) insane paupers have been committed.
From a casual perusal of the blanks required for commitment of patients, I did notice that it required the signature of a physician of three years' practice, but did not notice that the three years' practice must be since graduation ; neither did I know at that time that there was any remuneration for commit- ment. These cases were all committed the first of the year, excepting one case which was recommitted lately. It has since come to my notice that I shall be obliged to ask the signature
632
ANNUAL REPORTS.
of some physician to the blanks, as, while I have practised medicine three years, I shall not have practised three years since my graduation until June of the present year. However, this is a simple matter, as all these cases are passed upon by another physician and the judge of the court, before requiring my (or the second) signature. It is a mere technical matter. Since the matter was so unkindly called to my attention I have had only one case, in which another friendly-disposed physician kindly signed the required blank, for which the county pays $4.00, so that no expense is entailed to the city under any circumstance.
Unkindly criticisms of this matter by interested parties ren- der it obligatory upon me to make this explanation in regard to this small matter.
For the first time in the history of Somerville the city has paid for the medicine furnished the poor people.
From simply hearing of the cost of these medicines, without giving the subject thought, one might decide that the medicine bill was a large one. When last year's city government voted that the City of Somerville should pay for all medicine pre- scribed by the City Physician, they also voted that the salary, then $1,150 per year, should be reduced to $1,000. It is readily seen that $150 toward the payment of medicine came from my own pocket and not from the city treasury.
I have now in my office, drugs, bandages, cotton, ether, etc., amounting in value to $100.00, thus reducing the actual cost to the city for medicine, $250.
Another important item is the fact that the entire cost for all medicine furnished those patients who have not gained a residence in Somerville is collected from the city or town where their residence has been gained, unless, perchance, they have never lived and paid taxes long enough in any town. In that case the State returns to our poor department the actual cost of all medicine, and also pays this city $1.00 for each call made on the case by the City Physician. I should estimate that at least one fourth of the entire amount of the cost of medicines is returned from this source, reducing the actual cost proportion- ally to our city, amounting to about $150.00.
633
REPORT OF THE CITY PHYSICIAN.
A careful study of these few facts would soon quickly show that the actual cost of medicines for the year is very small, about $200.00, considering the number of patients treated.
I am free to confess that I do not believe in economizing at the expense of our poor. Quite a portion of the amount spent for medicine was expended for infant foods. It was the only way their lives could be saved, and economy, when life is at stake, is, I believe, false economy.
Some changes have been made in relation to hospital cases, for whom the Poor department pays $7.00 per week. Formerly the number of beds was limited to seven, and the city paid $9.00 per week each for their care. At present the number of beds is unlimited and the cost per patient reduced to $7.00, a much better arrangement. An almshouse would prove of great bene- fit if a small ward could be fitted. A great number of our sick poor now sent to the hospital could be cared for in this way, thus saving expense to the city, and allow the City Physician an opportunity to follow carefully the cases in which he is so deeply interested.
It seems to me that all pauper cases admitted to the hospi- tal should be personally examined by the City Physician, who- ever he may be, before they are placed on a city bed. It is a simple matter to place on city beds patients who have been cared for by outside physicians until they are no longer able to pay the physician's fees, and then are turned over to the city for care. This has been partially accomplished this year, as it is now necessary for all cases to be reported at the office of the Overseers before they can be sent to the hospital, excepting emergency cases. It would seem entirely proper that the City Physician should personally examine and pass on all cases admitted to the hospital for which the city is to pay.
I believe such an arrangement, although greatly increasing the work of the City Physician, would decrease the number of cases at the hospital paid for by the city, and would respectfully ask that your honorable body make such suggestion to the Overseers of Poor.
I should be very glad of an opportunity to more fully discuss many of these subjects with the city government should oppor- tunity present. The increase of population each year renders
634
ANNUAL REPORTS.
the duties of City Physician more arduous, and we must care fully study every phase of his duties if we expect to keep pace with our sister cities. New ideas in medicine and their appli- cation are each year forced upon us. Let us not be simply the follower of others in these matters, but one of the leaders, and show to those cities about us that we are progressive, and believe it our duty to do all in our power to assist and relieve the sufferings of our poor, rather than allow ourselves to become so economical that the poor shall suffer from the economy practised.
Respectfully submitted,
WILLIAM F. HOLMES, City Physician.
REPORT
OF THE
CITY ENGINEER.
CITY OF SOMERVILLE.
IN BOARD OF ALDERMEN, February 8, 1899.
Referred to Committee on Printing, to be printed in the annual reports. Sent down for concurrence.
GEORGE I. VINCENT, Clerk.
IN COMMON COUNCIL, February 9, 1899.
Referred to Committee on Printing, to be printed in the annual reports, in concurrence.
CHARLES S. ROBERTSON, Clerk.
CITY OF SOMERVILLE.
OFFICE OF CITY ENGINEER, CITY HALL, SOMERVILLE, January 25, 1899.
To HIS HONOR, THE MAYOR, AND THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOMERVILLE.
Gentlemen : - In accordance with Chapter 9, Section 9 of the city ordinances, I herewith present to your honorable body a report of the work done and expense incurred, for the year ending December 31, 1898, by the departments under my charge and supervision, including Engineering, Sewers, Public Grounds, and other public works.
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT.
Work in this department consists of the designing of all public engineering works and the superintending of the con- struction of sewers, bridges, parks, and various other special works of improvement ordered by the City Council from time to time ; including the making of all surveys, plans, profiles, specifications, estimates, etc., for the several city departments and committees ; the furnishing of street lines, grades, and other information for property owners and builders ; the making of assessment plans and computing of assessments for sewers, sidewalks and streets ; and the locating, recording, and indexing of all work under the control of the City Engineer.
The work of the Engineering department has increased materially the past year, owing to the greater amount of work done by the Sewer and Highway departments.
Twenty-one assistants have been employed in the depart- ment as engineers on the various works during the year, eleven permanently, and others as the work required. All engineering
638
ANNUAL REPORTS.
work has been paid from the engineering appropriation, with the exception of a portion of the work on the constructing of the large storm-water drains, the services of the engineer in charge, who was also an inspector, being charged to that account.
Appropriation $9,000.00
Received from W. A. Sanborn, partial survey
Lincoln Park 40.00
Received from Miscellaneous account, street numbering 21.50
$9,061.50
Salary City Engineer (including
maintenance of team) . .
$2,350.00
Salaries of assistants .
6,062.02
Draughting materials, stationery and office supplies .
265.16
Tapes, plumbs, stakes, tools and general supplies . ·
178.88
Car fares
174.15
Expressing and incidental ex-
penses
10.00
Total
9,040.21
Unexpended balance
$21.20
Engineering services on account of constructing storm drains, paid from Sewers Construction account
$1,456.87
Total cost maintaining Engineering department, 1898 $10,497.08
CLASSIFICATION OF EXPENDITURES, ASSISTANTS' SALARIES.
Sewers-comprising surveys, estimates, profiles, lines, grades, titles, plans, assessments, and all work relating to sewers . $2,716.46
Amount carried forward $2,716.46
639
REPORT OF THE CITY ENGINEER.
Amount brought forward $2,716.46
Highways-comprising plans, estimates, titles, profiles, lines and grades, and all other work relating to the department . 409.18
Sidewalks-comprising profiles, lines, grades, measurements, titles, costs and assessments 516.72 Water Works-comprising lines, grades, loca- tions of mains, gates, hydrants and services, and other matters relating to water depart- ment 455.08
Public Grounds-comprising surveys, plans, esti- mates, profiles and grades, including laying out of parks 404.93
Public Buildings-comprising surveys, estimates, lines, grades, and other work relating to construction 86.59
Street Numbering-comprising locations of buildings, plans, and affixing street numbers on houses 162.43
Street Lines-comprising establishing of lines, grades, and miscellaneous data given parties for building and grading 129.81
Middlesex Registry-comprising copying of plans and abstracts from deeds filed, and examination of titles 186.72
City Survey-comprising lines, angles and measurements, calculations of traverses and locations of division lines and buildings 203.03
West End Street Railway Co .- comprising grades, plans and profiles . 53.78
Somerville Electric Light Co .- comprising lines, plans and locations of poles 20.28
Office Work -comprising records of all loca- tions, indexing, typewriting, calculations, and general draughting 528.17
Miscellaneous Work - comprising preliminary surveys, designs, sketches, etc., relating to various schemes for different committees .
Total 188.84
$6,062.02
640
ANNUAL REPORTS.
The total cost of maintaining the Engineer's department from 1872 to 1898, both years inclusive, has amounted to .
$144,178.00
OFFICE RECORDS.
Note Books and Plans on File.
Survey and field books
178
Sewer permit books
24
Deed record books
7
Total note books
209
Highway plans and profiles
1,003
Sewer plans and profiles
1,438
Park plans
78
Street numbering plans .
427
House lot plans
1,392
Miscellaneous plans
472
Total plans
4,810
BRIDGES, SUBWAYS, AND GRADE CROSSINGS.
Boston & Maine Railroad, Southern or Lowell Division : - On the main line of this railroad there are no grade crossings in the city ; at Washington street the highway passes beneath the railroad, but at all other crossings on this line the high- ways cross by means of bridges. All but two of these bridges have been erected recently ; they are modern iron structures and are maintained by the railroad company.
The new iron Bridges were built in the following years : - Washington street, 1887; Cross street, 1891; Walnut street, 1895 ; Medford street, 1880; School street, old structure, to be rebuilt in 1899; Sycamore street, old structure ; Central street, 1890 ; Cedar street, 1888; Broadway, 1893.
At Lowell street there is at present no bridge, the old structure having been torn down by the railroad company a number of years ago. This bridge should be rebuilt, as there is no means of crossing the railroad between the Central street and Cedar street bridges, which are a half mile apart.
641
REPORT OF THE CITY ENGINEER.
On the line of the Lexington and Arlington branch of the Boston & Maine Railroad, all the city's streets cross at grade and could be abolished at the present time at a comparatively small expense, while the land at most of these points is unobstructed by buildings and the income from the increased valuation in these localities would soon equal the city's original outlay.
Fitchburg Railroad :- On the line of this railroad there are but three bridges, namely, at Prospect street, Washington street, and Beacon street. The Beacon street bridge will probably be rebuilt in 1899. It is designed to be of the full width of the roadway, 44 feet, with 10-foot sidewalks.
The other two bridges are old structures, but will probably answer all purposes, with some repairing, until the matter of abolishing all grade crossings on the line of this railroad is determined. At Kent street and Sacramento street, there are subways for foot passengers only.
At the present time there are ten streets within the city limits that are grade crossings on the line of the Fitchburg Railroad. These are not only dangerous, but cause much delay, and the railroad company and the city should unite in an attempt to abolish these crossings. During the past year con- siderable preliminary work has been accomplished.
Broadway Bridge over Alewife Brook : - This is a stone arch, masonry bridge, in good repair, and is maintained jointly by this city and the town of Arlington.
Bridges over Mystic River :- Middlesex avenue bridge is a wooden, pile bridge, with a draw, maintained by the cities of Somerville and Medford; the bridge has been extensively repaired from year to year and will probably be replaced by a new, substantial structure in the near future, to conform with the Metropolitan boulevard constructed on either side of the river. Somerville's proportional part of maintenance for 1898 was $701.17.
Boston Avenue Bridge : - This is a wooden structure, rest- ing on stone abutments, and is in need of extensive repairs ; if a double line of electric railroad tracks should be laid in Boston. avenue, and cross the Mystic River at this point, a new and permanent bridge should be erected the full width of the street.
642
ANNUAL REPORTS.
SEWERS AND STORM-RELIEF DRAINS.
Probably a far greater amount of construction work has been accomplished by the Sewer department during the past year than in any other previous year, as the money was avail- able for use early in the season, and large construction work was commenced in March and continued through December. The city has saved many thousands of dollars by doing this work at an opportune time, when materials were at their lowest prices and laborers out of employment on account of business depression.
For many years past the sewers in certain sections of the city have been inadequate in times of heavy storms, and many cellars in the low areas have been badly flooded.
The greater part of the work accomplished during the year has been the construction of long lines of storm-relief drains.
In 1897 a portion of the main trunk outlet for storm water in the Eastern district of the city was completed in Winthrop avenue to Broadway, and in 1898 work on construction was continued from this point in opposite directions. A bell-mouth, or chamber, 15.5 feet long by 9 feet wide, was constructed by day labor, at the junction of Winthrop avenue and Broadway. The cost was $575.00. From this chamber one line of storm drain was constructed on the northeasterly side of Broad- way, from Winthrop avenue to Cross street, and thence along the easterly side of Cross street to the junction of Pearl street ; this work was done by contract with Thomas H. Bryne. The structure is circular, built of concrete and brick masonry, 3 feet 6 inches in diameter, and has overflow connections con- structed with the old sewerage system at different points on its route.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.