The Buffalo Orphan Asylum: Fact and Fiction

Since the Buffalo Orphan Asylum appears significantly in both Orphans and Inmates and A Whisper of Bones, I thought it was high time I discussed the institution and the plight of children in the early social welfare system of Buffalo, New York.  Most of this information comes either from the Erie County Poorhouse Inmate Records (soon to be available at the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library) or the Report of the Board of Trustees of the Buffalo Orphan Asylum (available at the Buffalo History Museum Research Library).

As indicated by the inmate records, the Erie County Almshouse was inhabited mostly by families during the earliest years of its existence (1829-1835).  These records also indicate that some young children came to the poorhouse unaccompanied by adults.  While there are no detailed comments provided in these ledgers, it is safe to assume that many of these unaccompanied children were orphans.  The children who came in without parents tended to stay longer than the children who entered with families.  Some died while in residence, of what, the records do not say.  Others left, although their destinations remain unknown.  Some were bound out to the lowest bidder for their care as apprentices or laborers, which was often a worse fate than the county poorhouse.

Image by Robert J. Higgins

The Buffalo Orphan Asylum was established in 1836.  Although I described it in my novels as part of the Erie County Poorhouse, the BOA was actually a privately funded charitable institution and was not located on the same piece of property the ECPH.  According to the Buffalo City Directory of 1837, it was located on “Seneca below Michigan, opposite the widow St. John’s stone house.”  It did, however, have a working relationship with the ECPH and children from the poorhouse were often sent there. 

Another piece of fiction was the role of the Catholic Church in the BOA.  The original constitution stated that one Trustee be elected each from 11 different Christian churches.  None of the Trustees were Roman Catholic.  In fact, there was often conflict in Buffalo among the Roman Catholics and other Christian churches with regard to their charitable efforts (recall the establishment of Buffalo Hospital of the Sisters of Charity from an earlier blog).  

While the Board of Trustees for the BOA was made up of gentleman, the Board of Managers, who actually ran the institution, was comprised of upwards of twenty women (many of whom had husbands on the Board of Trustees).  The structure of management evolved over time.  Originally there was a superintendent in charge of the day to day operations of the asylum (the first being Orissa Heely).  Later, there was a matron.  There was also a teacher in the early days of the asylum, and later a committee on education.

The Board of Managers, later called the Board of Directresses, solicited the funding and supplies necessary to provide for the children under their care (upwards of fifty children in the early decades).  Some reports provided detailed inventories of the food, clothing, bedding, and other necessities that were donated to the institution.  Physicians donated both their time and the medicines necessary to treat the various illnesses common among children.  Many of the early reports boasted general good health and low mortality; although no real statistics were provided. 

Image by Robert J. Higgins

When evaluating the effectiveness of this nineteenth century institution, it is important to remember that at the time of its establishment the alternatives to the Buffalo Orphan Asylum for homeless children were few, and perhaps less accommodating.  The children there were provided shelter, food, education and spiritual guidance.  It is uncertain whether they received the love, kindness and understanding that they must have desperately needed.  Therein lies the motivation for writing a series of fictional accounts in which there were characters who genuinely cared about those less fortunate.  What if there was a matron who insisted on nurturing  and caretakers who provided hope for the youngest of Buffalo’s poor? In the absence of historic documentation, we can only hope that the fiction reflects the facts.