What with all the holidays behind us, but with credit card debt still looming ahead of us, it seems a perfect time to visit the history of the poor farm in this county.
According to a 1989 Daily Chronicle story by Melanie Harrison, we learn that what was once a poor farm had become Forest Manor Retirement Home on Jackson Highway south of Chehalis.
That facility was first built in the 1930s to replace the Lewis County poor farm located in Newaukum Valley. The building remained a poor house for a few years, then was left vacant until a Dr. Angus MacMillan bought and remodeled it, adding wings and a nurses' house to the main building, which reopened as MacMillan Sanatorium for tuberculosis in 1943.
The building remained a sanatorium until 1954 and remained a nursing home until the early 1970s, when it was remodeled. In 1975, it was transformed into a retirement home, and today is home to Safe Family Ministries, a homeless shelter for local women and children.
A story found in the Lewis County Historical Museum files, written in 1897 in the Chehalis Bee Nugget, is where we learn that the poor farm's board visited the facility in the afternoon and wrote a report on its condition in an effort to add to the comforts of its "unfortunate inmates." The board planned to replace the plastering, which had become "defaced and partly dislodged"; to put a bathroom for the use of the patients; to heighten and repair the chimneys; to fix the porch, grounds and roof (which was leaking and had loose tiles); to replace window panes that were broken; and also to establish a "water closet" in the upper floors.
Only one woman lived in the facility in 1897, and the board reported, "Mrs. Smith, the only inmate of her sex, is comfortably roomed on the lower floor, furnished with a heating stove and a comfortable bed and (she) finds no fault with the management and food furnished." Doctors visited the facility twice a month, or more often in urgent cases.
In 1905, we read in the Chehalis Bee Nugget that one L. J. Lemon was taken to the county poor farm by order of the county commissioners. "Mr. Lemon is a dwarf in height but his body is large. He stands but four feet and one inch high. He is 62 years of age and was one of the pioneer white children of Oregon." Before losing all he had, Lemon had owned a business in Centralia and relocated to Aberdeen, where he continued his business - until it burned, and he lost all he had.
With no relatives, and finally having suffered a "paralytic stroke which affected half of his body," Lemon was taken to the poor farm, where, it's said, "He seemed very much pleased with a chance to have a good home at the poor farm."
In 1910, one Samuel Cumbo or Gumbo was charged with arson, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to five to 10 years of hard labor in the penitentiary at Walla Walla. He was arrested for burning the barn and a house belonging to Mrs. E. Dunston or Dunstan, a matron at the poor farm.
"He was tracked to a hiding place in the woods with the aid of a bloodhound the morning after the fire at the poor farm."
The Lewis County Advocate wrote, "with his burly form convulsed with sobs and tears trickling down his bearded cheeks, Sam Gumbo, charged with setting fire to the house and barn of Mrs. Dunstan, pleaded guilty last Monday afternoon and threw himself upon the mercy of the court."
Based upon the sentence, Judge Rice provided little mercy to the man who had been an inmate of the poor farm where Mrs. Dunstan worked.
The Lewis County Advocate continued, "In some way (he) had formed an implacable hatred for the woman who had always been said to have treated (him) with considerate kindness."
Gumbo left the farm and swore revenge upon Dunstan who, whenever he ran into her, he threatened. It was one year after leaving the farm that Gumbo kept his word, and burned Dunstan's home and barn.
According to the News Examiner, we learn that one Mrs. Mather had deeded her land in 1908 to Lewis County. By 1911, Mather found herself in dire straits. Ironically, land she had sold to the county for $1 had become quite valuable. Once quite well off, Mather was taken to the county poor farm near Chehalis.
As a further consideration of the deeded property, the county commissioners agreed to pay Mather $8 per month during "the rest of her natural life," but not, apparently, if she found herself at the poor farm where the county had to provide for her care. The county lost that battle and was ordered to continue paying Mather the agreed-upon amount.
In 1912, according to the Evening News Examiner, one Mrs. Mathews found herself in similar circumstances as both Mather and Gumbo. She was committed to the poor farm, but didn't like the place. In fact, she wandered away from the farm and found her way back to Centralia. It's presumed she caught a ride. Like Mather, this is another case in which a wealthy woman deeded her home and property to the county with a promise by the county commissioners that they would take care of her for the remainder of her life. They did: They placed her in the poor farm.
After her escape, Mrs. Mathews told a storekeeper that, like Gumbo, she was being mistreated at the poor farm and that they were trying to have her declared insane. Like Dunstan, Mathews had been promised $8 a month, but is reported to have spent it on Duffy's Malt Whisky, and would have nothing left for food.
In its defense, the county had hired a caretaker for Mathews, but the plan failed because no one would stay with the job for more than a week. We don't know what eventually happened to Mathews, but the news story about her ends this way: "Her mind had commenced to fail and she shows signs of being demented."
Pat Jones is The Chronicle's lifestyle editor. She may be reached by e-mail at pjones@chronline.com, or by telephoning 807-8226. The Lewis County Historical Museum's Internet address is www.lewiscountymuseum.org.
