Parish poor

banditfraser · Post by **banditfraser** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 12:54 am

I'm looking for help regarding the practice of parishes supporting the poor. I have James Fraser dying in Methven in 1834 shortly before the birth of his son, John Fraser. He left a widow Janet and baby daughter. The widow Fraser was given support from the Methven parish and they were reimbursed by the parish in Forteviot, up to around 1843. In the 1841 census Janet indicates that she was not born in Perthshire, so I'm assuming that John came from Forteviot for that parish to keep supporting his widow for so long. My question is this - would the Fraser family need to be long term residents of Forteviot for that to occur, or could they be merely transient residents from somewhere else? Any help or hints would be gratefully received. Many thanks in advance.

nelmit · Post by **nelmit** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 10:18 am

banditfraser wrote:I'm looking for help regarding the practice of parishes supporting the poor. I have James Fraser dying in Methven in 1834 shortly before the birth of his son, John Fraser. He left a widow Janet and baby daughter. The widow Fraser was given support from the Methven parish and they were reimbursed by the parish in Forteviot, up to around 1843. In the 1841 census Janet indicates that she was not born in Perthshire, so I'm assuming that John came from Forteviot for that parish to keep supporting his widow for so long. My question is this - would the Fraser family need to be long term residents of Forteviot for that to occur, or could they be merely transient residents from somewhere else? Any help or hints would be gratefully received. Many thanks in advance.

Hello and welcome to Talking Scot Bronwyn,

My instinct would be that John was born at Forteviot for them to support the family in Methven although since it was Janet who made the application I would have thought it would have been her parish who paid.

You could try contacting the A K Bell library who hold some of the minutes for Perth poorhouses although looking at their list I'm not sure that they would have anything for that time. The archivist is very helpful and maybe he'll be able to give an answer to your query.

Regards,
Annette

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 12:03 pm

Hello Bronwyn,

It looks like all these events took place before the introduction of the Poor Law (Scotland) Act 1845. I don’t know much about the subject but I’ll refer you to a couple of Google books that may provide some useful information. These are usually much easier to read if downloaded.

“A Treatise on the Law of Scotland Relative to the Poor” by Alex. Dunlop, 1828.
See Chapter III, pages 41-59, regarding settlement by various qualifications including residence, marriage etc. and removal of paupers. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2dc2 ... e#PPA43,M1

“The Poor Law Magazine for Scotland”, 1860. This one is after the 1845 Act but there may be some interesting examples to look at if you search in the box on the right for NATIVE. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=lcw ... =titlepage

Hope that’s useful
Alan

nelmit · Post by **nelmit** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 12:48 pm

Currie wrote:Hello Bronwyn,

“A Treatise on the Law of Scotland Relative to the Poor” by Alex. Dunlop, 1828.
See Chapter III, pages 41-59, regarding settlement by various qualifications including residence, marriage etc. and removal of paupers. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2dc2 ... e#PPA43,M1

Hope that’s useful
Alan

Very interesting Alan - page 49 item 67 seems relevent to Bronwyn's query.

Regards,
Annette

banditfraser · Post by **banditfraser** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 2:56 am

Thank You Annette and Alan for your re-plies. Those books certainly help.

cheers

Bronwyn

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