Oliver Upton: Early Gardner Pauper

Oliver Upton and wife bid off by Simon Gates at ten shilling per week. Oldest child bid off at one shilling per week. Second child bid off by John Heywood at ten pence per week.

The creation of a town hardly meant the establishment of a utopian society. Like other communities, Gardner had its social ills. One such problem was poverty. In early Gardner, this problem was handled in much the same way as in other New England towns; the poor were sold, at an auction, to the lowest bidders, who would have the responsibility of caring for them. The guiding principle underlying this practice was to get rid of public charges at the lowest cost to the community. In other words, whoever agreed to maintain a pauper with the least amount of financial aid from the town could have him or her.

The auctions were usually held at the annual town meeting with a town official appointed as the auctioneer. The successful bidder was entitled to as much work from his charges as he might be able to extract from them. However, at times, bond was required of the successful bidder to ensure decent treatment of the purchased pauper. Sometimes, to further protect the poor who were on sale, persons of dubious character were barred from participating in the bidding.

Whole families pauperized through one circumstance or another were frequently torn apart, as exemplified by the case of the Upton family, the members of which were sold to the lowest bidder in Gardner in 1789. The results of the sale are quoted from town records:

"Oliver Upton and wife bid off by Simon Gates, at ten shilling per week. Oldest child bid off by Simon Gates, at one shilling per week. Second child bid off by John Heywood at ten pence per week. Third child bid off by Andrew Beard, at one shilling, two pence per week. Fourth child bid off by Ebenezer Bolton, at one shilling, nine pence per week."
Fitchburg records show that 25 years later Oliver Upton was placed on sale again in that town. At that time Upton was sold to Jona Wheeler at 70 cents per week.

The selling of the poor in Gardner continued until the town purchased a work house. This was accomplished in 1848, when the 330-acre farm of Abram Stone, in North Gardner, was purchased for $3,500. At the same time $1,000 was authorized for purchase of stock. Stone stayed on his former farm as the superintendent of what later became commonly known as the "poor farm." People who were placed there were unable to care for or support themselves. They were given work which was designed to benefit the town, and their children were provided the benefits of education. Gardner's work house, as well as others throughout the country, eventually disappeared with the implementation of welfare programs under the New Deal.