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for thought . .
A typical and reoccurring point of contention was: Who was responsible for paying out State Aid if a mother and children moved to a different town to live with her parents while the husband was in the army? Was it the town where she and her husband had been living and owned property, or was it the town where she was temporarily residing with her parents? The Attorney General rather unhelpfully pointed out that a person's residence was any place he or she said it was, which seemed to mean that the town where the mother was staying should get the bill. Frequently, the officials of that municipality would try to insist that she sell the family's property in the other town and pay for her own needs with the proceeds. None of this was what the Legislature had in mind. |
Click on the above pages for transcripts of these letters. Mr. Hine had been apparently been badgering the Selectmen of Turner for some time about getting State Aid, since it was up to them, as municipal authorities, to make a decision. His letter suggests that they told him that if he was that desperate, he could go to live on the Town Farm. (To be so indigent and so helpless as to have to go to the Town Farm or "poor farm" was considered a great disgrace by most people.) He threatened to retaliate by pulling his son out of the service, which of course, he had no authority to do.
Click on the above pages for transcripts of these letters. Mrs. Hine subsequently wrote to the Governor and she pointed out that her son in the 5th Maine had not been paid for 5 months. This was probably true. Regiments were supposed to be paid every two months, but often the paymasters fell far behind in getting to the regiments. But the Selectmen's letters indicate that they felt Mr.and Mrs. Hine did not have much of a case. They acknowledged that the family was very poor indeed, but they pointed out that there was another son living and working nearby, not in the army, who could and should be helping his parents. All letters regarding the Hines cease after Mrs. Hine's letter, and we cannot tell whether the Hines gave up or the selectmen gave in. |
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October 1, 2002.
Maine State Archives
