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0209

At a Meeting of the Board of Overseers of the Poor for Halifax County held at the Court House there of on the 11th day of May 1866 -- by request of G. R. Buffum, Lieut. & Assistant Bureau R.F & A.L. upon due consultation have agreed on the following answers to the questions by him submitted for their consideration.
1.st  It has always been the law of Virginia that all destitute persons unable to support themselves (without any distinction of color,) should be provided for in food & clothing by the Overseers of the poor for that county in which such persons had a legal settlement. Under the law not only white persons, but free negroes & slaves, when deserted by their masters, have always been placed on the poor list and cared for. Masters have always been liable to prosecution for a misdemeanor, in not providing for their slaves, and permitting them to wander about begging or hiring themselves & thus endeavouring to make a support which it was the masters duty to provide. But when the master removed and left his old & decrepid negroes, or when he himself was unable to support them, they have always been supported in the same manner as white paupers by the overseers of the poor.
All persons who need assistance, or are unable to support themselves make application to the board if in session, or if not to the overseer of the poor for the district in which the applicant resides. The Overseer, if he deems the applicant a fit subject for relief, places him on the poor list, and fixes his allowance, until the next meeting of the board. The colored freed men must apply for assistance in the same manner as a white pauper; and his application will receive the same consideration and attention as the application of a white person. In all cases however white or black

Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-04-20 11:22:33 its Buffum,