Since the question originally dealt with the term being used in California, it might also mean what it has tradtionally meant in the US. The primary use of the term has been to refer to children who have been abandoned by their fathers (and usually supported by the state). Even though the farming out of family members during the Depression was also common because so many people couldn't afford to raise their own children and many orphanages took in children like that, more often "half orphan" was a term used to identify children bereft of their financial support because of abandonment by the father. This is probably not the case for kids who were in the Azores proper since even real orphans (kids who had lost both parents) were usually taken in by other family members or close friends (hence the real use of the term Godmother and Godfather) and usually put to work for a "sponsor" (benevolent or otherwise) in exchange for room and board.
On Sat, Apr 19, 2014 at 12:04 AM, Liliana Harris <[email protected]>wrote: > > I’m fairly certain I have the answer to that. On Azores GenWeb, which is a > terrific source of information (Forgive me if I’m reporting something most > of the group already knows.), there was a book on the Azores —part fiction, > part non-fiction—reviewed. The fiction part is supposedly well-researched, > and so far everything I’ve read has checked out. Embedded in the fiction of > the book, there is reference to half orphans: *children with both parents > living who could no longer be fully supported by the parents*. They lived > in institutions along with children without parents, and their parents paid > small amounts for their room and board. They kept their own names but could > be farmed out to private homes--sort of like foster children. I did a bit > of research of my own on this, and apparently it was not common at the turn > of the century but it was done. > > On Friday, April 18, 2014 7:40:52 PM UTC-7, Grace CM wrote: >> >> Does anyone know what “half-orphan” in a California school record from >> 1918 might mean? Unless I’m mistaken, the child has two living parents. >> > -- > For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail > (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the > right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my > membership." > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Azores Genealogy" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores. > -- For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores.
