Thanks, Fred. I had never even heard the term before. I'm almost certain both parents were alive when the children were growing up. And the mother paid a children's home $20 a month. Even though the parents were both alive and lived exactly one block apart, maybe it was still considered as the father having abandoned his five children. He did eventually leave America and marry again (a 22 year-old when he was 62--and then he died a year later--ha!ha!) In fact, it just occurred to me--and I feel bad for thinking my ancestors might have been this low--with 5 children, it might have been far less expensive to claim being abandoned and allow them to be raised by others.
Do you happen to know if there were any efforts to collect child support from deadbeat dads in those days, or did the authorities tend to look the other way? One other question--and I know the answer would be pure guesswork on your part. The mother had many, many close relatives in the area. Why wouldn't the children have been looked after by them? Was being divorced or abandoned such a stigma that the children would have been tainted in some way? Thanks again! On Saturday, April 19, 2014 4:53:44 AM UTC-7, azoresfred wrote: > 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]<javascript:> > > 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] <javascript:>. >> 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.
