Pioneer history of Ingham County, compiled and arranged by Mrs. Franc L. Adams, secretary of the Ingham County pioneer and historical society.

ALAIEDON TOWNSHIP AND ITS HISTORY

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task of transferring the inmates and property to the new location.
The keepers of the poor house during the location of the institution in Alaiedon were Wm. F. Near, James Reed, Joe Hudson,
Dan Leek, David Fitzsimmons, John Bradman, Augustus Wells
and S. Lee Cook.
The secretary of the Ingham County Pioneer and Historical
Society while doing research work found the following information
regarding the poor funds for the county:
"The first recorded action of the board of supervisors in regard
to the poor of the county was in June, 1843, when $50 was appropriated for their use. In 1844 the importance of having a home
for this class of people was seen, and 80 acres of land on section 21
in Alaiedon was bought for $400. This was added to until the
county owned about 200 acres of land, which cost $3,858.72.
"Since the county was organized the amount appropriated for
the maintenance of the poor has increased from $50 in 1843 to
$8,650 in 1879."
At the last named date the appropriations seemed to have
reached their zenith. The government had not yet made provisions for adequate help for the soldiers of the Civil War and
their families, the relief societies which had flourished during the
war had dissolved, these veterans, who had taken three, and
some of them four, years out of the best earning period of their
lives, and had returned "with crippled bodies and health impaired," had no other resource but to call on their home county for
help, and of necessity the amount the supervisors were asked to
provide must be large.