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Subject: [IA-CIVIL-WAR] Relief for Volunteers' Families
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 15:10:38 EST

For those interested in how some communities took care of needy families when
soldiers left for war early in the 1860s, the following article from the
Cedar Valley Times, Cedar Rapids, Linn County, Iowa, gives one example:

Cedar Valley Times
Cedar Rapids, Linn Co., Iowa

Thurs. Morning, August 14, 1862

Families of Volunteers

The following is the action, at different times, of the Linn County Board
of Supervisors, for the relief of the families of volunteers. It will be seen
that the County pays $4.00 per month for the wife and $2.00 per month for
each child as a maintenance for destitute families of soldiers in the United
States service:

September 2, 1862.
On motion the following resolution was adopted by a full vote of the
Board, all the members present voting in the affirmative:
Resolved, That the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors issue an order or
orders for the benefit and relief of any family of our volunteers in the
United States service, or who may here after enter into such service, upon
the certificate and approval of the resident Supervisor of the Township in
which such family or applicant resides, should such family or applicant be in
destitute circumstances for the amount or amounts so certified to be
necessary for the relief of such family or applicant.

October 15, 1861.
On motion the following resolution was adopted by the Board, a majority of
all the members voting in the affirmative:
Resolved, That there be allowed to each of the wives of the soldiers now,
or who may be, in the actual military service of the State of Iowa, or the
United States of America, who shall be found (by the Supervisor of the
Township in which they may reside, respectively,) to be in need of
assistance, the sum of four dollars per month and to each child of such
soldier so found in need as aforesaid, the sum of two dollars per month, with
an additional amount in case of great necessity. Such appropriation to be
made until the first day of January next.

January 9, 1862.
The following resolution was adopted by the Board:
Resolved, That the resolutions of the Board heretofore adopted, to aid the
families of volunteers, remain in full force until rescinded, with the
provision added, that in case of returned soldiers who are disabled from
disease or wounds, from earning a livelihood, the resident Supervisor may
render such aid as he may see proper.



Sue Trout Reisdorph

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