Daily AncestorPoor farm
A poor farm was a town or county farm where paupers lived and worked the land, the rural form of the poorhouse in the 1800s and early 1900s.
Many towns bought poor farms in the early 1800s instead of auctioning their poor to the lowest bidder. A hired farmer and his wife ran the place, and residents who could work raised food toward their own keep. Burlington, Vermont, opened its first poorhouse in 1816, and the last Vermont poor farm closed in 1968.
New England records often say town farm. When a state moved the duty of care from towns to counties, the town farm could give way to a county farm, as in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, in the 1860s.
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Poor farm." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/poor-relief/poor-farm. Last checked 2026-10-03.