[Nd-talk] FW: June's story

Tue Jun 5 22:35:30 UTC 2018

From: The Blind History Lady <theblindhistorylady at gmail.com> 
Sent: Tuesday, June 5, 2018 3:53 PM
To: mota1252 at gmail.com
Subject: June's story

Last month's rules don't apply to ur story for June 

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.A Matter of perspective

Last month I told you that when a person was blind, they often were lost to us through public records. One of the first lessons I learned as a genealogist was to always obey the research rules and be willing to change the rules to find my results. 

This month, I wish to tell you of a man who’s blindness as an adult led us to find him or, he would have been, as a sighted man, lost to us forever. Because he went blind, we are able to relate his blessings of blindness.

John Hudson was born in 1866 or 7, or as late as 1871. There was no one left from his early years to tell him of his actual birth date. 

As a very young child he was orphaned. There were very little options for a child with no one to care for him. He became an indentured servant, bound out by Sussex County, Delaware. At the age of 14, he was working as a farm hand, not as an adopted child, on a farm for a couple in Gumborough, Delaware, who had no children.  His childhood and indeed, much of his adult life was nothing but hard work with little pay. 

In 1907, John went totally blind. The cause is not known. There were no services in Delaware for a blind adult. John found himself at the county Almshouse. He was there with many other unfortunates and blind persons such as John Defuse, a single black man about 77 years old and Martha Stafford, 76 years old, white and single and no one to care for them.  

In 1907, an almshouse was just an over-crowded place to live and get a meal. There was no one to help John learn how to adapt to his new way of life, There was no person connected with the almshouse to get anyone living there back on their feet. To complicate matters, John had contracted Tuberculosis and could not afford any medical treatment. 

In 1911, the newly established Delaware Commission for the Blind sent their home teacher out into the poor houses and on one of these trips found John at the Sussex County Almshouse. He was sitting in a chair, just sitting. After leaving the Almshouse, he often told the other blind men that this period of his life was the most wretched. His mind was a blank. There was no one to talk to, read to him and no purpose to his life. 

The home teacher brought John right away to the Blind Shop on West 8th Street in Wilmington.  The building had sleeping rooms for 8 to 10 men to live there, if they had nowhere else to stay. 

John was put to work in the broom shop. He had a purpose again. John quickly learned how to size the corn, cut the handles, wind the brooms and become a competent broom maker where his wares were then sold in the salesroom of the Blind Shop and he, he alone got the profits from his labors. 

Another change that John, though indirectly brought about through his earlier circumstances, was legislation that allowed a two-year capped financial aid package for those just losing their sight, put into place about 1915. A newly blinded person could apply for a $3 a week payment, to help keep them in their current situation and to adapt to their blindness. John did not benefit from this new legislative program as he was busy earning his way, making brooms. Although the legislation was soon shadowed by future welfare legislation, other newly blinded individuals were able to benefit from his trials. 

 One cold day in February of 1914, John went down to the basement of the Blind Shop where the broom making supplies were stored. He smelled smoke when entering the basement. By feeling his way around the basement, he quickly located the fire in the broom corn and sounded an alarm Several other blind men working upstairs came quickly with buckets of water and put the fire out, saving the building and themselves. No sighted person was at the shop at the time, so it was all up to the blind guys to put out the fire. The blind men seemed to know they were up to the task. It was the newspaper reporter and the sighted community that were surprised that the blind men could put out the fire themselves. 

John died on December 5, 1916 at the Blind Shop. Because of his poor health, his right lung had collapsed, causing his death. John spent the last five years, living at the Blind Shop where he was happy and felt like he had a family.

Peggy Chong

The Blind History Lady

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www.theblindhistorylady.com

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‌

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