Seamen’s Orphan and Children’s Friend Society, and the Seamen’s Widow and Orphan Association of Salem
7 Carpenter Street

The Seamen’s Orphan and Children’s Friend Society was organized in 1839 and was located at this site “for the purpose of rescuing from evil, and improving the condition of, such children as are in indigent and suffering circumstances, and not otherwise provided for.”¹⁰⁸ Its aim was “to aid American born children or those of Protestant parents. They are admitted to the ‘home’ as early as 18 months old, and in most cases are not wholly given up by their parents, in which case the latter are expected to pay something towards the board of their child. The children attend the public kindergarten and higher schools in course, and the South Church and Sunday school. If it is possible, when old enough, private homes are found for such girls as are given up to the society, or are orphans, and their interests are guarded by the ‘Home’ management till they are 18 years of age. The boys are not kept after they are seven years old, and… the most perplexing question is the satisfactory disposition of these children.”¹⁰⁹ A few years later, in 1844, the Ladies Seamen’s Friend Society was organized.

Earlier, in 1833, a group of women met at Hamilton Hall “for the purpose of forming a Society to be called the Seamen’s Widow and Orphan Association of Salem.”¹¹⁰ In their by-laws, the founders wrote, “Among the afflicted of our fellow creatures, none have a greater claim upon our sympathies than the destitute Widows and Orphans of Seamen. To be the blessed instrument of Divine Providence in making good the promises of God to this afflicted class, is a privilege equally desirable and honorable to the benevolent heart. And with the promise of God to encourage us, we, the subscribers, agree to associate for the purpose of devising and adopting such measures as may seem best calculated to ameliorate the condition of the Fatherless and Widow.”¹¹¹ “Ladies” could join for fifty cents a year, or ten dollars to become a life member. In 1837, “Gentlemen” were invited to subscribe one dollar annually or twenty dollars for life membership. The number of widows assisted during their first year of operation was one hundred and thirty-nine; the amount given to their care was six hundred and eighty-four dollars.

Notes
108. 1866 Salem city directory, 212.

109. Cleveland, “Salem Charities.”

110. Organizational brochure of the Seamen’s Widow and Orphan Association of Salem, 1833.

111. Ibid.