Fonds - The Ladies' Benevolent and Temperance Society of St. Thomas fonds

The Ladies' Benevolent and Temperance Society of St. Thomas was organized at St. Thomas, Ontario March 24, 1876 and incorporated in April 1878. Under Article II of its constitution the Society and its members were committed to the following objects: "1st - The care of the aged, and the homeless. 2nd - The promotion of Temperance. 3rd - To acquire and hold property as a place of refuge for the aged and homeless." On March 27, 1878 the Society opened the St. Thomas "Home" for "those who are sick or destitute belonging to the town." The Home was located "in the brick house formerly used as a tavern on the Wilson farm in the town of St. Thomas." The St. Thomas Home admitted adult men and women as well as children under the age of twelve in its "Orphanage Branch." In its first year of operation the Home admitted 29 people (19 female, 10 male), including two infants born at the Home; the eldest admittee was 90. Although initially inmates were expected to pay residency fees according to their means, the Home was funded principally by grants from the Government of Ontario and the City of St. Thomas, and, to a lesser degree, private donations. Because it received government funding, the Home was required to file annual reports with and was subject to the supervision of the Office of the Inspector of Public Charities for Ontario, and later the Ontario Department of Public Welfare - Homes for the Aged Branch and its successor, the Ontario Department of Social and Family Services - Homes for the Aged Branch. On July 24, 1882 the Society purchased property at 57 Walnut Street, St. Thomas from Hiram Cornford and later that year erected the Thomas Williams Home on that site, replacing the St. Thomas "Home" as a refuge for indigent citizens. The Home was named in honour of its principal patron, St. Thomas philanthropist Thomas Williams, who was also named a life member of the Home's advisory board. The last child resident of the Thomas Williams Home was discharged in March 1899; thereafter, while adults under the age of 40 continued to be admitted, the Home's population became increasingly elderly. In the year ending October 1, 1911 the youngest of the Home's eighteen inmates was 53 and the average age was 74. Although not absolute requirements for admission, the great majority of residents were received from the City of St. Thomas and reported affiliation with some denomination of Protestantism. By 1956 the Thomas Williams Home had evolved from its origins as a temporary place of charitable refuge for indigents to a permanent residence for senior citizens of reduced means operated under sanction of the Ontario Department of Public Welfare - Homes for the Aged Branch. Residents contributed to the cost of their care by assigning their old age security entitlements in trust to The Ladies' Benevolent and Temperance Society of St. Thomas. From the 1950s on, the Home maintained an average population of twenty five residents, divided equally between the sexes, and employed a staff of five - superintendent, caretaker, cook, and two housemaids. The Ladies' Benevolent and Temperance Society of St. Thomas operated the Thomas Williams Home until 1994 when the house and property were sold to private investors who remodelled the site as a bed and breakfast called "Rosebery Place." From May 1927 to August 1973 the Society operated a similar institution, for women only, known as Campbell Cottage, located at 40 Wellington Street, St. Thomas. The Cottage had been the residence of Mary Campbell Leitch who died March 20, 1921 and left this property in trust to the Society for the purpose of operating a home for "elderly women of modest means." On April 1, 1927 the Society established its Campbell Cottage Committee to undertake the administration of the residence. The first residents were admitted to the Cottage in July 1927. The Cottage received a second source of funding when St. Thomas resident Sophia Burton Lamb died on July 13, 1930 and left half her estate as a legacy to establish the Sophia Cutten Lamb Memorial Fund Trust to support the operation of Campbell Cottage under the management of The Ladies' Benevolent and Temperance Society of St. Thomas. In 1973, citing declining demand for admission and the existence of other, similar relief institutions, the Society ceased managing Campbell Cottage, the Mary C. Leitch estate, and the Sophia Cutten Lamb Memorial Fund Trust.