Children of Albert Jerry (1913-1914)

Local authorities sometimes sent impoverished children to the Vermont Industrial School in order to avoid supporting them at the town’s expense. Multiple children from a single family were sometimes committed to the institution, as happened with four of Albert and Ida Jerry’s children in the 1910s.  David Jerry, the oldest of eleven siblings, was sent to the institution from Morrisville in 1913, even though he was “an industrious boy” and had committed no crime other than being the son of Albert Jerry, “a town charge.” Three of his siblings were committed a few months later, ostensibly for stealing from a neighbor: Linda, aged 13 years, Abner, aged 9 and Albert, aged 8. All were committed for the remainder of their minority.

“David Jerry, the oldest child of Albert Jerry, who is a town charge, has been committed to the industrial school during the remainder of his minority.  The lad is an industrious boy, but has always been an outcast so the authorities have had him sent where he will have a good home.  He is the oldest of eleven children. . .”

Morrisville News and Citizen, Oct. 22, 1913

“. . . three of Albert Jerry’s children, who live near the trestle at Cady’s Falls, [were] charged with stealing from Leo Bullard’s house . . . [and] were sentenced to the State Industrial School during the remainder of their minority.  They are Linda, aged 13 years, Abner, aged 9 and Albert, aged 8.”

Morrisville News and Citizen, Feb. 4, 1914

Whatever Albert Jerry thought of his children’s commitment to the Industrial School, evidence suggests that his wife, Ida, was not happy about it. Though the family was quite poor and her domestic obligations were undoubtedly large, Mrs. Jerry reportedly visited her children at the Industrial School shortly after their commitment in April 1914. How her children fared during and after their time at the Industrial School is difficult to uncover, though it is known that David Jerry married in Vergennes in 1920 and became a farmer in nearby Ferrisburgh; Linda married a farmer in 1921, and Abner was working as an Addison County farm hand in 1922.