Letter to the Baptist Orphans Home from Jno. L. O'Neal, July 18th, 1894.

Jno. L. O'Neal writes to the Home regarding William Pence, an orphan from the Home adopted by a Dr. Golden. He states that Pence was "fleeing from hard hands he had fallen into in Henry County," and that he knew the boy from when he stayed with a Mrs. Stewart near Anchorage. Pence told O'Neal that Golden kept him only a short time, and then passed him off to his father who mistreated him. When asked why he did not report the mistreatment to the Home, William stated he was afraid and that the neighbors "promised to write and report for him." O'Neal was going to send him back to Stanford to his sisters, but contacted the Home "so as to avoid the R. R." He asks if the Home allows "orphans to be bandied around as in shuttlecock hither and thither," or if they "scrutinize the character of applicants for them." Letter marked Eminence, KY.

Manuscript Collection, The Filson Historical Society

Mss_BJ_B222-06_008