ABSTRACT
Since old age tended to bring declining fortunes, as shown in the previous chapter, how materially secure were the elderly? This chapter demonstrates that they were not very secure at all. By looking at the circumstances of poor, middling, and wealthy old people in Connecticut several salient facts become clear. From a material standpoint, growing old was risky, as evidenced by a significant number of aged people suffering in destitution. The only way to definitively ensure a comfortable old age and avoid the threat of penury was through individual effort. If a person's savings were insufficient or he was unable to labor for his own support there were no guarantees of safe passage over the many pitfalls threatening the aged. Family did sometimes assist older members economically but many times they did not. Meanwhile community support for elderly people in need was neither reliable enough nor generous enough to sustain an easy old age. In early national America dependence on others was best avoided because dependence was only a few steps removed from indigence.
