Lizzie Dugan, Cook County

The only place where it is known that Lizzie Dugan lived is Cook County. She is found in the 1880 census, living as a boarder in the home of Robert and Sarah McCulloch on Grenshaw Street in Chicago. As stated in her letter in 1884, she was a book binder and that was her occupation in 1913 as well, when she died. She had also worked as a home visitor for the Christian Temperance Union for some years

"If the children would not expect anything they would be less likely to be disappointed." How true. Lizzie was supremely grateful for her life as a book binder, having lost her hearing as well as her voice before the age of 35. She was receiving pay "at a fair compensation for a woman." Poor Lizzie had been so beaten down by life that the only comfort she had was clinging to a religion that convinced her she was a second class citizen and deserved the life of penury she was living. At the age of thirty five her life was so empty that she was grateful for a form letter from the orphanage that had transported her twenty five years earlier.