Author Archives: lsstuhler

Unknown's avatar

About lsstuhler

Linda Stuhler is a Genealogy Geek from Rochester, New York, who loves to find out the facts. She has been researching her family tree for over twenty years and has accumulated an abundance of information on various subjects that she enjoys sharing on her blog at: https://inmatesofwillard.com/. She was responsible for the creation of the New York State Senate Bill S840, initiated in August 2011, which allows for the release of the names, dates of birth and death, of former patients who were buried in anonymous graves in New York State Custodial Institutions. The bill was changed from the original draft to S840A and does not work the way it was intended. It became a law on August 18, 2016, but it did not include provisions for a searchable database available to the public as New York State attorneys and the Office of Mental Health believed that if they did so, they would be sued. She is the author of "THE INMATES OF WILLARD 1870 TO 1900, A GENEALOGY RESOURCE."

1864 Monroe County Poor House

Posted on by
1

“The Monroe County Insane asylum is, by a special act of the Legislature, made a separate and distinct institution from that of the poor house, and is under the control of the board of supervisors of the county. It is a three story brick building, the basement being 10 feet ceiling, and the other two stories 12 feet each. The single rooms are 5 x 10 feet, and the double rooms 8 x 10 feet. The windows are 2 x 7 feet. There are four rooms without windows opening out of doors. The building is heated by stoves; and in winter the temperature is maintained uniform by the indication of a thermometer. The lunatics are confined in four separate wards; four occupy the same room. The whole number confined during the year is 105; but the number has been reduced by patients discharged, deaths and absconding, so that only 74 have been in confinement at any one time: 46 were males, 59 females; 38 American, 67 of foreign birth; 54 were mild, and 18 were filthy; 27 had been treated in the State asylum. Ten males and ten females were capable of labor; but those who could not labor were unprovided with occupation or amusement. Fifty-four human beings, with at least some intellect in action, though not guided by reason, shut up in one building, with neither occupation or amusement! The only restraint resorted to, aside from handcuffs, is close confinement and cautious showering. This asylum has one bath tub, but not a full supply of water. The lunatics are required to wash daily. All the rooms have single iron bedsteads; some are fastened to the floor. Only one sleep in a bed, and the bedding is comfortable. The diet is respectable. About two-thirds come to a table; the remainder are served in the wards or their rooms. The sexes are kept separated, and all are under the care of the warden and his wife, assisted by two females. The rooms are clean, and the air in the upper rooms good. All had shoes during the winter. This asylum, recently erected, was designed to accommodate 48 patients; 74 are crowded into the space designed for 48 to occupy! Three escaped during the year, who have not returned. The supervisors appoint a physician, who visits the institution twice every week, and oftener if necessary, but with reference only to the physical condition of the inmates. Dr. Thomas Arner remarks of the building, “Its design is for the physical welfare of the insane poor, without reference to their ultimate recovery. * * * The personal cleanliness of the inmates, and that of the wards and sleeping apartments, the quantity and quality of food, together with the admirable discipline adopted and maintained, are all that can be desired, and reflect the highest praise upon the warden and others, upon whom devolves the care of this unfortunate class of people. There are deficiencies of an important character still to be provided for, in order to render the institution in all respects complete. In its present capacity the building is designed to accommodate forty-eight persons only, eleven of which number are provided for in the basement. The impropriety of crowding seventy-four insane persons into this limited space, some of which is damp and unhealthy, needs no remark, (it needs the severest censure from all humane citizens.)” Increased capacity is essentially necessary to the physical welfare of the inmates of this institution. There should also be a more bountiful supply of water, increased facilities for bathing, and for cooking, and for washing, enlargement of the dining halls, and better provision for exercise in the open air. The question whether, in an institution of this character, the treatment adopted should have in view the ultimate recovery of the inmates, cannot at the present be easily determined; and its solution properly rests with those upon whom devolves the responsibility of their care. The following facts are submitted:

All the insane formerly confined in the poor house (under the old system) have very much improved in every respect, by cleanliness and kind treatment, since their removal to the asylum.

Cases that have been returned as incurable from the State asylum at Utica, have afterwards improved to a marked degree, and in two or three instances nearly well.”

SOURCE: Documents of the Assembly Of The State Of New York, Eighty-Eighth Session, 1865, Volume 6, Nos. 199 to 112 Inclusive, Albany: C. Wendell, Legislative Printer, 1865, Pages 200-201.

New York State County Poor Houses.

1864 Madison County Poor House

Posted on by
Reply

“The statistics from Madison county reveal a most deplorable condition of the insane poor. It is shocking, it is shameful.

The poor house contains ninety-four paupers, twenty-five of whom are insane. They are, with three exceptions, of American birth. The records of the institution do not show the dates of their admission. Inspection shows that fifteen of this number are filthy in their habits, and that only five have ever been treated in an asylum. Nine are capable of doing some labor. The remainder have nothing to do; fourteen are destructive to their clothing. The house has no bathing tub, the insane are not even required to bathe at all, and the violent insane not even to wash their hands and face. It is idle to describe the building, it is heart-sickening to describe what is in it. Eighteen sleep on straw, without bed or bedding; the straw is changed once a week. The food is distributed in tin dishes. No uniformity of heat in winter seems to be aimed at. The mild cases have their liberty during the day. Not so the violent. The only care they receive is from the hands of incompetent paupers. Those confined in the cells are extremely filthy, most of them not using vessels, and their excrements are mixed with the straw on which they lie. Their straw is changed only once in a week; and these lunatics, with their “bodies besmeared with their own excrements, not allowed to come daily to the open air, eating in the same filthy apartments, are not washed from one years end to another.” The cells in which they are confined are only 4 x 6 feet, with a ceiling of 7 feet, and open into a hall, so that they can have no ventilation. “A bad stench” issues from them; and in this stench the lunatics are forced to live—live a life more terrible than a hundred deaths. Three males were in a state of nudity; the females wore only chemises; but the mild cases are clothed like other paupers. Fourteen had neither shoes nor stockings during the winter!!

This vile prison is designed to make confirmed maniacs of twenty-five persons; that is, it pretends to have accommodations for twenty-five, and their treatment would only serve to make them incurable. The books do not show what is the greatest number confined there at any one time. They are not visited by a physician, and receive no care with reference to their ultimate recovery.

Cannot the voice of humanity be awakened? Shall not legislative authority be exercised for their relief?”

SOURCE: Documents of the Assembly Of The State Of New York, Eighty-Eighth Session, 1865, Volume 6, Nos. 199 to 112 Inclusive, Albany: C. Wendell, Legislative Printer, 1865, Pages 199-200.

New York State County Poor Houses.

1864 Livingston County Poor House

Posted on by
Reply

“There are in the county poor house of Livingston one hundred and fifteen paupers, of whom fourteen are lunatics. Six are males and eight females; eight are of native birth. They have been admitted at various intervals, since 1848. Eight of the cases are mild, and several are violent only by paroxysms. Five have been treated at the State asylum. Five males and four females are capable of labor. The amusement for the others is reading, and walking in the yard and grounds. Two require occasional restraint, either by straight jacket or by being shut in cell. The house has water, but no bath tub. The insane are required to wash every week, and hands and face daily. Each room and cell has a window opening out of doors. The building is heated by large coal stoves. All the rooms are warmed. The building is superior to most of those in the rural districts. Dr. D.H. Bissell says: ”The treatment of the insane in our county house is all that can be desired for the insane confined there. They are mostly old and confirmed cases, not benefitted by medical treatment. They are generally mild in their behavior, with two or three exceptions, and they are only occasionally violent.” The inmates are fed, comfortably clothed, and well warmed in winter. The sexes are kept separated, and their care is not committed to paupers The rooms are scrubbed every week, and the air in them is as good as can he expected where so many are congregated. They have clean under garments every week. The county does not receive recent cases, but supports them at the asylum at Utica. It has ten cases there at this date. All had shoes and stockings during the winter. The building was designed to accommodate twenty, but twenty-four have been confined there at one time. Two escaped within the year who were not returned. Those who are kept at the county house, are considered incurables and receive no treatment.”

SOURCE: Documents of the Assembly Of The State Of New York, Eighty-Eighth Session, 1865, Volume 6, Nos. 199 to 112 Inclusive, Albany: C. Wendell, Legislative Printer, 1865, Pages 198-199.

New York State County Poor Houses.

1864 Lewis County Poor House

Posted on by
Reply

“There are only forty-one paupers in the Lewis county poor house. Eleven are insane, three males and eight females. It is creditable to the authorities that six of this number have received treatment in an asylum. The oldest resident is a female who was admitted in 1829—thirty-five years ago. She has never received treatment in the State asylum, as hers was a chronic case long before that institution came into existence. Five of the number are able to labor; three arc destructive; and three require occasional restraint with leather muffs. The house has a full supply of water, though no bathing tubs.

The building is of brick, two stories high and basement. The rooms are located in the middle of the floors with halls on the outside, (after the style of cells in a prison,) and the windows open into the halls, (so that the rooms or cells receive light, if at all, through the doors opening into the halls,) and the bedsteads are fastened to the walls. For bedding straw is used, which is changed as often as necessary, for some, every two or three days. Those who are able, go to the table, and others receive their meals in tin dishes. The building is heated with a furnace. The sexes are not kept entirely separated; male attendants are occasionally employed to care for female lunatics, and pauper help to the keeper of the house is the care they receive. This institution is designed to accommodate sixteen. No case receives care with reference to its ultimate recovery.”

SOURCE: Documents of the Assembly Of The State Of New York, Eighty-Eighth Session, 1865, Volume 6, Nos. 199 to 112 Inclusive, Albany: C. Wendell, Legislative Printer, 1865, Page 198.

New York State County Poor Houses.

1864 Jefferson County Poor House

Posted on by
Reply

“The poor house of Jefferson county has a population of one hundred and seventy-four; sixty-one of whom are lunatics. Twenty-two are males, and thirty-two are females, who have been admitted at various dates within the last twenty years; the records do not show the period at which many were admitted. Five were admitted in 1864. Thirty-seven are mild cases. Only four of these have been treated in an asylum. Of the sixty-one, six males and sixteen females are capable of labor. All the males working out of doors. There is inclosed an acre of ground on which to exercise, and a swing is erected for amusement. [To what extent are these useful in the winter and stormy days, and what indoor amusements are furnished?] Eight are destructive to their clothing, and seventeen require occasional restraint by straight jacket, or handcuffs; confinement in cells and a bath are occasionally resorted to, to enforce restraint. The house has a very scant supply of water. It has one bath tub, and the insane are required to bathe once a week and to wash hands and face daily. It is very rarely that any are confined in cells without the privilege of coming daily to the open air. There are bedsteads of wood in all the rooms except the basement. Q. “What is the greatest number who sleep in one bed?” A. “Three to five idiots at times in a large bunk.” Straw is used for bedding, which for the idiots is changed weekly, for others less often. The building is heated by furnace and stoves, and a comfortable temperature is maintained.

There is no efficient accommodations for the various grades of the insane. The sexes are not entirely separated. Aside from the keeper and the assistant keeper of the poor house, there are none but paupers employed in the immediate care of the lunatics. Q. Did you look for vermin on their persons? A. Now and then there are lice. The county receives in its charge recent cases. Five were without either shoes or stockings last winter. Fifty of the lunatics are separated from the paupers and are in the asylum building; eleven are in common with the paupers. Eleven were removed by their friends, between November 1, 1863, and November 1, 1864. Three died during the year, and sixteen were discharged. An attending physician, at a salary of $150, visits the institution twice a week by requisition, and oftener if required. Cases receive care with reference to recovery if not thought incurable.

The county house consists of two separate buildings—”the old poor house,” and “the new asylum.” Most of the insane are in the asylum. This in the main is well planned and constructed for its purpose, and is well ventilated. The poor house part is very badly ventilated. Both are deficient in a supply of water and conveniences for bathing. The grounds attached are sufficiently large. The main rooms of the asylum are of good size, well lighted and very cheerful. The bedrooms are separated from the main body of the rooms by upright bars, of about 3 x 4 inches (transverse section,) leaving some four inches in space between each two bars. [A sort of cage.] * * There are thirty-eight bed rooms in the asylum and they are generally without fault.”

SOURCE: Documents of the Assembly Of The State Of New York, Eighty-Eighth Session, 1865, Volume 6, Nos. 199 to 112 Inclusive, Albany: C. Wendell, Legislative Printer, 1865, Pages 196-197.

New York State County Poor Houses.

1864 Herkimer County Poor House

Posted on by
Reply

“In the county poor house for Herkimer county there are one hundred and forty-eight paupers, thirty-one of whom are insane. Seventeen are males and fourteen are females. Fourteen of this number are mild cases of insanity; nine are violent, and eleven are confined to the house; eleven are of filthy habits; thirteen have been treated in the State asylum. Most of the cases have been admitted since 1850; but one case has been in the institution since 1844. One female is capable of labor, and three males of out door labor. The others have nothing to do in the way of amusement or pleasure. Handcuffs and straight jackets are used for restraint. The yard of the building has water in it, and tubs. The only ventilation is secured by lowering the windows. One inmate is confined in the basement cell, with the privilege of coming to the open air, once in three days!

The buildings used are one story, one being of wood and one of stone, the ceilings being 8 and 10 feet respectively, and the rooms severally 8 x 5 and 8 x 6.

The bedsteads are of wood. The ticks are filled with straw, which is changed twice each week. Three sleep on straw .alone, without bedsteads or bedding. The breakfast is bread and barley coffee; dinner, meat, potatoes and bread; bread and milk for tea. Each mess is taken to the room for the women. Most of the men eat at a long table in the hall. The house is heated with wood and coal stoves, but no attention is paid to uniformity of heat in the winter, though the stoves are kept constantly burning. The mild cases associate with the sane and sleep with them. There are no accommodations for the various grades, and to the wisdom of paupers is committed the care of the violent.

The full number that the institution can accommodate is twenty-four. The surplus number are kept with the sane. One escaped during the year who has not returned. A physician visits the institution twice weekly, or oftener, if sent for, but the care is merely temporary. The whole arrangement of the institution is bad, and there is nothing about it calculated to improve the condition of the insane; nothing sufficient to make them comfortable.”

SOURCE: Documents of the Assembly Of The State Of New York, Eighty-Eighth Session, 1865, Volume 6, Nos. 199 to 112 Inclusive, Albany: C. Wendell, Legislative Printer, 1865, Page 195-196.

New York State County Poor Houses.

1864 Hamilton County Poor House

Posted on by
Reply

“No report.”

SOURCE: Documents of the Assembly Of The State Of New York, Eighty-Eighth Session, 1865, Volume 6, Nos. 199 to 112 Inclusive, Albany: C. Wendell, Legislative Printer, 1865, Page 195.

New York State County Poor Houses.

1864 Greene County Poor House

Posted on by
Reply

“There were nineteen insane in the poor house of Greene county. One was admitted in 1824, one in 1840, two in 1842, two in 1844, others were admitted at various periods since. Six were males and eleven females; sixteen were of native birth; sixteen were mild cases; twelve were of filthy habits; seven destructive, and six were confined to the house; four had been treated in an asylum; one was a cripple, and one a deaf mute. [The blank for further information was not returned, and doubtless there was an omission to send it to the county judge for distribution.]

The report of the committee on charitable institutions in 1857, reported as follows: “Six are confined in cells; five of them are in chains, including two women. They are restrained by confinement, and by wearing chains about their legs and arms. Some are chained to the wall. While visiting the house, the committee observed two men and one woman taken from their cells to the yard for air. There they were all chained to the fence, within a few feet of each other. Those confined in cells are without air, except from a small hole in the door. They are in a wretched state. None are cured or improved, a result certainly to be expected from their present treatment.” It is to be hoped that the condition of the institution and the care bestowed upon the unfortunate lunatics has improved since 1857.”

SOURCE: Documents of the Assembly Of The State Of New York, Eighty-Eighth Session, 1865, Volume 6, Nos. 199 to 112 Inclusive, Albany: C. Wendell, Legislative Printer, 1865, Page 195.

New York State County Poor Houses.

1864 Genesee County Poor House

Posted on by
Reply

“The building in which the insane poor of Genesee county are kept is of stone, two stories high, with ceilings of eight feet. The rooms are 8 x 10, with windows 2 1/2 x 4 1/2. It has a supply of water and two bath tubs, and is heated by a furnace in the basement. The number of insane during the year was thirty-five, but only thirty-two were in confinement at the present time. Nine of the number were able to do labor. Six of the males do out of door work. The others were severally amused in singing, reading, playing pennies, swinging, &c. Twenty were destructive to their clothing, and eleven required occasional restraint by the use of straight jackets. They are all required to bathe twice a week, and to wash hands and face daily. The institution has iron bedsteads fastened to the floor. Only one sleeps on straw without proper bedding. The food, which appears sufficient, is carried to each by an attendant on plates. There is an effort to separate the violent from the mild cases. The sexes are separated, and a person (not a pauper) is employed in their care. The rooms are clean, and the ventilation said to be good. The county receives recent cases. Fourteen cases were admitted in 1863, and seven up to August, 1864. The building is designed to accommodate thirty-five patients. One escaped during the year who was not returned, and six were removed by their friends. Fifteen of the cases were filthy in habit, and nearly all the cases are excitable. Attention is directed to the ultimate cure of each case.”

SOURCE: Documents of the Assembly Of The State Of New York, Eighty-Eighth Session, 1865, Volume 6, Nos. 199 to 112 Inclusive, Albany: C. Wendell, Legislative Printer, 1865, Pages 194-195.

New York State County Poor Houses.

1864 Fulton County Poor House

Posted on by
Reply

“One-seventh of the inmates of the Fulton County poor house are lunatics, there being ten of this class, viz. three males and seven females. The whole number of inmates is seventy. Eight are native, and two of foreign birth. All have been admitted since 1857, and six of them have been treated in an asylum. Three males and five females are capable of doing some labor, but at such times as they do not labor, they have no employment or amusement whatever. Six of the number are destructive to their clothing, and three require occasional restraint. The modes of restraint are by handcuffs and confinement, and the exercise of kindness. The house has a supply of water, but no bathing tub. The insane are required to wash hands and face daily. There is no arrangement for ventilation, or the uniformity of heat in the winter. “Are any confined in basement cells?” “Yes.” The building is of brick, two stories high, with ceilings of nine feet, the rooms 18 x 50, with windows 4 x 2 1/2 feet. All the rooms have bedsteads in them; the bedding is of straw, and none sleep on straw only. The diet provided is simple, but nutritious, and all come to the table and receive their food on plates. The sexes are kept separated, but they have no other than pauper attendants. They receive no care with reference to their ultimate recovery the physician visiting the institution only when he is sent for, The location of the poor house is pleasant and healthful, but in its construction it was never designed for the care of the insane. The county does not hesitate to take care of recent cases, even with such barrenness of means for their care.”

SOURCE: Documents of the Assembly Of The State Of New York, Eighty-Eighth Session, 1865, Volume 6, Nos. 199 to 112 Inclusive, Albany: C. Wendell, Legislative Printer, 1865, Pages 194.

New York State County Poor Houses.