The Inmates of Willard 1870 to 1900 / A Genealogy Resource

1864 Albany County Poor House

Posted on September 18, 2013 by lsstuhler

“The year embraced in the report of the Alms House Insane Asylum is for September 1, 1863, to September 1, 1864. The number of paupers varies from four hundred and twenty-five in summer to six hundred and fifty in winter. There have been during the fiscal year one hundred and fifty-five lunatics in the poor house asylum. The ratio of insane is about one in four. Fourteen have died; twenty-eight have been discharged. Ninety-nine of the whole number were mild cases; twenty-one were filthy; sixty-two were males and seventy-three were females; fifty-seven were native and eighty-eight of foreign birth. All have been admitted since 1848. Of the whole number only nine had been treated in the State asylum. Twelve males and twenty females were capable of labor. The large number who were unable to work had no amusement or employment. Only six were destructive to their clothing, and required the straight jacket restraint, or locking in cells. The house has two bath tubs, one for each department, and a full supply of water from the city water works. The insane are required to bathe weekly, and to wash hands and face daily. The rooms are supplied with iron bedsteads, and straw in ticks for bedding. The diet is intended to be ample, and all who are able go to a common table to eat. The change of clothing is made every week. The rooms in summer are well ventilated. All have shoes in winter. Twelve escaped during the year who were not returned; three were removed by friends. The asylum was built to accomodate thirty-one lunatics. There are in confinement at the present time in this space, designed only for thirty-one, One Hundred And Three. The greatest number in confinement at any one time was ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY, designed to accomodate thirty-one!—the alms house asylum of the capital! of Albany!! Dr. W.H. Bailey, who made the inspection, remarks: “The asylum is a modest two-story and basement brick structure, entirely separated from the other buildings in which are the county poor. There is a small yard for the males and another for the females, into which those who are able may go at pleasure, but the yards are too small and too barren either for the health or amusement of the inmates; that for the males is 53×90, and that for the females 84×102 feet. In them there is neither a tree or a shrub to shield them from the scorching sun in summer, nor a bench or a seat on which to rest. They are inclosed by a close board fence about twelve feet high, over which the inmates cannot see, and they stretch themselves on the ground like animals, or creep under the shade of the prison-like enclosure. The sexes are separated; the males occupy the first and the females the second story, the dining room for each sex being in the basement. The sleeping rooms open on each side from a hall extending through the centre of the building. Each of these rooms is lighted by a window. The halls are heated by hot air from two furnaces in the basement, and the rooms receive heat through the doors from the hall. Unless the weather is severe, the heat is ordinarily sufficient, and the unfortunate inmates are comfortable. All who are able are compelled to leave their rooms and occupy the halls during the day time. I regard it as unfortunate that some arrangement was not made in the construction of this building for the weak and feeble. When a lunatic is sick or feeble the heat from the hall is often insufficient, unless the door is constantly open, which is to expose the patient to the noise and gibberish of fifty insane and demented, who are congregated in a single room, making it resound with their vacant laughs and shouts. In summer the windows are a ready and effectual means of ventilation, but in winter the furnaces are not of sufficient capacity to permit a flow of cold fresh air sufficient for the requirements for health. The basement rooms have no means of being warmed or ventilated. In these the boisterous, the vicious and the violent, are confined. None are confined here continually; but every new patient is placed here for two or three days “for the purpose of becoming acquainted with his habits.”

Dr. J.R. Boulware, the present efficient alms house physician, in his recent report to the common council, says:

“The insane asylum was built originally to accomodate seventeen females and fourteen males. There are thirty lodging rooms intended for the inmates, and each room was made of the smallest dimensions, compatible with the physical health of a single occupant, nor was it ever intended that more than one should be put into a room. We are now compelled to crowd from three to five of these creatures, who are in the greatest state of helplessness and dependence, into one room, also obliged to use some of the small, damp, air-tight cells, which are below ground, as lodging rooms, whose aerial capacity was never more than barely sufficient to sustain the health of one individual, thus making it appear that the Alms House physician, or those responsible for the management of this important and most sacred of all trusts, are not only willing to leave them in the unfortunate condition of insanity which simply makes them suitable for entrance into an Insane Asylum, but add to it the greater misery which results from the loss of bodily health. This loss of health is but the natural and inevitable result of such abuse. To realize more fully the important bearing of this subject, every individual should make a practical application of it to himself, and imagine a kind relative or dear friend as one of the one hundred and three who are compelled in cold or stormy weather, to crowd into a mere hall or passage way, whose cubic dimensions are such that the air, in twenty minutes, becomes vitiated and rendered unfit to support health, and in the course of the day becomes in the highest degree deleterious and loathsome.

Think of the effect, mentally, physically and morally of promiscuously huddling together so large a number of individuals, of all grades of insanity, from mere partial mental derangement, to that complete idiotcy, where nothing is left of that intellectual force by which man is characterized and distinguished from the lower order of animals. Many of them obeying the calls of nature without reference to time or place, some perhaps in convulsions, others roaming whilst the timid and retreating are trying to escape from the screams and vociferations of the more turbulent. There being no provision for their proper classification, the noisy, the violent, and the filthy; the quiet, the timid, and the convalescent, have to remain in this hall together during the long weary hours of the day.

The standing committee of the Association of Medical Superintendents, in their report on the construction of hospitals for the insane, say that apartments provided for the confinement of the violent insane, should be entirely above ground, and when used for a single patient, should contain not less than 960 cubic feet of air, nor should the ceiling be less than twelve feet in height, with a window communicating directly with the external atmosphere, and well ventilated. Now I find on measurement that these cells instead of containing 960 cubic feet of air, contain about 760 cubic feet, instead of the ceiling being twelve feet in height, it is but seven feet, instead of being entirely above ground they are nearly entirely below ground, and instead of being well ventilated, they are made air-tight. In these cells the violent insane, whose insanity is manifested paroxysmally, are temporarily confined until their paroxysms of excitement have subsided. Frequently they have to be confined in these damp, air-tight cells twenty-four hours, when the air becomes vitiated by the offensive exhalations and excrementitious matter. The ingress of air shut off, the effluvia in the cell prevented from escaping, the helpless inmate is thus compelled to breathe into the system this poisoned air, twenty-four or perhaps forty-eight hours, and the effect is not only ill health and a stupid mind, but the prostration of all the powers of the individual, both physical and mental, is the unavoidable and inevitable consequence; and this dreaded cell becomes the alembic, in which is double distilled their most bitter cup of affliction.

This picture sad as it is, falls short of presenting this matter in all of its unpleasant features, but enough has been said to make it apparent that this building is entirely inadequate to afford that relief to those for whose aid this department was designed.

Were your honorable body fully aware of this matter as it really exists, I cannot but suppose that the warmest sympathies of your nature would be aroused to respond to the urgent necessities of these insane poor, for surely no affliction appeals more strongly to our sympathy and generosity than this fearful malady.

The improvements deemed most essential, are a building whose relative dimensions to the number of patients, are such that each inmate will be supplied with enough of atmospheric air to support health, and the building so constructed as to admit of their proper classification. Indeed the importance of having enough of pure air to breathe, and the necessity of having the quiet, the timid and the convalescent separated from the noisy and turbulent, so as not to be affected by their screams and vociferations, are so palpable, that they need only to be mentioned to be properly appreciated.

I also wish to mention that there is much credit due the alms house superintendent and the attendants of this institution for the cleanliness of the different apartments of this building. When we take into consideration the great disadvantage of having to keep the turbulent, the destructive and the filthy in the same apartments with the other inmates, this Insane Asylum, in point of cleanliness, will compare advantageously with the best in the State. As far as the patients themselves are concerned, although somewhat ragged, each rag is kept clean.

In this case the physician, no matter how diligent and attentive, or how well he understands the subject, is nearly or quite powerless. He can order no healthful exercise nor any system of profitable amusement. He can only prescribe for the absolutely sick. The keeper has done his duty when he turns the key and locked the unhappy inmates fast, or gone in and by intimidation, threats or blows quieted some turbulent demented incurable. The superintendent of the alms house has done his duty when he has provided for their daily living, at the cheapest possible rate, and supplied the wants that keep them from perishing more rapidly, or from a more speedy recovery. The alms house committee look at the figures and the quarterly expenses of the Institution, and if they have not exceeded the preceding quarter, they have done their duty, or passing speedily through the hall of the Institution they see the inmates neat and clean and do not stop to think that crazy people need anything more —or if one more benevolent, humane and thoughtful than the rest suggests an improvement, it fails to meet anything more than the discouragement of the board, and nothing is the result. The board of common council still leave all to the committee, and the people leave all to the common council. The police justice is obliged nearly every week to relieve the jail of a lunatic; he must be disposed of; the superintendent of the alms house has no discretion, he must receive him, and another deranged person is thrust in the overcrowded apartments and left to his own gloomy hopeless condition to become a confirmed lunatic. The humane and philanthropic learn these facts and lament them, but can do nothing. The time has come when calm judicious legislation is demanded, to interpose and prevent these alarming evils.”

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 178-182.

New York State County Poor Houses.

Psychiatric Drugs & Violence

Posted on September 18, 2013 by lsstuhler

I am not an expert on Psychiatric Drugs, SSRIs, Mental Illness, Gun Violence or Mass Murders, but after reading the articles presented below, I feel compelled to share them with you. After the horrible, senseless tragedy at the U.S. Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., the media and politicians alike were very quick to tell us that gun laws need to be stricter with better background checks, and that they need to be red flagging people who have “mental issues.” But no one ever mentions, in what appears to be a fact in a considerable amount of cases, that people who have “snapped” and have committed these terrible acts of violence, murder, and mass murder, were actually on prescription drugs prescribed to them by their physician at the time that they committed these crimes. Everyone knows that the Mental Health Care System in the United States is broken but I’m not sure that everyone is aware of the huge influence that the Pharmaceutical Companies have on our health care providers. I am not stating that prescription drugs are bad or that they don’t help people in need. I am presenting the following articles as a possible alternative answer as to what is happening in the U.S., and as food for thought.

60 Minutes: Stop The Lies! by Dorothy Dundas.

Did Antidepressant Play a Role in Navy Yard Massacre? by John Horgan.

Nearly Every Mass Shooting In The Last 20 Years Shares One Thing In Common, & It’s NOT Weapons by Dan Roberts.

Study Shows 31 Prescription Drugs (Mostly Psychiatric) Associated With Reports Of Violence Towards Others by Monica Cassani.

SSRI Stories – Antidepressant Nightmares.

Prescription Drugs Kill Over 100,000 People Each Year, Are You Being Medicated Incorrectly? by Shelley M. White.

The New Epidemic Sweeping Across America (and it’s Not a Disease) by Dr. Joseph Mercola.

FDA Approved Prescription Drugs Kill Hundreds of Thousands of People Annually by Matt Hall.

1893 New York State Asylum Directory

Posted on September 15, 2013 by lsstuhler

CHAPTER 32.
ASYLUM DIRECTORY.

STATE HOSPITAL SYSTEM.

UTICA STATE HOSPITAL – Utica, Oneida County.
G. Alder Blumer, M. D., Medical Superintendent.
One mile from the New York Central, the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western, and the Ontario and Western railway stations. Accessible, every fifteen minutes, by New York Mills or Whitesboro electric cars. Stop at Cross or Jason streets. Telephone, No. 118.

WILLARD STATE HOSPITAL – Willard, Seneca County.
Theodore H. Kellogg, M. D., Medical Superintendent.
Accessible, from the east, by New York Central and Hudson River railway (Auburn branch from Syracuse to Geneva); from the west, via New York Central and Hudson River railway, from Rochester (Auburn branch) to Geneva, or via Philadelphia and Reading railway (Lehigh Valley division); from the north, Lyons to Geneva, via Philadelphia and Reading railway (Lehigh Valley division) and Fall Brook railway, from Geneva, via steamers of the Seneca Lake Steam Navigation Company, or by Philadelphia and Reading railway (Lehigh Valley division); from the south, via the Philadelphia and Reading railway (Lehigh Valley division), or by Seneca Lake Steam Navigation Company. Local telephone.

HUDSON RIVER STATE HOSPITAL – Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County.
C. W. Pilgrim, M. D., Medical Superintendent.
The hospital is located two miles north of the New York Central railway station at Poughkeepsie. Carriages may be procured at the station, and a public conveyance runs regularly to and from the hospital, connecting with the principal trains. The hospital may also be reached by the West Shore railway ferry from Highland station to Poughkeepsie, and by the Philadelphia, Reading and New England railway (Poughkeepsie Bridge route). Conveyances may be procured from Parker avenue station. Telephone call, “Hudson River State Hospital.”

MIDDLETOWN STATE HOMEOPATHIC HOSPITAL – Middletown, Orange County.
Selden H. Talcott, M. D., Medical Superintendent.
Middletown is sixty-six miles from New York city, and may be reached by the following railways: New York, Lake Erie and Western; New York, Ontario and Western, and New York, Susquehanna and Western. The hospital is reached by several omnibus lines. Public carriages may also be had at the station. Telephone No. 41.

BUFFALO STATE HOSPITAL – Buffalo, Erie County.
J. B. Andrews, M. D., Medical Superintendent.
The institution is three and a half miles from the New York Central railway station, and is accessible by street cars, namely trolley line on Niagara street, trolley line on Main street, of horse cars through Elmwood avenue. Telephone No. 1235 D.

BINGHAMTON STATE HOSPITAL – Binghamton, Broome County.
Charles G. Wagner, M. D., Medical Superintendent.
Located on the lines of the Erie, Delaware, Lackawanna and Western, and Delaware and Hudson railways. Electric cars leave corner of Court and Washington streets, near all railway stations, every fifteen minutes, between 6 A. M. and 10 P. M. Telephone No. 553.

ST. LAWRENCE STATE HOSPITAL – Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence County.
P. M. Wise, M. D., Medical Superintendent.
Located three and one-half miles from center of Ogdensburg, on the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg and Central Vermont railways. Accessible by omnibus from Seymour house, four times daily. Public carriages may also be obtained at railway stations. Telephone call, ” State Hospital.”

ROCHESTER STATE HOSPITAL – Rochester, Monroe County.
E. H. Howard, M. D., Medical Superintendent.
Two miles from railway stations. Accessible by electric cars of the South and Lake avenue line. Telephone No. 124 I.

MATTEAWAN STATE HOSPITAL – Matteawan, Dutchess County.
(For insane criminals only.)
Post-office and railroad station, Fiskill-on-the-Hudson.
H. E. Allison, M. D., Medical Superintendent.
Fifty-eight miles from New York city, on the New York Central and Hudson River railway. It is also accessible by the West Shore railway and the Erie, to Newburg; thence by ferry to Fiskill-on-the-Hudson. The institution may be reached by an electric railway, which runs within three-quarters of a mile from the Hudson River railway station; also public conveyances at the station. Telephone call, “State Asylum.”

EXEMPTED COUNTY SYSTEM.

NEW YORK CITY ASYLUMS FOR THE INSANE.
A. E. MacDonald, M. D., General Superintendent New York City Asylums.
Post-office address, Station F, New York city.
All official communication with regard to the New York City Asylums for the Insane, should be addressed to the general superintendent. Ferry tickets and railroad tickets (at reduced rates, to those entitled to same) and permits for admission can be obtained only at the office of the Department of Public Charities and Correction, 66 Third Avenue, cor. Eleventh street.

WARD’S ISLAND ASYLUM.
W. A. Macy, M. D., Medical Superintendent.
Accessible by department boats, from foot of East Twenty-sixth street, 10.30 A. M.; also by steam ferry, on even hours, from foot of 115th street. Telephone, 420-18.

BLACKWELL’S ISLAND ASYLUM.
E. C. Dent, M. D., Medical Superintendent.
Accessible by department boat from foot of East Twenty-sixth street 10.30 A. M.; also by ferries from foot of Fifty-second and Seventy-eighth streets, running hourly. Telephone 1028-18.

HART’S ISLAND ASYLUM.
Geo. A. Smith, M. D., Acting Medical Superintendent.
Accessible by department boats from foot of East Twenty-sixth street 11.30 A. M.

CENTRAL ISLIP ASYLUM – Central Islip, Long Island.
(Branch of New York city asylums.)
H. C. Evarts, M. D., Medical Superintendent.
Accessible by trains on the Long Island railway; surface and elevated roads from Grand Central station to Thirty-fourth street ferry, connecting with Long Island City station of Long Island railway. No telephone. Telegraph Central Islip, L. I.

KINGS COUNTY LUNATIC ASYLUM – Flatbush, Long Island.
W. E. Sylvester, M. D., General Superintendent.
Three miles from Brooklyn; accessible by street car from East Twenty-third street and Fulton ferries. Telephone No. 68, Flatbush. All official communications with regard to the Kings County Asylums should be addressed to W. E. Sylvester, M. D., General Superintendent, Flatbush, L. I.

KINGS COUNTY FARM – Kings Park, Long Island.
(Branch of Kings County Lunatic Asylum).
Oliver M. Dewing, M. D., Medical Superintendent.
Forty-five miles from New York city; accessible by trains on the Long Island railway; surface and elevated roads from Grand Central station, New York, to Thirty-fourth street ferry, connecting with Long Island City station of the Long Island railway; also from Flatbush avenue station, via Jamaica, Long Island railway. No telephone. Telegraph, Kings Park, one mile distant.

LICENSED PRIVATE ASYLUM SYSTEM.

BLOOMINGDALE ASYLUM – One Hundred And Seventeenth Street, New York City. Between Amsterdam avenue and Boulevard.
S. B. Lyon, M. D., Medical Superintendent.
Accessible by Boulevard cars, or Elevated railway, to One Hundred and Fourth street and Amsterdam avenue cars. Number of patients 300. This institution receives and treats, gratuitously, a small number of indigent insane of New York city, and receives a considerable number of acute and hopeful cases, which pay only part of their expenses. It will be removed to “White Plains before October, 1894. Telephone No. 714, Harlem, New York City.

PROVIDENCE RETREAT – Buffalo, Erie County.
Under the charge of the Sisters of Charity.
Floyd S. Crego, M. D., Consulting Physician.
Harry A. Wood, M. D., Physician in Charge.
Located on Main street, corner of Steele. Distance from Union railway station, four miles. Accessible by electric street car line. Number of patients limited to 125. Minimum rate for care and treatment of private patients, six dollars per week. Telephone No. 791, M.

MARSHALL INFIRMARY – Troy, Rensselaer County.
J. D. Lomax, M. D., Physician in Charge.
One mile from Union Railway station. Accessible by electric street car, from Congress street. Number of patients limited to 130. Minimum rate for care and treatment of private patients, five dollars per week. Telephone call, “Marshall Infirmary.”

LONG ISLAND HOME – Amityville, Long Island.
O. J. Wilsey, M. D., Physician in Charge.
Thirty-two miles from New York. Accessible by Montauk division of Long Island railway; ferry from East Thirty-fourth street, New York. Only a short distance from railway station. Number of patients limited to 114. Minimum rate ten dollars per week. No telephone.

BRIGHAM HALL HOSPITAL – Canandaigua, Ontario County.
D. R. Burrell, M. D., Physician in Charge.
Situated on Bristol street, one mile from the New York Central and Northern Central railway station. Accessible by public carriages, always to be found at the station. Number of patients limited to seventy-eight. Minimum rate, ten dollars per week. Telephone No. 35, or “Brigham Hall.”

ST. VINCENT’S RETREAT – Harrison, Westchester County.
H. Ernst Schmid, M. D., Attending Physician, White Plains.
John J. Lewis, M. D., Physician in Charge.
Under management of the Sisters of Charity; for women only. Fifty minutes from New York on the New York and New Haven railway. Trains leave the Grand Central station, New York city, for Harrison, every hour from 9 A. M. to 7 P. M. Number of patients limited to sixty. Minimum rate, $10 per week. All official communications should be addressed to the physician in charge. Telephone No. 30, White Plains.

WALDEMERE – Mamaroneck, Westchester County.
E. N. Carpenter, M. D., Physician in Charge.
Forty minutes from New York on the New York, New Haven and Hartford railway. Trains leave Grand Central station, New York, every hoar for Mamaroneck. Waldemere is one mile from station, where public carriages may be found. Number of patients limited to eighteen. Minimum rate, $25 per week. No telephone.

SANFORD HALL – Flushing, Long Island.
J. W. Barstow, M. D., Physician in Charge.
Willett S. Brown, M. D., Assistant Physician.
Institution situated about one-half mile from Long Island railway station and accessible by public carriage. Going from Brooklyn, take Greenpoint or crosstown street car to Long Island City, thence on Long Island railway. Number of patients limited to thirty-six. Minimum rate, $25 per week. Telephone, Flushing 17 A.

BREEZEHURST TERRACE – Whitestone, Long Island.
D. A. Harrison, M. D., Physician in Charge.
John A. Arnold, M. D., Assistant Physician.
Accessible from New York city from East Thirty-fourth street ferry, via Long Island railway. Trains run every hour to Whitestone; time, thirty minutes. May also be reached by driving, via East Ninety-ninth street ferry to College Point, from which place it is about one and one-half miles. Going from Brooklyn, take the Greenpoint or crosstown street car to Long Island City. In taking patients from Brooklyn it is better to drive, as it only requires a little more than one hour via Grand street to Newtown, thence through Flushing to Whitestone. Number of patients limited to nineteen. Minimum rate, $20 per week. No telephone.

DR. WELLS’ SANITARIUM FOR MENTAL DISEASES.
945 St. Maek’s Avenue, Brooklyn.
Between Kingston and Albany avenues.
T. L. Wells, M. D., Physician in Charge.
The Sanitarium may be reached by the Bergen street car line, the Atlantic avenue railway or elevated railway from Brooklyn bridge. Stop at Albany avenue station of elevated road. Number limited to sixteen women patients. Minimum rate $10 per week. Telephone No. 69, Bedford.

DR. PARSONS’ HOME.
Sing Sing, Westchester County.
R. L. Parsons, M. D., Physician in Charge.
Location, one mile from New York Central station. Public carriages may be hired at the station. Number limited to twelve. Minimum rate, $75 per week, which includes all extras. No telephone.

DR. CHOATE’S HOME.
Pleasantville, Westchester County.
G. C. S. Choate, M. D., Physician in Charge.
One mile from Pleasantville station on Harlem railway, and two miles from Whitsons station of New York and Northern railway. New York Central trains stop at Tarrytown, six miles distant. Pleasantville is thirty miles north of New York city. Number limited to ten. Minimum rate, $75 per week, including all extras. No telephone communication.

DR. COMBES’ SANITARIUM.
Wood Haven, Long Island.
H. Elliott, M. D., Physician in Charge.
Best reached by Brooklyn elevated trains, from Brooklyn bridge, or East Twenty-third street ferry to Ridgewood, thence by Richmond Hill surface car to Flushing avenue, Wood Haven. Sanitarium two minutes walk to the right. Also easily accessible from Brooklyn, by carriage, via Myrtle avenue, to Flushing avenue, Wood Haven. One mile from Wood Haven Junction station, on the Long Island Railway. Number of patients limited to thirty-four. Minimum rate $10 per week. Telephone No. 7,1, East New York.

GLENMARY – Owego, Tioga County.
(Homeopathic.)
J. T. Greenleaf, M. D., Physician in Charge.
E. E. Snyder, M. D., Consulting Physician.
Three-fourths of a mile from railway stations, where public carriages may be obtained. Accessible by New York, Lake Erie and Western and by Delaware, Lackawanna and Western railways, and Southern Central Division, Lehigh Valley railway. Number of patients limited to fifty. Minimum rate, ten dollars per week. Telephone call, ” Glenmary.”

FALKIRK – Central Valley, Orange County.
James F. Ferguson, M. D., Physician in Charge.
David H. Sprague, M. D., Associate Physician.
One mile from Central Valley station, on Newburg branch of New York, Lake Erie and Western railway, forty-seven miles from New York city. Number of patients limited to thirty-four. Minimum rate, twenty dollars per week. Telephone, “Falkirk.”

VERNON HOUSE – Bronxville, Westchester County.
William D. Granger, M. D., Physician in Charge.
Post-office and telegraph, Bronxville. Accessible by the New Haven railway, to Mt. Vernon, or by Harlem railroad to Bronxville. Public carriages may be obtained at railway station. Number of patients limited to sixteen. Minimum rate, thirty-five dollars per week. No telephone.

THE PINES – Auburn, Cayuga County.
Frederick Sefton, M. D., Physician in Charge.
Accessible by the Auburn branch of the New York Central and Hudson River railway, and the Southern Central division of the Lehigh Valley railway. A little over three hours by rail from Rochester, four from Albany and Buffalo, seven from New York city. Number of patients limited to twelve. Minimum rate, twenty dollars per week. Telephone No. 261.

SOURCE: Annual Report of the Department of Mental Hygiene, State Commission In Lunacy, Fifth Annual Report, October 1, 1892, to September 30, 1893, Transmitted To The Legislature April 27, 1894, Volume 5, Part VII., Chapter 32, Asylum Directory, Albany: James B. Lyon, State Printer 1894, Pages 675 – 685.

1887 Ten Days In A Madhouse by Nellie Bly

Posted on September 13, 2013 by lsstuhler

Positively Demented

“It started as a dare. “New York World” managing editor John Cockerill suggested an outlandish stunt designed to attract readers, while testing the journalistic mettle of the intrepid Nellie Bly. Bly would pose as an insane woman and allow herself to be committed to Blackwell’s Island — New York City’s notorious asylum. What resulted was a searing exposé that got the attention of reformers and readers alike.” (2)

Ten Days In A Madhouse

American journalist Elizabeth Jane Cochran, born in Pennsylvania on May 5, 1864, and died in New York City on January 27, 1922, used the pen name Nellie Bly. Prior to 1887, she feigned insanity in order to go undercover and investigate first hand the treatment of the women in the Insane Asylum on Blackwell’s Island. What is most amazing to me is how quickly she ended up there. Miss Cochran, alias Nellie Brown, never showed any displays of violence or agitation and only stated that she lost her trunks, didn’t know how to work, and that people looked crazy to her. One doctor stated that she was a hopeless case. This is a true story about how penniless women, with no support and nowhere to go, many of whom were not insane, were treated during the nineteenth century. The link to the full text is located below as source 1.

Nellie Bly – Elizabeth Jane Cochran

TEN DAYS IN A MADHOUSE. CHAPTER XI. IN THE BATH.

“A few more songs and we were told to go with Miss Grupe. We were taken into a cold, wet bathroom, and I was ordered to undress. Did I protest? Well, I never grew so earnest in my life as when I tried to beg off. They said if I did not they would use force and that it would not be very gentle. At this I noticed one of the craziest women in the ward standing by the filled bathtub with a large, discolored rag in her hands. She was chattering away to herself and chuckling in a manner which seemed to me fiendish. I knew now what was to be done with me. I shivered. They began to undress me, and one by one they pulled off my clothes. At last everything was gone excepting one garment. ‘I will not remove it,’ I said vehemently, but they took it off. I gave one glance at the group of patients gathered at the door watching the scene, and I jumped into the bathtub with more energy than grace.

The water was ice-cold, and I again began to protest. How useless it all was! I begged, at least, that the patients be made to go away, but was ordered to shut up. The crazy woman began to scrub me. I can find no other word that will express it but scrubbing. From a small tin pan she took some soft soap and rubbed it all over me, even all over my face and my pretty hair. I was at last past seeing or speaking, although I had begged that my hair be left untouched. Rub, rub, rub, went the old woman, chattering to herself. My teeth chattered and my limbs were goose-fleshed and blue with cold. Suddenly I got, one after the other, three buckets of water over my head–ice-cold water, too–into my eyes, my ears, my nose and my mouth. I think I experienced some of the sensations of a drowning person as they dragged me, gasping, shivering and quaking, from the tub. For once I did look insane. I caught a glance of the indescribable look on the faces of my companions, who had witnessed my fate and knew theirs was surely following. Unable to control myself at the absurd picture I presented, I burst into roars of laughter. They put me, dripping wet, into a short canton flannel slip, labeled across the extreme end in large black letters, ‘Lunatic Asylum, B. I., H. 6.’ The letters meant Blackwell’s Island, Hall 6.” (1)

An Insanity Expert At Work

Her Bedroom

The Insane Asylum

The Front Hallway

SOURCES:
1. Ten Days In A Madhouse by Nellie Bly at A Celebration Of Women Writers. Ten Days in a Mad-House, Published with “Miscellaneous Sketches: Trying to be a Servant,” and “Nellie Bly as a White Slave.” by Nellie Bly [Elizabeth Jane Cochran Seaman] (1864-1922) New York: Ian L. Munro, Publisher, n.d.

2. PBS American Experience – Nellie’s Madhouse Memoir.

3. National Women’s Hall Of Fame – Elizabeth Jane Cochran (Nellie Bly).

FURTHER READING:
State of New York, State Board of Charities, In the Matter of the Investigation of the New York City Asylum for the Insane, Report, August 12, 1887.

Manhattan State Hospital & Cemetery.

Quiet Inmates Out For A Walk

1893 Shocking Desecration Charged, Flatbush Insane Asylum

Posted on September 13, 2013 by lsstuhler

Shocking Desecration Charged.
Flatbush Insane Asylum Doctors Said to Have Profaned a Dead Woman’s Body.

“I heard something the other day,” said a Brooklyn woman to a reporter for The New-York Times, “which I think should be made public. It was the story of what a certain doctor did who is employed in the Asylum for the Insane at Flatbush. My informant’s name I withhold for the reason that if I should give it to you a person related to him who is now employed in the asylum would certainly lose his place.

“My informant tells me that about a week ago an aged woman died at the hospital who had been there for a long time. According to the regulations of the institution, the doctor referred to, in company with others of the medical staff, viewed the corpse.

“The doctors were in a merry mood and made quite a lark of the inspection by cracking jokes about the body, and altogether behaving in an unseemly manner. Finally, as I am informed, one of the doctors took a cigarette out of his case and, approaching the bedside, said: ‘Let’s give the old lady a smoke.’

“Immediately thereafter he pried open the lips of the corpse and placed the cigarette between them. ” ‘How’s that, old gal?’ he exclaimed, and then all hands gathered about and made sport of what they saw.”

Dr. Tracey, physician in charge at the Kings County Insane Asylum at Flatbush, was seen by a reporter for The New-York Times and the foregoing statement was laid before him. At first his face flushed and then he gasped out: “It’s false – a malicious falsehood!”

“Doctor, I would like to know before we go any further what deaths occurred Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of last week of old women who had been inmates here for a long time.” said the reporter.

“How ling do you call a ling time?” the doctor asked; then added, “I cannot give you any information upon this subject. It is an imputation upon the whole staff of the asylum, and until the matter in complaint is laid before the Commissioners of Charities and Correction, I refuse to open my mouth.”

“Why do you refuse me the information which I seek?” asked the reporter. “Because I don’t choose to give it,” he replied. As the reporter was leaving him Dr. Tracey said: I haven’t said anything, you know.” Dr. Sylvester, the Superintendent, was away and could not be seen.

The reporter then visited the rooms of the Commissioners of Charities and Correction at Elm Place and Livingston Street, Brooklyn, where he saw Col. Gott, President of the board, and Commissioner Murphy. He learned there that Mary Hamilton; a woman sixty years of age and friendless, had died at the asylum a week ago yesterday, and that Elizabeth F. Meyer, seventy years of age, also friendless, had died there the next afternoon. One of these, doubtless Mary Hamilton, is the subject whose inanimate remains were so grossly maltreated.

On hearing the story, Commissioner Murphy at once expressed his absolute disbelief in its truthfulness. President Gott, however, thought that it might not be entirely without foundation, although he said his inclination was to regard it as he had come to regard all anonymous communications, “very gingerly.”

In speaking of the matter he said: “A thing of that kind might occur, but it is highly improbable. I do not think Dr. Sylvester, the Superintendent, would retain a doctor one minute when he learned of it. You know that the under help and staff at the asylum are beyond our reach, as we have no power to remove or appoint anyone except the Superintendent. We are constantly receiving many anonymous communications similar to this one, and when investigated they prove groundless, as I believe this one also will.”
SOURCE: The New York Times. Published: September 11, 1893. Copyright @ The New York Times.

1851 Kings County Lunatic Asylum, Flatbush, New York

Posted on September 13, 2013 by lsstuhler

This particular article from The New York Times discusses the creation of the Kings County Lunatic Asylum located at Flatbush, New York. This building would eventually become part of the Long Island State Hospital.

“The New Lunatic Asylum – On Saturday last, some of the Board of Supervisors went to view the site selected by the Special Committee to whom the matter was referred, for the erection of this institution.

After a discussion which has occupied the Board ever since the passage of the bill by the Legislature authorizing them to raise the necessary funds, this report was adopted, and the Committee authorized to treat with the owner upon terms so nearly equal to those upon which he offered to sell, that there is every reason to hope this too long deferred undertaking will immediately be seen about in right earnest.

The lamentable condition of some of the inmates of the present wooden structure at Flatbush, owning to the over crowded state of the building, has been fully brought to public notice in the late proceedings of the Board of Supervisors. Raving maniacs are confined in cells so circumscribed in space and accommodation, that they cannot be restrained from inflicting serious violence upon each other – and placed in rooms overlooking the public highway exposed to the unthinking mockery of the passing idler, frequently exciting their already merely disorganized imaginations to a state of raving madness.

The site selected for the New Building is at the extreme end of the City, in the VIIIth Ward, bounded by 58th-st., and the Third Avenue, and the New Utrecht line. The contents are about forty acres, affording ample accommodation; and the view commanded cannot be excelled in the whole county. The entire Bay, the Ocean, Staten Island, and the cities of New York and Brooklyn are fully comprehended within its range.

There have been a great many conflicting interests at work on this subject, but the price has been the only objection to the site in question, and that by those who recommend one two miles further from the city boundary, confessedly not possessing the same advantages, and the difference in price not exceeding $100 an acre, for one portion, and $200 for the other.

An objection is raised that the avenues will be blocked by this site, and that the projected Fifty-ninth-street bisects it. On the other hand it is urged, and truly, that the effect will only be to shorten the avenues by one block, the location being the extremity of the city, and the Third-avenue and the one on the other extremity will be quite sufficient outlet for the traffic to New-Utrecht and with regard to Fifty-ninth-street, that the Corporation would not permit it to be opened, even if there was any one to apply, which there is not, as they will themselves own the whole projected line, except a short distance to the Bay, on which the owner’s private house stands. If the question is carried, the building (according to the plans submitted and approved,) so placed would be an ornament and credit to the county. And we ardently hope to see the undertaking carried out, and that a few hundred dollars will not prove a stumbling block in the way of so desirable an object.”

SOURCE: The New York Times. Published: October 7, 1851, Copyright @ The New York Times.

Rochester State Hospital – Rochester, NY

Posted on September 7, 2013 by lsstuhler

Rochester State Hospital, formerly Monroe County Insane Asylum
Rochester, Monroe County, New York
1600 South Avenue

The history of the Rochester State Hospital is a little confusing because the lines blur between the Alms House and the Insane Asylum which would later be known as the Rochester State Hospital. Four structures stood on the same tract of land, facing South Avenue, between Elmwood and Highland Avenues, in the Town of Brighton. None of these structures remain. The original Monroe County Poor House or Alms House was built in 1826. The Work House was built in 1853 at the cost of $22,707.60 and contained ninety-two cells for men, women, and occasionally children. In 1865 and again in 1868, fires broke out and the buildings were replaced. In 1869, new brick buildings were constructed. At some point the Work House was renamed, the Penitentiary. Before county “Insane Asylums” the “insane” were kept in jails and county poor houses, separated from the other inmates and usually in chains or handcuffs. The first buildings of the Monroe County Insane Asylum were opened in the spring of 1857. It is at this point that the lines become blurred because the official year of the opening of the asylum is 1863.

According to W.H. McIntosh: In 1856, “there were thirty-seven insane confined in thirteen cells [in the alms house]. These cells were low, unventilated, and unwholesome, and in dimensions but four and a half by seven feet. In this small space were crowded as many as four persons, some of whom, wild and raving, were chained and handcuffed. There was no out-yard, and no guards to stoves to prevent self-inflicted injury. It was resolved to erect a permanent and convenient building especially for the insane. It was constructed at a cost of somewhat over three thousand dollars, during 1856 and 1857.” (1) The Monroe County Insane Asylum opened in the spring of 1857 to accommodate forty-eight people and was under the supervision of Colonel J.P. Wiggins and wife. An additional wing to house the superintendent and employees was completed in October 1859 at a cost of $26,791.57. Because of the lack of room, several patients still remained in the Poor House. In 1870, an additional wing was constructed to accommodate twenty-five more patients. In 1871, the number of inmates rose to one hundred. In 1872 an entirely new, main building was constructed with forty-one rooms at the cost of $18,000, and with various improvements close to $50,000. Dr. M.L. Lord was the warden and physician beginning in 1868.

According to the 1872 Proceedings of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Monroe: “Your Committee in tracing back the history of Monroe County Insane Asylum to 1863, when, by an act of the Legislature, it was made a separate institution from the County Alms House, find that the whole number of inmates supported at that institution during the year was sixty-three. The number of inmates now in that institution have increased to 137, and has more than doubled during the last nine years…” (3, page 18).

The Alms House – In 1860, a building, “was set apart for the infirm old men.” (1) George E. McGonigal was the Superintendent, and Dr. Azel Backus was the physician. On February 28, 1872, a building committee was appointed for a new almshouse to be built at the cost of $59,600. “The almshouse was located midway between the insane asylum and the penitentiary, and fifty feet south. The architect employed was J.R. Thomas. The entire cost of the work was $72,948.44.” (1) In late 1872, the new Monroe County Alms House was completed and opened. It was built in front of the old and at some point thereafter, the original poor house was torn down.

The Insane Asylum – The State of New York purchased the land and the buildings of the Monroe County Insane Asylum for $50,000 bringing it into the State Care system. On July 1, 1891, it was renamed, Rochester State Hospital. Dr. Eugene H. Howard was the first Superintendent and served in that position for several years. (2) The Rochester State Hospital was torn down in the 1960s to make way for The Al Sigl Center. Rochester State Hospital faced South Avenue, the address was 1600 South Avenue. The Al Sigl Center faces Elmwood Avenue, the address is 1000 Elmwood Avenue.

So it appears that in 1857 a separate building was constructed for the sole purpose of becoming the Monroe County Insane Asylum. In 1863, by an act of the New York State Legislature, the asylum was officially separated from the alms house. In late 1872, the NEW Alms House was opened. In that same year, an entirely NEW main building was constructed for the Insane Asylum complete with a Mansard Roof. If you look at the sketch of these three buildings (W.H. McIntosh’s book of 1877), you can see that all three are separate but they stand side by side, three in a row: Far left, Penitentiary; Center, Alms House; Far right, Insane Asylum.

Work House, County Infirmary, Insane Asylum 1877

There is an interesting map that was drawn in 1984 during an excavation of Highland Park that shows the footprints of the original wood frame and brick buildings. At this time, the remains of approximately 900 people were discovered. (4) In April 2013, while researching the history of the poor house and the asylum, I came across the “Chaplain’s Report” from 1872 which stated that the unmarked cemetery, “familiarly known as the ‘bone yard,” was “an enclosed lot of the public farm in the rear of the penitentiary.” (3) This cemetery was located behind the old Penitentiary and was used to bury the inmates of the Penitentiary, Alms House, and Insane Asylum from 1826 until January 8, 1873 when the County Board of Supervisors directed the Superintendents of the Penitentiary and of the County Poor, “to discontinue the burial of paupers or criminals in the old burying ground attached to the penitentiary, and to have the remains of all such interred in Mount Hope cemetery.” (3) The county board of supervisors of 1872 were well aware that this cemetery existed but apparently, it was never recorded. Perhaps the document concerning this cemetery hasn’t been discovered yet. The Remember Garden in Highland Park marks the location of this long forgotten cemetery.

Map of Penitentiary, Poorhouse, Asylum

305 bodies were interred at Mount Hope Cemetery in 1985. The remaining bodies (approximately 600) (4) were left in the ground at Highland Park. The picture below shows a man preparing the ground for the monument that was or will be placed in memory of these original inmates. There is NO monument in Mount Hope Cemetery for the inmates of The Monroe County Insane Asylum / Rochester State Hospital, most of whom were buried in anonymous, unmarked graves in Section Y. If bill S2514-2013, which was introduced to the New York State Legislature by Senator Joseph Robach, becomes a law, then these people will no longer be anonymous.

Mount Hope Cemetery 11.2011

“Work is now underway to install a monument in memory of the 305 Rochester poor house remains now interred in Mount Hope Cemetery. From the picture you can determine that the monument is in Section Y at the far west end. Note the Civil War plot, the Fireman’s monument and the Steam Gauge and Lantern Co. monument in the background. In July, 1984 when terracing land for a Highland Park addition, a bulldozer unearthed some human remains near the SE corner of Highland and South Ave. Investigation proved these burials were very old. It is believed they are from the Rochester poor house. The burials were not marked and the people were interred in the most simple wooden coffins. These remains underwent an examination prior to their reburial in Mount Hope Cemetery.” 11/2011

I have transcribed the earliest records: Names: Monroe County Poorhouse, Asylum, Penitentiary, Other Charities 1838 to 1860. If you believe that your ancestor was an inmate who lived and died at The Monroe County Insane Asylum / Rochester State Hospital you can search for them at the Rochester – Mt. Hope Cemetery Records online. Here is a brief description of what you will see if you decide to search the records for yourself: Under the heading “Residence,” a street name will be given with no specific address; or it will list the place where the person died such as: Insane Asylum, Asylum, County House, Jail, etc. (Be aware that there was an Asylum Street in the City of Rochester that as far as I know, had no connection with the Monroe County Insane Asylum). About 1891, you will start to see the words “Rochester State Hospital” under “Residence.” At some point in the 1900s, instead of listing the place of death as Rochester State Hospital the address has been given instead as “1600 South Avenue.” In some instances, the family of the deceased claimed the body and buried them in the family plot. In the case of pauper and indigent insane, the hospital buried them in unmarked, anonymous graves at Mount Hope Cemetery. Some unclaimed bodies were donated by state hospitals to state medical colleges for the advancement of medical science in which case no grave will be found.

SOURCES:

1 – McIntosh, W.H., History of Monroe County, New York; With Illustrations Descriptive Of Its Scenery, Palatial Residences, Public Buildings, Fine Blocks, and Important Manufactories, From Original Sketches By Artists Of The Highest Ability. Philadelphia: Everts, Ensign & Everts, 1877, Pages 45-47, Transcribed by L.S. Stuhler.

2 – Hurd, Henry Mills; Drewry, William Francis; Dewey, Richard; Pilgrim, Charles Winfield; Blumer, George Adler, The Institutional Care of the Insane in the United States and Canada, The John Hopkins Press, Baltimore, Maryland, 1916, Pages 199-200, Transcribed by L.S. Stuhler.

3. – Proceedings of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Monroe, for 1872, Rochester, N.Y., Steam Press of Curtis, Morey & Co., Union And Advertiser Office, 1872, Pages 18, 211, 212.

4. – Steckel, Richard H. and Rose, Jerome C., The Backbone of History: Health and Nurtrition in the Western Hemisphere, Cambridge University Press, 2002, Page 162.

Friends of Mt. Hope Cemetery – The Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery are a wonderful group of knowledgeable volunteers who will help you locate your loved one and provide you with all the information you need to locate the grave.

Facebook – Friends of Mt. Hope

USGenWeb Monroe County, NY – Mt. Hope Cemetery Tombstone Transcriptions

Records of the Rochester State Hospital

Photographs of Memorial to Residents of Almshouse, Insane Asylum & Penitentiary by L.S. Stuhler

History of Mount Hope Cemetery – McIntosh 1877

Rochester History – Life and Death in Nineteenth Century Rochester by Ruth Rosenberg-Naparsteck, pages 12 – 22.

1872 “Bone Yard” – The Remember Garden – Rochester, NY by L.S. Stuhler

1873 Monroe County Poor House

The Willard and Rochester State Hospital Connection by L.S. Stuhler

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE VIDEO They’re Buried Where? by Seth Voorhees

The Inmates Of Willard 1870 to 1900 A Genealogy Resource by L.S. Stuhler

Creedmoor State Hospital & Cemetery

Posted on September 5, 2013 by lsstuhler

Creedmoor State Hospital, Long Island, New York

The Lost World Of Creedmoor Hospital – New York Times.
Fear And Brutality In A Creedmoor Ward – New York Times.
Inside Creedmoor State Hospital’s Building 25 – AbandonedNYC.
Creedmoor Psychiatric Center – Wikipedia.

“REPORT OF THE BOARD OF MANAGERS, October 30, 1912.
To the State Hospital Commission, Albany, N. Y.:

Gentlemen. – We respectfully present the annual report of the Board of Managers of the Long Island State Hospital for the year ending September 30, 1912. The operations of the hospital during the year have been described in sufficient detail in the report of the Superintendent, which we adopt and present as part of our own…..The beginnings of the development of the Creedmoor property have been made with some success and a promise of much larger achievement. The report of the Superintendent gives details. Plans for an institution with a capacity of over 2,000 have been presented to the Board by the State Architect, discussed at length and finally adopted. It is earnestly hoped that definite action to carry them out may be made possible by legislative appropriation. The necessity for such provision is apparent to all who have given even slight study to the problem of the metropolitan insane. We are gratified that the need of thorough rehabilitation of the present hospital has been recognized by the Commission to the extent that the report of the Superintendent shows; and that in addition, appropriations are being considered for further alterations in the buildings and the erection of several new ones.

Respectfully submitted, A. E. ORR, President, Board of Managers of the Long Island State Hospital.

CREEDMOOR – The land and premises situated at Creedmoor in the town of Queens, thirteen miles distant from the main hospital, acquired by legislative act of 1908, have continued subject to the control of the Commission and the board of managers of the Long Island State Hospital. This property originally comprised 192 (200) acres, but at a time when it was decided to sell this land and acquire a new site, nearly seven acres for roadway purposes were sold to the Long Island Motor Parkway, Incorporated, for $18,942. This money was reappropriated by the Legislature for the alteration of the existing buildings and for new construction generally. The roadway passes through the grounds diagonally in a northeasterly direction, and for the most part through the wooded, upland portion of the premises. It is below grade and properly protected by a fence and an overhead crossing. The parkway would not seriously interfere with the erection of new buildings for hospital purposes in the level area southeast therefrom, and some preliminary steps have been taken and are still under way to plan for such buildings, since the difficulty of acquiring a new site on Long Island is fully recognized by the Commission and the Managers. In April, 1912, the Governor signed, among other items in the Omnibus Bill, an appropriation of $50,000 for the commencement of the erection of buildings, including a railroad switch, power house and farm cottages.

As soon as a suitable block plan for a hospital is approved, the expenditure of moneys already appropriated will be made, since it is necessary to first decide upon a general hospital scheme before the installation of a railway, system of sewage disposal and other initial steps can be properly gotten under way. In the meantime, however, the property has been put to use to the extent of colonizing it with thirty-two patients. This was done early in the summer. The patients have been located in one of the twelve regimental buildings, and the necessary money to put this building in order was taken from the special legislative appropriation as a result of the sale of the strip of land. Patients have been employed daily at farm work, and the area of farm land under cultivation has been somewhat over forty acres. Care has been observed in the selection of the patients who have resided at Creedmoor, and no complaint has resulted from their presence in the neighborhood. There is no reason why the colony system cannot be enlarged. There are sufficient buildings to accommodate two hundred or more patients conveniently. On the following page is shown a view of the building at Creedmoor which is occupied by patients.”

Long Island State Hospital – Creedmoor

SOURCE: Annual Report of the Long Island State Hospital to the State Hospital Commission For the Year Ending September 30, 1912, Albany, J.B. Lyon Company, Printers, 1913, Pages 6, 16, 17.

“Creedmoor. A tract of land in east central Queens, one mile (1.6 kilometers) north of Queens Village and centered on Braddock Avenue and old Rocky Hill Road (now Braddock Avenue), named for the family that farmed there. The name is used only locally and does not refer to any village or settlement, past or present. Conrad Poppenhusen of College Point ran a railroad through the area parallel to Braddock Avenue in 1871 and donated some of the surplus land to the National Rifle Association for use by the National Guard, which opened firing ranges in 1873. The growth of Queens Village from the 1890s and the hazards connected with the firing ranges led to the eviction of the National Guard in 1908. In 1910 the tract became the site of a large state mental hospital.”

“Creedmoor Psychiatric Center. State mental hospital on Winchester Boulevard near Queens Village, built on land originally owned by the Creed family. It opened in 1912 as a “farm colony” for the Brooklyn Psychiatric Center in facilities formerly used as barracks for the National Guard. With the construction of new buildings in 1926, 1929, and 1933 Creedmoor became a separate state hospital. Although its nominal capacity was 3,300 patients, there were 6,000 patients by the 1940s, and overcrowding was exacerbated by staff shortages and limited funds. During these years various new treatments for mental illness were introduced at Creedmoor, including hydrotherapy, insulin therapy, electroshock therapy, and in a few cases lobotomy. A more important innovation was the introduction of antidepressant and tranquilizing drugs, which became widely used in the state mental health system in 1955. At Creedmoor the new drugs meant quieter wards, fewer injuries to staff members and patients, and a dramatic increase in the number of patients who could manage daily life in the community. As a result the number of inpatients at the hospital declined to 1,100 by 1991, while outpatient services and residential placements were expanded in keeping with the new policy of deinstitutionalization. When it became clear during the late 1980s that many of the homeless in New York City had urgent psychiatric needs, Creedmoor established a special impatient program of psychiatric rehabilitation intended specifically for the homeless. The Living Museum, presenting art by patients, was founded by Bolek Greczynski in 1984 in the hospital. In 2001 the city sold part of the mental hospital to residential developers and used another portion to develop three schools and athletic fields.”
SOURCE: The Encyclopedia of New York City: Second Edition, Kenneth T. Jackson, Lisa Keller, Nancy Flood, Yale University Press, 2010.

Brooklyn State Hospital, Brooklyn.
The institution is very greatly overcrowded, but it is hoped to obtain relief at an early date. There is under construction, and to be soon completed, a reception hospital and a building for the care of the chronic type of patients. The reception hospital will accommodate about 150 patients, while the building for the chronic type will accommodate 450.

Foundations for a new store house and cold storage building have been laid. A large number of repairs have been accomplished during the last year. The domes of the main building have been renewed and painted. A large quantity of flooring has been laid and a number of the wards have been repainted.

A number of cottages at Creedmoor are being remodelled and made ready for occupancy, and it is expected shortly to house at least 150 patients at this branch.

This hospital has been visited during the year by the State Finance Committee, the State Hospital Development Commission and the State Hospital Commission, and it is the concensus of opinion that the present old building should be razed and new ones built. There is planned a new and modern psychopathic hospital that will accommodate the needs of this portion of Greater New York.

When plans have been consummated, this site will accommodate about 2,100 patients, while at Creedmoor plans are in contemplation for about 2,500 patients.

The medical service is very active at this institution. At least 51 per cent of the cases admitted are of the feeble and exhausted type, or of the very acute maniacal type, and are brought in on stretchers. Those who are physically able are sent to Kings Park. The admissions here during the year were 626. Beginning July 1st, we organized a school for male patients and a male instructor was appointed. It is hoped to obtain very beneficial results from the re-education of certain cases.

In August, 1916, a social worker was appointed who has been of great benefit to the institution and to the paroled patients. She visits all patients who are paroled, attends the clinics, inspects environmental conditions, obtains positions for recovered patients, and assists in obtaining proper histories for the physicians. Three outdoor clinics are held weekly, one at the Brooklyn State Hospital, one at the Williamsburg Hospital on Saturdays; and one at the Long Island College Hospital on Fridays. These clinics are of great value, as it is through them that information is spread that is of great use to the general public. The present census is 925; the certified capacity is 637, and 70 patients are on parole.

At the east of the institution there is an old potters’ field which has been used for years for the burial of the poor of Kings County. This land was turned over to the state two years ago, and it is now proposed to construct buildings on this area. Therefore the Charities Department of the City of New York was requested to remove the bodies buried there by that department during the last two years, and several hundred bodies were taken away during the summer.
SOURCE: The American Journal of Insanity, Volume 74, 1917, Pages 353-354.

BROOKLYN (Brooklyn State Hospital)
An investigation of the sanitary conditions of the Brooklyn State Hospital at Brooklyn was made by Mr. C. A. Howland, assistant engineer in this Department on August 15, 1919. Previous examinations of the sanitary condition of this institution were made by this Department in 1915, (see page 906 of the 36th Annual Eeport) and in 1917 (see page 642 of the 38th Annual Report).

Location: The main institution is situated in the borough of Brooklyn, New York City, while Creedmoor Farm is located north of the village of Creedmoor close to the eastern boundary of Queens borough.

Site of institution: The hospital is situated in Brooklyn on Clarkson avenue just east of the Kings County Hospital. Although the grounds of the institution in Brooklyn are somewhat flat they are apparently well drained. At Creedmoor the farm land, much of which is under cultivation, is also flat but appears to be well drained.

Area of grounds: 25 acres in Brooklyn; 195 acres at Creedmoor; total, 220 acres.

Number of occupied buildings: 14 (2 practically complete but not occupied, one in course of construction).

Capacity: 343 men, 457 women, 305 employees; total, 1,105.

Present population: 441 men, 603 women, 206 employees; total, 1,252.

Class of inmates: All classes of insane except the criminal insane.

Water supply: The water supply for the main institution in Brooklyn is obtained from the Flatbush Water Company while the water supply for the Creedmoor farm is obtained from the Jamaica Water Supply Company.

Milk supply: The milk for the main institution in Brooklyn, which amounts to about 400 quarts of fluid milk, grade B, pasteurized, and 40 quarts condensed milk, are purchased per day from the Delancy Milk and Cream Company of Brooklyn. At Creedmoor farm the milk supply is obtained from a herd of five cows. The cow barn in which the milking is done is an old wooden structure which was not in a satisfactory sanitary condition at the time of the inspection.

Sewerage and sewage disposal: The sewage and storm water of the institution in Brooklyn is discharged through combined tile and brick sewers ranging in size from 6 to 18 inches into the sewerage system of the city of Brooklyn. At Creedmoor the sewage is at present discharged into two large cesspools located about 300 feet northwest of the building. A sewage disposal plant which will treat the sewage from the hospital to be ultimately constructed at Creedmoor is in the course of construction. This disposal plant will consist of Imhoff tanks, siphon chamber and sand filters, of which the inlet chamber, Imhoff tank and siphon chamber have been completed.

Refuse disposal: The garbage of the institution is fed to pigs at the Creedmoor farm. The garbage not suitable for feeding is disposed of in the institution incinerator. At the time of the inspection it was found that the piggery was not in a satisfactory condition and the engineer was informed that a new piggery is to be constructed. It was found that the barrels in which the garbage is stored at the institution were in some cases without covers. Rubbish, such as broken crockery, etc., is removed by the city street cleaning department. Waste paper is baled and sold and similar disposal is made of the rags. Combustible refuse is collected twice daily and burned in an incinerator of the Morse-Boulger Destructor type.

As a result of this examination the following recommendations were made in regard to the improvement of certain insanitary conditions found at the institution.

Recommendations:
1. That the garbage receptacles be kept covered at all times.
2. That a modern piggery of proper design and construction be built as soon as possible.
3. That every precaution be taken in the handling of the milk at the Creedmoor farm in order to prevent the communication of disease by this means and that a plant for the pasteurization of the milk be installed as soon as practicable.
4. That the sewage disposal plant for Creedmoor be completed according to the plans approved by this Department and be put in operation as soon as possible.
SOURCE: State of New York, Fortieth Annual Report of the State Department of Health for the Year Ending December 31, 1919, Volume II, Report of Division of Sanitary Engineering, Albany: J.B.Lyon Company, Printers, 1920, Pages 421-422.

I’m not sure if Creedmoor State Hospital had a cemetery, they may have used a public cemetery.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE VIDEO They’re Buried Where? by Seth Voorhees

THE BAD NEWS: Thousands Remain Nameless! 6.15.2015.

THE GOOD NEWS: One Man Is Remembered! 6.14.2015.

1876 The Case Of The Lunatic Boy – Part 2

Posted on September 4, 2013 by lsstuhler

The following is the testimony of Mary F. Ambrose, mother of Oliver D. Ambrose (the lunatic boy), transcribed from VAN KEUREN, Mary J., The government asylum. Horrible and extreme cruelty to the army and navy patients, Supplement only. 1876, pages 29-32. Several names are included in her document:

Mary J. Van Keuren, George W. Bontz, Sarah Bontz, Elizabeth Bontz, Jacob E. Bontz, John Bontz, Joseph Price, T.J. Gardner, Dr. C.H. Nichols, Alfred D. Nichols, Dr. Pliny Earle, Dr. W.B. Magruder, George R. Adams, Dr. Stone, Mrs. Sarah Adams, Mrs. Elizabeth Gludman, Judge Boone, Samuel E. Arnold, Mrs. Gladmon, Dr. Thompson, Dr. Benjamin F. Dexter, General Loomis, Dr. Morrell, Dr. Chase, B.G. Blakesley, Dr. Daly, J.W. Wallace, Hetterman, Mr. Tuft, Mrs. Taylor, Dr. Powell, Dr. Case, Dr. Toner, Dr. Hamlin, Mrs. Tobin, Dr. Walker, George M. Dow, General B.F. Butler, P.T. Woodfin, Eugene M. Wallace, Timothy Lynch, John Boyle, John E. Benson, O’Connell, Lieutenant Dannenhower, Jane Beatty, John A. Darling, Theodore F. Wilson, Mr. Mellish (Millish?), Dr. Thompson, Mr. O.W. Marsh, Henry Miller, Mr. Lyon, Mr. Baker, H.L. Weeks, Henry B. Taylor, Mr. Lane, Mary F. Ambrose, Oliver D. Ambrose, Dr. Eastman, Dr. Franklin, Senator Wade, Williams, C.F. Carter, Frank McAdams, Hetterman, General Barnes, William Edgar Van Keuren, Vice Admiral David D. Porter, H.H. Buck, William A. Knox, W.C. Lyman, G.O. Roker, J.A. Emmons, Secretary of the Navy George M. Robeson, Dr. C.H. Crane.

“Testimony of MARY F. AMBROSE. This witness had a son, Oliver D. Ambrose, who became insane from the effect of the assassination of President Lincoln, who happened to be sitting near the box in which Mr. Lincoln was killed. When Booth jumped out of the box Oliver shouted ‘Booth!’ ‘Booth!’

After a while Mrs. Ambrose placed her son in the Asylum, Dr. Eastman showing her a ward where her son would be cared for, which was satisfactory. The witness stated that she made efforts to see her son time and time again, and could never do so. She then took assistance with her, and was refused. The witness then said: ‘I will see my son this morning, or that door shall come down.’ ‘Well,’ said Dr. Eastman, ‘if you must see him, you can.’ Dr. Franklin then opened the door and I pressed in, and he took me through a long corridor where the patients were all seated on benches. He conducted me along until I got to the end of the corridor, and then took me down some steps, and brought me into a little corner of a place, not much larger than a man could lie down in – a little vestibule, it looked like, but they called it a ‘strong room.’ ‘Said I, What do you call this room? Said he, That is the ‘strong room.’ Why, there is no heat. It was cold as possible in there, and the poor boy was blue with cold. His skin seemed to be perfectly purple. He was cold and trembling all over, and had fallen away so much in flesh that I scarcely knew him. When the door was opened he screamed out, ‘Oh, my ma, are you going to take me home?’ My son ran up to me, and I put a shawl around him, and he said, ‘Ma, are you going to take me home? ‘Please take me home.’ I said, ‘I certainly shall,’ and I turned to Dr. Franklin and said, ‘Ain’t you ashamed of yourself, to treat a poor boy like that? How could you do such a thing?’ He was very cool, and said to me, in an off-handed way, ‘Madam, if your son is insane, here is the place for him.’ I took my son and carried him into the parlor. He was covered with vermin. His back was actually eaten away by vermin. they had eaten holes in his body. There were marks of violence on his body and arms. He did not show any violence. He was in the Asylum eight weeks. He weighed 155 pounds when I put him in, and 90 pounds when I took him out.

We forbear quoting all this witness stated, for the reason the case was so horrible and cruel that language fails to describe it.

Efforts were made at that time (1865) to investigate the management. Senator Wade moved in the matter, but nothing could be done. The power was safe; the neglect of duty was safe; the cruel and inhumane treatment was safe from the outside eye; the ignorant and beastly assisting physicians were safe in their conduct. Insane persons or any one within the walls complaining were not listened to. The brutish, cruel attendants could beat, bruise, kick, and ill-treat the patients without risk of a discharge, with a few exceptions.

Is it possible that in 1865, a few weeks after the boy Oliver D. Ambrose was placed in the Asylum, Dr. Franklin or Dr. Eastman could not discover whether the boy was insane or not?

The fact is plain that those assisting physicians (so-called) either did not know anything about insanity, or that they had not seen the boy for eight weeks, during the entire time the boy was there. We charge the fact to be that neither Eastman or Franklin had seen the boy. Take the testimony, which is not disputed. Mrs. Ambrose’s mother called, but could not see her grandson. No one but his mother could see him, was the answer. then his mother made efforts, and after a time she was admitted. Note the answer of Dr. Franklin: ‘Madam, if your son is insane, this is the place for him.’ This remark shows that Franklin did not know the boy’s case. No doubt whatever he had not seen him before. But it turned out that the boy was not insane, and if Franklin or Eastman had attended to their duty they would have found the boy weeks before well enough to go home. Not one item of proof did the defense show or attempt to show that the boy had been examined by any physician from the day he entered until he left, to show his case whether better or worse. This is one case, and if the graves could speak others of the like, only worse, could answer.

Why did not the defense call Dr. Franklin from New York city to show how this boy had been treated. We answer, because he was not a man like Eastman, who disgraced himself in the mind of every man who read his testimony, or who may read it hereafter.

Take the questions of counsel to Dr. Eastman and his answers, and it will plainly be seen that fraud and false-coloring was designed. How very ridiculous the pretense to discredit the testimony of Darling. Why did the Doctor not go and get the reports made to the Adjutant General, and show by the hand-writing? The pretense of a memoranda in his pocket was foolish, when he had the means within his power, if the witness had not stated truly; and besides, Dr. Nichols himself does not deny that Darling acted as clerk, and that every word he testified to was true.

How long will such sham be tolerated? There is altogether too much money to be used in the management by one man to expect justice and humanity to prevail without a struggle – a desperate struggle. Money is power, and it often crushes justice. The people will sooner or later put out such management.

These witnesses show extreme cruelty of one kind or another, more or less extending over many years, showing such neglect of duty on the part of the Superintendent as no man can excuse, and such as cannot be excused or suffered longer to exist. In fact the neglect on the part of the Superintendent shows such a disregard of duty, of official oath, that it comes clearly within high misdemeanor; the cruelty is revolting to all feelings of humanity.

The testimony shows that the Superintendent for several years has given but little attention to the patients; that he has trusted the inside of the asylum to assistants who the testimony shows to have been incompetent almost from the first, as the present attending physicians are. The neglect has been so great and the attendants so very incompetent that nothing short of a clean wiping out of every man in charge will answer the demand of the people.

If the reader of these pages will read but a tithe of the testimony, and then read the law of the asylum, he will say, as Boynton said, that if half is true hanging would be too good for every one of them. No man will say that the testimony against the management is not true and overwhelming. Comments cannot add to its force and convincing elements. There are such numbers, such quantity, giving particulars, acts, facts, and circumstances that all effort to explain, to excuse, becomes swamped at once, and no power to extricate.”

Discussing Public Charities – New York Times – June 11, 1879
On June 10, 1879, Dr. C.H. Nichols, President of The Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane, resigned. It is unclear if he was forced out or if he was retiring.

1876 The Case Of The Lunatic Boy – Part 1

1876 The Case Of The Lunatic Boy – Part 1

Posted on September 4, 2013 by lsstuhler

This is a very interesting article from The New York Times. It refers to an unnamed “lunatic boy” who was mistreated at the Government Hospital for the Insane in Washington, D.C. The Superintendent of the asylum was Dr. C.H. Nichols, formerly of the Bloomingdale and Utica Asylums for the Insane of New York State. The Government Hospital accepted veterans, pauper, and pay patients. The article speaks of the Testimony before a House Committee (of Congress), and alleges that veterans of the Civil War and pauper inmates, including women, were being beaten and whipped; starved; served rotten meat and butter; and were covered with vermin (hair and body lice), while the pay patients were treated humanely and were kept in good physical condition. The article speaks of the barbaric treatment in various insane asylums and county poor houses in the United States but gives praise to the Willard Asylum for its mild and humane treatment “of the wildest and most incurable cases from the county poor-houses.”

Back to the “lunatic boy.“ It is often difficult to figure out who people were from old newspaper articles because although the reporter knew who this boy was, he didn’t state his name. While trying to uncover the identity of the boy, I came across an old document/pamphlet entitled The government asylum. Horrible and extreme cruelty to the army and navy patients, Supplement only, July 1876, written by Mary J. Van Keuren. Mrs. Van Keuren’s son, William Edgar Van Keuren, a veteran, was horribly mistreated at the Government Asylum. She wrote the piece about the testimony given before Congress that included the cases of: OLIVER D. AMBROSE, THOMAS W. WHITE, GENERAL LOOMIS, and WILLIAM EDGAR VAN KEUREN (Edgar). After reading the account of the testimony, I believe that the unnamed “lunatic boy” was OLIVER D. AMBROSE, who “became insane from the effect of the assassination of President Lincoln, who happened to be sitting near the box in which Mr. Lincoln was killed. When Booth jumped out of the box Oliver shouted “Booth!” Booth!” Although I could not find any statement regarding Oliver’s age, the account suggests that he was a minor, was not insane, was beaten and starved, and was kept in the asylum for eight weeks without ever being seen or evaluated by a doctor.

The Case Of The Lunatic Boy.

“The testimony before the Committee on Expenditures, of the House, on Thursday, as to the management of the Government Hospital for the Insane, at Washington, was certainly painful enough. The institution evidently ought to be overhauled. But we wish some committee could examine various rural hospitals for the insane throughout the country, and especially the insane wards of the county poor-houses. Such treatment as the poor crazed boy received in Washington is mild and humane compared with that dealt to lunatics in these places in every State of the Union. Such a committee would discover in these “dark places of the earth,” lunatic women, often those who had seen better days, shut up in dark cells or cages, without clothing, cold, often hungry, devoured by vermin, besmeared by filth, chained, of, if loose, associating with vagabonds, paupers, and drunkards, and frequently debauched and ruined by them. The visitors of the insane wards in the poor-houses of the United States know that there is appearing in them what might be called a new and horrible human variety – a race, the offspring of the lunatic and the drunkard, of the crazed pauper and the vicious vagrant. In these “asylums” men are known who have been in chains and cages for years, some some confined as to be deformed for life; some scarred and marked by fetters and whips, without clothing, and treated during these long years worse than the brutes. Our readers have only to refer to the reports of such associations as the New-York Prison Association, the New-York and Pennsylvania State Boards of Charity, or the reports from every State of those experts and philanthropists who have visited and studied our county alms-houses where the insane have been cared for, to convince themselves that such facts as have been uncovered at Washington are common in every State of the Union.

The truth is that the condition of the insane poor in the United States is a disgrace to our humanity and civilization. The wonder is that it has continued as it has so long. Not a year has passed for fifty years, in which reports of experts have not exposed these abuses. Such philanthropists as Miss Dix, Dr. Willard, and others have spent their lives in seeking to reform them. Our own State Board of Charities, under Dr. Hoyt, have struggled incessantly with them. And it is only within a few years that in this State, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania a few victories over stupidity and barbarism begin to crown the long contest. In the West and South, and a large part of the Middle States, the condition of the insane, where they have no money, is still discreditable to our civilization and Christianity.

It will be said that this occurrence in Washington is different from what happens in county poor-houses, in that the Washington Asylum receives pay patients. But it will be found that the management of many asylums in the country districts, for patients of means, is disgraced by the old punishment and restraint system. In England, the old barbaric methods of handling the insane have been given up. “Non-restraint” is the rule. The vigorous exertions of the Commissions of Lunacy throughout the Kingdom have cleansed the “dark places of cruelty” of their abominations. A new and violent patient is seldom confined, or at most with the camisole or shirt, but is placed between two attendants, or is put in a padded room, where he cannot injure himself. Chains and blows, cages and cells, hunger and cold, are given up as means of curing lunacy. The lunatic is considered a patient under a peculiar disease, who can be broken of bad habits by kind and wise treatment, even as a child is. No asylum in this country has carried out the non-restraint principles so far as the best English asylums; but what has been accomplished by a singularly mild and humane treatment at the Willard Asylum of this State of the wildest and most incurable cases from the county poor-houses, shows what can be done by humanity and science combined. Such a treatment as that of the poor boy in the Washington Asylum, which might occur in many others, ought to be as much a thing of the past as the pillory, or whipping, or ear-cropping of our colonial days. And yet many a reputable asylum resorts to it. It would be a happy result of this cruelty if Congress could appoint a Commission of Lunacy which might help to reform such abuses throughout all the States, until every lunatic in the country was treated – as he should be – as an unfortunate and diseased human being.”

SOURCE: The New York Times. Published: April 24, 1876. Copyright @ The New York Times

1876 The Case Of The Lunatic Boy – Part 2

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