[or-roots] Oregon Insane Asylums

[Leslie Chapman]

Yes as I understand it the distinction between poor houses and asylums was
rather vague, and the "state Hospital" seems to be where a lot of my family
has ended their days. I am not sure exactly why, for a lot of them, they
weren't poor, they weren't, as far as I know, suffering from mental
abberations (sp?) but apparently it was deemed the way to go or some such
when nursing homes were uncommon in early 20th century.

As to the hysterectomies etc, that particular pattern of action is one of
the reasons the census info struck a chord with me, as my wife's grandmother
whom we cared for for the last ten years of her life had been a resident in
Salem a few times due to a thyroid deficiency and one of her visits she
insists they delivered a child of hers and told her it was still born, but
she was sure they lied to her.

I regret that we never made an attempt to access her records while she was
alive, though if it had turned out she was right it would have opened an
even bigger can of worms. I don't know how she would have dealt with it if
she had had her suspicions confirmed.

Les C