[or-roots] Oregon Insane Asylums

[Eugene V. Barnes]

If one had dimensia or Alzhiemers they too might be institutionalized like 
one of my great grandfathers
as late as 1920 in Minn, since they did not know otherwise at the time.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Leslie Chapman" <reedsportchapmans at verizon.net>
To: "Oregon List" <or-roots at sosinet.sos.state.or.us>
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 1:36 PM
Subject: [or-roots] Oregon Insane Asylums


> 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
>
>
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