[or-roots] Hawthorne Asylum and Lone Fir Cemetery

Sat Sep 19 23:31:25 PDT 2009

There is an association between Lone Fir Cemetery and the Hawthorne Asylum.? The asylum was originally established ca. 1862 by Drs. James D. Hawthorne and Abraham M. Loryea and was called "Oregon Insane Hospital".? Family tradition says that "Uncle Jimmy" Stephens called in some political favors that resulted in legislation requiring the governor to provide for the care of those "afflicted mentally" and at the same time awarded a contract for that care to Dr. Loryea and Dr. Hawthorne.? Family tradition also says that "Uncle Jimmy" provided considerable financing for the first asylum.? Originally located "adjacent to the town jail" on First street, a new facility was built ca. 1864 on land? donated by James B. Stephens on "U" Street (Later called Asylum Street),?East Portland.? Dr. Abraham Loryea was married to Elizabeth Stephens; James B. was his father-in-law and frequent business partner.? The Lone Fir Cemetery was originally established by James B. Stephens on his homestead as the?burial place?of his father, Emmor Jefferson Stephens (my gr-gr-great grandfather).? Abraham Loryea sold his interest in the asylum to his partner James Hawthorne in 1872; the same year that he and Elizabeth Stephens were divorced.? Dr. Loryea then relocated to California.? The Oregon Insane Hospital was renamed "Hawthorne Insane Asylum" and continued in operation until sometime after the "State Asylum for the Insane" was completed in Salem 1884.? Logically there would have been some burials in the Lone Fir Cemetery given the proximity to the facility and the family business connections.

Carla

-----Original Message-----
From: Paulette <pswitzertatum at peoplepc.com>
To: or-roots mail list <or-roots at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>; or-roots mail list <or-roots at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>
Sent: Fri, Sep 18, 2009 11:56 pm
Subject: Re: [or-roots] Hawthorne Asylum

I found reference at the library today to a book on WorldCat that is about Lone Fir Cemetery in Portland, Oregon. The book refers to names of persons buried in Lone Fir Cemetery from Dr. Hawthorne's Asylum. It's by Connie Lenzen (1989), if that's of any use to someone in this discussion.

-----Original Message----- 
From: Susie 
Sent: Sep 18, 2009 7:27 AM 
To: or-roots mail list 
Subject: Re: [or-roots] Hawthorne Asylum 

The Asylum Cemetery is a book published by Susan Bell in 1991.Published by the Willamette Valley Genealogical Society? P.O. Cox 2083 Salem Oregon 97308

?

?

As my GG grandfather is buried there I hired a researcher to find him and she sent me information from that book. On page 3 it states until such time as the State was able to afford the establishment of an asylum in Salem, it would be state policy to use the facilities of the recently open Hawthorne Asylum in Portland. In the fall of 1880 the Oregon State Legislature appropriated? $100,000. for the building of the Oregon State Insane Asylum. Page 4 has a notice of the completion and invited the public to inspect the premise in the fall of 1883 with a notice in the paper ?dated October 24 1883.

?

On page 9 the Daily Oregonian carried an eyewitness account of the transfer by train of male patients from Portland's Hawthorne Asylum to their new home in Salem. (For details on the day's events, as well as lists of the patients transferred to Salem that day and the next, see "Beaver Briefs, " Vol 23 pp 21-24.

?

In 1913 the name was changed to the Oregon State Hospital.Page 12 tells of the bill S.B. 109? of the deposition of the bodies.If not claimed within one week of death shall be delivered by the officers of such institution for consumption at the crematory? and the ashes sent to the relatives or other persons having an interest in the deceased if requested.

?

Section 3 All remains of persons who have heretofore died, as inmates of the Oregon State Insane Asylum, and which have been buried in the burying ground belonging to said institution, shall be exhumed and cremated in said crematory and all monuments marking the graves of such persons, shall be removed and placed in some suitable place on the Cottage Farm.

?

Page 15 For the remainder of the Cemetery's previous residents, their last resting place became the basement of the Adolescent Ward until 19 76 when all were place in? vaults in the Memorial Circle on the hospital grounds. Each receptacle is numbered and cross-referenced.

?

Patient 637 and his wife patient 595 are in a vault in the Memorial Circle.? 

?

I would be most interested in following the information about the release of names in the Statesman Journal 

Thank you ,

Susie in Iowa

----- Original Message ----- 

From: MStang5165 at aol.com 

To: or-roots at listsmart.osl.state.or.us ; pswitzertatum at peoplepc.com 

Sent: Thursday, September 17, 2009 6:52 PM

Subject: Re: [or-roots] Is it slow or am I missing emails?

The Hawthorne Asylum was in Portland and is not, nor ever was, the same as the Oregon State Hospital which is in Salem in Marion County.?Not in Lane County. Some of the oldest parts of the State Hospital (the parts used in the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) are being torn down to be replaced with new buildings.

?

According to a web site Salem Online History through the Salem Public Library, Dr. Hawthorne first opened his hospital for the "insane" in Portland in 1862. In 1883 the Oregon State Hospital in Salem was opened. 

?

The canisters you referred to with cremains are here in Salem at the Oregon State Hospital. Just this week there has been a legal Public Notice in the Statesman Journal "Notice of intent to publish the names of the individuals whose cremains are in custody of Oregon State Hospital."? ..."Shall disclose to the general public the name and the dates of birth and death of persons whose cremated remains are in the possession of the department for the purposes of: giving a family member an opportunity to claim the cremated remains and?creating a memorial for those persons whose cremated remains are not claimed."

?

What the notice does not mention is that many of the canisters no longer have a label that is legible or a label at all.????????????????????? Mimi Stang

_______________________________________________
or-roots mailing list
or-roots at listsmart.osl.state.or.us
http://listsmart.osl.state.or.us/mailman/listinfo/or-roots

________________________________________
PeoplePC Online
A better way to Internet
http://www.peoplepc.com

_______________________________________________
or-roots mailing list
or-roots at listsmart.osl.state.or.us
http://listsmart.osl.state.or.us/mailman/listinfo/or-roots

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://omls.oregon.gov/pipermail/or-roots/attachments/20090920/5506f49d/attachment.html>