More Than a Name

Harriet changed the way I saw genealogy. My mom has been searching her dad's side of the family for as long as I remember (I remember my first trip to DC was to the National Archives and searching for names among rolls and rolls of microfilm.) So she has a lot of information, she knows her people. But even she didn't know Harriet existed. 

Harriet lived with her parents until she was 30 years old. At that time we suspect her parents died and her siblings couldn't take care of her. They had their own adversity. The oldest sister, Catherine, was unwed with a child. Her younger brother John had gotten married and his wife died in childbirth, his son did survive. Two younger brothers, Charles and Henry had set off for NYC in hopes of bettering their life. Her sister Sarah had just gotten married. The youngest 2 children were split into different homes as laborers. 

In 1850 Harriet became an "Inmate in the Poorhouse".  Harriet didn't live there because she was poor, she was there because she had special needs. Records throughout her life describe her as an "idiot" who can talk but can't read or write. She is a good worker and good at cleaning and washing.  Someone was called an idiot if they intellectually didn't reach maturity. Today that would even include those with Down syndrome.  Anyone who lived in a poor house or almshouse was called an "inmate" once you got the money you could move out. "Idiots" and "Lunatics" couldn't buy their freedom.

In 1857 the state required inspections of the poorhouses in the state. At Harriet's poor house, there were 11 inmates who were idiots, 5 males, 6 females. The house is old and badly dilapidated. The rooms are low, out of repair and the air in the sleeping rooms is foul and noisome. Corporal punishment is administered to men, women and children. That sounds like an awful place to live!

In 1860 Harriet is still in the same poor house, but now we learn she has a 7-year-old daughter, named Julia, who was named after her grandmother. So let that sit in, she's special needs,  living in squalor, and now she's a mom! You have to ask yourself if she was taken advantage of, did she know what was happening, was she in control in any way? And what kind of life is that like for her daughter? And did she have her baby in this awful place?

1864 they do another inspection of the poor house. They say that the inmates are thin and poorly clad, yet clean and tidy and apparently healthy.  There is a supply of water but no bathtub, they are not required to bathe, nor wash their hands daily. The beds are made of straw and changed twice each year. 5 people have shoes, in the winter  10 didn't have any shoes or stockings. There are ten cells in which up to twenty inmates have been crowded. There is no medical treatment, Dr's only come if someone is sick. Ten of the inmates are lunatics, 3 are male, and 7 females, all are paupers. Five are confined at times in cells, some are restrained at times by shackles and handcuffs. Eleven inmates are idiots, 5 male and 6 females. No improvements since 1857 and the property is "a burning disgrace to the county and the state".  Can you imagine living there, or being raised there?

1865 it's confirmed that she's single and raising Julia alone. 

In 1870 they are in the same poor house and now say that Julia is also an idiot.

In 1877 their lives took a drastic turn. Julia now 23 years old has one violent attack and they transfer her to the Williard Asylum for the insane. They define a violent attack as an outburst of any kind. I am unable to find out what kind of attack Julia had. But other records label a violet outburst as someone saying No to doing something, for not doing what they were told, or failing to get out of bed, even if they were sick, or having a seizure. Can you imagine, doing just this 1 thing separates mother and daughter who are both unable to take care of themselves? I doubt she knew what would happen because of this one thing.  

The Williard Asylum for the Insane is 200 miles west of the Poorhouse where Julia was born in. It was built so that they could take the incurable or chronically insane from the poor houses and get them what they really needed. Williard wanted to help teach these patients basic life skills. It was meant for the severely disabled. But poorhouses saw this as an opportunity to relocate all "idiotic inmates". This way the county no longer was responsible for footing the bill for them to get food and clothing. Williard is seen as paradise compared to a poor house, patients are given the choice of working, they have their own garden, they are well fed, well clothed, got medical attention and the staff really care about the patients. Their motto is to treat each other with kindness. But the asylum becomes very overcrowded from the poorhouses making it's purpose unobtainable. So Williard begins weeding out the patients that have moderate disabilities. Julia will be in this group because she is able to talk and work. 

In 1902 Harriet died at the poor house at the age of 82. She had lived there for 52 years and had not seen her daughter in 25 years.  All but one of her siblings has died, the sister still alive lives in Connecticut. People who died in the poor house were buried in unmarked graves along the outer perimeter of the cemetery. 

Sometime between 1880 and 1900, Julia has been moved into a state asylum. This environment is clinical and meets their needs but is not homey or comfortable.

In 1904 the state decides that Julia should be the county's problem, so Julia is moved back to the county poorhouse she was born in and that her mother died in. Her mother had died less than 18 months earlier. No one realizes she is Harriet's daughter or that she was born there.  It's not possible to know if Julia ever knew what happened to her mom. 

Julia lives there until her death in 1930 at the age of 76. One church decides to raise the funds to give each person that year their own headstone, even though they don't know exactly where the person is.  They significantly misspell Julia's name, but there is at least a stone to remember her by. The cemetery nor church have any records on the women because of their social status. 

These women were forgotten about. But what a story of strength! You know that no family wished for their daughter/sister to live in deplorable conditions for 50 years! To possibly have been raped, or taken advantage of. To raise her own daughter in the same squalor. Only for her daughter to be ripped from her for what may have been a tiny issue. But the daughter lands in a paradise. Only to be sent to another asylum because she wasn't disabled enough. A mother dies without knowing where her daughter is or if she is even alive. And for her daughter to be returned to the same hell she was born into but with no one knowing who she is, or what happened to her mother. 

These women have been forgotten for 100 years, they have no living descendants, they had no one looking for them or even knowing they existed. But looking at a census, and realizing there were a few coincidental things I ordered Harriet's death certificate. It was an incredibly long shot that a poor house would have any information on her after 50 years but they did. When she died at 82 they were able to say who her parents were and suddenly she fit into the puzzle of my family. 

But it took time and research to learn about the person she was, to learn that she had a daughter and what her daughter's story was. I know I don't want to be forgotten about in 100 years and I doubt they wished for that either.  I hope someone takes the time to do their research and learn my story and make me more than a name on a piece of paper. 

For me Harriet and Julia are people, they had a rough life, but they aren't forgotten.