Today we might use words such as “special needs”, "intellectual disabilities", “mentally ill” or “criminal” to describe people who face challenges of various sorts, and who get singled out for special attention by the authorities.  In the past, other more offensive and politically incorrect terms were used, and treatment focused more on containment and segregation rather than on rehabilitation and medical help.  In the 1880 US census there was even a special schedule to identify “defective, dependent and delinquent” individuals including the blind, deaf, paupers, homeless children, prisoners, insane, and idiotic.  I have not yet found relatives listed there. 

The Canadian census in 1881,1891 and 1901 used the words “deaf and dumb”, “blind” and “unsound mind” relating to “infirmities" worthy of identification.  By 1911 they had replaced “unsound mind” with “crazy or lunatic” and “idiotic or silly”. I would suggest that was a step backwards!  Connotations may have changed over the years, but I think these words are derogatory and hurtful.  Perhaps this sentiment is one reason why people were not always declared as such in the census, even if they "qualified".  Many families also tried to keep such conditions secret, perhaps to avoid ridicule, shame or sensor.

So now I’d like to tell you a sad story about my Great-Great-Aunt Frances Louisa “Fanny” COMPTON who spent the last seven years of her life in an insane asylum. 

Fanny was born on 16 Oct 1857 in St Eleanors, Prince Edward Island in Canada, the sixth child of Albert “Harry” COMPTON and Mary Robinson COATES.  She was baptized as a toddler on 6 Feb 1859 in Richmond Parish PEI, and grew up on their family farm in Lot 17, North St Eleanors, along with ten siblings.  As her older and then younger siblings grew up, left home and married (except one brother who drowned at age 15), Fanny remained at home.  In 1881 five other siblings were still at home.  Fanny’s father died in 1889, and by 1891 Mary’s household contained Fanny and four other children. By 1901 Fanny was listed as age 40, living with her brother Henry’s family and her widowed mother Mary.  

It must have been shortly after the 1901 census that Mary moved to Winnipeg Manitoba to be with or near her youngest son Horace Melville COMPTON (known as Mel).  Mel is said to have moved there when in his early 20s; he turned 20 in 1892, and certainly moved there with his brother Leslie before 1901.  And when Mary moved to Winnipeg she brought along her daughter Fanny.  In 1904 her brother Mel married Flora Larkin.  Sadly Mary died in Winnipeg the following year at the age of 77; her daughter Fanny was then almost 48 and still single. The informant on Mary's death registration was a company (perhaps her lawyer or funeral home) - why not one of her 2 nearby children?  After Mary's will was probated in early 1907, her estate was equally divided between Horace Melville and Fanny Louisa.  But in the meantime, according to the 1906 Canadian “Prairie” census, Fanny was living with Mel and Flora along with several boarders in Winnipeg.

The family has hinted that Fanny “needed taking care of”, implying that she had challenges, although I don’t know how severe any limitations might have been.  Certainly there was no mention of infirmities in any of the census records through the years. The loss of her mother would have been difficult for her in any case, but if she did require special care then it could no longer have been provided in the same way.  What we do know is that, on 2 Oct 1906, before her mother’s estate had even been finalized, “Fannie” COMPTON married a James MACMILLAN in Winnipeg.  By 1911, James and Fannie had moved west to Penticton in the Okanagan fruit-growing region of British Columbia where James was operating his own orchard.  No infirmities were listed.  Fanny was no longer close to any relatives that I know of.

Then once again everything changed.  In the 1921 census I found “Fanny Mac Millan” listed as a 63-year-old inmate in the BC Mental Hospital in New Westminster BC. The municipality of Penticton is also mentioned in the census (implying this is where she was admitted from).  So this entry seems to be for the right person.  Fanny’s death record confirms that “Fanny Mcmillan” died from pneumonia at age 67 on 23 Jan 1925 in the Public Hospital for the Insane, B Street, New Westminster, having been there for the last 7 years, formerly of Penticton.   James is nowhere to be found until his death in Penticton in 1931.

I have been told by a family researcher that Fanny was "admitted to Riverview Hospital on Dec. 10, 1917 from Penticton BC” but I cannot find proof of this exact date or location for her care.  We know she was in New Westminster in 1921 and 1925 at the BC Mental Hospital (aka Asylum) where she died.  There was a second provincial Mental Hospital (aka Essondale, also called Riverview) that opened in 1913, but it was a separate hospital in Coquitlam.  The New Westminster facility served exclusively as an institution for women between 1913 and 1930. But by 1924 Riverview had become the administrative centre for the province’s mental health services, so perhaps Fanny's records ended up there, even though she was an inmate in New Westminster.

Why did she need hospitalization?  I am assuming that more detailed records would be of a confidential nature, even if I could find them.  Did she always have mental problems that worsened? Or was this a new heath issue for her?  Or was it more a matter of containment of someone who was intellectually challenged?  Without further details I can only hope that she was well and properly cared for.  Yet she was certainly denied her freedom for the last seven years of her life.  How sad is that.

SOURCES and FURTHER READING

History of Madness in Canada - BC
Woodlands School, New Westminster, previously Provincial Lunatic Asylum - wikipedia
Woodlands - Inclusion BC site
Riverview Hospital (Essondale), Coquitlam - wikipedia

It is surprising to realize that each of us has 32 3rd-great-grandparents, regardless of whether we know who they were or not.  In my tree, this takes me back to the late 1700s in some cases, so perhaps the number shouldn’t be so unexpected.  But I had to do the math and make a list anyway to confirm it!  

I am proud to say that, of the sixteen 3G grandparents on my mother’s side, I have identified all but one (although my COMPTON couple appears twice due to intermarriage in my tree).  I have already written about Henry Proctor RICHARDSON I (who married Ann PACKHAM) and James HARRIS (who married Lucy RANDALL), two of my 3G grandfathers.  And I have already mentioned the sturdy brick wall in my HOPGOOD line:  I know only the name of my 3G grandfather William HOPGOOD and have no idea who his wife was.

I have been less successful on my father’s HENSON side, having identified only ten of the sixteen 3G grandparents.  And most of that research is not my own.  So it’s time to tell another story from this paternal side of my tree.

I have been told that my 3rd-great-grandfather William H HENSON Jr., known as “Billy”, was born on 13 Apr 1803 in North Carolina, perhaps in Wilkes. He was one of at least twelve children of William HENSON (c1745-1830), and Ann JACOBS (1759-aft 1860).  For those who like to do a reality check on dates, his mother was listed as age 102 in the 1860 US census, quite unusual for that era, for sure!  Some sources claim that Billy had Cherokee or Shawnee native blood on his mother’s side, and perhaps through his paternal grandmother as well, but these are not certainties.  

The first record we have for Billy is his marriage to Lavina OSBORN on 7 Apr 1824 in Floyd County Kentucky.  Lavina was a Kentucky girl born in 1805 in Knox County.  We know from  Billy’s father's revolutionary war pension documents that the Hensons were also living in Knox County Kentucky by 1827 (although William Sr had fought in the North Carolina Continental line}.  We don’t know the exact year of their move to Kentucky, but presumably it was before Billy’s marriage there 1824.

Billy supported his family as a farmer, and in 1830 he may have been the  “Wm Henson” who headed a household of four white people all under 30, living in Lawrence County Kentucky (a new county created in 1821 from parts of Floyd and Greenup counties).  Then in 1831 William bought 50 acres of land on the Hurricane Fork stream in Pike County Kentucky, close to Osborn family land.  By that time they had three children, the oldest being Jesse HENSON, my great-great-grandfather.

We believe that Billy and Lavina HENSON had at least 10 children.  Six were born in Kentucky, and at least four  died as infants or children.  Their baby son Bracken died on 27 Jun 1846, and their daughter Anna (or Hannah) died in 1847 at the age of 13, both in Washington County, Arkansas.  So we know the family had already moved to Arkansas by 1846 if not earlier.  So once again the family had chosen to move farther west.

On 1 Sep 1848, Billy was in Fayetteville Arkansas buying 40 acres of public land: "for the North West quarter of the South East quarter of Section fifteen, in Township fourteen North, of Range twenty nine West, in the District of Lands subject to sale at Fayetteville, Arkansas containing forty acres….", paid in full although the amount was not provided. 

The 1850 US federal census lists William and Lavina living in White River Township, Arkansas with three of their younger children who were born in Kentucky and still attending school: Louisa (13), Mary (10) and John (8).  (So the family must have still been in Kentucky in 1842.) Their son Jesse was living next door with his wife and 1-year-old son.

We have learned a few more details from a book titled “Kindred Families in the Land of Opportunity” by Beverly Pense (as reported in other posted family trees):

Indeed, the US census in 1860, 1870 and 1880 confirm that William and Lavina remained in White River Arkansas. Mary and John were their only children still at home in 1860.  By 1880 the aging couple was on their own.  Billy died on 15 Aug 1887 at the age of 84, followed by his wife Lavina in 1895.  They were both buried in the Whitehouse Cemetery in Arnett, an unincorporated community in White River Township, Washington County, which is south east of Fayetteville on highway 74 (Whitehouse Rd) on the Middle Fork White River in Arkansas.   This cemetery contains seven HENSON graves including their children Jesse, Anna, Bracken, William, and their married daughter Mary (Henson) LONG.

I love collaborating and sharing ideas and information with other researchers.  Not only does this make the whole process of building a family tree easier and more enjoyable, but it’s so often much more fruitful.  When you combine differing perspectives, ideas, and sleuthing talents, and have access to a greater variety of sources and localized knowledge, everyone wins.  I have had several such collaborations over the years.

Such was the case back in 2009 when I was trying to learn more about my maternal HARRIS roots.  Luck was with me and I connected with a researcher in England through genesreunited.org.  At that time I knew very little about my great-great-grandmother Elizabeth HARRIS except that she was born and baptized in 1828 in a quaint Cotswold village in Gloucester England with the rather unfortunate name of Lower Slaughter.  I also knew that Elizabeth married Henry Proctor RICHARDSON II on 15 Mar 1853 in St Mary’s Chapel, Lambeth, Surrey, England.  Their marriage certificate also provided the name of her father: James Harris, carpenter.  One of the witnesses was Martha Harris (whom I now believe was Elizabeth’s younger sister).  Other online trees had suggested her mother was named Lucy but no sources or other details were provided.  Of course I wanted to know much more, but with a common name like HARRIS, I didn’t think it would be easy.

With the help and generosity of my newly found third cousin (once removed), I learned that James HARRIS married Lucy RANDALL on 31 Jul 1821 in Lower Slaughter.  The couple was listed in the 1841 England census living at Burrows Cottage in Upper Slaughter with six children between the ages of 12 and 1: Elizabeth, Martha, Mary, William, Thomas and Jane.  In 1851 they were still in Upper Slaughter with children Martha, Mary, William, Thomas, Jane and James between the ages of 20 and 8.  In 1861 they were living on their own at Gamekeepers Lodge, Upper Slaughter, and by 1871 they had moved to Eyford Gloucester, with their 13-year-old granddaughter Jane “Harriss” living with them.  

While this census information assisted greatly in building James' family, baptism records were also located for their two oldest children John (1825) and Elizabeth (1828), but not for the younger six children.  John was not listed in the census, having moved out of his parent’s home prior to the earliest census in 1841.  I wonder if there was an even older child born between 1821 and 1824 who we haven’t found yet?  James was baptized on 20 Jan 1799 in Bourton-On-The-Water, Gloucester (the rectory associated with Lower Slaughter), the son of Thomas and Mary HARRIS, so his birth likely occurred late in 1798.

Because we could not find either James or Lucy in any census after 1871, we theorized that they both probably died before 1881.  We found some very promising death registrations for James in 1876 (age 79) or more likely 1877 (age 78), and for Lucy before him in 1872 (age 73).  Although I have not yet sent away for their death certificates, I have recently found corresponding burial information for them both.  I now believe James was buried 21 Mar 1877 in Upper Slaughter, with his death probably in Bourton On The Water where he was residing.  Lucy was buried earlier on  17 Sep 1872, also in Upper Slaughter where they lived at that time.

Our HARRIS collaboration didn’t stop with James.  We were able to push the HARRIS line back another two generations, learning in the process that James had seven siblings and his mother was born a SMITH (groan).  We also found additional information about Lucy RANDALL’s parents and 9 siblings, and the names of her paternal grandparents.   Lots of potential for future stories here!

In 2012 during our trip to England, we went on a one day tour of the Cotswolds and had the opportunity to briefly visit the picturesque village of Upper Slaughter. We only caught a glimpse of their church on the hill before following a trail through sheep pastures to view the small mill town of Lower Slaughter.  Our time there was very limited, but I was able to run the couple of blocks to the church and walk around the the graveyard for 5 or 10 minutes.  I didn’t find any recognizable graves and the church itself was locked, but it was exciting to see at least the outside of the church where James and Lucy were married almost 200 years ago. I only wish I had been able to meet up with my new cousin and collaborator on that trip.

I still haven’t finished researching James and Lucy or their descendants and ancestors (is that even possible?), but networking and sharing with my new cousin in England certainly made it much easier and a lot more fun!