Jane's Illness: Home Life, Beginnings of Mania, and Mental Illness as a Cause of Death
Nähendes Mädchen by Hermann Lindenschmit, 1900 ( rawpixel.com ) In my last post about my great-great-grandmother Maria Jane Darragh and her acute mania diagnosis, I wrote about some theories I've formed about what happened to her. (Catch up on previous posts about Jane here , here , and here .) In this post, I'll begin exploring my theories and discoveries. But first, let's set the stage. Jane's Home Life in St. Catharines Jane and her husband Charles Francis Cassidy married in St. Catharines in 1883 and settled into married life there. 1 At the time, St. Catharines was the largest and most populous town on the Niagara Peninsula and a thriving port city located on the Welland Canal. During Jane's life in St. Catharines, the population hovered around 10,000 residents. The city drew manufacturing, milling, shipping, and supporting businesses. 2 St. Paul Street in downtown St. Catharines in 1877, a few years before Charles and Jane married. (Photo court...
