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Maria Jane Darragh's Illness: Researching Acute Mania in 19th Century Ontario

Image by rawpixel.com.     Back in January, I focused on discovering more about my great-great-grandmother Maria Jane Darragh's identity. In the next few weeks, my focus will be on discovering more about her cause of death: acute mania. Jane—as she was known—was not my only ancestress to be diagnosed with a mental illness. Another great-great-grandmother, Catherine Ryan Gilbride, suffered from puerperal mania and was institutionalized in 1881 in Danville, Pennsylvania. 1 Both Jane and Catherine are in my paternal lineage: Jane was my grandmother's grandmother, while Catherine was my grandfather's grandmother. Let's start with an objective and what we already know. Objective The objective of this project is to learn more about Maria Jane Darragh’s cause of death: acute mania. Jane was born about 1852 in Grey County, Canada West. She married Charles Cassidy on 20 June 1883 in St. Catharines, Lincoln County, Ontario. She died on 23 October 1903 in St. Catharines, Ontario,...
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Tell Me a Story: Using Heirlooms and Artifacts to Inspire Your Writing

At a recent meeting of local genealogists, we discussed the article entitled, "Story Triggers: Finding Inspiration for Writing Family History"—about how our senses can help us tell family stories. The article's author, Sandra J. Crowley, noted that these triggers can fall into several categories aligned with the senses, such as visual, auditory, environmental, etc.1 

As I considered what I tend to gravitate to, I find that artifacts and heirlooms are what inspires me the most: a photo, a piece of crocheting, a baby book, an embroidery, etc. A single artifact can appeal to several senses at once: to the visual, the tactile, and even the olfactory. Think about a fragile marriage certificate that nearly crumbles to the touch, yet is still colorful, and carries a faint smell of old paper. 

I've found heirlooms and artifacts are rich inspiration for my writing, and penned an article, "Tell Me a Story: Using Heirlooms and Artifacts to Inspire Your Writing," for the Texas State Genealogical Society's journal, Stirpes, last year. I included many examples of how I used these items to write about the item's place in our family history, its owner's past, or as a starting point to tell a family story. You can read the article below.

I hope you're inspired to think about the artifacts you own and how they can help you tell the story of your own family. What will you write about? Tell me in the comments.

Until next time...

© Nancy Gilbride Casey, 2026. All rights reserved. 


P.S. Our discussion group is called Connections. Sponsored by the Denton Public Library, it is modeled after the National Genealogical Society Quarterly's study groups, and uses articles from Stirpes, the Journal of the Texas State Genealogical Society, as the basis for discussion. TxSGS subsequently picked up the model and offers it to their Partner Societies as the Stirpes Study Group. For more info on this program, visit: https://www.txsgs.org/stirpes-study-group/


NOTES

1  Sandra J. Crowley, "Story Triggers: Finding Inspiration for Writing Family History," Stirpes: Journal of the Texas State Genealogical Society, 64:1 (March 2025), 46-48.

 


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  1. AnonymousMay 7, 2026 at 12:53 PM

    Sandra Robertson --the Stirpes article gives many examples of family heirlooms as a means of starting the writing process. I have used some of my treasured heirlooms to write about the person who owned the item as it shows an aspect of their life.

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    1. Nancy Gilbride CaseyMay 17, 2026 at 9:23 AM

      Sandra, you are doing a great job using heirlooms and I'm sure that your family is finding the stories very interesting and enlightening. They will never look at those items the same way again! Thanks for reading.

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