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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...
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GENEALOGY CHALLENGE 2021 - Seeing Double

James, dwarfed by a Union Pacific engine.


 
James' grandpa, James Casey, Sr. enjoys his time on a train.

GENEALOGY CHALLENGE 2021

Seeing Double -  January 25th entry of a 31-day challenge to post a document, photo or artifact on social media every day in January.  

by Nancy Gilbride Casey


What is it about little boys and trains? Our son James was enamored of trains from the day he first noticed them as a tiny little guy. 

Whenever we saw one, he would want me to slow down the car so we could watch it, or roll the car windows down so that he could hear the train whistle. He collected Thomas the Tank Engine cars and track. I read him Thomas the Tank Engine books, and we watched the TV show too. With every library trip we took, we looked for any book with a train theme. I'm sure there was a train-themed birthday party at some point too.

James also loved a trip to the train museum with his Papa (James D. Casey, Sr.), or visiting other train exhibits in local small towns. Imagine his thrill when we took a ride on the actual Thomas the Train one year in Grapevine, Texas!

The love of trains must run in the family line: proven by this wonderful black and white photograph of James' Papa, standing on a train stairs when he was a little man. It wonderful to see shared interests passed through generations.


NEXT UP: Wartime Letter III

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