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Jane's Illness: Home Care, Her Doctor & Her Caretakers

Vasily Polenov, The Patient, public domain   Over the past few weeks, we've discovered that Jane Darragh, my great-great grandmother who died of acute mania, may have had multiple episodes of the disease. Her children's births were separated by several years in some cases—unusual for the time—suggesting that she experienced infertility, miscarriages, or stillbirths during her childbearing years. And we learned that Jane likely supported her husband Charles' blacksmith career by caring for their home and four children. This week, we'll look at whether Jane was institutionalized for her mania, what her treatment might have been, and who her physician was.   It does not appear that Jane was ever institutionalized for her illness, at least for the episode prior to her death .  Medical practice of the day suggested there were two options for treating acute mania; the first was to treat the person in the home if they were amenable, for example, willing to eat food offered or...

Visit to Greenwood Cemetery, Newton, Kansas


 

by Nancy Gilbride Casey


I've often shared photos, documents, and genealogical news on Facebook. I thought it worthwhile to publish them here, on Leaves on the Tree, as well. This will be an occasional project as the Facebook Memories posts come up.

 

Today's throwback is to July 3, 2021, when daughter Anne and I were coming back from a trip to Colorado. We journeyed through Kansas, and stayed near Newton, Kansas, just so I could visit Greenwood Cemetery, and capture some grave photos of my husband's Davis and Taylor ancestors.


These three headstones mark three Davis/Taylor graves. From right to left: The largest stone is for Collostin Davis and Ellen Maria Martin Davis, Jim's 3x great grandparents. The middle monument is that of the Davis' daughter Florence and her husband Henry O. Taylor. Lastly, next to the tree, is the grave of Blanche Davis Eddington, Florence's sister.

The largest stone is for Jim's 3x great grandfather Collostin James Davis, Civil War veteran of the 12th Maine Infantry. His wife was Ellen Maria Martin Davis; she and Collostin were the parents of Florence, Blanche and George. Sadly Ellen outlived her husband, and all of her children







The small, original stone for John Davis, Collostin's brother, and fellow Civil War veteran from of the 42nd Maine Infantry. An inscription for John was later added to the main stone (below), but the original one still present.

Inscription for George R. Davis, Collostin and Ellen's son.

Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) marker. The GAR was begun in 1866 as a fraternal organization for Union veterans. The F, C and L stand for fraternity, charity and loyalty. Both Collostin and John were members of the GAR during their lives and honored with these markers for their service during the Civil War, after their deaths.

Until next time....

Read other posts on the Davis and Taylor families:


NOTES

All images: Nancy Gilbride Casey, photographer, Davis and Taylor grave sites, Greenwood Cemetery, Newton, Kansas, 4 July 2021.

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