Wednesday’s child: Lawson girls

LAWSON

LUCY
DIED
[July 20?] 1848
Aged
9 mo’s

JANE,
DIED
July 17, 1848
Aged
2Y 6m.

ELIZABETH
DIED
Sep. 23, 1844
Aged 1 Y. 8m.

MARY J.
DIED
July 8, 18[34?]

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Pioneer Cemetery, Franklin County, Ohio

Frailty of human life

In the name of God Amen. I Hiram Andress of the County of Delaware in the State of Ohio being of sound and composed mind, but admonished of the frailty of human life am resolved to arrange my earthly concerns and dispose of the substance which the Lord hath committed to my trust, do therefore make this my last will & testament.

On March 17, 1845, Hiram Andress wrote his last will and testament, directing that his estate be divided between his beloved wife Polly and his two daughters, Eliza and Lucy.

He died a few months later and was buried at Oller Cemetery. On his marker, an angel stands beneath a garland of flowers, holding an open book.



Oller Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio

Faith, hope, and charity

Faith, hope, and charity are sculpted in human form on the Adams monument at Spring Grove Cemetery.

Look closely: two of the personifications hold their common symbols: a cross (faith) and an anchor (hope).

Spring Grove Cemetery, Hamilton County, Ohio

Lunacy

Twenty years separate their deaths, but they rest side by side forever. Caroline C. C. Caldwell (d. 1882) is buried next to her infant daughter, Isabella Caldwell (yesterday’s post) in Spring Grove Cemetery.

IN MEMORY OF
CAROLINE C. C. CALDWELL
WIFE OF
ANTHONY CALDWELL
DIED JUNE 29, 1882
IN HER 56 YEAR.
The cemetery burial records show that Caroline was a resident of Cincinnati’s Longview Asylum when she died. The disease that caused her death? Lunacy.

The Federal Census records for Cincinnati in 1870 and 1880 show Anthony and Caroline Caldwell living in the same household. In 1880—two years before Caroline’s death—there is an entry next to Anthony’s name in column 15. You know that column:

Is the person [on the day of the Enumerator’s visit] sick or temporarily disabled, so as to be unable to attend to ordinary business or duties? If so, what is the sickness or disability?

What do you think? I think the entry is meant to read “Nervous Disease of Head,” and it was intended for the line below: Caroline.

Without commenting on Caroline Caldwell’s specific condition, which is unknown to me, I share these sentences from the abstract of “Lunacy in the 19th Century: Women’s Admission to Asylums in United States of America,” by Katherine Pouba and Ashely Tianen (2006):

Between the years of 1850-1900, women were placed in mental institutions for behaving in ways that male society did not agree with. Women during this time period had minimal rights, even concerning their own mental health. Research concluded that many women were admitted for reasons that could be questionable. Since the 19th century, many of the symptoms women experience according to admittance records would not make a woman eligible for admittance to a mental asylum today. Women with symptoms were later diagnosed insane by reasons such as religious excitement, epilepsy, and suppressed menustruation.

May you rest in peace, Caroline.

Longview Asylum

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Spring Grove Cemetery, Hamilton County, Ohio

Little Belle

It is easy to be overwhelmed by the large, impressive monuments and the park-like setting of Spring Grove Cemetery, but it pays to keep your eyes open for the smaller gems.

The gravestone that marks the burial site of Isabella Caldwell (b. 1861, d. 1862) may be small, but it touches the heart: “Little Belle.”

LITTLE
BELLE.

ISABELLA B.
DAUGHTER OF
A. & C.C. CALDWELL,
DIED AUG. 29, 1862,
AGED [1 YS. 7] MS. & 12 DS.

The cemetery’s records show Belle’s date of birth and suggests that her death was caused by “congestion of the brain.”

Spring Grove Cemetery, Hamilton County, Ohio