Mental
health has become a popular topic lately.
People suffering from depression and other issues are becoming less
stigmatized that they used to be. But this is a fairly recent phenomenon. One
hundred years ago things were very different.
Elizabeth
Jane Cowie was born on 24 September 1869 to John Cowie and Lucinda Dixon in
Mara Township Ontario. She was the
second youngest of nine children. On 4 January 1893 she married Albert Nicholls
in Thorah Ontario. Albert was a farmer and the couple settled on his section of
the family property, Lot 22 on South Portage Road just outside Bolsover
Ontario. The couple had 6 children – 5 daughters (Bertha, Gertrude, Adeline,
Ruth and Alberta) and finally one son Carl.
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1911 Canadian Census, Library and Archives Canada
|
I don’t know a lot about their life
but this map shows where they farmed in Eldon Township, Lot 22, south of Portage Road.
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| Township of Eldon 1916, Drawn & Published by A. E. Guidal |
When Albert’s
father John died in 1909 he left the property to Albert.
Tragically,
Albert died young, passing away on 14 August 1913 due to Primary Lateral
Sclerosis, a rare disease similar to what we know as Lou Gehrig’s disease today.
This neuromuscular disease would have been a disastrous illness for a farmer.
He and his family suffered for 17 months before he passed away.
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| Archives of Ontario RG22-279, MS-1519 |
Albert died
intestate but according to probate records he left his property to
his widow Elizabeth to care for her minor children.
From there, things went
horribly wrong for the family. Imagine how difficult this situation was for a
young widow, with no grown sons to help farm.
A
handwritten note on the initial probate note that it was revoked. Elizabeth had
intermeddled in the estate (acted as executor) but it appears that she was
overwhelmed. The property was subsequently turned over to Willard Walton
Dunlop, Inspector of Prisons and Public Charities for the Province of Ontario.
There was a reason for this - on 17 March 1914 Elizabeth was admitted to the Mimico
Hospital for the Insane. Unfortunately, the records for this Hospital were not
preserved so I have very little information about Elizabeth’s stay besides what was found in the
admission register. She was patient #3161 and the 1526th
female admitted. She was a 44-year-old widow with her occupation noted as House
Keeper.
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| Archives of Ontario RG 10-299 |
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| Contemporary postcard, picture taken at the Lakeshore Grounds |
The
Mimico Hospital was abandoned after it closed in 1979. Recently Humber College
took over the property and restored the buildings and grounds for use as an
educational facility. I had the opportunity to tour the grounds last summer. I
don’t know which cottage Elizabeth was assigned to but it would have been a
building such as this.
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| Picture taken by the writer 2017 |
Elizabeth
was diagnosed with manic depression mixed -
this syndrome had features unique to both depression and mania –
despair, fatigue, morbid or suicidal ideation, racing thoughts, pressure of
activity and heightened irritability. In other words, she was bipolar. This appeared to be a common diagnosis – most
of the entries in the death register are some form of manic depression.
Treatment was not what we would expect today. It could include immersing the
patient in an ice-cold bath or electroshock therapy.
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| Electroshock machine. Picture taken by the writer 2017 |
I
reviewed some case files at the Archives of Ontario that documented other cases
of female patients. In most files there is mention that they are loud and
abrasive and excited, with swearing being mentioned. Being quiet and submissive
is obviously a good thing. The cause of their admissions varies, from being
jealous of a 15 year old daughter having been impregnated by her own father
(jealousy is not the way I’d describe this) to not recovering from the birth of
a first child.
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| Archives of Ontario RG 10-299 |
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| Ancestry, Ontario Deaths, 1869-1936 |
On
December 31st 1918 Elizabeth died in the Mimico Hospital. Her admission
had lasted 4 years, 9 months and 14 days. The cause of death was noted as
exhaustion of melancholia. We know melancholia now as depression. It’s hard to
imagine dying from depression. Without Elizabeth’s file we can’t know if she
had an underlying health issue that caused her death. Perhaps she was so
overwhelmed by her issues she simply lost the will to live.
The death register
notes that she was buried by friends. She was lucky. Many residents of the
hospital were abandoned by their families and were buried in the hospital
cemetery. There are many unmarked graves in this cemetery. It is a sad and
poignant place.
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| Picture taken by writer 2017 |
Elizabeth
was brought home and buried next to her husband in Bolsover.
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| Bolsover Cemetery, picture taken by writer 2016 |
All
of the Nicholls children eventually moved to Toronto. In 1915 Adeline was the
first when she arrived in the city at the age of 17. The 1916 City Directory shows her
rooming on Jarvis Street. She was joined the next year by her sister Gertrude;
both girls worked at Eaton’s.
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| Toronto City Directory, Toronto Public Library |
I wonder if they ever visited their mother and if
that was the motivation to move to Toronto? Cabbagetown was a long way from
Mimico and the trip by streetcar would have taken a long time.
I also wonder
who looked after the children when Elizabeth was admitted to the hospital. The eldest
Bertha was 20, the youngest Carl was 7. Both Elizabeth and Albert came from
large families so no doubt their siblings stepped in.
Elizabeth Jane Cowie
Nicholls was my spouse’s great-grand mother and we honour her struggles. Life
was difficult for our ancestors and sometimes unbearable.
