Insanity in the Family

Today my husband noticed his nurse, Sharice, wearing a green band bracelet. "May is Mental Illness Awareness Month", she responded.  Being on the Neuro floor of the hospital, I didn't think that was odd. I told her of our writing group and my intention  of writing about mental illness in my family. She continued, "50% of mental illness is undiagnosed---people say 'He acts up' or 'She's just quirky' or 'That's the way she is'. There's such a stigma to putting a name on it.  My son is bi-polar.  We thought it was just him until we really looked around at the family. I am upfront about it because I'm always searching for ideas on how to treat it and someone may know something I don't know."

Yes, I know that feeling.  I had grown up with mental illness in my extended family, but one night while studying in my sorority house, I realized that we had mental illness on both sides of the family.  I freaked out!  I knew my Aunt M was mentally ill.  The only time I ever saw my father sob was the day he had to testify in court for her to be committed to the Insane Asylum (now  St. Louis Psychiatric Hospital) on Arsenal Street.  I had lived on Arsenal Street as a young child  and people would say, "Do you live in the "crazy house?". So having my father's sister going there was horrifying.  After shock treatments and medications, she was eventually released and continued raising her family, but. .. .I can remember when I was a teenager and she confided in me that "someone" told her she was going to be ex-communicated from the Catholic Church.  I tried to reassure her that she wouldn't be.  But now I wonder if she was still hearing voices.

Aunt M wasn't the first or the last in that line to be mentally ill.  My great-grandmother Mary Reiter had one brother who was committed to Farmington Insane Asylum for depression where he hung himself with his bed sheet. (click here for more information) She also had a sister who was "just odd" (click here).  My aunt was not Mary Reiter's only grandchild who was mentally ill.  There were at least two more who committed suicide. "It runs in the family" was often mentioned as a warning.

I didn't know my Aunt M was mentally ill until I was about 8 or 9 years old.  But, I'd always know that my great-grandmother, Mattie, on my mother's side had been mentally ill.  Mom and Grandma talked about her freely. She was committed to Farmington Insane Asylum when Grandma was 12 or 13, leaving Grandma in foster care because her father had died. When Mom was about 10, Grandma and Grandpa petitioned to have Mattie released to their care after being in an asylum for 20 years. Mom remembers her just sitting on the front porch, rocking---never saying much.  She (and my grandmother) did read tea leaves.  Now I wonder how much was "reading " tea leaves and how much was listening to voices.

When my mother's nephew  (my cousin) B turned 21, he started acting "odd".  Mom thought he must have

Mattie Sollis on the left

been doing drugs.  Eventually, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He is very bright having grown up with Harvard students living with his family, but he's never held a full-time job.  Mom became a little obsessed with wondering what her grandmother had.  Eventually, we got a court order to have her records released.  Mattie had had schizophrenia as had her 2 brothers.  I later found one of her brothers also at Farmington Insane Asylum where he died of tuberculosis.  I still have not located her other brother.  But meanwhile found a cousin of hers in an asylum in Tennessee.

I thought it was odd that with so much insanity in Mother's family that it had skipped two generations.  Mother believed drugs triggered B's, but I believe his mother (my mother's sister) was also mentally ill but used alcohol to silence the voices.

Today, I have two cousins (one on each side) who are mentally ill.  Thankfully neither is in an institution and with medication, they lead fairly normal lives.  When B is off his meds we get a lot of phone calls and e-mails on all sorts of topics like "I was watching the Red Sox game and heard the crowd chanting my poetry"  Recently, he has been in assisted living and the phone calls are more like,"Hey, I need more underwear" or "My computer isn't working."

So, back to Sharice's comments.  Yes, it runs in families.  Yes, it is sometime undiagnosed and often disguised by alcohol or drug use. Yes, there's a stigma which is why I've used initials rather than full names for many.  I am fortunate that I've never had to deal with a mentally ill close family relative. I don't mean to make light of the condition, but it's something we've learned to live with like diabetes or a hereditary heart condition.

When I asked Mom if as a child she was embarrassed to have her mentally ill grandmother sit on the front porch.  She said, "no, never.  She was so gentle, never said much.  Besides, in the South, everyone had a grandparent that was that way."I laughed when I first saw a painted sign that said, "Here in the South, we don't hide CRAZY, we parade it on the porch and give it sweet tea".  Yup, that's my family.

William Edward Reiter

THE DESLOGE SUN, Desloge, St. Francois Co. MO, Tues. May 5, 1925

W. E. REITER KILLS SELF AT STATE HOSPITAL NO. 4

W. E. Reiter, 42 years of age, who had made his home in DeSoto until three or four months ago when he was placed in the state hospital at Farmington for treatment, committed suicide by hanging, in his room in that institution, early Friday morning.

Reiter had seemed as usual, Thursday and had spent the day, or a part of the day, in doing certain work that had been assigned to him. He had always been quiet and had not given the attendants any reason to fear that he contemplated an attempt on his life.

The night attendant in the building where Reiter had his room, says he last saw the unfortunate man alive at 1 o'clock Friday morning, when he was making a tour of inspection of the building. Reiter asked for a drink of water at this time, which was given to him. The attendant next went to this room at 5 o'clock in the morning to awaken the occupant.

He found Reiter hanging, lifeless by a window. He had taken a sheet from his bed and had wrapped one end of the sheet around his neck, had passed the other end over a large hinge that held a shutter at the window, securing the ends deftly, and so they would not slip. Evidently he had stood on the window ledge while making these preparations and had then jumped off. The window was sufficiently high to prevent his feet from reaching the floor. Reiter had died of strangulation, his neck not having been broken.

Coroner J. R. Horne of Elvins conducted an inquest Friday morning at the state hospital. The remains were taken to DeSoto for burial.

William Edward Reiter was my great-great uncle (my great grandmother's brother).  For more on him, click here.  Thanks to Stephan W. who found this article and sent it to me.

The Saga of Johannes Reiter Part III

This is from the "Saga of Johannes Reiter" by Amos. O. Reiter.  Although we don't KNOW this is our family, I am pretty sure we are related to them.  My DNA matched up with one of Johannes' descendants, my ancestor was from Cassel/Kassel Germany, we believe the village my ancestor was from to be near Martinshagen where Johannes was from, but most convincingly, my grandfather repeatedly said the Reiters were Swiss and not German.  Louis, also, did not want to fight German wars. This part of the saga emphasizes how being Swiss was so important to the family even having lived in Germany for many years.  One final note, this also describes the family as being "above that of most people."  Mary Reiter Long (Louis's oldest daughter) on her deathbed told her son Roy to go back to Germany to re-claim the family estate.

Returning to Martinshaagen, Johannes Reiter at last settled down to peaceful pursuits.  Six sons were born between 1814 and 1826.  These were named John, Conrad, John Henry, John Dietrich, Jacob and George [my ancestor Louis Reiter was born in 1827 and I believe was a cousin of these men].  He prospered.  His station in life was above that of most people.  He owned a two story stone house and a large blacksmith shop in the town and thirty-four acres of good land nearby.  He had every reason to be satisfied and content.  That is, every reason except one.  Over him and his home hung ever the menacing cloud of compulsory military service.  he had been forced to give up fourteen of the best years of his life, and his inherited Swiss blood had boiled hot at the wrong and injustice done him.  He wanted freedom and independence.  He could not endure the thought that his six boys might be forced into subservience to a like tyranny.

The Saga of Johannes Reiter Part II

Martinshagen (to the left) is still surrounded by forests and is about 8.5 miles from Kassel, Hesse, Germany.  One of the Louis Reiter genealogists had decided that Carkert (on Louis Reiter's Civil War records) was probably Korbach---it was near Kassel and had mining (Louis Reiter was a miner).  Please note on the map above the name of the street that goes through Martinhagen.  Korbach is maybe another 10 miles down that road. (Double click on the photo to enlarge)

Continuing "The Saga of Johannes Reiter"...I am repeating this story because it also indicates why Louis Reiter came to the USA.   According to Louis Reiter's great-grandson David Long, "He came so he didn't have to fight German wars and then he fought in the American Civil War."  This is a well-written commentary that reflects why Johannes and, later, Louis Reiter emigrated.

When Johannes (b.1780) reached the age of 18, he was called into the military service, as were all the youth of Hesse at this time.  He served for two years entirely without pay.  Doubtless, this was no surprise to him.  He knew that the Swiss people of his village of Martinshaagen had been promised immunity from military service:  but he also knew of how little worth was the promise of a prince.  From his earliest childhood, he had heard the story of how the Prince of Hesse had sold 15,000 of his young men at thirty-six dollars each to the British, to be sent off to fight against the American colonists.  He had also been told how the officers had come at midnight to the village of Martinshaagen and taken away all the young men and they had never come back.  He could expect nothing less than the two years of enforced military service for himself.  But these two years were only the beginning.

The Saga of Johannes Reiter, Part I

Here is in part what this booklet had about the Reiter family:

 This was recorded by Amos O. Reiter D.D. in 1946 who heard these stories from his father and his father's double cousin Elizabeth Koch Schweigert who was born in Germany and grew up there.  This is significant for our family because it proves that family was still living there in the early 1800's when our Louis Reiter was born in 1827.







According to this tradition, the Reiter family was of Swiss origin.  A prince of Hesse Cassel, alarmed by the rapid disappearance of timber from his principality, and fearing there would soon be neither lumber for building nor wood for fuel, planned an extensive system of conservation.  He seized all the remaining forest lands, and issued decrees controlling the cutting and distribution of all forest products.  Not trusting his own people to make a fair and impartial distribution, he followed the example of nearly all the kings and potentates of that era, by importing Swiss foresters for that work.  To them, he gave quite liberal terms.  They were to be allowed to use their own German-Swiss dialect, have their own schools, their own 'Reformite' Church, their own Heidelberg Catechism, and maintain their own social customs.  Moreover, they were to be free from all, except local taxation and from all involuntary military service, even in time of war.  It was the breaking of practically all of these promises that impelled Johannes Reiter in 1832 to leave his native place and, with his six sons, come to a land of freedom where none was ever compelled to render military service against his will.

DNA Ancestry.com

Although my brother and various cousins had their DNA tested by Familytreedna, I couldn't resist a special by Ancestry.com that claimed it could get results from women AND link me up to other family trees available.  Since I already had a good idea of what my ancestry was, I decided to give it a try.

My ancestors came from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, France and Germany, so shouldn't I expect to have French, German, Celtic, British ancestry?  Other than the Eastern European, I was not surprised that I was 81% Scandinavian because all of my ancestors came from those parts of the countries settled by Vikings.

But, I have been very surprised at how well, ancestry.com has been able to give me leads on lines where I had hit brick walls.  For example, we had given up on trying to find where Louis Reiter was from in Germany.

His Civil War records said he was from Cassel, Germany and Carkert Co. Germany (the latter does not exist) and that was the best we could hope for.  Sure, his grandson Roy (my grandfather) used to insist he was not German but Swiss, but we always thought that was the anti-German sentiment of WWI talking.  For more on Louis Reiter, click here.

Imagine my surprise when ancestry matched me up with an individual with Reiter ancestors from Cassel/Kassel Germany.  I wrote the individual, told him of Grandpa's belief that he was Swiss, laughing it off.  He sent me a document about his ancestor which stunned me.  His Reiter family was originally from Switzerland.

A Reiter with a DNA match from Cassel Germany has ancestors from Switzerland!  I may never make the actual connection with this family---I suspect Louis might have been a nephew or cousin---but I have had to apologize to Grandpa Roy many times this past week.

Ingalls Update

I have written several posts about the Ingalls family----Amanda Reiter married William Barber Ingalls.  Amanda was the sister of my great-grandmother Mary Reiter Long.  We know she is in the photo above by the fence post, but aren't sure which one she is.  One of Amanda's granddaughters found my blog and has given me more information on her family and hopefully a better photo!  Here is the photo of Amanda Reiter Ingalls and her daughter Gertrude Daisy Ingalls Richter taken in about 1920.

 
The Ingalls attended Bethlehem Baptist where one of their children, Rowena, is buried.  Click here for church records which include them.

But, five children did survive:L-R Dwight, Dorothy and Gertrude. Seated: Arley holding Walter.  Arley was also known as "Fritz" which is what his niece called him.  Click here for more photos and information about this beautiful family.

Margaret wrote that "Fritz" or Fredrick Arley Ingalls did go to West Point as did his son (James M. Ingalls) pictured above.  She also sent me a link with Jim's obituary written by his son.  Click here.  There is information about the whole family in that link. All of the information sent me to Ancestry.com where I found the death certificate for Fredrick Arley Ingalls who died at 38 years old of melanoma---the same disease that took my dear cousin Bob Delaney.




  While Margaret didn't know of anyone else who had melanoma, she did recall that her mother said it had started as a spot on his arm.  The death certificate says it started in a deep nerve.  Captain Fredrick Arley Ingalls was buried in the National Cemetery at the Presidio of San Francisco with his wife and son Jim Ingalls, Sr.

William Edward Reiter

 My great-grandmother's brother William Edward Reiter has been whispered about for years.  He was Mary Celecia Reiter Long's youngest brother born in 1883.  In the 1900 census he was living at home with his widowed mother Eliza Tyrey Reiter and his sister Annie. His father Louis Reiter had already died.

 He joined Bethlehem Baptist Church around 1909 according to the record above.  He registered from the draft in 1918 naming my great-grandmother Mary Reiter Long as his nearest relative.  It's here that we find that he was tall, slender, blond and blue-eyed---taking after the Tyrey side of the family.
 
We also know that by 1920 he was living in DeSoto, Mo with his sister Annie and her husband Vincent Phenty.  Ed had married Bertha in 1920 but were in the process of a divorce when he died.  He had worked as a blacksmith's helper for the Missouri Pacific Railroad.  But, the whispers were, "Grandma had a brother that committed suicide."  I wasn't sure which Grandma nor which brother, but I was finally able to locate his death certificate. . .

He had been in the mental hospital in Farmington, Mo when he died in May 1925 "By strangulation caused by wrapping a sheet around his neck by his own hands."  How he died didn't surprise me but where he died did---I had never heard that he'd been in the mental hospital.  Oddly enough, my great-grandmother Martha Silas Watson Tuttleton on the other side of the family had been in that same hospital at the same time.  The other surprise on the death certificate was that he had been married although her name is "Unknown".

I wish we had a photo of "Ed", and we may in one of those Baptist group photos, but for now I will just think of him as looking like his handsome brothers and sisters. Click here for the photo that has Ed's brother Fred, and sisters Annie, Amanda and Mary.  If he's on this photo, I suspect he is between Annie and Fred, but we may never know.

Amanda Reiter

June 1904 "Sister Amanda Ingalls called for letter from Bethlehem Church which was granted.  Also Ada Robinson called for letter which was granted.  The Clerk was ordered to write same.  Meeting then elected delegates to attend Jefferson County Baptist Association as follows:  Bro. James G. McCulloch, J.P. McKay and George W. Harrison. . ." Bro. E.J. Hemrick, Moderator; George W. Harrison, Church Clerk.

Amanda Reiter Ingalls is one of the women right above the fence post in the group photo.  She was also one of my great-grandmother's sisters.  I am not sure why they left Bethlehem Baptist Church where my great grandmother, one sister and two brothers and her parents are buried.  But, she did leave an infant daughter behind in Bethlehem Cemetery--Rowena.  For more information on the Ingalls' Family and photos of their children, click here. Amanda's granddaughter has since contacted me and sent this photo of Amanda and her daughter Gertrude from about the 1920's.  For the information Marge sent me, click here.

Annie Reiter

 Annie Reiter Phenty (1876-1935)

Annie Reiter Phenty was one of my great-grandmother's (Mary Celecy Reiter Long) sisters.  Annie married rather late in life at 35 (1911) to Vincenty Phenty and had no children. Her sister Elizabeth (Betty) Reiter had held an office at Bethlehem Baptist as had her brother Louis H. Reiter (Clerk and Collector) before he left for Montana (see below)

 July 1903 ". . .Historical Committee not ready to report. 4th L. H. Reiter and wife called from letters for our Bethlehem Church which was granted. . . ."

But, I was a little surprised to see that Annie Josephine Reiter had also been elected to an office.   By all accounts "she was wierd" "she was odd".  Although her nieces and nephew might not have appreciated all of her qualities, I was very pleased to see that she was recognized and appreciated by her church.

 Aug. 1903 ". . .1st Church proceeded to elect pastor for ensuing year which resulted in re-electing E. J. Hemrick. 2nd. by motion Sister Annie Reiter [photo at the top of the page] and Bro. W.W. Powers was appointed Solicitors. . ." E.J. Hemrick mod. Geo. W. Harrison CC

Bethlehem Baptist

I was able to photograph all of these wonderful documents from Bethlehem Baptist Church near Grubville, Mo. BUT, they were taking over my family blog.  Pictured below are cousins Rick and  Ada who had located the documents.  The pages were all in a box with some pages missing and disintegrated and some written in pencil so very hard to read.  But, we feel fortunate to have located documents from about 80 years of the church's history.

Granted, I was related to someone on all of the posts, but I've now created a whole new blog just for the Bethlehem Baptist Church.   I will still have some information here, but they will have information on one of my ancestors or their siblings.

Double click on this if you want to enlarge it.

p. 28
Nov. 1900 Sat before second Sunday in Nov. Church was in regular session after sermon by Pastor.  Door of church was opened for membership.  None rec'd.  L. H. Reiter appointed Clerk Protem.  Minutes of October read and approved on motion church agree to pay Pastor $75 for ensuing year.  L. H. Reiter and Anna McKay appointed to collector.  Church adjorned to meet on Sat. before second Sun in Dec.
N. M. Pierce, Mod; L. H. Reiter Clerk Protem.

L. H. Reiter was probably Louis H. Reiter, my great-grandmother's (Mary Reiter Long) brother and not her father who was also Louis (Lewis, Ludwig) Reiter.

Sometime between 1900 and 1920, Louis and his family relocated to Montana. For more information about his family, click here.

Unknown Individuals

These photos as well as the two posts that came before this were found in a bin at my aunt Norma Long Adams Rogers. They are unidentified. . . .some could be friends or co-workers.
Some look like they are from the 1960's. . .
Some look much older.

Some are definitely related, but.. . .

I thought this one above was my grandfather Roy Long, but it's not---it just looks like him---possibly one of the Dodsons since we did see a piece of paper that had "Dotson" written on it.


This one looks a little like Uncle Fred (Alfred Stewart Long). It could also be Estes or Eustes Long, Fred's brother.

This clipping identifies the person as Mary Jo Ruppert, who was Mayme (Mary Louise) Reed Baum's granddaughter and the daughter of Bernice Baum Ruppert. Thanks to Catherine for this information.
This looks a bit like a high school Senior picture or Homecoming photo. If you recognize any of these people, leave a comment below or e-mail me.

Unknown Family Photos

The photo above is the one I'm most interested in. I think the woman seated on the right is my great-grandmother Annie Reed Maupin. Carol, the spouse of a Reed cousin, agrees that looks like Annie Reed and that is probably her mother Frances Glanville Reed beside her. Catherine also agrees that Frances Glanville Reed is on the left. Looking closely at the eyes of the children and standing ladies, I'm going to tentatively identify the children as, Myrtle Reed (b. 1891),Harry (b. 1889) and Mattie(b. 1891) Maupin. Myrtle was Frances's granddaughter, daughter of William Reed. That puts the photo around 1892. The ladies standing are probably Frances's other daughters Mamie Reed Baum(13 years old) and Allie Reed Haverstick (18 years old). See another family photo below. A brief family history summary is on the left under Long Family.
Annie Reed Maupin (center) had six brothers and two sisters: William James Reed, George Frederick Reed, John H. Reed, Alice Cora Reed (Allie), Mary Louise Reed (Mamie), Charles Edward Reed, Walter W. Reed, and James G. Reed. So, these photos could be of them, their families or they could even be Glanvilles. Frances Glanville Reed and Annie Reed Maupin took in Elizabeth Glanville Outman's children. So, some photos could be of James Gustav Outman, Mamie Outman or Lillian Outman.
These photos, found in my aunt's basement, were labeled "Maupin, Reed, McKay". Unfortunately, I don't know who most of these people are. Many, like the one above and below, appear to have been sent in Christmas cards or letters.

Unknown Babies

My cousin brought some photos over which his mother had placed in an envelope marked "Maupin, Reed, McKay". My job is to try to figure out who these babies are.

L-R: Hal McKay, Minerva Downen Maupin, Walter Maupin, Maxine Huskey Maupin, Harry Maupin

I think the baby photo below is Uncle Walter Reed Maupin standing in the center above.

And the photo below may be his brother standing on the right (note the ears in both photos)