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.

Joseph Sollis

 

My family tree was a mess.  I had brothers and sisters marrying and having children.  While that's not unheard of especially among Egyptian monarchs, that didn't happen much in 19th century America.  So, I contacted several genealogist cousins to help me out.

Rae and Jason suspected the pair in question (Sena Sollis and Adam Sollis) were cousins:  Sena was the daughter of Martha Taylor and Luke Sollis; Adam was possibly the son of Joseph Sollis and Elizabeth Allen.  . . . .Joseph Sollis? The one that was hanged for murder?. .. . .I guess that's better than incest. . .. .

It had been so long since I'd heard about Joseph that I needed a refresher thanks to Jason and the internet.  The Sollis family lived in Duplin, North Carolina as did the Kornegay family.  They were definitely neighbors and might have inter-married.  We don't know much about the Sollis family during the colonial period but the Kornegays are well documented being plantation owners.  There are several indications that they were not only wealthy but  also used their influence in court cases involving intoxication  with assault and battery.

I haven't found the cause of the disagreement between Abraham Kornegay and Joseph Sollis but the end result was Joseph killed Abraham Kornegay.  There was a reward for Joseph's live capture:

Aug,2,  1826  North Carolina Journal August 2, 1826
-- JOSEPH SOLLIS, for whose apprehension a reward of $300 was offered, as the
murderer of ABRAHAM KORNEGAY of Duplin County, was arrested in Cumberland
County on Friday last, and committed to the jail in Fayetteville for safe-keeping. Since the death of KORNEGAY, SOLLIS has been lurking about his former residence in Duplin, until lately, he made the attempt to get off, with his wife and child, to the Western Country, but in this attempt was discovered and taken. SOLLIS had called at a house near the road to get water, and was recognized by the occupant, who gave information to an officer, and the neighbors, by whom he was taken.

He was captured and put on trial. Although I haven't found documentation, Jason said Kornegay's brothers were on the jury that sentenced Joseph Sollis to death by hanging.  

Wed. May 9, 1827   North Carolina Journal April 27, 1827

   EXECUTION -- JOSEPH SOLLIS, who was convicted at the last term of the

Superior Court for Duplin Court, of the murder of ABRAHAM KORNEGAY, underwent

the sentence of the law on Friday,m the 27th ultimo.

The newspaper article describing his execution is also interesting.

But the story doesn't end with Joseph Sollis's hanging.  Two of the Kornegay brothers tried to re- collect the reward for finding Joseph Sollis when it is clear in the earlier article that the occupant of a house turned him in.

This information is contributed by Carolyn Shank
Petition for Reward for Murder of Abram KORNEGAY-1828
Duplin County
The Committee of Claims to whom was referred a Resolution instructing them to enquire into the expediency of allowing Bryan KORNEGAY and Henry KORNEGAY of Duplin County, three hundred dollars, for the apprehension of Joseph SOLLIS, who stood indicted in said County, for the murder of Abram KORNEGAY - have had the same under Consideration, and respectfully report -That the fact is as stated in the Resolution; but the Committee are of opinion, that in law, the parties in whose behalf this application is made are unquestionably not entitled to the remuneration, which they claim, nor do they believe that it is either expedient or politic to allow it. The Claimants had no right to look for it to the Legislative - the offer was voluntary on their part, and altho' their feelings, as Relations of the Murdered individual might have been more excited, yet they had no more authority to offer a reward in this case, than any other individual - It is made the duty of the Governor, when a criminal escapes, and flies beyond the pursuit of justice, to offer a reward for his apprehension - But this was not the case in this instance. From the relation in which the Citizen stands to Society, without any additional inducement it is his Duty to aid and assist in bringing to Justice the perpetrators of crimes - Allow, however, this application and the inevitable effect will be that but few men will move in an affair of this kind, until a sufficient inducement, by way of reward, is held out to them - Criminals, of course, will frequently escape, and there will be no end to applications to the Legislature similar to this. For these reasons, the Committee recommends the adoption of the following resolution - Resolved that it is inexpedient to grant the prayer of the Petitioners.
Respectfully submitted.
Thos. LOVE, Chm.

In the Senate Decem'r 29, 1828. Read and agreed to.
By Order.
J W CLARKE AG

Mr. MILLER

Report of the Com'e of Claims on the Resolution in favour of Bryan & Henry KORNEGAY.

In Senate Decem'r 3, 1828. Read and on motion of Mr. WELLBORN ordered to be

postponed indefinitely.

By Order.

J W CLARK AG

Mr. LOVE Chair'n

With so much detail, Jason  and I are left with a lot of questions.  What were they quarreling over?  Were they intoxicated?  Was it a dispute among neighbors? Were they cousins?  Jason and I both have DNA matches to Kornegays and we have two ancestors that we think may have been Joseph's children.  With a pattern of mental illness in both of our families, we also wonder if this dispute involved one or both of them being mentally ill.  

DNA Ethnicities

Mary(Polly) Sollis Reasons

Mary Ann Sollis Dickerson

As some of you know Jim and I have had our DNA sliced and diced several different ways. We have achieved our goals for the most part---we know where our Long family is from in Virginia (Culpeper), we located Grandma Vennie Wicker's mother's family (Sollis not Silas), we matched with the Wicker family I always felt we were related to  (There was a political writer Tom Wicker that I thought looked like Grandpa Wes).

My latest quest was to find out if we were part Indian which is what my grandmother and mother always said.  At first we didn't find anything (but we did find 1% African---definitely slave from 1700's---so I thought, "someone was dark, didn't want to admit African so called it Indian"?) 

I had received a photo of the SISTER of one of our ancestors (see photo) Mary Ann Sollis (b. 1834). Her descendants have no African but when examined on GEDmatch, they did show American Indian.   

I also saw a note someone left on Ancestry.com

 "I have been looking into the link that my father maintains is fact, that we have Cherokee blood in our family line. I found that Mary (Polly) Sollis,wife of John Rhodes Reasons (see photo ablove) was half Cherokee, her father, Abraham Sollis married into the Cherokee tribe and renamed his Indian wife Martha. This backs up my father's claim and puts the Indian question to rest. 

So, I put Jim's DNA and mine on GEDmatch to see if we could find that American Indian DNA.  On the Eurogenes K-13 test, we found it.  Jim has 1.1% and I have .51%.  Yes that is a very small amount.  Click here if you want to find out more about American Indian DNA and why Jim and I have differing amounts.

So, yes, we probably do have American Indian in addition to the African, but both are probably back in the 1700's.  We are primarily  North Atlantic (English, Scottish, French, Irish,  German) with around 50%.  Then, another 25% is Viking (they settled in Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Germany).  That leaves about 25% Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Red Seas, African, American Indian.  If you want to know more about the Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Red Seas, Click here to learn about our very unusual J2 on the Williams line. To get a refresher course on my DNA journey, click here.

Louise's memories: her parents' early years

Dollie Cates and Vennie (Louvenia) Watson @1916

My mother started her memoirs any number of times. This version was begun in 1999---paragraphs would have been nice, but I'm so happy she decided to put her life into words. (Double click on the page to make it larger and use the back arrow to come back) This first page tells a little about her father (James Wesley "Wes" Wicker), his personality and his drinking.
The second page is mostly about her mother Vennie Marie Watson Wicker and the Cates Family. I've included some photos of the Cates Family and their farm. From what I understand, Vennie's mother (Martha Silas) was the housekeeper. When she was committed to a mental institution, my grandmother (around 12 or 13 years old) was taken in by the Cates family who lived in the Coldwater area near Hornersville, MO. The Cates family remained close to my grandparents even after they moved away.
Here are photos of my mother and Dollie's son J.H.Cates when they were toddlers and later when they were in their 20's. I even corresponded with J.H. several times trying to learn more about Vennie's family.

Here are photos of me visiting J.H. Cates---around 1947. I can see my grandfather on the right.For many years, my only memory was of the chickens. As you can see by my body language, I was a little afraid of them and remember them pecking my hands trying to get to the seed that I was "feeding" them with.

Happy Birthday Vennie Watson Wicker!

Today is my grandmother's birthday. Since I lived next door to her for my first 8 years (and she was only 43 years old when I was born), she was always like a second mother. I first started my genealogical hobby 32 years ago on her birthday because I wanted to know who she was. She is pictured above with her mother Martha Silas (Sollis) Watson Tuttleton in 1928.

She had a very difficult childhood---her brother died before she was born, her father died when she was a baby, her step-father was abusive, her mother was committed to an insane asylum and she lived with at least two families. First, she lived with the Cates family (photo above is Dollie Cates and my grandmother who I estimate to be 13 years old) whose farm she'd lived on when her mother was committed. Then, she lived with Luther Williams family where she met her husband James Wesley Wicker (Luther was his uncle). Vennie and Wes are pictured below with Jersey their cow---probably in 1930's.
I regret to say that 32 years later, I still don't know who my grandmother was. I've learned that her name was probably Louvenia (Vennie being more of a nickname). My aunt Billie said her name was Minerva Lou, though.  Since her parents were migrant workers, they had no family around that I know of. Mother recalled seeing photos of Vennie as a young child and photos of her brother when her grandmother Martha was still living, but they were buried with Martha when she died. My grandmother tried to find her father's family from "the Alton area," but never located them.
I even got a court order to see Vennie's mother's mental health records, but that didn't help much at all.  So, 32 years later, I still don't know who she was, but I'll never forget what she was---a beautiful, resilient woman whom I loved very much.

Mitochondrial DNA

Mitochondrial DNA is different than the Y DNA used to trace the paternal line and different from the Nuclear DNA which makes up who we are. It traces the maternal line and technically is a parasite embedded in our DNA. But, it is more stable and is often used to identify victims of crime and to learn more about ancient bones. Men and women have mitochondrial DNA, whereas only men have the Y DNA. Again, we used my brother Jim's DNA to help us solve another family mystery.

My great-grandmother Martha Silas Watson is almost a complete unknown. She had a very difficult life plagued with mental illness and no relatives that we know of. Although I got a court order to have her records released from the mental institution, I still didn't learn very much about her family.

My sister Jane thought she might have been a Gypsy; my brother thought she might have been an American Indian. Although we knew the mitochondrial DNA would not help us with her immediate relatives, we would know if she was a Gypsy or an Indian.

I had first became interested in mitochondrial DNA when I heard about the book The Seven Daughters of Eve. Having the mitochondrial DNA would also tell us which of the Seven Daughters she came from.The map above shows the Seven Daughters and where they came from. By having our X DNA tested, we discovered we belonged to the halplogroup U5a which Bryan Sykes identifies as Ursula.

There are about 10 pages of a fictionalized account about Ursula in the book---below is a summary:

Ursula (Latin for she-bear)

Ursula lived about 45,000 years ago in what is now northern Greece. She was among the first arrivals of a new, modern human to set foot in Europe. She was slender and graceful, in marked contrast to the thickset Neanderthals with whom she and her clan shared the land for another 20,000 years. Her kind brought with them a new and more sophisticated type of stone tool with which to hunt and butcher the abundant game, animals that soon appeared on the walls of limestone caves as the first expression of human art. They spread right across Europe, west across France and north as far as the British Isles.

As the climate deteriorated 25,000 years ago, the clan began its long migration south; eventually reaching Spain and founding what became a refuge for all humans during the coldest millennia of the last Ice Age. As the climate warmed, the scattered clan led the march back to the North to reclaim the once frozen lands. They reached the British Isles and left an indelible record in the limestone caves of Cheddar Gorge. In 1998, DNA was recovered from the famous skeleton known as Cheddar Man and our analysis showed that it belonged to the clan of Ursula. In a dramatic demonstration of genetic continuity, we found that a teacher at the local school, only a few hundred yards from the cave entrance, was clearly a member of the same clan.

[Cheddar Man is below]

As you can tell above U was neither Gypsy nor American Indian. Corresponding with others whose DNA is similar to ours, we know that Martha's mother's mother's mother's. . .was probably Scotch-Irish with Viking roots.


Both The Seven Daughters of Eve and Trace Your Roots with DNA are pretty readable books. If you want a more general discussion about genetic roots, try Spencer Wells' book and video The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odessey.