Ahnapee/Algoma & the Great Fire of 1871: The Child Nobody Talked About

 

Stories of  everyday people are important to our history and culture. In an effort to collect that history, Brown County Historical Society encouraged area residents to tell their story in 800 words from the perspective of the "Fly on the Wall." From the submissions, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners and five honorable mentions were chosen. The story below is the 1st place winner. This one, and those of the 2nd and 3rd place winners, will be published in an upcoming edition of Voyageur, Brown County Historical Society's award-winning magazine of history.

The story below is true and happened in Ahnepee (now Algoma) in October 1871. The child nobody talked about died because of the Great Fire, also known as the Peshtigo Fire. The child was the first born to my great-grandparents who had no time to grieve in such horror. Life was for the living.

The following story is told by the Fly.

The Child Nobody Talked About

That summer was frightful. Ahnepee saw only a few drops of rain in months. The smoke and fog hanging in the air made it even hard to see in the house, and I was afraid to abandon the safety of the kitchen window wall.

Amelia told Magnus that she could not see Mr. Perry's store across the street for the smoke. She could not keep Bay Imelda unsoiled. Amelia bathed Imelda and washed small clothes each day, but when the clothing was dry, Baby's soil was replaced with ash. Grossmutter and Grossvater could scarcely breathe and said Imelda's breathing was too shallow. Amelia was at her wits' end.

It was dreadfully hot that October, yet windows were kept closed to keep out smoke, dust and dirt. Everybody complained about sore throats. Breathing hurt and eyes burned. Imelda was not three weeks old and her cries were pitiful.

Saturday October 7 was a wretched day even for me. Smoke was horrid as soot-blackened folks flocked into town. Magnus said they were Belgians fleeing the woods to the west that were afire. Magnus and Opa spoke in whispers. They were frightened, and I heard them murmur if fire came to Ahnepee, they would take to the lake and meet there. If fire comes, what should I do?

Sunday morning was far worse. Although most birds had left, we still heard crows and gulls, though not in a few days. Dogs stopped barking, and Grossvati said their fur stood on end in fear. It was still when that endless wind sloweed in the forenoon. Grossvati thought there was a chance of escaping fire, but in the mid-afternoon the wind freshened and terrified, deer, foxes, rabbits, and other animals ran from the woods to the lake.

Grossvater and Magnus minded the western skies as did everbody else in the village. It was near 6 and dark, but Grossmutti and Amelia kept eyeing the fire-like glow to the west and southwest.

Just then somebody screamed "fire" and everybody began running for refuge in the Ahnepee River, Lake Michigan or into their wells. I didn't know what to do and stayed on my wall next to the window where I saw people running helter-skelter. Nobody knew what to do or where to go. Amelia covered Baby with a quilt as Magnus snatched her and started running. He shouted to Amelia to life her skirts and run. 

Hearing scream of people and animals, I wondered what would happen to me. Church-going folks knew that day they would be in paradise. Paradise for me was in the stable, but I knew that was not a place for Grossmutti, Amelia, and Baby.

Suddenly I heard what sounded like rain drops. They were! Rain came in torrents as glows in the sky disappeared while the night got pitch-dark and freezing cold. But where was my family?

 At first light, I saw char and ash outside the window. Then Magnus returned to see about the house. After that he and Grossvati joined Mr. Swaty who organized relief efforts to find those injured. Or worse. Thankfully, Magnus said, there wee no deaths. He said several buildings were lost but mostly it was the ash and char that covered everything. Knowing the family would be safe with Grossvati, Magnus joined others who went out into the countryside looking for those who needed help. 

Magnus told the ladies little of what he saw, however I was still near the window when I heard what he quietly told Opa. 

Nobody died in Ahnepee on October 8, 1871, but a few days later there were deaths. Faggs went into their well and a day or two later, little Sarah got the dreaded pneumonia. She died. Mr. McCosky was known to have breathing sufferings, and he died after Sarah. Then Baby Imelda died.

Imelda was three weeks old when she breathed her last. Born into oppressive heat, with smoke and fog on the wind, in those three weeks everything got worse. Her tiny lungs could not sustain her.Magnus built a small wooden box. Amelia lined it with a quilt and gently laid Imelda in. Magnus covered the wall and my grief stricken family carried it away. I never saw Baby again.

In the next days, my family saw to those in need and did for them. Amelia wept bitterly when she thought nobody saw her. Grossmutti wept too. Magnus and Opa were melancholy.

By then it was late in October and winter was coming. Much laid by beforehand was either spoiled or burned. Water was fouled by people and animals boiled to death while seeking sanctuary in rivers, creeks, and wells. Folks saw to the living.

 The Great Fire of 1871 was oft recalled in fear. I remained afraid and kept to the kitchen wall.

Note: The City of Algoma was named in 1897. At first settlement in 1851, the tiny fledgling settlement was known as Wolf River and Wolf River Trading Post until 1859 when it was renamed Ahnepee, meaning "Where is the River?" In 1873, the community was renamed Ahnapee. The Department of Post Offices, the State of Wisconsin, and others consistently misspelled the community's name and finally - if you can't beat 'em, join 'em - the place changed its name in 1873. It became the City of Ahnapee in 1879, and finally in 1897, Algoma, which means, "Where waters meet." 

 

Kewaunee County and Mental Health ca. 1870s - 1920s

 

Language usage has changed over the years. To hear one say “That is insane” today means everything from outrageous to cool. A generation or two ago, the word referred to mental illness. Words such as “mad,” “nuts,” and “crazy” no longer describe mental illness, but have other connotations. Prior to 1900, both Ahnapee Record and Kewaunee Enterprise carried articles about county residents judged insane - mentally ill today - and taken to Northern Hospital for the Insane (at left)  today’s Winnebago  Hospital treatment facility near Oshkosh. After 1900, the county board’s published minutes are full of names of those judged to be insane. The board paid for the “keep” of some in the homes of relatives.  The board also paid for resident treatment. One’s health was not privileged information. There was no HIPPA.

Various issues of the old papers report significant numbers of names, and issues of health were out   there for dissection by the public. The covid lockdown produced a mental health crisis, and there are not enough professionals to provide the help needed. Today there are medications and counseling, in addition to resident treatment, but in the 1800s and the early part of the 1900s, “care” often included prison or places such as the county farm, even reform schools. Wikipedia tells us 1800s’ treatments included purgatives and bloodletting, and sometimes straitjackets as restraints..

In spring 1874, the  fledgling Ahnapee Record made news when it reported on the Virginia state treasure who was sent to an asylum. The same paper reported that the vice president of the Marine Bank of Chicago “is a raving maniac,” and was confined to Mt. Pleasant asylum in Iowa. He had been a member and speaker of the Iowa Legislature. Such mental health issues went far beyond Kewaunee County.

In late February 1875, Wisconsin reported statistics for the year ending on November 1, 1874, when 2,293 Wisconsin residents were in jail. The figure included 153 females. Native born accounted for 748 while 1,228 were foreigners. Of that number, 122 were insane and keeping them varied from $12.25 monthly in Brunette County to $3 in Brown, Dane, and Washington. That same year, the whole number of pupils in “the asylum for the blind” numbered 75, although the average number was 60. The yearly cost was $316.66 while the expense for the “deaf and dumb”  averaged $431.

The paper Mental Illness in Ontario: 1890-1900, August 1977, dealt with symptoms, diagnosis, and expectations. Symptoms fell within the categories of aggressiveness, suicidal behavior, and hallucinations. Such symptoms were broken down into predisposing factors such as physical injury and sunstroke for males. Most women’s issues were attributed to the sexual from puberty to childbirth. Domestic problems such as wife-beating, death of a spouse, and financial upheaval were contributing sources of illness for women, however mostly non-existent for men. Epilepsy was considered a mental health disorder.

For over 1,000 years, hysteria was given as the source of women’s issues. That came from Hippocrates, the ancient Greek physician, who thought some women had a “wandering uterus,” one that was displaced. Since men dominated the health field, it was the 1980s before hysteria was no longer ascribed to women. Women were sent to facilities/asylums for not bending to the will of a husband. There were instances of husbands covering up affairs by controlling their wives, saying they were “mad” or “hysterical.” A woman’s physical make-up was said to make her more susceptible to disorders of the mind. Women and girls were supposed to know their place, and a woman’s “place” was not to seek attention, stand out, or question a man. That was even more important in a family with social standing and more money.

Kewaunee County Board’s committee on “insane and idiots” offered reports as part of the board meetings. The committee often attested to visiting the insane and idiotic of the county, “outside the poorhouse.” The poorhouse was Kewaunee County Farm, at left. Idiot, imbecille and moron were once technical words describing degrees of  intelligence. The words are now considered offensive as are so many other descriptors of the past.

As early as January 1870, it was called to the attention of the Wisconsin Legislature that reform school was not the place for “innocent victims” who were friendless, vagrant children who never committed a crime, but were homeless orphans. There were facilities for boys and girls including this home for girls. An act of 1875 established places for boys and girls to prevent crime, pauperism, vagrancy or children who were orphans. Such facilities were to return those who had fallen into bad habits to a good life or those who had inherited bad tendencies.

Also called to the Legislature’s attention was that the State Hospital felt at least 500 state residents were insane, however lacked care and proper treatment. The legislature was urged to erect another hospital quickly. Also pointed out was that more foreign born resided in poor houses than native born.

Kewaunee County's mentally ill residents were visited by the supervising committee from the County Board. After visiting those in question and considering the financial status of caretakers, recommendations were made for yearly payment to each caregiver. In 1905 the committee – Desire Colle, W.H. O’Brien, Joseph Bauer, Henry Boulanger, and Frank Gregor -  required reports from the District Attorney listing any monies collected from others who were liable for maintaining the “chronic insane.” The committee discussed the maintenance of “insane inamtes” in “insane aslyums.”  Supervisors Gregor and Cain were appointed with the District Attorney, to investigate and inquire into the cases and then enforce payments. There were matters of payment when a Kewaunee County resident found care in an adjacent county. In one instance Door County cared for a Casco resident. The County Board voted to charge the Town of Casco for the man’s keep.

There were 45 claimants in April 1905, 27 of which were denied. In cases where the county was to be reimbursed, the payees’ assessed amount was lower if they paid the bill early. Some of the assessments were for those from other counties as Kewaunee County also paid other counties for care of its citizens.

Costs were always an issue.

Dennis Sullivan, Edward O’Hara, Herman Teske, John M. Borgman were attending to bills in April 1885. One in Carlton said keeping another was $1.75 per week while a Franklin man said it cost $60 a year to maintain his two idiotic children. A Red River man said the maintenance for himself and family amounted to $86 per annum, a time when a Lincoln man kept two non-resident paupers for $60 a year. The committee recommended quarterly payments except for the Red River family man who would be paid annually.

The committee reported in January 1890 that it appeared “by shrewd management,” Brown County was maintaining and supporting its paupers and insane it its own asylum for 27 cents a week and that Manitowoc County showed even “schrewder management.” Manitowoc County maintained such folks free of all cost or expense to the county and even reported profits from the asylum.

J. Walechka, L. Lutz and J.C. Burke offered the insane report in December 1890 saying they examined several people for whom the county paid maintenance in state institutions. They had  relatives who were not liable for support as such support would deprive them and their families of necessities. Committee recommended collection from only those relatives of the idiotic and insane of those with property in their own right.

The county board listed the insanity cases while also listing those with tuberculosis sent to Maple Crest Sanitorium at Whitelaw and the indigent to the Poor Farm at Alaska in 1918. At the same meeting the committee on the Poor and Poor Farm submitted their annual report. Eight males and 6 females  lived there in 1917 for a total of 610 weeks. Residents were listed by name and the number of weeks in residence.

During the World War l era, the committee – then Edward Allard, M.M. Knudson, and John W. Adams – recommended the District Attorney collect fixed amounts from responsible parties caring for the insane. There was a list of other patients and caretakers excused from reimbursement to the county because of lack of property and other financial circumstances.

Some folks remained in their own homes while others were sent to treatment facilities.

During February 1875, a nineteen year old man was taken to the state asylum at Oshkosh. Why? Since the spring of 1871, the young man had been subject to “fits of epilepsy” that lasted from 12 hours to two weeks manifesting “periodical symptoms of raving madness or delirium” in which he would attack others, often endangering lives, thus it was no longer safe to allow him to be in society.

There were other such incidences. In April 1877, Ahnapee resident William VanDoozer’s bill for conveying an insane person from Ahnapee to Illinois was disallowed. In November, Judge Johannes ordered Sheriff Wery to take a Town of Casco woman to the Oshkosh. During the month, the wife of a man confined to his home with rheumatism was suddenly “taken insane” and in such condition that it took two men to watch her and use their “united efforts” to keep her quiet. Dr. Chapel attended her and it was believed she would be in Northern Insane Hospital before there was a permanent cure. At a late November 1877 meeting, the board paid Fred Johannes $15 for services on an insane case and county canvassing. Dr. O.H. Martin presented a $35 bill for examining the insane but the board only allowed $26. Dr. J.H. Chapel charged 35 for medical examinations in insane cases but he was only allowed 22. There were more cases all over the county.

Judge Stransky applied for the admittance of a Town of Franklin women to the Oshkosh Insane Asylum in April 1880. In 1899 an 18-year-old Algoma woman was living in Sturgeon Bay when she was found to be insane. A year later, a Kewaunee bachelor was taken to Oshkosh by Sheriff Kulhanek. The paper said the man attacked his neighbors with an ax. In 1915 a 78-year-old resident of the Town of Ahnapee was taken by auto by Sheriff Dobry to Kewaunee where Judge M.T. Parker adjudged the man insane. The fellow was under the impression that his auto ride felt like being at sea in a steamboat. It sounds like an astute observation for the time. A month or so later, a 59-year-old Luxemburg woman who had spent time at the state hospital in Oshkosh was taken back. Judge W.A. Cowell pronounced her insane as she was under the delusion that she was about to be married but that her family was keeping her intended from her. The next year, Judge Cowell ordered a Town of Ahnapee man to Northern Hospital. The  man was 70 and “his age seemed to enfeeble his mind.”  Drs. W.W. Witcpalek and D.B. Dishmaker did the examining.

Over 100 years later, mental health is a societal problem. Some things have changed. Some things have not. Whether it is those in any kind of treatment, or nursing homes, there are situations the same as when the Record Herald commented in 1922 on the “hidden sorrows” among those at the poor farm. Friends forget to write, a brother who never forgot Christmas fails to send a little gift and so on. A hundred things can dull days as they do for others not confined to facilities. In 1922, the paper editorialized, “It’s the little things, forgotten by those who should remember, which pain in the last gray days of life.”

 

Sources: Ahnapee Record, Algoma Record Herald, Door County Independent; Kewaunee Enterprise, Wikipedia

https://time.com/6074783/psychiatry-history-women-mental-health/ 

Sage Publications: https://journals.sagepub.com.doi.pdf

Photos from

Northern State Hospital: https://sites.rootsweb.com/~asylums/winnebago_wi/index.html

Kewaunee County Poor Farm: Algoma Record Herald

 Girls' Facility: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin_Industrial_School_for_Girls

Letter from Northern State: Door County Independent