I am researching the history of Central State Hospital in Milledgeville, Georgia. Originally called the Georgia Lunatic Asylum, the hospital opened in late 1842. While reading the Admission Register that documents the first 888 patients, I discovered this rather shocking scenario regarding the 22nd person admitted to the Asylum:
Mrs. Temperance Thomas, lunatic from Jones County, pay patient, age about 40, married, cause & duration of insanity not known, admitted some time in May 1844, brought her servant with her into the institution, removed by her friends 12th July 1844. This patient was not sent here in conformity with the requisitions of the law, but at her own request, in order that she might be near her medical attendant, Dr. Fort. The institution boarded her. She brought her own bedding, servant, sterling silverware, china dining service, & servant (slave). She was not visited by the resident physicians.
This fascinates me for a multitude of reasons. What would compel a woman to follow her personal “medical attendant” into his posting in a newly constructed Lunatic Asylum? What is especially confounding is during this time many women were unjustly admitted to such asylums merely on the direction of a father, brother, or husband. The women could be held against their will for an unlimited amount of time. Given this social norm, what would allow a woman to trust that a man would let her out of an asylum after she willingly allowed herself to be admitted?
Daughter of Circe 