USA > New York > Livingston County > History of Livingston County, New York, from its earliest traditions to the present together with early town sketches > Part 57
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While to Dr. Peterson, sustained by the action of the State Chari- ties Aid Association, we are indebted for the primary movement in securing a colony for epileptics in this State, for the selection of the magnificent site the colony occupies we are largely indebted to the sound judgment, persistency, earnestness and preponderating influ- ence of Mr. Letchworth.
Mr. Letchworth's charity and reform work has not been confined to New York State. He was an active member of the first National Conference of Charities and Correction, held in connection with the American Social Science Association in New York City in 1874, and was President of the National Conference of Charities and Correction held at St. Louis in 1884. He has ever since maintained his interest in these conferences, attending most of them as they have been held in different States, and has contributed not a few valuable papers to these important national gatherings.
Mr. Letchworth was also chosen President of the first New York State Conference of Charities and Correction, which held its first annual meeting in the Senate Chamber of the State Capitol in No- vember, 1900. At this Conference the charitable and correctional institutions and organizations of the State were generally represented
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and important principles relating to their management discussed. The proceedings were subsequently published by authority of the Legislature in a volume containing nearly 300 pages.
In 1893 the University of the State of New York conferred upon Mr. Letchworth the degree of Doctor of Laws "in recognition of his distinguished services to the State of New York as a member and president of the State Board of Charities and as an author of most valuable contributions to the literature pertaining to the dependent classes"-an honor that has rarely been conferred by the University during the entire period of its existence.
The following extract from the thirtieth report of the State Board of Charities to the Legislature, in 1897, on his resignation from the Board after nearly a quarter of a century of gratuitous service as a commissioner, reflects the opinions of those most intimately familiar with his work and achievements:
"The members of the State Board of Charities have learned with profound regret of the resignation on the 14th ultimo of the Honor- able William Pryor Letchworth, Commissioner representing the Eighth Judicial District on the Board. Originally appointed by Governor Dix, in April, 1873, and successively reappointed by Gov- ernors Robinson, Hill and Flower, Mr. Letchworth had become at the time of his resignation the senior member of the Board.
"Entering into this office well equipped by nature and research for the efficient discharge of his duties, Mr. Letchworth has, without remuneration, devoted the maturer years of his life to the amelioration of the condition of the suffering, unfortunate and dependent classes in the State of New York. Every branch of the work devolved upon the State Board of Charities has felt the uplifting impulse of his wise and persistent efforts. The insane, the poor in county houses, the blind, the orphan and destitute children, the juvenile delinquents are all now more intelligently and humanely cared for in consequence of his initiation and unfailing and practical support of measures instituted for their relief.
"By his conservative and painstaking discharge of official duties and intelligent application thereto of his wide sociological knowledge, Mr. Letchworth early won and has steadily retained the confidence and respect of the people of the State. These qualifications also led to his successive annual elections to the presidency of the Board for the
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period of ten years from 1878 to 1887. During this whole period his disregard of all selfish ambition and his many lovely qualities of heart and mind have gained for him the affection and esteem of his col- leagues and hosts of friends.
"By his resignation the people of the State of New York have lost the services of a tried and useful official, and the State Board of Charities the assistance and advice of one of its most valued mem- bers. Into the retirement which he has sought our earnest wishes for his future happiness accompany him."
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN AND FIRST TEN YEARS DEVELOPMENT OF THE CRAIG COLONY FOR EPILEPTICS AT SONYEA.
By William P. Spratling, M. D. Medical Superintendent.
T HE FIRST official expression in favor of special institutions for epileptics in this country was made by the Ohio State Board of Charities in 1868. This Board continued to agitate the sub- ject until 1871, when the Legislature, possibly finding it unpleasant to be importuned with appeals from humanity from this source, abolished the Board. But it was re-established in 1876, when it re- newed its recommendation for the state care of epileptics in still more earnest terms. This recommendation finally bore fruit in 1877-1878, when the Legislature passed a resolution authorizing the State Board of Charities to collect statistics and report conclusions as to the public measures that should be taken for the "protection, comfort, and care" of epileptics. The Board went vigorously to work, and soon reported a total of 646 dependent epileptics in the county infirmaries, state asylums, and county jails. Finally, after many discouraging failures the Ohio Hospital for Epileptics at Gallipolis was established in 1890, as the first institution especially designed for epileptics in the United States.
A few years after the first agitation of this matter in Ohio, Dr. John Ordronaux in 1874, at that time the State Commissioner in Lunacy of New York, recommended in his first annual report the establishment of a state hospital for epileptics, stating that statistics showed that there were in the various lunatic asylums and alms houses of the state 436 dependent epileptics. Dr. Ordronaux repeated his recommenda- tion for a special institution for epileptics in his third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth annual reports, the last being issued in 1882. But it appears that these reports received no consideration
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whatever, and the dependent epileptics of the state continued to be improperly cared for in state hospitals for the insane, and almost inhumanly so in county poor and alms houses, and, worst of all, in jails.
In 1886, and while serving as First Assistant Physician at the Hudson River State Hospital for the Insane at Poughkeepsie, Dr. Frederick Peterson visited the celebrated Colony for Epileptics at Bielefeld in the Province of Westphalia, Germany, of which institution but little was known in this country at that time.
On returning to New York, Dr. Peterson wrote a description of this interesting and successful charity, and published it in the New York Medical Record in April, 1887. The necessity for an institution in New York State for epileptics, strictly along colony lines, was empha- sized by Dr. Peterson in this article. The article attracted the atten- tion of the State Charities Aid Association. This Association appointed a sub-committee, consisting of Dr. Peterson and Dr. George W. Jacoby, who investigated the matter from every point, and pre- sented a favorable report to the whole committee, that covered every phase of the subject known at that time.
A bill was introduced into the New York Legislature in 1890, pro- viding for the selection of a site for a "colony" for epileptics, but it failed to become a law. Another bill was introduced into the Legis- lature of 1892 by the request of the State Charities Aid Association. This bill directed the Commissioners of the State Board of Charities to select a site upon which to establish a colony for the "medical treatment, care, education, and employment of epileptics."
The State Commission in Lunacy, in its Third Annual Report to the Legislature in February, 1892, strongly recommended separate care for epileptics, in the following terms :
"There can be no question as to the desirability of the state making special provision for epileptics of the dependent and semi-dependent class apart from the insane. The practice which now obtains, of con- fining epileptics in hospitals for the insane, as insane persons, and commingled with the insane, is an injustice to both classes, and one which, in the opinion of the Commission, the state should take early steps to remove by the establishment of a state hospital devoted to the custody, care, and treatment of epileptics."
The superintendents of the various state hospitals, and most of the
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prominent physicians and alienists of the state, became interested in the establishment of a special institution for epileptics, with the result that the bill introduced into the Legislature passed both Houses, was approved by the Governot, and became a law May 12, 1892.
Shortly afterwards, a committee consisting of Mr. Craig, Mr. Letehworth, and Mr. Walrath, Commissioners of the State Board of Charities, was appointed for the purpose of inspecting sites, examin- ing plans, and ascertaining facts relative to the establishment and proper organization of a colony for epileptics. This committee devoted nearly a year to searching for a suitable site. Mr. H. E. Brown, of Mt. Morris, New York, finally called their attention to the Lold Shaker settlement at Sonyea in Livingston County; and, after studying its features in great detail for several months, the committee unanimously decided that it was the best site for the purpose that could be found in the state. The property, consisting of 1895 acres, was secured by an act of the Legislature, approved by Governor Flower on April 25, 1894. The Hon. Wm. P. Letchworth of Glen Iris, Portage, Livingston County, was a most enthusiastic and inde- fatigable worker in the effort to start a Colony in the state. He took a leading part in the work of the Committee chosen by the State Board of Charities to secure a site, and to him as much as to any man is due the founding at Sonyea of the first Colony for Epileptics in the new world.
It is fitting that his portrait hangs by the side of Mr. Craig's in Sonyea Hall to-day.
Mr. Oscar Craig, who was President of the State Board of Charities, died about the time of the passage of the bill authorizing the purchase of the Shaker property, and at the request of Governor Flower, the name of "The Craig Colony for Epilepties" was bestowed upon the new institution as a fitting recognition of Mr. Craig's services to humanity, and especially to the dependent epileptics of the State of New York.
The 1895 acres, ineluding 640 acres of original forest lands, cost $115,000, which included a number of Shaker buildings on the place, valued at that time at $60,000- to $80,000.
The first Board of Managers was appointed by Governor Flower, and consisted of Dr. Frederick Peterson of New York, President ; Mr. George M. Shull of Mount Morris, Secretary; Mr. George S. Ewart
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of Groveland; Mr. W. H. Cuddebeck of Buffalo, and Dr. Charles E. Jones of Albany.
At a meeting of the Board held in Albany on November 14, 1894, Dr. William P. Spratling, at the time a resident of New York City, was elected Superintendent.
The first work undertaken consisted in fitting up the "Letchworth" house, the "House of the Elders, " the "Elms," "Tallchief" Cottage, and other old Shaker structures for patients. The first blow on this work was struck on August 25, 1895, and enough buildings to accommodate about 125 patients were ready for use early in the following spring.
The first patient was received at the Colony from Steuben county on February 26, 1896. Between that time and the end of the first fiscal year, October 1, 1896, 133 patients were admitted. Most of them came from the various county poor and alms houses. A census of the dependent epilepties of the state had previously been made by the State Board of Charities, and when the Colony was ready for patients, the space available was apportioned as equitably as possible among all the counties of the state.
It soon became apparent that it would be better to have a larger Board of Managers-one representative of the entire state. To meet this requirement the law was changed in the Spring of 1896, providing for a Board of twelve,-one from each of the eight judicial districts, with additional members from the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth districts.
Governor Morton appointed the first Board under the new arrange- ment, as follows: Dr. Frederick Peterson of New York; Mrs. Charles F. Wadsworth of Geneseo; Mr. H. E. Brown of Mount Morris; Mr. W. H. Cuddebeck of Buffalo; Dr. Charles E. Jones of Albany ; Hon. James H. Loomis of Attica; Judge O. P. Hurd of Watkins; Mrs. J. R. Hawkins of Malone; Mrs. K. H. Salmon of Syracuse; Dr. A. S. Thompson of Ellisburg.
The Board organized by electing Dr. Frederick Peterson President ; Mr. H. E. Brown, Secretary, and Mr. John F. Connor of Mount Morris, Treasurer.
The Managers immediately took steps to build in a substantial manner the first colony for epileptics in the United States. They employed Mr. George J. Metzger, of Buffalo, as architect; Mr. Emil Kuichling, of Rochester, as sanitary engineer, and Mr. Newcomb
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Carlton, C. E., of Buffalo, as engineer in charge of the water supply system. The efficient manner in which the work of these several gen- tlemen was accomplished still bears testimony to the wisdom of the Board of Managers in their selection.
A few years later Messrs. Carrere & Hastings, of New York City, were employed as architects in place of Mr. George J. Metzger. The buildings on the Village Green for men, and those in the Villa Flora Group for women, all white and of a Spanish type of architecture, were designed by Carrere & Hastings, working in conjunction with Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted, of Brookline, Mass., who was employed by the Managers to plan the landscape work on the place.
The Colony was the first institution in the state to have a complete topographical map made substantially as the Colony would appear when completed, before a blow was struck. To lay out the future Colony in this way was an act of great wisdom. Sewer and water lines were laid, and houses plotted in the beginning for an ultimate population of 2000 to 2500.
Dr. L. Pierce Clark was the first Assistant Physician to be ap- pointed ; Mr. John L. Scott, of Geneseo, the first Steward, and Miss Elizabeth B. Holt, of Buffalo, the first Matron.
It seems unnecessary to go into details in connection with the development of the Colony since its founding in 1895, down to the present time. But the following summary from the Eleventh Annual Report of the Medical Superintendent to the Board of Managers, pre- sented October 1, 1904, may be of interest as showing in a measure the development of the Colony during the first eight and a half years of its existence :
"During the eight and a half years the Colony has been in oper- ation, 57 houses capable of accommodating 1,000 patients and 200 employees have been constructed ; an electric light plant of 1, 800 lights capacity installed ; approximately two and a half miles of sewer and water mains laid, and an abundance of pure water provided for all purposes for a colony of 2,500 persons; one and a half miles of tele- phone and electric light cables laid underground, and two miles of such wires strung overhead; eleven miles of new wire fences built around and across the property; a mile of stone road, 14 feet wide built, and about 25,000 square feet of cement walks laid; 2,570 feet of brick conduits, 4 by 5 feet in diameter, for steam and hot water lines,
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constructed; the vegetable garden enlarged from 10 acres to 75, and made to produce enough vegetables for 1,000 persons the year around and have several thousand cans to sell annually besides; the farm increased by 200 acres, the older portions that had been neglected for years cleaned up and improved; a herd of 60 cows, 30 horses and a complete outfit of farm tools, implements and machinery provided; a brick-making plant with an annual capacity of 400,000 bricks built and run for several years largely by epileptic labor at an annual profit to the state of $1,800 to $2,000; new orchards planted; seven acres of lawns made and maintained wholly by epileptic labor; approximately 4,000 shade trees, ornamental shrubs and vines planted, and schools of various kinds established for 80 to 100 of the younger colonists.
"These are some of the main things accomplished within that time, to say nothing of the admission, the medical care, and treatment of 1,623 patients, the future treatment, scientific study and education of whom will represent the final and highest purpose for which the insti- tution was established-a purpose universally recognized as needed to be carried out, and one the Colony is just fairly beginning to realize.
"To this time our greatest efforts have been in the preparation of the requisite plant. The greater work of the future will be in the intelli- gent utilization of the facilities now being provided."
The following is a partial list of the Medical and Administrative staff at Craig Colony :
Robert E. Doran, M. D., first assistant physician, was born in Al- bany, N. Y., in 1870. His preliminary education was obtained in the Albany public schools, following which he entered the Albany Medi- cal College, graduating in 1893. He was house surgeon at the Albany Hospital one and one-half years and was then appointed assistant phy- sician at Willard State Hospital where he remained seven years. In December, 1901, he received the appointment of first assistant physi- cian at Craig Colony. He is a member of Union Lodge No. 114 F. and A. M. of Ovid, N. Y., Ovid Chapter No. 92 R. A. M., St. Augus- tine Commandery No. 38 K. of P. of Ithaca, N. Y., the American and State Medical Associations, the Livingston County Medical Society and the Americo Psychological Society.
William T. Shanahan, M. D., second assistant physician, was born at Syracuse, N. Y., May 14, 1878. He attended the city schools and in
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1895 entered Syracuse University, graduating from the medical de- partment in 1898. The year following he was engaged in hospital practice at Buffalo and then took a Post Graduate course in the New York State Hospital. He opened an office in Syracuse and was en- gaged in practice until February, 1901, when he received the appoint- ment of second assistant physician at Craig Colony. Dr. Shanahan married Miss Fox, a former matron at the Colony.
George K. Collier, M. D., third assistant physician, is a native of North Carolina, having been born at Wilmington in 1879. His edu- cation was begun in the Wilmington public schools and he also at- tended a private school at that place. He then entered Cape Fear Academy and later took a course in the St. John's Academy at An- napolis, Md. He began the study of medicine at the college of Phy- sicians and Surgeons, Baltimore, Md., from which he graduated in 1900. He was for a time resident Gynecologist at Baltimore City Hospital. He then engaged in private and general practice at Wil- mington, where he remained until receiving his appointment as phy- sician at Craig Colony. Dr. Collier is a member of the Livingston County Medical Society, the North Carolina State Medical Associa- tion and the American Medical Association.
Annie M. Tremaine, M. D., woman physician at Craig Colony, was born at Fredonia, N. Y. Her education was begun in the public schools of the place and through private tutors. She then attended the Fredonia Normal and Training School, graduating in 1891, after which she entered Cornell University and in 1895 graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. She graduated from the Women's Medi- cal College of New York Infirmary in 1899 and the two years follow- ing served as house physician at the Worcester Memorial Hospital, Worcester, Mass. She was appointed physician at Craig Colony in January, 1901.
Dr. Bronislaw Onuf, was born in Jenesseisk, Siberia, July 4, 1863. He attended the public schools of Zurich, Switzerland, and in 1884 graduated from the medical department of the University of Zurich. He studied with Forel, at Buryholsli Insane Asylum, Zurich, during the following two and one-half years and spent eight months in the study of Ophthalmology in that city. He then served as ship surgeon from Holland to India and later from Holland to America. He came to this country in 1890 and practiced medicine at Dolgeville, N. Y., for
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three and one-half years, after which he opened offices in New York and Brooklyn, making a specialty of mental and nervous diseases. While there he taught at Long Island College on nervous and mental diseases and was for several years Neurologist for St. Cath- erine's Hospital, Brooklyn. He was Associate in Pathology at the Pathological Institute, New York. He came to Craig Colony in June 1903.
A. C. McFetridge, head book-keeper and postmaster, was born in the town of Sparta, November 10, 1873. His education was obtained in the district schools and in the Dansville High School, graduating from the latter in 1891. He took a course in Oberlin College, follow- ing which, for some two or three years he taught in the schools of his native town. He then acted as assistant store keeper at Craig Colony until 1896 when he was appointed store keeper. In 1897 he received the appointment of head book-keeper and on July 25, 1899, that of postmaster. He is a member of Mount Morris Lodge of Masons. His wife, formerly Miss Florence Olmstead, was previous to their marriage employed as stenographer in the office at the Colony. They have one daughter, Elinor.
Fred H. Crofoot, supervisor of inale nurses, was born in Le Roy, Genesee county, N. Y., April 28, 1850. He received his education in the public schools of that place and the Le Roy Academy. His early life was passed on his father's farm and later he engaged in farming for himself. Joel Crofoot, the grandfather of Fred, came to New York state in 1816, and located in the town of Pavilion, Genesee county. The journey from his home in Connecticut, was made by ox team and covered wagon. His son Gideon D., the father of Fred, was born in 1816. He married Louisa Hannum, a daughter of Chester Hannum, who first came to this vicinity with Sullivan in his famous raid. Fred H. Crofoot married Sarah Brown of Wheatland in 1874. She died in 1888 and for his second wife he took Catherine McDonald of the town of York. Mr. Crofoot has for years been a col- lector of Indian relics and curios and his collection, all obtained from Livingston county, is probably one of the finest and most complete of any county collection in the state.
CHAPTER XXIV.
SOME INDIAN REMAINS IN THE GENESEE VALLEY, By Fred H. Crofoot.
T T HE FIRST map of the Genesee Valley was by M. Pouchot, about 1758. At that time the Seneca town of Sonnechio was located at the junction of the Canaseraga Creek with the Gen- esee River; and Kanonskegon, a smaller village, was about a mile west on what is now the old river bed. Both villages were occupied at that time, but after the lapse of over a hundred and fifty years, much of the land comprising the camps and village sites having been under cultivation by the whites for half that period, the work of locating the different camps, historically unknown, requires a great amount of labor and careful exploration. It is quite necessary that the land be under cultivation to locate correctly the bound of a village or camp. Places that were occupied for years will show flint chips; the soil will be of a dark color, and implements will be found. There is a field on the John F. White Dairy Farm whereon, after it was plowed for the second time, I counted the sites of over twenty wigwams or huts; the dark spots were about eight feet in diameter and on every one I found arrow and spear heads, sometimes six or eight within the few feet. Some places were used merely as temporary camps for fishing or hunting, and on such no flint chips or partially completed implement will be found, for the home of the arrow maker was in the village, not the hunting camp. But on the temporary sites, and on the trail, some of the finest articles are discovered. It is not at all likely that all of the villages were occupied at the same time, for it was the custom of the Senecas to move their villages every twenty or twenty-five years, and sometimes at shorter intervals. Sullivan in 1780 found the prin- cipal Seneca town, called Beardstown, near the present site of Cuyler- ville, probably on the bluff at Old Leicester, on what is now the Wheelock farm and extending about a mile south; the land from Cuy- lerville east to the river was occupied during the summer while the
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