I was wondering if anyone knows anything about Essondale? I have several relatives that died there according to death records. Now I know that Essondale was an institution for mental health issues years ago but was there any part of it that was used as an extended care or something similar? It's just I know that a few of them had no mental health problems so wonder why they were there? I hope someone can enlighten me. Thanks, Elizabeth in Nanaimo, BC [email protected]

Hi Elizabeth, my great grandmother died in Ponoka Alberta at the Institution for the Insane (I am sure it had a more politically correct name but that is what my dad calls it). She was committed there at the age 64 by her second husband who was 14 years younger. He appeared before a judge and testified about her crazy behaviour - she kicked him out after learning that he was keeping company with a younger woman. She was never asked to appear or see a doctor which might have been because she was not fluent in English (she was from Norway and married her second husband here in Alberta). He was very fluent in English and never encouraged her to learn to speak English. After she was committed he sold her farm and land and her children received nothing. If he had waited for her to die her will would have distributed her assests as she wanted. By having her committed he gained control of all her assests. When she died in 1936 at the age of 66 he refused to pay for her funeral so she was buried in the paupers section of the Ponoka graveyard. He also advised the hospital to throw out her family bible, photos and letters. He did not inform her children that she had died for 2 months. So sometimes money or control is the issue not mental health. Thelma Hartman

Hi Elizabeth, It seems many folks were institutionalized years ago - if there was the slightest hint of discordant behaviour - and that wasn't limited to mental issues. Of course, today, we see many people on the streets of western countries while in years past would have been "locked away and forgotten about." One of my wife's ancestors was committed to Essondale and eventually died there. We looking up the grave site two years ago when we were in the general area for another reason. We were saddened to see that his grave marker was mis-named. We had the good luck of having the groundskeeper with us at the time. He, too, was quite surprised to see that the marker carried an incorrectly spelled name. Two letters were missing from his surname - it seemed as though it might have been someone else. The records did correctly identify him on paper, and by location within the plots. But the gravemarker was a bit of a shocker! I thinks it's most unfortunate to have that occur. The other thing I thought odd, was he had allegedly fallen and broke a hip. Within days he had died on the operating table. It seems a lot of them went that way. The dark side of me is always suspicious about such unfortunate timing of deaths. In those times, either a doctor's signature or two peace officers could sign a report that got a person committed. In his case, I think both had contributed to his confinement. Neil Neil Lensen The Bi-Tron guy ----- Original Message ----- From: "Elizabeth Hamilton" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, March 07, 2005 9:15 PM Subject: [CAN-BC] Essondale, BC >I was wondering if anyone knows anything about Essondale? I have several >relatives that died there according to death records. Now I know that >Essondale was an institution for mental health issues years ago but was >there any part of it that was used as an extended care or something >similar? > It's just I know that a few of them had no mental health problems so > wonder why they were there? > I hope someone can enlighten me. Thanks, > Elizabeth in Nanaimo, BC > [email protected] > > > ==== CAN-BRITISH-COLUMBIA Mailing List ==== > Visit the British Columbia Gen Web page at > http://www.rootsweb.com/~canbc/ > >