Magdalena, or "Lena," was born in Switzerland and immigrated along with her husband, Benedict, and their infant son to Waseca County, Minnesota in 1864.
She was committed by the Waseca County Probate Judge for treatment at Minnesota's First State Hospital for the Insane in St. Peter, MN and was admitted accordingly on November 9, 1867. According to the hospital casebooks (now held by the Minnesota Historical Society's Gale Family Library in Saint Paul, MN), Lena had suffered from epileptic episodes since age 25 which caused her mental illness. After a little over a year, she was discharged by the hospital as "improved" and she returned home with her husband.
She is recorded as living with her family in Blooming Grove township, Waesca County in 1870, which includes a notation stating her to be "idiotic". She was later re-admitted to the State Hospital on October 8, 1875, after her family felt they could no longer care for her at home. She died only 22 days later after a "series of severe fits" and was buried in the Hospital Cemetery as her "husband would not come" to retrieve her. The location of her resting place lies unmarked after a prairie fire burned the original wooden markers down, and without documentation for the early days of the cemetery, the location is lost to time. She was survived by her husband and three children.
Sources:
Volume 1 (Case File Numbers 1-147, December 1866-December 1868). St. Peter State Hospital. Casebooks. Minnesota Historical Society.
Volume 6 (Case File Numbers 1466-1650, January–October 1877). St. Peter State Hospital. Casebooks. Minnesota Historical Society.
She was committed by the Waseca County Probate Judge for treatment at Minnesota's First State Hospital for the Insane in St. Peter, MN and was admitted accordingly on November 9, 1867. According to the hospital casebooks (now held by the Minnesota Historical Society's Gale Family Library in Saint Paul, MN), Lena had suffered from epileptic episodes since age 25 which caused her mental illness. After a little over a year, she was discharged by the hospital as "improved" and she returned home with her husband.
She is recorded as living with her family in Blooming Grove township, Waesca County in 1870, which includes a notation stating her to be "idiotic". She was later re-admitted to the State Hospital on October 8, 1875, after her family felt they could no longer care for her at home. She died only 22 days later after a "series of severe fits" and was buried in the Hospital Cemetery as her "husband would not come" to retrieve her. The location of her resting place lies unmarked after a prairie fire burned the original wooden markers down, and without documentation for the early days of the cemetery, the location is lost to time. She was survived by her husband and three children.
Sources:
Volume 1 (Case File Numbers 1-147, December 1866-December 1868). St. Peter State Hospital. Casebooks. Minnesota Historical Society.
Volume 6 (Case File Numbers 1466-1650, January–October 1877). St. Peter State Hospital. Casebooks. Minnesota Historical Society.
Magdalena, or "Lena," was born in Switzerland and immigrated along with her husband, Benedict, and their infant son to Waseca County, Minnesota in 1864.
She was committed by the Waseca County Probate Judge for treatment at Minnesota's First State Hospital for the Insane in St. Peter, MN and was admitted accordingly on November 9, 1867. According to the hospital casebooks (now held by the Minnesota Historical Society's Gale Family Library in Saint Paul, MN), Lena had suffered from epileptic episodes since age 25 which caused her mental illness. After a little over a year, she was discharged by the hospital as "improved" and she returned home with her husband.
She is recorded as living with her family in Blooming Grove township, Waesca County in 1870, which includes a notation stating her to be "idiotic". She was later re-admitted to the State Hospital on October 8, 1875, after her family felt they could no longer care for her at home. She died only 22 days later after a "series of severe fits" and was buried in the Hospital Cemetery as her "husband would not come" to retrieve her. The location of her resting place lies unmarked after a prairie fire burned the original wooden markers down, and without documentation for the early days of the cemetery, the location is lost to time. She was survived by her husband and three children.
Sources:
Volume 1 (Case File Numbers 1-147, December 1866-December 1868). St. Peter State Hospital. Casebooks. Minnesota Historical Society.
Volume 6 (Case File Numbers 1466-1650, January–October 1877). St. Peter State Hospital. Casebooks. Minnesota Historical Society.
She was committed by the Waseca County Probate Judge for treatment at Minnesota's First State Hospital for the Insane in St. Peter, MN and was admitted accordingly on November 9, 1867. According to the hospital casebooks (now held by the Minnesota Historical Society's Gale Family Library in Saint Paul, MN), Lena had suffered from epileptic episodes since age 25 which caused her mental illness. After a little over a year, she was discharged by the hospital as "improved" and she returned home with her husband.
She is recorded as living with her family in Blooming Grove township, Waesca County in 1870, which includes a notation stating her to be "idiotic". She was later re-admitted to the State Hospital on October 8, 1875, after her family felt they could no longer care for her at home. She died only 22 days later after a "series of severe fits" and was buried in the Hospital Cemetery as her "husband would not come" to retrieve her. The location of her resting place lies unmarked after a prairie fire burned the original wooden markers down, and without documentation for the early days of the cemetery, the location is lost to time. She was survived by her husband and three children.
Sources:
Volume 1 (Case File Numbers 1-147, December 1866-December 1868). St. Peter State Hospital. Casebooks. Minnesota Historical Society.
Volume 6 (Case File Numbers 1466-1650, January–October 1877). St. Peter State Hospital. Casebooks. Minnesota Historical Society.
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