Years ago when researching the deed to our new home, it
was curious to note that the only heir of Charles and Caroline Korb, the
initial homesteaders of the farm, was a daughter named Cornelia Korb. The deed
stated that the she was a ward at the Warren State Hospital for the Insane. I
have oft times wondered just how it was that Caroline was mentally ill.
When we first purchased the farm, there wasn’t much of
anything here by way of landscaping. There were a handful of old apple trees, a
few very old pears, an old lilac and in the front of the house there was a
spice bush,
a barely surviving rose and
some pale pink flowers that we were not familiar with. We found out that the
plant was called “Bouncing Betty” also known as (Soapwort) Saponaria
officinalis. One has to wonder if this plant had a practical use for the Korbs
because of its sudsing properties.
Sometime later when perusing the old graveyard in Troutville
I happened to see a patch of Bouncing Bets. As I drew closer, it was surprising
to see that they were growing at the grave marker of Charles Korb! Had Cornelia planted them? When did Cornelia
go insane and why?
The Bouncing Betty still survives today by the steps in
front, over a hundred years later, despite the tansy and peony newcomers who
keep trying to nudge it out. We still have not tried its soaping properties,
but we have tried to lovingly restore the old farmhouse that Charles and
Caroline built. This year we went back to the Troutville cemetery and I checked
to see if the Bouncing Bettys were still surviving there. There was no sign of
them but Charles’ head stone had been replaced and I noticed a grave mistake.
The birth date for Caroline just didn't jive with Charles’.
As inquiring minds want to know, I did some research and lo
and behold by the virtues and miraculous nature of the internet I found a gem.
Who could have ever thought that after 100 years I could come to find this
tantalizing piece to the Cornelia puzzle?
As cool as it was to find out how Cornelia ended up in the
asylum, it didn’t provide the satisfying closure I had hoped for. Now there are
many, many more questions and speculations. Cornelia, the poor woman, is listed
as single and living at the farm in the 1900 census. Her mother died in 1901
and her father died in 1902, she was 36. For seven years, she was sole
proprietor of the farm.
Who was taking care
of the 300 acre farm with one of the largest barns in the county? Was she
selling off the livestock for her upkeep, perhaps she was leasing the cropland?
Was perhaps the beau a farmhand hoping to take over ownership of the farm? Who
sent her to the asylum? Why wouldn't they let her out? What caused her to be
violent and who was her anger directed at? It was July 22, 1909, was it very
warm and humid and the couple were doing hay together and they argued and
tempers flared and she went after him with a pitchfork? Maybe there wasn’t even
a boyfriend, only unrequited love.
The most unfortunate and very tragic part of whatever
scenario it was that caused her admission to the asylum, was that Cornelia not
only had lost control of her temper, she lost control over everything. As
strange coincidences go, the very week that I came upon the online news
clipping this fascinating article came to me.
It has photos of the contents of the suitcases of asylum patients that
expected to be only staying for a few days and from the same time period as
Cornelia’s stay in Warren.
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/abandoned-suitcases-reveal-private-lives-of-insane-asylum-patients/
At the time it was easy to get yourself admitted to an
asylum - drug use, alcoholism, mourning a little too long over a lost child, a
fit of anger - all could have you admitted. It was easy to get in but
impossible to get out. Cornelia, from Warren State Hospital records, was in
there for years and each year her estate was charged for her keep. In 1917 her
debit was 129.00 for the year and that’s the last entry that I can find, she would
have been 51. Sadly, for now and perhaps forever, that’s as far as the story
goes.
Side note: some clues as to what life in the asylum was like
http://www.pagenweb.org/~warren/misc/warren-state-hospital.html
Hoop houses. So maybe they aren't so bad. Everything grows spectacularly and so far no pest issues. Kind of amazing just how well things do grow, we never had such amazing rhubarb and it is still growing strong. This year in the hoop house we are growing raspberries, strawberries, currants, hardy kiwi, summer squash, lettuce, leeks, onions, kale, rhubarb, peanuts, cabbage, eggplant, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, green beans, radishes, kale and shallots. In the outside garden- sugar snap peas, potatoes, soybeans, cucumbers, winter squash, more tomatoes, popcorn, garlic, basil, ,sunflowers, and we have more to plant.
