Week 18 - Institutions - Sheridan family

Institution is a word of many definitions. 

The first one that comes to mind is a public or private place for the care or confinement of inmates, especially mental patients or other persons with physical or mental disabilities. 

Very few families from the last Century have been exempt from dealings with local institutions. Whether a physically challenged person or an elderly family member that really wasn't ill but dealing with issues such as dementia. Much different than today.

My great grandfather Michael Sheridan was sent to the Traverse City State Hospital in 1924. The TCSH was built in 1881. The first superintendent was James Munson. He was a forward-thinking individual and used 'beauty and work' theories. Not drugs and restraints. There was a working farm, wood shops, greenhouses and other activities for the patients to be fully engaged in. 

In 1924, the usual and normal way was to 'commit' a person who could no longer be given the care needed. You didn't just show up and leave someone, you had to have them evaluated and a doctor had to send a letter that the person needed help. Then legally all of his assets had to be listed, items had to be sold, and family members had to sign a form that they agreed with the doctor and any assessments, and then the person could be taken to the 'hospital'.

There is also the institution of the family. Something we all have in common. We have each other's backs, we rejoice in triumphs, commiserate the lows. We research our family to know those that came before. To try and understand their daily lives, how they did daily chores, went to work, came home, customs for weddings, going to school. All the things that we have done.... they did also. Just differently.

My great-grandfather Michael E Sheridan was born 2 Oct 1850 in New York, the son of immigrants Patrick and Margaret (Hughes) Sheridan. By 1854 Patrick and Margaret and their young family were living in Jackson County, Michigan on land that Patrick's father Michael, Sr had bequeathed to him in his Will and in July 1860, they were enumerated in Brooklyn Village, Jackson County, Michigan.  Following the sale of the original bequest, they then settled in Fulton, Gratiot County which eventually became the town of Perrinton. Patrick and Margaret were the parents of seven children. 

Michael (Jr) became a man of means, having inherited the family business and also had worked his whole life on the family farm and at the Poultry Hall. He married Elizabeth Holland 5 Nov 1877 in Owosso, Shiawassee, Michigan and had nine children - seven of them living to adulthood. 

By 1924 Michael took to wandering the streets and was often unruly and threatening. I was told many years ago that he had threatened his daughter in law with a knife. (That would have been Pauline - my grandma Sheridan) He was aged 74 and in today's world, he probably would have been diagnosed with dementia. 

When my great grandfather was struggling physically and mentally, the family would have joined forces and taken turns making sure he was safe, was eating regularly and getting proper medical help, until he needed more care than they could give. Committing him would have felt like a disgrace to the family—a sign that they couldn’t cope with something their ancestors had always managed on their own. 

Michael was remanded to the Traverse City State Hospital by the Probate Court for the County of Gratiot, State of Michigan on the 20th of March 1924. On the 6th of September 1924, Michael died from arterium sclerosis. (Hardening of the arteries) which can cause confusion in the brain.

He was buried in the family plot at Mary Knoll Cemetery in Carson City, Michigan next to his wife Elizabeth (Holland) who had died 9 Feb 1908.

Barbie











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