How many women were committed involuntarily to insane asylums by their husbands during the early 1900s?

I have recently learned that women who were asserting themselves in their marriages were often committed involuntarily to insane asylums during the late 1800s through the early 1900s.  A newspaper account presented the details of a woman who was confined many years against her will at a private asylum. Eventually she was able to gain her release through the support of a sympathetic attorney.  Another newspaper account reported the sad case of a woman who threw herself in front of a train days before she was supposed to be entered into the same asylum. Far more women than men were institutionalized in these asylums.  The disproportionality of women institutionalized during that era clearly was a reflection of women's lack of rights and their husbands finding the wives' challenging behaviors reason enough to have the spouses involuntarily committed to these institutions.  I would like to find statistics that might shed light on the numbers of women who suffered this plight.

Parents
  • Through genealogy research, I’ve found two female relatives who had spent time as inmates in the Oregon State Insane Asylum in Salem. The first, an unmarried woman, occupation dressmaker, was listed at ages 40 and 50 in the 1900 and 1910 Federal Censuses. I have a letter which she wrote later to her brother, pleading with him to let her come live with him. He did.

    One her nieces (not her brother’s child, but a daughter of one of her sisters) later was listed in censuses as an inmate in the same asylum in 1935, 1940 and 1950. She was married, in her 50s and 60s, with 6 children.

    I’ve wondered why they ended up in there, especially the single aunt, but no family stories have been passed down about the circumstances. Although I’ve found interesting articles online about the Oregon State Insane Asylum, I haven’t checked about seeing the institution records, if they still exist.

    Two for your statistics, but not much background.

  • I am finally understanding the significance of one of my uncle's threatening my aunt with this statement: "I am going to send you to Western State."  Western State Hospital was near their home.  And now, with my understanding of involuntary commitments by husbands, I am sure the threat was intended to control my aunt.  It seemed funny hearing it at the time but now it seems utterly deplorable. Given what I know about the conditions of such places, I have a deeper appreciation for the people, like the actress Frances Farmer, who had to endure such "snake pits."

Reply
  • I am finally understanding the significance of one of my uncle's threatening my aunt with this statement: "I am going to send you to Western State."  Western State Hospital was near their home.  And now, with my understanding of involuntary commitments by husbands, I am sure the threat was intended to control my aunt.  It seemed funny hearing it at the time but now it seems utterly deplorable. Given what I know about the conditions of such places, I have a deeper appreciation for the people, like the actress Frances Farmer, who had to endure such "snake pits."

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