Growing up, I learned only bits and pieces about my great-great-grandfather, Frank Scott. His first wife (Maggie McAllister, my great-great-grandmother) unexpectedly died at the age of 38 on June 11, 1910, leaving Frank with four young daughters. After his wife’s death, he placed his daughters with family members, so perhaps my great-grandmother’s bond with—and memory of—her father wasn’t as great as it would have been had the family not been broken up. My grandmother Harriet has fond memories of driving with her “grandpa Scott” in his delivery truck, and of visiting him at his pickle factory. Frank died when Harriet was only 13, so her memories were perhaps not as full as they might have been had he lived longer.
I was told that he remarried after his first wife died, but all I was able to learn about this second wife was that her name was “Loie.” I was also told that Frank died of tuberculosis in a “sanitarium” in November, 1937.
I travelled to Wadena, Minnesota, last fall to do some family history research, and I was hoping to track down some evidence to support the received oral history that Frank Scott had died of tuberculosis in a “sanitarium” in or near Wadena. While in the Wadena County Historical Society, I asked about this sanitarium, and was told that there was indeed once a TB hospital called the Fair Oaks Sanitarium in Wadena.
Main “lodge” of the Sanitarium, circa 1920
Postcard of the Sanitarium’s nurses’ home, postmarked 1923
Printed from same negative as above; circa 1923
Main “lodge” of the Sanitarium, circa 1925
Postcard of Sanitarium’s nurses’ home, said to be circa 1940
The Minnesota Historical Society has photographs of the Sanitorium from around 1950:
When I asked if any admissions records were kept from the Sanitorium, the curator pulled out an oversized original hospital ledger that recorded rich information about all patients that had been admitted. Good thing HIPAA doesn’t apply to these records, as they were a genealogical goldmine!
When I looked over the records for 1937, then 1936, then 1935, I never did find a record of admission for Frank Scott. What I did find, however, once I got back to 1933, was a record of admission for Frank’s second wife, Loie Scott. Thanks to the information contained in the Sanitorium ledger, I went from knowing almost nothing about her to having a good idea of who she was, where she came from, and how she died.
The ledger is formatted so that patients’ information spans several pages. A full-width page begins and ends each spread, and then there are a pair of two-thirds-width pages between the starting and ending pages that physically cover all information everything except the patients’ names and allow additional information to be recorded. Using this system, a large amount of information could be recorded per patient. Here is what was recorded for Loie (“—” indicates the field was left blank):
| Line number | 13 |
| Admission number | 663 |
| Name | Mrs. Loie Scott |
| Address | Menahga, Minn. |
| County | Wadena |
| Date admitted | May 4, ’33 |
| Rate: Pay | — |
| Rate: Part-pay | — |
| Rate: Free | R. |
| Guaranteed by | Todd + Wadena Co’s |
| Address | — |
| Employer’s name | — |
| Employer’s address | — |
| Employer’s phone number | — |
| Father’s name | William J. Mackay |
| Father’s address | Deceased |
| Father’s phone number | — |
| Father’s nationality | Scotch Canadian |
| Father’s birth place | Shelbourne, N.S. |
| Mother’s maiden name | Ellen Bauer |
| Mother’s address | Deceased |
| Mother’s nationality | German |
| Mother’s birth place | Shelbourne, Nova Scotia |
| Nearest relative or friend: name | Mr. Frank Scott |
| Nearest relative or friend: address | Menahga, Minn |
| How related | Husband |
| Civic condition | M [=married] |
| Occupation | Housewife |
| Religion | Presbyterian |
| Patient’s birth place | Shelbourne, Nova Scotia |
| Patient’s birth date | Jan. 10, 1878 |
| Patient’s age | 55 |
| Gender | F |
| Color | W |
| Years in county | 14 |
| Years in state | 16 |
| Home physician | Dr. C. H. Pierce |
| Address | Wadena, Minn |
| Stage of disease: I | — |
| Stage of disease: II | B |
| Stage of disease: III | — |
| Bacilli in sputum | Neg. |
| Complications | Hypertension with Cardiac Disturbance |
| Cause of discharge | Death |
| Date of discharge | June 8,-’33 |
| Number of hospital days | 35 Da’s |
| Remarks | — |
The ledger was far too large to fit on the flat-bed scanner I brought with me, and my camera was in need of repairs, so I had to capture images of the ledger pages with my iPhone camera. Loie is on line 13 in these images:
So there you have it: a serendipitous discovery in a historical document that was itself serendipitously discovered, leading to a fuller picture of the life of one of my ancestors. It’s because of these sorts of discoveries that I remain always optimistic about being able to eventually discover fuller information about ancestors for whom little history is currently known. Don’t give up, just keep searching for these unexpected gems.
I certainly see what you have been doing this weekend. I asked Mom who she was on the beach with and she said she would have to see the photo. Can you email me a copy and perhaps it will jog her memory.
I did notice the name in the Scott section Dr. Pearce (sp) and that was the name of Mom’s doctor growing up. Maybe a son?
Talk to this week.
Mom
Hi Mom,
You can just download that pic straight from my site. I designed the site so that anyone can freely download any of the images by clicking on them and then saving them to their computer. The URL for the beach photo is:
http://blackenedroots.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/1942-Minicolor-print-front-v2.jpg
Just choose File>>Save in your browser and voilà!
Michael