Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes - Dimmick Farr

JACOB ORCUTT > JOHN DIMMICK ORCUTT, SR > JOHN DIMMICK ORCUTT, JR > LOUISA LORRAINE ORCUTT m Silas Farr

Children and adults with disabilities were born with probably the same frequency in previous generations as today, but for many, their life spans were shorter or they did not survive infancy because of a lack of medical advancement. Down’s Syndrome children often had serious heart defects – some stayed home, but many were institutionalized until they died.

People with epilepsy were often housed in special facilities along with the alcoholic, the dementia patient, those with a same-sex attraction, or the severely mentally ill. In the early 19^th century, these were grim and desperate places where many treatments was tantamount to torture. By the late 19^th century, more progressive institutions, such as the Kirkbride institutions, were being built to deal with the myriad of issues that couldn’t be handled by the family at home. Now relics, they used a method of treatment called “The Moral Treatment” and were built to be sanctuaries for the mentally ill who would be active participants in their own recovery.

Throughout the course of the family history, I’ve learned of many in the family who were institutionalized for various reasons. Many of these reasons would be dealt with on an out-patient basis today and medication is available that would allow many of them to have led a normal life had they been born 100 years later.

In the COOPER family for example, the Henry Wesley COOPER line has had many children born with Down Syndrome according to a report from a COOPER family genealogist. The Cooper kin kept those children at home and did not institutionalize.

Just about anything that set your behavior outside of the norm placed you at risk for institutionalization.

One of the cases that stuck out for me in my research was the case of Dimmick FARR, born the

Plainfield, Bremer County, IA sometime between 1874-1880

oldest son of Polk Township, Bremer County, IA pioneer Silas FARR and his wife, Louisa Lorraine ORCUTT. The Farr’s had come to Iowa about 1853. Silas Farr built a steam sawmill in nearby Plainfield in 1855. He ran it as a sawmill for three or four years, then turned it into a grist mill and distillery. It was finally removed. He also farmed. They had two children, Dimmick (1855), was named in honor of Louisa’s father and grandfather, John Dimmick ORCUTT, and Albert (1860). About 1873, when he was 18, Dimmick began displaying unusual behavior that concerned his parents greatly. By the time he reached 24, he was listed in the 1880 Census Supplement for the Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes as being diagnosed with Melancholia. He was still in the home at this time. This is a very vague diagnosis, but the Supplement was divided into four classes: The Blind, The Deaf-Mute, The Idiot, and The Insane. Under note B of The Insane section it reads:

“It is not necessary to make minute subdivisions, but to ascertain the number suffering from certain marked forms of insanity-mania, melancholia, paresis (general paralysis), dementia, epilepsy or dipsomania.” 

Dimmick's change of residential accommodations could be related to the fact his parents had gotten elderly. Records indicate he was institutionalized in 1894. His mother died in 1895 while residing with her other son. In 1895, Silas Farr moved to the County Home himself and died there in 1899. Silas had experienced all kinds of financial setbacks, business losses, and lawsuits in his lifetime, so it is likely that he was indigent.  He received a non-county burial after his death.

In 1900, the now 45-year-old Dimmick lived at the Bremer County Poor Farm and Asylum in Warren Township.

Bremer County Poor Farm & Asylum

"The Poor Farm system established in Iowa had a slightly different feel to it than the State Insane Asylums and was meant to reduce the costs of counties in caring for the indigent. The theory of a Poor Farm, or County Farm as it was later known, was to provide the residents with a way to raise their own food, thus making the farm and residents self-sufficient and lessening the drain on local tax funds. The Bremer County Farm raised field crops, dairy cattle, hogs and poultry, as well as maintaining a very large garden. While few records remain, it appears that the atmosphere at the County Farm was that of a large family, rather than an institution. The residents all had jobs appropriate to their age, skills and health. The women helped with the cooking, laundry and gardening, while the men cared for the animals, did the milking and worked in the fields. The farm did its own butchering of the beef, pork and poultry that were used for their food. Part of what was produced was sold and the money used to buy those items that could not be produced on the farm. There was a commission of three people who reviewed cases before a resident entered the facility. There was a judge, a doctor and a lawyer who would decide if placement at the County Farm was appropriate. Early in the history of the County Farm, the residents appear to be elderly or a person with a health problem such as alcoholism. In examining the census information most of the residents were older adults, with occasional families coming for a period of time. Any orphaned children or those whose parents were unable to care for them were transferred to orphanages or placed with a local family.”1 

Because Dimmick was kept in the home so long, he was probably somewhat functional and non-violent, which would have made the choice of this type of institution more compassionate. At the time of his residence there, fully half of the residents were classified as “insane” and the other half “indigent.” He died there on 04 Dec 1901 at the age of 46 of unknown causes and was buried in the Poor Farm cemetery in Warren Township.

Another case coming up next where we visit a State Hospital for the Insane.

1 http://www.iagenweb.org/bremer/census/PFndx.

Louisa's sister, Adaline married Reuben Moore, grandfather of Arthur Dwight Moore who married Florence Smull.