Mary Jane Quillen

Timeline

• Census: 1860 Mary Jane Quilin (43), Washington Township, Jefferson, Pennsylvania, United States
• Census: 1880 Mary Jane Quilan (55), Winslow, Jefferson, Pennsylvania, United States

Biography

Her maiden name is shown on the 1911 marriage record of her daughter Rebecca (MIchigan Marriages, 1868-1925). There is some ambiguity about her age. In 1860 she was reported to be age 43 born in New York. In 1880 she was reported to be age 55 born in Pennsylvania to parents born in Ireland. Many people in her age group in this area are reported on some censuses as born in New York and on others as born in Pennsylvania.

In 1880 she was a widow, age 55, "insane", living in the household of Thomas Hutchison and Mary (Waite) Hutchison. Her relationship to them, if any, is unknown.

While Mary Jane in 1880 was in the household of Thomas Hutchison, her family was scattered. Her husband was living in Iowa with another woman, a 6 year old daughter, and new baby. Her daughter Frances (29) was married and living at Snyder, Jefferson, Pennsylvania. Her son James (23) was a farm laborer living in the household of Luke Devlin at Baldwin, Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Her daughter Mary Quillan (21) was a servant in the household of James C King at Reynoldsville, Jefferson, Pennsylvania. Her daughter Rebecca (19) was a servant in the household of John M. Hays (40), a carpenter in Reynoldsville, Jefferson, Pennsylvania. Her son Sheridan (14) was living with the family of Sarah McIntosh, next door to Robert Patterson.

On July 15, 1890 when her her husband James prepared his pension application, he said Mary Jane had died in an "insane asylum".

"In the 1800s, anything from alcoholism to masturbation to postpartum depression could land a person in a mental hospital. The hospitals also were filled with persons who suffered from old-age senility, cerebral arteriosclerosis, brain tumors and dementia, as well as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder."

Mary Jane was probably at Dixmont State Hospital in Pittsburgh, which opened in 1862 as one of Pennsylvania's first insane asylums. "[T]he hospital cared both for patients who were indigent and those who could afford to pay, and some of the lifelong residents included Civil War veterans."

It's possible but unlikely she was the Mary E. Patterson, age 50, who died 18 September 1890 in Cedar Rapids: "And on the 18th Mary E. Patterson, aged 50 a demented person from Cedar Rapids, died." (Report for 1890 of the Superintendent of the County Poor Farm to the Board of Supervisors, Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Jan. 16 1891, p. 2, col. 4)

Ancestry

Her ancestry is unclear. She was apparently connected to the Patterson, Hutchison, Boyer, and (probably) Galbraith families but it isn't clear whether she was from Allegheny or Jefferson county. It might be significant that in 1880 Mary Jane and her oldest daughter and her younger children were in Jefferson county, while only her son James was in Allegheny county where his father was from.

She has not been located on the 1850 census. She is normally called Mary, but the marriage record of her son Sheridan calls her Jane. She might be found under either name.

• She might have been a daughter of Josiah Patterson, 1840 in Findlay, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, who perhaps died before 1850. Alternatively, she might have been a daughter of his brother James Patterson. Josiah and James were sons of Zaccheus Patterson.
• She might have been a sister of a different Zaccheus Patterson.
• She might have been a sister of John Galbraith Patterson.
• If her mother's maiden name was Galbraith, she might have been related to the family of Samuel Galbreath, who also lived in Rye Township. Samuel made his will in 1789 (Will of Samuel Galbreath). Notice John Galbraith on the 1820 census of Westmoreland County.
• The first record of Mary Jane is the 1860 census of Washington Township, Jefferson county. It seems plausible that she would have been a close relative of John Patterson and Isabella Smith, who were ancestors of a large family in the Beechwoods / Falls Creek area of Jefferson County. However, sources say they had 8 children of whom 5 survived to adulthood and all are known.
• If she was the mother of Josiah Quillen, her husband's son on the 1850 census, she might have been a daughter or other close relative of the Josiah Patterson (30-40) who appears on the 1840 census at Findlay, Allegheny, Pennsylvania.
• The Thomas Hutchison with whom Mary Jane was living in 1880 was son of John Hutchison and Jane Orr. This John was on the 1850 census at Winslow in Jefferson County. On the same page of the census was a Boyer family with an Isabella Patterson in the household. (1850 Census). This Isabella was a daughter of John S. Patterson who appears on the 1840 census in Jefferson County and died there in 1841. He was born in 1815, so Mary Jane was the right age to have been his sister.
• Mary Jane's daughter Frances married Philip Boyer, whose uncle George Boyer married Anne Scott, the widow of John S. Patterson.
• In 1850 there were two other Pattersons in Baldwin Township, Allegheny County. First, a James Patterson (75), living with the family of James Wallace, and second an Eliza Patterson (37) in the household of Benjamin Quillen. It seems likely that Mary Jane was the sister of that Eliza's late husband, whoever he was.
• In 1850 there was a Robert W. Patterson in Pittsburgh (Allegheny County) who might have been a relative. He was a turner, and later a lumber dealer, which might be significant in light of the connection James' sons had with carpentry and cabinetry.
• In 1860 there were two Patterson families in Baldwin Township, John Patterson (70) and his son William Patterson, as well as a Rebecca Patterson (17) living in the household of W. H. Gordon.
• By coincidence her son James R. Quillen married a woman with the maiden name Weight, often spelled Waite, but the two families were different. The wife of Thomas Hutchison came from an Irish Waite family. The wife of James R. Quillen came from a German Weight / Vecht family.

Sources

• 1860 Census
• 1880 Census
• A mental hospital's breakdown, April 20, 2003