Howard Burton Oliver

Howard B. Oliver’s cremated remains were not initially taken after his death and were available at the Oregon State Hospital to be claimed by anyone who is related. In 2018 his ashes were requested and received by a family member. More information about unclaimed cremains at OSH is available at http://www.oregon.gov/oha/osh/Pages/cremains.aspx A book by David Maisel and a short documentary film by Ondi Timoner & Robert James, both entitled "Library of Dust" also provide more information.

Howard was born in February 1887. Although his death certificate says he was born in Linn County, Oregon, early census data shows he was born in Kansas. He was a “late-in-life-baby,” born when his mother was 43. His mother, Rosette Adelaide “Rose” Alger, was born in 1844 in Michigan. His father, Samuel Faxon Oliver, was born in New York in the mid-1830s. They were married on 9/29/1860 in Branch County, in south central Michigan. It was the first and only marriage for each of them. Rose had 11 children, all of whom were alive in 1910. Among the children were: Fred T. (born in Michigan about 1862), William (Indiana about 1865), Frank (Michigan about 1867), Theodore Ervin (Iowa in 1870), Hollis (Kansas about 1873), Hargie Leroy (Kansas in 1875), Harry Orville (Kansas in 1877), Victor Jay (Kansas in 1879), Earle Mansfield (Kansas in 1883) and Howard (Kansas in 1887). Another child whose name has not been found was probably born about 1881. (This would be their only daughter, Alta born in 1881).

Although Howard’s parents were farmers they moved around a lot during the first 10 years of their marriage as can be seen by the birth places of their older children. At the time of the 1870 census (long before Howard was born) his parents and first three brothers were living in Monroe, Fremont County, in the southwest corner of Iowa. In the 1880 census the family was farming in Alta, Harvey County, in central Kansas.

By the time of the 1900 census, Howard and his parents were living in Sweet Home, Linn County, in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. His father was farming on property he owned free-and-clear of a mortgage. Howard was 13 and attending school. It was reported in 1900 that he could read and write, however data in 1910 indicated he was nonverbal and illiterate.

In March 1903 when Howard was 16, his father asked that the county court commit him to the state insane asylum. Howard’s father described him as “a degenerate, having been weak from birth.” On 3/20/1903 Howard was admitted to the Oregon State Hospital for the Insane, a residential facility in Salem, Oregon for the treatment of people with mental illness. The facility was later called the Oregon State Hospital. The state legislature felt the asylum was an inappropriate placement for people with developmental disabilities and a new facility was built to house the disabled. The new hospital opened on 12/1/1908 with 39 patients transferred from the State Hospital for the Insane. With that group or within the first year Howard was admitted to the newly constructed Oregon State Institution for the Feeble-Minded, a residential, quasi-educational institution in Salem charged with educating people with developmental disabilities. In 1933 the facility was renamed Oregon Fairview Home. Howard appeared as a patient at the institution in the censuses of 1910, 1920, 1930 and 1940. Throughout those years the institution did not have records of Howard’s mother’s name or Howard’s and his parents’ places of birth. Perhaps this indicates Howard’s parents had little or no contact with him after he was admitted. After being a patient at the institutions for 48 years Howard died at Fairview of heart problems on 4/12/1951. He was 64 years old.

In 1910 while Howard was institutionalized, his parents were retired and still living in Sweet Home. Howard’s mother died in 1912. By 1920 Howard’s father had moved to Woodland, Cowlitz County, Washington to live with his son Theodore. Howard’s father died in 1922. At least several of Howard’s brothers survived him. Harry died in 1956 in Oregon. Theodore died in Washington in 1958. Hargie died in Kansas in 1961 and Victor died in 1970 in Columbia County, Oregon.

Death Certificate