Willard State Hospital

Today we went to Willard with Uncle Ed, Aunt Glad & Uncle Don, Kim, Radiance & Brandon.

No one is really sure why Grandpa Joseph Perry ended up at Willard State Hospital in 1941. Uncle Ed said a barn beam fell on his arm and broke it. He had a pin put into it but it wasn’t put in right so he couldn’t use his arm normally and it created quite a bit of pain. He still worked on the farm with his arm bent. Uncle Ed says he remember he saw him sitting with a blanket over his head once. Uncle Ed doesn’t remember him going to the hospital, or who made the decision to send him there. Aunt Glad said after he went to the hospital he had someone at the hospital write a letter to Grammie Gladys Perry telling her to send him some clothes so he could come home.

Willard State Hospital closed in 1995 and is now owned by New York State Department of Correctional Services, and we weren’t supposed to go onto the property and take photos, but we did, and we were asked to leave. There were several buildings, so we don’t know which building he would have stayed in.

Chapin House in The Maples at Willard State Hospital

We then went to the cemetery, which is down from the hospital towards Seneca Lake on the right up on a hill. It is unmarked. They used to mark all of the graves with numbered markers, but the state has removed the upright markers to make it easier to mow. So here’s one big field where tons of people are buried, and who knows where my Grandpa Joseph Perry is buried.

Willard State Hospital Cemetery

Willard State Hospital Cemetery

Entrance/Exit to Willard State Hospital Cemetery

One of the markers left in place because it is deep enough not to get in the way of the mower.

 

Wedding Album – Gladys Cole and Joseph Perry

Mom had asked to borrow Grammie Perry’s Wedding Album (Gladys Cole and Joseph Perry), so I had it out and decided to scan it for you. They were married at her parents’ home in South Onondaga, Onondaga Co., NY on Nov. 21, 1927 by Rev. L. Everett Squires. Witnesses were Ruth M. Cole, her sister, and Edson J. Cole, her father. Here’s the cover page:

Title Page:

Pages 1 & 2 – this page contains their Marriage Certificate:

Pages 3 & 4:

Pages 5 & 6:

Pages 7 & 8:

Pages 9 & 10:

Pages 11 & 12:

Pages 13 & 14 – Guests – too bad she didn’t fill in her guest list. It would be interesting to see who attended the wedding:

Pages 15 & 16 – Gifts – nothing filled in here, either:

What is really interesting is my other set of Grandparents have an album just like this. I’ll scan the pertinent pages from that album another day.

If you would like to see or have larger images of anything I post in this blog, just let me know!

 

What a Find! Gladys Cole Perry

I was working at the Onondaga Historical Association Museum & Research Center this past winter, and while going through a folder labelled “Beak Family” I found this photo of my Grandmother Gladys Perry nee Cole, when she was about four or five, with her classmates at the South Onondaga School, District #21. I was so excited! She is the 7th from the left in the 2nd row:

Here’s a close-up of her face:

Isn’t she a sweetheart! Here’s a list of the children in the first photo:

Her brother Sterling Cole is also in the photo. He is 5th from the left in the 1st row. There are many familiar South Onondaga names.

If you would like to see a larger copy of any of these photos, please ask! I’ll be adding much more on Grammie Perry later.

 

Joe Perry

We only have one known photo of my Grandpa Joe Perry:

Hazel Dusart had this photo in one of her albums, and she gave it to my Mom. It is part of a Perry family photo; the original is tiny. It was taken circa 1938 so he would have been about 59 years old.

We didn't know very much about Joe Perry. We knew he had a brother Ambrose Perry. We found the obituary for Ambrose Perry dated Oct 12, 1961 in the Syracuse Post Standard newspaper:

Since Ambrose was a native of Malone, we started searching for Joe Perry in Malone church records. We ended up hitting the jackpot in the Notre Dame Church Records (a catholic church with records written in French). It turns out Joe Perry was French-Canadian and his baptised name was Carolus Josephus PARENT. His English-ized name was Charles Joseph PERRY. Eventually, we found the Parent Family Association which traces his patrilineal line back to France. The Parent Family Association website is written in French, but you can go to Google's Language Tools, scroll down to the translate box and copy / paste the information you would like translated from French to English.

I'll write more about Joe Perry another day! Please comment if you have anything to add about Joe!