On This Date in Minnesota History: January 13

January 13, 1915 – Mrs. Emma Arneson, 37, wife of Ole Arneson of Buzzle Township, Beltrami County, Minn., and the mother of six children, was taken to the Fergus Falls insane asylum this afternoon, having been judged insane by Judge D. H. Fisk, court commissioner.

The unfortunate woman has been failing for three years and while never violent, her mental powers have been in an unbalanced condition, continually growing worse. She was taken to the asylum by George Denley, deputy sheriff.  Mr. Arneson accompanied the officer on the trip.¹

Today, postpartum depression might be a viable consideration for her illness. But in the late 1800s to the early 1900s, some of the reasons patients were sent to insane asylums were due to symptoms we would look at as somewhat normal behavior now.

Below is a list of reasons patients were sent to insane asylums in West Virginia from 1864 to 1889.²

Novel reading? 

Politics (fill in joke here)? 

Ill treatment by husband? Wouldn’t it be more logical to lock the husband up rather than his wife?

List of reasons for admission to an insane asylum from the late 1800s 




¹The Bemidji Daily Pioneer; “Taken to Asylum. Buzzle Woman Adjudged Insane Yesterday by Judge D. H. Fisk.”; January 14, 1915; p. 1.

²Sources: Appalachian History, Grateful Web, West Virginia State Archives, West Virgina Encyclopedia, Steampunk