Sarah (Sady) was my Great Granny. Here's a story that Great Uncle Tom told me years ago:
The story as told to Tom by Jennie is that Grandpa (Alfred) Moodie committed suicide (by shooting himself)and that Grandma Moodie died in 1932 in the mental home in Brandon, where she had been moved to from Selkirk. And that the death of her husband had just been too much for her. As Tom said, "It isn't good news, but it is time it was told". We still didn't know anything other than this, but over the summer last year, Tom was able to contact the Selkirk Mental home and find out that she had been admitted on March 30, 1896, and then many years later transferred to the Brandon institution where she died on May 17, 1932. She was admitted by her oldest son, Wellington, and by her daughter Irene (Williams). On the admission record, Wellington was listed as her spouse and not her son. Tom went to Brandon where he located her grave in the cemetery for the mental home patients; and he had a new plaque put on her grave marker. We all visited it last spring. How I wish that we had all known about it years sooner. It must have been terrible to have spent so much of her life confined in this manner. She would have been only 46 years of age when she was confined, and 82 years of age when she died. Tom was told by the Selkirk institution that apparently patients being treated for mental illness could not be easily released to their family. In fact the rule was, that if the family took them out, they could not be re-admitted if the need arose again. Both Tom and I tried to get her medical record but have not been able to do so yet. The lady at Selkirk told Tom that so many people are starting to ask for the medical records for their family members, that there is negotiations in progress to pass a law that would require this information be released to direct descendants requesting same.
Today, had this happened, Grandma Moodie would likely have been treated for depression; recovered; and been released. But then the next thing would have been...where would she go? Irene was raising the twins. The neighbors were raising the younger ones. And the older ones would have been on their own. Her husband was gone. Her family was no longer together as a family.
Now, the next problem. We actually found two dates of death for Alfred, March 10, 1896 and March 10, 1898. If Alfred had died in 1898 as we are listing his death at present, she would have been in the institution before his death, and this doesn't seem reasonable. If Alfred died on March 10, in 1896, this would have been only 20 days before she was institutionalized, and this seems pretty extreme. And I can understand her being completely devastated by his death, but what could she have done to warrant such a quick committal. It must have been pretty serious, because from everything I can find out, Wellington was a pretty reasonable man, and Irene was put in a position of raising her own son, as well as her sisters, and it seems unlikely they would have committed their mother if it had not been absolutely necessary.
The R M of Dufferin had a flood some years ago and lost their records for that period. The town of Carman doesn't have the record. The province of Manitoba says it can find no record of his death.
The following information is taken from local history book: The History of the R.M. of Dufferin in Manitoba 1880 - 1980
These notes were submitted by Jennie Paterson: Alfred Moodie with his wife and children came to Manitoba from Drayton, Wellington County, Ontario. The children born in Ontario were Wellington, Maggie, Alfred Jr., Robert, Irene and George. Alfred Moodie took up a homestead on NW 6-7-W, filing on it on July 3, 1879 and proving it on November 25, 1892. Six more children were born in Manitoba, namely: James, John, Harriet, Alice and Sarah, twins; William Thomas and Mary.
Alfred was a horse collar maker by trade. He also served on the board of the Forest School District.
Norma