The Nankin Township Historical Society

The Buffalo Commercial , February 2, 1878 The history of the Wayne County Asylum at Eloise was beleaguered with incidents of cured but not cured . That is, patients who were released as mentally fit only to commit acts of violence against others or self-immolation. Mrs. Jane Howard, a wife of a Dover, Michigan physician D. M. Howard, seemingly had an ideal station in life but it was for naught. For whatever reasons she was incarcerated at the Wayne Asylum on multiple occasions. A month there in late 1877, which, weaved into the new years didn't cure her hurts. She fatally jumped down a well on her husband's farm near Adrian on the last day of January, 1878. She was 36-years-old.

Here are the expenditures for running the County Farm at Wayne (Eloise) and the market value of produce produced and livestock sold and tended to. Most of the work was performed by paupers with some help from Edwin and Martin Wightman as well as Martin Lawlor. The Wightman name is well-known in the area and a family member was the first burial at Ganong Cemetery. Paupers also earned their keep by making the necessary clothing for the patients' yearly needs. A half century lat er the paupers of the 20th century often refused to work the farm leading to its demise and consequently the self-sustainability of the institution at large.