At the Scioto County Infirmary Farm Cemetery, in Washington Township, Scioto County, Ohio, are rows of numbered burials. The older monuments are made of local free stone and numbered from 1-30. Newer numbered monuments lie across the field engraved in marble. The focus of this post is Grave 25; this is the final place of rest of Malissa Spriggs.
According to the 1870 Federal Census, a Malissa Spriggs, resident of Union Township, and daughter of Peter and Sarah Minerva Dawson Spriggs, was enumerated as being “idiotic.” Often this general statement lacked nuance in defining a developmental disability. The same document states that Malissa was approximately 32 years of age at the time of the census taker’s visit, making Malissa’s date of birth about 1838. It is not a stretch of the imagination to believe that an unmarried female, described as idiotic, and in the care of their aged parents would find themselves at the county infirmary. Both of Malissa’s parents are known to have died in 1870 so admission to the infirmary was only a matter of time.
On April 3, 1893, Milissa Spriggs, 46 years of age, of Jefferson Township, Scioto County, Ohio, was admitted to the Scioto County Infirmary. It is possible that Malissa lived for a time with her siblings, one of which resided in Jefferson Township, until that arrangement was untenable. The age at time of admission is not within an acceptable range, but such an error at admission is common, as are spellings mistakes in the name of those admitted.
On the following page of the Record of Inmates, typically reserved for inmate discharges, is the remark that Malissa died of pneumonia on February 26, 1896, and that she occupies Grave 25.
A search of local newspapers in the dates immediately before and after her death note no sickness or her passing. At this time nothing else regarding her life is known to this researcher.
