For almost 30 years, Mary Genoways was kept confined to a special room in the family home. Mary was suffering from some kind of mental illness and was considered “insane.” The family secret was publicly revealed in 1900 and made sensational headlines across the country.
The thought of Mary being kept in an asylum terrified her husband Clinton. He had heard terrible stories about what happened to asylum inmates, and had himself been a prisoner of war. He was fearful of what might happen to his wife in an asylum.
Clinton thought Mary would be better off at home with her family, but caring for her was not easy. Clinton reportedly built a special padded room for Mary, and “at night she was attached to a chain.”
Occasionally there were rumors in Garden Plain of a woman being chained up in a house, and “people of the vicinity thought the house was haunted.” Authorities were called several times, and Clinton confided in local doctors about Mary’s condition. They agreed to keep the family secret.
Source: The Wichita Eagle, Wichita, Kansas, Mar 30, 1941
Eventually two of Clinton and Mary’s adult children married and moved out of the home, leaving their 27-year-old middle child Edith at home to care for her aging father and mother.
Before Clinton died, he asked Edith to never marry and to continue to care for her mother. Edith agreed, and it was said that she “refused several offers of marriage” in favor of being her mother’s full-time caretaker.
But after her father died, Edith couldn’t bear the burden of caring for her mother alone. She was the only person available to be a full-time caregiver, and she was tired.
Within just a few months of her husband’s death, Mary was turned over to authorities by her daughter and deemed insane by the courts.
When the family secret was discovered, Mary being chained up in the home was described as “loyal devotion.” Some reported that Mary had received attention “only children and a husband can bestow.” Others called Mary the family burden.
Clinton had kept his wife from institutionalization for 30 years, but after Mary was declared insane, she was transferred to the insane asylum in Osawatomie, Kansas where she died five years later at age 65. She is buried at Greenwood Cemetery.
Who Was Clinton Genoways?
Clinton Lewis Genoways was born in 1836 in Woodford County, Illinois. He was the oldest of his siblings.
Clinton enlisted with the 77th Illinois Infantry in 1862. He fought in the Battle of Mansfield, also known as the Battle of Sabine Crossroads, where over 1,500 Union soldiers were taken captive. Clinton was was among them, and he was imprisoned for 14 months.
Clinton returned to Illinois after the war and married Mary Speer in 1866. They had three children together. The family came to Kansas in 1875, and friends feared they would starve in the aftermath of the locust plague.
The Genoways homesteaded 160 acres of land just east of Garden Plain. Clinton paid $200 for the privilege of owning part of the Osage Trust Lands. It was here that Clinton built his claim shanty where Mary would later be chained.
It’s said that Clinton was the one who gave the town the name Garden Plain, after the plain and fertile land ideal for gardening. There’s no mention of his role in naming the town in William G. Cutler’s History of the State of Kansas (the city of Garden Plain was established after the book was published). Some also say Clinton ran Garden Plain’s first general store.
Clinton died from dropsy in 1900 at home at age 64. Per his wishes, he was buried on his farm, near the claim shanty he built.
In 1925 his body was exhumed and removed from the family farm. He was re-buried in Greenwood Cemetery next to his wife.
Who Was Mary Speer Genoways?
Mary Speer was born in 1839 in Indiana. She didn’t attend school, but she knew how to read and write. After the Civil War, her family relocated to Illinois where she met and married Clinton.
Mary birthed three children; Samuel, Edith and Frances (“Fanny”). When the family traveled to Kansas from Illinois in 1875, the children were about 7, 5 and 3 years old.
Mary may have been struggling with her mental health prior to the move. News reports suggest that she had been chained since 1872, shortly after the birth of her youngest daughter and prior to the family settling in Kansas. It’s possible that the family relocated for her health.
The 1880 census notes that Mary was “insane.”
It certainly wasn’t a secret that the family was keeping their insane mother at home. Clinton confided in doctors and other authorities who questioned him, and they were convinced that he was doing what was best for Mary.
Two of Mary’s children married in 1897 and left the home, leaving just Clinton and her daughter Edith to care for her
After Clinton died, Edith didn’t do a good job of keeping her mother chained to the wall. Mom and daughter were out and about in Wichita making the social news shortly after his death.
Edith could not care for her mother alone.
Some reports say that Edith was “finally convinced that she alone was unable to care for her mother.” Other reports say that Edith was “broken in health” and “forced to surrender the insane woman to authorities,” perhaps “on account of illness” or maybe she received “an offer of marriage.” The reasons why she confessed the family secret vary from source to source.
Mary was declared insane by a local court just one month after her reported outing with Edith, and a few months after Clinton died.
Mary was taken to the asylum in Osawatomie (currently called Osawatomie State Hospital) where she died five years later.
The Genoways Children
Samuel Genoways (1867-1942)
Being raised in the barren plains of Kansas, Samuel remembered the really hard times, the candy-less first Kansas Christmas, and the frequent prairie fires that could have easily destroyed everything the family had. He probably also remembered his mother being chained to a wall most of his life.
Samuel attended a subscription school (or private school) south of Goddard for two years before Mt. Olive School No. 37 was opened for children in Garden Plain Township.
Samuel received the land next to his family homestead as a gift from his father in 1897. When Clinton purchased the land, he decreed “there shall never be a mortgage on this farm.” And according to Samuel, there never was.
Samuel married Carrie May Thompson in 1897. They had no children.
Samuel was a very successful farmer, and for a time he was famous for his tractor work, called upon often by neighbors for his tractor expertise. He farmed his land and the neighboring family homestead land until his death in 1942.
Samuel and his wife are buried at Calvary Cemetery in Garden Plain.
Edith Genoways (1869-1960)
Edith was just five years old when the family came to Kansas. She probably attended Mt. Olive School for at least a few years as a child, although most census records claim she never attended school. She did learn how to read and write.
Most mentions of Edith in the social feed of the newspaper are of her visiting family, not friends. She rarely attended parties or participated in social circles. As an adult she taught Sunday school, but never claimed an occupation on census records.
When the family secret was revealed, it was said that Edith had “refused several offers of marriage” in order to stay home and care for her mother, and one report even said she told the secret because she had received a marriage offer. But Edith never married.
Edith bought a house in Wichita after her mother was committed to the asylum. She had one niece, also named Edith. The two Ediths lived together from 1907 to 1920 in Wichita where niece Edith attended school. Several years later, the roles were reversed and the elderly aunt Edith moved into her niece’s home.
In the 1950 census, Edith is listed as a patient at Faith Sanitarium in Wichita, with the note “mentally ill.” The sanitarium had its license revoked in 1954 after allegations of improper nursing care, feeding patients spoiled food, and inadequate facility upkeep. It’s not clear where Edith went after that.
Edith died in 1960 at age 90 and is buried at Greenwood Cemetery next to her parents.
Fanny Genoways-Struthers (1871-1907)
Fanny was the youngest of Clinton and Mary’s children. She appears to have had a similar education to Edith, with “attended school” checked in 1880 only. Fanny also did not appear much in the social news feeds, but unlike her older sister, she did accept a marriage proposal. She married Ralph Struthers in 1897.
Fanny was the only child of Clinton and Mary to have children. She and Ralph had one daughter, and they named her Edith Mary in honor of her aunt and grandmother.
Fanny died suddenly in 1907 at age 35. Edith Mary was just 7 when her mother died, which is why she went to live with her aunt Edith and attended school in Wichita.
Thanks to Fanny, the land that Clinton originally claimed is still in the family. The family homestead was passed down to Fanny’s daughter Edith Mary, who married and had children of her own to pass the land down to.
The land Clinton Genoways homesteaded, where his wife Mary was kept chained for over two decades and where he was originally buried, is currently owned by one of his great-great-grandchildren, descended from his only grandchild, Edith Mary.
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Additional Resources
C.L. Genoways Dies, The Wichita Star, May 25, 1900
Insane Mother Was Chained For 30 Years In Her Home, The Star Press, July 13, 1900
Secret of the Genoways Family Comes to Light, The Topeka State Journal, July 13, 1900
For Thirty Years The Secret of a Mother’s Insanity Is Maintained, The Marion Star, July 13, 1900
A Daughter’s Devotion, The Leavenworth Times, July 14, 1900
28 Jahre in Ketten, Der Deutsche Correspondent, July 16, 1900
Declared Insane, The Saturday Evening Kansas Commoner, July 19, 1900
In The Asylum Now, The Wichita Eagle, November 12, 1900
Sam Genoways Farm Tractor, The Weekly Eagle, May 11, 1917
Garden Plain Farmer Never Penny Wise and Pound Foolish, The Wichita Eagle, March 30, 1941
“Garden of the Plain” : Garden Plain, Kansas, 1884-1984, Wichita Public Library, Special Collections
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