Military Monday: Joshua Hunt Thomas, Musician

Spicer, William Arnold. History of the Ninth and Tenth Regiments Rhode Island Volunteers, and the Tenth Rhode Island Battery, in the Union Army in 1862. Providence, RI: Snow & Franham, 1892. Pages 396-397. Available from Internet Archive.

Joshua Hunt Thomas, the husband of my 3rd-great-grandfather's sister Catherine Bennett Winters, was a musician during the Civil War. He enlisted on 26 May 1862.

Joshua was in Company C, 10th Rhode Island Infantry. The regiment was mustered into service on 26 May 1862 in Providence, Rhode Island, and then moved to Washington, DC from 27 May-29 May 1862. The regiment was on duty at Camp Frieze, Tennallytown until 26 June 1862.

Spicer, William Arnold. History of the Ninth and Tenth Regiments Rhode Island Volunteers, and the Tenth Rhode Island Battery, in the Union Army in 1862. Providence, RI: Snow & Franham, 1892. Page 199. Available from Internet Archive.

Company C was then assigned to garrison duty at Fort Cameron.

Joshua served for just over a month. He was discharged due to disability on 7 July 1862, and he mustered out on 8 July 1862 at Battery Cameron, DC.

References
Historical Data Systems, comp. U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009.
Spicer, William Arnold. History of the Ninth and Tenth Regiments Rhode Island Volunteers, and the Tenth Rhode Island Battery, in the Union Army in 1862. Providence, RI: Snow & Franham, 1892. Available from Internet Archive.
10th Rhode Island Infantry
Union Regimental Histories: Rhode Island. Civil War Archive.

Madness Monday: State Hospital for Mental Diseases, Howard, Rhode Island

In 1930, Samuel A. Thomas, the son of my 3rd-great-grandfather's sister Catherine Bennett Winters, resided at the State Hospital for Mental Diseases, located in the unincorporated place Howard, in Cranston, Providence County, Rhode Island.

1930 United States census, Cranston, Providence County, Rhode Island, population schedule, enumeration district no. 4-197, sheet no. 22A. Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002.

Samuel died on 11 May 1933 in Howard, Cranston, Rhode Island. He probably died at the State Hospital for Mental Diseases.

In 1869, the more than 417 acre William A. Howard farm in Cranston, Providence County, Rhode Island was purchased. The property was to be used for a state asylum for the insane and poor, a state workhouse, and a house of corrections. In 1870, eighteen wood-framed buildings were built, and in November, 118 patients were admitted to the asylum.

Music therapy began at the hospital in 1881, when twelve canaries and six cages were purchased and placed in the halls. In 1900, an orchestra was established; it included one patient musician. Another patient joined the orchestra in 1904. An organ was purchased in 1925. The same year, the hospital choir gave a concert at a local radio station.

Hydrotherapy began in 1927. Patients were given baths, wet sheet packs, salt glows, foot baths, needle sprays, fan douches, and rain douches. Hydrotherapy was most frequently used as a form of restraint; some patients received continuous baths.

Some patients did chores, such as housekeeping and farm labor. In 1930, Samuel A. Thomas did not do any work, but some of the other patients worked in the ward, laundry, dining room, or industries.

The State Hospital for Mental Diseases is now the Eleanor Slater Hospital.

References
Golden, Janet, and Schneider, Eric C. Custody and Control: The Rhode Island State Hospital for Mental Diseases, 1870, 1970. Rhode Island History 41(4), November 1982, pp. 113-125.
History- Rhode Island -Dept of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals