References
Annie Elizabeth Maher, born Clonmel Southern Tipperary 1860, died Trenton, New Jersey 1949.
Mother, Father and 2 brothers emigrate to England 1864 leaving Annie behind, or did she travel with them?
Certainly Annie disappears from all public records and continuing contemporary searches fail to find her.
The eldest living of the (11) children, J P Maher travels to New York in September 1906, “to visit, my sister living in Long Branch, NJ”; the sister is Annie.
Annie now owns 3 properties in Longbranch; eventually this will rise to 7 houses.
Where has she been? How had she earned the money to buy so many properties aged only 40+?
We pick her up in 1884 working as Housekeeper for one of the wealthiest, influential families in New York; her mistress is Georgiana Arnold.
Apart from other groups Georgiana is close to a group of artists including her brother, and Annie goes with them as they travel the USA and Europe.
Annie would have developed a tidy nest egg living, as she did, virtually cost frees and with a good salary.
Georgiana, after 2 marriages and the death of her daughter dies in 1903.
At least 3 years earlier Annie had started buying property in Long Branch.
Annie is left a considerable sum in in Georgiana’s will.
Annie retires to Longbranch describing herself in a census return as “a capitalist”
She takes a long and slow descent into alcoholism.
In 1924 she is arrested for being “drunk and disorderly” and committed to Trenton Asylum as a "Lunatic".
Trenton is run by a psychologist Dr Cotton who has developed a theory that all insanity is caused by bodily infection and the way to cure it is to surgically remove infected body parts. Dr Cotton produces significant data to support his claim.
Dr Henry Cotton becomes an international celebrity, including a lecture tour of the UK. Birmingham Asylum, amongst others, adopts his surgical approach to curing insanity.
In the mean time, over more than a decade, he has extracted patients teeth, tonsils and adenoids, appendices, reproductive organs, parts of the bowel and intestines and more besides in his search to prove his cure; his practice is now replicated across the world.
You guessed it, Cotton is a charlatan and his evidence falsified; Cotton is eventually discredited after 15 years.
Annie survives Dr Cottons onslaught and dies in Trenton in 1949 aged 89. What has been inflicted on her in that time?
There are many side stories, two siblings (nuns) and New York cousins who are her “guardians” whilst she is in Trenton, from an Irish family rife with murder and intrigue .
Anyone know a good literary agent or publisher . I have now written a novel based on this synopsis, 68,000 words and 53 Chapters. Surely someone out there will want to publish it. Ring Peter on the 00 44 (0)1946 862 667.
| Additional Information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 14th Mar 1860 | |
| Date of Death | 8th Apr 1949 | |
