Napa-Yuba County CA Archives Biographies.....Wilkins, Edmund T. 1824 - 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 31, 2007, 6:38 pm

Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1891)

EDMUND T. WILKINS, M. D., Medical Superintendent of the Napa Insane Asylum, was
born in Montgomery County, Tennessee, October 20, 1824, and is the son of Dr.
Benjamin and Jane (Taylor) Wilkins. At the age of eighteen he entered William
and Mary College at Williamsburg, the former capital of Virginia, where he
graduated in 1844. This college was established by King William and Queen Mary,
and was in early colonial times the great institution of learning in the
Southern States, the alma mater of the immortal Jefferson and most of his
contemporary statesmen. After his graduation he removed to the South, passing
one year in Mississippi, where he managed his father's plantation near Jackson,
and then to the Attakapas country in Louisiana, where he cultivated a plantation
of 800 acres on the Bayou Teche, which, with the slaves to work it, he had
received from his father. This he sold, and in connection with a cousin
purchased a sugar plantation of 1,500 acres near New Iberia, where he lived for
two years. In March, 1849, he sailed for California in a vessel commanded by a
Captain Chasen, who having been several times wrecked was afraid of a lee shore,
so much so that he ran down about 62° south latitude, sixty-nine days south of
the Cape, though other vessels had rounded the Horn with studding sails set. At
one time they drifted 600 miles out of their course, returning to the same place
after thirty days. This so discouraged the captain and some of the passengers
that at the suggestion of Dr. Logan, the surgeon of the ship, it was proposed to
give up the voyage and return to New Orleans. But some of the passengers
consulted together and informed the captain that if he turned the bow of the
vessel to the east they would lock him in his cabin and place a man who had
already been selected as capable in charge. This was none other than Edwin
Goodall, then a seaman on this vessel, but now and for many years of the firm of
Groodall, Perkins & Co., of San Francisco. Such heroic treatment of the case
determined the captain to proceed to California; and, as if to aid him in
carrying out his good resolutions, the elements seemed to change in his favor,
the winds became favorable, and they reached their destination without further
irritating delays.

  After a short stay in San Francisco Dr. Wilkens engaged for a time in mining;
meanwhile he attempted to turn the Trinity River from its couse [sic] by means
of a sand-bag dam. This proved unsuccessful, and having spent the summer and all
his available means in this fruitless effort to compel the river to give up its
hidden treasures, he abandoned the mines forever. In 1853 he returned to his
native State and attended his first course of medical lectures at the Memphis
Medical College, where he graduated, after a second course, in 1861. He was
married in 1855 to Miss Matilda Fegram Brander, a native of Virginia, who died
in 1867. He has one son living, Benjamin S., who is now practicing law in Napa.
In 1877 he married Miss Camilla Price, a daughter of John R. Price, and a niece
of General Sterling Price of Missouri, of which State she is a native. The
maternal grandmother of Dr. Wilkins was Elizabeth Lewis, a daughter of Lawrence
Lewis and Eleanor Parke Custis; Lawrence Lewis being a nephew of General
Washington, while Eleanor Parke Custis was the daughter of John Custis, the son
of Mrs. Martha Washington; and he is probably the only descendant of Mrs.
Washington now living in California. On his return to California in 1854, after
disposing of his plantation in Louisiana, he brought with him thirteen of his
favorite slaves (who of course became free as soon as they landed in San
Francisco), purchased 160 acres of land on the Feather River in Yuba County, and
placed them in possession. They not only own this valuable farm now, but have
added 160 acres to it, and are living a most respectable life, prosperous and
happy.

  On receiving his diploma Dr. Wilkins removed to Marysville and has since given
undivided attention to the study and practice of his profession, particularly to
that branch which relates to the care and treatment of the insane. The Governor
of the State, H. H. Haight, having been authorized to appoint a commissioner to
compile all accessible information as to the construction and management of
asylums and the different modes of treatment of the insane, Dr. Wilkins was
chosen for the important mission. In carrying out this arduous undertaking he
visited some fifty of the leading institutions on this side of the Atlantic, and
then spent from March, 1870, to December, 1871, in traveling and inspecting
about 100 asylums of Great Britain and on the continent of Europe, comparing and
exchanging views with the most experienced, able and learned authorities on his
chosen specialty. Appointed by Governor Booth as one of the commissioners to
select a site for the new asylum, and also on the advisory board on the adoption
of suitable plans, his powerful influence in securing the additional
institution, his marked ability, and his intimate acquaintance with the whole
enterprise, naturally suggested this distinguished alienist as the proper person
to assume its management as resident physician. He was elected to this most
important position in 1876, and is now serving his fourth consecutive term as
superintendent. in 1885 Dr. Wilkins introduced into the Legislature a bill
providing for the establishment of a third institution, which was passed, and in
accordance with its provisions he was appointed one of five commissioners to
select a site for the same. This bill also required that the plans should be
approved by Dr. Wilkins and Dr. Brown of the Stockton Asylum before they could
be adopted by the board of trustees. The location selected was at Agnews, Santa
Clara County, near San Jose, and all the defects of the Stockton and Napa
asylums were avoided in its construction. It is to-day one of the most perfectly
planned institutions of the kind in the world. Dr. Wilkins has been a member of
the Masonic order since 1849, now belonging to Corinthian Lodge, No. 9, and
Washington Chapter No. 13, and Marys ville Commandery No. 7, Knights Templar. He
is also a member of Napa Lodge, No. 18, I. O. O. F.

  Aside from the profound knowledge and skill displayed as a specialist in his
profession, and which have won him high honors among the scientific students and
investigators of the causes and cure of insanity, his able management of the
institution under his charge has stamped Dr. Wilkins as a man of highest
administrative ability. The grounds are the perfection of landscape gardening. A
fine orchard and vegetable garden add greatly to the comfort of the inmates, and
the good order and general harmony among all connected with the great hospital
are evidences of the discriminating supervision of a master mind.

  The improvements now being made under the direction of the Doctor will make
the Napa Asylum as near perfection as is now possible with such an institution,
and surround it with the setting best calculated to ameliorate in the highest
degree possible the condition of the unfortunates under his charge. The
following account of the asylum and grounds, taken from the columns of the Napa
Register, of May 16, 1890, is sufficiently extended to give a very good idea of
the work which has been accomplished by Dr. Wilkins.

  California owns no finer property than that on which her asylum for the insane
is established near this city. It includes 1,187 acres of beautifully situated
hill and valley land and presents a picture of rare loveliness during most
seasons of the.year. Here nature's work has been performed with a lavish hand.
Her canons are wild and majestic, and through them the waters of winter roar and
the more gentle streams of spring and summer sing as they fall and flow toward
the system of pipes and reservoirs which gather and utilize them. Her hillsides
are carpeted with green and studded with oak, madrona and hazel, and here and
there, in the openings the invasion of man is marked by the broken earth and the
newly planted olive, apricot, peach or pear.

  Smooth roads of easy grades encircle these high places and at various points
command views, broad, extended and inspiring, because they cover the most
charming valley in the world, and take in mountain ranges that are punctuated to
the southwest by towering Tamalpais and are barred on the north by
horizon-kissing Mt. St. Helena. In rolling fields the live stock of the farm
finds rich pasture, and on the more level lands orchards bloom and bear luscious
fruitage; alfalfa that if irrigated yields five crops a year, and gardens grow
berries and vegetables that come fresh in their respective seasons in appetizing
form to the tables of officers, attendants and patients.

  The grand pile, erected by a considerate and generous State, at a cost of
$1,500,000, for the shelter and care of her unfortunate children, occupies a
most sightly place and casts no chill by surroundings which one might expect to
find "crazy." The honey-suckle clambers up its walls, clings to the columns of
its grand porches and fills the air with sweet and fragrant perfume. A roadway,
ninety feet wide, 1,600 feet long and as smooth and well rolled as well
sprinkled gravel can make .it, leads from the main county road to its portals,
and on either side of this carriage drive there is a wide walk, arched over with
the branches and foliage of ornamental trees and bordered by variegated plants
and blossoms, where friends, lovers or those who meet by chance may promenade.

  The two infirmaries, one on the south, the other on the north side of the main
structure, are fast approaching completion. They will cost in the neighborhood
of $30,000, and will accommodate the sick of the two sexes in a manner not
possible with the present limited room.

  In the grounds are ornamental trees and shrubs and flowering plants of the
choicer varieties to be found. These are in charge of a skillful gardener, Mr.
Chalmers, who scours every promising field for the rare and beautiful and
propagates from seeds and tender slips what cannot be transplanted in a large
hothouse provided for his convenience. Drives, walks, arbors, cosy retreats,
grassy lawns, croquet grounds, shaded settees and every means and appliance that
a fertile brain could suggest are here found and liberally enjoyed by the
multitude with minds diseased—unfortunate ones in one sense, extremely fortunate
in another.

  The number of patients in the institution at the present time is 1,341—777 men
and 564 women. The number committed to the institution monthly exceeds that of
those who drop out by discharge, death and elopement. On April 26, were
received, fewer than usual; sixteen were discharged and nine died—more than
usual. Thus far, in May, seventeen have been received, nine discharged, two have
died and two have escaped.

  The wants of these people are looked after by the resident physician, Dr. E.
T. Wilkins, and his three assistants, Drs. L. F. Dozier, A. M. Gardner and
Griesbach Smith. A large corps of experienced attendants, male and female, are
employed in the various wards and yards, and on the grounds strict surveillance
is maintained over those who find a temporary or permanent abiding place as
patients in the institution.

  The State is most fortunate in having a man like Dr. Wilkins in charge of such
a grand charity. In him medical and executive skill are happily combined. Having
first made a study of the insane and their care and treatment in our own and in
foreign lands, he was placed in charge of this institution SOOB after its
establishment and has since performed a work which probably not one man in a
thousand similarly situated would have attempted, to say nothing of
accomplishing. First, he recognized the great need of all public institutions of
the kind —water. With plenty of pure water he knew that the most wholesome fare
would be insured for the many mouths to be fed; life and property would be
protected against fire; the farm would be made to blossom as the rose. So, with
the I work of opening roads, building fences, planting orchards, etc., he
prosecuted vigorously that other work of developing new resources of j water
supply. The result is to-day seen in lakes and reservoirs, which no rainless
season could run dry, which no fire-fiend could easily exhaust. Lakes Camille,
Como and Lucerne, like a three-leafed clover, beautify the landscape above and
back of the asylum. They are now full of catchment water and overflow from the
streams, springs and tunnels that supply  the institution through a well planned
system of mains. Near the asylum building, and 150 feet above their base, is a
fine reservoir in which 3,000,000 gallons of water are stored, and upon which
draught is made only in case of fire or drill by the fire department. With these
sources at hand, water can be used without stint in irrigating grounds,
sprinkling roads and freshening vegetation.

  The live-stock on the place is sleek and fat. The best blood is drawn upon in
breeding and in the stables and pasture. The visitor to-day sees young and
trimly-built roadsters growing into horsehood and draft animals that would do
credit to any stock farm in the country. From fifty to seventy-five cows
represent the dairy feature of the place and furnish milk and cream to the
asylum population of 1,400 or more.

  The orchards are in fine shape. Of cherries there will be a good crop. The
pear trees are also heavily loaded. In spots peach trees are suffering from curl
leaf and the yield of that fruit and apricots will be light. The almond trees,
which line one of the back avenues, and those in the vicinity of the Hermitage,
are pretty well loaded, and the older olive trees (there are about three acres
of these on the farm) will bear this year. A quantity of fig trees have just
been planted. The vineyards are in prime order, and the vines are clean and
thrifty and well set with fruit.

  The work of the farm is carried on with the help of the patients, who, to the
number of about seventy, labor faithfully and cheerfully in various capacities
on different parts of the property. Some were yesterday plowing, others were
digging and hoeing about trees, others were teaming. They give little trouble
under the wise management that directs them.

  The cottage plan for caring for the insane is exemplified at what is called
the "Hermitage." Here in cheaply constructed cabins a number of patients eat and
sleep, and on the ground surrounding their little homes they grow produce, make
gardens and employ their time in a way that is agreeable to themselves and
profitable to the property. Mr. Barrington, a patient, is proprietor of the
Hermitage and acts the part of host in a most gracious manner, appreciating
greatly the praise of the visitor who admires and expresses wonder at his work.
Near by, the "Little Giant," another peculiar character, resides. He has made an
attractive spot in the wilderness where he lives by building walks among the
rocks, making crooked ways straight and rough places smooth. He raises poultry
and has a basement to his chicken house.

  But we must not weary the reader. A visit is more enjoyable than can be a
recital, and to those who drive or walk we say, occasionally pay a visit to the
Napa Asylum, as we did yesterday, and you will more highly appreciate the public
institutions of your country and the favor that Napa finds in having so
important a one within her boundaries.

  A pictorial view of the above described institution is given opposite page 168.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California.

Illustrated, Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast
from the Earliest Period of its Occupancy to the Present Time, together with
Glimpses of its Prospective Future; Full-Page Steel Portraits of its most
Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers and also of
Prominent Citizens of To-day.

"A people that takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendents." – Macauley.

CHICAGO
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1891.


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/napa/bios/wilkins618gbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cafiles/

File size: 16.8 Kb