Page 21 - The CRAIG family

The National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers was established on March 3, 1865 in the United States by Congress and signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln to provide care for volunteer soldiers who had been disabled through loss of limb, wounds, disease or injury during service in the Union forces in the American Civil War. The Asylum was later called the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers or more commonly the “Home”. The “Central Branch” in Dayton was the largest and most ambitious of the three original soldiers’ national homes established by the US Government following the Civil War. The Veterans Administration was formed in 1930 and on July 21, 1930, the Veterans Bureau, the Bureau of Pensions and the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers were consolidated into the VA.
On August 21, 1933, Alvah was transferred to the Marion, Indiana branch, and remained there until his death June 29, 1934. (In 1926 The Marion Branch of this Veterans Administration Facility, was conducted solely as a psychiatric hospital for World War I veterans.)
Alvah was 43 years old when he died. The cause of death was General Paralysis of the Insane.
General Paralysis of the Insane or Paralytic Dementia, is a severe neuropsychiatric disorder, classified as an organic mental disorder and caused by the chronic meningoencephalitis that leads to cerebral atrophy in late-stage syphilis. The disease affects approximately 7% of infected individuals and it prevails among men.
Symptoms of the disease first appear from 10-30 years after infection. As the disease progresses, mental deterioration and personality changes occur. Definitive diagnosis is based on the analysis of cerebrospinal fluid and tests for syphilis. Once patient is diagnosed the patient is seldom able to return home because the complexity, severity and unmanageability. Eventually, the patient becomes completely incapacitated, bedfast and dies – the process taking about 3-5 years on average.
Alvah is buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis. Murt applied for a headstone in September 1934 and was approved by The War Department in October 1934. The military headstone:
Alvah E Craig, Corporal, Co. “E” 323rd Infantry, June 29, 1934
While Alvah was in the hospital, Murt was a hairdresser and continued to work at the Marmalade Beauty Salon and she lived with her sister. She died April 16, 1974, at the age of 85, in the Crest View Manor Nursing Home in Indianapolis. Cause of Death: Arteriosclerosis
Ruby – We do not have a birth date for Ruby, but we do know that she was a baby and that she died In November 1893. The Jeffersonville News dated November 20, 1893:
“Baby, little daughter of Allen Craig was buried yesterday at New Chapel” *******
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