Amanda Ruble Mystery

 The things you learn when you dig a little deeper. . . .

While poking around in Ruble genealogy—specifically the children of my great-great grandfather James A. Ruble (1812-1894) and his wife Lavesta—sometimes spelled Levesta—Caldwell (1827-1867) who lived in Craig County, Virginia— I noticed that three siblings of my great-grandfather, George "William" Ruble (1861-1935) did not fare well. 

Death reports told me his sister, Nancy Melvina (18 May 1858-25 July 1859) died of either "brain fever" or "dropsy of brain," depending on which death register you look at. She had been ill for seven days. William was probably the next born after her death. His older brother Henry R. (1854-1876), a farmer who hadn't been married very long, died of "fever" when William was 15. William, of course, never knew his older sister, but he would have grown up with Henry. William must have been about eight years old when his mother died— his father remarried in March 1869—and still a teenager when Henry died. I wonder how he coped with these sad situations.

But the saddest situation might be what became of his oldest sister Amanda (1847-1908). She had married Oscar Nyes Via in 1877, and they'd had four daughters—Emma Susan (b. 1877), Ella Della (b.1879), Annie E. (b. 1882), and Edith Frances (b. 1887). Oscar (who was a few  years younger than Amanda) died in 1893 when he was only 38, so Amanda—in her forties—was left to raise four young girls alone. She didn't remarry. How did she manage? It's a mystery. All her daughters grew up and got married, though. They were 31, 29, 26, and 21 when Amanda died in 1908. Surely they were able to look after her in her last years. But apparently they didn't.

Since November 1906, Amanda had been a patient at Western State Hospital in Staunton Virginia where she suffered from "senile dementia." Her death two years later was reported to be caused by "inanition," so she apparently starved to death. Was she refusing to eat? Did no one check to make sure she had food? Or did she have a medical condition that caused her to waste away? 

Amanda C. Ruble Via is buried in plot 5#48 in the Western State Hospital Cemetery in Staunton, Virginia. Here are some photos of the graveyard from the Western State Hospital Cemetery website:

How did Amanda come to be at Western State Hospital? Why did her daughters not provide a proper burial for her in the Ruble cemetery? I guess these mysteries won't be solved.

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