THE HISTORIAN’S CORNER

by L. Jane Tracy, Town of Onondaga Historian

                                 “VIPs in the Poorhouse”  

     The more we dig into those old Poorhouse files, the more interesting the information we find!  How about a famous artist, a published poet, and even one of America’s oldest living chorus girls, residing and dying there at the Poorhouse? 

     An archivist with CXTec in Syracuse, Nancy Maliwesky, has been doing research for the Pomeroy Foundation, and asked if we had heard of “The Hermit Poet of Skaneateles”.  It seems a gentleman named Brainard Munn lived at the Poorhouse from 1901 to 1916.  In searching our Poorhouse ledgers, we find Brainard Mull (later changed to Munn) was admitted to the Poorhouse on May 2, 1901 because of Vagrancy.  Brainard was 63 years old, Single; his birthplace: Sandwich Islands; father’s birthplace: Connecticut; mother’s birthplace: New York.  Brainard’s education was listed as “Academic”.  Nancy’s research found that his parents were missionaries – hence the birth in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) in 1838.   Brainard’s mother died and father took the two boys back to mother’s home in Skaneateles.  As a young man, Brainard traveled around, joined the Cavalry in 1861, moved back to Skaneateles where he wrote a novel, was thwarted in love, and moved to the woods (hence “the hermit poet of Skaneateles”).  In 1901 he began his fifteen year sojourn in the Poorhouse.  On April 25, 1916 he disappeared and hours later his hat and cane were found on the bank of the reservoir (Pogey Pond).  When no one claimed his body, it was sent to the School of Medicine at S.U.  What an ignominious end for a gentleman with a hat and cane!  But there is a bit of a silver lining – I think Brainard would like to know that Nancy, a gifted musician, has written a ballad about his life and sings it when she accompanies me to my “Poorhouse Story” presentations.    

     And then we have the portrait painter who came to the Poorhouse in 1891.  Several years ago, Dick Case wrote an article about Joseph Allen Haskell, a portrait painter who died in the Poorhouse.  Our ledgers show that Haskell was admitted to the Poorhouse on 5 June 1891, age 82, Widower, Birthplace: Berkshire County, U.S.  Education was listed as “Common School”; Occupation: Artist; Cause of Dependence: Sickness.  Haskell had been at the House of Good Shepherd for 4 weeks.  Dick’s article says: “He was broke, bent and walked in the dark shadows of the street when he roamed the city peddling crayon drawings he had scribbled in his rented room”.  Haskell had been one of the last of the itinerant painters, traveling from Troy to New York to Michigan to Auburn and finally to Syracuse in 1864.  While in Ann Arbor, Michigan, he was commissioned and painted a portrait of Lewis Cass who was the U.S. Senator from the state and was a presidential candidate against James K. Polk.  The commission fell through, but Haskell believed the painting one of his best and carried it with him during his travels.  The last it was seen was on the wall of his room in Syracuse.  Haskell painted portraits of people all over New York State, including the families of Judge James Lawrence and the Hartshorns of Syracuse, and the Cummings family in Marcellus.  Also missing is a portrait of William Seward of Auburn.  (Check your attic – maybe you have a Haskell in the cobwebs!)  Joseph Allen Haskell died at the Poorhouse on 27 March 1894. 

     Also found in our archives were newspaper articles regarding Miss Nellie McQuade, one of America’s oldest living chorus girls, who declared she was “still stage-struck at 97”.  Born at Pratts Hollow, Madison County, Nov. 18, 1841, Miss McQuade enjoyed a brief stage career during the Civil War period when she left home at age 19 to join Holman’s English Opera Troupe in Utica, a popular musical comedy group.  Nellie remained with the company for two years, touring upstate towns along the Erie Canal.  Little is known of her later life.  Miss McQuade was taken from a Market Street rooming house to the county home (Poorhouse) Dec. 21, 1928, when she was 87 years old.  A newspaper article written on her 87^th birthday says:  “Spry and mentally alert, Miss McQuade entertained newspapermen with a short monologue and a few steps of an Irish jig.”  Miss Nellie McQuade died at the Onondaga County Hospital at age 97, on Dec. 31, 1938. 

     Frantic searching of the Poorhouse files found the photo I remembered – the little fellow in the top hat and vest!  I knew I’d seen it, but couldn’t remember who he was, except that he had been in the Poorhouse.  The article appeared in a local newspaper around 1892.  The newspaper article says:

     “Steifer Kunrad”, the old cripple who escaped from the poorhouse a few weeks ago to continue his lifelong search for a wife, is back at the “county home” on Onondaga Hill, and his spirit is broken and his constitution shattered.  ……All his friends advised him to go back to the county house, where he would be taken care of, but he grew indignant as this advice was offered and would not listen to it. …..  In previous summers he has managed to live comfortably during the summer by the charity of his friends, and would probably be helped sufficiently this year, but he is so weak that sickness is likely to come upon him at any time. …….    His right name is Conrad Litz.”

Searching the Poorhouse ledgers has revealed nothing about either Steifer Kunrad or Conrad Litz, but we won’t stop looking.  It’ll turn up – maybe with another completely different last name for the dapper “Kunrad/Conrad”.