According to a single picture in the possession of Elsie's daughter, Elsie was an attractive, blonde haired woman in her youth. At some time around 1914-1915 Elsie suffered an incapacitating mental collapse. According to documents she suffered from hallucinations and paranoid thoughts that others were "out to get her" and the breaking point must have come when she threatened her husband with a kitchen knife. It was at this point that her husband, with the support of Elsie's family, would commit her to the Arizona State Hospital where she would remain until her death in 1961. Strangely prior to her collapse, Elsie's younger brother, Joseph Prosper, suffered the same type of mental breakdown and had been sent to the same hospital where he would die some time before 1920. Upon her trip to the hospital, Elsie's children were told she had died and never saw their mother again. According to neighbors her husband tried to be a good father and mother in her absence but died unexpectedly in 1922 leaving his two children orphaned.
Elsie appears to have been named after an aunt - Elsi Trackwell - from her mother's side.
Elsie was the sister of Margaret Eleanor 'Nellie' (nee Prosper) Wimbish, grandmother of congressman Thomas Dale Delay, of Texas.
Elsie appears to have been named after an aunt - Elsi Trackwell - from her mother's side.
Elsie was the sister of Margaret Eleanor 'Nellie' (nee Prosper) Wimbish, grandmother of congressman Thomas Dale Delay, of Texas.
According to a single picture in the possession of Elsie's daughter, Elsie was an attractive, blonde haired woman in her youth. At some time around 1914-1915 Elsie suffered an incapacitating mental collapse. According to documents she suffered from hallucinations and paranoid thoughts that others were "out to get her" and the breaking point must have come when she threatened her husband with a kitchen knife. It was at this point that her husband, with the support of Elsie's family, would commit her to the Arizona State Hospital where she would remain until her death in 1961. Strangely prior to her collapse, Elsie's younger brother, Joseph Prosper, suffered the same type of mental breakdown and had been sent to the same hospital where he would die some time before 1920. Upon her trip to the hospital, Elsie's children were told she had died and never saw their mother again. According to neighbors her husband tried to be a good father and mother in her absence but died unexpectedly in 1922 leaving his two children orphaned.
Elsie appears to have been named after an aunt - Elsi Trackwell - from her mother's side.
Elsie was the sister of Margaret Eleanor 'Nellie' (nee Prosper) Wimbish, grandmother of congressman Thomas Dale Delay, of Texas.
Elsie appears to have been named after an aunt - Elsi Trackwell - from her mother's side.
Elsie was the sister of Margaret Eleanor 'Nellie' (nee Prosper) Wimbish, grandmother of congressman Thomas Dale Delay, of Texas.
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