The name was Germanized to Pertit, as is visible on the picture of the family marker at the West Dundee Cemetery. In the United States, where all the children were born, their parents let them choose whether to spell it Pertiet or Perteit. -- Sue Ann Harfst
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Thanks to a new Illinois death certificate index I was able to confirm where my Great Uncle Ed Pertiet died. Ed was my Grandfather Walter Pertiet's younger brother. I always knew that he was in a mental institution in or near Kankakee, IL but as there are several there I never knew which one. I even scoured the 1950 census for each institution around the area and no luck until now. I did find Flo living with her parents in 1950.
Ed was never mentally ill, but had epilepsy. As you can see from the attached newspaper clipping from 1911 he fell, hurt his spine and ended up with meningitis. He suffered from epilepsy for his entire life after that and his wife Flo committed him to Manteno State Hospital. I was told he used to do the books for the hospital until his death in 1963. Attached are two photos of Ed and his wife Flo.
Interesting and disturbing article on the Manteno State Hospital in Kankakee, IL including medical experiments done (link in the comments). He was there during the time of those and I'm sure he was very aware of what was going on if not having them performed on him as well.
ETA: I believe that Ed was committed in the early 1940s. I have him living in Dundee on the 1940 census. I was told that my Grandfather Walter would visit him in the mental hospital but as he died in 1942 Ed would have been there before that time (1940-42). -- Randy Pertiet, 2/4/2023
The name was Germanized to Pertit, as is visible on the picture of the family marker at the West Dundee Cemetery. In the United States, where all the children were born, their parents let them choose whether to spell it Pertiet or Perteit. -- Sue Ann Harfst
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks to a new Illinois death certificate index I was able to confirm where my Great Uncle Ed Pertiet died. Ed was my Grandfather Walter Pertiet's younger brother. I always knew that he was in a mental institution in or near Kankakee, IL but as there are several there I never knew which one. I even scoured the 1950 census for each institution around the area and no luck until now. I did find Flo living with her parents in 1950.
Ed was never mentally ill, but had epilepsy. As you can see from the attached newspaper clipping from 1911 he fell, hurt his spine and ended up with meningitis. He suffered from epilepsy for his entire life after that and his wife Flo committed him to Manteno State Hospital. I was told he used to do the books for the hospital until his death in 1963. Attached are two photos of Ed and his wife Flo.
Interesting and disturbing article on the Manteno State Hospital in Kankakee, IL including medical experiments done (link in the comments). He was there during the time of those and I'm sure he was very aware of what was going on if not having them performed on him as well.
ETA: I believe that Ed was committed in the early 1940s. I have him living in Dundee on the 1940 census. I was told that my Grandfather Walter would visit him in the mental hospital but as he died in 1942 Ed would have been there before that time (1940-42). -- Randy Pertiet, 2/4/2023
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