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Research in Other Countries => United States of America => Topic started by: Ranolki on Tuesday 19 August 25 21:51 BST (UK)
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I am just beginning some research into a family member and I have pieced together some info so far and I’m not sure where to go next. Pointers would be great please!
To sum things up, this person was born in 1912 and seems to have developed an illness called Encephalitis Lethargica in the late 1920s. It seems he was finally sent to the US in the late 1940s where he was operated on. This was partially successful - he was left with some paralysis and some areas with no sensitivity to heat, cold or pain (probably 50% of his body affected by each). But it seems this was seen as preferable to his previous condition.
I remember him well (although no-one ever mentioned this US trip) and I remember he had a scar which seemed to run down his spine, symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, he walked with a leg iron, slurred his speech and had the paralysis and other problems described above.
I only found out about the trip to the US recently and I would love to research more. My first look was with the ancestry.co.uk info on immigration but I had no luck finding him. I know there is some way of accessing actual immigration information, although I’m not sure how at the moment. He could not have travelled alone so there would be information for a companion too. Also, because they were not a wealthy family I think there may have been some Red Cross/Salvation Army involvement in getting him there. I understand he could have been treated via a spinal pyramidotomy by someone named Tracy Putnam or a colleague. His clinics were at Cedars of Lebanon in California, the Neurological Institute in New York or the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Also possibly Johns Hopkins…
I seem to remember there was a film a few years ago on this very topic but in that the patients were all suffering with narcolepsy. Apparently that was the same illness - just a different progression.
His name was Horace Westwood and he died in 1976 I believe, and left no children. I think it would be a way of honouring his memory to find out a bit more about what he went through…
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Horace Cyril Westwood b 22.9.1912. What is the cause of death on his 1976 death cert?
Do you have any documentary evidence of the treatment you describe. How do you know about Tracy Putnam & where did you get details of the name of the spinal procedure?
Have you considered contacting any of the hospitals you mention although it's doubtful any records would exist from 100yrs ago?
There is a tree on Ancestry showing he married in 1975 when he would have been 63yrs old
His occupation in 1939 does not sound like that of somebody who displayed the symptoms you describe - particularly the leg iron (although that may have been in later life)
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Could this be the doctor you speak of?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracy_Putnam
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There are a lot of passenger lists online, including on free sites like familysearch.org. Various links here - https://www.germanroots.com/onlinelists.html Also, don't rule out that he might have come by way of Canada, especially if he might have been going to Minnesota. https://www.germanroots.com/international-passenger-lists.html
I haven't seen anything that looks like a likely match, but if there are any living family members who might have traveled with him, you could try looking for them.
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Birmingham Gazette 6 August 1936
Horace Cyril Westwood age 24 a farm labourer and two others were convicted of assault against some youths they thought were laughing at them because they were wearing black shirts.
Between 1900 and 1920 there were three births for Horace C Westwood but only one is a Horace Cyril so the above looks like your man,
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Thank you for that. Interesting about the assault charges, that’s a new one to me but that’s definitely him. He was described as a farm labourer there although I know he was never able to work after the illness. Perhaps people just stuck with their original work status? I don’t think I’ve seen the 1939 Register for him at the moment.
Yes he married very late in life, prior to that he had always lived with his family. His wife was a lovely lady he met via the Red Cross and she had been left severely disabled after contracting measles as a child.
I have no firm information on what happened in the US other than my mother (now deceased) who was newly married and living in that same family home at the time, later told me about him going to the US for treatment. It must have been a major event within the family as, other than other sons’ wartime service overseas, they were not the sort of family to travel abroad. My own research suggests the treatment was pioneered by Tracy Putnam and although there were other treatments also pioneered in the UK, I’m relying on my mother’s memory of the circumstances. At the moment i have no real idea where he went etc so I’m trying to find his passage/arrival to see if that helps. As you say, it’s probably unlikely medical records still exist with the hospitals. Might be worth a try though!
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It looks like he's listed as a farm worker (cowman) in 1939.
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See reply 1 re 1939 entry in relation to his "leg iron"
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I'm not sure where you are going with this, do you mean you don't think that he was ever seriously ill or went to the US for treatment?
As I said, my memories of him (and we spent much time together when I was a child) were that he walked with a very heavy limp dragging his right leg, wore a boot with an iron brace (colloquially called leg irons in those days) which fastened under his knee, held his right arm bent very stiffly into his waist and so could not write, spoke with very slurred speech, suffered debilitating headaches and on the side of his body that was not paralysed he had no sensation to hot, cold or pain. He also had a scar with noticeably stitch marks running down the back of his neck and all these would have been after the operation. I also know that this whole catalogue of problems was seen by him and his whole family generally as an improvement on his original condition, which would have been called post encephalitic parkinsonism.
This is a description of encephalitis lethargica. There seems to have been an epidemic of this in the late 1920s - Typical ongoing signs of encephalitis lethargica include a spectrum of neurological symptoms such as marked sleepiness (hypersomnia), eye movement disorders (like double vision), and parkinsonian-like symptoms (tremors, stiffness, slow movement) appearing months to years later. These chronic signs are often preceded by acute, fluctuating symptoms like flu-like illness, fever, headache, confusion, and behavioural changes. 20% of the cases resulted in death. As I said above, I do personally remember he had a scar running down the back of his neck and looking at the experimental pyramidotomy treatment that Tracy Puttnam pioneered, the usual operation would have involved cutting into segment C2 of the spinal cord. The C2 vertebra is just below neck level so the scar would have been several inches long, just as I remember.
Pre-illness he had been a farm worker and I don't see why that description could not be carried forward into that Court Case or into the 1939 Register, even if he was not actively employed. I know he had friends throughout his life and they did see that he was able to go out and about. As an example, his old employer, a Mr Palmer, used to pick him up by car to take him out to follow hunts. Although I had no idea about the court case and it seems a bit out of character from what I knew of him, it obviously really happened (perhaps the behavioural changes mentioned had something to do with that?). There is no doubt he actually had this condition and I know he was unable to work from being a very young man, the area I didn't originally know about was the US treatment.
So, my interest now is how he would have got to the US, where he went once he was there and who went with him (as he was unable to travel alone). My mother (now deceased) remembers him actually going to the US but no one had ever mentioned it independently to me so it was a surprise when I realised what had happened. I obviously have no knowledge of his condition prior to the operation, but if his condition (and therefore his life generally) afterwards is any indicator, then it must have been pretty awful. The family were always huge supporters of Red Cross and Salvation Army and I think both of them had schemes to assist in cases like this, although finding records might be a problem...
This is me as a very happy little four year old with my favourite uncle Holl. You can see how he has such a stiff right arm. He died in 1976 and the cause of death was given as pneumonia.
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I thought CaroleW was annoyed that I was giving information in response to you saying that you hadn't seen the 1939 register, so I'm not really sure what was meant by her comment.
I don't know what the rules on there were for giving employment information. Maybe he had done that work in the past, or maybe he had an employer who gave him very limited work to do to keep him busy and feeling like he was productive. It's probably one of those things where you can only make a best guess.
I didn't see any passenger list that seemed to fit with him going to the US, but I don't know if they're 100% comprehensive for that era.
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My comment re the 1939 register was based on my thoughts that a cow keeper would have to be a relatively fit person given the size & weight of cows - plus their unpredictability.
The description of his disabilities - particularly the paralysis - didn’t seem to fit that type of occupation nor did wearing a leg iron or having a stiff arm.
However - I don’t know what period Ranolki was spending time with him so it may be that his condition had worsened after 1939.
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Thanks. I was born after he had that operation so my memories are only of the effects from that. He was quite a lot older than my father and always lived at home with his parents. My father often commented that he may have been disabled but he had an acid tongue and kept his younger siblings in order! He was still not self-sufficient though and the highlight of his life was an annual trip with the Red Cross to various centres in places like Northallerton. They weren't hotels - I think they may have been a type of hostel for people with disabilities. My grandmother was effectively his carer throughout and he only left home to marry. I think at that point my grandmother felt her usefulness was over and she died not long afterwards. I also think that despite everything he was still contented with his lot, which is heartening given his problems.
I was very close to him as a child, he was a real countryman despite being so disabled. We used to go everywhere together, me holding his hand to slow him down and him speeding along with his lurching limp. He would send me off into the hedgerows looking for bird nests, dormice and lost golfballs in the local woods. People didn't understand him and I became his translator, even with cousins who didn't see him as often as me. It would probably be seen as very strange in today's climate I suppose... But I DO know he hadn't worked since he was a teenager and if his disabilities after the operation were an improvement then I can only assume he was severely impaired beforehand.
I don't think all that many people were sent to the US for the operation so I'm assuming they were selected for either the severity of their disability or after some sort of assessment of likely success. It was very experimental, and looking at how they re-sectioned nerves etc, it was dangerous too. I'm trying to find numbers and I have seen mention of 30, although at the moment I'm not sure if that is per group sent or a total. From my memories of him, he would have been pretty fearless about being one of the people taking part. It seems the NHS in those early days (this would have been right around its inception) didn't generally send people overseas so the whole thing will have been funded by either donations or a charity. All avenues to explore but I wanted to see if I could find him actually travelling and find some dates etc.
In fact I've just found an interesting one on Family Search, arriving into NY by AIR in December 1949 (apparently via Bermuda). It seems to suggest an Army connection so it may not fit, but I'm heartened to find a start!
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Also, having checked the NYC address given (the SSMC & A club in Manhattan) and info on that club, there is every likelihood they would have accommodated the son of a WWl veteran or siblings of WW2 servicemen (both applied) in his circumstances. So this December 1949 arrival may well be him. I'll see if I can find anything about him going home again...
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I've since spoken to an older cousin who remembers visiting him as a small child in London after a SECOND operation in around 1951/52. She remembers he was brought outside to see them. The operation there was ultimately unsuccessful. It seems this may have been the National Neurological Hospital in Bloomsbury or possibly he was at the recovery hospital in Wimbledon. Both had outside areas for visitors. And both seem to have records available to check. So, depending on what I can find there, it may refer to the initial procedure in the US too and possibly pin down the dates. I still like the December 1949 arrival as being potentially him though, although I don't see anything about him returning to theUK at the moment. I understand the records are not totally complete though...