Family Life
Shortly after birth, Washburn was diagnosed with epilepsy. Cadwallader Colden Washburn married Jeanette Garr, daughter of Elizabeth Sinclair Garr and Andrew Sheffield Garr on January 1, 1849. Both were 30 at the time. The couple brought their first daughter, Jeanette (Nettie) Garr Washburn, into the world in 1850. After giving birth to Nettie, Jeanette showed signs of mental illness. After the birth of their second daughter, Frances (Fanny), in 1852, Washburn made arrangements for his wife's care at the Bloomingdale Asylum. Later she was transferred to an institution in Brookline, Massachusetts, where she remained until her death at age 90 in 1909.
Washburn donated the Edgewood Villa estate to the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters of Madison, Wisconsin in 1881. The Edgewood Villa later became Edgewood College, and Edgewood High School. Nearly a year later, in 1882, he died. After his death his estate had an estimated value of between two and three million dollars. In his will, Cadwallader left money to his daughter as well as other members of his family. However, the largest portion was set aside to pay for the care of his wife, Jeanette. After Washburn's death in 1882 a tradition was started at Edgewood College of celebrating "Washburn Day" in June.
Read more about this topic: Cadwallader C. Washburn
Famous quotes related to family life:
“Being so wrong about her makes me wonder now how often I am utterly wrong about myself. And how wrong she might have been about her mother, how wrong he might have been about his father, how much of family life is a vast web of misunderstandings, a tinted and touched-up family portrait, an accurate representation of fact that leaves out only the essential truth.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)