Elizabeth Ware Packard’s life’s work went beyond the typical “womanly” sphere of raising her children and keeping a clean house. After a horrific experience of being legally imprisoned by her husband in a mental hospital, she spent the rest of her life bringing awareness and legal change to the rights of married women, and the treatment of women with mental illness by their husbands, society, and the medical establishments that were intended to protect them.
Elizabeth (Betsy) Parsons Ware Packard was born in Ware, Massachusetts, on December 28, 1816. Papa was a gregarious minister, Mama was an extraordinary homemaker, and Elizabeth was raised in a home that prioritized education, conversation, and curiosity for all.
At 19, Elizabeth contracted a mysterious illness that left her father with few options and he had her admitted to a mental hospital. Her stay was several months of traumatic treatments for her diagnosis of “brain fever,” a name for any number of physical or mental illnesses, from depression to meningitis.
At 22, she married Theophilus Packard Jr., a minister 15 years her senior. Elizabeth was a phenomenal preacher’s wife: she perfectly managed the house, made all her family’s clothes, raised their six children, and was creative and curious. When her husband wanted to move from Massachusetts to the Midwest, she was game for the adventure.
The family settled down in Manteno, Illinois, where Theo was a minister at a Calvinist church, but here is where the couple and their church both had a schism. The old school of Calvinist thought was very strict- our way or the highway to hell; the new school of thought was more tolerant of other beliefs and progressive. Theo was of the old school, and Elizabeth was not only in agreement with the new school of thought, but her brain kept going and learning about the thoughts of all kinds of other religions, too.
Leo wanted his wife to obey him and his teachings without question; Elizabeth didn’t want to obey this man alone. She loved questioning, debating, and learning of things outside of church doctrine. She was also engaging and likable, and he was…not. Because of the laws of the time, he was able to have her committed to the Jacksonville Insane Asylum in Illinois. Obviously, there is more to the story. Give a listen to the podcast to hear all the scheming of her husband to have her sent away, the horrible treatment that Elizabeth saw and experienced in the hospital, and her utter lack of freedom and control over her life when she was demonstratively not mentally ill.
All this for the “crime” of speaking her mind.
For over three years, Elizabeth was held in the mental hospital, away from her children. Theo even found ways to “punish” her from his home, where he was allowed to raise their children and tell them that their mom was “insane.” It will make your blood boil with anger, we promise.
Elizabeth made good use of her time in the hospital. She helped other women, and she wrote down everything. She wanted to be able to support herself once she was released and not have to rely on Theo for anything, and thought writing about her experience would be a way to do that.
While her doctor insisted that she was “incurable,” she was released in 1863 when she was 47. When she arrived home, Theo hadn’t changed at all, he still wanted to oppress his wife. Neither wanted a divorce, but they did land in court where she successfully sued him to have herself declared legally sane.
Elizabeth didn’t stop there; she had come out of the asylum with a ream of paper filled with her experiences. While her no-good husband absconded with the minor kids, she started writing. And writing. And writing. She sold so much of what she wrote, and gave talks about her experience, that she was able to not only support herself, but her kids, too. She spoke to groups, legislatures, even a meeting with the President himself. She was able to help change state and local laws, and brought awareness to the plight of the mentally ill and the lack of legal rights for married women.
Elizabeth died on July 28, 1897 at the age of 80.
Time Travel With The History Chicks
Books!
You can read some of her books online, including this one with a very long title: MARITAL POWER EXEMPLIFIED IN MRS. PACKARD’S TRIAL AND SELF-DEFENCE FROM THE CHARGE OF INSANITY; OR THREE YEARS’ IMPRISONMENT FOR RELIGIOUS BELIEF BY THE ARBITRARY WILL OF A HUSBAND WITH AN APPEAL TO THE GOVERNMENT TO SO CHANGE THE LAWS AS TO AFFORD LEGAL PROTECTION TO MARRIED WOMEN. ( The title seems impressive enough to shout.)
Web!
Packed with Packards! It’s a blog by a Packard descendant about all things Packard.
Journalist Nellie Bly wrote about the conditions at a mental “hospital” and you can learn more about that, and her, on our Nellie Bly episode #20 (in the way, way back machine!)
End music: Drag Me Down by Conditional, used with permission by Epidemic Sound
