Mary Eicher

  General Notes:

Following her husband's death, Mary's own health deteriorated to the point where the neighbors claimed "she was wasting away her property" and judged to be a lunatic. In 1877, Mary Kemp was transported to Dixmont, now an abandoned building once associated with the West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh. Mary was one of 239 people admitted that year, 103 of whom were females. There she lived until her death in 1879 at the age of 74. She was one of 56 people who died at Dixmont that year. Court papers indicated she died a lunatic. The cost for boarding Mary Kemp at Dixmont for those 62 weeks amounted to 310, or $5 per week. In addition to that cost, the family was charged $435 for a "Ten Times Trouble Expense." There was no written reason why Mary Kemp caused so much trouble.
There were six "good and lawful" men who judged Mary Kemp as a lunatic. They were Silas A. Kline, Attorney; F. T. Goodlin; John G. Fisher, John W. Stewart, Sheriff; David Shaw, and Lucien Clawson. Those men who gave testimony against Mary Kemp's lifestyle were Daniel Reamer, Merchant; Henry Coshey, Undertaker; John L Hacke, son of the Rev. Nicholas P. Hacke.
Mary and Levi Kemp were originally buried in the Old German Cemetery on South Main Street but were later moved to Union Cemetery.


I had an opportunity to visit Dixmont in September 2002. The buildings, in considerable ruin, still stand on 400 acres of ground in Emsworth (on the Ohio River) just north of Pittsburgh, PA. I was given permission to photograph the area by the owner's son, Tim Stroyne. Eventually, Dixmont will be demolished to make way for a Super WalMart.

Mary married Levi Kemp, son of Gerhardt Kemp (Kaempf) and Regina Stroh, on 12 Sep 1823. (Levi Kemp was born on 5 Sep 1798, died on 22 Mar 1872 and was buried in Union Cemetery, Greensburg, Westmoreland, Pennsylvania.)