In a recent discovery shedding light on the historical treatment of dementia, Los Angeles resident Brian Crosby, a retired teacher from Burbank, uncovered a long-hidden family secret while researching his genealogy. He stumbled upon an unmentioned death certificate belonging to his grandfather, Crosby Boghossian, who died in 1916 at the young age of 32. The document revealed that he was buried in the backyard of a psychiatric facility in northern New York, marked by gravestone number 991, and his cause of death was listed as GPI, or general paralysis of the insane—a term now recognized as late-stage dementia.
In the early 20th century, the societal perception of dementia was far from compassionate. Boghossian’s passing went unacknowledged by family rituals; he had no funeral, nor did any relatives visit his grave. Just 45 days before his death, he was transported by train from his home in Syracuse to a state psychiatric hospital located a mere two hours away. At the time, his wife was pregnant with their third child, and the stigma surrounding his illness led to a silence about his existence, with grandmother never mentioning his name again. For the past 108 years, no one in the family has visited his grave to pay their respects.
Reflecting on this painful family history, Brian expressed the profound shame that has haunted their lineage. “There’s this stigma attached to mental illness, and it’s as if my grandfather’s name just vanished, erased from our family narrative,” he said. He recalled how his father used to joke that the family changed their last name from Boghossian to Crosby as a nod to singer Bing Crosby, but Brian suspects the true motivation was rooted in a desire to distance themselves from the family’s troubled past.
Representatives from the psychiatric facility have confirmed that Crosby Boghossian is buried in an abandoned cemetery that has been closed for over 40 years, a haunting testament to how mental health was once perceived and the impact of that stigma on families.
