The Inspiration for the Brewster Sisters

“Archer Home for Aged People and Chronic Invalids” in Winston, Connecticut

Amy Archer-Gilligan, a widow with a teenage daughter, an active and charitable churchgoer, ran a home for elderly people in town. Born in 1868 as the eighth of ten children. Amy’s brother John became an inmate at the “Connecticut General Hospital for the Insane”, now known as Connecticut Valley Hospital, in 1902, and one of her sisters is listed as residing there in the 1930 census. Amy Duggan married James Archer in 1897 and by 1901, the Archers and their small daughter resided in the house of John Seymour in Newington. Seymour was a frail gentleman whom they cared for in exchange for room and board. After Seymour's death, they rented the house and started “Sister Amy’s Nursing Home for the Elderly”. In 1907, the Archers moved to Windsor, using their savings to buy “The Archer Home for Elderly People and Chronic Invalids”.

In the early 20th century, nursing homes and assisted living facilities were uncommon. As multi-generational families became less common with younger generations seeking economic opportunities elsewhere, the responsibility for eldercare shifted from families to communities, making the Archers pioneers in eldercare.

The Archers filled their home with lodgers, or "inmates," by advertising in local newspapers and postcards. Boarders could pay a weekly fee of $7 to $25 or opt for a $1,000 life care plan, with many choosing the latter. As eldercare was a new field with little regulatory oversight, the McClintock family of West Hartford sued the Archers in 1909 for inadequate care, settling out of court for $5,000 (equivalent to $133,000 in 2018). In 1910, James Archer died, leaving Amy to support their twelve-year-old daughter, Mary, and pay back taxes. Mary, a musical child, was soon enrolled at Windsor's Campbell School for Girls with annual fees totaling $460. A 1911 letter from Amy to Windsor tax collector Howard L. Goslee reveals her dispute over the back taxes, emphasizing her recent loss and the need for fairness as she struggled to care for and educate her daughter alone.

They had no problems filling their home with lodgers, or “inmates” as they were called them. The Archers advertised their services in the local newspapers and had postcards made up. Boarders could pay a weekly fee that ranged from $7 to $25, or they could opt for a $1,000 life care option, and many chose the latter. In 1909 the McClintock family of West Hartford sued the Archers for inadequate care, settling out of court for $5,000 (equivalent to $133,000 in 2018). In 1910, James Archer died, leaving Amy with their twelve-year-old daughter Mary to support, back taxes to pay, and Mary’s student bills from Windsor’s Campbell School for Girls. Windsor Historical Society’s archival collections include a 1911 letter from Amy Archer to Windsor tax collector Howard L. Goslee in which she stated, “I ask to be dealt with honestly – that is all – I fully realize my great loss and sorrow and that I am alone dependent upon myself to care and educate my little daughter who was deprived of her dear father whom she loved so dearly. But I am not afraid to demand justice, and I think it is about time that it is shown me.”

In 1913, she married Michael Gilligan, shaving a few years off her age on the wedding license application. In February of 1914, the 56-year-old Mr. Gilligan was found dead, leaving his new wife his entire estate in the will—in excess of $4,000, which did not go over well with his family. The death certificate listed “valvular heart disease” as the primary cause, with a secondary being acute bilious attack.

Amy Archer-Gilligan’s lodgers were elderly and infirm often with no close family members living nearby. Franklin Andrews, Sixty years old and somewhat crippled, did chores, yard work, and errand running for Mrs. Archer-Gilligan. Close to his family, he wrote often about his new life and the frequency of deaths in the home. In May of 1914, Andrews collapsed while painting the fence around the property, drying two days later with the cause of death listed as gastric ulcer. His sister Nellie Pierce found correspondence where Archer-Gilligan was pressing Andrews for money.

Carlan Goslee wrote obituaries for Windsor residents and was troubled by the frequency of deaths in the Archer Home. Goslee investigated the poison registers that every drugstore was required by law to keep, finding Amy Archer-Gilligan had made multiple purchases of arsenic at W. H. H. Mason’s drugstore in Windsor on the Broad Street Green, citing rat problems and bedbugs. Hartford Courant editor Clifford Sherman opened an investigation. Reporters reviewed years of Windsor death certificates, comparing those of the Archer Home residents with the Jefferson Street Home for the Elderly in Hartford. It was found between 1907 and 1916, sixty residents of the Archer Home died, 12 of which between 1907 and 1910, and 48 between 1911 and 1916 (when Amy Archer-Gilligan’s finances were under stress). While the number of deaths at the Jefferson Street Home in Hartford was similar, they had seven times as many residents. The pattern that emerged about the causes of death at the Archer Home did not leave much to the imagination, stomach pathologies and sudden deaths, making a fairly easy case for poisoning. Upon revisiting the poison registers, it was revealed that Archer Gilligan had purchased ten ounces of arsenic right before Michael Gilligan’s death. Enough poison to kill over a hundred people.

The state police had the bodies of several former residents of the Archer exhumed and examined. It was testified later that Franklin Andrews’ stomach contained enough arsenic “to kill half a dozen strong men”. On May 8, 1916, Amy Archer-Gilligan was arrested and charged with the murder of Franklin Andrews among other residents. Her trial began in June 1917 and received national attention. Though initially convicted and sentenced to hang, this conviction was overturned on appeal. Her second trial in June 1919 resulted in a guilty verdict for second-degree murder and she was sentenced to life imprisonment. Archer-Gilligan was transferred to the “Connecticut General Hospital for the Insane” in 1924, remaining until she died in 1962. In response to the trial, Connecticut's state legislature introduced a bill in 1917 requiring licensing, inspections, and annual death reporting to the State Board of Charities for "Old Folks Homes" to prevent similar incidents.

Dramaturgy | Mo De Poortere