Mays Family Tree - Person Sheet
NameJoseph DeWEES 
4333
4333Birth Dateabt 1831
Birth PlaceLafayette, Montgomery Co., PA, USA
Birth MemoNear
Death DateJan 1899
Death PlaceNorristown, Montgomery Co., PA, USA
Death MemoState Lunatic Hospital at Norristown (Now Norristown State Hospital)
OccupationStone Mason
FatherJesse DeWEES (1794-1860)
MotherAnnie WAGNER
Misc. Notes
Joseph Dewees, known as the Hermit or Prophet of the Schuylkill, the son of Jesse and Annie Wagner Dewees, was born near Lafayette, Montgomery county, Pa.
He learned the trade of stone mason and, according to all accounts, was an excellent mechanic. Through reverses and loss of property he. became disgusted with the world and shut himself off from society, living the life of a recluse in a little hut which he built along the railroad half way between Lafayette and Spring Mill, on the banks of the Schuylkill river, where he spent his time looking for the return of his fortune, which he expected to come by the trains which constantly passed back and forth by his rude abode.
His mind was affected by reverses in financial matters, due to the breaking of a bank, and he led from that time the life of a hermit. He had been prior to this event, a sort of religious fanatic, and it is probable that for a long time his mind had been gradually giving way.
He went to a hill overlooking Lafayette, where are located the Hamilton paper mills, in Montgomery county, more than twenty-five years ago in 1905], living in a wretched cabin. When the railroad company opened an extensive quarry at the place, his cabin was destroyed, and Dewees changed his abiding place to another point a little further up the river bank. Here he made himself a cavern-like home consisting of a hole scooped out on the side of the hill, with poles laid across the opening at the top and then enclosed with old railroad ties. Mud and stones were then heaped over it and tightly pressed down, forming a sort of roof.
In December, 1898, he was found nearly frozen to death near his cave and was taken to Charity Hospital, Norristown, for treatment. At that institution it was found that he was suffering from a disordered mind, and he was committed to the Norristown Hospital for the Insane.*
Joseph Dewees did not long survive his commitment to the Hospital for the Insane, although there is no doubt that in his remaining days he was much more comfortable than he had been for years, living as he did in a miserable cave, and dependent upon charity for his maintenance.
He never rallied from the debility consequent upon his exposure to cold and hunger, and died at the institution in the month of January, 1899, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. Articles were published in the public press during the last years of his life, which had a basis of fact, but were greatly exaggerated in their details.
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*Now the Norristown State Hospital it was originally known as the State Lunatic Hospital in Norristown when it opened in 1880. It is still open as of 2010 and is located just outside Philadelphia. The hospital was the first institution in the country that recognized female physicians and the first to house a pathological department. (Wikipedia)
He learned the trade of stone mason and, according to all accounts, was an excellent mechanic. Through reverses and loss of property he. became disgusted with the world and shut himself off from society, living the life of a recluse in a little hut which he built along the railroad half way between Lafayette and Spring Mill, on the banks of the Schuylkill river, where he spent his time looking for the return of his fortune, which he expected to come by the trains which constantly passed back and forth by his rude abode.
His mind was affected by reverses in financial matters, due to the breaking of a bank, and he led from that time the life of a hermit. He had been prior to this event, a sort of religious fanatic, and it is probable that for a long time his mind had been gradually giving way.
He went to a hill overlooking Lafayette, where are located the Hamilton paper mills, in Montgomery county, more than twenty-five years ago in 1905], living in a wretched cabin. When the railroad company opened an extensive quarry at the place, his cabin was destroyed, and Dewees changed his abiding place to another point a little further up the river bank. Here he made himself a cavern-like home consisting of a hole scooped out on the side of the hill, with poles laid across the opening at the top and then enclosed with old railroad ties. Mud and stones were then heaped over it and tightly pressed down, forming a sort of roof.
In December, 1898, he was found nearly frozen to death near his cave and was taken to Charity Hospital, Norristown, for treatment. At that institution it was found that he was suffering from a disordered mind, and he was committed to the Norristown Hospital for the Insane.*
Joseph Dewees did not long survive his commitment to the Hospital for the Insane, although there is no doubt that in his remaining days he was much more comfortable than he had been for years, living as he did in a miserable cave, and dependent upon charity for his maintenance.
He never rallied from the debility consequent upon his exposure to cold and hunger, and died at the institution in the month of January, 1899, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. Articles were published in the public press during the last years of his life, which had a basis of fact, but were greatly exaggerated in their details.
==================================================
*Now the Norristown State Hospital it was originally known as the State Lunatic Hospital in Norristown when it opened in 1880. It is still open as of 2010 and is located just outside Philadelphia. The hospital was the first institution in the country that recognized female physicians and the first to house a pathological department. (Wikipedia)