Clyde Newton (Nuton) McAdams was my first cousin, twice removed. I wondered when visiting Oak Hill Cemetery in Johnson City, TN what caused his death at a young 12 years old. He died when his cousin, my grandmother, was preparing to marry. She never mentioned him to me. This death certificate reveals that he died in Nashville, Tennessee at the Tennessee Home for the Feeble Minded of epilepsy. According to the certificate he had been institutionalized for just over four months.
He was the son of Elmer Ellis McAdams and Margaret Ollie Davidson. His father had died in January at only 55 years, shortly before Clyde was admitted to the institution. Perhaps it is the bleak name for the institution, but it seems a Dickensian end to his short life.
Sources
Davidson, Tennessee, death certificate no. 415 (1925), Clyde Newton McAdams; digital image, "Tennessee, Death Records, 1914-1955," FamilySearch (accessed 24 Feb 2014).
