Bio

Amy E. Duggan was born in October 1868 in Milton, a part of Litchfield, Connecticut. Her parents were James Duggan and Mary Kennedy. She was the eighth of ten children. She attended the Milton school and later went to the New Britain Normal School in 1890.

She married James Archer in 1897. Their daughter, Mary J. Archer, was born in December 1897. In 1901 the Archers were hired as caretakers for an elderly widower, John Seymour, and they moved into his home in Newington. After Seymour died in 1904, his heirs turned the house into a boarding place for the elderly. The Archers were allowed to stay and provided care for elderly boarders for a fee. They ran the place under the name "Sister Amy's Nursing Home for the Elderly."

In 1907 Seymour's heirs sold the house, and the Archers moved to Windsor, Connecticut. They used their savings to buy a brick residence and converted it into the Archer Home for the Elderly and Infirm. James Archer died in 1910 of Bright's disease. Amy had taken out an insurance policy on him a few weeks before his death, which let her continue running the Archer Home.

In 1913 Amy married Michael W. Gilligan, a widower with four adult sons who was reported to be wealthy and interested in the Archer Home. Michael Gilligan drew up a will during their short marriage, leaving his estate to her; he died on February 20, 1914. Amy continued to live and work in Windsor after that time.

Murder Story

Amy E. Duggan was born in October 1868. She ran a private nursing home in Windsor, Connecticut. Her birth name was Amy E. Duggan and she later used the name Amy Archer-Gilligan.

She married five elderly men who lived at her home. She also convinced elderly women to name her in their wills. Authorities listed her motives as collecting insurance money and inheriting from victims. Records show at least five victims and more deaths connected to her homes.

Between 1907 and 1917 there were many deaths at the Archer Home. Sources report 60 deaths in total and 48 deaths between 1911 and 1916. One notable resident was Franklin R. Andrews. He fell ill on May 29, 1914 and died the same day. His sister Nellie Pierce found concerning papers and pressed for action.

Pierce went to the local district attorney and then to The Hartford Courant. Articles appeared beginning May 9, 1916. Police opened a longer investigation. Several bodies were exhumed. Examinations found arsenic or strychnine in at least five bodies, including Franklin Andrews and Michael W. Gilligan, Amy’s second husband. Local merchants testified that she had bought large quantities of arsenic and she had claimed it was for killing rats. A will was examined and parts appeared to be in her handwriting.

Amy Archer-Gilligan was arrested on May 8, 1916 in Windsor, Connecticut. She was tried for murder. At first she faced multiple counts, but the charges were reduced to a single count for Franklin Andrews. On June 18, 1917 a jury found her guilty and she was sentenced to death. She appealed and was granted a new trial in 1919. On July 1, 1919 she pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison.

In 1924 she was declared temporarily insane and transferred to the Connecticut Hospital for the Insane in Middletown. She remained there until her death on April 23, 1962.