Find Ancestors in Historic Insane Asylum Records

Mental Institutions were once called Insane Asylums and those committed to them were deemed lunatics, idiots, imbeciles, crazy, and other terms we now consider derogatory. Many times people committed did not suffer from mental illness. Women were frequently admitted with what we now know was post-partum depression, or menopausal hormone changes. 

For the genealogist, these institutional records are full of information that is horrifying yet important in our genealogy research. Below are some links, both pay-to-view and free, leading you to various online databases of Insane Asylum records.

United States Insane Asylum Records

New York, U.S., Hebrew Infant Asylum Records, 1895-1927   
 

New York, U.S., Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society Records, 1884-1925   

New York, U.S., Home for Hebrew Infants Records, 1922-1937   
   
New York, U.S., Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum Records, 1878-1969   

New York, U.S., Hebrew Orphan Asylum Records, 1860-1934   
 

UK Insane Asylum Records

Annual return of lunatics: Guisborough Union 1844 Yorkshire England

Annual return of lunatics: Stocksley Union 1844 Yorkshire England

Annual return of lunatics: Richmond Union 1844 Yorkshire England

Annual return of lunatics: Thirsk Union 1844 Yorkshire England

Annual return of lunatics: Stockton Union, Yorkshire England 1869

Annual return of lunatics in the Stockton Union Yorkshire England 1870

Clifton Asylum, Yorkshire England Names of private lunatics in the Asylum at Clifton on 1 January 1869 

England, Criminal Lunatic Asylum Registers, 1820-1843
   
Bodmin, Cornwall, England, Inmates at St. Lawrence's Asylum, 1840-1900   

Glamorganshire, Wales, Glamorgan County Ayslum Records, 1845-1920    Directories & Member Lists   
    
Fife, Scotland, Asylum Registers, 1866-1937   
      

Canada Insane Asylum Records

Toronto Insane Asylum 1841

Annual Report of the Medical Superintendent of the Provincial Hospital for the Insane, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Australia Insane Asylum Records

Victoria, Australia, Lunatic Estates and Register, 1867-1906

New South Wales, Australia, Registers for the Randwick Asylum for Destitute Children, 1852 - 1915   
    
New South Wales, Australia, Hospital & Asylum Records, 1840-1913

Victoria, Australia, Asylum Records, 1853-1940    

Miscellaneous Insane Asylum Records

Olive Tree Genealogy Insane Asylum Records 

Blacksheep Ancestors Insane Asylum Records

 

Find Ancestors in Insane Asylums

Insane Asylum New Jersey

Olive Tree Genealogy has a new section for Insane Asylum records! This is a new project and more records will be added as I find them.

In the 19th century and earlier, insane Asylums were often referred to as Lunatic asylums. The inmates were called insane, or lunatics or idiots.  Often the inmates suffered from physical ailments, not mental disorders.

I hope to bring many insane asylum records online for genealogists so keep checking back to see what has been added.

Graves of Deceased Residents Mixed Up in Institution Once Called Institute for Feeble-Minded

The Huronia Regional Centre in Orillia Ontario (Canada) was once called the Hospital for the Feeble-Minded. 4246 deaths were recorded at the institution from 1876 to 1971, when the facility stopped burying residents on-site. About 2,000 people were laid to rest on the hospital grounds, 1,440 in unmarked or numbered graves. [FN1]

A recent class action settlement between the Province of Ontario and previous residents of the Centre resulted in an agreement to provide a Registry of Deaths. It is not clear if this registry will be made public. 

When a resident died and was buried on the Institute grounds, a small numbered marker was all that was erected. There were no names recorded. Eventually many of those numbered markers were removed and used to create a sidewalk. In the 1980s a chaplain had the markers taken up and laid in a large square so that they formed a memorial rather than being used for a walkway. 

But those who died have been, for the most part, forgotten. Their actual burial locations are not known. The handwritten register contains the names of the deceased along with their burial number but there are many errors. Some numbers have been assigned to two different people. 

The Toronto Star obtained a copy of the death register under the Freedom of Information Act but it is unlikely they will publish the names. I do not know the legal ramifications of obtaining a copy but I am going to attempt to find out if I can obtain a copy and if is then legal for me to publish the names on Olive Tree Genealogy

FN1: Toronto Star Sept.24, 2013. Identities of unnamed dead at Huronia Regional Centre emerge.  http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/09/24/identities_of_unnamed_dead_at_huronia_regional_centre_emerge.html

Image courtesy of WayneCook.com