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

Using Medical Records to Find an Ancestor

Medical records are an often-overlooked genealogy resource. If you want to hunt for your ancestor in medical records you will need to investigate what records were kept for your area of interest, where they are archived and if you can access them.

Medical Records in Ontario are held in various places - some are at the Ontario Archives, others are with the original institution.

To obtain these records, you should begin with the Ontario Archives. Find out what they have, and then how to request it. For example, Queen Street Hospital in Toronto has records that go back to 1839. There are nineteenth century records for institutions in London, Hamilton, and Kingston and from Penetanguishene from 1904.

Files less than 100 years old are restricted under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.Requests for access must be submitted in writing to the
Access Unit of the Archives of Ontario.

Files created in whole or in part on or after 6 April 1954 are restricted under the Mental Health Act. Requests for access to records in Archives' custody must be submitted in writing to the Administrator of the appropriate psychiatric
hospital.

Here's a partial list of the Ontario Archives psychiatric files and holdings

My husband and I were able to obtain almost 100 pages of one of his great-aunt's medical files from the Insane Asylum in London Ontario for 1912, by applying to the Ontario Archives under the Freedom of Information Act. Some of the information in her files was blacked out by the Chief Archivist because it was not felt those notations should be read by us, but overall, the information found in the notes was amazing and very detailed.