I am not sure how the county officials of the period you speak of defined *pest house*. As late as the 1950s, however, persons with tuberculosis were confined in sanitoria [is that the plural of sanitorium?]. Also, feeble-minded [now called something like developmentally disabled] and also those were psychiatric problems were housed in different institutions. While looking for a probate record in another State, I first went to the courthouse and went through the index. Many persons who were institutionalized went through the probate court in that State--for alcoholism, for insanity, etc. Each State probably has different procedures as the laws change. Smallpox was still around when I was a kid over 70 years ago. My parents told me such patients were isolated, but they did not tell me where. Perhaps a pest house housed these patients. Other contagious diseases were probably treated the same way. It always helps to know what the laws were, but sometimes we genealogists don't have time--or the necessary references. Sometimes these persons are listed in censuses as inmates of these institutions. E.W.Wallace ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.