Dear List Members, Based on the many personal messages I have received since my earlier posting, I guess it may need some clarification. When I said to start by searching the Probate and/or District Court indexes, I meant that it was the local District Court that usually handled the commitments to State Hospitals. Best if I present an example, which is a two part process: In Ramsey County, Minnesota: The Probate Court office of Ramsey County maintains an index of all Probate related files from 1849 to the present (2006). These files mostly relate to the disposition of property of deceased people who lived in Ramsey County. The files also contain hundreds of examination and commitment files to State Hospitals for people who were declared "insane", "mentally deficient", "feeble minded", "incompetent", "mentally ill", "spendthrifts", "inebriate", "chemically dependent", and commitments to State Schools. The files also contain a high number of custody files for minor children of deceased residents of Ramsey County. Also, a handful of early Ramsey County naturalizations - - and I mean handful, no more. The records from 1849 to 1900 number almost 13,000 files! The records from 1900 to the present (2006), number in the 10's of thousands. All of these records are INDEXED by name, case type, date of filing, and case number. The index and records are maintained by Ramsey Count Probate Court, part of the District Court of Ramsey County, located in the Ramsey County Courthouse in downtown St. Paul. These are public records and open for review - -at the Ramsey County Courthouse - -NOT on line. If you find a commitment record at the Probate Court office, it will usually contain a detailed account of the medical examination given by a court appointed doctor. The record will usually also contain a questionnaire regarding personal information about the individual, including a fair amount of genealogical data - marital status, names of spouses, number of children, often parents names, etc. The record will also confirm whether or not the person was sent to a State hospital. If a commitment took place, the record will include the name of the hospital, the date the person was taken to the hospital, and the date the person was discharged from the hospital, or died at the hospital. If the person died at the hospital, the record will usually give the cause of death, and disposition of the remains - - either buried at the hospital cemetery, or returned to relatives for burial. Sometimes, patients were transferred from one State hospital to another State hospital, and that is contained in the record as well. For Ramsey County records, I should remind everyone not living in the St. Paul/Mpls metro area, that the LDS (Mormon) church has copied many of the early Probate Court indexes and records for Ramsey County - - many other counties in Minnesota, and throughout the United States. Check the LDS on line indexes under the State and County, then: Probate Records and Indexes, for records available for the area you are researching. So, many of these records are available through your local LDS Library, and you should be able to order them, make copies, etc., without much trouble. Next - Once you have reviewed the local court records, you should know the name of the State hospital, dates of commitment, and length of stay at the hospital, and you can check the records for that particular hospital and patient at the Minnesota Historical Society. If the records exist, you can review them in original form at the Library of the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul, Minnesota. The records have not been microfilmed. Again, the 75 year privacy law applies to State Hospital records. If anyone has additional questions, I will be happy to try to answer them. Best regards, Jim Sazevich, Historian St. Paul, Minnesota