I managed to get a genealogy copy of the death certificate for my great-aunt, who died at the Newark State School in Wayne County in 1965. She had Down Syndrome, and was an inmate from 1924 until her death. When she was committed, the school was called the Newark State School for Mental Defectives. (They did not mince words then.) With the move toward de-institutionalization, the school was closed in the 1970s. I received the death certificate (before the expiration of the 50-year waiting period) from the Finger Lakes Developmental Disabilities Services office, which holds the vital records for the Newark State School. Mark Lomax California On Fri, Apr 6, 2012 at 2:59 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > Usually psychiatric facilities filed and hold the death certificates, not > the municipalitities. I'm talking back to the early 1900s. > > These facilities came under the NYS institution umbrella and often > individually claim "privacy" to requests for records, and even death > certificates. > > Rockland State Psychiartic in Orangetown, NY held a death certificate > hostage from one of my clients, a direct descendant, after multiple > requests. The > deceased worked for and had an obituary in the New York Times that stated > he died at his Bronx, NY home. > > To circumvent the specific institutions, you an order death certificates > for such NYS institutions directly from Albany, if they are more than fifty > years old. the waiting list for NYS requests is about six months, unless > someone files the application in person for you. > > Nancy Johnsen CURRAN is an excellent researcher in the Albany area and is > acquires institutional death certificates, NYS prison records, and much > more. > Her homepage is : http://nancycurran.com/#home . Just click on the word > "Contact" to email her your request. > > Barb > Metro NYC Researcher > ================= > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >