People were committed to State Hospitals for many reasons in the past. Family could apply to have someone admitted. So sometimes families got rid of family members in this way. Patients had bona fide mental illnesses, mental retardation, were a little slow, dementia, or drug/alcohol addiction. Sometimes they had physical illnesses that had manifestations of these types of disorders. The farther back in time the less people knew about behavior and our brains so you'll find people admitted for epilespy even. I work in the mental health field and worked with a woman who just died at 98. She was admitted to a State facility at 13 for epilepsy after her mom died and her dad remarried. She remained in the mental health system the rest of her life. Another example, is two sisters married two brothers in my extended family. Within two months of each other they both had their spouses admitted to the State Hospital in Ogdensburg, NY. Laws prevent people from getting these old records but if there was a way for a genealogist to get old psychiatric records they often contain Social Histories which are pretty thorough documentation of the person life with parents and siblings listed. They also used to interview parents or spouses, give family dynamics, sometimes grandparents, lots of clues... For Jefferson County, NY I bought old(30's-40's) Proceedings of the Board of Supervisors. They list for each year the people who were sent to the State Hospital from this county, who petioned them to be admitted and what was wrong with the person. I'm sure these can be easily located in a public office somewhere.. As an aside they also list coroner cases that autopsies were performed on and cause of death. Faith Lustik