Almost universally and before the myriad social agencies we now have had come upon the scene, commitments of citizens originated with a complaint and "affidavit of lunacy" at the county level, the same tendered to a court of general jurisdiction in that state/county. Following that the court would order a hearing and additional affidavits or testimony as he saw fit, as to the truth of the allegations, and if he found "good cause" to believe that the person was a danger to herself, her family, or others, he would "commit" through an "order of commitment". Then the "patient" was taken voluntarily or not so, to whatever institution the court had found appropriate and convenient and was there kept till further hearing and evidence, originated by the family, interested parties, or by the institution, led to a finding that the patient was "cured" sufficiently to no longer be a danger to anyone, especially her family. I have usually found such records from the 19th Century or earlier in the archives of that states, and in some instances yet in the records of the institutions. Notice that quite generally you must establish with the court or institution some measure of kinship before you will be allowed to peruse those records. Such records are extremely interesting. Paul ----- Original Message ----- From: Barb Marshall To: VAROOTS-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2004 3:27 PM Subject: Re: [VAROOTS] Re: Places to look for ancestors names Where can these records be found? Are they in Probate Court? Barb Marshall PasaPeruva@aol.com wrote: > > In a message dated 1/2/04 8:10:39 AM US Mountain Standard Time, > VAROOTS-D-request@rootsweb.com writes: > Has anybody gone through the Records of Commitment for The Insane? No > kidding. These records often give names of relatives, doctors, neighbors. > Often you can find a copy of the petition for hearing and commitment. > This can give you a real insight into the families and individuals who > often were called on to give witness to the person's condition. > There are also the Poor House records where older people are put when no one > wants to care for them. Kind of like what happens to older people put into a > nursing home these days. I know that I have found some of my ancestors listed > in the Henry Co.,IN Poor House listings. They could even put orphans there > and work in the farm end of things and ease the salary paying end of things, > they earn their keep that way. Beej > > ============================== > Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration > Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237 ============================== Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237