Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital served the counties of Orange, Rockland, Sullivan, and Ulster.
1916 Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital.
One of my blog followers has shared some great news about Middletown State Hospital. The Rockland Psychiatric Center has all the records for Middletown and will give the date of admission, date of death, and the marker number of your ancestor / loved one. The cemetery is located on Dorothy Dix Road, Middletown, NY. Call 845-359-1000 for more information.
Rockland Psychiatric Center
140 Old Orangeburg Road
Orangeburg, NY 10962
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE VIDEO They’re Buried Where? by Seth Voorhees
The Inmates of Willard 1870 to 1900 / A Genealogy Resource 
I sent a nice letter requesting information about my great grandmother last November. I just received a reply letter denying my request. They require various information also citing HIPAA. She would be over 130 yrs old. If anyone wants a copy of my letter and their reply, I will send it.
— George
geodecarlo@gmail.com
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My paternal great grandmother [Frances H. (nee Dowling) DeCarlo] was sent there after 1910 but before 1920 as I surmise from Census records and as my mother was told for syphilis. I worked for a friend whose family had a genealogy company and did estate research. His grandmother had been a patient at the hospital. He said family would say anything back then other than mental illness. I find it disgusting that people are buried with numbers. They were treated horribly in most cases when alive and treated like garbage upon death. Over ten years ago State Senator Cody in New Jersey where I am from wanted something done about the situation at Greystone Psychiatric Hospital in Morris Plains, NJ where graves have no names.
Once I find out if a record exists of her dying there, I will post it. She had a difficult enough life being adopted in San Francisco then brought to New York City and when older marrying my great grandfather whose next partner for decades then finally marriage decades later in 1955 was a boarder of theirs. Yes, a soap opera.
I found this at Find a Grave.
https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2517153/middletown-state-homeopathic-hospital-cemetery
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This is actually one of three cemeteries on the former state hospital grounds. One was relocated to the Hillside Cemetery and the graves are marked there, but I think they only moved the burials they could put a name and a stone to so there are likely still unmarked graves at the old site. The 2nd one was next to that one, and there is a sign saying so, but you must know where to look for it. Then there’s this one, decently kept with grave markers. The records are kept by the Rockland Psychiatric Center, which has an office maybe 1/8 of a mile from the cemetery, across the street. Will they give you records if you ask? Maybe. You likely need to have a full and accurate name and various other information, which few have. The grave number is likely in the file and not in some central registry from what I have surmised from what I’ve been told. I think there’s a numerical list also, but then you’d need the number AND all the identifying information. And 100 years have to have passed since the death date.
The reason it’s 100 years and not the usual 50 years is because of the stigma of mental illness, as well as syphilis and tuberculosis, a couple of other diseases that might cause someone to be incarcerated in a quarantined ward. The same reasoning behind the numbered and mysterious graves. The presumption was and mostly still is that no one wants to find out they descended from someone with a serious mental illness when it’s clearly the opposite – everyone wants to know what happened to their ancestors, no matter what. I suspect that politicians, those who would pass laws releasing this information, ar more concerned with what might be discovered about THEM and their ancestors, but no one has actually said that out loud.
Aileen Gunther, the NYS state legislator for the area where the Middletown Psych Center was/is, has worked on releasing these records for almost two decades. You might want to get in touch with her and see if there’s anything you can do to progress the issue of making known the people who rest beneath those numbers.
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Does anyone know how I can find a death for a grandfather who died at Middletown NY Institution in 1954
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Send for his death certificate. Look on Genealogy Links on this blog.
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Hi Linda! I’m trying to find more information about the patient-published newspaper at Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital, The Conglomerate. Do you know whether it was preserved, and whether it’s digitized anywhere?
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Hello, I am looking for info on my Great Grandfather Winchell E Stewart. He was an inmate on the 1940 census but I do not know why he was there. My grandmother, uncle and brother all had schizophrenia I was wondering if I could find out any info. He died at a hospital in Poughkeepsie NY. Thank You!
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Hi! Thank you for all your work. I am trying to find a great-grandmother who worked at Middletown State Hospital in the 1920s and 1930s as a Nurse. Do you know where I might find employment records for the hospital? I know she was working there as early as 1922, but I would love to know when she started working there (it might help me find her immigration records – from Scotland.)
Thanks!
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The cemetery is not on Dorothea Dix Drive and never was. It was up on the hill where West Main Street turns into Mt Hope Road. The graves were removed at least a decade ago to the Hillside Cemetary down off Monhagen Avenue, about a mile away. They are marked with stones with names and such. It’s likely that those with numbers were not moved; I’ll have to go look one day.
There was a rumor a few years back that there had been a small, separate cemetery in a different l location for Jews only, but everyone who has looked has not found it.
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There are/were 3 cemeteries. One off County Rte 78, which is possibly what everyone is calling Dorothea Dix Drive, another one off West Main Street where the hospital fields ended, and then another one just past that. Those two are marked with tiny markers but I believe there are no grave markers left [plus poison ivy, oak, and snakes]. If I remember to do it maybe I’ll post a photo of the graves that were moved to Hillside.
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I have recently discovered that I was born at the Middletown NY Asylum on November 11, 1950. I am seeking a way to find the medical records for my mother. I know she was an inmate there at least three times, with 1950 being her final stay. Please help if you can.
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I am searching for pictures of the Middletown State Hospital grounds, when it was open. I lived on the grounds as a child around 1968, when my father was a doctor there. Thanks.
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I lived there as a child also and at about the same time. I only remember one person named Sue. I have photos from the Centennial book and also from the local historical society. Let me know if that interests you.
I am writing to you from the 70 Building where my office at the NYS Department of Labor is. Fifty years later and I am back here. Life is strange.
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Check New York State Library for records:
Title Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital patient case files, 1874-[ca. 1936] (bulk 1874-1898)
http://nysl.nysed.gov/uhtbin/cgisirsi.exe/?ps=y32qvPjBAE/NYSL/55990017/123
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Thank you for the link to records. I have a G grandmother who died at the facility as a patient. Suicide attempt by fire and she she died shortly thereafter. Can someone please tell me what is needed and how/if a great grandchild can get access to old records? I am also seeking to learn where my G grandmother is buried as she died at the Middletown Homeopathic Hospital in Dec 1923 or early 1924.
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I am also searching for information about my grandfather Romolo Simeone i know that he was also a patient a the Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital. I wanted to find out how long he was there as my mother met him for the first time when she was 4 years old, he suffered from Bi-Polar disorder which was called Melancholy in those days, he was a furniture restorer and worked with his brothers who owned antique furniture stores in Manhattan. I know he was on the census in 1940 but i dont know if he was there till his death.
This was a family secret and i just want some answers for my mom.
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Have you sent for his death certificate?
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Good Morning,
I have tried to order his death certificate however, the state cant find it, but he is buried with my grandmother in Saint Johns cemetery in Long Island NY, so I thought that was strange.
Debra
Debra Paino
Facilities Services Supervisor
St. Johnâs University
300 Howard Avenue
Staten Island, NY 10301
718-390-4478
718-390-4543 (f)
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I have been searching for my mothers uncles, Robert and Charles Smiley for many years. I have finally found Robert, who is buried in the Rome Developmental Cemetery in Rome NY, but am still trying to find where Charles is buried. I have found that he was an inmate at the Middletown State Hospital in 1940 and I am trying to locate the cemetery where he was laid to rest. We are also looking to obtain the medical files as to why both of these fellows were placed in State Hospitals at such young ages. Our Great Great Aunts were very closed mouth about them. I am so happy to see that there are others who want to see that their ancestors are remembered and honored.
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