New York State School – Newark Custodial Institution for Developmentally Disabled, Childbearing Age Women. February 17, 1932, Begins Accepting Boys.
1878-1885: The Newark State School operated as part of the Syracuse State School.
1885: By statute erected as the State Custodial Asylum for Feeble-Minded Women.
1919: Name changed to Newark State School for Mental Defectives.
1927: Became a part of the Department of Mental Hygiene and name changed to Newark State School.
1932: Accepts boys.
1916 Newark State Custodial Institution For Feeble-Minded Women.
Early State Schools in New York.
State of New York Thirty-Seventh Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the Newark State School for Mental Defectives, 1921 – Through – Fifty-Ninth Annual Report of the Board of Visitors of the Newark State School, at Newark, Wayne County, New York to the Department of Mental Hygiene 1943.
Newark State School 1937
Newark State School 1937-2
Newark State School 1937-3
Newark State School for Women
Photograph courtesy of The Museum of disABILITY History
“The New York State Custodial Asylum for Feeble-Minded Women was established in 1878 in response to an increasing awareness that almshouses were improper places for ‘feeble-minded’ women. Social reformer Josephine Shaw Lowell led the crusade, with assistance from the State Board of Charities. Lowell delivered several reports before the state legislature expressing her concern that feeble-minded women often disregarded moral and sexual restraint when placed in the undisciplined environment of an almshouse and frequently had illegitimate children who, in turn, became dependent on the state for their welfare. Women of child-bearing age, fifteen to forty-five, were admitted into this institution, in order to “prevent them from multiplying their kind.” (New York State Board of Charities Report, 1879).
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The Inmates of Willard 1870 to 1900 / A Genealogy Resource 
im looking for my birth mother that was here her name is ELIZABETH MAY MCLAUGHLIN.JUST BEFORE THE HOSPITAL CLOSED I WAS ALLOWED BRIEFLY TO LOOK QUICKLY IN HER RECORDS IWAS ABLE TO READ SOME OF IT.THEN THE RECORDS WERE SENT TO ROCHESTER.MY BIRTH MOTHER WAS THERE FOR UNWED MOTHERS AND I DO BELIEVE SHE WAS PREGNANT AT THE TIME UN SURE . I WAS GIVIN UP FOR ADOPTION WHEN I WAS 2 AND NO NOT FROM A RAPE OR ANYTHING REAL BAD.IM HOPING TO LOOK AGAIN IN THE RECORDS FOR IM LOOKING FOR MY BIRTH FATHER HIS NAME IS WILLIAM PINE.MY BIRTH MOTHERS FAMILY IS FROM ITHACA NY.ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED.
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I am sorry to say that the HPPA laws seal the records until 50 years after the date of death.
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My Mother, Anna Berman was a patient at Newark when I was born in 1938. After several attempts to get records under my adopted name, I asked under my birth name. This worked. Contact me for details.
David Berman
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I believe that Mary Siragusa who shows on the 1940 Census as an inmate at the Newark State School at age 16 is my husband’s biological mother. Kindly advise where you were able to obtain your records. Thank you in advance!!
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I would send for her death record from New York State at: https://www.health.ny.gov/vital_records/genealogy.htm
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Also check this page: https://inmatesofwillard.com/2013/05/24/newark-state-school-for-women-cemetery/
and check Find A Grave for the cemetery. Some of the names and graves are online. Good Luck! Keep me posted!
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Thank you!! I am still researching “Mary” to determine if this is even the correct individual. I truly appreciate the info you provided and will investigate it.
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I hope it helps. Keep in touch! -Lin
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Try this link to Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2451516/memorial-search?page=16#sr-91111475
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I have an Uncle – Isadore Sanow – who I believe passed away at the Newark State School – perhaps in the 30s. Anyway to get records? He may have been buried at a cemetery nearby.
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I have an Uncle – Isadore Sanow – who I believe passed away at the Newark State School – perhaps in the 30s. Anyway to get records? He may have been buried at a cemetery nearby.
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I am trying to find information about a patient, Raymond Fell. He was in the Newark State School for the Mentally. Defective. We don’t know when he was admitted. He was 23 years old in the 1940 Census. We have not been able to find what happened to him when the school closed. My husband never knew he had an uncle until I started doing genealogy research. We have a grandchild that we are concerned about. We would like to know how he was mentally defective.
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I’m looking for information on Virginia Sheffield who was there in 1930 according to census. She was my great grandmother.
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I am looking for my Great Aunt Kathleen Slater Delap who was listed as a patient here in 1940 census I have not been able to find any more info on her,i don’t know when she died or if she died there or where she is buried.where are the records kept for these patients?her family has a right to know!!!!!!!!
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I totally agree! I have a great aunt that was in there too!
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I wish I knew. My mother had 2 sisters there. Margaret Ann Blackmon, who was on the 1940 census, and Elizabeth Blackmon, who was younger than my mother. I don’t know Elizabeth’s birthday, I am hoping that with the 1950 census coming out soon, I will at least be able to find out her birthday. My mother is 86 and just wants to know what happened to her sisters.
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I am looking for my 2 Aunts that I believe were there. Margaret Ann, and Elizabeth Blackmon, I have a picture of Margaret Ann outside of that building. My mother is just looking for closure on what happened to her sisters. There has to be records of their deaths, or admissions. If anyone can help please let me know.
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Did you look at the Social Security Death Index? You should be able to find their names and along with knowing their birth date determine date of deaths.
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Thank you Kathleen for your answer. Here is what I know for now. Margaret Anne Blackmon, was born July 27th 1933. Her name morphed into Margaret Anne Blackman. I believe she may have lived her entire life at the Newark State School. She died Oct. 26th 2004. She was 71. I believe she is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Canandaigua Ontario County. Someone helped me out with this information. I have not had any leads on Elizabeth at all. She is definitely younger than my mother. But she can’t remember her birthday or year. My mother was born in 1937. I don’t know how to search these indexes.
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I have been trying to find out information of where my Aunt Rose Nowicki is buried at Newark Schools cemetery.
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I am looking for the birth records for Baby Boy Siragusa, born 4/4/1940 to Mary Siragusa, who is shown as a resident of the Newark State Hospital in the 1940 Census. Please advise how we can obtain this information.
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https://www.health.ny.gov/vital_records/genealogy.htm
It is not cheap but it is worth a try! The more details that you have about the person you’re looking for, the cheaper it will be. You might want to get Mary’s death certificate first. I hope this helps!
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I wonder if anyone reading this would have worked at the Newark State School during the 1980’s. My great aunt Minnie Stevens was a patient there and up to the last census (1940). At that time she was 41 years old and had been institutionalized her entire life, or at least from around age 5. Looking for information. I had a hit that she possible died in June 1989 but can’t find any record of burial, etc. According to New York, I do not fall under the parameters of being able to receive a death certificate as a great niece. Thank you!
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Next time you ask for a copy of death certificate, say that you are for example: the great-granddaughter. NYS doesn’t know who you are related to. You have to be in a direct line to obtain it. Have your sister or cousin re-apply and state that they are grandson, granddaughter. You will get it! I’ve done it.
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My aunt Geraldine McGuigan was sent to the newark home for wayward girls in 1937, are there any records of her being there.
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I found through ancestry my mother’s Aunt Florence May Graham was a patient at Newark State Hospital from March 10, 1920 (age 16)until between 1940 and 1950.( about the age of 45) Her birth date is 4 Jan, 1904. She married James H Thompson on 30 Jan, 1954. She died on 18 Feb., 1960. I have no record of why she was there. No one talked about it.
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I was looking for Newark State hospital.my brother was placed there and passed away while being in their care.he was handicapped and taken when my dad died,and thought my mom wouldn’t be able to care for him. He passed in 1960s his name was Gary Leonard.
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