The Inmates of Willard 1870 to 1900 / A Genealogy Resource

1872 “Bone Yard” The Remember Garden – Rochester, NY

Posted on April 18, 2013 by lsstuhler

These two documents from the Proceedings of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Monroe, shed a great deal of light on the forgotten cemetery that was uncovered by excavation in Highland Park, Rochester, New York. In July 1984, approximately 900 human remains were discovered; 284 to 305 of these remains were removed, examined, and reinterred in Mt. Hope Cemetery in 1985. Hundreds of remains, many buried on top of another, were left at the sight undisturbed because it was thought that they were buried deep enough. What is most interesting to me is the County Board of Supervisors of 1872 clearly knew that this fenced-in, unmarked cemetery, known as the “bone yard” existed, and was still being used as late as January 8, 1873. It was on that date that the supervisors made a decision to discontinue burying the inmates of the Penitentiary, Alms House, and Insane Asylum in the cemetery that was located behind the Penitentiary. “Resolved, That the Superintendents of the penitentiary, and of the county poor, be and is hereby directed in the future to discontinue the burial of paupers or criminals in the old burying ground attached to the penitentiary, and to have the remains of all such interred in Mount Hope cemetery.” It would appear that although they knew it existed, it was not recorded on any map, or perhaps the map has never been found. Through the passage of time, the cemetery was forgotten. The Remember Garden marks the location where many of the bodies were found and was dedicated in 2009. “Since 2004, the effort to create a living memorial garden, located at the original site in the park, has been coordinated by DePaul Community Services. DePaul Community Services coordinated development, building, planting and maintenance of the garden. The Remember Garden appropriately marks the grave, lending dignity and respect to those buried there, while heightening community awareness to the site and the history of institutionalization. The plantings are predominantly purple, reflecting the official color of Mental Health Awareness. Pinks and blues are also part of the scheme that includes trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals.”

Even though I know that I will never be credited with making this discovery, I am very proud that I uncovered the “Bone Yard.”

“Saturday, December 14, 1872. Board met pursuant to adjournment. Mr. Jeffords in the Chair. Members all present. Minutes of the meeting of the 12th inst. read and approved. Mr. Malone, presented the following report, which was adopted, and on his motion the Clerk was instructed to have the survey recorded in the County Clerk’s office.

To the Board of Supervisors of Monroe County:
Gentlemen:—In compliance with a resolution of your honorable body at the close of the November session, commanding the Chairman of the Building Committee of the new Poor House to cause a survey of the lands occupied by the new Alms House and fix the amount that should be set off for the use of all the County Institutions, I therefore present the following survey of the lands, with the amount to be occupied by the different institutions of that part of the grounds owned by the County lying between the Poor House road and the Cobb’s Hill road, east of South avenue:

Map of Penitentiary, Poorhouse, Asylum

(The above map was most likely made at the time of the excavation by the Rochester Museum and Science Center team).

ASYLUM LOT.
Beginning at the east line of South avenue at the south-westerly corner of the Alms House lot, running thence south ninety-nine degrees, east along the southerly line of the Alms House lot fifteen chains and four links to the south-easterly corner thereof; thence south twenty-six decrees, west three chains twenty-five links to the centre of the Poor House road; thence north eighty-eight degrees west along the centre of the said road seventeen chains to the east line of South avenue; thence along the easterly line of said South avenue north twenty-five and one-half degrees east six chains twenty links to an angle; thence north thirty-one degrees east five chains nineteen links to the place of beginning, containing 11.08 acres.

ALMS HOUSE LOT.
Beginning at a point in the easterly line of South avenue, which is thirty-four feet northerly from the range of the northerly end of the new Alms House building; running thence south fifty-nine degrees east at right angles with said South avenue and parallel with the range of the north end of said building, and thirty-four feet distant therefrom, three chains forty-seven links to a point thirty-four feet northerly from the northeast corner of said building; thence south thirty-one degrees west four feet; thence south fifty-nine degrees east two chains six links to the northeast corner of the yard; thence south thirty-one degrees west one chain ninety-seven links to the north side of the privy; thence south fifty-nine degrees east fifty-four links; thence south thirty-one degrees west thirty-nine links; thence south fifty-eight degrees east eight chains forty-eight links to a stake: thence south twenty-six degrees west three chains eighty-seven links to the range of the north line of the Asylum yard; thence north fifty-nine degrees west along said easterly line of South avenue; thence north thirty-one degrees east along said easterly line six chains and forty links to the place of beginning, containing seven and sixteen one-hundredths acres.

Resolved. That the survey herewith presented be fixed as the division of the county lands described above, and that the Penitentiary occupy the residue of the land not contained in the said survey of that portion of the County farm described above.

Resolved. That the Poor House authorities have the right of a driveway across the asylum lands, from the new Poor House to the old Poor House road. Respectfully submitted, P. Malone.” (Pages 188-189)

Remember Garden 1

“January 8, 1873
Mr. Malone presented the following report, which was accepted:

CHAPLAIN’S REPORT.
Rochester, Dec. 31, 1872. To the Honorable the Board of Supervisors of Monroe County:
Gentlemen:—The duties of the office of Chaplain of the Monroe county almshouse, to which you did the subscriber the honor to reappoint him in 1871, have been discharged by him during the past year in conducting public worship on Sundays and preaching in the chapel, in visiting and ministering to the inmates both on Sundays and week-days, in the house and in the hospital, in administering in public and in private to such as sought them at his hands, the Christian sacraments, and in services in the chapel and at the grave over the remains of the dead. When the chilly weather of autumn set in, after the pulling down of the large dormitory for men, it became necessary to occupy the chapel as a dormitory, and the public religious exercises in the chapel were suspended; but the visits of the chaplain and his ministries to individuals were continued until he was informed, some time in October by a friend, of the action of your board in making a new appointment. After that his visits were confined to members of his own communion who asked his services.

In consequence, as he has been informed, of an increased charge (eight dollars) for interments of paupers not chargeable to the city, in the public grounds of Mt. Hope, the bodies of those of this class who were friendless, were laid in, what is familiarly known as the “bone yard,” an enclosed lot of the public farm in the rear of the penitentiary. It was not uncommon, in such cases, to make more than one attempt in opening a grave, from the pick and shovels encountering, perhaps transversely, the mouldering coffin of some buried convict or pauper; while in spring and autumn, on a rainy time, the wetness of the ground and water in the grave, added to the pain of dishonoring the ashes of a brother man.

Remember Garden 2

In several instances your chaplain could not deny himself the privilege of procuring at his own expense the interments in Mt. Hope of patients dying in the hospital, whose dependence came of misfortunes and not of crime, and whose sickness and death had been cheered by the solace of Christian baptism and communion. He has ventured to attach to his report a receipt for his outlay in one of these cases, in the confidence that a rich agricultural town will not fail to reimburse him.

Remember Garden 3

RELIGIOUS SERVICES FOR ROMAN CATHOLICS.
It is well known that a very large proportion of the inmates of your almshouse are foreign born, and that most of these are in religious faith Roman Catholics. It is a part of their education to make much of attendance once on each Lord’s day on the public worship of their church, and it had been customary to indulge many of them in going to the city on Sunday mornings for this purpose. The result from their yielding to the solicitations of appetite or the false kindness of acquaintances, were subversive of the order and discipline of the house, and an effectual remedy was found in the rule laid down and enforced by the present officers forbidding absence on Sundays, in conjunction with an offer of the chapel, at a fixed hour on Sunday, for religious services by a minister of their own faith. Such services were held in consequence in the chapel at an early hour on Sunday mornings, by Father Bupaffe, a Roman Catholic clergyman, of courteous manners and earnest devotion to his work, under appointment from his bishop, beginning in March last, and suspended upon the taking of the chapel for a domitory. The influence of this arrangement upon the discipline and good order of the house has often been attested by the officers in charge.

Your chaplain may be permitted to say in conclusion, that the ties of his sacred calling with inmates of the house who welcomed his services and with some who are still tenants of your hospital and examples of every Christian virtue, and the happy relations and intercourse experienced with all the officers of the institution, having been chief recompenses of his services there.

Respectfully submitted,
J. V. Van Ingen, Chaplain.

Remember Garden 4

Mr. McNaughton moved that the claim of Dr. Van Ingen referred to in his report, amounting to eight dollars, be referred to the chairman of the Alms-House Committee to report thereon. Carried.

Mr. Mack moved that when this board adjourns for the day, it be until Friday morning next at 10 o’clock. Carried.

Upon motion of Mr. Pool, the Messenger was instructed to have the sleighs in readiness at 12 o’clock to-morrow, to convey the members to the alms house.

By Mr. Larkin-
Resolved, That the Superintendents of the penitentiary, and of the county poor, be and is hereby directed in the future to discontinue the burial of paupers or criminals in the old burying ground attached to the penitentiary, and to have the remains of all such interred in Mount Hope cemetery. Laid on the table by consent.” (Pages 211-212)

Remember Garden 5

SOURCES:

Proceedings of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Monroe, for 1872, Rochester, N.Y., Steam Press of Curtis, Morey & Co., Union And Advertiser Office, 1872.

ROCHESTER HISTORY, Life and Death in Nineteenth Century Rochester, Ruth Rosenberg-Naparsteck, Editor, Volume XLV, Nos. 1 and 2, 1985 (Monroe County Almshouse, Pages 12 – 22).

Bodies of Evidence: Reconstructing History Through Skeletal Analysis edited by Anne L. Grauer, (Page 121).

Photographs by L.S. Stuhler

“Breakthrough For Medical Genealogy” by Judy G. Russell – HIPAA 2013

Posted on April 11, 2013 by lsstuhler

Great article by Judy G. Russell, re-posted with permission. I have contacted the New York State Office of Mental Health asking their position on this new ruling. Hopefully, they will respond soon.

Breakthrough For Medical Genealogy

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Judy G. Russell One For Our Side

There’s been a major breakthrough in records access for those of us with family medical issues that we research in part through our genealogy.

Quietly, without much fanfare, the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has finally come around to understanding that closing medical records forever, even after the death of the person treated, isn’t the way to go.

It adopted a new set of rules earlier this year, effective just two weeks ago, that opens medical records 50 years after the patient’s death.

The change — first proposed nearly three years ago¹ — came in an omnibus Final Rule adoption governing a vast array of issues under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) designed primarily to update personal privacy rules in light of technological changes in medical recordkeeping.² The rule was adopted in January and became effective on March 26th.

As far back as 2003, archivists had complained to HHS about the old rule, under which personal health information was to be protected forever and only disclosed even after the patient’s death only if the legal representative of the estate authorized it.

In 2005, Stephen E. Novak of Columbia University had quoted from those earlier complaints in an HHS conference, explaining that “certain historical, biographical and genealogical works where the identity of the individual is the whole point could not be written, such as the Pulitzer Prize-winning A Midwife’s Tale, based on the late 18th and early 19th century diary of Maine midwife Martha Ballard.”³

Nancy McCall of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions told that same conference that “a number of state archives have acquired the records of defunct hospitals in their states and do not know whether they are covered entities. This is especially important for mental hospitals and TB hospitals that have closed.”⁴

All of those participating pleaded for clarity — and for access.

The new rule is, finally, the HHS response.

In its rulemaking, HHS recognized the problems inherent in “the lack of access to ancient or old records of historical value held by covered entities, even when there are likely few surviving individuals concerned with the privacy of such information. Archives and libraries may hold medical records, as well as correspondence files, physician diaries and casebooks, and photograph collections containing fragments of identifiable health information, that are centuries old. Currently, to the extent such information is maintained by a covered entity, it is subject to the Privacy Rule.”⁵

It noted that the “majority of public comment on this proposal was in favor of limiting the period of protection for decedent health information to 50 years past the date of death. Some of these commenters specifically cited the potential benefits to research. A few commenters stated that the 50-year period was too long and should be shortened to, for example, 25 years.”⁶

Based on its review and the public comments, HHS concluded:

We believe 50 years is an appropriate period of protection for decedent health information, taking into account the remaining privacy interests of living individuals after the span of approximately two generations have passed, and the difficulty of obtaining authorizations from a personal representative of a decedent as the same amount of time passes. For the same reason, we decline to shorten the period of protection as suggested by some commenters or to adopt a 100-year period of protection for decedent information.⁷

So, as of the 26th of March, HIPAA’s definition of “protected health information” expressly excludes information regarding “a person who has been deceased for more than 50 years,”⁸ and covered entities need only comply with HIPAA “with respect to the protected health information of a deceased individual for a period of 50 years following the death of the individual.”⁹

Now the fact that the federal government isn’t standing in the way doesn’t mean that all of us with family health issues can rush out and expect to be given immediate access to those old health records that may tell us so much about things we face today. The feds have never been the only player in the privacy game — state laws may also restrict access to health information.

But it’s a major breakthrough to have the federal government finally move out of the way of access to records of critical importance.

SOURCES

Tip of the hat to Ron Tschippert for alerting The Legal Genealogist to the rule adoption!

Notice of proposed rulemaking, 75 Fed. Reg. 40868, 40874 (14 Jul 2010). ↩
See “Modifications to the HIPAA Privacy, Security, Enforcement, and Breach Notification Rules Under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act; Other Modifications to the HIPAA Rules,” 78 Fed. Reg. 5565 (25 Jan 2013), PDF version, U.S. Government Printing Office (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/ : accessed 7 Apr 2013). ↩
Minutes, 11-12 January 2005, Subcommittee on Privacy and Confidentiality, National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics, HHS.gov (http://ncvhs.hhs.gov/ : accessed 7 Apr 2013). ↩
Ibid. ↩
“Modifications to the HIPAA … Rules,” 78 Fed. Reg. 5613-5614. ↩
Ibid., 78 Fed. Reg. 5614. ↩
Ibid. ↩
45 CFR §160.103. ↩
45 CFR §164.502(f). ↩

Giving Names To Numbers – Central Louisiana State Hospital Cemetery

Posted on March 31, 2013 by lsstuhler

Giving Names to Numbers.

Central Louisiana State Hospital Cemetery Project

Here is another example of a group, Committee for the Preservation and Enhancement of Central Louisiana State Hospital Cemetery, that wants to memorialize the people who lived and died at CLSH and were buried in anonymous, numbered graves. Because of the HIPAA Law, they are not allowed to release any of the names, but are allowed to put them on a memorial. If a family member wants to know if their loved one is buried there, they can only confirm or deny. They are prohibited in stating that these people were patients.

Mission

To bring back the dignity of the almost 3000 souls buried on the Central Louisiana State Hospital Grounds.

Company Overview

A group of people brought together by Mr. Ray Moreau who are dedicated to preserving the cemetery on the grounds of Central Louisiana State Hospital.

Description

The committee’s goal is to place a memorial with the names of each of the almost 3000 souls bured at the Central Louisiana State Hospital Cemetery, to have the cemetery recognized as a dedicated cemetery and establish a perpetual fund for the ongoing care of the cemetery in the future.

General Information

Donations to preserve the Central Louisiana State Hospital Cemetery can be sent to:

The Extra Mile
PO Box 3178
Pineville, LA 71361-3178
Call 318-484-6575 for more information.

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The Iron Coffin – Eastern State Hospital Cemetery

Posted on March 26, 2013 by lsstuhler

Phil Tkacz, President of the Eastern State Hospital Cemetery Preservation Project in Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky, is confronting the same problems with the federal HIPAA Law that many other concerned groups in the United States are dealing with concerning identification of deceased patients of former State Hospitals (Insane Asylums) and Custodial Institutions. What I find incredible is that many states will now be able to access LIVING INDIVIDUAL’S medical records (profiling) in order to comply with the new gun control legislation but the identities of patients who have been dead for over a century cannot be revealed because they lived with a mental illness, epilepsy, or developmental disability. When these folks were buried in the nineteenth century, the states and counties would not provide the money for headstones and instead marked their graves with numbers. In many cases, the cemeteries have been lost with the passage of time or we discover that the cemeteries and the graves themselves were never marked or recorded. The states spent huge amounts of tax payer dollars supporting and caring for these people while they were alive. In the nineteenth century, government agencies actually had budgets. It would have been considered an extravagance for the states and counties to also provide engraved headstones as this dependent group of human beings were considered to be the dregs of society. My question is, why is this particular group of people still being punished for illnesses over which they had no control? When will someone who knows what they are talking about at the Department of Health and Human Services come forward and explain why these people cannot be honored or remembered with dignity? And, why is this group of people being given more privacy protection than the living? Why?

ESH 1

Phil’s note along with photographs, concerns an iron coffin believed to be from the 1840s that is engraved with a name. The name cannot be revealed because of the HIPAA Law. Why would a family take the time to engrave their loved one’s coffin if they didn’t want anyone to know who that person was? What about the unfortunate individuals who were buried in thin, wooden coffins or just tossed in the dirt wrapped in a shroud? Why can’t we know who they were? Why can’t we have access to their medical records? THEY ARE DEAD AND HAVE BEEN DEAD FOR OVER A CENTURY. The federal government has no problem releasing our medical records, sending them over the internet, and allowing physicians to take home flash drives containing patient information that can be easily accessed or lost. So, what’s the problem? As citizens, we don’t know who is looking into our medical histories or why. This whole issue is ridiculous and the HIPAA Law is a joke! HHS is solely responsible for this fiasco and the stigma that they are perpetuating because no one knows how to interpret the damn law!

ESH 2

“In 2008 the state announced it would convert the Eastern State Hospital into a community college, BCTCS. At the same time, ESH would move to a new facility. Our group began meeting with all involved in order to discuss what would be done when graves were to be found on the hospital property as construction progressed. University of Kentucky Archeology attempted to do a survey of as many areas as possible to find possible graves, but found none. In January of 2011, I received a call from the state, they said 30-50 graves had been found in an area close to the entrance off Newtown Road & University of Kentucky was going to start exhuming the remains soon. Work progressed slowly due to weather, but was finished by late April 2011.

We met with the state, University of Kentucky Archeology, and others, to discuss what they had found later in 2011. The summary was, the actual number was about 170 remains of former patients had been found and that there were more in the same area but there wasn’t enough money to continue into that area. It was decided by them, that they would exhume those remains when construction got to that area. The timeline for re-burial was about 1 year and we would be kept up to date when necessary.

Fast forward to January 2012. I was told by a reliable source that there was an Iron coffin found the year before and there were photos. Also the coffin has a plaque on it with a name, unfortunately the last name is unreadable in the photo. I contacted the person we had been talking to for updates and asked why this was never mentioned to us. We were told that they kept it from the media to “preserve the dignity of the person in the coffin and to protect their privacy.” Why our group was not told was never explained though. Even the University of Kentucky said they could not release the name.

Attempts were made to have the name released but to this day we are told that the name is protected by HIPAA. A request was made to have a headstone erected over the grave where this coffin will be re-interred later this year and were told, again, that it wouldn’t be legal under HIPAA. We are still trying to find a way to have the name released, our main argument is that A) Patient privacy does not apply, and B) Common sense would tell you that having the name put on the coffin was done in case this happened and it was later exhumed.”

ESH 3

S2514-2013 – NY Senate Open Legislation – Relates to patients interred at state mental health hospital cemeteries – New York State Senate

Posted on March 1, 2013 by lsstuhler

S2514-2013 – NY Senate Open Legislation – Relates to patients interred at state mental health hospital cemeteries – New York State Senate.

NEW HIPAA UPDATE March 2013!

Well, the bill has a new number but it’s not dead! Yay! Special thanks to Senator Joseph Robach and Tim Ragazzo!

On March 1, 2013, Tim Ragazzo, Director of Operations & Legislation from Senator Joe Robach‘s office, called me to let me know that the bill was re-introduced (with a new number), to the NYS Senate and has been referred to the finance committee. This is great news because it means the bill is not dead! Now it has to pass in the Assembly. Hopefully, the bill will become law before it expires at the end of 2014.
-L.S. Stuhler at lsstuhler@gmail.com

Willard Cemetery Disk by Roger Luther at nysAsylum.com

NAMES INSTEAD OF NUMBERS!

Willard Cemetery 2 by Roger Luther at nysAsylum.com

For more information about these long-closed New York State Hospitals, check out the “Interesting Articles & Documents” page.

LIST OF STATE HOSPITALS

By 1901, there were thirteen state hospitals for the insane in the State of New York. All these hospitals buried their dead in anonymous, unmarked graves. Some had their own cemetery like Willard State Hospital; others used city and county cemeteries like Rochester State Hospital. Most of these state hospital cemeteries are unmarked, unkempt, and forgotten. None of the thousands of former psychiatric patients’ names have been released to the public. Considering that in 1870, the first patient was buried in the Willard Cemetery, which in the year 2012 covers a span of five or six generations, these people have waited long enough to be remembered. When you release the names, you remove the stigma. The following is a list of most of these long-closed state hospitals; there are more.

1. Utica State Hospital – Counties of Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Montgomery, Oneida, Saratoga, Schenectady and Warren.

2. Hudson River State Hospital – Counties of Albany, Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Putnam, Richmond, Rensselaer, Washington and Westchester.

3. Middletown State Hospital – Counties of Orange, Rockland, Sullivan and Ulster.

4. Buffalo State Hospital – Counties of Erie and Niagara.

5. Willard State Hospital – Counties of Allegany, Cayuga, Genesee, Ontario, Orleans, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Tompkins, Wayne and Yates.

6. Binghamton State Hospital – Counties of Broome, Chemung, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Madison, Otsego, Schoharie and Tioga.

7. St. Lawrence State Hospital – Counties of Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis, Onondaga,Oswego and St. Lawrence.

8. Rochester State Hospital – Counties of Monroe and Livingston.

9, 10. Long Island State Hospital – (Kings Park and Flatbush, Brooklyn) – Counties of Kings, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk.

11, 12. Manhattan State Hospital – (Manhattan and Central Islip) – Counties of New York and Richmond.

13. Gowanda State Homoeopathic Hospital (Collin’s Farm) – Counties of Cattaraugus, Chautauqua and Wyoming.

Additional State Hospitals:

14. Pilgrim State Hospital – Brentwood, Suffolk County, New York

15. Mohansic State Hospital – Yorktown, Westchester County, New York

State Hospitals for the Criminally Insane:

16, 17. Mattaewan and Dannemora State Hospitals

Washington State – Grave Concerns Association Model of Memorialization

Posted on December 18, 2012 by lsstuhler

For the past few years I have tried to get the attention of state and federal lawmakers to pass a law in New York State that would provide for the release of patient names; dates of birth and death; and location of graves, of people who were committed to State Hospitals and Custodial Institutions during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who were buried in unmarked or numbered, anonymous graves, whether they be in formerly state, county, or city owned cemeteries. (See My Story) I also asked for a searchable, digital database, available to the public to be included in the bill. On August 22, 2011, I finally got the opportunity to meet with Kate Munzinger, Senator Joseph Robach’s Chief of Staff. Ms. Munzinger took the time to listen to what I was asking for.

Grave Concerns Association

The reason why I’m blogging about this issue again is because the bill in New York State has not yet become a law. There are caring people in several states who are pushing to get a similar law passed but state and federal representatives will not give them the time of day or they won’t even consider passing such a law because of the misinterpretation of the federal HIPAA Law. I want to help those people in other states by sharing with them what was shared with me. If not for Laurel Lemke, Chair of Grave Concerns Association, I don’t think I would have received the attention of Senator Robach. In 2004, Ms. Lemke and others, had fought for this cause, and managed to amend law 6678 in the State of Washington that allowed for the release of patient names for the purpose of memorialization. She emailed me the bill which I in turn gave to Kate Munzinger, Chief of Staff; Tim Ragazzo, Director of Operations & Legislation; and Senator Joseph Robach. A bill was drafted and introduced to the New York State Legislature in March 2012. The title of the bill is: “An act to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to patients interred at state mental health hospital cemeteries.”

Western State Hospital, Pierce County, Washington, has 3,218 patients who are no longer anonymous. Grave Concerns Association has raised funds and replaced 1,200 names since 2004. The forgotten have been remembered with dignity. With community fund raising efforts and countless volunteers, inscribed headstones that identify the patient’s name, date of birth and death, have been placed at the graves; and a searchable, digital database has been uploaded to the internet. In contrast, New York State, with 22 or more former state custodial institutions combined has upwards of 11,000 or more people buried in anonymous graves who through no fault of their own have been erased from history. Willard State Hospital alone has close to 6,000 patients buried in anonymous graves.

Sherry Storms, Stacie Larson and Laurel Lemke, Grave Concerns Association, John Lucas, countless volunteers, and the State of Washington deserve to be recognized for their ground breaking, painstaking work, and above all, their model should be copied in every state in the union. The New York State bill is important and necessary in order to restore the dignity and personhood of the thousands of people who were incarcerated and died at former New York State Insane Asylums (later renamed State Hospitals), and State Custodial Institutions (for Feeble-Minded and Epileptic persons). When the bodies of the inmates were not claimed by family members, they were buried in anonymous, unmarked graves. Many of these unclaimed bodies went to medical colleges and pathology labs for the furtherance of medical science. These people deserve to be remembered, and we need to remember what happened to them so that we do not repeat the mistakes of our ancestors.

It is my hope that the State of New York, and all states, will pass similar legislation and follow the Washington State – Grave Concerns Model. They have done a great service for the community and the nation by naming the forgotten; setting up an exemplary, searchable, digital database; and trying their best to remove the stigma of mental illness.

WASHINGTON:
Grave Concerns Association
Volunteer Carla Wutz, descendent of Michael Wutz, updates the data base on the Grave Concerns website.

Grave Concerns Cemetery Database – Version 1.0 – Western State Hospital Historic PatientCemetery
http://www.wshgraveconcerns.org/search-the-database.html

Washington State Archives – Digital Archives

Port City Paranormal – The Ghosts Of Willard Asylum

Posted on October 7, 2012 by lsstuhler

To quote their website: Port City Paranormal is a team of investigators that, “is dedicated to finding answers to the age old mystery of what lies beyond the grave. We investigate and research unexplained phenomena that includes, but is not confined to; experiences of hauntings, EVP, apparitions, ghost sightings, and a broad range of altered realities.”

Port City Paranormal Logo

Port City Paranormal of Wilmington, North Carolina, was founded by Doug and Jane Anderson. In September 2008, and with the permission of the N.Y.S.D.O.C., they began investigating The Maples which was the first and oldest “cottage style” building that was constructed on the property in 1872. The team returned to Willard in March 2009, and began investigating The Branch, later renamed The Grandview, in 1904. According to the plaque that was placed on the building in 1960 by The New York State Agricultural Society and The Willard State Hospital, “This is the original building of The First State Agricultural College in the United States. Chartered April 15, 1853, Constructed 1859, In Operation 1860 – 61. Undone by war, it was transformed into Willard State Hospital in 1865, and reconstructed and reduced in size in 1886. Here, Ezra Cornell, a trustee, received the inspiration which became Cornell University.” Port City Paranormal also investigated Elliott Hall that was built in 1937.

Port City Paranormal – Willard Patients

According to the Port City Paranormal Team, “SWAT trainees bunking in Grandview and Elliott Hall, frequently report ghostly encounters and many refuse to stay in the buildings over night. Cell phones ring, keys repeatedly knocked to the floor, whispering, door knobs turning, screaming, and black shadows have been reported with every new class session.”

To read more about PCP’s extensive investigation of Willard State Hospital, please visit their website & blog!

Port City Paranormal

Port City Paranormal Blog

To learn more about The Willard Asylum for the Insane, buy my book:

The Inmates of Willard 1870 to 1900, A Genealogy Resource

My Story by L.S. Stuhler – July 23, 2012

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Posted on July 23, 2012 by lsstuhler

I include here my story about trying to obtain my great-grandmother’s medical records and photographs from the Willard State Hospital, along with asking for the release to the public of former patient names; dates of birth and death; and location of graves, in order that these forgotten people, of which there are thousands, may be honored and remembered with dignity. It all began on February 24, 2001, when I found my great-grandmother’s obituary: According to the “PennYan Democrat” newspaper dated August 17, 1928: “PUTNAM, At the State Hospital in Willard, Monday, August 13, 1928, Mrs. Margaret Putnam, aged 76 years. She is survived by one son, Jarvis Putnam, of PennYan. The funeral was held from the Thayer Funeral Home Wednesday afternoon, Rev. W.A. Hendricks officiating. Burial in Lake View cemetery.”

It took a long time for me to figure out where I should be looking in order to obtain information about my great-grandmother. In 2001, I was unable to find anything on the internet pertaining to this issue which is the main reason I created this blog (July 10, 2011) and wrote the book The Inmates of Willard 1870 to 1900, A Genealogy Resource (December 17, 2011). In 2007, I came across an article about a new book written by Darby Penney, MLS, and Peter Stastney, M.D., entitled The Lives They Left Behind Suitcases From A State Hospital Attic. Wondering if my great-grandmother’s suitcase was among the 400 discovered in an attic of the Willard State Hospital, I contacted Ms. Penney. Unfortunately, it was not among the surviving suitcases. Ms. Penney’s book revealed the practice of burying “mental patients” in anonymous graves. I must admit that I had never heard of this practice before and thought it was extremely cruel. What amazed me most was that no one (that I knew of) had ever tried to rectify this sad, dehumanizing situation. What needs to be acknowledged is none of these well documented facts about the thousands of people buried in anonymous graves at Willard, and all former NYS Hospitals and Custodial Institutions, would ever have come to light without the tireless efforts of Ms. Penney, Dr. Stastney, and Mr. Craig Williams, Curator of History at the New York State Museum at Albany. I also need to thank Laurel Lemke, from the Grave Concerns Association, for sending me the law that she helped to pass in the State of Washington in 2004. Without her help in emailing me the bill, I never would have gotten the attention of Kate Munzinger, Senator Joseph Robach’s Chief of Staff. I met with Ms. Munzinger on August 22, 2011. Senator Robach introduced the bill to the New York State Senate in March 2012.

The following response letters, beginning in early 2008, are from everyone that I have contacted over the years. I have not included emails. Unless a modification is made to the present HIPAA Law and New York State Mental Hygiene Laws (See New HIPAA Update and S2514-2013), I and so many others like me, who want to know why our ancestor was committed to a state hospital, will never know the answer. My first response letter is dated April 16, 2008, in response to the original paperwork that my physician and I had sent in early September of 2007 (seven month wait). On August 13, 2008, I was denied a copy of my great-grandmother’s medical records and photographs from the Greater Binghamton Health Center. This three sentence response letter is the explanation given to me after waiting four months, taking the time and effort to speak with them on the phone, obtaining and filling out their required paper work with the help of my physician, and sending in the forms.

1- GBHC 04.16.2008

2 – GBHC 08.13.2008

Besides writing a letter to former New York State Governor Patterson and present Governor Cuomo, both U.S. Senators from New York: Schumer and Gillibrand, State Senators, Congressmen, The Department of Correctional Services, The Commission on Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities, The Office of Mental Health Counsel, and the State of New York Department of State Committee on Open Government (FOIL), I also wrote a letter to the doctor in charge of the Office of Mental Health Institutional Review Board asking permission to view, record, and publish the burial ledgers – names; dates of birth and death; and location of graves) located and stored at the NYS Archives. After waiting seven months for a response, I was told in an official letter, that my proposed study was not approved due to concerns about violating patient confidentiality. I was also told that I could take the New York State Office of Mental Health to court in order to get the names of former patients and the medical records of my great-grandmother, but seriously, who has the time and the money to go through all of that? Privacy ends at death but apparently patient confidentiality lasts forever.

I went through proper channels to obtain Maggie’s medical records and photographs. I filled out the paperwork, had my doctor and a witness sign the paperwork, and my doctor sent it in. I waited four months for a response and finally my doctor received a letter. I asked for the medical records and any photographs of my great-grandmother. When I received the response from the Greater Binghamton Health Center in August 2008, it stated the staff was unable to locate the requested file. Had I received my great-grandmother’s medical records, I would have been satisfied. Besides being genuinely interested in learning more about Willard, I created this blog for family genealogists like me, frustrated trying to find out if and when their ancestor was a Willard inmate, receiving the runaround obtaining their ancestor’s medical records and photos, and determining whether their ancestor is buried in the Willard Cemetery. The final answer came from the Commissioner of the NYS Office of Mental Health in responding to my inquiry by e-mail on October 25, 2010, which basically stated that publicly identifying former patients may be offensive to some families because of the stigma and repercussions that may follow, for example, in some small towns. I must say that I took offense to his statement because I live in a small town. What exactly was he trying to imply? It appears that we have not moved any further in our tolerance or understanding of people with problems and of people who live in small towns. I must say that my favorite letter is from the Commissioner, dated June 3, 2011, in which he reminds me “that the penalties for violations are very stiff – civil penalties under federal law can carry up to $10,000 per violation.”

Willard’s inmates who in life were incarcerated, forgotten, warehoused, and controlled by the state are once again controlled and intentionally forgotten in death by New York State, the New York State Office of Mental Health, or both. Perhaps they are interpreting the scope of the HIPAA Law incorrectly. The only logical assumption is the protection provided by these laws is not for long dead souls since U.S. Federal Censuses already reveal many of their names; it is for the protection of the descendants.

The responses from the Senators are interesting because they state that there is nothing they can do about the situation at Willard. They mention nothing about modifying the HIPAA Law which was one of the questions that I asked them to respond to. My understanding is that they are the only ones who can change or modify this federal law in order that descendants or anyone for that matter, would be allowed to have a copy of these historical medical records. When you’re dead, you’re dead. Who cares if someone looks at 80 year old medical records? The following letters were received by me from Senator Charles E. Schumer, dated January 9, 2012; and from Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, dated February 21, 2012. Perhaps this whole ridiculous situation of trying to uncover the identities and opening medical records of people who have been dead for one hundred years lies with the unique interpretation of the federal HIPAA Law by each individual state office of mental health.

Response Letter Senator Schumer 1.9.2012

Response Letter Senator Gillibrand 2.21.2012

14 – OMH 06.03.2011

13 – GBHC 09.07.2010

11 – FOIL 06.04.2010-1

12 – FOIL 06.04.2010-2

10 – Correctional Services 01.15.2010

7 – FOIL 12.10.2009-1

8 – FOIL 12.10.2009-2

9 – FOIL 12.10.2009-3

5 – FOIL 09.25.2009-1

6 – FOIL 09.25.2009-2

4 – OMH Counsel 09.08.2009

3 – Quality Care Advocacy 09.01.2009

S6805-2011 – S2514-2013 – NY Senate Open Legislation – Relates to patients interred at state mental health hospital cemeteries – New York State Senate

Posted on March 27, 2012 by lsstuhler

NEW! UPDATED BILL: S2514-2013 – NY Senate Open Legislation – Relates to patients interred at state mental health hospital cemeteries – New York State Senate.

S6805-2011 – NY Senate Open Legislation – Relates to patients interred at state mental health hospital cemeteries – New York State Senate.

A10636-2011 – NY Assembly Open Legislation – Relates to patients interred at state mental health hospital cemeteries – New York State Assembly.

Imagine not being remembered in death because in life you were diagnosed with diabetes, heart disease or cancer. Most people would find this kind of treatment cruel and inhumane but it exists to this day for people who were diagnosed with a mental illness or developmental disability during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This bill is important and necessary in order to restore the dignity and personhood of the thousands of people who were incarcerated and died at former New York State Insane Asylums and Custodial Institutions. When the bodies of the inmates were not claimed by family members, they were buried in anonymous, unmarked graves. They deserve to have their names remembered and available to the public in a searchable database.

The list of these former New York State Hospitals includes but is not limited to: Binghamton, Buffalo, Central Islip, Creedmoor, Dannemora, Edgewood, Gowanda, Hudson River, Kings Park, Long Island, Manhattan, Matteawan, Middletown, Mohansic, Pilgrim, Rochester, St. Lawrence, Syracuse, Utica, and Willard.

The Feeble-Minded (Intellectual Disabilities) and Epileptic Custodial Institutions of New York includes but is not limited to: Craig Colony for Epileptics, Letchworth Village for Epileptics & Intellectually Disabled, Newark State School for Intellectually Disabled Women, Rome State School for Intellectually Disabled Adults & Children, and Syracuse State School for Intellectually Disabled Children. There may be more.

There is no good reason why these long deceased souls need to be punished and stigmatized in death for an illness or disability that they lived with in life. The great majority of these former state hospitals closed in favor of smaller group home settings or changed their names to Psychiatric Centers about 1974. The cemeteries that belonged to these institutions are inactive. I do not understand why anyone would need to have their name withheld from any list until 50 years had passed after their death. This requirement in the bill only serves to feed the stigma. Let’s hope that even with this flaw, it becomes law.

Photo by Roger Luther at www.nysAsylum.com

Photo by Roger Luther at http://www.nysAsylum.com

Veteran’s Graves 5.14.2011

Willard Cemetery 5.14.2011

Sally Green’s Anonymous Burial, Rochester, NY

Posted on February 24, 2012 by lsstuhler

I am writing this post in response to the story in the Rochester, NY, Democrat and Chronicle, of the anonymous burial of Sally Green, a woman who lived with a mental illness and somehow slipped through the cracks never receiving the help or care that she needed. What is most disturbing to me is the fact that her family was not notified of her death until she had been dead and buried for three weeks in a cardboard coffin (with or without a vault), in an anonymous, unmarked grave. In my opinion, the reason why this poor woman was buried in an anonymous grave wasn’t because her family didn’t care about her; it was due to the fact that she had mental health issues. The big questions in my mind are: why didn’t anyone take the time to locate her family, and who else is buried in this anonymous section of this public cemetery?

Sally Green Coffin – Tina Yee Photographer

During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, state “insane” asylums and hospitals, including the former Monroe County Insane Asylum later renamed Rochester State Hospital, buried thousands of patients in anonymous, unmarked graves. I was not aware that this practice was still in use. Who knows if the families of these patients were ever told what became of them. Most people are not aware that in the state of New York the unmarked, anonymous graves of the “mentally ill” located in former NYS Hospital cemeteries and public cemeteries such as Mount Hope Cemetery (Rochester, NY), cannot be marked with an engraved headstone and their names cannot be made public because of the interpretation of federal HIPAA Law by the NYS Office of Mental Health. To deny our ancestors and the recently deceased this simple remembrance, for all eternity, on the grounds that they were diagnosed with a mental illness, and, therefore, by law, they are not permitted to be remembered, is unconscionable.

Everyone should be remembered with dignity. I wonder if the public will be given an explanation as to why no one took the time to find out if Sally Anne had a family? These actions are dehumanizing, insulting and simply unacceptable.

Family Never Told Of Sally Green’s Death, Burial – Democrat & Chronicle 2.18.2012.
“Trudging through the wet grass in Oatka Cemetery, mud and rainwater creeping up the sides of her jeans as tears dripped down her face, Cynthia Green finally cried out. “This is so stupid! I’m just trying to find my sister!” On Jan. 19, Sally Green died at Strong Memorial Hospital, and in an apparent series of missteps and miscommunications, no one told her son Derrick or any of her eight living siblings that she had died until long after she was buried. Family members finally learned of her passing last week, and, seeking answers, they say they were repeatedly spurned by officials, none of whom were willing to claim responsibility for the mishap. When they finally visited the small section of Oatka Cemetery reserved for indigent burials — home to about 300 others that the county has had buried there over the past six years — they searched for her resting place for more than half an hour. Sally Green’s was one of the many unmarked graves, so the family eventually had to ask for assistance from the cemetery caretaker, who pointed them to the right spot: a flat pile of mud unmarked by anything other than a small yellow rock. They said a prayer as they gathered around the burial site, where beneath their feet, the body of their mother and sister lay in a coffin that was little more than a glorified cardboard box marked “Handle with care.” “Can you imagine someone in your family getting buried without notifying you, and then you find out a month later?” said Derrick Green. “All of this is just crazy. Mentally, I’m so drained right now. I just don’t want this to happen to no one else.”

A Troubled Life
Afflicted with a mental illness, Sally Green had been drifting for the past several years, said her sister Cynthia Green. She was in and out of homeless shelters, and a drinking problem led to numerous hospitalizations. She was found on the morning of Jan. 19 in a room at the Cadillac Hotel, where she’d been staying for the previous two weeks, and was pronounced dead at Strong at 10:07 p.m. She was 57. But family members say that no one at the hospital called them, nor did anyone at the Monroe County Public Administrator’s Office, which is tasked with tracking down surviving family members and preparing funeral arrangements if no family is located. In the case of Sally Green, this shouldn’t have been difficult. Her son, as well as six of her eight living siblings, lives in the Rochester area. She has numerous cousins in Rochester as well, four of whom work for the Rochester Police Department. Additionally, she always carried identification and an address book with her, but officials never showed up at the Cadillac Hotel to search her belongings, said Tina Spence, the hotel’s front desk clerk. “They could have easily found where I was at,” said Derrick Green, 42, of Rochester. The family now wants the county to pay to have the body exhumed so they can conduct their own funeral and bury Sally Green next to her mother, Cora Green. “My mom is not resting well right now,” said Derrick Green. “This way, at least we could say goodbye to her in the right kind of way.” They’d also like a better explanation as to the cause of her death. To date, the family has no insight into how she died other than a three-word description on the death certificate: “acute myocardial infarction” — or a heart attack, in common terms. On Friday, officials at Strong Memorial Hospital called the family and set up a meeting to explain the cause of her death further, said Derrick Green. Social workers at the hospital attempted to locate relatives on the day Sally Green was admitted but were unable to find any, said Teri D’Agostino, spokesperson for Strong Memorial Hospital. When Green died, the hospital turned the case over to the public administrator, Frank Iacovangelo, said D’Agostino. Iacovangelo’s firm, Gallo & Iacovangelo, did not return a call seeking comment. Monroe County also did not return a call seeking comment.

Fourth Of 10 Siblings
Born to Miles and Cora Green, Sally Green was the fourth of 10 siblings. As a youth, she would often wait until her mother fell asleep clutching her baby sister Cynthia before sneaking over and bringing the baby into her own bed to hold. She grew to be a caring girl with a sarcastic sense of humor and a penchant for taking baths — sometimes more than once a day, said her sister Linda Cloud. She had Derrick when she was 15 years old, but several years later, she began showing signs of mental illness. Unable to care for her son, she gave him up for adoption, but he returned to the family and reunited with his mother when he was 16, family members said. Later in her life, with her mental illness compounded by alcohol abuse, she often found herself staying at the House of Mercy, a homeless shelter in Rochester. There, she became affectionately known as the “lipstick bandit,” because she would often spread lipstick beyond the reaches of her lips and up the sides of her cheeks, said Cynthia Green. In recent months, she lived with her son and called him regularly when he wasn’t home. “I used to be like ‘Why are you calling me so much?'” said Derrick Green. “But thinking of it now, I think she wanted to be around me because she knew her days were coming to an end.” She moved into the Cadillac Hotel on Jan. 5, and her son was helping her find an apartment of her own, he said. Though she stayed there for only two weeks prior to her death, she endeared herself to the staff, thanks to her bright orange hat and affinity for burnt popcorn. On Jan. 29, two days after her burial, a one-line obituary ran in the Democrat and Chronicle, but several more days would pass before family members learned of her death. She is predeceased by her brother Gary, and survived by her son Derrick; her brother Miles; her sisters Gloria, Cora, Joyce, Cynthia, Clara Ingram, Mildred Gibson and Linda Cloud; and many other relatives. Derrick Green said he’s had trouble eating, sleeping, and working since his mother died. “I only have one mother,” he said, “and I want someone to be liable for what they have done.” SDOBBIN@DemocratandChronicle.com & Twitter: @Sean_Dobbin

Monroe County Public Administrator Reveals New Protocol For Finding Next Of Kin, Changes Made In Response To Sally Green Case – David Andreatta – Democrat & Chronicle 4.26.2012
“The circumstances that led to Sally Green being buried in a pauper’s grave unbeknownst to her family were “unusual and exceptional,” the Monroe County public administrator, who authorized the burial, wrote to the Monroe County Legislature in a letter dated this week. The public administrator, Frank Iacovangelo, wrote in response to legislators who questioned his protocol for locating next of kin following Democrat and Chronicle reports of Green’s burial and subsequent exhumation from Oatka Cemetery in Scottsville. Iacovangelo paid to have Green reburied at Mt. Hope Cemetery. A private lawyer under contract with the county, Iacovangelo wrote that the incident prompted a “thorough review” of his office’s protocol and “resulted in an enhancement of office procedures to prevent any recurrence of burial without family notification and approval.” The letter, dated April 23 and to which new procedures were appended, marked the first time he has publicly revealed the extent of the changes and said the Green situation was unique. “Up until (Green’s burial in) February of this year, I have never had a situation arise where I was unable to find a relative willing to act (on behalf of the deceased) when such a person actually existed,” the letter read. The matter of Green, who had drifted in and out of homelessness and was estranged from her family when she died in January, turned a spotlight on taxpayer-funded indigent burials and the function of the public administrator, who is charged with handling the estates of the poor and people who die without a will or executor. Much of the new protocol reads like a list of common sense steps one might take to track down relatives of people disconnected from society.” DANDREAT@DemocratandChronicle.com
http://twitter.com/dandreattaDandC

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Great article by Judy G. Russell, re-posted with permission. I have contacted the New York State Office of Mental Health asking their position on this new ruling. Hopefully, they will respond soon.

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