I am searching for the death record of my great grandmother, Susan McArthur Blake, a patient at the State Hospital on the 1900 census. She died June 29, 1905. Does anyone know if records from that period exist and where I could locate them? I have been unable to locate her obituary. Apparently, the newspaper at that time was a weekly and she died on the day it was published for the week, and she wasn't listed the next two weeks. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Are you referring to the Dorothea Dix Hospital located in Jacksonville, IL? Blakes from Wake County travelled to KY then to central IL. You may email me direct at: anydsmomnmaid@yahoo.com

I am wondering if you ever found a way to see Dorothea Dix Mental Hospital records. My g-g-grandmother Eliza Sumner Leake is on the Raleigh, NC censuses there in 1870 and 1880. I assume she died there soon after as she was born in 1838 in Northampton Co., NC, and probably had Huntington's Disease as some of her her children did. Her spouse was William Sumner born 1832 Northampton. No records of her death can be found elsewhere in NC.

I have done a lot of research on Dix Hospital, even gone there in person and asked about records.

At Dix, they don't have any of the old patient records, and they tell you to go to the State Archives. The State Archives doesn't have the records and tells you that if Dix doesn't have them, they were probably destroyed somehow over time.

Unfortunately, it looks like those records may be long gone. :( Its too bad they didn't have modern filing systems and digital databases back then.

That's too bad. I plan to go there in person too but I guess I should not be too hopeful. Maybe a death certificate had to be filed somewhere in Raleigh? I am going to check at her county (Northampton) to see if Dorothea Dix Hospital sent them anything that was kept. I've read about an old cemetery on the Dix Hill grounds. Did you see it? Are the graves marked? Two of her granddaughters died there as well (after lobotomies - so sad) and the death certificates were online but those deaths were much later.

I work on the hospital grounds and visit the cemetery often. I will look for a marker with the name:
Susan McArthur Blake June 29,1905
If I happen to find I will let you know.:)

I'm also trying to find a record of death from between 1910-1920 for my g-grandmother. Family stories say she was sent to a mental hospital and died there. Rosa Linda Horne Lanier, born around 1877. She shows up in the 1910 census living with her family but in 1920 her husband shows as a widow. I've read that there were a lot of deaths in 1918 from a flu epidemic.

Elaine, I tried to duplicate your search and could find a Rosa in the 1900 census with Eslie. I was unable to find them in 1910 but found Esli as a Widower in 1920. Death records were much better after 1909 when they became a state requirement, but they were still not good. I, also, was unable to find a death certificate for Rosa. There was a social stigma attached to mental illness and commitment, so people seldom used obituaries, even if they could have afforded them. Burial and tombstones were also expenses that could not be afforded. There were many burials in "Family Cemeteries" which are unrecorded.

Nancy Smith

Thank you for looking Nancy. I actually found them in 1910 as Eflie Laner and Rosalander Laner, with my grandfather Ayden Lanier living with his grandfather William Ira Horne, next door. The family story was that Rosa Linda (I've seen her name listed as Rosie, Linda, Rosa, Rosalinda, Rosalander) tried to stuff him down a well when he was a baby and was committed. I feel that the family could have afforded burial and a tombstone because there is actually a family cemetery that everyone else is in, but I'm not sure they would have brought her back from Raleigh to Richlands. So, I'm assuming she died between 1910-1920 at a mental hospital. Do you know if there was another "mental hospital" besides Dix?

I am sorry I just don't know.
Nancy