Residential Institutions and Your Ancestors: Records for when Family Lived “Somewhere Else”

Ancestors who seemingly vanished from records or appeared in unexpected places in censuses may have had an emotionally complicated backstory. They may have lived in a residential institution. 

Almshouses (poorhouses), orphanages, asylums, reform schools, veteran’s homes, penitentiaries, tuberculosis sanatoriums—these were all part of life in the U.S. for more than a century. But many families never spoke about their experiences with these institutions, or may have actively covered up evidence of them. 

This article will outline why residential institutions existed, how to identify them in records, and how they can unlock previously unknown chapters of your ancestor’s life. 

What were Residential Institutions?

A simple way to define a residential institution is a place where someone lived (willingly or unwillingly) because they met a specific set of criteria. Institutions in the 19th and early 20th centuries were meant to provide care and services for groups of people in similar circumstances who were not seen as able to fully care for themselves. 

Institutionalization, at the time, was seen as a pragmatic, moral and even progressive practice at the time. In an era before widespread welfare programs, they were designed by governments, religious organizations, and private charities to address the side effects of industrialization, urbanization, war, poverty and disease. 

Institutions can be broadly categorized by the populations they served: 

• Dependent institutions such as almshouses, women’s homes and orphanages (for the impoverished, orphaned, widowed and elderly) 
• Health-related institutions such as state hospitals, asylums and sanatoriums (for those suffering from physical or mental-health ailments, including contagious diseases and developmental disabilities) 
• Correctional institutions such as prisons (for those convicted of crimes and/or needing rehabilitation) 
• Coercive institutions such as Native American boarding schools, internment camps, or forced labor camps (for those targeted by government authorities, often for political, racial/ethnic, or economic reasons) 

By the mid-20th century, institutions declined amid changes to social, economic, medical and political policies. For example, the expansion of Social Security and other benefits raised people from poverty, and community-based care (such as the foster program) placed children in the care of families rather than orphanages.

Finding Clues of Institutionalization

Hardly any records will state in plain terms that someone lived in an institution. Rather, genealogists must look for indirect evidence that hints at residence there: 

Censuses: These are the most-reliable clues, as residents of an institution were generally listed with other residents rather than family members. (Watch out for unusual relationships to head of household such as “inmate” or “patient.”) Census-takers asked questions related to mental health and disabilities from 1840 to 1880; the 1880 census had a separate schedule of “Defective, Dependent and Delinquent Classes.” Note census data on institutions was usually compiled from admission records (not by talking to inmates) so the information may be scanty or incorrect. 

Oral history: Listen for euphemisms in family stories like “She stayed somewhere for a while” or “The children were sent away.” Other family sources might mention “county farms” (poorhouses) or “hospitals” (asylums). 

Newspapers: Local publications often reported on admissions, discharges and court actions related to institutions. (Note: Obituaries may have omitted institutions due to social stigma.) 

Court records: In addition to criminal case files, look for references to your ancestors in probate documents and records related to surrogate, orphan or juvenile courts. Guardianship cases might have resulted in a child’s placement in an orphanage or home. The court could also deem someone “insane” and being placed in a mental institution.

Death records: A death that occurred in an institution would have listed the facility as the place of death or as the person’s residence. 

Cemetery records: Many institutions had their own cemeteries. However, those buried in them might be in unmarked graves or indicated only by a number. For example, Longview Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio has a cemetery on what used to be its grounds, however there are no grave markers.

Accessing Institutional Records

Residential institutional records are often fragmented, restricted, renamed or scattered across multiple repositories. Finding them requires a multi-step process: 

1. Identify the institution (and its oversight) 

It’s not enough to know that your ancestor was institutionalized—you also need to know the facility’s name. That’s more complicated than it sounds, as institutions often changed names or had different “official” and colloquial names. 

For example, Longview State Hospital in Cincinnati was also known as Longview Insane Asylum, Longview Asylum or simply “Longview” or “The Asylum.” Records may be cataloged under any of these names or under the administrative body that ran the institution, rather than the institution itself. 

With that in mind, you’ll need to know what administrative body had jurisdiction over the institution. Possible custodians include federal, state, county or municipality governments; religious organizations; charities; or private organizations.

Administrative control affects who created records at the facility and where they’re housed today. For example, a state archive would likely have records from a state-run institution (e.g., a penitentiary or veteran’s home). But a diocesan archive would have records from a church-run orphanage. 

As with names, administrative control changed over time as institutions expanded, merged, shuttered, or were taken over by successor organizations. Sources for tracking those changes include city directories, published local histories, minutes from state oversight committees, and annual reports from charities or businesses. HathiTrust, for example, has digitized the U.S. Census Bureau’s Report on Benevolent Institutions, which lists institutions by type and location and details the administrations that ran them. 

2. Search online for records

It’s rare for an institution’s full set of case files to be digitized, but partial records and contextual materials are far more common. Look online for documents including admission or discharge registers, lists of residents, annual reports, and administrative or oversight documents. 

On major genealogy websites, search broadly for these documents by state or record type—not just the institution’s name. Collection titles may be unintuitive or disbursed across court, medical or correctional record sets. 

Digital libraries such as HathiTrust, the Internet Archive and Google Books host thousands of government publications: annual reports, state investigation reports, and statistical summaries. These rarely name individual residents, but can confirm operational dates, administrative oversight, and notes about the institution’s scope. 

In addition, newspapers may have reported on admissions, discharges, court proceedings, deaths, and scandals involving institutions. Even a brief mention in an article can help establish a time frame or confirm someone’s residency. Many websites now host digital newspapers, including Newspapers.com and GenealogyBank. 

To locate non-digitized materials, consult WorldCat and ArchiveGrid. Even when collections are inaccessible remotely, catalog descriptions often reveal record creators, administrative control and repository locations.

Don’t overlook historical and genealogy societies, too, as they may have institution-specific preservation projects, advocacy groups, or descendant-led initiatives. Alternatively, records from local institutions may now be in the custody of university or public libraries in the area. For example, the Ohio History Connection has the records of Longview State Hospital and the University of Illinois at Chicago has the records of the Children’s Home and Aid Society of Illinois.

3. Understand and navigate record restrictions

Many institutional records (especially those involving children or medical data) fall under privacy laws. In those cases, access is usually restricted to the person mentioned or their immediate family members. Policies vary by record type, location, administrative body, and whether the institution still operates. 

In general, you’ll have more luck accessing records from public entities. Individual businesses, charities or religious organizations create their own policies regarding who can view and obtain records. 

Note that records may have been destroyed, either by a natural disaster or because of space limitations or record-retention policies. Alternatively, records may survive only as indexes or statistical summaries—without the original files. 

If you do find records and want copies of them, ask the repository about access requirements before you submit your request. You may need to provide documentation of your relationship or of the person’s death. Even if you can’t access the full record, you may be able to get a version with redacted information. 

More About Residential Institutions and Their Records

This section is intended to help connect residential institution type to research strategy. Each category highlights a significant type of institution, what kind of records it typically created and what challenges you may encounter when attempting to document an ancestor’s residence there. Not every institution generated the same kinds of records and understanding the function of a residential institution is often the key to locating or explaining the absence of records and documentation.

Almshouses/Poorhouses

Depending on time and place, almshouses may also be referred to as poorhouses, county homes (or farms), poor farms or houses of refuge.

The first almshouse in US history was built in Boston, Mass. In 1622. Originally, they were formed as charitable extensions of the Christian church systems (Protestant and Roman Catholic), but were later adapted by local governments.

Populations with very different needs, including children, people with mental illness, individuals with disabilities and even some convicted offenders, were housed together, which eventually led to reform movements that resulted in the removal of children, mentally ill, developmentally disabled and convicted criminals from almshouses, increasing the number of residential institutions that people resided in.

By the end of the 19th century, almshouses were often government-run, typically at the county level. Many included infirmaries or hospital wards, and surviving records may be limited to admission registers or court-related documentation due to medical privacy restriction.

When searching for almshouses or poorhouses, make sure to also search for “Poor Farm,” “County Farm,” “County Hospital,” and other terms, as there were numerous names that these institutions went by.

Probate files, overseers of the poor records and county court minutes are important for identifying court-ordered placements.

Homes for the Aged and Veterans’ Homes

Homes for the aged and veterans’ homes were distinct from almshouses, especially by the late 19th and early 20th centuries. While almshouses served a broad dependent population, homes for the aged served elderly individuals who could no longer live independently on their own, regardless of financial status. Homes for the aged operated by counties, fraternal organizations, or religious groups may also appear under names such as “old people’s homes,” “infirmaries” or “county homes.”

Look for records for these homes by following the administration–many fraternal organizations (Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Masons, etc.) operated their own homes for members of their organization (and widows of members). Many also operated orphanages for children of members who needed care after the death of one or both parents.

Veterans’ homes, including state soldiers’ homes and federal institutions, were established to care for aging or disabled veterans, especially following the Civil War and later conflicts.

Veterans’ homes frequently generated extensive records, including admission cards, service verification documents, pension cross-references, medical summaries, correspondence with family members, and death and burial records. These records often overlap with military service files and pension applications.

Records may be held by state archives, veterans’ affairs departments, or local repositories. You can search for existing veterans homes through the National Association of State Veterans Homes’ Directory. Ancestry.com has records for 12 of the National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (created after the Civil War).

Look for annual reports, as those may list the residents of the home in entirety. For example, the 1902 Annual Report of the Indiana State Soldiers’ Home details all the residents that were living in the institution at the time, as well as information about their service and if they were disabled. It also lists those who died within the previous year.

Children’s Homes and Orphanages

Orphanages, also known as children’s homes, orphan asylums or half-orphan homes, cared for children whose parents are deceased or unable to care for them. Most children in orphanages were not full orphans, they were often half-orphans whose single-parent could not support them due to poverty, illness or the death of a spouse.

In colonial America, orphans and other children whose parents were unable to support them were usually apprenticed, indentured or placed in almshouses. After about 1800, privately managed orphan asylums began in the country’s largest cities and quickly spread starting in the 1830s. After the Civil War, orphanages began popping up in every area of the US because of the number of children half-orphaned due to the conflict. By 1890, there were an estimated 50,000 children living in Catholic, Protestant and publicly managed orphan asylums, and Jewish and fraternal organization-run orphanages also began to appear.

During the first three decades of the 20th century, more children were cared for in orphan asylums that ever before and orphanages/institutions for dependent children were in every state that had population growth. By about 1940, orphanages were largely replaced by mothers’ pensions and foster care programs. 

Because of the sensitive nature of child welfare and adoption, many orphanage records are sealed or restricted, particularly those held by religious organizations. Publicly operated children’s homes are more likely to have accessible records, often held in state or university archives.

Some Catholic Archdioceses have had their records pertaining to children’s homes or orphanages digitized on FamilySearch. For example, the Angel Guardian Orphanage (Chicago, Illinois) has records on FamilySearch that include baptism records (1910-1957), sacramental register (1881-1912), confirmations (1916-1943), death registers (1868-1935), and first communions (1917-1947).

Institutions for the Blind and/or Deaf

Beginning in the mid-19th century, schools and residential institutions for blind and deaf individuals were established across the country. Many residents attended state-run schools, while others lived in charitable group homes.

Because the government and administrators of these institutions believed deafness and blindness could run in families, records from these institutions are often unusually detailed and may include information about parents, siblings, and extended family members. Some of these records are available through FamilySearch or state archives, and many of the institutions still operate today under modern names.

Maternity Homes/Homes for Unwed Mothers

Homes for Unwed Mothers, also known as maternity homes, were widespread in the 20th century. These residential facilities were intended to shelter pregnant unmarried women from social stigma and often functioned as both housing and medical facilities. Some also facilitated adoptions.

While some homes provided genuine support, others participated in coercive adoption practices, and records may be sealed, incomplete or ethically complex. It’s also important to distinguish legally operated maternity homes from illegal “baby farms,” which exploited mothers and infants and represent a separate research topic.

Mental Health Institutions: State Hospitals/Asylums

As like other institutions, the history of this topic is quite sensitive. A good number of those who were committed to state hospitals and asylums (historically known as “Insane Asylums”) were actually completely sane and not suffering from “insanity.” Women were extremely vulnerable to being committed for conditions including anxiety or depression. Some husbands who wanted their wife out of the way may have tried to have her declared insane or incompetent.

That being said, many people who did have serious mental health issues became residents in these institutions.

The Asylum Project Wiki has a list of at least all of the state-run and some privately run asylums with historical information and images.

Records from these institutions may be hard to come by online, as they are usually classified as medical records. Some repositories have redacted or limited digital archives of asylum records. For example, Ohio University has a digital collection for the Athens Mental Health Center (previously known as the Anthens Lunatic Asylum; South-Eastern Ohio Hospital for the Insane; Athens Hospital for the Insane; Athens Asylum for the Insane; Athens State Hospital; and more).

Another kind of record that can be found for mental health institutions are inpatient registration or history books that detail the health of the patient. While most of these are restricted for privacy reasons, some can be found online. For example, FamilySearch has records of the Massachusetts State Hospital (Danvers, Massachusetts) and while most of the records are still on microfilm and not digitized, select books from the 1870s through 1881 are digitized online.

At a Glance: Inpatient Medical Record

1. FamilySearch includes this unindexed record as part of a collection of hospital records. Scrolling backward in the microfilm images reveals the institution is “Danvers Insane Hospital” (later, Danvers State Hospital). The hospital closed in 1992.
2. The hospital record includes a surprising amount of detail about patient Ann Caffey: residence, place of birth, age, occupation and “civil condition” (marital status).
3. Notes on Ann’s medical history indicate she long suffered from episodes like the one that led to her admission. According to this record, she had her first attack at 56 years old and had been previously admitted for six years.
4. A note from January 30 describes Ann’s episode on 30 January 1880, the date of her admission. She’s described as violent and needing restraint because of a belief that her children were plotting to take her money and home from her. She’s also noted as being self-harming (“Incoherent and declared she would kill herself unless allowed to go to Danvers”).
5. Ann’s been diagnosed with “recurrent mania.” Note medical terms used today are often different from those used historically.
6. Ann was discharged 17 March 1881, more than a year after her admission. Her condition was described as “unimproved.”

Tuberculosis and Other Communicable Disease Sanitariums, Sanatoriums and Hospitals

Tuberculosis (historically called consumption) was an extremely common illness and leading cause of death in the late 19th and 20th century in the US, and many were confined to tuberculosis sanitariums across the country. Institutions also existed for other communicable diseases like smallpox or scarlet fever.

Records from these institutions may include admission registers, transfer cards or death documentation, though medical files are commonly restricted. Published directories, such as Philip P. Jacobs’ The Campaign Against Tuberculosis in the United States (1908), can help identify where patients were treated.

Correctional Institutions

Correctional institutions, such as jails, reformatories and penitentiaries, were operated by federal, state, county or municipal governments. Criminal activity and incarceration were typically matters of public record and often generated detailed documentation.

These records, often referred to as “penal records,” may include physical descriptions, photographs, education, occupation, religion, nationality, family information, offense details, court of conviction and discharge information. Other kinds of records for correctional institutions include prison hospital records, clemency files, execution records or burial documentation (if the institution had its own cemetery).

For federal prisons, penitentiary records dating back to 1870 are held by the National Archives and Records Administration under Record Group 129. Some records from correctional institutions can be found on websites including Ancestry.com and FamilySearch, as well as within state archives, which often hold the registers and records of court commitments.

Reformatories, Industrial Schools and Juvenile Correctional Institutions

Juvenile institutions, including reform schools, industrial schools, and training schools, occupied a space between dependency and correction. Children were often committed through juvenile courts rather than criminal proceedings.

These institutions frequently explain why children disappear from census households or appear far from their families. Records may include court commitments, admission and discharge registers, apprenticeship or placement papers and parole documentation. Juvenile records are often held separately from adult correctional records and may be subject to additional access restrictions because of the age of the individuals.

Coercive Institutions

Coercive institutions were designed to confine, control, or forcibly relocate people through government authority rather than criminal conviction. Unlike prisons, residency in these institutions was not the result of a criminal trial, but instead rooted in federal or state policy, military action, racial targeting, political suspicion or social control. These institutions included Native American boarding schools, internment camps, forced labor camps, and other government-run facilities that removed individuals (and often entire families) from their homes and communities.

Records were frequently created for administrative or surveillance purposes rather than for the benefit of the people confined, and documentation may be incomplete, intentionally limited or deeply fragmented. That said, these institutions often generated extensive paper trails at the federal level, particularly when multiple agencies were involved.

Records associated with coercive institutions may include enrollment or transfer lists, correspondence between agencies, transportation records, school or labor assignments, ration or payroll records, medical examinations, disciplinary reports, and death or burial documentation.

In the case of Native American boarding schools, records may also intersect with tribal enrollment files, mission records, and Bureau of Indian Affairs documentation. Locate known Native American boarding schools on Boarding School Healing.

For internment camps and other wartime facilities, records may include questionnaires, investigation files, family group sheets and relocation or resettlement files.

Institutional Record Substitutes

Your ancestor may still have been institutionalized despite a lack of institutional records. The contextual clues we discussed earlier in this article may still point to residence at an institution; you’ll maybe just need to settle for partial documentation. 

The following records can provide clues to institutional residence or substitute for missing records: 

Censuses 

As previously discussed, unexpected places of residence or relationships to head of household in a census might suggest a stint in an institution. But enumerators also asked more-direct questions in some years about disabilities. 

In the 1850 and the 1860 federal censuses, the enumerator was instructed to record “whether deaf and dumb, blind, insane, idiotic, pauper, or convict.” The 1870 census similarly asked “whether deaf and dumb, blind, insane, or idiotic.” 

The 1880 federal censuses expanded the level of detail: 

• Is the person sick or temporarily disabled, so as to be unable to attend to ordinary business or duties? If so, what is the sickness or disability? 
• Blind 
• Deaf and dumb 
• Idiotic 
• Insane 
• Maimed, crippled, bedridden or otherwise disabled 

Tick marks in any of those columns should result in the person being named in the separate Schedule of Defective, Dependent and Delinquent Classes (DDD). 

Vital records 

Death records indicate both cause of death (e.g., tuberculosis) and place of death (e.g., a sanatorium or other institution). Likewise, children living in an orphanage may have been documented in baptism records (if run by a church organization) or delayed birth certificates. 

Court records 

Courts heard a wide variety of cases that could be related to institutions: criminal trials and sentences (prisons), guardianship and probate cases (orphanages), unwed pregnancies and/or adoptions (maternity homes, residential schools), and juvenile delinquencies (juvenile correctional institutions. 

Fast Facts

• Coverage: Varies by organization, time period, and type of institution; especially common during the 19th and early 20th centuries
• Jurisdiction where kept: Archive of relevant government body or religious organization; collection of private charity or business; local library or historical and genealogical society
• Key details: Name, residence, age, medical status or history
• Alternates and substitutes: Vital records, censuses, newspapers, medical records

Resources

Websites

• The Ancestor Hunt’s Institutional Records guide
• Asylum Projects
• Boarding School Healing
• Cyndi’s List: see categories for Medical & Medicine; Orphans; Poorhouses & Poverty; Prisons; Outlaws; and localities of interest.
• Federal Bureau of Prisons
• Institution.guide: Katharine’s ongoing research project to document as many residential institution in the history of the United States.
• (Archived on the Wayback Machine) InstitutionalCemeteries.org
• National Orphan Train Complex Museum & Research Center

Books

• Forgotten Ellis Island: The Extraordinary Story of America’s Immigrant Hospital by Lorie Conway (2007).
• From Poor Law to Welfare State, 6th Edition: A History of Social Welfare in America by Walter I. Trattner (Free Press, 1998)
• Living in the Shadow of Death: Tuberculosis and the Social Experience of Illness in American History by Sheila Rothman (John Hopkins University Press, 1995).
• The Discovery of the Asylum: Social Order and Disorder in the New Republic by David Rothman (second edition, Routledge, 2002)
• In the Shadow Of the Poorhouse (Tenth Anniversary Edition): A Social History Of Welfare In America by Michael Katz (Basic Books, 1996)

Related Reads

A version of this article was published in the March/April 2026 issue of Family Tree Magazine.