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Since sharing the information of the upcoming Willard Tour I have received more than a few emails, I have tried to answer all of them and I have been more than happy to share lodging recommendations, and other basic information, but there is one request that has had me at a loss: “How do I research …

Read More about Researching Ancestors Who Were Committed to Asylums in New York State

updated 4/22/2016  Willard Asylum for the Insane In a nutshell Willard officially opened in 1869. By 1877  Willard, at 475 acres (1500 patients) was the largest asylum in the United States1 .  In 1995 Willard Psychiatric Center closed its doors, but a portion of the campus is a  New York State Department of Corrections rehabilitation facility for inmates. Obviously, …

Read More about Upcoming Public Tour of Willard Asylum for the Insane

Lawerence Mocha, the Willard Grave Digger will be given a proper memorialization May 16, 2015!  After years of work the Willard Cemetery Memorial Committee, with the help of John Allen of the Office of Mental Health, has made contact with a relative of Lawrence Mocha and the family has given their consent to proceed with a …

Read More about Lawrence Mocha to be Memorialized May 16th, 2015

When a reader recently emailed me suggesting I update my Willard posts to correct the name of the Willard grave-digger and patient from “Lawrence Marek” to his actual given name Lawrence Mocha. I was happy to make that correction, even happier to learn that Lawrence Mocha will most likely be properly memorialized in the cemetery to …

Read More about Lawrence Mocha: The Willard Grave Digger

  This post is part of a series. To see all the buildings, I visited on the Willard Tour click the links below. Morning at the Asylum by the Lake (You are here!) Grandview Hadley Hall The Morgue Elliot Hall Brookside The Bleak House The Cemetery   Saturday morning my mother and I took the rare …

Read More about Morning at the Asylum by the Lake in Willard NY