Circuit Court Records & Lunacy Hearing Process By Bill Dozier

Circuit Court Records: Each Kentucky county's set of circuit court order books contains the names and commitment info of the patients housed at Eastern State Hospital during the 19th C. There are 120 Kentucky counties. Formed in 1852, Powell Co. wouldn't have as much material to sift through as, say, Madison Co., and Lee Co., formed in 1870, would have even less (and lesser still if a courthouse burned--eg., Rockcastle Co.'s circa 1876); nevertheless, it would be a formidable task (missing books, illegible penmanship, deteriorating condition of surviving books, books without indexes, indexes that don't specify lunacy hearing, etc., and one only worth taking on if there were no other source of patient info.

Lunacy Hearing Process: During at least the 19th C., those committed to Eastern State were not examined by a doctor; instead, the patient-candidate was brought into court and his or her behavior was observed by an all-male, all-white jury and judge and compared to the testimony given by witnesses regarding the patient's past behavior (at the hearing, the court also certified a patient's qualifications)--also at issue during these hearings was the patient-candidate's financial status--if he or she (or if the spouse of he or she) possessed an estate large enough to support the adjudged "lunatic", then the patient would be confined at home or in the home of a relative and the court would assign an administrator to oversee the estate--rather than commit the patient to Eastern State--those of means stayed at home, those without means were sent on to Eastern State--or at least that's my feeble understanding of the process.