The following comment was left earlier today in an old thread about the abandoned Ypsilanti State Mental Hospital.
Hi Mark. My Great Uncle Max Kemmerling lived almost his entire adult life from the age of 20, at/in Ypsilanti State MH. Prior to his incarceration, he was an All State athlete, a National Honor Society Member, and frankly, just a real sweet, handsome guy. I plan to track down “The Three Christs of Ypsalanti” but I am curious if there are any searcable archives for the hospital. I now live in Chile, so it’s not like I can just skip down the road and look at documents.
I’d like to find out what my Uncle was there because of. Schitzophrenia? What? I’d like to know what his life was like. I never knew him, he was a “family secret”, but I did for a long time have a bedside table he made – a quite beautiful piece of work. I think he was a talented, gifted man, who just didn’t fit in. Hope you know of some resources to find out more about him. Thanks, Vicki Lansen (Kemmerling – Max Kemmerling was my Uncle).
If you have any information that could help Vicki in her quest to find out about her uncle, I’d appreciate it if you would leave a comment. Thanks.
12 Comments
Hi, Mark. I’m a member of a geneology group that may be able to help but I’ll need more info on Max. Please pass on my email addy to Vicki and let her know I’ll be glad to see if I can help in her search.
D
Dear dmcbass,
Please feel free to email me at my address of holdranoray@yahoo.com. Max Louis Kemmerling was born approx. 1918, or 19 in or around Angola Indiana. The story is, he joined the CPS. In the late 50′s or 60′s he was able to have a couple of home visits outside of the hospital in Jonesville, Michigan. His mother’s name was Mary Kemmerling Gordon.
I don’t expect anyone to do this work for me, but would appreciate direction.
Thanks,
Vicki
I haven’t had the chance to look around now, but my guess is that there’s some government agency in Michigan that still has the patient records for the old YSMH. I’ll try to poke around a bit this weekend. And thanks for your offer to help, dmcbass.
Mark,
You are right. They have all the old Ypsi State Hospital Records in Lansing. We had to look up a cousin’s records after she committed a crime in Hawaii, for her attorney. I’ll ask my family who we contacted.
Once a month, I used to bring a carton of cigarettes to a friend in Ward B. There I met the Screaming Man and the Dancing Man. My freind is back on the street in Ann Arbor, but he doesn’t recognize me.
If I could find him and get him to fingerpaint, maybe your friends would pay thousands for his work. He’s only a schizophrenic, but as you guys know … art is art … right?
So by your logic, my schizophrenic partner, who has been incarcerated purely because of it, should be either banned or dissed for that reason exclusively, when doing his art, which is music, publicly?
(and incidentally no one is “paying thousands”, for us, forty bucks is out of our range.)
What agency (and where in Lansing) can on go to obtain YSMH medical records?
thanks
I know this is a very old thread, but, I just found out that my Grandfather was also at Ypsilanti State Hospital in 1946. We have no idea how long he was there or for what. If anyone can help point me in a direction to get more informations I would greatly appreciate it!!
My grandmother also was at state Yipsilanti hospital in the early 1940′s
Her name was Alice LaBeau.
How do I get records?
Hello dmcbass or anyone else that could help,
I had a family member that was either a patient or worked there, the last name was Scarinzi. Does anyone have any information about them.? Thank you.. laura_scarinzi@live.com
Where may I find the old hospital records from Ypsilanti State Hospital. My great grandmother was a patient there for 5 years and she died there
My great-grandmother, Margaret Beadle, was in the Ypsilanti State Hospital from approximately 1936 – 1948. I have her death certificate but would really like to get my hands on her medical records. I know since the hospital was closed the records are archived somewhere in Lansing. Can a local genealogist find them or will it take a lawyer with a court order? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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