Secrets of the Asylum: Norwich State Hospital and My Family

by Julianne Mangin

Retired librarian Julianne Mangin was a reluctant genealogist -- at first. But after acquiring her ailing mother's genealogy files, something drew her into the family history. Maybe it was years of listening to her mother's cryptic stories of her childhood which featured a delicatessen, a state hospital, a county home for neglected children, and a father who disappeared. Even though Grandpa divorced her mother and never got her out of the county home, Mangin's mother defended her father's absence and called him a wonderful father.
At first, all Mangin meant to do was organize her mother's files so that they could be stored more compactly. But it wasn't long before she began noticing errors, omissions, and discrepancies in her mother's research that cast doubt on the family stories. Thus began her transformation from reluctant genealogist to relentless family historian. She acquired her grandmother's patient record from Norwich State Hospital and the secrets just spilled out. There were four other women in her mother's family who were patients at state hospitals, three of them at Norwich State Hospital. And there was evidence that Grandpa might not be her mother's father.
Reading the transcripts of her grandmother's interviews with hospital staff, Mangin unearthed a dark secret at the heart of her mother's childhood. Through her research, Mangin uncovered her French Canadian heritage and delved into the history of the care of the mentally ill in the early 20th century. She learned how poverty and mental illness loomed over the family's fortunes.
Using patient records, genealogical methods, and DNA testing, Mangin has pieced together a family story that reads like a Dickens novel Weaving in what she learned about intergenerational trauma and the consequences of family secrets, Mangin has created a testament to the power of family history to empower people and heal old wounds.

417 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 4, 2023

Reviews

[Linda Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent account of family history that's a reminder to all of us that we have secrets buried in our very bones.

[BK Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The culmination of years of dogged detective work, Mangin’s book is deeply researched and equally deeply thoughtful. After obtaining a trove of records from Norwich State Hospital and combining the information they contain with that from her own relentless fact-finding, she pulls on the threads of mental illness running through four individuals on the maternal side of her family and traces the effect of their illnesses and incarcerations on their descendants.

Her journey of discovery demonstrates that genealogy is more than a matter of tree-building. It’s evidence, as Shakespeare wrote, that “What’s past is prologue.” Her story movingly illustrates the way the past informs the present—how understanding the past helps us better know ourselves.

[Karen Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written and highly informative book. I drive by the Norwich State Hospital quite often although not much of the buildings are left.always been fascinated by the place. I knew it was run to be very self sufficient in its day. I enjoyed reading this book as I like to learn more about the local places that were supposed to be helping people get better. I felt the author did an amazing job doing her research and getting her history together this book was very hard to put down. I will definitely reread it again in the future. I wanted to attend her discussion about it next month but tickets were all taken.

[Bertha L Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you so much for writing this book!

I am also a survivor of a broken family with mental illness, abandonment, neglect and dysfunctionality all thrown in together. You have given me hope that it might be possible to unravel the mysteries and secrets of a parent that was institutionalized.
Thank you!