Franklin County, New York Genealogy

United States New York  Franklin County

Parent County

 * Created 11 March 1808 from western part of Clinton County.

Neighboring Counties
Clinton· Essex· Hamilton· St. Lawrence· Quebec counties:Châteauguay· Huntingdon

Census
For information and tips on using and accessing online census records, see New York Census.

Genealogy
Rootsweb message boardfor Franklin County has many information threads about families that resided in that county. There is a search engine that allows you to search by surname and topic.

History
Franklin County is part of Macomb's Purchase of 1791.

Migration
Early migration routes to and from Franklin County for European settlers included:


 * Lake Champlain Trail pre-historic
 * Champlain Canal 1823
 * Erie Canal 1825
 * Chambly Canal 1843

Military
Civil War, 1861-1865

The New York town clerks kept a bound register of all soldiers serving from their town in the Civil War. Registers are alphabetical by county, then alphabetical by name of town. Not every town has a register that still exists. The registers include an index at the beginning of the start of a town record.

The originals of these registers are housed at the New York State Archives and Records Administration in Albany, New York. Microfilm copies of these registers are found. These Civil War town registers are also found at Ancestry.com($) and are indexed.

Many records include full name, residence, date and place of birth , parents names , marital status, date of enlistment and muster and rank, discharges, death , or promotion.

The Town Clerks registers include:Bangor, Bellmont, Bombay, Brandon, Brighton, Burke, Chateaugay, Constable, Dickinson, Duane, Fort Covington, Franklin, Harrietstown, Malone, Moira, Santa Clara, Tupper Lake, Waverly, Westville towns.


 * Civil War service men in Franklin County served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are companies that were specifically formed in Franklin County:


 * - 98th Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 142nd Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 164th Regiment, New York Infantry

Newspapers

 * Northern New York Historical Newspapers Search Franklin Co. historical newspapers ranging from the years 1849 - 2002.

Periodicals
Central New York Genealogical Society has indexed Tree Talks periodicals according to counties, surnames, and given names. Use this index onlineto search for ancestors who lived in the Franklin County area.

Probate Records

 * Copies of Originals:


 * 1809–1905 Wills and index


 * 1839–1927 Probate records; including daybook, decrees, guardianships, letters, orders, sales, and bonds.


 * Abstracts:


 * 1809–1919 W. David Samuelson, Franklin County, New York Will Testators Index, 1809–1919 (Salt Lake City, Utah: Sampubco, 1994). SAMPUBCO Browsable Index of testators of wills; ;.

Archives, Libraries and Museums
Clinton Essex Franklin Library Systemconsists of 34 public libraries in the counties of Clinton, Essex, and Franklin. Each library has access to genealogical databases - especially newspaper sites. Many are accessible with your library card from home. A list of the libraries in this system and their website and contact information is found here.

Akwesasne Library and Cultural Center 321 St. Rt. 37 Hogansburg, NY 13655 Fax: 518-358-2649 Phone: 518-358-2240 Has a large Native American collection which contains information on native people throughout the United States and Canada, has local history books and newspapers and a large collection of photographs.

Chateaugay Memorial Library 4 John Street P.O. Box 10 Chateaugay, NY 12920 Phone: 518-497-0400 Has the records of Chateaugay from 1881–1995 on microfilm, scrapbooks, pamphlets, clippings, archival records, pictures, and cemetery records.

Chateaugay Historical Society 191 East Main Street P.O. Box 123 Chateaugay, NY 12920 Phone: 518-497-6685 Open April to October on Wednesdays and Saturdays Has local church vitals, cemetery listings, family genealogies, historical photographs and documents relating to town history.

Franklin County Historical and Museum Society 51 Milwaukee Street P.O. Box 388 Malone, New York 12953 Phone: 518-483-2750 Donation requested of $10 per visit Collection includes: Cemetery information, census records, town directories and phone books, family folders with individual genealogies, obituaries, pre-1900 newspapers, school yearbooks, town and county histories, early assessment rolls, and vital records.

Saranac Lake Free Library 109 Main Street Saranac Lake, NY 12983 Phone: 518-891-4190 Has federal data for Essex, Franklin, Clinton, and St. Lawrence counties fro 1850-1920. Also has state census data for 1855-1925. The Adirondack Research Center is found in the basement of the library. It houses many Adirondack historical materials, including books of cemetery inscriptions for southern Franklin County. One microfilm reader is available. Some church records and an obituary index for the Tri-Lakes area.

Courthouses
The Franklin County Clerk's office has marriage, divorce and court records. The Surrogate Court has probate records. For further information about where the records for Franklin County are held, see the Franklin County Courthouse page.

Family History Centers
Family History Centers (FHCs) are branches of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, and are located all over the world. Their goal is to provide resources to assist in the study of genealogy.

The closest FHC in Franklin county is the Potsdam New York Family History Center. For additional Family History Centers, search this online FHC directory.

Societies
The Adirondack Genealogical – Historical Society - they have an obituary database extracted from the Adirondack Daily Enterprise and will search for you by phone. They also have some church records, census records on Franklin and surrounding counties, local directories, and cemetery information up to 2000. Phone: 518-891-0807.

Central New York Genealogical Society Box 104, Calvin Station Syracuse, New York 13205


 * Member queries, surname research list, online resources, publications, six meetings/year.


 * Counties served: Albany, Allegany, Broome, Cattaraugus, Cayuga, Chautauqua, Chemung, Chenango, Clinton, Columbia, Cortland, Delaware, Erie, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Genesee, Greene, Hamilton, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Livingston, Madison, Monroe, Montgomery, Niagara, Oneida, Onondaga, Ontario, Orange, Oreleans, Oswego, Otsego, Rensselaer, St. Lawrence, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Tioga, Tompkins, Washington, Wayne, Warren, Wyoming, and Yates.

Birth
Substitute Birth Records


 * See Town Clerks' Registers of Men who Served in the Civil War in Franklin County in the Civil War section of Military for birth information.


 * 1881–1934 Watson H. Harwood and Austin M. Gowan, Dr. Watson H. Harwood's Records of Births He Attended in Area of Chasm Falls, Owls Head, and Mountain View in Towns of Malone, Brandon, and Duane in the State of New York, Franklin County from 1881-1934 (Salt Lake City, Utah: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1980).

Marriage

 * 1908–1935 Marriage records and index.

Substitute Marriage Records


 * 1804–1850 Fred Q. Bowman, 8000 More Vital Records of Eastern New York State, 1804-1850 (Rhinebeck, New York: Kinship Books, 1991). ; . Abstracts of newspaper marriage and death columns.


 * 1810–1908 Virginia Anne Croissant Wolfe and others, Marriages of Franklin County, New York: Vital Records Copied From Original Malone Palladium Newspapers ([S.l. : V. Wolfe], 1985)..


 * 1874-5 See Marriage Schedule information in the State Census section of Census for marriage information for 1874-5.


 * 1874–5 Judy Mott Strong, Ruth Obenauer, and John M. Austin,Vital Records Extracted from the 1875 State Census of Franklin County, New York ([S.l.: J.M. Austin], 2000). ;.

Death
Substitute Death Records


 * 1804–1850 Fred Q. Bowman, 8000 More Vital Records of Eastern New York State, 1804-1850 (Rhinebeck, New York: Kinship Books, 1991). ; . Abstracts of newspaper marriage and death columns.


 * 1847–1880 Virginia Anne Croissant Wolfe and others,Deaths of Franklin County, New York: Frontier Palladium and Malone Palladium, 1849-1880; Malone Town Records, 1847 and 1848; St. Mark's Episcopal Church Burials, 1849-1874 ([S.l.: V. Wolfe], 1985)..


 * 1849-50, 1859-60, 1869-70, 1879-80 See Mortality Schedule information in the State Census section of Census for death information.


 * See Town Clerks' Registers of Men Who Served in the Civil War in Essex County in the Civil War section of Military for death information.


 * 1874-5 See Mortality Schedule information in the State Census section of Census for death information for 1874-5.

Divorce
Additional Resources

Websites

 * The Franklin County NYGenWeb Project, an member of The NYGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project for Franklin County.
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project for Franklin County. (Mirror site)