Cortland County, New York Genealogy

United States New York  Cortland County

Parent County
Created 8 April 1808 from Onondaga County.

Neighboring Counties
Broome· Cayuga· Chenango· Madison· Onondaga· Tompkins· Tioga

Boundary Changes
No changes.

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

History
Eastern New Yorkers and New Englanders, wanting new land to farm, welcomed the opening of this frontier. The first white settlement in the county was made in 1791 by Amos Todd, Joseph Beebe and Rhoda Todd Beebe, emigrants from Connecticut who paddled up the Tioughnioga River from Windsor, to live near the head of navigation in the Town of Homer. Following them came a flood of settlers who, in 1808, petitioned the State Legislature for county status. Thus, Cortland County was created from the southern half of Onondaga County as part of the Boston Ten Towns on April 8, 1808.


 * Hermon Camp Goodwin, Pioneer History of Cortland County (New York : A.B. Burdick, 1859). Google Books online copy; ;.
 * Index to Pioneer History of Cortland County; Berkshire Family History Association
 * WorldCat
 * Family History Library Catalog

Land and Property

 * The Military Tract: A Bit of Early History of Cortland County, New York, courtesy: NYGenWeb.
 * Bounty Land Deeds in Cortland Co., courtesy: NYGenWeb.

Military
Civil War

Available towns. Registers are available for: Cincinnatus· Harford· Scott· Solon· Taylor· Virgil· Willet.

Regiments. Service men in Cortland County served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county.


 * - 114th Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 157th Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 175th Regiment, New York Infantry

Probate Records

 * 1832-1908 - SAMPUBCO - Browsable index of testators of wills.

Archives, Libraries and Museums
Cortland Free Library 32 Church St. Cortland, NY 13045 Phone: (607) 753-1042 Hours: Mon-Thur 9:30am-8pm; Fri 9:30am-5:30pm; Sat 9:30am-4:30pm

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

Societies
Central New York Genealogical Society Box 104, Calvin Station Syracuse, New York 13205 E-mail: [mailto:CNYGS@yahoo.com CNYSG@yahoo.com]


 * Member queries; surname research list; online resources; six meetings/year; publication: Tree Talks  quarterly with annual index.


 * 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.

Cortland County Historical Society 25 Homer Avenue Cortland, NY 13045 Phone: (607) 756-6071


 * The Kellogg Memorial Research Library houses maps, census data, city and county directories, cemetery records, genealogies, histories, military records, photographic files and other resources to assist with research.

Divorce
Additional Resources

Websites

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