New York Compiled Genealogies

United States New York  Genealogy  Most archives, historical societies, and genealogical societies have special collections and indexes of genealogical value. Some of the major collections are described below.

Sources at the Family History Library

 * Ancestral File. Ancestral File is a FamilySearch™ computer file that contains family history information linked into family groups and pedigrees. The file contains millions of names, including a growing number of New York families.

Ancestral File is a growing file of completed research, depending largely on contributions of ancestral information from organizations and individuals. Entries to the Ancestral File are no longer being accepted, but Pedigree Resource File has taken its place. To contribute to the Pedigree Resource File, go to www.familysearch.org and under "Preserve and Share Your Family History," click on Share Your Family Tree, and follow the instructions given. Contributions of genealogies are welcome and encouraged.


 * International Genealogical Index. Available on both microfiche and as a FamilySearch™ computer file. The International Genealogical Index provides names and vital information for millions of deceased persons, dating back to the mid-1600s. Most of the names were submitted by researchers or copied from church records.


 * Old Surname Index File. The Family History Library has a surname index of some manuscripts, periodicals, books, and films collected before 1964. It is especially useful for New York research and is found under The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Genealogical Department, Library Division, Old Surname Index File (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1976; ).


 * Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Collection. Since the 1910s, the DAR has collected genealogical information by transcribing previously unpublished records. They include Bible, cemetery, church, marriage, death, obituary, and will records. This collection is now called the Genealogical Records Committee (GRC) Reports. A portion of these reports regarding New York State have been microfilmed and divided into two parts:


 * Daughters of the American Revolution (New York). Cemetery, Church and Town Records. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1970–1971. The records are at the New York State Library, New York Public Library, and the DAR Library in Washington, D.C. The Family History Library has microfilms of the first 388 volumes and many additional unnumbered volumes on microfilms. Volumes 528–536 are on microfiche.


 * Daughters of the American Revolution (New York). Bible, Family and Miscellaneous Records from New York State. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1971. (On 33 Family History Library films and 155 fiche, starting with . Includes an index for the first 40 volumes.) The original records are at the Daughters of the American Revolution Library in Washington, D.C.

Individual volumes in the DAR collection are generally arranged by county, and many volumes have individual indexes.


 * Before 2001, the DAR began indexing these GRC reports and created a searchable online index. At this time 2.2 million names have been indexed for New York State and information is added continually. Go to this website to search this index: GRC Index

As of yet, this index is not complete for New York and should be used in conjunction with three other indexes that index a large portion of this collection:


 * In both Whitacre indexes the letter "V" before the volume and page refers to Cemetery, Church and Town Records; the letter "B" refers to the Bible, Family and Miscellaneous Records.


 * Whitacre, Constance M. and Elsie Trotter. Master Index New York State DAR Genealogical Records. New York, New York: Daughters of the American Revolution, 1972.


 * Whitacre, Constance M. Master Index Supplement 1972–1978: Records and Corrections. N.p., 1978.


 * New York State Library (Albany, New York). Vital Records Card File. Albany, New York: New York State Library, 1979.


 * Holland Society of New York Collections. This lineage society collects information about the early Dutch settlers and their descendants. Many of their church record transcripts and published yearbooks are at the Family History Library. The library has microfilms of Compiled Genealogies (Family History Library 47 films), Manuscript Historical and Genealogical Collection (FHL 41 films), and Membership Records (FHL 76 films). The film numbers are listed in the Family History Library Catalog Place Search under:

NEW YORK - GENEALOGY.


 * New York State Library (Albany, New York). Vital Records Card File. Albany, New York: New York State Library, 1979.


 * Rider, Fremont, ed. American Genealogical- Biographical Index. Vols. 1–186+. (Middletown, Connecticut: Godfrey Memorial Library, 1952–.) This is a continuing series. An earlier version of 48 volumes was published as The American Genealogical Index, 1942–1951. The index contains over 4 million brief citations (name, date, and source) to manuscripts, periodicals, and books. The earlier version indexed 350 sources. The second version includes the original 350 sources and an additional 800 sources.


 * To help you understand the source citations and to locate the original sources, use the colored pages in some volumes of:

Clark, Patricia L. and Dorothy Huntsman, eds. American Genealogical Biographical Key Title Index. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1990.) Lists the sources that are at the Family History Library and their call numbers.


 * To access genealogy records available through the Family History Library Catalogy, use the Place-names Search for:


 * NEW YORK - GENEALOGY
 * NEW YORK, [County] - GENEALOGY

Manuscript Collections at Other Repositories
Most New York libraries and historical societies have valuable collections for genealogical research. Some of the major ones include the following:

The Colonial Albany Social History Project. This project, begun in 1980, is an attempt to compile a detailed biographical profile of all 16,000 persons who lived in the city of Albany before 1800. The information comes from all available published and manuscript sources and includes birth, marriage and death data for each person; information on all members of the household; and information concerning residency, migration, education, religion, wealth, politics, and military service. For more information, contact:

Colonial Albany Social History Project Stefan Bielinski, Director New York State Museum 3093 Cultural Education Center Albany, NY 12230 Telephone: 518-474-6917 Internet: http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/

Published Collections
Examples of important published genealogies include:

Bailey, Rosalie Fellows. Pre-Revolutionary Dutch Houses and Families in Northern New Jersey and Southern New York. 1936. Reprint. (New York, New York: Dover, 1968.) Digitized version available through FamilySearch Catalog entry. Thousands of names with birth, marriage, death, children, and often place of origin.

Bergen, Teunis G. Register in Alphabetical Order of the Early Settlers of Kings County, Long Island, New York from Its First Settlement by Europeans to 1700. 1881. (Reprint, Cottonport, Louisiana: Polyanthos, 1973.) 1973. Thousands of names with birth, marriage, death, children, residence, and often place of origin.

Cutter, William Richard. Genealogical and Family History of Central New York. 3 vols. (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing, 1912.) Index in volume 3. May show four to ten generations including birth, marriage, death, and place of origin.

Cutter, William Richard. Genealogical and Family History of Northern New York. 3 vols. (New York, New York: Lewis Historical Publishing, 1910.) Has information about families in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties. May show four to ten generations including birth, marriage, death, and place of origin.

Cutter, William Richard. Genealogical and Family History of Western New York. 3 vols. (New York, New York: Lewis Historical Publishing, 1912.) The above volumes by Cutter have been indexed by Norma Olin Ireland and Winifred Irving, Cutter Index: A Consolidated Index of Cutter's 9 Genealogy Series (Fallbrook, California: Ireland Indexing Service, ca. 1970; Family History Library book 974 D2ci; film 1036507 item 6; fiche 6046737.) Index in volume 3. May show four to ten generations including birth, marriage, death, and place of origin.

Davis, Norman C. Westchester Patriarchs: A Genealogical Dictionary of Westchester County, New York Families Prior to 1755. (Bowie, Maryland.: Heritage Books, 1988)

Hoff, Henry Bainbridge., ed. Genealogies of Long Island Families from The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. 2 vols. (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing, 1987) .)

Pearson, Jonathan. Contributions for the Genealogies of the First Settlers of the Ancient County of Albany, from 1630 to 1800. 1872. (Reprint, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing, 1978, 1984) Digitized version available through FamilySearch Catalog entry. Pearson's original manuscript has material not in the book (Family History Library films 1304637–38.)

Pearson, Jonathan. Contributions for the Genealogies of the Descendants of the First Settlers of the Patent and City of Schenectady from 1662 to 1800. 1873. (Reprint, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing, 1976, 1978.) Pearson's original manuscript .) Has material not in the book.

Reynolds, Cuyler. Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River Valley. 3 vols. (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing, 1914.) Digitized version available through FamilySearch Catalog entry.

Reynolds, Cuyler. Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs; A Record of Achievement of the People of the Hudson Mohawk Valleys in N.Y. State, Included within the Present Counties of Albany, Rensselaer, Washington, Saratoga, Montgomery, Fulton, Schenectady, Columbia &amp; Greene. 4 vols. (New York, New York: Lewis Historical Publishing, 1911.)

Reynolds, Helen Wilkinson. Dutch Houses in the Hudson Valley Before 1776. 1929. (Reprint, New York, New York: Dover Publications, 1965.) May show historical, birth, marriage, or death information about several generations of a family.

Riker, James, Jr. ''Revised History of Harlem (City of New York), Its Origin and Early Annals. Revised with the assistance of Henry Pennington Toler''. (New York, New York: New Harlem Publishing, 1904.) The revised edition has an extensive genealogical appendix.

Seversmith, Herbert Furman. Colonial Families of Long Island, New York and Connecticut. 5 vols in 6. (Washington, D.C.: H.F. Seversmith, 1939–58.) These volumes primarily cover surnames A–L, except volume 5 which covers A–W. The rest of Seversmith's notes for surnames after L are at the Easthampton Free Library and on microfilm as The Seversmith Manuscripts Contains about 140 families showing multi-generation genealogical sketches about five to twenty pages long.

Western New York Genealogical Society, Inc. Ancestors of WNYGS Members. (Hamburg, New York: WNYGS, 1993–). Gives name, birth year and state, marriage year and state, and relatives' names for eight western counties.

Published Collections of Records
The following books are genealogical compilations obtained from original source records:

Hoff, Henry Bainbridge, ed. Long Island Source Records from The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing, 1987.)

Mather, Frederic Gregory. The Refugees of 1776 from Long Island to Connecticut. 1913. (Reprint, Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, 1990.) This book mentions thousands of patriot families, both those that fled from Suffolk County to Connecticut in 1776 and those that remained during the Revolution.

Penrose, Maryly Barton. Mohawk Valley in the Revolution: Committee of Safety Papers &amp; Genealogical Compendium. (Franklin Park, New Jersey: Liberty Bell Associates, 1978.) Book I, committee papers, includes petitions, declarations, and elections. It is indexed and helps determine residence. Book II, the compendium, cites 33 documents used to compile about 600 alphabetical family groups which may show birth, marriage, death, spouses, children parents, and Revolutionary War service.

Stillwell, John E. Historical and Genealogical Miscellany: Data Relating to the Settlement and Settlers of New York and New Jersey. 6 vols. 1903–1932. (Reprint, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970.) Digitized version available through FamilySearch Catalog entry. These books contain transcripts primarily for Monmouth and Burlington counties, New Jersey, and for Staten Island, New York. Some volumes also include compiled family genealogies.

Scott, Kenneth. "Early New Yorkers and Their Ages," National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 57 (1969):274-297; Vol. 61 (1973):181-182; Vol. 62 (1974):276-281; Vol. 63 (1975):48-49; Vol. 64 (1976):132; Vol. 65 (1977):113; Vol. 66 (1978):151. . Scott published a series of record abstracts that identify the ages of New York colonists.

Writing and Sharing Your Family History
Sharing your own family history is valuable for several reasons:


 * It helps you see gaps in your own research and raises opportunities to find new information.
 * It helps other researchers progress in researching ancestors you share in common.
 * It draws other researchers to you who already have information about your family that you do not yet possess.
 * It draws together researchers with common interests, sparking collaboration opportunities. For instance, researchers in various localities might choose to do lookups for each other in remote repositories. Your readers may also share photos of your ancestors that you have never seen before.


 * See also:
 * Create a Family History
 * Writing Your Family and Personal History
 * A Guide to Printing Your Family History

Web Sites

 * DAR.org
 * Access Genealogy
 * New York GenWeb
 * New York Genealogy