Queens Borough, New York Genealogy

United States New York  Queens County    Officially Borough of Queens, one of five boroughs of greater New York City since 1898. The county is coterminous with the Borough of Queens (meaning the identical borders.)

Parent County
Queens was one of the original New York counties created in 1683.

Neighboring Counties
Bronx | Kings (Brooklyn) | Nassau | New York (Manhattan) | Westchester County, New York

Boundary Changes
From 1683 until 1784, Queens County consisted of five towns: Flushing, Hempstead, Jamaica, Newtown, and Oyster Bay. On April 6, 1784, a sixth town, the Town of North Hempstead, was formed through secession by the northern portions of the Town of Hempstead.

The seat of the county government was located first in Jamaica, but the courthouse was torn down by the British during the American Revolution to use the materials to build barracks. After the war, various buildings in Jamaica temporarily served as courthouse and jail until a new building was erected about 1787 (and later completed) in an area near Mineola (now in Nassau County) known then as Clowesville. The 1850 census was the first in which the population of the three western towns exceeded that of the three eastern towns that are now part of Nassau County. Concerns were raised about the condition and distance of the old courthouse, and several sites were in contention for the construction of a new one.


 * 1870: Long Island City split from the Town of Newtown, incorporating itself as a city, consisting of what had been the Village of Astoria and some unincorporated areas within the Town of Newtown.
 * Around 1874: the seat of county government was moved to Long Island City from Mineola.

On March 1, 1860, the eastern border between Queens County (later Nassau County) and Suffolk County was redefined with no discernible change.[33] *8 June 1881: North Brother Island was transferred to New York County.


 * 8 May 1884: Rikers Island was transferred to New York County.
 * 1885: Lloyd Neck, which was part of the Town of Oyster Bay and was earlier known as Queens Village, seceded from Queens and became part of the Town of Huntington in Suffolk County.
 * 16 April 1964: South Brother Island was transferred to Bronx County.

Cemeteries

 * The Mount Carmel Cemetery (Jewish Cemetery) has placed an Interment Seachfor their cemetery on-line. The first interment took place on December 28, 1906. To date they have more than 85,000 interments in Sections 1 through 4 of the cemetery. The Index provides, the First and Last Name, date of death, The Society, and the location of the grave.


 * Mount Hebron Cemetery a Jewish cemetery.

The Mount Hebron Cemetery (Jewish Cemetery) has placed an Interment Searchfor their cemetery on-line. The first interment took place on April 14, 1909. Since then, over 217,000 burials have taken place. The Index provides, the First and Last Name, date of death, The Society, and the location of the grave.


 * Mount Lebanon Cemetery


 * Glendale

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

Land and Property

 * Van Wyck, Frederick. Select Patents of New York Towns. Digital version at World Vital Records ($).

Military

 * Civil War service men in Queens 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 Queens County:


 * - 139th Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 158th Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 163rd Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 165th Regiment, New York Infantry

Probate Records
SAMPUBCO Browsable index of testators of wills.

New York, Queens County Probate Records, 1899-1921. Available online. Courtesy: FamilySearch.

Long Island Source Records, courtesy: Ancestry ($)

Courthouses
The Queens County Clerk has divorce and naturalization records as well as the state census. The Surrogate Court has probate records. For further information about where the records for Queens County are held, see the Queens County Courthouses page.

Divorce
Additional Resources

Websites

 * The Queens County NYGenWeb Project, an member of The NYGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.