New York Bible Records

Online Resources and Websites
Listed below are resources for Bible records specific to New York. To find more resources, go to the United States Bible Records page.

Databases

 * Chiefly Bible records: copied from those of the Staten Island Hist. Society at Port Richmond, Staten Island, N.Y. at Ancestry ($)
 * New York, U.S., Family Bible Records, 1581-1917 at Ancestry ($); transcription also available at Rootsweb.
 * The Family Bible Index - New York at Yancey Family Genealogy

Transcriptions, Indexes, and Images

 * at FamilySearch Catalog — images
 * Duchess County Bible Records at NYGenWeb — transcriptions
 * at FamilySearch Catalog — images
 * Family Bible Records at The Holland Society of New York — transcriptions
 * Family Bible Records in Onondaga County at Onondaga County NYGenWeb - transcriptions
 * Family Bible Records Schoharie County NY at New York Heritage Digital Collections — index and images
 * Family Bibles, New York State at NYG&B; partial index and images
 * Index to Bible Records at Delaware County NY Genealogy and History Site — transcriptions
 * New York Genealogical & Biographical Society Family Bibles at NYG&B — Bibles for Kelley-Provost, Kelley-Brandt, and Haskell-Moore — images
 * Pickle/Rows Family Bible at Madison County New York — transcriptions
 * Saratoga, New York Bible Records at NYGenWeb — Scroll down to Bible Records for transcriptions and images
 * at FamilySearch Catalog — images
 * at FamilySearch Catalog — images
 * at FamilySearch Catalog — images
 * at FamilySearch Catalog — images

Digital Books

 * at FamilySearch Catalog — images; Vols. 10-12, 44-57.
 * Genealogical Records: Manuscript Entries of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Taken from Family Bibles, 1581-1917 at FamilySearch Digital Library

Other places to look for Bible Record Collections

 * Copies, or abstracts of old family Bibles that are no longer known to exist, may survive in Revolutionary War Pension application files at NARA, Washington, D.C., which are available online at three commercial websites: Ancestry, Fold3, and Heritage Quest Online.
 * Family records: Check home sources by reaching out to older members of the family asking if they know of any Family Bibles and who might have it in their possession.
 * FamilySearch Catalog: Using the keyword search, type in the surname you are looking for and the word "Bible."
 * Card Catalog at Ancestry. ($)
 * Periodical Source Index (PERSI): Many periodicals publish family data from Bible records. Periodical Source Index (PERSI) is an index to many of these periodicals. Learn how to use Periodical Source Index (PERSI).

Why Search for Family Bibles
Many families have traditionally recorded births, marriages, and deaths in a family bible, family record book, or book of remembrance. A bible was often given by relatives to a bride as a wedding gift, where she recorded information about her immediate family and close relatives. Relationships were seldom stated but were often implied. Names of parents, children, and their spouses, including maiden names, were frequently given along with dates of birth, marriage, and death. Sometimes the age of a person was given at the time of death. Many families kept bible records from the 1700s (and sometimes earlier) to more recent times, although few have survived. Family bibles that are no longer in the possession of the family may be at a historical or genealogical society. They are sometimes transcribed and published in genealogical periodicals or other databases

Bible records can be used as a substitute in providing birth, marriage, and date information when vital record information was not recorded.