Orange County, New York Genealogy

United States New York  Orange County

Parent County
Orange was one of the original New York counties formed in 1683.

Neighboring Counties
Dutchess· Putnam· Rockland· Sullivan· Ulster· Westchester· New Jersey counties: Passaic· Sussex· Pennsylvania county: Pike

Record Loss
Courthouse fire, 1774

Historical Signpost: "A log structure, with whipping posts and stocks was erected on this Tappan green c. 1691. Here justice was administered to all of Orange County, which then included present Rockland. A more permament courthouse and "gaol," built in 1739, was destroyed by fire in 1774. New City became the seat of government when the County of Rockland was set off from Orange in 1798.

Cemeteries
The Orange County, NY GenWeb site has a few cemetery transcriptions. Additional online records may be found at Find A Grave and Interment.net. Some cemetery records are also available at Heritage Quest (LAR).

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

Church Records
A few church records have been transcribed and posted at the Orange County NY GenWeb site. Heritage Quest (LAR) has a good collection of digitized transcribed church records from Orange County.

Evangelical Lutheran (Harrison Meeting) Church Records (1750-1798): Among the first settlers in the Towns of Montgomery and Crawford, then in Ulster County, but now in Orange County, New York were a group of German settlers. They organized a Lutheran church and built a log building in which this congregation met. The building burned down in the late 1700’s and the members of the congregation migrated to other nearby churches. However, a historical marker has been placed at the site of the old church and a few headstones, mostly unmarked, can still be found at the site located south of the Village of Montgomery near the junction of New York Highway 211 and Orange County Road 416. Images of the records of this church can be found on microfilm in the Family History Library, and are also available online at Urthman's Genealogy Blog.

Military

 * Civil War

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


 * - 3rd Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 5th Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 7th Veteran Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 9th Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 18th Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 36th Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 56th Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 65th Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 70th Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 93rd Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 98th Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 115th Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 124th Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 153rd Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 156th Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 164th Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 168th Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 176th Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 179th Regiment, New York Infantry
 * - 192nd Regiment, New York Infantry

Source Informaiton:

See "The Ruttenber collection"with Manuscripts of Civil War materials on Orange County collected by E.M. Ruttenber.

Probate Records

 * Orange County Probate Records 1787 - 1938
 * SAMPUBCO Browsable index of testators of wills.

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

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
 * Middletown New York Family History Center
 * Newburgh New York Family History Center

Divorce
Additional Resources

Websites

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