Columbia County, New York Genealogy

United States New York  Columbia County



Parent County
Created 4 April 1786 from Albany County.

Neighboring Counties
Albany· Dutchess· Greene· Rensselaer· Ulster· Connecticut county: Litchfield· Massachusetts county: Berkshire

Boundary Changes
No changes

Biography

 * Reynolds, Cuyler. Hudson–Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1911. Free online index. Master index

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

Migration
Early migration routes to and from Columbia County for European settlers included:


 * Albany Post Road (or Queen's Road, or King's Road) 1669

Military
Civil War

Available towns. Registers are available for: Ancram· Austerlitz· Canaan· Chatham· Claverack· Clermont· Copake· Germantown· Ghent· Greenport· Hillsdale· Kinderhook· Livingston· New Lebanon· Stockport· STuyvesant· Taghkanic.

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


 * -156th Regiment, New York Infantry

Newspapers

 * Newspaperarchive.com ($) has historical newspapers available on-line. Their database has Pittsfield, MA newspapers (1858-1977) and North Adams, MA newspapers (1895-1977) covering local news that included Columbia County residents.

Probate Records
SAMPUBCO - Browsable index of testators of wills.

Barber, Gertrude A. Calendar of Wills of Columbia County, New York. New York: unknown, 1935. Digital version at Ancestry ($).

Archives, Libraries and Museums
PUBLIC LIBRARIES

There are twelve public libraries in Columbia County New York, one of which is a Branch Library. They belong to the Mid-Hudson Library System that serves the communities of Columbia, Duchess, Greene, Putnam, and Ulster Counties. They share a catalog that includes a sizable collection of Genealogical materials. The shared catalog is found on the library systems main page. For information on the individual libraries in Columbia County, click here.



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

Societies
Columbia County Historical Society - digital collections

Capital District Genealogical Society Empire State Plaza Station PO Box 2175 Albany, NY 12220-0175


 * Counties served: Albany, Columbia, Fulton, Greene, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, and Washington.


 * $3 for non-member queries in their newsletter. Monthly meetings. They staff a genealogy support desk at the Town of Colonie Library.

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.

Divorce
Additional Resources

Web Sites

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