New York Biography

United States New York  Biography

The New York State Library
The New York State Library and New York Public Library have extensive collections of published biographies. There are numerous state, regional, and county histories with biographical information, but there is no comprehensive index to these.

New York State Biographical, Genealogical, and Portrait Index 

This index, compiled by Gunther Pohl, is an excellent resource. It is a card index to over 500,000 names from more than 6,000 sources:


 * Histories
 * Biographical compendia
 * Periodicals
 * Atlases
 * Other sources.

You may write to have a search made. In the initial letter please enclose particulars about the ancestor, and send a self-addressed stamped envelope. Gunther Pohl will check the index for a fee. His address is:


 * Gunther Pohl
 * 24 Walden Place
 * Great Neck, NY 11020
 * Telephone: 516-482-6037

Biographical Encyclopedias
Many state, regional, and county biographical encyclopedias are included in the Genealogy and Local History collection described in New York History.

The following are examples of excellent biographical encyclopedias for New York:


 * Fitch, Charles Elliott. Encyclopedia of Biography of New York. Four Volumes. New York, New York: American Historical Society, 1916. One to two page sketches.
 * Janet Foley, Early Settlers of New York State: Their Ancestors and Descendants, 2 vols. (Baltimore: Genealogical Pub., 1993). ..
 * Greene Nelson ed. History of the Mohawk Valley . . . 1614–1925. Four Volumes. (Chicago, Illinois: S. J. Clark Publishing, 1925.) Volumes three and four are biographical. Half- to one-page sketches.
 * Greene, Nelson. History of the Valley of the Hudson . . . 1609–1930. Five Volumes. (Chicago, Illinois: S. J. Clarke Publishing, 1931.) Volumes three to five are biographical with one- to two-page sketches.
 * Hamm, Margherita Arlina. Famous Families of New York. Two Volumes. (New York, New York and London, England: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1902.) Digitized version available through FamilySearch Catalog entry. Also on . About a dozen pages per family and usually including several generations.

Web Sites

 * New York Genealogy
 * New York State Library Biography Resources