Monroe County, New York Genealogy



United States New York  Monroe County

County Courthouse
Monroe County Clerk’s Office 39 W. Main St., Room 105 Rochester, NY 14614 Phone: 585 753-1600 Fax: 585 753-1624

Surrogate Court 99 Exchange Blvd. Rochester NY 14614 Phone: 1-585-428-5200 Fax: 1-212-295-4922 Email Inquiries: mannunzi@courts.state.ny.us

Web Site of County Government Offices

Quick History
Monroe County was named for James Monroe, the fifth President of the United States. When it became a county on February 23, 1821, it already had 28,000 settlers with several towns and villages that provided agricultural support to the mill town of Rochester. Rochester became the county seat. Today, Monroe county is composed of 19 towns, 10 villages, and the City of Rochester.

Wikipedia article about Monroe County

Monroe County History article on the county Web site.

Parent Counties
23 February 1821: Created from Genesee and Ontario counties.

Boundary Changes
Monroe County was part of several counties before becoming its own county:

1683-1772 part of Albany County 1772-1784 part of Tryon County 1784-1789 name of the county was changed to Montgomery County 1789-1802 part of Ontario County 1802-1821 part of Ontario County and Genesee County February 23,1821 Monroe County was formed from parts of Ontario County and Genesee County

Tips
The village of Brockport is in 2 towns: Sweden and Clarkson. (from Office of Real Property Tax Services)

Places / Localities

 * Monroe County Communities has a list of named neighborhoods, villages, towns, and city.

City
Rochester, est.1834

Towns
Brighton | Chili, est.1822| Clarkson | Gates, est.1813 | Greece, est.1822 | Hamlin, from 1806 | Henrietta, est.1818 | Irondequoit, est.1839 | Mendon, est.1813 | Ogden | Parma, est. 1808 | Penfield, est.1810 | Perinton, est.1812 | Pittsford, est.1814 | Riga, est.1809 | Rush, est. 1818 | Sweden, est.1814 | Webster, est.1840 | Wheatland

Villages
Brockport, est. abt.1820 | Churchville, from 1808 | East Rochester | Fairport | Hilton | Honeoye Falls from 1791 | Pittsford from 1789 | Scottsville from 1789 | Spencerport from 1804 | Webster from 1812

Census Designations
Brighton | Gates-North Gates | Greece

Neighboring Counties
Genesee | Livingston | Ontario | Orleans | Wayne |

Cemeteries
Cemetery records often identify birth, death, relationship, and military information, as well as religious affiliation. Local volunteers through Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness may take photographs of headstones found in county cemeteries.


 * Find A Grave can be searched by the name of a person or family to find where a person is buried. Usually gives birth and death dates often with a picture of the tombstone.  May give obituaries, names of family members and links to their information in Find A Grave.


 * Find A Grave also gives a list of cemeteries in Monroe County and links to the information for the individuals buried there.


 * Cemeteries of Monroe Co., NY "lists every known cemetery in Monroe County, including many which no longer exist." The site includes information about the people buried in each cemetery.


 * USGenWeb Archives Project for Monroe County has transcriptions from several small cemeteries.


 * Monroe County. New York USGenWeb Tombstone Project usually gives the names of the deceased in alphabetical order by last name with birth and death dates plus any remarks.


 * The Family History Library Catalog lists some records of cemeteries in Monroe County. Some of the books or others may be on Google Books or available at public libraries.


 * ePodunk list of Monroe County cemeteries gives the names of the cemeteries in the county with a link to more information such as address, phone number, and web site.

Church
The major religious denominations in 1980 were the Catholic Church, the American Baptist Churches, the Presbyterian Church, and the United Methodist Church. For more information about these denominations and others in Monroe County, see the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) Web site.


 * The Family History Library Catalog lists some Monroe County church records of various denominations. Some of the books or other Monroe County books may be on Google Books or available at public libraries.

LDS Ward and Branch Records *Rochester

Court
The Monroe County Clerk has court records from 1821 to the present. The County Clerk is the Clerk of the Supreme and County Courts.

A search can be made of the public court records in person at the County Clerk's office or a request by phone or fax can be made asking the Clerk to do a search. For information about making such requests, including costs, see the County Clerk General Information and Requests web site.

When ordering documents, you need to provide the following information: index number type of record sought filing date name of the parties (or a business name)

An online index, Feb 1989 to the present and images, June 9, 1993 to the present is available online. Registration is required to use this free database.

Earlier records are at the County Clerk Office. Many have been filmed and are available through the Family History Library (see the Family History Library Catalog for film numbers).

Land
History of Land Records in Monroe County  New York and Massachusetts both claimed the area of Monroe County. After the Revolution, the two states settled by allowing New York to have the right to govern, while Massachusetts had the right of pre-emption or first right to sell the land. Massachusetts sold those rights to Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham. Most of these rights later went to Robert Morris. Morris sold most of his rights to the Holland Land Company. The purchasers were also to acquire rights to the land from the Indians. For additional information, see Wikipedia and My New York Genealogy, Monroe County. Land Records

The Monroe County Clerk, as county registrar, has land records since 1821 when the county was created. The Clerk preserves and indexes the records.

An online index, 1973 to the present plus images, 1976 to the present is available online. Registration is required to use this free database.

Earlier land records have been microfilmed and are available at the County Clerk's Office and through the Family History Library (see the Family History Library Catalog for film numbers).

Local Histories
History of Monroe County, New York, by W.H. McIntosh is online at Internet Archive.

Additional records are available at public libraries, through Interlibrary Loan, and at the Family History Library (see the Family History Library Catalog for book or film numbers). Also check for digital books on the Internet.

Maps

 * The Monroe County Web site has a page with links to many types of Monroe County maps, including maps of each town.


 * The Monroe County Genealogy Project has a map of the original lots in Monroe Countywithin the towns.


 * Google Maps can be searched by the names of towns, but not counties. Try the Satellite view and Earth view.

Military
Since Monroe County was created in 1821, no one representing the county served in the Revolutionary War nor the War of 1812. However veterans of those wars became residents of Monroe County and have records there or in Monroe's parent counties.

Monroe County Civil War Roster is an online transcription of pages from the History of Monroe County 1788-1877 that list the men who served in the Civil War from Monroe County. The men are arranged by town, then by name. The entries give name, unit, enlistment and discharge dates, and whether wounded or killed.

Newspapers
The Rochester Newspaper Index is a project of the Rochester Public Library. The database consists of references to articles that appeared in the Rochester newspapers during the period 1818-1897.

The Digital Newspaper Gateway is a list of titles of many historic newspapers for Monroe County with the dates of newspapers available in the Monroe County Library System.

Probate
Monroe County Surrogate Court Clerk has probate records from 1824. This site gives contact information for the clerk.

Many of the records have been filmed and are available through the Family History Library (see the Family History Library Catalog for book and film numbers).

Vital Records
Birth and death records are at the Monroe County Health Department's Office of Vital Records. This site also explains the record availability and eligibility requirements. A separate page is specific to "Genealogy Records and Resources". An online form can be completed online, but then the page must be printed and mailed with payment (see page for instructions).

Office of Vital Records Monroe County Health Department 111 Westfall Road Room 147 Rochester, New York 14620 Phone 1-585-753-5141

The Web site, Assorted Vital Records from Monroe Co., NY, includes abstracts from newspapers, wills, directories, churches, and other records that gave information about births, marriages and deaths in Monroe County.

Societies and Libraries

 * GenWeb, Monroe County, NY includes information about Monroe County Genealogical Resources, cemetery records, some vital and church records, biographies, online books, and more.
 * Monroe County Library System, has an online catalog, Genealogy Resources, Digital Collections, Local History Resources, Pathfinders (guides to the collection)
 * Pioneer Society of Rochester and Western N.Y. was created Sept., 31, 1847 in Rochester. The organization faded after 1870.  This site lists the members in 1847, 1854, 1866, and those listed in newspapers.
 * Rochester Historical Society has books, manuscripts, prints, photographs, etc.

Web Sites

 * The Monroe County NYGenWeb Project, an member of The NYGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project for Monroe County.
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project for Monroe County. (Backup site)
 * FamilySearch.org Family History Library catalog for Monroe County
 * KindredTrails.com for Monroe County