New York Genealogy, Facts and Records Resources

Welcome to the New York family history research page. Here you'll find record collection links, history, and genealogy resources to help you trace your New York ancestors.

New York is often condensed in people's minds to the vast city known familiarly as "the Big Apple," but New York is also a massive state that is home to a large array of historical figures and events. Native Americans, Revolutionary War sites, major American companies, and all kinds of settlements and villages that date back to the nation's earliest days and all of them are of interest to genealogists. Luckily, it is very simple to get data for New York genealogy projects, and this article will explain how!

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New York Facts

Giovanni da Verrazano, an Italian-born navigator sailing for France, discovered New York Bay in 1524. Henry Hudson, an Englishman employed by the Dutch, reached the bay and sailed up the river now bearing his name in 1609, the same year that northern New York was explored and claimed for France by Samuel de Champlain.

In 1624 the first permanent Dutch settlement was established at Fort Orange (now Albany). One year later Peter Minuit purchased Manhattan Island from the Indians for trinkets worth about 60 Dutch guilders and founded the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam (now New York City), which was surrendered to the English in 1664. See also New York History Page for more Details

New York entered the union as the 11th state on July 26, 1788 . It has 62 Counties. The capital is Albany and the official state website is www.ny.gov/.

New York is bordered by Vermont (east), Massachusetts (east), Connecticut (southeast), New Jersey (south), Pennsylvania (south), Canada (north). It has a land area of 54,475 square miles making it the 27th largest state. The 2010 population was 19,254,630 and the largest cities (2010) are New York City, 8,143,197; Buffalo, 279,745; Rochester, 211,091; Yonkers, 196,425; Syracuse, 141,683; Albany (Capital), 93,523; New Rochelle, 72,967; Mount Vernon, 67,924; Schenectady, 61,280; Utica, 59,336.

New York was named by the Dutch as "New Netherland" in 1664, and when the English took over they renamed it New York to honor the Duke of York (York is a city in England) . New York's state nickname is " The Empire State " . The State Motto is " Excelsior  " which means Ever Upwards.

Learning to Search for New York Genealogy Materials

Good Ways of Searching for New York Genealogy Data - When you need to look something up you probably don't head to the local library, but instead head to your computer or mobile device with Internet access. This is also something that modern genealogists can do too because of the large amount of electronic material available. Consider that when searching for New York genealogy information you can go online and use the different New York resources that will allow you to begin acquiring facts and copies of the materials needed.

Not all of the information for New York genealogy is available in this format though, and there are many organizations and groups that have yet to digitize their collections. This means that your research for New York genealogy materials will also have to incorporate offline locations. It is necessary for a genealogist to learn about the tools to use for New York genealogy, and how to differentiate the offline from the online.

A Standard Method for New York Genealogy Research - Public records easily qualify as the most frequently used resources for New York genealogy, and they are found in the following places:

  • Local Records – anyone looking for New York genealogy will tend to begin in a county clerk's office or website, and then move on to the local small local libraries, genealogical societies, historical societies, and school or college libraries for New York genealogy data. These are places that are usually offline and open by appointment or special arrangement.
  • Vital Records – these are made up of the birth, marriage, divorce and death records from county, state, and national archives, and can also contain cemetery or obituary information, immigration and naturalization details, newspaper items, military records, census records, passenger lists and records as well; these are available as online and offline resources for New York genealogy.
  • State Records – from probate information to surname lists, state census information, private manuscripts, newspapers, military or veterans information, marriage details, maps, land records, genealogical folders, estate information, deeds, death records, cemetery information, birth certificates and more; these records are available as online and offline resources for New York genealogy.

Best Resources for New York genealogy - You will need to learn which resources work best for New York genealogy projects. Below we have supplied some of the strongest tools for New York genealogy:

New York (except NYC):

  • Certification Unit, Vital Records Section/2nd floor, 800 North Pearl Street, Menands, NY 12204

New York City details at:

  • NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Office of Vital Records, 125 Worth Street, CN4, Rm. 133, New York, NY 10013; Website: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/w2w/new_york.htm OR http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/w2w/new_york_city.htm . This is where anyone can order birth, death, marriage and divorce records via a written request or even online.

Additional state and local records can be found at the:

  • New York State Archives, New York State Education Department , Cultural Education Center , Albany, NY 12230; Website: http://www.archives.nysed.gov/a/research/res_topics_genealogy.shtml

Also, consider using the New York Genealogical and Biographical website at http://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/.

Finally, these popular websites provide a tremendous amount of state-specific details to those in search of details for New York genealogy projects.

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