RESEARCHERS OF EASTERN NEW YORK GENEALOGY
Cliff Lamere
Most recent revision: 16 Mar 2007
Original version: 27 Apr 2002
Below, there is a list of genealogists who do research for a fee. Following that is a list of the major research sites within 50 miles of Albany, NY. For each, and followed by a list of places in Eastern New York where their research is done plus what resources are available at each site. Looking at the site list will give you an idea of where your research could be conducted. Then, you can look for someone who researches at that facility. Contact the researchers for their fees.
LIST OF RESEARCHERS (click on a name for more information, or just browse below)
Rebecca Rector
Nancy J. Curran
Donna M. Radz (withdrawn for reasons best told by the people who paid her but did not get the research done. To
read about some of their experiences, click here.)
LIST OF RESEARCH SITES AND THEIR HOLDINGS
(from my Guide to Albany Area Genealogical Resources listing 45 research facilities and showing more
holdings than listed below, plus things like address, phone number, hours of operation, website and email
addresses, and photocopy fees. Some of the facilities will do searches for a fee, some for a donation.)
Albany Co. New York State Archives
(Albany)
- Microfiche index of births (1881-1929), marriages (1881-1954) and deaths
(1880-1954).
The index covers all parts of the state except New York City, but for Albany,
Buffalo and Yonkers, it does not include marriage records before 1908, or
birth and death records before 1914 (obtain those from the respective
city). The
marriage index will not tell the name of the spouse. The Archives also
has military records for Revolutionary War (most were lost in a fire), Civil
War (on microfilm), and World War I (service record cards with extensive
information).
New York State Library (Albany) - Research can be done for all counties in the state (New York City records and materials are limited). Holdings: church record transcriptions or microfilms; state censuses for NY on microfilm (1825-1925); federal censuses for NY on microfilm (1790-1920, except 1890); federal census indexes (about 1800-1870) and soundex indexes (1880, 1900, 1920; the one for 1880 lists only households with children under the age of 10); newspaper microfilms; city directory microfilms; published genealogies; county histories; DAR publications for NY (hundreds of volumes); The New York Times Obituaries Index (1858-1978); The New York Times Personal Name Index (1853-1999, includes obituaries).
New York State Department of Health Vital Records (Albany) - Personally make application for vital records, supplying the certificate number found at the NYS Archives. Waiting time is 1-2 weeks compared with about 8 weeks (in Sept 2006) if applications are submitted by mail.
County Clerk's Office (Albany) - Deeds and mortgages back to 1600's; powers of attorney; Certificates of Partnership; DBAs; and liens. They also have NYS Supreme Court and Albany County Court case files.
Surrogate's Court (Albany) - Probated wills; letters testamentary; letters of administration (when there is no will); guardianship papers. They have some of the original wills dating back to 1730.
Albany (city) Bureau of Vital Statistics - Birth and death records (no marriages) for 1870-present. Sep 1870-1913 are only available here. They are not available from the NYS Dept. of Health until after 1913.
Albany County Hall of Records (Albany) - Albany City Directories (1830-1994); census records (1855-1925), Declarations of Intention and Naturalization (1827-1991, indexes being put on their website); Indexes to Deeds (1630-1940); marriage records for the City of Albany (1870-1952); vital records for a few churches in Albany Co. (and a few outside the county); many kinds of Historical Records (a list is on their website).
Cemetery & Headstone Photography - Locate and photograph headstones and any pertinent parts of the cemetery
Columbia Co.
Columbia County Surrogate's Court (Hudson) - Probated wills; letters testamentary; letters of administration (when there is no will); guardianship papers.
Columbia County Clerk's Office (Hudson) - Censuses (1790-1925); old atlases containing names of property owners; deeds; mortgages; some immigration records; veteran's discharges; five books of extensive mg. records 1908-1934; DBAs; incorporations; judgements; liens; county court proceedings.
Columbia County Historical Society (Kinderhook) - 50 books of cemetery records including many available nowhere else in the area; 70 books of church record transcriptions; marriage records (on cards) transcribed from newspapers; several hundred surname folders; history of the county; a library of other books.
Cemetery & Headstone Photography - Locate and photograph headstones and any pertinent parts of the cemetery.
Hendrick Hudson Chapter of the D.A.R. (library) - Surname index to marriages and obituaries from Hudson newspapers (1842-1872). All cemeteries in Columbia Co. have been recently transcribed.
Greene Co.
Surrogate's Court (Catskill) - Probated wills; letters testamentary; letters of administration (when there is no will); guardianship papers.
County Clerk's Office (Catskill) - Deeds; mortgages; naturalization records; county court proceedings; powers of attorney; certificates of partnership, DBAs; liens; marriage records 1892-present; censuses (1830, 1840, 1860, 1865, 1870, 1880, 1892, the location of the others being unknown by the Clerk's Office or the Greene Co. Records Management Office - April 2002).
Greene Co. Historical Society (Coxsackie) - Surname folders; censuses on microfilm; church records; cemetery and undertaker records; court records; a large library of books.
Cemetery & Headstone Photography - Locate and photograph headstones and any pertinent parts of the cemetery
Rensselaer Co.
Surrogate's Court (Troy) - Probated wills; letters testamentary; letters of administration (when there is no will); guardianship papers.
County Clerk's Office (Troy) - Deeds; mortgages; naturalization records; court papers such as law suits and trial records; criminal records; and powers of attorney.
Rensselaer Co. Historical Society (Troy) - Rensselaer Co. Almshouse records for 1875-1892 (see Index); about 300 published surname genealogies; surname folders; Troy city directories; some 19th century Rensselaer Co. directories; a large collection of photos; archives of some businesses and organizations; databased index to the wills and letters testamentary 1791-1910 of the Rensselaer Co. Surrogate's Court.
Troy Public Library, Main Branch - Troy City Directories (1829-present, which at various times included Lansingburgh, Cohoes, Watervliet (West Troy), and Green Island); Rensselaer Co. censuses (1790-1925) on microfilm; newspapers (bound and on microfilm); bound indexes of vital records for Troy and Lansingburgh newspapers 1787-1881 and 1901; card indexes for Troy newspapers from 1882-1900 (deaths and marriages) and 1975-1990 (births, marriages, deaths); books of church and tombstone records for Troy and Rensselaer Co.
Nassau Free Library - The Ralph Phillips Genealogy Collection (four filing cabinets of about 1000 surname folders); 1876 F. W. Beers Atlas of Rennselaer Co. (showing houses and giving the surnames and initials of the owners); 5-6 notebooks of typed cemetery records (which may be included in the 93,000 online cemetery records posted on the Rensselaer Co. NYGenWeb site).
Cemetery & Headstone Photography - Locate and photograph headstones and any pertinent parts of the cemetery
Schenectady Co.
Schenectady Co. Historical Society - Large number of surname folders; some periodicals such as the Valley Quarterlies (index is on CD) and NYG&BR; a very nice library of books, including many books of church and cemetery records for this and other counties. On microfilm they have: all Schenectady Co. censuses that are available; censuses for most of New York State for 1850 and 1900; Schenectady Co. wills; Schenectady city directories.
Surrogate's Court (Schenectady) - Probated wills; letters testamentary; letters of administration (when there is no will); guardianship papers.
County Clerk's Office (Schenectady) - Deeds; mortgages; naturalization records; court papers such as law suits and trial records; criminal records; and powers of attorney.
Schenectady City Clerk's Office - Certificates of birth (1882-1927) and deaths (1882-1952).
Schenectady Co. Public Library - City directories 1841-1968 & 1984 to present. Newspapers on microfilm beginning in the early 1800s; microfilms of Schenectady Co. in the US censuses; AIS census indexes; subscriptions to Ancestry and Heritage Quest.
Cemetery & Headstone Photography - Locate and photograph headstones and any pertinent parts of the cemetery
Pittsfield,
Massachusetts
National Archives and Records Administration - Microfilmed records or indices such as: 1790-1920
US censuses for all states (except 1890, most of which burned up); Indexes to military records; Military service and pension records for Revolutionary War;
Naturalizations; Passenger Arrival Records. Berkshire
Athenaeum (Pittsfield Public Library) - "Berkshire County and Western
Massachusetts research materials, this collection offers histories for
nearly every town in the Commonwealth and neighboring areas.
A strong
point is its fairly comprehensive collection of state and local genealogical
resources covering most of New England." - from their
website. Neighboring areas would include Columbia and Rensselaer
Counties.
Coreen & Lewis Hallenbeck <HALLENBECKLEWIS@email.msn.com>
Albany Co. - NYS Archives, NYS Library, New York State Department of Health Vital Records,
Albany Co. Clerk's Office, Albany Co. Surrogate's Court, Albany Co. Hall of Records
Albany City Bureau of Vital Statistics
Diane Koenig <minkey@taconic.net>
Albany Co. - NYS Archives, NYS Library, New York State Department of Health Vital Records,
Albany Co. Clerk's Office, Albany Co. Surrogate's Court, Albany Co. Hall of Records
Albany City Bureau of Vital Statistics
Columbia Co. - Columbia Co. Clerk's Office, Columbia Co. Surrogate's Court, Columbia Co. Historical Society,
Hendrick Hudson Chapter of DAR (library), Town Libraries, unpublished Columbia County
church records.
Greene Co. - Greene Co. Clerk's Office, Greene Co. Surrogate's Court, Greene Co. Historical Society
Rensselaer Co. - Rensselaer Co. Clerk's Office, Rensselaer Co. Surrogate's Court, Rensselaer Co. Historical
Society, Troy Public Library
Berkshire Co., Massachusetts - National Archives and Records Administration, Berkshire Co. Historical Society,
Berkshire County Probate Court, Berkshire Athenaeum (Pittsfield Public Library),
Registry of Deeds (Pittsfield & Great Barrington)
Other - LDS Family History Center (Loudonville, Albany Co.), Dutchess Co., Ulster Co.,
New York Co. (Manhattan)
Cliff Lamere < zaq12345@nycap.rr.com >
Other - 1) Does research on the Gardenier family, back to the first Dutch immigrant who arrived in 1638.
Alternate spellings of the name are Gardinier, Gordinier, Gaudineer and about 60 other variations all of
which sound like 'ear' at the end of the name. Gardiner and Gardner are not researched unless there is
a proven connection to the Gardenier surname.
2) Research Plan - a plan can be developed for any family or surname, to guide you or another
researcher. It will include: a list of which civil records are available in New York State and for what
years; what published civil and church records should be examined (books, CDs, microfilms); where the
records or resources can be found locally (or possibly online); which offices, libraries or historical
societies will do research for a fee, and how to contact them; which offices, libraries or historical societies
may have additional helpful information (surname folders, etc.); an evaluation of how likely certain
records are to give positive results, and which resources should be examined first. For Dutch surnames,
advice will be offered on how to find the parents of a person.
3) Copyright and its application to genealogy - questions will be answered.
Sally Light <slighthh@capital.net>
Albany Co. - NYS Archives, NYS Library, New York State Department of Health Vital Records,
Albany Co. Clerk's Office, Albany Co. Surrogate's Court, Albany Co. Hall of Records
Albany City Bureau of Vital Statistics
Columbia Co. - Columbia Co. Clerk's Office, Columbia Co. Surrogate's Court, Columbia Co. Historical Society,
Hendrick Hudson Chapter of DAR (library), Town Libraries, unpublished Columbia County
church records.
Greene Co. - Greene Co. Clerk's Office, Greene Co. Surrogate's Court, Greene Co. Historical Society
Rensselaer Co. - Rensselaer Co. Clerk's Office, Rensselaer Co. Surrogate's Court, Rensselaer Co. Historical
Society, Troy Public Library
Schenectady Co. - Schenectady Co. Clerk's Office, Schenectady Co. Surrogate's Court, Schenectady Co.
Historical Society
Berkshire Co., Massachusetts - National Archives and Records Administration,
Berkshire Athenaeum (Pittsfield Public Library)
Other - Dutchess Co.; other NY counties; Berkshire Co., Massachusetts; Vermont; New Hampshire;
Connecticut. Will do research in any state, county, city or village in Northeastern U.S. if expenses
are paid.
Jenn Olmstead <http://www.nyscensushunt.com > (updated email address)
Albany Co. - NYS Archives, NYS Library, New York State Department of Health Vital Records,
Albany Co. Surrogate's Court, Albany Co. Hall of Records
Nancy Paulsen <nycapgensearcher@earthlink.net>
Albany Co. - Albany Co. Clerk's Office, Albany Co. Surrogate's Court, Albany (city) Bureau of Vital Statistics
Columbia Co. - Columbia Co. Clerk's Office, Columbia Co. Surrogate's Court, Hendrick Hudson Chapter of the
D.A.R. (library)
Rensselaer Co. - Rensselaer Co. Clerk's Office, Rensselaer Co. Surrogate's Court, Rensselaer Co. Historical
Society, Troy Public Library, Nassau Free Library
Saratoga Co. - Saratoga Co. Clerk's Office, Saratoga Co. Surrogate's Court, Brookside Museum, Village and
Town clerks & historians
Schenectady Co. - Schenectady Co. Clerk's Office, Schenectady Co. Surrogate's Court, Schenectady City Clerk's
Office, Schenectady Co. Historical Society, Schenectady Co. Public Library
Berkshire Co., Massachusetts - National Archives and Records Administration, Berkshire Athenaeum (Pittsfield
Public Library)
Other - LDS Family History Center (Loudonville, Albany Co.) especially for Danish church records. Will research
unpublished records at area churches. Will travel to other locations within 300 miles of Albany if expenses
are paid. Discount on travel and research to Trenton, Mercer Co., NJ and Herkimer, Oneida Co., NY.
Rebecca Rector <rbinfo2@yahoo.com>
Albany Co. - NYS Archives, NYS Library, New York State Department of Health Vital Records,
Albany Co. Hall of Records
Rensselaer Co. -
Rensselaer Co. Clerk's Office,
Rensselaer Co.
Surrogate's Court,
Rensselaer Co. Historical
Society, Troy Public Library, Nassau Free Library, other town libraries
Saratoga Co. - Saratoga Co. Clerk's Office, Saratoga Co. Surrogate's
Court
Schenectady Co. - Schenectady Co. Clerk's Office, Schenectady
Co. Surrogate's Court, Schenectady Co.
Historical Society
Washington Co. - Washington Co. Clerk's Office, Washington
Co. Surrogate's Court
Berkshire Co., Massachusetts - National Archives and Records Administration,
Berkshire Athenaeum (Pittsfield Public Library)
Other - LDS Family History Center (Loudonville, Albany Co.), Historical research, German and Irish research,
Montgomery Co. Dept. of History & Archives, Schoharie Co. church records, research in other NY
counties, MA (American Antiquarian Soc.), VT (Bennington Library etc.), CT (CT State Library).
Nancy J. Curran <nancycurran@prodigy.net>
Albany Co. - NYS Archives, NYS Library, New York State Department of Health Vital Records,
Albany Co. Clerk's Office, Albany Co. Surrogate's Court, Albany Co. Hall of Records
Albany City Bureau of Vital Statistics
Rensselaer Co. - Rensselaer Co. Clerk's Office, Rensselaer Co. Surrogate's Court, Rensselaer Co. Historical
Society, Troy Public Library
Schenectady Co. - Schenectady County Clerk's Office, Schenectady County Surrogate's Court,
Schenectady City Vital Records, City of Schenectady History Center & Archives,
Schenectady Co. Historical Society, Schenectady Museum historical collections,
Schenectady Co. Public Library
Photography - Photographs will be taken of cemeteries and headstones, family homes, public buildings, historic
markers, rural countryside, etc. (In the counties of Albany, Delaware, Fulton, Montgomery,
Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Washington and others. Anywhere within an
hour's drive of Schenectady.)
Other - Will research unpublished records at churches. Research in other counties includes: Delaware Co.
(including Delaware County Historical Society); Montgomery Co. (including the Montgomery County
Department of History and Archives); Saratoga Co. (including county historian’s office, and historical
research in Saratoga Battlefield records and locations); Schoharie Co. (including the Old Fort at
Schoharie historical repository)
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