New York Counties and Historical Facts

New York Counties records can vary vastly from county to county in both quality and also quantity. Some have already been carefully maintained while others have been substantially misused and uncared for. A number of New York records have merely vanished. For genealogists performing research in New York there’s no effective substitute to have an on-site research of county court house records. For Definitions of all court terms see the Genealogy Encyclopedia

New York Counties – There are 62 counties that exist in New York. Each one holds records that may include: Land, Estates, Taxes, Vital Records, Divorces, Naturalizations, Voter Registration, Court Records.

The original twelve counties were created immediately after the British takeover of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, although two of these counties have since been abolished. Some New York counties have set up record centers or archives such as are found in Broome, Cayuga, Montgomery, Ontario, Washington, Westchester, and other counties. While most initial inquiries about records should be made with the county clerk and county surrogate’s clerk, the information sought might actually now be housed in a county records center/archives. This practice will doubtless continue in New York, especially for older records.

All county pages in New York listed below contain the name of the county and the mailing address of the county clerk, who is in charge of deeds, mortgages, marriages (1908–35), divorces, court records, state censuses, and other records is listed, the year the county was created, where applicable, the parent county or counties from which it was formed, the date the earliest deed was recorded is also listed. County deeds and mortgages not found with the county clerk are also indicated here. The date of the earliest county surrogate court record, followed by the mailing address of the county surrogate’s clerk, if not the same as that of the county clerk. Some counties have copies or abstracts of earlier deeds and wills from parent counties.

It should be kept in mind that the names of the parent county or counties are those from which the new county was first formed in the year indicated. Many changes took place later, at which times whole towns or parts of them were annexed to or from the newer county. For example, Yates County was created in 1823 from part of Ontario County; the following year two towns were added to Yates from Steuben County. For the specifics of other changes, consult gazetteers, county directories, and county histories. See also a list of links to county and county seat government run websites.

New York contains counties that no longer are in existence. They were set up by the state, provincial, or territorial governing administration. Many of these counties were established and disbanded in the Nineteenth century; county borders have evolved little since 1900 in the vast majority of states. These counties need to be looked at when you are conducting genealogy and family history research. Pay attention where the courthouse records went to if the county was eliminated or combined with another county.

• Charlotte County: Formed in 1772 from Albany County, Renamed in 1784 to Washington County
• Cornwall County: Formed in 1683, Located in Maine, this county became part of Massachusetts in 1686, but no longer exist in name.
• Cumberland County: Formed in 1766 from Albany County, disallowed the year after it was formed, Cumberland was re-established in 1768 and ceased to exist 1777-78 when Vermont declared itself a republic.
• Dukes County: Formed in 1683, became part of Massachusetts in 1692
• Gloucester County: Formed in 1770 from Cumberland County, ceased to exist 1777-78 when Vermont declared itself a republic.
• Tryon County: Formed in 1772 from Albany County, Renamed in 1784 to Montgomery County

The harm to New York courthouses tremendously has a effect on genealogists in every way. Not only are these types of historic structures torn from all of our lifetimes, so are the records they kept: marriage, wills, probate, land records, as well as others. Once destroyed they’re lost permanently. Even though they have been placed on mircofilm, computers and film burn too. The most sad aspect of this is the reason why virtually all of our courthouses are destroyed as a result of arsonist. However, don’t assume all records were destroyed. Numerous New York counties have suffered a loss of records due to courthouse fires, floods, and theft.

• Niagara County Courthouse: In 1813 the British burned the courthouse in Buffalo, destroying records that also included Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties.
• Schoharie  County Courthouse: County Courthouse burned to the ground in 1845 when a prisoner tried to escape.
• Sullivan  County Courthouse: A fire in 1909 destroyed will volumes 1-7 but all or most of the files survived.

List of New York Counties

County	Date Formed	Parent County	County Seat
Albany	1683	Original County created in the New York colony	Albany
Allegany	1806	Genesee County	Belmont
Bronx	1914	New York County	New York City
Broome	1806	Tioga County	Binghamton
Cattaraugus	1808	Genesee County	Little Valley
Cayuga	1799	Onondaga County	Auburn
Chautauqua	1808	Genesee County	Mayville
Chemung	1836	Tioga County	Elmira
Chenango	1798	Tioga and Herkimer Counties	Norwich
Clinton	1788	Washington County	Plattsburgh
Columbia	1786	Albany County	Hudson
Cortland	1808	Onondaga County	Cortland
Delaware	1797	Otsego and Ulster Counties	Delhi
Dutchess	1683	Original County created in the New York colony	Poughkeepsie
Erie	1821	Niagara County	Buffalo
Essex	1799	Clinton County	Elizabethtown
Franklin	1808	Clinton County	Malone
Fulton	1838	Montgomery County	Johnstown
Genesee	1802	Ontario County	Batavia
Greene	1802	Albany and Ulster Counties	Catskill
Hamilton	1816	Montgomery County	Lake Pleasant
Herkimer	1791	Montgomery County	Herkimer
Jefferson	1805	Oneida County	Watertown
Kings	1683	Original County created in the New York colony	New York City
Lewis	1805	Oneida County	Lowville
Livingston	1821	Genesee and Ontario Counties	Geneseo
Madison	1806	Chenango County	Wampsville
Monroe	1821	Genesee and Ontario Counties	Rochester
Montgomery	1772	Albany County	Fonda
Nassau	1899	Queens County	Mineola
New York	1683	Original County created in the New York colony	New York City
Niagara	1808	Genesee County	Lockport
Oneida	1798	Herkimer County	Utica
Onondaga	1794	Herkimer County	Syracuse
Ontario	1789	Montgomery County	Canandaigua
Orange	1683	Original County created in the New York colony	Goshen
Orleans	1824	Genesee County	Albion
Oswego	1816	Oneida and Onondaga Counties	Oswego
Otsego	1791	Montgomery County	Cooperstown
Putnam	1812	Dutchess County	Carmel
Queens	1683	Original County created in the New York colony	New York City
Rensselaer	1791	Albany County	Troy
Richmond	1683	Original County created in the New York colony	New York City
Rockland	1798	Orange County	New City
St. Lawrence	1805	Clinton, Herkimer and Montgomery Counties	Canton
Saratoga	1791	Albany County	Ballston Spa
Schenectady	1809	Albany County	Schenectady
Schoharie	1795	Albany and Otsego Counties	Schoharie
Schuyler	1854	Chemung, Steuben and Tompkins Counties	Watkins Glen
Seneca	1804	Cayuga County	Ovid /  Waterloo
Suffolk	1683	Original County created in the New York colony	Riverhead
Sullivan	1809	Ulster County	Monticello
Tioga	1791	Montgomery County	Owego
Tompkins	1817	Cayuga and Seneca Counties	Ithaca
Ulster	1683	Original County created in the New York colony	Kingston
Warren	1813	Washington County	Queensbury
Washington	1784	Albany County	Fort Edward
Wayne	1823	Ontario and Seneca Counties	Lyons
Westchester	1683	Original County created in the New York colony	White Plains
Wyoming	1841	Genesee County	Warsaw
Yates	1823	Ontario and Steuben Counties	Penn Yan