New York genealogy records

Births, marriages, and deaths outside New York City

New York began statewide registration of births, marriages, and deaths in 1880 and 1881, supervised by state and local boards of health. The State Archives warns that compliance was incomplete until 1913 or even later, so many events have no certificate. Several larger cities recorded some events before 1880, including Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Elmira, Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, and Yonkers; ask the city clerk. An 1847 law had school districts collect vital statistics, but they stopped after a few years, and neither the State Archives nor the Department of Health holds those records.

The Department of Health's indexes start in June 1880 for deaths and 1881 for births and marriages, and cover the whole state outside New York City. An entry gives only the name, date and place, and state certificate number. Birth indexes are released after 75 years and marriage and death indexes after 50 years; as of the Archives' page, birth indexes are available through 1937. The indexes do not cover births and deaths in Albany, Buffalo, and Yonkers before 1914, or marriages there before 1908; those are with the city registrars.

The State Archives holds only the indexes, not the certificates. Anyone may obtain records of births at least 75 years old and of marriages and deaths at least 50 years old; newer records are limited to immediate family with proof of identity. Genealogical requests go to the Department of Health by mail, at its office in Menands, or dropped off at the State Archives reading room. Local registrars in each town, village, or city also hold the registers and can provide uncertified copies for genealogy.

New York City

Records for the five boroughs are separate and are not in the state indexes. On March 16, 2022, the city's Department of Records and Information Services opened free online access to more than 9.3 million historical vital records: births from 1866 to 1909, deaths from 1862 to 1948, and marriages from 1866 to 1949. High-quality copies can be downloaded and printed at no charge.

Before 1898, Brooklyn records cover the city of Brooklyn only, and the other towns of Kings County usually start in 1880 and 1881. The state filed births for Queens and Richmond counties from 1881 through 1897. For later records, the State Library points to other city offices for births from 1910 and deaths from 1949, and the State Archives notes that marriages after 1949 are with the borough offices of the City Clerk.

Early marriages and church records

Before 1784, couples who did not have their marriage announced in church had to get a license and file a bond with the provincial secretary. Most of those bonds were destroyed in the 1911 State Capitol fire, but published abstracts survive, and the salvaged bonds are at the State Archives. Some county clerks hold marriage records for about 1908 to 1935.

For events before 1881, the State Library has a large collection of New York church records, Protestant denominations only, and cemetery records, searchable through its on-site Vital Records Card Index or its online catalog.

New York state censuses

New York took its own censuses in 1825, 1835, 1845, 1855, 1865, 1875, 1892, 1905, 1915, and 1925. The early ones, 1825 to 1845, name only the head of family and count the rest. From 1855 every person is named. The 1855 census also gives relationship to the head, the county of birth for those born in New York, and years living in the city or town; later censuses vary, and the 1892 census does not give relationship to the head. The 1865 census asked each person's number of children (parent of how many children) and how many times they had married, and listed men then or formerly in the army or navy. The 1925 census asked naturalized citizens when and where they were naturalized.

Survival varies by county and year. The State Library has microfilm for on-site use and a county-by-county table of what it holds. The original pre-1915 schedules are kept at the county level, so ask the county clerk, and the original 1915 and 1925 schedules are at the State Archives.

Federal census

The 1790 federal census survives for New York. The 1890 census was mostly destroyed after a fire in 1921, but among the small surviving fragments are Eastchester in Westchester County and Brookhaven Township in Suffolk County. The 1890 schedules of Union veterans and widows survive for New York.

Wills and probate

Most New York probate records are kept by the Surrogate's Court, set up in each county in 1787. The State Archives holds the older layers: wills, inventories, and other papers of the colonial Prerogative Court from 1686 to 1783 and the Court of Probates from 1778 to 1823, plus wills from the New York County Surrogate's Court from 1787 to 1879. Probate files show property, the relationships of heirs, disputes over wills, and how estates were settled. Among them are many wills made by women and wills that bequeathed or freed enslaved people.