Files in Seneca County Historian's Office, NYGenWeb NYGenWeb"USGenWeb

Types of records in the Seneca County Historian's Office

This information is from a handout given by Seneca County Historian, Howard Van Kirk, to those who visit the office. These files were compiled by Betty Auten during her tenure as Historian and are being maintained by Howard as the "new" Historian. Hopefully this information will be valuable to those who are unable to visit Seneca County in person and need to write to the office. These cards are also available on microfilm from the LDS, Family History Centers.

3x5 cards - Data on families listed by surnames.

  • Includes all censuses from 1800-1900
  • Business Directories - 1863,1867,1888,1894
  • Cemetery records for all cemeteries
    A more complete record for the following cemetries are in notebooks: Baptist Cemetery at Kendaia on the Depot grounds; Canoga Cemetery and Union Cemetery in Ovid; Restvale Cemetery; Maple Grove Cemetery is listed according to grave lots and all names were listed on the genealogy cards.
  • Deaths and marriages from all county newspapers from the earliest, up to World War II. Also for later dates but not as complete.
  • Church records. Fairly complete from early to 50 years for death, 70 years for birth copied from Waterloo and Seneca Falls Presbyterian Churches; St. Paul's and Trinity Episcopal Churches, first book of marriage from St. Mary's; early cemetery records from Holy Cross; early cemetery records from Tyre Dutch Reformed; early births and marriages from Ovid-Lodi Dutch Reformed; marriages and death up to 1870s for Romulus Presbyterian Church; records of Junius Presbyterian Church.
  • Vital statistics kept by town clerk from first to 50 years for deaths; 70 years for births for towns of Fayette, Varick, Ovid, Romulus and some even later for Lodi.
  • Marriages from the official books from 1907 to about 1935. These are very complete records with parents, place of birth, etc. Not included but available in the original books are the names of witnesses for marriage and clerfy or official who performed the ceremony.
  • Information on certain persons listed in early documents which are microfilmed and in the black boxes.
  • Cross data for daughters, wives, bothers, etc. listed in various records such as wills and marriages, marked with an X.
  • Some early deed purchases. A more complete collection is filed in boxes by Town and Lot number.

    Data in Blue Notebooks

  • Two top shelves contain same information as cards. Good idea to check the books for cads can come up missing.
  • Lower shelves contain varied records
  • Cemetery records. These are all copied by surname on the cards, but saved some because people like to look at such research. New donated ones are those mentioned above.
  • Pages from the Historical Records copied by the WPA in 1940. Mostly milirary and cemetery records
  • Genealogical briefs. This is data, originally on card but pulled out because there was little information on individual names.
  • Two books on individual names, names that appeared only once or spelling was varied
  • Cross indexes - same type of information as listed with X on cards
  • Marriages
  • Obits from newspapers starting about 1970s
  • Wills from estate tax records. These records have been microfilmed and are in black boxes.
  • Tax lists starting in the 1860s. The information contatins name of owner, by Town, lot number and size of property
  • Early baptisms and births from Diedrich Willers records. These were translated from the German. They are also on the cards.
  • Coroners reports as listed in Annual Report of the Board of Supervisors. The original coroners reports have been destroyed.
  • Citizenship listings

    Microfilms

  • Varied early documents complete with two index books.
  • 15 volumes of Revolutionary WAr Soldiers and Sailors of Massachusetts
  • New York Regiments of Revolutionary War
  • Varied record books borrowed from Mynderse Library.
  • Deed indexes plus grantee and grantor recods copied and donated to Seneca County by the LDS Church Library
  • Federal census for 1800, 1810, 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Early town records from Romulus, Ovid, Fayette and Junius
  • Early school records, starting 1813, up to the time of centralization of schools. Originals also filed in Hollinger boses. Records have also been typed by year, trustee, teacher and parents, wherever available.
  • Annual reports of Board of Supervisors, from the first until 1995
  • Seneca County Children's Committee records

    Notebooks - Books

  • Index of pensions for Revolutionary War men
  • Pension records of some War of 1812 men from New York State.
  • Several notebooks of varied data compiled by Central New York Genealogical Society
  • Notebooks on New Jesey and Pennsylvania
  • Partial 1880 census; complete 1905, 1915, 1925 State censuses
  • Many family sheets and genealogies copied or donated by people
  • Card file of Civil War men donated by Jean Amidon.

    Following is the abbreviation key for the card file in the Historian's Office. [For those of you, like me, that may have copies of the cards in your files and you have forgotten what the abbreviations stand for :) ]
    agr. - Adjutant General records, Civil War
    as. - Asa Story records, former Waterloo undertaker
    b. - born
    bd. - boarded
    bd. - Business Directory
    cf. - "Between the Lakes" cemetery records printed by Carl Fisher, 1974
    ch. - children
    chr. - church records
    cr. - cemetery records
    cw:ag - Civil WAr Adjutant General Records
    d. - died
    dec. cit. - citizenship papers of declaration of citizenship
    dil. - daugher in law
    dst. - "Disaster, Struggle, Triumph" book, 126th Regiment, Civil War
    dw. - Diedrich Willers, "History of Fayette"
    dwr. - Dutch Reformed Church Records, Fayette
    f. - farm, with no. = number of acres. Usually from Business Directory
    fgn. - family genealogy, name of sender usually at end of line
    fil. - father in law
    f.lab. - farm laborer
    fun. - funeral records, Snook Funeral Home, Varick
    g. - guardianship
    gbr. - George Bellows records - Doctors of Seneca County
    gn. - family genealogy, name of sender usually at end of line
    gr. - Genung Funeral Home records, Waterloo
    h. - house, usually location, as with farm
    jhf. - usually from "Between the Lakes", cemetery records, by Carl Fisher
    jun. - Junius
    lab. - laborer
    m. - married
    mg. - Maple Grove Cemetery
    npgn. - Geneva newspaper
    npint. - Interlaken newspaper
    npob. - Ovid Bee
    npog. - Ovid Gazette
    npoi. - Ovid Independent
    npsf. - Seneca Falls newspaper
    npwat. - Waterloo newspaper
    ob. - official town book of men who registered in the Civil War
    p.p. - petition for probate. Number in probate indicates number in file at Court House
    r. - Romulus
    s&s. - Seneca and Schuyler County records, biographical
    scba. - Seneca County records copied by Betty Auten, mostly marriages
    sf. - Seneca Falls
    sfm. - Seneca Falls Museum records
    sil. - son in law
    sr. - (may be just R) Stanley Reynolds Collection, Waterloo Historical Society [the Stanley Reynolds Collection is available on microfilm from the LDS, Family History Centers]
    ty. - Tyre
    var. - Varick
    vs. - vital statistics
    vsba. - vital statistics copied by Betty Auten
    w. - will or surrogate papes
    wat. - Waterloo
    wpa. - from WPA collection at Court House, Waterloo
    x. - items usually found in probate or obit., usually in connection with second name in item, cross index for daughters, wives, sisters, etc.
    1900 census - yr., year/years married. ch., children. The number of children applies to the wife. When more children are listed, prior to time of marrige, probably from the first marriage of husband.
    yy,mm,dd - age at death

    Obituary Abbreviation Key:
    b. - born
    bu. - burial
    convf. - convenience of family
    d. - date of death
    fmr. - formerly
    nl. - not listed
    par. - parent
    prds. - pre-deceased spouse
    snl. - spouse not listed
    surs. - surviving spouse
    Cdga. - Canandaigua
    Cov. - Covert
    Fay. - Fayette
    Int. - Interlaken
    Jun. - Junius
    Roch. - Rochester
    Rom. - Romulus
    SF - Seneca Falls
    Syr. - Syracuse
    Ty. - Tyre
    Var. - Varick
    Wat. - Waterloo
    cem. - Cemetery
    brc. - Bridgeport Cemetery
    brook. - Brookside Cem., Geneva
    can. - Canoga Cemetery
    glen. - Glenwood Cemetery, Geneva
    huc. - Hector Union Cemetery
    lvc. - Lakeview Cemetery, Interlaken
    mgr. - Maple Grove Cemetery, Waterloo
    pioc. - Pioneer Cemetery, Seneca Falls (aka Ovid St. and Smith Cemetery)
    rosec. - Rose Cemetery, Seneca Falls
    rvc. - Restvale Cemetery, Seneca Falls
    sbc. - Spring Brook Cemetery, Seneca Falls
    stc. - St. Columbkille Cemetery, Seneca Falls
    stp. - St. Patrick's Cemetery, Seneca Falls
    stm. - St. Mary's Cemetery, Waterloo
    swk - Southwick Cemetery, Junius
    ouc. - Ovid Union Cemetery
    wlod. - W. Lodi Cemetery
    CMC - Cayuga Medical Center, Ithaca
    CSH - Clifton Springs Hospital
    GRH - Geneva Regional Hospital
    HLC - Huntington Living Center, Waterloo
    AMH - Auburn Memorial Hospital
    NWH - Neward-Wayne Hospital
    RGH - Rochester General Hospital
    SMH - Strong Memorial Hospital
    SNH - Seneca Nursing Home, Waterloo
    FLT - Finger Lakes Times
    R/BTL - Reveille/Between the Lakes
    Sequence: name, age, res., date of death, place, burial, birthdate, place, parents, spouse, source.

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    c 1998 by Diane Lerch Kurtz