NYGenWeb
Westchester County, NY
Westchester County, NY
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Westchester County, NY |
This page was last updated: Wednesday, 26-Sep-2012 09:13:16 MDT
New Rochelle was originally a French Huguenot settlement begun in 1688. The town was named after a port in France called La Rochelle. There is a monument in Hudson Park which commemorates all the names of these Huguenot settlers.
In 1902, a great tragedy affected the city of New Rochelle. A train carrying commuters who lived in New Rochelle and worked in New York City was struck from behind by another train and seventeen people were killed and many more injured. Details can be found at the Park Avenue Collision web pages.
In 2013, New Rochelle will celebrate its 325th Anniversary. The anniversary celebrates the arrival of the Huguenots from La Rochelle, France, in 1688 and the immigration and development that have shaped New Rochelle’s suburban life today. As part of the celebration, events will be held in the city throughout the year. The logo shown to the right will be shown around the city starting in November 2012.
For more information at a county level, see the NYGenWeb Westchester County Resources page as well as the main site page.
For an index of naturalizations within the county, see the web pages of the Westchester County Archives.
The web page for the New York State Dept. of Health can be found at http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/consumer/vr.htm. Also, check out the following web pages: http://www.vitalchek.com/us/ny.html
Also, see if there is any additional information on the Vital Records page at this site.
Don't overlook the many resources held at the Westchester County Historical Society.
For a more extensive listing of cemeteries and family plots in New Rochelle, see Cemeteries in New Rochelle.
Carretta, Katherine A., compiler. A Guide to Listings of Old Cemetery Inscriptions and other Genealogical Aids for Westchester County, New York. [Westchester County Historical Society, 1977]
Eardeley, William A., compiler. Westchester County, New York, Cemeteries... 1704-1914. [Brooklyn, 1914]. Contains inscriptions on tombs from Armonk, Bedford, Westchester, Croton, Mt. Kisco, Chestnut Ridge, Harrison, Mamaroneck, and Eastchester. Copy available at New York Public Library's Genealogical & Local History Room.
Haacker, Frederick. C., compiler. New Rochelle, NY, deaths 1853-1881: copied from the New Rochelle Press Almanacs, 1879-1882, and records of deaths in New Rochelle from account books of Cornelius Seacord, coffin maker. [ s.l.: Haacker, 1955] Copy available at New York Public Library's Genealogical & Local History Room.
Horton, William P. Cemetery Inscriptions of Westchester County, NY. [Peekskill, NY: 1928] Copy available at New York Public Library's Genealogical & Local History Room.
Manville, Margaret. Revolutionary War Soldiers buried in Cemeteries in Westchester County, New York. [White Plains, NY: 1966] Copy available at New York Public Library's Genealogical & Local History Room.
Spies, Francis F. Inscriptions copied from gravestones in Beechwoods Cemetery, New Rochelle, NY. ...with genealogical notes and index. [Mt. Vernon, NY: 1926] Copy available at New York Public Library's Genealogical & Local History Room.
Spies, Francis F. Inscriptions from the graveyards in New Rochelle, NY, transcribed and arranged with genealogical records... [Mt. Vernon, NY: 1926] Copy available at New York Public Library's Genealogical & Local History Room.
The Westchester County Historical Society also has extensive manuscripts giving inventories of many old cemeteries located throughout the County.
Have you looked at the cemetery listing here at the Westchester NYGenWeb site?
Attached are two halves of a map of New Rochelle scanned and donated by Maggie Parnall. Each map can be printed on regular letter-sized paper and then connected by fitting them sideways into the other and joining the Boston Post Road. The original of this map can be found at the New Rochelle Library.
Many town historical societies hold maps of their vicinities, including copies of the Sanborn insurance maps. Insurance maps were detailed to the point of showing each building on each street so that insurance companies knew what to pay the insurer in the event of fire or destruction. Be sure to inquire at such institutions as well as at local libraries.
Also, see additional information on the Maps page at this Westchester site.
Some of the holdings of the New Rochelle Public Library are City Directories. Pat (Patraigin) Connors, a member of the Westchester Mailing List, has kindly posted some photocopies of pages of city directories which she has in her possession. These pages are from the 1901, 1903, 1905, 1910, and 1915 city directories and cover the SMITH surname as well as a few others.
The only NY State censuses which survived are for the years 1905, 1915, and 1925. Check at your local LDS Family History Center for these films. The LDS FamilySearch.org web site now has the 1905 New York State census available online for free.
1790 Federal Census: New Rochelle
Some census information for Westchester county can be found at the Census page.
If you know of other resources relating to this location, please contact the county coordinator at about adding them to this page.
___. Life in New Rochelle, America's city of the Huguenots. [New Rochelle, NY: New Rochelle Trust Co., 1953]
Augur, C.H. New Rochelle through Seven Generations [New Rochelle, NY: National City Bank, 1908].
Bolton, Robert (1814-1877). A Guide to New Rochelle and its Vicinity. [Harrison, NY: Harbor Hill Books] c. 1976 (This is a facsimile of the 1842 edition with a preface, annotations and corrections edited by Marilyn Weigold.)
Darlington, Henry, Jr. "The Significance of New Rochelle as a Huguenot Settlement", from Huguenot Refugees in the Settling of Colonial America, edited by Peter Steven Gannon. [Huguenot Society of America, 1985]
De Voe, Thomas F. Genealogy of the De Veaux family. Introducing the numerous forms of spelling the name by various branches and generations in the past eleven hundred years [New York, 1885]. Copy available at the Internet Archives.
Di Pietro, Joseph A. The History of the Italians of New Rochelle (and Westchester) [New Rochelle, NY: s.n., 1999]
Dunlap, Charles J. The Pintard House Memorial, including a Backward Glance at New Rochelle [New Rochelle, NY: Knickerbocker, 1927]
Finn, David. New Rochelle, Portrait of a City [New York: Abbeville Press, 1981]
Forbes, Jeanne A. Records of the town of New Rochelle, 1699-1828 [New Rochelle, NY: Paragraph Press, 1916]
Forbes, Robert Lucas, ed. New Rochelle, Two Hundred and Fifty Years.... [New York City, 1938]
Fuller, Elizabeth Griffen. Index to Westchester County Names in the Federal Censuses, 1790-1840 [Elmsford: Westchester Cty. Historical Society] 1994.
New Rochelle Chamber of Commerce. New Rochelle, the City of Huguenots [New Rochelle, NY: The Knickerbocker Press, 1926]
New Rochelle, NY. Book of Honor, World War II[New Rochelle, 1948]
New Rochelle, NY. Waterfront a legacy....
New Rochelle Chapter of the DAR. Old Wills of New Rochelle. [DAR, 1951]
Nichols, Herbert B., Historic New Rochelle [New Rochelle, NY: Board of Education, 1938 ].
Pallen, Condé Bénoist. New Rochelle, her part in the great war; historical and biographical sketches of individuals and organizations who rendered valuable service to their country during the great world war, [New Rochelle: W.C. Tindall, 1920] Copy of book available free online at Internet Archives.
Paulmann, F.H. Catholic beginnings in the town of New Rochelle....
Pelletreau, William S., Am. M. Early Wills of Westchester County, New York 1664-1784 Pub. 1898. Cornell University Library has scanned this book and placed it on the web at the following address: http://moa.cit.cornell.edu/MOA/bookp.html
Pettit, Gaylord Joel. Today and Yesterday in New Rochelle [New York: William R. Jenkins Company, 1918]
Presbyterian Church, New Rochelle. The First Presbyterian Church of New Rochelle; a brief sketch of its history, 1688-1946 [New Rochelle, 1946]
Rosa, R., et al. Description of Herdsdale Farms: Situated in the Towns of Scarsdale and New Rochelle, Westchester County, 16 Miles from Central Park, New York: Property of Lewis G. Morris
Seacord, Morgan H. Biographical Sketches and Index of the Huguenot Settlers of New Rochelle 1687-1776. [New Rochelle, NY: The Huguenot and Historical Association of New Rochelle, 1941]. Includes an account of the development of the Huguenot monument in New Rochelle and of the tablet which contains the names of the New Rochelle Huguenots from the colonial period.
Seacord, Morgan H. and William S. Hadaway. Historical Landmarks of New Rochelle. [New Rochelle, NY: New Rochelle Trust Co., 1938]
Waldron, William Watson. Huguenots of Westchester and Parish of Fordham, New York. [New York: W.H.Kelly & Brother, 1864], 128 pages. Copy available online at Google books. Cornell University Library has scanned this book and placed it on their web site at the following address: http://moa.cit.cornell.edu/MOA/bookw.html
Wittmeyer, Alfred V., Rev. Registers of the Births, Marriage, and Deaths of the "Eglise Française à la Nouvelle York" from 1688 to 1804. [New York: 1886] Reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Company in 1994.
For other books with information relating to this town but covering a county-wide level, see the County section of the Bibliography page.
Thomas Paine's Home and Museum -- The museum also house the New Rochelle Historical Society, the Thomas Paine National Historical Association, and the Huguenot and Historical Association of New Rochelle.
On January 8, 1902 a train collision of two trains in the Park Avenue tunnel below the streets of New York City caused the deaths of 17 people and the injuries of some 30-40 more people. Almost all of these people were from New Rochelle. This tragedy so angered the people of the city and state that a law was pasted prohibiting steam engines from entering Manhattan and forcing the rail roads to convert to the new energy source called electricity. Additionally to accommodate the electric rails, the old Grand Central Depot was torn down and a new Beaux-Arts style building was built which currently stands at Grand Central Station in New York City. For more informaion about the people who died this fateful day and some of the others involved in this tragedy, see the 1902 Park Avenue Tunnel Collision — A New Rochelle Tragedy web pages.
The Westchester County Genealogical Society has been publishing a series of articles in their monthly newsletter for some time which gives an overview of each town within the county. This Focus on (town name) [WCGS Newsletter, ] series usually includes a brief history of the town, a listing of some houses of worship, some cemeteries and often a bibliography. See the information about ordering back issues of the newsletter. An article on New Rochelle was entitled " The Huguenot Settlers of New Rochelle" and appeared in the WCGS Newsletter, Nov./Dec. 1996.
See the Military & War Links page for more information.
As we find information relating specifically to this town, we'll post it here.
As we find information relating specifically to this town, we'll post it here.
Maggie Parnall has kindly scanned and shared her photo of the Abroise Sicard House with a sketch by Edwin Secord (deceased) and a family chart. The photo of the house was taken around 1985.
The City government web site also has photos of the city. Look at their menu on the left hand side of their homepage under "Photo Gallery "
See the Surname Web Pages for links to web pages of researchers in Westchester but not specifically associated with this town.
Rootsweb.com has some Message boards where you can post a query for others to view. Or join the Westchester mailing list and correspond with other Westchester researchers.
Return to Westchester County's Town Index page.
Return to the main page for Westchester County at NYGenWeb.
Return to the NYGenWeb web site.
© 1996-2012 Cathy Horn. All rights reserved.
This web site was designed by and has been exclusively maintained since November 1996 by Cathy Horn.
