NYGenWeb
Westchester County, NY
Westchester County, NY
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Westchester County, NY |
This page was last updated: Thursday, 05-Apr-2012 09:38:56 MDT
Port Chester was known as "Sawpits" from about 1732 until about 1837. Port Chester was an important shipbuilding port and the sawpits were "..used in sawing long logs into ships' timbers. The log is at ground level with one man pulling down on a saw, another below ground, in a pit, lifting it back up." [Source: Richard Landerer's The Place-Names of Westchester County, page 127.]
Port Chester is a village, incorporated in 1868, within the town of Rye. Port Chester lies on the Boston Post Road, an important thoroughfare between Boston and New York City, and is also a port on Long Island Sound with a history of ship building.
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.
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.
Horton, William P. Cemetery Inscriptions of Westchester County, NY. [Peekskill, NY: 1928] Copy available at New York Public Library's Genealogical & Local History Room.
Horton, William P. "Milton Cemetery records, Rye, Westchester county, NY" Daughters of American Revolution Magazine [Washington, DC], v.99, no. 4, whole no. 836 (April 1965), pp. 428-429; continued in subsequent numbers.
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 West Chester County yards with genealogical notes. 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 listings here at the Westchester NYGenWeb site?
The Sanborn Map Company has issued Insurance maps of the town of Port Chester, New York (including Town of Rye, City of Rye, and Town of Harrison) [1934], copies of which are available in the Map Division of the New York Public Library. 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.
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.
We are not aware of any town web site at this time. However, if you know of one, please please contact the county coordinator for this web site.with its web address.
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.
Fuller, Elizabeth Griffen. Index to Westchester County Names in the Federal Censuses, 1790-1840 [Elmsford: Westchester Cty. Historical Society] 1994.
Some census information for Westchester county can be found at the Census page.
Polk's Port Chester (New York) Directory, including East Port Chester and Rye. [New York, NY: R.L. Polk & Co.] The years 1928/9 and 1932 are available at the New York Public Research Library.
Port Chester, Rye, including Byram (Connecticut), Directory. [New Haven, CT: Price & Co., 1959]
The Port Chester Public Library holds some city directories, yearbooks, newspapers, and obituary indexes.
Also see the City Directories page on this Westchester Site.
Baird, Charles W. Chronicle of a Border Town: History of Rye, 1660-1870. Includes history of White Plains and Harrison until 1788. [Harbor Hills, reprint c. 1983.] Note: See Families of Rye shown below.
Fuller, Elizabeth Griffen. Index to Westchester County Names in the Federal Censuses, 1790-1840 [Elmsford: Westchester Cty. Historical Society] 1994.
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
Sherman, Arthur Outram. Westchester County and the Town of Rye. [Rye, NY] c. 1909.
For other books containing information related to this town but covering a county-wide level, see the County section of the Bibliography page.
If you have any such information relating to this location, please contact the county coordinator for this web site.
If you know of any notable residents from this town, please please contact the county coordinator for this web site.about adding them to this section and please identify when the person resided here as well as why you consider them to be notable.
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. Their Focus on Port Chester & Rye Brook [WCGS Newsletter, Nov. 1997] article includes a brief history of the town, a listing of some houses of worship, some cemeteries and a bibliography. See the for information about ordering back issues of the newsletter.
If you know any additional information relating to this town, please please contact the county coordinator for this web site.about adding it to this page.
See the Military & War Links page for more information.
As we find information relating specifically to this town, we'll post it here. If you have any such information or know of other web pages to link to, please please contact the county coordinator for this web site.with particulars.
Have you a Loyalist in your family tree? If so, the Loyalist page may be of interest to you. If you have any specific information relating to this town and loyalists, please contact the county coordinator for this web site. about adding the information to this page.
If you have a scanned picture relating to any location within Westchester and would like to add it to this site, please please contact the county coordinator for this web site.with particulars.
Attached is a listing of those surnames shown in the two chapters entitled the "Families of Rye" from the book Chronicles of a Border Town: History of Rye, Westchester County, New York, 1660-1870, including Harrison and the White Plains Till 1788 by Charles W. Baird. This book was published in 1871 in New York by Anson D.F. Randolph and Company. If interested in seeing this book, contact your local library and ask if they can borrow a copy through inter-library loan. Or try contacting a dealer of out of print books such as those found on the Other Resource Links to purchase a copy.
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 Query 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.