NYGenWeb
Westchester County, NY
Westchester County, NY
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Westchester County, NY |
This page was last updated: Thursday, 05-Apr-2012 09:39:44 MDT
Westchester was a town within Westchester County during its early history. Since 1898, it has been a section of The Bronx County. When looking for vital records for the town of Westchester, you will need to check both counties, as well as the NYC Municipal Archives. See also the records at the Eastchester Historical Society.
The Borough Town of Westchester -- A speech given by Fordham Morris before the Westchester County Historical Society in 1897 gives a brief history of the town of Westchester.
Read the following article which explains the change in boundaries and governmental jurisdictions. Before the Five-Borough City: The Old Cities, Towns and Villages That Came Together to Form "Greater New York" by Harry Macy, Jr., F.A.S.G., F.G.B.S, Originally published in The NYG&B Newsletter, Winter 1998
See also the early records for Eastchester.
Additionally, the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society had the following records in their holdings (See their article entitled: Some New York City Records on Microfilm at The NYG&B Library. Since they gave their library books to the New York Public Library in 2007, you should probably check with both repositories to learn which one is currently holding the following records:
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 Westchester county, see the web pages of the Westchester County Archives.
See the NYC Municipal Archives for their holdings and look under "Manhattan".
The New York Genealogical & Biographical Society has an article online entitled New York City Vital Records Research which is a good guide to researching vital records in NYC.
Read this information about Dick Hillenbrand's How to obtain copies of Vital Records for Genealogical Purposes in Upstate New York. His article also explains where to find copies of the NYS VR indexes around the state.
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.
Records include those for the Town of Westchester, including Morrisania, which are now located in The Bronx County, NY, and the Village of Mount Vernon (before it became a city in its own right).
The NYG&B Socity has a number of excellent articles relating to genealogical research in New York City. Before to take a look to see what may relate to your own research.
Membership includes subscriptions to The Bronx County Historical Journal, published semi-annually, and The Bronx Historian Newsletter. There are a variety of membership categories, each having a different fee. Two categories are individual for $20 and Senior Citizen for $15. Write the Society for details of membership categories. The Society also has a large selection of publications for purchase. Ask for their brochure which gives details of available publications and their respective pricings.
See the above entry under churches.
The Westchester County Historical Society also has extensive manuscripts giving inventories of many old cemeteries located throughout the County.
Woodlawn Cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in what is today The Bronx County. Check the "current cemeteries" list on the attached page for their address: cemetery listing.
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]
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 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. Also check with the local historical society for information about the above cemeteries.
Have you looked at the cemetery listings here at the Westchester NYGenWeb site?
The Map Division of the New York Public Research Library, which is located in Manhattan, has an extensive map collection.
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.
The New York Public Library Genealogical and Local History Room of the Research Division is one of the foremost genealogical libraries in the country.
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.
Bronx County, created 1914, is included in the 1905 census of New York County.
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.
Also see the City Directories page on this Westchester Site.
"Census of town of Westchester 1698", NY Genealogical & Biographical Record, vol. 38, pp. 129-134 [1907].
Fuller, Elizabeth Griffen. Index to Westchester County Names in the Federal Censuses, 1790-1840 [Elmsford: Westchester Cty. Historical Society] 1994.
Hermalyn, Gary, Editor. Genealogy in the Bronx: An Annotated Guide to Sources of Information [Bronx, NY: The Bronx County Historical Society 1986]
Jessup, Rev. Henry Griswold. Edward Jessup of West Farms, Westchester County, NY and His Descendants, with Records of Other American Families. Privately printed, Cambridge, 1887.
Mancini, Anthony. The Miracle of Pelham Bay Park. [New York: E.P. Dutton & Co.] c. 1982.
Morris, Fordham. The borough town of Westchester: An address delivered By Fordham Morris on the 28th day of October, 1896, before the Westchester County Historical Society in the Court House at White Plains, N. Y. [White Plains: The Eastern State Journal, printer; 1895]. See copy in PDF format on Google Books. See also a transcribed copy on this Westchester web site
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://digital.library.cornell.edu/pell0049
Scharf J. Thomas. History of Westchester County, New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms which have been annexed to New York City. [Philadelphia: L. E. Preston & Co.] c. 1886. 2 volumes. NOTE: Since republished by the Westchester County Historical Society which has copies for sale. For an index of personal names to this work, see the entry under "Fuller, Elizabeth G." found above.
Waldron, William Watson. Huguenots of Westchester and Parish of Fordham. New York: W. H. Kelley & Brother, Publishers, 1864. Cornell University Library has scanned this book and placed it on their web site at the following address: http://digital.library.cornell.edu/wald0050
For other books with information relating to this town but covering a county-wide level, see the County section of the Bibliography page.
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 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.
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 article entitled "Annexed to New York" found in the 1873 issue of Harper's Weekly.
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.
Return to Westchester County's Town Index page.
Return to the main page for Westchester County at NYGenWeb.
Return to the NYGenWeb web site.
Copyright © 1996-2012 Cathy Horn. All rights reserved.
This web site was designed by and has been exclusively maintained since November 1996 by Cathy Horn.