Ancestry.com Celebrates New York’s 400th Anniversary


If you’re one of the millions of Americans who can trace their heritage through New York — or if you’re a history buff and always welcome the opportunity to learn more about U.S. history — I hope you’ll take a few moments to check out our New York 400th Anniversary page. In honor of Henry Hudson’s exploration of the river bearing his name in September 1609, we’ve gathered all of our New York records into one place and added stories about some of the people who helped shape the state’s remarkable and quintessentially American history.

In anticipation of this anniversary, Ancestry.com has digitized and indexed three new collections of New York records:

• Mortality schedules for 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880: These mortality schedules are an important addition to our extensive repository of census records. The same enumerators who took the population census also compiled non-population schedules focused on mortality, agriculture, industry and manufacturing, and social statistics. As a first installment, we’ve just released a complete set of New York mortality schedules for 1850, 1870 and 1880 and a partial set of schedules for 1860 (we’re still working on the counties near the end of the alphabet: New York through Yates).

• Naturalization indexes for the years 1906-1966: These records were indexed by members of the community through the Ancestry.com World Archives Project. Like all indexes created by the project’s contributors, the naturalization indexes will always be available to the public for free.

• City directories for Albany, Buffalo, New York City, Niagara Falls, Rochester, Watertown and White Plains: Most of these directories are from the 20th century, but some of the New York City directories go back as far as 1833.

The New York 400th Anniversary page provides easy access to the Web’s largest repository of New York-based records, including passenger lists from the peak immigration years of 1820-1957, vital records from the Dutch, English and American periods, and dozens of other collections.

I hope you’ll join us in celebrating New York’s history by visiting our 400th Anniversary page and exploring your own connections to the state. If you have a success story relating to your New York research, please share it by posting a comment on this blog.

About Stefanie Condie

Stefanie holds masters degrees in business and journalism from Columbia University. In her current role, she promotes new content to help Ancestry.com members discover their family stories and understand the historical context of their ancestors' lives.

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September 9th, 2009
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Comment Number:
1
Written by:
Linda Small Thomas
Posted on:
September 9, 2009 at 10:34 am

I am looking for anyone on my mother’s side of the family, as far as I know I am the only living person left, all the rest of the fami;y have past away.family name is Price from Henderson Ky Or Baskett Ky

Comment Number:
2
Written by:
Denise Barrett Olson
Posted on:
September 9, 2009 at 12:36 pm

Yesterday – September 8th – St. Augustine, Florida, celebrated its 444th anniversary. Where’s its anniversary page?

Comment Number:
3
Written by:
Jade
Posted on:
September 9, 2009 at 1:18 pm

The “New York Collections” omits the following from the Colonial and Revolutionary War periods, at least:

Denizations, Naturalizations, and Oaths of Allegiance in Colonial New York

New York in the Revolution as colony and state [the version with actual book images, which you have only partially indexed]

New York in the Revolution (Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York, Vol XV)

I suggest adding them, since what is now listed for the Colonial period is rather sparse.

Comment Number:
4
Written by:
Rich Kuykendall
Posted on:
September 10, 2009 at 9:19 pm

My ancestors settled in New Amsterdam )New York City later) in 1646. Jacob Luurzsen (van Kuykendall) and brother Jacobus, moved to Albany (Fort Orange), and their progeny spread all over the USA. I am about the 12th generation.

Comment Number:
5
Written by:
Stefanie Condie, Ancestry.com
Posted on:
September 11, 2009 at 4:08 pm

Rich, I *love* that you can trace your roots all the way back to New Amsterdam and Ft. Orange. That’s almost as good as being a Mayflower descendant. My American ancestry only goes back to the 1850s…I’m a bit jealous.

Comment Number:
6
Written by:
Joanne Fleming
Posted on:
September 12, 2009 at 9:04 am

I have been looking for Emmett Raths and family. Could not find him inyour ancestry file. Had to mail to MO for a copy of his death certificate to give me when he died. I know when he was born and were he was born. Can not find any more info on line for him. If you could find something for me I would be appreciative. He was born 3 Sept. 1891 in Ottawa County, Ohio. Died in Ashbury, MO. on 6 Oct. 1959. Thank You Very Much Joanne Fleming

Comment Number:
7
Written by:
Bruce Wills
Posted on:
September 14, 2009 at 4:58 am

I feel great the way Ancestry.com achieved the hearts of millions of Americans. All we believe that records are not only records they are responsible to give a picture of our emotional bondage with our ancestors. These genealogy sites mean a lot to us. Whenever I access my favorite site Birth Records I feel proud. These sites have given our ancestors a second life. We are very much owe to them.

Comment Number:
8
Written by:
Stefanie Condie, Ancestry.com
Posted on:
September 14, 2009 at 2:23 pm

Joanne, the best way to ask for help from the community is to post a message on one of the message boards in the Community section of the Ancestry.com site (http://boards.ancestry.com/). There are thousands of message boards on specific surnames, geographic locations and other topics.

Comment Number:
9
Written by:
Dennis Carpenter
Posted on:
September 14, 2009 at 9:28 pm

I think I have you beat Rich. My 8th GGrandmother is Anneke Jans Webber Bogardus. She was the wife of Everardus Bogardus, the Domine of the Dutch Reform Church in New Amsterdam. I am also descended of Jan Peek, my 8th GGrandfather from another line who was born in New Amsterdam in 1615. He was a tavern keeper and trader. The town of Peekskill N.Y. about 50 north of New York City was named for the place where he had a trading post.

Comment Number:
10
Written by:
Susan DeAngelis
Posted on:
September 15, 2009 at 8:39 am

I really enjoyed the 400th New York addition.
A family story passed on generation to generation became confirmed through ancestry.
My GreatGrandfather was a seacaptain.
The family lived on the shore by the East River in 1895. His son William died while swimming in the East river. He got caught on a nail on the dock under the water. Everyone searched for him but no one looking right at the dock area. He was only 13yo. That was 114 years ago and I still feel the pain. In a way he is still alive because through Ancestry he will live on forever and maybe we can all learn from this tragedy.

Comment Number:
11
Written by:
Jennifer Lyons
Posted on:
September 15, 2009 at 10:55 am

As a descendant of Peter Stuyvesant, first Dutch Governor of New York, I appreciate all the New York records.

Comment Number:
12
Written by:
uzay
Posted on:
September 21, 2009 at 8:15 am

I am also descended of Jan Peek, my 8th GGrandfather from another line who was born in New Amsterdam in 1615. He was a tavern keeper and trader.