Ancestry adds bumper package of New York records

Ancestry has added five new collections to its online database. Each of them will be of interest to any genealogy researcher whose Irish ancestors emigrated to New York or moved there after disembarking elsewhere in North America between 1855 and the mid-1900s.

BIRTH, MARRIAGE AND DEATH RECORDS

The first three collections are indexes to birth, marriage and death records. The records are not yet complete, but indexing by volunteers is continuing so additional records will boost these collections in due course.

For information on how to view or obtain copies of the bmds identified in these indexes, or to see the complete list of surviving civil (vital) records, see Department of Records/Municipal Archives.

New York, Birth Index, 1878-1909
This collection, which holds 772,703 records and can be searched here, is not complete. It consists of indexes to births in the five Boroughs of New York City reported to the Health Department prior to 1910, as follows:

• Bronx, 1898 - 1909
• Brooklyn, 1880 - 1909
• Manhattan, 1878 -1909
• Queens, 1898 - 1909
• Richmond, 1898 - 1909

New York, Marriage Indexes 1866-1937
This collection, which holds 5,065,035 records, which can be searched here, is also not complete. It consists of indexes to marriages reported to the Health Department in the five Boroughs of New York City prior to 1938, as follows:

BRIDES

• Bronx, 1898 - 1937
• Brooklyn, 1871 - 1937
• Manhattan, 1866 - 1937
• Queens, 1905 - 1937
• Richmond, 1898 - 1937

GROOMS

• Bronx, 1898 - 1937
• Brooklyn, 1866 - 1937
• Manhattan, 1865 - 1937
• Queens, 1905 - 1937
• Richmond, 1898 - 1937

New York, Death Index, 1862-1948
This collectio, which holds 4,716,858 records and can be searched here is not complete. It consists of indexes to deaths in the five Boroughs of New York City reported to the Health Department prior to 1949, as follows:

• Bronx, 1898 - 1948
• Brooklyn, 1862 - 1948
• Manhattan, 1867 -1948
• Queens, 1898 - 1948
• Richmond, 1898 - 1948

STATE CENSUS RECORDS

State censuses like these are useful because they fall in between federal census years and provide an interim look at a population. The New York censuses covered all the counties that existed at the time except Chemung, Clinton, Hamilton, New York [Manhattan], Putnam, Queens, St. Lawrence, Seneca, Suffolk, and Westchester.

1855 census of New York
This collection, which can be searched here holds 2,740,414 records and provides the following details:

• state, county, and town, township, or city (and ward and district in cities)
• material of which dwelling is built and value
• name
• age, sex, and color (black or mulatto)
• relation to head of family (something not found on federal censuses until 1880)
• county, state, or country of birth
• marital status
• how long a resident in the city or town
• occupation
• whether native or naturalized voters, alien, or colored not taxed
• literacy for those over 21
• whether owner of land
• whether deaf, dumb, or blind

1875 census of New York
This census collection can be searched here. it holds 3,122,735 records and provides the following details:

• state, county, and town, township, or city (and ward and district in cities)
• material of which dwelling is built and value
• name
• age, sex and color (white, black or mulatto)
• relation to head of family (something not found on federal censuses until 1880)
• county, state, or country of birth
• marital status
• occupation and usual place of employment
• former home if in U.S. Service or absent as specified in Article II §3 in the (New York State) Constitution**
• whether native, naturalized voter, or alien
• whether owner of land
• literacy of those over 21
• whether deaf, dumb, or blind