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by Roger D. Joslyn, C.G., F.A.S.G., F.G.B.S.

Originally published in The NYG&B Newsletter, Spring 1998

Copyright © 1998 Roger D. Joslyn. All Rights Reserved.

NOTE: This is a revised and updated version of the syllabus for the author's lecture at the second NEHGS-NYG&B Joint Conference, held in Tarrytown, New York, 17-18 November 1995. Most of the published transcripts and indexes to the state census that were included in the syllabus have been omitted here, as they were listed in “Finding Aids at the NYG&B Library for New York State Censuses,” by Laura LeBarron (Newsletter 8[1997]:11-13, 19-21). NYG&B Library call numbers have been added, in brackets [ ] where applicable.

Census records are the cornerstone of 19th and early 20th century American genealogical research. State censuses can enhance that research and those for New York are among the richest of these sources, providing considerably more detail than the Federal censuses. Taken in years between the decennial Federal census, the New York State census provides an expanded window about births, marriages, deaths, migrations, citizenship, changes in occupation and land ownership, and military service.

While less used than censuses by genealogists, tax lists also provide a great deal of important detail about individuals and families as well as clues to further information in other sources. Additionally, tax lists can serve as census substitutes for years when there were no censuses, when censuses are missing, or when a person is not listed in the census. Like the state censuses, they add information about an individual or family within the ten-year period between the Federal censuses, and they provide details about land ownership, social station in a community, migration, and even births, marriages, and deaths. Accessing tax lists in New York is not as easy as getting at state censuses, but many early lists have been published and there are some significant and sizeable collections that should provide most researchers with something useful.

Basic Tools

• J.H. French, Gazetteer of the State of New York (1860; reprint Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. [GPC] 1994). The best of several gazetteers. [N.Y. G 12.9 1994]
• State Gazetteer of New York (Albany: New York State Dept. of Health, 1995). For recent place names. [N.Y. G 12.91]
• William Thorndale and William Dollarhide, Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920 (Baltimore: GPC, 1987). [CS 49 T67]
• Herbert F. Seversmith and Kenn Stryker-Rodda, Long Island Genealogical Source Material [A Bibliography], National Genealogical Society Special Publication No. 24 (Washington, D.C., 1962). [L.I. G 21.1]
• Map collections, county atlases, etc. at Manuscripts and Special Collections Division of New York State Library, New York State Archives, New York Public Library (NYPL), New-York Historical Society, and elsewhere.
• Guide to Historical Resources in _______ County New York Repositories (Ithaca: Cornell University, v.d.). Some of these guides include manuscript censuses and tax lists in private libraries and historical societies. [shelved by county]

• Marilyn Douglas and Melinda Yates, comps., New York State Census Records, 1790-1825, Bibliography Bulletin 88 (Albany: The New York State Library, 1981). Location of surviving state and county copies of Federal censuses in counties and in State Library, with some errors and omissions. Project underway to update this publication. [N.Y. G 12.824]
• David Paul Davenport, “The State Censuses of New York 1825-1875,” Genealogical Journal, 14 (1985-86):172-97. [CS 42 G49]
• Laura LeBarron, “Finding Aids at the NYG&B Library for New York State Censuses,” NYG&B Newsletter 8 (1997):11-13, 19-21; includes list of the Library's census holdings by county.

Published State Censuses [see note at beginning of article]

• Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan, Lists of Inhabitants of Colonial New York Excerpted from The Documentary History of the State of New-York (Baltimore: GPC, 1979). Various coverage for 1657-1799. [N.Y. G 22.1] For additional colonial period censuses see Henry B. Hoff, “Pre-1750 New York Lists,” NYG&B Newsletter 3(1992):20-22; surviving portions of 1771 census: New Rochelle in Record 107:194, Newtown in Record 117:7, Shelter Island in Jacob Mallman, Historical Papers on Shelter Island . . . (1899), pp. 62-63 [N.Y. L Sh45]; Census of Suffolk County, New York, 1776 (Lambertville, N.J.: Hunterdon House, 1984) [N.Y. Co. SU29.7]; 1781 census of part of Oyster Bay, Nassau County Historical Journal 13:1:1 and 13:2:39 (1951-52) [N.Y. Co. N187].
• Kenneth Scott, New York: State Census of Albany County Towns in 1790 (1975; reprint Baltimore: Clearfield Co., 1991) [N.Y. Co. AL13.2]. Dr. Scott compared these surviving 1790 state schedules with the federal census for Albany County. The 1790 state schedule for Huntington, L.I. also survives, see Huntington Town Records (1889) 3:147-58 [N.Y. L H921.6].
• Lincoln C. Cocheu, abstr., “1855 Census of the 15th Ward, New York City” (TS., New York, 1945), at the New York Public Library (NYPL). Note: Surviving 1855 schedules for Election Districts 1-3 of the 17th Ward of New York City were not filmed but are available at the New York County Clerk's Archives, 31 Chambers St., New York NY 10007.

State Census Indexes

• In addition to indexes available in the NYG&B Library (see note at beginning of this article), there are indexes for 1855 at county historians' offices of Allegany, Broome, Cayuga, Cortland, Delaware, Herkimer, Madison, Niagara, and Wayne counties (the last also has indexes for 1865 and 1875). Buffalo and Erie County Public Library has an index for 1855 Erie County, and the Rochester Public Library has one for 1855 Monroe County, excluding the City of Rochester.
• Index to 1865 census for Suffolk County, at East Hampton Free Library, Long Island Collection.
• Card index to 1892 Census for Albany County at Albany County Hall of Records, 250 South Pearl Street, Albany 12202; card index to 1925 Census for Albany County at New York State Archives.

Other State “Censuses”

• Census of Inmates in Almshouses and Poorhouses, 1875-1920, New York State Archives, A1978. Also on microfilm at National Archives-Northeast Region, 201 Varick Street, Manhattan. Alphabetically by county, then chronological by census year or inmate admission date/inmate record number.

Tax Lists

Background Information

• Henry Carter Adams, Taxation in the United States 1798-1816, Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, 2d Ser. (Baltimore, 1884), 263-341.
• David Kendall Martin, “The Districts of Albany County, New York, 1772-1784,” NYG&B Newsletter 1(1990):9, 12-13.

Guides to Lists

• Henry B. Hoff, “Pre-1750 New York Lists: Censuses, Assessment Rolls, Oaths of Allegiance, and Other Lists,” NYG&B Newsletter 3(1992):20-22.
• John “D” Stemmons, The United States Census Compendium (Logan, Utah: Everton Publishers, 1973) [CS 49 S75]
• “New York City Assessment Rolls 1699-1734,” NYG&B Newsletter 7(1996):26.

Published Tax Lists

• Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan, Lists of Inhabitants of Colonial New York Excerpted from The Documentary History of the State of New-York (Baltimore: GPC, 1979). Various coverage for 1657-1799. [N.Y. G 22.1]
• Florence Christoph, Upstate New York In the 1760s: Tax Lists and Selected Militia Rolls of Old Albany County 1760-1768 (Camden, Me.: Picton Press, 1992). [N.Y. Co. AL13.61]
• Clifford M. Buck, Dutchess County, NY Tax Lists 1718-1787 with Rombout Precinct by William Willis Reese, edited by Arthur and Nancy Kelly (Rhinebeck, N.Y.: Kinship, 1990). [N.Y. Co. D951.301] In alphabetical order; microfilms of original tax lists at NYG&B and elsewhere.
• Tax Records of Stephentown, New York for 1789, 1790 and 1791 (Pittsfield, Mass.: Berkshire Family History Association, Inc., 1992). In alphabetical order. [N.Y. L ST45]

Major Manuscript Collections

• Tax Assessment Lists Under Laws of 1779, 1780, 1786, 1788 (New York State Archives, Series 91, A3210). For present-day Albany, Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Herkimer, Mongtomery, Orange, Rensselaer, Ulster, Washington, and Westchester counties.
• N.Y. Treasurer “Assessment Rolls,” Laws of 1779, 1786, 1787, 1788, Collection 217 (New York State Archives, Series A2101), Boxes 1 and 2. Present-day Albany, Greene, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, and Washington counties; 1800 New York City Ward 7; 1814 Albany and Schenectady counties non-residents.
• Gerrit V. Lansing Papers Tax Lists and Assessment Rolls, New York State Library Manuscripts and Special Collections KT 13324, Box 1. Present-day Albany, Columbia, Greene, Montgomery, Orange, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, and Washington counties for 1779; Mexico, Oswego County 1799, 1800, 1802; Kinderhook Patent 1800; Romulus, Cayuga County 1801; abstracts for Kings, Rensselaer, and Westchester counties 1799.
• Henry Onderdonk, Jr.'s transcripts of Queens County tax lists and assessment rolls (all towns, various years 1784-97), at Brooklyn Historical Society.
• 1816, 1819, 1821 New York City “censuses” [to determine jurors]. See Roger D. Joslyn, “New York City Censuses of 1816, 1819, and 1821,” NYG&B Newsletter 3(1992):27.
• Internal Revenue Assessment Lists for New York and New Jersey, 1862-66, National Archives Microfilm M603, at National Archives-Northeast Region.

The 1798 Direct Tax and Its Successors

Identified extant lists, or fragments of them, are for Clinton County; a part of Kings County; Brookhaven, Huntington, Islip, and Smithtown in Suffolk County; Deerpark, Minisink, and Walkill in Orange County; and Hurley, Kingston, Marbletown, and New Paltz in Ulster County. For published lists see David Kendall Martin, “A 1798 United States Assessment List for Northern New York State [Plattsburgh, Champlain, and Peru],” Record 113(1982):93-102, 152-60, 231-38; Edward H.L. Smith III, “1798 Property Valuations for Western Suffolk County,” Record 127(1996):12-16; C.R. Carey, “Town of Deer Park 1798 Assessment Records,” Orange County Historical Society Publication No. 8 (Goshen, N.Y., 1978-79), 13-25; and Kenneth Scott, “Ulster County, New York, 1798 Tax List,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 73(1985):117-23.

Tax Assessment Rolls of Real and Personal Estates, 1799-1804, New York State Archives B0950-85. See Roger D. Joslyn, “New York State Tax Records 1799-1804: A Newly-Available Resource for Genealogists,” NYG&B Newsletter 1(1990):5. Does not include New York City (Manhattan), for which assessment rolls from 1789 on are available at the Municipal Archives, 31 Chambers Street, Room 103, New York City 10007 (some Manhattan rolls 1790-1821 are on microfilm at NYG&B, see NYG&B Newsletter 4[1993]:6).

Tax Lists Published in Periodicals

Key titles to sources for the following list: Bulletin = Bulletin of the Stamford [Conn.] Genealogical Society [now Connecticut Ancestry]; DSGRM = Detroit Society for Genealogical Research Magazine; GG = Greene Genes; NGSQ = National Genealogical Society Quarterly; NYSDAR = New York State Daughters of the American Revolution, Cemetery, Church, and Town Records (at NYPL, New York State Library, DAR Library, FHL); Record = The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record; Register = The New England Historical and Genealogical Register; SCHSR = Suffolk County Historical Society Register; TAG = The American Genealogist; TC = The Columbia; TD = The Dutchess; TM = The Mohawk; TS = The Saratoga; TT = Tree Talks. All except NYSDAR are available in the NYG&B Library.

Broome County

• Windsor, Assmt. 1813, TT 14:23, 20:89

Columbia County

• Austerlitz, Assmt. 1827, TC 3:29-30, 67-68, 85-86, 111-12
• Austerlitz, Assmt. 1836, TC 3:112, 4:33-35, 53-55, 83-85
• Austerlitz, Assmt. 1848, TC 5:9-10, 61-62, 79-80, 121-22, 6;7-8, 7:13-14
• Austerlitz, Assmt. 1852, TC 6:8-9, 61-62, 95-96, 131-32
• Claverack District East, Assmt. 1779, TC 2:24, 67-69, 106-07, 116-17, 3:17-19
• Claverack District West, Assmt. 1779, TC 1:19-22, 62-63, 106-07, 142-43, 2:23-24
• Clermont, Assmt. 1818, TC 4:23-24, 63-65
• Ghent, Assmt. 1830, TC 6:21-22, 49-52, 79-82, 139
• Kinderhook, Assmt. 1779, TC 3:63-64, 93-94, 140-42, 4:25-29
• Delaware County Harpersfield, Assmt. 1788, TM 9:43-44, 91-92, 143, 10:35

• Freedom, Assmt. 1827, TD 1:17-26
• Rumbout Precinct, Assmt. 1769, TD 11:119-27
• Southeast, Assmt. 1779, TD 15:97-99

• Caughnawaga District, Assmt. 1788, TM 7:139-43, 8:29-34, 39-42

• Catskill, Assmt. 1908, GG 8:122-47, 9:122-43
• Imboght District, Assmt. 1779, TT 36:53-54, 37:53

• German Flats District, Assmt. 1788, TM 8:81-86, 137-40
• Kingsland District, Assmt. 1788, TM 7:88-90, 139 [title says 1789]

• Canajoharie District, Assmt. 1788, TM 6:57-60, 91-94, 113-16, 7:31-35, 65-68, 87
• Florida, Assmt. 1827, TM 3:43-45
• Minden, Assmt. 1799, TM 10:17-20, 47-50, 97-100
• Mohawk District, Assmt. 1788, TM 4:40, 103-04, 141-43, 5:19-22, 55-58, 87
• Palatine District, Assmt. 1786, TM 2:85-88, 111-14, 3:13-14 [title says 1787]
• Palatine District, Assmt. 1788, TM 5:87-90, 141-43, 6:16-19

• Hartland, Assmt. 1813, TT 7:203

• Assmt. 1792, NGSQ 67:175-76
• Sangerfield, Assmt. 1796, TAG 38:149-51

• Richland, “Census” 1807, TT 1:7, 22:50

• England District, Assmt. 1788, TM 8:140, 9:23-26

• Macomb, Assmt. 1842, TT 36:165-66, 37:125-26

• Ballston, Assmt. 1862, TS 13:87-92, 141-43
• Charlton, Assmt. 1865, TS 8:57-60, 81-84, 114
• Saratoga District, Assmt. 1779, TS 2:45-46, 94-96, 142-43, 3:12-13, 55-57

• Glenville, Assmt. 1828, TM 10:29-30, 45-46, 81-82
• Schenectady, Assmt. 1779, TM 3:34-35, 48-51, 91-93, 142-43, 4:9-10, 39-40

• Fulton, Assmt. 1849, TT 18:13

• Assmt. 1817, TAG 44:236-39

• Cameron, Assmt. 1860, DSGRM 3:181-82

• Brookhaven, Assmt. 1775, SCHSR 2:30-31, 45-46
• Southampton, Assmt. 1805, SCHSR 5:41-49, 53, 68-71

• Barton, Assmt. 1849, TT 7:51

• Queensbury, Assmt. 1805, TT 3:136
• Warrensburg, Assmt. 1814-16, Register 73:103-04

• Assmt. 1779, Bulletin 5:76-82, 84-89
• Mamaroneck, Assmt. 1792, NYSDAR 208:120-23
• New Rochelle, Assmt. 1767, Record 107:194-96