Cayuga County, New York Guide

Cayuga County is located in the Finger Lakes region of New York State. It extends from Lake Ontario on the north to Tompkins County on the south. On the west are Wayne and Seneca Counties. On the east are Oswego, Onondaga and Cortland Counties. The Erie Canal and the New York State Thruway run parallel to each other cutting across the county. 

County Formed: 1799

Parent County: Onondaga

Daughter Counties: Seneca 1804; Tompkins 1817

Major Land Transactions: All present day Cayuga County was part of the New Military Tract

Cayuga County Map
Map of Cayuga County

Table of Contents

 

History

Cayuga County was created in 1799 from Onondaga County and was named after the Cayuga Nation. This was the original homeland of the Cayuga who migrated from the lower Mississippi Valley in the 14th century. The first permanent white settlers arrived in the 1780s; they came from Massachusetts, Connecticut, the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. After the Civil War immigrants came from Russia, Poland, Italy, and Ukraine. At the end of the 19th century there was industrial growth, increased ethnic diversity and an expanded rail service. The most important industries produced shoes, rope, locomotive engines, powerplants, and electrical components.

Encylopedia of New York History, 289-291.

 

 

Repositories, Resources, and Societies - County

Cayuga County Clerk

Website: Cayuga County Clerk

Address: 160 Genesee Street, 1st Floor, Auburn, NY 13021 

Phone: (315) 253-1271

Email: sdwyer@cayugacounty.us

 

Cayuga County – City, Town and Village Clerks

Website: Cayuga County Towns

Birth, marriage, and death records are maintained by the clerk of the municipality in which the event occurred; see Introduction to County Guides for details of other records which may also be held by municipal clerks. For contact information on Cayuga County clerks.

 

Cayuga County Surrogate's Court

Website: Cayuga County Surrogate’s Court

Address: 152 Genesee Street, Auburn, NY 13021 

Phone: (315) 237-6210 Ext. 4

 

Cayuga County Records Management

Website: Cayuga County Records Management

Address: 12 Court Street, Auburn, NY 13021

Phone: (315) 253-1037

Email: ccrecords@co.cayuga.ny.us

 

Cayuga County Public Libraries

Cayuga is part of the Finger Lakes Library System; see www.flls.org to access each library. Many hold genealogy and local history collections. Also see listings below for Hazard Library and Seymour Public Library.

 

Cayuga County Historian

Website: Cayuga County Historian

Address: 10 Court Street, Auburn, NY 13021

Phone: (315) 253-1300

Email: historian@cayugacounty.us

 

Cayuga County – All Municipal Historians

While not authorized to answer genealogical inquiries, county, city, town and village historians can provide valuable historical information and research advice; some maintain information and research advice; some maintain collections and webpages which may include transcribed records, local histories, and other genealogical material. For contact information, see www.cayugacounty.us or the website of the Association of Public Historians of New York State at www.aphnys.org.

 

Cayuga County Community College: Bourke Memorial Library

Website: Cayuga County Community College: Bourke Memorial Library

Address: 197 Franklin Street, Auburn, NY 13021 

Phone: (315) 255-1743  

Email: cay_ref@cayuga-cc.edu

 

Cayuga Museum of History and Art and Case Research Lab Museum

Website: Cayuga Museum of History and Art 

Address: 203 Genesee Street, Auburn, NY 13021

Phone: (315) 253-8051 

Email: cayugamuseum@verizon.net

 

 

Repositories, Resources, and Societies - Regional

Central New York Genealogical Society

Website: Central New York Genealogical Society

Address: PO Box 404, Colvin Station, Syracuse, NY 13205

Email: cnygs@yahoo.com

 

State University of New York at Oswego: Local History Collection

Website: State University of New York at Oswego: Local History Collection

Address: Penfield Library, Special Collections, Oswego, NY 13126

Phone: (315) 312-3537

Email: archives@oswego.edu

 

 

Repositories, Resources, and Societies - Local

Alphabetized by location

Cayuga-Owasco Lakes Historical Society and Museum

Website: Cayuga-Owasco Lakes Historical Society and Museum

Address:14 West Cayuga Street, PO Box 247, Moravia, NY 13118-0247

Phone: (315) 497-3906

Email: Email access on website

 

Genoa Historical Association and Rural Life Museum

Website: Genoa Historical Association and Rural Life Museum

Address: 920 State Route 34B, PO Box 316, King Ferry, NY 13081

Phone: (315) 364-8202

Email: genoahistorical@gmail.com

 

Hazard Library: Local History Collection

Website: Hazard Library: Local History Collection

Address: 2487 Route 34B, Poplar Ridge, NY 13139-0003

Phone: (315) 364-7975

Email: Librarian@hazardlibrary.org

 

Montezuma Historical Society: Historic Mentz Church

Website: Montezuma Historical Society: Historic Mentz Church

Address: Mentz Church and McDonald Roads, PO Box 476, Montezuma, NY 13117

Phone: (315) 776-4656

Email: Email access on website

 

Old Brutus Historical Society

Website: Old Brutus Historical Society

8943 North Seneca Street, PO Box 516, Weedsport, NY 13166

Phone: (315) 834-9342

Email: Email access on website

 

Seymour Public Library: Mary Van Sickle Wait History Room

Website: Seymour Public Library: Mary Van Sickle Wait History Room

Address: 176-178 Genesee Street, Auburn, NY 13021 

Phone: (315) 252-2571  

Email: localhistory@seymourlibrary.org

 

Sterling Historical Society and Museum

​Website: Sterling Historical Society and Museum

Address: PO Box 114, Sterling, NY 13156  

Phone: (315) 564-6721 

Email: info@SterlingHistoricalSociety.org

 

The Lock 52 Historical Society of Port Byron

Website: The Lock 52 Historical Society of Port Byron

Address: 73 Pine Street, PO Box 528, Port Byron, NY 13140

Phone: (315) 776-4027  

Email: Email access on website

 

 

Civil, Public, and Vital Records

Civil Records are those created, recorded and/or maintained by a governmental body and include births, marriages, deaths, censuses, property, and probate. NB: The New York State government began collecting vital record data in 1880. Birth, marriage, and death records from New York State (excluding the five boroughs of New York City) after 1880 on can be obtained from the New York State Department of Health. For vital records previous to 1880, consult the municipality in which the event took place. Learn more about New York's vital records in our online guide.

 

 

Federal Census Records

Population schedules: 1790-1940 (except 1890). Online at Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, and Findmypast.com (free to NYG&B members).

Access on Findmypast:

1790

1800

1810

1820

1830

1840

1850

1860

1870

1880

1900

1910

1920

1930

1940

 

 

 

 

 

 

State Census Records

  • County originals at Cayuga County Records Management: 1855, 1868*, 1875, 1892, 1905, 1915, 1925 (1825, 1835, and 1845 are lost). State originals at the NYSA: 1915, 1925
  • Microfilm at the FHL, NYPL, NYSHA, and NYSL
  • Many years are online at FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com.
  • For 1865 census index for towns of Oswasco and victory, see NYGenweb.

 

 

Other Online Resources

Ancestry.com

There are vast numbers of records on Ancestry.com that pertain to people who have lived in New York State. A search of the online card catalog by county may reveal lesser known resources that pertain to a locality, such as town records, abstracts, transcriptions, city directories, and local histories.

 

FamilySearch.org

FamilySearch has extensive collections of New York records, including religious records, which are searchable by name and location, but not by county. The following collections include record images (browsable, but not searchable) that are organized by county:

“New York, Land Records, 1630–1975.” Includes land and property records.

“New York, Probate Records, 1629–1971.” Includes wills, letters of administration, and guardianship papers.

For both collections, choose the browse option and then select Cayuga to view the available records sets.

 

Following the Freedom Trail in Auburn and Cayuga County, NY

A cultural resources survey of sites relating to the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, and African American life in Auburn, and Cayuga County, New York, sponsored by the City of Auburn Historic Resources Review Board and Cayuga County, New York.

 

New York Aerial Photographs

The Cornell Institute for Resource Information Sciences maintains a large collection (48 counties) of aerial photographs for New York.  A portion of the collection for 6 counties, including Cayuga, is online.

 

NYGenWebProject: Cayuga County

Part of the national, USGenWeb volunteer initiative, the website provides information and resources for county research.

 

Old Fulton New York Postcards

The website provides free access to a vast collection of digitized New York newspapers, including 39 titles for Cayuga County.

 

General Resources

 

Deaths and Burial Records

 

Military Records

 

Religious Records

 

Other Records

 

Ethnic Groups and Organizations

 

Maps

 

Transportation

 

 

Selected Bibliography

Abstracts, Indexes & Transcriptions

  • Barber, Gertrude Audrey. “Abstract of Wills of Cayuga County, NY.” Typescript, 1947. NYPL, New York. Copied from the original records at the Surrogate’s Office, Auburn, NY.
  • Barber, Gertrude Audrey. “Marriages and Deaths from the “Cayuga Patriot”: A Newspaper Published Every Wednesday at Auburn, Cayuga County, New York, from June 29, 1825 to March 19, 1834.” Typescript, 1947. NYPL, New York.
  • County of Cayuga Abstracts. Syracuse: Central New York Genealogical Society, 2000. Abstracts for a range of genealogical records originally published in the quarterly Tree Talks.
  • Daughters of the American Revolution, comps. New York DAR Genealogical Records Committee Report. Since 1913 DAR volunteers have transcribed many thousands of unpublished cemetery, church, and town records throughout New York. The reports are at the DAR Library; copies are at the NYSL and the NYPL. The DAR has a searchable name index to all the GRC reports at http://services.dar.org/Public/DAR_Research/search/?Tab_ID=6. See Jean Worden’s index below for a listing by county of the New York record sets that were transcribed by the DAR before 1998.
  • DeLawyer, Mark W.  Deaths at Auburn Prison, Cayuga County, New York, 1888–1937. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books Inc., 2003. Book includes records of 700 inmates who died at Auburn Prison, including biographical information, crime and sentence, cause of death, names and residences of relatives. Arranged chronologically.
  • Kelly,  Arthur C. M. Index to Tree Talks County Packet: Cayuga County. Rhinebeck, NY: Kinship, 2002.
  • Lester, Claud F.  “Gravestone Inscriptions, Cayuga County, NY.” NYG&B Record, vol. 54 (1923) no. 1: 49–59, no. 3: 227–240. Includes Venice (Stewart’s Corners); Port Byron; Village Cemetery, Genoa. [NYG&B eLibrary]
  • Lester, Claud F. “Gravestone Inscriptions, Cayuga County, NY. East Venice Cemetery; Baker Cemetery; Locke Cemetery.” NYG&B Record, vol. 53, no. 4 (1922): 307–325. [NYG&B eLibrary]
  • McKay, Janet. “Port Byron, Cayuga County, N.Y. Gravestone Inscriptions.” NYG&B Record, vol. 54, no. 1 (1923): 59–62. [NYG&B eLibrary]
  • NYGenWeb Project. “Indexes to the 1865 New York State Census for the Towns of Owasco and Victory.” www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nycayuga/census/censusin.html
  • Smith, Mrs. W. Arthur. “Scipio Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, 1795– 1834.” Typescript. NYPL, New York. [NYG&B eLibrary]
  • “St. Peter's Church, Auburn, N.Y. Baptismal Records, 1801–1863.” Typescript, 1952. NYPL, New York. Transcribed from parish book registers 1 and 2 by New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. [NYG&B eLibrary]
  • Worden, Jean D. “Book 1, Subject Index.” In Revised Master Index to the New York State Daughters of the American Revolution Genealogical Records Volumes.
  • Zephyrhills, FL: J. D. Worden, 1998. The Subject Index includes a listing by county of the cemeteries, churches, towns, and other sources of records transcribed by the DAR.

 

The materials above are a compilation of resources available, with an emphasis on online resources, which might be useful to someone doing research within this county.  The inclusion of a link does not constitute an endorsement of its content or accuracy.  Please send any additions or corrections to webmaster@nygbs.org.