The Vosburgh Collection of New York Church Records

Author

Between 1913 and 1921, Royden Woodward Vosburgh (1875-1931) transcribed for The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society records of some 94 New York State Protestant churches, in 104 volumes. In 1922-1925 he transcribed an additional ten volumes of Richmond County church and cemetery records for the Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences (SIIAS). The NYG&B Library has copies of these transcripts in its Manuscript Collection. NYG&B filmed the volumes it had commissioned (except those for New York County), and that film series is available at NYG&B and at other libraries. Other filmings of all the NYG&B and SIIAS volumes are available through the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

These records have been digitized and are available online.

Partial inventories of the collection were published in the Record in 1918 (49:11-16) and 1921 (52:152-57). The revised inventory given below covers all of the volumes in the collection, indicating location, church name, years covered, and NYG&B film and manuscript numbers. The film numbers apply only to the NYG&B filming, not to the FHL films of these records.

Records of some of these churches have also been transcribed by others and published by them in book or article form with indexes that are lacking for most of Vosburgh's work. However, researchers who make use of these other publications may still want to check Vosburgh's version of the same records, as he is more likely to have followed the original format of the church registers, and may have read a name differently from the other transcriber. Also, while other transcripts may cover only marriages and baptisms, Vosburgh transcribed these plus deaths or burials, and membership, confirmation and communion rolls.

For more information on Mr. Vosburgh see his obituary in the Record 63(1932):185-86.

The following list is taken from a more detailed compilation available in the Library, prepared by former NYG&B Assistant Librarian Michael Marrone. Members who want to use the manuscript volumes will find those for all counties except New York and Richmond on the open shelves in the New York Room; for the New York County and Richmond County volumes, a call slip must be filled out and presented to a librarian.

Albany County

Cayuga County

Columbia County

Delaware County

Dutchess County

Fulton County

Greene County

Herkimer County

Montgomery County

New York County

Oneida County

Oswego County

Otsego County

Rensselaer County

Richmond County (Staten Island)

Rockland County

Saratoga County

Schenectady County

Schoharie County

Washington County

Bennington County, Vermont

Warren County, New Jersey 

 

Originally published in The NYG&B Newsletter, Fall 1998

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