New York counties do not keep vital records. The clerk of the town, village, or city in which the event took place records the event and sends a copy to Albany. So when looking for a vital record, it does no good to write the county clerk. You have to know the exact town, village, or city and write that clerk. This one of the big pains of NY research. I clearly found this out when looking for a death certificate in the town of Mexico offices, when they told me to go a block away and try the village of Mexico. That is why people endure the exceedingly long wait for Albany to look in the indexes. Some town & village clerks will kindly look and see if a record is there without charging. Mabry Benson