There were no death records kept statewide in NY State in those years. For Manhattan and Brooklyn, the following exist: MANHATTAN Births July 1847 - 1848; July 1853 - 1909 Deaths 1795; 1802 - 1804; 1808; 1812 - 1948 Marriages* June 1847 - 1848; July 1853 - 1937 BROOKLYN Births 1866 - 1909 Deaths 1847 - 1853; 1857 - 1948 Marriages* 1866 - 1937 General vital record registration existed in NY State in the 1847-53 timeframe, but was then discontinued until 1880 except in the above cities and _possibly_ in Albany, Buffalo, and Yonkers, although I have no specific dates for those places. The Manhattan and Brooklyn records have been microfilmed and are available at Family History Centers. They're in Register form, i.e., entries in a liber, organized chronologically under first letter of surname, but not otherwise indexed. If your people were important enough personages to rate an actual NY Times obituary (as opposed to a paid death/funeral notice), they will be indexed in the hardbound "NY Times Obituary Index", available in many large libraries. (The paid notices are not included.) There is a two-volume set of Marriage/Death notices extracted from the NY Herald newspaper which I believe covers both years of interest. Unfortunately I don't have the exact title or author at hand. It's a fairly recent publication. Anyone? I recall an extraction of deaths/marriages from the NY Post which existed in typescript is the NY Public Library Genealogy Room. I don't remember the exact date range but think it covered those years also. Regards, Charles Sullivan "Jim Schmitz" <jim@mcparlane.com> wrote: >Hello all--- > >My gr-gr-grandparents died in New York (state? city?), she in 1855 and he in >1861. I don't know the exact dates or locations. Is there an index that I >can look in (or could someone help me and look it up), short of looking at a >full year of New York Times obituaries to help in determining when they >died? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks. > >Jim----looking for SCHMITZ, GRIFFITH, HOGAN, NETTLES, ELLIOTT > > >==== GEN-NYS Mailing List ==== >Have you seen the USGenWeb New York Page? > http://www.rootsweb.com/~nygenweb/