Hi Gary, The certificate format for NY & Kings Counties began ca. 1864. Ledgers were maintained prior to that. Entries are one meaty line of data, and usually include name (or sex, with birth entries), race, parents' names, street address, date of event. Although the NYC Muni Archives has microfilms pre-1864: l) some dates are missing, 2) some films are in horrific condition, 3) some are so disjointed that you must view them image by image, * 4) some are illegible and can't be enlarged on Muni film readers, 5) some have gaps. Last week I spent 45 minutes on such a film that was so disjointed that it had burps of chronology here and there. It probably could have taken me another 2 hours to hand roll through it, image by image. Barb in NY -----Original Message----- From: Gary Knecht via <ny-irish@rootsweb.com> To: VLB <vlbcfb@yahoo.com> Cc: ny-irish <ny-irish@rootsweb.com> Sent: Fri, Jun 10, 2016 2:24 pm Subject: Re: [NY-IRISH] Manhattan Death Certificates Virginia—I greatly appreciate your advice and, if time permits, I may order microfilms per your suggestion. We have a great FHC here in Oakland. But I am still hoping someone can point me to a good online discussion that says what information I can get from the original 1850s ledger that I can’t get from the FamilySearch record. And says when during the 1860s Death Certificates were first issued in Manhattan (and Brooklyn). Etc. There is no point in spending $7.50 or $15 if there is no additional information in the ledger.—Many thanks.Gary KnechtOakland, CA

If it's helpful, I transcribed an 1874 death ledger page and uploaded it to Scribd a few years ago: https://www.scribd.com/doc/13235136/Brooklyn-NY-Death-Register-Aug-1874 The format is not great. You have to scroll through 4 pages, but imagine that they are side by side and you are reading each line across all 4 pages. Everyone keeps saying that certificates started in 1864, but this is what I got when ordering a Brooklyn death record c. 1874. Kathleen On Fri, Jun 10, 2016 at 3:32 PM, mizscarlettny via <ny-irish@rootsweb.com> wrote: > Hi Gary, > > The certificate format for NY & Kings Counties began ca. 1864. > > Ledgers were maintained prior to that. Entries are one meaty line of data, > and usually include name (or sex, with birth entries), race, parents' > names, street address, date of event. > > Although the NYC Muni Archives has microfilms pre-1864: > l) some dates are missing, > 2) some films are in horrific condition, > 3) some are so disjointed that you must view them image by image, * > 4) some are illegible and can't be enlarged on Muni film readers, > 5) some have gaps. > > > Last week I spent 45 minutes on such a film that was so disjointed that it > had burps of chronology here and there. It probably could have taken me > another 2 hours to hand roll through it, image by image. > > > > Barb in NY > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Gary Knecht via <ny-irish@rootsweb.com> > To: VLB <vlbcfb@yahoo.com> > Cc: ny-irish <ny-irish@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Fri, Jun 10, 2016 2:24 pm > Subject: Re: [NY-IRISH] Manhattan Death Certificates > > Virginia—I greatly appreciate your advice and, if time permits, I may > order microfilms per your suggestion. We have a great FHC here in Oakland. > But I am still hoping someone can point me to a good online discussion that > says what information I can get from the original 1850s ledger that I can’t > get from the FamilySearch record. And says when during the 1860s Death > Certificates were first issued in Manhattan (and Brooklyn). Etc. There is > no point in spending $7.50 or $15 if there is no additional information in > the ledger.—Many thanks.Gary KnechtOakland, CA > > > > ====NY-Irish Mailing List==== > Don't forget to check out the NY-Irish mailing list website. Also, > check/add your NY-Irish surnames on the Surname Registry: > http://www.connorsgenealogy.com/NYIrishList/ > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NY-IRISH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >