On 11/15/03 (7:31:24 AM MST), as part of an eMail, Janet (Wstjs@aol.com) asked, "I am new to this mail list, in fact I am new to any research in NY. I am looking for a John Adams who was living on Nassau Island in probably the late 1700's. I have not been able to locate Nassau Island from the maps I have but suspect it has been renamed as I do find a small island off the coast of L.I. near Huntingdon." All of Long Island -- from Kings County on the west to Suffolk County on the east and Queens County in-between -- was called Nassau Island prior to it being called Long Island. >From 1683 to 1899, Long Island consisted of 3 counties (from west to east): Kings, Queens and Suffolk. In 1899, the eastern three-quarters of Queens (the part that had not become part of New York City in 1898) seceded and became Nassau County. >From 1683 to 1691, Dukes County was one of the original 12 counties in New York and was considered part of the Long Island area. Dukes County included Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket Island and several smaller adjacent islands. Today, Dukes is Dukes County County (yup, due to a typo in a 1695 Legislative Act it's a county called "Dukes County") in Massachusetts. Janet (Wstjs@aol.com) also asked, "I believe this John Adams ties into my Adams in Mass. and later Conn. I have a John Adams m. to Sarah Green in 1716 New London, CT. by a minister who I suspect is his nephew. I am trying to confirm John Adams and Sarah Green as the uncle of this minister." Just 5 miles offshore from New London, CT is the island Hamlet of Fishers Island in the Town of Southold, Suffolk County, New York State. Fishers Island is closer to New London than it is to the Hamlet of Orient in the Town of Southold, the most eastern community on the North Fork of Long Island, and this is why Fishers Island while it certainly is part of New York State, has a Connecticut ZIP Code. If you or I want to write to a person or company located on Fishers Island, the last line of the mailing address -- it's postal "city" -- is Fishers Island, CT 06390. Mail to and from Fishers Island is handled within a facility in the New London, CT Post Office. The manager of the New London-Fishers Island ferry lives in New London and on his way to work on Fishers Island picks up the mail bag with the incoming mail at the New London Post Office and in the evening, when he returns to New London, drops off a bag of outgoing mail. Today, Long Island, more often than not, means the part of Long Island that is not within the jurisdiction of New York City, i.e., Nassau and Suffolk Counties. The geography of Long Island can be quite confusing, even to current residents, let alone to those who live in other parts of the country and have never been to the area. Thus, the following ... For a good town-by-town map showing all the villages and hamlets in each of LI's 13 towns, read on: Each year, LIPA, as successor to LILCO, publishes a report (the report is published by LIPA, but is written by KeySpan, previously known as LILCO) updating the census population numbers (by using people-per-electric meter ratios) for all the 293 communities on Long Island. There are 2 cities and 13 towns (as well as 2 Indian reservations) in the bi-counties and the 13 towns (3 in Nassau and 10 in Suffolk) are further sub-divided into 95 villages (incorporated municipalities) and 196 hamlets (unincorporated areas), yielding 293 communities (2 + 95 + 196 = 293). ..............Nassau......Suffolk........Total ....cities............2..........0..............2 ...villages.........64.........31.............95 .hamlets..........70........126............196 .....total.........136........157............293 The heart of this 40-page report are maps of each of the 13 towns (3 in Nassau, 10 in Suffolk), showing the true borders of all villages and hamlets (not the postal zone borders) in each town. The facing pages list which communities are villages or hamlets and their populations. (You'll find villages and hamlets that you never knew existed because they are in some other community-named postal zone.) I'm including after my name a NYS Geographic Glossary with the NYS definitions of county, city, town, village, hamlet and postal zone. I consider this the best resource available in understanding the geography and governmental organization of Nassau and Suffolk Counties. You can download a copy of the 2002 LI Population Survey by going to (copy and paste the entire URL, beginning with "http" and ending with "html"): http://www.lipower.org/company/pubs/popsurvey.html If you will be so kind, please let me know what you think of this report after you have downloaded it. I hope this information is useful or, at least, interesting. Sincerely, Walter Greenspan . Cities, Towns, Villages, Hamlets and Postal Zones in New York State New York State is divided into counties. County A county is a municipal corporation, a subdivision of the state, created to perform state functions; a "regional" government. All counties are divided into cities, towns and Indian reservations. City A city is a unique governmental entity with its own special charter. Cities are not sub-divided, except into neighborhoods, which are informal geographic areas. Town A town is a municipal corporation and encompasses all territory within the state except that within cities or Indian reservations. Towns can be sub-divided into villages and hamlets. Village A village is a general purpose municipal corporation formed voluntarily by the residents of an area in one or more towns to provide themselves with municipal services. The pattern of village organization is similar to those of a city. A village is divided into neighborhoods, which are informal geographic areas. Hamlet A hamlet is an unincorporated area in one or more towns that is governed at-large by the town(s) it is in. A hamlet is divided into neighborhoods, which are informal geographic areas. Postal Zone "City" and "Town" A postal zone "City" and "Town" is an administrative district established by the U.S. Postal Service to deliver the mail. Postal zone "City" and "Town" may not (but are encouraged to) conform to municipal or community borders. Thus, postal zone location does not always determine city, village or hamlet location. Please be aware: In many areas of New York State, the problem of non-conforming postal zones leads to a situation where the majority of places have a different community name in their mailing address than the community where that place is actually located.