On 1/27/04 (5:50:36 PM MST), as part of a posting to both LI lists (li-rooters@listserv.genexchange.com and NY-LONGISLAND-L@rootsweb.com), Carl Lewis Friedrich (TheFFs@aol.com) asked, "Does anyone know if there are church records from the Old Woodbury Methodist Church that was located on the corner of Jericho Tpk (Rte25) and Woodbury Road? I know that the burial records are in the Huntington Historical Society and I have copies of them..I am looking for the ancestry of Frank Lewis his wife Lillian Baldwin and their children William A, Mildred Isabell and Charles Leslie" For questions such as yours, you may want to contact the Syosset Public Library: Syosset Public Library 225 South Oyster Bay Road Syosset, NY 11791-5897 Tel: 516/921-7161 Fax: 516/921-8771 eMail: http://www.nassaulibrary.org/syosset/emailref.html http://www.nassaulibrary.org/syosset/ The pertinent geography: Woodbury is a hamlet (an unincorporated area) in the center-west part of the Town of Oyster Bay, Nassau County, along the Oyster Bay/Huntington Town line and the Nassau/Suffolk County line. There are 18 hamlets and 18 villages all or partly within the Town of Oyster Bay. There are 2 cities and 3 towns in Nassau County. (I'm including after my name a NYS Geographic Glossary with the NYS definitions of county, city, town, village, hamlet and postal zone.) Beginning on its northern border and proceeding clockwise, the Hamlet of Woodbury in the Town of Oyster Bay is bordered on the north by the Village of Laurel Hollow; on the east by the Hamlets of West Hills and Melville in the Town of Huntington, Suffolk County (the Oyster Bay/Huntington Town line and the Nassau/Suffolk County line); on the south by the Hamlet of Plainview; and, on the west by the Hamlet of Syosset. And, as occurs in all but one of Nassau County's 136 communities (2 cities, 64 villages and 70 hamlets), the Hamlet of Woodbury has a different border than does the "Woodbury, NY 11797" postal zone (i.e., a place can have a Woodbury mailing address and not be in Woodbury and a place can be in Woodbury and have other than a Woodbury mailing address). ..............................................acres .....Hamlet of Woodbury............3,186 .....Woodbury, NY 11797...........3,175 There are places in part of the Hamlet of Syosset that have a Woodbury mailing address and, at the same time, there are places in Woodbury that have a "Plainview, NY" mailing address. For those who have their copy of the 2002 or earlier editions of the LI Population Survey or have already downloaded the report from the Long Island Power Authority web site (eMail me directly if you need instructions on how to access and download the report), you'll find the Hamlet of Woodbury in the Town of Oyster Bay, Nassau County on pages 5 & 11 (map) and 12 (population estimate). I hope this information is useful or, at least, interesting. Regards, 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 place shave a different community name in their mailing address than the community where that place is actually located.