In Loretta Nial's index, I found a naturalization for a William Hurley, 6 Nov 1839; vol. 2, pg. 4 (Rensselaer County Court). However, there is no Vol. 2 to be found in the basement of the City Clerk's office (that covers that date). Plenty of other Vol. 2's, but with much later dates. Do any of you local folks know where these early volumes are? There is no Vol. 1 either. They must have existed to get into her index, but perhaps are lost now? It's unfortunate that the basement record room is such a mess, and so difficult to find things down there. Some volumes are labeled with dates, others are not, with no particular order to the shelving. It's quite frustrating. Thanks, Rebecca

Rebecca, Quite some years ago one of my brothers searched for our great-grandfather's in the basement of the City Clerk's office. He found the record in volume 2 of one of the volumes in the 1850's. I returned several years later and looked for the volume. As you noted the basement room was a mess and I spent several hours putting the books in order but never found the wanted Volume 2. I found it hard to believe that people would make such a mess of the room but there is no supervision. I discovered one book that had a page ripped out of it. I suspect the missing volume dis- appeared with a searcher.. Sad. Jim Owens