I have looked through these records as well, at the Albany Hall of Records. They are not indexed, but they are arranged by years. They were interesting to search through, although unfortunately I did not find the record I was searching for. I was surprised how many of these coroner's records are available there. Donna ---- Donald Cosgro <[email protected]> wrote: > Michael > Yes, I have seen a coroner inquest, at the Albany County Hall of Records > from 1875. A couple of years ago, I finally discovered the circumstances > of my my GG grandfather who drowned in the Hudson river in June 1875, after > falling from the bridge between Troy and Watervliet (West Troy at the time) > and from the newspaper account of the event, there was a race between two > coroners, one from Green Island and the other from Cohoes, when the body > was recovered. The coroner from Cohoes won. Lucky for me the coroner was > from an Albany county town, and not the other side of the river in > Rensselaer. > I made a phone call and learned that Albany county hall of records has tin > boxes of coroner inquests from the 1800's. Some are in fragile condition > as they haven't seen the light of day in quite sometime. From what I > understand they are not indexed, so you must sort through various tins > containing the old reports. I was helped by a very friendly staff member > and we sorted through several old tin containers one by one until we came > across the one I was looking for. In the process, we came across some very > sad John Doe type cases of people dying under mysterious circumstances, > where no name could be obtained. Lucky for me, the inquest papers and > summons papers, about my GG grandfather were in good enough condition for > photocopies to be made. I discovered names of people who were friends, > family, and at least one tavern owner, very interesting to say the least. > and it really gives you a personal sense of going back in time. I now have > a copy of my great grandfather signature, as he was called as a witness to > the inquest. No stenographer, no typewritten testimony, ( at least in this > inquest). So just reading the handwriting can be challenging. > So yes, in my particular case, I learned a lot. It gave me names of > people I believe to be relatives of my gg grandfather, though I can't > figure out how. I can't say what other jurisdictions do with these > reports. I am grateful that Albany County Hall of Records did a great > job in preserving them and making them available even after over 135 years > have passed. Someone in the Albany county government deserves a lot of > credit, if these records could have been disposed of long ago, and they > chose to keep them. > Don > ===NY-IRISH-GENSOC Mailing List=== > Time for Society Members to pay up their **2012 Dues**. See the Website for details: > Troy Irish Genealogy Society > www.rootsweb.com/~nytigs/ > Click ON - "JOIN TIGS NOW!" to get form. > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message