Hi Hal, The types of records you are looking for are official records and held in various locations. Land Records, Deeds, Grantor/Grantee Indexes and Mortgages, Mortgagor/Mortgagee Indexes are held in the County Clerk's Office. Wills, Administrations and Guardianships are held in the County Surrogate's Court. Those are both open records indexes and the public has free access to the indexes. Vital Records or Births, Deaths and Marriages are governed by law under the Department of Health, Division of Vital Statistics. The Indexes on microfiche are located at Albany in the State Archives Office, and in the Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo Libraries, and also a set at the NY City Branch of the National Archives, and are used with strict regulations. Once you find the item you are looking for, and they are cataloged by year/alpha, you have the choice to either order a copy from Albany or go the the Town or City Clerk where the event took place and attempt to get a copy there. It is usually easier and faster to get it locally, Albany is usually backed up several months. I have some papers on the subject on my website under Basic Genealogy and under Land Records, they might also help you. Good luck and have fun. Dick Hillenbrand On 30 Nov 2005 18:48:13 -0700, hhileman@frontiernet.net < hhileman@frontiernet.net> wrote: > > This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. > > Surnames: Robbins, Standish, Sprague > Classification: Query > > Message Board URL: > > http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/SRB.2ACE/12148 > > Message Board Post: > > I am trying to find any will or land records for John Robbins or Betty > Standish Robbins who lived and died in Pomfret, Chautauqua County, NY, from > 1830 until their death c1850-1860. > > I have visted the Day Library and the collections of the Chautauqua County > Historical Society located in the Day Library. Can anybody give me a > suggestion as to where I might look next for Birth, Death, Will and Real > Estate transaction records other than the Day Library? I have been told that > NY records from this era are hard to find. > > Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. > > Thanks, > > Hal Hileman > > > ============================== > View and search Historical Newspapers. Read about your ancestors, find > marriage announcements and more. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13969/rd.ashx > > -- Dick Hillenbrand Upstate New York Genealogy (UNYG) website: http://www.ny-genes.com blog: http://ny-genes.blogspot.com/