Hi all, CONGRATULATIONS KRISTY!! Figuring out NY isn't easy, even for New Yorkers!! All we're talking about is the breakdown of Land and Governments, which, as Kristy pointed out, goes like this: State, County, Town, then City or Village. Each county is broken down into several large land areas called Towns, each with its own Town government. Within the Towns, the breakdowns are then determined by population into Cities or Villages, each with THEIR own governments; villages being far less populated. TECHNICALLY, the census doesn't recognize "hamlets", but rather they're called "populated areas", which have names and can be found on some detailed maps, but they don't have their own governments other than the Town in which they're located. SO, EVERYONE in NY lives in a County AND a Town, and then SOME of us then live within a City or Village limits. As for the question of WHERE to find a death record, it was correctly pointed out that the hospitals in Genesee County have always been located within the City of Batavia, and if someone died IN the hospital, their death would in deed be recorded with the City. HOWEVER, given the time frame, it was far more likely that the death would not have occurred at the hospital, but it is a possibility. I should caution you though, that Vital Records were NOT mandated in NY until either 1880 or 1885, and even then, it was several years before ALL of the local agencies started to FULLY comply with that mandate. In other words, there may NOT BE a record for deaths in the late 1880s!!! Good Luck! Joan In a message dated 10/31/2003 10:32:17 PM Eastern Standard Time, hannah@teleport.com writes: > For those who live in Illinois...or in states with the same structure as > Illinois...the word "town" is confusing. > > Here "town" means a small city or a large village. > > In NY "town" means what we mean by "township"...and that's why one of the > answers to this question mentioned being a place to look for rural folks. > > So you can be in the State of New York, > in the County of Genesee, > in the Town of Batavia (i.e., in the Township of Batavia) and > in the City of Batavia. > > Perhaps this will help the person who inquired. I know I was confused the > first time I visited the area. We'd be driving along a rural highway when > all of a sudden there would be an official sign saying "Town of Batavia". > I looked around expecting to see a village any moment. Nope! Only more > fields and ruralness...Until we finally got to the sign that said "City of > Batavia" and all the congested city stuff. > > Kristy > Lincoln and Palmer research >