This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/lRB.2ACE/527.2 Message Board Post: If the wills or administrations were entered into probate prior to Jan. 1, 1899, the files will be in the Surrogate's Court in Jamaica, Queens County. Deeds, mortgages, etc. filed prior to 1899 with the County Clerk are located in the Queens Office of the City Register in Jamaica, Queens. The Long Island Studies Institute at Hofstra University in Hempstead (now Nassau County) has some Queens County property records on microfilm. It's best that you go to the Register's Office yourself, or hire a researcher to go for you. You cannot do anything over the phone or by mail with this office. You can work by mail with the Surrogate, but it is very expensive for the staff to do lookups and do copying for you. If you visit the records room in person, you can go thru the indexes yourself, and when files are pulled, you can make copies yourself.