I would like to know which newspaper covered W. Exeter, Otsego, NY in the early 1800s. I would like information on my Washburn families, especially Jacob and Mary Ellen. Thanks. Doris Kukuk

To the List: Ouch! My purpose in listing the Otsego County Newspapers now available on the NYGBS website was to advise list-readers of this resource -- not, I fear, an offer to research it for them. The newspapers covered in the Early Newspapers Program covers the entire east of the country, with papers going through 1876 (though for New York the end date is generally in the 1820s). A full list can be found at: http://www.readex.com/scholarl/earlamnp.html . What other organizations besides NYGBS may make this information available I do not know, but check your state-wide genealogical organizations. Membership in the NYGBS, which also gives access to US Census information, thousands of genealogies and local histories, and many other resources, costs $60 per year. See: http://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=51 For anyone concerned with research in New York State it's well worth it, in my personal opinion. And certainly, anyone involved in genealogy should subscribe to one or more services providing access to US Census returns. A number of readers have asked what newspapers cover particular areas in Otsego County: at this period, the only Otsego County online papers available are from Cooperstown and Cherry Valley, and their coverage was extremely veriable and haphazard. Newspapers from the 1820's are unlikely to provide useful genealogical information except (and this sporadically) bare listings of marriages and deaths; these rarely mention either ancestors or descendants of the persons concerned. And these listings are generally of people of some consequence in the community -- not poor farmers. Births are virtually never mentioned. The function of newspapers up through the 1820s was primarily to inform readers of events at the state, national, and international levels -- it was largely presumed that people knew what was going on at home without the need to read it in newspapers. Local entries are therefore largely legal (mortgage foreclosures, etc.), commercial (ads by merchants), legal notifications (lost or found livestock, absconding apprentices and eloping wives), election information and official appointments. Much information available about Otsego County is contained at the County Genweb Site at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyotsego/ Extensive information from genealogies provided by people all over the country is available for free at http://www.rootsweb.com/ . And full information from the 1880 US Census (and a lot more as well) is available free at: http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp Another free source with growing resources is GenCircles at: http://www.gencircles.com/ It isn't very fair to ask local historians -- who generally receive no compensation -- untill you have exhausted other information available on the internet. And when you do ask, please be specific as to names and dates, and indicate what basic work (i.e., census research) you have already done. We spend a lot of time trying to help, and can be very discouraging to spend hours on searching for information only to be told "oh, I already knew that." Hugh MacDougall Official Historian Village of Cooperstown 8 Lake Street Cooperstown, NY 13326 coophist@stny.rr.com