THE TROY NEWSPAPER PROJECT A multi volume Index of Death and Marriage Records transcribed from various Troy, NY newspapers A. The Troy New York Daily Whig (along with a small number of records from the Troy Weekly Whig) for the years 1859 to 1868 is the NINTH set of newspapers recently added to the Troy Irish Genealogy Website. You can view these records by going to the Troy Irish Genealogy website at: www.rootsweb.com/~nytigs/ and click on PROJECTS and then click on THE TROY NEWSPAPER PROJECT. B. There are 6,747 reported deaths and 1,620 names on the reported marriages during this period. These records will be of great interest to genealogy researchers since the information in this data base predates the 1880 New York State law requiring the reporting of death and marriage records. These records may help with breaking down some of those "brick walls" that you have been struggling with. It should be noted that these records, like most of the TIGS data series, cover the general population in the area and are NOT restricted to Irish surnames. C. The following information on the 6,747 deaths will be of interest: 1. No age was reported for 3,036 names and in 56 cases "child" was reported as the age, 13 cases were reported as "boy" as the age while 71 cases were identified as "infant" as the age. 2. A breakdown of deaths by age groups shows: Under 1 year - 122 names. Age 1 to 10 - 536 names. Age 11 to 19 - 277 names. Age 20 to 29 - 469 names. Age 30 to 39 - 427 names. Age 40 to 49 - 410 names. Age 50 to 59 - 375 names. Age 60 to 69 - 364 names. Age 70 to 79 - 339 names. Age 80 to 89 - 170 names. Age 90 to 99 - 48 names. Age 100 plus - 20 names. 3. In a very small number of records, additional information is shown identifying what cemetery the individual was buried in. D. While 292 of the 1,620 marriage records showed no indication of residence, those records where the residence was reported are of interest to researchers outside of the Troy Area as they identify residences in numerous cities and towns throughout New York State as well as 24 other states and even 3 foreign countries. Some specifics are: 1. While most of the records were for the Capital District Area, other areas throughout New York State were reported. Some locations in New York State and the number of records were: Albany-33, Albia-3, Berlin-3, Brunswick-16, Buffalo-5, Burnt Hills-3, Cambridge-3, Cohoes-11, Easton-4, Glens Falls-4, Grafton-3, Greenbush-4, Green Island-10, Hoosick Falls-6, Hudson-6, Lansingburgh-43, Nassau-3, Pittstown-8, Poestenkill-5, Rochester-4, Sand Lake-13, Saratoga-8, Schaghticoke-15, Schenectady-2, Stephentown-3, Syracuse-4, Troy-683, Utica-4, Waterford-12, Watervliet-5 and West Troy-52, 2. There were a number of records from the neighboring states of Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and New Jersey. Connecticut has 6 records, Massachusetts had 29 records including 4 from Boston, Vermont had 22 and New Jersey had 7 records. 3. For the New York City area, there were 13 records for Brooklyn and 54 records for New York City. 4. Residence was also indicated from the following states: California, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia. 5. Foreign countries listed as the place of residence were Canada, Ireland and England. 6. At the time of the 1840 census, Troy, New York was the fourth wealthiest city in the USA on a per capita basis. This may account for the numerous individuals from across the United States coming to Troy to be married. E. There are several interesting death and marriage records in this group of the Troy Daily Whig newspapers. 1. Many of the deaths in this period are for deaths in the Civil War. The most notable one is the death of Col. Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth, a lawyer and a soldier, best knows as the first conspicuous casualty of the Civil War. Ellwsorth was born in Malta, New York and grew up in Mechanicville, New York and later on he worked in Springfield, Illinois with Abraham Lincoln. He was killed on May 24, 1861 after cutting down a Confederate flag that was flying over the Marshall House Inn in Alexandria, Virginia . The owner of the Marshall House, James W. Jackson, killed him with a shotgun blast to the chest. Jackson was then immediately killed by Corp. Francis E. Brownell of Troy, New York. Also of note relating to the Civil War are the Troy Whig reported deaths of J. Madigan on October 19, 1864 and Thomas Manning on October 7, 1864 at the infamous Andersonville Civil War Prison, officially known as Camp Sumter. They were just two of the 13,000 Union soldiers to die at Andersonville. The Commander of the prison, Heinrich Hartmann Wirz, was tried and executed after the war for conspiracy and murder relating to his command of the prison. 2. On April 7, 1866, the steam tugboat, Charles H. Hayner, exploded on the Hudson River in Troy killing all on board. The following four dead are listed in the Troy Daily Whig death notices; Capt. Charles H. Hayner, age 29, Thomas Ryan, Engineer, age 33, William Ward, Hand, age 30 and Walter Myers, Cook, age 17. The fifth person killed was George Green, Fireman. To read an old newspaper account of this terrible accident, click on this link: http://images.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/50605/data 3. One of the marriages of interest is the marriage of Maj. Henry Reed Rathbone to Clara Harris on July 11, 1867. Rathbone, born in Albany, was a United States military officer and diplomat who was present at the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. He was sitting with his then fiancée, Clara Harris, next to the president and his wife when John Wilkes Booth entered the president's box and fatally shot Lincoln. When Rathbone attempted to prevent Booth from fleeing the scene, Booth stabbed and seriously wounded him. Rathbone's mental state deteriorated in the years following Lincoln's death. In 1882, Rathbone was appointed U.S. consul to Hanover, Germany and his family accompanied him there. His mental decline culminated in his murdering his wife on December 23, 1883. After he killed Clara, Rathbone attempted suicide by stabbing himself. Their three children, who were also almost killed by their father, were taken to live with their uncle, William Harris, in the United States. He survived and after being found guilty of murder was committed to an asylum for the criminally insane. He spent the rest of his life in the asylum for the criminally insane in Hildesheim, Germany. He died in 1911 and was buried next to Clara in the city cemetery at Hanover/Engesohde. 4. The death of Mrs. Henry Laker on October 22, 1866 was reported in 19 different editions of the Troy Daily Whig. In checking out this death on the internet, the following news item was found: (A DREADFUL MURDER. - Troy, N. Y. - October 22, 1866 Hiram Coon assaulted Mrs. Henry Laker, the wife of his employer, in Petersburgh, in this county, with an axe on Friday night last, cutting through the skull and into the brain. She will die. The murderer escaped.) Five months later, Hiram Coon was hung in Troy City Jail on March 22, 1867. To read the New York Times 1867 article on his hanging, click on this link: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F30B10FC3C551A7493C1AB1788D85F438684F9 5. The death on September 13, 1866 of Chief Ahwanetunk from the Sioux Nation of the Plains was reported in the Troy Whig on September 28, 1866. The celebrated young Chief died at the age of 23. A brochure on the Chief urges movie theaters to book his show, Ahwanetunk's Great Indian Exhibition. 6. Three members of the Burden family of Troy are listed in these Troy Whig death records. Helen Burden, wife of Troy's famous Scottish industrialist dies on March 10, 1860 at age 58. Two of Henry's sons die not long after their mother. Peter Burden dies in Troy in 1866. Peter's wife, by the way, died in October 1853 from burns suffered at her residence at Washington Park in Troy. The other son, William F. Burden, dies on December 7, 1867 at age 38. 7. The death of Ex. Governor William Christian Bouck, who died on April 19, 1859 at age 73, was reported in the Troy Daily Whig on April 20, 1859. Bouck was the 13th Governor of New York from 1843 to 1844. 8. The marriage of Rev. Joseph N. Mulford of Philadelphia, Pa., to Mary H. Cluett of Troy, NY on June 2, 1864 was reported in the Whig on June 3, 1864. Mary was the daughter of William Cluett (1805-1890) founder of Troy's Cluett & Sons Piano Store and his wife Ann Bywater (1804-1876). (Note: The Church Memorial & Family Names Projects on the TIGS website describes the inscription on a stained glass window in the First United Presbyterian Church that was dedicated to William and Ann). Rev. Mulford, former rector of Christ Church in Troy, volunteered to go to an inhospitable wilderness of Florida now called Palm Beach to build a church for the pioneer farmers clearing the mangroves to grow tomatoes and pineapples. The family arrived in Florida in January 1889 after an arduous journey from Troy by train, steamboat, sailboat, horseback and foot. F. To date the 9 Troy Newspaper groupings added to the TIGS website cover 16,683 marriage names and 18,079 death records. Keep in mind that all these records predate New York State's recording of these vital statistics. A number of the names reported in the Troy newspapers cover individuals that were prominent in our country's Political, Business, Military and Religious history and some of these individuals are covered in the new section of the Troy Newspaper Project: Interesting Biographies - Names Reported In The Troy Papers. G. Ten more years of death and marriage records from the Troy Daily Whig, 1869 to 1878, will be added to the TIGS website in the next few months. Regards, Bill McGrath TIGS Project Coordinator Clifton Park, NY