Tim, I haven't yet seen death certificates at county offices. NY state started requiring Vital Records keeping in 1881, although compliance by the communities was sort of gradual so not all events were recorded at first. One of my g-g-aunts died in Wilton in 1882, for instance, but there was no record of her death simply because Wilton hadn't gotten it together yet. If you're a bit lucky, you'll be able to simply call the local clerk (assuming you know the exact locality) and get the information free over the phone. That was my experience with Ghent & Hillsdale, NY. More likely it'll cost you a little something and you'll get the info by mail in a couple weeks (That's the case with Saratoga Springs for instance. You can call and they will check and say, "Yeah, we have it" and send you a form.). Some localities, though, (Lansingburgh, Bath) have lost their earlier records through some accident or other, in which case, you'll need to write the state dept. of health at Albany, which keeps duplicate records, and it might take months (I havent' yet resorted to this, but I plan to in a couple of cases). Them's the breaks. It all depends. Dave in Johnson City, Tennessee Tim Morrissey wrote: > > I need a little advice, not having ever done any formal record looking > in NY state... > Would a death cert likely exist for a person prior to 1900? Would I > find that death cert in the county clerk's office? What info would be on > it? Parents names? Place of birth? > > Obviously I am looking for info on folks from Saratoga County so any > help from you folks is greatly appreciated. > Naive in snowy North Carolina. > Slainte, > Tim > > ============================== > Search ALL of RootsWeb's mailing lists in real time. > RootsWeb's Personalized Mailing Lists: > http://pml.rootsweb.com/