Friday morning I had a talk with Craig Carlson of the Albany County Hall of Records. He confirmed that their online database index was only for people who were actually naturalized in Albany Co. (which would have occurred in the City of Albany). He agreed that some people could have a residence in other counties and yet still be naturalized in Albany Co. I learned that there are 61,000 people in the naturalization index and that they are in the process of indexing the Declarations of Intention. There are 7,000 indexed so far; they probably will not post them until the index is complete. They charge $14 per hour for a search of their records. In the case of naturalizations, the $14 would include copies of both the Intentions and Naturalizations if they both occurred in the county. To use the search engine for the naturalizations, go to: http://www.albanycounty.com/achor/ Click on Naturalization Index Click on Search our Database Your ancestor may not have been recorded with the same spelling that is used today. For example, my Smith ancestor was born Schmidt. Directions say that you can browse the entire database by leaving all fields blank and clicking on Search. However, this procedure leads to an error message and no data. It used to work when they had posted a partial list of people, but it is now too large to work. Another approach would be to search for a last name of S only. That brings up the first of 556 screens of records beginning with the letter S, which must be viewed in order, 9 records at a time. Or, you could shorten the search by entering Sm or Schm . The search engine will show every last name beginning with whatever combination of letters that you enter. I had a talk with the computer services office to see if more records per search could be allowed, and if there could be a way to browse the records without going to each screen in order. With the S's, it would take at least five minutes to get to the middle of them now if you wanted to browse them. Browsing can be very important. Bailey might also be spelled Bailie, Baily, Bayley and Bayly. If you don't think of all of those variations, you could miss the person you are looking for. Remember that the early records were always handwritten, and a modern transcriber often has a very difficult time deciphering the exact spelling of a name. One wrong letter and the search engine won't find it unless you think of the variation of the spelling. To save time with a common name, if you put in the whole surname (Smith), a first initial in the first name field (J) would start the search at Jacob Smith. To get a list of all of the people who resided in a certain village or city, enter just that name in the residence field. I learned that over 1600 people naturalized in Albany were actually living in Troy (Rensselaer Co.) at the time, 200 lived in Schenectady, and about 275 people were living in Hudson (Columbia Co.). These are all cities within 25 miles of Albany. Also, try the county name without the word county. I was told that computer services would look into making the records more browseable. They may offer the search engine plus a second option of many more records on a webpage for easy browsing. The webmaster was very interested in making things easier for genealogists. Cliff

Due to changes at the service which hosts our history site, it's been unavailable for about a day under its name of schenectadyhistory.org. This should be cleared up shortly as the changes make their way through the Internet. In the meantime, you may use this address: <http://68.47.84.41/schenectady> Thanks for your patience. Bob Sullivan scp_sulli@sals.edu Schenectady County Public Library (NY) http://www.scpl.org Schenectady Digital History Archive http://www.schenectadyhistory.org

Hi Listers, I am a new subscriber, and fairly new to research in America (all my ancestors are back in Ireland). I want to search the 1900 census and have a street address, but don't know how to determine the right Enumeration District and/or Ward number. Can anyone tell me how to do this? The address is 853 Albany Street in Schenectady. Thx in advance for any help that can be offered. Roy

I would like to welcome those of you new to this site and tell you there are some really great folks who are willing to help just for the asking. I, myself do Volunteer research at Andersonville Civil War Prison in Andersonville Georgia. There are Any research I do is absolutely at NO cost and I am willing to do what I can. There are more that 6200 prisoners on record from the state of New York and more than 2300 who died here, I thought I would send my offer. Here are my sources of research. There are 2 online databases to do lookups.....One by name...one by Company and Regiment. I also have a copy of the Dorence Atwater Death list which has the names and grave numbers of some 13000 graves with only 460 marked as " UNKNOWN " This along with a CD I have which contains 34,000 names of the 45,000 who were imprisoned there which helps me find prisoner records because of misspellings of the names or alternate names. I visit the prison site every couple of weeks and have access to the onsite databases as well as the physical files. I would like to let you know of another service I offer which is to take photos of graves for a small fee. .I also wish to thank the patience of those regular subscribers for my frequent postings. If there is anything I can do in helping your research at Andersonville, please just ask. Kevin Frye Local Andersonville Historian / National Park Service Volunteer Hammer the Americans hard enough and you forge the best weapon in the world. --- Captain Simeon Ecuyer ...in a letter written to Colonel Bouquet during the siege of Fort Pitt Please visit my website dedicated to those Americans who were imprisoned and died in captivity while in the service to our country http://www.angelfire.com/ga2/Andersonvilleprison/index.html AOL USERS go to http://hometown.aol.com/andersonvillecw/

Would anyone know what the ED would have been for Foster Ave. @ Nott Terrace? Thanks in advance. Carol McNamara Searching for: MACKEY, BURNS, DAY/O'DEA, FOY, HEALEY - Ireland >>Upstate NY

I have quite a few Mc Intoshes in my family tree..all from the Albany - Schdy area Elias married Maria Stevens, ch. Aaron Stevens Mc Intosh and Elias Gerrit Mc Intosh mar.Margarita Stevens ch. Catherine, John, Jane & James all of these are in the time frame of late 1700- mid 1800. I don't have a lot of info but would love to share write me directly at mtnterps@rmi.net Thanks Lissa Terpening

I am trying to find my grandfather, Claude Hanlon, in the 1900 census. He would have been a teenager at that time living in Schenectady. I'm sorry but I don't know his parents names. If anyone can help Thank you, Carolee

As late as 1800 at the Albany Reformed Dutch Church, a pastor was being sought who spoke both English and Dutch. The older (and more financially well-off) people in the church still spoke Dutch in their homes. They couldn't find a bilingual pastor to take the post, but a second Reformed church in Albany was being built, so the solution was to get two pastors, one who spoke English and the other who spoke Dutch. Then each pastor could conduct a single service at each church each Sunday. The second church began conducting services about 1815. At that same time, a successful businessman in the city still had to speak Dutch. So, you see, Dutch was spoken in Albany much later than most people would have imagined. Very few people that I know speak Dutch, but, fortunately, except for a few letters, Dutch sounds quite like German. Some of you will be familiar with that language. Based on pronuciation, I was recently able to match up two people in my database as being the same woman. One was named Ytje and the other Ida. In Dutch, the first would be pronounced EE-tyuh (EE-chuh in spoken language)and the other EE-tuh. That got me pointed in the right direction, and other facts clinched it. (A final 'd' or a 'd' with a vowel on either side of it would be pronounced as a 't'. I have even seen cases where a Dutch name beginning with a D was heard by the writer as a T, but not often. For example, Dirk and Tirk.) Catherine is a very common name with which people have problems, even though they don't realize it. Catherine, Catharine, Catharina and Catarina were all pronounced the same by the Dutch. COT-uh-REE-nuh. In western European languages, an 'a' would be pronounces as 'ah', or like the 'o' in hot. The 'i' would be pronounced as 'ee'. The 'h' in 'th' is silent causing 'th' to sound like 't'. The Dutch and Germans would pronounce a final -e even though in English we usually don't. COT-uh-REE-nuh is what you get. All four names were pronounced the same way, and were just spelling variations of the same name. Jacob and Yacop are the the same name because the Dutch J sounds like an English Y. A final 'b' sounds like a'p'. It didn't sound too much like we pronounce Jacob today. Remember that the 'a' in this name sounds like 'ah'. A great number of Dutch female names end in -tje or -tie in our transcriptions of the early church records. Actually, the Dutch 'j' and 'i' were often hard to tell apart. The 'i' was just a short, straight, vertical line with a dot above it. The 'j' had no curve at the bottom of it, so it was exactly the same as the 'i' except for the length of the line. Transcribers often could not tell them apart. Fortunately, they are both pronounced the same; as -chuh. This may seem improbable to some readers, but a 'j' in Dutch and German sounds like our 'y' (the German word for yes is 'ja', which is pronounced 'yah'). The 'y' and 'i' are pronounced the same; as 'ee' (when we say yes, we really say ee-es without a break between). But, remember that we have to pronounce the final vowel -e (which is -uh). What we get is -tee-uh. In Dutch, when either -tje or -tie are said in normal speech, they come out as -chuh. I got my start on Dutch pronunciation with the name Jannetje. Over a period of time, I asked four people born in The Netherlands to pronounce it for me. They all agreed that it was pronounced YON-uh-chuh. Clues given in previous paragraphs should have prepared you for this (except the location of the emphasis). Jannetje translates as Jane. I have long been interested in correct pronunciation whenever I intended to learn a few words in a foreign language. It has finally paid off in the pursuit of my ancestors. How would you pronounce Fitje? FEE-chuh. It translates as Sophia. The experience and education of the person recording a name determined what he wrote down when a person told him their name (a great many people could not spell their own name). If the recorder was Dutch, a person's name was likely to be recorded with a different spelling than if the recorder was English. The recorder put down what he heard. If two spellings sound the same, they are almost certainly the same name. The various spellings of a person's name should not throw you off. Don't assume that Catarina Van Dyke and Catherine Van Dyke have to be different women. Don't assume that either one of the spellings was the one preferred by the woman. A great many people could not read or write, but they, of course, could speak their own name. When I have two or three spellings of the same person's name, I use the one that I believe to be most Dutch. As the primary spelling, I would always pick Jannetje over Jane. I would always pick Annatje (ON-uh-chuh) over Anna (ON-uh) or Ann (ON) or Hannah (HON-uh) in a situation where I had all four names in the records for the same person. Antje (Antie) is another variation of Annatje. Hannah can also be a nickname for Johanna which ends in Hanna. Jan (yon), Johannes (yo-HON-ess), and John (probably pronounced yon by the Dutch in the early days of its use) are all the same name in eastern New York during different centuries. From my study of one Dutch family's births and baptisms, Jan was the name given to boys up until 1689. The earliest Johannes was c. 1721 (born to a Jan) and the last was 1791. John was the given name after 1791, with just two exceptions (one c. 1790 and the other in 1741). Some Dutch/German sounds Dutch/German English a ah i ee j ee final b p final d t final g k th t v f w v (the Dutch is closer to vw sounded together) Does anyone have any experiences where the pronunciation of the name was helpful in finding an ancestor? Cliff Lamere Albany, NY

I have found a street name on the 1880 census and am having a hard time reading it. Perhaps someone knows it. It is located in the 3rd ward and looks like: Alley T??y RRoad Thanks for any help. Carol McNamara Seeking: BURNS, MACKEY, FOY, DEAY/O'DEA, STAPLETON - Ireland to Schenectady, Schoharie areas

With the permission of the author, Jean Sanders has made a generous offer to do lookups in a book that she owns: "Upstate New York in the 1760s : Tax Lists and Selected Militia Rolls of Old Albany County 1760-1768" by Florence Christoph (1992, Picton Press, Camden Maine). Old Albany Co. consisted of over 20 of the modern counties in eastern NY (east of Lake Ontario and north of an imaginary eastward extension of the Pennsylvania border). The book is almost sold out and may not be reprinted. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~clifflamere/Misc/Lookups-Chr.htm Thanks Jean ! Cliff Lamere Albany, NY

The Index for Book One: The Rice Family: 'Celebrating Our Diversity', is now online at <http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~ricesinusa> For anyone who has any questions or comments please email <normagertz@aol.com> No requests for research, please. Rosemary Bachelor has been publishing material on various Rice families for over 35 years. She has if not the largest, one of the largest collections on these families. (Remember, not all descend from Edmund of Sudbury) Rosemary is now in seclusion finishing up book two. As each book is finished, should be at least eight, that index will be put online. Anyone who's Rice families had connections with New York, please feel free to send me your information at <nyrices@yahoo.com> I'll also be collecting information on PA, OH, and MI Rice's. Happy Hunting, Chris (Rice) Lincoln Rice Book Project Site <www.ricefamilybooks.com> __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Health - your guide to health and wellness http://health.yahoo.com

Your new list is a great help to those of us who live in other areas. Thank you so much for doing it. Adele Kenny in North Carolina

I have prepared a webpage listing 7 researchers who will work for a fee in Albany and surrounding counties, such as Columbia, Rensselaer, Greene and Schenectady. I have also included Berkshire Co., Mass. because of its National Archives which has information not available elsewhere in the area. Some people will do research outside of the five county area. Those counties have also been listed. Some people will photograph things like gravestones or historic buildings for you. Most of them will go directly to county, city, town and village offices to get vital records. I have 5½ screens of information on places where research can be performed, and what resources each place has. Most of it came from my Guide to Albany Area Genealogical Resources, although it is much revised. Following the list of venues is a list of researchers. After each researcher's name is a list of facilities in each county which they will visit for you. By listing only the places at which they do research, I have tried to make sure that none of them has an advantage over any other in getting requests for business. Most of them gave me advertising-type statements which I did not use. Three have websites which I don't list. One has a webpage written about them. One wrote two books plus journal articles. One does research daily, is very good at it, and has none of these other things to attract your attention, yet should get equal attention from you. Some do the research full time, and others do it part time. Most have a backlog of work to be done. If I had to choose one to do my research for me, I would have a very difficult time. Good luck finding those ancestors. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~clifflamere/Misc/Researchers.htm Cliff

Unsubscribe Marion Markham wrote: > Some time ago, I was given a NY archives address where, for a fee of $3.00, > I could get the service record of a NY soldier in the Civil War. My first > request was answered promptly. I have heard nothing about the second > request, although my check was cashed last October. In February, I wrote a > follow-up letter including a Xerox of the cancelled check. I have still > heard nothing. I know that there is construction going on in Albany and > these archives may be in a different location. Could someone please give > me the new address, if there is one, so that I can send a third request? > > Has anyone else had trouble getting information? > > Marion Markham in Illlinois > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237

Some time ago, I was given a NY archives address where, for a fee of $3.00, I could get the service record of a NY soldier in the Civil War. My first request was answered promptly. I have heard nothing about the second request, although my check was cashed last October. In February, I wrote a follow-up letter including a Xerox of the cancelled check. I have still heard nothing. I know that there is construction going on in Albany and these archives may be in a different location. Could someone please give me the new address, if there is one, so that I can send a third request? Has anyone else had trouble getting information? Marion Markham in Illlinois

Dear List members, I have done a grave injustice to a lady who has earned her impeccable reputation. My critisism of Rosemary Bachelor's work was not simply "ill-advised." It was much worse. My only prayer now is that this apology will travel as fast as my previous mail. Yesterday, I was able to get a copy of Volume One of the Rice Family book by Rosemary Bachelor. If I had been working on my Rice line instead of my New Haven, Connecticut families, I would have known that the quality of this lady's work is up there with Donald Jacobus work. Her work is as meticulous and careful as anything one could want. Furthermore, since she is doing a SURNAME study, not a ONE LINE study, quite naturally the Welsh house of Rhys is included, but NO WHERE does she connect this house with Deacon Edmund Rice, immigrant to Sudbury, Massachusetts, as others have, and as I thought she had. In addition, if I were confident of my work on my Rice Line, I would be enthusiastic about submitting it for inclusion in her book about New York Rice families. My work on that line is only in its preliminary stages though, otherwise, I would have known about Ms Bachelor's work. The only name which deserves any dirt on it is my own. Most sincerely, Sarah Sully

In a message dated 4/13/2002 2:03:54 AM Eastern Daylight Time, mjefferson@gci.net writes: << Try this link: www.jonathansheppardbooks.com >> Thank you. Betty Fink http://www.geocities.com/BFink93776

Try this link: www.jonathansheppardbooks.com ----- Original Message ----- From: <BFink93776@aol.com> To: <NYSCHENE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, April 12, 2002 3:49 PM Subject: Re: [NYSCHENE] Bullsing > In a message dated 4/12/2002 7:05:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time, > mjefferson@gci.net writes: > > > > I have a question. I have purchased a copy of an old map from Jonathan > > Sheppard of the Manor Renselaerwick in 1767. > > > I have a question. Where did you get the map? > > I have a partial map of the Town of New Scotland, and most of the names were > misspelled. > > Betty Fink > > http://www.geocities.com/bfink93776/ > http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~sigsbee > http://www.gencircles.com/users/bfink93776/ > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >

In a message dated 4/12/2002 7:05:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time, mjefferson@gci.net writes: > I have a question. I have purchased a copy of an old map from Jonathan > Sheppard of the Manor Renselaerwick in 1767. I have a question. Where did you get the map? I have a partial map of the Town of New Scotland, and most of the names were misspelled. Betty Fink http://www.geocities.com/bfink93776/ http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~sigsbee http://www.gencircles.com/users/bfink93776/

I have a question. I have purchased a copy of an old map from Jonathan Sheppard of the Manor Renselaerwick in 1767. I stumbled across the name "Henry BULLSING." I have several questions....are these maps fairly accurate and does anyone have any information on the surname BULLSING? I have been seeking the ancestry of a Henry BULLMAN for years and I am struck by the coincidence. Thanks for your time. Mary Jefferson Juneau, Alaska "A room without books is like a body without a soul." Marcus Tullius Cicero