ANNOUNCING NEW DATABASE: TROY, NY AREA DEATH RECORDS (1890-1895) This message is being sent to: Rensselaer County List Troy Irish Genealogy Society List Albany County List Saratoga County List Schenectady County List Genealogy-NYS List Irish-NY-Troy List NY Irish List Ulster County List Chenango County List NY-Hudson River List NY-Old-News List US-Obits List NY-Rollcall List NY-Mohawk-Valley List NY-Warren-Washington-Saratoga County List The message can be forwarded to other lists where you feel it would be appropriate. If you are researching relatives with a TROY, NY area connection, you will be interested in this new on-line, name searchable, data base of death records which is under construction. Members of the Troy Irish Genealogy Society have been working with the Rensselaer County Historical Society, 57 Second Street, Troy, NY 12180, in automating various records from the Burden Iron Co. collection of papers. The latest project which is going on-line, in stages, is a database of deaths from newspaper clippings from Troy, New York newspapers which were collected by employees of the Burden Iron Company. The 73 pages of records cover the period March 1890 through April 1895 and list 6,031 surnames. Records cover individuals from Troy and all the surrounding communities, as well as a number of entries from other areas of New York State and other states. There are even a few records covering deaths in foreign countries. These death records cover the general population in the area and are not restricted to Irish surnames. All 6,031 records have been date entered and are now being formatted to go on line. As of Thursday, April 21, the first 141 records, which cover ALL surnames beginning with the letter "A" are on line. Subsequent letters of the alphabet will be added as soon as possible and it is expected that all 6,031 records will be available for searching before the end of May. Twenty-six volunteers from the Rensselaer County mailing list as well as the Troy Irish Genealogy List transcribed these records. Eighteen of the volunteers were from the Troy area while the other volunteers lived in Massachusetts, Iowa, Utah, North Carolina, Michigan, Maryland and California. You can view these records by going to the Troy Irish Genealogy website located at: www.rootsweb.com/~nytigs/ and click on TIGS PROJECTS. Check back at the site frequently to see additional death record names as they are added. You will also be able to review other records automated by TIGS members; Burden Iron Company Steam Mill Payroll Records, Troy Area Marriage Records and an index to names listed in the book, "History of the Troy Police Department". These data bases are part of a continuing effort by the Troy Irish Genealogy Group to make available on line, Troy area records that will be of interest to researchers. There is a wealth of information in these death notices. In addition to the NAME of the deceased, you MAY find the following information: Street address of Residence. * Date of Death. * Time of Death. Place of Death. * Cause of Death Age at Death. * Date of Birth. Place of Birth. Occupation. Name of Employer. Maiden Name. Middle Name. Names of other Relatives. Names of In-Laws. Military Rank & Unit Designation. Funeral Services. * Place of Interment. * * Almost all of the death records will show these particular items. There are also a number of very moving lengthy obituaries as well as a few memorial poems. Many of the records carry entries at the end of the obituary like "12-3-t*. It is thought that these entries were for the typesetters and represent the date the notice first ran and how many times it was to be published . Even if you do not find a surname you are researching, the material is informative about the time period where death came at a very early age to a large number of infants and young people. The material also gives a perspective on funeral customs of the time where nearly all events took place at the family residence, and how some funerals were linked to the arrival of local trains where carriages would be awaiting the arrival of mourners. The given names of the 6,000 plus individuals show the names in vogue during the mid to late 1800's. A large number of notices also carry instructions for out of area newspapers to "PLEASE COPY" the notice and some particular newspapers are even mentioned by name. I would be interested in hearing from individuals who found the data base useful in locating their relatives. You can write me off list at: seamus@capital.net I also want to express my thanks to the volunteers for the great job they did on this project. Regards, Bill McGrath Clifton Park, NY