There was a request for death records for 1865. New York State did not start recording death certificates until 1880, so town and city clerks will not have any such record. The Surrogate Court is the best bet, if the decedant left any property. The death record in such files is highly unlikely to contain any information on parentage, but a will file can have very useful information on children and maybe siblings (if the decedant died with no children or a sibling might have been named executor, particularly if children were young). Establishing someone as a sibling to your ancestor then finding a death certificate for that sibling (if he/she died after 1880) can be very helpful in establishing parentage. As to the records not being releasable, that just seems strange. They might mean more recent death records, since those that are less than 50 years old do have access restrictions, but from a will in 1865? No, I don't think so. The problem may simply be the poor condition of the records. I would contact the Ulster County Hall of Records. They might be able to give you some better direction as to gaining access to these records. The number is (914) 340-3415. A will file, even without the parentage information, can be invaluable in stringing together clues. Ray LaFever Staatsburg, NY 12580 USA ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]