While death records may be "unreleasable" The Surrogate's Office also keeps books of Wills. In Orange County I was able to get copies of the wills of ancestors back to the Revolutionary War. Also there are often books of Abstracts of Wills published by Genealogical Societies. The Orange County Genealogical Society, 101 Main St., Goshen, NY 10924 has such a book for Orange Co. and may be able to refer you to the similar for Ulster Co. I have found such documentation generally satisfactory for lineage membership societies such as SAR, OFPA. Frank Sloat Arnold, MD