Hello Tri-County List, Recently, on the NY-Military Rootsweb List, a post about the NYS Archives at <http://www.archives.nysed.gov/>. Also mentioned was the fact that additional information may be available about your civil war ancestor: “if you know where he resided when he joined the military, you might be lucky enough to find the "Return of the Town Clerks, 1865," book from his town. This is not the NYS Census, but a separate book of record kept by the Town Clerk which may give you not only his date and place of birth, but also the names of his parents, including his mother's MAIDEN NAME. That is if the Town Clerk filled that part in which many are lacking.” I would be very interested to know if this book is available for the Elmira area. I have been searching for the maiden name of my great great grandmother for years. Anyone heard about a "Return of the Town Clerks” book? I had two great uncles who fought in the CW, one made it back and one did not. Thank you for any information. Don Thompson Whittier, CA