Use this guide as
a starting point to research birth, marriage and death records from
Monroe County, NY. If
you have questions after consulting these resources, contact a
librarian by visiting your local Monroe County Library System
library, calling a reference librarian (use the
Member Library Directory
to find phone
numbers), or by completing the
Ask a Librarian online
form.
This guide answers the following questions:
WHAT IS INVOLVED IN SEARCHING BIRTH, MARRIAGE
AND DEATH RECORDS?
Tracking down birth, marriage and death records (also referred to
as vital records) can be time consuming. Records
usually are kept by the local authority that recorded them. Few
records are on the Internet. You most likely will visit one location
to search an index of records and then contact another location
to obtain a copy of the record. Most places charge a fee for the
copy.
You may not be successful in finding the records you want.
Information was not always recorded accurately. Records may be
misfiled because names were misspelled. In addition, records might
have been
destroyed by floods, fires, or theft. You may also be searching in
the wrong location as borders for counties, cities and towns have
changed.
WHERE DO I GET MY
BIRTH OR MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE?
Information on who may obtain copies of birth certificates (and
death certificates for immediate family members) and
how to request copies from the Monroe County Office of Vital
Records is posted on its
Birth and Death Records web page. The New York State Vital Records
Service contains information on how to request copies of birth,
death, marriage and divorce certificates on its
website.
WHERE DO I FIND RECORDS FROM 1880 OR LATER?
Note: In New York, death and marriage records filed in the last 50
years and birth records filed in the last 75 years are not available
to people who are not direct line descendents (documentation must be
supplied) due to privacy restrictions.
If you are looking for marriage records from 1876 to 1932 recorded by the City of
Rochester, you can start your search online with the
Historic Marriage Research Site. Information on how to search and obtain copies of marriage licenses is included on the web page.
Continue your search with the the microfiche indexes for New York State
records of births, marriages and deaths. These indexes are located at the
Retrieval Room of the Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County,
housed in the Bausch and Lomb Library Building, 114 South Ave., Rochester, NY. You
will need to search the records in person. This a multi-step process. Plan
on spending one or more hours. Library staff
will explain to you how to search the indexes but will not be able to perform the
search for you.
A successful search will give you the date of the birth, marriage or
death and what jurisdiction houses the record. As the library does not
have the records on file, you will not be able to determine parents' names
for birth certificates, partners' names for marriage certificates, or
survivors' names for death certificates. You need to contact the
jurisdiction housing the record either in writing or with a phone call to
obtain a copy of the record.
In addition to requesting copies of the records, many people search Rochester
newspapers for birth, marriage and death announcements. Microfilm copies
of the Rochester Times Union (1918 - 1997), the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
(1870 to the present) and other newspapers published 1818 and later,
are available in the Retrieval Room. Consult the newspaper indexes (on
microfilm, in book format, and on index cards) located in both the
Retrieval Room and the Local History and Genealogy Division of the Central
Library of Rochester and Monroe County. The Division also has obituaries published in local
newspapers since the late 1930's. These obituaries can be found either in
scrapbooks or in the
clippings file. The Local History and
Genealogy Division is located in the Rundel Library Building, 115 South Ave.,
Rochester, NY.
There also are other resources for finding information about
a person who lived in the Monroe County region. See the next section on searching for records prior to 1880.
The City of Rochester has marriage records from 1876 to 1932 online at
the
Historic Marriage Research Site. Other than that, no official
records exist. You will need to search for a reference to an individual
that may be in church publications, business
newsletters, cemetery records, newspaper and magazine articles, census records, history
books, scrap books and
other information found in local archives. Many local towns, colleges and
universities have local history or archive collections. Call them to ask
if you can search their collection.
Libraries in the Monroe County Library System contain many of the
resources listed above. (See section on library resources below.) Note that there is not one
comprehensive index of names that can be searched.
Instead, there are many resources. Plan to spend several hours for your
search. Library staff will direct you
to the most appropriate resources and explain how to use them. Library
staff will not be able to do the search for you.
WHERE DO I FIND RECORDS FOR THE PAST 50 YEARS?
In New York, death and marriage records filed in the last 50 years and
birth records filed in the last 75 years are not available to people who
are not direct line descendents (documentation must be supplied) due to
privacy restrictions. One of your best sources is to search local
newspapers for birth, marriage and death announcements. You can find
microfilm copies of the Rochester Times Union, the Rochester Democrat
and Chronicle and local town newspapers in the Retrieval Room of the Central Library of Rochester
and Monroe County. Check with your local town library for other newspapers.
In addition, you can search the many resources found in libraries' local
history, genealogy and archive collections.
WHAT OTHER MONROE COUNTY RESOURCES WOULD BE
HELPFUL IN MY SEARCH?
GenWeb of Monroe County, NY has a web page,
Monroe County
Genealogical Resources, which lists local offices that keep birth,
marriage and death records.
WHAT LIBRARY RESOURCES ARE AVAILABLE
TO HELP ME FIND INFORMATION ABOUT A PERSON WHO LIVED IN MONROE COUNTY?
Libraries in Monroe County have many resources where genealogical
information can be found. The largest collection is in the Local
History and Genealogy Division of the Central Library of Rochester and
Monroe County. Below are three of the more useful resources.
 |
Halsey, Richard T. Genealogical Guide to Monroe County, New York,
2nd ed. 1996. |
|
|
Guides to
Historical Resources in [county] Repositories (Also known as the
"red books") |
|
|
Statewide WPA guides (arranged by county) to church and civil record
holdings. Note: These guides describe the holdings of the churches
and offices. They do not contain people's names or specific dates. |
There are other resources as well. Search
the library catalog, LIBRAWeb, by
subjects. Use the subject terms listed below. (The
LIBRAWeb Tutorial is a good starting place to learn
how to do a subjects search.)
|
|
Church records and registers New York (State) Rochester |
|
|
Church
records and registers New York (State) Rochester Indexes |
|
|
Rochester (N.Y.) Genealogy |
|
|
Insert name of church Rochester N.Y. |
|
|
Registers
of births, etc. New York (State) Rochester Indexes |
|
|
Monroe County (N.Y.) Genealogy |
|
|
Monroe County (N.Y.) Registers
|
WHAT INTERNET RESOURCES SHOULD I USE TO FIND
BIRTH, MARRIAGE AND DEATH RECORDS?
|
