New York Land Records

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Colonial and state government records of patents, grants, and deeds are at the New York State Archives and identified in Public Records Relating to Land in New York State. See also Calendar of N.Y. Colonial Manuscripts Indorsed Land Papers...1643-1803. The Secretary of State Deeds, dating from colonial times and including many private conveyances up to about 1775 (fewer to about 1830), are on microfilm at the state archives and the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, with the usual grantor and grantee indexes. An Essay Towards an Improved Register of Deeds, City and County of New York to December 31, 1799 "Inclusive" indexes those Secretary of States Deeds pertaining to New York City property.

Abstracts of early deeds for Kings and Westchester counties have been published in The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, beginning in volumes 48 and 50 respectively. Landholders of Northeastern New York, 1739-1802 , covers the counties of Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Warren, and Washington.

Bounty land in the central part of the state was awarded by lottery to New York Revolutionary War soldiers, although most sold their allotments rather than settle on them. The successful drawers are listed in The Balloting Book, and Other Documents Relating to Military Bounty Lands in the State of New York.

New York Historical Records - Databases include New York Court, Land, Wills & Financial Records; New York Birth, Marriage & Death Records; New York Voter Lists & Census Records; New York Immigration & Emigration Records; New York Obituary Records; New York Military Records; New York Family Tree Records; New York Pictures; New York Stories, Memories & Histories; New York Directories & Member Lists and much more....

In the counties are deeds and mortgages and corresponding indexes to each type of record (published indexes covering into the nineteenth century are available for New York and Albany counties). These records in the county clerk's offices begin mostly with the formation of the county, but many colonial deeds were recorded in town records. Also, many land transactions were not recorded in earlier times since it was a long way to the courthouse, or the family moved on before the document could get recorded. Furthermore, with some New York lands in dispute, deed holders were reluctant to bring them in for recording.

Sometimes deeds were recorded in the neighboring county, as its courthouse was closer to the party or parties involved. Many early New Yorkers simply leased land from individuals or families who held vast acreage. Evidence of residency in those cases might be found in the private papers of manorial families such as the Livingstons, Van Rensselaers, and Van Cortlandts. Unfortunately, there is no guide to the location of all manorial records. The Livingston papers are available at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, New York, and are on film at the FHL, and the Van Rensselaer papers are in the state library in Albany.

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