Yates County, New York Guide

Yates County is bordered by Ontario, Seneca, Steuben, and Schuyler counties

County Formed: February 5, 1823

Parent County: Ontario

Daughter Counties: None

Major Land Transactions: Phelps and Gorham Purchase 1788

 

Yates County Map
Map of Yates County

 

Table of Contents

 


 

History

Though Yates County was occupied by the Seneca tribe prior to European arrival, it was not until after General John Sullivan’s massive 1779 campaign against the Iroquois that colonists settled there. Among these newly arrived settlers were French Canadian traders and fishermen who lived by Seneca Lake’s shores. In 1787, a number of families and women from the states of Rhode Island and Pennsylvania migrated to the county. Yates County was created in 1823 from Ontario County, and named after then New York State Governor Joseph Yates. The largest industry has always been agriculture, but past economic ventures included the manufacturing of clothing, shoes, brass door hardware, and boats. The Phelps and Gorham Purchase of 1788 was a significant land transaction to occur in this area. Past county seats include the Towns of Benton, Jerusalem, and Milo, and the current seat is the Village of Penn Yan.

Reference: The Encyclopedia of New York State p. 1737

Learn more about Yates County from the Yates County historian's website.  

 


 

 

Repositories, Resources, and Societies - County

Yates County Clerk

Website: Yates County Clerk

Address: Yates County Office Building, 417 Liberty Street, Suite 1107, Penn Yan, NY 14527

Phone: (315) 536-5120

Email: countyclerk@yatescounty.org

 

Yates County - City, Town, and Village Clerks

Website: Yates County – Town and Village Clerks

Birth, marriage, and death records are maintained by the clerk of the municipality in which the event occurred; see Introduction to County Guides for details of other records which may also be held by municipal clerks.

 

Yates County Surrogate's Court

Website: Yates County Surrogate's Court

Address: Yates County Court Building, 415 Liberty Street, Penn Yan, NY 14527

Phone: (315) 536-5130

 

Yates County Public Libraries

Website: Yates County Public Libraries

Yates is part of the Southern Tier Library System. Many hold genealogy and local history collections. See listings below for Dundee Library and Penn Yan Public Library.

 

Yates County Office of Public History/Historian's Office

Website: Yates County Office of Public History/Historian’s Office

Address: Yates County Office Building, 417 Liberty Street, Penn Yan, NY 14527 •

Phone: (315) 536-5147

Email: history@yatescounty.org

 

Yates County - All Municipal Historians

Website: Yates County – All Municipal Historians

While not authorized to answer genealogical inquiries, town and village historians can provide valuable historical information and research advice; some maintain collections and webpages which may include transcribed records, local histories, and other genealogical material. See contact information at or at the website of the Association of Public Historians of New York State.

 

Yates County Genealogical & Historical Society, Inc.

Website: Yates County Genealogical & Historical Society, Inc.

Address: 107 Chapel Street, Penn Yan, NY 14527

Phone: (315) 536-7318

Email: ycghs@yatespast.org

 


 

Repositories, Resources, and Societies - Regional

University of Albany Special Collections and Archives

Website: University of Albany, SUNY

Address: 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12222

Phone: (518) 437-3835

 


 

Repositories, Resources, and Societies - Local

Alphabetized by location

Dundee Area Historical Society

Website: Dundee Area Historical Society

Address: 26 Seneca Street, Dundee, NY 14873

Phone: (607) 243-7047 •

Email: dundeehistory@live.com

 

Dundee Library

Website: Dundee Library

Address: 32 Water Street, Dundee, NY 1483 

Phone: (607) 243-5938

 

Middlesex Heritage Group

Address: Middlesex Town Hall,  Route 364,  Middlesex, NY 14507 

Phone: (585) 554-3607 Ext. 1006

Email: middlesexheritagegroup@gmail.com

 

Penn Yan Public Library

Website: Penn Yan Public Library

Address: 214 Main Street, Penn Yan, NY 14527

Phone: (315) 536-6114

 


 

Civil, Public, and Vital Records

Civil Records are those created, recorded and/or maintained by a governmental body and include births, marriages, deaths, censuses, property, and probate. NB: The New York State government began collecting vital record data in 1880. Birth, marriage, and death records from New York State (excluding the five boroughs of New York City) after 1880 on can be obtained from the New York State Department of Health. For vital records previous to 1880, consult the municipality in which the event took place. Learn more about New York's vital records in our online guide.

 


 

Federal Census Records

Population schedules: 1790-1940 (except 1890).

Online at Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, and Findmypast.com (free to NYG&B members).

Access on Findmypast:

1790

1800

1810

1820

1830

1840

1850

1860

1870

1880

1900

1910

1920

1930

1940

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

State Census Records

  • County originals at Yates County Clerk’s Office: 1825, 1835, 1845, 1855, 1865, 1875, 1892, 1905, 1915, 1925
  • Microfilm at the FHL, NYPL, NYSHA, and NYSL
  • Many years are online at FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com.
  • State originals at the NYSA: 1915, 1925
  • 1845 census records only survive for three towns – Barrington, Italy, and Potter. Indexes for all years of the NYS census are online at the website of the county historian.

 


 

Other Online Resources

General Resources

Ancestry.com

There are vast numbers of records on Ancestry.com that pertain to people who have lived in New York State. A search of the online card catalog by county may reveal lesser known resources that pertain to a locality, such as town records, abstracts, transcriptions, city directories, and local histories.

FamilySearch.org

FamilySearch has extensive collections of New York records, including religious records, which are searchable by name and location, but not by county. The following collections include record images (browsable, but not searchable) that are organized by county.

NYGenWeb Project: Yates County

Part of the national, USGenWeb volunteer initiative, the website provides information and resources for county research.

 

Maps

 

Other Records

 

 


 

Selected Bibliography

Abstracts, Indexes & Transcriptions

  • Abstract of the 1825 New York State Census of Yates County. Syracuse: Central New York Genealogical Society, 1988.
  • Cleveland, Stafford C., and Thelma E. Burton Bootes. “Inscriptions From Three Abandoned Cemeteries in Yates County, New York: Friends Burying Ground, Stoddard Family Cemetery, Thomas Family Cemetery. With Index and Family History. Copied from History of Yates County, by S. C. Cleveland, 1873, by Thelma Burton Bootes (Mrs. Fenton E. Bootes).” Typescript, n.d. NYPL, New York.
  • County of Yates Abstracts. Syracuse: Central New York Genealogical Society, 2000. Abstracts for a range of genealogical records originally published in the quarterly Tree Talks.
  • Daughters of the American Revolution, comps. New York DAR Genealogical Records Committee Report. Since 1913 DAR volunteers have transcribed many thousands of unpublished cemetery, church, and town records throughout New York. The reports are at the DAR Library; copies are at the NYSL and the NYPL. The DAR has a searchable name index to all the GRC reports at http://services.dar.org/Public/DAR_Research/search/?Tab_ID=6. See Jean Worden’s index below for a listing by county of the New York record sets that were transcribed by the DAR before 1998.
  • Dumas, Frances. Yates County Cemeteries and Cemetery Burials. Penn Yan, NY: F. Dumas, 1997.
  • Kelly, Arthur C. M. Index to Tree Talks County Packet: Yates County. Rhinebeck, NY: Kinship, 2002.
  • Stark, Helen. “Graveyard Inscriptions from Some Yates Co., N.Y., Cemeteries.” Manuscript, 1915. NYPL, New York.
  • Stenzel, Dianne. Genealogical Gleanings Abstracted from the Early Newspapers of Penn Yan, Yates County, New York, 1823–1833 and 1841–1855. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1991.
  • Stenzel, Dianne. Genealogical Gleanings Abstracted from the Yates County Chronicle, Penn Yan, New York, May 1856 to October 1867. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1992.
  • Worden, Jean D. “Book 1, Subject Index.” In Revised Master Index to the New York State Daughters of the American Revolution Genealogical Records Volumes. Zephyrhills, FL: J. D. Worden, 1998. The Subject Index includes a listing by county of the cemeteries, churches, towns, and other sources of records transcribed by the DAR.

Other Resources

  • Aldrich, Louis C. History of Yates County, New York: With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of the Prominent Men and Pioneers. Syracuse, 1891.
  • Cleveland, Stafford C. History and Directory of Yates County. 2 vols. Penn Yan, NY, 1873. Reprint, Penn Yan, NY: Carlton L. Wheeler, 1951. Index available from Berkshire Family History Association.
  • Everts, Ensign & Everts. Combination Atlas Map of Yates County, NY. Philadelphia, 1875.
  • Foley, Janet W. Early Settlers of New York State: Their Ancestors and Descendants. 9 vols. Akron, NY: 1934–1942. Reprint, 2 vols. Baltimore, Genealogical Publishing Co., 1993.
  • New York Historical Resources Center. Guide to Historical Resources in Yates County, New York, Repositories. Ithaca, NY: New York Historical Resources Center, Olin Library, Cornell University, 1984.
  • Records of the Ithaca College Study Center for Early Religious Life in Western New York, 1978–1981. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library. A description of the holdings for each county is at http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/eguides/lists/churchlist1.htm.
  • Slater-Putt, Dawne. “John and Elizabeth (Halbert) Blair of Ontario and Yates Counties, New York.” NYG&B Record, vol. 142 (2011) no. 3: 179–194, no. 4: 265–276. [NYG&B eLibrary]
  • Turner, Orsamus. Pioneer History of Phelps & Gorham’s Purchase, and Morris’ Reserve: Embracing the Counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, Most of Wayne and Allegany, and Parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. Geneseo, NY: James Brunner, 1976.
  • Wolcott, Walter. The Military History of Yates County, N.Y.: Comprising a Record of the Services Rendered by Citizens of This County in the Army and Navy, from the Foundation of Government to the Present Time. Penn Yan, NY, 1895.

 


The materials above are a compilation of resources available, with an emphasis on online resources, which might be useful to someone doing research within this county.  The inclusion of a link does not constitute an endorsement of its content or accuracy.  Please send any additions or corrections to webmaster@nygbs.org.