Vital Records of Chenango County, New York
before 1880
MARRIAGES, BIRTHS, DEATHS
FROM ORIGINAL SOURCES

Permission is granted by the estate of Gertrude Howard Smith to reproduce, copy and republish this work for noncommercial purposes only.

    In increasing numbers, people are contacting the County Clerk and local Town Clerks, seeking information about persons of two or more generations ago. They find that records were not kept and filed, until after the Law passed in 1879 became effective. This Law required that all Vital Records, i.e., records of marriages, births, and deaths, be filed in the Town where the event occured. A fact not generally know, is that there do exist Vital Records of Chenango County Towns, which have never been gathered or tabulated. Thus, the compilers of this book have undertaken this work, and hereby make available this volume. This Book is a careful and complete copy of all the Vital Records for the years before 1880, that are known of, or could be located at this time. We felt that a collection of this material would be of great value to the residents of CHENANGO COUNTY, and any, whose ancestors formerly lived here.

    These Vital Records are of two kinds; those found in the Town Clerk's office, and those on separate sheets, bound in with the Census, which are on file in Norwich at the County Clerk's office.

    CHENANGO COUNTY has twenty one towns. In twelve, are still preserved the Vital Records, which were gathered by School Districts. These records start in 1847 and continue on through 1849 and 1850, and contain the marriages, births, and deaths, with appropriate data concerning each. The collection of records in this manner was discontinued in 1850. After which the Census enumerators were instructed to make a record of all DEATHS. The Census period was from June 1st, of the previous year, to June 1st of the year of the Census report, and are on file in the County Clerk's office for the years, 1850, 1860, 1865, 1870, 1875. The Records for 1855 are omitted, as the names of the deceased persons were not included. Marriages were also reported in some years, however, we never found that births were reported in any year. The 1865 Census included data of the death of Officers and enlisted men who died as a result of service in the Civil War. Lack of space prevents their inclusion in this book.

    It must be borne in mind that two Chenango County towns were not established until after 1847. North Norwich, was set off from Norwich on April 7, 1849; and Afton was formed from Bainbridge on November 18,1857. Thus it is necessary to look in the parent town for records of the years previous to their separation.

Also please remember that records may have inconsistencies in them. These records have been copied and copied and copied and each time there is the chance of error creeping in.

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