Located in the southwest of New York, Chemung County borders Pennsylvania and is in the Finger Lakes Region of New York.
Formed: March 29, 1836
Parent County: Tioga
Daughter Counties: Schuyler 1854
County Seat: City of Elmira
Major Land Transactions: Watkins and Flint Purchase 1794
Table of Contents
- History
- Cities, Towns, and Villages
- Repositories, Resources, and Societies – County
- Repositories, Resources, and Societies – Regional
- Repositories, Resources, and Societies – Local
- Civil, Public, and Vital Records
- Federal Census Records
- State Census Records
- Other Online Resources
- Selected Bibliography
History
Chemung County was created from Tioga County in 1836. European settlement began in 1784 when veterans of the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign were the first to claim land grants in the area after the American Revolution. Eventually the land was acquired by settlers who came from New England, Orange County, and Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania.
Freed and enslaved African Americans were in the county by the 1800s. Between 1880 and 1920 Jewish, Italian, and Polish immigrants arrive in the county. The development of roads, railroads, and the canal system perpetuated rapid economic growth between 1833 and 1864.
Adapted from The Encyclopedia of New York State, 314-317.
Repositories, Resources, and Societies - County
Chemung County Clerk
Website: Chemung County Clerk
Address: 210 Lake Street, PO Box 588, Elmira, NY 14902-0588
Phone: (607) 737-2920
Marriage 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.
Chemung County Surrogate's Court
Website: Chemung County Surrogate’s Court
Address: Hazlett Building, 203-205 Lake St., PO Box 588, Elmira, NY 14902-0588
Phone: (607) 873-9400
Email: 6jdchmsurr@courts.state.ny.us
Chemung County Vital Records
Website: Chemung County Vital Records
Address: 103 Washington Street, PO Box 588, Elmira, NY 14902
Phone: (607) 737-2018
Chemung County Public Libraries
Chemung is part of the Southern Tier Library System; see www.stls.org/libraries to access each library. Many hold genealogy and local history collections.
Steele Memorial Library: Chemung County Library Genealogy Department
Website: Steele Memorial Library: Chemung County Library District Genealogy Department
Address: 101 East Church Street, Elmira, NY 14901
Phone: (607) 733-9173
Email: Email access on website
Chemung County Historical Society, Chemung Valley Museum, and Mrs. Arthur W. Booth Library
Website: Chemung County Historical Society, Chemung Valley Museum, and Mrs. Arthur W. Booth Library
Address: 415 East Walter Street, Elmira, NY 14901
Phone: (607) 734-4167 ext. 207
Email: cchs@chemungvalleymuseum.org or archivist@chemungvalleymuseum.org
Chemung County Historian
Website: Chemung County Historian
Address: 415 East Water Street, Elmira, NY 14901
Phone: (607) 734-4167
Email: historian@chemungvalleymuseum.org
Chemung County - All Municipal Historians
Website: Chemung County – All Municipal Historians
While not authorized to answer genealogical inquiries, city, 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.
Repositories, Resources, and Societies - Regional
Central New York Genealogical Society
Website: Central New York Genealogical Society
Address: PO Box 404 – Colvin Station, Syracuse, NY 13205
Email: cnygs@yahoo.com
Erin Historical Society Museum
Website: Erin Historical Society Museum
Address: 53 Fairview Road, Erin, NY 14838
Phone: (607) 739-0242
Lowman Historical Society
Website: Lowman Historical Society
Address: PO Box 7, Lowman, New York 14861
Email: info@lowmanhistoricalsociety.com
Southport Historical Society
Address: Laurel Street, PO Box 146, Pine City, NY 14871
Repositories, Resources, and Societies - Local
Alphabetized by location
Big Flats Historical Society
Website: Big Flats Historical Society
Address: 258 Hibbard Road, PO Box 232, Big Flats, NY 14814
Phone: (607) 562-7460
Email: Email access on website
Elmira City Clerk
Website: Elmira City Clerk
Address: City Hall First Floor, 317 E. Church Street, Elmira, NY 14901
Phone: (607) 737-5672
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:
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State Census Records
- County originals at Chemung County Historian’s Office: 1845, 1855, 1865*, 1875, 1892, 1905, 1915, 1925. State originals at the NYSA: 1915, 1925
- State orginals at the NYSA: 1915, 1925
- Microfilm at the FHL, NYPL, and NYSL
- Many years are online at FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com
- 1865 census for the Town of Horseheads, Chemung County, includes the maiden names of all married women.
Other Online Resources
There are vast numbers of records on Ancestry.com that pertain to people who have lived in New York State. See chapter 16 for a description of Ancestry.com’s resources and its partnership with the New York State Archives. 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.
The Steele Memorial Library has digitized two atlases of Chemung County for 1869 and 1904 and two atlases of the City of Elmira for 1876 and 1896.
Chemung County New York Archives
The website has links to a selection of transcribed cemetery records, wills, and indexes. See below for the current NYGenWeb site for Chemung County.
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:
“New York, Land Records, 1630–1975.” Includes land and property records.
“New York, Probate Records, 1629–1971.” Includes wills, letters of administration, and guardianship papers.
For both collections, choose the browse option and then select Chemung to view the available records sets.
Tri-Counties Genealogy and History
This website, which is operated by Joyce M. Tice, serves as the NYGenWeb site for Chemung County and provides free access to numerous transcriptions and links to other resources.
Newspapers
- New York State Library holdings of Chemung County Newspapers
- Statewide microfilm and print holdings for Chemung County Newspapers
Selected Bibliography
Abstracts, Indexes & Transcriptions
- Barber, Gertrude Audrey. “Abstracts of Wills of Chemung County, NY, from 1836–1850: Copied from Original Records at the Surrogate’s Office, Elmira, NY.” Typescript, 1941. New York State Library, Albany. [Ancestry.com]
- County of Chemung 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.
- Kelly, Arthur C. M. Index to Tree Talks County Packet: Chemung County. Rhinebeck, NY: Kinship, 2002.
- List of Confederate Soldiers Buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Elmira, New York. Elmira, NY: Chemung County Historical Society, 1980.
- Sheldon, Nellie M. Name Index, History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler Counties, New York: Compiled by H.B. Peirce and D. Hamilton Hurd, Published by Everts and Ensign, 1879. N.p: The Author, 1965.
- 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.
Selected Histories, Gazetteers, and Other Resources
- A Biographical Record of Chemung County, New York. New York: S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1902.
- Beers, F. W. Atlas of Chemung County, New York: From Actual Surveys by and under the Direction of F.W. Beers, Assisted by Geo. P. Sanford & Others. New York, 1869. [NYPL Digital Gallery]
- Byrne, Thomas E. Chemung County, 1890–1975. Elmira, NY: Chemung County Historical Society, 1976.
- Chemung Historical Society. Chemung County Memories: The Early Years. Staten Island, NY: Pediment Group, ca. 2001.
- Child, Hamilton. Gazetteer and Business Directory of Chemung and Schuyler Counties, NY, for 1868–9. Syracuse, 1868.
- Historical Records Survey, New York State. Inventory of the County Archives of the New York State (Exclusive of the Five Counties of New York City) No. 7, Chemung County. Albany: Works Progress Administration, Historical Records Sur vey, 1937. [NYG&B eLibrary]
- Hoiland, Doris R. Pioneers of the Southern Tier ; Chemung County. N.p. 1974.
- Inventor y of the County Archives of New York State: Chemung County. Albany: The Historical Records Survey, 1939. [NYG&B eLibrary]
- New York Historical Resources Center. Guide to Historical Resources in Chemung County, New York, Repositories. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, 1982. [www.books.FamilySearch.org]
- Peirce, Henry B, and D. Hamilton Hurd. History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler Counties, New York: With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers. Philadelphia, 1879. See above for a name index by Nellie Sheldon.
- Sexton, John L., Jr. An Outline History of Tioga and Bradford Counties in Pennsylvania; Chemung, Steuben, Tioga, Tompkins, and Schuyler in New York . . . . Elmira, NY, 1885.
- Towner, Ausburn. A Brief History of Chemung County, for the Use of Grade Schools. New York: A. S. Barnes, 1907.
- Towner, Ausburn. Our County and Its People: A History of the Valley and County of Chemung, from the Closing Years of the Eighteenth Century. Syracuse, 1892.
- Wilson, Amy H. Chemung County: An Illustrated History. Montgomery, AL: Community Communications, 1999.
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.