Essex County, New York Guide

Essex County is located 271 miles north of New York City on Lake Champlain.  It is bounded to the north by Clinton and Franklin Counties, to the south by Warren and Washington Counties, to the west by Hamilton County, and the east by Lake Champlain and the New York/Vermont border. 

County Formed: March 1, 1799

Parent County: Clinton

Daughter Counties: None

County Seat: Elizabethtown, Town of Elizabethtown

Major Land Transactions: Totten and Crossfield Purchase 1771–1787, Old Military Tract 1786

 

Essex County Map
Map of Essex County

 

Table of Contents

 

 

 

History 

Modern Essex County formed in 1799 after separating from Clinton County.  It is named for the city of Essex in Great Britain.  The county is located in northeast New York, the eastern border formed by Lake Champlain and the New York/Vermont border.  It is the second largest and most mountainous county in New York, largely because it contains the majority of the Adirondack mountain range.  It has a long and colorful history, and was the site of abolitionist John Brown's home, the emergency inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt, and the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympic Games.

Though it has a small population, Essex County has an extensive relationship to the American Revolution.  It was long disputed territory between Great Britain and France, due to its location on Lake Champlain. The French built Fort Ticonderoga on the south narrows of Lake Champlain in 1754 in order to have a stronghold against British troops and Native Americans during the Seven Years (French and Indian) War. During the American Revolution, it became American territory, and the cannons removed from the fort were used in Boston to push back British ships.  Fort Ticonderoga was abandoned after the Battle of Saratoga, and is now a Revolutionary War memorial and historical museum.  It is now one of the best known American military forts.

When Essex County was officially established in 1799, it contained four towns, Elizabethtown, Crown Point, Willsboro, and Jay. Elizabethtown was chosen as the seat of the county, and remains the seat, holding the county offices and court. The main industry of the county at the time was agriculture, due to the rich soil in the Adirondacks and the numerous lakes and rivers.  However, around 1800, iron ore was discovered in the mountain range, and the iron industry consumed the county.  A consequential logging industry was also born in the county after the destruction of mountainous area for mining, and logging and woodwork became the two largest industries in the county.

During the time of the American Civil War, Essex County became part of the Underground Railroad, helping runaway slaves from the South find freedom in the northern states and Canada.  North Elba, Essex County, was also home to abolitionist John Brown, who was hanged for leading a raid on Harper's Ferry, Virginia.  His home and farm are now part of the John Brown history tour in North Elba, a major tourist attraction. 

President Theodore Roosevelt, a longtime proponent of environmental conservation, spent a lot of time in EssexCounty, hiking and sporting in the Adirondack Mountains, which inspired him to form the Environmental Protection Agency and national parks.  It was in Essex County that then Vice President Roosevelt learned of the assassination of President McKinley, and was rushed to Buffalo.

In 1980, the Winter Olympic Games were held in Lake Placid because of the naturally occurring ski ranges and plentiful open space.  The games made headlines after the "Miracle on Ice," when the U.S. Hockey team beat the team from the Soviet Union in a surprising upset.

Since its formation in 1799, Essex County has played a major role in American history.  Though the industry of the county has not changed, and iron mining is still the largest sector, it has been the site of many social and political changes.

Sources and Further Reading:

 

 

 

Repositories, Resources, and Societies – County

Essex County Clerk

Website: Essex County Clerk

Address: 7559 Court Street, PO Box 247, Elizabethtown, NY 12932

Phone: (518) 873-3601

New York state censuses for Essex County 1855, 1865, 1875, 1892, 1905, 1915, and 1925; court records; deeds 1800s–present; marriages 1909–1912; births, deaths, and marriages (1847–1850 for towns of Crown Point, Keene, Moriah, Schroon, Ticonderoga, Westport, and Willsboro); probate records before 1915; and naturalization records 1799–1956. A selection of recent documents may be viewed via ISQ’s website at www.searchiqs.com and clicking on Essex County. No subscription is necessary to access Essex County documents.

 

Essex County - Town and Village Clerks 

Website: Essex 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.

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Essex County Surrogate's Court

Website: Essex County Surrogate’s Court

Address: 7559 Court Street, PO Box 217, Elizabethtown, NY 12932

Phone: (518) 873-3384

Holds probate records from 1915 to the present. Records before 1915 are kept in the county clerk’s office. Also see chapter 6, Probate Records.

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Essex County Public Libraries 

Website: Essex County Public Libraries

Essex is part of the Clinton-Essex-Franklin Library System. Many libraries hold genealogy and local history collections such as local newspapers. For example, Wadhams Library and Wilmington E. M. Cooper Memorial Library hold selected family files, and Hammond Library contains extensive information on the Bigelow family.  Also see listings below for Keene Public Library, Keene Valley Library, Keeseville Public Library, Lake Placid Public Library, Sherman Free Library, and Wells Memorial Library.

 

Essex County Historical Society and Brewster Research Library & Archives

Website: Essex County Historical Society and Brewster Research Library & Archives

Address: Brewster Library, 7590 Court Street, PO Box 428, Elizabethtown, NY 12932

Phone: (518) 873-6466

Email for General Information: echs@adkhistorycenter.org

Email for Research Queries: research@adkhistorycenter.org 

Holdings include historical documents and manuscripts; cemetery index; census records (federal 1790–1910 on microfilm); Upper Jay, NY, U.S. Post Office Dept. records 1914–1949; newspapers, vertical files, and books. Website includes digital collections and a guide to Essex County archival resources. Publishes Reveille. For more, see the Guide to Archival Resources.

 

Essex County Historian

Website: Essex County Historian

Address: Brewster Memorial Library Adirondack History Center Museum, 7590 Court Street, PO Box 428, Elizabethtown, NY 12932

Phone: (518) 873-6466 • Email: research@adkhistorycenter.org

Holdings include cemetery records and photographs.

 

Essex County - All Municipal Historians

Website: Essex 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

Adirondack Genealogical-Historical Society 

Website: Adirondack Genealogical-Historical Society

Address: 100 Main Street, Saranac Lake, NY 12983 

Region includes Clinton, Essex, and St. Lawrence counties. Offers research services at the Saranac Lake Free Library: The William Chapman White Memorial Room: Adirondack Research Center.

 

Adirondack Experience Museum Library

Website: Adirondack Experience Museum Library

Address: 9097 NY-30, Blue Mountain Lake, NY 12812

Phone: (518) 352-7311

 

Northeastern New York Genealogical Society 

Website: Northeastern New York Genealogical Society

Address: 195 Sunnyside Road, Queensbury, NY 12804

Phone: (518) 743-0734

Email: mail@warrencountyhistoricalsociety.org

In mid-2014, the Northeastern Historical Society began working closely with the Warren County Historical Society and the organizations may merge in the future. Patents: The Northeastern New York Genealogical Society Bulletin, published bi-monthly since 1962, covers Warren, Washington, Saratoga and Essex counties.

 

Northern New York American-Canadian Genealogical Society 

Website: Northern New York American-Canadian Genealogical Society

Mailing Address: NNYACGS, PO Box 928, Dannemora, NY 12929 

Phone: 518-492-4142 

Email: nnyacgs@gmail.com 

 

The William Chapman White Memorial Adirondack Research Room at the Saranac Lake Free Library

Website: William Chapman White Memorial Adirondack Research Room at the Saranac Lake Free Library ​ 

Address: 109 Main Street, Saranac Lake, NY 12983

Phone: (518) 891-0807

Email: sllibrary@adelphia.net

Village of Saranac Lake shared with Franklin County. Books, manuscripts, periodicals, newspapers, and pamphlets; federal and state census microfilm for Essex, Franklin, Clinton, and St. Lawrence counties 1850–1925; church records; obituary index; maps, gazetteers, and atlases 1869, 1876; photographs and postcards; cemetery inscriptions published by the Adirondack Genealogical and Historical Society; county, town, and municipal histories; genealogies and biographies; high school yearbooks and school attendance records; and early tuberculosis patient history from the Trudeau Sanatorium.

 

SUNY Plattsburgh: Special Collections

Website: SUNY Plattsburgh: Special Collections

Address:101 Broad Street, Plattsburgh, NY 12901

Phone: (518) 564-5206

Email: kimokdm@plattsburgh.edu 

 

 

 

Repositories, Resources, and Societies – Local

Alphabetized by location

Crown Point State Historic Site

Website: Crown Point State Historic Site

Address: 21 Grand View Drive, Crown Point, NY 12928

Phone: (518) 597-3666

Books, manuscripts, records, and microfilm documenting 18th-century local history, especially military history.

 

Penfield Homestead Museum 

Website: Penfield Homestead Museum

Address: 703 Creek Road, Crown Point, NY 12928

Phone: (518) 597-3804

Email: penfield@cptelco.net

The museum’s research library holdings range from 1790–present and include vital, church, cemetery, and census materials, over 1,600 family files, the records of the Crown Point Iron Company, and Civil War records. A list of local cemeteries and family names documented by the library’s holdings can be found on the museum’s website.  Accepts genealogical research requests.

 

Essex Community Heritage Organization, Inc.

Website: Essex Community Heritage Organization, Inc.

Address: PO Box 250, Essex, NY 12936

Email: echo@essexny.org

Holdings include historic records of the Town of Essex 1880–1991, photographs, and books.

 

Keene Public Library

Website: Keene Public Library

Address: P.O. Box 206, Main Street, Keene, New York 12942

Phone: (518) 576-2200

Email: keenepubliclibrary@outlook.com

Holdings include albums, newspapers, photographs, and genealogical information.

 

Keene Valley Library Archives: Loomis Room

Website: Keene Valley Library Archives: Loomis Room

Address: 1796 NYS Rt. 73, PO Box 86, Keene Valley, NY 12943

Phone: (518) 576-4335

Email: library@kvvi.net or archives@kvvi.net

Historical and genealogical material (including cemetery records, genealogies, and news clippings), the records of the Adirondack Mountain Preserve, and photographs.

 

Keeseville Free Library

Website: Keeseville Free Library

Address: 1721 Front Street, Keeseville, NY 12944

Phone: (518) 834-9054

Email: kesvlib@yahoo.com

Books, ledgers, and scrapbooks, marriage, and death records from local churches, as well as some family histories.

 

Lake Placid - North Elba Historical Society and Museum

Website: Lake Placid-North Elba Historical Society and Museum

Address: 242 Station Street, PO Box 189, Lake Placid, NY 12946

Phone: (518) 523-1608

Email: thehistorymuseum@verizon.net

Holdings include documents, photographs, and artifacts.

 

Lake Placid Public Library

Website: Lake Placid Public Library

Address: 2471 Main Street, Lake Placid, NY 12946

Phone: (518) 523-3200

 Email: librarian@lakeplacidlibrary.org

Holdings include an Adirondack Collection, scrapbook collection 1926–1944, and Lake Placid Club Archives.

 

Minerva Historical Society and Museum

Website: Minerva Historical Society and Museum

Address: PO Box 906, Minerva, NY 12851

Phone: (518) 251-2229 

Holdings include genealogy and family files. Publishes a quarterly newsletter with historical information.

 

Sherman Free Library

Website: Sherman Free Library

Address: 20 Church Street, Port Henry, NY 12975

Phone: (518) 546-7461

Email: flibrar1@nycap.rr.com

Books, family histories, maps, photographs and postcards, and scrapbooks compiled by local Reverend Woodbridge 1880s–1895 (including genealogical information from local newspapers).

 

Schroon-North Hudson Historical Society and Museum

Website: Schroon-North Hudson Historical Society and Museum

Address: PO Box 444, Schroon Lake, NY 12870

Phone: (518) 532-7615

Cemetery records, family histories, military records, photographs, school records, and artifacts.

 

Fort Ticonderoga/Thompson-Pell Research Center

Website: Fort Ticonderoga/Thompson-Pell Research Center`

Address: 30 Fort Ti Road, PO Box 390, Ticonderoga, NY 12883

Phone: (518) 585-2821

 Email: info@fort-ticonderoga.org

Holdings include Revolutionary era American and British newspapers, such as the London Chronicle and Annual Register; manuscripts, diaries, orderly books, maps, and photographs.

 

Ticonderoga Historical Society and Hancock House Museum

Website: Ticonderoga Historical Society and Hancock House Museum

Address: 6 Moses Circle, Ticonderoga, NY 12883

Phone: (518) 585-7868

Email: ths@capital.net 

Research library contains historical and genealogical material relating to the history of Ticonderoga, New York State, and surrounding areas. Records date from the mid-1700s–present and include census materials, cemetery records, newspapers (Ticonderoga Sentinel, 1874–1982), obituaries, photographs, and vital records.

 

Wells Memorial Library

Website: Wells Memorial Library

Address: 12230 NYS Route 9N, PO Box 57, Upper Jay, NY 12987

Phone: (518) 946-2644

Email: upperjaylibrary@whiteface.net

Genealogies, documents, and photographs; records of the Prime Brothers General Store 1880s–1910.

 

Willsboro Heritage Society, Inc.

Website: Willsboro Heritage Society, Inc.

Address: 6 Gilliland Lane, Willsboro, NY 12996

Email: whs@willex.com

Family files and cemetery transcriptions. Website includes cemetery transcriptions and surname index.

 

Wilmington Historical Society Collections

Website: Wilmington Historical Society Collections

Address: Wilmington Community Center, 7 Community Center Circle, Wilmington, NY 12997

Phone: (518) 420-8370

Email: whs12997@hotmail.com

Family history files, personal papers, census transcriptions, church records, maps, newspapers, photographs, school records, vital records, and the published series of  Town of  Wilmington records (transcriptions of school records 1822–1900, tax assessments 1850–1869, voting records 1860–1900, and more) compiled by Professor Harold Hinds.

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

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.

 

Deaths and Burials

 

Maps

 

Military Records

 

Newspapers

 

Other Records

 

Religious Records

 

Transportation

 

 

Bibliography

 

Abstracts, Indexes & Transcriptions

  • County of Essex 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 volun-teers 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.
  • Essex County, NYG&B Church Surveys Collection. NYG&B, New York. [NYG&B eLibrary]
  • Haviland, Mrs. Frank. “Essex and Warren County Cemetery Records.” Typescript, 1925. NYPL, New York
  • Hinds, Harold E. Town of Wilmington, Essex County, New York: Transcribed Serial Records. Bowie, MD: Willow Bend Books. Multiple volumes, 2004–2012. Book includes information trans-cribed from ledgers, census and schedules, tax assessment records, voting records, newspapers, and scrapbooks.
  • Jennings, Laura O. “Essex County Cemetery Inscriptions.” Typescript, 1963. [Ancestry.com]
  • Kelly, Arthur C. M. Index to Tree Talks County Packet: Essex County. Rhinebeck, NY: Kinship, 2002.
  • Samuelsen, W. David. Essex County, New York, Will Testators Index, 1803–1904. Salt Lake City: Sampubco., 1996.
  • 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

  • Bernstein, Burton. The Sticks:  A Profile of Essex County, New York. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., 1972.
  • Biographical Review: This Volume Contains Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Clinton and Essex Counties, New York. Boston, 1896. Index available from Berkshire Family History Association.
  • Cook, Joseph. Home Sketches of Essex County. Keeseville, NY, 1858.
  • Edith E. Cutting. Lore of an Adirondack County (Essex). Ithaca, NY: Cornell Press, 1944.
  • Essex County Historical Society. A Compendium of Local History, Being a Guide for the Educator and the Scholar to the History of Essex County, New York. Elizabethtown, NY: The Society, 1986.
  • Fay, Loren V. Essex County, New York, Genealogical Research Secrets. Albany: L. V. Fay, 1983.
  • Gray, O. W. and Son. New Topographical Atlas of Essex County, New York: From Official Records, Unpublished Maps and Plans, and Special Explorations and Surveys . . . . Philadelphia, 1876. [NYPL Digital Gallery]
  • Hinds, Harold E., and Tina M. Didreckson. A Basic Guide to Genea-logical and Family History Resources for Essex County, New York. Elizabethtown, NY: Essex County Historical Society, 2004.
  • New York Historical Resources Center. Guide to Historical Resources in Essex County, New York, Repositories. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, 1987. [books.FamilySearch.org]
  • Northern New York Library Network. Directory of Archival and Historical Document Collections. 2011–2013 edition; published digitally at http://nny.nnyln.org/archives/ArchivalDirectory.pdf. Online indexes at http://nny.nnyln.org/archives/page01.html. Describes collections held by organizations in Clinton, Essex, Franklin,  Jefferson, Lewis, Oswego, and St. Lawrence counties.
  • O.W. Gray & Son. New Topographical Atlas of Essex County, New York. Philadelphia, 1876.
  • Smith, Henry P. History of Essex County (NY): With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some if Its Prominent Men and Pioneers. Syracuse, 1885.
  • Watson, Winslow C. The Military and Civil History of the County of Essex, New York: And a General Survey of Its Physical Geography, Its Mines and Minerals, and Industrial Pursuits, Embracing an Account of the Northern Wilderness; and the Military Annals of the Fortresses of Crown Point and Ticonderoga. Albany, 1869.

 

 

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.