Herkimer County, New York Guide

Herkimer County is located in central New York, just north of the Mohawk River. It was created in 1791 with land partitioned from Montgomery County. Herkimer lies to the northwest of Albany and is bordered by Montgomery, Fulton, and Hamilton Counties to the east; Lewis and Oneida Counties to the west; Otsego County to the south; and Lawrence County to the north. 

County Formed: February 16, 1791

Parent County: Montgomery

Daughter Counties: Onondaga 1794, Chenango 1798, Oneida 1798

Major Land Transactions: Burnetsfield Patent 1725, Cosby’s Manor 1734, Royal Grant 1765, Totten and Crossfield Purchase 1771–1787, Macomb Purchase 1792

 

Herkimer County Map
Map of Herkimer County 

 

Table of Contents

 

 

 

History

The New York State county of Herkimer was created on February 16, 1791, along with Otsego and Tioga, as a breakaway county from Montgomery. The county was named after Revolutionary War General Nicholas Herkimer, who was fatally wounded at the Battle of Oriskany on August 6, 1777 and died 10 days later.

Settlers first came to the Herkimer region during the early 18th century and settled on the banks of the Hudson River. The majority of the new arrivals were Germanic immigrants from the Lower Palatinate escaping prosecution in their homeland. The British granted these immigrants land in the northern area of colonial New York primarily to serve as a buffer for British-populated areas against the Native American tribes of the frontier. The region and its population were heavily affected by the French and Indian War (1754-1763), as French Canadians and their indigenous allies captured and pillaged many of the area’s settlements. During the Revolutionary War, the area was protected by Fort Herkimer and Fort Dayton, allowing settlers to maintain their prosperous farms throughout the hostilities.

Herkimer County was included in Macomb’s Purchase of 1791, when merchant Alexander Macomb purchased nearly 4 million acres of land in western and northern New York from the state during a period of financial insecurity. The amount of land purchased - nearly one-eighth of New York’s land area - and the low price at which Macomb made the purchase (approximately eight New York Pence per acre) aroused suspicion in the New York State Legislature. Although numerous inquiries, hearings, and investigations were made by the legislature, no criminal activity was discovered. However, Macomb was unable to sell his land fast enough to finance the massive purchase and was forced to declare bankruptcy only six months later. He went to debtor’s prison and was forced to sell his land to other wealthy merchants to pay off his liabilities.

The Herkimer region has always been associated with fertile farmland and the county has a long history of dairy farming. A cheese-making industry was established in Herkimer county in 1785, began exporting to the rest of New York at the start of the 19th century, and by 1830, had established a cheese trade with Great Britain.

The construction of the Erie Canal resulted in the establishment of large trading villages along the canal zone and a boom in Herkimer’s economy. The canal allowed Herkimer County, a generally isolated area, to easily transport goods to and from both eastern and western New York. The Remington Arms Company, established in Ilion, Herkimer County in 1816, played a significant role in shaping the county’s economy and culture (Remington has since relocated to Madison, North Carolina).

During the Civil War, Herkimer County sent five companies of men to join the 34th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment. The large ratio of Herkimer soldiers in the unit compared to men from other counties resulted in the nickname “the Herkimer Regiment.” The regiment fought in some of the bloodiest battles of the war, including the Seven Days Battles, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville and was able to sustain only minimal casualties. Nearly 85% of the Herkimer Regiment had survived the war when the contingent was mustered out of service on June 30, 1863. This is one of the best survival rates of any infantry regiment that served in America’s deadliest conflict.

Note about Herkimer Early Records

Herkimer’s county seat was in Whitestown 1791–1798; these records are with the Oneida County Clerk’s office as Whitestown became part of Oneida County in 1798. Records 1798–1804 were lost in a courthouse fire. 

Sources

 

 

 

Repositories, Resources, and Societies – County

Herkimer County Clerk

Website: Herkimer County Clerk

Address: Herkimer County Building, 109 Mary Street, Suite 1111, Herkimer, NY 13350

Phone: (315) 867-1129

Deeds 1804–present (for earlier records, see Oneida County); survey maps mid-1800s–present; atlases 1868–1906; incorporation records 1814–present; index to business names 1902–present; naturalization records 1818–1955; federal census records 1820–1920, Herkimer County originals of the New York state census 1825, 1835, 1845, 1855, 1865, 1875, 1892, 1905, 1915, and 1925.

 

Herkimer County - City, Town, and Village Clerks

Website: Herkimer County – City, 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.

 

Herkimer County Surrogate's Court

Website: Herkimer County Surrogate’s Court

Address: 301 N. Washington Street, Herkimer, NY 13350

Phone: (315) 867-1170

Holdings include probate records from 1791 to the present.

 

Herkimer County Public Libraries

Website: Herkimer County Public Libraries

Herkimer is part of the Mid-York Library System. Many hold genealogy and local history collections, including maps and newspapers.  

 

Herkimer County Historical Society

Website: Herkimer County Historical Society

Address: 400 North Main Street, Herkimer, NY 13350

Phone: (315) 866-6413

Email: herkimerhistory@yahoo.com

Federal and New York state census records 1790–1930 (in print and on CD), business directories (1869–1995 with gaps), cemetery files, will index 1790–1900, newspapers, marriage, and obituary notices 1800s, Evening Telegram, 1900–1920, and Herkimer/Ilion Citizen, 1867–1921, genealogies, gazetteers 1860 and 1875, county atlases 1868 and 1906, township/village publications, history books, and vertical files. Also includes family sketches taken from Hardin’s 1893 History of Herkimer County; and town histories taken from Benton’s 1856 History of Herkimer County. Publishes a journal, Herkimer County Historical Crier.

 

Herkimer County Historian

Website: Herkimer County Historian

Address: 318 Margaret Street, Herkimer, NY 13350

Phone: (315) 866-1398

 

Herkimer County - All Municipal Historians

Website: Herkimer County – All Municipal Historians

While not authorized to answer genealogical inquiries, city, town and village historians can provide valuable historical information and research advice to family historians; some maintain collections with genealogical material. Some historians also have webpages with local histories, transcribed records, links to useful resources, and other genealogical information.

 

 

 

Repositories, Resources, and Societies – Regional

Adirondack Experience Museum Library

Website: Adirondack Experience Museum Library

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

Phone: (518) 352-7311

 

Fulton-Montgomery Community College: The Kenneth R. Dorn Regional History Study Center at Evans Library

Website:  The Kenneth R. Dorn Regional History Study Center

Address: 2805 State Highway 67, Johnstown, NY 12095

Phone: (518) 212 - 7685

Email: libinfo@fmcc.edu

 

SUNY at Oswego: Local History Collection

Website: SUNY at Oswego: Local History Collection

Address: Penfield Library, Special Collections, Oswego, NY 13126

Phone: (315) 312-3537 

Email: archives@oswego.edu

 

 

 

 

Repositories, Resources, and Societies – Local

Alphabetized by location

The Dolgeville/Manheim Historical Society

Website: The Dolgeville/Manheim Historical Society

Address: 74 South Main Street, Dolgeville, NY 13329

Email: dolgevillemanheim@gmail.com

Local history books, genealogies, newspapers, and photographs.

 

Frank J. Basloe Public Library: Genealogy Room

Website: Genealogy Room

Address: The Evelyn Dexter Arthur Collection, 245 N. Main Street, Herkimer, NY 13350

Phone: (315) 866-1733

Obituary index from Herkimer Evening Telegram, 1945–present, more than 600 genealogical research books, more than 100 binders of locality files and various publications, census on microfilm, private genealogical books of various town families, maps, and city directories.

 

Ilion Free Public Library

Website: Ilion Free Public Library

Address: 78 West Street, Ilion, NY 13357

Phone: (315) 894-5028

Local histories, city directories, church files, business files, local newspapers on microfilm, photographs, obituary files, founding family files, genealogical books on local families, local directories, and yearbooks.

 

Town of Warren Historical Society

Address: Main Street, PO Box 44, Jordanville, NY 13407

Phone: (315) 858-2874

Family files, newspaper clippings, photographs, and scrapbooks.

 

The Little Falls Historical Society Museum

Website: The Little Falls Historical Society Museum

Address: 319 South Ann Street, Little Falls, NY 13365

Phone: (315) 823-0643

Email: info@lfhistoricalsociety.com

Materials, records, and artifacts that relate to local history and genealogy. 

 

Kuyahoora Valley Historical Society

Website: Kuyahoora Valley Historical Society

Address: Newport History Center, 7435 Main Street, PO Box 445, Newport, NY 13416

Phone: (315) 845-8434

Email: newhisct@ntcnet.com

Documents the history of the towns of Fairfield, Newport, Norway, Ohio, and Russia. Obituaries, cemetery records, artifacts, family files, yearbooks, pictures, postcards, souvenirs, biographies, town history, diaries, book and record indexes, historical house information, and wedding photos.

 

Newport History Center

Website: Newport History Center

Address: 7435 Main Street, Newport, NY 13416

Phone: (315) 845-8434

Email: newhisct@ntcnet.com

Books, documents, and genealogical information, 1796–present.

 

Norway Historical Society

Website: Norway Historical Society

Street Address: 1067 Newport Gray Road, Norway, NY 13416

Mailing Address: PO Box 55, Newport NY 13416

Phone: (315) 845-6650

Housed in the Norway Baptist Church, built in 1831. Holdings include records from the early-1800s to the present.

 

Town of Webb Historical Association and Goodsell Museum

Website: Town of Webb Historical Association and Goodsell Museum

Address: PO Box 513, Old Forge, NY 13420

Phone: (315) 369-3838

Email: director@webbhistory.org

Local newspapers 1926–present, maps, photographs and postcards, vertical files, yearbooks, artifacts, and more.

 

Salisbury Historical Society and 1805 Frisbie House

Address: 109 State Route 29A, Salisbury Center, NY 13454

Phone: (315) 429-3605

Holdings include family files, photographs, and scrapbooks.

 

 

 

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 Herkimer County Clerk’s Office: 1825, 1835, 1845, 1855, 1865, 1875, 1892, 1905, 1915, 1925
  • State originals at the NYSA: 1915, 1925
  • Microfilm at the FHL, NYPL, NYSHA, and NYSL; many years are online at FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com.
  • For 1825 census transcription and index, see Barnello, et. al., in Abstracts, Indexes & Transcriptions.

 

 

 

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: Herkimer County

Part of the national, USGenWeb volunteer initiative, the website provides information and resources for county research, including the Herkimer County Tombstone Inscriptions page which provides links to more than 100 cemetery and burial records databases for Herkimer County.

 

Deaths and Burials

 

Maps

 

Military Records

 

Newspapers

 

Other Records

 

Religious Records

 

Transportation

 

 

 

Selected Bibliography

Abstracts, Indexes & Transcriptions

  • American Agriculturist Farm Directory and Reference Book of Otsego and Herkimer Counties, New York, 1917; A Rural Directory and Reference Book Including a Road Map of Otsego and Herkimer Counties. New York: O. Judd Co., 1917.
  • Barnello, Kathleen, Joan Green, Joyce Mason, and Harold Witter. Abstract of the 1825 New York State Census of Herkimer County, New York.    Syracuse: Central New York Genealogical Society, 1999. Originally published in Tree Talks, vol. 39, no. 4 (1999): 1–47. Index: 49–66, introduction: ii–vii.
  • Becker, Edith V., Melvin W. Lethbridge, and Leslie A. Frye. Cemetery Records of Saratoga, Herkimer, and Hamilton Counties. New York: Montgomery County (NY) Department of History and Archives, 1939. Includes index.
  • Cormack, Marie Noll, and Katherine A. Furman. New York State Cemetery Inscriptions: Albany County, Herkimer County, Montgomery County, Saratoga County, Schenectady County. Salt Lake City: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1967.
  • County of Herkimer 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.
  • Herkimer County Historical Society. Index to the 1855 New York State Census of Herkimer County. Syracuse: Hall & McChesney, 1980.
  • Herkimer County, NYG&B Church Surveys Collection. NYG&B, New York. [NYG&B eLibrary]
  • Kelly, Arthur C. M. Baptism Record of German Flats Reformed Church. Rhinebeck, NY: Arthur C. M. Kelly, 1983. Includes indexes.
  • Kelly, Arthur C. M. Baptism Record of Herkimer Reformed Church, 1801–1899. Rhinebeck, NY: Arthur C. M. Kelly, 1983. Includes indexes.
  • Kelly, Arthur C. M. Index to Tree Talks County Packet: Herkimer County. Rhinebeck, NY: Kinship, 2002.
  • Kelly, Arthur C. M. Marriage Records of German Flats and Herkimer Reformed Churches, German Flats & Herkimer, Herkimer County, New York, 1781–1899. Rhinebeck, NY:  Arthur C.M. Kelly, 1983.
  • Montgomery Department of History and Archives. Index of Records Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Herkimer. 2 vols. New York: Montgomery Department of History and Archives, 1941.
  • “Records of the Dutch Reformed Church of Columbia, Herkimer County, New York, 1806–1836, and Columbia Dutch Reformed Church Cemetery, etc.” Typescript, 1956. Family History Library, Salt Lake City.
  • Samuelson, W. David. Herkimer County, New York, 1835 State Census Index. Salt Lake City: Sampubco., 1994.
  • Unsel, Mary M. “Private Business Records: Oneida and Herkimer County.” Typescript, 1982. NYPL, New York.
  • Vosburgh, Royden Woodward, ed. “Records of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Herkimer in the Town of Herkimer, Herkimer County, N.Y.” 3 vols. Typescript, 1918. NYPL, New York. [NYG&B eLibrary (vol 1)]
  • Wood, Ralph V. Herkimer County, New York State: Federal Population Census Schedules, 1800, 1810, 1820; Transcripts and Index. Cambridge, MA: n.p., 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.​

Other Resources

  • Barker, William V. H. Early Families of Herkimer County, New York: Descendants of the Burnetsfield Palatines. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1986.
  • Benton, Nathaniel S. A History of Herkimer County: Including the Upper Mohawk Valley . . . the Palatine Immigrations into the Colony of New York, and Biographical Sketches of the Palatine Families, the Patentees of Burnetsfield in the Year 1725 . . . . Albany: J. Munsell, 1856.
  • Central New York Library Resources Council. Guide to Historical Organizations in Central New York. (Onondaga, Herkimer, Oneida, Madison) Digitally published May 2009. www.clrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/DHPHistGuide09b.pdf
  • Child, Hamilton. Gazetteer and Business Directory of Herkimer County, N.Y., for 1869–70. Syracuse: Hamilton Child, 1869.
  • Cristman, Franklin W. Herkimer County in the World War: 1916 to 1918. Little Falls, NY: Press of the Journal & Courier Co., 1927.
  • Cutter, William R. Genealogical and Family History of Central New York: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Building of a Nation. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1912.
  • Denton, Emily R. Prayer and Praise: Churches in Herkimer County, 1723–1981. Herkimer, NY: Herkimer County Historical Society, 1981.
  • Dieffenbacher, Jane W. Herkimer County Valley Towns. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2002.
  • Greene, Nelson. History of the Mohawk Valley, Gateway to the West, 1614–1925; Covering the Six Counties of Schenectady, Schoharie, Montgomery, Fulton, Herkimer, and Oneida. Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1925.
  • Hardin, George A., and Frank Willard. History of Herkimer County, NY: Illustrated with Portraits of Many of Its Citizens. Syracuse, 1893.
  • Herkimer County Historical Society. Herkimer County at 200. Herkimer, NY: Herkimer County Historical Society, 1992.
  • History of Herkimer County, NY. New York, 1878. Index available from Berkshire Family History Association.
  • Krutz, David P. Distant Drums: Herkimer County, New York, in the War of the Rebellion. Utica, NY: North Country Books, 1997.
  • New York Historical Resources Center. Guide to Historical Resources in Herkimer County, New York, Repositories. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, 1982. [books.FamilySearch.org]
  • Nichols, Beach. Atlas of Herkimer County, New York. New York, 1869.
  • Roback, Henry. The Veteran Volunteers of Herkimer and Otsego Counties in the War of the Rebellion: Being a History of the 152nd N.Y.V. . . . the 34th N.Y., 97th N.Y., 121st N.Y. Heavy Artillery and 1st and 2nd N.Y. Mounted Rifles . . . . Utica, NY, 1888.

 

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.