Rockland County, New York Guide

Rockland County lies 9.5 miles north of Manhattan and is bounded on the east by the Hudson River, on the north and west by the Ramapo Mountains, and on the south by New Jersey. ​

County Formed: 1798

Parent County: Orange

Daughter Counties: None

Major Land Transactions: Kakiat Patent, 1696; Chesecock Patent, 1707

 

Rockland County Map
Map of Rockland County

Table of Contents 

 

 

 

History

The first residents of Rockland County were the Delaware and Lenape Indians. In 1609, Henry Hudson sailed up the river and anchored in the Tappan Zee, the widest part of the river, which is located in what is now Rockland. In 1664, the land passed from the Dutch to the English. In 1686, the land was included as part of Orange County in the Duke of York’s new  county organization. Over the 18th century, the land was cleared to make room for homes and mills.

During the American Revolution, a few key battles took place in Rockland, which was ravaged by the British. In 1798, the area that is now Rockland County separated from Orange County. 

1827 saw the first steamboats on the Hudson River. This innovation, paired with the railroad completed in 1851, revolutionized the ability to travel and transport goods without having to rely on precarious roads.

By now, Rockland has lost most of its rural aspects. Most farms have been replaced by suburban neighborhoods, and the building of the Tappan Zee Bridge as well as the New York State Thruway have increased traffic in the area.

 

 

 

Repositories, Resources, and Societies – County

Rockland County Clerk

Website: Rockland County Clerk

Address: Rockland County Courthouse, 1 South Main Street, Suite 100, New City, NY 10956-5070

Phone: (845) 638-5070 

Email: rocklandcountyclerk@co.rockland.ny.us

Court records; land records 1798–1929; naturalization records 1907–1960; declarations of intent 1884–1929; and the New York state censuses for Rockland County 1855, 1865, 1875, 1892, 1905, 1915, and 1925. The clerk has an index to naturalization records. Transcriptions of deeds and mortgages beginning in 1798 are indexed and searchable on website.

 

Rockland County - Town and Village Clerks

Website: Rockland County – Town and Village Clerks

Birth, marriage, and death records are maintained by the clerk of the municipality in which the event occurred. See municipal websites for contact information.

 

Rockland County Surrogate's Court

Website: Rockland County Surrogate’s Court

Address: 1 South Main Street, New City, NY 10956

Phone: (845) 483-8300

Holds “official records” for probate from 1798 to the present. 

 

Rockland County Archives

Website: Rockland County Archives

Address: Pomona Health Complex, Building S, 50 Sanatorium Road, Pomona, NY 10970

Phone: (845) 364-3670

Email: bandmanc@co.rockland.ny.us

Extensive guide to holdings on website. Publicly available microfilm records include federal and state census records 1855–1920; marriage records 1908–1935, marriage licenses 1926–1935 (digitized); naturalization records 1812–1991 (digitized); Orange County deeds (digitized) and mortgages 1703–1800; Rockland County deeds 1798–1936; Rockland County mortgages 1798–1948; Surrogate Court estate files 1800–1939 and wills 1798–1965 for genealogical purposes; tax records/rolls 1855 or 1857–1964; maps and atlases; and more. Also holds court records (Supreme and County) 1798–2001. Onsite search kiosk for indexes and digitized collections.

 

Rockland County Public Libraries

Website: Rockland County Public Libraries

Rockland is part of the Ramapo Catskill Library System. Many libraries hold local history and genealogy collections. For example, Blauvelt Free Library holds information on the Blauvelt family. 

 

Rockland County Historian

Address: 12 Ashwood Lane, Garnerville, NY 10923

Phone: (845) 357-6383

 

Rockland County - All Municipal Historians

Website: Rockland 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. 

 

African American Historical Society of Rockland County

Website: African American Historical Society of Rockland County

Address: PO Box 652, Pomona, NY 10970

Phone: (845) 362-2126 

Email: mail@aahsofrockland.org​

The AAHS is focused primarily on the experiences of African Americans in Rockland County and New York State. In addition to partnering on the Rockland African Diaspora Heritage Center, it has established Rootswork-The AAHS Family History Institute, which offers educational programs on family history research at the Nyack Library.

 

The Genealogical Society of Rockland County

Website: The Genealogical Society of Rockland County

Address: PO Box 444, New City, NY 10956

Email: rocklandgenealogy@gmail.com

Maintains reference collections at the New City Library and the Records Management and Archives Department in Pomona. Holdings include cemetery records and genealogies. 

 

The Historical Society of Rockland County

Website: The Historical Society of Rockland County

Address: 20 Zukor Road, New City, NY 10956

Phone: (845) 634-9629

Email: info@rocklandhistory.org

Family Bibles, deeds, diaries, lantern slides, ledgers, letters, drawings, maps and atlases, and photographs; manuscripts and ephemera documenting the Dutch-American Blauvelt family. Website includes list of local historians and article “A Brief History of Rockland County.” Publishes a journal on Rockland County history called South of the Mountains.

 

 

 

Repositories, Resources, and Societies – Regional

Bard College Archives and Special Collections

​​Website: Bard College Archives and Special Collections

Address: Stevenson Library Archives and Special Collections, One Library Road, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504

Phone: (845) 758-7396

Email: archives@bard.edu

Categories include Hudson Valley Archives (local history materials), Tivoli Photograph Collection, historical journals, and Bard College history. Complete list of holdings available on website.

 

 

 

Repositories, Resources, and Societies – Local

Alphabetized by location

New City Library: Rockland Room

Website: Rockland Room

Address: 220 North Main Street • New City, NY 10956

Phone: (845) 634-4997, ext. 123

Email: jbarbieri@newcitylibrary.org 

Local histories and genealogies, census materials, maps, newspapers on microfilm 1847–present, telephone books 1883–present, print materials, vertical files, and Rockland County Messenger, 1847–1898. Documents relating to the history of the Town of Clarkstown, 1752–1789, are online.

 

Historical Society of the Nyacks at the DePew House

Website: Historical Society of the Nyacks at the DePew House

Address: 50 Piermont Avenue, Suite L-2, PO Box 850, Nyack, NY 10960

Phone: (845) 418-4430

Email: info@nyackhistory.org

Holdings include historical papers on history of the Nyacks.

 

The Nyack Library: Local History Collection

Website: The Nyack Library: Local History Collection

Address: 59 South Broadway, Nyack, NY 10960

Phone: (845) 358-3370 ext. 256

Email: info@nyacklibrary.org or history@nyacklibrary.org

Books and pamphlets, genealogies, maps, photographs, and yearbooks. Nyack Library Local History Image Collection and Rockland County Journal, online. Website includes finding aids and guides to Library’s resources.

 

Orangetown Historical Museum & Archives at the DePew House

Website: Orangetown Historical Museum & Archives at the DePew House

Address: 196 Chief Bill Harris Way (196 Blaisdel Road), Orangeburg, NY 10962

Phone: (845) 398-1302

Email: otownmuseum@optonline.net 

Eclectic document library and archives, open to researchers.

 

Palisades Free Library: Local History Collection

Website: Local History Collection

Address: 19 Closter Road, Palisades, NY 10964

Phone: (845) 359-0136

Email: pal@rcls.org

Maps, photographs, Gesner Diary (1829–1850), Palisades local newsletter, 10964 (1977–present) and local history articles.

 

Pearl River Public Library: Local History & Archives

Website: Local History and Archives

Address: 80 Franklin Avenue, Pearl River, NY 10965

Phone: (845) 735-4084

Ephemera and photographs (1872–present) documenting history of local schools, government, and institutions; information on local cemeteries.

 

Piermont Historical Society

Website: Piermont Historical Society

Address: 50 Ash Street, PO Box 362, Piermont, NY 10968

Email: info@piermonthistorysociety.org

Website includes gallery of local photographs.

 

Sloatsburg Historical Society

Website: Sloatsburg Historical Society

Street Address: 96 Orange Turnpike, Sloatsburg, NY 10974

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 303, Sloatsburg, NY   10974

Phone: (845) 753-2030

Email: info@sloatsburgny.com

Website includes history of local structures and cemeteries and selected family histories. Society accepts research requests.

 

Suffern Free Library: Ramapo Room

Website: Ramapo Room

Address: 210 Lafayette Avenue, Suffern, NY 10901

Phone: (845) 357-1237

Holdings include books, census materials, city directories, newspapers, and photographs.

 

Tappantown Historical Society 

Website: Tappantown Historical Society

Address: PO Box 71, Tappan, NY 10983

Website includes maps and photographs.

 

 

 

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. 

 

 

 

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 Rockland County Clerk’s Office: 1855, 1865, 1875, 1892, 1905, 1915, 1925 (1825, 1835, and 1845 are lost)
  • State originals at the NYSA: 1915, 1925
  • Microfilm at the FHL, NYPL, and NYSL
  • Many years are online at FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com.

 

 

 

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.

Dutch Door Genealogy

The website provides free access to a selection of transcribed census and religious records and historical information for Orange and Rockland counties.

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.

Hudson River Valley Heritage (HRVH)

The HRVH website provides free access to digital collections of historical material from more than 40 organizations in Columbia, Greene, Dutchess, Ulster, Sullivan, Rockland, Orange, Putnam, and Westchester counties.

NYGenWeb Project: Rockland County

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

 

Deaths and Burials

 

Ethnic Groups and Organizations

 

Maps

 

Military Records

 

Newspapers

New York Heritage Digital Collections: New York State Newspaper Project

The website provides links to digital newspapers collections in 26 counties (currently) made accessible through New York Heritage, New York State Historic Newspapers, HRVH Historical Newspapers, and other providers.

 

Other Records

Rockland County Archivist Naturalization Database

Searchable index of Declarations of Intention 1812–1991 and Naturalization Oaths 1836–1896 for Rockland County; listing gives name, date, and place of origin. Index can be browsed by surname here.

 

Religious Records

 

Transportation

 

 

 

Articles in The Record

 

 

Selected Bibliography

Abstracts, Indexes & Transcriptions

  • Ackerman, Herbert S., and Arthur J. Goff, comps. New York and New Jersey Cemeteries. Ridgewood, NJ: The Compilers, 1947. Includes cemeteries in Bardonia, Kakeath (West New Hempstead), Monsey, Nanuet, Pearl River, and Orangeburg.
  • Barber, Gertrude Audrey. “Abstracts of Wills of Rockland County, New York: Copied from the Original Records at the Surrogate’s Office, New City, Rockland County, NY.” 4 vols. Typescript, 1950–1953. [Ancestry.com]
  • Barber, Gertrude Audrey. “Graveyard Inscriptions of Rockland County, NY.” Typescript, 1931. NYPL, New York.
  • “Betrothals and Marriages of the Dutch Reformed Church of Tappan, Rockland County, New York.” NYG&B Record, vol. 84 (1953) no. 3: 162–169, no. 4: 235–238; vol. 85 (1954) no. 2: 98–106, no. 3: 168–171, no. 4: 239–245; vol. 86 (1955) no. 2: 111–119, no. 3: 169–176, no. 4: 169–176. [NYG&B eLibrary]
  • Budke, George H. Abstracts of Early Deeds, Patents, Mortgages, and Other Instruments Affecting the Land Titles of Rockland County, NY. New York: Library Association of Rockland County, 1975. Original typescript, 1918, and others, by Mr. Budke at the NYPL.
  • Budke, George H. “George H. Budke Collection, 1798-1948.” New York Public Library, New York. Consists of manuscripts and transcripts of materials on Rockland County, New YOrk, and Bergen County, New Jersey. Includes original manuscripts, photostats, typewritten manuscripts of land papers consisting mainly of eighteenth century Indian deeds, patents, unrecorded deeds, leases, surveys, and maps. Also, correspondence, family histories, copies of tombstone inscriptions, extracts from early newspapers, and other materials.
  • Budke, George H. Patents Granted for Lands in the Present County of Rockland, New York, with Biographical Notices of the Patentees. New York: Library Association of Rockland County, 1975. Original typescript, 1928. NYPL, New York.
  • Budke, George H. Records of the Township of Clarkstown, N. Y., April, 1791 to March, 1896. New York: Library Association of Rockland County, 1975. Original typescript, 1926. NYPL, New York.
  • Cohen, Minnie. “Abstracts of Wills of Rockland County, New York, 1786–1845.” 3 vols. Typescript, 1937–1939. NYPL, New York. [Ancestry.com]
  • Cole, David, and Walter Kenneth Griffin. “Records of the Reformed Dutch Church of Kakiat.” Typescript, n.d. NYPL, New York. From church records and private registers, 1774–1864. [NYG&B eLibrary]
  • 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.
  • Noel, John V., and Pierre, Charles G. Rockland County Red Book and Classified Directory. Valley Cottage, NY: Noel Press, 1926.
  • Rockland County, NYG&B Church Surveys Collection. NYG&B, New York. [NYG&B eLibrary]
  • 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

  • Baker, Norman R. The Way It Was in North Rockland. Orangeburg, NY: Historical Society of Rockland County, 1973.
  • Bedell, Cornelia F. Now and Then and Long Ago in Rockland County, New York. Suffern, NY: Ramapo Valley Independent, 1941.
  • Beers, F. W. County Atlas of Rockland, New York: From Recent and Actual Surveys and Records. New York, 1875.
  • Chapman Publishing Company. Portrait and Biographical Record of Rockland and Orange Counties, New York: Containing Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the Counties. Together with Biographies and Portraits of All the Presidents of the United States. 2 vols. New York, 1895.
  • Cohen, David S. The Ramapo Mountain People. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1974. Results of a genealogical inquiry into the origins of the Ramapo Mountain People of Rockland County and New Jersey.
  • Cole, David. History of Rockland County, New York, with Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men. New York, 1884.
  • French, F. F.  Map of Orange and Rockland Counties, New York: From Actual Surveys. Philadelphia, 1859. Wall map.
  • Greater Hudson Heritage Network. History Keepers’ Companion: Guide to Sites & Sources of the Lower Hudson Valley and Western Connecticut. Fleischmanns, N.Y: Purple Mountain Press, 1998. The Greater Hudson Heritage Network is in the process of updating and creating an online version of this publication; information is at www.greaterhudson.org/history-keepers-companion.html.
  • Green, Frank B. The History of Rockland County. New York: Historical Society of Rockland County, 1989. First published 1886.
  • Haley, Jacquetta M. Rockland County, New York in the 1790s. New York: Historical Society of Rockland County, 1997.
  • Hudson River Valley Review: A Journal of Regional Studies. Poughkeepsie, NY: Hudson River Valley Institute at Marist College, 2002–present. [hudsonrivervalley.org]
  • New York Historical Resources Center. Guide to Historical Resources in Rockland County, New York, Repositories. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, 1990. [books.FamilySearch.org]
  • Nordstrom, Carl.  A Finding List of Bibliographical Materials Relating to Rockland County, New York. Orangeburg, NY: Tappan Zee Historical Society, 1959.
  • Penfold, Saxby V. Suffern’s Contribution to the Founding of Rockland County: Written in Commemoration of the Rockland County Sesquicentennial, 1798–1948. Suffern, NY: Suffern Historical Society, 1948.
  • Rockland County Almanac and Year Book, 1934: Most Complete Fact Book Ever Compiled About Rockland County, New York. Rockland County, NY: 1934.
  • Rockland County Planning Board. Rockland County Data Book. New York: The Board, 1970.
  • Tholl, C. K. Landmarks of Rockland County : with old roads and early buildings / The Historical Society of Rockland County. [New City, NY]:  The Society, 1975. Map.
  • Tompkins, Arthur S. Historical Record to the Close of the Nineteenth Century of Rockland County, New York. Nyack, NY: Van Deusen & Joyce, 1902.
  • Zimm, Louise H. Southeastern New York: History of the Counties of Ulster, Dutchess, Orange, Rockland, and Putnam. 3 vols. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1946. Index available from Berkshire Family History Association.
  • Zimmerman, Linda. Rockland County Century of History. New York: Historical Society of Rockland County, 2002.

 

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.