Yates County is bordered by Ontario, Seneca, Steuben, and Schuyler counties.
County Formed: February 5, 1823
Parent County: Ontario
Daughter Counties: None
Major Land Transactions: Phelps and Gorham Purchase 1788
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
- Online Resources
- Selected Bibliography
History
Though Yates County was occupied by the Seneca tribe prior to European arrival, it was not until after General John Sullivan’s massive 1779 campaign against the Iroquois that colonists settled there. Among these newly arrived settlers were French Canadian traders and fishermen who lived by Seneca Lake’s shores. In 1787, a number of families and women from the states of Rhode Island and Pennsylvania migrated to the county. Yates County was created in 1823 from Ontario County, and named after then New York State Governor Joseph Yates. The largest industry has always been agriculture, but past economic ventures included the manufacturing of clothing, shoes, brass door hardware, and boats. The Phelps and Gorham Purchase of 1788 was a significant land transaction to occur in this area. Past county seats include the Towns of Benton, Jerusalem, and Milo, and the current seat is the Village of Penn Yan.
Reference: The Encyclopedia of New York State p. 1737
Learn more about Yates County from the Yates County historian's website.
Repositories, Resources, and Societies - County
Yates County Clerk
Website: Yates County Clerk
Address: Yates County Office Building, 417 Liberty Street, Suite 1107, Penn Yan, NY 14527
Phone: (315) 536-5120
Email: countyclerk@yatescounty.org
Yates County - City, Town, and Village Clerks
Website: Yates 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.
Yates County Surrogate's Court
Website: Yates County Surrogate's Court
Address: Yates County Court Building, 415 Liberty Street, Penn Yan, NY 14527
Phone: (315) 536-5130
Yates County Public Libraries
Website: Yates County Public Libraries
Yates is part of the Southern Tier Library System. Many hold genealogy and local history collections. See listings below for Dundee Library and Penn Yan Public Library.
Yates County Office of Public History/Historian's Office
Website: Yates County Office of Public History/Historian’s Office
Address: Yates County Office Building, 417 Liberty Street, Penn Yan, NY 14527 •
Phone: (315) 536-5147
Email: history@yatescounty.org
Yates County - All Municipal Historians
Website: Yates 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. See contact information at or at the website of the Association of Public Historians of New York State.
Yates County Genealogical & Historical Society, Inc.
Website: Yates County Genealogical & Historical Society, Inc.
Address: 107 Chapel Street, Penn Yan, NY 14527
Phone: (315) 536-7318
Email: ycghs@yatespast.org
Repositories, Resources, and Societies - Regional
University of Albany Special Collections and Archives
Website: University of Albany, SUNY
Address: 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12222
Phone: (518) 437-3835
Repositories, Resources, and Societies - Local
Alphabetized by location
Dundee Area Historical Society
Website: Dundee Area Historical Society
Address: 26 Seneca Street, Dundee, NY 14873
Phone: (607) 243-7047 •
Email: dundeehistory@live.com
Dundee Library
Website: Dundee Library
Address: 32 Water Street, Dundee, NY 1483
Phone: (607) 243-5938
Middlesex Heritage Group
Address: Middlesex Town Hall, Route 364, Middlesex, NY 14507
Phone: (585) 554-3607 Ext. 1006
Email: middlesexheritagegroup@gmail.com
Penn Yan Public Library
Website: Penn Yan Public Library
Address: 214 Main Street, Penn Yan, NY 14527
Phone: (315) 536-6114
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 Yates County Clerk’s Office: 1825, 1835, 1845, 1855, 1865, 1875, 1892, 1905, 1915, 1925
- Microfilm at the FHL, NYPL, NYSHA, and NYSL
- Many years are online at FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com.
- State originals at the NYSA: 1915, 1925
- 1845 census records only survive for three towns – Barrington, Italy, and Potter. Indexes for all years of the NYS census are online at the website of the county historian.
Other Online Resources
General Resources
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 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 Project: Yates County
Part of the national, USGenWeb volunteer initiative, the website provides information and resources for county research.
Maps
- New York, Land Records, 1630–1975 - Includes land and property records
Other Records
- New York, Probate Records, 1629–1971 - Includes wills, letters of administration, and guardianship papers
Selected Bibliography
Abstracts, Indexes & Transcriptions
- Abstract of the 1825 New York State Census of Yates County. Syracuse: Central New York Genealogical Society, 1988.
- Cleveland, Stafford C., and Thelma E. Burton Bootes. “Inscriptions From Three Abandoned Cemeteries in Yates County, New York: Friends Burying Ground, Stoddard Family Cemetery, Thomas Family Cemetery. With Index and Family History. Copied from History of Yates County, by S. C. Cleveland, 1873, by Thelma Burton Bootes (Mrs. Fenton E. Bootes).” Typescript, n.d. NYPL, New York.
- County of Yates 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.
- Dumas, Frances. Yates County Cemeteries and Cemetery Burials. Penn Yan, NY: F. Dumas, 1997.
- Kelly, Arthur C. M. Index to Tree Talks County Packet: Yates County. Rhinebeck, NY: Kinship, 2002.
- Stark, Helen. “Graveyard Inscriptions from Some Yates Co., N.Y., Cemeteries.” Manuscript, 1915. NYPL, New York.
- Stenzel, Dianne. Genealogical Gleanings Abstracted from the Early Newspapers of Penn Yan, Yates County, New York, 1823–1833 and 1841–1855. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1991.
- Stenzel, Dianne. Genealogical Gleanings Abstracted from the Yates County Chronicle, Penn Yan, New York, May 1856 to October 1867. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1992.
- 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
- Aldrich, Louis C. History of Yates County, New York: With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of the Prominent Men and Pioneers. Syracuse, 1891.
- Cleveland, Stafford C. History and Directory of Yates County. 2 vols. Penn Yan, NY, 1873. Reprint, Penn Yan, NY: Carlton L. Wheeler, 1951. Index available from Berkshire Family History Association.
- Everts, Ensign & Everts. Combination Atlas Map of Yates County, NY. Philadelphia, 1875.
- Foley, Janet W. Early Settlers of New York State: Their Ancestors and Descendants. 9 vols. Akron, NY: 1934–1942. Reprint, 2 vols. Baltimore, Genealogical Publishing Co., 1993.
- New York Historical Resources Center. Guide to Historical Resources in Yates County, New York, Repositories. Ithaca, NY: New York Historical Resources Center, Olin Library, Cornell University, 1984.
- Records of the Ithaca College Study Center for Early Religious Life in Western New York, 1978–1981. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library. A description of the holdings for each county is at http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/eguides/lists/churchlist1.htm.
- Slater-Putt, Dawne. “John and Elizabeth (Halbert) Blair of Ontario and Yates Counties, New York.” NYG&B Record, vol. 142 (2011) no. 3: 179–194, no. 4: 265–276. [NYG&B eLibrary]
- Turner, Orsamus. Pioneer History of Phelps & Gorham’s Purchase, and Morris’ Reserve: Embracing the Counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, Most of Wayne and Allegany, and Parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. Geneseo, NY: James Brunner, 1976.
- Wolcott, Walter. The Military History of Yates County, N.Y.: Comprising a Record of the Services Rendered by Citizens of This County in the Army and Navy, from the Foundation of Government to the Present Time. Penn Yan, NY, 1895.
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.