The Past Is Not Online

Here are some places to identify offline sources:

• Erie County Off-Line Sources--lists specific books and microforms of interest to those researching ancestors in Erie County. The Buffalo & Erie County Public Library and the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society probably own all of these titles.
• Family History Library Catalog will identify various kinds of records, usually on microform, that you can request at your local LDS Family History Center
• Western New York Libraries simultaneously searches multiple library collections in Western NY

And what is online? Well, folks, that's what this entire site is about! What is online for genealogy in Western NY are mostly small-scale transcribing and indexing efforts by isolated individuals, and when I discover them, I link to them. So explore the rest of the Roots pages to see what is online.

To sum up: The past will come online--usually for a price.
 

Records Selection Table

THe harder, thouggh more successful route, is to turn off your computer, go to the largest library in your area, and ask for a how-to book on genealogy. You will learn more from one manual than you will from any number of hours surfing the Net. Or visit the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) Family History Center in your area. These centers are free to the public and sometimes hold orientation sessions.

I do know that birth notice columns were not necessarily published on a predictable basis, and not all babies born on the same day always appeared in the same list. The Buffalo News, our only daily paper, used to publish birth notices at their own convenience, not on any set schedule, and babies could be anywhere from 3-6 months old by the time their names appear.  City Hall stopped releasing baby names to newspapers in 2006, so there are no longer birth notice columns in the Buffalo News.

And now, the bad news for adoption researchers: I have not seen birth notices from every local paper, from every decade, but what I have seen is this: the only babies listed are those born to MARRIED couples. As you know, the major reason  young women gave up a child for adoption was that they were unmarried.  Whether by choice or by law, the names of babies surrendered for adoption were not released to newspapers.

If you still want to search local papers, the New York State Newspaper Project has generously compiled a list of Erie County newspapers available on microfilm. See also the nearly identical page of Newspapers in the NY State Library, which sometimes has a paper that a local library does not.

Though I am often asked, I have never seen an elementary school yearbook for any Buffalo public, private, or parochial school. I have had email testimony from a retired gentleman who says that decades ago, his Buffalo grade school, which had a printing program, made up a yearbook. If this is the case, that yearbook was the exception, not the rule.

I've been told that the Buffalo Public School District saves certain records for only fifty years, and I cannot tell you what kind of records those might be. I dropped a line to them to verify this and never got a response.

But I can tell you that official school records (as in who attended which school, what grades they got, etc.) will not be found at the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library and probably not at the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society, either. Instead, contact the proper school district:

• School Districts in Western New York
• Department of Catholic Education, Diocese of Buffalo
• Public and Private Schools in the City of Buffalo.

There is no set rule or pattern about defunct funeral home records. Nancy Archdekin, a member of the Western New York Genealogical Society, reports:

1. They could go to a nearby funeral home
2. They could go to the local historical society
3. They could remain with the family who operated the original funeral home
4. And there's always the possibility that they could go in the dumpster."

Don't bother contacting far-away libraries to request books, because no public library will ship books out of town to the homes of private individuals. (How would they get them back?) They will only tell you to have your local librarian send an interlibrary loan request.

At the link below is a small sample of the many books and microfilms relevant to Erie County genealogical research. Perhaps the list will grow as researchers like you contribute sources:

Erie County has had an estimated 150 burial grounds and cemeteries since Europeans began arriving 200 years ago. For many, no records survive. The Historical Society has some local cemetery records on microfilm. I am told that these same microfilms are available through the LDS Family History Centers. See also Erie County Cemeteries Past and Present for those internment lists that are online.

The Local Links page has a variety of cemetery links, including addresses of existing cemeteries in Erie County.

Here is a page showing what questions were asked in every federal census.

However, researchers should be aware that the 1790 and 1800 federal censuses do not include Western New York. According to an article in the Buffalo Courier-Express, March 24, 1940 ("First U.S. Census Enumerators Greeted With Muskets"), federal census enumerators did not come to Western New York until the 1810 census. In 1810 and 1820, the County of Erie had not yet been formed, so the village of Buffalo will be found in the Niagara County census. Erie County was established in April 1821, so the 1830 federal census is the first to include it separately from Niagara County.

Nowadays, we expect to find the names of every member of the household in a census, but that was not always the case. The first federal census to include the names of every occupant in the household was 1850. Prior to 1850, only the name of the head of the household (usually a man) was written down. All of the women, children, slaves, servants, etc., were counted in various age categories but were not identified by name. The 1790"-1"840 censuses can be difficult to use for genealogical purposes.

Researchers should also know that about 95% of the 1890 federal census was destroyed by a fire in the 1920s. For New York state, only a tiny portion of downstate survived. The loss of the 1890 census was a disaster for genealogists and historians.

New York State also took its own censuses, usually in years ending in 5. For Erie County, there are New York State censuses for 1855, 1865, 1875, 1892, 1905, 1915, and 1925. New York state did not perform a census in the 1880s, and it stopped taking censuses after 1925.

Here is a page showing what questions were asked in every New York State census.

To sum up, then, the residents of Erie County will be either counted or named in all surviving federal and state censuses from 1810"-1"930. To learn more about these existing censuses, visit my Vital & Original Records page, where you will see links for those small portions of local censuses are online for free, plus more details about those census microfilms.

The Buffalo & Erie County Public Library has every surviving census for Erie County on microfilm, plus all existing indexes. Perhaps the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society also owns the same census microfilms. Neither organization has staff available to search census microfilms for out-of-town researcher, because census research is neither quick nor straightforward. However, the librarians at these organizations might be able to photocopy names from whatever indexes they own.

At present, the federal census for New York are indexed in print form for the years 1790 to 1870 and 1900 and 1910. None of the New York State censuses for Erie County are indexed, with the exception of 1855, in which the towns of Erie County (but not the City of Buffalo) were indexed as part of a WPA project.

If you are out of town, you have three options for census research:

1. Use the network of LDS Family History Centers. You will be able to request microfilms of any census. You can also ask for census indexes.

   If the LDS link does not show an LDS Family History Center in your area, look under Churches in the yellow pages of your telephone directory. Call your local LDS Church and ask for the address of the nearest Family History Center. The full name is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

2. Enroll in the Microfilm Rental Program of the National Archives. The National Archives has catalogs of census microfilms for ordering films to rent. The only drawback to this program is that most people do not own their own microfilm machines and must find an nearby organization or individual who does. Many public and academic libraries have a microfilm reader/printers.
3. Subscribe to Ancestry.com, the first online collection of digitized U.S. census images from 1790 to 1920, with 1930 in the works. This is a fee-based service.

Anyone doing census research in a city soon learns that they need ward and Enumeration District (ED) numbers to pinpoint the right microfilm. This page includes the only online ward maps I know of for Buffalo:

• Maps

To better understand those border crossing records, see Everton's online tutorial, United States - Canadian Border Crossing Records.

See also this page describing Manifests of Alien Arrivals at Buffalo, Lewiston, Niagara Falls, and Rochester, New York, 1902"-1"954 on 165 rolls of microfilm at the National Archives

Starting in 1825, thousands of immigrants traveled to Buffalo on the Erie Canal. According to the New York State Archives, except for the years 1827-1829, no passengers' names were recorded by canal boat operators. Those 1827-1829 lists can be found in the New York State Archives (scroll way down to record group A1057). See also record group A1079--Passenger list and freight account book of steamboat "Red Jacket," 1838-1839.

1. Use the free network of LDS Family History Centers. You will be able to request microfilms of censuses, city directories, local histories, church records, passenger lists, military records, maps, and more, regardless of your religion. There is no charge to use an LDS Family History Center but there is a small fee to send for microfilms.
2. Study the New York State Research Outline helpfully provided by the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. It is an in-depth guide to genealogical resources in New York State and will give you ideas what to ask for in your local LDS Family History Center or public library.
3. Visit the Erie County GenWeb page and check the List of Volunteers who are willing to do limited look-ups.
4. Try http://www.freegenealogylookups.com/.
5. Search WNYLibraries, a database created from the combined catalogs of public, corporate, academic, hospital, and historical society libraries in Western New York. Try a Subject search on your surnames, the towns and villages where your family members lived, and so on. If you find a book of interest, print out the record of it and visit your local librarian. He or she can request a copy through interlibrary loan. Or visit your local LDS Family History Center; maybe it is available through them.
6. Check out my Virtual Rolodex for Buffalo Researchers. This file lists over 100 town historians, historical societies, and local history organizations in Erie County, none of whom (to my knowledge) have websites. Remember, I cannot guarantee that anyone listed here can undertake research for you.
7. Consult with researchers for hire.
8. Check out Chris Andrle's Do I Have to Come to New York? page for long-distance research suggestions
9. Read Using the Internet to Follow Up on Leads by Juliana Smith, for additional long-distance research suggestions
10. Make use of your local library's interlibrary loan services.
11. Learn to write effective letters or email messages to out-of-town libraries.

In my years as local history librarian, I have never seen published employment records from any defunct Buffalo firm. Perhaps these are private by law, as are medical records. I learned in the May/June 2000 issue of Family Chronicle, in a good article called "Researching the Workplace," by Xenia Stanford, that in most cases, businesses are not required to keep personnel records longer than 7 years and, of course, that companies are not required to reveal any records to outsiders, except those required by law, and even some of those filings are considered private.

Even though I doubt you will ever find lists of employees of defunct businesses, you can still learn a little or a lot about those companies. To learn what's out there, visit my Made in Buffalo: How To Research Local Companies page.

• New York Research Tips from Kinship Publishing Co.
• New York State Research Outline from the LDS Family History Library
• New York State Statewide Indexes and Collections from the LDS Family History Library
• Genealogy at the NY State Archives--mentions all kinds of little-known records
• Western New York State Genealogy Research Frequently Asked Questions by Rick Huff
• Buffalo, Erie County, New York Genealogy--brief descriptions of local records by Tom Healy
• Buffalo, New York Genealogy Sources--brief description of local repositories by Ed Kornowski
• Upstate New York Genealogy by Chris Andrle
• Erie County Off-Line Sources--lists books and microforms of interest to those researching ancestors in Erie County. The Buffalo & Erie County Public Library and the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society probably own all of these titles
• Doing Genealogy in Western New York by the Western New York Library Resources Council
• If all else fails, visit the venerable Cyndi's List. If it's online and it has genealogical relevance, you'll find it at Cyndi's List.

• Please read and bookmark these instructions on how the list works.

But I can point you to the following site, which indicates when it is safe to reproduce old publications online.

• This site is completely independent. It is not affiliated with or sponsored by any societies or organizations, including the webmaster's employer.
• The opinions expressed here are solely the webmaster's.
  
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• Roots was launched by Richard Prem in December 1993 as what was then called a Special Interest Group (SIG) on Buffalo Freenet. It predates the introduction of HTML and graphical interfaces, making it possibly the oldest genealogy website in cyberspace. Prem handed the reins to Cynthia Van Ness in late 1995, and she has been tinkering with it ever since. In January 2005, she renamed the site Buffalo Roots and moved to her personal website, BuffaloResearch.com.  In 2007, she eliminated the page called BuffaloRoots and simplified the home page to show the complete contents of this website, genealogical and otherwise.
• The webmaster does not belong to any genealogical societies, has no genealogical certification, is not qualified to draw genealogical conclusions, and cannot offer research services or "look ups." The webmaster can sometimes suggest research strategies and sources for you but she cannot find your ancestors for you.