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Westchester County, NY |
This page was last updated: Saturday, 19-Apr-2003 20:00:59 MDT
The town of Greenburgh includes the villages of Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, Elmsford, Hastings-on-Hudson, Tarrytown, and Irvington, as well as the hamlet/railroad station/post office of Hartsdale.
"The township of Greenburgh, which had previously been a part of the Manor of Philipsburgh, was set off and established with its present name and boundaries in the year 1788. The name is of uncertain origin. Two etymologies may be given, neither of which seems improbable. Its inhabitants at the time were largely of Hollandish descent, and in the language familiar to them the word groen, signifying green, and the words graan and grein, both signifying grain, might well, either the one or the other, have suggested the first syllable of the name, while the word burg, in the same language, signifying a borough, or an incorporated town or district of country, very evidently supplied the second. Green-district or Grain-district would thus express a prominent feature of the locality. The burg already belonged to it as part of its recognized title of Philipsburg, and when the Philipse proprietor and his family became Tories during the Revolution, and their property was confiscated at its close, the name Philipse naturally dropped out, and the descriptive term Green took its place. The fact that it has always been known as Green-burgh, and never as Grain-burgh, seems to determine its true etymology." [Source: Excerpt from Scharf's History of Westchester County,..., Volume 2, Chapter II, Greenburgh, page 172; published in 1886.]
If you have any such information relating to this location, please contact the county coordinator at chorn@bestweb.net about adding it to this page.
For more information at a county level, see the NYGenWeb Westchester County Resources page as well as the main site page.
For an index of naturalizations within the county, see the web pages of the Westchester County Archives.
The web page for the New York State Dept. of Health can be found at http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/consumer/vr.htm. Also, check out the following web pages: http://www.vitalchek.com/us/ny.html
Also, see if there is any additional information on the Vital Records page at this site.
Don't overlook the many resources held at the Westchester County Historical Society.
Carretta, Katherine A., compiler. A Guide to Listings of Old Cemetery Inscriptions and other Genealogical Aids for Westchester County, New York. [Westchester County Historical Society, 1977]
Eardeley, William A., compiler. Westchester County, New York, Cemeteries... 1704-1914. [Brooklyn, 1914]. Contains inscriptions on tombs from Armonk, Bedford, Westchester, Croton, Mt. Kisco, Chestnut Ridge, Harrison, Mamaroneck, and Eastchester. Copy available at New York Public Library's Genealogical & Local History Room.
Horton, William P. Cemetery Inscriptions of Westchester County, NY. [Peekskill, NY: 1928] Copy available at New York Public Library's Genealogical & Local History Room.
Kriger, Malcolm. The Peaceable Kingdom in Hartsdale. [Rosywick Press] c. 1983. regarding the pet cemetery.
Manville, Margaret. Revolutionary War Soldiers buried in Cemeteries in Westchester County, New York. [White Plains, NY: 1966] Copy available at New York Public Library's Genealogical & Local History Room.
Perry, William Graves. The Old Dutch Burying Ground of Sleepy Hollow in North Tarrytown, New York. [Boston, MA: Rand Press] c.1953.
Rankin, Rebecca. Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. Cemetery. Person (sic) buried in the cemetery on Ashford Avenue, opposite Mohican Park Avenue, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., property of the South Presbyterian Church in Greenburgh.... [Dobbs Ferry, NY: 1956] Copy available at New York Public Library's Genealogical & Local History Room.
Spies, Francis F. Inscriptions copied from gravestones in West Chester County yards with genealogical notes. Copy available at New York Public Library's Genealogical & Local History Room.
The Westchester County Historical Society also has extensive manuscripts giving inventories of many old cemeteries located throughout the County.
Have you looked at the cemetery listing here at the Westchester NYGenWeb site?
The Sanborn Map Company has issued Insurance maps of the town of Greenburgh, New York (including Hastings, Dobbs Ferry, Ardsley, Greenville, and Hartsdale) , copies of which are available in the Map Division of the New York Public Library. Volume 2 includes Irvington, East Irvington, Elmsford, Glenville, and Tarrytown in the town of Greenburgh, also North Tarrytown and Philipse Manor in the town of Mt. Pleasant. Insurance maps were detailed to the point of showing each building on each street so that insurance companies knew what to pay the insurer in the event of fire or destruction.
Many town historical societies hold maps of their vicinities, including copies of the Sanborn insurance maps. Be sure to inquire at such institutions as well as at local libraries.
Also, see additional information on the Maps page at this Westchester site.
The only NY State censuses which survived are for the years 1905, 1915, and 1925. Check at your local LDS Family History Center for these films.
Some census information for Westchester county can be found at the Census page.
If you know of other resources relating to this location, please contact the county coordinator at chorn@bestweb.net about adding them to this page.
Fuller, Elizabeth Griffen. Index to Westchester County Names in the Federal Censuses, 1790-1840 [Elmsford: Westchester Cty. Historical Society] 1994.
Gotthelf, Peggy, and Richard Maurice Moss, compilers. Fairview Remembered: Oral Histories of the Fairview Vicinity [Greenburgh, NY: Greenburgh Preservation Commission, 1992]
Greenburgh, NY. Greenburgh, a Glimpse of Our Past: Town of Greenburgh, NY [Greenburgh Bicentennial Commission, 1988]
Hawke, Arthur R. History of Hartsdale [Hartsdale, NY: Hartsdale Times, 1948]
Pelletreau, William S., Am. M. Early Wills of Westchester County, New York 1664-1784 Pub. 1898. Cornell University Library has scanned this book and placed it on the web at the following address: http://moa.cit.cornell.edu/MOA/bookp.html
For other books with information relating to this town but covering a county-wide level, see the County section of the Bibliography page.
If you have any such information relating to this location, please contact the county coordinator at chorn@bestweb.net about adding it to this page.
If you know of any notable residents from this town, please contact the county coordinator at chorn@bestweb.net about adding them to this section and please identify when the person resided here as well as why you consider them to be notable.
The Westchester County Genealogical Society has been publishing a series of articles in their monthly newsletter for some time which gives an overview of each town within the county. Their Focus on (town name) [WCGS Newsletter] series includes a brief history of the town, a listing of some houses of worship, some cemeteries and a bibliography. See the information about ordering back issues of the newsletter.
If you know any additional information relating to this town, please contact the county coordinator at chorn@bestweb.net about adding it to this page.
See the Military & War Links page for more information.
As we find information relating specifically to this town, we'll post it here. If you have any such information or know of other web pages to link to, please contact the county coordinator at chorn@bestweb.net with particulars.
Have you a Loyalist in your family tree? If so, the Loyalist page may be of interest to you. If you have any specific information relating to this town and loyalists, please contact this county coordinator at chorn@bestweb.net about adding the information to this page.
If you have a scanned picture relating to any location within Westchester and would like to add it to this site, please contact the county coordinator at chorn@bestweb.net with particulars.
See the Surname Web Pages for links to web pages of researchers in Westchester but not specifically associated with this town.
Rootsweb.com has Some Query boards where you can post a query for others to view. Or join the Westchester mailing list and correspond with other Westchester researchers.
Return to Westchester County's Town Index page.
Return to the main page for Westchester County at NYGenWeb.
Return to the NYGenWeb web site.
© 1996-2002 Cathy Horn. All rights reserved.
This web site was designed by and has been exclusively maintained since November 1996 by Cathy Horn.