NYGenWeb
Westchester County, NY
Westchester County, NY
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Westchester County, NY |
This page was last updated: Tuesday, 25-Dec-2007 08:40:13 MST
New Rochelle was originally a French Huguenot settlement begun around 1689. The town was named after a port in France called La Rochelle. There is a monument in Hudson Park which commemorates all the names of these Huguenot settlers.
In 1902, a great tragedy affected the city of New Rochelle. A train carrying commuters who lived in New Rochelle and worked in New York City was struck from behind by another train and seventeen people were killed and many more injured. Details can be found at the Park Avenue Collision web pages.
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.
HOLDINGS include: Copies of McDONALD's interviews with participants and witnesses of the Revolutionary War. Westchester County Criminal Register for 1864 to 1867. An account book of the UNDERHILL Company of Yonkers for 1786 to 1793. A daybook for a Plattekill general store from 1845-1846. Photographs of the city and other towns in the area. The scrapbooks of Otto HUFELAND. In 1998, many of Hufeland's research papers were turned over the Westchester County Historical Society.
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.
Haacker, Frederick. C., compiler. New Rochelle, NY, deaths 1853-1881: copied from the New Rochelle Press Almanacs, 1879-1882, and records of deaths in New Rochelle from account books of Cornelius Seacord, coffin maker. [ s.l.: Haacker, 1955] 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.
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.
Spies, Francis F. Inscriptions copied from gravestones in Beechwoods Cemetery, New Rochelle, NY. ...with genealogical notes and index. [Mt. Vernon, NY: 1926] Copy available at New York Public Library's Genealogical & Local History Room.
Spies, Francis F. Inscriptions from the graveyards in New Rochelle, NY, transcribed and arranged with genealogical records... [Mt. Vernon, NY: 1926] 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?
Attached are two halves of a map of New Rochelle scanned and donated by Maggie Parnall. Each map can be printed on regular letter-sized paper and then connected by fitting them sideways into the other and joining the Boston Post Road. The original of this map can be found at the New Rochelle Library.
Many town historical societies hold maps of their vicinities, including copies of the Sanborn insurance maps. 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. 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.
Some of the holdings of the New Rochelle Public Library are City Directories. Pat (Patraigin) Connors, a member of the Westchester Mailing List, has kindly posted some photocopies of pages of city directories which she has in her possession. These pages are from the 1901, 1903, 1905, 1910, and 1915 city directories and cover the SMITH surname as well as a few others.
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.
1790 Federal Census: New Rochelle
Some census information for Westchester county can be found at the Census page.
The New Rochelle Library has a number of city directories and yearbooks available to the researcher. However, for those who can't visit the library in person, Pat Connors has kindly shared with us some photocopies of pages of city directories which she has in her possession. These pages are from the 1901, 1903, 1905, 1910, and 1915 city directories and cover mainly the SMITH surname as well as a few other surnames found on the same pages.
The following is available at The New York Public Library:
Polk's New Rochelle (Westchester County, N.Y.) City Directory [New York City: R.L. Polk Co.] Microfilmed copy for 1936 available at the New York Public Library.
Also see the City Directories page on this Westchester Site.
The New Rochelle Press began publication in 1875 and ceased publication in 1919. The New York Public Research Library has most of the years of publication on microfilm.
The Westchester County Anzeiger, a German-language paper, was issued from 1874. An issue from that year is available at the New York Public Research Library.
If you know of other resources relating to this location, please contact the county coordinator at about adding them to this page.
___. Life in New Rochelle, America's city of the Huguenots. [New Rochelle, NY: New Rochelle Trust Co., 1953]
Augur, C.H. New Rochelle through Seven Generations [New Rochelle, NY: National City Bank, 1908].
Bolton, Robert (1814-1877). A Guide to New Rochelle and its Vicinity. [Harrison, NY: Harbor Hill Books] c. 1976 (This is a facsimile of the 1842 edition with a preface, annotations and corrections edited by Marilyn Weigold.)
Darlington, Henry, Jr. "The Significance of New Rochelle as a Huguenot Settlement", from Huguenot Refugees in the Settling of Colonial America, edited by Peter Steven Gannon. [Huguenot Society of America, 1985]
Di Pietro, Joseph A. The History of the Italians of New Rochelle (and Westchester) [New Rochelle, NY: s.n., 1999]
Dunlap, Charles J. The Pintard House Memorial, including a Backward Glance at New Rochelle [New Rochelle, NY: Knickerbocker, 1927]
Finn, David. New Rochelle, Portrait of a City [New York: Abbeville Press, 1981]
Forbes, Jeanne A. Records of the town of New Rochelle, 1699-1828 [New Rochelle, NY: Paragraph Press, 1916]
Forbes, Robert Lucas, ed. New Rochelle, Two Hundred and Fifty Years.... [New York City, 1938]
Fuller, Elizabeth Griffen. Index to Westchester County Names in the Federal Censuses, 1790-1840 [Elmsford: Westchester Cty. Historical Society] 1994.
New Rochelle Chamber of Commerce. New Rochelle, the City of Huguenots [New Rochelle, NY: The Knickerbocker Press, 1926]
New Rochelle, NY. Book of Honor, World War II[New Rochelle, 1948]
New Rochelle, NY. Waterfront a legacy....
New Rochelle Chapter of the DAR. Old Wills of New Rochelle. [DAR, 1951]
Nichols, Herbert B., Historic New Rochelle [New Rochelle, NY: Board of Education, 1938 ].
Paulmann, F.H. Catholic beginnings in the town of New Rochelle....
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
Pettit, Gaylord Joel. Today and Yesterday in New Rochelle [New York: William R. Jenkins Company, 1918]
Presbyterian Church, New Rochelle. The First Presbyterian Church of New Rochelle; a brief sketch of its history, 1688-1946 [New Rochelle, 1946]
Seacord, Morgan H. Biographical Sketches and Index of the Huguenot Settlers of New Rochelle 1687-1776. [New Rochelle, NY: The Huguenot and Historical Association of New Rochelle, 1941]. Includes an account of the development of the Huguenot monument in New Rochelle and of the tablet which contains the names of the New Rochelle Huguenots from the colonial period.
Seacord, Morgan H. and William S. Hadaway. Historical Landmarks of New Rochelle. [New Rochelle, NY: New Rochelle Trust Co., 1938]
Waldron, William Watson. Huguenots of Westchester and Parish of Fordham, New York. [New York: W.H.Kelly & Brother, 1864], 128 pages. Cornell University Library has scanned this book and placed it on their web site at the following address: http://moa.cit.cornell.edu/MOA/bookw.html
Wittmeyer, Alfred V., Rev. Registers of the Births, Marriage, and Deaths of the "Eglise Française à la Nouvelle York" from 1688 to 1804. [New York: 1886] Reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Company in 1994.
For other books with information relating to this town but covering a county-wide level, see the County section of the Bibliography page.
Thomas Paine's Home and Museum -- The museum also house the New Rochelle Historical Society, the Thomas Paine National Historical Association, and the Huguenot and Historical Association of New Rochelle.
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. This Focus on (town name) [WCGS Newsletter, ] series usually includes a brief history of the town, a listing of some houses of worship, some cemeteries and often a bibliography. See the information about ordering back issues of the newsletter. An article on New Rochelle was entitled " The Huguenot Settlers of New Rochelle" and appeared in the WCGS Newsletter, Nov./Dec. 1996.
See the Military & War Links page for more information.
As we find information relating specifically to this town, we'll post it here.
As we find information relating specifically to this town, we'll post it here.
Maggie Parnall has kindly scanned and shared her photo of the Abroise Sicard House with a sketch by Edwin Secord (deceased) and a family chart. The photo of the house was taken around 1985.
The City government web site also has photos of the city. Look at their menu on the left hand side of their homepage under "Photo Gallery "
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 Message 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.
© 1996-2007 Cathy Horn. All rights reserved.
This web site was designed by and has been exclusively maintained since November 1996 by Cathy Horn.
