New York 1830 Marriage Certificates?

Question

My 3rd Great Grandmother, Clarissa Gleason (Gleason-545), is my biggest brick wall.  I have all sorts of information about her but not her parent's names! Argh!  

I am looking for someone that is familiar with very early Upstate New York documents. Particularly in Seneca County.

Anyway, Clarissa was born in 1812 in Hector Township when it was in Seneca County. (1804-1817) I assume that is too early for a birth certificate in that part of the country.

She married John G. Clawson on February 4, 1830.  I assume that she married him in Hector or in another town in the same general area. At that point Hector was in Tompkins County and stayed in Tompkins County until 1854.  Was this too early for marriage certificates or marriage bonds or banns?

Where do I look for documents like these in Tompkins and Seneca Counties?  Who can I call to find these documents.

Thanks so much for your help.

Terri

Answer 1

You are correct that New York did not keep records until about 1890. Some places that you might want to look....

First off, I use the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries to find the county for the timeframe.

Here is a good resource to see if there was even any church at that time. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Study_Center_for_Early_Religious_Life_in_Western_New_York

Each town (aka township) in New York is required to have a town historian. You could try the historian website. Some are better than others.

Wills and newspapers are also ways to find folks. And sometimes land records -- especially when they are part of an estate. Newpapers are at fultonhistory.com (when the site is up). And some clues for land and probate records are in this post https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/951078/how-to-find-new-york-state-wills

Comments

Hi Kay

I have to tell you this, it's just too ironic. Clarissa was Baptist and there was a Baptist church in Hector, NY. She married in 1830 and it burned down in 1837. :(

Terri

---

Terri - That is ironic. All of my paternal ggg grandparents settled near Jordan, NY by 1818. So their marriages predate the church which was formed in the late 1820s/early 1830s where several of them were early members. But, the whole town, and all its records, burned in the 1870s and after that all the records were kept offsite. And, in the 1950s or 60s that building collapsed from snow on the roof. So even though I grew up nearby, records are scarce.

Answer 2

New York research for that time period is often very difficult. In general, I find it easier to research colonial-era New Netherland than to research early 19th-century New York. See the NYGBS online article Finding New York Birth, Marriage, and Death Records (and the links) for an authoritative introduction to the situation. 

I think you are lucky to have a birth year for Clarissa and a marriage date for her...