Ulster county historical research

I am trying to find out more about the history of my house upstate, I am told the oldest parts of it date back to 1850 but that sounds like a guess to me. My house is technically in Saugerties but it is right on the border of Greene County and the hamlet of Palenville. Does anyone know of online resources to investigate this sort of thing? I have found a few maps but they are not very detailed. Any ideas would be much appreciated. Thanks.

randolph

in General Discussion 1 year and 10 months ago

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justinromeu26 | 1 year and 10 months ago

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One of my grandmother’s ancestors lived in athens which i think is in greene co circa 1880 and i found their house on a map but cannot recall the map maker. They were in the village.

On long island i use Beers Atlases and can possibly go back to 1870 but at that time, Islip, where i grew up, got sparse and they missed a lot of building that were say more than a 1/2 mile off montauk highway. I did find a 1906 US Geologic Survey map in 7.5 minutes that went into great detail and included all buildings but the 15 minute maps did not.

The geological survey maps are on line and still available and when i was still a teen they were indexed and still for sale back to the earliest but the older stocks are now depleted.

Find the name of the oldest occupants of the house and contact the local historical society. I did this with my 3rd great grandfather in massenna center ny (charles julius stetson) and they sent me a pile of papers on my ancestors including an article written about the house when my great grandfather (who had by then come to nyc and was living queens vill age) decided to sell it. That article detailed a lot of stuff about the house, including how it had been damaged in an earthquake in 1838 or so.

To get the names of the original owners, look at your deed or go to the county clerk’s office and look up the older deeds.

Once you have names you go to Historic Newspapers Online and look up their names. People back then did not have a lot of entertainment so they published a lot of details about people’s lives. By using that index, i learned that my second great grandfather took a bicycle trip around upstate ny and vermont in 1903 and the same man ran as a prohibitionist candidate for senate in queens in 1912 and a few other years. I also learned that people went on sort of public tours of people’s houses and businesses and my 3rd great grandfather’s woodshop was featured in about 1890. I have also found newspaper ads for my second great grandfather’s hardware store in messena ny. This index has all of the county newspapers.

I have been doing this research since high school and had to do a lot the old fashioned way. If you think i can be of more help, give me a call.

Back to work.