Top 5 Tips - Upstate New York

Top 5 tips for online research in Upstate New York.

1. NYgenweb - Some counties have more information than others but when searching in Upstate New York this is where I aways start. Most counties have handy search this site features but do not rely on them. Poke around for links that may be off site and not covered by the search.
2. The Making of America (MOA) collection at Cornell University. Lots of NY information also at the MOA collection at the University of Michigan. I wrote about these collections here.
3. Old Fulton NY Postcards - Do not overlook the wealth of information here. The papers are not limited to Fulton or even Oswego County. There are many other resources available here too. For more information see what I wrote here.
4. New York State Historical Literature Collection at Cornell University. Your ancestor may well be mentioned in one of the scanned books but I use this site to brush up on my history. There are many County, Town and Village histories here. The site is searchable. This is a list of Upstate sites but I will mention that you will also find Abstracts of wills on file in the Surrogate's Office, City of New York here also. These abstracts include wills of persons who lived between New York and Albany in the 1700's.
5. New York State History Net - Links, links and more links. Links to Historical Societies around the state. Erie Canal links. Email address to individual Historians from around the State. And much more.