Rensselaer County
Municipal Historians

This page was last updated 17 March 2009.

In New York state, the law requires that every town in the state have a town historian. Recently, one of our guests emailed me asking, "What does a town historian do? We don't have town historians where I live." I searched for a detailed job description for a town historian, and I found one at the website of the town of Greene, in Greene County, NY. For many of you, I know it is frustrating that some town historians are not online - indeed, some towns' entire governments have no website. But we should remind ourselves that town governments have scarce resources and have other functions besides history and genealogy. Nevertheless, town governments are custodians of precious genealogical records that are not online, and it is through town historians that we have the best chance of gaining access to those records. The internet is a wonderful thing, and fortunately, more and more genealogical records are coming online all the time. But it is a fact we must face that SOME of our genealogical "brick walls" cannot yet be surmounted whilst sitting at home at our computers. We highly recommend that you contact the town historian of the town in which your ancestors lived - even if this means that you have to dust off the paper, envelopes and stamps!

Rensselaer County Historian
Kathryn T. Sheehan, who is now officially
Rensselaer County Historian
Rensselaer County Historical Society
57/59 Second Street
Troy, NY 12180
Tel: (518) 272-7232
Tel: (518) 272-7252
RCHS website

City, Town and Village Historians
City, Town or VillageHistorianAddressTel/Fax/Web
Berlin Sharon Klein
Berlin Town Historian
P. O. Box 316
Berlin, NY 12022
Tel: (518) 658-2723
Brunswick Sharon Zankel
Brunswick Town Historian
Brunswick Town Office
336 Town Office Road
Troy, NY 12180
Tel: (518) 279-9714
Website
Castleton-on-Hudson Ellen S. Allen
Castleton-on-Hudson Village Historian
85 South Main Street
Castleton-on-Hudson, NY 12033
Tel: (518) 732-7124
Website
East Greenbush Waldi Cavanaugh
East Greenbush Town Historian
East Greenbush Town Hall
225 Columbia Turnpike
Rensselaer, NY 12144
Tel: (518) 477-4869
Website
East Nassau Wally Stock
East Nassau Village Historian
Village of East Nassau
P. O. Box 268
East Nassau, NY 12062
Tel: (518) 766-5802
(Please call only during
normal business hours.)
Website
Grafton Hilda Goyer
Grafton Town Historian
P. O. Box 13
Grafton, NY 12082
Tel: (518) 279-3565
Fax: (518) 279-3685
Website
Hoosick (town) Joseph Holloway
Hoosick Town Historian
95 Main Street
Hoosick Falls, NY 12090
Tel: (518) 686-9008
Hoosick Falls (village) Hoosick Falls Village Historian Municipal Building, Main Street
Hoosick Falls, NY 12090
Tel: (518) 686-7072
Nassau (town) Susan J. Shields
Nassau Town Historian
P. O. Box 587
Nassau, NY 12123
Tel: (518) 766-7532
Website
Nassau (village) Kurt Vincent
Chairman, Historic
Preservation Committee
Nassau Village Hall
40 Malden Street
P. O. Box 452
Nassau, NY 12123
(518) 766-3044
North Greenbush James Greenfield
North Greenbush Town Historian
2 Douglas Street
Wynantskill, NY 12198
Tel: (518) 283-6384
Fax: (518) 283-2639
Website
Petersburgh Peter Schaapok
Petersburgh Town Historian
296 Potter Hill Road
Petersburgh, NY 12138
Tel: (518) 658-2963
Pittstown Ellen L. Wiley
Pittstown Town Historian
35 Sherman Road
Valley Falls, NY 12185
Tel: (518) 663-5601
Poestenkill Linda Sagendorf
Poestenkill Town Historian
P. O. Box 210
Poestenkill, NY 12140
Tel: (518) 283-5100
Rensselaer Charles Semowich
Rensselaer City Historian
Rensselaer City Hall
62 Washington Street
Rensselaer, NY 12144
Tel: (518) 449-4756
Fax: (518) 449-4756
Cel: (518) 506-6864
Website
Sand Lake Judy Rowe
Sand Lake Town Historian
P. O. Box 273
Sand Lake, NY 12153
Tel: (518) 674-2026 Ext. 20
Website
Schaghticoke (town) Christina Kelly
Schaghticoke Town Historian
290 Northline Drive
Melrose, NY 12121-9707
Tel: (518) 753-6915
Fax: (518) 753-6918
Website
Schaghticoke (village) Richard Lohnes
Schaghticoke Village Historian
77 Main Street
Schaghticoke, NY 12154
Tel: (518) 753-4737
Schodack Diane Hutchinson
Schodack Town Historian
Schodack Town Hall
P. O. Box 436
East Schodack, NY 12063
Tel: (518) 477-7939 Ext. 316
Fax: (518) 477-9594
Website
Stephentown Stephentown Town Historian
( no official historian;
function officially performed by
Stephentown Historical Society)
Bill Zimmerman
Stephentown Historical Society
P. O. Box 11
Stephentown, NY 12168
Tel: (518) 733-6070 (voicemail)
Website
Troy Troy has no City Historian.
Troy Bureau of Vital Statistics
has birth and death records from 1876;
Troy City Clerk has marriage records
from about the same date.
Troy City Hall
1 Monument Square
Troy, NY 12180
Tel: (518) 270-4401
Fax: (518) 270-4609
Website
Valley Falls Judy Hoag
Valley Falls Village Historian
State Street
Valley Falls, NY 12185
Tel: (518) 753-4936



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Lin Van Buren
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