OBTAINING RECORDS FROM THE NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH - The copy of a B, M or D record that has been sent to the state government is now held by the New York State Department of Health. If you apply, and if your application is successful, the Dept of Health will always supply a photocopy of the original B, M or D certificate, and not a modern "certification". Application to obtain a photocopy of an original B, M or D certificate should be made on a printed application form, and in September 2006 the fee was $22.00 per document. You can print off an application form by visiting the website of the New York State Department of Health Vital Records Section. That website will also tell you what information you need to supply in order to apply, and whether you qualify for an exemption from the 50-year and 75-year embargo of records. There are two ways to obtain B, M and D certificates from the Dept of Health: by mail or in person.

BY MAIL - The backlog of requests by mail at the NY State Dept of Health is such that the waiting time was said in December 2002 to be about five months. Even this is an improvement, as a few years ago the waiting time was as long as two years! To apply by mail, send your completed application form and your check for $22.00 to this address:

IN PERSON - Alternatively, you may call in person at the New York State Department of Health's premises. You will still need to fill in the form (obtainable at this office) and pay $22.00. This office will take your application and put it into a "fast track", and you will receive the photocopy of the requested document by mail seven to 10 days later. Here is is the location of this office:

WHAT IF I DON'T KNOW THE YEAR OF MY ANCESTOR'S B, M OR D? There is good news and bad news. The good news is that wonderful, WONDERFUL New York State Births, Marriages and Deaths Indexes exist. They include every B, M or D record in the NY State Dept of Health's possession from the first ones in 1881 until the latest year that has come into the public domain -- i. e., up to 50 years before the present time for marriages and deaths and up to 75 years before the present time for births. Each index entry gives the full name of the person; the exact date of the event; the town, village, hamlet or city in which the event occurred; and the number of the certificate in the Dept of Health's records. A few of the years also give ages. Some years are arranged in Soundex order; most years are in ordinary alphabetical order. A few years in the marriages index name the spouse; most years don't. The bad news is that this index can be viewed ONLY in person at the New York State Archives, located on the third floor of the New York State Museum Building. If you go there in person, you can search year by year until you find the index entry for your ancestor. To look for a single event for a single individual, you can easily search 20 years in 10 minutes. There is a search service available, but if you have no idea when an event occurred, this search service can be very expensive -- and it might not even yield a result. If you have MANY people you want to look up, you might want to consider going to Albany to do this yourself -- it might even be cheaper. Details of the search-service fees can be found on the website of the New York State Department of Health Vital Records Section.

Divorce Records
Since 1847 divorce actions in New York have been handled in the Supreme Court for the county in which the divorce was heard. New York divorce files, however, are sealed for 100 years. In colonial times, petitions for divorce had to be made to the governor or legislature, and only a few were granted. The Chancery Court granted divorces from 1787 to 1847. These older records are in the state archives.

Naturalization Records
Anne Kiely kindly informs us by email that naturalization records are available at the Rensselaer County Clerk's office.