The Lewis County Historical Society is a great place to start your genealogical research. We have a wide variety of resources for your family research needs.
Cemeteries
Lewis County has over 140 cemeteries that we know of. The Lewis County Historical Society has bound copies of surveys for many county cemeteries. Some of these contain information on burials that was not available when later surveys were done. We also have location descriptions and written information on each of the county’s cemeteries. Beyond that, online resources can also be consulted at Lewis County cemeteries on Find-A-Grave.
Newspapers
Digitized versions of many northern New York’s historical newspapers are available through the NYS Historic Newspapers website. These papers are provided by the Northern New York Library Network to enhance access to the region’s unique local history. The online collection currently consists of almost 2,500,000 pages and included the following newspapers:
Adirondack Mountain Sun (1992 – 2004)
Black River Democrat (19?? – 1943)
Black River Gazette (1825 – 1833)
Journal and Republican (1860 – current)
Lewis County Banner (1856 – 1864)
Lewis County Democrat (1865 – 1910)
Lowville Herald and Lewis County Democrat (1910 – 19??)
Lowville Leader (1943 – 1953)
Lowville Leader and Lyons-Leyden Ledger (1953 – 19??)
Lowville Times (1876 – 1884)
Lowville Times and Lewis County Independent (1884 – 189?)
Town historians maintain collections of records and other materials related to their particular village or town. See Local Historians.
Vital Records
County birth, marriage and death records are maintained by the various town clerks. Since New York State only mandated that vital records be kept by the towns in 1880, towns generally have few records prior to that year, although some do.
5727 West Main St. Constableville, NY 13325 315-397-2723
Lewis County Clerk, Surrogate’s Office
Many documents useful for genealogical research pertaining to Lewis County are available at the County Clerk’s Office in Lowville and at the Surrogate’s Office.
Lewis County Clerk 7660 N. State Street Lowville, NY 13367
Various censuses for county towns: 1905, 1915, 1925 (partial 1845, 1865)
Naturalization records
Marriages 1908-1935, 1912-1934
Divorces
Land and tax records (starting in 1805): deeds, mortgages, indices of grantors and grantees
Convictions books
Wills (1830-1916), probate information (bonds, letters of administration, minutes). Free digitized versions of some of these resources are also available online at the Family Search website.
