Commercials for that big online service would make you think family research was easy, but it is never that easy. Some lines fall together fairly quickly but then there are those family lines that take a lot of work to find any reference to them. It also seems like some record holders don’t really want you to bother them for records.
Back in 2017 I ordered a birth certificate from the NY Department of Health. I got it in the mail after 11 months. Then in May 2018 I ordered a death certificate from them. That one took 26 months. Over the years they always have an excuse. For a while it was budget problems. Then when the vital records indexes finally were put online they said that said they were getting so many requests that it was putting them behind. Then when adoptees were finally able to order their own original birth certificate; that put the Department even further behind. In 40+ years of doing genealogical research the NY Department of Health has always made people wait more time than they should.
I was researching one of my families and looked at one of the “Red Books” for clues. Those were published by Cornell University in the early 1980s for some of the NY State counties. They list what is available in archives and other repositories in the county. The actual title of these is: Guide to Historical Resources in ***** County New York Repositories; where ***** is the name of the county. They originally planned to do one of those books for every county in New State but only completed between 40 to 50.
In one of the “Red Books” I saw a collection at an archive that I thought might help in researching one of my families. Seeing as the books are 40 years old I decided to call the archive to see if they still had the collection. I talked to a lady who turned out to be the only employee in the archive. I asked if the collection was still there. She said that she has never heard of or seen that collection. Then she said that she has been working at the archive since 2009. She wants me to file a written Freedom of Information request. Then she will look for the collection and see if she can find a record for me. I don’t hold out much hope of ever seeing anything.
Because the NY State Department of Health takes so long, I ordered a death certificate from the Tompkins County (NY) Department of Health. Their website said that they usually take 3 or 4 weeks to reply. It has been 8 weeks. I looked on my bank’s website and my check hasn’t been cashed. BUT, I got it today! It isn’t a copy from their original book but a transcript. Still I was looking for the names of her parents. It does have parent’s names. What it proves is that for 35 years years I have had the wrong names of parents of one of my ancestors. Frustrating but it least it is good genealogical proof of relationship.
This article is surely one that tickles the fancy, many people are into Genealogy today, it is big business and yet many do not know the information one can obtain at local levels, all of this takes a lot of work and a lot of experience; take deaths and burials for instance, one has to search like crazy but results are bountiful if you know how to research death certificates, wills, and cemetery rolls, many of which are computerized today (wish more were). Thanks for this article, just adds to the wealth of information one can amass over a period of time. Bill Ruoff
Thanks for your comments, Dick. I need a death certificate but can’t travel to the county where the death occurred. However, in the late 1970s I was in Tompkins County where my grandparents died, went to the Dept. of Health and received their certificates within a half hour time frame. Right now I feel that NYS lags behind most other states with regard to this information.
I have been trying for 6 months to get Webster and Monroe County historians to respond after I wrote a letter and emailed other. Simple question about historic fruit evaporation in the county since my ancestors were involved for about 70 years and mentioned in Webster book.
Bruce Winslow