Suffolk County New York Genealogy

Suffolk County Genealogy is part of the New York American History and Genealogy Project (AHGP). This website features free genealogy and history concerning Suffolk County New York. Biographies, cemeteries, directories, genealogy, history, military records, newspaper records, and yearbooks.

Suffolk County was an original county of the Province of New York, one of twelve created in 1683. From 1664 until 1683 it had been the East Riding of Yorkshire. Its boundaries were essentially the same as at present, with only minor changes in the boundary with its western neighbor, which was originally Queens County but has been Nassau County since the separation of Nassau from Queens in 1899.

Suffolk County New York Genealogy is part of the New York History and Genealogy Project. My name is Dennis Partridge and I am the county coordinator. If you have information about this county you would like to place online, then please contact me using the contact form on this website. The American History & Genealogy Project (AHGP) is a group of like-minded individuals committed to providing free access to American genealogical and historical information online. Organized by locations, volunteers host states, counties, and sometimes town or city websites specializing in their areas of interest. Come join us today!

Suffolk County NY Cemeteries

• Amagansett
  • East End Cemetery
• East Setauket
  • Agudath Achim Cemetery

Suffolk County New York Church Records

• Old Whalers’ Church, Sag Harbor, NY
  In January 2007, the Church of Sag Harbor scanned most of their records which include the church’s Bills of Mortality. These records are available by clicking the appropriate periods below:
  • 1795-1834
  • 1864-1876
  • 1890-1912
  • 1915-1941
• First Presbyterian Church, Southampton
  • Death Records
• Death records from the Parrish of Southampton 1817-1843

Suffolk County New York Genealogy

• The King family of Southold, Suffolk County, New York, 1595-1901

Suffolk County New York History

• Long Island New York – Historic Account Books
  The East Hampton Library has placed online a treasure trove of original and unique genealogical data in the form of digitized account books of former residents of Long Island. They have placed these online as part of the Digital Long Island Collection. Most of these account books pertain to East Hampton and the area surrounding it on Long Island.
• The Long Island Forum 1938-1964
  The Long Island Forum was a Journal dedicated to the History of Long Island, Originally published by Paul Bailey out of Bayshore, Long Island, New York. It was the most informative Journal On Long Island.
• History of Suffolk County, New York
• Suffolk Life Covers  1964-1969
  A nostalgic look back at the people and events of the North Fork through the front page pictures of the Suffolk Life Newspaper
• A Century of Brentwood
  Written by Verne Dyson is the history of Modern Times and Brentwood, New York
• Story of a celebration, Bridgehampton, Long Island, New York, 1660-1910
• Deer Park-Wyandanch History
  Written by Verne Dyson is the history of two neighboring communities on Long Island.
• Back Over the Years
  Searchable PDF files containing transcribed oral interviews of local Mattituck residents conducted by the Friends of the Library in 1978. These interviews contain a great  detail about daily life in Mattituck at the turn of the century and  into the early 20th century
  • Volume 1
  • Volume 2
  • Volume 3
  • Volume 4
• History of the town of Riverhead, Suffolk county, N.Y, 1876
• Shoreham
  • A Short History of Shoreham Village
    By Mervin G. Pallister, Village Historian 1972-1986.
  • A History of the Incorporated Village of Shoreham
    By Mervin G. Pallister, Village Historian 1972-1986. (Complete 63 page text). Published July 4, 1976. This is the definitive history of Shoreham Village by the son of Claude V. Pallister, Shoreham Village’s 1st President and a pivotal figure in the incorporation of the Village in 1913. Much of the early history of the Incorporated Village was witnessed first-hand by the author.
  • History of Shoreham
    By Mary Lou Abata (1979). This is an excellent history of Shoreham, its natural history and settlement, as well as the evolution of Shoreham Village and its institutions. The author is a long-time resident of Shoreham Village and a widely recognized educator and principal (retired) in the Shoreham-Wading River School District. This is a well-referenced, scholarly work, but it is also very well-written, readable and widely illustrated.
• West Islip
  • First History of West Islip
    By Gerald and Judith Wilcox
  • West Islip Oral History Project: Spring 1982
    In April 1982, as part of the library’s 25th anniversary celebration, Ethel Morris and Carolyn Agenjo interviewed, recorded and photographed fifteen community residents who graciously shared their reminiscences of life in West Islip as it used to be.
• Yaphank as it is, and was, and will be
  Containing biographical sketches of all its prominent men, the characteristic proclivities of its “funny” people, its business and business “monarchs,” its facilities for enterprise and improvement, and an impartial description of the advantages and disadvantages enjoyed and suffered by its citizens. The Suffolk County alms-house as it is. This work contains the most authentic and pleasing history of this “model” institution before the public

Suffolk County NY Land Records

The Office of the County Clerk holds land records dating from the mid -1600’s. These do not always contain descriptions of the house or other buildings found on the land. Even so, a deed is a good place to begin researching the history of your house. Records in the Historic Documents Library include several large bound Atlases of various portions of Suffolk County. The earliest one is dated c.1873. Many of these include the property owners’ names. Buildings and houses are also indicated on several of the atlases, sometimes with numbers that signify the number of stories in the house.

• Researching the History of Your House

Suffolk County NY Maps

• Sanborn County Fire Maps
  There is a collection of Sanborn Company maps in the Historic Documents Library of Suffolk County. This company, started in 1867 by D. A. Sanborn was the major provider of maps to the insurance industry for more than a hundred years. Although the collection here does not cover all of Suffolk County, the entire collection of Sanborn maps for the state of New York can be found at SUNY Stony Brook library on microfilm. These maps show buildings and are coded to indicate the type of construction, such as, wood or steel frame.
• 1917 Interactive Map of Views of Shoreham Village

Suffolk County NY Native American History

• Heather Flower and other Indian Tales
  Written by Verne Dyson retells Indian Tales of Long Island.

Suffolk County NY Newspapers

Suffolk County New York libraries, organizations, and societies have placed a considerable number of historical newspaper titles online. This set of Newspapers can be searched from their websites and we provide details of online editions available, along with each specific title. Remember, that a search alone in online records like these is not considered a “thorough” search, as they rely on OCR capability and rarely have been edited by a human eye. Expect errors, so if you have an approximate date and cannot find the information, then check the corresponding issues of the local newspaper.

• Suffolk County New York Newspapers

Suffolk County NY Vital Records

• Nassau/Suffolk Marriage Index, 1908-1935
• Marriage Indexes
  An index of marriage announcements located in the Gildersleeve Newspaper Scrapbooks and an alphabetical index of marriages recorded by the Mattituck Presbyterian Church from 1884-1934.
• Marriages of Suffolk County, N.Y. $$
  Taken from the “Republican Watchman,” a newspaper published at Greenport, N.Y.
• The Salmon Records $$
  A private register of marriages and deaths of the residents of the town of Southold, Suffolk County, N.Y.
• Fresh Pond Crematory and Columbarium Interment Index
  This database contains the indexes to over 215,000 cremations that took place at the Fresh Pond Crematory and Columbarium.  It also includes over 4,000 people cremated elsewhere and whose cremains are in niches at the columbarium.
• Death records from the Parrish of Southampton 1817-1843
• Death Records from the First Presbyterian Church, Southampton, 1785-1813

The Suffolk County Clerk’s Office does not maintain Birth, Marriage or Death records; rather this is a function of the Town Clerk and or Registrar.

• Town Clerk’s Offices
  The Town Clerk performs four basic functions that include records management, registrar of vital statistics, marriage officer, and licensing officer. This list includes website address, phone and address contact for each township of Suffolk County.

Suffolk County NY Wills

The first will recorded in Suffolk County is that of Josiah Stanborough, who lived at Sagaponack, in the town of Southampton. It was dated July 16, 1661, and proved at the “Quarter Court,” held in Southampton, September 3, 1661. At that time the town was under the jurisdiction of Connecticut, and the probate was according to the laws of that Colony. It may be found in the second volume of Southampton records.

• Early Long Island wills of Suffolk county, 1691-1703
  An unabridged copy of the manuscript volume known as “The Lester will book;” being the record of the Prerogative court of the county of Suffolk, New York; with genealogical and historical notes, by William S. Pelletreau.

Suffolk County New York Yearbooks

• Yearbooks of the Bayport-Blue Point High School, 1945-2011
  The Bayport-Blue Point Public Library has digitized 65 years of yearbooks from the Bayport-Blue Point High School. The books have been scanned and uploaded in full resolution to Long Island Memories. Browse the pages and even download an entire yearbook to your computer. Bayport-Blue Point High School is a high school in Bayport, New York, constructed in 1927 as an elementary school and high school for the Hamlet of Bayport. The high school serves two towns, Bayport and Blue Point, from which it derives its name, but in earlier years it was simply known as the Bayport High School.