The History Center in Tompkins County

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GENEALOGY

Individuals or families with ancestors from Tompkins County are welcome to visit our Research Library to peruse our Genealogy Family Files, cemetery records, death and marriage notices, the rest of our collection of county records, directories, and the HistoryForge database which contains City of Ithaca census records from the 19th and 20th centuries.

In addition to our other genealogy resources family files are available for research in our Local History Research Library.

Individuals interested in researching family histories outside of Tompkins County are encouraged to use the Local History & Genealogy resources compiled by the Tompkins County Public Library.

Local Genealogical Resources

Individuals pursuing genealogical research or interested in getting started are also invited to attend meetings of the Tompkins County Genealogical Society. A group of passionate individuals pursuing their own family histories and sharing their successes and roadblocks along the way.

Genealogy Resources in our Archival Collections

Family Genealogy Files - Over 2,000 Tompkins County Files
Individual Family Genealogies - Bound volumes
Obituary Listings - Many newspaper indexes and clippings dating from 1866
Cemetery Listings - Some cemeteries in Tompkins County, Tompkins County gravestone inscriptions, Some cemeteries of Between-the-lakes country (Portions of Seneca, Schuyler, & Tompkins Counties) by Jesse Howell Finch, Gravestone inscriptions of individual cemeteries
Deeds and other legal papers
Death and marriage notices: death and marriage notices 1870-1890 from Tompkins County by Nancy Greene Young; Marriage and Death Notices 1827-1885 from Tompkins County Newspapers by Mary Smith Jackson
Census Records: 1790 and 1825 abstract of New York State census, 1850 federal census, 1860 and 1870 indexes to federal census
HistoryForge - Digitized census records for 1900-1940 (City of Ithaca only)
Ithaca City Directories: 1864-1989 (Ithaca only), 1868, 1872, 1892 (includes other Tompkins County towns)
Scrapbooks - Over 400

Access to the archival collections is free to all Tompkins County residents, $10/day fee for out of county researchers. Contact our archivist at archives@thehistorycenter.net with any questions about our holdings. Or schedule an appointment in to visit the Research Library.

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In order to keep staff, volunteers, and visitors safe from Covid and other airborne viruses, researchers visiting our research library are strongly encouraged to wear a mask properly over their mouth and nose the entire time they are in our space.