Genealogy

Cemetery Records: Oswego City, Oswego Town, Volney, and Scriba
Oswego City Newspapers: 1819-present (Can be loaned through local library)
Oswego City Directories: 1852-present (Can be loaned through local library)
Oswego County Historical Journals

Searching for Deaths, Marriages, and Births at the Oswego Public Library

1. If you are 100% sure of the date, find the appropriate reel of microfilm in the drawers near the Reference Desk and microfilm reader/printers.
2. If you aren't completely sure of the date check fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html
   1. Enter the person's name and Oswego in the search box.  There is no need to put in "death, obituary, marriage, birth," or any other particular event information.  You can put in a year as well to limit the search results.
3. Since spellings differ and fultonhistory.com was not spell-checked after conversion visit search.ancestry.com/search
   1. The Oswego Public Library does not currently have access to this database site.  Ancestry.com will propose many possible spellings for you.  If you find a correct or alternate spelling... or even a different date... you can then search our microfilm, fultonhistory.com, and even google.com with the name, location, and possibly year.
   2. Many other libraries, including Onondaga County Public Library at their downtown Syracuse location, do have access to the Ancestry.com database site.

Oswego Cemeteries

You can search them all at once through FindAGrave.com

• St. Peter's
• Riverside
• St. Paul's
• Fairview
• Rural
• Pecks
• Hillside
• Worden Sweet
• Minetto

New York Web Resources
 

New York State Library:  State Census Records
www.nysl.nysed.gov/scandocs/nyscensus.htm
Census Records are available at the Oswego County Records Center and at the Roswell P. Flower Memorial Library, 229 Washington, St., Watertown, NY 13601.

Other Area Resources

PENFIELD LIBRARY:  Oswego State University of New York
Archives & Special Collections Dept.
*Head of family names -- you must look at copies marked manuscript.
*Prior to 1881 there were no requirements for birth, death and marriage records.
*Person must be dead for 50 years before you can obtain a birth certificate.
Census records of Oswego 1790-1925
Census records of New York State 1835-1875
All U.S. census records
Also see their complete information for Genealogists as a PDF here.

OSWEGO COUNTY RECORDS CENTER:  384 E. River Rd., Oswego NY 13126
State Census through 1925.
Cemetery records and census reports.
Deeds, assessment records, and manuscripts.
315-349-8460

BUREAU OF VITAL RECORDS:  State Dept. of Health, Vital Records Sec., Genealogy Unit, P.O. Box 2602, Albany NY 12220-2602
Application forms may be requested by mail or a PDF file accessed here.
Birth Records – $22.00 each
Death Records – $22.00 each
Marriage Records – $22.00 each

OSWEGO COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY:  135 E. 3rd St., Oswego NY 13126
315-343-1342

OSWEGO CITY CLERK’S OFFICE:  City Hall, 13 W. Oneida St., Oswego NY 13126
Copies of documents start at $15.00 each
315-342-8116

MORMON WEBSITE: www.familysearch.org

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
1.    No information shall be issued from a record of birth unless a record has been on file for at least 75 years or more and the person who the record relates is known to the applicant to be deceased.
2.    No information shall be issued from a record of birth that has been placed in a confidential file.
3.    No information may be issued for a record of death unless the record has been on file for at least 50 years or more.
4.    Vital records were mandatory in 1880 but not enforced until 1890.