Welcome to Erie County NY Genealogy

This site aims to provide the most complete guide to genealogical resources for Erie County, New York, that you will find anywhere. If it does not live up to that goal yet, just stick around, we are adding new information almost daily.

At the same time we are attempting to improve accessibility of genealogical data for the county by indexing records available online, and collecting the photographs and ephemera that appear briefly on-line then disappear into the maws of time.

Here is a brief guide to to what you can expect to find under each of the links in the main navigation area:

Names links to the same page as the 'surnames' search box near the top of the page, and allows you to search the names in our index. If there are over 100 results for any particular surname, you will be asked to refine the search with an initial or first-name. The names page also has links to let you browse through the available surnames. If you are not a member, or not logged-in, only the names will be shown in the search results. Free members see any associated date or dates, and often-times one or more locations, as well. For paid members, these links bring up a short synopsis of the record for that person, and include a link to the source reference.

Records leads to a page listing all of the placenames within the county for which we have record citations in our database. Those location-names link to pages listing the sources. We try to include all the main sources (printed, digital, microfilmed and original) that list names and genealogical information for the county -- you will NOT find links to sites full of links (which lead to sites full of links ... ad nauseam) but only citations to actual data. When there are links provided some of that data is available online, but we list off-line record sources as well, with the full citation providing the name and location of the library, archive or institution where the records are held. We even try to estimate the number of people cited in each resource, when we can. If we have extracted part (or all) of the names for our database, you will find that listed too. Building this database is an on-going project, so keep checking back.

Geography the geography section lists all of the placenames, geographic features such as lakes and rivers, and select cultural features of interest to genealogists and historians, such as archive buildings and cemeteries. The page each reference links to may have additional information, and will include an interactive-map showing the exact location of the feature. You can zoom-in or out, find the nearby road names and other features to help you navigate to the exact location.

Articles is an area for general information and interesting facts that may help the genealogist understand the lives of their ancestors. Here you will find time-lines and feature articles on specific people or events.

Images is a collection of images from the county. Some of them are from the memorabilia section, but most have no associated personal names, or no names relevant to the county (such as postcards that have been mailed from this county but show only the name of a recipient else-where). These are small images, and (we believe) all in the public domain (i.e. no longer covered by copyrights). There are larger versions of each image available, but only to paid members -- access to these wonderful images is worth the measly $10/year membership fee alone, but you get much more with that membership!

Join links to our membership page -- there you will find some of the reasons you should join us in our quest to make this the best resource anywhere for Erie County genealogy and local history.