New York State newspapers, some over 200 years old, have been scanned and made searchable. Easy and free to use!

New York Heritage contains online materials from libraries and organizations around the state.

Oswego Community Services Directory

Genealogy Resources

See also the Oswego County Records Center

Ancestry.com (Free on our Wifi or Computers)
Oswego City Newspapers: 1819-present (Can be loaned through local library)
Oswego Palladium 1819-1925
Oswego City Directories: 1852-present (Can be loaned through local library)
Oswego City Directories 1852-1929
Oswego County Historical Journals
Paradox, Oswego High School Yearbooks
Exemplar, Oswego Catholic High Yearbooks

Historical Background of Oswego County

Oswego Cemeteries

We have binders for Oswego City, Oswego Town, Scriba, Volney, Minetto, Granby, Fulton, New Haven, Hannibal, Mexico, Palermo, Hastings, Amboy, Parish, Redfield, Orwell, Constantia, Sandy Creek, and Richland.

You can search many cemeteries at once through FindAGrave.com

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 nyshistoricnewspapers.org
    1. For fultonhistory.com, 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.
    2. You can also see the June 1, 1859 to May 31, 1860 deaths by visiting www.newhorizonsgenealogicalservices.com/1860-mortality-schedule-ny-oswego-county.htm
  3. Since spellings differ and fultonhistory.com was not spell-checked after conversion visit search.ancestry.com/search
    1. The Oswego Public Library NOW has access to this database site if you visit the Library.  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, nyshistoricnewspapers.org, fultonhistory.com, and even google.com with the name, location, and possibly year.

Genealogy at Home recommended by the After School Kids in El Paso County, Colorado

FamilySearch.org Resources

New York State Probate Records 1629-1970

New York State Births and Christenings 1640-1962

New York State Marriages 1686-1980

New York State Deaths and Burials 1795-1950

1865 New York State Census

1875 New York State Census

1892 New York State Census

1905 New York State Census

1915 New York State Census

1925 New York State Census

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, 384 East River Rd., and at the Roswell P. Flower Memorial Library, 229 Washington St., Watertown, NY 13601.

Other Area Resources

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.
Maps from the 1800’s showing property owners.
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.
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.
“Royal genealogical pastime (1791)” by Toronto Public Library Special Collections is licensed with CC BY-SA 2.0.