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Genesee County, NY history

Historical and genealogical material from Genesee County, NY

We're happy to announce that the Genesee County Collection is now available. 

All of the items listed below are included in this new CD-ROM. 

• Genesee County Directory for 1882-3.  455 pages. 
• Genesee County Sesquicentennial: 1802 - 1952.  119 pages. 
• Official History and Directory of Genesee County Granges for 1934. 68 pages. 
• Official History and Directory of Genesee County Granges for 1938. 172 pages. 
• The O-At-Kan 1953 yearbook of Le Roy Central Schools. 128 pages.
• Genesee County chapter from French's Gazetteer of the State of New York (1860). 10 pages.
• Charity in Genesee County in 1906 (from a 3 volume official source).  10 pages.
• Historical Topographic maps of Genesee County
• A variety of old postcard views of Genesee County locations.
• An original diary for 1909 by an unknown farmer near Batavia. 

As you can see, we're including a lot of widely varied material in this one.  The expression "something for everybody" is overused, but this one comes pretty close, at least for people with an interest in Genesee County.  Here's a little more information about some of the contents:

Genesee County Business Directory (1882)

Published by A. J. Craft, 455 pages.  While roughly 140 pages of this directory are dedicated to the legal practices and customs in business in those days (it also includes a lengthy article on James G. Garfield, the President who was assassinated in 1881 -- which the text calls "...the saddest history of the American Nation"), the remainder (and by far the largest part of the volume) is of great interest to genealogists and historians today.  Included are histories, including early settlers, of Genesee County (and the Holland Patent) and its constituent towns, Genesee County business by type, and perhaps most important, a directory of individuals and businesses in the county, arranged by town.  Post office, occupation, and number of acres for farmers, are included.  This directory section is 230 pages long.  There is also a decent amount of advertising.  It's pretty much a rarity so we don't have any comparable price to say what copies are currently selling for.

Sesquicentennial of Genesee County  (1952)

119 pages of historical articles, advertisements, lists of people, and program for the event.  Also many photos, and a sense of a forward-looking county.  We've recently seen this one go on eBay for more than $30.

Official Directory and History of Genesee County Granges (1934 and 1938)

68 pages plus covers (1934 edition) and 172 pages plus covers (1938 edition).  These are both wonderful documents of a fading rural lifestyle in Genesee County during the Great Depression.  Historical articles about all Granges in the county, along with lots of lists of Masters, Past Masters, and other officers.  Lots of ad from businesses that would have dealt with the agricultural community are here as well.  Before dismissing these as purely a collection of farmers, remember that during those years families with roots "on the farm" often maintained their Grange memberships for a generation or so.  These are pretty specialized directories, and you're not likely to find them available elsewhere, we think.

The O-At-Kan Yearbook -- LeRoy Central Schools  (1953)

An interesting high school yearbook -- the first one we've seen recently that has photos of all the classes from Kindergarten on up.  The big disadvantage of high school yearbooks when searching for family members is that they usually cover only one class in depth and either three or five additional classes in summary.  This one covers the class of 1953 in depth as you might expect, but the summary covers more than a decade of students. 

How can I obtain the Genesee County Collection CD-ROM? 

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