1865 New York State Census Index and Transcription for Schenectady County

State Street, downtown Schenectady, ca. 1865. Photograph from Grems-Doolittle Library Photograph Collection.

Our volunteers recently completed transcribing information from the 1865 New York State Census for Schenectady County. This project was begun several years ago but had lain dormant for the past few years. Using these transcriptions, we were able to create an every-name index for that census. Being able to access this index is a particular boon to genealogical and historical researchers because the 1865 New York State Census is not indexed elsewhere, such as through websites like www.ancestry.com or www.familysearch.org.

The index, which is posted on our library collections page (click here to access the index directly), contains the first name, last name, middle initial if given, the city/town and ward or election district in which the person resided, and the family number assigned to the household that the individual lived in. Using this information, researchers can consult the transcribed census record or the original census record on microfilm in our library.

Having a digital transcribed record available to researchers in our library makes it very easy to find information for a particular family or individual. It also makes it possible to extract city/town-level or county-level demographic information, such as race, national origin, military service, or occupation of individuals with the click of a mouse.



Section from transcribed entries of the 1865 New York State Census for the city of Schenectady, Ward 1.  

The transcribed records include the following fields: City/Town name; District or Ward number; material of which the house is built; value of building; family number; name; age; sex; color; relation to the head of household; county, state or country of birth; number of children; number of times married; current marital status; occupation; place of employment, if outside the city or town in which the person resides; whether the individual is a native or naturalized voter, whether the individual is a foreign-born person not naturalized; current and former military service of individual; whether the individual is an owner of land.

Below is a summary of our holdings of New York State census records. Please feel free to send an email to librarian@schenectadyhistorical.org or call us at 518-374-0263, option 3, if you have any questions or would like to request a look-up of New York State Census records. 

New York State Census Records for Schenectady County in the Grems-Doolittle Library
1835 - microfilm; printed transcription; print name index
1845 - printed transcription for Rotterdam only. See Mohawk v. 8 no. 3 through v. 9 no. 1
1855 - microfilm; printed transcription; print name index
1865 - microfilm; digital transcription; digital and print name index
1875 - microfilm (searchable index available via www.familysearch.org)
1892 - microfilm; printed transcription for Schenectady Ward 1, Dist. 1 only (searchable index available via www.familysearch.org and www.ancestry.com)
1905 - microfilm (searchable index available via www.familysearch.org)
1915 - microfilm (searchable index available via www.familysearch.org and www.ancestry.com)
1925 - microfilm (searchable index available via www.familysearch.org and www.ancestry.com)