New York is a goldmine!

[fudge stripe cookays]

Hey gang! Checking in from NY!

So far, Albany provided some of the most WONDERFUL pictures I've been able to obtain so far. My GGgrandfather's brother, his wife, and quite a few members of the family were all there. It made it so much better, considering the circumstances in which I had to obtain them.

The lady (whose husband let me come visit and scan them) is this little wraith of a person, completely gone with Alzheimers-- she must have asked him 10 times who I was and why was I there. Then she'd ask about someone at their church who'd gotten in trouble. It was a cycle...this went on for 2 or 3 hours. By the end of my visit she was pretty agitated. I worked as quickly as I could because I knew it was difficult for him to keep answering the same questions. But I was so grateful to him for letting me capture those pictures. When that couple dies, the pictures will go with them. God knows where. The trash, most likely. But I have already made a picture CD to send home before I get there for extra protection! And I made another for a cousin in Hornell.

Today I drove from Albany to Ithaca. My first day and I found SO much at the library-- I couldn't believe I got as lucky digging up obituaries as I did. It was the Ithaca paper, not Newfield, but there was still plenty there. Tomorrow, I'm going to the History Center AND meeting with Newfield's town historian, who knows everything there is to know about the town. I'm so excited! He's also taking me to the cemeteries. Will also get to Cornell, where one of the libraries has three precious microfilm rolls of Newfield materials.

I also had dinner at Moosewood. Yum! :9

And in the daily mail report, reprehensor tells me I have a mail package from Bill Hayes of "Days of Our Lives" fame with more of his wife's (my 4th cousin's) family data, which I'll enter when I get home.

[Gormy Cuss]

1. Sounds like the vacation is off to a great start.

Yay!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. NY is great for genealogists

I don't get to travel, but my cousins do, and kindly share all they find. Ontario County is great for all the information they have available.

[fudge stripe cookays]

3. Cornell turned out to be wonderful...

They have 3 precious microfilm of this town's records, and about a year and a half of newspaper. That's it. Most of the obituaries I ended up getting from the Ithaca paper.

Newfield burned in 1875, so there is very little left of the early records. So I was REALLY happy to find what I did!