Church Records (Part VI): "Downstate New York"

I define "Downstate New York," as all of Long Island, and the counties of Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Rockland and Orange. Counties located north and west of Orange and Dutchess Counties will be considered separately as "Upstate New York." Churches located in New York City were covered in an earlier post. The files below are from the William B. Bogardus Collection, that are found in "Downstate New York," and are not found in the "Vosburgh Collection" which was also covered in an earlier post.

First Reformed Church, Fishkill, Dutchess County, New York; First Reformed Church, Hopewell, Dutchess County, New York. This is a six page file with marriages and baptisms from a few different sources which are spelled out on the first two pages of the file.

Dutch Reformed Church, Fishkill, Dutchess, New York; computer printout: marriages, 1731-1834. The extracts are from FHL film #1002751, item 5. A preferred source for these records would the the Reformed Dutch Church, Fishkill, Marriages, as published in the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, beginning with volume 83, no. 2 (1952).

Marriages taken from the Session Records Book, 1842-1877, The First Presbyterian Church of Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Extracted from "Miscellaneous Family Records," by Helen Wilkinson Reynolds, FHL film #0940234, item 2. One BROUER marriage and three Bogardus marriages.

Records of Pleasant Valley Presbyterian Church, Dutchess Co., New York, 1793-1820. From the manuscript by Gertrude A. Barber, found on FHL film #0860290, item 7. This particular item has been digitized and can be accessed directly online (click on the link for this item). The download is slow, even with high-speed internet, but give it a try. Just one Brower entry. Here is a second file of the same source but it includes a photocopy of the page with the Brower entry.

Johnsville Methodist Church, Johnsville (now Wiccopee), Dutchess County, New York. We are given for a source, film #931485. This is a FHL film, one of fourteen items on this roll. There are two marriages here from the mid 1800s.

Records of the Reformed Dutch Church of Kakiat, Rockland Co., New York, 1774-1864. Oops, this is a "Vosburgh Collection" file that slipped by and should have been grouped with Part III. Four baptisms and five marriages here.

Dutch Reformed Church, Tappan, Rockland, New York, computer printout: marriages, 1753-1824. This is FHL film #1002751, item 7. Extracted marriages. The first one is in error (John Brower-Tryntie Jersey) the date should be 4-24-1790, not 4-24-1700. I am not a fan of these "computer printout" films by the FHL.  The Tappan marriages and betrothals were published in the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, vols. 84, 85, 86 (1953-55), and that is the source you should use.

Peekskill, Westchester Co., New York Cemetery Inscriptions. Typed DAR manuscripts, FHL film #0860290, item 5. (Same roll as the Pleasant Valley records above, but this item has not been digitized). Two Brewer/Brower extracts.

Quaker Meeting Records, State of New York, Westchester County.  The file states that the author is Josephine S. C. Frost, but I have been unable to locate this exact source online. There is a certificate of removal and a burial record for Mary, wife of Jacob Brouwer/Brower, at Chappaqua.

First Record Book of the "Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow." Four pages of Brouwer records in this file. The historic "Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow" is now known as the First Reformed Church of Tarrytown, in Westchester Co., New York. This transcription, by Rev. David Cole, was published by the Yonkers Historical and Library Association in 1901. The full book is available on Heritage Quest, although access is allowed only through the account of a subscribing institution. Google books now has an e-book copy online, free, but a Google account is needed.

Flatbush Dutch Church Records. The majority of the baptisms and marriages here are from the period of 1678 to 1692, with a few post-1700 records. The extracts are taken from the records that were published in the Holland Society Yearbook for the year 1898 (vol. 2). The preferred source for records of the Reformed Dutch Church at Flatbush is: Voorhees, David William. Records of The Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Flatbush, Kings County, New York, Vol.1, 1677-1720. New York: Holland Society of New York, 1998. If you are seriously researching Kings County families of the late 1600s and early 1700s, I would strongly recommend using the 1998 version by David W. Voorhees.

Births, Marriages, Deaths - From the Original Records of St. Ann's (Episcopal) Church at Brooklyn, New York.  This file of handwritten extracts is from a manuscript by Josephine C. Frost, and is on FHL film #0017533, item 1. The records are from the early 1800s and there are a number of records relating to the family of Adolphus Brouwer and Elizabeth Baker.

A History of St. George's Church of Hempstead, N. Y. The complete title of the book from which the extracts are taken is Adventures for God: A History of St. George's Episcopal Church, Hempstead, Long Island, by Rev. John Sylvanus Haight (1932). Queens County, Long Island was predominantly English during the colonial period and many of the descendants of the early Dutch families who settled in Queens County can be found in the records of the English churches. (Hempstead was within Queens County until the year 1900 when Nassau County was created). There is one marriage and one baptism in this file. The Records of St. George's Church, Hempstead, were published in the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record beginning with volume 12 in 1881.

History and Vital Records of Christ's First Presbyterian Church of Hempstead, Long Island, New York. The source for this file is the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, vol. 53, no. 3 (July 1922). As with St. George's Church, the descendants of many early Dutch families can be found in the records of Christ's Church, Hempstead. There are a good number of marriages and baptisms in this file. Most, if not all, are descendants of Jan Brouwer of Flatlands.

BGB 322