Tracking
the History of Property in Troy
and
Rensselaer County, New York
Troy is a city with great numbers of historic buildings,
including homes as well as industrial, commercial, educational
and religious architecture. Clearly identifiable neighborhoods
have grown up around these historical buildings that provide a
foundation for the development of the neighborhoods. Because of
the importance of this historic architecture, property owners,
historic preservationists and neighborhood activists have become
increasingly interested in the ownership of homes and land in
the City of Troy, New York. This brief listing provides a general
overview of the most important records for studying property ownership
in Troy and Rensselaer County, New York. Some of the records are
located at the Rensselaer County Historical Society, while others
may be found at the county clerk’s office and elsewhere.
Deeds, etc.: These are found at the Rensselaer County Clerk’s
Office, 3rd and Congress Streets, Troy. The County Clerk’s
Office, is the central place for all land transactions in Rensselaer
County, including maps, mortgages, deeds, foreclosures and other
related records.
Leases: Most of Rensselaer
County was originally possessed by the Van Rensselaer family (generally
all of the county except the city of Troy, village of Lansingburgh,
and towns of Pittstown, Hoosick and Schagticoke). There were several
thousand tenants, about 3000 in the early 19th century, who leased
their lands from the Van Rensselaer “patroons.” Many
of the leases, indexed by surname, are in the Manuscripts and
Special Collections of the New York State Library. The Van Rensselaer
Manor Papers at the State Library also include surveys of property
and maps of the manor lands as well as rent books listing tenants
and their annual rental payments to the Van Rensselaer family.
Title Searches: There are
numerous companies in the Capital District, including some in
Troy, that do title searches of property. RCHS has the Charles
Cohen Collection that consists of title search files for property
in Troy and Rensselaer County that were done in the late 20th
century. This collection is partially indexed.
City Directories: City
directories for Troy from 1832 to 1999 are available in the RCHS
library. The city directories include a wide range of information
including names of government officials, advertisements of businesses,
and other data about the city. The major portion of a city directory
is the list of residents, with their addresses and usually with
their occupations noted, in the city for each year. The directories
may be searched by name only through 1914. Beginning in 1915,
the directory also includes a House Directory that allows searching
by street address as well as name. Beginning about 1860, Lansingburgh,
West Troy (i.e. Watervliet), Cohoes, Waterford and Green Island
began to be included in the Troy directories. The City of Rensselaer
is included in the Albany city directories.
Surrogate’s Court Records:
The records of the Surrogate’s Court have been microfilmed
and are available on microfilm at the County Clerk’s Office.
The original paper records for 1791 to 1916 are in the collections
of RCHS and are indexed by surname in an automated database available
only at RCHS. These files may have a small or great amount of
information depending upon various factors. A typical file may
contain a deceased person’s will, an inventory of the estate
of the deceased, letters of administration given to executors
(often children or other relatives of the deceased) responsible
for the estate and other legal documents with family names and
information with potential value for tracing the history of a
family, estate or house.
Cartographic Resources:
Maps and atlases of Troy may show buildings, lots, property owner’s
names and other pertinent data useful for studying the history
of houses and neighborhoods. Using maps with a range of dates
will help represent the changes over time of the neighborhoods
and city generally. Some useful atlases are:
Beers, F.W., County Atlas of Rensselaer, New York, New York, F.W.
Beers, 1876.
French, J.H., Gazetteer of the State of New York, Syracuse, R.P.
Smith, 1860.
Hopkins, G.M., City Atlas of Troy, NY, Philadelphia, G.M. Hopkins,
1881.
Sanborn Map Company, Insurance Maps of Troy, New York, New York,
Sanborn Map Company, ca.1903-1950.
Single sheet maps of Troy and other parts of Rensselaer County
are also in the collection of RCHS and can be searched in the
card catalog.Other libraries and archives also have maps; the
Rensselaer County Clerk’s Office has land maps for places
in Rensselaer County; the New York State Library has maps of Troy
and the county as well as Sanborn Insurance Atlases of Troy for
1876 in hard copy and other years on microfilm. The State Library
also has insurance maps on microfilm for other places in the county,
including Castleton, Hoosick Falls, Lansingburgh, Rensselaer,
Schagticoke and Valley Falls. The Troy Public Library has insurance
maps of Rensselaer County on microfilm.Panoramic maps of Troy
(1877) and Castleton (1884) are available at RCHS and give an
overall birds-eye view of these communities while showing individual
buildings.
Photographs: There are
several thousand photographs in the RCHS collection, including
many of houses, chiefly in Troy, both exterior and interior views,
and street scenes. The photographs are not indexed; copies of
the photos are filed in broad subject categories in binders. A
preservation survey of homes and other buildings done in 1970
of buildings in downtown Troy and along 1st and 3rd Avenues in
Lansingburgh is in the RCHS library and includes very brief descriptions
of buildings as well as photographs of them taken in 1970.
Building Permits: The City of Troy Code Enforcement Bureau has
records for the past two years only in its office. Earlier records
are placed in records storage. For information about access to
building permit records, you must contact the Code Enforcement
Bureau. Building records prior to 1938 were probably lost when
the City Hall burned.
Newspapers and Published Books:
When attempting to date a house, knowing the characteristics of
the style of the house can be very helpful in dating its construction.
The RCHS library has books with information about architectural
styles. RCHS also has all the basic published histories of Troy
and Rensselaer County and these books may have information, including
pictures about buildings. The Troy Public Library and New York
State Library have Troy newspapers on microfilm dating from the
19th century to the present. Newspapers may have articles about
the construction, renovation, or demolition of buildings, particularly
large, non-residential buildings. The Troy Public Library also
has a large scrapbook collection of newspaper articles and other
historical items that has been microfilmed and indexed.
National State Registers of Historic Sites:
RCHS has a file of National Register of Historic Places Registration
Forms that include information on sites nominated for the national
register. The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic
Preservation, Historic Preservation Field Services Bureau on Peebles
Island, Waterford, NY has further information about historic site
registration.
Internet Web Sites: Searching
web sites may be helpful in finding clues to the history of buildings.
Here are a few sites to check:
www.troynet.net
home.nycap.rr.com/content/us_troy.html
www.rootsweb.com/~nyrensse/
If you have other questions about a building in
Troy or Rensselaer County, please call the Rensselaer County Historical
Society at 518-272-7232.
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