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New York State Regions

Regions of New York State

What county is in which region?

Especially when doing family research, one may encounter statements like "They went up to the Adirondacks" or "He came from the Finger Lakes" without much more to refine the search. 

Especially in New York State, with all its many counties, just figuring out which counties to research can be challenging.  Just to complicate things a little bit, you'll also notice that there is plenty of overlap among the regions described below, and everyone's definition of a region is not the same.

This page won't make the research itself any easier, but it may suggest a county to you that you hadn't considered researching in, and thus help you ensure that you include all the counties that you need to consider when doing a regional search. 

We hope it's helpful!  See a way we can improve this page?  Be sure to let us know!

Another good idea: many New York State counties were carved out of larger existing counties when they were settled.  If you're looking back more than a century or so, you'll generally want to check to find out what county this county was originally part of.  We've included on each county's page which county was divided to form that county, and what counties were subsequently separated from that county, and provided links to each county's page.  We hope that you find these useful.  We've also found that the individual county articles in Wikipedia are frequently useful in investigating each of these divisions further. 

There were also several New York State counties that don't exist anymore:  Cornwall County and Dukes County were transferred to Massachusetts in 1691.  Cumberland County and Gloucester County were transferred to Vermont in 1790, as were portions of Charlotte County, the remainder of which became Washington County.  Tryon County became Montgomery County

 

Region Counties included
Adirondacks Franklin, St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Clinton, Essex, Hamilton, Warren, Saratoga, Herkimer, Lewis
Catskills Sullivan, Ulster, Greene, Delaware, Schoharie
Southern Tier Broome, Tioga, Tompkins, Chemung, Schuyler, Steuben, Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chenango
Finger Lakes Livingston, Ontario, Seneca, Yates, Steuben, Cayuga, Tompkins, Cortland, Onondaga, Schuyler, Monroe, Wayne
Tug Hill Plateau Lewis, Jefferson, Oneida, Oswego
Long Island Nassau, Suffolk, Queens, Kings
Hudson Valley Orange, Ulster, Greene, Dutchess, Columbia, Rockland, Putnam, Westchester, Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Washington, Warren
Mohawk Valley Herkimer, Fulton, Montgomery, Saratoga, Schenectady, Albany
Capital District Rensselaer, Schenectady, Albany, Saratoga, Schoharie
Tyron County (here's a case where an historic county that's no longer in existence is included)  Montgomery, others
Western New York State Chautauqua, Erie, Cattaraugus, Allegany, Steuben, Schuyler, Chemung, Tompkins, Tioga, Wyoming, Livingston, Yates, Cayuga, Niagara, Orleans, Monroe, Genesee, Ontario, Wayne, Oswego, Seneca, Cayuga
Hardenburgh Patent Sullivan, Ulster, Delaware
Charlotte (here's a case where an historic county that's no longer in existence is included) Washington, others
Old Vermont Albany
The Oblong Dutchess
Nine Partners Patent Dutchess
Central New York Madison, Chenango, Cortland, Onondaga, Oswego, Cayuga, Otsego, Herkimer, Oneida
The North Country Franklin, St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Clinton, Essex, Warren, Washington, Hamilton, Lewis
St. Lawrence Region Franklin, St. Lawrence, Jefferson
New York City New York, Kings, Queens, Bronx, Richmond
Chautauqua/Allegany Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany
Niagara Frontier Erie, Niagara, Orleans, Genesee, Wyoming
Leatherstocking Schoharie, Otsego, Madison, Chenango
Thousand Islands/Seaway St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Oswego

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