In 1896, the NYS Legislature passed legislation requiring officers of public almshouses and poorhouses to submit an annual census of inmates to the State Board of Charities. At a state conference of Superintendents of the Poor, a committee developed a standard form for reporting information about each inmate. This form was used unchanged until 1905 when the State Board made a few minor revisions. Although the records span the years from 1875 to 1920, there are often gaps of one or more years in the census returns from a particular county. Most records are in the 1900-1919 time period. Thanks to volunteer Cynthia Seacord for many hours of effort preparing this index.
The Historical Society has a microfilm copy of these records for the poorhouse in Schenectady County, New York. Society staff will make copies of a card if you submit the request form. There will be a charge of $5.00 for each name (including alternate spellings) submitted. Preview an image of a sample card.
To make our local files useful to as many genealogists as possible, we would like copies of your family records. We invite anyone who has genealogical records of people who lived in Schenectady County to send them to us. Please send your data in one of these formats (in order of preference):
