Families of Western New York

In 1912 William Richard Cutter, the editor of many genealogical compendia on the New England and Middle Atlantic states, published the three-volume work entitled "Genealogical and Family History of Central New York. A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Building of a Nation." The Central New York volumes were reprinted by Clearfield Company in 1994, and they are now almost out of print. Also in 1912, Mr. Cutter and his team of compilers published the related three-volume set, "Genealogical and Family History of Western New York. A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Building of a Nation." A comparison of the two works reveals that, with the exception of the accompanying photographs, the contents of the second and third volumes in the Western New York set is duplicated in the corresponding volumes of the Central New York opus. Volume I of "Genealogical and Family History of Western New York," on the other hand, is a wholly unique collection of genealogical essays concerning families based in the western portion of New York State. To avoid unnecessary duplication and at the same time make this important collection of western New York compiled genealogies available to researchers, Clearfield Company has chosen to reprint Volume I under the new title, "Families of Western New York." Each of the more than 200 essays in this copiously illustrated work begins with an explanation of the derivation of the family's surname. Cutter then traces the line forward from the oldest known ancestor to the principal subject of the essay. This is followed by a detailed biography of that person, often with his photo, as well as an enumeration of collateral lines related to the principal subject. The index identifies some 2,000 descendants of the main families, which, in the aggregate, constitute a unique and previously inaccessible source of Western New York ancestry.