CAPITAL DISTRICT GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY
501(c)(3) Charity
PO Box 2175 ESP Station Albany NY 12220 contactcdgs@cdgsny.org
PO Box 2175 ESP Station Albany NY 12220 contactcdgs@cdgsny.org
We are a 501 (c)(3) Charity
Newsletter Email
We have created an email account for newsletter submissions and questions. Please send articles to. newsletter@cdgsny.org
Are You Moving?
If you are changing your address either temporarily or permanently please make sure you log in to your account and change your address there (update my profile in the drop down menu on the right. We send our emails and newsletters to the information we have on file for you, so if it changes you must put those changes in the system. Our newsletter, sent by bulk mail, will not be forwarded by the US Postal Service, so if your address changes you will not get the newsletters unless you submit your new address.
Please see our "Meetings" Page for a list of the programs we have planned for 2026.
Where Will We Be .....
Our In-person meetings don't resume until June of this year but you can meet up with us at a few events before June. Stop for help or just to say Hi - We love to talk genealogy!
May 2nd - The Troy Public Library, 100 Second Street, Troy, NY 12180
We are holding a Family History Help Day 11 am - 4 pm with volunteers to sit with you and help you with your research. It's a Saturday so parking will be available in the Courthouse lot next door.
We are in the process of scheduling a talk at the Library in Fonda, NY, another in Gloversville, NY and some one-on-one genealogy help sessions, this summer, at the Colonie Town Library..... stay tuned.
In May we return on Zoom for a program about the Loyalists in New York during the Revolution. Loyalism was prevalent across all of the Hudson River Valley during the war and they were a constant threat to the patriots. How can you find out whether your ancestor was a Loyalist or a patriot? Were those residents of New York and Long Island within the occupation true Loyalists? This presentation will highlight new avenues in Loyalist research and some unlikely areas you may find some useful collections
The Local History and Genealogy section is one of the busiest areas of the NYS Library, as it’s used by people who are tracing their family history, as well as by professional genealogical researchers, biographers, and historians who are seeking information about the collective history of families or the domestic life of a period in American history. This is a rich collection with countless pathways into the history of New York and its residents.
Materials in this collection include printed family histories as well as church and cemetery records, Census records, and New York State Military Records resources. The NYS Library also provides a range of reference materials to support genealogical research, including bibliographies, tips for researchers, and genealogy card indexes.
The image below shows just one example of the highly specialized resources available in this part of the Library. The Hunnewell Family chart (NYS Library call number 929.2 qH9386) is available to view in the NYS Library’s Digital Collections. It captures the Hunnewell family tree in great detail. H.H. Hunnewell, the Massachusetts-born railroad financier and amateur botanist, appears on line seven of this chart, which describes over 200 years of Hunnewell marriages, births, and deaths.
Hunnewell Family tree, a genealogy spread across a large page that appears to have been folded into eight sections at some point. The births, marriages, and deaths are recorded in typed font, with some handwritten notes appearing at the top of the page in script.Additionally, the NYS Library is proud to highlight its longstanding partnership with the Capital District Genealogical Society (CDGS). CDGS volunteers graciously offer their time and expertise to assist visitors at the NYS Research Library, where they operate a genealogy help desk. Volunteers can assist visitors who are just getting started or those with more specific questions. The NYS Library’s Reference Unit maintains a schedule of onsite CDGS volunteers. If you would like to meet with a Society volunteer, we recommend calling the Library’s Reference Desk ahead of time to ensure that someone from CDGS will be available on the day you plan to conduct your research.
