Census records and name lists for New York are found mostly at the county level, which is why this work shows precisely which census records or census substitutes exist for each of New York's sixty-two counties and where they can be found. In addition to the numerous statewide official censuses taken by New York, this work contains references to census substitutes and name lists for time periods in which the state did not take an official census. It also shows the location of copies of federal census records and provides county boundary maps and numerous state census facsimiles and extraction forms.

Based upon the famous Draper Collection at the Wisconsin Historical Society, this transcription of original sources was conceived as a sequel to the Society's volume on Lord Dunmore's War of 1774. The documents selected by Thwaites and Kellogg pick up the story in March 1775 and continue through May 1777, essentially the first two years of the American Revolution. The sources shed light on the principal incidents and personalities of importance along the broad frontier that extended from the Greenbrier region of Virginia to Kittanning on the Upper Allegheny. The volume closes with the transfer of the command of Fort Pitt to General Hand signifying a milestone in American military history and in the history of westward expansion.

Part of the Niagara Frontier and located in the western area of New York State, Orleans County covers a total area of 817 square miles, of which 426 square miles are water. The high proportion of water is due to the extension of Orleans County north into Lake Ontario to the Canadian border (a line of latitude running through the middle of the lake). For this reason, the legend of the Milan, the sunken schooner, is included in these pages, along with Orleans County's notable citizens. George Pullman of railroad car fame, Santa Claus School founder Charlie Howard, and Disney artist Hank Porter are gone now, but this region continues to produce local legends.

Who uses "skeeter hawk," "snake doctor," and "dragonfly" to refer to the same insect? Who says "gum band" instead of "rubber band"? The answers can be found in the Linguistic Atlas of the Middle and South Atlantic States (LAMSAS), the largest single survey of regional and social differences in spoken American English. It covers the region from New York state to northern Florida and from the coastline to the borders of Ohio and Kentucky. Through interviews with nearly twelve hundred people conducted during the 1930s and 1940s, the LAMSAS mapped regional variations in vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation at a time when population movements were more limited than they are today, thus providing a unique look at the correspondence of language and settlement patterns. This handbook is an essential guide to the LAMSAS project, laying out its history and describing its scope and methodology. In addition, the handbook reveals biographical information about the informants and social histories of the communities in which they lived, including primary settlement areas of the original colonies. Dialectologists will rely on it for understanding the LAMSAS, and historians will find it valuable for its original historical research. Since much of the LAMSAS questionnaire concerns rural terms, the data collected from the interviews can pinpoint such language differences as those between areas of plantation and small-farm agriculture. For example, LAMSAS reveals that two waves of settlement through the Appalachians created two distinct speech types. Settlers coming into Georgia and other parts of the Upper South through the Shenandoah Valley and on to the western side of the mountain range had a Pennsylvania-influenced dialect, and were typically small farmers. Those who settled the Deep South in the rich lowlands and plateaus tended to be plantation farmers from Virginia and the Carolinas who retained the vocabulary and speech patterns of coastal areas. With these revealing findings, the LAMSAS represents a benchmark study of the English language, and this handbook is an indispensable guide to its riches.

Sangerfield: The town was established in 1795 on land originally owned by Jebediah Sanger who, wanting to have a new settlement named after him, promised a cask of rum for the first town meeting and 50 acres to the first church. The rum was drunk at the first town meeting in 1795. The Native American name for the site was Skanawis, "a long swamp." East New York: John Pitkin came here from Connecticut in 1835 and bought land that he developed. He chose this name to make people think that this place was the eastern end of New York City. Morganville: This place was named for William Morgan, a former Mason, who had written a book that supposedly revealed the secrets of Masonry. He disappeared in 1826, a possible murder victim. His disappearance sparked the anti-Masonic movement. From Abbotts to Zurich provides a provocative glimpse into the history of the region. It also tells the story of a young and growing nation, how it wanted to be identified, and how the people populating the land thought of themselves. The names are not just labels for locations, but they are cultural and historic guideposts to past ideas. Each place's origin is traced and studied, providing a reason for its name and hints at the origins of the people who originally settled there.