Heritage Quest Online (Library Card Barcode Required)
- A database consisting of the full text of local histories, family histories, and Federal Census indexes and images 1790-1910. This is accessible from any computer using your CCLD library card.
Ancestry Library Edition - Temporarily enjoy Ancestry Library Edition from home. Offered by Proquest as we undergo quarantine, access this database using the first 6 numbers of your library card.
Accessible Archives - Developed by dedicated instructors and students of American history, their databases contain the rich, comprehensive material found in leading historic periodicals and books. Eyewitness accounts of historical events, vivid descriptions of daily life, editorial observations, commerce as seen through advertisements, and genealogical records are available in a user-friendly online environment.
- African American Newspapers
- American County Histories
- The Civil War Collection
- Frank Leslie’s Weekly
- Godey’s Lady’s Book
- History of Woman Suffrage
- The Liberator
- The Lily
- National Anti-Slavery Standard
- National Citizen and Ballot Box
- The Pennsylvania Gazette
- The Pennsylvania Genealogical Catalogue
- The Pennsylvania Newspaper Record
- The Revolution
- Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman
- South Carolina Newspapers
- Twelve Years A Slave
- The Virginia Gazette
Genealogy & Local History at the Steele Memorial Library Blog - Keep up with our newest additions, resources, and news in the Genealogy and Local History Department
Chemung County Sanborn Maps online - "The Library of Congress's Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps Online Checklist provides a searchable database of the fire insurance maps published by the Sanborn Map Company housed in the collections of the Geography and Map Division. The online checklist is based upon the Library's 1981 publication Fire Insurance Maps in the Library of Congress and will be continually updated to reflect new acquisitions." For more information on how to read these maps, visit the LOC page, ABOUT THIS COLLECTION.
Password Protected: CCLD's 1931 Sanborn Map of Elmira NY. Please enter the first 6 digits of your library card when prompted to access this item. Access to these digital images is graciously provided by EDR Lightbox. All Rights Reserved.
FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service 
- Records span billions of names across hundreds of collections--including birth, marriage, death, probate, land, military, IGI extracted, and more. Currently Family Search has NY State census for 1855, 1865 (browse only), 1875, 1892, 1905, 1915, and 1925.The Steele Memorial Library is an Affiliate Library with FamilySearch. Some records not able to be viewed at a computer at home may be viewed here at the library from our computers.
NY GenWeb Chemung County - Formerly part of Joyce Tice's Tri-Counties page.
Soundex Calculator - Use this calculator to figure out the soundex code for your name.
Social Security Death Index - Name index to deaths recorded by the Social Security Administration beginning in 1962.
FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service - Records span billions of names across hundreds of collections--including birth, marriage, death, probate, land, military, IGI extracted, and more. Currently Family Search has NY State census for 1855, 1865 (browse only), 1875, 1892, 1905, 1915, and 1925.
Find a Genealogist - A way to find genealogists with many different locations and specialties. Service provided by the Board for Certification of Genealogists. This is not an official endorsement by the Steele Memorial Library. All genealogists are independent.
German Genealogy Group - From the German Genealogy Group this database currently contains the indexes to Birth, Marriage and Death records from 1862 to 1948 for the five boroughs of New York City (Bronx, Kings, Manhattan, Queens and Richmond).
Fulton History - Here you will find the Elmira Morning Paper 1888-1921, the Elmira Star-Gazette 1891-1907, the Corning Newspaper 1847-1905 and 1917-1953, and the Waverly, NY newspaper 1907-1914.
NYS Historic Newspapers - The NYS Historic Newspapers project provides free online access to a wide range of newspapers chosen to reflect New York's unique history. To search the entire collection, use the Search Tab. Or, click on a county to search or browse geographically. Current Chemung County titles online here are: Elmira Gazette 4/1/1891--7/27/1901, The Elmira Daily Bazoo 1877, The Havana Journal (Sundays of 1889), and The Valley Breeze (Fridays 9/1891--7/1913)
Wikipedia's list of online newspapers
Obituary Daily Times - Volunteers contribute indexes of obituaries from their local papers, Entries are put into a searchable database, Entries are emailed to list subscribers, Volunteers can contact contributors for an actual obituary.
Chronicling America - Online newspapers by the Library of Congress. Also includes a full list of total newspapers for regions in the United States, whether they are digitzed or not, and holdings information.
Upstate New York Death Records 1957-1963 - Official death records from New York State Department of Health. This site allows you to search for death records plus download these records for genealogical purposes.
Downstate New York Naturalization and Vital Records - From the Italian Genealogy Group, this page provides access to a Naturalization Records, NYC Death and Marriage indexes for Kings, Queens, Bronx, Manhattan, and Richmond Counties.
Reclaim the Records - A not-for-profit group of genealogists, historians, researchers, and open government advocates. They identify important genealogical records sets that ought to be in the public domain, fight for their release via FOIL requests and court cases. They then digitize everything and put it all online for free, without any paywalls or usage restrictions. NYS records
New York State Archives and Records Administration - This site offers a wealth of information about New York State Historical Documents and Public Records. From this site you can search the holdings of not only the state library but the state archives, and a historical documents catalog records for more than 25,000 archives and manuscripts collections housed in most, but not all, New York repositories (libraries, historical societies, and other organizations with established archives).
New York Town Historians - There are over 1600 local government historians in New York State. It is often difficult to find a listing for an historian in every town, village, city, county and borough. APHNYS provides these listings for historians the Empire State.
Genealogists who research New York State - Disclaimer: This list of professional genealogists is not intended to be an official endorsement by the Steele Memorial Library, CCLD, FamilySearch, or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is a list of professional researchers who offer fee-based family history services to help patrons find ancestors in this State.
Painted Hills Genealogy Society - A comprehensive locally produced genealogy site covering the entire Painted Hills Area of Western New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania. Including the Pennsylvania Counties of McKean and Potter plus the New York State Counties of Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, and Steuben.
Steuben County Burial Index - A browsable list of burials in Steuben County from 1967-2003. You also have the opportunity to request a copy of the obituary. To use this resource, you will need to have Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer.
Steuben County GenWeb - A collection of links to genealogical resources about Steuben County. This site includes links to census records, vital statistics, township histories and much more. Ellis Island Records A searchable database of immigration records, 1892-1924, from the famed port of entry to the United States.
RootsWeb - A highly renowned genealogy site with surname archives.
U.S. GenWeb - The GenWeb site is organized by state and then you can browse by county.
Cyndi's List - An excellent clearing house of genealogical web sites.
VitalChek - VitalChek Network has an internet, voice and fax network setup to help people get a certified copy of a birth certificate, death certificate, marriage certificate and other vital records.
Forms for Military Service Records at the National Archives - This site provides information about obtaining military service records and family history records from the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
DAR Patriot Index Volunteer Lookup Service - For no charge, volunteers from the Daughters of the American Revolution will conduct research to see if your ancestor fought in the Revolutionary War.
Elmira Prison Camp - Site of the history of Elmira's Civil War Prison.
Friends of the Elmira Civil War Prison Camp - The Friends of Elmira Civil War Prison Camp is a non-profit 503c based in Elmira, New York. It is the mission of the Friends of the Elmira Civil War Prison Camp to protect and preserve the history of the Civil War in Elmira, Chemung County and surrounding areas and to educate the public about that history.
Revolutionary War Soldiers - A rootsweb community of people interested in their Revolutionary War ancestors. People upload their ancestor's name along with their email address for people to contact them regarding the Revolutionary War ancestor.
Civil War Soldiers & Sailors - The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (CWSS) is a database containing information about the men who served in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War. Other information on the site includes histories of Union and Confederate regiments, links to descriptions of significant battles, and selected lists of prisoner-of-war records and cemetery records, which will be amended over time.