For some time I have wanted to research in Cattaraugus County in the southern tier of New York State, so yesterday I drove west from Cortland. It took nearly all day to get to the County Clerk's office only to learn that the records I wanted were with the Town Clerk, back 20 miles from the way I had come. By the time I got to Hinsdale, it was 4 o'clock. Didn't matter. The Town Clerk didn't have an office anyway.
I knocked on the door of Lila Cooper, the local historian, a 95 year old former school teacher, who could rattle off names and relationships faster than I could write them down. She phoned the Town Clerk and got me an invitation to come and look at the town records at her home. Lila also told me the family I was interested in settled 7 miles further east which put me just over the county line into Allegany County. No wonder I could not find any of the people I had been looking for!
Bright and early this morning I visited the local restaurant, so popular that the owners have just pushed several tables together so that the regulars can sit together and chat. Visiting with folks there I got several more "leads" and spent the whole day happily looking up records, taking photos at the cemetery and visiting two other ladies in their nineties. Now that I have had my genealogy "fix", I can turn my attention to the next leg of my journey. Tomorrow it's off to Seattle!
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