The Troy Sentinel was published semi-weekly from 1823 until
1832. In 1823 the editor was O. L. Holley with William S.
Parker as publisher. In 1826, J. D. Willard was the editor
and Tuttle & Richards was the publisher. In July 1827,
O. L. Holley was the editor and Tuttle & Gregory as publishers.
A daily edition was issued from May 1830 to August 1831 with
O. L. Holley as editor and Tuttle and Gregory as printers.
On December 23, 1823, The Troy Sentinel was the first publisher
of the world-famous Christmas poem “A Visit from St.
Nicholas” (also known as “The Night Before Christmas”
or “Twas the Night Before Christmas”). The poem
was published anonymously. It’s author has long been
believed to have been Clement Clarke Moore, but its author
is now regarded by a few to have been Henry Livingston, Jr.
These records will be of particular interest to Troy area
genealogy researchers since the dates of death and marriages
predate the 1880 N.Y.S. law on reporting of this information.
A number of the death records show the age of the individual
at the time of death and for many of the married women, the
first name of the husband is also shown. Military ranks (Gen.,
Lieut., Captain, Col., etc.) are indicated for a number of
the names in both the death records and the marriage records.
Most of the marriage records show the residence of the bride
and groom and for those records where the bride is identified
as a “Mrs.” this is a clue that the marriage was
a second one.
The numbers shown for page/column identifies the page and
column number in the Troy Daily Press where the death or marriage
notice was published. Death and marriage records published
in newspapers for this time period were limited to very brief
information such as the name, age and date of death or date
of marriage. If the individual was of some prominence, then
it is possible that there may be a further story in the paper.
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