New York Colonial Muster Rolls 1664-1775: Report of the State Historian of the State of New York is a two volume set containing the:
“Muster rolls and military commissions issued for the colony of New York between the years 1664 and 1760 — covering the period of the capture of New Netherlands by the English (Sept. 1664), the recapture of New York by the dutch (Aug. 1673), the restoration of New York to the English by the Dutch (February and March 1674); the English Revolution of 1688; the war between England and France, 1689; the unsuccessful expedition against Canada 1709—1711; war of the “Austrian Succession” between England and France 1744, concluded by the peace of 1748; and the French and Indian war from 1754 including the battle of Lake George, Sept. 8, 1755. These muster rolls practically end with the death of George II.”
This work was originally published as appendices, to the Annual Report of the State Historian of the State of New York for the years 1897 and 1898. Volume I contains Appendix “H” of the Second Annual Report of the State Historian of the State of New York (1897) and Volume II covers Appendix “M” of the Third Annual Report (1898). All names mentioned in the two volumes are indexed together at the end of Appendix “M”, in the second volume. The data incorporates a variety of records, including pay rolls, size rolls, petitions, minutes of meetings and official proceedings, journals, correspondence, and various field reports. Lists include all militia companies raised to quell mutinies, insurrections, and uprisings, or to do battle with the French and Indians and to protect New York’s borders–usually from French and Iroquois incursions or threatened hostilities from Connecticut.
“Chiefly of interest to information-starved New York researchers and to others whose roots reach back to colonial New York, this work identifies approximately 30,000 men who served in the various militia companies during the period before the Revolution, including privateers and free-lancers such as Captain William Kidd. Arranged chronologically, and then more or less by county, city, town, and manor, and thereunder by militia company–each headed by a captain–the muster rolls are both spare and full, spare during the early years and comparatively rich in later years. At a minimum, each militiaman is noted in connection with his date of enlistment, his company and company commander, his rank, and his place of residence. But more often than not, information provided in the muster rolls includes such important items as place of birth, age, occupation, height, and physical description. Altogether this is an extraordinary body of information, little known until now, but of immeasurable value to anyone undertaking early New York genealogical research. In fact, it is one of the last great New York resources to be reprinted, though ironically it may prove to be a starting point in research.”
Copies of New York Colonial Muster Rolls 1664-1775: Report of the State Historian of the State of New York are available from Family Roots Publishing; Price for both volumes: $83.30.