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Introduction to Common School Records (1817-1846)
Town of Lansing
Tompkins County, New York

Common School districts within New York State were required to submit an annual report to the local Commissioner of Schools. This document is a listing of early inhabitants named on those reports, along with the corresponding School District number and reporting year. It is being provided to assist researchers in placing certain families in the Lansing area, when other records are not available.

In most cases, the person named is the Head of Household with children eligible to attend school (usually between 5 and 15 years of age). Original spellings are listed, along with any variations used. There is a large gap in the records between 1839 and 1845. Also, in many instances, district reports are missing for a given year. The original district reports include the number of children for each household, but their names were not given.

Many Lansing children lived close to town lines and attended districts in other towns. Those districts also reported to Lansing and are designated as follows.

  G Town of Genoa in Cayuga County
  Gr Town of Groton in Tompkins County

Other designations either identify positions held or are used as a key to unique records.

  a Annex (division) report
  c Commissioner
  d Dividend report
  hd Unidentified Harbor District
  i Inspector
  j Justice
  s Superintendent
  t Trustee or other officer

Index to Common School Records (1817-1846)

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Last updated March 4, 2007 4:25 PM