The Village of Dresden and Its Records
Dresden was incorporated in 1868 at the peak of its importance as a
canal town and merchant milling center. It is Yates County's only planned
community, with a grid of streets laid out around public squares in 1811,
before anyone actually lived there. No one is sure why the village was
named for the German city, though many of the early settlers in the area
were German. The failure of the canal in the 1870s, coming on the heels
of a series of diastrous fires, and finally the linking of the Northern
Central Railroad with Penn Yan along the canal's old right of way, meant
that the village never grew as its founders had hoped. It remains one of
the smallest incorporated villages in New York, with a population under
400 persons.
Its records too have not survived well. The Board of Trustees' minutes
are spotty and incomplete, but the records kept for the village's cemetery
are excellent. Vital records are kept by the town of Torrey, in which the
village is located.
The village hall is located on Firehouse Avenue, within sight of the
Torrey town hall on Geneva Street where the vital records registers for
both municipalities are kept.
Village Records on Microfilm
The following records series have been microfilmed and except for the
vital records are available at the Yates County Historian's office, at
the village office and at the State Library in Albany
MINUTE BOOKS
1893 - 1905, July 1912, June 1914, July 1924 - 1954, 1979 - 1992 (all
others missing)
VITAL RECORDS REGISTERS
Births, deaths and marriages 1883-1993 [kept at Torrey town office;
include whole town] [INDEX]
CEMETERY RECORDS
Evergreen Cemetery records 1826 - 1995