Canaan, NY

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Canaan, Columbia Co., NY

Canaan is a small rural town in eastern New York state bordering the Berkshire mountains in Massachusetts. It is located close to many Berkshire attractions and ski resorts. Queechy Lake is perhaps the main attraction, quite a beautiful lake where I spent many happy summers. Canaan is the town where I grew up and most of my family lives. Many of my ancestors also lived in Canaan, including the surnames BITHER, SCHILLING, BRISTOL, MATTOON, and many others.

History

Canaan was founded in 1778, originally part of the Kings District. In 1791, the town was patented and officially given to the current settlers. Canaan is in northern Columbia Co. and many of the original settlers were New Englanders from Massachusetts who settled around 1750.

Canaan is rich in histry and there is a Bicentennial book of which is out of print and I plan on including in this site someday. If someone would like to write up a better history and send it to me, I'll put it here and include your name as recognition.

1850 Canaan Census

Click the selection below to view my progress on transcribing the 1850 census for Canaan. Currently there are about 1000 entries out of about 2000. I have put a hold on this project for now, due to time constraints, however, I do have most of the Census records photocopied. Please let me know if anyone else is interested in finishing this task. If not, I'll probably get around to finishing it someday.
Last updated April 26, 1998

Alphabetical listing (inludes my entire database)
Full listing only includes 530 entries

Old Pictures of Canaan

This picture was taken abt 1880. Believe me, it doesn't look like this now. The big white house on the middle right hand side of the picture is the old family homestead where my parents live now.

I am unsure when this picture was taken, probably the mid 1800's. You are looking at the main road in Canaan which is now Old Queechy Rd. My parents house is on the right hand side of the picture. Notice the old hotel on the hill. This was called the Rubican and was taken down in the early 1980's.

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