Kings County, New York, was created from Yorkshire County on November 1, 1683, as one of the original twelve counties of the Province of New York, English colony. It was named to honor King Charles II of England, the Duke of York.[1] Between 1824 and 1931, the boundary between Kings County and Queens County was redefined with no discernible change.[2] Kings County, New York, is coextensive with the borough of Brooklyn in New York City and occupies the southwestern tip of Long Island With a land area of 69.38 square miles (179.7 km) and a water area of 27.48 square miles (71.2 km), Kings County is the state of New York’s fourth-smallest county by land area and third smallest by total area.[3] The population of the country in 2000 was 2,465,326; and in 2010 2,504,700.
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Kings County, New York State, History
Before the arrival of European settlers, the land that is now Kings County, was inhabited by the Native American Lenape tribe one of the many tribes belonging to the great Algonquins.[4] The settlement of Kings County began in the 17th century as the small Dutch-founded town of “Breuckelen” on the East River shore of Long Island. The name Brooklyn is derived from the name of the original Dutch town. In the 19th Century the town grew to be a sizable city and became a busy international port. Brooklyn was also the funnel for food grown on Long Island across the East River to New York City. The U.S. Navy opened a shipyard on Wallabout Bay in 1801, and Robert Fulton began a steam-ferry service across the East River in 1814.
The first and largest battle of the American Revolutionary War was on August 27, 1776, and is known as the Battle of Brooklyn. The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883 further spurred growth, attracting immigrants seeking affordable housing compared to Manhattan.[5] The merger of Brooklyn with New York City in 1898 was controversial with many Brooklynites upset with their loss of autonomy. However, Kings County remains a New York State County but is coextensive with the Brooklyn Borough of New York City.[6]
Kings County, New York State, Demographics
According to City-Data.com[7] the demographics of Kings County are as follows:
- White Non-Hispanic alone 35.7%
- Black Non-Hispanic alone 26.9%
- Hispanic or Latino 18.9%
- Asian alone 12.3%
- Two or more races 4.5%<
- Some other race alone 1.5%
- American Indian and Alaska Native alone 0.1%
Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander alone 0.04%
Brooklyn is home to the world’s largest Jewish community and is often referred to as "the most Jewish spot on Earth". Nearly half of New York City’s Jewish population resides in Brooklyn.[8] As of 2020, over 600,000 Jewish residents were living in the borough, which is more than in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The largest Jewish denominations in Brooklyn include Orthodox, Haredi, and Conservative Judaism.
Kings County Surnames
Because Kings County is coterminous with Brooklyn, one of the five boroughs of New York City, the lists of the most common surnames are the same as those of the entire city of New York.
These surnames illustrate the diversity of the New York population. The lists of the most common surnames in New York state vary from website to website.
Researching family history in Kings County, New York State
Because Kings County is a city a borough as well as a county, research must include searching for records in all three jurisdictions: Kings County, Brooklyn (City), and the Borough of Brooklyn. There are specific county records but most of the other records will be found either under the borough or the state.
The Jewish Genealogical Society of New York has a 235,000+ Name index to Brooklyn (Kings County) Naturalization records, a Searchable database of the names and cemetery locations of all Jewish burial society [landsmanshaftn] plots in the New York metropolitan area, and Indexes of Landsmanshaften records from YIVO, WPA records, Jewish Communal Register, and the American Jewish Yearbook.[9]
Other repositories of records include the Brooklyn Public Library, the Milstein Division of the New York Public Library, and the Brooklyn Historical Society.
Explore more about Kings County (Brooklyn)
MyHeritage has an extensive collection of Kings County (Brooklyn) records. To find the records, search for Brooklyn in the Collection Catalog. The collection includes 431, 397 records in the New York, Brooklyn, Green-Wood Cemetery Burials and many other collections like the Brooklyn, New York, City Directory, 1906. You can also search for records in the New York State collections. Other interesting resources about Brooklyn are:
References
- ↑ Kings. New York, Map, & History. Encyclopedia Britannica
- ↑ NY: Individual County Chronologies
- ↑ 2020 Census Gazetteer for New York State. United States Census Bureau.
- ↑ Kings County (Brooklyn Borough). New York Guide. New York Genealogical & Biographical Society
- ↑ McCullough, David (1983). THE GREAT BRIDGE AND THE AMERICAN IMAGINATION. The New York Times. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
- ↑ History of Brooklyn - From Village to City
- ↑ Kings County, NY. City Data
- ↑ Brooklyn, the Most Jewish Spot on Earth. Haddasah Magazine
- ↑ JGS NY