Hamburg Death Records Lookup
Death records in Hamburg are kept by the Town Clerk at 6100 South Park Avenue. Hamburg is a town in Erie County in western New York, south of Buffalo. The town clerk files and issues death certificates, along with birth certificates and marriage licenses. There is also a separate Village of Hamburg with its own clerk for records within village limits. Erie County has a Southtowns Outreach Center right in Hamburg for county-level services. This guide explains how to get death records from each office.
Hamburg Death Records at a Glance
Hamburg Death Records at the Town Clerk
The Town of Hamburg Clerk is at 6100 South Park Avenue, Hamburg, NY 14075. Call (716) 649-6111 ext. 2360 to reach the office. You can also fax requests to 716-646-1384 or email townclerk@townofhamburgny.com. The current Town Clerk is Brad M. Rybczynski. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
A death certificate costs $10 per certified copy. Genealogy requests cost $22. You can order in person, by mail, or search online. Payment options include cash, check, and money order. The building has elevator access from the side door to the first floor and from the main entrance to the main floor, so it is accessible.
The town clerk is the keeper of all town records. That includes minutes of board meetings, tax collection records, and all vital records. For death records, you need to be a resident or property owner of the Town of Hamburg, or an eligible relative of the deceased. Bring a valid photo ID when you visit.
The Town of Hamburg website has information about town clerk services and vital records.
The Hamburg town website shown above provides details on clerk services including how to order death certificates and other vital records.
Village of Hamburg Clerk
There is a separate Village of Hamburg Clerk at 100 Main Street, Hamburg, NY 14075. The phone is 716-649-0200. The Village Clerk is Donald Witkowski. Hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. If the death took place in the village specifically (as opposed to the broader town), you may need to contact this office instead.
In New York, death records are filed in the city, town, or village where the death physically happened. So the location of the death matters more than where the person lived. If you are not sure whether a death fell within village or town limits, call either office and they can check their records or point you to the right one.
Erie County Resources
The Erie County Clerk is at 92 Franklin Street in Buffalo. The phone number is (716) 858-8785. The current clerk is Michael P. Kearns. Hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The Erie County Clerk does not issue death certificates for Hamburg. Those come from the town clerk. But the county office has property records, court filings, and other public records.
Hamburg has a bonus: an Erie County Clerk Southtowns Outreach Center right in town at S-4949 Hamburg Turnpike, Hamburg, NY 14075. Call (716) 858-7450. This location is open Monday through Friday 9 AM to 5 PM, and also Saturdays 9 AM to 1 PM. While they handle many county clerk services like DMV records and passports, vital records still go through the town clerk.
The Buffalo and Erie County Public Library has a Grosvenor Room for genealogy research at the Central Library, One Lafayette Square, Buffalo, NY 14203. They have microfiche indexes to NYS vital records, newspaper archives, and other genealogy tools. Call (716) 858-8900.
Historical Death Records in Hamburg
Hamburg has records going back to the mid-1800s. The Early Erie County Vital Records Index includes births, marriages, and deaths from Hamburg between 1847 and 1851. These records come from The Buffalo History Museum collection. For records from 1880 on, the town clerk is the primary source.
The Hamburg Public Library at 102 Buffalo Street has local newspaper archives that can be useful for death research. They hold the Erie County Independent from 1875 to 1895 and 1920 to 1994, and the Hamburg Sun from 1945 to present. Obituaries in these papers can help you find dates and family details to track down the official death record.
The Western New York Genealogical Society is based in Hamburg at P.O. Box 338, Hamburg, NY 14075-0338. They have a surname list, locality list, an 1865 census index, a research library, and published journals. This is a good resource if you are doing broader family research in the Erie County area.
For free online searching, the New York State Death Index covers 1880 to 1956. The New York State Archives has microfiche indexes from 1880 to 1943. The WebSurrogate system lets you search Surrogate's Court records for estate cases tied to deaths in Erie County.
State Death Records for Hamburg
The New York State Department of Health has Hamburg death records from 1881 on. Mail orders cost $30. Online orders through VitalChek cost $45 plus a fee. The state is slow right now. The local town clerk is faster for most requests. You can call the state at (855) 322-1022 for questions.
The same eligibility rules apply at the state level. You must be a spouse, parent, child, or sibling of the deceased, or have a documented legal claim. One photo ID or two documents with your name and address. Make checks payable to NYS Department of Health and mail to P.O. Box 2602, Albany, NY 12220-2602.
Nearby Cities
Other cities nearby with death records pages: