A collection of records and images from the Van Allen family of Albany
County. The majority of this collection was written by Adam Van Allen (1813-1884), a native of Bethlehem, NY, who became a prominent businessman and banker in the City of Albany, NY, serving as president of the First National Bank of Albany.
Currently digitized is the Van Allen Family Register, in which Adam Van Allen and some of his descendants recorded the genealogy of the family in Albany County and beyond. The register traces the Van Allen family line from the earliest recorded generation in the 1690s up to the early 1900s.
In addition to genealogy, the Register contains biographical sketches and copies of wills of several ancestors of Adam Van Allen, which he copied from the Albany County Surrogate's Office. In both the biographical sketches and wills there are references to the African Americans enslaved by early members of the family.
Historic documents and artifacts depicting racist and/or stereotypical imagery or language may be offensive and disturbing. The ACHA maintains them in our collections to present and preserve the historical context in which they were created and used. Artifacts of this type provide an important
historical record from which to study and evaluate Albany’s history, including issues related to bias, prejudice, and/or racism.
Thank you to the following for their work on this collection:
ACHA Staff: Bradt, Aaron (Project Implementation, Digitization, Meta-data); Kosto, Kathryn (Arrangement). ACHA Archive Volunteers: Bartram, Carol (Transcriber); Rector, Rebecca (Transcriber); Sears Doherty, Patricia (Transcriber); Weise, Kathryn (Transcriber); Wentz, Deborah; Younge, Lee Hanle (Transcriber)
