Hi Alexa,

Read through your post on here... I know it's somewhat aged now but 2 great sites for NY historical papers are:

Northern NY (invaluable for heritage from there: St. Lawrence, Essex, Owego, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis, Clinton counties)
http://news.nnyln.net/

and Long Island Newspapers here (includes links to Hudson River, Brooklyn, etc. sections but you need a Suffolk Library card for access. However, many are free)

http://www.suffolkhistoricnewspapers.org/