Chapter 11 – History of Wyoming County

CHAPTER XI

ORGANIZATION AND SUBDIVISION OF WYOMING COUNTY – CONSTRUCTION OF COUNTY BUILDINGS.

BETWEEN 1772 and 1784 all but the eastern portion of New York was called Tryon county, after the governor of the province, having previously been part of Albany, which was one of the ten original counties formed November 1st, 1683. In 1784 the same territory took the name of Montgomery, in honor of a Revolutionary hero and martyr. In 1789 all the State west of the preemption line, which was a meridian drawn through Seneca lake and extending northward to Lake Ontario and southward to the Pennsylvania line, was set off under the title of Ontario county. A single town, called Northampton, swallowed up the entire Holland Purchase.

March 30th, 1802, the county of Genesee was formed from Ontario, and included all that portion of the State west of the Genesee river and a line extending due south from the point where Canaseraga creek and that river unite, to the line between New York and Pennsylvania. The town of Northampton was divided into four; of which Batavia comprised all of the State west from the west transit line – the entire Holland Purchase. The first town meeting in Batavia was held in what is now the town of Clarence, Erie county, about one hundred miles from the farthest extremity of the town.

April nth, 1804, Batavia was divided into four towns. The one farthest east retained the old name and all the territory east of a meridian from Lake Ontario, which passed just east from the line between Orleans and Niagara counties. The next was Willink, which extended to the west transit line. The next was Erie, which included one tier of townships in the present county of Chautauqua, and the next Chautauqua, which embraced the rest of old Batavia.

Genesee county was first divided in 1806 by the formation from it of Allegany. In 1808 Cattaraugus, Niagara, and Chautauqua were erected, Niagara including the present county of Erie. When Livingston and Monroe were organized, in 1 82 1, the portions of those counties lying west from the Genesee river were taken from Genesee county. In 1824 the county of Orleans was formed, in part from Genesee.

During seventeen years previous to the erection of the county of Wyoming, Genesee county had the form of a parallelogram, thirty-six miles in length from north to south, with a breadth of twenty-six miles from east to west. Batavia, the county seat, was located only nine miles, or one fourth the length of the county, from its northern boundary. Previous to the erection of Orleans county from Genesee the project of forming a new county from the southern part of Genesee and the northern towns of Allegany was talked of, and application was made to the Legislature for the formation of such a county. The subject was not seriously agitated again till 1840, when the Legislature enacted a law authorizing the erection of a new court-house and jail in Genesee county, and appointing commissioners to determine the location of these buildings. The decision of these commissioners in favor of Batavia was not satisfactory to the people in the southern part of the county, and at a meeting .held for the purpose resolutions were adopted expressive of their disapprobation, and in favor of a more central location of the county seat, or a division of the county.

In 1841 a bill was introduced in the Legislature to divide the county; or, rather, to submit the question of a removal of the county seat to a vote of the people, and to divide the county if it was decided negatively. Rather than risk an affirmative decision by the people, the Batavians instructed their representative to favor a division of the county. On his motion the provision for submission was stricken out; and on the 19th of April, 1841, the bill passed, with only a few negative votes, and became a law. It provided that ” all that part of the county of Genesee lying and being on the south side of a line beginning at the northwest corner of the town of Bennington, in the county aforesaid, and running thence east on the north line of the towns of Bennington, Attica and Middlebury, to the west line of the town of Covington; thence south, on the east line of Middlebury, to the southwest corner of the Cragie tract; thence east on the south line of said Cragie tract, and on the south bounds of the Forty thousand-acre tract, to the east line of said town of Covington – shall be a separate and distinct county of the State of New York, and be known by the name of Wyoming, and entitled to and possessed of all the benefits, rights, privileges, and immunities, and subject to the same duties as the other counties of this State.”

The act also provided that the part of the town of Covington lying north from the line that thus ran through it should continue to be a town in Genesee county, and known by the name of Pavilion; and that part south from this line should remain a separate town in the new county, and should retain its name of Covington. It was also provided that such of the officers of the old town as resided in that portion which retained the name of Covington should continue to exercise the duties of their respective offices in this town, and that a town election should be held on the first Tuesday of the next June for the election of such officers as did not reside in said town.

By an act passed April 1st, 1846, “the towns of Eagle, Pike and all that part of the town of Portage in the county of Allegany, lying on the west side of the Genesee river, bounded as follows- on the east by the Genesee river, on the south by a line running due easterly from the south line of the town of Pike until it intersects the Genesee river, and west and north by the original lines of the said town [of Pike] – from and after the passage of this act shall be and the same are hereby annexed to the county of Wyoming.” No other change in the boundaries of the county has been made.

When the name of the post-office at Middlebury village was changed, the late Judge Skinner, who was an admirer of Indian names, proposed several, and among them “Osceola” and “Wyoming.” The latter was adopted, and afterwards, in 1841, was made the name of the county. The original name in the Delaware tongue was Maughwauwama, and was applied to a region on the Susquehanna river. According to Heckewelder it was compounded of Maughwau – large – and wama – plains. The Iroquois word with the same meaning is Sghahontowanno. By the early settlers in the Wyoming valley its Indian name was corrupted successively to Wauwama, Wauwamick, Wywamick, Wywaming, and finally Wyoming.

The act of 1841 provided that the first term of the courts of common pleas and general sessions should be held at the public house at East Orangeville; and that the subsequent terms should be held at such places as the judges should direct, till a court-house should be so nearly completed as to be, in the opinion of the judges, suitable for holding such courts; and the temporary county clerk’s office was to be kept in such a place as these judges should direct. The circuit courts and courts of oyer and terminer were to be held at the places appointed by the county judges for holding their courts. It was also provided that these judges should determine the form and device for a county seal. Pursuant to this statute the court convened at the place designated on the 21st day of June, 1841. At this session there were present Hon. Paul Richards, first judge; Hon. James Sprague and Hon. Peter Patterson, judges. At this court an order was made that the device for a county seal should be ” the figure of an American eagle surrounded by a circle, upon which is engraved in Roman letters, “Wyoming County Clerk’s Office.” In 1849 this device was changed. It is now the goddess of liberty, surrounded by a circle with the words WYOMING, N. Y., SEAL.

Masonic Hall, in the village of Warsaw, was the place designated for holding the next term of the court. At this hall the sessions of the court were held till the June term in 1843, which was held at the court-house. The first session of the circuit court and court of oyer and terminer was held on the 15th of December, 1841, Hon. N. Dayton presiding.

Until the completion of the clerk’s office, the county records were kept in a small building on the east side of Main street, Warsaw, north from the Bingham House.

The commissioners named in the act to determine the location of the court-house, jail and clerk’s office, were: Peter R. Reed, of Onondaga; Davis Hurd, of Niagara, and John Thompson, of Steuben county.

As usual in such cases the question of the location of these buildings excited a deep interest in different localities. Warsaw had strong supporters by reason of its accessibility, its nearly central location and the business interests that existed or that were springing up there. Wethersfield Springs was advocated because it was more nearly the geographical center of the county. At that time the villages of Warsaw and Perry were more nearly equal in size than they now are, and, as usual in such cases, were rivals. Many of the people in Perry strongly urged the claims of Wethersfield Springs, because they foresaw that the location of the county seat there would leave the rival villages with more nearly equal’ advantages. After visiting the different towns in the county the commissioners, upon due deliberation, decided in favor of Warsaw.

The board of supervisors of Wyoming county were empowered by the act of incorporation to appoint, at a special meeting, three commissioners to superintend the erection of the county buildings. These commissioners were John A. McElwain, of Warsaw; Paul Richards, of Orangeville, and Jonathan Perry, of Middlebury. The lot upon which the court-house and clerk’s office were erected was a donation to the county from Hon. Trumbull Cary, of Batavia. The contract for building them was awarded to Josiah Hovey, and the work was superintended by his son-in-law, P. Pixley. The jail was built in 1841 and the court-house in 1842. The act authorized a loan from the State to the new county of $10,000, and prescribed the terms of its payment. The cost of the three buildings did not exceed the amount of this loan.

The court-house is a brick structure, fronting on Main street, just north from the business portion of the village. It has a convenient court-room and the usual jury room. The county judge and surrogate and the sheriff have their offices in this building. The clerk’s office, a fire-proof building, also of brick, stands a short distance south from the courthouse, and a finely shaded lawn lies in front of both. The jail is a wooden structure, standing west from the other two. All these are sufficiently distant from each other for safety in case of fire.

The decision of the commissioners in locating the county seat at Warsaw, just and equitable as it was, of course did not give universal satisfaction.

At the annual meeting of the board of supervisors of Wyoming county on the 21st day of November, 1877, the following preamble and resolutions were presented:

“Whereas, The county buildings of this county are old end out of repair; and

“Whereas, The present site is in an Inaccessible and unhealthy locality; and

“Whereas, The people of the county would be greatly accommodated by their removal to a more convenient, accessible and healthy locality; therefore

“Assorted, The county buildings and the county seat of this county be removed from the Tillage of Warsaw to the town of Gainesville; and be located at or near what is known as East Gainesville, in the said county, somewhere near the Junction of the Erie and State Line railroads; and that this resolution be submitted to the people of the several towns on the last Tuesday in February next, the day on which the annual town meetings are to be held in said county; that a separate ballot box shall be kept at each of the polls in the towns of said county for the reception of the ballots on said question; that the ballots on said question shall be printed or written in the following manner, via.: Resolution: For Removing the County Seat,’ and Resolution: Against Removing the County Seat.’ And that the proper town officers shall make a return after canvassing the same to the county clerk of said county, whose duty it shall be to declare the result in the county, end publish the same according to law.”

These were adopted by a vote of 12 to 3, the minority not being permitted to delay action. These proceedings fell upon the people like a thunderbolt from an unclouded sky. They were amazed, as no such action had been called for, none had been anticipated. But it was forced upon them, and they must decide the question at their next town meeting. The excitement was intense, and much bitterness and ill feeling was manifested during the canvass of the question by the rival parties. Town meeting was -held on the 26th of February, 1878, and the following is the official vote on the question:

Here was a majority of 336 against removal, while the law requires a vote of two-thirds for removal. By the census of 1875 it appears there were 8,685 persons of voting age in the county, so that 2,375 persons did not vote at all on the question; had they all voted for it, and no others against it, the measure would still have lacked several hundred votes of the number necessary for its adoption.

The county poor-house is located in the town of Orangeville. On the 8th of July, 1843, the county purchased from Jonathan Gates sixty acres of land for $720. Additions have since been made to this farm from time to time, till it now includes 280 acres. It is now valued at $25,000.

The first building, erected in 1843, was 24 by 48 feet, one and a half stories in height. It was occupied by the paupers of the county, forty-seven in number, in the autumn of that year. Other buildings were added from time to time, and in 1862 the building for the keeper’s dwelling and superintendent’s office was erected – a wooden structure, two stories in height, 36 by 40. The original buildings, except one barn, have been removed and commodious ones erected in their stead.

The principal buildings now used are the lunatic asylum – a detached two-story edifice, 36 by 38, erected in 1864; the idiot asylum, also detached, a one-story structure, 24 by 40, erected in 1874, at an expense of $1,200. Each asylum has a large and commodious yard, enclosed by a close, high board fence. A men’s building was erected in 1876. It is a wooden structure, two stories in height, 24 by 40, and its cost was about $1,500. The dining ball, erected in 1878, is a two-story building, 24 by 42, the second story of which is divided into sleeping rooms. The lower story is divided into two dining rooms, one for men and the other for women. The women’s building, also erected in 1878, is a two-story structure, 28 by 56. It and the dining ball cost $3,000. These are all commodious structures, well ventilated, and substantially and tastefully finished. The women’s building and the insane asylum are heated by furnaces, and pure spring water is brought to the grounds and into most of the buildings from a distance of a fourth of a mile.

After the formation of Wyoming county, and previous to the erection of the county buildings, the paupers were kept on the premises of James H. Morse, near East Orangeville. Mr. Morse was appointed the first keeper, at a salary of $200 per year, and he also received a yearly rent of $200 for his farm. Jo ram Kelsey was the first keeper after the purchase of the farm. The first superintendents after the erection of the county were Job Sherman and Thicol M. Ward. The present superintendents are J. S. Rogers, B. F. Bristol and J. G. Hammond. The present keeper is S. Field. The present number of poor is sixty-two, and of chronic insane, fourteen. Mr. Field has been keeper since 1873. During 1878 the cost of keeping the paupers was $1.10 per week each over and above the products of the farm. The stock on the farm consists of twenty- two cows, four horses and seventeen hogs.

The eastern boundary of Wyoming county is a line six miles east from the transit line or eastern boundary of the Holland Purchase, and running parallel with it from the northeast corner of the county till it strikes the Genesee river, which bounds it on the east from that point to its southeast corner. The area between this boundary and the transit line was included in what was known as the Morris Reserve, which was sold in parcels to different parties after the sale to the Holland Land Company. A portion of the Gardeau reservation was included in this area.

That portion of this reserve which is now known as the Ogden tract includes the towns of Covington and Perry, and a part of Castile. It is, of course, six miles in width from the transit line, and has a length from the south line of the Cragie and Forty-thousand-acre tracts, which is also the north line of Wyoming county, of fourteen miles, one chain and sixty-six links. The Cotringer tract lies next south from the Ogden tract, and is of exactly the same shape and sire; each containing fifty thousand acres. A part of Castile and all of Genesee Falls except its western tier of lots lie in this tract.

The western part of the north half of the Ogden tract was conveyed by Samuel Ogden to James Guernsey, and the eastern part to Herman Ely (in trust for Justin Ely and others). Ely and his grantees made an erroneous survey of their tract, and ran their boundary line at a distance east from the east line of the tract conveyed to Guernsey, leaving between these tracts a strip having an average width of more than five chains, which strip has since been known as “the gore.” All these tracts have been subdivided and laid out in lots; but not according to any uniform plan.

That portion of the county lying west from this transit line was included in the Holland Purchase. The county is divided into sixteen towns, which are laid out with remarkable regularity. Each town in the two tiers lying next west from the east transit line is six miles square, and is bounded by township and range lines, except Pike, from which the eastern tier of lots was taken in 1846 and added to Genesee Falls. The four western towns have the same breadth from north to south, but their length between east and west is eight miles, except Bennington, which has a length between east and west of nine miles.

The towns lying east from the transit line are less regular. The eastern boundary of Genesee Falls and a part of Castile is the somewhat tortuous Genesee river. The last named town has a length from north to south of seven miles.

Perry is six miles square, and Covington six miles from east to west, by four and one-half from north to south. The county contains six hundred square miles, or three hundred and eighty-four thousand acres.

As before stated, the town of Batavia when it was erected was made to include all the State west from the eastern boundary of the Holland Purchase. Warsaw was taken from it March 19th, 1808, and included Gainesville and Middlebury. On the same date Sheldon was formed, and it comprised what are now Arcade, Attica, Bennington, Java, Orangeville and Wethersfield. April 4th, 181 1, Attica was taken from Sheldon, and included the present towns of Orangeville and Wethersfield.

Middlebury was erected from Warsaw March 20th, 181 2. February 25th, 1814, Gainesville was taken from Warsaw. It was first called Hebe. Its present name was given to it April 17th, 1 816. Perry was formed from Leicester- one of the towns into which Northampton was divided – March nth, 1814. It included Castile and a part of Covington. Orangeville was formed from Attica, February 14th, 1816, and included Wethersfield. Covington was formed from LeRoy (Genesee county) and Perry, January 31st, 1817. As before stated, a part of it, under the name of Pavilion, was retained in Genesee county when Wyoming was set off. China, which included the present town of Java, was formed from Sheldon March 6th, 1818. The name was afterwards changed to Arcade. On the same day Pike, including Eagle and a part of Genesee Falls, was taken from Nunda (Livingston county). On the same day also Bennington was formed from Sheldon. Eagle was taken from Pike, January 21st, 1821. Wethersfield was formed from Orangeville, April 12th, 1823. Java, previously a part of China, was incorporated April 20th, 1832, and Genesee Falls was formed from Portage (Livingston county) and Pike, April 1st, 1846.

SOURCE: History of Wyoming County, N.Y., with Illustrations, Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Some Pioneers and Prominent Residents; F. W. Beers & Co.; 1880