YATES COUNTY 



This county lies in the west central part of the state on the 

 western border of Seneca Lake. From east to west it extends 

 approximately 23 miles, and _0 miles from north to south in the 

 eastern part. It has an area of 219,520 acres. The population 

 is distributed as follows: 



Population by Townships 



(Census of 1915) 



Barrington 1,017 Potter 1,414 



Benton* 2,083 Starkey 2,656 



Italy 823 Torrey 1,070 



Jerusalem 2,424 



Middlesex 1,133 Total 18,841 



Milo 6,221 ________ 



* Penn Yan, in the town of Benton, is the county seat. 



HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS 



Yates County was formed from Ontario in 1823 and named 

 from Joseph C. Yates, then governor of the state. Its county 

 seat bears a name recording the fact that its early settlers were 

 in part natives of Pennsylvania and of New England — hence 

 Pennsylvania-Yankee, shortened to Penn Yan. 



The original inhabitants, the Seneca Indians, are said to 

 have assembled annually for offering up .their sacrifices on the 

 top of Bare Hill, which rises to a height of about 1,000 feet, in 

 the town of Middlesex. 



All of this section of the county was obtained in 1788 by 

 Phelps and (lorham, who acquired their title from the Indians. 

 The disputed strip of territory between the old and new pre- 

 emption line, and known as the " gore," ran through the eastern 

 part of Yates County. 



In the town of Torrey settlement was made in 1788 by a 

 company of " Friends." Two years later their leader, Jemima 

 Wilkinson for the " Universal Friend," as she styled herself), left 

 her home in Pennsylvania and came among them. A few years 



[8121 



