52 



HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



daigua with Mr. Phelps, and it was made from the hides 

 of the cattle driven on to furnish beef for the Indians at the 

 great gathering to receive their first annuity. 



In his rambles, in 1795, the Duke Liancourt went from 

 Bath to Canandaigua. He stayed all night at Capt. Mitch- 

 ell's, who had made a. settlement at Watkins, on Seneca 

 Lake, in what is now the county of Schuyler. The duke 

 remarks that the settlement was " called Watkinstown, 

 from several families of that name who possess the greatest 

 property here." He speaks of Capt. Mitchell's '' saw-mill, 

 where four thousand five hundred feet of boards are cut 

 daily. These boards he sends on the lake to Canandaigua, 

 where they are sold for ten shillings per one hundred feet. 

 There is a schoolmaster at Watkinstown, with a salary of 

 twelve dollars per month. '^ 



CHAPTER XII. 



ORGANIZATION OF STEUBEN COUNTY, 



Dates of the Erection of Preceding Counties— Original Towns of Steu- 

 ben— Present Civil Divisions— First Courts— Grand Jury — Court- 

 Ilouse and Jail— Northern and Southern Jury Districts— County 

 Poor-House and Farm. 



The civil divisions known as counties have undergone 

 many changes since the country began to be settled. Under 

 the Dutch the only divisions were the city and towns. 

 In 1665, a district or sheriffalty, called Yorkshire, was 

 erected. It comprised Long Island, Staten Island, and 

 part of the present county of Westchester, For judicial 

 purposes it was divided into three Ridings — the name being 

 derived from the practice of the judicial officers riding from 

 one place of court to another. The East Riding comprised 

 the present county of Suffolk ; the West Riding, Staten 

 Island, Kings County, Newtown, and part of Westchester ; 

 the North Riding, all the present county of Queens, except 

 Newtown. 



Counties were erected for the first time by the act of 

 1683, and were twelve in number, as follows: Albany, 

 Cornwall, Dukes, Dutchess, Kings, New York, Orange, 

 Queens, Richmond, Suffolk, Ulster, and Westchester. 



Cornwall, now in the State of Maine, and Dukes, in 

 Massachusetts, were re-ceded by New York, and never rep- 

 resented in the Legislature of that province after 1691. 



Cumberland County, in 1766, Gloucester in 1770, and 

 Charlotte in 1772 (afterwards changed to Washington), 

 were formed out of Albany County. Tryon County was 

 erected in 1772, also out of Albany County, and comprised 

 the country west of a north and south line, extending 

 from St. Regis to the west bounds of the township of 

 Schenectady, thence running irregularly southwest to the 

 head of the Mohawk branch of the Delaware, and along the 

 same to the southeast bounds of the present county of Broome, 

 thence in a northwesterly direction to Fort Bull, on Wood 

 Creek, near the present village of Rome ; all west of the 

 last mentioned line being Indian Territory. Thus, the 

 province consisted, at the Revolution, of fourteen counties. 

 After the Revolution, the counties w^hich preceded Steuben 

 were Columbia from Albany in 1786, Clinton in 1788, 

 Ontario in 1789, Saratoga, Rensselaer, Herkimer, Otsego, 



and Tioga, in 1791, and Onondaga in 1794. Steuben was 

 therefore the twenty-fourth county of the State in the order 

 of its erection. On the 8th of March, 1796, it was de- 

 tached from the old county, Ontario, and erected into a sep- 

 arate county. The population in 1790 was 200, in 1796 

 it was over 1000, and in 1800, 2000. 



The seventh range of townships was annexed to Allegany 

 County March 11, 1808 ; the part in the fork of Keuka 

 or Crooked Lake to Ontario County, Feb. 25, 1814 ; a part 

 of Dansville to Livingston County, Feb. 15, 1822 ; a part 

 of Reading to Yates County in 1824, and a part to Schuy- 

 ler County, April 17, 1854. 



When the county of Steuben was first erected it was 

 divided into six towns, viz.: Bath, Canisteo, Dansville, 

 Frederickstown, Middletown, and Painted Post. The town 

 of Bath comprised all the north part of the county ; the 

 town of Dansville, all the northwestern part; Fredericks - 

 town, all the eastern part ; Canisteo, all the southwestern 

 part ; Middletown, all the southern ; and Painted Post all 

 the southeastern, viz. : Hornby, Campbell, Erwin, Corning, 

 Caton, and Lindley. The town of Bath originally com- 

 prised all the territory now contained in Bath, Urbana, 

 Wheeler, Prattsburgh, Pulteney, Avoca, part of Cohocton, 

 and Howard. The town of Dansville contained all that is 

 now comprised in Dansville, Fremont, Wayland, and part 

 of Howard and Cohocton. The town of Frederickstown 

 all that is now comprised in Wayne, Bradford (Barrington 

 and Starkey in Yates County), Tyrone, Reading, and 

 Orange, in Schuyler. The town of Middletown contained 

 the present Addison, Rathbone, Thurston, Tuscarora, Wood- 

 hull, and part of Troupsburgh and Jasper. The town of 

 Canisteo contained all the present Canisteo, Greenwood, 

 West Union, Huntsville, Hornellsville, and parts of Jasper 

 and Troupsburgh. 



The present towns of Steuben County are thirty-two, as 



follows :* 



1. Addison. 17. Hornellsville. 



2. Avoca. 18. Howard. 



3. Bath. 19. Jasper. 



4. Bradford. 20. Lindley. 



5. Campbell. 21. Prattsburgh. 



6. Cameron. 22. Pulteney. 



7. Canisteo. 23. Rathbone. 



8. Caton. 24. Thurston. 



9. Cohocton. 25. Troupsburgh. 



10. Corning. 26. Tuscarora. 



11. Dansville. 27. Urbana. 



12. Erwin. 28. Wayne. 



13. Fremont. 29. Wayland. 



14. Greenwood. 30. West Union. 



15. Hartsville. 31. Wheeler. 



16. Hornby. 32. Woodhull. 



FIRST COURTS. 

 The first session of the Court of Common Pleas for Steu- 

 ben County was held in the court-house, at Bath, on the 

 21st day of June, 1796, Hon. William Kersey, assistant 



* In 1860 the county had thirty-three towns, the town of Savona 

 h^ing^ in the fall of that year, erected from Bath. The act creating it 

 was subsequently repealed. 



