Seneca County is a county located in the U.S.
state of New York. Two villages share the duty as the county
seats: Ovid and Waterloo. The name is from the Iroquois (Seneca)
that occupied part of the region.
The area covered by
Seneca County straddles the prehistoric territories of both Seneca
and Cayuga Nations of the Iroquois League. When counties were
established by Europeans in New York State in 1683, the present
Seneca County was part of Albany County. This was an enormous
county, including the northern part of New York State as well as
all of the present State of Vermont and, in theory, extending
westward to the Pacific Ocean. This county was reduced in size on
July 3, 1766 by the creation of Cumberland County, and further on
March 16, 1770 by the creation of Gloucester County, both
containing territory now in Vermont.
On March 12, 1772,
what was left of Albany County was split into three parts, one
remaining under the name Albany County. One of the other pieces,
Tryon County, contained the western portion (and thus, since no
western boundary was specified, theoretically still extended west
to the Pacific). The eastern boundary of Tryon County was
approximately five miles west of the present city of Schenectady,
and the county included the western part of the Adirondack
Mountains and the area west of the West Branch of the Delaware
River. The area then designated as Tryon County now includes 37
counties of New York State. The county was named for William
Tryon, colonial governor of New York.
In the years prior to
1776, most of the Loyalists in Tryon County fled to Canada. In the
fall of 1779 on orders from commander-in-chief General George
Washington the Sullivan Expedition conducted a scorched earth
campaign against the Iroquois who sided with the Loyalists in the
Revolutionary War. Sullivan's path destroyed Cayuga and Seneca
villages along the east shore of Seneca Lake.
In 1784,
following the peace treaty that ended the American Revolutionary
War, the name of Tryon County was changed to Montgomery County in
honor of the general, Richard Montgomery, who had captured several
places in Canada and died attempting to capture the city of
Quebec, replacing the name of the hated British
governor.
In 1789, Montgomery County was reduced in size by
the splitting off of Ontario County. The actual area split off
from Montgomery County was much larger than the present county,
also including the present Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua,
Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Orleans, Steuben,
Wyoming, Yates, and part of Schuyler and Wayne
Counties.
Herkimer County was one of three counties split
off from Montgomery County (the others being Otsego and Tioga
Counties) in 1791.
Onondaga County was formed in 1794 by
the splitting of Herkimer County.
Cayuga County was formed
in 1799 by the splitting of Onondaga County. This county was,
however, much larger than the present Cayuga County. It then
included the present Seneca and Tompkins Counties and part of
Wayne County.
In 1804, Seneca County was formed by the
splitting of Cayuga County.
In 1817, Seneca County was
reduced in size by combining portions of Seneca and the remainder
of Cayuga County to form Tompkins County. Part of this territory,
the current towns of Covert and Lodi, were returned to Seneca
County in 1819.
In 1823, Seneca County was reduced in size
by combining portions of Seneca and Ontario Counties to form Wayne
County.
(Found at http://en.wikipedia.org/)
