The Town of Barrington and Its Records
The town of Barrington was formed of that portion of township 6 in
the first range of Phelps & Gorham's Purchase that fell east of
Keuka Lake. A long high ridge separates the steep slope up from Keuka
Lake from the only slightly less steep slope up from Big Stream on the
east. Another ridge, called East Hill, crosses the towns southeast corner.
The rugged terrain and relatively restricted level farmland slowed the
town's early development. It lay within the district of Erwin when Ontario
County was organized in 1789, and within the vast area called Frederick's
Town when Steuben County was split from Ontario in 1796. About 1798
Jacob Teeples became the town's first settler and built a tavern on
the main route between Geneva and Bath, called then and now the Bath
Road. Frederick's Town was renamed Wayne in 1808, and in 1822 Barrington
was taken off, probably named for the town of Great Barrington in western
Massachusetts; it was annexed as a town in Yates County in 1826.
The town is almost completely rural, with no incorporated villages.
It has an extensive frontage on Keuka Lake, once planted to vineyards,
now largely in seasonal or year-round residential development. Its
population dropped steadily from 1825 to 1960, from a peak of nearly
1900 persons to fewer than 800; it has since increased to about 1200,
largely due to lakefront development and the recovery of once-abandoned
farms by Mennonites from Pennsylvania.
The town clerk's office is at the town hall on the Bath Road,
Dundee NY 14837.
RECORDS
The town has lost many records due to a fire in the home of a
previous town clerk. All the following series have been microfilmed, and
except for the Vital Records, they may be viewed at the County
Historian's office in Penn Yan or at the New York State Library in
Albany.
ASSESSMENT ROLLS
1890-1972 (missing 1896-8, 1900-7 and 1913)
MINUTE BOOKS
30 December 1942 - 28 December 1992
VITAL RECORDS REGISTERS
Births, deaths and marriages 1883-1915 [INDEX]; Births 1916-1928 and deaths 1916-1928;
Births 1874-1937 and deaths 1928-1937; Births 1937-1951 and deaths 1937-1953;
Births 1904-1975 and deaths 1952-1977; Births 1976-1994 and deaths 1976-1994;
Marriages 1908-1986
HIGHWAY SURVEY BOOKS
Record of Highway Surveys 1826 - 1851 [INDEX]
CHATTEL MORTGAGE AND CONDITIONAL SALES INDEXES
Chattel Mortgages
1901-1952; Chattel Mortgages 1953-1964; Conditional Sales 1924-1952;
Conditional Sales 1953-1964
OVERSEER OF THE POOR
Overseers and Poormasters Book 1862-1944;
Poor persons relieved and children placed out 1923-1935; Welfare fund
1928-1942