The Town of Italy and Its Records
The town of Italy was first settled soon after 1790, part of the
original 1789 Ontario County town of Middletown. The name was changed to
Naples in 1808 and then in 1815 Italy was set off from its parent town.
It was one of the more remote parts of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase,
sold in its entirety to Robert Morris and then by him to the Pulteney
Syndicate. The earliest maps show vast unsurveyed lands, with alternate
lots going to the Pulteneys and the Hornby estate.
The land was eventually surveyed, but instead of the regular grid so
evident in the County's other towns, Italy is divided into several separate
surveys, which overlap in a sometimes disconcerting way. The agent for
the Hornby lands was a man named John Greig, who sold farms to most
of the settlers by means of land contracts, which were paid off over
many years in small installments procured by the sale of wheat at 70
cents a bushel or less. This circumstance makes the earliest settlers
somewhat hard to document through land records.
The town was originally covered by luxuriant forest, pines on the
long ridges and a growth of elm, basswood and maple in the bottom lands
that historian S. C. Cleveland described as a "rich and matted jungle."
Almost all of this growth was cleared during the 19th century for the
pasturing of sheep, but much of it has since regrown today. Italy has
the smallest population of any of the County's towns, though its wild
and beautiful terrain has made it popular as a site for seasonal
homes.
The town was apparently named with reference to Naples, its parent
town. It includes the seventh town in the third range of Phelps &
Gorham's Purchase and was one of Yates County's five original towns. The
town clerk's office is in her home at 6085 Italy Valley Road.
RECORDS ON MICROFILM
The town has a good set of records. 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
1866-1972 (missing 1868)
MINUTE BOOKS
1862 - 1992
VITAL RECORDS REGISTERS
Births, deaths and marriages 1883-1910 [INDEX], Births and deaths 1866-1914, Births and
deaths 1914-1927, Births and deaths 1927-1980, Births and deaths 1976-1993,
Marriages 1908-1993
HIGHWAY SURVEYS
Minute Books, 1862 - October 1944 includes minutes of Overseers of
Highways
CHATTEL MORTGAGES AND CONDITIONAL SALES INDEXES
Chattel Mortgages
1850-1880; 1881-1907; 1907-1918; 1953-1963; 1964; Conditional Sales
1949-1964
JUSTICE DOCKETS
Justice Barker (civil) 1848-1854; Doubleday
(civil) 1854-1863; Clark (civil) 1854-1862; Doubleday (civil) 1864-1870;
Wixom 1876-1910; Wolven 1879-1909; Shaw 1881-1904; Paddock (criminal)
1895-1912; Badeau and Thompson (civil) 1903-1913; Wixom, Wixom and
Potter 1909-1918; Paddock (civil) 1912-1920; Shay (civil) 1918-1921;
Potter (criminal) 1918-1919; Kennedy (civil) 1923-1927; Thompson (civil)
1923-1926; Kennedy (criminal) 1923-1926; Long (civil) 1926-1928; Shay
(criminal) 1928; Clute (criminal) 1931-1935; Clute (civil) 1932-1937;
Donley (civil) 1934-1935; Chapman (criminal) 1937; Eddy (civil)
1947-1948; Criminal dockets of Justice Duane Shay 1968-1975; 1975-1979;
1979-1990
DISTRICT SCHOOL RECORDS
[See below under Oaths and
Miscellaneous]
OATHS OF OFFICE AND MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS
District school records
1930-1968; Oaths of office 1927-1980; Oaths of office 1930-1933; Oaths
of office 1980-1986; Oaths of office 1987-1995