Yates County Towns in 1790
Yates County did not actually exist in 1790. There were however already white
settlers on the land, and had been since the summer of 1788. When Ontario
County was organized in 1789, it was set off into districts, and three
of these encompassed the whole territory of what would someday be Yates
County. These are shown in red on the map; the boundaries are of course
only approximations. The modern town boundaries and names are shown
in black.
The
Pre-emption Line, shown in blue, was surveyed in 1788 and intended to
be the county's eastern boundary. It was known almost immediately to
have been drawn incorrectly, but the Ontario County censustaker acted
in 1790 as though it was in fact the county line, and enumerated only
those families west of it, thereby missing about 60 families in the
Friends Settlement at City Hill in what is now Torrey. The Montgomery
County censustaker to the east listed no one west of Seneca Lake; so
in effect a very large percentage of the inhabitants of Ontario County
were never counted. This would include not only the Universal Friends
in Torrey, but everyone living in Geneva and at the head of Seneca Lake,
about 500 persons or more in all.
