The Town of Middlesex and Its Records
The town was organized in 1797 from part of the district of Canandaigua
in Ontario County. It was purchased in 1789 by Arnold and William Potter
from Thomas Maxwell, a princely domain of more than 42,000 acres. When
organized as a town its original name was Augusta, and also included
the present town of Potter. The name was changed to Middlesex (after
the county in Massachusetts) in 1808 because there was another Augusta
in Oneida County. When Potter was taken off in 1832, Middlesex was left
with the part of the eighth township in the third range of Phelps &
Gorham's Purchase that lay east of Canandaigua Lake. It was one of Yates
County's five original towns.
The valley of West River crosses the town diagonally, long hills
rising steeply on both sides. The western ridge is broken into two parts
by Boat Brook, which forms Vine Valley on Canandaigua Lake. The two
parts of the ridge are called Bare Hill and South Hill, both prominant
sites in Seneca Indian religion and legend. The old highway from
Canandaigua through Rushville along the West River toward naples and the
Cohocton valley (now Rte 245) attracted early settlement. The hamlet of
Middlesex Center lies along this roadway in nearly the center of the
town.
The town hall is in the hamlet of Middlesex, in a former church on
Rte. 364 at the east end of Water Street. The town clerk's office is in
this building. Unfortunately, many of the town's records were desroyed
in a 1901 fire. The following series have been filmed, and may be viewed
(with the exception of the Vital Records Registers) at the town hall, at
the County Historian's office in Penn Yan, and at the State Library in
Albany.
TOWN RECORDS ON MICROFILM
ASSESSMENT ROLLS
1890-1972 (missing 1899-1907, 1913)
MINUTE BOOKS
1 June 1901 -December 1992
VITAL RECORDS REGISTERS
Births, deaths and marriages 1886-1913 [INDEX], Births and deaths 1914-1925, Births
1925-1943, delayed births 1875-1913 and deaths 1925-1943, Marriages
1908-1971, Births 1947-1963 and deaths 1944-1967, Births 1969-1992 and
deaths 1968-1993
CHATTEL MORTGAGE AND CONDITIONAL SALES INDEXES
Chattel Mortgages 1892-1911; 1911-1949; 1949-1964; Conditional Sales
1922-1964