Livingston County, New York

Introduction

Livingston County, New York is a county of New York State. It is named after Robert R. Livingston, delegate to the 1775 Continental Congress, member of the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence, and father-in-law of Richard Montgomery, after whom Montgomery County (and similarly named counties in many other states) were named. Its county seat is [[, New York|]].

Geography

Livingston County is located in western New York State, south of Rochester and east of Buffalo.

Demography

The population of Livingston County according to the 2000 U. S. census was 64,328.

History

When counties were established in New York State in 1683, the present Livingston 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 1784, following the peace treaty that ended the American Revolutionary War, the name of Tryon County was changed to Montgomery County in order to honor 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, Ontario County was split off from Montgomery. 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.

Genesee County was created by a splitting of Ontario County in 1802. This was much larger than the present Genesee County, however. It cained the present Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Niagara, Orleans, Wyoming, and portions of Livingston and Monroe Counties.

Livingston County was formed from Genesee and Ontario Counties in 1821.