Place:Schoharie, New York, United States

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Schoharie County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 29,714, making it the state's fifth-least populous county.The county seat is Schoharie. "Schoharie" comes from a Mohawk word meaning "floating driftwood." Schoharie County is part of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Contents

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

The large territory of the county (much of upstate and western New York) was long occupied by the Mohawk Nation and, to the west, the other four tribes of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (increased to six with the migration of the Tuscarora from the South to New York in 1722). After European colonization of the Northeast started, the Mohawk had a lucrative fur trade with the French coming down from Canada, as well as the early Dutch colonists, and later British and German colonists.

Some Palatine Germans, who worked in camps on the Hudson to pay off their passage in 1710, later settled in this county in the 1720s and 30s. In addition, Scots-Irish immigrants settled in the present Schoharie County area before the American Revolutionary War, especially near Cherry Creek.

Political organization

After Great Britain defeated the Dutch and took over their colony in 1664, they began to establish counties in the New York territory in 1683. The present Schoharie County was first 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. In theory, it extended westward to the Pacific Ocean, as the colonists wanted to keep their options open. 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 part of Vermont.

On March 12, 1772, what was left of Albany County was split into three parts, one retaining the name Albany County. Tryon County was formed from the western portion of the territory (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 Tryon County was eventually organized into what are now 37 counties of New York State. The county was named for William Tryon, colonial governor of New York.

In the years preceding 1776, as social and political tensions rose in the colony, most of the Loyalists in Tryon County, then on the frontier, fled to Canada. In 1784, after the peace treaty that ended the Revolutionary War and the establishment of states, the new government changed Tryon County's name to Montgomery County to honor United States General Richard Montgomery, who had captured several places in Canada and died trying to capture the city of Quebec.

The state continued to organize new counties. In 1789, Montgomery County was reduced in size by the splitting off of Ontario County. It was originally much larger than the present county, including present-day Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Orleans, Steuben, Wyoming, Yates, and part of Schuyler and Wayne counties.

In 1791, Otsego County was one of three counties split off from Montgomery (the other two being Herkimer and Tioga County).

In 1795, Schoharie County was created by joining portions of Otsego and Albany counties.

Revolutionary War

This was an area of fighting during the American Revolutionary War. On the frontier, colonists were subject to raids by British and their Iroquois allies. Four of the six tribes allied with the British, hoping to repel the colonists from their territory.

Timeline

Date Event Source
1795 County formed Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1795 Land records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1800 First census Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990
1810 No significant boundary changes after this year Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990

Population History

source: Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990
Census Year Population
1800 9,808
1810 18,945
1820 23,154
1830 27,902
1840 32,358
1850 33,548
1860 34,469
1870 33,340
1880 32,910
1890 29,164
1900 26,854
1910 23,855
1920 21,303
1930 19,667
1940 20,812
1950 22,703
1960 22,616
1970 24,750
1980 29,710
1990 31,859

Research Tips

External links

  • Outstanding guide to Schoharie County family history and genealogy resources (FamilySearch Research Wiki). Birth, marriage, and death records, censuses, wills, deeds, county and town histories, cemeteries, churches, newspapers, libraries, and genealogical societies.
  • www.rootsweb.com/~nyschoha/


This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Schoharie County, New York. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.