Place:Ava, Oneida, New York, United States

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Ava is a town in Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 678 at the 2010 census..

The Town of Ava is in the north central part of the county. Ava is north of the city of Rome.

History

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

Ava was formed from Boonville on May 12, 1846. It was the second to last town to be created in the county, followed only by Forestport in 1869.

Early settlers

Ava was settled in 1798 by Ebenezer Harger, who two years prior moved to Whitestown from Connecticut. The next settlers were Zephaniah and Abner Wood. Isaac Knight arrived from Rhode Island in 1798 or 1799. Around 1800, Philo Harger, Benjamin Jones, Lemuel Wood, Justus Beardsley and Salmon Bates (who opened the town's first tavern in his house) arrived. Daniel Buck, a revolutionary war veteran arrived from Massachusetts in 1800. Other early settlers were Rickerson Kenyon, Joseph Hunt, Remember Kent, who built an early saw-mill, and Bates, Barnard, Fanning, Adams, Beck, Tiffany.

The first child born in Ava was Chauncey Harger in March 1801. The first saw-mill was built in 1801 by Philo Harger and Benjamin Jones.

Land

The town is made up of land of:^[1]

• Adgate patent, a 45,000 acre patent issued to Matthew Adgate. Adgate was a member of the NY assembly and the US constitutional convention.
• the Oothoudt Patent, a 16,052 acre patent issued to Henry Oothoudt in 1786 (about one have of Ava lies within this patent). Oothoudt was a delegate to the New York Provincial Congress in 1775 and 1776, Albany county assemblyman in the 3rd New York State Legislature, 1779–1780, one of three commissioners of forfeitures under the New York Act of Attainder which seized the property of loyalists, and delegate to the US constitutional convention.
• the Gore Patent, a 15,360 acre patent issued to Thomas Machin in 1787 (one of the several Machin Patents). Machin was an engineer and surveyor and used his skills in support of the revolution.
• the Scriba Patent, land first acquired by John and Nicholas Roosevelt in 1791 from the New York State Land Commission. This patent was for 530,000 acres situated in present Oswego and Oneida counties. Approximately 499,000 acres of the Roosevelt Tract became Scriba's Patent in 1793 as partial payment of debts owed to the Scriba Bank by the Roosevelts.
• the Franklin and Robinson Tract (also called the Quaker Tract), a 75,000 acre parcel purchased from George Scriba in 1795.
• the Muller Tract, a 1615-acre previously part of the Franklin and Robinson Tract that whose mortgage was foreclosed upon by Rembrandt Muller.

Civic formation

Ava was created by the legislature on May 12, 1846. The first town meeting was held on May 26, 1846. The following positions were filled: Town supervisor, Town Clerk, Justices of the Peace (4), Assessors (3), Commissioner of Highways (3), Overseers of the Poor (2), Collector, Constables (4), Superintendent of Schools (1), Sealer of Weights and Measures.^[1][2]

Name

Ava was named after the Kingdom of Ava.^[1]

Commerce

An early road connecting Fort Stanwix to Carthage passed through the town. It was known as the old "French Road" from the time that Carthage was a French settlement on the Black River.^[1]

A plank road was constructed through Ava connecting Rome and Turin by the Rome and Turin Plank-Road Company in 1848. It was abandoned in 1855.^[1]

The area was primarily agricultural before becoming more dependent on dairying in the second half of the 19th century, when six cheese factories were located in Ava.^[1]

The Ava Town Hall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

Research Tips

External Links

• Outstanding guide to Ava family history and genealogy resources (FamilySearch Research Wiki). Birth, marriage, and death records, town histories, cemeteries, churches, newspapers, libraries, and genealogical societies.