Place:Caneadea, Allegany, New York, United States

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source: Family History Library Catalog

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Caneadea is a town in Allegany County, New York, United States. The population was 2,542 at the 2010 census.

The name is of Seneca language origin and means "where the heavens rest on earth." The Seneca are the dominant Iroquoian tribe in this western part of their territory and are known as the "gatekeepers"; they are one of the Five Nations of the Haudenonsaunee, or Iroquois League.

The town is in the northwest quadrant of the county.

History

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

Caneadea was named after the upper, or old Seneca village located on a bluff above the east side of the Genesee River opposite the site of present-day Houghton. They are one of the original Five Nations of the Iroquois League or Haudenosaunee, and dominated the western area of the large territory. Sometime in the latter half of the 18th century, the Seneca built a square log council house here with the help of British troops from Fort Niagara. Usually their council houses were in the form of longhouses.

The region was first settled by European Americans around 1800, after most of the Seneca had left for Canada, with a remnant forced to a reservation. Their bands had allied with the British during the American Revolutionary War and, after defeat, it had ceded all its territory east of the Mississippi River to the new United States, without consulting with its allies.

The Town of Caneadea was founded in 1808 from part of the town of Angelica. However, the town was reduced as the population increased and other towns were formed from this territory in the county: Friendship (1815), Rushford (1816), and Belfast (1824 and 1831). The Caneadea Reservation of the Seneca tribe was once located in the town, but they sold off their claims in 1825 under pressure from white speculators.

The former Genesee Valley Canal once passed through the town.

The Caneadea Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.

Research Tips

External Links

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