WYOMING COUNTY.

Wyoming county was erected from Genesee in 1841. The courts were organized at a public house at East Orangeville, in June, of the same year. The commissioners named in the act of division, for locating the county site, were, Davis Hurd, John Thompson, and Peter R. Reed. They decided in favor of Warsaw; East Orangeville and Weathersfield springs were both competitors for the location. The act organizing the county, authorised the comptroller to loan to it ten thousand dollars for the erection of public buildings. The building commissioners, were, John A. M' Elwaine, Paul Richards, Jonathan Perry. Trumbull Cary, Esq. of Batavia, gave to the county an ample public square, upon which were erected a neat and commodious brick Court House, Jail and Clerk's office. The Court House was completed in 1842; previous to that however, the courts had been removed from Orangeville, and held in the Masonic Hall in the village of Warsaw. The primitive Judges of the county were as follows:-Paul Richards, First Judge, James Sprague, Peter Patterson, Joseph Johnson. W. Riley Smith was the first District Attorney; N. Wolcott, the first clerk; W. R. Groger, the first Sheriff. Upon motion of Isaac N. Stoddard, at the opening of the first Court in Orangeville, the following attornies, most of whom, if not all, were residents of the county, were admitted to practice:-John B. Skinner, James J. Petit, Harvey Putnam, Lewis W. Pray, Moulton Farnham, F. C. D. M'Kay, William Mitchell, Linus W. Thayer, Leverett Spring, James R. Doolittle, Levi Gibbs, Miles Moffitt, Harley F. Smith, W. Riley Smith, Isaac N. Stoddard.

Some sketches of the pioneer settlement of Warsaw, have already been given. An early and for a long period, a prominent citizen of the Holland Purchase-Judge Simeon Cummings of Bataviabecame identified with the village soon after the war of 1812. He became proprietor, by purchase from Judge Webster, of forty acres of what constitutes the north-west portion of the village, including the principal water power. He built a grist mill and an oil mill in 1817. In 1819, the Hon. Trumbull Cary, of Batavia, became the proprietor of the property. Descriptions of things as they now are, are not within the province of pioneer history; but, lest the reader should have never wandered from the main east and west thoroughfares of the Holland Purchase, and witnessed the progress

and improvement in the southern portion of it, he may be assured that he will seldom see a more pleasant rural village, than is the county site of Wyoming; or one which gives better indications of the thrift and prosperity of the country that surrounds it. The public edifices are neat and substantial; the private dwellings have about them the indication of comfort, convenience, economy and good taste. Gen. M' Elwaine, long identified with the prosperity of the place, is the landlord of a public house there, of which he was the founder, which well deserves a rank with the first class hotels of Western New York.

That part of the county of Wyoming included within the Holland Purchase, lies principally in the central district, as described in the topography of the Purchase. It contains about 311,040 acres of land, 156,246 acres of which were under cultivation in 1845, according to the state census of that year. It then contained a population of 11,925 males, of whom 4,331 were entitled to vote, 11,761 females; 6,941 were children between 5 and 16 years of age, and 40 persons of color. The year preceding, (1844) the territory produced 164,131 bushels of wheat, 33,096 of barley, 65,808 of corn, 778 of rye, 471,688 of oats, 21,067 of buckwheat, 2,387 of beans, 30,950 of peas, 381,064 of potatoes, 12,458 of turnips and 123,218 pounds of flax. It then contained 32,003 head of neat cattle, 12,706 milch cows, from which 571,588 pounds of butter and 732,004 pounds of cheese were made the preceding year; 6,330 horses, 140,342 sheep, 46 churches, 2 academies, 154 common schools, 29 grist mills, 64 saw mills, 57 clergymen, 33 attornies and 42 physicians.

ORLEANS COUNTY.

The county of Orleans was erected from Genesee, in 1824. The first courts were organized in June, 1825, at the house of Selah Bronson, in the village of Gaines. The bench of the county at that period, consisted of Elijah Foot, First Judge; S. M. Moody, Cyrus Harwood, Eldridge Farwell, William Penniman, Judges. The early attornies of the county, were Henry R. Curtiss, Alexis Ward, George W. Flemming, Seymour Tracy, Orange Butler, A. Hyde Cole, W. W. Ruggles, Cyrus Harwood, W. S. Moody. William Lewis was the first Sheriff of the county, Orson Nichoson the first Clerk, and Orange Butler the first District Attorney.

The aggregate vote of the county, at the first election, in 1825, was 1,702.

The site was located at Albion in 1825, upon lands conveyed for that purpose, by Nehemiah Ingersoll. The village of Gaines was the only competitor for the location.

It

That part of the county of Orleans included within the Holland Purchase, lies principally on the first or lower plateau, the south part-being nearly one-third-lying on the second or upper plateau, as described in the topography of the Purchase. It contains about 195,840 acres of land, 102,924 acres of which were under cultivation in 1845, according to the state census of that year. then contained a population of 9,858 males, of whom 4,341 were entitled to vote, and 9,714 females; 5,569 were children between 5 and 16 years of age, and 63 were persons of color. The year preceding, (1844) the territory produced 528,961 bushels of wheat, 14,593 of barley, 16,060 of corn, 40 of rye, 183,656 of oats, 6,062 of buckwheat, 2,560 of beans, 37,885 of peas, 215,626 of potatoes, 8,682 of turneps, and 12,330 pounds of flax. It then contained 14,992 head of neat cattle, 8,273 cows, from which 571,588 pounds of butter and 174,721 pounds of cheese were made the preceding year; 6,897 horses, 68,358 sheep, 33 churches, 3 academies, 1 female seminary, 100 common schools, 17 grist mills, 43 saw mills, 47 clergyman, 26 attornies, and 43 physicians.

NIAGARA COUNTY.

When the division of the old county of Niagara took place, in 1821, although Niagara retained the name, the county buildings, and of course, the old county organization, belonged to Erie. The separate organization of the Courts of the present county of Niagara took place in May, 1821. The first Courts were held at the school house, in the village of Lewiston. The act making the division of the old county of Niagara, appointed Lothrop Cooke, Sheriff, and Oliver Grace, Clerk, of the new county. Silas Hopkins was first Judge; James Van Horn, and Robert Flemming, were the two additional Judges. The first Circuit Court held in the county, was at Lewiston, Judge Platt presiding.

The first Commissioners to locate county buildings, were, Erastus Root, Jesse Hawley, William Britton. Mr. Britton died soon