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THE “BURNED-OVER DISTRICT,” NY
(The Old "Genesee Country" - West of Seneca Lake)

Orleans County in 1830

1830 Erie County Census Index (by twp. & page)





Erie County Information

Erie County, NY was created in 1821 from Niagara County. It is bordered on the west by Lake Erie and the Niagara River and contains 1,071 square miles.

The larger portion of Erie County was part of the Holland Purchase. The first major settlements in the county were in and around Black Rock and Buffalo, in about 1795. Following the end of the War of 1812 the Erie area was rappidly settled. The county was created in anticipation of Buffalo being the western terminus of the Erie Canal. The 1820 census showed that enough people were living in the southern half of Niagara County to justify teh creation of Erie the following year. The Canal was completed in 1825, the same year that Mordecai M. Noah attempted to plant a "Gathering of Israel" on Grand Island in Tonawanda Township (see map).

By 1850 the population of the county was a little over 100,000, with its chief city, Buffalo, inhabited by 42,000 residents.


The townships existing when the 1830 Census:

Alden: 202 households
Amherst: 410 households
Aurora: 381 households
Boston: 241 households
Buffalo: 1170 households
Clarence: 539 households
Colden: 83 households
Collins: 348 households 		Concord: 328 households
Eden: 176 households
Erie: 317 households
Evens: 211 households
Hamburg: 531 households
Holland: 186 households
Sardinia: 233 households
Wales: 227 households


The townships created between 1830 and 1840 were:
Tonawanda (1836 from Buffalo)
Newstead (c. 1839 from Clarence)
Lancaster (1839 from Clarence) 		Cheektowaga (1839 from Amherst)
Black Rock (c. 1836 from Buffalo)
Brand (1839 from Collins & Evans)



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