This volume contains data excerpted from various early county histories, biographies, atlases, newspapers, etc.

INTRODUCTION

Otsego County in central New York is bounded on the north by the counties of Oneida, Herkimer and Montgomery; on the east by Schoharie; on the south by Delaware; and on the west by Chenango and Madison Counties. It was originally part of Albany County, In 1772 Tryon County was set off from Albany County; in 1784 the name Tryon was changed to Montgomery and in 1791 Otsego was set off from Montgomery with Cooperstown as its county seat.

Before the coming of the white man, this area was the hunting ground of the famous Indian league called by the English the "Six Nations," though the French applied to them the general term "Troquois." The first whites to come into contact with the tribes of this confederacy were the French, and they were here "in the upper Susquehanna valley" in 1616. They came as explorers and then as traders. Im 1738 the first grant of land to white settlers was made and consisted of about 8.000 acres, located in the northeast part of the present county of Otsego. In 1769 surveyors arrived.

The first grant was made by George Clark, the lieutenant governor of New York, to four men - John Lindesay, Jacob Roseboom, Lenelet Ganesvoort and Sybrant VanSchaick. The originator and leader of the settlement, Mr. Lindesay, was a Scotchman, a man of wealth and culture. Their settlement was at Cherry Valley.

There was much history made in the area that is today Otsego County, and

that history is contained in numerous books on the region.

Below is a list of all the villages and post offices in the county, reproduced here from Otsego County, New York; Geographical and Historical ... by Edwin F. Bacon, 1902 in an effort to aid researchers.