Dear Connie: Aurelius was both a Military Tract Township in 1790 and is also a current Town. The confusing concept for many people to understand is...when discussing the history and breakup of land in Central, NY the term "Township" and "Town," are not the same. The term Township relates to earlier, larger areas that were later subdivided into smaller areas know as Towns. The other confusing aspect is...There was an original Military Tract Township named "Aurelius" and when it was subdivided into smaller Towns, one of the smaller Towns retained the name "Aurelius." At the time of the Revolutionary War (circa 1776-1783) the Central Portion of NY State was only sparsely settled and mostly inhabited and claimed by the Cayuga & Onondaga Indian Nations. To raise Troops or Regiments to fight in the Revolution, NY State decided to get the Indian Nations to release their claims and offer Bounty land payment to soldiers if they would enlist. Consequently NY State decided to divided an area of about 1.75 million acres (all of the Central portion of NY State) in a series of Townships (not to be confused with current Towns). This area became known as the "Military Tract of Central NY." Each Township contained 60,000 acres. Each of the Townships was divided into 100 lots. Thus, each Township had 100 lots, containing 600 acres per lot. There were a total of 28 Townships created for the purpose of providing the bounty land lots promised to soldiers who enlisted. At first the Townships were only given numbers, but later, a clerk in the State Land Office names Robert Harper decided to name the Townships. He was a student of the classics and gave the Townships, Greek/Roman names. Township number 8 was named "Aurelius." The area that was included within this original Aurelius Township of 1790 is now composed of All the current City of Auburn, NY and the adjacent Towns of Throop, Sennett, Owasco, Fleming and Aurelius. If your looking at records between 1790 and about circa 1830, the name Aurelius may have referred to the larger Township area. The Town of Owasco was formed from a portion of the original Township of Aurelius in 1802. The Town/Village (later City) of Auburn was formed from a portion of the Township of Aurelius in 1823. The Town of Fleming was formed from a portion of the original Township of Aurelius in 1823. The Town of Sennett was formed from a portion of the original Township of Aurelius in 1827 and a portion of the current Town of Throop was formed from Sennett in 1859. An area of the larger TownSHIP of Aurelius remained and was established as the smaller Town of Aurelius. The Town of Aurelius still exists today and is located west of the City of Auburn, NY. The current Town of Aurelius includes a portion of the Military Tract Township of Aurelius and a portion of the former Cayuga Indian Reservation area. Kathi's listing of websites with early maps should help. Bernie Corcoran In a message dated 9/12/99 10:21:57 PM Eastern Daylight Time, srhf@ix.netcom.com writes: > Subj: Re: Location of Aurelius > Date: 9/12/99 10:21:57 PM Eastern Daylight Time > From: srhf@ix.netcom.com > Reply-to: <A HREF="mailto:NYCAYUGA-L@rootsweb.com">NYCAYUGA-L@rootsweb.com</A> > To: NYCAYUGA-L@rootsweb.com > > http://maps.yahoo.com/py/maps.py > > Auburn, NY > http://maps.yahoo.com/py/maps.py?Pyt=Tmap&addr=&csz=auburn%2C+ny&Get+Map=Get+ > Map > > http://www.rootsweb.com/~nycayuga/ > > http://www.rootsweb.com/~nycayuga/maps.htm > > 1875 Aurelius > http://www.rootsweb.com/~nycayuga/1875_maps/aur-map.htm > > 1853 Aurelius Map Image > http://www.rootsweb.com/~nycayuga/1853_maps/aurelius.jpg > > I also found this: > http://co.cayuga.ny.us/realproperty/maplist.htm > > Kathi >