Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Board URL: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara?read=85 Surname: Moskal, Litwin ------------------------- I am interested in finding out some information on the Fort Niagara Cemetery. I recall going there as a child and my Great Uncle, Walter Moskal is buried there. (along with his Son) As best I can recall, it was a cemetery that was located near barracks in Fort Niagara, as opposed to "old" Fort Niagara. Any help or info would be appreciated. I now live near Binghamton, NY Steve Litwin Link: Litwin-Jachimowicz family page URL: <http://people2.clarityconnect.com/webpages6/litwin/>

Hi, does anyone have information on the family/descendants of Albert F. Brown, former Mayor of Lockport sometime in the 1800's. If someone also has access to it I also would like the dates of his term in office. Thanks kindly, Mark Rustay

Hi, does anyone have information on the family/descendants of Albert F. Brown, former Mayor of Lockport sometime in the 1800's. If someone also has access to it I also would like the dates of his term in office. Thanks kindly, Mark Rustay

Looking for info on William H. Archer b. 1842 Niagara Co. married 10 Nov 1867 Lockport to Mary S. Learmont(Lamont) b. 1849 Canada. Betty Haney

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Board URL: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara?read=84 Surname: Figura ------------------------- I am looking for my ggranduncle Andrew Figura. Family records show Andrew died in 1961. the funeral was in Lockport, Niagara Co. NY . Andrew's wifes name maybe Anna. If any one has information, old photos, obits. etc...please contact me at pburchardt@juno.com. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Board URL: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara?read=82 Surname: STODDARD, GAMIN ------------------------- Ivory STODDARD died Tuscola County, MI 1901. Estate record shows wife died Akron, NY 1881, daughter Mary GAMIN, age 62, residence Clarence, NY signing papers 1907. Looking for death, burial, first name of wife, death and burial of Mary, and STODDARD connections Niagra Co, to complete records. 1405 Hunt Rd. Mayville, MI 48744

Wife: Matilda Daughter: Mary born OCT 1874 Pluto was buried in a cemetery in Niagara County. Can anyone please help me locate the cemetery. I don't know what year he died in. I have not yet got death index for Niagara County. Does anyone know the film # at LDS FHC?

looking for relatives of Elwood 'Pete' HALSTEAD who was married to Althea LEONARD.

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Board URL: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara?read=81 Surname: AKINS, YAW, SEYMOUR, YAW ------------------------- Seeking info on Seymour or William AKINS from Ireland and Jean SEYMOUR or PETERS from Scotland. Could have been in Niagara Co before 1820. They had sons, William, ?Samuel, Henry, and Edward T. Edward married Polly YAW and lived his adult life in Chautauqua Co, NY.

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Board URL: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara?read=80 Surname: Haskins ------------------------- Hi, I am looking for Haskins family that lived in Niagra Co., NY. I think my grgrgr grandpa Andrew Haskins b. abt. 1819 may have been from their. He married & had a son named Alexander b. 1838, but I am not sure where he married or exactly where his children were born in New York. He could have even lived in Cattaragus Co., NY. for a time. Anybody that could help me would be a God send in my eyes. You can contact me at icram@msn.com Thanks, Dena

Dear Group, I've been having serious ISP problems lately and if I haven't responded to messages addressed to me--or whatever--it's because it's all that I can do to get connected and when I do get connected, I'm lucky to be able to download more than one or two messages before I'm disconnected. Even with my most simple one-liner response to a message generally fails because I'm disconnected in the middle of sending it off. Therefore, my Inbox is piled high with messages I would like to respond to. But until I get this all straightened out--meaning until I find a more reliable ISP--please be patient with me. With the level of frustration that I'm feeling now, you may find that I will be changing my email address to something like @funnyfarm.org. Does anyone have a skate key that I can borrow? I think maybe tommorow I should dig out my old roller skates or my jump rope or my bag of marbles and get back to when the world was simple in Niagara Falls when I was a little girl. Jump rope chant: What shall we have for supper? Rats Cats And ginger snaps And RED HOT PEPPERS!! That's when you turned the jump rope REAL fast! (sigh!) vee

Hello GREFRATH is my surname. My ancestors came from Holtzheim, Neuss, Germany and settled in Missouri in 1842. They came via New Orleans, Mississippi River & St Louis. There was another line of GREFRATH in Niagara County around North Tonawanda I believe. I've gone back to the late 1700's with my line but have not made a connection to the GREFRATH line in New York. Has anyone on this list run across this very rare surname? Thanks very much, Edmund F Grefrath

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Bible Records Board URL: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/NiagaraBibl?read=3 Surname: WHITNEY, WILCOX, TUCKER, TAYLOR, WARD, STAMP, QUAY, HOWE, RUTHERFORD, BAYLISS, BURKE, VAN NORWICK, CARDEMON ------------------------- Russell F. WHITNEY b. 1800 VT m. Billiscent ? / ..Royal Edwin WHITNEY b. 1828 Lisbon, St. Lawrence, NY m. 1850, Martha Paulina Wilcox b. 1831, St. Lawrence, NY (Royal Whitney served 12yrs as Justice of Peace, Lockport) (Mason, 1862-1864 veteran, Co. D, served as Major) / ..Horace Edwin WHITNEY b. 1827, Madrid, St. Lawrence, NY/ ..Samuel N. WHITNEY b. 1833, St. Lawrence, NY CHILDREN OF ROYAL and MARTHA P. WILCOX Laura Billiscent WHITNEY b. 15 Jan 1852, Canton, NY, d. Mar 28, 1925 m. Frank P. VAN NORWICK, Lockport Oct 27, 1881 Russel Truman WHITNEY b. Mar 23, 1854, Canton, NY; d.Aug 12, 1922 @Lockport bur; Cold Springs Horace Martin WHITNEY b. Jan 26, 1856, Canton, NY m. Nov 8, 1893 @ Lkpt, Emma Lucretia QUAY b.Oct 9, 1869 Harry Edwin WHITNEY b. Sep 16, 1860, Morley, NY, d. Dec 2, 1948 (Constable, Town of Lockport) m. Jun 29, 1887 @ Lkpt, Grace L. STAMP J. Carle WHITNEY b. Jan 31, 1875 @Lockport,NY, d. , bur: Cold Springs m. Jul 15, 1896, 10AM, St. John's Parsonage, @ Lkpt,(*have newspaper announcement) May Belle TUCKER b. ? d. May 11,1931 bur: Cold Springs CHILDREN OF LAURA WHITNEY & FRANK P. VAN NORWICK (members: Knights of the MacCabees) Grace VAN NORWICK m. @Christ Episcopal Church, Lkpt, Elmer BAYLISS Lillian VAN NORWICK b. Lockport d. Apr 1, 1932, Lockport bur: Cold Springs m. John BURKE Royal F. "Roy" VAN NORWICK, no dates- but - children listed as Audrey, Royal and Russell (dead), no dates. Russell VAN NORWICK, no dates CHILDREN OF HORACE MARTIN WHITNEY & EMMA QUAY Carl Edwin WHITNEY b. Sep 9, 1895, d. 1956 @ Lockport Helen Laura WHITNEY b. Jan 4, 1897 @ Lockport m.1st, @ Lkpt, Sep 5, 1930, Burnell Everly F. TAYLOR b. Apr. 2,1894, N. Collins, Erie, NY d. May 5, 1930, Lkpt, bur: Cold Springs m. 2nd, Patrick Joseph CARDEMON d. 1969, Lockport, bur Cold Springs CHILDREN OF HARRY EDWIN WHITNEY & GRACE L. STAMP (*Harry Edwin WHITNEY owned Black Rock Asphalt before it was Shardon & Walker Gravel Co.) Marion N. WHITNEY, no dates Eleanor Grace WHITNEY, (*Clerk, City of Lkpt 1915) John WHITNEY m. 1st. Katherine Ames; m2nd Joan Gumby Have some newspaper documents, death certs, birth certs. Have b/w photos of headstones @ Cold Springs Cem.

Posted on: Niagara Co. NY Queries Board URL: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/USA/NY/Niagara?read=79 Surname: Gifford, Dodge ------------------------- I am looking for my ggrandfather. Family records say that John Edward Gifford was b 2 Jan 1851 in Wilson, Niagra Co., NY. His parents were Jesse Giffordb 1830 loc. unk., d 1870 and Abigail Howard. John m Rose M Dodge in 1876 in Niagra. I have been unable to find any more information about this family. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Such great answers to questions about the history of the area, migrational patterns, historical events, and bibliographies are why I really love this list. Too many lists (and I feel like I'm on just about everyone in the book) deal only with names and dates. I've never understood how family researchers can really appreciate their ancestors without knowing more about their time in history. Thanks again to folks like Dan, Vee, and others who contribute to a basic understanding of time and place. Sara Patton ----- Original Message ----- From: "Daniel B. Cooley" <danbcooley@home.com> To: <NYNIAGAR-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2000 1:40 AM Subject: Holland Land Company Resources > > List members - I thought I would weigh-in on the current thread > concerning reading material on the history of Niagara County. > > I am reasonably certain that my ancestor, Noah Cooley, migrated from > Pittsford, Vermont to western New York in 1815-1816. Therefore, he most > certainly settled upon a Holland Land Company plat, probably Wilson. In > preparation for a genealogy research trip to Niagara Falls in the next > year or two, I have been reading up on the Holland Land Company history. > I've had use of couple of great resources: > > o The Holland Land Company/Selected Resources at > http://www.hlc.wny.org/ > by John R. Stewart > > o and Research Guide No 56 at State University College at Fredonia, > Daniel A. Reed Library > http://www.fredonia.edu/reed/hlcguide.htm > by Franciska Safran > > Through inter-library loans I have read the following books: > > o "Joseph Ellicott and the Holland Land Company" by William Chazanof > o "Pioneer History of the Holland Purchase" by O. Turner > o "Western New York Land Transactions" by Karen E. Livsey > o "Joseph Ellicott and Stories of the Holland Purchase" by Clara L.T. > Williams > o "Frontier Settlement and Market Revolution" by Charles E. Brooks > > I have one general comment about all five books. For a subject as > intensely geographic as the Holland Purchase there is an amazing paucity > of MAPS in these books. For example, in the Turner book, which gives > the best history of the subject, "Twenty four townships were surveyed or > commenced to be surveyed in conformity to [the first plan of the agent > general, Theophilus Cazenove, and implemented by Joseph Ellicott], > although the uniformity of the size and shape of lots was often departed > from, where large streams, such as the Tonawanda running through the > townships, were, for convenience, made boundaries of lots." > > While I wouldn't demand a map so detailed as to show individual lots, I > would like to see a map of the area where the survey was started, and > how it proceeded from east to west and how ranges and townships were > laid out. None of these books has but the most general of maps. > > With that sweeping criticism, I can say that for those interested the > history of the Niagara County area of the Holland Purchase, the Turner > book is the most comprehensive and thorough. The Brooks book looks at > the Holland Company and its part in the settlement of the western > country. If you are interested in Joseph Ellicott and his role in the > Purchase, Chazanof recreates historical situations (probably from > Ellicott's diary) while Williams book is homey and more personal. > > The best of the five, however, is Livsey's book, which is a huge list of > people and their transactions. I found my ancestor (Noah Cooley-1816) > and, to my surprise, two of his older brothers who followed him > (1817-1818). He may have held land for them in anticipation of their > arrival. There are keys to many different types of land transactions > and there are cross-references to modern geographic locations (but, > alas, few maps). > > By the way, I was elated to see in the message from Ellen Keyne > Seebacher last Sunday, a reference to 1860 maps by the Niagara County > Genealogical Society > http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyniagar/extras/ncsmaps.htm > I went immediately to the site and, lo and behold, they have maps with > Holland Land Company lots indicated. I've ordered several of them and > can hardly wait for their arrival. > -- > Dan Cooley > San Mateo, Calif. > Researching COOLEY and WARREN in Niagara County and Oakland County, > Michigan. > --------------61BA204760DB252C478AE312 > Content-Type: text/x-vcard; charset=us-ascii; > name="danbcooley.vcf" > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > Content-Description: Card for Daniel B. Cooley > Content-Disposition: attachment; > filename="danbcooley.vcf" > > begin:vcard > n:Cooley;Daniel B. > x-mozilla-html:FALSE > adr:;;;;;; > version:2.1 > email;internet:danbcooley@home.com > fn:Daniel B. Cooley > end:vcard > > --------------61BA204760DB252C478AE312-- > > > ==== NYNIAGAR Mailing List ==== > For a list of Niagara County records filmed by the LDS, see > <http://www.familysearch.org>. > >

Hello Everyone... here I come again.. with the fourth set of family names in Niagara Co, NY. This time? The SCHMIDT / SMITH family... and associated families... In Germany: Jochim SCHMIDT and Carolinea FINZ marry 23 Nov 1821. Do not have birth or death dates yet. Suspect they are from Mecklenburg-Schwerin Dukedom in what is now northern Germany. Will use "MS" for this & DEU for Germany in the rest of this listing... Two children that I know of so far: 1. Joachim Johann Carl Cord SCHMIDT b 14 June 1818 in Hohen-Luckow, MS, DEU // d 13 Jul 1893 in Niagara Co, NY + Sophia Christina Henrica OEHMICH b 01 Dec 1821 in MS, DEU // d 06 Feb 1896 in Wilson, Niagara Co, NY (have seen NY, USA records that say her maiden name is "Ermick", etc etc) Their marriage: 23 Oct 1846 in MS, DEU. << Sophia is the dau of Jochim OEHMICH and Elisabeth MARTENS >> 2. Peter SCHMIDT b "abt 1836" in MS, DEU d 21 June 1888 in NY + Sophia "unknown" b "abt 1841 (where?) d 24 Mar 1919 in NY --- The Joachim SCHMIDT above was also called Joseph SMITH, although the gravestone (at St Peter's Lutheran Cemetery next to the church of the same name.. and NorthRidge Cemetery) has the original german spellings. Joachim and wife Sophia were the immigrants. They had 6 children - all born in DEU from 1845 through 1862 as follows: 1a. Johann Jochim Christian SCHMIDT (b 1845 Danneborth, MS, DEU // d 1901 in Wilson, NY) + Dorothea FROHM (b 1843 in ?? // d 1916 in Wilson, NY) << Note: the village name of birth for this first child is in a different lutheran parish than the father's.... >> 1b. Friedrich Christian Theodor SCHMIDT (b 1847 in DEU // d ??? in ???) + Frances SEAMS + 2nd Maria BOLDT << Names of wives from NY family... not yet researched >> 1c. Carl Johann Martin SCHMIDT (b 1849 in DEU // d ??? in ???) + Sophie JENS << Name of spouse from NY family... not yet researched >> 1d. Wilhelm Johann Friedrich SCHMIDT (b 1852 in DEU // d ??? in ???) + Elizabeth JENSS << Name of spouse from NY family... not yet researched >> 1e. Sophia Maria Louise Friedrike SCHMIDT (b 1852 in DEU // d ??? in ???) + ??? 1f. Ludwig Carl Theodor SCHMIDT (aka Louis SMITH) (b 1862 in MS, DEU // d 1913 in Wilson, NY) + Mary Lena HILLMAN (b 1868 in DEU // d 1902 in Wilson, NY) << Don't have marriage information on this couple!! >> << Immigration for the SCHMIDT family appears to be ca. 1873 or so... with Ludwig one of the six children coming to America with his parents. >> << Mary Lena HILLMAN: clues - possibly daughter of Louis HILLMAN and a Dora HILLMANDIR(sp?). Both names from her NY state death certificate. Death certificate also says she was "38 yrs 10 mo 8 days" when she died in 1902 and had been in the US for "36 yrs". Thus, came as a child with immigrant parents ... ca 1866/7?? (don't yet know from where in Germany ...) >> << Their children all born in Wilson, NY from 1890 - 1897 >> ----- Children of Ludwig/Louis SMITH and Mary Lena HILLMAN(1f) are: (all 8 births in Niagara Co, NY... 7 deaths in Niagara Co, NY... exception is Marian Bell PRATT SMITH who died in Ashtabula Co, OH while visiting there.. but is buried in Niagara Co, NY with her husband Edward SMITH. > Louis S SMITH (1890 - 1984) + Max E STRUBING (1884-1973) (1 child) > Anna Whilamena Frederica SMITH (1892-1974) + Benjamin Harrison WEAVER (1891- 1972) (2 children) > Clara Mary Christine SMITH (1896-1995) + Charles HILLMAN (1890-1956) (1 child) > Edward Frederick SMITH (1897-1957) + Marian Bell PRATT (1893-1962) <<note: this is where my PRATT line ends>> (2 children) ------------- Anyone see anything familiar? 1) Can anyone help with the marriage for Ludwig SCHMIDT (Louis SMITH) and Mary Lena HILLMAN? 1880s? (My thought is possibly a record at St Peter's Lutheran Church...) 2) Does anyone know about HILLMAN families in Niagara Co, NY. I think there are two different sets of HILLMANs in my family... one is family of the Mary Lena HILLMAN talked about just above. Possibly looking for a Louis HILLMAN and Dora ___??___ . The other is the Charles HILLMAN that Clara SMITH married in 1924. Thanks again for reading... debbie

Dear Susan, SPrimeMD@aol.com wrote: > This brings up an interesting question for me, Vee. I lived in the village > of Lewiston while in Elementary school & we did a LOT of work on history of > the Niagara Frontier & local geography, etc. Whether this was just because > the nuns at Hennepin Hall were history minded or if it was necessary for > those wonderful NY Regents exams I don't know.. . Ah so! It seems to me that you are referrring to Hennepin Hall at St. Peter's Catholic Church. And regarding the wonderful NY Regents exams, I remember them well. Now I didn't go to St. Peter's, I graduated from Niagara Falls High School in 1949. But Regents exams I remember! > but in any case, I seem to > remember something about the "Village" of Lewiston measuring a mile, on each > side. Yes it was/is(?) one mile square. > Now, a gazillion years later, I wonder if a.) I'm remembering correctly yes > & b.) > if the size of Lewiston Village has any relation to the size of any other NY > Villages ie are all "Villages" limited to less than 5 sq miles or some other > "standard"? no. Although I'm certainly not the expert on local history, I believe that in the case of Lewiston, the village was just planned that way in its early years. That's the way it was plotted out. Regarding the village of Youngstown, I have the feeling that they limited the village borders to extend only to the limits of the One Mile Strip. (Note, that is probably another history lesson I should tell you about--the one mile strip of land that the Indians agreed to give up along the entire length of the Niagara River from Youngstown all the way up/south to Buffalo to compensate for the Devil's Hole Massacre of 1763) As with most villages and settlements, towns and counties, I believe that their boundaries had much to do with geographical boundries such as rivers or creeks, or in the case of Niagara County and Western NY, just how the Holland Land Company surveyed it out into neat districts, ranges and lots. On a smaller scale in the case of the Town of Porter, even our very early records, Road Districts were defined. Such as in ca 1818, our ealiest records define Road District No.11 as "from the west line of Zalmon Mitchel thence Eastwardly to the East line of Daniel Word's land." Road District No. 13 went "from the town line of Lewiston near the Tuscarora Creek thence Northwardsly to Peter Akin's East line." I kinda like the way the Road Districts were defined. It lets us know that by 1818 there were settlers here by name who owned land and that the people who lived in this area were responsible for maintaining the condition of the primitive roads that had been cut through the forest. Path Masters were elected and their duty was to make certain that each settler put in their fare share of work to keep the roads passable. At least that's the way I see it from here. vee youngstown

This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------61BA204760DB252C478AE312 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit List members - I thought I would weigh-in on the current thread concerning reading material on the history of Niagara County. I am reasonably certain that my ancestor, Noah Cooley, migrated from Pittsford, Vermont to western New York in 1815-1816. Therefore, he most certainly settled upon a Holland Land Company plat, probably Wilson. In preparation for a genealogy research trip to Niagara Falls in the next year or two, I have been reading up on the Holland Land Company history. I've had use of couple of great resources: o The Holland Land Company/Selected Resources at http://www.hlc.wny.org/ by John R. Stewart o and Research Guide No 56 at State University College at Fredonia, Daniel A. Reed Library http://www.fredonia.edu/reed/hlcguide.htm by Franciska Safran Through inter-library loans I have read the following books: o "Joseph Ellicott and the Holland Land Company" by William Chazanof o "Pioneer History of the Holland Purchase" by O. Turner o "Western New York Land Transactions" by Karen E. Livsey o "Joseph Ellicott and Stories of the Holland Purchase" by Clara L.T. Williams o "Frontier Settlement and Market Revolution" by Charles E. Brooks I have one general comment about all five books. For a subject as intensely geographic as the Holland Purchase there is an amazing paucity of MAPS in these books. For example, in the Turner book, which gives the best history of the subject, "Twenty four townships were surveyed or commenced to be surveyed in conformity to [the first plan of the agent general, Theophilus Cazenove, and implemented by Joseph Ellicott], although the uniformity of the size and shape of lots was often departed from, where large streams, such as the Tonawanda running through the townships, were, for convenience, made boundaries of lots." While I wouldn't demand a map so detailed as to show individual lots, I would like to see a map of the area where the survey was started, and how it proceeded from east to west and how ranges and townships were laid out. None of these books has but the most general of maps. With that sweeping criticism, I can say that for those interested the history of the Niagara County area of the Holland Purchase, the Turner book is the most comprehensive and thorough. The Brooks book looks at the Holland Company and its part in the settlement of the western country. If you are interested in Joseph Ellicott and his role in the Purchase, Chazanof recreates historical situations (probably from Ellicott's diary) while Williams book is homey and more personal. The best of the five, however, is Livsey's book, which is a huge list of people and their transactions. I found my ancestor (Noah Cooley-1816) and, to my surprise, two of his older brothers who followed him (1817-1818). He may have held land for them in anticipation of their arrival. There are keys to many different types of land transactions and there are cross-references to modern geographic locations (but, alas, few maps). By the way, I was elated to see in the message from Ellen Keyne Seebacher last Sunday, a reference to 1860 maps by the Niagara County Genealogical Society http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyniagar/extras/ncsmaps.htm I went immediately to the site and, lo and behold, they have maps with Holland Land Company lots indicated. I've ordered several of them and can hardly wait for their arrival. -- Dan Cooley San Mateo, Calif. Researching COOLEY and WARREN in Niagara County and Oakland County, Michigan. --------------61BA204760DB252C478AE312 Content-Type: text/x-vcard; charset=us-ascii; name="danbcooley.vcf" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Description: Card for Daniel B. Cooley Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="danbcooley.vcf" begin:vcard n:Cooley;Daniel B. x-mozilla-html:FALSE adr:;;;;;; version:2.1 email;internet:danbcooley@home.com fn:Daniel B. Cooley end:vcard --------------61BA204760DB252C478AE312--

In a message dated 5/1/00 8:42:10 PM Eastern Daylight Time, housman@prodigy.net writes: > In NY state, the counties are subdivided > into towns/townships. The Village of Youngstown and the hamlet of > Ransomville are located within the boundaries of the Town of Porter in > the northwest corner of Niagara County. This brings up an interesting question for me, Vee. I lived in the village of Lewiston while in Elementary school & we did a LOT of work on history of the Niagara Frontier & local geography, etc. Whether this was just because the nuns at Hennepin Hall were history minded or if it was necessary for those wonderful NY Regents exams I don't know.. . but in any case, I seem to remember something about the "Village" of Lewiston measuring a mile, on each side. Now, a gazillion years later, I wonder if a.) I'm remembering correctly & b.) if the size of Lewiston Village has any relation to the size of any other NY Villages ie are all "Villages" limited to less than 5 sq miles or some other "standard"? Does anyone know offhand? Thanks in advance to my fellow listers for any information you can share. your fellow researcher, Susan McMackin Reynolds Connect to me & others at the Surname Genealogy Web Project at http://www.PlanetAll.com/main.asp?cid=966275&gid=114084&s=194

Dear Group, I'm in process of responding to a query that included a question regarding . . . well, as she put it, "Are the "Town of Porter" and "Village of Youngstown" one in the same? If not, how are they different? Wht is it's name now." While I was at it, I thought that my response to her would be of some value to all of you. Here how it goes. Regarding the Town of Porter and the Village of Youngstown, both of them still exist under those names. In NY state, the counties are subdivided into towns/townships. The Village of Youngstown and the hamlet of Ransomville are located within the boundaries of the Town of Porter in the northwest corner of Niagara County. The town has its government, headed by the town supervisor. The village has its government headed by the village mayor. Being a hamlet means that Ransomville is not incorporated and has no governmental body specific to Ransomville. Both Youngstown and Ransomville must abide by the laws of the Town of Porter, just as the Town must abide by the laws of the county, then the state and then the federal government. Although my postal address is Youngstown, I don't live within the village limits; therefore I actually live (only) in the Town of Porter. In the event that you are puzzled that you can't find Town of Porter on a road map, towns/townships just aren't defined on them. You would need a more local map than what is generally available outside the area. The one I find that is most helpful is the Niagara County highway map put out by Niagara County Dept. of Planning, Development & Environmental Services 59 Park Avenue Lockport, NY, 14094 I'm certain that if you write and ask them for a copy of the map, they would be pleased to send it to you. In addition to showing the different towns and their borders, it also has detailed street maps of the cities of Lockport, North Tonawanda and Niagara Falls. And if you look at Town of Porter and follow Creek Rd. (Rt. 18) northward where it just passes Blairville Rd. and you look real close, you'll find me waving at you just about 1/4 inch up Creek Rd.on the left hand side! Of course, we call that "down" Creek Rd. because Four Mile Creek flows down/north into Lake Ontario. We're kinda funny that way around here! :-) Vee Housman Youngstown, NY