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 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