Chris, Regarding the early settlement of Niagara County, I have a feeling that initially it had more to do with the Holland Land Company's opening up the area to settlers with their offer of land to sell at a reasonable price at around 1800. The land that was offered was west of the Genesee River which was west of Seneca County and in the area along Lake Ontario the land was rich and furtile and small settlements grew up prior to the War of 1812. After the devastation of the War, many of the original settlers returned and after that, more and more settlers came in. The building of the Erie Canal certainly played an important part in the increasing number of settlers, but the fact that your family settled in Olcott, on the shores of Lake Ontario, my guess is that they settled there because of the land. Regarding getting a copy of a Leonard will of the 1950s, there's an easy but EXPENSIVE way to go about it. The Niagara County Surrogate's Court will copy it for you and mail it to you for the price of $70 (or $75?). I know that it's an excessive price but that's the price that was mandated they have to charge if they have to find the will, copy it and mail it to you. The only other alternative you have is to find a researcher in this area who will go to the court house, copy the will for $1.00 per page and mail it to you. And as much as I would like to do that for you, it would be too much of an effort for me. I've got an Inbox that's jammed full of queries that I'm desparately trying to answer. And they're gaining on me! :-) Hope this helps and good luck in your research. Vee Housman Youngstown, NY Chris Leonard wrote: > my dad's line settled in Newfane Town (Olcott village) in 1828, > coming from Seneca Co. i'm always interested in why folks left one > area for another...Seneca Co., for example, was settled in part by > people who got military grants from the Revolutionary War. was the Erie > Canal the main impetus to the settlement of Niagara Co.? > > also, would anyone know how to get hold of copies of wills from the early > 1950s? a long time ago (8-10 years) a researcher sent me a list of Leonard > wills in that area, and there's one i think might be a cousin of my dad's > who is a 'mystery man'--his name was William and my dad was Charles, but > because dad looked like him they called them Big Bill and Little Bill, and > the Bill stuck all through my dad's life. no one knew anything more about > 'Big Bill.' i found Big Bill's father's grave but BB wasn't there (nor was > his mother, whom i know nothing about, not even a first name.) i know BB > must have died before i grew up, because another cousin of my dad's used to > write me about the surviving family and she never mentioned him. (my dad > himself died in 1953 when i was a year old.) the only indication i have, > besides the family story of how dad got his nickname, that this guy ever > even existed is a listing from an old (1930s) Olcott directory that shows > him living with his father Leon, my grandfather's oldest brother; both were > listed as 'emp garage' which i assume means they were employees at a garage. > > ==== NYNIAGAR Mailing List ==== > Stuck for ideas? The Niagara County NYGenWeb page might help... > <http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyniagar/>.

Vee, I was very interested in your comment on the settlement of Niagara Co. as my Stevens and McLaughlin families were there at least by the 1840s if not earlier--probably coming from VT or even Canada. I was wondering if you could recommend any good histories of early Niagara County for those of us not familiar with the area. Sara Patton > Regarding the early settlement of Niagara County, I have a feeling that > initially it had more to do with the Holland Land Company's opening up the area > to settlers with their offer of land to sell at a reasonable price at around > 1800. The land that was offered was west of the Genesee River which was west of > Seneca County and in the area along Lake Ontario the land was rich and furtile > and small settlements grew up prior to the War of 1812. > > After the devastation of the War, many of the original settlers returned and > after that, more and more settlers came in. The building of the Erie Canal > certainly played an important part in the increasing number of settlers, but the > fact that your family settled in Olcott, on the shores of Lake Ontario, my guess > is that they settled there because of the land > Vee Housman