Page:History of Delaware County (1856).djvu/50

26 HISTORY OF error too late^ or were too proud to retrace their steps, and the fatal snare they had carefully adjusted for another was sprung literally upon themselves ; the same improminu that caused Englishmen in England to usurp an unjust power, caused Englishmen in America to rebel. In 1771, New York, although it comprised within its limits the whole of the present State of Vermont, was divided into but twelve counties, viz. : New York, Albany, Ulster, Dutchess, Orange, Westchester, Kings, Queens, Suffolk, Richmond, Cum- berland, and Gloucester. The total population was but 168,000, of which nearly 20,000 were blacks. Nor was this population anywise evenly distributed throughout the colony. It was in the main confined to Long Island, Richmond, New York, and a half dozen settlements along the Hudson, foremost amongst which were Albany and Kingstown. In 1772, two new counties were erected, Charlotte and Tryon, both of which have been since divided and subdivided, and are now recognized by other names. Charlotte was com- posed of the western half of the present state of Vermont, and of the counties of Clinton, Franklin, Essex, and Wash- ington, in this State. Tryon county embraced all the terri- tory west of Charlotte, between that and the St. Lawrence river, and west of a line running through nearly the centre of the present county of Schoharie to Utsayantho lake, which is the source of the west branch of the Delaware river ; thence down the west branch to the Pennsylvania line. It embraced the whole State west of these defined limits. From its origi- nal extent, the whole or a portion of the following counties have been erected, viz. : Alleghany, Broome, Cattaraugus, Cayuga, Chautauque, Chemung, Chenango, a part of Dela- ware, Erie, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Genesee, Hamilton, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Livingston, Madison, Monroe, Montgomery, Niagara, Oneida, Onondaga, Ontario, Orleans, Oswego, Otsego, St. Lawrence, a part of Schoharie, Schuyler,