DARIEN was formed from Pembroke, February 10, 1832, and lies in the southwest corner of the county. Thr surface is hilly in the south and rolling in the north. Murder Creek flows through the town from south to north, in the eastern part. Crooked and Eleven Mile creeks are the other principal streams. The soil in the north is a sandy and gravelly loam, and in the south a clayey loam underlaid by limestone. The Buffalo, New York & Erie Railroad extends through the town from east to west, a little south of the center. The N.Y.C.& H.R. Railroad extends through the northwest corner. The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad runs through the center of the town from east to west, and the Geneva & Buffalo road will soon have its line built in the northern part of the town. There are four post offices.

DARIEN CENTER (formerly called King's Corners) is a post village situated three-quarters of a mile north of the Erie Railroad, which affords easy transit from the place, good facilities for transporting produce to market, and enabling the farmers to send milk daily to Buffalo. There are at this place four stores of various kinds, an hotel, a school-house, a Methodist Episcopal Chrch, the usual complement of mechanics, and in all about 50 dwellings.

DARIEN village, or Darien City, as it is sometimes called, the name given it by some eccentric individual when there were only a few houses built, is situated towards the southeast part of the town, on Murder Creek (so-called from the supposition that a murder had been committed near it at an early day), and near Griswold station (named from B. Griswold) on the Erie Railroad. The village contains a Methodist Episcopal Church, post office, school-house, blacksmith shop, saw and feed-mills, a wagon shop, and about 30 dwellings. Before the advent of the railroads it was a place of more active local trade and manufacturing than at present.

SAWENS (p.o.), so named in honor of the Sawens family in the near neighborhood, is situated on Murder Creek, in the northeast part of the town. This little hamlet contains a general store where the post office is kept, a saw mill and cider-mill, blacksmith shop, and about 10 houses.

FARGO (p.o.), on the Delaware & Lackawanna Railroad, in the northwest part of the town, contains a general store, cheese factory, blacksmith shop, and about 10 dwellings.

The first town meeting was held at Stephen King's inn (this being the first tavern reported in the town), April 3, 1832, and the following officers chosen: Hugh Long, supervisor; Thomas Riddle, town clerk; Jonathan Durkee, James Sutherland, Adna Tenney, justices of the peace; William Thayer, William Williams, Thomas Miller, assessors; Chilson Mullet, Price Mattison, overseers of the poor; Lyman H. Seaver, Lewis Clark, William Kidder, commissioners of highways; Daniel Carter, Constantine Gilman, Newton Haws, commissioners of schools; Daniel Kendrick, collector. When the division of the county was made, in 1840, the citizens of Darien were not disposed to submit to the new measure without resistance. The following resolution was unanimously adopted at a meeting of the citizens held in 1840:

"That we, the legal voters of the town of Darien, do most earnestly remonstrate against any division of the county of Genesee, and that our representative in the Assembly be, and is hereby, requested to use his utmost endeavors to prevent any division of the said county."

Religion. - The earliest account we have of any religious services in Darien is by a Baptist minister, Elder William Throop, in 1820, who held services until about 1840. The First Congregational Society is on record as organizing May 9, 1823, at Darien Center, with 12 members, with Hugh Wallace as minister. In 1825 there were 18 members; in 1834, 13, with Rev. T. Baldwin, minister; in 1840, 76, with Rev. L.A. Skinner, minister; and in 1846, 40. They built a wooden building about 1839, which is still standing. The church edifice was sold about 1880 for a small sum, and there has been no preaching since 1860.

There is upon record a society of the first Methodist Episcopal Church organized March 18, 1833, but we can find no other information concerning it. The present church was organized in 1848, by J.W. Vaughan. Its first pastor was Rev. K.D. Nettleton, and there were 35 members. There are two churches: one in Darien, built of wood in 1848, and one in Darien Center, built in 1874, having a combined membership of 84 members, under the pastoral charge of Rev. H.A. Slingerland. The valuation of the properties is $7,500.

The Physicians of this town have been James E. Seaver, 1817; William P. Harris, 1829; Erastus Cross, 1830; John M. Harrington, 1832; Isaiah Rano, 1836; and E.W. Marsh, 1870.

Much further information is to be found in The Gazetteer and Biographical Record of Genesee County, N.Y. (1788-1890) Edited by F.W. Beers.