Before the arrival of the first settlers, "Genesee Country" was the home of the Seneca Indians. Robert Morris of Massachusetts, purchased "Genesee Country" in 1791 and sold it to the Holland Company, a group of Dutch bankers, on July 20, 1793. The Holland Company opened for business in 1800, the first sale was 1801, and they moved the office to Batavia when Genesee county was founded in 1802.

The county was named for the Indian word meaning "beautiful valley". Originally Genesee County comprised virtually all of Western New York and was divided into only four "Shires" or towns; Batavia, Northampton, Southampton, and Leicester.

Gradually, parcels of land were taken from Genesee County to form other counties; Allegany (1806), Cattaraugus (1808), Chautauqua (1808), Niagara (1808), part of Livingston (1821), part of Monroe (1821), Erie (1821), Orleans (1824) and Wyoming (1841). What was left is the present Genesee County, which is shaded in the map shown below.

When searching for ancestors in Genesee County, you MUST pay close attention to correlating your dates with formation of each county. Anything before 1841 MAY actually be found in another county. Please visit our Maps section for further details.

We are always looking for volunteers to submit additional data for our site. Examples of data that we would like to see are numerous: old letters, maps, cemetery transcriptions, vital records, old photos, genealogies, wills, deeds, and any kind of historical documents. You may contact the county coordinator, Vikki Gray at the link to the left.

We also welcome volunteers to handle the individual towns within the county. Please consider helping out, by paying it forward. Please contact your current County Coordinator, Vikki Gray.

MODERN GENESEE COUNTY TOWNS

Your next step should be to check the map below for the current towns in the county. ( Batavia is the county seat.)