New York - Erie County

Books on County Genealogy and History

Buffalo Genealogy, History Links

Erie Co. GenWeb Project

Erie Co. WWII Honor Roll

Map of Erie Co. (1895)

Official Erie Co. Website

Official NY State Website

Records Kept by County Clerk

Although this region was familiar to the French about the time Manhattan Island was being settled, and although they were the first to settle here, they had little influence on the region. Once the British took over, the area came to be a part of the new American State. The lands never had the mixed titles of most areas. With the exception of the Indian Reservation and the "One Mile Strip" along the Niagara River, all the county was included in the Holland Purchase. The Indian lands were gradually bought over a period of years. The first settlements in the region were on the site of present–day Buffalo about 1795. The Holland company was very generous with funds spent to build roads, bridges, mills, taverns, which led to the rapid development of the area. But there were to be set–backs to the progress. War was declared against Britain in 1812 and the lake sections were those most open to invasion. In 1813, the British came from Canada and captured Black Rock and Buffalo. The thriving village of Buffalo was burned, and Erie County was in great distress and poverty that winter.

A flood of settlers entered this part of New York after the war.  There was great demand for transportation to all points of New York State and beyond. The roads were unsurfaced paths through new, largely unpopulated country. There was little communication with the outside and no outlet for produce. When the Erie Canal was completed in 1825, it had more to do with Erie County's destiny than any other event.  There was a railroad from Black Rock to Buffalo in 1834, but horses were used instesd of steam engines. During the 1850's a railroad system was built which supplied the county with rail transport, somewhat ahead of other parts of the State.

In 1850 the population of the county was just over 100,000, with Buffalo a city of 42,000 and already a great grain and lumber port. Both Buffalo and the county were prosperous. The breaking out of the Civil War slowed progress some, but the natural advantages of the location of Erie County won out in the end, and the region flourished. To care for the lake traffic, the great breakwater at Buffalo was projected in 1895. Buffalo, which had not been to any large extent an industrial city, became the home of hundreds of manufacturers. When the World War I was thrust upon the nation, there were few sections in the State which so promptly switched its industries to those needed by the United States. The combined resourcefulness of Niagara and Erie Counties did more to supply the essentials of warfare than any other area of the country.