History
Yates County in 1825
In the year 1823 a number of counties were split off from Ontario, the "mother" of all counties west of the Pre-emption Line. One of these was Yates, which comprised five towns: Benton, Italy, Middlesex, Milo and Jerusalem.
Of these, Italy and Jerusalem had their modern boundaries; Middlesex included the modern town by that name, plus Potter; and Benton and Milo between them still included Torrey.
The adjacent county to the south was Steuben. The towns of Barrington and Starkey had been separated from their respective parent towns of Wayne and Reading, but they were still part of Steuben County and would not be annexed to Yates until 1826. Thus, when the census was taken of Yates County in 1825, the enumeration of these two towns was not included. Even though Yates County existed when the 1825 census was taken, it would not be until 1830 that the enumeration included the entire modern area of the county.
