Record of Roads
1798 - 1820
The town holds one of the few complete 18th-century volumes still extant in the county. The towns are of course older than the County, but none had a permanent place of storage until relatively recently, and none can yet meet modern archival standards. However, this old book is still in quite good condition, and it has been photocopied and microfilmed for use.
A name and coarse subject index have been prepared for posting on line. Records of Roads are good sources for determining exactly where people lived, what routes they followed to commercial centers, and occasionally for other details such as what buildings existed at the time, what crops were raised, and so on.
The book contains several types of records, including actual surveys, which gave headings and measured distances from known landmarks; descriptions of road districts; lists of highway district overseers; and what amount to highway tax assessment rolls. Until the 20th century, road taxes were paid with labor on the highway, assessed as days per household depending on the value of the property within a district. Following is a list of the contents of this volume:
CONTENTS INDEX
COPY REQUESTS
Pages 1-13: Road surveys 1798-1801
Pages 14-18: Road districts in 1802
Pages 19-22: Road surveys 1803-1804
Page 23: Road districts in 1805
Page 24: Road districts in 1806
Page 25: Road survey from 1806
Page 26: Road districts in 1809
Page 27: Survey from 1810
Page 28: Road districts in 1810
Page 29: Road districts in 1811
Page 30: Road surveys from 1809
Pages 31-32: Road districts in 1812
Pages 32-45: Road surveys 1812-1816
Pages 46-48: Road districts in 1817
Pages 49-51: Road surveys 1817-1819
Pages 52-57: Road districts in 1818
Pages 58-62: Road tax assessments from 1818
Pages 63-66: Road surveys 1818-1819
Pages 67-73: Road districts in 1819
Page 73: Overseers 1819
Pages 74-75: Road tax assessments in 1830 (partial)
Pages 76-77: Overseers in 1830
Pages 78-82: Road tax assessments in 1830 (remainder)
Pages 83-86: Road districts from [perhaps] 1820 (partial)
Pages 87-90: Road tax assessments in [perhaps] 1820 (partial)
INDEX CONTENTS
COPIES
- Your name and postal address;
- The reference exactly as it is in the index;
Copies can be made from the photocopy held by the Yates County Historian, for the usual fee of $1 per page.
To obtain your copies in timely fashion you must include:
The phrase "town record request" in the subject line.
