Orleans County celebrates bicentennial in 2025
Pioneer residents contended with heavy forest, sickness, war and brutal winter cold
By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian
“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 5, Number 1
The remarkable photograph above, taken on June 19th, 1869, shows the hardy pioneers who settled Orleans County.
The records of the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Pioneer Association held at the Orleans County Courthouse in Albion on that date noted that Mr. George P. Hopkins, photograph artist of Albion, invited the members to have a group photo taken. The invitation was accepted, the meeting adjourned until 1:30 in the afternoon to afford time to take the picture and then get dinner.
On April 15, 2025, Orleans County will mark 200 years since its political formation.
As we have seen in previous columns, this area has been inhabited from time immemorial. Following a convoluted series of land transactions, by 1800 what we now refer to as Orleans County was owned by the Holland Land Company (the land west of Transit Road) and by the Pulteney Estate (the land east of Transit Road).
Attracted by the generous terms promised by the Holland Land Company for the purchase of fertile land, young men set forth with high hopes. According to the Pioneer History of Orleans County, the first settlement of white men in Orleans County was made in 1803 in the Town of Carlton by William and James Walsworth who came from Canada. James settled by the mouth of the Oak Orchard Creek, while William settled by the mouth of Johnson’s Creek.
Conditions were vastly different in Orleans County two hundred years ago:
“A dense and heavy forest of hard, huge trees covered the land…Pestilential fevers racked the nerves and prostrated the vigor…War was declared in 1812…then came the memorable cold season of 1816.”
In the aforementioned Pioneer History of Orleans County (PHOC), we are fortunate to have an excellent record – mostly first-hand – of the experiences of the first settlers of this area. Conscious of their achievements and their place in history, these early pioneer settlers formed the Pioneer Association of Orleans County which had its first meeting at the courthouse in Albion on September 10, 1859.
Article VII of their Constitution specified that “It shall be the duty of each member of the association to furnish in a form suitable for preservation, such facts and incidents in his early pioneer life, and in relation to the first settlements of this country, as he may deem of sufficient interest to be preserved.” They wanted to have their stories recognized and indeed their stories are heartfelt, poignant and captivating.
These accounts formed the basis for the book Pioneer History of Orleans County by Arad Thomas, which was published in Albion in 1871, required reading for any person interested in local history, always available from your local library.
These photos show original Pioneer History record books and a title page from one volume.
The records of the Pioneer Association were meticulously maintained in three volumes. One volume contains the meeting Minutes from 1859-1905, the others contain transcriptions of the firsthand accounts submitted by the settlers. These unique volumes were in the possession of the University of Rochester for many years but were acquired by local history collector Tom Taber at a sale. The Orleans County Legislature approved the acquisition of the volumes by the Orleans County Dept. of History in 2021 with funding from the Orleans County Bicentennial Fund.
Much has changed in 200 years, yet 200 years is but a blink in time. Anniversaries cause us to pause and reflect on changes and accomplishments, and hopefully to draw on the experiences of the past to inform the future.
