New York - Chenango County

Books on county genealogy and history

1895 Map of Chenango Co.

Chenango Co. Genealogical Resources

Chenango Co. GenWeb Project

Chenango Co. Historical Society

Chenango Co. Visitors Guide

Chenango.com County Website (sponsored)

Historic County Tour

Map of Chenango Co. (1895)

NY State Official Website

About half of the county's town are named for military leaders or prominent citizens. The exact derivation of some names is in doubt, and county folklore cast some long shadows on the origins of some of the places around the county. Some of the information was published in a pamphlet "Geography of Chenango County," prepared for use in County public schools by S. H. Albro, Superintendent of Schools, and published in 1881 and 1882 by the Chenango Union Power Presses.

Here are a few of the better known factual origins of place names:

• Bainbridge was named for Commodore William Bainbridge. Bainbridge was called Jericho prior to 1814. Jericho was a section set aside for the Vermont Sufferers.

• Coventry was named after the English city of Coventry.

• German was named for General Obadiah German.

• Greene was named for General Nathaniel Greene of the Revolutionary War.

• Guilford was originally named Fayette, after the Revolutionary War hero LaFayette who had traveled through the area in the company of Gen. George Washington. Later, the name was changed to Guilford, after the town in Connecticut.

• Lincklaen was named to honor Colonel John Lincklaen, an agent for the Holland Land Company and founder of Cazenovia.

• McDonough was named for Commodore Thomas McDonough who gained fame in the War of 1812.

• New Berlin was probably named after the German city, Berlin, because of the large number of early settlers were German.

• Norwich was named after the town in Connecticut and the city in England.

• The Town of Pitcher was named in 1827 for Lieutenant Governor of New York, Nathaniel Pitcher.

• Plymouth was alternately known as Frenchtown, Frank Town or Francistown in honor of the village's early French settlers.

• Sherburne is thought to have been named after James Sherburne, one of the village's first settlers.

• Smithville Flats was named after Elisha Smith, first agent for the Hornby Estate which included the village.

• Strong Brook in the Town of Greene received its name from an early settler family that lived on its banks.

• Symrna probably got its name from the city in Asia Minor which is now known as Izmir, a large city and seaport in western Turkey.

• Canasawacta Creek was named from the Indian word "Ganaswadi," meaning "cabin between two others."

• Chenango, some say, comes from an Iroquois word, "O chenang," meaning "region of the bull thistle." Others say Chenango means "beautiful river" or "pleasant stream."

• Genegantslet is an Indian name meaning "Three Deer-lick" River.

• Otselic is from the Indian word "Ocksilic" meaning "Plum Creek."

• Tioughnioga comes from the Indians words "Te-ah-hah-houge" meaning "meeting place of trails and water."

• Afton and Bainbridge have always been rivals. The people of Afton were said to have chosen the name so that their town would fall first on the list of County names, before Bainbridge. The name itself might have come from Burns' Flow Gently Sweet Afton, a reminder to the early settlers of the quiet Susquehanna River.

• Beaver Meadow is said to have been named because it was inhabited by a large number of beavers who built a dam across Beaver Brook. The dam resulted in a pond which covered about forty acres. Other stories of the hamlet of Beaver Meadow and other local folklore names can be read here in a series of letters to the editor published in the Syracuse Post-Standard, during November and December, 1926.

• Broomstick Swamp and Broomstick Creek were named by the early settlers in the Town of Bainbridge who used to go there to cut slim water beech or elm saplings to be used as brooms.

• Cork Island, Oxford, was the site of a duel fought by Mssrs. Sherwood and Starkweather in 1830. It is held that the seconds loaded the pistols with cork bullets.

• Plasterville was named for the plaster mill that was in the area prior to 1843.

• Polkville, a village southeast of Norwich, is said to have gotten its name because most of the villagers supported James Polk in the 1844 election.

• The settlement known as White Store (south of New Berlin) derives its name from the general store that was the first building painted white in the area.