Editing Delaware County, New York (section)

==History==
{{unreferenced section|date=July 2012}}
When counties were established in New York State in 1683, the present area of Delaware County was divided between [[Albany County, New York|Albany]] and [[Ulster County, New York|Ulster Counties]].

Albany County was an enormous county, including the northern part of New York State as well as all of the present State of [[Vermont]] and, in theory, extending westward to the Pacific Ocean. This county was reduced in size on July 3, 1766, by the creation of [[Cumberland County, New York|Cumberland County]], and further on March 16, 1770, by the creation of [[Gloucester County, New York|Gloucester County]], both containing territory now in Vermont. On March 12, 1772, what was left of Albany County was split into three parts, one remaining under the name Albany County. One of the other pieces, [[Tryon County, New York|Tryon County]], contained the western portion (and thus, since no western boundary was specified, theoretically still extended west to the Pacific). The eastern boundary of Tryon County was approximately five miles west of the present city of [[Schenectady, New York|Schenectady]], and the county included the western part of the [[Adirondack Mountains]] and the area west of the West Branch of the [[Delaware River]]. The area then designated as Tryon County now includes 37 counties of New York State. The county was named for [[William Tryon]], British colonial governor of New York.

In the years prior to 1776, most of the Loyalists in Tryon County fled to [[Canada]]. In 1784, following the peace treaty that ended the [[American Revolutionary War]], the name of Tryon County was changed to [[Montgomery County, New York|Montgomery County]] to honor the general, [[Richard Montgomery]], who had captured several places in Canada and died attempting to capture the city of [[Quebec]], replacing the name of Tryon.

During the late 1780s, New York State governor [[De Witt Clinton]] issued land grants to military officers, doctors and other veterans of the American Revolutionary War, which brought many patriot veterans to settle in the area.<ref>{{cite book| first=Ron| last=Chernow|title=Alexander Hamilton| publisher=The Penguin Press| year=2004| page=177}}</ref>

In 1789, Montgomery County was reduced in size by the splitting off of [[Ontario County, New York|Ontario County]]. The actual area split off from Montgomery County was much larger than the present county, also including the present [[Allegany County, New York|Allegany]], [[Cattaraugus County, New York|Cattaraugus]], [[Chautauqua County, New York|Chautauqua]], [[Erie County, New York|Erie]], [[Genesee County, New York|Genesee]], [[Livingston County, New York|Livingston]], [[Monroe County, New York|Monroe]], [[Niagara County, New York|Niagara]], [[Orleans County, New York|Orleans]], [[Steuben County, New York|Steuben]], [[Wyoming County, New York|Wyoming]], [[Yates County, New York|Yates]], and part of [[Schuyler County, New York|Schuyler]] and [[Wayne County, New York|Wayne Counties]].

In 1791, [[Otsego County, New York|Otsego]] was one of three counties that were split off from Montgomery (the other two being [[Herkimer County, New York|Herkimer]] and [[Tioga County, New York|Tioga Counties]]).

Ulster County was an original county of New York State, considerably larger than the present Ulster County, and at the time that Delaware County was created it still contained most of its original area.

Delaware County was formed in 1797 by combining portions of [[Otsego County, New York|Otsego]] and [[Ulster County, New York|Ulster counties]].