Editing Otsego County, New York (section)

===Formation===
Otsego County was one of three early counties split off from Montgomery (the other two being [[Herkimer County, New York|Herkimer]] and [[Tioga County, New York|Tioga]]) after the American Revolutionary War. Otsego County was officially established on February 16, 1791, with [[Cooperstown, New York|Cooperstown]] as its county seat. The original county consisted of three large [[townships]]:
* [[Cherry Valley, New York|Cherry Valley]] in the northeast,
* [[Otsego, New York|Otsego]] in the northwest, and
* [[Harpersfield, New York|Harpersfield]] in the south.

Otsego and Cherry Valley together roughly covered the area of modern Otsego County, while Harpersfield covered the area south of the current county as far as the [[Delaware River]].

[[George Clinton (vice president)|Governor George Clinton]] made the original appointments to Otsego County government positions, including:
* Richard R. Smith, county sheriff, from Otsego township,
* Jacob Morris, county clerk, from Otsego township,
* [[William Cooper (judge)|William Cooper]], chief judge, founder of Cooperstown and from Otsego township,
* [[Jedediah Peck]], associate justice from Otsego township,
* Edward Griswold, associate justice from Cherry Valley
* Platt Townsend, associate justice from Harpersfield,
* Alexander Harper, commander of the county militia, from Harpersfield.