When counties were established in the British Province of New York in 1683, the present Tompkins County was part of
Albany County. This 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, and further on March 16, 1770, by the creation of
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, 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, 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, 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 in honor of the general,
Richard Montgomery, who had captured several places in Canada and died attempting to capture the city of
Quebec, replacing the name of the hated British governor. , Cornell University on East Hill above downtown Ithaca In 1789, Montgomery County was reduced in size by the splitting off of
Ontario County. The actual area split off from Montgomery County was much larger than the present county, also including the present
Allegany,
Cattaraugus,
Chautauqua,
Erie,
Genesee,
Livingston,
Monroe,
Niagara,
Orleans,
Steuben,
Wyoming,
Yates, and part of
Schuyler and
Wayne counties.
Herkimer County was one of three counties split off from Montgomery County (the others being
Otsego and
Tioga counties) in 1791.
Onondaga County was formed in 1794 by the splitting of Herkimer County.
Cayuga County was formed in 1799 by the splitting of Onondaga County. This county was, however, much larger than the present Cayuga County. It also included the territory of the present
Seneca and Tompkins counties. In 1804, Seneca County was formed by the splitting of Cayuga County. On April 7, 1817, Tompkins County was created by combining portions of Seneca and the remainder of Cayuga County. The county was named after then vice-president (to President
James Monroe) and former New York Governor
Daniel Tompkins. Tompkins almost certainly never visited the county named for him. In 1854, the county lost the town of
Hector and the west line of lots in
Newfield to the newly formed
Schuyler County,
New York. ==Geography==