Wirt
Wirt was formed from Bolivar and Friendship on April 12, 1838. It is an interior town, lying southwest of the center of the county.
The first settlement was made in the north part of the town in 1812 by Benjamin Crabtree and Levi Abott from Amsterdam, Montgomery county. Azel Buckley, from Unadilla, Otsego county, settled in 1814 and Daniel Willard from Massachusetts in 1815. The first child born was Benjamin Crabtree Jr. in 1813. The first marriage was Hyra Axdell and Lucy Crabtree in 1814. The first school was taught in the north part of town by Sophia Hitchcock in 1820. Alvan Richardson erected the first sawmill in 1824 and the first gristmill in 1825 on Genessee Creek, near Richburgh. Mr. Richardson also kept the first inn in 1824, and Francis L. Leroy the first store in the same year. The first religious meeting (Baptist) was held at the house of Benjamin Crabtree in 1816, by Rev. Jonathan Post. The first church (Baptist) was organized in 1826. [Source: J.H.French, Gazetteer of State of New York, 1860, p.168]
Wirt was formed from Bolivar and Friendship April 12, 1838 and was named for the writer William Wirt. It had formerly been known as Township 2, Range 1 of the Holland Purchase.
On March 5, 1839 this little settlement was made into a Town with the following officers elected:
- Supervisor - Jonah French
- Town Clerk - Azariah Randolph
- Commissioner of Highways - Joseph Allen
- Collector - Abner B. Cole
- Commissioners of Common Schoosl - Edward Wightman, Calvin Wheeler, Sheldon P. Stanton
- Overseers of the poor - Ezekiel Johnson, Chauncey Axtell
- Inspectors of Common Schools - Clark Rogers, Pliny Evans, Ezekiel R. Clark
- Constables - Abner B. Cole, Alan Stanton, John Truman
- Sealer of Weights and Measures - John W. Jordan
Cities, Villages and Hamlets
Richburg village incorporated in 1881.
Inavale - northeast part of town - once had a thriving grocery store, post office, cheese factory and public hall.
West Notch
Cadytown - located 1 mile north of Richburg on Esst Notch Road - was named for the Elias Cady family.
Utopia - formerly called the Kenyon District and was famous for a “Pink Schoolhouse.” Earnest Wells and “Frankie” Kenyon lived there.
Wirt Center - located on West Notch Road, had a schoolhouse, cheese factory and postoffice. George Burdick, William J. Burdick and Calvin Wheeler were early residents.
PO Box 61 Richbug, NY 14774 Telphone: 585-928-2393 | Jane Cardwell 6778 Pleasant Valley Road , Bolivar, NY 14715 Telephone: 585-928-2103 |
Churches
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Cemeteries
- Utopia Cemetery - code #29-1; (Town 2, Range 1HC, lot 31), N.Y. Rte. 275
- Dimmick Cemetery - code #29-2; (lot 11), Barns Road
- Richburg - code #29-3; (lot 41), N.Y. Rte. 275
- cemetery - code #29-4; (lot 59), County Road 40; possibly moved
- cemetery - code #29-5; (lot 52), Burdick Road
- Peterson Cemetery - code #29-6; (lot 62), Nigger Hill Road
- Carrier Cemetery or East Notch Cemetery - code #29-7; (lot 34), Carrier Road & N.Y. Rte. 275
- Wheeler Cemetery - code #29-8; (lot 37), County Road 34 at Bowker Road.
- Moore Cemetery - added 8-1-99
- Jordan Hill Cemetery - may be #29-4 or 29-5
*code #s refer to the Allegany County Cemetery Index card file at the Allegany County Historical Society and LDS Family History Library microfilm. See Western New York Genealogical Society Journal, Vol. II, No. 1
Library
Colonial Library, Richburg P "Perhaps the oldest and most attractive building in our town is the Colonial Library which was constructed about 1850 of hand hewn timbers on a foundation of rocks and stone." -- Mrs. Howard B. Thomason
Book List
- A History of the Town of Wirt and Village of Richburg, New York by Mrs. Howard B. Thomason, Wirt, NY, 1963; also Univeristy Microfilms International and Ancestry.com
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