You might want to take a look at Kathryn Grover, "Make a Way Somehow: African-American Life in a Northern Community, 1790-1965" (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1994). The book focuses on the city of Geneva, which is in Ontario County but immediately adjacent to Seneca County. It was probably the most substantial settlement in the area in the time period you're talking about. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, Geneva attracted a certain number of Southern planters, primarily from Virginia and Maryland, who brought slaves with them. Some also settled near Sodus Bay, on Lake Ontario. Prior to 1823, the eastern shore of Sodus Bay was also in Seneca County. These people later formed the core of the area's free black population. Because of this migration, slavery, although never really extensive, was growing in the area when it was declining elsewhere in the state. Slavery evidently proved unprofitable in the area, however, and the owners discovered that a New York law from the 1790s prohibited them from "renting" their slaves out to others. In 1810, a new law was passed (I assume at their behest) that allowed slaveholders specifically from Maryland and Virginia who had moved to Seneca, Ontario, and Steuben Counties after 1800 to rent their slaves out to others on the condition that they free them after seven years. As a result, slavery had effectlively ended in the area before it was officially abolished in New York as a whole in 1827. As I write, another source comes to mind: Austin Steward, "Twenty-Two Years a Slave and Forty Years a Freeman" (Syracuse University Pres, 2002), which was written by one of the people brought to Sodus Bay, was later "rented out," escaped, and became an abolitionist in Rochester.

Best of luck with your inquiries,
Scott Monje

>>> Norm & Stef Stevens <[log in to unmask]> 03/10/03 12:04PM >>>

----- Original Message -----
From: Norm & Stef Stevens
To: A LISTSERV list for discussions pertaining to New York State history.
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2003 11:55 AM
Subject: Seneca County


Dear friends in N.Y.
  I live in Hunterdon County N.J.. As Historian for that County I have been interested in the  free black population of Seneca Co, N.Y. due to the emigration of several free black families who moved to Seneca Co. in the early 19th century- some as early as 1810. Since Hunterdon Co. was and still is mainly a farming county, why would these families migrate to Seneca? Was your soil of excellent quality? Were mulattos/blacks welcomed for some reason? Was land cheap?
I would appreciate  any information available.
Thank you for your time
Stephanie Stevens