English colonists established counties in eastern present-day New York State in 1683; at the time, the territory of the present Madison County was considered part ofAlbany County, with the city of Albany located on theHudson River. This was an enormouscounty, including the northern part of New York State around Albany as well as all of the present State ofVermont and, in theory, extending westward to thePacific Ocean. It was claimed by the English but largely occupied by the Oneida,Onondaga,Seneca,Cayuga andMohawk, who had the territory in the central Mohawk Valley, as well asMahican near the Hudson River. On July 3, 1766, the English organizedCumberland County, and on March 16, 1770, they organizedGloucester County, both containing territory now included in thestate of Vermont.
The "Twenty Townships" west of the Unadilla River, conveyed by the Oneida Indians in 1788. Known as "Clinton's Purchase"
On March 12, 1772, what was left of Albany County was split into three parts, one remaining under the nameAlbany 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 ofSchenectady, and the county included the western part of theAdirondack Mountains and the area west of the West Branch of theDelaware River. The area then designated as Tryon County includes 37 current counties of New York State. The county was named forWilliam Tryon, the colonial governor of New York.
In the years prior to the outbreak of revolution in 1776, tensions rose in the frontier areas upstate and most of the Loyalists in Tryon County fled toCanada. In 1784, following the peace treaty that ended theAmerican Revolutionary War, New York changed the name of Tryon County toMontgomery County, in honor of the general,Richard Montgomery, who had captured several places in Canada and died attempting to capture the city ofQuebec.
As allies of the Patriots, the Oneida Indian Nation was allocated land by the United States in the postwar settlement for a reservation nearOneida Lake, in their traditional homeland. In the postwar treaty, the four Iroquois nations who had been allies of the British were forced to cede their lands; most of their peoples had already migrated to Canada to escape the worst of the fighting on the frontier afterSullivan's Raid. This expedition through Indian country had destroyed dwellings, crops and winter stores; many Iroquois who did not migrate died of starvation that winter.
But settlers were hungry for land, and in 1788 Governor Clinton's representatives persuaded the Oneida to cede some of their territory to the state for sale to European-American settlers. This was called the "Clinton Purchase", after GovernorGeorge Clinton. The land comprised the southern portion of the Oneida reservation. It has also been called theTwenty Townships, as these were the number organized after New York controlled the land.
As this sale was never ratified by theUnited States Senate, it was declared unconstitutional in a ruling by theUnited States Supreme Court in the late twentieth century.[5] New York State had no legal authority after the Revolution and the formation of the United States to negotiate separately withAmerican Indian tribes.
In 1791,Herkimer andTioga counties were two of three counties split off from Montgomery County (the other beingOtsego County).
Chenango County was formed in 1798 from parts of Tioga and Herkimer counties. Finally, Madison County was created from Chenango County in 1806.
About 1802, the Oneida agreed to allocate about 22,000 acres of their land to theStockbridge andMunsee (Lenape), who were seeking refuge from anti-Native American conflicts by American settlers after the Revolution. Both were Christianized: the Stockbridge had migrated from western Massachusetts and theLenape from New York and New Jersey. The two peoples were pressured to leave New York for Wisconsin in the 1820s, to make more land available forEuropean-American settlement.
In the late twentieth century, the three recognized Oneida tribes: of Wisconsin, New York, and the Thames reserve in Canada, filed suit in a land claim against New York for its treaty and forced purchase of their ancestral lands after theAmerican Revolutionary War, seeking the return of thousands of acres. TheSupreme Court of the United States has ruled the purchase was unconstitutional, as New York did not have the treaty ratified by theUnited States Senate, and had no authority under the U.S. Constitution to deal directly with the Oneida, a right reserved to the federal government. In 2010 the state offered the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin more than 300 acres inSullivan County in theCatskill Mountains, with permission to construct a gambling casino, and two acres in Madison County, to settle their part of the suit. Several private and public interests oppose the deal, including other federally recognized tribes inNew York.
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 661 square miles (1,710 km2), of which 655 square miles (1,700 km2) is land and 6.4 square miles (17 km2) (1.0%) is water.[6]
Madison County is located in central New York State, just east ofSyracuse, north ofBinghamton, and slightly north of due west fromAlbany. Madison County contains the geographic center of the state at Pratts Hollow in the Town of Eaton.
Oneida Lake andOneida Creek define part of the northern boundary. The Great Swamp, formerly located south of the lake, was a richwetlands habitat important to many species of birds and wildlife. This was drained by local and state construction projects in the early decades of the twentieth century, chiefly byItalian immigrants. The fertile soil supported high production of onions and other commodity crops, and the Italian families grew wealthy from their work. The area was known as "Black Beach" for itsmucklands.[7]Chittenango Creek defines much of the western boundary.
Chenango County is across the southern border.Onondaga andCortland counties form the western border, with Onondaga serving as Madison County's longest and most prominent border.Otsego County forms a short boundary in the southeastern corner of Madison County.Oneida County shares a northeastern border with Madison County.Oneida Lake is the northern border with part ofOswego County on the opposite shore.
Madison County, New York – Racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
As of thecensus[21] of 2000, there were 69,441 people, 25,368 households, and 17,580 families residing in the county. The population density was 106 inhabitants per square mile (41/km2). There were 28,646 housing units at an average density of 44 units per square mile (17/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 96.49%White, 1.32%African American, 0.52%Native American, 0.56%Asian, 0.01%Pacific Islander, 0.26% fromother races, and 0.84% from two or more races.Hispanic orLatino people of any race were 1.06% of the population; 16.1% were ofGerman, 15.6%English, 15.5%Irish, 12.1%Italian, and 8.0%American ancestry according toCensus 2000. Of these 95.6% spokeEnglish and 1.9%Spanish as their first language.
There were 25,368 households, out of which 33.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.10% weremarried couples living together, 9.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.70% were non-families. Of all households 24.50% were made up of individuals, and 10.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.04.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 24.90% under the age of 18, 12.00% from 18 to 24, 27.60% from 25 to 44, 23.00% from 45 to 64, and 12.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 96.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.80 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $40,184, and the median income for a family was $47,889. Males had a median income of $33,069 versus $25,026 for females. Theper capita income for the county was $19,105. About 6.30% of families and 9.80% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 10.50% of those under age 18 and 8.80% of those age 65 or over.
For the majority of its history, Madison County has been a mostly Republican county, with the party's presidential candidates winning the county in every election but one from 1884 to 1992. The one exception to this was in 1964, as the county swung strongly to the Democratic column for the first time thanks toBarry Goldwater's conservatism alienating the Northeast, givingLyndon B. Johnson a wide margin of victory as he won every county in the state and won by a landslide nationally. As New York has turned into a solid blue state, the county has become a swing county and national bellwether from 1996 onward. However, the margins of victory for the two parties in recent elections have been quite different. The three most recent Republican victories in the county have all been by over 10 percentage points, while the three most recent Democratic wins have all been by margins of under 600 votes.
United States presidential election results for Madison County, New York[22]
Koch, Daniel (2023).Land of the Oneidas: Central New York State and the Creation of America, From Prehistory to the Present. Albany: State University of New York Press.
