Tryon County, New York
Tryon County, New York
TRYON COUNTY, NEW YORK. The half of New York province bordering on Canada and the Iroquois country was taken from Albany County in 1772 and named Tryon County in honor of Governor. William Tryon. It comprised all the Mohawk Valley from a point about ten miles west of Schenectady and contained all the colonial settlements west and southwest of that place. (The main settlements of the Schoharie Valley were in Albany County.) It was renamed Montgomery County in 1784.
Sir William Johnson dominated the affairs of Tryon County until his death in 1774, when Guy Johnson became the leader of the Loyalist element. The latter group was driven into exile and returned to ravage the Mohawk Valley; the region, in fact, was subject to violent civil war between Patriot and Loyalist forces through much of the Revolution, with occasional incursions by Indians, British, and Continental troops.
SEE ALSO Border Warfare in New York; Johnson, Guy; Johnson, Sir William; Tryon, William.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Campbell. William W. Annals of Tryon County; or, The Border Warfare of New York during the Revolution. 4th ed. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1924.
revised by Michael Bellesiles