Deerfield is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

Oneida County, New York Oneida County ( ) is a county in the state of New York, United States. As of February 26, 2024, the population was 226,654. The county seat is Utica. The name is in honor of the Oneida, one of the Five Nations of the Iroquois League or '' ...

, United States. The population was 4,273 at the 2010 census. The Town of Deerfield is on the eastern border of the county and northeast of the City of Utica.

History

Deerfield was formed from the Town of Schuyler in 1798. In Walter D. Edmonds' 1936 novel "

Drums Along the Mohawk ''Drums Along the Mohawk'' is a 1939 American historical drama film based upon a 1936 novel of the same name by American author Walter D. Edmonds. The film stars Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert, was produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, and direct ...

" and the 1939 film of the same name, the story portrays settlers of the New York frontier in the 1700s. The main protagonists (played in the film by

Henry Fonda Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor whose career spanned five decades on Broadway theatre, Broadway and in Hollywood. On screen and stage, he often portrayed characters who embodied an everyman image. Bo ...

and

Claudette Colbert Claudette Colbert (koʊlˈbɛər/ kohl-BAIR, born Émilie "Lily" Claudette Chauchoin (ʃoʃwɛ̃/ show-shwan); September 13, 1903 – July 30, 1996) was an American actress. Colbert began her career in Broadway theater, Broadway productions dur ...

) leave their luxurious home to build a small frontier farm in Deerfield in the Mohawk Valley.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town, which lies immediately north of the city of Utica, has a total area of , of which is land and (0.39%) is water. The eastern town line is the border of Herkimer County. The

New York State Thruway The New York State Thruway (officially the Governor Thomas E. Dewey Thruway and colloquially "the Thruway") is a system of controlled-access toll roads spanning within the U.S. state of New York. It is operated by the New York State Thruway ...

and the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east–west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigability, navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, ...

pass south of the town. The

Mohawk River The Mohawk River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 river in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson R ...

once formed the southern border of the town but has since been annexed into Utica.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 3,906 people, 1,449 households, and 1,146 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 1,512 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 98.75%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.59%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.05% Native American, 0.28% Asian, 0.03% from other races, and 0.31% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 0.72% of the population. There were 1,449 households, out of which 35.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 68.9% were married couples living together, 7.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.9% were non-families. 17.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.70 and the average family size was 3.06. In the town, the population was spread out, with 25.5% under the age of 18, 5.5% from 18 to 24, 27.0% from 25 to 44, 26.1% from 45 to 64, and 15.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.7 males. The median income for a household in the town was $47,197, and the median income for a family was $53,631. Males had a median income of $37,540 versus $24,441 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $20,676. About 2.0% of families and 3.8% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 0.5% of those under age 18 and 8.1% of those age 65 or over.

Communities and locations in Deerfield

* Bell Hill – An elevation located northeast of Utica; partially in Herkimer County. *Deerfield – The

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

of Deerfield is a northern suburb of the City of Utica. The community is located on Route 5 by the Mohawk River and Erie Canal. *Deerfield Heights – Another suburb of Utica, north of Deerfield. *Dewey Corners – A location south of Dewey Corners on Route 8. *North Gage – A hamlet in the northwestern part of the town. * Smith Hill – An elevation located northeast of Utica. *Walker Corners – A location east of North Gage, located on Route 8.

Notable people

* John Atkinson (1835–1897), born in Deerfield, noted

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

clergyman Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

and author *

Pádraig Phiarais Cúndún Pádraig Phiarais Cúndún (177713 March 1857) was an Irish poet who emigrated to the United States, where he continued composing poetry in Munster Irish and contributed to literature in the Irish language outside Ireland. Life Cúndún was b ...

(1777-1856),

Irish-American Irish Americans () are Irish ethnics who live within in the United States, whether immigrants from Ireland or Americans with full or partial Irish ancestry. Irish immigration to the United States From the 17th century to the mid-19th c ...

poet in the

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

from Ballymacoda,

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

, who settled with his family on a homestead near Deerfield around 1826.Edited by Natasha Sumner and Aidan Doyle (2020), ''North American Gaels: Speech, Song, and Story in the Diaspora'', McGill-Queen's University Press. Pages 108-136. * Hanmer Robbins (1815–1890), Wisconsin State Assemblyman * Michael Zarnock, published author/columnist and two-time

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

holder, born April 21, 1958, in Utica; moved to Deerfield in 1998.

References

External links

Town of Deerfield Home Page
{{authority control Utica–Rome metropolitan area Towns in Oneida County, New York Towns in New York (state)