Willink, New York (sometimes "Willinck") is a former

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 ...

Western New York Western New York (WNY) is the westernmost region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The eastern boundary of the region is not consistently defined by state agencies or those who call themselves "Western New Yorkers". Almost all so ...

, United States. The name was derived from Willem Willink, one of the original investors of the Holland Land Company. Willink was originally formed in Genesee County, from the Town of Batavia in 1804, before becoming part of Niagara County in 1808. When Erie County was formed from the south part of Niagara County, Willink became the south part of that new county. Willink already had been divided to form the towns of

Cambria Cambria is a name for Wales, being the Latinised form of the Welsh name for the country, . The term was not in use during the Roman period (when Wales had not come into existence as a distinct entity) or the early medieval period. After the ...

and Clarence in 1808, Clarence forming the northern part of the yet created Erie County. New towns continued to be formed from Willink until 1818, when

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...

and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

were the last to be partitioned. The citizens of the remaining portion of Willink voted to change the town's name to

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

, effective the same date as the formation of Holland and Wales. The village of Willink continued to exist and incorporated in 1849, but eventually was renamed East Aurora. In 1874 the village disincorporated, but a post office remained at the west end of the new village of East Aurora until 1913, when it was consolidated with the East Aurora Post Office.

Towns and villages derived from the Town of Willink

Towns

(1808) ** Hartland (from Cambria, 1812) *** Royalton (from Hartland, 1817) ***

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

(from Hartland, 1823) ** Niagara (from Cambria, 1812) *** Pendleton (from Niagara, 1827) *** Wheatfield (from Niagara, 1836) ** Porter (from Cambria, 1812) *** Wilson (from Porter, 1818) ** Lewiston (from Cambria, 1818) * Clarence (1808) ** Lancaster (from Clarence, 1833) * Concord (1812) ** Collins (from Concord, 1821) *** North Collins (from Collins, 1852) **

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

(from Concord, 1821) * Eden (1812) **

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

(from Eden, 1817) ** Evans (from Eden, 1821) *

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

(1812) ** Ellicott (now Orchard Park) (from Hamburg, 1850) *

(1818) ** Collins (from Holland, 1827) *

(1818) ** Marilla (from Wales ''(part)'', 1853) *

(remaining part of Willink, renamed in 1818) Towns formed from multiple "children" towns of Willink include: * Lockport (from Cambria and Royalton, 1824) * Newfane (from Hartland, Somerset, and Wilson, 1824) * West Seneca (from Ellicott, Hamburg, Lancaster and Cheektowaga, 1851) * Brant (from Collins and Evans, 1852) * Elma (from Aurora and Lancaster, 1857)

Villages

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

* Blasdell * East Aurora *

Farnham Farnham is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a tributary of the ...

* Gowanda, in part *

* North Collins * Orchard Park * Springville

References

---- {{coord missing, Western NY Geography of Erie County, New York Former towns in New York (state)