For hundreds of years before the settlement of Brighton, Native Americans called the Seneca occupied the vast wilderness between the Genesee River and Seneca Lake. The Seneca belonged to the Great Iroquois League of Nations whose territory covered all of Western and Central New York. The Iroquois were one of the most powerful Indian nations in American history. The Seneca, because of their westernmost location, were known as the Keepers of the Western Gate. Although none of their largest villages were in Brighton, this territory was an important part of their meeting and hunting grounds. A dense forest covered the whole terrain, with only Indian trails threading the wilderness. French explorers and trappers frequently visited this region, but there were no permanent white settlements until after the American Revolution.

Because the Iroquois had aligned themselves with England during the war, in 1779 General George Washington ordered an expedition against them. Sullivan’s Army was sent to break the power of the Iroquois League. Sullivan and his men came in force, devastating Indian villages until the League was destroyed forever. As a result, the expedition cleared the way for the development of Western New York. Many of the men who had been in Sullivan’s army, tired of farming on the stony hillsides of New England, were eager to return to the fertile land they had seen here.

Following the Revolution, England gave up all claims to American land. Original charters and grants from England, prior to the war, showed that both New York and Massachusetts owned the same portion of Western New York. Each state claimed the territory and a conflict resulted which lasted for several years. Finally, the dispute was settled amicably with the signing of the Hartford Treaty of 1786. The treaty gave Massachusetts the right to sell the land, keeping the profits, and it gave New York the right to govern the area. In 1788, Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham from Massachusetts bought the western portion of New York with the intention of selling to anxious settlers. The Phelps and Gorham Purchase included all of the land from Lake Ontario to the Pennsylvania Line. The same year, the Treaty of Buffalo Creek extinguished all remaining land claims the Seneca had to the area. With these land policies in place, New Englanders were able to push westward to the pristine forests and abundant land suitable for farming.

The first township in what is now Monroe County was established in 1796 and called Northfield. Northfield included all of the current towns of Brighton, Pittsford, Perinton, Penfield, Webster, Irondequoit, Henrietta and all of the present city of Rochester, east of the Genesee River. The original township underwent many changes during the following 43 years. The name Northfield was changed to Boyle in 1808 and two years later Penfield separated and became its own town. Two years after that Perinton did the same, and the following year, 1813, Boyle changed its name to Smallwood. In 1814, the town of Smallwood was divided into the two towns of Brighton and Pittsford. At this time, Smallwood no longer existed and Brighton now occupied all the land East of the Genesee to Irondequoit Bay and from Lake Ontario south to its present southern border. (Eventually Irondequoit separated from Brighton and the City of Rochester continually annexed portions of the town, reducing it to its present size).

April 5, 1814 marked the beginning of the organization of the town of Brighton. On this date, the first town meeting was held at the home of Orringh Stone, one of Brighton’s earliest pioneers. Situated at the edge of Western settlement, his home was known as Stone’s Tavern and was a popular resting stop for travelers and frontiersmen. It was the next year, 1815, Abner B. Buckland and his father, Captain Buckland, came to town, following a small group of Brighton’s first settlers including, John Lusk, Enos and Israel Blossom, Oliver Culver, William Billinghurst and Orringh Stone.