Although Franklin County was not created until 1808, there were people living in what is now Franklin Co. in the late 1790's. At that time, it was part of Clinton Co. The entire area of Franklin Co. was called the Town of Chateaugay, and the following census is the 1800 census for that town.

Almost one third of the names appearing in the 1800 census also show up in the Federal census of 1810, which is remarkable in a time when so much migration towards the west was taking place. It appears that the census taker may have been confused as to the column headings in this census. They do not appear at the top of any page, and he may have made some mistakes regarding the females over 45 years old. Although there are 38 males over 45 listed, there are only 5 females listed of that age group. Women lived longer than men even in those days, so perhaps the number of older females should be taken with a grain of salt.