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Gift economy

A gift economy or gift culture is a system of exchange where valuables are not sold, but rather given without an explicit agreement for immediate or future rewards. Social norms and customs govern giving a gift in a gift culture; although there is some expectation of reciprocity, gifts are not given in an explicit exchange of goods or services for money, or some other commodity or service. This contrasts with a barter economy or a market economy, where goods and services are primarily explicitly exchanged for value received.

The nature of gift economies is the subject of a foundational debate in anthropology. Anthropological research into gift economies began with Bronisław Malinowski's description of the Kula ring in the Trobriand Islands during World War I. The Kula trade appeared to be gift-like since Trobrianders would travel great distances over dangerous seas to give what were considered valuable objects without any guarantee of a return. Malinowski's debate with the French anthropologist Marcel Mauss quickly established the complexity of "gift exchange" and introduced a series of technical terms such as reciprocity, inalienable possessions, and presentation to distinguish between the different forms of exchange.

According to anthropologists Maurice Bloch and Jonathan Parry, it is the unsettled relationship between market and non-market exchange that attracts the most attention. Some authors argue that gift economies build community, while markets harm community relationships.

Gift exchange is distinguished from other forms of exchange by a number of principles, such as the form of property rights governing the articles exchanged; whether gifting forms a distinct "sphere of exchange" that can be characterized as an "economic system"; and the character of the social relationship that the gift exchange establishes. Gift ideology in highly commercialized societies differs from the "prestations" typical of non-market societies. Gift economies also differ from related phenomena, such as common property regimes and the exchange of non-commodified labour.

Principles of gift exchange
According to anthropologist Jonathan Parry, discussion on the nature of gifts, and of a separate sphere of gift exchange that would constitute an economic system, has been plagued by the ethnocentric use of a modern, western, market society-based conception of the gift applied as if it were a universal across culture and time. However, he claims that anthropologists, through analysis of a variety of cultural and historical forms of exchange, have established that no universal practice exists. Similarly, the idea of a pure gift is "most likely to arise in highly differentiated societies with an advanced division of labour and a significant commercial sector" and need to be distinguished from non-market "prestations". According to Weiner, to speak of a gift economy in a non-market society is to ignore the distinctive features of their exchange relationships, as the early classic debate between Bronislaw Malinowski and Marcel Mauss demonstrated. Gift exchange is frequently "embedded" in political, kin, or religious institutions, and therefore does not constitute an economic system per se.

Property and alienability
Gift-giving is a form of transfer of property rights over particular objects. The nature of those property rights varies from society to society, from culture to culture. They are not universal. The nature of gift-giving is thus altered by the type of property regime in place.

Property is not a thing, but a relationship amongst people about things. It is a social relationship that governs the conduct of people with respect to the use and disposition of things. Anthropologists analyze these relationships in terms of a variety of actors' (individual or corporate) bundle of rights over objects. An example is the current debates around intellectual property rights. Take a purchased book over which the author retains a copyright. Although the book is a commodity, bought and sold, it has not been completely alienated from its creator, who maintains a hold over it; the owner of the book is limited in what he can do with the book by the rights of the creator. Weiner has argued that the ability to give while retaining a right to the gift/commodity is a critical feature of the gifting cultures described by Malinowski and Mauss, and explains, for example, why some gifts such as Kula valuables return to their original owners after an incredible journey around the Trobriand islands. The gifts given in Kula exchange still remain, in some respects, the property of the giver.

In the example used above, copyright is one of those bundled rights that regulate the use and disposition of a book. Gift-giving in many societies is complicated because private property owned by an individual may be quite limited in scope (see below). Productive resources, such as land, may be held by members of a corporate group (such as a lineage), but only some members of that group may have use rights. When many people hold rights over the same objects, gifting has very different implications than the gifting of private property; only some of the rights in that object may be transferred, leaving that object still tied to its corporate owners. As such, these types of objects are inalienable possessions, simultaneously kept while given.

Gift versus prestation
Malinowski's study of the Kula ring became the subject of debate with the French anthropologist, Marcel Mauss, author of "The Gift" ("Essai sur le don", 1925). Parry argued that Malinowski emphasized the exchange of goods between individuals, and their selfish motives for gifting: they expected a return of equal or greater value. Malinowski argued that reciprocity is an implicit part of gifting, that there is no gift free of expectation.

In contrast, Mauss emphasized that the gifts were not between individuals, but between representatives of larger collectives. These gifts were a total prestation, a service provided out of obligation, like community service. They were not alienable commodities to be bought and sold, but, like crown jewels, embodied the reputation, history and identity of a "corporate kin group", such as a line of kings. Given the stakes, Mauss asked "why anyone would give them away?" His answer was an enigmatic concept, the spirit of the gift. Parry believes that much of the confusion (and resulting debate) was due to a bad translation. Mauss appeared to be arguing that a return gift is given to maintain the relationship between givers; a failure to return a gift ends the relationship and the promise of any future gifts.

Both Malinowski and Mauss agreed that in non-market societies, where there was no clear institutionalized economic exchange system, gift/prestation exchange served economic, kinship, religious and political functions that could not be clearly distinguished from each other, and which mutually influenced the nature of the practice.

Inalienable possessions
The concept of total prestations was further developed by Annette Weiner, who revisited Malinowski's fieldsite in the Trobriand Islands. Her critique was twofold. First, Trobriand Island society is matrilineal, and women hold much economic and political power, but their exchanges were ignored by Malinowski. Secondly, she developed Mauss' argument about reciprocity and the "spirit of the gift" in terms of "inalienable possessions: the paradox of keeping while giving". Weiner contrasted moveable goods, which can be exchanged, with immoveable goods that serve to draw the gifts back (in the Trobriand case, male Kula gifts with women's landed property). The goods given on the islands are so linked to particular groups that even when given away, they are not truly alienated. Such goods depend on the existence of particular kinds of kinship groups in society.

French anthropologist Maurice Godelier continued this analysis in The Enigma of the Gift (1999). Albert Schrauwers argued that the kinds of societies used as examples by Weiner and Godelier (including the Kula ring in the Trobriands, the Potlatch of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, and the Toraja of South Sulawesi, Indonesia) are all characterized by ranked aristocratic kin groups that fit Claude Lévi-Strauss' model of House Societies (where house refers to both noble lineage and their landed estate). Total prestations are given to preserve landed estates identified with particular kin groups and maintain their place in a ranked society.

Reciprocity and the spirit of the gift
Chris Gregory argued that reciprocity is a dyadic exchange relationship that we characterize, imprecisely, as gift-giving. Gregory argued that one gives gifts to friends and potential enemies in order to establish a relationship, by placing them in debt. He also claimed that in order for such a relationship to persist, there must be a time lag between the gift and counter-gift; one or the other partner must always be in debt. Marshall Sahlins gave birthday gifts as an example. They are separated in time so that one partner feels the obligation to make a return gift. To forget the return gift may be enough to end the relationship. Gregory stated that without a relationship of debt, there is no reciprocity, and that this is what distinguishes a gift economy from a true gift, given with no expectation of return (something Sahlins generalised reciprocity; see below).

Marshall Sahlins, an American cultural anthropologist, identified three main types of reciprocity in his book Stone Age Economics (1972). Gift or generalized reciprocity is the exchange of goods and services without keeping track of their exact value, but often with the expectation that their value will balance out over time. Balanced or Symmetrical reciprocity occurs when someone gives to someone else, expecting a fair and tangible return at a specified amount, time, and place. Market or negative reciprocity is the exchange of goods and services where each party intends to profit from the exchange, often at the expense of the other. Gift economies, or generalized reciprocity, occurred within closely knit kin groups, and the more distant the exchange partner, the more balanced or negative the exchange became.

Charity, debt, and the "poison of the gift"
Jonathan Parry argued that ideologies of the "pure gift" are most likely to arise only in highly differentiated societies with an advanced division of labour and a significant commercial sector" and need to be distinguished from the non-market "prestations" discussed above. Parry also underscored, using the example of charitable giving of alms in India (Dāna), that the "pure gift" of alms given with no expectation of return could be "poisonous". That is, the gift of alms embodying the sins of the giver, when given to ritually pure priests, saddled these priests with impurities of which they could not cleanse themselves. "Pure gifts", given without a return, can place recipients in debt, and hence in dependent status: the poison of the gift. David Graeber points out that no reciprocity is expected between unequals: if you make a gift of a dollar to a beggar, he will not give it back the next time you meet. More than likely, he will ask for more, to the detriment of his status. Many who are forced by circumstances to accept charity feel stigmatized. In the Moka exchange system of Papua New Guinea, where gift givers become political "big men", those who are in their debt and unable to repay with "interest" are referred to as "rubbish men".

The French writer Georges Bataille, in La part Maudite, uses Mauss's argument in order to construct a theory of economy: the structure of gift is the presupposition for all possible economy. Bataille is particularly interested in the potlatch as described by Mauss, and claims that its agonistic character obliges the receiver to confirm their own subjection. Thus gifting embodies the Hegelian dipole of master and slave within the act.

Spheres of exchange and "economic systems"
The relationship of new market exchange systems to indigenous non-market exchange remained a perplexing question for anthropologists. Paul Bohannan argued that the Tiv of Nigeria had three spheres of exchange, and that only certain kinds of goods could be exchanged in each sphere; each sphere had its own form of special-purpose money. However, the market and universal money allowed goods to be traded between spheres and thus damaged established social relationships. Jonathan Parry and Maurice Bloch argued in "Money and the Morality of Exchange" (1989), that the "transactional order" through which long-term social reproduction of the family occurs has to be preserved as separate from short-term market relations. It is the long-term social reproduction of the family that is sacralized by religious rituals such baptisms, weddings and funerals, and characterized by gifting.

In such situations where gift-giving and market exchange were intersecting for the first time, some anthropologists contrasted them as polar opposites. This opposition was classically expressed by Chris Gregory in his book "Gifts and Commodities" (1982). Gregory argued that: "Commodity exchange is an exchange of alienable objects between people who are in a state of reciprocal independence that establishes a quantitative relationship between the objects exchanged ... Gift exchange is an exchange of inalienable objects between people who are in a state of reciprocal dependence that establishes a qualitative relationship between the transactors (emphasis added)." Gregory contrasts gift and commodity exchange according to five criteria:

But other anthropologists refused to see these different "exchange spheres" as such polar opposites. Marilyn Strathern, writing on a similar area in Papua New Guinea, dismissed the utility of the contrasting setup in "The Gender of the Gift" (1988). Rather than emphasize how particular kinds of objects are either gifts or commodities to be traded in restricted spheres of exchange, Arjun Appadurai and others began to look at how objects flowed between these spheres of exchange (i.e. how objects can be converted into gifts and then back into commodities). They refocussed attention away from the character of the human relationships formed through exchange, and placed it on "the social life of things" instead. They examined the strategies by which an object could be "singularized" (made unique, special, one-of-a-kind) and so withdrawn from the market. A marriage ceremony that transforms a purchased ring into an irreplaceable family heirloom is one example; the heirloom, in turn, makes a perfect gift. Singularization is the reverse of the seemingly irresistible process of commodification. They thus show how all economies are a constant flow of material objects that enter and leave specific exchange spheres. A similar approach is taken by Nicholas Thomas, who examines the same range of cultures and the anthropologists who write on them, and redirects attention to the "entangled objects" and their roles as both gifts and commodities.

Proscriptions
Many societies have strong prohibitions against turning gifts into trade or capital goods. Anthropologist Wendy James writes that among the Uduk people of northeast Africa there is a strong custom that any gift that crosses subclan boundaries must be consumed rather than invested. For example, an animal given as a gift must be eaten, not bred. However, as in the example of the Trobriand armbands and necklaces, this "perishing" may not consist of consumption as such, but of the gift moving on. In other societies, it is a matter of giving some other gift, either directly in return or to another party. To keep the gift and not give another in exchange is reprehensible. "In folk tales," Lewis Hyde remarks, "the person who tries to hold onto a gift usually dies."

Daniel Everett, a linguist who studied the small Pirahã tribe of hunter-gatherers in Brazil, reported that, while they are aware of food preservation using drying, salting, and so forth, they reserve their use for items bartered outside the tribe. Within the group, when someone has a successful hunt they immediately share the abundance by inviting others to enjoy a feast. Asked about this practice, one hunter laughed and replied, "I store meat in the belly of my brother."

Carol Stack's All Our Kin describes both the positive and negative sides of a network of obligation and gratitude effectively constituting a gift economy. Her narrative of The Flats, a poor Chicago neighborhood, tells in passing the story of two sisters who each came into a small inheritance. One sister hoarded the inheritance and prospered materially for some time, but was alienated from the community. Her marriage broke up, and she integrated herself back into the community largely by giving gifts. The other sister fulfilled the community's expectations, but within six weeks had nothing material to show for the inheritance but a coat and a pair of shoes.

Case studies: prestations
Marcel Mauss was careful to distinguish "gift economies" (reciprocity) in market societies from the "total prestations" given in non-market societies. A prestation is a service provided out of obligation, like "community service". These "prestations" bring together domains across political, religious, legal, moral and economic definitions, such that the exchange can be seen to be embedded in non-economic social institutions. These prestations are often competitive, as in the potlatch, Kula exchange, and Moka exchange.

Moka exchange in Papua New Guinea: competitive exchange
The Moka is a highly ritualized system of exchange in the Mount Hagen area of Papua New Guinea, that has become emblematic of the anthropological concepts of a "gift economy" and of a "big man" political system. Moka are reciprocal gifts that raise the social status of the giver if the gift is larger than one that the giver received. Moka refers specifically to the increment in the size of the gift. The gifts are of a limited range of goods, primarily pigs and scarce pearl shells from the coast. To return the same value as one has received in a moka is simply to repay a debt, strict reciprocity. Moka is the extra. To some, this represents interest on an investment. However, one is not bound to provide moka, only to repay the debt. One adds moka to the gift to increase one's prestige, and to place the receiver in debt. It is this constant renewal of the debt relationship which keeps the relationship alive; a debt fully paid off ends further interaction. Giving more than one receives establishes a reputation as a Big man, whereas the simple repayment of debt, or failure to fully repay, pushes one's reputation towards the other end of the scale, "rubbish man". Gift exchange thus has a political effect; granting prestige or status to one, and a sense of debt in the other. A political system can be built out of these kinds of status relationships. Sahlins characterizes the difference between status and rank by highlighting that Big man is not a role; it is a status that is shared by many. The Big man is "not a prince of men", but a "prince among men". The "big man" system is based on the ability to persuade, rather than command.

Toraja funerals: the politics of meat distribution
The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, and massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan which are owned by noble families. Membership in a tongkonan is inherited by all descendants of its founders. Thus any individual may be a member of numerous tongkonan, as long as they contribute to its ritual events. Membership in a tongkonan carries benefits, such as the right to rent some of its rice fields.

Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting several days. The funerals are like "big men" competitions where all the descendants of a tongkonan compete through gifts of sacrificial cattle. Participants have invested cattle with others over the years, and draw on those extended networks to make the largest gift. The winner of the competition becomes the new owner of the tongkonan and its rice lands. They display all the cattle horns from their winning sacrifice on a pole in front of the tongkonan.

The Toraja funeral differs from the "big man" system in that the winner of the "gift" exchange gains control of the Tongkonan's property. It creates a clear social hierarchy between the noble owners of the tongkonan and its land, and the commoners who are forced to rent their fields from him. Since the owners of the tongkonan gain rent, they are better able to compete in the funeral gift exchanges, and their social rank is more stable than the "big man" system.

Charity and alms giving
Anthropologist David Graeber argued that the great world religious traditions of charity and gift giving emerged almost simultaneously during the Axial Age (800 to 200 BCE), when coinage was invented and market economies were established on a continental basis. Graeber argues that these charity traditions emerged as a reaction against the nexus formed by coinage, slavery, military violence and the market (a "military-coinage" complex). The new world religions, including Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, and Islam all sought to preserve "human economies" where money served to cement social relationships rather than purchase things (including people).

Charity and alms-giving are religiously sanctioned voluntary gifts given without expectation of return. However, case studies show that such gifting is not necessarily altruistic.

Merit making in Buddhist Thailand
Theravada Buddhism in Thailand emphasizes the importance of giving alms (merit making) without any intention of return (a pure gift), which is best accomplished according to doctrine, through gifts to monks and temples. The emphasis is on the selfless gifting which "earns merit" (and a future better life) for the giver rather than on the relief of the poor or the recipient on whom the gift is bestowed. However, Bowie's research shows that this ideal form of gifting is limited to the rich who have the resources to endow temples and sponsor the ordination of monks. Monks come from these same families, so this gifting doctrine has a class element. Poorer farmers place much less emphasis on merit making through gifts to monks and temples. They equally validate gifting to beggars. Poverty and famine is widespread among these poorer groups, and by validating gift-giving to beggars, they are in fact demanding that the rich see to their needs in hard times. Bowie sees this as an example of a moral economy (see below) in which the poor use gossip and reputation to resist elite exploitation and pressure them to ease their "this world" suffering.

Charity: Dana in India
Dāna is a form of religious charity given in Hindu India. The gift is said to embody the sins of the giver (the "poison of the gift"), whom it frees of evil by transmitting it to the recipient. The merit of the gift depends on finding a worthy recipient such as a Brahmin priest. Priests are supposed to be able to digest the sin through ritual action and transmit the gift with increment to someone of greater worth. It is imperative that this be a true gift, with no reciprocity, or the evil will return. The gift is not intended to create any relationship between donor and recipient, and there should never be a return gift. Dana thus transgresses the so-called universal "norm of reciprocity".

The Children of Peace in Canada
The Children of Peace (1812–1889) were a utopian Quaker sect. Today, they are primarily remembered for the Sharon Temple, a national historic site and an architectural symbol of their vision of a society based on the values of peace, equality and social justice. They built this ornate temple to raise money for the poor, and built the province of Ontario's first shelter for the homeless. They took a lead role in organizing the province's first co-operative, the Farmers' Storehouse, and opened the province's first credit union. The group soon found that the charity they tried to distribute from their Temple fund endangered the poor. Accepting charity was a sign of indebtedness, and the debtor could be jailed without trial at the time; this was the "poison of the gift". They thus transformed their charity fund into a credit union that loaned small sums like today's micro-credit institutions. This is an example of singularization, as money was transformed into charity in the Temple ceremony, then shifted to an alternative exchange sphere as a loan. Interest on the loan was then singularized, and transformed back into charity.

Gifting as non-commodified exchange in market societies
Non-commodified spheres of exchange exist in relation to the market economy. They are created through the processes of singularization as specific objects are de-commodified for a variety of reasons and enter an alternative exchange sphere. It may be in opposition to the market and to its perceived greed. It may also be used by corporations as a means of creating a sense of endebtedness and loyalty in customers. Modern marketing techniques often aim at infusing commodity exchange with features of gift exchange, thus blurring the presumably sharp distinction between gifts and commodities.

Organ transplant networks, sperm and blood banks

Market economies tend to "reduce everything – including human beings, their labor, and their reproductive capacity – to the status of commodities". "The rapid transfer of organ transplant technology to the third world has created a trade in organs, with sick bodies travelling to the Global South for transplants, and healthy organs from the Global South being transported to the richer Global North, "creating a kind of 'Kula ring' of bodies and body parts." However, all commodities can also be singularized, or de-commodified, and transformed into gifts. In North America, it is illegal to sell organs, and citizens are enjoined to give the "gift of life" and donate their organs in an organ gift economy. However, this gift economy is a "medical realm rife with potent forms of mystified commodification". This multimillion-dollar medical industry requires clients to pay steep fees for the gifted organ, which creates clear class divisions between those who donate (often in the global south) and will never benefit from gifted organs, and those who can pay the fees and thereby receive a gifted organ.

Unlike body organs, blood and semen have been successfully and legally commodified in the United States. Blood and semen can thus be commodified, but once consumed are "the gift of life". Although both can be either donated or sold, are perceived as the "gift of life" yet are stored in "banks", and can be collected only under strict government regulated procedures, recipients very clearly prefer altruistically donated semen and blood. The blood and semen samples with the highest market value are those that have been altruistically donated. The recipients view semen as storing the potential characteristics of their unborn child in its DNA, and value altruism over greed. Similarly, gifted blood is the archetype of a pure gift relationship because the donor is only motivated by a desire to help others.

Copyleft vs copyright: the gift of "free" speech
Engineers, scientists and software developers have created free software projects such as the Linux kernel and the GNU operating system. They are prototypical examples for the gift economy's prominence in the technology sector, and its active role in instating the use of permissive free software and copyleft licenses, which allow free reuse of software and knowledge. Other examples include file-sharing, open access, unlicensed software and so on.

Points and loyalty programs
Many retail organizations have "gift" programs meant to encourage customer loyalty to their establishments. Bird-David and Darr refer to these as hybrid "mass-gifts" which are neither gift nor commodity. They are called mass-gifts because they are given away in large numbers "free with purchase" in a mass-consumption environment. They give as an example two bars of soap in which one is given free with purchase: which is the commodity and which the gift? The mass-gift both affirms the distinct difference between gift and commodity while confusing it at the same time. As with gifting, mass-gifts are used to create a social relationship. Some customers embrace the relationship and gift whereas others reject the gift relationship and interpret the "gift" as a 50% off sale.

Free shops
"Give-away shops", "freeshops" or "free stores" are stores where all goods are free. They are similar to charity shops, with mostly second-hand items – only everything is available at no cost. Whether it is a book, a piece of furniture, a garment or a household item, it is all freely given away, although some operate a one-in, one-out–type policy (swap shops). The free store is a form of constructive direct action that provides a shopping alternative to a monetary framework, allowing people to exchange goods and services outside a money-based economy. The anarchist 1960s countercultural group The Diggers opened free stores which gave away their stock, provided free food, distributed free drugs, gave away money, organized free music concerts, and performed works of political art. The Diggers took their name from the original English Diggers led by Gerrard Winstanley and sought to create a mini-society free of money and capitalism.

Burning Man
Burning Man is a week-long annual art and community event held in the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada, in the United States. The event is described as an experiment in community, radical self-expression, and radical self-reliance. The event forbids commerce (except for ice, coffee, and tickets to the event itself) and encourages gifting. Gifting is one of the 10 guiding principles, as participants to Burning Man (both the desert festival and the year-round global community) are encouraged to rely on a gift economy. The practice of gifting at Burning Man is also documented by the 2002 documentary film Gifting It: A Burning Embrace of Gift Economy, as well as by Making Contact's radio show "How We Survive: The Currency of Giving [encore]".

Cannabis market in the District of Columbia and U.S. states
According to the Associated Press, "Gift-giving has long been a part of marijuana culture" and has accompanied legalization in U.S. states in the 2010s. Voters in the District of Columbia legalized the growing of cannabis for personal recreational use by approving Initiative 71 in November 2014, but the 2015 "Cromnibus" Federal appropriations bills prevented the District from creating a system to allow for its commercial sale. Possession, growth, and use of the drug by adults is legal in the District, as is giving it away, but sale and barter of it is not, in effect attempting to create a gift economy. However it ended up creating a commercial market linked to selling other objects. Preceding the January, 2018 legalization of cannabis possession in Vermont without a corresponding legal framework for sales, it was expected that a similar market would emerge there. For a time, people in Portland, Oregon, could only legally obtain cannabis as a gift, which was celebrated in the Burnside Burn rally. For a time, a similar situation ensued after possession was legalized in California, Maine and Massachusetts.

Mutual aid
Many anarchists, particularly anarcho-primitivists and anarcho-communists, believe that variations on a gift economy may be the key to breaking the cycle of poverty. Therefore, they often desire to refashion all of society into a gift economy. Anarcho-communists advocate a gift economy as an ideal, with neither money, nor markets, nor planning. This view traces back at least to Peter Kropotkin, who saw in the hunter-gatherer tribes he had visited the paradigm of "mutual aid". In place of a market, anarcho-communists, such as those who lived in some Spanish villages in the 1930s, support a gift economy without currency, where goods and services are produced by workers and distributed in community stores where everyone (including the workers who produced them) is essentially entitled to consume whatever they want or need as payment for their production of goods and services.

As an intellectual abstraction, mutual aid was developed and advanced by mutualism or labor insurance systems and thus trade unions, and has been also used in cooperatives and other civil society movements. Typically, mutual-aid groups are free to join and participate in, and all activities are voluntary. Often they are structured as non-hierarchical, non-bureaucratic non-profit organizations, with members controlling all resources and no external financial or professional support. They are member-led and member-organized. They are egalitarian in nature, and designed to support participatory democracy, equality of member status and power, and shared leadership and cooperative decision-making. Members' external societal status is considered irrelevant inside the group: status in the group is conferred by participation.

Moral economy
English historian E.P. Thompson wrote about the moral economy of the poor in the context of widespread English food riots in the English countryside in the late 18th century. Thompson claimed that these riots were generally peaceable acts that demonstrated a common political culture rooted in feudal rights to "set the price" of essential goods in the market. These peasants believed that a traditional "fair price" was more important to the community than a "free" market price and they punished large farmers who sold their surpluses at higher prices outside the village while some village members still needed produce. Thus a moral economy is an attempt to preserve an alternative exchange sphere from market penetration. The notion of peasants with a non-capitalist cultural mentality using the market for their own ends has been linked to subsistence agriculture and the need for subsistence insurance in hard times. However, James C. Scott points out that those who provide this subsistence insurance to the poor in bad years are wealthy patrons who exact a political cost for their aid; this aid is given to recruit followers. The concept of moral economy has been used to explain why peasants in a number of colonial contexts, such as the Vietnam War, have rebelled.

The commons
Some may confuse common property regimes with gift exchange systems. The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable earth. These resources are held in common, not owned privately. The resources held in common can include everything from natural resources and common land to software. The commons contains public property and private property, over which people have certain traditional rights. When commonly held property is transformed into private property this process is called "enclosure" or "privatization". A person who has a right in, or over, common land jointly with another or others is called a commoner.

There are a number of important aspects that can be used to describe true commons. The first is that the commons cannot be commodified – if they are, they cease to be commons. The second aspect is that unlike private property, the commons are inclusive rather than exclusive – their nature is to share ownership as widely, rather than as narrowly, as possible. The third aspect is that the assets in commons are meant to be preserved regardless of their return of capital. Just as we receive them as a shared right, so we have a duty to pass them on to future generations in at least the same condition as we received them. If we can add to their value, so much the better, but at a minimum we must not degrade them, and we certainly have no right to destroy them.

New intellectual commons: free content
Free content, or free information, is any kind of functional work, artwork, or other creative content that meets the definition of a free cultural work. A free cultural work is one which has no significant legal restriction on people's freedom:
 * To use the content and benefit from using it,
 * To study the content and apply what is learned,
 * To make and distribute copies of the content,
 * To change and improve the content and distribute these derivative works.

Although different definitions are used, free content is legally similar if not identical to open content. An analogy is the use of the rival terms free software and open source which describe ideological differences rather than legal ones. Free content encompasses all works in the public domain and also those copyrighted works whose licenses honor and uphold the freedoms mentioned above. Because copyright law in most countries by default grants copyright holders monopolistic control over their creations, copyright content must be explicitly declared free, usually by the referencing or inclusion of licensing statements from within the work.

Although a work which is in the public domain because its copyright has expired is considered free, it can become non-free again if the copyright law changes.

Information is particularly suited to gift economies, as information is a nonrival good and can be gifted at practically no cost (zero marginal cost). In fact, there is often an advantage to using the same software or data formats as others, so even from a selfish perspective, it can be advantageous to give away one's information.

Filesharing
Markus Giesler, in his ethnography Consumer Gift System, described music downloading as a system of social solidarity based on gift transactions. As Internet access spread, file sharing became extremely popular among users who could contribute and receive files on line. This form of gift economy was a model for online services such as Napster, which focused on music sharing and was later sued for copyright infringement. Nonetheless, online file sharing persists in various forms such as BitTorrent and direct download link. A number of communications and intellectual property experts such as Henry Jenkins and Lawrence Lessig have described file-sharing as a form of gift exchange which provides many benefits to artists and consumers alike. They have argued that file sharing fosters community among distributors and allows for a more equitable distribution of media.

Free and open-source software
In his essay "Homesteading the Noosphere", noted computer programmer Eric S. Raymond said that free and open-source software developers have created "a 'gift culture' in which participants compete for prestige by giving time, energy, and creativity away". Prestige gained as a result of contributions to source code fosters a social network for the developer; the open source community will recognize the developer's accomplishments and intelligence. Consequently, the developer may find more opportunities to work with other developers. However, prestige is not the only motivator for the giving of lines of code. An anthropological study of the Fedora community, as part of a master's study at the University of North Texas in 2010–11, found that common reasons given by contributors were "learning for the joy of learning and collaborating with interesting and smart people". Motivation for personal gain, such as career benefits, was more rarely reported. Many of those surveyed said things like, "Mainly I contribute just to make it work for me", and "programmers develop software to 'scratch an itch. The International Institute of Infonomics at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands reported in 2002 that in addition to the above, large corporations, and they specifically mentioned IBM, also spend large annual sums employing developers specifically for them to contribute to open source projects. The firms' and the employees' motivations in such cases are less clear.

Members of the Linux community often speak of their community as a gift economy. The IT research firm IDC valued the Linux kernel at US$18 billion in 2007 and projected its value at US$40 billion in 2010. The Debian distribution of the GNU/Linux operating system offers over 37,000 free open-source software packages via their AMD64 repositories alone.

Collaborative works
Collaborative works are works created by an open community. For example, Wikipedia – a free online encyclopedia – features millions of articles developed collaboratively, and almost none of its many authors and editors receive any direct material reward.

title: Gift economy


text:
Osceola, New York

Osceola is a town in Lewis County, New York, United States. The population was 229 at the 2010 census. The town is named for the Seminole fighter Osceola.

The town of Osceola is in the southwestern part of Lewis County and is southwest of Lowville, the county seat.

History
Settlement in the town began around 1838. Osceola was formed from the town of West Turin in 1844. The town's name was selected by Anna Maria Jay, the granddaughter of John Jay, following national outrage over the capture and treatment of Osceola.

The Osceola Town Hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 87.1 sqmi, of which 0.1 sqmi, or 0.10%, are water.

The southern town line is the border of Oneida County, and the western town line is the border of Oswego County.

The Salmon River, a tributary of Lake Ontario, flows across the southern part of the town.

Demographics
At the 2000 census, there were 265 people, 112 households and 74 families residing in the town. The population density was 3.0 per square mile (1.2/km2). There were 402 housing units at an average density of 4.6 per square mile (1.8/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 99.62% White, 0.38% from other races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.38% of the population.

There were 112 households, of which 28.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.0% were married couples living together, 10.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.9% were non-families. 28.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.88.

24.2% of the population were under the age of 18, 4.2% from 18 to 24, 33.2% from 25 to 44, 24.9% from 45 to 64, and 13.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.0 males.

The median household income was $35,469, and the median family income was $38,750. Males had a median income of $31,125 versus $20,750 for females. The per capita income for the town was $17,467. About 13.7% of families and 12.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.9% of those under the age of eighteen and 15.2% of those 65 or over.

Communities and locations in Osceola

 * Monteola – A hamlet in the northeastern part of the town. (This hamlet is now abandoned, there is no permanent population and no public road to access it. The only access is by the abandoned G & W railroad bed.)
 * New Campbellwood Wye – A hamlet in the northwestern part of the town. (New Campbellwood Wye is now abandoned and is only accessible via logging trails.)
 * North Osceola – A hamlet in the west-central part of the town.
 * Old Campbellwood Wye – A hamlet south of Monteola. (Old Campbell Wood Wye is abandoned and there are no public roads to access the location.)
 * Osceola – The hamlet of Osceola is in the southern part of the town on County Road 46.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Osceola, New York


text:
Pinckney, New York

Pinckney is a town in Lewis County, New York, United States. The population was 329 at the 2010 census. The town is named after Thomas Pinckney of South Carolina.

The town is on the western border of the county and is southeast of Watertown.

History
The community was first settled circa 1804. The town of Pinckney was formed in 1808 from the towns of Harrisburgh and Rodman (then called "Harrison" in Jefferson County).

Early settlers were mostly farmers, who later changed to dairy and cheese production due to the snowy climate.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 41.1 sqmi, of which 41.0 sqmi are land and 0.1 sqmi, or 0.34%, are water.

The western part of the town is surrounded on three sides by Jefferson County.

New York State Route 177 is an east–west highway in the town.

The Deer River flows northward through the southeastern part of Pinckney.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 319 people, 120 households, and 81 families residing in the town. The population density was 7.8 people per square mile (3.0/km2). There were 219 housing units at an average density of 5.3 per square mile (2.1/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 96.55% White, 1.25% African American, 0.63% Native American, 0.31% Asian, and 1.25% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.94% of the population.

There were 120 households, out of which 35.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.5% were married couples living together, 7.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.7% were non-families. 20.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.66 and the average family size was 3.16.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 27.3% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 29.8% from 25 to 44, 26.0% from 45 to 64, and 10.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 103.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 121.0 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $36,146, and the median income for a family was $35,417. Males had a median income of $28,750 versus $23,929 for females. The per capita income for the town was $13,733. About 9.6% of families and 14.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.1% of those under age 18 and 14.7% of those age 65 or over.

Communities and locations in Pinckney

 * Barnes Corners – A hamlet in the southwestern part of the town on NY-177.
 * Cronk Corners – A location north of Barnes Corners.
 * Forks Number Two – A location northeast of Barnes Corners.
 * Inman Gulf – A canyon in the western part of Pinckney.
 * New Boston – A hamlet in the southeastern part of the town on NY-177 and the Deer River.
 * Pinckney Corners – A location in the northeastern part of the town.
 * Shingle Gulf – A canyon in the northwestern part of the town.

title: Pinckney, New York


text:
Port Leyden, New York

Port Leyden is a village in Lewis County, New York, United States. The population was 672 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from the village's early history as a port on the Black River Canal.

The village of Port Leyden is mostly in the town of Leyden, but a portion of the village lies to the east of the Black River in the town of Lyonsdale. The village is 17 mi south of Lowville, the county seat, 8 mi north of Boonville, and 25 mi by road west-southwest of Old Forge.

History
A mill was built at the present site of the village around 1800, and the community was known as "Kelsey's Mills". The name was changed to "Port Leyden" around 1838 when the Black River Canal was being developed. The canal was completed to Port Leyden in 1850, but was not usable until 1851. The canal reached its northern terminus at Lyons Falls, a few miles north, in 1855. In 1900, a decision was made to abandon the canal between Lyons Falls and Boonville, effectively ending the status of Port Leyden as a canal port.

St. Mark's Church and the Edmund Wilson House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Geography
Port Leyden is located in southern Lewis County at 43.58389°N, -75.34417°W (43.583871, -75.344261). According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 1.7 km2, of which 1.6 km2 are land and 0.1 km2, or 6.17%, are water.

The Black River divides the community and drops over 30 ft through the village limits.

Port Leyden is located on New York State Route 12, which leads north to Lowville and south to Boonville.

Education
Port Leyden Elementary School, located on Lincoln Street, educates students in grades K-4. Students in grades 5-12 attend South Lewis Central Middle/High School in Turin.

The Port Leyden Community Library is located on Canal Street.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 665 people, 257 households, and 169 families residing in the village. The population density was 1,099.5 PD/sqmi. There were 317 housing units at an average density of 524.1 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the village was 98.50% White, 0.15% African American, 0.15% Native American, and 1.20% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.15% of the population.

There were 257 households, out of which 33.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.0% were married couples living together, 12.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.9% were non-families. 30.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 21.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.08.

In the village, the population was spread out, with 27.1% under the age of 18, 7.4% from 18 to 24, 24.7% from 25 to 44, 21.8% from 45 to 64, and 19.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.5 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $24,559, and the median income for a family was $30,781. Males had a median income of $31,146 versus $17,500 for females. The per capita income for the village was $12,783. About 18.0% of families and 23.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 38.9% of those under age 18 and 20.9% of those age 65 or over.

title: Port Leyden, New York


text:
Watson, New York

Watson is a town in Lewis County, New York, United States. The population was 1,881 at the 2010 census. The town is named after early landowner James Watson. The town is at the eastern border of the county and is east of Lowville, the county seat.

History
The area of Watson was first settled circa 1815. The town was formed from the town of Leyden in 1821. Parts of Watson were later taken to form the towns of Greig (1828), Diana (1830), Croghan (1841) and New Bremen (1848).

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 115.7 sqmi, of which 112.7 sqmi are land and 3.0 sqmi, or 2.56%, are water.

The eastern town line is the border of Herkimer County, and the western town line is partly defined by the Black River.

The Beaver River, a tributary of the Black River, flows through the northern part of the town. The eastern section of Watson is inside the Adirondack Park.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,987 people, 772 households, and 562 families residing in the town. The population density was 17.6 people per square mile (6.8/km2). There were 1,652 housing units at an average density of 14.7 per square mile (5.7/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 98.49% White, 0.40% African American, 0.20% Native American, 0.10% Asian, 0.40% Pacific Islander, and 0.40% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.50% of the population.

There were 772 households, out of which 33.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.4% were married couples living together, 6.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.2% were non-families. 21.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 2.96.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 25.6% under the age of 18, 7.2% from 18 to 24, 29.7% from 25 to 44, 23.2% from 45 to 64, and 14.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 106.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 108.9 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $35,000, and the median income for a family was $38,438. Males had a median income of $28,208 versus $20,913 for females. The per capita income for the town was $15,708. About 8.0% of families and 11.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.5% of those under age 18 and 14.2% of those age 65 or over.

Communities and locations in Watson

 * Beaver Lake – A lake in the northeastern part of the town by the town line.
 * Bushes Landing – A hamlet east of Watson Village on County Road 26 and near the Black River.
 * Chase Lake – A lake south of Sperryville.
 * Crystal Dale – A location near the northern town line, located north of Petries Corners on County Road 26.
 * Eagle Falls – A location on the Beaver River in the northern part of the town.
 * Francis Lake – A lake near the eastern town line, south of Beaver Lake.
 * Moshier Falls – A location at the eastern town line in Herkimer County.
 * Number Four – A location in the northeastern part of the town, west of Beaver Lake on County Road 26.
 * Petries Corners – A hamlet in the southern section of the town, northeast of Watson village on County Road 26.
 * Pine Grove – A hamlet near the southern town line, southeast of Watson village. The Pine Grove Community Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.
 * Soft Maple Reservoir – An artificial lake at the town line by Eagle Falls.
 * Sperryville – A hamlet in the southern part of the town, inside the Adirondack Park.
 * Stony Lake – A lake east of Sperryville.
 * Watson – The hamlet of Watson is on County Road 26 in the southwestern part of the town by the Black River.

title: Watson, New York


text:
West Turin, New York

West Turin is a town in Lewis County, New York, United States. The population was 1,524 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from its parent town, Turin. West Turin is in the south-central part of the county and is north of Rome.

History
The town was first settled circa 1796, near Constableville. West Turin was formed from part of Turin in 1830 and was subsequently reduced in size by the formation of newer towns: Montague (1850) and Osceola (1844). The town of West Turin now includes the former town of Highmarket, which was disbanded in 1973. Highmarket had been set apart from West Turin in 1852.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 102.4 sqmi, of which 102.1 sqmi are land and 0.3 sqmi, or 0.33%, are water.

The Black River forms the eastern town line. West Turin is on the Tug Hill Plateau of northwestern New York.

New York State Route 26 and New York State Route 12D are north-south highways. New York State Route 12 is a north-south highway near the Black River.

Climate
West Turin has a warm-summer humid continental climate (Dfb). Winter is cold and very snowy, with most days not making it to freezing. Snow can fall anytime from October to May, and a consistent snowpack is expected from November to April. Due to its elevation, it is one of the coldest, snowiest, and wettest places in the state. Summer is warm during the day, but it cools off quickly at night. While West Turin is very wet year round, spring is the driest time of year with 3 to 5 in of rain per month, while fall is the wettest time of year with 5 to 6 in per month.

The highest recorded temperature was 94 °F on June 28, 2005, and August 10, 2001. The coldest recorded temperature was -40 °F on January 25, 26 and 27 in 2004. The highest minimum temperature was 69 °F on July 18, 2005, July 19, 2013, and July 22, 2011. The lowest high on record was -15 °F on January 16, 2004.

The low temperature falls below freezing on an average of 188.5 days per year, and it falls below 0 °F on 36.5. The average lowest temperature in a year is -29.5 °F, putting West Turin in hardiness zone 4A. The high stays below freezing on an average of 81.1 days per year and exceeds 90 °F on 0.8 days per year.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,674 people, 635 households, and 433 families residing in the town. The population density was 16.4 people per square mile (6.3/km2). There were 971 housing units at an average density of 9.5 per square mile (3.7/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 99.22% White, 0.18% Native American, 0.06% Asian, 0.24% from other races, and 0.30% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.12% of the population.

There were 635 households, out of which 31.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.8% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.7% were non-families. 25.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.16.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 27.4% under the age of 18, 7.9% from 18 to 24, 27.7% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, and 14.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 104.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.7 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $35,150, and the median income for a family was $41,618. Males had a median income of $32,065 versus $21,838 for females. The per capita income for the town was $15,538. About 13.5% of families and 16.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.8% of those under age 18 and 13.8% of those age 65 or over.

Communities and locations in West Turin

 * Byron Corners – A location northwest of Mohawk Hill.
 * Collinsville – A hamlet in the northeastern part of the town, west of Lyons Falls village on NY-12D. The name is from Homer Collins, an early settler. Collinsville Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.
 * Constableville – The village of Constableville is on NY-26 near the southeast town line.
 * Fish Creek – A hamlet west of Mohawk Hill by the southwestern town line.
 * High Market – A location north of Byron Corners.
 * Lyons Falls – Part of the village of Lyons Falls is at the eastern town line and the Black River. The falls were formerly called the "High Falls".
 * Michigan Mills – A hamlet in the western part of the town.
 * Mohawk Hill – A hamlet in the southern part of the town on NY-26.
 * Page – A location in the northwestern part of the town.
 * Potters Corners – A location southwest of Collinsville at the junction of Routes NY-12D and NY-26.

title: West Turin, New York


text:
Conesus, New York

Conesus is a town in Livingston County, New York, United States. The population was 2,473 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from a native word meaning "berry place".

Conesus is on the county's east border, and is north of Dansville.

History
Settlement began circa 1795. In 1819, Conesus was formed from parts of the towns of Groveland and Livonia as the "Town of Freeport". The name was changed to "Browersville" in March 1825 and was changed to "Conesus" a month later.

Conesus is home to the former St. Michael's Mission, a school for Catholic priests that operated from the 1930s until the 1970s. The sprawling complex on Mission Road is now owned by an evangelical Christian church from Colorado Springs.

The Conesus Amusement Hall, Kellerman Log Cabin, Payne Cobblestone House, and Sliker Cobblestone House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 92.9 km2, of which 85.2 km2 are land and 7.7 km2, or 8.31%, are water.

Conesus Lake is on the west border of the town, and Hemlock Lake is on the east border of the town. Both lakes are considered minor Finger Lakes. The east town line is the border of Ontario County. Several communities, including Sunny Shores, Excelsior Springs, and Walkleys Landing, are located on the east shore of Conesus Lake in the town. There is no housing along the shore of Hemlock Lake, because it is owned by the city of Rochester for its water supply.

New York State Route 15 is an important north-south highway, which intersects the former New York State Route 255 at Conesus village.

Adjacent towns and areas
(Clockwise)
 * Livonia [[Image:North.svg]]
 * Canadice [[Image:East.svg]]
 * Springwater; Sparta [[Image:South.svg]]
 * Groveland; Geneseo [[Image:West.svg]]

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,353 people, 869 households, and 662 families residing in the town. The population density was 71.5 PD/sqmi. There were 983 housing units at an average density of 29.9 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 98.43% White, 0.17% African American, 0.34% Native American, 0.04% Asian, 0.13% from other races, and 0.89% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.21% of the population.

There were 869 households, out of which 38.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.6% were married couples living together, 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.8% were non-families. 18.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.69 and the average family size was 3.05.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 27.4% under the age of 18, 6.2% from 18 to 24, 31.0% from 25 to 44, 25.8% from 45 to 64, and 9.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.4 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $48,200, and the median income for a family was $53,125. Males had a median income of $40,313 versus $25,000 for females. The per capita income for the town was $22,773. About 3.9% of families and 5.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.0% of those under age 18 and 3.5% of those age 65 or over.

Notable People

 * Andrew Kuder, soldier who fought in the American Civil War.
 * Frederick D. Losey, Shakespearian scholar and elocutionist
 * Daniel Shays, leader of Shays' Rebellion

Communities and locations in Conesus

 * Conesus – The hamlet of Conesus on NY-15.
 * Conesus Inlet – A stream draining into the south part of Conesus Lake.
 * Conesus Inlet Fish and Wildlife Management Area – A conservation area at the south end of Conesus Lake.
 * Crocketts Corners – A location north of Conesus village on NY-15.
 * Excelsior Springs – A location on Conesus Lake, north of Walkleys Landing.
 * Foots Corner – A hamlet north of Conesus village on NY-15.
 * McMillan Creek – A stream flowing through Conesus village and terminating in Conesus Lake.
 * Sunny Shores – A location on the north town line by Conesus Lake.
 * Union Corners – A former community in the town.
 * Walkleys Landing – A hamlet at the south end of Conesus Lake.
 * Websters Crossing – A hamlet by the south town line on NY-15 and McMillan Creek.

All of the hamlets listed on the shore of Conesus Lake are part of the Conesus Lake census-designated place.

title: Conesus, New York


text:
Dansville, Livingston County, New York

Dansville is a village in the town of North Dansville, with a small northern part in the town of Sparta in Livingston County, in western New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the village population was 4,433. The village is named after Daniel Faulkner, an early European-American settler. Interstate 390 passes the west side of the village.

History
A spa was opened in 1854, eventually attracted many prominent people to Dansville for the water cure. After a quick series of unsuccessful owners, it was purchased in September 1858 by new owners who recruited James Caleb Jackson as the physician-in-charge. He was assisted by his wife, known as "Mother Jackson", and their adopted daughter, Dr. Harriet Newell Austin. A Jackson family operation for many years, the family referred to it as the Jackson Sanatorium by 1890.

Notable people

 * Harriet N. Austin, physician and dress reform advocate; grew up in Dansville
 * Clara Barton, resided in Dansville, where she established the first American Red Cross chapter in 1881.
 * Edward T. Fairchild, Wisconsin jurist; raised in Dansville
 * Millard Fillmore, 13th president of the United States; resided in the village for several months
 * Job E. Hedges, Republican nominee for governor of New York in 1912
 * Dennis Walter Hickey, Auxiliary Bishop of Rochester, New York
 * James Caleb Jackson, created Granula, the world's first breakfast cereal
 * Andrew J. Lorish, Union Army soldier and Medal of Honor recipient; born in Dansville in 1832
 * Nathaniel Rochester, founder of Rochester, New York.
 * Edwin F. Sweet, Assistant Secretary of Commerce
 * John Sullivan, Major League Baseball catcher and coach

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 6.8 km2, all land. The village sits in a glacially formed valley, common throughout western New York. Canaseraga Creek flows northward just west of the village limits; it is a tributary of the Genesee River.

Interstate 390, New York State Route 36, New York State Route 63, New York State Route 256, and New York State Route 436 pass through the village. It is bordered to the northwest by the unincorporated community of Cumminsville. Geneseo, the Livingston county seat, is 18 mi to the northwest, Hornell is 17 mi to the south, Corning is 51 mi to the southeast, and Rochester is 44 to 53 mi to the north, depending on which highway one takes. Stony Brook State Park, with waterfalls, hiking, and swimming, is 3 mi south of the village.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 4,832 people, 1,976 households, and 1,246 families residing in the village. The population density was 2,042.4 PD/sqmi. There were 2,090 housing units at an average density of 883.4 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the village was 95.78% White, 1.26% African American, 0.23% Native American, 0.66% Asian, 1.30% from other races, and 0.77% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.07% of the population.

There were 1,912 households, out of which 34.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.7% were married couples living together, 14.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.8% were non-families. 28.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.03.

In the village, the population was spread out, with 26.7% under the age of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 27.5% from 25 to 44, 21.3% from 45 to 64, and 15.7%

The median income for a household in the village was $32,903, and the median income for a family was $41,519. Males had a median income of $31,699 versus $25,256 for females. The per capita income for the village was $15,994. About 12.3% of families and 17.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.3% of those under age 18 and 11.7% of those age 65 or over.

Infrastructure
Dansville Municipal Airport (DSV) is a general aviation airport located north of the village. The airport was opened in 1927, primarily by the efforts of World War I aviator Lynn Pickard. The New York State Festival of Balloons is held at the airport in early September.

A branch of Genesee Community College is located in Dansville.

Nicholas H. Noyes Memorial Hospital, a 72-bed acute care hospital, is located on the southern edge of the village on Route 36 adjacent to Exit 4 on Interstate 390. It provides health services to residents of Livingston, Allegany, Steuben and surrounding counties.

Culture
Castle on the Hill is a former water cure facility that resembles a castle overlooking Dansville from the hillside. Founded in 1858 by Dr. James Caleb Jackson as the "Our Home on the Hillside", the original building burned in 1882. The present building opened in 1883. It has changed hands several times, becoming a physical fitness hotel (the Physical Culture Hotel) where the rich and famous came from New York City and other areas to "get away from it all". The building now stands vacant.

A grant from New York State for $2.5 million was approved in January 2008 to renovate the former "Jackson Health Resort".

title: Dansville, Livingston County, New York


text:
Groveland, New York

Groveland is a town in Livingston County, New York, United States. The population was 3,249 at the 2010 census. The town is centrally located in the county, south of Geneseo.

History
The Sullivan Expedition (1779) reached its farthest extent here. Groveland was the site of the Boyd and Parker ambush.

In 1792, the first planned European American settlement in Livingston County was located in Groveland and was called "Willamsburgh" after Sir William Pulteney, a land speculator. The town was formed in 1789 as part of Ontario County, later becoming part of Livingston County when it was formed in 1821. Part of Groveland was used to form part of the town of Conesus (1819).

The Groveland Shaker Village settlement was established in 1836 on a 1700 acre farm at the hamlet of Sonyea. Their peak in population was 148 members that year, when they moved from their former location at Sodus. The Shakers sold the Sonyea property in 1892 due to declining membership, and moved to Watervliet. Their former buildings and land became the Craig Colony for Epileptics in 1896 and are now part of the Groveland Correctional Facility.

The Claud No. 1 Archeological Site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The Boyd & Parker Park and Groveland Ambuscade were also listed on the National Register in 2009.

Notable people

 * Josiah Begole (1815–1896), former governor of Michigan; born in Groveland
 * Charles H. Carroll (1794–1865), Whig congressman for New York, 1843–47
 * John Vance Cheney (1848–1922), poet, essayist and librarian; born in Groveland
 * Charles A. Goheen (1843–1899), Medal of Honor recipient in the American Civil War
 * Daniel Kelly (1841–1912), Medal of Honor recipient in the American Civil War
 * James Rosebrugh Leaming (1820–1892), noted physician specializing in heart and lung diseases, author, and teacher
 * Walter W. Magee (1861–1927), Republican congressman for New York, 1915–27
 * Elizabeth Smith Miller (1822–1911), dress reformer and women's rights activist; native of Groveland

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 103.2 km2, of which 101.4 km2 are land and 1.9 km2, or 1.82%, are water. Conesus Lake, one of the Finger Lakes, forms part of the eastern boundary. Canaseraga Creek, a north-flowing tributary of the Genesee River, crosses the southwest part of the town through a broad valley.

Interstate 390 passes north-to-south through the town. New York State Route 36, New York State Route 63, and New York State Route 256 are north-south highways through the town. New York State Route 408 is a highway terminating in the western part of the town at NY-63.

Groveland is on the Rochester-to-Dansville line of the Rochester & Southern Railroad. From 1882–1963, Groveland was on the Main Line of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W) and successor Erie Lackawanna Railroad. In 1963, the Main Line over Dansville Hill from Groveland to Wayland was abandoned by order of the Interstate Commerce Commission upon application by the Erie Lackawanna Railroad, which had secured much lesser grades on the former Erie Railroad via Hornell. The portion of today's R&S line west and north of Groveland was originally part of the DL&W, while the portion between Groveland and Dansville was part of the Dansville and Mount Morris Railroad and predecessors.

Adjacent towns and areas
(Clockwise)
 * Geneseo [[Image:North.svg]]
 * Conesus [[Image:East.svg]]
 * Sparta; West Sparta [[Image:South.svg]]
 * Mount Morris [[Image:West.svg]]

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 3,853 people, 555 households, and 396 families residing in the town. The population density was 98.4 PD/sqmi. There were 649 housing units at an average density of 16.6 per square mile (6.4/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 60.06% White, 32.44% African American, 0.26% Native American, 0.18% Asian, 6.46% from other races, and 0.60% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 15.23% of the population.

There were 555 households, out of which 33.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.8% were married couples living together, 6.7% had a female householder, and 28.6% were non-families. 20.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.63 and the average family size was 3.04.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 9.9% under the age of 18, 10.4% from 18 to 24, 54.2% from 25 to 44, 20.4% from 45 to 64, and 5.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 411.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 529.9 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $46,797, and the median income for a family was $48,828. Males had a median income of $24,353 versus $26,477 for females. The per capita income for the town was $13,433. About 7.7% of families and 8.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.8% of those under age 18 and 1.2% of those age 65 or over.

Communities and locations in the Town of Groveland

 * Cottonwood Point – A hamlet on the shore of Conesus Lake and on NY-256.
 * East Groveland – A hamlet in the northeast part of the town.
 * Gray Corners – A location south of Maple Beach.
 * Groveland – The hamlet of Groveland is by the south town line on NY-63 and is part of the "Groveland Station" census-designated place. The Sparta First Presbyterian Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
 * Groveland Corners – A hamlet in the central part of the town, north of Groveland village.
 * Groveland Correctional Facility – A state prison by the west town line, near Sonyea.
 * Hampton Corners – A location in the northwest part of the town on NY-63. The Black and White Farm Barn was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
 * Hunts Corners – A former community in the northeast part of the town.
 * Maple Beach – A location on Conesus Lake, south of Cottonwood Point on NY-256.
 * Ross Corners – A location by the south town line.
 * Sonyea – A hamlet in the southwest part of the town on NY-36. The name could translate to “burning sun” or “hot valley," or comes from “Son-He," a Seneca name meaning Thou Art Living There) or from Seneca Captain Snow (Soyeawa). A persistent rumor began that the name was an acronym for the State Of New York Epileptic Asylum, but the name Sonyea was used in the early 1800s, long before Craig Colony for Epileptics opened in 1896.
 * Tuscarora – The First Presbyterian Church of Tuscarora was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
 * Williamsburgh – A former community in the town that was the site of the first planned European American settlement, although it was soon abandoned.

All of the hamlets listed on the shore of Conesus Lake are part of the Conesus Lake census-designated place.

title: Groveland, New York


text:
North Dansville, New York

North Dansville is a town in Livingston County, New York, United States. The population was 5,538 at the 2010 census. The town is in the southeast part of the county. The village of Dansville occupies the center of the town.

History
The first settlers arrived circa 1795. The town was organized from the town of Sparta in 1846, and in 1849 North Dansville was increased by more territory from Sparta. The town was at one time on a branch of the Genesee Valley Canal.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 25.5 km2, all land.

The eastern and southern town lines are the border of Steuben County. The town of Dansville is in Steuben County, directly south of the town of North Dansville. Interstate 390 passes through the town. New York State Route 36, New York State Route 63, and New York State Route 256 pass through the town. Canaseraga Creek flows northward within the town toward the Genesee River.

Adjacent towns and areas
(Clockwise)
 * Sparta [[Image:North.svg]]
 * Wayland [[Image:East.svg]]
 * Dansville [[Image:South.svg]]
 * Ossian; West Sparta [[Image:West.svg]]

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 5,738 people, 2,318 households, and 1,513 families residing in the town. The population density was 583.9 PD/sqmi. There were 2,534 housing units at an average density of 257.9 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 96.15% White, 1.06% African American, 0.26% Native American, 0.58% Asian, 1.10% from other races, and 0.85% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.78% of the population.

There were 2,318 households, out of which 32.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.1% were married couples living together, 13.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.7% were non-families. 28.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 2.98.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 25.8% under the age of 18, 8.0% from 18 to 24, 27.0% from 25 to 44, 22.3% from 45 to 64, and 16.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.8 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $32,519, and the median income for a family was $41,519. Males had a median income of $31,503 versus $25,500 for females. The per capita income for the town was $16,540. About 10.7% of families and 15.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.6% of those under age 18 and 12.5% of those age 65 or over.

Communities and locations in the Town of North Dansville

 * Cumminsville – A hamlet and census-designated place on the west town line between Dansville airport and the Interstate.
 * Dansville – The village of Dansville occupies the center of the town and is adjacent to Interstate 390.
 * Dansville Municipal Airport (DSV) – A general aviation airport north of Dansville village, lying between NY-36 and NY-63.
 * Dansville Station – A location northeast of Dansville village.

title: North Dansville, New York


text:
Ossian, New York

Ossian is a town in Livingston County, New York, United States. The population was 789 at the 2010 census. The town was named after Ossian, the blind narrator and purported 3rd Century author of a cycle of extremely popular epic poems published by the Scottish poet James Macpherson in 1761.

Ossian is the southernmost town in Livingston County.

History
The area was first settled circa 1804 near Ossian Center. The town of Ossian was formed in 1808 from the town of Angelica, while it was part of Allegany County. Ossian became part of Livingston County in 1856.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 102.7 sqkm, of which 0.07 km2, or 0.07%, are water.

Part of the western town line and the southern town line are the border of Allegany County. Part of the east town line is the border of Steuben County.

New York State Route 436 is a highway across the northern part of the town.

Adjacent towns and areas
(Clockwise)
 * West Sparta [[Image:North.svg]]
 * North Dansville; Dansville [[Image:East.svg]]
 * Burns [[Image:South.svg]]
 * Grove; Nunda [[Image:West.svg]]

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 751 people, 272 households, and 212 families residing in the town. The population density was 18.9 people per square mile (7.3/km2). There were 310 housing units at an average density of 7.8 per square mile (3.0/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 98.93% White, 0.13% African American, 0.13% Native American, and 0.80% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.13% of the population.

There were 272 households, out of which 36.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 70.2% were married couples living together, 4.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.7% were non-families. 18.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.75 and the average family size was 3.09.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 26.2% under the age of 18, 6.8% from 18 to 24, 30.0% from 25 to 44, 26.1% from 45 to 64, and 10.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 114.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.9 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $46,563, and the median income for a family was $50,938. Males had a median income of $32,313 versus $23,977 for females. The per capita income for the town was $20,252. About 3.2% of families and 6.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.7% of those under age 18 and 9.4% of those age 65 or over.

Communities and locations in Ossian

 * Ossian Center – A hamlet near the town center.
 * Rattlesnake Hill Wildlife Management Area – A state conservation area in the western part of the town.
 * Westview – A hamlet in the northwest corner of the town on Route 436.

Notable person

 * Jasper Bisbee (1843-1935), one of the first rural musicians to produce a record, was born in and lived in Ossian until 1858.

title: Ossian, New York


text:
Portageville, New York

Portageville is a hamlet located in the town of Genesee Falls in Wyoming County, New York, United States. Its name derives from the Native American canoeists who would withdraw their craft from the river to avoid going over three waterfalls in the Genesee River gorge now known as Portage Falls. They had to portage several miles to the site of present-day Mount Morris, where they could embark for the rest of the journey downriver.

Portageville is the only named community in the town of Genesee Falls.

The Genesee River Gorge with its scenic waterfalls was formed after the original valley was buried in glacial debris from the last ice age and the river had to cut a new valley though the Devonian sedimentary rock of the area. It has also been called The Grand Canyon of the East. The site has now been designated Letchworth State Park and is a major tourist attraction, with the lower entrance at Portage.

The First Universalist Church of Portageville was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

title: Portageville, New York


text:
Sparta, New York

Sparta is a town in Livingston County, New York, United States. The population was 1,624 at the 2010 census. Sparta is in the southeast part of the county and is north of Dansville.

History
The area was first settled circa 1794. Sparta was established in 1789 before the establishment of Livingston County. Eventually, Sparta was diminished by the removal of land for other towns, including Springwater (1816), West Sparta (1846), and Groveland (1856). Sparta also received territory from other towns: Dansville (in Steuben County) (1822) and Groveland (1856).

Notable people

 * Daniel Shays, leader of Shays' Rebellion, lived his later life here

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total of 27.7 sqmi, all land.

A small part of the south town line is the border of Steuben County.

New York State Route 255 (now decommissioned) joined New York State Route 256 in Sparta. New York State Route 63 is a north-south highway in the western part of the town.

Conesus Inlet, flowing toward Conesus Lake, is in the northwest part of the town.

Adjacent towns and areas
(Clockwise)
 * Groveland; Conesus [[Image:North.svg]]
 * Springwater [[Image:East.svg]]
 * Wayland; North Dansville [[Image:South.svg]]
 * West Sparta [[Image:West.svg]]

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,627 people, 595 households, and 462 families residing in the town. The population density was 58.6 PD/sqmi. There were 627 housing units at an average density of 22.6 per square mile (8.7/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 96.62% White, 0.68% African American, 0.43% Native American, 0.86% Asian, 0.25% from other races, and 1.17% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.43% of the population.

There were 595 households, out of which 30.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.7% were married couples living together, 6.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.2% were non-families. 15.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.73 and the average family size was 3.03.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 25.1% under the age of 18, 5.0% from 18 to 24, 29.2% from 25 to 44, 28.1% from 45 to 64, and 12.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 107.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.7 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $43,155, and the median income for a family was $48,333. Males had a median income of $35,938 versus $23,693 for females. The per capita income for the town was $17,947. About 8.0% of families and 10.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.5% of those under age 18 and 3.6% of those age 65 or over.

Communities and locations in the Town of Sparta

 * Groveland Station – A hamlet and census-designated place partially located in the northwest corner of the town.
 * Reed Corners – A hamlet in the south part of the town.
 * Scottsburg – A hamlet and census-designated place in the northwest part of the town on NY-256. It was formerly named "Scottsburgh" after a family of early settlers, Matthew and William Scott. This community is near the first settlement in the town.
 * Sparta Center – A location in the center of the town.
 * White Bridge – A location in the southwest part of the town on NY-63, near Dansville.

title: Sparta, New York


text:
Springwater, New York

Springwater is a town in Livingston County, New York, United States. The population was 2,439 at the 2010 census. Springwater is in the southeast part of the county.

History
The first settlers arrived around 1807. The town was established in 1816 from the towns of Sparta and Naples. (Naples is a town in Ontario County.)

In 1866, a serious conflict between landowners and squatters resulted in the wholesale eviction of many people who were not living on their own land.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 137.6 km2, of which 0.03 km2, or 0.03%, are water.

The south town line is the border of Steuben County, and the east town line and part of the north town line is the border of Ontario County.

The southernmost part of Hemlock Lake, one of the smaller Finger Lakes, is in the north part of the town. The Springwater Valley through the center of the town terminates at the lake, and includes many streams that feed into Hemlock Lake, including Springwater Creek and Lime Kiln Creek. Hemlock Lake is part of the Genesee River watershed.

New York State Route 15 and New York State Route 15A join at Springwater village.

From 1854 to 1956 Springwater was served by the New York (Jersey City) to Rochester Main Line of the Erie Railroad. The portion through Springwater was removed in 1956 by order of the Interstate Commerce Commission in order to promote highway transportation.

The headwaters of the Cohocton River, which flows southward from the town and is part of the Susquehanna River watershed, are located in the eastern side of the town.

Adjacent towns and areas
(Clockwise)
 * Conesus; Canadice; Richmond [[Image:North.svg]]
 * Naples [[Image:East.svg]]
 * Cohocton; Wayland [[Image:South.svg]]
 * Sparta [[Image:West.svg]]

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,322 people, 873 households, and 636 families residing in the town. The population density was 43.6 PD/sqmi. There were 1,001 housing units at an average density of 18.8 per square mile (7.3/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 96.60% White, 0.43% African American, 0.60% Native American, 0.47% Asian, 0.30% Pacific Islander, 0.22% from other races, and 1.38% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.47% of the population.

There were 873 households, out of which 34.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.1% were married couples living together, 9.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.1% were non-families. 19.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.63 and the average family size was 2.98.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 26.0% under the age of 18, 5.9% from 18 to 24, 30.4% from 25 to 44, 26.7% from 45 to 64, and 11.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 107.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 111.4 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $43,059, and the median income for a family was $49,716. Males had a median income of $36,633 versus $22,472 for females. The per capita income for the town was $17,783. About 5.2% of families and 9.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.7% of those under age 18 and 12.8% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people

 * John Samuel Rowell (1825–1907), agricultural inventor and manufacturing industrialist
 * Emily Maria Scott (1832–1915), artist

Communities and locations in the Town of Springwater

 * East Springwater – A former community in the northeast part of the town.
 * Liberty Pole – A hamlet northwest of Springwater village and south of Websters Crossing.
 * Springwater Hamlet – The hamlet and census-designated place of Springwater is at the junction of NY-15 and NY-15A.
 * Tabors Corners – A location in the northeast part of the town.
 * Websters Crossing – A hamlet and census-designated place in the northwest corner of the north town on NY-15.

title: Springwater, New York


text:
Talk:Incidence

I can't get the first lines of the last two paragraphs to indent. If someone fixes it, could they tell me how? Chris Said

Thanks, Someone Else!

Can the note about moving the Incidence algebra page be removed now due to the rewording? Dysprosia 11:26, 6 Dec 2003 (UTC)

title: Talk:Incidence


text:
West Sparta, New York

West Sparta is a town in Livingston County, New York, United States. The population was 1,255 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from the neighboring town of Sparta.

West Sparta is in the south-central part of the county and is northwest of Dansville.

History
The area was first settled around 1795. The town was formed from the town of Sparta in 1846.

The R. P. Kemp No. 1 Site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 86.6 km2, all land.

Canaseraga Creek, a tributary of the Genesee River, and Interstate 390 pass through the town. New York State Route 36 parallels the Interstate. The former Genesee Valley Canal passed through the town.

Adjacent towns and areas
(Clockwise)
 * Groveland [[Image:North.svg]]
 * Sparta; North Dansville [[Image:East.svg]]
 * Ossian [[Image:South.svg]]
 * Nunda; Mount Morris [[Image:West.svg]]

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,244 people, 451 households, and 332 families residing in the town. The population density was 37.2 PD/sqmi. There were 480 housing units at an average density of 14.4 per square mile (5.5/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 98.47% White, 0.16% African American, 0.16% Native American, 0.32% Asian, and 0.88% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.24% of the population.

There were 451 households, out of which 36.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.6% were married couples living together, 9.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.2% were non-families. 19.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.74 and the average family size was 3.10.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 25.9% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 30.6% from 25 to 44, 24.7% from 45 to 64, and 11.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 103.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 104.9 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $40,789, and the median income for a family was $44,583. Males had a median income of $31,781 versus $25,982 for females. The per capita income for the town was $16,304. About 6.6% of families and 8.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.6% of those under age 18 and 4.9% of those age 65 or over.

Communities and locations in the Town of West Sparta

 * Byersville – A hamlet and census-designated place in the southern part of the town.
 * Kysorville – A hamlet and census-designated place in the northern part of the town on NY-36.
 * Union Corners – A hamlet by the west town line. It was also called "Brushville".
 * West Sparta – The hamlet of West Sparta, located on NY-36 in the eastern part of the town, east of Interstate 390.
 * West Sparta Station – A location east of West Sparta.
 * Woodsville – A hamlet and census-designated place in the southeast corner of the town on NY-36 and next to Interstate 390.

title: West Sparta, New York