In the spring of 1788, Paul Davison and his brother-in-law, Jonathan Gould, returned to Genesee Country. Veterans of the Sullivan Campaign, they remembered this area's rich soil and rolling hills. The men cleared the land, planted a crop and built a cabin near Poplar Hill and Cleary Roads. Following the harvest, they went home for their families to return the next year and form the nucleus of our town. It was a journey of hardship since Geneva was the last white outpost. The roads were narrow paths carved by Seneca braves and crowded with beech, oak, and ash. The sound of axes rang through the day and campfires lit the night to ward off the bear and panther that prowled the countryside. Lima's name was originally Charleston but was renamed in 1808 after Old Lyme, Connecticut, home to many early settlers because there was another Charleston in the state. The first town meeting was held in 1797. Solomon Hovey was elected supervisor, a school tax of $60.40 was levied and laws were enacted such as: "hogs could run at large without yoke or ring."

By 1830, inns, mills, blacksmiths, stores and the post office dotted State Road. The Repulse Fire Company, the first in Livingston County, was organized and the Genesee Wesleyan Conference selected Lima from four other communities, as the site for its Genesee Weslyan Seminary. Lima residents promised a subscription of $10,800 and Augustus Bennett donated 10 acres of land on College Street. Bennett was a well known attorney who practiced law in Lima and Rochester. He was the first lawyer to argue against capital punishment while defending a Rochesterian. Bennett was also the centerpiece of a mystery that has never been solved. In 1839, the attorney disappeared while on a business trip to Dansville. He was never seen nor heard from again. Since his horse was found tied to a tree, his family believed that the thieves had bush-wacked him. His wife always thought her husband would return home so the lawyer was not declared dead until after her death.

The Seminary was one of the first co-educational schools in the country. Its academic excellence attracted students from beyond New York State. During the Civil War, its students comprised about one third of the 27th Volunteers of Company G. The Seminary also acted as a "newsroom" during the war. Residents learned the results of the battlefield by a flag flying from a staff on College Hill; if the flag flew at full mast, the Union had scored a VICTORY;half mast-DEFEAT!!