The Admiral Franklin Hanford
Collection in
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Ptbltrattnu Patrmtii
of
MR. GUILFORD R. ADAMS
IGO Seneca Parkway, Rochester, N. Y.
HON. GEORGE W. ALDRIDGE
(Dece.'ised)
96 Plymouth Ave S.. Rochester, N. Y.
MR. J. YIXCEXT ALEXANDER
466 Harvard St.. Rochester. N. Y.
MR. JOHN G. ALLEN
l.'SSO Atlantic Ave., Rochester. N. Y.
MRS. CHARLES E. ANGLE
295 Ijake Ave.. Rochester, N. Y.
MR. LOUIS M. ANTISDALE
180 Dartmouth St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. OSCAR M. ARNOLD
14 Favor St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. RAYMOND H. ARNOT
7 Audubon St., Rochester, <X. Y.
MRS. ELIZABETH E. ASHLEY
2 4 Hawthorn St., Rochester, N Y.
IMR. A. EMERSON BABCOCK
Clover Road, Brighton, N. Y.
MI5S ELLA JANE BARNARD
102 Rutgers St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. HENRY BARNARD
102 Rutg-ers St., Roche3ter, N. Y.
MR. EDWARD BAUSCH
(>C,?. East Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. WILLIAM BAUSCH
1063 St. Paul St.. Rochester. N. Y.
MR. FREDERICK G. BEACH
140 Nunda Blvd., Rochester, N. Y.
Note: Names of Publication Patrons received when thi.s book was
in press appear in Supplemental Roll.
Publication Patrons of The Rochester Historical Society
MR. BURTON G. BENNETT
195 Dorchester Rd., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. QUENTIN W. BOOTH
105 Lake Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. and MRS. WILLIAM B. BOOTHBY
Culver Rd., Irondequoit, Rochester, N. Y.
MR. E. FRANKLIN BREWSTER
2080 East Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MISS JANE E. BREWSTER
Avon, N. Y.
MR. KENT BROMLEY
27 West 44th St., New York, N. Y.
HON. SELDEN S. BROWN
Scottsville, N. Y.
MR. CHARLES P. BUELTe'
130 Dorchester Rd., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. DANIEL N. CALKINS
3 Highland Heights, Rochester, N. Y.
MR. CHARLES H. CARSON
473 Park Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. EDWARD DWIGHT CHAPIN
90 Troup St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. GEORGE HALFORD CLARK
151 Plymouth Ave., Rochester. N. Y.
DR. WILLIAM B. COCHRANE
1665 East Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. EUGENE C. COLBY
150 E. 47th St., New York, N. Y.
MISS LILLIAN B. COLEMAN
27 Madison St., Rochester, N. Y.
REV. THOMAS F. CONNORS
540 Oxford St., Rochester, N. Y.
MISS ANNA CORNING
150 E. 47th St., New York. X. Y.
Publication Patrons of The Rochester Historical Society
MRS. J. HICKS CRIPPEN
185 West Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. PRANK P. CROUCH
81 S. Pitzhug-h St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. CHARLES VriLLIAM CURTIS
17 Melrose St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. and MRS. R.A.YMOND G. DANN
57 Calumet St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. ALVIN H. DEWEY
50 Harper St.. Rochester, N. Y.
DR. CHARLES A. DEWEY
78 Plymouth Ave. S., Rochester, N. Y.
REV. JAMES TAYLOR DICKINSON
G2 Berkeley St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. JOHN FRANKLIN DINKEY
14 Vick Park B., Rochester, N. Y.
DR. and MRS. FRANK P. DOW
429 Park Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. C. PORTER DOWNS
1859 East Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. MICHAEL DOYLE
285 Oxford St., Rochester,^. Y.
MR. HERBERT STONE DRAPER
225 Meigs St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. WILLIAM A. E. DRESCHER
Efist Ave. at Brighton, Rochester, N. Y.
MR. JAMES P. B. DUFFY
Hotel Rochester, Rochester, N. Y.
MRS. KATHERIXE MORAN DUNN
34 S. Goodman St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. JOHN E. DURAND
42 Westminster Road, Rochester, N. Y.
MR. GEORGE EASTMAN
900 East Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. ALBERT BIGELOW EASTWOOD
262 Culver Road, Rochester, N. Y.
Publication Patrons of The Rochester Historical Society
HON. HIRAM H. EDGERTON
(Deceased)
30 S. Goodman St., Rochester, N. Y.
MRS. HENRY M. ELLSWORTH
16 Vick Pk. A., Rochester, N. Y.
DR. WILLIAM VAUX EWERS
44 N. Goodman St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. JOSEPH FARLEY
287 Lake Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. HAROLD L. FIELD
123 Plymouth Ave., Rochester. N. Y.
MR. and MRS. EDWARD R. FOREMAN
1740 Highland Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MRS. ROBERT T. FRENCH
10 Hawthorne St., Rochester, N. Y,
LOUISA E. GIEBARD
383 West Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. .TOHN H. GREGORY
Pen field Road. Brighton, N. Y.
MR. WILLIAM .1. GUCKER
S.'S'IO Lake Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. CHARLES T. HAGGERTY
22 Beverly St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. WILLIAM B. HALE
19 Prince St., Rochester, N. Y.
MISS SALLIE M. HALL
130 Spring- St., Rochester, N. Y.
In Memory of
WILLIAM BURKE
WILLIAM BARDWELL BURKE
LOUIS.A SME.\D BURKE
REAR ADMIRAL FRANKLIN S. HANFORD
"The Farm," Scottsville, N. Y.
ilR. CHARLES B. HAWKINS
Hotel Richford, Rochester N. Y.
Publication Patrons of The /Rochester Historical Society
MR. WILLIAM W. HIBBARD
34 College Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. HENRY R. HOWARD
266 Oxford St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. GEORGE P. HUMPHREY
Barnard, N. Y.
MR. ARTHUR H. INGLE
2200 East Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MRS. THORNTON JEPPRESS
C Prince St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. J.\MES .JOHNSTON
1080 Lake Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MRS. LAURA M. KIMBALL
145 Troup St., Rochester, N. Y.
MRS. MARTHA W. KIMBALL
I'J East Blvd., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. MOSES B. KING
22 Ardmore St., Rochester, N. Y.
MRS. EMIL KUICHLING
East Ave., Brighton, N. Y.
INIR. DAVID F. I.AWIiESS
9 East Blvd., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. EDWARD B. LEARY
1G7 Birr St., Rochester, N. Y.
MRS. LOUIS S. LEVI
19 Argyle St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. BERNARD LIESCHING
692 Mt. Hope Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MRS. ALEXANDER M. LINDSAY
973 East Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. ADOLPH LOMB
289 Westminister Road, Rochester, N.
MR. CARL F. LOMB
597 East Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
Y.
Publication Patrons of The Rochester Historical Society
MR. WILLIAM F. LOVE
4 North Goodman St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. FRANK W^. LOVEJOY
200 Seneca Parkway, Rochester, N. Y.
HON. JOHN D. LYNN
14 Lamberton Park, Rochester, N. Y.
MR. WILLIAM F. LYNN
42 Trafalgar St., Rochester, N. Y
MRS. EDMUND LYON
1441 East Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. WILLIAM G. MARKHAM
(Deceased)
Elm Place, Avon, N. Y.
MR. IRVING E. MATTHEWS
C8 Avondale Park, Rochester, N. Y.
MRS. ROBERT MATTHEWS
135 Spring St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. WILLIAM MacF.\RL.ANE
1600 Highland Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
DR. NATHAN D. McDOWELL
Brighton, N. Y.
MR. EDWARD G. MINER
2 Argyle St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. and MRS. GEORGE DAYTON MORGAN
1210 East Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MISS MAUDE MOTLEY
57 Ambrose St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. THOMAS G. MOULSON
76 Dartmouth St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. SAMUEL P. MOULTHROP
40 Phelps Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MISS ANNETTE GARDNER MUNRO
19 Prince St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. JOHN C. NUGENT
10C8 Monroe Ave., Rochester, N. Y".
Publication Patrons of The Rochester Historical Society
MRS. MARY S. O'HARE
S Strathallan Park, Rochester, N. Y.
MRS. LOUIS B. OTIS
990 Lyell Ave., Rocheste--, N. Y.
MR. SAMUEL C. PIERCE
49 Greig St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. EDWARD F. PILLOW
151 Gorsline St., Rochester, N. Y.
MISS MARIE B. POND
384 East Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MRS. NATHAN P. POND
21 Arnold Park, Rochester, N. Y.
DR. MARION CRAIG POTTER
1487 South Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
HON. HARVEY POOTE REMINGTON
27 Reservoir Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. .JOHN A. ROBERTSON
867 Main St. E., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. PAUL A. ROCHESTER
142 E. 40th St., New York, N. Y.
MRS. LOUISE C. RODENBECK
310 Maplewood Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. THOMAS B. RYDER
1399 East Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MRS. EUGENE SATTERLEE
Main St., Pittsford, N. Y.
MP^S. JACOB D. SCOTT
1990 East Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. EDWARD J. SEEBER
84 Dartmouth St., Rochester, N. Y,
MR. AZARIAH B. SIAS
334 West Ave., Rochester, N. Y,
Publication Patrons of The Rochester Historical Society
MR. HIRAM W. SIBLEY
384 East Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. WILLIAM E. SLOAN
1250 East Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. CARL D. SMITH
Victor, N. Y.
MR. EDWIN C. SMITH
10"J Winton Rd. S., Rochester, N. X.
MR. and MRS. WILLIAM H. STEARNS
n Granger Place, Rochester, N. Y.
MR. ARTHUR L. STERN
1130 East Ave.. Rochester. N. Y.
MR. HENRY M. STERN
1501 East Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
JIRS. NETTIIj: .1. STII.LMAN
ms Glenwood Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MRS. LAURISTON L. STONE
6 North Goodman St., Rochester, N. Y.
MRS. AUGUSTUS H. STRONG
17 Sibley Place, Rochester, N. Y.
I\IR. FRANK SCRANTOM THOM.\S
24 Wellington Ave., Rochester, N. Y'.
MRS. LOUISE C. THOMPSON
317 Barring-ton St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. R. DeLUE VAN DE CARR
586 Averill Ave., Rochester, N. Y,
MAYOR CLARENCE D. VAN ZANDT
Hotel Rochester, Rochester, N. Y.
MR. EDMUND VENOR
45 Roxborough Road, Rochester, N. Y.
MISS MYRA E. WALLEN
693 East Ave., Rochester, N. X.
Publication Patrons of The Rochestey Histoncal Society
MR. LANSIXr, a. WRTMORE
Clover Road. P.rig-hton, N. Y.
MRS. H. V.A.N VVYC'K W1CKE«
GO Forest .Ave., Rye, N. Y.
MR. CH.ARLRS H.ASTIXGS Wll/rSIlO
123 Plymouth .Ave.. Rociiesrer, .V. Y.
DR. and MRS. CH.ARLES R. WITHERSPOO.V
2(1 Dartmouth St., Rochester, .\. Y.
MRS. J.AMBS E. WOLCOTT
250 Culver Road, Rochester, .\ Y.
MRS. C. C. WOODWORTH
593 Park Ave.. Rochester, N. Y.
MR. .rOHX SEARS WRIGFPr
and
MISS MARIOX WRIGHT
Stone Road, Barnard, X. Y.
MR. FREDERICK \V. Y.VTES
1040 East .Ave.. Rochester, X. Y.
MRS. FREDERICK W. Y.ATES
1040 East Ave., Rochester. N. Y.
of
Publtratinn JPatrnnii
nf
Note: The following' Patrons joined when this book was in
press, necessitating a Supplemental Roll:
MR. ELMER ADLER
103 East 36th St., Xow York, X. Y.
REV. CHARLES CARROLL ALBERTSON, D. D.
180 Washington Park, Brooklyn. N. Y.
MR. FREEMAN CLARKE ALLEN
40 Hawthorn St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. WILLEY H. ALMY
The Osburn House, Rochester, N. Y.
MRS. KATE R. ANDREWS
19 Prince St., Rochester, N^ Y.
DR. HAROLD H. BAKfaR
301 Lake Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. JOHN .1. BAUSCH
1075 St. Paul St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. PLORUS R. BAXTER
.596 Genesee St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. WILLIAM HENRY BEMISH
, Irondequoit, N. Y.
MR. WALTER W. BICKPORD
4 Brighton St., Rochester, N. Y.
MRS. ISABELLE HART BONBRIGHT
950 East Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. .TAMES H. BOUCHER
24 Harvard St., Rochester, N. Y.
Publication Patrons ot The Rochester Historical Society
MRS. NELLE VAN HORN BRADSTREET
80 East Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. CHARLES ALBERT BR.A.DY
178 Culver Road, Rochester, N. T.
MRS. KATHERINE CURTIS BREWSTER
593 Park Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. MARSENUS H. BRIGGS
342 Madison Ave., New York, N. Y.
MISS BLANCHE B. BROWN
739 Powers Bldg-., Roche.ster, N. Y.
MR. ROBERT W. BURNETT
22 Rundel Park, Rochester, N. Y.
MR. WILLIAM MILL BUTLER
Beachwood, N. J.
MR. WILLIAM HAROLD CADMUS
213 Prank St., Rochester, N. Y.
MRS. AUGUSTA WAGONER CASTLEMAN
455 Mt. Vernon Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. WILLIAM W. CHAPIN
110 South Pitzhugh St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. EDWARD LOUIS CLEARY
228 Albemarle St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. MORTIMER ARTHUR COLE
75 Culver Road, Rochester, N. Y.
MR. ADELBERT CRONISE
27 South Goodman St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. J. WARREN CUTLER
94 Merriman St., Rochester, N. Y.
DR. WILLIAM EMBURY DAKE
444 Wlnton Road North, Rochester, N. Y.
MR. and MRS. WILLIAM WARD DAKE
Snug Hollow, Brighton, N. Y.
Publication Patrons of The Rochester Historical Society
MR. AVERY B. DAVIS
13 Pairview Heights, Rochester, N. Y.
DR. JACOB B. DEUEL
127 Rockingham St., Rochester, N. y.
HON. LOCKWOOD R. DOTY
Geneseo, N. Y.
MRS. ISABELLA MARKHAM DUNSFORD
Elm Place, Avon. N. Y.
MR. JAMES McCURDY EDWARDS
Dansville. N. Y'.
MR. FRANK M. ELLERY
83 Rutgers St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. FRANK T. ELLISON
Brighton, N. Y.
MRS. PORTER FARLEY
16 Carthage Road, Rochester, N. Y.
DR. JOHN F. FORBES
375 Westminster Road, Rochester, N. Y.
MR. WILLIAM PRIER FOSTER
155 South Goodman St., Rochestrer, N. Y.
MR. GEORGE R. FULLER
253 Alexander St., Rochester, N. Y.
MISS LILLAH C. GAFFNEY
94 Westminster Road, Rochester, N. Y.
MR. ALBERT H. HARRIS
jrrand Central Terminal, New York, N. Y.
MR. GEORGE H. HARRIS
.'',15 Culver Road. Rochester, N. Y.
MR. GRANGER A. HOLLLISTER
i)87 East Avenue, Rochester, N. Y.
HON. JAMES L. HOTCHKISS
750 East Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MRS. LEMUEL A. JEFFREYS
.T2 Chestnut St., Rochester, N. Y
Publication Patrons of The Rochester Historical Society
MR. A. HOWARD JOHNSON
274 Brunswick St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. JOHN WHITE JOHNSTON
8 Arnold Park, Rochester, N. Y.
MR. JUNIUS R. JUDSON
5 Highland Heights, Rochester, N. Y.
MR. FRANK CHARLES KRAMER
515 Lexington Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. HENRY L.A,MPERT
SO South Goodman St., Rochester, N. Y.
MRS. FRANCIS HILL LATIMORE
Knollcrest, Penfield, N. Y.
MR. JAMES G. LENNOX
1333 Lake Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. ALEXANDER M. LINDSAY, JR.
600 Park Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. ALBERT E. LOIZEAU
fiO Plymouth Ave., Rocliester, N. Y.
MR. IRVING LOVERIDGE
247 Oxford St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. MICHAEL J. MAHER
18 Emerson St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. HENRY F. MARKS
46 Gorsline St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. HOWARD MIDDLETON
122 Rosedale St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. ARDEAN RANSOM MILLER. JR.
576 Beach Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MRS. CARRIE E. MILLER
325 Oxford St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. HENRY WARD MORGAN
East Ave., Brighton Sta., Rochester, N. Y.
Publication Patrons of The Rochester Historical Society
DR. WILLIAM CAREY MOREY
94 Oxford St.. Rochester, N. Y.
MR. CHARLES H. MORSE
25 Aug-u.stiiie St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. C. H. OCUMPAUGH
1330 East Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. EMORY \V. OSBURN
East Lake Road. Cauandaigua, N. Y.
MR. WILLIAM MARSHFIELD PARSONS
Brighton Station. Rochester, N. Y.
MR. OILMAN N. PERKINS
474 East Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. CHARLES F. POND
133 Plymouth Ave. South, Rochester, N. Y.
MRS. JOHN CRAIG POWERS
700 Ea.st Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MISS LINDA D. PUFFER
Elm Place, Avon, N. Y.
MISS MARY LOUISE QUINN
81 South Fitzhugh St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. GEORGE R. RAINES
315 Wes'..minster Road, Rochester, N. Y.
MR. FRANK E. REED
390 Wellington Ave., Rochester, N. T.
MR. KINGMAN NOTT ROBINS
93.J East Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
ROCHESTER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARl
Rochester, N. Y.
MR. CLINTON ROGERS
127 Spring St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. WILLIAM H. ROWERDINK
6 Argyle St., llcchester, N. Y.
Publicatioti Pairo7is of The Rochester Historical Society
MRS. CORA B. RUPPERT
93 Albemarle St., Rochester, N. Y.
MRS. MINNIE P. SACKETT SMITH
1264 Park Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. W. STEWART SMITH
20 Arnold Park, Rochester, N. Y.
MR. ALBERT HENRY STEARNS
105 Merriman St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. HOWARD I. SUNDERLIN
45 Plymouth Ave., North, Rochester. N. Y
MR. HENRY HARRIS TOZIER
26 Jones Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MRS. SARAH L. VAN DE CARR
586 Averill Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. EUGENE VAN VOORHIS
Thomas Ave., Irondequoit, N. Y.
MRS. JOHN VAN VOORHIS
915 Ridgeway Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. ALBERT C. WALKER
1376 Highland Ave., Rochester. N. Y.
MRS. FLORENCE YATES WARD
855 East Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
HON. WILLIAM WATSON WEBB
45 Westminster Road, Rochester, N. Y.
MR. FREDERICK MOORE WIHITNEY
12 Audubon St., Rochester, N. Y.
MR. HERBERT J. WINN
70 Westminster Road, Rochester, N. Y.
MR. GEORGE ELLSWORTH WOODCOCK
305 Barrington St., Rochester. -.'. Y.
Til-CSti
HIRAM H. EDGERTON
Mayor of Rochester and Life Honorary President
of The Rochester Historical Society
PUBLICATIONS OF
THE
ROCHESTER HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
PUBLICATION FUND SERIES
VOLUME ONE
Rochester, N. Y.
Published by the Society
1922
, ' . D >"
THE NEW YOnK
^I^BLIC LIBRARY
475708A
f _^f J0«. LENOX AND
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
1930
Contents
Page
Portrait of Mayor Hiram H. Edgerton, Frontispiece
Foreword : Tlie Publication Fund 5
Officers and Managers, 1922-23 7
The Origin and Mission of The Rochester Historical
Society, by Edward R. Foreman 9
Some Earlier Amusements of Rochester, by George M.
Elwood 17
Rochester — Its Founders and Its Founding, by Howard L.
Osgood 53
History of the Third Ward, by Charles F. Pond 71
Rambles about Rochester, by Nathaniel S. Olds 82
Rochester — Backgrounds of Its History, by Raymond H.
Arnot 93
The City of Tryon and Vicinity, by A. Emerson Babcock . .112
The Western Door of the Long House, by Lockwood R.
Doty 150
Rochester in Literature, by Rossiter Johnson, LL. D 163
The Landing Road, by A. Emerson Babcock 188
First Church Chronicles, by Anah ^;^Tates 210
Portrait of Mrs. Gilman H. Perkins •. 223
Memorial of Mrs. Gilman H. Perkins 223
Certificate of Mayor Hiram H. Edgerton 225
Memorial of Mayor Hiram H. Edgerton 225
Eulogy of Mayor Hiram H. Edgerton, by Rev. C. Waldo
Cherry, D. D 230
Portrait of Rev. Augustus H. Strong, D. D 233
Memorial of Rev. Augustus H. Strong, D. D 233
Augustus Hopkins Strong, by Rev. John H. Strong, D. D. . .235
Papers Read, Since Organization 243
Officers, Since Organization 259
Managers, Since Organization 267
Constitution and By-Laws 273
Gleanings from the Minutes, by William F. Yust 281
Index 285
Foreword: The Publication Fund
The Museum and Library of The Rochester Historical
Society have been housed for years in a fireproof building at
Edgerton Park (formerly Exposition Park) where all
expenses of care and maintenance have been freely furnished
by the city government. The Society ov^es a generous return
of public service in appreciation, and proposes to publish an
annual volume of such material as may seem best, from the
large store in its archives.
To carry on these plans the Constitution of the Society
has been amended to establish a Publication Fund, which will
make possible the regular publication and distribution of the
proceedings of the Society, papers read before it, and valuable
manusicripts. This has long been the goal of the officers and
managers, but hitherto the limited funds yielded by the annual
memberships have been only sufficient to carry on ordinary
activities, and to issue occasional publications.
To maintain the Publication Fund thus established, a class
of members has been created to be known as "Publication
Patrons," to consist of those who shall contribute the sum of
$10 or more annually, which payment shall constitute the
donor an active member, covering annual dues, and also entitle
him to a copy of all publications issued by the Society.
This fund will be used entirely for publication, the ordi-
nary expenses being carried by the annual dues received from
the other active members.
The present publication is Volume One in the Publication
Fund series.
It wdll be followed by at least one volume, annually.
THE PUBLICATION COMMITTEE
The Rochester Historical Society
Rochester, New York
1922- 1923
OFFICERS
President
CHARLES H. WILTSIE
First Vice-President
EDWARD R. FOREMAN
Second Vice-President
MRS. FREDERICK W. YATES
Treasurer
RAYMOND G. DANN
Recording Secretary
WILLIAM F. YUST
Corresponding Secretary
J. VINCENT ALEXANDER
BOARD OF MANAGERS
EDWARD R. FOREMAN
e.v iipieio
HARVEY F. REMINGTON
ex ofncUi
CHARLES H. WILTSIE
MRS. FREDERICK W. YATES
RAYMOND G. DANN
WILLIAM F. YUST
J. VINCENT ALEXANDER
RAYMOND H. ARNOT
WILLIAM B. BOOTHBY
WILLIAM M. BROWN
EDWARD J. SEEBER
f~ " ■' 1
Being duly incorporated under the laivs of the State of
New York. The Rochester Historical Society is competent to
hold and dispose of real estate, and to receive loans, gifts,
bequests and devises. When making your zvill, remembef
the needs of the Society.
The Origin and Mission of The
Rochester Historical Society
By EDWARD R. FOREMAN
The Origin:
In 1861 Lewis Henry Morgan, "the father of American
anthropology" and Rochester's most noted scientist-author,
was a member of the Assembly of the state of New York. At
that time he caused to be introduced and passed a special law
incorporating The Rochester Historical Society, as follows :
Chapter 258.
AN ACT to incorporate The Rochester Historical Society.
Passed April 15, 1861.
The People of the State at New York, represented i7i Senate and
Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Lewis H. Morgan, Lysander Farrar, Henry O'Reilly,
Jarvis M. Hatch, George G. Munger, Edward A. Raymond, and their
associates, who now are, and such other persons as shall hereafter
become, members of the said society, are hereby created a body politic
and corporate, by the name and description of "The Rochester
Historical Society."
§2. The said corporation is created for the purpose of collecting
and preserving historical, genealogical, scientific and literary
knowledge, information and mementoes, and books, maps, charts,
pamphlets, magaziLes, papers, and facts in any form having a con-
nection with either of said subjects ; and said corporation is
authorized to make and preserve such collections, and to frame and
adopt, and from time to time alter and amend such constitution and
by-laws or rules for advancing their object, as a majority of the
resident members at any meeting may determine.
§3. The said corporation may also rent suitable rooms or
buildings for their purposes, and make and enter into leases therefor;
or may purchase, take and hold real estate for the purposes afore-
said, not exceeding in value the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars,
and may also take and hold, by gift, grant, devise or purchase,
personal property, not to exceed in value the sum of fifty thousand
dollars.
§4. The location and place of business of said corporation shall
be the city of Rochester, in the county of Monroe, in said state; and
the property of said corporation shall be exempt from taxation or
assessment therein.
§5. The said society or corporation may elect such officers,
and at such time or times as it shall determine, and shall possess
all the powers of an ordinary corporation; may sue and be sued for
any debt or liability, and may have a common seal.
10 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
§6. The corporation hereby created shall be subject to the
provisions of the act relating to wills, passed April thirteenth,
eighteen hundred and sixty.
When the above law was passed the clock of destiny
was striking in the Civil War and the absorbing events of the
succeeding years delayed the consummation of Mr. Morgan's
plan for the establishment of an historical society in his home
city. To the end of his life he remained supremely interested
in historical and scientific themes and gathered around him
congenial spirits to discuss such subjects. But The Rochester
Historical Society did not function actively as an organization.
It was not until the year 1887 that the idea was revived
under the leadership of Mrs. Gilman H. Perkins.
Upon her summons a number of leading citizens gathered
to discuss the proposition. Dr. Edward Mott Moore, Sr.,
already had been consulted and approved the general plan.
What transpired can best be told by quoting the official
record appearing in our minutes in the handwriting of Mr.
William F. Peck, who was the Recording Secretary of the
Society for twenty years :
Transcript of Minutes
"A preliminary meeting was held at the residence of Mrs. Gil-
man H. Perkins, 219 East Avenue, December 17, 1887.
"The meeting was called to order by Frederick A. Whittlesey,
who nominated Dr. Edward M. Moore as chairman of the meeting.
Dr. Moore was elected, and M. W. Cooke was elected secretary of
the meeting.
"Mr. Whittlesey, at the request of the hostess, stated the object
of the meeting and offered the following resolution:
" 'Resolved, That the formation of an Historical Society in
Rochester is desirable.'
"The resolution, having been seconded, was generally discussed
and unanimously adopted. Those present, all voting, were Dr. E. M.
Moore, Henry E. Rochester, Hiram Sibley, Dr. A. C. Kendrick, Judge
James L. Angle, Prof. S. A. Lattimore, T. C. Montgomery, George T.
Parker, Mrs. George T. Parker, Dr. A. H. Strong, Robert Mathews,
F. A. Whittlesey, Prof. W. C. Morey, H. F. Atkinson, Gilman H.
Perkins, Mrs. Gilman H. Perkins and M. W. Cooke.
"Dr. Strong moved that a committee be appointed to report
upon the organization of the Historical Society. Carried.
"The following were appointed as such committee: Dr. Moore,
Dr. Strong, Mr. Whittlesey, Professor Morey and Mr. Cooke.
"The meeting then adjourned, subject to the call of the committee
above named.
"MARTIN W. COOKE,
"Secretary of the Meeting."
ORIGIN AND MISSION 11
"Meeting of the committee — all present.
"Voted, That Professor Morey and Mr. Whittlesey be a sub-
committee on constitution.
"Voted, That Dr. Moore, Dr. Strong and Mr. Cooke be a sab-
committee on membership.
"Adjourned, subject to the call of the chairman, Dr. Moore.
"MARTIN W. COOKE,
"Secretary of the Meeting."
"March 3, 1888. Meeting, at the residence of Mrs. Perkins, of
persons proposing to join an Historical Society — Dr. E. M. Moore,
presiding.
"Present: Dr. E. M. Moore, F. A. Whittlesey, Judge F. A.
Macomber, Mrs. F. A. Macomber, Charles E. Fitch, Mrs. Wm. S.
Little, Alfred Ely, Mrs. Alfred Ely, Prof. S. A. Lattimore, Mrs. S. A.
Lattimore, Dr. A. H. Strong, Prof. J. H. Gilmore, Mrs. Isaac Hills,
Miss Angeline S. Mumford, Prof. W. C. Morey, Robert Mathews,
Mrs. Annie Bullions, George T. Parker, Mrs. George T. (Jane Marsh)
Parker, Dr. E. V. Stoddard, Mrs. E. V. Stoddard, F. L. Durand, Mrs.
William H. Perkins, Prof. A. H. Mixer, Henry E. Rochester, Miss
Jane Rochester, John H. Rochester, Mrs. George C. Buell, Mrs. E.
Darwin Smith, Mrs. Edward M. Smith, Judge James L. Angle, T. C.
Montgomery. Oilman H. Perkins, Mrs. Oilman H. Perkins, Wm. F.
Peck, and M. W. Cooke."
By resolution all present at the preliminary meeting,
December 17, 1887, and the organization meeting, March 3,
1888, were declared to be ''constituent members of the
Historical Society about to be organized." A constitution
was then adopted and the following named persons were
elected as officers : President, Dr. Edward Mott Moore. Sr. ;
Vice-President, Rev. Augustus H. Strong, D. D. ; Corre-
sponding Secretary, Mrs. Jane Marsh Parker: Recording
Secretary, Willaim F. Peck; Treasurer, Oilman PI. Perkins;
Librarian, Herman K. Phinney. The following were appointed
by the President as the first Board of Managers: Henry E.
Rochester, Mortimer F. Reynolds. Hiram Sibley, George E.
Mumford. Judge James L. Angle, Frederick A. Whittlesey,
and Prof. William C. Morey."
The Society was incorporated June 1, 1888, pursuant to
"An Act for the incorporation of societies or clubs for certain
lawful purposes, L. 1875, Ch. 267; certificate filed in Monroe
County Clerk's office, June 29, 1888; recorded in Liber 2 of
Incorporation at p. 396.
For over four years after organization all the meetings
were held at the home of Mrs. Oilman H. Perkins. At last
12 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the membership became so large it was necessary to meet
in public halls.
With the passing of those delightful early days the
Society continued to hold meetings at which papers were read
on subjects connected with local history.
The library and museum have become valuable collections,
which are now located in the Museum Building, Edgerton
Park.
The great seal of the Society is significant. It discovers
a figure shooting an arrow upward, encircled by the legend,
"The Rochester Historical Society." From the drawn bow
of our auspicious beginnings we receive the upward impulse.
The Missio7i:
The Rochester Historical Society seeks the expansion of
local consciousness into a fuller sense of the historic worth
and dignity of our community. As heirs of the past, we can-
not appreciate our inheritance without studying its origin.
Every man and woman living in Rochester is afl'ected by the
past history of the city and, in turn, exerts some influence on
its present and future history.
Ignorance of the past and indifference as to the future go
hand in hand.
History is ever in flux, with nowhere finality. We see
the past, the present and the future always in movement and
alive. It has been said that "as soon as histories are properly
told, no more need of romances." One need but say to the
brave past: "Rise, and walk before me, that I mav realize
you!"
We live between two eternities in constant relation to
the whole future and the whole past. Our future awaits,
unseen, definitely shaped by the events of our past and present
history. The part you play will alter the general result.
The soul of Rochester is the aggregate of all its individual
lives present and past. Our local history is the essence of
innumerable biographies.
These are mere platitudes unless we are fired by
determination to live the life and play the game, serving the
communitv with all our hearts.
ORIGIN AND MISSION 13
History, like Charity, should begin at home. The best
American citizens are those who are interested in local civic
affairs. A studj' of the community in which one dwells
will serve to connect it with the life of the State, the Nation
and the world at large. Knozv your city f
A multitude of historical associations gather around the
country of the Genesee. There are Indian legends, household
traditions, incidents remembered by the oldest inhabitants;
old books, documents and manuscripts recording wonder-
tales of the wilderness, where men and women faced strange
dangers and heavy toil. At the Genesee Falls they found the
forest primeval. They left a city of homes. A few dared and
suffered. Many enjoy the good. "Ye shall know them by
their fruits."
The object of The Rochester Historical Society is to
preserve the memory of these things. We are modern "time-
binders," keeping the past vividly alive in its relation to
the present and the future. We regard the accomplishments
of the dead as the working capital for the living. The past,
present and future are not three spheres of experience, but
one; they are differing aspects of the eternal now.
Remembering that the whole of our past was once present
thought, feeling and action, we seek to excite keen and
sympathetic appreciation of the hopes and dreams and
struggles of the noble men and women who have gone before
and who have left us a goodly heritage.
The Rochester Historical Society represents the best
citizenship of our community. No other local organization is
incorporated for the same purposes or fills this historical field.
The Society can become a chief agency to crystallize into
reality the visions of yesteryears, and so serve the highest
good of our beloved city today.
There are some people who profess to be bored by local
history. Like Huckleberry Finn they "take no stock in dead
people." They are too busy with other matters to be "keen
on the Historical Society," asserting that "it deals only with
dead things. ' ' To establish the error of this charge devolves
upon the membership. If they have vision and vitality then
their Society offers something of real significance, a cog to
14 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
gear up perception with performance in live community
service.
The enterprise is not merely worshipping men and women
of the past. We seek no mute relics. Our mission deals only
with living human personality, which never dies. We do not
deal in death and dust. The splendid past of Rochester is our
present inspiration for vital deeds. Our history is a dynamic,
not a static thing.
It is the fraditions handed down from our past generations
that arouse public conscience and determination in every time
of crisis. It was the glorious inheritance of our history, the urge
of ancestry, that nerved our boys to go forth to serve in the
World War, and in all our wars; and it is these traditions
that hold us steady in times of peace. It is the memory of the
loss and suffering that others have endured that we might be
free and happy that stirs us like a bugle call.
He who has the vision of great memories, be they personal
or historic, is able to look out upon the present with high
courage to bring good things to pass; and he gazes into the
future calm eyed and unafraid.
Men are moved by their hungers and controlled by their
reverences. It was the hunger for a better tomorrow that
peopled this fair land with millions from beyond the sea; and
the three great reverences of our national soul are the
reverence for the past with its inspiring personalities and
events, the reverence for the present with its opportunities
for human service, and the reverence for the future lifting
better up to best.
This is the mission of The Rochester Historical Society:
to quicken these three reverences ; to rouse understanding ;
to translate our great community feeling into historic
appreciation for present day use; to mobilize hearts; to open
to all, even the very least of our fellow citizens, the windows
three of memory and opportunity and hope ; and as flame
kindles flame to pass on to others the spirit of love, service
and good will.
Ours is the oath of the young men of Athens: "In all
ways we will transmit this city not less but greater, better
and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us."
PAPERS READ
BEFORE
THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Some Earlier Public Amusements
of Rochester
By GEORGE M. ELWOOD
Read before The Rochester Historical Society, March 9, 1894
Anyone attempting to write a comprehensive history of
the earler amusements of this city finds, at the outset, that he
is going to be very much embarrassed through several causes,
primarily, because there were so few of them, about which
to write and, secondarily, because of the very meager and
limited sources of information at his command concerning
those few. Our forefathers of that early day were too busy
in their struggle for existence in a new country, subduing the
forests, planting and fostering the infant industries and
fashioning the beginnings of this great city, to have either
time or inclination for the lighter, less serious side of life.
Hard days of earnest toil brought needed rest and they did
not feel the want of those artificial aids to enjoyment that
comes to older communities as the outgrowth of more of ease
and leisure. And again, coming, as most of them did, from
New^ England, they brought with them, naturally and un-
avoidably, prejudices and habits of thought inherited from a
Puritan ancestry, whose canons were very strictly drawn in
the matter of amusement. Rochester was, therefore, one of
the last of the younger inland cities to yield a foothold to
the player and the showman. As a further difficulty in the
path of the historian, beyond the poverty of material, nearly
all of those who sat in front of the early foot lights have
passed away ; there are none left who bear personal recoUee-
Inon of those Thespian beginnings. The sole reliance left,
then, is the files of the newspapers and, here again, disappoint-
ment awaits the chronicler. The local press reflected the
popular sentiment of the community, to which it catered, and
its space was very limited. An occasional advertisement in
small type was admitted to the columns, rather under protest,
18 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
but local editorial notice or comment was practically unknown,
save an occasional note of condemnation and anathema,
frequently deserved, no doubt. Some curious outcroppings
of this sentiment I would like to read from examples in my
possession did time permit. One will suffice :
Jan. 8th, 1828. "It is really astonishing to think that
the trustees of so respectable a village as Rochester, should
permit such a disorderly place as the theater. We express
ourselves thus plainly from our knowdedge that the respectable
part of this community has long since decidedly disapprobated
the theater, and we do sincerely hope that our village trustees
will, hereafter, when an application for license is presented
by anj' playing company, act more in accordance with the
wishes of the sober, reflecting and moral part of our citizens."
So late as 1849 the editorial staff of the Advertiser was
prohibited from even mentioning theater or circus. In his
"Sketches of Rochester," published in 1838, good old Henry
O'Reilly gives a devout expression of thankfulness that
"neither theater or circus can now be found in Rochester.
The buildings formerly erected for such purposes were years
ago turned to other objects — the theater is converted into a
livery stable and the circus into a chandler's shop." It is
amusing to note even along in the "fifties," when editorial
comments and criticisms began to appear, they rarely, almost
never, appeared on the day immediately following the enter-
tainment, but frequently two or three days afterwards, when a
few lines of vacant space could be found. Doubtless, many
exhibitions came and went, leaving no trace behind them.
Each generation seems to have its own idea of what constitutes
a code of morality. Along in the period between 1825 and
1840, the papers would not notice the theater at all and were
far from sure that concerts were quite proper, while their
columns fairly teemed with lottery advertisements, all sorts of
alluring schemes, with daily drawings at the wheel of
fortune. The tickets were offered for sale, too, by a class of
men, who, in this day, would scarcely be willing to have their
names identified with such questionable schemes. Those
advertisements would, under the present United States law,
EARLIER PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS 19
have excluded every paper printed in Rochester from the
mails and have subjected the publishers to heavy penalties.
From such records as time has spared and the sentiment
of the day has permitted, I have prepared these chronicles,
as the result of very many days of patient research. I am
quite conscious of their many imperfections and can only
express regret that the work was not done some years ago,
while many were yet living who could have given material
help in its preparation.
Prior to 1824, there was no regular place of amusement
in the village. Occasional concerts and minor entertainments
were given, principally by local talent, or, at long intervals,
by traveling parties, in rooms, fitted up for the purpose, in
the several taverns of the town. The most popular were
those of the Eagle Tavern, on the site now occupied by
Powers Block, and the Morton House, on the site of the
present Powers Hotel.
On the 31st of October, 1820, we learn that "The concert
which was to be holden in the meetiug-house is postponed
until Sunday evening next. Performance at 6. Doors close
at 7 :30 ; admittance two shillings. A piano fort is expected
to accompany the musick. Performance fo consist of anthems,
solos, duets, etc." Please note how early the Sunday evening
entertainment obtained a place here.
In January, 1821, Stowell & Co. announce "That they
have opened an elegant museum at the Eagle Tavern of
Ensworth & Son, consisting of thirty-four wax-figures, two
elegant organs, one playing a variety of music, accompanied
by a chime of bells, the other, a new patent organ, playing a
variety of music accompanied by a drum and triangles : the
Temple of Industry, a grand mechanical panorama, consisting
of 26 moving figures, each working at their different occupa-
tions. Also elegant views.
"N. B. — They have just added a representation of the duel
between Commodores Baron and Decatur."
In the summer of 1824, a frame structure was built on
the east side of Exchange street, on, or very near, the spot
where the county jail now is, to be "permanently occupied
as a circus." This was the first regular "temple of art"
20 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
erected here. Its permanence under such dedication was com-
passed by a period of less than six months. It opened with
the play of the "Miller's Frolick," "followed by a grand
entre of eight beautiful leopard horses. Master Burton's
unrivalled horsemanship will conclude by leaping over a
surface of canvas nine feet wide, and alight again upon the
horse while at full speed. For the first time in this place
Mr. Connor will go through his grand equilibriums on the
slack wire. Mr. Lewis will conclude the evening's enter-
tainment with a grand trampoline, throwing a wonderful
flying somerset over seven real horses and conclude by going
through a balloon on fire sixteen feet high!"
Early in 1825, the Rochester Museum came into being. It
was opened by J. R. Bishop, in the upper story of the
Exchange street extension of the old Smith block, upon the
spot where the Smith & Perkins building now stands. Am
early announcement says: "Everything has been done to
make the establishment permanent and a public ornament,
oft'ering the naturalist, the philosopher, the Christian and the
youth of the city a place of study, serious contemplation and
amusement; several original paintings by native artists."
From all that can be learned the museum had a slender
beginning, a few minerals, fossils, skeletons and shells, some
Indian curiosities and a few relics of more or less doubtful
authenticity. But it grew in favor and held its place, through
varying fortune, for more than a quarter of a century. One of
its chief attractions, and one in which interest centered until
the end, was its gallery of wax-works, without which no
museum was complete. Originally the figures must have
been very fair examples of that plastic art, but, as with their
human prototypes, time also deals unsparingly with "wax-
figgers." They, too, wax old, I might be tempted to say.
Occasionally it was announced that the management had, at
a great expense, procured new raiment for them, and, if it
must be confessed, the management frequently re-christened
them as well. They did duty under many guises. Joan of
Arc, by some theosophical metamorphosis, known only to the
management, and Madam Blavatsky, became reincarnated as
the Empress of the French and then as Jenny Lind! Fancy,
EARLIER PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS 21
if you can, Judas Iscariot doing duty as the Duke of Welling-
ton, Dr. Parkman and Shylock ! Sometimes exhibitions of
pictures appeared on the walls of the museum. Here is one:
July, 18-10. "The proprieter would inform the public that he
has just received from Philadelphia and added to his museum,
a splendid collection of paintings, and has fitted up a room
for their reception. 'The Maid of Saragossa,' 'Death of
Sapphira,' 'Incredulity of St. Thomas,' etc., thirty-eight
figures in all, the size of life. These paintings are the work
of a celebrated artist, who has touched them with a masterly
hand and need only be seen to be appreciated. The proprietor
has been to great expense in getting up the collection and
trusts to an enlightened public for remuneration."
A few years later the owner added a modest little theater
known as the Museum Saloon, with a seating capacity of
three or four hundred, where minor farces and pantomimes
were occasionally given, both by regular stock companies of
limited powers and entertainments by strolling players for
short seasons. At an engagement, during the latter days of
the Museum, a band of players calling themselves "The
Eastern Dramatic Company," gave, in one week, "The Roof-
Scrambler," "Slasher & Crasher," "The Bandit Chief,"
"Mabel's Curse," "The Drunkard's DiTom" and "Hamlet."
What company for the melancholy Dane to be caught in!
The Museum was abandoned about 1852, the "Daily Union"
taking possession of the premises shortly after. A part of
what was once the Museum was occupied for a number of
years by the John C. Moore bookbindery. I can remember
Saturday afternoon visits, as a boy, to the decaying collection
of wax-works, dust covered, in their broken glass cases,
relegated to a lumber-room partitioned off from the bindery —
"The Rochester Beauty," pitiful in the faded and ragged
remnants of her tawdry finery; a group illustrating the final
unpleasant episode in the family affairs of the Moor of Venice ;
the Indian Massacre; the Drunkard's Progress, a series of
ghastly relics that haunted my dreams for nights afterward.
There are those who yet remember, possibly some of you,
the huge parrot on his perch outside the window, and the
wheezing tones of the old barrel-organ that was wont to lure
22 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the visiting rustic into the mysterious precincts of the Museum
with the oft-repeated strains of the "Maid of Lodi" and
"Bonaparte's March." Our lamented friend, Mr. George
Arnold, told me, as a reminiscence of the i\Iuseum days, that
Judge Chapin, not himself a patron of the Museum, had his
office for a long time on the floor below, and that, when he
vacated the office, it was found that the boards of the floor
under the desk, at which he had sat so long, were worn quite
through, where he had beaten time to the tunes of that same
organ overhead, in the days of its pulmonary degeneration,
summer and winter, for so many years.
In November, 1825, the circus having been abandoned, the
building was fitted up as a theater and opened by a Mr. Davis,
who announced his opening with the engagement of ^Ir. and
Mrs. Smith, late of Utica and Saratoga theaiers, in "f-o'
and Madness" and "The Weathercock," followed soon after
with "The Honeymoon," and "Fortune's Froliek." Some
idea of the character of the audiences attracted may be
gathered from the fact that, during the play of "Othello,"
the manager was obliged to stop the play, come forward and
lecture the unruly ones in the pit. During this engagement a
benefit was given for one unfortunate Mr. Hunn, "who had
been burned out." The benefit realized $48. Mr. Smith's
benefit night presented "The Forty Thieves," and a somewhat
equivocal advertisement says that "this piece will be the
more interesting because the audience is familiar with the
subject."
Toward the close of this year we read that, "For one night
only, the Dramatic Ventriloquist, Mr. Taylor, at the Mansion
House, will give a Colloquial Divertisement, that the front
seats will be reserved for the ladies, and that if the weather
provas unfavorable the performance will be postponed."
The next month is bulletined, also at the Mansion House,
by Mr. and Mrs. Smith, a concert of vocal music, and the
file says: "As we understand that they are to l)e accompanied
by a pianofort (without a final e) we have no doubt they
will have a crowded house."
Soon after this, in March, the Rochester Band announce
a grand concert, and frankly explain that "having obligated
EARLIER PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS 23
themselves for a good deal of money in procuring an instructor,
they take this method of soliciting." As a tribute to the
industry of that instructor, leading us to believe that he had
earned "the good deal of money" for which the band had
obligated themselves, they offered a programme of twenty-
six numbers, besides encores, including the "DeWitt Clinton
Grand Erie Canal March," "Dead March," "Hail to the
Chief," etc.
The year 1826 was marked by the advent of two new
theaters. Their birth was heralded with considerable flourish
of trumpets and great prognostications were made as to their
future, but both languished and died of inanition in early
infancy. The first of these houses was located on the north
side of Buffalo street, now West Main street, on the present
.site of the Young Men's Catholic Association building, and
was opened April 8th; the management. Smith & Davis,
announcing, "That it is their Avish and intention to establish
a permanent and respectable theater worthy of the rising
greatness of this splendid and flourishing town." The com-
pany contained no notable names. The opening bill was
"Richard IIL" and "The Rendezvous." This was the first
presentation of Richard III, and probably one of the very
first Shakespearean plays given here. As a sample of some
of the dramatic food provided at this temple I may cite,
"The Vampire, or the Bride of the Isles," "Pizarro, " "George
Barnwell" and "Tom and Jerry." The fortunes of this house
waned rapidly and in three months it had ceased to be.
The second of these theaters was opened in a frame
building, erected for the purpose, on the west side of Carroll,
noAv State street, nearly opposite JMarket : in later years, after
Thespis had flown, remembered as the Charles' livery stable.
This building opened May 15tb, with more of pmiiiise than
had been the Lt of its predecessors. There was a marked
improvement in the class of audiences, as well as the
attractions offered. The evening opened with a prize address,
in verse, written by Chancellor Whittlesey, The dramatic
portion of the entertainment consisted of "The Honeymoon,"
followed by the comic opera of "The Poor Soldier." The
stock company was made up of names, then unknown, now
24 TIIE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
long forgotten, vith but a single exception. It was here
that William Forrest first appeared. Little Billy Forrest, as
he was familiarly called, became a comedian of a great deal
of talent, extremely Avhimsical and droll in his personal
appearance, versatile and original in his acting, reminding
one very forcibly of the James Lewis of to-day. In one or
another of the later theaters for many years, reaching down
to the period of my recollection, he contributed much to the
pleasure of Rochester's play-goers. No one who ever saw
his "Bailie Nicol Jarvie" is likely to forget it.
In June a new melodrama was presented, entitled "The
Vale of the Genesee, or the Big Tree Chief, written in this
village and founded on a number of facts, well known to all
the first settlers in the West."
A grand holiday performance was announced for the
Fourth of Jul}', at which was presented the "Grand Ballet
of the American Tars Ashore," in the afternoon, followed in
the evening by "The Glory of Columbia and the Soldier's
Daughter," (red fire).
Soon after this Edmund Kean, having finished his first
engagement in New York, and on his way to Niagara Falls,
stopped over here for a day or two of rest. He played in
this theater, "Sir Edward Mortimer" in the "Iron Chest."
There is a tradition that the manager was a man whom Kean
had known in England, and that the performance he gave
was an amiable effort on his part to put an old acquaintance
on his feet. Certainly he played here, and in this single
event the theatrical history of Rochester differed from that
of most young towns, in that the first real actor who trod its
boards, was one of the very greatest tragedians of modern
times. There is probably no one living who remembers that
performance. All record of it is lost save tlie bare fact.
Imagine the support that he must have had. Imagine the
comparisons his mind must have drawn between that cheerless
barn, lighted witb tallow dips — its tawdry scenery and cos-
tumes, — its two-penny appointments, and the splendors of
the Haymarket and Drury Lane, where he had won his
laurels. This event was closely followed by the appearance
of Tom Ilamblin in "William Tell" and kindred parts.
EARLIER PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS 25
During a short time the two play-houses ran in opposition.
"Jane Shore" had a i*un at one house, and "Kenihvorth"
and "Robinson Crusoe" at the other. On the 23rd of May
both theaters produced the same play, "Tekeli, or the Seige
of Montgatz." "the first time Avest of Albany." The prices
of admission were small then, but the patrons expected their
money's worth, while the management evidently sought to
make up in quantity what the plays may have lacked in
quality. One bill presented "Macbeth," five acts, a fancy
dance by Miss Hatch, followed by the three-act comedy of
"Sweethearts and Wives," a play, the acting time of which,
if I remember aright, is about two hours.
A certain amount of success seems to have followed this
enterprise for, later on we learn, editorially this time, that
"The theatrical corps seem to have played themselves, by
their advertisements, into a very profitable speculation, and as
a 'testimony of their gratitude' will appropriate the avails
of this evening for the benefit of the Female Charitable
Society. We are very apprehensive that the respectable
ladies composing this commendable association have more
self respect than knowingly to accept of money obtained
through a channel which they are, by their efi:'orts, endeavoring
to persuade children to avoid as a noisome sink of immorality."
(The Female Charitable Society justified the editorial expecta-
tion, and declined the proffered benefit). Prosperity was, it
seems, of short duration and this house soon sank into the
oblivion that had engulfed its predecessors.
The next two years are a blank, save for the appearance
of an automaton whist player, at the Merchant's Exchange,
"At Which Mr. Wiley Nickles will play with a pair of
artificial hands." I wonder if that would help some of us to
play our natural hands. There was, also, in 1828, exhibited
at quarters in the Merchant's Exchange the first menagerie of
living animals which the "manager feels sure will interest
all those who are desirous of improving upon the study of
Natural History." He thus catalogues his ferocious family
group :
"1st. An African lion. This is not only the largest but
26 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
from his flowing mane and superior carriage is considered the
finest of his species in America.
"2nd. A lioness, the most beautiful animal that has been
seen in captivity— yet the most courageous. The lioness,
when she has young ones to nourish, will combat with fury
even the most powerful animals that oppose her. The tiger or
elephant would on such an occasion, in vain attempt to oppose
her. When pursued by mankind, she is only to be conquered
by the powerful weapons which they bring against her.
"3rd. South American Tiger, whose ferocity is well
known to travelers.
"4th. Celebrated Arabian Camel.
"5th. The Leopard.
"6th. Male Catamount.
"7th. Female Catamount.
"8th. Recently added a young Jagware, late from
Borneo, also a dog-faced Baboon.
"9th. The Jaekall or Lion's provider.
"10th. Ichneumon, an Egyptian animal, famous for
destroying Crockodile's eggs and young reptiles, and formerly
worshipped by the Egyptians.
"llth. Black Wolf, taken at Silver Lake, in PennsyL
vania.
"12th. Grey Wolves, male and female.
"13th. Young Lama from Peru.
14th. Ribbed-nose Baboon.
15th. Saucy Jack.
16th. Famous dancing Monkey, from the Island of
Borneo.
"17th. Mauzamet Monkey.
18th. Monkey from Guinea.
19th. Capt. Bill will go through his pleasing per-
formances on his Indian Poney, with other diverting tricks.
"20th. Dandy Jack, the semi-equestrian, has excited the
admiration of all who have visited the Menagerie, with his
unexampled feats of horse-monkey-ship, on his small Shetland
Poney. A ring is fitted for his performance.
i I
i i
i (
i ( '
EARLIER PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS 27
"21st. The sailor who never fails to divert the audience
with his pleasing performances.
"22nd. Barbary Ape.
"23rd. Sports of the Ring. Also a number of smaller
animals."
Another traveling menagerie, exhibited here about this
time, mentioned among its attractions a Zebra and two living
"Emuses."
The sole item of interest in 1829 was an event, devised
for amusement but culminating in tragedy, the leap of Sam
Patch over the Palls of the Genesee. The first leap took place
on the 6th of November, from the crest of the upper fall
one hundred feet into the pool below, and was successful.
The last occurred one week later, Friday, November 13th,
(unlucky thirteen) at 2 P. M., and was witnessed, it was
estimated, by seven or eight thousand people. He jumped
from a staging erected 25 feet above the verge of the Fall,
and having first thrown his pet bear into the gulf below, he
quickly followed. It was supposed that he was intoxicated.
At all events he lost his poise in the air, turned upon his
side and upon striking the water sank, never to rise again.
His body was found at Charlotte the next spring, and was
buried in an unmarked grave in the little road-side burying
ground at the right as you enter the village. His name
became famous simply because he was the pioneer in that
long procession of inspired idiots who have continued bridge-
jumping and rapid-shooting, making parachute descents from
lofty balloons and navigating the ocean in dories, ever since.
In distant provinces the traveler always finds that Rochester
is inseparably associated in the minds of the people, either
with the advent of spirit-rappings or the fate of Sam Patch.
The ten years that now succeed are almost entirely devoid
of interest, with no regular place of amusement except the
mild attractions offered by the Museum. Very few attempts
were made even by local talent, while the wandering minstrel
and strolling fakir seem to have learned that Rochester was
a serious town and gave it a wide berth. In 1887 there is a
brief mention of the first appearance of Mrs. McClure, after-
28 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
ward Mrs. W. G. Noah, at the theater, presumably the
Museum, although the locality is not specified, as "Helen
McGregor" in "Rob Roy." Mrs. McClure afterward became
a very celebrated actress in tragic roles, having, at one time,
in Boston, I believe, played an engagement, Avhile Charlotte
Cushman was playing the same parts at a rival theater, and
fairly divided the interest of the public with that queen of
tragedy. It Avas in this cast at the Museum that Dan
Marble's name first appears. A little later, at Marble's
benefit, the bill included "Richard III," "Valentine and
Orson," the farce of "Frank Fox Phipps" and the play of
"Sam Patch," four plays — five hours at least — and all for
fifty cents.
On the 11th of September in 1840, Mr. Edwin Dean, a
veteran manager, then conducting the Eagle Street theater in
Buft'alo, came here to establish a place to be managed in con-
nection with the Buffalo house, and succeeded in founding the
first theater that Avas really deserving of the name. He leased
what was then known as Concert Hall, in Child's Marble
Building, on the east side of Exchange Street, south of the
canal. Another story was added to the old building and it
was divided into dress-circle and boxes, pit (corresponding in
locality to the modern parquet), and a gallery called the
family-circle. The green-room and dressing-rooms were in
the south end of the building, and, as was customary in the
best theaters of that time, there was a door from the pit
leading into an adjoining bar. This building still stands. It
was occupied for many years as the armory of the 5-ith
Regiment, when many of the decorations of the old theater
remained. A very fine stock company, for that day, was here
gathered together. Among them was Mrs. McClure, in
leading parts alternating with Mrs. Dean, Joseph Parker as
leading man, Little Billy Forrest, as comedian, Mr. and Mrs.
Archer and others. Sam Parker, afterward a noted scenic
artist, started here; James Barron led the orchestra and
Captain Alex Scott was captain of the supers.
During Mr. Dean's management a number of star engage-
ments were played, the intervals being filled by the stock com-
EARLIER PUBLIC A:\IUSEMENTS 29
pany. About this time a class of plays were coming into
vogue calling for elaborate scenic display, spectacular plays,
so called. To meet this demand the manager brought here
James Lamb, a very talented scene-painter from the Drury
Lane, London. Under his direction were produced the
spectacular plays of "Alladin," "Cherry and Fair Star,"
"The Children of Cyprus," "The Ice- Witch or Sun-God" and
"Faustus. " The last two had long runs. The scenery and
mounting of these pieces must have been very creditable work,
far in advance of the time. One scene in "Faustus" — Moon-
light in the Drachenfels — was a particularly memorable one.
Lamb also painted the drop-curtain, a hall of statuary with
a tesselated pavement, Shakespeare upon a pedestal in the
center. At this time, and in this place, Edwin Forrest played
his first engagement in Rochester, supported by Miss Clifton
and presented "Metamora," "Richard III," "Claude Mel-
notte," "Spartacus," "Macbeth" and "Virginius." The
price was raised to one dollar and the house was nightly
filled to the doors. The elder Booth and Henry Grattan
Plunkett also played here that season. It was in this house
that little Julia Dean made her first appearance in a minor
part of the "Last Days of Pompeii." S>e must, at that time,
have been about eleven or twelve years of age, frequently
appearing thereafter in child parts, messengers, pages, etc.
She was the daughter of the manager, Edwin Dean, and after-
ward becaine one of the greatest of American actresses. She
married Dr. Arthur Hayne, of the old South Carolina family
of that name, and retired from the stage, returning to it,
when widowed, some years later. There are many who
remember, possibly some here to-night, her great beauty,
exceeding grace of manner and winning personality, accom-
panied by a wonderfully modulated voice and great dramatic
poAver. Her greatest role was "Queen Catharine," in which
she was "every inch a queen." I saw her in that part in
Chicago in the time when her great power was at its fullest
maturity, yet still retaining her rare beauty and grace. The
impression then made will never be effaced. Another little
daughter of the manager, Edwina Dean, frequently appeared
30 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
as a danseiise between the plays, as did also Mrs. McClure's
daughter Ada, in the ever popular "Highland Fling," and
"Sailor's Hornpipe."
An old attache of this theater has told me a little
incident that is rendered the funnier by the fame
afterward achieved by its heroine. During the run of
"Alladin" Julia Dean played the young princess. The play
required the comedian, Kazrac (Billy Forrest), to consume,
at each performance, a large bowl of macaroni smoking hot.
This succulent dish was nightly prepared by the property
man in a tin pail on the green-room stove, for want of a more
convenient place, being allowed to simmer until wanted. But,
night after night, when the cue was given for the macaroni
to enter, it was missing. None knew where it went. Its
disappearance was a dark mystery, and poor Forrest's funny
act was reduced to a dumb show only. Finally a watch was
set and little Julia was found to be the culprit. The
managerial exchequer was much depleted in those days and
the inference is unavoidable that her juvenile appetite was
revenging itself upon the meager fare at home. I wonder if
the great actress, amid the echoing plaudits of half a continent,
ever recalled with a smile, a tear perhaps, those hungry child-
hood days in Rochester when she stole Kazrac 's macaroni.
Dean originally took a five years' lease of the theater,
but, after a time, the popular opposition to the drama seems
to have broken out afresh. His business ran down and he
became involved in debt. Complaining of the continued
opposition of the clergj-, he challenged them to a public dis-
cussion of the merits of the theater, the proceeds to be devoted
to charity, but no one seems to have responded. The business
continued to decline until, at the end of the third year of his
management, he gave up the contest and abandoned his lease.
In October, 1840, an amateur concert was announced at
the National Hotel, under the patronage of Judge Gardiner,
Dr. Munn and Dr. Frederic Backus, to erect a monument in
Mt. Hope to the memory of Samuel A. Cooper, a professor
of music.
In January, 1841, Sig. Blitz, the renowned sleight-of-hand
EARLIER PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS 31
performer and veutriloquist, seems to have made his first
appearance here in a series of entertainments at the National
Hotel hall, proposing, at the same time, that, he would
"during the daytime give private instructions in ventriloquism
to such citizens as desired to become proficient in the art."
In the summer of this year the Rochester City Garden was
opened on the south side of Main street, on the spot now
occupied by Palmer's block, nearly opposite North street.
Peter Palmer was the proprieter and the entertainments con-
sisted principally of music and fire-works. It was for a
long time a popular summer evening resort. One of the
earlier garden advertisements promises a concert by Williams'
Light Infantry band, and three pieces of fire-works! Tickets
12 1-2 cents, "for which a refreshment will be served."
Another, on the 4th of July, 1845, the following is the order
of the day: "At 10 o'clock the water fountain will commence
playing and continue at intervals during the day. A grand
promenade concert. At noon a fire-balloon will be sent off.
In the evening rockets will be fired at intervals, and an exhibi-
tion of fireworks, consisting of a splendid Chequer-piece, the
Signet- of Peru, Star of Independence, the Persian Glory, to
conclude with the Era of the Battle of Bunker Hill," and lest
the wild enthusiasm engendered by all these exciting causes —
the water fountain, balloon and lurid glories later on, should
incite the audience to riot, we are informed "that an efficient
posse of officers will be in attendance to preserve order."
In connection with the City Garden was a small hall used
for concerts, balls and exhibitions of various kinds. At one
time it was converted into a theater for a short season, under
the management of a man who had formerly been a machinist
in Oswego, and who was known, while here, as Isaac Merritt.
He did not make a success of the venture, and left town
heavily in debt for rent and other expenses. This man was
Isaac Merritt Singer, afterward the inventor and manu-
facturer of the Singer sewing machine, and who died in
England a few years since, worth many millions.
We now enter upon a period of increased and constantly
increasing interest, beginning with the years 1843-44. While,
by the retirement of Dean, the city was left without a
32 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
permanent playhouse, the opening of the railroads had made
traveling easier and cheaper, the young city was growing
rapidly and possibly with more of leisure; the appetite for
amusement was sharpened and consequently better patronage
was assured. Negro minstrelsy was just struggling into
existence and panoramas, dioramas, etc., illustrating a variety
of subjects, history, travel and allegory, were finding a place
in the popular taste.
About this time the temperance revival, known as the
Washingtonian movement, Avas at its height ; its impress being
very apparent in many of the entertainments offered the
public in these years. It seemed also necessary for each
advertisement to assure the people of the absolute and un-
impeachable morality of the entertainment it heralded. The
growth of the intellectual life of the community was also
evidenced in the reaching out after something that should at
once amuse, elevate and instruct. What may be termed the
"lecture era*' was about to dawn. Want of time warns me
that I must but briefly allude to many items upon which I
would gladly dwell longer.
On August 7, 1S43, Henry Russell, an English vocalist,
who possessed a voice of great sweetness, gave his first
concert, at the Eagle. His name appears several times in the
annals of the next four or five years. The "Democrat" said
on the day following his first concert, "He sings as no one
else we have ever heard can sing and probably as well as any
one else, during the present century, will sing."
On this same day Tom Thumb made his first of many
bows to a Rochester audience at the Morton House. He is
described "as 11 years old, 25 inches high and weighing 15
pounds, the smallest person that ever walked alone ; is
pleasant, agreeable, lively, intelligent and sociable." He was
certainly lively enough in after life.
In October, at the Morton House, "Mr. Williams and his
daughters will give a grand and unparalleled evening's enter-
tainment consisting of temperance songs, duets and dances."
I cannot imagine just what a temperance dance may have
EARLIER PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS 33
been like, but possibly it foreshadowed the skirt dance of the
latter end of the century.
Soon after this Mr. Winchell, the great humorist, made
his first appearance, in the ne^v hall of the Museum, with an
olio of impersonations, whims and oddities. The mention of
his name will bring up the recollection of many a hearty
laugh. On this occasion w^e read that "A young lady of
Rochester will sing a variety of songs, duets, etc." A talented
girl that, to sing a duet all by herself ! Winchell was a
frequent visitor for a number of years.
In January, 1844, came a moral exhibition, at Irving
Hall, in Smith's Arcade block, Mr. Parker's illustrations of
the Bible, Paradise Lost, Pilgrim's Progress, etc. "Mr.
Parker has been exhibiting at Batavia to crowded houses."
And now comes the Washingtouians. January 3rd we
read of a moral exhibition, at the Morton House, of "The
Reformed Drunkard," by Mr. Robinson and his assistants.
"It depicts the career of the drunkard from the fashionable
wine-cup to the alms-house. Those who wish a hearty laugh
or a hearty cry may find an opportunity to exercise their
better feelings in this respect by witnessing the waggeries
of Tom, or the pathetic appeals of the sister and wife."
Soon following, again at the Morton House, comes "a
grand astronomical, comical and moral exhibition falways
moral). Mr. Goss will exhibit, by means of a powerful optical
instrument, the most interesting and striking phenomenas of
the heavens, the sun, moon, etc. , will describe the signs of
the zodiac, also a series of diagrams exhibiting the drunkard
from his first tippling at the wine-cup down to the depths of
misery and woe, together with a large number of scriptural
views. A large number of comical diagrams will also be
introduced and a good band will be in attendance. Tickets,
one shilling, to be had at the Morton House bar."
In May a grand vocal concert, at Irving Hall, by Covert
and Dodge (Ossian E. Dodge) beginning with the "Grave of
Bonaparte," "Robin Ruff," and "Happy Land" and ending
with "The Dutchman ',s Account of His Intemperate Son."
At Concert Hall the faucet was turned on and a
34 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
temperance drama was produced entitled "The Victim of the
Cup of Woe," and anon, the Museum took up the cry with
a grand moral exhibition, which, the advertisement tells us,
"Should be visited and patronized by all of our citizens who
are in favor of putting down alcohol."
Permit me to record two further testimonials of morality.
At Concert Hall we learn of a "Grand Chemical and Moral
Diorama, showing Milan Cathedral, the Holy Sepulchre, Bel-
shazzar's Feast, etc." "R. Winter begs to inform the citizens
of Rochester that he feels proud in stating that his exhibition
stands preeminent for its moral tendencies." On July 3rd
there was a "moral concert at the Morton House, by the Twin
Sisters, the Misses Macomber. Music by Miss Clara Jane,
violinist, and Miss Emma Loraine, violincello, accompanied by
their voices. Nothing in song, word or dress can be
objectionable to the visits of the most fastidious of any
religious denomination." Lindley Murray might have
objected.
A couple of rather amusing surviv'als of this time are as
follows: "A concert in INIay, 1844, at the Morton House.
Doors open at 8, to commence at 8:30 (the people were
evidently beginning to sit up later now). Mr. Bley, first
violinist of Paris Musical Gymnasuim concerts. Mr. Willson
will preside at the piano. The seventh number on the pro-
gramme : Les Cloches, hymne du Soir piece imitative, pour
piano et violin, executed par Mr. Willson et Mr. Bley." The
French was executed whether the piece was or not !
In October, 1845, "Concert Extraordinary at Irving Hall,
Mons. Joseph Dundonie, from Paris, will give a grand concert
upon his Componeum Quintette, an instrument that has
required his personal attention for seven years in its con-
structing. Will represent a perfect band of ten instruments,
and twenty-five bells, playing upon each separately and
playing the whole together with "Bonaparte's March," and
firing minute-guns with his Quintetto, for particulars see small
bills." Would that we had a small bill!
And here come the lecturers, a few straggling pioneers in
advance of the main column, soon followed by a grand army
EARLIER PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS 35
in solid phalanx. One of the earliest was Colton, the
historian of the American Indian, about 1843. In 1844, the
Young Men's Association gave the first regular course of which
I find record. All, with the exception of Elihu Burritt, the
learned blacksmith, were citizens of Rochester. The Revs.
Dr. Shaw, Dr. Whitehouse, Edwards and F. W. Holland,
B. R. McAlpine, Dr. E. M. Moore, Professor Dewey, George
Daw^son, then editor of the "Democrat," J. W, Dwinell, Dr.
Dean, E. Peshine Smith and Thomas C. Montgomery.
Soon after in 1846-47, in the first course of the Athenaeum,
appear names a little further from home : Rev. Samuel J.
May, of Syracuse ; J. 0. Putnam and the Rev. Dr. Hosmer, of
Bufl:alo, and President Nott, of Union College. The popularity
of the institution was now assured, and, during the succeeding
ten years, each season brought its galaxy of bright stars from
the firmament of letters, theology, science, oratory and state-
craft: Lewis Cass, John A. Dix, R. H. Dana, Mark Hopkins
and Horace Greeley, in 1849. Beecher, Saxe, Dr. Pierpont,
Theodore Parker, Emerson, Horace Mann, Horatio Seymour,
E. P. Whipple, James T. Brady, Donald G. Mitchell and
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry J. Raymond, T. Starr King,
Parke Godwin, George William Curtis, Henry Giles, Wendell
Phillips, Bayard Taylor, Bishop Potter, Prof. Sillimau, John B.
Gough, Higginson, Cassius M. Clay and Fred. Douglass,
Salmon P. Chase, James Russell Lowell and Charles Sumner,
Gilmore Sims, J. S. C. Abbott and Lieutenant Maury, S. S.
Coxe, E. H. Chapin and B. P. Shillaber. Added to these were
a scientific course by Professor Boynton, on geology; by
Professor 0. M. Mitchell, six illustrated lectures on astronomy;
and six by Profesor Louis Agassiz. Pardon this long
catalogue, but it seemed worth recalling and the record in-
complete without it. Who can estimate, at its true value,
the work of that old Athenaeum in molding the thought and
intellectual life of this city? The popular lecture, as it was
then understood, has long been a thing of the past. It was
needed then and served its day faithfully and well.
The history of the early amusements w^ould not be com-
plete without some account of the traveling circus. The
36 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Broadway circus was the first to pitch its tent within our
gates, in the summer of 1840. Its announcement was
characterized by that modest verbiage that has since become
typical of the class, in testimony whereof, "Mr. CadwaUader,
a Philadelphian by birth, and styled by equestrian artists the
Colovssal Rider. This gentleman's feats is truly wonderful,
the apparent ease and grace maintained by Mr. CadwaUader
while his fiery steeds are darting around the arena, have
created the greatest sensation before the most fashionable
audiences of N. Y. Master Jno. Glenroy, the Pride of the
American Arena, and pupil of the great CadwaUader, whose
extraordinary feats on the back of his rampant steed leaves
the audience in wonder and amazement, who justly term him
the Equestrian Roscius of America." Then followed the
well remembered names of Howe's circus, with Dan Rice as
clown, Rockwell & Stones 's, with Levi J. North, the equestrian,
and Herr Cline, the rope-walker; Spalding's, Van Amburgh's,
Sand's, Rice & Lent's and Robinson's; sometimes four and
five coming in a single season. Barnum came first in 1848.
Some of the earlier circuses are advertised to appear "near
Brown's square, on the grass plat between Kent and Frank
streets," one "on the open space on North Fitzhugh street."
Falls Field became the favorite camping ground of these
Arab tourists about 1847.
Simultaneously with the beginning of the lecture era
there was a marked increase in the frequency of musical
events, as well as a distinct advance in their character and
quality. On the 21st of June, 1844, Ole Bull gave the first
of his concerts here, in Concert Hall, the price of admission
being raised to one dollar, the highest price that had yet been
charged. In the local columns of the "Democrat" we find
the following, one of its first attempts: "The concert was
Avell attended, and he did here what he has done everywhere,
astonished the natives. Like the eagle, he flies swift, soars
high and lights on lofty peaks. If any one feels competent
to write a scientific criticism of his performance here, we will
publish it. We would as soon think of criticising the sun or
EARLIER PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS 37
the tumultuous bounding of the waters of the Niagara
cataract."
Next in order came the first of many visits of those
lesser stars, the Hutchinson Family, Abby, Judson, John and
Asa, at the Morton House, with long hair, long collars, long
programmes and long vowels. In their repertoire we find
"The Old Granite State," "The Cot Where I Was Born,"
and "The Grave of Bonaparte" again. From the frequency
with which this latter piece was called into action, at this
period, we can hardly wonder that the bones of the illustrious
Corsican could find neither peace nor seclusion in a grave,
about which so much noise was made, and deserting it,
returned to France.
The next year the first troupe of Swiss Bell-Ringers, long
a favorite guild here, came to Irving Hall; this party
rejoicing in the name of Campanologian Brothers. This year
also marked the advent of negro minstrelsy, which soon won
the hearts of our fathers, entering upon a long reign of
popularity, w^hich survives in some degree to the present.
The first performance of Christy's Minstrels was given in the
Eagle Hotel assembly room. Sept. 17th, 1845. The advertise-
ment says, "Christy's far famed band of Ethiopian Minstrels,
whose concerts have been received with approbation by the
elite and fashion of the principal cities, will give selections
from the most popular operas of the day, accompanied by
banjo, tambourine, violin and bone castanets; in all of which
they are unequalled in the world."
November 24th, 1845, heralded the first appearance of
Mr. Dempster in a concert at the Eagle. Four days later he
repeated this concert, the occasion being the opening of "the
new and splendid Minerva Hall," which was located on the
east side of Main street between St. Paul and Clinton, and
became at once the scene of all the better class of entertain-
ments. This hall was burned in the disastrous conflagration
resulting from the Atlantic Cable celebration, in the autumn
of 1858, and was never rebuilt as a public hall. Dempster
returned here a number of times and was held in high regard
by our citizens, deservedly so, for, in spite of his peculiar
38 THE ROCHESTEE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
mannerisms he had a very sweet voice of great richness. He
sang popular songs, such as the "Lament of the Irish
Emigrant," "John Anderson, My Joe;" his main reliance
always being "The May Queen." All his songs were intro-
duced by funny little interpolations delivered over his
shoulder, while sitting at the piano. "The next song that I
shall have the honor to present, ladies and gentlemen, was
written by my cherished friend, Mr. Alfred Tennyson, whom
I have recently left in England. It describes the gradual
decay and premature death of a beautiful young girl. It is
entitled the ' Queen of May. ' "
In 1846, the Christy's and Dempster came again, and
also the pianist, Leopold de Meyer, and the ever popular
Martinez, with his guitar, at Irving Hall.
In 1847, the Alleghanians first came, and soon after
Henry Herz, the pianist, accompanied by Camillo Sivori, the
violinist. Sivori was the favorite pupil and acknowledged
successor of Paganini. During this past week the papers
have chronicled his death, at the age of eighty in Genoa, the
city of his birth. In 1848, the minstrels came at shorter
intervals, the panorama flourished with increased vigor, and
in August, at one of a series of concerts given by Miss Julia
Hill, of this city, under the direction of her father, a teacher
of music, Master Theodore Thomas, then known as a juvenile
prodigy, was the extra attraction.
During this time of progress in musical art there is little
to record in a dramatic way. Mr. H. P. Grattan, a member
of the London Dramatic Author's Association, made an
attempt, with the opening of 1845, to revive Dean's theater
under the name of "The Dramatic Saloon," but with no
stronger attraction than himself and Mrs. Madison in leading
parts the effort was a short-lived one. The next year another
futile attempt was made, in the same house, under the manage-
ment of John S. Potter with a fair company, playing a variety
of light plays, after which a season of tragedy with Mr. A. A.
Adams in leading parts and again it failed. Another short
season was played at the Exchange Street place, under the
direction this time of J. H. Powell, ending once more in
EARLIER PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS 39
disaster after playing a few minor stars, and then, this house
drops entirely ont of view.
The same summer, 1848, a new theater was fitted up in
the Enos Stone building on South St. Paul Street, just south
of Main, a site that has been eontinuou.sly occupied for this
purpose under different names, from that time until the
present. This theater was much larger and more conveniently
arranged. The first building was burned during an engage-
ment of Mr. Wallack, on the night of November 6th, 1869.
It was immediately rebuilt by its owner, Judge Finck, of
Brooklyn, and was again burned in February, 1801, the
present Cook's Opera House having since been erected on the
same site. It was first opened in Christmas week, 1848, by
Carr & Warren, then also managers of the Buffalo Theater,
for a short mid-winter season. They continued to be the
lessees for several years, bringing their Buffalo company here
for two or three brief seasons each year, and playing also a
few of the better class of stars.
It may be interesting to explain, for the benefit of some
of our younger members, that the dramatic combination com-
panies, traveling across the country at the present day, were
then unknov.n. Each regular theater had a full stock com-
pany, orchestra and working-force of its own, stage manager,
scene painters, carpenters and property-men. These com-
panies varied in numbers and strength according to the
patronage, and were made up of a number of actors, each of
whom was supposed to be proficient in some particular line
of character, which was indicated by recognized technical
names, as, for instance, leading man, leading lady, leading
juvenile, first old man, first old lady, heavy man (who did
the villains), first and second comedy, soubrette, or "singing
chambermaid," chorus and "general utility," i. e., available
for all classes of minor parts. To these were usuallj'- added
one or two forlorn little waifs, who did sleepy duty Avhen the
piece required a child part. These distinctions, then rigidly
observed, have been vrell-nigh obliterated by the modern
methods. The stars of that time came alone, relying solely
upon the support of the local company. The poor stock
40 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
actor then had frequently to study, dress from his own pro-
fessional wardrobe, and perform six or seven new parts each
week of the season. The minor parts, chorus and super-
numeraries were dressed from a stock wardrobe that formed a
part of the belongings of every theater. When, as was
frequently the case, the resources of the wardrobe were
limited in quantity, and equally limited in quality, the effect
produced upon the scene represented was often grotesque
and comical in the extreme.
Each season began with the best star attractions obtain-
able, and later, as the interest waned, there followed several
weeks of spectacular pieces and plays performed exclusively
by the stock, finally dwindling down to a few nights of
complimentary benefits to each member of the regular com-
pany in rotation, and the stage artisans, the terms of engage-
ment being usually so much per week in the way of salary,
and a half-clear benefit (one-half of the box office proceeds of
the night), at the end of the season.
The stock company brought here by Carr & Warren was
a good one, Avith Mr. Perry as leading man, Mr. Crisp, Ben
Rogers, Dan IMarble, Billy Forrest and others. The first
stars that they played were Mr. and Mrs. James W. Wallack,
the plays "Macbeth," "Othello," "Richard III," "Hamlet,"
"Romeo and Juliet," "The Hunchback," "Merchant of
Venice," "Werner" and "The Stranger." Following this
engagement Barney Williams gave a week of Irish comedy;
C. D. Pitt, a week of legitimate drama and tragedy; Mrs.
Farren, a week, and then Julia Dean, who was now coming
into fame, appearing in "The Wife," "Evadne," "Fazio,"
"Lucretia Borgia," "Jane Shore," "The Hunchback," and
"The Taming of the Shrew." In the next winter season
George Ryer and LefiingAvell, both excellent actors, appear
added to the stock. Among the stars are the names of Miss
Dufi:', Mrs. Farren, again, Edwin Eddy, Mr. and Mrs. Pitt, Mrs.
Mossop, The Wallacks and others. At other times the young
actresses, Susan and Kate Denin, Susan, then scarcely more
than a child, we find playing "Richard III," one night and
Pauline, in the "Lady of Lyons," the next. Then came J. R.
EARLIER PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS 41
Scott, Miss Kimberly in higher comedy, Mrs. Wilkinson in
tragedy, Mr. Couldock and Eliza Logan.
For several seasons Louisa Pray, a younger sister of
Mrs. Florence, was engaged as a danseuse, appearing between
the plays. Beginning on the 16th of February, 1852, Char-
lotte Cushman played a crowded engagement of a week in
this house, presenting "Guy Mannering" (her greatest
character was "Meg Merrilies"), "As You Like It," "Lady
Macbeth," "The Stranger," "Pauline," "Romeo," and
"Queen Catherine." Some weeks later Lola Montez, then at
the zenith of her somewhat questionable fame, played six
nights (the matinee was then unheard of) and then the new
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" had a long run. The theater now
became known as the "Metropolitan," and later passed under
the management of Mr. C. T. Smith.
J. R. Scott, the Marsh family of juveniles, Frank Chan-
frau in "Toodles," Eddy, the Denins, Mrs. McClure, and a
season of dilute English opera by Caroline Richings were the
attractions. The next April Mr. W. J. Florence first came
with "Paddy Miles' Boy," "The Irish Lion," and similar
Irish farce comedies. By his great ability as an actor in a
new and very amusing school, as well asHay his many amiable
and lovable qualities as a man, he soon made for himself a
v/arm place in the affections of very many of our citizens, a
place that he ever occupied until the day of his death.
"Where be your gibes now? Your gambols? Your songs? Your
flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar?"
While we have been thus occupied with the growth of
the new theater, it must not be inferred that the little public
halls wer^e idle. The attractions were multiplying so rapidly
that we can now only hope to notice briefly some of the most
interesting. In June, 1845, the "connoisseurs and amateurs
of Rochester and vicinity are respectfully informed that a
collection of ancient oil paintings by old masters is now open
for exhibition and sale at the Mechanic's Hall, State street,
comprising specimens from the pencils of Reubens, Salvator
Rosa, Albreclit Durer and others." Probably there were more
by "others."
42 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The first pugilistic entertainment appears on the bills of
1848, soft gloves in those days, no doubt! Dr. Valentine, the
celebrated humorist. The Viennoise children, a charming
exhibition of fancy dancing, at the Blossom House assembly
room. Rembrandt Peale's great picture of "The Court of
Death." Professor Wise's first balloon ascension. A
Shakespearean reading by Fanny Kemble Butler, at Concert
Hall. A long season of the Aztec Lilliputians at Minerva
Hall. Bayne's Voyage to Europe, one of the finest panoramas
ever painted. Powers' great statue, "The Greek Slave," at
Concert Hall. Dick Sliter's and the original Campbell's
minstrels. A very interesting evening at Minerva Hall, by
Dr. Colton, illustrating in detail the, then new, magnetic
telegraph. A line was built around the hall with several
stations, and the whole method of sending and receiving
messages was explained. These were a few of the items of
interest, with which the "Forties" closed. About this time
the largely increased German population naturally felt the
need of some place of amusement distinctively their own. A
modest frame building was erected in the German quarter, on
the east side of North Clinton street. It was built by the
society knoAvn as the Turnverein, and was occupied frequently
for musical and gymna.stic entertainments, generally followed
by dancing, and for dramatic performances, usually on
Sunday evenings. This structure, commonly known at "Lemon
Hill," has since been replaced by the present Germania Hall.
We now come to the most interesting event in the history
of the public amusements of this city, the building and opening
of Corinthian Hall. Early in the year 1849, a number of
small buildings occupying a low space in the rear of the
Arcade were pulled down and the new structure erected by
William A. Reynolds, Henry Searle being the architect and
designer. With the exception of the north the walls stand
to-day as then built. Entrance to the hall was had by means
of the first flight of stairs from Exchange place, located as at
present, thence through a long hallway extending the length
of the building and dividing into two stairways, to the right
and left, that led up to landings, from which the audience
EARLIER PUBLIC AJVIUSEMENTS 43
room was entered by doorways on either side of the stage, so
that one came into the hall facing the audience instead of
from the rear, as is common. The floor was on a level, seated
with movable settees, while, extending around the outside of
the hall, were six rows of raised sofas, each tier a little higher
than those in front. The stage was a simple platform, at the
back of which was a shallow recess or alcove, curtained mid-
way from floor to ceiling with red damask portieres supported
by a gilded cornice. At the back of the stage stood two
superbly modeled Corinthian columns, copied from those of
the tomb of Lysicrates, one of the purest and most beautiful
examples of Greek art. The building was originally called
"The Athenaeum,"' but on the day before the opening upon
consultation with some of the leauiug citizens, ]\[r. Reynolds
decided to christen it Corinthian Hall, the name being sug-
gested by the aforementioned columns. The second floor of
the building was occupied, on the right as you ascended the
stairs, by the reading room and library of the Athenaeum, and
on the left by the law library, offices and by historic "No. 7,"
a room for many years redolent with very many delightful
memories. It was the private office and parlor of Mr.
Reynolds. It was tastefully furnished and decorated with
pictures and the very air breathed the generous hospitality of
its genial host. Into this cozy little retreat the favored few
were almost nightly invited, after the entertainment upstairs,
lecture or concert, was over, to meet the reigning star or stars
of the evening and pass an hour, sometimes, it may be said,
several hours, in social intercourse, music, song and story. It
is only a memory noAV. Few of the younger generation have
heard of it. but to such as were among the fortunate ones, the
recollection and associations of "Number Seven" will ever
linger, recalling delightful hours. The hall had a seating
capacity of about eleven or twelve hundred, as shown by the
diagram, but when, as was often the case at popular lectures
and great occasions, Mr. Reynolds and his faithful lieutenants,
Fleming and old Charlie Cazeau, had packed with stools every
aisle and the space around the outside of the hall and in front,
up to the very doors, sometimes the platform itself, it then
44 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
held 1,500 and even 1,600 souls. With every foot thus packed
and with only those two doors for exit, and the narrow turning
stairways it was through Divine mercy alone that there was
never an alarm of fire or a panic in the building in those days,
else Rochester would have been called upon to mourn hundreds
of its bravest and fairest.
The hall was opened with an evening of formal dedication
on June 28, 1849. From that day it became the scene of all
the leading entertainments. The smaller halls were deserted,
one after another closed and was forgotten, or at least fell
into "innocuous desuetude." To give anything like a
chronological summary of the entertainments of which this
hall was the theater, during the years that followed, would be
impossible in the space allotted to me. Only the briefest
mention of a few of the most notable events is all that can
be attempted, and I shall be done.
One of the earliest memorable happenings, associated as
it is with Rochester's histoiw, was the first public exposition
of spirit-rappings, "the Rochester Knockings," as it was
called elsewhere, on November 14, 1849,
The month of July, 1851, was one that must always be
printed in red letters in the musical annals of this city. In
the first week came the first grand concert, except Ole Bull's,
that had ever been given here, by Madame Anna Bishop, accom-
panied by several lesser lights. Her fame had preceded her
to such an extent that on her arrival, the day before the
concert, she was met at the cars by the mayor in his official
capacity, and escorted to her hotel. The concert consisted,
so says the advertisement, of "selections from opera, partly
in costume," a precedent that has been closely followed by
some of our modern light opera companies, if we may believe
the posters. The second week was marked by another grand
concert, by Madame Theresa Praodi, under the management of
the veteran impressario, Maurice Strakosch. This was his
initial venture here and he was so pleased with his reception
that Rochester became one of his favorite stands and hither
he brought, in the years to come, all of his attractions.
Strakosch appeared himself in this programme, as did also his
EARLIER PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS 45
wife, Mme. Amalia Strakoseh, the eldest of the gifted Patti
family. The tickets were placed, for the first time, at two
dollars. The house was rather a slim one, although an edi-
torial next day informs us that the "audience seemed pleased
with all the pieces." A repetition was given the next evening,
at which the price was reduced to one dollar and the house
was filled.
After this followed another concert by the irrepressible
Hutchinsons, by way of contrast, and then, the third week of
the month was ushered m by the greatest musical event in
our history, the two concerts, on the 22nd and 24th of July,
by Jenny Lind, fresh from her unprecedented triumphs in
New York. She arrived on the 21st, leaving the cars at the
foot of Goodman street, we learn, in order to avoid the
troublesome throng of sightseers and was driven by a round-
about way to the Eagle Hotel. The price of tickets was fixed
at $2, $3 and $4. They were placed on sale in a store on
State street. No. 56, near the corner of Market, a high board
fence having been erected across the sidewalk to the ticket
window. A mad struggle for seats ensued and every ticket
was soon sold. So much dissatisfaction resulted on the part
of the disappointed ones that the sale oi_ seats for the second
concert was had by auction in the hall on the intervening day,
high premiums being paid in many eases for choice. The great
singer was accompanied by the pianist, Otto Goldschmidt,
whom she afteru^ard married, by Joseph Burke, the great
violinist, and by Belletti, tenor. She sang "Come to Him,"
from the Messiah, an aria from "Somnambula," duo from
Rossini, with Belletti, "The Bird's Song," "Comin' thro' the
Rye," and her celebrated "Echo Song," in which she has never
been approached.
On the second evening she sang an aria from "Der Frei-
schutz," "Casta Diva," from "Norma," the "Tyrolean Duet,"
with Belletti, the "Gipsy Song," "Mountaineer's Song," and
"Home Sweet Home." Both evenings were hot and the
windows of the hall were, of coTirse, all open. The narrow
streets about the building were densely packed and we read
that every window in the neighborhood, rented at high
46 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
prices, appeared to be a frame of human faces, while even
the roofs of the adjacent buildings were crowded with people.
So anxious were they to catch every note of the great canta-
trice that the silence of this vast throng was so profound as to
be almost painful. It is also seriously said that the "Echo
Song" was distinctly heard at the corner of Clinton and
Andrews streets and again on Elm street. There were no
trolleys then! On the day between the two concerts Jenny
Lind was induced to visit the studio of Appleby, in the
Arcade, where her daguerreotype was taken by that artist.
If that picture is still in existence it should be owned by the
Historical Society. After each concert the fair singer, about
whom the town was fairly mad, was called out upon the
balcony of the Eagle again and again and gracefully bowed
her acknowledgements to the enthusiastic and cheering
thousands.
There is an interesting fact in connection with the history
of the second concert, one with which, probably, very few
are familiar. The premium realized from the sale of the
seats, over and above the regular price of the tickets, was pre-
sented by Jenny Lind to the charities of the city. It
amounted to a little over $2,500, and was distributed among
the Female Charitable Society, the Rochester Orphan Asylum,
the Catholic Orphan Asylum, Home for the Friendless, German
Lutheran Church, and the Cartmen's and Firemen's Benevolent
Associations. The Female Charitable Society received the
largest amount. $800, and this sum formed the foundation of
the permanent endowment of that noble charity. For a
number of years it was kept separately and was known as
the Jenny Lind fund, but it was finally merged in the
permanently invested endowment of the society. So that, in
each of the forty-three years that have elapsed since that
concert, a number of the deserving poor and sick of our city
have received benefit and relief therefrom and will continue
to do so through all the years to come. It is a noble and
lasting monument to the memory of that gifted artiste.
Passing, rapidly now, over the first appearance of Matilda
Heron and Sir William Don. in October a brilliant concert by
EARLIER PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS 47
Catharine Hayes, in November, we come to a concert by the
wonderful Miss Greenfield, the Black Swan. The fame
achieved by her in the east had reached here, and a card was
published inviting her to appear in Rochester, signed by
Levi A. Ward, D. M. Dewey, M. F. Rej^nolds, Freeman Clarke,
Wm. H. Perkins, Isaac Butts and others. In response to this
call she sang here May the 8th. Following, came the first
troupe of Bohemian Glass Blowers, Whipple's Dissolving
Views, just coming in with the perfecting of photography;
Donetti's wonderful troupe of trained animals, which have
never to be forgotten Louis Jullien with that grand orchestra :
the strawberry festival, as a distinct function, came into life
in 1852. We come to another great concert by Ole Bull, at
Corinthian Hall this time, on the 13th of November. This
concert was under the management of Strakosch, and was
distinguished by the first appearance of Adelina Patti, then
eight years old. She sang "Comin' Thro' the Rye," several
operatic selections, and the "Echo Song." The Advertiser
chronicles the fact that "She is a better singer than nine-
tenths of the grown ladies that have sung in public," and
predicts a future for her.
The next week a grand concert b/Madame Emma Bost-
wick, assisted by Henri Appy, late solo violinist to the king of
Holland. The advertisement says, "Appy is unquestionably
a violinist of talent, but he lacks that refined finish which time
and study will give him." Time and study have certainly
fulfilled that prophecy. On December 2nd came the great
Madame Marietta Alboni with Arditi. At a delightful concert
given the February following, by one who long held a secure
place in the hearts of all Rochesterians, Miss Marion Mc-
Gregor, Joseph Burke, the violinist, again appeared, and, in
June, under the lead of Strakosch, came a memorable evening
of song, Madame Steffenone, whose career was as brilliant as
it was brief, assisted by Amalia Patti and the youthful
violinist, Paul Julien, then but eleven years old.
From this date until the time that I have fixed in my
mind as a stopping point, the Siamese Twins came and went —
48 THE ROCHESTEK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
together. P. T. Barnum gave a lecture for the benefit of the
Female Charitable Society. Lola Montez lectured. The Peak
Family of Swiss Bell Riugers appeared on the scene. Mrs.
Macready gave a dramatic reading, and Bronson Alcott was
heard in a transcendental exposition of "The Thusness of the
May Be," or some kindred phase of the Concord School of
Philosophy. Musically Ole Bull and Patti came twice, Little
Adelina's skirts a little longer now and her voice growing in
sweetness and power. The close of 1853 brought Madame
Sontag with Paul Julien and Rocco. The next year came the
never to be forgotten Louis Jullien, with that grand orchestra ;
Burke again, this time accompanied, his first appearance here,
by Richard Hoffman, the pianist of our day. Then Parodi,
twice again. Adelaide Phillips came soon after in one of her
many farewell tours, which she continued until a very
advanced age. This was closely followed by Madame La-
Grange, with her first came Louis Gottschalk, that breaker of
strings and hearts; Dempster's last visit; the Pyne &
Harrison Opera Company, in July. 1856 ; then Thalberg, and
to a more masterly touch than his, the ivory key never
responded. He was accompanied by Theresa Parodi, Madame
Patti, Nicola and Mollenhauer. That was an evening to be
remembered ! The record of this line of artists closes with
the graceful outline, the sweet face, and the superb, resonant
voice of Piccolomini, on the 16th day of February, 1859.
While we have thus lingered for several years in Ex-
change place, the drama was slowly but surely increasing its
foothold in the St. Paul street house, the Metropolitan, under
the successive management of Forrest & Co., Henry Grattan
Plunkett and, finally, Wellington Meech ; Charlotte Crampton,
the Zavistowski troupe of children in spectacular plays, the
Keller troupe, whose magnificent series of tableaux vivants,
set upon a gigantic revolving platform, have never been
surpassed, in this country at least, the superb Shower of Gold
and the Bridge of the Amazons, in bronze, stand out as clear
cut as the recollection of last night's dream. The Florences,
now playing "Toodles," "The Serious Family" and "Born to
Good Luck." Maggie Mitchell in her pre-Fanchon days, in
EARLIER PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS 49
the "Wept of the Wish-ton-wish," sauc}^ "Nan, the Good for
Nothing," "The Pet of the Petticoats," "Satan in Paris,"
and "The French Spy." Mr. Neafie in "Richelieu" and the
"Corsican Brothers." The first appearance of Edwin Booth
in all those roles which he so long clothed with the personality
of his great genius, the highest realization of American art.
Matilda Heron came in Camille, that first venture, on this side
of the ocean, into the clouded region of the modern French
school. Then, again the great Cushman poured forth the
rapturous w'ooings of Romeo beneath Juliet's balcony and
again, as the weird and wrinkled Meg Merrilies, proclaimed
"Bertram's right and Bertram's might on Ellangowan's
height."
This is a remarkable record truly, differing vastly from
those crude beginnings in the old Carroll street barn and
causing even Dean's achievements to be lost to view. Yet,
when all is said and the record closed, the greatest interest and
the fondest recollections gather, and must ever center, while
memory lingers, to the generation that is passing rapidly
noM^ from the scene, within the precincts of the old Corinthian
Hall.
I very much doubt if anywhere in "the world, certainly
not in America, there are four walls standing, within which,
at one time or another, have been seen and heard so many
people distinguished in every branch of art, science, letters.
Many of the great opera houses of the world have held more
great singers, many theaters, more great players, many parlia-
ments and senates, more great orators, but when we reflect
that across that narrow platform, for more than a quarter of
a century, every school of thought and action sent its choicest
interpj'eters, the story of those years is truly a wonderful one.
Since I have been engaged upon this w^ork, the wish has
come to me many times that, with the potent wand of some
mighty magician, we might conjure up from their resting
places in the four quarters of the globe such of that long
procession as have passed from the theater of human action,
smooth away the wrinkles and the frosts of age from the
brows of such as are still upon the scene of their triumphs,
50 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
and, constructing the setting of a vast scene, builded of the
"stuff that dreams are made of," marshal in review, once
more, all together in one grouping, that mighty host, singers
and musicians, kings and queens of tragedy, sons and
daughters of comedy, orators, soldiers, poets, statesmen, for
one night only! the management confidently expressing the
belief that such a bill was never before offered to a favored
public ! The audience re-peopled largely from that shadowy,
silent land, are in their places. As the curtain rises upon the
opening overture the leader's baton is taken up by Julian and
Arditi, Gilmore and Thomas, for no one conductor dare handle
so large an orchestra. At a tier of grand pianos sit Thalberg,
Gottschalk, Leopold de Meyer, Wehli, Anna Mehlig, Von
Bnlow and Rubinstein. We glance along the row of first
violins to see that Ole Bull, Vieuxtemps, Sivori, Burke,
Camilla Urso, With elm j, Wienawski and Aippy are in their
places. Levy and Arbuckle hold their cornets ready for the
first note. Ryan's silvery head is seen bending above his
clarionet, while back of these, are massed Dodsworth's,
Jnllien's and Gilmore 's bands, Thomas' orchestra, the Mendel-
ssohns and the old Philharmonics. The batons wave and
then, there bursts forth a flood of the grandest harmony that
the world has ever heard.
When this is done the orchestra retires and a simple
reading desk is discovered, with branching gas-fixtures on
either side, framing the figure of the speaker, while back of
it, ranged in concentric semi-circles, sit the lecturers. Each
orator must be limited by time to a single paragraph or
epigram, each poet to a single couplet, and, as it is uttered,
the speaker retires, until but one is left, one whose memory
will be cherished while the English tongue is spoken. A
strong, sad, thoughtful face, hair and beard marked with
silvering lines, an eye full of sympathetic, human kindliness.
In his button-hole he wears a red rose and in his hand is a
ribbon-marked volume. He opens it and reads and — again,
we wander and lose our way on English meadows with Little
Nell — again, with Pickwick we keep Yule-tide festival at
]\Ir. Wardle's — Sam Weller and Bob Sa^vyer and the
Marchioness have a new meaning for us now and ever after,
EARLIER PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS 51
and we reverently bow our heads to the benediction of Tiny
Tim — "a Merry Christmas to us all ! God bless us, every one !"
The scene shifts. It is Commencement Day and we see
the stalwart and venerated form of the old President, majestic
in cap and gown, presenting little ribbon-tied rolls of parch-
ment, accompanied by wise words of counsel, to a group of
fledgelings before him, as they are about to go forth to
conquer the earth.
As this scene fades, the benches are cleared away, the
audience walking about, wear the costumes of thirty years ago,
the outer circumference of the hall is lined with a brilliant row
of richly decorated booths, in which appear a Congress of
Nations, in bright costumes, the flower of Rochester's life in
'63. It is the Soldier's Bazaar.
Again the floor is cleared, the booths have vanished and
in their stead are long rows of tables ranged through the hall
groaning beneath a weight of viands. The lady managers
of the hospital board seem to be in charge. Yes, with tin box
before her, at her little table yonder, near the door, sits the
treasurer, receiving the willing offerings to our favorite
charity. Captain Updike and Ham. Scrantom are sharpening
their carving knives, a bevy of pretty waitresses, in
coquettish caps and aprons, are in attendance, and the gentle-
men are coming in to spoil the symmetry of those fair tables.
Ah, how many shoals of oysters, how many flocks of turkeys,
what frost-covered mountains of cake, what vast glaciers
of ice-cream were here consumed for sweet Charity's sake!
Now the tables are cleared, and, pouring in through the
open doors, in motley groups with shout and song, come the
merry maskers of the Maennerchor times — knights and harle-
quins, queens and peasants, Gambrinus and die Lorelei.
Meyering leads the music and the dance is on.
As these sounds of revelry die on the ear, the audience is
again seated — the curtain rises on a single scene of tragedy
(for it must be getting late), with Forrest, Booth, Davenport,
Wallack, Barrett and Salvini, Ristori and Jannauscheck,
queenly Scott Siddons and Adelaide Neilson in the cast. Now
comes a bit of comedy, in which Maggie Mitchell's shadow-
dance and the mad pranks of quaint, winsome little Lotta
52 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
seem strangely interwoven with the Irish wit of Paddy Miles 's
Boy, and the droll philosophy of lazy Rip, in the village of
Falling Waters.
Now that grand orchestra once more take their places
and all is in readiness for the final chorus, which shall call into
force the entire resources of this company of dream-children.
Forth they come, from the misty world far beyond, through
those familiar, faded hangings of red damask — Jenny Lind and
Parodi, Alboni and LaGrange, Anna Bishop and Piccolomini,
Isabella Hinkley and Steffenone, Christine Nilsson and Kellogg
and Sontag. Then appears the generous form of Parepa with
Zelda Seguin, led out by Castle and Sher, Campbell and
Adelina Patti, staying with sisterly tenderness, the faltering
steps of Carlotta. Here are Brignoli and Susini, Mario,
Santley, Karl Formes, Campanini and Wachtel — until there is
no longer room, even upon the stage of a dream. The
musicians tune their instruments, again the baton falls, and,
after the preliminary crash of the orchestra, there wells forth
such a divine melody as hath not been since "the morning
stars sang together. ' ' The rolling tone-waves of the orchestra,
as from the stops of some celestial organ and, high over all,
the liquid sweetness of the Casta Diva — the plaintive cadence
of the A' on ti scordar of Brignoli 's Miserere, fading away to
give place to the "Last Rose of Summer," as Parepa, Castle,
Campbell and Seguin come forAvard (who that heard it, will
ever forget that last night of Martha?) Finally, all this
melody merges and blends into one grand anthem, such as one
might wish to hear when taking leave of earth, now as sweet
as the rippling music of summer brooks, now rising and
swelling, in giant crescendo, into surging, tumultuous billows
of sound.
But, far too long, I fear, have I trespassed upon your
patience; far too long have I kept the poor ghosts of these
memories before you, and will dismiss them. As they vanish
into the mists, of which they were born, the lights burn dim.
Obedient to the prompter's bell, the curtain slowly falls. The
last notes of the music die away. The faltering echoes come
fainter — and fainter still — and are lost — the play is done.
Rochester; Its Founders and
Its Founding
By HOWARD L. OSGOOD
Read before The Rochester Historical Society, April 13, 1894
A distinction must be made between the first settlers
within the present limits of our city and those who actually
established it as a settlement. The first white settler on the
site of Rochester was undoubtedly Ebenezer Allan, a man whose
repute appears to have been wholly disrepute, and therefore
is best when unknown. Before 1812, a few settlers lived near
the Genesee Falls, but they certainly made no effort to estab-
lish a village, and had no influence upon the events here
chronicled.
The persons who first planned a village here and induced
settlers to immigrate to it, were Nathaniel Rochester, William
Fitzhugh and Charles Carroll. The story of the manner in
which these men became interested in the site of Rochester
has been told many times, but, until now, was never, so far as
the writer is aware, compiled from contemporary documents,
independent of human memory.
The three gentlemen just mentioned were men of high
character, accustomed to large business transactions.
Nathaniel Rochester was born in Westmoreland county,
Virginia, on February 21, 1752. At the age of 16, his father
having died and his mother having remarried, he was
employed by a merchant at Hillsborough, Orange county,
North Carolina, and from that time until his death was con-
stantly and actively engaged in commercial affairs. During
the Revolutionary war he was a resident of Hillsborough and
was highly honored by his fellow citizens. In 1775, being
then 23 years of age, he was a member of the committee of
safety of Orange county, a member of the first provincial
convention of North Carolina, a justice of the peace, a major
of militia (commissioned September 9, 1775), and pay master
54 THE ROCHESTER HISTORIGAL SOCIETY
of the battalion of minute men in that district (commissioned
October 20, 1775). In April, 1776, he was made lieutenant
colonel of militia and in May of the same year was elected
a member of the convention which formulated and adopted
the constitution of his state. In the same year (May 11th),
he was appointed deputy commissary general of military and
other stores in North Carolina for the use of the Continental
army with the rank and pay of colonel. A severe illness then
compelled him to retire from further service in the field. But
he was not allowed to cast off public duties, for he was
elected member of assembly, clerk of the court of Orange
county and was appointed a commissioner to establish and
superintend a manufactory of arms at Hillsborough for the
Continental array. In 1778 he became a business partner of
Colonel Thomas Hart, whose daughter afterward married
Henrj' Clay. For the following five years he was engaged in
trade in Hillsborough and in Philadelphia, and at the close
of the war he removed to Hagerstown, Maryland, where
Colonel Hart then resided, and there established a considerable
mercantile business and built and operated manufactories of
nails and of rope, besides a flour mill. His partners were,
Colonel Hart in the rope and nail business, and in the flour
mill, Captain Daniel Stull. His business operations were
extended even into Kentucky and West Tennessee. In 1788
he married Sophia Beatty of Frederick, Md. In 1790 he was
elected a member of the Maryland legislature. In the suc-
ceeding year he was appointed postmaster at Hagerstown and
in 1797 became one of the three judges of the Washington
county court. He held the postmastership until 1804, when
he resigned to accept his election as sheriff of Washington
county, and held that office until 1807, when he became the
first president of the Hagerstown bank, with all the affluence
which came from a salary of one thousand dollars a year
when applied to the support of a large family. This position
he retained as long as he lived in Maryland. In 1808 he was
appointed an elector of President and Vice-President of the
United States from Maryland. Dansville, then in Steuben,
but now in Livingston, county, N. Y., became his home in May,
FOUNDERS OF ROCHESTER 55
1810. In January, 1814, he sold his property at Dansville,
comprising a grist mill, a saw mill, seven hundred acres of
land, an interest in a wool carding shop, and the first paper
mill in Western New York, for $24,000, and moved in April,
1815, to a farm in East Bloomfield, Ontario county. In 1816
he was again appointed a presidential elector. In April, 1818,
he came to Rochester. In 1821 he succeeded in procuring
the erection of the county of Monroe and was immediately
appointed county clerk. In 1822 he sat in the New York
legislature and two years later he became the president of
the Bank of Rochester, the first bank in this city. He died
May 17, 1831, honored and lamented, having lived a life of
great service to his fellow men.
Colonel William Fitzhugh was born in Calvert county,
Maryland, October 6, 1761. He was an officer in the
Continental army under Cpjieral Nathaniel Green in his
southern campaigns ; and, for a time, he, and his brother
Peregrine, weie employed as aides on Washington's personal
staff. He afterwards drew a pension for his services. His
father's estate was on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake,
near the mouth of the Patuxent river and was much exposed
to the incursions of the enemy during the war. After the
war, Colonel Fitzhugh, having inherited a considerable
property, settled upon a large estate near Hagerstown, Mary-
land, and was elected to the legislature of that state. He
moved to the town of Groveland, Livingston county, in May,
1816, the emigrant party consisting of forty persons and
Conestoga wagons drawn by twenty-seven horses. He died
at his home, "Hampton," on December 29, 1839. He was a
hospitable, elegant, courtly, dignified. Christian gentleman.
Charles Carroll was born upon his father's estate at
Carrollsburg, Maryland (now the site of the national capital),
on November 7, 1767. He became a large land holder and a
man of extended activity in commercial matters. His home
was Bellevue, on Georgetown Heights, Maryland. He was
known as Charles Carroll of Bellevue to distinguish him from
his cousin Charles, of Carrollton. He came to the town of
Groveland, Livingston county, in the spring of 1815, and made
56 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
a new home at Williamsburg. In 1818 he was appointed
United States register of deeds for the territory of Missouri,
with an office at Franklin, and resided there for some years.
The wanton murder of his son at that place caused him to
return with his family to Williamsburg, where he lived for
the remainder of his life, and died October 28, 1823. He was
distinguished in family, honorable at all times, cultivated and
a host whose house was always open to his friends. The
family home after his death was at the "Hermitage," about
three miles south of Williamsburg.
Messrs, Carroll and Fitzhugh never lived in Rochester.
In the year 1799, Charles Carroll, of Bellevue, and his
brother, Daniel Carroll, of Duddington, made a trip of
observation through the Genesee country, but made no pur-
chase of land. In this year Colonel Peregrine Fitzhugh
moved to Geneva and a few years later made a home at
Sodus.
In the month of September, 1800, Charles Carroll, William
Fitzhugh, and Nathaniel Rochester came to Western New York,
leaving Hagerstown on horseback, followed by a mounted
nesrro servant leading a pack horse to carry their baggage.
They started for the purpose of finding a suitable country in
which to settle. Colonel Rochester had already invested in
lands in Tennessee and Kentucky and, in the summer previous
to the journey just mentioned, he had been into Ohio looking
for a free country where his family could be reared away from
the intiuences of slavery
The three friends crossed the Maryland line in Pennsyl-
vania, passed through Shippensburg and Carlisle, thence along
the road on the west bank of the Susquehanna to its juncture
with Lycoming creek, at Williamsport, and there took the
Charles Williamson road to the Genesee. They climbed the
mountains to Blossburg (then Bloss's), then passed down the
Tioga river to Painted Post, then up the Conhocton, through
Bath, crossed over to Judge Hornell's (now Hornellsville),
then through Dansville to Williamsburg. At Williamsburg
there was a small settlement, composed of a tavern and a
few houses, the remnants of Charles Williamson's projected
FOUNDERS OF ROCHESTER 57
great city. Of Williamsburg not a trace now remains ; even
its ruins are no more.
In passing through Dansville (named after Captain Dan
Faulkner), Colonel Rochester was struck with the advantages
of the water power and purchased one hundred and twenty
acres at that place, including the most desirable mill seats on
both sides of the Canaseraga.
At Willliamsburg our travelers looked across that
beautiful valley over the famous Genesee flats and were
delighted w^ith the beauty of the situation and the fertility
of the soil. Colonel Fitzhugh and Major Carroll bought of
Charles Williamson, at $2 per acre, twelve thousand acres,
lying partly on the eastern slope of the valley and partly upon
the flats on both sides of Canaseraga creek. Colonel
Rochester also purchased a small farm of four hundred acres
near the lands bought by his friends.
The friends returned to Maryland and reached Hagers-
town about the 12th of October. In 1801 Carroll and Fitz-
hugh again came to the Genesee country and made further
purchases ; Colonel Rochester set out with them, but illness
compelled him to turn back. This trip was taken between
October 7th and November 12th. In August and September,
1802, Colonel Fitzhugh and Colonel Rochester again visited
their purchases, but without Major Carroll.
It has been the universal statement that these three
friends purchased the One hundred Acre Tract (the nucleus
of our city), in this year, 1802, but such is not the fact. In
this year Major Carroll did not visit this region, and his own
signature appears on the contract of sale, dated November 8,
1803.
The circumstances of the purchase were as follows : About
the 7th of October, Rochester, Carroll and Fitzhugh left
Hagerstown for the Genesee, visited their former purchases,
went to Geneva to make payments at the land office, and
turned their faces homeward. But Mr. Johnston, the land
agent at Geneva, learning that they were interested in water
powers in Maryland, called their attention to the fine power
at the Genesee falls. They then agreed with him that they
58 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
would go to the upper falls and examine the property, and
would meet Mr. Johnston at Bath to give their answer.
Rochester, Carroll and Fitzhugh, coming by the rough
woods road from Canandaigua. crossed the river on horse-
back, not without trepidation, at the slippery ford a little
north of the present mill dam.
The upper falls (or rather an extended cascade) stretched
across the river about where the aqueduct is now situated,
and were of a total vertical height of about fourteen feet.
They were blasted away to make room for the aqueducts
and a water passage under them and there is now only a
continuous rapids. On the west side of the river, extending
up stream from the top of the falls, was a small island
separated from the west bank by a narrow channel, thus
providing a natural race-way. From this channel the water
was led in a rude flume to the old Allan mill on the flats
below. Ebenezer Allan, in the fall of 1789, had built two
mills, first a saw mill and second a grist mill. The spring
freshet of 1803 had carried away the saw mill and had
seriously undermined the grist mill.
Our travelers rode through the forest along the portage
leading to King's landing, below the lower falls, until they
looked down upon the old mill, now almost in ruins, and,
descending the sloping bank entered the little log house
under the present site of E. R. Andrews's printing house.
The mill was inhabited then only by the ubiquitous rattle-
snake, whose meditations were seldom interrupted except by
some settler Avhose family had become tired of the continuous
succession of pork and mush, hominy and bacon, and had
demanded a feast of real wheat bread.
No more than one-half an acre was cleared of the trees;
the stumps still remained ; and the tangle of briars, grape
vines and saplings in the clearing was broken only by the
narrow and thorny path to the mill. What a scene of
desolation ! An abandoned log house, the roof broken in, the
door awry, Avild raspberry shoots obstructing the entrance,
and a rattlesnake to greet the traveler. Inside the building
were the little mill stones, and the primitive, dilapidated
FOUNDERS OF ROCHESTER
59
machinery ; the floor was broken and decayed ; and the
porcupines had gnawed the bunks, window sills and benches.
Under the mill was a little tub wheel, patched almost beyond
repair ; and the flume from the fall no longer held water.
Oliver Phelps bought 184,320 acres from the Indians for a
mill lot: of this amount Allan obtained 100 acres to build
PORTAGE ALONG RIVER
the mill upon ; and one half an acre was more than enough
to clear, both for the foundation and for the timber to build
the mill.
But these travelers had not come to examine the aesthetics
of the place. They found a fall capable of producing great
power and easy to adapt to commercial purposes. The land
near the river was elevated above the ordinary stages of
water, there were two great falls lower down the river,
settlements were advancing to the neighborhood, and there
60 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
seemed to be evidence that the water power and the one
hundred acres of land would be worth the $1,750 at which
they were offered. They decided to purchase the mill lot;
and then and there began the germ of Rochester.
The friends left the mill and, returning to the portage,
traveled along the west side of the river to King's (now Han-
ford's) landing and arranged with Gideon King to care for
the mill in consideration of having its use. They then turned
back and traveled through New Hartford, Big Tree, Williams-
burg and Dansville, to Bath. At Bath they met Mr. John-
ston and, on November 8, 1803, an agreement was there
executed, between Mr. Johnston, as the agent (under Robert
T^oup) for Sir William Pulteney, on the one part, and Carroll,
Fitzhugh and Rochester, on the other part. That agreement
is as follows :
A CONTRACT, Made the eighth day of November, in the year
one thousand eight hundred and three — Between Charles Carroll,
Willia-m Fitzhugh, and Nathaniel Rochester, of the county of
Washington, and state of Maryland, esquires, of the first part — and
Sir William Pulteney, of the county of Middlesex, in the united
kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, baronet, by John Johnston,
his attorney, by virtue of a Letter of Substitution bearing date the
first day of February, in the year one Thousand eight hundred and
two, from Robert Troup, esquire, the attorney of the said Sir William
Pulteney, by virtue of a letter of attorney, bearing date the 29th day
of July, in the year one thousand eight hundred and one, and
recorded in the secretary's office of the state of New York, in lib.
deeds endorsed M. R. N., page 409, etc., of the second part, as
follows, (to wit) First — ^The said Sir William Pulteney agrees to sell
to the said Charles Carroll, William Fitzhugh, and Nathaniel
Rochester all that certain tract of land in township number one in
the short range on the west side of the Genesee river in the county
of Genesee (late Ontario) and state of New York, being the tract
commonly known and designated as the Genesee falls mill lot and
containing one hundred acres together with all the privileges and
advantages of the waters thereon and tbe mills thereon erected.
Secondly — The said Charles Carroll, William Fitzhugh and
Nathaniel Rochester agree to pay for the said tract of land and mills
the sufli of one thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars in manner
following, (that is to say) the sum of three hundred and fifty dollars
on the first of May next and the remainder in four equal annual pay-
ments thereafter with interest from the first day of May next.
Thirdly — The said William Pulteney agrees that immediately
after the full payment of the said purchase money, in manner above
particularly appointed, he the said Sir William Pulteney will execute,
and cause to be delivered to the said Charles Carroll, William Fitz-
hugh and Nathaniel Rochester a good and sufficient warranty deed
for the said tract of land and mills, with the appurtenances.
FOUNDERS OF ROCHESTER 61
In witness whereof, the said party of the first part, and the said
Sir William Pulteney, by his said attorney, John Johnston, by virtue
of the letter of substitution aforesaid, have hereunto set their hands
and seals, on the day and in the year first above written.
Sealed and delivered in the presence of John Taylor.
(ENDORSED)
It is agreed by the parties to the within contract that in case
the within mentioned mills are destroyed by fire or any other casualty
the loss arising therefrom shall be borne wholly by the said Charles
Carroll, William Fitzhuigh and Nathaniel Rochester and in no degree
by Sir Willia/Hi Pulteney.
^ N. ROCHESTER
CH. CARROLL
WM. FITZHUGH
Having concluded these arrangements, they traveled home-
ward, reaching Hagerstown about November 20th. On this
trip they were accompanied by a young Mar^lander named
Thomas Begole, who, in the following spring, was sent back to
the Genesee country by Colonel Rochester to take charge of
property there. He was instructed to go to the Falls in order
to see that the mill was properly cared for by Mr. King, but
finding that King had died, he put Salmon Fuller in charge.
Fuller made sufficient repairs upon the mill to be able to
operate it and occupied it in 1805, In 1806 the mill was
destroyed, either by a fire or a freshet, and Mr. Fuller in-
continently took the mill stones and machinery to his own
new mill on Irondequoit creek. The mill is gone; even its
site is buried; the rattlesnake has departed; but the mill
stones came back and are still with us.
62 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The three proprietors of the One Hundred Acre Tract
remained in Maryland for several years without visiting their
Genesee property. In the spring of 1809, however, Colonel
Rochester came to Dansville to make arrangements for
removing his family to that place, and brought with him his
sons, William B. and John C. Rochester. His saw mill and
grist mill were to be repaired and put in condition for active
operation, a paper mill was to be furnished and his farm
needed care. The father soon returned to Maryland, but left
his sons in charge of his property until autumn.
On March 30th, in this year, the legislature of New York
passed an act providing for the "building of a bridge across
the Genesee river between the towns of Boyle and Northamp-
ton at the place where the north state road crosses the said
Genesee river," and authorizing the supervisors of Ontario
and Genesee counties to raise the sum of two thousand dollars
($2,000), for that purpose; one half to be raised in 1809 and
one-half in 1810.
In May, 1810, Colonel Rochester brought his family to
Dansville. Mrs. Carroll and Mrs. Fitzhugh up to this time
had declined to live on the wild frontier of Western New York,
and did not give their consent to leave Maryland until four
years later.
The road from Hagerstown to Dansville was about two
hundred and seventy-five miles in length and the family were
over three weeks in reaching their destination. The train
was composed of two carriages, six or seven riding horses
for the father and his sons, and two or three large baggage
wagons hauled by four horses each. With them came two
or three young men from Hagerstown, and a half dozen
negroes. The journey was arduous, not to say dangerous.
A traveler who had passed over this road across the mountains
only a few years before, had recorded that it was so poorly
cut out that it looked as if the trees had been gnawed off by
beavers and that he was often in danger of being mired.
Probably at the time when Colonel Rochester was making
this journey the road had been somewhat improved, but those
of you who have traveled through a backwoods country and
FOUNDERS OF ROCHESTER 63
over corduroy bridges, have seen the propriety of providing
the horses with means of aquatic, arborial, and terrestrial
locomotion.
The caravan finally reached Dansville in safety, except
that one teamster was thrown from his wagon in crossing the
mountains and was killed. The survivors reached Dansville
on June 10th, 1810, and the family put up at Stout's tavern
until their home should be prepared.
After Colonel Rochester's arrival in Dansville, the settle-
ment of his family and the details of conducting his business
took his time to the exclusion of attention to the Falls
property, and during the remainder of this year his sawmill,
grist mill, paper mill and wool-carding shop made such heavy
drafts upon his purse and his time that he became discouraged
about his ability to retain his interest in the Falls lot and
offered to sell it to his friend Carroll, but Major Carroll
magnanimously declined to buy, saying: "Hold on and it's
an estate for any man."
Colonel Rochester in reply wrote to Charles Carroll.
"Dansville, January 13, 1811 I return
you my sincere thanks for your advice to keep my Genesee
Falls estate. I am aware of the growing value of that
property and although I am not so sanguine as you are about
its future value, yet I believe the time is not distant when it
will be worth $15,000 or $5,000 a share. I have been applied
to for building lots there and there is no doubt of there soon
being a village there and much business done if lots could be
had. It must become a town of great business at some future
period."
The commencement of the bridge, where the present Main
street bridge stands, settled the importance of property at
the falls. The nearest bridge was at Avon, and the country
west and northwest of the falls was being placed on the
market. The progress of the bridge and the rapid immigra-
tion of settlers forced Colonel Rochester, in the summer of
1811, to take steps to lay out a village on the mill lot. He had
a knowledge of surveying and in July began to stake out
some lots among the trees and in the bogs on the property.
64
THE ROCHESTER mSTORICAL SOCIETY
Enos Stone, in the previous year, had brought his family
to the falls and had begun housekeeping in a little shanty on
the bank of the river near the east end of the ford. Colonel
Rochester appointed Mr. Stone his local agent and promised
him a good lot in the prospective village for his services. The
■^' C
IV u
FIRST MAP OF ROCHESTER
first lots surveyed were those about the corners made by the
new state road which followed substantially the present lines
of Main and State streets, and led to the Big Ridge road to
Niagara and Buffalo. The Powers block lot was the first one
laid out. The lines of Buffalo (now West Main street) and
of Mill street (now Exchange), were determined and at first
a large lot on the corner now occupied by Smith's Arcade,
was set apart for a public square. Some fiftj^ lots in all,
of one-quarter of an acre each, were staked out, and Mr. Stone
was directed to offer them for sale. Advertisements were
soon inserted in the Canandaigua and Geneva newspapers and
applicants began to appear.
FOUNDEKS AND FOUNDING 65
William Scott, then of Dansville, gave this account of
Colonel Rochester at this period :
About this time (1811) Colonel Rochester was making a visit
every few weeks to the "'Falls," as Rochester was yet called, to
superintend the laying out of village lots. On his way home from a
collecting tour I met him returning from one of these trips, at
Begole's Tavern, a little log house standing about fifty rods north-
east of the residence of the late Judge 'Carroll. I see him now,
riding up to the door, seated firmly on a small bay pacing mare,
and carrying his surveyor's chain and co«ipass strapped to the saddle.
After a well cooked supper to which our sharp appetites did full
justice, we were shown to a room in the garret containing one bed.
. We occupied it together, though it was long before sleep
visited us, for Colonel Rochester was full of the flatterin,g prospects
at the Falls. "The place must become an important business point,"
said he, and he expressed regret that he had spent so much time and
means in Dansville, instead of going to the Falls at once, adding,
"If I had just made over to you by gift a deed of all my property
at Dansville, and gone direct to the Falls, I should have been the
gainer. Dansville will be a fine village, but the Falls, sir, is capable
of great things." I reminded him that he had established a paper
mill and other machinery at Dansville and had otherwise aided in
giving an impetus to the business of that already thrifty town. "Yes,"
said he, "but I am past the age of building up two towns." During
the conversation I remarked that the name, the "Falls," was good
enough then, but added, "of course you will find a more fitting one as
the place increases." "Ah,' said he "I have already thought of that,
and have decided to give it my family name," and that was the first
time I ever heard the word "Rochester", applied to the present
prosperous city. ^
Colonel Rochester was a fine type of the true Southern gentle-
man. His manner was commanding. He was then venerable in
years, though his step was firm. He was tall, perhaps quite six
feet high, stooped a little and always walked with a cane. He was
dignified and affable in ordinary intercourse, though somewhat
austere to strangers.
The name "Rochester" was given to the village by
request of Messrs. Carroll and Fitzhugh.
On October 30, 1811, Rochester writes to his partners:
"Great quantities of wheat are now going from Bloomfield,
Charles Town, Hartford, Boyle, etc., etc., to the mouth of the
Genesee river for want of mills to flour it and most of it goes
through our village and more will as soon the bridge is
finished which will be by the middle of December unless
winter sets in earlier than usual. ... I have sold a few
lots on Mill, Carroll and Buffalo streets at $50. . . . and
have no doubt but that a dozen houses will be erected next
season I have raised all the unsold lots on
66 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Carroll and Mill streets to $50 and sell the back lots at $30.
After next season when a mill and several houses are erected
we can raise the price of the lots The lots sold
and bespoken are Nos. 1, 2, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28,
29,32,33,35,36,37,45,59,60." .
The last payment for the mill lot was made on June 22,
1808; the lot was surveyed and its boundaries determined
November 7, 1811 ; and a deed was given November 18th
following.
To his brother-in-law, Elie Beatty, he writes under date
November 19, 1811: "I have been to the falls of the Genesee
lately and laid out and sold some more lots say about twenty-
five in all, and, for want of funds to build a good merchant
mill there, I have leased a mill seat for ten years which will
contribute very much to the improvement of the town and
neighborhood. . . . Could I sell one of my mill seats
there I would soon be settled at the falls myself. My business
is very good here, but would be much more productive at the
falls or village of Rochester."
The first lot sold was No. 26, to Enos Stone on November
20, 1811, for $50. George L. Whitmore and Daniel Tinker,
of Pittsford, on December 29, 1811, bought lots 37 and 38 for
$100; and on February 19, 1812, the third sale was made to
Henry Skinner, of Geneseo, who bought lot No. 1 (the Powers
block corner) for $200, and he was required to "build and
erect a dwelling house on the said lot not less than thirty by
twenty feet, with brick or stone chimney, said house to be
raised and enclosed on or before the first day of January next
(1813) and finished within six months thereafter."
This requirement was inserted in all the earlj^ contracts in
order to secure the immigration of the purchasers and to
prevent, as far as possible, mere land speculation. One can
imagine the trepidation of Mr. Skinner when he agreed to
erect so palatial a structure in the backwoods, at a place
where, only two years before, a member of assembly had
said in debate that, if a bridge were placed at the falls, only
the muskrats would use it. But the bridge was completed
early in 1812 and results soon followed.
FOUNDERS AND FOUNDING 67
Mr. Skinner in 1812 built a residence "with a brick or
stone chimney" on the tract, and his friend, Hamlet Scrantom,
was its first occupant. In this year Francis Brown, Matthew
Brown, Jr., and Thomas Mumford laid out the village of
Frankfort adjoining the one hundred acres on the north and
soon had a grist mill in operation, but settlers preferred the
neighborhood of the bridge and Frankfort did not begin to
grow till after 1820.
In 1812, thirteen lots, in all, were sold by Colonel
Rochester; in 1813, twenty-seven lots; in 1814 only one lot,
largely on account of the pendency of the war of 1812 and the
activity of British operations against the lake frontiers. (You
will remember that on May 14, 1814, the village and its
"suburbs" could furnish only thirty-three men to repel the
British, and that there were then only twenty houses at the
place). In 1815, thirty-two lots were sold; after which time
sales became much more rapid.
In 1813 Elisha Ely had applied to Enos Stone for water
privileges and Mr. Stone wrote to Mr. Rochester on June 13th :
"Dear Sir: At the request of Mr. Ely, the bearer of this
letter, I would inform you that his wishes are to erect water
works on your land at this village by a lease, if you think
proper to encourage him. I think it would be an advantage
to the settlement of the place if a dam from the west side of
the race to the river was made, that mills might be built and
not injure your principal mill seat. The wishes of Mr. Ely
are such that he thought proper to call on you and, if you
think proper, contract with him as Mr. Reynolds is acquainted
with him. I think Mr. Ely would be a suitable man to engage
and w^ould help the settlement of the place."
Aji arrangement was made with Mr. Ely, the terms of
which do not appear, and he immediately dug a raceway, the
first artificial one upon the tract, and built a saw mill which
began running on December 14, 1813, though no actual busi-
ness was done in it until April first, following. In 1814 and
1815, Mr. Ely built a grist mill on the tract and Colonel
Rochester writes in a characteristic manner to Mr. Fitzhugh
from Dansville, June 18th, 1814: . . . "I have been to
68 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the Palls since you left us and given Mr. Ely a lease con-
formably to your and Major Carroll's proposition to him. He
will proceed to erect a good merchant mill. I did not
mention, at the time you made the offer to Mr. Ely, that his
erecting mills there would prevent me from doing it for some
time, as his and Captain Brown's mills will be enough for that
place for some time. ... I knew you and Major Carroll
did not suppose it would have the effect of frustrating my
plans, because I have every reason to believe you would have
preferred my building the mills to his doing it, from your
uniform friendship to me for more than twenty years and be-
cause my removal to that place and laying out six or eight
thousand dollars there would have contributed fully as much
to the advantage of the place as his laying it out, who is
already an inhabitant. Should peace take place before next
spring I shall probably settle in our village at that time."
Alnd to Mr, Carroll he writes: "I went to the falls about
three weeks after you left us and gave Captain Ely a lease for
a mill seat agreeably to 3^our and Colonel Fitzhugh's proposi-
tion to him. . . . The same sense of delicacy prevented
my saying anything to you about it until the lease was
executed to Ely, but it frustrates my plan of erecting a mill
and removing to the Falls until a peace takes place, as Brown's
and Ely's mills will be sufficient for that place until we have
peace. Then I believe half a dozen mills will not be too
many. I saw Captain Ely at the Falls on Thursday last ; he
had just returned from Massachusetts where he had been for
carpenters, millwrights, etc. He intended commencing this
day with about fifteen workmen and said he would have his
mill at work by the 1st of December next. There is very
little improvement going on at the Falls, not more than three
or four houses building. If the war continues longer than
next spring my present intention is to purchase or rent a mill
in Ontario or Genesee counties in order to have something to
do until the end of the war when I shall most certainly settle
at the Falls if I live so long."
In 1814, Carroll and Fitzhugh made their first visit to
the Genesee country since the purchase of the mill lot and
FOUNDERS AND FOUNDING 69
then agreed with Colonel Rochester concerning an ultimate
division of that property among the partners. In 1815, Mr.
Carroll moved his family to Williamsburgh and in 1816 ]\Ir.
Fitzhugh followed him. But the labor of marketing the joint
property had fallen entirely on Colonel Rochester, and to him
belongs the greater part of the credit of founding this city.
He reported to his friends on July 28, 1816: "Our books
show that I have been to the Falls and to Geneva twenty-three
times on our joint business and most of those times when I
resided in Dansville. I have done all the surveying except
part of a day last summer when I had a surveyor. I have
frequently been detained two and three days at a time,
and had to entertain many people (particularly
when I resided at Dansville) who called on me to purchase
lots, making enquiry about the village, etc. It is five years
this month since I laid out about fifty lots."
In August, 1817, a partition of the One Hundred Acre
tract was made and the difli'erent lots were distributed among
the proprietors in severalty.
Some years later Colonel Rochester told the story of the
founding of this city in a letter to his half brother, John G.
Critcher : ^--
(
"Rochester, State of New York, August 15, 1825. ... In the
spring of 1800 having six children then living. ... I concluded
that it would be feest for them that I should remove to the west
where more could be done for them, than in an old settled country.
I therefore visited the northwestern territory (now Ohio),
Kentucky and Tennessee with a view to purchasing an eligible
situation for my family. I returned in August with a determination
to remove to Kentucky, 'but on my return home two of my neighbors
and most intimate friends were aibout to visit this part of the state
of New York which had been but recently settled. They prevailed on
me to come with them. I then saw the great advantages this country
had over the Southwestern states and we all purchased with a de-
termination to remove here as soon as we could close our business
in Maryland. They were very wealthy men and purchased 12,00'0
acres of the best land in the country and I purchased about 500 acres
on which were several good mill seats. On our return home, the
families of my two friends were very 4nuch opposed to removing to
this country and I did not like to come without them,
until May, 1810, when I removed to this country and built a 'grist
mill, paper •mill and saw mill at Dansville, a)bout forty miles from
this place, where I resided five years, when I sold there and pur-
chased a very valuable farm about twenty miles from hence where
I resided during the late war and until seven years ago, when I
70 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAI. SOCIETY
removed to this place and rented out my 'farm. Two years after my
first visit and purchase in this country, say in 1802, my two neighhors
and friends and I visited this country again to see our first pur-
chases, when we purchased 100 acres of land at the falls of Genesee
river for which we gave seven hundred pounds. The whole of this
100 acres has been laid out in streets, allies, and quarter acre lots
and pretty much covered with buildings, together with as much more
adjoining, which is included in the village (what is called a town in
the south). In 1811, the year after my removal to this country I
laid out a village here and in 1812 several small houses were built,
but the war commeriiCing and being rather exposed to the incursions
of the enemy very few improvements were made until the close of
the war in 1815.
Since then the village has had the most rapid growth perhaps
of any place in the United States and now contains 5,000 inhabitants
and is now improving more rapidly than at any former period. Not
only the site of the village, but the country about it was all a wilder-
ness in 1811, but is now a thickly settled country that turned out
from ten to twelve thousand persons who met General Lafayette here
on the 10th of June last. There can be no doubt but that Rochester
will be one of the greatest manufacturing places in the United States.
It embraces more local advantages than any place I have ever seen
and I have visited almost all the states. The land for 100 miles in
every direction is of the finest quality. The grand canal from Albany
to Lake Erie runs through the center of the village. All the land
carriage to the whole shores of Lake Ontario is but two miles. The
Genesee river, which runs through the center of the village north
and south is navigable forty miles to the south and the canal opens
a water communication to all the shores of Lakes Erie. Huron,
Michigan, and Superior, and their navigable streams; and within
two miles of where I now write there are at least 500 seats for water
works, a great number of which are now occupied for merchant mills,
saw mills, fulling mills, paper mills, oil mills, cotton and woolen
factories, nail factories^ furnaces, e!>c., etc. All strangers are
astonished at the rapid growth of the village and the quantity of
"business done in it. It is a thoroughfare for an immense number
of travelers from all quarters, east, west, north and south, and many
fro-m Europe, to see the canal, the aqueduct across the Genesee
river and the Falls of Niagara and it is on the route from the New
E)ngland states to the west and southwestern states. . . . My
third of the 100 acres of land purchased at this place is now worth
one hundred thousand dollars exclusive of the houses thereon, but
in order to get it settled I sold the lots very low."
]\Iiich honor is due to all those other sturdy men who
developed the village of Rochester; but their history is not
pertinent to the founding of the village or city, in the exact
meaning of that word.
The village of Rochesterville was incorporated April 21,
1817, by an act of the legislature: and the founding of
Rochester was accomplished.
History of the Third Ward
By CHARLES F. POND
Read before The Rochester Historical Society , April 19 , 1895
A lady who has lived for nearly fifty years in that
portion of our fair city known far and near as the Third
Ward, who has traveled extensively over our own and foreign
lauds, once made the remark that in all her travels, although
she had visited and admired many most delightful and
attractive cities, she had nowhere seen another Kochester and
in none of them a Third Ward. After living very close to a
half-century, myself, in the same house in said ward, and
having seen most of the cities of our own country, I am
prepared to agree with the aforesaid lady friend.
The village was originally sub-divided into five school
districts or wards. The Third consisted of all that portion
lying west of the Genesee Eiver and south of the Erie canal
and Buffalo street. In 1834, when the village was incorpo-
rated as a city, Jonathan Child was the first Mayor, and
Dr. F. F. Backus and Jacob Thorn were" the first Aldermen
of the Third Ward.
In 1844 the city was divided into nine wards, and the
Eighth Ward was taken of¥ the west and south sid'^s of the
Third; so that today, while it has grown in wealth and
population, it is only about one-third the size it was in 1844,
or 50 years ago.
As examples of the changes in values, let me cite a few
illustrations. In 1836, the total assessed valuation of real and
personal property in the Third Ward was $527,185, and the
tax $2,457.92, while in 1894, the assessed value was $6,476,-
125 and the tax $108,472.66, or an increase in value of over
twelve times and in tax of almost fifty times. For instance,
the Isaac Hills homestead was valued by the assessors in 1836
at $3,000, in 1894 at $15,000. The Jacob Gould homestead,
now owned and occupied by Dr. C. E. Rider, at $2,800 in 1836,
and $13,000 in 1894.
72 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAiL SOCIETY
Speaking of the "old homesteads," how sad it seems to see
them go into decay. There on Exchange street, just south of
Spring street, stands the original homestead of Col. Nathaniel
Rochester, subsequently occupied by Jonathan Child, his son-
in-law, the first mayor of our city, its glory departed, once
the home of culture and generous hospitality, now dismantled
and in disrepute ; while a little further south, the home of
A. G. Smith, one of the first grocers and founders of the old
established firm of Smith, Perkins & Co., is doing noble service
for humanity as the home for the Industrial School. But
many of the houses of fifty, sixty, and even seventy years
ago, are still occupied as dwellings and keeping up their
pristine glory. The house on the northeast corner of Spring
and Fitzhugh streets was the home of Dr. Frederick F,
Backus and, for many years, of Dr. M. M. Mathews. It seems
but a short time since the well in Dr. Mathews' yard supplied
the greater part of the water used in the shops and business
places in that part of the town, its principal rival being the
covered well in the yard of S. D. Porter on the southeast
corner of the same streets, this being originally the homestead
of Everard Peck, both among the earliest booksellers of the
place, men who left their favorable mark on all things with
which they had to do, men of strong characters, who helped
to establish the orphan asylum and other charities that have
so blest our city. And on the northwest corner of the same
streets, built in 1884 and now occupied by Dr. Rider, is the
homestead of General Jacob Gould, one of the early mayors,
who with his brother, Samuel P. Gould, were among the first
shoe dealers, while next north lived Ebenezer Watts, hard-
ware dealer, and next the house of William B. Rochester, a
son of the Colonel, occupied since 18-46 by Mrs. Henry Benton,
a daughter of Gen. Gould.
But the fact is, that South Fitzhugh street has a history
by itself. I have heard Dr. Moore assert that he doubted if
any locality or street could show such vitality and longevity.
There were living there at one time Mrs. Marshall, Joseph
Field and wife, Preston Smith, Mrs. Ephraim Moore, Lindly
Murray Moore, Edmund Lyon, Mrs. Frederick Whittlesey,
HISTORY OF THIRD WARD 73
Abelard Reynolds and wife, and others, in age ranging from
80 to 100 years. Who will ever forget the tinkle of the bell
as the door to Whitney Wadsworth's teacake bakery opened?
I can see with my mind's eye, Mrs. Wadsworth drop her
sewing and come down the steps from the back sitting-room
to wait on customers. How many a tale remains untold
(publicly) of the Female Seminary, presided over by Miss
J. H. Jones in 1838, conducted so long by Miss Doolittle and
subsequently by the JMisses Nichols, Here, also, dwelt Dr.
W. W. Reid, whose widow still lives, since 1830, aged 95
years ; and that beloved of physicians. Dr. W. W. Ely, whose
quiet, gentle manner was healing in itself, and William Kidd,
the old-time gentleman ; William Ailing, whose dwelling was
the first brick house built in our city, and his brother, S. Y.
Ailing; and kind old Erastus Cook, the silversmith; and
the grave Judge Sampson; and Asa Sprague, representing
the old stage line ; and Selah Mathews and Frederick Whittle-
sey (Chancellor), the able lawyers; John T. Talman, the
banker; David Hoyt, the early bookseller, in the place
occupied for the past 45 years by the H. S. Potter family.
And here we are at Bunker Hill. Why, as we looked at
it from our youthful eyes, it was higlier than its original
namesake; here boys and girls enjoyed the winter hours
sliding down the hill across the ice to Exchange street.
Beyond this point, there was not a house until Lafayette
street was reached, and then only one or two ; in fact, the
only one of importance was the home of John Biden on the
east side of Exchange street, south corner of Lafayette street,
running back to the river, that seemed to me, then, as an
ideal home, with its walks lined with rows of box, its old trees
and attractive porch.
Now that we are back on Exchange street, recalls the
Canal Stable which stood near the bank of the river in rear
of Bunker Hill and is still used as a part of the Erie Railroad
company's freight sheds; just below were the lumber yards
of George A. Hollister, grandfather of Granger and George,
who lived on Sophia street (named for Mrs. Col. Rochester)
where now stands the home of D. M. Gordon and the lumber
74 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
yards of William Chiirehill and Anion Brouson, all of whom
made fortunes in the business- Jacob Anderson's home and
factory, the successor of Moses Dyer, the early soap and
candle manufacturer, whose chandlery was on the island just
north of the old jail, ''the Blue Eagle," as named by the circus
manager and clown, Dan Rice, in his song of "Dot and go 1"
(on account of his arrest by 0. P. Chamberlain, Sheriff, etc.).
Here, also, was the circus, built in 1824, now occ-upied
by the city stables and for many years the stove foundry
of John M. French & Co., and the brick houses of James Wood
and Alexander Shaw. On the lot between Court street and
the jail was the chandlery of Griffith Bros. & Son; on the
corner stood the Ontario House, owned by William Mc-
Laughlin, who moved a frame house from Bloomfield. a part
of which still stands on South Fitzhugh street ; on the other
corner Avas the yellow Avarehouse of John Allen, one of the
first mayors of the city. In my boyhood, the old office on
the corner was occupied by Richard Harvey as a paint-shop;
then came the warehouse of Thomas H. & N. T. Rochester,
the marble block of Jonathan Child, used above as a theater,
where Julia Dean first showed her great promise as an actress,
and the building of Weed (Thurlow) & Hoyt.
How distinctly comes up before us the old "Rochester
House." extending from Spring street to the canal, a monster
hostelry in its daj^ kept by Palmer Cleveland and afterwards
by Charles ^lorton, which burned down in the fifties. How
well I remember the little packets, "Red Bird" and "Jennie
Lind," that ran to Brockport and Holley, starting from Ex-
change street bridge at 3 P. M., each day. I can see the stern
of the boat swing up to the tow-path near Speneerport, the
linemen jump off and get the plates of butter from the hands
of the Avomen of the house and then jump on again — to my
boyish eyes a wonderful feat.
The "Rochester House" was a very imposing structure,
with Avide hall and stairs, and on the part near the canal a
AA'ide veranda across the front. The stable in the rear,
fronting on Spring street, was kept by J. Christopher and
subsequently by Stephen Charles, AA^ho had a pathetic tone as
HISTORY OF THIRD WARD 75
he remarked to any one driving out with one of his horses,
"Don't sweat him, boys!" One day a couple of men were
driving out, w^hen he made his usual remark ; one of them
replied, "We're going to a funeral and are bound to keep up."
On the other side of Spring street, corner of Pine Alley,
was the "Spring Street House," a large boarding house Avith
broad piazzas, two stories high across the front, which was
the fashionable boarding house of the day, kept by Mrs.
Ensworth and her two daughters; her husband had formerly
kept the Eagle Tavern. Among the many boarders were Joseph
A. Eastman and wife, William H. Perkins, Dr. Alexander Kel-
sey, Ralph Lester, George E, King, Clarence Walworth (son
of the Chancellor), who afterward became a Catholic priest,
H. S. Fairehild, Dr. Munn, father of Dr. John P. Munn of
New York.
On the other side of the alley was the blacksmith shop
of Caleb H. Bicknell, Avith whom Aaron Erickson learned his
trade, and the same spot is occupied, as it has been for 60
years and over, by a blacksmith shop. On the corner of
Spring and Sophia streets (now Plymouth avenue), stood a
large, three-story stone building, known as the "Stone Castle,"
a noted boarding-house. And next south was the stone house,
for many years occupied by Edward Whalen and then by
Roswell Hart; these were removed about 20 years ago and
in their place was erected the beautiful stone church (First
Presbyterian), having sold their old church property, occupied
since 1817, to the city for the erection of the City Hall.
On the opposite side was country until 1821, when
Roswell Hart, the father of Mrs. M. F. Reynolds, Mrs. Henry E.
Rochester and Roswell Hart, built the house so long occupied
by 3Ir. Reynolds, upon which Roswell Hart built the present
block of five houses in 1872-3. Next south was the house of
Elisha Mather, rebuilt with a cupola — very swell in that
day — by L. S. Bacon; and next south, the house of Josiah
Sheldon, the old-time stove dealer, and then of Charles J.
Hill, of the early dry goods firm of Leavitt & Hill, subse-
quently the farmer miller, whose brand of flour gave Rochester
a wide reputation, especially in New England and New York
76 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAJj SOCIETY
City. The house now standing next to Plymouth church was
occupied in my boyhood by Capt. John Blim, one of the old-
time canal packet captains, who removed to Chicago and was
Postmaster under Lincoln.
Plymouth church was built in 1854. There was on the
lot a frame church building, built in the thirties for a Chris-
tian church and occupied most of the time during week-days
for school purposes. Miss Smith had a school there. The
opposite corner, now occupied by J. R. Chamberlin, was at one
time occupied by Mrs. Atkinson as a Young Ladies' School,
and then by the celebrated Fox Sisters, the original spirit
rappers, who had moved from a house on the south side of
Troup street just west of Washington street. I was a boy at
Miss Hamilton's School next door, and remember well the
awe and wonder inspired by the reports of what was being
done. Hiram Wright lived where Mrs. Alfred Ely has now
lived many years, a residence for a few years occupied by
Thomas Pease, one of the old canal freight boat owners.
On the southwest corner stood the large brick house
built by James Seymour and afterwards occupied by Judge
Samuel Miller, with its large purple-beech tree, probably the
oldest and largest in this part of the country, imported
by James Seymour from Europe. The house just south, in
which I have lived since May, 1846 — 49 years — was built by
David Hoyt and occupied by Isaac Hills until he built the
large brick house next south in 1828.
As I passed along Plymouth avenue, formerly Sophia
street, I recall the little shop and store of "Mammy Thorpe,"
which stood about where Dr. Lee now resides. Thorp was a
carpet weaver, and kept busily at work with his foot-
treadle. There was James S. Walker's planing mill on South
Washington street and the red house opposite, occupied by
colored people, as also in West Alley. What glorious games of
ball were played in the street by Charlie and Billy Graham,
Arch Gaul and others.
The brick house on the northeast corner of Washington
and Spring streets, was built by Col. Rochester and occupied
by him, while next east, where the present Jenkinson flats
HISTORY OF THIRD WARD 77
stand, was a white frame house occupied by Jonathan Child,
his son-in-law, who subsequently built the large house with
columns on the west side of Washington street, now occupied
by Mrs. Ives. Next south was the house of Ira West, and
opposite lived Eben N. Buell and Nathaniel T. Rochester.
William Pitkin built here in 1849. H. A. Brewster built the
house on Spring street occupied since by William H. Perkins
and family. Next door Dr. Chester Dewey, whose wife was
a sister of Mrs. BreAvster, daughters of Lemuel Pomeroy,
of Plttsfield, Mass., lived many years. How pleasant is his
memory to all who came in contact with him, especially those
who came under his instruction at the old High School or in
the early days of our University,
The large house with columns, on the north side, was
built by Dr. Maltby Strong and occupied for the last 50 years
by Harvey Montgomery, whose wife was a daughter of Col.
Rochester, and his son. Dr. Harvey F. Montgomery. Opposite,
stands the house where that grand man in appearance and
character lived, James K. Livingston, one of our old-time
millers ; here, also, lived Dr. Frederick F, Backus, and now for
many years Mrs. Curtis' Seminary. Opposite lived Harry B.
Williams, another of the noted millers, father of Mrs. Col. H. S.
Fairchild, who sold to James Chappell, owner and proprietor
of freight boats on the canal. Livingston Park has been a
charm and an inspiration for more than a half -century ; here
lived Henry E. Rochester; Thomas H. Hyatt, Consul to Japan
under President Buchanan; Charles Hendrix, hardware
merchant; William H. Cheney, and Dr. Horatio N. Fenn,
one of the first dentists.
The house so favorably known, too, as the residence of
Dr. Howard Osgood, w^as built by Henry Ely, one of the first
millers of the town, and has been the home of William Kidd,
Aristarchus Champion and Jonathan Watson, the oil king.
On the south side of the street was the house of William Hay-
wood and Moses Chapin. Chapin's Hill was a familiar sliding
place in the early days, and is yet. The Chapin house was
removed to Caledonia avenue, where it still stands, and its
78 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAiL SOCIETY
place is now occupied by the palatial residence and art gal-
lery of the late William S. Kimball.
Do you hear that horn? Well, that is the warning that
the packet is approaching Mud lock on the Genesee Valley
Canal, on its A\ay to or from Avon, Geneseo, Mt. Morris, etc.
They seemed arks in those days, but now they would look very
small.
And now, does any one wonder that we are proud of
the old Third Ward, that has furnished such men as Jonathan
Child, Charles J. Hill, Jacob Gould, Isaac Hills, Thomas H.
Rochester, Joseph Field, Maltby Strong, Charles J. Hill,
Charles J. Hayden, D. D. T. Moore, Edward M. Smith, John C.
Nash, and George W. Aldridge, as Mayors? In the Common
Council, Dr. Frederick F. Backus, Jacob Thorn, Joseph Strong,
Erastus Cook, James Seymour, Henry Cady, John H. Brewster,
E. N. Buell, Aaron Bronson, Henry E. Rochester, Nathaniel
T. Rochester, Thomas C. ilontgomery, William Churchill,
Henry T. Rogers, E. R. Andrews. Physicians and Surgeons :
Dr. W. W. Reid, Dr. F. F. Backus, W. W. Ely, M. M. Mathews,
E. M. Moore, Henry F. Montgomery, Azel Backus, E. H. Hurd.
Churches : First Presbyterian, Plymouth Congregational
Cornhill ]\Iethodist, Immaculate Conception. Institutions :
Rochester Orphan Asylum, Industrial School, Reynolds'
Library, Mechanics' Institute.
The first hotel or tavern in the center of the ward was
a brick house, a little south on the same lot on which stands
the residence of the late William N. Sage. The house was
kept by a Mr. Hulbert for a number of years. The old Third
Ward House was on the corner, a story-and-half house and
was raised up one story and converted into the Third Ward
House. Mr. Hulbert kept it a number of years, up to 1836,
and then Abner Sherman came and kept it for fifteen years.
In the winter of 1836-7, the Canadians burned the
steamboat "Caroline," and sent it over Niagara Falls. It
created quite a war feeling on this side; everybody was up
and ready to fight. There were several sleigh-loads of men
and guns on their way to Navy Island, where they stopped
over night. That was to be the seat of war. But it blew
HISTORY OP THIRD WARD 79
over without much blood. I think Philip French volunteered
to go, and went, and the boys had a good deal of fun with
Phil after he came back.
On the south of the Peck wagon shop was a frame
building that S. F. Butler bought, keeping a grocery in front
and his family lived in the rear. In 184:0, Mr. Butler built a
brick building on the corner for a hotel and kept it a number of
years. After he sold it, Mr. John W. Shaw occupied it as
a hotel and changed the name to "Caledonia House." Under
the "Caledonia Hotel," Joseph H. Pool kept a market for some
years and resided where J. K. Post now lives.
Some time after 1840, the colored people, young men
but rather hard cases, formed a club and called it the "Tanta-
mooney Club." They had their sway for some time and made
threats what they would do, until the Cornhill boys thought
they had gone far enough. They gathered their forces one
election day and were going to have it, as they said; but it
turned ovit differently. The boys got together, had a council
of war, and said the "Tantamooney" must go, and they went.
There was one of the Tanta's called the "Bass Wood Nigger,"
and he was.
There was not an election in the Third Ward without a
fight of some kind. If anybody came along and wanted to
fight, he was accommodated. The Whigs, in 1840, commenced
to sing-song for their candidate, William H. Harrison, and said
there was no music in the Democratic ,soul; but in 1844 a
Mr. Bissell, of the town of Gates, composed some, and Cornelius
Campbell made the ward ring from one end to the other. I
think it was in 1844 the Democrats of the Third Ward gathered
in force at the Third Ward House and marched down-town,
and in going down Fitzhugh street they did so much shouting
that children were awakened from their slumber. The
father of one of them went to it Avith
"Hush, my babe, lie still and slumber,
The noise is nothing but a little Democratic thunder."
The territory north of Lafayette street to the race, east
by River, and west by Exchange street and on the south of
Montgomery Hill was occupied by the lumber yards conducted
80 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAIL SOCIETY
by Deacon George A. Hollister and Amon Bronson, where tliey
piled their lumber for drying. The lumber was rafted down
the river in the spring and fall during the freshets. The bank
of the river on the west side would be lined with rafts as far
as the Vacuum Oil Works now are.
In the early history of Rochester, our old and much
esteemed City Surveyor, Silas Cornell, was severely criticized
by citizens of the Third Ward (which then included the
original Eighth Ward), for making the streets running
northerly and southerly so crooked, which caused so many
irregularly shaped building lots. The only portion of Sophia
street (now Plymouth avenue) that runs due north and south
begins at Troup street, or Plymouth church, and runs south
to the angle in the street, where it diverges westerly at the
residence of A. J. Johnson. The diversity in the shape of the
lots, from square, fronting on Plymouth avenue, required the
skill of the architect to adapt the houses to the different
shaped lots. The late Hon. Isaac Hills said that Sophia street,
as surveyed and laid out, followed the old Indian trail, which
was adopted and used by them passing through the forests
on high ground back from the banks of the river.
One of the largest street improvements in this section,
early in the forties, was macadamizing Plymouth avenue from
Buffalo street southerly and southwesterly to the city line,
about 1,000 feet north of the Genesee River State dam at the
Rapids. John McConnell, a Scotchman, was the contractor
and lived on Edinburgh street, and he suggested the name for
this street and Glasgow street, and, I think, Caledonia Park,
or the round square. William McConnell, John McConnell,
and Robert, all contractors, were his sons and now reside in
Rochester. Sophia street ran originally straight through
the park.
Greig street was named after John Greig of Canan-
daigua, the owner of the Greig tract. Clarissa street was
named after ]\Irs. Greig; Cady street after Henry Cady, the
contractor who built the new Aqueduct; Francis street (now
Jefferson avenue) after Francis Granger of Canandaigua;
Chapin street (now Frost avenue) after Miss Chapin of Canan-
HISTORY OF THIRD WARD 81
daigua (sister of Mrs. John Greig). The Rochester Orphan
Asylum made frequent changes of location in the Third Ward,
being on Glasgow street and on Adams street, and after many-
trips of Alonzo Frost (the agent for the Greig tract) to Canan-
daigua, it was finally located where it now stands ; John Greig
giving all the land between Greig street and Exchange street,
and Walter Hubbell, of Canandaigua, giving the entire street
now called Hubbell Park, that being considered very liberal
on their part, and there was much rejoicing in Rochester at
the result of the negotiations which had been so long pending.
One of the old land-marks in this vicinity was the old
red slaughter house, built by Thorn & Frink and located on
the corner of Glasgow street and High street (now Caledonia
avenue). The first orphan asylum was in the former residence
of Harvey Frink, where J. Nelson Tubbs now resides; and
the second one on Adams street, in the former residence of
Joseph Frost, grandfather of E. A. Frost, and the same
building where Prof. Foster had his school, which many of
us attended. There was another conspicuous building located
on the island on the east side of the Genesee River, opposite
the east end of Glasgow street, 'which one winter was used
for a slaughter house, formerly a warehouse and also painted
red. and the year during the hard' times^which followed the
panic of 1837 (brought about by speculative and tariff
changes), provisions fell very low in price and sheep and
mutton was sold for less than 3 cents per pound, and entire
carcasses of sheep were made into tallow in this building.
Another noted spot in this locality — and shunned by
boys at that time — was "the Deep Hole," where so many
persons were drowned who went in the river swimming. It
was opposite the foot of D. W. Powers' lot (now E. R. An-
drews), on the east side of Exchange street. It has been
examined and explored byl Mr. Powers, who was an excellent
swimmer, .and I think he found it to be a wide and deep
crevice in the rock in the bed of the river.
Rambles About Rochester
By NATHANIEL S. OLDS
Read before The Rochester Historical Society, March 13, 1905
This is to be a brief, running commentary on walking
trips taken during the last two or three summers, through
the beautiful country which lies at the door of Rochester. I
wish to disclaim any intention of uttering novel historic
theories or of presenting evidence which shall shatter old
idols — except, perhaps, when the need for it is so very inviting
that a gentle shove cannot, in human nature, be avoided.
I shall aim at describing to you some of the places with
which you yourselves are familiar, but which may have some
hidden beauty or association beside their own inherent charm,
that perhaps may have passed you by.
Rochester is one of the most fortunately situated cities in
the state, from an archaeological point of view. Its natural
attractions are also many and picturesque — yet I do not
exaggerate when I say that there are few cities to be found
where these features are less understood or appreciated.
Last summer I was traveling on the electric railroad to
Canandaigua with a friend whose life had been passed in
and near Rochester. He was college bred, and passed for a
well read man. As we were discussing the topography of the
country, the car passed over the flats just west of the Victor
station. I pointed out the field to him, and said that we were
on the site of the old battle ground.
He cocked a wary eye at me and, with a guarded smile,
said, incredulously: "Battle ground. What battle?"
When he was told about Denonville and his Frenchmen in
the campaign of 1687, he admitted he had never heard about
it before, and said he would "look it up."
I have often wondered how many of the hundreds who
pass over that historic field in the course of the summer, know
its story; or if they do, remember it or care.
Rochester lies in the heart of the Seneca country — in the
RAMBLES ABOUT ROCHESTER 83
home of the most powerful and most fierce of the Iroquois
confederacy. In the city, and about it on aU sides, are the
camp sites and the village locations of these ancient people.
Arrow points of the stone age have been picked up from
excavations for new street pavements ; and as we walk many
of our city streets our feet are falling on the old trail lines
which they beat out through the forest. A river, which they
called the River of the Beautiful Valley, flows through the
city 's center ; to the north were two of the most famous fords
and camping sites from the Hudson to the Falls. To the east
and north, and visited by us yet with unconscious homage to
the instinct of the Indian for desirability of outlook and
location, are the high knolls of Sea Breeze with their memories
of French gold lace and plumes; and farther to the south the
weird, still glens and lonely woods of the Dugway. From the
Bay outlet to Victor and south-westward to Geneseo, the land
has felt the pressure of moccasined foot, of crunching French
jack-boot and English buckled shoe. Genesee Valley Park and
the upper river are alive with Indian memories; and from
Elmwood Avenue bridge to Mount Morris every foot of the
bank could tell its tale of beaded Seneca, cassocked Jesuit,
the curled seigneur of Louis the XIV, the, hardy lean coureur
de hois, and long birch barks laden to the cedar-sewed gun-
wales with pelts from the Ohio. From 1600 to the Revolution,
few parts of the country were more coveted by Iroquois,
French and English than this present part of Western New
York, now divided into the Counties of Wayne, Ontario, Mon-
roe, Livingston and Genesee, and occupied by a race who,
when they see an Indian pass by, nudge one another and point
to him as to a curiosity from another planet.
The Iroquois have saved the Red Man from the oblivion of
dead races who did nothing but fall before the "march of
progress." The boasted civilization of the Aztec is rapidly
being proven a brilliant legend highly recolored by the
imagination of Prescott. The Incas of Peru are being
relegated to their proper level, not much above that of the
ancient Mexican. Both have been swept away. But the Iro-
quois confederacy still remains, its ancient practices intact, its
84 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAI. SOCIETY
members slowly increasing in numbers, and by far the larger
part of them still as staunch pagans as were their forefathers
500 years ago.
Of the original five tribes, the Senecas, "the keepers of
the "Western Door," were by far the most powerful, warlike
and terrible.
The Iroquois were the terrors of the whole Eastern hemi-
sphere. Captain John Smith met them in Virginia, the Illinois
were almost exterminated by them ; and to this day the name
creates a panic in the hearts of the Hurons who sell baskets
and bead work to the condescending tourist on the decks of
round trip excursion steamers in Georgian bay.
The country of the Senecas, roughly speaking, originally
lay between Canandaigua Lake and the Genesee river, and
from Lake Ontario to Portage. To the west were the neutrals
and the Eries ; to the south the Andastes and Susquehannoeks.
This was the apportionment at the dawn of the sixteenth
century, when the first of the French penetrated to Irondequoit
Bay and the Genesee river. Later, the warlike tribe had
slaughtered its way north, south and west and was lord of as
much territory as its bands of crouching warriors were
disposed to claim as their own.
The first white men to come to the Genesee country were
the Jesuit fathers. They found a land of oak openings, fertile
fields and abundant waterways, dotted with villages and
smiling with corn, melons, apple and plum trees and tobacco.
The Senecas were good fighters but they were good farmers,
too. which has had a good deal to do with their hanging to-
gether, undivided, through all these centuries.
The three main villages of the Senecas were Ga-non-da-gua
(Canandaigua), Gandagora (now Boughton Hill, just south
of Victor), and Totiakton, west of Rochester Junction. These
were the nearest approach to what could be termed permanent
villages. The temporary camping sites are to be found by the
score. You will note one interesting feature about these
villages. Beside being rudely fortified with a keen eye to
natural advantages, they were located at a considerable
distance from main water^vays. There is not a large village
RA]\IBLES ABOUT ROCHESTER 85
site in the Seneca country immediately on the Genesee river.
The Indians were too wise for that; and built their bark
huts W'here the silent canoe could not afford an easy approach
for a cunning enemy. With their camps, lounging places of
a day or night, they were not so careful; and some of the
most frequented of them were on the edge of river, stream
and lake, plentiful today in its store of fish for the catching.
Rochester was only a camp site — a temporary lodging
place for the night. Its Seneca name was Ga-sko-sa-go —
"At-the-Falls." We'll take a walk up the east bank of the
river, along St. Paul Street. We are on the line of a well
worn trail. Others crossed it from time to time. Near the
Emerson ice pond a deeply beaten path emerged into it, and
both led down the steep bank to the shale bar we call Brewer's
Dock. The white man saw its value as did the Indian, a natural
place for embarking for a down trip toward the lake. On and
about this spot the camps were constant and numerous. The
spot now occupied by the Deaf Mute Institute w^as a favorite
resort for them ; and a fine iron war axe was found there a
few years ago. It is now in the extensive collection of
Mr. John G. D'Olier of this city. Across, on the west bank,
many relics, found from time to time,^ndicate the presence
of a large camping ground. The Burke homestead now
rises above a particularly favored spot, while all the land
from Driving Park Avenue to Hanford's Landing has given
up scores of relics. Hanford's Landing, at the beginning of I
the western half of the Ridge Road, was thronged with •
Indian camps. There are legends of an immense earthwork
crowning the river bluff' before the white settlers came. All
trace of it has disappeared. Across, just at the entrance of
Seneca Park, the end of the eastern half of the great lake
trail, was equally popular wdth the red travelers. Seneca
Park has yielded many interesting relics, especially the north-
ern half of it, in the rolling gullies beyond the rustic bridge.
Along the path which leads across the little stream flowing
under the last of the bridges I have picked up tiny pieces of
pottery, all fire-blackened, and now and then an occasional
chip of flint whose shape and size lent probability to the
86 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
theory that it had been worked by the hand of man. Leaving
the park, we strike north along the bluff past the Rifle Range
into the wild cluster of oak and hemlock which open out on
the R. W. & 0. tracks and Rattlesnake Point. A small field
just south of Rattlesnake Point has yielded up some fine flint
arrow points and knives. A camp site undoubtedly stood
there. We have now come to an interesting locality — Rattle-
snake Point. Along the southern edge is a stiff little glen,
the northern bank of which forms part of the sharp slope of
the hill. A few feet up the bank we come upon a trench —
without doubt the work of human hands. Whose? Some
unhesitatingly declare the Indians. Of that I am not so
sure. There are stories whose echoes are yet heard, of an old
mill whose wheel was turned by the stored up waters of the
stream Avhich has worn away the gully. There is a natural
tendency among us all to ascribe whatsoever we cannot
account for to that which appeals to us the most strongly.
It is a hard tendency to combat, but sometimes one wisely
fought. We are certainly sure that the Indians did not operate
water power grist-mills ; and that they never took the trouble
to fortify with deep ditches points of vantage already
admirably protected by nature. But yet — well, some sunny
afternoon just follow the railroad down there yourself and
see what you think about it. I'll tell you, confidentially, that
on the top of the knoll called Rattlesnake Point, two Indian
skeletons were unearthed a few years ago.
Across from the point we can see the Stace farm. A
graveyard, many interesting relics, and what some say are
"earth works" have been found there. Standing on the top
of the knoll we can catch sight of Charlotte and the Summer-
ville ferry. Jnst south of the ferrj^ gates, almost upon the
site of the Naval Reserve quarters, a score of terror stricken,
hungry Tory renegades, fleeing from the wrath of Sullivan's
soldiers in 1779, took refuge in a thicket until they were
rescued by boats sent out from Fort Niagara. LaSalle and
Hennepin undoubtedly paddled up the gorge and looked upon
the Lower Falls of the Genesee in 1668.
I like to think that these two adventurers knew and loved
RAMBLES ABOUT ROCHESTER 87
this beautiful Genesee Country. Only occasionally, in the
dry and musty pages of stiff old Jesuit records, do we find
mention of their visits. In 1679 LaSalle, that beau ideal of
the gentleman adventurer, v^^ho heard always ringing in his
ears
"Something, over yonder 'cross the range,"
paddled up Irondequoit bay, past the Landing, and thence
trailed overland to Father Fremin's town, now Victor and
known as Gandagora. There he w^as feasted and saw
a few captives tortured for his delectation. A few
years later he returned and narrowly escaped death
by treachery. The worthy Father Hennepin was with
him that time. These are the only mention we find of those
tAvo in connection with the Genesee, but whenever I walk
among the woods and vales of the Dugway, I seem to see the
dauntless form of the great Frenchman who opened the door
of the vast west, and his companion, the black-cassocked
Jesuit. They may have rested under this giant oak, or
looked forth upon that beautiful panorama of water, woods
and hills from the crown of the Landing hill or the peak of
Stony Point two centuries ago. — ^
Irondequoit Bay and the Dugway are my favorite haunts
about Rochester. There is history in every foot of their
green hills and cool woods. For centuries before the white
man came the shores of the bay and the sandy beaches of the
outlet were the favorite camping grounds of the Senecas. A
net work of trails led over the hill-crests and down the valleys
which furrow the bay-sides. Denonville landed on the sand
bar near the present railroad bridge one hot July day in 1687,
with 1600 French soldiers and "Christian Indians," bound
valiantly to punish the savage Senecas. Some say he built
his stockade and pitched his first camp there. The topographi-
cal details of that memorable expedition will never be settled ;
and historians have placed his camp almost everywhere except
on the most reasonable and likely spot — the plateau now
comprised by the Sea Breeze Park. The historic interest of
that highland is very great. It was probably the most noted
88 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
resort for the Indians in western New York. Thirty years
after Denonville had sailed away, his successor as governor
of New France built a small log stockade and called it Fort
des Sables. For half a century, now in the hands of the
French, now of the English, it served as one of the most
important trading and fur posts on the border. The fort
occupied approximately the same ground as do at present the
Sea Breeze hotel and the electric railroad station. A broad
and well worn trail followed the deep gorge over which the
rustic bridge now stretches, and up and down this trail the
fur and the other commodities of barter were packed by the
Indians and the hardy c our ears de bo is. Many interesting
relics have been picked up on that plateau. South of the
merry-go-round is a pit of fine sand; and from it scores of
flint arrow-heads and knives have been gathered. A cache
of 160 flint knives and a store of war paint (oxide of iron)
were unearthed in this sand a few years ago and are now
part of the Historical Society's collection. A path— perhaps
the remains of the original trail — leads south to Glen Haven
and there joins another trail s-\\ eeping through the hills to
the old Irondequoit landing.
On the east side of the bay hundreds of relics have been
found. On the bluff back of Glen Edith an old Indian plum
orchard flourished, and on the Williams farm near by many
stone relics are picked up even yet.
On either side of the bay two main traveled trails ran
south to the Canandaigua trail. Over one of them Denon-
ville 's army marched. This is another point which has never
been settled, for none of the chroniclers of that afi:'air has left
any exact data as to this interesting feature of the expedition.
The majority of opinion leans toward the east — but from one
tiny hint let drop in the Marquis's own report I have inclined
toward thinking he advanced doAvn the west side. The
probability of his camping on the Sea Breeze plateau is, of
course, purely hj-pothetical; but he speaks of passing two
defiles. I have followed the trails on both sides of the bay,
and the only two "defiles" across his line of any notable
extent are Palmer's glen and Allen's creek. It is a fine walk,
RAaiBLES ABOUT ROCHESTER 89
that stretch from the outlet to the old Landing and thence
to Victor. The Landing is that gently sloping valley which
lies before us as we turn the sharp curve of the old Dugway
road. There in 1799 Judge Tryon founded his ill-starred
city of Tryon and saw it crumble and fade before the superior
advantages of the stout little village beside the Genesee falls.
It was laid out to occupy all that lovely valley from the top
of the rise to the pine-bordered banks of Irondequoit creek — •
an ideal location, but one not willed by the strong arm of
trade.
]\Iany interesting relics have been gathered here. Iron
gun barrels, copper kettles, flint and stone implements, and
other remains of a past occupation have been picked up. It
was the north end of the great portage trail which ran in
almost a straight line from the Clarissa street bridge through
Gregory street, past the intersection of East avenue and
Culver Road to the landing. The southern end was at the
mouth of Red Creek just south of the Elmwood avenue bridge
at Genesee Valley Park.
All the country about Genesee Valley Park is interesting.
Oak hill was the site of an Indian village, and has borne many
relics. The river banks on both sides were crowded with
camp sites; and the low land near Red Creek, the rustic
bridge and the golf links, was a noted landing place for the
bands of Indians who, by paddling up the Allegany river and
then down some of the tributary streams, reached the head
waters of the Genesee in their light birch-barks, and so joined
the Mississippi to Lake Ontario.
The Tories who fled from Sullivan's avenging arm in
1779 camped at this landing, buried arms and ammunition
among the roots of trees in the woods and escaped to Niagara,
as has been told, by way of what is now Charlotte.
La Salle undoubtedly camped here many a time, and
Father Charlevoix, who paddled up the river as far as Portage
in May, 1721, quite probably cooked his dinner on the green
banks where now the only war-cry is the golfer's stentorian
"Fore!"
But to return to Denonville and his expedition. If you
90 THE ROCHESTEE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
take the electric cars to the Float Bridge, strike south aloag
the west shore of the Dugway, pass Palmer's glen and Allen's
creek (hard work, this), climb the embankment and head
straight for Pittsford and then follow the Canandaigua road
to Victor, you will have stepped with pretty fair accuracy in
the foot-prints of the French army. The road from Canan-
daigua to Rochester follows with almost undeviating accuracy
the line of the Indian trail, and it is more than probable that
Denonville was guided down the west side bay trail to this
main trail and thence to the "Babylon of the Seneeas," as the
Abbe de Bellmont piously dubbed the huge Indian village of
Gandagora, which occupied the most of Boughton hill. This
is the eminence which rises roundly, easily, just south of the
New York Central railroad tracks at Victor. Denonville and
his Frenchmen issued from the hills into the little confined
valley in which Victor now picturesquely lies. There are
three of these little funnels into the Valley, scooped out by
ancient streams from the bluff that backs up the village on
the north. Two centuries ago this valley was a thicket of
bass wood and oak underbrush. Here the Seneeas ambushed
the French army, and had it not been for Denonville ordering
his kettle drums to roll mightily, thereby striking the savages
with panic, the day might have gone bloodily for him. As it
was, his soldiers were badly cut up, 80 or more being killed;
and the remainder slept upon the battle-field. The next day
Denonville destroyed Gandagora and marched over to the
west to Fort Hill, a steep little mountain where to this day
can be traced the line of an old trench and on the top, very
plain, is a deep cache or dugout in the earth for storing corn
and other provisions. I saw it last fall, and the depression
was still noticeable. Denonville destroyed the stockade and
provisions here and then marched southwestward to Totiakton,
which lay along the elevation you have probably noticed just
west of the Lehigh tracks at Rochester Junction, on the
Sheldon farm. This the Frenchmen destroyed. In 1802, when
the Sheldons took up their land here, the remains of the
Seneca stockade v.ere quite visible. As at Victor and
Boughton Hill, an immense quantity of iron axes, gun barrels
RAMBLES ABOUT ROCHESTER 91
and locks, knives, metal ornaments, French money and medals,
beside may stone implements, have been dug up ; and in many
cases irretrievably lost. The Frenchmen, after destroying
Totiakton, marched straight north, probably by the river trail
to the Red Creek landing in Genesee Valley Park, and thence
to the sand bar at the Bay, whence they paddled to Niagara,
built a post and thence home to Montreal and Quebec. If they
did not pass over the site of Rochester, they undoubtedly saw
the Pinnacle hills and Mt. Hope, and perhaps heard the roar of
the Falls.
There is another great village site also called Totiakton,
about two miles west of Honeoye Falls, on the Dann farm.
This has been wonderfully rich in relics, an extensive grave-
yard having yielded up one of the finest collections of Seneca
pipes and beads in the country. It is thought that this
Totiakton was built by the Senecas after the destruction of the
original town by Denonville.
So much for the east side of the river. On the west bank,
inside the limits of the city, there are many interesting archaeo-
logical memories. Most of them center about the rapids near
the Court Street dam. This was a famous ford and canoe
landing, and the springs from which Spring street obtained
its name, made all the land from the Erie station to the hill
on which the Kimball house stands, in good repute for
camping. The springs were located in the rear of what is now
the First Presbyterian church and the adjoining buildings;
and even in comparatively recent times have given trouble
in digging foundations for houses. Exchange street is on a
trail line; Spring and Troup streets were both trails; and
Plymouth avenue was a continuation of the Hanford Landing
trail, connecting the Ridge Road and the Red Creek landing.
All the way up the river to Avon and Mt. Morris is
marked by aboriginal remains. About Caledonia they are
particularly plentiful, as that was a favorite camping resort,
being on the main cross state trail which ran unbrokenly from
the Hudson to Lake Erie and plentifully supplied with springs.
On a gentle hill near Chili last fall a party of four happened
upon what was apparently an undisturbed burying ground;
92 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
and in a short time uncovered nine perfect skeletons.
Strangely enough, no weapons or other remains were found
with the skeletons, excepting in one case, where a beautiful
pipe, one of the most perfect I have ever seen, fell a prey to
the skilful spade of a collector who, of course, has already
more than, as I have often explained to him, he really needs.
The river road follows the river trail, and as you rush
in your automobile along its smooth surface you can imagine
it as it was in La Salle 's day, 24 inches wide, beaten down hard
into the sod and following, as it does today, the windings of
the river. And as you look out upon the shining ribbon of
the gentle current, it takes but a little imagining to people
it now with swiftly moving canoes, gleaming red shoulders and
flashing paddles. It was a stream beloved of the Indian. I
think La Salle loved it, too, and it is slowly coming back into
its own again, and being loved by the white man for its own
sake, even in the 20th century.
There are many other places of interest that you would
meet in a day's tramp; but these I have endeavored to
point out to you as the most noticeable and essential to a
proper knowledge of Rochester's considerable historical
associations. As an end or a cause for a tramp in the open
they are the salt to the meat. Three of these places are of
more than merely local interest. They are the land about the
Bay outlet, — especially Sea Breeze and the site of Fort des
Sables; the upper landing at Genesee Valley Park; and the
battle field at Victor. The village of Canandaigua has dedi-
cated a huge boulder, inscribed in bronze, to mark the spot
where Sullivan and his soldiers passed on their way to punish
the Senecas for the Wyoming massacre in 1779. I would like
to suggest that some such monument should be placed upon
the historic ground at Sea Breeze, upon the upper landing at
Genesee Valley Park and upon the battle field at Victor ; and
I believe that the newspapers and the people of Rochester will
be glad to assist in such a move by this society. It is
notorious that we Americans "are careless of our dead." Let
us throw off this apathy and keep fresh in the memories of
the generations to come the part that our city and its environ-
ments have played in the development of this land of ours.
Rochester; Backgrounds of Its History
By RAYMOND H. ARNOT
Read before The Rochester Historical Society, November 14, 1921
The student of the history of Rochester and the Genesee
Country is confronted by so many facts of historical value
that a wise selection of the events in that history is some-
what difficult to make ; that the history of Rochester and
the Genesee Valley is of commanding importance to the general
scholar is not fully appreciated, even by those who are, to a
greater or less extent, familiar with the important events
which have developed in this region. It would be an
extravagance of expression to assert that the city of
Rochester and Western New York offer as varied and as
interesting a history as any portion of America. It is, how-
ever, possible to declare that in Rochester lived men who
have markedly influenced the intellectual life of this nation;
men who have engaged in great business enterprises which
have affected the country at large ; scholars who have con-
tributed worthy additions to the literature of our time; that
here was the focal point for the dissemination of ideas, some
of doubtful value, we must admit, but attractive, nevertheless,
to the historian in the sequence of events.
The Indian occupation of the Genesee Country compels
the attention of him who must go back to first things before
he can orient himself to the history which is to follow. As,
however, the aboriginal peoples made no impression upon the
subsequent life of this community, a short discussion of the
history of Western New York before the settlement of the
white men is all that may be deemed necessary.
The two great Indian races in North America were the
Algonquins and the Iroquois. They were bitter rivals. The
Algonquins comprised such well known tribes as the Mohegans,
the Illinois, the IMiami and the Shawnees, and they were by
far the largest Indian family north of Yucatan. The Iroquois
among other tribes, included the Five Nations of Western
94 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
New York, the Seneeas, the Onondagas, the Mohawks, the
Oneidas, and the Cayugj^s.
It was Iroquois tribes, according to most anthropologists,
who built the mounds in the Ohio Valley. The Seneeas were
settled in the Genesee Valley when the French explorers
visited Western New York. Their antipathy to the French
after the defeat of the Iroquois by Champlain prevented any
friendly co-operation between the French and the Indians
though Jesuit missionaries had made an heroic but futile
attempt to win over the Seneeas to Catholic Christianity.
We read of the expedition of Denonville in the latter
part of the seventeenth century and of his victory over the
Indians; the landing of LaSalle and Father Hennepin; the
passage over the Seneca country of Brule, Champlain 's inter-
preter; the activities of the fathers, Chaumonot and Fremin;
and the punitive expedition of General John Sullivan in 1779.
All of these facts are of importance to the chronicler of events,
but they are no part of the real history of Rochester. That
history must begin with the occupation of the white men.
In 1606 James I granted a charter for colonization in
America to two companies of London merchants. One of
these companies was the Plymouth Colony which received a
grant of land lying between the fortieth and the forty-eighth
parallels of latitude and extending from ocean to ocean. This
grant was subsequently revoked, but in 1691 in the reign of
William and Mary was in large part reaffirmed. The bounty
of James I, therefore, comprehended the whole of the present
State of New York. In 1664 the Dutch Colony of New
Amsterdam surrendered to the English, and Charles II granted
the former Dutch possessions to his brother, the Duke of
York and Albany, later James II.
Upon the conclusion of the Revolutionary War and after
various persons had penetrated the Genesee Country with
a view to its settlement, a controversy arose between the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the State of New York
in respect to their rights in the lands of this region. This dis-
agreement was happily adjusted by a compromise effected at
the Convention in Hartford in 1786. By that compromise the
sovereignty of New York was recognized over the disputed
BACKGROUNDS OF HISTORY 95
lands, but to IMassachusetts was granted the right of owner-
ship in them subject to the Indian claims which, it was con-
ceded, must be extinguished. The ownership by one state of
lands in another state was not a unique situation at that
time. Connecticut, for example, only two months before the
convention at Hartford, had retained ownership in a large
tract in the State of Ohio known to history as the Western
Reserve. The governing authorities in both Massachusetts
and Connecticut, however, recognizing the futility and the
anomaly of such ownership, took immediate steps to dispose
of property, which, if it were retained, would have been of
doubtful benefit. Massachusetts soon found opportunity of
closing a bargain for the disposition of these lands with
Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham.
Oliver Phelps, the more interesting personage of the two,
was a native of Windsor, Connecticut, a resident of
Massachusetts, and during the closing years of his life was
domiciled in Canandaigua. Not discouraged by his failure
to effect a sale of the entire tract acquired from Massachusetts
Phelps purchased from Connecticut in association with Gideon
Granger and others the Western Reserve in Ohio. He subse-
quently became a member of Congress and a Circuit Judge.
Being farsighted enough to see the need in^Western New York
of a great waterway he was one of the earliest advocates of
the Erie Canal. "Oliver Phelps," the editor of the first
directory of Rochester asserts, "may be considered the Cecrops
of the Genesee Country. Its inhabitants owe a mausoleum to
his memory in gratitude for his having pioneered for them
this Canaan of the west."
To further the promotion of the sale of the lands so
acquired Phelps and Gorham succeeded in buying off the
claims of the Indians in an immense acreage. Cession of any
land west of the Genesee, however, was not within the
contemplation of the Indian chiefs until Phelps promised to
erect a grist mill for the accommodation of the settlers and
the Senecas. This proposal was apparently enough to warrant
the cession of a very large tract (12 miles by 24) lying west
of the Genesee, one hundred acres of which were granted by
Phelps and Gorham as a gratuity to Ebenezer Allan upon
96 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAI. SOCIETY
condition that Allan construct a mill. The One Hundred
Acre Tract, or Mill Lot, finally coming into possession of the
Pulteney Estate, was sold by that estate to Nathaniel
Rochester, William Fitzhugh and Charles Carroll.
Of the character of the founder of Rochester only words
of respect and veneration can be used. Born in the same great
commonwealth with "Washington, Jefferson, Madison and
Monroe, he worked assiduously in the patriotic cause during
the Revolutionary War. Being ardent in his sympathies with
the revolting colonists Colonel Rochester was entrusted by the
leaders with undertakings requiring skill, tact and initiative.
Coming to the Genesee Country he acquired a considerable
acreage in Livingston County, and in 1802 in association with
Pitzhugh and Carroll he purchased the One Hundred Acre
Tract. Being a man of unusual energy and enterprise and
deeming the times unfavorable for the sale of this tract he re-
paired to his home in Maryland, and remained there engaged in
mercantile pursuits. During his residence in Maryland after
the close of the war Colonel Rochester was successively sheriff,
president of the Hagerstown bank and elector for James
IMadison. Coming to Dansville in 1810 he there erected a
paper mill where also he added to his already large landed
estate. Nathaniel Rochester became a permanent resident
of the place called by his name in 1818.
There can be no doubt that Nathaniel Rochester was a
man of prevision and business judgment. His purchase of a
tract of land for subdivision in the heart of what is now
Rochester was an indication of his wisdom in forecasting the
value of the tract as a site for the development of a thriving
center of population. In 1812 the opportune time arrived for
the sale of portions of the One Hundred Acre Tract, and that
year may be fixed as the date of the founding of Rochester.
To be sure, there were occasional visitors to the site of Roch-
ester, and a pioneer here and there prior to the year 1812, but
there was no determined attempt to establish any permanent
settlement until Rochester, Fitzhugh and Carroll opened the
sale of the One Hundred Acre Tract.
Neither William Fitzhugh nor Charles Carroll ever
actively connected himself with the development of Rochester.
BACKGKOUNDS OF HISTORY 97
Fitzhugh removed from Maryland and took up his residence in
Livingston County. Fitzhugh 's three daughters married men
of distinction; Gerrit Smith and James G. Birney, the
abolitionists, and Dr. Frederick F, Backus, a son of Azel
Backus, first president of Hamilton College, were sons-in-law
of William Fitzhugh.
Rochester was by no means the first settlement in Monroe
County. Pittsford was settled in 1790 by Israel and Simon
Stone, and Scottsville and Brighton were settled at the end o^
the eighteenth century. In 1805 the harbor of the Genesee
was made a port of entry, and Samuel Latta was appointed
the first collector. Latta Road was named for Samuel Latta.
Charlotte was settled in 1792 by William Hincher. It was
named for Charlotte, daughter of Colonel Robert Troup, the
agent of the Pulteney estate, and not for Charlotte Augusta,
the daughter of George IV, as some authorities, like the Gov-
ernment publication on place names, suppose.
The One Hundred Acre Tract lay wholly on the west side
of the Genesee, and was given the name of Rochester in honor
of its chief proprietor. It was originally intended by the
owners that only that tract should bear the name Rochester.
From the point of view of the technician, therefore, it is correct
to assert that Mortimer F. Reynolds having been born on the
site of the Reynolds Arcade (on the west side of the river)
was the first white child born in Rochester. James Stone,
however, a son of the pioneer proprietor of the east side of
the Genesee, Avas probably the first white child born within
the limits of the present city. The date of the birth of James
Stone is 1810; that of Mortimer F. Reynolds, 1814.
There are authorities who are inclined to question the
assertion that James Stone was the first white child born
within the present city of Rochester, and who declare that
one John Fish was born on the One Hundred Acre Tract in
1800. No one can declare with the assurance of ultimate
authority for or against James Stone or John Fish. It is suffi-
cient to affirm, however, that the weight of evidence on this
interesting question is in favor of James Stone as the first white
child bom in Rochester.
Some events in 1812 worth chronicling were : the erection
98 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
of a tavern and the construction of a sawmill by Isaac W.
Stone on the east side of the river; the laying out of village
lots in that part of present day Rochester on the west side
known as Frankfort north of the One Hundred Acre Tract,
the name "Frankfort" being given in honor of Francis Brown,
one of the proprietors; and the completion at the joint
expense of Genesi-e and Ontario counties of the bridge across
the Genesee.
•^ The development of the settlement was much hindered by
the prospect of a British invasion in the War of 1812. No
invasion, however, actually occurred, though in 1811 a British
squadron under Yeo made a threatening demonstration off
Charlotte.
Of some of the men of those early days it is befitting to
speak. The population of Rochester was not made up of the
offscourings of humanity. The forefathers were not mere
adventurers seeking to gain sudden fortune and then repair
to a more refined and elegant civilization. The settlers here
were virile and resolute, determined to carve out their own
careers in this western wilderness. Largely of New England
ancestry they injected into their life here the old New England
customs.
Of heroic mold and, as his addresses reveal him, a man of
cultivation was Enos Stone. Born in Lenox, Massachusetts, in
the fateful year 1776, he came to the Genesee Valley to super-
intend a land purchase of his father. Reaching the site of
Rochester in 1790 he found here his brother. Orange Stone.
Ardent in his devotion to his adopted home he worked through-
out his life in the Genesee Country to make Rochester
habitable.
Abelard Reynolds came from Pittsfield, Massachusetts,
and opened a tavern on the One Hundred Acre Tract. He
bought lots in this tract upon which he later erected the Rey-
nolds Arcade.
Colonel Caleb Hopkins, though not intimately connected
with Rochester except through his interest in the first
manufacturing company of the village, was a notable man in
this region. Born in Pittsford. Vermont, he migrated to West-
ern New York in 1791. Made of the stern stuff so necessary to
BACKGROUNDS OF HISTORY 99
a first settler he built the first log dwelling in the present town
of Penfield. Being one of the earliest inhabitants of what
is now Pittsford and a man of influence and popularity in that
community, he chose the name of his birthplace in Vermont
as the name of the new settlement.
A man of great enterprise and versatility, and a leader in
the early life here, was Elisha Johnson, president of the village
in 1829, builder of old St. Paul's Church, builder of the dam
across the Genesee, builder of Johnson's race on the east side
of the river, chief engineer of the first railway from Rochester
and Mayor of the city in 1838.
In 1816 came Everard Peck, a Connecticut Yankee, to
ply his trade as a bookbinder. Two years later he established
the Rochester Telegraph and befriended Thurlow Weed by
making a position for him on that paper. Mr. Peck was not
a man of liberal education, but it was he who was largely
instrumental in founding the University of Rochester. Of all
the pioneers Everard Peck was not inferior to any in the
accuracy of his judgment, the strength of his character, the
variety of his interests and the esteem in which he was held
by the people.
Other names of first settlers to whom our affection is due
are Elisha Ely of Hadley, Massachusetts, builder of mills and
publisher of the first city directory and one of the officers of
the little band which were ready to withstand the threatened
attack of Admiral Yeo in 1814. Samuel G. Andrews, who came
from Derby, Connecticut, in 1815, prominent merchant, post-
master, member of Congress, Mayor of the city in 1840 and in
1856. "Samuel G. Andrews," in the language of Thurlow
Weed, "or as he was best known, 'George Andrews,' was one
of the brightest, gentlest, as well as one of the most interesting
and agreeable gentlemen I have ever known." Thomas Kemp-
shall was a man of energy and business sagacity. He founded
the famous Kempshal mills and was one of the first trustees of
the Rochester Savings Bank, and Mayor of the city.
Three men who were distinguished in early Rochester in
the practice of the law and on the bench were Addison
Gardiner, Samuel L. Selden and Henry R. Selden. Born in
New Hampshire, Gardiner came to Manlius in Central New
/1 1^ r^ ^' n Q A
100 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICA[L SOCIETY
York, and there formed an attachment for Thurlow Weed.
CTardiner removed to Rochester in 1822 and induced Weed
to follow him. Forming a partnership with Samuel L. Selden,
Gardiner became one of the most eminent lawyers in the
Genesee Country. Upon the retirement of Judge Gardiner
from the Court of Appeals, Samuel L. Selden became his
successor. Henry R. Selden, younger brother of Samuel, was
one of the greatest American lawyers and judges. The Court
of Appeals never had a more learned member than Henry R.
Selden.
In 1817 the population on both sides of the river had so
increased as to warrant the incorporation of the new settle-
ment as a village, the name of which was to be "Rochester-
ville." The diminutive ending lasted only five years. In 1822
the place was renamed "Rochester." The village had been
developing a thriving business with Canada and in 1818,
26,000 barrels of flour, as well as other commodities, were
shipped by vessels running from the Genesee.
In 1816 Caleb Lyon began the settlement of Carthage,
and in 1818 Elisha B. Strong erected there a flour mill. Before
the future development of the One Hundred Acre Tract could
be adequately foreseen there were extravagant predictions
respecting the enterprising colony at Carthage. The possibility
of its outstripping the settlement on the One Hundred Acre
Tract was freely proclaimed. At all events, here were built
stores and dwellings under the guidance of Elisha B. Strong
who later became president of the Bank of Rochester and the
first judge of the new county. It was for Judge Strong that
Strong Street in the former settlement of Carthage is named.
Judge Strong came from Windsor, Connecticut, the birthplace
of Oliver Phelps.
In 1819 the Carthage Bridge was completed. This bridge
was one of the great engineering accomplishments of those
early days. While it lasted it was the pride of Western
New York. Unfortunately the quality of the work was not
• commensurate with the praise bestowed upon it, for the bridge
collapsed the year following its completion. In this connection
it may be well to add that a strange fatality seemed to follow
bridges at Carthage, for another bridge erected there in 1856
BACKGROUNDS OF HISTORY 101
fell in 1857. The falling of bridges at Carthage one year
after their construction was becoming a habit.
Investigation has never satisfactorily explained why
Carthage was so named. Pioneers in Western and Central
New York, however, had a passion for classical nomenclature ;
the naming of a place, therefore, with the promise of so
brilliant a future after the great rival of Rome seems probable.
Though why anyone with a knowledge of the fate of ancient
Carthage in mind should have deliberately so named a settle-
ment which its promoters hoped would become a populous com-
munity set on permanent foundations is beyond explanation.
Carthage was finally taken into the city upon its incorporation
in 1834.
The growth of this western village in those early days was
really phenomenal. From 331 souls in 1815 the village
increased in numbers to approximately 2,000 in 1821. This
increase and the difficulty of reaching the two court towns of
Canandaigua and Batavia constrained public spirited men to
ask the Legislature for the erection of a new county. The
jealousy of the older counties obstructed, for a time, the
passage of a bill to this end. But Nathaniel Rochester, who
w^as always accustomed to bring things to pass, succeeded in
1821 in convincing the Legislature that Rochester must be
the county seat of a new county. The year 1821 happened
to be the first year of James Monroe's second term as President,
and in honor of that great Virginian the county was called
"Monroe."
Another familiar name given by the pioneers in recognition
of a contemporary event is "Greece." Erected in 1822 when
European Greece, then a vilayet of Turkey, was struggling
for its freedom, the new town in Monroe County was so
named to give expression to the sympathy which the founders
held for the ancient classic land.
Colonel Rochester became the first county clerk, and his
signature subjoined to conveyances in the first book of deeds
is of lively interest to antiquarians.
In 1824 the first banking institution in Rochester was
organized. Prior to this year merchants and others in
Rochester who needed banking accommodations were obliged
102 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAIL SOCIETY
to resort to institutions in neighboring towns. The charter
of the new bank, called the Bank of Rochester, was obtained
by reason of the political acumen of a very remarkable man
who had come to Rochester only two years before to seek his
fortune. Thurlow Weed, though only 27 years of age, had
cultivated the acquaintance of so many politicians at Albany
by his work as a reporter for Everard Peck's Rochester
Telegraph that he was able to urge successfully the passage
through the Legislature of the charter of the first banking
institution in the village. The strong jealousy against the
creation of a new bank in the Genesee Country would have
appalled any less resolute man than Weed, but undeterred
by possible discouragements he won a brilliant victory. Many
applications from prospective banking institutions were
pending in the Legislature, but Rochester was the only place
favored out of New York City by a bank charter in 1824. The
work, therefore, of Thurlow Weed towards this end was of
no mean significance. It was Samuel G. Andrews who
suggested Weed for this important mission.
In 1829 the first Bank of Monroe was established, and in
1831 the Rochester Savings Bank. The latter bank was
founded through the philanthropic efl^orts of Dr. Levi Ward, Jr.,
Everard Peck and Jonathan Child, a trio of men whose lives
and whose work in this community were always for the puldic
good and will continue a precious memory to those who hold
in veneration the influence of the pioneers.
Yielding only in seniority to the Bank for Savings in the
City of New York and to the Albany Savings Bank, the
Rochester Savings Bank is the oldest bank of that kind i:i this
state. After its organization the Rochester Savings Bank
conducted its business in the rooms of the Bank of Rochester
on Exchange Street, but in 18-42 it completed and bccran to
occupy a new building on State Street. This structure, of
substantial but old-fashioned appearance, is a cherished relic
of early Ko'^thester, and is still maintained for commercial
purposes.
In 1825 there was completed from Albany to BufiPalo the
Erie Canal, one of the greatest human achievements in history
up to that time. The project for the construction of this
BACKGROUNDS OF HISTORY 103
waterway had been in contemplation for a number of years
before the work was actually started. The wonder to us of
a later day is how it was possible to marshal the money
necessary for so momentous an undertaking. But the builders
of the canal, supported by the powerful advocacy of DeWitt
Clinton and by such local protagonists as Myron Holley and
Nathaniel Rochester, overcame all difficulties. The canal was
completed in eight years and proved to be one of the most
successful ventures, particularly from a pecuniary point of
view, ever carried out.
This canal, second in length only to the great canal of
China, played a most important part in the commercial
development of the State of New York, and probably more
than any other influence contributed to the establishment of
New York City as the chief port of entry of the United States.
During the period between 1817 and 1882, when tolls were
collected, the operation of the canal showed a net profit of
nearly $43,000,000.
The construction of the Erie Canal was the making of
Rochester. It was accessibility to the canal which determined
definitely that Rochester and not her rivals was to be the
commercial center of the Genesee County. Unquestionably
abundant water power played a great part in the development
of the settlement, but it was the problem of transportation,
happily solved by the Erie Canal, which enabled Rochester to
take precedence over other places hereabouts and to become
the distributing point for this part of the state. Intelligent
men like Nathaniel Rochester and Myron Holley saw clearly
that adequate transportation was needed above all things for
the future growth of the village; hence their indomitable
perseverance until the canal pro.ject was assured.
Of the abduction of William Morgan in 1826 and the
formation of the Anti-Masonic Party no details need be given.
The party soon dissolved and would now be scarcely
remembered except for the introduction to national politics
of three men who were destined to renown in another
generation — William H. Seward, Thurlow Weed and Thaddeus
Stevens, and except for the more important fact of its origi-
nation of the nominating convention, an example soon followed
104 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
and still followed by all other parties. Prior to the Anti-
Masonic convention which in 1832 nominated William Wirt
for President, presidential nominees were chosen in Congres-
sional caucuses.
The population of this western village had so materially
increased that in 1834 the Legislature granted a city charter.
In this connection it is interesting to note that Toronto became
a city in the same year. The charter of Rochester was drawn
by one of the most eminent lawyers of the time, John C.
Spencer, subsequently Secretary of War and Secretary of the
Treasury in President Tyler's Cabinet. Spencer was so bitter
an opponent of the erection of the county of Monroe that his
selection to draft the charter of the first city of that county
was a recognition of his ability which needs no comment.
Following the custom prevailing in English cities and
boroughs, the charter provided for the appointment of the
mayor by the Common Council. His term was for one year
only. All mayors continued to be appointed by the Common
Council for the term of one year until an amendment to the
Constitution of 1821, adopted in 1839, permitted the Legis-
lature to enact a law providing for the election of mayors
by the people. The Legislature enacted such a law in 1840,
and thereafter mayors were elected annually by the people
until 1871, when the biennial term was established.
Another peculiarity of the charter of 1834 was the
provision for an alderman and an assistant alderman from
each ward of the city. This double representation continued
until 1877.
The first mayor of Rochester was Jonathan Child. The
people of Rochester should warmly regard the memory of
their first mayor. Deeming the issuance of licenses for the
sale of liquor inconsistent with his convictions, he resigned
his office rather than compromise his opinions. Contemporary
criticism of Mayor Child's course, criticism, based upon the
requirement of the charter that the mayor should sign all
licenses granted by the Common Council, was not well founded.
Whether Mayor Child knew of this charter provision or not.
he was well within his rights in quitting an office which
demanded a duty not sanctioned by his conscience.
BACKGROUNDS OF HISTORY 105
In his inaugural address Mr. Child used these significant
words: "In the intercourse of social life, and on all occasions
involving the interests of our young city, let us forget our
politics and our party, and seek only the public good. The
fortunes of us all are embarked in a common bottom, and
it cannot be too much to expect a union of counsels and
exertions to secure their safety." A portion of this quotation
is the legend or inscription on the Mortimer street facade of
the new Chamber of Commerce Building.
Jonathan Child married Sophia, daughter of Nathaniel
Rochester. They occupied one of the most notable houses in
the city. Built in 1838 it is still one of the landmarks of the
Third Ward.
A movement in the history of the United States whicu
can justly claim Rochester as one of its centers was the anti-
slavery propaganda. Myron Holley, sometime a resident oi
Canaudaigua, but during his later years a resident of
Rochester, was the real founder of the Liberty Party, the
writer of its first platform and the moving spirit in the
nomination at Warsaw in 1839 of James G. Birney for
President of the United States. Holley established in 1839 the
Rochester Freeman, a journal devoted to the anti-slavery
cause. He was not the pioneer abolitionist editor, for Lundy
had published a paper in 1821 and Garrison had founded the
Liberator in 1831, but Holley 's zeal and enterprise
accomplished much in introducing anti-slavery ideas to the
people of the North. Holley 's daughter imbibed her father's
convictions on the slavery question, and became after Holley 's
death in 1811 one of the most earnest workers among the
abolitionists. Her life has been written by John White Chad-
wick. She lived in Rochester many years and now lies buried
in Mt. Hope Cemetery near her father.
Through the agitation of Myron Holley and the accession
to the anti-slavery ranks in Rochester of Frederick Douglass,
this city became one of the stations of the so-called "under-
ground raihvay." Western New York in the forties and fifties
was in a ferment over the slavery question. In Syracuse
occurred the celebrated "Jerry" rescue under the leadership
of the Rev. Samuel J. May; in Peterboro lived Gerrit Smith,
106 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAIL SOCIETY
one of the most active abolitionists of the North ; in Rochester
after the passage of the fugitive slave law in 1850 men and
women vied with each other in their attempts to give slaves a
safe conduct to Canada. The resident anti-slavery leaders
were from time to time encouraged by visits to Rochester of
workers in the cause from New England and elsewhere. Such
men as Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Whittier, Arthur Tappan,
Gerrit Smith, Joshua R. Giddings and Theodore Parker came
to lend their aid against slavery.
For the benefit of those who may be interested in the
beginnings of things pertaining to Rochester the following
dates are given : the first church in Rochester, the First
Presbyterian, was organized in 1815. Its second church
edifice stood on the present site of the City Hall and
opposite St. Luke's. St. Luke's was founded in 1817 and has
occupied its present building since 1825. The First Baptist
Church was established in 1818. The Brick Presbyterian
Church (formerly called the Second Presbyterian) was founded
in 1825, the year of Lafayette's visit here. In 1830 St. Paul's
Church Avas finished. The builder of the church, who was
also president of the village trustees, gave to the street the
name St. Paul in honor of the church. The first Court House
was completed in 1822 on land given to the county by
Rochester, Fitzhugh and Carroll. The Reynolds Arcade was
constructed in 1828. The first railway train left Rochester
in 1837 and went as far as Batavia. The first train in the
opposite direction left here in 1840. Mt. Hope Cemetery
began to be used in 1838. The Hemlock water system was
completed in 1876.
No discussion of the backgrounds of the history of
Rochester would be adequate without considering two edu-
cational institutions which give prestige to the city, and which
help to maintain its primacy as an intellectual center, the
University of Rochester and the Rochester Theological
Seminary. No single institution has wrought more nobly for v
the public good than the University. Miscalled a "university," )
for it has not yet developed any graduate departments, it
nevertheless has been a center of culture for the whole
communit}". The city is so large and the University has been
BACKGROUNDS OF HISTORY 107
so small that no one can speak with accuracy of the college
dominating the city — a condition which might with justice
be asserted of Harvard at Cambridge or Yale at New Haven.
The influence, however, of the chief educational organization
of Rochester upon the life of the people has been important,
and during the coming years is likely to increase.
Founded in 1850, the University of Rochester has main-
tained an eminent faculty and has sent out into the world
many well known men.
Every institution of learning seems to give precedence
and place of honor to one only. In thinking of Harvard we
visualize James Walker ; of Yale, Theodore Dwight Woolsey ;
of Williams, Mark Hopkins; of Union, Eliphalet Nott.
Rochester graduates give the primacy to the beloved Dr.
Anderson. Born in Brunswick, Maine, and graduating at
Waterville College, he forsook his New England home to
become the first president of the new college at Rochester.
Here for 35 years Dr. Anderson worked to make the college
a center of culture and sound learning. Being offered the
presidency of Brown University, he declined it upon the
ground that in Rochester was there greater need for his
services. For 37 years Dr. Anderson was a trustee of Vassar
College, an institution which shared with 'Rochester his power-
ful influence for right living and right thinking.
From the faculty of Madison University at Hamilton there
came to Rochester two eminent teachers and scholars. Dr.
Asahel C. Kendrick and Professor John H. Raymond. Dr.
Kendrick was one of the most eminent classical scholars of
his day. He was a member of the American committee for
the revision of the New Testament; he was president of the
American Philological Association, and in 1895 he published a
life of Dr. Anderson. Professor Kendrick 's talented daughter
married Rossiiter Johnson.
John H. Raymond, another member of the first faculty,
added distinction to the college and the city. Serving as
professor of literature at Rochester for fifteen years, he was
then called to be president of Vassar College, an institution
which he served until his death with intelligent zeal and
devotion.
108 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The third member of the first faculty of whom note should
be made was Professor Chester Dewey, one of the pioneers in
the teaching of science in America and long a leading citizen
of Rochester.
A naturalist of great promise was James Orton, who
served the University but a single year. Invited by the
Smithsonian Institution to (take charge of an expedition to
South America, he devoted much of the remainder of his
life to exploration and study in the Andes.
Of Henry A. Ward so much has been written and said
that any extended account of his distinguished career is
needless. His life, wholly devoted to science and the promotion
of scientific collections, shed luster upon the city of his
birth. Rochester is justly proud of the work of her great son.
The Rochesiter Theological Seminary was organized in
the same year with the University, and for a considerable
time occupied the same quarters, the old United States Hotel,
a building still standing on the north side of Main Street West
near Elizabeth Street, This building, held in so affectionate
regard by friends of the University and the Seminary, was
built in 1826 by one Martin Clapp. Designed as a hotel, it
soon gave place to a manual training school. It subsequently
was used by the Misses Black for a girls ' school ; then by
Miss Sarah T. Seward, also as a girl's school; in 1832 upon
the completion of the first railroad from Rochester the old
hotel became a railway station. On the first Monday of
November, 1850, the building became the home of the
University and the Theological Seminary. The pecular sur-
roundings of the new University attracted the attention of
Emerson, who was an occasional visitor to Rochester. His
comment on this Yankee enterprise is illuminating: "A land-
lord in Rochesiter had an old hotel which he thought would
rent for more as a university, so he sent for a few books, put
in a coach load of professors, bought some philosophical
apparatus and, by the time green peas were ripe, he had
graduated a large class of students."
Oddly enough the University and the Seminary, though
under Baptisit auspices and though closely associated in many
ways, have no organic connection with each other. They
BACKGROUNDS OF HISTORY 109
are entirely independent and, though they co-operate with
each other as far as their educational fields will permit, they
pursue their activiities with separate trustees, separate
faculties and separate endowments.
Many men of distinction have held chairs in the Rochester
Theological Seminary. Indeed, it is not merely a rhetorical
expression to affirm that the seminary at Rochester has been
the leader of the denomination in the education of young men
for the ministry.
From Madison came Thomas J. Conant to give instruction
in Hebrew and exegesis. Professor Conant was one of the
greatest Hebrew scholars in America. Perhaps the most
distinguished scholar in either of the faculties was a man little
known to the present generation, Horatio Balch Hackett. Yot
Professor Hackett 's reputation as a biblical student and
exegetist was widely extended. Born in Massachusetts he
was graduated at Amherst in 1830 and held a chair at the
New^ton Theological Institution for thirty years. Coming to
Rochester in the full maturity of his powers he used his ripe
scholarship to increase the renown of the Seminary.
The executive officer to whom the Seminary owes much
of its prestige was Ezekiel Oilman Robinson, who came in 1852
as a professor, and who in 1860 was m^ade president. Dr.
Robinson retired from the Seminary in 1872 to become
president of Brown University. His work at the Rochester
Theological Seminary gave him the distinction of being one
of the pre-eminent educators of the time.
President Robinson was succeeded by Augustus Hopkins
Strong, a native of Rochester, a graduate of Yale in the class
of 1857, and a man of broad learning and of distinguished
executive ability. President Strong's administration of the
Seminary was marked by large accessions to its endowment
funds and a notable increase in its material equipment.
The library of the Seminary is celebrated as possessing
the notable collection of the German ecclesiastical historian,
Neander, a gift from a warm friend of the Seminary, Mr.
Roswell S. Burrows of Albion.
In Rochester lived Henry O'Reilly, editor, organizer of
the telegraph system and historian; Hiram Sibley, who him-
110 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
self deprived of a liberal education, recognized the value of a
cultivated mind and did much to make easy the acquirement
of knowledge ; here lived Lewis H. Morgan, whose studies in
Indian life and customs were profound; John Norton
Pomeroy, one of the most eminent of American lawyers;
Charles Warren Stoddard, poet, traveler and man of letters
and boyhood friend of Rossiter Johnson; Theodore Bacon,
scholar in many fields and son of a distinguished New England
preacher; here lived James Breck Perkins, whose studies in
French history of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
gave him rank as the chief American authority in that period
of history.
In concluding this hisitorical summary of Rochester we
must recognize that any place must be judged by the lives
of those who have given the best that was in them to the up-
building of the community; those who live in Rochester are
beneficiaries of the effort of those who worked in the past
to make this city what it is today. Rochester would not
have atitained the position it now enjoys if here had not lived
men of enterprise, business acumen, culture and public spirit.
The predictions of the editor of the first city directory, that
of 1827, have been marvelously fulfilled.
The editor of this first directory must have been a man
of more than ordinary vision and discernment. The con-
cluding paragraphs of the directory are marked by such
patriotic fervor, keen intuition and an idealism so exalted as
to warrant their being cherished as a notable contribution to
the literature of Rochester. They are as follows :
"We have seen our village, from a log hut or two, in the
deep and lonely forest, rise like the work of magick, in a few
years, to the form of a busy and populous city. We have seen
the forest yielding to the fruitful field, and the fruitful field
to streets crowded wnth commerce, and wharves covered with
the merchandise of every nation. From a few adventurous
settlers, braving the hardships and dangers of an untried
wilderness, we now see a multitude of people enjoying all the
necessaries and luxuries of life. The past is instructive, the
future deeply interesting. Industry and enterprise, crowned
by the blessing of a bountiful providence, have effected what
BACKGROUNDS OF HISTORY 111
we see. What future achievements may not be accomplished
by the same means? But a new element here enters into our
calculations. It was the yielding forest and the passive earth
that have been hitherto regulated and subdued; our future
prosperity depends on the tractability of a mass of mind, a
host of mingling opinions, passions, virtues and vices, thrown
together from every quarter of the globe. Shall it rise through
years to come in moral and social order and beauty? Let each
citizen answer for himself ; each will have his share of agency
in the event ; but let it be remembered, that a new
instrumentality must be at work. The means that have
transformed the forest will not act upon the mind. Education
must be cherished ; religion musit be revered ; luxury and
vice must be abjured; our magistracy must feel the true
interests of the citizens, and must be supported in their efforts
to promote every vir^tuous, and to suppress every corrupting
influence. So doing, we are permitted to anticipate prosperity.
The Providence which has blessed the early, will equally smile
upon the latter exertions. We may be wise and honorable,
good and great, if we labor for it by the most appropriate
means and with corresponding ardour. And the time has come,
when, if we put forth no other energies than those which merely
tend to property and wealth, they will only tend to demolish
the fabrick they have reared, and render our successors a
monument of the vanity and folly of human expectations.
But we look for better things. We reckon on a community
enlightened enough to know the value of its blessings and the
way by which they must be secured. We look forward to
this place at some distant day, as a flourishing city ; flourishing
not merely in wealth and power, but in knowledge and virtue,
an honour and a blessing to sister cities around, and the home
of a great people, enlightened and happy."
The City of Tryon and Vicinity
By A. EMERSON BABCOCK
Read before The Rochester Historical Society, January 9 . 1922
As this seems to be a time when we can pause for a brief
period from the many engagements of this busy and active
generation to look backward over one hundred years to the
beginning of the development of this section, I have taken
for the subject of this historical sketch the first attempt to
found a city in Western New York, which was believed and
hoped by those interested would become the great commercial
city of the Genesee country. At this time this section was a
wilderness. There were few settlers and what Avas to become
the village of Rochesterville some day was without one single
inhabitant.
Mrs. Yates, a member of our society, and State
Genealogist for the Daughters of the American Revolution,
found among her numerous collection of official records in her
investigations in different parts of this state two very
important records. Both of these records were from Ontario
county, on file in this county and at Canandaigua, which I
have investigated and which in a way revolutionize certain
facts pertaining to the settlement of the City of Tryon, and
which our historians failed to find. Of&cial records never lie.
They are always reliable excepting in a few instances some
town records where carelessness is manifest. In the main,
however, town records are pretty reliable. At least this has
been my experience.
I desire to say to you at the start that all reference
in this history to Irondequoit means the Old Indian
Landing, on what is known as Irondequoit Creek, in the Town
of Brighton. The town of Irondequoit set off in 1839 was
never in this section, its boundary line being many miles
from the subject matter in this historical sketch. In the
early period of the settlement of this section, Irondequoit
Creek was entered in the early crude maps as Irondequoit
THE CITY OF TRYON 113
River, and the Landing was known as the head of Irondequoit
Bay. I invite you to go with me to a place in the Town of
Brighton not over two miles from the easterly boundary of the
City of Rochester. We will take the Blossom Road line of
electric cars and proceed easterly to the end of this car line.
Prom here we proceed easterly on Blossom Road about one
mile to the Landing Road into which the Blossom Road
extends. Turning left on the Landing Road we proceed a
short distance to the end of this road. Opening a gate we
cross cultivated ground toward the creek in an easterly
direction say about 100 yards, when we turn left and proceed
north on high ground until opposite a huge dome shaped hill,
on the easterly opposite side of the creek, and we are on the
site of the City of Tryon. It is on high ground and slopes
gradually to a little plateau, and this plateau slopes gradually
to the Creek. At its base, opposite the huge dome shaped hill
I have mentioned, finds us at the site of the Old Indian
Landing. This section looking off from the high ground is
scenic and beautiful with a wonderfully pleasing outlook.
On this high ground the City of Tryon was founded by Salmon
Tryon, of Ballston, Columbia county, N. Y., in 1797. In
support and proof of this statement, I enter copy of official
record from the Register of Deeds of Onktrio county :
"Salmon Tryon, of Ballston, sold to John Tryon, of
Canaan, Columbia county, for $3500.00. Township 13, land
description not given, but states near the Gerundegut Landing,
laid out by Salmon Tryon into Town Lots — 1797."
Unfortunately this record came to me too late to investi-
gate who this Salmon Tryon is. We shall find out in time and
when I do I will gladly file the information as a supplementary
statement to go with this paper. John Tryon, the purchaser,
called by some Judge Tryon and a magistrate, I can find not
one single record to justify such a statement, was evidently
a man of force, influence and intelligence. He was doubtless
a relation to Salmon Tryon, but to date I have no official proof
of any relationship. He saw in his scheme great promise of
success in the development at this place of a great commercial
city.
This place you will note as we pass along in this history
114 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
was the only great assembling place for the first settlers reach-
ing over a very wide extent of country, and was the only place
this side of Canandaigua for trade and commerce. John
Tryon proceeded to develop the property into what was
hoped and believed would become the great commercial city
of the Genesee country. It is noted Salmon Tryon was a very
heavy investor in real estate in this section. Official records
of Ontario county show he was probably the heaviest investor
of any in this section at this time. Land sold cheaply ranging
from 14 cents to $5.00 per acre. It would seem that Salmon
Tryon sold his blocked out town for a pretty good price for
this early period. Of course time showed that John Tryon
purchased a losing venture. What promised to be a big
thing dwindled down to a failure and his friends and many of
the early settlers who invested money in the scheme lost every
cent they invested. The site of Rochester was very un-
favorable for the building of a city owing to its being swampy
and not being accessible for a large shipping trade on the big
lakes. Its water power was not considered, as trade was the
main object in view, and this one thing was what led the
founders of the big city to consider the Landing section as
being the most favorable. Forty ton schooners had no
difficulty in coming from the lake up the bay to the Landing.
There were no sand bars in those days to interfere with
travel and Irondequoit Creek was broad and deep. One can
stand on the high ground along this creek now and readily
see that the distance across the Irondequoit Valley is very
wide and if covered with water would look like a broad river.
The Indian Landing was reached by Indian trails from every
direction, one of the main trails to the east being over the
top of the huge dome shaped hill I have mentioned. This trail
is still plainly visible. At least it was one year ago. The
main line of travel at this time was, however, by water.
This was the greatest trading center of the five nations,
meaning the Iroquois composed of the five tribes, Mohawk,
Oneida, Onondaga, Cayugas and Senecas. It is noted the
Senecas could at this time produce a war party of over 1200
warriors, it being about five times as large as any other tribe
in the confederacy. I am very positive from all that I can
THE CITY OF TRYON 115
gather that this was the place where the French previous to the
building of Fort cles Sables, which was located near the Sea
Breeze site, and built in 1716, ran their vessels up the Bay to
the Landing, and it was here and not the Genesee river that
was visited in June, 1670, by LaSalle. In 1721 we find the
Assenlbly of New York passed an Act to establish a trading
post in this section and the sum of 500 pounds
was raised for this purpose Governor Burnet approved
of this appropriation and selected for this purpose
the following: Capt. Peter Schuyler, Jr., Lieut. Jacob
Verplauck, Gilleyn Verplanck, Johannis Van Der Bergh,
Peter Gronendyck, David Van der Hayden, and two
others, names unknown. Gov. Burnet's instructions were very
forcible and explicit and disclose the intense feeling of rivalry
between the English and French governments. Schuyler is
warned "to keep his eyes wide open, and to send out skouts
and spyes, and be on your guard as the French are not to be
trusted," significant as showing the rivalry in their efforts
to secure the trade and friendship of the Indians. He is also
directed to secure the co-operation of the Indians with the
English, and to do anything in his power to secure the trade
of the Indians away from the French and to urge them to come
to Albany to trade. Quoting from Halsey's Old New York
Frontier, "It is known the Indians fared badly in bargains
made at Albany. They were frequently cheated in disposing
of their goods, especially when in liquor. Very few of the fur
traders have survived with good reputations. Many of these
men were ruffians of the coarsest stamp. Who cheated, cursed
and plundered the Indians and outraged their families. " It is
not to be wondered that the Indians became suspicious and
distrustful of all white men which gradually grcAV to hate
and caused them to bide their time for a terrible revenge when
the innocent and the guilty were made to suffer alike. During
the terrible times the early settlers went through during the
outbreak of the Indians during the War of the Revolution,
it was not the Indians alone who indulged in the greatest
cruelties, but it was the painted blue eyed Tories, known as
blue eyed Indians, whose acts of barbarism and fiendish cruelty
were so great as to cause the Indian chieftain Brandt to con-
116 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
demn their action in no uncertain words. I was informed
while a boy by either the elder Stoneburner or Squire Barnes,
I do not remember which, that across the Dugway Mill race,
nearly opposite the dome shaped hill I have mentioned, on a
farm on the eastern side of the Creek on high ground, the
skeleton of a white man was plowed up and the skull had an
Indian arrow flint deeply imbedded in it. My recollection is
that this skull was sent to Albany and is now in the museum
there. Capt. Schuyler and his companions went to the
Landing and established his trading house on a little plateau
overlooking the Landing and commanding all trails that came
to this place. He was in control of all lines of communication
either by water or land. As this place was the key
to the Indian trade situation and the key also to the
large powerful Seneca tribe of Indians, one can readily see
it was a strategic place. The most important of any in
Western New York. It is noted that Oswego being on the
main water communication between Albany and Lake Ontario,
and Niagara controlling the passage to Erie and the western
lakes, large forts were built at these places, and Irondequoit
remained the great trading center being the key to the Indian
trade, and where both the English and French governments
sought to get a strong foothold. Capt. Schuyler after being
at the Landing one year, he and his companions returned to
Albany in September, 1722. It is noted the rivalry between
the English and French in trying to gain consent of the
Senecas to build a fortress at the bay. This section was a
constant bone of contention for years between these two
governments. It is noted that Gen. Prideaux's expedition in
July, 1759, with Sir William Johnson second in command, made
their camp the second day at Irondequoit and also upon
their return. Also the expedition in 1764 of Gen. Bradstreet
with Sir William Johnson camped at Irondequoit, and
that Israel Putnam then Colonel of the Connecticut battalion
was in this expedition. In 1789 John Lusk, born at Newing-
ton, Connecticut, 1748, and who was the first permanent
settler in this section, associated with Prosper Polly, Gen.
Hyde, Enos Stone. Job Gilbert and Jos. Chapin, purchased
1500 acres of land at the head of Irondequoit Bay. Mr. Lusk
THE CITY OF TRYON 117
during this year set out from his home in the Berkshires with
his son Stephan and a hired man for his new possessions in the
west. Arriving at Schenectady the father set out with a boat
and provisions and the others by land to bring out cattle.
Meeting at Canandaigua they made an ox sled and cut their
way through the wilderness to their destination. Building a
log cabin they cleared twelve acres of land and sowed it to
wheat, the seed being purchased from Ebenezer Allan at
Scottsville. This wheat was brought by canoe to the mouth
of Red Creek and through the forest to their destination. In
1790 he brought his family from Massachusetts, coming by
water by way of Schenectady. The son Stephan was born
April 26th, 1775, and his wife, Sarah (Hencher) Lusk, August
25th, 1777. He erected the first distillery in the City of
Tryon, and at the same time built a large tannery. It is noted
he finally settled in the town of Pittsford. The elder Lusk
died in 1814, aged 66 years. In 1799 John Tryon built a
store and store house, and the store was opened under the
firm name of John Tryon & Company. It being the first and
only store this side of Canandaigua, they did a very large
and lucrative business, its customers coming from a very wide
expanse of country. Through the courtesy of Mrs. Howard
Smith, a granddaughter of the famous_pioneer Oliver Culver
about whom I will have considerable to say in this historical
paper, I have had the privilege of examining the firm's books
of John Tryon & Company. It is noted this store had in its
indexes of accounts the names of over 122 customers. These
customers came from Wayne, Ontario, Livingston and Erie
counties, and a solitary customer at the mouth of Oak Orchard
Creek. Among the names of customers of this store I record
the following during the years, 1799-1805 :
Asa Denton, William Davis, Josiah Fisk, Polly Hopkins,
William Hencher, Sr. and Jr., Silas Losey, Glover Perrin, Capt.
Benj. Pierson, Capt. Simon Stone, Ezekiel Taylor, James 'Wads-
w^orth, Moses Taylor, John Tryon, Lewis Morgan, Isaac Stone,
Joel Scudder, Nathan Fisk, Job Northrup, Oliver Phelps, Giles
Blodgett, Major William Shephard, Capt. Silas Nye — 1 barrel
salmon, Caleb Hopkins, Joseph Palmer, Otis Walker, Reuben
D. Hart, Samuel Lattie, Rufus Messenger, Caleb Martin,
118 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAiL SOCIETY
Nathan Nye, Leonard Stoneburner, Orringh Stone, John
Strowger, Abner "White, Ruth Northrup, Miles Northmp,
Augustus Griswold.
It is noted Samuel Wright's account is as follows : 5 barrels
Muskrat Skins, 6 Beaver Skins, 1 Bear Skin.
The name of this store was changed to the firm name of
Adams & Tryon later. It is also noticed Oliver Culver and
Augustus Griswold had financial interests in this store. Liquor
and wine were very freely used in those days and it is noticed
this store did a large business in this line. Furs, the products
of the farm, potash, salt, flour and a general line of the
necessities of the age was handled by this store and sold to
their customers. A great deal of business was transacted by
barter with the Indians. The creek was full of salmon
trout, and the country abounded with wild game of all kinds.
Lumber was also an important industry, and the building of
ships was quite extensive. The City was governed by its
own laws, and what is called a Lynch Court was established.
There were many trials and convictions. There were some who
made trouble for the early settlers. These people having inter-
married among the Indians it required severe discipline to make
it safe to have them around. A mill costing $15,000.00 was con-
structed, as well as an ashery and distillery. It was expected
this would become a great shipping center and the bay be
covered with freighters in a large carrying trade with Canada
and other places. The first flour received in the city of
Montreal came from the city of Tryon, and the first decked
vessel that descended the St. Lawrence River came from this
place. A warehouse was erected and the town
seemed to be doing a prosperous business. In 1799 the agent
for the properties, Augustus Griswold, came with five sleigh
loads of goods from Schenectady, the freight costing $3.00 for
112 lbs. Asa Dayton opened a Tavern and Stephan Lusk
started in the tanning and shoe making business. I have
recently learned that a Custom House was also actively
engaged at this place. Asa Dunbar, a mulatto, was one of the
first settlers in this section, and eventually became the owner
of the Judson farm, which is spoken of as Palmer's Glen, and
Judson's Glen on the Winton Road North. He is said to have
THE CITY OF TRY ON 119
been a giant in stature and strength and from the salt springs
known as a deer lick at the rear of this farm close to the
creek, he boiled the salt down and sold it to his customers.
I have been to these springs and am very familiar with this
place. He finally removed to Canada and died there. John
Boyd is also mentioned as a resident of the Landing section,
and in 1800 Henry Ward, postmaster at Penfield, at that time
18 years of age, became clerk in the store of Tryon & Adams.
In 1801 a blacksmith shop was erected by Silas Losea. Maude,
an English traveler in 1800, speaks of the city founded at the
head of the bay and of heavy shipments by water to Canada
and other places. In 1804 Noah Smith built a flour mill for
Tryon & Adams on Allyn's Creek. This mill was located about
twenty rods north of the present embankment of the N. Y. C.
railroad, and on the west bank of the stream. Oliver Gris-
wold of Irondequoit purchased the old Allan millstones and
irons for Tryon & Adams and placed them in the new mill.
In 1806 Solomon Fuller built a flour mill on Irondequoit Creek
and the Allan mill stones were transferred to this mill. In
1825 Isaac Barnes, father of Squire Barnes, built a grist mill
on the west bank of Allyn's Creek near East avenue, and the
Allan mill stones and irons were purchased by Mr. Barnes and
his partner, Capt. Enos Blossom, from a Stephan Chubb and
placed in this mill. The stones, fully identified as being the
ones formerly used by Indian Allan, are now in the Monroe
County Courthouse. It is noted the mill established by Mr.
Barnes and Capt. Enos Blossom, which is still standing, will
have reached the century mark in age in 1925. In 1813 the
city of Tryon ceased to become a shipping center and in 1818
the store was abandoned and became a ruins. Through the
courtesy of Mrs. Howard Smith, a kindness which I very grate-
fully acknowledge, I record a statement of Mr. Oliver Culver's,
which he prepared for his family, and which I copy in full :
"I was born in East Windsor, Connecticut, September
24th, 1778. My father was William Culver. My grandfather
was Matthew Grant on my mother's side. My father moved
to Orwell, Vermont, and from there to Ticonderoga. When in
my eighteenth year I made an engagement with my excellent
friend and neighbor. Amos Spofford, to join his surveying
120 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
party to go to Ohio to survey the Connecticut land, as his son,
Samuel, about my age was going with him, I concluded to go.
Samuel and I went on to Schenectady, we found the boats
would not be ready till the last of April or the first of May,
about four weeks, so we concluded we would go to Irondequoit
Bay and hunt and trap until the boats came. We stopped
with Asa Dunbar, a mulatto man, the only inhabitant near the
bay. When the boats came we joined the party for Cleveland.
We landed at Queenstown and drew our boats, four or five
in number, around the falls. We went into Buffalo Creek. I
do not recollect seeing any house in Buffalo except the one in
which the ferryman lived. We then coasted on to where the
city of Erie now stands ; there was a solitary settler. Col.
Seth Reed. From there we went to where Cleveland now is,
and remained till the weather came cold and left. Samuel
Spoft'ord and I left the party at Irondequoit Bay, trapped and
hunted till snow fell, and then went home on foot. The first
year I was chainman, and was paid twelve dollars a month.
"In the spring of 1797 I returned to new Connecticut
with the surveying party company. There were six boats in
1797. At Erie four boats were hauled across the sand bar,
the other two, Seth Pease and Amos Spofford's boats, con-
cluded to round the point. Spofford's boat took the lead but
grounded on the bar. I had charge of Mr. Pease's boat,
having had some experience on Lake Charaplain. The lake
was rough and it was important that I should put on more
sail and keep well out to avoid the breakers. I rigged a
markee for an additional sail, and by keeping well off shore
I rounded the point and made the harbor safely. I observed
that Mr. Pease was excited and evidently fearful that the boat
would swamp, and that she was in charge of too young a man,
but he was prudent enough not to interfere with my manage-
ment. I had been put in charge of the boat on the recom-
mendation of Friend Amos Spofford. The next morning
after our arrival I was sent for to go to Mr. Pease's tent. He
said to me:
" 'Young man, I owe you my life, we would all have been
drowned had it not been for you.'
"His unnecessary fright secured to me a good friend.
THE CITY OF TRYON 121
In 1797 we left a Mr. Gunn, at Conneaut Creek. We returned
east in the fall, and again returned to Cleveland in 1798.
1797-98 we cut a road through to the Pennsylvania line. We
cleared about six acres of land on the hill and planted it to
corn. There were nearly 60 people in the party in 1796. On
arriving at Cuyahugo River, we pitched our tent near the
mouth, built a storehouse and comfortable log house for
General Cleveland, after whom the city of Cleveland was
named. Later Judge Porter surveyed the city of Cleveland
while it was a wilderness. In the fall of 1798 Samuel
Spofford and myself returned to Irondequoit Bay and hunted
and trapped. We found some beaver, large quantities of
muskrat and killed one bear that weighed 400 lbs. He
attempted to swim the bay. We followed with boat and after
a severe time succeeded in killing him. At the head of Lake
Ontario we had a hard fight with three Indians that had stolen
our traps. In the fight I received a severe cut on my head
that I have the evidence of to this day. In 1800 I purchased
a farm east of the present line of the city of Rochester one
mile, but did not improve it at that time as I was fearful of
my title, but engaged with Messrs. Tryon & Company, that
about this time came to the Irondequoit Landing and purchased
a tract of land, laid out a city, built a_storehouse and store,
and ashery. They received and shipped to Canada a large
quantity of ashes, pots and pearl and other products from
Bloomfield, Lima and other sections of the country, that was
being cleared up, and continued to do a large business until
1812. The bay and outlet were navagable for vessels of 30 to
40 tons. I remained in their employ till the spring of 1804.
I then told them I must leave them and seek my fortune in
the western world. I went to Schenectady to purchase goods,
having about $700, that I had laid up of my earnings. Messrs.
Tryon & Company, finding I was going to Cleveland, proposed
to furnish me with a full stock of goods, together with salt,
rum, brandy, whiskey, etc., as a partner in the venture. I
accepted the proposition and started for Cleveland in July,
1804. My salt, liquors, and goods were hauled from Lewiston
to Schlosser around the Falls of Niagara, and there shipped
aboard the vessel, the Goodintent, Captain Dobbin.
122 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
"The vessel was built by Seth Reed, in 1802 at Erie. She
was the first vessel built on that side of the lake. I had
157 barrels of salt and 13 barrels of liquors. I paid Captain
Dobbin $3.00 a barrel freight from Schlosser to Cleveland.
I paid mostly in liquors and goods. I piloted Captain Dobbin's
vessel into the harbor of Cleveland as he had never made that
port. It was in the month of August, we had head winds
and were eight days making the voyage. I traded with the
Indians along the lake shore for about one year, and employed
Michael Coffin as my helper and interpreter. He had been a
long time with the Indians and was good help and faithful.
I paid him $15.00 a month and board for his services. General
Granger, subsequently Post Master General, and father of the
Hon. Frank Granger, was spending some time in Cleveland
as an Indian agent. The General and I hunted duck and
pigeon which were very plentiful. I could beat the General
shooting. He had but little practice, but he claimed he killed
half the game. I killed nine ducks at one shot, the General
fired about the same time and insisted he killed the largest
half. In 1805 I purchased a bark canoe, or a craft made of
bark, that came from the upper lakes. I think Green Bay. for
which I paid $55.00. I loaded her with 4500 lbs. of furs,
including muskrat, mink and bear. She had two sails. I
with two men coasted the Lakes, and in due time she took us
safe into Irondequoit Bay, having been gone fifteen months.
The voyage paid well. I sold the bark for $60.00 in gold to
go to Montreal. From there I understand she was taken to
England as a curiosity. At Cleveland I purchased 15 yoke
of oxen, giving five barrels of salt for a pair. They were
driven from Cleveland to Irondequoit.
"In 1805 I married Alice Ray, daughter of Isaac Ray, and
commenced improvements on my farm, and have lived on it
from that day to this. There was no house in Rochester at
that time. Before I married I boarded with Orringh Stone.
He wished me to take some corn to the Mill. I found no
person to grind the corn. I put the corn in the hopper,
hoisted the gate, and while the corn was being ground I
looked around the place. Tall beautiful trees stood all
around, but no sound or sign of human being did I discover."
THE CITY OF TRYON 123
He also states that when he came to Irondequoit Landing there
was a fort standing there near the Creek overlooking the
Indian Landing. In those early days it was the procedure of
military expeditions into the wilderness to bury their surplus
supplies of ammunition that were not needed, to be disinterred
as circumstances required. At the site of the old fort musket
balls and Indian arrow heads were found in great numbers
when excavations were made for building the city of Tryon,
and at a spring close to the old Indian Landing Road both
on the farm of Judge Kelly and on the opposite side of the
road also near a spring several bushels of musket balls are said
to have been found. In the book entitled 'Phelps & Grorham
Purchase,' appears a statement made to its author by Oliver
Culver. I copy a part of it:
"In 1802 no school house being nearer than Pittsford,
we clubbed together and built a school house of logs and
hired a man by the name of Turner who was clerk in the store
of Tryon & Company, to teach school. I wanted to go to
school, and for my part I got logs to a saw mill and furnished
the roof boards. Our first physician was John Ray of Pitts-
ford. Our first merchant was Ira West who removed to
Rochester and became the first merchant there in 1812. Samuel
Spofford settled in Brighton and made th% first improvements
on what is now known as the Blossom farm. In 1805 myself,
Orringh Stone, George Dailey, Samuel Spofford and Miles
Northrup, with the help of $50.00 appropriated by the town
of Northfield, cut a road two rods wide from Orringh Stone's
to the river." This must have been East avenue, although it
was known in those days as the River Road. In 1811 he built
the schooner Clarissa on the Roswell Hart farm, later known
as the Hoyt place and now owned and occupied by Mr. Nellis,
on the corner of East avenue and Clover street, and drew it to
the Landing with 26 yoke of oxen. He was also one of the
contractors that built the canal locks at Lockport. In 1822
he built the first packet boat in Brighton that Avas built as far
west as this place. He also built three schooners. It is
noticed that among Mr. Culver's investments in farming lands
the following "Warranty Deed:
124 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
"Consideration, $1,157.14.
"Dated September 2nd, 1825.
"Acknowledged the same day.
"Recorded September 17th, 1836.
"iState of Connecticut to Oliver Culver, Conveys land in Brighton
being 140 acres in common and undivided in Lot 5, the second division
of lots in Township 12, etc."
This investment of Mr. Culver is the present home of the
writer where he has resided for fifty-four years, and which
has been occupied by five generations of the Babcock family.
Many years ago at the closing exercises of the Clover Street
Seminary, among those who addressed the school were Joseph
Hall, Isaac Moore, and Oliver Culver. Mr. Culver in his
remarks stated : "He at one time carried the mail on his back
while traveling on foot through the wilderness from Canan-
daigua to Rochester." The ToM'n Records of the town of
Brighton have the following: "Town Meeting held at Orringh
Stone's, April 5th, 1814. The following officers were elected:
"Supervisor, Oliver Culver; town clerk, Nehemiah Hop-
kins ; assessors, Orringh Stone, Ezekiel Morse, Solomon Gould ;
constable, Enos Blossom; school commissioners, Samuel
Spoft'ord, Enos Blossom, David Bush; inspectors school
district, Enos Stone, Jobe C. Smith; pathmasters 1st district,
Rufus Messenger; 2nd district, Phillip Moore; 3rd district,
William Moore; 4th district, Robert M. Gordon; 5th district,
Solomon Gould: 6th district, Israel Salter; 7th district, James
Scofield; 8th district, Orringh Stone: 9th district. John
Billinghurst ; 10th district, Joseph Caldwell."
Oliver Culver was the first Supervisor of the town of
Brighton, and it is noted the town paid a bounty of $10.00 for
wolf scalps as late as 1816. Mr. Culver lived until the
beginning of the Civil War in 1861. His brother, John Culver,
came from Vermont in 1802. One of the first men to come into
this section was Captain Enos Stone, Sr., who had been
employed by Phelps & Gorham to survey this part of their
purchase into townships and farm lots. We find Brown
Bryant, Abel Eaton, Isaac Barnes, William Davis, Moses
Morris, Miles Northrup, John and Solomon Hatch, Gideon
Cobb. Phillip Moore and Ezekiel Morse among the early
settlers. In 1802 it is noted that Benjamin Weeks opened a
THE CITY OF TRYON 125
tavern at the Landing. He came from Hanford's Landing and
turned down Col. Josiah Fisk's offer of fifty acres of land
which extended from the acqueduct to the N. Y. C. Station for
four dollars per acre, in favor of the Landing section. In
1789 this whole section was embraced in Ontario county, which
was formed from Montgomery, and took in all the state west-
ward. The United States Census the following year gave a
total population of only 205 families in and west of Geneva.
Brighton was organized in 1794 under the name of Northfield,
which included the present town of Brighton, what has been
annexed by Rochester, Pittsford, Perinton, Irondequoit, Pen-
field and Webster. The first Town Meeting of the town of
Northfield was held in 1796, and Silas Nye of what is now
Pittsford was elected supervisor and Phineas Bates, town
clerk. It is noticed Orringh Stone, of what is now Brighton, was
elected commissioner of highways. In 1806 the name of North-
field was changed to Boyle. Penfield was taken from it in
1810, Perinton in 1812, "Webster was taken from Penfield in
1840. In 1812 the name was changed from Boyle to Small-
wood, and in 1814 it was divided into two parts, the eastern
called Pittsford, and the western, Brighton. Irondequoit was
taken from Brighton in 1839. All allusion in this sketch to
Irondequoit means the section in the vicinity of the Landing
and the Bay.
One of the original purchasers of land from Phelps
& Gorham in this section was General Jonathon
Fassett of Vermont. He included in his purchase the whole
of Penfield, and the south part of the town of Webster. He
was accompanied by his son, Jonathan Fassett, Caleb Hopkins,
Mr. Maybee and others. Discouraged by sickness and the
endurance of traveling through the wilderness. General
Fassett abandoned the enterprise and returned to Vermont.
Hopkins and Maybee remained in this section. Caleb Hopkins
was the first settler in what afterward became known as the
town of Penfield where he built his log cabin in 1791. He
afterward removed to Pittsford. It is noted he was Colonel
of the 52nd Regiment, War of 1812, and served with
distinction all through this war and w^as a brave and gallant
soldier. He married the daughter of Mr. Maybee, and was
126 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Collector of the District of Genesee in 1809. He was
prominent in public attairs and has descendants living in the
town of Pittsford whom I know very well. His cabin was
close to the falls on Irondequoit Creek. From an old history
I take the following : Captain Cornelius Treat was long a
resident of the town of Mendon, to which he is said to have
emigrated in 1793. He states as follows :
"In the month of October, 1795, James Wadsworth called
on me to pilot him through the woods to Irondequoit, the
purchase of which he had in view. We put up at the house
of Caleb Hopkins. The Esquire interrogated me as to what
I would have for supper. I told him he need not think
himself at a tavern in Connecticut or Massachusetts, and if he
got anything for supper, he might think himself well off. We
asked for salmon and got it with plenty of good bread and
butter, potatoes, sauce and nearly all kinds of vegetables, and
very well cooked too. I never ate a better supper. The
Esquire remarked we might have been in the best house in
Connecticut, and not got as good as this in the wilderness.
We spent four days exploring the land, putting up with Mr.
Hopkins, and fared sumptuously on fresh salmon. After our
examination was finished Mr. Wadsworth was so disgusted
with the land he said he would not take it as a gift for it was
worth nothing, and we made our way home." He afterward
purchased and settled at Big Tree, now G-eneseo. It is noted
Mr. ilaybee came from the Mohawk. He was the father of
John and James ]\Iaybee, pioneer settlers of Royalton, Niagara
county. Suffremus Maybee was a pioneer settler at Buffalo,
and lived at the mouth of Cattaraugus Creek, A daughter
was the wife of Orringh Stone. We find that later General
Fassett located at the Landing on the east side of Irondequoit
Bay, about two miles from the present village of Penfield.
He had a plat surveyed for a town, but nothing further was
done. He sold his interest to a Mr. Ham of New Jersey, who
after retaining two hundred acres near Penfield Village for a
home sold the remainder to General Silas Papoon, who sold
out to Samuel P. Lloyd, whom I believe was one of my ancestry
on my mother's side of my family and who eventually settled
in the town of Greece. Mr. Lloyd finally sold his investment
THE CITY OF TRYON 127
to Daniel Penfield. A few years before the war of 1812
Leonard Stoneburner came to town. He had been taken,
prisoner by the Indians with whom he remained some time. He
went to Canada from this state where he lived about one year,
after which he returned, crossing Lake Ontario and came up the
Bay to the Landing. He had with him his wife and four chil-
dren, William, JMary, Peter and Leonard. He leased a small
building just completed on the bank of the creek of Stephan
Lusk and commenced blacksmithing. One of his tools for
making wagon hubs I have in my possession, the process
being to spoon out the wood from the hub, into which was
placed the boxes for the axles. During the War of 1812 the
Landing section was very busy and active, shipping supplies
and provisions to the American army in the vicinity of
Eighteen Mile Creek. William Stoneburner, his son, was
very active in this rather precarious business.
I knew some of descendants of Leonard Stoneburner very
well, although I was then but a small boy. Their home when
I knew them was to the left after passing under the large stone
arch of the N. Y. Central railroad over Allyn's Creek, near the
present site of the residence of Patrick Corbett. I believe a
small part of the original house is still standing. At least it
was a few years ago. It was originally-^I think of log con-
struction and when I saw it clap-boarded on the outside.
There was a married son and family but I do not remember
their surnames. The father as far as I know lived a life of
idleness, and the son showed very striking Indian charac-
teristics. He seemed to be a sullen kind of an individual and
I am informed by old residents there was but one man in this
section with whom he would engage in conversation. My
father discouraged my going to this place and after being
warned to keep away from the place several times by the son
while fishing on the creek, I know I thought the son especially
capable of most any kind of violence. I realize now why my
father desired me to avoid the Stoneburners. The father was
a glib talker and as I think of him now and his conversation,
uneducated. His talk was not at all instructive. At least it
made no lasting impression on me. He did tell me about
the explosion of the powder mills along the Creek about the
128 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
close of the Civil War and of the body of one man he found in
the top of a high elm tree. These powder mills were owned
by Marshfield Parsons, father to my good neighbor on East
avenue. ]\Iy understanding is that five men lost their lives
in this explosion. A few years ago we ploughed up on our
place one of the brass balls used in rolling the powder. It was
about the size of a minie ball and had traveled about two miles.
At the completion of the Erie Canal shipping practically
ceased at the Landing. The City of Tryon, which failed to
ever acquire the distinction of becoming a metropolis is now
a circumstance, a matter of history. Mrs. Yates has furnished
me with the following which I record in this paper :
"July 16th, 1808. Administrator appointed for the
Dower of Eunice Tryon, widow and relict of John Tryon,
late of Columbia county. Lands in Northfield whereof the
said deceased died. Lot No. 3 in 2nd Division. Lot No. 7,
beginning at a white oak stake, etc. Found in Book 3 — Page
152. Ontario County Administrator."
This record establishes this fact that John Tryon died in
this section. I have never been able to determine where he
and Mrs. Tryon lived. It is possible they lived at Orringh
Stone's, but I doubt it. I have searched all the cemetery
records of Brighton, but failed to find him recorded.
There was an old neglected cemetery started at an
early date on East avenue, north of Winton road
and next to the store of Brewer & Hartsen on the north side of
this store. A private dwelling stands on the site of this
cemetery, and the rear projection of this site extends into the
playground of the Public School on Winton Road. The remains
of the people buried here have never been removed. It is a
very sad condition of things and a tremendous reflection upon
somebody. Gravestones stood at these graves once, but are
now all gone. It is said this cemetery was a Methodist burial
ground, but I can gather but little information about it. I
believe John Tryon is buried somewhere in this section. Mrs.
Yates informs me she has records of cemeteries in Penfield and
he is not recorded there. Considering the slow process of
travel by water in the early days, it seems improbable that he
could have been taken to his former home in Columbia county.
THE CITY OF TRYON 129
"We may find some record of him this coming summer. He
tried to found a city and failed, and from what I can learn
about him and it is very little because of the fire at Canan-
daigua, which destroyed the Letters of Administration that
were issued by the court to his wife in the settlement of his
estate, and makes the hunt for full information an expensive
and time taking affair. (1 do not question for one moment that
full information can be found but it is going to be a long
investigation to get the facts.) It was through no fault of
his that his effort here in the wilderness to found a city was a
failure, but was simply the condition of circumstances. It
is noted he at times signed his name as John Tryon and also
as John S. Tryon. Mrs. Tryon was made Administrator of
his estate in 1809, and she gave her address as Canaan,
Columbia county, N. Y. The town clerk of this town informs
me there are no town records back of 1881. The records of
the Congregational church and society at Canaan Four Corners
state they have records of births from 1740 to 1805. I hope
to investigate these records. The First Presbyterian church
of this town has nothing back of 1830. Ballston has no church
records back of 1783. The records of Ontario county show
that John Tryon 's wife's maiden name was probably Eunice
Wright and that they had a son named "Wright Tryon, and a
daughter, Cornelia Tryon. At any rate it so appears from
the deeds of record in Ontario county. These records are
as follows:
Salmon Tryon to Johm Tryon, August 2i5th, 1797, ihe site of the
City of Tryon. Found in Book C, Page 3, County Clerk's office,
Canandaigua.
John Lusk of "West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, for 200 pounds
in money to Salmon Tryon of Ballston, Saratoga county, N. Y., July
23rd, 1796, as follows:
All land. Township 13, on Genesee River in county of Ontario,
state of New York. Lots 17-18 containing 52i/^ acres each. Lot
No. 3 containing 210 acres. Reserving house lots, part of the
described premises near the Gerundegut Landing, which the said
Salmon Tryon caused to be laid out in Town plots. Lots 9-33-38.
Each containing i/4 an acre, and lot 32 containing 4 rods by 37-100,
according to a survey of the same by Jobe French.
Book 19, Page 451. Eunice Tryon is recorded as Administrator on
estate of John Tryon, January 23rd, 1813. The record of Administra-
tion is at the Surrogate's office at Canandaigua, but the official papers
were destroyed by fire about 1822. She received her decree from
the Court as Administrator in 1809.
130 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
3ook o, Page 313. Ontario county records we find as follows:
Deed, John S. Tryon to Cornelia Tryon. (Land in the village of
Ballston, that formerly belonged to Salmon Tryon. Reserving dower
rights for Eunice Tryon, from Sheriff of the county, dated 1778.
Lots In Township 13, bounded by the Genesee River. Reserving
town lots at Gerundegut Landing, laid out by Salmon Tryon. The
same subject to dower rights for Eunice Tryon.
This last transfer, to whom we presume was John Tryon 's
daughter, is a very long deed and transfers a large amount of
land. It is interesting to note he did not deed away his wife's
dower interest in this real estate. These transfers show he
had some object in putting his real estate in the hands of his
daughter, as it is noted it was done some time prior to his
decease. It is noted Sir William Tryon was Governor of the
Province of New York, first, July 9th, 1771, and again June
28th, 1775. During the War of the Revolution New York paid
no attention to his governorship. In the book entitled "New
York in the War of the Revolution, ' ' appears the following :
"William Tryon, in the Levies. Gen. Marinus Willett."
"John Tryon, New York Line, 5th Regt., Col. Louis
Dubois, Lieut. Col. Marinus Willett."
"John Lusk is also recorded, May 5th, 1778, to January,
1778, Page 194, N. Y. Line."
The War Department at Washington, D. C, has the
following :
"Neither the name John S. Tryon, nor the name Salmon
Tryon, has l)een found in the records on file in this office,
of soldiers in the War of the Revolution. The records show,
however, that one John Tryon served in that war as a Sergeant
in Captain James Stewart's Company, 5th New York Regiment,
commanded by Col. Lewis Duboys. He enlisted January 1st,
1777, for three years. His place of residence is given as
Livingston's Manor, Albany county, N. Y."
I have not entered in this paper a complete record of
the above John Tryon for the reason that his record on file in
the War Department shows this particular John Tryon had a
very unfortunate and discreditable record. The War Depart-
ment states its records of soldiers of the War of the Revolution
in the Adjutant General's office are very incomplete and a
further investigation is advised. The County Clerk of
Columbia county advises me there is but one deed of record
THE CITY OF TRYON 131
from John Tryon, and that was of local property in 1802. My
recent information about Salmon Tryon, the name Salmon
being a very unusual name, is that there was a Salmon Tryon.
in Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1778. It is noted also there was
a General Tryon in New York who was in the British Army
during the War of the Revolution. His relationship to the
Governor of New York Province, Sir William Tryon, who is
said to have come from the North of Ireland, and was born in
1725, will be a difficult undertaking. The relationship of
Salmon, John and Huldah Tryon I am advised can be easily
established from Connecticut records. I am informed there
was a Huldah Tryon, born 1740, of the family who earlier
came from Wethersfield, Connecticut. To establish these
relationships would take time and expense and I have been
advised not to undertake it. The Tryon family seem to have
come from Connecticut. I hope to personally go further into
this investigation. I visited the Landing many times while a
child, and as recently as last summer. Irondequoit Creek, no
longer a river, is now a shallow stream fordable in places with
rubber boots during the summer. I have a clear recollection
of the standing spiles of the Indian Landing Bridge which are
now all gone. The timber is gone from the hills and one sees
the thrifty homes of the Dutch Holland people who grow fruit
and garden truck for the markets. With grub hoe and axe
these people have placed the surrounding hills of what
appeared to be worthless soil into a condition of fertility that
yields to them a good production and a prosperous living.
The lines of the trail over the huge dome shaped hill re-
main, although not as distinct as it was. Tradition reports
Denonville upon his return from his expedition against the
Senecas lost a brass cannon off from a batteaux in the Ox Bow
of Irondequoit Creek. This traditional story has been talked
as a fact by many of the descendants of the old families. A
great many people have searched diligently for that old
cannon and I must plead guilty of doing some of this work
also. This Ox Bow is quite long possibly one half mile by
stream and is called by this name because the bends in the
creek resemble an old fashioned Ox Bow. The stream here
even to this day is quite broad and deep. Squire Barnes,
132 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
son of Isaac Barnes, pioneer settler, I knew very well. He was
an educated and well informed man and a great reader and
student. He was by trade a miller and the old mill where he
lost his life owing to an accident still stands but a short
distance from East avenue, the mill now being owned and
operated by his son. He was a kindly man and very fond of
children. I have taken many a pleasant ramble with him
along the Allyn's and Irondequoit Creeks. He made many
historical investigations of this section with the late George
Harris.
His reference to the dangerous characters in the old
Landing vicinity at an early date when he says they made their
headquarters in the Ox Bow section of the Creek at a place
called Smugglers Cove recalls to my mind many stories I
have heard about the lawlessness of some in this section. He
claimed Denonville had a battle with the Senecas on the west
side of the creek on the present farm of Isaac DeRoo. It is
said French battle axes have been ploughed up on this farm
and I tried to secure one but was told they had been given to
children to play with and were lost. I did, however,
find a part of a flint lock musket on this farm. We all know
of course this battle of Denonville 's occurred further up the
Creek, which demonstrates the unreliability of some traditional
sayings which follow through the lives of the different genera-
tions of people. A short distance north of the Tryon site is
old sugar loaf hill and tradition states an Indian squaw visited
this place annually and dug down into its soil looking for
treasure Captain Kidd is said to have buried there. This
section was certainly wild enough once for anything. We will
accept the story for what it is worth. I am, however, inclined
to think that Butler and his force of irregulars were familiar
with this section. I cannot prove this statement but I am
certain these finds of so many musket balls at the many
springs in this section which were doubtless the sites of camps
means the presence at some time of an army. I have heard
from several sources from the descendants of the early
pioneers that Butler's Rangers made their headquarters in the
Ox Bow section of the creek. A few years ago in company
with Mr. C. M. Barnes, son of Squire Barnes, now 78 years
THE CITY OF TRYON 133
of age, after a severe storm we walked over the Landing
section and site of the City of Try on. Finding a large elm
tree nprooted by the storm, brick was noticed under its roots.
I made an investigation and found a brick fireplace, the
brick being similar to those in "Washington's barn at Mt.
Vernon.
There has been a yearly harvest of Indian relics in
this section as far back as I can remember. Unfortunately
when I could have gathered a large supply I was too young to
realize their value. One year ago while walking over this
section I picked up a few very good Indian arrow heads. I
have a very fine specimen of stone tomahawk picked up at a
camping place on a farm opposite the Riches Dugway road.
Also on the corner of this road was picked up a large copper
medal about the size of a large penny. On one side is cut
of schooner with all sails set and the following inscription:
''To the Commerce of Upper Canada." On the other side,
"Sir Isaac Brock, Bart" the hero of Upper Canada, who fell
in the glorious battle of Queenstown Heights on the 13th of
October, 1812. While contractors were excavating rock in
Allyn's Creek in front of Barnes mill a Spanish silver piece
was blasted out of the rock.
Large game were very plentiful in. the early days all
through the Landing section. Dr. J. P. Wheeler, an old resident
of this town who has now passed away, once told me he picked
up a fine specimen of deer antlers along the creek and after
looking it over threw it away. Among those of prominence who
came early to this section from Lennox, Massachusetts, were
General Caleb Hyde, Captain Enos Stone, Sr., Captain John
Gilbert, Captain Timothy Allyn, John Lusk, Joseph Chapin,
Prosper Polly, and Azariah Eggleston. All of these men
served as officers during the War of the Revolution. Captain
Stone was Judge of County Court, and Judge of Probate for
the County of Berkshire. I have no doubt but that he knew
all of my people in Berkshire county, Massachusetts. Captain
Timothy Allyn, after whom Allyn's Creek was named, the
name being spelled Allyn, purchased 500 acres of land in
this section and his home was on the Creek Road, a short
distance from East avenue. It is noted he sold this land
134 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
to Jolin and Solomon Hatch. They with Oliver Culver built
a saw mill on Allyn's Creek, I have a very clear recollection
of this old building which was only a short way south from
East avenue on the Creek and in plain view from the East
avenue bridge over the Creek. Abel Eaton, another pioneer,
at that time owner of what we now designate as the Dryer
farm on the Landing Road, opened a public house where the
Cain house now stands on the Landing Road, which is close to
where this Landing Road runs into the present East avenue.
He had, I am informed, a good sized building with a room in
the second story prepared for dancing parties. He sold this
property later to Marshfield Parsons, the former owner of
what is now the golf links of the Rochester Country Club. It
was no light task for these hardy pioneers to clear the timber
off from the land in this section with the primitive tools of the
age. Fevers incidental to a new country were prevalent and
destructive and many passed away before getting fairly
started in their new abode. At the close of the War of 1812,
after Buffalo was burned, the country took on a great increase
in growth and began to fill up rapidly. Previous to this
time fear of the Indians held back the strong growth that
came later. Mr. George H. Harris, in his writings, speaks of
the following incident:
"About 1821, Charles M. Barnes, Calvin and Russell Eaton
and a fourth boy named Stanley noticed a man about seventy
years of age looking around at various objects, and, inquiring
what he was looking for, was informed by the stranger he was
looking for a white oak tree which he camped under while
with Sullivan's army, and that the day after the fight he slept
under this tree. He told the boys his name and rank but upon
being shown a white oak stump he was uncertain as things
had changed so much since he was there." I have heard the
same story from Squire Barnes and others, but my information
was that he had on an old faded army coat and the tree was a
button wood tree. Its location as pointed out to me was on an
island in Allyn's Creek and but a short distance from the
bridge on East avenue over the creek a short distance from
the Creek Road. After General Sullivan had destroyed the
villages of Canandaigua, Honeoye and Little Beards Town,
THE CITY OF TRYON 135
(Cuylerville), the Indians fled into the wilderness, finally
reaching Fort ^iiagara. Sullivan's officers in their diaries
make no mention of proceeding dov.n the Genesee River.
Early pioneers claim evidence of finding boats at or near the
mouth of Red Creek, which Indians said were Sullivan's. As
scouting parties of his army were constantly on duty, it is
possible that one of the parties did chase the Butlers and their
crew down Red Creek to its mouth and then proceeded over
land to the Landing. From the mouth of Red Creek to the
Landing is not a very long march and it is possible this story of
the man looking for his camping place may be true. I have
often thought those squatters in the Landing section who inter-
married among the Indians and required a Lynch Court to
make them behave may have been some of these Tories who
were in Butler's army.
It is noted those settlers who cleared their land
in the early days sowed it to wheat and reaped
their crop with the primitive tools of the age. The same with
its threshing which was done mostly with flails to be followed
later by the use of horses or oxen being used as a treadmill
Several kinds of home inventions were used to clean the
threshed grain before going to mill. It is noted wheat brought
at the mill from 32 to 62 cents per bushel. The settlers as
a general thing assisted each other during their harvest and in
all important out of door work. If the man of the house died,
the wife and children carried on the work with the assistance
of the neighbors. Sickness in a family called for immediate
attention from all the neighbors and these neighbors were a
long distance apart. I was told the other day of a circum-
stance of a man who had lost all he had and was ill and in
want. His neighbors at church meeting brought his condition
before the congregation and all voluntarily chipped in and
built this man a neAv home and stocked his place with fuel and
supplies. Assemblages to help one another were called bees,
and after the work at hand was completed came recreation
found in wrestling, exhibitions of strength and feats of
shooting vs'ith the long heavy rifie of the period. (Turkey
shoots "u-ere a common occurrence when at a distance of 100
yards off-hand shooting the turkey became the property of the
136 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
successful shot who severed its head with the bullet). The
rifle was the settler's constant companion and the most of
these hardy men were expert shots. The women assisted their
husbands and the whole family worked hard from daylight to
darkness. The women found their recreation in parties,
quilting bees, apple parings, corn huskings and at times when
they all came together to help one another.
Horseback was the main way to travel and it was not
uncommon for a woman to start out on horseback to visit
friends in the east, after the danger from Indian troubles had
subsided. The young men frequently journeyed to the east to
visit their friends and brought their brides back with them to
their home, a crude log cabin in the wilderness. Liquor was
freely used and more than one family suffered from the too
free use of what was considered to be indispensable to have
in the family. To conduct a tavern was an honorable business
and the tavern keeper was considered to be one of the most
respected men in the community.
The garments of the early settlers were made mostly at
home, the result of economy and necessity. Flax and hemp
were groA^n. The latter after a while, owing to the expense
of raising, w^as abandoned. Shirts were generally made from
flax and hemp, and a wool garment was a luxury. Buckskin
breeches and those made from hemp were in common use.
The home-made products of the loom and the spinning wheel
were the products of the maidens and women of long ago. The
buzz of the spinning wheel and the double shake of the loom
were daily pleasant sounds in nearly every family, and their
operation a loved avocation. The long web which unfurled
like a carpet, bleached in the sun under their care and
supervision, and aided by the carding and fulling mills, the
wool from the sheep and the flax from the fields were manu-
factured into homespun and worn common. Sabbath and
holiday suits were worn with laudable pride, as the skilful
manufacture of mother, wife or daughter. Ordinary cowhide
boots cost seven dollars per pair, payment being made in wheat
with ruling prices generally about 62 cents per bushel. The
Indian moccasin was in general use, but the men usually went
with bare feet until the advent of cold weather. Calico
THE CITY OF TRYON 137
dresses made up by the wearer served both for the reception
of company at home and for the parties abroad.
Land values on the frontier ranged from 18 cents to $5.00
per acre, the latter price being for land with its timber partly
removed. Some instances are found of the sale of large tracts
here as low as 14 cent's per acre. The early pioneer's
requirement for sufficient capital to marry and settle
down into a home was small. We find oxen brought
from $60.00 to $70j00 per yoke. A cow cost $15.'0O.
The tool outfit for the farm complete could be had
for $20.00, the necessary ox cart for $30.00, the total outfit
costing $135.00. A log house with two rooms built by hired
labor cost about $100.00. Most of the pioneers, however,
built their own homes with cordial assistance from their
neighbors.
The early settlers believed in the importance of religious
worship and the advantages of education. Frequently they
taxed themselves voluntarily to build a meeting house or a
school. Sunday at church was a day for general assemblage
when the service and opportunity to visit with neighbors made
this one of the most desired days of the week. They labored
as a single unit to accomplish results that were desired and
the majority of the religious belief determined the kind of
society that was established. I have discovered in my
genealogical work in New England many instances where
the pioneer settlers voluntarily borrowed and placed them-
selves in debt so they might have a place for public worship.
It is noted the first marriage in this section took place in
1790, and the seven daughters of William Hencher soon
followed, as follows: William Hencher was born, 1742.
JTarried, first, Ruth Bollinger; 2nd, Mehitable Moffet.
Children of William Hencher and Ruth Bollinger Hencher :
Thomas, born 1761, married Sarah Lamb; Ruth; Abigail, born
1770; Deborah, born 1764; Priscilla, born 1767, married Capt.
Joseph Richardson.
Children by 2nd wife, Mehitable Moffet Hencher:
Mehitable, married Thomas Lee at Pittsford; Mary (Polly),
married Bartholomew Maybee ; Sarah, married Stephen Lusk,
her 2nd husband, and his 2nd wife ; Chloe, married Abel
138 THE KOCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Rowe ; William, married Lucretia Granger ; Persis, married
Jonathan Leonard ; Amy, married a Clement of Ohio ; Hannah,
married Donald MeKensie.
The marriages were happy as shown by the testimony of
tlie aged now passed away.
On September 18th, 1817, the Brighton Presbyterian
church was organized and founded by the Rev. Solomon Allen.
Nine men and thirteen women comprised the original member-
ship. They were as follows : Daniel West, Daniel Smith,
Henry Donnelly, Joseph Bloss, Orringh Stone. Joshua Cobb,
John Morse, Charles Warring, Daniel Smith, Jr., Hannah
Donnelly, Zeriah Walker, Electa Smith, Amy Bloss, Laura
Bush, Matilda Barnes, Martha Titus, Betsey Hatch, Clarissa
Howes, Sally Stone, Elizabeth Loder, Margaret Hemingway,
Huldah Dickenson.
Many of these people have descendants still living in
Rochester and this section. The church was of the Congre-
gational order and the first Deacons are the first three names
on the list. They were set apart January 5tli, 1818, by prayer
and an address from Mr. Allen, at the home of Orringh Stone
on East avenue. Quoting from a sermon delivered in the
Brighton Presbyterian church bj^ its then pastor, the late
Rev. Dr. Joseph Page. Jr., who was one of the most scholarly
and most loved pastors that ever preached in Brighton church.
The Rev. Solomon Allen was a remarkable man. At the
age of twenty-five years while living in Northampton.
Mass., at the breaking out of the War of the Revolution, he
and his four brothers entered the patriot army, in which he
rose to the rank of ma.ior. When Andre was arrested as a
spy, he was officer at the outposts and carried the dispatches
taken from him to the commanding officer at West Point. He
also took a commanding part in quelling the famous insurrec-
tion of Shays in Massachusetts. At the age of forty .years he
experienced religion. In five years he became deacon in his
church. He desired to preach the gospel, though he had not
received the education usually required. The ministers he
consulted suggested difficulties, chiefly from his deficient
education and his age. He was very reluctant to listen to
them. In his extremity he laid the matter before Dr. Timothy
THE CITY OF TRYON 139
Dwiglit, president of Yale College, who advised him to go
forward and preach. Thus encouraged he gave himself to a
diligent study of the Scriptures, in the knowledge of which
he excelled. He also read the works of Howe and Baxter
and adopted their views of theology. Dr. Dwight aided him
to enter the ministry and he was fifty-three years of age when
he was licensed. For one year he labored in the small towns
of Hampshire county, and then became a missionery in the
wilds of Western New York. Though a poor man, he made his
chosen employment a labor of love, taking no remuneration
for his services beyond the supply of his personal needs. For
sixteen years he toiled in this region with an occasional visit
to his home in the East. During this time he gathered and
organized four churches, and was instrumental in the eon-
version of some two hundred souls. He first preached in
Naples (then Middletown), near the head of Canandaigua
Lake, where he was ordained and installed by Council,
December 5th, 1805. In May, 1809, he organized the church
in Pittsford and supplied it for two years. He also preached
in Riga, Penfield and other towns. He was not esteemed a
great preacher, though he presented Gospel truth with striking
directness and simplicity. He was remarkable in prayer and
also excelled in pastoral work. His capacious saddle bags
•were filled with Bibles, tracts, catechisms, and small religious
books for gratuitous distribution.
The first Sabbath School he established one year before
the Brighton Presbyterian church, and two years before any
similar school was started in Rochester. It was on Clover
street in the present tenant house of the writer, the next house
south from my residence. Among the teachers were Miss
Donnelly, daughter of Deacon Donnelly, now Mrs. Martha
Peek, and Mrs. Walker, daughter of Deacon West. The
singing was led by Mr. David Bush, father of the Rev. Dr.
Charles P. Bush. Either Mr. Allen himself, who was regular
in attendance, or Mr. Otis Walker, was Superintendent. This
school commenced in the Spring of 1816, and was held at
9 o'clock in the morning. Mr. Allen had two sons, Solomon
and Moses, who were eminent bankers. Solomon had his
residence in Philadelphia, Moses in New York, where for
140 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
nearly half a century he was the highly esteemed treasurer
of the American Tract Society, and no firm in either city had
a more honorable standing than that of S. & M. Allen. They
supplied their father with funds for his own use, and to aid
him among the settlers, some of whom were very poor and
needed pecuniary assistance to fit themselves and their families
for the service of public worship and the Sabbath School. A
story is told which exhibits the simplicity of his own character,
and also the primitive type of early society. The numerous
children of a poor family were destitute of clothing to attend
Sabbath School. He was the possessor of a piece of pink and
red calico. This he gave the family to make frocks for the
girls, and pants and coats for the boys, so a complete outfit
was provided for all of the children.
It is noted Mr. Allen had good backing in his ministerial
work. There were Deacons Smith, West and Donnelly, and
later Deacons Stillson, Bloss, Fisher, Mudge, Thomas Blossom,
Beckwith. Daniel J. Smith and others. At one of his services
a bear leisurely trotted along making his way in the direction
of the river.
He accepted the scant accommodations which the rude
cabins of the poor afforded and frequentlj^ he suffered from
exposure with nothing but a blanket to protect him from the
biting winds and fierce storms, and bitter frosts of winter.
His health began to fail and his sons urged him to return to
the East, but while he desired to please them, he felt the
responsibility of his work and decided to remain. Late in
the fall of 1820 his sons persuaded him to return to his home
and he died in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where his remains lie
in the old burying ground, January 19th following, aged
seventy years. Of his ministrations in his home town of
Pittsfield, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, we have little
knowledge. I have, however, the following which may prove
interesting to any member of Brighton Presbyterian church
who may be present: "The Rev. Solomon Allen of Pittsfield,
Massachusetts, with the Reverends Collins of Lanesborough,
Dorrance of Windsor, Pomeroy of Worthington, Ballantyne of
Washington, Nash of Middlefield, and Leland of Partridge-
field (now Peru), assisted in the installation of the Rev. Caleb
THE CITY OF TRYON 141
Knight, pastor elect, to the first Congregational church of
Hinsdale, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, in 1802.
This church was founded in 1795 at the house of my
three great grandmother's son, John Babcock, whose wife,
Eunice, later w'ith him united with this church. My three
great grandmother, Elizabeth (Plumb) Babcock, being one
of the original twenty-three members of this church, uniting
at this service. It is very interesting, especially to us her
descendants, that the Rev. Solomon Allen knew our people and
that they heard him preach. The above is taken from the
book, Centennial of the First Congregational Church of Hins-
dale, Massachusetts, 1795 and 1895.
Orringh Stone was settled by his father, Capt. Enos Stone,
nearly across from the big rock on East avenue known as
Council Rock. He settled there in 1790 and kept a tavern,
the only public house this side of Canandaigua. His title of
Major came from his services in the militia at what was called
Trainings, when the people assembled for military drills and
instruction. He was a large man of dark complexion and in
establishing his military record I was obliged to write to the
War Department at Washington, where I am informed he is
not recorded in the army and did not serve in any of our wars.
He took an active part in town affairsy-and was active in
church matters, both he and his wife being members of the
Brighton Presbyterian church and their remains are buried
in the Brighton cemetery. As one of the officers in this
church I had in my possession a well preserved record of a
meeting of the board of trustees of this church at schoolhouse
No. 2, and it is noted he was a member of this Board. He was
very much respected in this community, and from the records
I have been able to gather in relation to him, I infer he was a
man of great determination and popular among his fellows.
Many celebrities stopped at his public house and at one time
he must have had a large number of regular boarders. What
a pity it is that we have so meager a record of these guests.
His location w^as but a short distance from the Landing and
the City of Tryon. An unusually wide trail ran from his
place to the Landing, straight as the arrow flies, not more
than a little over one and one-half miles distant.
142 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Those who came early to this section came in a large
degree by water. It was the main and easiest line of commu-
nication with this section. Major Stone and his father
probably knew every celebrity that ever came into this section
and it seems strange that no record is available that can give
ns more of the information we desire about this famous
hostelry. Historians by the score have recorded the names
we know that have stopped at this place. It seems superfluous
to copy their names again in this sketch, but in order to
complete our record it will have to be done. In 1797 the
banished exiles from France, Louis Phillipe, the last king
of the French, with his brothers and Thomas Morris of Canan-
daigua, on their way to see the Falls of the Genesee, stopped
at the Stone Tavern. It is also said that Aaron Burr and
his daughter, Theodosia, stopped there, as well as the
Indian chieftain Brandt. It is also claimed that Lafayette in
1824, upon his return to Canandaigua, stopped there and
was received by Miss Harriet Stone, mother of the Misses
Hagaman who shook hands with him. To the best of my
knowledge and belief there has been little change made from
the original structure as it was in the days when it was a
tavern. In the early days there was no fence in front of the
house and the road led directly up to its door.
The late Col. Joseph H. Cogswell, of Titusville, Pennsyl-
vania, frequently called to see me when in Rochester, and we
had many enjoyable times discussing the early history of this
section and his people. One of his stories I remember is as
follows : ' ' One of my earliest recollections was of going to mill
with my grandfather, Joseph Bloss, who died in 1838. The
mill was at Allyn's Creek and then carried on by Isaac Barnes.
On our way when we reached the Rock and Elm, we drove up
to Major Stone's house, opposite, originally a tavern. There
was at the time no road fence in front and teams could drive
up as they did when it was a M-ayside inn. The only thing
I can remember of their conversation was that Major Stone
said: 'Esquire Bloss, whose boy have you got with you?' To
be noticed at all by so important a person as Major Stone
made a strong impression on my mind." He also stated that
the first cider mill in Brighton was in an orchard on the Stone
THE CITY OF TRYON 143
place. He said: "The apples were crushed with a big
wooden roller, a wheeler four or tive feet in diameter, with
a twelve or fourteen inch face running in a circular flat
bottomed trough. Several opening were made in the side
of the trough and barrels sunk in the ground to catch the
juice as it ran out. The balance of the cider was pressed
out in the usual way. The press screw was of wood and
eight or ten inches in diameter. The wheel was connected by
a bar four or five inches square and four or five yards long to
an upright revolving post in the center of the circle circum-
scribed by the trough. The bar extended through the wheel
far enough to allow an attachment by which a horse traveling
in a circle, drew the apple crushing juggernaut. Little or no
iron was used in making this cider mill. Wood was plentiful,
but iron and working it up cost money."
I recall as the days pass along my many pleasant visits
with Col. Cogswell who frequently came to see me in company
with Mr. Joseph B. Bloss, after my father had passed away.
I feel this historical sketch w^ould be incomplete without
brief mention of the Moore family. Isaac Moore was born
in New Jersey in 1787. In 1824 he settled in Brighton, where
he married the daughter of the late Joseph Bloss, Esq. Mr.
Joseph B. Bloss of our city has kindly written for me a yery
complete history of the Moore family and the home where I
reside, which is approaching the century mark of its existence.
There are many old homes in Brighton but probably none more
noteworthy than the old place on Clover street. I have given
you the early transfer of this place, Oliver Culver's deed of
record from the State of Connecticut. Many celebrities were
at different times entertained in this house by the Moore
family. The Hon. William H. Seward, then Governor of
New York, frequently visited here and made speeches to
assembled crowds from a rear porch on the south side of the
house.
On June 24th, 1845, Isaac Moore and his wife, Amy K.,
conveyed to Mr. Moore's sister-in-law, Celestia Bloss, five
acres of land off from his farm fronting on Clover street and
Elmwood avenue, for school purposes. Here was erected and
conducted for many years one of the most celebrated and
144 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
widely known schools for young ladies that there was in this
country, and which was known as the Clover Street Seminary.
On August 26th, 1868, my father and grandfather purchased
this place which has become a homestead in our family. Miss
Bloss's first school was in my present residence and later in
the building south of my residence which was called in those
days, "The little white school house." A portion of this
building was removed at a later date to the corner of Elm-
wood avenue and Clover street, and is a part of the present
residence of Mr. Bruce Lindsay. The building south of my
house when we moved here was a story and one-half structure
with the usual large timber construction of this early period.
Black-boards and built-in seats were visible when we came to
Brighton. Mr. Moore's greatest ambition in life was this
Clover Street Seminary, and he never failed to be present at
the closing annual exercises of this school. His was a strong,
unyielding character. Whatever he decided to do was done
in a thorough manner. In the early days liquors and wines
were freely used in all families, in fact it was considered to
be a necessity and it was believed to be impossible to
accomplish anything without it. Private stills were in
operation on large country estates and it was considered to be
a breach of hospitality not to have it on the side-board for
visiting guests or callers. When we came to Brighton a still
was on this place. When the Sons of Temperance move
started there was an immediate reform. ]\Ir. IMoore and his
friends threw away their liquors and sick or well not a drop
passed their lips during the remainder of their lives. Mr.
Moore at his own expense hired a temperance lecturer and
supplied him with a horse and buggy to travel through the
county preaching temperance. He was a brick manufacturer
and all the brick m my residence was manufactured on the
place. It is also said that the barns on my place were the
first barns erected in Western New York on strictly temperance
principles. Houses in those days were built more with regard
to necessity than convenience. The start was generally made
small, and increased by building additions as the family
became larger. Isaac Moore married Amy Kennedy Bloss,
April 8th, 1823. Mr. Joseph B. Bloss, father, and Mrs. Moore
THE CITY OF TRYON 145
were brother and sister. Mr. Moore doing a large business
was sometimes forced to seek financial accommodations at the
bank. He applied once at a bank of which one of the
Rochesters was President, offering his note to Mr. Rochester
for coin or bills or drafts. He and Mr. Rochester had a long
conversation in the back part of the bank, which was in the
rear of the cashier's window. The upshot of the interview
was that Mr. Rochester told him he would be glad to let him
have the money but the bank did not have it. Mr. Moore
thanked him for his good intentions and walking around to
the cashier's window shoved in his note saying, "Discount
that note if you please, Mr. Cashier." "Certainly, Mr.
Moore," said the cashier. Mr. Moore took the money and
walked out. When the cashier had made his entries he went
baek to the rear window and calling to Mr. Rochester said,
"Mr. Rochester, I saw Mr. Moore talking with you in the back
office and discounted his note. I suppose it is all right." Mr.
Rochester jumped up, saying, "Which way did that man go?
I told him I did not have the money." He finally overtook
Mr. Moore and in an upbraiding tone and manner addressed
him, "Mr. Moore, I told you I did not have the money." "I
know you did, Mr. Rochester, but your cashier probably knew
better than you did about the money in the bank. I guess
he will get his money when the note eotnes due," and Moore
walked off with the proceeds of the note.
Another incident. With some hesitation another banker
discounted one of his notes and as possibly the times were
hard and the business outlook uncertain, the lender remarked
as the cashier was handing him the money, "I suppose, Mr.
Moore, you will pay that note when it becomes due." Mr.
Moore slowly counted the bills and, when he had satisfied
himself the amount was correct, put the money into his pocket
and looking up said, "No, I will not." "Why not?" asked
the surprised lender. "Because," replied Mr. Moore, "I want
Mr. Blythe, your book-keeper over there, to whom you do not
pay half salary enough, to make the protest fees on it." Lack
of space in this already too full paper will prevent niy quoting
further from Mr. Bloss's fine records.
Mr, and Mrs. Moore raised a wonderfully interesting and
146 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
intelligent family. After the decease of Mr. Moore, his son,
Caleb, became the business man of the family. At the time
of the Civil War, he organized the 8th N. Y. Cavalry and was
captain of his company and led in a raid around Richmond.
Later he became Colonel of the 22nd Cavalry until superseded
by direction of Horatio Seymour, Governor of Nevs^ York, at
the close of the war. He was supervisor of his town and
sheriff also of this county. He returned from the war badly
broken in health and his remains now rest in the Brighton
cemetery. A large handsome monument stands at his grave
erected by his comrades and friends in Brighton. One of the
daughters, Mary i\loore, was one of the most attractive,
refined and intelligent women I ever knew. I attended her
select school in Brighton village for many years, William
Barnes of Albany and his two sisters attending this school at
the same time. Jacob Moore was a great horticulturist and
originated and discovered many valuable kinds of fruits. The
son, Isaac, I never knew. I was, however, acquainted Avith
the daughter that married the Rev. John Wickes, of Attica,
New York. I very much regret that I cannot proceed
further with the history I have of this family and the Clover
Street Seminary, but must stop as this paper is growing most
too fast.
Across the road on East avenue a little further to the
north nearly opposite Stone's Tavern stood the old Rock and
Elm. known as Indian Council Rock. Lack of time will
prevent my going into details of the battle I had to preserve
this historic landmark from the ruthless efforts of State Road
contractors to destroy this old relic while I was Supervisor of
the Town of Brighton. I have known this place and the
home of Orringh Stone practically all my life. I know the
present occupants and owners of this place very well, it now
being owned by the two daughters of the late Mrs. Tolan, one
of whom lives on this place, and whose mother had me in
charge when I was a child in the cradle and lived in the town
of Irondequoit. By the side of the old Rock stood an
enormous elm tree which sheltered many a weary wayfarer.
Its protecting branches preserved the old rock to a great
extent from the action of the elements for probably two cen-
THE CITY OF TRYON 147
turies of time. It is said the action of the elements and old
age caused this massive tree to begin to decay. Its center
began to become hollow and during the Clover Street Seminary
period it is said many young ladies and gentlemen used its
hollow receptacle for much correspondence between them.
It is also said that at an Indian council held there an Indian
chieftain buried his tomahawk deeply intto its trunk in
emphasizing some of his statements. I have never heard of
this tomahawk ever being found. Indian councils were held
here in the early days. It is so recorded in tradition, and the
oldest man now living in what used to be a part of the town
states he remembers two Indian councils held there and that
Orringh Stone took the firearms and accoutrements of the
Indians away from them before the Indians went into council
because of the prevalence of liquor at this time. Mr. Perrin,
now 96 years of age, who gave me this information, also
stated he saw Red Jacket addressing the Indians at one of
these councils. We all know of course that a black bear was
once killed on this Rock, and that the eccentric preacher,
Lorenzo Dow, once preached from this Rock.
I have been handed by Mrs. Yates the following records
which are of interest: On August 3rd, 1795, Salmon Tryon,
of Ballston, Saratoga county, New York, sold to Abraham
Harding, of Minisink Town, Orange county, New York, one-
half of a lot in Township 13, Range 4, forty feet due easit of
the head of a spjing by the name of Deep Rattlesnake spring,
east of the west bank of Iroudeqnoit Creek The other one-
half, 105 acres, being sold to Timothy Allyn of Ontario county.
Also Salmon Tryon of Ballston to Timothy Allyn, one-half
Y-lots. Township 13, Range 4th, 40 feet due east of the head
of a spring known by the name of Deep Rattlesnake spring.
East of the west bank of Gerundegut Creek, August, 1797.
There is but one Rattlesnake spring in the town of
Brighton and that is located on the Landing Road on the old
Matthew Dryer farm, purchased from Daniel Penfield, March
7th, 1817, and from Theodore Sedgewick, by Attorney C.
Seymour, April 29th, 1823. Abel and Catherine Eaton also
January 13th, 1831, I am of the opinion there must be a deed
of record from Capt. Timothy Allyn to Daniel Penfield, and
148 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
also to Abel Eaton, which if found would definitely determine
the line to Mr. Dryer. In my opinion the Albraham Harding
investment mentioned was in this farm afterward owned by
Matthew Dryer and upon which his great-granddaughter,
Mrs. Theodore Benedict, resides. The Harding genealogy is
as follows :
Abraham Harding, born in Warwick, Rhode Island, June
14th, 1720. Removed to Waterford, Connecticut, and in 1761
to Minisink, Orange county, New York. He served in the
War of the Revolution under Col. William Allison as 2nd
Lieutenant, and 2nd IMajor, and was commissioned Captain by
the Provincial Congress, December 1st, 1775.
Abraham Harding, Jr., his son, born at Port Jervis, New
York, 1740, removed to Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, where
the grandfather had settled and then to Richland county,
Ohio, where he died in 1839. He married Huldah Tryon in
1762.
George Tryon Harding, the second son of Amos, was
born in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, in 1790, and. removed
to Ohio in 1820.
His son, Charles Alexander, was born in 1820, died in
1878. Married Mary Ann Crawford, a member of the
F. F. V. 's, and had George Tryon Harding, the President's
father.
It is noted that Abraham Harding, Jr., married Huldah
Tryon, who was doubtless related to Salmon and John Tryon.
I do not doubt for one moment but that the Harding invest-
ment in this section was influenced by the marriage into the
Tryon family. My information from Miss Abigail Harding,
the President's sister, is that Huldah Tryon came from Water-
ford, Connecticut. The town clerk of this town has not
answered my letter of inquiry to date. Doubtless in time we
will have full information in regard to this matter.
I desire to apologize for the length of this historical
sketch from which I have cut out many things that would be
useful in a history of this kind. From the Old Indian Landing
to Lake Ontario, both sides of the creek and bay are filled
with historical romance. I gave my original manuscript at
the Centennial celebration of Brighton Presbyterian church,
THE CITY OF TRYON 149
not only as a fitting testimonial to those early pioneers so
many of whom are sleeping the last sleep in the Brighton
cemetery, but with the hope that it would arouse among the
large attendance on this occasion a renewed interest in the
great historical surroundings we have in Brighton and
Rochester before the city takes to itself all that is left of
Brighton, and before all the older generations have passed
away, and the interesting facts connected with this section be
lost and forgotten.
The early settlers in this section came mostly from New
England. Many of us can trace our lineage back to these
people. I believe we cannot learn any too much about -them
and their clean, progressive lives in the face of all kinds of
hardships and discouragements. The day is not far off when
the site of the City of Tryon will be within the borders of our
beautiful city. I would like to see all these historic sites
suitably marked for the benefit' of future generations so that
history wnll continue to live and not be forgotten and lost.
The Western Door of the Long House
By LOCKWOOD R. DOTY
Read before The Rochester Historical Society, February 13, 1922
I have ventured to dignify what I am to say tonight with
a title, "The Western Door of the Long House," and I will
remind you that there was a time when the land known to
us affectionately as the country of the Genesee was the home
of the Indian and within the domain of that remarkable
structure conceived by savage wisdom, known as the League
of the Iroquois.
The story of the aboriginal life of this region is an old
one, found in dust-covered books in the library of every
his-torical society and long buried in tons of archives; it has
earned the reverence due to great antiquity and has been put
in the exclusive keeping of learned historians, who now discuss
only such features of it as are suggested by occasional
archaeological developments and discoveries. But I must
intrude into this seclusion to justify the title of my address,
and make a very brief allusion to this long neglected period
of our history.
We are not much concerned for the moment with the
question as to Avhen the Five Nations of Mohawks, Oneidas,
Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas became established as the
Iroquois Confederacy ; it is enough to say that it was centuries
ago. Born of the need of unity to secure and preserve peace ;
to maintain a ruthless sovereignty, and to carry on such
aggressive enterprises as were bound to engage its members,
even if not within the ordained functions of the League, the
perfection of its framework cannot fail to challenge our
respect even in this age of civic and social refinements. In its
largest conception it was primarily a league of peace, and a
fabric was designed that would provide an appropriate,
intelligent and enduring government of the very simplest
form.
Among a people whose very nature and environment laid
them so little under the restraint of social, political and
WESTERN DOOR OF THE LONG HOUSE 151
religions limitations we cannot expect to find their lawmakers
devising a complicated or intricate system, or one which
would not at some point command their loyalty and wnliing
adherence by an appeal to an instinctive sentiment of brother-
hood. So we discover at the very foundation of the plan an
arrangement of tribes built upon a spirit of family interest.
There were eight tribes, each one of w^hich was divided into
five parts and one of the parts was attached to each nation.
To get the full significance of this feature of Iroquois life it
must be borne in mind that this family relation betw'een
members of the same tribe was not merely a fanciful one, but
each member regarded every other member of his own tribe
as in very good truth his brother or sister. Each tribe in the
nation constituted a group apart from the rest bound firmly
together by the ties of kinship ; this was extended throughout
every other nation and each family was identified with two
tribes — the tribe of the father and the tribe of the mother,
— so that there existed in the league an all-embracing interest,
which had the result of preserving within itself an unconquer-
able spirit of loyalty and accord.
The fifty sachems constituting the League council were
assigned to the five nations in varying numbers and distributed
among the eight tribes of Bear, Wolf, Turtle, Beaver, Deer,
Snipe, Heron and Hawk. The sachems were selected by the
council of the tribe from a member of the same tribe, usually
from the family of the deceased, excluding, by the law which
traced all inheritance through the female line, the children of
the deceased sachem. The sachem thus selected would in due
time, if acceptable, be ''raised up" by the national counicil and
invested with his office. In this council was concentrated the
.judicial, legislative and executive authority of the Iroquois
people ; it had no fixed or regularly recurring sessions and
there was n,o permanent indicia of government, and it did not
attempt to govern with studied regard to the systematic
enforcement of a prescribed code of laws ; it w^as responsive
to popular feeling and became active as occasion demanded,
and having transacted the business that brought it together,
it remained closed vintil some emergency called it again into
activity.
152 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The tribal councils and councils of the nations and the
individual authority and importance of the sachems and
chiefs provided for affairs not requiring the attention of the
general council of the League. "In this manner," saj^s
Morgan, "was constructed the League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee,
in itself an extraordinary specimen of Indian legislation.
Simple in its foundation upon the famly relationships, effective
in the lasting vigor inherent in the ties of kindred, and perfect
in its success in achieving harmonious union of the nations,
it forms an enduring monument to that proud and prosperous
race who reared under its protection a widespread Indian
sovereignty."
Ho-de-no-sau-nee — the people of the long house — had
reference to the traditional long house of the Iroquois,
extending from the Hudson to the Genesee, tenanted by the
people of the Five Nations, with partitions marking their
national territorial limits and having their own separate fires.
The Genesee country was the Western Door of the Long
House and here resided the Senecas, the most warlike of the
nations of the Confederacy, to guard it from attack in the
most exposed quarter. They were the doorkeepers and we
know that they performed their task faithfully, aggressively
and with high courage, and according to their primitive
ethics.
We Hre today the keepers of the Western Door of the
Long House; not indeed as our Seneca predecessors were, to
uphold the authority of the Confederation in their juris-
diction, but as members within the same region of many
organizations dedicated to the work of gathering, preserving
and disseminating its history, and having a distinct individual
duty to contribute to its fulfillment. Are we doing this as
we should, and, in particular, are we imparting the knowledge
thus gained in the right way?
After much reflection, I have reached the conclusion that
the ordinary rural historical society has become a tomb. I
think I am entirely within bounds in saying that the activities
of such a society consist usually of an annual meeting very
slimly attended by about the same group of elderly people
WESTERN DOOR OF THE LONG HOUSE 153
year after year, at w-^hich unimportant and uneventful town
histories and some long obituai'ies of deceased members are
read, a few dues are paid and the meeting adjourns; now and
then a paper is presented regarding some event of genuine
interest, but this is consigned at once to the obscurity of the
society's archives, and, if its proceedings are published at
all, the members in due time receive a copy, which arouses
but passing interest in the household, and it soon goes to the
limbo of forgotten things. Barring this yearly awakening,
the society "toils not, neither does it spin," and rarely is a
member busy during these long intervals in historical study,
research, or exploration. People have an instinctive respect
for historical societies and kindred bodies and their aims and
accomplishments, and they value highly their association with
these organizations, but this attachment does not reach the
point of sustained interest and action.
I want to say at the outset that I am giving this testimony
as a perfectly impartial observer, for I belong to a society
which has quite as much vitality as can be said to distinguish
the ordinary body of its kind, and I believe my characteriza-
tion is a charitable rather than a harsh one. There is an
immense amount of valuable historical matter stowed away in
the volumes which have been published yearly by this society
since its organization, half a century ago, but it is lost to all
save the members. It has a building containing many
interesting things, relics of the Indian occupation and of early
pioneer days, and articles showing the gradual development
from the beginning in the domestic arts and agriculture, but
the place is rarely visited and only to satisfy an indifferent
curiosity. My county is rich in historic interest and many
places within its borders are associated with important events
and with men renowned in the annals of the early life of the
county. Here was the great Genesee town known as Seneca
Castle, the destination of the Sullivan Expedition ; here were
the Indian villages of Canawaugus, Big Tree, Beardstowu and
Squawkie Hill, and here ran important Indian trials. Here
were made the treaties of Big Tree and other notable treaties,
and here abode some of the most distinguished members of the
154 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Iroquois League. Red Jacket once lived within its confines
and many times his stirring eloquence moved the councils of
the Senecas assembled here. The White Woman resided for a
time in the town of Leicester, and there is still shown near the
place where her log hut stood an apple tree that is an offshoot
of one she planted. There were Little Beard, who gave the
name to Beardstown, a noted Seneca warrior and councilor,
and who after the Revolution was a friend to the pioneers and
much esteemed for his good faith; Tall Chief, deriving his
name from his great height and majestic presence, an able
warrior, possessing the high regard of the whites and com-
manding great influence among his people. It is said of him
that on one occasion he dined with President Washington and
was the recipient of the President's interest and attention;
Big Tree, after whom the village of Big Tree was named, a
man of great importance in the councils of the Senecas and
one of the few friends of the Americans among that nation in
the War of the Revolution; Black Chief, John Montour and
other men of lesser note, and both the great Cornplanter and
his half-brother. Handsome Lake, the Peace Prophet, were
born at Canawaugus, and Horatio Jones and Moses Van
Campen lived for many years in the county. A vestige may
still be found along an abandoned highM^ay near the old village
of Beardstown of the mound under which the tortured bodies
of Boyd and Parker rested until their bones were removed
to Mount Hope with elaborate and solemn ceremonies, in which
the Governor of the State was called from Albany to partici-
pate, but this is being fast washed away, and soon will dis-
appear this evidence of one of the tragedies of the Revolution.
Many places, too, in the county closely associated with men
and events in the early occupation and settlement of Western
New York are important enough to be noted.
It is, I confess, with no particular emotion of pride in
the zeal of my home society that I am forced to take note of
the superior enterprise, if not the altruism, of a prosperous
tire concern which unfolds at the border of the towns in my
county the history of the region in a manner that he who —
not runs — but speeds, may read. With the exception of a
WESTERN DOOR OF THE LONG HOUSE 155
monument erected at the scene of the ambush of the Boyd
and Parker, scouting party in Groveland, not a single tablet
or marker that I recall has been placed in the county of
Livingston to signalize notable places and occasions in early
town and county history.
I have talked before a men's club in a town rich in its
connection with important scenes during the Indian occupation
and recounted incidents of those days, easily found in local
histories, to discover that I had taken them — old and young
alike — over a trail unknown and unsuspected. I have related
Seneca Indian history at Grange meetings, in schools and to
Boy Scouts. Invariably the most absorbed attention is paid,
and the subject to these audiences is virtually new, picturesque
and profoundly interesting. To transform the Indian of their
imagination, a creation of romance and fable, into a being of
flesh and blood, a Seneca brave roaming over our now fertile
meadows and hillsides, is not accomplished without somewhat
of a shock to the credulity of the hearer and through a very
revealing experience, but he is eager to know everything about
the subject, about the Iroquois Confederacy, the Senecas, their
government, their councils, the sachems, the chiefs, the
warriors, the intimate things about their social life, their
religious observances, their sports, about wampum and how it
conveyed a message or recorded an event and how it was
interpreted, and, indeed, the whole history of these people,
hitherto withheld from him. I have mentioned my own
society merely to describe a typical one and refer to conditions
existing in my own neighborhood as illustrative of those
obtaining elsewhere.
We have at Albany a State museum, a State library, a
State historian and a State archaeologist, and these are all
attached to the Education department of the State. Very
many books have been printed as public documents bearing
upon State history, and bulletins are issued from the State
museum setting forth valuable archaeological facts; through
the established channels of distribution they find their way
into public library storerooms, occasionally into historical
societies on special request, and into the hands of collectors
156 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
and students of history, but never into schools. The informa-
tion contained in these publications should be readily avail-
able to the reading public; they are worth having and most
of them merit some study ; the State has been at great expense
to produce them and it would seem that the only completely
satisfactory return would be the advantage to the scholar —
I mean the every-day one — and the general reader by a
circulation widespread enough to reach them.
An instance of what I am mentioning may be found in the
recent and very valuable contribution to the history of the
Genesee Country: "Anthology and Bibliography of Niagara
Falls," prepared by the late Charles ]\I. Dow, former President
and Commissioner of the State Reservation at Niagara, and
late President of the Chautauqua County Historical Society,
and published by the State; also the comprehensive report
of the Trustees of the American Scenic and Historic Preserva-
tion Society made to the State Legislature. Neither of these
works is easily obtained, and, although they are State publica-
tions, the general public knows nothing of them and will
never see them.
The State museum is a repository of priceless things
giving living, breathing evidence of a past that we have come
to regard as almost mythical; the State library contains docu-
ments, records and treaties, a description of which would
arrest the attention and interest and increase the knowledge
of persons of every age and condition in life. The State
Archaeologist, commissioned by lineage as well as by his
splendid equipment to a most important work, and the State
Historian, possessed of a limitless store of information, could
by occasional visitations to communites contribute tremen-
dously to a general enlightenment upon the subjects with
which they are concerned.
I have tried to find in the textbooks in use in a prominent
public school some account, for example, of the Iroquois
Confederation; the Seneca occupation of Western New York;
important treaties and their occasion and history; the part
of the Genesee Country in the War of the Revolution and the
War of 1812, to say nothing of later conflicts; of the men of
WESTERN DOOR OF THE LONG HOUSE 157
distinction who had a part in these transactions, and other
events and facts which are notable in local history and in
general history, as well. I discovered in the school library
a text-book of nearly 500 pages called a school history of the
United States, of which four pages are devoted to the subject
of the Indians and the following is the substance of it,
literally quoted: "The great majority of the Indians lived in
wigwams or movable tents which were adorned with human
scalps or trophies of the chase. There were exceptions to
this rule. The Indians of New York, the Pueblos of the
Southwest, the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of South
America had substantial houses and were less nomadic in their
habits than most of the tribes. The Indians have shown little
capacity for civilization. Some tribes, as the Algonquins, the
Iroquois and the Aztecs, were advanced above the barbarous
stage. The Indian is not at ease in the center of civilization.
He pines for his forest home."
There is no place in the curriculum of the schools of the
State for the study of aboriginal or pioneer history; none of
the important State publications reach them; the discoveries
of its archaeologists and the narratives of its historians are
sealed volumes to the pupil, and the great museums of the
State, with all their treasures and wonders, uttering history
with an honest voice, are closed to him. The generation now
at school knows literally nothing of local history and is
receiving no instruction and no information on the subject.
Nothing can exceed the intensity of interest that a body of
school children display when you show them a tomahawk, a
pair of Indian moccasins, pestle and mortar, or an arrowhead,
and explain their uses and how they are made, and accompany
this with a description of Indian life ; they are thrilled when
you picture the woods again peopled with Senecas, the warrior
skulking on the trail, the sachems and chiefs in council, the
squaws at their tasks, and the whole tribe in their dances,
festivals and merrymakings, and listen open-mouthed, wonder-
ing, at your account of this dead and gone phase of life in the
Genesee country. It all appeals not alone to the child but to
158 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the adult quite as much, and you marvel how it comes that he
knows so little of this chapter of history.
How then is this knowledge to be imparted if it cannot
be gained from the State, from the historical societies or in
the schools'? Through the Genesee Country Historical Fed-
eration, I ansAver, with all the confidence in the world. We
will unlock the museums, bring history from its secret places
and put it into the schools, and give it to all; moreover, we
will try to have universally accepted the idea that the real
function of the State and its historical and literary and
archaeological and other agencies and of historical societies
of whatsoever character, is not to collect and hoard but above
all to scatter broadcast all the knowledge that they have and
use every means at their command to see that it reaches the
people.
The Genesee Country Historical Federation had its
beginning as an "Adventure in friendship.'" and was com-
pletely successful. It involved nothing less than association
of the historical and kindred societies in all that immense
territory in the State lying west of Seneca Lake. There are
eleven historical societies and six chapters of the Daughters
of the American Revolution in the organization, and I have had
very firm assurances that in the five counties of Allegany,
Orleans, Schuyler, Stenben and Yates societies will be formed
for the purpose of becoming a part of it. The Federation is no
longer an amiable enterprise; it has passed out of the stage
of adventure, and has become a solemn compact for service.
It is, as I have solemnly asserted, the keeper of the Western
Door of the Long House, — the Long House being the State —
the constituent bodies the tribes and clans, the councilors, the
sachems and chiefs, and, as the Senecas faithfully guarded
the western portal of the League so shall we diligently perform
our duty, and become a compelling force in establishing a
cohesive, vigorous and effective organization; rescuing these
bodies from lassitude and indifference, inspiring them with
the will to carry out the work for which they were created,
and stimulating the activity of every member of every asso-
ciated body in the task of industriously collecting and
WESTERN DOOR OF THE LONG HOUSE 159
preserving authentic history and disseminating it among the
people, so that it may come to the knowledge of everyone who
will receive it.
It is a privilege to be permitted to present, although very
imperfectly, the case of the Genesee Country Historical Fed-
eration in this presence, and to bespeak for it your most earnest
individual support and cooperation, and that of the bodies
that you represent. As members of these societies a positive
patriotic obligation is laid upon us to aid to the best of our
ability in making them promote the greatest general good.
Infinite possibilities for great usefulness and the advance-
ment of learning are opened up to our Federation and its
success will be limited only by the lack of individual interest
and impulse. But we must have a well defined plan of action,
and I have attempted to set down in concrete form a few of
the things we will try to accomplish and how we shall set
about it:
We will secure the formation of societies in those counties
which now have none, and get them into active operation.
We will arouse into action existing societies that have
become dormant. We will bring about the publication
annually by each society of its proceedings tor the year and
the interchange among all the societies and the Federation of
these publications. We will endeavor to have a town historian
carefully chosen in each town by the supervisor of the town,
who shall also, if practicable, be the village historian, and
have such historian appointed by the historical society of the
county as the society's town committeeman; so that there
will be in each county society a body of town committeemen
representing every town and village in the county, having
an official standing as historians. To these committeemen, or
historians, will be assigned the work of collecting current
town history, through newspaper clippings preserved in scrap-
books, and otherwise, containing war service records,
biographies, etc., and assisting in all the activities which shall
engage the attention of their societies and the Federation,
making full report at the end of the year to the local society
and filing the matter collected in its archives. The law
160 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
provides that the town may provide for the expenses incurred
by the historian, and I have no doubt that town boards without
exception will be eager to facilitate this work by such modest
appropriations as are found necessary. The value to our
whole project of an interested, painstaking and intelligent
town historian cannot be exaggerated.
We will arrange for a systematic presentation of historical
subjects of local interest — by which I mean town, county,
Genesee country and state interest — to schools. Granges, Boy
Scouts, Camp-Fire Girls and other groups and at occasional
public meetings, through the town historians and other
speakers, and encourage the study and discussion of these
subjects.
We will endeavor to have all the puplis in the public
schools visit at least once the city museums and other
accessibtle collections, under the supervision of a person
qualified to explain the exhibition in an instructive and
attractive way.
We will have these young people visit local points of
historical interest, follow Indian trails and dig into mounds,
in company with a person who can tell all about it, and make
such an occasion one of value to the child in giving him a
realistic picture of life in by-gone days, and stimulating his
interest in historical study.
We will locate places identified with historical events
of importance enough to be noted and arrange for the erection
of suitable tablets upon the sites.
We will arrange for the preparation of biographies of
important personages and the history of important events, in
the Genesee country.
We will procure for the societies and the Federation the
State publications and bulletins of interest and the publi-
cations of other county historical societies and kindred bodies
within the State.
We will seek to effect the establishment of a chapter of
Daughters of the American Revolution in every county of the
Genesee country. I desire here to make it very clear that my
comments upon the indifference that characterizes some
WESTERN DOOR OF THE LONG HOUSE 161
historical societies are not intended to apply to the various
chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution, which
are uniformly vigorous, enthusiastic and carrying out loyally
the objects of their organization.
We will provide a voluntary corps of speakers from the
Daughters of the American Revolution, the county societies
and other associated bodies and the Federation, who shall be
available for service on demand, and we will have a working
agreement with the Education Department for the occasional
appearance of State Archaeologist Arthur C. Parker and State
Historian James Sullivan and others.
We shall suggest that meetings of the federated societies
be held frequently enough to maintain an unrelaxing,
aggressive determination to carry out the work assigned to
them.
Through the kindness of the city government of Rochester
we are permitted to make use of the Museum building at
Exposition park for our meetings and to deposit here our
archives. We are invited to make this building the head-
quarters and the home of the Genesee County Historical
Federation. Let every associated society and every individual
possessing any article appertaining to the history of the
Genesee country place it in the splendid collections
of The Rochester Historical Society or The Buffalo
Historical Society, where it will be properly labeled, displayed
and preserved, and M'here many persons seeing it may be
interested and instructed, instead of keeping it hidden in
homes and elsewhere. It is safe to say that there is not a
single member in the many organizations in our Federation
who has not something that he can contribute to enrich these
collections, and we entreat him to do it in aid of the work we
have set out to do and as his part in some degree towards it.
Where societies are supporting local museums available to
the public such as The Ontario County Historical Society at
Canandaigua, The Holland Purchase Historical Society at
Batavia, or The Livingston County Historical Society at
Geneseo, can hardly expect this suggestion to be literally
heeded.
162 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The Federation should have a general council containing
a representative of every associated body and this council
should select an Executive Committee to constitute its real
viAorking force, and inaugurate and sustain all its activities
with ample power.
Our programme is an ambitious one, and I have described
but a part of the work to be done. It is highly fitting that it
should be ambitious, for we have set ourselves to the task of
congregating the learned societies of an empire — a country
with an area of eleven thousand square miles, of more than
a million and a half in population, composed of fifteen
counties, two hundred and eighty-one towns, one hundred and
thirty-four incorporated villages and fourteen cities — seeking
to animate them with a purpose to perform the great service
to the community now within their power. The opportunity
is great and our individual responsibilty is just as great.
Don't let us put it aside, but accept it in an enduring spirit of
interest, enthusiasm and earnest cooperation ; let us pledge
ourselves to sustain it and work for it and stand guard over
it, that it may become a great and permanent institution for
good ; then and only then can it be said that we have faithfully
and honorably kept our trust as the Keepers of the Western
Door of the Long House.
Rochester in Literature
By ROSSITER JOHNSON, LL. D.
Read before The Rochester Historical Society, March 13, 1922
Let US make a nice distinction in terms, and say that we
shall first speak about Rochester in literature, and then about
literature in Rochester.
Thirty years before we built a log house where the Powers
Block now stands and shot a bear in a cornfield, the site
of Rochester made its appearance in literature. Soon after
the war between France and England for possession of this
continent had ended in favor of the British, in 1763, an
eminent French engineer, Pouchot, wrote his "Memoirs of
the Late War in North America," and these appeared in print
in 1780. Dr. Franklin B. Hough published an excellent
translation of the work.
Pouchot, who commanded a regiment in the French army,
was sent with his troops to Niagara, to strengthen the defences
there. They went partly by water in Lake Ontario, and partly
by land. Then, and on his return, Puchot appears to have
made extensive explorations in the region between Oswego
and Seneca Lake on the east and the Niagara frontier on the
west. He was a minute observer and a careful chronicler. He
discovered and recorded the spot on the New York and
Pennsylvania boundary where three streams have their head — -
one reaching Ontario through the Genesee, one reaching the
Ohio River through the Allegany, and one flowing into the
Susquehanna and thence reaching Chesapeake Bay.
There he discovered what he calls "a bituminous oil
spring of considerable size," and adds "the Indians use the
waters to soothe all kinds of pain." This appears to have
been the first discovery of petroleum in America, though it
was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans. Nearly a
century elapsed before Americans developed a commercial
use for that oil. And civilized and uncivilized peoples appear
to be alike in hoping to find medicinal qualities in every
newly discovered substance. When I was a boy I saw a
164 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
neighbor, who was severely afflicted with asthma, breathing
air that was passed through kerosene.
Pouchot calls the Genesee "the Casconchiagon, or Little
Seneeas River." Coasting eastward from the month of the
Niagara, he writes: "A little before coming to Fort des Sables,
we find the mouth of the Casconchiagon, which forms a bay
of sufficient size and depth, but there is a bad bar at its
entrance. This river has a much longer course into the
interior than any other on this coast. It has three falls,
with banks almost as fine as those of Niagara." He then
explains that, to explore this river, they enter the Baye des
Sables, which is Irondequoit Baj^, and then make a portage,
and says: "At present the navigation is made only in bark
canoes. The river traverses the whole country' of the Five
Nations. The navigation would be much more considerable
if these countries should come to be inhabited by Europeans.
The whole country along these rivers is beautiful and fertile."
He made a map of the region, and a picture of the Lower Falls.
In 1834 — the year in which Rochester was incorporated
as a city — Nathaniel Hawthorne visited Niagara, and on his
way tarried for a while in Rochester. The account of his
stay here is published in one of his posthumous volumes. Let
me read to you a part of it :
"The Genesee has contributed so bountifully to their
canals and mill-dams that it approaches the precipice with
diminished pomp and rushes over it in foamy streams of
various width, leaving a broad face of the rock insulated
and unwashed between the two main branches of the falling
river. Still, it was an impressive sight — to one who had not
seen Niagara. I confess that my chief interest arose from a
legend connected with these falls, which will become poetical
in the lapse of years, and was already so to me as I pictured
the catastrophe out of dusk and solitude. It was from a plat-
form raised over the naked island of the cliff, in the middle of
the cataract, that Sam Patch took his last leap, and alighted in
the other world. Strange as it may appear — that any
uncertainty should rest upon his fate, which was consummated
in the sight of thousands — many will tell you that the
illustrious Patch concealed himself in a cave under the falls
ROCHESTER IN LITERATURE 165
and has continued to enjoy posthumous renown without fore-
going the comforts of this present life. But the poor fellow
prized the shout of the multitude too much not to have claimed
it at the instant, had he survived. He will not be seen again,
unless his ghost, in such a twilight as when I was there,
should emerge from the foam and vanish among the shadows
that fall from cliff to cliff.
"How stern a moral may be drawn from the story of poor
Sam Patch ! Why do we call him a madman or a fool when
he has left his memory around the falls of the Genesee more
permanently than if the letters of his name had been hewn
into the forehead of the precipice? Was the leaper of
cataracts more mad or foolish than other men who throw
away life, or misspend it in pursuit of empty fame, and seldom
so triumphantly as he? That which he won is as invaluable
as any except the unsought glory.
"Thus musing wise in theory, but practically as great a
fool as Sam, I lifted my eyes and beheld the spires, warehouses
and dwellings of Rochester, half a mile distant on both sides of
the river, indistinctly cheerful with the twinkling of many
lights amid the fall of the evenmg.
"The town had sprung up like a mushroom, but no
presage of decay could be drawn from its hasty growth. Its
edifices are of dusky brick and of stone that will not be grayer
in a hundred years than now. Its churches are Gothic. It is
impossible to look at its worn pavements and conceive how
lately the forest leaves have been swept away. The most
ancient town in IMassachusetts appears quite like an affair of
yesterday, compared with Rochester. Its attributes of youth
are the activity and eager life with which it is redundant. The
whole street — sidewalks and centre — was cro.vded with pedes-
trians, horsemen, stage-coaches, gigs, light wagons, and heavy
ox-teams, all hurrying, trotting, rattling and rumbling, in a
throng that passed continually but never passed away. Here,
a country wife was selecting a churn from several gayly
painted ones on the sunny sidewalk ; there, a farmer was
bartering his produce -. and in two or three places a crowd of
people were showering bids on a vociferous auctioneer. I saw a
166 THE EOCHESTEK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
great wagon and an ox-chain knocked off to a very pretty
woman. Numerous were the lottery offices — those true
temples of Mammon — where red and yellow bills offered
splendid fortunes to the world at large, and banners of
painted cloth gave notice that 'the lottery draws next
Wednesday'. At the ringing of a bell, judges, jurymen,
lawyers and clients elbowed each other to the courthouse, to
busy themselves with cases that would doubtless illustrate
the state of society, had I the means of reporting them. The
number of public houses benefited the flow of temporary
population. Some were farmers' taverns, cheap, homely and
comfortable ; others were magnificent hotels, with negro
waiters, gentlemanly landlords in black broadcloth, and
foppish barkeepers in Broadway coats, with chased gold
watches in their waistcoat pockets. I caught one of these
fellows quizzing me through an eye-glass. The porters were
lumbering up the steps with baggage from the packet boats,
while waiters plied the brush on dusty travelers, who mean-
while glanced over the innumerable advertisements in the
daily papers. In short, everybody seemed to be there, and all
had something to do, and were doing it with all their might,
except a party of drunken recruits for western military posts.
I noticed one other idle man. He carried a rifle on his shoulder
and a powder-horn across his breast, and appeared to stare
about him with confused wonder, as if, while he was listening
to the M'ind among the forest boughs, the hum and bustle of
an instantaneous city had surrounded him."
Ajiother famous author who has paid his respects very
handsomely to Rochester is William Dean Howells. His first
novel was entitled "Their Wedding Journey," in which the
bridal couple travel leisurely from Boston to Niagara. It
undoubtedly records a trip made by the author and his wife —
not exactly a wedding journey for them, since they had been
married in Italy a few years before, but just as good — some,
I fancy, would say better. She was a sister of Larkin G.
Mead, the sculptor. They made a stop in Rochester, and that
chapter bears title "The Enchanted City." He begins with
a passage — often quoted — in which he satirizes the universal
ROCHESTER IN LITERATURE 167
hotel clerk ; but after that he is pleasantly in sympathy with
Rochester and its enchantments. I will read a few passages :
' ' How perfectly idyllic ! ' ' cried Isabel. ' ' Is this Rochester,
New York, or is it some vale of Arcady? Let's go out and
see."
They walked out into the moonlit city, up and down
streets that seemed very stately and fine, amidst a glitter
of shop-window lights ; and then, less of their own motion
than of mere error, they quitted the business quarter, and
found themselves in a quiet avenue of handsome residences —
the Beacon Street of Rochester, whatever it was called. They
said it was a night and a place for lovers, for none but lovers,
for lovers newly plighted; and they made believe to bemoan
themselves that, hold each other dear as they would, the
exaltation, the thrill, the glory of their younger love was
gone. Some of the houses had gardened spaces about them,
from which stole, like breaths of sweetest and saddest regret,
the perfume of midsummer flowers— the riespair of the rose
for the bud. As they passed a certain house, a song fluttered
out of the open window and ceased, the piano warbled at the
final rush of fingers over its chords, and they saw her with
her fingers resting lightly on the keys, and her graceful head
lifted to look into his; they saw him with his arm yet
stretched across to the leaves of music he had been turning,
and his face lowered to meet her gaze.
"Ah, Basil, I wish it was we, there!"
"And if they knew that we, on our wedding journey
stood outside, would not they wish it was they, here?"
"I suppose so, dearest, and yet, once-upon-a-time was
sweet. Pass on; and let us see what charm we shall find
next in this enchanted city."
"Yes, it is an enchanted city to us," mused Basil, aloud,
as they wandered on, "and all strange cities are enchanted.
AVhat is Rochester to the Rochesterese? A place of a hundred
thousand people, as avp read in our guide, an immense flour
interest, a great railroad entrepot, an unrivaled nursery trade,
a university, two commercial colleges, three collegiate
institutes, eight or ten newspapers, and a free library. I dare
168 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
say any respectable resident would laugh at us sentimentalizing
over his city. But Rochester is for us, who don't know it at
all, a city of any time or country, moonlight, filled with lovers
hovering over piano-fortes, of a palatial hotel with pastoral
waiters and porters — ^a city of handsome streets wrapt in
beautiful quiet and dreaming of the golden age. The only
definite association with it in our minds is the tragically
romantic thought that here Sam Patch met his fate "
"And who in the world was Sam Patch?"
"Isabel, your ignorance of all that an American woman
should be proud of distresses me. Have you really, then,
never heard of the man who invented the saying, ' Some things
can be done as well as others,' and proved it by jumping over
Niagara Falls twice? Spurred on by this belief, he attempted
the leap of the (lenesee Palls. The leap was easy enough,
but the coming up again was another matter. He failed in
that. It was the one thing that could not be done as well
as others."
"Dreadful!" said Isabel, with the cheerfulest satisfaction.
"But what has all that to do with Rochester?"
"Now, my dear! You don't mean to say you didn't
know that the Genesee Falls were at Rochester? Upon my
word, I'm ashamed. "Why, we're within ten minutes' walk
of them now."
"Then walk to them at once!" cried Isabel, wholly
unabashed, and in fact unable to see what he had to be
ashamed of.
They found, by dint of much asking, a street winding up
the hillside to the left, and leading to the German Bierhaus
that gives access to the best view of the cataract.
The Americans have characteristically bordered the river
with manufactures, making every drop work its passage to
the brink ; while the Germans have as characteristically made
use of the beauty left over, and have built a Bierhaus where
they may regale both soul and sense in the presence of the
cataract. Our travelers might, in another mood and place,
have thought it droll to arrive at that sublime spectacle
through a Bierhaus. but in this enchanted city it seemed to
have a peculiar fitness. Through garden-ground they were
ROCHESTER IN LITERATURE 169
led by the little maid, their guide, to a small pavilion that stood
on the edge of the precipitous shore and commanded a perfect
view of the falls. As they entered this pavilion, a youth and
maiden, clearly lovers, passed out, and they were left alone
with that sublime presenice. Something of definiteness was
to be desired in the spectacle, but there was ample compen-
sation in the mystery with which the broad effulgence and the
dense unluminous shadows of the moonshine invested it. The
light touched all the tops of the rapids, that seemed to writhe
away from the brink of the cataract, and then desperately
breaking and perishing to fall, the white disembodied ghosts
of rapids, down to the bottom of the vast and deep ravine
through which the river rushed away. Now the waters
seemed to mass themselves a hundred feet high in a wall of
snowy compactness, now to disperse into their multitudiuious
particles and hang like some vaporous cloud from the clift'.
Every moment renewed the vision of beauty in some rare and
fantastic shape ; and its loveliness isolated it, in spite of the
great town on the other shore, the station with its bridge and
its trains, the mills that supplied their feeble little needs from
the cataract's strength.
At last Basil pointed out the table-rock in the middle of
the fall, from which Sam Patch had made his fatal leap ; but
Isabel refused to admit that tragical figure to the honors of
her emotions. "I don't care for him!" she said fiercely.
"Patch! What a name to be linked in our thoughts with
this superb cataract."
"Well, Isabel, I think you are very unjust. It's as good
a name as Leander, to my thinking, and it was immortalized
in support of a great idea — the feasibility of all things; while
Leander 's has come down to us as that of the weak victim of
a passion. We shall never have a poetry of our own till we
get over this absurd reluctance from facts, till we make the
ideal embrace and include the real, till we consent to face the
music in our simple common niames, and put Smith into a lyric
and Jones into a tragedy."
When that superb book entitled "Picturesque America"
appeared, in the 1870 's, it presented a chapter devoted to the
170 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Genesee, from its source to its mouth. The text of that
chapter is so poorly and inaccurately written that it is not
worth quoting, but the illustrations, made by real artists,
are superb.
Here we must enid our account of Rochester in Literature,
and give our attention to Literature in Rochester.
When the University of Rochester was founded, among
those who came hither from Hamilton (now Colgate University)
was Asahel C. Kendrick, to occupy the chair of Greek. Nearly
forty classes were graduated umder his teaching; and, with-
out detracting in the least from the merits of any others, it
may be said that he was probably the most beloved man in
that very able faculty. He wrote text-books for the study
of Greek, and Scripture commentaries, that on the Epistle
to the Hebrews being the most notable, and was a member of
the American committee that revised the New Testament. He
wrote also the biography of the third Mrs. Judson, wife of
the famous missionary in Burmah — a book that was widely
circulated through several editions. He appeared to be
familiar with everything good, whether ancient or modern,
in the poetry of our language; au((.l in his class-room the
students heard much of it from his mellow and carefully
trained voice. Most appropriately, he was the editor of one
of our best anthologies — the three volumes of "Our Poetical
Favorites." As might be expected, Dr. Kendrick was himself
a writer, though only to a small extent, of musical and
pleasing verse. Let me read a passage from his longest poem,
entitled "Dreams":
The Poet dreams; and, robed in 'magic light,
Springs a new world upon our ravished sight.
The Painter dreams; and lo! in rapture wild
Stand in mid heaven the Virgin and her child.
The maiden drea>ms; and deep within her breast
She hides the thought that broke her spirit's rest,
And mingled with its pure unsullied beam
The troubled joy of Love's delicious dream.
The student dreams; a>mbition's splendid prize
Half brightened, half eclipsed by two black eyes.
His dream of fame lights up the midnight oil;
His dream of love plays, song-like, o'er his toil.
Nor art iand song alone own Fancy's sway;
Full oft has Science caught her heavenliest ray
ROCHESTER IN LITERATURE 171
From the bright orb whose light prophetic streams
In flooding radiance o'er the realm of dreams.
Follow the adventurous host of souls sublime
Down the long ages of descending time —
Hierophants of truth, a sacred band,
Who passed her flaming torch from hand to hand,
Lighting our wanderings to the Pro«iised Land;
And mark how Truth on yearning fancy broke,
Long ere she bowed to Reason's sterner stroke.
Phythagoras dreamed, and lo! in choir sublime.
The circling spheres pealed heaven's immortal chime.
And Earth, unfixed, joining her sister spheres.
Preludes the science of a thousand years.
And Plato dreamed, and to his eyes unsealed
The soul's immortal life stood forth revealed;
He saw, unharmed by Death's dissolving hour,
The spirit then assert its Godlike power,
And burst away, through kindred realms to range,
Beyond the reach of death, decay, or change.
And Kepler dreamed, long had the planets wheeled
In their high orbs, their courses unrevealed,
One dream, one glance, one far deep-piercing view
Imagination caught the migTity clue.
And Reason, slowly following, traced it through.
I wish the Doctor himself could have been here to read
this to you. One of his students, long out of college, wrote
in a reminiscent letter: "I never could look at a page of
Greek without thinking of the tangle of dry twigs on a
winter tree : and I never could hear Dr. Kendrick read it
without being reminded how that tree would blossom in
the spring."
Dr. Kendrick had two daughters that contributed to
Rochester's literature. One, Helen, wrote three volumes of
stories for the young, a novel that was so novel that it had
a book-agent for its hero, and a philosophical and historical
treatise entitled "Woman and the Republic," whioh was
highly praised by every one of seventy reviewers to whom
copies were sent. Take a short quotation from a single one.
The Boston Courier said: "At last a woman has written a
book that will be ad.judged a valuable addition to woman
literature, chiefly from the fact that it has been written
obviously by one w^ho has risen above all petty quarrel and
controversy to an apprehension of the real need of the
Republic, so far as woman is concerned. * * * Evidently
a strong, serious brain has conceived its every chapter."
172 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
She also produced — by dedicating to it all her spare time
for seven years — a large volume entitled "Our Familiar
Songs, and Those Who Made Them," which has gone through
many editions. I know of none that brings music and
literature so close together.
The other daughter, Florence, collaborated with her father
in writing President Anderson's biography, and afterward
wrote his.
For five years, in the 1860's Robert Carter was chief
editor of the Rochester Democrat. He was a native of Albany,
and became a clerk in the postoffice at Cambridge, Mass.,
and an intimate friend of James Russell Lowell, with whom
he established the Pioneer Magazine. This was a brilliant
affair as long as it lived, for among its contributors were
Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar A. Poe, Elizabeth Barrett
(Browning), and John Neal. But the publisher failed, and
the magazine attained only three numbers. They are now
held at a high price as scarce Americana.
William S. King, Postmaster of the U. S. House of
Representatives, had recently bought the Democrat, and on
the advice of Senator Henry Wilson (afterward Vice-
President) he invited Mr. Carter to assume the editorship.
One hot evening in July Carter appeared in the office, took
off his coat, and began work at once. He used to sit up till
the night despatches were all in — midnight or later — in order
that whatever editorial comment or explanation they required
might appear in the same issue with them, instead of twenty-
four hours later, as had been the custom with inland papers.
I had the good fortune to be his assistant, and I am not
sure Avhether I acquired most education from his daily talks
or from Pligh School and College combined. His mind
appeared to be largely occupied with an extensive set of
pigeon-holes filled with classified facts. One day President
Anderson came into the office and said: "Mr. Carter, I have
been trjnng in vain to learn something about that eccentric
character. Count Adam Gurowski, and it has occurred to me
that perhaps you can tell me." Oh, yes," said Carter, "I
roomed with him six months in Washington." When Gu-
rowski died, Carter contributed to the Atlantic Monthly an
ROCHESTER IN LITERATURE 173
interesting sketch of the man and his career. lie had done
much miscellaneous literary work, including a remarkable
story, entitled "The Great Tower of Tarudant," in the old
Broadway Magazine. He edited Kossuth's speeches in this
country, and soon after that was secretary of the convention
that organized the Republican party in Massachusetts. He
had been the secretary of Prescott, the historian ; and when
Robert A. AVi^^on published his work on Mexico, in which he
challenged much that Prescott had written on the authority
of Spanish chroniclers, Carter wrote a long review of his book
for the North American, refuting Wilson.
Carter published only one volume of his own original
work, "A Summer Cruise on the Coast of New England,"
which had a good circulation and is still cherished by certain
connoisseurs.
George H. Ellwanger came so near being a genius at
essay-writing that it would be hard to say he was not. His
first book, "The Garden's Story," gave him high literary
standing at once. This was followed by "The Story of My
House," a small volume entitled "In Silver and Gold," and a
large one on the pleasures of the table. His story of "The
Silver Fox" is as exquisitely beautiful as anything with which
it can be compared. It is to be regretted that he did not have
all his books issued by one house, in one size; then we could
have had them in a uniform set — ^which now can never be.
George had a brother — William D. Ellwanger — who wrote
a few poems, some of which are exceedingly pretty.
Henry Francis Keenan was born and educated in
Rochester. He was first on the staff. of the Democrat, and
then of the Chronicle. Besides an immense amount of
journalistic work, he produced half a dozen novels, the most
brilliant and successful of which was "The Money-Makers."
In my former address before this society I spoke of
Charles Warren Stoddard. I told you he was born here and
lived here till his father took the family to California; that
Charles became a journalist by profession and incidentally
a writer of books; and that he spent some years in Hawaii,
Tahiti and other islands of the Pacific. I think his prose
volume of "South Sea Idyls" remains the most picturesque
174 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
and poetical book that deals with that island world. I
cherish the copy that he inscribed to me "in memory of our
childhood in Frank Street." It is not possible, in an address
like this, to quote anything so long as one of those idyls.
Instead, let me read two of his poems that were collected and
published in a volume after his death. He died in 1909. The
first was inspired by a sunset viewed from an island mountain-
top:
I thread the path through verdant leas.
Till, looking downward from the heig'ht,
Lo! dreamy lands by dreamy seas
Made misty in the mellow light.
And ever-wandering clouds that drape
With tint of pearl, or stain of blood,
The nestling isle, the distant cape
That sinks into yon purple flood.
And overhead the jeweled plain,
Where shadows deepen as they close —
But, deepening, neither blot nor stain
The sweetest blue that heaven knows.
perfect night — more perfect still
For being sought in happy mood —
How many hearts might pulse and thrill
Within this seeming solitude!
And have the ages wrought so long;
Must all this beauty go to make
A thought to perish in a song,
One picture for one creature's sake?
Xo! rather think this fair expanse
May be the margin of that shore
Swept over with seraphic glance
By spirits that we know no more.
The other is entitled "Return":
Out of the sunset in a summer land,
Led by the south wind from a coral strand,
A prodigal I come at Christmas eve.
Love in my heart, and heart upon my sleeve.
'Tis here I seek the love of long ago,
And find it radiant as an afterglow.
Have I been absent, say — or can it be
That I have dreamed that life beyond the sea?
I cannot tell you, for so true you seem,
Which is reality and which is dream.
But if I dream tonight I pray you then
"Oh, do not wake me — let me dream again."
ROCHESTER IN LITERATURE 175
Among our Rochester authors are several who have
produced important and standard books that are of such a
nature that extracts could not be presented in an address like
this, but which must not be passed over without appreciative
mention.
At the head of such a list should stand the works of
Lewis H. Morgan. The original edition of his "League of
the Iroquois" was published in Rochester in 1851, and is now
accounted very rare. Recently a sumptuous edition, with
very beautiful colored illustrations, has been issued by a
New York house. Mr. Morgan's other works include "The
American Beaver," "Ancient Society," and "Systems of Con-
sanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family." He was the
first man to publish a scientific account of an Indian tribe,
and he was called "The Father of American Anthropology."
The \^Titings of Dr. Augustus H. Strong, late President of
Rochester Theological Seminary, rank high among religious
works.
General Elwell S. Otis published one book, "The Indian
Question," made possible by his experience at the West, where
he was in command, having continued as an officer of the
regular army after his service in the civil war.
That reminds us that when the first battle of Bull Run
was fought, your Representative in Congress, the Hon. Alfred
Ely, and your District Attorney, Calvin Hnson, went out to
see it and were captured and confined in Libby Prison. Mr.
Huson died there, but Mr. Ely lived to be exchanged, and
then published the journal that he had kept in the prison.
The Rev. George Dana Boardman, D. D., son of that
missionary in Burmah w^hose widow became the second wnfe
of Adoniram Judson, was for many years a resident of
Rochester, being pastor of the Second Baptist Church. He was
a popular preacher, rather florid in style, and a much beloved
man. From Rochester he went to Philadelphia, where he
spent the remainder of his life. He published a considerable
number of books, which were essentially essays on religious
subjects. Two of them are "Studies in the Mountain
Instruction" and "Epiphanies of the Risen Lord."
Your late Representative in Congress, the Hon. J. Breck
176 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Perkins, was a devoted student of Freneli life, and produced
scholarly works which take their place among standard
histories. His four books are: "France under Richelieu and
Mazaran," "France under the Regency," "France under
Louis XV," and a biography of Richelieu.
Erasmus Peshine Smith was an authority on international
law, and, by official appointment, spent five years in Japan
assisting that government in its treaties with other powers.
He published a "Manual of Political Economy," which the
critics say is unique among books of its kind. Mr. Smith had
two other connections with literature. He proposed and intro-
duced the word "telegram," and his granddaughter became
the wife of Rudyard Kipling.
Isaac Butts, who founded the Rochester Union in 1852,
and for many years edited it with marked ability, wrote a
M'ork on "Protection and Free Trade." He died in 1874,
and the book was published in New York the next year.
William F. Peck wrote a "History of Rochester," in
addition to a great deal of journalistic and miscellaneous
literary work.
For many years Frederick Douglass made his home in
Rochester. He lived at the head of South avenue, where
— some of you will remember — his home was burned. He
published here his paper. The North Star, the offi.ce being, as
I remember, a little way east of the front entrance to Reynolds
Arcade. The title of the paper was suggestive of one of the
anti-slavery songs of those days, wherein the fugitive sings
the refrain —
"I kept my eye on the ibright north star,
And thought ot liberty."
Mr. Douglass, besides doing much journalistic and
miscellaneous literary work, was a powerful platform speaker.
His autobiography, a thick volume, interesting and historically
valuable, was published in Boston. You all know where his
monument stands, near the New York Central Railroad depot.
So far as I know, that is our country's only statue of a person
of African blood.
In the High School I had as a fellow student Willis S.
ROCHESTER IN LITERATURE 17T
Paine, son of Nicholas E. Paine, at that time Rochester's
postmaster. He settled in New York city to practice law, and
has published well known law books.
The Rev. Thomas Jefferson Conant, Professor in the
Theological Seminary, did much Biblical work in the way of
translations and commentaries. His wife, Hannah Chaflin,
was well learned in Oriental languages, and besides much
work in the way of translation and adaptation, she wrote
"The History of the English Bible," which entailed profound
and labored research and was published in 1859 — when she
was just fifty years of age.
Mrs. Jenny Marsh Parker was a prolific author. Besides
her "History of Rochester," she wrote a novel, "The Mid-
night Cry," founded on the effect of William Miller's
prophecies eighty years ago.
We all must laugh a little now and then, and a literature
that includes no humor is in so far imperfect. Rochester has
had its wits and humorists ; but few of them displayed their
peculiar gifts in print. Charles J. Hill, one of Rochester's
early millers, had a son, Charles B. Hill, who was known as
one of the wits of the town and occasionally ventured into
print. About 1860 there was a pretended rivalry between
Rochester and Buffalo, kept up for the purpose of inventing
jokes at each other's expense. Charlie Hill made his con-
tribution in the form of a long article descriptive of Buffalo,
in which you could not discover much that was complimentary
to that burg. It was illustrated with startling wood cuts, and
the whole was published in the daily Union.
In Public School No. 5 there was a little hump-backed boy,
named ^Marshall P.Wilder, who did not grow up much bodily,
but mentally grew up into a very successful humorist. He
supported himself handsomely by inventing and dramatically
reciting humorous stories. One day I had a talk with him
when we were crossing a ferry, in the course of which he said :
"You see, my funny little stories seem funnier because I myself
am so funny." He appeared to be thankful to his Creator
for giving him a humped back to help him through life. After
exhibiting successfully in our country, he went to London.
178 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
There he fixed up a formidable looking document which
nobody could understand, enclosed it in a large envelope, put
on a big seal, and addressed it to the Prince of Wales. Then
lie went to the Prince's club and sent it in to him. Albert
Edward looked it over, wondered what it all meant, and said
to the attendant, "Show him in." "When Wilder appeared
before him, Albert Edward said, "Well, what do you want of
me?" "I want to tell you a story," said Wilder. "Tell
away," said the Prince; and then our little foreshortened
townsman told him, not on ebut half a dozen of his best. That
was enough to set him up in business on British soil. Wilder
published a book entitled "Men I have Smiled With."
If I might digress a little from my exact subject, I should
be glad to speak of Arthur D. Walbridge, a most promising
musical composer, and lovable man, who died early, probably
one of those whom Shelley calls
"The heritors of unfulfilled renown."
He was a son of S. Dewey Walbridge, who for many
years kept the Eagle Hotel, where the Powers Block now
stands.
There appears never to have been any dearth of poets in
Rochester, and many have done very creditable work; but in
jny opinion the one that leads them all is Joseph O'Connor.
He was born at Tribes Hill, in the eastern part of this State,
and came with his parents to Rochester when he was about
"twelve years of age. He was educated in Grammar School No.
.2, in the High School where it was first located in Fitzhugh
street between the Savings Bank and St. Luke's church — and
in the University. He was admitted to the bar, but never
practiced; became a journalist, and was employed on papers
in New York, in Buffalo, and in Rochester. There is not
much opportunity for a journalist to make a popular reputa-
tion; but O'Connor was widely known and very highly
esteemed in the profession. Charles A. Dana told me that he
read every day what O'Connor wrote in the Post Express, and
he added, "We will make a place for him here at any time
when he will come to us," But he never went; he loved
ROCHESTER IN LITERATURE 179
Rochester too well. When we were in the High School he
wrote a long poem on the Deluge. Daniel Holbrook, the
Superintendent of Schools, saw it, admired it, and had it
published in the Democrat. For our first commencement
exercises in Corinthian Hall, at the request of the Principal
of the school, Charles R. Pomeroy, O'Connor wrote a drama.
It was entitled "The Conspiracy," and was founded on
Orsini's attempt to assassinate Napoleon III. It was written
in blank verse, and it went off with great applause. Of all
who were in the cast, I am the only survivor. Joseph was
not always lucky with his manuscripts. When a prize of six
hundred dollars was offered for a new national hymn, there
were many contestants, and some of the poems were good;
but the committee were not willing to award the prize. The
manuscripts were put into the hands of Richard Grant White,
to make a book, with running commentary. He included
O'Connor's and gave it high praise, but expressed regret that
it must be anonymous, as the envelope containing the author's
name was lost. It should have occurred to Mr. White that
by means of a simple advertisement, with three or four lines
of the poem for identification, he could easily have found the
author. You may read it in the volume of O'Connor's
collected poems — which I trust many of you possess — where it
bears the title "The Hopes of Man." I cannot say how it
would answer for a song; but I think that as a poem it is
superior to Key's "Star Spangled Banner," to Smith's
** America," and to Mrs. Howe's "Battle-Hymn of the
Republic." As I open the volume and look at it once more,
the closing stanza seems strikingly appropriate to the present
day:
Yes, the spirit of our land,
The young giant of the West,
With the waters in his hand,
With the forests for his crest.
To our hearts' quick, proud pulsations,
To our shouts that still increase,
Shall yet lead on the nations
To their brotherhood of peace.
Thus Columbia, great and strong,
Shall forever lead the van.
As the nations sweep along
To fulfill the hopes of man!
180 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
He sent a story to the Atlantic Monthly, which the
editor accepted — and then lost the manuscript — but paid for
it. A remarkable story of his was published in Blackwood's
Magazine. I should like to read you one of O'Connor's long
poems — especially "The White Rose" — but must give you
instead three or four of his lyrics:
Her Hands
Someticies I sit and try to trace,
In memory's records dim and faint,
The features of my mother's face,
With the calm look of gentle grace
That marked our household's quiet saint.
The innocence of her blue eyes,
The winning smile about her lips,
Child-simple and yet woman-wise,
Her shining hair, her modest guise.
All come in turn; each fades and elips.
I try to fix them, but in vain;
They waver, and yet will not fuse,
iHowe'er imagination strain
To form the face that it would feign —
Till on a sudden, as I muse.
There comes a thought of her dear hands,
All wrinkled, tanned, and labor-worn —
And there the simple woman stands.
To meet her duty's hard demands,
Among the children she has borne!
No work nor written word remains,
Nor picture worthy to approve;
But read in knotted joints and veins.
And tendons strong, and honest stains,
The tale of service and of love!
hands of ministry, that wrought
In constant care, through weal and woe.
Nor rest by crib or coffin caught,
This pang is mine — I never thought
To kiss your fingers long ago!
Wandering
The water bubbles o'er the gravel,
It laughs a moment and is gone;
It would be still if it were stone,
But ripples know enough to travel.
The misty forms afloat up yonder.
Like ships whose sails a fair wind fills,
Might rest forever were they hills,
But clouds are wise and fain would wander.
ROCHESTER IN LITERATURE 181
The wind it is a merry rover,
And bends to kiss the rose's lips;
But from embracing arms it slips,
For roses elsewhere wait a lover.
The little bird, too, is a roamer
That flies and sings with joyous zest;
He owns a house? Ah, no; his nest
Is but a cottage for the summer!
And over all the Queen of Gypsies,
The changeful moon roves through the skies,
The dearer to our mortal eyes,
For all her phases and eclipses.
The spot we're in belongs to sorrow;
Why should we suffer from its stress,
When we may search for happiness
And hit on Paradise to-morrow?
The moon may know its place? I'll follow.
The ripples tell? I'll trace their sound.
If wind and cloud be thither bound,
I'll watch; and I'll pursue the swallow.
If the Wind Rise.
An open sea, a gallant breeze
That drives our little boat —
How fast each wave about us flees.
How fast the low clouds float!
"We'll nev«r see the morning skies.
If the wind rise."
"If the wind rise,
We'll hear no more of earthly lies."
The moon from time to time breaks out.
And silvers all the sea;
The billows toss their manes about;
The little boat leaps free.
"We'll never see our true love's eyes,
Tf the wind rise."
"If the wind rise.
We'll waste no more our foolish sighs."
She takes a dash of foam before,
A dash of spray behind;
The wolfish waves about her roar.
And gallop with the wind.
"We'll see no more the woodland dyes,
If the wind rise."
"If the wind rise,
We'll weep no more man's miseries."
182 THE KOCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The sky seems bending lower down,
And swifter sweeps the gale;
Our craft she shakes from keel to crown.
And dips her fragile sail.
"We may forgive our enemies.
If the wind rise."
"If the wind rise,
We'll sup this night in Paradise."
He had an elder brother, Michael, who gave great promise
as a writer, but he enlisted in the 140th Regiment, and died
in a field hospital. Eight of his short poems were printed
privately after his death, under the title "A Lyrical Octave."
I will read two :
My Beau
Oh, I am dinned with rolling drums
And oft-repeated cheers,
And tired with marohing 'mid the throng
Beside the Volunteers!
'For all day long my heart and eyea
Went with the foremost row.
Where, handso«iest among them all.
I saw my darling Beau.
The tears were on my cheeks unchecked
Throughout this woeful day;
I did not heed the people's looks,
I cared not what they'd say;
For why should I disguise my grief.
Or strive to hide the woe
That hurst unbidden at the thought
Of parting with my Beau?
You surely must have noticed.
As the ranks went marching by,
That tall young fellow in the front.
With such a bright blue eye.
I know a dozen hearts that ached
This day to see him go;
But I alone among the«i all
Could claim him as a beau.
He was the onlv beau T had:
Of all the lade, but he
See^med ever to have cared to win.
Or thought of loving me.
But had a thoupand smierht my hand,
Howe'er so ricb. I'd throw
The greed of eold from nut mv heart.
And give it to mv Beau.
ROCHESTER IN LITERATURE 183
You surely «iust have noticed,
Because beneath its shade.
To fight for what we all believe
Is right, he stands arrayed.
Though were he on the other side.
The Stars and Bars, I know.
Would be as dear as Stripes and Stars,
While floating o'er my Beau.
A victory would be death to me.
Were he among the slain;
I care not who shall win the fight,
So he comes back again;
Nor to which side the bloody tide
Of war shall ebb or flow,
If it but brings me home unwrecked
That man-of-war, my Beau.
Reveille
The morning is cheery, my boys, arouse!
The dew shines bright on the chestnut boughs,
And the sleepy mist on the river lies,
Though the east is flushing with crimson dyes.
Awake! awake! awake!
O'er field and wood and brake.
With glories newly bcrn,
Comes on the blushing morn.
Awake! awake!
You have dreamed of your homes and friends all night;
You have basked in your sweethearts' smiles so bright;
Come, part with the-m all for a while again, —
Be lovers in dreams; when awake, be men.
Turn out! turn out! turn out!
You have dreamed full long, I know.
Turn out! turn out! turn out!
The east is all aglow.
Turn out! turn out!
From every valley and hill there come
The clamoring voices of fife and drum;
And out in the fresh, cool morning air
The soldiers are swarming everywhere.
Fall in! fall in! fall in!
Every .man in his place.
Fall in! fall in! fall in!
Each with a cheerful face.
Fall in! fall in!
Both brothers were members of a unique literary society,
restricted to six and called "The Hexagonal." They covered
much good writing-paper, under many titles, with various
efforts. Probably not much of it Avould edify you ; but as a
184 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
classic poet tells us "The deed in the doing it savors of
worth," so we might paraphrase, "The scrawl in the scrawling
of it furnished much mirth." Sometimes we wrote subjects
on cards, shook them up in a hat, put the watch in the center
of the table, and had twenty minutes in which to produce
poems on the subjects that we drew. I remember no instance
in which we failed to do it — admitting that whatever rhymes
is a poem. Of all that body of youthful literature, now for-
ever lost, I am happy to say — my memory still holds but a
single stanza, the closing one in a piece entitled "Spring":
Now night comes on. Up swims the mellow •moon,
While sunset's purple-bannered hosts disband,
And robed in fallen Ijlossoms gentle June
On zephyr wings is wafted to our land.
William S. Bishop was a practicing lawyer in Rochester
for many years. At one time he was District Attorney, and at
other times he represented the city in either house of the
Legislature. He lived in Troup street, corner of Eagle street.
He had a son, James L. Bishop, who is a lawyer in New York
city and is the author of some law books which better judges
than I tell me are of high value.
William S. Bishop had also a daughter, Mary, who was
educated in the Rochester schools. I remember her as a
beautiful girl when she was my fellow student at the High
School. She became the wife of Merrill E. Gates, a graduate
of Rochester University, who was President successively of
Rutgers and Amherst colleges. When she died, a few years
ago, he collected her poems — more than a hundred, all short —
and they were published by a New York house. I have
selected two to read to you. One other, set to music, appears
in the Congregational hymnal:
Dependence
The sea-swayed mosses clinging to the rock.
The little pool left by the ebbing sea,
The dying echo of the thunder's shocK,
The leaflet swimging on its parent tree.
Each by some tie invisible is bound,
The weaker still depending on the strong;
The parted waters to the deep profound.
And faintest echoes to so^ne voice, belong.
ROCHESTER IN LITERATURE 185
So have I felt myself a very part
Of ele^nental worlds I cannot see.
A swinging leaf, my pendant, quivering heart
Grows on the tree of old Eternity.
A clinging shred, I stay my tide-swept will,
And anchor it on ageless rocks of might.
A tiny, land-locked pool, I feel the thrill
Of wide, unfathomed waters out of sight.
A human fragment, I am not alone
In this vast universe, so deep and broad;
But I belong to worlds beyond the sun.
And I, an atom, still am joined to God.
Poems
There are possible poems everywhere.
They shine in the stars, they iloat in the breeze,
They roll in the rythmic, empurpled seas.
They fly on the wings of the storm-strung air.
*
They are sphered in the dew, they droo in the rain,
They hide in the forest, they run in the stream.
They leap out in fire, in icebergs they gleam,
They hang on the cliffs, they lie in the plain.
They quiver in aspens, they igrow in the grass,
They are veiled in the violet and lost in the pool.
In grottoes they glimmer, secluded and cool.
In wild, weedy waysides their images pass.
At nightfall they whisper, at dawning they sing.
At midnight they blazon their words on the sky.
At noonday they speak in a voice clear and high.
With their sweetness and glory the world-spaces ring.
For manifolrl Nature has manifold tongues.
The snowflake hy«ins beauty, as well as the star,
The cloud, and the sun, and the crystalline spar.
All Nature is lyric with poems and songs.
Another poet born here, some of whose work has had a
wide eircnlation, was Mary Riley, born near Brighton First
Lock — exactly on which side of the city line does not matter.
She began writing at an early age, and has produced two or
three small volumes of didactic and contemplative pieces.
The most popular are "Tired Mothers" and "Some Time."
She became the wife of Albert Smith, a mining engineer, and
lived first in Illinois, afterward in New York city, where she
still resides. I will read the poem for which she received the
186 THE EOCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
prize of the Poetry Society five years ago. It is entitled "The
Child in Me":
She follows me about my House of Life
(This happy little ghost of my dead Youth!)
She has no part in Time's relentless strife,
She keeps her old simplicity and truth —
And laughs at grim Mortality,
This deathless Child that stays with me —
This happy little ighost of my dead Youth.
My House of Life is weather-stained with years
(0, Child in Me, I wonder why you stay.)
Its windows are bedimmed with rain of tears,
The walls have lost their rose, its thatch is gray.
One after one its guests depart,
So dull a host is my old heart.
(0, Child in Me, I wonder why you stay!)
For jealous Age, whose face I would forget.
Pulls the bright flowers you bring me from my hair
And powders it with snow; and yet — and yet —
I love your dancing feet, and jocund air.
I have no taste for caps of lace
To tie ajbout my faded face —
I love to wear your flowers in my hair!
Child in Me, leave not my House of Clay
Until we pass together through the door,
When lights are out, and Life has gone away,
And we depart, to come again no more.
We Comrades, who have traveled far,
Will hail the Twilig'ht and the Star,
And smiling, pass together through the Door.
1 have spoken of Dr. Kendriek and his varied accomplish-
ments. Early in his connection with the University he prepared
a volume of poetical translations, entitled "Echoes; or
Leisure Hours with the German Poets," which was printed
and published in Rochester. In closing, let me read his render-
ing of a lyric by Karl Theodore Koerner, "he of the lyre and
sword." who at the age of twentv'-two fell in battle:
Good night!
Let it on the weary light!
Xc^.' the day in silence closeh,
Labor's toil-worn frame reposes,
Till awakes the morning light.
Good night!
ROCHESTER IN LITERATURE 187
Go to rest!
"Weary eyes in sleep be prest.
Silence on the wide streets falleth,
Save where lone the watchman calleth.
"Whispers night to each worn breast
Go to rest!
Sweetly sleep!
Heavenly dews your senses steep!
Feels your breast love's bitter pleasures,
Let the form your bosom treasures
Brightly imaged round you sweep.
'Sweetly sleep!
So, good night!
Slumber till the daylight breaketh;
Slumber till another morrow
Brings another weight of sorrow.
Fear ye not — your Father waketh!
So, good night!
The Landing Road
By A. EMERSON BABCOCK
Note: On Saturday afternoon, June 10th, and again on Saturday,
June 17th, 1922, The Eoehester Historical Society, under guidance of
Mr. A. Emerson Babcock, held field meetings on the site of the lost city
of Tryon, at the old Indian Landing on Irondequoit Creek.
Our most romantic history centers about Irondequoit Bay and its
valley. In springtime this region reveals exquisite beauty. "Sweet
fields beyond the swelling flood stand dressed in living green." Here
is spread a panorama of loveliness unsurpassed, with lush meadows,
winding creek, dome-shaped emerald hills, trees and rich garden lands.
The Indians compared this valley to their Happy Hunting Grounds.
Since early boyhood Mr. Babcock has been familiar with this ter-
rain. From old settlers he has heard wonder-tales of the Indian Land-
ing, the lost city of Tryon, the Ox Bow, the Shipyard, and Smugglers
Cove. He pointed out these sites to a large group at these field meet-
ings. When all were assembled where Tryon City once stood, Mr.
Babcock delivered the following address:
At the first Town Meeting of the Town of Northfield,
which was composed of the present towns of Brighton, Pitts-
ford, Perinton, Irondequoit, Penfield. Webster and what the
City of Rochester has taken from both Brighton and Iron-
dequoit, Capt. Silas Nye was elected Supervisor, Phineas
Bates, Town Clerk, and Orringh Stone, Commissioner of High-
ways. This Town Meeting was held in the present town of
Pittsford in 1796.
This road taking its name from the old Landing extends
now from the intersection of Elmwood and East Avenue
north to the end of the road on this high ground. It was the
first road to be surveyed and laid out in this section, which
was done doubtless by Orringh Stone, Commissioner of High-
ways, between the years 1796 and 1800, and was the continua-
tion of the road from Canandaigua. following its present
lines straight through to the Indian Landing on what was
known in early history as Irondequoit River and later Ironde-
quoit Creek. The terminus of this road at the Landing
marked the end of civilization in this section. From this
point through to the Niagara River was one great wilderness.
There is no section that I can recall that has more in-
THE LANDING ROAD 189
teresting historical sites along its less than two miles of
length than the Landing Road. Camping places of the
Senecas, of Butler's army, of Denonville's troops. The
pioneer home of Oliver Culver, who set out the poplar trees in
front of this place. A permanent Indian village on the Kelly
farm, seen and visited in 1826 by John De Bay and Samuel
Willett, residents of Rochester and who were accompanied
by T. J. Jeffords, a lad of thirteen then, as assistant. Pur-
chased a quantity of goods and set out to visit the Indian towns
of Western New York, to trade with the Indians. The second
town they visited was the town on the Kelly farm. Squire
Kelly, a very fluent talker, I knew well and I recall the
many times he entertained me with his stories of the early
Indians, of the town on his place and of the find of bushels
of musket balls and other war material around the old spring
when the plow first entered its soil, which showed the pres-
ence at some time of an army. This army was Butler's with-
out an}' question and Squire Kelly told me so many stories
of what he knew about this matter that I, a little boy, could
not take it all in thoroughly enough to realize its great value
from a historical point of view. I very much regret that my
memory cannot bring back to me his numerous stories. I
remember his showing me his large heavy rifle and his stories
of its accuracy, etc. The sites he showed to me of the town
and various camps I have not forgotten. For years Mr.
Kelly was one of the Justices of the Peace of this town, a
kindly man with a good education, a farmer who was active
and influential in his town's affairs. I will never forget
him.
Abel Eaton and Matthew Dryer, two of our best pioneers,
also lived on this road. Mr. Eaton had a public house close
to the East Avenue end of the road, and both of these men
were popular and good citizens in this community. Both
are now sleeping the last sleep in the Brighton Cemetery.
On Mr. Dryer's place close to this road we find the Deep
Rattlesnake Spring which forms to this day in deeds of land
a permanent description of all metes and bounds. Mr, Dry-
er's farm was the one President Harding's ancestor invested his
190 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
money in upon the ad\dee and solicitation of Salmon Tryon.
From the Deep Rattlesnake Spring flowed a little creek
of icy cold, clear water, which was at one time alive with
brook trout. This stream flowed into Allyn's Creek, and
along this creek were the powder mills which blew up in
1863, causing loss of life, and which were owned by Marsh-
field Parsons, father to my good neighbor on East Avenue.
Along this road Oliver Culver, one of our greatest pioneers,
hauled a schooner of forty tons by twenty-six yoke of
oxen and moored it in the creek at the Landing. This schooner
was built on the Hoyt place, corner of Clover Road and East
Avenue. Picture to yourself, my friends, the sight they must
have made in this journey to the Landing. All men of prom-
inence, Indian warriors, British officers, all our early settlers
travelled over this road. At its terminus was the great
trading center of the Avest. It was the only communication
with this celebrated place with the exception of Indian trails
and communication by water.
Salmon Tryon, the founder of this place, came here from
Ballston, Saratoga County, N. Y., prior to 1797, when he
founded this city, expecting it to become the great city of
the Genesee Valley. Whatever else he may have been, he
was certainly a shrewd business man. He was not, as stated
by many historians, in financial straits, but all records that
I have examined to date show he was a money maker, and a
man of good business discernment. He purchased this prop-
erty of John Lusk, who came here in 1789 from West Stock-
bridge, Massachusetts, He was born at Newington, Connec-
ticut, February 20th, 1748, and was our first permanent settler.
He with others purchased 1500 acres in this section for twenty-
five cents per acre, which amounted to just $375.00. He was a
man of prominence. A soldier in the patriot army of the
War of the Revolution. Enlisting in the New York Line from
May 5th, 1778, he served his country until January, 1782. He
built his home near the Landing, close to the water, and also
built and conducted a distillery and tannery. His home was
somewhere near us. As my information is, it was close to the
Landing Road. He did a large business for this early period,
THE LANDING ROAD 191
and was closely identified with all matters of public benefit.
His son Stephen married Sarah Hincher of this well known
pioneer family, who was his second wife and was the widow
of Franklin Davis.
Both Mr, Lusk and his son, Stephen, removed to what
is now the Town of Pittsford in 1807. and immediately com-
menced a similar business in that place. He died in what
is now Pittsford in 1814, aged 66 years, and is buried in the
old cemetery near the Canandaigua Road and has an inscribed
head stone, according to Mrs. Yates' records, dated, 1910.
His wife died in 1815 and her decease is recorded in the
church records of the 1st Presbyterian Church of that town.
I hope our chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution
will investigate and see that his grave is suitably marked.
To Salmon Tryon came the opportunity to sell his City of
Tryon site and make some money, so he accordingly sold out
his holdings to one John Tryon, of Canaan, Columbia County,
N. Y., for $3,500.00. All of our early historians seemed to
infer that these two men were brothers and so wrote them in
their history. In all my research work to date I have not
found one single record that would justify such a statement.
I do not believe they were brothers and in fact there may be
no relationship. If there was, research shows it was distant.
John Tryon had a reason for coming here. What that
reason was is a matter for conjecture. It is reasonably certain
that Salmon Tryon. born in Weathersfield, Connecticut, and
Huldah Tryon, born in 1740 at the same place, were brother
and sister. She married Abraham Harding, Jr., in 1762, he
having been born in 1740. It is evident that this marriage
influenced the Harding investment here and I find he and
Salmon Tryon bought considerable land in other places in
Western New York. It seems also significant that after
Salmon Tryon sold his City of Tryon lots, Mr, Harding got
rid of his investment promptly also. There were many Tryons
in these early days in this country. One was a General in
the British army located in New York during the War of the
Revolution, who was born in the North of Ireland in 1725. An-
other was the Colonial Governor, William Tryon, after whom
192 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Tryon County was named. A William Tryon entered the
War of the Revolution in the patriot army, and is recorded
in the levies under Gen. ]\Iarinus Willett.
I have recently searched very carefully the town records
of the town of Northfield. which are found in excellent con-
dition in the Town Clerk's office of the town of Pittsford, for
information as to the reasons our early historians record
John Tryon as a Judge. His name does not appear of record,
while others who were Justices of the Peace are of record.
Brighton records have nothing relating to him. It is evi-
dent the first historian made a mistake and all the others
fell into line, including myself. I wrote to the War Depart-
ment at Washington for the war record of both Salmon and
John Tryon. The Adjutant General in reply states that Sal-
mon is not recorded but that John Tryon is. His war record
was not good. In fact I think the less said about it the better.
As this place was the extreme end of civilization, and as Oliver
Culver and many of the other early pioneers have never
mentioned his name in their interviews with historians and
others, it looks as though he was not very highly thought of
by these people. If the Tryon mentioned in the War De-
partment record is the same John Tryon who located here,
his reasons for coming here seem to be clear. Without doubt
his place of residence was this old store until his decease
and he was buried in the Tryon Cemetery, which has been
recently found.
My first information in relation to the Cemeter}^ of the
City of Tryon came from a well known business man of our
city, Mr. William H. Rowerdink who was born and brought up
in the same house formerly occupied by the pioneer, Oliver
Culver who first lived here after his marriage. Mr. Rower-
dink's father purchased this place which is located a little
north of where the Riches Dugway Road starts from the
Landing Road, and is the last house on the left side of the
Landing Road before the intersection of the Blossom and
Landing Roads. After the decease of Mr. Rowerdink 's father
this old house was rebuilt but still retains its original timbers,
notwithstanding its having been enlarged. The old cemetery
THE LANDING ROAD 193
is located near the site of Schuyler's block house. During the
days of childhood and boyhood of Mr. "William H, Rowerdink,
the Landing Road followed its present lines with the exception
that it extended northerly in a straight line to a small ravine
adjacent to the Schuyler site; the road at this point making a
sharp turn to the east, following the bed of the ravine to Ironde-
quoit Creek. This ravine was between the Schuyler site and
the high ground on the south, on top of which a Custom House
was established by our government after the War of the Revo-
lution. The graves of the dead were located on the north side
of this ravine, on high ground, about one hundred yards west
of the site of Schuj'ler's block house. Boards stood at the head
of some of the graves, time and the elements having obliterated
any lettering. A number of people were buried at this place.
Without doubt the remains of John Tryon and many members
of his family are here buried. This Cemetery site has been
fully verified by people" dwelling in this section. The location
seems to establish the fact that this cemetery is upon the for-
mer property of John Tryon. In those early days it was the
custom for owners of property to have their family burying
ground on their own property. Probably John Tryon 's home
was located somewhere on this ridge. I have received from
Mr. Rowerdink a very interesting and instructive letter per-
taining to his remembrance of this place and with his consent
I quote it in full :
My dear Mr. Babcock:
Your articles in the Post Express, regarding the forme:' settlements
of Tryon, have been very interesting reading to me, and as an old resi-
dent of Brighton, N. Y., I, personally, want to thank you for the interest
you have taken in noting down facts concerning the village of Tryon
before the inhabitants settled on the banks of the Genesee. It is par-
ticularly interesting to me, having spent at least half of my life on the
Landing Eoad near which the village of Tryon was located.
You mention Oliver Culver, the father of Marvin Culver. I re-
member him very well. He was a very old man and totally blind, as I
recall when his coachman drove into our yard, our home being located
on the Landing Eoad. He made inquiry regarding the large poplar
trees in front of our home, Avhich he had planted when a boy. He
said he planted three of these trees, and placed empty barrels over them
to keep them from being destroyed by the Indian boys. He said that the
Indians were very fair and honorable, but the children were very mis-
chievous indeed. He told my father that his son, Marvin Culver, was
one day having a dispute with one of the Indian boys, and the father of
the Indian promptly took his tomahawk and cut a gash in the head of
the Indian boy.
194 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Marvin Culver was particularly interested in that part of the coun-
try, and was instrumental in my father purchasing the farm located
there. He had worked for Mr. Culver on his East Avenue property,
cutting down timber and clearing the land where Mr. Eastman's home
is now located, and like every true American Mr. Culver was anxious
to see his fellow citizens prosper. Mr. Marvin Culver in later years
often reminded me of the time he had in inducing my father to pur-
chase the farm. In meeting him on the street one day, Mr. Culver said
to me that he had sold his property, but that it didn't take the purchaser
as long to decide as it did my father. He said Mr. Eastman called Mm
up and asked if his property was for sale, and he told him that it was.
"What price have you on it," asked Mr. Eastman, and upon being told
the price he asked Mr. Culver to send his search to his attorney, Mr.
Hubbell, and the check would be there for him, — contrasting this with
purchases made in Tryon.
I also remember very distinctly that about half a mile north of the
termination of Landing Road was a lane, through which we used to
drive and cut flags, in the fall of the year, on the marsh land, which
was owned by Mr. Elisha Y. Blossom, father of the late Thomas Blos-
som. In going down this lane one day for a short distance and then
turning to the right, father and I saw the remains of three houses. Of
two of them nothing was left but decayed timbers and remnants of
chimneys. The other house was partly remaining, one side being not
yet demolished. I suppose the poet had in mind some such thing when
he wrote the words which run through my mind something like this —
"And the gray rats raced through the crumbling walls,
And the wild winds wailed through the vacant halls,
Of the house that stood by the rolling river."
While looking around we found two or three white slabs, being the
remains of grave stones. The writing on them was completely effaced,
but it impressed me so vividly that I never got over the fear of going
by that place on account of those grave stones and the imaginary
spirits which hovered around the dead bodies buried there.
Just a few rods east of this so-called village was an old bridge
■which spanned Irondequoit Creek. I have often sat fishing on those
"timbers, which were nearly decayed on account of age, but I never
.developed that art and my father never encouraged me in it, so I usual-
ly had the fisherman's luck.
I also very distinctly remember a lane running between my father's
property and Mr. Harrison Lyon's, father of the late Edmund Lyon.
This lane or road was an extension, I believe, of the road that ran by
this little village of Tryon, and the people coming from Canandaigua
.drove over this old bridge that I mention, and could take the Landing
lioad by either turning to the left or going directly west and connecting
-with this so-called road on the Harrison Lyon side. There was a piece
of ground on our farm that we could reach only by going through this
lane, and Mr. Harrison Lyon was very willing to have my father use
it whenever he cared to, but it was distinctly understood that it was
not a public highway.
The other evening I was speaking with Alderman DePotter, of the
Twenty-first Ward, and he said he remembered distinctly that red brick
was scattered on that piece of property when he, as a boy, with others
used to go in swimming, and he remembers distinctly when one of the
boys dove in the creek and struck the remains of a decayed post under
the water, being part of this old property heretofore mentioned.
This may not seem very interesting to you, Mr. Babeock, but it
confirms your idea that the village of Tryon was situated at that point,
THE LANDING ROAD 195
and that the old inhabitants saw that Irondequoit Creek was not large
enough to locate a city there, and therefore they abandoned it and
helped improve our beautiful city on the Genesee.
Very respectfully yours,
W. H. Rowerdink.
John Tryon was successful in leading many of the
early settlers to invest their money in his schemes which re-
sulted in complete financial loss to all these investors. The
official records of Ontario County show he disposed of all
his property before his decease by transfers to one Cornelia
Tryon, w^ho may have been his daughter. It is noted in all
these transfers that he reserves to his wife, Eunice Tryon,
her dower interest. Book 3, Page 152, Ontario County records,
states: "July 16th, 1808. Administrator appointed for the
dower of Eunice Tryon, widow and relict of John Tryon, late
of Columbia County. Lands in Northfield whereof the said
deceased died." Official records of Columbia County show
that he sold his real estate in Canaan in 1802.
Like all places of the far frontier this place was very
vv^ild with many desperate and dangerous characters. Lynch
law was in full force in this new place and some were made
to feel its full power. A warehouse was located near the
Landing and a flour mill said to cost $15,000.00 was erected.
The brick fire place Mr. Barnes and I found years ago was on
the bank of the ravine close to Schuyler's block house. The
brick was imported as all brick used in the earliest days was
generally imported.
Forty and fifty ton schooners came and went from this
place. The Indian trade was large, it being the door of the
Seneca Nation. The water power of the Genesee and later the
canal ended the chances for the proposed city. In 1812 the
Landing section was again active in fitting out supplies for
the American army. William Stoneburner, son of Leonard
Stoneburner, was active in this work. He was captured by
'the British in one of his expeditions, his boat and supplies con-
fiscated, and he was imprisoned and finally released. Leonard
Stoneburner was a blacksmith, a carriage maker and ship
builder. His place was near us. He built several schooners
and placed them on the lake.
196 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The old store built in 1799 and opened under the name of
John Tryon & Co., was the first and only store this side of Can-
andaigua and was located on this bluff on the Landing Road.
The building was quite large, of log and board construction,
and stood supported on wooden posts. Its business was large
and extensive, barter with the Indians and settlers who came
from very long distances to trade. Whiskey and rum were also
sold and were cheap. The most of its supplies were shipped in
by water. Oliver Culver acquired an interest in this store and it
was from one of his grand-daughters that I procured the
information I mostly have about it. The store books were in
her possession and are now in the care of our society. The
store finally burned, which brought to its owners the insur-
ance. Among its customers from 1799 to 1805 I record the
following: Asa Denton. Josiah Fisk, William Hincher, Senior
and Junior, Glover Perrin, Capt. Simon Stone, James Wads-
worth, John Tryon, Isaac Stone, Nathan Fisk. Oliver Phelps,
Major William Shephard, Caleb Hopkins, Otis Walker, Samuel
Lattie, Caleb Martin, Leonard Stoneburner, John Strowger,
Ruth Northrup, Augustus GrisAvald, William Davis, Polly Hop-
kins. Silas Losey, Capt. Benj. Pierson, Ezekiel Taylor, ]Moses
Taylor, Lewis Morgan, Joel Scudder, Job Northrup, Giles
Blodgett, Capt. Silas Nye, Joseph Palmer, Reuben D. Hart,
Rufus Messenger, Nathan Nye, Orringh Stone. Abner White,
Miles Northrup.
Matters of great interest probably took place very often in
this store, but what they were we will never know. Mr.
Turner, who interviewed Oliver Culver, could have secured
probably a large fund of interesting matter. The early settlers
have passed away and also their children. It is well that we
make record of all that we have. To me all these historic
places seem sacred. I am glad I knew some of these early
settlers, but I regret that I failed to record all that I heard
in childhood's days.
The Landing was the oldest and most noteworthy place in
this whole section and was given this name because it was the
landing place of the early Indians who came here from the
Great Lakes. Among all the early historians whose writings
THE LANDING ROAD 197
I have read but one person seems to have given very much
attention to this place and that was the late George H. Harris,
who called this the most important and celebrated place in
Western New York. I think Mr. Harris in making this state-
ment was absolutely right. I remember meeting him once
at the old mill at Allyn's Creek where he was with Squire
Barnes, but I never saw him again. I was too young to realize
the value of taking in all of their conversation. Squire Barnes
was a veritable encyclopedia when it came to a matter of
local history. His memory was wonderful and it is said that
after reading a chapter of the poets he could close the book
and repeat every verse he had read. His father, Isaac Barnes,
was one of the many investors in the Tryon lots.
Indian trails led from this place to the Genesee River,
to the towns of the Seneca Nation and to all points east,
west, north and south.
Every particle of ground around this old place is
rich in historical association, and the same can be said
of all the ground along the lines of these trails between
here and the sand bar at the lake. It was the most important
trading center in the lower Genesee Valley. Across the creek
the huge dome shaped hill in front of us was originally con-
nected to the main land by a high narrow ridge. The action
of the elements has washed away this ridge, leaving the hill
in front of us an island. Along this hill a trail extended to
the main land on the east side of the creek, thence north to
the sand bar at the lake. I could give you much of interest
relating to this trail, but we have not the time. A second
trail turned east at the ridge, extending through Sodus to
Oswego.
On August 10th, 1669, La Salle, the French explorer, look-
ing for the Ohio River, came into this section. He had four
canoes and twenty-four men, including two priests of the
seminary St. Sulpiee, Montreal. These priests' object in com-
ing here was the conversion of the natives. They were accom-
panied by two other canoes containing a party of Seneca In-
dians who acted as guides. The party landed at the sand bar
and accompanied by crowds of savages were escorted to Ganna-
198 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
gora (Boughton Hill). They remained there one month. La
Salle was on the soil of Western New York many times and
was very familiar with this place. The Landing Bridge, in
existence at this place for years, was a means of communica-
tion to this trading center from the trails along the main land.
It was of wood construction, built high, giving considerable
clearance above the water, and rested on long spiles sunk into
the muddy bottom of the creek. I distinctly remember seeing
two of these spiles. Somewhere along the creek at this place
stands a monument marking this place, which I saw years ago
but have been unable to find recently while here. My remem-
brance is that it was not placed correctly, being too far to the
south. Close to this bridge the sunken hull of a large schooner
was visible for many years.
Prideaux's expedition with Sir William Johnson second
in command, camped near here in July, 1759. Also Gen. Brad-
street, with Sir William Johnson, in their expedition in 1764.
Lieut. -Col. Israel Putnam and other afterward distinguished
officers of the War of the Revolution were in this expedition.
Numerous cabins stood along the Creek through this valley,
occupied by squatters and trappers who followed a roving ex-
istence. One of these cabins I remember. It stood for years
near the foot of the dugway and was occupied by Adam Mil-
ler, a negro who did veterinary work.
In the summer of 1721. the Assembly of New York passed
an Act to raise the sum of 500 pounds for securing the Indians
to the English interest. Governor Burnet, governor of this
Province, expended this sum chiefly for the establishment of a
trading post at the Landing on Irondequoit River. His action
met with the hearty approval of the authorities at Albany and
consequently a small company of volunteers was organized
to carry it into effect. This company consisted of Capt, Peter
Schuyler, Jr., Lieut. Jacob Verplanck, Gilleyn Verplanck,
Johannis Van Den Bergh, Peter Gronendyck, David Van Der
Hayden, and two others whose names are unknown. Capt.
Peter Schuyler, Jr., was the son of Col. Peter Schuyler, after
whom old Fort Schuyler, now known as Utica, was named.
I find he was at one time Mayor of Albany. Old Fort Schuyler
THE LANDING ROAD 199
was built in 1758. At the opening of the War of the Revolu-
tion, Fort Stanwix, located at Rome, was nearly in ruins. This
fort was rebuilt and named Fort Schuyler after Gen. Phillip
Schuyler, who was the nephew of Col. Peter Schuyler. The
siege of this fort and the following battle of the Oriskany,
form one of the most important and interesting events of this
war.
Fort Schuyler was without a flag when the enemy appeared
August 3rd, 1777. Their ingenuity solved the problem. The
white stripes were made from strips cut from cloth shirts,
the red stripes from bits of scarlet cloth, and the blue ground
for the field from a cloak belonging to Capt. Abraham Swarth-
out of Dutchess County. When the last stitch was taken, amid
the cheers of the men, Fort Schuyler first unfurled the stars
and stripes in the face of the enemy. I mention this matter
in history as I believe many of the participants in this siege
were frequently in this section.
Upon his arrival at the Irondequoit Landing Capt. Schuyler
selected a location for his trading house secure from French
surveillance, yet affording easy access to Lake Ontario with
full control of the waterwaj^ and all Indian trails leading to
the water. The building was long and oblong in shape and
fitted for any emergency that might arise. I have a copy of
Governor Burnet's orders to Capt. Schuyler. They are quite
long and very interesting. After being at this place one year
Capt. Schuyler and his companions returned to Albany.
Governor Burnet's Instructions to Capt. Peter Schuyler, Jr.
You are with all expedition to go with this company of young men
that are willing to settle in the Sinnekes country for a twelvemonth
to drive a trade with the far Indians that come from the upper lakes,
and endeavor by all suitable means to persuade them to come to
Albany to trade, or with this new settlement. You are not to trade with
the four hithermost nations but to carry your goods as farr as the
Sinnekes country to trade with them or any other Indian nation
that comes hither. You are to make a settlement or trading house
either at Jerundequat or any other place on this side of Cederaehqui
Lake upon land belonging to the Sinnekes, and use all lawful means
to draw the fur trade thither by sending notice to the far Indians
that you are settled there for ease and incouragement by my order,
and that they may be assured they shall have goods cheaper here
than ever the French can afford them in Canada, for the French
must have principal Indian goods from England, not having them
of their own. You are also to acquaint the far Indians that I have
200 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
an absolute promise and engagement from the Five Nations that will
give them all due incouragement and sweep and keep the path open
and clean whenever they intend to come and trade with this Pro-
vince. Being informed that there are sundry Trenchmen called by
the Dutch "bush loopers" and by the French "Coureurs du Bois,"
who have for several years abandoned the French Colony of Canada,
and live wholly among the Indians, if any such come to trade with
you, with their furs, you may supply them and give them all pos-
sible incouragement to come hither where they shall be supplied with
Indian goods cheaper than Canada. Altho the place where you settle
be land belonging to the Crown of Great Britian, both by the surrender of
the natives and the treaty of peace with France, never the less you
are to send out Skouts and Spys, and be upon your guard, the
French not being to be trusted, who will use all means to prevent
the far Indians coming to trade with you or to Albany. You are to
keep an exact dyary or journall of all your proceedings of any
consequence, and keep a constant correspondence with the Commis-
sioners of Indian affairs at Albany, whome I will order to give me
an account thereof from time to time, and whenever you shall receive
orders from me to treat with the Sinnekes, or any of the Five Nations,
you are to be careful to minute down your proceedings and their
answers, and to send them to me with the first opportunity, inclos-
ing them to the commissioners of Indian affairs who will forward them
with all expedition, and if any matters of great moment and fit to
be kept secret do occur, you are to send an account thereof to me in
a letter sealed which may be enclosed to the commissioners in order
to be forwarded and you are not obliged to mention such matters in
the letter to the Commissioners. When you come to the Sinnekes
country you are to give them a belt of wampum in token they are
to give credit to you as my agent to treat with them of all matters
relating to the public service, and the benefit of the trade and at your
desire to furnish you with a number of their people as you can agree
upon. When you have pitched on a convenient place for a trading house,
you are to endeavor to purchase a tract of land in the King's name
and to agree with the Sinnekes for it which shall be paid liy the
publick in order that it may be granted by patent to tliose who shall
become first settlers there for their incouragement. You are not to
hinder or molest any other British subjects who are willing to trade
there on their own hazard and account for any Indian goods, rum only
excepted. You are to communicate to the company such articles of
your instructions as shall be proper for their regulation from time
to time. If you judge it neccessary you may send one or two of your
company to Albany as the neccessary service of the company may re-
quire, but not above two of the company, of which yourself may be
one, will be permitted to be absent at one time. All the goods and
merchandise that you and said company shall take away with you
are to be one joint stock and account, and all your profitt and losse
to be the same. Given under my hand at the Manor of Livingston,
tlie eleventh day of Septem])er in the eighth year of his Majestys reign,
Anno Dom. 1721.
Wm. Burnet.
Additional Instructions
Whereas it is thought of great use to the British interest to have
a settlement upon the nearest port of the Lake Eree near the falls
of lagara, you are to endeavor to purchase in his Majestys name of
the Sinnekes or other native proprietors all such land above the falls
THE LANDING ROAD 201
of lagara fifty miles to the southward of the said falls, which they
can dispose off, you are to have a copy of my propositions to the Five
Nations and their answer, and to use your utmost endeavor that they
do perform all that they have promised therein, and that none of
these instructions be shown to any person or persons but what you
shall think neccessary to communicate to the Lieutenant and the rest
of the company.
At this place, in 1798, Oliver Culver, while excavating
earth for the erection of a building which I believe was to be
his ashery, found the foundation logs for a block house, evi-
dently destroyed by fire. Large quantities of musket balls
and other war material was found. When he first came into
this section he mentions this block house on the little plateau
and said it was a fort. When I first visited this place, being
then a small boy and on a fishing outing with Squire Barnes, I
found flints in great quantities, some of them being fine
specimens which I picked up and looked at and then boy
like discarded. Two old hand-hewed timbers of large size
were on the ground land were doubtless what remained of
Mr. Culver's ashery.
To the north of us stands old Sugar Loaf which tradition
associates with Capt. Kidd and his treasure. This hill has
been pretty thoroughly dug over by both Indians and white
men. I have never heard of anything being found. Near
this place at an inland flat, is said to have been a ship
building place in early days.
Mr. Barnes informs me a custom house was in operation
at this place after the War of the Revolution. I know noth-
ing further about it.
My understanding of Denonville's route in this section is
taken largely from the w^ord of mouth of old settlers who heard
their fathers and grandfathers talk about it. He landed at
the sand bar, and after building a fort there executed a French-
man named La Fontaine Marion, whose ofl'ense had been pilot-
ing several British expeditions. He was adjudged a deserter
and shot. July 12th, 1687, Denonville's army then started on
its march into the interior, their destination being the villages
of the Senecas which they determined to destroy. Their first
objective was Gannagora, the Mohawk Indian name for the
village at Boughton Hill in Victor. While the army marched
202 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
over land on the east side of the bay and creek, the batteaux
followed by water to the Landing where the army crossed.
Proceeding southerly along high ground to what was known
in the early days as Smugglers' road, they marched through
this gradually rising ravine to what used to be known as
Kelly's woods and made their first camp at a spring. From
this place they proceeded southerly over level ground, pas-
sing near the residence of the late Spencer Covey, thence
through Corbitt's Glenn, crossing Allyn's Creek where the
large arch under the New York Central is located. They
proceeded thence southerly through oak openings until they
reached an ambuscade prepared for them in a small ravine
along Irondequoit Creek near Victor. According to the French
historian, Baron Van Hontan, the French were throvni into
confusion and came nearly meeting with serious disaster.
As it was one hundred Frenchmen were killed. The noise of
the drums beaten by order of Denonville frightened the
Senecas and they fled and he ^accordingly entered their vil-
lage and destroyed it. His retiTrn march from Totiakton,
called the great village, or Village of the Conception, located
on Honeoye Creek this side of Honeoye Falls at the greai;
bend, which he also destroyed, has been a matter of dispute
by historians.
Denonville states they left Totiakton on July 23rd, and
advanced two leagues or six miles. The next day they
advanced six leagues or eighteen miles, reaching their desti-
nation at the mouth of Irondequoit Bay. It is said a brass
cannon was lost off from a bateaux in the Ox Bow of the
creek upon this return .iourney. This cannon has never
been found. I am of the opinion he followed the trail from
Honeoye to Red Creek, thence down this creek to the Portage
trail, and from there to the Landing and sand bar. Tbe dis-
tance this way would be twenty-two miles. Denonville
states the distance to have been eight leagues or twenty-four
miles. Along the high ridge in front of us as we look toward
the south, when this ground was first broken by the plow a
large amount of war material was found with all and every
evidence of a battle. The earlv settlers' talk was that De-
THE LANDING ROAD 2U3
nonville had a battle here. I have the lock of an old musket
I picked up on this ground. History makes no mention of
any battle at this place, but that one took place here some
time I believe is true.
Probably no men in American history are more disliked
and detested than the two Butlers, Colonel John, the father,
and his son, Captain Walter Butler. John Butler was a native
of Connecticut, but had lived for many years in the Mohawk
Valley. Under Sir William Johnson he had served as Deputy
Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and in the Niagara campaign
of 1759. and the Montreal expedition of 1760, commanded the
Indians under Johnson. You will note he was in the Pri-
deaux expedition in 1759 and camped at this place with the
rest of this army. He had large interests in land in the
Mohawk Valley, and his home, still standing and occupied, is
not far from Johnstown and his estate was named Butlersbury.
His land was confiscated by our government after he had cast
his lot with his King and he went to Canada to a place known
as Niagara on the Lake, where he had five thousand acres of
land given to him by the British Government, and a pension
of $3,500.00 per year during the remainder of his life. He was
a very bitter Tory and was placed in command by Colonel
Guy Johnson of a force of five hundred men, mostly Scotch
Highlanders of the Catholic faith who were recruited from
the Amsterdam section.
Both, Colonel John, and his son, Walter, were educated
men and before the breaking out of the War of the Revolu-
tion prominent in their community. At the breaking out
of the war they enlisted the co-operation of the Indians with
the deliberate intention of bringing the savages into the Mo-
hawk Valley to murder and destroy their former friends and
neighbors. Captain Walter Butler, called by some Major
Butler, a title he never was entitled to as was proven when
from his body his commission was taken and found to be
that of a captain. He was a fiend incarnate to all those
settlers and prisoners that were so unfortunate as to fall
into his hands. He devised the most inhuman tortures with
de\alish ingenuity, and it was doubtless he who directed the
204 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
savage Hiakatoo in the unheard of torture that was given
Major Boyd of Sullivan's scouts when he was captured near
Conesus Lake and tortured to death at Little Beard's town
(Cuylerville). Even the savages themselves were filled with
consternation at his acts.
Colonel Butler the father died on his farm at Niagara on
the Lake, which is a few miles from this town, and is
buried on his farm. A church close at hand has a tablet in
memory of him which recites in its inscription his services
to the British Government. Captain Walter Butler met a
violent death after the battle of Johnstown at West Canada
Creek and the circumstances are as follows: "When Butler
arrived at West Canada Creek he swam his horse across the
stream and then, turning, defied his pursuers, who were on
the opposite side. An Oneida immediately discharged his
rifle and wounded him and he fell. Throwing down his rifle
and his blanket the Indian plunged into the creek and swam
across. As soon as he gained the opposite bank, he raised
his tomahawk and with a yell sprang like a tiger upon his
fallen foe. Butler supplicated, though in vain, for mercy;
the Oneida, with uplifted axe shouted in broken English,
'Sherry Valley, remember Sherry Valley,' and then buried
his axe in his brain. He tore the scalp from the head of his
victim, still quivering in the agonies of death, and ere the
remainder of the Oneidas had joined him, the spirit of Butler
had gone to give up its account. This place is called Butler's
Ford to this day." (From Halsey's Old New York Frontier).
It is said General ^Marinus Willett, upon reaching this place
wanted to know if the body on the ground was Butler, and
when he was informed it was, manv of the soldiers whose
friends had suft'ered all kinds of tortures at Butler's hands
gave a loud cheer. He and his father's action in bringing the
Indians down to massacre his old friends and neighbors will
never be forgotten or forgiven.
We have plenty of evidence that the Butlers and their
force of irregulars were very familiar with this place. The
Ox Bow on the creek has been pointed out by the old settlers
as their place of retreat together with the big spring at
THE LANDING ROAD 205
Smugglers Cove, so called bcause a band of desperate men
said to be smugglers made this their headquarters after the
"War of the Revolution. Their way to the south was over
the old Indian trail made memorable by Denonville and was
called Smugglers Road.
During the War of the Revolution the door to the Seneca
Nation was closed tight, and from the interior went forth
bands of savages in raids on the frontier settlements. There
were no houses or habitation of white men in this section at
that time. It is a fact that Butler and his army disappeared
at times and could not be located. The limited man power of
our country, and the miles of wild extensive frontier made
it impossible to get these Tories and the day of reckoning had
to come slowly. The proximity of this place to Canada, with the
lake accessible and easy, made it a safe retreat for this army.
The Tory, Walker, and the renegade, Allan, knew this place,
and their presence in this section shows they had associates
not far away. Both of these villains were in Butler's army.
It remained for Sullivan to break the back of the Senecas and
drive the Butler outfit out of the country until after the war.
I am convinced the Ijmch court, always ready and on duty
day and niight in the City of Tryon, was used largely because
of the Tories who lived with the Indians after the war and
were ready for all kinds of crime.
A proposition made by a prominent lady member of the
Daughters of the American Revolution, who resides in the
Mohawk Valley, that the old Butler home at Butlersbury be
purchased by their chapter and kept as a relic does not seem to
meet with very much support.
Two weeks ago today, Mr. Charles P. Barnes, only living
son of Squire Barnes, went with me over this whole section.
"We found things so changed it took us some time before we
could determine the location of many of these old sites. The
following Sunday I was called on the telephone by a Mr.
Klow who lives in the dugway. He said that while excavating
ground for a cellar to a house on the high ground next to
Mr. Reddick's residence he plowed out the skuU of an Indian.
I went to the place after dinner and found the skeleton at
206 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the place named. It was buried with its head to the north and
feet to the south. In company with Mr. Alvin H. Dewey we de-
termined to a certainty it was an Indian. In the grave was
found a bear's tooth, some lead, remains of a knife, what I took
to be pieces of pottery, a white man's clay pipe the stem of
which showed evidence of its former owner's teeth and the
bones of some animal, possibly a dog. The culture seemed to
indicate that he had been buried a long time. No more finds
have been made on this site to date.
Among those who came here with their families and made
an early settlement, of course John Lusk stands out the most
prominent, he being the first permanent settler in this section.
After the War of the Revolution there was a tremendous ex-
odus from New England into the new country in the west,
meaning the states of New York and Ohio. Sullivan's sol-
diers had seen the wonderfully fertile land of the Senecas
with their growing crops of truck and fine large fruit orchards.
When they returned home the stories they told of what they
had seen aroused a great interest and as the Indian troubles
were at an end, they began to think and plan to remove to the
wonderful country they had seen and heard so much about.
Consequently New England sufl:ered a tremendous emigration
which resulted in leaving hundreds of homes without a ten-
ant. In the Town of Peru alone in Berkshire County, Massa-
chusetts, while I was engaged in genealogical work there, I
saw hundreds of cellars without anj^ house over them.
My historical paper has of record the names of those who
came here at the earliest period. In the Brighton Cemetery
is found the last resting place of many of these pioneers.
I record the names of those whom I found owned lots in
this cemetery: William B. Billinghurst, Miles Northrup, Ro-
manta Hart, Job Northrup, James Hart, Myron Plumb, Joseph
Bloss, Major William Shephard, Daniel Smith, Leonard Stone-
burner, Solomon Hatch, Eli Stilson, Roswell Hart, Abel Eaton,
Matthew Dryer, Orringh Stone. Ezekiel Morse, Otis Walker,
Samuel Beckwith, Daniel West, Isaac Barnes, Isaac Moore,
Thomas Blossom.
When the old Congregational Church located on the hill
THE LANDING ROAD 207
near the cemetery, which was founded by the Rev. Solomon
Allen, of Northampton, Mass., was burned, nearly all the
church records and all the cemetery records with the exception
of an old map which hung in the church and was rescued
by Mr. William Shelmire, and two church books in my pos-
session for the church, were destroyed. This old map has
blocked out upon it the lots of those people who had pur-
chased burial lots in this cemetery. The map and the inscribed
stones in this old cemetery is all we have today of record of
those who were buried there prior to about 1890.
I have urged strongly upon the commissioners of this
cemetery the desirability of a full record being made of all
burials possible so that some kind of record may be in ex-
istence of those who are buried there. It seems to me that
we owe this small effort to those who have gone, many of
whom during their lifetime here did much for this com-
munity, the benefit of which we to a large measure enjoy. The
old families who came here at an early period were among
the best of the breed and blood of old New England. They
were the true-blood Yankee stock which is rapidly being out-
numbered by those who have been coming here from foreign
lands. They were of the breed that Emerson says, "Fired
the shot heard round the world." Many of us trace
our lineage to these people. All that you and I and every
member of this historical society can gather of these hardy,
clean and splendid families should be gathered and made a mat-
ter of permanent record. I am willing to devote a large a-
mount of my time if necessary to this work. I do think,
however, we should work as a unit to attain this desirable end.
It is amazing to me that our early historians seem to
have passed by this spot you have visited with me today with
only very short allusions to it and many of these allusions
incorrect. Official records were more plentiful in their time
than now, and they also had the advantage of personal inter-
views with many of these early pioneers. I was fortunate
in knowing a few of these people. I was, however, very young
and the great impression made upon me at the time of these
conversations was more in relation to the Indians than any-
208 THE EOCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
thing else. I was prompted to take up this historical work
more for the love of it, and bringing before our people the won-
derfully rich historical field we have right here at home. I
venture that but few of our people ever have given this
section very much thought. We find, however, its im-
portance as a great trading center as the leaves of our
history unfold. It Avas the beginning of civilization in
Western New York. It was also a promising spot in the
early days for the building of a large city. With the
passing of our early pioneers, and the sons of these early
pioneers, we have lost much valuable information. The fire
at Canandaigua which destroyed a large amount of records,
ended for all time to come the opportunity to procure
a large amount of valuable material. Later the fire in
the Albany State Library wiped out records and informa-
tion that are lost forever. Then the burning of the old
church in this town was also a great disaster. Today the
town records of Northfield are in the Town Clerk's office in
the Town of Pittsford. They are having good care, but they
should be in a safer place than in the hands of an elective
officer. The uncertainty of what might happen impresses
me with great responsibility. This responsibility is yours as
well as mine. I have in my genealogical work seen church
records ruthlessly torn from books of record and deliberately
stolen by people who cared only for what they could get with-
out thought of anybody else.
What I am trying to get at is that I believe valuable rec-
ords should be kept safe in fire-proof vaults and that they
should never be allowed out of the hands of their proper cus-
todians. The late George H. Harris realized no doubt the
great value of this historical field. I only met him once, but
I want to say to you his work stands as one of the most valu-
able of any among our early historians. Our society should
be proud of what he accomplished. I certainly am and am
glad to pay this tribute to him.
I appreciate very much the kindness and loyalty of this
society in giving me so much of your time and close attention
when I first appeared before you. The history of this sec-
THE LANDING ROAD 209
tion is by no means complete. To record all that is available
of this historic place would fill a good sized book. I very
much doubt, however, that a full record of this place can ever
be made. It could have been accomplished at an early date,
but the opportunity is passed and consequently lost for all time
to come. It has been a great pleasure to me to go with you over
the ground both last Saturday and today and show you the
sites here of such historical interest. You have shown a
wonderful interest in this history and I thank you and ap-
preciate your kind attention.
First Church Chronicles
Bv ANAH B. YATES
"From this church they led their brides,
From this church, themselves were led — shoulder high."
Heathen worship was celebrated for the last time, in
what is now the City of Rochester, in the winter of 1813, at the
north-west corner of South Washington Street, at the inter-
section of the Erie Canal; the occasion being the annual
feast of the Seneca Indians. The following spring "the
first public worship of God, on the Sabbath" was held in a
little 22 by 14 foot room, on the upper floor of Jehial Barn-
ard 's tailor shop, located on Buffalo street (now Main
Street), a little west of the entrance to the Reynold's Arcade.
The invitation to "Come to Church" was extended by Mrs.
Wheelock and Mrs. Hamlet Scrantom. Mrs. Scrantom was
the wife of the first permanent resident west of the river,
and mistress of the first house erected in the village. The
services were conducted by Mr. "Warren Brown and Miss
Delia Scrantom, a young woman of eighteen years, who after-
wards married Jehial Barnard, their marriage being the first
nuptial ceremony to be celebrated in the community, and
was performed by our first lawyer, John Mastick. Mr.
Brown later became an Elder of the church and "joined
the countless throng" in 1815.
The first service consisted of prayer, singing of hymns and
the reading of a printed sermon. Two years later, on the
22nd of August, the First Presbyterian Church of Rochester-
ville was formed and consisted of sixteen members, who
"Having confessed their faith, and entered into covenant
were constituted into a regular Church of Christ." The orig-
inal members were :
1 — "Warren Brown, Elder. Died, 1815.
2 — Henry Donnelly, Elder. Dismissed, September 14,
1817, to form a new church at Brighton.
3 — Mrs. Hannah Donnelly. Dismissed, 1817, to Brighton,
FIRST CHURCH CHRONICLES 211
4— Oliver Gibbs, Deacon. Died May 17, 1826.
5 — Jane Gibbs.
6 — Daniel West, Deacon. Dismissed, 1817, to Brighton.
7— Elizabeth West.
8 — Elisha Ely. Dismissed to Third Presbyterian Church,
1827.
9 — Hannah Ely. Dismissed to Third Presbyterian Church,
1827.
10 — Charles Magne. Living, 1871, at Baltimore, Mary-
land.
11 — Polly Magne. Living, 1871, at Baltimore, Maryland.
12 — Aaron Lay.
13 — Sarah Lay.
l^^Sibyl Bickford.
15— Arabella Starks. "Left the country, 1816."
16— Huldah Stoddard. "Left the country, 1816."
The original church edifice was erected on Carroll, now
State Street, about where the American Express Company
has its office, and was a plain wooden building standing on
buttresses, later converted into a store. The first Sabbath
School organized in the village was in connection with this
church, and sessions were held in a little frame building,
used as a school house during the week, next to St. Luke's
Church. Elisha Ely was the Superintendent for the year
1816. Rev. Comfort Williams was the first pastor and con-
tinued his pastoral labors until June 6th, 1821. Comfort
Street perpetuates his name and place of dwelling.
Records of the First Presbyterian Church
April 1, 1816^^Azel Ensworth, from the church in Pal-
myra ; Nanc3^ Elliot^ from the church in Rome ; Lucy Williams,]
from Wethersfield, died September, 1824 ; Patty Stone.
April 10, 1816. the session met in Brighton: — Orringh
Stone, from Penfield, dismissed September 14, 1817: Joshua
Cobb, from Penfield, dismissed September 14, 1817 ; Sally Stone,
Litchfield, Conn., dismissed September 14, 1817; Sophia Walk-
er, Penfield, dismissed September 14, 1817; Laura A. Bush,
^^ VSN. {AA^uA »-*^ WKMd
212 THE ROCHESTER HTSTORICAL SOCIETY
Lennox, Mass., dismissed September 14, 1817; Betsey Hateli,
dismissed September 14,, 1817.
April 18, 1816, the session met at the house of Doctor or
Dalton Hermance : — Charles Dickinson, removed ; Susan Her-
mance, from Lansingburgh, left the country summer of 1816;
Lucretia Irvine, from Painted Post, dismissed November 24,
1816; Delia Stone.
June 15, 1816 : — Huldah Stoddard was at her request dis-
missed to Harwinton, Conn.
February 1, 1817, the following persons expressed a desire
to unite with the church, were examined and approved : — Wil-
liam Robb, from church at Catskill, "removed away" 1817;
Mrs. Sally Robb, from church at Catskill, "removed away"
1817 ; Eli Ripley, from church at Adams, dismissed August
19, 1828 ; Sarah Ripley, from church at Adams, dismissed
August 19, 1828; Everard Peck, from church at Hartford,
Conn. ; Salmon Scofield, from church at Albany, N. Y., dis-
missed 1827 to Third church ; Ruth King, from church at Suf-
field, Mass., died May 12, 1830; Hannah Sill, from church at
Lyne, Conn., dismissed 1833 to Brooklyn; Sally Bond, from
Keene, N. H., dismissed January 5, 1823 to Third church;
Rhoda Hall, from church at Handen (?), Conn., dismissed
1827 to Third church; Sarah Stone, from church at Lennox,
Mass. ; Matilda Barnes, from church at Onondaga Hill, N. Y. ;
Huldah Green, from church at Scipio, N. Y. ; Perses Scofield,
dismissed 1827 to Third church.
May 29, 1817 : — Frances Parker, from the church at Brook-
field, dismissed 1833 ; Huldah Green, removed.
September 7, 1817: — Catherine Mastick, from the church
in Avon; Amelia West, from the church in West Springfield,
Mass.
September 14, 1817: — At their request the church dis-
missed the persons whose names follow, that they may form
into a church in their own town : Deacon West ; Elder Henry
Donnelly ; Laura A. Bush ; Sophia Walker.
December 21, 1817 : — Moses King was received by examina-
tion, dismissed August 5, 1821.
May 3, 1818: — Derick Sibley, from the church in Mont-
FIRST CHURCH CHRONICLES 213
pelier, Vt., dismissed May 3, 1825, Brick church; Nabby Sibley,
from the church in Montpelier, Vt., dismissed Nocember 17,
1827; Chauncey Harwood from the church in Pittsfield, Vt.,
removed to Murray ; Puella Filer, from the church in Rome ; i ^
Laura Cobb, from the church m Rome, dismissed 1827 to Third
church; Lucy Allen, from the church in Albany, dismissed
1827, to Third church; Mrs. Wilkinson, from the church in
Soquate (!), removed.
September 6, 1818 : — Millisent Backus, from the church at
Bethlehem, Conn. ; Deborah Fish, died autumn of 1820 ; Der-
ick Sibley, removed to Cincinnati, Ohio.
May 2. 1819 : — William Nef us, from the church at Troy ;
Esther Nef us, from the church at Troy; Samuel Graves, from
the church at Sunderland, removed; Lyman Granger, from
the church at Sunderland, dismissed, 1826 ; Eunice Graves,
from the church at Adams, removed ; Eunetia Smith, from
the church at Munson ; Naomi Sampson, from the church at
Pittsfield, Vt.: Philena (Philinda) Warren.
August last Sabbath. 1819. August 29th :— Millisent Clark,
from the church in Leowville (?), joined the Episcopal
church ; Catherine Sharp Russell, dismissed ; Julia Coleman ;
Phebe Spencer ; Haplahana or Hopaloner Shaw ; Charles Wil-
liams; Horace Mallory; William Wiltshire, children of Daniel
Warren and Philinda.
November, 1819 : — Irene Sibley, from Walpole, N. H., died
November 17, 1825; Polly James, from Middlebury, Vt., left
the country, 1822 ; Margaret Scott, from Auburn.
January 2, 1820: — Esther Newton, from the church in
Wallingford, left with letter; Jane Blossom, wife of Ben-
jamin ; Eliza Shaw, dismissed to Third church, 1827 ; Arabella
Granger, dismissed to join the Methodist church, 1825.
May 28, 1820: — Joanna Needham, dismissed July, 1826.
July 2, 1820: — Jacob Gould and Ruby Gould, his wife,
from Schenectady.
February 16, 1821 : — Da-\dd Allen from the church in
Geneseo, N. Y. ; Ezra Dunning, from the church in Ballston,
N. Y., dismissed to Brick or Second Church; Jonathan Green
from the church in Pawlet, Vt., dismissed October 13, 1822;
214 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Eliza Smith, from the church in Ballston, N. Y. ; Abby Smith,
from the church in Ballston, N. Y., dismissed to Brick church,
1827 ; Rebecca Swan, from the church in Schenectady, N. Y. ;
Cloe Peck, from the church in Berlin, Conn. ; Rebecca Backus ;
Josiah Bissell, Jr., dismissed to Third church; Henrietta Bis-
sel (his wife), dismissed to Third church; Betsey BuUard,
from the church at Whitesboro, dismissed to Third church;
Hepzibah Wright, from the church at Adams, removed; Ruby
Abels, from the church at Vernon, dismissed to Brick, 1827 ;
Nancy Stone from the church at Oxford, Conn., dismissed to
Vernon, 1830; Levi Ward, Jr., from the church at Bergen, N.
Y. ; Mehitable Hand, from the church at Bergen ; Elizabeth
Brown from the church at Milton, dismissed to Third church.
April 11. 1821: — Joseph Stone; Libbeus Elliott; Hastings
R. Bender; George G. Sill; David Stone, removed; Rhoda
Swan, died September 28, 1822.
April 12, 1821 : — Sarah Ensworth, from Palmyra, died
September 9, 1824, wife of Dr. Azel ; Nancy Stone ; Frederick
F. Backus ; Robert Wilson ; Susannah Marsh, removed to San-
dusky, 0., and died 1834, of cholera; Mary Hannoks; Delia
Stone, removed in 1827 to Sandwich Islands as a missionary.
April 20, 1821 : — Hervey Ely, from the church in West
Springfield, Mass. ; Catherine Ely, from the church in Hat-
field, Mass.; Benjamin Campbell; Anowester (?) Hamlin; Ann
Ensworth : Sophronia Ensworth, dismissed to Brick church ;
Eliza Cobb, dismissed to Third Presbyterian.
May 6, 1821 : — Henry B. Morehouse, dismissed May 16,
1822; Ebenezer Bliss, left the country in 1822, missionary
to Cherokees; Hon. Ashley Sampson from Pittsfield, Vt., (be-
gan the practice of law in Rochester in 1821, first county
judge, also representative from Monroe County, settled at
Pittsford in 1818) ; Charles J. Hill.
July 23, 1821 : — Moses King, dismissed to the church in
East Bloomfield ; Benjamin Campbell, dismissed to Second
church. 1827.
May 5, 1822: — Elizabeth Lee, from church at Utica, died
September 27, 1822 ; Martha Beach, from church at Lewiston ;
Elizabeth Hayes, from church at Clyde, died March 27, 1829 ;
FIKST CHURCH CHRONICLES 215
Sally Allen, from church at Clyde ; Silas Walker, from church
at Clyde, dismissed 1833 ; Vina Walker, from church at Clyde,
dismissed, 1833 ; Louiser or Leumer Preston, from church at
Clyde, dismissed November 12, 1828 ; Mary Green, from church
at Clyde ; Judith Green, from church at Clyde ; Jes^e C. Ha n-
4prd, from church at Clyde; Pliney Allen, from church at Ham-
burg, dismissed Third church, 1827 ; Louiser Allen, from
church at Hamburg, dismissed Third church, 1827 ; Rufus
Beach, from church at Homer ; John H. Thompson, from church
at Hartford, Conn., dismissed Brick church, 1827 ; Charlotte
Livingston, from church at Litchfield, Conn. ; Ruth Phips,
from church at Albany ; Jesse Peck, dismissed to New Haven,
April 5, 1830; Russell Green (elder), from Clyde; Phillip
Allen (elder), from Clyde, dismissed to Third church.
July 14, 1822 : — ^Margaret Penney, from First Presbyterian
Church, New York City ; Margaret Balentine, from church of
Chlemsf ord, Pa. : Huldah Dickinson, from church of Clyde ;
Margaret Henningway . from church of Clyde ; Patrick P. Dick-
inson.
September 8, 1822 : — Walter Badger, from Albany ; Amelia
Badger, from Albany; Maria Allyn, from New London (Con-
gregational church) ; Daniel H. Ward, from Bergen.
October 13, 1822 : — Jonathan Green, at his request dis-
missed.
November 10, 1822, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper
was administered and the following persons admitted into the
church : Linus Stevens, from the church in Sodus ; Thankful
Stevens, from the church in Sodus ; John A. Cathcart, from the
church in Cooperstown ; Asa Carpenter, from the church in
Otisco ; May Carpenter, from the church in Otisco ; John Mar-
shall, from the church in Cherry Valley; Electa Thompson,
from the church in Hartford, Conn. ; Hannah Burgess, from
the church in Portland ; Sarah Richey, from the church in
Sacketts Harbor: Sara Cathcart.
January 8, 1823 : — Jeremiah Cutler, from the church in
Ithaca ; John Kennedy, from the church in Buffalo ; Sally Bond,
dismissed at her request.
March 9, 1823 :^Eunice Munger, from the church at
216 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Clyde; Frederick Starr, from the church at Warren; Sarah
Starr, from the church at Warren; Mary Ann Mulligan, from
the church at New York City; Henry Fisk, from the church at
New York City; Moses Chapin, on examination; Mariah Chapin,
on examination.
May 11, 1823 : — Mabel Wilson, from the church in Pitts-
field ; Mary Hawkins, from the church in Milton ; Salome Hill,
from the church in Brinfield, Mass.
July 13, 1823: — George Harroll, by letter, from South
church in New York City; Charlotte Harroll, by letter, from
South church in New York Cit}' ; Harriet Moore, by letter, from
church in Albany; Polly Frederick, by letter, from church in
Auburn; Moses King, by letter, from church in East Bloom-
field ; Hester Gordan, by letter, from church in Newburg ; Eliza
Brown, by letter, from church in Mount Morris; Jeremiah Sel-
krig, by letter, from church in Penn Yan ; Horatio G. Lawrence,
by letter, from church in Clyde ; Mary Lawrence, by letter,
from church in Clyde; Melvinia (?) Mortimer (?) Smith, by
letter, from church in Victor ; Maria Stockholm, by letter, from
church in Poughkeepsie : Ann Hanford-r^
At a meeting of the Session, held at the school house near
the Episcopal church, June 12, 1823 : — Resolved that Eliza Pratt
(formerly Eliza Shaw), &c.
January 11, 1824: — Elizabeth Case, from Philadelphia;
Julia Matthews, from Bath ; John D. Henery, from Green.
March 14, 1824: — Sarah VanSantivord, from Utica; Delia
Stevens, from Sodus; Robert Penny, from Drumbee, Ireland;
Agnes Penny, from Drumbee, Ireland ; Richard ^lartin, from
Ballyrony, Ireland ; May Martin, from Ballyrony, Ireland ;
Lucy Kellogg, from Manlius ; James Thompson, from Tyrone
county, Ireland.
May 2, 1824 : — John T. Calhoun, from the church at Salis-
bury, Conn. ; Estlier Calhoun, from the church at Salisbury,
Conn. ; Pierce Darrow, from the church at Albany ; Eunice
Darrow, from the church at Albany; Bridget Law, from the
church at Ovid ; Julia Norton, from the church at Canandaigua ;
Cullen Brown, from the church at Watertown; Sarah Good-
man, from the church at Pittsfield, Mass.
^ SW^u. tVM vv^V *^\ HT^ X^^ ^'^ ^^
FIRST CHURCH CHRONICLES 217
July 11, 1824: — John H. Brown, from the church in El-
mira ; Catherine Brown, from the church in Elmira ; Abram W.
Sedgwick, from the church in Chenango Point; Ruth Sedg-
wick, from the church in Chenango Point; Theodore Sedg-
wick, from the church in Chenango Point; Richard Gorsline,
from the church in Bloomfield; Aurelia Gorsline, from the
church in Bloomfield.
July 18, 1824: — Russell Green, Moses Chapin and Salmon
Scofield were ordained as elders.
September 12, 1824: — Reuben Leonard, from the church
in Bridgewater, N. Y. ; Nancy Leonard, from the church in
Bridgewater, N. Y. ; Alpha Chapin, from the church in West
Springfield, Mass. ; Sarah Smith, from the church in Lyme ;
Mary Sill.
November 14, 1824: — William Hall, from the church at
Bloomfield ; Mary T. Hall, from the church at Bloomfield ;
Sarah Rice, from the church at Sudbury, Mass. ; Isabel Averill,
from the church at Springfield, Mass. ; Mary Millard ; Sarah
Bell ; Jane Harper.
December 31, 1824:— Samuel J. Smith; Samuel Balentine;
Dr. George Harroll, misconduct for flourishing a gun and
bragging. Witness, Anson House, esq., Timothy L. Bacon.
February 24, 1825 : — Abijah Blanchard ; Lydia White
Blanchard ; Catherine S. Russell ; Timothy L. Bacon ; Lydia
Bacon ; Arabella Granger, dismissed at her own request.
June 24, 1825: — Mrs. Hannah Grifian; Miss Rebecca Bishop;
Spencer Woodworth ; Mrs. Amanda Woodworth ; Ela Burnap ;
Sophronia Wilson ; Sarah Wilson ; Julia Brewster ; Charlotte
Jenks; Sarah Bates.
November 21, 1825 : — John H. Brown violated the Sabbath,
called to account for laboring and permitting his servants to
labor on that day by burning lime, planting trees and cutting
and drawing wood. Witnesses: Mrs. Bickford, Mrs. Adams,
Mrs. Hill, Benjamin Wilson and his wife, Samuel and William
Balentine.
December session, 1825 : — Caroline Rogers ; Deborah Wil-
liams; George Bostwick; Orpha Crane; Emily Kempshall;
218 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Betsey White: Sarah Miner; Abijah Blanchard censured, the
first charge: "The offense of rash judging condemned in Mat-
thew 7th, 1-2," by Rev. James Penny, November 21, 1825.
Second charge: "Wit speaking and detraction as condemned
Psalms 64:3, James 4:11, 1 Cor. 5:11, 1 Cor. 6:10, James 3:6-8
(commonly called slander). Third charge: "Bringing false
witness."
March 1, 1826 : — Mrs. Minerva Penfield ; Emeline Goodsell ;
Mrs. Mabel Berthrong; Mrs. jMary C. Burr.
October, 1826 : — Mrs. Ann Wilder ; Miss Cynthia L. Bond ;
Mr. and Mrs. Marcus Holmes (Anna) ; Miss Harriet A. Wood-
bridge; Mr. Oliver Jewell and wife; Mrs. Tamar Campbell;
Mrs. Eliza (?) Peck; Mrs. ]\Iary Strong Scoville; Mrs. Har-
riet Griffith; Mr. Hiram Ripley. Also resolved — Abijah Blanch-
ard; Dr. Myron Hurday (?) his wife; Margaret Hemingway;
Joanna Needham ; Mrs. IMary Carpenter have letters to Second
Presbyterian church ; David Cullen censured ; Ashlej^ Sampson,
grievance against Harvey Ely. Witness, George Bostwick
(storekeeper).
December 23, 1826: — Appolos Luce and wife, Mary; Mi-
randa Luce; Mrs. Ann Padden (?) ; Bethia Luce; Patty Luce;
Mary Shepard ; Elizabeth Ward.
January 5, 1827 :— Lucy T. Chapin ; Albert Kellogg ; Wil-
liam A. Holmes ; Wealthy Ann Gibbs ; Reuben Bardwell ; Sarah
Bardwell ; Elsa Thompson ; Elizabeth Ward ; Phebe Hinston.
April 2, 1827 : — The following dismissed to unite with the
Third Presbyterian church : Philip Allen and wife, Sally ; Pliney
Allen and wife, Louise ; Mrs. Harriet Moore ; Mrs. Lucy Allen ;
Mrs. Smith; Mrs. Eliza Pratt; Miss Eliza Brown; Mrs. Hall.
To Second Presbyterian church : Benjamin Campbell and Soph-
ronia, his wife ; John H. Thompson and Electa, his wife ; Ezra
Dunning, and his wife ; Ela Burnap.
April 23, 1827 : — Mrs. Alen Culver ; Susan Caroline Cowan ;
Susan Matilda Cowan ; Mrs. Sarah Barhydt ; John R. Henery ;
Rufus Henery ; Ebenezer Knapp and wife, Polly ; Sophia Cum-
mins.
First Sabbath in May, 1827 : — Samuel D. Hatch and Fanny,
his wife ; Luman Farnsworth ; Preston Smith ; Sally Parker ;
<\
FIRST CHURCH CHRONICLES 219
Mary Wilson ; Polly Luce ; Sarah Ann Goodman ; Minerva
Stone ; Caroline M. Steele ; Mura VanSlyck ; Lydia Hatch ; Hi-
ram M. Ward ; Lucy Ann Hills ; Electa Strong ; Ashley Armes ;
Seth D. Chapin; Priscilla Wilson; Hiram Leonard.
(End of First Book)
MEMORIALS
'^HE NEW Ymx
P'^BLIC LIBRARY
^^Sroa, LENOX AND
"--£N FOUNDATIONS
MRS. OILMAN H. PERKINS
Life Honorary President of The Rochester
Historical Society
Tribute to Mrs. Gilman H. Perkins
By EDWARD R. FOREMAN
Note: — Mrs. Gilman H. Perkins was the Founder of The Rochester
Historical Society under its present incorporation (1888). The record
of organization is set forth in detail in this book in the first article,
"The Origin and Mission of The Rochester Historical Society."
Mrs. Perkins was elected Life Honorary President of the Society,
June 25, 1914. Death terminated her term of office, March 21, 1919.
On April 25, 1919, the following Memorial was adopted by the
Society:
And now Mrs. Gilman H. Perkins has gone.
Her indomitable will ever resisted physical ailments. Like
an Emperor, she believed she should die standing: "A king of
France may die ; he is never ill. ' '
Into the green lanes of eternal springtime has passed a
wonderful woman. With the heart of a girl, the courage of a
man, the spirit of a hero, Mrs. Perkins has lived out the fullness
of her time. All that a mother could be she was. All that
ripened womanhood could win she accomplished. Beloved,
honored, revered, at last she waved her world farewell, and
with calm, level eyes crossed the western sunset into the final
glory of her God.
True in every relationship of life, she has won the heav-
enly welcome : ' ' Well done, good and faithful servant ; enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord."
What she was in her family life is sacred: "Her children
rise up and call her blessed. ' '
What she was in good works is reflected in the civic and
social welfare organizations to which she gave her heart and
which she vitalized by her tireless energy. To advise with
Mrs. Perkins was to receive inspiration. Quick to perceive,
firm in decision, decided in opinion, she was a tower of strength
in any good cause.
How can we gauge the influence of such a life? The cun-
ning hand of man cannot devise instrument of precision to
weigh the influence of lofty character. Radiance of soul is
224 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
measured only by eternal standards. Our human hearts can
only love and miss her.
Mrs. Perkins again demonstrated that worthy institutions
are but the lengthened shadow of some personality. The
Rochester Historical Society was, in a peculiar way, the child
of her brain. She was the Founder, she was the life Honorary
President. To the four walls of her hospitable home for years
she summoned the leading men and women of Rochester to
study the history and plan for the welfare of her city. For
over thirty years she has given her best thought to establishing,
on an enduring basis, an historical society worthy to preserve
the great record of our civic deeds.
She left The Rochester Historical Society as her living,
corporate being; an agency to guard and cherish the soul of
Rochester, expressed in the achievement of its citizens.
Every resident of Rochester is her debtor because of this
accomplishment. She was proud of her city. She loved its
men and women. She gloried in our past and was determined
that the record should be guarded with holy zeal for the benefit
of posterity.
From her failing hands she has tossed the torch of high
endeavor. We shall not fail to seize and carry on.
Representing the society, and the citizens of Rochester, the
members of the Board of Managers of The Rochester Historical
Society memorialize the life of Mrs. Oilman H. Perkins. By
every expression of honor, by every tribute of love, we speak
her name.
Her hail and farewell is both sorrow and great joy. She
dies to the sound of music. She has won her day. Though we
greet her no more she has set up her standards. A noble life,
crowned with heroic death, rises above and outlives all earthly
pomp.
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Hiram Haskell Edgerton
By EDWARD R. FOREMAN
Hiram Haskell Edgerton, Life Honorary President of
The Rochester Historical Society, died at his home in
Rochester, Sunday. June 18, 1922.
His memory will be perpetuated in the great city that has
inherited his work. A plain man, of sturdy colonial an-
cestry, full of sound sense and kindness, he won and adorned
high places of trust and command.
As a faithful public servant he illustrated in the highest
degree principles of civic loyalty and the practice of genuine
devotion to his townsmen. He lived not to himself, but became
a portion of the community around him. To serve his city
became his dominant desire. Therefore he found favor in
the hearts of his fellow citizens.
He has been called "a great city builder." But best of
all he built his life into our institutions, infusing the love of
city into our very bricks and stones.
In countless achievements he endeared himself. Practi-
cal always, but a dreamer of fine dreams, he brushed aside
the smoke and dust and gave us glimpses of a very beautiful
Rochester, idealizing the old town into the City of Heart's
Desire. He lived to see realized many of his ideals and
cherished hopes.
At Exposition Park, where the library and museum of
The Rochester Historical Society are located, we have a con-
crete example of his finest accomplishment, one of his dreams
come true. A grim prison has disappeared, and over its site
a civic park endures, where public library, museum, school,
children's playground, and great industrial expositions exist
as a memorial of the far-sighted founder who fought a good
fight against odds and won it all for the people. Exposition
Park is a monument, speaking his personality and vision
to coming generations. Most fittingly this park has been re-
named ' ' Edgerton. ' '
226 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
It was at Exposition Park that The Rochester Historical
Society found a congenial home niuler Mayor Edgerton's
fostering care. With gladness we publicly acknowledge our
debt to him.
We pay him a final tribute of affection as a red rose
from our heart of hearts, where he will ever be enshrined in
love and veneration.
As we record his fame we are again reminded that those
most deserve a memorial who do not need one — who have
raised themselves a monument in the minds and memories
of men.
Hiram II. Edgerton, born April 19, 1847, in Belfast, Al-
legany County, N. Y., received his early education in the
public schools of Allegany and Cattaraugus Counties, with one
year in the Genesee Seminary at Belfast; removed to Roches-
ter with his parents in 1858, and finished his education in
the public schools of Rochester, No. 12 and the Free Academy,
and Rochester Business Institute. At the age of sixteen he was
associated with his father in the retail lumber business, and
after the death of his father, in 1868, succeeded to the busi-
ness which he successfully conducted together with a retail
coal business until 1880, when he sold the lumber business and
began the business of contracting and building.
During his career as contractor and builder he construc-
ted nearly forty churches and church buildings and many
mercantile and commercial buildings throughout the state ;
the east wing of the Elmira Reformatory; the post office
and government building; Wilder Building, and Sibley, Lind-
say & Curr Building at Rochester; and for many years prac-
tically all of the structural building of the Buffalo, Roches-
ter and Pittsburgh Railroad.
In length of service as a public official he was the senior
of any man since the incorporation of Rochester as a city in
1834. He completed this term of service with fourteen years
as chief magistrate after he had passed the three score
milestone.
Mr. Edgerton was elected school commissioner, repre-
senting the Fourth Ward, in 1871, and served four years, two
HIRAM HASKELL EDGERTON 227
years as President of the Board of Education. He was largely
instrumental in having the Free Academy, now the Municipal
Building, and No. 15 School erected during his term.
He was appointed by the Common Council as a member
of the Commission, consisting also of Hon. George W. Aldridge
and John Alden, to construct the East Side trunk sewer, Mr.
Aldridge representing the City of Rochester as a member of
the Board of Public Works; and after the appointment of
Mr. Aldridge as Superintendent of Public Works, Mr. Edger-
ton served as president of that commission during the
building of the sewer. At that time the sewer was a large
project and was constructed within the estimate.
He was elected President of the Common Council in
1899 and served in that capacity until December 31, 1907.
For a short time in the latter part of 1903 he served as acting
Mayor upon the resignation of Mayor Rodenbeck to become
a member of the Court of Claims.
He was a member of the Board of Estimate and Appor-
tionment twenty-two consecutive years, eight years as Presi-
dent of the Common Council and fourteen years as Mayor.
He was elected Mayor of the City of Rochester in the
fall of 1907 and served from January 1st, 1908, the day that
Rochester became a city of the first class, until December
31st, 1921.
He was appointed Supervisor of Building Construction on
January 3, 1922, in the Department of Public Works, with
authority to complete the various municipal construction pro-
jects which he had begun as Mayor. Thus it happened that
he remained in public service to the very last, "dying in the
harness."
The outstanding features of Mayor Edgerton's adminis-
trations are the transformation of the old State Industrial
School into Exposition Park and the organization of the
Rochester Exposition; the establishment of the Rochester
Public Library system ; the construction of the third conduit
from Hemlock Lake to the city, the establishment of a city
park at Hemlock Lake and the enlargement and protection
of the water supply at both Hemlock and Canadiee Lakes ; the
228 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
completion of Cobb's Hill reservoir; the construction of the
new sewage disposal plants and the system of intercepting
sewers which took the sewage out of the Genesee River; the
construction of the Central Avenue Bridge and the widen-
ing of Central Avenue ; the construction of the Clarissa Street
bridge ; the construction of garbage and incinerator plants ; the
establishment of Ontario Beach as a city park; the aviation
field ; the general development of the park system ; the es-
tablishment and development of the public playgrounds of the
city, until in 1921 there were twenty -five playgrounds; the
building of municipal bath houses in two parks and two in the
cit}^ ; the annexation of the Brighton section as the Twenty-
first ward ; the annexation of Charlotte as the Twenty-third
ward ; and the annexation of the Lincoln Park section as the
Twenty-fourth ward.
On his last day as Mayor he issued a farewell statement
that closed with the words: "My confidence in the future of
Rochester is unbounded and my faith in the people is limit-
less. I am sure they will permit no backward steps. I leave
office with the consciousness of having tried to do my full
duty according to my ability. Let me again assure the
people of my deep affection for them and of my abiding
faith in our city."
Mr. Edgerton will be long remembered as the War Mayor,
for he was the devoted, untiring and unselfish leader in all
of Rochester's World War activities. During the entire war
period, in loan campaigns, through food and fuel adminis-
trations, and in every emergency, he placed all the resources
of the city at the country's disposal. It was through his instru-
mentality that there was organized the Home Defense League,
an enterprise that made available more than a thousand men
who did yeoman service in auxiliary police work.
When the call came for the Sons of Rochester to go
forth to serve in battle, the Mayor gave himself with re-
doubled energy to honor our hero boys. He was always at
the Armory or railroad station to bid personal farewell and
Godspeed to the departing men, and many answered him with
a last good bye who were never in this life to return.
HIRAM HASKELL EDGBRTON 229
When the war was over and the stern task completed
he undertook their welcome home in a series of banquets where
each was awarded an honor medal emblematic of the city's
appreciation of gallantry. To every man he presented the
following :
^r^^t^ng
To the Soldiers, Sailors and
Marines of Rochester:
To you loyal sons of Rochester, who departed in
honor and return in glory, I extend, on behalf of
the people of the city, a sincere and loving greeting.
Your faithful service to your country and to humanity
in the great crisis just passed, has endeared you to us
all. The service you have rendered civilization has
won for you the respect and admiration of the w^orld ,
For your safe return to Rochester I am grateful to
God. With sorrow, but with steadfast reliance on
the wisdom of Divine Providence I pray for those who
have made the Supreme Sacrifice. With the extended
arms of affection I welcome you home.
Sincerely yours,
HIRAM H. EDGERTON
Mayor
One of his last public acts as Mayor was to provide for
an adequate World War Service Record which would include
the military or naval biography of every service man and the
complete history of Rochester's contribution toward the win-
ning of the war.
The passing from earthly life of Hiram H. Edgerton
brought universal sorrow. Accorded a public funeral, lying
in state in City Hall where thousands gathered to pay their
final tribute of love and respect, borne to his last resting
place in Mt. Hope with every civic honor, his noble career
was fittinglv closed.
Eulogy
By REV. C. WALDO CHERRY, D. D.
At the funeral services for Mayor Edgerton held in
Central Presbyterian Church, Wednesday, June 21, 1922, Rev.
C. Waldo Cherry, D. D., spoke as follows, from the text:
"And I, John, saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, descend
down out of the heaven:"
Even so another man had a vision of the City Beautiful,
a city of parks and playgrounds, a city of happy homes and
enduring, uplifting institutions where the sordid vices of
moral contagion that plague other cities had been abolished
and where clean amusements and worthy occupations had
taken their place, a city where men, women and little children
would have room to grow in the vitality of physical health
and the graces of mental and spiritual enlargement.
It was over fifty years ago that this dream of the City
Beautiful came to Hiram H. Edgerton, and he gave his life
making the dream come true. He forgot the interests and
ambitions which other men seek ; he gave himself to Roches-
ter so that today there is scarcely one of the great and
beautiful things which we possess in this city of schools and
buildings and parks and other institutions of public welfare
which does not somewhere have his personality stamped
upon it.
An ancient English monarch said, "When I die you will
find Calais written upon my heart." If we could have looked
into the heart of Hiram Edgerton during these years we
should have found "Rochester" written there.
It is our joy today that his dream Avas realized, that he
saw the city growing in all that makes for the freedom, hap-
piness and uplift of its citizens; that he saw every great
project in which he was interested realized. During the
latter years of his life it was his great comfort and satisfac-
tion to go about the city and rejoice humbly and thankfully
for all that he had been permitted to see come to pass in
Rochester. It is very characteristic of him that the last
HIRAM HASKELL EDGERTON 231
words he uttered were, "I want to go to Highland Park to-
morrow. ' '
Sometimes people who gaze at a mountain do not rea-
lize its height and its greatness because thej^ stand so near it.
Sometimes we do not realize the greatness of the men with
whom we live in close daily contact. Hiram Edgerton was
a great man.
If greatness is in goodness, if it is great when amidst
the high places of authority and the temptations of power
one maintains unstained honor and integrity, a humility and
kindness of spirit, a faith in God and a love for all men,
women and children, Hiram Edgerton was a great man. If
to be great is to have great visions and then to have courage,
faith and common sense and steadfastness to make those
ideals come true, then he was great. If to be great is to be a
benefactor, if as Jesus said, "He that would be greatest
among you must be the servant of all:" if to be great is not
to leave behind great wealth merely, but to have millions
of men and women coming after yon who are happier and
better because you have lived, then Hiram H. Edgerton 's
name is secure in the veneration of the people whom he loved
and in the City Beautiful which he built.
THE NEW YX3RK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
^
ASrOR, LENOX AND s
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS ':
REV. AUGUSTUS HOPKINS STRONG, D. D.
I^v. Augustus Hopkins Strong, D. D.
<.
An Appreciation presented before a meeting of The Rochester
Historical Society, held December 12, 1921, by Edward R. Forema.n,
representing the Board of Managers:
The Board of Managers of The Rochester Historical So-
ciety record the passing of Rev. Augustus Hopkins Strong,
D. D., one of the founders of the Society, its first Vice-Presi-
dent and second President.
It is not our purpose to set forth the biographical facts
of his illustrious career. These have been fully stated in the
press and elsewhere. We speak in appreciation of his char-
acter as a citizen and a beloved associate. Only seven weeks
ago, he addressed us in reminiscence of his old friend, Henry
A. Ward, at which time he spoke with the fire and vigor of
youth. With that event in mind it is hard to realize that
we shall hear his voice no more.
We celebrate his memory as one of the remarkable men
of Rochester. Our city has produced many great scholars,
captains of industry and eminent professional men, but never
a man of more distinguished intellect. Doctor Strong had a
balanced mind, blending will power with intellect and emo-
tion so perfectly as to make him capable of great deeds, great
words and great feeling for the service of humanity. His
was the perfect culture, adding to the passion for pure
knowledge the moral and social passion for doing good, "to
make reason and the will of God prevail." It is through
such mighty teachers that justice and brotherhood eventually
must be established throughout the world, never through one-
sided men. His mental energy was tireless. It has been well
said of him: "He was a very determined man. He never
ambled. He marched."
With the perceiving gift of appreciation he combined
the quality of philosophic detachment which gave him per-
spective to judge men and events of his own times and of all
history. He had a true sense of values. He was one of those
rare beings who can think, and of the rarer few who can
234 THE ROCHESTER HIST(3RICAL SOCIETY
see. He realized that the wealth and material prosperity
of his native city were only factors falling short of the whole ;
that something finer binds us together, the spirit of Roc%s-
ter. In the highest degree he possessed that spirit, squared his
life with it, and realized aspirations in accord with the best
interests of his townsmen. He believed in the city's soul.
Especially we remember the charm of his personality,
his keen interest in people and passing events which kept
him ever young in feeling. In conversation he was de-
lightful, full of graces and profound learning, always teir.p-
ered with the winsomeness of whimsical humor. lie could
easily make and keep friends and across his hospitable thresh-
old men eagerly sought his comradeship. The dearest thing
a mortal man may know was freely his, the love of his fellow-
men. In every quarter of the civilized world there are students
and friends who are mourning him today with sincere af-
fection.
We too, the Boa'd of Managers, bear final witness that
he lived as befitted his ancestry ; that he endured as the
influences about his youth taught him to endure; that he kept
the faith : that he achieved the purposes of his life, touching for
good all life around him : and at last, without fear, entered
through the gates of the Eternal.
He but sleeps the holy sleep. A good man never dies.
Note: Rev. Augustus Hopkins Strong, D.D., opened the 1921-22
lecture season of The Rochester Historical Society at Catharine Strong
Hall, University of Rochester, on October 11, 1921, reviewing the life
work of his old friend, Professor Henry A. Ward. This address, to-
gether with the memorial of Dr. Strong, has been published separately
by the Society.
This was Dr. Strong's last public appearance in Rochester. On
that occasion there was no shadow. He was at his best.
Three weeks later he departed for Chicago where he delivered five
addresses opening the Wilkinson lectureship established at the Northern
Baptist Theological Seminary. He lectured also before the McCormick
Theological Seminary and the University of Chir-ago. On Sunday morn-
ing, Noveml)er Pith, he made a brief Communion day address at the
Second Baptist Church of Chicago, thus delivering eight public addresses
on varied themes between November 2nd and 10th — a wonderful valedic-
tory!
Resuming his regular winter journey to California in apparently
good health, he arrived at Pasadena to be taken suddenly ill, dying No-
vember 29th, 1921, at the age of eighty-five.
Augustus Hopkins Strong
,0 By REV. JOHN H. STRONG, D. D.
Augustus Hopkins Strong was born on Troup Street, near
South Washington, on the third of August, eighteen hundred
thirty-six. From both his father's and his mother's side he had
in him the granite of old New England stock. He had in him
also the gentleness and warmth of New England springs and
summers. His father, Alvah Strong, was one of Rochester's
pioneers. Early proprietor of the "Democrat," a friend of
education with a quietness like that of Isaac of old, open-
handed, upright, optimistic, — his fragrant memory still lingers
among the living. His mother, Catharine Hopkins, was a timid
and reticent woman, but gifted, and brought her son color,
humor, versatility and charm from a long line of distinguished
ancestors. Both father and mother were godly, and furnished
a fit home for the nurturing of so purposeful a life.
The child, though not above slips and x>ranks, was from
the first serious-minded and ambitious. His diversions with
his younger brother, Henry, later soldier and honored citizen,
who in his youth specialized in hair-raising adventures, were
more than counterbalanced by rigors of school discipline un-
known today and by broadening influences added by his father.
He saw a hanging! He listened tj "Rochester rappings"
furnished by the pretty Fox sisters. He was given an educa-
tional trip on the Erie Canal. He learned to set type, keep the
accounts, write down market and news reports as they came
from the wire, and listened in at that clearing-house of public
opinion, the "Democrat" office. He took a surveying-trip. He
met Seward and heard the oratory of Webster, Phillips and
Gough. He gathered a library, read widely, and, though he
keenly felt the inferiority of his preparation to that of the
Andover and Exeter men in the classics, entered Yale with the
Class of Fifty-seven, versed in literature and history beyond
his fellows.
College life was different a half-centurv ago. Honors
were won not so much on the football field as by the oratorical
flights and debates of Linonia. Those were the days of James
236 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Hadley, of Dana, and of towering President Woolsey, men not
only of accurate and thorough habits but of philosophic
breadth, reverent spirit and commanding moral tone. Dr.
Strong has often been heard to say that he would not exchange
the education of his day, despite its limitations, for the educa-
tion offered the youth of the present. In Yale he was honored ;
won prizes, popularity and friendships ; quixoticallj' refused
Skull-and-Bones as much desired then as now. because a chum
had been passed over. Indeed, nothing could swerve him from
his loyalties, or usurp the place of Perkins, Holbrook, Wheeler,
Holmes, intimates of those "bright college years" whom he
held to his heart while life spared them, ever rating the "friend-
ships formed at Yale" as among his most precious possessions
and the soul of true education.
It was in the Spring of the Junior year — not under the
spreading elms but while at home on a vacation — that the
supreme event took place which closed upon this gifted, strong-
willed youth all thought of purely literary pursuits and sum-
moned him to a holier calling. It was his conversion. The in-
strument was Finney,— lawyer, evangelist, eagle-ej'cd prophet
of righteousness, — under whose preaching Rochester Avas so
changed in the thirties and fifties. There was no emotionalism
in this religious experience, — just realization, and dogged de-
cision. The satisfying glimpses of truth that afterward made
him a radiating center came onlv srraduallv and later. Yet it
was characteristic of him that this glimmering light was fol-
lowed. Though he suffered keenly from his consciousness of
coldness, he threw his hat into the ring at Yale like one com-
mitted to an everlasting loyalty. In the same spirit he returned
to Rochester after graduation, — a man. as he felt, without a re-
ligious experience- timorou.sly oft'ered himself as a student for
the ministry, and to his surprise was accepted.
At the Rochester Seminary the independent spirit and
clear-cut thinking of Ezekiel G. Robinson then reigned. Spirits
like Richard and Kingman Nott and William Cleaver Wilkin-
son Avere among the student-body. There for the first time the
future theologian faced the problems of theology. Sunday
afternoons he preached in a schoolhouse at the Rapids to a
AUGUSTUS HOPKINS STRONG 237
tough gang of canal boatmen. The Rapids Church grew out of
this work.
The Dr. Strong of mature life was a man of robust health,
capable of vast and sustained effort. For years he bore the bur-
dens of teacher, preacher, author and administrator without the
aid of dean or secretary. But he did not start so. Before his
two years' theological course was over he showed alarming
symptoms of pulmonary trouble and was sent abroad for more
than a year of travel. Theodore Bacon was a Yale man of a
year earlier and became his companion. They followed to-
gether the paths of European travel which have since become
so familiar. They visited the English lakes and cathedrals.
The}' heard John Caird, Maurice, and Spurgeon. They at-
tended a Handel Festival at the Crystal Palace, where the mas-
terpieces were rendered by the greatest organ in England, an
orchestra of a thousand pieces, a chorus of three thousand voic-
es, to an audience of thirty thousand people. The Theodule Pass
was crossed, and Italy visited. The winter of 1859 was spent in
Berlin, where they took season-tickets for the Philarmonie
and the Joachim String Quartet. In the Spring, Strong passed
on to Egypt, Palestine and Greece. And in this way began
that series of fifteen tours, — twelve of them to Europe, two to
Latin America and one to the Far East, — which did so much
to inform his mind, enrich his literary productions, and add to
his social charm.
Dr. Strong had two pastorates. The first was of four
years in Haverhill, Massachusetts. The second was of seven
years with the First Baptist Church of Cleveland, Ohio. His
early ministry was an experience of intense struggle. A little
book of his, "Union with Christ," tells how light came and re-
lieved his darkness. Both pastorates sihowed him, as his teach-
ing always did, advanced and constructive. In Cleveland he
came to realize God as the God of Nature, and took up in suc-
cession the study of the sciences, — Geology, Mineralogy, Bot-
any, Chemistry, Meteorology. Professor Henry A. Ward
helped him to make an excellent collection of three hundred
rocks, minerals and fossils to which he always pointed with
pride. He always worked toward an end. During the Cleve-
238 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
land pastorate he preached every second Sunday of the month
on a great doctrine of the church, adapting it to a fifteen-year-
old boy's intelligence and accompanying it with a wealth of
illustration, — sermons which were ready to serve as the basis
of his lectures when in 1872 he came to Rochester to teach
theology.
Dr. Strong returned to Rochester in 1872. He found the
Seminary in debt, meagerly equipped, and not even paying the
professors' salaries. Its students were ill-prepared. When he
retired after forty years it was in many respects the foremost
Baptist theological seminary of the world. As a teacher he
was probably unsurpassed by any theologian of his time. For
his text-book he produced his "Systematic Theology." One
has called it "the greatest compendium and reference-book
of theology ever penned." One must look into it to get a
faint idea of the wealth of historical, scientific, artistic and
literary knowledge it contains. Yet, although he has been
called "the master-mechanic of theologj^, " one can glimpse in
his "Hundred Chapel Talks," taken down at random by some
short-hand student in the noon prayer-meetings, what a vivi-
fying power he was in the life of an institution where staleness
and technique are such menaces to the spirit.
There was a reason for this. Dr. Strong's theology was
vital. It had been given him gradually in illuminated moments
of experience. It Avas the ordered summing-up of what he had
seen and heard. It was biblical, because in the Bible he found
what he had felt and discovered reflected, explained and fore-
told. The God who moves the sphere had spoken to him, and
this made him spiritually and intellectually free. He delighted
early to claim a true evolution as Science's reading of God's
method; and his books, "Ethical Monism" and "Christ in Cre-
ation." were attempts to set forth his deep sense of the intima-
cies of God with his world. Such views gave imposing dignity
to his views of the Savior. The Gospel was truly the sum of all
wisdom, and faith the supreme act of obedience and reason in
man.
His was a catholic spirit. While devoted to his church, he
was too alive to the things Christians hold in common to be a
i
AUGUSTUS HOPKINS STRONG 239
denominationalist. Yet this did not hinder him from setting
his church ahead by the c nception and planning of great edu-
cational enterprises. Such was his carefully wrought out effort
to secure the founding in New York City of a great Christian
university, to be the gift to the world of Baptists. The steps
by which he sought to interest in this project the beneficence
of Mr. Rockefeller, all the details having by the labor of years
been worked out by the study of urban conditions and univer-
sity development abroad, even to the selection of the site of
Morningside Heights, afterwards occupied by Columbia Uni-
versity, are matters of careful record. The University was
established, not in New York, but in Chicago. The name most
prominently connected with it, next to that of its founder, is
that of the late President Plarper, whom Dr. Strong had se-
lected, introduced to ?.rr. Rockefeller, and made the custodian
of his ideas. Though the change of location seemed to Dr.
Strong a strategic blunder and was a grave disappointment,
justice was publiclj- done him when Mr. Gates, as Mr. Rocke-
feller's representative, reading in Philadelphia the Report of
the American Baptist Education Society, in that Report and
on Mr. Rockefeller's authority, attributed to him the first plan
and conception of a great Baptist University.
Though unquestionably immensely gifted. Dr. Strong
nevertheless owed so much of his really remarkable attain-
ment to method and tenacity of purpose, that the closer view
of his life gives a lesson of great value, more impressive the
more it is studied. He never wasted a moment. His earlier life
was one of unremitting struggle. His industry was enormous,
yet so applied to the point of advantage, that everything in
his life was balanced, ordered, serene and unhurried. He re-
served time for family letters, for calling, and the Clubs for
which he kept an apparently abundant leisure. His very exer-
cise was methodical. Seminary students said humorously that
they set their watches by his morning walk to the barber-shop.
There was always time for every church meeting, to which he
invariably walked. His memory seemed infallible. He made
the impression of never forgetting any book or any man. For
years he unofficially placed men in pulpits with no other aid
240 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
than memory. Perhaps his great modesty tended to mislead
one, for so at home did he seem in the random discussion of any
book, event or man, that one was in danger of losing sight of
the full range of his achievement.
Work in prospect was finished long in advance of the oc-
caion. Nothing Avas done capriciously, but fell into a well-
ordered plan. His summer vacations produced in succession
the literary studies presented at the lenten meetings of the
Browning Club, — then pigeonholed to emerge as "The Great
Poets and Their Theology," and to be followed by "The Am-
erican Poets." His life was kept free from clutter as his desk
always was, by system. His self-discipline was unremitting,
yet so unobtrusive that habit never seemed to t\Tannize over
him when circumstances interrupted, for there seemed always
new sets of resources ready to come into play. His hospitality
was ample and leisurely. He entertained every student of the
seminary at his table once a year; the Guest Book of the last
twenty-five years of the President's house holds almost ten
thousand names ; yet he had time to make himself a scholar in
Hebrew. Greek and Latin, in German, French and Italian. In
Germany he preached in German ; in France in 1920 he gave in
French three sermons and addresses which he had written and
perfected the winter before. His graciousness, courtesy and
humor, which were so peculiarly charming to his friends, were
for his household exactly as for outsiders; his children were
conversed with and drawn into talk with the same tact which
he used with the shy student, and those who served him were
treated with a distinction which always stimulated their best.
Home authority was unquestioned, yet there was never severity.
Rebukes were implied rather than administered, and in every
contact one who thought below the surface realized that he had
first of all mastered himself.
Dr. Strong did not grow old, but retained his mental grasp
and the freshness of his interests to the day of his death. The
years following his retirement from the presidency of the
Seminary at the age of seventy-six were years of unhindered
productiveness. Half a dozen books came from his pen. His
ripened powers were permitted their full expression even in the
AUGUSTUS HOPKINS STRONG 241
last month of his life, when he delivered in Chicago seven lec-
tures, — at McCormick Theological Seminary, the Northern
Baptist Theological Seminary, and at the University of
Chicago. On Sunday morning, November sixth, he was pre-
vailed upon to make the Communion Day address at the
Second Baptist Church in Chicago. On November 28th, the
day before his death, eighty-five years old, he dictated the
last words of his new "Primer of Christian Theology."
He was a citizen of the world, yet he belongs to Roch-
ester. Here he was born. Here the supreme change of life
overtook him. Here he did his greatest work. Rochester's
lasting names are the list of his friendships; Rochester's ideals
in no small part the story of what he has been. Early in life
he received from his father the solemn charge of family solid-
arity and passed it on to his children. It was but part of his
wider loyalty to church and school, to home and friends, to
native place, to all that he held dear. Above his hearth-stone
are words that remain though he is gone and faithfully des-
cribe him:
"True to the kindred points of heaven
and home."
CHRONOLOGICAL
LIST OF PAPERS READ
BEFORE
THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Chronological List of Papers
Read before The Rochester Historical Society
1888 — April 6. First paper at Mrs. Perkins', by Mrs. Jane
Marsh Parker, on John Gait's novel "Laurie Todd," (1828),
the scene of which was laid in part in the village of Rochester
and other localities in the Genesee Valley.
1888 — June 14. "The Opening of the Genesee Country,"
by Mrs. Jane Marsh Parker.
1888— June 14. "Memorial of Gen. A. W. Riley," by
Henry E. Rochester.
1888 — November 30. "Early Days in Rochester,- Riparian
Rights Along the Genesee River," by Henry E. Rochester.
1888 — November 30. "Mary Jemison, the White Woman
of the Genesee, ' ' by Mrs. Jane Marsh Parker.
1889 — ^January 4. "Three Episodes in the History of the
Genesee Valley," by George Moss.
1889— January 4. "The One-Hundred- Acre Tract," writ-
ten by Henry E. Rochester ; read by Miss Jennie Rochester.
1889 — February 1. "History and Description of the Gene-
see River and Western New York," by Henry E. Rochester.
1889— April 5. "The Phelps and Gorham Purchase vnth
Special Reference to the City of Rochester," by Howard L.
Osgood.
1889— April 5. "The Union League (March, 1863)," by
Mrs. Jane Marsh Parker.
1889 — May 3. "Rochester in Ancient History," by Mrs.
Jane Marsh Parker.
1889— June 13. "Memorial, of Henry E. Rochester," by
Judge James L. Angle.
1889-^une 13. "Memorial, Poetical Tribute, to Henry
E. Rochester," by Mrs. C. M. Curtis.
1889 — June 13. "The Aboriginal History of the Genesee
Country and Its Terminology," by Mr. George H. Harris.
1889— June 13. "The Work Accomplished by Other His-
246 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
torical Societies in the United States," by Mrs. Jane Marsh
Parker.
1889 — November 9. "Pioneers of the Genesee Valley — the
Markhams." by Mr. George H. Harris.
1889— November 9. "The Artist Spy," written by Mr.
George H. Ely ; read by Mrs. Seth H. Terry.
1889— November 9. "Colonial Laws of 1664," by Judge
James L. Angle.
1889 — December 13. Poem, "Gleanings." (on the prog-
ress of the city), bj^ Mrs. Katherine J. Dowling.
1889— December 13. "Biographical Sketch of the late
Henry E. Peck, Minister to Hayti. ' ' by ^Trs. Jane Marsh Parker.
1890 — January 10. "Reminiscences of Rochester from
1817 to 1830." by Dr. F. DeW. Ward, Geneseo, N. Y. Supple-
mental Reminiscences, by Dr. Augustus H. Strong.
1890— February 14. "The Public Schools of Rochester,"
by S. A. Ellis.
1890— March 14. "Biographical Sketch of the Late Dr.
Chester Dewey," by Mrs. C. M. Curtis.
1890 — March 14. "Music in Rochester." by Mr. Herve
D. Wilkins.
1890— April 7. "The Antiquities of Mt. Hope." by Judge
James L. Angle.
1890 — April 7. Mrs. Gerard Arink recited a poem pre-
pared by Elihu Spencer at the time of the dedication of Mt.
Hope.
1890— April 7. "The Last Indian Sacrifice." written by
the late Seth H. Terry: read by Mrs. Seth H. Terry.
1890 — May 9. "Transportation in the Early Days of
Western New York," by Mr. George Moss.
1890— June 13. "Mem.orial of Mrs. M. B. Anderson,"
by Mrs. Emil Kuiehling.
IS^O— November 14. "Rochester's First Things." by Dr.
F. DeW. Ward.
1890— DecemJ>er 12. --The Story of the Massacre at
Cherry Valley," by Mrs. William S. Little.
1891 — Tanuary 9. "The Hnndred-Acre Tract." by Mr.
Howard L. Osgood.
LIST OF PAPERS READ 247
1891 — February 13. "Interviewing a Statesman," (Henry
Clay), by Charles E. Fitch.
1891 — February 13. "Early Experiences in Western New
York ; and Indian Traditions of Bare Hill, Near Canandaigua, "
by Judge T. M. Howell.
1891 — March 13. "Reminiscences of Mrs. Hiram Blanch-
ard," by Mr. Charles H. Wiltsie.
1891— March 13. "Recollections of Early Rochester,"
by Col. Josiah W. Bissell.
1891 — March 13. "Facts as to the Daily American and
Leonard W. Jerome," by William F. Peck.
1891— April 10. "The Geology of the Region of the
Genesee River," by Prof. Herman LeRoy Fairchild, of the
University of Rochester.
1891— April 10. "Early Reminiscences," written by Col.
J. W. Bissell, and read by Charles E. Fitch.
1891 — May 8. "Memorial of Judge James L. Angle,"
by Dr. Augustus H. Strong.
1891 — May 8. "Report as to Enos Stone's House, the
First Frame Building in Rochester," by Clinton Rogers.
1891— November 13. ' ' The Story of the Rochester Parks, ' '
by Dr. Edward Mott Moore, Sr.
1891— December 11. "Old Bast Avenue," by George
H. Humphrey.
1891 — December 11. "Reminiscences of Mrs. Eliza M,
Reid, the Widow of Dr. W. W. Reid " by Mrs. Jane Marsh
Parker.
1892— January 8. "The Magic of a Voice," (on the
subject of the Finney re\'ivals), by Mr. Harold Pomeroy
Brewster.
1892 — February 12. "Rochester in the Forties," by Dr.
Porter Farley.
1892— March 11. "Memorial of Mrs. C. M. Curtis," by
Mrs. Jane Marsh Parker.
1892 — March 11. "Edwin Scrantom, " prepared by Mrs.
Bertha Scrantom Pool and read b^' Charles E. Fitch ; also a
poem by same author entitled, "The Old Log Cabin to Powers
Block."
248 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
1892— March 11. "Henry Clay's First Visit to Rochester
in 1836," by Ira L. Otis.
1892 — March 11. "Early Reminiscences of Rochester,"
prepared by Mrs. Mary B. Allen King (93 years old), and
read by Mrs. Jane Marsh Parker.
1892— April 8. "Corn Hill in the Old Third Ward," pre-
pared by George H. Harris and read by Mrs. Jane Marsh
Parker.
1892— April 8. "The Flood of 1865," prepared by Mrs.
Melissa M. Farrar; read by Mrs. Jane Marsh Parker.
1892— May 13. "The Struggle for Monroe County," by
Howard L. Osgood.
1892— ^November 11. "Gov. Blacksnake," by James G.
• Johnson, of Salamanca.
1892— November 11. "The Early Bar of Rochester," in-
cluding a sketch of the life of his father, Judge Harvey Hum-
phrey, by George H. Humphrey.
1892— December 9. "The Jesuit Relations," by Mrs. Jane
Marsh Parker.
1892 — December 9. "Reminiscences of Miss Araminta
Doolittle and the Rochester Female Academy," by Mrs. Alice
Hopkins.
1893— January 13. "The Old Steamboat Hotel," by Pom-
eroy P. Dickinson.
1893 — January 13. "A Letter of Reminiscences." writ-
ten by Mrs. Marietta McCracken Langworthy; read by
President Charles E. Fitch.
1893 — February 10. "A Princely and Unknown Exile in
America," by Henry C. Maine.
1893— March 10. "Niagara— Its Poets," by Frank H.
Severance, of Buffalo.
1893— March 10. "Behind the Scenes," (relating to the
Historical Entertainment given for the benefit of the Society)
by Mrs. Sarah Gay Galusha.
1893— April 20. "Reminiscences of the Early Settle-
ment of Riga, Monroe County," by Mrs. Horace Gay.
1893 — April 20. Annual Address by President Charles
E. Fitch.
LIST OF PAPERS READ 249
1893— May 12. "The Early Days of Brockport," by
Mrs. Mary J. Holmes.
1893— May 12. "Rochester's First Board of Trade," by
Erastus Darrow.
1893— November 10. "Red Jacket," by Mrs. Jane Marsh
Parker.
1893— November 10. ' ' Sketch of George H. Harris, ' ' pre-
pared by HoAvard L. Osgood; read by President Charles E.
Fitch.
1893— December 8. "The Early History of Sodus," by
Prof. L. H. Clark of Sodus.
1893— December 8. "Reminiscences of Rochester from
1820 to 1830," by Jesse W. Hatch.
1894— January 12. ' ' Climatology of Western New York, ' '
by Arthur L. White.
1891 — February 9. "The Clover Street Seminary," by
Joseph B. Bloss.
1894 — March 9. "Amusements in Early Rochester," by
George M. Elwood.
1894 — April 13. "Rochester, Its Founders and Its Found-
ing," by Howard L. Osgood.
1894 — April 13. "Elisha Johnson," prepared by William
F. Peck ; read by Mrs. Jane INIarsh Parker.
1894— May 18. "A Vision of Seventy Years," by William
W. Mumford.
1894— November 9. "The Old-Time Shoemaker and Shoe-
making," by Jesse W. Hatch.
1895 — January 11. "The Sons of the American Revolu-
tion," by Edward G. Miner, Jr.
1895— January 11. "The Daughters of the American
Revolution," by Mrs. R. A. Sibley.
1895— January 11. "The Colonial Dames," by Mrs. E.
B. Angell.
1895— March 8. "The Twenty-Thousand- Acre Tract and
Gideon King," by Moses B. King.
1895— April 19. "The Old Third Ward," by Charles
F. Pond.
250 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
1895 — April 19. "Bull's Head," prepared by George W.
Fisher; read by Miss Jane E. Rochester.
1895— April 19. "Memorial of Miss Elizabeth P. Hall,"
prepared by James H. Kelly; read by Charles H. Wiltsie.
1895 — May 24. "The Caneadea Reservation and Some
Upper Genesee Indians," bj^ John S. Minard of Fillmore.
1895 — November 8. "Mary Jemison," prepared by
F. VanDorn, of Mt. Morris; read by Howard L. Osgood.
1895 — November 8. '"Architecture of Rochester. New
and Old, " by Frederick W. Warner.
1896 — January 10. "Notes on Seneca Indians, and on
John Greig and Others," by Mrs. William Chappell.
1896 — January 10. "A Panorama of Early Days in Ro-
chester, ' ' prepared by Mrs. E. J. Varney ; read by Miss An-
derson.
1896 — January 10. "Reasons of the British Failure to
Deliver Up the Frontier Forts till 1796," by Howard L. Osgood.
1896 — March 13. "Augustus Porter, a Pioneer of Western
New York," by Charles M. Robinson.
1896— May 8. "The Rochester Orphan Asylum," by
Mrs. William Chappell.
1896 — May 8. "Extracts from the Diary of Mr. Langs-
loAv, 1817," read by Howard L. Osgood.
1896— May 8. "Biography of Capt. Basil Hall, and His
Visit to Rochester, 1827," by President George M. Elwood.
18% — November 13. "Local Antiquarian Researches," by
Samuel P. Moulthrop.
1897 — January 8. "The Ice Age in Monroe County,"
by Dr. Porter Farley.
1897— March 12. "The Court Houses of Monroe County,"
prepared by H. W. Conklin ; read by Adelbert Cronise.
1897— May 14. "Ga-o-ya-de-o and 0-wa-is-ki," by John
S. Minard.
1897— November 12. "Western New York in the Co-
lonial Period," by Samuel P. Moulthrop.
1898 — January 14. "Sullivan's Campaign," by Simon
L. Adler.
1898 — January 24. Formal addresses of congratulation
LIST OF PAPERS READ 251
and eulogy were offered by Dr. Augustus H. Strong, and Prof.
W. C. Morey, and informal remarks by E. R. Andrews, Dr.
Porter Farley, and Franklin S. Hanford, in honor of Dr.
Edward Mott Moore, the first President of the Societj'. Ad-
dress by Dr. Moore describing the changes in Rochester since
his advent.
1898— February 11. "Soldiers of the Revolution," by
Mrs. William Chappell.
1898— March 14. "The Autobiography of Samuel Miles
Hopkins." by Dr. Augustus H. Strong.
1898 — May 9. "The One Hundred and Fortieth Regiment
in the Battle of the Wilderness," by Dr. Porter Farley.
1898 — November 14. "Experiences in the Spanish War
as Executive Officer, on Board U. S. Ship Peoria," by William
G. David.
1899 — January 9. ' ' The Niagara Frontier, ' ' by Hon. Peter
A. Porter of Niagara Falls.
1899— March 13. "Early Military Companies of Roches-
ter," by Jesse W. Hatch.
1899— May 8. "Rochester in the Forties." by Geo. E.
Slocum, of Scottsville.
1899 — November 13. "A Trip Through the Konesaghs
(Conesus) Country," by Samuel P. Moulthrop.
1900 — January 8. "Money and Money Units in the Ameri-
can Colonies," by Simon L. Adler.
1900 — March 12. "Reminiscences of Enos Stone," by
William Talmadge Stone.
1900— May 14. "The British Evacuation of the United
States, ' ' by Howard L. Osgood.
1900 — November 12. "Montresor on the Niagara," by
Frank H. Severance.
1901— January 14. "Goat Island," by Hon. Peter A.
Porter, of Niagara Falls.
1901 — March 11. "Recollections of Andersonville Prison,"
by Dr. Rob Roy Converse.
1901— May 13. "A King of France in Central New York. ' '
by Adelbert Cronise.
1901 — November 11. "Who Discovered the Genesee Riv-
252 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
er?" "Correspondence of Col. Rochester," and "Indian Al-
lan," by Howard L. Osgood.
1902— January 13. "Old Colonial China," by Mrs. Fred-
erick W. Yates.
1902— :\Iarch 10. ' ' Memorial of Dr. Edward Mott Moore,
Sr.," by William F. Peck.
1902— March 10. "Old Carthage," by Mrs. Horace B.
Hooker.
1902 — May 12. "Proposed Division of Indian Lands on
the Cattaraugus Reservation," by Hon. John Van Voorhis.
1903— March 9. "The Early Police of Rochester," by
William F. Peck.
1903— May 11. "The Deaf Mute Institute," by Prof.
Zenas F. Westervelt.
1904— January 11. "The Female Charitable Society," by
Mrs. Oscar Craig.
1901— March 14. "Robert Morris," by George Chandler
Bragdon.
1904 — May 9. "John Jay, Patriot, Jurist and Statesman,"
by George Alfred Stringer, of Buffalo.
1904— November 14. "Early Settlers by the Falls of the
Genesee," by Mrs. Katherine J. Dowling.
1904 — November 14. "The Genesee," a poem read by
John G. Allen.
1905 — January 9. "Sanitary Control of the City's Water
Supply." by Prof. C. W. Dodge, of the University of Rochester.
1905 — January 9. "The Genesee Valley in the Navy,"
by Rear-Admiral Franklin S. Hanford.
1905— March 13. "Rambles About Rochester," by Na-
thaniel S. Olds.
1905— May 8. "Sullivan's Campaign," by William Elliot
Griffis.
190.5— November 13. "The Patriotism of Western New
York," by Hon. Peter A. Porter, of Niagara Falls.
1905— December 11. "Sir William Johnson," by Hon.
Hugh Hastings, State Historian.
1906— February 12. "Totiakton, the Metropolis of the
Senecas," by Nathaniel S. Olds.
LIST OF PAPERS READ 253
1906— May 10. "Memorial of George May Elwood," by
William F. Peck.
1906 — May 7. "The First Presbyterian Church of Roch-
ester," by Rev. George D. Miller, D. D.
1907 — January 29. Recitations of humorous stories in
the negro dialect interspersed with songs, by Miss Finch.
1907 — March 4. "Difficulties Attending the Organization
of Monroe County," by Willis K. Gillette.
1907— April 16. Recitation of "Hiawatha," by Miss
Mabel Powers.
1907 — May 27. "Chateaubriand and the Genesee Valley,"
by Frank H. Severance, Secretary of the Buffalo Historical
Society.
1907 — November 11. "The Courts and Bar of Monroe
County," by John H. Hopkins.
1908 — January 14. "Development of Civic Beauty," by
Charles M. Robinson.
1908 — March 6. "Indian Folk-Lore, Oratory and Ro-
mance of the Genesee Country," reading by Miss Mabel
Powers.
1908 — December 1. "France in the Revolutionary War,"
by the Hon. James Breck Perkins.
1909 — January 5. "Historical Sketch of Music in Roches-
ter," by Richard H. Lansing.
1909— March 2. "Memorial of William F. Peck," by
William H. Samson.
1909— March 2. "The Repeal of the Stamp Act," by
Ernest R. Clarke.
1912 — September 13. "The Rochester Historical Society,"
Addresses by Henry W. Morgan, Frank H. Severance, Doctor
Rush Rhees and William F. Yust, upon the occasion of the
formal opening of the Society's Museum at Exposition Park.
1913 — March 27. "Memorial of Mrs. Jane Marsh Parker,"
by Edward R. Foreman.
1914 — January 19. ' ' Indian Life and Customs in the Great
Northwest." Lantern talk by Fred R. Meyer.
1914 — April 27. "History of Music in Rochester," by
Richard H, Lansing.
254 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
1914 — June 25. Rev. Paul Moore Strayer, Elmer Adler
and Prof. Charles D. Vail gave addresses on the subject of
"Mary Jemison. "
1914 — November 27. "The Larger Meaning of the War,"
by Prof. Franklin H. Giddings, of Columbia University.
1914 — December 15. "Rochester's Geological History,"
by Prof. Herman Leroy Fairchild, of the University of Roch-
ester.
1915 — ^January 19. "Reminiscences of Persons and Places
in Early Rochester," by Charles F. Pond.
1915— February 22. "A Gentleman in Politics," (Wash-
ington), by President Rush Rhees of the University of Ro-
chester.
1915 — March 22. "Reminiscences of John Sylvester Wil-
son from May, 1822." read by Frederick M. Whitney, Mr.
Wilson being present in person, one hundred years of age,
March 20, 1915.
1915 — June 7. "Colonial Architecture in the Genesee
Valley," by Claude Bragdon.
1915— November 29. "A Sketch of the Life of Lewis
Henry Morgan, with Personal Reminiscences," by Dr. Charles
A. Dewey.
1915— November 29. "Lewis Henry Morgan, Scientist,
Philosopher, Humanist, ' ' by Algernon Sidney Crapsey.
1915 — December 27. "Reminiscences of Early Roches-
ter," by Rev. Augustus Hopkins Strong, D. D.
1916— March 27. "Annual Address," by President Ed-
ward R. Foreman.
1916— March 27. "The Municipal Museum and The Ro-
chester Historical Society," by Curator Edward D. Putnam.
1916 — April 28. "Rochester's Contribution to the Twen-
tieth Century," by Prof. Laurence Bradford Packard, of the
University of Rochester.
1916— May 26. "Rochester's Public Schools," by Miss
Katherine E. Coombs.
1916— May 26. "The Rochester City Club," by Clarence
T. Leighton.
1916 — October 27. " Reminiscences of Anti-Slavery Days, ' '
LIST OF PAPERS READ 255
by Horace McGuire. Through Mr. McGuire's thoughtful gen-
erosity this paper had been printed and copies were distributed
to members of the audience at the close of the meeting. "Con-
cerning Rochester. ' ' by Mrs. Frank F. Dow.
1916 — November 27. ''Colonel Nathaniel Rochester and
the One-Hundred-Acre Tract," by Mrs. William Chappell.
1916 — December 28. "The Historic and Prehistoric In-
dians of Western New York," illustrated with lantern slides
and maps, by Arthur C. Parker, Archaeologist of New York
State.
1917 — March 3 . "The Origin and Development of the
National Emblem of the United States of America," illustrated
with lantern slides, by John White Johnston.
1917— April 3D. "Some Reminiscences of the Civil War,"
by Colonel Samuel C. Pierce. "Some Practical Problems con-
fronting the American People Today as a Result of the War,"
by Jasper H. Wright.
1917— October 29. "The Relation of Historical and Patri-
otic Societies to the present World Crisis, ' ' by Dr. James Sulli-
van, Director of the Division of Archives and History, New
York State Department of Education.
1918— April 15. ' ' The Grandest Playground in the World, ' '
by Dr. Rossiter Johnson. This paper dealing with the City of
Rochester was printed and sent to all members of the Society
and to all organizations on the exchange list.
1918 — April 26. Annual Address of President Edward R.
Foreman and reports of officers. Printed and sent to all the
members of the Society.
1919 — January 29. "The Indians of Western New York
and their Influence on Civilization," by Dr. Sherman Williams.
1919— February 28. "The Evolution of the British Labor
Situation," by Prof. Justin W. Nixon, of Rochester Theological
Seminary.
1919 — March 11. "The Beginnings of Geology in Roch-
ester, ' ' illustrated with lantern slides, by Prof. George H. Chad-
wick, of the University of Rochester.
1919 — April 25. "The Mansion House of our first Mayor,
Jonathan Child," by Samuel Moore.
256 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
1919^ — December 1. "Some Personal Experiences of an
Editor, ' ' by Prof. Burgess Johnson, of Vassar College.
1920 — January 8. "Tories and Loyalists in New York
during the American Revolution, ' ' by Prof. Alexander C. Flick,
of Syracuse University,
1920 — February 12. "Lincoln's Message to the Present
Generation," by Dr. James Sullivan, State Historian.
1920 — March 11. "Recent Information relating to the Hol-
land Land Purchase," by Prof. Paul D. Evans, of Syracuse Uni-
versity.
1920— October 6. "The History of Printing," by Henry
Lewis Bullen.
1920— October 20. "Pilgrim Fathers," illustrated with
lantern slides, by William Webster Ellsworth.
1920 — November 16. "Scenic and Historic Sites of the
Empire State," by Dr. Edward Hageman Hall, illustrated
with lantern slides.
1921^anuary 14. "France as I found it in 1920," by
Frank H. Severance, Secretary of the Buffalo Historical So-
ciety.
1921 — February 4. "The Writing of French History in
America," by Professor Charles Homer Haskins, of Harvard
University.
1921 — April 12. "Exploration in China, illustrated with
lantern slides, by Frederick G. Clapp, formerly of
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
1921— May 3. "What Shall We Do to Hand Down the
History of Monroe County's Part in the World War," by
Doctor James Sullivan, New York State Historian.
1921— May 26. At Letchworth Park, "The Genesee
Country Historical Federation," by Edward R. Foreman.
Published in the Proceedings of the Letchworth Memorial
Association, 1922.
1921 — October 11. "Henry A. Ward — Reminiscence and
Appreciation," by Rev. Augustus H. Strong, D. D.
1921 — November 14. "Rochester — Backgrounds of Its
History," by Raymond H. Arnot.
1921— December 12. "The Ancient People of Chaco
LIST OF PAPERS READ 257
Canyon, New Mexico," by Dr. Edgar L. Hewitt, Director of
the Museum at Santa Fe.
1922— January 8. "The City of Tryon and Vicinity," by
A. Emerson Babcock.
1922— February 13. "The Western Door of the Long-
House," by Hon. Lockwood R. Doty, County Judge and Surro-
gate, Livingston county.
1922' — March 13. "Rochester in Literature," by Dr.
Rossiter Johnson.
1922 — April 24. "Picturesque Rochester," by Edward S.
Siebert, illustrated by a large group of original drawings
and etchings.
1922— May 26. At Letchworth Park, "Courage," by
Hon. Charles E. Ogden; "The Genesee Country in the
United States Supreme Court," by Edward R. Foreman.
Published in the Proceedings of the Letchworth Memorial
Association, 1922.
1922 — June 10 and 17. Field Meetings at the Indian
Landing, "The Landing Road," by A. Emerson Babcock.
1922 — September 16. Joint meeting of The Rochester
Bar Association and The Rochester Plistorical Society in honor
of the Pioneers of Rochester, held in the Monroe County Court
House for the erection of bronze tablet to John Mastick, Esq.
Addresses, "The Pioneers and the Law," by Hon.
George A. Carnahan, President of The Rochester Bar Associa-
tion; "The Life and Times of John Mastick, Pioneer Lawyer
of Rochester," by Hon. John D. Lynn, United States Marshal.
1922 — November 4. "Historic Traces in New York," by
Dr. Frank Bergen Kelley, of the City History Club of
New York.
Note as to Published Pajjers: — Volume I, of the Publications of
The Eochester Historical Society (1892) contains the following printed
papers:
"Notes on the Aboriginal Terminology of the Genesee Country,"
by George H. Harris, read before the Society, June 13, 1889.
"History of the Title of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase," by
Howard L. Osgood, read before the Society, April 5, 1889.
258 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
"Three Episodes in the History of the Geuesee Valley," by George
Moss, read before the Society, January 4, 1889.
"The Opening of the Genesee Country," by Mrs. Jane Marsh
Parker, read before the Society, June 14, 1888.
"The Genesee River and Western New York," by Henry E. Roch-
ester, read before the Society, February 1, 1889.
"History of the Public Schools of the City of Rochester," by S.
A. Ellis, read before the Society, February 14, 1890.
"Music in Rochester," by Herve D. Wilkins, read before the So-
ciety, March 14, 1890.
Volume I, also contains the following Memorial Sketches: "Henry
E. Rochester," by Jane E. Rochester: "Henry O'Reilly," by Mrs.
Jane Marsh Parker; "Dr. Chester Dewey," by C. M. Curtis; "Gen.
A. W. Riley," by a Committee, Henry E. Rochester, Frederick A. Whit-
tlesey and Charles E. Fitch; "Henry E. Peck," by Charles E. Fitch;
"Hiram Sibley" by Charles E. Fitch; "Judge James Lansing Angle,"
by William F.' Peck.
Volume II, of the Publications of The Rochester Historical Society
(1898) contains the following paper: "Sketch of the Public and Pri-
vate Life of Samuel Miles Hopkins, of Salem, Connecticut," written
by himself, and commented upon by Rev. Augustus Hopkins Strong,
D.D.; read before the Society, March 14, 1898.
Some of the papers read before the Society have appeared in full
in the local newspapers and some have been issued as separate pamph-
lets. The more important papers will be printed at some time in the
volumes of the Publication Fund Series.
OFFICERS OF THE ROCHESTER
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
SINCE ORGANIZATION
Officers of The Rochester Historical
Society Since Organization
Elected March 3. 1888— President, Edward Mott Moore.
Vice-President, Augustus Hopkins Strong. Corresponding
Secretary, Mrs. Jane Marsh Parker. Recording Secretary,
William F. Peck. Treasurer, Gilman H. Perkins. Librarian,
Herman K. Phinney.
Elected April 5, 1889— President, Edward Mott Moore.
Vice-President, Augustus Hopkins Strong. Corresponding
Secretary, Mrs. Jane Marsh Parker. Recording Secretary.
William F. Peck. Treasurer, Gilman H. Perkins. Librarian,
Herman K. Phinney.
Elected April 7, 1890 — President, Rev. Augustus Hopkins
Strong, D. D. Vice-President, Judge James Lansing Angle.
Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. Jane Marsh Parker. Record-
ing Secretary, William F. Peck. Treasurer, Gilman H. Per-
kins. Librarian, Adelbert Cronise.
Elected April 10, 1891 — President, Hon. James Lansing
Angle. Vice-President, Gilman H. Perkins. Corresponding
Secretary, Mrs. Jane Marsh Parker. Recording Secretary,
William F. Peck. Treasurer, Charles H. Wiltsie. Librarian,
Howard L. Osgood.
Note: — Judge Augle died May 4, 1891. Gilman H. Perkins de-
clined to serve as Vice-President, and his resignation was accepted
May 10, 1891. To fill these vacancies, on May 10, 1891. Rev. Augustua
Hopkins Strong, D.D., was elected President and Charles E. Fitch, Vice-
President, for the ensuing year.
Elected April 8, 1892— President, Charles E. Fitch. Vice-
President, William C. Morey. Corresponding Secretary, Mrs.
Jane Marsh Parker. Recording Secretary, William F. Peck.
Treasurer, Charles H. Wiltsie. Librarian, Howard L. Osgood.
Note: — Mr. O'^good resigned as librarian, May 13, 1892, and on
November 11, 1892, Miss Jane E. Rochester was elected to take his
place.
Elected April 20. 1893— President, Charles E. Fitch. Vice-
262 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
President William C. Morey. Corresponding Secretary, Mrs.
Jane Marsh Parker. Recording Secretary, William F. Peck.
Treasurer. Charles H. Wiltsie. Librarian, Miss Jane E. Ro-
chester.
Elected April 13, 1894 — President, John H. Rochester.
Vice-President, Frank W. Elw,.ya. Corresponding Secretary,
Mrs. Jane Marsh Parker. Recording Secretary, William F.
Peck Treasurer, Charles H. Wiltsie. Librarian, Miss Jane E.
Rochester.
Elected April 19, 1895 — President, John H. Rochester.
Vice-President, Frank W. Elwood. Corresponding Secretary,
Mrs. Jane Marsh Parker. Recording Secretary, William F.
Peck. Treasurer, Charles H. Wiltsie. Librarian, Miss Jane E.
Rochester.
Note: — Mrs. Jane Marsh Parker resigned from the office of Cor-
responding Secretary, October 10, 189.5, and Adelbert Cronise was elected
to fill the vacancy, November 8, 1895.
Elected March 13, 1896— President, George M. Elwood.
Vice-President, Howard L. Osgood. Corresponding Secretary,
Adelbert Cronise. Recording Secretary, William F. Peck.
Treasurer, Charles H. Wiltsie. Librarian, Miss Jane E. Roch-
ester.
Elected March 12, 1897— President, George M. Elwood.
Vice-President, Howard L. Osgood. Corresponding Secre-
tary, Adelbert Cronise. Recording Secretary, William F.
Peck. Treasurer, Charles H. Wiltsie. Librarian, Miss Jane E.
Rochester.
Elected March 14, 1898 — President. Porter Farley. Vice-
President, Oilman H. Perkins. Corresponding Secretary, Adel-
bert Cronise. Recording Secretary, William F. Peck. Treas-
urer, George M. Elwood. Librarian, Miss Jane E. Rochester.
Elected March 13, 1899 — ^President, Porter Farley. Vice-
President. Ezra R. Andrews. Corresponding Secretary, Adel-
bert Cronise. Recording Secretary, William F. Peck. Treas-
urer, George M. Elwood. Librarian, Miss Jane E. Rochester.
Elected May 14, 1900 — President, Adelbert Cronise. Vice-
OFFICERS SINCE ORGANIZATION 263
President, E. H. Howard. Corresponding Secretary, Howard
L. Osgood. Recording Secretary, William F. Peck. Treasurer,
George M. Elwood. Librarian, Miss Jane E. Rochester.
Elected May 13, 1901— President, Adelbert Cronise. Vice-
President, E. H. Howard. Corresponding Secretary, Howard
L. Osgood. Recording Secretary, William F. Peck. Treasurer,
George M. Elwood. Librarian. Miss Jane E. Rochester.
Elected May 12, 1902— President, E. H. Howard. Vice-
President, Clinton Rogers. Corresponding Secretary, Howard
L. Osgood. Recording Secretary, William F. Peck. Treasurer,
George M. Elwood. Librarian, Miss Jane E, Rochester.
1903 — (No Election. Officers of Previous Year Holding
Over.) President, E. II. Howard. Vice-President. Clinton
Rogers. Corresponding Secretary, Howard L. Osgood. Re-
cording Secretary, William F. Peck. Treasurer, George M.
Elwood. Librarian, Miss Jane E. Rochester.
Elected March 14. 1904 — President, William H. Samson.
Vice-President, Clinton Rogers. Corresponding Secretary,
Howard L. Osgood. Recording Secretary, William F. Peck.
Treasurer. George M. Elwood. Librarian, Miss Jane E. Roch-
ester.
Elected March 13, 1905 — President, William H. Samson.
Vice-President, Clinton Rogers. Corresponding Secretary,
Nathaniel S. Olds. Recording Secretary, William F. Peck.
Treasurer, George M. Elwood.
Note: — March 25, 190.'), Miss Jean Gilmaii was appointed Librarian.
Miss Gilman resigned, March, 1906, and Miss Grant was appointed to
fill the vacancy. March 25, 1905, Nathaniel S. Olds, Corresponding
Secretary, volunteered to classify and arrange the exhibits as Curator.
Elected March 12, 1906 — President Clinton Rogers. Vice-
President, Edward G. Miner. Corresponding Secretary, Na-
thaniel S. Olds. Recording Secretary, William F. Peck. Treas-
urer, George M. Elwood.
Note: — May 7, 1906, J. Vincent Alexander was elected Treasurer
to fill the vacancy caused by the death of George M. Elwood.
Elected March 4. 1907 — President Clinton Rogers. Vice-
President, Edward G. Miner. Corresponding Secretary, Na-
264 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
thaniel S. Olds. Recording Secretary, William F. Peck. Treas-
urer, J. Vincent Alexander.
Elected March 6, 1908 — President, Edward G. Miner. Vice-
President, Richard H. Lansing. Corresponding Secretary, Na-
thaniel S. Olds. Recording Secretary, William F. Peck. Treas-
urer, J. Vincent Alexander.
Note: — February 27, 1909, Joseph B. Bloss was elected Eecording
Secretary to fill the vacancy caused by the death of William F. Peck.
Elected March 2, 1909 — President, Edward G. Miner. Vice-
President, Richard H. Lansing. Corresponding Secretary, Na-
thaniel S. Olds. Recording Secretary, Joseph B. Bloss. Treas-
urer, J. Vincent Alexander.
Board Continued. 1910 — President, Edward G. Miner. Vice-
President, Richard H. Lansing. Corresponding Secretary, Na-
thaniel S. Olds. Recording Secretary, Joseph B. Bloss. Treas-
urer, J. Vincent Alexander.
Board Continued, 1911 — President, Edward G. Miner. Vice-
President, Richard II. Lansing. Corresponding Secretary, Na-
thaniel S. Olds. Recording Secretary, Joseph B. Bloss. Treas-
urer, J. Vincent Alexander.
Board Continued, 1912— President, Edward G. Miner. Vice-
President, Richard H. Lansing. Corresponding Secretary, Na-
thaniel S. Olds. Recording Secretary. Joseph B. Bloss. Treas-
urer, J. Vincent Alexander.
Note: — Mrs. Esther Chapin Marsh resigned from the position of
Librarian and Custodian, September 1, 1912, and Eobert T. Webster was
appointed to fill the vacancy.
Note: — Joseph B. Bloss resigned from the office of Eecording Secre-
tary, September 23, 1912, and Edward E. Foreman was elected to fill
the vacancy.
Elected March 27, 1913— President, Charles P. Pond. Vice-
President, Richard H. Lansing, Cotrresponding Secretary,
None Elected. Recording Secretary, Edward R. Foreman.
Treasurer, J. Vincent Alexander.
Elected April 27. 1914 — President, Edward R. Foreman.
Vice-President. ITarvey F. Remington. Corresponding Secre-
OFFICERS SINCE ORGANIZATION 265
tary, Raymond G. Dann. Recording Secretary, William F.
Yust. Treasurer, J. Vincent Alexander.
Note: — June 22, 1914, Edward D. Putnam was appointed Curator
and Librarian to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Eobert
T. Webster.
Special Note: — On June 25, 1914, Mrs. Caroline E. Perkins was
elected to be the Honorary President of the Society during her lifetime;
and as such to be at all times, ex-officio, a member of the Board of
Managers. Mrs. Perkins died March 21, 1919.
Elected March 22, 1915 — President, Edward R. Foreman.
Vice-President, Harvey F. Remington. Recording Secretary,
"William F. Yust. Corresponding Secretary, J. Vincent Alex-
ander. Treasurer, Raymond G. Dann.
Elected March 27, 1916 — President, Edward R. Foreman.
Vice-President, Harvey F. Remington. Recording Secretary,
William F. Yust. Corresponding Secretary, J. Vincent Alex-
ander. Treasurer, Raymond G. Dann.
Elected March 31, 1917 — President, Edward R. Foreman.
Vice-President, Harvey F. Remington. Recording Secretary,
William F. Yust. Corresponding Secretary, J. Vincent Alex-
ander. Treasurer, Raymond G. Dann.
Elected April 26, 1918 — President, Edward R. Foreman.
Vice-President, Harvey F. Remington. Recording Secretary,
William F. Yust. Corresponding Secretary, J. Vincent Alex-
ander. Treasurer, Raymond G. Dann.
Note: — Edward R. Foreman resigned as President, December 14,
1918, having entered Y. M. C. A. war work, and was succeeded by Judge
Harvey F. Remington.
Elected March 11, 1919 — President, Harvey F. Remington.
Vice-President, Charles H. Wiltsie. Recording Secretary,
William F. Yust. Corresponding Secretary, J. Vincent Alex-
ander. Treasurer, Raymond G. Dann.
Elected March 11, 1920 — President, Harvey F. Remington.
First Vice-President, Charles H. Wiltsie. Second Vice-Presi-
dent, Mrs. Anah B. Yates. Recording Secretary, William F.
Yust. Corresponding Secretary. J. Vincent Alexander. Treas-
urer, Raymond G. Dann.
266 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Elected March 29, 1921 — President, Harvey F. Remington.
First Vice-President, Charles H. Wiltsie. Second Vice-Presi-
dent, Mrs. Anah B. Yates. Recording Secretary, William F.
Yust. Corresponding Secretary, J. Vincent Alexander. Treas-
urer, Raymond G. Dann.
Note: — Judge Harvey F. Eemington resigned as President, October
11, 1921, and was succeeded by Charles H. Wiltsie.
Elected April 24, 1922— President, Charles H. Wiltsie.
First Vice-President, Edward R. Foreman. Second Vice-
President, Mrs. Anah B. Yates. Recording Secretary, William
F. Yust. Corresponding Secretary, J. Vincent Alexander.
Treasurer, Raymond G. Dann.
MANAGERS OF THE ROCHESTER
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
SINCE ORGANIZATION
Managers of The Rochester Historical
Society Since Organization
As originally adopted, the Constitution of The Rochester
Historical Society provided for a Board of Managers con-
sisting of seven persons, other than the officers, to be ap-
pointed annually by the President, to manage the affairs of the
Society. By revision, adopted May 12, 1893, the Board of
Managers was declared to be constituted of seven persons,
four officers of the Society (President, Vice-President, Re-
cording Secretary, and Treasurer) and three other members
of the Society, to be elected annually, by the Society, upon the
nomination of the President. By revision, adopted March 13,
1905, the Board of Managers was increased to nine members,
five officers (President, Vice-President, Recording Secretary,
Corresponding Secretary and Treasurer) and four other mem-
bers of the Society, to be appointed annually by the President.
On February 28, 1919, the number was raised from nine
to eleven members, the five officers, four other members to be
appointed annually by the President, and the last two retiring
Presidents ex-officio. On March 11, 1920, it was increased to
twelve by the addition of a Second Vice-President, making six
elected officers, four other members appointed by the Presi-
dent, and the last two Presidents ex-officio.
The Board of Managers as originally constituted was con-
tinued until vacancies were created by death or resignation of
the members. Subsequent appointments to the Board, as re-
corded in the Minutes of the Society, appear below, this list
including only members other than officers. The names of
Officer-Managers can be found in the list of officers.
1888 — March 3. The first Board of Managers appointed
by President Edward Mott Moore, Sr., was as follows: Henry
E. Rochester, Mortimer F. Reynolds, Hiram Sibley, George E.
Mumford, James L. Angle, F. A. Whittlesey, W. C. Morey.
1889 — November 9. Charles E. Fitch and Sylvanus A.
270 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Ellis, were appointed to fill vacancies caused by the deaths of
Hiram Sihley and Henry E. Rochester.
1890 — May 9. Appointed by President Augustus H.
Strong, John H. Rochester, to fill a vacancy.
1891 — April 10. Existing Board reappointed by President
James Lansing Angle.
1892 — February 12. Appointed by President Augustus H.
Strong Dr. E. V. Stoddard and George Moss, to fill vacancies
occasioned by the deaths of Judge James L. Angle and George
E. Mumford.
1892— May 13. Appointed by President Charles E. Fitch,
Frank W. Elwood, to fill a vacancy.
1892 — November 11. Appointed by President Charles E.
Fitch, Howard L. Osgood, to succeed Mortimer F. Reynolds,
deceased.
1893— April 20. Appointed by President Charles E. Fitch,
William C. Morey, John H. Rochester, S. A. Ellis, George Moss,
Howard L. Osgood, Frank W. Elwood, Enoch V. Stoddard.
1894 — April 13. Nominated by President John H. Roches-
ter, and elected by the Society: Charles E. Fitch, Sylvanus
A. Ellis, Howard L. Osgood.
1896 — March 13. Nominated by President George M.
Elwood, and elected by the Society: Porter Farley, Ezra R.
Andrews, Clinton Rogers.
1897 — March 12. Nominated by President George M. El-
wood and elected by the Society: Clinton Rogers, Porter
Farley, Ezra R. Andrews.
1898— March 14. Nominated by President Porter Farley,
and elected by the Society : Ezra R. Andrews, Clinton Rogers,
Howard L. Osgood.
1899— March 13. Nominated by President Porter Farley,
and elected by the Society : Howard L. Osgood. Clinton Rogers,
George P. Humphrey.
1900 — November 12. Nominated by President Adelbert
Cronise, and elected by the Society: Clinton Rogers, Charles
P. Ford, George P. Humphrey.
190i_May 13. Nominated by President Adelbert Cronise,
MANAGERS SINCE ORGANIZATION 271
and elected by the Society : Clinton Rogers, Charles P. Ford,
George P. Humphrey.
1902 — May 12. Nominated by President E. H. Howard,
and elected by the Society : George P. Humphrey, Charles P.
Ford, Lauriston L. Stone.
1903 — No change.
1904 — ]\Iarch 26. Appointed by President William H.
Samson : Harold C. Kimball, Charles W. Dodge, Porter Farley,
Adelbert Cronise, Lauriston L. Stone.
1904 — July 1. Appointed by President William H. Sam-
son : Richard H. Lansing to take the place of Adelbert Cronise,
resigned.
1905 — March 18. Appointed by President William H. Sam-
son : Porter Farley, Harold C. Kimball, Charles Wright Dodge,
Richard H. Lansing,
1906 — March 31. Appointed by President Clinton Rogers :
William H. Samson, R. H. Lansing, R. T. Webster, W. C.
Edwards.
1908 — March 6. Appointed by President Edward G. Miner,
Jr. : William H. Samson, Wheelock Rider, Robert T. Webster,
Willis K. Gillette.
1909 — No change.
1910 — No change.
1911 — October 2. Appointed by President Edward G.
Miner, Jr. : C. Walter Smith, Elmer Adler, Charles F. Pond,
Willis K. Gillette.
1912 — No change.
1913 — No change.
1914 — May 12. Appointed by President Edward R. Fore-
man: Elmer Adler, Alvin H, Dewey, William J. Simpson,
Charles H. Wiltsie.
1915 — April 15. Reappointed by President Edward R.
Foreman : Elmer Adler, Alvin H. Dewey, William J. Simpson,
Charles H. Wiltsie.
1916 — March 24. Appointed by President Edward R. Fore-
man: William Herbert Wall to fill vacancy caused by resig-
nation of Elmer Adler.
1916 — May 8. Reappointed by President Edward R.
272 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Foreman : Alvin H. Dewey, William J. Simpson, William Her-
bert Wall, Charles H. Wiltsie.
1917 — Reappointed by President Edward R. Foreman : Al-
vin H. Dewey, Charles H. Wiltsie, Mrs. H. B. Dow, and Edmund
Oeumpaugh 2nd, the latter two replacing W. J. Simpson and
William Herbert Wall, resigned.
1918. — Reappointed by President Edward R. Foreman:
Alvin H. Dewey, Charles H. Wiltsie, Mrs. H. B. Dow, and Ed-
mund Oeumpaugh 2nd.
1919 — Appointed by President Harvey F. Remington ; Ed-
ward J. Seeber, Mrs. Anah B. Yates, C. W. Smith, Laurence B.
Packard, and Ex-Presidents Charles F. Pond and Edward R.
Foreman.
1920 — ^Appointed by President Harvey F. Remington: Ed-
ward J. Seeber, Laurence B. Packard, Theodore A. Miller, Wil-
liam M. Brown, and Ex-Presidents Charles F. Pond and Ed-
ward R. Foreman.
1921 — Appointed by President Harvey T. Remington : Wil-
liam M. Brown, Edward J. Seeber, Guy V. Aldrich, Raymond H.
Arnot and Ex-Presidents Charles F. Pond and Edward R. Fore-
man.
1922 — Appointed by President Charles H. Wiltsie : William
M. Brown, William B. Boothby, Raymond H. Arnot, Edward J.
Seeber, and Ex-President Harvey F. Remington. The other
Ex-President, Edward R. Foreman, elected First Vice-President.
CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS
OF THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Constitution and By-Laws of
The Rochester Historical Society
1. This Society shall be called "The Rochester Historical
Society."
2. The object of the Society shall be to obtain and preserve
all relics and documents relating to the early history of the
City of Rochester and the adjacent country, to secure the
composition and reading of papers relating to the same, and
preservation thereof, and to promote interest in the early
history of Rochester.
3. Active members shall reside within the County of Mon-
roe, New York.
Persons who have conspicuously served the Society or
who have otherwise done important historical work may be
elected honorary members.
Corresponding members may be elected from non-residents
of the County of Monroe who desire to promote the interests
of the Society.
Honorary and corresponding members shall not be eligible
to office, nor be qualified to vote, nor be entitled to any share
in the ownership of property of the Society, nor be liable for
any dues or for any debts.
4 The officers of the Society shall consist of a President,
a First Vice-President, a Second Vice-President, a Recording
Secretary, a Corresponding Secretary and a Treasurer. These
officers shall be elected annually and by ballot by the Society,
and shall continue in office until their successors are elected.
Vacancies in office may be filled by election at any regular
meeting of the Society. — (As amended, February 12, 1920.)
5. There shall be a Board of Managers which shall con-
sist of the president, vice-presidents, treasurer, recording secre-
tary, corresponding secretary, together with four other mem-
bers to be appointed annually by the president. And in ad-
dition to the Board so constituted the last two retiring presi-
276 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
dents shall be members, ex-officio, of the said Board of Mana-
gers. The duties of the Board shall be to conduct the business
affairs of the Society. — (As amended, February 19,, 1919.)
6. The President shall appoint annually from the Board
of Managers an Executive Committee, consisting of the Treas-
urer, ex-officio, and two other members, which committee shall
have charge of the finances of the Society. No debts shall
be contracted by any officer or member of said Society except
upon the recommendation of said committee, nor shall any bill
be paid unless it bears the approving signatures of at
least two members of said committee, and this committee shall
regulate the dues, expenses and disbursements of said Society
and may at its discretion compromise arrearages or remit dues
of members for just cause.
Upon this Executive Committee shall also devolve the ad-
ministration of the ordinary affairs of the Society, subject to
the authority of the Board of Managers, and such other duties
as the President may determine. — (As amended, January 29,
1919.)
7. The President shall appoint annually from the members
of the Board of Managei-s. a Library Committee, a Committee
on Papers, a Committee on Entertainment, and such other
standing committees as the needs and interests of the Society
may seem to indicate.
8. The Library Committee shall consist of three members,
which committee shall have the custody of the library and his-
torical collections, including all books, manuscripts, papers, pic-
tures, documents, relics, coins and maps, and shall have charge
of the sale of duplicates, subject to the direction and approval
of the Board of Managers. And the said Library Committee
shall be empowered to employ a Librarian or other assistants
at such compensation as the Board of Managers shall sanc-
tion and direct.
It shall be the duty of such Librarian to attend and keep
the library and collections of the Society open at such times
and seasons as the library committee shall direct, to prepare
and keep up a suitable catalogue of the library and other col-
lections, and to keep a record of the donation and purchase of
CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS 277
such books, manuscripts, pamphlets, papers and historical ma-
terial as may be or become the property of the Society, and to
perform such other duties, clerical or otherwise, as the Library
Committee may direct. The said Library Committee may, at
its discretion and with the approval of the Board of Managers,
divide the duties of Librarian, as above defined, and appoint
a Curator who shall have charge of the archaeological and his-
torical collections of the Society, other than the library.
It shall be the duty of the Library Committee to have
charge of the publication and distribution of such papers,
proceedings and collections of the Society as they may select,
subject to the approval of the Board of Managers. — (As amend-
ed, December 12, 1921.)
9. The Committee on Papers shall consist of three mem-
bers of the board and shall have charge of soliciting and
providing for the reading of papers to be read before the
Society.
10. The Committee on Entertainment shall have charge of
providing for the matter of the luncheons at the regular meet-
ings of the Society.
11. Active members shall be admitted to the Society only
upon the nomination of two or more members of the Society^
and shall be elected by a majority vote, by ballot, of the mem-
bers present at any meeting of the Board of Managers.
12. The annual dues of active members shall be three dol-
lars. Any person elected to membership shall make the first
payment of said dues within sixty days after notice of his elec-
tion or, on failure to do so, may be deemed to have declined
membership. Members failing to pay annual dues, may, at
the discretion of the finance committee, be dropped from the
roll of membership. — (As amended, November 4, 1922.)
13. Tlie payment of $500.00 by any person at one time and
for that purpose shall constitute the donor a Life Patron. The
payment by any active member of the sum of $100.00 at one
time and for that purpose shall constitute the donor a Life
Member. The payment by any active member of the sum of
$10.00 annually shall constitute the donor a Publication Patron
during the period such payments are continued.
278 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
All sums received from Life Patrons and Life Members
shall constitute a perpetual Endowment Fund, which fund
shall also include special gifts or bequests for such purpose,
or any sums which may be set aside by the Board of Managers.
The principal of said Endowment Fund shall remain inviolate,
not to be expended for any current expenses whatever, but
the income thereof shall be subject to the control of the Board
of Managers. The Treasurer shall invest and re-invest the
principal of said Fund in such interest-bearing securities as the
Board of Managers may direct, and he shall deposit the income
from such principal in the general treasury of the Society.
All securities constituting the Endowment Fund shall be de-
posited in a safe deposit box in a safe deposit vault approved
by the Board of Managers, and access to such safe deposit box
shall be had only when there are present any two of the follow-
ing officers: the Treasurer, the President or the first Vice-
President.
All sums received from Publication Patrons, or which shall
be received as gifts or bequests for such purpose, or which
shall be appropriated therefor by the Board of Managers from
the general treasury of the Society, shall constitute a Publica-
tion Fund, which Fund shall be kept by the Treasurer as a sep-
arate account in the regular depository bank of the Society, to
be disbursed solely for the publication and distribution of the
papers, proceedings and collections of the Society, upon the
approval of the Board of Managers ; and the said publications
shall be distributed to Publication Patrons only, or to the
members of the Society and the public generally, upon such
terms and conditions as the Board of Managers may specially
direct in every case as it arises. (As amended, December 12,
1921.)
14. The annual meeting for the election of officers shall
be held on the second Monday in March in each year. If
the election shall not be held on that day, it shall be held
at the next regular meeting of the Society, at which the elec-
tion of officers is moved. Twenty active members shall con-
stitute a quorum for the transaction of business and at meet-
CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS 279
ings of the board of managers a majority of that board shall
constitute a quorum.
15. The regular meetings of the Society shall be held on
the second Monday in each month from October to May, in-
clusive ; but any of these meetings, except the annual meeting
prescribed by the last section, may be omitted by order of the
board of managers. Notice of meetings shall be given to the
resident members by mail or by publication thereof in at least
two of the Rochester daily papers. Any meeting may be
ad.journed to such time and place as a majority of the members
present shall determine.
16. Special meetings of the Society may be called by the
President or Recording Secretary at any time and it shall be the
duty of the President or Recording Secretary to call a special
meeting at any time upon a request, in writing, signed by three
or more active members of the Society. Meetings of the Board
of Managers may be called at any time by the President,
Vice-President or Recording Secretary.
17. The President shall preside at all meetings of the So-
ciety and of the Managers, and shall perform the duties usually
appertaining to the office of President.
18. The Vice-President shall discharge all the duties of the
President in case of the absence or incapacity of the latter.
19. The Recording Secretary shall have the custody of the
records and of the seal of the Society. He shall give due notice
of each of the meetings and shall keep records of the meet-
ings- of the Society and of the Managers.
20. The Corresponding Secretary shall have the custody of
all letters and communications to the Society, shall read to
the Society all communications received as such Secretary, and
under the direction of the Society or of the Managers shall
prepare all communications in the name of the Society and shall
keep true copies of the same.
21. The Treasurer shall perform all of the duties usually
appertaining to that office ; shall deposit the funds of the So-
ciety in such bank as the Board of Managers shall designate,
shall pay out the funds as the Board of Managers shall direct,
and shall keep an account of the funds and render an annual
280 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
statement thereof to the Society and also whenever required
by the Board of Managers.
22. The constitution may be amended by a majority vote
of the active members present at any regular meeting of the
Society, provided that notice of the proposed amendment be
given at a previous meeting and that the same shall have
been approved by the board of managers prior to such vote.
23. A member may be expelled by a two-thirds vote at
any meeting upon the recommendation of the Board of Mana-
gers.
24. The order of business at any meeting of the Society
shall be as follows, subject to change by a majority vote at
such meeting.
1. Reading of minutes of previous meeting and approval
of same.
2. Communications from the president, board of managers
or officers.
3. Election of officers.
4. Reports of standing or special committees.
5. Unfinished business.
6. Miscellaneous business.
7. Reading of papers.
8. Discussion of papers.
Note:— Constitution first adopted March 3, 1888. By-Laws first
adopted April 6, 1888. Both appear in "Vol. I, Publications of The
Eochester Historical Society," 1892. Constitution and By-Laws revised
and consolidated, May 12, 1893; published November 1, 1893; again
published, as amended, May, 1901. Revision adopted, March 13, 190.5;
published December, 1905; published, Handbook, 1916; published
Handbook, 1921. Consolidated Constitution and By-Laws last
amended November 4, 1922, as published above.
GLEANINGS FROM THE MINUTES
OF THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Gleanings from the Minutes
By WILLIAM F. YUST
Note: The first publication of The Eoehester Historical Society
contained a digest of the Secretary's minutes from organization (1888)
to the date of publication (1892).
Below appear a few items of interest gleaned from the minutes dur-
ing the thirty years which have passed since 1892:
1893, January 31— Fund of $1,906.55 raised by four enter-
tainments. $1,500 deposited in bank as a special fund of
which income only was to be used. This income was on
March 1, 1907, designated as a library fund.
1894, April 12 — Purchase of part of the George H. Har-
ris collection of Indian relics for $500, withdrawn from
special fund.
1895, November 8 — First meeting in new quarters in
Reynolds Library.
1896, January 10— Portraits of pioneers of Monroe County
presented to Society by County Supervisors.
1908, December 6— Death of William F. Peck, for 20
years Recording Secretary.
1911, August 30— Purchase of part of the William H. Sam-
son library collection for $800 with balance of special fund.
1912, September 13— Opening exercises in present quarters
in library and museum building at Exposition Park. (Now
Edgerton Park).
1914, January 19 — First general meeting of the Society
for the reading of papers in five years. Report of reorganiza-
tion committee adopted.
1914, May 12 — Membership campaign initiated, resulting
in 418 new members.
1914, June 25 — Mrs. Caroline E. Perkins elected Life Hon-
orary President.
1914, August 28 — New certificate of membership, seal and
bookplate of the Society, designed by Claude Bragdon and
adopted.
1915, March 22 — John Sylvester Wilson, oldest living
284 THE EOCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
pioneer resident, age 100 years, was present at a meeting
while his reminiscences of Rochester were read.
1915, April 15 — Report on re^dsion of membership list
showing 845 active members.
1916, May 26 — Reading of prize essays by University of
Rochester students. Two prizes of $40 each given by the
Society.
1916, October 21 — New Handbook issued.
1916, November 27 — Joint meeting of six local societies.
Similar meetings have been held from year to year.
1916, October 21 — Genesee Country Historical Federation
proposed ; organized at Canandaigua, June 29, 1917.
1918, June, Publication of Dr. Rossiter Johnson's address,
"The Grandest Playground in the "World."
1919, March 1 — Compilation of World War records be-
gun by Treasurer.
1919, March 21— Death of Life Honorary President, Mrs.
Oilman H. Perkins.
Bequest of $1,000 and historical material from Mrs.
Perkins to the Society.
1921, Januarj^ — New Handbook issued.
1921, December 12 — Establishment of Publication Fund.
1922, January 1 — Preparation of World War Service Rec-
ord taken over by City under Board of Trustees of Public
Library. Division of History.
1922, April — Publication of Ward-Strong Memorial
Volume.
1922, June 18 — Death of Life Honorary President, Hiram
H. Edgerton.
1922, December — ^Volume One of Publication Fund Series
issued.
INDEX
Inde:
ADLER, ELMER : Address on Mary Jemison by, 254 ; Mem-
ber Board of Managers, R. H. S., 271
ADLER, SIMON L. : Paper by, Sullivan's Campaign, 250;
Paper by, Money and Money Units in the American
Colonies, 251
ADVERTISER: Editorial staff prohibited mentioning theater,
18
ALBONI, MADAME MARIETTA : Appearance of, 47
ALDRICH, GUY V. : Member Board of Managers, R. H. S.,
272
ALDRIDGE, HON. GEORGE W. : Home in Third Ward, 78;
Member East Side Trunk Sewer Commission, 227
ALLAN, EBENEZER: See Allan, Indian
ALLAN INDIAN : Mentioned by Osgood, 53 ; Mills built by,
58 ; Hundred Acre Tract deeded to, 95 ; Millstones at
Irondequoit, 119; Mill of neglected, 122; At Indian
Landing, 205; Paper on, by Howard L. Osgood, 252
ALLEGHANIANS : Appearance of, 38
ALLEN, JOHN G. : Read poem on The Genesee, 252
ALLEN, REV. SOLOMON: Biography, 138
ALLING, WILLIAM : Homestead in Third Ward, 73
ALLYN'S CREEK : Powder mills on, 190
AMERICAN FLAG: First unfurled at Fort Schuyler, 199
AMUSEMENTS: In early Rochester, paper by Geo. M.
Elwood, 17
ANDERSON, MARTIN B. : President, of University, 107
ANDERSON, MRS. MARTIN B. : Memorial of, by Mrs. Emil
Kuichling, 246
ANDERSONVILLE PRISON: Recollections of, paper by
Dr. Rob Roy Converse, 251
ANDREWS, EZRA R. : Speaks in Honor of Dr. Moore, 251
288 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
ANDREWS, SAMUEL G. : Mayor 1840, 1856, 99
ANGELL, MRS. E. B. : Paper by, Clonial Dames, 249
ANGLE, HON. JAMES LANSING: Charter Member,
R. H. S., 11; Memorial of H. E. Rochester by, 245;
Paper by, Colonial Laws of 1664, 246; Paper by,
Antiquities of Mt. Hope Cemetery, 246 ; Memorial of,
by Dr. Augustus H. Strong, 247; Elected President
R. H. S., 261
ANTIQUARIAN RESEARCHES: Paper on, by Saml. P.
Moulthrop
ANTI- SLAVERY : Propaganda in Rochester, 105; Reminis-
cences of, paper by Horace McGuire, 254
APPY, HENRI : Appearance in concert, 47
ARCHITECTURE: Of Rochester, paper by Frederick W.
Warner, 250 ; Colonial, paper by Claude Bragdon, 254
ARNOT, RAYMOND H. : Paper by, Backgrounds of
Rochester History, 256 ; Member Board of Managers,
R. H. S., 272
ART : Early exhibitions of, in Rochester, 41
ARTIST SPY : Paper on, by George H. Ely, 246
ATHENAEUM : Lecture course by, 35
BABCOCK, A. EMERSON: Paper on City of Tryon, 112;
Paper on Landing Road, 188
BACKUS, DR. F. F. : First Alderman, Third Ward, 71;
Homestead of, 72
BALLOON: First ascension, 42
BANK OF ROCHESTER: Founded, 1824, 101
BANKS : Bank of Rochester, Nathaniel first president of, 55 ;
First, in Rochester 1824, 101 ; Thurlow Weed obtains
first, 102 ; Rochester Savings Bank founded 1831, 102
BAR: Early of Rochester, paper on, by Geo. H. Humphrey,
248 ; Of Monroe County, paper by John H. Hopkins,
253
BARE HILL: Indian Traditions of, paper by Judge T. M.
Howell, 247
INDEX 289
BARNARD, JEIilEL : First church service at shop of, 210;
His wedding the first in village, 210
BARNUM, P. T. : First in Rochester, 1848, 36
BEGINNINGS: See First Things
BISHOP, MADAME ANNA: Concert of, 44
BISHOP, JAMES L. : Author law books, 184
BISHOP, J. R. : Opened Rochester Museum, 1825, 20
BISSELL, COL. JOSIAH W. : Paper by. Recollections of
Early Rochester, 247
BLACKSNAKE, GOVERNOR: Paper on, by James G. John-
son, 248
BLANCHARD, MRS. HIRAM: Reminiscences of, paper by
Charles H. Wiltsie, 247
BLOSS, JOSEPH B. : Paper by. Clover Street Seminary, 249
BLOSSOM HOUSE : Exhibitions at, 42
BLUE EAGLE : Old Jail named, 74
BOARD OF TRADE: First of Rochester, paper on, by
Erastus Darrow, 249
BOARD MAN, REV. GEORGE DANA : Literary work of, 175
BOOKPLATE : Of R. H. S., designed by Claude Bragdon and
adopted, 283
BOOTH, EDWIN: First appearance of, 49
BOOTHBY, WILLIAM B. : Member Board of Managers,
R. H. S., 272
BOSTWICK, MADAME EMMA : Concert by, 47
BOXING: First entertainments, 42
BRAGDON, CLAUDE: Paper by, Colonial Architecture in
Genesee Valley, 254; Designed Bookplate, Seal and
Certificate, R. H. S., 283
BRAGDON, GEORGE CHANDLER: Paper by, on Robert
Morris, 252
BREWSTER, HAROLD POMEROY: Paper by, on Finnejr
Revivals, 247
BRICK HOUSE : First one in Rochester built by Charles J.
Hill, afterwards residence of William Ailing, 73
290 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
BRICK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH : Founded, 106
BRIDGES: First across Genesee River, 62; Main Street, of
importance to property values, 63; Building and fall
of Carthage, 100
BRIGHTON : Town records of, 124
BRIGHTON CEMETERY : Old families buried in, 206
BRIGHTON PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: Organization of,
138
BRITISH : Evacuation of U. S., paper by Howard L. Osgood,
251
BRITISH LABOR : Paper on, by Prof. Justin W. Nixon, 255
BROCKPORT : Early days of, paper by Mary J. Holmes, 249
BROWN, DR. WILLIAM M. : Member Board of Managers,
R. H. S., 272
BROWN'S SQUARE: Earlier circuses in, 36
BUELL, GEORGE C. : Charter Member, R. H. S., 11
BULLEN, HENRY LEWIS : Paper on History of Printing by,
256
BULL, OLE : First concerts given by, 36 ; Other concerts by,
47, 48
BULL RUN : Rochester civil officials captured at, 175
BULL'S HEAD: Paper on, by Geo. W. Fisher, 250
BUNKER HILL : In the Third Ward. 73
BURKE, JOSEPH: Appearance of, 47
BURNET, GOVERNOR: Instructions to Peter Schuyler, 199
BURR, AARON: Stopped at Stone's Tavern, 142
BUTLERS : Infamous in history, 203, 204
BUTTS, ISAAC : Literary work of. 176
CALEDONIA HOUSE : In Third Ward, 79
CANEADEA RESERVATION : Paper on, by John S. Minard,
250
CARNAHAN, HON. GEORGE A. : Address by, Pioneers and
the Law, 257
CAROLINE: Steam Boat, burned, 78
INDEX 291
CAEROLL, CHARLES: Biographical facts, 55; Never
lived in Rochester. 56; Signs contract for Hundred
Acre Tract, 60; Moves to Williamsburg, 69
CARTER, ROBERT : Literary work of, 172
CARTHAGE : Settlement of, 100 ; Paper on, by Mrs. Horace
B. Hooker, 252
CARTHAGE BRIDGES : Building and fall of, 100
CATTARAUGUS RESERVATION: Paper on, by Hon. John
Van Voorhis, 252
CEMETERIES : Mount Hope, first used 1838, 106 ; At Indian
Landing, 193; Burials in Brighton, 206; Paper on
Mt. Hope, 246 ; Dedication of Mt. Hope, Poem at, 246
CERTIFICATE : Of membership R. H. S., designed by Claude
Bragdon and adopted, 283
CHACO CANYON: Paper on, by Dr. Edgar L. Hewitt, 256
CHAD WICK, PROF. GEORGE H. : Paper by. Beginnings of
Geology in Rochester, 255
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: Mayor Child's sentiments in-
scribed in, 105
CHAPPELL, MRS. WILLIAM: Papers by, on Rochester
Orphan Asylum, 250; On Seneca Indians and John
Greig, 250 ; On Soldiers of the Revolution, 251 ; On
Nathaniel Rochester and Hundred Acre Tract, 255
CHARTER : Original of Rochester, 104
CHATEAUBRIAND : Paper on, by Frank H. Severance, 253
CHERRY, REV. C. WALDO, D. D. : Eulogy on Mayor Edger-
ton, 230
CHERRY VALLEY : Massacre at, paper by Mrs. William S.
Little, 246
CHILD IN ME : Poem entitled, 186
CHILD, JONATHAN: Homestead of, 72; Marble block of,
74; Final home of, 77; First Mayor of Rochester,
104 ; Inaugural address of, 105 ; Paper on, by Samuel
Moore, 255
CHINA : Paper on Explorations in, by Frederick G. Clapp,
256
292 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
CHRISTY'S MINSTRELS: At Eagle Hotel, 37
CHURCHES: First Presbyterian, built, 75; Plymouth, built
in 1854, 76; Beginnings of in Rochester, 106;
Brighton Presbyterian, organization of, 138 ; Congre-
gational at Brighton, 207; First Presbyterian
Chronicles, 210; First Public Worship, 210; First
Church Edifice, Carroll St., 211; Early Church
Discipline. 217; Paper on First Presbyterian, by Rev.
Geo. D. Miller, 253
CIRCUS: Permanent, On Exchange Street, 19; First
traveling, 36 ; P. T. Barnum first in 1848, 36 ; Built in
Third Ward, 74
CITY CLUB: Paper on history of, by Clarence P. Leighton,
254
CIVIC BEAUTY : Development of, paper by Chas. M. Robin-
son, 253
CIVIL WAR : Reminiscences of, address by Col. S. C. Pierce,
255
CLAPP, FREDERICK G. : Paper by, Explorations in China,
256
CLARISSA STREET: How named, 80
CLARK, L. H. : Paper by, Early History of Sodus, 249
CLARKE, ERNEST R. : Paper by, Repeal of Stamp Act, 253
CLAY, HENRY : Paper on, by Ira L. Otis, 248
CLIMATE : Of Western New York, paper on, by Arthur L.
Hoyt, 249
CLOVER STREET SEMINARY : Account of, 144 ; Paper on,
by Joseph B. Bloss, 249
COLONIAL ARCHITECTURE : In the Genesee Valley, paper
by Claude Bragdon, 254
COLONIAL CHINA : Paper on, by Anah B. Yates, 252
COLONIAL DAMES: Paper on, by Mrs. B. B. Angell, 249
COLONIAL LAWS : Paper on, by Judge James L. Angle, 246
COMFORT STREET : Named for Rev. Comfort Williams, 211
CONANT, THOMAS JEFFERSON : Scholar and author, 177
INDEX 293
CONCERTS: Early, in Rochester, 19, 22; Held in National
Hotel, 30; Cooper benefit, 30; By Williams' Light
Infantry Band, 31; By Madame Anna Bishop, 44;
By Madame Theresa Praodi, 44 ; Bj^ Jenny Lind, 45 ;
By Henri Appy, 47; By Miss Greenfield, 47; By
Madame Emma Bostwick, 47 ; By Thalberg, 48 ; By
Louis Jullien, 48
CONCERT HALL: Founded by Edmund Dean, 28; Tem-
perance drama at, 33; Ole Bull appears in, 36
CONESUS : Paper on, by Samuel P. Moulthrop, 251
CONKLIN, HENRY W. : Paper by, Court Houses of Monroe
County, 250
CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS : Of R. H. S., 275-284
CONVERSE, DR. ROB ROY: Paper by. Recollections of
Andersonville Prison, 251
COOKE, MARTIN W. : Charter member, R. H. S., 11
COOMBS, MISS CATHERINE E. : Paper by, Rochester's
Public Schools, 254
CORINTHIAN HALL : Built by W. A. Reynolds, 42; Descrip-
tion of, 43 ; How named, 43 ; Dedication of, 44 ; Its
just fame, 49 ; Spirits of past summoned there, 50
CORNELL, SILAS : Third Ward survey by, 80
CORNHILL : In the Old Third Ward, Paper on, by Geo. H.
Harris, 248
COURT HOUSE: First, completed 1822, 106; Of Monroe
County, paper by H. W. Conklin, 250
COURTS : Of Monroe County, paper by John H. Hopkins, 258
CRAIG, MRS. OSCAR: Paper by. Female Charitable Society,
252
CRAPSEY, DR. ALGERNON SIDNEY: Paper by, Lewis
Henry Morgan, Scientist, Philosopher, Humanist,
254
CRONISE, ADELBERT : Paper by. King of France in Central
New York, 251 ; Elected President R. H. S., 262
CULVER, OLIVER : Biographical facts, 119 ; Schooner built
by, 123; Homestead of, 124; First Supervisor of
294 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Brighton, 124; Hauled schooner over Landing Road,
190
CURTIS. MRS. C. M. : Poetical tribute to Henry E. Rochester
by, 245; Paper by, on Dr. Chester Dewey, 246
CUSHMAN, CHARLOTTE : Appearances of, 41, 49
CUSTOM HOUSE : At Indian Landing, 201
DAILY AMERICAN : Facts as to, Paper by William F. Peck,
247
DANN, RAYMOND G. : Elected Secretary, R. H. S., 264;
Treasurer, 265
DANSVILLE : Nathaniel Rochester at, 54, 57 ; Colonel Roch-
ester moves family to, 62
DARROW, ERASTUS: Paper by, Rochester's First Board of
Trade, 249
DAUGHTERS OF AMERICAN REVOLUTION: Home of,
built by Henry Ely, 77; Paper on, by Mrs. R. A.
Sibley, 249
DAVID, WILLIAM G. : Paper by, Experiences in Spanish
War, 251
DEAF MUTE INSTITUTE: Paper on, by Prof. Zenas F.
Westervelt, 252
DEAN, EDMUND : Founds Concert Hall, 28
DEAN, JULIA: First appearance of, 29; Success of, 30, 40
DEMPSTER : Last visit of, 48
DENONVILLE : Trail of, 88, 90 ; Battles of, 90 ; Camped on
Landing Road, 189; Route of, discussed, 201, 202
DEWEY, ALVIN H. : Authority on Indians, 206; Member
Board of Managers, R. H. S., 271, 272
DEWEY, DR. CHARLES A. : Paper by. Life of Lewis Henry
Morgan, 254
DEWEY, DR CHESTER: Home of, 77; Pioneer teacher,
108; Biographical sketch of, by Mrs. C. M. Curtis,
246
DICJ^INSON, POMEROY P.: Paper by. Old Steamboat
Hotel, 248
INDEX 295
DISTRICT ATTORNEY : Of Rochester, captured at Bull Run,
175
DODGE, PROF. CHARLES W. : Paper by, Sanitary Control
City Water Supply, 252
DODGE, OSSIAN : At Irving Hall, 33
DOOLITTLE, MISS ARAMINTA : Paper on, by Mrs. Alice
Hopkins, 248
DOTY, HON. LOCKWOOD R. : Paper by. Western Door of
Long House, 257 ; Program for Genesee Country
Historical Federation, 158-162
DOUGLASS, FREDERICK: Literary work of, 176; Staiue
only one of negro, 176
DOW, MRS. FRANK F. : Paper by, Concerning Rochester,
255; Member Board of Managers, R. H. S., 272
DOWLING, MRS. KATHARINE J.: Poem by, ''Gleanings,"
246; Paper by. Early Settlers of Genesee Falls, 252
DRAMATIC SALOON: Theater by Gratton, 38
EAGLE HOTEL: Early entertainments at, 19; Christy's
Minstrels at, 37
EAST AVENUE : First cut through woods, 123 ; Paper on old,
by Geo. H. Humphrey, 247
EASTMAN, GEORGE: Purchase of East Avenue property,
194
EATON, ABEL: Public House on Landing Road, 189
EDGERTON, HIRAM HASKELL: Photograph, facing title
page ; Biography of, 225 ; Certificate as Honorary
President, facing 225 ; Founded Exposition Park,
225; Business Career of, 226; Public Career of, 227;
Mayor of Rochester 14 years, 227 ; Senior public
official in history of City, 226 ; Outstanding features
of administrations, 227, 228; Eulogy of, by Rev. C.
Waldo Cherry, D. D., 230
ELLIS, S. A.: Paper by. Public Schools of Rochester. 246
ELLSWORTH, WILLIAM WEBSTER: Paper by. Pilgrim
Fathers, 256
ELLWANGER, GEO. H. : Literary work of, 173
296 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
ELI-W ANGER, WILLIAM D. : Literary vvoik of, 173
ELWOOD, GEORGE MAY: Paper by, EarJier Publia Amuse-
ments of Rochester, 17 ; Paper by, on Capt. Basil Hall,
250; Memorial of, by Wm. F. Peck, 253; Elected
president R. H. S., 262
ELY, ALFRED: Charter Member, R. H. S., 11
ELY, ELISHA: Builds first raceway, 67; Publisher first
Directory, 99
ELY, GEORGE 11. : Paper by. Artist Spy, 246
EMPIRE STATE: Scenic Sites of, paper by Dr Edward
Hageman Hall, 256
ENDOWMENT FUND: Of R. H. S., established by Constitu-
tion, 278
ERIE CANAL : Building of, 103 ; Packets on, 74
ESTIMATE AND APPORTIONMENT : Mayor Edgerton, 22
consecutive years member of, 227
EVANS, PAUL D.: Paper by, Holland Land Purchase, 256
EXPOSITION PARK: Founded by Mayor Edgerton, 225
FAIRCHILD, PROF. HERMAN LEROY : Paper by. Geology
of the Genesee Country, 247; Paper by, Rochester's
Geological History, 254
FALLS FIELD : Earlier circuses in, 36
FARLEY, DR. PORTER : Paper by, Rochester in the Forties,
247 ; On Ice Age in Monroe County, 250 ; Speaks in
Honor of Dr. Moore, 251; Paper by, 140th Reg. in
Battle of Wilderness, 251 ; Elected president R. H. S.,
262
FARRAR, MRS. MELISSA M. : Paper on Flood of 1865 by,
248
FEDERATION: Genesee Country Historical, 158
FEMALE CHARITABLE SOCIETY: Declined to accept
theater money, 25 ; Receives fund from Jenny Lind
concerts, 46 ; Paper on. by Mrs. Oscar Craig, 252
FEMALE SEMINARY: In Third Ward, 73
FINNEY, CHARLES G. : Paper on Revivals of, by H. P.
Brewster, 247
INDEX 297
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH : Founded, 106
FIRST CHURCH CHRONICLES : By Anah B. Yates, 210-219
FIRST DIRECTORY : Of 1827, prophecy in, 110
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH : Founded, 106 ; ; Paper
on, by Rev. Geo. Miller, D. D., 253
FIRST THINGS: In Rochester, 103; paper on, by Dr. F.
De W. Ward, 246
FIRST WHITE CHILD : Born in Rochester, 97
FISHER, GEORGE W. : Paper by. Bull's Head, 250
FITCH, CHARLES E : Charter Member, R. H. S., 11 ; Paper
by, Interviewing a Statesman, 247; Annual Address
as President, R. H. S., 248; Paper by, Reminiscences
of Mrs. Marietta M. Langworthy, 248; Elected Presi-
dent R. H. S., 261
FITZHUGH, COLONEL WILLIAM: Biographical facts, 55;
Never lived in Rochester, 56 ; Signs contract for Hun-
dred Acre Tract, 61 ; Moves to Williamsburg, 69
FLAG: Paper on Origin and Development of U. S., by John
White Johnston, 255
FLICK, PROF. ALEXANDER C. : Paper by, Tories and Loy-
alists in Revolution, 256
FLOOD : Of 1865, paper on, by Mrs. Melissa M. Farrar, 248
FLORENCE, WILLIAM J.: First appearance, 41; Appear-
ance of, 48
FOREMAN, EDVv'ARD R. : Paper by. Origin and Mission R.
H. S., 9 ; Tribute to Mrs. Oilman H. Perkins by, 223 ;
Appreciation of Dr. Augustus Hopkins Strong by,
233 ; Biography of Mayor Edgerton by, 225 ; Memo-
rial of Mrs. Jane Marsh Parker by, 253 ; Annual Ad-
dresses by, as President R. H. S., 254, 255 ; Paper by,
Genesee Country Historical Federation, 256 ; Paper
by, Genesee Country in the U. S. Supreme Court, 257 ;
Elected Secretary R. H. S., 264; Elected President R.
H. S., 264, 265
FORREST, EDMUND: First Rochester engagement, 29
298 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
FORREST, WILLIAM: First appearance at Carroll Street
Theater, 24
FORT DES SABLES : At Irondequoit Bay, 88
FOUNDERS OF ROCHESTER : Paper on, by Howard L. Os-
good, 53
FOX SISTERS : Home of, in Third Ward, 76
FRANCE : King of, in Central New York, paper by Adelbert
Cronise, 251 ; In the Revolutionary War, paper by
Hon. Breek Perkins, 253 ; In 1920, paper by Frank
H. Severance, 256 ; French History in America, paper
b}^ Prof. Charles H. Haskins, 256
FRANKFORT : Village laid out, 67 ; Name of, 98
FRENCH : In Genesee Country, 83 ; Senecas, enemies of, 94 ;
See France
FRONTIER FORTS: Paper on, Howard L. Osgood, 250
GALUSHA, MRS. SARAH GAY: Paper by, on Historical
Benefit, 248
GAND AGORA: Destroyed by Denonville, 90, 202
GA-O-YA-DE-0 : Paper on, by John S. Minard, 250
GARDINER, JUDGE ADDISON : Career of, 99
GATES, MRS. MARY LEE: Poems of, 184
GAY, MRS. HORACE : Paper by, Early Settlement of Riga,
248
GENESEE: Poem on, read by John G. Allen, 252
GENESEE COUNTRY: French and Indians in, 83; Con-
flicting claims to, 94; Rich in historic interest, 153;
History of should be taught, 156 ; Historical Feder-
ation of, 158 ; paper on opening of, by Mrs. Parker,
245 ; Aboriginal history and terminology of, paper
by George H. Harris, 245 ; Indian Folk Lore of, read-
ing by Miss Mabel Powers, 253 ; Historical Federa-
tion of, paper by Hon. Lockwood R. Doty, 150 ; In the
U. S. Supreme Court, 257
Note. Refresh your recollection with this brief summary of facts
in regard to the Genesee Country: At the close of the Revolution,
1783, King George III relinquished to America all his claim to this
territory; it was then a wilderness inhabited by Indians; the state
INDEX 299
of New York asserted right of sovereignty; Massachusetts resisted
the claim upon ground of prior title under charter of King James
to Plymouth, 1620; this dispute was settled by treaty of Hartford,
1786, when Massachusetts relinquished sovereignty to New York
but retained preemption rights or right to purchase of Indians; April,
1788, Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham bought the entire territory
from Massachusetts and extinguished the Indian title in part by
treaty of Buffalo ; later they were released from the contract as to
the lands west of the Genesee and the Mill lot; subsequently Robert
Morris bought the whole unsettled territory east and west of the
Genesee, extinguished the Indian title, except as to reservations, by
treaty at Big Tree, and sold the west to the Holland Land Company,
and the east to the estate of Sir William Pultney. The first land office
in America was opened at Canandaigua in 1789 by Phelps & Gorham.
Settlement followed east and west of the Genesee and our modern
history began.
GENESEE COUNTRY HISTORICAL FEDERATION:
Paper on, by Hon. Lockwood R. Doty, 150 ; Proposed
and organized, 284
Note. The purposes of the Genesee Country Historical Federation
are stated in the following paragraph from its constitution:
"The object of this Federation shall be to bring into close relation-
ship all the historical societies of the Genesee Country which com-
prises that part of New York State lying west of a meridian drawn
through Seneca Lake; to coordinate the efforts of these societies,
and to promote that helpful unity of spirit which will bring strength
to all and increase our capacity for public service; to establish a
Central Council made up of representatives of such societies; to hold
joint meetings ; to encourage historical study to the end that the
historic understanding of the residents of this region may be aroused;
to promote the collection and preservation of relics, books, pictures
and documents relating to the Genesee Country by the various soci-
eties; to mark historic sites; to urge our societies to maintain lecture
courses upon historic subjects, and to publish historical material;
through the Central Council to establish a clearing house of in-
formation as to what our societies are doing; cordially to support
the New York State Historical Association ; to aid in founding
historical societies throughout the district where needed: and to
devote the united strength of our organization to the government in
any capacity, where the agency of such Federation or any of its
societies can be made effective."
GENESEE FALLS: Leap of Sam Patch, over, 27; First
mills at, 58; Map of, by Colonel Rochester, 59; Let-
ter of Colonel Rochester concerning property at, 63;
paper on Early Settlers at, by Mrs. Katharine J.
Dowling, 252
GENESEE RIVER: First bridge across, 62; Described in
"Picturesque America", 169; paper on history of, by
Henry E. Rochester, 245 ; Riparian Rights along,
300 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
paper by H. E. Rochester, 245 ; paper on who discov-
ered, by Howard L. Osgood, 251
GENESEE VALLEY: Three episodes in history of, by
George Moss, 245 ; Markham Family Pioneers in,
paper by Geo. H. Harris, 246 ; In the Navy, paper by
Rear Admiral Franklin S. Hanford, 252; Colonial
Architecture in, paper by Claude Bragdon, 254
GENESEE VALLEY PARK : Indian Sites at, 89 ; LaSalle
camped at, 89
GEOLOGY: Of the Genesee Region, Paper by Prof. Herman
L. Fairchild, 247 ; Of Rochester, Paper by Prof. Her-
man L. Fairchild, 254; Beginnings of, in Rochester,
Paper by Prof. Geo. H. Chadwick, 255
GERMANIA HALL : Meetings in, 42
GERMAN SOCIETIES : Meet in Clinton Street, 42
GIDDINGS, PROF. FRANKLIN H. : Address by, Larger
Meaning of the War, 254
GILLETTE, WILLIS K. : Paper by, Organization of Monroe
County, 253
GILMORE, PROF. JOSEPH H. : Charter Member, R. H. S.,
11
GOAT ISLAND: Paper on, by Hon. Peter A. Porter, 251
GOOD NIGHT : Poem entitled, 186
GOTTSCHALK, LOUIS : Concert by, 48
GOULD, GEN. JACOB : Homestead in Third Ward, 72
GREECE : Town of, founded, 101
GREIG, JOHN: Paper on, by Mrs. William Chappell, 250
GREIG STREET: How named, 80
GRIFFIS, WILLIAM ELLIOTT: Paper by, Sullivan's
Campaign, 252
HALL, CAPT. BASIL : Paper on, by Geo. M. Elwood, 250
HALL, DR. EDWARD HAGEMAN : Paper by, Scenic Sites of
Empire State, 256
HALL, MISS ELIZABETH P.: Memorial of, prepared by
James H. Kelly, read by Chas. H. Wiltsie, 250
HANDBOOK : Of R. II. S., issued, 1916, 1921, 284
INDEX 301
HANFORD, REAR ADMIRAL FRANKLIN S. : Speaks in
Honor of Dr. Moore, 251 ; Paper by, The Genesee
Valley in the Navy, 252
HARDING, ABRAHAM, JR. : Investment near Landing, 191
HARDING: Family Records of, 147; President's ancestors
at Indian Landing, 148
HARRIS, GEORGE H.: Quoted as to Indian Landing, 197;
Work of value, 208 ; Paper on Aboriginal History of
Genesee Country and Its Terminology, 245 ; Paper on
the Markhams, 246 ; Paper on Cornhill, 248 ;
Biographical sketch of, by Howard L. Osgood, 249 ;
Indian Collections of, purchased by R. H. S., 283
HART, ROSWELL : Stone house of, 75
HART, COLONEL THOMAS : Partner of Nathaniel Roches-
ter, 54
HARTFORD : Treaty of, 94
HASKINS, PROF. CHAS. HOMER: Paper by, French His-
tory in America, 256
HASTINGS, HUGH : Paper by, Sir William Johnson, 252
HATCH, JESSE W. : Papers by, Reminiscences of Rochester,
249; Old Time Shoemaker and Shoemaking, 249;
Early Military Companies of Rochester, 251
HAWTHORNE, NATHANIEL: Account of Rochester, 164
HEATHEN WORSHIP: Last in Rochester, 1813, 210
HENCHER: Family records, 137
HENNEPIN, FATHER: At Irondequoit Bay, 87
HEWITT, DR. EDGAR L. : Paper by, Chaco Canyon, 256
HIAWATHA : Recited by Miss Mabel Powers, 253
HILL, CHARLES J.: Humorist, 177
HILLS, ISAAC : Built first brick house. Third Ward, 76
HILLS, MRS. ISAAC : Charter Member, R. H. S., 11
HISTORIC TRACES: In New York City, paper by Frank
Bergen Kelley, 257
HISTORY: Local, should be taught in schools, 156, 157
HISTORICAL SOCIETIES: Judge Doty's observations on,
302 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
152, 153 ; In the United States, Paper by Mrs. Jane
Marsh Parker, 245; Relation to World Crisis, paper
by Dr. James Sullivan, 255
HO-DE-NO-SAU-NEE : Described, 152
HOLLAND LAND PURCHASE : Paper on, by Prof. Paul D.
Evans, 256
HOLLEY, MYRON: Anti-Slavery leader, 105
HOLMES, MRS. MARY J. Paper by, Early Days of Brock-
port, 249
HOOKER, MRS. HORACE B. : Paper by. Old Carthage, 252
HOPKINS, MRS. ALICE: Paper by. Miss Doolittle and
Rochester Female Academy, 248
HOPKINS, COLONEL CALEB: Early settler, 98
HOPKINS, JOHN H. : Paper by, Courts and Bar of Monroe
County, 253
HOPKINS, SAMUEL MILES: Autobiography of, by Dr.
Augustus H. Strong, 251
HOTELS: Eagle Hotel, 19, 37; Ontario House, 74; Rochester
House, 74; Spring Street House, 75; Stone Castle,
75; Third Ward House, 78; Caledonia House, 79
HOWARD, E. H. : Elected President R. H. S., 263
HOWELL, JUDGE T. M. : Paper by, Indian Traditions at
Bare Hill, 247
HO WELLS, WILLIAM DEAN: Account of Rochester,
166
HOYT, ARTHUR L. : Paper by. Climatology of Western
New York, 249
HUMPHREY, GEORGE H. : Paper by. Old East Avenue, 247;
Paper by. Early Bar of Rochester, 248
HUMPHREY, JUDGE HARVEY: Sketch of Life of, by Geo.
H. Humphrey, 248
HUNDRED ACRE TRACT : Purchase of, 57 ; Contract for,
60; First surveyed, 63; Powers Block lot the first,
64 ; Surveyed and paid for, 66 ; Partitioned. 69 ;
Deeded to Allan, 95; Paper on, by Henry S. Roches-
ter, 245 ; Paper on, by Howard L. Osgood, 246 ;
Paper on, by Mrs. William Chappell, 255
INDEX 303
ICE AGE : In Monroe County, paper on by Dr. Forter Farley,
250
INCORPORATION: of R. H. S., 9
INDIAN ALLEN : See Allan, Indian
INDIAN LANDING : Site of, 113 ; Deep water at, 114 ; Trad-
ing Post at, 115 ; Camps at, 116 ; City of Tryon, built
at, 117; Fort at, 123; Big game plentiful at, 133;
Indian relics at, 133 ; Early settlers near, 133 ; Presi-
dent Harding's ancestors settle near, 148 ; Bridge
at, 198; Prideaux's Expedition at, 198; Schuyler's
block house at, 199 ; Custom House at, 201 ; Ox Bo-w-
and Smuggler's Cove at, 204
INDIANS : Trails of, about Rochester, 85, 91, 92 ; Two great
races of, 93; Last heathen worship of, in Rochester,
210; Last sacrifice of, paper by Seth H. Terry, 246
Paper on Seneca, by Mrs. William Chappell, 250
Of Upper Genesee, paper, by John S. Minard, 250
Totiakton, paper by Nathaniel S. Olds, 252; Papers
on Sullivan's Campaign, 250, 252; Lands on Cat-
taraugus Reservation, paper by Hon. John Van-
Voorhis, 252
Meyers, 253
Powers, 253
Of Northwest, lantern talk, by Fred R.
Folk Lore Readings, by Miss Mabel
Historic and pre-historic of Western
N. Y., paper by Arthur C. Parker, 255; Of Western
N. Y., paper by Dr. Sherman Williams, 255
INDIAN TRAILS : See Indians
IRONDEQUOIT BAY : Rich in History, 87 ; Fort Des Sables
on, 88 ; Romantic history about, 180 ; Visited by
LaSalle, 197
IRONDEQUOIT CREEK: Former size of, 114; Numerous
cabins along, 198 ; See Indian Landing
IROQUOIS: Power of, 84, 94; League of described, 151
IRVING HALL: Exhibitions at, 33; Ossian Dodge at, 33;
Concerts at, 34; Swiss Bell Ringers at, 37
JAY, JOHN : Paper on, by George Alfred Stringer, 252
JEMISON, MARY: Paper on, by Mrs. Jane Marsh Parker,
245; Paper on, by F. Van Dorn, 250; Addresses on.
304 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
by Paul Moore Strayer, Elmer Adler and Charles D.
Vail, 254
JENNY LIND : See Lind, Jenny
JEROME, LEONARD W. : Paper on, by William P. Peck,
247
JESUIT RELATIONS : Paper on, by Mrs. Jane Marsh Parker,
248
JESUITS: In Genesee Country, 84
JOHNSON, PROF. BURGESS: Paper by, Personal Experi-
ences of an Editor, 256
JOHNSON, ELISHA: Early builder, 99; Paper on, by
William F. Peck, 249
JOHNSON, JAMES G. : Paper on Governor Blacksnake by,
248
JOHNSON, DR. ROSSITER : Paper by, Grandest Playground
in the World, 255; Published paper, Rochester in
Literature, 163 ; Special Publication of paper.
Grandest Pla.yground in the World, 284
JOHNSON, SIR WILLIAM: Paper on, by Hugh Hastings,
252
JOHNSTON, JOHN WHITE : Paper by. Origin and Develop-
ment of U. S. Flag, 255
JULLIEN, LOUIS : Concert by, 48
KEAN, EDMUND: At Carroll Street Theater, 24
KEENAN, HENRY FRANCIS : Literary work of, 173
KELLER TROUPE : In tableaux vivants, 48
KELLEY, DR. FRANK BERGEN : Paper by, Historic Traces
in New York City, 257
KELLY, JAMES H. : Memorial by, of Miss Elizabeth P. HaU,
250
KENDRICK, DR. ASAHEL C. : At U. of R., 107; Literary
work of, 170; Daughters of, 171
KENDRICK, FLORENCE : Literary work of, 172
KENDRICK, HELEN: Literary work of, 171, 172
KIDD, CAPTAIN : Tradition of, at Indian Landing, 201
INDEX 305
KING, GIDEON: Paper on, by Moses B. King, 249
KING, MRS. MARY B. ALLEN: Early reminiscences of,
read by Mrs. Jane Marsh Parker, 248
KING, MOSES B. : Paper by, on Twenty Thousand Acre
Tract, 249
LAFAYETTE: Stops at Stone's Tavern, 142
LAMB, JAMES : Talented scene-painter, 29
LANDING ROAD: Paper on, by A. Emerson Babcock, 188
LANGSLOW: Extracts from Diary of, paper by Howard L.
Osgood, 250
LANGWORTHY, MRS. MARIETTA McCRACKEN : Reminis-
censes of, by Chas. E. Fitch, 248
LANSING, RICHARD H. : Paper by, Historical Sketch of
Music in Rochester, 253
LA SALLE : Paddled Genesee, 1668, 86 ; Irondequoit Bay,
1679, 87; Visit to Irondequoit Bay, 197
LATTIMORE, PROF. SAMUEL A.: Charter Member,
R. H. S., 11
LAURIE TODD: Paper on, by Mrs. Parker, 245
LAWYERS: Early, 99; See Bar; John Mastick
LEAGUE : Of the Iroquois described, 151
LECTURERS: Early courses by, Athenaeum, 35
LEGISLATURE : Act of, incorporating R. H. S., 9
LEIGHTON, CLARENCE T. : Paper by. The Rochester City
Club, 254
LEMON HILL: German Society at, 42
LIFE PATRONS : Established by Constitution, R. H. S., 277
LIGHT INFANTRY BAND, WILLIAMS': Concert by, 31
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM: Paper on, by Dr. James Sullivan,
256
LIND, JENNY : Concerts, in Rochester by, 45 ; Gives $2500
to local charities, 46
LITERATURE: In Rochester, by Dr. Rossiter Johnson, 257
LITTLE, MRS. WILLIAM S. : Charter Member, R. H. S., 11 ;
Paper by, on Cherry Valley Massacre, 246
306 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
LIVINGSTON PARK : Old residents of, 77 ; Seminary in, 77
LONG HOUSE : Western door of. Paper by Hon. Lockwood
R. Doty, 150; Senecas, Keepers of Western Door,
152
LOUIS PHILLIPPE : Stops at Stone 's Tavern, 142
LUSK, JOHN : Settled in 1789, 190 ; First permanent settler
near Landing, 206
LYNCH LAW : At Try on City, 195
LYNN, HON. JOHN D. : Paper by, Life and Times of John
Mastick, 257
MACOMBER, HON. F. A.: Charter member, R. H. S., 11
MAINE, HENRY C. : Paper by. Unknown Exile in America,
248
MANAGERS : Of R. H. S., since organization, 269-272
MANSION HOUSE: Concerts at, 22
MARKHAM FAMILY : Pioneers of the Genesee Valley, paper
by Geo. H. Harris, 246
MARVEL, DAN : Appearance of, 28
MASSACHUSETTS: Claims to Genesee Country, 94
MASTICK, CATHERINE : From Avon, wife of John Mastick,
212
MASTICK, JOHN: Performs First Wedding Ceremony, 210;
Wife Catherine, from Avon, 212 ; Erection of bronze
tablet in honor of. Addresses by Hon. George A.
Carnahan, and Kon. John D. Lynn, 257
MATHEWS, ROBERT: Charter member, R. H. S., 11
MAYOR: First appointed by Town Council, 104
McCLURE, MRS.: Appearance of, 28
McGregor, miss MARION: Appearance of, 47
McGUIRE, HORACE: Paper by. Reminiscences of Anti-
Slavery Days, 254
MEETINGS : Of R. H. S., when held, 278, 279
MEG MERRILIES: Charlotte Cushman in, 49
MEMBERSHIP: Qualifications for, in R. H. S., 275
MEMORIALS : Of Mrs. Gilman H. Perkins, 223 ; Of Mayor
INDEX 307
Edgerton, 225; Of Rev. Augustus Hopkins Strong,
233 ; Of Gen. A. W. Riley, 245 ; Of Henry E. Roch-
ester, 245; Of Henry E. Peck, 246; Of Dr. Chester
Dewey, 246; Of Mrs. M. B. Anderson, 246; Of Mrs.
C. M. Curtis, 247; Of Miss Elizabeth P. Hall, 250;
Of Dr. Edward Mott Moore, Sr., 252; Of Mrs. Jane
Marsh Parker, 253 ; Of Wm. F. Peck, 253 ; Of George
May Elwood, 253
MERCHANTS EXCHANGE : Exhibition at, 25
METROPOLITAN: Theater, 41; Successive management of,
48
MEYER, FRED R. : Lantern Talk on Indian Life by, 253
MILITARY COMPANIES: Early of Rochester, paper by
Jesse W. Hatch, 251
MILL LOT: Obtained from Indians, 59
MILLER, REV. GEO. D., D. D. : Paper by, on First Presby-
terian Church, 253
MILLER, PROF. THEODORE A.: Member Board of
Managers R. H. S., 272
MINARD, JOHN S. : Papers by, on Ga-o-ya-de-o and
0-wa-is-ki, 250; On Caneadea Reservation, 250
MINER, EDWARD G., JR.: Paper by. The Sons of the
American Revolution, 249 ; Elected President R. H. S.,
264
MINERVA HALL: Opening of, 37; Destroyed by fire, 37;
First performances at, 42
MINUTES: Gleanings from R.-H. S., 283
MISSION: Of R. H. S., 9
MITCHELL, MAGGIE : Appearance of, 48
MIXER, PROF. ALBERT H. : Charter Member, R. H. S., 11
MONEY: Units in American Colonies, paper by Simon L.
Adler, 251
MONROE COUNTY : Early settlements in, 97 ; Court Houses
of, paper by H. W. ConkUn, 250; Founding of, 101;
Paper on, by Howard L. Osgood, 248; Paper on
Organization of, by Willis K. Gillette, 253
308 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
MONROE COUNTY CLERK : Nathaniel Rochester, the first,
101
MONTEZ, LOLA : Lecture by, 48
MONTGOMERY, HARVEY: Home in Third Ward, 77
MONTGOMERY, T. C. : Charter Member, R. H. S., 11
MONTRESOR: On the Niagara, paper on, by Prank H.
Severance, 251
MOORE : Family records of, 143
MOORE, DR. EDWARD MOTT, SR. : Charter Member,
R. H. S., 10 ; Addresses in honor of, 251 ; Memorial
of, by Wm. F. Peck, 252; Elected First President,
R. H. S., 261
MOORE, SAMUEL : Paper by, on Jonathan Child, 255
MOREY, DR. WILLIAM C. : Charter member R. H. S., 11 ;
Elected Vice-President R. H. S., 261 ; Member Board
of Managers R. H. S., 269, 270
MORGAN, HENRY W. : Address, opening exercises, R. H. S.,
Exposition Park, 253
MORGAN, LEWIS HENRY: Incorporated Rochester His-
torical Society, 9; Literary work of, 175; Paper on,
by Dr. Chas. Dewey, 254; Paper on, by Algernon S.
Crapsey, 254
MORRIS, ROBERT : Paper on, by George Chandler Bragdon,
252
MORTON HOUSE: Early entertainments at, 19; Tom
Thumb's first at, 32; Washingtonians at, 33; Con-
certs at, 34; Appearance of Hutchinson Family at,
37
MOSS, GEORGE: Papers by, Genesee Valley, 245; Trans-
portation in Early Ncav York, 246
MOULTHROP, SAMUEL P. : Papers by, Local Antiquarian
Researches, 250; Western N. Y. in Colonial Period,
250; Trip through Conesus Country,, 251
MOUNT HOPE CEMETERY: Began to be used 1838, 106;
Antiquities of, paper by Judge James L. Angle, 246;
Poem at dedication of, 246
INDEX 309
MUMFORD, WILLIAM W. : Paper by, Vision of Seventy
Years, 249
MUSEUM : Of R. H. S.. Established at Exposition Park, exer-
cises, 253
MUSIC: In Rochester, paper by Herve D. Wilkins, 246;
Paper by Richard H. Lansing", 253
NATIONAL HOTEL : Concerts in, 30
NAVY ISLAND: War scare at, 78
NEW ENGLAND : Suffered from Pioneer migration, 206
NEWSPAPERS : Protest against early theater, 18 ; Editorial
staff prohibited mentioning theater, 18 ; Rochester
Freeman established, 105 ; North Star, published by
Frederick Douglass, 176
NEW YORK CITY: Historic traces in, paper by Dr. Frank
Bergen Kelley, 257
NIAGARA: Poets of, paper by Frank H. Severance, 248
NIAGARA FRONTIER : Paper on, by Hon. Peter A. Porter,
251
NIXON, PROF. JUSTIN W. : Paper by. Evolution of British
Labor Situation, 255
NORTHFIELD: First Town Meeting of, 125, 188
NORTH STAR : Newspaper by Frederick Douglass, 176
O'CONNOR, JOSEPH: Literary work of, 178, 179, 180, 181
O'CONNOR, MICHAEL : Literary work of, 182, 183
OCUMPAUGH, EDMUND 2ND : Member Board of Managers,
R. H. S., 272
OFFICERS: Of R. H. S., since organization, 261-265
OGDEN, HON. CHARLES E.: Address by. Courage, 257
OLD HOMESTEADS: In Third Ward. 72
OLDS, NATHANIEL S. : Papers by. Rambles about Roches-
ter, 82; Totiakton, 252
ONE HUNDRED ACRE TRACT: See Hundred Acre Tract
ONE HUNDRED AND FORTIETH REGIMENT : Paper on,
by Dr. Porter Farley, 251
ONTARIO HOUSE : In Third Ward, 74
310 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
O'REILLY, HENRY: One of original incorporators R. H. S.,
9
ORIGIN : Of R. H. S., 9
OSGOOD, HOWARD L. : Published papers, Rochester: Its
Founders and Its Founding, 53; Papers by, Phelps &
Gorham Purchase, 245 ; Hundred- Acre-Tract by, 246 ;
Struggle for Monroe County, 248 ; Sketch of Geo. H.
Harris, 249 ; Diary of Mr. Langslow, 250 ; Frontier
Forts, 250 ; British Evacuation of U. S., 251 ; Genesee
River, Correspondence of Col. Rochester, and Indian
Allan, 251
OTIS, GEN. ELWELL S. : Literary work of, 175
OTIS, IRA L. : Paper by, on Henry Clay 's first visit to
Rochester, 248
0-WA-IS-KI : Paper on, by John S. Minard, 250
OX BOW : At Indian Landing, 204
PACKARD, PROF. LAURENCE B. : Paper by, Rochester's
Contribution to the Twentieth Century, 254; Member
Board of Managers, R. U. S., 272
PACKETS : On Erie Canal, 74
PAINE, WILLIS S. : Author of law books, 177
PAPERS: List of, read before The Rochester Historical
Society, since organization, 245-257
PARKER, ARTHUR C. : Paper by. Historic and Pre-historic
Indians of Western N. Y., 255
PARKER, MRS. JANE MARSH : Charter Member, R. H. S.,
11 ; Literary work of, 177 ; Papers by. Union League,
245 ; Mary Jemison, 245 ; Rochester in Ancient His-
tory, 245 ; Historical Societies in the U. S., 245 ; Me-
morial of Henry E. Peck, 246 ; Reminiscences of Mrs.
Eliza M. Reed, 247; Memorial of Mrs. C. M. Curtis,
247 ; Jesuit Relations, 248 ; Red Jacket, 249 ; Memo-
rial of, 253; Elected Secretary R. H. S., 261
PARKS : Paper on, by Dr. Edward Mott Moore, Sr., 247
PATCH, SAM: Leap of, 27; Leap of, described by
Hawthorne, 165 ; Described by Howells, 168
INDEX 311
PATRIOTISM: Of Western N. Y., paper by Hon. Peter A.
Porter, 252
PATTI, ADELINA : First appearance of, 47
PECK, EVERARD: Residence in Third Ward, 72; Early
book binder, 99
PECK, HENRY E. : Biographical sketch of, by Mrs. Jane
Marsh Parker, 246
PECK, WLLIAM F. : Charter Member, R. H. S., 11 ; Literary
work of, 176; Papers by, Daily American and
Leonard W. Jerome, 247; Elisha Johnson, 249;
Memorial of Dr. Moore, 252; Early Police of Roches-
ter, 252 ; Memorial of George May Elwood by, 253 ;
Memorial of, by Wm. H. Samson, 253 ; Elected Secy.
R. H. S., 261-264; Date of death of, 283
PERKINS, OILMAN H. : Charter Member, R. H. S., 11
PERKINS, MRS. OILMAN H. : Founder, R. H. S., 10;
Tribute to, 223 ; Elected Life Honorary President,
283; Death of, 284; Bequest of, to R. H. S., 284
PERKINS, HON. JAMES BRECK : Literary work of, 176;
Paper by, France in the Revolutionary War, 253
PHELPS AND OORIIAM : Purchase of, 95, Deed Hundred
Acre Tract, 95
PHELPS & OORIIAM PURCHASE : Paper on, by Howard L.
Osgood, 245
PHELPS, OLIVER: Biography of, 95
PHOTOGRAPHS: Of Mayor Edgerton, facing title page;
Of Mrs. Oilman II. Perkins, facing 223; Of Mayor
Edgerton 's Certificate, facing 225; Of Rev. Augustus
Hopkins Strong, D. D., facing, 233
PHOTOGRAPHY : Whipple 's Dissolving Views, 47
PIERCE, COL. SAMUEL C. : Address by, Reminiscences of
Civil War, 255
PILGRIM FATHERS: Paper on, by William Webster Ells-
worth, 256
PIONEERS: Living conditions of, 135
312 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
PLAYGROUND : Grandest, paper by Dr. Rossiter Johnson,
255
PLYMOUTH AVENUE : First macadamized, 80
PLYMOUTH CHURCH: Built in 1854, 76
POEMS: By Dr. A. C. Kendrick, 170; By Charles Warren
Stoddard, 174; Translation of Koerner, 186; By
Joseph O'Connor, 179, 180, 181; By Michael
O'Connor, 182, 183; By Mrs. Mary Lee Gates, 184,
185 ; By Mary Riley, 186 ; By Elihu Spencer, at dedi-
cation of Mt. Hope Cemetery, 246 ; By Mrs. Katharine
J. Dowling, 246 ; By Mrs. Bertha Serantom Pool, 247 ;
Read by John G. Allen, 252
POLICE: Of Rochester, paper on, by William F. Peck, 252
POLITICS: Paper on, A Gentleman in (Washington), by
President Rush Rhees, 254
POND, CHARLES F. : History of Third Ward, by, 71;
Elected President R. H. S., 264
POOL, MRS. BERTHA SCRANTOM : Paper by, on Edward
Serantom. 247
PORTER, AUGUSTUS : Paper on, by Chas. M. Robinson, 250
PORTER, HON PETER A.: Papers, by, Goat Island, 251;
Niagara Frontier. 251 ; Patriotism of Western N. Y.,
252
PORTRAITS : Of pioneers presented to R. H. S., 283
POUCHOT: Memoirs of, 163
POWERS BLOCK: First lot laid out, 64; Lot first sold, 66
POWERS, MISS MABEL ; Indian Folk Lore Readings, 253 ;
Recitation of Hiawatha, 253
PRAODI, MADAME THERESA : Concert by, 44
PRIDEATTX: Expedition at Indian Landing, 198
PRINTING : Paper on History of, by Henry Lewis Bullen, 256
PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS: Earlier, in Rochester, 17
PUBLIC SCHOOLS: See Schools
PUBLICATION FUND: Explained, 7; Established by Con-
stitution, R. H. S., 278
INDEX 313
PUBLICATION PATRONS: List of, inside front cover;
Established by Constitution, R. H, S., 277
PUBLICATIONS : Of R. H. S., note as to, 257, 258
RACEWAY : First built by Elisha Ely, 67
RAILWAY : First train 1837, lOG
RATTLESNAKE SPRING: A land boundary, 189, 190
RECORDS : Importance of preservation of, 207
RED JACKET: Paper on, by Mrs. Jane Marsh Parker, 249
REID, MRS. ELIZA M. : Paper on Reminiscences of, by Mrs.
Jane Marsh Parker, 247
REMINGTON, IIARVEY F. : Elected President R. H. S., 265
REMINISCENCES: Of Rochester, paper by Dr. F. DeW.
Ward, 246
REVOLUTION: Soldiers of, paper by Mrs. Wm. Chappell,
251 ; France in, paper by Hon. James Breck Perkins,
253 ; Tories and Loyalists in, paper by Prof. A. C.
Flick, 256
REYNOLDS, ABELARD : Settles in Rochester, 98
REYNOLDS' ARCADE: Constructed in 1828, 106
REYNOLDS' LIBRARY: R. H. S. established in, 283
REYNOLDS, WILLIAM A.: Built Corinthian Hall, 1849, 42
RIIEES, PRESIDENT RUSH: Address, Opening exercises
R. H. S., Exposition Park, 253; Paper by, A Gentle-
man in Politics, 254
RICE, DAN : With Howe 's Circus, 36
RIGA: Paper on early settlement of, by Mrs. Horace Gay,
248
RILEY, GEN. A. W. : Memorial of, by Henry E. Rochester,
245
RILEY, MARY: Poems of, 185
RIVER ROAD: An Indian Trail, 92
ROBINSON, CHAS. M. : Papers by, Augustus Porter, 250;
Development of Civic Beauty, 253
ROCHESTER: Its founding, 53; First map of, 64; Origin of
name of, 65; Founder's opinion of, 65; First lots
314 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
sold in, 66 ; Original Wards of, 71 ; Increases on real
estate in, 71; Backgrounds of its history, 93; In
literature, 163
ROCHESTER BAND: Early concerts of, 22
ROCHESTER CITY GARDEN: Opened in Main Street, 31
ROCHESTER FEMALE ACADEMY: Paper on, by Mrs.
Alice Hopkins, 248
ROCHESTER, HENRY E. : Charter Member, R. H. S., 11;
Poetical tribute to, by Mrs. C. M. Curtis, 245 ; Paper
by, Genesee River, 245 ; Memorial of, by Judge James
L. Angle, 245; Memorial of Gen. Riley by, 245;
Paper by, Riparian Rights along Genesee River, 245;
Paper by, One-Hundred-Acre Tract, 245
ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY: Origin and mission
of, 9; List of papers read before, 245-257; Officers,
since organization, 261-265 ; Managers, since organi-
zation, 269-272; Note as to published papers of, 257,
258; Constitution and By-laws of, 275-280; Gleanings
from the minutes of, 283-284; Established at Exposi-
tion Park, 283
ROCHESTER HOUSE: Old Hotel named, 74
ROCHESTER, JOHN H. : Charter Member, R. 11. S., 11;
Elected President, R. H. S., 262
ROCHESTER KNOCKINGS: First exposition of, 44
ROCHESTER MUSEUM: Started in 1825, 20
ROCHESTER. NATHANIEL: Biographical facts, 53; Date
of death, 55; Purchaser of Hundred-Acre-Tract, 57;
Contract for Hundred-Acre-Tract, 60; Moves family
to Dansville, 62 ; Letter to Charles Carroll, 63 ; Laid
out village lots, 1811, 63 ; Makes first map of village,
64 ; Personal description of, 65 ; Writes of settling at
Falls, 65, 66 ; Personal story of, 69 ; Original Home-
stead of, 72 ; Final home of, 76 ; Appreciation of, 96 ;
Assists in founding Monroe County, 101; First
County Clerk, 101 ; Correspondence of, paper by
Howard L. Osgood, 252; Paper on, by Mrs. William
Chappell, 255
INDEX 315
ROCHESTER, NATHANIEL T. : Home in Third Ward, 77
ROCHESTER, WILLIAM B. : Home in Third Ward, 72
ROCHESTER ORPHAN ASYLUM: Changes in location ot
81; Paper on, by Mrs. Wm. Chappell, 250
ROCHESTER SAVINGS BANK: Founded 1831, 102
ROCHESTER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: Founding of,
108; Noted teachers in, 109
ROCHESTERVILLE : Incorporated, 70 ; Original Wards of,
71
ROGERS, CLINTON: Paper by, Enos Stone's ITouso. 247;
Elected President R. H. S., 263
ROWERDINK, WILLIAM H. : Locates Tryon Cemetery, 102 ;
Letter from, 193
RUSSELL, HENRY: English vocalist, 32
SABBATH : Church Discipline for Violating, 217
SABBATH SCHOOL: Early in Brighton, 139; First in
Village, 211
SAINT LUKE'S CHURCH: Founded, 106
SAMSON, WILLIAM H. : Memorial of Wm. F. Peck by, 253 ;
Elected President R. H. S., 263; Purchase of collec-
tions of, by R. H. S., 283
SCHOOLS : At Tryon in 1802, 123 ; Clover Street Seminary,
144; Should teach local history, 156; Paper on
History of Rochester Public, by S. A. Ellis, 246;
Paper on Rochester Female Academy, 248 ; Paper on
Clover Street Seminary, 249 ; Paper on Deaf Mute
Institute, by Prof. Zenas F. Westervelt, 252; Paper
on History of Rochester's Public, by Miss Katharine
E. Coombs, 254
SCHUYLER, FORT: American Flag first unfurled at, 199
SCHUYLER, PETER : Built block house at Indian Landing,
199; Governor Burnet's instructions to, 199, 200
SCRANTOM, MISS DELIA: First bride of village, 210
316 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
SCRANTOM, EDWIN: Paper on, by Mrs. Bertha Scrantom
Pool, 247
SCRANTOM, HENRY : First house built for, 67
SEA BREEZE : Site of Fort Des Sables, 88
SEAL : Of R. H. S., designed by Claude Bragdon and adopted,
283
SEEBER, EDWARD J. : Member Board of Managers R. H. S.,
272
SELDEN, HENRY R. : Career of, 99
SELDEN, SAMUEL L. : Career of, 99
SENECA INDIANS : Villages of, 84 ; Enemies of the French,
94; Keeper of the Western Door, 152; Last heathen
worship of, in Rochester, 210; See Indians
SEVERANCE, FRANK H. : Papers by, Niagara— Its Poets,
248 ; Montresor on the Niagara, 251 ; Chateaubriand
and the Genesee Vallej^, 253; Address at opening
exercises, R. H. S., Exposition Park, 253 ; Paper by,
France as I Found It in 1920, 256
SHOEMAKING : Paper on, by Jesse W. Hatch, 249
SIAMESE TWINS : Appearance of, 47
SIBLEY, MRS. R. A. : Paper by, on D. A. R., 249
SIMPSON, WILLIAM J.: Member Board of Managers,
R. H. S., 271, 272
SINGER, ISAAC MERRITT : Fails as theater manager, 31;
Later invented sewing machine and became
millionaire, 31
SKINNER, HENRY : Buys Lot No. 1, Powers Block Corner,
66
SLOCUM, GEORGE E. : Paper by, Rochester in the Forties,
251
SMITH, ERASMUS PESHINB: Literary work of, 176
SMUGGLERS ' COVE : At Indian Landing, 205
SODUS: Early History of, paper by Prof. L. H. Clark, 249
SOLDIERS, SAILORS AND MARINES: Of World War,
Greeting to, 229
INDEX 317
SONS OF AMERICAN REVOLUTION : Paper on, by Edward
G. Miner, Jr., 249
SOPHIA STREET : How named, 73 ; Followed Indian trail,
80
SOUTH FITZHUGH STREET : Old families on, 72
SPANISH "WAR : Paper on experiences in, by Wm. G. David,
251
SPENCER, ELIHU: Poem of, at dedication of Mt. Hope
Cemetery, 246
SPENCER, JOHN C. : Drew original Rochester Charter, 104
SPIRIT RAPPINGS : First public exposition, 44
SPRING STREET: Named from Indian Spring, 91
STAMP ACT : Paper on Repeal of, by Ernest R. Clarke, 253
STEAMBOAT HOTEL : Paper on, by Pomeroy P. Dickinson,
248
STOCK COMPANY : First Theatrical founded, 28 ; How first
conducted, 39; Cast of early, 40
STODDARD, CHARLES WARREN: Literary work of, 173,
174
STODDARD, DR. E. V. : Charter Member, R. H. S., 11
STONEBURNER, LEONARD: Descendants of, 127
STONE, EDITH : Biographical facts, 98
STONE, ENOS : Brings family to Falls, 64 ; First lot sold to,
66 ; Paper on First House of, by Clinton Rogers, 247 ;
Paper on, by Wm. Talmadge Stone, 251
STONE, ORRINGH: Town Meeting, at place of, 124;
Elected Commissioner of Highways, 125; Tavern
kept by, 141; First Commissioner of Highways,
Northfield, 188; Laid out Landing Road, 188
STONE'S TAVERN: Description of, 141; Celebrities
stopped at, 142
STONE, WILLIAM TALMADGE: Paper on Enos Stone bv,
251
STRAYER, REV. PAUL MOORE, D. D. : Address on Mary
Jemison by, 254
STRINGER, GEORGE ALFRED : Paper by, on John Jay, 252
318 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
STRONG, REV. AUGUSTUS HOPKINS, D. D. : Charter
member, R. H. S., 11; Literary work of, 175; Photo-
graph fronting, 233 ; Appreciation of, 233 ; Biography
of, 235 ; Memorial of Judge James L. Angle by, 247 ;
Paper by. Autobiography of Samuel Miles Hopkins,
251 ; Address in Honor of Dr. Moore, 251 ; Paper by,
Reminiseenes of Early Rochester, 254; Paper by,
on Prof. Henry A. Ward, 256; Elected President
R. H. S., 261; Special Publication of Ward address
by, 284
STRONG, ELISHA B. : Activities of Carthage, 100
SULLIVAN'S CAMPAIGN: Paper on, by Simon L. Adler,
250 ; Paper on, by Wm. Elliott Griffis, 252
SULLIVAN, DR. JAMES : Addresses by, World War Service
Records, 256; Lincoln's Message to the Present
Generation, 256; Relation of Historical and Patriotic
Societies to World Crisis, 255
SULLIVAN, GENERAL JOHN : Soldiers of, became pioneers,
206; Traditions at Indian Landing, 134; See Sulli-
van's Campaign
SWISS BELL RINGERS: At Irving Hall, 37; Peak family
of, 48
TAVERN : See Hotels
TEMPERANCE DRAMA: At Concert Hall, 34
TERRY, SETH H. : Paper by. Last Sacrifice of Indians, 246
THEATER : Early prejudice against, in Rochester, 17 ; News-
paper protest against, 18 ; First, in Rochester, 19 ;
Rochester Museum started, (1825), 20; Museum
Saloon, 21 ; Circus abandoned, 22 ; On Buffalo Street,
(1826), 23; On Carroll Street, (1826), 23; First
appearance of William Forrest, 24; Appearance, Ed-
mund Kean, 24; First Stock Company, 28; James
Lamb, scene-painter in, 28; Appearance of Mrs. Mc-
Clure. 28 ; Dan Marvel's appearance, 28 ; Julia Dean's
first appearance, 29; The Elder Booth's appearance,
29 ; Edmund Forrest, first appearance, 29 ; In Roches-
ter City Garden, 31; Henry Russell at Eagle, 32;
INDEX 319
Washingtonians in, 32; Early negro minstrelsy in,
32; Tom Thumb's first appearance, 32; O. E. Dodge
at Irving liall, 33; Exhibition at Irving Hall, 33;
At Morton House, 33 ; At Concert Hall, 34 ; At Irving
Hall, 34 ; Ole Bull's first appearance, 36 ; Swiss Bell
Ringers at Irving Hall, 37 ; Opening of Minerva Hall,
37; Christy 's Minstrels at, 37 ; Hutchinson Family at
Morton House, 37; Dempster at the Eagle, 38;
Gratton's Dramatic Saloon, 38; Fortunes of Ex-
change Street House, 38; Alleghanians, 38; Early
Stock Company, plan of, 39; South St. Paul Street,
burned twice, 39 ; Charlotte Cushman, in, 41 ; Founded
South St. Paul Street, 39 ; Early stock, cast in. 40 ;
Uncle Tom's Cabin, long run, 41; W. J. Florence,
first appearance, 41 ; The Metropolitan, 41 ; Concert
by Madame Anna Bishop, 44; Dedication of
Corinthian Hall, 44; Concert by Madame Theresa
Praodi, 44; Concert by Jenny Lind, 45; Bohemian
Glass Blowers in, 47; Concert by Madame Emma
Bostwick, 47 ; Henri Appy, in concert, 47 ; Donnetti 's
Troupe in, 47 ; First appearance Adelina Patti, 47 ;
Concert by Miss Greenfield, 47; Siamese Twins,
appearance of, 47; Second concert by Ole Bull, 47;
Piccolomini sings, 48 ; Successive management of
Metropolitan, 48; Keller Troupe in tableaux vivant,
48 ; Appeaarnce of William J. Florence, 48 ; Mrs.
Macready in, 48; Appearance of Maggie Mitchell,
48; First appearance of Edwin Booth, 49; Appear-
ance of Charlotte Cushman, 49 ; Just Fame of
Corinthian Hall, 49
THIRD WARD : History of, 71 ; Original boundaries of, 71 ;
Old Homesteads in, 72; Boarding houses in, 74, 75;
Hotels in. 74, 75 ; Blue Eagle Jail in, 74 ; Circus built,
74 ; Taverns in, 78 ; Home of Fox Sisters in, 76 ;
Noted residents of, 78 ; Cornell Survey of, criticised,
80; Street names in, 80; Paper on old, by Chas. F.
Pond, 249
THOMAS, THEODORE: Juvenile prodigy, 38
320 THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
TOM THUMB: First appearance in Rochester, 32
TOTIAKTON: Destroyed by Denonville, 90, 202
TRAILS : Old Indian, 85 ; See Indians
TRANSPORTATION: Erie Canal made Rochester, 103;
Early, in Western New York, paper by George Moss,
246
TRYON: Real estate and family records, 129, 130; Facts as
to family of, 191, 192
TRYON CEMETERY : Located, 192, 193
TRYON CITY: Founded, 89; History of, by A. Emerson
Babcock, 112; Location of, 113; Trading post estab-
lished at, 115 ; Buildings erected at, 117 ; Pioneers,
117; Lynch Court at, 118; Stores and Mills at, 118;
Failure of, 128; Landing road, history, by A. Emer-
son Babcock, 188 ; Lynch Law at, 195 ; Warehouse at,
195; Large schooners touched, 195; Traders at, 196
TRYON, JOHN : Bought City of Tryon, 191 ; Estate of, 195
TRYON, SALMON: Founded settlement at Landing, 190
TWENTIETH CENTURY: Rochester's Contribution to,
paper by Prof. Laurence B. Packard, 254
TWENTY-THOUSAND-ACRE TRACT : Paper on, by Moses
B. King, 249
UNCLE TOM'S CABIN: Long run of, 41
UNDERGROUND RAILWAY: In Rochester, 105
UNION LEAGUE : Paper on, by Mrs. Jane Marsh Parker, 245
UNITED STATES FLAG: See Flag
UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER : Founding of, 107 ; R. H. S.
prizes at, 284
VAIL, PROF. CHARLES D. : Address on Mary Jemison by,
254
VAN DORN, F. : Paper by, on Mary Jemison, 250
VAN VOORHIS, HON. JOHN: Paper by, Indian Lands,
Cattaraugus Reservation, 252
VARNEY. MRS. E. J. : Paper by, Early Days in Rochester,
250
INDEX 321
VICTOR: Indian battle at, 90
WADSWORTH, JAMES : Visited Irondequoit, 1795, 126
WALBRIDGE, ARTHUR D. : Musical composer, 178
WALL, WILLIAM HERBERT : Member Board of Managers,
R. H. S., 271, 272
WARD, DR. F. DeW.: Paper by, Rochester's First Things,
246
WARD, PROF. HENRY A. : Paper on, by Rev. Augustus H.
Strong, D. D., 256
WARNER, FREDERICK W. : Paper by, Architecture of
Rochester, 250
WASHINGTON, GEORGE: Paper on, by President Rush
Rhees, 254
WASHINGTONIANS : Movement, 32; Program of, 33
WATER SUPPLY: Paper on Sanitary Control of, by Prof.
C. W. Dodge, 252
WEED, THURLOW : Obtains first bank, 102
WESTERN DOOR : Of Long House, paper on, by Hon. Lock-
wood R. Doty, 257
WESTERN NEW YORK: Paper on Patriotism of, by Hon.
Peter A. Porter, 252; In Colonial Period, paper on,
by Samuel P. Moulthrop, 250 ; Indians of, paper by
Dr. Sherman Williams, 255 ; Historic and pre-historic
Indians of, paper by Arthur C. Parker, 255
WESTERN RESERVE : In Ohio, of Connecticut, 95
WESTERVELT, ZENAS F. : Paper by, Deaf Mute Institute,
252
WHISKEY: Cheap, at Tryon City, 196 (Note: This city is
lost!)
WHITNEY, FREDERICK M. : Reads Reminiscences of John
Sylvester Wilson, 254
WHITTLESEY. CHANCELLOR: Reads prize address at
theater, 23
WHITTLESEY, FREDERICK A. : Charter Member, R. II. S.,
10
WILDER, MARSHALL P. : Career of, 177
322 THE KOCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
WILDERNESS : Battle of, Paper, by Dr. Porter Farley, 251
WILKINS, IIERVE D. : Paper on Music in Rochester by, 246
WILLIAMS, REV. COMFORT: First Pastor in Village, 211
WILLIAMS' LIGHT INFANTRY BAND : Concert by, 31
WILLIAMS, DR. SHERMAN : Paper by, Indians of Western
N. Y., 255
WILSON, JOHN SYLVESTER: Reminiscences of, read by
Frederick M. Whitney, 254
WILTSIE, CHARLES H. : Paper by. Reminiscences of Mrs.
Hiram Blanchard, 247; Read Memorial of Miss
Elizabeth P. Hall, 250; Elected Treasurer, R. H. S.,
261, 262; Elected President R. H. S., 266; Member
Board of Managers, R. H. S., 271, 272
WOLVES : Bounty for scalps of, in Brighton, 124
WORLD WAR: Mayor Edgerton, war mayor, 228; Service
record provided for, 229; Soldiers, Sailors and
Marines, greeting to, 229 ; Address on Larger Mean-
ing of, by Prof. Franklin H. Giddings^ 254 ; Practical
Problems arising from, by Jasper H. Wright, 255;
Relation of Historical Societies to, by Dr. James Sulli-
van, 255; Compiling Service Records of, by Dr.
James Sullivan, 256 ; Compiling records of, begun by
R. H. S. 284 ; Taken over by Library Board, 284
WRIGHT, JASPER H. : Paper by. Problems of World War,
255
YATES, MRS. ANAH B. : First Church Chronicles by, 210;
Paper by, Old Colonial China, 252; Elected Vice-
President R. H. S., 265 ; Member Board of Managers,
R. H. S., 272
YOUNG MEN'S ASSOCIATION : Lecture courses by, 35
YUST, WILLIAM F. : Elected Secretary R. H. S., 265, 266 ;
Address, opening exercises, R. H. S., Exposition Park,
253 ; Gleanings from Minutes by, R. H. S., 281
