History of Monroe county, New York with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, Palatial residences, Part 34

Author: McIntosh, W. H. cn; Everts, Ensign, and Everts, Philadelphia, pub
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Ensign and Everts
Number of Pages: 976

USA > New York > Monroe County > History of Monroe county, New York with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, Palatial residences > Part 34

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The first band in Rochester was formed in the spring of ISit. The first meet- ing was held at Reynolds' tavern, and arrangements made to procure instruments from Utica. Preston Smith was chosen leader. Members were Joseph Stone, Bradford King, Edwin Scruntomu. Jehiel Barnard, Perkins. Preston Smitb. L. L. Miller," James Caldwell, Jedediah Stafford, MeGeorge, builder of St. Luke's church, Nathaniel T. Rochester, Selkrez, Myron Strong. Erastus Cook, who brought the first piano to Rochester, Jonathan Packard, Samuel W. Lee, Horace L. Sill, who, with his brother George G., opened the first book-store, Alfred Judson, Alpheus Bingham, Levi W. Sibley, and Isaac Loomis. The band met for practice at the Clinton house, Exchange street, and instruction was given by George Pyer.

In 1827 the first directory of Rochester was published by Elisha Ely,-a basis of all subsequent bistory ; practically not in existence save a copy or two. A view of the village and its advancement, as therein shown, will be of interest at this period of its records. The officers of the corporation contain the names of M. Brown, Jr., president of the board of trustees; Rufus Beach, clerk and at- torney; and F. F. Backus, treasurer. The fire department bad ten warders. Samuel Works was chief engineer, and there were two engine companies and one hook-and-ladder company. Daniel D. Hatch was foreman of No. 1. David C. West of No. 2, and Isaiah Tower, Jr., of the hook-und-ladder company.

There had grown up ten religious societies, and seven houses of' publie worship har been built. Most of the societies supported a Sabbath-school. There were weTen benevolent societies, namely, the Female Charitable Society. numbering one hundred and forty-three, having for president Mrs. J. K. Livingston. and Misses Ewing and Stone superintendents of the school. The Monroe County Bible Seicty, Vincent Matthews, president; Levi Ward, Jr., treasurer ; and office in the counting-room of William H. Ward & Co., Carroll street. The Monroe County Missionary Society, formed Joly 11. 1826, with Ira West, president; ( J. Hill, treasurer; and Everard Peck, secretary. The Female Missionary &xiety. The Female Benevolent and Auxiliary Missionary Society of St. Luke's eborch, formed February 23, 1827, Mrs. Elisha Johnson, president : Mrs. W. Pitkin, secretary ; and Mrs. T. II. Rochester, treasurer. The Monroe County Friscupal Association, organized in February, 1827, and the Monroe County Tract Sciety, formed in 1823. In October, 1826, the latter was merged in the Rochester Tract Society.

The village had no public library nor seminary of education, but attention was being directed to these wants, and they would not long exist. Private and dis- Wiet schools had sprung op and multiplied until about twenty were in operation. Eleren hundred and fifty youth and children here found instructors in the various branches of classical and coration education.

The Franklin Institute, organizel Out ber 13, 1926, for the establishment of a library of works nimms arts, sience, and manufacture, uf a museum of' medels " machines. A cabinet uf minerals and chemical substances was formed, in the

belief " that the condition and prospects of our village mark it out as especially demanding realous efforts to establish and maintain the arts by scientific and, and to benefit that part of the community engaged in productive industry with the advantages sod pleasures of mental cultivation." Twenty members were enrolled. The affairs of the Institute were conducted by a committee of seven. The rom- mittee in 1827 were Rev. Joseph Penney, Rev. F. II. Cuming, Levi Ward, Jr , Elisha Johnson, Jacob J. Graves, Giles Bolton, and Edwin Stanley. The place of meeting was No. 6 .Johnson's building, corner of Main and Canal street. There was a lodge of Masons, a Chapter, and a Knights Templar Encampment.

Of newspapers there were four political aod miscellaneous, one religious, and a Christian monthly, viz .: The Monroe Republicna, the Rochester Telegraph, semi- weekly ; the Album, weekly ; Rochester Daily Advertiser, the Rochester Olverter, semi-monthly ; and the Gospel Luminary, monthly. The Rochester Telegraph was issued weekly for the country, as was the Rochester Mercury, published from the office of the Daily .Advertiser.

The post-office, in charge of Abelard Reynolds. was situated on Buffalo street. At the office there were received twenty-six daily. two hundred and eighty-four semi-weekly, and six hundred and ninety weekly newspapers. There was a daily mail from the cast and west, and mail was received daily from Palmyra and Scotts- ville in summer, and three times a week in winter ; one mad per week from Oswego, and three a week from Batavia, Genesee, and other points. The receipts for the first quarter of 1812 were three dollars and forty-two cents, and for the last quarter of 1826 one thousand seven hundred and eighteen dollars and four- teen cents.

The bank of Rochester had been incorporated in 1824. with a capital of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Elisha B. Strong was president, A. M. Schim- merhoro, cashier; John T. Tillman, teller and notary ; Henry Roser, discount clerk ; and Levi Burnell, book-keeper ; and a board of thirteen directors, eni- braciog the names of the solid and enterprising men so frequently noted in pre- ceding pages.

It is stated in reference to the population that it was chiefly from New England, other States contributing a portion, and a considerable number being frutu Ger- many and Great Britain. The following illustrates the accession of numbers : the first censos in 1915, 331; IS18, 1049: 1820, 1302; 1822. 2700; 1825, 4274; December, 1826, 7669; and January. 1829, 10,818. It is stated as a remarkable fact that in a population of 10,000 not one adult person tous a native of the village. The employment of the people is indicated by the following statement : 7 clergymen, 25 physicians, 28 lawyers, 74 merchants, 89 clerks, 84 grocers, 33 bateliers, 48 tailors, 8 book-binders, 124 shoemakers, 20 hatters. 73 - coopers, 23 clothiers, 20 millers. 21 millrights, 304 carpenters and joiners, 16 inn-keepers, 31 printers, 17 coach-makers, 67 blacksmiths, 14 gunsmiths, 10 chair- makers, 95 masons, 25 cabinet-makers, 5 comb-makers, 26 paintery, 24 wheel- wrights, 21 saddlers, 8 tallow-chandlers, 23 tinners, 29 tanners, 14 bakers, 423 laborers, 16 goldsmiths.

TRADE AND COMMERCE.

The products from the rich regions embraced in the valley of the Genesee were brought to Rochester, andI thence exported. The export of leading articles for the years 1823 aod IS26 are thus contrasted : Flour, 64.114 barrels. in 1923, to 202,000 in IS26; wheat, 20,590 bushels in the former year, none in the latter ; pork, 1250 barrels, contrasted with 7000; beef, 529 barrels to 750; put and pearl ashes, in 1826, 9500 barrels; and whisky, 52,903 gallons, in 1823, had increased to 135,000 in IS26. Imports were of every article known to mer- chandise, and rapidly augmenting in volume. keeping pace with greater area of tillage and increased means of agriculturists. A wholesale trade had sprung up between the villige and other points more distant. As an index of retail trade. the following is given of the nutuber and character of the stores, ninety.one in all : Of merchant, forty-two ; hardware, five; druggist, five; book and stationery. three; boot and shoe. fourteen ; hat, four; goldsmith, live; millinery, seven ; luxo k- ing-glass, one; clothing, four; and military goods, one.

There was a thriving trade in lumber, originating in local demand. Timber for ship-building was shipped extensively by canal to New York. A demand at high prices was rendered inutile from the canal tolls and cost of transportativo, and the business becanie profitless. The quality of white-ouk timber was not escriled elsewhere in the country.

The freight-boats on the canal numbered one hundred and mitty, the hommes eight hundred and eighty-two; the lines owning were known as Pilot, Wading- tun, Merchants'. Troy and Erie. Hadson and Erie, and Union, and the owner of chief agents wire residents of the village. Besides these, a number of toute owned in the village plied regularly on the canal. Transportation of' dour to the Hadson, in spring and fall, was one dollar per barrel ; in summer. eighty seven

HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

and a half cents. Boats ran night and day, and made an average of sixty miles in twenty hours. l'asseugers were charged one and a half cents per mile. and an extra charge For board of fifty cents per day. The packets are advertised as of "easy motion and rapid progress, with opportunity, by reading and social con- verse, to beguile the tediousDess of a long jomney." The packet company had, in 1827, twelve boats and one hundred and thirty horses.

Of canal basins there were eight, namely, Gilbert's, Johnson's, Child's, Fitz- bugh'a, Fisher's, Ely's, Washington, and Warehouse. There were three dams,- the one above the rapids, with mill-race on each side of the river, the west side supplyiog Dine water-power establishments, the east side ten ; Brown's daw, below the great falls, supplying ten establishments ; Cleveland's, on the brink of the falls, giving power for two mills,-besides others in course of construction. The manufacture was promising ; seven merchant-wills were manufacturing flour, with twenty-four run of stone, and two of twelve run of stone were contracted to be built during the season. The mills bore the names of Bach, Brown, At- kinson, Rochester, Cleveland, Strung, and Ely, and their returns of flour made during 1826 gave a total of one hundred and fifty thousand one hundred and sixty-nine barrels. It is said of the Ely mill, that the wheat taken in and floured during much of the fall equaled two buudred and fifty barrels laily. Besides these, there were three custom-mills, with seven run of stone. A cotton-factory, in charge of S. S. Allcott, had one thousand four hundred spindles, thirty power- looms, and employed eighty youths and children, for whomi a school was main- taived five evenings in the weck, at the employer'a expense. There were three furnaces for melting and casting iron, two trip-hammers by water-power, and breweries, distilleries, tanneries, and a lengthy list of miscellaneous zz nufactures.

ROCHESTER A CITY IN 1834.

Repeated applications finally met success, and in the spring of 1834 the legis- lature passed an act granting a charter to the city of Rochester. The limits of the city were enlarged to include four thousand acres. It was extended northward in a narrow strip, and made to embrace the lower falls and the Ontario steamboat landing. These lands, thus included in the corporation, were a portion of the Carthage tract on the east, and the McCracken tract on the west of these localities. -the falls and landing. On June 2, Erasmus D. Smith, Abraham M. Sebermer- horn, and Horace Hooker were elected supervisors, and the aldermou for the five wards were, beginning with the first ward. Lewis Brooks, Thomas Kempshall, Frederic F. Backus, A. W. Riley, and Jacob Graves.

On the 9th of June the common council elected Jonathan Child as mayor of the city ; Vincent Matthews, attorney and counsel ; Samuel Works, superinten- dent; John C. Nash, clerk ; E. F. Marshall, treasurer ; and Wilham Il. Ward, chief engineer. Isaac Hills was the first recorder, and held the office for a number of years. Mayor Child was inaugurated June 10, and on that occasion thus re- marked :

" The rapid progress which our place has made, from a wilderness to an incor- porated city, authorizes each of our citizens proudly to reflect upon the agency he has had in bringing about this great and interesting change. Rochester has had little aid in its permanent improvement from foreign capital. It has been settled and built for the most part by mechanies and merchants, whose capital was economy, industry, and perseverunce. It is their labor and skill which has converted a wil- derness into a city ; and to them surely this must be a day of pride and joy. They have founded and reared a city before they have passed the meridian of life. Io other countries and times the city of Rochester would have been the result of the lobor and accumulations of successive generations; but THE MEN WHO FELLED THE FOREST that grew on the spot where we are assembled ARE SITTINO AT THE COUNCIL-BOARD OF OUR CITY. Well. then, may we indulge an honest pride as we look back upon our history, and let the review elevate our hopes and animate our exertions. Together we have struggled through the hardships of an infant settlement and the embarrassments of straitened circumstances, and together let us rejoice and be happy in the glorious reward that has crowned our labors. 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 button. and it cannot be too much to expect a union of counsels and exertions to secure their safety."

ized to sign all tavern and grocery licenses granted by this board during the tim. the present incumbent shall holl the office of mayor of this city.

On July 2. 1835, Jacob Gould was chosen to succeed Mr. ('hild, and in January 1836, was re-elected. His remarks on retiring from other at the year's chop are well worth a place in this connection :

" Our city has also been remarkably distinguished for peace and good order and happily delivered from the fire that devons the property and the pe-tilet- that destroys the lives of our citizens. During the period of my office. nearly tw .. years. I wish it to be remembered as a most extraordinary and to me must grat. fying fact, that, with a population averaging sisteen thousand. I have never been called upon to interfere, nur has there ever been occasion to do so, for the suppn . sion of riot, mob, tumult, or even an ordinary case of assault. This fact sjuk. . most gratifying eulogy for our civil and religious institutions, and for the inhh; gence and morality of the community in which we live."

These and successive mayors, having the public welfare in view, saw with a noble pride the continued growth of the city, public improvements perfected. the various branches of trade and manufacture prospered. and the best interests of all made paramount. Truly, in many respects the city is remarkable.

Turn we now to the

FALLS OF THE GENESEE.

valuable in their power, beautiful in their appearance. The deep, worn channel. in noble curve at the foot of precipitons rock. flows from fall to fall, and a snowy volume, rushing over the ledges. pours downward, and sends up a mist reflectir a rainbow hue, while a glance reveals the various strata, and discovers to the geolo- gist the lessons of the rocks. Nor are these falls destitute of incident. At the great falls Sam Patch rendered his name historie by a territis leap. and the lower falls are of interest as connected with the fate of young Carlin.

THE LAST LEAP OF SAM PATCIL.

Sam Patch was a man of weak mind, fond of strong drink ; and as Blondin. Weston, Bates, and others, had each his way of attracting the populace for his own benefit. su Patch resorted to the original device of jumping from great heights. At Paterson, New Jersey, and at Niagara Falls he had been -necessful, and comune to Rochester, he put up notices that he would jump down the Gencsec fills im November 8, 1829. The day came. and a large coucourse assembled to withes. the act. Promptly on hand, Patch. accompanied by a tame hear. took the fearful leap, and came up safely, to the great relief of the spectators.

He now proposed, on November 13. to jump from a scaffold put up on the brink of the fall, twenty feet above. thus making a descent much more than one hundred feet. The excitement had spread far and wide, and an enormous crowd gathered upon the river-banka, rouf- of buildings, trees, and every prospective point For several hours the multitude stood waiting, and at the time specified he cam. upon the platform, added one more to the number of previous draughts of liquor. ad- dressed the crowd. and then took the awful piange. " A profound silence prevailed over the vast multitude; every eye rested on the rippling waves where he entered the water ; a hush of nigh ten minutes, when many a voice proclaimed. . He is lost' he is dead!" A prostration of feeling took possession of the spectators, and within. brief spice of time all had fled the premises. with emotions indescribable, Striking the water not feet foremost, but in his side, and with terrific force from site momentumu, the last leap of Sam Patch was ended. His body. found next spring at the river's month, was buried in the Charlotte cemetery.

THE FATE OF CATLIN

\' deserves notice, as his life was lost through admiration of the cataracts. About 1830, the Mechanics' Institute, now the Athenaeum, commissioned Catlin, the - artist, to paint a portrait of De Witt Clinton. The work was done, and we 1/ brought to Rochester by a young brother. This young man had adopted hi- -, elder brother's profession, and set but one fine morning upon a tour of the fall- The water was nt such stage as made the scene beautiful. The curve of th. banks was of geometrie regularity, and rose vertically from the level of the lake to the high plateau. Catlin descended to the river margin below the lower fall- and sought to re wh a sand-bar near the centre of the stream from whence to gan a better view or take a sketch. The youth found himself in peril, and raisedl . ery for aid, but ere an aged ti-herman who saw the scene could come to his a-i- ance he had perished. There were suspicions entertained that the fisherman had dealt foully, but these gave way before investigation.

On June 23, 1835, Mr. Child presented his resignation of the mayoralty. A majority of the newly-elected council had been in favor of licensing groerries and taverns to sell spirituons liquors, on the ground of expedieney, and as Mr. Child would have had the papers to sign, or set against the wishes of a large proportion of the board, the resignation was made. The letter of resignation was referred to a committee, consisting of Allerman Matthew Brown, H. L. Stevens, and Isane R. Elwoud. On motion of the last, it was resolved " that the recorder be author-

Sich Fall right opposite grand. Father Wheeler , west , across a small pasture field in 1830-82. E. F. allright 1912

Page 86

Sam Patch. Father now Sam take his first leaf and I many times heard him tell about it . 2. 7. allright 1911

Picie 86.

HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

THE CHOLERA, "ROCHESTER KNOCKINGS," ETC.

The days of the summer of 1832 were dark andl gloomy, for the cholera-the dreaded plague of the east-appeared in Rochester. Its first appearance was on June 22, at a house nigh the canal on Saint Paul street, sod the death-angel fapied his broad wings over the community, tilling the mind with terror and gloomy foreboding. Through July and August the scourge was at its height, and over four bundred persous were carried off by it .. At this time it was diffi- vult to find nurses for the sich. The infected were regarded with fear, and brandy became the general panacea. It was then that Colonel Ashbel W. Riley. ode of the board of health, cutered upon a career as worthy of remembrance as a How- and iu the prisons ur a Nightingale in the Crimean hospitals. He went without far atuong the distressedl ; himself alone placed the body in the enthin, and having maikel it up, the driver of the dead-cart aidel in its removal. Nobly he bore his port. and by his devotiun and philanthropic edurt deserves this brief tribute. The gigantie labors at grading, draining, paving, and macadamizing the streets. the efficient police regulations, the removal of decomposed vegetable matter have wholly changed the locality, and Rochester is regarded as among the healthiest of cities, and has no dreail of the pestilence which from time to time has riuted in other cities.

The Rochester knockings, a weak imposture, have been a subject of personal and press comment and given the city a certain notoriety. The Fox sisters were able to produce the " knockings" under the rigid examination of the most intel- ligent, and finding their area too limited removed to New York. there to continue their jugglery.

The demands of commerce and manufacture have diverted the waters of the tienesce from their bed above the aqueduct, and a broad bed of stone marks the channel of centuries, but in early days the volume of water was uniform and "water. Now and then a flood sweeps down, strikes terror to the citizens and Lass waste property. The great flood of 1835 was unprecedented. and the roar of waters foaming and rushing over the falls sounded ominously to the city, and presented a sceneof unwonted grandeur. The quantity of water passing was com- puted at two millions one hundred und sixty-four thousand cubic feet per minute. A new bridge at the lower falls was carried off; much care was required to save the main bridge in the city. Buffalo street was flooded to the Arcade. and much of prods damaged.

THE NAVY ISLAND RAID

way an event of 1837, which aroused the city and threatened war and rebellion in Canada. During the summer the indientions of trouble were manifested by imendiary fires, and a paper conducted by oue Mckenzie poured vil upon the rile.rs. In the fall, Van Rensselaer and a party took possession of Navy Island. in the Niagara river. Proclamations were issued and a force collected there. A ."twnittee of sympathizers in Rochester advanced money and seut un men. The country was excited and wagon-loads of material were accumulated at the river market. Then came the news that the British had cut adrift the steamboat " Caro- him," at her on fire. and sent her, with sixty souls on board. over the cataract. Tiw li-patch was read from the Eagle balcony, and the warlike feeling became int. # ~. The lapse of a few days was followed by a confirmati mu of the loss of the stromfurat, but not of life. The excitement continued till the government, inter- fering. rleared the island. The Canadian authorities sent a dozen men to Botany Itis for life, and Americans were pardoned and returned home. and so ended the IN theD of Canada.

MILITIA BURLESQUE.

The system of militia training, long in vogue, had become a farce. At a com- jos mu-trr in Rochester, John Robinson appeared on parade in fantastie cos- " .... .. f the best material. Orderly and solwerly each cutainand was promptly . 1- yol. The company were not in uniforma and exceptions could not be taken, ' at all order was lost and the drill was a failure. A few days later, there n ,. h. I through the streets a motley array so ludicrous that it found full descrip- fen in the pre -. The performance was cumulated elsewhere, and despite legisla- t. n the old militia system was revolutionized.

EARLY FURNACE ..

The old stone warehouse, earlier named, became vacant on the completion of ": - spaluet, in 1823. Years passed, and the old canal warehouse wis a ruin, ". Inputel a haunted building ; but in 1838 Wm. HI. Cheney rented the skeleton fr.m the namer, Dr. Elwood, for a furnace and foundry Repairs were made, . com. boiler, and material were brought by canal from Albany, and business

comcienced. Here way cast the first cooking-stove made in this part of th- country. The pattern originated in Philadelphia, and the rough plates were a quarter-iuch in thickness. The steam-engine was a great attraction, and a source of wonder and inquiry. When the ateam from Cheney's furnace erst awoke the neighboring echoes, Dr. Long hi-tened from his residence, on Alexander street, and, viewing the machinery, said to the proprietor, " If you are sustained this will be evidence uf progress." Eight years the warehouse served as a foundry, then Cheney transferred his establishment to South Saint Paul street, and the building relapsed to ruin. In 1850 it was used for storage, and then fur a til-pottery. In 1804, Mr. Oothout purchased the property, which served four years as a store- house. The old building was enlarged and raised. Originally, its dimension- were forty by one hundred feet ; the present is seventy-five by une hundred and fifty, five atories, an attic, an iron roof, and from the centre ries a tower. The building occupies all the ground between the Feeder and Mount Hope avenue. The old structure has had a varied history, and now, among other like buildings which are viewed with admiration, shows little of the old-time loneliness and desolation.

FALL OF THE CITY MILLS.

In 1827, Asa and Saul Carpenter bought the site of the City mills, and erected a large saw-mill thereon. In 1830 the Carpenters sold to Wm. Baker, and be to Maltby Strong, who, in 1831, removed the saw-mill, and on its site built the original City milla, its eastern part of stone, the front und over the race of wood. It passed through various hands to Ebenezer S. Beach, who. soon after obtaining title, began to operate the mills. It was near the elose of navigation in 154 !. when wheat was rapidly accumulated for the winter's stock. Ten thousand bushels had been put in, and there remained one or two canal-boat loads tin- touched in the basin. When an additional thousand bushels had been crammed in the timbers gave way, and the entire quantity was projected into the raceway. and a great portion was swept into the river. The destruction was marked hy sympathy, as if each had met the loss.

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History of Monroe county, New York with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, Palatial residences, Part 34

Author: McIntosh, W. H. cn; Everts, Ensign, and Everts, Philadelphia, pub Publication date: 1877 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Ensign and Everts Number of Pages: 976

Author: McIntosh, W. H. cn; Everts, Ensign, and Everts, Philadelphia, pub
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Ensign and Everts
Number of Pages: 976