USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > History of Rochester and Monroe county, New York, from the earliest historic times to the beginning of 1907 > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96
Local interest in the woes of Cuba became en- thusiastie in the early spring of 1897, mass meet- ings being held, at which large amounts of money were raised. Dr. R. R. Converse hecame pastor of St. Luke's church in April. In that month a
Dignized by Google
113
HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
law was passed by the legislature creating the office of commissioner of juries for Monroe county, which has been found very beneficial in its work- ings, for it is not only a saving of expense but it also brings on to the jury list thousands of persons who always belonged there and who were kept off by nothing but their own disinclination to serve, while at the same time it excludes many who had their names kept on simply to get pay for their services; Martin W. Cooke, a prominent lawyer. was appointed jury commissioner on the 8th of May and held the office till his death on February 23d of the next year, when John M. Steele, the present incumbent, took his place. There was an interesting convention of the' librarians of the state in May. On the 4th of July the thermome- ter registered a fraction above ninety-nine de- grees, the highest recorded up to that time; there were many prostrations and it was almost as bad a week later, when a number died from the heat. The Eastman Kodak building on State street was erected in the spring, and a handsome building, some months later, for the Young Women's Chris- tian association on North Clinton street, at a cost of $30,000.
The year as a whole was remarkably healthy. there being the fewest deaths for ten years, in spite of the increase in population, and in Decem- ber the fewest on record for that month. Never- theless, our necrologieal list is quite full, as will be seen from this record : April 27th, Washington Gibbons, in New York, one of the old-time law. yers of Rochester and city clerk in 1832. '53 and '54. May 7th, Henry East, who had conducted a meat market for forty years before his retirement from business in 1887. May 6th, Colonel E. Bloss Parsons, at Asheville, N. C., who had distin- guished himself by conspicuous bravery in the Eighth cavalry. May 15th, Rev. Herbert W. Mor- ris, D. D., an old Presbyterian clergyman. June 6th, Delancey Crittenden, a prominent lawyer. July 16th, Rev. Dr. James Earl Bills; he raised a company of infantry in the Civil war and started for the front but had a sunstroke which compelled him to leave the army, after which he entered the ministry and became a noted preacher. July 21st, Captain Albert G. Mack, commander of Mack's battery during the war. August 12th, Rev. Dr. George Patton, pastor of the Third Presbyterian church from 1871 to 1894. August 16th, John-
son M. Mundy, a fine artist, notable as a painter stul more so as a sculptor. September 3d, Rev. J. P. Stewart, pastor of St. Mary's (Catholic) church. September 7th, Henry Harrison, the old- est volunteer fireman in the city and collector of the port for several years. December 4th, Charles C. Morse, a member of the old waterworks beard. December 11th, Daniel W. Powers, one of the millionaire's of the city, and perhaps the first to pass that mark; he was born in 1818 and was first employed in the hard- ware store of Ebenezer Watts, on West Main street, with wages of eight dollars a month; in 1850 he opened, in the Eagle Hotel block, a brok- erage and exchange office, which soon grew to be a bank, though it was not incorporated as such till 1890; on the outbreak of the Civil war his con- fidence in the stability of the government led him to invest all his available funds in United States bonds as fast as each issue was put forth; he held several public offices and for many years was presi- dent of the board of directors of the City hospital ; the block that will always stand as his monument was built at the close of the war, the hotel, just west of it, being erected in 1882, as a part of the original design ; in the block he had collected one of the largest and finest art galleries in the coun- try ; it was broken up and sold after his death, one of the greatest losses that the city ever sustained.
On the 18th of January, 1898, a local public health association was formed, the fruition of the persistent efforts previously made by a philan- thropic citizen who has been the mainstay of the organization ever since, though Dr. Moore has held the office of president. The war of Cuban inde- pendence occupied the minds aml hearts of pruple during this year. When the battleship Maine was blown up in Havana harbor, on the 15th of Feb- ruary, everyone felt that war must come, sooner or later, and the military companies here made ready for the conflict. They were the Eighth Separate, which had been Company E in the old Fifty-Fourth regiment and was still under com- mand of Captain Henry B. Henderson; the First Separate, which had been formed in the winter of 1889-90 by Captain F. Judson Hess and was at this time commanded by Captain L. Bordman Smith, and a separate division of naval militia, commonly called the Naval Reserves, formed in September. 1891, by Lieutenant Edward N. Wal-
Dignzoo by Google
114
HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
bridge, who was still in command. Long before the war was declared the state authorities ordered these officers to report as to how many of their men would go to the front, and the Naval Re- serves were ordered into service on the 17th of April, though they were never sent off as a body. Finally the tension was broken by Congress au- thorizing the president to intervene, the call for volunteers was issued April 23d, Spain declared war the next day and Congress followed suit on the 25th. In response to the call the governor made the stupid blunder of ordering out the state militia as such (or at least it was understood that way), though the Civil war had shown the folly of that ; as it was, a few of the men were put to the mortifi- cation of declining to volunteer, though almost all of their comrades did so individually.
On Sunday, May Ist, the memory of the old war times was revived, when the two companies, with eighty-four men in each, marched away, es- corted to the station by all the military organiza- tions in the city and the Naval Reserves, who had to stay behind. Having reached camp at Hemp- stead, Long Island, they were disappointed to find that the old home titles were not to be retained, for they were put into the Third regiment of New York volunteer infantry, the Eighth as Company A, and the First as Company H. They were nius- tered into the federal service on the 17th of May, but they were not ordered to the front; on the contrary they stayed at Hempstead two weeks longer, the ranks becoming thinner by reason of the wretched sanitary arrangements; at Inst they were moved to Camp Alger, near Washington, only to find that that place was worse than the other, a fever-stricken hole; where the men, with sixty-five more recruits who were sent down in June, sickened and died, victims of the criminal incapacity of the secretary of war ; the fall of San- tiago, with the consequent treaty of peace, was all that saved them from annihilation. Those that were left of them came home on the 13th of September, receiving a royal welcome, for the city turned out as on their departure. But while these soldiers never saw fighting, and never even left the country, the sailors were more fortunate; although the Navnl Reserves were not ordered off as a body, different squads of them were drafted at intervals, some of them being put on the moni- tor Jason, others on the auxiliary cruiser Yankee,
where they did good service. Mention should be made also of Captain Theodore S. Pulver's com- pany, which left here on the 28th of July and was put into what was called, for some absurd reason, the Two Hundred and Second regiment; it did garrison duty in Cuba for some months, though not participating in any battles. After the death of Captain Smith-mentioned a little further on in this chapter-Murray W. Crosby was placed in command of the First Separate. On the return of the company to Rochester an order was issued permitting all men who, as members of the na- tional guard, had volunteered to serve in the war, to leave the service, and the company was reurgan- ized, with Frank G. Smith as captain. A little later he was stricken with consumption, and ou his death C. Alonzo Simmons became the command- ing officer, being transferred from the captaincy of the Eighth Separate (where he had succeeded Captain Henderson in 1891), on recommendation from superior headquarters, and he still holds that position. F. S. Couchman is in command of the Eighth Separate, to which he succeeded on the . transfer of Captain Simmons.
At the November election of this year the peo- ple voted again by machine. The experience of 1896 had discredited that method of voting and so they went back the next year to the blanket ballot-somewhat similar to that employed in Australia-which had been used two years before, but it was a clumsy way, the sheet was very cum- bersome on account of the multiplicity of names, mistakes were very common and, above all, it took so long to count the vote that the result in some instances, even in a single district, was not known till after midnight. So the ballot machine was used again, not the old Myers affair but the Stand- ard, far better, which has held the field here ever since. It is fairly satisfactory but it is opru to the serious objection that it is inimical to inde- pendent voting and always will be, until the party lever, which is an unnecessary part of the mechan- ism, is done away with; besides that, the objection is urged against it that the voter has no means of knowing that his ballot is recorded just as he . cast it.
On the 4th of January Frederick Zimmer, a well-known German citizen, who had been police commissioner from 1823 to 1884, fell from the window of his office, on the corner of West Main
Dla ized by Google
115
HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
and Exchange streets, to the sidewalk below, striking on his head and killing him instantly; on the 14th Thomas Peart, the oldest butcher in the city at the time of his death; on the 24th George C. Buell, a prominent merchant, one of the principal promoters of the elevation of the railroad tracks through the city; on the 30th Mother (generally known as Sister) Hieronymo, her worldly name being Veronica O'Brien; she was born in April, 1819, and entered u religious community at an early age; she came here in 1857 and shortly afterward opened a temporary hospi- tal in an old stable on the present site of St. Mary's, which noble foundation was built grad- ually by her personal efforts, the citizens, without distinction of creed, responding freely to her ap, peals; in the time of the Civil war the hospital was frequently crowded with wounded soldiers and it was proposed to put a provost guard there to prevent their desertion, but she gave her word that none of them would escape and the guard was not stationed ; such was the veneration of the soldiers toward her that they were faithful to her promise and every one returned to the army on his reenv- ery : in 1820 she left the city but returned in a few years to become the mother superior of the Home of Industry, where she died, universally re- gretted. Mrs. Nancy Walker died May 9th, be- ing within three months of one hundred and eight years old; Rev. Dr. Israel Foote, rector of St. Paul's church for some years, July Ist ; Francis S. Rew, July 17th. a veteran journalist, managing editor of the Democrat at one time, then on the staff of the Albany Evening Journal, then, on his return to Rochester, editor and one of the proprie- tors of the Evening Express; on the 4th of August Rev. James O'Hare, pastor of the Immaculate Conception church and vicar-general of the Catho- lie diocese : on the 17th Simon L. Brewster, presi- dent of the Traders bank. On the same day died T2. Bordman Smith, who was born in 1867 and graduated at I'nion college in 1888; he entered the Cuban war in command of the First Separate company, but was stricken with typhoid fever while in enmp and came home to end his days in the Homeopathic hospital, dying in the service of his country as truly as though he had fallen on the battlefield; he was generally beloved by a wide circle of acquaintances. Gilman H. Per- kins died November 16th ; he was born in Genesco
March 4th, 182%, and came to this city in 1844; though always prominent in the community he was never aggressive, but rather retiring in his tastes and habits; of sterling integrity and un- blemished honor, he held many offices of trust and discharged them all with credit. Dr. I. D. Wal- ter, one of the oldest dentists in the state, died on the same day; Dr. Theodore C. White, a respected homeopathie physician, on the 18th; B. Frank Enos on the 4th of December, police clerk from 1871 to the time of his death.
For many years there had been a great deal of popular dissatisfaction with the conduet of the school commissioners, or board of education, and the supposed connection of the board with a book ring which put text books into the public schools with an object quite different from the welfare of the pupils; besides which the body was un- wieldy in size, one member being elected from each ward, so that it was difficult to fix the re- sponsibility ; the feeling enhninated in 1899, when the limit of patience was reached, and there was an emotion of great relief over the fact that in the future the board was to consist of five members, all chosen on the city ticket, according to the provisions of the charter for cities of the second class, commonly known as the White charter from the name of the state Senator who had pushed the matter through the legislature in the pre- vions year. In January of 1899 the disease of the grip ruged with great severity, so that the death rate for that month rose to more than six- teen in the thousand. On the 22d of May St. Paul's (Episcopal) church, on East avenue, was consecrated. On the 31st the Memorial day pa- rade was one of unusual enthusiasm on account of the ending of the Cuban war, and also because there was in the line of march a Spanish cannon captured by Dewey in Manila bay, which was afterward set up in one of the parks. Nine days later there was another parade at the unveiling of the Douglass monument, when Governor Roose- velt delivered an address; and still another on the 4th of July, in which the most conspicuous figures were several companies of Canadian troops fully armed and equipped. In fact. it was a great sum- mer for parades, as there was an immense one on August 2th, at the opening of the "street fair," as it was called, a nondescript performance, with midways and baby shows and wild animals, which
Deized by Google
116
HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
lasted for a week and which was experted, from Government club indorsed it and it was trium- phantly elected.
its display of Rochester productions, to advance the prosperity of the city-to "boom it." as the phrase went-which it didn't at all, for the mer- chants never got back the money that they put into it, according to the usual fate of that eccen- tric form of advertising. backed up by whole col- umns about it in all the newspapers for days be- forehaul : appropriately enough there was a fire in it on the last night, in which thirty-eight booths were burned up. As a sequel to the contest be- tween the Bell Telephone company and the eiti- zens, the Rochester Telephone company (or Home Telephone, as it has generally been called), came into existence during the summer, with a capital of $100.000. The stock was realily taken and a sufficient number of subscribers for the rental of telephones to insure against loss was obtained lx- fore operations were begun. That number stead- ily increased, until, at the beginning of 190;, it reached 10,000 ; after six years of unbroken pros- perity, owing to the excellence of its equipment and the satisfactory nature of its service-during which it acquired, through the medium of the In- ilependent Telephone Securities company, which was formed for the purpose, a controlling interest, through stock ownership, of independent (which means anti-Bell) companies in Syracuse, Utici and several other places in this state-it became merged in the United States Independent Trle- phone company. It may seem a small thing, but it was a matter of great importance to thousands of people, that free publie baths were opened on July 27th, in the old Home of Industry, on South avenue, after many years of effort. As the Novem- ber election approached, the Good Government club was for some time undecided as to what course to adopt; at two previons elections it had put into the field a full city ticket, which was ar- cepted by the Democratic convention and elected ; this time it was determined to do differently, sn conferences were held with the managers of the Republican party in which a ticket was agreed upon that was satisfactory to both sides. the more particularly as the compact included the nomination, for the first time in the history of the city, of a woman on the school board, in this caso a mo-t admirable officer, who still fultills the duties of that important position : the Repub- lican convention nominated this ticket, the Good
Jehiel Barnard died on the 13th of May ; he could hardly be called a child, for he was seven- ty-five years old, but he was one of Rochester's babies, having been born on the 15th of January, 1821; his father, whose name was the same, kept the first tailor shop in the village and was mar- ned to Delia Serantom in 1815, the first wedding in the settlement. On the lith of the month Emannel M. Mocrel died at the age of ninety- four; was born in Holland; could well remember, even in his last days, Napoleon's retreat from Bus- sia, us he saw the French army passing through Brussels on its return to France. On the 18th Charles W. Briggs died, mayor of the city in 1821; on the 21th Haywood Hawks, secretary of the Rochester Trust & Safe Deposit company : on the 29th his predecessor in that position, from its
foundation in 1868 to 1884, William J. Ashley, born in 1812, graduated at Hobart college in 1863. president of the Merchants bank at the time of his death, a safe adviser in financial matters, On the ith of June Frank W. Elwood, of one of the pioncer families, son of Isaac R. Elwood, one of the organizers of the Western I'nion Telegraph; he was graduated at Harvard in ISTI and was a member of a great number of clubs and frater- mties. On August 5th Chester P. Dewey, an old journalist, connected for some time with the Rochester Daily American and its chief editor in 1856 and 1857, after which he went to New York und acquired distinction on the metropolitan press; on the 20th Frederick Goetzmon : a promi- nent German-American citizen, interesteil in several Teutonic institutions. Elon Hunt- ington, the last survivor of the original board of trustees of the University of Roches- ter, died September 20th, aged ninety-one; on the 25th George F. Danforth, a former judge of the Court of Appeals, died in the county court room after arguing a case in special term ; a sketch of his services and his character, as well as of those of other distinguished lawyers, will be found in another chapter. Eney Ellen Guernsey, the last of a remarkable family of literary talent, died No- vember 3d: she was born in Pittsford in 1826. and when the Indians used to pass through that settlement they always put up in her father's barn, leaving their guns in the house, as a mark
Digized by Google
117
HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
of courtesy ; she was a prolific writer of magazine articles and of the lighter kind of literature: she started the first sowing school here for the poorest class of street children, and through life she was the helpful friend of the friendless.
The closing year of the old century opened with the administration of the city government under the White charter, which was the outcome of a long series of unsatisfactory methods, with pro- posed improvements from time to time-some of them carried out, others unheeded-and the re- peated efforts for revision made by the Chamber of Commerce and other organizations, resulting in the appointment of a state comunittee which pre- pared a uniforin charter for all cities of the second class, that is of those with a population between 50.000 and 250,000. This has been found to he very satisfactory in its operation, so that the var- ious amendments adopted since its passage by the legislature in 1898 have been immaterial and have not affected its general character. Its basie prin- ciple is the concentration of power in the hands of the mayor, to whom is given vastly increased and almost absolute authority. Ilis power of ap- pointment, which is uncontrolled, includes the right to remove at pleasure any city officer prev- ionsly appointed by him; he has what may be called a cabinet, executive heads of departments with original jurisdiction subject to his supervis- ion-consisting of the commissioners of public works, of public safety and of charities and correc- tion-he appoints the corporation counsel, the city engineer and the sealer of weights and measures, besides which he is a member. er oficio, of the boards of contract and supply and of estimate and apportionment, which are composed of different officers of the city government. The common council, the president of the council, the comp- troller. the treasurer, the four assessors and the five members of the department of publie instruc- tion, or school board, are elected by the people. The common council is thus shorn of most of its former power, its executive functions are taken away from it and the legislative authority is all that remains to it. One great advantage is that this concentration of power makes it much easier to fix the responsibility for any wrongdoing or miamanagement of the public funds, and this more than offsets any imperfections that there may be in this present charter. It is, however-
upon the supposition that an amendment to the state constitution, which was adopted by the last legislature, putting all cities with a population of more than 125,000 into the first class, which would bring Rochester into the category, shall be ratified by a vote of the people-intended to have an entirely new charter, though on the same gen- eral fines, to meet the changed conditions, and one has been prepared and approved by the governor having this end in view.
The early part of June saw the fiftieth anniver- sary of the founding of the university, which was celebrated by the dedication of the new gymna- sium on the 11th, Commencement and alumni day on the 12th, and on the 13th addresses at the Lyceum by distinguished speakers, including Gor- ernor Roosevelt and ex-President Hill. June 15th will long be remembered as Otis day. when the whole city turned out to welcome home General Elwell S. Otis on his return from Manila and the consequent ending of his long term of military service. Under a memorial arch that had been erected at the junction of Main street and East avenne passed a parade of great length, in which there were many civic elements but the warlike feature predominated, making it as a military display probably the finest ever seen here; this was owing to the presence in the line of march of the Marine band, which had Wwen permitted, as a special favor, to come on from Washington, as well as of several companies from the regular Fifteenth infantry and the Fifth and Seventh ar- tillery ; those United States troops bad a few days before established themselves at the tempor- ary Camp Otis in Maplewood park, just on the edge of the river bank, with a full hospital corps, a surgical tent and a full garrison outfit : there they remained for a week, attracting daily crowds of visitors, particularly at the time of guard mount and more especially to witness the unusual spectacle of dress parade on the last day : of course there was a banquet on the evening of the parade. at which the veteran General Joe Wheeler. Dr. Hill and others spoke; the next day General Oti- received his commission as major-general in th" regular army and was put on the retired list in March. 1902. Rev. Dr. Nelson Millard resigned the pastorate of the First Presbyterian church on September 30th, and withdrew from the Pres- byterian denomination some time Inter. It was a
Dippized by Google
.
118
HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
warm autumn, the mercury rising to a fraction above eighty-seven degrees on the title of October, the highest ever recorded here in that month; on the 11th, Dr. Rush Rhers was inaugurated ns president of the university, with impressive ad- dresses by three other presidente -- Low of Colum- bia, Harper of Chicago university and Seelye of Smith college; on the 13th the corner-stone of the Eastman building of the Mechanics Institute was laid.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.