USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > Settlement in the West : sketches of Rochester with incidental notices of western New-York > Part 2
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Associations of Rochester-dissemination of the Bible, Monroe Bible Society, &c., 292 : the cause of Sabbath-schools, 293 ; Monroe Sunday-school Union, As-ociation of Teachers, &c., 294; Genesee Sabbath-school Union, 295 ; Sabbath-school Deposi- tory, 296 ; Tract Operations, 297; the Missionary Cause, 298 ; Young Men's Domes- tic Missionary Society, Foreign Missions, 299; the Temperanee Reformation, 300 ; statistics of crime connected with intemperance, efforts of Dr. Penney in the temper- ance cause in Europe, 301; Observance of the Sabbath, Pioneer Line, &c., 302-3; effects of the efforts made in Rochester, 304; Education Societies, Charity Infant- school, 305; Female Charitable Society, 306-7-8 ; Orphan Asylum, 309 ; Mechanics' Literary Association, Apprentices' Library, Young Men's Association, 310; lectures of Dr. Whitehouse, Myron Ilolley, Professor Dewey, the Rev. Tryon Edwards, Dr. Reid, Dr. Bristol, Dr. Peckham, the Rev. Pharcellus Church, 311 ; Rochester Athe- næum, Pi Beta Gamma, 312 ; William Wood, the philanthropic friend of such insti- tutions, 313 ; Rochester Academy of Sacred Music, 314; Mechanics' Musical Asso- ciation, City Temperance Society, Hibernian Temperance Society, Monroe Total Ab- stinence Society, 315 : Rochester Anti-slavery Society, masonic institutions, 316; theatres and circuses, abolition of imprisonment for debt, and of special legislation respecting banks, &c., 317.
Seminaries of Rochester-attention paid to literary improvement, 318-19 ; High- school. Rochester Female Academy, 320; Miss Seward's Female Seminary, 321; other schools, and aid to Hamilton College, 321.
The Bar of Rochester-tribute of respect to Vincent Mathews, the oldest practising lawyer in the state, 322 ; attorneys of Rochester, public officers, and memoranda, 323; the Medical Profession, names of practising physicians, Monroe Medical Soci- ety, 324.
Newspaper Establishments-first daily print west of Albany commenced in Roches- ter in 1826, and other newspaper establishments, 325 ; the Rochester Daily Adver- tiser, Rochester Daily Democrat, Genesee Farmer, &c., 326.
Military-officers whose headquarters are in Rochester, and uniform corps in the city, 327.
Fire Department-officers of the several companies, Firemen's Benevolent Associa- tion, &c., 328 ; fires in Rochester during 1835-6-7, 329.
Banking and Ensurance-Bank of Rochester, Bank of' Monroe, Rochester City Bank, Savings Bank, Monroe Mutual Ensurance, and other ensurance agencies, 330.
Postoffice-ils establishment and advancement, 331 ; mails leaving Rochester by stages and railroads, the contrast, 332.
Canal Trade-its extent at Rochester, and influence on other business, 332 ; kind and quality of articles shipped or received, and amount of toll at Rochester, 333.
Revenue District, Rochester or tienesee-its extent, and error respecting it corrected,
334 ; Port of Rochester, 335 ; report of Lieutenant Smith about the depth of water and excellence of harbour, 336 -* 7.
Public works in which Rochester is interested-Erie Canal enlargement and the great
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INDEX.
aqueduct, *338-9; progress of the work, *340; Genesee Valley Canal, *341 ; opin- ions of its value, *342-3 ; Rochester and Auburn Railroad, *344 ; Tonnewanta Railroad, *345; importance of the work, *346; Rochester Railroad, *347.
Trade and Manufactures-preliminary notices of Genesce River, its cataracts and banks, *348 ; Flats of the Genesee, Big-tree Bend, Wadsworth Farms, *349 ; Avon Springs, early settlers, historical recollections, *350; water power of the Genesee and great floods, *351; description of the six engravings of views on the Genesee in Rochester, *352.
Transportation on river, lake, and canal-navigation south of Rochester, Ontario navigation, *353; early trade between Rochester and Canada, *354 ; canal transpor- tation business, owners and agents of lines at Rochester, *355.
Manufactures and other business-preliminary notice, early millers of the Genesee, *356; Maude's account of things in 1798, errors about the falls, *357; Harford's settlement and mill, *358; some notice of the savage and lewd career of Indian Al- len, who built the first mill on the Genesee, the White Woman, &c., *359.
Flour Trade of Rochester-quantity and quality of the article, its extensive sale, &c., *360; information on the flour trade derived from Hervey Ely, *361 ; the architect of the principal Rochester mills, the excellence of machinery, &c., *361; origin of the flour trade, prices of wheat at Rochester from 1814 to 1837, and quantity manu- factured, *362; quality of the crops and fluctuations in prices ; effects of British corn laws, &c., *363 ; hints to farmers, quantity of exports from the wheat country for foreign and domestic markets, *364 ; difference in value of Genesee flour to the baker and the eater, the flour riots in New-York, memorial of the Rochester millers, *365; connexion of Rochester and Western New-York with the grain and flour trade, prices of flour for about forty years, *366 ; remarks on the late high prices, wheat crops of 1835 and 1836, memoranda about wheat culture, *367; early repu- tation of Genesee wheat, the Rochester mills and their original and present owners, *368; mills built between 1818 and 1831, *369; mills built from 1831 to 1836, technical terms, &c., *370.
Other branches of business, and names of persons carrying them on-carpet-factory, and the extent of its business, cloth or woollen factories, firearms, fire-engines, *371; tanneries, morocco-dressers, paper-makers, piano-factory, veneering-mill and our native woods, sawmills, *372; dry goods stores, ship chandlery, grocery and provision dealers, tailors and clothing stores, leather-dealers, china, glass, and crockery stores, builders, carpenters and masons, bakeries, wood-turners, wagon and wheelbarrow makers, marble-dressers, lathmills, mill-stores, &c., planemakers, painters, *373 : edge-tools, iron-furnaces, boatyards, cooperage, distilleries, brewer- ies, cabinet-makers, coppersmiths, &c., &c., *374 ; hatters, carriage-makers, jewel- lers, rope and brush makers, tobacco factories, &c., &c., *375.
Hotels, bathing-houses, reading-rooms, &c., *376.
Markets, Courthouse, jail, &c., *377; reform in prison discipline, bridges of Ro- chester, &c., *378 ; streets of Rochester, quantity of improvement, *379 ; sewers, &c., *380; Rochester Museum, public-grounds, waterworks, *381; supply of water, wood, and coal, police of the city, *382.
Miscellaneous-notices of artists, portraits of De Witt Clinton, Red Jacket, General Mathews, Colonel Rochester, and Jesse Ilawley, views of Rochester, &c., *383 ; Raphael West, fate of Catlin, &c., *384.
Notices of places in the vicinity of Rochester-Carthage Bridge, Irondequoit Bay, historical recollections, *385; the great embankment, tragical events connected with the first oxen brought to the Genesee Valley, *386 ; the Ridge-Road, Braddock's Bay, Hanford's Landing, *387 ; former importance of Hanford's and Braddock's villages of Charlotte, &c., *388.
APPENDIX.
RECENT INDIAN OCCUPANTS OF WESTERN NEW-YORK-The courage, wisdom, and eloquence of the Six Nations, 337 ; parallel between the Old World and the New, 338 ; conquests of the Six Nations, &c., 339; connexion of the history of our northern Indians with the antiquities of Central America, 340; Discourse on the History of the Six Nations by De Witt Clinton, 341, &c. ; glances at the former condition of the tribes of North America, 342; possessions of the Six Nations, 343; the Romans of the Western World, 344; local advantages of Western New-York, well fitted for warlike tribes, 345; French, English, and Indian claims to territory, 346; wise and energetic policy of the Indian Confederacy, 347 ; distinctions of tribes, 348 ; love of liberty, the Romans and the Confederates. 349; superiority of the Iro- quois, 350 ; warlike character, 351; training of the Indians, 352 ; scalping and tor- ture, 353; employment of savages in war, 354 ; causes of Indian wars, 355 ; forts and trading-posts in Western New-York, 356; ambition and policy of the Iroquois. 357 ; their conquests, 358 ; terror inspired by the Confederacy, 359 ; Indians formed a barrier against the French, 360; their wars with the French in Canada, 361; the
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INDEX.
Senecas involved in efforts to destroy the British Colonies, 362; horrors of Indian warfare in the revolution, 363 ; sublimity of Indian eloquence, 364; Indian massa- cres, 365; leases of Indian lands annulled, 366 ; Red Jacket, Logan, and Cicero, 367; the Confederates superior to other Indians, 368; Indian languages, 369; pop- ulation of tribes, 370 ; number of warriors, 371 ; decrease of Indians, 372; their deg- radation, 373; baneful influence of the white man upon the Indians, 374; Indian wars, diseases, &c , 375 ; effects of spirituous liquors, 376 ; annihilation of the In- dian power in the State of New-York, 377.
Antiquities of Western New-York-ancient forts, 377 ; theories respecting them, 378; not the work of the Indians, 379; antiquity of these forts, 381 ; geological appear- ance of the Ridge-Road connected with the inquiry about antiquities 381 ; ancient occupants of America, 382 ; incursions of Asiatic barbariana, 383.
Notes on the wars of the Six Nations with Southern tribes, 384; ravages of disease among the Indians, 385; alliance between the British and Indians in the revolution, 386; Indian desire for neutrality, 387; the White Woman's account of the arts used by the British, 388 ; Indian hostilities, 389; General Herkimer and Jos. Brant, 390 ; last conference with the Indians, 391 ; Cornplanter'a account, 392.
Sullivan's expedition against the Six Nations, 393; forces employed to avenge the massacres of Cherry Valley, Wyoming, &c., 394; skirmishes with the Indians and tories, 395 ; operations of the American army against the Senecas at Genesee River, 396; Indian barbarity towards Lieutenant Boyd, &c., 397; Butler, Brant, &c., 398 ; destruction of Indian villages and provisions, 399 ; sufferings of the Indians during the winter of 1779-80, and their retaliatory measures, 400.
Indian difficulties after the revolution affecting the welfare of Western New-York, 401 ; account given by Judge Hosmer of the union of Senecas with the Indians that fought against Harmer, St. Clair, Wayne, and Harrison, 402 ; effects of Wayne's victory on the Senecas, 403 ; danger of the early settlers of Western N. York, 404. Canal Question, note, 405; Jesse Hawley, Joshua Forman, and the Rochester com- mittee, 406.
Nathaniel Rochester-one of the few early settlers who are not spared to see the pres- ent prosperity of the city, 407; his capture of a tory force in the revolution, 408; further services in the army, and in the convention that formed the government of North Carolina, 409; his early views respecting Western New-York, 410; purchase of the Hundred-acre Tract, &c., 411 ; his political course, letters from Jefferson and Madison, 412; his connexion with this city and county, 413; state of society in Rochester, 414; influence of the French philosophers while Colonel Rochester was in the revolutionary army, 414: proceedings of the corporation of the city and vari- ous other public bodies at the death of Col. Rochester, 415.
Rochester in 1826-statements respecting its condition, and letters on the subject from Governor Clinton and Dr. Mitehill to Everard Peck, 416.
Index to Engravings, qc.
A Sketch of Rochester in 1812 precedes the titlepage; and a Map of the City, with the bounds established by the law of 1834, is inserted between the 36th and 37th pages. Some views of religious edifices, showing the style of church architecture in Roches- ter : the view of the First Presbyterian Church precedes page 277; St. Luke's, 279 ; Second Baptist Church, 281; First Methodist Episcopal Church, 283; St. Patrick's Church, and the Brick Church, 285; Grace Church, or St. Paul's, and the Third Presbyterian, 287 ; Bethel Free Church, facing 288.
Some of the seminaries nf Rochester : view of the Iligh-school, preceding page 319; views of the Rochester Female Seminary and of Miss Seward's Seminary, pre- ceding 321.
Portrait of General Vincent Mathews, facing page 322.
Six views on the Genesee in Rochester : the view of the Port of Rochester, facing page *348; the Lower Falls, *350; the Third Water-power, *352; the Middle or Main Falls, looking from the east bank westward across and north ward down the stream, *354; second view of the Middle or Main Falls, looking southward up the stream, *356; view of the great Canal Aqueduct across the Genesee in Rochester, *358.
Sixteen views showing the appearance of some of the manufacturing establishments, inserted between pages *360 and *376, viz., the establishments of Thes. Kempshall, Hervey Ely, Warham Whitney & Co., Joseph Strong, Charles J. Hill, Ira P. Thur- ber & Co., A. Whipple & Co., Edwin and Elias Avery, Mack and Paterson, Thom- as Emerson, Meech, Rice, & Co., Richard Richardson, Silas O. Smith, Ilenry B. Williams & Co., Joseph Field, Elbert W. Scrantom, Kidd and Paterson, Jacob Graves, Henry L. Achilles, Lewis Selye, &e.
Front of Rochester City Bank, facing page 330.
Four views of hotels-the Eagle Tavern, the Rochester House, the Monroe House, the United States Hotel-between pages *376 and *377.
New Market, facing page *377. Tonnewanta Railroad Bridge, facing page *378. Portrait of Colonel Rochester, facing page 407.
SKETCHES OF ROCHESTER;
WITH
INCIDENTAL NOTICES OF WESTERN NEW-YORK.
THE suddenness of its rise, the energy of its population, the excellence of its institutions, the whole character of its prosperity, render Rochester prominent among the cities that have recently sprung into existence throughout a land nota- ble for extraordinary intellectual and physical advancement. Individual enterprise, fostered by free government, has here most happily improved the bounties with which Heaven has prodigally endowed the land. Population and even busi- ness may have increased occasionally elsewhere in ratios perhaps as remarkable ; but in few, very few cases, if any, will it be found that the progress in those points has been accompanied by the perfection of social institutions to the degree in which they are now already beheld at Rochester.
" New-England !- rich in intellect, though rude in soil- the intelligent enterprise of her sons in a fertile land has largely aided in rendering the Genesee country the garden of this State." Such were among the sentiments with which a statesman of eastern origin was greeted by the people of Rochester. The city itself is a worthy monument of the glo- rious truth-a truth applicable to the social condition per- haps as well as to the physical improvement of this region.
Indebted we certainly are to various quarters for several individuals whose influence has exerted a cheering sway over the destinies of Rochester-such as the revolutionary patriot* whose name is borne by the city, and some of the clergymen whose characters are enshrined in the hearts of thousands. Some worthy merchants and excellent artisans -some skilful physicians and shrewd lawyers, too-have we received from different regions. But the citizens are
* See notice of Colonel Rochester, at the end of this volume.
24
PREFATORY REMARKS.
chiefly of eastern lineage. From the hills of Vermont to the borders of the Sound-from the banks of the Con- necticut to the shores of the Atlantic-there are few towns that have not some representatives among us. The influ- ence of ancestry is stamped with hallowed impress upon the population ; and the New-England colony-for such may Rochester be considered-reflects no discredit upon those Pilgrim progenitors whose fame extends with the progress of human improvement. "The great preponderance of eastern men among our population," as we have said else- where, " has marked not merely the business relations, but the general characteristics of the place ; and it would require no great range of imagination for the Yankee traveller, from all that he sees around him here, to fancy himself in one of the thriftiest cities of his native New-England." In- deed, with the facts before us exemplifying the advance- ment of the citizens in all the valued relations of society, we may declare, with satisfaction heartfelt rather than boastful, that nowhere in this broad land is there furnished a more re- markable illustration than Rochester already presents of the intellectual and moral energies of the American character.
Some examinations will probably satisfy even the most su- perficial observer that, eulogistic as our language may ap- pear, the importance of the city is not overrated in these remarks. By the national census of 1830, it appears that, notwithstanding its recent origin, Rochester even then ranked twenty-first among the chief places of the United States. The only cities of the confederacy which surpassed it in population were New-York with its adjunct Brooklyn, Phila- delphia, Baltimore, Boston, New-Orleans, Charleston, Cincin- nati, Albany, Washington, Newark, Providence, Pittsburg, Richmond, Salem, Portland, New-Haven, Louisville, Norfolk, Hartford, and Troy. Our population then was less than half its present size. Since that time, the advancement of Rochester has given it precedence over several of the above- mentioned places ; and we may now predict that the census of 1840 will place it about the fifteenth in rank among the cities of the American confederacy.
The New-England States in 1830 had but four places of greater population than Rochester. In all the states south- ward of the Potomac, there were then but five towns of larger magnitude. Cities as well known as Savannah and Augusta, for instance, fell short a couple of thousands at that time in comparison with Rochester ; and probably neither of
25
PREFATORY REMARKS.
them have now a white population more than half the pres- ent size of ours.
Farther comparisons from the census of 1830 show that Rochester was then about double the size of either Say- brook, New-London, Litchfield, Lyme, Groton, Fairfield, or Danbury-or about treble the size of Wethersfield, Stoning- ton, Stamford, Norwalk, Haddam, Farmington, or Bridge- port. And, considering the different ratios of improvement since that period, we cannot doubt that Rochester is now quadruple the size of either of those well-known towns of Connecticut. Neither of the prominent towns of Vermont -Windsor, Woodstock, St. Alban's, Rutland, Norwich, Bennington, Burlington, or Brattleborough-were more than one third the size of Rochester in 1830; and the difference is now considerably greater in favour of the latter place.
Considering Brooklyn as an adjunct of New-York, Ro- chester now ranks, in the scale of population and of business, as the third city of the Empire State. The revenue of its postoffice, a tolerably correct criterion of the business and in- telligence of a town (when such revenue is not swollen, as it is not with us, by adventitious circumstances like the distrib- uting business), places Rochester in the list next only to the cities of New-York and Albany. When the office was es- tablished in 1812 at the then newly-projected village of Ro- chester, the gross revenue accruing from postage was but three dollars and forty-two cents for the first quarter : it is now about $4000 per quarter. Such are the vast changes which are revolutionizing the wilderness of Northern Amer- ica !
The European, unconversant with the wonders effected in the American woods, may hear with amazement that a single quarter-century has created in Western New-York a city like this, with population twofold greater and institu- tions more remarkable for excellence than those of the an- cient British city of similar name. Though we cannot here point to such magnificent ruins of by-gone times-such splendours of tower and temple as throw interest upon the City of the Medway-the Rochester of the Genesee may re- joice in the living glories of a prosperous people-a people who are successfully exemplifying the efficacy of the VOLUN- TARY PRINCIPLE by triumphing over all obstacles in estab- lishing not only their own fortunes, but those religious and
3
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PREFATORY REMARKS.
social institutions for which governmental patronage is deem- ed essential by many in other lands. -
It would probably surprise the generality of the people of Britain to learn that an American city, which could not be found named in map or gazetteer even twenty years ago, has now a population about equal to that assigned in 1830* to either Oxford or Cambridge-to Carlisle, Greenwich, Ip- swich, Chester, Wigan, Yarmouth, Deptford, or Southamp- ton-surpassing that of either Woolwich, Wolverhamp- ton, Worcester, or Sunderland - considerably exceeding that of either Kidderminster, Huddersfield, Northampton, Lynn, Lancaster, or Canterbury-a population which will, in five years, judging from the past, equal that which was then set down for either Macclesfield, Derby, Exeter, or York-and which now is about double the size ascribed to either Doncaster, Rochdale, Boston, Hereford, Durham, Warwick, Wakefield, Winchester, or our namesake city, the ancient Rochester upon the Medway.
There is not now in the kingdom of Greece a city larger than this of which we speak. Caermarthen, the largest city of Wales, is only about half the size of Rochester. Among the Scotch towns, Greenock and Perth are those which most resemble ours in size-there being only five larger towns in that country-while either Inverness, Dumfries, Falkirk, or Montrose, are about equal in population to three of the five wards of our city. Waterford, in Ireland, exceeds Roches- ter about one third ; Kilkenny is little larger ; while London- derry, Drogheda, and Clonmel fall short of our city ; and Armagh, Wexford, and Dundalk are about half the size. The census of 1840 will probably place our population on an equality of numbers with that of either Mantua, Cremona, Bergamo, Ferrara, Ravenna, or Modena : our present size about equals that of Pisa, is double that of Bassano, Tivoli, or Carrara, with a few thousands more than either Ancona, Rimini, Lucca, Piacenza, Treviso, or Lodi, in the Italian States. Our population will, in two or three years, equal that of Geneva, the largest city of Switzerland ; and is now about double the size of Lausanne. Mechlin, Maestricht, Mons, and Tournay, in Belgium, are about equal with us, but Ostend is only half the size of Rochester. Our popu- lation is now about a fifth less than that of Buda, but
* See Williams's Universal Gazetteer.
27
PREFATORY REMARKS.
about double that of either Innspruck, Laybach, or Olmutz, in Austria. The cities of France which most nearly assim- ilate in size to Rochester are Dunkirk, Grenoble, Tours, Limoges, Arles, Poitiers, Aix, and St. Omer, none of which varied much from 20,000 in 1830 -- Angouleme, Rochefort, Bayonne, Rochelle, Cherbourg, and Colmar falling several thousands short, &c. We outnumber in the same way some celebrated cities of Spain-Salamanca, Ossuna, Alicant Pamplona, Bilboa, and Badajos ; have about double the pop- ulation of Tarragona, Segovia, Tortosa, Burgos, or St. Se- bastian ; and will in about five years equal Cordova, Toledo, or Valladolid. We are nearly equal with Bergen and Chris- tiana, the chief cities of Norway : the same may be said with reference to Gottenburg, in Sweden. Erfurt, Elbing, and Halle are about the size ; Potsdam somewhat larger ; but Coblentz and Brandenburg, in Prussia, are only about half the size. Mentz and Hanover, Nuremburg and Ratisbon, will probably be overtaken within five years ; Harlem, Lu- bec, Manheim, Darmstadt, and Dort liave about the same numbers ; while Gotha, Weimar, and Altenburg are about half the size of Rochester.
Thus much for comparisons between our newborn city and towns of various nations generally known as somewhat celebrated in different ways. Such comparisons may assist the memory in fixing the relative rank of Rochester in the scale of cities, and enable some readers to realize more per- fectly than might otherwise be the case, a sense of the rapid progress of improvement in the Western World.
It may be observed that these comparisons have reference merely to population. In enterprise, intelligence, and busi- ness -- in moral, religious, and intellectual character-in the qualities chiefly requisite to promote social prosperity and public welfare-what European town of equal size, be its antiquity what it may, can be properly placed in juxtaposi- tion with the City of the Genesee ?
Ostentatious as these references may be deemed by some, it seems to us that it is only by such comparisons that we can become fully sensible of the blessings with which our Republic is endowed. The American, who extends not his views beyond the boundaries of his native land, who exam- ines not the condition of things social and political in the Old World, can never entertain that strong sense of his ad- vantages which is seemingly necessary to render him fully
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