Thursday, March 24, 2011

Mural depicts Lincoln Inaugural Train Stop in 1861


by Richard Palmer


A mural depicting the moment when Abraham Lincoln's inaugural train stopped

in Clyde was unveiled during ceremonies held August 15, 2009. Clyde was the

only stop made between Rochester and Syracuse by the Lincoln Inaugural train

on Monday, February 18, 1861. It is said more than 3,000 people witnessed the

event.


It was a typical snowy day in central New York, but the President elect

addressed an immense crowd which had gathered at the Clyde depot. At the

time Clyde was a wood and water stop on the mainline of the New York Central.


In 2009 several hundred people braved 90 degree temperatures to attend the

unveiling ceremony. The mural is located at 17 Sodus Street. It was part of the

village's 200th anniversary celebration that also included firemen's field days.

Clyde author and historian, Wayne Morrison, and John Fagant, a historical author

researching the Lincoln Inaugural train journey, were guest speakers.


The inaugural train only made a five-minute stop in Clyde, at 8:50 a.m. while

enroute from Buffalo to Albany. The schedule of the train was as follows:


Leave Buffalo at 6 a.m.

Arrive Batavia, 6:30 a.m. Leave 6:35 a.m.

Arrive Rochester, 7:40 a.m. Leave 7:50 a.m.

Arrive Clyde, 8:50 a.m. Leave 8:55 a.m.

Arrive Syracuse, 10 a.m. Leave 10:05 a.m.

Arrive Utica, 11:30 a.m. Leave 11:35 a.m.

(No more stops until Albany, arrive there at 2:30 p.m.)


John H. Brown of Syracuse was the locomotive engineer on the train from

Rochester to Syracuse. The train laid over in Albany that night and proceeded to

New York the following morning on the Hudson River Railroad and then on to

Washington via a circuitous route due to rumors of an assassination attempt.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Rochester History Lecture Series

Tuesday, March 22, 7 p.m.

Highland Room, German House:

"Nineteenth Century Suburbs" with Stan Marshall


The German House, 315 Gregory St.

$10, with coffee and tea. (Beer & wine available at the bar.)

For details, contact Rose O'Keefe: rok@rochester.rr.com; (585.244.4558)

Coffee, tea, donated by Bona Fide Coffee, http://www.bonafidecoffee.com


Tuesday, March 15, 2011

The Genesee Valley Civil War Roundtable

presents Donald Manz on "One Nation Under God" at 7:30 p.m. March 16. The meeting will be held at the American Legion, 53 West Main St., Le Roy.

A discussion period will follow. New members are welcome. Manz's program is on his book and he will have copies for sale and will autograph them.

His historic fiction account follows Sgt. Patrick O'Hanrahan and the 69th Irish Brigade through four long years of battle.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

MEET GENERAL GRANT

Please join the Perinton Historical Society on Tuesday, March

15, 2011, for a once in a lifetime opportunity as we proudly

welcome President Ulysses S. Grant to Fairport. President

Grant, as portrayed by Steve Trimm of Grant Cottage in

Wilton, New York, will speak of his time as General during

the Civil War. He will also discuss the eight years he served

as the 18th President of the United States. The President will

take questions following his speech.


Steve Trimm has been involved with Grant Cottage for the

last four years, as a tour guide and through educational

outreach programs. He recently had an article about Grant

Cottage caretaker and Civil War veteran Oliver P. Clarke

published in New York Archives magazine. Besides

portraying President Grant, Oliver P. Clarke and several

other notable historical figures, Mr. Trimm has broadcast a

Listener Essay on WAMC and was involved with the making

of a CD entitled, "Grant and Lincoln: A Conversation".

Information about Grant Cottage can be found at

www.grantcottage.org.

This event is free and open to the public. It will be held at the

Fairport Museum, located at 18 Perrin Street, at 7:30 p.m. on

Tuesday, March 15, 2011.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

CENTRAL / WESTERN NEW YORK TIMELINE / 1806

1806

Feb 17

The Schuyler County town of Reading is formed from Frederickstown (later

Wayne, Steuben County).


Feb 28

The Oswego County town of Hannnibal is taken off the Onondaga County town

of Lysander.


Mar 21

The Onondaga County town of Otisco is formed from Marcellus, Pompey and

Tully.


Mar 28

Broome County is formed from Tioga County.


Apr 4

New York passes legislation for forming County Medical Societies, to grant

licenses and collect annual fees not exceeding $3. ** Geneva is incorporated as

a village.


Apr 7

Allegany County is established out of Genesee County.


Apr 8

William Kirkpatrick is appointed Superintendent of Onondaga Salt Springs.


State

Businessman William Kempshall settles ten miles east of Rochester. ** Samuel

Church builds a sawmill beside Black Creek, west of Rochester. The settlement

growing up here will be named Churchville. ** Lake Ontario shipments from

the Genesee River total $30,000. ** John A. Stevens begins publishing the

Ontario Messenger. James Bogart begins the Geneva Gazette. ** A flour mill

(the future Phoenix Mill) is built at the High Falls of the Genesee River. **

Pennsylvania-born pioneer Nicholas Hetchler builds a log cabin near Scottsville.

** The Onondaga Salt Springs produces 154,760 bushels of salt. ** Future

governor Myron Clark is born to Major Joseph and Mary Sutton Clark in Naples,

New York. ** James Wadsworth opens an inn in Hartford (Avon) at the

intersection of present-day West Main and Genesee streets. He also settles the

Genesee County town of Alabama. A harsh winter leaves the brother broke and

unable to make payment on their debts. ** Philip Church's parents travel by

wagon to Angelica for the summer to see their new granddaughter, bringing

maids, a formal dinner service and a French chef. They start construction of a

summer home in Angelica. ** The Onondaga County courthouse is

completed. ** Part of the mortgage taken out with U. S. Indian agent Israel

Chapin by land speculator Oliver Phelps in 1796, as security for the regular

payment of the land rentals due the Seneca Indians, is released in return for

$1000 paid to Chapin's successor. ** Robert Miles builds a large log canoe on

Chautauqua Lake, starts a freighting business. ** The Skaneateles First

Presbyterian Church congregation hires a Utica architect to draw up plans for a

church building. ** Guildford, Connecticut, resident Deacon Horace Fowler

joins the earlier settlers at Cohocton. ** William Bingham land agent Joshua

Whitney builds a $4,000 mansion on the banks of the Brandywine Creek near

Court and Robinson streets in Binghamton. ** Assemblyman Archibald

McIntyre is named state comptroller. ** The approximate date Methodist

circuit preachers begin covering the Lyons area and surrounding Yates County.

** London Associates land agent John Johnstone dies in Geneva, is succeeded

by John Greig. ** Colonel John Trumbull begins the first of three paintings of

Niagara Falls he will complete through 1808. ** Aurelius pioneer John Harris

is appointed as a colonel in the State militia. He will command a regiment in the

War of 1812. ** Penfield miller Josiah Kellogg hires John Strowger to build a

grist mill on Irondequoit Creek and operate it.



Batavia

Ebenezer Cary is appointed postmaster at Batavia, serves until 1815, when his

brother Trumbull is appointed.


Pittsford

The settlement's log schoolhouse is replaced by a one-room frame building. **

The approximate date Joseph Thomson's barn is built.


© 2011 David Minor / Eagles Byte

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Jewel of the Sports World: The Story of the Hickok Belt Award

Tuesday, March 8, 2011, Greece Town Hall, 7:00 p.m.

by SCOTT PITONIAK

This program will deal with how the Hickok Belt became the most coveted award in American sports in the 1950's, 60's and 70's and how Rochester, where the gold, jewel-encrusted belt was made and presented, became the center of the sports universe for one night each year. Recipients of the award included icons such as Mickey Mantle, Muhammad Ali, Joe Namath, Jim Brown, Arnold Palmer and Sandy Koufax.

Scott Pitoniak, a native of Rome, NY and magna cum laude graduate of Syracuse University, has written thirteen books and is a former Democrat & Chronicle sports columnists. He received over 100 writing awards during his forty years as a sports writer. The Associated Press named him one of the top ten sports columnists in America and he is a member of 3 halls of fame, He and his wife Beth, and children, Amy and Chris, reside in Rochester.

Following the program Scott will be autographing his new book

"Jewel of the Sports World" which will be available for $24.00.

Reservations are NOT required. Greece Historical Society members FREE, donations are appreciated from others. For more information Call 585 225-7221

http://www.greecehistoricalsociety.net

That Hoodoo That He Doo So Well

Hello,

This is Michael Keene, author of Folklore & Legends of Rochester,
The Mystery of Hoodoo Corner.

Folklore & Legends of Rochester will be published on March 22 and
will retail for $19.99.


To order contact:
Michael Keene
C/O Ad-Hoc Productions
PO Box 40805
Rochester, N.Y. 14604
585-737-4546

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

ANGELICA AND ITS ANTIQUITIES

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Nov. 1, 1900

_________

A Prosperous and Progressive Place With an Historic Past

______

NEW LIBRARY BUILDING

______

The Old Court House of Allegany Still a Landmark - A Storied

Structure Where the Republican Party Had its Birth.

_________

Written for the Democrat and Chronicle.

____

Angelica, the historic village of Central Allegany county, was the scene of two

important events in local annals, October 16th and 17th. At 4 o'clock on the

afternoon of the former day, the first shovelful of earth was turned in the

construction of the "Shawmut Line" of railway, and October 17th, at 3 o'clock, the

corner stone of a library building was laid with appropriate ceremonies. The town

had an air of more than usual activity on both occasions, from the fact that the

teachers' institute for the for the first commissioner district of Allegany was in

session, under the conductorship of Henry R. Sanford, A.M., and

commissionership of G.W. D'Antremont. But from its advantageous location and

increased railway facilities now assured, Angelica seems destined to become the

center of enterprise projected by its founders in 1802.


The Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern railway extends, as surveyed, from the

coal fields of Western Pennsylvania to Macedon, Wayne county, but as

constructed and in operation, the southern terminus is Angelica and the northern

termination, Wayland, Steuben county. The line winds through picturesque vales

for some forty miles, following for a distance the Canisteo river in its course,

skirting the southern the southern highlands of the Dansville valley, and crossing

the famed Stony Brook Glen, ere it traverses the marl beds at Wayland.


This route is one of great interest from geological and geographical points of

view, as its extension is through the divides water-wrought at the subsidence of

the glacial ice-sheet, and in its comparatively short length it passes over two

summits of the "height of land," dividing the St. Lawrence basin from that of the

Chemung. The present train service, however, is so arranged, that few

others than those compelled by business have views the scenic beauties of this

midland thoroughfare.


The Library Association of Angelica has long been an established institution,

but it remained for a public-spirited citizen to provide a suitable library building.

The structure is located at the corner of Main and Center streets, and is thirty-six

by seventy-two feet in extent of ground plan. The lower story will be devoted to

library purposes, and the upper one used as a lyceum. Its cost will be some

$20,000. It is the gift of Mrs. Frank Sullivan Smith, in memory of her mother, Mrs.

Lucia Cornelia Hapgood Higgins. The corner stone was laid by Master Harry

Higgins, son of Senator Higgins, of Chautauqua. It included a box of coins of the

present century, copies of local papers and daily newspapers of neighboring

cities, the constitution of the Angelica Library Association, and a memorial paper

by the donor, Mr. Clara A. Higgins Smith. The attendants at the institute,

including teachers and instructors, were spectators of the memorable event.


Angelica is built about a public square, the center of which is marked by a

stone, that is the geographical center of the township of Angelica, and from which

all property surveys within its limits have original landmark. The main street of the

village is six rods in width from curb to curb, and extends nearly east and west for

upwards of a half mile, from narrows to narrows of the stream valley.


The place was laid out by Philip Church, who settled upon its site in 1802, and

whose remains rest in the village cemetery, near those of Moses Van Campen,

of Indian and pioneer-day fame. He was the son of John B. Church, and

grandson of General Schuyler. He built the first saw and grist-mill, and kept the

first store of Angelica, which was named in honor of his mother.


Many books, once in his possession, have recently been donated to the

Angelica Library Association, by Walter O. Church, of Geneva. Hyde deNeuville

resided in Angelica in 1807-1808. He was an exile during the government of the

empire, and minister to the United States from 1816 to 1822, upon the restoration

of the French monarchy.


The first school was taught by Widow S. Smith in 1804-05, and the first

church, the Presbyterian, was formed by Rev. Robert Hubbard in 1811. Other

denominations of the village at present are Methodist, Baptist, Episcopal and

Catholic.


Allegany county was formed from Genesee, April 7, 1806, and courts were

directed to be held at Angelica on the 2d of June, 1807. By an act of March 11,

1808, the county seat was permanently located in the place, but in pursuance of

an enactment of April 2, 1858, providing for the removal of the county seat to the

line of the New York & Erie railroad, the village of Belmont now has that honor,

while the old court house, which was erected in 1819, remains a relic of departed

glory.


The court house is crumbling to decay, but, if traditions be true, public

sentiment should united for its preservation, for within its walls during the

administration of President Pierce, at an assemblage of citizens of Allegany

county, the Republican party had its birth. There was held the initial meting,

where "free soil, free men, free speech" were promulgated as paramount

principles of political action.



JOHN CORBETT.


Submitted by Dick Palmer