Wayne County NY Historian

Transcription

1 284 Sodus

2 Sodus 285 Site of Home of Peregrine and Elizabeth Fitzhugh Sodus Point, near Sill family house Town of Sodus, New York Significance: Peregrine Fitzhugh settled on Sodus Bay in 1803 with a large number of people in slavery. Many of those enslaved by Fitzhugh became landowners and stayed in this area for many years. Sill Family House, on or near site of Fitzhugh Home, Looking north April 2008 Description: This house was apparently a log dwelling, roomy, strongly built, afterwards torn down, standing a liitle in front of the present Sill residence, as recorded in Discussion: Peregrine Fitzhugh, a colonel and one of Washington s aides-de-camp during the American Revolution, moved with his wife Elizabeth Chew Fitzhugh from Hagarstown, Maryland, to Geneva, New York, in 1796, part of a migration of Maryland plantation owners to central New York. The Fitzhughs came over a road built by Charles Williamson, agent for the Pulteney Associates, driving large Pennsylvania wagons, drawn by twenty-seven horses. They brought with them about thirty-five people in slavery. About 1803, they moved from Geneva to Sodus Bay. Very few buildings yet existed there, except for a large tavern built by Charles Williamson. The place was a thickly wooded forest, upon the beautiful swell of land between the Bay and the Lake, surveyed with stakes and blazed trees into inner and outer lots Great Sodus Bay (1912), wayne.nygenweb.net/. 14 Orsamus Turner, Pioneer History of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase (Rochester: William Alling, 1851), 396.

3 286 Sodus Peregrine Fitzhugh did not live long enough to make a success of his new farm. He died in 1810, still holding (according to his probate file) people in slavery. His brother William freed them after his death. Elizabeth Fitzhugh continued to live in the homestead until her death on June 4, 1854, aged 89. Both were buried in the Sodus Point Cemetery. Peregrine s gravestone read: In memory of Peregrine Fitzhugh, a soldier of the Revolution who served his country first as Lieutenant then as Captain in the 3rd Regiment of Dragoons in the Virginia Continental line and for the last two years of the war was aide to General Washington. He was born in Calvert County, Maryland and died in Sodus, Oct. 23, Two African Americans were also buried in Sodus Point cemetery. Abram Williams and Uncle Prince Tutson. African Americans associated with the Fizhughs were buried in the woods near the Fitzhugh home, marked by red cedar posts. 15 Later generations of the Fitzhugh family included Ann Carroll Fitzhugh, who married abolitionist Gerrit Smith, and Elizabeth Fizhugh, who married former slave-owner turned abolitioist James G. Birney. 15 Sodus Bay Cemetery inventory, wayne.nygenweb.net/.

4 Sodus 287 Site of Home of Dr. Levi M. Gaylord Now Sodus Village Park, Main Street Sodus, New York Significance: Site of home of an early supporter of the Liberty Party and one of the core abolitionists in Wayne County. Looking south April 2008 Sodus Village, Wayne County Map (Gillette, 1858) Dr. L.M. Gaylord house on southeast side of Main Street Description: No known photographs of this house. Significance: Dr. Levi M. Gaylord (1794-September 6, 1852), originally a Democrat, became a convert to the political abolitionist Liberty Party in He was chosen as a delegate to represent District 25 at a convention in New York in 1840, as well as for the nominating committee of the Freeman s State Convention in Syracuse in He was part of the abolitionist group that split from

5 288 Sodus the Sodus Presbyterian Church in October 1843 over abolitionism. He ran as a Liberty Party candidate for Congress in "The cause was uppermost in his thoughts," remembered fellow abolitionist and Underground Railroad supporter L.C. Coleman. 16 Gaylord died on September 6, An article in the National Era, copied from a Wayne County newspaper, called him Freedom's foremost champion here. He was cheered in his last hours by the consciousness that he had toiled for years in behalf of the poor and the crushed, and sustained by the eternal and blessed hopes of the Christian religion. His end was peace. His mind grappled logically with every problem presented for consideration, and he had a ready willingness to follow wherever truth should lead. He early enlisted in the Anti-Slavery cause, and through years of doubt and gloom, of abuse and bitter calumny, he pressed boldly on. Principle, not success, was the pole star of his political action. He was one of the fearless band of six, that in 1840 stepped boldly forth from the Pro-Slavery parties, and cast their votes in this town for James G. Birney. 17 His obituary in the National Era declared that he was an eminent physician, a man of unsullied honor and purity of character - a real, active CHRISTIAN AND PHILANTHROPIST The Colored American, October 10, 1840; Friend of Man, August 12, 1840; Lewis H. Clark, History of the Churches of Sodus (1876), 64; Western Argus, Lyons, New York, October 21, 1844, wwwfultonhistory.com; L.H.G., Edward A. Green and Old Times, Wayne County Alliance, Lyons, New York, July 14, 1897, L. C. Cole, Reminiscences," National Era, October 28, National Era, December 9, 1852.

6 Sodus 289 Primary Sources: 1) Levi Gaylord runs for office on abolitionist ticket, ) Abolitionist Activity, 1840s. In 1840, Western Argus, Lyons, New York, October 21, From wwwfultonhistory.com L.H.G., Edward A. Green and Old Times, Wayne County Alliance, Lyons, New York, July 14, From 2) Levi M. Gaylord s death, 1852 Sodus, Wayne Co., N.Y., Oct. 16, The true-hearted sons of old Wayne will "fight on and fight ever," till the National Government shall be freed from the dominion of Slavery. But though the cause appears so hopeful, yet we are called to mourn the loss of a distinguished laborer in our ranks, Dr. Levi Gaylord, Freedom's foremost champion here. He died upon the 6th of September, cheered in his last hours by the consciousness that he had toiled for years in behalf of the poor and the crushed, and sustained by the eternal and blessed hopes of the Christian religion. His end was peace. With a mind that grappled logically with every problem presented for consideration, and with a ready willingness to follow wherever truth should lead, he early enlisted in the Anti-Slavery cause, and through years of doubt and gloom, of abuse and bitter calumny, he pressed boldly on. Principle, not success, was the pole star of his political action. He was one of the fearless band of six, that in 1840

7 290 Sodus stepped boldly forth from the Pro-Slavery parties, and cast their votes in this town for James G. Birney. His name and theirs may not live in prominence upon the records of earth, but they will shine where deeds of Christian daring shall meet their due reward. He is gone, and the memory of his active life is our precious legacy. Truly yours, H.Y.Z. Extracts from Our Correspondence, The National Era, Washington, D.C., October 28, Courtesy Accessible Archives Died in Sodus, Wayne county, New York, September 6, 1852, Dr. Levi Gaylord, aged fifty-eight years - an eminent physician, a man of unsullied honor and purity of character - a real, active CHRISTIAN AND PHILANTHROPIST. Death, The National Era, Washington, D.C., December 9, Courtesy Accessible Archives

8 Sodus 291 Maxwell Creek School (District #2 School House) 7290 Maxwell Road (Corner of Lake and Maxwell Roads) Sodus, New York Significance: The Sodus School District #2 was established in 1813 to serve the students west of Sodus Point. The African American community (concentrated along North Geneva Road, south of Lake Road) was located within this district. School registers, dating from 1840s through 1890s show that both white and black students attended this school. Lists of teachers and students during the 1840s and 1850s reveal that children of anti-slavery activist William D. Clark also attended the school. At least three teachers in this school (Levi Gaylord, Timothy Ledyard, and Lewis Clark) were active in abolitionism and the Underground Railroad. Maxwell Creek School, District No. 2, Looking east Description: Typical of one-room schoolhouses in this area, this building is frame, with doors in the gable end facing the street and three six-over-six windows on either side. Construction date is not known. Discussion: In 1812 Dr. William Lummis moved his family from Sodus Point to land located just west of the village, bordering a creek that flowed into Lake Ontario. He built a grist mill, a saw mill, and an iron forge along the creek and called his new industrial site Maxwell, in honor of his wife s family name. A year later eleven school districts were established within the town. The area west of Sodus Point, which including the new hamlet of Maxwell, was designated School District #2. It also included land which had been surveyed and divided into 10 acre lots a subdivision called the

9 292 Sodus outlots. These outlots became the heart of the African American community of the town of Sodus. Children from this Maxwell settlement attended the schoolhouse at the corner of Lake Road and Maxwell Road throughout the nineteenth century. Existing records for School District #2 show that the student body was consistently bi-racial from the early 1840s through the 1890s. The first records available start with the winter term of and included the names of Edward Loid [sic], James Smallwood, and Samuel D. Taylor. Each was identified in the register as colored boy. 19 Edward Lloyd attended school 23 ½ days during the term, while James and Samuel were in school 16 ½ days each. During the winter term of , teacher Levi M. Gaylord, son of abolitionists Dr. Levi and Artemisia Gaylord, noted children of color with an asterisk next to their name. Chloe Jane Newport, Polly Newport, Hiram Newport and Cassius Cooper were among the student body that term. Chloe Newport must have been a model student as she attended 78 days that session, not missing a day after enrolling three days into the term. Hiram Newport must have been the oldest student attending that term, as he was about 26 years old in Hiram was present for 27 days. In 1843 the Gaylords, along with other dissenting Presbyterians, separated from the Sodus Presbyterian Church over the issue of slavery. 20 The teacher for the next winter term of also had ties to the anti-slavery movement in Wayne County. Timothy C. Ledyard, son of Samuel and Sophia Childs Ledyard, commenced his school on November 18, Just a few months earlier Ledyard s neighbor, Lewis H. Clark, had reported in his diary that on May 5, 1844 Timothy Ledyard came here with a runaway slave, Sam Williams by name.... He will stay here tonight and then we shall take him in the morning down to Dr. Cook s. African American students that term included Samuel D. Taylor, Edward Loyd, Jane Newport and Eveline Taylor. Another Underground Railroad activist, Lewis H. Clark, son of Eli Clark, taught school in District #2 during the spring term of An interesting shift in attendance by African American children occurred beginning with the spring term beginning April 26, Prior to this the African American children only appeared in the rosters of the winter terms. Three African American students attended the spring term in 1847 George A. Wilbur; Josephine Loyd (also known as Josephine Anthony); and Emeline Newport. 23 The number of African American students increased steadily from 1847 through Teacher Julia E. Crane s spring term of 1852 included 15 African American students. 24 Many of these students represented the third generation of pioneer African American settlers, some of whom had been brought to Wayne County in slavery. By the 1890s the number of children in the African American community of Maxwell declined as the population was aging and the younger residents were moving into Rochester and Syracuse for employment. Marjory Allen Perez 19 Records Sodus School District #2, Term Commencing December 15, Records Sodus School District #2, Term Commencing November 13, Records Sodus School District #2, Term Commencing November 18, Quoted in Pat Johns, The Underground Railroad in Wayne County, 2007; Records Sodus School District #2, Term Commencing March 19, Records Sodus School District #2, Term commencing April 26, Records Sodus School District #2, Term Commencing May 5, 1852.

10 Sodus 293 Detail of Sodus School District #2 from 1874 Atlas of Wayne County, New York

11 294 Sodus Maxwell School Circa Front Row: Arthur Fleming,? Bennett, Glen Halcus, Walter Reed, Roy Mason, Ross Sergeant. Middle Row:? Webb, Charles Shirtz, Jay Baldwin, Frank VanDuser, Stella Shirtz, Mabel Baldwin, Flora Fleming. Top Row: William Sentell, Bernice Shirtz, Jennie

12 Maxwell Settlement Geneva Road, east side, corner of Halcus Road (across from Steger Haus) Town of Sodus, New York Significance: African-American settlement established on he outskirts of the village of Sodus Point as early as 1817, by people who were formerly enslaved. Possible home of E. Cooper Maxwell Settlement, Geneva Road Looking north, April 2008 Possible home of E. Cooper Maxwell Settlement, Geneva Road Looking east, April 2008

13 Maxwell Settlement Road Looking east, April 2008 Description: The Maxwell Community was located on the east side of North Geneva Road, south of Lake outlots of Sodus Point. The African American community was concentrated in a sixty-acre section comprised of Lots 10, 11 and 12 in the 3 rd and 4 th Ranges of the outlots. Little remains of the physical fabric of this community except a road going east from Geneva Road down to the creek, perhaps one small house, and a cemetery (now in the middle of a plowed field across the creek). Significance: Orsamus Turner in The Phelps and Gorham Purchase states that an experiment of local colonization, or separate settlement of free blacks, commenced in an early day at Sodus. The manumitted slaves of most of the Marylanders many of them those of Mrs. Fitzhugh were allowed to go upon the Pulteney lands, near the Bay, the ten, fifteen, and twenty acre lots that had been laid out by Mr. Williamson upon his towwn [sic] plat. They numbered at one time about 80 in all. 1 Mr. Turner implied here that the land was given to the free blacks, but that was not so. Another account of the African American settlement at Maxwell was recorded in the Wayne County Alliance in This account was supposedly written by a person who visited Sodus Bay to investigate its potential for development. This article also indicated that the freed slaves of the Fitzhugh family were given five acres each. The record does not support the story that any land was given outright to the freed slaves of Peregrine Fitzhugh, who had moved to Sodus Point from Maryland about 1803, bringing approximately 40 slaves. The record does show that former slaves of Fitzhugh purchased land in the outlots of Sodus Point and did create the core of an African American settlement that continued to be a part of Wayne County into the early 20 th century. The following families formed the core group of the Maxwell Community pioneer settlers: Bradington Family 1 Orsamus Turner, History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham s Purchase and Morris Reserve (Rochester: William Alling, 1852), 396 (note), digitized by Google Books, books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=tux698v8kgkc&dq=orsamus+turner+phelps&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=leb UhtlQZq&sig=cCWqALgF7O5vqJg_nYNGUZfeuyo#PPA396,M1; Wayne County Alliance, May 19, 1880.

14 Sodus 297 Bradington Family Abraham Bradington, his wife Ven and their children were among the earliest pioneers to settle in Sodus Point, New York. They did not come to the area because they sought adventure or cheap land. They came as slaves of Peregrine Fitzhugh, who settled in what was to become Sodus Point. Peregrine Fitzhugh came north from Maryland about 1800, stopping off in the village of Geneva for a couple of years, before moving onto his property located on Sodus Bay in The migration of the Fitzhugh party to New York State is described by Orsamus Turner in his book, History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham s Purchase as follows: Col. Fitzhugh came into this country strong handed; his was the Pioneer advent of the Marylanders, and was a marked event. He came over Mr. Williamson s Northumberland road, with a formidable cavalcade; large Pennsylvania wagons, drawn by 27 horses; his family, including slaves, consisting of over forty persons. The cavalcade was five weeks in making the passage, the whole camping in the woods two nights on the way. Peregrine Fitzhugh had served in the 3 rd Regiment of Dragoons of the Virginia Continental Line and as an aide-de-camp to George Washington during the Revolutionary War. Fitzhugh had apparently been induced to take up land in the Genesee Country by the promotional efforts of Charles Williamson, land agent for the Pulteney Estates. The first known public record referring to Abraham Bradington and his family is located in the probate file of Peregrine Fitzhugh, who died 18 November An inventory of the personal estate of Fitzhugh dated 21 October 1813 was prepared by Nathaniel Merrills and John Fellow at Troupville [now called Sodus Point]. At the very end of list of possessions of Peregrine Fitzhugh, under the heading Blacks is the following information: 26 Abraham aged 54 years Ven his wife aged 48 years Veny Daughter of Abraham & Ven aged 16 years - $150 Katy Daughter of Abraham & Ven aged 12 years - $125 Peggy Daughter of Abraham & Ven aged 6 years - $75 James Son of Abraham & Ven aged 9 years - $125. Another document in the probate file states that the estate includes two old Slaves no value apparently referring to Abraham and his wife Ven, as there is no dollar value next to their names in the inventory. Local histories as early as 1848 were telling the story that Fitzhugh had freed most of his slaves prior to his death. In essence this may be true, but his inventory showed that at least 9 persons were still enslaved as late at According to this information, Abraham Bradington was born about 1759, the same year of birth recorded for Peregrine Fitzhugh. It is possible that he was born in Africa and had survived the experiences of the Middle Passage, as his death record stated that he was a foreigner. 27 How long he had been held in bondage by the Fitzhugh family is not known at this time. Perhaps there are records in Maryland that might shed some light on this question. 26 Surrogate Court Records, Ontario County, NY Archives, Film #118/25, Peregrine Fitzhugh 27 Wayne County, NY Vital Statistics, , Lyons, NY.

15 298 Sodus The next public record regarding Abraham Bradington, shows that in 1817 he was paying taxes on Lot #12 in the fourth range of out lots. His ten acres was valued at $100 and his tax amounted to $.42 that year. An indenture dated 13 January 1819 established the purchase of this land from Nathaniel Merrill for $ This property was located on the east side of what is now the North Geneva Road, in would become part of an African American community sometimes called Maxwell. In 1831 Mr. Bradington added 10 acres to his holdings when he purchased Lot #11 in Range 4 of the out lots, paying $ Abraham Bradington is listed as free person of color and head of household in the 1820 Federal Census of Sodus, Wayne County, NY. His household consisted of a boy and girl under the age of 14 and a man and woman over the age 45. It is possible the girl is daughter Peggy, listed as age 6 in Son James would have been about 16 in 1820, if the inventory ages are correct, so may not be the male child in the household. One of the last documents available regarding Abraham Bradington is dated 2 July 1847 and starts with these words: I Abram Bradington considering the uncertainty of this mortal life and being of sound mind & memory (Blessed by Almighty God for the same) do make and publish this my last will and testament On the surface it is a very simple and straightforward document. He bequeathed to his daughter Molly Lee, five acres on land or the north half of lot #12; to his daughter Nanny Wilber the south half of lot #12; to his daughter Pegy [sic] Provost five acres or the north half of Lot #11; to his grandson James Smallwood and granddaughter Marie Johnson, the south half of Lot #11, which was to be divided in half from east to west, with Marie getting the north part and James the south part. Lastly he left to my three daughters above named the residue to be equally divided between them Mr. Bradington signed with his mark, an X. 30 The will was witnessed by three members of the James Edwards family, who may have been in-laws of Maria Fitzhugh Edwards, wife of William Edwards and daughter of Peregrine Fitzhugh. This record provides the name of two daughters, not mentioned in the inventory of Peregrine Fitzhugh Molly and Nanny. The deceased daughter, mother of James Smallwood and Maria Smallwood Johnson, could have been Katy or Veny who were listed in the inventory or another unknown child of Abraham and Ven. There is no mention of a wife, so it appears that Ven had died, probably between 1840 and There is a female aged between 55 and 100 in the household of Abraham Bradington as recorded in the 1840 census of Sodus. The death of Abraham Brethern [sic]was recorded in the 1848 Vital Statistics for the town of Sodus. He died on 20 August 1848, at the age of 96, which would place his birth earlier than information from the inventory indicated. 31 In March of 1849, Joseph Wilber of Sodus, husband of Nancy; James Smallwood of Palmyra and his guardian George W. Thompson and David Johnson of Palmyra, husband of Maria Johnson appeared before the Surrogate Court and the will was proven. It was established that Abraham Bradington died of natural caused about the 17 th day of September 1848 at Sodus. His next of kin were identified as Nanny Wilber, wife of Joseph Wilber; Molly Lee, wife of Alexander Lee; Peggy Provost, wife of Robert Provost; James Smallwood of Palmyra; Maria Johnson, wife of David J. Johnson of Palmyra. All heirs were of full age except James Smallwood, who was represented by his guardian, George W. Thompson. 32 Abraham Bradington and his family were among the earliest settlers of Sodus Point, yet their names are not included in any of the traditional history books that were produced in the 19 th and 20 th century. He was not a rich man, yet he was able to provide for his family and leave them with a 28 Wayne County, NY Deeds, Book 2, p.,390, Wayne County Clerk s Office, Lyons, NY 29 Ibid., Book 40, p Wayne County, NY Surrogate Court Records, Will Book D, p. 480; Probate File #0279. Wayne County Historian s Office, Lyons, NY. 31 Wayne County, NY Vital Statistics, Wayne County, NY Surrogate Court Records.

16 Sodus 299 legacy of land that helped to sustain them for many years. Part of Molly Lee s property was passed on to her granddaughter Madeline Dorsey who owned it until Ownership of Peggy Provost s five acres was transferred to her husband in 1882 and he in turn left it to his second wife, Millie Newport Provost after his death in It goes without saying that there is much more to the story of Abraham and Ven Bradington than can be found in the few public records available, but that we have as much information as we do is a testament to Abraham Bradington. The Cooper Family The David Cooper family was living in Wayne County at least by 1817 and very likely earlier. There is some circumstantial evidence that may support the belief that David Cooper was a former slave of Peregrine Fitzhugh. Tax Records for the town of Sodus (then part of Ontario County) of 1817 show that David Cooper was paying taxes on lots 11 and 12 in the 3 rd range of out lots of Sodus Point. 33 A map produced in 1813 of the out lots shows the name of Dana on these two lots. The Dana name was connected to Peregrine Fitzhugh - Anne Frisby Fitzhugh, daughter of Peregrine Fitzhugh, married William Pulteney Dana, a relative of Sir William Pulteney, in Cooper s property was bordered to the south by property owned by Abraham Bradington, known to be a former slave of Fitzhugh. Local lore has repeated the story that many of Fitzhugh s slave settled on the out lots of Sodus Point. The first public record of David Cooper is the 1817 Tax List, showing he was paying taxes on 20 acres of land, valued at $80. In 1821 the land was valued at $100. No deed was recorded in Ontario or Wayne counties showing the transfer of this property to David Cooper, but in 1855 a deed was recorded for the purchase of 3.7 acres taken from parts of Lots 11 and 12 by Ellen Cooper, most likely a daughter of David Cooper. 34 In the 1820 census, the household headed by David Cooper consisted of 2 males under 14, 1 male 14-26, 1 male 45 or older; 2 females under 14, 3 females 14-26, 1 female and 1 female over 45. David Cooper was born about 1775 and died between 1830 and David married Polly (last name unknown), who was born about 1776 in Maryland and died between 1850 and Polly headed household in the 1850 census listed as age 74, born Maryland, blind. With her are Ellen Cooper, age 54 and Cassius Cooper, age Children of David and Polly Cooper are thought to be: Ellen Cooper was born in 1795 in Maryland and died on 10 Feb 1865 in Sodus. 36 It does not appear that Ellen ever married. Ellen is listed in household of Polly Cooper in 1850 census, Sodus, NY. In 1852 Ellen Cooper purchased approximately 3.7 acres of land being part of lots 11 and 12 in Range 3 of the outlots of Sodus Point. In November 1882, heirs at law of Ellen Cooper (Benjamin Cooper and Ann Cooper his wife; Betsey C. Hardin and Julia A. Taylor) sold to Sally A. Newport, in consideration of $1, land in Sodus, being the equal one-quarter part of land that Ellen Cooper owned and occupied in her life time Tax Records, Sodus, Ontario County, Ontario County Archives 34 Wayne County, NY Deeds, Book 64, p Federal Census, Sodus, Wayne Co., NY NYS Census, Sodus, Wayne Co., NY, Death Schedule, p Wayne County, NY Deeds, Book 64, p. 536; Book 136, p. 444.

17 300 Sodus Julia A. Cooper was born about 1805 in Ontario Co., NY and died on 5 Feb 1888 in Geneva, NY. 38 Julia married (first name unknown) Taylor. Julia A. Taylor is listed in household including sister, Betsey Hardin/Harden in 1875 and 1880 in Geneva, Ontario Co., NY. Benjamin Cooper was born about 1808 in Sodus, NY, died on 27 Feb 1885 in Sodus, New York, and was buried in Bushnell Cemetery, Sodus, NY. 39 Benjamin married Julia Ann Allen. 40 Julia was born about 1800 in Philadelphia, PA, died on 28 Feb 1887 in Sodus, NY, and was buried in Bushnell Cemetery, Sodus, NY. 41 In 1846, Benjamin Cooper was recipient of land grant in Adirondacks provided by Gerrit Smith. Betsey Cooper was born about 1810 in Wayne Co, NY and died on 11 Mar 1888 in Geneva, NY. 42 Betsey married Cornelius Hardin/Harden. Cornelius was born about 1813 in NY and died between 1850 and Cornelius Hardin is listed as head of household in 1840 census, Town of Seneca, Ontario Co., NY. In 1846, listed as resident of Clyde, NY when he was recipient of land grant in Adirondacks (Gerrit Smith Papers, Syracuse Univ.) He is head of household in the 1850 Census, Seneca, Ontario County. Death date for Cornelius is speculation and based on fact that wife Betsey is head of household in 1860 census, Geneva, Ontario Co., NY. Betsey lived much of her life in Geneva, NY, where she worked as a laundress. George Cooper was born about 1813, died between 1870 and 1875, and was buried in Bushnell Cemetery. 43 There is some question that George is a sibling of Benjamin, Betsey, Julia A. and Sally A., as he is not included in list of heirs-at-law of Ellen Cooper in land dealings in He has been in included here for the following reasons: he would be a contemporary of the Cooper siblings that have been confirmed; his surname; location of property in African American community, in outlots of Sodus Point. George Cooper was a recipient in 1846 of a land grant in the Adirondacks. In the 1850 Agricultural Census, Sodus, Wayne Co., NY, he has 10 acres of land, 6 of which are improved; cash value of his farm is given as $200. Sally A. Cooper was born about 1817 in Wayne County, NY, died on 25 Jan in Sodus Point, NY, and was buried in Bushnell Cemetery, Sodus. 44 Sally married Titus Newport, son of William Newport and Sarah J. Plumber, about 1835 in Wayne County, NY. Titus was born about 1815 in Sodus, NY, died on 7 Nov 1883 in Sodus, NY, and was buried in Bushnell Cemetery, Sodus, NY. 45 Loyd/Lloyd Family The Thomas and Rosetta Loyd family were also early residents of the Maxwell Settlement. Thomas Loyd is listed as a free person of color and head of household in the 1820 census of Sodus. His household included 4 males under the age of 14, 1 male over 45, 3 females under 14 and 1 female Ontario Co., NY GenWeb Site, Necrology 1888, Geneva Gazette. 39 Reg. of Deaths, Sodus, NY, , Benjamin Cooper, #214; Wayne County Alliance, Sodus, NY, 4 Mar Reg. of Deaths, Sodus, NY, , Charles H. Cooper, # Reg. of Deaths, Sodus, NY, , Julia Cooper, #337; Gerrit Smith Papers, Syracuse University. 42 Ontario Co., NY, GenWeb Site, Necrology, Cemetery Records, Wayne co., NY, Bushnell Cemetery, Sodus. 44 Reg. of Deaths, Sodus, NY, , # Reg. of Deaths, Sodus, , #115.

18 Sodus 301 to 45 years old. Thomas most likely died between 1820 and 1830 as Rose Lloyd is listed as head of household in the 1830 census of Sodus. Her household included 2 males under the age of 10, 2 males age 10 to 24, 2 females under the age of 10, 4 females age 10 to 24 and 1 female 24 to 34. There is no record of purchase of land by either Thomas or Rosetta Loyd, yet beginning in the early 1830s Loyd family members buy and sell property within the Maxwell community. The first record of a purchase of land by a member of the Loyd family was recorded in 1833 when Jane Loyd of New York City (later known as Anthony) purchased Lot 10 in the 4 th range. Jane was most likely the daughter of Thomas and Rosetta Loyd. Jane Anthony of Geneva sold the south half of Lot 10 to Luther A. B. Loyd (probably a brother) in The north 5 acres of Lot 10 was retained by her children and finally sold in 1891 by her daughter Henrietta (Anthony) Squires, wife of Henry Squires of Huron. 46 Luther A. B. Loyd, Lancaster Loyd (likely they are also children of Thomas and Rosetta) started making purchases in the community in the late 1840s and continued to be associated with the community through the 1870s, although they often lived elsewhere. The Loyd brothers (also included William Thomas Loyd) were all barbers. Lancaster set up business in Lyons as early as William (aka Thomas) went into business in Palmyra in the 1840s. Luther and Lancaster both worked for many years in Jordan, Onondaga Co., New York. Some members of the Loyd family were buried in the cemetery of the Maxwell Community. In April 1983 Bill Huff, Jr. found the following tombstones: 48 Rosetta, wife of Thomas Loyd Died Oct. 29, 1853 Aged [unable to read age] Thomas Loyd Died Nov. 21, 1851 [most likely refers to William Thomas Loyd, who is known to have died in Nov 1851] 49 Newport Family The Newport Family, headed by William and Sarah (Plummer) Newport, joined the ranks of the pioneer settlers of Wayne County, arriving as early as The members of this family were ordinary, hard-working men and women making their way as farmers, day laborers and domestics. Only a few of them owned property. There is no record of William owning any property in Maxwell or anywhere else in Wayne County, NY. William Newport was born about His actual birthplace is in question. The 1855 census gives his birthplace as Connecticut. 50 The death certificate of daughter also states that Connecticut was the birthplace of her father. 51 This is countered by the oral history of the Newport Family, which places his birthplace as Virginia, where he was the slave of Peregrine Fitzhugh. 52 Fitzhugh, who had served as an Aide-de-Camp to General George Washington, during the 46 Wayne County, NY Deeds, Book 12, p. 312; Book 59, p. 346; Book 158, p Western Argus (Lyons, NY), April Conversation with Bill Huff, Jr., 24 April Wayne County Surrogate Court Records, Probate File #0401, Thomas Loyd. 50 New York State Census, 1855, Town of Huron, Wayne Co., NY. Family # Reg. of Deaths, , Lyons Town Clerk, Lyons, NY, p. 34, # Interview, Lattimore, Betty, 18 November 1999

19 302 Sodus Revolutionary War, did move to the Sodus Bay area about 1802 from Virginia, bringing about 40 slaves. There is some additional evidence to support the possibility that William Newport hailed from New England and not Virginia. A William Newport, black, age 66 is listed in the 1850 census for the City of Oswego, NY. After close examination of the census entry, this researcher believes that his place of birth was recorded as Conn. 53 The Newport surname is associated with African- Americans living in western Massachusetts as early as the 1740s. 54 At this point in the research process, no parents for William Newport have been identified. However, if William Newport was a slave of the Peregrine Fitzhugh there may be a clue in the papers of Peregrine Fitzhugh. William Newport married Sarah Plumber prior to Sarah was born about 1789 in eastern New York State. No parents have been identified for Sarah. Her maiden name was found on the death certificate for her daughter, Polly Ann McKinney. 55 The exact birthplace of Sarah Plumber Newport has not been established, although there is a fair case for it being Columbia County, NY. In the 1865 census of Sodus, Wayne Co., NY her county of birth is given as Hudson. 56 There is no county named Hudson in New York State, but there is a town of Hudson in Columbia County, NY. In the 1875 census for Lyons, Wayne Co., NY her birthplace was recorded as Columbia Co., NY. Herkimer, NY is given as her birthplace on death record for daughter Ann Newport McKinney. 57 William and Sarah are thought to have had 11 children 58, but only eight have been identified. Sometime between 1840 and 1850, William and Sarah seem to have separated or divorced. There is a listing for a William Newport, black, in the Rochester City Directory of 1844, living at Meigs Street, near Main St. 59 It is possible that, if he had separated from his wife, he had moved to Rochester to work. The records of Sodus School District #2 include the names of the younger children of William and Sarah throughout the 1840s. Sarah is listed as Sarah Cooper, living with a George Cooper in the 1850, 1860 and 1865 census of the town of Sodus, Wayne Co., NY. 60 In 1865, she is listed as wife. In 1870 Sarah Cooper is living with her daughter and son-in-law, Mary and John Wooby in Lyons. 61 George Cooper is still in the town of Sodus in 1870 census, which may indicate that George and Sarah have also separated. In 1875, Sarah Cooper is living with her daughter and son-in-law Polly Ann and Richard McKinney. 62 This is the last time she is listed in a Wayne County census, so she may have died between 1875 and The identified children of William and Sarah (Plumber) Newport are: Titus Newport, born about 1815 in Sodus, NY; died on 7 Nov. 1883, Sodus, NY and was buried in Bushnell Cemetery, located on Lake Rd., Sodus, NY. 63 He married about 1835 Sally A. (Sarah) Cooper, daughter of David and Polly Cooper. Titus and Sally Newport raised a family of 11 children in Maxwell. 53 Federal Census, 1855, Oswego, Ward 1,Oswego Co., NY, p Smith, James Avery, The History of the Black Population of Amherst, Massachusetts, , p Reg. of Deaths, , Lyons Town Clerk, Lyons, NY, p. 34, # New York State Census, 1865, Sodus, Wayne Co., NY, # Reg. of Deaths, , Lyons Town Clerk, Lyons, NY, p. 34, # New York State Census, 1865, Sodus, Wayne Co., NY. # Monroe County GenWeb Site, Federal Census, Sodus, Wayne Co., NY, p. 186, #928; 1860 Federal Census, Sodus, Wayne Co., NY, #1466; 1865 New York State Census, Sodus, Wayne Co., NY, # Federal Census, Lyons, Wayne Co., NY, # New York State Census, Lyons, Wayne Co., NY, # Reg. of Deaths, , Sodus Town Clerk, Sodus, NY, #115.

20 Sodus 303 Hiram Newport, was born about 1817 in Sodus, NY; died on 11Feb 1886 in Sodus, NY and was buried in Bushnell Cemetery, Sodus, NY. 64 He married Sylvia Taylor, daughter of John and Mary A. (?) Taylor about It is very likely that Hiram valued education. He must have if the records of the Sodus School District #2 are accurate. A Hiram Newport is listed among the students for the winter term of , attending a total of 27 days. If this person were Hiram, he would have been almost 26 years old at the time a very old student to say the least. The oldest son of Titus, Hiram s older brother, would only have been 4 years old in 1843 and there is no indication that he was ever called anything but John. Hiram and his wife Sylvia had 11 children. Philip Newport, was born 19 March 1820, Sodus, NY; died 23 December 1904, Sodus Point, NY. 65 He may have married first a daughter of Thomas and Rosetta Loyd about 1847; married second Nancy (Wilson?), about Philip and his second wife had 10 children. Polly Ann Newport, was born about 1825, Sodus, NY; died 20 February 1886, Lyons, NY. 66 Polly Ann, was listed as a student in Sodus School District #2 during the spring term of She would have been about 19 years old at the time. In 1850 Polly, age 23 and her sister Chloe Jane (6) are listed in the household of W.D. Cook. 67 William D. Cook was actively involved in anti-slavery activity. Polly Ann is not listed in the 1860 census of Wayne County, NY, but it is very likely that she is in Canada at the time. Polly married Richard F. McKinney about Richard was born in about 1830 in Londoun Co., Virginia. Their first child was born in Canada in May This may indicate that Richard was a fugitive slave and that the family was in Canada for his safety. The circumstances of how Polly and Richard met could well be an interesting story. Polly and Richard moved back to Wayne County by November 1861 as shown by the records of the Lyons M.E. Church. An Ann McKinney (colored) is listed as having joined from probation on 3 Nov Their second child, Dennis, was born in Lyons, NY in January Chloe Jane Newport, was born about Much of the information on Chloe Jane comes from her records as a student in Sodus School District #2. 69 Available school records between 1843 and 1848 indicate that Chloe Jane was a regular student. She attended 78 days during the winter term of ; attended 36 ½ days during winter term of 1845; attended 75 days during winter term and another 31 12/ days in spring term of In the 1850 census Chloe Jane is listed in household of W.D. Cook, along with sister Polly Ann. 71 Margaret Eliza Newport, was born about 1831, Sodus, NY; died 4 April 1889, Lyons, NY. 72 She married James A. Potter, son of James and Chloe Potter on 25 February 1850 in 64 Reg. of Deaths, , Sodus Town Clerk, Sodus, NY. # Reg. of Deaths, , Sodus Town Clerk, Sodus, NY. # Reg. of Deaths, , Lyons Town Clerk, Lyons, NY, # Federal Census, 1850, Town of Sodus, Wayne Co., NY, Family # M.E. Church Records, Lyons, NY, , membership list, microfilm. 69 Sodus School District #2 Records,, Lyons, NY. 70 Ibid. 71 Federal Census, Sodus, Wayne Co., NY, p. 181 (M ). 72 Reg. Of Deaths, Lyons Town Clerk, Lyons, NY, p. 48, #810.

21 304 Sodus Sodus, NY. 73 James Potter served in the Civil War, joining the same company in the 1 st USCT in which the captain and 2 nd Lieutenant were Judson and Lewis Rice of Sodus. James died of pneumonia on 9 April 1865 and was buried in Warsaw Station, NC. He left behind a wife and six children. William Newport, was born about 1832, Sodus, NY; died in 1889, Holyoke, MA 74 ; first married Margaret (Wilson?) (widow of William Thomas Loyd) about 1852; second married Eliza Bateman on 27 Nov 1872 in Northampton, MA. 75 William served in the 29 th Connecticut Colored Regiment during the Civil War. 76 William and Margaret had six children. Mary E. Newport, was born about 1837 in Sodus, NY; died about 1882, Lyons, NY. She married John Wooby, son of John and Clarissa Wooby of Lyons, NY about Mary and John Jr. had four children. Marjory Allen Perez 73 Potter, James A., Pension File, National Archives. 74 Todd, Neil, , 16 Jul Todd, Neil, , 16 Jul Clark, Lewis, Military History of Wayne County, NY, p. 124A.

22 Sodus 305 Primary Sources: 1) Maxwell Settlement on map, 1858 Map of Wayne County (Philadelphia?: Gillette, 1858) Note collection of homes belonging to Cooper, Lloyd, Lee, and Newport families, Just west of Great Sodus, on road that runs east for the north-south Geneva Road but does not go through to Sodus Bay

23 306 Sodus 2) Maxwell Settlement: Families, 1850 U.S. Census, Sodus Wayne County, New York, 186, National Archives and Records Service Film M

24 Sodus 307 3) Maxwell Settlement: 1860 U.S. Census, Wayne County, Town of Sodus, p National Archives and Records Service, Microfilm M

25 308 Sodus Presbyterian Church Main Street, Sodus Village Sodus, New York Significance: Site of major political abolitionist meetings, 1840s. Looking south April 2008 Description: The front of this church, including the bell tower, was added after the Civil War, but the entire rear of the church incorporates the earlier building. Note the wide frieze bands under the eaves, reflecting the Greek Revival style. Significance: This church was the focus of a split in the congregation in October 1843, in which abolitionists including Levi Gaylord, Seth Coleman, William D. Cooke, Kitchell Bell, and Jacob Buys associated both with political abolitionism and the Underground Railroad--left this church to meet as a separate religious group. This church continued to be the site of major public meetings relating to abolitionism and politics, however, with hundreds of people thronging the building. At a meeting of the Liberty Party held here in 1840, Dr. William D. Cooke was converted to political abolitionism L.H.G., Edward A. Green and Old Times, Wayne County Alliance, Lyons, New York, July 14, 1897,

26 Sodus 309 Primary Source Presbyterian Church and Abolitionist Politics, 1840s L.H.G., Edward A. Green and Old Times, Wayne County Alliance, Lyons, New York, July 14, From

27 310 Sodus

28 Sodus 311 Sodus Bay Phalanx Corner of Shaker Road and Red Mills-Shaker Heights Rd. Town of Sodus, New York Significance: Between 1823 and 1834, Shakers constructed seventeen buildings on this site (of which only a handful still stand). Between 1844 and 1846, members of the Sodus Bay Phalanx, a utopian community of abolitionists and woman s rights activists, many of them Quakers, lived here. Manor House Looking east. Built between and enlarged after 1834 April 2008 House across Shaker Road (west side) from site of Meetinghouse. Built after 1834 Looking southwest, April 2008

29 312 Sodus Board and batten barn behind Manor House, looking east March 2009 Board-and-batten shed, looking southeast March 2009

30 Sodus 313 Courtesy of Cheri Roloson. Description: Originally part of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase, the land that became the Sodus Bay Shaker community was purchased first by Charles Williamson for the Pulteney Associates and then by Judge John Nicholas of Geneva. Inspired by Galen resident Joseph Phelps, the United Society of Believers in Christ s Second Appearing (Shakers) bought from Nicholas widow Anne almost 1400 acres on Nichols (now Hunter s) Point and Thornton Point on the shores of Sodus Bay, New York, in February The property straddled the Preemption line, with the eastern section in the Town of Huron and the western part in the Town of Sodus. By 1826, the Sodus Bay community, under Richard Pelham of Ohio, and his brother and sister-in-law Joseph and Susanna Pelham, had gathered here. Ultimately, this community contained as many as four families, made up of men and women who lived in separate areas, at least a hundred and fifty people. Many more left or were turned off after a trial period. Names of converts appear on two covenants, signed in 1829 and 1832, as well as in other manuscript records now at Western Reserve Historical Society. Shakers at Sodus as elsewhere made considerable money from the sale of agricultural seeds, as well as fruit trees, potatoes, onions, flax, brooms, and salted fish. The larger community also used the Shaker gristmill, saw mill, and blacksmith shop. 79 Shakers remained at Sodus until 1838, when they moved to Groveland, on the Genesee River in Livingston County. They sold their property to Adams, Duncan, & Company, promoters of a canal at Sodus, receiving a final settlement on May 22, When the canal project failed, a Fourierist Association bought the land in Committed to holding their property in common, these utopian community residents were also active abolitionists and women s rights activists. They lived here until 1846, when they disbanded and the land reverted back to the canal supporters. After 1856, more than thirteen hundred of the original acres were sold at auction Welcome to Alasa Farms: A Self-Guided Walking Farm Tour (Alton, New York: Cracker Box Palace, n.d.). 79 Herbert Wisbey, Jr., The Sodus Shaker Community (Lyons, New York: Wayne County Historical Society, 1982), 5, 9-11, Landmarks of Wayne County, 220; Lyons Democratic Press [ ], fultonhistory.com; Welcome to Alasa Farms: A Self-Guided Walking Farm Tour.

31 314 Sodus On May 29, 1868, DeWitt Parshall from Lyons, New York, purchased the property. Parshall s daughter married Dwight Chamberlain, and the Parshall-Chamberlain family owned the land until 1924, when Alvah Griffen Strong, grandson of the president of Eastman Kodak Corporation, purchased the 1600-acre property with twenty-three buildings (thirteen houses and ten barns), as well as the ruins of the mill constructed by Judge Nicholas. Strong named his new estate Alasa Farms, combining the first two letters of his own name with the first name of his partner in the business, Asa McBridge. Under Alvah Strong s leadership, the farm became a model agricultural enterprise. With the help of farm manger William Hardy and a large number of farm workers, Strong raised champion Shorthorn cattle, horses, dogs (including Newfoundlands, whippets, terriers, and Alaskan huskies), and chickens. Orchards produced up to 100,000 bushels of fruit a year. 81 Shakers moved into existing buildings on their property and also constructed several more, including the meetinghouse (built ), which burned June 21, 1925, and the Church family dwelling (now the Manor House), constructed in Only a handful of buildings (perhaps four) still remain from the pre-civil War period. In 1834, Isaac N. Youngs (a shaker musician, artist, historian, and clock-maker from New Lebanon) drew a sketch map of the Sodus Bay Shaker community, showing at least seventeen buildings, including the main meetinghouse, four residences, a schoolhouse, mill, and several barns and outbuildings. Of these seventeen structures, only the current Manor House still stands. Probably three other buildings dating from before the Civil War still stand the dwelling across the road from the original meetinghouse, the barn behind the Manor House, and a small shed. The Parshall- Chamberlain family erected a new barn and outbuildings, and Alvah Strong added other new buildings. When the meetinghouse burned in 1925, owner Alvah Strong erected a dormitory (now used as a gift shop) on the site. Strong also replaced the original Shaker barn with a large state-of-theart horse barn. 81 Welcome to Alasa Farms; A Day at Alasa Farms (Alton, New York: Alasa Farms, 1927); Shaker Tract, Comprising 1600 Acres with 23 Buildings Sold to Alvah G. Strong, Wayne Democratic Press, October 8, 1924; Stephen W. Jacobs, Wayne County: The Aesthetic of a Rural Area (New York: Publishing Center for Cultural Resources, 1979); Herbert A. Wisbey, The Sodus Shaker Community (Lyons, New York: Wayne County Historical Society, 1982); Interview with Cheri Roloson, Manager, Cracker Box Palace, and Griff Mangan, owner, Alasa Farms, March 20, Wisbey, Sodus Shaker Community,

32 Sodus 315 Drawing by Isaac N. Youngs, copied by George Kendall, Sketches of the Various Societies of Believers in the states of Ohio & Kentucky, to which is added a slight sketch of Sodus Bay in the northern part of N. York, Reprint Stephen W. Jacobs, Wayne County: The Aesthetic of a Rural Area (New York: Publishing Center for Cultural Resources, 1979),

33 316 Sodus Alasa Farms, Aerial View Stephen W. Jacobs, Wayne County: The Aesthetic of a Rural Area (New York: Publishing Center for Cultural Resources, 1979). The current main Manor House is a five-bay dwelling with a large plank central doorway, twelve-over-six windows, and a central hallway with newel post and simple balustraded stair railing. The rear kitchen retains some of the original Shaker pegs. Numbers over several doorways may relate to the Shaker period or may reflect later uses. In the 1950s, Helen M. Fish (member of Rochester Monthly Meeting of Friends, whose husband Clinton Fish was a direct descendent of Sodus Bay Phalanx residents Benjamin and Sarah Fish) reported that the main living quarters of the Phalanx was the Big House, [perhaps the current Manor House] onto which was later built a long dining room. Originally all the families were to share in communal living, but before long each withdrew to its individual corner or apartment. 83 The 1834 Youngs map shows a three-bay dwelling on the site of the Manor House. This house was most likely enlarged after 1834, when either Shakers or Fourierists added one more bay to each end of the original three-bay dwelling. Large hewn beams, showing rectangular holes (apparently for studs in the outside walls of the original building) extend through parlors on either side of the central hall in the Manor House, from front to back, supported by posts on front and back walls. The two front windows on either side of the hallway on the second story are not quite equally spaced, lending credence to the suggestion that both ends of the building are additions. Helen Fish mentioned a long dining room built onto the original building. The current Manor House has a long back wing, on top of which sits a bell tower with a bell in it. In February 2009, a fire in the Manor House destroyed the interior of the third floor and one of the second-floor bedrooms. At least two more pre-civil War buildings stand on the property. Neither appeared on the 1834 Youngs map. A second three-bay dwelling, across the street from the site of the meetinghouse, 83 Lorraine Marie Latte, The Sodus Bay Phalanx, unpublished Hoffman essay, 1956, 7, Wayne County Historian s Office.

34 Sodus 317 may have been built by Shakers before they left. A board-and-batten barn stands behind the Manor House. Significance: These buildings are remarkable both architecturally and historically. Created by one utopian community (United Society of Believers) and used by a second (Sodus Bay Phalanx), they reflected both important architectural forms and communitarian values of Shakers and Fourierists. Architectural historian Stephen W. Jacobs called them Wayne County s most remarkable architectural survival, rhythmic, harmonious, and majestic. 84 These are rare survivals of such utopian community buildings. Remnants of original Shaker communities survive at Niskayuna, New York (near Albany); New Lebanon, New York; Hancock, Massachusetts; Sabbath Day Lake, Maine; and Pleasant Hill, Kentucky. Buildings left from Fourierist communities include Brook Farm, near Dedham, Massachusetts, and Community House, just north of Skaneateles. Shakers began in Manchester, England, in 1874, when a small group hailed Ann Lee as the incarnation of Jesus Christ, returned to earth. Lee had lost all four of her children, and followers saw this as a confirmation of their emerging consensus that celibacy, not marriage, reflected a state of holiness. In 1774, Lee brought nine fellow believers to New York City. By 1776, they had acquired land at Niskayuna (near the current airport at Albany, New York) and set up a separate community. They established productive farms (selling agricultural products as well as seeds to outside people), built around a central meetinghouse and dormitory residences they built for each family of celibate men and women. They also became known for their spiritual meetings (centered around music and dance) and their simple, elegant buildings, furniture, tools, and artwork. At their largest, they numbered about six thousand people in nineteen communities located in an arced that extended from western Massachusetts to northern Kentucky. By 2008, Shakers as a group survived only at Sabbathday Lake, Maine. 85 Fourierist communities were established in the 1840s on the basis of ideas promoted by Charles Fourier, French reformer, who argued that if humans shared goods in common and chose their own work freely, the world would reflect and contribute to the harmony of the spheres. Albert Brisbane promoted these ideas through the pages of the New York Tribune, and abolitionists and women s rights advocates translated them into action. Notable Fourierist communities included Brook Farm, a transcendentalist community near Dedham, Massachusetts. The longest-lived Fourierist community, Red Bank, in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, incorporated a school taught by abolitionist and woman s rights advocates Theodore Weld, Angelina Grimke Weld, and Sarah Grimke. Children of reformers such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Henry Brewster Stanton and Gerrit and Ann Smith attended this school. Several Fourierist communities attracted Quaker abolitionists, including Community Place, part of the Society for Universal Reform in Skaneateales, New York. 86 Reformers from Wayne County, Rochester, and perhaps elsewhere (many of them Quakers), tired of piecemeal reform, decided to establish a community in which reform could be total, immediate, and non-violent. The notice of their incorporation read: Association we believe is destined to benefit the rich as well as the poor it is for all Stephen W. Jacobs, Wayne County: The Aesthetic of a Rural Area (New York: Publishing Center for Cultural Resources, 1979), Copy of map also in Herbert Wisbey's "The Sodus Shaker Community", Arthur Bestor, material culture 86 Thomas Hamm, Society for Universal Improvement 87 Rochester Republican, August 8, 1843.

35 318 Sodus We have no complete list of those who lived in the Sodus Bay Phalanx. From a variety of sources, however, we know that Quakers affiliated with Farmington Quarterly and Genesee Yearly Meeting of Friends (from Rochester and Farmington Monthly Meetings) were key members of the Sodus Bay Community. They included the Fish family (Benjamin Fish, Sarah Fish, and children, including Catharine Fish Stebbins and Mary Fish); John W. Hurn and Sarah Griffen Hurn and children; Lorenzo Mabbett and Anna Griffen Mabbett and children, and Eliab W. Capron. All were core members of the Western New York Anti-Slavery Society. Many were also committed women s rights activists. These Quakers viewed their residence here as part of the wholeness of their lives and vision, and they used their community life to help promote abolitionism, women s rights, and equal access to property. Benjamin Fish (June 2, 1797-December 3, 1882) from Rhode Island and Sarah Davids Bills Fish (September 11, 1798-November 11, 1868) from New Jersey were Quakers. When they came to New York State, they moved first to Farmington (in 1817). At the time of the split between Hicksite and Orthodox Friends in 1828, they became Hicksites and moved to Rochester. In 1844, they moved to Sodus Bay Phalanx and finally back to Rochester (in 1847). In 1848, they joined the new meeting of reform-minded Congregational Friends, formed at Farmington. The whole family worked for peace, equal suffrage for African Americans and women, prison reform, temperance, and Indian rights. Benjamin was a nurseryman by trade. Opposed to war, he was fined and imprisoned for refusing to take part in militia training. Sarah and Benjamin Fish had five children. Daughters Catharine and Mary devoted also worked publicly for abolitionism. Catharine signed the Declaration of Sentiments at the Seneca Falls women s rights convention. 88 From April 1844 to April 1847, the family lived in the Sodus Bay Phalanx, where Benjamin Fish was president until Family stories suggest that when Catharine married Giles B. Stebbins, a Unitarian from Massachusetts, on August 17, 1846, Benjamin Fish was released from his position as president because his daughter had married out of the community. 89 The whole family became mainstays of temperance, abolitionism, and women s rights. At the beginning of the teetotal movement in 1840, Sarah Fish never served wine in her house again. They became core members of the Western New York Anti-Slavery Society, when it was organized in At its first annual meeting in 1843, Benjamin Fish became a member of the nominating committee and a counselor. Sarah D. Fish was corresponding secretary and a member of both the business and executive committees. Daughter Mary Fish served on the executive committee. In 1844, both Benjamin and Sarah D. Fish were appointed counselors. In December 1847, four members of the Fish family, plus Catharine s husband Giles B. Stebbins, took part in a great anti-slavery meeting of the Western New York Anti-Slavery Society held in Rochester. Catharine A. Stebbins, Benjamin Fish, Mary B. Fish, and Sarah D. Fish were all on the Executive Committee. 90 With other Quaker women, Sarah D. Fish and her daughters Catharine and Mary helped organize women s antislavery fairs in December 1847 and again in In 1850, Benjamin Fish was chair of this group s seventh annual meeting. As Frederick Douglass noted, the Fish family worked closely with key Underground Railroad activists in Rochester, including Frederick Douglass, Amy and Isaac Post, and Asa and Huldah Anthony. 91 The Fish family also became early converts to the spiritualist movement. Started by Margaret and Catharine Fox in Hydesville, New York, just east of Rochester, spiritualism attracted many 88 Ambrose Shotwell, Our Quaker Forefathers and Their Posterity (Lansing, Michigan: Robert Smith and Company, ). Fish genealogy prepared by Charles Lenhart. 89 Catharine Fish Stebbins, from Stories in Stone: Famous People in Mount Hope Cemetery, National Anti-Slavery Standard, September 17, 1846; Helen Fish, from Hoffman essay. 90 National Anti-Slavery Standard, January 7, National Anti-Slavery Standard, December 28, The North Star, December 3, 1847; Address Of Anti-Slavery Women Of Western New York, North Star, March 24, 1848; November 10, 1848; February 6, 1851.

36 Sodus 319 Quaker abolitionists, including the Posts, Fishes, and E.W. Capron. 92 A meeting of the American Anti-Slavery Society in Syracuse in 1852, attended by the Fish family, gives a sense of the social and reform context in which they lived and worked. British abolitionist George Thompson spoke, and afterwards, the Fish family attended tea at the home of Samuel J. May, pastor of the Unitarian Church of the Messiah. Giles B. Stebbins later described the party, combining African Americans and European Americans, women and men, abolitionists in upstate New York with national leaders from Boston and Philadelphia, in his Upward Steps of Seventy Years: Edmund Quincy, with the grace of his old-time courtesy, Sojourner Truth with her quaint and striking ways, George Thompson, full of life and heart, Abby Kelley Foster, earnest and attractive, Charles L. Remond, his dark face lighted up, his fine eyes radiant, Garrison, beaming with enjoyment, and his admirable wife, Frederick Douglass, noble of aspect and eloquent, in private as in public, Benjamin Fish, my wife s father, a tall Quaker-like figure, his genial face lighted up with appreciative pleasure, Samuel May, Jr., steadfast as the Leicester hills of his Massachusetts home, James Miller McKim, smiling and serene, a gifted English lady, who greatly enjoyed the evening with him, Charles B. Sedgwick, an eminent Syracuse lawyer, a true man, and Mrs. Stebbins and myself were of the company in the house. At the tea-table what flow of fine humor softening the earnestness of speech, what grace and ease, naturalness and fraternity! It was indeed the best society. 93 Catharine Ann Fish Stebbins (born in Farmington, August 17, 1823) became a major reformer in her own right. As a young girl in her early teens, she gathered signatures on antislavery petitions. She and her sister kept an anti-tobacco pledge on the parlor table, which they asked young male visitors to sign. Educated in Quaker schools, she later taught in the Rochester Public Schools and became secretary of the Rochester Anti-Slavery Society. 94 Catharine Fish Stebbins marriage and her work in the Western New York Anti-Slavery Society and with women s antislavery fairs led her directly into the organized woman s rights movement. In 1848, she attended the first women s rights convention held in Seneca Falls, New York, where she signed the Declaration of Sentiments. She continued to be active in the women s rights movement for the rest of her life, acting as secretary of the second women s rights convention held in Rochester and the statewide convention in Albany in February Catharine A. F. Stebbins and Giles B. Stebbins moved to Michigan about 1849 and lived in Detroit for many years. There, they kept up their reform work. Catharine became a founding member of the National Woman Suffrage Association, serving on its Executive Board and giving congressional testimony. In 1871 and 1872, she unsuccessfully tried to vote in Michigan, earning her 92 Isaac Post, 1850; Giles B. Stebbins, Upwards of Seventy Years (New York: John W. Lovell, 1890), Ann Leah [Fish] Underhill, The Missing Link in Modern Spiritualism (New York: T.R. Knox, 1885), r&source=bn&hl=en&ei=pgqpsbujipmatwfz8ogrcw&sa=x&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#ppa 105,M1; 93 Giles B. Stebbins, Upward Steps of Seventy Years, Frances Willard and Mary Livermore, A Woman of the Century, 1893, 681.

37 320 Sodus only grudging acknowledgement from the election official that "Mrs. Stebbins would have all the required qualifications of an elector, but for the fact of her being a woman." 95 In 1876, Catharine Fish Stebbins signed the women s Declaration of Rights read by Susan B. Anthony at the Centennial Celebration in Philadelphia. Later that month, she wrote a letter from Michigan to an anniversary celebration of the Seneca Falls convention: We are grateful to remember many women whose clear insight and reason pronounced in the outset that a woman's soul was as well worth saving as a man's; that her independence and free choice are as necessary and as valuable to the public virtue and welfare; who saw and still see in both, equal children of a Father who loves and protects all." When Elizabeth Cady Stanton published the Woman s Bible in 1898, she invited Catharine Fish Stebbins to be one of the editors. That same year, Catharine sent an interesting descriptive letter to the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. 96 Both Catharine Fish Stebbins and Giles B. Stebbins sent a letter of endorsement for Sojourner Truth s autobiography, The Narrative of Sojourner Truth. Catharine s reflected a summary of her life s vision: Dear Sojourner, she wrote, Love is the light, life, and central attraction of the universe, and will, if men yield to it, bring selfishness and misrule into harmony and law. May you ever feel its blessings. Giles wrote simply, "With earnest best wishes, your friend, Giles B. Stebbins. 97 Catharine Fish Stebbins and Giles B. Stebbins had two daughters, Mary Wendelline, who died in 1859, age three, and an infant who died in Catharine Fish Stebbins Frances Willard, Women of the Century, 690 Other members of the Sodus Bay Phalanx, most of them Quakers, were also active abolitionists. At a meeting of the Western New York Anti-Slavery Society in February 1845, for example, in the middle of the worst snowstorm since 1839, three men from Sodus Bay Phalanx 95 Catharine Fish Stebbins, Frances Willard and Mary Livermore, eds., A Woman of the Century (Buffalo, Chicago New York: C.W. Moulton, 1893), , books.google.com/books?id=zxeeaaaayaaj&printsec=titlepage&client=safari; Catharine Fish Stebbins: Mt. Hope Cemetery, Stories in Stone, 96 Catharine Fish Stebbins: Mt. Hope Cemetery, Stories in Stone, History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 1, 591; "The National-American Convention of 1898," History of Woman Suffrage, 4: , 299, transcribed by Women and Social Movements BookTextView/5328;pt=2858

38 Sodus 321 Lorenzo Mabbett, John W. Hurn, and Robert Palmer walked forty miles to the convention. All three took an active part in the convention. Lorenzo Mabbett was appointed chair and elected a vicepresident for the following year. John W. Hurn served as chair of the business committee and was elected a counselor (along with Benjamin Fish and Sarah D. Fish, also from Sodus Bay). Hurn also gave a most eloquent, bold, and appropriate address. Though a very young man, noted the minutes, Hurn has looked deep into the cause of Slavery everywhere and of all kinds. The address was unanimously adopted, not even a vote against it by our Liberty party friends. 98 These men were linked by sibling ties as well as by marriage. John W. Hurn and Lorenzo Mabbett married two sisters, Sarah Griffen Hurn and Anna Griffen Mabbett. A third sister, Huldah, married Asa Anthony, who kept an important Underground Railroad station in Monroe County near the home of Daniel and Mary Anthony, parents of Susan B. Anthony. Frederick Douglass listed Asa Anthony, along with Benjamin Fish, among the good and true men of Rochester who cheered on and supported him in his work for equal rights. Most likely, he would also include Huldah Anthony and Sarah D. Fish among his supporters. 99 Griffen Sisters l. to r., listed on back of photo in pencil Huldah Anthony, Alice Angus, Anna Mabbett [sic], Mary Rathbun, Sarah Hurn Courtesy George Eastman House (uncropped) International Museum of Photography and Film 98 National Anti-Slavery Standard, March 6, Lorenzo Mabbett s name is also spelled Mabbit. For consistency, I have used Mabbett here. 99 Frederick Douglass, Life and Times, ,

39 322 Sodus Mabbett Family 100 Anna Griffen (Mar 15, 1813-Aug 31, 1902) married Lorenzo Mabbett (Mar 17, 1811-May 27, 1850) on July 5, Her younger sister Sarah (June 16, 1816-Apr 12, 1890) married John W. Hurn. Presumably, both couples moved to Sodus Bay Phalanx in When Sodus Bay Phalanx dissolved, Lorenzo and Anna Mabbett moved to Collins, New York, and transferred their membership from Farmington Monthly Meeting to Collins Monthly Meeting of Friends. 101 On September 14-15, 1847, Mabbett chaired a large antislavery convention in Buffalo, declaring himself to be a Liberty Party man, believing that the Constitution was an antislavery document. 102 In Collins, they were active workers in the Underground Railroad. In 1849, Lorenzo Mabbett was in regular correspondence with Frederick Douglass, who published a letter from Mabbett describing an incident with two freedom seekers and his wife Anna, highlighting a connection with Seneca Indians and the use of Quaker garb as a disguise: Hurn Family A few hours since Anna G. Mabbett was seen upon one of our back roads with a horse and wagon containing besides herself a fugitive slave and his wife, all in women's attire. The slave was about to commence school on the Reservation with the Indians, when his friends learned that the base ministers of Slaveocracy were on his track and close upon him, but being put upon the route to Canada--and not in this instance the right route--he is safe.... The people of this place and vicinity are giving such indications of their love of Liberty, that we may safely conclude the time is near, if not already at hand, when this region of Western New York will be a safe retreat for the poor panting fugitive. 103 On May 27, 1850, Lorenzo Mabbett died, age 40, in Concord, Erie County, New York. 104 John W. Hurn (February 8, 1823-August 26, 1887) was born in 1823 in Norwich, England. In early 1845, while he was living at the Sodus Bay Phalanx, Hurn toured western New York as part of a biracial team of lecturers (including African Americans William Wells Brown and J.B. Sanderson and European American Giles B. Stebbins), before attending the February 1845 meeting of the Western New York Anti-Slavery Society. At the 1846 meeting, he was listed as a distinguished speaker who gave an animated speech Research on both Mabbett and Hurn families by Charles Lenhart. 101 Vital Records of Friends, New York Yearly Meeting, James Hazard File, Friends Historical Library, Swarthmore, National Anti-Slavery Standard, October 21, North Star, September 29, National Anti-Slavery Standard, June 27, National Anti-Standard, February 20, 1845; January 22, 1846.

40 Sodus 323 John W. Hurn and Sarah H. Hurn Courtesy George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film By September 1846, the Hurns (along with four other families, including Sarah s sister Alice and her husband James Angus, from Wayne County) had left Sodus Bay for Mitchell, in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, where they joined several families from the Town of Caroline, New York (near Ithaca) in a Fourierist community modeled on Sodus Bay. After the death of their infant child on September 9, 1846, Sarah Hurn taught the community school. John and Sarah corresponded regularly with Amy Post in Rochester. In , these eleven families petitioned the legislature for incorporation as the Spring Farm Phalanx. Their petition was unsuccessful, and several families, including the Hurns, left. 106 By January 1850, the Hurns were living in the Town of Gates, near Rochester, close to Alice s father (Gershom Griffen) and sister Huldah Anthony, where John edited the Rochester Daily News. In January and February 1850, he published several articles on the new spiritualist movement. 107 By 1859, the Hurns had moved to Philadelphia. Perhaps they moved as early as 1854, when 106 History of the Town of Mitchell, Sheboygan Press, April 29, 1927, ; Nancy Hewitt, Origin Stories: Remapping First Wave Feminism, Proceedings of the Third Annual Gilder Lehrman Center International Conference at Yale University, October 25-28, 2001, W+Hurn%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us; Nancy Hewitt, Amy Post: Of whom it was said, being dead, yet speaketh, University of Rochester Library Bulletion XXXVII (1984) federal census; Griffen Genealogy by Charles Lenhart; Eliab W. Capron, Modern Spiritualism: Its Facts and Fanaticisms, Its Consistencies (Boston: B. Marsh, 1850), reprint Ayer, 1976, PA392&ots=vsW_id1Vji&dq=%22John+W+Hurn%22#PPA11,M1.