Vol 2, No 2
Fall 1981
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| Table of Contents | |
| 1. | Editor's Message |
| 2. | 1981 - Fall Program |
| 3. | Church Records |
| 4. | Save the Date |
| 5. | Membership |
| 6. | Library Aid |
| 7. | Book Review |
| 8. | Miscellaneous |
| 9. | Index to Early Rochester Family Records |
| 10. | Bible Record |
| 11. | Memoirs |
| 12. | NYS Atlas |
| 13. | Queries |
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EDITOR'S MESSAGE
by Jack Wilson
Welcome back from those rewarding summer genealogical expeditions! I trust that your findings have been duly recorded and indexed.
Just a brief note to let you know the society is fiscally sound and continues to grow. This healthy position is due to excellent management by our officers and contributions of time and effort by many of our members. Thank you all.
The incumbents have been re-elected for the 1981-82 season and are listed below. There is one exception though, Mr. Spencer, due to other commitments and demands on his time, is stepping down as Treasurer after these many years of service to the R.G.S. Thank you Milford.
Pat Mims extends her sincere thanks to the Membership Committee, Mary and Paul Valentine, Carmen and Peter Bush, for their time and effort over the past four years in making the Surname Index and Locality Index possible.
All of us, I'm sure, appreciate the value and work contributed by Pat and her committee. Pat Mims, thank you.
This issue completes our second year of publication and I wish to express my thanks publicly to my wife, Betty, for her efforts in producing each issue of the Hear Ye. Her understanding, comments and typing are invaluable.
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1981 - FALL PROGRAM
RGS meetings are held at St. Paul's Episcopal Church on East Ave. at Vick Park B on the third Thursday of the month. Doors are open at 7:00 p.m., meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. and refreshments are provided. Meetings are open to the public and are free. BRING A FRIEND!
| Thursday Sept 17, 1981 | Genealogical Potpourri. Hosted by Gail Harmston and Jean Burr. A little something for everyone with instructions for beginners and a question and answer period for all. Come along and be sure to bring your questions. | |
| Thursday Oct 15, 1981 | Legal Documents as Sources by Charles Shepard, one of our society's founding members and a lawyer. Mr. Shepard will discuss land, probate, court and other legal records every genealogist should know. | |
| Thursday Nov 19, 1981 | Publishing Your Family History by Walt Steesy. A genealogist and owner of Heart-of-the-Lake Publishers, Mr. Steesy will bring many the genealogical publications he has for sale. | |
| Dec 1981 | NO MEETING IN DECEMBER | |
| Thursday Jan 21, 1982 | Methods of Organizing your Records. A meeting showing record keeping methods, a variety of charts and organizational systems for maintaining order in your records. | |
| NOTE: | The Society will be happy to provide copies of a speaker's program for distribution at their presentation. For more information, contact the editor of the Hear Ye. | |
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Church Records
Any member wishing information, for personal research, from our recently indexed church records can obtain photocopies for $1.00 per surname and S.A.S.E.
The records are from St. Luke, St. Paul and Trinity Episcopal Churches of Rochester from 1820 to 1851. They include baptisms, confirmations, marriages and funerals.
Please send requests to Doris Andrus, 156 Nob Hill, Rochester, N.Y. 14617.
These records are in the process of being published and you will be advised when they are available in booklet form.
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Save the Date
Saturday, May 15, 1982 A new and different seminar will be presented by the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Details have not been firmed up at present but should be finalized in time for our next issue. Last fall, the presentation by N.E.H.G.S. was very well received and it is expected the spring program will also attract a capacity crowd. So reserve the date now before you forget.
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Membership
Our new membership year begins Oct. 1, 1981 The Society is maintaining the annual dues at $5.00. See the renewal form on page 9 for your convenience.
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Library Aid
Doris Andrus and Jean Burr, with the assistance of the Rochester Public Library staff, have compiled a brochure about the collection of the Local History and Genealogy Dept. of the Rochester Public Library. It consists of a detailed list keyed to a map of the area. Copies will be available this fall in the library. We hope it will help patrons use the research material more efficiently.
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Book Review
by Catherine A. Miller
Our Ancestry - In Early Rochester
This delightful book is undoubtedly a labor of love and contains bits of history, family traditions vignettes from the old country and many photographs of persons, groups and cherished mementoes. In excess of 1000 names are documented in this genealogy with the direct line surnames being: Brayer, Miller, Wattel, Engert, Haag, Plappert, Heisel, Ruf, Begy and Weis. A convenient numbering system is used to identify everyone. Unfortunately, the book is not indexed.
This family history begins when Nicholas Brayer of Lorraine, France emigrated, with two sons, a daughter and her husband, to Rochester in 1837. Margaret Haag Brayer, along with the remaining children, grandchildren and spouses in 1839, joined her husband in Rochester. The family located west of the Genesee River and founded the Cooperative Foundry, manufacturers of cast iron cooking and heating stoves (Red Cross brand).
Miller is another major family in this genealogy and its' part begins with the marriage of Augustine Miller (b Hofbieber, Germany) to Catherine Wattel in Rochester, April l855. Perhaps some of you, with long memories, may recall the Miller Family Liquor Store on West Main St. at Clarrisa, operated by members of this family. Prohibition closed the liquor store but shortly after, it reopened as the Miller Drug Co. and was on the Rochester scene for many years.
Interesting and informative, this publication is excellent in content and quality. Privately published by the author in 1978 (with a supplement added in 1979), this book is soft covered with an 8" x 11" format. There are 133 printed pages and several blank pages for notes. The price is $20.00 plus postage. For further information contact Ms. Miller, 91 S. Washington Street, Rochester, New York 146085.
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Miscellaneous
If your research includes one of the following surnames, perhaps the listed authority may be able to aid in solving your problem.
| VANBUREN | Barbara Perricelli, 1567 Webster Fairport Rd., Penfield, NY 14526. Has also done much research on many early Albany Co. (NY) Dutch families -- particularly previous to 1725. | |
| HALLENBECK | Robert Anderson, 11 Winmar Crescent, New Hartford, NY 13413 | |
| DEWATERS D'WATER D.Water Dewatter | Terry DeWaters, 7 Highland Dr., Penfield, NY 14526 (716) 351-9759. |
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Index to Early Rochester Family Records
by Anah Babcock Yates
An Index to Early Rochester Family Records by Anah Babcock Yates that began in Vol 1, No 1 and continued in Vol 1, No 2 and Vol 2, No 1. The final installment is shown below (Note -- First number indicates the page no. and the second is column no).
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The End
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Bible Record
Contributed by Hugh Jones
Family Bible from the Rome, N.Y. area
| Births |
| Woodward Warren, Sen. - March 20, 1785 |
| Mary Warren - May 27, 1792 |
| Charles W. Warren - Dec. 23, 1829 |
| Caroline Elizabeth Warren - May 27, 1832 |
| Charles Franklin Warren - May 15, 1852 |
| Abby Evelina Warren - March 8 (?) 1859 |
| Julia Eveline Warren - Nov. 21, 1881 |
| Hannah Lyon Warren - Jan. 28, 1883 |
| Carrie Jennette Jones - Aug. 8, 1893 |
| Warren Lattimer Jones - Nov. 17, 1895 |
| Charles Franklin Jones - July 25, 1898 |
| Marriages |
| Charles W. Warren and Caroline Elizabeth Merrifield - July 30, 1851 |
| Charles Franklin Warren and Ida G. Grosvenor - Feb. 22, 1881 |
| H. Lattimer Jones and Evaline A. Warren - Oct. 26, 1892 |
| Deaths |
| Mary Warren - Jan. 16, 1847 |
| Woodward, Warren, Sen. - Dec. 27, 1852 |
| Charles W. Warren - June 2, 1879 |
| Hannah Lyon Warren - Nov. 1, 1883 |
| Elizabeth Merrifield - Sept. 21, 1888 |
| C. Frank Warren - Dec. 6, 1889 |
| James H. Smith - July 1, 1909 |
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Memoirs
Contributed by Betty Bonesteel Wilson
Recollections of days long past are preserved in the memories of Joannah Adams Frank with additional insight provided by Joannah Elizabeth Adams Rowe "adopted" dau. of Joannah Frank. This treasure trove covering over 100 years fills 13 legal-size pages.
1804 was the year that Aaron Adams and Elizabeth Bonesteel, (daughter of Philip Bonesteel and Maria Alendorf) gave birth to their second child, Joannah at Pine Hill in Ulster Co, NY; a daughter, Laura had arrived two years previously. Joannah Adams began her memoirs by recounting the early years in Ulster Co, where her father had built a beautiful home for his family -- a house that served as a general store and post office, a bar-room, living quarters and sleeping rooms for the black folks who worked for the family. The second floor was a ballroom which was used for dances as well as a "Free Mason's Lodge;" nearby was her father's blacksmith shop. Besides being Justice of the Peace, her father held other town offices.
Joannah's characterizations of the personalities and physical makeup of her many relatives, family slaves and description of the countryside are very vivid. Common place events are interwoven to add insight to every day life.
The War of 1812 found her father beginning military training at Staten Island, NY. He returned home six weeks later following the declaration of peace.
Aaron Adams, was elected to the NYS Legislature and it was during this period that "the bill came before the House to put in a Canal from Lake Erie to the Atlantic. When the vote was called ... His answer was 'Nay.'" Joannah recounts her father's two trips to the Genesee Country following the Legislative session in Albany. He was so impressed with the land, he purchased 160 acres and in 1814 - 1815 he sold the beautiful home at Pine Hill and moved the family to Livingston County, about two miles from Mt. Morris.
In her memoirs she wrote "if my father could have looked into the future and have seen the trouble that came to us children by this move, he would have turned back to the old home at the foot of Pine Hill. Perhaps it is best that we cannot look ahead and see what is in store for us as we journey through life."
Trouble began, the year following their move to Mt. Morris, after her father had built a house on his land. Her mother contacted typhus fever and died only to be followed to the grave just a short time later by her father. "We children were left all alone in the wilderness." Relatives advised breaking up the family so the children were scattered and never lived together again as a family.
At this juncture, apparently, Elizabeth Rowe picks up the narrative and recounts occurances told to her by Joannah Frank and blends them with her own experiences.
Joannah Adams after a time went to live with her Grandfather Bonesteel where she met, Jacob Frank a young German from Baltimore, who she married -- they moved to New Jersey where he worked in a large glass factory as a glassblower. After a period they returned to Mt. Morris where Aaron Adams Jr. resided.
To this neighborhood moved an old sea dog, Capt. Buddington from Mass, and his wife, Rhoda daughters -- Mary, Geanette and Adeline and sons Clauson, Walter, Bonaparte, Albert, and Buster (?). Mary taught school and boarded with Mrs. Frank who nursed her during an illness. She was indebted to Mrs. Frank and wished to repay her. When she learned that Mrs. Frank was wishing for a baby girl she could adopt. Mary promised if she married and had a girl, she would give it to her. As fate would have it, Mary met and fell in love and married Aaron Adams (Joannah's brother). The union produced two boys and then a baby girl. True to her promise, Mary wrote to Mrs. Frank regarding her promise, offering the baby and requesting a name for the baby. Joannah sent the name, Joannah Elizabeth. Mrs. Frank said she would not hold Mary to this promise but as circumstances have it, she came to live and belong to the Frank family. "Her mother said that Joannah should keep her. (One of the writers of these Memoirs was that little Lizzie Adams, named by my Aunt Joannah (Joannah Elizabeth Adams). She was adopted into the family of Jacob Frank and Joannah Frank December 18, 1833."
Lizzie Adams narrates the trials and travails of her real family after their move to Michigan. She and her foster family migrated to Wisconsin in 1849. Included are short biographies of Aaron and Mary's children, reminisces on farm life and family gatherings at holiday times and other thoughts, from this well of memories.
In 1911 the Memoirs end with Joannah Elizabeth Adams Rowe stating "I have had all the comforts of life these years, an old woman, and on the 28th of December I shall have passed the 80th milestone of my life's journey. I feel at peace with all the world, quietly waiting, yes, quietly waiting."
Footnote: There is another family tie to this area. Across the busy road from Eastview Mall, in the town of Victor, stands an old cobblestone house built by Mrs. Elizabeth Bonesteel Adams' brother, Philip, in the 1820's.
Names, Places & Relationship Abstracted From Memoirs of Joannah Frank
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NYS Atlas
This atlas is an attractive reference work for genealogists with NY ties. Maps are 4 color with 1 or 2 counties per page at a scale of 1" = approximately 4 miles (popular atlas maps are scaled at about 1" = 16 miles). Price is $1.00. For further information and catalog write Map Information Unit, NYS Dept. of Transportation, State Campus, Bldg. 4, Room 105, Albany, NY 12232.
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QUERIES
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| Editor: Jack Wilson 86 Crestfield Drive Rochester, New York 14617 |
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