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Tag: 1800s

A NYC & HR train engine crashed off tracks under a railroad bridge.

Railroad Accidents and Safety

Horrific railroad accidents were common in the 1800s in Geneva and elsewhere, as technology and speed outstripped concerns for risk and safety.
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A transparent map digitally imposed on a Google Earth satellite image of Geneva's lakefront.

Geneva’s Lakefront: 1904 and Today

A 1904 map of Geneva's lakefront reveals the extent of change that has occurred in the built environment and residents' attitudes about it in 120 years.
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Open air tent and small cabin at Fossenvue

Fossenvue

A brief history of the summer camp Fossenvue on Seneca Lake.
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A man and woman and five young girls in old-fashioned dress standing outside a large brick house.

The Prouty Family Home

Discover how the Prouty-Chew House changed over the Prouty family's forty-year residence.
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Birdseye view drawing of a town showing houses, streets and an elevated railroad crossing.

The Battle of the Avenue B Railroad Crossing

When the Geneva village trustees went to war over a rail crossing.
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A group of people in old-fashioned dress standing in front of a large brick house with a wrought-iron fence in front of it.

The Next Generation: The Prouty Family Legacy Part III

A chronicle of Phineas and Adelaide Prouty's children.
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Phin & Kit

Phin and Kit: The Prouty Family Legacy Part II

Take a peek into the early married life of Phineas Prouty Jr. and his wife Adelaide.
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Portrait of the head and neck of an elderly white man wearing a cravat and coat.

Phineas Prouty Sr and His Family Legacy Part I

Phineas Prouty Sr. and his family spent 50 years living in the building we use as a museum. Discover how their story begins.
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Pattern illustrations for corsets and bumpads.

19th-Century Corsets

In Part II of our series on corsets, we look at changes in 19th-century corsets and an example from the Geneva Historical Society collection.
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the gate into Brookside Cemetery from the opposite side of the road

Brookside Cemetery

Brief history of Brookside Cemetery.
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Exploding Steamer

Disasters on Land and Water

Danger on water and land plagued 19th-century Americans.
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1815 Geneva Gazette Ad

Should I Stay or Should I Go: Elopement in the 19th Century

How the term elopement has changed
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square shaped radiator on a stand with rows of circles

“Modern” Heating: The Mattress Steam Radiator at Rose Hill Mansion

A chronicle of the mattress steam radiator at Rose Hill Mansion
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pond surrounded by trees

The Ice War Continueth, Part 2

Tensions in the ice harvesting community
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26 students standing by a blackboard or sitting in old-fashioned desks in rows with a teacher looking on.

Geneva School Expansion and Reform

A review of the period of school expansion and reform in Geneva during the late 1800s.
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Last evening was Halloween, and the boys were out as usual, judging from appearances this morning in some parts of the town, although probably their depredations were not as great owning to the storminess of the night

More Trick Than Treat: Halloween in 19th Century Geneva

Overview of how Genevans celebrated Halloween in the 1800s.
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man in a suit leaning again a prop

St. Patrick’s Cemetery: A Story of Immigration in Geneva

Brief history of Irish and Italian immigration to Geneva.
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Greek Revival Architecture: The Basics

An introduction to Greek Revival Architecture.
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Early History of the Geneva Family YMCA

The beginning of the Geneva Family YMCA
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$200 reward notice for a burglary and attempted murder at a home on Genesee Street in 1862

The Novelty of a Find

A box found in the Archives provides insight into village politics during the mid-1800s.
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Three large wooden beer barrels with taps.

Beer Brewing in Early Geneva

Find out more about beer brewing in early Geneva.
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A square marked A, B, C and D at each corner with a T in the middle and an S in a square midway between the A and D. The lines from A to B, B to C, and C to D are marked as 60 feet.

Baseball, or Something Like It

The development of baseball in the United States during the 1800s.
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Painting-of-peasants-playing-nine-pins

Come Out and Play: Sports in America Before 1860

Brief overview of sports in America before 1860
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List of classes for logic, moral, and intellectual philosophy in 1853

From Zoology to Metaphysics: College Courses in 19th and 20th Centuries

Overview of courses offered schools and colleges in Geneva during the 1800s and 1900s.
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handwritten-notes-headed-the-mental-faculties

What We Learned In School: 19th-Century Schoolwork

What was 19th-century schoolwork like?
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Map showing properties on Milton Street including the Union School.

Storymaps

The Historical Society finds a new way to tell Geneva's stories.
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Engraving of a street view of a house and outbuildings.

Nehemiah Denton

The story of Nehemiah Denton.
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Back to School

Overview of school buildings using photos and floor plans from "Report of [New York] State Superintendent of Public Instruction" (1897) including Cortland Street and Lewis Street Schools in Geneva, New York.
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After the Swans: The Plummers, 1890 – 1893

The Plummers lived at Rose Hill from 1890 to 1893
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Meet the Parker Family

Brief biography of the Parker family including Ira, Stephen and Edgar Parker
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Mechanical Eye: Early History Motion Pictures

An early history of motion pictures
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The Irish in Geneva

On the hunt for Irish history in Geneva, New York
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Illustration from a book of a man with a long beard and small eyeglasses.

Dr. Chase’s Third, Last and Complete Receipt Book and Household Physician

The Curator's latest find "Dr. Chase’s Third, Last and Complete Receipt Book and Household Physician. "
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A Genial, Good Hearted Man: Dan Deegan, Part 1

The first in series about business man and sportsman Dan Deegan.
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Church Home Hospital

Brief history of the Church Home Hospital
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Patent Medicine

Ads for patent medicine
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The Great Lunch Wagon Controversy of 1897

Debate in 1897 on whether Geneva should have a lunch wagon.
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exterior-of-the-high-street-school-c1880

Segregated Schools in Geneva’s Past

Many Americans are familiar with the segregated schools of the Jim Crow South, however, officially segregated schools existed in most 19th-century communities in the North, including Geneva. It took the concerted efforts of Geneva's African-American community to advocate for improved education and eventual integrated schools for their children.
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Inmate of Every Household

Charles Dickens as seen through local newspapers.
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Howard & Union Streets

A brief history of Howard and Union Streets
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Glenwood Cemetery

Brief history of Glenwood Cemetery
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An engraving of three young women in old-fashioned dress.

Very Mysterious: The Fox Sisters and the Spiritualist Movement

Chronicling the Fox Sisters and the Spiritualist movement through local newspapers.
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Cordial and Nourishing: Early Wine History of the Finger Lakes

Using newspapers to trace the early history of wine in the Finger Lakes.
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Adobe Houses in Geneva

Overview of adobe houses in Geneva, New York.
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Superiority to Fear: Acrobat and Tightrope Walker Blondin

Accounts of Blondin crossing the Niagara Gorge from local newspapers
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As Modest on a Wheel as in a Drawing Room: Female Bicyclists in the 1890s

The reaction to female bicyclists in the 1890s through local newspapers
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Astounding The Crowd: Bicycling in Geneva

The introduction of bicycling in Geneva through local newspapers
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Why a woman’s work is never done!!

Discussion on how technology has changed women's work
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A one-room brick schoolhouse with two teachers and a group of children sitting and standing in the yard.

Free Schools for Geneva

Free public schools appeared in Geneva in the mid-19th century.
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Home Music: 19th Century Bands in Geneva

Chronicling 19th Century bands in Geneva, New York through newspapers.
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drawing-of-the-first-geneva-school-district-building-in-1856

Founding of the Geneva School District

The Geneva City School District can trace its birth to 1839, the year that the village’s Districts No. 1 and No. 19 merged to form the state’s first union school district. By the 1830s, the community had a College, dozens of private schools, and two public schools for the basic instruction of children of all classes. Yet schooling in the antebellum period here and throughout New York was far from satisfactory. The unification of Geneva’s districts was part of a statewide movement in the mid-19th century to improve public schooling.
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Ho! For California, Part 4

The journey of a local group of men to the California gold fields chronicled through the newspaper
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Ho! for California, Part 3

The Geneva Gazette chronicles the journey of a local group of men to the California gold fields.
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Ho! for California, Part 2

Part two of the Geneva Gazette's chronicle of a local group of men's journey to the California gold fields.
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Famous 19th-Century Musicians in Geneva

I have been researching music in Geneva for several years. If I found a newspaper article while searching for something else, I saved it. In this way I came across a number of unfamiliar names who performed in Geneva in the 19th century. The advertisements, previews, and reviews certainly made them sound important, but who were they?
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Ho! for California, Part 1

Reports of the California Gold Rush from the Geneva Gazette
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Briefly Out of Fashion’s Bondage

Since the dress reform movement of the 19th century has been studied and discussed at length. I will not re-tell that whole story. Instead, I will talk a little about the Bloomer costume and the Geneva area. A Bloomer dress (so named because Amelia Bloomer promoted the style in her magazine The Lily) was a dress much like the fashionable dress of the day, but with a shorter skirt and loose trousers under it. It looks modest and unalarming to modern eyes.
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Deaf Artist Francis Tuttle

Francis Marion Tuttle was a Geneva artist who lived from 1839 to 1911. He was well known for Seneca Lake views and portraits, and he also did some Biblical scenes. Instead of repeating Tuttle’s biography (for his biography visit dianrez.blogspot.com), I want to focus on one part of his life, namely, that he was deaf. His experiences bring up some interesting issues.
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Laughter, Shouts, Frolic, and Swimsuits

A while back I ran across a village ordinance printed in the Geneva Daily Gazette of July 2, 1852: "No person shall bathe in the waters of the Seneca Lake, the Canal, or Castle Creek, after the rising of the sun, and before eight o’clock in the evening, within the bounds of the corporation, under the penalty of one dollar for each offence [sic]. This Ordinance will be rigorously enforced. By order, J. S. HOGARTH, Clerk."
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Night Life Victorian Style

Before electricity, what did Victorian families do in the evenings? For some the answer was simple – they went to sleep. Others did a variety of activities by candlelight, oil lamp or gas light
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Lincoln’s Assassination as Seen in Geneva

One hundred fifty years ago this week actor John Wilkes Booth changed American history when he stepped into the Lincolns' booth at Ford's Theater and shot the president in the back of the head, the first man to assassinate a U.S. president. The assassination was an awful event that shook the nation just a week after Lee’s surrender overjoyed the North.
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Uncle Doctor

Robert Swan’s youngest brother Frederick wrote a history of the Swan family in the 1890s. In it, he talks about their Uncle Daniel, or, as they called him, “Uncle Doctor:” [H]e made choice of the profession of medicine, and studied with Dr. John Brooks, then the resident physician of Medford. . . . Early in his practice, his attention was directed to the system of medical practice known as homeopathy and it won his approval.
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black-and-white-portrait-photo-of-artemus-ward

Stay In the Sunshine While We May

The course of Lectures before the Young Men’s Association of Geneva, was inaugurated on Tuesday evening last by Chas. F. Brown, (Artemus Ward,) in the delivery of a humorous and characteristic production, denominated “the children in the wood.” Linden Hall was densely crowded by a highly appreciative audience, who appeared greatly to relish the eccentric drollery and humor of the entertainment. . . . From Geneva Daily Gazette, January 10
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Looking at an elegant 6-columned Greek revival house across an expanse of lawn from just outside a low white gate.

Rose Hill Turns 175!

When newly built, President Martin Van Buren visited Rose Hill Mansion 175 years ago.
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Newspaper ad for 6% bonds

Currency, Finance and the Civil War

Banking in the early years of the American Republic was decentralized, inefficient and disorganized, leading to frequent panics and depressions. As in many other areas of national development, it was the Civil War which prompted radical change in the country’s financial system.
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Workers at Rose Hill Farm

As we saw last month, the Swans at Rose Hill relied on female workers to do much of the housework and childcare. Running the farm operations required male workers.
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Print of a woman at an antique washing machine with the words: All Come Out Clean!

Herman Ten Eyck Foster, Part 3

The final part in a series about Herman Ten Eyck Foster, who was a neighbor to Robert Swan.
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Domestic Service at Rose Hill

At Rose Hill in the mid-19th century, the Swans hired laborers for agricultural and domestic work. This post examines the female domestic servants at the house
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Herman Ten Eyck Foster Part 2

Part two in a series about Herman Ten Eyck Foster, who was a neighbor to Robert Swan.
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Meet the Neighbors: Herman Ten Eyck Foster, Part 1

Part one in a series about Herman Ten Eyck Foster, who was a neighbor to Robert Swan.
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The First Leg of the Journey Home

A member of the Johnston family's journey back to Scotland.
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The title page of Review of a Battalion of Infantry.

The War of 1812: Who Cares?

A discussion on the importance of the War of 1812.
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Everything is Coming up Bloomers!

Elizabeth Smith Miller and the evolution of the bloomer outfit.
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An advertisement for Union Carbide gas urging people to install it before winter.

Lighting at Rose Hill

Discussion of the early the electrical system at Rose Hill.
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Banking in Early Geneva

Overview of banking in early Geneva.
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History of Christmas

A brief history of the roots of American Christmas.
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drawing-of-two-steamboats-and-a-sailboat-on-lake

The Seneca Chief

History of the steamboat, Seneca Chief
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Food Preservation: From Home to Factory

During the 19th century, Genevans went from preserving food at home in order to be able to eat to purchasing luxury preserved foods in stores.
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Photograph of Sarah Bradford.

The Louisa May Alcott of Geneva: Sarah Hopkins Bradford

Biography of author Sarah Hopkins Bradford.
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A stained glass window with lilies and the names and death dates of 10 Sunday School children who died of diphtheria.

Diphtheria Epidemic

Chronicle of the 1878-1879 Geneva diphtheria epidemic.
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Neither shall there by any more pain

Discussion of the usage of anesthesia during childbirth in the mid-1800s.
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Pierce and Bickford

Brief biography of architects Joseph Pierce and Hiriam Bickford.
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A group of mostly black men and women wearing shawls and hats stand on a sidewalk outside a white clapboard building with a lampost.

Celebrating African-American Freedom

Geneva's African-American community hosted a number of emancipation celebrations in the 19th century to celebrate their freedoms while protesting slavery and racial inequality.
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Lighting the Scene

Development of gas and electrical lighting.
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Chickens outside a henhouse.

Swine Driver and Pound Keeper for Geneva in 1852

Chronicling the problem of loose animals like livestock in Geneva, New York during the 1800s through newspapers and government records.
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Granite monument with the NY seal above a a carving of a man's head and shoulders above the words 126th New York Infantry, 3d Brig, 3d Div, 20 Corps. July 3d, 1863.

126th New York At Gettysburg

The 126th New York Infantry Regiment at the Battle of Gettysburg
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Engraving-of-Rose-Hill-Mansion

Sustainable Agriculture, c. 1860

Robert Swan's farming practice was what the modern observer could call sustainable.
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Engines and Silver Trumpets

Fire related issues as chronicled in the Village of Geneva board minutes during the early 1850s.
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photograph-of-samuel-clemens

Mark Twain Comes to Geneva

Mark Twain's visit to Geneva, New York in 1871.
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horse-walking-in-threshing-machine

Robert Swan Becomes a Farmer

Robert Swan's transition from city dweller to farmer at Rose Hill.
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An engraving showing men firing down a city street at soldiers with cannons. Several dead and wounded are on the ground and a woman rushes toward one of them.

New York City Draft Riots

Robert Swan's reaction to the draft during the Civil War
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Mrs. Ricord’s Geneva Female Seminary

Biography of educator and author Elizabeth Stryker Ricord
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lincoln-seated-with-his-cabinet-after-signing-the-emancipation-proclamation

150th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation

A little over one-hundred fifty years ago, on September 22, 1862, President Lincoln took a step he had planned for months and proclaimed that as of January 1, 1863 “all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.…”
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Man in a leather apron standing next to a saddle in the doorway of a shop with the sign Chas. Brunskill Harness and Leather Goods Horse Sundries.

The Helpful Horse

The rise of the automobile and the decline of using horses for transportation in Geneva, New York.
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Kidnapped!

The kidnapping of two African-American men from Geneva, New York in 1857
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Freezing Fingers, Toasted Toes: Heating in America

A comfortable house in winter was a rare thing in much of the United States prior to the late 19th century. According to one English visitor to Cayuga, NY in 1827, American houses were built “expressly for summer, without the slightest reference to the six months’ winter that they suffer.”
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Tom Thumb Visits Geneva

General Tom Thumb visit to Geneva, New York in 1847
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