This marker in front of City Hall in Medina indicates the location of the stainless-steel container donated by former Mayor John Cobb which contains the time capsule assembled by the Medina Sesquicentennial Committee.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 4, Number 27

Our recent column about the time capsule placed at the Orleans County Infirmary (now The Villages of Orleans Health and Rehabilitation Center) on August 28, 1960, attracted the attention of the International Time Capsule Society (ITCS) who contacted us regarding the capsule.

Based at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, this free public service has registered and mapped time capsules for over thirty years. Given the passage of time, it is inevitable that some time capsules are lost or forgotten. The goal of the ICTS is to ensure that the unique content contained in these buried capsules can be traced generations from now. A quick search of the site showed that capsules from Barker, Buffalo, Greece and Lockport have been registered.

Naturally, were curious about other Orleans County time capsules. We found several, among them are:

Sportsmen’s Time Capsule, August 1976

President Mike Donahue placed an old-time bottle in the fieldstone fireplace of the newly completed rustic cabin on the Club’s grounds in Medina. Club member, Joe Prescott, filled and sealed the bottle which contained newspaper articles and records concerning the project.

Medina Sesquicentennial Time Capsule, February 1983

This time capsule, which was completed in February 1983, contains a comprehensive array of material documenting Medina’s past, present and future. Material from 1982 sesquicentennial celebrations, a copy of Ceil White’s History of Medina, local calendars, phone books, an Apple Grove menu, an Apple Bank manufactured by Fisher-Price, and the program from Rev. H. Burton Entrekin’s retirement party are among the items included.

Sixth grade students were invited to write about their projections of “Life in Medina in 2032”. Six students’ essays were selected to be included in the time capsule: Meaghan Boice, Aaron Dutcher, Amy Fuller, Richard Kenward, Molly Maak and Jon Scott. Some of their predictions were remarkably prescient:

• Dentists will use invisible braces
• Cars will be operated by verbal commands
• Everything will be computerized
• Solar power will be used for heating and running cars

Other predictions have not yet come to pass:

• The canal will be a parking lot for a huge Main Street mall
• Meals will be capsules, pills or wafers
• The Mayor, Village Board, teachers, doctors and nurses will be robots

This capsule is scheduled to be opened in March 2032, on the occasion of the Bicentennial anniversary of the incorporation of the Village of Medina.

Medina High School, May 1991

On May 6, 1991, Principal Fred Snyder placed a time capsule and cornerstone in the new $10 million Medina High School building. The time capsule contains a photograph of the former High School on Catherine Street and a brick from it, photographs of Supt. Dr. David Gee, and of the 1990-91 Mustang Marching Band, a student calendar, course offerings for 1990-91, graduation requirements, the names of students and staff entering the building and a dictionary of words in common usage in 1991 as well as students messages of peace, hope and prosperity.

Village of Lyndonville Millennial Time Capsule, September 2000

Mayor Mark Scarr spearheaded the creation of a time capsule celebrating both the millennium and the incorporation of the Village of Lyndonville. A twelve-inch PVC pipe sealed on both ends containing local newspapers, photos, community information, local restaurant menus and a letter from Mayor Scarr to the future Mayor was buried in a secret location. It is to be opened in 2053, a file in the Village Office contains the information as to its location.

Celebrating a Century of Conservation, March 2003.

A time capsule containing artifacts from the 20th century as well as messages and art created by local schoolchildren was buried for one hundred years at the Iroquois National Wildlife Heritage Headquarters at Casey Road. Included also is an essay by William Barber, a 3rd grade student at Oak Orchard Elementary School in Medina.

Covid-19, November 2020

Created by Orleans County 4-H members and stored in the Archive Room at the Education Center on the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds, this time capsule documents the experience of the pandemic. It contains hand sanitizer, facial masks, documentation on the various stages of the lockdown and is to be opened 15-20 years from now.

Solar Eclipse, April 2024

The Cobblestone Museum prepared a time capsule of memorabilia pertaining to April’s solar eclipse. It is to be opened on the occasion of the next full solar eclipse in Orleans County, one hundred years from now.

Time capsules are leaps of faith into the future. When compiled, the scheduled opening date seems impossibly distant. But times’ relentless march soon makes short work of that 50-year or 100-year scheduled opening date. We encourage you to register your organization’s time capsules with the International Time Capsule Society.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian 

“illuminating Orleans” – Volume 4, Number 25

Members of the Orleans County Home and Infirmary building project committee participated in a groundbreaking ceremony for the new facility on May 7, 1959. From left include Milton Bowen, Town of Clarendon Supervisor; Justin Roberts, Town of Shelby Supervisor; Victor Hawkes, Welfare Commissioner; Harold Hill, Town of Barre Supervisor; and William Knights, Town of Ridgeway Supervisor.

ALBION – As early as 1829, the Board of Supervisors of the newly formed Orleans County was mandated by the state to build a structure to “care for the downtrodden.”

Located three miles south of the Village of Albion, this facility determined the name of the road on which it was built. County House Road runs east-west between the hamlet of Millville in Ridgeway and Route 98 in the Town of Albion.

The original building was replaced in 1878. A separate structure to house an infirmary was added in 1903. People with a variety of needs were cared for at the Orleans County Home and Infirmary.

By 1957, the buildings had deteriorated and were deemed unsuitable for modern medical practices. An inadequate water supply on County House Road tipped the balance of the decision to relocate the facility. The new Orleans County Infirmary was dedicated on Sunday, August 28, 1960.

As is customary, a time capsule containing items thought to represent the times, was placed in the cornerstone. A list was prepared by Historian Cary H. Lattin. It is intriguing to read some 64 years later. The time capsule included:

• Newspaper editions of the Holley Standard, the Orleans Republican-American, the Albion Advertiser, the Medina Daily Journal, the Lyndonville Enterprise, and the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Also, an issue of the Albion-Holley Pennysaver.
• Proceedings of the Orleans County Board of Supervisors 1958-1960
• Photograph of Orleans County Board of Supervisors, 1958-1959
• Enrolled electors, 1959-1960
• Photograph of Orleans County Court House Square personnel, 1958-59
• Brochure of Niagara Power Project
• Brochure of new Dial Telephone System
• Photographs of old County House and Infirmary
• Clarendon Sesquicentennial Booklet, 1960
• Gaines Sesquicentennial Booklet, 1959
• Orleans County Census of Agriculture
• Statistical Report of Orleans County
• Current U.S. dollar note
• Current U.S. two dollar note
• Photograph of 48-star flag coming down for the last time on July 3, 1959
• Dedication program for the event.

New York State Senator Austin Erwin laid the cornerstone of the new County Infirmary on August 28, 1960.

By Adrienne Kirby, Town of Gaines Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 4, Number 24

Editor’s Note: The following address was presented at the by Adrienne Lattin, Town of Gaines Historian, at the Cobblestone Society & Museum 52nd Patriotic Program, held on July 7th. For most of 19th century, the hamlet of Childs was known as Fair Haven.

GAINES – Not everybody has loved the patriotic anthem, “God Bless America.” Folk singer Woody Guthrie thought it was downright smarmy.

But, given that the whole United States Congress spontaneously sung it on the steps of the Capitol in the wake of 9/11, it’s fair to say that it has made a deep impression on the American psyche. Today, I wanted to use a few lines from this well-known song as a lens with which to more closely examine both patriotism and the life of one of Gaines’ most notable pioneers, John Proctor.

We typically think of patriotism using symbols common to the entire nation: the flag, the bald eagle, the Statue of Liberty, Mt. Rushmore. These symbols remind us of our history, and they remind us of those ideals that we consider to be distinctly American.

Patriotism is commonly defined as love of one’s country. Early on in “God Bless America,” we find the phrase, “land that I love.” I would posit that one cannot love one’s country unless one also loves a particular locale within that country.

John Proctor, 1787-1868

In other words, love of country is preceded by love of a specific, and much smaller region. Born just a few years after the War of Independence, John Proctor arrived here in 1810 at the age of 23. Two years later, he brought his new bride, Polly, to this crossroads to establish a life together. I think it is safe to say that John had a love of his birthplace, as he made a number of trips back to Massachusetts for visits. But greater still was his love for his home in western New York. He lived here for nearly sixty years.

The anthem continues, “stand beside her.” To stand beside someone or something can mean protecting it; military images are frequently used to symbolize patriotism. But it can also mean to stay faithful when life becomes difficult. John Proctor’s life illustrates both meanings.

Shortly after John had settled in with Polly to make their home, the War of 1812 started. His entry in the book “Pioneers of Orleans County” noted that during the war, a number of other settlers fled the country for fear of the British and Indians. In 1813, he was requested in the middle of the night to quickly alert inhabitants east of here that the British were coming and to take up arms, earning him the moniker of the “Paul Revere of the Ridge.”

He was chosen because he was the only one in the vicinity who owned a horse. He and a group of men that he rounded up during his ride went to a “place called Hardscrabble, near Lewiston” to perform what he called a “sort of garrison duty” for two weeks. Later in the year, he went to Buffalo to help defend against British attacks from Fort Erie, where he experienced some battle. Several men in his company were killed, while John noted that “several bullets passed through my clothes, and one grazed my finger.”

John stood ready to rally support against British troops during the war, and he stood here in Gaines for decades amidst great personal loss. As a historian investigating people who died long before living memory, and with limited resources at my disposal, I sometimes have to infer what people were like both by the things they did based on the records we have, but also sometimes by what they did not do.

John Proctor suffered a great deal of personal tragedy. In the early 1820s, he and Polly endured the loss of two children who never made it past toddlerhood. Both Polly and a two-year-old daughter died within two months of each other during an epidemic in 1828.

In the early days of Gaines, many died from what they referred to as “ague,” or what we would call malaria. Deaths from diseases that we now have vaccines for were all too common.

Clarissa Proctor’s monument is shown at Mt. Albion Cemetery. The family monument may be seen behind it. The headstones are for John, his wives and children.

John’s second wife passed away a few months after the birth of his fifth child. Complications in childbirth were also a common cause of death. His daughter Clarissa made it to adulthood and was even married, but she passed away at age 28. John erected a substantial monument in Mt. Albion for his beloved daughter in 1860.

And in 1866, John laid to rest his third wife. After so much grief, a person in his position might have chosen to look to the greener fields of Michigan for a new start. In fact, many individuals and families from Gaines chose to move west over the course of the 1800s. But despite the heartache, he stayed, and his presence must have provided this community a sense of continuity.

The next line in the anthem states, “and guide her.” In the early years of the 19th century, western New York was a place of opportunity, and like many others at the time, John was an entrepreneur, wheeling and dealing in real estate. In this, he was highly successful, and was one of the wealthiest men in Gaines for as long as he lived. Early on, he served in a number of different town offices. He was involved in the formation of the bank and other businesses in Gaines, and held mortgages for poor settlers who were unable to secure bank loans.

At one point, John Proctor owned nearly all the land that can be seen from the crossroads just outside these doors. It is no wonder that in the first half of the 19th century, this place was known as “Proctor’s Corners.” He was wealthy enough, and had enough influence to have made certain that “Proctor’s Corners” would be put on the map. He instead chose to name this hamlet “Fair Haven,” an inviting, welcoming name. One that suggests pleasant respite.

Over time, he sold pieces of land to different buyers, and the hamlet grew, not into a bustling town or village, but into a place where all of one’s basic needs could be met, materially, socially and spiritually. The general store and blacksmith supplied all the material needs that early settlers could not provide on their own. The tavern on the northwest corner was a place to connect with both neighbors and travelers, and was a source of news. And finally, there was the church in which we now sit. John Proctor both funded the construction of this church, and held the mortgage for the first church in Gaines. He fondly remembered, “For many years our religious worship was held in common together, with no denominational distinctions.”

John Proctor was a patriot, not only because he loved this land and did his part in the War of 1812, but he was community oriented. Business-wise, he had an eye as to what would build the area up, and not just for his own gain. As a pioneer, he understood that he and his neighbors were all in it together. He wrote, “Our associations in our wilderness home undergoing fatigue and hardships together, sharing alike in gratitude for every success, and in sympathy for every adversity, bound the early settlers together as a band of brothers.”

As the last line in the song states, John did all he could to make his “Home sweet home” the best it could be for everyone. May we follow his example.

Sites include West Ridgeway Cemetery, ‘Poorhouse Cemetery,’ St. Mary’s in Medina and Mount Albion

This striking headstone marks the Mason family plot which is adjacent to the chapel at West Ridgeway Cemetery.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 4, Number 23

The Orleans County Historical Association has scheduled its popular annual tour of cemeteries. Tours are held at 6 p.m. on Sundays during the month of August.

The first tour will be held Aug. 4 at West Ridgeway Cemetery, corner of Ridge Road and Marshall Road which has served as a burying ground since 1810 when the area was still under the jurisdiction of Genesee County. The tour will be conducted by Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian.

Details of the deaths of those buried at the “Poorhouse Cemetery” were recorded in a ledger maintained by the Superintendent.

The Orleans County “Poorhouse Cemetery” located at 14064 County House Rd. in Albion is the site of the second tour, which will be held Aug. 11. It will be presented by Tim Archer.

In his role as service-learning teacher at Albion Middle School, Mr. Archer spearheaded an ambitious project at the cemetery in 2010-2011. Students researched burial records, cleared the lot and reset headstones.

St. Mary’s Cemetery, Medina

Chris Busch, Medina local history buff, will lead a tour of St. Mary’s Cemetery, North Gravel Road, Medina on Aug. 18. The cemetery, which dates to 1858, is the burial place of Lt. John Butts, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for “courage, unflinching valor and inspiring actions” in Normandy, France on June 23, 1944.

Bill Lattin, retired Orleans County Historian, and Sue Starkweather Miller, Village of Albion Historian, will conduct the final tour in the series, at Mt. Albion Cemetery on Rt. 31 on Aug. 25. Another Orleans County Medal of Honor recipient, Charles D. Harris, who was honored for service during the Apache Wars in 1869, is buried there.

Cemeteries contain a treasure trove of information; we hope you will join us as we unearth some. Tours are free of charge, but goodwill donations are gratefully accepted.

This photograph taken by Marc Cole at the 1903 Orleans County Agricultural Fair captures the excitement of a closely run race.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 4, Number 22

ALBION – Horse racing was a popular attraction at the early Orleans County agricultural fairs.

In 1881, “trials of speed” were held for “green” horses owned in the county.

Races at the 1900 Fair were open to all trotters and pacers owned in the county. Prizes were 1st – $15, 2nd – $10, and 3rd – $5.

A “hitch-up” race was also offered – competitors would hitch up to any style of wagon, race one-half mile and then unhitch. By 1895, a grandstand had been built to provide a more comfortable viewing area.

By 1919, prizes had increased to $300-$400 per race, which attracted more competitors. There were 50 entries in the 1921 fair, many of them professional runners. This 1926 program, for example, shows entrants from Jamestown, Hilton, Hamburg, Rochester and Batavia.

1926 Program

  It rained for three of the four fair days in 1927 and 1928, and in 1929, rain caused the cancellation of races on two afternoons.

The 1931 Orleans County Agricultural Fair offered “the largest racing program ever presented at the County Fair. Over one hundred harness and running horses representing fifteen regional stables were entered in ‘pace’ and ‘trot’ races. Races were held in the afternoon and “at night on a brilliantly illuminated track.”

Horse racing continued as an annual feature at the Orleans County Fair through the 1930s but the stresses of World War II interrupted an event that had started in 1856.

Racing personnel at the 1926 Fair

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 4, No. 21

The Erie Canal has facilitated the transportation of a variety of cargo over the course of 200 years.

We have not one, but two occasions to marvel at the immutable principles of buoyancy and floatation this week.

The first, of course, was the announcement that a pedestrian bridge, manufactured in Italy and destined for the new Ralph Wilson Park in Buffalo will be conveyed along the Erie Canal on two 195-foot-long barges from the Hudson River Port of Coeymans to Buffalo.

Then, a collector in Massachusetts asked for information about this poster announcing:

“Large Whale on Exhibition in this Place on a Large Barge on the Canal.”

The colorful description reads:

“This Mammoth Whale is 65 feet long spanning 35 feet around the body and weighing 75 tons when captured. You must consider the monster size of this animal when his tongue weighed 3,500 pounds and made 120 gallons of oil.

“His lower jaw will seat 25 persons. His mouth has been fitted up as a reception room. A person six feet tall or a team of horses can stand between the monster’s jaws. We have seen 27 young ladies and their teacher in his mouth all at the same time. We have also seen 12 gentlemen seated in his mouth enjoying an oyster supper.

“His Whaleship has been on exhibition for over three years in the principal cities of seven states and viewed by thousands of astonished people. It is not only a wonderful site (sic), but instructive to men, women and children; an exhibition the most refined ladies and children can visit. The captain and his staff will instruct you in the different species and their many peculiar habits and how the whale is captured, showing you the ancient or modern weapons used to capture them. Come and see for yourself and if you find this is not a real whale, WE WILL CHEERFULLY REFUND YOUR MONEY.”

The poster was obviously designed for general distribution as specific details such as place and date are not included. At first glance, we wondered why this inquiry was directed to Orleans County, but a closer look shows what appears to be “Herald Print Albion” on the very last line and we gather that the exhibit is travelling by canal.

Traveling novelty shows were popular in the pre-television era. The mammoth whale exhibit was a feature of the 1880s and early 1890s, with over 8,000 Buffalo residents viewing it over a four-day period in 1881. Should you question the logistics of displaying a deceased whale over a long period of time, we discovered that the whales were embalmed.

Soon to celebrate its bicentennial, the Erie Canal was successful from the beginning because it provided faster access to markets. We tend to associate it mainly with the transportation of products such as wheat, apples, sandstone, etc. But it also facilitated the transportation of novelty cargo, entertainers and circuses.

Referring to the transportation of the pedestrian bridge, also a novelty cargo, destined for a place of entertainment, Carver Laraway, President and CEO of Carver Companies, the maritime management company overseeing the project, stated that “utilizing a vital piece of American history to transport a modern marvel is a testament to both innovation and tradition.”  And to physics.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian 

“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 4, No. 19

Bea Good, shown here in her Sheriff’s Deputy uniform, was a national Grandmothers Club advocate. The Medina chapter, known as the Bea Good Grandmothers Club, was active for over 40 years and was a forerunner of the Medina Senior Citizen’s Center.

MEDINA – The Bea Good Grandmothers Club! A club with such an infectiously good-humored name was bound to be popular. But, “Bea Good” was not an exhortation to grandmothers, but rather, the name of the lively and energetic lady who introduced the club to this area and who was also nationally recognized in the Club movement.

But who now remembers Grandmothers Clubs?

The National Federation of Grandmothers Clubs came into existence at an Illinois Convention of Business and Professional Women in the spring of 1934, when Marie K. Brown, having just become a grandmother herself, was interested in knowing how many other ladies present were also grandmothers. Interest in the concept of “grandmothering” took hold.

The ladies applied for and received a charter from the Illinois Secretary of State on April 11, 1938, and the clubs were soon formed throughout the country.

The founders wanted to dispel the notion of grandmothers as doddering old ladies with glasses and wearing shawls, but rather, as lively women who were mentally alert, keenly interested and still active participants in the business and professional worlds.

They believed that “Grandmotherhood is a blessing, not a title,” and that the addition of that title does not mean that life is over, but that a new and enriching chapter has begun.

Their stated goals were:

“To achieve national recognition for Grandmother’s Day,

to glorify grandmothers,

to perpetuate for future generations the peace and liberty which we have enjoyed as citizens of the United States,

to promote better radio programs, better movies, better schools, and better recreational activities for our grandchildren,

to assist in research on children’s diseases and to establish a grandmother’s haven.”

Involvement in Grandmothers Clubs declined during WWII but resumed after the war. Bea Good started a club in Medina around 1945, having just moved here the previous year.

Born Beatrice L. North in 1890 near Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, Bea was a performing musician by the age of 15, playing piano for the one-reel silent movies at the local movie theater. She graduated to orchestra and later entertained troops and hospitalized veterans and worked as a welder on the war production line.

She married Ray Goode of Brockport, a railroad conductor with the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Bea preferred the spelling “Good,” it worked well with the name of her band “Bea Good and her Bad Boys.”

The Goods lived in Brockport and Niagara Falls before moving to Medina in 1944. They purchased the former home of LeGrand Whedon on the corner of West Center and Ann Streets and converted this stately home, built in 1906 by Watson Barry, coal merchant and bank president, into apartments. They lived there also.

In 1946, Bea Good of Medina, was elected President of the Chicago based National Grandmother’s Club. In August of that year, she entertained some of the national officers at her home: Mrs. Rose Dyvig of Chicago, Il., national vice-president of the organization and a former motion picture exhibitor and Grace A. Gray of Indiana, an early aviator and first female lecturer at the Federal Conservation Dept. of Indiana.

In 1948, Bea was re-elected to a second two-year term as Club President at the Annual Meeting held in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Thirty-eight states were represented at the convention, and over 300 members attended.

Mrs. Good spoke over the WLOL Radio Station on the Sunday afternoon, assured of a large audience, as the broadcast preceded the World Series ball game. The station was hooked up with Kate Smith, who was sponsor of National Grandmother’s Day. She named the 16 states which had already proclaimed the day. Speaking on behalf of the Club’s 6,000 members, Mrs. Good thanked Miss Smith for her efforts in furthering the national recognition of Grandmother’s Day.

Nationally, the Club flourished with 903 member clubs throughout the country in 1976 and over 25,000 grand-members. Locally, it was a popular club with as many as 90 members in 1968. The Club was affiliated with the Western New York Federation of Women’s Clubs.

Monthly meetings were held at the Presbyterian Church in Medina. The club was involved in philanthropic and community activities. They participated in the 1967 Erie Canal Celebration and had a float in the parade.

“Mrs. Durski drove, and Georgia Coon, Ruth Benham and Mrs. Benham rode in the float” (Minutes, July 12, 1967).

The Minutes of May 10, 1966, point to the link with the Medina Senior Center:

“We had a delicious lunch, after which, a representative of the Newfane Senior Citizens spoke on forming a club here in Medina. Mrs. (Helen) Waldo was appointed in charge of Senior Citizens formation.”

It was a natural evolution – the Senior Citizens would be more inclusive and serve a larger geographic area, while still championing the founding tenet of the Grandmother’s Clubs – that people over a certain age are not decrepit, doddering and disposable, but vital and active members of society.

Bea Good exemplified this to the end. She died on November 27, 1980, at the age of 90. In a Journal-Register editorial on December 4, 1980, Bob Waters wrote:

“Bea kept so busy that life just bounced off her like a moving target. A founder and national revered figure in the Grandmother’s Club Federation, deputy sheriff, welder on the war production line, worker with disturbed and blind youths, a hostess who entertained wounded war vets at her spacious home on weekends, cited and honored by her peers, by the State Legislature, by American Presidents and a Canadian Prime Minister.

But, most of all, to us, she was one of those busy, laughing, industrious souls who brought life and charm and distinction to Medina by living here, being visibly a part of the community, blending service with enjoyment.”

She was survived by a son, Lindsay C. Good of Niagara Falls, and a daughter, Betty (Richard) Carey of Hillsboro, Ohio, three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins.

Ray died in 1975. He and Bea are buried at Boxwood Cemetery, Medina.