“Overlooked Orleans” – Vol. 5, No. 13

Dr. Francis Edward Stewart

On March 30, 1842, Dr. Crawford W. Long of Jefferson, Georgia, became the first physician to administer diethyl ether to remove a tumor from the neck of James Venable. Four years later, Dr. William T. G. Morton would administer the same inhaled anesthesia to extract a tooth from Eben Frost of Boston, Massachusetts. For centuries, physicians have experimented with various chemicals to perfect the way in which medical procedures are conducted, but also to change the way in which diseases and symptoms are treated.

Francis Edward Stewart was born September 13, 1853, to Johnathan Severance Stewart and Ada E. Nichoson at Albion, New York. Unbeknownst to his parents when he was born in the home of his maternal grandfather and pioneer physician, Dr. Orson Nichoson, Stewart would become one of the foremost experts on pharmacology and a pioneer in the pharmaceutical industry. The family relocated to Philadelphia in 1872 when Jonathan Stewart accepted a position as superintendent of the American Dredging Company in that location. It was here that Francis would begin his education in medicine and pharmacology.

Previously studying at the Cortland County Academy at Homer, New York and then at Oberlin College in Ohio, Francis Stewart enrolled at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy where he graduated with the class of 1876. Continuing down the path of higher education, Stewart graduated in 1879 from Jefferson Medical College and conducted post-graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania. At the conclusion of his schooling, Stewart moved to New York City where he spent time working with the Committee of Alms Houses for the County of New York and conducted work with the State Charity’s Aid Association.

For the majority of his career, Stewart focused his efforts primarily in pharmacology, making important developments in the pharmaceutical industry and filing numerous patents, even as a student. He became a strong supporter of placing the pharmacal and pharmaco-chemical industries under the control of the federal government for the purpose of introducing new remedies and overseeing medical advancements. Despite developing a comprehensive outline of the plan, the idea was rejected by Congress due to competing commercial interests.

Stewart pushed Parke, Davis & Company (now a subsidiary of Pfizer) to develop a scientific department where the company would perfect clinical trial methods for new medications, and assisted in the establishment of a Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry in conjunction with the American Medical Association. In 1885, Stewart relocated to Wilmington, Delaware, where he held a position as the leader of the University of Pennsylvania’s university extension at that location.

Among other notable accomplishments, he became the chairman of the Medical Board of Merck & Company and the first editor-in-chief of Merck’s Archives of Materia Medica and Drug Therapy. He served as a lecturer at the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, a lecturer at Jefferson Medical College, and a professor at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. His expertise expanded into the realm of law when the American Pharmaceutical Association appointed him chairman of a committee to revise patent laws.

His obituary read, “Word has been received here of the death of Dr. Francis Edward Stewart, 87, a native of Albion and a physician and pharmacist of national importance, in Germantown, Pa., on Feb. 20, 1941…among notable patients of Dr. Stewart were President Benjamin Harrison, John Wanamaker and John D. Rockefeller.”

A life committed to advancement in pharmacology, his hopes of federal oversight of the pharmaceutical industry was realized over 20 years after he first introduced the idea in 1881. The passing of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, a result of the exposés of muckraking journalists, mandated labeling drugs with active ingredients and set acceptable purity levels for medications.

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“Overlooked Orleans” – Vol. 5, No. 12

Maj. Marion Patterson, 22nd U.S.C.T. & 19th U.S.C.T.

The recent vote by the Hoag Library Board of Trustees to sell the 26th U.S. Colored Troops “National Color” in March has raised questions about local connections to that particular unit and other Colored Infantry regiments. U.S.C.T. regiments, established under the direction of the Bureau for Colored Troops, appointed white officers to lead black soldiers.

According to a dissertation entitled “The Selection and Preparation of White Officers for the Command of Black Troops in the American Civil War,” by Paul Renard, the government utilized various methods of electing officers to lead U.S.C.T. regiments. Early U.S.C.T. regiment officers were selected by a board of divisional officers while others were selected in a process similar to white regiments. Renard argues that the selection of officers through an examination board overseen by the Bureau for Colored Troops was the most effective method used.

Racism permeated throughout the Union Army, which refused equal pay to black soldiers and relegated segregated units to manual labor behind the front lines. Early efforts to allow freedmen and escaped slaves to enlist in the ranks of the Union Army were met with harsh opposition by political forces. Despite this, primary source evidence suggests that a large number of the commissioned officers appointed to lead these regiments held a degree of racial liberalism that was not seen in white regiments. Many white officers were abolitionists who believed in freedom and equal rights for the men they commanded. They viewed military service as a means for black soldiers to rise against their former masters; men who truly had something to fight for.

However, it is impossible to create a generalization considering that military life for men in segregated regiments was reminiscent of slavery; relegated to manual labor, and still under the command of a white master. Men within these regiments had no hope of working their way up the ranks, would never lead their own regiments, and yet their lives were at far greater risk than white enlisted soldiers. Still, it is worth calling attention to the complex relationship between white officers and the black soldiers they led. Perusing the pages of the local town clerks’ registers of Union soldiers, at least eight local men received commissions to lead black regiments; two of those men received commissions with the 26th U.S.C.T.

Charles Henry Mattison was born March 27, 1837, at Barre to Alvah Mattison and Orpha Bull. Raised on the farm in his hometown, Mattison enlisted with Company D of the 151st New York Infantry on September 9, 1861, and was promoted to the rank of sergeant. He received a commission as a second lieutenant with the regiment but turned it down, later receiving a commission with the 26th U.S.C.T. at the same rank. He reported for duty on January 14, 1864, and was later promoted to first lieutenant and adjutant. He was with his regiment during a skirmish at St. John’s Island on January 5, 1864, and the Battle of Bloody Bridge on July 7th when 1,000 soldiers of the 26th U.S.C.T. fought an inconsequential battle; 2,000 Confederate soldiers fended off a Union force of 8,000 men.

After the war, Mattison returned to Barre Center where he purchased a wagon and blacksmith shop. Three years later he purchased the farm of his father-in-law, Hiram Fargo. He was elected as the Barre Town Clerk after the war and was responsible for recording the names of those fellow soldiers who served in defense of the Union cause. He was elected Barre Town Supervisor and later to the NYS Assembly in 1878, serving in that position for one year. Upon his death on March 23, 1883, the Grand Army of the Republic Post in Albion held a large memorial service and for years after his death, the local post would memorialize the anniversary of his passing.

Harmon Leroy Salisbury was born around 1838 at Clarendon to George Salisbury and Amanda Annis. He enlisted with Company G of the 151st New York Infantry on August 26, 1862 at Clarendon. He remained with the regiment for just over one year, receiving a promotion to the rank of sergeant before his discharge on January 28, 1864, by reason of promotion to captain with the 26th U.S.C.T. Like Mattison, Salisbury was with the regiment at St. John’s Island and Bloody Bridge in July of 1864. After the war, Salisbury moved to Vienna, Virginia, where he purchased a large parcel of land. Valued at $16,500 in 1870, he split his land into lots and sold parcels to freedmen on easy credit and generous mortgages. He provided black workers with a fair living wage and donated a parcel of land for used as a cemetery by the black community in that area. He died in 1913 and was buried at Merrifield Cemetery in Merrifield, VA.

Marion Patterson, born May 11, 1840, at Clarendon to Calvin Patterson and Julia Ann Matson, enlisted as a private with the 13th New York Infantry at Rochester on April 30, 1861; he was discharged as a “minor” on September 7, 1861. He returned home to teach school for a year and enlisted with the 11th New York Heavy Artillery on his birthday in 1863. Unable to fill the full regimental quota, the unit was merged with the 4th New York Heavy Artillery and Patterson was promoted to the rank of sergeant. On December 9, 1863, he received an appointment as first lieutenant with the 22nd U.S.C.T. and later was appointed to fill a vacancy as captain with the 19th U.S.C.T.

According to one account, his promotion to captain came as the result of his daring rescue of the regimental colors during the Second Battle of Fair Oaks in October of 1864. At the end of the war, Patterson was placed on general court martial as a Judge Advocate, a position he held for some time. At the conclusion of his service, he returned to Western New York where he married his wife, Eliza Van Wagoner, at Lockport before relocating to Kansas in 1871. He worked a large farm there, raising livestock, and was elected to the Kansas State Legislature in 1891.

Wallace Myron Sterling, born June 26, 1840, at Gaines to Alphonso Sterling and Mary Horton, answered the call to service on May 11, 1861. He was mustered into service on May 22, 1861, with Company D of the 28th New York Infantry. On May 25, 1862, he was captured at the Battle of Winchester and paroled three days later. After his release, he was sent home on furlough for an undisclosed amount of time. According to a published account of the Sterling family genealogy, Wallace had placed his unloaded musket behind a door in the house. His older brother loaded the gun and ventured out on a woodchuck hunt in the afternoon. Upon his return and being unsuccessful in his adventure, the brother placed the gun in its place behind the door. Later that evening, Mary Jane, a 19-year-old sister, asked Wallace to demonstrate the manual of arms. He mimicked the loading of the rifle, aimed, and she gave the command to “fire!” He pulled the trigger, discharging the musket ball into her head. The accidental death of his sister plagued him with sadness for the rest of his life.

After his discharge from the 28th New York Infantry, he reenlisted with Company B of the 9th New York Heavy Artillery in July of 1863. The following month he was presented a commission as second lieutenant with the 1st U.S.C.T. from President Lincoln, an opportunity he accepted nine days later. In July of 1864, Sterling submitted his resignation with supporting documentation from an examining surgeon. Dr. Willoughby wrote, “…he is suffering from great mental depression, caused by his having, by accident, caused the death of a sister, more than a year ago, since which time he has had fits of mental disturbance, being at times partially insane.” The surgeon believed that the condition would become permanent should he remain in the service. After the war, he relocated to Elysian, Minnesota where he served as the local postmaster and justice of the peace.

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“Overlooked Orleans” – Volume 5, Issue 11

On occasion I stumble across rather interesting photographs that grab my attention; either the image itself is intriguing or the inscription contains a fascinating tidbit of information. While uncovering a box of photographs and albums, I discovered an image with the inscription “F. J. Wickham Lyndonville, N.Y. this man went to Panama and helped build the Panama Canal.” So who was Mr. F. J. Wickham and how did he end up in Panama?

Born to Samuel Kenyon Wickham in Yates, Jeremiah Fernando Wickham grew up in Orleans County with his brothers George and Dewitt working the family farm and attending the district schools of the area. When the Civil War broke out in 1861 both Dewitt and Jeremiah enlisted with the 8th New York Heavy Artillery, but Jeremiah despised his first name (his grandfather’s name) and elected to enlist under his middle name. He served the duration of the war while earning the rank of corporal, his brother Dewitt rising to the rank of lieutenant.

After the war, the brothers had a falling out over a business decision which proved problematic for Fernando when applying for his pension. Using his middle name to enlist instead of his first, he was required to provide a deposition proving who he was, which he requested of his brother who then refused to do so; that is, until a special investigator showed up at his home to request it. Fernando returned to Yates where he lived on the county line, working as a carpenter by trade. His military service helped earn employment with the U.S. Government, working as an inspector of the shores of Lake Ontario up until the 1890s when he was employed as a breakwater inspector in Buffalo.

The specifics regarding his employment with the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) are unknown, but in 1905 he was sent to Colón, Panama as a superintendent on the Panama Canal project. The 48-mile wide canal started in 1881 by the French was an expansive project taken over by the U.S. in 1904 when President Theodore Roosevelt oversaw the purchase of the Panama Railroad and French excavation equipment at a cost of $40 million.

Upon his arrival, Wickham wrote home to describe his trip to this foreign area. The ship departed New York City on June 21, 1905 with forty passengers on board, most traveling with the ICC. While traveling to Cuba, he recalled seeing a “nearly fifty-foot whale” and a school of porpoise that traveled with the ship for a few hundred yards. The arrival of the vessel at the Port of Colón was startling as the conditions of the town were extremely poor.

Any available space in the town was taken up by the machinery left by the French when they abandoned the project in 1894, most of it was deteriorated and unusable. Wickham remarked, “You could not conceive the amount [of equipment] unless you could see it, and then I do not think a person could.” He went on to say, “It was wonderful the amount the French laid out here to abandon, and the small results accomplished with the outlay.”

Wickham was stationed with the architectural department and charged with overseeing the repair of buildings constructed by the French during the previous two decades. It is likely that his work as a carpenter prepared him for this type of employment. Many U.S. papers published stories about the horrors of life in Panama, the terrible health conditions and poor living conditions. Wickham remarked that many men arrived with the expectation of minimal work and high pay, but arrived to find the opposite. Young men were frequently disappointed by the lack of recreational activities; the typical day consisting of work followed by sleep with no time for anything else.

He concluded his letter by writing that his health was good, but that he had already lost some weight, which he said, “I could afford to do that, for I was most too fleshy when I came away.” His wife, Anna Gray Wickham, remained in Orleans County with their daughters and upon his return, the family relocated to Pasadena, California where Fernando died in March of 1923.

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“Overlooked Orleans” – Vol. 5, No. 10

Johann George Singler, c. 1862

BARRE – This photograph shows Johann George Singler around the time of his enlistment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Born March 28, 1829 in the territory of Baden to Joseph and Mary Greisbaum, Singler received his common education (equivalent to a high school course in the United States) while in Europe.

At the age of 22 he emigrated to the United States on a 49-day journey across the Atlantic, settling at Cleveland, Ohio. Six months later he traveled to Buffalo where he worked as a carpenter for eight months and finally relocated to the town of Barre sometime around 1853. On February 10, 1855, he married Eva Rupp at Clarendon and the couple raised eight children together on a modest farm in Barre.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Singler enlisted with Company G of the 151st New York Infantry at the age of 33. He was mustered into service on October 22, 1862 and left his wife and four children to care for the farm.

William De Wolf, another member of Company G, later recalled the first call for volunteers at Holley in August of 1862. “The meeting was held in the Academy yard, and though the speakers are not fresh in my mind, I think one was Robinson by name.”

It is likely that Chauncey Robinson, an outspoken abolitionist and resident of Holley, was the speaker De Wolf noted. “The next one was at Hulberton…At this time there was an ice-breaker lying in the Basin at Holley, and we trimmed it up with evergreens and flags, an put planks across for seats. We got a small drum corps, and hired a boy, horse and tow-line and started for the meeting.”

“Company G was composed of as bright a number of young men as ever went into the service of Uncle Sam. They were mostly farmer boys, well brought up and most all educated.”

Although the documentation of Singler’s service is somewhat limited, one published biographical account suggests that he was injured in an accident while driving a team of horses at The Wilderness. As a result, he received a $14.00 per month pension from the government.

After his three years of service Singler was granted his citizenship and in 1868, he relocated his family to Ellington, Wisconsin where he lived out the rest of his life. He lived a simple life, farming a small 40-acre farm in that location which he worked diligently to clear of timber. A Republican in politics, it was claimed that he refused to vote in elections, instead focusing his attention on encouraging qualified candidates to fill positions.

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Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Dee Robinson, a reference librarian at the Hoag Library, was the featured speaker on Tuesday during the monthly Take a Bite Out of History talk at the library.

Robinson focused her lecture on Sara Shaw, a Holley native who was a nurse during the Spanish-American War and World War I. Robinson wrote about Shaw in 2000, when Robinson’s book, Historical Amnesia, was published. That book highlighted local women whose contributions and accomplishments were often overlooked.

Robinson found more information about Shaw after the book was published. Robinson said Shaw was well respected as a nurse. She was born in Holley and graduated from the Bellevue School of Nurses in 1896. Two years later she became a Red Cross nurse.

She was sent to Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Philippine Islands during the Spanish-American War.

She worked for the Bellevue Hospital nursing staff from 1909 to 1941, taking a leave of absence during World War I. She was a supervising nurse in Italy, in charge of 37 nurses.

After the war, she returned to Bellevue and worked several years as the head nurse of the tuberculosis division of Bellevue Hospital in New York City.

She died at age 76 on Feb. 5, 1948 in New York City and is buried at Hillside Cemetery in Holley.

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“Overlooked Orleans” – Vol. 5, No. 9

“The Condition of the Laboring Man at Pullman” – Political Cartoon, circa 1894.

March 3rd marks the 188th birthday of George Mortimer Pullman, born in 1831 to James Lewis and Emily Caroline Minton Pullman. In 1845, George had reached the age of 14 and received a sufficient level of education in the common schools to enter the workforce. It was around this time that James Pullman brought his family to Albion, “where he became widely known as a useful and upright citizen,” according to W. B. Cook.

The untimely death of James in 1853 forced George to care for his mother and younger siblings. Working as a cabinetmaker, Pullman was best known locally for building furniture in a business that would eventually transition through the hands of George Ough, to the partnership of Reynolds & Flintham, to J. B. Merrill, and eventually transition to the business formerly known as Merrill-Grinnell Funeral Home.

It was during an 1853 construction project along the Erie Canal that Pullman developed a reputation for himself as a master contractor. Using a tool developed by his father, Pullman was able to move several large buildings to make way for the widening of the canal prism. Two years later he and Charles H. Moore traveled to Chicago where they performed similar work, raising buildings to prevent flooding.

In the late 1850s, Pullman entered into a partnership with Ben Field, who became one of the primary financiers of the sleeper car experiment. Field would eventually sell out his interests to Pullman in order to pursue politics and, of course, the latter “made out like a bandit.”

The story of George Pullman is often romanticized, telling the story of a great inventor with a brilliant mind for business. Instead, we should view Pullman’s career in a critical light. One defined by the treatment of his employees.

This political cartoon, entitled “The Condition of the Laboring Man at Pullman,” provides insight into the public’s perception of Pullman. In this cartoon, an employee is pressed between the weights of high rent and low wages; the upper press reads, “Capitalism, Monopoly, Plutocracy, Wage Slavery.” A hefty George Pullman is operating the t-screw on the press, his weight indicative of an exorbitant lifestyle fueled by wealth and greed.

In 1880, Pullman purchased 4,000 acres of land at Lake Calumet and employed Solon Spencer Beman to design a factory for manufacturing sleeper cars. It was Pullman’s idea to construct a company town for his employees, equipped with housing, stores, churches, and entertainment venues. The utopian-like community was void of vices that Pullman perceived to damage society, including saloons, in an effort to increase worker loyalty.

Unfortunately for Pullman’s employees, he ruled like an autocrat, prohibiting the publication of independent newspapers, town meetings, and open discussion. He was known to inspect the homes of workers for cleanliness, terminating leases on 10-days’ notice if conditions did not match his standards. Richard Ely, in an 1885 edition of Harper’s Weekly, wrote “The power of [Otto von] Bismarck in Germany is utterly insignificant when compared with the power of the ruling authority of the Pullman Palace Car Company…”

Ely later wrote, “It should be constantly borne in mind that all investments and outlays in Pullman are intended to yield financial returns satisfactory from a purely business point of view.” This was validated during the Panic of 1893 when Pullman cut wages in the face of decreasing demand for sleeper cars. His failure to adjust rent accordingly led to one of the largest strikes in the history of the United States.

Joining with the American Railway Union, led by Eugene V. Debs, Pullman workers refused to work, blocked rail tracks, and threatened strike breakers. A spike in national attention led to an injunction ordering the strikers back to work, which Debs ignored. As a result, President Grover Cleveland dispatched 12,000 federal troops to end the strike leading to the deaths of 30 workers. Pullman’s reputation was tarnished as a result and his company town labeled “un-American.” Public opinion supported the use of federal troops to end the strike while the national media labeled strikers as foreigners and anarchists.

Pullman suffered a heart attack in 1897. His family was paranoid that railroad laborers would desecrate his body and went to extreme lengths to protect his final resting place. Placed in a lead-lined coffin, he was sealed in a block of concrete and then lowered into the ground. The grave was then covered with asphalt and tar paper, covered with a layer of concrete, surrounded by steel rails, and once again covered with concrete; the entire process took two days.

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“Overlooked Orleans” – Vol. 4, No. 4

Frederick Douglass

As we celebrate Black History Month in February, I was researching local African American families in Orleans County and attempting to assemble an understanding of this particular topic in local history. Without a doubt, it is an area that requires deeper research and is indicative of larger gaps in our understanding of how history was traditionally recorded; ideas of power and disparity. I thought it pertinent to recall some early pieces of abolitionist history in our area.

In 2015, the Orleans Renaissance Group erected a historic marker in Medina to commemorate the site of an address delivered by Frederick Douglass entitled “We Are Not Yet Quite Free,” on August 3, 1869. As the marker notes, a large crowd traveled from across New York to hear the renowned abolitionist speak; the engagement was focused on celebrating the 30th anniversary of emancipation in the British West Indies.

This particular event was not the first time that Douglass spoke in Orleans County. Four years earlier on October 2, 1865, Douglass spoke at Bent’s Hall on the subject of Lincoln’s assassination and its lessons. As Douglass so eloquently spoke, “Some of our friends seem to think our emancipation complete and our claims upon them at an end. A greater mistake could hardly be made. The colored people of the United States are still the victims of special and peculiar hardships, abuses and oppressions, and we still need time, labor and favorable events to work out our perfect deliverance.”

Combing through issues of The North Star, published by Douglass in Rochester, we find that men and women traveled throughout the area lecturing on the antislavery cause. John S. Jacobs, the brother of abolitionist lecturer, reformer, and escaped slave Harriet Jacobs, visited Orleans County in March and April of 1849. Upon the completion of his lecture circuit, he addressed a lengthy letter to Frederick Douglass which appeared in The North Star on April 20, 1849. The words expressed by Jacobs reflect poorly on our area’s willingness to lend an ear to the abolitionist cause.

On March 19, 1849, Jacobs arrived at Clarendon and spoke to a small audience at the Universalist Church, followed by a visit the next day at “Southbarr,” or South Barre as we would call it. While attending a religious meeting held in the local school house, Jacobs asked the Rev. Albert H. Gaston of the Presbyterian Church if he could speak to the congregation at Barre Center. Gaston noted that a revival was taking place and that the “introduction of the subject of Slavery, Peace, Temperance, or anything calculated to draw off their minds from the importance of getting religion,” was unacceptable. Jacobs notes that a man referred to as Mr. O. T. Burns agreed with Gaston, stating that he “knew that we (abolitionists) said some hard things of slaveholders that they did not deserve; he said they were kind and hospitable.”

Trips to Pine Hill, Oakfield, and Barre followed before a visit to Albion on March 24th. Jacobs notes that no effort was made to arrange a meeting and that the Court House was “the only public building that is not barred against the cause of the oppressed,” a building which was “newly painted.” A deacon in the Presbyterian Church attempted to arrange for use of the building for a lecture, but the Rev. William McHarg objected. The deacon in turn referred Jacobs to Eagle Harbor where he “would find friends and an antislavery church.” He spoke to a small group that had assembled for morning worship – muddy streets made it impossible to travel by foot.

This trip was followed by a stop at West Gaines and then Johnson’s Creek, where Jacobs was required to pay fifty cents to the local church for the privilege of opening the building for a lecture. Other lectures followed at Ridgeway Corners, Lyndonville, and Medina, the latter having a large gathering of pro-Zachary Taylor Whigs, much to the chagrin of the visitor. After attempts to gather a crowd at Gaines and Albion, he returned to the Methodist Church at Eagle Harbor on April 7th where he spoke to a large, disorderly crowd made up of canal boatmen “whose highest idea of manliness seemed to be disturbance.” His final stop at Holley on the 8th of April was met by a Presbyterian minister who kindly waived an evening meeting so that Jacobs would have the benefit of a full house.

He concluded the letter by writing, “At no time during my laboring in the cause as a lecturer, have I found so few friends, as on the present occasion. In some of these towns, it has been more than a year since the slaves of this land have had anyone to tell of their wrongs.”

Over the coming years, multiple visits by William J. Watkins, Charles Lenox Remond, and Frederick Douglass to communities throughout Orleans County gave rise to changing mentalities on the disease of slavery.

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“Overlooked Orleans” – Vol. 5, No. 5

This photograph, taken by Peter Fleckenstein, shows a Hough 100 Loader removing snow on East Shelby Road on February 3, 1977. Fleckenstein was a member of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which was responsible for clearing a large portion of roads in Orleans County after the blizzard.

A couple feet of snow, sub-zero temperatures, and 40 mile-per-hour wind gusts makes for an unbearable week of Western New York weather. Although for many long-time residents of Orleans County, these winter storms are dwarfed by the fierce Blizzard of ’77.

Growing up in Western New York, the “Great Blizzard” as I will call it, is the stuff of legend. Over eight feet of snow accumulation in some areas, peak wind gusts topping out at 69 miles per hour, and snow drifts reaching 30 or 40 feet in height; it is likely that no winter storm will ever challenge the Blizzard of ’77.

The brutal winter weather system hit Western New York on the morning of January 28th and continued into Tuesday, February 1st. Frigid temps reaching -70 degrees Fahrenheit and excessive winds packed snow so tightly that road travel was impossible. Drivers found themselves stranded in cars along the road, snowdrifts blocked some families from leaving their homes, and others remained snowed in at work.

The best stories about the Blizzard of ’77 are told by those that lived through it. Those events still exist within recent memory and without question, each person who lived in Orleans County during that terrible storm has a story to share. In 1997, the Medina Journal-Register printed some of those stories:

Don White, Orleans County Sheriff, recalled camping out in his office during the storm while deputies worked overtime to respond to the hundreds of phone calls from residents asking for help. “The ones that were in, were in. The ones that were out, were out,” he said, referring to those deputies who could were unable to travel to work. Some men accumulated over 100 hours of overtime over the course of five days.

Dennis Drought recalled returning to Albion with his wife along Rt. 31 when the road visibility dropped to zero. “We got as far as Dr. Glidden’s home which was just west of Mount Albion Cemetery on the south side of the road…we were the first of what ended up being about 86 people to seek shelter in the Glidden home.” He went on to write, “I got our toboggan out and went to several of our neighbors getting lists of what they needed from the store. I then went to what was then Super Duper…for supplies. Dick Pilon saw what I was doing and told me I could get all I needed for the people and if I needed credit to open an account. I ended up with a bill of about $500 which most of the neighbors helped pay.”

Glenn Hill wrote about his trip to pick up a load of hay north of Rt. 18 before the storm started. “Returning home the sun disappeared and the sky was becoming black…As I approached the canal bridge on Bates Road things started to tear loose. The wind picked up to a gale force and the truck started to rock. I stopped in the middle of the bridge and at one time I could feel the truck being lifted.” Delivering the load to his barn, he “decided that anyone who would get a load of baled hay in a blizzard had to have been ‘a brick short of a load’ or been left out in the sun too long.”

In one final story, Dorinne Prest recalled her efforts to get home from her shift at Lipton’s in Albion. “…At our two o’clock break the weather was awful. You couldn’t even see across the street…I called home and told my husband Ken I might not make it home. He said not to worry that he would come and get me.” Her husband borrowed a neighbor’s snowmobile and trekked to Albion to pick her up.

“We headed out and got as far as the Old Folks Home and our snowmobile quit…My husband said grab the machine and we will toss it up in a snow bank so the plow won’t run it over. Just then two young fellows pulled up and said get in the truck and we will take you back to town. To this day I don’t know who they are but by god they saved our lives.” The couple stayed at Lipton’s overnight and started out the next morning. “We drove over cars and trucks…When we got to Knowlesville Agway we stopped on top of this huge snow pile. It was so high I could have touched the top of the telephone pole…Ken said hold on, we’re going over. When we got to the other side of the pile there were two ten wheelers and a pay loader trying to dig through it.”

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“Overlooked Orleans” – Vol. 5, No. 4

ALBION – On January 26, 1875, the first electric drill was patented by George Green of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Although the device revolutionized dentistry, it fails to negate the fact that so many of us dislike our regular visits to the dentist.

This advertisement, taken from the 1869 Orleans County Directory, shows an advertisement for Doolittle & Straight in Albion. The two dentists, located on the second floor of the Granite Block on the southwest corner of North Main and West Bank streets, operated this business during the 1860s and 1870s.

Horace Doolittle, at the time of his death, was believed to be the oldest practicing dentist in New York State at the age of 86. Born and raised in Malta, New York, Doolittle relocated to Rochester at the age of 18 to study dentistry in the office of Dr. Ansel Morgan for a period of two years.

In 1850, he moved to Albion and opened a practice with Dr. Stanton Briggs and continued that partnership for 14 years before Briggs retired. Continuing his practice alone, Doolittle finally entered into business with Dr. John A. Straight who was clearly just as much interested in patenting new creations as he was with practicing dentistry.

On November 23, 1869, Straight patented a “Plate for Artificial Teeth” which utilized a soft, rubber material to hold false teeth in place. According to the patent, the rubber could be cut and trimmed to create a better fit in the patient’s mouth.  Interestingly enough, an article in a Lowell, Massachusetts newspaper from 1870 called attention to this new method of setting teeth as patented by John A. Straight of Albion. The advertisement, paid for by a dentist in that location, noted that this particular office was given special permission from Dr. Straight to perform dental work using this patented process.

Horace Doolittle and John Straight were pioneers in the dental profession, not only because of their early arrival in Albion, but because the majority of advancements in dentistry occurred in the 1850s and 1860s. This was an era of experimentation, when dentists attempted to use tree resin and molten metal to fill teeth while ultimately settling on gold foil. Early dental offices relied on spittoons for collecting blood and spit from procedures, which were then cleaned by hand. The first receptacle specifically designed for dental use came in 1867 with the “Whitcomb Fountain Spittoon” patent, utilizing a constant stream of running water to assist with sanitation.

In the earliest years of dentistry in the United States, dentists used animal teeth, bones, and occasionally human teeth from cadavers (although rare) to fashion false teeth for patients. The 1850s marked a period of refinement in the creation of dentures, including Straight’s 1869 patent. Of course the most significant development came with the use of anesthesia in dental procedures.

This particular advertisement calls attention to the use of chloroform, ether, and narcotic spray to alleviate tooth pain and aid with extractions. Other advertisements from dentists in the area, including Northrop & Shearer who operated out of the second floor of the Empire Block on the northeast corner of North Main and East Bank streets, mention the use of “Pure Nitrous Oxy’d Gas” to extract teeth without pain. Doolittle & Straight offered several options for patients, including the less-popular sulfuric ether which caused vomiting and left patients feeling nauseated. Other dentists relied on rhigolene spray to freeze the gums to extract teeth and relieve the pain associated with dental abscesses.

After Straight retired from the practice due to illness, he relocated to Hartford, Connecticut and eventually to Chicago, where he died on November 24, 1893. According to his obituary, he invented a type-setting machine that “made him a large fortune.” Doolittle continued his practice until his son, George P. Doolittle, completed school and entered into the family business. Horace Doolittle died October 20, 1915.

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