Benjamin Franklin High School - Key Yearbook (Rochester, NY)

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r:fcvw w iiwvjp vvt,w rfev 1 rvv Ssta»» $s? «vv$tev i.w 3V Sb tratirin Vow £ tW) let tiers, u h mvisioned our present city, in have received numerable heritages, They u ho sundered to this aboriginal ngron had. through then ability In discern the undr of then ruccessmt, started the community enterpfist Upon ns unceasing growth. Then courage, foresight, and in- tegrity an- rt fleeted w ever) phase of civic organization. li t. th, el a «i of I one ’ 14, accept their inspiring challenge as an honm, and therefore dedicate this issue of The Key to tlxjti early pioneers on this out hundredth anniversary of the founding of ton at). -C i tor

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■ « I JjLihliHhrLl lii| Slip Srutor (£lass June IQM Urujamtti iFrankliu High rhnnl Unrlirstpr, Npui llnrk 'o. h

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 3 n r p ui o r ft Early ihuhrster The settlers to this region laced many difti cutties and hardships. P.vcn after IK17 when ROfbcstcrvtJlc was intotpor cd •» a village the site of the present city was .1 virtual wilderness mlubitccl by wild animals and Indians. The un- cjithl) howls ol pack of wolves pierced the night air; rattlesnakes infested the water holes and die banks of the river were actually alive with tbctn far mote dangerous than the purr of the wild pussy or die hug of the aHcctionate bear were the swamplands and ntoscjuitoo dull caused fever and ague to the hearty ildvCOlUftfV With this setting m inuul, we cannot l e too critical ol dial brutal character, Phcncier Alien, who became known to both Indian and settler as Indian' Allen. Curiously, to vay the least, our fnend Hbcnezvr was neither Indian nor half breed. In 17K J Messrs. Phelps and Gorham ptc scored Allen with j tr.ut ol ont hundred acres upon condition lhat he construe! a saw mill and a grist-mill So we have a cruel, savage. Indian trader as our first settler tirst miller, and first misfortune In the spring oJ 1797, Jomh I oh, win) had been living with Ins family in die Allen shanty during the previous winter, hull» a log house on the one hundred acre ti.ut not far from Indian Allens mill. On February 24. IMQO, Jolin fish was bom to Jom.iIi and Zeruuh Pish, the hrit white . Iidd born within the present limits of the uty ol Rochester More than a wore ot years passed alter the building of Alien's mill In lore settlement in oi around Rexhester w is begun with my measure ol permanence Numerous character , some of rattier iUiuIh!ul worth, passed through this virgin land Many remarked about die Genesee River with its attractive shore-land or of the turbulent falls m all llicir regal splendor Some ol (Ikk travelers may have thought ol die commercial advantages offered by the inland like Ontario with its up river harbor possibilities; few1, it any, could en- vision a uty of some twelve thousand population developing lit this wilderness within two Jccadcs. In the autumn of IfcOO. three men ot remark- able vision left their homes in Hagerstown. Maryland, lor a visit to the Genesee country Colonel Rochester, the aiknowledgcd leader ol the three, was attended by a solitary slave Maior Carroll and Colonel Piiahugh both had estab- lished plantations in Maryland and were cotisid e-red with eminence not only in their own respei- tivc communities bur also throughout the numer ous states where tlicy were associated with publu ah airs Natliamcl Rmhestcr bought large tr.uls ot land in Livingstone ounty and Imped to movt Ins wife and ten ilnldieii to this pioneer region, and away from the pleasant town in Maryland where be believed the uri|ust institution of ski scry would exert too much influence on the lives of his children Undoubtedly lain! spa illation m duccd Colonel Rochester and hi» two colleagues to buy the one hundred acre tract. At all events, tins purchase in IHilJ marks the real beginning ot any interest in the opportunities afforded by this wild, pre-Rochester region In IMIO. the Colnl (a title he received tor distinguished service in the Revolutionary War) and im family left then home in Hagerstown lot Oatmillc. At this tune fcno» Stone and his brother Isaac were owners of the only frame dwellings m Rochester Enos was lommivuoncd as Nathaniel Rochester s local land agent A plat ot the future village was sent by the Colonel to Stone in IHI I with complete uidructions as to law tin- land was to l»c sold. 5 ►