I’m going to leave this one up top for a bit:
I am hereby inviting you to visit Harvest Christian Fellowship, the church I belong to. It is located at 2232 West Campbell, in Phoenix, in the Middle East Baptist Church building. Harvest Christian Fellowship is a Church of the Word. We meet Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. Come on by and see if what I look like is the same as what you think I do.
ROCHESTER, N. Y. HAS GROWING PAINS
The year is again 1814. It is March 28th, and we are back in the new settlement of Rochester, N. Y. In fact the settlement hasn’t yet been named. Father, mother, and three boys, Phederus, Harleigh and David are making themselves comfortable in the one and a half story house built by their Uncle James Bruce, the village blacksmith. But they find a tense and uneasy feeling among the settlers.
The War of 1812 is still on and the British have a fleet on Lake Erie. Many men have gone to the Niagra frontier and those remaining fear invasion by the fleet. Sept. 10, 1813 had of course seen Admiral Perry defeat the fleet of six British ships at the western end of Lake Erie followed by his famous report, “We have met the enemy and they are ours.” But fighting was not over, for on July 25, 1814 the Battle of Lundy’s Lane was fought about a mile from Niagara Falls on Canadian soil. The result was indecisive. British ships single or in numbers cruised Lake Ontario, and the mouth of the Genessee River near Rochesterville provided a good target for invasion. Fortunately no serious encounters developed. The war wound down and Hanford’s Landing at the mouth of the river went on to become an important shipping point.
Going back to 1789 when Indian Allan built the historic first mill on the Genessee River, the early settlement above the Main Falls was called Genessee Mills or Genessee Falls and later Fall Town. A half mile below the Lower Falls at the head of navigation was Hanford’s Landing – – variously known as Genessee Landing or King’s Landing.
It had early been anticipated that the center of settlement might be either of these areas, but about 1812 – 1815 the trend of growth turned upstream settling beside the upper falls on the west.
Education was receiving its due share of attention. With a rapidly increasing school age population the school room, supplied by Jehiel Barnard over his tailor shop, soon became too small. The first school building in Rochester, a one-story wooden structure, was built in the winter of 1813-14, just in time for the Cartter boys to use it. Following is Mr. S. A. Ellis’ description of this building, found in records of the Rochester Historical Society, – – quite different from today’s schools.
“The 1st school built in the fall and inter of 1813-14 was a plain, one-story wooden structure 18 x 24 feet – – interior exceedingly simple – – an inclined desk attached to the wall extending around three sides of the room, the pupils being seted on long benches without backs and facing the wall, the feet of the small ones dangling in mid-air. The room was heated by a fireplace, which served also for ventilation. The seats for the primary pupils occupied a portion of the small space in the middle of the room, and for the most part were constructed of slabs just as they left the saw mill, with the flat surface uppermost and supported by legs set into the opposite sides. Some time prior to 1820 it was enlarged and about 182 still more enlarged and improved.”
Mr. Riley in Peck’s History of Rochester says: “Aaron Skinner is said to have been the first teacher in the new school-house and the first male teacher in Rochester.” This school was known as the Free Academy.
Rochester’s first high school was built in 1827. With changing patterns of public education being tried several attempts were made by individuals to start private schools. None of these seemed to be very satisfactory. In 1832 the high school was reorganized as “The Rochester Seminary of General Education” and from 1839 to 1851 it was known as the Rochester Collegiate Institute.
Records show that attendance at this institution in 1833 reached 325. The State Regents accredited 135 of these as Academy scholars.
From The Towns of Monroe County we learn that on March 15, 1814 the old town of Smallwood was divided and out of it’s territory two other towns were erected, named respectively Brighton and Pittsford. The former, as originally constituted, contained about 66 sq. miles of land or an equivalent of about 42,240 acres. At that time this town included the village settlement of Rochester, and with it its other settled communities and varied interests it was numbered among the most important civil division of the region.
John Kelsey in his Pioneers of Rochester 1854 reproduced a map of Rochester as it looked in the spring of 1814 when the Cartters arrived. This map shows property identified in the name of owners, such as “Lot 18 – – The house occupied by the David Cartter family. Lot 19 – – James B. Cartter’s blacksmith shop, on the bank of the Genessee river.
This memory map was prepared in 1854 for the above publication by two sons of original settlers. These sons were Edwin Scrantom and Phederus Cartter.
The year 1815 was especially important to the Cartters for two family reasons.
First, James Bruce (2) was born on January 13, 1815. He was the fourth son of David K. and Elizabeth Cartter, the author’s grandfather, and the central figure in this Cartter story.
Second, was the marriage on July 4, 1815 of James Bruce (1), brother of David K., to Mahala Doty of Saratoga, N. Y., the daughter of Capt. Isaac and Ann Parks Doty. The newlyweds continued to live in Rochester until 1818 when they moved to Rega, a small settlement nearby.
In an obituary prepared at the death of Elizabeth Hollister Cartter the following mention is made of the homes in which the Cartter family had lived.
“In 1817 the Cartter family moved to a thirty-two acre lot, then on the road t Henrietta, now on Mount Hope Avenue a little north of Clarissa Street Bridge. They occupied a log house with a frame addition put to it by Mr. Cartter. Years later the family built a larger an more commodious house nearby and lived in it nine or ten years.”
Yes, Rochester was beginning to change with its expanding population. It was becoming “a water-power city” and developing fast. Mr. McKelley in his book, with just that title, writes about this period 1815 to 1820 as follows under this sub-title, Peaceful Growth on the Lower Genessee.
“The Ely brothers painted their newly completed gristmill a dull red, and as soon as the spring thaw cleared the raceway their four pairs of millstones began to turn out an improved grade of flour. – – – The rumble of the millstones mingles with the clang of Cartter’s anvil across the street and with the sound of the hammers of Abelard Reynold’s workmen busy enlarging his house into the first tavern on the west bank provided a cheerful welcome to Erasties Cook, the first silversmith; to Horace and George Sill, the first book sellers and to a half dozen other merchants laden with fresh supplies from Albany to Montreal.”
From a different slant Jenny Marsh Parker writes in her book Rochester A Story Historical. She calls attention to the fact that Elisha Johnson had built a dam across the river by 1818 and the population had increased to 1,049 people. She describes the changes taking place as follows:
“Ely’s ‘old red mill’ – – 4 run of stone were grinding day and nite – – Rochester making flour for Eastern markets as well as her own and what with a cotton mill – – a paper mill and saw mills. Gibeon Cobb’s semi-weekly ox team trip to the landings and back – – a weekly newspaper, Jacks of all trades within call of the 4 corners, every religious denomination pushing its mission in the union meeting house, or working for a separate chapel, an occasional spelling school, and a constant arrival of immigrants converting every cabin into a boarding house; really Rochester was not the dullest place to live in after all. – – – Hanford’s Landing has becomethe great shipping point for Rochester’s flour.
“The population of this stirring clearing in the forest was mixed rather than rough, idel drunken Indians, as well as a considerable sprinkling of Quakers contributing to its unique variety. The Quakers were a strong factor in our poneer days and a valuable one. That was the day of the town pump, and the drying-house for lumber – – a day when the whole town turned out to a funeral and the provident man occasionally ‘dug his own grave’ in the burying ground.
“The price of wheat during the early part of 1817 was from $1.75 to $2.25 per bushel. Exports from the Genessee river down the lake to Canadian market during the season of navigation were 26,000 bbls flour; 3,653 bbls pot. And pearls ash; 1.173 bbl pork; 190 bbls whisky; 214,000 double butt staves etc.
“Not alone on land but on water did the new village make its influence felt, for the steamboat Ontario now began to make regular trips from Sackett’s Harbor to Lewiston stopping at the Port of Genessee. To make connections with the vessel several crafts were kept busy transporting produce and manufactured articles down the river.
1819 – – exports to Canada from this port were $400,000 worth.
1821 – – The County of Monroe was formed.”
The importance of the Erie Canal was just beginning to be realized when in 1819 the middle section was completed and the contract for the stretch from Rochester to Palmyra was awarded. The original construction of the canal followed these dimensions: 42’ wide at top, 28’ wide at bottom; 4’ deep; 363 miles long; the cost to New York State $7,143,789.00 The entire length was completed in 1825. IT carried primarily passengers going west and produce for market going east. It was slow traveling, prompting Horace Greeley to comment in his recollections, “Passengers traveled 1-1/2 miles per hour and paid 1-1/2 cents per mile.”
By 1862 the canal was enlarged to 70 ft. wide at top; 7 ft. depth and the distance shortened by 12-1/2 miles. There were 72 locks in all.
According to one historian (name unknown) the population of Rochester in 1820 was 1,792 and of the inhabitants 355 were farmers. 115 were mechanics, 46 were foreigners not naturalized. There were no slaves in the town but among the people were eight free blacks. Electors numbered 547. There were at the time 3 grist mills, 12 saw mills, 2 oil mills, four carding machines, two fulling mills, one cotton and woolen factory, and five asheries.
Rochester was recognized as a strong anti-slavery center. For a great many years the work of Frederick Douglas centered here. Annually from 100 to 200 fugitives passed through her gates. While there were a half dozen houses, not many more, ready to shelter them temporarily, they most frequently found their way to the residence of Mrs. Amy Post on Sophia St. There they would lie hidden, sometimes one at a time, once in a while as many as 15 in a party. – – – They were helped aboard a steamer and across the lake to freedom in Canada.
The rapid increase in number of mills of all kinds kept David very busy at this branch of his trade. However in 1820, with the help of Abner Hollister, his father-in-law, he found time to build the first 3-story building erected in Rochester. The “Mansion House”, as it was called, was primarily a stagecoach inn and tavern. It was quite impressive with columns all across the front supporting the porch roof.
It is said, “The Mansion House didn’t do so well at first After June 7, 1825 when General La Fayette visited the city and was feted at a special dinner in the Mansion House with 200 people attending, its popularity began to increase. LaFayette had come to the city on a canal boat from the west though the canal was not completed for regular travel until four years later.
It was in the Mansion House that Rochester’s first Masonic Lodge was instituted, to be known as Wells Lodge No. 282.” The above is quoted from Centennial History of Rochester, N. Y. The first court house and office building was built in 1821-22.
We have little record of the life of the David K. Cartter family other than that related sketchily in connection with the children as they grew up. In total eight (8) children were born to David and Elizabeth. Following James Bruce’s birth the only daughter, Elizabeth Hollister, was born in 1817. Two sons followed both names John H. and born in 1820 and 1822. John H. (1) was born July, 1820 and died when 2 yrs. old. John H. (2) born Dec., 1822 died in May, 1826.
The youngest child George H. was born in 1827 just one year before the death of his father.
The untimely death of David Kellogg, 8-27-1828 at the age of 52 years, left Elizabeth with a family of 5 boys and 1 girl, ages 21 – 17 – 16 – 13 – 11 and 1. Her task was a difficult one in a new settlement with limited finances. She however helped to see that each child received training and education for his or her chosen life work. Four of the boys became lawyers, the other, James Bruce, chose iron working and agriculture as his field. The daughter, Elizabeth, became very fluent in several languages. She married Dennis McCarthy a prominent merchant and political figure in locals, state, and national politics. They resided at Syracuse, N. Y.
The first cemetery in Rochester was on a one-half acre lot on the corner of Plymouth Ave. and Spring St. It was deeded as a free gift to the village in 1821. Three months later this lot was exchanged for one 3-1/2 acres in size located on west Main St. All bodies were removed to it. This was known as the Buffalo St. Burying Ground.
In 1836 the common council approved a selection of 53 acres (later added to) of what is now Mt. Hope Cemetery. Here the first burial was of William Carter, August 18, 1838, no relative as far as we know. This is a beautiful cemetery, and well cared for. David Kellogg Cartter’s body was removed to this cemetery in the 53 acre addition.
It was the author’s privilege to visit this cemetery and to locate lot 140G where the following members of the family are buried. The lot is located in a beautifully wooded, bowl-shaped depression near the top of a hilly area. Inscriptions on the family stone include the following names:
DAVID K. CARTTER d. Aug. 27, 1828
ELIZABETH (His wife) d. Sept. 23, 1876
JOHN H. 1st (Their son) d. July 10, 1822, 2 yrs.
JOHN H. 2nd (Their son) d. May 16, 1826, 3-1/2 yrs
ALMIRA COOK (Wife of Rev. Chauncey Cook and sister of Elizabeth Hollister Cartter) d – 12-21-1842
PHEDERUS CARTTER d. June 22, 1865, 58 yrs (Son of David and Elizabeth)
LYDIA ANN WRIGHT (His wife)d. Nov. 18, 1898, 86 yrs.
EDWIN P. CARTTER (Son) d. June 14, 1913
MARTHA FRANCES (Daughter) d. Dec. 1, 1917
CHARLES FINNEY (Son) d. Nov. 4, 1876, 37 yrs.
LUCINDA WRIGHT d. April 2, 1848 (Widow of Samuel Wright and mother of Lydia above)
I thought that would get your attention. Yes, it is true, the church and the state are working together. Actually, the state begged the church to help. The state didn’t have to beg too hard, because most churches, when informed of the need, rushed forward with loaded arms to help those in need that the state couldn’t seem to help.
Not that the state wasn’t helping, but there were a lot of refugees that the state couldn’t seem to get to soon enough, and every hand added to the relief line meant more people getting helped sooner.
So, the churches stepped in, opened their doors, opened their pantries, and opened their wallets. Groups moved in to help in the cleanup, others staffed refugee centers, still others gathered, catalogued, and distributed donations.
But wait – isn’t this against the Liberal’s view of the constitution? Where they insist that the First Amendment guarantees that the church and the state shall be forever separate, never to be joined, and the two shall not even look at each other across the room? Why, then, are the Liberals and the ACLU the first to fall silent when so many churches rush in to aid those in need?
Because, the Liberals and the ACLU do not have the abilities and the resources to get it done. And, as anyone with a reading comprehension level above that of a rock will be able to tell you, the First Amendment does not guarantee freedom FROM religion, it guarantees freedom OF religion.
The First Amendment was written to prevent what a certain colony (who shall remain nameless, because juvenile offenses should not be used to judge the current entity) did to back the Anglican church just before the Revolution – it forced all of the citizens to support it whether they were theologically in line with it or not. The First Amendment prevents the government from forcing everyone to support a single denomination.
The phrase “separation of church and state” does not appear in the First Amendment. It appears in a letter written by Thomas Jefferson in 1802 when he was giving his opinion about the matter – he was not espousing keeping religion totally out of government, he was saying that government should not be running the religions and vice versa.
This episode kind of reminds me of the Dirty Harry movies – the Liberal mayor didn’t like Clint Eastwood’s character, but the mayor called on Harry Callahan to “get the job done” – the job that the mayor does not or will not want to do himself. And, of course, Harry steps up and does the job. Not because he likes to do it, but because he has the abilities and the resources to get it done.
Today we cover the finer points of crossing a street:
1) Go to an intersection or a marked crosswalk.
2) Look both ways, even on a one way street, to ensure there are no cars coming, or, alternately, to make sure the cars that are coming can see you.
3) Walk briskly across the street in a straight line, pperpindicular to the side you are crossing from.
Please note: This is not “back home,” “where you used to live,” or “the safe neighborhood.” This is the Phoenix Metropolitan area, where anything outside of the crosswalk will be considered in the crosshair.
This afternoon, while I was driving west on Indian School Road, just west of 19th Ave., a man stepped off the curb (ignoring rule 2) and lollygagged across the street (breaking rule 3) not even fifteen feet away from a marked, signed, highlighted crosswalk (rule 1). That’s right, folks, he scored a trifecta!
This would have been a perfect score if I had not seen him veer toward the street and pre-emptively slammed on my brakes. I say perfect, because if I did not have the situational awareness needed to stay accident free for all my years of driving in Phoenix, he would have been my new hood ornament. He stepped off no more than six feet in front of my bumper. Never even looked my way. My guess is he assumed that since he had crossed the street all his life in that same manner where he used to live (hint: it’s south of here – way south), he could do it here also.
I am willing to bet a dollar he becomes a statistic within three months.
Sadly, he joins the ranks of the Obliviots.
WHY THE 2 “Ts”? THE HOLLISTERS INTRODUCED
It is among the sons of Nehemiah Carter that we first find in public records the use of the double “T” in this old family name which dates far back in English history. Even here among the brothers there seems to be no common agreement. Gravestones of Zeboim and Isaac in the West Lowville Rural Cemetery display the name with two “Ts” while Phederus’ stone bears the name spelled with one T. This, though some of his descendants, now living, spell theirs with two. David Kellogg was consistent in the use of two Ts as was his son James Bruce and indeed his other four sons.
The traditional spelling seems to have been with one T. Genealogists when recording the family line from Rev. Thomas Carter of Woburn, Mass., use the one “T” with no other reference. Two exceptions have come to the author;s attention. William R. Cutter in his two works, Genealogy of Northern New York and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Massachusetts, the latter edited jointly with William F. Adams. In both of these publications the entire family of Rev. Thomas is recorded with two “Ts”. In the latter of these two publications two identical lines of descent from Rev. Thomas are given except in one the one T is used, and in the other two Ts, one appearing in Vol I, p 372, the other in Vol II, p. 933.
In the first reference quoted above there appears this interesting explanation of why the two Ts.
“The Carter family is of ancient English lineage. In one of the battles of Bruce’s war, an officer by the name of McCarter countermanded the order of a superior officer, which meant death, but which gave the victory, hence they could not really put him to death, but could not allow the offence to go unpunished. Therefore, they deprived him of the “Mc” in his name, and added a “t”, making it Cartter. The present family descends from him. Richard Cartter, Lord of the Manor of Garston, in the parish of Watford, England, is supposed to have been the grandfather of Rev. Thomas Cartter, the immigrant mentioned below.”
While we are speculating on the two Ts here is another version to ponder. From a letter written by a George Phederus Cartter of Los Angeles in 1855 to Mrs. Paul Cartter of Wichita we get the following (quite interesting.) The story he relates has two parts.
First. – – “In Scotland it was a custom, still is in some families, that the oldest son had no Christian name, was known as ‘Master’ and signed the papers as Mcarthur or Mcartter or Macarthur. Transcribed as M. A. Cartter, the Mac was dropped completely.”
Second. – – “You well have to go back several hundred years to get to the first two “TT.” In 1298 when Robert Bruce was at war with England the sister of Robert Bruce, King of Scotland, promised to marry the ‘first Scott’ to raise the Scott flag on English soil. The commander of the Scotch forces had the English driven back from the coast. He was ready to go ashore, standing at the bow of the boat with the Scott banner at hand when his nephew jumped out ahead of him pulling a banner from under his coat and raised it before his uncle realized what had happened. The remark that the uncle made is historically correct. ‘If the same blood that flows in your veins was not the same blood that is in mine I would strike you dead where you stand.” The family motto was taken from this episode ‘Astutia Et Animo.’ Bruce’s decree issued at that time was that they should carry two or double “T” for them and their descendants forever.”
Myth or reality, the presence of absence of a second “TP in the name has been a source of confusion to genealogists and an inconvenience to the bearer of the Cartter spelling. Being in the minority he must continually remind others of the proper spelling. Perhaps someday this mystery will be resolved, and we Cartters may in truth know how much Scottish blood coursed through the veins of our early ancestors.
We present bearers of the name are thankful that David Kellogg Cartter (1) held to this spelling as did his sons and those grandchildren of whom we know. The origin of the second “T” is incidental. We have it and intend to keep it, inconvenience or not. Let us haste to mention however that we do not disown those proven relatives who carry the lighter T burden.
Now back to David Kellogg Cartter as he arrived fom Westfield, Mass., with his brothers to settle at least tentatively at Lowville, N. Y. He was not to stay here long and we do not know much of his activities while there. Records do indicate that by 1804 he had met and married Elizabeth Hollister, the daughter of Abner and Sarah Betty Hollister whose family lived at Adams in Jefferson County.
The young couple lived in Lowville until the spring of 1814 when they and their three sons moved to Rochester, N. Y. as related in Chapter II. We have little information concerning the young family during this period. It is very likely that David continued to develop his skills as a carpenter and mill-wright; skills which he used to very good advantage after reaching Rochester. But what of Elizabeth?
Abner Hollister, father of Elizabeth, was of the 6th generation of his family in America. He was born Oct.28, 1754 in Tyringham, Berkshire County, in the far west central part of Mass. He served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War being with Arnold in his march to Quebec. After Arnold’s surrender, Abner made his escape through “an almost pathless wilderness; after great suffering he returned home.” He married Sarah Betty in Tyringham, June 28, 1771.
Elizabeth Hollister was the seventh in a family of twelve children. She was born in 1789. When she was seven years of age the family moved to Clinton in Oneida County, N. Y. After a few years they moved to Adams in Jefferson County where she was married in 1804 to David Kellogg Cartter.
Sarah Betty, Elizabeth’s mother, died in Cato, Cayuga Co., N.Y. Sept. 12, 1813, one year before the Cartters moved to Rochester. In 1818 Abner Hollister is recorded as assisting David Kellogg Cartter in building the first three-story building erected in Rochester. It was known as “The Mansion House” and is recorded in William F. Peck’s History of Rochester and Monroe County. This account would lead us to believe that the two may have worked together in the carpenter trade even before coming to Rochester. Abner, in 1802, married second a widow, Elizabeth Granger of Oneida Co., N. Y. There were no children by this marriage. George A. Hollister, a son of Abner, and brother of Elizabeth, later founded the Hollister Lumber Co. at Rochester in 1835.
HOLLISTER FAMILY
The Hollister family came to America from England, where in Somersetshire there is a town called Hollister. The name comes from Holly Terra – – place where holly trees abound. The first mention of the name was in about 1563 and 1564.
A brief male line of descent is given here, taken from Hollister Family of America by LaFayette Wallace Case, M. D. – 1886.
1st Generation
JOHN HOLLISTER, ancestor of the American family is said to have been born in England, 1612. He emigrated to America about 1642 and is reputed to have been “one of the most prominent men of Wetherfield and the Connecticut Colony.” He was admitted freeman in 1643, a deputy in 1644 and 1645. He was appointed by a general court to give “the best and safe advice to the Indians if they agreed to meet and should crave advice.” He was a large land holder especially on the east side of the Connecticut River, known as Glaustonburg. He married Joanna, daughter of Richard and Joanna Treat and dies April 1665. Eight children were born of this marriage.
2nd Generation
JOHN (2), oldest son of John (1) and Joanna b. 1644, married Sara Goodrich 1667. He was one of the principal men in Glastonburg. He had eight children d. 11-24-1711
3rd Generation
THOMAS, 2nd son of John (2) and Sara born 1-14-1672 – m. Dorothy Hills, daughter of Joseph Hills, Glastonburg, Conn. She was born 1677 and died 1741. He was called “the weaver” in town records. They had thirteen children.
4th Generation
CHARLES: Third son of Thomas and Dorothy b. in Glastonburg 7-26-1701, m. Prudence Francis, daug. of John Francis of Wethersfield 4-5-1729, settled in Eastbury d. 2-2-1753. Nine children.
5th Generation
FRANCIS, b. in Glastonburg 4-22-1733, 2nd son of Charles and Prudence, M. Betty McKee 12-15-1753 and resided in Tyringham – A sea captain – d. in Havana 1-15-1770. He had seven children of whom Abner was the oldest.
6th Generation
Abner, b. 10-28-1753, a soldier in the Revolutionary War. M. (1) Sarah Betty in tyringham, Mass. 6-28-1775 (2) a widow Elizabeth Granger of Oneida Co., N. Y. in 1802. His twelve children were all by his first wife who dies in Cato, Cayugo Co., N.Y. Sept.12, 1813. Elizabeth was his 7th child.