Genealogy Files and Collections

Family and Personal Manuscript Collections

The Genesee County History Department maintains manuscript collections related to local families, residents, public officials, authors and other individuals. Detailed inventories for individual collections are available.

Note: Each collection generally focuses on one individual or one family.

Blossom & Ford Families

Location: Batavia
Collection ID: Manuscript Box 14
Collection location: 4C.5B
Collection volume: .25 cubic feet
Date range: 1817-1859

Contains: Family history, will, deeds, photographs and accounts for the Free Will Baptist Home and Foreign Missionary Society of the State of New York, ca. 1853.

Bradley Family

Location: Pavilion
Description: Pioneer farm family
Collection ID: Manuscript Box 11
Collection location: 5A.1.2
Collection volume: .5 cubic foot
Date range: 1774-1981

Contains: Correspondence, property records, military and financial records, genealogy references, writings and certificates.

Trumbull Cary

Life dates: 1787-1869
Location: Batavia
Collection ID: Manuscript Box 3
Collection location: 5C.2.A
Collection volume: .5 cubic foot
Date range: 1819-1845

Batavia's second merchant, founder of the Bank of Genesee, postmaster, adjutant during the War of 1812, member of the Assembly in 1827 and State Senator.

Contains: Correspondence regarding mercantile activities, personal letters and negotiations for the purchase of land from the Holland Land Company.

Ida Hoyt Chamberlain

Location: Alexander
Collection ID: Manuscript Box 6
Collection location: 5A.6
Collection volume: 1 cubic foot
Date range: 1861-1972
Book copyright date: 1976

Local author of Lincoln's Fifteen Lost Hours, a story about President Abraham Lincoln sleeping in her family home.

Contains: Photographs, genealogy references, book manuscript, poems and short stories, correspondence and newspaper clippings.

Rev. Algernon Sidney Crapsey

Collection ID: Manuscript Box 13
Collection location: 5C.5
Collection volume: .5 cubic foot
Date range: April 1906

The collection relates to the heresy trial of the Rev. Algernon Sidney Crapsey, a presbyter of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Western New York. The trial was held in Batavia.

Contains: An outline that may have been collected for a presentation or publication, along with notebook sections titled:

  • The Man
  • Preliminary Investigation
  • Charge/Answer
  • Characters
  • Trial – Days 1 and 2
  • Trial – Days 3 and 4
  • Verdict / Appeal
  • Renounces / Disposed
  • Aftermath / Miscellaneous
  • Printed Trial Reviews
  • Newspaper Clippings Collection

Monica Daily

Life dates: 1881-1964
Location: Batavia
Collection ID: Manuscript Boxes 2A and 2B
Collection location: 5A.1 and 5A.2
Collection volume: 2 cubic feet
Date range: 1866-1961

A promising piano student who had a brief concert career.

Contains: Correspondence, legal papers, newspaper clippings and images.

Diaries

Collection ID: 12.01 (see card catalog for listing)
Collection location: 29A.1, 29A.2, 29A.3, 29B.1.1, 29B.1.2, 29B.2 and 30C.2.3
Collection volume: 4 cubic feet
Date range: 1800s-1900s

Contains: Assorted diaries from local residents documenting their lives. Some diaries are indexed.

Margery Jane Marble Hanson

Collection ID: Manuscript Box 8
Collection location: 5B.4.1
Collection volume: .25 cubic foot
Date range: 1956

Advocate for Native American rights.

Contains: Scrapbook of newspaper articles regarding Native Americans, correspondence, lecture notes and an "Unselfish Service" Award.

Charles Knowles

Collection ID: Manuscript Boxes 4A and 4B
Collection location: 5A.3 and 5A.4
Collection volume: 1.5 cubic feet
Date range: 1890-1945

Freelance shorthand reporter who worked in courts and recorded speeches in the Buffalo area. He also wrote political articles, appeared on local radio programs and wrote short stories.

Family information: His father, Robinson Wells Knowles, was a Civil War veteran and died January 1, 1912. His mother, Elizabeth A., died in Buffalo in October 1918.

Contains: Correspondence, newspaper clippings, poems, short stories, genealogy, plays and his mother's history in two volumes titled Simple Life.

William Elisha Prentice

Life dates: 1857-1929
Location: LeRoy
Collection ID: Manuscript Box 7
Collection location: 5B.1
Collection volume: 1 cubic foot
Date range: 1885-1920

Born in LeRoy to John and Sarah Ann Randall Prentice. He taught school in Churchville, Byron, Elba, Stafford and Batavia, was elected Genesee County School Commissioner in 1881, earned a law degree from Yale in 1888 and established a law practice in Batavia. He married Helen Louise McHardy in 1893.

Contains: Cash accounts from 1885, diaries from 1885-1888 and correspondence.

Redfield Family

Heman J. Redfield: 1788-1877
Location: Batavia
Collection ID: Manuscript Boxes 10A-D
Collection location: 5B.3, 5B.5, 5B.6 and 5C.1
Collection volume: 3.5 cubic feet
Date range: 1812-1907

Heman J. Redfield was a War of 1812 veteran, State Senator from 1823-1825, LeRoy postmaster, lawyer associated with the William Morgan Affair, land agent and farm-estate owner.

Contains: Accounts, diaries, journals, correspondence, legal papers, farm records, certificates and War of 1812 military records.

Upton Family

Gen. Emory Upton: 1839-1881
Location: Batavia
Collection ID: Manuscript Box 5
Collection location: 5A.5
Collection volume: 1 cubic foot
Date range: 1819-1907

Gen. Emory Upton was a military tactician, Civil War Army officer and author of Military Policy of the United States. His father, Daniel, was a farmer.

Contains: Published books on the Upton family, military reference materials, calling-card collection, scrapbook of newspaper articles and handwritten notes.

Various Authors Collection

Collection ID: Manuscript Box 4B
Collection location: 5A.4
Collection volume: .5 cubic foot
Date range: 1830-1935

Contains:

  • Charles M. Graney, local doctor – Practices of Medicine and Surgery, no date
  • Mary E. Lane – Events in her life and poetry, 1867 and 1911
  • James Morgan – Detective story, no date
  • Anna Patterson – Events in her life, 1860-1891
  • Unknown or unsigned authors on poetry, daily chores from 1890, ancient history, a 1935 travel log and short stories dating from 1830-1906

Judge Philip Weiss

Life dates: 1909-1966
Collection ID: Manuscript Boxes 12A and 12B
Collection location: 5C.3.B and 29C.4
Collection volume: 1.5 cubic feet
Date range: 1930-1966

Weiss received his legal training at the University of Buffalo Law School. He served as District Attorney in 1937, City Court Judge in 1939 and County Judge in 1948. The source identifies him as the first Democratic judge in 25 years when elected to City Court.

Contains: Election memorabilia, correspondence, speeches, photographs, judicial robe and awards.

Dr. Carolyn Louise Widdowson Westlake

Life dates: 1874-1942
Location: LeRoy
Collection ID: Manuscript Box 9
Collection location: 5B.2
Collection volume: 1 cubic foot
Date range: 1872-1939

Practicing physician and graduate of the University of Buffalo Medical School.

Contains: Correspondence, Ingham University certificates, photographs, ledgers and financial records.

Clara T. Williams

Life dates: 1860-1952
Collection ID: Manuscript Box 8
Collection location: 5B.4.1
Collection volume: .25 cubic foot
Date range: 1936, copyright date of book

Local author known for writing about the early history of Batavia and Western New York.

Contains: Handwritten manuscript of Joseph Ellicott's Life and the Early Days of the Holland Purchase, typed copies of chapters 5-15 and The Boundaries, concerning the geography of New York.

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