Do you enjoy scavenger hunts, mysteries, word puzzles, detective television programs? Then you could be a perfect candidate to become a "History Detective" at the Arcade Historical Society. We get inquiries of all kinds - regarding ancestors, property, murders, and objects - and we can always use volunteers to help find the answers.
For ALL TYPES of RESEARCH REQUESTS, there is a fee of $10 per hour plus $0.50 per copy of documents. It is helpful if you call or email about your inquiry first so we can pull things or let you know if that information is not in our archives. The archive of documents, photographs, maps, microfilm and books is at the Old Fire Hall where you are welcome to come research on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 1-6pm.
The AHS research library has microfilm of early issues of the local newspaper - known at various times as The Leader, The Arcade Herald, The Tri-County Times and other names. See two mysteries we have researched on this page.
If you would like to volunteer, we can always use a few good detectives. Come by or call during our normal office hours.
For ALL TYPES of RESEARCH REQUESTS, there is a fee of $10 per hour plus $0.50 per copy of documents. It is helpful if you call or email about your inquiry first so we can pull things or let you know if that information is not in our archives. The archive of documents, photographs, maps, microfilm and books is at the Old Fire Hall where you are welcome to come research on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 1-6pm.
The AHS research library has microfilm of early issues of the local newspaper - known at various times as The Leader, The Arcade Herald, The Tri-County Times and other names. See two mysteries we have researched on this page.
If you would like to volunteer, we can always use a few good detectives. Come by or call during our normal office hours.
The Horace Jones Mystery
This one arrived in the AHS e-mail and was posted as a comment to an
earlier blog on the AHS website. An individual is researching Horace Jones -
starting with a photograph circa 1860s. Here are the questions sent in:
"There were two Horace Jones living in China / Arcade, both born in 1840. Do you have any information as to whether the two families are linked in some way? Horace W. Jones, born in 1840 to Levi and Sophoronia Jones, with brothers Elisha, Farley, William Henry, Luther and Elliott.Horace W. D. Jones, born in 1840 to Milon and Sophorna Jones, with sister Mary and family boarder Orissa Casey or Crary.Horace Jones was a surprisingly popular name, it is more remarkable that a small town would have two with such unusual names of their mothers." We had several of the Jones obits in our files, and also published this inquiry in our member newsletter. Lo and behold, one of our members is a descendant of Horace Jones son of Milan. This member was able to confirm there were, in fact, two Horace Jones in the area, both with mothers named Sophronia, but the two Horaces were not directly related to one another. Horace W. B. Jones - Uncle of AHS member - served in the CIvil War and married Elizabeth Whitney, widow of Carlton Whitney. Their graves are in Arcade Rural Cemetery; Elizabeth between Horace and Carlton's stones. Carlton also enlisted for the Civil War in December of 1861, but met with an untimely death in Buffalo before his regiment shipped out to the war. Carlton was found floating dead in the Erie Canal, his head severed from his body. Horace completed his war service in 1863 and married the widow Elizabeth Whitney in 1864. Horace died under unusual circumstances in 1900: he fell off the Cattaraugus Creek bridge after dark on a cold January night. Elizabeth, twice widowed, died two years later, shortly after Arcade's big flood of 1902. |
Brazilian Balm
Arcade native, Deb Austin, brought us this case: a glass
bottle with raised lettering "Brazilian Balm, B.F. Jackson & Co.,
Arcade N.Y."
Googling found other similar bottles on ebay and an advertisement from 1901 describing this cure all drug that could be used on the skin, or by drinking it or even more horrifying, by pouring it in your ear! brazilianbalmbottle.jpg A quick look in our AHS obit file found one Rev. Benjamin F. Jackson, born in Franklinville, NY in 1834. He attended school in Arcade (his parents had a farm outside of town) and died in Arcade in 1920 - living here the last ten+ years of his life. His last occupation was as a businessman in the proprietary medicine trade. Previously he spent time in South Carolina after the Civil War working with freed slaves and helping to divide up plantations during the reconstruction. A sermon delivered by Rev. B.F. Jackson was found in the archives at the research library of the Congregational Church in Boston, MA. Rev. Jackson gave the sermon in the Plymouth Congregational Church of Charleston, SC on November 28, 1867; it was a Thanksgiving Sermon, preached to a congregation of freedmen.We also obtained copies of pages from Bleser's "Promised Land", a history of the SC Land Commission, a body set up to purchase lands for subdivision and sale to freedmen and others, and has references to B.F. Jackson as a Surveyor of the Commission. New information was revealed in an obituary from a 1917 Wyoming County Herald newspaper which led to our discovery of the exact address where B.F. Jackson and his wife lived, now 436 West Main Street. He married Myra (Waldo) Hitchcock in 1909; daughter of a well known local pioneer family. Also found in the 1917 newspaper were advertisements for Brazilian Balm, sold at the local (Cottrill's) pharmacy. We are hoping to eventually find out where he produced this "proprietary medicene" in Arcade. STAY TUNED! |
The Town of Arcade
A Short Summary
Silas Meech came from Vermont in 1807 and became the first settler in what is now the Town of Arcade. He was soon followed by several other families, and in 1818 the Town of China was created out of the Town of Sheldon. The Town of China was re-named Arcade in 1866, and by 1871 the settlement at the juncture of Cattaraugus and Clear creeks had grown enough to be incorporated as a village. The town was named "China" after a popular hymn tune of the period.
The early settlers were predominantly from western New England and eastern New York. Today the village includes over 2,000 people while the entire town is over 4,000.
Arcade's industrial and agricultural development was facilitated by two rail lines that still serve the area: Norfolk (Pennsylvania Railroad) in 1871 and the Arcade and Attica Railroad in 1881. The Arcade area still retains a number of dairy farms and agriculture-related industries.
Why the name "Arcade?"
Around 1828, an important early businessman of the community, Horatio Waldo, owner of the woolen mill, took a trip to Rochester. At the time, Rochester was a boomtown after the completion of the Erie Canal (1825) and had an impressive new building called Reynolds Arcade, which was a covered passage of shops. Horatio Waldo returned from his trip and suggested "Arcade" as a name for the growing village, instead of taking on the name of the township, "China," or "Hinckley's Station," after a local tavern. In 1866 the village and town names both became Arcade.
Silas Meech came from Vermont in 1807 and became the first settler in what is now the Town of Arcade. He was soon followed by several other families, and in 1818 the Town of China was created out of the Town of Sheldon. The Town of China was re-named Arcade in 1866, and by 1871 the settlement at the juncture of Cattaraugus and Clear creeks had grown enough to be incorporated as a village. The town was named "China" after a popular hymn tune of the period.
The early settlers were predominantly from western New England and eastern New York. Today the village includes over 2,000 people while the entire town is over 4,000.
Arcade's industrial and agricultural development was facilitated by two rail lines that still serve the area: Norfolk (Pennsylvania Railroad) in 1871 and the Arcade and Attica Railroad in 1881. The Arcade area still retains a number of dairy farms and agriculture-related industries.
Why the name "Arcade?"
Around 1828, an important early businessman of the community, Horatio Waldo, owner of the woolen mill, took a trip to Rochester. At the time, Rochester was a boomtown after the completion of the Erie Canal (1825) and had an impressive new building called Reynolds Arcade, which was a covered passage of shops. Horatio Waldo returned from his trip and suggested "Arcade" as a name for the growing village, instead of taking on the name of the township, "China," or "Hinckley's Station," after a local tavern. In 1866 the village and town names both became Arcade.
331 West Main Street & 15 Liberty Street, Arcade, New York 14009 | Mailing address: P.O. Box 236, Arcade, NY 14009
(585) 492-4466 (Main St.) / (585) 492-0748 (Liberty St.) | [email protected]
(585) 492-4466 (Main St.) / (585) 492-0748 (Liberty St.) | [email protected]