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1994.THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL
BUFFALO
OF THE
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
MAY 20, 1912EXERCISES AT THE
SEMI-CENTENNIAL
OF THE
BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
On the evening of Monday, May 20, 1912, the Buffalo
Historical Society celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of its
establishment with a meeting at which congratulations were
received from sister institutions, the career of the Historical
Society was reviewed in an historical address by its presi-
dent, and tablets were unveiled in memory of Millard
Fillmore and Grover Cleveland, both former members of
the Society. Music and other features contributed to the
pleasure of the evening’s programme.
In the absence of the Mayor, the Hon. William G.
Justice, Comptroller of the City of Buffalo, extended the
greeting of the municipality to the Society.
From the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy
In behalf of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Mr. Willis
O. Chapin spoke as follows:
Mr. President and Members of the Historical Society:
Half a century has passed since the Buffalo Historical
Society was formed. Today you reconsecrate yourselves to
the work laid out for you by the founders.
7778
SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE
The Young Men’s Association celebrated its quarter-
century anniversary in 1861. It had been called the “sole
guardian and representative of the literary, scientific and
artistic poverty of Buffalo.” The year following saw the
beginnings, not only of your Society, but of the Fine Arts
Academy and of the Society of Natural Sciences. The
achievements of the little band of pioneers, who, amid the
surging billows of civil war, created these havens of peace,
must not be forgotten. If our three societies had little else
to offer in the early years, they at least gave to each other
their friendship and sympathy. They were inspired with
the enthusiasm of youth, and struggled bravely along,
steadily drawing nearer the goal of their ambition. There
were, indeed, many discouragements, for it was necessary,
not only to secure efficient management, with salaries paid
mostly in the coin of appreciation, but to create public
interest in their work. Success, if delayed, at last crowned
their efforts. For many years our societies were neighbors
in the Library Building. The Exposition gave to you this
beautiful Historical Building, and thus opened a new era in
your own history. The educational work you are now doing
would far surpass the visions of the founders. Today we
of the Fine Arts Academy have our marble palace, across
the lake; our fame has also gone abroad; and we are to
celebrate our fiftieth anniversary in a few months. The
Society of Natural Sciences is planning to join us again in
the near future with a building of its own. Art, Science
and History are indeed inseparable!
Mr. President, as lifelong friend and neighbor, the
Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, through its representatives,
comes to-day to join you in celebrating the fiftieth anni-
versary of your Society. We bring you our greetings, and
we congratulate you upon the great and good work youBUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
79
have done. Its value is inestimable because it is permanent,
and will increase with the years, and because it has been
guided by experts whose knowledge is sure and whose
respect for their work is high and constant.
In this building you have preserved the records of deeds
and events in our history which otherwise would have
passed from memory. Your publications of this material
have brought you fame throughout the land. No story can
rival real history. What romance can vie in interest with
the thought of this vast continent, wrapped in silence for
untold ages awaiting its white discoverers ? Your collection
of books and records bearing on the early history of this
region is one of the best. You have maintained courses of
free lectures. You have collected material for the purpose
of investigating it, and of drawing lessons from the past as
a means of enriching the individual, and of thus improving
society. Your work, as you have understood it, thus be-
comes a means of true intellectual culture—something more
than the mere art of accumulating material.
But I must leave to your President the story of your
achievements, and the roll of honor of the devoted band of
workers who have accomplished these results. Your early
struggles have passed, and your work no longer lacks appre-
ciation or support. So long as your society cherishes such
ideals, and is inspired by such noble aspirations, we have no
fear for her best and truest prosperity.
Mr. President, we are glad to be here today. We will
always unite with you in the common cause. We are proud
of what you have accomplished, and we shall carry away
with us some of the inspiration of this occasion for our
own use.80
SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE
From the Society of Natural Sciences
In behalf of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences Mr.
Henry R. Howland, Superintendent of that institution, spoke
as follows:
It is my fortunate office this evening to bring to one of
the oldest and most useful of Buffalo’s public institutions,
the felicitations of a sister society, equally venerable in
point of years, equally virile in its enthusiasms and its zeal
for public service; equally useful, I trust, in the extent and
the value of its own large work for the profit and better-
ment of the people of this great city.
Tonight our thoughts revert to those days of small
beginnings when in October, 1861, papers were circulated
whose signers urged the need of some permanent organi-
zation for the study and promotion of the natural sciences
and agreed to become members of such a society when it
should be formed. The Historical Society owns the original
documents and it is interesting to note that the first signers
were ex-President Millard Fillmore, who became the first
President of the Historical Society, and the Rt. Rev. John
Timon, the beloved Roman Catholic Bishop of Buffalo.
Their autographs are followed by those of ninety others
whose names have been those of light and leading in this
community, who have wrought their work of usefulness
and have gone to their last rest.
As a result of this effort, a public meeting was held
December 5, 1861, when the Buffalo Society of Natural
Sciences was organized and Judge Clinton was chosen to be
its first President, an office which he held for twenty years.
I have been impressed with the fact that the same prominent
names occur in the early history of both institutions, nor
is it otherwise now. Mr. Fillmore, Mr. O. H. Marshall,BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
81
Judge Clinton, Mr. W. K. Hopkins, Judge Hall, Dennis
Bowen, Joseph Warren, William P. Letchworth, Pascal P.
Pratt, John Ganson, James D. Sawyer, M. S. Hawley, S. S.
Guthrie, Jewett M. Richmond, Rev. Dr. Shelton, Rev. Dr.
Lord, Rev. Dr. Heacock, Dr. Joseph P. White, Dr. Thomas
F. Rochester, Dr. C. C. Wyckoff, Dr. John D. Hill, George
Palmer, George R. Babcock, and scores of others who were
earnest in organizing our Society became no less interested
in the welfare of the Historical Society and in its inception
in 1862; and today our memberships are singularly identi-
cal, the result no doubt of that fine feeling of public spirit
which seeks to share in all things that contribute to the
uplift and the help of the people of our city,—in all those
agencies that would add to our municipal growth in material
prosperity, that better and higher growth in those things
which are of the intellect, the soul and the spirit.
When these first efforts began, our country was in the
first throes of that great Civil War which through four
terrible years of strife filled men's hearts with sorrow and
apprehension. Many of those who were the founders of
our two societies volunteered in their country's service,
and as those who remained met together for the duties
which were theirs, there was too often present with them
the remembrance of hushed voices and the thought of un-
returning feet; but when those years of storm and stress
were over there came in August, 1866, at the invitation of
the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, the first meeting
since i860 of the American Association for the Advance-
ment of Science, when it was welcomed by Judge Clinton
in an address in which he claimed for Buffalo “a deep
respect for literature, for art, for science, and a longing to
make it as famous in letters as it is prosperous in com-
merce and manufactures." Again in 1876 it came with82
SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE
Thomas A. Huxley and many famous savants from foreign
countries, leaving an increased enthusiasm for study that
made many of our young men forget for a time material
striving in an eagerness for those things that are of the
mind. Again in 1886 and again in 1896 the American
Association came hither at our invitation and the work of
our Society grew apace.
From the earliest days it has been realized that to fulfill
its real purpose this work must be educational and not only
for the benefit of the research student but for the enlighten-
ment and pleasure of the common people throughout our
city. It is not my intention to weary you with details as to
how this has slowly but surely been accomplished—how ten-
tative experiments have crystallized into systematic methods
which now bring many thousands of Buffalo’s grammar
school children to our lecture or class room morning and
afternoon of each day in the school year; how our weekly
Friday evening, free, public lectures cover a period of seven
months each year and bring to a borrowed lecture room (as
our own is, alas, too small) audiences of 800 or 900 persons
each week to see and hear the best lecturers in the United
States; how our loan collections for school use are widely
and freely distributed; how our museum collections, re-
arranged and descriptively though briefly labelled, have
become doubly interesting and vastly more instructive; these
things are surely known to you all, but in our years of
growth we have stood side by side with our constant friends
the Historical Society and the Academy of Fine Arts, shar-
ing with them the inconveniences of old St. James’s Hall,
the better facilities of the Public Library Building in whose
erection each Society took an honorable share, and always
sharing with them that feeling of a common interest in a
common purpose and with unfailing good will seeking toBUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
83
advance the coming of prospective good fortune and to
rejoice in the good luck of each of these our friends and
neighbors and to hope it might be prophetic of our own.
From narrow quarters, from days of struggle, you have
been relieved; and we rejoice that we can offer you a reas-
surance of our hearty good wishes in your own beautiful
and commodious building in its happy surroundings. Your
friends and our own of the Academy of Fine Arts in
their exquisite building are near you still, as we fain would
be if fortune would smile also upon us. We honor the
memory of Bronson C. Rumsey and Dexter P. Rumsey
who have given us a fine site close to your own doors for
such a building as we need. Our work is hampered for
want of it, but we have as yet no fund for its erection. We
did not celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of our first public
meeting and organization which would have been on the 5th
day of last December. Our Society was legally incorpor-
ated on the 23d of January, 1863, and before that anni-
versary occurs I hope that the way may be opened for us
to see some approaching realization of our desires and that
we may ere long be near to you in person and a part of this
fine educational center, as we are near to you in our hearts
tonight in wishing you health, wealth and happiness and
long-continued, as they are well deserved, years of pros-
perity.
From the Canadian Institute
Mr. David Reid Keys of Toronto, representing the
Canadian Institute, had accepted the invitation of the
Historical Society to be present, and extended the felicita-
tions of the Canadian Institute in the following happy
form:84
SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE
An Acrostic Sonnet to the
Buffalo Historical Society 1912
By one great symbol thou art truly great,
Unless thy glory doth thy name belie,
For “Buffalo” sheer greatness must imply,
Foreshadowing from of old thy high estate;
How well thy sponsors have foretold thy fate,
Involving in thy name thy destiny,
Showing thy citizens how far a cry
Still lies before them' e’er they culminate!
O may each effort win beyond the last,
Controlling higher powers than e’en of yore,
Inspiring brilliant histories of the past,
Enriched with art’s free grace and learning’s store.
Toronto sends this friendly wish to thee,
Yet still intends a rival fair to be.
David Reid Keys,
Canadian Institute, Toronto, Ont., May 19th, 1912.
Letters of congratulation were read from many invited
guests and institutions in other cities.
President Henry W. Hill then delivered the Historical
Address which follows:
Historical Address
Honorable William G. Justice, Comptroller of the City
of Buffalo, Mr. Willis O. Chapin of the Buffalo Fine Arts
Academy, Mr. Henry R. Howland of the Buffalo Society of
Natural Sciences, Representatives of other Historical So-
cieties, Ladies and Gentlemen:
The officers and managers of the Buffalo Historical
Society most cordially welcome you all to these exercises in
commemoration of its Fiftieth Anniversary, and assure you
of their genuine pleasure in being afforded the opportunity
of receiving you all in the Society’s own home on this, its
semi-centennial.BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
85
The greetings of the City of Buffalo, of the Buffalo Fine
Arts Academy, of the Buffalo Society of Natural Science,
and of the Canadian Institute, gracefully extended by the
preceding speakers, are gratefully appreciated and are
naturally gratifying to those charged with the responsi-
bility of the conduct of the affairs of this institution.
The officers of this Society are pleased to know what its
standing is in the opinion of its contemporary sister organi-
zations and of the people of this city.
Comptroller Justice, we are grateful to you for your
encouraging message to us and to know that our work has
the official approval of the chief fiscal officer and of the
taxpayers of Buffalo. From its inception this Society has
been one of the three leading institutions of this city and
its membership at all times comprising many of its repre-
sentative citizens.
Mr. Chapin and Mr. Howland, permit us to express to
you on this occasion our appreciation of what your re-
spective organizations have accomplished and are still doing
for the advancement of that
“Art divine,
That both creates, and fixes, in despite
Of Death and Time, the marvels it hath wrought,”
and of that Natural Science that reveals the history of the
earth in its transformations through the geological ages as
well as for the promotion of intellectual culture in this
community; and also to acknowledge our indebtedness to
you for your services and that of other active members of
your organizations as members of the Board of Managers
of this Society. From the first, as you have stated, these
three organizations have been closely allied, and on this
occasion your greetings are evidences of that cordial rela-
tionship that has existed for half a century.SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE
If the administration of the affairs of this Society has
hitherto been such as to merit the approval of the citizens
of Buffalo, we trust that it may continue to be so in the
future and that its business affairs may be so economically
and prudently managed as to merit at all times public
approval. Its Managers have always had this in view in
administering its affairs, and in their desire to carry out the
original purposes of its founders, and wherever possible to
extend its sphere of usefulness by increasing its activities
and making its collections accessible to all classes of our
citizens. In its evolution from a private to a public educa-
tional institution, its activities have been greatly multiplied;
and in its new building, with its growing collections, it is
now able to serve the public in many ways not possible
before it acquired its new home.
ORiqiN AND PURPOSES.
It may be of interest to refer briefly to its origin, and
evolution during the first half century of its existence. So
far as I am advised, the first suggestion of the formation
of this institution was that made by Orsamus H. Marshall
to Hon. Lewis F. Allen, while passing along the streets of
the city on a windy day in the month of March, 1862, as
reported by Mr. Allen to our secretary, Mr. Severance. On
that occasion Mr. Marshall, then deploring his failure to
get something in relation to the Indians, regarding whom he
was an expert historian, said to Mr. Allen: “Come up into
my office, and we will talk it over,” in reply to Mr. Allen’s
statement to Marshall that “We ought to do something
about these things” (referring to records and relics of our
history, including Indian affairs). Mr. Marshall’s famili-
arity with the history of the Niagara Frontier, as evidenced
by his large collection of books on the. subject, also appearsBUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
87
in his interesting lecture on the Niagara Frontier, read
before the Society on February 27, 1865, and published in
Vol. II of its Publications. As a result of the conference
between Mr. Allen and Mr. Marshall, there was a call
signed by George R. Babcock, Henry W. Rogers, Orsamus
H. Marshall, William Dorsheimer, Dr. John C. Lord, Rev.
Walter Clarke, and Lewis F. Allen, for a meeting, which
was held in the office of Mr. Marshall on March 25, 1862,
presided over by Lewis F. Allen as chairman, and Orsamus
H. Marshall acted as secretary. On motion of Mr. H. W.
Rogers it was
“Resolved, That it is expedient to organize a Historical
Society for the City of Buffalo and County of Erie, and
that the chairman appoint a committee of seven to report a
plan of organization.”
Such committee was appointed, consisting of Orsamus H.
Marshall, Rev. George W. Hosmer, Rev. Walter Clarke,
William Dorsheimer, James P. White, George R. Babcock
and George W. Clinton. That committee met on April 8,
1862, drafted a constitution and by-laws, and presented it
at a meeting of citizens held at the rooms of the Medical
Association, No. 7 North Division street, on April 15, 1862,
which was presided over by the Lion. Millard Fillmore as
chairman, Orsamus H. Marshall acting as secretary. The
constitution and by-laws were slightly amended, and then
unanimously adopted; and at a subsequent meeting held on
May 20, 1862, fifty years ago tonight, at the rooms of the
Medical Association, the Hon. Millard Fillmore was elected
President, Lewis F. Allen, Vice-President, George R.
Babcock, George W. Clinton, Walter Clarke, Nathan K.
Hall, Henry W. Rogers, William Shelton, Orsamus H.
Marshall, George W. Hosmer and William Dorsheimer were
elected councillors. Charles D. Norton was appointedSEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE
Secretary and Treasurer, and Guy H. Salisbury Corres-
ponding Secretary and Librarian. Mr. Dorsheimer offered
the use of his office as a place of meeting for the Board of
Managers and for the custody of its books and papers,
which offer was accepted.
On June 3, 1862, the Committee on Inaugural Address
reported that they had secured the American Hall, which is
the present site of the Adam, Meldrum & Anderson build-
ing, for the meeting of the Society, on July 1, 1862, at which
time President Fillmore delivered his inaugural address,
which is printed in full in Vol. I of the Proceedings of this
Society. In that address President Fillmore outlined at
some length his views in relation to the functions of such
an organization, and in conclusion said:
“ Finally, let this institution be the grand repository of
everything calculated to throw light on our history; books,
newspapers, letters, pamphlets, maps, medals and relics of
every description should be deposited here; and let our
citizens unite heart and hand in building up this Society,
which, while it does justice to the dead, reflects honor upon
the living.”
The Certificate of Incorporation of the Historical Society
bears date December 31, 1862; it was verified January 6,
1863, approved by Justice Marvin on January 8, 1863, and
filed in the office of the Secretary of State of New York
and the Clerk of the County of Erie, on January 10, 1863,
in which the particular business and object of the Buffalo
Historical Society are stated to be: “To discover, procure
and preserve whatever may relate to the history of Western
New York in general, and the City of Buffalo in particular,
and to gather statistics of the commerce, manufactures and
business of the lake region and those portions of the west
that are intimately connected with the interests of Buffalo.”BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
89
This Society thus early undertook the collation and
preservation of the important data relating to this entire
territory. The records now preserved in its archives, are
voluminous, and will afford substantial material for the
future historian of Western New York. President Fill-
more's familiarity with public affairs and his interest in all
that entered into our national life, impressed him with the
importance of tracing out and preserving whatever might
relate to the aboriginal life, as well as to the later settle-
ment, family life, political occupancy, commercial expansion
and industrial development of the people in this territory.
Mr. Marshall and others were deeply interested in all these
matters. Accordingly, the founders of this Society made
provision for the collation and preservation of all such his-
torical data, as well as for the collection and preservation
of statistics in relation to the commerce of this port and of
the entire lake region, in order that there might be pre-
served indisputable records of historical events.
In his address on “The Origin and Progress of the
Buffalo Historical Society," delivered June 26, 1873, Oliver
G. Steele, one of its founders, and its treasurer from
September, 1862,'to 1870, and later its Vice-President and
President, said:
“The importance of procuring and preserving authentic
memorials of the settlement of the city and county, and of
the individuals who were its pioneers, and gave tone, direc-
tion and character to its early history, became more and
more apparent as the City advanced in population and
importance. .	.	. The gradual passing away of indi-
viduals identified with the origin and growth of the city,
impressed many of our citizens with the importance of
securing the scattered remnants of early local history floating
through the city and vicinity, and preserving them in a
tangible and systematic manner. In the progress of organi-
zation no interest could be awakened except by the volun-90
SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE
tary action of such of our citizens as were interested in
preserving such memorials for the benefit and for the
example of those who would fill their places in the future
business growth and intellectual progress of the city. No
legal power existed which would compel individuals to
gather up and deposit such historical memorials as they
might possess; neither was there any existing fund or pro-
vision in any form which would induce parties to give atten-
tion to the subject. The movement was therefore entirely
spontaneous, dependent upon the interest which might be
created by the action of a few individuals. Such was the
condition of the public mind in i860 and 1862.”
Thus we see that the plan and scope of this Society and
the purposes of its founders comprehended the formation
of an institution devoted primarily to research work in
local history according to modern methods. They did not
extend their investigations into other fields except in so far
as such investigations might be necessary to throw light on
matters of local historical interest, for they felt that the
territory, though limited, was rich enough in historical
material to occupy the entire time and energy of such a
Society as the one they were founding. They did not, how-
ever, limit their work exclusively to local matters, but
extended it to related subjects of a more general character,
as is shown in the range of the papers read during the
earlier years of its existence. In later years the field of its
operations has been somewhat enlarged in order to keep in
touch with the work of other organizations of a similar
character in and outside of the State.
ITS VARIOUS HOMES.
The first home of this Society was in the Association
Building at the corner of Main and Eagle streets, in joint
occupancy with the Young Men’s Association. It remained
there until 1873, when it moved into the Western SavingsBUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
91
Bank Building. In January, 1887, the Society again moved
to the third floor of the Library Building at the corner of
Broadway and Washington street, where it remained until
the early summer of 1902, when it came into possession of
its permanent home. In the period of transition, it was
impossible to classify and properly display its books,
pamphlets, manuscripts, papers, photographs and other his-
torical material, which had been presented to it from time
to time by those interested in its success. That was a seri-
ous handicap to the growth of the Society, and one of the
strong arguments in favor of its acquiring a new home of
its own, where its valuable collections might be accessible
and more advantageously displayed.
PRIVATE CONTRIBUTIONS.
During the earlier years of its existence, it had no funds
other than the contributions made to its maintenance, prin-
cipally by its members and in a few instances by its friends.
At the suggestion of President Fillmore, fifty gentlemen
obligated themselves to pay twenty dollars per year for five
years, and shortly thereafter this arrangement was modified
by allowing each subscriber to pay fifty dollars at one time,
and thereby become a life member. The balance of their
original subscriptions of one hundred dollars was paid in
annual payments of ten dollars each.
Its bequests and donations went into a permanent fund,
the income only of which was used for current expenses.
ITS MEETINGS AND LECTURES.
At first its meetings were in the nature of club meetings,
held in the houses of its members, at which papers, prepared
with care, were read, and many of them afterward printed
in pamphlet form. Many of these, either in manuscript or92
SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE
pamphlet form, are now in the possession of the Society.
The more valuable of them have appeared in our Publica-
tions. These papers included articles on the various periods
of the history of Buffalo and the Niagara Frontier, and on
Indian life and episodes, military expeditions, early settle-
ments, and on the social and intellectual growth of Buffalo
and its industrial and commercial expansion from an Indian
village to an important inland port. They together consti-
tute the most important contribution to Americana, so far
as the same relates to the Niagara Frontier, that has ever
been made to that department of historical literature.
In later years its club meetings were revived, but these
were eventually superseded by courses of lectures, which
have been maintained for the benefit of our members. A
series of popular lectures has also been given some years
for the benefit of the public.
The Society has sought every opportunity for coopera-
tion with city schools and all organizations and individuals,
engaged in historical study. The rooms of the Society have
occasionally been used by classes from the public schools,
and by other educational organizations, and its collections
are constantly consulted by people of this city and others
in quest of information not elsewhere obtainable.
ORGANIZATIONS ENTERTAINED.
The New York State Historical Association held its
annual meeting at the Buffalo Historical Society Building
in the year 1907, which was attended by representatives of
other organizations and also of a score or more of historical
societies in various parts of the State. It was the first
opportunity that this Society had had of entertaining that
and sister organizations in its new building, which together
with its archives and collections was the subject of muchBUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
93
favorable comment on the part of the large membership in
attendance. During the Holiday Week of 1911, this
Society, together with other educational organizations of
the city, opened its doors to the American Historical Asso-
ciation and the American Political Science Association,
which met in Buffalo at the invitation of this Society. There
was a large attendance of the members of these two national
organizations from various parts of the country, and some
of their meetings were held in the Historical Society Build-
ing, and a reception was tendered them by the Board of
Managers. Other historical, educational and some patriotic
organizations have held their meetings in this building, and
it has been used as extensively since it was opened as any
other Historical Society Building in the country, aside from
those exclusively under State control.
VARIED ACTIVITIES.
I call attention to these facts to show the varied activities
in which this Society is engaged and the organizations with
which it is allied, in carrying forward its yearly work of
discovering, preserving and making accessible its historical,
archaeological and genealogical collections and material.
Its advantageous location on the Niagara Frontier, the
highway between the East and the West, over which the
tides of trade and travel have flowed for centuries, in a
territory marked by many ruins of the waning race of
aborigines, necessitates the extension of its activities into
the domain of state, national and international affairs;
and furthermore it has been brought into close touch with
the history of the entire lake region and of the St. Law-
rence valley, as well as with the literature of these regions,
parts of which are to be found only in the archives at Paris,
London and Ottawa.94
SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE
ENLARGE FIELD OF ACTIVITY.
In this wider domain of research work, there is abundant
opportunity for this and other societies to prosecute their
investigations to the end that the results may give us a
broader and better conception of our municipal, state and
national institutions and their evolution from primitive
conditions to the amplified and complex forms, which they
have now assumed- This result has been inevitable, owing
to the transformations of governmental agencies due to the
succession of independent sovereign occupancy and control
of this territory. The growth of Buffalo from a city of
82,000 population in 1862, to an estimated cosmopolitan
population of 444,915 in 1912, is indicative of the changes
going on the world over, necessitating an amplification of
our governmental policy and an extension of our institutions
to conform to the progressive and complex civilization of
the period. This we believe is sufficient justification for
the enlargement of the sphere of the activities of this
Society beyond the limitations proposed by its founders. It
is not at all probable that they foresaw all the changes that
were to occur in fifty years, and the rapid forging ahead of
Buffalo from a moderate sized city to one of the large ports
of the world. It is not probable that they realized that
within the lifetime of men then living, it would become the
largest coal depot in the world; that its iron and steel
products would assume any such proportions as they have
reached, and that there would be a waterway connecting the
Great Lakes on the West with tide-water on the east, cost-
ing a hundred million of dollars, and spacious enough to
float vessels carrying 2,000 tons, although it must be said
that the provision which they did make for the collation and
preservation of commercial statistics of transactions in and
about the lake region, affords some indication of their appre-BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
95
ciation of the importance historically of preserving a record
of these matters. These are some evidences of the extent
and variety of the activities of the people of Western New
York, and of the parts that they were to play in its historical
development.
VARIED COLLECTIONS.
From the first, it has been the policy of the Society to
build up its historical, genealogical and archaeological col-
lections relating to the Niagara Frontier whenever it has
been found possible to do so. Occasionally when books and
manuscripts are offered in the market for sale, we are outbid
and are unable to secure such material, which ought to be
in the possession of the Society. We trust that our friends
in other historical societies will appreciate our efforts in
this direction, for there ought to be in the library and
archives of the Buffalo Historical Society at least one copy
of all the historical literature extant relating to the Niagara
Frontier. It is the proper place for the preservation of such
material in this fire-proof building, at all times open to the
public, and easily accessible to students from all parts of
the country.
We appreciate what our friends have already done and
anything that they may do to aid us in the furtherance of
this policy.
During the fifty years of its existence, this Society has
accumulated a library approximately of 21,000 volumes, not
including bound newspapers and public. documents, nor a
large amount of unbound material. This has been acquired
largely by gift from those interested in it. It has a very
large collection of valuable manuscripts, which were par-
tially listed by our secretary and published as an appendix
to Volume XIV of the Publications of the Society. The96
SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE
more important of these include a collection of thousands
of documents, known as the Holland Land Company’s
papers; also the Millard Fillmore papers, being his corres-
pondence received while Vice-President and President of
the United States. This collection has been recently ac-
quired. It comprises a vast amount of letters and papers
collected during Mr. Fillmore’s official life at Washington;
also should be mentioned numerous copies of French docu-
ments relating to the region, the originals of which are in
the archives at Paris. There are other important papers,
such as genealogies and manuscripts relating to the family
life in Western New York and those relating to tt^e Indians,
the War of 1812, and to the Civil War.
In our archives will be found records of many of the
principal families of Western New York, and as time goes
on this material will become more and more valuable, as one
will realize when he undertakes to trace the succession of
family life in those portions of our country where records
have not been preserved.
The Society is also the custodian of the theological
library of the late John C. Lord, which is owned by the
City of Buffalo.
Through the courtesy of Mrs. Hazel Marshall Koerner,
niece and heir-at-law of the late Charles D. Marshall, this
Society has become the custodian of that part of his library,
relating chiefly to the Niagara Frontier, comprising many
rare and exceedingly valuable early editions of writers of
the region, including 25 of the first issues of the Jesuit
Relations. Mr. Charles D. Marshall was a life member of
the Society, and his father, Orsamus H. Marshall, who wrote
extensively and collected much material on the history of
the region, is ranked as one of the chief contributors to the
historical collections of this Society.BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
97
Among the notable contributions to these historical
collections are the original papers prepared by the founders
and early members of this Society, and read at club meet-
ings during the first twelve years of its existence. These
may be cited as an instance of what this Society has accom-
plished in the way qf preserving a record of the life,
services and culture of the people who settled this territory
and then constituted its citizenship.
HISTORICAL INTEREST.
It has done even more in the way of creating interest in
historical matters and governmental institutions. Local
history is so interwoven with general history and the history
of the Niagara Frontier with international events, that the
functions of the Society have extended far afield to include
the evolution of governmental institutions from the aborig-
inal occupation of the territory in and about Lake Erie, the
Niagara Frontier, Lake Ontario, Lake Champlain and the
St. Lawrence valley. The sovereign control of all this
territory from its aboriginal occupation to the present time,
has made it necessary for our people to familiarize them-
selves with the French occupancy and control of most of
it for one hundred years or more, and thereafter of its
British occupancy and control for a much shorter period,
and its final occupancy and control by the people of the
United States and of the Dominion of Canada for approxi-
mately 130 years.
The research work of the Society has not been limited
to these three periods, but has extended back to prehistoric
times. That has involved an investigation into the life,
habits, character and institutions of the aborigines, whose
tenure of occupancy of this territory is variously estimated
at from 150 to 250 years prior to its discovery by the whites,SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE
evidences of which are to be found in many parts of it. No
little time and attention have been devoted by some of our
members to a study of such aboriginal occupation, and
those familiar with the writings of Dr. William M. Beau-
champ will recall the names of many places in Western
New York associated with the adventurous but precarious
life of its aboriginal inhabitants. This has added much
interest to research work of this Society and many of the
most interesting papers and lectures have dealt with thaL
phase of our work.
DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT.
No less interesting and profitable has been the study of
the period of its discovery and settlement by the whites.
The work of the missionaries among the aborigines and the
frequent coming of traders up the St. Lawrence and across
the State of New York into this territory and their experi-
ences with the aborigines and hardships encountered in
journeying through the primeval forests before there were
roads, as well as the coming of pioneers with their families
to make their homes in what was then a western wilderness,
has made this territory a rich field for the historian and
especially for such work as this Society was designed to
carry forward. Fortunately family records have been pre-
served and a vast amount of genealogical material accumu-
lated when in a more or less fugitive condition, which would
have been lost, had not there been some such repository as
this for its preservation.
ADDITIONS TO ITS COLLECTIONS.
Since the Society moved into this building it has made
large additions yearly to its genealogical collection and it
undertakes to preserve such material as is put into proper
form and presented to it, in relation to the family life ofBUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
99
this city. The Department of Vital Statistics has so en-
larged the scope of its work as to obviate the necessity of
that work being duplicated by the Society. There is much,
however, in the succession of family life that does not
appear in the records of that Bureau. This Society under-
takes to preserve all matters of that character committed to
it. Such services to the community cannot be over-esti-
mated. It is essentially a public institution, not only per-
forming the functions of an educational character, but also
preserving records that otherwise might be scattered and
ultimately lost to the world. We owe the founders of this
Society a debt of gratitude for their forethought in wisely
laying its foundations and in providing fQr the important
functions, it was to serve in a growing community of a
cosmopolitan character and in a territory rich in historic
associations. Its work commenced fifty years after the
burning of the village of Buffalo and thirty years after the
foundation of the city, so that some of its charter members
were personally familiar with most of the important events
that had occurred in the interim and took the pains of
reducing them to writing in order to insure a record of them.
Now that this Society is one of the public institutions of
the City, which contributes to its maintenance, it will chron-
icle all important matters occurring in the future. When
we consider the value of such a record to a growing munici-
pality like Buffalo, we will readily appreciate that it is worth
all it costs to maintain such an institution as this, where
public records may be preserved as well as records made
of current events.
RENEWED ACTIVITY.
For a time after many of its founders had passed away
and interest in its work was overshadowed by the demands100
SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE
of other municipal activities, its growth was somewhat
retarded. Wm. C. Bryant, Judge James Sheldon, Dr.
Joseph C. Greene and other active officers of the Society
kept its light burning. Upon the accession of Mr. Andrew
Langdon to its presidency in 1894, it entered upon a period
of renewed activity. Hd impressed upon the members the
importance of securing a new and permanent home for it,
where its collections would be more accessible than, they
were in the third story of the Library Building. His famili-
arity with park conditions in other cities satisfied him that
it were perfectly feasible and practicable for the Society to
have its permanent home in a building of artistic design on
park lands without detracting from their beauty. Accord-
ingly he was the first to propose that this Society have such
a home in Delaware Park and that the city contribute some-
thing toward the expense of the building and assume the
burden of its maintenance. The Hon. James M. Smith,
who was actively interested in the Society and one of its
largest patrons, concurred in the opinion of Mr. Langdon
and both felt that if the Society were not permitted to locate
its home on park lands, possibly it might not be able for
some years to acquire a site elsewhere.
LEGISLATIVE REVIEW.
Accordingly, Judge Smith drafted a bill, authorizing the
construction of an historical building on park lands, which
I introduced in the Assembly of 1897, and which became
Chapter 310 of the Laws of that year. That act also pro-
vided that after its construction, the City should annually
appropriate in addition to what might be necessary for the
lighting and heating of such building, a sum of not less
than five thousand dollars for its care, and maintenance, and
for the care, maintenance and preservation of its historicalBUFFALO FIISTORICAL SOCIETY.
101
and scientific collections, books, papers and properties in
said building. And such act also provided that the Mayor,
the Comptroller, the Corporation Counsel, the Superin-
tendent of Education, the President of the Common Council
and the President of the Board of Park Commissioners,
should be ex-officio, managers of the said Historical Society
in addition to the Managers elected from the members of
the Society.
Chapter 65 of the Laws of 1898, which repealed and
superseded Chapter 728 of the Laws of 1897, authorized
the investment of the trust funds of the Historical Society,
in the purchase of a site and the erection of a building for
its use. A committee consisting of Hon. James N. Adam,
George H. Lewis, Hon. James M. Smith, Dr. Joseph C.
Greene and President Andrew Langdon, was appointed to
confer with the Committee of the Board of Aldermen, or
with the Board of Park Commissioners, or both, with ref-
erence to the location of an Historical Society Building on
park lands. An inspection of park sites followed; and in
addition to the above named committee, several other mem-
bers of the Board of Managers met with the members of the
committee, at the Concourse, now the site of the Albright
Art Gallery, and selected that spot as a site for an Historical
Society building.
The Board of Park Commissioners were equally divided,
six approving that site, and six dissenting therefrom. A
free site was offered for the Historical Society Building by
Mr. Bronson C. Rumsey, on lands owned by him adjoining
the park on the south and on the east side of Elmwood
avenue. That offer, however, was not accepted. While the
matter was under further consideration, the sentiment of
the Society was expressed in a paragraph written by Judge
Smith and appended to a resolution offered by Mr. George102
SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE
A. Stringer, declaring in favor of the Concourse as the
Society’s choice of a site for a building, which was adopted
on May 27, 1897. I need not repeat that resolution. It will
be found in Volume V of the Publications of the Historical
Society, at page 392, where will be found a record of the
next and succeeding steps taken to secure the location of an
Historical Society Building on park lands.
When the bill appropriating $300,000 for the Pan Ameri-
can Exposition became law, it occurred to me, and I pro-
posed at a Board meeting of the Managers of the Buffalo
Historical Society held on June 1, 1899, that the $50,000
available for the construction of the Pan American Exposi-
tion building might well be increased to $100,000 and a per-
manent fireproof building constructed, on park lands con-
tiguous to the other Pan American buildings, which should
be suitable for the use of the State of New York at the
Pan American Exposition, and afterwards become the
home of the Buffalo Historical Society. This view was
concurred in by the other members of the Board of Man-
agers, and in the course of time the matter was presented to
the Hon. John G. Milburn, President of the Pan American
Exposition, and to the other Directors of that Company,
and also to Hon. Daniel N. Lockwood, Hon. Frederick
Greiner and to the other General Managers of the Pan
American Exposition appointed on the part of the State.
The members of these two Boards visited the grounds in
the month of December, 1899, and after thoroughly can-
vassing the subject, gave their approval of the proposed
location of the New York State Building on park lands.
In January, while a member of the Assembly, I intro-
duced an amendment, authorizing the expenditure of
$100,000 towards the erection of the building out of the
$300,000 appropriated by the State for its use at the exposi-BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
103
tion, and providing for uniting therewith and adding thereto
the sum of $25,000 to be expended by the City of Buffalo,
and such funds as the Buffalo Historical Society could
make available, in the erection of the Historical Society
building on park lands, and providing that such building
should be a fireproof and permanent structure, and that at
the close of the Exposition it should become the property
of the Buffalo Historical Society for its use and the preser-
vation of its historical properties. The bill passed the Legis-
lature and was approved by Governor Roosevelt, March 26,
1900, and became Chapter 230 of the laws of that year.
CONTROVERSY OVER BUILDING DESIGN.
Immediately a controversy arose over the matter of de-
signing the building. The regular proceeding was that the
State Architect should prepare plans, but President Langdon
thought that the purposes of the Society could be better
served, if a local architect were secured for that work.
Accordingly, the Hon. Wilson S. Bissell, then a member of
the Board, and President Langdon prevailed upon Governor
Roosevelt to permit the New York State Commission, the
Historical Society and the City of Buffalo to employ an
architect of their own selection, in order that the purposes
which the building was to serve might be the better provided
for. Accordingly Mr. George Cary of Buffalo was selected
for that work in place of the State Architect, and as a result,
we have this beautiful building designed by Mr. Cary and
built from the aggregation of the three funds, costing ap-
proximately $170,000, without the bronze doors afterwards
presented by President Langdon, its marble cornice, and
other additions and improvements subsequently made and
paid for by the City of Buffalo. Had it not been for the
insistence of President Langdon, it is not likely that we104
SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE
would have had this beautiful building, and possibly no
building at all. This Society as authorized by law con-
tributed $45,000, from its permanent funds towards the
construction of this building, which would otherwise have
been built of brick instead of marble.
CREDIT DUE MR. LANGDON.
In my annual addresses as president I have taken occa-
sion to mention some of the important services rendered and
contributions made to this Society by our Honorary Presi-
dent, Mr. Langdon, during his long official connection with v
it. As its chief executive officer, his name will ever be
associated with this Society during its transition period from
its position as tenant in the upper rooms of the Public
Library Building, to its acquisition and possession of its
permanent home in the beautiful marble building on park
lands.
OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY.
This Society has been also fortunate in having in its ^
official life and among its counsellors and managers, from
the first, many of Buffalo’s most prominent citizens. As
was said by Mr. Oliver G. Steele, in 1873: “The success of
the Society has been the result of the steady faithfulness of
its officers. It has been a labor of love with them, and the
exhibition before you shows what can be accomplished by
well-directed personal efforts, with but little expenditure of
money.” The Society was then a tenant in the Western
Savings Bank Building.
It is impossible on this occasion to mention the names
of all who have in various capacities served the Society.
The list is long and comprises, as I have already said, many
of Buffalo’s most prominent citizens. The Society has had
twenty-five presidents during its existence of fifty years andBUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
105
as many boards of councillors and managers; many of
those, however, served for several years in various other
official capacities. President Fillmore presided over the
Society for five years; the Hon. James Sheldon for eleven
years; and our Honorary President, Mr. Andrew Langdon,
for sixteen consecutive years (from 1894 to 1909, inclusive),
a period equalling the joint terms of President Fillmore and
the Hon. James Sheldon. Of the twenty-five presidents,
three only now survive, namely: William H. H. Newman,
who was president for 1879 and 1885; Andrew Langdon,
and the speaker.
Those who have served the Society in the capacity of
president are:
Millard Fillmore,
Henry W. Rogers,
Rev. Albert T. Chester,
Orsamus H. Marshall,
Hon. Nathan K. Hall,
William H. Greene,
Orlando Allen,
Oliver G. Steele,
Hon. James Sheldon,
William C. Bryant,
Capt. Eben P. Dorr,
Hon. Wm. P. Letchwori
William H. H. Newman,
Hon. Elias S. Hawley,
Hon. James M. Smith,
William Hodge,
William Dana Fobes,
Emmor Haines,
James Tillinghast,
William K. Allen,
George S. Hazard,
Joseph C. Greene, M. D.,
Julius H. Dawes,
:, Andrew Langdon,
Henry W. Hill.
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS.
Among other executive officers, counsellors and managers
have been the following well-known Buffalonians; Lewis
F. Allen, Charles D. Norton, Guy H. Salisbury, George R.
Babcock, William Dorsheimer, George W. Clinton, Charles
W. Hosmer, George Gorham, Dr. James P. White, Warren106
SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE
Bryant, William K. Scott, Sherman S. Jewett, William A.
Bird, Gibson T. Williams, Francis H. Root, Alonzo Rich-
mond, John T. Hudson, Samuel G. Cornell, George S.
Armstrong, Solomon G. Guthrie, Sherman S. Jewett, Dennis
Bowen, John Allen, Jr., Calvin F. S. Thomas, Merwin S.
Hawley, Joseph Dart, George F. Lee, William Ketchum,
William Fleming, Nathaniel Wilgus, Pascal P. Pratt,
Thomas French, Dr. Jared H. Tilden, Eric L. Hedstrom,
Leon F. Harvey, Samson Falk, George W. Townsend,
Charles B. Germain, Maurice Kingsley, George C. Barnum;
Hon. James M. Smith, Otto Benser, Jacob Stern, John
Blocher, Isaac Geirshofer, James Tillinghast, Josiah Letch-
worth, Ellis Webster, Dr. Frederick H. James, James
Frazer Gluck, Miss Charlotte Mulligan, Mrs. Emily Bab-
cock Alward, Mrs. Mary Norton Thompson, Hon. James
N. Adam, Edmund W. Granger, Cyrus K. Remington,
George Howard Lewis, Charles W. Goodyear, Joseph P.
Dudley and others.
All the foregoing officers, except the three1 presidents
heretofore mentioned and Mrs. Emily B. Alward, are
deceased.
In addition thereto a large number of prominent Buffa-
lonians, who have served the Society as members of its
boards of counsellors and managers, are still living, and
their names appear in the list of officers of the Society, to
be published in the proceedings of this anniversary.
The present Board of Managers of the Buffalo Historical
Society are: Andrew Langdon, honorary president; Henry
W. Hill, president; Charles R. Wilson, vice-president;
Frank H. Severance, secretary and treasurer; George A.
Stringer, Willis O. Chapin, Henry R. Howland, J. N.
Larned, John J. McWilliams, G. Barrett Rich, Henry A.
i. Since reduced to two, by the death of Wm. H. H. Newman, Oct. 24, 1912.BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
107
Richmond, Dr. Albert H. Briggs, Robert R. Hefford, Dr.
Lee H. Smith, Robert W. Day, James Sweeney, Hugh
Kennedy, Robert S. Donaldson, Frank M. Hollister and
William A. Galpin; and also its six ex-officio members.
Some of these have served the Society many years, and all
are devoted to its interests and the important work which
it is carrying forward in discovering, preserving and pub-
lishing the materials constituting in the aggregate our local
history. The annual Publications of this Society are the
embodiment in part of that work, which has been diligently
prosecuted for half a century.
Prior to 1881, the Board of Counsellors, now styled
Board of Managers, consisted of nine members, and there-
after of fifteen members until 1896, when the number was
increased to twenty members, and in addition thereto the
Mayor of the City, the Comptroller, the Corporation
Counsel, the Superintendent of Education, the President of
the Common Council and the President of the Park Board,
were made ex-officio members of the Board. These officers,
with the exception of the secretary-treasurer, served the
Society gratuitously and devoted time to the administration
of its affairs. At one period of its existence, when its
resources and collections were small, it had little in which to
interest the public other than the original papers presented
by its members. But its administrative officers were faithful
to its interests, and in the course of time it began to receive
substantial additions to its library and manuscript collec-
tions, and has now become recognized as one of the per-
manent educational institutions of the City.
PUBLICATIONS.
The Society has published, since 1879, fifteen volumes of
historical papers, all of them except Vols. I and II, under108
SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE
the editorial supervision of the secretary, Frank H. Sev-
erance. Notable among these volumes are the two volumes
containing the writings and speeches of Millard Fillmore,
and the three volumes devoted to the history of New York
State's waterways, and related topics. Since 1902, to date,
the Buffalo Historical Society has without question pub-
lished more documentary and narrative matter relating to
the history of its home region than any other historical
organization in America.
CO-OPERATION WITH OTHER SOCIETIES.
The Society has through its publications and its participa-
tion in the work of State and National Historical Societies,
within recent years, gained for itself a wide and enviable
reputation among learned institutions, whether societies or
universities, colleges and public libraries, throughout the
United States and Canada.
SOME THINGS DONE.
In its earliest years it secured from old residents large
numbers of papers giving their personal reminiscences,
constituting an invaluable source of information regarding
the earlier years of Buffalo and Western New York.
It collected some hundreds of portraits of early residents
of Buffalo.
It rescued and preserved the remains of the great
Seneca orator, Red Jacket, and those of several other chiefs
of his nation.
It secured a suitable lot in Forest Lawn for their burial,
and with the assistance of generous friends erected thereon
at a cost of several thousand dollars, an artistic statue of
Red Jacket, perhaps the finest example of the sculptor's art
in America portraying a great Indian.BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.	109
At a later period it brought to Buffalo and reinterred in
the lot the body of the distinguished Indian engineer and
soldier, a member of General Grant's staff in the Civil War,
General Ely S. Parker. Here at a later date, it also placed
the remains of the celebrated Indian athlete, Deer Foot.
It acquired, cleared, fenced, and otherwise improved a
tract of land near Williamsville, where during the War of
1812, was a soldiers' camp and hospital, and where were
buried many of the New York militia who served on the
Niagara Frontier in that War.
It enlisted the interest of the Lincoln Birthday Associa-
tion and the trustees of the Julius Francis Memorial Fund
and ultimately secured to the Historical Society the valuable
collection of Lincoln and Civil War relics formed by Mr.
Francis, and procured with the Francis Fund the artistic
bronze statue of Lincoln, which now adorns the central
court of the Historical Building.
It has shared from the beginning in the work of asso-
ciated organizations which, under the name of the Niagara
Frontier Landmarks Association, has determined and
marked many of the more important historic sites from
Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. Through its secretary, it made
the original report on Historic Sites, which has guided the
Landmarks Association in the erection of tablets.
MEMBERSHIP.
The membership of this Society consists approximately
of no life members and 500 annual members, representing
nearly that number of the famiiles resident in Western
New York, and still there is room for others, who are inter-
ested in this work and who would like to receive the
Society's publications.110
SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE
AGE OF RESEARCH.
This is an age of research in various fields of activity and
especially so in the domain of history.
It is said that Aristotle examined one hundred and fifty
constitutions as a preparation for writing his “Politics.”
Exploration is going on the world over and man is now
able to trace his existence back as far as the Neolithic age,
antedating the building of the Egyptian pyramids by thou-
sands of years.
All lands and all ages are yielding up their treasures to
the archaeologist and explorer. The records of the past are
being uncovered and translated into the living languages of
the day. In view of the discoveries now being made in both
hemispheres, no one is bold enough to predict what may be
brought to light in the future.
This territory may not be as promising as some other
parts of the Western Hemisphere, but still it is rich enough
to engage the attention of the members of this Society for
many years to come. We have no ambitious designs to enter
those fields which more properly belong to archaeological
research organizations, and for the present we are content
to carry forward the work proposed for this Society by its
founders, though somewhat amplified as hereinbefore indi-
cated. All this is done not merely for the purpose of accu-
mulating a mass of materials unrelated to present day
problems, nor merely for the pleasure of retracing the steps
of our predecessors, but rather to classify, digest and assim-
ilate whatever may be helpful in the solution of such
problems and may throw light on the complex questions of
our modern civilization and for the further purpose of
enlightening our minds, broadening our culture and making
us better citizens.BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Ill
In the slightly paraphrased language of Wordsworth,
all this is to
“Nourish imagination in her growth
And give the mind that apprehensive power
By which she is made quick to recognize
The moral qualities and the scope of things.”
After an interval of music, a bronze tablet to the memory
of Millard Fillmore, which had been placed on the east wall
of the Central Court, was unveiled, Mr. Frank M. Hollister
making the following address:112
SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE
MILLARD FILLMORE
ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE UNVEILING OF THE
MEMORIAL TABLET AT THE BUFFALO
HISTORICAL BUILDING,
MAY 20, igi2.
By FRANK M. HOLLISTER
It would have been a gracious and fitting recognition of
its obligations to Millard Fillmore if the Buffalo Historical
Society had resolved to affix to its walls a memorial tablet
in his honor solely because of the fact that he was one of
its founders, in 1862, and its first president, from 1862 to
1867. But it is one of the many worthy objects of the insti-
tution, besides providing a safe repository for local memor-
abilia, to perpetuate the memory of the city’s eminent sons.
Among these worthies, who can be named that is more
deserving of the honor we are conferring today than the
man to whom was conceded for a generation the title of
“first citizen” in this community, who served his state as
legislator and fiscal officer with efficiency and his country
with patriotic zeal and perfect integrity as Member of
Congress, Vice-President and President of the United
States? I know of none.
The commendable desire of the Buffalo Historical
Society to honor the memory of Millard Fillmore finds
fitting expression in the inscription on this enduring bronze,
but this is by no means the first occasion on which the
members of the Society have formally commemorated the
;; m MEMORY OF
MILLARD' E1LLMQ1
DENI	'
1850 »1853
A FOUNDER OF THE BUFFAT.0
HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND ITS
FIRST PRESIDENT, 1862-f 8 6Y.
HE SERVED HIS HOME COMMUNITY
WITH THE SAME EFFICIENT F'JDKUY
THAT MARKED HIM IM VARIOUS
POSITIONS OF THE PUBLIC SER
OF THE STATE OF NEW YOU K
AND OF THE NATIO
TABLET TO MILLARD FILLMORE,
UNVEILED ON THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
MAY 20, 1912.BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
113
character and public services of their first president. Vari-
ous tributes and addresses, together with a collection of Mr.
Fillmore’s own letters and speeches, have been published in
the tenth and eleventh volumes of the Publications of the
Buffalo Historical Society, issued in 1906 and 1907 re-
spectively.
Mr. Fillmore was often called a “lucky man.” Although
gifted with rare personal graces and a most dignified and
imposing presence he lacked fire, magnetism and the arts of
a clever politician. Yet by dint of tireless industry, inspired
by a high sense of public duty, he won the entire confidence
of the people of his city and state and mounted by rapid
steps from the humblest to the highest office in less than
twenty years. Judge Stow predicted that he would reach
the Presidency. “General Taylor might defy Mexican
bullets,” he said, “but he could not survive Fillmore’s luck.”
The sequel proved that President Taylor’s luck was more
enviable than his successor’s. There is hardly to be found
in our history a more tragic episode than the fate of Presi-
dent Fillmore who signed the Fugitive Slave bill under a
compelling sense of duty, thereby doing the country invalu-
able service and yet, in consequence, bringing down upon
himself a storm of obloquy, the effects of which are felt to
this day.
The Southern men who forced this act upon Henry Clay
and the special committee that devised the compromise
measures were playing a deep game. It is now known,—
indeed Mr. Seward publicly asserted soon after the passage
of the bill—that “political ends, merely political ends, not
real evils resulting from the escape of slaves, constituted
the prevailing motives to the enactment.” It was a plan
devised by the disunionists to force an issue in such a way
*as to put the North in a false position—as the aggressor.114
SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE
The Constitution required the return of fugitive slaves. If
Congress, or the President, refused to enforce this constitu-
tional guaranty of Southern rights—and the Act was made
so drastic that it was thought it could not win enough
Northern votes to secure passage—then the extremists
could fire the Southern heart with the cry that the North
had broken the compact and defied the Constitution. It may
now be predicted with confidence that history will count the
passage of those measures one of the fortunate events that
helped materially to shape the conditions that made a uni-
versal rising of the North in defense of the Union possible.
The abolitionists who denounced these measures did well.
That was their part in the drama. But the responsibility
of deciding whether or not all dangerous disputes between
the North and South should be settled or left open by the
acceptance or rejection of this compromise, rested on Presi-
dent Fillmore. His guiding lights were Law, the Constitu-
tion and the Union, as they were of Daniel Webster and
Henry Clay and, we may safely say, of Abraham Lincoln.
It is interesting and illuminating to digress for a moment
here and to note how closely Lincoln’s attitude toward the
Fugitive Slave bill and slavery approximated to that of
Webster, Clay and Fillmore. We know that Clay virtually
framed the compromise measures of 1850 and that Webster
supported them. Fillmore in a letter to Webster, dated
October 23, 1850, said: “I have sworn to support the Con-
stitution. I know no higher law that conflicts with it.
.	.	. I mean at every hazard to perform my duty. The
Union must and shall be preserved and this can only be done
by a faithful and impartial administration of the laws. .	.
If there be any provision in it (the Fugitive Slave law)
endangering the liberty of those who are free it should be
modified so as to secure the free blacks from such an abuseBUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.	115
of the object of the law and, that done, we of the North
have no just cause of complaint. God knows that I detest
slavery, but it is an existing evil and we must endure it and
give it such protection as is guaranteed by the Constitution
till we can get rid of it without destroying the last hope of
free government in the world.” Compare this declaration
with that of Lincoln in a letter to J. F. Speed, a slave-
holder, in 1855: “I acknowledge your rights and my obli-
gations under the Constitution in regard to your slaves. I
confess 1 hate to see the poor creatures hunted down and
caught and carried back to their stripes and unrequited
toil, but I bite my lips and keep quiet.” In 1858, in the joint
debate with Douglas, Mr. Lincoln said: “I have never hesi-
tated to say and I do not now hesitate to say that under the
Constitution of the United States the people of the Southern
states are entitled to a Fugitive Slave Law.” Like Presi-
dent Fillmore and like Henry Clay, however, Lincoln
would have modified some of the harsher features of the
law. Lincoln in this same year, 1858, declared Henry Clay
to have been his “beau ideal of a statesman—the man for
whom I fought all my humble life.” Can we doubt that he
would have voted for the Clay Compromise of 1850, includ-
ing the Fugitive Slave Law, had he been in Congress at
that time? Or that he would, like Mr. Fillmore, have
signed those measures had he, in 1850, been in the
Presidential chair? I think it most probable that he would
have acted with these men, in that crisis, because he was of
their school and was guided by their lights. His first
thought was for the Union. But, thanks to an over-ruling
Providence, Abraham Lincoln was not blighted and spoiled
for future usefulness by the cruel responsibility that for
nearly two generations kept Webster and Fillmore under a
heavy cloud of misunderstanding and reproach.116
SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE
We who live more than half a century after the events
that led up to the Civil War cannot weigh fairly the actions
of the statesmen who meant the Compromise of 1850 to be
at least as lasting a settlement as the Missouri Compromise
of 1820, without bearing in mind two or three important
facts. One of these is that the Clay Compromise, in spite
of popular resistance, here and there, to specific enforce-
ments of the Fugitive Slave Law, did allay agitation and
produce a quiet breathing spell which continued up to 1854
when Senator Douglas, of Illinois, devised, or adopted, the
fatal “Repeal the Missouri Compromise.” In' 1859 Mr.
Fillmore wrote to the Union meeting in New York: “In an
evil hour this Pandora's box of slavery was again opened
by what I conceive to be an unjustifiable attempt to force
slavery upon Kansas by a repeal of the Missouri Com-
promise, and the floods of evils now swelling and threaten-
ing to overthrow the Constitution and deluge the land with
fraternal blood may all be traced to this unfortunate act."
It was unfortunate in every sense except as a means of
putting the South, which blindly accepted the deadly gift,
in the wrong, and of stiffening and welding anti-slavery
sentiment in the North. In the wild days that followed
there was no chance to pause and do justice to the motives
of the statesmen of 1850, who saved the North from being
put in the false position of refusing to grant the South her
constitutional rights. One or two generations passed before
the Northern public and the historians began to recognize
and concede the disinterested and patriotic purpose that
animated the originators and defenders of the Compromise
of 1850.
Mr. Fillmore would have been gratified by a nomination
for the Presidency by the Whig party in 1852, without
doubt. Every President covets such a verdict of “wellBUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
117
done” from his party and country after the trying ordeal of
a first term. But this honor was denied him by the political
conditions of the time. The Whig Convention of 1852
approved the Compromise acts, including the Fugitive
Slave law, by a vote of 227 to 66. On the first ballot for
candidates Fillmore received 133 votes, Scott 131 and
Webster 29. If the friends of Fillmore and Webster had
combined they could have nominated either one of the two
leaders. But a certain number of the followers of each, if
freed from their instructions, were resolved to go to Scott
and on the fifty-third ballot Scott was nominated. Mr.
Fillmore wrote a few days later: “I was not disappointed
nor had I anything to regret in the result of the Baltimore
Convention. The approbation which that Convention ex-
pressed of the policy which I had pursued, in the resolu-
tions which it adopted, was more gratifying to me than to
have received the nomination.” A friend of Mr. Fillmore’s,
the Hon. George R. Babcock, of Buffalo, had a letter in his
pocket written by the President, withdrawing his name at
the juncture, which he, Mr. Babcock, judged most oppor- 4
tune. For some unknown reason this letter was not pre-
sented before the break to Scott occurred. In this confiden-
tial note to Mr. Babcock, Mr. Fillmore wrote: “You will
not suffer my name to be dragged into a contest for a nomi-
nation which I have never sought, do not now seek, and
would not take if tendered, but in discharge of an implied
obligation which every man assumes upon uniting with a
political party, which is to yield to the will of a majority
of those with whom he acts.” In the ensuing election Pierce
received 254 electoral votes, Scott 42. Mr. Rhodes’s sig-
nificant explanation of the Democratic tidal wave is—“be-
cause that party unreservedly endorsed the compromise of
1850, and in its approval neither platform nor candidate118
SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE
halted.” He adds: “The greater fidelity of the Democratic
party to the settlement of 1850 was in itself sufficient reason
for his (Pierce’s) election.” While Mr. Fillmore supported
Gen. Scott, his party’s candidate, in good faith, there must
have been for him in Pierce’s success, on such grounds, a
certain measure of that consolation which the French
philosopher says we find in the misfortunes of even our
best friends.
As “a statesman in eclipse,” a President of the United
States in retirement, Mr. Fillmore knew what the dignity
of his position, self-respect and duty to his country de-
manded of him and never failed to meet these requirements.
Barring his nominal candidature for the American party in
1856, he took no part in public affairs after leaving the
Presidency. He sought relief in foreign travel and found
satisfaction in all of the public-spirited activities of a good
citizen in his home city. He was a founder of the Univer-
sity of Buffalo and its Chancellor from 1846 to 1874; a
founder and President of the General Hospital; a founder
of the Fine Arts Academy; a founder and President of the
Buffalo Historical Society, and first President of the Buffalo
Club.
In summing up this brief study of Millard Fillmore it
may be said confidently that while not a statesman of the
first rank, not a consummate party leader like Clay, nor a
profound constitutional lawyer like Webster, he was one
of those public servants of the best American type who,
without the advantages of education and powerful connec-
tions, rise level to the requirements of every public trust
put in their hands. When he left the Presidency Mr.
Rhodes states that “the general sentiment proclaimed that
he had filled the place with ability and honor.” His recti-
tude of purpose and personal integrity were never ques-(
BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
119
tioned. He was never arrogant, never played to the gallery
and never failed in respect for the courts or reverence for
the Constitution. James Bryce acutely observes that ambi-
tion such as Lord Beaconsfield’s “could not afford to be
scrupulous.” Again he says that a statesman “who sets
power and fame before him as the main ends to be pur-
sued .	.	. will not be likely to allow kindliness or com-
passion to stand in his way; nor will he be very regardful
of "truth.” Millard Fillmore’s ambition was not of this
sinister type. It was completely subordinated to the de-
mands of patriotism, loyalty to his friends, justice to his
rivals and a fine sense of personal and official dignity.
There have been incumbents of the high office he held,
statesmen of much greater pretensions and wider fame,
who do not compare favorably with Mr. Fillmore in these
important characteristics.
“In a just estimate of our vice-presidents who have
become presidents,” says Rhodes, “we should class Fillmore
with Arthur and not with Tyler and Johnson.” Arthur
gave the country a wise administration and retired with
plaudits scarcely more general than those given to Fillmore
in 1853. The harsh judgment passed upon the latter a
little later was incident to “the irrepressible conflict” that
began to divide the country in 1854. If we were called
upon to classify Fillmore with other Presidents of the
United States we might fairly couple him with McKinley.
While McKinley had more warmth, tact and persuasiveness
than Fillmore they were both patriotic, wise and high-
minded men who alike won national reputation and pre-
ferment by originating a protective tariff law while chair-
man of the Ways and Means Committee of the House.
Mr. Fillmore surpassed even McKinley in distinction of
appearance and dignity of manner, but both were remark-120
SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE
ably handsome men and gifted with rare social graces. Fate
put upon Fillmore a fearful responsibility which he dis-
charged conscientiously and thereby became anathema to
the dominant forces in American politics for half a century.
McKinley was translated at the height of his popularity and
his faults were forgotten.
But whatever the world said of Millard Fillmore, before
or after his death, his friends who knew him best were con-
soled by the knowledge of the fact that he was supported
in serene patience to the end of his life by his own approving
conscience.
Mr. Hollister was followed by Mr. John G. Milburn,
who spoke on Grover Cleveland, to whose memory a tablet,
similar in design to that of President Fillmore, had been
erected on the west wall of the Central Court. The silk
flag which covered it was removed as Mr. Milburn spoke.TABLET TO GROVER CLEVELAND,
ON THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
MAY 20, 1912.
UNVEILED
niinmiiM)BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
121
GROVER CLEVELAND
ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE UNVEILING OF THE
MEMORIAL TABLET AT THE BUFFALO
HISTORICAL BUILDING,
MAY 20, igi2.
By JOHN G. MILBURN
Ladies and Gentlemen :
Grover Cleveland came to Buffalo in the year 1854 in
the eighteenth year of his age. His father had died in the
previous year leaving his widow and a large family depend-
ent upon themselves. He left his home in Holland Patent
to establish himself as a self-supporting member of the
family, and was bound for the city of Cleveland, attracted
there by the fact that it bore his own name, and perhaps
with the feeling that the name would prove, as it were, a
talisman for him. But his journey came to an end in
Buffalo at the instance of an uncle of his; and here he
lived for the next twenty-eight years. Thus, as so often
happens, chance determined this momentous episode in
his life.
Not long after , his arrival we find him settled as a clerk
in the law office of Rogers & Bowen, a leading office then as
now. There he remained about nine years; in the mean-
time—in 1859—having been admitted to the bar. In 1863
he was appointed Assistant District Attorney of the
county, and performed the duties of that office for about122
SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE
two years and a half. Defeated for the office of District
Attorney at the election in 1865 he thereafter devoted
himself to his work as a lawyer in private practice until the
year 1882, excepting during the three years between
January 1, 1871, and January 1, 1874, when he was Sheriff
of the county. In this period he was at different times a
member of the firms of Laning, Cleveland & Folsom; Bass,
Cleveland & Bissell; Cleveland, Bissell & Sicard; and
Cleveland, Bissell, Sicard & Goodyear. Elected Mayor of
the city in November, 1881, his active professional career
in Buffalo came to an end, as during the year 1882 he
devoted himself almost exclusively to his public duties.
When, on January 1, 1883, he moved to Albany to take up
the duties of the office of Governor to which he had been
elected in November, 1882, it happened, as a result of the
extraordinary course of his career, that Buffalo, ceased to
be his home. That he should have been elected Mayor by
the people of this city in 1881; Governor by the people of
this state in 1882; and President by the people of the
nation in 1884, sounds, as I say it, like a tale out of won-
derland. But all this happened to him and more, and we
rejoiced in it; accepting the regret over his severance from
his home city with the aid of the philosophy that teaches
us to expect some alloy in all things, however fine.
I think it most appropriate on this occasion to concen-
trate our attention on that portion of Grover Cleveland’s
life which was identified with Buffalo. Between a man’s
eighteenth year and his forty-sixth the forces of his nature
are at their maximum, and out of their operation there
gradually emerge his ultimate powers, qualities and char-
acteristics. The man who on the 4th day of March, 1885,
entered the White House as President of the United
States was the product of the experience of those yearsBUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
123
shaping and moulding his natural traits and qualities. The
circumstances and opportunities of later years directed his
energies into new channels and vastly enlarged his sphere
of action, but the man himself was the man who had
developed and matured right here. Hence the rightful
claim of Buffalo to him as a true son of her own; her
natural pride in him; and her unfailing faith in all his
undertakings. Her estimate of him was based on the
accumulated observations of all the varying phases of a life
in its passage from boyhood to maturity. What that esti-
mate was we shall see.
Grover Cleveland sprang from a good stock. Of the
men and women in the line of his ancestry it may be said,
speaking broadly, that they were simple in their lives, indus-
trious, frugal, of a quiet force of character, and observant
of the pieties. It is pleasant to record of his great-great-
grandfather, the Rev. Aaron Cleveland, that he was a
friend of Benjamin Franklin, who wrote of him at his
death as “a gentleman of humane and pious disposition,
indefatigable in his ministry, easy and affable in his con-
versation, open and sincere in his friendship, and above
every species of meanness and dissimulation.” His great-
grandfather, another Aaron Cleveland, seems to have been
of a lively disposition, judging from a poem of his which
has been preserved, in which he treats of the stocks blended
in his blood, attributing to the Cleveland strain wit and
social charm, and to another, the Porter strain—which it is
interesting to note he associates with affairs of state—
calmness, discretion and wisdom. His father was a gradu-
ate of Yale University, and of him what better can I do
than to quote Grover Cleveland’s own words: “Looking
back over my life, nothing seems to me to have in it more
both of pathos and interest than the spectacle of my father,124
SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF THE
a hard-working country clergyman, bringing up acceptably
a family of nine children, educating each member so that
in after life none suffered any deprivation in this respect,
and that, too, upon his salary which at no time exceeded a
thousand dollars a year. It would be impossible to exag-
gerate the strength of character thus revealed. It empha-
sized the qualities of pluck and endurance which have made
our people what they are.” With such an ancestry we may
safely conclude that the boy who came to Buffalo in 1854
had in him the stuff of which sturdy, self-reliant, modest
and conscientious men are made,—elemental men as I like
to call them.
Twenty-eight years or so pass, and what were the effects
of time and circumstance upon this promising material?
In 1882 I had known him for about seven years, and for
the most of that time quite intimately. I observed his work,
qualities and methods as a lawyer with the curiosity and
interest of a critical junior, and had the additional ad-
vantage of association with him in various cases and mat-
ters. I remember that he early made a very distinct impres-
sion on my mind. He was certainly not showy or pushing.
He was not aggressively ambitious in the sense of forcing
the pace. He was not a courtier, artfully placing himself
in the way of the rich, the powerful, or the successful.
With his nature he could not have had these character-
istics. With his nature and powers he was just what it
might have been predicted he would be under normal
conditions —firm and independent; industrious, painstak-
ing, tenacious; laboriously working out every problem and
taking nothing for granted; intolerant of meanness,
intrigue and duplicity; taking him all in all a lawyer of the
first rank in character, principle, intellectual power, influ-
ence and efficiency, doing well and thoroughly all the work,BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
125
in court and out of court, he undertook. That is the posi-
tion he had attained at the bar at the close of his active
professional career in Buffalo in the year 1882. It was a
position he had earned by long years of hard work; by his
faculty for clear thinking and forcible expression; by the
soundness of his judgment; by his inbred probity and
integrity; by the common faith in his masterfulness, sin-
cerity and rugged honesty in what he believed and said as
well as in what he did.
He was in the front rank not only as a lawyer but as a
citizen. From his earliest years he respected and consci-
entiously performed the political and civic duties of citizen-
ship. He believed in the principles of his party, and sought
to make them prevail by that active participation in politics,
without thought of office or reward, which is the duty of
every citizen. He ardently desired good government; he
knew that it was only to be secured through the intelligent
attention and earnest efforts of the individual citizen; and
it was always a matter of strict principle with him to re-
spond freely and cheerfully to that obligation. This was
his relation to the political and civic movements of his
time; and it was only at the call of duty that he stepped out
of the ranks to become a leader.
The man as we met him in social intercourse was human,
helpful, genial—a loyal friend and delightful companion.
He was a familiar figure on our streets, known of all men
as he came and went; dignified but entirely unaffected in
his bearing; positive in his opinions and frank in speech;
a desired and welcome guest in our homes; and universally
esteemed as an able, upright, just, fearless man, who would
be a tower of strength in any emergency that might arise.
The emergency came, and it bears out all that I have
said. I need not dwell upon the municipal situation here in126
BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
1881. It is enough to say that the able, fearless, militant
man in the community was needed, and Grover Cleveland
stood clearly out as that man. In such a crisis a man is
picked on his merits and that he was picked as the fittest
man to lead the forces of order was Buffalo’s recognition
of his distinction as a lawyer, his public spirit as a citizen,
and his indomitable qualities as a man. This was the
beginning of his extraordinary career in the public service
as Mayor, Governor and President, which superabundantly
justified her estimate and judgment of him.
Beyond this point it is not necessary for me to follow
him. Thereafter it is history that deals with his deeds and
achievements. He has nothing to fear at her hands; but
rather, by the operation of comparisons and contrasts and
the more complete knowledge of his aims, purposes and
efforts, an increase of fame and the security of his position
among our really great Presidents. Meanwhile we may
well be content with the trend in that direction reflected in
many weighty utterances, the latest of which is the
encomium a few days ago of the Chief Justice of the United
States, in which he spoke of him as yielding to no man that
ever filled the great office of President “in high purpose, in
great devotion to duty, in the simplicity of American life,
and the enduring and everlasting purpose to maintain un-
diminished all the rights and liberties of the American
people.”
We have assembled to dedicate a tablet in this noble
building of the Buffalo Historical Society in commemora-
tion of the life and services of Grover Cleveland; and, may
I add, in the hope that it will prove to be but the precursor
of a monument that will adequately and visibly express the
public spirit of the people of Buffalo.