LeRoy Pennysaver & News

LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - AUGUST 18, 2019 by Lynne Belluscio A couple of years ago, I received a note from Jay Camp- bell about an early sampler that was sewn by an eleven-year-old girl in LeRoy in 1833. Jay was headed east and was going to bring the sampler with him. But as time went by, I had no more communication with Jay, and I presumed that the whole deal had fallen through. But then, at the end of June I received an email from Jay, and he was traveling east and would bring the sampler with him if we were still interested. I assured him that indeed we were. On July 28, I received an email that he was in the Fingerlakes and would be stopping by in the morning. Sure enough, he met me at the office with the sampler. He said that he had bought it a long time ago, and figured it needed to come back to the place where it came from. He signed the trans- fer papers and then he was off for the rest of his trip. He left a couple of written notes about the Rathburn (Rathborn) family which helped to discover more about the young girl, Elizabeth Rathbone who had stitched it. According to the notes, Elizabeth Rathborn was born on December 22 in 1821. She was 11 when she stitched the sam- pler. Her parents were Lucy Anderson and Israel Rathburn. (Her mother was the widow of John Ganson.) According to a note in the files, Elizabeth attended school at the Canan- daigua Academy and Ingham University. Elizabeth married David Rinaldo Bacon on May 1, 1844. He was born in 1812 in Hamilton, N.Y. In 1831, he headed to Union College and his family moved to a farm on the west side of LeRoy. David studied law in the offices of Joshua A. Spencer of Utica and Judge Gridley and was admitted to the bar in 1835. He was a law partner of LeRoy lawyer, Seth Gates (a noted abolitionist and US Congressman in Washing- ton in 1839-1843.) In 1836, Da- vid was involved with procuring the right of way for the N.Y. & E. Railroad between Olean and Dunkirk, and lived in Olean for a few years. He returned to Le- Roy and in 1844 married Eliz- abeth. David’s brother, Lathrop S. Bacon, owned the foundry on Bacon Street. (The Historical Society has a L.S. Bacon parlor stove, and two cast iron waffle irons.) In 1845, Lathrop’s two young children and their nanny died in a tragic fire. Luther was so distraught by the accident, he moved to Rochester, and David assumed control over the found- ry until it closed in 1856. A few years later, in 1860, David was appointed postmaster of LeRoy by President Lincoln, and he served in that capacity for five years, and later worked for the Internal Revenue Department. He died in 1890. Elizabeth and David had five children, four sons and a daughter. Their stories are inter- esting. Walter was born in 1845 and eventually married the great grand-daughter of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt. They lived in London. Edward Rinal- do Bacon was born in 1846. He was a lawyer in New York City and became the president of the Western division of the Balti- more and Oho Railroad. His of- fice was located at 2 Wall Street. Edward never married, and was known for his extensive art col- lection of old masters. When he died, his estate was estimated to be in the millions. Lathrop Rathbone Bacon was born in 1849 and was a wealthy stock- broker in New York City. John Ganson Rathborn was born in 1852 and was married to Nellie Wilcox. Mary Sibley Rathborn was born in 1858 and was mar- ried to Oliver Allen Jr. whose family owned the woolen mill in Mumford. I have tried to decipher the words on the sampler and it is difficult: What doest has stitched the fleeting soul away And thy ??????? into day May this needle work with ????? stand To show the beauties of thy skillful hand Elizabeth died in New York City at the home of her sister-in law on May 1,1892. It was said that Mrs. Bacon “having passed a happy youth and married life in Le Roy, was devotedly at- tached to this place and it was beautiful in this day of change and restlessness to find a per- son so loyal to her native town. Home was the heart of her life and she presided for many years over her hospitable mansion with a gracious sweetness nev- er to be forgotten.” She was a member of St. Mark’s Church and she was buried in Mach- pelah Cemetery. I searched the Machpelah records and discov- ered she was buried in Section A so I headed over to see if I could find her stone. She has a small stone near the large Bacon monument. As I was looking around, I discovered several small little pink seed pods on the ground, and I knew I had found the gi- ant “cucumber magnolia.” Ris- ing from a huge trunk, over the Bacon plot is one of New York State’s largest Acuminata Mag- nolias. Jack Hempfling had told me about it. He had contacted the DEC to measure it, and was only a few inches off the record for the largest of the species. Under the Cucumber Magnolia Sampler T-shirts • Hats • Visors • Tank Tops • Jackets • Towels GREAT GIFTS FOR YOUR FAMILY • FRIENDS • ETC. 1 Church St., Le Roy, NY • 585-768-2201 • Fax 585-768-6334 • Hours: Mon.-Fri. 8:00-5:00 E M B R O I D E R Y lpgraphics.net