LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - AUGUST 14, 2022 by Lynne Belluscio Trish Riggi from the Library sent a message a while ago. She was trying to put the story of the Staunton Art Conservatory, which was on the Ingham University campus, together with the story of Phineas Staunton. The Woodward Library was built from the stones of the Art Conservatory. She had been looking for information about Staunton and discovered a photo of his gravestone. At first, I thought that she was talking about the stone in Machpelah Cemetery that is a tribute to him, but no, she found his gravestone in Ecuador, which is where he died. In 1867, Phineas Staunton, husband of Emily Ingham – founder of Ingham University, was chosen to join an expedition to South America, sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and Williams College. A professor from Williams College, James Orton led the team and their mission was to gather “treasures of Science and Art.” Staunton’s assignment was to draw the flora and fauna. The party left NewYork City about the first of July, crossed the Isthmus, (of Panama) landed in Quayaquil and then traveled by mule to Quito. The plan was to cross the Andes and reach the headwaters of the Amazon and follow the river to the east coast. Dr. Richard Wing, of Houghton College, compiled an enormous amount of research about Phineas Staunton, and he wrote about the tragic ending to the South American expedition. “(In Quayaquil) sickness overtook the party and four of them were detained for some days; but seemed measurably well again, their effects were packed upon mules, for the journey, up to the mountains two hundred miles to the city of Quito... Bourne on the shoulders of four men, weak, exhausted, but sustained by the magnificent scenery all around him, (Phineas) entered Quito.” He died on September 5, 1867. He was buried three days later - - the second person to be laid to rest in the new Protestant cemetery in that city. It would be weeks before the news reached LeRoy. It was traumatic news for his wife Emily Ingham. Many years later, in 1885, the gravesite was described in the LeRoy Gazette. The government of Ecuador had set aside a plot of land, 75 by 100 feet, enclosed by an adobe wall three feet thick. I remember Dick Wing telling me that he had some one look for Staunton’s stone, but nothing was found. That is until Trish spent some time searching on the internet. I told her, that Dick Wing, who passed away several years ago, would have been delighted to know, that Staunton’s gravestone had been found. Phineas Staunton was no ordinaryman. Hewas born in Middlebury (now Wyoming, N.Y) on September 23, 1817. His father, a farmer, was in the local militia. During the Battle of Lundy’s Lane, he was captured by the British and held prisoner in Quebec. When Phineas was a young man, his father wanted him to go into military service. Phineas wanted to become an artist and left home to study art in Philadelphia. He traveled to Savannah and New Orleans to study portraiture. When he returned home, he gave his father $1400 saved from his art commission. There is little known about the next ten years of his life. He had studios in New York City and Buffalo. In 1847, he married Emily Ingham, who, with her sister had founded a women’s seminary in LeRoy. The newlyweds left for a honeymoon in Europe. When they returned, he began work at his wife’s seminary and served as trustee, teacher of modern languages, professor of drawing, painting, and art of design. In the 1850s, he went to New York City and studied military strategy. Late in 1861, Phineas was called into active duty as Lt. Col of the 100th New York Volunteers. Most of the men were from LeRoy and they mustered in Buffalo. The 100th NY was engaged in some of the fiercest battles of the Civil War. Staunton fought in the Battle of Fair Oaks and was wounded. Emily went to Washington during his recovery. But in 1862 he resigned when another man was promoted over him. He returned to LeRoy, and continued his work at the University. When he died in 1867, his wife, Emily raised money to build the Staunton Art Conservatory. She also was able to secure the collections from the South American expedition which eventually were installed in museum cases in the gallery on the main floor. There was hope, after the University closed, that the Conservatory would serve LeRoy in some capacity, but those plans did not come to fruition, and the building was torn down. The stone used to build the Woodward Memorial Library. Decorative elements of the Conservatory were placed in a stone wall on the west side of Ernest Woodward’s home on East Main Street. Today, as new steps to the Library were being built, the foundations of Ingham buildings were uncovered. It is curious that today in LeRoy, there is no significant acknowledgement of Phineas Staunton. Two historical markers tell the story of Ingham and the Ingham sisters. A monument and sculpture of a favorite art teacher, Lemuel Wiles stands on the Library lawn. A small marble obilesque stands in Machpelah Cemetery, but Phineas Staunton has gone unrecognized except for his grand portrait of Henry Clay which now is displayed in the Brumidi staircase of the United States Senate. Phineas Staunton
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