Rochester family papers

Collection

Identifier: D.236

Staff Only

Biographical / Historical note

Nathaniel Rochester (1752-1831) was a prominent citizen of Hagerstown, Maryland when in 1803 he acquired part-interest in what is now part of downtown Rochester. He later moved to upstate New York, settling first in Dansville, then in East Bloomfield, and finally in Rochester in 1818. He lived the rest of his life in Rochester and played an active part in the affairs of the growing community that was named for him. He and his wife had twelve children and a number of descendants.

Scope and Contents

Boxes 1 and 2 contain about 250 letters, dating from 1780 to 1910, with a concentration of letters between 1800 and 1830. The correspondence is mainly to and from Nathaniel Rochester, with some other family members represented. The papers contain a few letters from well-known national figures, including Henry Clay (two letters, along with material concerning Clay's burial in Box 3 folder 10), James Madison (one letter signed), Albert Gallatin (one document signed), and Alexander Hamilton (one document signed). Other important correspondents include Charles Carroll and William Fitzhugh, Rochester's partners in the 1803 Western New York land purchase. There are also retained copies of Rochester's own letters, written in his own hand along with correspondence from several of his sons, including William B. Rochester, who served as a Congressman. Also included are 17 letters Nathaniel Thrift Rochester wrote to his mother and sisters during a tour of Europe in 1832. Letters dating from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are to and from descendants of Rochester.

Thirty-two of the letters were purchased from Mrs. Howard Osgood on December 11, 1933. See the register folder for a list of these letters. Emory M. Osgood donated the approximately 250 of the letters and the other material described above in August 1990. Additional correspondence, photographs, and other ephemera were purchased from Terry Prace on May 26, 2006.

Box 3 contains financial and legal material such as bills, receipts, deeds, agreements, etc. The material is concentrated between 1780 and 1830 with some material extending into the 1850s. The earlier material documents Rochester's business dealings before he came to Western New York, including the sale of slaves.

Box 4 contains other material, including a few nineteenth-century broadsides, speeches, and newspaper clippings.

Boxes 5-8 were purchased on November 5, 2003. Some dates overlap with material contained in boxes 1-4. This material includes a journal of Nathaniel Rochester's slave transactions (1790-94) in Box 5, folder 1, and what appears to be an account of a trip to the Genesee region in 1800.

Boxes 7 and 8 contain genealogical material of the Rochester family compiled by Nathaniel Rochester III (1919-2001) along with material accumulated by family members about his work for IBM. These boxes also contain additional material about Montgomery Rochester, the grandson of Nathaniel Rochester. Mongomery Rochester died in 1909.

Boxes 9 and 10 are books collected by or containing information about Nathaniel Rochester III.

Creator

Rochester family (Family)
Rochester, Nathaniel, 1752-1831 (Person)
Rochester, Nathaniel (Person)

Dates

Creation: 1780-1994

Language of Materials

English

Extent

11 box(es)

Access

The Rochester Family Papers is open for research use. Researchers are advised to contact the Rare Books, Special Collections & Preservation Department prior to visiting. Upon arrival, researchers will also be asked to fill out a registration form and provide photo identification.

Use

In consultation with a curator, reproductions may be made upon request. Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from a curator. Researchers are responsible for determining any copyright questions.

Preferred Citation

[Item title, item date], Rochester Family Papers, D.236, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester