John Gardner was a renaissance man. He was comfortable in the dairy barns of Bethany or the townhouses of Manhattan.
Genesee County's only professional sports franchise has been getting a lot of publicity lately. The miracle season of 2008 culminated in the team's first championship in 45 years.
Who would have guessed that a boy born on the Tonawanda Indian Reservation in 1829, would grow up to be a great leader both the Native American and white man's world?
Before he was born, his pregnant mother, Elizabeth Parker, had a dream.
It took place in the village of Buffalo. In her dream, it was a snowy winter day. "Suddenly the sky opened, the clouds were swept back by an invisible hand and she beheld a rainbow that reached from the reservation to the Granger farm [Judge Erastus Granger, a former Indian agent. His farm is near where Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo is today], when it was suddenly broken in the middle of the sky. From the lower side of the rainbow were strange pictures, which she recognized as resembling the signs over little shops in Buffalo."
Superstitious, she went to a dream interpreter. He said, "A son will be born to you who will be distinguished among his nation as a peacemaker; he will become a white man as well as an Indian, with great learning; he will be a warrior for the pale faces; he will be a wise white man, but will never desert his Indian people nor 'lay down his horns as a great Iroquois chief'; his name will reach from East to the West - the North to the South, as great among his Indian family and the pale-faces. His sun will rise on Indian land and set on the white man's land. Yet the ancient land of his ancestors will fold him in death."
The dream proved to be great prediction for the life of Ely Parker.
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In 1960, Buffalo entrepreneur, Paul Snyder, opened a small campground and picnic area in the town of Darien and called it, Snyder’s Darien Lake.Click Here to Listen
http://www.hollandlandoffice.com/podcasts/12darienlake.mp3
Read the Podcast text and more here
On June 10, 1987, the community was rocked when a car driven by a drunk driver slammed head on into a driver’s education car from Pembroke Central Schools. The lives of three students and their teacher tragically ended that day.
How Did It Make Genesee County Famous?
The accident was picked up by news agencies around the country, and the tragedy spurred the community into action. People became advocates, and that is one of the ways the community started to heal.
Community members went out and told their story. They told it to the newspapers, on television, on radio and even in front of Congress.
Their advocacy led to changes in New York State laws. The reason New York State Drivers licenses are stamped, “Under 21” is because of the people of Pembroke. They also lobbied successfully to make it a crime to possess alcohol under the legal drinking age and had the blood alcohol content lowered from .10% to .08%.
http://www.hollandlandoffice.com/podcasts/13pdea.mp3
Read the Podcast text and more here
On April 15th, 1861, a young man attending a rally at the Eagle Hotel at the corner of Main Street and Court Street in Batavia, heard Abraham Lincoln's call for 75,000 volunteers.
First Union Volunteer of the Civil War.
http://www.hollandlandoffice.com/podcasts/kauffman.mp3
Attica native, Rob Thompson, wrote a book called The Bills Are Due. The book pays tribute to the generation of Bills players who made them what they are today. Thompson’s interviews of players like Fred Smerlas, Billy Shaw, Joe Ferguson and JD Hill are compelling and fascinating.
On September 4, 2008 Mr. Thompson and former Bill’s great JD Hill were at the Holland Land Office Museum for a book signing. Unfortunately, Mr. Thompson’s talk didn’t record, but we were successful when JD Hill came up and spoke about what it was like to be a NFL player and what he is doing today.
To order the book, call the Museum at (585) 343-4727.
To learn more about JD Hill and what he is doing today, visit www.jdhill.org
Genesee County’s largest factory building sits in the heart of the city of Batavia. After more then 125 years, it is still a place of industry and commerce. When the plant stopped producing farm equipment, a genius idea from a local man started a trend that is copied around the world today.
Here is number 23 in our weekly countdown.
Please feel free to comment.
Listen to it here
http://www.hollandlandoffice.com/podcasts/23kc.mp3
Here is number 24 in our weekly countdown.
Please feel free to comment.
Listen to it here
http://www.hollandlandoffice.com/podcasts/24jk.mp3
Morgan threatened to expose the secrets of the Masonic fraternity. He was arrested, and after his bail was posted, he disappeared forever.
Listen to it here
http://www.hollandlandoffice.com/podcasts/morgan.m4b
This is the first in a series of lectures given and recorded by Museum Director, Patrick Weissend. Weissend presented the PowerPoint presentation to the Lions Club of Kendall, New York on January 17th, 2008.
The Holland Land Office Museum is a county history museum located in Batavia, NY. For more information visit www.hollandlandoffice.com
He is a man that met Presidents of the United States and even called some of them friend.
Upstate New York is rich in the history of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois. This podcast is a brief introduction to an exhibit at the Holland Land Office Museum titled, The Tonawanda Seneca: Preserving the Past and Illuminating the Present. This is the first in a series of podcast on the exhibit specifically and the history of the Iroquois in general. This podcast was written by museum volunteer Alice Judkins. http://www.hollandlandoffice.com/podcasts/haudenosaunee.mp3
At the dawn of the twentieth century, Batavia had a thriving industrial community. Thousands of residents worked in many of the factories.
One of the leading industrialists was Edward Newton Rowell. Rowell’s box company, the E.N. Rowell Company, became one of the largest manufacturers of small paper boxes in the nation. They made boxes for pens, jewelry, cosmetics and many other items.
List to the Podcast here
David Ellicott Evans was the third Land Agent for the Holland Land Company in Western New York. This podcast is a brief biography of his life.
Morgan threatened to expose the secrets of the Masonic fraternity. He was arrested, and after his bail was posted, he disappeared forever.
Listen to it here
This is the first in a series of lectures given and recorded by Museum Director, Patrick Weissend. Weissend presented the PowerPoint presentation to the Lions Club of Kendall, New York on January 17th, 2008.
The Holland Land Office Museum is a county history museum located in Batavia, NY. For more information visit www.hollandlandoffice.com
In 1797, the Holland Land Company, a group of six Dutch banks, hired Joseph Ellicott to survey their purchase of 3.3 million acres of wild land west of the Genesee River in New York State. This podcast is a brief history of the survey.http://www.hollandlandoffice.com/podcasts/greatsurvey.mp3
In 1798, the State of New York passed a law allowing foreigners to purchase and own land in the state. The Holland Land Company was instrumental in lobbying to get this legislation passed. Listen to a quick version of how it was passed.
Listen to it here
http://www.hollandlandoffice.com/podcasts/alienland.mp3
