Historical Sketches of Western New York - Paperback

Excerpt from Historical Sketches of Western New York: The Seneca Indians, Phelps and Gorham Purchase, Mary Jemison, Jemima Wilkinson, Joseph Smith, Jr., And Mormonism, Morgan and Antimasonry, the Fox Sisters and Rochester Knockings

I once asked an old friend, whose income was ten times greater than any personal use to which he could devote it, why he speculated in stocks? His reply was that he did so in order to keep his mind active. Upon reflection, I saw there was sound philosophy as well as Yankee shrewdness in the old gentleman's answer. He did not wish the world to go by him, but was determined, so long as he lived in it, to be of it, to keep abreast of the times and in the swim, and he knew the best way to accomplish this was to dabble a little in Wall Street, for the stock exchanges of the world are mirrors which reflect every light and shadow upon their surfaces. He might have set down and hugged and reinvested his income, might have grown into a moldy nuisance, as most men do who have money only, and whose only resource is to talk about it; but he wisely preferred to take a hand in the enterprises going forward around him, and wear out rather than rust out.

Having given up business some years ago on account of ill health, and determining upon my recovery not again to take an active hand in the dizzy games that are played on the stock exchange and the board of trade, yet at the same time wishing, like my old friend, to keep my mind active, I determined to look into the early history of that section of the State where I was born and jot down such things as might be of interest to myself and possibly to others resident in the Genesee Country.

Although my memory goes back to the tales of my grandfathers, who were pioneers of the eighteenth century, I found myself lamentably ignorant of many important and prominent facts connected with our early history. Phelps and Gorham I had indeed heard of, but did not know that their purchase was made from the State of Massachusetts, and not from New York.

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