Journal of Early Scottish Settler of Western New York

This small leather journal was owned by Donald McKenzie, an early Scottish settler of Monroe County, New York, on the southern shore of Lake Ontario. McKenzie seems to have used much of it to prepare an index of various materials related to the history of Rochester and the Genesee Country. Another portion records a series of undated debits and credits with various individuals in Caledonia, then in Wheatland. Another segment, with an accompanying diagram, records the water levels at McKenzie's mill dam in Wheatland in 1852.

[NEW YORK.] Donald McKenzie, Ledger, ca. 1832-1852. 116 pp., 86 pp. with text, 4.5" x 7". With cracked and somewhat loose binding; toned internal page edges; light foxing and soiling throughout; wear, scratching, and soiling to the covers; overall, very good. Please refer to the photographs for further condition information.

Excerpts
"Donald McKenzie Caledonia Livingston County in the State of Newyork owns this book and Gold pen being the first he ever owned and I bought it in Rochester at an auction for Fifty Six cents and has now tried its use. I would prepare a quill pen if I could see to keep it in repair than Steel or Gold pens."

"While Red Jacket was addressing the Indians at the Bridge Sqr Kelsey he could hear him over 1 mile of[f] distinctly"

"Genesee Bigtree Treaty was in the Fall of 1797 / J Kelsey says it took about 14 days to labour with the Indians at treaty. The Chiefs declined to sell at any rate Chiefs refused the bribs—after filling their hats with silver Finally the chiefs agreed to submit to the vote of all the warriors & Squaws After bribing & Treating they finally voted off their Territory in the Holden purchase. When Red Jacket called on his tribe to come and sign their death warrant."

In the September 1797 Treaty of Big Tree, the Seneca Nation agreed to relinquish their rights to nearly all of their traditional homeland in New York State—nearly 3.5 million acres. The Seneca sold all of their territory west of the Genesee River except ten small tracts for $100,000, which was invested in shares of stock in the Bank of the United States and paid out as annual earnings on the stock.

"Index of a Thing of Shreds and Patches of History"

"1802 See my chronicles of Self"

"I was a believer converted Homeopath in year / A believer in Magnetism / a believer in Phrenology / a believer in cold water"

"Indians my acquaintance since 1806 see Book of Comp vol 2 page 560"

Historical Background
The index to McKenzie's historical materials about Monroe County and the Genesee Country includes entries for "Highlanders Scotland," Seneca orator "Red Jacket" (ca. 1750-1830), "John Q. Adams," Scottish poet "Robert Burns," "Genl Alexander Hamilton," "Jefferson Thomas," "winter of 1830, & 31 Mad Dog fever," "1832 the Asiatic Cholara," "Rochester, history," "John Jay," "Col. S. Bleakesley" [Samuel Blakeslee (1759-1834) served in the Revolutionary War and defended Buffalo, New York, in the War of 1812], "Presidents Wash & Adams James Monroe & A Jackson Jeff. J Q A, Madison to be restored," "Rob't Morris," and many more.

The inclusion of "Wm Hincher my Father in law" and "Stephen Lusk my brother in law" in the index confirms that McKenzie prepared it. William Hincher (1742-1817) was McKenzie's father-in-law, and Stephen Lusk (1775-1860) married his sister-in-law Sarah Hincher (1777-1856) in 1801.

McKenzie was an early promoter of railroads in the area. In 1832, he wrote to The Genesee Farmer and Gardner's Journal, "After a long and general acquaintance with the western part of this State, I am convinced that a railroad from Le Roy to Rochester along the valley of Allen's Creek (Oatka) and the Genesee River would be a public benefit, were it to serve no other purpose than to facilitate the forwarding of materials for the building of other railroads in the western district." He purchased ten shares in the Scottsville & Le Roy Railroad, a horse-drawn railroad running on wooden rails, in 1838.

In his will prepared in December 1857, McKenzie gave to his daughter Mary Elizabeth McKenzie (1814-1895) "all my manuscript Journals and writings to be kept or disposed of by her as she may think proper."

Donald McKenzie (1784-1861) was born in Scotland, and his father was a farmer and schoolteacher. He studied mathematics and land surveying at the Royal Academy of Inverness. In August 1801, he sailed to Thurso, Scotland, to begin a career in surveying and also began to keep a journal of "the doings and thinkings of myself," which he continued for more than fifty years. After working as a clerk, McKenzie sailed to America in the summer of 1804, and on landing in New York City on August 11, joined in the funeral procession for Alexander Hamilton. He studied cotton, silk, and woolen dyeing in Connecticut for a year and then settled in Honeoye, New York, in 1806. Three years later, he married Hannah Hincher (1786-1877), and they had ten children over the next twenty years. He built a log structure in what became Mumford, a sawmill, and inaugurated cloth-dressing for all of New York west of the Genesee with customers spread over ten counties. The hamlet of Mumford was first named "McKenzie's Corners" in his honor. McKenzie was one of the three elders of the Caledonia Presbyterian church in 1805. In 1809, he built a fulling mill and began carding wool for cloth. In 1821, he sold his clothing mill to Oliver Allen and William Remington, and the mill prospered throughout the nineteenth century before closing early in the twentieth century. By 1850, he was a farmer in Caledonia, New York, with $15,000 in real estate.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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