Rochester Passenger Arrivals

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If you would have asked me about arrivals at the Port of Rochester last week, I would have said that very few records survive. I do have this one web page of records of arrivals for July – Sept. 1866 but had not heard of any other passenger arrivals. I discovered that FamilySearch has a collection titled New York, Northern Arrival Manifests, 1902-1956. It covers alien arrivals in the ports of Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Lewiston, and Rochester, NY. The vast part of this collection is for Buffalo and Niagara Fall. After browsing a few hundred records, it appears that only about 1% of the 850,465 records are for the Port of Rochester.

None of the passenger arrivals are indexed so you have to browse the records. They are arranged in Soundex order. If you aren’t familiar with the Soundex system or like me haven’t used it in many years, then this web page has a good tutorial.

It is probably no surprise that the amount of data on each card varies greatly over time.

example-1

Robert Burton tried to enter the U.S. on Jan. 8, 1909 and was rejected for being intoxicated. He came back again on Jan. 15th and this time gained entry. He was a bricklayer and had been in the U.S. since 1907. He may have been working in both Rochester and in Canada.

example-2

Siskind Breitman was born in Russia. According to this manifest card, he came to Quebec in March 1911. He then came to Rochester on the SS Argyle in July 1911.

example-3

This record for Andres Heilbron is interesting for many reasons. He was born in Columbia and was on his way back there from Montreal, Canada when he came through Rochester. He didn’t come by boat, he came by airplane in 1845. I didn’t expect any of the passenger arrival to be by air. It even states that he was to leave the U.S. through Miami, FL.

I found another record of a lady that was rejected in 1921. The reason that she was rejected was that she had no bag. They probably expected her to become a welfare case.

I also saw a person coming through Niagara Falls and another through Buffalo that were heading to Rochester. So if you suspect your family coming to Rochester through Canada then it might be worth your time to search these passenger arrivals.

Kodak News; June 10 – 14

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History still in the making…

Kodak plans to shut down its cellulose acetate base manufacturing operations next week. Light sensitive chemicals are spread on the acetate base to make photographic film. The acetate base is made in building 53 in Eastman Business Park. Kodak has an inventory of years worth of acetate base and are looking at options for an external supplier after that. This also mean another 61 people will be losing their jobs.

More than a dozen companies on Thursday filed court papers outlining their objections and concerns to a deal that would sell the personal imaging group to the U.K. Pension Fund. The companies have a problem with how they and the current patent agreements they have with Kodak will fare in the sale.

MCLS Library App

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mcls-appThe Monroe County Library System announced the release of a new app called MCLS Mobile for hand-helds and tablets. MCLS says that:

MCLS Mobile is a free mobile app for use on devices using the Apple and Android operating systems, including iPhones, iPads, Droids, and most tablets. MCLS Mobile allows you to search the catalog, check your account, place holds, search for and download e-books and e-audiobooks, see library events, search for a library near you, and much more.

Whether you are waiting for the kids at baseball practice, sitting at the dentist, or shopping, you can look up a book or a DVD and reserve it with a click. Delayed at the airport with nothing to do? MCLS Mobile let’s you download free audio and ebooks from our Overdrive e-book platform to your device.

The application is free in the Apple store and Google Play store (for Android devices).

Top Songs of 1963; #11

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The next song to hit the top of the record charts in 1963 was “Sukiyaki” by Kyu Sakamoto. The original title of the song was ”Ue o Muite Aruko” (I Shall Walk Looking Up) but was changed for English speaking countries. The song tells the story of a man who looks up and whistles while he is walking so that his tears will not fall. The verses of the song describe his memories and feelings. It is the only song in Japanese that has ever reached the top spot on the U.S. records charts.

Kyu was born in 1941. He had some hits with groups in Japanese before “Sukiyaki” became a world wide hit. In 1963 he made a world tour that include a spot on “The Steve Allen Show” in the U.S. He would only have the one big hit song. Kyu would marry in 1971 and have 2 children. He would died too young in 1985.

“Sukiyaki” would be on the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 3 weeks (June 9 – 29). It stayed on the top of the Cash Box record chart from June 9 – July 6 (4 weeks).

Kodak News; June 3 – 7

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1950s Kodak logo

1950s Kodak logo

History still in the making…

Kodak announced on Monday that it has reached a new agreement with 20th Century Fox to supply motion picture film to its movie and television studios through 2015. Although demand for movie film is down, Kodak said it continues to manufacture billions of linear feet of film each year. At the same time, Fox has told theater owners that they intend to end film distribution in the U. S. within two years.

Kodak has notified 61 workers that they are to be laid off by August 28th, according to a document filed with the NY Labor Department. Those being let go work with photographic equipment and supplies within Eastman Business Park.

FamilySearch Family Tree – Printing

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You can now print both a family group sheet and a pedigree sheet from FamilySearch Family Tree. In a person view there are 2 links off to the right (see image, below). Clicking one of the printing options will open a new window in your browser that is a PDF file. For you to view that page, you will have to have the Adobe reader free plug-in. The new page is interactive and you can add notes to any of the fields (like other spelling, disputed facts, etc.). Then you can either print the file or save it to your computer.

On the the family group sheet all the sources that have been added in FSFT are also printed. Children are printed in the order that they show in Family Tree which is not always by birth date. That is a problem with Family Tree in that there isn’t any way to sort the order of children.

The pedigree chart prints 4 generations. In order to print more generations you would have to go to a person in the 4th generation and create another pedigree charts.

Printing options

Printing options

New Local Cemetery Records

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I recently added a new cemetery transcription list to the GenWeb of Monroe County website. It is for the Stone Road Cemetery which is a Jewish Cemetery which in NOT on Stone Road. When it opened about 1895 it was then Stone Road but that changed in 1935 when Stonewood Avenue opened. Portions of the cemetery were individually owned by Congregations. Then in the 1960s this cemetery and the Jewish cemetery on Britton Road in Greece were re–organized as the Britton Road Cemetery Association.

To do this transcription I took photos of every tombstone and then made the list of tombstones from the photos. Out of about 3,200 tombstones there were about 50 that were only in Hebrew. There were another 20 that were unreadable because of bushes growing over the tombstones or were blank. Then there were 4 photos that were so far out of focus that I couldn’t make out the inscriptions. I anyone wants them, I will add photos of the tombstones to the Find A Grave listing for this cemetery.

The listing for the Stone Road Cemetery was so large that I had to split it into 2 web pages. One for surnames: A – K and the other for surnames : L – Z.

I found online the records of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery that is on East Avenue in the Town of Clarkson. That cemetery was used by the Church of Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Brockport from about 1856 to 1892 when the Church opened Mt. Olivet Cemetery. St. Mary’s Cem. fell into disrepair. In the early 1990s an earthen berm was constructed and most remaining tombstones were cemented into place on the berm.

St. Mary’s is difficult to find. There is a dirt road running north off of East Avenue into the woods. That dirt road is between the Seymour Library and the sewage treatment plant.

The online list contains all the existing tombstones and some burial information from other sources.

I have been told that there is a small cemetery that no one else has any records of. I don’t want to tell where it is, as of yet. But it is supposed to be in the country in the southern part of Monroe County. I will be investigating and see if I can find the cemetery and any remaining tombstones.

Kodak News; May 27 – 31

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Kodak sewage treatment plant on Genesee River

Kodak sewage treatment plant on Genesee River

History still in the making…

Kodak wants to set up a environmental trust fund to settle claims by both the Federal and NY State governments. The claims by those governments amount to over $96 million including a $10.1 million fine for toxic silver contamination of sediments in the Genesee River. The trust fund would be available for clean up of past contamination in and around Eastman Business Park. Kodak will only say that they are in negotiations and nothing is yet concrete.

Property that Kodak used to have in Hollywood has been sold. In 1929, Kodak bought the property to develop sound motion picture film. That original building had a 44 seat screening room. Then in 1994 Kodak built a 86,000-square-foot building with more office space, screening rooms, post-production space, and staging areas. Both buildings have been sitting empty until now.

Kodak had revenue of $127.8 million in the month of April with a gross profit of $9.1 million. Gross profits, however, don’t count certain expenses such as administrative costs, R&D, and reorganization and restructuring costs. Count those in and Kodak for April lost $46.3 million. More than $11 million of the loss came from bankruptcy costs.

Dedication at Maplewood Cem. on June 8th

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maplewoodMaplewood Cemetery in the Town of Henrietta is having a dedication of new lots on June 8th at 10 a.m. Maplewood is the only active cemetery in the Town of Henrietta and has been running out of space for new burials. The cemetery has been working on adding spaces since 2006. The new lots will add 900 burial spaces. It is the first expansion in over a 100 years.

Maplewood Cemetery located at 150 Middle Road dates back to as early as 1821. An old listing of tombstones compiled in 1931 says that there was a tombstone for Elizabeth Shattuck dated 1811 but subsequent tombstone listings have failed to find that tombstone. There are 3 Revolutionary War veterans buried in the cemetery as well as veterans from every major war since then.

The cemetery was operated as a local burial site until 1896 when the Maplewood Cemetery Association was formally organized. The Association operates as a not-for-profit organization today. The Association has their own website which includes all known burials by name and also by lot number. They also have a photos of most of the tombstones.