JACOB fllRAM MYERS, BRILLIANT INVENTOR OF THE VOTING MACHINE

By Richard 0. Reisem

In the national political clcc.t ion on

Novcmber9, '2010, an clcc­Lronic voting device for Lhc first time replaced Lhc mc­c.hanical votirng machine that had been usc<ll in New Yo rk

State for 114 years. Gone

was the bulk y machine where the voter faced lists of

political choices and with one hand pulled a curtain closed around the v mer, who

then faced a btrge panel of

names and levers. Closing the curtain provided privacy , and the voter could make

selections f rom the array of political partie.~ by pushing down a small lever over one

selected name for each gov­ernment office. T he voter

could also change the selec­tion by pushing the de­pressed lever back up and choosing another person for that particular office. T his proc.css w as: t~nlinucd unlil

all the choices for the various government positions had been selected. T he process was private and il was scc.rc l. \\'hen the

voter pushed the lever to open the curtain, the machine mechanically recorded the votes c.as:t and rc.~ct the panel for the next vmcr. T he machine

did nOL know who the voter was: i t only contained accumulated numbers

assigned to part icular candidate.~ .

\\'hen the election wa'\ over, voting

inspectors read the accumulated vote counts that the machine had collected for each cand idatc . In contested races,

inspectors could return 10 the voLing mach ine-..·~ and reread Lhc numbers.

l :n last fall's election, Lhc.~c bulky me­c hanical machines: were replaced boy sleek clcc.Ln)nic scanners that scan111cd

paper ballol~ lillcd out by voters , who,

.Jacob H . M )ref'S. inwmtorofthe mechani­cal \'oting machine is seated. while his brothers. Theodore Myers and .James

Myers. stand behind him.

hidden from prying eye.~ in small booths, applied black ink in small cir­cle.~ bc.~idc the name.~ of favored candi­

dates. This pmcc.~s was also private and scc.ret. The SC-.:'l.nncr retained the vo·ting information clccLn)nically and also kept

the paper ballms Lhcmsclvc.~ for manual t)r electronic recounting, if noccssary.

The I ndusui al Revolution of the I 800s

and 1900s produced mochanization of every imaginable kind of proress in our society, and voting in early America was in particular need of some kind of means to conLrol notorious corruption in eloctions. Before !he secret ballot was

employed in New York City, for example, Tammany Hall conLn)lled. elections for dec­ades: Lhn)ugh buying vote.'\ from the burget)ning immi­

gmm population . Tammany Society oflkials directed the voting practices of immi­gr.lnts at polling place.~ by instructing them on how to fill out their paper ballots and paying them small amounL'\ f<>r Lhcir paLn)nagc.

lbc state <>f Victoria, A us· tralia, developed the Austra· lian Scc.rc l Ballot in 1856.

This style of uniform offi­

cial paper ballot was printed by the government and listed the :name.~ of all c an­didates and issues: in a fixed

order and was counted by

hand. II compelled voters to

fill out the ballot in secret. The Australian ballm w as c.onsidere<J for usc in New York City 10 reduce f raud

and corruption, but iL was rc· j ccted because the ballot required liter­

ate voters and many foreign immi· grants were not literate in English and would be denied voti ng rights .

A t the 185 1 Crystal Pl1L~ce Exhibition in London, inventor \Villiam Chamrer­

lain, Jr. of Sussex exhibi ted the first voting machine, which countOO vote.~

automatically and incorporated a system to prevent over-voting. But it never went into production ~ Anthony C. Bera-

. •; . --- -- · f ·· ~ , ·~ ·:""' , 1: ,,,, . ·". '•· , 't ~ •t4; ~ ,, I 9.'\. .. t ,., ...... ~ ' . l ,· ~ ,._;~- , , ~~~., c., I I , ,. • ,.. ;-. .-·

nck, a Chicago invenwr, took Chamber· lain's idea and modified it to \o\Ork in

American elections in 188 1 , but again the machine was never inlrodi.JC.Cd to the

marketplace. It was Jacob Hi r f.m M yers

( 1841- 1920), a Rochc.~ter inventor, who dcvis<Xl the American Balk)t Machine,

late.r caii<Xl the M yers Automa1c Booth ,

in 1889 (U.S. Patent 4 15,549) which went into production and was llrst used

in 1892 in a Lockport , New York, cloo­

tion and then in Rochester, New York ,

in the general election of 1896.

Jacob M yers came to the invention of his me<:hanic.al lever voting mac.hinc with lots of experience. Born in Belle·

fonte, Pennsylvania, he auendcd the

famous Bellefonte Ac ademy. That

school is c.rcditcd with educating more leaders, more governors. more senators, more judge.~. and more public adminis­

trators Lhan any mhcr school in Penn­sylvania. After graduation, he .;rudicd

law, but found his interest s leaning more toward tcchnok1gy and busincs:s. He apprenticed at a farm ncar :he newly establish<Xl Agricul tural College of Pennsylvania, which later bcc-imc

Pennsylvania State Universiry.lbc col·

lege acquired stmc-of-lhc-art agricul· rural machine.~ . which M yers srudi<Xl

firsthand.

A f ter his apprcnticc.~hip, M yers became

the agent for mowers and reaper·

mowers in Centre County, Pennsylva­

nia. His business was a huge succc .. ~s. panly because he sold the newe~t and

best equipment and partly because he knew intimately how the rn.'l.c.hincs

work<Xl and how they could be repairod . The combination rcapcr~mowcr rna·

c hines that M yers sold and servic<Xl

were dc.~ign<Xl by a Syracuse inventor,

Mosc.~ G. Hubbard, and Hubbard's ma­chines were manufactured in Rtx:.hcs:tcr,

New York by Rochc.~tcr Agricultural Works.

M yers close relationship with Hubbtlrd and the Rochc.,tcr Agricultural Works

persuad<Xl him 10 move his wife, the

former Emma C. Smi th, and f~mily 10 a

house on South Union Stroot in Roches-

tcr, so that he could be more closely

afllliat<Xl with the Rocbc.~tcr Agricul ·

rural Works . ln fact , M yers dc.~ign<Xl

several improvements :o the raking mechanisms u.sed on hc>r.sc-drawn reap­ing machine.~ and ttteiv<Xl U.S. patents

for hi~ inventions. The company hi r<Xl

M yers to be Superintendent of World

Sale.~ . In 1875, they sent him to Europe

TJu military wmbswne of .Jacob H. M)oers is located in &nge 4. Lm 68.

Moum Hope Cemetery.

to negotiate bulk sale.~ of the company's

machine.~ in Engk~nd . Germany, and mhcr counuies:.

In 1878, M yers was pmmot<Xl to man­

ager of one of Hubbard 's manufacturing

plants in Fremont , Ohio. Subsequently,

he became the head of another manu·

factory of Hubbard machine.~ in Norris­town, Pcnno;ylvania. By this time , Jacob M yers was a weal thy man and a promi·

ncnt name in agricullural machinery.

Then in the early 1880>, unfortunately,

a competitive reaping and binding ma­chine was: introduced that used string instead of wire to bind bundle.~ of

reaped whc::u . T he new machine was

lcs:S expensive and easier to use than Hubbard's invention, which unceremo­

niously went out of business.

2

Myers rcturn<Xl 10 Rochc.~tcr and bought

another house on South Union Street.

When he operated a factory in Ohio,

Myers became aware of a manufacturer of bank safe.~ and vauiL~ in Cincinnati.

He had ideas about making bank vauiL~

burglar-proof. Working with the Cin·

cinnati vault manufactory. he dc.s:ignOO and instaii<Xl burglar-pmof vaults f<.­banks acn)SS the country. It was a par­

ticularly profltablc businc.~s. and he

spent some of his newly aequi r<Xl weal th on a handsome house at 280

Alexander Street.

Inventors, apparently, never cease in~

venting. In 1888 , M yers began thinking

about a safe vooing machine. In his

bank-vault days, he had acqui r<Xl con­

siderable knowi<Xlge and a number of patenL~ for the intricate mcchani~msof burglar-pn)Of bank vauiL~ . Machine.~

with gc.a.rs and levers were on the cut~

ring <Xlge of technology in the late

1800s . They had more moving parL~

than almost any other kind of mac.hin­

cry and required inventive brilliance as well as advanc<Xl knowledge. Jacob

Myers was just the man for the j ob.

LO<)king at the 22 page.~ of M ycrs ini tial

voting machine patent number415,549,

the 12 page.~ of refinements in patent number 424,332, the 15 page.~ of fur~1er

refinements in patent number 494,588,

and the 25 pagrs of major revisions in

patent number 972,565, this project was

by no means simple. Only by reproduc­

ing all74 pages could we tell tbe story of how this voting machine worked . We

will scule for a couple of dc.~criptive

paragraphs.

Myer's machine was aclually contained in a small, portable r<)Om with four

waUs and three doors. S~1c.c.~ inside accommodatcdonc fX!CSOn, with an ex~

ccption for a blind or otherwise disabi<Xl person, who was allow<Xl to be accom­

panied by an a~~istant.ln~idc the llrst dO<)r, which lock<Xl behind the voter,

was a panel wilh vertical columns of names for eac h political party, say, a red

column for Republican, a yellow col­

umn for Dcmoc:.rat, a blue column for

Prohibition (which was a part) in

Myer 's day), and a bmwn column for

Socialist. If the voter preferred to vote a

straight party ticket , he could depress all of the knobs down the column of the

color of his party c hoice, and he was

thmugh voting. Once a knob wa~ de­

pressed, i t could not be pulled out. You

could not change your mind. ;>.lso, you

could nol vote for Lhc S.'l.mc government position in two different columns . An intcrkx:king m{'(:.hanism prohib .. itcd prc.~sing two knobs in Lhcsamc horizontal row at once or after one knob in that n)w had al ready been

pressed .

If the voter wanted 10 split vote.~ among variol1~ panics:, he would select the de.~ ired individuals fmm

the several columns and push down

the appropriate knobs, working his

way 10 the bouom of the list of can­

didate positions. When the voting

process was complete, he exiLed via a second door (remember that the

first door behind him had locked

when i t was closed) . Beyond the

second door, the voter faced a thi rd

door, which could be opened only when

the second door was dosed. E'iting the

third door put the voter free ofMyer 's

Automatic. Booth with his vote safely

stored in the lever voting machine.

When the voter closed the third door,

the machine rc.~et the voting panel and

released the lock on the first door to admit the next voter. When p<)IL~ closed,

voting in~pcctors opened the back of the

machine and read the number of votes for each candidate in much Lhc same way a.~ a meter rca.dcr tallies: cloctric.:'l.l

usage from the dials on an electrie me·

tcr.

Myers' complex machine w as designed to ensure every voter 's intentions were

met and common errors prevented. Because the push-keys for all candi·

date.~ in a particular c ategory locked in

place w hen one of the knobs was de­

prc.~sed, voters were prohibi ted f rom

over voting.

To help people with lioited English

literacy while voting, Myers had a fac­

simile of the electoral panel inside the

voting bomh displayed in the polling

place so that these people could obtain

help in memorizing the panel locations

of candidate.~ that they wished to vote for. \\1hen Myers' voting machine be~

came available, i t received high praise

in newspapers across P.mcric.a. They

/1 was /IJfred GiiiRSfJie :f wning ma· chine thai finally beccme the forerwt·

ner of alljumre mechanical \'0/ing machines . // utili:_t.>d many feawres of

Myer:fjir.'u 1r.achine.

said i t provided secrecy without punish­ing illiterate voters. It was called an

"inventive Lriumph" arx1 attracted sup· port fmm all political partic.~ . ln 1890, Rochc.~tcr invc.~tors of both the Repub· lican and Dcmoc.ratic parties raised capital for the c.~tablishmcnt of the My·

ers American Ballot Machine Company

and named Jacob Myers as prc.~ident of

the company.

New York St.~te Senator Donald

M cNaughton,a Democrat , introduced a

bill to make the use of Myers' voting

machine legal in all state elections. It was passed with a unaoimous vote in the Scn.<:ttc and wilh an overwhelming majority in the A ssembly. The bill be·

came law in March 1892.

Myers' machine wa~ used for the llrst

time in anApril l 892 elcc.tion in Lock -

port , New York. T he city was for a long Lime run by Democratic political bosse..; , and members of b<>Lh parties were fed up with the city government and de­manded that the city adopt ~~c new VOL·

ing mac.hine. Tney did and the special

April election went smoothly. Although Dcmoc.raL'\ were in the m'ljorily, voters tossed out the pditical bossc.~ in favor

of Republican reformers, thereby mak­

ing Lockport a leader in a municipal

reform movement in America.

l b e Lockport rc.~uhs created great en­

Lhusiasm for M ycrs:' mac.hinc. which wa~ installed in dozens of towns

throughout upstate New York in 1893. In 1894, New York State voters ap·

pnwcd an amendmcnl lO Lhc SLate COn· sti tution enabling the use of Myers' machines: in all stale clccLions.

Jacob Myers' hometown, Rochc.~ter,

wa~ the llrst American city to insulll

hi~ voting machine.~ cirywidc. By that

time, Myers h,ld competition in the

lleld of voting machines. A former

Myers cmpkl}ec, Sylvanus E. Davi~. absorbed all of the technical informa­

tion he l<~amed at the American Ballot

Machine Company and decided to go oul on his own and develop his version

of a voling machine that was manufac· Lured by the United Suues Voting Ma­

chine Company. Davis tried to win the

contract to supply voting machine.~ for

the Rochester election, butt he city SC·

lected Myc.rs' o achine and Rochc.~ter

became the llrst city in America to usc

voting machines in a ~ncnll clcclion.

EPITAPH Pkhlhkd q/IWNtJ ybpJM jilm~J ~ ti{MmMN /lllpt"C~~!elf.ktu~JJ<Y • . 'i.-w )£.111. J.t&i).

fJRIJN{NQjl: IIMiti.<Y 111/f(IIN;.mJ•mfoJNNikdln J 9.'JO. Cl :2011 The Frie11ds of ~tit Hope Cemetef')'

Ril:b.-dO. Rtkm. F.d~r Fe.&,, G:aJ.:,;pit. Pb:cogr~pbcr

l).,n Ml.\:~•'4;i. •\a 1)1\'UC..

t..ciO.: M>l:u•'olti. £\UI:ui~.v~i•urn

U;a.;u: ~ma;d membmt!fl K SlO

CaJI (S&SI .&O I.J49.t f«ll fn:tpo:da!:

pi& t:~ M.xn U•'P: G:mcay11tda tnefllbcr':otl1tllffll.:.c .. ..._.

S« oorc...-J«bbatdiftfonn:uw \\'tbscc :•'9YJ kgnb.:q

A ll did not go well in Rochester at the

election of 1896. Some machines, ap·

parently, lost dozens, or perhaps hun· dreds of vmes. A Democratic candidate

for alderman , Jacob Gerling , became

convinced that he lost the election be·

cause the Republican election oflkials

had somehow 1 wc<lked the machine to

defeat him , a charge that on the surface

appeared preposterous, but created a furor. Another losing candidate, adopt~

ing Gerling's argument, decided to sue.

Gerling persuaded many of his fellow

Democrats 10 oppose Myers's mac hine.

Public sentiment turned against Jacob Myers and his mechanical voting rna~ chine. Newspapers reported outrage at

the possibly gross failure of the 1896 clceLion.

Myers' de.sign utilized thousands of

springs, many of them pushing against

each other. They worked perfectly m llrst , but apparently with heavy usc the

machines began to operate err.uically.

Inspections of a number of machine.s

seemed toconllrm ade.sign flaw. In the face of all the opposition to what was: onccc.allcd a .. mechanical marvel", the board of directors of the American Bal·

lot Machine Company voted LO close

~~e f actory and lire Myers , all without

giving him a chance to correct any de·

feeLS.

Devastated by the board 's actions, My·

ers and his son Oscar fled Roche.ster the

following year, traveling to the K lon·

dike, a region of Yukon Terri tory in

northwe.st Canada, to join the gold rush

that had started there in 1896 and ended

the following year when the Myers ar·

rived on the scene. A f ter failing in the

K londike Gold Rush as well, M yers returned to Roc.hcstcr, retired, hi-; achievements all but forgouen, and died

on April ! , 1920. He is buried in Range

4, Lot 68, Mount Hope Cemetery.

Sylvanus E. Davis, whose mentor had

been Jacob Myers. suspected that there

might be a problem with springs and

designed his machine to pnwide direct,

positive action. No springs. A fter his

failure to obtain the Rochester contract ,

Davis moved his company to lame·

stown, New York . But he still was un·

able 10 persuade Roehe.stcr to usc his

machine.s in the clcxtion of 1898, be· cause another inventor of mechanical voting machines arrived on the scene.

Tbe llrst succe.ssful election in Roches­

ter inc.orpor.uing voting machines OC·

curred in 1898. This new machine was

devised by an Iowa inventor, named Alfred J. Gille.spie. (It is intere.sting to

note Lhat Frank A. Gillespie, Lrustce emeritll~ of the Friends of Mount Hope

Cemetery and photographer of anum·

bcr of Friends publications, is a descen­dant of A lfred J . Gillespie. Frank 's great

great grandfather w.ts a brmher of A I·

fred J. Gille.spie.)

With his patcnLS in hand, A lfred J .

Gille.spie moved to Roche.ster af ter the

1896 elootion linsco. In 1897, Gillespie

directed his attorney, Frank Chun:.h, to

buy Jacob Myers' patents, which pro· vidcd Lhe bao;ic SLrucLUrc for hi-; im· proved machine. He then persuaded

Yawman & Erbe, a Rochester manufac­

turer of busine.ss mzchine.~. to support

his newly fom1ed Standard Voting Ma·

chine Company and manufacture his voting machine.

Gille.spic's superior voting machine had

a simpler appearance than Myers' con·

eeption. Gillespie dispensed with the

enclosed booth with three doors in favor

of a privacy curtain Lhat Lhe voter dosed around him when voting. Closing the curtain acLivatcd Lhc machine. And his machine, for the lint time, enabled VOL·

ers to change their votes before they were recorded . When a voter was happy

with his selections, he pulled a large lever, which opened the curtain and

recorded his vote. 0 Lhcrwise, Gille.spie's machincdid everything that

Myers' did . Without the springs, that is. It was installed citywide in Rochester

and Buffalo in 1898 and proc.laimed the

successful beginning of tbe voting rna·

chine era .

But even A lfred Gille.spic was not de.s·

tined for immortality. His Standard VOL·

ing Machine Company wasshon-lived. Just after the 1898 election, Davis'

United Suues Voting Machine Company

flied a patent infringement lawsuit against Gille.spie 's Standard Voting Ma·

chine Company. To par~y settle this suit, Rochester and Jamestown investors formed the United Suues Standard VOL·

ing Machine Company in I !XJO. It pur·

chased the patents of both of the otber

companies. And although Davis' patents were purchased , they were not used.

The new company chose to manufacture an impnwed version of the Gille.spie

machine, which incorporated Myers'

patenLs. lt was decided that the lame·

stown factory should produce the new

machines, which i t did until the com·

pany was bankrupt in 1983.

Eventually, the new company became

the Automatic Voting Machine Com·

pany, which dominated the mechanicnl

voting machine industry. By 1930, lever

machines had been installed in vir tually

every major city in the U.S. But even

the long-lasting Automatic Vming Ma·

chine Company was eventually bank·

rupl in 1983, when punch-card and

other v<>ling systems began to replace the bulky lever voting machine.s .

During the 9 1 years that lever vming machines were manufactured and 23 more years that dependable existing

machines continued to be used, me­chanical voting dominated American political elections. Over the years , the

machines were impnwcd and modified in a number of ways, but all of them

were based on Lhc original concept c.re­ated by the brilliant ingenui ty of Jacob

H. Myers.

(Autlwr:,· Note: This anicfe was pre ·

fXlretl fr()m infomwti()ll researchetl by Marilyn Nolte.)

FRIENDS OF MOUNT HOPE ANNUAL MEETINC~

ENTERTAINING AND INFORMATIVE

By Richard 0. Reisem l'hmas by Don Hall

T he Friend~ of Mount Hope Cemetery

held their annual meeting on Tuc.~day,

April S, 7:00p.m. at Brighton Town Hall. It was an evening II lied with fas­

cinating and informative presentations, and the audi torium was packed with an

overflow crowd. Prc.~idenL Marilyn

Nolte reviewed Lhc many activities of our growing organization, which now numbers more than 600 members. Vol· unteer efforts by board members cx­

t'CCded 5,000 hours for these<:Md year,

including substantial effort by the Land· sc..-:apc Commincc to implcrncn; recom­mendations of the comprehensive Cui·

tural Landscape Study comple:ed in

May 2009. The highly succc.~sful tour

season included two Torch Light tours

that attracted over 900 tour-go•us.

Score.~ of members made donations to

restore monuments in the cemetery in our Ugly Wall project. Through Friends

efforts, the cemetery became a desig­

nated site on the National Und!rground

Railroad Network to Frocdom program.

Nolle continued with a host of other

accomplishments.

Trca~urer Dennis Carr reported record

income from membership due~, tours, events, gifL~. and grants . Even after

spending Lhou.~ands on rcslOrmion pro­j ects over the past few years, the <>r· ganization has more than $60,000 in·

vested for future proj ects to impnwe the

cemetery.

1?-esidem Mar ilyn Nolte.

Treasunr Demris Carr.

Vice-presidem and aJdhor Richard R(.isem.

Nahoma Presbert ( leji)and Amanda Gt)'Stl.

Vice-president and author Richard Rciscm dcs.c.ribcd a new Friends book, Fretle1ick Douglass ant/the Untlergmwu! Rai/r()tul . k) Lhe audi~

cnet.."'-in the photo showing a map id!ntifying the gravc.~ites of 35 im·

portant U nderground Railroad par­

Licipanls. ln the book , GPS locations

are noted for all of those abolitionists.

Teenagers Nahoma Prc.~berg and

Amanda Gh)Scl represented Rochc.~­ter 's School of the Arts students who

prepared a video Litlcd P()s/ Mortem

in which they interviewed high school students and recorded scene.~

in Mount HO?C Cemetery. Their quc.~­Lion to studcnLs was "\Vhm do you think happens to you af ter you die?"

l b e fascinating and diverse opinions were prc.scntcxl in a showing of the

video. T he program won the "Bc.~t

lnvc.~tigative Documentary Pnxluccd by lC.Cnagcrs,. in a loc-'ll compcLilion.

The main spe.akc.r of Lhccvcning was

Dc::.moc.rat & Chronicle reporter and author Bob Mareotte, who kept the

audience engrossed in his storic.~ of Roc.hc.•;rcr area s:ok1icrs in the Civil War. His book , \\'here They Fell, sold

out af ter the meeting, as did Rei~em 's

lx)()k on the Undergr ound Railroad .

Dclicioll~ refreshments capped the

very special evening.

BEVERLY WAUGH JONES: L ESSON IN POLITICAL COURAGE

IJ)' l'lr)•llis C.Stelrm

Beverly Waugh Jones, the son of a po­liticr.lly active father, Hubbard W. J one.~

of Roche.,Lcr, had his political courage tested when he came into contfiCl with

Susan B. Anthony oncU:Kll autumn day in 1872. A young man of 24 years , Jone.~ was present at the Board of Reg­b try, rcponcdly a local barbershop in the Fir.L Election District, 8th Ward , 29t•• Congrc...,.sion..-:tl DbLricL. when Susan

B . Anthony- along with her three sis­ters, Guclma Mclean, Hannah Mosher, nnd Mnry Anthony- prc..,.,ntcd Lhcm­sclvc.~ on Friday, November I , 1872 to rcgi~Lcr to vote in the presidential election.

Jone.~ wrL~ again prc.~cnt ill the Wc.,L Avenue (now Main Street) polling place when Susan rctumed with her si~­ters 10 vote on Tuc.~ay, No­vember 5, 1872. In his fourth year serving n.~ an elected and duly appoint£-d election inspector, and as a registered Republican, Jonc.~ initially refused to accept Miss An· Lhony's voter n:gi~tnuion. but aflcr much discu%ion of the 14 11• constilutional

amendment wilh Miss An·

thony, he wfL~ cvcntunlly persuaded by her t\nd others present to accept iL

On election day, Mi~s An· thony wnue in her dairy LhHL Edwin T. Marsh, the other Republican ele-ction inspL'C· tor, and Jones agreed to put her vote in the box. Anthony's diary entry further SlfliC.'i Lhftl Jones said, "We 'll fight it On this line if i t takes all winter," perhnps rcnlit.ing thfll his acceptance of her vote would be challenged in court. Little did he know at the Lime thm he would be indicted on four tounL~ of election

8 1!\l t•l'ly ./OII t!.f ( /H4c.~· l c'$79) W(l,f Olrl)l 3/ ytvJrs o ld u;lteJt Jte dh~. St!\l l'fl )'t!ttrs ajrer he ga\1e permi.uimtloSusaJt B.AtllhO!I)' 10 w>le in I he dec1hm of IB72. He is bur­it•tl in Mmuu Ht>t>e Ct:•nu!Ier)~ Sec1hm L.

£1/2. /.1)192.

lnllri,f \';ew tlj'Sei: lit)ll L.. lire brtNWII momtmeltl of & \•t•rly .lmre.r .flattd.1' ;, the faregrmmd ready for re.sw ralimt ~•dill a caftlributimt w the Ugly Uillljund <>/the

Friends of Moum Hope Cemetery.

fraud , and bcconvic.tcd at a ui al on June 18, 1873 in the Canandaigua Courthouse. All three election inspec· tors- Jonc.,, Mur>h, and the Dcmocrmic in,pector William B. Hall- rcfu..::d to pay the judge's imposed line and court COSL'\, which resulted in their arrcs:t Feb· rufn')' 25, 1874.

6

Beverly Jonc.., spent a brief morning in jail, before being quickly bailed out by his father. In a diary entry on Tuesday. Marth 3, 1874, Mi~s Anthony reports Lhlll in the city election Lhlll day, b<~h " Mar~h and Jones were rc<loctcd lO the oflke of inspector by a good majoriL y vote; thus the 8•• Ward rebuked Judge Hunt by hon,)ring the boys." Prc.~idenl

Ulyssc.~ S, Gr>nll pnrdoncd the Republi­can elec tion inspectors, Beverly Jonc.-. and Edwin T . Marsh. as well as the Democratic in~pcctor, William B. Hall , on March 3, 1874.

A cement nlofer by trade in 1872, Bev­erly W. Jones was b<>rn in March 1848 to Hubbard W. and Huldah 0 . Jones. At the time of this event, Beverly Jones lived with his wife, Eliznbeth "Libbie"

Ann Renfrew, whom he married in March 1869, and their son, Theodore Beverly Jonc.~. born February 1870, at 13 W. Atkin:.<)n Street in the 8"• Ward . Only seven short years later, Beverly Jonc.~ died September 6, 1879 nL

age 31 years, 6 month, and 6 days. He died of consumption, and was buried in a single gnwc in Mount Hope Ccme·

LCI'Y· Section L. E 1/2. Lot 92.

His wife, Libbic, never rcmn1Ticd. Aftcrwnn:J. ,he made her home until 1924 with her younger bro~>er, Robert Renfrew, and sister, JcnnCLLC M. Renfrew, in RochcMcr. In Inter life, Libbie li''Cd with her

son, Theodore, in Califomia and died July 26, 1939 in Cave Creek, Maricopa Counly, Arizona, where she is buried in the Greenwood Lnwn Memorial Ceme­tery. William B . Hall. the Dcmocrmic election inspector, was Lhe .son of A&'l

B . Hall , who is buried in Mount Hope.

NEW CREMATORY ATMOU THOPE

Newly ~-omplcted at Mount Hope Cemetery i• a >tate-of-the art crematory thm include. a viewing room where a family can hokl u ceremony brfore commiuing n body to ru.hcs. Comfort­able furni tun: allows families 10 remain during the entire cn.:mmion process. Facilitie..~ include n mini-kitc hen wiLh sink , rcfrigcrmor, coffcemakcr, and mi· crownve oven in cnsc families want tn include food and beverages as pan of a memorial service.

The cxpan<Ove new facility aL.o in­cludes a wheelchair elevator tnd stairs down to the room containing .he cre­mation retort>. A third room in the complex ~-ontain• n:friger.uo" to store bod ic.• before cremation and ~ state-of­thc ... nrt machine thm pulverizes bones

and autonuuicnlly •cpanuc.• metals from the a~hc~.

Cemetery manager Jclfcry Simmons said that cremmion i~ nn increasingly

preferred method of handling deceased remains and that this advanced facility provides all of the features requested by various ethnic and religious groups.

.ltffery Sitnma11s. mtmttger of MowtJ Hot>e

Cnueter)t e.~plai11s the OJH! trtti 011 oftlte new

rl'torts too YNNcamera opi!ralorfttpol"'t?.

Pholo b)• D.>n HaU.

The t'ttlire rigltl pot1iott oj1he ceme1ery offkt• building i.r t m ttdtUI;on ltmu.:11g a new .Utlle-ofllrt!·tJrll'rt'IIUJUJI')' t il

Moum Hope Cemeury.

Th•o ltl'W (J(I\'(tltc~d l't!IQrtS lll't! /lOW O\'tliJ·

able ;n I he Jrt·w t'rt.'ltllllory w;/Jt space for a /Jrirtlrt:U>I'IIV the Jejl.

THE FRIENDS OF MT. HOPE CEMETERY PO BOX 18713 ROCHES""ER NY 14618-0713

Non-Proli <Xg. U.S. Pos.tage

PAID Roches1er. NY Permi1 No.1037

GUIDED WALKING TOURS OF MOUNT HOPE CEMETERY

Free public rours eve1y SaTurday aT I :00 p .m. and Sunday aT 2:00p.m.

from May Through OcTtJber. MeeT aT norrh garehouse .

2011 THEME TOURS

$5.00/Free for members, except

Ton:.h Light Tour.

Sunday, May 22, 8:00a.m. Bird Watcher Tour.

Meet at nonh gatchousc.

Friday, June 17, 7:0) pm.

Mischief, Murder & MaJ hem. Meet at nonh gatchousc.

Saturday, June 18, II :30 a.m.

Roc.hester & Erie Canal.

Meet at nonh gatchousc.

Saturday, June 25, 1:30 p.m.

Ch·il War Tour. Meet at north gat chouse.

S unday, June 26, 10:00 a.m.

J ewis h Rool~ .

Meet at cemetery office .

Saturday, July 16, 10:00 a.m .

Famous and Forgotten. Meet at cemetery ofllce .

Friday, August 12, 6:30 p.m.

Mischief, Murder & Mayhem . Meet at north gat chouse.

S aturday, August 13 , 12:00 noon. Revolutionary War.

Meet at north gat chouse.

Saturday,August20 1 I :(X) p.m. fee Cream Tour.

Meet at cemetery ofllce .

Saturday, Scptcmber 10, 12:30 p.m.

Lost Sec rel~ .

Meet 31 north gat chouse.

Saturday, Scptcmber 17, 12:30 p.m.

('.eolo~· at Mount Hope. Meet 31 north gat chouse.

S aturday, O\;tobcr 22, 12:00 noon .

Fall Foliage Tour. Meet a1 north gat chouse.

S aturday, October 22, 6:00 p.m. Torc.h Light Tour. $7 .00/10 .00.

Meet a1 north gat chouse.

Tuesday, October 25, 6:00 p.m. Torc.h Light Tour. $7 .00/10 .00.

Meet a1 north gat chouse.

Rcfrc..o;;hmcnts after all tours . Visit v.ww.fomh.org for

important tic.kcL information.