LE ROY PENNYSAVER - AUGUST 29, 2010 Oliver and Jerusha Allen by Lynne Belluscio Visitors to LeRoy House along the Oatka Creek have asked about the two empty in Caledonia. A short frames in the back parlor. Usu- time later, Oliver mar- ally Jerusha and Oliver Allen ried Jerusha. They had peer out from the ornate gold two children, Oliver frames but a couple of months Allen II and Eliza- ago I took the portraits to West- beth. Allen moved his lake Conservators in Skaneateles mill in 1828 to Mum- for an evaluation. ford where he built a Oliver was a pale green and large stone building looked a little sick and Jerusha east of the center of was surrounded by a dark cloud. town near the “Twin The portraits are attributed to Bridges.” Phineas Staunton, who was the The mill was op- husband of Ingham University’s erated by two mill founder, Emily Ingham. (You wheels, an indication will remember that he is also the of the immense size of artist that painted the portrait of the mill. This required Henry Clay which now hangs in a new half-mile mill the United States Capitol.) race to be built to sup- Oliver Allen of Mumford by Phineas Jerusha Remington Allen of Mum- This week we learned that we ply the new mill with Staunton. ford by Phineas Staunton. were successful in obtaining a head water. The race grant from the Greater Hudson was six feet deep and twelve feet ing country and sometimes a dozen coatings which were manufac- Heritage Network to have Oliver wide and had to be dug by hand. wagons or more would arrive at tured under the trade name of and Jerusha restored. It will take It was the custom at the time to the same time. The custom was “The Oatka Woolens.” a couple of months but they will supply the workers with a daily that whoever came on the wagons In 1841, William Remington look so much better when they ration of whiskey, but Allen was would expect to stay for mid-day retired from the business and return to their vantage point on a staunch prohibitionist. dinner and often there were quite a went into farming. After the the wall. The Allen portraits are It was reported that Allen per- few men at the dinner table. death of Oliver Allen in 1848, his part of a major collection on art, sonally stood beside the barrel and Another story concerned Silas son and grandson continued the household furnishings, photo- dispensed the whiskey in tin cups Lawrence from Harris Road in business until it closed in 1902. graphs and clothing that were and would say, “All right men, LeRoy. Apparently Silas could tell Oliver Allen and his wife, Jerusha donated to the Historical Society come and get your poison.” The a good story. All the men in the mill were buried in Machpelah Cem- over a period of time from a mill race was called Mary’s (Mer- would take time off when Silas etery in LeRoy. Their daughter, prominent LeRoy family, the ry’s) Ditch but soon was known showed up so they wouldn’t miss Elizabeth, whose portrait greets Olmsteds who were descended simply as “The Ditch.” It was a his wise cracks. “Old Si” was a visitors as they enter LeRoy from the Allens. Jerusha and Oli- favorite place for brook trout. wonderful mimic, full of anecdotes House, married John Randolf ver Allen’s daughter, Elizabeth, The mill office was built of the and dry humor. Olmsted and their son, Allen Ol- enrolled in the LeRoy Female local marl and later became the The Oliver and Remington sted, owner of Allen’s Footease, Seminary (later to be Ingham office for the railroad, operated by Mill produced all-wool flannels, donated LeRoy House to the University) in 1843 and gradu- Oliver Allen’s son. (Later it was suiting, dress goods and over LeRoy Historical Society. ated in 1845. the home of Jay It is believed that it is Eliza- Baker on Arm- beth’s connection to Ingham that strong Road and prompted the portraits by Phineas it is still standing, Staunton. The actual date of the although the mill portraits is unknown. Oliver Al- long ago fell into len died in 1848, the year after its foundation.) Phineas Staunton married Emily The Allen’s lived Ingham and became involved in a large house with the University. across the street Oliver Allen was born in Pitts- from the mill. field, Massachusetts in 1798 and A large formal came to Canandaigua when he garden and trout was seventeen. Jerusha Allen was ponds were part of born in 1800 in Rupert, Vermont the Allen home- and came to Canandaigua with her stead. (Now the father, Dr. Silas Remington, a phy- home of Eric Bak- sician and her brother William. er and the Baker Oliver Allen met Jerusha’s Greenhouses.) brother William at the Higbee Wool for Allen’s Wooen Mill in Canandaigua and mill was brought in in 1821 they built a woolen mill from the surround- Oatka Woolen Mill at Mumford, as it looked in 1860..