Editing Nathaniel Rochester (section)

==Career==
===Military, politics, and business===
In 1775, as the Revolution approached, Rochester was named to the Committee of Safety for [[Orange County, North Carolina|Orange County]]. According to Rochester, his duties necessitated him to "promote revolutionary spirit among the people, provide arms and ammunition, make collections for the people of Boston, and prevent the sale of East India teas."{{Citation needed|date=January 2023}} On August 20 of that year, he attended the [[Third North Carolina Provincial Congress|Third Provincial Congress]] as a representative of Hillsborough. Rochester was appointed a [[Major (rank)|major]] in the North Carolina [[militia]], and served as justice of the peace and [[paymaster]] of the battalion of [[minutemen]] in the district of Hillsborough. The following year, he was assigned command of two infantry and one cavalry company. He was tasked with following Colonel James Thackston in pursuit of [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Tories]] marching to join the British at Wilmington. En route, his force captured five hundred Tories retreating from the [[Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge]].

In 1776, Rochester represented Orange County in the [[Fourth North Carolina Provincial Congress|Fourth Provincial Congress]] and was elevated to the rank of colonel in the [[North Carolina Line]]. Due to illness, however, Rochester was rendered unfit for military duty and had to resign his command. His role in politics was not affected, and in 1777 he was elected to the [[North Carolina General Assembly of 1777|North Carolina General Assembly]], where he served as county clerk. In addition, Rochester was appointed [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]] of the North Carolina militia. Rochester was also made commissioner in charge of building and managing an [[Weapon|arms]] [[factory]] and courthouse, and assisted in establishing an academy in the Hillsborough area.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.php/document/csr13-0413 | title=Documenting the American South: Colonial and State Records of North Carolina |website=docsouth.unc.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.php/document/csr13-0510|title = Documenting the American South: Colonial and State Records of North Carolina|website=docsouth.unc.edu}}</ref>

In 1778 Rochester resigned and entered a mercantile venture with Colonel Thomas Hart, a notable and wealthy merchant and land speculator, and James Brown. Rochester began to invest his earnings into real estate, a practice he continued throughout his life. With the British Army's imminent occupation of Hillsborough, Rochester moved to Philadelphia where he was almost immediately stricken with smallpox. After a lengthy recovery, he joined Hart in [[Hagerstown, Maryland]], where the two became partners in a flour mill, a nail and rope factory, a bank, and a farm.

Rochester remained in Maryland for thirty years, where he served one term in the [[Maryland General Assembly]] and two years as [[postmaster]]. He was elected as a judge in 1797 but resigned, recognizing that he did not have the proper legal training. Rochester served as [[Washington County, Maryland|Washington County]]'s Sheriff from 1804 to 1806,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.whilbr.org/Rochester/index.aspx|title=Sheriff Nathaniel Rochester's Records, Washington County, 1804-1806|website=www.whilbr.org|accessdate=November 6, 2022}}</ref> a presidential elector, and vestryman of [[Saint John's Church (Hagerstown, Maryland)|Saint John's Church]]. In 1807, Rochester helped found the Hagerstown Bank, serving as its first president.

===Land speculation===
[[File:NathanielRochesterHouseFromDansville.JPG|thumb|Rochester's house from Dansville, now at the [[Genesee Country Village and Museum]]]]
Two of the directors of the Hagerstown Bank, Colonel William Fitzhugh and Major Charles Carroll were, like Rochester, wealthy landowners interested in acquiring land in the new "frontier" of the U.S.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rbscp.lib.rochester.edu/finding-aids/D488|title = Charles Carroll (Of Bellevue) Papers &#124; RBSCP}}</ref> In 1800, Fitzhugh and Carroll convinced Rochester to travel with them on a prospecting visit to the frontier lands of New York, specifically to the lands along the [[Genesee River]]. Their first trip took them to Dansville, where Rochester purchased a combined 520 acres, while Fitzhugh and Carroll purchased another 12,000 at $2 per acre.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Osgood |first1=Howard |title=Rochester; Its Founders and Its Founding |journal=Publications of the Rochester Historical Society |date=1922 |volume=1 |page=57}}</ref>

In November 1803, the three men returned to [[Geneva, New York|Geneva]] to make payments. They were convinced by the land agent to visit the Genesee Falls further north,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Osgood |first1=Howard |title=Rochester; Its Founders and Its Founding |journal=Publications of the Rochester Historical Society |date=1922 |volume=1 |pages=59–60}}</ref> where they found an abandoned grist and saw mill—opened in 1789—once owned by Ebenezer “Indian” Allen. The men recognized a business opportunity as products traveling upriver toward Lake Ontario would need to be unloaded at the saw mill, and portage fees could be charged. On November 8, 1803, the three men signed a purchase agreement for a {{convert|100|acre|km2}} tract near the river's Upper Falls. The final payment of $1,750 (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US|value=1750|start_year=1808}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}) was made on June 22, 1808.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://rochistory.wordpress.com/2017/03/21/so-it-is-best-to-call-it-rochester-how-the-community-came-to-be/|title=" So It is Best to Call It Rochester:" How the Community Came to be|date=21 March 2017}}</ref>

===Life on the Genesee===
Rochester's interest in the land he now owned along the Genesee prompted him to relocate his family to the river valley in May 1810.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Barnes |first1=Joseph |last2=Heininger |first2=Mary Lynn Stevens |title=4 Score & 4 Rochester Portraits 1984 |date=1984 |publisher=Rochester Sesquicentennial Inc. |location=Rochester, N.Y. |page=4}}</ref> On June 10 of that year, the family reached Dansville and established a homestead.

Upon his arrival, Rochester quickly became a leading citizen of Dansville, establishing numerous businesses and mills and playing an active role in the early politics of the town. He offered to sell his share of the Upper Falls tract to Major Carroll, though Carroll convinced him to keep his interest. In January 1814, Rochester sold his property and holdings in Dansville—a grist mill, sawmill, 700 acres of land, interest in a wool carding shop, and the first paper mill in Western New York—for $24,000 (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=24000|start_year=1814}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) and moved to [[East Bloomfield, New York|East Bloomfield]] in [[Ontario County, New York|Ontario County]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Osgood |first1=Howard |title=Rochester; Its Founders and Its Founding |journal=Publications of the Rochester Historical Society |date=1922 |volume=1 |page=55}}</ref>

===Rochesterville===
[[File:Hand Drawn Map of Rochester, 1811.jpg|thumb|This hand-drawn map, believed to have been penned by Nathaniel Rochester, shows lots owned by Rochester, Fitzhugh, and Carroll.]]
In 1811, Rochester began establishing a town on the Upper Falls tract. He laid out streets on a gridiron pattern and established plots of land for municipal, church, and business use. Later that year, he began to offer quarter-acre lots for sale on the two main roads—Buffalo Street running east to west and leading to a [[Main Street Bridge (Rochester, New York)|bridge]] across the river, and Mill Street running north to south.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn83031529/1811-09-03/ed-1/seq-3/#sequence=0&proxdistance=5&county=&phrasetext=&andtext=&date1=01%2F13%2F1700&city=&date2=11%2F31%2F2000&searchType=advanced&from_year=1700&proxtext=rochester&dateFilterType=range&sort=date&SearchType=prox5&index=1&to_year=2000&rows=20&words=Rochester&lccn=sn83031529&am+p=&ortext=&page=1|title = Ontario repository. (Canandaigua, N.Y.) 1809-1811, September 03, 1811, Image 3|date = 3 September 1811|issue = 1811/09/03|page = 3}}</ref> Lots were sold for $50, except for the northwest lot at Four Corners which sold for $200; lots on adjoining streets were sold for $30 and buyers were required to pay a $5 deposit and build a home or business twenty-by-sixteen feet within one year. Rochester reserved a large lot on Buffalo Street for public buildings.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McKelvey |first1=Blake |title=Rochester on the Genesee The Growth of a City |date=1993 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |location=Syracuse, N.Y. |isbn=0815625960 |page=9}}</ref> While the settlement had previously been called The Falls or Falls Town, the three partners agreed to the name "Rochesterville." When later accused of vanity for the name Rochester quipped, "Should I call [the village] Fitzhugh or Carroll, the slighted gentleman would certainly feel offended with the other; but if I called it by my name, they would most likely be angry with me; so, it is best to call it Rochester and serve both alike."<ref name="auto"/>

On May 1, 1812, the first settler Hamlet Scrantom arrived with his family. Work on their cabin at Four Corners was not yet finished, so the family stayed with Rochester's land agent Enos Stone, who had been living in Allen's former mill on the east side of the river, until its completion on July 4, 1812.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rochistory.wordpress.com/2017/04/18/rochesters-first-settler-hamlet-scrantom-1-december-1772-10-april-1850/|title = Rochester's First Settler: Hamlet Scrantom (1 December 1772-10 April 1850)|date = 18 April 2017}}</ref> Next came Jehiel Barnard, arriving on September 1 and erecting the settlement's first tailor shop, which would also become its first meeting house and church.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rochistory.wordpress.com/2017/04/04/whatever-needs-doing-jehiel-barnard-17-august-1788-7-november-1865/|title=Whatever Needs Doing: Jehiel Barnard (17 August 1788-7 November 1865)|date=4 April 2017}}</ref> Other initial settlers included Abelard Reynolds, who established a pioneer saddlery and the village's first post office, Silas O. Smith; Elisha and Hervey Eli; and Josiah Bissel, Jr.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McKelvey |first1=Blake |title=Rochester on the Genesee The Growth of a City |date=1993 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |location=Syracuse, N.Y. |isbn=0815625960 |pages=9–10 |edition=Second}}</ref> In 1814, it's believed that Reynolds' son, Mortimer, was the first white child born in Rochester;<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Arnot |first1=Raymond |title=Rochester; Backgrounds of Its History |journal=Publications of the Rochester Historical Society |date=1922 |volume=1 |page=97}}</ref>

The [[War of 1812]] helped Rochesterville grow as settlers living in [[Charlotte, Rochester, New York|Charlotte]] and other settlements along the shore of [[Lake Ontario]] sought to move farther inland. Furthermore, numerous skirmishes and war activities were taking place throughout western New York, and Rochesterville served as a waypoint and depot for military supplies. The exposure proved advantageous for the settlement, as many people who had traveled through purchased lots or tracts in or near the village. One lot, which sold for $200 in 1811, would eventually sell for $11,200 in January 1817.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McKelvey |first1=Blake |title=Rochester on the Genesee The Growth of a City |date=1993 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |location=Syracuse, NY |isbn=0815625960 |page=17 |edition=Second}}</ref>

In 1817, Rochester served on a committee to petition the state to build what would become the [[Erie Canal]] on a proposed northern route that included a crossing on the Genesee River at Rochesterville. The government eventually accepted this route, contributing to the growth of the future city. In late 1817, Rochester helped petition the state to incorporate Rochesterville. Although the first petition failed due to opposition from neighboring jurisdictions, a second petition passed, and the City of Rochester was incorporated on 21 April. The suffix -ville was dropped in 1822. Also in 1817, Rochester was part of a group that organized St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Genesee Falls,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://rocwiki.org/St._Luke%27s_Church | title=St. Luke's Church - Rochester Wiki|website=rocwiki.org }}</ref> with Rochester serving as its first Senior Warden. Eventually, Rochester gave land for the church building on Fitzhugh Street.

In 1821 Rochester played a pivotal role in the creation of [[Monroe County, New York|Monroe County]], which Rochester named after President [[James Monroe]]. When the county was officially formed, Rochester became its first county clerk and was elected its first representative to the [[New York State Assembly]].