Editing Nathaniel Rochester (section)

===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>