Rochester, William Beaty, Papers

COLLECTION GUIDE

Prepared by Ruth Olivera, October 1987; revised by Devin Dittfurth, August 1998.

William Beaty Rochester (1789 - 1838), whose grandfather founded the city of Rochester, New York, was born January 29, 1789 in Hagerstown, Md. Rochester attended public schools as a boy and graduated from Charlotte Hall in St. Mary's County, Md. He then became an aide-de-camp to General McClure in the war of 1812. Afterwards, Rochester was admitted to the bar and began a law practice in Bath, New York, before moving to Angelica, New York.

Rochester served as a member of the State Assembly from 1816 to 1818. He was also elected to the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Congress and served as the state circuit judge for the eight circuit from March 4, 1821 until his resignation in 1823.

In 1826, Rochester ran for governor under the Democratic ticket, but was defeated. However, in the same year he was elected secretary to the Special Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Colombia. In 1827, he was appointed Charge d' Affairs to Central America, yet was forced to return to the United States prematurely by the eruption of civil war in the region.

Shortly after his return in 1828, Rochester accepted the position of president of the branch bank of the United States at Buffalo, New York. And from 1837 to 1838, he served as president of the Bank of Pensacola, Florida, and the director of the Alabama and Florida Railroad Co. Sadly, Rochester was aboard the steamer Pulaski when it wrecked off of the North Carolinian coast on June 14, 1838. His body was never to be recovered.

The Rochester Collection consists mainly of the diplomatic correspondence between William B. Rochester and Henry Clay of the Department of State while Rochester was serving as Charge d' Affairs in Mexico and Central America (1827 - 1828). Rochester provided Clay with important intelligence concerning the political and social state of affairs in Mexico and Central America at a volatile time. Some of the letters and documents which U.S. government officials sent Rochester contain the latest breaking news of relations between the U.S. and Central America. They are important to note for they served as Rochester's life line while in a foreign and unstable region.

The Rochester Collection is divided into four parts.

1) A document of the New York State Assembly electing W.B. Rochester as a member of the Committee on Colleges, Academies and Common Schools.

2) Papers and correspondence received by Rochester in Mexico and Central America.

3) Papers and documents received by Rochester in the United States.

4) Papers dealing with Rochester's voyage to Guatemala and the difficulties encountered in establishing a diplomatic mission there.

Latin American Library Home Page

Last updated: August 20, 1998