Deborah Cole Myers

The January Corinthian is out

by Pat Worboys

Hope everyone who is a member has received their copy of the Corinthian in the mail. Some of the things in this issue of the January Corinthian are the following:

32x32 The Corinthian January 2025

Just a quick reminder our museum for visits is closed until March 6th at 1:30 PM.

We will still maintain office hours, Mondays 10:00 a.m. until noon.
To make an appointment send an email to greecehistoricalsociety@yahoo.com

Our Calendar of Events

  • Tuesday, January 14 History of Wegmans
  • Thursday, January 16 Annual membership meeting
  • Tuesday, February 11, She Unsung, Women in Rochester History
  • Tuesday, March 11, to be announced
  • Tuesday, April 8, Before Jackie: The Negro Leagues and the American Dream
  • Tuesday, May 13, History of Holy Cross Church

Please check our Facebook page prior to any event for unanticipated changes.

Our Tuesday Program for January will be on A Brief History of Wegmans Presented by Gary Harris. Reservations are recommended. Because of the anticipated attendance, the program will be held at Arcadia High School auditorium, 120 Island Cottage Road.

A Brief History of Wegmans by Gary Harris

Annual Membership Meeting

Thursday, January 16, 2025, 7:00 p.m.
GCSD Transportation Center, 1790 Latta Road

At our annual meeting, you can receive a copy of our 2024 Annual Report. You can also view a photo montage of our activities from 2024. Additionally, you can hear about our future plans. Our treasurer Bill Peeck will give a financial report and an election of trustees will be conducted. Trustees serve a term
of three years. Those currently seeking re-election are Bill Peeck, Deborah Whitt and Bridget
O’Toole. Deborah Cole Myers will be seeking election to fill the position currently held by Ruth
Curchoe. All GHS members are invited to attend.

A Message from the Society’s President’s

This month’s message is about the impact of social media and the web. They have changed how we engage with our members. They have also changed how we interact with the community. Also, this coming year we will look at replacing our 35-year-old furnace in the collections storage area. As well as other upgrades to improve the Museum experience for future generations.

Maureen Whalen wrote a piece on The Fight Against Polio

The Fight Against Polio

Volunteer of the Year 2024

Volunteer of the Year 2024

Upcoming Events:

Erie Canal Bicentennial

2025 marks the 200th anniversary of the completion of the Erie Canal.
Watch for events throughout the area commemorating this event. These include the Seneca Chief reproduction boat. It was built by the Buffalo Maritime Center. The boat will make stops in Monroe County in September. If you want more information on the Seneca Chief and its trip, visit their Erie Canal Boat Seneca Chief page. Check out the Buffalo Maritime Center website for more details.

“She Unsung” February 11

Our Tuesday evening program on February 11, will feature Chandra McKenzi and Ann Coon. They will tell stories about a unique set of diverse women. These women made a commitment to others and produced a legacy of influence and leadership in the community. Their contributions have since become “unsung.”

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Judson S. Kenyon

by Deborah Cole Myers

An ashtray artifact surfaced during a recent inventory at the Greece Museum. Lee Strauss and Bill Sauers were kind enough to bring it to my attention and help research what and who it was all about.

Many years ago, every time my late mother and I would drive past a certain farmhouse on English Road, she would announce, “That’s Juddy Kenyon’s house!” Kenyon being an ancestral name, I would press her for details on the relationship, but she was uncharacteristically vague, “Some sort of cousin.” As it turns out, he was my 4th cousin 4 times removed, but prominent enough for her to have claimed him.

As it also turns out, the house to which Mom was referring all those times is a good two miles west of the Judson Kenyon farm property, but the houses are very similar in appearance and if Mom ever actually set foot in “Juddy’s,” it had probably happened 85 years before.

Judson S. Kenyon was born in 1872 in Barry County, Michigan, to William James Kenyon and Elizabeth L. Rowe of Greece. Originally from Rhode Island, William’s parents, and presumably William, farmed in Michigan, but there were extensive Kenyon family ties to Greece, New York. By 1875 William, Elizabeth, and 3-year-old Judson were living in Greece.

Judson, a graduate of Rochester Business Institute, married Mrs. Kate (Rickman) Justice in the Long Pond Road home of her parents, Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Rickman, in April of 1920 (Kate was the widow of Willard H. Justice and had two children by that marriage.) After their wedding trip out west, they lived at what is now 2428 English Road, where they farmed. Both houses still stand.

Judson S Kenyon (Ancestry)
Judson S Kenyon (Ancestry)
Judson S. Kenyon (Greece Baptist Church)
Judson S. Kenyon (Greece Baptist Church)

During his 90-year lifespan, Judson was very active in Greece political, religious, and local government roles. At one time or another, he served as: deacon, clerk, teacher, trustee, treasurer, and historian at Greece Baptist Church; tax collector, justice of the peace, and member of the Town Board of Greece, NY; life member of Greece Grange…and a member of the Greece Republican Party for most of his life.

The base of the ashtray reads:
1948 Honoring Judson S. Kenyon
Over 50 Years a Republican
Greece Republican Organization

This ashtray was presented to Judson S Kenyon in 1948, in commemoration of his long-standing involvement in the Greece Republican Party.
This ashtray was presented to Judson S Kenyon in 1948, in commemoration of his long-standing involvement in the Greece Republican Party.

The ashtray was presented to him in 1948, in commemoration of his long-standing involvement in that organization. Way to go, Cousin Juddy!

Thanks to a 75-year-old ashtray and to my mother, whose geography may have been off, but whose
interest in family and Greece history were spot-on, I was prompted to tell the story of a prominent
Greece resident.

Judson S. Kenyon died in 1963 and is buried in Falls Cemetery, among many of his relatives.

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