Fayette Lapham was born on September 15, 1794 in Kinderhook, Columbia County, New York.[1] Fayette was the ninth of ten children born to Pazzi Lapham and Bethany Foster. With the surname of “Lapham,” Fayette had an ancestral relationship (the common ancestor was John Lapham IV) with Rhoda Lapham Harris, the mother of Martin Harris, and Abigail Lapham Harris, the wife of Peter Harris and sister-in-law of Lucy Harris.
Pazzi Lapham (October 22, 1750), the father of Fayette Lapham, was a Whig and ardently attached to the American cause. He served in the Sixth Regiment of the Duchess County New York Militia during the Revolutionary War. He was an officer in the same Masonic Lodge as General George Washington. Pazzi was at the Grand Masonic Lodge in Poughkeepsie, New York with General George Washington and French Marquis General Lafayette when his son was born. Pazzi named his son Fayette after General Lafayette.[2] Supposedly, the “Jewell of Pazzi’s Masonic office is still in possession of his descendants. Pazzi, like most of his relatives, was a Quaker. Family tradition suggests that Pazzi died from an accident at his mill.
At the death of Pazzi, Fayette lived for a time in the household of his uncle, Reverend Reuben Stanton, in the Helderberg Mountains of Albany County in what is now Westerly, New York.
When Fayette was twelve years old (1806), he moved with his mother to Egypt, New York, a fertile valley nestled between foothills with a population of approximately 71 people in what would become the township of Perinton. (The hamlet of Egypt was designated an historic district in 2001).
At the time of the Lapham family’s move to Egypt, there was a stage depot and three taverns in the hamlet. The Seneca Indians, who had once lived in longhouses in the area, cleared land, planted orchards and raised corn, squash, beans, and gourds. Like the Senecas, the Laphams were farmers. For Sunday worship, they, like other early inhabitants of Egypt, went to Palmyra to attend church meetings. (Palmyra is about eight miles from Egypt.) Thus, the Laphams had a Quaker connection to Palmyra as early as 1806.
By 1814, an estimated 817 settlers had moved to Egypt. They built mills along the streams. Before long, early commercial ventures included blacksmith shops and inns. Egypt, as the oldest part of Perinton, became a rest stop on the stagecoach road between Canandaigua, the county seat, and Rochester, a sleepy town at the time. After James Geddes, appointed by canal commissioners to lay out the course of the Erie Canal, designated Perinton, a port on the canal, the commercial advantage of Egypt began to disappear even though the village still was a major stage depot and a business and political center until 1825. Thereafter, the growth of Egypt slowed.
At age sixteen, Fayette enlisted in the War of 1812 as a private, following the tradition of his father who had fought in the American Revolutionary War. Fayette served under Captain Samuel McNath.
Fayette fought in battles on the Niagara frontier alongside other citizen/soldiers of Western New York.[3] When the war ended, Fayette made an application for an equipment claim of $59.25 which suggests that in battle he lost personal items. He was paid for his military service from August 6, 1814 to November 8, 1814, a total of $24.77.[4]
At age twenty-five, Fayette was married to Lucy Ramsdell, daughter of Thomas Ramsdell and Hannah Gannette, on November 28, 1817 in Perinton by Cyrus Packard (1771-1825).[5] (Packard owned a tavern in Egypt on the north side of Route 31 near the Victor-Egypt Road. He was the first constable, assessor, and commissioner of highways in Egypt. Packard was also Perinton’s first elected supervisor, a position equivalent to a mayor.)[6]
Fayette’s father-in-law, Thomas Ramsdell of Abington, Massachusetts, was an early settler of Egypt, arriving six years before the Lapham family. Ramsdell purchased 320 acres in the hamlet. At a time of scarcity, Thomas was so successful in growing large crops of corn that settlers came from long distances to buy from him. This led to the name of the hamlet, Egypt, after the Biblical Joseph of Egypt who provided food for the famine-stricken Israelites. At one time, it was speculated that the Ramsdell and Laphams owned almost all of Egypt.
The Thomas Ramsdell federal-style home was built in 1815. It is the oldest home still standing in the area. It is located at 7516 Pittsford-Palmyra Road in Egypt. The house was built on what later became the Palmyra-Rochester coach road, a regular stage and mail route to Rochester.[7] (The home was later part of the eastern branch of the Underground Railroad). The Perinton Bicentennial Committee in 1976 placed a plaque on the home. In 1933, the home was designated a Perinton landmark. The photograph is of the Thomas Ramsdell home.[8] Today, the home houses the offices of the Northern Nurseries.
As for the religious persuasions of Thomas Ramsdell, they varied. His wife was a devout Quaker. He attended the Presbyterian Church in Fairport, New York. In 1809, he was a trustee of the Congregational Society of Northfield. He was known as Deacon Thomas Ramsdell, a title associated with the Presbyterian Church.[9]
Back to Fayette—Fayette and Lucy Lapham purchased a house on the southwest corner of Main and Cherry Streets which is today Route 31—Pittsford Palmyra Road and Loud Roads. Fayette also purchased several acres of land on both sides of Main Street. (As of 1955, the Lapham house was the office of the Comstock Canning Company. It was used as a drying house for local produce. The canning company no longer exists.)[10] In 1822 Thomas Ramsdell sold to Fayette Lapham 57 acres.
To the union of Fayette and Lucy Lapham were born four children—three sons and a daughter. Lucy Ramsdell Lapham died of causes incident to childbirth.
Fayette Lapham married three other times. Little is known of the additional wives. They do not appear in FamilySearch. The second wife was Sophia Bortle Brace of Victor, New York. The third spouse was “Content” born in 1795. She was one year younger than Fayette. The fourth spouse, Tama Lucy Kane (born about 1810 in Saratoga, New York), separated from him. She died in Hamblin, Monroe County, New York.[11]
The Erie Canal and Abner Cole
In 1817, the Erie Canal project was authorized by the state of New York. Plans for the canal project called for a canal 363 miles long, 28 feet wide at the bottom, and four feet deep with 84 locks providing a total lift of 689 feet. The cost to construct the Erie Canal was estimated at $7,144,000 paid by the state of New York. The state was to be reimbursed for its initial cost of building the canal by tolls charged at basins along the canal route. In 1819, Canal Commissioners were empowered to negotiate contracts for the western section of the canal.
In 1820, Fayette was listed in the US Federal Census as residing in Perinton (Egypt was then part of Perinton). At the time of the census, Fayette had a household of one male under age 10, one male age 16-25, and one female age 16-25. Since the older male and female were Fayette and his first wife Lucy, it is assumed that they were well-to-do by 1820 and had a “house-boy” residing with them. At the time, Fayette was a millwright by trade. His nephew S. L. Ramsdell of Clinton, Michigan said of him, “A splendid workman, whose services were sought far and near.” He made several pieces of furniture.[12]
In the 1820s, Perinton was a boomtown along the Erie Canal known for its mills, blacksmith shops, taverns, and inns. Approximately sixteen hundred people were in town, most lured to Perinton because of the canal port. One man lured to the area was Abner Cole of Palmyra. On April 5, 1820, a bill authorizing a $10,000 loan to Abner Cole passed both houses of the New York legislature.[13] The bill authorized Cole to operate an iron works in the vicinity of the proposed Irondequoit Embankment. The Great Embankment was one of the most ambitious undertakings on the Erie Canal. Plans for constructing the Great Embankment consisted of three natural ridges joined together by two man-made ridges, one 1,320 feet long and the other 231 feet long. Building the Great Embankment required not only manpower but iron.
It was said that Abner Cole built an iron works in the northwest corner of Irondequoit Creek on the old Conover Farm in Egypt. However, Cole was not a millwright. He was a business man who profited from the construction of the Embankment. He hired men to build an iron forge, a shop with a furnace where metal could be heated to make iron malleable, and employed iron workers. As a millwright, it is assumed that Fayette Lapham was either contracted or in some way helped Abner Cole construct his iron works, for it is known that Fayette had worked on the construction of the Erie Canal Aqueduct in Rochester. Joining Fayette in building the aqueduct were his brothers Seneca, Alexander, and Solomon Lapham. A history of the Lapham family in Perinton reveals that Fayette and his brother Alexander (named for Alexander Hamilton), built the arches of the first aqueduct in Rochester and constructed the woodwork for the double locks at Lockport, New York. The Rochester aqueduct was 802 feet long with nine-foot arches. When the aqueduct was completed, locals referred to it as “The Eighth Wonder of the World.” (By 1919, the aqueduct was still used for canal purposes.)
On December 6, 1820, Abner Cole’s iron works was declared operational.[14] Cole ran a weekly advertisement “Notice” in the Ontario Repository from January 2, 1821 to January 28, 1824:
The subscriber informs the public, and the friends to ‘Home Manufactures’ in particular, that his IRON WORKS, on the Irondequoit, in the town of Perinton, are now in operation, and that Wrought IRON, of a good quality, and of any description, may be had on short notice. A. COLE, Irondequoit Iron Works, Dec. 25th 1820.
It was news of Abner Cole’s iron works that brought Samuel Lawrence (a brother-in-law of Abner Cole) and his brother Daniel Lawrence from Randolph, New Jersey to Palmyra. No doubt, Samuel Lawrence saw himself joining with Abner Cole in a financial windfall in the iron works. At first, Samuel Lawrence lived in Palmyra with Cole. Due to his expertise with iron, he stayed for a time in Perinton. By so doing, we now have a relationship between suspects Samuel Lawrence, Abner Cole, and Fayette Lapham.
When the iron works of Abner Cole failed in 1823, Fayette Lapham purchased the foundry located at 353 Mason Road.[15] In contrast to Abner Cole, Fayette was successful with the foundry. He manufactured the popular “Egypt plow.” Under the management of Fayette Lapham, the iron forge was so successful that it was carried on by his son Nathan when Fayette lost interest in the enterprise.
A Young Man in High Standing in Perinton
In 1825, Fayette resided in Perinton, a community that had expanded to include Egypt. Perinton was named for Glover Perinton and his six siblings who were the first to settle in the area. Perinton was officially established by the New York legislature on May 16, 1812.
The Erie Canal put Perinton on the map. During the first ten days of opening the Erie Canal in the spring of 1823, ten thousand barrels of flour were shipped east out of Rochester through Perinton. It was not long before grist mills, saw mills, and taverns dotted the landscape. With packet boats not running at night, travelers were frequent guests at the Pritchard Hotel on Main Street. By 1830, Perinton had a population of 2,106.[16]
In 1825, Fayette Lapham was a young man of high standing as the owner and operator of an iron foundry, and an overseer of highways. Fayette got his start as a land developer from his father-in-law Thomas Ramsdell in December 1822. Thomas Ramsdell sold him the south section of Lot 33 in Perinton. Fayette sold parcels of the lot, becoming an entrepreneur.[17] Fayette was a charter member of the Fairport Masonic Lodge. His name appears on the list of masons who petitioned the Grand Masonic Lodge of New York for a charter to organize the “Fairport Lodge No. 476, Free & Accepted Masons.”
Fairport is a one square mile village within Perinton. Fairport acquired its name from a traveler on the Erie Canal who stopped at the Millstone Block Hotel where he overheard that the village was a “fair port.” Local legend claim the same traveler complained the next morning that the hotel had bedbugs and stormed out of Fairport on a packet boat on the Erie Canal. The village of Fairport was established in 1822. Early maps show it bounded by Church and Main Street and West Avenue and Cherry Street. This places Fayette living within the borders of the Fairport village by 1822.
Building the Erie Canal put Fairport in a favorable position. Unhealthy cedar swamps were drained to create the north-south route through the village that served as a natural highway for farmers to bring produce to the canal. This created a canal town which eclipsed the hamlet of Egypt. In 1853, the name of Perinton was changed to Fairport. Today, Fairport is referred to as the “Crown Jewel of the Erie Canal.” In 2005, it was named one of the “Best Places to Live” by Money Magazine.
Fayette was a member of the first board of trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Society of Perinton organized on April 4, 1825 at the schoolhouse in Egypt.[18] Methodist services were held in the schoolhouse until the construction of a church building. Fayette gave the southeast corner of Lot #22 in Perinton to the First Methodist Episcopal Church.[19] Fayette helped build the wood frame Methodist Church. The church was a large building entirely covered with narrow boards. It had eight windows on each side, each window had twenty-four panes of glass. There were two front entrances of the church and in each were stairs leading to the upper part of the church where services were held. The building was also used as a civic center. It burned to the ground on January 17, 1922 due to a defective stove pipe in the attic.[20]
In the years 1825, 1826, and 1830, Fayette’s name appeared on the juror list in Perinton.[21]
Fayette Lapham in 1827 and 1828
On February 1827, Fayette sold to Simeon Bortle the east half of five acres near the Erie Canal.[22] More important to our search, Fayette was in Palmyra in September 1827. Dr. Gain Robinson and his nephew Dr. Alexander McIntyre had a drugstore on Main Street in Palmyra. Robinson kept an account book of transactions at the drugstore. In his account book, Gain Robinson wrote of Fayette Lapham purchasing items on September 3, 10, and 11, 1827. On September 17, 1827, four days before Joseph Smith received the plates from the angel Moroni, it is assumed that Fayette returned to Perinton to be with his wife, Lucy, who died at age thirty-four of childbirth. (Lucy Lapham was the first person buried in the Mason Road Cemetery in Perinton).[23]
However, being a trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Society in Perinton and a mason, Fayette may have remained in Palmyra and not known of her death. On September 28, 1827, the cornerstone of the First Zion Episcopal Church was laid on Main Street in Palmyra. The Masonic fraternity took part in the cornerstone laying. As a mason and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, he may have stayed for the ceremony.
After his first wife Lucy died, Fayette married Sophia B. Bortles on May 11, 1828 in Perinton. They were married by Cyrus Packard Esq., the same preacher/tavern owner who married Fayette to his first wife. Is it a coincidence that Sophia Bortles Lapham had a cousin, Jacob H. Bortles, working with John H. Gilbert in the Grandin Press? On September 8, 1892, John H. Gilbert wrote Recollections of John H. Gilbert (by Himself). In his own words, John Gilbert said of his work with the Book of Mormon, “The work was commenced in August 1829, and finished in March 1830—seven months. Mr. J. H. Bortles and myself did the presswork until December taking nearly three days to each form. In December, Mr. Grandin hired a journeyman pressman, Thomas McAuley, or “Whistling Tom,” as he was called in the office, and he and Bortles did the balance of the presswork.”
The Year 1828
In his 1870 publication, Fayette wrote of events preceding Martin’s being the scribe for the Book of Lehi translation and the manuscript being lost: “The Mormons. Interview with the Father of Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet, Forty Years Ago. His Account of the Finding of the Sacred Plates by Fayette Lapham, Esq,” The following is taken from the article:
After much opposition, Joseph succeeded in finding the requisite number of believers, among them Martin Harris, who was chosen Scribe. After having made these necessary arrangements, Joseph was directed not to make the translation where there was so much opposition [Palmyra]; hence, after procuring the necessary materials, he and Martin went to Harmony, in Pennsylvania, where they would be less persecuted, and where Joseph, with spectacles on, translated the characters on the gold plates, and Harris recorded the result.
After thus translating a number of plates, Harris wanted to return to Palmyra, taking a part of the writings with him; but the Lord objected, for fear that Harris would show them to unbelievers, who would make sport and derision of them. But Harris finally obtained leave to take them, on condition that he should let no one see them, except those who believed in them; in this he was indiscreet, and showed them to some one that he ought not to. When he next went to his drawer to get them, behold! they were not there; the Lord had taken them away.
By his own admission, Fayette knows about the “drawer” and that Martin Harris “showed them [the pages] to some one that he ought not to.” Did Martin Harris show the manuscript to Fayette? The account book of Dr. Gain Robinson has an entry for Fayette in July 1828, the month the pages were stolen. Fayette purchased items at the Robinson/McIntyre drugstore on July 25, 1828, about two weeks after it was discovered the 116 pages were gone.
The fact that we can now place Fayette Lapham in Palmyra in July 1828 not only opens up the possibility that he knew of Martin Harris and the lost manuscript before his interview with Joseph Smith Sr. in 1830, but that he could have played a role in the conspiracy.
Fayette Lapham in 1830 according to his Article
Fayette Lapham wrote, “I think it was in the year 1830, I heard that some ancient records had been discovered that would throw some new light upon the subject of religion; being deeply interested in the matter, I concluded to go to the place and learn for myself the truth of the matter.” Fayette further wrote, “I set out to find the Smith family, then residing some three or four miles south of the village of Palmyra, Wayne-County, New York, and near the line of the town of Manchester.” Upon visiting the Smiths, Fayette learned that “Joseph, Junior” was “not being at home.” He next wrote, “We applied to his father for the information wanted.”
The Timing of Fayette Lapham’s interview with Father Smith. In 1830, Joseph Smith Sr. was in transition. In December 1829, the executor of the Lemuel Durfee Sr. estate, Lemuel Durfee Jr., insisted the Smiths move out of the frame house on Stafford Road because his sister Mary Durfee and her husband Roswell Nichols wanted to reside in the home.
In December 1829, the Joseph Smith Sr. family moved-in with the Hyrum Smith family in the one-and-a-half story log cabin. Lucy Mack Smith wrote, “We began to make preparations to remove our family and effects to the house in which [Hyrum] resided.” As to Mother Smith’s feeling about the move, she wrote, “We now felt more keenly than ever the injustice of the measure which had placed a landlord over us on our own premises; and which was about to eject us from them.”[24] (The reason Hyrum and Jerusha Smith were able to keep the one-and-a-half story log home was because the Smiths had unwittingly built the log home north of the property line, meaning it was not acquired by Lemuel Durfee Sr.)
As Mother Smith explained her plight to Oliver Cowdery, he said, “Mother, let me stay with you, for I can live [in] any log hut, where you and father live; but I cannot leave you; so do not mention it.”[25] In December 1829, Hyrum and Jerusha and their two children welcomed into their log home Father and Mother Smith, five siblings ages seven to twenty-one, and Oliver Cowdery.
The move to the log house solved the immediate need for housing but not the long term need. By October/November of 1830 the Joseph Smith Sr. family moved to Waterloo, New York.
When did the Fayette Lapham interview occur? We believe the interview occurred before the Book of Mormon was ready for sale at E. B. Grandin’s print shop on March 26, 1830, for at the time of the interview Father Smith did not offer Fayette a copy of the Book of Mormon. But let us chart the known whereabouts of Father Smith in 1830. Since he no longer had a farm to cultivate or a cooper shop to work his trade, Father Smith was free to leave Palmyra. Father Smith is on the move from December 1829 to October 1830.
December 1829 – Moved his family into the Hyrum Smith log home.
January 1829 – journeyed to Harmony to tell his son Joseph about Abner Cole printing excerpts from the Book of Mormon.
April 1830 – present at the Peter Whitmer log home in Fayette, New York for the foundational meeting of the Church.
May 1830 – accompanied his son Samuel Smith and his wife Lucy Mack Smith on Samuel’s second mission to Mendon, New York. They stopped at Esquire Beamans in Livonia.
June 9, 1830 – present at the Peter Whitmer log home for the first Church conference. At the conference, he was ordained a priest.
Summer 1830 – journeyed with his son Don Carlos to see his father Asael Smith in Stockholm, New York, a distance of 211 miles.
September-October 1830 – imprisoned for indebtedness for thirty days in a dungeon in Canandaigua, New York.
October/November 1830 – moved his family to Waterloo, New York, a distance of 27 miles from Palmyra and three miles from Fayette.
The above timeline suggests it would be difficult for Fayette to find Joseph Smith Sr. at the Smith log home in Palmyra in 1830.
The First Topic of the Interview—Treasure Hunting. According to Fayette, the first topic addressed in the Smith interview was treasure hunting and witchcraft. This is most curious for treasure hunting stopped in the Smith neighborhood in 1827, three years before. Why would it be a hot topic in 1830? Would Joseph Smith Sr. rehearse old news when the focus in 1830 was on printing the Book of Mormon and concern over Abner Cole publishing excerpts from the Book of Mormon? Then there was the immediate issue of Father and Mother Smith and their children and Oliver Cowdery living in a crowded log home with Hyrum Smith and family. There was also the immediate concern over persecution of the Smith family. Visits like those from Deacon George Beckwith and a young gentleman trying to get money from Hyrum for debts that had already been paid had to be on Father Smith’s mind. Why would Father Smith rehearse with Fayette Lapham and his friend “Jacob Ramsdell” treasure hunting and other supernatural accounts? It makes no sense.
In examining the information in the Fayette Lapham’s interview of Father Smith, the story of treasure hunting mirrors the story told in the affidavit of Willard Chase in Mormonism Unvailed. The account tells of Joseph going to the hill one year after another and of his courtship with Emma Hale. Did Fayette Lapham learn about treasure hunting from Mormonism Unvailed or had he learned about treasure hunting from his old friend Samuel Lawrence and merely repeated it in the article?
The Fayette Lapham article names two men who are on our list of suspects—George Crane, a well-to-do Quaker, and Luther Bradish, a student of languages and a representative in the New York State Assembly in Albany, New York. Like Fayette Lapham, these men were not mentioned in Mormonism Unvailed.
When the interview ended, Fayette Lapham and Jacob Ramsdell left Joseph Smith Sr. “fully convinced that we had smelt a large mice,” the last line in the article.
Fayette Lapham resided in Perinton the Remainder of his Life
There are only a few known facts about the life of Fayette Lapham from 1830 to 1870. The tidbits of information are found in school records, census records, property transactions, and one newspaper article. They do not provide exciting reading, but support the supposition that Fayette resided in Perinton during this period.
From 1831 to 1832, Fayette was listed as a parent in School District No. 4 in Perinton. He had three children attending school in the district.[26] On July 7, 1832, the Genesse Farmer printed, “To the Editor. In my answer to the inquiry of E. Y, you have said buckets of water instead of bushels of wheat, which entirely destroys the sense of the article. It may appear singular to you, but mill writers will understand the term. Fayette Lapham.” At this point, this is the only published writing of Fayette Lapham before the 1870 publication of his interview with Father Smith.
Fayette’s name appeared on a juror list in 1825, 1826, and 1830. He continued to be involved in real estate transactions. In December 1834, Fayette, along with his father-in-law Thomas Ramsdell, sold to Gideon Ramsdell (a brother-in-law) half interest in 40 acres of Lot 28 in Perinton.[27] The following year, Fayette purchased Lot 23 which bordered the Palmyra Road in Perinton.[28] In 1836, Fayette appeared on the tax roll as having 58 acres as well as Lots 22 and 28 in Perinton.[29]
Fayette was listed in the 1840 US Federal Census as residing in Perinton and having a household of one male age 9-15, one male age 40-49, and one female age 40-49. The census reported that one person in his household was engaged in agriculture and another engaged in manufacture and trade. On September 21, 1842, by court order Lot No. 22 in Perinton containing 340 acres was sold at public auction at the Arcade Hall in Rochester. The only acreage on Lot #22 not sold was “55 acres of land, out of the southwest corner of said lot, belonging to Fayette Lapham and Abram Van Duzer.”[30] In 1843. Fayette’s name appeared on the tax roll in Perinton as having 54 acres in Lots 21, 22 and 23.[31] In 1844, he granted a deed to Guy Collins.[32]
On October 2, 1845, Fayette was elected justice of the peace in Perinton. In 1845, he witnessed the oath of the town assessor. In 1846, he signed a certificate of election to grant a license to the Board of Excise. The only remaining records for Fayette and his family is a census, Last Will and Testament, tax records for property in Highway District No. 7, and a death record.[33] In 1850, the US Federal Census listed Fayette as a fifty-six year old farmer residing with his wife, Sophia (age 57), Mary J. Boughton (age 26), and Uriah J. Wilkinson (age 27).
In the 1850s, Fayette took an active role in the growth of Perinton (better known as Fairport). He wrote a brief statement printed in the Rochester Daily Advertiser on October 4, 1850: “Mr. Lapham paid a tribute to the redman of the forest. He had been acquainted with them many years, and had studied their character in much advantage.” According to an 1852 map of Perinton, Fayette was residing in the southwest corner of the intersection (Pitttsford Palmyra Road and Loud Road.)
Fayette Lapham was in Poughkeepsie, New York
The smoking gun—the atypical was found in an obscure article “Searching for Pazzi Lapham,” Green County Historical Journal 12, no, 1 (Spring 1988). In the article, a niece of Fayette tells of visiting him in Poughkeepsie. She claimed that in 1853, she visited Fayette and his wife in Poughkeepsie, New York, about 300 miles from Perinton.[34] This is the first known fact we have of Fayette leaving Western New York. His residency in Poughkeepsie, albeit nothing more than a purposeful visit, is important.
Why? Fayette’s father was an officer in the King Solomon Grand Masonic Lodge at Poughkeepsie, New York. Pazzi Lapham was at the Grand Masonic Lodge in Poughkeepsie with General George Washington and the French Marquis General Lafayette when Fayette was born. Pazzi named his son Fayette after General Lafayette.[35]
Does this scenario work—by the 1850s Fayette is becoming increasingly aware of the growth of the Mormon Church and of Brigham Young in the West. If he had the 116 pages and wanted to keep them safe for another day, where could he put them? In his Fairport masonic lodge—too close to Palmyra—if found he could be implemented in the theft. In the Methodist Episcopal Church in Perinton—again, too close to Palmyra. Would he take the 116 pages with him and donate them to the historically impressive King Solomon Masonic Lodge in Poughkeepsie? It’s a long shot—or is it?
Fayette Lapham is back in Perinton
By 1856. Fayette and his wife had returned to Perinton, for on May 18, 1856 Fayette wrote his Last Will and Testament and named Laura L. Lapham and Samuel Williams as his administrators.[36] On November 12, 1857, Fayette’s second wife, Sarah Bortle Lapham, died.
When the 1860 census was taken, Fayette was age sisxty-six and a farmer. He had a real wealth of $3,000 and personal wealth of $600. On March 26, 1864, Content, the third wife of Fayette, died at age sixty-nine. By order of the Surrogate Court, letters of administration for the late Content Lapham were granted to Fayette Lapham.[37] (A monument in honor of Content Lapham was erected by her sons, Zephaniah and Gilbert. She was buried in the South Perinton Cemetery.)[38] One historian indicates that before her death, Content had separated from Fayette Lapham. A year later, seventy-year-old Fayette was listed in the 1865 New York State Census as residing in Perinton with Lydia J. Comrie. In 1866, he was listed on the Perinton tax record.[39]
The Article by Fayette Lapham in 1870
The year 1870 is of significance in the life of Fayette Lapham. He was listed in the 1870 US Federal Census as still residing in Perinton. At the time of the census, he was seventy-six years old, and a retired farmer with a personal wealth of $500 and a real estate wealth of $4,000. Residing with him was his fourth wife, Fanny Lapham.
In that year, Fayette had a publication—“The Mormons. Interview with the Father of Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet, forty Years Ago. His Account of the Finding of the Sacred Plates by Fayette Lapham, Esq,” in the Historical Magazine 8, no. 5 (May 1870), pp. 305-308. The full title of the magazine was Historical Magazine, Notes and Queries, Antiquities, History and Biography America. The publisher of the Magazine was Henry B. Dawson. The place of publication was Morrisania (South Bronx), New York.[40]
Don Bradley has thoroughly gone through the Lapham article in an attempt to understand the contents of the lost 116 pages. It is not our purpose to recreate what has already been done.
Our purpose is to answer the question—what are the chances seventy-six year old Fayette Lapham wrote a lengthy article of a forty year recollection, and submitted the article to a man in Morrisania (South Bronx)? If Fayette had negative things to say about the Smiths and Mormonism, there were newspapers and journals published in Rochester readily accessible to him.
Examining the process of publishing an article in the Historical Magazine. The letters and manuscripts in the Henry B. Dawson Collection at the University of Michigan deal with tasks assumed by an editor—soliciting subscriptions and articles and inquiring about research materials and related matters. The most famous of Dawson’s correspondents was Abner Doubleday.
This leads us to suppose that Fayette Lapham answered a solicitation from Dawson for a subscription. But the question is why would a publisher in the Bronx ask Fayette for an article? Those interested in the roots of Mormonism came to Palmyra to interview long-time residents like John H. Gilbert, the compositor of the Book of Mormon. We can’t find a publisher coming to Perinton to interview anyone about Joseph Smith and the early events of the Restoration. How could Henry Dawson have known about Fayette Lapham? Then again, if Fayette Lapham submitted an article to Dawson for publication without solicitation, how would he know about the Historical Magazine in Morrisiana?
Morrisiania. In 1870, Morrisania was a low-income residential neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. The name Morrisania is derived from the Manor of Morrisania, a 2,000 acre estate of the powerful and aristocratic Morris family, who at one time owned most of the Bronx and much of New Jersey.
Henry B. Dawson. Henry Barton Dawson (June 8, 1821–May 23, 1889) was born in Lincolnshire, England. He immigrated with his parents to New York City in 1834. His interest in literary pursuits was stimulated by his brief employment in a publishing/book-selling house in Ithaca, New York. (Ithaca is 70 miles from Palmyra). From 1839 to 1856, Henry Dawson pursued a business career in New York City. In 1847, he became the editor of the temperance newspaper, The Crystal Font and Rechabite Recorder.
Dawson’s reputation as a historian began in the late 1850s with the publication of a number of historical essays and his first book Battles of the United States by Sea and Land (1858). He purchased the Historical Magazine in 1870. He edited the Magazine until it ceased publication in April 1876. Dawson’s “term as editor was marked by his desire to debunk fondly-held myths about local history.” Thus, Dawson would want to publish an article on the Smiths and the early days of Mormonism.
Death of Fayette Lapham
On May 1, 1872 at age seventy-eight, Fayette died in Egypt, New York, two years after his article was published. He was buried in the Egypt Cemetery on Mason Road near his first wife Lucy Lapham, who died on September 17, 1827, and their son Lafayette, who died on March 1, 1837. Land for the Egypt Cemetery was given to the community by Thomas Ramsdell, Fayette’s first father-in-law. The cemetery is unique among nineteenth century cemeteries in that it has a Potter’s Field, meaning part of the cemetery was set aside for transients, vagrants, or those too poor to pay for a burial.
After the death of Fayette Lapham, his fourth wife Tamma Lapham, applied for a military pension to receive a monthly stipend for his service in the War of 1812.[41]
On March 11, 1873, by order of the Surrogate Court of the County of Monroe, notice was given “to all persons having claims against Fayette Lapham, late of the town of Perinton,” to present their vouchers to Samuel Williams and Lavalette Lapham, administrators of the Fayette Lapham estate.[42] There was a disagreement as to the distribution of land owned by Fayette. The case of Lavalette Lapham, Martha A. Lapham, his wife and others verses Tamma L. Lapham and Laura Lapham went to the Supreme Court of New York. The court ruled that a public auction be held on the front steps of the courthouse in Rochester on June 27, 1873. Auctioned was Lot 23 in Perinton that paralleled land owned by G. Vanduser. Also auctioned was part of Lot 22 in Perinton.[43]
Children of Fayette and Lucy Lapham
In July 1942 descendants of several differing lines of Lapham had an eleventh reunion in Macedon. Among the descendants present at the family reunion were those of Fayette Lapham and Lucy Ramsdell Lapham.[44]
1. Nathan P. Lapham (1819–1861). He was born in Egypt, New York. He married Phoebe Taylor Johnson of Connecticut. He ran his father’s iron foundry in Egypt before moving to Michigan. He died on April 28, 1861 in Saginaw, Michigan. His wife Phoebe died on August 29, 1877 in Saginaw.
2. Lavalette Lapham (1821–1900). He was born on February 21, 1821 in Egypt, New York. He married Mary J. Van Ness on February 25, 1842 in Plymouth, Michigan. After Mary’s death in 1862 in Saginaw, Michigan, Lavalette married Martha Ann Mills (1842–1930) of Canada. Lavelette died on July 4, 1900 in New Buffalo, Berrien, Michigan.
3. Lafayette Lapham Jr. (1824–1846). He was born in Monroe, New York. He died on March 1, 1846 in Egypt, New York.
4. Lucy Antoinette Lapham (1827–1905). She was born on June 10, 1827 in Egypt, New York. She was married on June 13, 1844 to Spencer Bortle (March 25, 1823–October 9, 1907) in Egypt. She was the mother of Thurlow Weed Bortle. The family lived on the Bortle farm on Thayer Road. Six generations of Bortles have lived on the farm. Lucy died on November 7, 1905 in Perinton, New York.
Children of Fayette and Sophia Lapham
1. Layfette Lapham Jr. (1854–1858).
Children of Fayette and Content Lapham
1. Zephaniah Lapham (1861–).
2. Gilbert Lapham.
[1] Historical accounts also list Fayette Lapham as being born in Coxsackie, Greene, NY and Poughkeepsie, Duchess, NY.
[2] Laphams in America, p. 128.
[3] New York, War of 1812, Payroll Abstracts for New York State Militia (1812–1815).
[4] New York Military Equipment Claims, War of 1812; Document of the War of 1812 from Bill Poray, the town historian of Perinton. In author’s files.
[5] Palmyra Register, November 26, 1817.
[6] “Information from & Reflections on Perinton’s Early Town Meetings” (1813–1865). In author’s possession.
[7] Bill Poray, Perinton Town Historian, “Egypt’s only Church a Long Lost Memory.” In author’s possession.
[8] Helen E. Butler, Perinton Town Historian, “Plaques to mark House built in 1815,” The Fairport Herald Mail [Fairport, NY], May 1, 1977.
[9] Helen E. Butler, Perinton Town Historian, “Plagues to mark House built in 1815,” The Fairport Herald Mail, May 1, 1977.
[10] Denise M. Champagne, “Old Comstock Site viewed as Eyesore,” posted July 8, 2008.
[11] Larry E. Morris, A Documentary History of the Book of Mormon (NY: Oxford University Press, 2019).
[12] Laphams in America.
[13] “Titles of Acts,” Geneva Gazette [Geneva, NY], May 20 1820.
[14] “New Forge,” Palmyra Register, December 7, 1820.
[15] Egypt Historic District.
[16] Mrs. Hamilton C. (Helen) King, “The Erie Canal in Perinton.”
[17] Early Settlers of Perinton New York, 1790–1830.
[18] Early Settlers of Perinton New York, 1790–1830.
[19] “Foreclosure Sale—State of New York, Supreme Court, County of Monroe,” The Monroe County Mail, March 25, 1915.
[20] Bill Poray, Town Historian of Perinton, “Egypt’s Only Church: A Long Lost Memory.”
[21] Early Settlers of Perinton, New York, 1790–1830.
[22] Early Settlers of Perinton, New York, 1790–1830.
[23] Early Settlers of Perinton, New York, 1790–1830.
[24] Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1845, Document Transcript, ch. 28, p. 141, in Joseph Smith Papers.
[25] Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1845, Document Transcript, ch. 28, p. 142.
[26] Early Settlers of Perinton, New York, 1790–1830.
[27] Early Settlers of Perinton, New York, 1790–1830.
[28] Early Settlers of Perinton, New York, 1790–1830.
[29] Early Settlers of Perinton, New York, 1790–1830.
[30] “In Chancery – 8th circuit – Joseph S. Shotwell vs. Gideon Ramsdell,” Rochester NY Daily Democrat, 1842.
[31] “In Chancery – 8th circuit – Joseph S. Shotwell vs. Gideon Ramsdell,” Rochester NY Daily Democrat, 1842.
[32] Ontario County, NY Grantee Deed Index, 1789–1845.
[33] Perinton Document Index 1813–1880, p. 128.
[34] “Searching for Pazzi Lapham,” Green County Historical Journal 12, no, 1 (Spring 1988).
[35] Laphams in America, p. 128.
[36] New York wills and Probate Records 1659–1999.
[37] “Surrogate’s Court,” Rochester Evening Express, April 18, 1864.
[38] Early Settlers of Perinton, New York, 1790–1830.
[39] US IRS Tax Assessment, 1862–1918.
[40] Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic Worldview, p. 33.
[41] Pension Application Files, War of 1812.
[42] “Notice to Creditors,” Rochester Evening Express, March 11, 1873.
[43] “Supreme Court,” Rochester Evening Express, April 18, 1874; See “Surrogate’s Court,” Rochester Evening Express, April 18, 1864; “Notice to Creditors,” Rochester Evening Express, March 11, 1873.
[44] “Lapham Family holds Eleventh Reunion at Macedon Center.” Fairport Herald Mail [Fairport, NY], July 23, 1942.