At this time of year, many people return to the homes they grew up in or visited when children or young adults, when these houses are still occupied by family and friends. Family homes offer a chance to recall memories of past days. Very often today, the family home no longer exists for one reason or another, but the recollections of earlier days still linger. There were many houses in Niagara County that fall into the latter category. Most of those we will never know about, or the people who lived in them, but occasionally a photo comes to light of a vanished old house whose story wants to be remembered.
The stone house that once stood at 140 Genesee St., Lockport, was built in the early 1830s by Alonzo T. Prentice. He was born in New Hampshire in 1799 and went first to Buffalo before settling in Lockport in 1823. While still living in Buffalo, Prentice married Emeline Rockwell of Oneida County. Prentice opened a jewelry store on Canal Street and a few years later moved his business to the south side of Main Street. Prentice’s jewelry business must have done well in the early 1830s as he was able to build a large stone house at the southeast corner of Genesee and Pine streets for his growing family (nine children were born between 1824 and 1847). But the financial Panic of 1837 caused hardships for many families, including the Prentices, and he was forced to sell the home. The Prentice family moved into a house on LaGrange Street and later to South Pine Street “beyond High St.” Emeline passed away in 1864 and Alonzo died in 1872. They are buried in Glenwood Cemetery with four of their children.
General John Jackson, who bought the Prentice house at Genesee and Pine streets, came to Lockport in 1821 at the age of 17. It is reported that he bought a lot on Buffalo Street, built a clay oven atop an oak tree stump and began making and selling crackers stamped with the word “Jackson” on them. Within a short time, he constructed a small frame bake shop and, with his brother Uriah, commenced making bread as well. Jackson began buying lots on Buffalo Street between Cottage and Saxton streets and erecting wood frame buildings to serve as shops and businesses for the growing village. In 1825, he married Louise LaValley.
In 1833, Jackson’s block of stores on Buffalo Street were destroyed by fire, and he didn’t waste any time rebuilding, but instead of wood, the new structures were constructed of brick and became known as “Jackson’s block” (those buildings survived for 140 years, until urban renewal took them down in the early 1970s).
In 1837, Jackson purchased the stone house on Genesee Street from Alonzo Prentice. That same year, tensions arose between the United States and Great Britain in what became known as the “Patriots’ War.” Jackson was made a Brigadier General of the 5th Brigade of the New York State Militia, and in December 1837 he was ordered to station his troops on the U.S. side of the Niagara River opposite Navy Island to ensure that no one crossed over to assist the Patriots on the island in their attempt to invade Canada. The mission of this brigade was to preserve the neutrality of the United States unless an invasion by the British on American soil deemed otherwise. Eventually the rebels were arrested and the hostilities subsided.
For the next 20 years, Jackson focused on his business interests including operating a flour mill down in the Erie Canal basin with Asa Douglas and building a grain elevator in Dubuque, Iowa. Jackson died suddenly on April 17, 1875 at age 71. He and several family members were originally buried in a mausoleum in the Grace Episcopal Cemetery on Lincoln Avenue near Pine Street. In 1931, the remains were moved to Glenwood Cemetery when the property was acquired for residential use.
Following Jackson’s death, the home on Genesee Street was purchased by Alexander Ralston. The Ralstons were another early and prominent family in Lockport, related through marriage to Col. William Bond, Jesse Hawley and Edward I. Chase. Ralston was born in Keene, New Hampshire, in 1813 and came to Lockport with his family in 1831. He was one of the original founders of Grace Episcopal Church when it was established in 1835. Ralston was married twice, first to Lucinda Brewster who died in 1844, and then to Ellen Bacon. After working in Toledo, Ohio, for a number of years, Ralston returned to Lockport and opened a druggist business in 1846 that he operated for about 25 years. The Ralstons moved into 140 Genesee Street around 1877. Alexander Ralston did not get much time to enjoy his new house as he died unexpectedly on March 10, 1880, 11 days before his 67th birthday. The Ralstons have a large plot with an impressive monument in Cold Spring Cemetery on which 15 names are engraved. Ralston’s second wife remained in the home until her death in 1896.
Following the death of Ellen Ralston, the house came into the possession of Luther LeRoy Chadwick (usually identified as L.L.) and his wife Jennie B. Ralston, daughter of Alexander and Ellen. Jennie was also the granddaughter of Gillette Bacon, another early settler of Lockport. L.L. Chadwick was born in 1840 in Perrysburg and Jennie Ralston was born in Lockport in 1851. Chadwick was a hardware merchant who came to Lockport in about 1871. He was in business with William Mackey at 72 Main St. in the 1870s and was then the sole proprietor of a store at 64 Main St. in the 1880s. For reasons unknown, Chadwick left the hardware business in the 1890s and worked as a purchasing agent, first for Indurated Fibre and then for Holly Manufacturing. He re-entered the hardware business in 1901 with Fred D. Morris at 38 Main St. and remained with that firm until his retirement in 1917. Morris continued the business until his death in 1939. L. L. Chadwick passed away on March 12, 1921. His wife Jennie continued to live in the house until her death on Oct. 12, 1941.
After Mrs. Chadwick’s death, the house was purchased by Josephine Carveth for the sole purpose of using the site as a new location for the Baptist Church in Lockport. The old church, a block away, was too small for the growing congregation. Because of World War II, building materials were scarce, so it was not until 1951 that the 120-year-old stone house was taken down to clear the site for the building of the church, thus ending a connection to several of Lockport’s leading families. The cornerstone was laid on June 1, 1951 and the new church was dedicated in September of 1952.