The Scottsville Free Library, located at 28 Main Street in the village of Scottsville, New York, with a small branch at 883 George Street in Mumford, serves the people of the towns of Wheatland and Chili, as well as adjacent areas in Monroe County.
Unlike most public libraries, the Scottsville Free Library has always been a private non-profit association. Membership in this association is open to all local residents: one need merely apply for a library card. A board of seven trustees, elected by the association members to three-year terms, provides governance of the association.
History Background The history of the library has been admirably written by Carl F Schmidt, an architect locally noted for his histories of the area, and George Engs Slocum, a local figure whose history of the town appeared in the very early 20th century. (The original publication of Slocum's history was by private printing of three hundred fifty copies in Scottsville, by Isaac Van Hooser. In 1998 (Slocum) and 2002 (Schmidt), the Wheatland Historical Association commissioned the Higginson reprints.Higginson Book Company, a source of books on local history)
Schmidt wrote in 1952–1953, while Slocum stopped in 1906.Slocum stopped largely because he had died. He had declined to have the book published as he regarded it as unfinished. Subsequently, the work was completed by others. Slocum wanted the book to serve, inter alia, as a foundation upon which future historians would build, and so it came to be.For a fascinating pictorial history of Wheatland, see Images of America - Wheatland, Catherine Gilbert and Barbara Chapman, 2008, Arcadia Publishing,
Antecedence In 1796, the state legislature enacted a law providing for the establishment of local private subscription libraries.
Farmers' Library The Scottsville Free Library's beginnings may be traced back to The Farmers' Library,Much of the information in this section was taken from Wheatland, New York, by George Engs Slocum, 1908, and History of the Town of Wheatland, by Carl F Schmidt, 1953, both reprinted by Higginson Book Company, Salem, Massachusetts, with whose kind permission these volumes have been used as a source. founded on 6 January 1805 and the first institution of its kind in the western part of New York State. At its heart, a lending library is its collection of books. In the days before newspapers, reliable postal service, and other forms of communication, books comprised one of very few connections to the outside world. The Farmers' Library began when John Garbutt walked to Canandaigua and returned with twenty-three books purchased from the Myron Holley Store.
The first twenty-two books were: "Morse's Universal Geography" Nine volumes of "The Spectator" by Addison and Steele Two volumes of Paley's "Philosophy" Two volumes of Beattie's "Elements of Moral Science" "Arabian Nights" Two volumes of "Mackenzie's Voyages" Baxter's "The Saints' Everlasting Rest" "History of England" by Oliver Goldsmith "Boston's View" Franklin's works "The American Revolution"
Eventually, this collection grew to some fifteen hundred forty-seven volumes, and the Society which was founded to support and manage the library also thrived, with ample public support. For its first two years, the library lived in the home of Peter Sheffer, Jr; for the next two, with Cyrus Douglass.
In an analysis of the history of The Farmers' Library by Philip B. Daghlian in the University of Rochester Library Bulletin (Volume II · November 1946 · Number 1), this observation is made about the selection of books: "It might be observed in passing that the tastes which are reflected in this instance would do credit to a community with far greater claims to culture and sophistication." Daghlian further observed, "One can see from this sampling that the founders of The Farmers' Library were interested in substantial reading matter, principally in the categories of philosophy and religion, history and travel, belles-lettres, and the practical arts. This is the basic pattern followed throughout the history of the organization, although in later years it was the custom to purchase current publications almost exclusively. It is not likely that any of the readers regarded themselves as intellectuals, and yet their reading tastes would be highly respectable in any age. And the condition of the surviving books proves that they were really read."
A provision of the Society's by-laws stipulated that "the library should forever be kept within two miles of the bridge over Allan's Creek on Isaac Scott's farm." Allan's Creek eventually became Oatka Creek, and this restriction also passed into history in 1810, when the library was moved to Albright's Mill at Hall's Corners (today's Wheatland Center). In 1816, it was moved again, from Wheatland Center to Garbutt's Mills, housed in Garbutt's store at times and in private residences at other times, under the care of Phillip Garbutt.
The founders of The Farmers' Library included: Peter Sheffer - was the first serious settler in the area, after the flighty and eccentric Indian Allan. Peter Sheffer, Sr, purchased 475 acres on the river flats for the then-high price of $2.50 an acre. Peter Sheffer, Jr, was the first non-Indian to be married west of the Genesee. Like many others, he built a grist mill, this one in Garbuttsville. Unlike most of the others, this one would eventually be converted to grinding gypsum when workmen excavating the foundation for a new mill discovered the local gypsum deposit, thus opening up a lucrative new industry. Isaac Scott - came to the area from New Hampshire at the age of forty-five in 1790 and purchased 150 acres from the Wadsworth family for $4.00 an acre; this land is now the village of Scottsville. His log cabin, built north of the creek on what is now the corner of Main Street and River Road (originally Canawaugus Road), was the village's first structure. It eventually became the first of the village's numerous hotels. Cyrus Douglass - married one of Isaac Scott's daughters. As one of the Commissioners of Highways, he assisted in the construction of the first road in the Town of Northampton, running northwest to Braddock Bay. Shortly after the turn of the 20th century, he moved to the new state of Indiana. James Wood - was the Commissioner of Highways in 1803 when Wheatland was still Southampton and part of Genesee County. John Finch - worked as Scottsville's first blacksmith, a trade far more economically important than quaint. A man of highly regarded intellectual depth, he served as Caledonia's supervisor in 1812 and eventually went out west in 1820. Christopher Laybourn - settled in 1799 or 1800 and was town supervisor for the four years during which the town was known as Southampton. His farm was the site, in 1810, of the first military training in the area. The following year, he sold out and moved to Illinois. John Garbutt - born in England in 1780, came to America in 1798 after his father was persecuted for his Whig politics. He arrived in the area in 1804 and left his name spread liberally across the history of Wheatland. He was, among other things, a shoemaker, a farmer, a surveyor, a politician, and a begetter of sons. He was town supervisor for Caledonia in 1820 and Wheatland's first supervisor in 1821. He also instigated the change of the town's name from Inverness to Wheatland. In 1829, he went to the state legislature as one of Monroe County's representatives. His death in 1855 matched the library's semi-centennial. Francis Albright - came to Wheatland from Seneca County in 1799 and settled near the town's center. In 1804, he constructed a small grist mill, the first in Wheatland and the first of many on the Oatka. The mill was extremely successful, at least up to the day it burned to the ground in 1875, a fate to which virtually all of Oatka Creek's mills would eventually succumb. He served as the library's custodian from 1810 to 1816, eventually moving to Niagara County, where he lived 'til 1840. Powell Carpenter - arrived in the area in 1804 from Westchester County. Before dying in 1853, he participated actively in numerous local business undertakings. After Isaac Scott died in 1818 at the age of 73, his tavern was briefly operated by his son until its purchase by Carpenter in 1820. Nathaniel Taylor - was an old bachelor who lived in Garbuttsville, teaching school at Belcoda. His sole claim to fame was his marriage to one of his pupils, the disparity in their ages occasioning considerable disapprobation among the local citizenry. Their wedding trip took them to the far west; it is not recorded whether they ever came back.
Membership (under the terms of the organization's constitution, each member was called a proprietor) in the library came, initially, at a cost of a dollar and a half; at the time, this was the price of a pair of long gloves, a long scythe, a pair of worsted stockings (long?), eight hens, three yards of towel cloth, or three gallons of whiskey. This fee was later doubled. In addition to the membership subscription, the annual dues varied between half a dollar and a dollar. Only in 1822 were non-members allowed to borrow from the library, albeit at an annual fee. The organization was incorporated on 31 May 1811.
The rationale for locating the library in grist mills was simple: the first facility to be built by settlers after their own housing was the mill which ground grist into meal or flour. Farmers naturally congregated at the mill, spending time talking whilst waiting for their grain to be ground. (To a limited degree, this can still be seen today.) Thus, this proved the optimal site for the local library.
Scottsville Library In 1839, when the nascent Scottsville library first appeared, The Farmers' Library was divided between Scottsville and Garbuttsville. The members from Scottsville took their books away, establishing a new library in Ira Carpenter's store. This was located in the front half of that part of the municipal building which until recently housed the fire department. In fact, it was literally within spitting distance of the present library building. This smaller and vitiated library did not last; interest in it diminished, along with membership, and, several years later, the books were sold at auction and the proceeds distributed among the shareholders.
The thousand or so volumes belonging to the Garbuttsville faction stayed with Philip Garbutt. They remained in his store until 1866, at which time William Garbutt, Philip's son, took them into his residence, where they were kept until 16 November 1934, when Mrs Eleanor M Garbutt, Pittsford, NY, sold them to the University of Rochester library. The Farmers' Library, itself, ended in 1870.
The Scottsville Village Improvement Society Founded in 1911 to encourage all local womenWere men invited or allowed to enter? to participate in civic betterment efforts, the Scottsville Village Improvement Society took an active interest in the matter of a local library. With leadership and financial supportThe Society dues were $.25 per annum. from Mrs Etta Fraser Miller, the Society opened the Reading Room on Main Street. At first precisely what the name implies, a place where one could go to sit and read, the Reading Room occupied the Society's clubroom in the Woodgate home at 29 Main. Access was open to anyone, and the Reading Room's collection included books and periodicals for all ages. Public acceptance of the Reading Room encouraged the Society to expand it into a circulating library. The success of the newly formed Scottsville Free Library was measured in the more than four thousand visits during the first year.