No. 27

The Elders in 1812 about Geneva College

Dear Stewart,

By the time Henry Brother, the father of Civil War Marine Charles Brother, was about 12 years old, he learned that his dad was elected one of three commissioners of common schools in Geneva, New York.

Father and son had made a deal that, should the boy’s school marks improve, then Henry could take the summer’s off to go with Valentine to his land surveying treks. But what was, technically, the calendar that Valentine was going to suggest, in the end, with his political friends, as the best for the proper education of boys?

Some wanted to add more buildings to their Geneva Academy. Boring. Henry wanted to hit the road, even if it was to build the road. And then the sea, if he could but see.

As soon as school was let out, he met with the boys by the lake and jumped into the water and watched the shipbuilders shape wood and bolts to make the “Robert Troop”. It was the largest vessel ever launched on their shore, a 50-foot keel and ready to hold 60 tons.

At supper, Henry asked his father about Mr. Troop. “How he got a ship named after him? Was it his money?”

Valentine instead drilled Henry, “What’s this report I get today from the school master? And was it indeed your muddy boots left at the entrance of the chapel, where upon Mrs. Whiting tripped and cracked a tooth?”

Years later, when the Hobart and William Smith College grew out of that little academy, Henry Brother would endorse the fine program and even name his second son after his grandfather and Episcopalian Bishop Hobart, who used the campus to spread his message of virtue and the love of Christ. This also meant moving the family away from the Presbyterian Church. Try something liturgical, something orderly. Some disciples who would be okay with German sensibilities for the daily reward of grog, besides prayer, of course.

The school wrote to Henry in fine script. They asked him for a donation. Perhaps from his gift they might name a building after Valentine. “But no ship?” Henry smiled.

Henry set his sights on building another store.

But his own son, years later, knew how to set his sights on “A fine ship” and, years later, still asked, “Who is Robert Troop?”

— Miss Minnie

2025 Copyright Christine Friesel