THE ERIE CANAL AND A SURPRISING ER CONNECTION
Submitted October 2025 by Anita M. Mance, Historian
This year, villages along the Erie Canal have been hosting special events in celebration of the Canal's opening in October 1825. As East Rochester's Historian, I thought that our community's history belonged to the railroad and certainly had nothing to do with the Erie Canal. And then I spoke to retired Historian, Jim Burlingame, who informed me that we absolutely did have a connection -- I just had to look more closely at our history. And sure enough, he was right. The story centers around the life of Andrew Lincoln.The details we have of Andrew Lincoln’s life begin with his journal when he left his family on Cape Cod in Eastham, Massachusetts. Andrew had been born in Eastham in 1784. At an early age he was responsible for himself. At 14, he left home to become a carpenter and joiner (cabinetmaker). In 1816, he came to this area of New York State. For a while he worked in Brighton, Henrietta, and Penfield as a carpenter, painter, and shoemaker. In 1818, Lincoln moved to a farm in Perinton southwest of Penfield. His first home was a small saltbox style house. In 1821, Andrew became a partner with Samuel Rich who owned the largest gristmill in our area — the first mill on Irondequoit Creek
In 1827, Andrew married Sarah A. Kennedy. Eventually they would have six children, three boys and three girls.
In 1836, Andrew bought out the interests of his partners, Samuel Rich and Sylvanus Lathrop. As the years went on, his mills produced most of the grain in the area. Lincoln was a quite a businessman
In 1841, Andrew built a large Early Greek Revival style home for his family up the hill from Irondequoit Creek on the corner of Linden Avenue and Bluff Drive.
Lincoln had a new enlarged dam built. The dam created a pond across the creek. This water provided power for the mill and later became Spring Lake. A large five-story gristmill made of cut stone was built in 1847. It was a stone mill having four runs of stone. Andrew purchased a canal boat to ship his flour to Albany and New York City, and even to Boston. He would drive his wagons loaded with flour to Fairport to be shipped on the Erie Canal.
And so, even before our village of Despatch was founded in 1897, the area in the northeast corner of our community was producing flour shipped on the Erie Canal. Mr. Lincoln's mill and his 350 acres of hand became one of the most valuable mill properties in the area. Mr. Lincoln died in 1866. White his mill was destroyed by fire in the early 1920s (a fire started by some boys smoking), an historic sign marks the spot; and his home with its historic marker can still be seen on the corner of Linden Avenue and Bluff Drive.