William Letchworth

May 26, 1823 (age 86)

At the age of fifteen Letchworth began a business career, and ten years later was junior partner in the hardware firm of Pratt & Letchworth, Buffalo. He prospered and built up a comfortable fortune. In 1859 he purchased a large estate known as "Glen Iris, " at Portage, New York. Rejected for the army during the Civil War, he allowed the New York volunteers to use his estate for a training camp. For some years history and archeology--especially the archeology of the Indians--were among his hobbies. In this connection he had the remains of Mary Jemison, "the White Woman of the Genesee, " removed in 1874 from the old Buffalo Creek Reservation to his estate. His collection of Indian antiquities eventually became the Genesee Valley Museum. He was also much interested in the fine arts and in 1871 was president of the Buffalo Academy of Fine Arts. In 1869 he retired from business to devote himself to philanthropy. He refused to run for Congress as a Republican, although assured of election, but accepted a commissionership on the state board of charities. In this capacity his initial effort was directed toward removing normal children from the Erie County Poorhouse. After agitating the subject in the press, he succeeded by 1874 in having many of them interned temporarily in local asylums, and was largely instrumental in securing legislation (1875, 1876) prohibiting the confinement of normal children between the ages of three and sixteen in the state almshouses. This movement was later extended to promote the adoption of such children by private families, and became widely known as the Erie County System. In 1878 Letchworth was made president of the state board of charities. With the problem of the dependent child on the way to solution, he now turned his attention to the delinquent child and the insane poor, and in 1880 began an extensive tour of Europe to study European methods of dealing with these problems. His copious findings on the second subject were published in 1889 under the title, The Insane in Foreign Countries. In 1883 he read a paper before the Tenth Annual National Conference of Charities and Corrections on the proper grouping of dependent and incorrigible children and was elected as president of the following conference (October 1884). In 1884, as a result of his efforts, manual training was introduced into the Western House of Refuge at Rochester, the name of the institution being changed to State Industrial School. In his work for the insane poor, also, he brought about several innovations. He pointed out some superiorities of European institutions, worked to secure state control of all insane persons and to establish farm colonies, and in 1886 aided in the addition of a new state insane asylum at Ogdensburg to the seven already established. In the early nineties he changed his objective from the insane to the epileptic, and in 1893, through his initiative, the tract of land known as Sonyea owned by the Shakers near Mount Morris was purchased by the state as a colony for epileptics. It was opened formally in 1896, as Craig Colony. In 1900 he published Care and Treatment of Epileptics. A stroke of apoplexy in 1903 made him an invalid for the rest of his life. When "Glen Iris" was threatened by the demands of electric power companies in 1906 he deeded the tract to the State of New York, and it was henceforth known as Letchworth Park. In 1909 the new Eastern New York State Custodial Asylum in Rockland County was renamed Letchworth Village. He also published a Sketch of the Life of Samuel F. Pratt (1874), and issued an edition (1898) of James E. Seaver's Narrative of the Life of Mary Jemison with illustrations and supplementary material collected by himself.

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Works

book

Care and Treatment of Epileptics (Classic Reprint)

(Excerpt from Care and Treatment of Epileptics In the pre...)

Reasons for Establishing Separate Girls Reformatory at State Industrial School, Rochester (Classic Reprint)

(To the Honorable James W, Husted, Speaker of the A ssembl...)

A Narrative of the Life of Mary Jemison: De-He-Wä-Mis, the White Woman of the Genesee

( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

Technologic training in reform schools. An address ... before the Board of Managers of the Western House of Refuge, at Rochester N. Y., February 26th, ... Anderson, President of Rochester University

State Boards Of Charities...

(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

Eighth Annual Report of the State Board of Charities of the State of New York ...: Extract Relating to Pauper and Destitute Children

( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

Paper on dependent and delinquent children of the state of New York

Plans for poor-houses: and other miscellaneous pamphlets on charities and the protection of children

The Insane in Foreign Countries 1889

(Originally published in 1889. This volume from the Cornel...)

Report on the Chronic Insane in Certain Counties, Exempted by the State Board of Charities, from the Operation of the Willard Asylum ACT

( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

William Pryor Letchworth

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philanthropist

Background

William Pryor Letchworth was born in Brownville, New York, of Quaker ancestry, the son of Josiah and Ann (Hance) Letchworth and the great-grandson of John Letchworth who came to America from England in 1766.

Education

He received a common-school education.

Career

At the age of fifteen Letchworth began a business career, and ten years later was junior partner in the hardware firm of Pratt & Letchworth, Buffalo. He prospered and built up a comfortable fortune. In 1859 he purchased a large estate known as "Glen Iris, " at Portage, New York. Rejected for the army during the Civil War, he allowed the New York volunteers to use his estate for a training camp.

For some years history and archeology--especially the archeology of the Indians--were among his hobbies. In this connection he had the remains of Mary Jemison, "the White Woman of the Genesee, " removed in 1874 from the old Buffalo Creek Reservation to his estate. His collection of Indian antiquities eventually became the Genesee Valley Museum. He was also much interested in the fine arts and in 1871 was president of the Buffalo Academy of Fine Arts. In 1869 he retired from business to devote himself to philanthropy.

He refused to run for Congress as a Republican, although assured of election, but accepted a commissionership on the state board of charities. In this capacity his initial effort was directed toward removing normal children from the Erie County Poorhouse. After agitating the subject in the press, he succeeded by 1874 in having many of them interned temporarily in local asylums, and was largely instrumental in securing legislation (1875, 1876) prohibiting the confinement of normal children between the ages of three and sixteen in the state almshouses. This movement was later extended to promote the adoption of such children by private families, and became widely known as the Erie County System.

In 1878 Letchworth was made president of the state board of charities. With the problem of the dependent child on the way to solution, he now turned his attention to the delinquent child and the insane poor, and in 1880 began an extensive tour of Europe to study European methods of dealing with these problems. His copious findings on the second subject were published in 1889 under the title, The Insane in Foreign Countries. In 1883 he read a paper before the Tenth Annual National Conference of Charities and Corrections on the proper grouping of dependent and incorrigible children and was elected as president of the following conference (October 1884). In 1884, as a result of his efforts, manual training was introduced into the Western House of Refuge at Rochester, the name of the institution being changed to State Industrial School.

In his work for the insane poor, also, he brought about several innovations. He pointed out some superiorities of European institutions, worked to secure state control of all insane persons and to establish farm colonies, and in 1886 aided in the addition of a new state insane asylum at Ogdensburg to the seven already established. In the early nineties he changed his objective from the insane to the epileptic, and in 1893, through his initiative, the tract of land known as Sonyea owned by the Shakers near Mount Morris was purchased by the state as a colony for epileptics. It was opened formally in 1896, as Craig Colony. In 1900 he published Care and Treatment of Epileptics. A stroke of apoplexy in 1903 made him an invalid for the rest of his life. When "Glen Iris" was threatened by the demands of electric power companies in 1906 he deeded the tract to the State of New York, and it was henceforth known as Letchworth Park. In 1909 the new Eastern New York State Custodial Asylum in Rockland County was renamed Letchworth Village. He also published a Sketch of the Life of Samuel F. Pratt (1874), and issued an edition (1898) of James E. Seaver's Narrative of the Life of Mary Jemison with illustrations and supplementary material collected by himself.

Achievements

Letchwort was most widely known for donating his estate to New York, now known as Letchworth State Park. He was instrumental in exploring the treatment and condition of the insane, epileptics and poor children. He helped to establish a state epileptic hospital in Western New York in 1896. He also published over sixty-five papers or reports on matters connected with charities and corrections.

Works

Care and Treatment of Epileptics (Classic Reprint) Care and Treatment of Epileptics (Classic Reprint)

Reasons for Establishing Separate Girls Reformatory at State Industrial School, Rochester (Classic Reprint) Reasons for Establishing Separate Girls Reformatory at State Industrial School, Rochester (Classic Reprint)

$A Narrative of the Life of Mary Jemison: De-He-W\u00E4-Mis, the White Woman of the Genesee A Narrative of the Life of Mary Jemison: De-He-W\u00E4-Mis, the White Woman of the Genesee$ Technologic training in reform schools. An address ... before the Board of Managers of the Western House of Refuge, at Rochester N. Y., February 26th, ... Anderson, President of Rochester University Technologic training in reform schools. An address ... before the Board of Managers of the Western House of Refuge, at Rochester N. Y., February 26th, ... Anderson, President of Rochester University