~ ROCHESTER'S HISTORY ~
AN ILLUSTRATED TIMELINE
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General Jacob Gould
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- General Jacob Gould, the first Democratic mayor of Rochester, was
a native of the Bay state, having been born in Boxford, Massachusetts,
February 10, 1794. His grandfather, and his father, Captain Jacob
Gould, were also natives of the town and the first named was a Lieutenant
of Militia in the Revolution. General Gould's mother was a Peabody from
Middletown, and related to the Peabody's of Boston. During his boyhood
General Gould lived with his parents on the family farm and was educated
in the common schools. He worked for a year in his youth at shoemaking,
but gave up the trade in consequence of ill health. In 1812 he began
school teaching and in 1815 took charge of the English department of the
Union College Grammar school, where he was associated with Professor Barnes,
uncle of the late Hon. S. J. Tilden. This school he conducted successfully
for four years. He came to Rochester in 1819, at that time a village of
one thousand inhabitants, and began shoe manufacturing and dealing in leather.
In 1824 he was elected captain of an artillery company, became colonel,
and was appointed by Governor Clinton as a major general of artillery.
General Gould was one of the delegates appointed to meet and escort La
Fayette to this city in 1824. In 1839 President Jackson appointed General
Gould collector of customs for the Port of Genesee, and he was also appointed
to the same office by President Van Buren. In 1836 he was elected
president of the Rochester City bank. In 1845 President Polk appointed
him to be United States Marshal for the Northern District of New York.
In 1850 General Gould was elected financial officer of the Farmers and
Mechanics' bank, a place he occupied until 1866. From 1839 to 1841
he was associated with Messrs. Gibson and Chidell in completing the New
York Central Railroad to Auburn, and was elected a director of the road
under the Corning and Keep administration. Presidents Tyler and Van
Buren were both entertained by General Gould on their visit to this city.
In 1819 he became an elder of the old First Presbyterian church and continued
to his death. He was married at the age of twenty-two to Miss Ruby
Swan of North Andover, Massachusetts, who died twenty-four years later,
leaving two daughters and one son. In 1841 he married Sarah T. Seward,
principal of the Seward Female seminary. General Gould died here
suddenly on November 19, 1867, universally respected. General Gould's
children who survive him are Mrs. Caroline Gould Benton; Mrs. Susan Tilden,
who married the younger brother of the late Samuel J. Tilden; J. S. Gould;
Mrs. Ruby Simmons of New York; Seward Gould of this city, and Miss Anna
J. Gould of New York.
Biographical Sketch from 'Rochester and the Post Express' 1895
In 1836 General Gould was a member of the Rochester Common Council
when the decision was made that the city need a new cemetery. Not known
for a restrained demeanor, general Gould condemned the choice of the Silas
Andrus farm as "all up hill and down dale, and with a gully at the entrance
at that."
"That committee deserve desecration," boomed General Gould. "Why,
that ground isn't fit for pasturing rabbits." The reply from a fellow council
member was: "But we are not going to pasture rabbits."
In the end the commetty did pick the Andrus site, and General Gould
was one of the first to purchase a plot, right in the side wall of the
gully at the entrance to the new cemetery.
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