Temporary record

An extensive collection of papers of the family of Ashbel W. Riley, his sons, George S. and Ashbel, Jr., and daughter, Anna. Riley was a prominent citizen of Rochester, N.Y., serving on the city council, board of health, and other appointed offices in the city government during the 1830's. In 1818, he had been a founding member of a local militia regiment, the Penfield Rifles, but in 1820 received a commission as Lt.Col. of a second local regiment, the Rochester Rifle Guards. The Rifle Guards were soon consolidated into the 22nd N.Y. Rifle Regiment. Riley later became Colonel of the 22nd, and, in 1834, Major-General.

Riley was an active temperance lecturer, delivering over 8,000 temperance speeches during his long life, and actively promoting the formation of total abstinence societies throughout New York State. He was, in general, the prototypical progressive man of the 1830's, with interests including the anti-slavery movement, penal reform, care for the mentally ill, and the Presbyterian Church.

Ashbel's son, George, an attorney, also became involved in temperance activities, though he seems never to have attained the stature of his father. George, instead, had other interests: notably an interest in American Indians. Along with Lewis Henry Morgan, George was a founding member of the Grand Order of the Iroquois, which held Indian rituals and pressed the needs of the Iroquois nations politcally. The Riley Family Papers contain a significant series of documents and letters relating to a meeting of the Grand Council in August, 1845, and includes a description of a Seneca fort and burial ground that had been destroyed by Timothy Sullivan during his raids of 1779. George Riley shared one attribute in common with his father, that of perpetual indebtedness. Ashbel Riley is recorded as insolvent in 1846 (in a suit lodged against him by Lewis Tappan), while George seems frequently to have had financial problems during the 1870s and 1880s. He was nevertheless a substantial speculator in land interests in New York, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa, and had a financial stake in railroad corporations, coal mining, and other areas.

Ashbel, Jr. seems to have been generally less financially successful than his brother, but served for a while as an engineer in the construction of canals. Anna was educated at the Utica Female Seminary, from which a number of her letters were written.

Scope and contents:

The Riley Papers include approximately 500 letters in the personal correspondence series, concentrated heavily in the period from 1838-1858. These papers relate to the temperance activities of Ashbel and George S. Riley, Ashbel's military career, family relationships, and society in western New York state. The business correspondence series is both spottier in coverage and later in time, dating predominantly from 1860-1895. The other series include: newspaper clippings, receipts and accounts, legal documents, and miscellaneous items.

M-2748

Subjects

Canals--New York (State)
Ely, Samuel P.
Family--New York (State)
Grand Council of the Iroquois
Morgan, Lewis Henry, 1818-1881
Real property--New York (State); Riley, Anna, d. 1908
Riley, Ashbel W., Jr.
Riley, Charlotte
Seneca Indians--New York (State)
Temperance--New York (State)

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