Marie Louise Atkinson

Notes:

Emily Sibley Watson’s niece, younger daughter of Hobart Ford Atkinson and Zilpha Louise Sibley Atkinson. Her first husband was Gilman Henry Hubbell Perkins; after his death she married Ernest R. Willard. Her first husband’s mother, Caroline Perkins, was the founder of the Rochester Historical Society. After Marie Willard’s death she deeded her childhood home “Woodside” to the Historical Society, and it was the Society’s home for many years. Marie Willard was a charter member of the Children’s Auxiliary of Genesee Hospital and was a member of the hospital’s Board of Supervisors. She had been a member of the Memorial Art Gallery’s Board of Managers from its founding.

Her obituary in the October 31, 1940 Democrat & Chronicle concluded: “Many things might be said of Mrs. Willard’s benefactions, which were numerous and were conducted with a rare shyness and modesty. Literally Mrs. Willard was one whose right hand was unaware of what her left hand did. In all her efforts to aid others, from early years until her death, she sought earnestly to make the lives of those she touched happier and more hopeful. The memory of her life is one that long will be cherished.”

Marie married Gilman Henry Hubbell Perkins 1889. Gilman was born 2 Nov 1861, Rochester, NY; died 12 May 1894, Rochester, NY. [Group Sheet]

Marie married Ernest Russell Willard. Ernest was born 11 Mar 1854, Jamestown, NY; died 6 May 1937. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Emily Sibley Watson's brother-in-law, husband of her deceased sister Zilpha Louise Sibley, and father to her nieces Elisabeth Storer Atkinson Smith and Marie Louise Atkinson Willard. Hobart Ford Atkinson was a Rochester banker, and one of the executors of Hiram Sibley's estate. He remarried in 1875 and lived in "Woodside," across the street from the Hiram Sibley residence at 200 East Avenue.

Image from George C. Bragdon's Notable Men of Rochester and vicinity, XIX and XX centuries, Rochester, N. Y. : Central Printing and Engraving Co. 1902, p. 53

Hobart married Zilpha Louise Atkinson 12 Oct 1854, Rochester, New York. Zilpha (daughter of Hiram Sibley and Elizabeth Maria Tinker) was born 7 Dec 1833; died 16 Jun 1868. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Emily Sibley Watson's older sister

Notes:

Hobart Ford Atkinson's father

William married Elizabeth Ford Atkinson Finney. Elizabeth was born 1799 Sep 27; died 1863 Nov 29. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

2nd wife of Charles Grandison Finney mother of Hobart Ford Atkinson

Notes:

Entrepreneur and capitalist, nurseryman and founder of Western Union, Hiram Sibley was born in North Adams, Massachusetts. He moved to Western New York around 1829-1830, and by 1835 he and his lifelong friend and partner Don Alonzo Watson had opened a machine shop in Sibleyville (now Mendon). He was elected Monroe County Sheriff in 1843 and began to invest in local nurseries in 1844.

Before the Civil War he was active in Republican (anti-slavery) politics.

After the invention of the telegraph in 1844, Sibley’s interests turned to telegraphy and railroads. He organized and invested in patents and companies, consolidating his interests through the formation of Western Union in 1856.

During the Civil War, Western Union consolidated its hold on northern and western telegraph lines. Sibley traveled to Russia in late 1864 to negotiate with the Tsar for an undersea telegraph cable that would cross the Bering Strait from Alaska to Russia, uniting the Americas, Europe and Asia. The plan was stymied by the ultimate success after several failures of an Atlantic cable in 1866.

In his later years, he again invested in nurseries, purchasing the largest farm in the country and founding Hiram Sibley & Co., a seed company based in Rochester and Chicago. He was a prominent supporter of both the University of Rochester and Cornell University in Ithaca.

Hiram married Elizabeth Maria Tinker 24 Jan 1833, North Adams, MA. Elizabeth (daughter of Giles Tinker and Zilpha Knight Tinker) was born 11 Aug 1815; died 11 Jul 1903, Rochester, New York ; was buried , Mount Hope Cemetery, Rochester, New York . [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wife of Hiram Sibley; Emily Sibley Watson’s mother. She was one of the founders and early benefactors of Genesee Hospital, and a quiet philanthropist who helped many individuals.
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Benjamin married Zilpha Davis. Zilpha (child of Samuel Davis) was born 13 Apr 1771, Oxford, MA; died 10 May 1824. [Group Sheet]