genesee county history

These are some of "The Boys of Battery D," the first draftees from Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties before they were sent off to serve in World War I. It was taken in October 1917. Do you recognize any of them?

A hundred years ago, the first World War I draftees from Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties were fresh arrivals at Camp Dix, NJ. Initially, most were together in the same barracks and the same unit, Battery D of the 307th Field Artillery.

The picture was provided by Terry Krautwurst, who researched and wrote a history project titled "To End All Wars," which he then donated to the Genesee County History Department.

The project contains the biographies and documents on the 66 men and one woman from Genesee County who died in service during The Great War.

Krautwurst's latest post on his blog about Genesee County and that war is entitled "The County and the Kaiser. (The website, incidentally, also contains the honor roll biographies and many documents.)

The full unit photo of the men is numbered to help with ID, and three complete lists of the names of all the men from the three counties drafted in September 1917.

"I’m hoping that descendants and others able to recognize these men (either from memory of their grandfathers or from old family photos) will help put names to the faces in the photo so that the majority will be identified and thus properly honored by next November 11," Krautwurst says.

Click here to check out the post and get information about identifying the soldiers. Or you can start at the blog’s home page, here.

To contact Krautwurst, his email is:   tkwrite@bellsouth.net

Just about everybody knows the story of the day Frank Sinatra stopped in Batavia, but what about the day Johnny Cash stopped in Corfu?

It was mid-March, 1985 and the Cash tour bus pulled into the former Super Duper and John and June loaded their carts with groceries, stopping for autographs and pictures along the way.

The story is one of hundreds reprinted in Entertaining Genesee, a new book by County Historian Susan L. Conklin (photo, right) and research assistant Judy Stiles.

The book covers Genesee County residents who sought fame and fortune on stage, screen and in music as well as recounts the famous and nearly famous who passed through the area.

It's the 11th book published by the county's history department -- each paid for by the procedes of the sale of the previous book and funds from the Genesee County Historians Society.

The book is $20 and available at the history department in the old fire house on West Main Street in the City of Batavia.

Using reprinted stories from local newspapers (mostly the Batavia Daily News), letters, telegrams and other periodicals, the book recounts local brushes with the entertainment industry.

Of course, Tom Beers and Joey Pero are in there, but so is Harry Crosby, an actor who garnered some fame in New York City in the early 20th Century, and Miss Mary M. Howard, who wrote a march played by John Philip Sousa.

There's also articles on the times Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong and Tommy Dorsey came to Batavia. Some of the stories are of the "wish I could have been there type," such as Armstrong's appearance. Satchmo arrived late because his bus broke down, and then played for 700 fans until 5 a.m. Admission was only a buck fifty (tax included).

The next book from the history department, scheduled for 2014, will be called "Criminal Genesee."