Immigration slowed in the decades following America’s Revolutionary War until the 1830s when new arrivals came predominantly from Ireland, England, Germany and France, often for America’s inexpensive farmland. Immigration from England increased dramatically in the 1830s because of an agricultural depression in the southern counties. Among these immigrants were brothers George and James Catchpole of Suffolk County in England, who each brought their wives and children with them to settle in Geneva in 1834. A third brother, Robert, immigrated to Huron in Wayne County in 1846.
Robert Catchpole was a prominent citizen of Huron and served as the supervisor for a short period. The brothers ran a lumber company together and built boats. George’s oldest son, Alfred, became a prominent businessman in Geneva, having founded a boiler manufacturing factory.
Certificate of Non-liability, courtesy of Geneva Historical Society
Daniel Catchpole was found non-liable for serving the Civil War, having furnished an acceptable substitute. He was working as a foreman at a mill.
Alfred Catchpole served in the Navy in the Civil War, otherwise working as a machinist.
New York Central and Hudson River Railroad located at the corner of Lewis Street and Exchange Street, courtesy of Geneva Historical Society
The location of the Catchpole boiler factory
Residence of Alfred Catchpole, courtesy of Geneva Historical Society
Alfred and his wife Emilie, herself an immigrant from France, purchased this house in 1886.