Wadsworth Family of Hope

THE WADSWORTH HOUSE
CLICK HERE to link to a page on the NYGenWeb's Fulton county site, which has a picture of this building (4th one on the page)!
Wadsworth House was built in 1853 by Josiah Wadsworth Jr. son of Josiah Wadsworth (first Town of Hope Supervisor 1818-1822). His cousin Philip bought the property and left his blacksmith business at Griffin to live there. When he died in 1891, William Hamilton Wadsworth acquired it and ran it as a hotel.
It became a very popular resort. Dances were held on the weekends and on a summer’s eve the the squawk of fiddles could be heard over the voice of a square dance caller. There was a huge dining room in the main building and travelers that came north in the summer time often stopped for food and rest. The out-buildings called “The Coop” and “The Camp” were used as a boarding house.
Besides being a hotel keeper, and occassionally the town supervisor, William H. Wadsworth was also the postmaster from 1894-1902 and again from 1912-1915. He also fulfilled another community need. He and his wife, the former Myra Carpenter, donated land for the Methodist Episcopal Church in Hope. It later became a polling place and town hall. The building was moved in 1939 to its present site on route #30 next to the Town Barn.

CHILDREN OF WILLIAM HAMILTON WADSWORTH

WILLIAM HAMILTON WADSWORTH, born April 2, 1854, died November 5, 1942, married MYRA CARPENTER, born Aug 29, 1863, died November 22, 1933. They had the following children:

Margaret Wadsworth (standing left), born 1882, died 1962, Hope Town Clerk 1919-1922 and 1925-1930, married to Ed Call, born 1875, died 1962, teacher in Hope, Hope Town Supervisor 1923-1926 and 1929-1942

Randolph Caleb Wadsworth (standing right), born February 2, 1886, married to Jeanette Wright, born May 17, 1886

William L. Wadsworth (sitting in chair), born Aug. 6, 1889, died March 26, 1903

Info submitted by Marcia Buffett