The grandfather of the internet is buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery

The grandfather of the internet is buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery
San Francisco Call, Volume 87, Number 150, 29 April 1901

San Francisco Call, Volume 87, Number 150, 29 April 1901

 jstephenson Member Photo Clipped by jstephenson • 20 Jan 2018 Clipped from Buffalo Morning Express and Illustrated Buffalo Express Buffalo, New York 29 Apr 1901, Mon

Buffalo Morning Express and Illustrated Buffalo Express, Buffalo, New York, 29 Apr 1901, Monday

(top) Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 29 Apr 1901, Mon • Page 1

(top) Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 29 Apr 1901, Mon • Page 1 (bottom) from Reid’s obituary, Western Electrician, Chicago, IL, United States, Saturday, May 4, 1901 vol. 28, no. 18, p. 300, col. 3

 The James Reid monument in Mount Hope Cemetery is a square column set on three graduated marble steps. Two of the four faces of the top section are visible in this photograph. One has Reid's birth year, 1819, enclosed in a wreath. The second contains a bronze portrait plaque of Mr. Reid. The bronze tablet set into the support column reads, "James Douglas Reid, 1819-1901. Born Edinburgh, died New York. A pioneer of the telegraph and its first superintendent. Friend and associate of Morse. A kindly gentleman of beautiful character and stainless life. This monument was erected 1914 by telegraphers in appreciation and loving memory of his unselfish helpfulness". From the Monroe County Library website

The James Reid monument in Mount Hope Cemetery is a square column set on three graduated marble steps. Two of the four faces of the top section are visible in this photograph. One has Reid’s birth year, 1819, enclosed in a wreath. The second contains a bronze portrait plaque of Mr. Reid. The bronze tablet set into the support column reads, “James Douglas Reid, 1819-1901. Born Edinburgh, died New York. A pioneer of the telegraph and its first superintendent. Friend and associate of Morse. A kindly gentleman of beautiful character and stainless life. This monument was erected 1914 by telegraphers in appreciation and loving memory of his unselfish helpfulness.”[From the Monroe County Library website. [Photo: David Kramer, 10/21/19]

Mt. Hope Cemetery[Photo: David Kramer, 10/21/19]

Printed in Rochester Herald, June 24, 1915: “The monument for James Douglas Reid was unveiled in Mount Hope Cemetery in 1915, with nearly 200 people gathered in witness. Mr. Reid spent much of his early life in Rochester.” [Photo: David Kramer, 10/21/19]

A few months ago, Was a Rochestarian the founder of the transcontinental railroad? Not so fast., we reported on Dr. Hartwell Carver’s 50 foot monument — the second tallest in Mt. Hope Cemetery — that Carver (1789 – 1875) actually erected while still alive.

In self-congratulatory inscriptions written by himself, Carver pronounced himself the “Father of the Pacific Railroad” [also known as the Transatlantic Railroad]. Actually, while Carver definitely promoted and furthered the progress of the transcontinental railroad, apparently only he identified himself as its Father. Carver’s monument is more a monument to his ego rather than to historical accuracy.

By coincidence, if you walk but a few paces from Carver, you’ll discover the obelisk honoring James D. Reid (1819 – 1901) who — unlike the ersatz claims of Carver — can legitimately be called the father of one of the most transformative technologies in human history: the telegraph.

Reid’s inscription modestly calls him a “Pioneer of the Telegraph,” even as eulogies and encomiums honored him as “The Father of the Telegraph,” especially seen in his nationally circulated obituary.

While not the inventor of the telegraph — the honor given to Reid’s good friend, Samuel Morse — Reid was universally known within the telegraph world, sometimes called the Grand Old Man. From 1844 to his death, Reid devoted his career to expanding the telegraph and chronicling its history. As seen in the monument inscription, Reid was the first ever Telegraph Superintendent.

In 1837, Reid moved from Toronto to Rochester, later to become a postal clerk. In Rochester, Reid married and raised his children who are buried next to him in Mt. Hope Cemetery. In Rochester, Reid befriended Hiram Sibley (1807 – 1888), the first president of Western Union.  It is not clear exactly when Reid left Rochester, but he always maintained ties, returning in 1873 or 1874 possibly for a professorship at the University of Rochester.  (SEE FULL BIOGRAPHY AT END)

Reid’s most dramatic connection to Rochester occurred in 1862. As described in Jenny Marsh Parker’s Rochester: A Story Historical (1884), in 1862 the ironclad Confederate Merrimack  threatened Union shipping.

In a remarkable exertion, Reid took it upon himself to insure that Rochesterians would know about the titanic battle as soon as possible:

James D. Reid was at that time superintendent of the state telegraphs. On Saturday he ordered a wire swung across the highlands of the Hudson River above West Point, to secure communication at the earliest moment, and arranged to be reported to at Rochester at each hour of Sunday until connection was secured. At 3 p. M. word was sent him that the wire was up, and at the same time communicated to him the arrival of the Monitor in Hampton Roads, and the particulars of her victory over the Merrimac. No one else in that anxious city knew of it. He was announced as one of the speakers at the anniversary in the evening. The other speakers were Dr. Peet of the First Presbyterian, and Dr. Coit of St. Peters, now both dead. As if in expectation of some great event the house was packed. The national dangers could be read on the solemn and anxious faces of every citizen.

From the Soldier's and Sailor's Monument in Rochester's Washington Square Park. Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack, also called Battle of Hampton Roads, (March 9, 1862), in the American Civil War. [Photo: David Kramer]

From the Soldier’s and Sailor’s Monument in Rochester’s Washington Square Park. Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack, also called Battle of Hampton Roads, (March 9, 1862). [Photo: David Kramer]

Passing up to the organist, Mr. Reid told him to keep himself ready for a signal from him during his address. Dr. Peet and Dr. Coit had delivered eloquent addresses. It was now Mr. Reid’s turn. In vain he tried to postpone the announcement which was to make the nation laugh with joy. Taking from his pocket the dispatch, he had scarcely finished reading it when a small boy in the gallery shouted, in a shrill voice, “Hurrah.” Instantly a shout of general joy arose. The organist, with all the stops out, started the national hymn,” My country,’ tis of thee,” which was sung amid almost transporting fervor, and at a late hour the people separated with the feeling that a great danger was passed.

The Victorian Internet (1998) by Tom Standage [Held at scanned courtesy of the Rochester Public Library]

The Victorian Internet (1998) by Tom Standage [Held at scanned courtesy of the Rochester Public Library with help from Brian DiNitto, Information Desk Librarian]

If ever there was a picture of the power of the telegraph, this is it: anxious Rochesterians learning — in almost real time —  that the Monitor had battled the Merrimack to a tie that might have saved Washington, D.C.

So, if Reid was the “Father of the Telegraph,” what does that have to do with the internet?

In the late 1990s, as the internet became mainstream, commentators noted that the internet was really just an extension of the telegraph that shook the world.  Like the internet, the telegraph allowed almost instantaneous communication, faster than horses, ships, railroads.

The feeling in the 1840s upon receiving a telegraph messages hundreds of miles away must have been astounding.  In 1858, as the telegraph was burgeoning, in The Story of the Telegraph, Charles F. Briggs and Augustus Maverick wrote what could describe our world:

Of all the marvelous achievements of modern science the electric telegraph is transcendentally the greatest and most serviceable to mankind … The whole earth will be belted with the electric current, palpitating with human thoughts and emotions.

In The Victorian Internet (1898), Tom Standage was one of the first to advance the thesis that the telegraph was the precursor to the internet:

From The Victorian Internet, VIII | Preface

From The Victorian Internet, VIII | Preface

gore

Gravesite of Albert A. Gore Sr., Smith County Memorial Gardens, Carthage, Tennessee

In 1998, Standage said we are the “heirs of the telegraphic tradition.” He is right — and our forefather is buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery.¹

¹Reid’s status as the grandfather of the internet could be challenged in the person of Albert A. Gore Sr., former Democratic Representative and Senator from Tennessee. Urban legend has it that Gore’s son, Albert A. Gore Jr., former Vice President, said he invented the internet, presumably making Gore Sr. another forefather.

Telegraph and Telephone Age, July 1, 1912, p.424

Telegraph and Telephone Age, July 1, 1912, p.424

From THE FRIENDS OF MT. HOPE CEMETERY VOLUME 11 NO.1 ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, WINTER 1991 by Fran Coleman

From THE FRIENDS OF MT. HOPE CEMETERY VOLUME 11 NO.1 ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, WINTER 1991 by Fran Coleman

SEE ALSO Was a Rochestarian the founder of the transcontinental railroad? Not so fast.

carver 4 new feature

May 2019 [Photo: David Kramer]

About The Author

dkramer3@naz.edu

Welcome to Talker of the Town! My name is David Kramer. I have a Ph.D in English and teach at Keuka College. I am a former and still active Fellow at the Nazareth College Center for Public History and a Storyteller in Residence at the SmallMatters Institute. Over the years, I have taught at Monroe Community College, the Rochester Institute of Technology and St. John Fisher College. I have published numerous Guest Essays, Letters, Book Reviews and Opinion pieces in The New York Times, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the Buffalo News, the Rochester Patriot, the Providence Journal, the Providence Business News, the Brown Alumni Magazine, the New London Day, the Boston Herald, the Messenger Post Newspapers, the Wedge, the Empty Closet, the CITY, Lake Affect Magazine and Brighton Connections. My poetry appears in The Criterion: An International Journal in English and Rundenalia and my academic writing in War, Literature and the Arts and Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. Starting in February 2013, I wrote for three Democratic and Chronicle  blogs, "Make City Schools Better," "Unite Rochester," and the "Editorial Board." When my tenure at the D & C  ended, I wanted to continue conversations first begun there. And start new ones.  So we created this new space, Talker of the Town, where all are invited to join. I don’t like to say these posts are “mine.” Very few of them are the sole product of my sometimes overheated imagination. Instead, I call them partnerships and collaborations. Or as they say in education, “peer group work.” Talker of the Town might better be Talkers of the Town. The blog won’t thrive without your leads, text, pictures, ideas, facebook shares, tweets, comments and criticisms.

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