Laney-Hoeing family papers

The collection consists of scrapbooks, photographs, correspondence, memoirs, diaries, and other memorabilia belonging to four generations of the Laney and Hoeing families. Calvin Cooke Laney was born on February 18, 1850, at Waterloo, New York. His father, Enos Laney, had emigrated to the United States from England at the age of 16. As a young boy, Calvin Laney attended the Friends Academy at Union Springs, New York and then a professional school at Poughkeepsie, New York. In the 1870's he worked as a surveyor for the New York Central, the Buf­falo, Rochester & Pittsburgh, and the Lehigh Valley railroads. A diary in the collection dates from this period of his life. In 1885 Laney opened a surveyor's office in Rochester and in 1888 he was appointed as superintendent of the newly created Rochester Parks Department. His first assignment was to survey the lands to create Genesee Valley Park under the counsel of Frederick Law Olmsted. Over the years, Laney worked closely with John Dunbar, a horticulturist, to create, Highland, Maplewood, Cobb's Hill, Seneca, Durand Eastman, and Ontario Beach Parks. Laney was made parks commissioner in 1920, a post which he held until his retire­ment in 1928. Laney, however, continued to have a keen interest in the park system until his death on August 22, 1941.

On March 26, 1879, Laney married Georgena P. Walbridge (1851-1931). Mrs. Laney's mother, Augusta (Platt) Walbridge (1825-1903), was related to the Dewey family of Bennington, Vermont. Her father, George W. Walbridge (1822-1878), was originally from New England. The collection includes a sentiment album given by Mr. Walbridge to Miss Platt before they were married. It also contains a photo­graph diary with pictures of a Mediterranean trip taken by Mrs. Laney's sister Frances (Walbridge) Mathews (1845-1918) and her husband William Henry Mathews (1838­-1932). Mr. Mathews was the president of the Rochester Printing Co. and the pub­lisher of the Democrat and Chronicle, a Rochester newspaper, from 1870 to 1921. He also served as president of the East Side Savings Bank and was a director of the Central Trust Company.

Calvin and Georgena Laney had three girls. Marie, born on March 25, 1880, later married John Oliver Montagnani and died in January, 1963, leaving four daughters. Augusta and Esther, twin girls, were born to the Laneys on May 4, 1883. Esther never married and died suddenly on July 1, 1908. The collection includes a scrapbook kept by Esther and also scrapbooks and notebooks kept by her twin, Augusta (Laney) Hoeing, along with business and family correspondence of the latter. Augusta (Laney) Hoeing became prominent in local circles, belonging to the Roundup and the Wednesday clubs, and the city Library Commission. She was also an officer of the Rochester Female Charitable Society and as such sat on the Board of Directors of the Visiting Nurse Association. She had a keen interest in literary matters. She and her husband sponsored poetry readings and enter­tained famous poets such as A. E. (George Russell), Louis Untermeyer, Vachel Lind­say, and Carl Sandburg in their home. Mrs. Hoeing was also interested in other literary figures, particularly Henry James. She donated a collection of first editions of James's works to Rush Rhees Library at the University of Rochester and was an avid book collector in general. She delighted in giving books to the children of all her acquaintances. She also donated money for the construction of the Garden Court in memory of her father, C. C. Laney, when Rush Rhees Library was remodeled in 1970.She died on August 22, 1972.

Augusta Laney married Charles Hoeing on June 20, 1905. Mr. Hoeing was born at Lexington, Kentucky, on May 27, 1871, of German immigrant parents. Mr. Hoeing did his undergraduate work at Kentucky Agricultural and Mechanical College. After teaching for three years at Garrard College, he then enrolled at Johns Hopkins Uni­versity in 1893 in order to study Latin and Greek at the graduate level. While there he received a scholarship that enabled him to spend a year studying at the American Academy in Rome. In 1898 he received his Ph.D. and then came to the University of Rochester, where he taught Latin for several years. He became Dean of the College for Men in 1914, a post he held until 1929. In 1928 he was named the first Dean of Graduate Studies. He was loved and respected by students and faculty alike, not only for his scholarly ability, but for his dry wit and humor as well. He also was a member of the Humdrum Club, a prestigious club to which many notable Rochesterians belonged. In 1933, Hoeing had to retire from his post because of ill health. He went to a sanitarium for the winter of 1935-6 and during this time he wrote his memoirs. He returned home for about a year and then died of a heart attack on March 9, 1938, whileMrs. Hoeing was on her way to Italy. The collection includes Hoeing's memoirs, speeches and class notes.

Charles and Augusta Hoeing had one son,, Frederick, born on November 7, 1907. He received an A.B. from Amherst College in 1929, an M.A. from Harvard University in 1930, and an honorary M.A. from Amherst in 1949. In 1941, as a member of the British American Ambulance Corps, Hoeing left the United States on the Egyptian ship Zam Zam with a group of other drivers and ambulances bound for Lake Chad in French Equatorial Africa. On April 17, however, the Zam Zam was sunk by the Germans and Hoeing became a prisoner of war until his release in July. Hoeing then worked with the American Field Service during World War II. He was an instructor of His­tory at the University of Rochester in 1946. Later that year he became a field representative of the New York State Commission Against Discrimination, a post he held until 1948. He next was an administrator for the Educational Practices Act of the New York State Education Department from 1948 to 1951. From 1951 to 1955 he was an assistant to the president of Hofstra College. In 1955 he left that post to work for the American Field Service again. He helped to arrange interna­tional teenage student exchanges. He also was a contributor to the Journal of Modern History. Frederick Hoeing died on August 25, 1962. The collection includes a scrapbook and a photograph album of Hoeing's, as well as correspondence, affidavits and a memoir of the Zam Zam incident.