William Pidgeon, Sr.

W. PIDGEON SR., SHOE PIONEER PASSES AWAY

Retired Merchant Succumbs at Age of 89

         William Pidgeon, Sr., 89, for many years connected with the shoe industry of Rochester and     who conducted a shoe store for 24 years at 19 Front Street, died last night (Apr. 14, 1936) in Fairport Baptist Home, where he has lived for the last five years.  He is the father of  William Pidgeon, Jr., also active as a shoe man.

        Born in Cullompton, Devon, England, Sept. 7, 1847, Mr. Pidgeon learned to make shoes by        hand there under conditions of which he once said, “My hours were rather long, for work            began at 6:30 a.m. and ended at 8 p.m.”  At the age of 22 he married Emily Baker in St.        Cuthbert Episcopal Church, Somerset, Engl.  She died in March, 1924, in this city, where they had reared three of six children born to them.

  Linked to Notables

           Mrs. Pidgeon, before her marriage, had worked for the wife of Sir Bulwar Lytton, the novelist,      Tiverton, Devon, and had lived at the Old Blundell School, Tiverton, mentioned in Blackmore’s       “Lorna Doone.”  Shortly after their wedding, Mr. and Mrs. Pidgeon had lived at Budleigh,  Devon, where he made and mended shoes and sang in the Methodist Church Choir.    Among patrons of his employer, for whom Mr. Pidgeon mended shoes, were the sons of Jennie Lind, the singer, who were attending school nearby preparatory to going to college.

    Mr. Pidgeon landed in Castle Gardens, New York, Oct. 3, 1872, four weeks before General Grant was re-elected president over Horace Greely.  His brother George came with him, but he left his wife and baby girl in England until he could make a home for them.  He first lived in Meadville,  Pa., where his sister Ann and her husband had preceded him.  One of his early recollections there was of hearing the men with whom he worked at shoe making recount stories of the Civil War, which had ended some seven years before. 

  Came Here in 1879

  Coming to Rochester in June, 1879, he went to work for Cowels, Curtis & Wheeler, shoe manufacturers, who later became the first shoe firm in Rochester to introduce machinery for the making of shoes.  Mr. Pidgeon opened his own retail store in Front Street in 1901.

 Three children survive.  They are, besides William Pidgeon, Jr., George Pidgeon of Tonawanda, and Mrs. F. L. Deline of Buffalo.  There also are three grandchildren.  Mrs. Helen Draper of Rochester; Miss Dorothy Deline and Miss Emily Mae Deline of Buffalo. 

  Transcribed on 9/11/01 by Linda Blum-Barton from a newspaper clipping. 

Democrat & Chronicle   April 15, 1936

  PIDGEON – At Baptist Home, Fairport, N.Y., April 14, 1936.  William Pidgeon aged 89 years.  He is survived by two sons, William Pidgeon, Jr. Rochester, George Pidgeon , Tonawanda, and daughter, Mrs. F. L. Deline, Buffalo, NY.

  Body rest at parlors of Moore & Fiske, 105 Lake Avenue, where services will be held Friday afternoon at 2 o’clock.  Interment in Mt. Hope.

Democrat & Chronicle

April 16, 1936

  William Pidgeon, Sr. Rites Conducted

     Funeral services were conducted yesterday for William Pidgeon, Sr. at 105 Lake Avenue, with the Rev. Arthur W. Evans, associate pastor of the Baptist Temple where Mr. Pidgeon was a  member for 40 years, officiating.  Mr. Pidgeon died Tuesday (Apr 14, 1936) in the Fairport Friendly Home.  He will be buried at the convenience of the family in Mount Hope Cemetery. 

  Democrat & Chronicle      April 18, 1936  Pg. 1

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by Linda Blum-Barton