Bill Andrews recently published his ninth local history book about the Brockport area. A Tale of Two Henrys: Selden and O’Reilly is a dual biography of Henry R. Selden of Clarkson and Henry O’Reilly. These two men were important in 19th-century New York State and the country but had never previously been the subjects of biographies.
Selden as lieutenant governor and his running mate John King for governor were the first two Republicans in the country elected to statewide office. Selden was best known as Susan B. Anthony’s attorney when she was arrested for having voted. He was also Abraham Lincoln’s first choice for his running mate in 1860, but declined the position because of poor health. Selden was also a judge on the Court of Appeals and a member of the State Assembly.
O’Reilly was the first daily newspaper editor west of Albany, a pioneer in agricultural education, founded the YMCA in Rochester, was Rochester’s postmaster, led three campaigns to save the Erie Canal, and secured the right of African Americans from New York State to serve in the Union Army during the Civil War.
Together Selden and O’Reilly founded the Democratic political party in western New York, democratized the New York State constitution in the 1840s, built the 8,000-mile longest telegraph network in the world, helped found Western Union, and led the fight against the William Morgan kidnapping hysteria.
Bill Andrews retired from the SUNY Brockport faculty and is the Brockport Village Historian. His book is available at Lift Bridge Book Shop in Brockport.
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