Historic Lewiston map on display at Red Brick

Peter Barton Hutt recently donated an 1854 Lewiston map to the village. The precious piece is on display in the main hallway of the Red Brick Municipal Building at 145 N. Fourth St.

Hutt's lineage goes back to the early days of Lewiston and the municipality’s founding parents. He provided the following details – with information to the best of his team’s recorded knowledge:

Sarah Barton married Amos Sage Tryon. Their daughter, Maria Louisa, married Hugh Fraser. Their son, Blake Piper Fraser, married Sarah Ella Rich, and had four sons: One was Joseph Rich Fraser, my grandfather; and another was Edward Fraser. Edward and his wife, Etta Colter Fraser, had a daughter, Jean, who married Harold Davis. They had four children: Sandra, Prudence, Jaska and Nadean. My mother, Louise Rich Fraser Hutt (the daughter of Joseph Rich Fraser), and her first cousin, Jean Fraser Davis, remained very close friends throughout their lives, and often visited each other.

When the last descendants of the Barton family to own the Barton House (the Wheelers) sold the house to the Hookers in 1940, Etta Colter Fraser and Jean Fraser Davis were invited to visit the house as Barton descendants and to select items that they could use. Jean passed two specific items on to her daughters: Sandra has two of the three parts of the dining room table, and Jaska has the very large andirons. Apparently, Jean selected the 1854 map of Lewiston at the same time and gave it to her husband, Harold.

When my mother and I drove to see Jean and Harold at their home many years ago before they moved to Arizona in 1971, Harold pulled me aside and said that he had an important map of Lewiston that he wanted me to have because of my interest in the family history. I did not open it at the time, but I later did on one occasion. I recognized its importance, but did not know who should receive and display it.

When I met Lewiston Mayor Anne Welch, I knew she was the person to whom it should be entrusted. With the help of Mary Helen Miskuly at the Castellani Art Museum, I had the map restored by Laura Schell of Lockport, an expert in paper restoration. It is now hanging outside the mayor's office in the Red Brick School House where everyone can see it.