This is the story of the chair Reuben E. Fenton used while he was Governor of the State of New York. When I became a volunteer at the Fenton History Center, I saw this chair in the dining room and remembered sitting in this chair as a child, I was surprised when I saw it!
Mr. Fenton became New York’s Governor towards the end of the American Civil War in 1865. When his term of office ended in December 1868, Mr. Fenton moved back to his home in Jamestown and brought the chair with him.
He received this chair while in office, and the chair has New York’s official seal on it.
This chair was used in the last years of his life, and when he died in 1885, the chair remained in the mansion and was still there when his wife, Elizabeth Scudder Fenton, died in 1901.
The mansion was left by itself for a few years until 1919, when the City of Jamestown bought the mansion and the surrounding land. The City allowed citizens to purchase items out of the mansion, and this piqued the interest of Mr. Harry Buchanan, a citizen of Jamestown, who was very interested in local history, and was active in local and state historical societies. He was able to purchase the chair that Governor Fenton used while in Albany.
Mr. Buchanan lived at 411 E. 5th, next to the former Moose Club of Jamestown. The chair sat in his home for many years, and he would let people sit in it from time to time. As he got older, it was difficult for him to do jobs around his home. He had asked help from his neighbor Mr. Sam (“Dutch”) Postlethwaite, who lived at #404 E. 5th St with his wife Verlie, to help him from time to time.
“Uncle Dutch,” as we called him, was summoned to Harry’s home one day while I was downstairs running a model train, and Uncle Dutch wanted me to go with him. I did so, and as we walked in Harry’s house, it was like going back 150 years with all the antiques he owned.
I saw this big chair, stood in front of it, and Mr. Buchanan said, “Sit in it, if you’d like,” and I did so. I was only 10 years old at the time, and was fascinated by this big chair.
I was then told it was Governor Fenton’s chair.
When he bought this chair is not known, but Jamestown can be very happy that Harry Buchanan had the foresight to keep this chair here. Harry was also a Civil Defense worker during World War II, an amateur magician doing local benefit shows for years, and had designed many of the interiors of local churches in Jamestown. Harry was employed as the Secretary of the Blackstone Corporation of Jamestown.
After Harry died in 1965, Gov. Fenton’s chair came back to the mansion. The Fenton Historical Society had been formed to save the mansion from being torn down to make way for the Washington Street Bridge, and serves today as an excellent example of Jamestown’s history.
