The Sheriffs of 21 Butternut St.

Sheriffs of the First Jail

1823-24 Thomas Armstrong

1825-27 Reuben H. Foster

1828-30 Cullen Foster

1831-33 Calvin D. Palmeter

1834-36 Truman Heminway

1837-39 Hiram Mann

1840-42 Simon V. W. Stout

1843-45 John Borradaile

1846-48 George W. Barnard

1849-51 Chester A. Ward

1852-54 George W. Paddock

Sheriff William Nottingham
1855 - 1857
The first sheriff to work in the newly constructed Wayne County Jail.

William P. Nottingham was born in Claverack, Columbia County, New York, in June 1805.

His first residence in Wayne County was in Walworth, as landlord of the hotel there.
He then moved to Palmyra to run the Bunker Hill Hotel on Canal Street.
Afterward, he bought The Palmyra Hotel in 1838 on the corner of Main and Fayette Street and owned and ran that for a quarter of a century.
In 1855 he was elected Sheriff of Wayne County, and at about the same time, was chosen President of the Palmyra Union Agricultural Society, which he held until his death, December 15, 1877.

Adrastus Snedaker
1858 -1860

Sheriff Snedaker lived in the Town of Galen.

In 1845, Sheriff Snedaker purchased the Canal Mansion House and renamed it the Franklin House.
During his term as Sheriff, Snedaker had the dark task of arranging for and carrying out the execution of William Fee, the only execution in the history of the county.
Although a snowstorm was raging, thousands came and stood outside the jail during the hanging.
Tickets to the gruesome event were sold, and 100 spectators came inside to see Fee hanged.

John Paul Bennet
1861-1863 & 1867-1869

Sheriff Bennet was born in 1824 and emigrated to America when he

was five years old.

held this position between three and four years, boarding at the

home of Washington Throop.

Bennet was also elected Justice of the Peace in Williamson and held that office for nine years.
In 1854 and 1855, he was elected Member of the Assembly and introduced the bill to build the first suspension bridge at Niagara Falls.
In 1861, he was nominated for sheriff. During his first term as sheriff, the murder case of Jonathan Lape occurred.

Bartlett Rogers
1864-1866

Sheriff Rogers was born in Palmyra on June 30, 1807.

Five years later, he moved to Lyons, where he resided until his death in 1880.

He learned the trade of a tanner (transforming animal skins or hides into leather) from his father and began business on the west side of Butternut Street in Lyons.