Gen. Jacob Gould (1794-1867)

He was born in Boxford, Massachusetts. He grew up on the family farm and was educated in the common schools. He started his career as a shoemaker's apprentice but switched to teaching and became Head of English at the Union College Grammar School. He came to Rochester in 1819 as a shoe manufacturer and leather merchant. In 1824, he was appointed Captain of an Artillery Company, and was selected as one of the delegates to meet and escort the Marquis de Lafayette as he passed through Rochester that year. He later became a Colonel, before his appointment by Governor DeWitt Clinton as Major-General of Artillery. In 1839, President Andrew Jackson appointed him Collector of Customs for the Port of Genesee, and he was also appointed to the same office by President Martin Van Buren. In 1845, he was made U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of New York. Locally, he was elected the first Democratic Mayor of Rochester. He was President of the Rochester City Bank and Financial Officer of the Farmers' & Mechanics' Bank. From 1839 to 1841 he was associated with Messrs. Gibson & Chidell in completing the New York Central Railroad to Auburn, and was afterwards elected a director of the Railroad. He was married twice and survived by five children.