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Mrs. Richmond hosted a tea party at the Holland Land Office Museum today and dozens of local women attended.

Awards were given for the best hats.

Above, Dona LaValle, who won the award for best hat and ensemble.

Below, Anne Barone, most original, and Maryanne Arena, most elegant.

Jeff Donahue, director of the Holland Land Office Museum, stands with a big flag that once flew on the flagship of Rear Admiral Ralph Chandler, who was born in Batavia in 1829 and died in Hong Kong in 1889.

Chandler, a ship commander in the Civil War, was Asiatic Squadron commander from 1886 until his death.

The flag is on loan to the museum by Ralph Chandler Parker III. It measures 13' 11" on the hoist and 25' on the fly.

To fit it in the case, four people wearing archival gloves spread it out on sheets on the floor and then folded it, and folded it, and folded it, until it fit.

"It would have been beautiful if we could have displayed it at its full dimensions," Donahue said. "Unfortunately, we just don't have the space to do that."

Chandler was married to Cornelia Redfield and they had five children together.

The Holland Land Office Museum invited children in today from throughout Genesee County to participate in the annual snowman making contest and a chance to learn about the Civil War through a group of reenactors.

Above, contest winner Meyah Woods-Richardson, 5, a student at Jackson. Second, was Hunter Gaylord, 7, of Byron-Bergen.

CORRECTION: While held at HLOM, the event was sponsored and hosted by the Friends of the Batavia Peace Garden.

Santa had a busy day in Genesee County today and I did my best to keep up with him. 

I first found him at the Holland Land Office Museum, where his appearance coincided with the annual Children's Gala. Children made cookies, watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, ate pizza and let Santa in on what presents they'll be dreaming about on Christmas Eve.

Next, I found Santa at Alli's Cones and Dogs in Oakfield. At Alli's, both children and adults whispered in Santa's ear.

Finally, Santa promised the Genesee Sno Packers at their annual open house that their Christmas wish for snow will be granted. He also added all the good children who came to visit him to his long list of boys and girls who will find their desired gifts on Christmas morning.

More photos in the slide show. Parents who wish to purchase prints should click on the "visit gallery" link in the slide show.

What started as an effort to organize and examine all of the old articles of clothing in the Holland Land Office Museum has turned into a new exhibit displaying the history of WNY wedding dresses.

More than 30 dresses -- most of them owned by HLOM, but some from local residents -- are on display and the show officially opens with a reception at 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., March 31.

The collection includes Civil War era dresses up through more modern gowns, including a 1940 plain satin gown and train, a 1920s-era lace gown with bolero jacket, a flapper gown of the same era and a 1870s two-piece wedding suit.

Charles Men's Shop is supplying a modern tux for display and Stella's Wedding Boutique is displaying a new wedding dress.

Treats from Sweet Ecstasy Bakery in Stafford will be served at the opening reception Saturday, and there will also be door prizes.

Maddie, 8, on the left, with Maranda, 9, and Tess, 9, decorate cookies this afternoon at the Holland Land Office Museum.

The Valentine's-themed event was put together by Tonisha Price, owner of Sweet Ecstasy Baker in Stafford.

Children were invited to HLOM throughout the afternoon to decorate heart-shaped cookies.

Below, Tess with her cookie.

As part of the summer program at the Holland Land Office Museum, students who were members of the program participated in making a quilt. Each student drew a picture of their favorite item in the museum and then the picture was scanned into a computer and printed on a piece of cloth. The Museum Quilt Guild then sewed the pieces together. 

The quilt was presented to the museum today and will be placed on display.

Pictured are some members of the guild (not all guild members were present, and not all pictured participated in the quilt's creation). In the picture are, from left, Cheryl Doody, Jeff Donahue (executive director of HLOM), Jean Butzer, Ethyl Sojda, Dodie Morrison, Ann Gouinlock, Christine Hansen and Anne Marie Starowitz.

Starowitz was leader of the summer program and said the quilt was the highlight project of the summer.

There are more trees this year, and more people showed up Friday for the Wonderland of Trees gala at the Holland Land Office Museum, according to Board President Bob Turk.

The display of trees decorated by local groups and businesses runs through Jan. 3, with a children's gala set for noon to 4 p.m. on Dec. 17.

Ann Reid, representing the Genesee Symphony Orchestra, accepts a plaque to be placed on a new display of historical items and pictures donated to the Holland Land Office Museum commemorating the orchestra's long history in Genesee County.

A couple of years ago Jay Lazarony and his family were touring the Holland Land Office Museum and came across a display of quilts and learned about HLOM's quilt group. They came up with the idea of a quilt honoring veterans with ties to Genesee County.

Today at the museum, that quilt was dedicated.

There are currently 211 names on the quilt and 58 more will be added.

Names were included based on the requests of family members of veterans and patches were filled on a first-come-first-served basis, Lazarony said.

"We thought this was a good way to honor those who served and sacrificed," Lazarony said.

The Holland Land Office Museum has acquired a painting by Richard Wright Ware that depicts a bit of West Main Street and the Tonawanda Creek that no longer exists.

Sometime in the late 1950s or '60s, the Batavia native painted the picture showing a view from the Walnut Street Bridge -- which was a traffic bridge then -- looking west down the Tonawanda with the former commercial buildings of West Main Street depicted on the right.

Those buildings would eventually be demolished, and the Walnut Street bridge converted for pedestrian use. That stretch of Main Street is now a grassy, tree-lined area.

County Clerk Don Read, at right, who serves on the HLOM board, acquired the picture at an auction and paid $600 for it.

Ware, known for his landscapes around Batavia and Naples, gained some regional acclaim and held shows locally in Rochester and the Finger Lakes.

"We like to have representative works of local artists," Read said.

The work, Read said, can be combined with photos HLOM has of that section of Batavia, to give museum visitors an idea of what the area was once like.

Executive Director Jeff Donahue said HLOM is always looking for artifacts that help tell the story of Genesee County and he said he would welcome tips from local residents on anything that might become available. It's important, he said, to ensure items of local historical importance are preserved.

The painting is already on display at HLOM.

It's a ticket to one of the last hangings in Genesee County and it was last seen hanging in the Holland Land Office Museum in the early 1970s.

It was around that time, maybe a couple of years earlier, that it was apparently stolen.

In 1973, an unidentified couple bought it from a guy selling antiques out of the trunk of his car in Pavilion.

A few weeks ago, the now-elderly couple decided to donate it to the Genesee Country Museum, but the museum director there immediately recognized it as property of HLOM and called up Director Jeffrey Donahue to see about returning it.

A few days ago, Don Read, Bob Turk and Donahue drove to Mumford to recover the framed relic.

The ticket was issued in May 1866 by Sheriff Parley Upton (unknown family connection to Gen. Emery Upton) to Henry Todd, a local newspaper editor. It was donated to the HLOM by Philip Skelton Jr.

The murderer hanged was Levi Mayhew, a veteran of the Civil War who became the lover of another man's wife. The cuckold's wife wanted her husband dead and tried to get Mayhew to poison him, but he wouldn't do it. When she threatened to do it herself, Mayhew decided to kill the husband, Theodore Dunham, himself by beating him to death in Indian Falls.

Mayhew was hanged on May 4, 1866.

The last hanging in Genesee County was apparently 10 years later when Thomas B. Quackenbush was punished for the Dec. 3, 1875 murder of Sarah Norton, also in Indian Falls. He was executed by hanging in August 1876 by Sheriff Ward.

UPDATE: It looks like the last execution was Charles Stockley, hanged on Aug. 19, 1881 at the age of 24. Stockley shot and killed his former boss in a dispute over the man's daughter.

Jeffrey Donahue, who spent more than 35 years working in local media, has been named full-time director of the Holland Land Office Museum.

Donahue has been serving in that capacity on an interim basis for several months. The HLOM board approved his permanent position earlier this week.

For anybody who has visited the museum recently and had the good fortune to have Donahue provide the museum tour, it's clear Donahue knows local history thoroughly and is passionate about it.

"I always say history is like producing a television show," said Donahue, who worked for 25 years as a producer, editor and photographer for the Batavia cable channel. "People come into the museum expecting to be told a story, a story of history, and that's what you do in television. You tell a story."

Donahue also spent 10 years with WBTA.

Bob Turk, president of the HLOM board, said the board is confident Donahue will continue to be a real asset to the museum.

"We are very pleased that Jeffrey accepted the position," Turk said. "Not only does Jeffrey posses a great knowledge of local history but also has the vision to move the museum forward."