58 Second Street

The original part of this house was probably built about 1829 by James Percival, the son of a Revolutionary War soldier from Massachusetts.  In 1759, at the age of eleven, he came to western New York with his father and learned the newspaper business in Moscow (now Cuylerville).  When Geneseo was declared the county seat in 1821, he moved his newspaper here and named it the Livingston Register.  Mr. and Mrs. Percival moved west in 1833 and the house became the property of Avery Brown who ran a tailoring business on the west side of Main Street.  Robert McBride purchased the house from Mrs. Brown in 1848.  Robert McBride and his wife worked for James Wadsworth at Hartford House, he as a gardener and she in the house.   They sold the property to Mortimer Buell in 1853 who in turn sold it to C.O. Beach in 1855.

C.O. Beach came to Geneseo in 1850 and traded in dry goods and groceries.  In 1853, he married Cornelia Doty, daughter of William and Mary Doty.  They had three daughters, one of whom, Louise, married Edward Chapin in 1892.  Mr. Beach died in 1893 and Mrs. Beach in 1903.  The Chapins then purchased the house and after making extensive repairs moved in with their family.  In 1919, they added the attractive port-cochere and made further improvements.  The late Mrs. Charles (Atie) Hopkins, a daughter of Edward and Louise Chapin, retained possession of the house after her parents’ death.