Rev. John Raines, Jr. commonplace and record book

1815, 1831, 1847-1872

Rev. John Raines, Jr. (1818-1877), born in Yorkshire, England, was an itinerant Methodist Episcopal minister associated with the Genesee Conference of New York State. He was the son of Rev. John Raines (born ca. 1784) and Mary Raines, who emigrated from England to Philadelphia, eventually settling in Canandaigua, New York. John Raines, Jr. married Mary Remington in 1838. Their sons John Raines (1840-1909), author of the Raines Law, and Thomas Raines (1842-1924) were prominent New York State politicians. Commonplace book and record book of services performed 1847-1872 by Rev. John Raines, Jr. as a Methodist Episcopal minister in western New York State. Services are recorded in chronological order. Records of baptisms, 1848-1871 (p. 30-45) note individual names, place, date and age; marriages 1847-1871 (p. 148-168) note bride and grooms' names, place, date, expenses and fees; records of funerals 1844-1872 (p. 52-71) note name, place, date of death, disease and age. Localities visited in Ontario County and other western counties include Victor, Geneva, Lima, Lyons, Corning, Hodding, Rochester, Lyons, and Elmira, among others. Personal material interspersed throughout the volume include transcriptions of poetry, anecdotes, and historical and theological items; clippings; personal memoranda; a family record of John Raines Jr. and Mary Remington and their children (p. 73), with a Christmas poem signed J. Raines, Philadelphia, 1831, loosely laid in; and a manuscript architectural plan for a dwelling house (p. 108-109). Original writings include verses by John Raines signed with place and date, many written for personal albums or as epitaphs for tombstones, as well as patriotic verses written during the Civil War, 1861-1864. Also present is a pasted subscription notice (p. 143) signed by Francis Asbury at Little York, 10 July 1815, addressed to the Presiding Elder of the Genesee Conference.