Because you read The Life of Andrew Jackson, you might be interested in this biography of . . .
Millard Fillmore
I did read a biography of Andrew Jackson about four years ago. I’ve read several presidential biographies. There have been 44 presidents other than Jackson. Why would Goodreads recommend a biography of Millard Fillmore?
I know the reason and it makes the small hairs rise on the back of my neck.
In most rankings of U.S. Presidents, Millard Fillmore is almost always near the bottom. Never at the bottom. That place is reserved for Pierce, or Buchanan, or Andrew Johnson, or Harding. Even on a list of the worst, Fillmore is never the first.
Fillmore was never actually elected to the Presidency. Zachary Taylor died 15 months into his presidency. Fillmore, his much-ignored Vice President, served out the rest of Taylor’s term. Fillmore’s own party, the Whigs, then refused to nominate him for a second term. Fillmore was the last Whig President.
More than one writer has said that “his very name connotes mediocrity.”
And that is my problem. His very name connotes mediocrity.
My hometown is named after Millard Fillmore. It’s not a secret. My Facebook profile lists my hometown. I hooked Goodreads to Facebook years ago. Apparently, Goodreads’ algorithm looks like this:
Reads Presidential biographies
+
From Fillmore, NY
=
Wants to read about the 13th President of the United States.
Well, I did click on a description of the book. It was the first biography about Millard Fillmore. It was published in the 1950’s, over 80 years after he died. The Buffalo Historical Society had to pay a history professor to write about Fillmore. Their interest? Fillmore also was the first president of the Buffalo Historical Society. Wikipedia lists only three other Millard Fillmore biographies. Compare that to the number of Lincoln biographies.
Since I have lived in another state for half my life, I can usually answer the question, “Where are you from?” with a vague reference to a small town south of Buffalo and Rochester.
When pressed for the name of the town, I tell them, but almost always follow up with this story:
“In 1850, the town was a collection of stores and houses known as “Mouth of the Creek.” They wanted a post office. They had the bright idea to name the town after the current President. They got their post office.”
I don’t know how many times I’ve told that story. How often have you explained how your hometown got its name? When Lancaster, Nebraska, became “Lincoln” in 1867, it was an act of admiration. I want people to know that Fillmore, NY, got its name from political expediency. I explain the origin of the name because the name Fillmore connotes mediocrity.
But, the name “Fillmore” is on my birth certificate. The name “Fillmore” is on my high school diploma. When my hometown comes up in conversation, I handle it the way I handle being hard-of-hearing. I joke about it.
Making jokes about President Fillmore’s famous mediocrity isn’t hard. It’s in his biography.
Did you know that he began his political life as a leader of the Anti-Masonic Party? The name is self explanatory and, believe it or not, it was the first viable third party in America. Fillmore ended his career as the Presidential candidate of the Know Nothing Party. They got their name because members told people that they “Know Nothing” about what the party stands for. What did they stand for? They hated immigrants and people of other religions. Ireland and Germany were sending their criminals to us. Criminals who went to mass every Sunday. They believed the Pope was plotting to turn America into a Catholic nation. Sound familiar? Somehow, the name still fits.
I handle the name of my hometown the same way that I handle being hard of hearing. If I joke about it, no one else can make fun of me.
I learned to use humor that way from Fillmore, my hometown. In 1950, the people of Fillmore* planned their Centennial. Other towns could celebrate their growth, important events that took place there, or important people who came from there. But not much ever happened in Fillmore. So the people of Fillmore chose this as their motto:
100 Years of Rigor Mortis
True story. You could look it up. Time Magazine reported it.
The only other time Fillmore got into the national news was back in the 80’s. The town offered a complete medical office free to any physician who would come there. A doctor took them up on it. People loved the way he talked like ordinary people. After a few months, other physicians in the county began looking into his credentials. They learned that, the week before he came to Fillmore, he was driving a fork-lift in a factory in Rochester.
I tell that story a lot, too.
Why? What’s the problem? Jacquie’s birth certificate says, “Fillmore”, too. Most of the people I love best in the world were born there or lived there all their lives. I still have relatives and old friends there. They are good people. The surrounding area is beautiful.
Does where you come from matter? I suppose not, But, for some reason, where we come from follows us around. That’s why we often ask each other, “Where are you from?” Sure, not all the stereotypes we carry about people who grew up in the country or the city are true. Not all the assumptions we make about people who grew up in the East or the West or the South are true. Yet, it is true that our place of origin shapes us. And, for better or worse, it becomes part of our identity. One of the tasks of life is to come to terms with that aspect of our identity. Some people run away from where they came from. Others embrace it. Some disparage it. One of the tasks of the second half of life is to come to terms with our origins, because it truly is a part of our identity.
Before there were last names, many people carried the name of their hometown, Joan of Arc, is one example. Jesus of Nazareth is another.
Jesus may have been born in “The City of David”. King David had also been born in Bethlehem. But Jesus grew up in Nazareth in Galilee, a rural, hilly region, like the area around Fillmore. Nazareth in Jesus’ time may have been about the size of Fillmore. A few hundred people.
The gospels refer to Jesus as “Jesus of Nazareth” sixteen times. In the first chapter of John’s gospel, Philip invites Nathanael to meet “Jesus of Nazareth.” Nathanael responds: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
We don’t know why Nathanael looked down on Nazareth. He came from Bethsaida, a town near Nazareth that experienced fast growth in Jesus’ time. So maybe that was the reason. We only know that the place Jesus came from was a problem for him. It was something he needed to get past with some people.
I don’t know what that means except, if you come from a place like Fillmore, you are not alone.
* We reject the term “Fillmorons.”
Roger — loved, Loved, LOVED your “Fillmore post”. After church at St. John’s, followed by two nursing home visits, etc. we came home and I found /read immediately your post. THEN I found the following:
Allegany County Heat Index Report for Saturday
Public Information Statement
Spotter Reports
National Weather Service Buffalo NY
847 PM EDT Sat Jun 30 2018
…Allegany County…
Fillmore 101.0 134 PM 6/30
3 W Wellsville 100.0 329 PM 6/30
3 NNW Wellsville 98.0 504 PM 6/30
Belmont 98.0 515 PM 6/30
Houghton 96.0 525 PM 6/30
1 NNW Belmont 94.0 320 PM 6/30
Wellsville Airport 93.0 456 PM 6/30
6 S Nunda 90.0 520 PM 6/30
My question to you dear Roger, is as follows:
Does this mean there might be a lot of “Hot Air” in Fillmore also?
Just kidding of course, as I really like that Town but I knew not of its history until after reading your post “O Wise One”. THANK YOU ROGER ,,, and ANY one of our fair towns/villages in Allegany County are simply GREAT / BLESSED in my opinion.
Signed,
An admirer from BEMONT [ “Beautiful Mountains” ], N.Y.
Gregory K. Shelley
P.S. My humble greetings to “her loveliness” also!
Having lived in Fillmore for several years, I can attest to the truth of what you write. You might have mentioned that the older town/crossroads a mile or so up Cole Creek from Fillmore is named Human. A least one young person liked to point about that persons from Hume were Hume-ans, pronounced Humans, as opposed to Fillmoreans.
I should have read the comment before I posted it. The Town is called Hume! I’ll work on the Freudian slip.