IRA BELLOWS

Main Cemetery -- Area C 
Lot 44 -- Westside

Ira came to Pittsford from New York City in 1816. He was an attorney and opened a law office here in Pittsford village at the corner of Washington Ave. and South Main St.

In 1827 he married Mary Buck, daughter of a prominent citizen, and together they had five children: James, Mary, Mary Sophia, Ira and Jane who married James Chamberlin. Both Jane and her husband are buried within this enclosure.

Ira was elected to the State Assembly in 1831 and was a delegate to the State Temperance Society. He served in the legislature until 1842. Always interested and involved in politics, he was elected supervisor of the Town of Pittsford, serving just one year. He was appointed Superintendent of the Pittsford Schools in 1845 and remained in that position for many years.

Settlement was happening rapidly north of the town’s “Milepost”; where South Main Street, Stone Road and Route 64 intersect. There, the Pioneer Burial Grounds (cemetery) was deemed too distant and Bellows was very much involved in finding space for a new Pittsford Cemetery that would be on the other side of the community. In 1842, a committee of which he was president, was able to purchase 6 acres of land from Nathan Cole for $300 on which these burying grounds were placed. Since that time many other parcels have been added until we now have 27 acres – both here and across Washington Road, known as Pittsford Cemetery East.

Ira selected a very prominent place for his gravesite, even if it is not Lot #1. He was a citizen much involved in this community and died in 1855 at the age of 65.