Fillmore’s ‘complicated legacy’ reflects his times

Ceremonies in Buffalo’s Forest Lawn Cemetery commemorating the 219th anniversary of the birth of Millard Fillmore, UB’s first chancellor and the 13th president of the United States, took place Monday morning with temperatures hovering in the low 20s.      

Which was not bad, as those among the group of about 75 individuals gathered at Fillmore’s gravesite who also attended last year’s ceremony in zero-degree cold reminded each other.

The event, a longstanding UB tradition, opened with a presentation of flags by the UB Police Color Guard. The program began at Fillmore’s gravesite with brief remarks and a prayer by Rev. Joan Montagnes of the United Universalist Church of Buffalo.

“Many of us are not quite sure what to make of Millard Fillmore’s legacy once he attained the highest office in the land,” Montagnes told the group.

“He did great good, as do we all,” she said. “And he did great evil, as do we all. He left a complicated legacy, and we should see the complexity for what it is.”

William J. Regan, director of special events at UB and host of the ceremony, called Fillmore “a quintessential American story.”

“Rising from poverty, he was a teacher, and practiced law before being elected to the state Legislature. He was a congressman, and after two years as New York State comptroller, he rose to the most powerful office in the world,” Regan said.

“But he left a complex legacy, one that conflicts with contemporary norms of equity and inclusion. We acknowledge his role as a way to be true with Fillmore and the United States. Building an inclusive future requires a nuanced understanding of the past.”

The program continued with the presentation of wreaths by representatives of the White House, Millard Fillmore legacy organizations and the Forest Lawn Group.

Col. Eric L. Laughton, medical group commander for the 107th Attack Wing, New York Air National Guard in Niagara Falls, presented a wreath on behalf of the White House and President Trump.

Representatives of the Millard Fillmore legacy organizations, which Fillmore helped found, followed with brief remarks and tags to the memorial wreath at Fillmore’s gravesite.

Fillmore legacy organizations include the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Buffalo Club, Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, Buffalo General Medical Center, Buffalo History Museum, Buffalo Public Schools, Buffalo Science Museum, Hodgson Russ LLP, SPCA Serving Erie County, Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo and UB.

SUNY Fredonia music performance student Jodie White followed the remarks with the playing of taps to conclude the gravesite ceremony.

The program then moved to the cemetery’s Margaret L. Wendt Archive & Resource Center for a reception hosted by Forest Lawn and the Buffalo Club.

Bill Parke, a member and historian for the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo, spoke about a little-acknowledged aspect of Fillmore’s legacy, both as an Assembly member in the New York State Legislature and a four-term member of Congress.

“Fillmore was born into extreme poverty in Locke Township, in the Finger Lakes,” said Parke. “His early life was also one of poverty, which introduced him to the concept of debt.”

Parke told the group that, around this period, Fillmore became determined to educate himself. Fillmore eventually attended New Hope Academy in New Hope, New York, where he met Abigail Powers, who was his teacher.

“They were married in 1826,” he said. “Fillmore rose out of debt to teach school and practice law. But he never forgot the experience of poverty, how his father struggled to stay solvent and how powerfully it affected his family.”

Fillmore became prominent in the Buffalo area as an attorney and a politician, Parke said, and was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1928.

“He served three terms in Albany, and among the issues he took an interest in was the then-common practice of placing those who could not pay their bills in jail,” he said. “It was a part of the law in which Fillmore took a very business-like interest.

“He focused particular energy on the issue of debtor imprisonment,” he said. “No doubt remembering the poverty he had so recently escaped, Fillmore worked hard to pass laws forbidding debtor incarcerations. Enacting the laws also freed those who were then in debtor’s prisons.”

Parke said such policies played well with citizens in Fillmore’s district. As a force behind the passage of what was then an enlightened approach to an age-old issue, Fillmore was subsequently elected to the first of four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1832.

“The times that Millard Fillmore lived in were rough, a study in conflicts,” he said.

“When Fillmore got to Washington, his career took another turn. He did treat and mistreat others for political gain — something that is still going on today.

“As are issues surrounding the management of debt, a part of our modern lives that has become even more complicated than in Fillmore’s time.”