Autobiography

1.

Question 1: My name is Increase Allen Lapham - Increase Allen being the name of my grandfather on my mother's side.

Question 2: I was born according to the family records in Palmyra, Ontario (now Wayne) county in the state of New York on the 7th day of March 1811.

Question 3: My father was Seneca Lapham, who married Rachel Allen. He was engaged in the construction of the Grand Erie Canal, cirumstance which led lead to my engagement in the Engineer Service at Lockport at the time when the great work was nearly completed. In 1818 the famly moved to Pennsylvania where my father had a contract from Schuylkill Navigation Company; but soon after returned to Galen in Wayne County N.Y. where he had employment in the contruction of the locks of the Erie Canal. In 1822 the family moved to Rochester while I remained to work upon a farm. One of the arches in the first aqueduct at Rochester was built by my father on a sub-contract. In 1824 I moved to Lockport where my father had charge of the construction of the woodwork of the combined and double ocks at that place & where I earned some money by cutting stone to be used in the the locks. Soon after this I was employed in the Engineer Service as above stated in the capacity of...