Meet

The Hoage Family

In honor of Black History Month: Meet Lafayette and Harriet (nee Hennon) Hoage, believed to be the first African American family to settle in Rutherford in 1868.

During the Civil War, Lafayette, born a slave, aided a severely wounded Union Captain, Alfonzo L. Mabbett, who brought Lafayette to Rochester where the captain’s family were conductors in the Underground Railroad. Lafayette and Harriet were married in Rochester’s African American Methodist Episcopal Church in 1867.

In 1972, they built a vernacular Italianate Home on Donaldson Avenue where their seven children (four sons and three daughters), were born and raised. Lafayette was a coachman and member of the Rutherford’s Lincoln League, and Harriet was a seamstress.

During Black History Month in February 2022, a historic marker, honoring the Hoage's, was presented to the current homeowners by our Rutherford Mayor and Council, the Rutherford Historic Preservation Committee, the Rutherford Civil Rights Commission and Rod Leith, Rutherford Historian.