Slone Melhuish Insurance

05/15/2026

We're happy to let you know that our office internet and phone lines are back up and running. You can now reach us as usual.

Thank you for your patience!

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05/15/2026

Please be aware that our office internet and phone lines at Slone Melhuish are currently down. If you need immediate assistance, please contact your agent directly or reach out to Rose Stam at (716) 969-3180‬ or Stefanie Burns at (716) 410-2541‬

We apologize for any inconvenience and will be back in touch as soon as we're back online.

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02/28/2024

‼️ We are hiring ‼️

If you or someone you know is looking for a job in insurance services, send your resume to [email protected]

This role is for our Mayville, NY office.

11/28/2023

11/22/2023

We would like to wish all of you a happy and safe Thanksgiving! 🦃🍂

We are thankful to have the opportunity to serve you and your insurance needs! 😄

Please remember we will be closed Thursday and Friday to celebrate the holiday. In case of an emergency, you can reach a claims specialist at 716-640-3891 during that time.

11/21/2023

❗️ Part 11 ❗️

: Men and a Cause - Part 2

Less than two months after Lincoln’s call for volunteers in July of 1861, Chautauqua County organized and sent forward three companies of men to be mustered under the call. They were incorporated as part of the 72nd regiment, commanded by Colonel Nelson Taylor, a veteran regiment, one of the five composing the famous Excelsior Brigade, commanded by Daniel E. Sickles’ Brigade and took part in 15 battles.

The Ninth New York Calvary, recruited at Jamestown and Westfield, took part in many engagements, the principal ones Bull Run, Rappahannock, Gettysburg and Cold Harbor. Chautauqua County is remembered for having the first man die in the Civil War. A dubious honor, but nonetheless representative of Chautauquan participation in the war.

In Jul and August of 1862, Lincoln called for three hundred thousand volunteers. Men who answered this call from Chautauqua County in 1862 composed the 112th regiment, containing more citizens of this country than any other. Before departure, the regiment camped on the old fairground, south of Jamestown, which was called “Camp James M. Brown,” in honor of the gallant James M. Brown, who had fallen at the head of his regiment a little while before. A large assembly gathered at Jamestown when the 112th left for the front. Regimental colors were presented by the state as Judge Marvin made his presentation speech. All about, sadness was written on the faces of our citizens. Jamestown was young, but not too young to send her men to die.

During the year of 1864, many battles were fought by the county regiments. At Cold Harbor in the year 1864, the 112th lost their brave commander, Colonel J. C. Drake, and one hundred and fifty-three men, forty of whom were killed.

Among the officers was Lieutenant Colonel Elial F. Carpenter, born in Jamestown May 8th, 1826. Elial was the son of William Carpenter, a well known citizen of Jamestown. At the start of the War Between the States, he enlisted in the 49th Regiment and was commissioned Lieutenant. When the 112th was organized, he received the appointment of Major and later Lieutenant Colonel. There he served until the Battle of Drury’s Bluff where he was mortally wounded. Two days after the battle he died.

Pictured: Page from book, location of where Camp Brown was (corner of Prospect and Brown Ave. Cole Ave bisected the fairgrounds.)

11/16/2023

❗️ Part 10 ❗️

: 1861-1865 – Men and a Cause

Jamestown’s opinion was still divided just before the War Between the States, but Reuben E. Fenton, a staunch anti-slavery man was able to influence many citizens toward an anti-slavery position. One of the founders of the Republican Party, he made the first speech in the House of Representatives against the repeal of the Missouri Compromise by the Kansas-Nebraska Bill in 1854. His repeated election from this district shows that the majority were anti-slavery.

On the 16th of February 1861, Abraham Lincoln passed through the village of Dunkirk on his way to Washington to assume the Presidency. All eyes were turned upon the journey, made while a deep gloom hung over the land, while states were seceding, and black specters of war were rising everywhere.

A great crowd of people had gathered from far and near to great Lincoln as the train drew into the depot. Standing beneath the American Flag at the west end of the car, he made a brief, simple and impressive speech, in the course of which he said, “Standing here beneath the flag of our country am I. Will you stand by me as I stand by that flag?” The people promised. But few of the multitude that was gathered there that day realized what a great cost of blood and treasure was implied in that promise. The four years that followed that event, next to the years of war for American Independence, were the most memorable in the history of the nation.

1861 began with the secession of the southern states. On the 12th of April that year the great Civil War commenced with the firing on Fort Sumter. The 14th Sumter surrendered. The next day President Lincoln issued his proclamation, calling for 75,000 men for three months. The whole country was thrown into the wildest excitement. A great mass meeting was held in Jamestown on the 29th. Stores and business places were closed, and flags displayed. Samuel A. Brown was elected president of the meeting. After patriotic speeches and earnest discussion of ideas a large sum of money was raised.

To be continued

11/14/2023

Jamestown NY 2023 Jingle and Mingle Saturday December 2nd!

11/14/2023

❗️ Part 9 ❗️

: Harrison Williams and The Brooklyn Square Uproar

In only one instance was a runaway slave taken from Chautauqua County under the Fugitive Slave Law and carried back into captivity. Harrison Williams, a young man about 17 had come to Busti with 7 other runaway slaves and was living with William Storum. Early one September morning of 1851, two covered carriages, one containing the owner of the slave and a United States Marshal, the other, two deputy sheriffs of the county, appeared at the house of Storum and found Williams milking a cow. They arrested him and placed him in the carriage with the Marshal, drove rapidly away. A man on horseback, out speeding the carriage brought the news to Jamestown, reaching Brooklyn Square before the carriage arrived, soon followed by a crowd of indignant people from Busti. Great excitement ensued in Jamestown; the people rushed into the streets to rescue the slave, but local officers used their influence to quiet the disturbance, and the more moderate people advised them to await the action of the courts. Only with great difficulty were they able to restrain the crowd from rescuing Williams. Time had been too short for mass action and the carriage passed through main street with the slave, on its way to Buffalo.

James W. Broadhead, a soldier of the Civil War, saw Williams at Culpepper, Virginia in 1863. He was then taking care of the horses of a Union General. Williams informed Broadhead that he was taken back from Chautauqua at the time mentioned and sold to a new master in Georgia. Afterwards he and his master were captured by Union forces.

The Underground routes in Jamestown were never known or publicized since there was a $1,000 fine for aiding an escaping slave. One of the “conductors,” it was discovered, was a Justice of the Peace and a church deacon. Three were doctors and one was a minister. Some people of high principle, then, believed that the law was wrong, and they should not obey it. Certainly, these men, many of them Jamestown citizens, were “doing something about the problem” of slavery long before the Civil War opened.

11/11/2023

Thank you to all of our veterans!