"Biographical Sketch of Hon. Azariah Boody, M.C.," The New York Magazine:  A Rochester New Monthly 1:63-64 (January 1853) frontspiece	"Azariah Boody: Our Dandelion Fellow," by Melissa Mead, November 12, 2019.	The Sias family in America, 1677 to 1952; the first 275 years. From materials gathered through long and painstaking efforts by many members of the family, by Azariah Boody Sias (1952)

Azariah Boody was a prominent railroad contractor who donated the land for the University's campus on Prince Street in 1853, and sold an additional 16.9 acres to provide nearly 25 acres bounded by University Avenue, Prince Street, College Avenue, and North Goodman Street..

References
1851 "Rochester, Lockport and Niagara falls Railroad Company," The Buffalo Commercial, June 10, 1851, Page 2.
Azariah Boody elected director.

1851 Plan of the City of Rochester, by Marcus Smith
Shows the property owned by Azariah Boody on Main (later University) Street between Alexander and Goodman.

1852 An act to incorporate the Rochester Water Works Company.  April 16, 1852.
Incorporated by Levi A. Ward, Isaac R. Elwood, Azariah Boody, Charles A. Jones, William A. Reynolds, E. Darwin Smith, Hamblin Stilwell, Samuel Miller, William Buell, John B. Robertson and Freeman Clarke

1852 "Rochester Female Seminary," Rochester Daily Democrat, June 7, 1852, Page 2.
It further appeared that Azariah Boody, Esq., had, with characteristic generosity, offered for the acceptation of the this Institution a site for the same, valued at $10,000.

1852 Azariah Boody elected to University of Rochester Board of Trustees, July 1852

1852 "Azariah Boody," Rochester Daily Democrat, August 13, 1852, Page 2.
Elected director of Genesee Valley Railroad.

1852 "Mr. Boody - His Congressional Nomination," Rochester Daily Democrat, October 20, 1852, Page 2
Editorial on his character from the"Springfield (Mass) Republican

1853 "Biographical Sketch of Hon. Azariah Boody, M.C.," The New York Magazine:  A Rochester New Monthly 1:63-64 (January 1853)
Portrait of Boody, steel engraving by Mr. Buttre of Fulton Street, New York, from a Daguerreotype by Heath.

1853 "University - Location," Rochester Daily Democrat, May 10, 1853, Page 2.
The Trustees will receive proposals for a site for the University buildings to-day, at the Library rooms.

1853 "University of Rochester - Location of Site for the Structures," Rochester Daily Advertiser, May 12, 1853, Page 2.

1853 "Central Railroad Directors," The New York Times, July 7, 1853, Page 1.
Azariah Boody, Rochester.

1853 "Site for the University Buildings," Rochester Daily Advertiser, July 15, 1853, Page 2.

1853 "Site for the University Buildings," Rochester Daily Democrat, July 16, 1853, Page 2.

1853 "University Lot," Rochester Daily Democrat, September 22, 1853, Page 2.

1853 "Letter of Resignation." Rochester Daily Union 14 Oct. 1853: 2-5.

1855 Buffalo Morning Express, December 14, 1858, Page 3.
Azariah Boody elected president of the Lake Erie, Wabash and St. Louis Railroad Company.

1862 AN ACT to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean, and to secure to the government the use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes.  July 1, 1862.
Azariah Boody

1862 "Toledo and Wabash Railway," Detroit Free Press, October 18, 1862, Page 1.
Azariah Boody elected president.

1873 "An Important Railway Manœuvre -- The Dethronement of Azariah Boody," Rochester Union and Advertiser, October 6, 1873, Page 2.

1879 History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts: History of Franklin County. History of Hampden County, Volume II.
Page 893:  Milton A. Clyde.  Worked with Azariah Boody on several railroad projects. 

1879 The United States Biographical Dictionary: Kansas Volume
Pages 442-445:  Major Otis Berthoude Gunn.  Worked with Azariah Boody on several railroad projects. 

1880 Annals of the Boodeys in New England: Together with Lessons of Law and Life, from John Eliot, the Apostle of the Indians, by Robert Boodey Caverly
Page 159:  Azariah, b. 1815.

1885 Azariah Boody (1815-1885) grave in Mt Hope Cemetery, married Ambia Corson at an unknown date

1885 "Azariah Boody," New York Tribune, November 19, 1885, Page 5.
Azariah Boody died early yesterday morning at his home, No. 8 West Fifty-eighth-st., after a short sickness.  A week ago to-day he was in Wall-st., as usual in the last few years, and appeared to be in good health.  He caught a severe cold, which is a day or two resulted in pneumonia.  He was born at Stanstead, Canada, in 1815.  Re moved when a young man to Rochester, and immediately became interested in the building of the New-York Central Railroad.  He afterward was one of the largest railroad contractors in the country, and in New-England and the Wst he helped to build important lines.  He was head of the firm of Boody, Ross & Dillon, who were in their day the largest railroad contractors in the country.  Before Sidney Dillon joined the firm Boddy & Ross built the Toledo and Wabash Railroad, and for many years Mr. Boody was president of the Toledo, Wabash and Western.  He was never a member of the stock exchange, but his relations with Kidd, Peirce & Co. were so intimate that the failure of the firm in 1873 entailed on him a leavy loss.  In late years he made his headquarters with H. Knickerbocker & Co. at No. 15 New-st.  Mr. Boody was a man whose integrity was never questioned.  He leaves a modern fortune to his wife.  He had no other family.

1885 "Resolutions of Respect," Democrat and Chronicle, December 3, 1885, Page 6.
At a recent meeting of the Executive board of the University of Rochester the following resolutions were offered and adopted in honor of the memory of the late Hon. Azariah Boody:
The Executive board of the University of Rochester would express their profound regret at the decease of Hon. Azariah Boody, also their earnest and sincerely sympathy with his afflicted widow and relatives.
The board vividly recall to their minds Mr. Boody's generosity in the donation of eight acres of valuable land within the limits of the city now forming that part of the university campus upon which their buildings have been erected. They recognize this gift as especially memorable, not only for its value, but from the fact that it was conferred upon the corporation at the time when their endowment fund was inconsiderable and the university itself was by many looked upon as an experiment. The board would put on record their gratitude, not only for this gift, but also for Mr. Boody's services while a Trustee and for the confidence expressed in the success of the institution to whose foundation he was of the earliest contributors. M.B. ANDERSON, HIRAM SIBLEY. WILLIAM N. SAGE, Committee.

1938 "Boody Pasture Given Away Twice, Female College First Recipient," Rochester Review 17(1):9-10 (October-November 1938)

1952 The Sias family in America, 1677 to 1952; the first 275 years. From materials gathered through long and painstaking efforts by many members of the family, by Azariah Boody Sias
Pages 79-81:  Jeremiah Kittredge Sias, b. May 4, 1804 in Derby, Vt.; d. Rochester, Minn. May 1, 1879; m. Dec. 6, 1828, Mary A. Boody of Stanstead, Canada. She was born at Sheffield, Vt., Dec. 14, 1804 and died at Brighton, N. Y., May 19, 1876, at her sister’s home, Mrs. Jonathan Nelson (Eliza A. Boody), where she was visiting.  John Sias, father of Jeremiah Kittredge Sias, deeded Jeremiah the farm of 115 acres on the beautiful site overlooking Lake Memphremagog, Feb. 24, 1832, On March 18, 1851, Jeremiah Sias deeded this farm to Anson Shattuck and moved, with his family, to a farm near Rochester, N.Y., where his wife’s brother, Azariah Boody, was building the Falls Branch of the New York Central Railroad from Rochester to Niagara Falls. Azariah Boody later went west to superintend the rehabilitation of the Wabash Railroad and became president of the Wabash. He was elected to the 33rd United States Congress from the Rochester, N. Y. congressional district. Azariah was the son of Jonathan and Nancy (Evans) Boody and was born April 21, 1815 at Stanstead, Canada, just across the line from West Derby, Vermont, where Jeremiah Kittredge Sias was born. His family moved to Lowell, Massachusetts and there Azariah built, under contract, a bridge across the Merrimack River, and still later, under contract, in the same city, the Pawtucket Canal, which fed many of the manufactories of that city.  He moved to Rochester, N. Y., where he became a prominent citizen, building the home on East Avenue, later known as the Powers Home. He gave, soon after the college was founded in 1850, the tirst campus for the University of Rochester at University and Prince Street, which was made the girls’ college in 1930, when the men’s college was moved to the new Genesee River Campus. Azariah Boody moved in his later years, to New York City and lived at 8 West 58th Street, where he died November 18, 1885. The compiler of this genealogy was named after him in 1880.
Page 82:  Portrait of Azariah Boody
Pages 86-87:  Major General Elwell Stephen Otis, Class of 1858.

2004 The Dandelion Fellow: Azaraih Boody By Rachel Thibo.  REL 167: Speaking Stones – Prof. Th. Emil Homerin, Fall 2004 12/9/2004

2019 "Ask the Archivist: What secrets does the University’s painting of Azariah Boody hold?," by Melissa Mead, Rochester Review, page 19 (Fall 2019)

2019 "Azariah Boody: Our Dandelion Fellow," by Melissa Mead, November 12, 2019.

Azariah Boody Wikipedia Page

Azariah Boody from the Biographical Dictionary of the United States Congress

© 2021 Morris A. Pierce