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In 1822, when William Harrison Folsom was seven years old, he witnessed the erection of a theatre in Buffalo, New York. It served as a place for public gatherings, political and social affairs, as well as frontier dramatics. There is no doubt about "Willie" having attended many functions in this building. Boys are boys wherever they are and no doubt he "pulled the ropes" and "shifted the scenes." As he grew older he attended political rallies and swung his partner in the quadrilles of the day in this same building.
The year was 1825, the day October 25, and the place Buffalo, New York. This was to be an eventful day, celebrating the completion of the great Erie Canal. As the crowd gathered for the parade, old men knocked the tobacco from their pipes and talked of the Indians who originally lived in the locality and of the buffalo which foraged along the creek giving the town its name.
Most of these men had given service at one place or another .along the canal, and they laughed heartily as first one and then another would tell about the feuds and terrible fistfights they had witnessed among the fiery-tempered Irish canallers and railroaders - especially when they were "liquored up!" While the men reminisced, the women shook the dust from the bottom of their long skirts and wandered to and fro to chat with their friends and neighbors. Little girls played "ring-around-the-rosy," and little boys wrestled or tried for the longest jump.
Soon the shrill notes of the fife were heard, along with the roll of drums. As the band came nearer, the spectators lined up on both s ides of the road. By this time a few flutes and horns could be heard. Balance of tone made little difference; they were leading the parade for the opening of the Great Erie Canal. Rathbun Rifle Company followed the bank in a precision march. Then came the canal diggers with their spades, masons with trowels, carpenters with saws and hammers. Sailors and mechanics brought up the rear. In horse-drawn vehicles, the military officers, Governor DeWitt Clinton, and officers of the Canal Project followed.
As William Fullington Folsom marched with the workers in the parade, his family watched, waved and shouted from the side of the road. Little ten-year-old "Willie", his twelve-year-old brother Benjamin, and eight-year-old sister Mary Jane, sat on the ground in front of their mother. Fourteen-year-old Lydia Ann holding two-year-old Louisa Maria stood close by until the formal parade passed. At this time the Folsom family joined the other spectators who fell into step and followed the parade as it made its way to the canal dock. Here they heard the speech and the roar of the cannon as the canal boat "Seneca Chief" commenced its maiden voyage on the canal to Albany and then on to New York City.
The work on the great canal and the Lake Erie docks was by no means completed at the time the "Seneca Chief" made its initial run on the canal in 1825. There was a constant demand for enlargement and repair on all the building projects as travel and Commerce increased. Wharfs and docks were built on the man-made lakes at points for loading and unloading the boats and barges which supplied not only the main canal, but the laterals as well. New warehouses, homes and business buildings appeared as if by magic. The skill of William Fullington Folsom as a carpenter of repute 'was called for repeatedly. As soon as his three sons, Benjamin, William Harrison and Ebenezer were old enough to assist with the projects which their father contracted, they were taken along to learn the trade by participating in it. In other words, they served their apprenticeship with their father and were sometimes left to supervise the work.