I live in a condominum building that has been built on the estate of
Augustine Cunningham, who owned the Cunningham Automobile Company in
the early part of the 20th century here in Rochester, NY. The only
surviving building, a garage, has three stalls, is built of brick, but
must be torn down or relocated to provide for additional parking in
our back yard.

We have been seeking ways to preserve the building by donating it to
several museums in the area, but none are interested. As a last ditch
effort, we'd like to see if any of Augustine Cunningham's family would
like to take ownership of it by relocating it.

Your task, if you choose to accept it, is to find the closest (and
richest) relatives to Augustine Cunningham or his father or
grandfather, along with accurate contact information. You can start by
looking at the Smithsonian Institution web site, which lists several
of Cunningham's heirs (nephews and
nieces) who donated his car to the SI in 1974.

http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthemove/collection/object_1317.html

We cannot afford to move the building (it would cost over $70,000 to
do so) but if we can get a rich family member interested in taking it
off our hands, we'd be grateful. The estate was originally built in
the 1880s by Charles Cunningham, Augustine's father or grandfather,
who was a carriage manufacturer, so if that will help expand the pool
of potential heirs and relatives, so be it.

Sidenote: There is a Yahoo Group devoted to Cunningham cars, but DO
NOT contact them for information. Several members of the group live in
Rochester and would be loathe to having the garage relocated, so the
less they know about this effort, the better.

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Clarification of Question by garageola-ga on 25 May 2006 07:48 PDT

Here's some additional information I received that should help your research:

The soft cover booklet -  The Pursuit of Excellence by Noel Hinrichs
published in 1964 gives a little family info. Augustine died in 1957 and his
younger brother Francis died in 1958. Francis' son, Peter, became the fourth
President of Cunningham upon his father's death. There was a cousin involved
in the 1930's by the name of James Dryer who retired in 1940. There was also
a Joseph Cunningham and Rufus Dryer involved in the early part of the
company in the 1800's. The "Pursuits" book gives research credit to the
Cunningham and Dryer families and past employees such as - James Dryer; Miss
Leora Dryer; Mrs. Francis Cunningham; Frank W. Fulreader; Humbert Porreca;
Samuel P. Mateo and Andrew Vincent (an electrical engineer in the 1960's).
How many of these people are alive since the book was published in 1964 is
anyone's guess. I have no idea where they lived but if you're able to
contact just one family member you may get the directions to other family
members still alive.

The Pursuit of Excellence can be read online at:
http://www.obs-us.com/people/karen/cunningham/

I have heard that one member of the Cunningham family didn't like Rochester,
NY and for that reason left much of the company archives to a museum or
repository in Pa. - maybe in Pittsburg, Im not sure? This rumor needs
researching!

Tom, I hope you will be kind enough to share info with me about Cunningham
Co. and the family as Im very interested in their history too.

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Clarification of Question by garageola-ga on 25 May 2006 07:53 PDT

Also, the patriach's first name is James, not Charles.