Silver Bay in 1909 — Edwin F. See

See Memorial at Silver Bay Association has outlasted the lifespan of the man it honors more than twice over.

Edwin F. See, “one of the promoters of the Silver Bay enterprise,” was 46 when he died July 8, 1906 from Bright’s disease, thought at the time to have been brought on by overwork, just after he completed raising $1 million — the equivalent of $28.5 million in 2020 dollars — for the Brooklyn Y.M.C.A., where he had been general secretary for nearly 20 years.

YMCA associates around the country contributed funds to build See Memorial in 1909.

The Lake George Mirror called the corner stone laying ceremony at 3:30 p.m. Aug. 22 “one of those memorable days at Silver Bay.”

The building originally housed administrative offices of the YMCA Institute.

“Owing to the very rapid growth of this institute it has been necessary to provide quarters separate from the hotel where those in charge can administer its affairs.”

L. L. Doggett, president of Silver Bay Institute, led the ceremony.

Speakers were George Foster Peabody of Lake George and New York City, Fred S. Goodwin of the YMCA International Council staff, and Judge Selden P. Spencer of St. Louis.

Those attending, including many area cottagers, sang “Jesus Calls Us Over the Tumult,” and “Faith of Our Fathers, Living Still.”

Work continued into the late fall.

“The See Memorial building is under cover and the windows and doors will be put in this week,” the Ticonderoga Sentinel reported on Nov. 4.

See Memorial was dedicated Aug. 7, 1910.

See, who grew up in Tarrytown, in Westchester County, N.Y., was known as the “boy preacher of Albany” when he was pastor of Third Reformed Church at Albany in his early 20s.

He left the pastorate in 1886 to become general secretary at Brooklyn, a position he held until his death.

See was a frequent speaker at New York City churches and at YMCA events, conferences and conventions around the nation.

“With such Bible class leaders as Mr. Edwin F. See … a successful conference cannot but result,” a Tennessee newspaper reported in 1892.

He led a course on effective teaching and personal work at the first YMCA conference at Silver Bay in 1902, and conducted Bible training classes at the second YMCA conference in 1903.

A text book, “Teaching of Bible Classes,” which he wrote, was still being used at YMCA conferences a decade after his death.

See was noted for opening his sermons and lectures with humor and stories, and then driving home his point once he had the congregation’s attention.

“Whatever else we may think about Christ, we cannot deny to him the claim of being the greatest religious teacher that ever lived,” See said in an Aug. 16, 1896 sermon at Central Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn. “If our faith goes no further we must at least acknowledge that He was a great religious genius; that he was a specialist in the department of religious affairs.”

His stature in the New York City area is evidenced by newspaper real estate ads listing See as among “many fastidious people” that owned homes in the Cedarcroft subdivision on Long Island.

See left behind a wife and one child.

Sources: Ticonderoga Sentinel Nov. 4, 1909; June 16, 1910; Lake George Mirror Aug. 9, 21, 27, 1909; The Columbian, Bloomsburg, Pa., Aug. 6, 1903; The Maryville Times, Maryville, Tenn., May 11, 1892; New York Tribune July 19, 1906; The Sun, New York, May 7, 1905; Knowersville Enterprise April 23, 1887; The Brooklyn Daily Eagle Aug. 17, 1896.

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