An ongoing correspondence 4 ...

Beers in the History of Greene County mentions that the Dutch settlers were mostly farmers who kept their lives simple,” they married wives, planted, they ‘builded’ but know little of life beyond their narrow limits” (farms). He compares the Dutch to the English, citing the Dutch as having lives lacking in “excitement and enterprise” while the English were actively engaged in community and civic life.

The Grooms however, were active enough in the growing communities of the future Greene County. It is assumed the Groom family resided in what was then the district of Coxsackie which included all the land that would later become Catskill and Athens. Both William and Edward were signers of the Coxsackie (Dutch) Declaration of Independence (from the British) in 1775, a year prior to the 1776 Declaration in Philadelphia. (Had you known there was such a thing? I didn’t.) While the War for independence never really touched Greene County (at this time it was still Albany County) Joseph and many of his neighbors joined the Albany County Militia as enlisted men. The names of all the neighborhood folk appear over and over in deeds and records of marriage.

The Howard Hall Farm site was considered part of Coxsackie until the formation of Catskill in 1789, and in 1787, William was assessed by the town for $16 in owed taxes.

We can assume that Joseph Groom had an interest in community politics as we know that Joseph, then age 41, was present at the first town meeting when Catskill was formed and he was listed as “collector”. A copy of the Catskill packet (the original still exists in the Vedders library) contains a copy of an advertisement taken out by Joseph to prompt the citizens to pay owed tax moneys. I am going to try to get a digital image of the original newspaper ad, if they will let me. Better that than Xerox.

While I have yet to find out from exactly where the Groom family resided prior to building the stone house, or from whom they purchased the property, (those records may be in the Albany County Court house or State library), it is possible William purchased the land directly from the one of the original families that owned parts of the Loonenburtg patent, as the patent was broken into smaller partitions or lots. Most of the landowners were Dutch farmers and their names repeat throughout the records of marriages, wills, deed descriptions and the like. Joesph Groom married a Van Loon, the property was bounded by Hallenbeck, Van Hoesen and Brandow, (Aaron) whose brother William was the son in law of Joseph (a guess, not verified). In other words, their lives were quite intertwined. The History of Greene County gives a fairly detailed description of the Loonenburg patent and how it was divided, mapped and divided into lots numbered from 1 to 146, although all original maps have been lost. Just an aside, in 1796, Aaron Brandow sells his brother, William, lot number one, lying on the patent line. This could very well be the son-in-law of William Groom, or grandson, as is referred to in his will. In a description of the lots and their owners, Beers mentions lots 71 and 72 as the Sprague farm (this was in 1881), previously owned by Joseph Groom,. The earliest deed I have copies of is of the sale of the Groom farm after William’s death in 1812. The deed transferring lot 71, 72 and 127 from Joseph Groom to a Benjamin Haxton of New York City and the deed refers to the land being in the Loonenburg patent, The boundaries of the property sold are vagtue; certain trees, piles of stones, but does mention bordering the land of William Brandow, son in law and John Van Hoesan. This son-in-law could very well be the owner of lot #1, The deed of transfer from Groom to Haxton lists sale of 210 1/16th acres, selling for $8000, and refers to a survey and map attached to the deed made by John D. Spoor. (we do not have a copy of that; another thing to research!)