An ongoing correspondence 5 ...

So that is a legitimate question; how did farmers in 1780’s make enough money to build grand houses? You also thought it would have been a little house that had additions as the family grew, and we are sure it was built as one big sort of manor house with out buildings. Of course, we may find out all sorts of things when we poke around. But back to your questions. Not sure really, and want to ask the local historian at the research library as she is a “social historian” and has wonderful insight into not just what happened at a given time, but why people did the things they did, what motivated the culture. Sort of an anthropologist, I guess, and I hope to get some insight from her.

While we don’t know fully about the finances or income sources of the family, we can assume the Groom family was prosperous enough to not only build a rather grand house for a farm, but were able to acquire other land holdings as well as the farm. At some point prior to 1801, William purchased 2 farm lots in Schoharry County, (mentioned in his will) and Joseph purchased another 100 acre lot, listed as Expense lot 27 from the Catskill patent, land sold as further partitioning of the Loonenburg patent. By the time of William’s death in 1812, a home in the Village of Athens had been purchased (no, don’t have record of that either) as William is listed as being a resident of the Village, and Joseph who sells the property within months of the father’s death, also then resides in the Village, where he becomes active in it’s formation into a town 3 years hence.

That the Groom family held an emotional attachment to the farm could be assumed because the family burial grounds were there and Joseph made sure the burial plot was exempted from the sale in 1812 and future sales. In his will of 1831, he gave it to the custody of the Dutch Reformed Church. (another thing to research) Sarah, wife of William was the first of 4 family members to be buried there. The other 3 being William, Joseph and his wife Rachael. Even though both William and Joseph remarried after the deaths of Sarah and Rachael, neither second wife seems to be part of the family plot. A footnote in Beers History of Greene County states: “Upon this farm is the burying ground of the Groom Family, overgrown with weeds. A headstone almost level with the ground bears the following inscription: ‘To the memory of Joseph Groom, who died August 15, 1832, age 85. this marks the resting place of the man who was president of the village and one of its most influential citizens. William Groom died April 18, 1812, age 93; Sarah, wife of William Groom died March 11 1788, aged 40; Rachael, wife of Joseph Groom died August 20,, 1795, aged 47.” There is also no mention of Edward and his family, who by the time William died were living in Schoharry County.