An ongoing correspondence 8 ...

I have been reading the wills with a fine tooth comb, as I only did a cursory read the first time, so excited was I to actually have them in my hands. And a few things seemed important to my story of the Grooms and here are some of them.

October of 1812, almost immediately only a few months after the death of William, Joseph Groom sold lot 70, a portion of lot 71, and lot 27 to Benjamin Haxton (from New York City). The total sale of land was 210 &1/16 of an acre for which Mr Haxton paid $8000. The deed stipulates that 1/8th of an acre be held out of the sale as it is the burial ground of the Groom family (William and Sarah and Rachael were buried there at that time) .

The deed also exempts 1& 1/6th of an acre for the Van Hoesen family plot. Casper Van Hoesen was the son-in-law of Joseph Groom. William Brandow, the husband of Joseph’s sister, Catherine.

I know from other sources that Joseph moved into the Village of Athens and it seemed he became active in local town politics. It is hard to know whether Joseph sold the farm within months after his father’s death because he was ready for life in the Village, (there is not mention in William’s will about the property in the Village) or if the share and share mandate in William’s codicil made it necessary to sell and split the profits with Edwards, but sell he did, to a Benjamin Haxton of New York City. He remained quite active in local civic life. In 1814, his name appeared in an advertisement in the Catskill Recorder as President of the Trustees of the Village of Athens. The advertisement was to petition the New York State Legislature to allow for the Town of Athens to be created out of parts of Coxsackie and Catskill, In 1815, the Town of Athens was make an entity, and would include the Groom farm, now our house, within the boundaries.

Joseph’s name also appears in a later paragraph in the History of Greene County as blocking the approval of the purchase of a bell for the new Trinity Episcopal Church, to be paid for by the town. The bell would have served the town function of calling people to religious services, town events or fire. In 1814, the Trustees had voted to appropriate money, but Joseph refused to put the motion and “took his Hatt and left the Board without adjournment.” It was left to the church to purchase the bell themselves; perhaps Joseph was either a believer in the separation of church and state or just ornery.

He remained an active citizen, being one of the founders of the Dutch Reformed Church of Athens in 1826 which remained in existence until 1886.

Joseph’s will was made in 1828, 5 years before he dies. The first order is for the family burying ground to be entrusted to the care of the Dutch Reformed Church of Athens. He mentions the plot to be on the “farm now occupied by the Reverend Joseph Prentiss in the town ot Athens”.

He leaves the house he lives in the Village of Athens (mentions who he purchased from) to his Daughter Mary, along with all his household furnishings and miscellaneous items. To his daughter Magdeline, he gives land (32 acres) purchased from a John Armstrong in Coxsackie. The rest of the estate to be divided to “all my children” namely: Magdeline, Eytie, Mary, Rebecca and Hannah and the children of Catherine now deceased.

In 1831, Joseph adds a codicil dividing the property appropriately after the death of Hannah.

I think all this adds a lot to the picture, but still so many questions. I guess that’s the nature of the beast; research, research , research!

An ongoing correspondence 6 ...

When I found the wills, I also discovered in the Groom file, correspondence from another seeker of Joseph Groom information, a lovely man named Michael, whom I have had several conversations with and hope to actually meet sometime. He was researching his own family roots and this led him to the marriage of his ancestor, Barnet Gay to Magdeline Groom daughter of Joseph. He was searching for the Groom Burial plot and his correspondence to a local historian from the Vedders research library gave every indication that he knew a lot already about the Groom family. His notes and the subsequent conversations have been part of piecing together the puzzle pieces and he has since informed me that he has boxes of information on not only the Groom family, but clues to the history of Greene county in general, at the time they were living in the house. I have been anxious to have him come to Howard Hall with his “box” of clippings and plan a moment to do that. He has also unearthed and restored other historic burial grounds and is most anxious to try to find the Grooms. Well, us, too!

We have to plan a moment this summer, and maybe your foot will behave and you can tromp around the property along with Michael and his grave finding machine. (Yeah, he has unearthed other historic grave sites, and says he has a machine that can tell if earth has been turned over, even if it is many years ago. He said they use the machine to locate mass graves, and that grizzly idea aside, I am totally intrigued with this possibility.

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.