Looking Back

So I have been curious about the history of Echo Valley Farm and have begun some sleuthing. I started with this photo, which notes on the back that it was taken around 1885 and that the house was built by Henry W. Coon in 1868. It pictures Henry’s son Alvin and three of his seven siblings (and the Klose kids thought they were crowded!). So I started with some deed research, locating and copying deeds going back to 1839. Here’s what I’ve found so far…

David Pulver (certainly ancestors of our own Steve Pulver) and his wife Elizabeth sold 140 acres to Nicholas Pulver in 1839. The property includes what appears to be EVF but it’s hard to match given descriptions such as “..beginning at the stake on the east bank of the Sawkill and thence north eighty one degrees fifteen minutes… then three chains sixty three links to the white swamp oak..” In 1846 Nicholas D. Pulver and his wife Polly sold the farm (the description matches current deed exactly) for $6,421.27 to Jacob H. Myers , who turned around and sold it in 1848 to Henry W. Coon for $6,575.

[Note that Henry W. Coon’s grandfather was born Henrich KUHN and his ancestors trace back to a Johann Jacob Kuhn born around 1675, presumably a Palatine from southern Germany. At some point Henrich decided to Americanize his name. Wouldn’t it be something if I found a link between the Red Hook Kuhns and my Germanic ancestors who sought their fortune in Mexico?]

Henry W. Coon died in 1883 and his will directed that his estate be divided among his eight children once his wife Elizabeth died. Son Alvin H. married Frederica Metzger in 1889 and bought EVF from his siblings in 1893. Also that year their daughter Frederica was born. She later married Warren Rockefeller and had a son Phil, Woody’s classmate, who gave Wood the photo.

I also found photos of the farmhouse probably taken at the turn of the century (labeled Residence of Alvin H. Coon) as well as photos of the Coons as newlyweds and baby Frederica with two aunts (all with impressive headgear!).

As sole owner then, Alvin H. Coon sold the farm in 1929 to John B. Smith, who put $100 down, and assumed a mortgage of $9,497.19. John B. Smith and his wife Beatrice owned it until they sold to Woody and Virginia in 1943.

Some interesting bits from the deeds:

Although none of the deeds describe dwellings other than as “appurtenances,” both the 1846 and the 1848 deeds describe the land as“…containing one hundred and two acres two roods and thirty eight perches of land..together with grain growing on said premises.” In 1848, the buyer gets…”Also the rye straw on the mow overhead and on the east side of the barn and all the manure on the premises.”

Boilerplate that appears in all the earlier deeds include words to the effect that the new owners “shall and may at all times hereafter peaceably and quietly have hold use occupy possess and enjoy the granted premises…” (think we could resurrect the ‘peaceably and quietly’ part??)

Other standard language implies that wives were often coerced by their husbands, otherwise why have this? “… And the said [wife] in a private examination apart from her husband acknowledged that she executed the said conveyance freely and without fear of compulsion of her husband…”

So my next project is researching wills. The one I have found so far is pretty interesting. When Henry W. Coon died in 1883, an inventory was done and to his wife he left among other items “one spinning wheel, one sewing machine, five stoves and all the books in the house. Also ten sheep and their fleeces, one cow and two swine….” An inventory of the property appraised on the “homestead” (EVF) farm includes a looking glass, dinner bell, clock, churn machine, bottles of cider and vinegar in the cellar, and “a Lot of oats and corn in the wagon house..” Henry owned other farms, including the Staats farm (west of the Sawkill) where he kept “one brindle heifer, one red heifer, one yellow heifer and one spotted cow.” Another farm held 26 sheep, one small black horse, four steers and one bull.”

Apparently after the Erie Canal opened in 1830, local farmers switched from grain, (competition meant they could no longer sell down the Hudson), to livestock, dairy and fruit. The documents bear out this trend.

So stay tuned as I hunt down more EVF history!