Part Two of Going, Going, Gone

In response to the previous post, Buzz Woods sent me a link to Emma Ten Broeck Runk’s massive genealogy of the Barcroft family, available on Google Books (here’s the link).

I have no idea how I missed this resource. Like most 19th century/early 20th century genealogists, she did not worry too much about citing sources, but considering the thousands of names and dates she provided, I hardly see how she could. This is just to say, it is a wonderful resource, but must be taken with a grain of salt.

James Barcroft, 1796-1875

Be that as it may, there was so much good stuff in the book that I spent a rainy yesterday plowing through it, comparing what she had with my database, and connecting up a lot of people who needed connecting. The reason Buzz sent me the book is that it had an entry on James Barcroft, owner of the old ruin on Strimples Mill Road. What I suspect Buzz didn’t realize was that a photograph of James Barcroft was included.

Unfortunately, there was no picture of his wife, Nancy Opdycke.

However, after somewhat obsessively working my way nearly to the end of the book, I was rewarded with a picture that should have appeared next to Barcroft’s portrait. It is the James Barcroft house as it appeared in 1908.

Compare to how it appeared a couple winters ago:

The James Barcroft House, photo by Buzz Woods

I suspect the stone walls that are still standing were the middle section of the house, which was originally stuccoed, as most stone houses were.
Many thanks to Buzz for tipping me off to such a treasure.