Tuccinardi Farm (Cooley, Clark, Sturm, Tuccinardi) Clark Rd. Chemung, NY
A special thank you to Mike Tuccinardi for the photos and story of his family farm. It's a nice depiction of a family farm in our Town of Chemung in the mid 20th Century. A great example and wonderful photos.
A candid story written by Mike Tuccinardi (2014):
There's a long story coming up here. I always wanted to know all the whys and wherefores of our property on Clark Rd. Tonight in an hour I found out.
Of course, we knew our grandfather Ansgar F. Sturm bought the 120 acres from Theodore Clark. And I knew from poking around in old maps and histories that Benjamin Cooley and his wife Elizabeth built the house before the Civil War. Anyway, Cooley died in 1872 and was buried in the little neighborhood cemetery across from Jack Whitney's. His wife remarried, a guy named Robert Wood, and tonight I found out, unbeknownst to the current generation, she's buried right next to her first husband Benjamin. No marker. I read the cemetery in 2005 - I went over it pretty good. There's a Chemung project - double check me on that.
On the 1869 Beers map, there's a "Mrs. Clark" who lived in a house that we knew as a foundation on the west side of the little brook above the house. And we knew from a story related from Theodore Clark to the Sturms that a Hannah Clark used to walk over the hill (Tillman Hill) to Waverly and back when she wanted to go shopping. Tonight I found out that Hannah was his grandmother. (That probably got lost in the translation.)
The 1850 census shows Benjamin and Elizabeth (Cooley) living by themselves in the house we grew up in. In the 1860 census, Hannah Clark is living with them. In the 1865 NY census, Benjamin and Elizabeth are living by themselves. I tend to think here, that Benjamin built the house for Mrs Clark up there. But somehow, she wound up with all the property, after Benjamin died.
Hannah had 4 children: Eliza, b. 1853; Thomas, b 1856; Robert M., b. 1857; George, b.1859. Did her husband get killed in the Civil War? I don't know. I'll leave it to the genealogists to figure out how the downtown Chemung Clarks are related. But here she is, a spry looking 80 years old.
Click on photo to enlarge
There's a long story coming up here. I always wanted to know all the whys and wherefores of our property on Clark Rd. Tonight in an hour I found out.
Of course, we knew our grandfather Ansgar F. Sturm bought the 120 acres from Theodore Clark. And I knew from poking around in old maps and histories that Benjamin Cooley and his wife Elizabeth built the house before the Civil War. Anyway, Cooley died in 1872 and was buried in the little neighborhood cemetery across from Jack Whitney's. His wife remarried, a guy named Robert Wood, and tonight I found out, unbeknownst to the current generation, she's buried right next to her first husband Benjamin. No marker. I read the cemetery in 2005 - I went over it pretty good. There's a Chemung project - double check me on that.
On the 1869 Beers map, there's a "Mrs. Clark" who lived in a house that we knew as a foundation on the west side of the little brook above the house. And we knew from a story related from Theodore Clark to the Sturms that a Hannah Clark used to walk over the hill (Tillman Hill) to Waverly and back when she wanted to go shopping. Tonight I found out that Hannah was his grandmother. (That probably got lost in the translation.)
The 1850 census shows Benjamin and Elizabeth (Cooley) living by themselves in the house we grew up in. In the 1860 census, Hannah Clark is living with them. In the 1865 NY census, Benjamin and Elizabeth are living by themselves. I tend to think here, that Benjamin built the house for Mrs Clark up there. But somehow, she wound up with all the property, after Benjamin died.
Hannah had 4 children: Eliza, b. 1853; Thomas, b 1856; Robert M., b. 1857; George, b.1859. Did her husband get killed in the Civil War? I don't know. I'll leave it to the genealogists to figure out how the downtown Chemung Clarks are related. But here she is, a spry looking 80 years old.
Click on photo to enlarge
Ansgar and Clara (Wissel) Sturm purchased the Clark Farm from Theodore Clark on Clark Road, Town of Chemung, Sept. 1941. Photos below taken in 1941 of the new Sturm property.
Click on photos to enlarge
Click on photos to enlarge
Photos of the farm and family in 1942 Click on photos to enlarge
Photos of the farm and family, 1943 to 1948 Click on photos to enlarge
Miscellaneous photos and dates of the family and farm Click on photos to enlarge
Sadly, Clara Wissel Sturm died in 1975. Pat and Betty Tuccinardi continued to live on the farm until 1995, when Pat's health failed and the family moved them to Florida. The farm was sold in 1996. Pasquale (Pat) Tuccinardi died in 1997.