12-03-04

Dear Rory,

I am so delighted to hear from you - you have no idea. I recognize the Goff name as part of my gggf's extended family from Monroe, New York. Charles Coffey Alger (1809 - 1874) was a most interesting person. I have to go to my genealogy program and look up the Goffs that I have listed there. C. C. Alger was in some kind of a partnership with a Goff cousin at Fort Edward, New York in the iron business, but his main interests were at Stockbridge, Mass., Hudson, New York, and later at Cold Spring, Putnam Co., New York. His pending divorce from my gggm, Sarah Palmer, may have been the deciding factor that had him leave his mansion at Newburgh, New York and relocate to Connecticut as their divorce laws were somewhat more lenient than the very strict grounds in New York. Sarah and Charles were married in Manhattan on Dec. 27, 1831 in a Methodist Church and were divorced in New Haven, Ct. in March of 1868, which was confirmed by a court in Manhattan in May of 1868. Their marriage was in trouble in 1861 so there was an approximate seven year estrangement period before the divorce.

Is one of your Goff ancestors buried at "Ye Olde Coffey Grounds" in Monroe, New York? There is an imcomplete list online which contains errors regarding dates. Someone read the tombstones incorrectly. An example of this is C. C. Alger's only sibling that I know about - Emily F. Alger Pratt. She died in 1845 (born about 1819) as the wife of Cyrus Pratt and left one daughter Sarah E. Pratt who had two husbands. I think the on-line listing says she died in 1815.

I think your material on Experience, the wife of John Coffey, sounds good. I have been doing genealogy for more than ten years as my only hobby since I retired from teaching with my main interest in C. C. Alger. He had a son (Charles) and daughter (Grace) who never married with Sarah Palmer and a daughter Lucile who never married with his second wife Marie Louise Molt who was 40 years younger than he was. He died when Lucile was about 3 or 4 years old. She was born 10-10-1870 or 1871 in Norwich, Ct. and died at her estate at Great Neck, Long Island at age 65 or 66 on 12-24-1936, leaving $5,000 to a married female friend in Paris and the rest to her girlfriend of 25 years, Louise Nathalie Grace, who was one of the daughters of William Russell Grace, two term mayor of New York City and founder of the Grace financial empire. Lucile and her mother inherited most of C. C. Alger's worldly goods when he died. A couple of years before he died and shortly after Lucile was born, he gifted the furnishings of his home at Norwich, Ct. and his home at New London, Ct. to Marie. These included furniture, silverware, paintings and statues. Two of the paintings and one statue are held in main museums in the world - the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan, the Toledo Museum in Ohio, and the Hermitage Art Museum at St. Petersburg, Russia. The mansion at Newburgh, New York bought from the estate of architect A. J. Downing was demolished about 1900. The home at Hudson, New York which was purchased in 1876 by Sarah Palmer Alger after the divorce and death of C. C. Alger on July 13, 1874 still stands. Sarah gifted the house to her son, Charles Alger after he became a widower and she retained a life interest in the house. Charles Alger, the son, died Jan. 2, 1897 at the house and Sarah died there late in February of 1897. There were three daughters of Charles Alger and Helena Willett Freeland (1846 - 1879) and one son. The second daughter was Helena Willett Alger (1870 - 1929) who married my grandfather Frank Farrand (1866 - 1957) at Christ Episcopal Church in Hudson, New York on Oct. 14, 1896. The house of my grandfather, Frank Farrand, still stands in Greenport, New York outside of Hudson, New York. It was once part of a 140 acre farm.

Thanks for your information. It's good to know that a relative is out there also looking for information on this part of the family. I live on Long Island, New York. I have passed Monroe, New York many times going upstate to visit my mother's relatives and also going to Oneonta, New York when my daughter attended school there and then worked for the college for two years and I never had a clue that that was where C. C. Alger's parents once lived. By the way, I have had no success (so far anyway) tracing my ggggf Levi Alger (1781 - 1820) back to his roots.

I am going to be off-line Dec. 8th to Dec. 13th, so don't expect me to be able to respond to any messages during that period of time (eye surgery) but otherwise I am totally interested in messages from you. John Coffey, Sr. was supposed to have been from Ireland and was at Lee, Massachusetts according to material I found where he owned a farm and was a surveyor. He must have made his way there from a port of entry in New England and Experience was said to have been a native of Massachusetts so it makes sense that they met somewhere in Massachusetts. There is also a suggestion that John Coffey, Sr. may have fought in the Rev. War by responding to an alarm at Stockbridge, Mass. I couldn't find birth records for their children in the records that I looked at for Lee, Massachusetts, but all or most of them were supposed to have been born at Lee, Mass., which does have records unlike Stockbridge, Mass. where I couldn't find birth records for Grace Alger or Charles Alger (my ggf). I know that Grace Alger and Charles Alger were born at Stockbridge because of the burial records of the Hudson City Cemetery at Hudson, New York and also because Charles attended Amherst College for a short period of time and his exact birthday (Feb. 22, 1836) and place of birth (Stockbridge, Mass.) are listed there and available on on-line records.

Thanks,

Mrs. Barbara Alger Farrand Doxey