******Notes on the Cronk Family dictated by Joel D'Aubigne Cronk to Lois (Cronk) Startt, November 15 1945.******
Enoch Cronk was born in New York (State), March 11, 1804. His parents are unknown to me, but his brothers were Amos, Elisha and Wesley. He had no sisters to my knowledge.
He was a farmer and lived in Dutchess and Tioga counties, New York. He married Mary Denny, an Irish girl, on June 25, 1825. They made an odd couple as he was a tall man, weighing over 200 pounds, she was small, not over five feet and very slight.
They had three children: Richard, Joel Enoch, and Jane.
About 1844, Enoch moved his family to Illinois where he took up forty acres of land by pre-emption. The land was secured for $1.25 an acre and was in the locality known as Bonus Prairie, six miles northeast of Belvidere, Illinois. This section was rolling with a few oak trees along the creek and scattered wooded plots. Enoch had no trees on his plot, so he immediately set out Lombardy poplars for a wind break to shelter the yard and apple orchard which later materialized.
All of Enoch's brothers moved westward. Enoch was a diligent farmer and provided a good home for his children.
About 1870 Enoch and Mary Cronk moved to a small farm nearby and turned over the original farm to Joel who bought up land around his father's farm until his holding measured 480 acres, one mile long and three-quarters of a mile wide. He was then ready to farm on a large scale.
The following property sales records were retreived from the Illinois, Boone Co., land sales records via the Internet in 1996 by James G. Arnold.
Purchaser: CRONK ENOCH Record ID: 162767
Date: 07/11/1846
Acres: 40
Price: $5.00
Type of sale: State (ST)
County: 4
Section: 15 Section Part: SWNW
Township: 44N Range: 04E
Meridian: 3 Purchaser Res:
Arch. Vol. No: 811 Vol. Page No.: 039
Cash warrant code: Record corrected: 0
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Purchaser: CRONK ENOCH Record ID: 84043
Date: 10/22/1846
Acres: 40
Price: $1.25
Type of sale: Federal sale (FD)
County: 4
Section: 12 Section Part: SESW
Township: 44N Range: 04E
Meridian: 3 Purchaser Res:
Arch. Vol. No: 683 Vol. Page No.: 107
Cash warrant code: Record corrected: 0
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Purchaser: CRONK ENOCH Record ID: 92515
Date: 12/31/1845
Acres: 76
Price: $1.25
Type of sale: Federal sale (FD)
County: 56
Section: 7 Section Part: LOT2SW
Township: 44N Range: 05E
Meridian: 3 Purchaser Res:
Arch. Vol. No: 683 Vol. Page No.: 230
Cash warrant code: Record corrected: 0
My name is douglas gene cronk, my family were dairy farmers here in new york state. Whether or not were related this is still very interesting.take care, doug
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