Philadelphia, PA 19111
4th Great-Grandparent, John & Abigail Akin Toffey: 'Toffey Corner'
The “Toffey Corner” in summer 1986, Church Rd and Quaker Hill Rd, Pastor house on Christ Church. Brother Bill family, Kyle Family, and Garret Toffey. Back in SW, Christ Church, and NW, Akin Free Library and Museum.
"The first resident of record to occupy the house was Cornelius Flamen, whose son sold it to John Akin ll in 1758. Akin’s family was among the earliest Quakers to settle on the hillside and, following his death, the house and property was inherited by his two daughters (Abigail Akin).
The house received its first claim to fame during the Revolutionary War when Waight Vaughn, cited as the most notorious bandit of that era, died inside its kitchen. John Toffey married Abigail Akin in 1776 and the couple lived in the house; He built a general store onto its west side. The intersection became known as Toffey’s Corner.
Because the corner included other businesses, such as a tailor shop, shoemaker, blacksmith shop and cabinet maker, it became the center of activity on the hilltop. Locals would regularly gather in Toffey’s store to await the arrival of the Poughkeepsie-Hartford stagecoach, which carried mail; The post office occupied a portion of the store for 50 years.
Toffey, and subsequently his daughter Ann, served as postmasters during that time. Among overnight guests staying at the house were drovers, who were leading their herds from Hartford to Poughkeepsie. While they stayed in the house’s bedrooms, their herds were housed in a large barn that sat nearby.
Ann was the primary proprietor of the lodging facility and was said to have cheerfully welcomed weary travelers to the establishment regardless of their financial wherewithal, age or status in society. Following her parents’ deaths, Ann invited her widowed sister and five children to live there with her.
Following Ann’s mother Esther’s death in 1879, her will left much of the land the family owned to Albert Akin (across a street, Akin Free Library and Museum). However, Ann was left with a life interest in the house." - Special to Poughkeepsie Journal.