Keith – The history of the Annex is fairly simple.

Phyllis pulled all of the original deeds and maps at the Jefferson County Clerk’s office – those are the documents I’m using to tell the story. I am missing the maps - I know she gave them to me, but I can’t find them – can go back to the County Clerk’s office and get copies if need be.

The first Deeds for the original Point Vivian Park area were signed in 1877. All deeds for the original 40 lots included language that granted a fractional 1/40th per lot ownership title to the “common property”.

Seven years later, the Annex was developed in much the same way the original Point Vivian was developed.

The buyers purchased the Annex parcel in August, 1884. Sometime between that date and October of 1885 they had the parcel surveyed and a map made by a J. M. Fairbanks. The parcel was divided into 10 lots with some common property showing along the river shoreline and some showing as an access road. Thereafter the Lots were sold by Lot number. This map is on file in the Jefferson County Clerk’s office at Book 1-Page 32. (There was another map of the Annex filed 16 years later, but I’ll address that later.)

Seller was: Joseph Houghton

Purchasers were:

• Charles Austin
• Elizabeth Austin
• George Taylor
• Lucinda Taylor
• George Adzit
• Jessie Adzit
• Osee Wilmot
• Cornelia Wilmot
• Micajah Horton
• Caroline Horton

Deed was dated August 26, 1884, recorded September 12, 1884. Several things are important –

1. The first two Annex lots were sold about 13 months after the original purchase. Both deeds are dated October 1, 1885, and both were filed with the Jefferson County Clerk in the Spring of 1886. Both of these deeds contain language giving the purchaser a “one tenth” part of common property in the Annex as laid out on the map (referring to the J. M. Fairbanks map).

   The Lot #1 deed reads:
   “Also one undivided tenth part of all public lands as laid out on the said map” (referring to the J. M. Fairbanks map)

   The Lot #2 deed reads:
   “Also one undivided tenth of all public grounds as laid out on said map” (referring to the J. M. Fairbanks map).

   Lot #1 – Jeannette Smith	October 1, 1885	recorded May 20, 1886
   Lot #2 - Addie Ball and Eva Barnes	October 1, 1885	recorded March 30, 1886

   According to Louise Cooke’s history, by 1884 there was already a cottage on Lot #1. This probably explains why Lot #1 sold for $500, while Lot #2 sold for only $150. These Lots are owned today by the Ferrone’s (Lot #1) and Dixon’s (Lot #2). Both of their current deeds still carry this “one tenth” language. Ferrone’s property was purchased as recently as 2013. Ironically, at present, the Dixon’s have resigned from the PVPA and the Ferrone’s chose not to join the PVPA when they purchased their cottage in 2013.

2. In December of 1884, about 4 months after the original purchase of the Annex, 3 of the 5 original developers of the Annex are listed as signatories on the supposed “corporate” paper that Dick Randall submitted as an attachment in his December, 2014 affidavit. (Exhibit A).

   To me, this brings up an important question. If 3 of the 5 owners of the Annex thought that by becoming part of the Point Vivian Association Corporation, the owners in the Annex would also have ownership rights to the common property within the original Point Vivian surveyed area, then why did they approve and sign deeds that didn’t convey that right when deeds were prepared for the first two lots in the Annex???

   Only nine months had passed – surely they didn’t forget that important detail in such a short period of time. Those deeds very specifically included language that conveyed interest in “public land” or “public ground” within the Annex – but no mention is made of any title or interest to any common property in the original PVPA area.

3. R Randall also claims that the Annex was purchased in 1884 and divided into 9 Lots. (see Randall Dec 2014 Affidavit- Item #5). He’s wrong. The Annex parcel was purchased in 1884, but the original Annex map, filed with the Jefferson County Clerk in 1885, shows 10 lots. In Item #12 of his Affidavit he also refers to the map filed in 1884 at Book 1 – Page 28 showing 10 lots.

4. Almost 16 years went by. There were no Annex property sales recorded in those years. Then on October 14, 1901, another map (also prepared by J. M. Fairbanks) of the Annex was filed in the Jefferson County Clerk’s office - Book 2 of Maps, Page 34. This map shows 9 Lots.

5. A deed was recorded on November 10, 1901, conveying Lots #5, #6, #7, #8 and #9 to Frank Russell of Alexandria Bay, NY. This deed doesn’t contain the same language as the deeds for Lots #1 and #2, but does contain language talking about a couple of strips of land which appear to be part of the public land as shown on the earlier map. These Lots now make up the Restino property and possibly part of the Whitlock-Lubniewski property. Although this deed wasn’t recorded until 1901, the typewritten version of the 1884 “Dues Assessment“ ledger sheets that R Randall included in his Affidavit as Exhibit B indicates that in 1884 F Russell paid dues for Annex Lots #7 and # 8 (and is also listed as the owner of Lot #9 for which he paid nothing), but the original handwritten ledger sheet indicates that the Wilmot-Horton group paid dues for all the Annex lots. The handwritten sheet also has a discrepancy in the number of lots in the Annex. The handwritten version shows 2 lots with cottages, 2 vacant lots and another group of 4 vacant lots – but the item showing 4 vacant lots has very clearly been written over, and originally showed 6 vacant lots. This is typical of the confusion that has resulted from mistakes (either deliberate or by accident) that have occurred when retelling the “history” of Point Vivian. Louise Cooke’s history says that a cottage had been built on the parcel including Lot’s 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 prior to 1884, so that explains the 1884 assessment for 2 cottages in the Annex in the 1884 assessment list.

6. The next deed for a parcel of the original Annex purchase was recorded on October 18, 1906 when Lot #4 was sold to Thomas and Ella White of Alexandria Bay. This deed doesn’t contain the same language as the deeds for Lots #1 and#2, but does include language talking about “appurtenances and all the estate, title and interest therein of the sellers”. This Lot is currently the Whitlock-Lubniewski property.

7. We don’t have an original deed for Lot #3, but my guess is we can probably find it. According to Louise Cooke’s History, at some point Lot #3 was purchased by the owner of Lot #2, and the current deed for the Dixon property shows that they own both Annex Lots #2 and #3, so a deed has to be on file somewhere.

BY-LAWS

Any version of the PVPA By-Laws that I’ve seen has always contained roughly (but not exactly) the same language referring to the Annex properties. The Annex has always been referred to separately from the original 40 parcels. According to R Randall’s affidavit - Item #12 no By-Laws existed until 1925. He includes the 1925 By-Laws as Exhibit D. Language in Article III of the 1925 By-Laws clearly spells out the fact that there are two maps for two separate groups of cottages.

We are not denying that the Annexed members have been a important part of Point Vivian – indeed many of the Annex owners have served as officers and trustees of the PVPA organization – and many have contributed a lot of hard work. But that did not convey any title to common property in the original Point Vivian surveyed area.

If, indeed, over 130 years and multiple changes to the By-Laws, anyone thought that the Annex owners had ownership rights to the original “common property”, why did they continue to specifically refer to them as a separate entity?? For over 70 of those 130 years, the original Annex owners were the only owners of property outside of the original area that were members of the PVPA. Then, according to Louise Cooke’s history, on August 4, 1956, Violet Look Robinson’s parcel on the southwest side of the PVPA, was annexed. She sold that parcel to Arnold and Jane Holliday in 1980, and they continued the membership. As of 2015 , the only annexed members of the PVPA are 2 of the 4 owners in the original Annex, and the owners of the Holliday parcel (originally Robinson). According to the Randall affidavit, in 1994 the By-Laws were amended to give ownership rights to the original common property to Annexed members. Now it had been 110 years since the original socalled incorporation, and apparently the members still felt it necessary to clarify ownership rights through language in the By-laws. In fact, a Footnote in the minutes of that 1994 meeting, specifically refer to members “giving up some of their interest in the common property”, so obviously the members knew that the Annex owners had never previously obtained ownership interest in the common property.

Charles Dixon had been President of the PVPA in 1993 when the Amendment was drafted and the owner of Lots #2 & #3 in the Annex. A wee bit of “conflict of interest” here.

There is no record of the number of members who voted for that amendment. The minutes of that meeting (R Randall Dec. 2014 Affidavit, Exhibit H), indicate that 24 of the 44 members were present at that meeting, but there is no record of the vote – the minutes just say that the amendment passed. So it’s probable that at least 20 of the owners in 1994 didn’t know that they were supposedly giving up the fractional share of ownership in the common property by an amendment to the By-Laws, and it’s possible that the vote on that Amendment was less than unanimous, therefore making it possible that only 13 of the members (majority of those present) voted in favor of the amendment.

Regardless of this Amendment, nothing was ever done to change anyone’s deed in reference to the common property. My guess is that the Board of Trustees knew darn well that if they followed through and notified everyone that those deeds had to be changed, someone might object to the cost of filing the deeds or to his/her fractional title to the common property being diluted. The PVPA would then be faced with a major battle.

About 10-12 years later, the Dixon’s (who owned Lots #2 & #3) resigned from the PVPA.

At the time of the Dixon’s resignation, the membership, upon the recommendation of the Board of Trustees, voted (as I recall unanimously) to allow the Dixon’s to continue to use the PVPA dumpster for a pro-rated fee of the total dumpster costs, but the Dixon’s were no longer responsible for contributing to the other costs (maintenance & repair of roads and buildings, insurance, property taxes, etc.,) associated with the common property.

In 2013, the Ferrone’s bought Lot #1 in the Annex. They chose not to join the PVPA. Upon the recommendation of the Board of Trustees, the membership again voted (either by addressing the specific issue or by approval of the annual budget) to allow the Ferrone’s to use the dumpster for a pro-rated fee.

In both instances, it was explained by the President of the PVPA at the Annual meeting, that the Annexed members could come and go from the PVPA as they chose and were under no obligation to be members of the PVPA.

This concept was confirmed by language in Section 3.02 of the 2014 By-Laws (written by R Randall) that specifically states that Annexed members can join, resign or re-join the PVPA. (See his Affidavit Exhibit I of the 2014 By-Laws).

CONCLUSION: What the hell are we arguing about here at this point??? R Randall is now saying that he is trying to protect the Annexed members’ interest in the common property that they obtained through the equity they built up through years of paying dues to the PVPA, yet he authored the 2014 By-Laws that specifically state that the Annexed members can come and go from the PVPA as they please. He is talking out of both sides of his mouth. He is personally responsible for causing such confusion and dissension among the members that no one knows “who’s on first” or how they got there.

As far as the equity argument goes, it’s true that the some of the Annexed members have paid dues for many years to be a part of the PVPA. From the beginning, this membership provided the Annex owners with many conveniences – at first, it was access to ice (an important necessity in the 1880’s), then they had access to a grocery store, hotel, post office, social events at the Pavilion, access road from the main highway, and main dock that had steamer service for the convenience of the members and their guests. If they hadn’t been able to pay a fee for all of those conveniences or necessities, the Annex probably wouldn’t have existed in the first place.

Over the years, those conveniences gradually disappeared – first people got electric refrigerators, then the Main Dock fell apart (by then everyone had cars and didn’t need Steamer transportation), then the grocery store kind of dwindled down to not much more that a Candy Store, and the Post Office closed in the early-to-mid 1990’s because the activity and postage revenue had decreased to the point that the US Postal Service decided that it was economically impossible to keep it open.