Pier farm?

I just received a donation of papers that were retrieved long ago, from the Pier House, once located on South Main St. and demolished in 1978.

These papers appear to be from Colwert Pier and his wife Kate Hamilton Pier.  There was a family photo album (mostly unlabeled photos) but some labeled as photos of Kate H Pier or Harriet Pier (daughters of Kate H Pier).   Yes, this family is all tangled with names.  TWO Colwert Piers, TWO Kate Hamilton Piers, it's difficult to keep them straight.  Then add the fact that Kate H. Pier, the younger, decided to go to law school, and her mother decided to do the same, so they both graduated from law school...same name, Poor law school, to keep track of the older Kate vs. the younger Kate.

These two farm pictures were part of the collection just received.

Edward Pier received 160 acres of land from The Fond du Lac Company. It was located on what is now Main Street, and was bordered on the north by what is now called The Dutch Gap. Edward expanded his farmland with his own private purchases in several other locations.  

While Edward's farmstead was located on Pioneer Road, he obviously sold a portion of this land to his son and daughter-in-law, Colwert and Kate Hamilton Pier, who built the Pier House about the year 1880.

This photo shows the reverse side of the farm, with a small ditch already showing in this picture. A closer inspection of the photo will show a house in the center of the photo, but a second house or log cabin appears on the right edge of the photo.  this white board fence can also be seen under the trees in the first photo.

While neither photo is labeled, their appearance among the Pier photos, and closer inspection of the photos makes it possible (but does not prove) that this could be the Pier farm, about ca 1880.

The original photos measure 8x10 and mounted on a thick baseboard.  They can be viewed at the Thornton Library.