“Bill” and Agnes (Dittmeier) McGunnigle were Stony Brook’s last farmers.Bill’s real name is Stephen Joseph McGunnigle.No one knows why they called him Bill.
According to family records, his family came to America at the height of the “potato famine”/Great Hunger in Ireland.They settled down in Nassau County and became potato farmers themselves.
Following their marriage, Bill and Agnes paid $5000 for 126 acres of Stony Brook farmland in 1939. They went on to have five children, at least one of whom became a farmer elsewhere on the island.
The McGunnigles grew potatoes that were sold at market, as well as wheat and rye. Bill was among the last farmers to utilize the Stony Brook Grist Mill (c. 1751). which ceased production in the 1940s.
As life on the farm continued, changes were happening around it:the area was becoming more developed.When Ward Melville held the community meeting at the Three Village Inn to discuss his plans for a new village, Bill, Agnes, and their daughter Mary were in attendance.
The farm, primarily run by Bill, continued much as it always had untilAugust 1962, when a lightening strike set the barn ablaze. Filled with hay, the barn was rapidly engulfed by flames.All of the horses made it out alive, but Bill’s heart could not take the strain. He died outside of the barn from a massive heart attack.
After Bill’s passing, Agnes took over the daily operations of the farm. In 2010, Agnes died at the age of 92, leaving behind her five children, twenty-nine grandchildren and thirty great-grandchildren.