The Snook family was known for welcoming others to their farm and hosted the first Utica Community Picnic on the grounds here. In 1878, one of the picnics hosted by the Snooks was described by the Catoctin Clarion as featuring speeches, dialogue, vocal and instrumental music. The family traced its lineage to Henry Snook, who immigrated to America from Germany and became a naturalized citizen in 1730. His son Simon Snook bought property near Utica in 1777. Simon and his wife, Charlotte Keller, whom he had married in 1768, had seven children, and their son Jacob also had seven children. Jacob's son Daniel, born in 1799, established the farm here. Daniel married Anna Margaret Hill in April 1822, and their children were Julia, born May 1, 1823; Margaret, born May 30, 1825; Daniel Josiah, born March 8, 1827; Jacob Henry, born July 2, 1829; John Albert, born August 17, 1832; Susan, born March 22, 1834; and Lewis Augustus, born September 13, 1836. In 1835, Daniel began purchasing the land here and built the house for his family around 1840. Constructed of local brick in the Maryland Piedmont style, the house was said in family lore to have been built with bricks made and fired on the property. After only a few years in the new home, the family suffered the loss of Anna in 1848, and she was buried nearby at St. Paul's Lutheran Church cemetery. Daniel and Anna's oldest son, Daniel Josiah Snook, was often called Josiah to avoid confusion with his father. Josiah married Mary Ann Harmon on November 23, 1849, moved with her to Frederick, then returned to the farmstead to live with his father. Like his father, Josiah spent his life working on the farm and was involved in livestock breeding. Josiah and Mary Ann raised their three sons, William, Charles, and Daniel Francis, in this house, and several generations of the Snook family were raised on this property.