USA > New York > Kings County > Williamsburgh > A history of the town of Bushwick, Kings county, N.Y. and of the town, village and city of Williamsburgh, Kings county, N.Y > Part 1
USA > New York > Kings County > Bushwick > A history of the town of Bushwick, Kings county, N.Y. and of the town, village and city of Williamsburgh, Kings county, N.Y > Part 1
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Author
ARY
A
R
CONGRE
SS
129 B957
Title
Imprint
16-17372-2 GPO
.B9 57 Copy 1
A HISTORY
OF THE
TOWN OF BUSHWICK.
KINGS COUNTY, N. Y. BY
HENRY R. STILES, M. D.
for 4 - 1.
AND OF THE
TOWN, VILLAGE AND CITY OF WILLIAMSBURGH,
KINGS COUNTY, N. Y.
BY
JOHN M. STEARNS, Esq.
Reprinted from "The Illustrated History of Kings County," edited by Dr. H. R. Stiles, und published ly IV. W. Munsell & Co.
C
BROOKLYN, N. Y.
1884.
ET
PATRIBUS
POST
TERIT
GET
40 COPIES PRINTED, OF WHICH THIS IS Ha. 10 HRJ.
F129
HISTORY
OF THE
TOWN OF BUSHWICK. BY Army Offiles. A.M. M.D.
With the co-operation of J. M. STEARNS, Esq., Brooklyn, E. D.
TS EARLY SETTLERS AND PAT- ents .- The territory embraced within the ancient town of Bushwiek was purchased from its Indian proprietors, by the West India Company, in August, 1638 ; and its earliest settlement begun in 1641-1650 by certain Swedes and Norwegians, or Normans as they were called, together with a few Dntchmen. I
These persons, such as Bergen and Moll at the Wallabout, Carstaensen and Borsin on the East river, Volkertse at Greenpoint, and Jun the Swede on the site of the subsequent village of Bushwick, seem to have occupied and cultivated their bouweries, independ- ently of one another, and subject directly to the au- thority of the director and council at Manhattan, from whom they received their patents. Itis probable, indeed, that they had originally strayed into these wilds with a sort of purpose of pre-empting the lands, trusting to secure a title when the opportunity should occur. Nat- urally they erected their lodges, or huts, near the small creeks flowing into the East river (or, rather, subject to its tides) ; since these afforded convenient landing-places for small boats, which were then the only means of com- munication with Manhattan Island. We have no evi- dence of any attempt to lay out a regular settlement, or to organize a town, until 1660, a period of over twenty years from the date of the first patent.
In the consideration of Hans Hansen Bergen's patent at the Waaleboght, page 8, it will be remembered that we reached and somewhat overlapped the bound- ary line between the towns of Brooklyn and Bushwick, -a boundary line, which, according to the earliest patent of the town of Brooklyn, was identical with Ber- gen's northerly bounds. It might be designated on the map of the present city of Brooklyn, by a line drawn from the East river, following the course of Division avenue, to about at its junction with Tenth street, and from that point extending in a somewhat south-easterly direction towards Newtown.
Adjoining this land of Bergen's on the north, was a
triangular tract of land, which was granted by the West India Company, September 7, 1641, to LAMBERT HUYBERTSEN MOLL, a ship carpenter, who had pur- chased it from one Cornelis Jacobsen Stille, on the 29th of the preceding month. It had, even then, a house upon it, and this Stille was probably one of those " squatters " to whom we have already referred. This patent embraced, by estimation, fifty acres, though it was subsequently found to be nearer sixty. It extended along the East river, from the old Brooklyn line to a little north of the present Broadway, and from the East river front to near Tenth street. The confirmatory patent, granted by Gov. Nicolls, in 1667, clearly identi- fies it as including what has been more recently known as the Peter Miller Farm, the Berry Farm, and Boerum's Woods. Moll seems to have removed to Esopus, about 1663, and the land became the property of Jacobus Kip, of Kipsburg, in the City of New York, where he was a prominent citizen and official ; and, though it was confirmed to him by Gov. Nicolls, in 1667, it does not appear that he ever resided on this farm, or even in Bushwick, nor that he paid taxes here. During his ownership, a block-house was erected, as a resort for the scattered settlers in case of hostility from the Indians, upon the high point of land which jutted into the river about the foot of South Fourth street, and which was known in the olden time as the "Keike " or "Lookout." The name came to be ap- plied to the high land overlooking the whole shore through the present Fourth street, and southward to the Boerum land, and so down to the Wallabout Bay. In 1693, Kip's executors sold the farm to James (some- times called Jacobus) Bobin, a resident of Long Island, who was in possession until his death abont 1741. It is afterwards found, 1761, in the possession of one Abraham Kershow (Carshow, Cershaw, or Corson) who devised it to his sons Jacob and Martin, who were in possession as late as 1786, when they divided the farm, Jacob taking the northerly, and Martin the southerly half. Jacob Kershow's portion passed, by deed, to one
-
3
EARLY BUSHWICK PATENTS.
Peter Miller, in 1790, who devised it to his sons, David P. Miller and John P. Miller, and died in 1816. David P. Miller sold his, the northerly, portion, to Daniel S. Griswold, and it partly passed to one John Henry, who had it surveyed into city lots. John P. Miller sold his, the southerly part, in 1823, to Abraham Meserole, by whom it was subsequently surveyed into building lots. Martin Kershow's portion, by sale under a Chancery decree, in 1820, passed to Jacob Berry, who surveyed and mapped it into building lots, his map bearing the date of 1828:
That portion of the Moll Patent, subsequently known as Boerum's Woods, passed to Jacob Bloom, the owner of what became the Abraham Boerum farm in the pres- ent Nineteenth Ward. This land was owned by Philip Harmon, and came, at length, to one John Moore, and one Gradon, and was, probably, the latest of the Wil- liamsburgh farm lands to be surveyed into city lots. The seven aeres purchased by John Skillman, in 1807, was the subject of lively land-jobbing operations in 1836. Horace Greeley purchased lots there ; and con- ceived them to be a mine of wealth ; but, on a financial revulsion, was glad to deed them to the holder of his mortgages. So of Paul J. Fish and others, joint and several speculators there.
The next plantation to Moll's, on the north, was that ascribed by STILES (perhaps erroneously-since it is yet doubtful whether " Mareckawick," which he gives as the determining point of identification, can be definitely located) to Moll's son, RYER LAMBERTSEN (MOLL), by patent of March 23, 1646. He removed to the Dela- ware River (probably about 1657); and, in 1667, it was conveyed to David Jochems, by whom, in 1673, it was sold to one Van Pelt.
port ; and, that, amid the woods of Bushwick, he had marked the grave of one whom he had loved-the daughter of a prominent settler-and whom he had hoped to make his wife. But she died, during one of his absences ; and, though he afterwards married, yet he often sought, as opportunity offered, the grave of his lost love. Whether this, or the facilities of secrecy combined with nearness to the great port across the river, drew him so frequently to the Meserole home- stead, on the Keikout, can only now be a matter of surmise.
To return, however, to the Keikout Farm, no decd or patent has ever been discovered which determines the manner or time of Meserole's entrance upon its oc- cupancy. He died in 1695 ; and devised his entire es- tate to his widow Jonica. He left a son, Jan Meserole, Junior, who was already married and domiciled at the old homestead, having two sons, John and Cornelius, and several daughters. He entered into the domestic interests of the old homestead, after his father's death, in a spirit of filial affection and kindness ; and his mother declined to prove her husband's will, as against her son, thinking that as he was her heir at law, as well as heir of her late husband, he would take the estate in any event. She afterwards married a second husband by the name of Dennison, but this did not disturb the kindly relations between herself and her first-born son. Nor was the second husband aware of the existence of old Jan Meserol's will, by which he would properly have been established by courtesy in the occupancy of the estate. The old will had been cast aside, by both mother and son, with seeming confidence that it pos- sessed no bearing upon the family interests ; and Jan Meserol, Jr., came at last to consider himself in full possession, with a full title to the estate. After seven- teen years, he made his will, in 1710 (proved 1712), de- vising the Kuykout farm to his two sons, John and Cor- nelius ; and giving other lands to his wife, and making other provisions for his daughters. His mother survived him but five days ; and his heirs having proved his will, John and Cornelius undertook the management of the Keikout farm, as tenants in common, working together in mutual harmony and good will, and so continued re- specting what they admitted to be each other's rights for nearly four years. But, one day, John Meserol, the 3rd, in looking over some papers formerly belonging to his grandmother Jonica, happened to find his grand- father's unproved will. On submitting the document to competent legal advice, he found that, under the English law of primogeniture then existing in the colony, he could, by producing proofs of his grandfather's will, and making them refer back to the grandfather's death, claim the estate as sole heir-at-law of his grandmother Jonica. It was necessary to prove the will of the grandfather, who had now been dead 21 years, and the signatures of the witnesses, but one of whom survived.
This farm of 107 acres, extending along the East river from near the present Broadway to North First street, with its easterly line near the present Seventh street-is first absolutely found in the possession of one Jean Meserol (Meserole, or Meserol), a native of Picardy, in France, who came to this country in April, 1663, together with his "wife and sucking child," in the ship Spotted Cow. No deed or patent has ever been discovered, which will determine the date or the manner of Meserole's entrance upon the occupancy of this estate. It was probably by virtue of what we understand as "squatter sovereignty." He built his house upon the "Keikout " bluff, before al- luded to ; and this structure was probably the same which formed the westerly wing of the "Old Miller Homestead," which, after surviving for over 200 years, was demolished about twenty years ago. This house is said to have been a favorite boarding-place of the famous Captain Kidd, who found it a convenient re- treat, and yet accessible to New York, whenever he came ashore between his piratical trips. Tradition also has it that, many years before, while engaged in his nefarious voyages, he had made New York his domestic | To make the proof more effectual, and to perpetuate
4
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF BUSHWICK.
the testimony, a bill was filed in Chancery, in which John Meserol was complainant, and Cornelius Meserol, Christopher Rugsby, and the Rector, and inhabitants of the city of New York, in communion with the church of England, as by law established, were defendants. At the hearing, the proofs of the will were duly taken on interrogatories addressed to several persons produced as witnesses, and the same was fully established as a valid will before Robert Hunter, Governor and acting Chan- eellor of the Province of New York. The enrollment of the decree was fully certified by Rip Van Dam, one of the masters in chancery, and is of record in the files of the court of Chancery at Albany as completed on the 17th day of July, 1717.
Cornelius Meserol seems to have surrendered his elaim to the farm at discretion, as he did not appear on the hearing and is said to have emigrated to New Jersey and to have been thereafter forgotten by his kindred.
John Meserol the third took possession of the entire farm, and lived at the Kuykont up to the time of his death in 1756. He left five sons, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Peter and John, and as many daughters, all of whom appear to have respectably married, to-wit : Janetta Colyer, Maritta Fardon, Sarah Skillman, Cat- rina Miller, aud Maria Devoe, all of whom will be rec- ognized as ancestors in the leading families of the late town of Bushwiek.
But the will of this third John Meserol, as proved in 1756, intimates a remembrance of the old suit in chan- cery, by which the testator obtained the farm; in elosing with these signifieant words : "Any of my children making a law-suit about my estate shall forfeit all elaim to any share therein, and be entirely cut off by my executors, &e."
So ended the third generation of the Meserols at the Knykont, and indeed the proprietorship of the name in that estate ; although a small part of it, through a de- seendant from Catrina Miller, one of the daughters, came to the family of Abraham Meserole. Meserole's heirs subsequently disposed of the Kuykout estate (107 aeres) as follows : Isaac Meserole sold to Franeis Titus a pareel on the East River, on both sides of the present Grand street, from near South First to near North First street, and extending east far enough to make 12 acres. Thomas Skillman, the husband of Sa- rah Meserole, bought the share next south of Isaae's, above-mentioned, and extending from near South First to South Third street, as now laid out, and from the River to near Sixth street. This land was sold to Charles Titus, in 1785, and was by him devised to his son Charles, in 1802. He sold to Justus Thompson, and he sold about six acres at the river front to Noah Waterbury. The balance passed, under foreclosure, to Gen. Jeremiah Johnson, who shortly after sold it to Garret and Grover C. Furman. By them it was mapped into eity lots.
Christopher Rugsby was tenant of the Meseroles in
1717, and lived on the southern half of the Keikout farm, his house being between James Bobin's, at the foot of South Tenth, and the Meserole homestead at the foot of South Fourth Street. This land is believed to be identieal with the sixteen or seventeen aeres to which one Abraham Schenck acquired title before 1761, prob- ably from Meserole in his lifetime. Sehenek conveyed this land to Andries Conselyea, by deed, August 15, 1761 ; by whom it was devised to his sons, Andrew and John Conselyea, the latter being the father of the late Andrew J. Conselyea. In a mutual partition of the farm, John took that part adjoining the present Broad- way and on both sides of South Sixth to a little east of Third Street. Ile conveyed it, 1821, to David Dunham, who died seized of it. It was subsequently partitioned and surveyed into eity lots, and a map filed. Of the other portion Andrew Conselyea died seized ; and, af- ter various judicial proceedings by his heirs, it was mapped into eity lots and sold on the market.
The balance of the Keikout farm was purchased by David Molenaer (alias Miller) the husband of Catrina Meserole. By his will (1779, proved 1789) he devised the north part of his farm to his son David ; and the south part to his son William. William Miller subse- quently sold his share to Frederick Devoe, who had it surveyed into city lots, afterwards dying and leaving sons, the late John and William L. Devoe, who, with their mother, sold most of this land in their life time. David Miller died in 1815, in possession of the land de- vised to him by his father, devising the life use thereof to his wife Maria, who survived him until her age ex- ceeded a hundred years. He then devised most of this farm to his son David, who, though he died (1823) com- paratively young, had attained distinetion as a captain in the War of 1812. He left no children, and his sis- ter, Maria, wife of Abraham Meserole, and his brother,
THE OLD MILLER HOUSE.
John Miller, succeeded to his inheritance. His widow lost her dower, as her husband had only an estate in expectancy, after the death of his mother. John Miller and Abraham Meserole (the latter in the interest of his wife Maria) divided the land between them, and map- ped out their shares into eity lots. The site of the old
5
EARLY PATENTS OF BUSHWICK.
homestead, after the old lady's death, was sold for building lots-the venerable house demolished-the earth dug down some sixty feet, and the "Old Keik- out " thenceforth was only " a thing of the past."
There remained, however, a road or bridle-path, known as the "Keikout-road," which seems to have dated from the very beginning of the settlement. It ran from the side of the village laid out around the old Bushwick Church, and down near the present North Second street to Tenth, near Union avenue. Then, turning southerly, and with various zigzags, now touching the present Ninth street, and again, fur- ther south, intersecting Tenth street, diagonally, it came to the present Broadway near Ninth street, at the old Brooklyn line. It again turned west, along or near said line, about a rod in width, to the shore of the East River. Then, turning northerly along the East River, it extended to Bushwick Creek, then " Norman's Kill. It was, doubtless, a Pent-road, with gates, or bars, separating the different farms through which it passed.
Next came the patents comprising the land lying be- tween the northerly line of the Meserole farm and Bushwick creek ; and between the East River and a line drawn about equidistant between Fifth and Sixth streets, from the junction of that branch of the creek, which now rises near Ninth and Grand streets, to the north-westerly corner of the Meserole patent. These patents, three in number, belonged respectively to CLAES CARSTENSEN, sometimes termed " Claes the Norman," to GEORGE BAXTER, the English secretary to the Dutch council, and to DAVID ANDRUS, or Andriese.
Curstensen's patent, which was granted to him by Di- rector Kieft, September 5th, 1645, included 29 morgens, 553 rods.
Baxter's patent, of twenty-five morgens, was granted July 6, 1643.
Of Andrus's patent no record has been formed.
It is not probable that any of these individuals ever occupied their farms. Baxter became a patentee for Gravesend in 1645, was subsequently much employed in public affairs ; and finally, on account of his political rascalities, was obliged, in 1656, to leave the country. Of Andriese nothing whatever is known; and Carsten- sen in some way became possessed of their shares of this property. This same tract, comprising some 130 acres, was, in 1647, granted by the governor and coun- cil to Jan Forbus, and in 1660 transferred to Pieter Jans de Norman, whose widow afterward married Joost Cockuyt. Paulus Richards bought the farm in 1664,. and the lands do not appear in the records again for forty years. Then they are found in the hands of Teunis Mauritz Covert, of Monmouth, N. J., a son of Mauritz Covert, whose widow Antie Fonteyn married Francis Titus, of Bushwick. By him it was conveyed to Titus, m 1719. Francis Titus, a son of Capt. Titus Syrachs de Vries, part owner of a grist-mill at New
Utrecht, in 1660, married a second wife, and died abont 1760, leaving five sons and five daughters. Ile resided on what was known as the Col. Francis Titus farm, in Williamsburgh, consisting of 58 acres of up- land and 4 of meadow, to which he added 40 adjoining on the easterly side, by purchase from Wm. Latin; and about 12 acres of the original Keikout farm, near the present Grand street ferry, bought of Isaac Meserole. He also bought from Joseph Skilhnan the northerly half (about 25 acres) of the Jacob Boerum farm, in the 16th ward of the present city, and had considerable other property east of the present Bushwick avenue, and in the New Bushwick land. This property, by his will (proved 1764), was devised to his sons, the oldest of whom, Francis, occupied the homestead farm, and also acquired some 18 acres, by purchase of David Wortman, located between the present Sixth and Ninth streets, and mostly between Grand and North First streets. He died in 1801, leaving the homestead to his son, Col. Francis Titus, who erected a house on First, near North Sixth, now torn down.
East of the farms of Meserole and Carstensen, lay that of JAN DE SWEDE, or John the Swede. It proba- bly comprised most, if not all, of the land bounded south by the farms of Bergen and Moll ; on the west by those of Meserole and Carstensen ; and on the east by the ancient road known as the Swede's Fly. This road marked the easterly bounds of Jan de Swede's meadow, which is mentioned as one of the westerly boundaries of the township of Bushwick, in its patent of 1687; and was itself the easterly boundary of the first chartered village of Williamsburgh, in 1827. John the Swede's meadow, therefore, was between Eleventh and Twelfth streets ; and possibly, he was, also, the original propri- etor of the back lands owned by Wortmans. Ile seems to be first mentioned in Baxter's patent, in 1643, and was probably one of the " squatter sovereigns" whose settlement preceded grants, briefs or patents. It is to be noted that a branch of Norman's Kill, of sufficient depth to float small boats, in early times extended to, or a little south, of the present Grand street, near Ninth street; and, for the reasons stated, the inference is that his house was located near the head of navigation on this branch creek. The fact that a fresh water, clay- basin pond, since known as part of the commons, near North First and Ninth streets, favors this presumption; and STILES' suggestion that his farm extended east to embrace the subsequently incorporated Bushwick vil- lage, is contradicted by the Swede's Fly or Kuykout road, being referred to as the eastern boundary of his farm, by the charter of the town of Bushwick. In many of the patents or ground briefs, the tenure or occupation of prior settlers is recited; and we may infer that resident patentees were on the land prior to the date of their patents, or bought ont others, who were in possession.
The extensive tract between Jan the Swede's land
6
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF BUSHWICK.
and Bushwick avenue, comprising land, which subse- quently contained nearly one-third of the city of Wil- liamsburgh, was owned, a little more than a century ago, by one DANIEL BORDET. It is designated on modern maps as lands of John Devoe, William P. Powers, Abraham Meserole, James Scholes, Abraham Remsen, Andrew Conselyea, McKibbin and Nichols, and others.
A tract of land was, in the year 1667, patented by Governor Nicolls to one HUMPHREY CLAY, then of the city of New York.
This tract, lying on both sides of what is now Meeker avenue,adjoining Newtown creek, had just been patented to Adam Moll, in AAugust, 1646; by him transported to William Goulding; and by him transferred to Claude Berbine and Anthony Jeroe, of Maspeth Kill. These parties, on the 7th of January, 1653, conveyed the pro- perty, " with the houseing thereupon," co Jacob Steen- (lam. And " whereas the said Jacob Sieendam," says the old patent to Clay, "hath been absent and gone out of this country, for the space of eight years, during which time the houseing, which was upon the said land is wholly come to ruin, and the land hath been neglected and unmanured, without any care taken thereof, by the said Jacob Steendam, or any that hath lawful power from him, contrary to the laws established in such cases, within this government," the said land was de- clared to be forfeited. And therefore, " to the intent that no plantation within this government should lie waste and unmanured, and that a house, or houses, may be built upon the old foundations, as also, for divers other good causes and considerations," the same was fully granted to Humphrey Clay. Clay probably came to New York from New London, in the colony of Con- nectient, where he had been an inn-keeper, perhaps from as early a date as 1655. In 1664, he was fined 40s. and costs, for keeping an inmate contrary to law, and his wife Katherine was "presented for selling liquors at her house, selling lead to the Indians, profa- nation of the Sabbath, card-playing and entertaining strange men." Upon trial before the court of assist- ants, Mr. Clay and wife were convicted of keeping a disorderly house, and fined £40, or to leave the colony within six months, in which case half the fine was to be remitted. They chose the latter course and removed to New York; and thence, in 1667, to Bushwick.
ABRAHAM RYCKEN, or de Rycke, the progenitor of the present Rycker families of New York, New Jersey and elsewhere, received from Director Kieft, in 1638, an allotment of land which has been located by THOMP- sox in Gowanus, and by RIKER in the Wallabout of Brooklyn. A closer examination of the original patent shows that it was located in the territory then recently purchased from the Indians by the West India Com- pany, and which afterward formed the old town of Bushwick. Rycken's patent probably embraced the lands between Newtown Creek, Lombard street, Metro-
politan avenne and the old road running from the junc- tion of Metropolitan and Bushwick avenues to Porter avenue, near Anthony street. This land of Rycken's in Bushwick, or a portion of it with an addition to the meadows as far as Luquier's mill, is afterwards found in possession of one Jochem Verscheur, who. in 1712, conveyed it to Cornelius, Johannes and David Van Catts, by whose family name it has since been known.
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