USA > New York > Kings County > Gravesend > History of the town of Gravesend, N.Y. > Part 1
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Gc 974.702 G78s 1748537
M. I
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
STC
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC CIONAAT
3 1833 01177 1547
Gc 974.702 G78S 1748537
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/historyoftownofg00stoc
A HISTORY
OF THE
TOWN OF GRAVESEND, N. Y.
Rev. A. P. STOCKWELL.
AND OF
CONEY ISLAND,
BY
WM. H. STILLWELL, Esq.
Reprinted from "The Illustrated History of Kings County," edited by Dr. H. R. Stiles, and published by W. W. Munsell &' Co.
BROOKLYN, N. Y.
1884.
494
HISTORY
OF THE 1748537
TOWN OF GRAVESEND.
BY REV.
af Stockwerk. vetwed, A.M.
G EOGRAPHY, Topography, Soil, etc .- The town of Gravesend, by age and position, is worthy a prominent place in the History of Kings County.
Containing within its boundaries, probably the most popular seaside resort in the country-viz .: Coney Island-it has assumed of late an importance entirely unknown to the first two . hundred and thirty years of its existence.
It is triangular in form, its base resting upon the Atlantic Ocean on the south, its apex adjoining Flatbush on the north, and is bounded east by the town of Flatlands, and west by New Utrecht.
Its nearness to two of the largest commercial cen- tres in America promises, in the near future, a growth vastly more rapid than during any period of its past history ; while its healthful climate, and present rapid. transit accommodations, will doubtless render it an attractive place of residence for the business men of New York and Brooklyn.
It occupies the most southerly portion of Kings county, and is some seven miles from Fulton ferry ; while its northern boundary is only about two miles from the southern city limits of Brooklyn.
Its surface is mostly level, yet with a sufficient slope towards the sea to make possible a complete system of drainage.
The soil, though somewhat light and sandy, is yet very productive ; and, with careful tillage and gener- ons fertilizing, will, under favorable circumstances, prodnee two fair crops.
The inhabitants are rarely, if ever, exposed to any dangerous epidemic, and notable longevity is the rule rather than the exception.
summer, the cooling, delightful sea-breeze, which invariably springs up in the afternoon, generally makes the hottest days tolerable, and even comfortable.
Settlement .- It was, probably, upon the soil of Gravesend that the foot of white men first trod in this State. (See chapter on Coney Island). The first per- manent settlement of the town dates back to the year 1643; although there may have been individuals who occupied land within the town-boundaries a few years carlier, as we shall have occasion to notice hereafter.
While all the other towns in Kings county were settled by the Dutch, who came over from Holland under the auspices of the Dutch West India Company. Gravesend was first settled by a colony of English, under the leadership of Lady Deborah Moody. a woman of considerable wealth and education, who afterwards took a prominent part in the administration of public affairs.
The free enjoyment of opinion in religious matters. the mild laws, the " freedom and exemptions " off ..... 1 to settlers, the richness of the soil, and the salubrity of the climate, all rendered the Nieuw Netherlands an a .- tractive place of settlement to those who, having ler: Old England for the purpose of obtaining religious freedom, had found, to their surprise and grief. in New England, the same intolerance from which they had thought to escape. The persecuted in England had, in turn, become the perseeutors here, as soon as circumn. stances afforded the opportunity. As has been well said by J. W. GERARD, Esqq., in a discourse on " Tia- Lady Deborah Moody," before the New York Histori-
The climate is remarkably healthful and agreeable. cal Society, May, 1880, " the practice and the princi- ples of the Puritan fathers became far from harmoni- ous. The rigid lines of their ecclesiastial faith were drawn as strictly and maintained almost as ruthlesly
The atmosphere is so modified by the influence of the : as in the fatherland ; and the governing authority ex- sea that the temperature is usually cooler in summer acted conformity in spiritual matters as the condition and warmer in winter, by several degrees, than we find it further inland. The weather must be extremely cold for the merenry to fall below zero ; while, in of eivil freedom. Those who had been bran led a- hereties stigmatizel others as hereties, for differences in theological abstractions, and even for non-confor.s.
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to church-routine. Inquisition was made into men's private judgments as well as into their declarations and practice. * * Tolera- tion was preached against as a sin in rulers which would bring down the judgment of heaven upon the land. Non-conformists were scourged and fined for their ideas, no matter how mildly ex- pressed; and even if they met together privately, to par- take of cominunion, they were disenfranchised and im- prisoned. * * * Any sympathy expressed for the sufferings of the victims, or criticisms made on the severe action of the magistrates, was visited with fines and seourgings. Any question of the authority of any part of the Biblical history was visited with scourg ing ; and a second offence with death. Many of the English colonists removed to the Dutch colony for freedom of conscience and liberty of worship."
Among those tims compelled to seek a new home was the Lady Deborah Moody, widow of Sir Henry Moody, of Garsden, in Wiltshire, and one of the baronets created by King James, in 1622. She was the daughter of Walter Dunch, a member of Parliament in Queen Elizabeth's time; as, also, was her uncle, at a later pe- riod. Both in and out of Parliament her father's fam- ily had been open and avowed champions, of popular liberty and constitutional rights. Sir Henry Moody died abont 1632. It is related in Lewis' History of Lyon, Mass., that in 1635, about five years before leav- ing England, Lady Moody had made herself obnoxious to the law by violating a penal statute which forbade any person residing beyond a specified tine from their own home. This produced from the Court of the Star Chamber an order that "Dame Deborah Moody and others should return to their hereditaments in forty days, in the good example necessary to the poorer classes;" her offence being that she had simply gone from her country residence to live for a short time in London. It is not strange that she chafed under the unlawful restraints of such a civil and ecclesiastical despotism, and that she longed for a home in a land and among a people where the most sacred rights of humanity were properly respected. In 1640 she emigrated to Massachusetts, and April 5th united with the Church at Salem. May 13, 1840, the General Court granted her 500 acres of land for a plantation ; aud, in 1641, she purchased the farm of Dep-Gov. John Humfrey, called Swampscott, near Lynn, for which she paid £1100. She soon found, however, that her hopes of religious peace and freedom were delusive ; for, having imbibed the be- lief taught by Roger Williams, that infant baptism was not an ordinance of divine origin, and that it should be restricted to adults, she was only " achinonished." Being still unconvinced of the erroneous nature of her views, she was exeonunuuicated. In 1642 she was "pre- sented " by the Quarterly Court for holding these views. Harrassed, annoyed. "admonished," excommunicated, " presented," in 1043 she, with her son Sir Henry, John
Tilton and wife, and a few close friends, bade farewell to Massachusetts, and sought, among the strangers ri Nieuw Amsterdam, speaking a language as foreign to her as were their manners and customs, an asplus where she might enjoy peace and happiness, withe =: sacrificing her conscientious. convictions. An extract from Gov. Winthrop's Journal indicates the high re- gard in which she was still held among her New Eng- land neighbors, although " disfellowshipped " by her own church. " The Ladye Moodye, a wise, an ancientis religious woman, being taken with the error of denyin baptism to infants, was dealt with by many of the ell- ers and others, and admonished by the Church of Salers (whereof she was a member) ; but persisting still. an 1 to avoid further trouble, etc., she removed to the Dareb, against the advice of her friends." Here she found. to ber surprise and joy, a member of her own couter .... . who had songht, near the fort, an asylum from av ... hostilities. On the eastern shore of Manhattan Islas. .. about opposite the lower end of Blackwell's Island. an : at the place known as "Deutil Bay," had sprung ... quite a settlement of English residents. Among ti .- earliest of these was Nicholas Stillwell, or " Nichy'a- the Tobacco Planter," as he is often called in the s: records. His experience of England's and New L'- land's intolerance had been similar to that of Laly Moody ; and he had secured here a plantation. on vi he had erected a stone house, which became the nuciey- of an infant settlement, known as " the Engli -!. ment at Hopton." But the policy of the Dutch Difee- tor-General, Kieft. toward the Indians. had precis- tated a general war ; and the English settlers at H goon had fled for safety under the walls of the fort a. Nie.w Amsterdam. Here they were found by Lady Mois and her associates, and the two parties naturally fusing together, were invited by the Director-General to stiec: from the mmappropriated lands of the W. I. Co., a loes- tion for a new settlement. The present town of Grave- send was the site selected for their new home, by a com- mittee of their number appointed for the purpose. srl a patent was issued by the Director-General and Coar- cil in the summer of 1643. Of this patent but hitle is known, as the original cannot be found ; but it is so re- ferred to in subsequent documents as to leave no dont. of there having been such a patent.
Thus began the settlement of the town, under the leadership of a woman of education and refiveme!". whose force of character, combined with her ! - rightness of life, made her a power for good with those among whom she moved. Both by nature and grace she was fitted to be a pioneer in such an enterprise. For sixteen years she went in and out among the round. prominent in their comeils, and often intrusted with important public responsibilities, which prove the re- spect and confidence of her associates. She seems. i.s . to have enjoyed the friendship of Gov. Stayv .a .. who several times sought her advice in matters of
great publie importance. Even the nomination of the three town-magistrates was, on one or two occasions, intrusted by the Director-General to her good judg- ment. He also availed himself of her kind offices, ou another occasion, in quelling an incipient rebellion, raised by some of her English associates against the Dutch authority.
She owned a large tract of land in Gravesend, as we shall hereafter see; and we find, by the old town-rec- ord, that in November, 1648, she rented all her " broken up" land, for three years, to one Thos. Cornewill, re- serving, however, one piece for her own use. She also furnished him with 4 cows and 4 oxen, receiving as rent, per year, 10 skipples of wheat for the land, and 60 gilders for the use of the animals.
Mueh doubt has existed as to the time and place of Lady Moody's death.
Some have thought it possible that she went from Gravesend to Virginia, with her son Sir Henry, and ended her days there. Others, that she went to Mon- month Co., N. J., with a colony from Gravesend, who obtained a patent for a large tract of land in the above county in 1665.
Among the old records of the town we have found some data which seem elearly to determine the fact of her death and burial in Gravesend. The record of the probate of the will of one Edward Brown, November 4, 1658, states that Lady Moody, with two other per- sons named, was " granted power by the Court to ad- minister upon the estate of the said Edward Brown." She must, therefore, have been living at the above date, and in Gravesend. It is also recorded that Sir Henry Moody, some seven months later, May 11, 1659, conveyed a piece of land to John Johnson, which is de- scribed as being " the gift of inheritance from his de- ceased mother, Deborah Moody, patentee."
Horay 320 y
Facsimile of signature of Sir Henry Moody, Junior.
This fixes, beyond question, the time of her death within seven months, viz., between Nov. 4, 1658, and May 11, 1659. The strong probability is, therefore, that she died at Gravesend, about the beginning of the year 1659, and was buried in one of the nameless graves of the old burial-place, which now, after more than two and a quarter centuries, retain no vestige of inscriptions to indicate whose dust slumbers beneath the sod.
Name .- With regard to the name, Gravesend, given to the town, Thompson, in his History of Long Island, states that it was so called, by the early English set- tlers, from the town of that name in England, from which they sailed on their departure for America.
This theory is plansible only upon the supposition that Lady Moody and her associates actually made Gravesend their point of departure for New England. Whether this be true or not, since Gravesend was an important commercial town on the river Thames, in the County of Kent, it would not be strange if the early English settlers should be desirous of transmitting the name to the new settlement which they were about to found on this side of the ocean. This seems all the more probable, since they evidently intended to make the modern Gravesend, from its favorable position, a commercial town of no htthe importance. There is. however, no corroborative evidence of this origin of the name. Another supposition, which we believe to be the true one, is that Gov. Kieft, when granting them permission to settle here. or later, when he issued the patent for the land, called the town Gravesend, from the old Dutch town, Gracensunde (the Count's beach), on the river Maas, in Holland, which may have been dear to the Governor as being the place of his nativity, or from early associations.
Pioneer Settlers .- Before the proper settlement of Gravesend by Lady Moody and her associates, there were two persons who took up farms within what afterwards became the town-boundaries, and for which they held individual patents.
The first patent, or ground-brief, was issued by Gov. Kieft, May 27, 1643, giving possession (retrospectively from August Ist, 1639) to one Antonie Jansen Van Salee, 100 morgen (200 aeres) of land, one part to be called the Old Bowery, and the other the 12 morgon.
hil
martin
Facsimile of Anthony Jansen's mark.
According to an old map, now on file in the town- clerk's office at Gravesend, the "Old Bowery " part of this farm was situated at the western part of the town, now covered wholly, or for the most part, by the village of Unionville ; while the " 12 mor- gen " (by which name the land is known to this day) lay a little distance from it in a south-easterly dircetion. Between these parcels of land lay a large strip of marsh or meadow-ground, worthy of special mention in eon- neetion with a certain "Neck" of land (or rather at that time of sand-hills) running south from the " Old Bowery," because of the legal efforts afterwards made for the possession of both.
This neck and meadow became a bone of contention for years afterwards between the inhabitants of Graves- end, on the one hand, who elaimed it as belonging to their original patent ; and. on the other, Francis De Brayn (afterwards called Brown), the successor of An-
4
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF GRAVESEND.
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tonie Jansen Van Salee (Anthony Johnson), who also claimed it as included in the 100 morgen granted to the latter.
Finally, June, 1669, by request of both parties to the suit, the matter was referred, by the Court of General Sessions, to Governor Lovelace, for decision. John Clanning and Jacques Corteleau, the two referees appointed by the governor, reported that Mr. Brown " hath no meadow in his patent, but is short of his 100 morgen of land which he purchased, and we do verily believe it doth not, in right, belong to Gravesend." They recommended, therefore, that one- third thereof be allowed to Brown," to make up his 100 morgen of land, and lying before his door, within a stone's throw, he paying for the ditching which is yet to be done; that one-third go to Gravesend " for the ditching they have done," and the remaining one-third was left to his Excellency's disposal. In accordance with this report of the referees, Gov. Lovelace issued his " Edict," as it was called, a certified copy of which is before us, and is as follows :
" The Governrs Judgement & Determination concerning ye land in question, between ye Inhabitants of Gravesend and Francis Brown."
" Whereas there hath been a Controversary or Matter in Difference between ye Inhabitants of ye town of Gravesend & Francis Brown, alius de Bruyn, concerning a parcell of Meadow ground adjoining to Twelve Morgen of upland in ye pattent of ye said Francis Brown, specifyed, as also about a certaine Neck of land endorsed upon ye old ground brief of ye said Brown, but claymed [by ] ye [said] Gravesend as granted to thein longe before.& being wthin ye lymitts of their pattent. Upon Examination and due consideration had of ye prem-
ises, I do adjudge that if Francis Brown have his complemt of Twelve Morgen of upland, he hath no right or clayme to ye meadow, yett in regard a third parte or proportion thereof is already layd to him, he is to have and quietly enjoy ye land, and ye remainder or othr two third partes are to con- tinue and be to ye Inhabitants of Gravesend. And as to ye Neck of land Endorsed upon ye old pattent of the said Fran- cis Brown, & also claymed by ye said Inhabitants of Graves- end as aforesaid, I doe think fitt, since it hath hitherto or most usually been enjoyed in Common between ye Town & ye said Farm that it continue so still, and this shall be ye conclusion and final determination of ye said controversy or Matter in Difference unless both or either of ye partys think- ing themselves agrieved do sue for redress therein at ye next Cort of Assizes, where ye law is open for them, but after that tyme it shall be a barre to any further pretences.
"Given undr my hand and seale at Fort James in New York, this 23d day of August, in ye 21 yeare of his Magties Raigne, Anno Dom. 1669.
Sgd FRANCIS LOVELACE."
This, however, did not prove to be the "conclusion and final determination " of the matter; for, 120 years later, Albert Voorhees Animed an exclusive right to this ground, by virtue of purchase from Brown. He also attempted to enforce his claim by preventing Gravesend people from erecting their fish-huts, drying their nets, ete., on the beach along the property. This brought him in direct conflict with his fellow-citizens;
who claimed, by virtue. of their patent, the right to "fish, hawk and gun along and upon " the -property. To determine their several rights, Mr. V. brought an action for trespass against sundry townsmen, which was tried the 18th of September, 1789, in the Supreme Court, at Flatbush. Aaron Burr was the town's attor- ney, and the case was tried before a jury of seven Queen's county men. The town was willing to con- cede to Mr. V. a patentee's right, viz., 1-39 part of the commonage, but not the exclusive right which he claimed. The trial resulted in a verdict for the town; the judgment being affirmed by the October term of the court, with costs. Col. Burr's summing-up, as shown by his minutes, was clear and foreible; his charges (as per receipts, now extant) were £20, besides £15 " for advice lately given and as a general retainer." Mr. Crosby, hotel-keeper at Flatbush, also receipted for £30 " for entertaining the people of Gravesend;" and "also the account of Col. Burr;" and " 40' shillings " from Mr. Roger Strong (a lawyer who assisted in the case in behalf of the town), "for wine, punch, &c." How will this compare with some recent civic law- suits ?
Thus the matter rested for about 50 years longer, when, in 1843, another law-suit was tried upon the question of title. David Davis, then in possession of the property, began an ejectment suit against Thomas Hicks and Coart Van Sieklen, as representing the town.
At a special town meeting hell January 13th. 1843, a committee was appointed to defend the suit, and $350 voted for legal expenses. This trial, like the other two, was a complete vindication of the right of the town to use the ground for fishing-purposes.
In this case Gabriel Furman was attorney for the town. The plaintiff, however, appealed the case, and the town, for some reason, failed to meet it, and judg- ment was obtained against them by default. The mat- ter was finally settled by the town paying to the plain- tiff a sum of money sufficient to pay his cost of litiga- tion.
For the present time, and indeed for the last fifteen or twenty years, the town seems to have given up. by tacit consent, all her right and interest in the land in question; and the successors of Francis de Bruyn and Albert Voorhees to-day hold quiet and undisputed pos- session. Indeed, the few who have used the ground for fishing purposes, for the last few years, have paid, without remonstrance, an annual ground-rent of from $5 to 830. It is probable, therefore, that whatever rights . the town formerly had in this property, are now gone past recovery. Some of the suits which have arisen out of this matter are still pending.
The next patent, in order of time, was that grauted by Gov. Kieft to Guysbert Op Dyck for Conyne (Cones) I-land, and Conyne Hook, afterwards called Guysbert's Island. This patent bears date 1844, and was for 44 morgen, or 88 aeres. This land was also claimelafter -.
wards by the town as included in the patent of Graves- end. Op Dyck came to this country in 1633; in 1642 was Commissary of Provisions for the colony, and for some time had charge of the fort on the Connecticut river, where he made much trouble with the English. We mention him again, in connection with Coney Island.
Then came the patent of Robert Pennoyer, dated Nov. 29, 1645. (State Secretary's office, Dutch Book of Patents, page 144.) We learn from a certified trans- lation of this patent, found among the old papers of the town, that the farm was "situated between the land of Antony Jansen and Meladie [My Lady ] Moody, amount- ing together to eighty-nine Morgen four hundred and forty rods," and the grant was made, " with this express condition and agreement, that he, Robert Pennoyer, shall acknowledge the noble Lords Directors to be his Lords and Patrons under the Sovereignty of their High Mightenesses, the States-General, and hereto be obedi- ent to their Director and Council, as it becomes good and faithful citizens."
First Town Patent .- We now come to the first patent of the town of Gravesend, granted by Gov. Kieft, and dated Dec. 19, 1645. It is remark- able for being, probably, the only one of its kind, where a woman heads the list of patentees named. It is another evidenee, also, of the prominent position which Lady Moody held among the early settlers, and of the respect shown her by the Dutch authorities. It is wor- thy of note that liberty of conscience was also freely conceded to the first settlers of Gravesend ; they were granted by Gov. Kieft freedom of worship " withont magisterial or ministerial interference."
This first patent of 1645 was confirmed by Gov. Love- lace in the year 1670, with the evident design of more clearly defining the town-boundaries, which had long been a matter of dispute because of the vagueness withi . which they were expressed in the first general patent of Gov. Kieft. After describing the town-bounds, in gen- eral terms, very similar to those used in the previous patent, it adds : " And all the meadow-ground and up- land not specified in the former Pattent, concerning which there has been several disputes and differences between the Inhabitants of Gravesend and their neigh- bor, Franeis Brown, the which in parte were settled both by my predecessor and myself, but since fully con- (Inded and determined between them by Artieles of Agreement, The which Articles I do hereby confirm and Allow."
Thus was this trouble, which had so disturbed the peace of the town, quieted for the time, only to break out again with unabated fury, a century further on.
Another confirmatory patent was issued. later still, by Gov. Dongan, in 1686, by which the town-lines were made definite and permanent; while, at the same time, they were somewhat extended beyond the limits des- cribel by the preceding patent. This patent also fixes
the amount of quit-rent to be paid yearly by the town. instead of the one-tenth of the product of the soil d ... manded by Gov. Kieft, as follows: "paying therefor yearly and every year, on the five and twentyeth day of March, forever, in liew and stead of all services, die- and demands whatsoever, as a quit-rent to his Majesty's use, six bushels of good winter merchantable wheat, unto such officer or officers as shall be appointed to re- ceive the same at the City of New York."
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