A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 118

Author: Ross, Peter. cn
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1188

USA > New York > A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 118

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John S. Gallagher belonged to Company A, of the Second Regiment of Maryland Volun- teers, under the command of Colonel Hughes. This regiment captured and held the National Bridge and acted as a part of the body guard of Santa Ana after his surrender.

Eugene Sullivan enlisted in Company I, of ,the only regiment of Rhode Island Volunteers, under the command of Colonel Clemens. This regiment formed a part of General Scott's army. Lafayette Thomas, who is quite ill at present, was a member of Company F, of the First Pennsylvania Volunteers. Captain John Bennett commanded the company and Colonel Wynkoop the regiment. Mr. Thomas was one of the organizers of the Scott Legion in Phila- delphia.

Samuel C. Stores enlisted in the Tenth United States Infantry, raised under the ten regiment bill. The regiment was commanded by Colonel Temple and was a part of Taylor's army, but was never engaged in any battles.

William K. Van Bokkelen belonged to the Seventh Regiment of the same body of troops. He is a West Point graduate, and served in the Mexican war as a second lieutenant. Mr. Van Bokkelen is seventy-nine years old and is en- gaged in the real estate business.

Hubert Oberly enlisted in the Seventh Uni- ted States Infantry in 1840. He served all

through the Mexican war, part of the time with Taylor's army and later with the army of Gen- eral Scott. Mr. Hubert was in the Florida war, the Rebellion, and fought Indians on the frontier for ten years. His service in the army lasted for twenty-five years, and he was for thirty-two years on the police force.

Hugh Connor was a member of the Marine Corps. He sailed for Vera Cruz in the "Mon- terey," and was in the rear of Scott's army. Mr. Connor is seventy-one years old and has retired from business.

T. W. Barnum, of 118 Prospect place, served in Company A, Captain R. R. Mace, First Regiment Louisiana Volunteers, under the command of Colonel L. G. DeRuse, of New Orleans.

GLEANINGS FROM EARLY HISTO- RIANS.

THOMPSON'S ACCOUNT OF KINGS COUNTY.

For purposes of comparison, and showing the wonderful advance made by Kings county in little over half a century, we reprint the entire story of the county and its towns given in Thompson's "History of Long Island," first edition, 1839:

Town of Bushwick.

This town is situated in the northeast ex- tremity of Kings county, is bounded westerly by the East river, northerly by Maspeth or Newtown creek, easterly by Newtown and southerly by Brooklyn, and that part of Flat- bush called New Lots. Its area is 3,860 acres, of which a greater. portion is under cultiva- tion ; its proximity to the cities of Brooklyn and New York rendering it valuable in a high degree. The precise period of its settlement is not satisfactorily ascertained, but is be- lieved to have been some years later than Brooklyn and the more southern towns. It was commenced by the Dutch, who were joined, many years after, by a number of Huguenot families, whose descendants are nu- merous and respectable in this and the neigh- boring towns. The name is of Dutch origin, indicating that the territory was remarkable

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for the woods which covered its surface in early times. There are some families here who can trace their ancestry back nearly two hundred years, and as possessing at that period the identical lands now in the occupation of their descendants. The increase in popula- tion in this part of the country was so small as not to acquire its municipal character be- fore the year 1648, at which time application was made to the governor for a patent or ground-brief. One was accordingly issued, under which the inhabitants remained till the conquest of New Netherlands in 1664. The government having now fallen into other hands and many considerable defects existing in the charter granted by Governor Stuy- vesant, the people of Bushwick, in 1666, at a town meeting assembled for the purpose, ap- pointed a committee to wait upon Governor Nicolls, "to solicit him for a new patent, and to request that therein the boundaries of their plantation might be more expressly defined and set forth."

This patent was obtained on the 25th of Oc- tober, 1667, wherein, among other things, the limits and bounds of the town are set forth in the words following :

"Bounded with the mouth of a certain creeke or kill, called Maspeth-Kill, right over against Dominie-Hook, soe their bounds goe to David Jocham's Hook; then stretching upon a south-east line along the said Kill, they come to Smith's Island, including the same, together with all the meadow-ground or valley there- unto belonging; and continuing the same course, they pass along by the ffence at the wood-side, soe to Thomas Wandall's meadow, from whence, stretching upon a south-east by south line, along the woodland to the Kills, taking in the meadow or valley there; then pass along near upon a south-east by south line six hundred rod into the woods ; then run- ning behind the lots as the woodland lyes, south-west by south ; and out of the said woods they goe again north-west, to a certain small swamp ; from thence they run behind the New Lotts, to John, the Sweede's-meadow; then over the Norman's-Kill, to the west end of his old house, from whence they goe alongst the river, till you come to the mouth of Mas- peth-Kill and David Jocham's Hook, whence they first began."

From the organization of the town till the year 1690, it was for certain civil purposes as- sociated with the other towns in the county, except Gravesend, constituting a separate dis-

trict under the appellation of the "Five Dutch Towns ;" and for which a secretary or register was specially commissioned by the governor, whose duty it was to take the proof of wills, of marriage settlements, also the acknowledg- ment of '"Transcripts," or conveyances, and many of the more important contracts and agreements ; all of which were required to be recorded. This office was, in 1674, held by Nicasius de Sille, who had once held the office of attorney-general under the administration of Stuyvesant. These five towns likewise formed but one ecclesiastical congregation, and joined in the support of their ministers in common. The inhabitants, with few excep- tions, professed the doctrines promulgated at the synod of Dort in 1618, most of whose reso- lutions are still adhered to in the Reformed Dutch churches. These churches were at that period, and for a long time after, governed by the classis of Amsterdam, and so contin- ued till about the year 1772, when the Ameri- can churches repudiated any dependence upon the mother church, and established classes and synods of their own, on the model of the church of Holland. In the year 1662, accord- ing to one authority, the dwellings in this town did not exceed twenty-five, and were located on the site of the village of Bushwick, which, with the Octagon church, built in 1720, were enclosed by palisades, as most of the other settlements were. In the minutes of the court of sessions is the following entry :

"At a Court of Sessions, held at Flatbush for Kings County, May 10, 1699. Uppon the desire of the inhabitants of Breucklyn, that according to use and order every three yeare the limmitts betweene towne and towne must be runn, that a warrant or order may be given, that upon the 17th day off May, the line and bounds betwixt said towns of Breucklyn and Boswyck shall be run according to their pat- tents or agrements. Ordered, That an order should be past according to theire request."

The population of this town was very in- considerable at the time of the Revolution com- pared with other parts of the county; yet they suffered greatly from the depredations of the enemy. They were particularly exposed to the invaders, who made, of course, an indiscrim- inate destruction of whatever their caprice or revenge dictated. The nearness of its forests to the garrison and barracks of New York and Brooklyn led to the entire waste of the valuable timber which abounded at the com- mencement of the contest. On the return of"

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the owners to their homes at the close of the war, they found not only the woods and fences destroyed, but their dwellings, in many in- stances, greatly deteriorated in value.

On the 12th of May, 1664, the magistrates of this town sentenced one John Van Lyden, convicted of publishing a libel, to be fastened to a stake, with a bridle in his mouth, eight rods under his arm, and a label on his breast with the words, "writer of lampoons, false accuser, and defamer of magistrates," upon it, and then to be banished from the colony. An instance also occurred, of a clergyman, who had improperly married a couple, being sen- tenced to "flogging and banishment," but which, on account of the advanced age of the delinquent, was mitigated by the governor to banishment only. Another person, convicted of theft, was compelled to stand for the space of three hours under a gallows, with a rope around his neck and an empty scabbard in his hands. In 1664 permission was given by the town to Abraham Janson to erect a mill on Maspeth Kill, which was probably the first water-mill built within the town, and for grinding of the town's grain he was to receive the "customary duties." November 12, 1695, the court of sessions of Kings county made an order "That Mad James should be kept at the expense of the county, and that the deacons of each towne within the same doe forthwith meet together, and consider about their proper- cons for maintainence of said James."

The village of Williamsburgh is not only the principal settlement, but contains within its corporate limits more than two-thirds of the whole population of the town. This flourish- ing village was, till within a few years, an in- considerable place, although it was con- menced, by a few spirited individuals, nearly thirty years ago, by erecting a few houses and establishing a ferry between it and the foot of Grand street. At this period the houses on the New York side, in the vicinity of the ferry, were scattering; and where extensive blocks of buildings and a large population now exist, was then, in a great measure, an open field of broken ground ; and a general want of confidence in the project of making this a place of business, retarded its operations and prevented its growth. In the year 1817 a ferry-boat, impelled by horse power, gave a new impulse to Williamsburgh, and it began to assume an importance before unknown. Still, the main current of travel was by way of Brooklyn, and the progress of improvement

here was slow and gradual. At that time the road leading to the ferry was the principal thoroughfare of the village, and where there are now wide and handsome streets partially built upon, were then cultivated fields, or- chards, etc. Such was the state of things, in a great degree, when the first act of incorpora- tion was obtained, April 14, 1827, which proved, in fact, a new and important era in the increase and prosperity of the village. The territory embraced in the act is as follows: "Beginning at the bay or river opposite the town of Brooklyn, and running thence easterly along the division line between the towns of Bushwick and Brooklyn to the land of Abra- ham A. Remsen ; thence northerly by the same to a road or highway at a place called Sweed's Fly ; thence by the said highway to the dwell- ing-house late of John Vandervoort, deceased ; thence in a straight line northerly, to a small ditch or creek, against the meadow of John Skillman ; thence by said creek to Norman's Kill; thence by the middle or center of Nor- man's Kill to the East river; thence by the same to the place of beginning." The first trustees appointed in this act were Noah Waterbury, John Miller, Abraham Meserole, Lewis Sanford and Thomas T. Morrill; of whom the first named, a well-known and spir- ited individual, was chosen president. The board, under the extensive and liberal pro- visions of this charter, applied themselves im- mediately and vigorously to the laying out of streets and building lots as the basis for future improvements; and everything was done by them which the state of things at that time seemed to authorize. or require. Nevertheless the increase of business and population was not equal to the public expectations until an- other portion of territory was included in the incorporated part of the village, and additional powers conferred upon the trustees by the act of April 18, 1835. This additional legis- lative provision vested the public concerns of the village in the hands of nine trustees, of which new board Edmund Frost was chosen president, and by whose zcal, industry and per- severance much has, within a short time, been accomplished for the increase and welfare of the place. Such has been the progress of im- provement, that the ancient village of Bush- wick can scarcely be identified, having become amalgamated with the village of Williams- burgh. Indeed, it now seems both a matter of surprise and deep regret that public atten- tion should not have been sooner and more

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efficiently attracted towards a place possessing so many and superior natural advantages for the successful prosecution of every species of manufacture and commerce, and for the erec- tion of pleasant and convenient private resi- dences. Situated opposite the very heart of the city of New York, it has a bold water front upon the East river of a mile and a half, with a sufficient depth for all commercial pur- poses, and has this advantage over Brooklyn, that its entire shore is under the control of its own local authorities. There has already been constructed, under the act of the 22d of April, 1835, and the statutes before mentioned, sev- eral large and substantial wharves and docks, affording safe and convenient mooring for ves- sels, even of the largest class. Its ferry is, by two or three miles, the nearest approximation to the upper parts of the city from the eastern towns, and is connected with the upper and lower parts of the city by double lines of steam ferry boats of the best kind, and remarkable for their accommodations and speed. The ferry to Peck Slip may be said to unite the village with the Fulton and Catharine mar- kets, while another is in contemplation to the foot of Houston street, leading to the upper wards and Harlaem. Williamsburg now con- tains seventy-three streets permanently laid ott, of which twenty-seven have been opened and regulated, including one McAdamnized and seven paved streets. The number of dwellings is five hundred and eighty, and the inhabitants about three thousand and five hundred. There are one Dutch Reformed and two Methodist churches, ten fire companies, one hook and ladder company, two distilleries, which con- sume annually more than two hundred thou- sand bushels of grain, one steam spice mill, five rope-walks, an extensive glue factory, two hat manufactories, one iron foundry, two lumber yards, two lime and brick yards, one coal yard, six hotels, one drug store and a due propor-

tion of other mechanics and tradesmen. A considerable number of elegant dwellings have lately been erected in the southern part of the village, owned and occupied by persons doing business in New York. Many other induce- ments exist, besides an easy and speedy com- munication with the city, that will insure a rapid influx of inhabitants, and an expansion of business. in every department. The im- provements in contemplation, and partially in progress, along the shore south of the present ferries, will in time unite with those in the vicinity of the navy yard at Brooklyn, and in

half a century perhaps form a continuous city from the mouth of Newtowr creek to Red- Hook, a distance of four miles.

Town of Gravesend.

This town occupies the most southerly part . of Kings County, including also Coney Island, which is washed by the Atlantic ocean. It is centrally distant from New York city about ten miles ; bounded east by Flatlands, south by the sea, and west by New Utrecht, of a tri- angular shape, with its base upon the ocean and terminating northerly in a point adjoin- ing Flatbush. Much of the territory consists of salt marsh, not more than one-third be- ing returned as improved land; the surface generally level, but near the seashore are some ridges of sand-hills. This town, unlike the rest of the county, was settled by English people, mostly from Massachusetts, as early as 1640, who gave it the name of Gravesend, they having sailed from a place of that name in England on their departure for America. They were joined soon after by a small colony of English Quakers, accompanied by Lady Deborah Moody, a woman of rank, education and wealth, who, with several others residing at Lynn, Sandwich, and other towns in New England, had imbibed the religious sentiments of George Fox, and being objects of jealousy and persecution with the Puritans there, de- termined to settle elsewhere. Considering the situation of this town calculated for the site of a commercial village, they proceeded al- most immediately to lay out ten acres of ground near the center into streets and squares, which they enclosed with a palisado defense. The plan of the village is still preserved in the clerk's office of the town, and is worthy admiration for its simplicity and beauty. It seems the project was soon after abandoned . on discovering the insufficient depth of the water for the approach of large vessels. One of the original squares of the contemplated city was occupied by the court house of the county so long as the courts continued to be held here; another contained the first Dutch church, and a third has long been used for a public cemetery. On the same plot are a con- siderable number of graves of the first Quak- ers, the whole of which have been levelled by the plow, except that of Peter Sullivan and his wife, at the head of which is a large gran- ite slab, containing only the names of the de- ceased. As this particular sect make no tise of such memorials, it was probably placed here

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by some friend or relative who was not a Quaker.

The first patent or ground-brief was grant- ed bv Governor Kieft in 1643 to Antonie Jan- sen Van Sale (or Anthony Johnson) for one · hundred morgen of land, which was after- wards known as the Old Bowery. A morgen was a Dutch measure of little less than two acres, consisting of six hundred square Dutch rods. On the 24th of May, 1644, a patent was also granted to Guisbert Op-Dyck for Coney Island, called in the patent Cunny Island, and by the Dutch Conynen-Eylandt, probably from the name of an individual who had possessed some part of it. Pine Island, then called Conyne-Hook, was at that time separated from the former by a creek, which has since disap- peared. The latter was doubtless the spot upon which the discoverer of the Hudson and his crew landed in 1609 before entering the bay of New York. A general patent for this town, written both in Dutch and English, was ob- tained from Governor William Kieft on the 19th of December, 1645. The patentees named therein are the Lady Deborah Moody, Sir Henry Moody, Baonet, Ensign George Baxter and Sergeant James Hubbard, with their as- sociates ; and is for "A certain quantity of land lying or being upon or about the westernmost part of Long Island, beginning at the north of a creek adjacent to Conyne-Island, and bounded on the west part thereof with the lands belonging to Anthony Johnson and Rob- ert Pennoyre ; and to run as far as the western- most part of a certain pond in an old Indian field on the north side of the plantation of the said Robert Pennoyre; and from thence to run directly east as far as a valley, being at the head of a fly or marsh sometime belong- ing to the land of Hugh Garretson ; and being bounded on the south with the main Ocean, with liberty to put what cattle they shall see fitting to feed or graze upon the aforesaid Conyne-Island, and with liberty to build a town with such necessary fortifications as to them shall seem expedient ; and to have and enjoy the free liberty of conscience according to the customs and manners of Holland without mo- lestation, and to establish courts, and elect magistrates, to try all causes not exceeding fifty Holland guilders."

The circumstance of this patent being granted to a female, and her being also first named, is a matter of some curiosity ; and, in connection with events bereinafter mentioned, exhibits the Lady Moody in a conspicuous

light. She being a considerable personage in the early history of the town, it is important to ascertain, as far as possible, the particulars of her history. We find it mentioned in the very interesting publication by Mr. Alonzo Lewis, entitled "History of Lynn," that the Lady Deborah Moody came to that town in the year 1640. That in 1635 she went from one of the remote counties in England to Lon- don, where she remained in opposition to a statute which directed that no person should reside beyond a limited time from their own homes. On the 21st of April of that year, the court of Star-Chamber ordered that "Dame Deborah Mowdie" and others, should return to their hereditaments in forty days, in the good example necessary for the poorer class. That soon after her arrival at Lynn, on the 5th of April, 1640, she united with the church of Salem; and on the 13th of May the court granted her four hundred acres of land. In 1641, she purchased the farm of the deputy governor, John Humfrey, called Swamscut, for which she paid £1,100. That some time after- wards she became imbued with the erroneous doctrine that the baptism of infants was a sin- ful ordinance, and was thereupon excommuni- cated, and that in 1643 she removed to Long Island. Governor Winthrop, in his journal, says, that "in 1643 Lady Moody was in the colony of Massachusetts, a wise and anciently religious woman; and being taken with the error of denying baptism to infants, was dealt withal by many of the elders and others, and admonished by the church of Salem, whereof she was a member ; but persisting still, and to avoid further trouble, etc., she removed to the Dutch, against the advice of her friends." "After her arrival at Long Island (says Mr. Lewis), she experienced much trouble from the Indians, her house being assaulted by them many times. Her wealth enabled her to render assistance to Governor Stuyvesant in some trouble with the neighboring settlers in 1654, and so great was her influence over him that he conceded in part the nomination of the magistrates to her. In the quarterly court records her son is styled Sir Henry Moody." "At the same court, December 14, 1642, the Lady Deborah Moodie, Mrs. King and the wife of John Tilton were presented, for liold- ing that the baptism of infants is no ordinance of God." From these historical relations we learn the reason why the Lady Moody, her son Sir Henry Moody, Ensign Baxter, Sergeant Hubbard, John Tilton and many others of her

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associates and friends, left New England and planted themselves at Gravesend, where they hoped to enjoy the most perfect freedom of opinion, unawed by the civil power, and be al- lowed unmolested to propagate those religious principles which to them seemed most agree- able to their principles of reason and justice. All this, it would seem, was intended to be se- cured by the patent above mentioned ; how far it was realized under the governor's successor will appear hereafter, when we view the perse- cutions practiced upon the Quakers of this and other towns under the Dutch jurisdiction. Lady Moody probably retained a portion of her large real estate in New England, for Gov- ernor Winthrop says that in 1646 the house of Lady Moody at Salem was injured by a tempest, the roof being torn off; which fact he likewise mentions in a letter to his son John, then living at Fisher's Island. A re- lease or conveyance from the Canarsee Indians was obtained for Gravesend-Neck and Conyne Island, on the 7th of May, 1654. Other con- veyances in different parts of the town were procured at different times, both by the town and by individuals, which in the end occa- sioned no small difficulty, in consequence of the clashing of boundaries, the description of which, in deeds, were frequently inconsistent and obscure.

On the Ist of January, 1643, a soldier was convicted before the court of sessions at Gravesend of having left his station while on guard, and was punished by being compelled to sit upon a wooden horse during the parade, with a pitcher in one hand and a drawn sword in the other; to show that he loved beer more than his duty, and that his courage was always to be determined by the quantity consumed. "At a town meeting, September 27, 1644, it was voted that those as should have Boweries (farms), should have fifty morgen of upland, with meadow proportionable to their stock ; and it was further ordered, that if any did not build a habitable house by the last of May next, should be defaulted and forfeit their land to the town." The records of this town, which were kept uniformly in the English language, are still preserved almost entire. They com- mence with the year 1645, and for a series of years are chiefly occupied with records of wills, inventories, letters of administration and a variety of private contracts, bargains, sales, etc. In January, 1648, the town elected Ser- geant James Hubbard, a man of respectability and influence, to execute the office of scout

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A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 118

Author: Ross, Peter. cn Publication date: 1902 Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1188

Author: Ross, Peter. cn
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1188