A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 20

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 20

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In the interior of the house the general sitting-room and the kitchen were the im- portant features. Bed-rooms were small, and sleeping bunks were common where the family was large; but improvements in this respect came with the extension of the dwelling. Sanitary arrangements there were none, east or west, but cleanliness and good order were everywhere apparent. The Dutch housewife scrubbed everything that would bear scrubbing and polished her treasures of pewter or brass with unfailing regularity. Carpets were 1111- known, a sanded floor was deemed the per- fection of cleanliness and comfort and the ashes from the wood fires were zealously swept up with feather brushes and carefully gath- ered. In a Dutch farm-house the fireplace in the sitting-room was the family high altar. It was almost a compartment in itself ; and its imported tiles, with their scriptural or his- torical pictures, formed a basis for a post- graduate educational course following the in- structions of the schoolmaster and were re- garded as works of art of the highest order.

The furniture at first naturally was of the most primitive kind; and as each house was a little community of its own, making its own bread, curing its own meats, preparing its own cloth and manufacturing its own furnishings and household utensils, the aim was strength and usefulness rather than beauty. After a while this primitive simplicity gave way to more ornate effort. Furniture was imported from Holland and the Dutch artificers in New Amsterdam found a ready market for their wares in the farm-houses on Long Island. Very possibly, too, the pioneer families brought with them from Holland many house- hold articles which they deemed especially

valuable or beautiful, and these were accorded a place of honor among the lares et penates of the new home. There was much more of old-world furniture to be found among thie pioncer homes on the western end of the island than among those of the eastern; if we may judge by the old inventories still extant and the pieces which have survived to his day; but then we must remember that the eastern settlements were not people directly from old England but from New England; and that two or three removals from one strange land to another were not conducive to the life of family relics or even of articles of do- mestic usefulness which could be reproduced by hammer, saw and chisel.

Such of these old structures as are still remaining serve as mementoes of a simple life, and the memories of the time become more and more sacred with the lapse of years. Even poetry of an inspiring kind seems to gather around the scenes and experiences of that pio- neer age, while only "prose" is connected with the present-day changes and customs. Hence relics of that pioneer time, including even the domiciles themselves, are often the most in- teresting exhibits at fairs and museums, and still serve as centers of eloquence in fervid composition.

Even in 1679, after several years of pros- perity and thrift, the Labadist fathers who visited Long Island in that year found very little in the way of interior decoration or domestic elegance in the homes they visited as honored guests. Of their reception at the home of Simon de Hart, which stood close to the present ferry house of the Thirty- ninth street ferry and was only removed a few years ago, to make way for that structure, they wrote :

We proceeded on to Gouanes, a place so called, where we arrived in the evening at one of the best friends of Gerret named Symon [de Hart]. He was very glad to sce us, and so was his wife. They took us into the house and entertained us exceedingly well. We

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found a good fire, half way up the chimney, of clean oak and hickory, of which they made not the least scruple of burning profusely.

WVe let it penetrate us thoroughly. There had been already thrown upon it, to be roasted, a pail full of Gowanus oysters, which are the best in the country. They are fully as good as those of England, and better than those we eat at Falmouth. I had to try some of them raw. They are large and full, some of them not less than a foot long, and they grow

key, which was also fat and of a good flavor, and a wild goose, but that was rather dry. Every thing we had was the natural pro- duction of the country. We saw here, lying in a heap, a whole hill of watermelons, which were as large as pumpkins, and which Simon was going to take to the city to sell. They were very good, though there is a difference between them and those of the Carribby islands ; but this may be due to lateness in the season : these were the last pulling.

THE CORTELYOU HOUSE, 1699, FIFTH AVENUE AND THIRD STREET BROOKLYN.

sometimes ten, twelve and sixteen together, and are then like a piece of rock. Others are young and small. In consequence of the great quantities of them, everybody keeps the shells for the purpose of burning them into lime. They pickle the oysters in small casks, and send them to Barbadoes and the other islands. We had for supper a roasted haunch of venison, which he had bought of the Indians for three guilders and a half of "seewant," that is, fifteen stivers of Dutch money (15 cents), and which weighed thirty pounds. The meat was exceedingly tender and good, and also quite fat. It had a slight aromatic flavor. We were also served with wild tur-

It was very late at night when we went to rest in a Kermis bed, as it is called, in the corner of the hearth, alongside of a good fire.

In New Utrecht the Lahadists met with an equally hearty reception at the home of Jacques Cortelyou, about which they wrote :

This village [New Utrecht] was burned down some time ago, with everything about it, including the house of this man [Jacques ], which was about half an hour distant from it. Many persons were impoverished by the fire. It was now about all rebuilt and many good stone houses were erected of which

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Jacques's was one, where we returned by an- other road to spend the night. After supper we went to sleep in the barn upon some straw spread with sheepskins, in the midst of the continuous grunting of hogs, squealing of pigs, bleating and coughing of sheep, bark- ing of dogs, crowing of cocks, cackling of hens, and especially a goodly quantity of fleas and vermin, of no small portion of which we were participants, and all with an open barn- door, through which a fresh north wind was blowing. * We could not complain, since we had the same quarters and kind of bed that their own son usually had, who now, on our arrival, crept in the straw behind us.

In his History of Brooklyn, Dr. Stiles wrote so fully and so graphically of the early home of the Dutch settlers that I cannot forbear making use of his words, even although the quotation is a lengthy one :

Before the English conquest of the Nether- lands, the domestic habits and customs of the Dutch were simple and democratic in their character. All had come hither in search of fortune, and had brought little with them in the beginning. Some, indeed, through in- dustry or peculiar sagacity, had attained posi- tions of wealth, and of increased influence, yet it might justly be said of the Dutch, that their social circles were open to all of good character, without regard to business pur- suits, or any factitious considerations. Rich and poor mingled together with a freedom and a heartiness of enjoyment which can hardly be expected to exist, except in the form- ative stage of society. The advent of the English, many of whom had high social con- nections at home, and corresponding habits, etc., brought change into the social life of the colony, and necessarily developed an aristo- cratic state of society previously unknown.

In the "best room" of every house, whether of the wealthy or humbler class, the high- posted, corded, and unwieldly bedstead was a principal object, and, with its furniture and hangings, formed the index of the social standing of its owner. Upon it, according to the old Dutch fashion, were two feather beds- one for the sleeper to lie upon, and another, of a lighter weight, to be used as a covering. The pillow-cases were generally of check pat- terns; and the curtains and valance were of as expensive materials as its owner could afford ; while in front of the bed a rug was laid, for · carpets were not then in common use. Among

the Dutch, the only article of that sort, even up to the time of the Revolution, was a drugget cloth, which was spread under the table during meal-time, when, upon "extra occasions," the table was set in the parlor. But even these were unknown among the in- habitants of the neighboring Long Island towns. The uniform practice, after scrub- bing the floor well on certain days, was to place upon the damp boards the fine white beach sand (of which every family kept a supply on hand, renewing it by trips to the seashore twice a year), arranged in small heaps, which the members of the family were careful not to disturb by treading upon ; and, on the following day, when it had become dry, it was swept, by the light and skillful touch of the housewive's broom, into waves or other fanciful figures. Rag carpets were unknown in Kings county until about the middle of the present century.

The capacious chest, brought from Holland, occupied a prominent place in the house, for several generations; as was also the trundle (or "kermis") bed concealed under the bed by day, to be drawn out for the children's couch at night. Chairs, straight and high backed, were mostly of wood, sometimes cov- ered with leather and studded with brass nails, but more frequently seated simply with matted rushes. Tables, except for kitchen use, were unknown to the earlier Dutch, and for many years to their successors. In the principal room, which held the fine bed, and was, also, tea and dining room on special occasions, was generally a round tea-table, with a leaf which could be dropped perpen- dicularly when not in use, and a large square table, witlı leaves, for use at tea-parties. Looking-glasses, in the early days, were gen- erally small, with narrow, black frames; and window-curtains were of the simplest and cheapest description, being no better in the best apartments than a strip of ordinary cloth run upon a string. Clocks were rare, and most families marked their time by the hour- glass, the great eight-day clock, which we sometimes see as heir-looms in our oldest families, being first introduced in this country about 1720. Earthenware, until about 1700, was but little used in ordinary table service, wooden and pewter being then universally in use by all classes and preferred because it did not dull the knives. The few articles of china, kept by some for display upon the cup- board, were rarely used; and, though earthen- ware came into partial use about 1680, pewter

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was still the most common up to the period of the Revolution. Among the wealthy, blue and white china and porcelain, curiously orna- mented with Chinese pictures, were used "for company." The teacups were very diminutive in size, for tea was then an article of the highest luxury, and was sipped in small quan- tities, alternately with a bite from the lump of loaf-sugar, which was laid beside each guest's plate. Sometimes china plates were used as wall-ornaments, suspended by a strong ribbon passed through a hole drilled in their edges. Silverware, in the form of tankards, beakers, porringers, spoons, snuffers, candle- sticks, etc., was a favorite form of display among the Dutch, inasmuch as it served as an index of the owner's wealth, and was the safest and most convenient form of investment for any surplus funds.

Of books our ancestors had but few, and these were mostly Bibles, Testaments and psalm-books. These Bibles were quaint speci- mens of early Dutch printing, with thick covers, massive brass and sometimes silver corner-pieces and clasps. The psalm-books were also adorned with silver edgings and clasps, and on Sabbaths, hung by chains of the same material to the girdle of matrons and maidens. Merchants who kept school- books, psalm-books, etc., as a part of their stock, about the middle of the last century, were provided with an equal number of books in the Dutch and English language; showing that, even at that late period after the ter- mination of the Dutch power, the greater part of the children of Dutch descent con- tinued to be educated in the language of the Fatherland. Spinning-wheels were to be found in every family, many having four or five-some for spinning flax and others for wool. A Dutch matron, indeed, took great pride in her large stock of household linen (then cheaper than cotton) ; and it was the ambition of every maiden to take to her husband's house a full and complete stock of domestic articles. Light was furnished only by home-made tallow "dips."

Marrying and giving in marriage were the occasion of many merry-makings and cere- monies and seemed to engage the attention of wide circles in the western end, although prob- ably the Puritan influence divested such occa- sions in the eastern settlements of everything except their religious character. In the west-

ern section all the marriages were first sanc- tioned or licensed by the Governor, and that department of the government was managed by an official styled the First Commissary of Marriage Affairs. Whether the marriage was a civil or a religious one it could not be re- garded as legal without this formality, and in the Calendar of Historical Manuscripts (Al- bany, 1865) we read that on April 3, 1648, "William Harck, sheriff of Flushing, was fined 600 Carolus guilders and deprived of his of- fice for solemnizing the marriage of Thomas Nuton, widower, and Joan, the daughter of Richard Smith, without the consent of the bride's parents and contrary to the law of the Province." The parties thus married had to go through a legal ceremonial shortly after.

In the English settlements people intending to get married had to have their names read in public on three successive Sundays in the church of the town in which they resided, and so secure an official license (which in these circumstances cost little or nothing), and then the marriage could legally be performed as a civil or religious service. But the law indeed seems to have called for the publication of the banns three times all over the island; but in the western section, under the early Dutch rule, it was not considered among the fashionables as "correct form," and the Gov- ernor's license was held to be all that was necessary. The law seems to have provided for this and doubtless the Governors en- couraged it as it swelled their revenues. But in the eastern settlements, such marriages were at a discount, the banns were cried, and the minister was the necessary official at the solemnization. At the same time he did so under heavy penalties should he fail to ob- serve the law, for one record tells in that "any minister or justice who married any daughter, maid, or servant without the con- sent of her father, master or dame, or without publishing the banns, was subject to a penalty of £20 and a forfeiture of his office." That this was borne out in actual life and no mere ornament on the statute book, is abundantly

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borne out by the various town records. Thus we find that in Huntington, June 19, 1690, a court was held to listen to the complaint of her father that Sarah Ketcham had been wooed by Joseph Whitman "contrary to her mother's mind." Evidence was led in the case, and Sarah was ordered to appear and tell her story. How the case terminated does not appear : very likely the marriage was not permitted, for no record of its having taken place remains, but the fact that such an action was begun and carried out shows that the statute was enforced and held in general esteem.

We are in the habit of decrying the present age as too entirely a practical one, too ob- livious to sentiment, and speak of money as one of the main factors in matrimony. But there were the same elements of dollars and cents in the matrimonial market even in the Arcadian days of Long Island. Thus on June 9, 1760, the following ante-nuptial contract was filed on record at Huntington :

The conditions of this obligation between me, Rueben Arter, and Sarah Jarvis is such that if we marry, I, Rueben Arter, do quit her estate of all but five and twenty pounds. I, Sarah Jarvis, do allow out of the rent of the farme for the child's bringing up. and if I, Sarah Jarvis, don't have no other Darter, Ruth Jarvis shall have my wearing cloaths ; but if I have other Darters then the cloaths to be Divided between them-the wearing cloaths, and I, Rueben Arter, do hereby bind myself in the sum of fifty pounds current money to stand to these Articles by my hand and seal before these witnesses I have chosen.

REUBEN ARTHUR. John Bunce.

In some cases the bride had an inventory made of the goods she brought with her to her new home, and for some reason it was at times deemed necessary, or in keeping with the fitness of things, to have such inventory recorded. Here is one recorded in Kings County in 1691, which is printed in Gabriel Furman's "Notes on the Town of Brooklyn":

"A half worn bed, pillow, 2 cushions of tick- ing with feathers, one rug, 4 sheets, 4 cushion covers, 2 iron pots, 3 pewter dishes, I pewter basin, I iron roaster, I schuryn spoon, 2 cowes about 5 years old, I case or cupboard, I table."

Furman also notes that in the Dutch churches the fees paid the officiating clergy- man on such occasions were not his personal perquisites but had to be handed over to the classis ; and Mrs. Vanderbilt, in her "Social History of Flatbush," notes that in 1660 mar- riage fees amounting to 43 guilders were ap- plied to the building fund of the church. In the east, such fees were part of the Dominie's wherewithal.

Funerals, however, were the occasions on which the Dutch settlers spread themselves. It was made an occasion for solemn rejoicing -so to speak-and the quantity of liquor consumed on the occasion of the funeral of a well known and wealthy farmer was extra- ordinary. Mrs. Vanderbilt preserves in print the following bill of expenses at the funeral in 1789 of a citizen of Flatbush :

20 gallons good wine.

2 gallons spirits. I large loaf of lump sugar.

1/2 doz. nutmegs.

1/2 gross long pipes.

4 lbs. tobacco. Ij2 dozen black silk handkerchiefs. 6 loaves of bread.

Furman tells us that "formerly the funerals upon this island were of a very expensive character, and it was a custom in the old families to lay up a stock of superior wine to be used on such occasions ; and frequently at those funerals you would meet with wine so choice and excellent that it could scarcely be equalled by any in the land, although our country has always been celebrated throughout the world for its excellent Madeira wine. Christopher Smith of Jamaica, on this island, who died about half a century since [about 1780], had stored away a large quantity of

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the most superior wines in the country which were used at his funeral." The funeral ser- vices were conducted at the house, not in the church, and the body was generally carried to the grave, which in most cases, any dis- tance from the church, was in a corner of the private grounds of the family.

The Rev. P. Van Pelt thus describes a Dutch funeral conducted in the olden style in 1819 by the Rev. W. Schoonmaker, then in his own eighty-second year :

THE CHURCH ON THE HILL.

It was in 1819 that I last heard, or recollect to have seen, the venerable old dominie. It was at the funeral of one of his old friends and associates. A custom had very generally prevailed, which, though then very rarely ob- served, yet in this instance was literally ad- hered to. The deceased had, many years be- fore, provided and laid away the materials for his own coffin. This was one of the best seasoned and smoothest boards, and beautifully grained. Other customs and ceremonies then existed, now almost forgotten. As I entered the room [ observed the coffin elevated on a table in one corner. The dominie, abstracted and grave, was seated at the upper end; and

around, in solemn silence, the venerable and hoary-headed friends of the deceased. All was still and serious. A simple recognition or a half-audible inquiry, as one after another arrived, was all that passed. Directly, the sexton, followed by a servant, made his ap- pearance, with glasses and decanters. Wine was handed to each. Some declined; others drank a solitary glass. This ended, and again the sexton presented himself with pipes and tobacco. The dominie smoked his pipe, and a few followed his example. The custom has become obsolete, and it is well that it has. When the whiffs of smoke had ceased to curl around the head of the dominie, he arose with evident feeling, and in a quiet, subdued tone, made a short but apparently impressive ad- dress. I judged solely by his appearance and manner ; for, although boasting a Holland de- scent, it was to me speaking in an unknown tongue. A short prayer concluded the service ; and then the sexton, taking the lead, was fol- lowed by the dominie, the doctor, and the pall- bearers, with white scarfs and black gloves. The corpse, and a long procession of friends and neighbors, proceeded to the churchyard, where all that was mortal was committed to the earth till the last trump shall sound and the graves shall give up the dead. No bustle, no confusion, no noise nor indecent haste, at- tended that funeral.

The Dutch seemed to have carefully en- closed their burial grounds, whether public or private, and, in the earlier times especially, to have raised no commemorative stones, the grave being often simply marked by an nnlet- tered headstone. In the eastern end, however, whether in private ground or in the God's- acre surrounding the meeting house, a stone was invariably set up, even although the sacred grounds were unenclosed. In 1640 and again in 1684 the Governor and Council ordered all interments in private burial grounds to cease ; but the orders were not obeyed, and Furman mentions that private burial grounds were used even in his own day "to a considerable ex- tent."

From funerals to wills is an easy and nat- ural transition, and by studying some of the old "testaments" left by the early dwellers on Long Island we get many a glimpse into mat-

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ters illustrative of their characteristics which could not otherwise be had.

Thus we find the Dutch were no believers in widows "throwing off their caps" and en1- tering upon a second matrimonial experiment, for we have frequent instances in the wills still extant of property bequeathed to widows only so long as they remain in that condition. Thus in 1726 Cornelis Van Catts left the bulk of his estate to his wife; "but if she happen to marry then I geff her nothing of my es- tate, neither real or personal. I geff to my well beloved son, Cornelius, the best horse that I have, or else £7 Ios., for his good as my eldest son. And then my two children, Cor- nelius Catts and David Catts, all heef of my whole effects, land and movables, that is to say, Cornelius Catts heef of all, and David Catts heeff of all. But my wife can be master of all, for bringing up to good learning my two children (offetten) school to learn."

But in this respect the English residents were equally prohibitive, for in the will of Ben- jamin Conkling, of Huntington, 1758, he gave his wife "one equal half of all my household goods and ye 3d third of my estate as long as she remains my widow." Perhaps the best authority on the wills made by Long Islanders is Mr. William S. Pelletreau, whose "Abstract of Wills on File in the Surrogate's Office, City of New York, 1695, 1707," published in 1901, is a mine of information on the subject. From that invaluable volume we glean as follows :

The first will printed in the work is that of William Ludlam, of Southampton, 1665. Among his legacies he leaves to his son An- thony "all my housing and lands at the old ground," and a £50 right of communage in the town of Southampton. In a note appended to this will Mr. Pelletreau writes that William Ludlam came from Matlock, in Derbyshire, England, and was in Southampton as early as 1653. All through the volume, notes of this character give information of the greatest in- terest. The use of the word "alias" is fre- quent, but not in the sense of to-day. For in- stance, Daniel Denton is an executor. He lives

at Rustdorp, "alias Jamaica, Long Island." Alice Goodspeede is declared to be the next heir of John Layton, "late of Middleborough, alias New Towne, upon Long Island." David Carwith (Corwith to-day) in 1665, "being weake in body, but in perfect memory," leaves to his son Caleb "my best suit of clothes and a bed blanket." Mary, his daughter, becomes possessed of a scythe and a Bible. Jolın Mars- ton, of Flushing, leaves to one daughter a gold ring, and to another a silver thimble. Thomas Sayre, of Southampton, whose will is dated September, 1669, leaves many acres of land, and besides much pewter. 'His son is to receive "a Pewter flagon, a Pewter bowl, and a Great Pewter Platter." Here is a curi- ous bequest to another son: fio a year, "to begin five years after my decease, to be paid in good merchantable shoes, or other pay that will procure hides toward his setting up a Tannery."

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A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 20

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