A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 51

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 51

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1704, when the incumbent was Martin: Schenck, who was also a deacon of the church. Isaac Slover was teacher in 1712; Yan Sudam in 1715 and apparently to 1729; when Yohan- nes Van Siggelon succeeded him. In 1733 Abraham de Lanoy occupied the place. His nanie would indicate that he was French, while his receipts for his salary of £6 a year are written in a bold and elegant English hand. He was doubtless able to teach in En- glislı. Isaac Voorhees held the place in 1742; Johannes Nevius in 1743; Abram Voorhees, 1744-47; Luykas Voorhees, from 1748 to 1752, when Derick Remsen served part of a year, and Luykas Voorhees again, 1755-1757. As no new name occurs, it is fair to infer that Voorhees continued to receive the annual sal- ary of £4 from the deacons as chorister, and probably an additional sum from the elders as schoolmaster, until 1768, when he was suc- ceeded by Abraham Voorhees, the same proba- bly who had served in 1744-47, and who now hield the position until 1792. This teacher first introduced a stove into the school-house in June, 1789, costing £12 15s. 6d. We judge the. previous winter must have been uncommonly cold and they would no longer trust to an open fire even though they had to bring in the stove in the first month of summer.

We have assumed that the chorister was also the school teacher as was the universal custom of the Dutch. But the practice was now falling into disuse. It seems that Thomas Whitlock was employed during the latter years. accredited to Abram Voorhees and that John Baxter, whose journal of daily events con- tined by his son Garret extends fron1 1790 to 1840, taught the school about 1790. We have also the following as teachers: Peter Labagh, 1792; Geo. Parker, 1795; Jas. Smith, 1798; Elijah Elwell, 1801 ; Patrick Noon and Hugh McGarron, 1802; John Burns and Alex. John- son, 1804; Cuthbert, 1805 : -Cas- sidy, 1810; Hugh McGarron again, 1811-16; Tibbetts and Blundel taught a short time ; James Bolton some years; Esterbrook, Bled- soe, Kingsley, Topping, and Leach; Slauson to 1827, when Chas. Leach resumed and taught to 1830: Ed. Berry, 1830, when David Bald- win (whose conversion is recorded by his pastor in a tract of the American Tract So- ciety ) assumed charge, but retired from ill health; Albert Smith, 1831; Willis, and the same year H. D. Woodworth, now principal of a public school in Brooklyn; W. S. Webb, 1833 ; and after him E. S. Johnson and Stephen

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FLATLANDS.

Voorhees ; since whom Messrs. Sutton, Wade, Blake and Sowles have taught.

Principal Voorhees Overbangh took charge of this school in 1845. He was then expected to teach from 8 o'clock A. M. to 4 o'clock P. M., with a noon recess, five days each week, without a vacation of any kind during the whole year. He did not receive a stipulated salary, but a fee per capita on the scholars, and collected his own bills.

The original school-house of District No. I probably stood on Hubbard's Lane, opposite John L. Williamson's. On February 3d, 1696- 7, the heirs of Elbert Elbertse, viz., Garrett

the same parties, "Elders of the Dutch Church of fflatlands," the church-lot and burying- ground, and describe the latter as "Bounded north by Tunis Janse's fence, south by the pound, west by the highway," with the church- lot at the east. Thus the whole of the present school-lot and burial-ground is included, with- out any mention of the school-house being then upon it, and excluding the Van Syckelen lands from contiguity. The evidence seems conclu- sive that the original school-house stood east from the residence of John B. Hendrickson. A new school-house seems to have been built about this time. Between September,

IN FLATLANDS-A BIT OF THE BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN.

Stoothoof, Thos. Willes and Jan Van Duyck- huisen, deeded to Coert Stevense, Derick Am- ertman and Claes Peterse, for themselves and others, freeholders, etc., premises described as follows: "All that house and garden spot, as it is now in fence, lying * in the town of fflatlands, adjoining to the house and land of fferdinanno vasycklyn, and now used and occupied for a school-house for said town." Van Sickelin lived at the southeast corner of the church-lot, where his son Johannes lived in 1747.

Confirmatory of this view is the fact that on the next day, viz., February 4th, 1697, the Stoothoff heirs, who seem to have been en- gaged in settling up the estate conveyed to

1694, and August, 1.697, the Deacons paid "for the school-house" in various items of material and work no less a sum than $654.40, which could not have been for repairs. Probably, at this time, the new school-house was placed on an unused part of the burial-ground. The lot described in 1696 as the school-house lot must, soon after this, have fallen into private hands, for, in 1729, it is deeded by Abram Westervelt, and Margaret, his wife, to the Town, together with an acre where the house of B. Stafford now stands. We know that the school-house was near its present location in 1733, for in that year Pieter Wyckoff conveys "a certain piece of land adjoining the school- lot, being in breadth two rods and in length

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HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

as far as the school-lot runs, bounded south- erly by said school-lot, northerly by ground of said pieter Wyckof, westerly by the highway, and easterly by the land belonging to the church." The school-house first placed within the original lines of the grave-yard, in 1699, was extensively repaired about 1765, the work having been begun in 1762, simultaneously with the extensive improvements and enlarge- ment of the church. At this time the sum of $356 was paid for materials and work "for the school-house." In 1771 "a well for the school- house" cost £I, IIS. 3d.

In April, 1816, the town ordered a new school building. It was completed and occu- pied two years later, and the old house sold to Nicholas Schenck for $20. This new build- ing continued to be used by the school until 1861, when it was sold to John L. Ryder for a carriage-house. The school-lot was fenced in by the trustees, as such, in 1861, by ad- vice of counsel. The building of 1861 was en- larged to more than twice its former capacity in 1876.

A school was early established in Flat- lands Neck, the section of the town that lies between Jamaica Bay, New Lots and Flat- bush. A new school-house was built there in 1835 and another at Carnarsie in 1844. The modern story of education in Flatlands, how- ever, is associated with that of Brooklyn.

It has been said that the annals of Flatlands are uneventful and uninteresting, yet at the same time the story of the battle of Brooklyn might be woven into its history. There was, of course, rare excitement in the township when the British troops landed, and the excite- ment deepened during the strategical opera- tions that followed. But after the battle was over things resumed their usual quiet sway. One regiment, Colonel Kniphausen's horse, was quartered for some time on a farm in Flat- lands, but this is only a tradition and it does not seem likely that they were there beyond a few days. A few guards were placed on duty in residences at Canarsie Point and Flat- lands Neck, but they seemed not to have been very offensive and made themselves humbly comfortable in the kitchens of the houses to which they were assigned. The British, of

course, took possession of the grain, the prod- uce and much of the live stock,-that was part of the incidents of any war, and nothing else could be expected. But the best evidence that Flatlands was not seriously molested lies in the fact that services in the church were regularly conducted all through the British occupation, although there was a strong patri- otic sentiment in the town, and the Dominie expressed himself very freely on all occasions against the invaders, and nowhere on Long Island was the triumphant close of the war celebrated with more enthusiasm than in this old stronghold of the Dutch sentiment. With the return of peace Flatlands retained her quiet mode of living, advanced slowly but surely, and the years passed on so uninterestingly that the historian finds little to narrate in the routine of its calm, domestic, home-living cur- rent. It was the last of the suburbs of Brook- lyn to feel the quickening influence of that city, but when the influence was felt the dwell- ers in the community met it with avidity. The old farms were placed on the market, the land-boomers got in their work, and "lots" instead of acres began to dominate in the real- estate transactions. With the introduction of the trolley the old seclusion of Flatlands began to vanish, and since it has itself disappeared and become simply a city ward it has been wholly cut up into streets and avenues, and everywhere the march of improvement repre- sented by the modern builders is apparent. It has many new features, but Barren Island is still devoted to the manufacture of fertilizers and its smells are as fragrant as ever ; Canar- sie is still a haven for fishermen and those who enjoy rowing or yachting, and Jamaica Bay yet yields a harvest of pleasure or profit; but Bergen's Island has become, under the name of Bergen Beach, a resort of the nature of Co- ney Island, and on each Sunday in the season more people pass through Flatlands in trolley cars than has been seen in it since that event- ful day in August, 1776, when an old lady said that "the red coats were so thick in Flat- lands you could walk on their heads."

CHAPTER XXVII.

FLATBUSH.

NE local writer has given 1630 as the date of the first settlement at 't Vlavke Bros., Middle-Wout, or Midwout, the earliest names by which Flatbush was designated. There is, however, no definite proof as to this. It would seem that the patents given for lands in Flat- lands to Hudden and Van Couwenhoven and Van Twiller included ground which over- lapped into what was afterward across the bor- der of that township and into the township of Midwout, but even that would hardly give us the right to claim the date of these patents as the beginning of the story of this, in many ways the most interesting of the five Dutch towns. From Flatlands an Indian trail led to Brooklyn, and while using this trail the rich and fertile fields, now the streets of Flatbush, lay invitingly open and the overflow of popu- lation, so to speak, from Flatlands took them up. These early Dutch farmers were mighty particular as to places of settlement. They were strong believers in meadow land, and those who can recall Flatbush before the rush of the trolley and the march of modern im- provements changed things all around could easily imagine it, in its still more primitive stage, as lying ready and prepared for adapta- tion into farm, garden and grazing ground with but little labor. By 1651 the place had a sufficient population to warrant the issuance to it of a town patent, and Governor Stuyvesant incorporated in the document the names of Jan Snedecor, who had prospered as a tavern- keeper in New Amsterdam; Arent Van Hat-

ten, burgomaster of the same city; and one of its ministers, Johannes Megapolensis. The lands of Midwout also began very early to have a speculative value, for in 1653 we find that Edward Griffin bought fifty acres of land "on the west side of the road near the Flatbush" in February, and he sold the same in July to Bartel Loot and Peter Loot (Lott). When the patent was issued, Dr. Strong says, "farms were laid out into forty-eight lots, or tracts of land, extending 600 Dutch rods east and west on each side of the Indian path and having generally an average width of twenty- seven rods." Before the farms were drawn for, 102 lots were laid aside for the use of the church, which it was even then determined should be built, while the unappropriated lands, mainly stretches of woodland on the outskirts of the town, were left for the common use and so continued for many years.

It seems that there was not enough meadow land to satisfy the wants or ambitions of the Dutch farmers in Flatbush, and they squatted on some of the rich meadows of Canarsie, which the Flatlands people claimed as their own. This led to trouble between them; and to end it, and also with the view of substituting an English charter for the Dutch one, Gov- ernor Nicolls caused a fresh survey to be made, and then issued a new patent which bore the date of October II, 1667. It was then that Flatbush, the English rendering of 't Vlacke Bosche, came into legal use. But the good farmers no sooner had this trouble adjudicated than a new and even more serious

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HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

one arose. The land comprising their town had originally been bought from the Canarsie Indians, but in 1670 another tribe, the Rocka- ways, claimed the soil, denying the right of the Canarsies to ownership, and demanding pay- ment. The probability is that the Canarsies were honest in their intentions, but they sold more than they ought to have done, and un- wittingly disposed of some territory to which the Rockaways had some claim. Lands were not very closely surveyed in those days. Of course the Flatbush title was clear, so far as the settlers were concerned. They had com- plied with all the forms of the law, Dutch as well as English, and could have defended their holdings in any court of law successfully. But the Indians had ways of enforcing their de- mands which were much more unpleasant than those of the courts, and an angry dispute with them meant much loss of life and destruction of property-all the horrors, in fact, of Indian · warfare. So the settlers made the best of the situation and secured a fresh deed from the wily claimants. It reads as follows :

To all Christian people to whom this pres- ent writing shall come: Eskemoppas, Sachem of Rockaway, upon Long Island, Kinnarimas and Ahawaham his brothers, send greeting: Whereas they, the said Sachem Eskemoppas, and his two brothers aforementioned, do lay claim to the land now in the tenure and occu- pation of the inhabitants of Midwout, alias Flatbush, as well as other lands adjacent there- to as the right born Indian owners and pro- prietors thereof: Know ye that in considera- tion of certain sums of seewant, a certain sum of wampum and divers other goods (herein- after specified) unto the said Sachem and his brothers in hand paid, and received, from Adri- an Hegeman, Jacob Stryker, Hendrick Jorise and Jan Hansen, for and on behalf of them- selves and the rest of the inhabitants of Mid- wout alias Flatbush, the receipt whereof they do hereby acknowledge, and themselves to be fully satisfied and paid: Have given granted contracted and sold * *

* All that said parcel of land where the said town of Midwout stands, together with all the lands lying there- in, stretching on the east side to the limits of Newtown and Jamaica, on the south side to

the meadow ground, and limits of Amersfort; on the west side to the bounds of Gravesend and New Utrecht, and on the north side along the Hills ; that is to say, all those lands within the limits above mentioned &c. *

* * In witness whereof, the parties to these presents have hereunto set their hands and seals this 20th day of April, in the 22d year of his Majes- ty's reign, in the year of our Lord 1670.

ESKEMOPPAS £ Mark. (seal.) KINNARIMAS & Mark. (seal.) AHAWAHAM f Mark (seal.) Signed and delivered in the presence of THOMAS LOVELACE. CORNELIUS VAN RUYVEN.

Recorded the day and year within written. per MATHIAS NICHOLS, Secretary.

The consideration agreed upon in the pur- chase herein mentioned was as follows viz .: IO Fathoms of black seewant; 10 Fathoms of white seewant; 5 Match coats of Duffells ; 4 Blankets; 2 Gunners sight Guns; 2 Pistols ; 5 Double handfulls of Powder [Gispen bunches of Powder]; 5 Bars of Lead; 10 Knives; 2 Secret Aprons of Duffell [Cuppas of Duffell] ; I Half vat or half barrell of Strong Beer; 3 Cans of Brandy ; 6 Shirts. All the above par- ticulars were received by the Sachem and his two brothers, in the presence of the persons under written, as witnesses hereof.

John Manning. Sylester Salisbury. John Hough.

Jacob Van Cortlandt. Teunis Jacob Hay. Edward Carlisle.

Acknowledged before me, the Sachem and his two brothers, and the goods delivered in my presence, the day and year within written. FRANCIS LOVELACE.

In drawing up this deed the Flatbush peo- ple took good care to have their old boun- daries clearly fixed, and it would seem that the territory known as Oostwoud was thrown in by the Rockaways in their joy at the prospects of the possession of the powder and beer and brandy and other commodities stipulated by their head men. This territory, afterward known as New Lots, claims 1670 as the be- ginning of its history, although it was not until 1677 that Adrian Lambertsen and thirty- four others secured a patent for ownership in it. For many years, in fact until 1721, the most notable feature of the history of Flat-

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FLATBUSH.

bush was its constant defense of its territory against claims made by Flatlands, Newtown and even by private individuals; but as the course of events has long since rendered the story of such disputes of no practical value, of no responsible bearing on the real history of the town, there is little use of recounting them here. There seems no doubt that the Flatbush settlers were in some of these dis- putes the real aggressors,-the courts so more than once decided; but the probability is that in most cases the trouble arose from want of exact knowledge as to boundaries, or, as is equally likely, indifference on the part of the settlers to political divisions. It was proba- bly with the view of settling all this on an en- during basis that the inhabitants in 1685 ap- plied to Governor Dongan for a new patent which should confirm to them all that had been granted at various times and for which various patents had been issued. That application was granted, and the document, one of the most important in the early local history, reads as follows :

Thomas Dongan, Lieutenant-Governor and Vice-Admiral of New York, &c., under his Ma- jesty James the Second, by the Grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland Defender of the Faith, &c., Supreme Lord and Proprietor of the Colony and Prince of New York and its dependencies in America. To all to whom these presents shall come, sendeth Greeting: Whereas, there is a certain town in Kings County, upon Long Island, called and known by the name of Midwout, alias Flat- bush, the bounds whereof begin at the mouth of the Fresh-Kill, and so along by a certain ditch which lies betwixt Amersfoot and Flat- bush Meadows, and so running along the ditch and fence to a certain white-oak marked tree, and from thence upon a straight line to the westernmost point of a small island of wood- land lying before John Stryker's bridge; and from thence with a straight line to the north- west hook or corner of the ditch of John Oakie's meadow, and from thence along the said ditch and fence to the swamp of the Fresh-Kill, and so along the swamp and hollow of the aforesaid Kill to the land of Keuter's Hook; thence along the same to a white-oak tree; from thence with a straight line to a

black-oak marked tree standing upon the northeast side of Twiller's Flats, having a small snip of flats upon the southeast side of the line; and so from thence to a white-oak tree standing on the west side of Moschito Hole to a small island, leaving a snip of flats in the Flatlands bounds; and from thence to a certain marked tree or stump standing upon the highway which goes to Flatlands, upon the Little Flats, about twenty rods from Flatbush Lots, and so along the fence six hundred Dutch rods to the corner of Flatbush fence, and so along the rear of the lots to a sassa- fras-stump standing on Cornelius Jansen Ber- rian's lot of land; and from thence with a straight line to a certain marked tree, or stump, standing by the Rush Pond under the hills, and so along the south side of the hill till it comes to the west end of Long Hill, and so along the south side of the said hill till it comes to the east end of the Long Hill; and then with a straight line from the east end of said Long Hill to a marked white-oak tree stand- ing to the west side of the road, near the place called the gate or port of the hills, and so front the east side of the port or gate aforesaid, upon the south side of the main hills, as far as Brooklyn Patent doth extend, and so along the said hills to the bounds of the Jamaica Patent; and from thence with a southerly line to the kill or creek by the east of Plunder's Neck, and so along the said kill to the sea, as according to the several deeds or purchases from the Indian owners, the patent from Gov- ernor Nicolls, and the award between Brook- lyn and the town of Flatbush, relation there- unto being had, doth more fully and at large appear : And, whereas, an application to me hath been made for a confirmation of the aforesaid tracts and parcels of land and prem- ises: Now, Know ye, that by virtue of the commission and authority unto me given by his Majesty, James the Second, by the Grace of God of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, Supreme Lord and Proprietor of the Province of New York, in consideration of the premises and the quit- rent hereinafter reserved, I have given, grant- ed, ratified and confirmed, and by these pres- ents do give, grant, ratify and confirm unto Cornelius Vanderwyck, John Okie, Joseph Hegeman, Aries Jansen Vanderbilt, Lafford Pieterson, William Guilliamsen, Hendrick Williamse, Arien Ryers, Peter Stryker, John Stryker, John Remsen, Jacob Hendricks, Der- ick Vandervleet, Hendrick Ryck, Okie John-

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HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

son, Daniel Polhamus, Peter Lott, Cornelius Vanderveer, Derick Johnson Hooglandt, Den- ise Teunis, John Johnson, Ditimus Lewis Jan- sen, William Jacobs, Hendrick Hegeman and Garret Lubbertse, for and on behalf of them- selves and their associates, all the freeholders of the said town of Flatbush, and to their heirs and assigns forever, all the before recited tract and tracts, parcel and parcels, of land and islands within the said bounds and limits, to- gether with all and singular, the woods, under- woods, plains, hills, meadows, pastures, quar- ries, marshes, waters, lakes, causeways, rivers, beaches, houses, buildings, fishing, hawking, hunting and fowling, with all liberties, privi- leges, hereditaments and appurtenances to the said tract of land and premises belonging, or in any wise appertaining ; To have and to hold, &c. * * * To be holden of his Majesty in free and common soccage according to the ten- ure of East Greenwich, in the county of Kent, in his Majesty's Kingdom of England. Yield- ing, rendering and paying therefor, yearly, and every year, at the City of New York, to his Majesty, his heirs or successors, or to his or their officer or officers, as by him or them shall be appointed to receive the same, eighteen bushels of good merchantable wheat, on or be- fore the five and twentieth day of March, year- ly, and every year. In Testimony whereof, I have caused these presents to be entered upon record, in the Secretary's office in the said Province, and the seal thereof, have hereunto affixed, and signed with my hand the twelfth day of November, in the first year of his Majesty's reign, Anno Domini, 1685.

THOMAS DONGAN.

Governor Dongan willingly granted such charters not only because their issuance added to the income of his office and settled many vexed questions as to boundaries, but they provided an income from the townships in the shape of a tax which was termed "quit rent" and which in the case of Flatbush was placed at "eighteen bushels of good, merchantable wheat." No objection seems to have been raised anywhere to this certainly very moder- ate impost. It was some years later changed to a regular caslı payment, and continued in force until 1786, when future payment was commuted on payment of a lump sum, accord- ing to an act passed by the Legislature April

I of that year. It seems that Flatbush fell in arrears from 1765 until 1786 and was required to pay up the amount which then accrued with a rebate of eight years' payments, covering the- period of the Revolutionary struggle.

RATEDATCE RETCKE the ancestor of the BUYDAM Family of Kings County.

CORNELIS JANSSE VANDER VEER. Lbe aacestor of the Vanderveer Family of Kings County.

CFanstrichoni. 16hr

JAX STAYCKER, the ancestor of the Stryker Family of Kings County.

Lufreut Juster fen.

LEVPERT PIETERSEN, (van Haugh wout, North Holland, 1000,) the common ancestor of the Lacerta Famlly In King County.

AUTOGRAPHS OF SOME OF THE PATENTEES OF FLATBUSH. 1685.

The early story of Flatbush centers around the story of the church, and it, with the school-house and later the court-house, made up the dorp or town,-the rallying point of the life of the village. As in most of the Dutch. settlements, the homes of the farmers were lo- cated as close to the dorp as possible and spread into what used to be called Rustenberg, a trace of rich sandy loam to the south of it, which was within easy reach. In the dorp the Schout posted his notices and the Schepens held their meetings. These functionaries were the representatives of the Governor, of law and order. Jan Teunissen, Schout in 1646 of Brooklyn, held that office for Middlewout and Amersfoot, and seems to have been succeeded in 1654 by David Provoost, although there is some dubiety about the latter's appointment,. so far as his jurisdiction over the territory outside of Brooklyn is concerned. The first local man appointed to this office was Adriaen Hegeman, who was thus honored in 1661, his- authority extending over Brooklyn and Flat-

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A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 51

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