A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 87

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

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Queens, another of Jamaica's suburbs, has also felt the impulse of the modern movement, and has gradually been opened up to settle- ment. It still, however, retains much of its primitive agricultural aspects, although in the . recent railroad changes which have been dis- cussed it seems likely that Queens will, more than all the outlying portions of the old town- ship, receive its share of the material pros- perity so confidently anticipated.

Just as these lines were being penned a telegram brought the news of the death of one of the most devoted citizens of Jamaica- ex-Governor Richard C. McCormick-at his home, 88 Herriman avenue, in that village. In this work he took a deep interest, made many valuable suggestions and promised to aid it from his rich stores of Long Island historical data. He was a most enthusiastic student of county history and had gathered together a valuable library containing published volumes of local history from all over the country, for,

as he said, in such works the real story of the nation and its people is to be found. In con- versation with the writer a few weeks before his death he told the story of the now forgotten movement to erect at Jamaica a statue of Gen- eral Nathaniel Woodhull and regretted that that grand hero was apparently forgotten in the region where he was best known and where he gave up his life for his country.

Both the political and the business career of Governor McCormick were anything but commonplace. In recent years he had been en- gaged in mining operations, with offices at I Broadway, New York, but in earlier life he was active as a Republican, and had the con- fidence of such men as General Grant, Zacha- riah Chandler, and William H. Seward. This was considered somewhat remarkable, as he married a daughter of one of the most dis- tinguished Democratic statesmen of the day, Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio.

Mr. McCormick was born in New York City on May 23, 1832, and was descended from several old Long Island families. He was elected Trustee of Public Schools for the Eleventh Ward in 1858, and two years later was a member of the Republican State. Com- mittee, taking an active part in the campaign of that year in support of Lincoln, as he had in the canvass four years previously, when General Fremont was his party's candidate. He was made Chief Clerk of the United States Department of Agriculture in 1862, and a year later became Secretary of the Territory of Arizona. So well did he attend to the duties of this office that in 1866 he was appointed Governor of the Territory by President John- son, and at once set about placing the people in a better condition for defending themselves against the hostile Apaches. It was on his advice that General Crook was sent to this section.

Governor McCormick served three terms as a delegate in Congress from Arizona, and declined a fourth nomination in order to ac- cept the appointment of Commissioner to the

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Centennial Exposition. He was appointed Assistant Secretary of the United States Treasury in 1877, and Commissioner General to the Paris Exposition in 1878. Returning to New York and settling in Jamaica, he de- voted himself to promoting the large mining enterprises with which he had become identi- fied. He was President and Director of the Boreel Mining Company and the Small Hopes Consolidated Mining Company, a Director of the Leadville Consolidated Mining Company, and a Trustee of the Citizens' Savings Bank. He served a term in Congress from the First

New York District, taking his seat on March 4, 1895.

During Governor McCormick's stay in Ar- izona he kept Secretary Seward informed as to Maximilian's movements in Mexico. He was one of the founders of the Long Island Historical Society and the author of "Arizona : Its Resources," and of several other works, and was a member of the Union League Club, the American Geographical Society, and of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion. He was also a Commander of the Legion of Honor of France.

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CHAPTER XLVII.

LONG ISLAND CITY.

A LOOSE AGGREGATION-ANNEKE TANS-CAPTAIN PRAA-LONG ISLAND RAILROAD'S TERMINUS-ASTORIA AND ITS NAMESAKE-GRANT THORBURN- HELL GATE-A PICTURESQUE MAYOR.

0 N May 27, 1870, Governor Hoffman signed the bill which took away part of Newtown from that ancient town- ship, including some of its most thriving villages, and incorporated it into a distinct municipality under the title of Long Island City. Such a union had been agitated for several years, mainly since the terminus of the Long Island Railroad had been established for good at Hunter's Point, and the concentra- tion there of a large population seemed inevit- able in the not very distant future. But it is difficult now to see what was to be gained by taking a section of territory with several vil- lages widely separated from each other and having little in common and dubbing it a city. It was hardly a political measure; it seemed rather a move on the part of the peo- ple, headed by Father Crimmin, of St. Mary's, Hunter's Point; the wealthy residents were opposed to it and with reason, for there was not even a city treasury in sight and the im- position of city taxes on a sparsely settled community meant a startling increase. That increase it was urged would keep manufact- ures from coming to the section and would result in an increase of assessments on real estate without any increase in the actual mar- ket value of the property. From a financial standpoint there was nothing to be said in favor of the change, and the events which

followed from the signing of the bill of in- corporation until the later bill was signed which wiped the city out of existence amply justified all the arguments against it. It be- came in its consolidated state a prey to the machinations of the local politicians, its treas- ury was ever empty, its police force was never adequate, its educational system was deficient ; the taxation was increased without adequate return, the several sections incorporated by law did not incorporate in reality, except in the Hunter's Point section, the expected tremen- dous increase in population did not materialize, transit throughout the section was slow and uncertain until 1890, when the trolley began its work ; and when consolidation took effect Long Island City was the weakest point in the ag- gregation which made up the Greater New York. Its most noteworthy feature was a bonded indebtedness of $3,849,000, on some of which interest was paid at the rate of seven per cent. The Long Island Railroad had done its work well in spite of local political op- position. It had built up a vast terminal de- pot, brought the place into close and frequent communication with Manhattan Island and made it a place of entry in reality for the busi- ness of Long Island: but the city itself failed to take advantage of its opportunity and be- came more noted for the antics of its politi- cians, its local "statesmen," than for aught else.

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HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

The localities incorporated into Long Isl- and City were Astoria, Hunter's Point, Ra- venswood, Dutch Kills, Blissville and Middle- town and several small settlements, while the two Brother and Berrian Islands were thrown in for variety. The city had a splendid stretch of water front from Newtown Creek to Bow- ery Bay, but although settlement was early effected within its borders it never had any history worth writing about except that which comes from the stories and traditions of the old families who built it up and the more or less straggling communities of which it was composed. These communities may now be considered in detail.

Governor Kieft seems to have given pat- ents to many settlers for lands along the water front from a farm at Hell Gate to an English- man named William Hallet to another at a point overlapping Newtown Creek at the other end of the territory now under consideration which was given to Everardus Bogardus, the first minister or dominie of New Amsterdam, and from that fact the point was named Dom- inie's Hook. The property stood in the name of the dominie when he went down into the waters off the Welsh coast in 1647, along with Governor Kieft himself, in the wreck of the "Princess." His widow, the still famous Aneke Jans, secured a fresh patent for the point from Governor Stuyvesant, and it was purchased from hen heirs in 1697 by Captain Peter Praa, whose descendants, along with those of Aneke, have enjoyed many a most exciting hunt after mythical real estate, to the enjoyment of the public and the enrich- ment of the lawyers. Peter Praa (or Pratt) was a Huguenot, and came here from Dieppe, France, in 1659. He appears to have been a man of means, for soon after his arrival he bought a bouwery at Gowanus. He died in 1663. His son, Captain Peter Praa, the pur- chaser of the Dominie's Hook, was born at Leyden in 1655, and therefore was but a child when he came here. He developed into one of the largest land owners in the vicinity,

owning vast tracts in Bushwick and elsewhere as well as extending his original purchase of the Dominie's Hook by much additional ter- ritory on the water front as well as inland. He died in 1740. One of his daughters, An- netie, had married William Bennet, and died some years before him, leaving a young fam- ily, and to these children Captain Praa be- queathed the Dominie's Hook property. Thus in course of time its popular name became Bennet's Hook. One of the family, Jacob Bennet, bought up the entire interest in the estate of the other heirs and at his death be- queathed it to his daughter Anne, wife of Captain George Hunter. She died in 1833, leaving the property, which by that time had again changed its name to Hunter's Point, to her children. The last of these to reside on the family homestead was Jacob Hunter, . who died in New York City in 1875.

It is noticeable that some of the deeds in the early part of the last century conveying lots at Hunter's Point call it Long Island City. It continued to be a straggly. dreary, poverty- stricken place, with few settlers and these of the poorest class, until the Long Island Road, because it could not make the necessary ar- rangements in Brooklyn, selected it as the main terminus of the road. Since then it has steadily increased in population, and as the First Ward of Long Island City it rapidly assumed the lead in the destinies of that now happily departed shade. Railway and manu- facturing interests have steadily huilt up its population and added to its material resources, most of which, however, were mercilessly squandered by political intriguers.

The Second Ward of Long Island City, Blissville, was founded by Neziah Bliss, the patriarch of Greenpoint, but it really calls for little mention, not having yet fulfilled the am- bitious hopes once held as to its future. At all events, it has not yet felt the upward move- ment which the advent of the Greater City has brought to so many other outlying places. Its history has yet to be written. It formed

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part of the old Dutch Kills section, and was a corner of the old dominie's farm.

With Ravenswood, which became the Third Ward of the city, we find better material for historical study. This is certainly one of the prettiest "bits" in the whole of Greater New York, and as a residential neighborhood it has been a favorite from the beginning of the nineteenth century. In the first edition of his "History of Long Island," issued in 1838, Thompson says: "The site is sufficiently ele- vated to afford the most charming view of the adjacent country and possesses charms which almost equal some descriptions in east- ern romance. The situation will hardly suffer by comparison with the beautiful scenery of the Thames at Windsor. Already several houses have been completed and others are in course of erection. In the vicinity are the valuable farms of the corporation of New York, upon which buildings have been con- structed for the accommodation of more than 500 orphan children who are maintained at its expense." Grant Thorburn, the noted Scotch florist of Astoria, whose seed store in New York was long one of the landmarks of the city, describes his sensations when, once pass- ing this institution, he saw 600 children enjoy- ing themselves. But the enterprise, or be- nevolence, or whatever it may be called, did not continue for many years. Its ultimate fate created quite a riot. In French's Gazet- teer of New York we read: "About 1834-5 the corporation of New York City erected ex- tensive buildings about one and one-half miles south from Astoria for a pauper establish- ment, which were sold at public auction April 15, 1847, upon the removal of these institu- tions to the islands in the river. Three large buildings, called the 'Boys' Nursery,' 'School- house' and 'Infants' Nursery,' the property of William W. Miles, were leased May 25, 1847, to the Commissioners of Emigration for a ship fever hospital and other purposes. A public meeting was held immediately thereaf- ter at Astoria to express indignation at the

appropriation of the property to these uses and to remonstrate against it. The people failing to obtain their object, the premises were assailed and destroyed on the night of May 26-27 by a mob in disguise. An attempt was made to fasten the expense of these losses upon the town, and after repeated efforts the owner recovered $3,000 from the State by act of March 15, 1855." With this threatened discord out of the way, Ravenswood resumed its quiet and dignified serenity, and many fine villas were erected within its neighborhood from time to time. It still retains its old description as a residential quarter, although business and manufacturing requirements are beginning to make inroads upon its domain. It was long, however, the aristocratic section of Long Island City. In 1849 St. Thomas's Episcopal Church was organized, and since then most of the social life of Ravenswood has revolved around that little tabernacle.

Steinway, the principal settlement in the Fifth Ward, was laid out in 1872 by the fa- mous firm of New York piano-makers. There they erected a splendid suite of buildings for their own uses and around these buildings the little village of Steinway was soon built up. It has now an estimated population of 1,500, and several other enterprises are carried on in it, while its beautiful situation on Long Island Sound has made it attractive to hundreds of home-seekers. It is a thriving place in every way and will likely undergo many important developments before many years pass by.

Astoria, which became the Fourth Ward of the city, was long the most populous and most popular village within it. It was incor- porated as a village in 1836, and at that time its name was changed from Hallett's Cove. The name originally proposed was the old Indian one of Sunswick, still kept alive in the name of a creek, but one of the men promi- nent in the matter of the incorporation, Mr. Stephen A. Halsey, suggested that if it were named in honor of John Jacob Astor he might pay for the foundation of a female seminary

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HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

which was to be one of the features of the new village. Mr. Halsey spoke as one having authority. He had been engaged in the fur trade for many years, was intimately acquaint- ed with Mr. Astor, and it was supposed pos- sessed much influence with him. But Mr. Astor was not exactly the man to be caught with such chaff, and when approached on the subject rather threw cold water on the matter by saying there was already a city named Astoria and one was enough. However, Mr. Halsey persevered, Astoria became the name, and Mr. Astor contributed $100 to the insti- tution which it was expected he would erect and maintain. Mr. Astor was a liberal enough giver according to his lights, but the race of modern benefactors had not then arisen.

Hallet's Cove received its name from Will- iam Hallet, an Englishman, who got a patent for a tract of land of 160 acres at Hell Gate from Governor Kieft. In 1655 his home was destroyed by Indians, and he was glad to es- cape to Flushing; of which place Stuyvesant appointed him sheriff. However, he did not hold that office long when the Governor de- posed him for entertaining a traveling preacher from Rhode Island. When the trouble had blown over he returned to his property at Hell Gate, and afterward added more acres by purchase from the Indians until he owned pretty much all of the coastline from Sunswick Creek round to about where Steinway now is. Anneke Jans also managed to get a slice of real estate near by. She seemed to know how to manage to secure choice parcels of land better than any of her contemporaries, and she certainly managed to hold on to what she got. Bit by bit several farmers settled in the district, and in 1753 Captain Jacob Blackwell and Jo- seph Hallock built and operated a mill at the mouth of Sunswick Creek, on its right bank. Around the mill a small colony gradually sprung up. Possibly there was not when the Revolution broke out over half a dozen houses altogether, but behind lay a thriving colony of prosperous farmers. One evidence of this

is found in the fact that in 1762 an English and classical school was established at Hallet's Cove, while thirteen of the near-by farmers were willing to board one or more of the schol- ars at a yearly rate of $45. But the institu- tion did not last long, and Hallet's Cove re- sumed its sleep.

With the War of 1812 the sleep was broken. Large parties of experts visited the cove with the view of surveying its importance as a. defensive position, covering as it could the approach from the Sound through Hell Gate to New York. One of the results of this survey was the erection of Fort Stevens. But the flurry was soon over, although its effects were of incalculable benefit to Hallet's Cove. The many fine, even romantic, sites suitable for residential purposes which surrounded it had become known, and many New York mer- chants secured choice plots in the neighbor- hood. But the most noted'of the new arrivals. was General Ebenezer Stevens, for whom Fort Stevens had been named. A member of the famous Boston Tea Party, a hero of two wars. and a popular man in social life, his advent would have caused a stir in any community and would have been the occasion of a warm welcome. Such he found in Hallet's Cove. He built a splendid home on an eminence just opposite the northern extremity of Blackwell's Island, and gave the name of Mount Bonaparte to his property.

Mr. Henry Whittemore, the well-known Long Island historian and genealogist, gives- the following interesting record of the family · of this hero and his achievements in "The Heroes of the Revolution," a work of great value and research :

John Austin Stevens, the founder and first President of the Society, comes of a line of distinguished New England ancestors, who have been prominent in Church and State affairs for two hundred years.

Erasmus Stevens, the first of the family mentioned in this line, appears in 1714 as one of the founders of the New North Church in: Boston. He had a son, Ebenezer (I).

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LONG ISLAND CITY.

Ebenezer Stevens (I), son of Erasmus Stevens, was probably born in Boston. He lived in Roxbury, where he married Elizabeth Wild. They had a son, Ebenezer (2).

Major-General Ebenezer Stevens, of the War of the Revolution, son of Ebenezer and Elizabeth (Wild) Stevens, was born in Bos- ton, Massachusetts, August 22, 1751. He was an ardent patriot, and led the famous "Tea Party," 1773, in disposing of the obnoxious cargo by "committing it to the deep." He made little effort at disguise, being recognized by the officers of one of the ships. He soon afterward removed to Rhode Island, where he raised two companies of artillery and one of artificers, and was commissioned Lieutenant, May 8, 1775, and took part in the expedition against Quebec. He joined Henry Knox's regiment of artillery, was made a Captain on January II, 1776, and on November 9, fol- lowing, was brevetted Major. He commanded the artillery at Ticonderoga and Stillwater. As senior officer of this arm of defense in the northern department, he directed the artillery operations in the encounters which led to the defeat and surrender of Burgoyne, and soon after received a brevet commission as Lieu- tenant-Colonel, with a special resolution of thanks from the Continental Congress, for merit as Commandant of the Artillery of the Northern Department in the campaigns of 1776-7. He was at this time in the Massachu- setts line. On April 30, 1778, he was com- missioned Lieutenant-Colonel and transferred to Colonel John Lamb's regiment of the New York line, in which he served to the end of the war. He was entrusted with the defenses of the Hudson River, and had chains and other obstructions placed across the river to prevent the ships of the enemy from ascending. In 1781 he prepared a train of artillery for the southern service and was selected by General Lafayette to accompany him on his expedition to Virginia.

Owing to impaired health he returned home for a time, but after a brief respite he was commissioned by General Knox to pre- pare the artillery force which was to operate against Cornwallis. This was collected and transported from West Point, Philadelphia and Baltimore, and played an important part in the final siege which led to the surrender of Cornwallis. This completed his active service, though he continued his command till the army was finally disbanded. It is believed

that no officer of his grade in the army ren- dered more arduous, various and important services than Colonel Stevens, and his charac- teristic energy, courage and perseverance gave assurance that, had the opportunity occurred, he would have signalized himself in a manner worthy of his patriotism and his ambition.

After the Revolution he started in business in New York, and without any previous ex- perience, but relying on his own prudence and foresight, he met with extraordinary suc- cess and became one of the leading merchants of New York City. As agent of the War Department he constructed the fortifications upon Governor's Island in 1800. In 1812 he was commissioned Major-General of the State Militia, and with Morgan Lewis mustered for active service against the British, in Septem- ber, 1814, at the time of an anticipated attack upon the city. He resigned his command in 1815 and withdrew from all public employ- ment. He married, first, in 1775, Rebecca Hodgson, of Boston. In 1784 he married Lu- cretia, widow .of Richardson Sands, a daugh- ter of John Ledyard and sister of Colonel William Ledyard, the hero of Fort Groton. By his first wife, Rebecca Hodgson, he had issue three children, viz .: Horatio Gates, George, Rebecca (married John P. Schermer- horn). By his second wife he had Byam, William, Henry K., Samuel, Dr. Alexander H., John Austin, and Mary, wife of Frederick W. Rhinelander, Esq.

John Austin Stevens, Sr., was born in New York City January 22, 1795, died October 19, 1874. He was graduated at Yale in 1843; entered mercantile life and became a partner in his father's business in 1818. He was for many years Secretary of the New York Cham- ber of Commerce, and was one of the organ- izers and the first President of the Merchants' Exchange. From its first establishment, in 1839, till 1860, he was President of the Bank of Commerce. He was chairman of the Com- mittee of Bankers of New York, Boston and Philadelphia, which first met in August, 1861, and decided to take $50,000,000 of the Govern- ment 7-30 loan. They subsequently advanced $100,000,000 more, and the terms of the trans- action were arranged chiefly by Mr. Stevens, as the head of the treasury note committee. His advice was frequently sought by the offi- cers of the Treasury Department during the Civil War.

John Austin Stevens, Jr., the first President

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HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

and one of the incorporators of the Society Sons of the American Revolution, son of John Austin Stevens, Sr., was born in New York City January 23, 1827 ; was graduated at Har- vard in 1846, engaged in mercantile business in New York, and in 1862 was elected Secre- tary of the New York Chamber of Commerce, continuing in office six years. He was libra- rian of the New York Historical Society, and devoted himself to the investigation of topics of American History. He founded and for many years edited the Magazine of American History. He was the author of numerous works, among which were "The Valley of the Rio Grande; its Topography and Resources" (New York, 1864) ; "Memorial of the New York Chamber of Commerce on Steam Navi- gation" (1864) ; "Colonial Records of the New York Chamber of Commerce" (1867), con- taining illustrations and biographical and his- torical sketches; "The Progress of New York in a Century" (1876) ; "The Expedition of Lafayette Against Arnold," published by the Maryland Historical Society (Baltimore, 1878), and other works.

General Stevens' eldest son married the daughter of Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury under Jefferson and Madison, and that venerable statesman died in the home on Mount Bonaparte in 1849. By the middle of the century quite a number of manufactories had located around Hallet's Cove, which had become quite a village. In 1828 St. George's Episcopalian Church was founded, and in 1834 a meeting-house was erected for the use of the Presbyterian and Dutch Reformed congrega- tions. In 1837 the once famous female insti- tute was founded. The Rev. Alexander H. Bishop was installed in 1840 as minister of the Dutch Church, and the Presbyterians, hav- ing given up their interest in the building, erected jointly, it was given over to the sole use of the new pastor. The Presbyterians worshipped in the district school-house until 1846, when they entered a new church they had built, and chose the Rev. F. G. Clark as their pastor.

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A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 87

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