USA > New York > Kings County > Williamsburgh > A history of the city of Brooklyn : including the old town and village of Brooklyn, the town of Bushwick, and the village and city of Williamsburgh > Part 22
USA > New York > Kings County > Bushwick > A history of the city of Brooklyn : including the old town and village of Brooklyn, the town of Bushwick, and the village and city of Williamsburgh > Part 22
USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > A history of the city of Brooklyn : including the old town and village of Brooklyn, the town of Bushwick, and the village and city of Williamsburgh > Part 22
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The furniture within these humble edifices was of the simplest sort, and such merely as was necessary to the every-day purposes of life. The great chest, with its precious stores of household goods, was the most imposing article of furniture. Tables were of domestic manufacture ; stools, rough-hewn from forest wood, answered the uses of chairs ; while rude shelves assumed the office of a cupboard. The " slaap-banck," or sleeping-bench, usurped the offices of a bedstead, but upon it the ample feather-bed lay in state, and made up in comfort what was wanting in display.
Such was the general character of the dwellings of New Nether- land, for some thirty years succeeding its settlement, during which time many of its industrious citizens had accumulated considerable wealth, their children had grown up, and the community had grad- ually developed the shades of social distinction, consequent upon the advancing prosperity of its members. As early as the year 1656, several of the merchants of New Amsterdam had erected stone dwelling-houses, and there had been a corresponding advance in the style of living, among all classes. In the interior decorations of their abodes this was plainly seen ; great high-post bedsteads,
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with their dimity curtains, adorned the parlors of the wealthy ; and cupboards of nut-wood, imported from the "Fatherland," were not unfrequently seen, while silver-plate was, in a few rare instances, dis- played. Schools, also, had been established, and the youth of both sexes, now growing up to maturity, swayed no inconsiderable social influence, as was evidenced by the improved standard of taste which gradually became apparent in the domestic arrangements of private dwellings, both externally and internally. In the city, or rather the village of New Amsterdam, as it then was, public atten- tion was directed towards certain needed municipal reforms-and the magistrates decreed the abolition of wooden chimneys, as well as " little houses," hay-barracks, and hog-pens, all of which had hitherto been paraded along the line of streets, and gradually the town became characterized by a much greater cleanliness and pro- priety of appearance. Other and larger houses were now erected, and after the establishment of a brick-yard at New Amsterdam, by DeGraff and Hogeboom, in the year 1660, brick houses became the fashion with all who could afford the additional expense.1
Still, the best edifices of that day would be deemed extremely cheap, as compared with those of a more recent period,-rarely exceeding $800, while those of an ordinary character were rated at from $200 to $500 of our present currency. Rents ranged from $25 to $100; and as barter was then, by reason of the want of a well- established system of currency, commonly provided for in all agree- ments, payments were frequently made partly in trade and partly in beaver-skins, which, in wholes or halves, then passed as a current medium of exchange, as regularly as bank-bills of the present day.
Thus far, we have described the buildings erected on Manhattan Island, and it is probable that those edifices which succeeded the
1 It was in those days thought that the baking of brick of greater thickness than two inches, could not be effectual, and thus we find the brick of olden times to be relatively a third smaller than those of later days. They wasted none, and those which, from greater exposure to the heat, were burnt black, were built into the fronts of houses in ornamental figures of diamonds, crosses, or squares, or perhaps the whole front chequered, as suited the taste of the owners. This custom is believed to have been peculiar (in the American settlements) to the Dutch of New Netherland, and their descendants, as travellers, at a period much later than the one now spoken of, remark upon the appearance of this city, in that particular, as being unlike that of any other place they had visited in the colonies. Valentine's Corp. Manual, N. Y., 1861.
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first rude cabins of the settlers on the shores of the Waale-boght and at "the Ferry," partook of the same general characteristics. The farm-houses on Long Island, however, were more generally con- structed, in a rough but substantial manner, of stone-lighted by narrow windows, containing two small panes of glass-and protected against the " overloopen" or escalading of any savage foe, by strong, well-pointed palisades. Snugness, economy, safety, were the char- acteristics of these country dwellings.
An interesting glimpse at the construction of the ordinary country houses of the day, is afforded by the following translation of a con- tract for the erection of a ferry-house, or tavern, on the Long Island side, for Egbert Van Borsum, the ferry-master, in 1655 :
" We, Carpenters Jan Cornelisen, Abram Jacobsen, and Jan Hendrick- sen, have contracted to construct a house over at the ferry of Egbert Van Borsum, ferry-man, thirty feet long and eighteen feet wide, with an outlet of four feet, to place in it seven girders, with three transome win- dows and one door in the front, the front to be planed and grooved, and the rear front to have boards overlapped in order to be tight, with door and windows therein ; and a floor and garret grooved and planed beneath (on the under side) ; to saw the roof thereon, and moreover to set a window- frame with a glass light in the front side; to make a chimney mantel and to wainscot the fore-room below, and divide it in the centre across with a door in the partition ; to set a window-frame with two glass lights therein ; further to wainscot the east side the whole length of the house, and in the recess two bedsteads, one in the front room and one in the inside room, with a pantry at the end of the bedstead (betste); a winding staircase in the fore-room. Furthermore we, the carpenters, are bound to deliver all the square timber-to wit, beams, posts, and frame timber, with the pillar for the winding staircase, spars, and worm, and girders, and foundation tim- bers required for the work ; also the spikes and nails for the interior work ; also rails for the wainscot are to be delivered by us.
"For which work Egbert Van Borsum is to pay five hundred and fifty guilders (two hundred and twenty dollars), one-third in beavers, one-third in good merchantable wampum, one-third in good silver coin, and free pas- sage over the ferry so long as the work continues, and small beer to be drunk during work.
" We have subsequently contracted with said Egbert Van Borsum to
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build a cellar-kitchen under said house, and to furnish the wood for it- to wit, beams and frame timber. There must be made two door-frames and two circular frames with windows therein, with a stairway to enter it, and to line the stairs in the cellar round about with boards, with a chim- ney mantel in the kitchen, and to groove and plane the ceiling. Egbert must excavate the cellar at his own expense. The carpenters must fur- nish the nails. For this work one hundred guilders (forty dollars) are promised, together with one whole good otter skin. Moreover, Egbert must deliver all the flat wood-work required for the house-to wit, boards and wainscotting.
" Dated 26th April, 1655, at New Amsterdam.
(Signed) " JAN CORNELISEN CLEYN. ""' X,' The Mark of Egbert Van Borsum."
" The word 'betste,' equivalent to the present ' bedstead,' which occurs in this contract," says the source from which we extract the foregoing document, " requires some explanation, as its modern sig- nification is very different from that which it had in those days. The 'betste' was then a part of the house, being constructed like a cupboard in a partition, with doors closing upon it when unoccupied, so that the sleeping apartment of an inn could accommodate several travellers with sleeping accommodations, and yet, in the daytime, the room would answer for a public room, and afford a neat and unencumbered appearance. In houses of more humble pretensions, the 'slaap-banck,' or 'bunk' of modern parlance, was the place of sleeping for travellers.
" To illustrate in a manner which, we doubt not, will give a fair idea of the customs of the Dutch taverns of New Netherlands, such as Van Borsum's, we give the following extract from the journal of one of our citizens,1 who, as a matter of curiosity, visited a part of the Netherlands, where customs have not changed for centuries.
"It was the business of the good vrow, or her maid, to show up the traveller, and open the doors in the smooth partition of the box which was to receive his weary limbs for the night, and which otherwise he might not be able to discover, and after he crept into it, to come back again and blow out the candle, and in the morning
1 Hon. Henry C. Murphy, of Brooklyn.
15
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to draw the curtains of the window at the hour he fixed to rise. There was generally one room in which all the guests were received, and where there was a pleasant reunion in the evening, and all the visitors ate, drank, and smoked. It had in one corner a closet, which, when opened (and, honestly, it was not unfrequently opened), dis- closed sundry decanters, glasses, and black bottles; and, on one side of the room, a rack in which were suspended, by their bowls, a score or two of very long pipes, each one inscribed with the name of a neighbor, its owner. This was the room of Mynheer, the landlord, who found all his occupation here in attending to the pleasure of his guests. He had no care beyond this : his vrow was the head of the house ; she attended to all the wants of the guests, and gave them the information which they might desire. She was always on the spot, as when, with a 'wel te rusten,' like a good mother, she bade you good-night, and when, with a 'hoo-y-reis,' like an old friend, she bade you good-by."
A very interesting description of the manner in which the old farmers of Breuckelen lived, is given by the Labadist travellers, who visited this country in the year 1679. Among others, they visited Simon de Hart, whose old house is yet standing near the Gowanus Cove, at the foot of the present Thirty-eighth street.
" He was very glad to see us, and so was his wife. He took us into the house and entertained us exceedingly well. We found a good fire, half-way up the chimney, of clear oak and hickory, of which they made not the least scruple of burning profusely. We let it penetrate us thoroughly. There had been already thrown upon it, to be roasted, a pail full of Gowanes 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 sometimes ten, twelve, and sixteen to- gether, 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,
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
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 turkey, 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 production 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 owing to its being very late in the season, and these were the last pulling. 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." Early the next morning, they relate that their host and his wife went off to the city, probably in their own boat, with their marketing.1
On another occasion they visited Jacques Cortelyou, in New Utrecht, who had just built an excellent stone house, the best dwell- ing in the place. " After supper," they say, "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, barking 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. Though we could not sleep, we could not complain, inasmuch as 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."?
To return to the domestic architecture of the Dutch on Long Island, we may observe that most of their dwellings were of wood, some few being of brick, and here and there was to be found a sub- stantial stone house. These were all one-story edifices, with either an " overshot," or projecting roof, forming a piazza both on the front and rear ; or the " overshot" in front, with the roof extending on the rear until within a few feet of the ground. The low-browed rooms
1 Coll L. I. Hist. Soc., i. 122, 123.
2 Ibid., i. 178.
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
were unceiled, showing overhead the broad, heavy oak beams, upon which the upper, or garret floor was laid. The fireplaces were usually very large, generally extending, without jambs, to a width sufficient to accommodate the whole family with seats near the fire. The chimneys were capacious, and in them the meat was hung for roast -. ing, or to be "cured" by smoking. The jambs, when the fireplace had any, were usually set around with glazed earthenware tiles, im- ported from Holland, representing scenes and Scriptural subjects, which formed a never-failing source of amusement and instruction to the children, who frequently gained their first Bible instruction from these tile-pictures, aided by the explanations of the elder members of the family. Some of these tiles were of a sort of porcelain or china, with bright-colored pictures of birds and flowers; but these were only found in the houses of the better classes, and were comparatively rare,-those in ordinary use being of a blue delft ware.
Frequently the barns were quite closely connected to the dwelling- houses.
Previous to the English conquest of the Netherlands, the domestic habits and customs of the Dutch were simple and somewhat demo- cratic in their character. The Fatherland was a republic, and the accident of family descent, that element which prevailed so greatly in the formation of English society, could not be recognized, or its distinctions claimed by her colonists in the New World; for it was within the recollection of the older citizens that all had come hither in search of fortune, and had brought little with them in the begin- ning. Some, indeed, through industry or peculiar sagacity, had attained positions of wealth, and consequently of increased influence, yet it might justly be said of the Dutch community, that its social circles were open to all of good character, without regard to business pursuits, 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 formative stage of society -and which, in the natural course of events, could not last long. The advent, however, of the English, many of whom possessed high social connections at home, with all their corresponding habits, etc., infused a change into the social life of the colony, and neces-
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
sarily developed an aristocratic state of society previously un- known.
In the "best room" of every house, whether of the wealthy or humbler class, the 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 patterns ; and the curtains and valance were of as expen- sive 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 Revo- lution, was a drugget cloth, which was spread under the table dur- ing meal-time, when, upon "extra occasions," the table was set in the parlor. But even these were unknown among the inhabitants of Breuckelen and the neighboring towns. The uniform practice, after scrubbing the floor well on certain days, was to place upon the damp boards the fine white beach-sand (of which every family kept a sup- ply on hand, renewing it by trips to the seashore twice a year), arranged in small heaps, which the members of the family were care- ful not to disturb by treading upon ; and, on the following day, when it had become dry, it was swept, by the light and skilful touch of the housewife's broom, into waves or other more fanciful figures. Rag carpets did not make their appearance in Kings County until about the beginning of the present century.
Chairs, straight and high-backed, and ungainly to modern eyes, were mostly of wood, sometimes covered with leather and studded with brass nails, but more frequently seated simply with matted rushes. Tables, for other than kitchen use, were unknown to the earlier Dutch, and for many years to their successors. In the prin- cipal 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 turned up perpendicularly when not in use, and a large square table, with leaves, for use at tea-parties. Looking-glasses, in the early days, were generally small, with narrow black frames ; and window-curtains were of the simplest and cheap- est description, being no better in the best apartments than a strip
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
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, dur- ing the Dutch dynasty, and for some twenty years thereafter, was not used in the ordinary table service, wooden and pewter being then universally in use by all classes. The few articles of china, kept by some for display upon the cupboard, were rarely used on the table ; and, though earthenware came into partial use about 1680, pewter was still the most common up to the period of the Revolution. Among the wealthy, blue and white china and porcelain, curiously ornamented 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 quantities alternately with a bite from the lump of loaf-sugar which was laid beside each guest's plate. Silverware, in the form of tankards, beakers, porringers, spoons, snuffers, candlesticks, 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. The former, many of which still exist among the old families, were quaint specimens of early Dutch printing, with thick covers, and massive brass, and some- times silver, corner-pieces and clasps. The Psalm-Books were also adorned with silver edgings and clasps, and when hung by chains of the same material to the girdle of matrons and maidens fair, were undoubtedly valued by their owners quite as much for the dis- play which they made as for their intrinsic value. It is an inter- esting fact, that the merchants who kept school-books, psalm- books, etc., as a part of their stock, about the middle of the last century, were provided with about an equal number of books in the Dutch and English language; showing that, even at that late period after the termination of the Dutch power, the greater part of the children of Dutch descent continued to be educated in the lan- guage 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
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of household linen, which was then cheaper than cotton; and it was the ambition of every Dutch maiden to take to her husband's house a full and complete stock of such domestic articles.1
As to the means of travelling, the lumber-wagon, and in winter the sleigh, running upon split saplings, and drawn, at a uniform dog- trot pace, by pot-bellied nags, seem to have been the only convey- ance possessed by the Dutchmen who did not wish to ride horse- back or to walk. During the early part of the seventeenth cen- tury, the two-wheeled one-horse chaise came gradually into use, and was the fashionable vehicle up to the time of the Revolution. In riding horseback, the lady did not, as now, ride alone; but was mounted upon a pillow or padded cushion, fixed behind the saddle of the gentleman or servant, upon whose support she was therefore dependent ; and this was the common mode of country travel for ladies at that day, when roads were generally little else than bridle- paths. Side-saddles only came into partial use in the eighteenth century.
The manners of the people were simple, unaffected, and economi- cal. Industry was cultivated by all; every son was brought up to the exercise of some mechanical employment, and every daughter to the knowledge of household duties. In those days, farmers made their own lime, tanned their own leather, often made their own shoes, did their own carpentering, wheelwrighting, and blacksmithing ; while the females spun wool and flax, frequently taking their spin- ning-wheels with them when they went abroad to spend an after- noon with a neighbor's wife.
In regard to the agriculture of the country during its earlier years, we can learn but little. It was probably as good as that of the " Fatherland" at that day, all due allowance being made for the novel and peculiar circumstances which surround the settler in a
1 Furman's Notes (p. 100) preserves the inventory of the estate which a bride in Brooklyn brought to her husband, in the year 1691. The husband, by various records, appears to have been a man of considerable wealth, notwithstanding which, the fol- lowing inventory was thought by both of them of sufficient importance to merit being recorded, viz. :
" A half-worn bed, pillow, 2 cushions of ticking with feathers, one rug, 4 sheets, 4 cushion-covers, 2 iron pots, 3 pewter dishes, 1 pewter basin, 1 iron roaster, 1 schuyrn spoon, 2 cowes about 5 yeares old, 1 case or cupboard, 1 table."
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new and unimproved country, amid the vicissitudes of an untried climate, and the constant danger of molestation and violence from savage foes.
We may mention, however, in this connection, that at the period of the Revolutionary War, the farmers of Kings County were in the habit of raising their own tobacco, and that during the century pre- vious the cultivation of that weed was extensively carried on as an article of exportation,-some of the best tobacco exported to Europe from the American colonies, being raised on the Dutch tobacco plantations around the Wallabout, in the town of Brooklyn.
The farmers of this vicinity, also, for some time previous to the Revolution, had been in the habit of raising cotton,-although prob- ably to a very limited extent, and solely for the domestic uses of their own households. Furman says, in 1836,1 "we have now a bedspread in our family, made of cotton and wool, colored blue and white, and woven in neat and handsome figures, the cotton of which, as well as the wool, was raised on my grandfather's farm in Kings County, L. I., in the year 1775, and which was cleaned, colored, and woven by the women of his family. It is now in use, and in good condition, and is one of the best fabrics I ever saw."
Slavery was also a feature of the domestic history of ante-revolu- tionary times. It had existed from an early period, and formed a considerable branch of the shipping interests of the Dutch. The mercantile value of a prime slave was from $120 to $150, both under the Dutch and English dynasties. And when, from time to time, by natural increase and by importation, the number of slaves accumu- lated beyond the demand, the slave-trade decreased.ยช Almost every domestic establishment of any pretensions in city or country was provided with one or more negro servants. These did the most of the farm labor, and their number was considered as a significant indication of the relative wealth of different families.3
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