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 42
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 42
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 42
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Wednesday, September 7th. One hundred and eighty-four inhab- itants of Hanover Township, Morris County, New Jersey, principally, however, from the village of Parsippany, headed by their pastor, Rev. Mr. Phelps, came over to Brooklyn and labored upon the de- fenses there.
September 23d. The members of the Baptist Church in Mulberry street, New York, under the lead of their eloquent pastor, the Rev. Archibald McClay, rendered an efficient day's work.
By the early part of September, the fortifications whose construc- tion we have thus traced from day to day, were nearly completed, and mounted with heavy artillery. Within the lines was stationed the Twenty-Second Brigade of Infantry, 1,750 strong, composed of the militia of Kings and Queens Counties (the Sixty-Fourth, Ninety- Third, One Hundredth, and One Hundredth and Seventeenth), under command of Brigadier-General Jeremiah Johnson of Brooklyn. They were encamped in front of Fort Greene, along the present line of Hudson street. Kings County furnished the Sixty-Fourth Regi- ment, composed of five companies, of one hundred men each, offi- cered as follows :
Major, Francis Titus, Commanding.
Second Major, Albert C. Van Brunt.
Adjutant, Daniel Barre.
Quartermaster, Albert Van Brunt.
Surgeon, Schoonmaker.
NEW UTRECHT COMPANY .- Captain, William Denyse ; Lieutenants, Barcalo, Vanhise ; Ensign Suydam.
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
BROOKLYN COMPANY.1-Captain, Joseph Dean ;2 Lieutenants, Chas. J. Doughty and John Spader ; Ensign, William A. Mercein.
WALLABOUT AND BUSHWICK COMPANY.3-Captain, Francis Skillman ;ª Lieutenants, Joseph Conselyea and Daniel Lott.
GOWANUS COMPANY .- Captain, Peter Cowenhoven, afterward John T. Bergen ; Lieutenants, John Lott and Adrian Van Brunt.5
GRAVESEND AND FLATBUSH COMPANIES .- Captain, Jeremiah Lott; Lieutenants, Robert Nicholls® and Charles Rapelye; Ensign, Jere- miah Johnson.
This regiment was mustered into the service of the United States, at Bedford, on the 2d of September, 1814, and the men were dis- missed to their homes on the 13th of November ensuing.'
The Star, of 28th, remarks : " We take a great satisfaction in men- tioning the very orderly deportment of the large body of citizen- soldiers now quartered in Brooklyn, towards the inhabitants of the village. The perfect quiet of the village, both of day and night, and even in those parts contiguous to the camp, is honorable to the sol- diers and officers. We hope our citizens are not unmindful of this, and will do all in their power to render the situation of the soldiers comfortable. Many of them have come two hundred miles, leaving all the endearments of domestic and social life, and cheerfully put
1 By order of September 14th, Captain Dean, in addition to his own company, received command of those of Captains Stryker and Herbert, to which were attached Lieutenants Doughty, Spader, and Ensign Mercein. A Muster-Roll of this company will be found in Appendix 11.
.
2 Captain Dean, who is now living, and to whom we are greatly indebted for valuable information relative to the War of 1812, was commissioned Ensign in the Sixty-Fourth Regiment of Kings County Militia, March 18, 1809; Captain in same regiment, Febru- ary 29, 1812 ; Brigade Major and Inspector of Twenty-Second Brigade, June 21, 1815 ; commissioned as same Inspector of the Forty-Fourth Brigade, to take rank from former date, July 8, 1816 ; as Colonel (the first ever commissioned in Kings County, in place of Lieutenant-Colonel) of the Sixty-Fourth Regiment, March 4, 1817.
3 The Bushwick Company, Captain Van Cott, and Joseph Conselyea, Lieutenant, was consolidated with Captain Skillman's company.
4 Francis Skillman, appointed Ensign, March 23, 1796 ; Captain, April 7, 1807 ; Major, May 10, 1815.
5 Adrian Van Brunt was first Ensign, then Lieutenant, then Adjutant.
6 Robert Nicholls, the late worthy President of the Brooklyn Gas Company, was made Captain and placed in command of Fort Swift-relieving Captain Spader, then in command.
7 The house of John R. Duryea was designated as the alarm-post of the Sixty-Fourth Regiment ..
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
up with all the privations connected with the life of a soldier. Let those who are exulting in their fortunate exemption be not unmind- ful of our brave defenders."
In addition to these, there was also stationed at Brooklyn a bri- gade under command of Brigadier-General Samuel Haight, consist- ing of some 1,800 men, mostly from the northern part of the State. They were discharged from service about the same time as John- son's brigade, and their place at Fort Greene was supplied by Colo- nel Bogardus' regiment, Forty-First United States Regulars, to- gether with the Albany Rifles and Trojan Greens, who were ordered up from Camp Lewis, at New Utrecht.1 Fortunately, however, the storm of war was averted, and Brooklyn was saved from again be- coming the scene of warlike strife. On Saturday evening, Febru- ary 11th, 1815, the glorious news of an honorable peace was received, amid general rejoicings, which was testified by illuminations, bon- fires, etc. On the 20th of that month New York city was illuminated in honor of the event, and Brooklyn followed the example in hand- some style on the evening of the 21st, when, among other demon- strations, the fine band of the Forty-First United States Regiment, then stationed here, serenaded the inhabitants, and " all went merry as a marriage bell."
1 See Annual Message (Sept. 30, 1814) of Gov. D. D. Tompkins. There were also in camp, Captain J. T. Bergen's New Utrecht Company ; Captain John Lott's, jr., Flat- lands Company ; Captain Areson's Flushing Company ; Captain Van Wyck's Jamaica Company ; Captain Leverich's Newtown Company ; and another under Captain Skid- more.
APPENDICES.
APPENDICES.
APPENDIX I .- (PAGE 16.)
DEED BOOK VII .- (Doc. Hist. N. Y., p. 49.)
NEW YORK, february 14; 1684-5.
The Deposicon of Catelina Trico aged fouer score yeares or thereabouts taken before the right honorable Collo Thomas Dongan Leut and Gover- nour under his Roy" high" James Duke of Yorke and Albany etc. of N. York and its Dependeyes in America who saith and Declares in the p"sens of God as followeth
That she Came to this Province either in the yeare one thousand six hundred and twenty three or twenty fouer to the best of her remembrance, and that fouer Women Came along with her in the same Shipp, in which ship the Governo' Arian Jorissen Came also over, which fouer Women were married at Sea and that they and their husbands stayed about three Weekes at this place and then they with eight seamen more went in a vessell by ord' of the Dutch Governo", to Dellaware River and there settled. This I certify under my hand and ye seale of this provine.
THO. DONGAN.
(N. Y. Col. MSS. XXV .- Doc. Hist. N. Y., pp. 50, 51.)
Catelyn Trico aged about 83 years born in Paris doth Testify and De- clare that in ye year 1623 she came into this Country wth a Ship called ye Unity whereof was Commander Arien Jorise belonging to ye West India Company being ye first Ship y' came here for ye sª Company ; as soon as they came to Mannatans now called N : York they sent Two families & six men to harford River & Two families & 8 men to Delaware River and 8 men they left att N : Yorke to take Possession and ye Rest of ye Passen- gers went wth ye Ship up as farr as Albany which they then Called fort Orangie When as ye Ship came as farr as Sopus which is ¿ way to Alba-
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
nie; they lightned ye Ship wth some boats ye were left there by ye Dutch that had been there ye year before a tradeing wth ye Indians upont there oune accompts & gone back again to Holland & so brought ye vessel up; there were about 18 families abroad who settled themselves att Albany & made a small fort; and as soon as they had built themselves some hutts of Bark : ye Mahikanders or River Indians. ye Maquase : Oneydes : Onnon- dages Cayougas. & Sinnekes, wth ye Mahawawa or Ottawawaes Indians came & made Covenants of friendship wth ye sª Arien Jorise there Com- mander Bringing him great Presents of Bever o' oy" Peltry & desyred that they might come & have a Constant free Trade with them wch was concluded upon & ye sª nations came dayly with great multidus of Bever & traded them wth ye Christians, there sª Comman" Arien Jorise staid with them all winter and sent his sonne home with ye sª Deponent lived in Al- bany three years all which time ye sª Indians were all quiet as Lambs & came & Traded with all ye freedom Imaginable, in ye year 1626 ye Depo- nent came from Albany & settled at N : Yorke where she afterwards for many years and then came to Long Island where she now lives
The sd Catelyn Trico made oath of ye sª Deposition before me at her house on Long Island in ye Wale Bought this 17th day of October 1688. WILLIAM MORRIS Justice of ye pece
It will be seen that these depositions of Catalina Trico do not substan- tiate the statement hitherto made by our historians concerning the early settlement, at the " Waal-Boght," of the Walloons. (See Note 2, p. 25, of this volume.) One of these historians, Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan, of Albany, corrects his earlier error by very kindly placing at our disposal the follow- ing translation of a Minute of the Dutch Council, which establishes the date of the first settlement on the West end of Long Island.
(N. Y. Col. MSS. X., Part iii., p. 93.)
The Director General & Council of New Netherlands hereby certify and declare at the request of John Cooper an inhabitant of Southampton on Long Island, that it is true and truthful that the six or seven Englishmen who attempted to settle in the year 1640 on Long Island in Schout's bay,
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APPENDICES.
were removed from there by order of the Director General and Council then in office, as appears by the extract annexed, and about the middle of May of the aforesaid year 1640, after they had by their own declaration, pulled down the Arms of their High Mightinesses long before set up there, and put a Fool's head instead, after this westerly part of Long Island had, about eight years before, to wit in the year 1632, begun to be settled and populated by their High Mightinesses' subjects; 8 or 9 years before any other nation had settled themselves on any part of Long Island. Dated 10 March 1664.
In regard to the derivation and meaning of the name " Waal-Boght," we take this opportunity of giving the opinion of that excellent scholar, Mr. SAMUEL ALOFSEN, of Jersey City, who (in the Literary World, No. 68, May 20, 1848) maintains that the locality was named by the early Dutch settlers prior to the arrival of the Walloons; and, of course, without refer- ence to their settlement there. The name, he thinks,-like that portion of the City of Amsterdam which bears the same appellation,-is derived from "EEN WAAL"-a basin of a harbor, or an inner harbor-and "EEN BOGT," a bend ; and, like its European namesake, signifies " The Bend of the Inner Harbor."
APPENDIX II .- (PAGE 26.)
INDIAN DEED OF BUSHWICK .- (N. Y. Col. MSS. G. G., 27.)
WE, THE DIRECTOR GENERAL AND COUNCIL OF NEW NETHERLANDS, residing on the Island Manhates in Fort Amsterdam, under the jurisdiction of their High Mightinesses the Lords States General of the United Netherlands, and the Incorporated West India Company, Chamber at Amsterdam, acknowledge and declare that on this day, the date underwritten, before us in their proper persons appeared and came forward Kakapoteyno, Menqueuw & Suwirau, Chiefs of Keskaechquerem, in the presence of the subscribing witnesses and voluntarily and most deliberately declare with consent of the Tribe (gemeente), for and in consideration of Eight fathoms of Duffels, Eight fathoms of Wampum, Twelve Kettles, Eight Adzes and Eight axes, with some Knives, Beads, Awl blades, (which they acknowledge
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
to have received into their hands and power to their full satisfaction and contentment before the execution hereof,) to have ceded, transported, con- veyed and transferred as they do hereby transport, cede, convey and trans- fer in a true, right and free property, to and for the behoof of the Honble Directors of the General Incorporated West India Company, Chamber at Amsterdam, a certain parcel of land situate on Long Island, south of the Island Manhates extending in the length from George Rapaelje's planta- tion called Rinnegackonck eastward one mile and a half to Mespaechtes and in breadth from the East river about one mile unto the Cripplebush of said Mespaechtes, and that with all the action and right to them belonging &c. In Witness these presents are confirmed with our usual signature and seal, depending herefrom. Done on the Island Manhates, Fort Amster- dam this 1st August aº 1638
MAURITS JANSEN Witnesses
CLAES VAN ELSTANT
To my Knowledge
CORNELIS VAN TIENHOVEN Secretary.
APPENDIX III .- (PAGE 36.)
PETITION OF THE INHABITANTS OF LONG ISLAND .- (Col. MSS., pp. 416, 417.)
WE, the undersigned, inhabitants and subjects residing on Long Island, under the jurisdiction of the Honble Lords, the Mighty Lords States General of the United Netherlands, the Serene Prince, his Highness, and the General Incorporated West India Company, and under your Honble Government.
Request with all humble submission-whereas, a short time ago the scum of this place, which is justly called our fatherland, hath revolted " against the righteous side, our common friends; and whereas, we see their preparation for hostilities tending to the ruin and destruction of the inhab- itants who are under the necessity of earning by steady labor, in fields and wood, food and support for their wives and children, each for himself, and conjointly for us all, regarding the inconveniences which must spring there- from, do request as above, and humbly pray, in all respectful obedience- that we, in general, may be granted and allowed such public enemy to ruin and conquer, and, further, from time to time, unto the establishment
417
APPENDICES.
of our common peace and welfare, so that at once the previous and much wished for peace of this place may be and remain permanent. This day in the name of us all.
GERRIT WOLFFERSEN, JACOB WOLFERSEN,
(Signed)
DIRCK WOLFMAN, HANS HANSEN [Bergen],
LAMBERT HUYBERTSEN MOL.
POSTEL.
We cannot, at present, resolve to attack the Indians at Mareckkawick, as they have not given us hitherto any provocation, and as it would draw down an unrighteous war upon our heads, especially as we are well assured that they would be on their guard and hard to beat, and apparently excite more enemies, and be productive of much injury to us, whilst we trust that it will, through God's mercy, now result in a good issue.
But in case they evince a hostile disposition, every man must do his best to defend himself.
Meanwhile each must be on his guard and arm himself, as is done here, according as time and circumstances shall best determine.
In presence of the Honble Director, the Fiscal, Everardus Bogardus, preacher, Hendrick van Dyck, Ghysbert Op Dyck, and Oloff Stevenson. Done the 27th of February, Aº 1643 in Fort Amsterdam. New Nether- lands.
It may, perhaps, seem strange to our readers that we have not, in the earlier part of this history, given some extended notice of the Indians who inhabited the territory now occupied by the City of Brooklyn. We omitted to do so, because the subject was obscure at the best; because the Indians of Brooklyn resembled Indians elsewhere in every respect; and because the very little that is known of their political divisions, their habits, etc., etc., has already been sufficiently stated in our State and Island Histories-of which we refer our reader to O'Callaghan's Hist. of New Neth., i., p. 49; Brodhead's Hist. N. Y., i., p. 73; Thompson's Hist. L. I., i., pp. 93-95; Furman's Notes on Brooklyn, pp. 5, 6 ; and Prime's Hist. L. I., pp. 90-120. It will suffice to say here, in addition to what has already been stated in our text, that the Marechawiecks, who inhabited Brooklyn, were of the
418
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
Canarsee tribe, which occupied Kings County and a part of Jamaica, and which held its council fires probably at Flatlands, at the place yet known as Canarsee.
APPENDIX IV .- (PAGE 45.)
A VISIT TO BROOKLYN, IN HOLLAND .- (From the Brooklyn Eagle, Sept. 12, 1859.)
" The village lies for the most part between the main road and the stream, and consists of three or four hundred houses, accommodating about 1,500 inhabitants. It is a very old place; the houses are small and dull with age, the few streets which intersect it are very irregular, and the people apparently without enterprise or thrift. There were a few large houses, especially three or four, intended for refreshments or resorts for the village topers. The Reformed Church is rather a commodious building with a handsome spire. But upon the whole the impression of the interior of the town was not pleasing. We went through the main road in both directions; for as we were probably the first natives of Brooklyn who had ever visited it,-as least so far as any known record goes,-we determined to see it thoroughly. We found, when we got out to the fields, snug resi- dences surrounded with flowers and duck ponds, and every thing around them in perfect neatness and order. On one side of the village we entered a little covert of shrubbery laid out in walks, and containing perhaps half an acre of ground. This was the village park,-a sign of living taste, and we began to have a better feeling about the place. We at length crossed the bridge which spans the Vecht and connects the two communities of Breukelen Nijenrodes and Breukelen St. Pieters. It is in the former that the village of Breukelen is situated ; the latter is entirely a rural district.
"The view from the point we had now reached was charming. Nothing can exceed the quiet beauty of the scene. The Vecht is about an hundred yards wide, and its waters flow sluggishly along on an unchanged level from one end of the year to the other, meandering through green meadows and in front of plain but substantial country houses, which show every sign of comfort as well as antiquity. The village reposes upon it a picture of perfect indolence. All along the margin of the river are koepels or tea houses belonging to the dwellings of the town; though these summer- houses are the least ornamental, as a whole, that we have seen any where, being, without exception, plain square buildings, ten or twelve feet either
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APPENDICES.
way. A little garden connects them with the houses, which are not much larger, and in the midst of which, towering high over all, rises the church spire. I have before alluded to the practice of giving a name to every resi- dence which can raise a koepel. It prevails here as elsewhere, and each one has its designation accordingly painted upon it, such as Vrede Vecht, Vechten dorp, Vecht en hof, Boom en bosh, and the like. Some have names of a Greek origin apparently, as Hodorama and Potorama. On the side of the river-the east side, which we had now reached-and directly opposite the village, stands the ancient Castle of Gunsterstein- the abode formerly of Oldenbarneveld-venerable martyr to party ven- geance. It has been modernized, the towers and turrets have been re- moved, and it now presents a perfect pattern of one of that class of build- ings in our country which delights in white paint and a cupola in the middle of the roof. It is, however, surrounded still by a moat, and has fine large trees in the park behind it.
"Breukelen cannot be considered a celebrity, unless it may acquire a reflected lustre from its greater namesake. It has given birth to no genius whose name is great even within the circumscribed limits of these provinces. It is, however, famous for its antiquity, if we may credit the marvellous, but still well authenticated fact that, in rebuilding the tower of the church, one hundred and fifty years ago, they discovered, under the foundation, coffins of stone, eight, ten, and twelve feet long, containing the bones of a gigantic race of men, whose existence is more ancient than tradition. The town lies in the midst of a marshy district, and hence its name; for Breuk- elen-pronounced Brurkeler-means marsh land. And on this point I may quote a writer, with whom all the Dutch authorities on the subject concur, inasmuch as our home chroniclers have labored under a misappre- hension upon the subject. 'In all probability,' says the author of the Kabinet van Nederlandsche en Kleefsche Outheden, 'the name has the same origin as Maarssen, namely, from its marshy and watery turf lands- (van de drassige en broeckactige veen landen); and, although the name is spelled in ancient documents and letters Bracola, Broecke, Broeckede, Broicklede, and Brocklandia, they all indicate one and the same origin.'
" There are some curious points of coincidence both as regards the name and situation of the Dutch Breukelen and our Brooklyn. The name with us was originally applied exclusively to the hamlet which grew up along the main road now embraced within Fulton Avenue, and between Smith street and Jackson street, and we must, therefore, not confound it with the
420
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
settlements at the Waaleboght, Gowanus, and the Ferry,-now Fulton Fer- ry,-which were entirely distinct, and were not embraced within the gen- eral name of Brooklyn, until after the organization of the township of that name by the British Colonial Government. Those of our citizens who re- member the lands on Fulton avenue near Nevins street and De Kalb Avenue before the changes which were produced by the filling in of those streets, will recollect that their original character was marshy and springy, . being in fact the bed of the valley which received the drain of the hills extending on either side of it from the Waaleboght to Gowanus Bay. This would lead almost to the conclusion that the name was given on ac- count of the locality ; but though we have very imperfect accounts as to who were the first settlers of Brooklyn proper, still reasoning from analogy in the cases of New Utrecht and New Amersfoort, we cannot probably err in supposing that Brooklyn owes its name to the circumstance that its first settlers wished to preserve in it a memento of their homes in Fatherland. After the English conquest, there was a continual struggle between the Dutch and English orthography. Any one who will take the trouble to consult the colonial laws and our County records, will find quite as great a variety of spelling of the name in them as in the Dutch Chronicles of Breukelen. Thus it is spelled Breucklyn, Breuckland, Brucklyn, Broucklyn, Brookland, Brookline, and several other ways. At the end of the last century it settled down into the present Brooklyn. In this form it still retains sufficiently its original signification of the marsh or brook land."
APPENDIX V .- (PAGE 62.)
COPY OF AN ORIGINAL PAPER IN THE ARCHIVES OF THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
This paper, presented to the Society by Peter A. Jay, gives some curious information in relation to the localities occupied by Jacob Hanse and Jores Hanse (two sons of Hans Hansen Bergen), and by their descendants. The paper is endorsed :
" ISRAEL HORSEFIELD, ads. Copy of what witnesses can say."
ON D. OF HANS BERGEN.
Also endorsed in handwriting of Governor John Jay, "see Remsen's Evid. respecting Nutten's Island." Underneath is the following endorse-
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APPENDICES.
ment by Peter A. Jay : "The first two pages of these notes are, I believe, in the handwriting of John Chambers, an eminent counsel, afterwards Judge of the Supreme Court of the Colony-the note on the margin is in the writing of John Jay, his nephew and executor of his widow.
"P. A. JAY."
The trial appears to have taken place in 1741, but no records have been seen throwing light upon its results.
" Gerrit Dortland says he is 86 years of age. Was born at the ferry, and lived after at Brookland ; knew Frederick Lubbert's land since a boy, says that he knew where Frederick Lubbertse lived, which is S. Westward of Sebring's mill,1 and it was commonly esteemed that Frederick Lub- bertse's line was near to his house. Remember Joost Francey in posses- sion of land that George Bergen and Israel now have; fences went to the creek, about sixty years since he knew them; has now seen the fences and think they stand as then. Remembers Jane Evertse Bout in possession of Bevois land, was a man of 75, and married a girl of 16. Says he help't him to make his fences; work't there two years and fences stood as now, was then about 23 years old ; never then heard that Frederick Lubbertse made any pretension to these lands nor any for his right till now.
" Maritie Bevois says is aged 84 years, near 85, was born in New York ; it's last May 63 years since she came to live at Brookland; knew Freder- ick Lubbertse lived where Hans Bergen now lives. Remembers was going to the place where Brewer's mille is now from Brookland by the house of Lubbertse and saw many little hills in the way from the house to the mill along the neck and enquired what the hills were, and was answered by them with her that it was the Indian corn land; knows where Mauchonell lived a little below Tommeties; knew the land of George Bergen to have belonged to Maritie Gerritse, or Ex. She let it to Israel Francey (Mara- tie Ex.) lived at New York. She remembers Francey on it about 60 years ago, that Francey lived on it till Maratie sold it to George Hanse, father of George Bergen. Remembers it to be always in fence, and that the fences stood as they now stand and the same of the other lotts; has lived at Brookland ever since she removed from York as before.
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