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 9
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 9
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 9
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1 N. Y. Col. MSS., iii. 100.
2 Conveyances, liber iv. 309, 336, Kings County Reg. office. Aert Anthonize (or Teuni- sen) Middag, the ancestor of the Middag family of Brooklyn, married Breckje (or Re- becca), second daughter of Hans Hansen Bergen and Sarah Rapalje; and on the 24th of October, 1654, together with his wife's step-father, Teunis Gysbert (Bogaert), received a patent for "a piece of land lying on Long Island, named Cripplebush," adjoining the land of Joris Rapalje, and containing 100 acres. This is supposed to be the land since owned by Folkert Rapalje, in the Wallabout, and the patent is not recorded. Middagh was an early resident of the Waal-boght, where his children were born. They were (1), Jan, baptized Dec. 24, 1662, who signed his name Jan Aersen, and married Adri- aentje, daughter of Cornelis de Potter (mentioned on pp. 76, 77), and owned some 200 acres on the East River, west of Fulton street, since known as the Comfort and Joshua Sands property ; (2), Garret, who married, in 1691, Cornelia Janse Cowenhoven, and had a farm of thirty acres, near the ferry, on the west side of the present Fulton, near Henry street ; (3), Direk, who married, and, as well as his brother, had children.
The farm of Garret Middagh, above-mentioned, may be described as bounded, on our present maps, by Fulton street, a line midway between and parallel to Henry and Hicks streets, and a line about midway between Pierrepont and Clarke streets. It descended to his son Aert, and in 1827, when the property had become valuable, on account of the expansion of the village, a lawsuit occurred in the family as to the pro- visions of his will. The family name is now extinct, being only commemorated by a street on the Heights. A portion of the old Middagh mansion is, however, standing on Fulton street, just below Henry street.
6
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
leaving a widow and four children, two of whom were by a former wife. The late General Jeremiah Johnson married Remsen's daughter by his first wife, who died within a year, leaving a child, who also died in infancy. Johnson, having thus become a tenant by coutesy for life, subsequently conveyed his interest to his brother-in-law, Cornelius Remsen. He failed, after two years, and the estate being sold under judgment, was purchased, for the sum of $17,000, by John Jackson, Esq., who afterwards bought the rights of the widow and remaining children, and became the owner of the whole property. Forty acres of this tract was purchased from Mr. Jackson by Francis Childs, a middle-man, who, on the 23d of February, 1801, conveyed it to the United States Govern- ment, which has ever since occupied it as a navy-yard.
XIII.
Next to the Haes patent came that granted to HANS LODEWYCK, November 3d, 1645,
" containing 14 morgen and 494 rods, lying next to the land of Michael Picet, extending exactly such as the surveyor has laid it out."1
It is possible, however, that other lands may have been patented between those of Haes and Lodewyck, and that the latter had no river or meadow front.
XIV.
MICHAEL PICET, a Frenchman, and referred to as owner of the farm adjoining Lodewyck's, did not remain in possession long, as, on February 19, 1646, it was granted to WILLEM CORNELISSEN.2 It contained twenty-five morgen "in the bend of Marechkawick, with the marsh (salt meadow) of the breadth of the aforesaid land," and was probably of the same general dimensions as the adjoining farms. Cornelissen transported the property, January 22, 1654, to Paulus Leendersen Vander Grift, "for the use and behoof of" one Charles Gabrey, and it was subsequently confirmed, 1668, to the said
1 Patents, G G, 127.
2 Ibid., 135.
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
Vander Grift. Gabrey afterwards fled from the country, and the estate being confiscated, was again granted by the Governor, July 12, 1673, to Michael Heynall, Dirck Jansen, and Jeronimus Ra- palie.1
XV.
PETER CÆSAR ITALIEN, elsewhere called Cæsar Alberti,2 received from Governor Kieft, June 17, 1643, a grant of land
" for a tobacco plantation, lying in the bend of Marechkawieck, next to Peter Montfoort's on the east side, and Michael Picet on the west; ex- tending along the marsh 57 rods, and along the land of Peter Montfoort, in a southerly direction, towards and into the woods, in the length, 270 rods : amounting to 24 morgens and 250 rods."
On May 1, 1647, he received an addition to the westerly side of his farm, two hundred and twenty rods in length and twenty-eight and a half rods in breadth, provided it could be done without preju- dice to his neighbors.3 On the 17th of May, 1647, " Jacques Cor- telyou, as vendue-master and as attorney of the heirs and children of Peter Ceser Italian," and the "Deacons" of the City of New York, conveyed to John Damon the above patent, in which the premises are described as
" stretching along the middow 57 rods, and along the land of Pieter Montfoort, southward, into the woods, in the length, 270 rods ; and after in the bosch (woods), broad, 57 rods; and then again to the middow, alongst Michile fransman (Frenchman, ¿. e., Michael Picet) to the middow, 270 rod : amounting to 24 morgen 450 rod."
The heirs and children also executed a conveyance, confirming that of Cortelyou.
May 10th, 1695, the above property, with the exception of six acres previously sold to Garret Middagh, was conveyed by John Damon, and Fitie his wife, of the Wallabout, to William Huddle-
1 Gen. Entries, iv. 287; Kings County Conveyances, lib. i. 89.
2 Pieter Cæsar Alberti was the ancestor of the Alburtus family. (See Annals of New- town.)
3 Patents, G G, 65.
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
stone, of the city of New York, who also received, August 8th, 1695, from the attorney of John and William Alburtis, children of Peter Ceser, a confirmatory conveyance, in which the premises are estimated at one hundred-acres. On the 2d of May, 1696, William Huddlestone, and Sarah his wife, conveyed the above patent to John Damon.
These two farms, of Peter Cæsar Italien (which had a river or meadow front of six hundred and ninety-nine feet three inches) and that of Picet, comprised the land now lying between Clermont and Hampden avenues.
XVI.
PETER MONTFOORT received, May 29th, 1641, from Governor Kieft, a patent for
" land on Long Island, extending from Jan Montfoort's land to Pieter the Italian's, in breadth 300 paces, (extending) with the same breadth straight into the woods."1 On the 19th August, 1643, it was confirmed by a patent wherein it is more particularly described as "a piece of land for a tobacco plantation, lying on Long Island, in the bend of Marechka- wieck, bounded by Jan Montfoort on the east, and Pieter Italien on the west, extending along the marsh into the woods, 70 rods ; and 220 rods along the land of Jan Montfoort, to the woods, 70 rods; again to the marsh, in a northerly course, 227 rods, along the land of Peter the Italian : amounting to 25 morgens and 8 rods.""2
On May 1, 1647, he received a grant of an addition to the west- erly side of the above land, two hundred and twenty rods square, "provided it did not interfere with other grants." Pieter Mont- foort's land had a river or meadow front of about nine hundred feet, and is now comprised between Hamilton avenue and a line a little beyond the line of Clermont avenue.3
XVII.
JAN MONTFOORT (probably a brother of Peter Montfoort) received, at the same time, May 29, 1641, a grant from Governor Kieft of a
1 Patents, G G, 39.
2 Patents, G G, 63 ; Valentine's Mannal, 1851, p. 473.
8 Designated on map as farms of John and Jeremiah Spader.
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
piece of land on Long Island, adjoining the farm of Rapalie on the east, and that of Peter Montfoort on the west, " in the breadth 350 paces, and so straight into the woods." In a second patent, dated December 1, 1643, the land is described as lying
" on the bend of the Marechkawieck, betwixt the land of Jorse (George) Rapalie on the east side, and the land of Peter Montfoort on the west side ; extending along the marsh 88 rods ; and along the land of the said Jorse Rapalie, in a southerly direction, into the woods, 210 rods; and behind, in the woods, in the breadth, 88 rods; the breadth ( ¿. e., length) to ( ¿. e., from) the marsh to the marsh, 210 rods : making and amounting in all to 28 morgen."1
In 1647 Montfoort's widow received a grant of an addition to the rear of the above land, of the same breadth, and one hundred and ninety rods in length. The Montfoort land, which had a river or meadow front of about 1,078 feet, was identical with that now located between Hamilton and Grand avenues, and described on our map as farms late of John and Jacob Ryerson. These were sons of Martin, who originally owned the whole tract, and who was a descendant of Marten Ryerse,2 an emigrant from Amsterdam, and first husband of Annetie, daughter of Joris Janse de Rapalie.
XVIII.
JORIS (GEORGE) JANSEN DE RAPALIE, who is supposed to have been a proscribed Huguenot, from Rochelle in France, came to this country in 1623, in the ship Unity, with Catalina Trico, his wife, and settled first at Fort Orange, near Albany, from whence he removed, in 1626, to New Amsterdam. Here, in the occupancy of a homestead on the north side of the present Pearl street, and adjoining the south side of the fort, he resided for more than
1 Patents, G G, 40.
2 Marten Ryerse was a brother of Adriaen Ryerse, of Flatbush. The patronymic, Ryerse, was retained by Marten's descendants, who are now quite numerous, and known as Ryersons. Adriaen had two sons, Elbert and Marten Adriaense. The first settled in Flushing, and his posterity bear the name Adriance; while Marten re- mained in Flatbush, and his descendants form the Martence family. See Riker, Hist. Newtown, 269, 386.
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
twenty-two years, and until after the birth of his youngest child, in 1650. During a portion of these years he was an innkeeper or tapster, and his name frequently occurs as such upon the books of the Burgomaster's Court until 1654. That he possessed the confi- dence of his fellow-citizens is evidenced by the fact, that in August, 1641, he was one of the Twelve Men representing Manhattan, Breuckelen, and Pavonia, chosen for the purpose of deliberating upon measures necessary to be adopted to punish the Indians for the murders which they had committed. About 1654,1 he probably removed his permanent residence to his farm at the " Waal-boght ;" for in 1655, '56, '57, and 1660, he was one of the magistrates of Breuckelen, with which town his whole subsequent life was identi- fied.
The Waal-boght farm consisted of a tract of land which he had purchased on the 16th of June, 1637, from its Indian proprietors, Kakapeteyno and Pewichaas, and called " Rinnegackonck," situated on Long Island, south of the Island of Manhattan, and
" extending from a certain kill (creek) till into the woods, south and east- ward, to a certain swamp (Kreuplebush), to a place where the water runs over the stones."? This was confirmed to him by a patent from Governor Kieft, dated June 17, 1643, wherein it is more fully described as "a piece of land, called Rennagaconck, formerly purchased by him from the In- dians, as will appear by reference to the transport, lying on Long Island, in the bend of Marechkawieck (i. e., the Wallabout Bay), east of the land of Jan Montfoort, extending along the said land, in a southerly direction, towards and into the woods, 242 rods ; by the kill and marsh, easterly, up, 390 rods; at the Sweet marsh, 202 rods on a southerly direction, into the woods; and behind, into the woods, 384 rods, in a westerly direction ; and certain outpoints next to the marsh : amounting in all to the contents of 167 morgens and 406 rods" (about 335 acres).3
On this tract, which may be described in general terms as com- prising the lands now occupied by the United States Marine Hos- pital, and those embraced between Nostrand and Grand avenues, in
1 Riker's Newtown, p. 267. The sale of his house and lot in the city, on the 22d June, 1654, probably fixes the date of his removal to the Wallabout.
9 Patents, G G, 20. 3 Ibid., 64.
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
the present city of Brooklyn,1 and on the easterly side of the Waal- boght, Rapalie spent the remainder of his life, dying soon after the close of the Dutch administration, and having had eleven children. The property then passed into the hands of his eldest son, Jeroni- mus, a prominent citizen, being a justice of the peace, as well as a deacon of the Breuckelen church. After his death, it was occupied by his son Jeronimus, who, in 1755, sold it to his son-in-law, Martin Schenck. At the death of the latter, it was devised to his two sons, Martin, junior, and Lambert, together with their sister, the wife of Francis Skillman .? Lambert died unmarried, and his portion fell to his brother Martin, and his sister, Mrs. Skillman. Martin sold to the United States Government the present Marine Hospital grounds, and Mrs. Skillman sold to Samuel Jackson the Johnson farm.
The parcel designated on the map as the land of Garret Nostrand was conveyed by Joris Rapelje to Jeronimus Remsen, in 1714;3 and by him, in 1719, to John Van Nostrand; and by him, in 1729, to Daniel Rapelje. He devised it, in 1765, to Garret Nostrand, with legacies to his sister, which, in 1770, were satisfied, and he remained in possession until his death, in 1789.4 It then came into possession of his son John, who died intestate, in 1795, leaving no issue.
The facts stated (on pages 23, 24) concerning the Bennett and Bentyn purchase and settlement at Gowanus in 1636, completely disprove the claims which Tradition (aided by the misapprehension of our earlier historians) has set up in behalf of Rapalie as being the first actual white settler of Brooklyn. Of the similar and con- nected traditionary error, which has so long given to his eldest daughter, Sarah, the honor of having been the first white child born in Brooklyn, we shall speak in another place.6 His widow, Catalyntie, died, Sept. 11, 1689, aged eighty-four.
1 Designated on map as lands of Gen. Johnson, J. F. and E. P. Delaplaine, Jackson, Skillman, and Teunis Cowenhoven ; together with woodland in the Hills ( ¿. e., where the Penitentiary is), and some meadow-land where the City Park now is.
2 Father of John Skillman.
3 King's County Conveyances, lib. D. 82, 83, 84.
4 Will in King's County Surrogate's office, lib. ii. 46.
5 See discussion of her husband, Hans Hansen Bergen's patent.
6 The two Labadist travellers, who visited the colony in 1679, have, fortunately for us, preserved in their journal an account of a visit which they paid to Catalina, the
88
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
XIX.
On the 30th of March, 1647, HANS HANSEN BERGEN, or "Hans the Boore,"1 as he was sometimes familiarly called, received a patent for 200 morgens (400 acres) of land on Long Island, being a portion of the extensive purchase made by Governor Kieft, in 1638, from the Indian proprietors .? It is described as lying
" on the kil of Joris Rapalje," from whose house "it extends north by east till to Lambert Huybertsen's (Moll) plantation ; further on (to) the kil of Jan de Sweede,3 according to the old marks, till to the kil of Mes- paechtes (Newtown Creek), to and along the Cripplebush ; further to the division line of Dirck Volkertsen's land, which he purchased from Wilcox, and the division of Herry Satley."4
This tract of land extended from the Creek of Runnegaconck to the present Division avenue, which formerly marked the boundary between the cities of Williamsburgh and Brooklyn. Following the direction of this avenue to near its intersection with Tenth street, it there passed over it and stretched in a somewhat southeasterly
widow of Joris Janse de Rapalie, then in her seventy-fourth year : " Mr. De la Grange with his wife came to ask us to accompany them in their boat to the Wale-bocht, a place situated on Long Island, almost an hour's distance below the city, directly opposite Corlaer's Hook. He had an old aunt and other friends living there. . We reached the bay in about two hours. This is a bay tolerably wide, where the water rises and falls much ; and is at low water very shallow, and much of it dry. The aunt of De la Grange is an old Walloon from Valenciennes, seventy-four years old. She is worldly-minded, living with her whole heart, as well as body, among her progeny, which now number 145, and will soon reach 150. Nevertheless she lived alone by herself, a little apart from the others, having her little garden, and other conven- iences, with which she helped herself." (L. I. Hist. Soc. Coll., i. 341, 342.)
Thus peacefully and pleasantly passed the later years of this " mother of New York," who, with her mission fulfilled, still active, and with habits of industry begotten by her pioneer life, now reposed contented amid the love and respectful attentions of her kin- dred and her descendants.
1 Riker's Newtown, 16.
2 See page 26, and Appendix 2.
3 For lands of "Jan the Sweede," see chapter on " Early Settlers and Patents of Bushwick." "The Sweede's Kill," now Bushwick Creek, probably then came up as far as the bounds of the old Village of Williamsburgh.
4 Patents, G G, 205.
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
direction, probably as far as the head of Newtown Creek, in the neighborhood of Vandervoort avenue and Montrose street. This patent, therefore, was situated partly in Brooklyn and partly in Bushwick, comprising lands designated on Butt's map as belonging to General Jeremiah Johnson, James Scholes, Abraham Remsen, Abraham Boerum, Abraham Meserole, McKibbin, and Nichols, Powers, Schenck, Mills, and others, including the settlement known as " Bushwick Cross Roads,"' and the meadows adjoining Newtown.
Hans Hansen Bergen, the common ancestor of the Bergen family of Long Island and New Jersey, was a native of Bergen, in Norway, from whence he emigrated to Holland. From thence, in 1633, he came, probably with Van Twiller, the second Director-General, to Nieuw Netherland. For several years he was a resident of Nieuw Amsterdam, where he owned a lot on the present Pearl street, abutting on the fort, and adjoining that of Joris Jansen de Rapalje, his future father-in-law. In 1638 he appears to have been engaged in a tobacco plantation, either on Andries Hudde's or the West India Company's land ; and in 1639 he married Sarah, the daughter of Joris Janse de Rapalje, born, according to the family record, on the 9th of June, 1625, and who was reputed to be the first white child born in the colony of Nieuw Netherland." From the tenor of a
1 Riker also says, in his Hist. of Newtown, 18: "The farm of Hans Hansen has been already noticed as lying near Cripplebush. It comprised 400 acres, or nearly two- thirds of a square mile ; and from a careful examination of the patent and those adjoin- ing, I think it must have covered a part, and perhaps the whole, of the present settle- ment at the Bushwick Cross-roads."
2 The recently discovered journal of the Labadists, who visited this country in the year 1679 (translated by Hon. Henry C. Murphy, and forming the first volume of the Collections of the Long Island Historical Society), brings forward a statement which, if true, limits the historic honor hitherto enjoyed by Sarah Rapalie to that of simply being the first white female born in the colony. These travellers (pp. 114 and 115 of the volume above mentioned) speak of conversing with the first male born of Euro- peans in New Netherland, named Jean Vigné. "His parents were from Valenciennes, and he was now about sixty-five years of age. He was a brewer, and a neighbor of our old people." To this Mr. Murphy adds the following note: "This is an interesting statement, which may not only be compared with that hitherto received, attributing to Sarah de Rapalje, who was born on the 9th of June, 1625, the honor of having been the first-born Christian child in New Netherland, but is to be considered in other respects. According to the data given by our travellers, who, writing in 1679, make Jean Vigné sixty-five years old at that time, he must have been born in the year 1614, eleven years before Sarah de Rapalje, and at the very earliest period compatible with the sojourn of any Hollanders upon our territory. Jean Vigne belonged to the class of
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
lawsuit, in 1643, relative to the sale of a shallop, it may be inferred that he was at that time engaged in the trade of a shipwright. In
great burghers in New Amsterdam, and was one of the schepens of the city in the years 1655, '56, '61, and '63 (O'Callaghan's Register of New Netherland, '61-3, 174). He was twice married (New York Manual, 1862). Valentine says (Hist. of New York, 73) that he died in 1691, without issue. In this statement in regard to his being the first person of European parentage born in New Netherland, there are some notable points. The first trading voyages to Hudson's River were made by the Dutch in 1613- 14, and the first wintering or habitation there was in 1614-15. There must have been, therefore, one European woman, at least, in the country at that early period. Whether Jean Vigne's parents returned to Holland or remained here, during the obscure period between the time of his birth and the occupation of the country by the West India Company, it is impossible to determine. Either may have been the case. If the statement, however, be correct-and there is nothing inconsistent in it with the history of the colony, as far as known-Jean Vigne was not only the first born of European parents in New Netherland, but, as far as known, in the whole United States north of Virginia. We deem it of sufficient importance to give here the state- ment of our travellers in regard to him in the original language : Wijhadden ind it geseltschap gesproken. den eerst geboren mans-persoon van Europianen in Nieu Ned- erlant, genoemt Jean Vigné. Sijne ouders waren can Valencijn, en hij was nu on- trent 65 jaer out, synde ook een brouwer en buerman van onse oude luij."
In regard to the erroneous tradition which has given to Breuckelen the honor of being the birth-place of Sarah Rapalie, we quote the words of one of her descendants, the author of the History of the Bergen Family, who says: " The early historians of this State and locality, led astray by a petition presented by her, April 4th, 1656 (when she resided at the Walle-boght), to the Governor and Council, for some meadows, in which she states that she is the 'first born Christian child in New Netherlands,' assert that she was born at the Walle-boght. Judge Benson, in his writings, even ventures to describe the house where this took place. He says : 'On the point of land formed by the cove in Brooklyn, known as the Walle-boght, lying on its westerly side (it should have been easterly), was built the first house on Long Island, and inhab- ited by Joris Jansen de Rapalie, one of the first white settlers on the island, and in which was born Sarah Rapalie, the first white child of European parentage born in the State.' In this, if there is any truth in the depositions of Catalyn or Catalyntie Trico (daughter of Jeronomis Trico of Paris), Sarah's mother (see appendix to this His- tory), they are clearly mistaken. According to these depositions, she and her husband, Joris Janse de Rapalie, came to this country in 1623; settled at Fort Orange, now Albany ; lived there three years ; came, in 1626, to New Amsterdam, ' where she lived afterwards for many years ; and then came to Long Island, where she now (1688) lives.' 'Sarah, therefore, was undoubtedly born at Albany, instead of the Walle-boght, and was probably married before she removed to Long Island, there being no reason to suppose that she resided there when a single woman without her husband." Indeed, if the family record of her birth be correct, she was married between the age of fourteen and fifteen, improving somewhat, in this respect, on the example of her mother, who mar- ried before she was twenty years old.
She early became a church member in New York, and united with the Dutch Church at Breuckelen, by certificate, in 1661. She died about 1685, aged about sixty.
While, therefore, Albany claims the honor of being her birthplace, and New Amster- dam of having seen her childhood, Brooklyn surely received most profit from her ; for nere, in the Wallabout, she was twice married, and gave birth to fourteen children,
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
March, 1647, he became the patentee of the above land on Long Island, on which he seems to have resided until his death, which took place in the latter portion of 1653 or the beginning of 1654. He must, however, have been in possession of this plantation prior to the date of his patent, either by extinguishing the Indian title or otherwise ; for, in Abraham Rycken's patent, dated August 8, 1640, his land is located on Long Island, opposite Rinnegackonck, bounded by Gysbert Rycken, Hans Hansen, etc. ; in Cornelis Jacobsen Selle's deed to Lambert Huybertsen Mol, of 29th of July, 1641, his planta- tion is described as lying next that of Hans Hansen, on Long Island ;1 and in the patent of Mespat, or Newtown, given to Rev. Mr. Doughty and his associates, in March, 1642, mention is again made of the meadows belonging to Hans Hansen.2 His widow, in April, 1656,3 petitioned the Governor and Council for the grant of a piece of meadow-land adjoining the 2004 morgen previously granted her at the " Waale-bocht,"" stating that her neighbors disturb her in the use of them, by mowing thereon, although they have meadows of their own; that she is a widow and burdened with seven children, and asks an exemption from taxes. The meadows were granted, al- though the exemption was refused. "Sarah, in stating in this memorial that she was a widow, neglected to state that she was again married, and the wife of Theunis Gysbert Bogaert, which must have been the case, judging from the baptismal records of New Amsterdam, wherein the birth of their first-born, Aartje, is entered as baptized December 19, 1655. She probably resided, at
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