USA > New York > Kings County > Williamsburgh > A history of the town of Bushwick, Kings county, N.Y. and of the town, village and city of Williamsburgh, Kings county, N.Y > Part 8
USA > New York > Kings County > Bushwick > A history of the town of Bushwick, Kings county, N.Y. and of the town, village and city of Williamsburgh, Kings county, N.Y > Part 8
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8
The Village Charter was this year amended and adopted, in which three trustees and one collector were chosen for each of the Districts.
1845 .- Timothy Coffin, Pres .; Thos. J. Van Zant (acquired a good estate in umbrella bus. as partner of Alex. McDonald, in N. Y .; at this time was in
Five trustees (*) res. this year and their places were filled by special election ;* one (+) refused to serve.
Of above Board those marked * resigned before term expired ; I elected at special election.
33
TRUSTEES OF THE VILLAGE.
coal bus. in W., at foot of So. 5th st .; a prominent member of the First Baptist Church; lacked the edu- eation and culture fitting one for public life); Jonathan Odell (merchant in New York ; had quite a plot of land N. W. cor. of So. 8th and 2d sts., which he afterwards sold to Thomas Brewster and moved away); James Dobbins (rope-maker, employed some years by Schermerhorn, Bancker & Co.); John Hanford (hatter in Grand st., betw. 4th and 5th streets, was an excellent politician ; went to the legislature for several years ; and, though he failed in business, his compen- sation of $300 a session, as it was then, enabled him to live without employment for the balance of the year, with his wardrobe as if just taken out of a band-box); Grahams Polley ; David Lindsay (carpenter in the Third distriet, elected as a Demoerat; with limited opportunities he was a man of practical good sense, and generally respected as honorable in his devotion to public interests ; became a Republican during the war; was father of David and George Lindsay, members of Assembly some two or three years); Isaiah Pittman (cordage mfr .; after selling out to Schermerhorn, Bancker & Co. the walk from 2nd to E. of 4th, betw. No. 3d and No. 4th sts., went to Connecticut, where he died some years since); James M. Aymar (stationer and bookbinder, was elected .J. of the P., and afterwards devoted his attention to the office during his term. He was a man of fair intelli- gence, but dogmatical in his opinions); B. S. K. Rich- ardson, Treas; C. Daniels, Coll .; Richard Walsh, Coll. (a respected citizen of the present 14th ward, coll. several years; by trade a shoemaker) ; Isaac Henderson, Coll. (afterwards interested in the N. Y. Evening Post, from which he accumulated quite a fortune, and is the owner now of the building 206 Broadway, New York, in which the paper is published) ; G. E. Baker, Coll .; Henry Baker, Clerk .; P. J. Fish, Counsel.
There were this yr. 856 names on poll list-but a large non-voting pop. was then in the village, as the State Census the next yr. gave vill. about 11,000 pop.
1846 .- David Lindsay, President; William Wall; Timothy Coffin; Thomas J. Van Zant; John Hanford; Eusebius Hopkins; James W.Stearns (milkman in North Fifth street); James M. Aymar; James Roper (a re- spectable builder) ; J. J. Snyder, Clerk ; B. S. K. Richardson, Treasurer; Levi Darbee, Collector (pro- prietor of the Williamsburgh Gazette, started by Adras- tus Fish, brother of Paul J. Fish, from 1835 to 1838, when it was transferred to Levi Darbee. It was con- tinued as a weekly journal till January, 1850, when it was changed to a daily, and so continued to the time of its suspension, on the consolidation of Williamsburgh and Brooklyn ; and it was superseded in the city pat- ronage by the Brooklyn Daily Times. Mr. Darbee was industrious, but lacked the breadth of enterprise and tact essential to maintain a new enterprise) ; R. Walsh, Collector; I. Henderson, Collector; Homer H.
Stewart, Esq., Corporation Counsel (a consin of ex- Governor John W. Stewart, of Middlebury, Vermont, a graduate of Middlebury College, and a lawyer of good practice and ability. In some special matters his services were of special utility to the village); J. Quin, Street Inspector.
1847 .- Timothy Coffin, President ; William Wall ; Thomas J. Van Sant; William Lake ; James Gallau- dett (a shoemaker, afterwards a grocer in Grand street) ; Henry Aldworth (a coal-dealer at the foot of Grand street, noted for having written and pub- lished a book against the Bible, but was honest in his dealings); Stephen Waterman (member of the firm of Burr, Waterman & Co., manufacturers of pat- ent iron strapped bloeks for ships; the business was prosecuted with a fair success and after the death of Mr. Waterman by his surviving partners); John H. Gaus (a baker, at 135 Ewen street); Charles W. Houghton (mahogany dealer in N. Y .; at one time Pres. of the late Farmers' and Citizens' Bank); George E. Baker, Clerk (continued in the office for three years; went to Washington and was for several years Private Secretary to Hon. Wm. Il. Seward, See. of State; after- wards edited and published the speeches of Mr. Seward -which had quite an extensive sale); Levi W. Ufford, Treus. (a respectable dry-goods merchant, in First street, and though, at one time, well off, after the burning of Central Hall, in Fifth street, which he owned and failed to have insured, he had adverse for- tune, and he died about a year since, in South Brook- lyn, quite poor; William H. Colyer, Coll. (printer and publisher; a relative, I believe, of the Harper Broth- ers); S. B. Terry, Coll .; D. Chichester, Street, Well and Pump Insp .; Rich. Walsh, Coll .; no Atty. or Counsel chosen.
1848 .- Noah Waterbury, Pres .; Wm. Wall; Stephen Waterman; Wm. II. Sweezey (from Newark, N. J., who returned there soon after his official term termi- nated; he was a substantial citizen); John S. Trott, Jr. (with his brother was a distiller; their business was afterwards removed to Cherry street, N. Y .; but John S. Trott died some years since and his brother con- tinued the business); Abraham D. Soper (an able law- yer who failed in retainers in cases of importance, by his almost constant practice in the Justice Courts ; he subsequently represented the town in the Legislature. In whatever he undertook, his practice was adroit and generally successful. He removed to W. Virginia and purchased a large tract of land, part of which he sold to some oil speenlators, at prices that gave him a eom- petence for the rest of his days; he beeame a member of the Constitutional Convention, that organized the new State of W. Va .; he was one or two years in the Legislature and then became a Circuit Judge, and rode his circuit, generally, on horseback, over the rough roads of the country, till he was over eighty years of age. There is no doubt but Judge Soper's influence
34
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF WILLIAMSBURGII.
and labor in the State of his adoption, was beneficial and conservative and at the same time progressive. Ile was the father-in-law of Nicholson P. O'Brien, who for many years was his law partner in W .; also of Addison Diossy, a lawyer in N. Y. Two daughters accompanied him to W. Va., married and settled there; he had two sons, lawyers, one in practice here and one in W. Virginia); Henry MeCaddin (an undertaker, whose business was the north side of Grand street, near First street); John II. Gans; Abel Smith (for sev- eral years Colonel of the 13th Reg. of the State Militia; he carried on a liquorice factory, on Devoe street near Lorimer. At the commencement of the war of the Rebellion, Col. Smith recruited a regi- ment in the N. part of the State, which he intended to accompany to the front. But, in taking the cars at Ballston, N. Y., he accidentally fell under the wheels and was killed); George Joy (stone cutter); W. H. Colyer, Richard Walsh, Stephen Ryder, Collectors; L. WV. Ufford, Treus .; Geo. E. Baker, Clerk.
1849. Timothy Coffin, President ; Samuel M. Meeker (a lawyer, whose carefulness has realized a for- tune, became identified with the Williamsburgh Suv- ings Bunk ; the Williamsburgh City Fire Insurance Company ; the First National Bank, and the Wil- liamsburgh Gas-Light Company, from the organiza- tions of each. In the current of a quiet life and quiet affairs, he has ever proved a safe counsellor, but has generally employed more positive lawyers, as counsel, to conduct his cases in the courts ; has nursed his pet institutions, in their infancy, and though avoiding any speculative risks, he has made them a marked success ; is now President of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank, whose deposits have increased since 1851, from noth- ing, to $21,000,000); Wm. Bunting (a paper commis- sion merchant, in New York) ; Francis V. Morrell (son of John Morrell, had a hardware store at the corner of First and North First streets, afterwards moved to the corner of First and Grand streets); John S. Trott, Jr .; Andrew B. Hlodges (Secretary of the Williamsburgh Fire Insurance Company, afterwards name changed to the Citizens ; now having its principal office at 158 Broadway, N. Y.); Henry MeCaddin ; C. W. Hough- ton; Anthony Walter (then proprietor of Union Hall, at the cor. of Meserole and Ewen Sts., now 16th ward; has since served a term as sheriff of Kings county, and one term as justice of peace); Oliver Leach (a butcher, at 105 South 4th St.); Henry E. Ripley, Coll. (a son of the Rev. Mr. Ripley, pastor of the Cong. church of Lebanon, Ct., came to W., and engaged in the lum- ber trade, foot of So. 4th st., with David Kilgour, as a partner ; his business was hardly successful; but Mr. R. saved a high character for integrity, served as Collector, 1850 ; after the consolidation was a member of the Board of Assessors till age and infirmities admonished him to retire ; purchased a handsome farm at Huntington, L. I., on which he lives, in dignified
and peaceful retirement); R. Walsh, Coll .; Stephen Ryder, Coll .; Henry Payson, Treas .; Geo. E. Baker, Clerk.
1850 .- Edmund Driggs, Pres .; D. D. Winant; Sam- uel Groves (a native of Nova Scotia, followed the sea in boyhood ; early came to the U. S., and served in a privateer from one of our Eastern cities, dur- ing the war of 1812 ; then came to N. Y., and sailed as master in merchant vessels for many years, and to all parts of the world ; his wife, whose character- istics were as singular as those distinguishing sailors from landsmen, accompanied him, in many of these voyages. Her kindness of heart endeared to her her hus- band's crews, and created in her an attachment to the sailor's home on the sea; when Capt. G. came to W. with an accumulation of of over $30,000 he abandoned the sea, and sought to follow the life of a retired gentle- man. But his habits of command stuck to him; and, sometimes in public affairs, acted out his old quarter-deck disregard of the opinions of others, which interfered with his influence in public life; he was always supposed to be the original figure, of " The meek man with the iron cane" in the conceit of a facetious club that styled itself the Great Northwestern Zephyr Association, that used to hold carnivals at the Neville's Hotel cor. of Ist and So. 7th st.); Horatio N. Fryatt (had a fertilizing chemical factory at the foot of Division avenue on the site of Moller, Sierck & Co's Sugar Refinery; he was in partnership with one Campbell); Chauncey A.Lay, book- keeper and supervisor for the Messrs. Kemp, Masons & Builders for many years; afterward Sup't, for Torence MeGuiggin, Street Contractor; for several of the last years of his life he managed for his dau. in the Hoop skirt business in Grand street near Fifth; he accumula- ted, including the house he occupied, some $40,000, eli'efly by careful investments in stocks); Daniel Reilly (liquor saloon); Ilarris Comstock (a measurer of Lum- ber); Thomas Green (a tanner-colored sheep-skins and morocco); Henry Oltmans (Grocery at the cor. of Mckibben st. and Graham avenue. In later years has been agent and surveyor for the Kings Co. Ins. Co .; is Trustee of the W. Savings Bank; is a German and always well esteemed); Henry E. Ripley, Coll .; James Murphy, Coll. (for many years a member of the Board of Education in Brooklyn, and commands the highest confidence of the people); John W. Braisted, Coll. (a Jeweler in Wyckoff st.); Henry Payson, Treas .; John Broach, Vill. Clerk (then Book-keeper with George W. Smith, popularly known as " Broom corn Smith," sce biography following).
1851 .- D. D. Winant, Pres .; W. T. Leiteh (a mer- chant in N. Y.); Daniel Barker (a spice grinder in N. Y.); Alexander Hamilton (builder); Daniel Riley; Har- ris Comstoek; James Salters (carpenter and joiner); Fordyce Sylvester (eng. with Norman Francis in the manufacture of saleratus); Dan'l Lindsay; John Maerz (grocer, Meserole street); Benjamin N. Dishrow, Coll .;
35
THE CITY OF WILLIAMSBURGH.
Henry Cornwell, Coll. (a carman in the employ of William Wall); James Murphy, Coll .; W. II. Colyer, Treus .; John Broach, Clerk.
This was claimed to be a reform Board. But its ca- pacity as a whole was far below the Board it super- seded. It brought forward in public life two at least who under the first year of the city became defaulters to the city for a large amount of money.
The City of Williamsburgh-1852-1854-The first officers of the new city were Dr. Abraham J. Berry, Mayor; Wm. II. Butler, City Clerk ; Geo. Thompson, Attorney and Counsel ; Jas. F. Kenny, Comptroller ; Horace Thayer, Edmund Driggs, Thos. J. Van Sant, Daniel Barker (First Ward); Richard White, Absa- lom Roper, Jesse Hobley, Harris Comstock (Second Ward); Daniel Maujer (President of the Board); Wm. Woodruff, And. C. Johnson, Edwin S. Ralphs (Third Ward); Aldermen. Dr. Berry, the new mayor, was well fitted for his responsible office by a gentlemanly bearing, courteous and affable manners, liberal educa- tion, political experience and personal acquaintance with previous village affairs.
This year witnessed the incorporation of the Farmers and Citizens' Bank, with a capital of $200,000 ; the Williamsburgh City Bank, with a capital of $320,000, and the Williamsburgh City Fire Insurance Co .; and the establishment of the Williamsburgh Medical So- ciety, and (April) the Greenpoint Ferry.
The third issue of the Williamsburgh Directory con- tained 7,345 names, an increase of 1,742 over those of the previous year. It estimates the population of the city as over 40,000.
1853, January-The Board of Aldermen was as follows : Daniel Barker; Thomas J. Van Sant; Jared Sparks; Abel C. Willmarth (First Ward). Jesse Hob- ley; Joseph Smith; George W. Ratern; Ilarris Com- stock, President (Second Ward). William Woodruff; Edwin S. Ralphs; John Maerz; Andrew C. Johnson (Third Ward).
The public-school census of persons between the ages of four and twenty-one years, shows 10,907 whites and 214 colored, total, 11,121 ; the population of Wilhamsburgh being, at this time, between 40,000 and 50,000. The aggregate number of children attending the public schools of the city, during any part of the previous year, was 9,372, of which 834 had attended the entire school year. Fifteen private schools were also reported, with an attendance of about 800.
This year showed a rapid growth in institutions; the Fulton Insurance Co., with a capital of $150,000 ; the Mechanics (now the Manufacturers' National) Bank of Williamsburgh, with a capital of $250,000 ; the Williamsburgh Missionary Society ; the Young Men's Association, connected with the Third Presbyterian church ; the Third (colored) Baptist ; the Grace (Protestant Episcopal); the First Mission (Methodist
Episcopal); the German Evangelical Mission ; the (Roman Catholic) St. Mary of the Immaculate Con- ception, and the St. Paul's (German) Lutheran churches.
The New York Sunday School Union's annual report credits Williamsburgh with twenty-five Sabbath-Schools of every different donomination ; with four hundred and sixty-six teachers, average attendance 387; 4,600 scholars registered, with average attendance of 3,239 ; 6,297 volumes in Sunday-School libraries. Infant-class scholars (included in above) 465. Bushwick had, at the same time, ten different Sunday-Schools, ninety-eight teachers, average attendance 84 ; 702 scholars, average attendance 472 ; 1,190 volumes in libraries ; 55 infant class scholars.
During this year were organized the Children's Aid Society ; the Howard Benevolent Society ; the Young Men's Literary Association ; and the Young Men's Christian Association, of Williamsburgh ; the Bush- wick Avenue Baptist ; Third Unitarian ; Second Congregational Methodist ; Graham Avenue Protest- ant Methodist ; Ainslie street Presbyterian, and Ger- mun Evangelical Lutheran churches.
1854, January-Under a change of politics, the Hon. William Wall became Mayor, on the Whig ticket. Commencing life as a journeyman rope-maker, he had become the proprietor of the largest cordage-factory in the vicinity. Shrewd and successful in business matters, he lacked, perhaps, that comprehensive judgment of the complicated interests affecting the government of a city of 40,000, which would have ensured his official success. HIe soon came in conflict with the Board of Aldermen, and became famous for his frequent exercise of the veto-power. A compilation of these vetoes, made un- der his direction, by John Broach, Esq., then City Clerk, was afterwards printed in a pamphlet of over 100 octavo pages. Failing, however, to mould the Board of Aldermen to his views by vetoing their do- ings, he conceived the idea of annihilating a power which he had cause to esteem so dangerous ; and became, during the first year of his administration, an earnest advocate of the consolidation of the cities of Williamsburgh and Brooklyn.
This was finally accomplished, by Act of Legislature, taking effect January 1, 1855.
1854. The Board of Aldermen was as follows: Jared Sparks; Abel C. Wilmarth; John C. Kelly; Sam'I B. Terry (First Ward). Joseph Smith; Geo. W. Baker, President; Caleb Pink; John Linsky (Second Ward). Wm. Woodruff; John Maerz; Thomas Eames; Joseph Nesbit (Third Ward).
City Clerk, Wm. G. Bishop; Comptroller, Joseph W. Beerdon; Commissioner of Streets und Repairs, Leonard T. Coles; Treasurer, Miner HI. Keith; Collector of Tares, Fordyce Silvester; Attorney, John Dean.
The Consolidation of Williamsburgh and Brooklyn was a measure which was twenty years in advance of the time when it might advantageously have
36
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF WILLIAMSBURGH.
taken place; and, for a time, it greatly injured the local trade and social prestige of this portion of the present City of Brooklyn. It reduced Williamsburgh to the position of an insignificant suburb of a comparatively distant eity, which was in no way identified with, or informed of the needs, economies, or real interests of its new adjunct. It was said that Williamsburgh, at the time, was bankrupt ; but the more than thirty miles of streets, opened, curbed, flagged and paved, at a cost of from one to two millions of dollars, was a contribution to the new City of Brooklyn which more than balaneed the debts added to the common fund.
The Wallabout Canal .- One of the grandest pro- jects for Brooklyn during the days of the "City of Williamsburgh" was first suggested by the late THOMAS W. FIELD, EsQ., viz .: the extension of what is known as the Wallabout Canal through a street, first called River street, 150 feet wide, laid out for the purpose, to the junction of Moore street and the present Broadway; and through Moore street to Newtown Creek.
The bridges were proposed to be raised so as to give some eight feet in the clear between them and the surface water of the canal. Lighter-barges would have been towed through without disturbing the bridges. But, if ships with cargoes in bulk were to pass through the canal, the bridges could be turned on the turn-tables. Basins at favorable places could have been constructed by private enterprise where vessels
could lay without encroaching on the use of the canal.
This grand project could have been chiefly con- structed by the owners of the land that would have become water-front along the borders on each side. It would have afforded, when complete, four miles of such water-front that, ere this, would have been crowded with furnaces and factories, requiring facili- ties for heavy freighting to their doors.
Skill and science would have been required to keep this canal clear. But, it would have relieved the section through which it passed, of a large surplus of surface- water that concentrates there. A 50-foot street on each side of the canal would have given room to sewers, with outlets in the open bay, as at present. The waters of the canal might have been locked at the two termini and lighter-barges have been let in only at high tides and the waters have been kept at a uniform height and so not exposed the debris at the bottom, only when, in cold weather, it was undertaken to wash out and clean the channel. This canal was proposed to be excavated fifty feet wide, with wall of stone about a foot above the surface of the water at high tide, and a shelf was to be made about 5 feet wide on each side to serve for a tow-path either for horse or steam power. The bridges at the street crossings were to be about 100 feet in length, weighted at one end, so as to balance on a turn-table on the street outside the tow-path, so as to make the span 60 feet over the channel.
JOHN BROACH was born in Millstone, Somerset County, New Jersey, April 23d, 1812, of American parents, descended directly from Revolutionary stock; his great-grandparents having taken an active part in the struggle for American independence, and sacrificed all their worldly posessions in the cause, except a considerable amount of Continental paper money, which was handed down, and remained in possession of the family, but did not enrich them, at the time of his birth.
He received such educational advantages as the village school of his native town afforded, until about fourteen years of age; when, having lost his parents, he was obliged to do something for his own support, and procured employ- ment as a boy of all work in a country store for a few months, after which he received some additional education; paying for his own tuition by assisting the teacher in the instruction of the smaller scholars.
In the spring of 1827, being then about fifteen years of age, he left his native village and came to the city of New York, an orphan and alone, to seek his livelihood.
He soon succeeded in finding a distant relative who kept a grocery store in the outskirts of the city, on the old Bloom- ingdale road, near what was then called Love Lane, and is now Twenty-first street; a section of the city which was called the "Reef " on account of the peculiar roughness of the locality. With this relative he engaged on trial, at any wages he might prove himself to be worth, as a clerk in his store. His friend and employer was an estimable man, but probably few portions of the city could be found less favor-
able to the moral development of a youth of fifteen years of age, just from the country.
From this time until about twenty-five years of age, he engaged in various mercantile and laboring employments, and experienced the vicissitudes which a youth, left entirely to his own direction in a large city, would naturally be subjected to. In 1835, he formed the acquaintance of Miss Cordelia Knox, a most amiable young lady (his present wife), and they were married in the spring of 1836. He then began to think seriously of preparing himself to fill some more useful and respectable position in society, and attended night schools for the study of book-keeping, and other mercantile knowl. edge. By this means he soon fitted himself for, and obtained employment in more extensive mercantile business.
In the spring of 1845, he removed to the village of Wil- liamsburglı, now the eastern district of the city of Brooklyn, and soon became identified with the customary associations of a growing village. He was active in the formation of the Mechanics' and Workingmen's Library Association, and was its president for some years. In 1848, he was appointed Dis- trict Clerk, and in 1849 was elected Trustee of the Public Schools in Williamsburgh, and was re-elected successively, to the same office, until 1854, when the consolidation with Brooklyn took place, and his business would not permit his attendance at the Board of Education in the Western District of Brooklyn.
In the spring of 1850 he was elected clerk of the Village of Williamsburgh, being the first clerk of the village elected by the people. He was re-elected in 1851, and remained in office
37
BIOGRAPHIES.
until the city charter of the village took effect in 1852. He was one of the Charter Trustees of the Williamsburgh Dis- pensary, in 1851, and has remained a trustee and treasurer of that institution up to the present time. He was associated with the founders of the Industrial School Association of this district, in 1854, was one of the first trustees and is still a trustee, and has been twenty-eight years treasurer of that institution.
In 1853, the Williamsburgh City Fire Insurance Company was organized, and he was appointed Assistant Secretary of that company, and in June, 1854, was called from that posi- tion, without any solicitation on his part, to the one he has since that time and still occupies, as Cashier of the Williams- burgh Savings Bank. lle was also private secretary to IJon. William Wall, while he was Mayor of Williamsburgh in 1854, and up to the time of the consolidation with Brooklyn.
In 1859, he was appointed under a special act of the State Legislature, together with Hon. Edmund Driggs and George Field, Esq., of his district, and the Mayor, ( 'omptrollor, and City Treasurer of Brooklyn, on a commission to adjust and settle all claims against the late City of Williamsburgh.
By this commission the outstanding claims against the ('ity of Williamsburgh, which had long been a source of much annoyance and litigation, were satisfactorily adjusted and settled, and the Williamsburgh Savings Bank took the bonds of the City of Brooklyn for the necessary amount to pay off the claims allowed by the commission.
He took a deep interest in the war for the Union, and his three sons, all the children he had living, were early under arms in the field. Two of them, one in the 14th Brooklyn and the other in the Sth New York regiments, were in the first battle of Bull Run. He also assisted in fitting out several other young men for the field before the Government ar- rangements were completed for equipping the soldiers speed- ily.
In 1862, his eldest son, John H. Broach, with his father's assistance, raised a company in Williamsburgh, and joining the 173d Regiment New York Volunteers, proceeded to New Orleans and participated in the siege of Port Hudson and the battles leading thereto, and also in the Red River campaign, during which time he was commissioned as Assistant Adju- tant-General.
All of his sons served during most of the war and were houorably discharged. Oue, however, his second son, James A. Broach, reached home only to die, within a few days after his discharge, of a fever contracted in the army at Savannah, Georgia.
Mr. Broach has been a resident of Williamsburgh thirty- eight years.
SYLVESTER TUTTLE .- The subject of this biographical sketch was born in Patchogue, L. 1., September 5th, 1806, the son of Rev. Ezra Tuttle, who was an active and zealous minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, widely known and respected in his time. The son inherited his father's strong religious feeling, which became the controlling ele- ment in his character. Before he was twenty-one Mr. Tuttle entered upon a business career in New York City. Industri- ous, careful and shrewd. he rose rapidly, and in a few years became sole proprietor of a large hat and fur store in Chat-
ham Square, which was one of the only two houses in the trade that was able to withstand the panic of 1837. 1Ie be- came interested in the coal trade in the Eastern District of Brooklyn in 1846, and soon afterwards sold out his business in New York, associating his son with him in 1855. He rap- idly extended his trade until it assumed large proportious in the city of Brooklyn.
After many years of active business life, Mr. Tuttle made a tour of Europe in 1871. While abroad he contracted a malarial disease, a recurrence of which proved fatal May 25, 1874, in his 68th year. Mr. Tuttle's energy, activity and in- tegrity enabled him to acquire a fortune, of which he made noble use. He was called to fill many responsible positions. In politics he was an active Republican. But he was best known as a sincere Christian man, whose daily walk and conversation proved him to be an earnest servant of God. In early life he became a member of the Forsyth Street M. E. Church, in New York, then an active member of the South Fifth M. E. Church. He was also a large contributor to- wards the erection of St. John's M. E. Church, at the corner of Bedford avenue and Wilsou street, and, until his death, served as one of its Trustees. He was greatly interested in the North Third Street Mission, and devoted much of his time to personal religious work. A man of fine feelings, he responded heartily to the cry of distress, and gave freely in charity. A public-spirited citizen, he used his means for the good of the city and of his fellow men, and his memory is cherished in the hearts of all who knew him.
EZRA B. TUTTLE .- Ezra B. Tuttle, a son of the late Syl- vester Tuttle, a biographieal sketch of whom appears next preceding this, was born in the city of New York, May 31st, 1834. He was educated in private schools in New York and in New Haven, Conn., and at Doctor Gold's once popular agricultural school, at Cream Hill, Litchfield County, Conn.
At the age of eighteen he was placed in charge of one of his father's offices, and when he attained to his majority he became associated with his father as a partner in his busi- ness.
In the summer of 1857, Mr. Tuttle was married to Miss Frances R. Day, of New Haven, Coun., daughter of Zelotes Day, Esq. They have two sons. The elder, Winthrop M. Tuttle, was educated at the Polytechnic Institute and is now assisting his father in his business. The second son, Frank Day Tuttle, graduated with honors from the Polytechnic In- stitute, aud has recently entered Yale College as a student.
Mr. Tuttle has long been prominently identified with the leading commercial, religious and charitable interests of Brooklyn, holding at the present time the positions of vice- president of the Brooklyn Cross-Town Railroad Company, trustee of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank, director of the Kings County Fire Insurance Company ; president of the board of trustees of St. John's Methodist Episcopal Church, of Bedford avenne ; vice-president of the Brooklyn Church Society ; trustee of Drew Theological Seminary, Madison, N. J. ; trustee of the Brooklyn Homeopathic Hospital : trustee of the Brooklyn City Mission and Tract Society ; trustee of the Brooklyn Bible Society, and a member of the Missionary Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
4 Bruneris
A HISTORY
OF THE
TOWN OF BUSHWICK,
KINGS COUNTY, N. Y.
BY
HENRY R. STILES, M. D.
AND OF THE
TOWN, VILLAGE AND CITY OF WILLIAMSBURGH,
KINGS COUNTY, N. Y.
'BY
JOHN M. STEARNS, Esq.
Reprinted from "The Illustrated History of Kings County," edited by Dr. H. R. Stiles, and published ly W. W. Munsell & Co.
BROOKLYN, N. Y.
1884.
0 007 190 703 A
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 0 007 190 703 A
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.