USA > New York > Kings County > Flatbush > A history of the town of Flatbush, N.Y. > Part 10
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 | Part 9 | Part 10
Windsor Terrace School .- At a meeting in the winter of 1873, called by Mr. Michael E. Fimmegan, to consider public-school matters, it was resolved to peti- tion the commissioner of public schools, and the trus- tees, to be set off as a separate school district, to be known as District No. 3, of the town school. The petition was granted, and a committee, consisting of Mr. E. Finnegan, C. C. Martin, Theodore Magnus and James Hardie, was appointed to carry ont the wish of the meeting. C. C. Martin, Wm. E. Murphy, and M. E. Finnegan and -, as trustees, secured the pas- sage. of an act authorizing them to bond the district for $10,000, payable at the rate of $1,000 annually, the first bond to be payable in 1-80. A suitable school- house, in the Swiss style, costing $6,700, from plans by John Y. Culyer, architect, was creeted on the west side of Prospect avenue, between Greenwood ave- nue and Vanderbilt street, and was ready for use
14
42
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF FLATBUSHI.
January 1, 1876. In 1874, Mr. Wm. N. Walker was employed as the first principal; remained until April, 1876, and was followed by Mrs. Carrie Blamey. She was succeeded in September, 1876, by the present principal, Mr. John J. Wells, who by his efficient man- agement has done much to build up the school. The school now numbers 100 scholars, and two teachers, beside the principal.
Literary Societies .- A number of literary and de- bating societies, of both a public and private character, have flourished in the village from time to time. The most prominent of these, the Flatbush Literary Asso- tion, was organized in 1840. During the winter of 1841 -'42, a series of lectures on various subjects was given by some of its members. Rev. Dr. T. M. STRONG's His- tory of Flatbush was first prepared by him, as a mem- ber of this society, to be delivered as a lecture. After its delivery, there was an earnest demand for its publi- cation. Only a few copies are now in existence, and for these extravagant prices have been offered. We are largely indebted to Dr. Strong's history for facts relating to the early history of the town.
Musical Associations .- The village has been long noted for its musical talents. Several well conducted and creditable musical associations for vocal and in- strumental music have existed in the village. Promi-
nent among these are the Flatbush Glee Clubs, of 1953-1857, and the present Flatbush Choral Society, organized in: 1877. The musical talent displayed has been quite remarkable for so small a town.
Conclusion .- We have thus traced, as minutely as the limited space allowed would admit, the civil, eccle- siastical and literary history of the town of Flatbush, from its earliest settlement to the present time, a pe- riod of nearly two hundred and fifty years. During all this time, imbounded prosperity from an over-ruling, all-wise providence of God has been granted to the vil- lage. Financial disaster or failure has seldom, if ever, visited it. The health of the town, with only two ex- ceptions, during visitation of cholera, has been umpre- cedentedly excellent. Probably no other village con- taining so large a number of inhabitants, for so long a period a county-seat, and lately, for many years, under the shadow of one of the largest cities of the Union, ean show such an unblemished record for good charae- ter, as a law-abiding, prosperous, religious and health- ful community. May they ever treasure this record with grateful hearts ; and may He, whose merciful providence has granted such prosperity to the village, still watch over those whom He has thus honored with such a lineage of good and upright men.
Grandlit Bravent 2 nick
Facsimile of autograph of Cornelis Darend Van Wyck.
Emigrated from Wyck, a village of Braband. Holland, in 1660; married Anna, daughter of Rev. Theodorus Polhemus, the first minister of the Dutch towns; and settled in Flatbush.
13
SOME FLAATBUSHI BIOGRAPHIES.
HON. JOHN VANDERBILT.
The Hon. JOHN VANDERBILT (referred to on pages 352 and 362, History of Kings County, as a partner in the legal tirm of Lott, Murphy & Vanderbilt), was the eldest son of John Vanderbilt and Sarah Lott, his wife, of Flatbush. In 1835. as we have seen, he became the junior member of the dis- tinguished and very representative firm above referred to. It is said of the three gentlemen comprising this tirm, that "they brought into local polities the principles of statesman- ship, and to civil service the habit- of fidelity, independence and diligence, and that grade of culture, force and knowl- edge, which made their public records a bright part of the history of their county, just as their private careers have been a most houorable part of the social and intellectual his- tory of their city."
On the 1st of May, 1844, Mr. Vanderbilt, then only twenty- five years of age, was appointed by Governor William C. Bouck, to the responsible position of first Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Kings county, to succeed Judge Green- wood, who had resigned. He discharged the duties of this ! important position with faithfulness and credit for two years, until the Court of Common Pleas was abolished by the adoption of the New Constitution in 1846, and the creation of the County Court as at present constituted. It has been said that, at the time of his retirement from the bench, there was not a more popular man, politically and socially, in the city of Brooklyn, than he. In the fall of 1852, he received the Democratic nomination for the State Senate, to which position he was chosen by a large majority. He filled this statiou creditably for the full term of two years. During his teri as Senator he was appointed one of the Commissioners to inves- tigate the harbor encroachments of New York. He was also selected as one of the Commissioners to investigate the affairs of President Nott and Union College. In the fall of 1956 he
was nominated on the Democratic ticket for Lient .- Governor. with Amasa J. Parker, of Albany, as Governor, but the Democrats were not successful in the issue of the election For several years before his death, which occurred at Flat- bush, May 16, 1877, Judge Vanderbilt was retired from active service by a shock of paralysis; but. "in the prime of his energy was certainly the most vigorons and handson". man in public or private life in this county, if not in the State. His strong, manly beauty mated with and was the exponent of qualities of mind and heart, as attractive as li- gifts and graces of person. In a time when .rings' Wote unknown, he was a Democrat; in a time when sectionali-tu was hardly an apparition, and when the State Irel its full rights, whether it was weighed or counted as a factor. h. was a patriot, and one who gloried in his whole country; in a time when shysters had not been evolved, and when petti- foggers were limited to a satirical stage or a sarcastic lit .r.t- ture. he was a lawyer; in a time when gentlemen wele as dominant in polities, and scholars as dominant in council a> they now are not, he was a scholar and a gentleman. Ilis rapility of pubhe development, his activity in affairs, his not surpassed qualities of good-fellowship, the magnetism of his . mind and manners, and the impressive appeal which he conkl address to the people, early made him and long kept him what he was fondly called. 'King's County's Favorite Son.' when that appellation was forcible by its rarity, sig- nificant in its meaning. and when it had not been vulgarized by its application to the politicians by profession, and to the place-hunters by occupation."
Judge Vanderbilt married Gertrude Phebe Lefferts. daughter of John Lefferts, of Flatbush. She survives him, and is elsewhere noted (pages 15 and 19) as the author of the Social History of Flatbush.
JOHN OAKEY, ESQ.
JOHN OAKEY, Esq., although born in Brooklyn, removed in his early childhood with his father to Flatbush, at which place he has spent the greater part of his eventful life, and is justly claimed by Flatbush as one of her representative men. He was educated at Erasmus Hall, from which institution he passed in 1845, to enter Yale College. graduating with honor in 1849. He studied law in New York city, with Hon. James Humphrey, M. C .; he was admitted to the bar in 1$51, and for twenty-three years practised law in New York city: during all this period he was the Notary of the Nassau Bank: from 1857 to 1861 lie was the Justice of the Peace for the vil- lage of Flatbush. When the civil war broke out in 1861, he was the first man who left Flatbush for the seat of war; he was then a member of the 7th Regiment. New York: upon his departure his wife was presented by several gentlemen of the village, with a check for $100; and efforts were imme- diately made by which a village relief fund of several thousand dollars was raised for the aid of those who might go to the war. In 1866 he was elected Memberof the Assembly on the Republican ticket. in a strongly Democratie district, and was returned in 1967. thus serving two years in the Assembly: during a portion of this time he was Chairman of the Committee on Commerce and Navigation, succeeding Hon. Dewitt C. Littlejohn. In 1868, he was appointed Judge
Advocate with the rank of Colonel, on the staff of Major- General Shaler, First Division, N. G .. S. N. Y .; this position le hell for five years, until 1873. From 1874 to 1878 he Was Counsel for the Brooklyn Police and Excise Departments. and in 1578. he was appointed as Assistant District Attorney of Brooklyn and Kings County. He has been the founder of several large and flourishing amateur dramatic association .-. and the President as well as founder of the Amaranth So lets of Brooklyn. Through his instrumentality the late Licut .- Commander George W. De Long, of the ill-fated Jeanuette of the Arctic expedition, was advanced to his position of honor. He was with Col. Oakey as office boy for three or four years, and through Col. Onkey's influence with some of our prominent business men. young De Long received an ap- pointment of a cadet-hip in 1861.
Of Judge JOHN LEFFERTS, mentioned on page 13, it should be further said, that as a member of the Convention of 1-21 for amending the Constitution of the State, he was, with John Van Buren and others, one of the so-called " Inmy ral Seventeen " who refused to adopt a law conferring upon the people the privilege of choosing their own Presidential Fleet. ors, instead of allowing it to ren ain in the Legislature.
44
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF FLATBUSH.
THE THIRD COUNTY COURT HOUSE, FLATRUSH (PAGES 10 AND 11).
The first County Court House, at Flatbush, erected in 1686 on the spot now occupied by the fine resi- dence of Mr. Abraham A. Lott, was a small nnpre- tending building, and wholly devoted to the use of the Courts; the Jail being separate from it. In the winter of 1757-'S the Jail was burned, the Court House being saved by the energetic efforts of the villagers, who ex- tinguished the fire by throwing snow-balls upon it. creased wealth and population of the county. This building (of which we present above a view constructed by Rev. T. R. STRONG, from traditional accounts and the recollections of a few aged citizens of Flathush) was planned by Mr. James Robinson, and erected under a committee composed of Messrs. John Vander- bilt (who resigned and was sneceeded by Rutgert Van Brunt), Johannes E. Lott, and Charles Doughty. The The second Court House was erected soon after, and included a Jail. It was two stories high, the lower floor divided by a hall running east and west; on the south side was the jailor's room, and on the north the jail apartment-a grim and gloomy room, constructed of heavy oak plank, fastened, by wrought-iron spikes, to solid oaken tinibers. Floor and doors were of the same solid construction, and the room was lighted by two grated windows opening into the common. In the second story of this building was the court-room, large old Court House was sold at anction, and its timbers converted by the Rev. Martinus Schoonmaker into a dwelling, afterwards occupied by his son Stephen. The internal arrangement of the new Court House was somewhat similar to that of its predecessor, and it- ex- terior was painted red. It was, however, insecure, and the frequent escapes of prisoners gave rise to the com- mon witticism that " prisoners were in great danger of falling out of Flatbush Jail." It was burned Novem- ber 30, 1832, and all Kings county prisoners, from that and commodious for the times. During the Revolu- I time until the erection of a new Jail in Brooklyn, were confined in the Bridewell of New York.
tionary war, while the British were in possession of Long Island, this room was frequently used as a ball- room. The cost of this building was Ets. raised by assessment upon taxable inhabitants of the county.
The third Court House was erected in 1793, in com- pliance with an increasing demand for greater accom- modation and for an edifice more suitable to the in-
Nome - The History of Ki ; County, from which these pages are Fe. printed, also contains biographies of prominent Flatbush chner .. 1.2 .: the Hen. John A. Lott (page 3'eand Gen. P! Tips, Croch .. . S by L. B. PROCTOR, Ist : brief biographical notices of Dr. V .. derveer page >>D and Zabriskie tpage was, by Res. T. R. STRONG. the author of this Flathoch History. - HENRY R. STILES. M. D., I.ditor " Kings County History" etc.
.
THE COUNTY BUILDINGS IN THE TOWN OF FLATBUSH.
$5
THE KINGS COUNTY INSTITUTIONS AT FLATBUSH.
The detailed history of these institutions, together with that of the Board of Supervis . vite Superintendents of the Poor, and the Commissioner. of Charities of the County, by L. B. PROCTOR, Esq., will be found in the pages of the work from which this history Is reprint .d.
THE KINGS COUNTY HOSPITAL, FLATBUSH. ERECTED 1:37.
THE KINGS COUNTY LUNATIC ASYLUM, FLATBUSH, COMPLETED ISCI.
น.
46
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF FLATBUSII.
THE KINGS COUNTY ALMS-HOUSE, AT FLATBUSH.
BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE KINGS COUNTY PENITENTIARY, FLATBUSH. COMPLETED 1853.
F85128.78
5511
D
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.