USA > New York > Kings County > Flatbush > A history of the town of Flatbush, N.Y. > Part 2
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Cornelius Vanderveer, Derick Johnson Hooglandt, Denise Tennis, John Johnson, Ditimus Lewis Jansen, William Jacobs, Hendrick Hegeman, and Garret Lubbertse, for and on behalf of themselves and their associates, all the free- hoklers of the said town of Flatbush, and to their heirs and assigns forever, all the before-recited tract and tracts, parcel and parcels, of land and islands within the said bounds and limits, together with all and singular, the woods, under- woods, plains, hills, meadows, pastures, quarries, marshes, waters, lakes, causeways, rivers, beaches, houses, buildings, fishing, hawking, hunting and fowling, with all liberties. privileges, hereditaments and appurtenances to the said tract of land and premises belonging, or in anywise appertaining : To have and to hold, &c. * *
* To be holden of his Majesty in free and common soccage according to the tenure of East Greenwich, in the county of Kent, in his Majesty's Kingdom of England. Yielding, rendering and paying there- for, yearly, and every year, at the City of New York, to his Majesty, his heirs or successors, or to his or tlwir officer or officers, as by him or them shall be appointed to receive the same, eighteen bushels of good merchantable wheat, on or before the five and twentieth day of March, yearly, and every year. In Testimony whereof. I have caused these presents to be entered upon record, in the Secretary's office in the said Province, and the seal thereof, have hereunto affixed. and signed with my hand the twelfth day of November, in the first year of his Majesty's reign, Anno Domini, 1695.
THOMAS DONGAN.
FACSIMILES OF THE AUTOGRAPHS OF SOME OF THE PATENTEES OF FLATBUSH, UNDER THE DONGAN CHAR- TER, OF 1685.
.
HAYNDRYCK REYCKE, the ancestor of the SUYDAM Family of Kings County.
is faith and
CORNELIS JANSSE VANDER VEFR. The ancestor of the Vanderveer Family of Kings County.
fanghiLos. 14hr
JAN STRYCKER, the ancestor of the Stryker Family of Kings County.
Laufzeit quebergen,
LEFFERT PIETERSEN, (van Haughwont, North Holland, lord,) the common ancestor of the Lefferts F'amilly In Kings County.
6
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF FLATBUSHI.
Mariag Rouonly . 16,
ADRIAN REYERSE, the common ancester of the Ryerson, the Adriance and the Martense families.
potvr lug. 11/2.
PETER LOTT, ancestor of the Lott Family of Kings County.
Quit-Rents .- This is the first deed or patent in which any mention is made of any revenue therefrom aceruing to the governors. When Dongan entered upon the government of the colony, he found its reve- nnes insufficient to meet its current expenses. With the double intention, therefore, of increasing these reve- nues, and, at the same time, securing to the inhabitants of the several towns, and to their posterity, an indis- putable title to the lands which they had obtained from his predecessors, and by purchase from the Indians; he called in all the patents, and replaced them with new ones. In these new patents he evidently endeav- ored to secure a greater degree of definiteness in des- cription of boundaries, etc., which had already given rise to innumerable disputes. And the colonists sub- mitted, with apparent willingness, to the change of their deeds, and to the new feature of quit-rent inserted therein. There was, indeed, a protest sent to the Eng- lish Government by Santin, the collector of New York and a member of the Council (afterward discovered to be a defaulter); but Gov. Dongan's able and manly reply to these charges (Doc. Hist. N. Y., Vol. III, p. 442), sufficiently explains his motives in the matter, and justi- fies his action.
The quit-rent continued to be paid for several years, according to the requirements of the patent, in good inerchantable wheat. At what time the change was made, by which money was accepted in lieu of wheat, we have no means of determining. The Receiver Gen- eral, at a subsequent date, was authorized to make such a change, and "wheat was valued at eighteen shillings and eight pence a bushel, in New York currency," and rents continued to be paid according to this standard until 1762.
Commutation of Quit-Rents .- After the Revolu- tionary War an act was passed by the legislature of New York, April 1, 1786, providing for the collection of arrears and the future annual Quit-Rent ; and, also, making provision whereby any town might commute for the payment of its quit-rents. In December of this same year the inhabitants of Flatbush availed them- selves of the privilege of this act, and purchased a re- lease from future quit-rents, which would have fallen due each year under the terms of their patent.
Dr. STRONG's History of Flatbush preserves the re-
ceipt for this release and payment, from which it appears, that its amount (including three years' arrears), from March 25, 1765, to the same date 1786, a period of twenty one years and nine months (with eight years deducted for " period of Revolution), was $162, 95.
Social and Political History .- Origin of the name. The early settlers of Brenekelen very natu- rally termed the densely-wooded hills of Flatbush the " Bosch "-a term equivalent to our word bush or cool. Following the Indian-path to the top of the ridge, the eye rested upon an unbroken range of level woodland. extending east and west as far as could be seen, and stretelring out toward the south for nearly three miles. to the bounds of New Amersfordt. This woodland, covering the extended plain, was called "'t Vlacke Bosch;" i. e., the flat woods; "'t Vlacke," or " Vlachte," meaning the plains or flats. In the early Colonial records a similar reference is made to the level beyond the woods, which is designated as "'t Vlaeke Landts." and embraced, at that time, the towns of New Utrecht, Gravesend, and New Amersfoordt. In proof of this we find, in a report of Governor Stuyvesant's, Oct. 19, 1605, this declaration, " The Flat land ('t Vlucke Landts), stripped of inhabitants to such a degree that, with the exception of the three English villages of Hemstede, New Flushing and Gravesend, there were not fifty bon- weries or plantations in it," &c.
This term, "'t Vlacke Bosch " was, without doubt. the earliest designation of the wooded country south of "the Hills," aud now, for the most part in the Town of Flatbush-and is so used by the Labadist travellers, in 1679-80. This would seem to prove that, even thirty years after the first settlement of the village, the name of the locality was a more familiar one to the settlers than the new name -- Middel- Wout (middle-woods). given it by Gov. Stuyvesant. In the defence of Hen- drick Van Dyck, the Fiscal under Stuyvesant, in 1652, he complains that " the Director hath, on his own authority, begun to plant a hamlet in 't Vlucke Bosch [the Flatbush] on Long Island, between Amersfort and Brenckelen. He named it Middel- Wout, where Jan Snediker, one of his Selectmen, hath settled." This term appears to be nearly synonymous with the original name of the whole section of woodland. The former term "'t Vlacke Bosch " meaning the Flut- Wood, and " Middel-Wout " meaning Middle- Wood ; " Woud " or " Wout" being the Dutch for wood, or forest. It was, therefore, undoubtedly, the peenliar surroundings of the locality on which the village was situated, that suggested its name. The name Middel-wout, in com- mon use, gradually became abbreviated to Mid-tout, as it is given in the earliest town-records, bearing date 1659. After the surrender of Long Island to the Eng- lish, we find, for the first time, in public documents, the Ilse of the name Flatbush (Fflatbush, Flatbos, Flack- bush); a sort of English rendering of the original Dutch ""{ \'lack Bosche." Midwout, however, continued to .
1
ORGANIZATION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
be the ordinary appellation in public records and com- mon use, until 1776 ; the term Flackebos being only - twice used by Town Clerk Van Ecklen, in 1694-'95. It seems evident, therefore, that the change of name from Midwont to Flatbush, is the result of no legal enact- ment, but simply of common nsage.
In early times the center of the village was called " Dorp," meaning " the town " and here was located the church, the school, and the court-house. North of the " Dorp" the land was of a peculiar character, where no rich strata are visible; the roads and fields are covered with immense water-washed cobble-stones. And this is even more observable further north, towards the hills. To this section the early settlers gave the name of Steen- raap, or " stone-gathering." Though, to a great extent, these stones have been removed from the surface, still. in digging cellars, and trenches for gas and water mains, large beds of them are yet found, as if piled away by human hands. Still further north, on the sides of " the Hills," were found huge boulders -- water-worn -and of which the farmers all through this section of the town used (up to the middle of the present century) to build their farm fences. But, of later years, these boulders have disappeared, having been sold and broken up for building purposes. The Labadist travel- Iers of 1679-80, so often referred to in these pages, have left unequivocal testimony to the tlen condition of public travel in the county ; and within the memory of some still living, these stones and boulders contribu- ted largely to the exceeding roughness of Flatbush roads. The soil of that portion of the village lying south of " the Dorp " is a sandy loam and remarkably free from stones. The Dutch called it Rustenburg, meaning bor- ongh, or "resting-place." This name may have been applied in grateful comparison with the state of the roads in other parts of the town and county, over which they were obliged to pass ; or, because their homes were here sitnated, to which they returned for a nightly rest, after their days of severe toil upon their wooded and stony farms in the northern part of the town. According to Mr. TEUNIS G. BERGEN, another portion of the town was called " East Midwont," which was, no doubt, that part known as New Lots.
Organization of Local Government and Courts .- During the earlier years of slow growth the Dutch towns scarcely needed any special or local provision for the administration of justice. The will of the Director of the West India Company, the two local officers appointed by him, and his occasional per- sonal superintendence, sufficed to maintain good order among them. In course of time, however, difficulties arose from this lack of a properly-organized govern- · ment. The Directors too often miisused their powers, and were disposed to govern in a dietatorial and tyran- ical manner, overlooking wholly the rights of the peo- ple. If imposed upon by the inferior officers of the town, it was worse than useless to appeal to the Direc-
tor, for these were simply carrying out his instructions. An appeal generally brought some punishment npon the villages for their audacity. A government of this character wo- not at all adapted to a people who had lived under the liberal form of government of Holland, where each city or village provided to a great extent for its own defense, administered its own finances, and governed itself by its own laws. Thus the inhabitants of the towns, who, in Holland, had been accustomed to have a voice in all matters relating to their government, could not quietly submit to the present arbitrary rule of the Directors.
Finally the growing popular discontent found ex- pression in a convention of delegates from the Dutch towns of Long Island, assembled at Nieuw Amsterdam, Nov. 26, 1653 ; but adjourned until Deceember. Up to this time, the civil affairs of Middlewont had been ad - ministered by an official called the "Schout." exerersing, somewhat, the combined functions of a judge and sheriff, and subordinate to the "Schout-fiscal" of Nieuw Ams- terdam. The name schout is supposed to be an abbrevi- ation of the Dutch word schuld-rechter, or, "crime- righter;" i. e., a judge of crimes. The people of each village also had the right to eleet two more schepens, or magistrates, as in the Fatherland. In November, 1646, Jan Temmissen, of Breuckelen, was made schout ; and had jurisdiction, also, over Middlewont and Amers- foort. We find no mention of another sehout being appointed till April, 1654, when David Provoost was made the first separate schout of Brenckelen. Teunissen probably remained schout of the other Dutch towns ; although in the Col. Does. State of' N. Y. Provoost is called sehout or sheriff of the Dutch towns on Long Island. Midwout, at this time, was allowed the privi- lege of a separate village to nominate three Schepens ; and Amersfort obtained two. Provoost was succeeded by Pieter Tonneman from January, 1656, to 1660; when he became the first Sheriff of Nieuw Amsterdam. The first entry in the oldest Court record of convey- ances of property in the Town Clerk's office, at Flat- bush, relates to the purchase, or allotment, of prop- erty in the village of Middlewont to this P. Touneman, under date of July 2, 1659. Ile was, also, Jannary, 1637, a member of the Supreme Council of the Nieuw Netherlands. In 1661 Adriaen Hegeman, a resident of Middlewout, was appointed, by Gov. Stuyvesant, as schout of Brenckelen, Midwont, and Amersfort. Ile had been, in 1654, one of the three schepens to which the town of Midwont was entitled; and, from 1659 to 1661, had acted as clerk, or secretary, of Midwout and Amersfort.
At the re-assembling of the convention, December 11th, 1653 (the Flatbush delegates being Elbert Elbert- sen and Thomas Spicer) a strong demand was made for laws, "resembling, as nearly as possible, those of the Fatherland." Gov. Stuyvesant treated the matter as "audacity " on the part of the Colonists; re-asserted
.
S
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF FLATBUSHI.
his authority; reprimanded the burgomaster of New Amsterdam for calling such a convention, and sought toweaken the force of remonstrance by asserting that the three Duteli Long Island towns had " no right to jurisdiction."
The convention re-assembled December 13, 1653, and declared they would protest to the States General, and West India Company. The Governor then ordered the convention to disperse and directed Breuckelen, Mid- wout and Amersfort to prohibit their delegates from appearing, for the present, at any meeting at New Amsterdam. Early in the following year, however, a serious trouble threatened the colonists ; which, while it served to allay the excitement caused by the events of December, 1653, at the same time united the settlers of the Dutch towns more closely. Pirates and robbers infested the rivers on either side of New Amsterdam and the shores of Long Island, and constantly com- mitted outrages upon the persons and property of the settlers on Long Island. While the English residents at Gravesend sympathized with and often harbored these men, the Dutch settlers in the various villages banded to resist them, and protect themselves and their property. Breuckelen, Midwout and Amersfort, April 7, 1654, formed a military company, and informed the Governor that they would " assist with all their might." Every third man was detailed to act as a minute-man, when required. A military office: was appointed in each town, called a Sergeant, and a public patrol in the village.
This expression of loyalty, so cheerfully and promptly given, was especially pleasing to the Governor, in view of the closing events of the previous year. It proved that the Dutch settlers were, at heart, true in their alle- giance to the interests of the West India Company. He therefore resolved to reward the Dutch towns of Breuckelen, Midwout and Amersfort, by giving them the increased municipal privileges which they had de- sired. Thus, by making this distinction in favor of the Dutch towns, he rebuked the English settlers at Gravesend for their sympathy with the pirates-who were their countryinen-as well as for the part they had taken in the convention.
Local Officers Appointed .-- It was at this time that the form of government was changed at Midwont, and the village was permitted to have a voice in the choice of its magistrates. A double number of persons were chosen by the people, and their names forwarded to the Governor, who from this list selected and commis- sioned those who should serve as magistrates. These local officers possessed functions and powers similar to those of the magistrates of New Amsterdam: and were under the immediate direction of a superior " District Court," composed of delegates from each town-court, to- gether with the sehout.
By direction of this "District Court" churches | could be built, schools established, roads laid ont, or | Towns."
repaired. In fact, all the local affairs of the towns came within its jurisdiction ; subject, of course, to the ap- proval of the Governor, or the Supreme Council of New Netherlands. Under this arrangement the inhabitants of Midwont nominated six men in April, 1634. from whom three were chosen to act as schepens of the vil- lage. In the absence of any Midwout records car- lier than 1659, we cannot state positively the names of these officers. We know that Adriaen Hegeman was appointed a local magistrate in 1654, and find his name on the earliest record of the village as serving still in the capacity of schepen. It is therefore reasonable to presume that the other men, whose names are found with his on the record of July 2, 1659, were appointed schepens with him in 1654. If this is correct, then the first three local magistrates of Midwout were Adri- aen Hegeman, Willem Van Boerum, Jan Sueberingh.
Facsimile of Adriaen Hegeman's Signature.
Willem Jacob Son Dan brown Facsimile of Willem Jacobse Van Poerum's Signature.
yan fürfrugt
Facsimile of Jan SueberIngh's Signature.
In Col. Ilist. of N. Y. the name of Jan Snedicor ap- pears as the first sent by the Governor to settle Mid- wout. He was also one of the signers of the Patent; a shoemaker by trade, and kept a tap-house or tavern in New Amsterdam from 1642-1654, when he was sent by Governor Stuyvesant to his new settlement at Mid- wont. He is called in Docs. of Col. Hist. of N. Y. "one of the Director's Selectmen." It is reasonable to suppose that the Governor would certainly place this man in some position of influenee. Although his name is not on any of the early records, Mr. TEUNIS G. BERGEN, in his Early Settlers of Kings County, states that " Jan Snedicor was a loeal magistrate of Mid- wout from 1654 to 1664."
Jan ct novokomp.165.
Facsimile of Jan Sned.cor's Signature.
"Five Dutch Towns."-This method of village government, by schepen and schont, continued uni! 1001. In that year New Utrecht and Boswych Back- wiek) were joined to Breuckelen, Amersfoort and Mid- wont, and the district was called the " Five Dutel.
1
V :
9
OVERSEERS OF FLATBUSII.
To these five Dutchi towns were assigned two officers, representing the general government, and to whom the village schepens were subordinate, viz .: a schout-fiscal and a secretary, or clerk, the special function of the latter being to take acknowledgments of marriage settlements, deeds and wills. Adriaen Hegeman was the first schout-fiscal of the five Dutch towns, and he was also specially appointed as auctioneer for the district. He was probably succeeded in both offices by Francis De Bruyn, in 1673. In Does. of' Col. Hist. of State of N. Y. (Vol. II. p. 675) De Bruyn's appointment is recorded, with a reference to the former existence of the office, and its probable dis- continuance while the towns were subject to the English.
"Whereas experience hath proved that it is highly neces- sary to continue the office of Auctioneer on Long Island, therefore on petition presented by Secretary Francis De Bruyn, he is thereunto commissioned and qualified. and said Francis De Bruyn is accordingly commissioned and appointed Auctioneer in the towns of Midwout, Amerfort. Breuckelen, Boshwyck and Utreght, with their dependencies situate on Long Island &c. Done Fort Willem Hendrick, the first Jan. 1673."
A year later he was succeeded by Nicasius de Sille, of New Utrecht; and he, again, by Michacl Hainelle.
The next change in the village government was made in 1665.
After the surrender of the colony to the English. in 1664, the government of Nieuw Amsterdam lost its distinctively Dutch character. The offices of Burgor- master, Schepens and Schout were abolished, and a Mayor, Board of Alderman and Sheriff were substi- tuted in their place. This rendered necessary a change in the local and "district" government of the Long Island towns. Governor Nicoll therefore called a con- vention for the purpose of establishing a uniform method for the administration of justice in the various villages and plantations on Long Island. To this, held at Hempstead, February, 1665, Flatbush sent Jan Stryker, Hendrick Gueksen, and Hendrick Jorise Brink- erhoff as delegates. The code of "Duke's Laws," as they were called, which was passed by this convention, restored again to the Governor almost all the unlimited power enjoyed by his Dutch predecessors; and was not at all satisfactory to either the Dutch or English towns, which found themselves still without the desired representative form of government. The Flatbush delegates, as well as those of other towns, were so openly and severely censured by their fellow towns- men for their share in the enactment of this code that the Court of Assize, October, 1666, decreed " that who- ever should thereafter detract or speak against any of the deputies who had signed an address to Ilis Royal Highness, the Governor, he should be presented to the Court of Assizes and answer for slander." At this convention Long Island and Staten Island were united, as YORKSHIRE of which the five Dutch towns, with
Gravesend, Newtown, and Staten Island, were cousti- tuted the West Riding ; all the towns of the present Queens county, except Newtown, became the North Riding ; and those of the present Suffolk county formed the East Riding ; and a High Sheriff was appointed for the Shire, with a deputy for each Riding, and a certain number of justices for each town. On the Ist or 2d of April, yearly, each town was to elect its own constable and eight (afterwards reduced to five) over- seers, whose duties were strictly defined by the code. From these overseers in each village the constable was to select the jurors for the Court of Sessions or Assize. The overseers were to be "men of good fame and life, chosen by the plurality of voices of the freehollers "; four remained in office two years successively, and four were changed for new ones every year ; the constables "to be chosen out of that number which are dismist from their office of overseers," in the preceding years. The overseers were the assessors of the town ; and, with the constable, made regulations in all matters which concerned the order and government of the town. They were authorized, together with the constable, to hold town-courts, for the trial of causes under £5. - On the death of any person, the constable and two overseers acted as coroners and surrogates, if any will was found. If no will was found, the constable, in the presence of the overseers, was, within forty-eight hours, to search after the estate of the deceased, and deliver an account of the same, in writing, under oath, to the next justice of the peace. The constable and Board of Overseers were required annually to appoint two of the overseers to make the rate, for building and repairing the church, for the maintenance of the minister, and for the sup- port of the poor. They were to establish the bounds of the town, regulate fences, and, with the constable, appoint an officer to "record every man's particular marke, and see each man's horse and colt branded." The overseers filled vacancies in their number occurring by death, and any person, so chosen by his fellow townsmen, was obliged to serve, or pay a fine of £10. We find an gentry upon the records that " Theodorus Polhemus, for refusing to stand constable. for Flatbush, although legally elected, was by the court fined five pounds to the public." The constable and two overseers were to pay the value of an Indian coat for each wolf killed, and to cause the wolf's head to be " nayled over the door of the constable, their to remaine, as also to cut of both the eares, in token that the head is bought and paid for."
Overseers of Flatbush .- 1675, Simon Hansen, John Roloffsen ; 1676, Arian Ryers, Garret Sueger [Snediker]; 1679, Joseph Hegeman, Derick Jansen Van Vleet ; 1680, Barent [ Barthokl ?] Claas, Cornelius Berrian, Joseph Hegeman ; 1681, Cornelins Berrian, Reynier Aertsen, Barthold Claas, Jan Remsen ; 1or2, Reynier Aertsen, Jan Jansen, Jan Reisen, Adrian Ryersen ; 1683, Jan Aertsen, Aris Janse [ Vander Bilt ].
10
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF FLATBUSH.
or Jan, son of Aert from the " Bilt," or hill ; Jan Jan- sen, Jan Auckes [or Onke-Van Nuys. ]
Difer fref
gutingen
"This is the Mark of Jan Aertsen Van der Byldt-from the Bilt." or Hill, In Friesland. the ancestor of the Vanderbilts of Kings County.
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