Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 53

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : Munsell
Number of Pages: 1360

USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y. > Part 53

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C. A. Jackson

34 Halsey street.

W. E. Jackson

34 Halsey street.

C. L. Johnson

158 Bedford avenue.

W. J. Kerigan 258 Pearl street.

J. P. Kinney 418 3d street.

Jos. I. Kirby 73 Gates avenue.

F. J. Kelly 138 Dean street.

William Kohlmeyer. 318 South Ist street.

John Lee.

216 State street.

James Lennox

128 23d street.

Benj. Linikin 216 Greene avenue.

Chas. Long.

.383 11th street.

Long & Barnes

114 Clermont avenue.

James Lock.

. 666 Willoughby.

Wm. Lamb

200 Rodney street.

Thos. Lamb, Jr. 234 Rodney street.

James R. Lawrence ,236 Park place.

Leonard Bros ..

735 Bergen street.

D. W. L. Moore

131 Colyer street.

John Monas 92 Park place.

D. T. MeFarlan

662 Gates avenue.

Morris & Seelover. 39 DeKalb avenne.

Martin & Lee.

440 Clermont avenue.

Henry McQuilkin

162 Walworth street.

Peter Modest.

87 Marion street.

John Magilligan

56 Berkeley place.

Andrew Miller 1527 Pacific street.

James P. Miller . 299 Summer avenue.

Wm. H. Maxwell

,591 Carroll street.

E. H. Monbray. . 317 7tli street.

P. Mulledy

.576 Quincy street.

John MeNamnce 477 Kent avenue.

M. Myers 888 DeKalb avenne.

Jas. H. Mason .277 Carlton avenue.

Thos. J. Nash 89 Butler street.

Daniel B. Norris.

259 Clifton place.

P. F. O'Brien . .

164 Bedford avenue.

John H. O'Rourke

119 38th street.

George Phillipps

177 Hancock street.

George Perkins.

.264 DeGraw street.

Robert Payne.

.340 Willoughby avenue.

Charles B. Piper

88 North Oxford street.

Herman Phillips

.289 Jefferson street.

Samuel J. Peden .

399 Marey avenue.

John V. Porter

184 Park place.

John J. Quin.

469 Macon street.

S. M. Randall

.571 Lorimer street.

John Rome.

.334 Schermerhorn street.

Daniel Ryan

733 Third avenue.

James Roper

109 Halsey street.

Myron C. Rush.

329 Franklin avenne.

William J. Ryder

128 Quiney street.

T. A. Remsen .

913 Atlantie avenue.

F. B. Rutan.

175 Monroe street.

James Rodwell

.89 Division avenue.

John F. Ryan

187 Hewes street.

John C. Rustin.

79} Clermont avenne.

T. W. Rollins

35 South Oxford street.

A. Rutan (Mason) 957 Putnam avenue.

John Ruger

258 Moore street.

John Rawson.

.219 Clymer street.

W. C. Russell

58 Hancock street.

Elbert Snedeker

391 Greene avenue.

Howard J. Smith

478 Clermont avenue.

J. N. Smith

371 LaFayette avenue.

John Stafford .

53 Dean street.

J. E. & J. H. Stevenson. . 14 Hoyt street.

C. L. Smith .

157 South 8th street.

C. P. Skelton, Sr.

1011 DeKalb avenue.

Jos. Simms .

201 Fort Greene place.

L. W. Seaman, Jr.

2 Fort Greene place.

Thomas Stone.

471 State street.

W. Schepper

126 Carleton avenue.

John Smith

178 Chauncey street.

F. Sloat.

.349 Tompkins avenue.

James Shannon

87 Clermont avenue.

Stillman Soule.

427 Gates avenue.

Peter Sullivan .

389 Lewis avenue.

John C. Sawkins

Flatbush.

C. B. Sheldon

362 5th street.

Matthew Smith.

. 248 Lorimer street.

J. P. Seeley.

130 LaFayette avenue.

Win. M. Thomas

.362 9th street.

Jas. A. Thompson

.300 Lexington avenue.

Jas. H. Townsend.

. 60 Putnam avenue.

Arthur Taylor.

164 Lewis avenue.

Rulof Van Brunt. 134} 11th street.

J. M. Van Wieklen.

217 South 4th street.

Peter W. Voorhees

160 Carlton avenue.

S. C. Whitehead .

196 Halsey street.

Wm. V. Williamson

.380 Dean street.

Wm. S. Wright.

233 Cumberland street.

John J. Mills 496 Gates avenue.

Christo Bedell

Ble Miller

855

ARCHITECTS, BUILDERS AND REAL ESTATE AGENTS.

Smith Wood. 698 Gates avenue.

James Williamson

.626 Gates avenue.

David Weild. .358 Gates avenue.

C. W. Williams 557 Broadway, E. D.

BENJAMIN C. MILLER .- A farm-house iu the township of Somers, Westchester county, N. Y., was Mr. Miller's birth- place. He was born May 10th, 1832, the fourth in a family of eight, of whom five are still living. His father, Joseph Miller, now eighty years of age, is as erect in stature and firm in step as is Mr. Miller himself to-day. His mother died many years ago.

The little red school-house in which Mr. Miller, with the other youth of the neighborhood, received what was then deemed ample instruction for a farmer's son, stood, until very recently, about a mile from the old homestead, but has now been replaced by a more pretentious building.

At the age of seventeen, having until then employed his time in farming, Mr. Miller went to New York to begin life for himself. There he engaged in different kinds of employ- ment, raising himself step by step from one position to another, and gradually accumulating a little capital. He came to Brooklyn in January, 1861, and two months later joined his father and uncle, R. & J. Miller, in their business of raising and moving houses. Under his management the business has had uninterrupted prosperity, having succeeded his father and uncle as sole proprietor in 1867. His sou is now associated with him as partner.

Mr. Miller has been engaged in some large undertakings, both in this city and elsewhere. Noteworthy were the rais- ing of blocks of houses on Flatbush avenue when the street grade was elevated twelve feet at Fifth avenue; also the moving of blocks of buildings when Fourth avenue was widened and graded. At Yonkers, N. Y., he was sent for to assist in widening several streets, and his services have been in request at Baltimore, Md., and other cities in a similar way. In the spring of 1883, the Bathing Pavilion at Brigh- ton Beach, Coney Island, a building 450 feet long, three stories in height, and built on piles, had to be moved 200 feet back from the beach, on account of the encroachment which the tides had made upon it during a long and stormy winter. The surf was continually beating among the piles on which the structure rested, a constant menace to its sta- bility and to the workmen who might be employed in re- moving it. Mr. Miller received the contract for the difficult undertaking in preference to all others, although his estimate of its cost was much higher than that of any competitor. His well-known skill and integrity were an assurance of suc- cess, impossible as the removal was pronounced to be by many who were even more experienced than he. The pa- vilion now stands on its new foundations, illustrating his ingenuity and daring enterprise.

In person, Mr. Miller is of commanding height, with a finely proportioned muscular frame. His blue eye is keen and frank like that of one who

" Looks the whole world in the face, For he fears not any man."

His clear complexion denotes the man of perfect health, and, with his light-brown hair, bespeak his Saxon origin.

Like his parents, Mr. Miller is a member of the Society of Friends, and his life has been a fair exponent of the firm- ness of principle and uncompromising straightforwardness, which are the Quakers' characteristics. As is well known, this is the oldest temperance society in the world. Its prin- ciples have had no stronger advocate than Mr. Miller, who by voice and example has done continuous service for the

cause of reform. Possessing a character of bonhomie, and fond of social enjoyment, the temptation has often been strong in him to join in the convivial intoxication to which as a man of the world, he has been often bidden, but he has never swerved from the path of absolute temperance. In order to induce others to espouse the same cause, he entered, some years ago, the Order of the Good Templars, and lias siuce held the highest positions within the society with honor and credit.

To the work of reforms he has brought the same enthu- siasms and energy, which have distinguished all his under- takings, and he has always been a trusted counselor of his fellow laborers.

In his twenty-third year, Mr. Miller married Miss Laura F. Marshall. Five children were born to them, of whom three are living.

Notwithstanding a press of business cares, Mr. Miller keeps himself well informed on the current events of the day. As a Republican he takes an active interest in political affairs, though never seeking office.

In short, Mr. Miller is one of the many self-made men of whom our country furnishes so many notable examples. His present position and acquirements are due entirely to his own efforts. His aptness and quickness have enabled him to cope successfully with difficulties, while his energy, courage and perseverance have given him the victory over all obstacles, and made him one of the prominent business men of the day.

CHESTER BEDELL was born near Morristown, N. J., August 6, 1814. His father and grandfather were both natives of Morristown. The latter, Isaac Bedell, served the American cause as a soldier during the Revolutionary struggle, receiv- ing two serious wounds, one of which was so peculiar as to be of interest to the general reader. Mr. Bedell received a ball between the bones of his leg just below the knee. The wound was of such a nature that the missile could not be extracted, and it remained embedded in the sufferer's leg for fifty years, but gradually, though he was not aware of it, working down. One day a horse kicked Mr. Bedell's leg, just above the ankle, and, through an opening thus made in the flesh, the ball came out having traversed nearly the whole length of the leg below the knee. It was given by Mr. Bedell to his son, John K. Bedell, father of Chester Bedell, and by him to Chester Bedell, his eldest son, who, some years ago, deposited it, with its curious history, in the corner- stone of the Carroll Park Methodist-Episcopal Church, in Brooklyn.

John K. Bedell was a farmer and school teacher at Morris- town, N. J. He married Anna Jones, who is living with her son, William J. Bedell, at Morristown, having reached the advanced age of eighty-nine in August, 1883. Her husband died at Morristown more than twenty years ago. Chester Bedell lived on his father's farm until he was about seventeen years old, when he was apprenticed to J. S. Frost, of Morris- town, to learn the trade of stone-mason, bricklayer and plasterer. He removed to Brooklyn in 1833, and was em- ployed as a journeyman at his trade for about two years. In 1835, he began business on his own account as a builder, in which he has continued successfully to the present time, having erected about 1,500 buildings in Brooklyn and New York, and elsewhere, among them the Pearl street House, in New York, the Arcade Building, in Elizabeth, N. J., a large number of stores on Atlantic Dock, and some large build. ings in Charleston, S. C. His office is at 337 Smith street, where he carries on a limited real estate business in connec- tion with his building operations.

856

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY. .

Edwin. HoBurnett

In 1838, Mr. Bedell was married to Miss Amy S. North, a Long Island lady, who has borne him seven children, three of whom are dead. One son, William Forrest Bedell, M.D., of 265 Sackett street, and three daughters are living. Mr. Bedell and members of his family are identified with the Carroll Park Methodist-Episcopal church, the house of wor- ship of which was erected by Mr. Bedell, more than one-half the expense having been borne by him, and the balance by Mr. Henry DuBois and William J. Bedell, of Morristown, N. J., a farmer and former builder, who learned his trade in Brooklyn with his brother, Chester. In politics, Mr. Bedell, formerly a " Clay Whig," has long espoused the cause of the Republican party, though he is not, nor has lie been active as a polititian. Ile is, in the best sense of the term, a self- made man. His life has been a busy and a useful one. IIe is a gentleman of genial presence and agreeable manners, and many there are who are proud to call him friend. In all of the best interests of humanity he takes a lively interest, and his helpful charity has made itself practically manifest on many occasions when, in time of need, he has shown himself "a friend mdeed." At the age of almost three- score and ten, he appears much younger, and preserves all of his mental and most of lris physical vigor.

EDWIN H. BURNETT .- The family of Burnett in America is both an old and an honorable one. Thomas Burnett, of Lynn, Mass., is the earliest of the name from whom Edwin I. Burnett is able to trace his descent. He removed to South- ampton, L. I., about 1643, and had sons named John, Aaron, Lot, Joel, Dan, Mordecai, and Matthias. Mordecai removed at an early date from Southampton, L. I., to Elizabethtown. New Jersey. Ile was the son of Thomas Burnett by his second wife, Mary Pierson, and was born while his father was yet a resident of Lynn, Mass., where he married her in 1663. It is thought that he became a resident of New Jersey about 1690, as subsequent to that date he soon be- came prominent in local affairs.

Dr. Ichabod Burnett, son of Dan, was born at Southamp- ton, L. I., about 1684, and removed with his father to Eliza- bethtown, N. J., about 1690. He had two sons, William and Ichabod, both of whom became physicians. The latter died in his twenty-fourth year. Dr. William Burnett removed to Newark and distinguished himself as a patriot during the Revolution. He was the father of Judge Jacob Burnett of Cincinnati. Dr. Ichabod Burnett died at Elizabethtown, N. J., at the age of ninety, in 1774.

ARCHITECTS, BUILDERS AND REAL ESTATE AGENTS.

857

ALITTLE, PHILA

Edwin H. Burnett's father, John O. Burnett, and his mother, Julia Ann (Higgins) Burnett, were both natives of Lyons' Farms, N. J. They removed to Brooklyn not long after their marriage, where their son was born February 25th, 1829. He was educated partially in the public and partially in private schools in Brooklyn, and at the age of sixteen became a clerk in a grocery store; but having a taste for his father's trade, that of carpenter, he two years later devoted himself to its acquisition, studying architec- tural drawing at the old Apprentices' Library on Washing- ton street. He passed some years in his father's service, and at the age of about twenty-five became his partner. A few years afterward his father retired, and Mr. Burnett lias since been conducting an extensive and growing business, during the period of which he did the carpenter work for Dr. Squibb's residence and laboratory, on Columbia Heights, and was the architect and builder of the Nottingham Lace Works, at the corner of Hall street and Park avenue, be- sides erecting numerous fine residences and business struc- tures of various kinds, his residence and shops being located at Nos. 58 and 60 Poplar street. Formerly an old line Whig, Mr. Burnett is now a. Democrat, but not an active participant in political affairs. He is a member of the Dutch Reforined Church of Flatbush, L. I.

In 1851, he married Catharine H. McChesney, of Mon- month county, N. J., and has two daughters, named respec- tively, Virginia Lee, and Ella Stewart Burnett.

LINDSAY JAMES WELLS, the subject of this sketch, was born in Dublin, Ireland, December 22, 1822. His father, James Wells, was a native of England, and his mother, whose maiden name was Mary Holmes, was born in Scot- land. Their family consisted of four sons and two daughters. Young Wells, having received a liberal academical education, entered the Royal Irish Academy, where he studied two years; and, having received the highest prize for architec- tural drawing (which drawing is still in his possession), he entered the office of Mr. Isaac B. Farrell, an architect and civil engineer of high standing in the city of Dublin, where he served a five years' apprenticeship. He then became assistant to Mr. James B. Farrell, a prominent civil engineer in the West of Ireland, who was engaged in improving Wex- ford Harbor and other large engineering works, remaining with him two years. He then decided to join his eldest brother, also a civil engineer, believing that America would offer a better field for the beginning of an active life thian his native country. He therefore crossed the Atlantic, and located in Brooklyn early in May, 1848. His professional ability was soon remarked, so that, in the following Novem- ber, lie was tendered the position of Civil Engineer to the Trustees of Green-Wood Cemetery, which he accepted, and has filled for nearly forty years with honor to himself and satisfaction to the corporation. To his instrumentality largely are due the beauties that have made Green-Wood world-renowned. His judgment and skill helped to originate

858

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

and elaborate the plan of laying out the grounds : his good taste assisted in preserving and enhancing its natural beau- ties ; liis science aided in forming the wonderful system of walks and drives. glades and lakes, that make Green-Wood a terrestrial paradise, a triumph of landscape engineering. Mr. Wells has shown the highest art to conceal art, so that difficulties have been overcome, obstacles removed, and natural advantages improved, to produce charming effects, yet without artificiality.

Aside from his busy professional carcer, Mr. Wells has also done much work in connection with benevolent and religious enterprises. He has been instrumental in founding four churches in Brooklyn, viz .: the First Place M. E. Church, thie Warren Street M. E. Church, the Park Congregational Church, and the Church of the Covenant. He is now an active member of the Park Congregational. He was a charter member and is now a director and the treasurer of the " Prospect Heights Dispensary."

Mr. Wells married Miss Eleanor Bridges, of Brooklyn, May 25, 1852, and the issue of that marriage was two sons, James L. and Chiarles B., and two daughters, Mary Eleanor (Scott) and Emma L. After many years of domestic lappi- ness, Mrs. Wells died, February 7, 1877. Mr. Wells again married, in 1883, Miss Susan H. Pierce, of Massachusetts.

A large circle of friends hiold Mr. Wells in the liighest es- teein for his manliness and worth.

Real Estate Dealers and Agents. - It re- mains that we speak of the real estate dealers and agents, who have become so mimerons as almost to form a distinct guild in our eity. In the period of its village life, Brooklyn had no need of real estate agents. If a man built or bought a house which, for any cause, he desired to sell, the natural purchaser was either some neighbor or new-comer, who was desirous of buy- ing, and the transaction was between man and man, without the intervention of a middle-man. If land was to be sold for building purposes, the seller was either a farmer who saw profit in disposing of a part of his farm, and who offered it at a price which, in most cases, speedily brought purchasers. In the very begin- ning of the present century there seems to have been but one man in the town of Brooklyn who engaged in what might be called a real estate business. This was John Jackson, who engineered the purchase of the site of the present United States Navy Yard, and who put up a number of small houses in its vicmity for workmen and persons of small means. Thirty years later, after the city organization in 1834, some enterprising men of wealth, who had earlier purchased considerable tracts for country seats, foreseeing dimly that Brooklyn was to be some day a great city, laid out streets through their estates and offered building lots for sale, generally under certain conditions or covenants. Among the earliest of these were Mr. HEZERIMI B. PIERREPONT, whose services in building up and improving the city are elsewhere recorded in this work ; the brothers, Au- GUSTUs and Jons B. GRAHAM, JOSHUA SANDS, Major FANNING C. TUCKER and his son, R. SANDS TUCKER, JEREMIAH JonSSON, several members of the POLHEMUS and RarRive families, Mr. PACKER, and later, Mr.

JOHN H. PRENTISS. Some of the original holders of farms eame reluctantly into this movement, which has brought large fortunes to their descendants. Among these were the Polhemus, Joralemon, Remsen, Lefferts, Johnson, Jackson and other families. These proper- ties are now very thoroughly distributed, and among those most active in their distribution have been Gen. JEREMIAH JOHNSON, Jr., Hon. J. CARSON BREVOORT, who married into one of the Lefferts families, Mr. THEODORE POLIEMUS, and other parties connected by birth or marriage with these old families. Of course, this laying ont of streets and offering of build- ing lots for sale, or erecting buildings on them, were real estate transactions on a large seale ; but the men who did this business were the owners of the lands they offered, and did not act in any respect as middle-men. A real estate dealer or agent to-day may own the buildings or lots he offers for sale ; though, as a rule, he does not, but acts as agent for the owners. He may -and in the case of the flats or apartment honses, as we have explained, he often does-own the houses he offers to rent; but it is not necessary to his ealling that he should own any of them. He does very often, if he has capital, or can command the capital of others, make building loans to builders and take mortgages on the buildings they are ereeting as his security. But it is of the nature of his business that in most cases he should aet, directly or indirectly, as the agent of others. and thus be a middle-man. We have been unable to ascertain who, in the sense we have defined, was the first real estate agent in Brooklyn. Whoever he was, he had his office probably either near Fulton Ferry, or in the young and growing village of the Wallabout, in the vicinity of the United States Navy Yard, and his or their business-for there may have been four or five engaged in the vocation-must have been limited with- in very narrow bounds.

In 1849, Mr. SYLVESTER HONDLOW, a native of Mon- treal, and at that time forty-one years of age, removed to Brooklyn, and commenced business as a real estate agent. He was enterprising and honest. Very soon, probably in 1850, he removed his office to Montagne street, and thenceforward transacted his business there until his death, in February, 1878. When he made this removal, Mr. H. B. Pierrepont-who, as we have seen, was himself one of the most enterprising and hopeful of the citizens of Brooklyn-said to him: " Mr. Hond- low, are you crazy ? There certainly can never be any hope of bnikling up a good real estate business so far from the center of business !" But Mr. Hondlow thought differently, and the events proved the sound ness of his judgment. Within ten years Holy Trinity Church was finished, the Academy of Mnsie was built; horse railroads were running in all directions-sonth, south-east, east, north-east and north ; the new Court honse was projected, the great Atlantic and Eric ba sins were under way, churches and schools were erected

859

ARCHITECTS, BUILDERS AND REAL ESTATE AGENTS.

in great numbers one, two, three and four miles to the east, and Brooklyn had more than doubled its popula- tion. Mr. Hondlow was in a position to take advan- tage of this rapid growth, and a full tide of fortune poured in upon him. Of course there were numerous competitors for this business. Among them were Mr. JULIUS DAVENPORT, Messrs. D. & M. CHAUNCEY, and a little later, NICHOLAS COOPER, whose son, like Mr. Davenport's, is now associated with him; MARTIN BRIEN; Mr. H. MACOMBER, now deceased, whose son continues his business; Rev. H. A. SPAFORD; WILLIAM MORGAN, now deceased, whose son continues his father's busi- ness; Mr. WILLIAM O. SUMNER; Mr. W. KNOWLTON, deceased, whose son continues the business, and many others. Later, others came into the business, some of them with large capital or indomitable enterprise, and these have generally succeeded, though many who have attempted the business with insufficient knowl- edge, influenee or capital have failed. Among the most enterprising of the later men are Mr. LEONARD MOODY, whose biography is found elsewhere in these pages, Mr. JAMES C. EADIE, Mr. PAUL C. GRENING, the younger DAVENPORTS, Messrs. MACOMBER & RICHI- ARDSON, Mr. CHARLES W. KNOWLTON, Messrs. CHARLES A. SEYMOUR & CO., WILLIAM MORGAN'S SON, WYCKOFF BROS., Messrs. N. H. & H. T. FROST, T. W. SWENSON & Sox, and a host of others. There are, as we have already said, three hundred and twenty-five real estate agents in the city. A considerable number of the most eminent of the real estate dealers are among the citizens whom Brooklyn has eause to honor, and whose portraits and biographies adorn our pages.

JACOB RAPELYE .- Mr. James Riker, in his Annals of New- town, says, with regard to the RAPELYE family, that "they seemed to have retained the characteristic gaiety, tact and intelligence of their French origin, combined with the good sense, economy and neatness of their Dutch progenitors." It is certain that this observation is strictly true as applied to the subject of our sketch, JACOB RAPELYE, who was born Sept. 19, 1788.

After having received such limited education as was af- forded at that time by the country schools near his father's residence, in Newtown, Long Island, Jacob became a clerk in the city of New York at the age of sixteen, and, accord- ing to the custom of the time, was bound as an apprentice to serve his time as such. During the period of his clerk- ship, keenly sensible of the necessity of a better education, he applied himself closely to study, and endeavored to fit himself for higher walks in life. At the age of twenty-one, he was appointed to a desk in the United States Bank, but he found the position distasteful; and, upon the declaration of the war of 1812, he obtained, from Governor Daniel D. Tompkins, a commission as First Lieutenant of Artillery. Under it he did active duty with his fellow citizens in the defence of New York City. Upon the 12th of December, 1812, James Madison, Presideut of the United States, ap- pointed lıim First Lieutenant of the United States Volun- teers. In this capacity, he served in New York City, at Sandy Hook, and upon the Canada line. He was Adjutant to General Izard; the general and regimental order books

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Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 53

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909. Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York : Munsell Number of Pages: 1360

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : Munsell
Number of Pages: 1360