History of Queens County, New York : with illustrations, portraits, and sketches of prominent families and individuals., Part 33

Author:
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: New York : W.W. Munsell and Co.
Number of Pages: 703

USA > New York > Queens County > History of Queens County, New York : with illustrations, portraits, and sketches of prominent families and individuals. > Part 33

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Town Clerks since 1785 .- Nathaniel Seaman, 1785, 1786; Samuel Clowes, 1787-94; Richard Bedell, 1795; Abraham Bedell, 1796-1817; Edward A. Clowes, 1818-23; Albert Hentz, 1824-33; Benjamin Rushmore, 1834-40; Thomas Welch, 1841; Harry H. Marvin, 18.42-54; Abram S. Snedeker, 1855; Harry H. Marvin, 1856, 1857, 1859-61; John E. Davidson, 1858, 1863, 1864; Benjamin F. Rushmore, 1862; Sands Powell jr., 1865-68; J. M. Oldrin, 1869; J. Seymour Snedeker, 1870-72; Samnel Hendrickson, 1873, 1874; Robert Seabury, 1875-77; John R. Pettit, 1878; James B. Curly, 1879-81.

The town poor farm is two miles northeast of Hemp- stead village, and consists of about 70 acres of tillable land, being the farm formerly owned by James P. Nichols. A large two-story frame house, with basement, was built in 1872, at a cost of $9,750. There are about thirty paupers kept there each year. The business is transacted by three overseers, who meet at the house regularly every two weeks.

In the town of Hempstead are situated many summer seaside resorts, several of which are visited by large num- bers of people during the summer months. At the larger hotels, at Long Beach and Rockaway, a regular police force is on duty during the season. There are four justices of the peace, and places for holding court are prepared at Hempstead, Rockaway, Pearsalls, Freeport, and other places. A police force was organized in Hemp- stead village in 1877, consisting of a police justice and two regular officers until 1878, when only one regular officer was engaged. In the spring of 1880 the office of police justice and police constable was abolished by the Legislature. At present the trustees appoint one police-

man. John Crampton has held tha position about seven population but in wealth, during the last one hundred years, being chief during the time of the regular organiza- tion. There are two night watchmen employed, con- THE CIVIL LIST, ETC. stable George S. Eldred and T. B. Eldred. There is a substantial lock-up in the town hall at Hempstead vil- lage, and one under the court room at Far Rockaway.

There are six election districts in Hempstead, as fol- lows : First district, west of Hempstead village; second, Hempstead village; third, Baldwinsville, Christian Hook, and Rockville Centre; fourth, East Rockaway, Pearsalls, Woodsburgh, Far Rockaway; fifth, Valley Stream and a part of Foster's Meadow; sixth, Rockaway Beach.

STAGES AND RAILROADS.

Comparatively speaking, it is only a few years since railroad communications were opened between New York and Hempstead. Daily stages were run from Brooklyn to all parts of the island, and stages twice and thrice a week carried the mail to out of-the-way places. From the Long Island Telegraph, published at Hempstead in 1830, we copy the following advertisement :

" The Hempstead stage leaves the village of Hemp- stead, starting from the house of David Bedell, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning, at eight o'clock, and returns on Tuesday, Thursday and Satur- day; leaving the house of Coe S. Downing, Fulton street, Brooklyn, at precisely 2 o'clock P. M. Arrangement is made to carry passengers to and from Rockaway by the above line.

" CURTIS & MERVIN, Proprietors."

Similar notices appear in the same paper for a stage line from Flushing to Newtown, the South Oyster Bay stage, Jerusalem stage, Riverhead and Sınithtown, Hun- tington, Norwich, Jericho and Oyster Bay and others. But the day of stage coaches on Long Island has passed away, and at present the business man of New York or Brooklyn after business hours takes a train which lands him at his home in Hempstead in an hour's ride. Rail- roads accommodate nearly every village or settlement in the town. The Central Railroad of Long Island, which now serves Hempstead village and vicinity, was opened in February 1871, the depot being being erected on Ful- ton street. John F. Townsend was the engineer who brought in the first passenger train, and George Sharp was conductor. The old South Side Railroad, the Mon- tauk division of the Long Island Railroad, extends to Sag Harbor, a distance of about 100 miles, and accom- modates all of the villages on the soutli side of Hemp- stead.

LOCAL INDUSTRIES.

Mills .- In 1844 William Oliver came to this country from England, and in 1854 he came to Hempstead, pur- chasing the ponds situated between Hempstead village and Rockville Centre. At that place, until the purchase of the ponds for the Brooklyn Water Works, was ertab- lished the Oliver Eagle Flour Mill, with office, salesroom and storehouse on Main street, Hempstead. W. F. Oliver

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INDUSTRIES OF HEMPSTEAD-WATER FOR BROOKLYN.

purchased in 1877 what had been a paper-mill, a short distance from these ponds, and he does a general milling business.

There are several flouring mills in the town. The grist-mill in the village of Hempstead is on Jackson street near the corner of Main. The building, which is three-story, was erected in 1857 by Samuel G. Smith and Thomas H. Clowes, and was ready for use in the fall of the same year. A wind mill was first used for furnishing power, but, it not proving sufficient, a forty-horse-power steam engine was bought, which has since been in use. Mr. Smith has had charge of the mill since its erection.

The Oyster Business .- An important industry of Hemp- stead, and one which is constantly growing, is the raising of oysters, which gives employment to a large number of people. The waters south of Hempstead are well adapted to the work, and during the last twenty years the busi- ness has grown to large proportions. At Freeport, Bald- wins, Christian Hook, East Rockaway, Pearsalls and other places large quantities are shipped annually to all parts of the country and to Europe. John B. Raynor, of Freeport, was one of the first to start in the business, about the year 1858. D. Pearsall, of Freeport, has been in the business since about 1860. He ships to Europe annually about three hundred barrels of oysters, and about two thousand bushels to New York; and several other pro- ducers are disposing of a like amount. Among the large dealers at Baldwins are Lorenzo D. Smith and Green M. Southard, the last named gentleman supplying several of the large hotels and restaurants of New York. The work of raising the oyster and preparing it for market is very laborious. The young oyster or plant is purchased by the bushel and planted in beds in the bays, the per- mission to use the land under the public waters being purchased or hired by the acre from the town. The lands are staked out and as well known as are the farms scattered through the town. When large enough the oysters are caught and prepared for market at the various oyster houses scattered along the south side.

Hempstead Florists .- Among other attractive places in Hempstead are the conservatories and nursery of George Rogers, 85 Franklin street. Established only about three years, this has already become one of the institutions of the village. Mr. Rogers, who has been in the business nearly thirty years, has built several hot-houses, which are properly provided with light and heat, and the tasty and careful manner in which they are managed and the increasing business attended to speak well for his ability. Besides the general variety of pot plants, trees, vines and shrubs, he appropriately designs cut flowers for parties, weddings and funerals. Besides supplying his custom- ers in Hempstead and vicinity, he ships a large quantity of early plants to the New York market.

The West End greenhouses, on Franklin avenue, Far Rockaway, are owned by Joseph Marsden, who started the business in 1876, since which time his business has below the line of the conduit.

been steadily increasing, being mostly a home trade. He has the agency for evergreen and deciduous trees, flow- ering shrubs, fruit trees, etc., also a fine assortment of

pot and bedding plants. His greenhouses are 30 by 65 feet, and are one of the attractions of Far Rockaway.

Situated about five miles from Hempstead village, at Smithville South, are the greenhouses of R. P. Jeffrey & Son, nurserymen and florists. R. P. Jeffrey is a native of England. About 1870 his son, William F. Jeffrey, established the business on a small scale, since which time it has been steadily increasing. At the present time they have four houses, about 45 by 20. They make specialties of young evergreens, ornamental and fruit trees, and in the greenhouses of growing carnations for the New York cut flower trade; also hybridizing carna- tion flowers for seedlings. This firm supplies the Long Beach Improvement Company with many fine plants. It has taken premiums at the county fair for landscape gardening.

An attractive and lucrative business has been estab- lished in the village of Pearsalls by R. E. & J. C. Sealy, who built hot-houses and commenced business as florists about 1875. By hard work their enterprise has been made successful, and six houses, 15 by 60 feet in dimen- sions, are now filled with every variety of flowers and plants. The houses are well kept, and the proprietors employ four men to assist them in preparing and ship- ping the plants and flowers to the New York market.

BROOKLYN WATER WORKS.

Situated in Hempstead, and covering a large tract of land, are the ponds supplying the Brooklyn city water works. Clear Stream pond, two acres, was pur- chased October 6th, 1858; price, $1,310. Valley Stream pond, twenty-three acres, was purchased May 14th 1858; price, $13,000. Pine's pond, fifteen and a half acres, was purchased March 3d 1858; price $6,000. Hempstead pond, twenty-six and a half acres, was purchased Novem- ber 12th 1850; price, $12,000. Smith's pond was pur- chased May 14th 1853; price, $11,500. The water from the last pond is below the level of the conduit line, and near Rockville Centre a pumping station was erected, where the water is pumped into the conduit. The water from all other sources in the town flows into the conduit.

The storage reservoir is situated south of the village of Hempstead, and was originally three mill ponds on the same stream, viz .: those of Nicoll's grist- mill, Oliver's paper-mill and De Mott's grist.mill. The grounds of the storage reservoir are 557 acres, purchased at a cost of $110,982. The water surface when full is 253 acres. The total cost of the reservoir was $1,400,000. It is not completed according to the original plan. Owing to litigation between the city and the contractors, Keeny & Kingsley, the work was stopped.

Watts's pond was purchased in September 1880, at a cost of $8,000. It is now (1881) being excavated and a pumping station erected. It is located at Valley Stream,

CEMETERIES.

Formerly the town cemetery was situated on Hemp-

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HISTORY OF QUEENS COUNTY.

stead Plains, where Garden City now stands. When that tract of land was sold grounds were bought and the burial ground was removed to what is now known as Greenfield cemetery.

Greenfield cemetery is about one and a quarter miles south from Hempstead village, and consists of about 30 acres of land, only 20 acres of which, however, are owned by the town. It was laid out in 1869 by John Harold, now deceased, and has many beautiful walks and roads. A fence surrounds it, and a house and arched gateway, with bell for funeral purposes, constitute the main en- trance. Scattered through the grounds are many tasty monuments. A vault has also been built. The cemetery is regulated by three trustees, elected for three years, one every year. The present board consists of Stephen Wil- liamson, J. S. Snedeker and Jacob W. Titus. Daniel Vandewater is sexton.

Between Rockville Centre and Pearsalls is an old cemetery, covering six acres, surrounding the First Methodist church, which attracts attention not only as being the last earthly resting place of many early settlers of Hempstead, but from the fact that in the mariners' lot, a plot 35 by 161 feet, purchased by the inhabitants and set apart for that purpose, are the remains of many people wrecked on Rockaway Beach. A large monu- ment has been erected on the plot, and the inscriptions on the four sides tell the story briefly.

On the front side is the following: "To the memory of 77 persons, chiefly emigrants from England and Ire- land, being the only remains of 100 souls, composing the passengers and crew of the American ship 'Bristol,' Captain Mckown, wrecked on Far Rockaway Beach November 21st 1836." .

On the second side: " To commemorate the melancholy fate of the unfortunate sufferers belonging to the ' Bristol' and 'Mexico' this monument was erected; partly by the money found upon their persons and partly by the contributions of the benevolent and humane in the county of Queens."

On the third side: " To the memory of sixty-two per- sons, chiefly emigrants from England and Ireland; being the only remains of 115 souls forming the passengers and crew of the American barque 'Mexico,' Captain Winston, wrecked on Hempstead beach January 2nd 1837.

" In this grave, from the wide ocean, doth sleep The bodies of those that had erossed the deep; And instead of being landed, safe on the shore, In a eold frosty night they all were no more."

On the fourth side: "All the bodies of the 'Bristol , and 'Mexico' recovered from the ocean and decently interred near this spot; were followed to the grave by a large concourse of citizens and strangers, and an address delivered suited to the occasion from these words: 'Lord save us, we perish.' "-Matth. viii. 25, etc.

In this cemetery in one row of graves are buried 15 children of Mr. Abrahams.

BARNUM'S ISLAND.

In Hempstead Bay is what was known as Hog Island. In 1874 it was bought by_Mrs. P. C. Barnum, of private

parties, and then sold to the town for $13,000. On this island, which has been named after Mrs. Barnum, are the county poor buildings. It contains about 450 acres of upland and marsh, seventy-five acres being improved. Timothy and clover hay, rye, corn and all kinds of vegetables are raised, the work being nearly all per- formed by the paupers. The island is reached by the road through Christian Hook, or Oceanville, and a draw- bridge a mile from the buildings. There are three main buildings. The largest is a dwelling-house for the keeper, and the dining room for all is situated in this building. It is a three-story brick structure, the third floor being used for sleeping-rooms. In the second story are private apartments for the keeper's family. A two story brick building south of the main building is used for a workshop and general sitting-room, the second story and attic being used as sleeping apart- ments. The storehouse and general offices are in a house west of the main building, and a dock which accommodates vessels drawing four or five feet of water is used for landing supplies. The hospital is a two-story building with attic. The first floor is occupied by the office of the physician, Dr. Hutchinson, and his assist- ant. On the other floors are light and comfortable rooms for the sick. Besides the buildings described there are the barns and outbuildings, wash-house, dead house and small-pox hospital. A dyke about two and a half miles long, five feet high, ten feet thick at the base and one foot at the top, has been constructed; by this means the water is kept off from about seventy-five acres of land which is now in a state of cultivation. The water is supplied by a force-pump located about 300 yards from the main building. A large iron tank is used for a reservoir. Charles Driscoll was the first farmer and keeper, at a salary of $800. Charles Wright succeeded him the same year, at a salary of $1,000, his wife being matron, at $200. James Wright was keeper in 1876, at the same compensation. The present keeper and matron, appointed in 1880, are Joseph E. Firth and wife, the salary being $1,000 a year.

OLD FAMILIES AND PROMINENT INDIVIDUALS.

The Griffin Family .- " Griffin's Journal," a work pub- lished by its author, Augustus Griffin, in 1857, giving a biographical and chronological history of the first set- tlers of Southold, Long Island, contains a record of this family, and from it we make brief extracts.

Jasper Griffin came to Southold about 1675, from Wales. He was born in 1648, and died at the age of 88 years. He purchased a small farm at the landing at Southold, within thirty rods of those beautiful banks which border that pleasant harbor. He was commissioned as major of the militia, and charged with the care of two pieces of cannon. They were mounted on those banks, near his residence. These he fired on public days. The descendants of Jasper Griffin are inhabitants of every section of the country. At the commencement of the war of the Revolution this family, then quite numerous on Long Island, espoused the cause of their injured

Ger. W. Bergen

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THE GRIFFIN. FAMILY-GEORGE W. BERGEN.

country and liberty. The author of this journal men- tions his father, James Griffin, as having served in that war up to the time his enlistment expired, which was while at Ticonderoga. On the return of James to his home at Orient, Long Island, he found a number of British and tory soldiers quartered in that neighborhood. These attempted to arrest and detain him as a man unfit to remain at liberty near their camp. Says the journal: " Through the day he kept a good lookout, and his nights were spent much from home. lodging with his friends. One night during a severe rain storm my father ventured in consequence of the storm to lodge at home with his family, satisfying himself that the storm of wind and rain would secure him rest unmolested over night. About midnight the house was surrounded. An enraged armed file of soldiers demanded instant admit- tance or they would break in. They appeared to be ex- cited by drink, as their manners would much more be- come savages than civilized men. They demanded, with shameful oaths, the body of my father, dead or alive. While in great commotion in searching below stairs, and threatening what they would do with the rebel after he was secured, my father, under great excitement, was try- ing to effect his escape by getting a chance to jump from a chamber window. This was a perilous undertaking, as there was a guard of mounted men stationed around the house; but there was no time to be lost. He flew to the north window, which was open; there he saw a man with his sword drawn sitting on his horse under the window. Who can depict his feelings at this moment, when these infuriated desperadoes were now at the foot of the stairs about to mount to the chamber where he stood, at the head of the stairs at the window? At this awful moment the guard rode round the corner of the house, we suppose to keep a little more out of the wind and rain; my father jumped to the ground, a distance of near twenty feet; as they arrived at the chamber he was at liberty, on terra firma, and no bones broken. Amidst this storm he es- caped with nothing on him but his shirt."

Augustus Griffin, the author of the above journal, was born July 2nd 1767, at Orient, and died March 10th . 1866, aged over 99 years. He was well known for his literary tastes, and was indefatigable in tracing the lineage of his own and neighbors' families. His journal contains over 300 pages and about 1,000 copies were issued. During the latter part of his life he was a fre- quent visitor at his son's residence at Hempstead, and he is remembered by the inhabitants of that village as having abounded in anecdote.

Sidney I. Griffin, son of Augustus Griffin, was born at Orient, August 5th 1806. He was admitted to the bar as an attorney and solicitor in 1829; afterward by appoint- ment was an examiner in the court of chancery. He en- tered into the practice of his profession at Riverhead, Long Island. From Suffolk county he served one term in the Assembly. About the year 1844 he removed to Hempstead, and for a short time was the law partner of Benjamin F. Thompson, the historian of long Island. He removed from Hempstead about the year 1862, and is still living.

Augustus R. Griffin, son of Sidney L. Griffin, was born at Riverhead, April 6th 1831; graduated from the New York State and National Law School August 11th 1852, and afterward was admitted by the supreme court at New York city to practice as attorney and counsellor at law. He first entered into practice with his father, and still re- tains his office and residence at Hempstead.

George W. Bergen, of the historical Bergen family of Long Island, an account of which has been so ably given by Teunis G. Bergen, one of its representatives, was born July 20th 1814, and has become one of the most promi- nent business men and citizens of Long Island, having made his way unaided from early youth, when he was a farmer's boy of all work, with the assistance of such an education only as he was able to obtain in the public schools of that day, and as the result of reading and ob- servation later.

In 1831, at the age of 16, Mr. Bergen began a long and successful mercantile career by entering the store of Thomas Carman, of Brooklyn, as a clerk. Mr. Carman was in the wholesale and retail grocery trade and was a thoroughgoing business man. Under his tuition Mr. .Bergen received such early training as has been useful to him in his subsequent career. In 1833 he became a clerk in the retail grocery store of Daniel T. Schenck, of Brooklyn, and a few months later entered the employ of Henry E. Cornwell, another retail grocer of Brooklyn. In 1834 and 1835 he was employed in the store of Joshua Rogers, and in 1836 formed a copartnership with his brother John Bergen in the retail grocery trade, at the corner of Tillary and Pearl streets, Brooklyn.

Not long afterward the two brothers dissolved their partnership, and George W. went to Vicksburg, Miss., and was engaged in trade there for about a year and a half, returning to the scenes of his former life in the spring of 1838. In the following autumn he entered the firm of Carman, Valentine & Co., wholesale grocers of Brooklyn, which for twenty years past has been known as the firm of Valentine, Bergen & Co., the present proprie- tors being George W. Bergen, E. H. Willetts, George P. Willetts and George P. Bergen. This firm is recognized as one of the oldest and staunchest mercantile firms in the city and enjoys a large patronage, its stores being located on Fulton street only a short distance from the ferry, and convenient to New York and to the Long Island trade.

Politically Mr. Bergen is a Republican, but does not take an active part in politics and is not in the general acceptation of the term a politician. Though solicited at various times to accept important trusts at the hands of his fellow citizens he has usually declined; but he was elected treasurer of Queens county in 1872 by a majority of about 700, and served to the satisfaction of the citizens of the county generally, regardless of party affiliations. In his religious belief Mr. Bergen is orthodox, and favors the usages of the Congregational church. During his

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residence in Brooklyn he was for twenty years officially connected with Plymouth Church. In 1869, when he re- moved to Freeport, Queens county, he identified himself with the Presbyterian church of that place. In 1874 Mr. and Mrs. Bergen erected, at an expense of $5,000, a memoriał chapel at Freeport, in memory of the latter's mother, in whose honor it is known as the Elizabeth Carman Memorial Chapel, which they presented to the church for the purposes of the Sunday-school and the weekly church meetings. It is a beautiful structure, gothic in style, about 40 by 50 feet in size, with stained glass windows, and it is to be hoped it may long stand as a memorial not only to its subject, but also to its builders.

July 19th 1838 Mr. Bergen married Susan, daughter of Thomas Carman, of Hempstead, who was born June 29th 1818. They have had four children-Elizabeth C., born November 23d 1839, now Mrs. Horace D. Badger; Charles M., born December 9th 1842, who married Susie Fletcher and died January 11th 1870; George P., born September 18th 1849, married to Clarissa E. Sammons; and Anna Valentine, born August 9th 1856.

. Charles H. Clement .- Among the noted supervisors of the town of Hempstead stands the name of Charles H. Clement. He was born in the village of Hempstead, on the 20th of June 1831; was educated in the city of New York, at the Chichester grammar school, and studied medicine and surgery at the Bellevue Medical College. He is at present a farmer. He is a descendant from the Clement family of England, one of whom emigrated to this country in 1625, and settled in Flushing, where C. H. Clement's great-great-grandfather lived and served as chief justice of the colony, receiving his commission from King George III. In 1721 the latter was ordered to Jamaica to put down a riot at that place, and he is said to have achieved a great triumph. The Clement family is nearly extinct in this country. Mr. Clement was elected supervisor of the town in 1878 over a popular Democratic veteran. This was his first official position, and so well did he conduct the affairs of the town that he was again elected to his responsible and important office. Since that time Mr. Clement has been the suc- cessful leader of the Republican party in the town, hav- ing been successively elected supervisor for the past four years. Through his industry and attention to the finan- ciał affairs of the town its revenues have been largely in- creased and its expenditure decreased. The leasing of Long Beach will be remembered as one of the projects in which he was earnestly engaged, and by the efforts put forth in that connection the town now receives for a hitherto worthless tract of land the annual rental of $1,000. Mr. Clement has undoubtedly received the sup- port of his fellow townsmen irrespective of party.

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History of Queens County, New York : with illustrations, portraits, and sketches of prominent families and individuals., Part 33

Author: Publication date: 1882 Publisher: New York : W.W. Munsell and Co. Number of Pages: 703

Author:
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: New York : W.W. Munsell and Co.
Number of Pages: 703