USA > New York > Staten Island > History of Richmond County (Staten Island), New York : from its discovery to the present time > Part 12
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The early provincial governors having shown some disposi- tion to appropriate too much land to themselves, they had been restricted by an order in council, to evade which the plan was devised of granting a patent to Palmer for this land, and then having a transfer made from Palmer to Dongan. The patent to Palmer was approved at a council held March 31, 1687, at which were present Governor Dongan, Anthony Brockholst, Frederick Phillips, Stephanus Van Cortlandt and Nicholas Bayard. The instrument bears date as above, and begins as follows :-
" Whereas John Palmer of the City of New York Esqr. as well by virtue of Several deeds and Pattents to him or them under whome he claymes made by the former Governors of this Province as by virtue of a certain Pattent or Confirmation under my hand, and seale of the province, bearing date the second day of May, 1684: stands Lawfully and Rightfully Seized of &
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
in all that Tract or parcell of Land Beginning at a cove on Kill Van Cull, on the east bounds of the lands of Garret Cruise [Cruser] and so running in the woods by the said Kill to a marked tree, and thence by a line of marked trees according to the natural position of the poles, south and by east two degrees and thirty minutes southerly according to the compass south, there being eight degrees and forty five minutes variation ffron the north westward, and from thence by the reare of the land of Garret Cruise & Peter Johnson, east & by north two degrees and thirty minutes to the line of Peter Johnson's wood lott, & by his line south and by east two degrees and thirty minutes south sixty-one chains, and thence by the reare of the aforesaid lott & the lott of John Vincent northeast & by east one degree northerly to the southeast corner of the land of John Vincent thirty three chains & a halfe, from thence by his east line sonth & by west two degrees thirty minutes northerly to a white oak tree marked with three notches, bearing northwest from the ffresh pond, from thence to a young chestnutt tree the south- west corner of the land of Phillip Wells & so by a line of marked trees east nine degrees & fifteen minutes southerly by south side of a small ffresh meadow to the north & to the north of the ffresh pond including the pond to the land of Mr. An- drew Norwood & so by his land as it runs to the reare of the land of Mary Brittaine & so by the reare of the Old Town lotts to the land of Isaac Bellew & Thomas Stilwell & from thence upon the Iron Hills, to the land of William Stilwell & by his land to the land of George Cummins & ffrom his northeast cor- ner, to the southeast corner of the land of Mr. James Hubbard at the head of the ffresh kills & so round by his land to the reare lotts at Karles neck & so by the lotts to the highway left by Jacob pullion & the great swamp to the land of John ffitz Garrett including the great swamp, thence by the soldier's lotts and the reare lotts of Cornelis Corsen & company to the south- west corner of theire ffront lotts & so by the runne which is theire bounds to the mill pond including the mill pond to the sound or Kill Van Cull & so by the sound to the cove where ffirst begun. Containing with all the hills, valleys, ffresh meadows & swamps within the above specified bounds five thou- sand one hundred acres be the same more or less .- Also a great island of salt meadow lying near the ffresh kills & over against long neck not yet appropriated-and all the messuages,
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
tenements, fencings, orchards, gardens, pastures, meadows, marshes, woods, underwoods, trees, timber, quarries, rivers, brooks, ponds, lakes, streams, creeks, harbors, beaches, ffishing, hawking and ffowling, mines, minerals (silver and gold mines only excepted) mills, mill dams," etc.
By the patent it was also constituted one lordship or manor " to be called the Lordship and manor of Cassiltowne." It was subject to an annual quit-rent of one lamb and eight bushels of winter wheat, to be paid if demanded on the 25th of March in each year.
On the 29th of September, 1677, Governor Andros executed a patent to Garret Croosen (Cruser) for one hundred and sixty acres of land on the north side of Staten Island, which is bounded on the west by "a small runn of water." It is diffi- cult, if not impossible, at this day to trace the boundaries of some of the old patents, but we assume that the "runn of water " mentioned in the patent is the stream issuing out of the "boiling spring" on the Bement estate, as that spring was formerly called the "Cruser spring," and in conveyances of even recent date the "runn" is called the "Cruser Spring brook." The land conveyed was one hundred and seventeen rods in breadth, which would reach nearly or quite to the Pel- ton estate. This estate once belonged to one of the Cruser fam- ily, but probably it was by a subsequent purchase The Palmer patent begins at a cove on " Kill Van Cull," on the east bounds of the lands of Garret Cruser ; probably the word east is a cler- ical error, and should have been west, but even on that sup- position the boundaries described in the latter patent would embrace Lovelace's property. If we assume " the cove" to be that next west of and adjoining the Pelton estate, the bound- aries would embrace the properties both of Lovelace and Cruser. The natural outlet of the Cruser spring brook was at or near the place where the surplus water from the works of the New York Dyeing and Printing Establishment now enters the kills. The pond of this establishment is an artificial structure, made nearly a century ago for the use of a mill which stood on the " Factory Dock." The main stream which supplies this pond is also an artificial canal ; the natural outlet of the water which now supplies the pond was through Bodine's pond into the kills. In Governor Dongan's days, these waters supplied a pond in the rear of the reservoir of the gas company on the
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south side of Post avenue, for the use of his mill, which we have elsewhere alluded to as the mill in which guns were said to have been concealed at the time of the papist panic.
On the 16th day of April, 1687, John Palmer and Sarah, his wife, conveyed the territory described above to Thomas Dongan, " for a competent snmme of lawfull money," after an owner- ship of about a fortnight.
It is now quite impossible to trace the lines described in the patent, as the most of the land-marks mentioned therein have disappeared. If by the terms "great swamp" is meant that extending from Graniteville to New Springville, and which is. so designated in a variety of other ancient documents ; and if by "ffresh kills" is meant the waters now known by that name, and which are also frequently alluded to by that name in similar documents, it is evident that the territory conveyed embraced not only the greater part of the present towns of Castleton and Middletown, but a large proportion of North- field also.
Dunlap says that Governor Dongan, having doubts about Staten Island belonging to New York, and in order to be doubly sure, procured a patent in 1687 for the same land from the proprietors of East Jersey.
In the following year, 1688, Governor Dongan erected his manor house, which remained until the present decade, and though externally modernized in some degree the oak frame, hewn out of the adjacent forest, was the identical one erected by him, the date of its erection having been marked upon one of the timbers with white paint. The house alluded to stood in the middle of the square bounded by the shore road on the north, Cedar street on the south, Dongan street on the east, and Bodine street on the west, at West New Brighton. There is now a gradual descent of the surface of the land from the site to the shore road ; but, originally, the earth was as high on the southerly side of the road as it now is at the place where the house stood, forming a sand hill between the house and thie road, and which entirely concealed the house from view when standing in the road in front of it. When this sand bank was removed, several skeletons, evidently of Indians, besides nu- merous other Indian relics, were unearthed, indicating this spot as having been one of their burial places. This time- honored relic was at last destroyed by fire. A large barn,
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standing on the mill road which was also built during the early years of the proprietorship of Governor Dongan, was burned on the 18th of July, 1862. Through this extensive domain a road was opened at an early period toward the village of Rich- mond, and this early road still bears the name of Manor road. A tide mill stood until a recent date on the causeway across Palmer's run. The old Dongan mill stood farther south, on an old road which ran around the head of the pond, the course of which in part has been followed by the construction of Post avenue in West New Brighton. After the construction of the causeway the old road, which before had been the only way of *passing between the localities of West New Brighton and Port Richmond, ceased to be used until the opening of Post avenue. The pond which is alluded to in the Palmer patent received the tide, and boats at high water could reach the door of the old mill. This mill was largely patronized by the people of Bergen Point and its vicinity, as well as by the people of the island.
When the present avenue was constructed, the foundation stones, and some of the decayed oak timbers of the old mill, were unearthed, but no cannon. In the latter part of the last century, a flouring mill was built on the present steamboat wharf at West New Brighton, and the most of the water which had propelled the old mill, was diverted from its natural course by a canal which led it into the large pond at the foot of the pres- ent Water street, which pond was then constructed to hold the water in reserve for the use of the new mill; this was built by a Mc Vickar, though it subsequently passed into the hands of the Van Buskirk family, and was better known as Van Bus- kirk's mill. This mill was burned a few years ago, and the wharf, the pond and the canal for more than half a century have belonged to the New York Dyeing & Printing Establish- ment. After the construction of the causeway, and the divert- ing of the water, the pond has gradnally filled up, until now it can scarcely be utilized for the purpose to which it was once devoted.
In a review of the life and acts of one so intimately asso- ciated with the island as Col. Thomas Dongan was it is proper to give some notice to his antecedents and the stock whence he came. We find Governor Dongan associated with the nobility of England and Ireland. In a list of the baronets of Ireland,
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with a list of their creations, we find the name of Walter Don- gan, of Castletown, in the county of Kildare, to which is at- tached the date 1623. Castletown park is in the northeast corner of the county of Kildare, about ten miles southwest of the city of Dublin. Sir Walter Dongan, who was made baronet October 23, 1623, belonged to a family who were pronounced " valiant, active and faithful." They were in 1646 and later on connected with the army, and in recognition of their faithfulness and de- votion to their king, William, a brother was promoted to the dignity of viscount of Claine, county of Kildare, in 1661. In 1685 he was made earl of Limerick. At the battle of the Boyne he lost an only son, who was killed by a cannon ball. The son was buried at Castletown, the seat of his father, Lord Dongan, earl of Limerick. The estate of Lord Dongan was forfeited, he being attainted April 16, 1691, but was restored again by act of parliament, December 15, 1699. In " Burke's Encyclopedia of Heraldry " appears the following description of the Dongan coat of arms :
" Quarterly first and fourth, gu. three lions pass. or, holding in the dexter paw a close helmet argent garnished or the second ; second and third azure six plates on a chief or a demi lion rampant gules. Crest-A lion passant or, supporting with the dexter foot a close helmet argent garnished of the first."
To this noble family Col. Thomas Dongan belonged, though what his relationship was to the Earl of Limerick we have not the means of determining. Some claim that he was a brother Colonel Dongan having a commission as governor, arrived in New York August 27, 1683. His commission was dated Sep- tember 30, 1682. To him the present state is indebted for many of its existing records and laws. He was a firm believer in the religious and political faith of James II, except, perhaps, that Dongan was far more tolerant, and hated the French, under whom he had once served as a military officer. Though a pro- fessed papist, he was a decided enemy to the French, whose schemes of aggrandizement on the northern frontier he per- sistently opposed, even against the expressed wishes of his master, the Duke of York, afterward James II. The people of the province, and especially of the island, where he resided, lived in constant dread of his religion. Later on he was or- dered to proclaim James II king, to assist at the conference between Lord Effingham and the Five Nations, and in causing
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the king's arms to be set np through all their villages and to place arms in their hands.
Colonel Dongan had the Indian affairs very much at heart, and had gained the respect and esteem of the Five Na- tions. He was deeply interested in the intercourse of the French and English with them, and jealous of the action of the former. In carrying forward this work in which he was so much in- terested, he was obliged to mortgage his property to Robert Livingston to secure the payment of the expenses of the ex- pedition to Albany in 1689. This mortgage is dated May 1, 1689, the sum which was secured by it was £2,172, 6s, 2}d, which Livingston had, by Dongan's order, laid out for eight month's provisions for the troops and presents for the In- dians. The term of the mortgage was five years. It covered not only the manor of Castletown, but other parcels which Dongan had bought on the island. These were one hundred and eighty acres at Old Town, bonght of Mary Britton, another parcel at Old Town, bought of Peter None, and another, on the south side, bonght of James Largie.
Besides these possessions on Staten Island, Governor Dongan had a large tract on the Hudson river, extending from Haver- straw to Murderer's creek. a tract of four hundred acres in Queens county given him by the people of Hempstead town for renewing their patent, and another tract on Martha's Vineyard, besides property in the city of New York. On Staten Island he had a "hunting lodge." The city records contain an account of a meeting of the conncil at which Governor Dongan was ab- sent "being engaged at his hunting lodge on Staten Island. killing bears." At the time of the papist panic in 1689 it was suspected that Colonel Dongan was in sympathy with the plot, and his mill was searched, and four guns were found in it. These it is said were secreted nnder some bags and blankets. Leisler issued orders for his arrest, but we do not know that it was accomplished.
After his release from office Colonel Dongan retired to his pos- sessions on Staten Island, where he remained till the spring of 1691, if not longer. Later, but at what time is not known, he retired to his native country, Ireland, where it is said he finally succeeded to the earldom of Limerick. In a conveyance now on record in the clerk's office of this county bearing date 1715, he is styled as such.
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
On the 9th of May, 1715, Colonel Thomas Dongan, by the conveyance just mentioned (which is in itself a curious and rare specimen of legal skill, on account of its complex limitations and conditions) " being willing to preserve and uphold and ad- vance the name and family of Dongan, and having no issue of his own to continne the same," conveyed to his nephews, Thomas, John and Walter, and to the male issue of the survivor or sur- vivors of them, "in tail male for ever," all his manor of Castle- town, together with property situated elsewhere. This act and its final results is a demonstration of the scripture passage which we quote from the XLIX Psal: "Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations ; they call their lands after their own names. Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not : he is like the beasts that perish."
Having thus disposed of his estate in this country, he died, as some think, in London, in 1715, at the ripe old age of 81 years. He was buried in St. Pancras' church-yard, Middlesex, just north of London, This old church-yard has long been noted as the burial place of such Roman Catholics as die in London and its vicinity. It is accounted a desirable resting place for different reasons, one of which is that St. Pancras' was the last church in England where mass was held after the Refor- mation. The sepulchre of the late Governor Dongan bears the following inscription :-
"The Right Honble. THOMAS DONGAN Earl of LYMERICK, died December the fourteenth. Aged Eighty one years.
1715.
Requiescat in pace. Amen."
Leaving the founder of the name and estate of Dongan on Staten Island we will now follow as well as we are able the descent of the family and title line of the estate. Of the nephews we know but little.
John probably had but little or nothing to do with Staten Island. Beyond the appearance of his name in a list of sub- scribers toward finishing Trinity church steeple, dated May 1, 1711, we have found no trace of him. He may have been unmar- ried, or died without inale issue and therefore had no share in the estate on Staten Island.
Thomas is but little known in records pertaining to Staten Island. It is said that he sold his share of the possessions of
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
his uncle. He may have been a man of high passions and sumptuous living, with reckless habits. He was involved in a duel with Dr. John Livingston, September 7, 1713, in which Livingston was killed. The trial of Dongan by the supreme conrt took place two days later, and he was found guilty of manslaughter. Without knowing what his subsequent fate was, we are obliged to leave him here. There is slight ground for the conjecture that he left this country for Ireland and died there in 1721.
Walter has left some evidences of being a man of honor and business ability. He occupied the manor house and a large portion of the landed estate. His custom was to lease his lands to tenants. He was surrogate of the county in 1733. He mar- ried for his first wife, Ruth, daughter of Richard Floyd (2d), of Setauket, L. I., whose wife was Margaret, daugliter of Colonel Matthias Nicoll, the secretary of the colony. Walter and Ruth Dongan had three children, Thomas, Richard and Elizabeth. Ruth, who was born Angust 6, 1699, died July 28, 1733. Walter afterward married a Miss Sarah Herriman of Elizabeth, N. J., by whom he had a son, Edward Vaughn Dongan. Walter died July 25, 1749, being fifty-seven years of age. His estate on the island . descended mainly to his oldest son Thomas, and his widow afterward married John Herriman, of Elizabeth. The daughter Elizabeth was born in 1729, and died July 1, 1749, aged 19 years and 7 months. Her grandfather, Richard Floyd, remembers her in his will, dated February 27, 1738, in the fol- lowing item: "I give also unto my Grand Daughter Dongan, that is to say the Daughter of my beloved Daughter Ruth Dongan Deceased, one hundred Pounds Current lawful Money of New York to be paid on her Marriage Day." As she died unmarried, this item was never executed.
Edward Vanglin Dongan was born January 3, 1749. After his father's death he went with his mother to live in Elizabeth. He was brought up a lawyer and lived at New Brunswick, N. J., where he married a daughter of Squire La Grange, a lawyer of that place. On the ontbreak of the revolution he made himself obnoxious on account of his adherence to royalty and was driven from his home before the British landed in New York. His father-in-law and family were in sympathy with him, and their estate was afterward forfeited. Edward Vaughn Dongan
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was in command of a body of loyal troops, with the rank of colonel, and was posted at the Morning Star at the time of Sul- livan's raid on Staten Island, August 22. 1777. In this engage- ment he received a wound from the effects of which he died in the hospital in New York city on the first of September. His only child, which with its mother had suffered great exposure on the day referred to, died on the same day, and was buried in the same grave with him. His widow afterward went with her family to reside at Farmington, Hackney, England.
Richard Dongan, the second son of Walter, went to sea when a young man. During the French war he was impressed on board a British man-of-war, and in the service lost an arm. He married Miss Cornelia Shanks of Long Island, by whom he had a son, Walter, who was born January 2, 1763, and another son who died young. Richard died January 1, 1780, in his 61st year ; and his wife died April 28, 1814, in the 83d year of her age. This Walter had a distillery, located near a copious spring on the Richmond turnpike, near Four Corners. He also possessed a large farm at that place, whether by inheritance or purchase we have not learned. He had two sons, Thomas and Richard, and four daughters, one of whom married a Mr. Toombs, another married Peter La Forge, and the names of the other two were Abigail and Ruth. Walter died in February, 1855.
We now take up the direct line in which the manor house with its accompanying estate was held until it passed out of the pos- session of the family altogether.
Thomas Dongan was the eldest son of Walter, the nephew of the ex-governor. His first wife was Rachel, and she died April 25, 1748, at the age of 24 years. She had one daughter, who died December 22, 1749, 3 years of age. Both wife and daughter are buried in the old Moravian cemetery. Thomas afterward married Magdalen, the eldest daughter of Rev. Richard Charl- ton, rector of St. Andrew's church. By her he had a son, John Charlton Dongan. Thomas Dongan appears as a vestryman of Trinity church, New York, from 1748 to 1759. In order to ad- just the claims upon him to which his young half brother Ed- ward V. was entitled, he on the 15th of April, 1757, gave a mortgage to John Herriman and Sarah his wife (the step-mother of Thomas, she being the late widow of his father) on several tracts of land lying in the manor of Castletown, adjoining each
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other, and then being in possession of tenants, to secure the payment of £40 a year till Edward Vaughn should reach his majority, and the payment of £1,000 when that time arrived. In consideration of these payments Edward Vaughn should relinquish all claim against the said Thomas or the estate of the late Walter Dongan. The aggregate extent of land covered by this instrument was about seven hundred acres. The will of Thomas Dongan bears date March 8, 1765, and it appointed his wife, Magdalen, sole executrix, and by it he bequeathed to his son John Charlton Dongan, all his estate, and in case of his death, while in his minority, the estate was to go to his mother and to her heirs forever. Of the time of his death we are not informed.
John Charlton Dongan, son of Thomas, and grandson of Walter the nephew of the governor, was educated for a lawyer, and was admitted to the bar May 6, 1791. He was a man of some prominence in his time. He was a supervisor here in 1785, and was in the state legislature several times, where in 1788-9 he was a prominent leader of the Schuyler or federal party and served on some important committees. As an attorney-at-law he had an office at 25 Courtlandt street, New York, in 1795. He possessed a considerable land on State street, New York, in addition to the estate on Staten Island, which then comprised about six hundred acres, all of which he inherited from his father. He is said to have been an honor- able man, but being a free liver and given to drink, he fell into careless habits and descended the scale of respectable standing and financial advantage nntil he reached the lowest extreme. His wife was Patience Moore, of Newtown, L. I., a sister of Benjamin Moore of that place. She, it is said, was of little ad- vantage to him, being herself also a partner in his failings. They had only two children, Thomas Charles Bradish, who died November 25, 1789, and John Charlton, Jr., who died October 23, 1791, a little over 5 years of age. His State street property was sold and its proceeds lost in speculation. He became in- volved and, about 1795, sold the manor house and the accom- panying estate to his brother-in-law McVickar, whose wife was sister to his wife. He then had a general vendue and sold off all the stock and movables belonging to the estate, and the sale returned about $10,000. He and his wife agreed to put this in bank and live on the proceeds. She returned to her own fan-
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