USA > New York > Staten Island > History of Richmond County (Staten Island), New York : from its discovery to the present time > Part 33
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He was a most benevolent man. He was not rich, and there- fore could not endow charitable institutions, but he gave what was better than money, his personal service in their boards of direction, He spent freely of his time, even in the busiest period of his life, and gave careful and regular attention to the management of such charities as the "New York Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb" and the "Nursery and Child's Hospital." He visited the legislature in their be- half, and attended frequent meetings to promote their interests; through the press, and by personal influence he attracted at- tention to their wants, and secured new friends for them. When he took hold of any work he took hold "with both hands earnestly." In the National Charities Association, in the state board of health, in the national convention of deaf mute instructors, as a trustee of Cornell University, in the In- dian conferences, and in the constitutional conventions, he was recognized as a man of wisdom and power, of profonnd convic- tions, untiring industry and excellent judgment. In social life
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 345
he was a pleasant companion. He had lived so much in public that his conversation abounded in reminiscences of the great men of a past generation, and he could draw at will upon a full and retentive memory to illustrate or adorn any subject of dis- cussion. But his public life had not made him cold and care- less of private and personal interests. He was too much of a Puritan to be very demonstrative, but he made close and warm friendships founded upon mutual esteem.
Mr. Brooks believed in reforming and elevating society by personal effort with individuals, and not by schemes and reso- lutions ; and so, while he was a true philanthropist, he was what is better still, a true Christian. He believed in God, and served him first and always, and was known and respected as a religi- ons man. Like the late Governor Seymour, who was his inti- mate friend, he honored religion and was esteemed and trusted by men of the church, as well as by men of the world who knew lis staunch integrity, and by men of the state who knew his political virtue. He was a simple, humble Christian, who often opened the meetings of boards where he presided with prayer, and who, though firm in his own opinions, had charity and kindness for those who held different ones. His life was long honored and useful, his name will be cherished by many whom he lias befriended, and will be recorded among the edit- ors, the statesmen and the benefactors of this century in the state of New York and in the United States of America. His last public service was in connection with the Indian conference at Lake Mohonk in October, from which he returned seriously ill, and his last literary work was a review of that conference which he wrote for the " New York Observer." Mr. Brooks died November 25th, 1886. His loss was deeply felt, not only in his family and the community in which he lived, but through- out the whole country. The newspapers, of which he was so thorough an advocate, were filled with eulogistic articles tak- ing up the story of his life anew. With his deathi passed from the stage of action one of the noblest and brightest examples of old fashioned statesmanship and patriotism. Staten Island had in him a true citizen, and its society profitted by associa- tion and acquaintance with him.
* This life of Mr. Brooks, with slight modification, appeared in the " New York Observer," Dec. 9th, 1886.
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
CORNELIUS A, HART .- Perhaps no young man in Richmond county has so distinguished himself for his energy and busi- ness ability as has the present county clerk, Cornelius A Hart. Born under no advantageous circumstances-surrounded by none of those conditions which usually foster ambition and create desire to shine, he has yet, though but thirty seven years of age, succeeded in gaining for himself a sound and practical education, the possession of ample fortune and a popularity second to that of no other individual on Staten Island.
Mr. Hart was born in New Brighton in 1851. After a pre- liminary course at the public school in that village he attended the academy conducted by Dr. Scheck in the building now known as "Belmont Hall." In 1868 he commenced a course of study at the New York Commercial College, which he left to enter the importing house of James Reid & Co., of New York city. Here in a short period of time he succeeded in raising himself from the lowest to the highest position in the employ of the firm, passing through every grade in the office and having nine clerks under his charge at the time of his leave taking.
Mr. Hart's father, Patrick Hart, had been for many years a prominent and successful contractor on Staten Island. It was he who laid out Bard avenue and many of the principal streets in the neighborhood of New Brighton, and his son, influenced by his example, left the firm with which he was employed to en- gage in the same business. His remarkable success in it is well known to the people of Staten Island.
Mr. Hart's connection with the laying out of new streets and with improvements generally, has induced him to make numerous and large investments in real estate which he is constantly improving and reselling in lots to suit purchasers. In 1884, he bought a large tract of land in New Brighton through which he has opened seven avenues, Forest, Hart, Sharon, Oakwood, Greenwood, Laurel and University place. The whole is divided into three hundred and fifty city lots and sitnated in one of the most attractive localities on the island. Mr. Hart is one of the largest tax-payers in the town of Cas- tleton. He has also recently purchased other lots in New Brighton, a large plot of ground in West Brighton and the residence and grounds of the late Commodore Sloat, com- mander of the United States Navy. His extensive advertise-
Conelus M. Kart
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ments in the New York " World" and other New York daily papers are rapidly bringing him into prominence as a real estate speculator and owner.
To speak of Mr. Hart's political career is but to repeat what is already known throughout the whole of Richmond county. From his boyhood days he took an interest in politics and his connection with the democratic party has resulted in benefit both to it and himself. In 1876 he was elected trustee of the village of New Brigliton by the largest majority ever given a candidate from the Second ward. In 1878 lie was elected county clerk by a phenominally large majority, was reelected to the position in 1881, his antagonist receiving but 278 votes out of a total of about 7,000 cast, and was again elected in 1884, when he ran 1,000 votes ahead of the Cleveland majority, in itself the largest ever received by a presidental ticket in the county. When he first entered the clerk's office at Richmond he found books and papers scattered about in confusion, and the most valuable historical documents in process of slow destruction from want of the most ordinary care. He immediately set him- self to work with that determination and will which character- ized all his actions, and in a short time, to the great relief of the legal fraternity with whom he has most of his dealings, had so thoroughly straightened affairs as to draw down upon himself the enconiums of the entire county press irrespective of party. The lack of partiality which he has shown in all luis dealings has not been the least noticeable feature of his ad- ministration at Richmond, and his pleasant word for all policy has greatly added to his popularity as a man.
He numbers among his friends and adherents both democrats and republicans, rich and poor, young and old. His benevo- lent and charitable disposition is widely known and appreciated, and his brilliant parts are constantly attracting to him the notice of substantial and thoughtful business men. This is shown by the fact that he was chosen by the Rapid Transit Railroad Com- pany to represent their canse at Washington, which he did with ability and with success.
Mr. Hart was married, June 23, 1875, to Miss Hannah Bowman of New Brighton, whose exemplary life won for her many friends, and whose sad death, July 25, 1882, was deeply felt through- out the entire community. Mr. Hart is a member of St. Peter's church, New Brighton, and is liberal in his gifts toward its sup-
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port. He is also connected with many clubs, societies and social organizations. In his tastes he is domestic, though he is fond of athletic sports, especially of hunting and fishing, which he frequently travels long distances to enjoy. He is on intimate terms with many of the foremost newspaper men in the country, and extracts in the daily papers referring to him are numerous, some coming even from California. The many incidents and laughable stories relating to him which have been published will long be remembered, and the popularity which he has acquired by his fine social qualities is bnilt on a lasting foundation. We take pleasure in presenting this short sketch of his life, especially to his many young friends on Staten Island. His history strikingly illustrates the truth of the fol- lowing lines from a poem which he has preserved in a scrap book containing many allusions to him, now in the author's posses- sion.
"There is no chance, no destiny, no fate Can circumvent or hinder or control The firm resolve of a determined soul. * * * Let the fool prate of Luck. The fortunate Is he whose earnest purpose never swerves, Whose slightest action or inaction serves The one great aim. Why, even death stands still And waits an hour sometimes for such a will."
CHAPTER VIII.
CHURCHES AND RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS.
The Dutch Reformed Churches .- The Episcopal Churches .- Baptist Churches .- Methodist Churches .- The Moravian Church .- The Roman Catholic Churches. -The Church of the Huguenots .- Unitarian Church .- Presbyterian Churches. -Lutheran Churches .- Y. M. C. A.
F OR a large part of the history of the Dutch Reformed de- nomination on the island we are indebted to the vener- able pastor of the church at Port Richmond, Rev. James Brownlee, D. D., who enjoys the very unusual honor of a pas- torate of more than fifty years' duration.
There is evidence enough to prove, in an unbroken chain, the identity of this church, from the time when the little band of Waldenses first settled on these shores and established the wor- ship of the Redeemer for whom they had suffered so much.
It would be a matter of great interest to us now to know more of the way in which our ancestors worshipped ; their dif. ficulties, and struggles, and successes. Even their names, standing on the record, would be of interest to their descend- ants. Many of these, indeed, we have, in an old register of baptisms in the Dutch language, from 1696 onward, and many names of families also which have no living representatives on the island. This record will be found in another part of this work.
The Rev. Samuel Drisins, who was one of the pastors of the Dutch church in New York, then New Amsterdam, from 1652 to 1682, preached regularly once a month to the Waldenses on Staten Island from about 1660 onward. It may be fairly in- ferred from that fact, that there was a little church of that noble and devoted people established here ; not a church build- ing, perhaps, till later, but a little band of Christ's people, wor- shipping in some spot where they found it most convenient ; it might be in one of de Vries' buildings for the dressing of buck-
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skin ; it might be under some spreading oak of the primeval forest at "Oude Dorp," where their first settlement was made. Doctor De Witt, some years before his death, in a brief note to . Doctor Brownlee, says on this subject :
"During the Dutch Colonial government there was a settle- ment of the persecuted French Vaudois, or Waldenses, on Sta- ten Island, as early as 1660. The Rev. Samuel Drisius, of our church in this city, crossed the bay once a month to preach to them. There was a Huguenot settlement on the Island a short time afterward, parties of these having fled to Holland to escape from persecution, and having come over to New Netherlands in company with their new friends. After a season the French church and organization passed away, and the great body of its members became blended with the Dutch inhabitants, in the Reformed Dutch church. The fact of the settlement of a con- siderable number of the persecuted Waldenses on Staten Island is very interesting. They had fled from the dreadful persecu- tions in the valleys of Piedmont, to Holland, and were sent, at the expense of the city of Amsterdam, amply provided for, to New Netherlands in America."
We may be certain that these martyrs for the faith of Christ, whose religion was everything to them, would not be long con- tent without some regular church organization, and the stated enjoyment of ordinances ; and therefore we conclude that soon after 1660, under the care of Dominie Drisius, this privilege was secured by them.
In 1661 grants of land on the island were made to several persons, among whom were some Waldenses, and also many Huguenots, who had fled hither from La Rochelle. They commenced a new settlement a few miles south of the Narrows, near that of de Vries already mentioned, and built a little vil- lage of twelve or fourteen houses, and a block-house with two small guns and a garrison of ten soldiers, for protection against the Indians. It was to this little colony, at their earnest re- quest, that Dominie Drisius, who could preach in French, min- istered once a mouth, dispensing the sacraments at regular in- tervals, while the colony was too feeble to support a minister of its own. The descendants of these Waldenses and Hugue- nots are still numerous on the island, and bear some of the old- est and most honored names among us. Many of them have become connected with other denominations, partly from con-
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venience of residence, but more on account of the persist- ence of the Dutch church in the use of the language of tlie Fatherland, long after English had become the prevailing tongue.
In the year 1680 it is known that there were two churches, with houses of worship on the island. One, and perhaps the first built, was a church of the Huguenots at Fresh kill, on what is known as the Seaman farm. The services in this church for nearly forty years later were conducted in French, and although all vestiges of the church building have disap- peared, there is still the little grave-yard with a few dilapidated gravestones to mark the spot were it stood.
Very soon after this there was another French church built at Stony Brook, on the road from Quarantine to Amboy, not far from what was long known as the Black Horse tavern. This was built by the Waldenses from "Oude Dorp," whose num- bers had increased and led them to extend their settlements. All remains, save some stones of the foundation of this church, have disappeared, but here, too, there are some graves of these noble exiles.
About the sanie time (1680) there are traces of a church on the north side, in which the services were in the Dutch language, the Hollanders having settled in considerable numbers along the kills.
As yet these churches had no settled pastor of their own. Along with Dominie Drisius, Dominie Selyns, who was pastor of the churches of Brooklyn, Bushwick and Gravesend, from 1660 to 1701-with an interval of some years, during which lie revisited Holland-preached to the churches liere at stated times.
In 1682 and 1683, Dominie Tarchemaker, from the University of Utrecht, supplied the churches on the island. He afterward removed to Schenectady, and perislied there in a massacre by the Indians in February, 1690.
The Rev. Pierre Daille, who had been professor in the Col- lege of Saumur, and who came to America in 1683, and was colleague to Doniinie Selyns from that year to 1692, preached frequently to the Huguenots on Staten Island, and also at New Rochelle, and elsewhere in the vicinity of New York. Domi- nie Selyns, in a letter to the Classis of Amsterdam, speaks of him as being " full of fire, godliness and learning. Banished
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on account of his religion, he maintains the cause of Christ with untiring zeal."
About this time, from 1687 onward, for nearly two years, the church at Stony Brook was supplied by a certain Laurentius Van den Bosch, or Van Bosen, as it was sometimes written. His character seems to have been under a cloud, for he was suspended from the ministry by Dominie Selyns and others, who could not wait for the slow process of sending their pro- ceedings to be reviewed by the authorities in Holland, which in those times frequently consnmed a whole year. Van Bosen afterward went to Maryland.
From 1694 for about three years the churches were without any stated supply. They were visited frequently, however, and the ordinances administered to them by the ministers of New York and Long Island. There are also frequent records of baptisms by Dominie Batolvius, as it is written, and also by Dominie Gilliam, whose residence is not mentioned. It has been ascertained that these names indicate the Rev. Guillaume Bertholf, who was pastor of the churches of Aquachanonck and Hackensack, N. J., from 1694 to 1724, and whose services were much in demand on the island.
In 1697 the French church at Freshkill obtained the services of a pastor of their own. The Rev. Dr. David Bonrepos, who had been settled several years at New Rochelle, came to Staten Island, and remained till 1717, preaching also to the church at Stony Brook. In the latter year the good old pastor was com- pelled by age and infirmities to relinquish his charge, and left the island.
In 1714 a grant was made by Governor Hunter, to the repre- sentatives of the "Reformed Protestant Dutch Church," to erect a new house of worship at some convenient place on the north shore, the place not specified. The grant for a new church implies an old one previously existing. The grant itself is still extant. and in perfect preservation. It is signed by the governor, and dated at Fort George, September 3, 1714.
Before 1717 there must have been a Dutch church in the vil- lage of Richmond, although no record of it exists. In that year, after the retirement of Dr. Bonrepos, the churches at Freshkill and at Stony Brook united with the Dutch inhab- itants, who had gradually become the preponderating element in the population, and together built a new church in the vil-
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lage of Richmond, which stood, probably, in or near a little graveyard nearly opposite the court house.
About the same time as this grant from Governor Hunter, or perhaps a year earlier, in the twelfth year of the reign of Queen Anne, which would be 1713, St. Andrew's church in Richmond was erected. The first accounts of the settlement of the Eng- lish church, as it was then called, are interesting and character- istic. There is a " Historical account of the society for propa- gating the gospel in the British Colonies," by David Hum- phreys, D. D., published in London, 1730. A copy is to be found in the rooms of the Long Island Historical Society, in Brooklyn.
It appears that the Rev. Mr. Mckenzie was sent here as a missionary in 1704, and met with a very kind reception from the people, although scarcely one third of them were English. The rest were Dutch and French. The French had a minister of their own, and had built a church. The English had no place convenient for divine worship, and the French generously granted the use of their church to Mr. Mckenzie, which he oc- cupied for seven years, till St. Andrew's was built. That was characteristic of the French and the Dutch, who were by this time cordially blending in their worship, as their doctrines were identical.
It is said that the Dutch were at first somewhat averse to the English liturgy, but as it was taken for granted that their ob- jections could only arise from their ignorance of it, Mr. Mc- Kenzie sent to London for a good supply of prayer books in Dutch, and distributed them freely among the people, after which, it is added, "they found no fault with it, and began to have a just esteem for our excellent form of worship." That was a wise scheme, and accounts, in part at least, for so many Dutch and French names in St. Andrew's church.
Then again Mr. Mckenzie, who seems to have been a very zealous man, had the island divided into three precincts, and a teacher was appointed in each, who was supported by a grant from the society in London. These taught, of course, in the English language, and also taught the children in the church catechism, with the explanations, and taught them also to join in public worship.
In 1712 " the Justices of Richmond County, the High Sheriff, the Clerk and the Commander-in-Chief of Her Majesty's militia
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in the County, as well for themselves as in the name, and at the desire of the other inhabitants of the said County members of the Church of England," return thanks to the society in London for the support of their worthy pastor, whom they highly and justly praise. And then they go on to say, " upon his first induction there were not above four or five in the whole county who knew anything of our excellent liturgy and form of worship, and many of them knew little more of any religion than the common notion of a Deity; and as their ignorance was great, so was their practice irregular and barbarous. But now, by the blessing of God attending his labors, our church in- creases: a considerable reformation is wrought, and something of the face of Christianity is seen among us.'
It will be observed that this is written while they had as yet no place of worship of their own, and were still occupying the French church "by sufferance," as they themselves express it. And yet these blessed justices and high sheriff and the rest ignore with celestial complacency the fact that there had been Christian worship on the island for more than fifty years, and at least three Christian churches built for more than thirty years, and sustained by the descendants of the Waldenses and Huguenots, among the noblest Christian men and women the world has ever seen; that one of these churches for seven years past had charitably given shelter to these members of the Eng- lish church in their religious services.
In the meantime the church on the north side, although a house of worship was erected at a very early period, seems to have been dependent on such occasional services as the neigh- boring ministers were able to render. Besides those of Drisins, Selyns, Daillé and Bertholf, there were frequent services by Dominie Freeman, of New Utrecht, on Long Island, and also by Dominie Anthonius, of Flatbush, Flatlands and Bushwick, Long Island. In one instance a baptism is recorded as per- formed by "Dom. Anthony of Staaten Eiland," but it is evi- dently a mistake for Long Island. There are also frequent records of baptisms "door Dominy uit Esopus," whose name is not mentioned, but who was without doubt the Rev. Petrus Vas, who was minister at Esopus, or Kingston, and afterward at Rhinebeck from 1710 to 1756, and who died at the age of 96.
After the retirement of Dr. Bonrepos, in 1717, the three
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churches, of the Waldenses at Stony Brook, of the Huguenots at Freshkill, and the Dutch at Richmond, united and came to worship together at Richmond. We can find no account of this Dutch church further than the fact of their having a honse of worship to offer to the united churches, which is a matter of record. In that year the church at the north side and this united church at Richmond joined in a call to Rev. Cornelius VanSantvoord, of Leyden, in Holland. He accepted the call, and came over to this country in 1718, when he was settled as pastor over these churches. It was thus that the churches on the island became blended into one, and transmitted to us here the honorable ancestry to which we lay claim, as the repre- sentatives of the Waldenses and the Huguenots, merging their organization at length in that of the more rapidly increasing Dutch.
There is no date of the settlement of Dominie Van Santvoord extant: but the first baptism administered by him is recorded April 20th, 1718, the child's name being Johannes Van Namen. Dominie Van Santvoord was a man of admirable character and abilities, and is known to have ministered with great accept- ance from time to time, in the neighboring churches of New Jersey and Long Island as well as in the city. He remained in his charge here, preaching also frequently at Second River, now Belleville, N. J., until 1742, when he removed to Schenec- tady. Among the papers in possession of the consistory there is a bundle of receipts for salary from Dominie Van Santvoord, extending over several years. They are written in beautiful handwriting, and are sometimes given for very small sums, on one occasion "Twee ponden, acht schellingen," being carefully acknowledged. They indicate the fact of his ministering to the two churches, that on the north side being evidently the principal one. He was the author of several works of a theo- logical character. He also kept np a correspondence with the professors of the University of Leyden, by whom he was much esteemed.
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