USA > New York > New York City > Leslie's history of the greater New York, Volume II > Part 45
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sterdam and New Netherland to the English. These Englishmen, in 1644, had resided at Flushing, and therefore they selected that as the name for the settlement. They were nonconformists, and for. this reason had sought a refuge in Holland and now in America. But they could hardly have been Quakers. Doubtless, as in the case of Lady Moody at Gravesend, they held certain views which paved the way for the ready acceptance of the Quaker doctrines when they were brought home to them later. They harmonized just now more properly with the tenets for which the Rev. Francis Doughty had suffered expulsion from old and New England both. As we saw in a previous chapter, Mr. Doughty repaired to Flushing when he felt that he was unfairly dealt with in regard to his inter- pretation of his Maspeth patent. The people there made him their pastor at a stipulated salary of six hundred guilders ($240) per ammmin, a fact which would have been impossible among Qnakers. He remained only about a year, for his heart was still sore about Kieft's decision against his pre- tensions under the patent. and he could not refrain from sharp reflections on the Colonial offi- cials. This was objected to by Captain John Underhill, who had done such good service in suppressing the Indians. As the Captain seems to have had some military authority even after MRS. DE WITT CLINTON. (Maria Franklin.) these wars, he ordered the church doors to be closed against the insubordinate preacher, and thins Mr. Donghty was again cast adrift. He now obtained the oft- refused permission to leave the colony, and he went to Virginia. as stated before, in 1648 or 1649.
When Stuyvesant ruled in the land in his characteristic way the Quakers began to appear at Flushing. One of the earliest and most notable ones was John Bowne. In the year 1661 he erected a goodly dwelling on what is now Bowne Avenne, a few hundred feet to the right of Broadway. There the ancient honse still stands, although doubtless enlarged and improved from the original pattern; and nn- der one of the little windows in the gable, which faces the street, are painted the figures of the date. Stuyvesant was the one persecutor among the Dutch Directors, and he would have none of the Quakers to interfere with the supremacy of Calvin and the Synod of Dort.
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Bowne defied him once and again, sticking to his religion like a brave man in spite of fines and other penalties. At length the headstrong Peter put the recalcitrant and fearless Quaker on board of one of the West Indian Company's ships, so that the anthorities at home might deal with him as he deserved, thinking, perhaps, that the death pen- alty, which was beyond his own powers, might there be inflicted on him. It is refreshing to receive definite proof that the narrow-minded Stuyvesant, egged on by the Dutch Domines of the Fort Church. was utterly out of harmony with the feelings and principles prevalent in Holland. Bowne was immediately sent back to New Amsterdam, with a letter of rebuke for the Director, in which the West India Company contended earnestly fora position which could only have been occupied by Dutchmen in that age: " The conscience of men onght to be free and unshackled so long as they continne moderate, peace- able, inoffensive, and uot hostile to the Government. Such have been the maximus of prudence and toleration by which the magistrates of this city (Amsterdam) have been governed; and the consequences have been that the oppressed and persecuted from every country have found among us an asylum from distress. Follow in the same steps and yon will be blessed." Whether Stuyvesant observed this counsel or not, it can not be said that he had many blessings to boast of. A year after the return of Mr. Bowne, he was compelled, with bitter re- luetance, to surrender.
" The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church," according to the old adage. The persecution of Mr. Bowne could not bnt have had the effect of increasing the number of those who held the tenets of the Quakers. Besides, as we intimated, the trend of Mr. Donghty's preaching was to weaken dependence on the sacraments and strengthen the purpose in the lines of character and conduct. Even such as are not of the Quaker persuasion might agree that this was a quite useful principle to proceed on, the traditional worth of the Quaker people apparently proving that excellence in the latter par- tienlars does at times go without adherence to the former. At Flush- ing, therefore, we could expect that George Fox would meet with a cordial reception, and that his preaching there would be fruitful in encouraging results. He came to Flushing in 1672, after he had cheered and confirmed the hearts of the faithful at Gravesend. The Friends had as yet no " meeting house " at Flushing, but were accus- tomed to gather at the spacious mansion of John Bowne. The crowds that now flocked hither to listen to this apostle of Quakerism from every direction for thirty miles aronnd, were too great to be accom- modated at a private honse, and Fox addressed the multitude from beneath two enormous oaks opposite Bowne's honse. They were both still standing, lovingly cherished by appreciative hands, in the year 1842, when a violent gale of wind blew down one of them. In 1882 the other one was still standing, but age and the elements together
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threatened a downfall, and within a few years this last vestige of Fox's visit was removed. But the site of the oaks is not left un- marked. On Bowne Avenue, near the first street parallel to Broad- way. obliquely across from the Bowne House, the lover of old land- marks will find a little stone not more than eight inches square, and projecting but two or three inches from the surrounding grass. Upon this is inscribed or painted the legend: "Fox Oaks." The grassy border that forms the curb between the street and the sidewalk assumes the form of a wide curve projecting into the street, the arc subtending a chord of at least twenty-five feet. This evidently marks the spread of the roots or trunks of the historic trees. As a result of Fox's visit many accessions were secured to the Society. In 1695 they erected a meeting house on the present Broadway, which is still standing, in severe simplicity, with shingled sides, opposite the vil- lage green, and near a memorial of more modern events-the shaft commemorating the men from Flushing who gave their lives in the War of the Union. It is stated by authorities that at the time this edifice was put up a majority of the people of the township were Quakers. This sect from the first conceived a keen antipathy to the system of negro slavery, and the Society of Flushing let itself be heard on the matter time and again, in no equivocal way. What is, perhaps, the oldest anti-slavery publication issued in this country, was an " Address to the Elders of the Church." by William Burling, of the Flushing Qnakers, in 1718. In it he argued strongly against the prac- tice of buying negroes for slaves, and urged its abandonment by all of their own faith. Sentiment was as yet divided on the subject among them. In 1776 a committee appointed by the Flushing Meeting to in- quire into the subject, and " deal " with Quaker slaveholders, report that some of them justify their bondage; some hold slaves, but are disposed to free them; while some have manumitted them, and are providing instruction for the children. A little later the Society grows bolder and more insistent upon the doing of what most of them think is alone right. " No Friend," the committee declare, " shall hire any negro or other slave that is not set free when of age, nor do any act acknowledging the right of slavery." And in 1781 the Monthly Meeting came to the decision " to testify against all Friends that do not free their negroes."
While we are upon this subject of the Quakers, and before we go on to Revolutionary days in Flushing, perhaps this is as good a place as any to bring in a bit of pastoral poetry in real life, wherein figures a charming member of the Bowne family. It was in the piping times of prosperity before the Revolution that Walter Franklin, a rich merchant of New York, took a trip about Long Island in his own coach and pair, and in the course of his travels came to Flushing, and was riding by the Bowne mansion, ancient even then. He was already past the blooming period of youth, having retired from business with
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an immense fortune, and occupying one of the handsomest houses in New York. Yet he was a bachelor. He saw in the barnyard he was passing thirty fine cows, and one of the milkmaids was asked whose place this was. She replied, " My father's, Daniel Bowne. Wilt thee not alight and take tea? " for it was nearing sunset. Bachelor as he was, confirmed by several years of contentment with that selfish lot, the beauty and sweetness of this Quaker milkmaid made conquest of Mr. Franklin at first sight. He accepted the invitation, went into the house, and upon announcing his name, was cordially welcomed by honest Daniel Bowne, for the fame of the merchant was wide and enviable. The sequel is interesting. Mr. Franklin, writes a grand- niece, " conversed with the farmer on the appearance of the farm, on his fine cows, etc., but not a word about the fair milkmaid. Presently the door opened, and she came in to make tea for the 'city friend,' when her father said: ' Hannah, this is friend Walter Franklin, from New York.' She blushed deeply, finding he made no al- lusion to having seen her be- fore. The blush heightened her loveliness. She had smoothed her hair, and a fine lawn kerchief covered her neck and bosom." The courtship was brief but effective. Mr. Franklin repeated his trip to Flushing three times, and then made bold to ask her hand in marriage. Such an offer was not to be lightly rejected, and THE FRANKLIN HOUSE. the bachelor merchant was not too old to be objectionable on that score. So after a while Han- nah Bowne took her seat in the chariot by his side, and went back with him to New York as the mistress of the fine mansion on the corner of Cherry Street and Franklin Square, which became the residence of Washington when he came to the city as President of the United States. One of their daughters, as has been stated. became the wife of Governor De Witt Clinton. It may not be out of place to note once more here under Flushing history, that a descendant of the Bowne family served New York City as Mayor from 1828 to 1833, thus being reelected for several terms. This was Walter Bowne. of whom mention is made in our former volume (p. 312). Mr. Bowne was one of the two last Mayors of New York to be selected for that once honorable position for their fitness and respectability, and not by the mere whim of an irresponsible and largely purchased popu- lace, which in its time has given us a Fernando Wood and others of that ilk to be the chief magistrates of the metropolis of a hemisphere.
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In the ante-Revolutionary days Flushing enjoyed the presence of two distinguished members of the Colonial Government, who were in- duced by the beautiful scenery and delightful location of the town- ship to select here sites for their summer homes. Governor George Clinton, who ruled from 1743 to 1753, had a country-seat in Flushing, whence he rehietantly came forth to battle with the unmanageable Provincial Assembly, manipulated skillfully by his sworn foe, Chief Justice James De Lancey. His friend and favorite, Cadwallader Colden, so often Acting Governor, as we stated, also had a country- seat in Flushing. at what he called " Spring Hill." near Whitestone, where he built a spacious mansion. When his frequent recalls to the Government at last came no more, and his last unhappy encounters with the spirit of liberty among his fellow-colonists were over, he retired to this haven of rest in Flushing. This he was enabled to do when Governor Tryon came hastily back from his leave of absence in June, 1775. Colden, unflinchingly loyal to the last, lived long enough to hear the booming of the cannon at the Battle of Long Island, and also to learn that New York City had again passed into the possession of the English. For five days after that event, and one day before the execution of Nathan Hale, on September 20, 1776, the able official, learned scientist, and historian, the man of many parts, died at the great age of eighty-eight years. He was buried in the private ceme- tery on his farm at Spring Hill.
And thus we have already stepped across into the period of the Revolution. We need not here descant again (having done so in a previous chapter) upon the attitude of the people of Queens County upon the questions of the day. The Battle of Long Island having been fought, the inhabitants of Flushing began to be aware how the day had gone, when the triumphant Britons invaded their rural quietude four days later, or on August 31. It was a troop of British Light Horse that first entered the town, and execrable business did they perform. Flushing may be proud to count one of her own townsmen upon the list of signatures affixed to the Declaration of Independence. This was Francis Lewis, who had been engaged in mercantile pursuits in New York since 1735, and who, though a native of England and educated there, became a stanch and active patriot, serving on com- mittees of " correspondence " and " observation " several times. In 1775 he was elected a delegate to the Continental Congress, and in July, 1776, was there to place his name among the revered " signers " of the document which was the pledge of liberty. He had purchased a farm or country-seat in the town of Flushing. near Whitestone, and to this retreat he brought his family in the spring of 1776, when war- like preparations were everywhere rife in the city. Instead of proving a refuge. the course of a few months developed the fact that he had removed his domestic circle from the frying-pan into the fire. The noble British Light Horse, after hacking General Woodhull to pieces
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when a prisoner in their hands, found congenial work in bringing misery and injury upon the home of a signer of the Declaration and a member of the pestiferons Congress of rebels. The house was phn- dered and a fine library wantonly destroyed. Mrs. Lewis was taken prisoner, and confined for several months without being allowed a change of clothing or a bed to lie on. Washington made special efforts to secure her release, but when this was at length accomplished, this brutal treatment had so far undermined her health that she died soon after. After the war Mr. Lewis lived here twenty years, whereupon he returned again to New York, where he died at the age of ninety years, in 1803, and thus one year before his son, Morgan Lewis, was elected Governor of New York State.
The record is precise in preserving for us the fact that the British Light Horse aforesaid entered Flushing (presumably the village) at 2 o'clock in the afternoon of August 31, and that the weather was fine. There would be ample time for their despicable doings at Whitestone, therefore, before sunset of that same day. Immediately after them came the 71st Regiment of Highlanders, driving fifty or sixty head of cattle before them as provender, conveniently stolen from the farms of the neighboring towns on their way hither. In preparation for the campaign ending in the Battle of White Plains, on October 28, 1776, Flushing town was made the scene of formidable maneuvers. Troops were concentrated here from Newtown, and the first, second, and sixth brigades passed through the village on October 12 on their way to Whitestone, whence the crossing was made to Throgg's Neck. The line of marching soldiers extended without a break from Jamaica to Flushing, and they were half a day in passing through the latter. As the British settled down to quiet occupation of the island they repeated in Flushing most of the acts for which their stay was noted elsewhere. The Friends' meeting house was turned into a prison to begin with; next it was utilized as a hospital, and finally it descended from the comparative dignity of these usages to employment as a hay magazine for the mounted troops. Upon the site of the old Meth- odist Episcopal Church, on Washington Street, an elevated position, an alarm-pole was erected. This consisted of a tall pole, to the top of which was affixed a tar-barrel, and around which was wound wisps of straw. These poles were placed upon commanding heights all over the island within sight of each other, and were to be set on fire at the first approach of an enemy by land or sea. The monotony of martial conditions was pleasantly broken in upon on January 16, 1778, when " a marriage in high life " took place at the old St. George's at Flushing. In our previous volume we made mention of Washing- ton's visit to his friend Beverly Robinson at New York in 1756, and that the latter gentleman, with whom he had gone to school in Vir- ginia, had married one of the Philipse heiresses: Robinson remained loyal to England, and at his confiscated country-seat opposite West
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Point the traitor Arnold made his headquarters and was nearly caught in his act by the Commander-in-Chief himself. His son, Bev- erly Robinson. Jr .. was also attached to the Royal cause, and was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Loyal American Legion, a regiment of Tories. Being quartered at Flushing, he fell in love with a charming belle of the neighborhood, Miss Nancy Barclay, and during the sus- pension of military operations usually occurring in the winter, he took occasion to lead his fiancée to the altar.
The dwellers in Flushing must have been favored beyond other places on Long Island by the exemplary conduct of the troops quar- tered in their midst; or else the expression of their gratitude and ad- miration which follows was not quite so spontaneous as it looks. In April, 1782. when the war was practically over, Yorktown having surrendered six months before, and the peace negotiations in progress at Paris, an address of thanks was presented to Lieutenant-Colonel Bruce of the 54th Regiment. commanding also the 38th. This reveals, indeed, a grati- fying state of affairs, which one can not but wish was perfectly true. They say: " Impelled by a recollection of the quiet and security en- joyed during your residence in this town, permit us to make a public acknowledg- ment of your vigilant atten- tion, and of the honor and BEVERLY ROBINSON HOUSE. (Opposite West Point.) politeness of your officers. and of the orderly and decent behavior of the soldiers of the 38th and 54th regiments under your command in this district. When we declare, Sir, that throughout this winter no occasion has been given for murmurs and complaints; that an exemplary conformity to orders and regulations has been observed both by officers and soldiers, we testify a fact that has given us the most lively impression of the honor of the regiments and of your atten- tion to the interests of government and His Majesty's service." Forty- seven inhabitants of the township signed this address. Three days later Colonel Bruce replied to it from the general headquarters at Bedford, modestly asserting that in winning the thanks and enco- minms for their good conduct they had merely fulfilled the wish of their Sovereign and the orders of the Commander-in-Chief. It is to be regretted. therefore, that in so distressing a majority of instances, the British troops, officers and men, did in so flagrant a degree disre- gard His Majesty's wishes and disobey the orders from headquarters; and it is, to say the least, surprising that these deadly military of-
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fenses remained so generally without rebuke or punishment. A closing incident that took place in Flushing township brings before us such an interesting character that we can not refrain from men- tioning it. Early in the year 1783 there took place the ceremony of the presentation of colors to a regiment bearing the proud title of " The King's American Dragoons." They were encamped at a dis- tance of three miles east of Flushing Village, and here the exercises took place. Prince William Henry (later King William IV.) was still in the country, and his Royal Highness presented the handsome stand- ards to the Colonel. Interest entirely centers in that personage, quite to the suppression of the future King himself. For this Colonel was none other than one who was then plain Benjamin Thompson, but who later became Sir Benjamin Thompson, and again later attained the title by which he is widely known in scientific circles, Count Rum- ford. Ile was a Massachusetts boy, possessed of extraordinary talents and great versatility of genius. When only nineteen years of age he married a lady fourteen years older than himself, of the town of Rumford (now Concord), New Hampshire. He was a loyalist from the first, raised the King's American Dragoons in 1781 by his own exer- tions, but in 1783 resigned his position in the army. He served army and navy and State both in England and Bavaria. He was distin- quished as a philanthropist and public administrator, as well as a military man; but in chemical science his name has earned most last- ing remembrance. The Elector of Bavaria made him a Count of the Roman Empire. Ile died in 1814 in France. Being at one time a fellow-passenger of the historian Gibbon on the trip from Dover to Calais, the latter expressed his estimate of the man's versatility by referring to him in a letter as " Mr .- Secretary-Colonel-Admiral-Phil- osopher Thompson." One would hardly have expected to meet so ex- tremely interesting a character in a corner of Flushing during the Revolutionary times. We may well thank that simple presentation of regimental colors for bringing him to our notice.
Upon the return of peace and after the evacuation, at Fishing, as elsewhere, the town government soon shaped itself to suit the new condition of affairs. In May, 1784. its first Supervisor under Inde- pendence was Stephen Van Wyck, the ancestor of a later municipal chief officer whose jurisdiction has a vastly greater range; its Con- stable was Samuel Clement. When the anxious days preceding the adoption of the Constitution were over, that auspicious event was celebrated with great éclat at Flushing. The day selected for it was August 8, 1788, or less than two weeks after New York had fallen into line and become the eleventh adopting State. A salute of guns was fired at dawn. Upon the village green, in the center of the town, a beautiful colonnade had been constructed, the pillars of which were covered with fir and yew, and festooned with arches of green between. These pillars supported the standards of the eleven States now in the
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compact of Union. At the east end of the colonnade there was a canopy of white linen curtains festooned with blue ribbons, bearing the inscription : " Federal Constitution, September, 1787." Under this canopy was placed the President's chair upon a raised platform cov- ered with carpet. At three o'clock in the afternoon a salute of guns gave the signal for the dinner to commence. Col. William S. Smith, son-in-law of John Adams, presided at the banquet, at which eleven toasts were presented. Of these the eighth might be drunk with espe- cial fervor by the citizens of the Greater New York even at the present day: " May the liberty of the press be preserved, and its licentiousness punished," which would indicate that yellow journalism had been showing its cloven foot at so early a date even as this. The oration of the day was delivered by John Mulligan, a student at Columbia Col- lege.
It was not long before Flushing began to share in the prosperity of the country which came with an assured national existence. But not till after the 19th century had dawned upon the world did the strides of its progress become rapid. In 1801, travel to and from New York was regularly established by means of a stage run by Willett Mott. It ran daily, passing through Jamaica and Bedford, and thereby was compelled to cover a distance of twenty miles. Four years later the route was very much shortened by the construction of the bridge over Flushing Creek, and a road and causeway by way of Yonkers Island over the swamp lands or salt meadows. In 1808 Mott's enterprise was taken up by other hands, and as turupikes and bridges multiplied, the distance to the New York ferries was eventually reduced to only eight miles. The stages now ran from Flushing direct to Williamsburgh. crossed Grand Street Ferry, rode along that street in New York to the Bowery, and so to Chatham Square. The charge was fifty cents, and the enterprise continued until the railroad was put into opera- tion in 1854. But, by water, communication had also been facilitated as the years went on. At first a sailing packet ran regularly between Flushing and the metropolis, Inxuriously fitted up for the comfort of passengers. In 1822 a small steamer was placed upon the route, which, of course, made the trip much more reliable and prompt. This means of travel met with such favor that, in 1823, a boat of larger size and expressly built for this service, was substituted for the other. Postal conveniences had been accorded to the town for some time, but not till 1822 was a regular Postoffice located by the Government in the village. And as by reason of these various advantages, popula- tion and business had increased, and nearly two thousand souls were collected together about the head of Flushing Bay, the time seemed to have come for the incorporation of this section of the township into a village. This was done in April, 1837, and at the first meeting of the Board of Trustees Mr. Robert B. Van Zandt was chosen President of Flushing. For several years the officers were content to meet in
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