USA > New York > Long Island historic homes, ancient and modern : including a history of their founders and builders > Part 7
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During Mavor Grace's administration so much of his time was devoted to the affairs of the city that his business affairs required another head. He sent for his brother, Michael P. Grace, then in Lima, Peru, and he remained in control of the New York house till Mayor Grace took up the conversion of the Peruvian debt, on the success of which his brother established a branch in London.
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LONG ISLAND HISTORIC HOMES.
Mayor Grace received a second nomination in 1884 and was again elected Mayor of the city by a large majority, his second administra- tion being quite as successful as the first, every department being conducted on the same business principles as those that govern the various branches of his own affairs.
Since his retirement from the mayoralty Mr. Grace has withdrawn from public affairs and devoted himself to the management of his firm's business, which is now the largest of any in his line in the world. Mr. Grace has been a large contributor to private and pub- lic institutions, but the greatest work of his life was begun in 1897 when he established the Grace Institute for the practical education of young women, the object as stated being "to furnish instruction in the domestic arts and sciences, in the trades and occupations in which women may be employed, and to afford protection, instruc- tion and assistance to young women." The institution is located at 149 West Sixtieth Street. The building, which was formerly known as the Moore Mansion, was enlarged and completely equipped with all the fixtures and apparatus requisite for a work of this character. The general object of the Institute is sufficiently comprehensive to include courses in all practical branches that will make young women self-reliant. In the several departments women are trained to dis- charge intelligently all the duties of a home, in the broadest sense of the word.
The Cooking School teaches the elements of all cooking. Two or more dishes form the subject of each lesson. In the first course the pupil learns to make bread, to prepare soups, roasts and many simple, wholesome dishes, the object being always nutritious food, well pre- pared, well served, and the cultivation of the virtue of thrift. In the Laundry Department, which is equipped with all the latest improve-
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ments, the pupils are taught washing and ironing, also the proper use of starches, the preservation of texture and colors, etc. In the Sewing and Dressmaking branch the instruction is so thorough that the pupil is not only qualified to make her own clothes, but, should occasion require, she can make use of the knowledge thus obtained for earning her own living. The Stenographic Department begins with a preliminary course in English, and teaches one of the stand- ard systems of phonography in a very thorough manner. The course embraces business, le- gal and general re- porting, and aims par- ticularly to make the student efficient in business practices. In the Typewriting room special drills are given M with the object of Prace covering as many of Institute the principal lines of business as possible- building specifications and legal forms, the writing of testimony, making manifold copies and general correspondence. The Institute helps its pupils when they become competent.
In addition to the morning and afternoon sessions, classes are held in the evening for girls who are employed during the day. The classes have been organized and the work is efficiently carried on by the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, under the direction of Sister Marie Dolores. In the autumn of 1902 there were in attend-
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ance 497 pupils in Dressmaking, 272 in Stenography and Type- writing, 233 in Cooking, making a total of 1002. Pupils are ad- mitted without distinction as to religious belief, and among this vast army of busy workers are found Catholics, Protestants, Hebrews and persons of all, and without any, religious belief. When it is consid- ered that all this is absolutely free, and that the entire expenses of the Institute are borne by Mr. Grace, some idea may be formed of the magnitude of the undertaking and the large-hearted liberality of its benefactor. The good accomplished by this system of education can never be estimated. Not only are hundreds of pupils turned out annually fully equipped to earn their own living, but persons employing them are sure of getting the best skilled labor, fully qual- ified for the position in which they may be placed.
Mr. Grace has contributed thousands of dollars annually for va- rious benevolent and charitable objects, but nothing he has ever done is so far reaching in effects as that accomplished by Grace Institute. Thousands will rise up to call him blessed and his memory will be kept green through many generations of those who have benefited by his munificence.
Mr. Grace was among the first of the new comers at Great Neck and he has contributed liberally toward the many improvements that have made this one of the most desirable places of summer resort on Long Island. Some of the happiest and most peaceful hours of his long and busy life have been spent in this delightful retreat, where he and his family could enjoy social intercourse with their neighbors with that simplicity and freedom seldom found at places of fashion- able resort.
Mr. Grace married, Sept. 11, 1859, Miss Lillius Gilchrist, daugh- ter of George W. Gilchrist, a prominent ship builder of Thomaston,
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LONG ISLAND HISTORIC HOMES.
Me. He was the grandson of Samuel Gilchrist, of St. George, Me., who served with honor in the war of the Revolution. He was sta- tioned in New York City, and probably took part in the battle of Long Island (Aug. 27, 1776), as he was wounded on the skirmish line during the retreat of the American army from New York to Harlem. He carried the bullet in his body up to the day of his death, a constant reminder of the part he bore in the great struggle for American independence.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Grace are:
I. Alice Gertrude Grace, born in South America, June 11, 1860; married ist to W. E. Holloway, of Baltimore, Oct. 16, 1884. One child, William Grace Holloway, born May 21, 1886, is the issue of this marriage. She married, 2nd, Albert F. D'Oench, Jan. 10, 1901. They have one child, Russell Gilchrist Grace, born Nov., 1901.
Il. Florence Ellen Grace, born in South America, Sept. 20, 1861; died Sept. 27, 1861.
III. Lilius Clemintina Grace, born in South America, Oct. 24, 1864; died in Ireland, June 26, 1866.
IV. Agnes Isadora Grace, born in Brooklyn, N. Y., April 4, 1867; died in New York City, March 8, 1884.
V. Mary Augusta Grace, born in Brooklyn, Sept. 2, 1868; died there Feb. 16, 1870.
VI. Lilius Annie Grace, born in Brooklyn, Sept. 1, 1870; died there Aug. 30, 1871.
VII. Joseph P. Grace, born at Great Neck, June 29, 1872.
VIII. Lilias Juniata Grace, born in New York City, March 30, 1874; married July 12, 1898, George Edward Kent. Their child- ren are Katharine and Edward Kent, Jr.
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LONG ISLAND HISTORIC HOMES.
IX. Louisa Nathalie Grace, born in New York City, Dec. 23, 1875.
X. William Russell Grace, Jr., born April 11, 1878.
XI. Caroline S. Grace, born April 22, 1879; died April 21, 1882.
Leveled by Fire
Landmark on Bowery Bay, Acquired by Stuyvesant Grant, Reduced to Ashes
Bought for Airport Site
Historic Building Was to Have Been a Clubhouse
One of the oldest structures In greater New York was nothing but ashes yesterday after a fire of unknown origin destroyed the old Riker mansion In Queens. The first part of this de- serted house was built in 1654, when Abraham Rycken joined the hegira from Holland, scorned the easily ac- cessible acres of lower Manhattan and sailed up the East River to Bowery Bay.
In staking his claim in the unex- plored lands he included the island a few hundred yards from the home he built, an island that then was a bit of green near the swirl of Hell Gate, but which, as Rikers Island, lias be- come a refuse heap and the site of the prleons known as the Municipal Farms. Just how the island and the mansion lost the original name of Rycken and became Riker is buried in the uncer- tain recorde of the city's growth.
Nothing Saved from Ruins
The fire was beyond control by the time the Fire Department had run its necessary 2,000 feet of hose from the nearest freplug to the mansion. The feeble stream that finally played on the roaring wooden structure was ineffect- ual and nothing was saved.
In the frequent efforts to save hls- toric sites, no attention has been paid to thia mansion, one of the earliest that was preserved at the beginning of this century. Rycken came here at the time of Peter Stuyvesant and it was from that Dutch patroon that he re- ceived the grant of 100 acres on Bowery Bay and the island across the waters of the river. There is still preserved tha crinkled bit of parchment that records this grant.
That document and the rest of the old relics that had lasted through the centuries were not destroyed, having all been taken from the house which has not been occupied for years.
House Sold in 1809
It was sold to the Rapalyea family in 1809 by Danlel Riker, who had al- ready dropped the Dutch name, and was sold recently to the New Yori: Air Terminais, Inc., as part of the site for a proposed landing field on Bowery Bay. William F. Carey, head of the company, had planned to turn the old mansion into a clubhouse.
There was nothing in the mansion as it appeared yesterday morning to remind a visitor of the first dwelling Rycken built in the Colonial days. Various generations of inhabitants added to it untli it became a twenty- one-room affair that in the hayday of the last century was a gathering place for the socially elect of New York. Transportation being what it was in those daya, the host had to give sieep- Ing quarter- to all his guests and the wings of the house were given over al- most entirely to bedrooms.
When the fire started Patrolman Francis Pheian, of the Astoria precinct. saw the smoke. He turned in an alarm IA Protinelle all the enulnment. of .
NOT THE SAME HOUSE AS ILLUSTRATED IN THIS BOOK
)MESTEAD
OWN ) AND ITS ENVIRONMENT.
pode at Bowery Bay showed an eye for the beautiful, for, ich have defaced its natural htful and charming spots on may be its future condition, sociated with it. The old red years, was the center of writer of a quarter of a cen-
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LONG
IX. Louisa Nathalie 1875. X. William Russell XI. Caroline S. Grac 1882.
T
PU
1
TILD
THE OLD RIKER HOMESTEAD
AT BOWERY BAY ( IN THE TOWN OF NEWTOWN) AND ITS ENVIRONMENT.
T HE first Riker who took up his abode at Bowery Bay showed great wisdom, good judgment and an eye for the beautiful, for, with all the "modern improvements" which have defaced its natural beauties, it is still one of the most delightful and charming spots on the western end of the island. Whatever may be its future condition, the name of Riker will always be associated with it. The old Riker home, for more than two hundred years, was the center of patriotism and generous hospitality. A writer of a quarter of a cen- tury ago, who visited this place, said:
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LONG ISLAND HISTORIC HOMES.
" The northeast corner of Long Island City descends under the waves of Bowery Bay-the home of the Riker's, where every step is a history still verified by local preservation. The lofty patriotism of the family is racy of the soil; the splendid hospitality of the old mansion to the Tones, to the Emmets, to the Sampsons, to the Macnevens and other Irish patriots of 1798, invest its chambers with a deep and grateful interest to men of the Irish race.
" The thrill of emotion is most intense to an Irishman when he makes the discovery that Long Island City contains within its limits the mortal remains of Dr. Wm. Macneven, of William Sampson, and the family of Major General Theobold Wolf Tone, the founder and or- ganizer of the United Irishmen of '98,' of which Lord Edward Fitz- gerald, Thomas Addis Emmet, Arthur O'Conor and a few other great men were the Executive Committee. No cold expression can stifle the tear that falls on the tomb of these great men, but it re- quires a recurrent effort for an Irishman to realize the existence of the sacred Trust reposed in the bosom of Long Island City."
These Irish patriots were drawn thither through their knowledge of the intense patriotism that had characterized the Riker family from the time the colonists first determined to throw off the voke of Great Britain. The Riker mansion stands some 300 feet from the main road and is partly concealed by the forest of trees which inter- vene. The driveway has long since been closed and the entrance to the house is along a narrow pathway. The house in its present con- dition fairly represents the different generations who have occupied it, each making changes to suit the improved conditions of the age. Much still remains of the original structure. It is built in the old Dutch style, long and narrow, with a frontage of about forty feet and an extension of some twenty-five feet. It was, no doubt, origin-
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ally one story with a pitch or gambrel roof. A story, however, has been added, covered with a flat roof. A piazza extends along the entire front of the main building, supported by six Corinthian pillars. A piazza also extends along the rear of the main building, and on both the front and rear doors is the old fashioned iron knocker. The house is covered with heavy, wide shingles with a lap of about ten inches. The old wooden shutters of long ago cover all the windows of the house.
The well kept lawn in front is shaded with a variety of trees, some of which have the appearance of great age. A row of weep- ing willows extends along ,the eastern side, which is enclosed by a rough stone wall. The homestead property contains about one hundred and twenty acres, a part of which is woodland, also a fine apple orchard containing a few Newtown Pippins, for which this town was once famous.
A more beautiful site for a country home could hardly be found on the shores of Long Island. The old landmarks in the distance, so pleasing and attractive to the first Riker settler, still remain with but little change in their general appearance: Riker's Island, about a mile from the main land, and beyond that the upper part of Man - hattan Island, and a little to the south are Ward's and Blackwell's Islands. Riker's Island alone remains uninhabited, just as it was two hundred and fifty years ago, when it came into the possession of the family.
The history of this locality is one of exceeding interest from the fact that it is associated with the earliest settlement of Long Island and was among the first parts to be placed under cultivation. Whether Guisbert Riker ever occupied it is not known, as Abraham did not settle here until some thirty years after it was acquired by the Riker
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LONG ISLAND HISTORIC HOMES.
family. The fact that Abraham Riker, the son of Guisbert, mar- ried the daughter of Hendrick Harmensen, who was killed by the Indians, would indicate that he had been a resident here and fled to Manhattan during the Indian troubles.
Riker, in his Annals of Newtown (page 21), says: "Attention has heretofore been made to Hendrick Harmensen as engaged in the cultivation of a bouwery on the northern outskirts of the town, and who may be regarded as the first white man that turned a furrow in that section of the township. He had erected a cabin and obtained, in 1638, several head of cattle from a lot imported that year by the Director General for the use of the colonists. But, within the space of a few years, Harmensen died and there is some reason to believe that he was slain in the Indian massacre of 1643. After his decease his widow, Tryon Herxer, intermarried in 1645 with Jeuriaen Fra- dell, a native of Moravia and subsequently a deacon of the Dutch Church at New Amsterdam, who, on Sept. 5th, of the above year, obtained a ground brief in his own name for the estate of Har-
mensen. * A great deal of interest attaches to the history of this bouwery, which was subsequently owned by the corporation of the Dutch Church of New Amsterdam."
In a foot note on page 22, Riker says: "A tradition exists in the Riker family that their ancestor located, at a very early period, at what is now called Poor Bouwery, and obtained from the natives a large tract of land at that place; that having previously been an armourer in the Dutch service, he was accustomed to forge toma- hawks for the Indians round about him, but that, on a certain occa- sion, the savages, under a sudden excitement, assaulted him, and one of them gave him a fatal blow and terminated his life with one of the very instruments of death that he had made for him; that after
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LONG ISLAND HISTORIC HOMES.
this his widow remarried and the property was disposed of to the Dutch Church. This tradition, which doubtless has a foundation in truth, can relate to none other than Hendrick Harmensen, the orig- inal proprietor of the farm above mentioned. He was a progenitor of the Riker family, as his daughter Margaret married Abraham Riker, their ancestor."
Thompson's History of Long Island (Vol. II., 533) states that "Guisbert Riker is supposed to have arrived from Holland between the years 1625 and '30, in one of the earliest vessels of the Dutch West India Company. He received several grants of land in differ- ent places, but the most extensive was at Newtown, L. I., said to be a mile square, together with the island since known as Hewlett's or Riker's Island. He is believed to have died a very few years after his arrival, leaving a son Abraham and one daughter."
Riker's Annals states that "Guysbert Riker owned lands at the Wallabout, and is last named in 1640."
Thompson (Vol. II., 534) says that Abraham Riker and his brother-in-law, Petrus Rapelje, gave land in the present village of Newtown as a site for a church and public cemetery and upon which the first Dutch church in that town was erected. In the patent granted by Gov. Dongan, of Newtown, Nov. 25, 1683, (conveyed by Stuyvesant 1652) there are 107 patentees named, of whom " Abraham Ricke" was the 22nd on the list.
The Riker homestead farm at North Beach or Bowery Bay is a part of the original tract acquired by him in 1654.
Thompson, in his description of Riker's Island, says: "It lies about one mile from the main land of Long Island, nearly opposite the entrance of Flushing Bay, and contains more than fifty acres of land of a moderate quality, although if well cultivated it would no
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LONG ISLAND HISTORIC HOMES.
doubt be made highly productive. It was purchased at an early date by Abraham Riker.
" During the minority of the children the premises belonging to the said Riker, including the island, were under the general manage- ment of the Reformed Dutch Church and was leased out by them for the support of the poor, whence the name of Poor's Bowery or Poor's Farm, applied to a part of the town adjoining the Sound. Gov. Stuyvesant, Aug. 9, 1664, gave a patent to Riker, and a patent of confirmation was obtained from Gov. Nicoll, Dec. 24, 1667."
THE OLD RIKER BURYING GROUND.
The old Riker Burying Ground is one of great historic interest. It is situated about twenty-five yards inside the city limits, on the road east of the water works. It adjoins the old homestead of Jacob P. Rapelve, and is separated from his garden plot by a high board fence. While living he guarded this plot with jealous care.
Near the center of what was probably the entrance stands an immense willow tree, some twen- ty-five feet or more in circum- ference, gnarled and knotty with age, but with branches and fol- iage all gone, shorn of all its
Yet 'en these bones
from insule to protect .? Some frail memorial still erected nigh, With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture decked, Implores the passing tribut of a sich.
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LONG ISLAND HISTORIC HOMES.
former beauty and grandeur, it still stands bidding defiance to the storms that have beaten upon it year after year as one generation after another of this grand old family have been laid to rest. As a faith- ful sentinel, it seems loth to depart, and it is not at all probable that while any of the present generation remain the woodman's axe will ever mar it. Its decay is very slow and the vitality of the old trunk seems wonderful. The veneration for the old landmarks and old associations, which has ever been a characteristic of the Riker family, is not lacking in any of the present representatives, and none will have occasion to enter the protest:
" Woodman spare that tree, Touch not a single bough."
To add to the picturesqueness of this ancient landmark, the artist has taken the liberty of omitting the modern board fence and leaving the old tree in its natural state, and thus greatly enhancing the beauty of its surroundings.
Within the enclosure mentioned is a marble obelisk containing, among other inscriptions, the following: " The grave of Abraham Riker, son of Abraham and Margaret Riker; born 1655; died Aug. 20, 1746, in the gist year of his age; and in memory of his grand- sire, Guisbert Riker, a native of Holland, who came to America in 1630, obtained a patent for land at the Bowery bearing date 1632." This is all that is known of Guisbert Riker, the progenitor of the family in America. The inscriptions on the old tombstones form an interesting chapter in the history of the Riker and allied families. Among the most interesting are:
A cenotaph to Capt. Abraham Riker, who died at Valley Forge, 1778, aged 38 years; Dr. John Berrien Riker, who died in 1794, was of the irrepressible stamp of patriot from 1774
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LONG ISLAND HISTORIC HOMES.
to 1783; Maria Riker, wife of John L., died 1828, aged 28 years; Mary Ann, daughter of John L. Riker, died 1865; Richard Riker, died 1853, aged 19 years; Dow Ditmars, died 1860; Anthony Bar- clay, died 1805; Jonathan Lent, died 1793. The name of Lent is merely a change from Riker.] Two old headstones, cut by ama- teurs on rough slabs, marked respectively Joris R., 1753; Jonathan R., 1721; Anna Riker, for fifty years the companion of Samuel
IRR
RIKER CEMETERY, NORTH BEACH.
Riker, died Jan. 5, 1833; Jane Berrien, who married Andrew B. Riker ( 1700-1763), was the mother of Dr. John Berrien Riker, Capt. Abraham Riker and Capt. Samuel Riker, all of whom served in the War of the Revolution; Jane Riker, only daughter of Dr. John Berrien Riker, died 1857; Abraham Riker, died 1821, Cap- tain of Marines, under his brother Andrew, on famous privateers
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LONG ISLAND HISTORIC HOMES.
Saratoga and Yorktown in the War of 1812; John Riker Guion; Samuel Riker, Jr., died 1821; John L. Riker, born 1787, died 1861, youngest son of Samuel; Daniel Phenix Riker, 1829; Abraham Riker, died 1843; he was an armorer in Peekskill during the Revolu- tion. Riker's Island belonged to him and his brother, and he died there. Capt. Andrew Riker, died at Port au Prince, Hayti, W.I., Oct. 17, 1817; he was one of the most daring and successful navigators, both in war and peace. During the War of 1812 he fitted out two privateers, the Saratoga and Yorktown, both of which he commanded in person, and brought many prizes into Bowery Bay. Capt. Peter Riker, died 1851, aged 90 years, having resided upwards of fifty years on Riker's Island.
Reference has already been made to the Irish patriots and others connected with the Riker family who found a resting place in this old burying ground. Among these are Grace Sampson, died 1853, wife of William Sampson; Catharine Ann Tone, wife of W. Theo- bold Wolfe Tone and daughter of William Sampson, died 1864, aged 66 years; Jane Purdy, daughter of William J. Macneven, M. D., died 1856, aged 56 years; Rosa Patience Macneven, died 1839; James Joseph Macneven, died 1822; John Campbell, native of County Antrim, died 1861.
THE RIKER AND ALLIED FAMILIES.
Few families in this country can boast of a more honorable or more extended lineage than the Rikers, and it is pleasant to note that through successive generations they have preserved untarnished the family escutcheon, and their record for patriotism, both during the colonial and revolutionary periods, will compare favorably with that of any other.
Riker, in his "Annals of Newtown," says that " the Rikers were originally a German family, located at a very remote period in Lower Saxony, where they enjoyed a state of allodial independence, at that day regarded as constituting nobility. They there possessed the estate or manor of Ryken, from which they took their name, then written von Rycken, indicating its territorial derivation. Subse- quently the name suffered various changes, being found written de Rycke, de Ryk, Riecke, etc., and in America finally assuming the present form.
IUM
HONOR VIRTUTIS
PRÆMI
Riker.
" Hans von Ryken, the lord of the above manor and a valiant knight, with his cousin Melchior von Rycken, who lived in Holland, took part in the first crusade to the Holy Land in 1096, heading 800 crusaders in the army of Walter the Penniless. Melchior lived to return, but Hans perished in that ill-fated expedition."
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