USA > New York > New York City > Old New York : a journal relating to the history and antiquities of New York City, Vol. II > Part 12
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
* Communicated by Diedrich Willers, Jr., late Deputy Secretary of State and Secretary of State.
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in New York city, in two classes of record books. The record of grants and conveyances during the Dutch colonial period, from the Government to the individual, by ground briefs or letters patent, were recorded in volumes now entitled letters patent, and the real estate transactions, etc., between individuals, known as transports or transfers and deeds, etc., were recorded in deed books also kept by the Secretary of the colony.
During the Dutch colonial period and prior to 1664, transac- tions in real estate were chiefly confined to the islands of Man- hattans, Staten Island and Long Island, with points along and near Hudson's River, between New York city and Albany.
The records of Dutch patents, etc., found in three books entitled respectively G G, H H, and I I, of which translations remain in the office of the Secretary of State at Albany, included many letters patent for lands on Manhattans Island, now embraced in New York city, of which patents a considerable number were afterwards confirmed by the English Government.
Book G G of Dutch patents, covering the period from 1630 to 1649, translated by Cornelius D. Westbrook, under chapter 366, Laws of 1839, contains 130 patents affecting lands upon Manhattans Island.
Book H H, 1654 to 1661, translated by James Van Ingen, contains the record of thirty patents for lands upon Manhattan Island.
Book I I, translated by James Van Ingen, principally covers the record of transports or deeds between individuals in 1652 and 1653, also in 1674 (in which latter year the Dutch Government for a brief time asserted governmental control), mostly relating to New York city, including the record of four letters patent there- in granted in 1664.
Some of the letters patent and deeds granted during the English colonial period are fine specimens of the systems of con- veyancing in practice from time to time. The lease preliminary to the release, or the quaint recitals and repetitions occurring in some records, tended to make these conveyances of great length. Many of the early patents covering large tracts of land include a large number of patentees. This was rendered necessary, since at one period the number of acres included in a grant to one person was
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restricted to one thousand, and to overcome this restriction a name was inserted in the patent for each one thousand acres con- veyed thereby.
The records of letters patent during the English colonial period commence October 3, 1664, and are found in sixteen full record volumes of patents and part of volume seventeen, ending with February 9, 1776 ; also three volumes of colonial military patents from July 11, 1764, to December 7, 1775. The military patent records, however, include no letters patent for lands located in New York city.
The seventeen volumes of English colonial patents referred to contain the record of 535 patents relating to lands on Manhattans Island, some of which were in confirmation of previous Dutch grants or patents.
The record of letters patent was resumed by the State of New York after the War of the Revolution, and is continued in Book 17 of Patents already referred to, the first land patent issued by the State bearing date October 26, 1784. The Board of Com- missioners of the Land Office of the State was created by act chapter 60, Laws of 1784, and has continued with slight change in membership until the present time, being recognized as such board by the Constitution of the State.
Since 1784, the number of volumes of records of letters patent has increased from seventeen to forty completed record volumes, with six incomplete record volumes now in use. There are also five volumes of records of military patents, 1790-1797, for lands granted by the State to soldiers of the Revolutionary War, none of which include lands in New York city.
The volumes of letters patent of the series continued in volume seventeen cover a number of patents for New York city property, and during the one hundred and five years which have inter- vened since 1784, at the small estimate of five in each year, would aggregate 5,252 ; doubtless, however, there are many more. Very few of these patents cover original State title to uplands, but embrace chiefly patents for lands under water ; for lands gained by accretion or filling in (as in the case of the West Washington Market property) ; escheated lands ; lands acquired by the State upon foreclosure of United States loan mortgages, and other
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secondary title, so to speak-for lands reverted to, or otherwise acquired through default of owner, by the State.
The computations herein made of the number of letters patent issued, affecting New York city lands, cover only Man- hattans Island and a few other small islands embraced in the territory of the city and county of New York, as the same existed prior to the annexation to the city of certain lands from Westchester county, under chapter 613, Laws of 1873. A con- siderable number of patents, included in the present city territory north and east of Harlem River, were also issued during the colonial as well as in the State period.
Many of the letters patent affecting real estate in New York city are doubtless recorded in the Register's Office of the City and County of New York. Chapter 110, Laws of 1845, fully authorizes the recording of any land patent granted by the State in the office of the County Clerk or Register of the County in which the land granted therein is situated, in addition to the record made in the office of the Secretary of State. There are also on file at Albany, under State supervision, many maps and field books of property in New York city, also partition proceed- ings for division of lands owned in joint tenancy, etc., under a colonial act of January 8, 1762, and under chapter 39, Laws of the State of New York of the year 1785, some of which maps, field books, etc., are doubtless now of great value as affecting land titles in the city, as well as for historical purposes.
Perhaps, however, the most important land records at Albany are those covering the record of deeds, mortgages, etc., between individuals. The Dutch records as hereinabove stated cover only a few transports or deeds between individuals. The English records of deeds, etc., comprise forty-three volumes in the office of the Secretary of State at Albany.
As early as 1683 a colonial act was passed and approved by Governor Thomas Dongan, entitled " An Act to prevent frauds in conveyancing of lands," under which it was provided that after December 25th of that year deeds, mortgages, and other convey- ance of lands in the province of New York shall be entered and recorded in the office of the Register of the county where such lands do lie, within six months from the date of execution of
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such deeds, etc. The act provides also for the recording of the same deeds, mortgages, etc., in the office of the Secretary of the Colony.
A colonial act of October 30, 1710, further provides for the recording deeds of lands in the office of the Secretary of the colony, or in the county records of the county where the land is situated, thus leaving the place of record optional ; and a colonial act of December 12, 1753, makes special provision for the registering of all mortgages of real estate by county clerks in the several counties after June 1, 1754.
It is believed that, notwithstanding some local registration of deeds, etc., in counties only, under act of 1710 alluded to, that many deeds, etc., were recorded solely in the office of the Secre- tary of the Colony, then officially located and kept in the city of New York.
The deed books, now at Albany, covered during the early English period the record of deeds and releases, certain assign- ments and leases, and letters of attorney relating to real estate, together with a few mortgages and wills affecting real estate ; also, during the State period, some deeds from the Commissioners of Forfeitures, under and pursuant to chapter 25, Laws of 1779, and chapter 64, Laws of 1784, of confiscated and forfeited estates.
Deed Book No. 1, in the office of the Secretary of State at Albany, which is in an excellent state of preservation, commences with January, 1674 (nine years prior to the passage of the general recording act for deeds, etc., hereinabove referred to), and the colonial record of deeds ends with June 3, 1776, in Book 20 of Deeds, although some deeds, etc., executed prior to the close of the War of the Revolution, were subsequently recorded under the New York State Government. The number of individual deeds and conveyances affecting lands on Manhattans Island recorded during the English colonial period was 525.
The recording of deeds in the office of the Secretary of State was resumed and continued in Deed Book 20, under the State Government, and the number of volumes of record was increased to forty-three.
Chapter 44, Laws of 1788, provided for the recording of deeds, both in the office of the Secretary of State and in the office of
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the County Clerk of the county in which the lands conveyed were situated, and chapter 45 of the Laws of the same year pro- vided for the recording of mortgages of real estate, in County Clerks' offices only. These acts were renewed and continued by chapter 155 and 156, Laws of 1801, and chapters 32 and 97 of the Revised Laws of 1813.
The recording of deeds in the office of the Secretary of State at Albany, which included many lengthy partition deeds of estates and patented lands, gradually came into disuse, and very few deeds have been recorded in that office since 1827, the Revised Statutes passed in that year, and indeed already chapter 263, Laws of 1823, making provision for recording the same solely in offices of County Clerks, and in New York city in the Regis- ter's office.
The Deed Books at Albany show the record, however, of 340 deeds affecting real estate in New York city (not including the portion of the city annexed from Westchester county) since the formation of the New York State Government.
An act passed by the Legislature of this State, chapter 295, Laws of 1839, made provision for the recording in County Clerks' and Registers' offices of deeds, conveyances or other instruments in writing, relating to or in any manner affecting the title to any real estate which had at any time been recorded in the office of the Secretary of State. Under the provisions of this act certified copies of some of the deeds, patents, etc., recorded at Albany have from time to time been procured by individuals and recorded in the New York city Register's office, leaving, however, many deeds, patents, etc., still unrecorded in the city of New York.
The passage of an act by the last Legislature, chapter 349, Laws of 1889, providing for a new system of recording and indexing instruments affecting real estate in New York city, to be known as the "Block System," has tended to awaken new interest in perfecting and completing the land records of the city.
By the provisions of an act passed by the Legislature of 1855, chapter 407, four Commissioners of Records were appointed for New York city and county, "with full power to examine into the condition of the records, documents, maps and indices of the County Clerk, Register and Surrogate, and to have the same
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·copied and printed, etc." Under the power thus conferred, con- siderable work was done by the commission, and indexes were printed, etc. The indices of deeds, conveyances, etc., of real estate recorded in New York city thus printed, under the head of " Grantors and Grantees," cover thirty-four large quarto printed volumes.
The importance to New York city of the records at Albany, affecting lands in that city as now constituted, cannot be over- estimated, and it would seem proper that steps should be initiated to complete the local real estate records of the city, so as to in- clude every patent, deed, etc., at Albany not already recorded in New York city. The method of procedure to give effect hereto is not the province of the writer to prescribe.
Reference may here be made to acts passed by the Legislature from time to time for other counties, under which local records have been perfected by obtaining transcripts of records at Albany for re-recording. Such an act was passed for St. Lawrence county by the Legislature of 1836, chapter 26, and in recent years an act passed for Chenango county in 1883, chapter 54, affords a good example.
The cost of perfecting the records of the city need not be very great, especially if it shall include only the procurement at Albany of certified copies of patents, deeds, etc., not already on record in New York city, for recording in the Register's office therein, which could be determined largely from the indices printed by the Record Commission of 1855, and careful search, examination and comparison of the records, indices and abstracts at Albany with those of New York city, and the expense of a new Record Commission could thus be avoided.
Having thus recited the facts in the case, the taking of steps to give effect to suggestions contained herein is left for the consid- eration of those "whom it may concern."
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GOWANS' WESTERN MEMORABILIA.
The following chronology was compiled by William Gowans, who for fifty years was a noted bookseller in New York. These pages, and others relating to his personal experiences, were entitled by him " Western Memorabilia," and were frequently quoted from in his catalogues. Their readers were often led to believe that the extracts were from some printed work, and several orders were received by him to send on the volume that contained them. He began compiling these memorandums about 1840, and they were nearly completed in 1850, although additions were made down to the time of his death, twenty years later. Much of his information was derived from out of the way sources, only accessible to himself. His stock of books was dispersed at his death, being then the largest collection in the Union. In it there were over a quarter of a million of volumes.
1631. A windmill erected for the use of the town, situated on Broadway on the ground forming the block between Liberty and Cortlandt streets. When I arrived in New York in 1826 or 1827, I was struck with the novelty of horizontal windmills. Although I had traveled a good deal and seen a good deal I had never before seen one of these. One was situated on the banks of the Hudson River, between King and Hamersley streets, another near the junction of Bleecker and Thompson, and a third near the site of the free University. These mills were in opera- tion a number of years after this time.
Guysbert Van Regerslander for drawing his knife and threat- ening a citizen with violence was sentenced to throw himself three times from the sail yard of the yacht "The Hope " and to receive from each sailor three lashes.
For slandering the Rev. E. Bogardus, a female was obliged to appear at the fort and at the sound of the bell declare before the Governor and Council that she knew that he (the Rev. E. B.) was. honest and pious, and that she had belied him.
Henrick Janson for slandering the Governor was sentenced to
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stand at the fort door, and, at the ringing of the bell, ask the Governor's pardon ..
1640. A Scotchman presented himself to Governor Kieft, with a commission from the English Government, therein laying claims to Long Island. His claims were disregarded. He failed not, however, before leaving to sow some seeds of discord amongst the Long Islanders.
1641. Oct. 15. A cattle fair was established to be held annually.
1642. The first church of New Amsterdam built, situated within the fort, the Rev. John Megapolensis pastor. [This was the second.]
1643. The wise and good Roger Williams visited Manhattan on his way to England.
1644. The first public school erected in the city.
1646. The first City Hall, Stadt House or tavern, was erected on the present corner of Pearl and Coenties Slip, and continued for many years the seat of the courts, and all the public meetings of the people.
1647. A Scotchman arrived having a commission from King James claiming Long Island for the Duchess Dowager of Stirling, claiming to be Governor of that island. Like his predecessor, this functionary left the country without effecting anything.
May 27. Governor Stuyvesant arrived from Amsterdam. He was afterwards married to Judith Bayard.
1650. Vanderdonck by his intrigues among the commonalty of New Netherlands instigated the States General to recall Governor Stuyvesant, but the same year the war broke out between England and Holland. They rescinded the order of recall and Stuyvesant continued to be Governor of the Province for fourteen years longer.
1651. Governor Stuyvesant purchased the Bowery farm, namely, that portion of land lying east of Orange street, bounded by East Broadway, and extending two miles up the East River, for 6,400 guilders, £1,066, now valued at £900,000. He had thrown into the bargain a dwelling house, a barn, six cows, two horses and two young negroes.
1653. The town wall completed from river to river, running up Wall street and through Trinity churchyard to the Hudson
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River. [Just north of Wall street. Trinity churchyard of that time was an open field.]
Adriaen Vanderdonck published in Amsterdam his book on New Netherlands, written when he was in the country. The government of Holland authorized it to be published and sold for the author's sole emolument for the term of fifteen years.
1656. March 15. The Governor ordered that the ministers should preach in the forenoon alternately at Flatbush and Brooklyn.
July 6. The Governor issued an order forbidding the inhabi- tants of Brooklyn, Flatbush and Flatlands to remove their grain from the fields until their tithes were taken or commuted.
A market house was built near the present corner of Pearl and Broad streets. The city consisted of 120 houses and 1,000 inhabitants.
1657. John Bowne imprisoned, and afterwards banished the colony, for the crime of Quakerism.
Feb. 16. The inhabitants of Brooklyn sent a remonstrance against being taxed without their consent. The remonstrance was laid on the table and the remonstrants reprimanded.
"Sundry Quakers, for publicly declaiming in the streets, were subjected to the dungeon and Robert Hodgson was led at a cart's tail, with his arms pinioned, then beaten with a pitched rope until he fell ; afterwards he was sent to the wheelbarrow to work at hard labor." This circumstance having been made known to the Governor's sister she, through pity, interceded and obtained his release.
It was ordered that any person receiving or harboring any Quaker in his house should forfeit £50. Robert Hodgson, Humphrey Norton, Mary Wetherhead and Dorothy Waugh, all Quakers, arrived in New Amsterdam. The two women were put in a dungeon for preaching in the streets.
1659. Dec. 20. The Rev. J. Polhemus represented to the Gov- ernor that his church wanted painting to prevent it from decay.
1660. Sept. 18. The minister petitions for windows for his church. Ordered that one window be furnished him.
1662. " A second windmill erected for the use of the town upon the same ground occupied by the old one, that having gone to decay."
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1664. Sept. 3. New Amsterdam became New York, and the government passed from the Dutch into the possession of the English. On the 24th Fort Orange surrendered and took the name of Albany.
"Ordered, that no Christian shall be held in slavery, except judged thereto by authority, or such as willingly sell themselves; also further ordered, that death shall be the punishment for all who deny the true God and his attributes ; premeditated murder, for poisoning, beastly copulation, sodomy, kidnapping, false witness in trial for life, for denying his Majesty's right to reign, or resisting his authority, a child for striking a parent, when above 16 years of age and not an idiot."
John Megapolensis wrote and published " A short description of the Maquas Indians in New Netherlands; also an account of the country and its natural productions."
1670. Daniel Denton, one of the early Long Island settlers, published in London his account of New Netherlands.
1672. The first case on record in the Mayor's court is in the Dutch language, the others which follow are in English.
1673. July 30. New York retaken by the Dutch. The name New York was expunged and New Orange substituted. Anthony Colve was appointed Governor of the retaken province.
1674. Oct. 31. Peace having been concluded between Eng- land and Holland New Amsterdam was, by treaty, given up to the British and again took the name of New York.
1675. Tanners' pits are declared to be a nuisance and ordered out of the city. The craft took up their abode in the fields with- out on that spit of land known as the Swamp, formerly known as Beekman Swamp. It is still the great leather market of New York.
1676. The number of property holders amounted to three hundred, and property was assessed at one dollar and a half each pound, the value assessed being £99,659.
" All the cartmen of the city (being twenty in number) are ordered to be enrolled, and to draw for 6d. an ordinary load and to remove weekly from the city the dirt of the streets for 3d. a oad." 1849-there are 3,080 licensed cartmen and 201 porters. They are allowed 31 cents per load.
1678. The Rev. C. W. (Charles Wolley) published his journal
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of a residence of two years in New York. The journal was prob- ably published for the first time in 1701.
1682. Population of New York, 2,000 souls besides slaves, and two hundred and seven houses.
Governor Stuyvesant died, aged 80 years. He was Governor of New Netherlands from 1647 to 1664, a longer period of time than any one man either before or since held the highest power in New York.
1683. "William Merritt offers for the ferry of Long Island the sum of $20 per annum for twenty years ; and agrees to erect a shed, to keep two boats for cattle and for horses and also two boats for passengers. The ferriage for the former to be 6d. a head and for the latter 1d."
The first Colonial Assembly convened in the city of New York. From that time to 1691 a number of laws were enacted, but never printed, and were not confirmed by the King. These laws were recorded in the office of the Colonial Secretary and are now de- posited in the office of the Secretary of State at Albany.
At a certain time this year the vessels in port were numbered. They were as follows : three barges, three brigantines, twenty-six sloops and forty-six open boats.
Ordered, that no "youths, maidens or other persons may meet together on the Lord's Day for sport or play, under the fine 1/. No public house to be kept open except for the entertainment of strangers, under a fine of 10/."
1685. Governor Dongan had a splendid garden fronting on Broadway, between Maiden lane and Ann street. This was the Ultima Thule of civilization at that time.
Aug. James II. sent out an order prohibiting all trade be- tween New York Colony and the East Indies.
The Jews petition to be allowed the public exercise of their religion, and are refused on the ground that none are allowed by an act of Assembly so to worship but such as profess faith in Christ.
Nov. 2. The city property, real and personal, assessed at £78,231. The city at the time consisted of six wards or di- visions.
Dec. 23. " William Burton appointed chimney sweeper to the city, and ordered to pass through all the streets, lanes and pas-
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sages with such noise or cry as may discover you to the inhabi- tants thereof to be the person for that employment appointed. Hle may demand for a chimney of one story 1/ ; two stories or more 1/6."
1687. The first classical and English school opened in the city of New York under the patronage of the Government. The school received fifty pounds a year from the public funds for the support of a teacher. In it were taught Latin, Greek, mathe- matics and English. Forty pounds were allowed for the pur- pose of establishing a free scholarship, which privilege was to be equally enjoyed according to population by the different counties in the colony. This was the germ of Columbia College, which was incorporated in 1754, and endowed with money raised by lottery under the name of King's College, which name it retained till the Revolution.
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