USA > New York > New York City > The Memorial History of the City of New York: From Its First Settlement to the Year 1892, Volume II > Part 20
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2 Cadwallader Colden, N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., 1868, p. 217.
3 Calendar N. Y. Hist. MSS., 2 : 458.
4 Ib., 485.
5 Ib., 486.
6 Ib., 480.
7 Ib., 482. Some of Mr. Clarke's purchases show the cost of living in those days: "38} gals. molas-
ses. at 2s. per gal. ; 3 gals. whale oil, at 4s. ; 3 bush. price." Ib., 120.
salt, at 38. 6d. ; piece of striped silk muslin, at 5d.,
· bought at Mrs. Frank's'; piece brown ozanbrige, 9t. 55 ells, at 18d .; a doz. pd. of chocolate at 22s .; 12 lbs. soap, at 7s. 8d .; 4 bottles lime juice, 11s. ; 2 bbls. 'lamb black,' 1s .; 1 pr. silk stockings, 19s. ; 6 yds. calico, 1s. 6d. ; a pr. of 'Cizors,' 1s .; 12 gals. rum, 48. per gal .; 2 bbls. stale beer, for workmen, £1 16s. per bbl. 'Retgers says it is extraordinary good beer and y racking it off into other Barr" would flatten it and make it Drink Dead.'" The chocolate was bought at Dugdale's; it had gone up from 20s., owing to an advance in co- coa; the soap and starch "were bought at one Pel. letreau's next to Mr. Jordain's." (N. Y. Col. MSS., 42 : 61, 107, 119, 120.) " I sent by Riche Mr. Hyde's [a relative of Mrs. Clarke] Wigg; the price is 4. 10s .; he'll take it again if not approved at that
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coat, a silk quilted petticoat, two black silk quilted petticoats, and a splendid psalm-book with gold clasps and gold chain whereby she hung it upon her arm. About this time, too, window-hangings of camlet, colored harrateen, and other expensive goods came into use in the more pretentious houses; also japanned tea-tables, gold-framed looking- glasses, tall eight-day clocks, and other evidences of increasing wealth. Pewter ware was still more common than china. William Smith had been the first private individual to set up a coach (1704), but at this time there were several of them besides the great state coach of his Excel- lency the governor.1 Two-wheeled chaises for one horse were the most common vehicle for rid- ing then and for many years after.2 On pleas- ant summer evenings everybody assembled on the front stoep and chatted with his neighbors and with pas- sers-by -a charming custom revived of late LOUVRE WSJ years in the wonderful and progressive me- tropolis of the great West. Well-to-do peo- ple kept excellent tables laden with great varie- ties of fish, flesh, fowl, and vegetables. The or- dinary beverages were beer, cider, punch, and TOMB OF DAVID PROVOOST, IN JONES'S WOOD. Madeira. 3 Balls and sleigh-rides were the favorite amusements in the winter; in the summer, boating and driving parties. An advertisement from the " American Weekly Mercury " for March 23, 1727, indicates that gold- smiths flourished in the town :
This is to give Notice to all Gentlemen and others, That a Lottery is to be drawn at Mr. John Sterens in Perth Amboy, for £501 of Silver and Gold Work, wrought by Simeon Soumain of New- York, Gold-Smith, all of the newest Fashion. The highest Prize consists of an Eight square Tea-Pot, six Tea-Spoons, Skimmer and Tongues, Valued at £18 3s. 6d. The lowest Prize consists of Twelve Shillings Value. There is 278 Prizes in all, and there is only five Blanks to each Prize. Tickets are given out
1 Edward Bromhead, who officiated as the gov- ernor's coachman for some years, appears to have managed to make a lucrative position out of it, as he acquired a snug little property in the city and VOL. II .- 11.
in Ulster County. Calendar N. Y. Hist. MSS .. 2 : 504.
2 " Valentine's Manual," 1858, pp. 501-11. 3 Burnaby's " Travels," p. 87.
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at Six Shillings York Money, or Seven Shillings Jersey Money for each Ticket, at the House of Mr. John Stevens in Amboy, at Mr. Lewis Carrees in Allens Town, at Mr. Jolines in Elizabeth Town, at Mr. Cortlands at Second Rirer,1 by Mr. Andrew Bradford in Phila- delphia, at Mr. Samuel Clouse in Jamaica on Long Island, and by Simeon Soumain in the City of New- York, at which last Place the Goods so to be drawn for are to be seen. And the said Goods are to be valued and appraised by Mr. Peter Van Dyke, and Mr. Charles Le Reux, two Gold-Smiths in the City of New-York. And said Lottery is to be drawn the 22d day of May next, Anno 1727. If said Lottery be full sooner, it will be drawn before the 22d of May nert.
The people were fond of amusements, as just said, balls and sleigh- ing in winter; in the summer, boating and driving parties. A favorite resort for the latter was the Fresh Water Hill,-adjacent to the pres- ent Chatham street, south of Pearl street,-on the summit of which Francis Child kept a public house, with pleasure-gardens attached. The wells of the town afforded such poor water that it was scarcely fit to drink, and strangers were often made ill by it. At the upper end of the present City Hall park was a large body of fresh water, fed by innumerable springs. One of these springs was so abundant, and the quality of the water so superior, that it was in universal demand from all parts of the town for making tea; so a huge pump was placed over it, and men came thither with carts and carried away the water to sell it about town to the good housewives for the brew- ing of the cup that "cheers but not inebriates." Hence the name, "Tea Water Pump," which lingers in the memory of some of the oldest inhabitants to this day.2 The outlet from the Fresh Water, or Kalck Hoeck, corrupted into "Collect," flowed across Chatham street, and was spanned by a bridge, and as it became the recognized custom for a gentleman driving over this bridge with a lady to salute his companion, it was known as the "Kissing Bridge."3 Races took place in the neighborhood, it being pretty well out of town. Of course, it sometimes happened that parties of young people who went out driving beyond the town got belated on their return, and were obliged to pass the night at some wayside house where there was scanty supply of separate rooms, in which case they "bundled," after the fashion of the time, and not infrequently with results that finally brought that queer practice into disrepute, and which Jacob Vos- burgh, in a letter to Governor Burnet in 1723, characterizes, with a feeling excusable under the circumstances, as a "wicked and base custom of those parts."" The old Dutch families still kept up the custom of sending out printed invitations to funerals, on sheets about the size of this page. Everybody drank. Rum figured largely in the
1 Now called Belleville, near Newark, New Jersey.
2 Valentine's Manual, 1865, pp. 605-12.
3 Burnaby's " Travels" (ed. 1798), p. 87.
+ Calendar N. Y. Hist. MSS., 2: 480. Although the custom referred to prevailed among the Dutch
of New-York and New Jersey within half a cen- tury, the writer has found very few of the old people who were willing to admit that they ever "bundled" in their young days, or that they had ever known anything about the practice.
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imports into the province. In 1724 it sold at two shillings and nine- pence a gallon. In 1726 Isaac Bobin and George Clarke owed " £13 10 shillings for half a pipe of wine."1 Of course the governor kept a goodly stock of wines and liquors in the ample cellars of his mansion in the fort; nevertheless, when Governor Spotswood of Virginia came to New-York in his Majesty's ship Enterprize, on his way to attend the Indian conference at Albany in the fall of 1722, he brought his own liquors with him,-whether because he doubted the quantity or the quality of the New-York supply is not known,-and he asked Governor Burnet and his council to admit his liquors free of duty, which of course they did; " and, although the record is silent on that head, it is a safe guess that they all sampled the Virginia governor's choice without delay. A different sort of petition came before the same body on May 15, 1724, when Captain Peter Solgard, of his Majesty's ship Greyhound, informed the council that the navy had refused to furnish rations of rum to shipwrights and calkers employed in refitting his Majesty's ships in the plantations, and the men refused to work without it, wherefore he asked leave to impress such as he needed. But the council concluded that such a course would drive the workmen out of the colony, to the great damage of the merchant service, especially as the men employed on merchant vessels were paid six and ninepence per day (ninepence more than in the navy), and were given their usual allowance of rum besides.3 How the English captain managed to get his vessel refitted does not appear.
Slavery prevailed, with its attendant evils. Labor was scarce, which was the excuse for stealing the natives from their homes in Africa and bringing them to New-York, to be sold like cattle. The price ranged from forty to seventy-five pounds. Thus, in 1720, Cap- tain Hopkins offers a negro for fifty pounds; in 1723 Captain Munroe is willing to sell his " negro wench, 17 years old, warranted sound in limb, a native of Jamaica, for £45." Mr. Chaloner offers a "negro wench for £45, 20 years old, sound of limb," and with the promise of supplying her owner with another human chattel in the course of three months. William Fraser, of Richmond County, is closing up an estate, and offers a negro man and wench for sale, for fifty and sixty pounds respectively. Robert King, of Perth Amboy, offers to sell George Clarke a negro wench for fifty pounds,' while Dr. Dupuy wants fifty-five pounds for a negro wench nineteen years old, whom he had brought up from infancy. The poor girl did not like to be sold, he said, but he sent her to Mr. Clarke "on approval," with the caution: " she will pretend not to know anything, but she must not
1 Calendar N. Y. Hist. MSS., 2: 489, 497. 2 Council Minutes, 13 : 365.
3 Council Minutes, 14 : 296. +Calendar N. Y. Hist. MSS., 2 : 454, 476, 477-481.
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be believed." Three years later Mr. Clarke is anxious to sell a negro woman, "as she has a great itch for running away." So it is probable that the girl could not be tamed into submission. Ex-Sheriff Harri- son, of Perth Amboy, wants seventy-five pounds for a negro wench and child four years old.1 The importations of slaves into New-York were, for the years named : 1720, eighty-one; 1721, one hundred and ninety-three; 1722, one hundred and six ; 1723, eighty-two; 1724, sixty- one; 1725, one hundred and thirteen ; 1726, one hundred and eighty.2 The newspapers of the day contain numerous advertisements offer- ing rewards for run- EAST RIVER, BETWEEN JOHN STREET AND PECK SLIP. away slaves, who are described as if they were, horses or mules, with all their peculiar "marks." There was a white slavery in those days, too. In 1723 a white woman and her husband, from New England, who had been burnt out by the Indians, offer themselves for hire for a term of years.3 Dr. John Browne, "in York Road, West Jersey," in 1726 offers forty shillings reward for the return to him of "a servant Woman, named Sarah Parler or Sartin, supposed to be Inveigled or Conveyed away by one Richard Sartin, who served his Time at French Creek in Pennsyl- vania, at the Iron Works, who pretends that he is her Husband, but is not; she is a little thin Person, having on a Calico Gown strip'd with Blue, or a black and white one of Woole and Worstead, a new Bonet, and other tolerable good Cloaths."" In the same year John Leonards, "at South river bridge near Amboy," gleefully announces that a negro had been forced by starvation to come to his house, and he holds him till his owner shall come and pay a reward "and also reasonably for his Diet till fetched."" Men and women sold them- selves for terms of years for their passage to this country; or when misfortunes befell them here, they sold themselves until they could gather a little money. The negro slave-market in New-York was established in 1709 at the foot of Wall street, where it was in Gov- ernor Burnet's time.6 Many of the planters, with questionable liber- ality, allowed their slaves one day in the week to work for them- selves, on condition of their feeding and clothing themselves! Some
1 Calendar N. Y. Hist. MSS., 2 : 481, 496. 3 Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y., 5 : 814. 3 Calendar N. Y. Hist. MSS., 2: 481.
+ " American Weekly Mercury " (Philadelphia). August 25, 1726.
5 Ib., July 14, 1726. Valentine's Manual, 1865, p. 559.
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allowed all Saturday, some half of Saturday and half of Sunday, and some only Sunday. The negroes were assured that they had no souls, and perished as the beasts.' Their punishments were barbarous. They were burnt at the stake, brokeu on the wheel, or hung alive in chains to endure a lingering, horrible death by slow torture." Their dead were buried in a field set apart for the purpose, on the north side of the present Chambers street, just opposite the new Court House, at night, by their own people, without any Christian offices, but usu- ally with some superstitious rites they had brought from Africa.3 These weird assemblies by night being calculated to stir up the negroes to acts of violence, in 1722 the city authorities ordained that thereafter negroes and Indian slaves dying within the city, on the south side of the Fresh Water, should be buried by daylight, and before sunset. It was also ordained that any negro or Indian, slave or free, convicted of gaming or playing in the streets or elsewhere for money, should be publicly whipped at the whipping-post, unless the master or owner of any such slave should pay a fine of three shil- lings.' The whipping-post, pillory, and stocks stood in Broad street, a little below the City Hall, which was on Wall street, where the United States Subtreasury now stands; the jail was in the base- ment of the City Hall; by 1724 it had become so unfit for the pur- pose that the judges complained of it; in 1727 it was presented by the grand jury, in consequence of which four men were appointed to watch it to prevent escapes.5 In July, 1727, it was ordered that a public gallows be erected on the Common, at the usual place of exe- cution-at the upper end of the present City Hall park. In 1720 it was ordained that no brickmakers or charcoal-burners should cut down any trees upon the commons for burning bricks or making charcoal." There was no poorhouse, the poor being cared for at their homes, by private charity or by the vestry. Every person relieved wore a badge of blue or red conspicuously on the sleeve, marked "N. Y."7 There was a market-house on Pearl street, between Wall street and Exchange Place, while the Custom House of that day was on the same street, between Broad and Whitehall streets.8
The little town was advancing in the matter of street improvements. The residents on Broadway had been given leave in 1708 to plant trees in front of their premises, giving the street a pleasant aspect, especially in summer. The property-owners on the principal streets were required to pave the streets with cobblestones for a distance of
1 " Historical Account of the Incorporated So- ciety for the Propagation of the Gospel." by David Humphreys (London, 1730), p. 238.
2 Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y., 5: 341.
3 Humphreys, as cited. p. 238.
+ Valentine's Manual, 1858, p. 566.
5 Valentine's Manual, 1862, pp. 539, 553.
6 Ib., 1858, pp. 565, 567.
7 Jb., 1862, p. 658.
8 Ib., 1850, pp. 443, 446.
9 Ib., 1850, p. 446.
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ten feet from their line, leaving the middle unpaved.1 The population was increasing steadily. In 1712 it had been 5840; in 1723 it was 7248; and in 1731, 8622.2 Property-owners began to develop their lands, to meet the increasing demand for building-lots. About 1720 Trinity Church began to lay out the south part of the "King's Farm" into lots.3 The block bounded by Whitehall, Pearl, Moore, and Water streets had been used for many years as an open market-place where the country wagons stood, and the vacant space in front of the fort was used as a public parade and for meetings, bonfires, and other public demon- strations. Stephen Richards, Jacob Leisler, PRO LIBERTAS Obadiah Hunt, Benjamin Wynkoop, Robert Crook, Thomas Roberts, Paul Richard, and PROVOOST ARMS. Isaac De Peyster, Sr., living near the south- east bastion of the fort, presented a petition to the governor and coun- cil, June 15, 1724, setting forth that the old market-house had fallen down and that the dock adjoining had become filled up by the rubbish of the city, and that the magistrates of the city proposed to lease the ground in building-lots for the term of forty-one years, which the pe- titioners claimed would be greatly to their injury, and that the build- ings would obstruct the range of the cannon in the fort. Dr. Colden, as surveyor-general, sustained the correctness of this latter objection, and the council stopped the proposed improvement.4 In 1732 the old mar- ket-place was leased to some public-spirited citizens, who laid it out and inclosed it for a bowling green.5 In 1722 the first steps were taken toward extending the shore-line of the Hudson River front out to deep water, but the property-owners were indifferent, and it was several years before the present Greenwich and Washington streets were laid out. There were more signs of improvement on the East River front. On January 18, 1722, the council received a petition from Garrit Van Horn, John Read, Thomas Bayeux, Stephen Richards, Thomas Clarke, Rip Van Dam, Jr., Henry Cuyler, and Peter Breasted, asking for letters patent to extend the wharves upon the shore of the East River from Rip Van Dam's corner at the lower end of Maiden Lane to the corner of Thomas Clarke. The mayor, Robert Walters, in behalf of the city, objected, but the council, after several hearings, granted the petition and ordered that a street forty-five feet wide be laid out on the shore- front, to be called Burnet's street (now Water street, between Wall and
1 Valentine's Manual, 1862, p. 533. 2 Tb., 1851, p. 352.
3 Valentine's " History of New-York," p. 286.
+ Council Minutes, 14 : 306, 325; Calendar N. Y. Hist. MSS., 2: 488; Valentine's Manual, 1862, 511-12. 5 Valentine's Hist. N. Y., p. 286.
J
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John), and that the new dock be called Burnet's key.1 The develop- ment of the town is also indicated by the numerous sales of real estate. In 1719 the Presbyterians bought a plot 88x124 feet on Wall street, near Broadway, for which they paid Abraham De Peyster and Nicholas Bayard £350. In 1720, a lot on the northeast corner of Maiden Lane and William street, twenty-five feet on William street and forty-five feet on Maiden Lane, sold for $193; two houses and lots on the northwest corner of Broad and Stone streets, fronting on Broad street, 51} feet front, 42 feet deep, $1250. In 1721, house and lot in Wall street, 32x 150 feet, $850; two lots on Broadway, 50x160 feet, $293. In 1722, lot on the present Rose street, 25x100 feet, $25. In 1723, two lots on the north side of Beekman street, north of William street, $125; lot on Beekman street, next to the corner of Gold street, 23x100 feet, $80; lot on the southeast corner of Beekman and Cliff streets, 25x75 feet, $125. In 1725, four lots on the northwest corner of Frankfort and Vandewater streets, one hundred and forty feet on Frankfort street and one hundred feet on Vandewater (then Duke) street, $150. In 1726 the Dutch church paid £575 for the plot on Nassau street, whereon they built their new church." A lot on the north side of John street, 25x100 feet, sold for $200; a lot on the east side of Broadway, 24x161 feet, $97; and a house and lot on the west side of Broadway, 70x50 feet, $1100. In 1727 two lots on Spruce street and two on Gold street, $225; a lot on the north side of Maiden Lane, 25x147 feet, $250; and a lot on John street, 35x100 feet, $125.
The commerce of the port grew slowly but steadily, about 215 to 225 vessels clearing out yearly. From 1717 to 1720 the imports averaged £21,254 yearly, and the exports £52,239. From 1720 to 1723 the imports remained the same, while the exports increased an average of £2300 yearly; from 1723 to 1727 the imports averaged £27,480 per annum, and the exports £73,000.3 One obstacle to the growth of commerce was the frequency with which merchant vessels were captured on the high seas by bloodthirsty pirates, who cruised off- shore, and often had the temerity to sail up to the very port of New- York. The newspapers of the day are full of reports of encounters with these daring sea-robbers. For example: the crew of one vessel arriving in New-York in 1723 told how they had been boarded by pirates, who plundered the vessel, "cut and whipped some of the men, and others they burnt with Matches between the Fingers to the bone to make them confess where their Money was, they took to the value of a Thousand Pistoles from Passengers and others, they then let them
1 Council Minutes, XIII : 2- 116. 2 Now occupied by the Mutual Life Insurance Company. The new church was built in 1729. 3 Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y., 5: 618, 761, 897.
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go." "The Pyrates gave us an account of his taking the Bay of Hon- doras from the Spaniards, which had surprised the English and taking them, and putting all the Spaniards to the Sword Excepting two Boys, as also burning The King George, and a Snow belonging to New York, and sunk one of the New England Ships, and cut off one of the Mas- ters Ears and slit his Nose, all this they confessed themselves, they are now supposed to be cruising off of Sandy Hook or thereabouts." 1
Sometimes vessels ar- riving in the port brought an enemy on board, as was the case of the brigantine Hope- well, from Madeira, which arrived in port on the night of May 25, 1725, with a number of people afflicted with smallpox, of which one person had died. It appeared that Henry Fuller, the mate, who was ill with the disease, had come ashore, and the high sheriff was ordered "to go to one Goelets, a Painter, in Wh Smith Maiden Lane, and there to search for the said Henry Fuller and to Convey him on Board the said Brigantine." The sheriff found diffi- culty in executing the warrant, owing to the natural timidity of his constables about exposing themselves to infection, so the council desired Colonel Riggs, the commander at the fort, to send four of his best men to assist in removing Fuller. Messrs. B. Rynders, John Van Horne, and Stephen De Lancey, owners of the Hopewell, asked that the crew and their bedding might be put on Bedlow's Island, but the council concluded that the vessel should anchor in the channel between Bedlow's Island and Buckett Island, at the same time prescribing a code of signals for communication between the vessel and the shore in cases of necessity, until the brigantine should be free from infection. The ferrymen on each side of the Narrows and all the pilots belonging to the port were directed to acquaint all
1 " American Weekly Mercury " (Philadelphia), June 6, 1723.
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incoming vessels that the Hopewell was "performing quarantine" at Bedlow's Island.1
The jurisdiction of the governor and council was exercised over a curious range of subjects. September 30, 1720, Henry Smith was given a commission to seize all drift whales on the coast of Suffolk County.2 December 7, 1720, Mary Barnet, of Staten Island, widow, petitioned for leave to ask and receive voluntary assistance from the benevolent, her house having been burned;3 and on the 23d of the same month Edmund Hawkings, mariner, petitioned "for a brief to obtain relief from the charitable, he having lost his sloop by fire off White- stone, Long Island."4 The Presbyterians, having secured a site for a church, petitioned, September 19, 1720, for incorporation, but were re- fused, for lack of a precedent.5 May 17, 1721, a license was granted to James Cooper & Company to take whales, they paying one twentieth of the oil and whalebone. " To encourage various enterprises, monopolies were frequently granted. In 1720 the Legislature passed an act grant- ing to Robert Lettice Hooper and his assigns a monopoly for refining sugar. In 1725 Hooper styled himself "sugar refiner," but having failed to live up to the terms of his privilege, an act was passed in November, 1727, repealing his monopoly.7 In 1724 an act was passed giving to Susannah Parmyter, widow, and her assigns, the exclusive right of making lamp-black for ten years." William Bradford, the printer, asked for a like monopoly for the manufacture of paper for fifteen years, but the powers that were had no great love for the news- paper press, and his petition was not granted." In 1726 Lewis Hector Piot De Langloserie was by act of the legislature given the sole right to catch porpoises in the province of New-York.1º The progress made toward reclaiming the wilderness adjacent to the city is indicated by the passage of an act in 1723 withdrawing the bounty previously offered for the capture of wild cats, although three years later it was deemed necessary to again offer bounties for the destruction of foxes and wild cats in Queens County. It was still customary to allow swine to run at large during the winter, picking up their subsistence in the woods, but by the year 1722 it was thought necessary to pass an act restricting this practice in the counties immediately around New-York, and in 1726 Saratoga received the same protection. In
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