USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I > Part 112
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From S. Smith, 8, 5346 100066 acres at $200 per acre, amounting to $1,704.92; from C. Van Clef, 8107, acres, at $200 per acre, amounting to $1,774; from Ralph Malbone, 4-89986 100006 acres, at $180 per acre, amounting to $881.97: from heirs of Jonathan Trotter, 13.966 31000, at $180 per acre, amounting to $2,513.88; total, $6,874.77.
The land in these parcels thercupon became the site of the Penitentiary.
On the 23d of January, 1847, steps were taken by the Board towards procuring the passage of a law ma- king the support of foreign paupers a State (instead of a County) charge. The matter was referred to Seth Low, Tunis G. Bergen and G. Howland.
February 27th, 1847, the Superintendents reporting that they were out of funds, the Supervisors ordered $3,000 to be placed to their credit.
On March 13th, 1847, the Board of Superintendents, in view of the great increase of pauperism in the County of Kings, presented the matter to the Super- visors, who immediately passed the following unani- mous resolution :
" Resolved, That the overwhelming increase of pauperism in the County is an evil of alarming magnitude, and that the laws require additional provisions to secure this and other counties adjacent to New York from an undue burden re- sulting from such increase.
Resolved, that our representatives in the Legislature are respectfully and earnestly requested to give their immediate attention to this subject as one of paramount importance."
On May 5th, the Superintendents, owing to the high price of provisions, and the great increase of paupers, asked for an appropriation of $3,000. It was ordered, thereupon, that a loan upon the credit of the County, of $12,000, be made for the said appropriation, and for other expenses of the Poor-House establishment.
August 3d, 1847. At the Annual Meeting of the Supervisors, an election for two Superintendents of the Poor of the 3d class, occasioned by the expiration of the official term of Samuel Doxsey and Chauncey L. Cook, resulted in the election of Alfred B. Hodges of Williamsburg, and William Rushmore of Brooklyn.
The Annual Report of the Superintendents of the Poor, and of the Physican of the Poor-House and Lunatic Asylum, were also presented, for the year ending July 31st, 1847, by which it appear that the whole number of persons relieved or supported during the said year was 7,185; of those temporarily relieved, 5,955. The aggregate amount of money expended during the year was $27,577.14, of which $8,361.69 was ex- pended for temporary relief. The expense of the general support of the Poor-House was $19,215.45, which makes the sum of $27,577.14. The number of paupers in the Poor-House on the 1st day of August, 1846, was 343; admitted during the year 861; born in the Poor-House, 26. The proceeds of the farm for the past year were largely remunerative ; much in excess of last year.
The Physician reported 2,183 cases of disease treated, of whom 111 had died; five of them being cases of delirium tremens, and 21 cases of consumption.
In the Lunatic Asylum there were 49 patients on the 1st day of August, 1846; there were 40 more admitted during the year, ten of whom died, 11 discharged as cured, one abscond- ed, and on the 1st day of August, 1847, there were 61 re- maining.
The salary of the Superintendents of the Poor for the year 1847, was $1,800. September 2d, 1847, the sum of $2,000 was set apart for the Superintendents of the Poor.
The Superintendents reported a plan and specifica- tions for the new Penitentiary and Work-House, on Oct. 5th, with an itemized estimate of the expenses thereof, and that they had entered into a contract with responsible persons for the construction of the same. On Dec. 10th, 1847, the Superintendents asked for and received an appropriation of $3,000, to be expended to- wards the defraying of the expenses of the county.
On the 22d of December, the Superintendents and Supervisors took into consideration the necessity of erecting a suitable building, on a line with the Asylum, for a Children's Nursery, it appearing that the same was essentially necessary for the health of the children; and that the present building used for the purpose
473
SUPERINTENDENTS OF THE POOR.
could be advantageously occupied as a hospital for women.
January 7th, 1848, the Board of Supervisors directed the County Treasurer to place $5,000 to the credit of the Superintendents, to be expended by them in the Poor Establishment of the county. January 29th, 1848, the question of electing Superintendents of the Poor and County Treasurer by the people came before the Board, on a proposal to have Kings County ex- cepted from any legislative bill providing for a law for the popular election of the aforesaid officers. A res- olution, favoring such exception, was defeated by a very decisive vote.
February 10th, 1848, the death of Dr. J. B. ZABRIS- KIE, for many years a physician to the County Alms- House, who died February 8th, of malignant fever, taken in the discharge of his official dutics, was an- nounced to the Board, which, out of respect to his memory, adjourned.
February 11th, the salary of the Keeper of the Peni- tentiary was fixed at $800 per annum.
March 8th, 1848, $5,000 was placed to the credit of the Superintendents of the Poor.
The erection of a building for a Children's Nursery was again considered, and the Superintendents were directed to proceed forthwith with its construction, at an expense not to exceed $2,000.
July 5th, 1848, the Treasurer of the county was authorized to borrow, on the credit of the county, $5,000 to pay the contractors of the Hospital Buildings recently burned * on the County Farm, at Flatbush, as their bills severally became due.
August 5th, 1848, the Superintendents of the Poor made and submitted their annual report ; monies received $6,956, from the Emigrant Commissioners, for the board of emi- grant passengers, under an Act of Congress, and the Legis- lature of this State, providing for board of emigrants.
The Report further shows the receipt of $1,319.14 from the board of Lunatics during the year ending July 31st, 1848; from putative fathers of illegitimate children, $1,341.25 ; from the County Treasurer, $31,350 ; the net profits of the labor of the paupers, $1,000, the whole estimated value of their labor being $2,000. The sum actually expended, over and above the labor and earnings of the paupers, $58.31 per year, or $1.12} per week as the actual expense of keeping each pauper.
The whole number of paupers relieved and supported dur- ing the year was 1,746; the whole number temporarily re- lieved 6,935 ; aggregate amount of money expended during the year was $39,788.77. Of the above aggregate, for tem- porary relief in the City of Brooklyn was $5,838.25; Wil- liamsburg, $4,574.61 ; Flatbush, $76.62 ; Gravesend and New Utrecht, $140.49. There was paid out for physicians and medicines $1,137.73 ; for the support of idiots and foundlings $228.80 ; for repairs and improvements, $5,607.55
The Physicians reported 2,542 cases of diseases treated dur- ing the year ; 324 of which proved fatal ; 42 having died
from consumption ; 10 from delirium tremens ; suicide 2. In the Lunatic Asylum, there were 120 patients during the year, 7 of whom died ; 22 were cured and 81 cases in the hospital at date of the Report.
At the meeting of the Board, March 5th, 1848, F. M. Ingraham, M.D., and Phillip O. Hyatt, M.D., were appointed Physicians to the County Poor-House and Lunatic Asylum, in place of Dr. J. B. Zabriskie, de- ceased; it having been decided to have two physicians for the said establishment, owing to the large increase of paupers and of diseases. The County Penitentiary and Work-House was so far completed on March 23d, 1848, that an order was made by the Supervisors to deliver an order to the Sheriff, directing him to deliver to David Afflick, the Keeper of the same, thirteen prison- crs confined in the jail, to be employed at hard labor in the said Penitentiary and Work-House, until the ex- piration of their several terms. The longest term for which any of these prisoners were sentenced, was six months.
Arrangements for further accommodations were made for the reception of more prisoners in the said Peniten- tiary. An order was also made, directing the County Treasurer to borrow, on the credit of the county, $5,- 000 to pay the contractors on the Hospital building, as they severally become entitled to payment.
The records of the Superintendents are very imper- fect in stating the names of the Keepers of the County Penitentiary and Work-House, but we find that David Afflick had for some time been Keeper; and that at the meeting of August 22d, 1848, Richard W. Call and Platt Heartt were appointed Assistant Keepers of the Penitentiary and Work-House.
Sept. 19th, 1848, the Superintendents and Board of Supervisors made an order that the prisoners confined in the Penitentiary should be employed in repairing the public highways, leading from Brooklyn to the County Poor-House, under the direction of the Overseers of Highways, and in the custody of the Keepers of the Penitentiary. $3,000 was placed to the credit of the Superintendents.
January 18th, 1849, the Superintendents exhibited vouchers for expenditures from August 1st, 1848, to January 1st, 1849, amounting to thic sum of $16,705 .- 81 ; of which $15,007.66 was for Alms-House expenses, and $1,352.46 was for the Penitentiary account.
March 30th, 1849, the Hospital at the Penitentiary was erected and ready for occupation.
August 7th, 1849, the Superintendents reported that tlicy were in immediate want of funds, to the amount of $6,000. On August 27th, James C. Rhodes was ap- pointed Chairman of the Board of Superintendents of the Poor. Mr. Rhodes was the first Chairman ap- pointed by this Board, of which there is record. On that day, the Sheriff of the County delivercd 13 more prisoners, sentenced to hard labor, from the County Jail to Davis Afflick, Keeper of the Penitentiary.
* It is to be regretted that the records of the Supervisors, and of the Superintendents of the Poor give no account of the circumstances of the burning of the Hospital buildings.
474
HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.
September 4th, 1849, we find the Record of the Board of Assistant Keepers of the County Penitentiary was established.
The question of the salaries of the Board of Superin- tendents had now become one about which there were many severe contests in the Board of Supervisors. Some of the members favored liberal salaries, while others were in favor of reducing the salaries to the low- est possible amount.
The question of the great disproportion of Poor ex- penditures of Williamsburg over that of Brooklyn was brought before the Board of Supervisors, and a resolu- tion was adopted stating that the reasons given to justify the great expenditure in Williamsburg (with a population of about one-third of that of Brooklyn), are insufficient, and such excessive expenditure was cen- sured.
It appeared that the expenditure for the persons temporarily relieved in Brooklyn during the year end- ing July 31st, 1849, was $3,447 ; Williamsburg, $2,480.
On September 24th, 1849, the annual report to the Super- intendents of the Poor, of the Physicians to the Poor Establishment, was taken up, by which it appeared that the whole number of persons relieved and supported during the year ending July 31st, 1849, were 8,671 ; the number of per- sons who were temporarily relieved was 5,984. The aggregate amount of money expended during this year was $50,240.01 ; of this $3,471.34 was on account of the Penitentiary, and $6,534.61 on account of Hospital. Since January 1, 1849, for the general support of the Poor-House, $32,386.13.
The estimated amount saved in consequence of the labor of paupers was $2,000. The sum actually expended over and above the labor and earnings of the paupers, divided by the average number kept during the year, was $58.88 per year, or $1.13 per week for keeping each pauper.
The cost of the new Hospital and the land it stands on, with the brick building, 100 feet by 40, occupied exclusively as an hospital, was $21.923.
The value of the whole establishment at that time was $68,925.
The whole number of paupers in the establishment on the 1st of August, 1848, was 500. Admitted during the year, 2,035. There were 49 births. There were remaining in the Poor-House on July 31, 1849, 494. Of this number 269 were foreigners. There were 268 deaths in the establishment dur- ing the year.
The Physicians' report to the Poor-House, for the year end- ing July 31st, 1849, states that 2,712 cases of disease were treated, 268 of which proved fatal ; 9 of these were caused by delirium tremens ; consumption 45. The cholera having broken out on the 1st of July, there were 38 deaths caused therefrom.
In the Lunatic Asylum there were, on the 31st of July, 1849, 81 patients ; 53 were admitted after that date, mak- ing 134 the whole number admitted, of whom 17 had died, 28 discharged, and at the date of report there were 77 remain- ing.
Mr. Rhodes presented a communication relative to the amount of room in the Lunatic Asylum. This report did great credit to the Board of Superintendents, which then consisted of William Rushmore and James C. Rhodes, of Brooklyn ; Henry E. Ripley, Williams-
burg ; Stephen N. Stillwell, Gravesend and New Utrecht, and John L. Ryder, Flatbush and Flatlands.
On October 2d, 1849, the sum of $2,500 was appro- priated by the Supervisors to be placed to the credit of the Superintendents for the erection of an additional building on the County Poor-House Farm, for the ac- commodation of children of the Poor-House ; and an order was made for the immediate erection of said building.
October 31st, 1849, $1,000 was placed to the credit of the Superintendents. A plan was submitted and ac- cepted for the new Nursery Building, separate from the Poor-House; and also a place for a new Peniten- tiary Building.
By an Act of the Legislature, passed April, 1849, the Treasurer of the County was authorized to borrow on the credit of the County the sum of $10,000 for the erection of nursery buildings on the Alms-House Farm, and for a wing to the County Jail.
On the 20th of November, 1849, the site for the new nursery building was located at the east of new Hospi- tal, and within the same enclosure.
At a meeting of the Board of Supervisors, on the 9th of January, 1850, Samuel E. Van Derveer, who had been elected a Superintendent of the Poor, took the oath of office.
By a resolution of the Superintendents, January 19th, 1850, all the able-bodied male convicts in the Peniten- tiary were directed to be employed, when the weather permitted, in digging out, breaking and preparing stone on the penitentiary grounds for the foundation of the Nursery building to be erected on the Alms- House ground.
February 13th, a Surveyor was employed to stake out the grounds for a New Penitentiary.
On June 7th, 1850, the plans for the enlargement of the Lunatic Asylum were presented, in obedience to an order made in March of that year.
On June 18th, 1880, the Poor-House on the County Farm was destroyed by fire. This fire was a very serious and alarming one; and, at one time, the loss of many lives seemed inevitable, and the destruction of the other buildings imminent; but, through the bravery and alacrity of the firemen of Flatbush, this great disaster was averted, and was confined to the loss of the Alms-House alone. The gallant conduct of the firemen was duly and publicly acknowledged by the Boards of Supervisors and Superintendents of the County.
On June 24, measures were taken to rebuild the Alms- House, and at the next meeting plans were given for the new Alms-House. The Building Committee for the new Alms-House was composed of Messrs. Sloan, Voorhees, Waterman and Berry, who closed a contract for the erection of a new building on July 23, 1850.
On August 16th, 1850, David Afflick, keeper of the Penitentiary, having been superseded by James
475
SUPERINTENDENTS OF THE POOR.
Edwards, was subsequently found to have been guilty of malfeasance in his official duties, and was prosecuted criminally therefor.
The County Treasurer was directed on the 28th of August to take the sum of $10,005 and credit the same to the Superintendents of the Poor, towards defraying the expenses of erecting a new Alms-House. Plans were also submitted for the new Penitentiary on this day.
The Annual report of the Superintendents of the Poor show, that, after the burning of the principal building of the Alms- House, it became necessary to furnish immediate accommo- dations for the paupers, and that they caused temporary buildings to be erected for the purpose. As there was a large quantity of bedding, furniture and other property consumed, which they were obliged to immediately replace, they had incurred an expense of $2,000. The Superin- tendents also recommended an addition to the Hospital, and that it should be built at once. The report further shows that the number of persons relieved and supported during the year ending July 31st, 1850, was 7,963. The number of persons who were temporarily relieved was 5,140. The aggregate amount of money expended during the year was $57,687.33. Among the items making up this expense was : for physicians and medicine, $2,353 43 ; keeper and nurses. $3,446.63.
There was received into the Poor Fund $11,776.68 from the Commissioners of Emigrants ; for board of lunatics, $2,150,68; from putative fathers of illegitimate children, $444; for pro- duce sold, $545.23 ; from the County Treasury, $34,000 ; from the pockets of deceased paupers, $13.19. Balance on hand August 1, 1849, $1,023.24.
The report also shows that a building designed as a nursery for the children is in process of erection. The number of paupers in the Poor-House on the 1st day of August, 1849, was 494 ; admitted during the year, 2,271 ; born in the Poor- House, 58 ; discharged during the year, 1933 ; ran away, 21 ; died, 237. There were in the Poor-House on the 1st of August, 1850, 582. The produce raised on the farm during the year exceeded that of any previous year. The school for the children was reported to be in a most flourishing condi- tion. The estimate of the amount of money necessary for the support of the poor, including every item for the year ending July 31st, 1851, was $66,658.80. There was due from the Commissioners of Emigration for the months of June and July, $1,500.
For some cause the report of the Physicians to the Hospi- tal and Lunatic Asylum does not accompany the report of the Superintendents. Such a report is, however, alluded to in these words : "The report of the Resident Physicians of the Hospital and Asylum calls for the most serious consider- ation."
On Oct. 30, 1850, the Treasurer of the county was directed to place to the credit of the Superintendents of the Poor, the sum of $2,000. On the same day, the new Nursery building for children was reported to be so far completed that a portion of it was ready to be occupied.
Nov. 28th, the Treasurer was directed to place $3,000 to the credit of the Superintendents.
On the 26th of December, the Treasurer of the county was directed to place $5,000 to the credit of the Super- intendents. At this time Dr. T. A. Wade proposed to
treat all the prisoners in the County Penitentiary and furnish the necessary medicine for $12 per month, which proposition was accepted. Jeremiah E. Lott, who had been elected one of the Superintendents for the ensuing year, took the oath of office.
The selection for a site for the new Lunatic Asylum having caused much discussion, the question was finally settled on the 27th of December, 1850, by locating the Asylum on the county farm. Plans for the asylum, made after the Asylum at Trenton, N. J., were favor- ably received, and contracts made for the crection of the same, to commence early in the spring.
May 2d, 1842, James Edwards was removed from the office of Keeper at the Kings County Penitentiary, and Samuel S. Myers appointed in his place.
May 29th, the construction of the new Alms-House was reported rapidly progressing.
August 5th, 1851, the annual report of the Superin- tendents and also the report of the Physicians of the Poor Establishment, were submitted, and laid over for a future meeting; but it does not appear from the minutes that they were ever taken up again.
On September 3, 1851, $2,500 was appropriated for the erection of a dwelling-house for the Assistant Physician, on the lot south of the Asylum; and a peti- tion from many citizens for the erection of a house of worship for the poor, on the Alms-House Farm, was received and favorably considered. A resolution was also passed ordering the building, on the County Farm, of a cottage-house for engine and wash-house, with steam engine and washing apparatus.
The question of the enlargement of the present Lunatic Asylum, or the building of a new one, began to engross the attention of the Boards of Superin- tendents and Supervisors early in the autumn of 1851, and gradually became an all-absorbing question. About the first of October the project of erecting a Lunatic Asylum upon Long Island was inaugurated, and efforts were made to interest the Supervisors of Queens, Suffolk and Richmond Counties. It was also proposed, and steps were taken in the direction of adding 100 feet in length to the Asylum building, and for a time this project promised to be carried forward.
October 1st, 1851, an addition of 100 feet in length was ordered to be made to the Asylum building; but this action of the Board was subsequently rescinded.
November 15th a loan of $50,000 for ereeting a new Penitentiary and new Innatie Asylum, under an Act of the Legislature passed July Ist, 1851, was made; but the resolution was soon after rescinded, and the plan of enlarging the present Lunatic Asylum was again revived.
February 26th, 1852, Henry E. Ripley became a inember of the Board of Superintendents for the ensuing year.
Several efforts were made by the Supervisors to purchase a site for the new Lunatic Asylum. Various
476
HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.
other sites were even selected ; plans and specifica- tions presented with directions to proceed with the building ; but all proved abortive. The matter con- tinued to occupy the Board for the remainder of the current year ; and, to add to the embarrassment, the proposition to build a large addition to the County Hospital was made in May, 1852, and vigorously urged. Early in June, the same year, the salary of T. A. Wade, Physician to the Penitentiary, was fixed at the sum of $250 per annum.
About the first of July arrangements were made and nearly completed for the purchase of the farm of Mrs. Margaret Crooke, in Flatlands, for the use of the County and for the site of the new Lunatic Asylum. But the citizens of that town remonstrated so strongly against having the Lunatie Asylum in their midst that this project was abandoned.
August 24th, 1852, the annual reports of the Superin- tendents of the Poor Establishment gave, as expended for the Alms-House, Hospital and other establishments, $112,208. The number of lunatic (paid) boarders in the Asylum on the first of August, 1852, was 23. The weekly cost of boarding a person at the Lunatic Asylum was $2.03. The whole amount of lunatics at the Asylum August 1st, 1852, 158. The actual eost for supporting the poor for the year ending July 31st, 1852, was $104,525.59. The Superin- tendents' report for this year is very imperfect, and the Phy- sician's report is entirely wanting.
August 31st, 1852, the Treasurer of the County was directed to place the sum of $30,000 to the eredit of the Superintendents, to be disbursed in the Poor Establishment.
On the 26th of September, 1852, the long mooted and troublesome matter of selecting a site for the new Lunatie Asylum was finally settled, by loeating it upon the County Farm; and the Asylum Committee was directed to proeecd at once with its ereetion. So great was the joy of the majority of the Supervisors over this settlement of the long-vexed question, that it was ordered that the resolutions by which the same was settled " be elegantly engraved, placed in gilt frames, and hung up in conspicuous places in the several publie poor institutions in the county, for the benefit of posterity."
December 17, 1852, Jocl Skidmore was elected as Superintendent for the ensuing year.
March 1st, 1853, the County Treasurer was directed to place the sum of $4,000 to the credit of the Super- intendents of the Poor, to be expended for the main- tenance of prisoners in the County Penitentiary.
July 8th, 1853, the County Treasurer was directed, under the provisions of an Act passed April 15th, 1853, to borrow on the credit of the eounty the sum of $50,000, payable in three instalments, with interest, the same to be applied to the completion of the Lunatic Asylum; and, also, to borrow on the eredit of the county the sum of $10,000, to be applied in com- pletion of the County Hospital at Flatbush
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