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 13

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1114

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 13

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GENERAL HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

The number of subscribers to the building fund was exactly 300. The amount subscribed was $137,684. The cost of the building was $121,250. The three lots on which it stands cost, in 1867, $32,500, on which $20,000 was then paid by subscribers, leaving a mortgage of $14,500 ; this was paid off on the delivery of the building, and a balance of $2,000 paid to the society. The society, like the Academy of Music and the Mer- cantile Library, has demonstrated the high-toned intel- ligence and liberality of the "City of Churches " in whatever concerns its religious, moral or social welfare. Among the benefactors of the society (mueh too numerous to permit of the mention of all, or even the leading contributors) should be named Miss Caroline and Miss Ellen Thurston, who gave $2,000 for a depart- ment of the History of Egypt, the Holy Land and Greece ; and the late Mrs. Maria Cary, who sub- scribed $2,500 to found a department of American Biography. An unknown giver donated $2,000 as the mueleus of a permanent fund for increasing the library. The principal addition to this fund has been Mr. Geo. I. Seney's gift of $50,000 ; while he also gave $12,000 for immediate expenditure in books, and $25,000 for binding books. The late Hon. Henry C. Murphy, in 1881, pre- sented 250 exceedingly valuable volumes relating to the history of Holland ; which Mr. J. Carson Brevoort, himself one of the most persistently generons donors to the Society since its first inception, supplemented by many rare and interesting and valuable works in the same line. There are other invested funds for special departments.

The Society is now established and fully equipped in its new and superb building, Clinton and Pierrepont streets, Brooklyn. The library now contains over 35,000 volumes, exclusive of pamphlets, many of which latter will soon become books, through the simple process of binding, with nearly an cqual number of pamphlets. To these there have been constant large additions of rare and valuable books in every department, from the funds subscribed for such purpose.

The establishment of a Museum of Local Natural History and Ethnology, engaged the attention of the society, as early as Junc, 1864 ; and in the following year, through the enthusiastic and unwearied efforts of Elias Lewis, Jr., and others, a "Department of the Natural History of L. I." was founded ; regular special meetings of those members who were interested in Natural History studies were held in the Society's rooms; and the rapid influx of contributions of value soon assured the success of the project. Among the most

prominent in this department of labor were, Elias Lewis, Jr., Charles Congdon ; J. Carson Brevoort ; Charles E. West ; Henry E. Pierrepont ; Wm. Goold Leveson; C. H. Baxter ; John Ackhurst ; Alfred Young, and others, both in Brooklyn and throughout the island. The especial object of establishing a Museum, local in its seopc and characteristic, has found its fullest devel- opment in the Society's new building ; where the well arranged collection illustrating the Natural History and productions of Long Island ; the relics of its aboriginal inhabitants ; and many unique and interest- ing ethnological specimens from every part of the world, are admirably displayed, and form a most attractive feature of the society's operations.

For all the privileges of the library, museum and lec- tures the fecs are $5 for initiation and the same amount annually ; life membership $100. There are over 1,300 annual and life members.

OFFICERS, 1882-3 .- Rev. Richard S. Storrs, D. D., LL. D., President; Hon. Henry C. Murphy, LL. D., First Vice-President ; Joshua M. Van Cott, Second Vice-President ; IIon. Benjamin D. Silliman, Foreign Corresponding Secretary ; Rev. Charles H. Hall, D. D., Home Corresponding Secretary ; Chauncey L. Mitchell, M. D., Recording Secretary ; John S. Ward, Chairman of the Executive Committee ; A. W. Humphreys, Treas- urer ; George Hannah, Librarian ; Elias Lewis, Jr., Curator of the Museum.

DIRECTORS .- Rev. Richard S. Storrs, D. D., LL. D .; Hon. Henry C. Murphy, LL. D .; Samuel MeLean; Al- fred S. Barnes; Rev. Charles H. Hall, D. D .; James R. Taylor; Henry E. Pierrepont; Geo. I. Seney; A. Abbot Low; Alexander M. White; Henry Sheldon; Walter T. Hatch; Hon. Simeon B. Chittenden; Hon. Benjamin D. Silliman; J. Carson Brevoort, LL. D .; Joshua M. Van Cott; Alexander E. Orr; Joseph C. Hutchison, M. D .; Rev. Alfred P. Putnam, D. D .; Elias Lewis, Jr .; John S. Ward; A. W. Humphreys; Henry D. Polhemus; Bryan H. Smith; Chauncey L. Mitchell, M. D.

COUNCILLORS .- Kings County .- Peter C. Cornell; Rt. Rev. A. N. Littlejohn, D. D .; Hon. J. S. T. Strana- han; Abraham R. Baylis; David M. Stone; Thomas E. Stillman; Hon. John Greenwood; Rev. Frederick A. Farley, D. D .; Prof. Darwin G. Eaton; George L. Nich- ols; Rev. N. H. Schenck, D. D .; Hon. Joseph Neilson. Queens County .- Henry Onderdonk, Jr. ; William Floyd Jones; John A. King; Benjamin D. Hicks. Suffolk County .- James H. Tuthill; Hon. J. Lawrence Smith; Rev. Epher Whittaker; William Nicol; Hon. John R. Reed.

HISTORY

KINGS COUNTY

CHAPTER I.

FIRST LAND PURCHASES AND SETTLEMENTS-THE PRIMI- TIVE GOVERNMENT-KINGS COUNTY.

T THE territory now ineluded in Kings county is bounded on the north by the East River and Queens county, on the east by Queens county, on the south by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the west by the East River and New York Bay. It in- cludes Plum Island, Barren Island, Coney Island, and all the other islands south from Gravesend. It scareely exceeds ten miles in extent in any direction, and has only an area of about 76 square miles.

The first spot on Long Island pressed by the foot of a white man is within the limits of this county. For, even if the "most beautiful lake," said to have been penetrated by Verazzano in 1524, and which he described in glowing colors to his Royal Master the King of France, was indeed the bay of New York, yet his visit, according to his own account, was little else than a traveller's hurried glimpse, totally unproductive of results, either in respect to exploration or occupation. Early in September, 1609, a boat's crew from the " Half Moon " landed on Coney Island ; and when the good ship eame to anehor at the mouth of the "Great River of the Mountains," then, undoubtedly, the eyes of white men rested for the first time upon the Isle of "Mannahata," the green shores of "Scheyiehbi," or New Jersey, and the forest-crowned "Ihpetonga," or "Heights" of the present city of Brooklyn. During many years subsequent to that time, while trade between the Duteh and the natives was carried on, and while settle- ments for the prosecution of this trade were made at New York, Albany and elsewhere, no regular settlements are known to have been made on the western end of Long Island. Visits for the purpose of trade were made by individuals ; and, without doubt, temporary residences for this purpose were established. It is said,

by some historians, that a family of French Protestants settled at the Wallabout in 1623 ; and that there the first white ehild native on Long Island, Sarah Rapelje, was born, on. the 9th of June in that year. Later in- vestigators have shown this tradition to be incorrect ; that George Jans Rapelje could have made only a brief temporary stay, if any, there at that time ; and that his daughter Sarah was, in fact, born at Albany.

The earliest recorded grant of lands in this county was made by the Indians to Jacob Van Corlaer, in June, 1636. On the same day Andries Hudde and Wolfert Gerritson purchased land contiguous to this ; and, soon afterward, the director, Wouter Van Twiller, also purchased adjoining lands. These purchases formed the site of "New Amersfoort," now Flatlands. It is believed that a settlement and improvements had been made here prior to these purchases.

In the same year was made the Bennet and Bentyn purchase, from the Indians, of 930 aeres at Gowanus, and the occupation and improvement of this land fol- lowed close on its purchase. In 1637, Joris Jansen de Rapalie bought, from the Indians, some 335 aeres on the Wallabout Bay. These purchases were the founda- tion of the present City of Brooklyn.

The settlers here were emigrants from the low lands in Holland, and their choice, of the flat untimbered lands along the shore of the bay and river, was doubtless directed by their acquaintance with the methods of agriculture in similar regions in the Fatherland. From this beginning the settlement of Kings county, as well as of the rest of Long Island and the adjacent regions, spread, though not with the rapidity of modern times.

All the towns in the county were originally settled by the Dutch except Gravesend, which, as well as some of the towns in Queens county, was settled by the English, on condition of taking the oath of allegianee to the States General and to the Dutch West India Company.

The first purchases of land in this county were made by the settlers from the Indians and afterward eon-

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

firmed by the Dutch authorities ; but, in 1638 and 1639, Director Kieft secured by purchase from the Indians the title to nearly all the land in the eounties of Kings and Queens. The Director and Council of New Netherland were directed to furnish every emigrant, according to his condition and means, with as much land as he and his family could properly cultivate ; a quit rent of a tenth being reserved to the company, thus assuring legal estates of inheritance to the grantces. Each colonist availing himself of this privilege was required to sign a pledge of obedience to the officers of the Company, acting in subordination to the States General, and promising in all questions and differences, which might arise, to abide by the decisions of the Colonial courts. Free passage and other inducements were also offered to respectable farmers who wished to emigrate to the new country. Thus were the titles to the land here originally acquired.

As nearly as ean be ascertained, the towns in Kings county were settled in the following order: FLATLANDS, 1624; BROOKLYN, 1636; GRAVESEND, 1645; FLATBUSH, 1651; NEW UTRECHT, 1657; BUSHWICK, 1660. Under the Dutch regime there were no territorial divisions corresponding with what are now counties. The simple government of the towns was in part administered by magistrates, nominated by the people and con- firmed by the governor. Practically, however, the power of the governor was almost absolute, and it appears that the rights of the people were held to be quite sub- ordinate to his personal preferences; for it is said that he sported with these rights by wantonly rejecting such magistrates as they had chosen, merely to gratify his humor or caprice. Laws which were obsolete, and illy adapted to the circumstances by which the people were surrounded, were enforced among them, and were badly executed; grants were witheld from actual settlers and bestowed with a lavish hand on particular individuals; magistrates were appointed without the consent of the people, and the government of these towns exhibited at the same time tyranny and imbeeility on the part of those entrusted with its administration. It is elsewhere recorded that, in 1653, conventions were held, and re- monstrances on the subject of the many grievanees of the people were addressed to the Governor and Council, with no result except a peremptory order from the irritated governor, to disperse and not to again assemble on such business. Some of the towns in Kings county were rep- resented in these conventions.

It will be remembered that several of the towns in Queens county, though under the jurisdiction of the Dutch, were settled by English immigrants. These became anxious for a change; and the Dutch in the towns of Kings county, who had become disgusted with the government, were not averse to it. This was the state of feeling here when, by the revolution of 1664, the Colony of New Netherland was surrendered to Great Britain.

One of the first important acts under the English regime was the erection of Long Island, Staten Island, and probably the town of Westchester, into a "shire," ealled Yorkshire; and the division of this into "ridings," of which Staten Island, the town of Newtown, and the present eounty of Kings, constituted the West riding. A deputy sheriff or high constable was appointed for each riding, and a justice of the peace for each town.

This system of county government continued till 1683, when, by an act of the first colonial Legislature, the counties were organized. Staten Island was detached from the West riding in 1675 ; and, by the act of 1683, Newtown was made a part of Queens county, leaving Kings county with its present boundaries.

The expectations which had been entertained of im- provement by a change of masters were disappointed. The English governors were invested with powers as nearly absolute as those possessed by the directors under the Dutch regime. Governor Nicolls exercised these powers with such caution as to excite but little alarm; but the weaker Governor Lovelace, by his disregard of the people's rights, aroused such a feeling among the inhabitants of Kings county, that, although they were less demonstrative in their indignation than their English neighbors, they were ready to welcome the restoration of the authority of their countrymen in 1673. This, however, was of but short duration, for in 1674 the rule of the Dutch in the colony ceased forever.

CHAPTER II.

THE SYSTEM OF FAMILY NAMES AMONG THIE DUTCH SETTLERS.

T HE following letter, descriptive of Dutch family nomenclature, was written by the late Hon. HENRY C. MURPHY during his residence as U. S. Minister at the Hague. It is so replete with in- formation concerning names and families in Brooklyn and Kings County, that it cannot fail to be of interest :

" The great body of Netherlanders who settled permanently in America belonged, without exception, to the industrial classes. The most distinguished families, those whose ances- tors filled the most important positions in the new settlement, as well as others, were from the great body of burghers. The only Governor who remained in the country, Peter Stuy- vesant, was the son of a minister of Scherpenzed, in Fries- land ; and the only patroon who settled upon his estates, Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, was a merchant of Amsterdam. Although the Republic confirmed no titles, it protected the old nobility in their estates, and they and their families were content to leave the distant enterprises in the hands of the other classes, and remain in the province.

"In the consideration of names, in order to show what difficulties the peculiar systems adopted in Holland and con- tinued by the settlers in their new home throw in the way of tracing genealogies, it is to be observed that the first of these, in point of time; was the patronymic, as it is called, by which a child took, besides his own baptismal name, that of his

FAMILY NAMES OF THE DUTCHI SETTLERS.

father, with the addition of zoon or sen, meaning son. To illustrate this : if a child were baptised Hendrick and the baptismal name of his father were Jan, the child would be called Hendrick Jansen. His son, if baptized Tunis, would be called Tunis Hendricksen ; the son of the latter might be Willem, and would have the name of Willem Tunissen. And so we might have the succeeding generations called succes- sively Garret Willemsen, Marten Garretsen, Adrian Marten- sen, and so on, through the whole of the calendar of Chris- tian names ; or, as more frequently happened, there would be repetition in the second, third, or fourth generation, of the name of the first ; and thus, as these names were com- mon to the whole people, there were in every community dif- ferent lineages of identically the same name. This custom, which had prevailed in Holland for centuries, was in full vogue at the time of the settlement of New Netherland. In writing the termination sen it was frequently contracted into se, or z, or s. Thus the name of William Barrentsen, who commanded in the first three Arctic voyages of exploration, in 1594, 1595, and 1596, is given in the old accounts of those voyages, Barentsen, Barentse, Barentz, Barents, sometimes in one way, sometimes another, indifferently. Or, to give an example nearer home, both of the patronymic custom and of the contraction of the name, the father of Garret Martense, the founder of a family of that name in Flatbush, was Martin Adriaense, and his father was Adriæ Ryerse, who came from Amsterdam. The inconveniences of this practice, the confu- sion to which it gave rise, and the difficulty of tracing fami- lies, led ultimately to its abandonment both in Holland and in our own country. In doing so the patronymic which the person originating the name bore was adopted as the sur- name. Most of the family names thus formed and existing amongst us may be said to be of American origin, as they were first fixed in America, though the same names were adopted by others in Holland. Hence we have the names of such families of Dutch descent amongst us as Jansen (anglice, Johnson), Garretsen, Cornelisen, Williamsen or Williamson, Hendricksen or Hendrickson, Clasen, Simonsen or Simon- son, Tysen (son of Mathias), Aresend (son of Arend), Hansen, Lambertsen or Lambertson, Paulisen, Remsen (son of Rem- brandt, which was shortened into Rem), Ryersen, Martense, Adriance, Rutgers, Everts, Phillips, Lefferts and others. To trace connection between these families and persons in this country, it is evident, would be impossible, for the reason stated, without a regular record.

"Another mode of nomenclature, intended to obviate the difficulty of an identity of names for the time being, but which rendered the confusion worse confounded for the future genealogist, was to add to the patronymic name the occupa- tion or some other personal characteristic of the individual. Thus Laurens Jansen, the inventor of the art of printing, as the Dutch claim, had affixed to his name that of Coster-that is to say, sexton-an office of which he was in possession of the emoluments. But the same addition was not transmitted to the son ; and thus the son of Hendrick Jansen Coster might be called . Tunis Hendrickson Brouwer (brewer), and his grandson might be William Tunissen Bleecker (bleacher). Upon the abandonment of the old system of names, this practice went with it ; but it often happened that, while one brother took the father's patronymic as a family name, another took that of his occupation or personal designation. Thus originated such families as Coster, Brouwer, Bleecker, Schoonmaker, Stryker, Schuyler, Cryger, Snediker, Hegeman, Hofman, Dykman, Bleekman, Wortman and Tieman. Like the others, they are not ancient family names, and are not all to be traced to Holland as the place where they first became. fixed. Some of them were adopted in our own country.

" A third practice, evidently designed, like that referred to, to obviate the confusions of the first, was to append the name of the place where the person resided-not often of a large city, but of a particular, limited locality, and frequently of a particular farm or natural object. This custom is denoted in all family names which have the prefix of Van Vander, Ver (which is the contraction of Vander), and Ten-meaning, respectively, of, of the, and at the. From towns in Holland we have the families of Van Cleef, Van Wyck, Van Schaack, Van Bergen, and others : from Guelderland, those of Van Sinderen, Van Dyk, and Van Buren; from Utrecht, Van Winkel ; from Friesland, Van Ness; from Zeeland, Van Duyne. Sometimes the Van has been dropped, as in the name of Boerum, of the province of Friesland ; of Covert, of North Brabant ; of Westervelt, of Drenthe ; of Brevoort and Wessels, in Guelderland. The prefixes, Vander or Ver and Ten were adopted where the name was derived from a par- ticular spot ; thus : Vanderveer (of the ferry); Vanderburg (of the hill); Vanderbilt (of the bilt-i. e., certain elevations of ground in Guelderland and New Utrecht), Vanderbeck (of the brook), Vanderhoff (of the court), Verplanck (of the plank), Verhultz (of the holly), Verkerk (of the church), Ten Eyck (at the oak), Tenbroeck (at the marsh). Some were derived, as we have observed, from particular farms; thus: Van Couwenhoven (also written Van Cowdenhoven-cold farms). The founder of that family in America, Wolphert Gerritsen Van Cowenhoven, came from Amersfoort, in the province of Utrecht, and settled at what is now called Flatlands, in our county, but what was called by him New Amersfoort. Some names in the classification which I have attempted, have undergone a slight change in their transfer to America. Barculo is from Borculo, a town in Guelderland; Van Anden is from Andel, in the province of Groningen; Snediker should be Snediger; Bonton, if of Dutch origin, should be Bonten (son of Bondwijn or Baldwin), otherwise it is French. Van Cott was probably Van Catt, of South Holland. The Catti were the original inhabitants of the country, and hence the name. There is one family which has defied all my etymo- logical research. It is evidently Dutch, but has most likely undergone some change, and that name is of Van Brunt. There is no such name now existing in Holland. There are a few names derived from relative situations to a place: thus Voorhees is simply before or in front of Hess, a town in Guelderland ; and Onderdonk is below Donk, which is in Bra- bant. There are a few names more arbitrary-Middaglı (mid-day) ; Conrad (bold counsel) ; Hagedorn (hawthorn) ; Bogaert (or hard), Blauvelt (blue field), Rosevelt (rose field), Stuyvesant (quicksand), Wyckoff (parish court), Hooghland (highland), Dorland (arid land), Opdyke (on the dyke), Has- brook (hare's marsh)-these afford a more ready means of identification of relationship. The names of Brinkerhoff and Schenck, the latter of which is very common here, may be either of Dutch or German origin. Martin Schenck was a somewhat celebrated general in the war of independence. Ditmars is derived from the Danish, and Bethune is from a place in the Spanish Netherlands, near Lille. Lott is a Dutclı name though it has an Englishi sound. There is a person of that name, from Guelderland, residing in the Hague. Pieter Lots was one of the schepens of Amersfoort in 1676, and I infer from the patronymic form of his name that Lott is a baptismal name and is derived from Lodewyck or Lewis, and that Pieter Lots means Peter the son of Lodewyck or Lot, as the former is often contracted. Some names are dis- guised in a Latin dress. The practice prevailed, at the time of the emigration to our country, of changing the names of those who had gone through the University and received a degree, from plain Dutchi to sonorous Roman. The names of

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

all our early ministers are thus altered. Johannes or Jan Mecklenburg became Johannes Megapolensis; Evert Wil- lemse Bogaert became Everardus Bogardus; Jan Doris Pol- heem became Johannes Theodorus Polhemius. The last was the founder of the Polhemus family of Brooklyn. The records here show that he was a minister at Meppel, in the province of Drenthe, and in 1637 went as such to Brazil, under the auspices of the West India Company, whence he went to Long Island. Samuel Dries (who, by the way, was an Englishman, but who graduated at Leyden) was named Samuel Drisius. It may, therefore, be set down as a general rule, that the names of Dutch families ending in us have been thus latinized.

"Many persons who emigrated from Holland were of Gallic extraction. When the bloody Duke of Alva came into the Spanish Netherlands in 1567, clothed by the bigoted Phillip II with despotic power over the provinces, more than 100,000 of the Protestants of the Gallic provinces fled to England, under the protection of Queen Elizabeth, and to their brethren in Zeeland and Holland. They retained their language, that of the ancient Gauls, and were known in England as Walloons, and in Holland as Waalen, from the name of their provinces, called Gaulsche, or, as the word is pronounced, Waalsche provinces. The number of fugitives from religious persecution was increased by the flight of the Protestants of France at the same time, and was further aug- mented, five years later, by the memorable massacre of St. Bartholomew. When the West India Company was incor- porated, many of these persons and their descendants sought further homes in New Netherland. Such were the founders of the families of Rapelye, Cortelyou, Dubois, De Bevoise, Dur- yea, Crommelin, Conselyea, Montague, Fountain, and others. The Waalebocht, or Walloon's Bay, was so named because some of them settled there.

"In regard to Dutch names proper, it cannot fail to have been observed that they are of the simplest origin. They par- take of the character of the people, which is eminently prac- tical. The English, and, in fact, all the northern nations of Europe, have exhibited this tendency, more or less, in the origin of family designations, but none of them have carried it to so great a degree as the Dutch. We have in America, both in Dutch and English, the names of White (De Witt), Black (Swart), and Brown (Broom) ; but not, according to my recollection, the names of Blue, Yellow, and Red, which exist in Holland."

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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 13

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1114

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1114