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 153

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 153

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It was not only in connection with these two enter- prises of Brooklyn that Mr. Perry was known. His active interest and strong personality made him influ- ential, also, in the religious interests of the eity. He was at first associated with St. Ann's Church. Later, he identified himself with the establishment of Christ Chureh, South Brooklyn, of which ehureh, while he re- mained in Brooklyn, he was an active and liberal mem- ber.

On his removal to Bay Ridge, in 1851, he imme- diately took measures for the establishment of the parish of Christ Church in that neighborhood. The record of the thirty years of his connection is well summed up in the following extract from the resolu- tions of the vestry after his death:

" Identified with this church from its commencement in 1853, being the original mover in the effort for its erection, a large contributor, and the principal person in superintending its construction and organization, he continued his work and labors as its Senior Warden until called away. To him, also, is due the establishment and care of the Sunday School, be- ing for seventeen years its Superintendent and having, of his own bounty, erected the first building used for that pur- pose. Untiring in his devotion to the interests of the Church, Sunday School, Missions, both foreign and domestic; self-sacri- ficing in matters connected with the improvement and pro-

gress of the community, he embodied in the highest degree the character of the model citizen and true Christian."

Mr. Perry continued his active labors in all the va- ried relations of life till within a few days of his death, which occurred at his residence in Bay Ridge, August 26, 1881. He was buried on Lawn-Girt Hill, Green- Wood Cemetery. A public monument has been erected to his memory, directly in front of the Northern En- trance, which bears the following inscription:

" The Trustees of the Green-Wood Cemetery have erected this monument in recognition of the eminent services of Jo- seph Alfred Perry, who, for more than forty years, and until his death, was its faithful and efficient Comptroller. To Mr. Perry's untiring energy, sound judgment, and personal care, the proprietors of Green-Wood Cemetery are chiefly indebted for the development of this sacred City of the Dead."

" Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from hence- forth; yea, saith the Spirit, for they rest from their labors, and their works do follow them." Rev. 14: 13.

Cypress Hills Cemetery was organized under the law of 1847. One hundred and twenty-five acres of land, on an elevated ridge east of Brooklyn, between the Jamaica Plank road and Ridgewood reservoir, partly in Kings County and partly in Queens, was pur- ehased for $25,000, and dedicated to the burial of the dead, November 21st, 1848. The boundaries have since been extended to inelude 500 acres, yet the cemetery retains its rural and secluded characteristics unimpair- ed. Though situated one mile east of the city line, it is easy of access by the Jamaica turnpike. "Cypress Hills has an historic fame. At the battle of Long Island, it was selected as a place admirably adapted for de- fense, and strategetical movements ; and was under command of Gen. Woodhull. In digging up the ground several British cannon balls were exhumed." Much of the cemetery occupies high ground, the highest point being two hundred and nineteen feet above tide water. The grounds have been greatly beautified by large expenditures, directed by refined taste. Several churches have purchased a large number of lots for the burial of their members. Some fourteen thousand bodies were removed from the grave-yard at the corner of First and Second avenues, New York. The Associ- ation, with praiseworthy generosity, donated a eommo- dious tract of land for the reception of the remains that had been buried from the Forsyth, Allen, Willett, Seventh and Second street Methodist Churches, and had become a detriment to the living. A handsome marble monument, erected by the five ehurehes, appropriately commemorates the spot. Four thousand soldiers lie in the Soldiers' Plot, shoulder to shoulder, as once they stood in the ranks. A large number of veterans of the war of 1812 are buried here. In the plot owned by the American Dramatic Fund, Association, are the graves of Lysander Thompson, Charles D. S. Howard, George Skeritt, and others. Franeis Courtney Weymiss, the founder of the Dramatic Fund Association, is buried in

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an adjoining lot. Nearly one hundred thousand per- sons have been buried amid the pleasant scenes of Cypress Hills.

JOHN T. RUNCIE .- Among the few survivors of the earlier citizens of Williamsburg who contributed substantially to the development of its material interests, John T. Runcie de- serves honorable mention. He came to Williamsburg in 1834, at the age of twenty-two years, with the spirit of enter- prise characterising many of the youth of that day, wrought by the hard discipline of New England life.

As a clerk to a druggist and tobacconist, he became famil- iar with the manufacture of tobacco, in all its branches, but more particularly in the line of segars. He started this busi- ness in Williamsburg, and continued it for about a year ; the chief market for segars being then found in the city of New York, he removed his business to 67 Pearl street, in that city. He had scarcely got his business well started, when the great fire of 1835 occurred. Though the building was not burned, his place was thrown open to the depredations of the mob, who appropriated and destroyed almost his entire stock. With business depressed, he continued in New York till the panic of 1837, about which time he returned to Williams- burg, and has resided here ever since. He continued in the segar business up to 1849.

He then commenced dealing in real estate for himself, and as a broker. In this business he continued with marked suc- cess till 1860, realizing a reasonable competence for the rest of his life.

In competition with the Congressional slate that deter- mined most of the Federal appointments of that day, he was appointed postmaster of Williamsburg in 1853, which office he had previously held in 1847, for a brief time. He con- tinued under this last appointment to hold the office for about a year, when President Pierce gave the naming of the postmaster at Williamsburg to William M. Tweed, then member of Congress, in consideration, it is said, of Tweed's support of the Kansas and Nebraska Bill. It is alleged that J. W. Forney, then a democrat, negotiated the bargain.

In 1859, the Grand street and Newtown Railroad charter became a subject of public interest. During that year, Mr. Runcie, with a few associates, applied to the Legislature for a charter for this road, but was unsuccessful. In 1860, Mr. Runcie, in association with Hon. Ira Buckman, renewed this application for the charter of a horse railroad, from the East river to the village of Newtown. A competing organization, promoted by Martin Kalbfleisch, Daniel Maujer, James M. Waterbury and others, was brought forward at the same time. The Common Council opposed Runcie and Buckman's application, and granted the franchise to the New York and Flushing Railroad Company. The Board of Aldermen were then enjoined from carrying out their resolution. But before a hearing was had on the injunction, the Legislative grant of the charter to Messrs. Runcie and Buckman was carried, and the bill approved by the Governor. They then entered on the construction of the road, and completed it in a short time to Calvary Cemetery.

Upon the organization of the company, Mr. Runcie was chosen its president, and continued to manage the road till 1868, when, in consequence of ill health, he resigned, and sold out his interest in the road then, or shortly after.

Some ten years ago, the lease of the Grand street ferry ex- pired, and was not renewed in consequence of a dispute be- tween the Dock Commissioners and the Comptroller of the City of New York, as to what fund the rent should belong to; and hence that ferry ceased to run for over two years, to

the great injury of property in Williamsburg. In the in- terest of the people, Mr. Runcie again tried his hand with the Legislature. He drafted a bill to compel the Comptroller to sell the franchise at public auction for the term of ten years. By the aid of Hon. Charles L. Lyon, a member of Assembly for Brooklyn, this bill became a law. The franchise was sold, and the ferry is still run under the lease so obtained.

In 1875, Mr. Runcie was elected a trustee of Cypress Hills Cemetery, and shortly after became managing trustee, and then its comptroller.

His strict order in business, at first, created some dissatis- faction; but in the course of experience it has come to be com- mended by those who at first complained. He has brought order out of confusion; and solvency and the payment of ready cash, out of a seeming bankruptcy ; a large floating debt has been largely reduced, and the future prosperity of the institution has been assured.

His capacity in the management of men had been well as- sured while he was president of the Grand street railroad, and this prestige has not forsaken him in his present position.

Mr. Runcie is a widower, having lost his wife many years ago. He has one son, William J. Runcie, Esq., who is set- tled in a prosperous business in the city of Buffalo, New York.

The "Evergreens " Cemetery was incorporated October 3d, 1849, and was opened for burial purposes in 1851. It lies partly in the eastern portion of Kings County and partly in Queens. Originally containing 112 acres, its area has since been increased to 270 acres. In 1872 it passed into the control of a new company, whose Trustees have expended over $50,000 since 1877, in grading and improving the grounds, under the su- pervision of Supt. W. T. Bullard, and O. C. Bullard, landscape architect. The natural features of the Ever- greens have been enhanced by art, and trees and shrubs and flowers have been planted out in profusion. From the main entrance on Bushwick avenue the ground rises gradually to the southeast, until it culminates in Beacon Hill, whence is obtained a magnificent view of the surrounding cities, country and ocean. On this height the United States Government has erected a monument to the sailors of every nationality who have died in its service, while a section is reserved for their burial places.

The cemetery contains a beautiful office of stone, and other buildings. It has also many examples of fine mortuary sculpture and design. Two receiving vaults are already constructed, and numerous private vaults. The association is strictly unsectarian, and inters those of every nationality and belief.

The Citizens' Union Cemetery Association, or- ganized November 8, 1851, more particularly as a burial place for the colored people, who were at that time de- barred from most of the other cemeteries. The Asso- ciation secured twenty-nine and one-half acres, of which twelve were to be devoted to burial purposes. It was located between Butler and Sackett streets, and Roch- ester and Ralph avenues, in the Ninth Ward. After the opening of Prospect Park, the avenues leading to it were laid out through the cemetery grounds, and the land was sold for building purposes.

alan J. Atunci

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DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC EDUCATION.

Union Cemetery is located between Irving and Knickerbocker avenues, and Palmetto and Jacob streets, near Myrtle avenue, and was opened in June, 1851. The grounds are some ten acres in extent, and are the property of the Grand Street First Protestant Method- ist Church. There are no restrictions of race or religion against burials, and the number of interments is nearly seven thousand. The grounds are pleasantly diversified with small elevations, and shade trees are abundant.

Cemetery of the Holy Cross, in the town of Flatbush, is intended for the interment of those who die in the Roman Catholic faith. It was established in 1849, when Father McDonough, of St. James' Church, in Jay street, purchased seventeen acres for a burial ground, to which twenty acres have since been added. Instead of the undulating succession of hills and valleys, which make Greenwood so picturesque, Flatbush Cemetery presents a surface as level as a prairie. From the main entrance a broad carriage- way leads to the mortuary chapel, where funeral ser- vices are held. The chapel is surrounded by monu- ments of the most beautiful and costly character. Close by is the grave of Rev. Father McDonough, the founder of the cemetery, who died in 1853; it is marked by a plain marble slab. Two similar slabs cover the last resting places of Father Schueller, of St. Paul's Church, and Father Curran, of the church in Astoria. (See, also, History of Flatbush, in this volume, p. 248.)

At Flatbush, also, is the Potter's Field, connected with the County institutions.

Washington Cemetery, Gravesend (sec also page 183), comprises 100 acres of level land, beautifully located, about two miles from the Prospect Park, or about half way between the said park and Coney Island. It is regularly incorporated by law, and is free from all incumbrance. It is governed by a board of trustees of six members. At present more than half of the improved portion of the Cemetery is owned by societies, lodges, congregations and individuals.

A large majority of the interments are Hebrews, but the Cemetery is not denominational in character or management. Officers: Isaac Marx, President; Sam- uel B. Hamburger, Secretary; Adolphus E. Karelsen, Treasurer.

The Friends' Cemetery. The extension of Pros- pect Park to the south surrounded a retired cemetery of about 20 acres, which had been purchased, many years before, and set apart for the use of the Society of Friends. It occupies a beautiful location on a gentle slope, which is thinly covered with forest trees ; but, in accordance with the principles of the sect, no orna- mental monuments are allowed to be erected. The act which extended the boundaries of Prospect Park re- served the cemetery to the use of its owners, and a roadway leading thereto from 15th street and 10th avenue.

THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC EDUCATION.

Demis & Bugen EsQ.

President of the Board of Education.

The city of Brooklyn vies with her sister city of New York in claiming the honor of having established the first free public schools within the limits of the United States of America.

The Dutch colonists of Breucklyn and New Amster- dam brought with them from the Fatherland the two great ideas which became the mainspring and support of the American Republic-the ideas of religious lib- erty and free public schools. Although they were not fugitives from their own land, but were inspired by the genius of commerce and enterprise, the Dutch landed a schoolmaster for a free public school on these shores, as naturally as they unloaded their ships. Free tuition to every child in the Dutch colonies was regarded as such an axiom that its introduction was unheralded and long remained unknown to the other colonies in America.

The little settlement of Breucklyn proper did not con-

tain enough homes to bear a separate school tax, until the time of the administration of Governor Stuyvesant. Then the sum of one hundred and fifty guilders was levied as a school tax upon the little hamlet. The gov- ernment deemed this amount insufficient and added fifty guilders out of its own treasury. The names of the earliest settlers of Breucklyn who were assessed to establish public education are still to be found in the archives of the city.

As though to lend additional importance in Ameri- can annals to the Fourth of July, it was on that day, in the year 1661, that the first schoolmaster for the settlement of Breucklyn, as distinct from the adjacent settlements of earlier origin, was appointed. His name was CARL DEBEVOISE. His salary was fixed at the whole amount levied for school purposes, and he was furnished with a dwelling-house.

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

The first school was organized in a little church edi- fice of octagon form, which stood on the highway, not far from the present junction of Fulton and Bridge streets, and not more than a hundred yards from the an- cient structure on Red Hook lane, which serves as the hall and depot of the Board of Education.

The second public school, established within the lim- its of the present city, was organized in the church edi- fice at Bushwick, which stood on the same site now occupied by its successor of the same name, near the junction of North Second street and Bushwick lane. This was in the year 1662, but a few months only after the colony of Bushwick was founded, and when it scarcely contained twenty homes.

It is an interesting, and, perhaps, to most of the peo- ple of Brooklyn, an astonishing fact, that when, about two centuries later, the Board of Education assumed jurisdiction of the public schools of Bushwick, at the time of the consolidation of that town with the city of Brooklyn, in the year 1855, it found the district school still kept on the same site on which it was founded in 1662, and surrounded by the same walls of houses which had guarded it for two centuries.

The schoolmaster of this school was BOUDWYN MANOUT. He took charge on December 28th, 1662, and received as salary four hundred guilders per an- num, payable in Indian wampum, with house-rent and firewood free of cost.

This primitive school, soon after the consolidation of Brooklyn with Bushwick, under the energy and ability of James Hall, Esq., subsequently and for many years a useful member of the Board of Education, developed into Public School No. 23.

The third public school was organized in Bedford Village, at the junction of the Clove, Cripplebush and Ja- maica lanes, in the year 1663. This afterward became the present Public School No. 3. This school is mem- orable for many incidents connected with the history of Brooklyn. Here John Vandervoort taught for sixty years. In front of the school-house was a triangular green, whereon the scholars of that day were allowed to play during the recess; while in the rear were the house and grounds of Mr. Rem Lefferts. The mother of the late Gen. Jeremiah Johnson, who was born in 1845, was educated here, and often spoke of one Kabbelier as teacher there. This old school-house is set down on Ratzer's accurate map of Brooklyn, in 1766-'67. On the green in front, the mother of the late Nicholas Wyckoff, Esq., of the City Bank, Williamsburg, re- membered to have seen Hessian soldiers whipped, as a military punishment, during the Revolutionary War. During the whole of the British occupation of the town, from 1776 to 1783, this neighborhood was the scene of much martial display; the Lefferts house, on the corner of the Jamaica turnpike and the Clove road, being occupied as the headquarters of the English General Gray, and a large Hessian encampment was

located on grounds now crossed by Franklin and Clas- son avenues, and Bergen, Wyckoff, Warren, Baltic, and Butler streets. John Vandervoort took charge of this school about 1748 or '50, and is supposed to have been its second teacher. His long service of sixty years was uninterrupted, except for a while during the Revolution, when he was imprisoned by the British. The old school-house had two rooms, with a large chimney between; one room being the school room proper, the other used as a residence for the teacher ; and, about 1775, an addition was made, some fourteen feet square, which the teacher was permitted to use as a grocery store, by means of which he eked out his slender salary. About 1783 a garden was made and inclosed at the west end of the building. Some time between 1810 and '15 a new school-house was erected, Herman Kellogg being teacher; and, in 1815, Abraham Remsen, Cornelius Van Brunt and Abraham De Bevoise were school commissioners. The building had also been used, from time immemorial, for Sabbath school purposes. About the year 1830, a new building was erected, on the north corner of Fulton and Bed- ford avenues, by a neighborhood subscription-small, one story, having two rooms, one for older and one for younger scholars. This, in 1846, was enlarged, and in 1851 was leased for other purposes, being occupied for several years as the police station of the 49th precinct. During 1852 a building was erected on the corner of Bedford avenue and Jefferson street, and was extended in 1854, and again in 1859; and an additional school building was crected in 1882.

Some time previous to the Revolution, a school had been organized in the Gowanus District, on one of the Bergen farms, and was chiefly supported by the family of that name. At first the school was conducted in the different dwelling houses. About the time of the Rev- olution, a school-house was erected, and is mentioned in old documents as standing, in about 1790, on the Bergen Farm lane, near the present Third avenue and Fortieth street. In the year 1797, the old structure, of log-cabin style of architecture, was replaced by a frame building. In the year 1810, the district elected trus- tees under the State law of 1805, and thus made the school the first one organized in Brooklyn, but it was named Public School No. 2, under the present system of laws. Its first trustees were Garret Bergen, Stephen Hendrickson and Cornelius Van Brunt.

Its teacher was Michael Hogan, an Irishman, who served for $200 per annum; and who, finally, cut his throat in consequence of the refusal of one of his fe- male scholars, for whom he had conceived a violent passion, to accede to his proposals of marriage.

In 1820 the old school-house became insufficient and dilapidated, and a new one was erected on land leased from Simon Bergen (for the term of twenty-five years, at $112 per annum), near the junction of Thirty-sixth street and Tenth avenue, and on Martense's lane, as it

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DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC EDUCATION.

was called, which led from Gowanus to Flatbush along the southern border of the present Greenwood Ceme- tery. Upon the expiration of the lease, in 1846, the building was sold and removed, and is now used as a grocery store. Previous to 1842 this district com- prised the present Eighth Ward, but in that year it was divided, all south of Twenty-seventh street retain- ing the designation of District No. 2, while all north of that line became No. 10. In 1846, a building was erected on Forty-seventh street, near Third avenue.

In the year 1875 a handsome new structure, with every modern improvement, and capable of accommo- dating nearly 1,500 scholars, replaced the old building.

Since the organization of this school, the Bergen family has never been without a representative of its name in the Board of Education. One of the family is now President of the Board. Mr. Jacob Sand has been in charge of this school for about thirty years.

Some time previous to the year 1775, a fourth school was organized on the north side of the Wallabout creek on land belonging to General Johnson, the free usc of which was given by him for twenty-one years. A number of years after, it was removed on the land of Mr. Garret Nostrand (intersection of Bedford and Flushing avenues), on the same terms as those given by General Johnson ; and there it remained until the opening of Bedford avenue, when it was taken down and made into a hen-coop by Mr. Nostrand, thus be- coming a training-school for youthful feathered bipeds. Previously to the erection of this school, in 1775, the children of this district were divided between the Bed- ford and Bushwick schools. This became the present Public School No. 4. Some of the oldest citizens re- ceived their early education at this Wallabout school, such as Barnet Johnson, John and Jacob Ryerson, John and Jeremiah Spader, Peter V. and Abraham Remsen, Charles, Tunis, Joseph, John, and Jeremiah Rapelye, John and Cornelius Nostrand, and John Skillman. James Roach was teacher for a few years, about 1802; then Patrick Gannon, Alvin Fox, and M. Menomy, taught about a year each, followed by Messrs. Whit- tlesey, Foster, Miller, Thomas Potter, and, in 1834, Samuel E. Barnes. The building, at this time, was a small, one-story affair, painted red, a school-room twenty-five feet square, heated by a Franklin wood stove in the centre of the room, with its pipe thrust through the roof. Its trustees were B. Johnson, Jere- miah V. Spader, and Charles Lott. The school had run down, and the new teacher, Mr. Barnes, on the first day of his charge, made a tour of the neighbor- hood, accompanied by Messrs. Spader and Johnson, and collected ten girls and six boys for his school. From that small beginning, at the end of the first year the school was full to overflowing. Among his first scholars he numbered Jeremiah Johnson, Jr., J. V. Spader, John Ryerson, Philip Hart, Jaincs Lott, Frank Lott, F. O. Vandervoort, R. Boerum, and others, who

subsequently became well-known and useful citizens. In 1838, the building occupied by No. 4, on Classon, near Flushing avenue, was crected, and was enlarged in 1842, and again in 1846; and a branch school-house was added subsequently.

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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 153

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