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 31

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 31

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123

BROOKLYN SEVENTY-SEVEN YEARS AGO.

within the village limits, which was opened eastward from Fulton street.

We next pass through that portion of the village lying south and west of the old highway (Fulton street), now known as " The Heights;" and the streets which had at that time been opened in that direction, viz. : the Shore road (now Furman street), Joralemon's lane, Everit, Elizabeth, Hicks, Aert (now Henry street), Mid- dagh, Doughty and McKenney streets, etc.

Elizabeth street, so named, it is said, after the wife of one of its old residents, still exists between Fulton street (just above Carll's stables) and Doughty street. In the olden time it was the only means of access to the ferry from the road along the beach, now Furman strect.

Doughty street, into which Elizabeth street opencd, extended from Hicks street to the East river, at which was a public landing used by the butchers of Brooklyn from time immemorial. On the southerly side of Doughty street were four or five dwellings; one of which, a brick and stone house, directly opposite to the head of Elizabeth street, was originally the residence of Israc. Horsfield; and, during the revolutionary war, was occupied by the Hessians as their main guard-room.

ISRAEL and TIMOTHY HORSFIELD-men of mark in their day-were the sons of Timothy Horsfield, of Liverpool, En- gland, where they were born. Israel came to this country in 1720, and became a freeman of New York. About three years after, his brother Timothy arrived and entered into business with him, as butchers. Their trade (principally with the ship- ping) increased, in a few years, to such an extent that they were obliged to seek other accommodations than could be obtained in the city of New York for the prosecution of their business. Long Island, which at that time furnished the New York market with most of its live stock, presented advan- tages which, together with the offer by the corporation, in 1734, of a favorable lease of a portion of the Brooklyn shore, near the ferry, induced them to remove there. They imme- diately built a wharf at the foot of the present Doughty street, together with a slaughtering place and the necessary buildings for residence. The next year they leased the two best stands (Nos. 1 and 2) in the Old Slip market, in the city of New York ; their dressed meat being brought over daily, in row- boats, by their own slaves, directly to the " Old Slip," whence it was carried, in wheelbarrows, to their stands in the mar- ket. The Horsfields accumulated a large property and owned a considerable amount of land on the Heights, near the ferry.

TIMOTHY HORSFIELD, in 1739, was awakened by the preach- ing of the celebrated Whitfield, then visiting in America ; and, in 1741, became acquainted with the Brethren (Mora- vians), and joined their church. In 1745 (during the French and Indian war) he was appointed colonel of the Brooklyn militia, but resigned his commission on account of much jealousy, which was felt and expressed in certain quarters. Soon after he was made the executor of the estate of an inti- mate friend and zealous Moravian, and, in 1750, removed with his family to Bethlehem, Penn., where he resided in a stone house, built for him by the brethren, which is still standing. His ample means enabled him to live among the Moravians without business cares, except such as pertained to the office of justice of the peace, which he held among them for twelve years. He stood deservedly high among

them, being a man of unblemished character, and was of much assistance to the brethren in their intercourse with the provincial government and with the Indian tribes in that part of the colony, while his acquaintance with business matters rendered him a kind of legal adviser to his German friends, who were unacquainted with the modes of transact- ing matters in this New World.

ISRAEL continued the business until his son Israel, Junior, became of age, when he transferred it to the young man, erected a brew-house near the ferry (Map A, 18) and engaged in the brewing of ale and beer.

At that period it was owned and occupied by George Hicks, commonly distinguished as "Ferry-master Hicks." He was originally a Fulton market butcher, but afterwards ferry-master at the Old Ferry, after the introduction thereon of steam-boats.

A large frame building somewhat westerly of the last named was probably also a Horsfield house; and, at a later period, was occupied by John Carpenter. He was a butcher, of some note, and in 1785 he was the treas- urer and one of the trustees of an Independent congre- gation, which was incorporated in the town of Brook- lyn, and which erected a frame church-edifice in what was afterwards St. Ann's burial-ground. FURMAN says (Mss. Notes) that, "disliking the proceedings of his as- sociates, and the church being very much indebted to him, Carpenter locked up the church-building, put the key in his pocket, refused them admission, and' after- wards sold the church and ground to the Episcopalian congregation, which he joined," and from which he was a lay delegate in 1788, '90 and '91.

From the southerly side of Doughty street, about one hundred feet west of George Hicks' house, commenced a lane or road extending south-westerly, along under the edge of the Heights, till it met the beach of the East river, at a little distance beyond the foot of the present Poplar street. This road, originally opened, perhaps, by the Horsfields, was, about 1816, paved from Doughty street as far as Caze's factory, and rend- ered more passable than it had previously been, by Thomas Everit, Jr., and Caze, whose property fronted upon it, on either side.

On the westerly side of this road (Map A, 10, 11, 12), was Everit's tan-yard, a wooden storchouse for hides, and slaughter-houses; and next to them (Map A, 13), were John Doughty's. On the easterly side of the road was the old Everit house (Map A, 14), where Thomas Everit, Jr., was born. By the side of the house was the famous Whalebone gate, from which a lane led up the hill to Mr. Cary Ludlow's resi- dence.

THE EVERIT FAMILY .- THOMAS EVERIT, SEN., came from an old stock of butchers. About 1720 he commenced busi- ness in a slaughter-house on a small creek which put up from the East River, in the town of Brookland, at about the inter- section of Columbia and Doughty streets. On the breaking out of the Revolution, September, 1775, he was elected second lieutenant of the Company of Light Horse, of Brooklyn. In the month of March following (1776), he signed the declara-

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

tion and took up his commission. This troop were first in service under Gen. Greene, who ordered them to seize all the fat stock of the disaffected for Commissary Brown. They next drove off stock under Gen. Woodhull ; and, after the defeat at Brooklyn, in August, 1776, as they were proceeding eastward to join Colonel Livingston, they were ordered off the island by Colonel Potter. Everit, however, returned ; and, in the month of November, following, renewed his alle- giance to King George. He was a man of considerable talent, strictly honest, and possessed a very kind heart. His sons, Thomas, William, and Richard, were also butchers, and will be noticed in their proper order.

THOMAS EVERIT, JR., born in Brooklyn, in 1764, was re- markable for his quiet and studious habits; and, an excellent scholar. He served with his father until he mastered his pro- fession, when he took charge of his father's stall and business in the old Fly Market, in New York, where he continued until about the year 1796, when he quit the market ; became engaged in farming, near Hempstead ; and joined the Society of Friends. After the lapse of a few years, he returned to Brooklyn. Here, with his old bosom-friend, John Doughty, he formed a partnership in the tanning and wool-business, and established a successful and extensive trade ; after which his partner retired from the firm. He was an honest, unpre- tending, good man, whose simple habits, dress and speech, were fully and faithfully carried out, in his new faith. He was always seeking to do his fellow-man some service, either by advice or assistance, and this, too, in the most unassuming manner. He continued business, many years, in Brooklyn, from whence he afterwards removed it to New York, and died in 1841, leaving many relatives and friends, the latter of whom yet speak glowingly of his many virtues.

His brother WILLIAM, in 1775, joined the troop witlı Thomas, as a private, and continued with it until it left Long Island ; and was afterward engaged in the commissary de- partment of the American army. In 1786 he appeared in the Fly Market, and was a resident of the city of New York.

RICHARD EVERIT, another brother, also attended the same market as his father; afterwards became one of the first board of trustees of the First Methodist Episcopal meeting-house, established here in 1794, and died of yellow fever in 1798.

Beyond the house, and opposite the slaughter-houses already mentioned, were the residences of Mike Trap- pel (Map A, 15), designated in some old maps as house of Sarah (widow of Isaac) Hicks, and Burdet Stryker, their entrance being on an allcy which led into the hill. On the other side of the alley was a large, old-fashioned building (Map A, 16), at one time occupied by Caze & Richaud's distillery, afterwards purchased by Robert Bach, for the same purpose ; and then, with an intervening space, was a large brick edifice (Map 4, 18), known, from the name of its occupant and owner, as "the (John) Scdgfield man- sion."

Along, on the same side of the street, were three or four small houses, in one of which, about where the road debouched to the river-bcach, resided a man named Coombs, who once had the audacity to impede the pub- lic's right-of-way, by erecting a gate across the road, in front of his place, and allowing no one to pass without paying toll. This obstruction, however, was speedily removed, vi et armis, by Hugh Mclaughlin, a stalwart

Irishman who lived a few doors below; and, fortunately for the peace of the neighborhood, was never replaced.

The road which passed by Evcrit's and the distillery was obliterated, or rather superseded, by the opening of Columbia and Furman streets to the line of Doughty.

In 1823 or '24 travel was opened from the northerly end of Columbia street into Fulton street, by the open- ing of a short and narrow street called Everit street; and, on the easterly corner of its junction with Fulton, Obed Jackson built a substantial brick building after- wards occupied as a store by alderman D. D. Whitney.

On the beach road, which extended along the river under the Heights on the line of the present Furman street, on the west side, was a long wooden building used as a slaughter-house; then the house of Thomas Goen, who manufactured salt here by evaporation from salt water. Next were the residences of William Thompson, the waterman, who supplied the New York shipping with fresh water, and a tavern kept by an Englishman, whose sign was a swinging gate projecting over the street, bearing on its bars the following in- scription:

" This sign hangs high, It hinders none, Come, take a nip, And travel on."

On the east side of the road, a little beyond the line of the present Middagh street, were Thompson's pumps.

The beach here was usually strewn with water-butts, and lined with water-boats, awaiting their cargoes.

Further along, on the west side, between the lines of the present Cranberry and Orange streets, were the dock and extensive store-houses belonging to Jonathan Thompson, one of the pioneers of the warehousing bus- iness in Brooklyn. In 1797 the firm of Gardinier, Thompson and Co. purchased a water-lot here, and erected a bulkhead and warehouse for storage purposes in connection with their business as West India mer- chants. In 1800 the partnership was dissolved, and the storage business was continued, thenceforth, by Jona- than Thompson, until his death. For a long time his warehouses were known as the White Cot- ton stores ; and it is worthy of remark that a large number of the cotton-bales used by Gov. Jackson, at the battle of New Orleans, were there repacked and stored.

JONATHAN THOMPSON was a native of Islip, L. I. As a pol- itician, previous to and during the war of 1812, he was prom- inent in the old Republican party of that period, officiating for ten successive years as chairman of the Republican Gen- eral Committee, at that time an important position. In con- sequence of his long service as presiding officer, he received the appellation of " Everlasting Chairman." He was Collec- tor of Internal Revenue from 1813 to 1819; and of Customs of the Port of N. Y. from 1820 to 1829; discharging his financial duties with remarkable fidelity and accuracy.

Opposite to Mr. Thompson's stores, and on the east

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BROOKLYN SEVENTY-SEVEN YEARS AGO.

side of the way, was the little house occupied by his foreman ; and behind it, half way up the bank, was a notable spring of excellent water.

Between this point and Pierrepont's distillery, at the foot of Joralemon's lane, five or six small dwellings nestled along under the Heights on the eastern side of the road, some of which were coopers' shops, and one, near the line of the present Clarke street, a tavern kept by the Widow Vandervcer.

On the west, or river side of the road, we notice next beyond Jonathan Thompson's stores, at about the foot of the present Orange street, a dock known as the Milkmen's dock. Here, every morning, " rain or shine," came the venders of "lacteal fluid," stabled their horses in a row of sheds erected for the purpose, under the shelter of the Heights ; and, clubbing together in the hire of boats, were rowed with their milk-cans over to New York, encountering, not infre- quently, during the severe winter months, much suffer- ing, and even serious danger, from fierce winds and floating ice. Their cans were suspended from yokes across their shoulders ; and, thus accoutered, they pod- dled off their milk in the city and returned in the after- noon, wind and weather permitting, to the Brooklyn side, where they "hitched up " their teams and started for their homes. Next werc Treadwell & Thorne's stores ; then a storehouse owned by Robert Black, and which, during the war of 1812, he converted into a man- ufactory of salt, produced from the waters of the East river, by evaporation ; the large wooden " Red stores," as they were called, belonging to Messrs. Kimberly & Waring (afterwards to Mr. Henry Waring) ; then a row of tar-sheds, and another large wooden store be- longing to the same firm, and near the adjoining slip stood Tony Philpot's little ale-shop, with its sign rep- resenting two flagons of ale, one emptying into the other. Tony was an Englishman, and his place, well furnished with ninc-pin alley, shuffle-board, etc., was a great resort for the long-shore-men and lower classes, to whom its semi-secluded position afforded free opportu- nity for the exercise of unrestrained and often uproari- ous jollity. In the slip near by, Mr. William Niblo, the well-known caterer of New York, had a floating crib in which he kept the turtles, which, from time to time, he served up upon the tables of his hotel ; not forgetting to give his friend, Mr. Henry Waring, at least once a year, a fine green turtle, by way of rent.

Beyond this was open shore, to a point about half way between the lines of the present Clarke and Pierre- pont streets, where was located a public landing called the Kingston lot ; next to which, and north of the line of Pierrepont street, if continued, was Samuel Jack- son's large dock, upon which were erected three wooden stores.

From this dock to Pierrepont's distillery, at the foot of Joralemon street, was an open sandy beach, along which

the tide ebbed and flowed to such an extent as to render it, at times, impassable.

Pierrepont's Anchor Gin distillery was on the site of the old Livingston brewery, at the foot of Joralemon's lane. Mr. Pierrepont had rebuilt the old brewery building, a large wharf, a windmill, which was exclusively used for the purposes of the distillery, and several large wooden storehouses, in which he kept the gin stored for a full year after it was made; by which it acquired the mellowness for which it was pe- culiary estcemed. The distillery was discontinued about 1819 ; was sold to Mr. Samuel Mitchell, who used it as a candle-factory for a time; and subsequently was occu- pied, as a distillery, by Messrs. Schenck & Rutherford. The old windmill remained until about 1825, though unused.

Joralemon's lane was a miserable rutted country-road between the Joralemon and Remsen farms ; and, to- wards its lower portion (from Hicks street to the East river), preserved much of its original character of a ra- vine, along under the southerly edge of the Heights. At that time it was little traversed, except by carts bearing distillery swill, or grain going to be ground in- to gin. It was originally laid out by Hendrick and Peter Remsen and Phillip Livingston, Esq., as a road of convenience or common way between their respective farms "from the highway and to the river," on the 14th of December, 1762 ; and was then two rods, or thirty- two feet, wide, increased by Loss' map, 1801, to fifty feet.

As we emerge from Joralemon's lane we pass, upon the site of the present First Dutch Reformed church building, its predecessor, erceted in 1810. It was a heavily proportioned edifice, of gray-stone, with small windows and a square tower in front, surmounted by a square cupola. The space in front of it, now occupied by the City Hall, was then an open field, skirted by the old highway. Where the lane debouched into the high- way, and on the site of the stately County Court House, there then stood the Military Garden, a place of resort famous in the village annals of Brooklyn. The small building which many of our readers will remem- ber to have formed the western part of the Military Garden was originally occupied, as nearly as can be as- certained, by Thomas Coe, a blacksmith, who had his shop adjoining. It passed, about 1810, into the kecp- ing of cecentric old Col. Greene, at which time it first became known as Military Garden. It reached its max- imum of reputation, however, during the regime of MONS. JOHN FRANCOIS LOUIS DU FLON, a rosy-checked, cheery Swiss.

He purchased this property in 1822, and although neither he nor his wife had been bred to this occupation, they soon developed the tact and enterprise which proved that they could keep a hotel. He was induced by the Freemasons, who had hitherto been occupying lodge-rooms in Lawrence Brow- er's tavern, to erect a larger building, in which suitable accommodations could be furnished to the craft. It was the beginning of a series of pecuniary embarrassments, which

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

finally ended in bankruptcy. Yet Du Flon was a general favorite ; his pleasant Garden, with its superior ice-cream, its tastefully-appointed viands, its attractions of flowers and shrubbery-for he and his wife had the characteristic of their countrymen, a passion for floral pleasures ; his own urbanity and cheerfulness of disposition, made his place the resort, par excellence, of the best village society ; and his hall, from its superior size and accommodations, afforded an excellent place for the balls, amateur concerts, and traveling shows, which from time to time visited the village. When General Lafayette visited Brooklyn, during his visit to America, in 1824, he received his friends at the Military Garden ; and in Poppy Du Flon (for such was the respectfully familiar nick- name given him by his fellow-villagers) he recognized the sick man whom he had attended, among others, at a lonely house on the frontier, during the Revolutionary war, and whom he had sat up with, watched and nursed, for several days. Both were affected to tears. Poppy Du Flon's life was unobtrusive, but useful ; and his death, in his 88th year, was lamented by all.

In the rear of the garden was the old Potter's field, now covered by stables and Burnham's gymnasium.

Hicks street was, as will be seen by reference to Map A, quite narrow at its entranee on the old road, and climbed the hill (between present Fulton and Middagh streets), whieli was so steep as to be aseended, by loaded vehieles, with considerable difficulty. Be- yond the John M. Hieks house already mentioned, on the corner of Doughty street, and garden adjoining, on the westerly side, was Mr. Brown's; Alex. Birbeek's blacksmith's shop and his dwelling adjoining; then, Mr. Haight's, on the corner of Poplar street. Between this and Middagh street were six frame houses, mostly oceupied by two families apiece; be- yond Middagh, three small houses, standing baek from the street; then James Weaver's house, next the corner of the present Cranberry street. This was the end of Hieks street-all beyond being fields and orchards. Along the easterly side of Hieks street were but five buildings, one of which was occupied by William Thompson, formerly a negro slave of the Hiekses, from whom he had received his freedom and the lot upon which he lived. Next, was the old Hieks mansion at the corner of Fulton and Hieks street.

In the rear of Ilieks street (between Poplar and Doughty) was McKenney street, a narrow lane, origin- ally 142 feet wide, in which were about a dozen dwel- lings.

From the western side of MeKenney street, about equi-distant from Doughty and Poplar, extended a short cul-de-sac lane, about 20 feet wide, originally known as Fyke street, from its fancied resemblance to a fisherman's net. About twenty years ago, it was opened through to Columbia street, and is now known as Vine street, so named from a huge grape-vine which covered the front of the house occupied by Polly Fisher, one of the original residents of that locality. Vine street contained seven dwellings; so that it may be safely estimated that these three little streets, Hicks, Mc Kenney and Vine, represented about one hundred

souls, in the early enumeration of the village inhabi- tants.

Middagh was the last street opened on the west side of the Old Ferry road, within the village limits, with the exception of a small portion of Joralemon's lane, near the Dutch church, and a small portion of Red Hook lane. On its northerly side was the Consistory- room of the Dutch Reformed church. In this humble building, which then stood in the midst of Aert Mid- dagh's fields, a school was kept under the direction of the trustees of the church. There were but five other buildings on the street; although, on a little lane run- ning out of it, about where Henry street now is, there were four or five small dwellings. A few houses (per- haps not more than six) were to be found on a road, now ealled Poplar street, extending then only as far as Buckbee's alley (now Poplar place); and three on the road, now Cranberry street, between Hieks and Willow. On what is now the corner of Cranberry and Willow streets was the house built by Mr. George Gibbs, in whose garden the Isabella grape-vine first obtained its notoriety, about the year 1816. His wife obtained it from North Carolina, and, after its value beeame known, she gave euttings liberally to her neighbors. A few gentlemen of Brooklyn, in compliment, gave it her name, Isabella, and exerted themselves to multiply cuttings, and make its fine qualities more widely known. By the aid of various publications, in the Long Island Star, and other papers, it soon became the cherished ornament and pride of every garden and door-yard, and rapidly spread, not only through Brook- lyn and Long Island, but even into far-distant States of the Union.

There were, also, several small houses erected in different fields of the Hieks, Middagh, and Johnson estates, none of which, however, were get-at-able, except by paths across the fields.

Brooklyn Heights .- The estates of the landed proprietors on Clover Hill or Brooklyn Heights, were: I. The Cary Ludlow estate (Fig. 1, Map A), on the north-west corner of the Heights. This was a portion of the original Horsfield estate. Mr. Ludlow, who purchased it from the IIorsfields, was a prominent New York merchant, and was not identified with Brooklyn, except by residenee in the house which he ereeted on the western line of Willow street, about one hundred and twenty-five feet north of Middagh. The only access to it being by the roundabout way of the Old Ferry road and Hieks street, Mr. Ludlow secured a right-of-way up the hill-side, from Doughty street, through the old Whalebone gate, at the corner of Tommy Everit's house.

II. The Hicks estate (Fig. 2, Map A), and

III. The Middagh estate, have been already suffi- eiently described (Fig. 3, Map A).

IV. The Waring Estate. Adjoining, and running in the same direction with the southerly line of the

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BROOKLYN HEIGHTS.

Hieks estate, was a strip of land, its western end on the river, and its east end reaching nearly to Henry street, which belonged, at that time, to Mr. HENRY WARING, a native of Greenwich, Conn.

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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 31

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