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 63

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 63

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272

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

the testimony, a bill was filed in Chancery, in which John Mescrol was complainant, and Cornelius Meserol, Christopher Rugsby, and the Rector, and inhabitants of the city of New York, in communion with the church of England, as by law cstablished, were defendants. At the hearing, the proofs of the will were duly taken on interrogatories addressed to several persons produced as witnesses, and the same was fully established as a valid will before Robert Hunter, Governor and acting Chan- cellor of the Province of New York. The enrollment of the decree was fully certified by Rip Van Dam, one of the masters in chancery, and is of record in the files of the court of Chancery at Albany as completed on the 17th day of July, 1717.

Cornelius Meserol seems to have surrendered his claim to the farm at discretion, as he did not appear on the hearing and is said to have emigrated to New Jersey and to have been thereafter forgotten by his kindred.

John Meserol the third took possession of the entire farm, and lived at the Kuykout up to the time of his death in 1756. He left five sons, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Peter and John, and as many daughters, all of whom appear to have respectably married, to-wit : Janetta Colyer, Maritta Fardon, Sarah Skillman, Cat- rina Miller, and Maria Devoe, all of whom will be rec- ognized as ancestors in the leading families of the late town of Bushwick.

But the will of this third John Meserol, as proved in 1756, intimates a remembrance of the old suit in chan- cery, by which the testator obtained the farm; in closing with these significant words : "Any of my children making a law-suit about my estate shall forfeit all claim to any share therein, and be entirely cut off by my executors, &c."

So ended the third generation of the Meserols at the Kuykout, and indeed the proprietorship of the name in that estate ; although a small part of it, through a de- scendant from Catrina Miller, one of the daughters, came to the family of Abraham Meserole. Meserole's heirs subsequently disposed of the Kuykout estate (107 acres) as follows : Isaac Meserole sold to Francis Titus a parcel on the East River, on both sides of the present Grand street, from near South First to near North First street, and extending east far enough to make 12 acres. Thomas Skillman, the husband of Sa- rah Meserole, bought the share next south of Isaac's, above-mentioned, and extending from near South First to South Third street, as now laid out, and from the River to near Sixth street. This land was sold to Charles Titus, in 1785, and was by him devised to his son Charles, in 1802. He sold to Justus Thompson, and he sold about six acres at the river front to Noah Waterbury. The balance passed, under foreclosure, to Gen. Jeremiah Johnson, who shortly after sold it to Garret and Grover C. Furman. By them it was mapped into city lots.

Christopher Rugsby was tenant of the Meseroles in

1717, and lived on the southern half of the Keikout farm, his house being between James Bobin's, at the foot of South Tenth, and the Meserole homestead at the foot of South Fourth Street. This land is believed to be identical with the sixteen or seventeen acres to which one Abraham Schenck acquired title before 1761, prob- ably from Meserole in his lifetime. Schenck conveyed this land to Andries Conselyea, by deed, August 15, 1761 ; by whom it was devised to his sons, Andrew and John Conselyea, the latter being the father of the late Andrew J. Conselyea. In a mutual partition of the farm, John took that part adjoining the present Broad- way and on both sides of South Sixth to a little east of Third Street. He conveyed it, 1821, to David Dunham, who died seized of it. It was subsequently partitioned and surveyed into city lots, and a map filed. Of the other portion Andrew Conselyea died seized ; and, af- ter various judicial proceedings by his heirs, it was mapped into city lots and sold on the market.

The balance of the Keikout farm was purchased by David Molenaer (alias Miller) the husband of Catrina Meserole. By his will (1779, proved 1789) he devised the north part of his farm to his son David ; and the south part to his son William. William Miller subse- quently sold his share to Frederick Devoe, who had it surveyed into city lots, afterwards dying and leaving sons, the late John and William L. Devoe, who, with their mother, sold most of this land in their life time. David Miller died in 1815, in possession of the land de- vised to him by his father, devising the life use thereof to his wife Maria, who survived him until her age ex- ceeded a hundred years. He then devised most of this farm to his son David, who, though he died (1823) com- paratively young, had attained distinction as a captain in the War of 1812. He left no children, and his sis- ter, Maria, wife of Abraham Meserole, and his brother,

THE OLD MILLER HOUSE.

John Miller, succeeded to his inheritance. His widow lost her dower, as her husband had only an estate in expectancy, after the death of his mother. John Miller and Abraham Meserole (the latter in the interest of his wife Maria) divided the land between them, and map- ped out their shares into city lots. The site of the old

273

EARLY PATENTS OF BUSHWICK.

homestead, after the old lady's death, was sold for building lots-the venerable house demolished-the earth dug down some sixty feet, and the " Old Keik- out " thenceforth was only " a thing of the past."

There remained, however, a road or bridle-path, known as the. "Keikout-road," which seems to have dated from the very beginning of the settlement. It ran from the side of the village laid out around the old Bushwick Church, and down near the present North Second strect to Tenth, near Union avenuc. Then, turning southerly, and with various zigzags, now touching the present Ninth street, and again, fur- ther south, intersecting Tenth street, diagonally, it came to the present Broadway near Ninth street, at the old Brooklyn line. It again turned west, along or near said line, about a rod in width, to the shore of the East River. Then, turning northerly along the East River, it extended to Bushwick Creek, then " Norman's Kill. It was, doubtless, a Pent-road, with gates, or bars, separating the different farms through which it passed.

Next came the patents comprising the land lying be- twcen the northerly line of the Meserole farm and Bushwick creek ; and between the East River and a line drawn about equidistant between Fifth and Sixth streets, from the junction of that branch of the creek, which now rises near Ninth and Grand streets, to the north-westerly corner of the Meserole patent. These patents, three in number, belonged respectively to CLAES CARSTENSEN, sometimes termed " Claes the Norman," to GEORGE BAXTER, the English secretary to the Dutch council, and to DAVID ANDRUS, or Andriese.

Carstensen's patent, which was granted to him by Di- rector Kieft, September 5th, 1645, included 29 morgens, 553 rods.

Baxter's patent, of twenty-five morgens, was granted July 6, 1643.

Of Andrus's patent no record has been formed.

It is not probable that any of these individuals ever occupied their farms. Baxter became a patentee for Gravesend in 1645, was subsequently much employed in public affairs ; and finally, on account of his political rascalities, was obliged, in 1656, to leave the country. Of Andriese nothing whatever is known; and Carsten- sen in some way became possessed of their shares of this property. This same tract, comprising some 130 acres, was, in 1647, granted by the governor and coun- cil to Jan Forbus, and in 1660 transferred to Pieter Jans de Norman, whose widow afterward married Joost Cockuyt. Paulus Richards bought the farm in 1664, and the lands do not appear in the records again for forty years. Then they are found in the hands of Teunis Mauritz Covert, of Monmouth, N. J., a son of Mauritz Covert, whose widow Antie Fonteyn married Francis Titus, of Bushwick. By him it was conveyed to Titus, in 1719. Francis Titus, a son of Capt. Titus Syrachs de Vries, part owner of a grist-mill at New

Utrecht, in 1660, married a second wife, and died about 1760, leaving five sons and five daughters. He resided on what was known as the Col. Francis Titus farm, in Williamsburgh, consisting of 58 acres of up- land and 4 of meadow, to which he added 40 adjoining on the easterly side, by purchase from Wm. Latin; and about 12 acres of the original Kcikout farm, near the present Grand street ferry, bought of Isaac Meserole. He also bought from Joseph Skillman the northerly half (about 25 acres) of the Jacob Boerum farm, in the 16th ward of the present city, and had considerable other property east of the present Bushwick avenue, and in the New Bushwick land. This property, by his will (proved 1764), was devised to his sons, the eldest of whom, Francis, occupied the homestead farm, and also acquired some 18 acres, by purchase of David Wortman, located between the present Sixth and Ninth streets, and mostly between Grand and North First streets. He died in 1801, leaving the homestead to his son, Col. Francis Titus, who erected a house on First, near North Sixth, now torn down.

East of the farms of Meserolc and Carstensen, lay that of JAN DE SWEDE, or John the Swede. It proba- bly comprised most, if not all, of the land bounded south by the farms of Bergen and Moll ; on the west by those of Meserole and Carstensen ; and on the east by the ancient road known as the Swede's Fly. This road marked the easterly bounds of Jan de Swede's meadow, which is mentioned as one of the westerly boundaries of the township of Bushwick, in its patent of 1687; and was itself the easterly boundary of the first chartercd village of Williamsburgh, in 1827. John the Swede's meadow, therefore, was between Eleventh and Twelfth streets ; and possibly, he was, also, the original propri- etor of the back lands owned by Wortmans. He seems to be first mentioned in Baxter's patent, in 1643, and was probably one of the "squatter sovereigns" whose settlement preceded grants, briefs or patents. It is to be noted that a branch of Norman's Kill, of sufficient depth to float small boats, in early times extended to, or a little south, of the present Grand street, near Ninth street ; and, for the reasons stated, the inference is that his house was located near the head of navigation on this branch creek. The fact that a fresh water, clay- basin pond, since known as part of the commons, near North First and Ninth streets, favors this presumption; and STILES' suggestion that his farm extended cast to embrace the subsequently incorporated Bushwick vil- lage, is contradicted by the Swede's Fly or Kuykout road, being referred to as the eastern boundary of his farm, by the charter of the town of Bushwick. In many of the patents or ground bricfs, the tenure or occupation of prior settlers is recited; and we may infer that resident patentees were on the land prior to the date of their patents, or bought out others, who were in possession.

The extensive tract between Jan the Swede's land

274

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

and Bushwick avenue, comprising land, which subse- quently contained nearly one-third of the city of Wil- liamsburgh, was owned, a little more than a century ago, by one DANIEL BORDET. It is designated on modern maps as lands of John Devoe, William P. Powers, Abraham Meserolc, James Scholes, Abraham Remsen, Andrew Conselyea, Mckibbin and Nichols, and others.

' A tract of land was, in the year 1667, patented by Governor Nicolls to one HUMPHREY CLAY, then of the city of New York.

This tract, lying on both sides of what is now Meeker avenue, adjoining Newtown creek,had just been patented to Adam Moll, in August, 1646; by him transported to William Goulding; and by him transferred to Claude Berbine and Anthony Jeroe, of Maspeth Kill. These parties, on the 7th of January, 1653, conveyed the pro- perty, " with the houseing thereupon," to Jacob Steen- dam. And " whereas the said Jacob Steendam," says the old patent to Clay, "hath been absent and gone out of this country, for the space of eight years, during which time the houseing, which was upon the said land is wholly come to ruin, and the land hath been neglected and unmanured, without any care taken thereof, by the said Jacob Steendam, or any that hath lawful power from him, contrary to the laws established in such cases, within this government," the said land was de- clared to be forfeited. And therefore, " to the intent that no plantation within this government should lie waste and unmanured, and that a house, or houses, may be built upon the old foundations, as also, for divers other good eauses and considerations," the same was fully granted to Humphrey Clay. Clay probably came to New York from New London, in the colony of Con- necticut, where he had been an inn-keeper, perhaps rom as early a date as 1655. In 1664, he was fined 40s. and costs, for keeping an inmate contrary to law, and his wife Katherine was "presented for selling Liquors at her house, selling lead to the Indians, profa- nation of the Sabbath, card-playing and entertaining strange men." Upon trial before the court of assist- ants, Mr. Clay and wife were convicted of keeping a disorderly house, and fined £40, or to leave the colony within six months, in which case half the fine was to be remitted. They chose the latter course and removed to New York; and thence, in 1667, to Bushwick.

ABRAHAM RYCKEN, or de Rycke, the progenitor of the present Rycker families of New York, New Jersey and elsewhere, received from Director Kieft, in 1638, an allotment of land which has been located by THOMP- SON in Gowanus, and by RIKER in the Wallabout of Brooklyn. A closer examination of the original patent shows that it was located in the territory then recently purchased from the Indians by the West India Com- pany, and which afterward formed the old town of Bushwick. Rycken's patent probably embraced the lands between Newtown Creck, Lombard street, Metro-

politan avenue and the old road running from the junc- tion of Metropolitan and Bushwick avenues to Porter avenue, near Anthony street. This land of Rycken's in Bushwick, or a portion of it with an addition to the meadows as far as Luquier's mill, is afterwards found in possession of one Jochem Verscheur, who. in 1712, conveyed it to Cornelius, Johannes and David Van Catts, by whose family name it has since been known.

Greenpoint .- The greater part of the present 17th ward of the City of Brooklyn was known, from its earliest settlement, as Greenpoint, being, in fact, a neck of land embraced between Maspeth kill,now New- town creek, and Norman's Kill, now Bushwick creek. It was originally granted, in 1645, to DIRCK VOLCKERT- SEN, surnamed the Norman, who was a ship-carpenter. He lived on the northerly side of Bushwick creek, near the East River, in an old stone house, which was de- molished some years since, and on the site, Messrs. Samuel Sneeden and Jabez Williams built large and fine dwellings. Volkertsen, in old documents, is fre- quently called Dirck the Norman ; and thus, from his lands and dwelling in that vicinity, Bushwick creek derived its ancient name of Norman's kill.

May 1st, 1670, Governor Lovelace granted a confir- matory patent to Daniel Jochems, who had become possessed of a part of this land by marriage with the widow Jacob Hey, to whom, in 1653, Volckertsen had conveyed it.

By inheritance and purchase, Captain Peter Praa, of Newtown, who had become the second husband of Maria Hey, daughter of Christina Cappoens by her first husband, subsequently became the owner of the land conveyed by the Volckertsen patent. Captain Praa, of Newtown, was the son of Peter Praa, a highly respecta- ble Huguenot exile from Dieppe, in France, who came to this country with his family in 1659, and died in Crip- plebush, March 6, 1663. Captain Praa, who was born at Leyden, in 1655, during his parent's temporary stay at that place, was a man of much enterprise and public spirit. After his marriage he spent the greater portion of his life at Bushwick, where he commanded the militia, and was especially distinguished for his supe- rior skill in horsemanship. Captain Praa subsequently purchased the balance, in 1719, from Dirck, Philip and Nicholas Volckertsen, sons of the original patentee. He also acquired large tracts in various places, among which may be mentioned Dominies hook, in Newtown, purchased from the heirs of Anneke Jans, of Trinity Church notoriety. He lived in an old stone dwelling- house upon the farm, since of David Provoost, near

the meadow on the east side of Greenpoint.

This

house and farm came into the possession of his daughter, Christina, wife of David Provoost, and was occupied by her during the summer months, she being a resident of the city of New York, until her death, about 1795. It was destroyed by fire in 1832 or '33, after which David Provoost, her great grandchild, and

GREENPOINT-CIVIL HISTORY, 1660-1708.

275

the father of Hon. Andrew J. Provoost, built the house now occupied by his son-in-law, J. W. Valentine, on its site.

Capt. Peter Praa died in 1740, and, by will, divided his property to his children; Catharine ; Maria, who married Wynant Van Zandt, and died before her father, leaving two sons, Peter Praa and Johannes Van Zandt ; Elizabeth, who married Jan Meserole (and to whom was devised all the tract purchased from Dirck Volkertsen) ; Anna, who married 1, William Bennett; 2d, Daniel Bordet, and received all the Dominies hook property in Newtown ; and Christina, who married 1, David Provoost; 2d, Rev. John Aronda, and who re- ceived property in the city of New York.

Two of Jan Meserole's sons, Jacob and Abraham, after the sale of the Keikout farm, removed to Green- point, where they settled on land which their father had purchased from Peter Praa. Jacob devised his share, by will, dated July 18, 1782, to his wife, for life, with remainder in fee to his sons, Peter and John ; who, in 1791, made a division, Peter oceupying the northerly half and John the sontherly. Abraham, who died in 1801, was the father of John A. Meserole, who inherited the property on which he lived for many years, and died intestate, in 1833. One of his daughters, Mary, married Neziah Bliss, who resided upon this very property, to the time of his death, and in the old Meserole mansion, on the banks of the East River, which house has been recently enlarged and modernized. Thus by purchase, and through their mother, the greater part of the Praa estate came into possession of the Meserole family.

That portion granted by Praa to his daughter, Anne- tie Bodet, deseended to her son, William Bennet, who died in possession, in 1805. It was by him devised to his sons, Tunis and Richard; and, in 1813, was sold at auction under foreclosure of mortgage, and purchased by Ammon T. Griffing. After his death, in 1814, it remained in possession of his heirs, until 1834, when it passed to Gen. Jeremiah Johnson, who, in 1835, con- veyed it to Mr. Neziah Bliss, and he in 1835 and '42 transferred it to Eliphalett Nott, President of Union College.

Of the more modern history and progress of Green- point, the reader will be fully informed in a subsequent chapter.

" There were," says Mr. STEARNS in an article on this sub- jeet, "considerable tracts of land, to which neither patent nor possessory titles were acquired for many years after the settlement of the place. These lands were known as com- mons, and embraced several pieces of meadow on Newtown creek, and a space of land by Ninth street and North First and Second streets, in Williamsburgh, said to have been left open for the convenience of watering the cattle of the neigh- borhood, as it embraced a pond of fresh water that emanated from springs. This common embraced hetween one and two acres of land, and is mentioned in old deeds before the year 1700. A legal controversy concerning the title to this

common may be noticed hereafter. Besides, the meadow lands and the commons referred to, the town of Bushwick in the rights of all its several freeholders assumed to own the tract of land known as New Bushwick, embracing most of that part of the town south-east of the Cross roads, or the present Brooklyn and Newtown turnpike road.

" These New Bushwick lands were probably reservations for woodland, to supply the people with fuel, as old wills are found devising the right to cut and carry away fuel to burn, but not to sell, from parts of those lands claimed by the testators. The salt meadows that became, in separate parcels, appurtenances of the different homesteads in the town, were distributed at a much earlier date. Many of them were vested by the original patents, and all that were capa- ble of use and improvement were made the means of sus- taining the cattle of the earliest settlers through the severe winters of those times, before artificial grasses were culti- vated on the uplands. Some portion of those meadows, how- ever, were too sunken to be of use, being below the ordinary tides, and hence remained without a claimant, till they were sold by the towns of Williamsburgh and Bushwick."

Civil History, 1660-1708 .- The scattered agrieul- tural inhabitants of the territory now comprised in the eastern district of the city of Brooklyn, seem to have made no attempt towards a regular settlement, or the organization of a town government, for a period of over twenty years from the date of its purehase from the na- tives, by the West India Company. In February, 1660, the troublous times led to the enforcement, by the gov- ernment, of stringent precautionary measures for the protection and safety of the established towns upon the western end of Long Island. " Outside residents, who dwell distant from each other," were direeted also to " remove and concentrate themselves within the neigh- boring towns, and dwell in the same ;" because, says the order, " we have war with the Indians, who have slain several of our Netherland people." A village and block-house was accordingly ereeted by the Waal-boght residents during the month of March, 1660, on the high point of land (Keikout) on the East River, near the foot of the present South Fourth street, before referred to.

Simultaneously, almost, the first steps were taken to- wards the establishment of a settlement in another and more remote portion of the territory. On the 16th of February, according to the record, " as fourteen Freneh- men, with a Dutchman, named Peter Janse Wit, their interpreter, have arrived here ; and, as they do not un- derstand the Dutch language, they have been with the Director-General and requested him to eause a town plot to be laid out at a proper place ; whereupon his honor fixed upon the 19th instant to visit the place and fix upon a site."

Accordingly, three days after, on "February 19th, the Director-General, with the Fiseal, Nicasius de Sille and his Honor Seeretary Van Ruyven with the sworn surveyor, Jaques Corteleau, came to Mispat [Mespath] and have fixed upon a place between Mispat kill [New- town Creek] and Norman's kill [Bushwick Creek ], to establish a village ; and have laid out, by survey, twenty- two house lots, on which dwelling-houses are to be built."

276

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

March 7th, according to the record, "Evert Hcde- man, having erected the first house, between William Traphagen and Knoct Mouris, near the pond, came to dwell in the same." Other houses werc erccted during the same year.

A year later, " March 14th, 1661, the Director-General visited the new village, when the inhabitants requested his honor to give the place a name ; whercupon," taking his inspiration, no doubt, from its immediate surround- ings, "he named the town Boswijck, i. e., the Town of Woods.

Application was then made and granted for certain town privileges. This application was signed by twen- ty-three men, viz .: Peter Jansc Wit; Evert Hedeman; Jan Willemsc Yselstyn; Jan Tilje; Ryck Leydecker; Hendrik Willemsen; Barent Gerritsen; Jan Hendrick- sen; Jan Cornelisen Zeeuw; Barent Joosten; Francois de Puij; Johannes Casperse; Francisco de Neger; Pieter Lamot; Carel Fontyn; Henry -; Jan Catjouw; Jan Mailjaert; Hendrick Janse Grever; Gysbert Thonissen; Joost Caspersc; Willem Traphagen; Dirck Volkertse.

The Governor also took occasion to call the attention of those living outside of the village to the great dan- ger to which they were exposed, and to recommend their instant removal to the greater security now offered them by the erection of a number of neighboring dwel- lings. He, furthermore, commanded the villagers to nominate six of their number, from whom he would select three as magistrates for the town of Boswyck. The people, therefore, nominated six of the most prom- inent of their number, viz .: Gysbert Theunis, Jan Cat- jouw, Ryck Leydecker, Peter Janse Wit, Jan Cornelis Zeeuw and Jan Tilje, of whom the last three were se- lected by the Governor and confirmed as magistratcs of Boswyck.

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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 63

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