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 89
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The whole amount of indebtedness against the county this year amounts to the sum of £58: 13: 2, for the collection of which the Supervisors issued their warrants.
The Supervisors allowed John Benham, the suc- cessor of Dominicus Vanderveer, as innkeeper at Flat- bush, for entertaining them, the sum of £6: 11: 5.
1772. At the general election held at Flatbush this year, on the first Tuesday of April, the following per- sons were chosen Supervisors of the county:
Dirck Remsen, for Flatlands.
Richard Stillwill, 66 Gravesend.
Johannes Bergen, Brookland.
Theodorus Polhemous, 66 Bushwick.
Albert Van Brunt, 66 New Utrecht.
Johannes Lott, Jr., Flatbush.
At their annual meeting, held October 6th, 1772, Jeremias Vanderbilt was chosen Treasurer for the en- suing year in place of Peter Lefferts, who declined to serve any longer. Mr. Lefferts was, as we have seen, first chosen Treasurer at the annual meeting of the Supervisors, October, 1735, the successor of John Vanderbilt. He discharged the duties of Treasurer, with marked correctness and ability, thirty-seven years. His predecessor, Mr. John Vanderbilt, the first Treas- urer of the county, appointed by the first Board of Supervisors, served twenty-one years. Jeremias Van- derbilt, the Treasurer appointed this year, was a son of John Vanderbilt.
The Supervisors, at their annual meeting aforesaid, made choice of Simon Boerum as their clerk.
Among the accounts presented against the county this year were the following:
To Simon Boerum, for 65 days service done by him in the General Assembly, at 6s. per day ..
To said Boerum, as Clerk of Supervisors. £2: 10: 0
To Leffert Lefferts, Coroner, for three inquisitions of three bodies buried in said county .. 3: 9: 0
To Rutgert Van Brunt, High Sheriff, for locks and keys for the goal, the locks and keys thereof having been tampered with and injured by the prisoners anxious to escape from prison ......
* There is some inconsistency in this entry, as the reader will see. It alleges that there is no money in the hands of the Treasurer, and yet it says "after Lefferts, the Coroner, is paid out of cash in the hands of the Treasurer the county will be indebted, &c."
To John Rapelye, for services done in General As- sembly, 65 days, at 6s. per day
To Michael Stryker, for keeping a vagrant person who fell sick and died at his house, and was buried by him .. £2: 10: 0
To Dr. Van Buren, for medicine for the said person 0:15: 0 To Cornelius Cornell, for ditto for his burying .... 0: 5: 9 To David Strong, for burying the said person. 0: 12: 0 To Jacob Lefferts, for things for burial of said person. 0: 7: 8
To John Benham, for a coffin for said person 2: 0: 0
From the items in this account, it is certain that the people of Kings County, in those days, treated the vagrant poor in rather a luxurious manner.
To John O'Rouke, public whipper of said county, from the first day of October, 1771, to the first day of October, 1772 £3: 0: 0
To said O'Rourke, for cleaning the Court House and goal during that time. 0: 16: 0
The whole amount of the demands against the county this year was £58: 13: 2, for the collection of which the Supervisors gave their warrants.
1773 .- At the general election, held on the first Tues- day of April, 1773, the following were chosen Super- visors for the respective towns :
Dirck Remsen, for Flatlands.
Richard Stillwill, " Gravesend.
Johannes Bergen, " Brookland. Theodorus Polhemus, " Bushwick. Albert Van Brunt, " New Utrecht.
Johannes Lott, Jr., " Flatbush.
At the annual meeting of the Board, in Flatbush, October 5th, Jeremias Vanderbilt was chosen treasurer and Simon Boerum, clerk.
Among the charges against the county this year were the following :
To Simon Boerum, Esq., for 51 days service, done in General Assembly, at 6s. a day ......
To John Rapelyea, Esq., for 51 days service, done in the General Assembly of the Prov- ince of New York,
It is a singular fact that, the spirit of resistance to British usurpation against the rights of the colonists was not shared in by the members of the General Assembly, a majority of whom were more subservient to the offi- cers of the crown than ever, and continued to vote for raising large sums out of the people. But the Super- visors of Kings County did not take any measures to enforce the collection of its pro rata share of the said sums of money, directed to be paid by the General As- sembly.
The account against the county continues as fol- lows :
To Simon Boerum, as clerk to the Board of Supervisors. £2: 10: 0
To Mathias Vandyck, late Coroner, for six in- quisitions of six dead bodies, buried in said county @ £1: 7: 0. 8: 2: 0
389
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS.
To Barnet Johnson, Jr., present Coroner, for two inquisitions.
£2: 14: 0
To Leffert Lefferts, late Coroner, for one Inquisi- tion
1: 7: 0
To Cornelius Wycoff, for entertaining one sick woman eight days, and for the boarding of an Indian boy and his mother six days and transporting them with horses and wagon to John Smith's, on the limits of Brookland .... 0: 58: 0
To John Smith for entertaining an Indian boy and his mother-the boy died-and for bury- ing the boy. 3: 6: 0
To John O'Rouke, public whipper, from the first day of October, 1772, to the first day of Oc- tober, 1773, and for whipping three hen thieves* .
The whole indebtedness against the county this year is £56 15s. 6d., for the collection of which the Supervisors issued the usual warrant.
The Board voted John Benham, innkeeper of Flat- bush, seven pounds eighteen shillings for entertain- ing the Judges, Supervisors, Treasurer and loan offi- cers.
1774 .- At the general election, on the first Tuesday of April of this year, the following persons were chosen Supervisors of the eounty :
Dirick Remsen for Flatlands.
Richard Stillwill
" Gravesend.
Johannes Bergen " Brookland.
Theodorus Polhemus " Bushwick.
Albert Van Brunt " New Utrecht.
Johannes Lott " Flatbush.
At the annual meeting of the Board, held at Flat- bush on the 4th day of October, Jeremias Vanderbilt was chosen treasurer, and Simon Boerum was ehosen elerk of the Board.
The following are among the items of aeeount against the county this year :
To Simon Boerum, for 62 days services in the Gen- eral Assembly, at 6s. per day.
To said Boerum for his services as clerk of the said Board. £2: 10: 0
To William Boerum, Coroner, for two inquisitions
To Samuel Skidmore, constable of Brooklyn, for transporting several vagrants to New York, and to Flatbush, where they belong.
2: 14: 0
To Jeremias Vanderbilt, Treasurer of the County- the same being indebted to him-ten shillings and eleven pounds.
To John O'Rouke, public whipper, from the first day of October, 1773, to the first day of Octo-
ber, 1774, and cleaning the Court House and goal The excise money paid in by Mr. Polhemus, Ex- cise Commissioner of the county is £33: 00:11 The whole indebtedness against the county this year amounts to. 33: 00:11
Credit by Excise Money 33: 00:11
Indebtedness. £00: 00:00
1775. At the general election held on the first Tues- day of April of this year, the following persons were ehosen Supervisors of Kings County:
Johannes Bergen, for Brookland.
Johannes Lott, " Flatbush. Richard Stillwill, " Gravesend.
Garret Kovenhoven, " Flatlands.
Theodorus Polhemous, " Bushwick.
Albert Van Brunt, " New Utrecht.
At the annual meeting of the board held at Flatbush, October 3d, 1775, Jeremiah Vanderbelt was chosen Treasurer, and Johannes Lott, Clerk, in place of Simon Boerum, who had served as Clerk since October, 1752. Sueh was the happy eapaeity of Mr. Boerum for dis- charging the duties of Clerk of the Board, that he was one of the most popular officers of that department known within the history of Kings County. During most of the time he served as Clerk to the Board he was a representative of the county in the General Asssembly.
The fees of the Clerk this year was fixed at thirty- three shillings.
The following were among the accounts presented against the county this year.
To. John Rapelye, 126 days service done in the General Assembly, at 6s. a day
To Simon Boerum, 70 days services done in the General Assembly, at 6s. a day.
To said Boerum for services done as Clerk of the Board of Supervisors. £2: 10: 0 To John O'Rouke, public whipper of the County, from the first day of October, 1773, to the first day of October, 1775, and for cleaning the goal and whipping two thieves. 4: 2: 0
To Nicholas Cowenhoven, Esq., for prosecuting and transporting vagrant persons. . 3: 6: 0
To John Benham, Esq., for entertaining the Judges, Supervisors, and Loan Officers, and Treasurer . 5:19: 1
To Jeremias Vanderbelt, the Treasurer, the Coun- ty being indebted to him. 4: 8: 5 Excise money paid into the County by Theodorus Polhemous, Excise Commissioner. 126: 12: 9
By Cash 32: 10: 8
£94: 2: 1
1776. There is no record of any election for Super- visors this year in the county at the annual eleetion on the first Tuesday in April, or at any other time; nor is there any record of any meeting of the Supervisors after the third day of October, 1775, until the first Tuesday of October, 1777. It is probable that, owing to the
* No official under the English government in Kings County dis- charged his duties longer or more faithfully than O'Rourke, the public whipper of the county. His services were highly appreciated ; for, through the lapse of many years, we find his bill for services before the Supervisors-always promptly audited and paid-and we often find en- tries in the record of their proceedings, complimenting him for the effectual manner he applied "the cat" to the backs of criminals. O'Rourke did not cease to discharge his duties until 1783, when the British were driven out of the country. He lived many years after this, always insisting that a good whipping was the best punishment that could be given to some rascals. "Such whippings as I used to give them they didn't soon forget, I tell you," he used to say.
390
HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.
occupation of Long Island by the Continental Army, after the breaking out of hostilities between the Colo- nies and England, down to August 29th, 1776, when the British troops took posession, the Supervisors of the county found it somewhat difficult to conduct their an- nual meetings, in conformity to the laws of the General Assembly of the Province, though, as we have seen, they did so with regularity down to October, 1775. But owing to the disordered state of things in Kings County, occasioned by the movement of the British and Continental armies in 1776, all the machinery of gov- ernment in the county was suspended, until after the British took possession of the county, when the Super- visors resumed their meetings, according to the following entries in the record of their proceedings :
October the 7th, 1777. We the Treasurer and Clerk of the County met together and examined the books and found the county in debt to the Treasurer, Jeremias Vanderbelt, Esq., in the sum of £0: 6: 7.
On the first Tuesday of October, 1777, the Supervisors of Kings County met together at the house of John Benham, in Flatbush, and adjourned until the 24th of the same month of October.
Kings County, ss: On the 21st of October, 1777, the Super- visors of said County, according to the said adjournment, met at the house of the said John Benham to-wit:
Johannes Bergen, for Brookland.
Johannes Lott,
" Flatbush.
Albert Van Brunt, " New Utrecht.
Theodorus Polhemous, " Bushwick.
Dirick Remsen, " Flatlands.
The county now being in full possession of the Brit- ish troops, this board met and acted under the Colonial laws, although the Provincial or Colonial government had been annulled by the adoption of the State Consti- tution, April 28th, 1777, by which the Province became a State under the Declaration of Independence and the acts of the Continental Congress, and laws enacted by the first State Legislature, which convened at Kingston, September 9th, 1777. This Legislature was, after a session of about one month, dispersed by the British, who took and burned Kingston, October 7th, 1777. The Legislature, however, in due time, assembled again at Poughkeepsie, and its annual sessions have continued down to the present time.
1777. At the adjourned meeting of the Supervisors on the 24th of October, 1777, they made choice of Jeremias Vanderbilt as Treasurer for the ensuing year, voting that he was to receive his fees "according to an act of the General Assembly of the Province of New York in that case made and provided."
Thus it will be seen, that this board, notwithstanding the existence of the Federal and State governments, the
adoption of the constitutions to which we have referred, and the acts of the Legislature of 1777, still recognized the Colonial Government and the acts of its General Assembly. But we must remember that Kings County, all of Long Island and the city of New York, were in possession of the British, who, by force of arms, could and did keep the Colonial government in operation.
Among the accounts brought against the county at the adjourned meeting of the Supervisors, October 21st, 1777, were the following:
To Peter Antonious, for locks and repairing the goal, now much out of order. £3:12: 0
To Philip Nagal, for one lock on the goal. 0: 8: 6
To John Benham, for work on the Court House .. 0: 4: 0
To the deacons of Flatbush church, for maintain- ing a vagrant person that died, and for bury- ing him .. 3: 1: 1 To John O'Rouke, public whipper, from the first day of October, 1875, to the first day of Octo- ber, 1777, and whipping three criminals. 3:16: 0
For property of Jeremias Klein destroyed in a riot ..
To T. Johnson, for cleaning the Court House and goal, and for maintaining the Supervisors the 24th of May, 1777. 1: 1: 9 .
To John Benham, for maintaining the Judges and Supervisors the first and third Tuesdays of October, 1777 .. 10:13: 4
1778. There is no record of any election for Super- visors in the county at the usual time for holding the election, the first Tuesday of April, or at any time during the year 1778; but the following entry in the journal of the proceedings of the Supervisors that year, show that a Board met at the time fixed for its annual meeting, the first Tuesday of October.
Kings County, ss: On the first Tuesday of October, 1778, the Supervisors of said county met at the house of John Benham, in Flatbush, and made choice of their Treasurer, Jeremius Vanderbilt, Esq., for the ensuing year, and have his fees according to an act of the General Assembly of the Province of New York, in that case made and provided ; and also made choice of their Clerk, Johannes Lott, for the en- suing year ; that the said Clerk shall have for his services the sum of 35s. per year, and the said Supervisors met to- gether to discharge the county debts, and the particulars are as follows:
To Dirick Remsen, for 30 shingles for the Court House £0: 8: 0 To John Benham, for mending the Court House, broken by prisoners escaping, their friends on the outside helping them. . 0:10: 0
To Johannes Lott, for services done as clerk. 1:15: 0
To John O'Rouke, public whipper from the first day of October, 1777, to the first day of October, 1778. . 3: 0: 0
To John Benham, for entertaining the Judges, Supervisors, and the Secretary of the Gover-
nor General, William Tryon, and other officers. . 4: 2: 1
The charge was found the year before for this, it being a county charge* 26:19: 1
36: 14: 2
* Tryon-on April 7th, 1774, alarmed at the turn affairs had taken in the colonies, sailed for England to represent to the ministry the alarming state of things in America, and ascertain their policy in regard to the matters-returned July 1st, 1775, assured by the ministry that the rebellious colonists must be chastised into submission. He was therefore, on July 28th, 1775, reappointed Governor-General. As he was a man of practical policy, he saw the necessity, owing to the proximity of Kings County to New York City, of keeping her citizens loyal to the British ministry and the Crown; hence, he and her officers were often present with the county officials. and was entertained, as we have seen, at the expense of the county.
391
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS.
The Supervisors agreed to raise the sum of £40 out of the county for charges, and the quota thereof for every town of said county is as follows:
Brookland. £12: 16: 10
Flatbush. 8: 0: 4
New Utrecht 5: 4: 0}
Flatlands.
4: 11: 4
Bushwick 4: 16:
Gravesend
4: 11: 0
£40: 00: 00
"The several sums of every township after being raised, were preserved by me, Johannes Lott, Clerk of the said Super- visors, according to the orders of said Supervisors, and the particulars paid out by me to the several persons to whom they are due."
June 30th, 1779, then paid to Joseph Varick, for
work done to the Court House of Flatbush ... £ 1: 12: 0 Paid out of the forty pounds. 36: 14: 2
£40: 00:00 38: 6: 2
There remains in my hands. .£1: 13: 10
There was no list of the names of the Supervisors who attended the meetings, the proceedings of which we have given. The reader will observe that among the charges presented against the county at the last three meetings of the Board of Supervisors, there ap- pears no charges for the service of any member of the General Assembly of the Province. The county, no doubt, was never represented in that body after the year 1774; its last representative being Simon Boerum.
1779. There was no election for Supervisors in the county this year, of which there is any record. But the following entry in the journals of the Board shows that a Board of Supervisors were, at the time, appointed for the annual meeting of the Board of Supervisors.
Kings County, ss : On the first Tuesday of October, 1779, the Supervisors of said county met at the house of John Benham, in Flatbush, and adjourned until the first Tuesday of November next. And said Supervisors, according to their said adjournment, met together at the house of said John Benham, and made choice of their Treasurer, Jeremius Vanderbilt, Esq., for the ensuing year, and to have his fees as the year before, and also made choice of their Clerk, Johannes Lott, for the ensuing year, to have for his services as before. And the Supervisors found the county indebted in the following particulars:
To Barent Johnson, Coroner, for inquisition. .. . £1:
To John O'Rouke, public whipper, from the first day of October, 1778, to the first day of Octo- ber, 1779, and for whipping four persons .... 3: 0: 0
To John Benham, for entertaining the Judges and the Supervisors, and their visitors, on the first Tuesday of October and November, 1779 9: 5: 0
13: 12:00
It will be seen from the foregoing that all the charges against the county, except about £3: 7, was for entertaining the Judges, Supervisors and their visitor two days.
1780. There is no record of any election of Super- visors this year, but the following entry in their minutes shows that a Board met at that time and place fixed for the annual meeting of the Supervisors, though only three members were present :
Kings County, ss : On the first day of October, 1780, the Supervisors of the said county, namely, Derick Remsen, Theodorous Polhemous and Johannes Lott, the Treasurer, Jeremias Vanderbilt, and Judge Nagel, met together, and the said Supervisors found the county indebted to wit:
To Johannes E. Lott, for repairing the Court House. £35: 6: 6
To Justice Polhemous, for maintaining a vagrant woman 7 weeks, at $2 per week. 5: 12: 0
To John O'Rourke, as public whipper from the first day of October, 1779, to the first Tuesday of October, 1780. 3: 12: 0
To John Benham, for entertaining the Judge and the Supervisors the first Tuesday of October, 1780. . . 2:15: 1
The county charges the year before being.
13: 12: 0
To Albert Vanbrunt, for keeping a vagrant. 5: 0: 0
£67:00: 7
The Supervisors agree to raise the sum of £70 out of the county for county charges, and the quota therof being for every town of said county as follows :
Brooklyn. £22: 9: 6
Flatbush. 14: 0: 7
New Utrecht. 9: 2: 1
Flatlands
7: 19: 10
Bushwick 8: 8: 10
Gravesend. 7: 19: 2
£70: 00: 0
1781. There are no minutes of any election for Supervisors in the county this year, nor is there any record of a meeting of any Board of Supervisors.
1782. On the first Tuesday of April, 1782, there was an election of Supervisors in the county, and the fol- lowing named persons were elected:
Johannes Bergen, for Brooklyn.
Philip Nagel, " Flatbush.
Isaac Cortelyou, New Utrecht.
Dirick Remsen, " Flatlands.
Albert Terhune, Gravesend.
Abraham Luquer, " Bushwick.
Kings County, ss : The Supervisors met together at the house of John Benham, on the first Tuesday of October, 1782. The Supervisors who were present adjourned until the 15th day of said month, and then met again and made choice of their Treasurer, Jeremius Vanderbilt, Esq., for the ensuing year, "and to have his fees according to an act of the General Assembly of the Province of New York, in that case made and provided ;" and also made choice of their Clerk, Johannes Lott, for the ensuing year, and to have for his fees the sum of 35s., and the Supervisors found the county indebted as follows :
To Johannes E. Lott, for providing lodging and other necessaries for a certain John Brewer, who fell sick at his house and died, together with the funeral expenses.
£10: 10: 0
392
HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.
To the estate of Roelof Lott, deceased, for attend- ing a vagrant with the small-pox, who died at his house, and funeral expenses. 5: 8: 0
To the estate of Paul Vanderworth, for two coffins made for poor persons who died at Bushwick. 4: 14: 0
To the estate of Johannes Lott, deceased, for his services done as Clerk of the Supervisors ..... 1: 15: 0
To John Benham, for entertaining the Judges, &c., four several times 17: 8: 8
£40: 3: 8
The Supervisors agree to raise the sum of £42 out of the county for county charges, and the quotas of every town is as follows :
*Brooklyn £13: 9: 8
*Flatbush. 8: 8: 4%
*New Utrecht 5: 9: 3}
*Flatlands. 4: 15: 11
*Bushwick 5: 1: 31
Gravesend. 4: 15: 62
£42: 00: 1}
Those towns marked with a star did not pay.
This is the last entry in the record of the proceed- ings of the Supervisors of Kings County, under the General Assembly of the Colonial Government. It is probable that the proceedings were not assented to by the people, for we see by the record that none of the towns, except Gravesend, paid the quota of the expen- ses of the county assessed against them.
We have now traced the history of the Supervi- sors of Kings County from the first organized board in 1714, through the colonial period after that date, down to 1782, the date of the last meeting of the board, under the General Provincial Assembly, sum- moned by warrants of the Royal Governors.
During all this time, they continued loyal to the Crown, even, as we have seen, after the adoption of the State Constitution, April 20th, 1777, but not with- out frequent opposition by the patriotic citizens of the county.
Soon after the Battle of Lexington, a meeting of the citizens of the county was held at Flatbush, in which five of the towns in the county were represented, for the purpose of uniting with the people in other parts of the colonies in a call for another convention, favorable to the cause of freedom. .
" Flatbush," says a local historian, " by the voice of Nicholas Cowenhoven, declined any complicity in the proceedings of the convention, but expressed a design of remaining neutral during the struggle, which was clearly approaching.
" Theodorus Polhemous, Richard Stillwill, Nicholas Cowenhoven, John Vanderbilt, Henry Williams and Jeremiah Remsen, most of them members of the board of Supervisors, were chosen to represent the county in the convention. There were many other prominent citizens of the county who took an active part in the proceedings of the convention, but their names are not found on the record of the meeting, or on the list of delegates to congress."
On the 20th day of May, 1775, a general town meet- ing, largely attended, was held at Brooklyn, for the purpose of taking into consideration the proper course to pursue, in relation to the position in which the country stood towards the course pursued by the Brit- ish Ministry. Jeremiah Remsen was chairman, Leffert Lefferts was secretary. At this meeting a resolution was passed favorable to holding a Provincial Congress, " to advise, consult, watch over and defend at this alarming crisis, all civil and religious rights, liber- ties and privileges, according to their collective pru- dence."
Henry Williams and Jeremiah Remsen, Esqrs., were elected deputies for Brooklyn, to meet May 22d, with other deputies, in a provincial convention in the city of New York.
But the British took possession of Long Island in August, 1776, and continued in possession until Novem- ber 25th, 1783 ; and, as we have seen, the civil laws, under the State Constitution, were entirely suspended during that time, a period of seven years.
Kings County under the Federal Government and the Constitution of the State of New York. -By the 29th Section of the State Constitution, adopted April 20th, 1777, and an act of the legislature passed, the office of Supervisor was retained in all the towns of the State under the following provisions. :
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