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 II, Part 170

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co
Number of Pages: 1345

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 II > Part 170

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Mrs. OLIVE THORNE MILLER writes for children mostly, contributing to various juvenile publications, and issuing books on Natural History for the young. She was born in Auburn, New York, in 1831; married in Illinois in 1854; removed to Brooklyn in 1877. She began writing-for children's publications-in 1870. In 1874, her scattered papers were collected to form her first book, Little Folks in Feather and Fur. Her second book, Nimpo's Troubles, after running as a serial in St. Nicholas, was published in 1880, by E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. In 1881, the same house issued her Queer Pets at Marcy's, and in 1883, Little People of Asia.

Mrs. MARY E. VAN DYNE is the editor of Harper's Young People, writing much and well for its columns. Mrs. ALICE WELLINGTON ROLLINS is a writer of poems, and a regular contributor to Harper's. Miss ALICE FENN, daughter of Harry Fenn, has written a number of articles for different magazines, which her father has illustrated; one, on "Surrey," appeared in Harper's Magazine; while others have been printed in the Century and in other publications. Mrs. HELEN CAMPBELL edits a department in Our Continent; and

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

Mrs. KATE HILLIARD has written several admirable fugitive poems.

In the Social History of Flatbush, 1882, by GER- TRUDE LEFFERTS VANDERBILT, and which has already passed to a second edition, we have a most valuable local history, executed with that fidelity and indefin- able charm which only a woman's mind and pen could weave around such a subject.

MARGARET ELIZABETH SANGSTER, née Munson, was born February 22d, 1838, in New Rochelle, N. Y., and has been a frequent contributor to current religious literature for the past fifteen years. Most of her life has been passed in Brooklyn, though part of her child- hood was spent in Paterson, N. Y. She is associate editor of the Christian Intelligencer, and writes, with more or less regularity, for Harper's Bazar and Young People, The Congregationalist, Sunday School Times, and the publications of the American Tract Society. Her published works are Poems of the Household, Hours With Girls, May Stanhope and Her Friends, Miss Dewberry's Scholars, Home and Heaven, Five Happy Weeks, and Splendid Times. She also edited and compiled a Manual of the Missions of the Re- formed Church in America, of which she is a member, and in whose Foreign Mission Work she takes a deep interest.

Turning now to the gentlemen of the Guild of Let- ters, we find :

Mr. GEORGE W. BUNGAY, author of the well-known lyrics published in the Evening Post, Home Journal, and leading magazines. He is, also, a strong supporter of the cause of temperance, and wields a forcible pen in its behalf.

Mr. DAVID M. STONE, editor of the Journal of Com- merce, has also done some excellent literary work, aside from his paper, but his interests are more particularly identified with New York. This is also the case with Mr. S. S. CONANT, literary editor of Harper's Weekly, whose high standard of excellence is due not only to his perfect taste, but to his facile pen as well. He has conducted for the Harpers all their copyright con- troversies for a number of years.

Rev. T. P. CONANT is well known as a Hebrew scholar and Bible translator.

FREDERICK SAUNDERS, author of Salad for the Solitary, and librarian of Astor Library, New York, and OLIVER B. BUNCE, author of Bachclor Butterfly, are also residents of Brooklyn.

The genial and humorous poet, JOHN G. SAXE, has been, for many years, a resident of Brooklyn, as is, also, WILL CARLETON, the author of "Farm Ballads " and other home poems which have struck so responsive a cord in the hearts of the American people.

ALLAN FORMAN is the editor of the Brooklyn Ad- vance, which is devoted exclusively to Brooklyn, and has become a decided success. He also writes children's

stories for Harper's and the Appletons, besides doing daily journalistic work. A young man yet, he has al- ready won an enviable reputation, which his brilliancy and industry will augment.

By his dramatization of Hawthorne's "Scarlet Let- ter;" his "Biography of John Howard Payne," now in press; and, last but not least, the very elegant and complete "History of the Drama, Music and Art in Brooklyn," contributed to this volume, Mr. GABRIEL HARRISON, long a resident of this city, has fairly "won his spurs " as an author of whom Brooklyn may well be proud.

STEPHEN M. OSTRANDER, Esq., a lawyer by profes- sion, and a local historian by instinct, has been a fre- quent contributor of Kings county historical material to the pages of the Advance.

P. L. SCHENCK, M. D., has issued the Historical Sketch of the Zabriskie House, Flatbush, 1881; and a Genealogy of the Schenck Family of L. I .; both exceed- ingly interesting and valuable little works.

HOMER L. BARTLETT, M. D., of Flatbush, though he has given the world no written volume, has, by his frequent and valuable historical and semi-legendary essays in the public press, proved his ability to enrich our county literature, as we trust he will do at no dis- tant day. His accomplished wife also wields a trained and facile pen, in occasional ephemeral papers and essays.

JAMES CLANCY, of the Star, who published an inter- esting book on the "Tombs" in New York, is a resi- dent of Brooklyn.

Some of our most notable hymn-book compilers and music composers are or were Brooklynites.

Among the compilers are Rev. CHAS. S. ROBINSON (First Presbyterian), editor of "Songs for the Sanctu- ary" and many others; Rev. CHAS. CUTHBERT HALL (Dr. Robinson's successor in First Presbyterian), "Evangelical Hymnal;" Rev. HENRY WARD BEECHER, " Plymouth Collection;" Rev. Drs. A. R. THOMPSON and ZACHARY EDDY, "Hymns of the Church;" Rev. Dr. CHAS. H. HALL and S. B. WHITELY (Trinity), Pro- testant Episcopal "Hymnal With Tunes;" Rev. GEO. E. THRALL, " Episcopal Common Praise;" Dr. Thrall also edited the " Union Prayer Book" for Reformed Protestant Episcopal Church.

Among composers are Dr. Jos. P. HOLBROOK, "Wor- ship in Song," etc .; J. E. SWEETSER, "Pilgrim Melo- dies;" U. C. BURNAP, " The Polytechnic," "Hymns of Prayer and Praise," etc .; THEO. E. PERKINS, "Mount Zion Collection," etc .; SIGISMUND LASAR, " Evangelical Hymnal;" S. B. WHITELY, "Hymnal With Tunes."

In the educational department of literature we may mention Prof. JAS. H. WORMAN (late of Adelphi Academy), author of a series of text-books in German, French and Spanish. Prof. A DE RANGEMENT (Adel- phi), Dr. Worman's colleague in preparing French books; Rev. E. P. THWING, " Vocal Culture ; " Miss

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IDA P. WHITCOMB, "Topical History Charts;" Prof. ALPHONSO WOOD, a series of Botanical text books; Rev. JOHN MARSH, D. D., Epitome of Ecclesiastical His- tory; THOMAS MONK, a series of drawing-books. All the above musical and educational works are from the press of Messrs. A. S. Barnes & Co., well-known residents of Brooklyn.

Educational works by Dr. L. P. BROCKETT, and Dr. CHAS. E. WEST, are elsewhere noticed.

Besides these, we have D. W. FISH's series of Mathe- matical books published by Ivison & Co .; Supt. CALVIN PATTERSON's grammar and spelling-book (Sheldon & Co.); Professors REID & KELLOGG (Polytechnic), a grammar (Clark & Maynard); WILLIAM SWINTON, his- tories, geographies, readers, etc. (Ivison & Co.), and grammars (Harper); J. J. ANDERSON, Histories (Clark & Maynard); Dr. J. C. HUTCHISON, Physiology (Clark & Maynard); Miss M. E. THALHEIMER (late of the Packer), Summary of History; PETER ROUGET, Prin. of one of our Public Schools, an Arithmetic.

We also have, in the line of medical authorship, " The Opium Habit and Alcoholism," by F. H. HUBBARD, M. D., and Dr. E. C. MANN's exceedingly valuable work on "Psychological Medicine."

Nor must we forget, in passing, to pay our meed of remembrance to a distinguished educational writer, now deceased:

JAMES BATES THOMSON was born in Springfield, Vt., in 1803. His earlier years were spent on his father's farm, with only such advantages of education as were attainable in the district school and the village academy; but, at the age of sixteen he had commenced life as a district school teacher, seeking thus to prepare himself for college. To this purpose he clung unwaveringly, and after many hardships and some delay from a pain- ful affection of the eyes, he entered Yale College, in 1830, and graduated with honor in 1834. From 1835 to 1842, he taught an academy of high grade in Nan- tucket, Mass., and in the latter year removed to Auburn, N. Y., two years after his marriage. In Auburn he was engaged, at the urgent request of President Day, in the preparation of an abridgment of his Algebra, which was so well and favorably known to the last generation of scholars in our academies as " Thomson's Day's Al- gebra." He also engaged with great zeal and success in the organization and conducting of "Teachers' Insti- tutes," which have accomplished so much for improve- ment in the methods of teaching in our public schools. His remarkable ability in imparting mathematical in- struction led to his removal to New York city in 1846, where he prepared a series of mathematical text-books, which under the names of " Thomson's Series of Arith- metics, Algebras, Geometry," etc., won for him a great fame, and which attained to a very large circulation. In 1854, Hamilton College conferred on him the degree of LL.D., and in 1882, the same degree was conferred again by the University of Tennessee. He removed to

Brooklyn in 1868, and having changed his publishers, he commenced soon after the preparation of a new mathematical series, in which he determined to embody the latest and most complete improvements in arrange- ment, methods of instruction, and practical application of mathematical processes to commercial use. He was eminently successful in this attempt; far more so, it is no more than fair to say, than any of his numerous competitors. His careful and thorough investigation, and his vast fund of mathematical acquirements, con- stantly increased by study, deserved and won for him a great success. His industry and pluck were amazing. For eight years he was a great sufferer from a form of rheumatism which rendered active locomotion impos- sible; but though often racked with pain, his eye was not dimmed, nor his mental force abated; and his daily limit of six hours' labor was performed as regu- larly, and with as perfect expression of his ideas, as if he had never suffered a pain. His wife and daughter, both excellent mathematicians, rendered him great assistance in the details of his work. He also prepared several other works, and was a large con- tributor to educational journals. He died June 22, 1883.

Our city also claims as its son, MR. JOHN B. Mc- MASTER, whose History of the People of the United States has lately attracted much attention. Mr. Mc- Master was born at Brooklyn, L. I., June 29, 1852. His grandfather was Robert Bach, a prominent Brooklyn merchant, in the days when that city numbered 16,000 souls. His father was James McMaster, a native of New York State, and, till the war opened, a banker and planter at New Orleans. Mr. MeMaster's early years were spent in New York. Here he was educated in the public schools, and graduated from the College of the City of New York in 1872. For a year he taught English grammar in that institution as a Fellow, but, in 1873 he set out to become a civil engineer, spent some time in Virginia and Chicago, and when the panic came on, returned to New York to go on with the history, for which materials had been collecting since 1870. Some reviews have attributed to him the works of the late John Richard Green as a model. But the plan of the first volume of the "History of the People of the United States" as it now exists, was drawn in 1871, and much of the material arranged, when, in 1874, Mr. Green's first volume appeared. As the book now stands, it has been twice written entirely from end to end, and some of the chapters from three to eight times, as the acquisition of new material seemed to require. In 1877, Mr. MeMaster, was appointed In- structor in Civil Engineering at Princeton College.

LINUS PIERPONT BROCKETT, M. D., the eldest son of Rev. Pierpont Brockett, for fifty years a Baptist min- ister in New England, was born in Canton, Conn., Oct. 16, 1820; received his early education at Hill's Acad- emy, Essex, Conn., and the Conn. Literary Institution

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at Suffield; entered Brown University in 1837, but, owing to impaired health, did not graduate; obtained his medical education at Washington, D. C., New Haven, Ct., and New York; graduated, M. D., in 1843, and since 1846, has devoted himself mainly to literary pur- suits. In 1857, he received the honorary degree of M. A. from Amherst College. He has published many works of large circulation among which are the follow- ing: Geographical History of New York, 1847; Me- moir of James Edward Meystre, 1855; The Pioneer Preacher, 1857; History of Education, 1859; History of the Civil War, 1865; Life of Abraham Lincoln, 1865; Our Great Captains, 1865; Camp, Battle Field and Hospital, 1866; Woman's Work in the Civil War, 1867; Men of our Day, 1868, and an enlarged edition in 1872; Woman; her Rights, Wrongs, Privileges and Responsibilities, 1869; The Year of Battles; a History of the Franco- German War, 1871-'2; Epidemic and Contagious Diseases, 1873; The Silk Industry in America, 1876; The Cross and the Crescent, 1877, &c., &c. He has also edited numerous works; was from 1856 to 1862, on the edi- torial staff of the New American Cyclopedia; from 1861 to 1875, one of the editors of Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia; and from 1872 to 1877, one of the edi- tors of Johnson's Universal Cyclopedia. He has writ- ten also numerous review and magazine articles, and is now editing the new geographical monthly, De- scriptive America. He completed, in 1879, a His- tory of the Bogomiels, the Baptists of the East, from the 5th to 15th century, and has in hand a Life of Christ, on which he has been engaged for over eight years. He has resided in Brooklyn twenty-five years.

We come now to our local historians, a class of writers who, though their works may not gain the eclat which attends other literary productions, still fill a very important place in the history of any community.

In the year 1824, GABRIEL FURMAN (see biography page 349), a native of the town, published a little volume which he modestly entitled "Notes on the History of Brooklyn," and which, for that day, pos- sessed great merit as a local history. He had an intuitive and prophetic sagacity as to the importance of describing, recording, and fixing the dates of many things which could change with progress and be for- gotten; and but for his "Notes," published in 1824, it would now be well-nigh impossible for us to trace the beginnings of our "goodly-heritage."

Contemporaneous with him, and older in years, was that worthy citizen, Gen. JEREMIAH JOHNSON, himself a connecting link between Brooklyn's Past and Present, all of whose contributions to local history, however, were in the form of articles in newspapers and magazines. To his excellent memory and writings, both published and in manuscript, all succeeding his- torians have been indebted. His biography will be found on page 147.

BENJAMIN THOMPSON, the historian of Long Island, in 1843, and the Rev. NATHANIEL S. PRIME, his suc- cessor in the same historic field in 1845, each gave interesting but necessarily brief résumés of Kings County and Brooklyn history; while THOS. P. TEALE'S somewhat scanty "Chronicles," in Spooner's Directory for 1848 ; and J. T. BAILEY's "Historical Sketch," in 1840; the Bushwick and Williamsburgh sketches, by C. S. SCHROEDER, in the Long Island Family Circle, 1852 ; SAMUEL REYNOLDS' "History of Williams- burgh," published as an adjunct to the Williamsburgh Directory of 1852 ; and Mr. F. G. FISH's History of St. Ann's P. E. Church, 1845, and Rev. Dr. STRONG's History of Flatbush, in 1842, completes the list of our earlier local histories.

Ten years later, 1863, the formation of the Long Island Historical Society gave a new impetus to his- torical and antiquarian research in this county, and upon Long Island. Among its founders, and most ac- tive in the field of authorship, were Hon. HENRY C. MURPHY, ALDEN J. SPOONER, Esq., Hon. TEUNIS G. BERGEN, THOMAS W. FIELD, and the editor of this history, who alone remains to inscribe upon its pages the record of that progress to which his departed asso- ciates so much contributed.

The years 1863-'67 were full of literary and historic enterprises and labors. SPOONER put forth a new and annotated edition of Wood's History of Long Island, to which he prefaced a loving memoir of his old friend the author ; and, with Henry R. Stiles (under the guise of the Faust Club), he published, also, a new edition of Furman's Notes, with Memoir and Notes. FIELD reprinted Garden's Anecdotes of the Revolution, in three stately volumes, and subsequently his Histori- cal and Antiquarian Scenes in Brooklyn and Vicinity, 1882 ; and his Battle of Long Island, for the second volume of the Historical Society's Collections. MURPHY translated and edited, for the Historical Society, the Journal of the Labadists, which forms the first volume of its Collections ; and BERGEN put forth his Bergen Genealogies, etc. (See page 268).

In 1865, STILES issued (limited edition) two volumes relating to the sufferings and experiences of the Prison- Ship captives in Wallabout Bay, under the title of The Wallabout Series ; and, in 1867, he brought out the first volume of his History of the City of Brooklyn, of which two remaining volumes appeared in 1869 and 1870.

HENRY R. STILES, M. A., M. D., was born in New York City, March 10, 1832; obtained his education at the Grammar School of the University of the City of New York; was freshman at the University, and sophomore at Williams College; ill-health prevented his graduation there, but in 1876, he received the de- gree of A. M. from that college. He studied medicine at the Medical Department of the University of City of New York, graduating 1855; as, also, same year,

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from the N. Y. Ophthalmic Hospital. Practised in New York City; Galena, Ill .; Brooklyn, N. Y., and Woodbridge, N. J. In 1863, was one of the originators of the Long Island Historical Society, at Brooklyn, of which he was a director and the librarian until 1866. In 1868, was appointed Chief Clerk in the Brooklyn Bureau of Vital Statistics, of the Metropolitan Board of Health; and remained in that office until the legisla- tive abolition of the Metropolitan Commissions in 1870. He was then appointed Sanitary Inspector in the New York City Board of Health (serving as such in the 2d, 4th, and 6th Wards), until the creation of a new board in June, 1873; passed the civil service ex- amination, instituted by the new board, with honor, and was re-appointed Sanitary Inspector, June 17, 1873; in July, same year, he was appointed Medical Superin- tendent of the State Homeopathic Asylum for the Insane, located at Middletown, Orange county, N. Y .; he there superintended the erection of the first two buildings, organized the service of the asylum, and placed the institution on the foundation of success which is now universally accorded to it, as the first and (thus far) the only homeopathic insane asylum in the world under governmental control; resigning his posi- tion in 1877, he removed with his family to Dundee, Scotland, where he was appointed to the charge of the Dundee Homoeopathic Dispensary; and where, in the enjoyment of a good practice, he remained until December, 1881, when he felt obliged by his wife's health and his own, to return to America. He is now engaged in a consultation practice in New York city. He is a member of the N. Y. County Homoeopathic Medical Society, and a permanent member of the N. Y. State Homeopathic Medical Society; has also belonged to the Kings and the Orange County Homo- opathic Medical Societies; is a member of the Clinical Club (medical); the N. Y. Medico-Legal Society; a founder and officer of the Society for Promoting the Welfare of the Insane; was one of the organizers and first members of the Public Health Association of New York City, in 1872. He has also been Lecturer on Hygiene and Sanitary Science, at the N. Y. Homoo- pathic Medical College, and is now Professor of Men- tal and Nervous Diseases, at the N. Y. Women's Medical College and Hospital, New York city.

In 1859, Dr. Stiles published The History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Conn, and in 1861, a supplement to the same; and also a monograph on Bundling in America; in 1863, he published the Gene- alogy of the Massachusetts Stiles Family; in 1865, he was (see page 1318) an active member of the "Faust Club" (publishing), of Brooklyn; in 1865, issued two volumes of the Wallabout Series, and edited The Genealogy of the Stranahan and Josslyn Families; and in 1867, he issued the first volume of his History of the City of Brooklyn; in 1869, the second volume, and in 1870, the third; he was, also, from 1863 to 1870, a contributor

to the Round Table, and to several works of history and biography edited by other parties. He has, for many years, been an active member (and was for eight years, the Recording Secretary) of the American Ethnological Society; and was one of the organizers and Recording Secretary of the (now defunct) Ameri- can Anthropological Institute; in 1869, he was one of the seven founders of the N. Y. Genealogical and Biographical Society, and its President from 1869 to 1873, and still a member of its board of trustees and of its publication committee. He is honorary and corre- sponding member of various historical societies, among which are the New England Historic- Genealogical Society; the Dorchester (Mass.) Antiquarian Society; the Wisconsin and the Arizona Historical Societies; the Antiquarian and Numismatical Society of Phila- delphia; the American Philological Society, etc. He is a life member of the Long Island Historical Society.

PRIVATE LIBRARIES.

As to private libraries-and, by this we mean those collections of books which have been gathered with well defined purpose, as illustrative of some special subject, or indicative of some peculiar fancy or taste of their owners-Brooklyn has had, and still has, some which are well worthy of note.

Of such was the princely library, now lately dispersed, of the late Hon. HENRY C. MURPHY (see page 364), a notable collection of Americana; especially of rare volumes on early American exploration, navigation and Colonial Dutch history. It numbered 3,142 titles, and brought, under the auctioneer's hammer, nearly $52,000. In Dr. Wynne's "Private Libraries of New York," will be found a full description of the treasures of this splendid collection.

Dr. WYNNE's Private Libraries of New York, in- cludes among its descriptions, that of the library of our fellow-townsman J. CARSON BREVOORT. It orig- inally contained some 10,000 volumes, of which nearly 6,000 were collected by the late Henry Brevoort, father of the present owner. He began to collect, about 1810, while abroad; and the French Revolution of 1830, as well as the numerous book sales which followed the cholera visitation of 1832, opened to him a rich field for the purchase of fine and valuable works, of which he liberally and judiciously availed himself. The orig- inal editions of "Smith's Virginia," "the Warres of New England;" " The Simple Cobbler of Aggawam; " " Hubbard's Indian Wars;" "Mather's Indian Wars," and a number of other early and rare American tracts, presented to Mr. Brevoort by Sir Walter Scott-who had collected them with a view, subsequently aban- doned, of writing a novel of the early New England times-are among the gems of this collection; which is also extremely rich in priceless MSS., autograph let- ters, official and military journals, order-books, etc., etc.

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

To this valuable library, bequeathed to him in 1848, Mr. Brevoort made large additions, consisting of works illustrative of the progress of geographical discovery in America, such as maps, narrations, topographical memoirs; his tastes, in this respect, running parallel to those of his friend, Hon. Henry C. Murphy, whose library we have referred to on page 364. Peter Martyr; Ramusius ; Hakluyt (ed. 1589, 1599-600, and the later quarto); Purchas; the Spanish writers, Herrera, Torquemada, Clavigero, De La Vega, and Charlevoix; Kingsborough, De Bry, are all represented, besides many less known, but equally valuable and rare. In charts, maps, atlases, government and state publica- tions, geological and geographical reports and surveys relating to the American Continent, and especially in the line of Arctic and Antarctic exploration and Pa- cific voyages, the collection is very rich. Next to voyages and travels, the main feature of this library is its works in Natural History, including about 2,000 volumes on Zoology. This department is especially strong in transactions of natural history societies, both foreign and domestic; but its completest section is that of Ichthyology. American history and pamphlets upon special political topics, etc., have also been extensively collected by Mr. Brevoort.

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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 II, Part 170

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co Number of Pages: 1345

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co
Number of Pages: 1345