USA > New York > Kings County > Flatbush > The social history of Flatbush : and manners and customs of the Dutch settlers in Kings county > Part 11
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In some of the adjacent towns, instead of a guard- house, such as was built in Flatbush, a structure was erected which required a dozen men in order to raise it, and this was placed in turn over each newly made grave.
After a time all cause for alarm in this direction abated ; the guard-house was then diverted from the use for which it was originally constructed, and used to hold the bier on which coffins were carried.
Some aged colored people, who were supported by the town, were at one time allowed to live in this build-
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
ing, there being no almshouse in Flatbush until 1830. It would seem a melancholy fate to live in a church- yard with a bier in the house !
Subsequently it was converted into an engine-house for the protection of the first Flatbush fire-engine, be- fore the present house of the company was built.
CHAPTER XIX.
HEALTHFULNESS OF FLATBUSH, AND MORALITY OF THE INHABITANTS.
ALTHOUGH, like most other country towns in this State, there are seasons when cases of fever and ague occur in Flatbush, yet it would be difficult to find a town of the same size in which so many persons have attained a great age. In 1876 there were five aged couples living south of the church, each individual being over seventy years of age ; these had always en- joyed good health, were all born in Flatbush, and had always lived there. One old gentleman and his wife living in this town had each of them attained the age of ninety-four years, when the wife died, apparently of old age ; the old gentleman is still vigorous.
Looking back through many years, we can not recol- lect a family in which we do not remember an aged per- son as being one of its members.
We can recall by name forty-nine persons whom we knew personally, each one of whom reached the age of seventy years, and many of them were more than eighty years old at the time of their death. They were all old residents of the town, and were born, lived, and died here.
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
The physicians in practice some fifty years ago were Dr. Adrian Vanderveer and Dr. John Zabriskie. These were succeeded by Dr. John L. Zabriskie, son of Dr. John Zabriskie, Dr. H. L. Bartlett, and Dr. T. Ingra- ham. The adjoining towns were included in their prac- tice, there being for many years no resident physician except in Flatbush, this village being central in the county and also most thickly populated.
In Revolutionary times and after that period the physicians were Dr. Samper, Dr. Van Buren, Dr. Sage, and Dr. Schoonmaker. Among a file of old papers we find some bills, which we give as being curious, and showing what was paid for professional skill at the dates given.
The bills were evidently those of physicians sent for from New York in consultation with the village doc- tor. As the country road was at the date of visit un- paved from Fulton Ferry to the village, and as the wide river running between was crossed in a skiff or a row- boat, the bills for professional services were certainly not extravagant.
Mr. - , Deceased, his heirs,
To Dr. BENJAMIN LINDNER, Debt.
£ s. d.
1767. Feb. 28th. To Visiting to Flatbush. 2 10 0
April 23. Received the above sum in full by me, BENJAMIN LINDNER.
Feb. 28th, 1767.
Mr. - , Dr. To Dr. PETER MIDDLETON, New York. £ s. d.
A visit to Flatbush 340
Received the above in full of all demands,
PETER MIDDLETON.
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HEALTHFULNESS OF FLATBUSH.
Mrs. - To A. BAINBRIDGE, Dr.
Sept. 1779.
Visiting your husband, and consultation with £ 8. d. Doctor Samper 1 17 4
Madam : Above you have your account, hope it will prove agreeable.
I am yr Humble Servt, A. BAINBRIDGE.
A bill for medicine and attendance from August 14, 1789, to April 17, 1790, in which twenty-eight items and visits are mentioned, amounts to £4 9s.
The date of each visit and the amount due on cach mark the difference between the custom of the medical faculty at the period in which this old time-stained bill was presented and that of the brief summing up of the bills " for professional services " to-day. There seems to have been no regular price for each visit, but the amount charged was regulated by the requirement of the occasion. It is also in marked contrast to the pres- ent treatment of diseases that this bill is principally made up of items such as this :
£ s. d.
To bleeding in the arm 0 2 0
To a purge .. 0 2 0
To an emetic. 0 2 0
Etc., etc.
Not only are the healthfulness of the village and the longevity of the inhabitants noticeable, but the moral sentiment of the community is such as conduces to the prevalence of virtue and good order. Great crimes in the past were unknown. There is no record of a single instance of deliberate murder, or of homicide, among
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
the old settlers in Flatbush or their descendants, through a period of a hundred or a hundred and fifty years .*
Filial love and obedience have always been shown, and the family life has been peaceable and harmonious. The standard of domestic virtue has been so high, and the marriage relation so honored and respected, that we can not recall one single instance of separation or legal divorce, and we know of no record of such through the annals of the past century.
Between man and wife there has been the exhibition of love and respect, the display of mutual confidenee and kindness, and that deep sympathy for each other in all the eares and anxieties of life which makes the marriage relation a realization of what God intended man and woman should be to each other.
* Says Thompson, in his " History of Long Island," published 1843, speaking of Kings County : " In 1786 a man was hanged in this county for forgery, and was the last person executed in a community so popu- lous, which, considering the mixed character of the inhabitants, and their proximity to one of the greatest commercial cities in the world, is quite a phenomenon in the history of morals, while the more distant and proverbially peaceful county of Suffolk las exhibited five capital executions in the same period."
The writer of a historical sketch, published 1840, says : " E. Hub- bard, Esq., of Flatlands, states that he has held the office of justice of the peace therein for more than twelve years, and during that period has transacted most of the judicial business for Flatlands, Flatbush, New Utrecht, and Gravesend, and during the whole time he has scarcely had a dozen trials, and only two suits at law in which a jury was de- manded ; that another gentleman held the office of justice in the town of Gravesend for eight years, and during that period there was but one trial by jury, and even in the case alluded to the difference was com- promised by the parties before the jury had delivered their verdict into court. Such a peaceable disposition in the people is highly creditable and honorable to them."
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HEALTHFULNESS OF FLATBUSH.
It speaks well for the religious and moral sense of the community that entire peace and harmony in the household were taken for granted ; it was the normal condition of things. The reverse would have been com- mented upon as something of unusual occurrence.
There have been aged couples who have lived to- gether through their silver to the date of their golden wedding whose love and tenderness for each other have been beautiful beyond expression ; there is even an ele- ment of pathos in their feeble endeavors to assist each other in the feebleness of old age, and a protest against the charge of fickleness when such a feeling can thus outlive all outward change.
The business men of the town have been character- ized by honesty when intrusted with public funds, and fidelity in the discharge of their duties, together with that steadfastness of purpose, that stability, and that strict adherence to what they consider right, which were characteristic of their Holland ancestors. Their char- acter was made of strong material and it has worn well.
As in every country town there have been feuds be- tween separate families, and party feeling has at times raged to an extent altogether disproportionate to its cause, yet it has never culminated in violence, and by those not immediately interested it has been the subject for a smile rather than for reproof.
In this emphatic statement of the morality of this people, and of their freedom from the commission of any crime for more than a hundred years, we have ref- erence solely to the descendants of the Dutch settlers.
The old Dutch Church has reason to rejoice over the impression she has made upon the religious sentiment of the community, and the training which has led her chil-
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
dren into the ways of honor and virtue through so many generations.
If there are those who think that this assertion of the morality of the Dutch is from one who is strongly biased in their favor, we would say in reply that it is substantiated by the characteristics accorded to this na- tion for two hundred years.
Says Brodhead, speaking of the Dutch in the Neth- erlands in 1648 : "The purity of morals and decorum of manners for which the Dutch have always been con- spicuous may, perhaps, be most justly ascribed to the happy influence of their women.
". . With all their economy and thrift, the Dutch were neither mean nor sordid. . . . The wealth which their industry gained was liberally expended in acts of humanity and charity. ... Of all the moral qualities which distinguished the Dutch, the most remarkable was their honesty," etc.
We take pleasure in recording the statement of this historian as to the character of the Dutch as a race, for it corroborates what we have said of them as a com- munity.
CHAPTER XX.
FARMS AND THEIR OWNERS.
NEARLY all the landed proprietors in Flatbush are those to whom the titles of their farms have been trans- mitted for several generations, dating in many cases from the settlement of the Dutch on Long Island.
Now the land is passing out of the hands of its former owners, the old names are disappearing, and the descendants of the first settlers are comparatively few. As long as it was possible to do so, the landowners re- tained their farms as such ; they were not anxious to cut up their beautiful fields into city lots, or to widen the green lanes and country roads into dusty avenues and wide boulevards.
The southern borders of Flatbush bound the towns on which the ocean waves measure the rise and fall of the tides ; toward the north lies the ridge of hills that long kept back the ebb and flow of the tide of human life in the adjoining city. In past years Flatbush slept as quietly between the two as if the waves of the one could no more reach it than could the waves of the other. But the separating hills have been leveled, and the village has been awakened by the noise of approach- ing voices. The tide of increasing population within the city boundary has risen higher and higher, and has
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
swept hitherward in larger and ever-increasing circles. The first ripple of this rising tide has touched our borders, and before long the sudden rush of some great wave will sweep away every trace of village life.
Anticipating these changes, we propose to show what the size and appearance of the village are at this present time, and to measure its growth since 1842, the time at which Dr. Strong's history was written. The map attached to that history gives us the streets and houses at that date ; following down the course of the main street through its whole extent, we shall be enabled to note the changes which have taken place.
We will also give such information as we have been enabled to obtain relative to the original ownership of the farms.
Beginning at the southern boundary of Flatbush, the first change we meet is that in the highway itself. In 1877 the road at the boundary between Flatlands and Flatbush was straightened, and the avenue was extended down to the bay.
The irregular curves upon an old road may not be convenient for business purposes, but its picturesque- ness as it winds among grain-fields and orchards is en- tirely lost when it is converted into a straight, broad avenue, with nothing to relieve the monotony of its barren, dusty expanse. The level extension of the fields in southern Flatbush and Flatlands is very favor- able to agriculture ; when these highly cultivated farms were seen through the trees by the wayside, they formed a pleasant rural landscape. This effect is almost lost in the change recently made ; it may have been necessary, but, remembering the quiet beauty of the old road, we hesitate to call the change an improvement. The straight-
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FARMS AND THEIR OWNERS.
ening of the road also changed the door-yards of those living near it. At present both the old road and the new are open to travel ; sometimes the two run parallel, sometimes they blend, and sometimes they cross each other or are separated by the rough and unsightly hum- mocks left by the removal of the dividing fences.
The land called on Dr. Strong's map " The Little Flat " contained two dwelling houses ; that on the east side of the road is marked as the residence of J. Antoni- des : it has since been pulled down to give place to the modern structure which was built by the son of the occupant of the old house. This family are descendants of the Rev. Vincentius Antonides, who was sent out from the classis of Amsterdam, Holland, to preach in the Dutch towns on Long Island in 1704. After this generation this old and respected name will become extinct in Flatbush, as the present Mr. Antonides is the only male representative of the family.
On the west side of the road the old-fashioned farm- house is still standing which was occupied by Mr. All- geo when Dr. Strong wrote his history. His father, old Mr. Allgeo, was a cabinet-maker by trade. The making of coffins was at that time part of a cabinet-maker's work, and it is said that many years before his death he made his own coffin and placed it in the loft of his work- shop. This act was significant of the fact that death had no terror for him, and that he was in every sense prepared for the change which came to him at the end of a long and peaceful life. The long, snow-white hair of Mr. Allgeo, and a certain peacefulness in the expres- sion of his countenance, reminded one of the pictures of Charles Wesley. Mr. Allgeo was born in 1766, of Eng- lish parentage, in the city of Montreal. He married a
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
daughter of Mr. Antonides, and settled in Flatbush. His grandson, Mr. William Henry Allgeo, still lives in this house and works this farm, which is the property of the heirs of the late Hon. John A. Lott.
On the same side of the road, north of this farm, stands a large house which was built by Mr. David John- son. After the death of Mr. Johnson, his widow, a lady who was much respected in the village, removed to Brooklyn. She sold the property to Mr. Robert Fox, who afterward purchased Fisher's Island, in Long Island Sound, and the land again changed owners. It is at present the property of Mr. Giroux, president of the Lafayette Insurance Company.
Adjoining the garden of Mr. David Johnson was the residence of his father-in-law, old Mr. Parmalee, after whose death it was sold, and has since had various owners.
Newkirk Avenue was opened in 1868 upon this prop- erty, running from Flatbush Avenue westerly to the Coney Island road.
On the corner of this and Flatbush Avenue Mr. Charles Baxter, of Brooklyn, erected a neat dwelling- house in 1870.
North of this is a house upon the farm of Mr. Henry S. Ditmas, which has been through successive years rented to various persons.
Adjoining is the pleasant homestead of Mr. Henry S. Ditmas. It stands with the gable-end to the road, and, judging from its appearance, it must have been built in or before the year 1800, as it had before altera- tion many of the characteristics of that period. The. front door was divided into an upper and a lower sec- tion, with the circular glasses known as " bulls'-eyes "
ZAMIG I WAHAASA
1
ABRAHAM I. DITMAS. Born March 14, 1830. Died September 3, 1894.
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FARMS AND THEIR OWNERS.
in the upper half to light the broad hall. The slope of the roof also marks it as one of the Dutch houses of that period.
The Ditmas family are the descendants of Jan Jan- sen, from Ditmarsum, in the Duchy of Holstein, who came to this country at an early period-about, or pre- vious to, 1647. His wife was Aaltje Douws. This farm, originally the property of Douwe Ditmas, extended southward, embracing the land on which Mr. David Johnson built his house, before referred to ; northward it extended to the farm of the Suydam family. We have been informed that the former homestead of the Ditmas family was an old stone house, south of the pres- ent residence of Mr. Henry S. Ditmas.
The antiquated appearance of the house on the next farm north, the home of Mr. John Ditmas, proclaims at once its age. There are very few dwellings of this style still remaining in this county. This is a long, low house with a heavy roof and no front windows in the second story.
We look upon these venerable houses with respect akin to that which we entertain for old friends, particu- larly when, as in this case, and the residence of Mr. Henry S. Ditmas, these have been the homes of those who, through many generations, have been prominent in the church and respected in the town.
This house was formerly the homestead of the Suy- dam family. The farm, after the death of Jacobus Lott, an early settler, was purchased by Hendrick Suydam. The late Mrs. John Ditmas was the daughter of Mr. An- drew Suydam. Hendrick Rycke, the ancestor of the Suydam family, emigrated in 1663 from Suytdam, or Zuytdam, in Holland. He married Ida Jacobs, and set-
180
THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
tled in Flatbush. Mr. John Ditmas built houses for two of his sons adjoining his own : that at the south for Mr. Abraham Ditmas, that at the north for Mr. Henry Ditmas.
Returning to the southerly extremity of the village, on the east side of the old Flatbush road, we find upon Dr. Strong's map the large adjoining farms of Mr. Ger- ret and Mr. John C. Vanderveer. These were both elderly gentlemen when Dr. Strong wrote his history, and they furnished him with much information in re- gard to the War of the Revolution. They were broth- ers, and were wealthy and prominent men in this town, and both reached an advanced age. Mr. Gerret Van- derveer had no sons. His daughter was the wife of Mr. Simon Cortelyou. The old farm and homestead have been sold for division among the heirs, and none of the descendants of this family now live upon the place.
The Vanderveer family still occupy the house of Mr. John C. Vanderveer, and cultivate the farm upon which their ancestors settled. The present head of the fam- ily is the son of the old gentleman mentioned in Dr. Strong's history. In May, 1878, he celebrated his gold- en wedding, and is still happy in being able to say that not a death has ever occurred in his family of children and grandchildren.
Adjoining this venerable homestead, on the south, is the house built for his son ; on the north is the house built by Mr. Henry Vernon Vanderveer, also a grand- son of old Mr. John C. Vanderveer, and son of Dr. Adrian Vanderveer.
The Vanderveer property extended over a large tract of land, and the family were among the oldest settlers in Flatbush. They are the descendants of Cornelis
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FARMS AND THEIR OWNERS.
Janse Vanderveer, who emigrated to this country from Alkmaar, a free city on the North Holland Canal, in 1659. He bought a farm of Jan Janse in Flatbush, and settled there.
An old mill formerly stood on this farm in sight of the road. It was recently destroyed by fire. We give the history of it from the newspaper account pub- lished at that time.
" VANDERVEER'S MILL.
"Last Tuesday night [March 4, 1879], about a quarter be- fore seven o'clock, a fire broke out in the ' Vanderveer Mill," on the farm of Messrs. John Vanderveer & Sons, between Canarsie Lane and Pardaegat Pond. The spectacle of its de- struction was such as has rarely been witnessed, and, mingled with the many people of the town who had gathered, were those who had been attracted for miles by the flames which lit the sky. The strong oak timbers stood up until the very last, while the shingles which covered it fell away, sending up showers of sparks, which, against the sky, looked like gold-dust sprinkled on a cloth of blue. Still the flames burned on till nothing re- mained but the bare timbers raising gaunt arms appealingly against destruction ; but the element did its work, and after a couple of hours had passed, that which it had taken years to build, and which had stood time's ravages for three quarters of a century, was laid in ruins.
" It was the first windmill erected on Long Island. It was completed in 1804, having been begun about three years before by John C. Vanderveer, father of the present owner. It was of immense strength, the main timbers being twenty-eight feet high and two and a half thick, hewn from trees grown on the farm. The carpenter was Abijah Baldwin, Joseph Mead being the millwright. John Oakey, Sr., father of the present Assist- tant District Attorney, worked on it as an apprentice. It was four stories high, with a stone foundation of about three feet.
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
The arms and sails were twenty-six feet long, and it had three run of stone. The sails were first blown off in the famous Sep- tember gale of 1821, and repaired by Baldwin. About ten years after the sails were again blown off, since which time they have not been repaired, the building being used as a storehouse for hay, etc. It was full at the time of the fire. When it was working, farmers came from the adjoining counties with their grist for the famous mill. The view from the upper windows was very fine, including Coney Island, the Narrows, Jersey, and Rockaway, and all places within a radius of twenty miles. Dur- ing the draft riots of 1863 it was a refuge for the colored peo- ple of the village, and they will hold it in grateful remem- brance."
Opposite to the road leading eastward to Canarsie is the road leading to New Utrecht called "the little lane."
The property between this "little lane" and the farm of Mr. John Ditmas was the property of the late Mr. Jeremiah Lott. This gentleman was for many years the leading, if not the only, surveyor in Kings County. He is spoken of as such as early as 1816.
We here give the copy of a manuscript written by Mr. Jeremiah Lott in 1858 by request. It is the gen- ealogy of the large and influential family of which he was a member :
"Peter Lott, from whom all the families of that name in this country have descended, emigrated from Europe in the year 1652, and settled in Flatbush on Long Island. He was one of the patentees named in the patent granted by Lieutenant-Governor Dongan in 1685 to the inhabitants of Flatbush. It is the gen- erally received opinion that the family came originally from England, but by subsequent intermarriages soon became fully identified with the Dutch. His wife's name was Gertrude:
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FARMS AND THEIR OWNERS.
neither the date of their birth nor their marriage is known. They both died in Flatbush, and the death of the wife occurred in 1704.
"Engelbert Lott, their eldest son-my great-grandfather --- was born in December, 1654, in this country, and was settled at New Castel, on the west bank of the Delaware River, about thirty-five miles below Philadelphia. He was united in mar- riage with Cornelia De la Noy, the daughter of Abraham De la Noy, who was of French extraction and a resident of the city of New York. At the time of his marriage he owned a con- siderable tract of land and marsh on Christiana Creek, in New Castel County, and two lots in the town of New Castel. This property he continued to hold for several years subsequent to his removal to Long Island, but he eventually disposed of it by deed, September 1, 1707, to Abraham Santford, John Harba- dink, and Jane Tuttle. Toward the close of the year 1682, New Castel, with the adjacent territory, became united with the province of Pennsylvania, under William Penn. Shortly after this union was effected, he took the oath of allegiance and promising fidelity and lawful obedience to William Penn, the Proprietor and Governor of that province, in compliance with an act passed at Chester by the Colonial Legislature of Pennsylvania. He was on terms of intimacy and friendship with Governor Penn, who held out strong inducements for him to remain at New Castel ; but the unhealthiness of the place and surrounding country, together with an ejectment suit which had been several years depending before the Court of Sessions, then held at Gravesend, in the West Riding of York- shire, on Long Island, in which Derick Jansen Hoghlant was plaintiff, and his father, Peter Lott, defendant, caused him to remove. In 1682, with his wife Cornelia, he came to Flat- bush, on Long Island, with a view to make it his permanent residence, and purchased a house and about two acres of land situated on the easterly side of the road and a short distance south of the Erasmus Hall Academy, near the property of Tunis J. Bergen. In the month of December, in the same year of his removal, he and his wife Cornelia were admitted on certificate
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