USA > New York > Kings County > Flatbush > The social history of Flatbush : and manners and customs of the Dutch settlers in Kings county > Part 13
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On this lot, in front of the jail, stood the stocks and whipping-post. It is thus described by a gentleman who still remembers it :
" The tall post on one end was the whipping-post ; from this extended a horizontal beam in which were semicircular excavations graded from larger to smaller circumferences, to fit larger or smaller limbs ; the other half of this horizontal beam, rising upon a hinge when lowered in its place, fitted exactly over the lower half, and, when fastened down, secured the prisoners' legs in the rings thus formed."
It is probable that the stocks and whipping-post were destroyed when the jail was burned ; there is no record made of it.
The first county court-house was built in Graves- end in 1668. In 1686 the courts were removed to Flat- bush, where a court-house was erected, which was in 1758 replaced by one which was burned down in 1832. The county court-house after this was removed to Brooklyn. This had been long desired by the inhab- itants of that place, and there had been for some time previous much dissatisfaction at the location of the court-house.
In an old newspaper called the "Long Island Pa-
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
triot," "published every Thursday at 99 Fulton Street, near Sand Street," we find, in a number issued March 3, 1825, a memorial to the Legislature, " showing the pro- priety of erecting a new court-house, and naming Brook- lyn as the only desirable location." The arguments for the removal occupy two columns of the newspaper, and it is probable that there was much excitement occa- sioned. We copy a few lines from the "Memorial to the Legislature " in favor of the removal :
" A remonstrance against the removal of the court-house has been circulated in the county, in which it is stated that Flatbush is nearer the center of the county. The fact we ad- mit; but we think the center of population of infinitely more importance than the center of territory-it being the people who attend court, and not the acres of land; and that in a county extending but eleven miles the center can be of little importance."
In 1826 a law was passed by the Legislature that henceforth the Courts of Common Pleas and General Sessions of the Peace should be held alternately at the Court-house at Flatbush and at the Apprentices' Li- brary, Brooklyn.
In 1829-30 a law was passed empowering the Board of Supervisors to raise by tax a sum of money to devote to the purchase of lots in the village of Brooklyn, to erect a suitable building thereon for the accommodation of the courts of the said county.
But in 1832, the old jail being burned, an end was put to any complication which might have arisen from conflicting interests. In the next year another law was passed to the effect that the court-house and jail in and for the County of Kings should be erected in the village of Brooklyn.
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FARMS AND THEIR OWNERS.
After this, as we have stated, the land was sold, and " the court-house lot" finally came by purchase into possession of Judge Lott.
Near this spot is where the old Van Beuren tavern stood, kept as such afterward by Mr. Simon Voorhees for many years. All these inns have now given place to family homes. The residences of Mr. Abraham Lott and of Mr. John Z. Lott, with neat gardens and adjoin- ing lawn, kept with so much taste and care, present a delightful contrast in their present aspect as compared to that which they presented when Dr. Strong wrote his history.
On the easterly side of Flatbush Avenue, corner of Grant Street, stands the new and beautiful chapel of the Reformed Church, completed in 1871. It occupies nearly the site of the old house marked "J. Vander- veer " on Dr. Strong's map, near the blacksmith-shop ; both the house and the shop were pulled down some years ago. The property at that time belonged to the Antonides family.
The chapel is used as a Sunday-school room and also for prayer-meetings. It was a costly building, and has been much admired. A large and graceful elm shaded it when first built ; unfortunately, this tree died and was cut down in 1877.
Erasmus Hall Academy stands next north of the chapel. It is the third oldest academy in this State. It was built in 1786, and was incorporated by the Regents of the University in 1787.
We here copy the subscription list for the building of Erasmus Hall as it is given by Dr. Strong ; it shows that many well-known persons, non-residents of Flat- bush, were interested in it :
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
John Vanderbilt.
£100 | Adriantie Vorhies £30
Peter Lefferts. 60
Hendrick Suydam 25
John Vanderbilt 50 William B. Gifford. 20
Gerret Martense 50
Philip Nagle. 15
M. Clarkson. 50
Peter Cornell. 15
Joris Martense.
50
Johannes Waldron.
5
Aa Giles.
50
George Clinton, for any place in Kings County . . 15
Jacob Lefferts.
50
Johannes E. Lott
50
John Jay . 15
Cornelius Vanderveer
50
Robert R. Livingston 15
James Duane. 15
John Sloss Hobart. 5
Richard Varick 10
James Giles. 5
Brockholst Livingston 10
John H. Livingston 5
Alexander Hamilton 10
Comfort Sands. 20
William Duer
15
Samuel Franklin 10
Walter Rutherford.
10 Francis Childs 5
Carey Ludlow
10
Richard Platt. 10
Edward Livingston
10
W. Edgar
5
William Wilcoeks
10 Sampson Fleming. 5
D. C. Verplank.
10
Aaron Burr 10
- - McCombe
10
The money thus raised was not sufficient to defray all the expenditure, and the following plan was adopted to increase the fund.
There was at that time a tract of land called Twillers and Corlear Flats, held by the inhabitants of Flatbush in common. Consent was obtained for the sale of this land. The founders of the Academy agreed that their respective proportions should be applied toward paying the debt. The land sold at sixteen dollars per acre. Fifteen hundred dollars were given toward the Academy. The remainder was divided among the property owners who would not relinquish their claim in behalf of Eras- mus Hall. Subsequently the remaining part of the commons was sold, and the money applied to liquidate
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FARMS AND THEIR OWNERS.
the debt, but it was not fully accomplished until 1825.
The above account is taken from Dr. Strong ; he says, also, that at this time it was proposed to locate here the theological seminary of the Reformed Church. It is much to be regretted that Flatbush was not selected, instead of New Brunswick, as the site of the college and seminary buildings.
In an old leather-bound book, published in Boston in 1791, we find the following allusion to this Academy : "In this state [New York] there are several academies. One of them, Erasmus Hall, is in the delightful and flourishing village of Flatbush." Coming from the source whence it does, the recognition of this venerable seat of learning, without mention made of the rest, im- plies some degree of celebrity.
North of Erasmus Hall is the house formerly used as the parsonage of the Dutch Church ; this was built for Dr. Strong. He lived here when he wrote his his- tory of Flatbush.
The land on which this house stood, however, be- longed to the public school. It was sold, and when the old parsonage next to the church was pulled down, a new building, the present parsonage, was erected upon that land ; then this lot was purchased from the trus- tees of the public school by Mr. Richard L. Schoon- maker, youngest son of Mr. Michael Schoonmaker. He died in 1876. Miss S. Ella Schoonmaker, his daughter, now owns the house and land.
This lot of ground is referred to in Dr. Strong's his- tory. He says it was a triangular piece of ground, on which stood three distinct buildings, joined together, but evidently erected at different times. In this build-
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
ing the village school was held until the year 1803. Dr. Strong says that the oldest portion of this building was of stone, the subsequent additions being of wood. We infer, from his description of this building, that this was the first village school-house erected by our ancestors in Flatbush. As Dr. Strong gives the list of schoolmasters from the year 1659, we are also led to believe that this old stone school-house may have dated back to that time.
When this school-house was pulled down, the lot of ground remained vacant until, during the last war with Great Britain, the Government erected a gun-house upon it.
About the same time, the old store, still standing, was built by Mr. Michael Schoonmaker, and in the year 1823 the house was built which, during the early por- tion of Dr. Strong's ministry, was the parsonage.
Next adjoining the old store, a new building was erected by Mr. Richard L. Schoonmaker, the second story of which was intended for use as a public hall. Until the erection of the town hall, this room was used for purposes of entertainment, business assemblages, etc., and was found very useful for any public gathering. It was known as Schoonmaker's Hall.
The upper story of this building has for many years been rented as a Masonic lodge to the large and highly respected body of Freemasons in Flatbush.
On the east side of the road, near the corner of what is now called East Broadway, formerly stood one of those long, low, old-time houses such as we have already alluded to as being in the Dutch style of architecture of the past century.
There were half-doors, with round glasses in the up-
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FARMS AND THEIR OWNERS.
per half to light the room into which the front door opened. A large linden-tree stood upon the sidewalk before the door, shading the long stoop. . A side view of this house may be had in the picture of the Dutch Church taken for Dr. Strong's history.
This house, soon after the settlement of Flatbush, belonged to the Waldron family. The last of the name, being an old bachelor, left it to his nephew, John Fish, who married a daughter of Peter Strycker, from New Jersey.
Mrs. Fish's sister, another of the Strycker family, took her niece to live with her. This niece, to whom she left this property, married Mr. Michael Nefus. The descendants of this family have left the village, and the house has since been partly taken down and partly con- verted into an addition to the large store built upon the corner of this street by Mr. Randolph, who at one time held it as a large grocery store. It has now been rented as an apothecary shop. There are one or two smaller shops between this and the building known as "Schoon- maker's Hall," so that this corner of the street does not present a vestige of its former appearance.
The liberty-pole, near the site of a former one which was erected at the close of the war, may also be seen in the picture of the old Dutch Church, where the two roads cross each other.
This liberty-pole was raised when Henry Clay ran for President. It was taken down some years after, to prevent accident in case of its falling, as it was in a de- cayed state.
To return to the west side of the street : next, south of the two houses built for his sons, stands the late resi- dence of Judge John A. Lott, in which his widow still
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
resides. It is spoken of in Dr. Strong's history as being at that time (1842) a new house, built on the spot where once stood the "long, gloomy, but time-honored house of Barent Van Deventer."
On this same lot at one period was a building erected by Abraham Vanderveer, and used as a grocery store and post-office.
Judge Lott died here in the summer of 1878. We here insert a sketch of his life, taken from the "Chris- tian Intelligencer" of July 25, 1878 :
"John A. Lott was born February 11, 1806. His preparatory education was obtained at Erasmus Hall Academy, in Flatbush, and when about twenty years of age he entered Union College, from which he graduated with high honor. He studied law with Henry E. Warner, Esq., of this city, at the time a distin- guished member of the bar. After practicing a short time in this city he formed a partnership with the Hon. Henry C. Mur- phy, and transferred his office to Brooklyn. Judge John Van- derbilt was afterward admitted to the firm, which became the leading one in the city and county. The firm, Lott, Murphy & Vanderbilt, was well known throughout the country among the profession, and was held in the highest esteem. It was for many years a famous office, and one of the chief centers of local political movements, and also influential in State affairs. In those days, when there was not, as at present, a body of irre- sponsible, vicious voters, who could be bought, sold, and deliv- ered, the political conflicts in the State were campaigns in a war of giants. In those conflicts this powerful firm was often con- spicuous, and for many years the chief combatants. Their legal business was very large, and included cases of the highest im- portance. Judge Lott applied himself with untiring energy and devotion to the business of his profession, and soon took his place among the foremost lawyers of the State. His great knowledge of the law and his strict integrity led to his election as County Judge in 1838, an office which was held for four years,
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FARMS AND THEIR OWNERS.
during a part of which time, in 1841, he was also a member of the Assembly. In 1842 he was elected to the State Senate, in which he served for four years with great ability. He then re- turned to the practice of his profession, to which he devoted himself with great carnestness and assiduity, and became one of the leaders of the bar, especially in cases involving large inter- ests and requiring the most profound and accurate knowledge of the law. He was a great lawyer. In 1857 he was elected a Judge of the Supreme Court, to fill the unexpired term of Judge Rockwell, and when the four years of the term had passed, so general was the confidence of men of all parties in his integrity and ability, that he was reelected without opposition for a full term of eight years. In 1869 he was elected a Judge of the Court of Appeals, the highest court of the State, to fill an unex- pired term, and not long after, when a Commission of Appeals had been authorized to clear away the enormous accumulation of cases in this court, he was made the Chief Commissioner, an office which was held until 1874 or '75, when the commission expired by limitation. In the election of 1869 signal proof of the popular confidence was afforded in the remarkable fact that he ran ahead of his ticket, when usually the vote for a judge is smaller than that for other candidates, the interest in such ap- pointments being less general.
" Within a short time Judge Lott resigned as a director of the Atlantic Bank, Brooklyn, and at the time of his death was President of the Long Island Bible Society, a trustee of Rutgers College, a member of the Board of Domestic Missions of the Reformed Church, the president of the Long Island Safe Deposit Company, the president of the Flatbush Gas Company, presi- dent of the Village Board of Improvement, director of the Nas- sau Insurance Company and of the Long Island Insurance Com- pany, a director in the Flatbush and Coney Island Railroad, of which he was president during its construction, a work that was completed without a single lawsuit in connection with the purchase of the right of way, all concerned accepting his judg- ment and relying upon his integrity. He was also a trustee and the treasurer of the venerable Erasmus Hall Academy. Althoughi
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
beyond three score and ten years, the duties of these various re- sponsible positions were performed by him regularly, promptly, and vigorously. Indeed, at every meeting he was a source of life and movement.
"During this long and eventful career Judge Lott was dis- tinguished for intellectual power, thoroughness, decision, but especially for integrity and industry. His application was won- derful; it was a devotion to the work in hand, prompted and maintained by a conscientiousness of remarkable strength and constancy. Judge Lott was a great man, a great lawyer, a great judge, whose decisions will stand unchallenged, but he was espe- cially great as a man of the highest integrity in thought, pur- pose, and action. His was the greatness of goodness. This led him to put his whole strength upon any work intrusted to him. A sense of duty, a consciousness of the responsibility resting upon him, impelled him to master all the facts and all the law of any case, however trivial, committed to his care. As a judge, though sometimes brusque and even harsh, he was noted for the dispatch of business. He made the attorneys work hard, but he worked harder than any of them. So strictly upright himself, he had no patience with those who were untrue, or unfair, or given to tricks, and sometimes on the bench manifested his con- tempt for lawyers guilty of such faults. But to men of charac- ter and sincerity, though sometimes abrupt, he was always fair and respectful, and often helpful. About twenty-five years ago Judge Lott became a member of the Reformed Dutch Church of Flatbush, by a profession of his faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. He was at the time in the height of his ability, having a vigorous mind sustained by an equally vigorous body. The conviction of such a legal mind is a proof of the power of the truth. Before that one of the best of men, he had since been becoming more and more estimable in character. The Gospel softened asperi- ties, set free more and more the large and generous heart which had been in a degree repressed. He became active in the service of the Church, and in various capacities and gratuitously gave her work the benefit of his ability and experience. His generosity is too well known to need repetition here. All the charities and
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FARMS AND THEIR OWNERS.
all the institutions of the Church received liberal gifts again and again from his hand. He loved the Church with an intelligent, hearty, and self-denying love, and was keenly alive to her suc- cesses or disasters."
North of and adjoining the garden of Judge Lott once stood a little country inn, which was a favorite resort for families driving out from New York and Brooklyn during the summer, at a period when an af- ternoon's drive and a country tea took the place of the present excursion by steam or by rail. The house is still standing, although it is no longer an inn as for- merly.
The sign, which swung between two high poles in front of the door as late as 1842, bore the English coat of arms, the same which had been there since the old colonial times. Although so blackened by time and dimmed by age as to be scarcely distinguishable, yet there the lion and the unicorn were fighting for the crown until Time, the conqueror of all things, impar- tially reduced them both to indistinctness.
Where the present parsonage of the Dutch church now stands, there was previously an old house which probably from about 1711 had been the parsonage for all the Dutch towns ; subsequently Flatbush, by purchase, came into the sole possession of the prop- erty.
It was a long, low building, without front windows on the second story, and with a steep, heavy roof, after the pattern of the first Dutch houses.
Dr. Strong says of this old house : "It is proba- ble that about the year 1698, when the first church was pulled down, in which there was accommodation for the minister and his family, the first parsonage
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
was built. This is the south part of the present building."
The "present building " of that period has given place to the large and roomy parsonage where Dr. Strong lived at the time of his death, and where his successor, the present pastor, Dr. Wells, resides.
Dr. Strong was the pastor of this church for a pe- riod of thirty-nine years. As a minister he had the respect of the church ; as a true and firm friend he was beloved by his people ; as a Christian gentleman he was remarked for his courteous manners and the quiet dig- mity of his deportment. In time of trouble he was ever ready with sympathy, and the cordiality with which he met those who sought him for pastoral instruction served to bind him to them in affectionate regard.
After the death of Dr. Strong the pulpit of the Dutch Reformed Church was temporarily filled by Rev. Mr. Howard, an English clergyman, who was at that time principal of Erasmus Hall Academy.
Rev. C. L. Wells, D. D., soon after accepted the call to the place left vacant by the death of Dr. Strong, and has since 1862 been the occupant of the parson- age.
Rev. Dr. Wells was preaching in Jersey City at the time of receiving the call, and from that to the present time he has been the stated preacher of the Reformed Church in Flatbush and a zealous guardian of its inter- ests. In 1878 the title of Doctor of Divinity was con- ferred on him by Rutgers College.
The old consistory room, standing between the church and the parsonage, was built in 1830. It was formerly used for the Sunday-school, for prayer meet- ings, and lectures.
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FARMS AND THEIR OWNERS.
After the chapel was built, on the corner of Flat- bush Avenue and Grant Street, the use of the consistory room for such purposes was abandoned, and it is now only occasionally required, and is beginning to show signs of falling into decay.
The street running cast and west, and crossing Flat- bush Avenue here at right angles, is known on the east as East Broadway and on the west as Church Lane.
At the easterly extension of this street, and of those parallel to it, lie some large and finely cultivated farms belonging to the old Dutch families of Schencks, Suy- dams, Williamsons, Remsens, and Kouenhovens ; some of these farms extend into Flatlands. The ancestors of the Kouenhoven family (variously spelled by the dif- ferent branches) came from Amersfoort in the Nether- lands in 1630.
The Suydams were descendants of Hendrick Rycken, from Suytdam, who settled in Flatbush about 1663.
The Schenck family were descendants of Johannes Schenck, who settled here in 1683. The family history has been published recently by Dr. P. L. Schenck ; it is a work of much interest, and contains facts of impor- tance relating to the early settlement.
Fronting southward on the corner of Flatbush Ave- nue and Church Lane formerly stood the house of Dr. Zabriskie, which was pulled down in November, 1877. This was one of the old landmarks ; there were none who could furnish a record of the time when, or by whom, it was built. In its heavy, sloping roof, its long, narrow front stoop, and the low ceilings of its roomy first floor, it showed the characteristics of the houses which were built at an early period.
It was almost with a feeling of pain that we saw
14
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
this old homestead pulled down ; this, that had been the happy home of generations dead and gone. With every other sign of age, even yet its hospitable roof showed no visible mark of decay, as if, stanch and firm, it would fain show itself to be faithful to the end.
The old tree referred to in Dr. Strong's history as the one under which Major Lenox parted from his brothers stood on this corner, opposite the gable-end of Dr. Zabriskie's house. "When asked by his brothers to abandon the American cause, although the tears were in his eyes, he replied with Roman firmness, 'I will never do it.'"
It is quite remarkable that this old tree, an English linden, stood erect until the centennial celebration of the freedom of which it had witnessed the dawn. A dead or dying branch was the only sign it gave of capit- ulation to Time, the great conqueror, until the full century of freedom was completed ; then, upon a quiet day when there was scarcely a breeze to account for its fall, it slowly yielded to the power of decay, and, as if of its own consent, without the compulsory power of the external elements, it gave up its life and fell to the ground.
When Dr. Strong's history was written, Dr. John Zabriskie, father of the present Dr. John Lloyd Zabris- kie, was the head of the family in this venerable house. He was a man of fine physique and noble appearance. His tastes indicated refinement and intelligence, for he devoted his leisure from professional duties to the cul- tivation of music and to books. Fond of reading him- self, he was ever anxious to encourage young people to study, and he endeavored to promote a love of learning in the village. He was in the habit of lending out
M
Lo
У М НЯЗІЯВАЯ Д УНО
JOHN L. ZABRISKIE, M. D. Born August 26, 1831. Died November 11, 1895.
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FARMS AND THEIR OWNERS.
books from his private library, and was ever willing to direct the course of reading among his young friends and the children of his neighbors.
At one of the windows in the easterly gable-end of the old house of Dr. Zabriskie, we distinctly remember seeing the grandmother of Mrs. Zabriskie, old Mrs. Lloyd. This was her favorite seat. She lived to a great age, and used to vary her daily reading and knit- ting by cutting pictures of fruit and foliage, which she frequently handed out to the school children as they, passing her window, stopped to say "Good morning." We have still in our possession a specimen of the old lady's skill. It was cut in her eighty-third year, and represents a neatly outlined tracery of twining leaves and branches, and is pasted upon one of the leaves of the old linden-tree which shaded her window. The motto upon it and the date-" We all do fade as a leaf, 1839"-is the more impressive as the passing years have in their changes seen the old lady borne to her grave, the tree fall from age, and the house in which she lived leveled to the ground.
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