USA > New York > Kings County > Flatbush > The social history of Flatbush : and manners and customs of the Dutch settlers in Kings county > Part 14
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Next to the old house, on this corner, was the store which was built by Mr. Bateman Lloyd in 1805 from the timber of the first school-house.
We can not say if the school was held continuously in the same building, but it is probable that it was, and if so, then this timber must have been felled somewhere about 1660. The first school building was removed in 1803, Erasmus Hall Academy being then the school which the village children attended.
The store built from the timber of the old school- house was pulled down in 1825, and was converted by Dr. Zabriskie into a barn.
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
A large and handsome house was erected by Dr. John L. Zabriskie, in 1876, northwest of the old homestead pulled down in 1877.
Adjoining this, and within the inclosure of the same lawn, is the tasteful and comfortable residence of his mother, Mrs. A. L. Zabriskie, widow of the late Dr. J. Zabriskie. This house was built in 1865.
The property on the west side of the road, from the Dutch church on the south to what is now East New York Avenue on the north, was once held entirely in the names of the Lefferts, Martense, and Vanderbilt families. Beginning at Church Lane, the present prop- erty of Dr. Zabriskie, as far as Mr. Clarkson's lawn, was in the Lefferts family. Mr. Clarkson's was the Vanderbilt place. From Caton Avenue to the boun- dary line north of the residence of Dr. and Mrs. J. M. Ferris was the Martense farm, one of the largest, if not the largest, in the village. Next was another Lefferts farm, and adjoining that the Vanderbilt farm extended as far north as the present residence of Mr. J. Lott Van- derbilt. The property adjoining, north of the Vander- bilt farm, was owned by a Lefferts family.
No male representatives of these families at present hold this property, except in the case of Mr. John J. Vanderbilt and Mr. J. Lott Vanderbilt. The Zabriskie family, through Miss Abby L. Zabriskie, are the lineal descendants of the Lefferts family who once held that place. The Clarkson family, through Mrs. Clarkson, represent the former owner of the Vanderbilt property. The children of General Crooke, through their grand- mother, and the heirs of Judge Martense, Mrs. Ferris and Mrs. Wilbur, represent the Martense farm.
The handsome lawn and grounds of Mr. Matthew
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Clarkson were, in the early settlement, the property of Senator John Vanderbilt. Dr. Strong says of him that he was a man of "great nobleness of mind, of liberal views, and of enlarged public spirit." He was among the deputies from Kings County who met in New York in convention, April 10, 1775, for the purpose of choos- ing delegates to the first Continental Congress.
The large and showy mansion in which Mr. Matthew Clarkson and his family reside was built about 1836. The beautiful lawn surrounding it was carefully planted under the supervision of the late Mrs. Matthew Clark- son.
For the extent of its grounds, the handsome trees, and the situation and size of the house, this is consid- ered the finest place in Flatbush.
When the house was completed in which the family of Mr. Clarkson still reside, the old house was sold and moved by Captain Story across the street. It has under- gone so many alterations and improvements as to be scarcely recognized by those who remember its former appearance. A printing-office, owned by Mr. Riley, formerly stood on the north side of what is now Mr. Clarkson's lawn.
It was occupied by soldiers in the War of 1812. It was subsequently pulled down and carried to Brooklyn, where it still forms a part of the present "Mansion House," in Hicks Street.
The property of Mr. Clarkson has been separated from that of General Crooke on the north by the open- ing in 1876 of a street called Caton Avenue, from Flat- bush Avenue to Coney Island road.
We now return from the west to the east side of the street, beginning from the cross-road running from east
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to west beside the church. This road has of late years been called East Broadway, but at an earlier period it was known as Cow Lane, probably from the fact that there was much pasture land in this portion of the town.
The store at this northeast corner still remains very much the same in appearance as it did some twenty years ago, except that toward the east its length has been extended by useful if not ornamental additions.
An old brewery formerly stood near where the cor- ner grocery now stands, upon the Stryker property. The Stryker homestead was a long, low, brick house, close upon the road. The date upon the front was marked in colored brick as 1696. This venerable house was pulled down to give place to the cottage in which Mr. Garret Stryker now lives.
Mr. Peter Stryker and his wife Mrs. Maria Cornell Stryker, who lived in this old house, had no children. They perpetuated their name by giving the Stryker and Cornell scholarships to Rutgers College, New Bruns- wick, New Jersey.
The Stryker family were among the earliest settlers in Flatbush. Their ancestor, Jan Stryker, came from a province of Drenthe, in the Netherlands, in 1652. His son Peter resided in Flatbush, and was one of the paten- tees named on Dougan's patent.
Old Mr. Garret and Mrs. Anne P. Stryker formerly lived in the house next to this, which was also at one time the property of the Stryker family, and stood upon the large tract of land formerly in their possession.
It was sold in 1840 to Mrs. Helen Martense, who occupied the house for some time, and then gave it up to her son, Mr. Jacob V. B. Martense.
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Mrs. Helen Martense and her daughter, Miss Esther Martense, removed to the residence of her son-in-law, Mr. J. D. Prince, where they lived until the death of Mrs. Martense, which occurred in 1875.
Mr. J. V. B. Martense still resides with his family in this house. His wife was a daughter of Dr. Adrian Vanderveer.
The Martense family in Flatbush are the descend- ants of "Martin de Boer," or Martin the Farmer, so called because he owned so large a tract of land in the town.
This farm extended somewhat as follows : From Caton Avenue as the southern boundary to the northern boundary on the limits of the property of Mrs. L. Wil- bur and Mrs. J. M. Ferris, heirs of Judge Martense, deceased ; and from Flatbush Avenue westward to an irregular line extending as far as the boundary of the town of New Utrecht.
The homestead of "Martin de Boer " was situated on what is now the Parade Ground.
A small dwelling also stood on this farm, near where General Crooke's house now stands, which was pulled down when that house was completed in 1800.
The division of this large farm to the sons was as follows : Rem, the father of George Martense, inherited the farm on which General Crooke's house now stands, extending from Caton Avenue on the south to Franklin Avenue on the north. Gerret inherited the farm from Franklin Avenue to a point where the toll-gate now stands, or nearly opposite Hawthorn Street. The west- erly division descended through Adrian Martense to the heirs of the late George and Helen Martense. The remainder descended to the family at present repre-
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
sented by the heirs of Mrs. Story, a daughter of Mrs. Deborah Martense.
The birth of the three sons of Martin Adrianse, who, according to the custom of the age, reversed the name of their father and were called Martin's sons, or, as it has now become, Martens, is thus recorded in the Dutch Bible, still in possession of the family of General P. S. Crooke :
Rem Martense es geboren en et jaar 1695 der 12 Dec.
Gerret Martense es geboren en et yaer 1698 der 24 Oct. Adrien Martense . . . . 24 Oct 1707.
Then appears the record of the death of their pa- rents as follows :
1723 den dertigste April es overleden Sara, huysvrouw von Marten Adrianse en es begraaven den tweede dagh von Mey.
1754, Oct 30 es onze vader Marten Adrianse overleden ende begraaven de erst dagh von November.
The house adjoining that of Mr. J. V. B. Martense, and also the one next to that, are the property of the hoirs of Mrs. Deborah Martense, deceased.
The house owned and occupied by Mrs. Story, widow of the late Captain Story, formerly stood on the opposite side of the road, and is the house to which allusion has already been made as having formerly bo- longed to Mr. Clarkson.
A small farmhouse, owned by Judge Gerret L. Mar- tense, stood near the street on this property ; this was sawed into two and moved to the rear, forming barns for each of the two houses. It is said that Lord Stir- ling lived for a short time in this house during the Revolutionary War.
JACOB V. B. MARTENSE. Born February 20, 1825. Died December 16, 1881.
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FARMS AND THEIR OWNERS.
A wide street called Linden Boulevard has been opened north of this property, running eastward from Flatbush Avenue.
North of this street, on the property adjoining, stood the house once occupied by Mrs. Anne Stryker, widow of Gerret Stryker.
This house at one time stood close upon the road, and was used as a hotel by Duryea Wiggins. After- ward it was moved back from the road by Mrs. Stryker, and occupied for a time by herself and her daughter.
It has passed through various hands, and at present it is owned by Mr. Voit, a German gentleman.
The small house opposite Caton Avenue was for many years the property of Wilhelmus Stoothoff. Pass- ing successively into the ownership of various persons, it at present belongs to Miss S. Ella Schoonmaker.
The printing-office of the "Rural Gazette" is upon what was formerly the farm of Mr. John Lott. The building itself was at one time an inclosed summer- house, built by Mr. Willink within his grounds at the north end of the village. After the Willink place was sold, the editor of the "Rural Gazette " purchased and removed this summer-house to its present locality, where it has formed the nucleus of several additions which have since been made to it.
The first number of the " Rural Gazette " was issued in April, 1872. It has the largest circulation in the rural towns of any newspaper except the "Brooklyn Eagle." The editor is Mr. Egleston ; the assistant edi- tor is Mr. Green.
Diamond Street, a fine, wide street, with an as- phalt pavement, was opened eastward from this point in 1868.
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
Mr. Westfall has erected a large and showy dwelling upon this street, near the corner of Flatbush Avenue, and east of the Methodist church Mr. Rust has also built for himself a neat and tasteful residence.
The Methodist church was built upon this street after the congregation had outgrown the small church in East Broadway in which they first worshiped.
The first dwelling-house erected upon this street was that of Mr. Furman Nefus, son of Mr. Peter Nefus, of New York.
Opposite the junction of Diamond Street and Flat- bush Avenue is the residence of General Philip S. Crooke. It is marked on the map as the house of Mrs. Caton. This was originally part of the large Martense farm. Mrs. Caton was a daughter of Mr. George Mar- tense, mentioned in Dr. Strong's history. This house was built about the year 1800; it has undergone some alterations, but not such as to materially alter its style.
The large tree in front of the door is the last one of the four English lindens of which Mr. Strong speaks in his history as being venerable trees at that time. He says of these : "One stood in front of the house which was taken down to make room for the present dwelling of Judge John A. Lott. About the period of the Amer- ican Revolution a limb of this tree became broken, and Colonel Matthews, Mayor of New York, who then lived on the premises, had it leaded up, and it grew again. But after a while it was split by the wind, and he then sent to New York for riggers, who bound it up with ropes and so preserved it."
The second linden stood opposite the Dutch church, on what is now the corner of Flatbush Avenue and East Broadway. The third was the one we have referred to
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as standing at the eastern gable of Dr. Zabriskie's house which fell in the summer of 1876. This, in front of General Crooke's house, is the last of these four vener- able trees. It has been hooped and banded with iron in various places to strengthen and preserve it, but it be- gins to show signs of age.
Clarkson Street and Franklin Street have been opened westward from Flatbush Avenue, through the farm for- merly owned by Mrs. Caton, which extended at that time in unbroken length to what is now Franklin Street.
Several fine houses have been erected in this vicinity, in the western part of Flatbush. One of these was built by Mr. William Matthews, who was born in Scotland. It presents an imposing appearance at the approach from Ocean Avenue, and is a picturesque feature in the landscape, as seen, inclosed in trees, from the south side of Prospect Park. Mr. Matthews's eldest son married Miss Gertrude Prince, a descendant of the first settler, Marten, the large landed proprietor who, in 1646, owned the farm upon which Mr. Matthews's house now stands. A cottage was also built on Irving Place by Mr. Matthews for his daughter, Mrs. Mackenzie.
Mr. Wall, Mr. John H. Bergen, and other gentle- men have built cottages in this part of Flatbush which are now pleasantly shaded by elms and maples, so that for the quiet and seclusion of summer residences this is the most desirable part of the town.
Mrs. John H. Bergen is a daughter of General Crooke, and through her mother a descendant of the Martense family who originally owned this farm.
Mr. Longmire, living upon Irving Place, married a granddaughter of Mr. Henry S. Ditmas, to whose old homestead reference has been made.
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
Mrs. William Robinson, on Franklin Street, was a member of the Duryee family, settlers in the southerly side of Flatbush.
The rectory of St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal church is situated pleasantly in this portion of the town.
The land on the east side of the road, from opposite Caton Avenue to Clarkson Street, was the farm pur- chased by Johannes E. Lott, in 1799, from the heirs of Philip Nagle. There are no longer any of the Nagle family living in Flatbush. The long, old-fashioned house, still standing, has all the characteristics of the houses built in or about the year 1800.
The genealogy of Mr. John Lott, for whom this house was built, is included in that of the Lott family given by his brother, Mr. Jeremiah Lott.
This farm was sold for division of the property about 1865. It was afterward cut up into lots, some of which were sold, and the pleasant rural appearance of this part of the town was in consequence lost. Heavy brick stores, red and warm-looking in summer and scarcely more attractive in midwinter, loom up upon the corner lots. They are the harbingers of the changes which in time must come, but which might have been for some years deferred. The owners of these stores have an- ticipated a future in which they may be needed rather than a present in which they are.
A large brick building stands at the south corner of Diamond Street, and other stores, including the post- office, stand at the southeast corner of Clarkson Street, upon what was once this beautiful stretch of level farm- ing land.
From the south corner of Clarkson Street to the
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south corner of Winthrop Street was a farm owned, probably, by Jan Aertsen Vanderbilt, about the year 1720. The old house stood near the spot where Mr. Prince's house now stands. The first portion of this sold was the twenty-five acres at the north corner of Flatbush Avenue and Winthrop Street, on which was built the old house recently occupied by Dr. Robertson. The remainder of the land fronting, on Flatbush Av- enue was first sold to William Gifford, and by him to Charles Clarkson, father of Mrs. Matthew Clarkson, and, passing through various owners, has at length come into possession of its present proprietors. The southern half now belongs to Mr. J. D. Prince, the remainder to Mr. William Brown. The house owned and occupied by Mr. Prince was built by Mr. Peter Nefus, and the house owned and occupied by Mr. Brown was built by Mr. Robert Crommelin.
On the corner where Mr. Prince's house now stands was formerly an old house kept as a tavern or stage house. In the rear of it was Crommelin's mustard fac- tory.
Frederic and Richard Crommelin married the daughters of Teunis Bergen, who lived in a house (since burned down) corner of Flatbush Avenue and the " lit- tle lane " leading to New Utrecht.
Mr. J. D. Prince is a grandson of Dr. John Duffield and Margaret Debevoise, a descendant of Carel Debe- voise, first settler of that name in Brooklyn.
Mrs. Prince was a daughter of Mr. George Martense, a descendant of "Martin de Boer," or the farmer, of whom mention has been made ; Mrs. Helen Martense was a descendant of Rutger Joesten Van Brunt, who emigrated from the Netherlands in 1653, and was among
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
the first settlers in New Utrecht in 1657. Mrs. Mar- tense was public-spirited and generous, taking an active part in whatever tended to the public good and to the cause of benevolence.
Mr. William Brown owns and occupies the house ad- joining that of Mr. Prince. The grounds of these two gentlemen are exceedingly ornamental to the village. The separating fences have been removed and the gar- dens thrown into one, an act significant of much friendly feeling and neighborly intercourse.
Upon the land which was sold by the heirs of Mrs. Caton Mr. George Stillwell erected a neat and pleasant house on the northwest corner of Clarkson Street. Mrs. Caroline Stillwell was a daughter of Mr. Jeremiah Van- derbilt.
The small but neatly kept house of Mr. J. Smith ad- joins that of Mr. Stillwell.
At the southwest corner of Franklin Street and the Flatbush Road stands a house built by the late Mrs. Jane Rhodes. Mrs. Rhodes was a daughter of Mr. Peter Leake, one of the old inhabitants of Flatbush, who lived for many years on the " church lane."
Her eldest son, Mr. John Rhodes, studied for the ministry, but ill health compelled him to resign his work, and he died soon after.
Upon the completion of Prospect Park, Franklin Avenue, opened, widened, and planted with shade-trees, became one of the handsomest streets running westward from Flatbush Avenue. This street was named after old John Franklin, along whose property it ran. John Franklin and Charity, his wife, were members of the So- ciety of Friends. This property was formerly part of the Martense farm ; the house was built by the grand-
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FARMS AND THEIR OWNERS.
father of the late Judge Martense, and was sold to John Franklin ; it remained in possession of his heirs until a comparatively recent date, when it was pur- chased by Dr. Norfolk, who has made some altera- tions and improvements in the house ; he still owns it, and has made it for a few years past his place of resi- dence.
Opposite the junction of Franklin Avenue is one of the oldest houses in Flatbush ; it belonged until re- cently to Dr. John Robinson. It is pleasantly situated some distance from the road, and is approached through a handsome walk overshadowed by pine-trees. These pine-trees are of comparatively recent growth. Before the Revolution it is probable that the house could be seen from the street more plainly than it is at present. This house belonged during the War of the Revolution to Colonel Axtell, and is frequently referred to in Dr. Strong's history as a great resort of the Tories of New York. It was an unusually large and convenient house for one built at that period, and is not in the old Dutch style of architecture. It contained hidden closets and rooms almost inaccessible of approach in ordinary ways. Colonel Axtell himself was obliged to remain secreted in some of these hiding-places, so that there came in time to be an air of romance about the place, and it got to be looked upon as the haunted house of the town.
There is no house in Flatbush which has had so many different owners as this, and none of which so many fanciful stories have been told.
The real history of the place is this : This was the remainder of the twenty-eight acres forming part origi- nally of a Vanderbilt farm to which we have already
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
referred. This portion of it was purchased by an Eng- lishman by the name of Lane.
In 1749 he built what was, for that age, a large and showy house ; it had a greenhouse at the rear. The cornices in the drawing-rooms were gilded, the rooms wainscoted, and the halls wide. The grounds were laid out in flower-beds ; beyond the garden was a handsome lawn. Mr. Lane was an Englishman of a good family who was banished from his home on account of the wild life he led. He had married a woman of low parent- age, and they lived here on an annuity which ceased at his death ; after that she could not support the style in which they had lived, and the house was offered for sale, and purchased by Colonel Axtell.
This gentleman was a Tory, and most of the friends whom he entertained-the Mayor of New York was one -were kindred spirits, and drank toasts to the King and success to his army.
It is said that Colonel Axtell built some of these secret closets for the concealment of his Tory friends ; they were just the dark corners in which ghost stories take their rise.
Colonel Axtell liked gay and convivial guests, as did the young Englishman who had lived there before him. The ghosts said to have haunted the house gave no sign as to which family they belonged, but long after the War of the Revolution no one liked to venture after dark within the haunted premises. But time quiets even ghosts, and when the old people were all dead who had seen the apparitions that made the mysterious in- terest of this locality, then the ghosts too began to dis- appear.
They say that human remains, bones, hair, and mili-
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tary buttons have been found on digging upon the premises, but we spoil the mystery by explaining that it was known that some English soldiers who died during the war were buried here.
Mrs. Axtell, who was said to be a very haughty lady, brought with her to this house a poor, pale, sickly-looking child ; it was her sister or her niece, who, they used to say, was always crying with home- sickness and longing to go back, but was never allowed to go.
She was taken very ill, and the neighbors came in to assist in watching at night beside her. Her heavy masses of beautiful hair were wet from the dew of death upon her forehead, and she turned her dying eyes upon Colonel Axtell, they said, and not toward her sister.
Her gravestone was never put up at the head of her grave ; it lay for years resting against the churchyard fence, with this inscription : "Sacred to the Memory of Susannah Shipton, who died Sept. 9th, 1793."
Another sister lived with Mrs. Axtell, and she was of a different mold. She could bear up against what- ever burden may have been placed upon her shoulders. She was wooed and won by General Giles, of the Amer- ican troops ; he was forbidden to enter upon the domain of Colonel Axtell, but the lady met him at the gate, beyond which, upon the open highway, the Colonel's rule could not extend, and one day they ran away and were married.
By strange poetic justice, or by what has been called by some one the "irony of fate," when the estates of Colonel Axtell were confiscated at the close of the war, they became the property of General Giles, and the lady who had forbidden the young American officer to enter
15
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
her doors was now obliged, if she entered at all, to come as his guest. Colonel Axtell died in England, 1795, aged seventy-five.
Mrs. Mowatt, at one time an actress upon the stage, but better remembered in the village as a young and beautiful woman, the daughter of Mr. S. G. Ogden, of New York, lived in this house. She frequently alludes in her autobiography to this village, in which she spent many happy years. She was very graceful and fascinat- ing, and shone like such a bright figure upon the som- ber background of the old house, that perhaps it was her presence that came, like the sunshine, to dispel the shadowy visitants.
The property has since passed through many own- ers, but none have held it so long as its recent propri- etor, the late Dr. John Robinson, a physician who prac- ticed medicine for many years in New York city. He finished his course of study in Dublin University, and coming to this country settled in 1844 in Flatbush, upon this property, where he lived with his family until his death in 1879.
North of Dr. Robinson's place a street was opened in 1831 which has been recently called Winthrop Street.
The Cortelyou farm lies north of this street. It for- merly belonged to the Hegeman family. When, in 1794, John Cortelyou, of New Utrecht, married Catha- rine Lefferts, her father, Peter Lefferts, purchased this farm for her as a wedding gift. Isaac, only son of John and Catharine, lived on this property with his family until his death. It was at a later period offered for sale, to effect a division of the estate. The house, with a few lots of ground, was retained by Mrs. Cortelyou ; after her death this place was purchased by her oldest
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