.^"^ *5 .LVL% •?• ^i, ♦•-o" .-^ V t 1 • ' ^0^ *^^'':^»-y %*-Tr,.'^o^ ^<.,'-:^'-y % ^^ 'o . > " ,0 o ^°-^<^. v-^^ **^\ V-o'' "oV" *3 •iJnL'* '^■?' :^'. "> X /^:i^'-^. .^'.'A'ir.X .^^-'^^-^> ■^0^ ^°-n^. A o. ,^ ^c HISTORY -OF- RICHMOND COUNTY, (STATEN ISLAND) NEW YORK, From its Discovery to the Present Time. EDITED BY RICHARD M. BAYLES. ' Staten Island ! the name hath a charm to the ear: ' Fair Island of Beauty ! ' " The Gem of the Sea ! ' Let other harps sing of the scenes ever dear, But mine, be it tuned in its praises to thee. ' Thou 'rt lilpropriated lands. Among some of these early court records we find the follow- ing: Jacob Jeyoung (Guyon) Ptf ) In A Action of the Cans Isaac See (?) Deft ) At A Court held on Staten Island By the Constable and oversears of the seam on this pi-esent Munday Being the 7 day of febraery 1680 wharas the caus de- pending Between tlie Ptf and deft hath Bin heard the Court orderetb deft to Cleer his flax forthwith and his Corn out of the Barn within ten days from the deat hearof and to clear up Ms other A Counts at the next Court. A A Court held on Staton Island By the Constabl and over- sears of the Seam on this presont Munday Being the 5 day of September 1680 Sarah whittman Ptf William Britton Deft, in A Action of the Case to the valew of £4. 10 s. 6d. The Cans depending Betwixt the Ptf and Deft hath Bin heard and for want of farther proof the Caus is Referred till the next Court. Sarah Whittman Ptf William Briten Deft At A Court held on Staton Island by the Constabll and over- sears of the seam on this present Munday Being the 3 day of October 1680 the Court ordereth that the Deft shall seat (set) up and geett (get?) forty panell of soetisiont (sufficient) fence for the yous (use) of Sarah whitman at or Be foor the first of november next in sewing (ensuing) with Cost of sewt. The regulation of the sale of intoxicating liquors received the early attention of the government, and the following rates were established throughout the province, which "tapsters" were allowed to charge : French wines. Is. 3d. per quart; Fayal wines and St. George's. Is. 6d.; Madeira wines and Portaport, Is. lOd.; Canaryes and Malaga, 2s. per quart ; brandy, 6d. per gill; rum, 3d per gill ; syder, 4d. per quart ; double beere, 3d. per quart ; meals at wine-houses, Is.; at beere-houses, 8d.; lodgings at wine-houses, 4d. per night; at beere-houses, 3d. In 1668, Nicolls, by his own request, was relieved of the government of the province, and was succeeded by Colonel Francis Lovelace. Thomas Lovelace, whose official signature is appended to so many of the old documents connected with the conveyance of property on Staten Island, and otherwise, and who at one time was sheriff of the county, was a brother to the 78 ' HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. governor, and a member of his council ; there was also another brother, named Dudley, likewise a member of the council. The record of the administration of tliis governor contains many acts of arbitrary ruling and disregard of the rights of the com- mon people. His theory of the proper way to hold a people in submission appears in a letter written by himself to a friend, to have been by imposing "such taxes on them as may not give them liberty to entertain any other thoughts but how to dis- charge them." Governor Lovelace, it is said, owned a plantation on Staten Island, on which he built a mill for grinding cereals. One of the prominent acts of his administration was the re-purchase and final extinction of the Indian claim to the island. This was consummated on the 13th of April, 1670. This act has been termed '"the most memorable" of his administration, and the island was described as "the most commodiousest seate and richestland " in America. The year previous, the principal sa- chem had confirmed the former bargains made with the English, but several other inferior sachems now presented their claims, insisting that they were the owners. To quiet them, a new bargain was made ; they executed another deed and possession was given by " turf and twigg." This was the last sale made by the Indians. They reserved two sorts of wood, however, and within the memory of the people now living, small parties of Indians, at long intervals have visited the island, and ex- ercised their reserved right of cutting such wood as they re- quired for the purpose of making baskets. The original Indian deed is still in existence. Its preamble cites that it was made "between Francis Lovelace, Governor- General under James, Duke of York and Albany, etc., and the Indians Aquepo, Warrines, Minqua, Sachemack, Permantowes, Qurvequeen, Wewaneca, Oneck and Mataris, on behalf of theirselves, as the true owners and lawful Indians, proprietors of Staten Island." The conveyance was executed by the affix- ing of the hands and seals of all the parties and the attesting witnesses as follows: Couns. Steenwick, Maijor Tho. Lovelace, C. V. Reinjven, Oloff Steven Y. Cortland, AUard Anthony, Johannes Yamburgh, Gerrit Yan Tright, J. Bedlow, \Yarn Wessols, Constapel, William Nicolls, Humph' y Davenport, Cornelis Bedloo, Nicholas Antony. The Indians were to have tlie privilege of remaining until the HISTOKY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. 79 following May, when they were to surrender the island to such persons as the governor should appoint to receive it. This was accordingly done on the first day of May, Thomas Lovelace and Matthias Nicolls having been deputed by the governor to receive the transfer of possession from the Indians. The conveyance also contained the following two paragraphs which are of sufficient interest to warrant copying: "The payment agreed upon for ye purchase of Staten Island, conveyed this day by ye Indian Sachems. proj)riet's is (vizt.) : I, Foure hundred Fathoms of Wampum ; 2, Thirty Match Boots ; 3, Eight Coates of Durens, made up ; 4, Thirty Shirts 5, Thirty Kettles ; 6. Twenty Gunnes ; 7, A Firkin of Powder 8, Sixty Barres of Lead ; 9, Thirty Axes ; 10, Thirty Howes II, Fifty Knives." "It was further covenanted that two or three of the said Sachems, their heirs or successors, or persons employed by them, should once in every year, the first day of May, after their surrender, repair to the fort, and acknowledge their sale to the Governor, and continue in mutual friendship." The latter paragraph appears as an endorsed memorandum, with the signature of Francis Lovelace attached to it. Several young Indians were not present at the time the above conveyance was made, accordingly, in order to secure their firm understanding and approval it was again delivered on the 25th of April, and in their presence. They made their marks upon it as witnesses. The names of those who thus subscribed were — " Pewowahone, about 5 yeares old, a boy ; Pokoques, about 8 yeares old, a girle ; Shirjuirneho, about 12 yeares old, a girle ; Kanai'ekante, about 12 yeares old, a girle ; Mahquadus, about 15 yeares old, a young man; Ashehanewes. about 20 yeares old, a young man." This was the final sale of the island by the Indians, and we have no knowledge of any claim ever being made by them to its soil from that time forward to the present. It has already been said that the Indians were always ready to sell the island. In 1636 they sold it to Michael Pauw ; shortly after they sold a part t(j David Pietersen de Vries ; in 1641 to Cornelis Melyn ; in 1657 to Baron Van Cappelan, and in 1670 to Govei'nor Love- lace. To this last sale they were obliged to adhere ; there was probably more ceremony about it, which rendered the transao- tion more impressive. In delivering possession, they presented 80 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. a sod and a shrub or branch of every kind of tree which grew upon the island, except the ash and elder (some say ash and hickory). The administration of Governor Lovelace was brought to an unexpected end by the surrender of the colony to its former masters, the Dutch. Rumors of anticipated troubles in Europe reached America, and Lovelace immediately began to make preparations for the worst, so far as his means permitted ; he strengthened the defenses of the fort, organized several military companies in the metropolis, and other places in the province, repaired arms and laid in a large quantity of ammunition and other warlike stores. In April, 1672. England and France de- clared war against Holland; in Europe, the war was chiefly naval, and the English and French fleets suffered severely at the hands of De Ruyter and Tromp. On the 7th day of August, 1673, a Dutch fleet of twentj'-three vessels arrived in New York bay, and anchored under Staten Island. Soon after their arrival they made a raid upon the plantation of Lovelace, and carried oft" sufficient cattle and sheep to make a breakfast for the 1,600 men on board the ships of the fleet. This arrival produced the greatest consternation in the city and neighboring villages. Lovelace himself was absent from the city at the time, and when the demand was made for the suri'ender of the fort, it was yielded without the firing of a gun. Captain Manning, the commandant of the fort, was afterward tried for ti'eachery and cowardice, and sentenced to have his sword broken over his head. The conquest having been consummated Anthony Colve was immediately appointed governor of the colony, and at once commenced the work of obtaining the submission of the people to his authority, and reorganizing the government according to his own notions. But the Dutch rule was of short duration. On the 9th of February. 1874, peace was concluded between England and the states general, by the treaty of Westminister, and according to its terms the colony reverted to the English. Major Edmond Andros, of Prince Rupert's dragoon regiment, which had been disbanded, was selected as the proper person to proceed to America and receive the province from the Dutch. Armed with the proper authority from the Dutch government, which had been furnished at the request of the English king, he arrived in the Diamond frigate in October, 1674, and an- chored under Staten Island. A correspondence was at once HISTORY OF RICHMONB COUNTY. 81, opened between him and Colve, which resulted in a surrender of the province on the 10th day of that month. Andros having received his commission as governor, caused the oatli of allegiance to be administered to the people ; the English government was once more established, and so con- tinued for a century thereafter. The Duke of York, apprehen- sive that the validity of his title might be called in question, in consequence of the province having been in the possession of a foreign power, received a new patent from the king. Andros having been recalled, Brockholst administered the government until the arrival of Colonel Thomas Dongan, who, though commissioned September 30th, 1682, did not arrive until the 25th of the following August. He was a professed papist, but is said to have been a "wiser man than a master." The people of Staten Island are more directly interested in him than in any other governor of the province under either nation- ality ; having the whole country before him, from which to select his residence, he made choice of Staten Island, and the evidences of his residence here are still, in some measure, per- ceptible. Let us pause in our narrative for a brief space, to take a view of the condition of the island at this early period. The first dwelling houses erected on the island after the removal of the Walloons to Long Island, were in the vicinity of the Narrows, or between that and Old Town, which is so called, probably, from that circumstance, and were not more than five or six in number. There was one, probably, at the extreme south end, and one or two at Fresh kill. Subsequently, in 1651, when the Waldenses arrived, and, after them, the Huguenots, the settlements at Old Town and Fresh kill received ac(;essions. Before their arrival there were no roads, except, perhaps, foot-paths through the forest, between the two last-mentioned localities ; there was no need of any, for the intercourse of the islanders was with New Am- sterdam. After the settlements at Old Town and Fresh kill had received accessions, intercourse between them became more frequent, and, in due course of time, the road from the one to the other was constructed ; particularl}'^ after the Waldenses had built their church at Stony Brook, and the Huguenots their at Fresh kill. The houses were built in clusters, or hamlets, for convenience 6 82 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. in mutual defense and protection. Tradition says that one of the first dwellings on the island was situated on the heights at New Brighton, and was constructed of bricks imported from Holland, and occupied, for a time at least, b\' a prominent of- ficial of the government. If there is anj- truth in the tradition, the house was, probably, the residence of de Vries, who, feel- ing secure in the friendship of the Indians, ventured to erect his dwelling in that beautiful, but remote, locality. That the builder's confidence in the Indians was not misplaced, the same tradition further says that, in 1655, when the great Indian war broke out, and tlie island was nearly depopulated, this house and its occujjants were spared. In the latter part of the last century, and in the beginning of the present, all the territory embraced in the first, and most of the second wards of the present village of New Brighton constituted farms owned by the families of the Van Buskirks, Crocherons and Vreelands ; these farms extended from the kills one mile into the country. Abra- ham Croclieron, the owner of one of them, erected a grist mill in the valley east of Jersey street, relying for a supply of water on the spring now known as the Hessian spring ; but this not proving sufficient, he converted his grist mill into a snuff mill, for which the supply was abiindant. About the same time Captain Thomas Lawrence built a distillery on a small wharf which now forms a part of the present large New Brighton wharf. Long before this part of the island was patented to any individual, and laid out into farms, and while it was yet covered with the original forests, there was a deep ravine, extending from the spring mentioned above to the kills, into which the tide ebbed and flowed, and which, in the days of the Dutch and early English governors, afforded a place of concealment for the smugglers who infested the coast. The face of the country has now become materially changed, by cutting down the hills and tilling up the valleys. In process of time, as settlers arrived, they located along the shores, and roads became a necessity ; these at first were con- structed along the shores, until at length cross roads for con- venience of communication between the several settlements were constructed. Some of these old roads have been closed, and the Clove road is the only original one now left. In regard to the character of the early settlers, a writer of that century said : "'As to their wealth and disposition thereto, HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 83 the Dutch are rich and sparing ; the English neither very rich, nor too great husbands ; the French are poor, and therefore forced to be penurious." Among the earliest manufacturing enterprises in this country- was the establishment of a still for the manufacture of brandy. This was founded on Staten Island by Director Kief t, in the latter part of the year 1640, and was said to be the first man- ufactory of spirituous liquors in America. William Hendrick- son, a native of Holland, was the superintendent of the enter- prise, on a salary of twenty-five guilders per month. It was in operation six or seven months. Its location is not known, but it is supposed to have been at"Oude Dorp." A buckskin factory, also established by Governor Kieft a little later, is sup- posed to have been located in the same part of the island. We shall bring this period to a close by inserting the follow- ing extract from a manuscript found in the city of Amsterdam some years since, by Hon. H. C. Murphy. It gives an excel- lent picture of the time of which we are writing. On the 8th day of June, 1676, two Labadists, Jasper Dankers and Peter Sluyter, sailed from Amsterdam in a ship called the "Charles," Captain Thomas Singleton, and arrived at Sandj^ Hook on the 22d of September following. They say : " When w^ came be- tween the Hoofden (the Highlands of Staten and Long Islands — that is, in the Narrows) we saw some Indians on the beach with a canoe, and others coming down the hill. As we tacked about, we came close to the shore, and called out to them to come on boai"d the shij). The Indians came on boai'd, and we looked upon them with wonder. They are dull of comprehen- sion, slow of speech, bashful, but otherwise bold of person and red of skin. They wear something in front over the thighs, and a piece of duffels, like a blanket, around the body, and that is all the clothing they have. Their hair hangs down from their head in strings, well smeared with fat, and sometimes ■with quantities of little beads twisted in it, out of pride. They have thick lips and thick noses, but not fallen in like the negroes, heavy eyebrows or eyelids, brown or black eyes, thick tongues, and all of them black hair. After they had obtained some biscuit, and had amused themselves a little climbing and looking here and tliere, they also received some brandy to taste, of which they drank excessively, and threw it up again. They then went ashore in their canoe, and we, having a better breeze, 84 * HISTOIIY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. sailed ahead handsomely." After narrating how they landed in the city, and describing the bay and the immense quantities of iish thei'ein, they proceeded with their journal. " Octoher 9th, Monday. — We remained at home two days, ex- cept I went out to ascertain whether there was any way of go- ing over to Staten Island. "10, Tuesday. — Finding no opportunity of going to Staten Island, we asked our old friend Symon, who had come over from Gouanes [Gowanus 0, what was the best way for us to go there, when he offered us his services to take us over in his skiff, which we accepted, and at dusk accompanied him in his boat to Gouanes, where we arrived about 8 o'clock, and where he welcomed us and entertained us well. " 11, Wednesday. — We embarked early this morning in his boat, and rowed over to Staten Island, where we arrived about 8 o'clock. He left us there, and we went on our way. This Island is about 32 miles long, and four broad. Its sides are very irregular, with projecting points and indenting bays and creeks running deep into the country. It lies for the most part east and west, and is somewhat triangular ; the most promi- nent point is to the west. On the east side is the narrow passage which they call the channel, by which it is separated from the high point of Long Island. On the south is the great bay, which is enclosed by Nayag, t'Conijnen island, Rentselaer's Hook, Neversink, etc. On the west is the Raritans. On the north or north-west is New Jersey, from which it is separated by a large creek or arm of the river called Kil Van Kol. The eastern part is high and steep, and has few inhabitants. It is the usual place where ships ready for sea stop to take in water. The whole south side is a large plain, with much salt meadow or marsh, and several creeks. " The west point is tlat, and on or around it is a large creek with much marsh, but to the north of this creek it is high and hilly, and beyond that it begins to be more level, but not so low as on the other side, and is well populated. On the northwest it is well provided with creeks and marshes, and the land is generally better than on the south side, although there is a good parcel of land in the middle of the latter. As it is the middle or most hilly part of the island, it is uninhab- ited, although the soil is better than the land around it; but in consequence of its being away from the water, and lying HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. ' 85 SO liigli, no one will live there, the creeks and rivers being so serviceable to them in enabling them to go to the city, and for fishing and catching oysters, and for being near the salt meadow. The woods are nsed for pasturing horses and cattle, for, being an island, none of them can get off. Each person has marks upon his own by which he can find them when he wants them. When the population shall increase, these places will be taken up. Game of all kinds is plenty, and twenty-five or thirty deer are sometimes seen in a herd. A boy who came in a house where we were, told us he had shot ten the last winter himself, and more than forty in his life, and in the same manner other game. We tasted here the best grapes. There are now about 100 families on the Island, of which the English constitute the least portion, and the Dutch and French divide between them about equally the greater portion. They have neither church nor minister, and live rather far from each other, and inconveniently to meet together. The English are less disposed to religion, and inquire little after it; but in case there was a minister, would contribute to his support. The French and Dutch are very desirous and eager for one, for they spoke of it wherever we went. The French are good Reformed church-men, and some of them are Walloons. The Dutch are also from different quarters. We reached the Island, as I have said, about 9 o'clock, directly opposite Gouanes, not far from the watering-place. We pro- ceeded southwardly along the shore of the highland on the east end, where it was sometimes stony and rocky, and sometimes sandy, supplied with fine constantly fiowing springs, with which at times we quenched our thirst. " We had now come nearly to the furthest point on the south- east, behind which I had observed several houses when we came in with, the ship. We had also made inquiry as to the villages through which we would have to pass, and they told us the ' Oude Dorp ' would be the first one we would come to; but my comrade finding the point very rocky and difficult, and believ- ing the village was inland, and as we discovered no path to follow, we determined to clamber to the top of this steep bluff, through the bushes and thickets, which we accomplished with great difficulty and in a perspiration. We found as little of a road above as below, and nothing but woods, through which no one could see. There appeared to be a little foot path along 86 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. the edge, which I followed a short distance to the side of the point, but my companion calling me, and saying that he thought we had certainly passed by the road to the Oude Dorp, and observing myself that the little path led down to the point, I returned again, and we followed it the other way, which led us back to the place where we started. We supposed we ought to go from the shore to find the road to Oude Dorp, and seeing here these slight tracks into the woods, we followed them as far as we could, till at last they ran to nothing else than dry leaves. " Having wandered an hour or more in the woods, now in a hollow and then over a hill, at one time through a swamp, at another across a brook, without tinding any road or path, we entirely lost the way. We could see nothing but the sky through the thick branches of the trees over our heads, and we thought it best to break out of the woods entirely and regain the shore. I had taken an observation of the shore and point, having been able to look at the sun, which shone extraordi- narily hot in the thick woods, without the least breath of air stirring. AV^e made our way at last, as well as we could, out of the woods, and struck the shore a quarter of an hour's distance from where we began to climb up. We were rejoiced, as there was a house not far from the place where we came out. We went to it to see if we could find any one who would show us the way a little. There was no master in it, but an English woman with negroes and servants. We first asked her as to the road, and then for something to drink, and also for some one to show us the road, but she refused the last, although we were willing to pay for it; she was a cross woman. She said she had never been at the village, and her folks must work, and we would certainly have to go away as wise as we came. She said, however, we must follow the shore, as we did. We went now over the rocky point, which we were no sooner over than we saw a pretty little sand bay, and a small creek, and not far from there, cattle and houses. We also saw the point from which the little path led from the hill above, where I was when my comrade called me. We would not have had more than three hundred steps to go to have been where we now were. It was very hot, and we per- spired a great deal. We went on to the little creek to sit down and rest ourselves there, and to cool our feet, and HI^>TOKY OF RICnMOND COUNTY. 87 then proceeded to the houses which constituted the Oude Dorp. It was now about two o'clock. There were seven houses, but only three in which anybody lived. The others were abandoned, and their owners gone to live on better places on the Island, because the ground around this village was worn out and barren, and also too limited for their use. We went into the first house, which was inhabited by English, and there rested ourselves and eat, and inquired further after the road; the woman was cross, and her husband not much better. We had to pay here for what we eat, which we have not done before. We paid three guilders in seewan, although we only drank water. We proceeded by a tolerable good road to Nieuwe Dorp, but as the road ran continually in the woods we got astray again in them. It was dark, and we were com- pelled to break our way out through the woods and thickets, and we went a great distance before we succeeded, when it was almost entirely dark. We saw a house at a distance to which we directed ourselves across the bushes; it was the first house of the Nieuwe Dorp. We found there an Englishman who could speak Dutch, and who received us very cordially into his house, where we had as good as he and his wife had. She was a Dutch woman from the Manhatans, who was glad to havens in her house, "12araded the streets of New York. Five militia companies, the entire force, surrounded the house of Jacob Leisler, a merchant of the city and captain of the militia, and demanded that he should seize the fort at the Battery, which was done. Nicholson, de- prived of his authority, sailed for England. The distrust of the people, however, was not allayed. A rumor spread that an attack was plotted on the church in the fort, and that pos- session of the government was to be taken and the standard of King James set up. These rumors, however extravagant, ex- cited a general consternation. The people of Long Island sent a large body of militia to New York " to seize the fort and to keep away French invasion and slavery." The apprehensions of the peoj^le on Staten Island culminated in a panic. Fear reigned supreme for a while; they dared not remain at night in their own dwellings, but in the deepest re- cesses of the forest they constructed temporary shelters, to which they resorted after dark, that they might not be observed and their retreats discovered; they preferred to encounter the perils of the darkness and the forests rather than trust themselves to the tender mercies of their fellow men. Some took their families upon the water in boats, which they anchored a short distance from the shore, and thus passed the nights; and various other expedients were resorted to for concealment and security. Re- ports of various kinds were spread, which added fuel to the HISTORY OF UICHMOND COUNTY. 97 tiameand kept it burning for some length of time; among these were, that a number of papists who had been driven out of Boston had been received into the fort at New York and had enlisted as soldiers; that the papists on the island had secretly collected arms, which they kept concealed and ready for use at a moment's notice; that Governor Dongan's brigantine had been armed and otherwise equipped for some desperate enterprise, and the refusal of the commander of the vessel to permit it to be searched was not calculated to allay the alarm. He admitted that the vessel had been armed, but not for the purpose alleged, but, as she was bound on a voyage to Madeira, she was in danger of being attacked by the Turks, and she had been armed for the defense of her crew and cargo. However plausible this reason might have been it was not generally credited. Th& excitement at length subsided, and not a Protestant throat had been cut. Tradition says that several pieces of cannon wei'e afterward found in the cellar of the governor's mill, which it was sup- posed had been concealed there, to be in readiness when they might be required. This mill stood on the south side of the recently constructed public road in West Brighton, called Post avenue, which is in fact part of an old road reopened, for, prior to the construction of the causeway which now connects West New Brighton and Port Richmond, the only communication between Castleton and Northfield, near the shore, was round the head of the cove or pond now known as the mill pond. It is not to be wondered at that the French Protestants here were most sensitive about their religious rights and safety. At this very time their brethren in France were suffering. The Indian wars had been renewed in Canada, and the French wanted to cut a path to the Atlantic ocean. This had been resolved upon — including the reduction of Albany and New York on the way. This, in the language of the French general would be " the only means of firmly establishing the religion throughout all North America." Louis issued his regal authority for the under- taking. All faithful Catholics were to remain unmolested, whilst the French refugees — particularly those of the pretended reformed religion — must be sent back to France. These cruel instructions were given, too, about four years after the memora- ble revocation of the "Edict of Nantes." What wonder then 7 98 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. that the Huguenots should be alarmed when such a direful fate seemed to menace them. Jacob Leisler, a prominent character of that day, exercising both civil and military authority, was intrusted by the magis- trates with the administration of affairs, after the dejiarture of Nicholson, and one of his first acts was to cause William and Mary to be proclaimed in the counties of Richmond, Westchester, Queens, Kings and Ulster, and the city and county of Albany, and East Jersey ; the order to Richmond was dated December 17th, 1689. On the 30th of the same month, he issued an order requiring all persons who held commissions, warrants, "or other instruments of power or com- mand, either civil or military," derived from either Dongan or Andros, forthwith to surrender the same to a justice of the peace of the county wherein they resided, except the counties of New York and Richmond, who were to surrender at the fort in New York. After the burning of Schenectady, and the massacre of its inhabitants by the French and Indians, in February, 1690, he issued anotlaer order to the military and civil officers of several counties, Richmond county being one of the number, that " fearing too great a correspondency hath been maintained between y*-' 8*1 ffrensch & disaffected P''sons among us," to secure all persons reputed papists, or who are inimical to the govern- ment, or who continue to hold any commissions from Dongan or Andros, and bring them before him. In 1689, Leisler commissioned the following civil and military officers in Richmond county : Ely Crossen, high sheriff. Jaques Pnillion, Captain. Jacob Corbett, clerk. Cornells Corsen, do Obadiah Holmes, justice. Thomas Morgan, Lieutenant. Jaques Poullion, do John Theunis Van Pelt, do Thomas Morgan, do Seger Geritsen, Ensign. Jacob Gerritse, do Cornells Nevius, do Cornelis Corsen, do The following persons from Staten Island were members of a company commanded by Captain Jacob Milborne, which was sent to Albany to establish Leisler's authority, the government of that city having refused to recognize it, viz.: "Jean Marlett, Francis Mauriss, Hendrick Hendricksen, Jean faefre, John Rob, John doulier and Peter Henkesson." HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 99 There is no evidence that the people of Staten Island took any decided stand with regard to Leisler's administration. Generally, they submitted quietly to the authorities placed over them. Further than commissioning some officers and issuing some general orders, he does not appear in connection with the history of the island. It must be admitted that Leisler had many friends on the island, though they were not very demonstrative. His appointments to office were usually from among its best citizens, which operated in his favor; no decided steps were taken in his behalf during his imprisonment and trial, but after his condemnation petitions for his pardon were exten- sively signed, which had no other effect than to bring upon the signers the displeasure of the government, who regarded the act as disloyal. Farther than tiie imposition of lines, which appear to have been remitted, and the brief imprison- ment of a few individuals, no punishment was inflicted on the culprits. On the 19th of March, 1691, Henry Slaughter, having been ap[)ointed governor of the colony, arrived and demanded pos- session of the fort and the reins of government. Leisler at lirst refused to give up the post, but was compelled to do so, and was afterward tried, condemned and hastily executed for high treason. His execution took place May 16, 1691. On the 2Stli of April preceding, a letter was presented to the council in New York from the sheriff of Richmond county, "Giving an Account of severall Riotts and Tumults on Staten Island, and that they are subscribing of papers;" the sheriff was ordered to secure the ring-leaders that they might be prose- cuted. Thomas Stillwell, the sheriff, was not dilatory in obey- ing the order, and arrested several of the citizens of the countj^, among whom were John Theunison, John Peterson and Gerard Vechten, each of whom he compelled to pay three pounds ; others were obliged to execute bonds for the jDayment of that amount, and one refused to do either, and him he imprisoned. When information of the sheriff'' s proceedings reached New York, orders were sent down to have the bonds cancelled, whereupon the three individuals who had paid their money, de- manded that it should be refunded ; the sheriff, probably con- scious that he had exceeded his powers, promised that it should be done, but delayed so long, that the aggrieved parties ap- pealed to the council. At the same time, the same three indi- 100 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. viduals presented a complaint against the assessors, who ex- empted themselves and some others from the payment of the tax for "negers," and that poor people who have no "negers" must pay "as much accordingly like Them that Has many negers. Therefore your petitioners humbly crave That your Ex"y will be pleased To signify Them iff s<3 negers should be Ex- cluded flfor paying Tax." What the result of these petitions was, we are not informed further than that they met with a favorable reception. The papers which were " subscribed " were petitions in favor of the two condemned men ; the peoj^le of Westchester also sent a petition for the same purpose, but the council did not recognize the right of petition in such cases ; therefore some were cited to appear before that body, while others were im- prisoned as promoters of "riots and disturbances." During Dongan's administration, Leisler, having imported a cargo of wine, had refused to pay the duties thereon to Matthew Plowman, the collector of the port, because he was a papist. He was, however, compelled to do so, and ever thereafter was a bitter enemy of Plowman. During his brief arbitrary admin- istration, to gratify his spite, he charged Plowman with being a defaulter to the government ; and learning that he was the owner of a quantity of beef and pork stored at Elizabethtown, he ordered Johannes Burger, a sergeant at the fort, to proceed to Staten Island, and compel such individuals as he might re- quire to go with him and assist in the removal of the provisions. Burger obeyed the order, and the property was brought to Leisler in New York, who sent it to Albany for the use of the soldiers he had sent to that place. After Leisler' s exe- cution. Plowman prosecuted all who were concerned in the removal of his property, to recover its value. Among the number were th^ following residents of Staten Islanri, viz., " John Jeronison, Thomas Morgan, Lawrence Johnson, John Peterson, Dereck Crews (Cruser), Chauck (Jaques) Pollion and John Bedine." These individuals, soon after the arrival of Major Richard Ingoldsby, as jiresident of the province ad- dressed an " humble Peticon," to him and the council, in which they admit having assisted in the removal of Plowman's l)roperty, but that they did so under compulsion, believing that they were doing a service to their Majesties; that they consid- ered it unjust to compel them to pay for the provisions when the HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 101 whole country had the benefit of them; they therefore pray that they may be relieved from the whole responsibility, or if that may not be done, that every person engaged in the removal be compelled " to pay their equall proporceons of the same." This petition was presented by Plowman himself, who thereby recognized the justice of their cause, but what the result of the application was does not appear. We must here suspend, for a little, the order of our narra- tive, to notice a matter which had its origin a few years before, and its final settlement nearly a century and a half after the time of which we are writing. We refer to the claims of New Jersey upon Staten Island. When it was known in England that New Netherland had been reduced, and was now actually in the possession of the English, Lord William Berkley and Sir George Carteret, two of the royal favorites, induced the Duke of York, probably in- fluenced by the king, to give them a patent for the territory west of the Hudson and the bay, and as far south as Cape May; this they named Nova Caesarea, or New Jersey. With thirty emigrants, English and French, Capt. Philip Cartaret, a cousin of Sir George, and governor of the new territory, sailed for New York, but by stress of weather was driven into the Chesa- peake. While lying there he forwarded despatches to Bollen, who was commissary at the fort in New York, and also to NicoUs. This was the first intimation the governor had received of the dismemberment of the extensive territory over which he ruled; he was both astounded and chagrined; he had already conveyed several parcels of land within the limits of the new grant, and regarded the whole as the best part of the duke's domain. He remonstrated, but his remonstrances came too late, the duke evidently thought he had been too precipitate, but as he could not well retrace his steps, he suffered matters to re- main as they were. Cartaret arrived in New York about mid- summer, 1665, and immediately took possession of his govern- ment. He chose Elizabeth town as his capital. It is said that when he first landed on the soil of New Jersey, he carried a hoe upon his shoulder, in token of his intention to devote his at- tention to the promotion of agriculture. After the Duke of York had conveyed the territory of New Jersey to Berkley and Cartaret, a doubt arose whether Staten Island was not included in the grant, by the terms of the char- 102 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. ter. Cartaret, the governor, not the proprietor, laid no claim to the island; on the contrary, he tacitly admitted that it did not belong to his jurisdiction, by accepting a conveyance for a tract of land on the island from Nicolls, the Duke of York's agent; this he would scarcely have done, had he considered his brother the proprietor. In 1668 the island "was adjudged to belong to jS^ew York," becauseoneof theoutletsof the Hudson river ran around the island; while Berkley and Cartaret, by the terms of their patent, were bounded by the river and bay. The Dutch always appear to have regarded the inner bay or harbor as a mere expansion of the river, and the Narrows as its mouth. In their documents, Staten Island is frequently described as lying in the river. If this view was correct, the island evi- dently belonged to New Jersey, because it was embraced with- in its limits. The Duke of Yoi'k himself appears to have had his doubts about the matter, for it is said, that when the ques- tion of jurisdiction was first agitated, he decided that all islands lying in the river or harbor, which could be circumnavigated in twenty-four hours, should remain in his jurisdiction, otherwise to New Jersey. Christopher Billop, being then in the harbor in command of a small ship called the "Bentley," which it is also said he owned, undertook the task of sailing around the island, and accomplished it within twenty-four hours, thus securing it to the duke, who, in gratitude for the service rendered him, be- stowed upon Billop a tract of 1163 acres of land in the ex- treme southern part of the island, which was called the " Manor of Bentley," after the ship which had accomplished the task. In 1684 the question of the proprietorship of Staten Island was again agitated, and many of the landowners became appre- hensive of the validity of their title, and some of them, among whom was Billop, were desirous of selling, but as no pur- chasers could be found for a dubious title, the property re- mained in the family. Dongan was directed, if the Billop estate was sold, to find some purchaser for it in New York, and not to suffer it to pass into the possession of a resident of New Jersey. There is still preserved in the secretary of state's office at Albany the copy of a letter written by Governor Dongan, whose country residence was on Staten Island, to Sir John Werden, HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 103 Earl of Perth, and dated February 18, 1684-5. From this letter the following extracts will be of interest: " The Island had been in the possession of his R'll Highss above 20 years (except ye little time ye Dutch had it) purchased by Gov. Lovelace from ye Indyans in ye time of Sir George Carteret without any pretences ' till ye agents made claime to it ; it is peopled with above two hundred ffamllyes. ***** " The Quakers are making continued pretences to Staten Is- land, which disturbs the people, and one reason given for hold- ing it is that if his Royal Highness cannot retrieve East Jersey it will do well to secure Hudson's River and take away all claim to Staten Island." The proprietors of ]S"ew Jersey had complained to Dongan against his encroachments. Dongan himself does not seem to have been perfectly satisfied with his title, for when he obtained his own patent from the Duke of York for a large tract upon the island he strengthened it by securing another patent from the East India proprietors, who had been the x^revious owners. This took place about the time when the province of New York was divided into counties. New York claimed jurisdiction, and exercised it over the waters as far as low water mark on the Jersey shores, when the latter province opposed this exercise of public authority. New Jersey argued that the original grant gave that province jurisdiction to the middle of the Narrows, and therefore she owned Staten Is- land. New York, on the contrary, pleaded long possession, and the controversy produced great excitement between the two par- ties. The agitation of the question continued at intervals all through the colonial period, sometimes being revived with great bitterness, and extended for half a century into the state period. In 1807 commissioners were appointed from both states to settle the dispute, New Jersey insisting that Staten Island was within her border. Nothing, however, was accomplished by this interview, and it terminated in angry discussion and bad feelings. For several years a border excitement was kept up, until the deputy sheriff of Richmond county, while serving a process on board of a vessel near the Jersey shore, was arrested and imprisoned for violating her territory, the state authorities, however, avowing that this was done only to test the question of jurisdiction. In 1827 new commissioners were selected to settle the dispute, 104 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. but they separated as before, without accomplishing anything. At length, in 1833, the dispute between the two states was amicably arranged by concession. New York obtained the ac- knowledged right to Staten Island, with the exclusive jurisdic- tion over a portion of the adjacent waters, by conceding to New Jersey a like privilege to other portions. New York thus se- cured this legal claim to most of the Lower bay, quite down to Sandy Hook ; and in return New Jersey obtained the same Eights over the waters on the west side of the island, as far as Woodbridge creek, in the neighborhood of Rossville. Thus was settled in an amicable manner a subject which once threat- ened a serious disturbance of the harmony between the two sister states. Under the Dutch and early English governors a number of land grants were issued. But very few of those issued under the former dynasty held under the latter. The import ant ones of that class have already been noticed. Occupants of lands under Dutch patents were doubtless required to take out new patents or confirmatory grants under the English rule. All these patents were granted to individuals, and the most of them were for comparatively small parcels of land. These we cannot notice in detail. There are two, however, which, partly because of their magnitude and partly because of the' historic persons and associations connected with them stand sufficiently prominent to warrant a somewhat extended notice. These are the Dongan patent and the Billop patent. The time of their issue was about the period of which we are writing, but in giving an account of them we shall be compelled to anticipate other periods and disregard the orderly progression of our general history. To the first of these two patents then let us turn our atten- tion. Though not the first to receive a royal patent yet the first to be occupied by the proprietor for whom it was named was the Billop patent. Definite statements are wanting to fix the time when Cliristo2:)her Billop first received actual possession of the tract which for a long time bore his family name. At the time when the Duke of York seemed to be wavering in opinion as to whether Staten Island belonged to the jurisdiction of New York or New Jersey, and finally decided the matter for himself by declaring that all islands lying in the river or harbor which could be circumnavigated in twenty-four hours should remain HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 105 in the former, and others should be counted in the latter juris- diction. Christopher Billop, as has before been stated, accom- plished the task of sailing around the island within twenty-four hours, thus securing it to the duke, who bestowed upon Billop a tract of 1163 acres of land in the extreme southern part of the island. Here Billop built his manor house, which has with- stood the storms of more than two centuries, and is said to be in good condition at the present day. Another account says that Billop received the plantation as a douceur from the Duke of York for his gallantry in some naval office. In 1674 the Duke of York, by permission of the king, organ- ized a company of infantry of one hundred men; of this com- pany Christopher Billop was commissioned second lieutenant. He had sei"ved his king before his arrival in xlmerica, but in what capacity is not known; his father, however, was not. well spoken of. In 1677 Billop, while residing on his plantation on Staten Island, was appointed by Governor Andros, who had succeeded Lovelace, commander and sub-collector of New York, on Delaware bay and river. While occupied with the duties of these offices, he "misconducted" himself by making "extrava- gant speeches in public;" but of the subject of these speeches we are not informed; they were probably of a political character, and must have been peculiarly offensive, for Andros recalled him the next year, and dej^rived him of his military commission. This action of the governor was approved by the duke, who directed that another should be appointed to fill the vacant lieutenancy. Billop now retired to his plantation on Staten Island, there to brood over the ingratitude of princes, or perhaps over his own follies and indiscretions. We hear nothing more of him for two years, when he again appears as one of a number who pi'e- ferred complaints or charges against Andros, to tl^e duke, some of which must have been of a serious nature, as the duke thought it necessary to send an agent over to investigate the matter, and on receiving his report, Andros was summoned to to appear in person in England to render his accounts. This was probably in 1680 or 1681, when Brockholst succeeded An- dros; in 1682 Dongan succeeded Brockholst. Here we lose all farther historical trace of Christopher Billop; tradition says tliat in the latter part of the seventeenth, or the beginning of the eighteenth century, he sailed for England in his ship, the 106 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. "Bentlej'," and was never heard of after: he left no male issue, but he had at least one daughter. While he remained on the island, however, he obtained a patent for his plantation from Governor Dongan, which bore date on or about June 6, 1687. There was also a Joseph Billop residing on the island about this time. He was a justice of the peace in 1702-3 and a judge of the county in 1711. In 1704, April 25th, he received a con- veyance of a parcel of land from the " Right Honble. Thomas, Earle of Lymrick," the land in question being described by boundaries " beginning at a Blacke Oake by the burying place Agst. Abrah: Lackman's House." There was also a Middleton Billop living in the city of New York, who died in October, 1724. Whether these men were near relatives of Christopher or not we have not discovered. The principal part of the original tract passed through the hands of successive generations of his descendants till the close of the revolution. In 1704 he sold a small parcel to John, Peter and James Le Counte, sons of Peter Le Counte "late of said island." Captain Christopher Billop married a Miss Farmer, by whom he had one daughter, Eugenia, born in or about the year 1712. Mrs. Billop was probably a sister of Thomas Farmer, who was pi'ominent on Staten Island, where he was a judge of the court of sessions in 1711. He removed hence, however, during or soon after that year, and afterward became a judge of the su- preme court of New Jersey and representative of Middlesex county in the assembly of that state. The oldest son of this Thomas Parmer, his name likewise being Thomas, married his cousin, the daughter of Christopher Billop, and succeeded to the inheritance of the manor of Bentley. In order to satisfy the ambition of the family to perpetuate its name young Farmer adopted the name of Billop. Thomas Farmer Billop and his wife occupied the mansion and estate during the latter years of the first half of the 18th cen- tury. From them it fell to the possesion of their son Christo- pher, while they were "gathered to their fathers." The old family cemetery in which their remains were deposited was situated some three hundred yards to the east of the old manor house, in a cultivated field and beneath the shade of a few large trees which once stood there. It contained but a few graves, HISTORY OF PaCHJIOND COUNTY. 107 and only the graves of the two persons last mentioned were honored by headstones containing inscriptions. These inscrip- tions were as follows: "Here Lyes ye Body of Evjenea ye Wife of Thomas Billopp. Aged 23 years Dec^ March ye 22(1 1735." " Here Lyes ye Body of Thomas Billopp Esqr Son of Thomas Farmar Esqf Deed August ye 2J 1750 In ye 39th year of his Age." These stones are now lying in the barn yard near the Billop house and ai'e more or less broken to pieces. For more than a century they marked the graves to which they belonged. The spot is now marked by a single cedar tree. Several years since the crumbling bones were removed thence, by order of the pro- prietor of the ground, and the stones of the graves thus dese- crated, which themselves, it would seem, possessed value as historic relics sufficient to warrant their careful preservation, were broken and ruthlessly consigned to the rubbish pile as we have seen. Christopher Billop, the only son of the above of whom we have any knowledge, though he had a sister Sally (who married Alexander Ross of New Jersey, in 1775), was born about the year 1735, and rose to a position of great prominence in the county. We are informed that he was twice married, but who his first wife was we have been unable to learn. His second wife was Jane Seaman, daughter of Judge Benjamin Seaman, of this county. Besides being a gentleman of character and property, lie was a member of assembly, and on the eve of the revolution commanded a corps of loyal militia which was raised in the vicinity of New York city, and was during the revolutionary period actively engaged in military duty. At the outbreak of the war he was a steadfast opponent of the measures that led to a rupture with Great Britain. By the in- tensity of his loyalty to the British crown he made himself conspicuously obnoxious to the whigs of Stalen Island and New Jersey. He held the commission of a colonel in the British army, and at one time, in 1782, had the title of superintendent of police of the island. Communication between the island and New Jersey had been prohibited by the British authorities, and he was very active in enforcing the prohibition. The patriots of New Jersey were exceedingly bitter in their hostility to him, and on two different occasions made him prisoner. Amboy is 108 HISTORV OF EICHMOND COUNTV. in sight, and upon one of these occasions he was observed by some Americans, who had stationed themselves with a spy glass in the church steeple of that town. As soon as they saw him enter his abode, they ran to their boats, rapidly crossed the river, and he was soon their captive. The British, then in pos- session of New York, had confined in irons several Americans who had been made prisoners ; and to retaliate for this measure Colonel Billop was taken to Burlington jail. We have copied the mittimus, as a matter of curiosity, and as showing the method of doing such things at that eventful period. "To thekeei^erof the common jail for the county of Burling- ton greeting :— You are hereby commanded to receive into your custody the body of Col. Christopher Billopp, prisoner-of-war, herewith delivered to you, and having put irons on his hands and feet, you are to chain him down to the floor in a close room, in said jail, and there to retain him, giving him bread and water only for his food, until you receive further orders from me, or the commissary of prisoners for the state of New Jersey, for the time being. Given under my hand, at Elizabethtown, this 6th day of Nov. 1779. Elisha Boudinot, Covi. Pris. New Jersey.'" The commissary at the same time regretted to Billop that necessity made such treatment necessarj^ "but retaliation is directed, and it will I most sincerely hope, be in your power to relieve yourself from the situation by writing to New York to procure the relaxation of the sufferings of John Leshier, and Capt'n Nathaniel Randal." He was finally released by order of Washington. During the period of the war Billop disposed of some parts of his estate. On the 10th of May, 1780, he sold to Joseph Totten a tract of twenty acres, and another of three and a half acres in the manor of Bentley, for £235 currency, and on the 29th of the same month he sold to Benjamin Drake a tract of sixty acres from his estate, for £600 currency. On the first of May, 1781, he and his wife Jane, conveyed to Samuel Ward, of Richmond county, for £3,730 current money of the city of New York, the tract opposite Amboy, known as the manor of Bentley, "Con- taining three hundred and Seventy-three Acres of Land and salt meadow, be the same in Quantity more or Less, being Bounded Easterly by Land of said Albert Rickman Northerly HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 109 by the river or sound at Low water mark and westerly and southerly by the Bay at Low Water mai-k." In this convey- ance houses, barns, ferry-house and dock, out-houses and stables are specified by name. Prom the tract is reserved for the heirs of Billop sixty feet square for a burial place, the head- stone of his father being the center of such reservation. During the revolution the home of Colonel Billop was fre- quented by men of distinction and rank in the British army. After the war Billop with fifty-four other royalists in 1783 peti- tioned Sir Guy Carleton for extensive grants of land in Nova Scotia. Colonel Billop soon after went to New Brunswick, where for many years he bore a prominent part in the adminis- tration of the afi'airs of that province. He was a member of the house of assembly, and of the council, and on the death of Governor Smythe in 1823 he claimed the presidency of the government, and issued his proclamation accordingly, but the Honorable Ward Chipman was a competitor for the same sta- tion, and was sworn into office. Colonel Billop died at St. John, N. B , in 1827, being then over 90 years of age. His wife, Jane, who was about twenty years younger than himself, died in that city in 1802, aged 48. He had a son, born on Staten Island in 1769, named John Willett, and another son by the name of Thomas. They settled in the city of New York, and had a dry goods store on Broad- way in the vicinity of Trinity church. John never married, but fell a victim of yellow fever at the time the city was scourged by that terrible disease. Thomas, who had a family, of whom, however, nothing is known, except that his wife was a Miss Moore of Newtown, L. I., survived the fever, failed in business, joined the expedition of the celebrated Miranda, in which he received the appointment as captain, and was taken prisoner by the Spaniards and afterward executed. Besides these two sons Colonel Billop had four daughters. Louisa married John Wallace, Esq., surveyor of the customs. Mary married the Rev. Archdeacon Willis, of Nova Scotia, and died at Halifax in 1834, at the age of forty- three. Jane became the wife of the Hon. William Black of St. John, and died in 1836. Ann, the youngest daughter, was a maiden lady, and was the last of the family of whom any record appears of their visiting the ancestral homestead. She visited the spot in 1824, and took some flowers of an old trumpet creeper vine that was growing 110 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. on the house, and some nuts and wild cherries from trees that were growing in the burial plot, and on her return carried them to her father in New Brunswick. It is said that on beholding them the heart of the old colonel melted with emotion and he wept like a child. We have neglected to say in a more appropriate place that Colonel Billop had two daughters by his first wife, of whom we only know that they married sons of Benjamin Seaman, one of whom was Benjamin and the other Henry. The large estate once belonging to Colonel Billop was conhs- cated and sold by Isaac Stoutenburgh and Philip Van Cort- land, commissioners of forfeitures for the southern district of New York. The sale made July 10th, 1784, was recorded in the following memorandum : "Sold to Thomas Mc Farren of the City of New York, Mer- chant, for the sum of four thousand six hundred and ninety- five pounds Lawfull Money of the said state— All that certain Tract or parcel of Land situate Lying and being in the County of Richmond and Manor of Bently, Bounded Southerly by the Bay or water called Princes Bay, westerly by the river that runs between the said Land and Amboy Northerly partly by the Land of Jacob Reckhow and partly by the road and Easterly partly by the road and partly by the Bay, Containing Eight hundred and fifty acres and half an acre and which said Tract is divided into the several following Farms and Lots of Land — three hundred and seventy three acres thereof in the possession of Samuel Ward — Two hundred Acres in the possession of Albert Rj^ck- man, l^'ifty acres in the possession of John Manner — Fifty acres in the possession of Edmund Wood — Fifty acres in the posses- sion of Andrew Prior — Twenty live Acres in the possession of James Churchward, sixtyseven acres and an half acre in the possession of Benjamin Drake— Twenty three acres and an half acre in the possession of Joseph Totten — Eleven acres and an half acre in the possession of Jacob Reckhow — Together with all the Buildings and Improvements thereon Erected and made Forfeited to and Vested in the People of this state by the At- tainder of Christopher Billop Late of the County of Richmond Esquire." The historic house is still standing. It occupies a beautiful site overlooking the river or Staten Island sound, with Amboy HI8T0RY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Ill in view on the opposite shore and the Jersey landscapes fading in the distance. The old mansion was built of stone — its walls three feet thick — and bears the marks of former affluence and elegance. Like most buildings of the " olden time," it has its ghost and other romantic stories. "There," said the person who now occupies the house, as we entered one of the upper story front rooms, "'that spot on the floor we have never been able to wash out. It is sup- posed to be blood, and a murder is said to have been perpetrated here. This, too, is the ghost room, THE OLD BILLOF HOUSE, TOTTENVILLE. but I have never been disturbed by such visitors, and believe neither of these stories." A person had visited an adjoining apartment last winter, searching for hidden treasure. He had been told by some mesmerist or for- tune- teller of New York that money was to be found concealed in one of the walls of this room, and absolutely picked with hammer and chisel a large opening,but finally gave over the search as hopeless. This strange credulity was here exhibited in the winter of 1844. In the cellar of the building there is a brick vault thirty feet 112 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. long and about thirteen wide, finely arched, and may have be<3n used as a place of retreat, or the receptacle for valuable articles in cases of emergency. The interior of the house presents nothing remarkable in ap- pearance. The hall and staircase are extremely plain. In fact there is no decoration to be seen anywhere. The rooms have been undersized in a manner approaching meanness. As Billop was a well known '' tory," and a military char- acter also, his house must have witnessed many an interview of such men as Lord Howe, General Kniphausen, Colonel Simcoe and other officers of rank in the British service who had com- mand at various periods on the island. Immediately after the severe battle on Long Island, Lord Howe sent a communica- tion to congress, then assembled in Philadelphia, soliciting that a committee from that body might meet him, to confer on the difficulties between the two nations. For this purpose, Ben- jamin Franklin, John Adams and Edward Rutledge were ap- pointed. The interview took place in this house, and these nuble, patriotic, American spirits declined every proposition for peace that would not acknowledge the independence of their beloved country. This conference took place in the room at the northwest corner of the house on the main floor. This momentous interview was regarded with extreme solicitude by the people of both the old world and the new. With the developments of time it rises into the grandeur of a great battle point and monument of history. The interview was brief. There was no agreement, no reconcili- ation. Independence was maintained. The result was limned by the hand of God, and is seen in the progess of a continent and the achievements of a century all over the world. There is a beautiful lawn before the house, extending quite down to the water's edge. The views from the mansion are ex- tensive, and rich in natural beauties. Directly in front the eye rests on Amboy bay, the town iiself beyond, and the Ra- ritan river, which here expanding into the general body of waters the whole soon flows onward to the mighty Atlantic. Toward the south, at a more remote distance, are seen the mountains of Monmouth and the bold summits of Nave Sink, upon whose lofty highlands, the beacon-fires of 1776 blazed to alarm the country upon the expected approach of the enemy. What a blessing is peace ! How changed the scene ! Upon HISTORY OF ItlCIIMOND COUNTY. 113 these very heights now glisten nightly the cheering rays of the light-house, welcoming the traveller of every nation to our land of freedom and happiness ! Where once was heard the deafen- ing drum and clarion of war, here now the anvil rings, the merry wheel dances, and the carol of the peaceful plow-boy re- sounds, while he traces the enriching and silent furrow ! We shall now turn our attention to the Dongan patent and the persons connected with it. This brought into direct and intimate association with the island one of the most prominent of the colonial governors, and one whose acts have been more conspicuously brought before a wide range of interests, people and times than perhaps any other. At the time of Dongau's arrival, there dwelt in the city of New York a gentleman named John Palmer, by profession a lawyer, who, at the time of the separation of Stateu Island from the Long Island towns, was appointed "ranger" for Staten Island. He had formerly lived on the island of Barbadoes, and had emigrated thence to New York. In 1683 he lived on Staten Island, and was appointed by Dongan one of the two first judges of the New York court of oyer and terminer. He was also a member of the council, and generally an active and prominent man in the affairs of the xu'ovince. To this man Don- gan executed a patent, known in the island history as the Palmer or Dongan .patent. The small brook which forms a part of the boundary between the towns of Caslleton and Northtield, and which runs to the mill pond, is still known by the name of " Palmer's Run," because it also formed a part of the boundary of the land convej^ed by the patent. An attempt seems to have been previously made by Dongan to gain possession of this large property, but for reasons which will appear the transaction was repeated in the manner above stated. The first transaction of which we find any record is dated January 14, 1684-5, when Governor Dongan purchased of John Palmer of Staten Island and Sarah his wife, for the sum of twelve hundred pounds, "All that their Capitall Messuage or dwelling house with the Appurtenances situate lyeing and being on the north side of Staten Island Aforesaid within Con- stables hooke neere the Mill Creeke late in the Occupacion and possession of the said John Palmer, And All that Certaine Par- cell or tract of Land thereunto belonging being upon the north side of Staten Island aforesaid within Constables Hooke lyeing 8 114 IIISTOET OF KICHMOND COUNTY. between the two niniies att the mill creeke beginning with A narrow point And Running up wider into the Island Containing the quantity of three hundred forty and two Acres with meadow Ground to belaid out proportionably." The conveyance also includes other parcels, the title to which had been obtained as recited in their specifications in substance as follows : ISinety- six acres to the east of Mill creek, with the mill, which was granted to Palmer by Governor Andros in 1677, upon which had also been built by Palmer two windmills and a sawmill ; eighty acres which had been conveyed to Palmer by Francis Barber who had a grant from Sir Edmund Andros ; ninety' acres, with eighf acres of meadoAv, which had been granted by Andros in 1680 to Jacob Cornells, and by him conveyed to Palmer; another like tract of ninety acres with eight acres of meadow, granted to James Gyles, by Andros, and by Gyles conveyed to Palmer; and a tract of four thousand five hundred acres of land lying in a body in the middle part of the island, with an island of meadow near Fresh kill, "All which Said Last mentioned tract or parcell of Land And Island of meadow were Granted unto the Said John Palmer," by Governor Dongan by patent dated May 2, 1684. Thus it will be seen the premises purchased by Dongan had been obtained in small parcels, through differ- ent channels and under grants of different dates. It was desir- able that they should be consolidated, and treated as a unit, and that some manorial privileges should be associated with their proprietorship. The early provincial governors having shown some disposi- tion to appropriate too much land to themselves, they had been restricted by an order in council, to evade which the plan was devised of granting a patent to Palmer for this land, and then having a transfer made from Palmer to Dongan. The patent to Palmer was approved at a council held March 31, 1687, at which were present Governor Dongan, Anthony Brockholst, Frederick Phillips, Stephanus Van Cortlandt and Nicholas Bayard. The instrument bears date as above, and begins as follows : — " \Yhereas John Palmer of the City of New York Esqr. as well by virtue of Several deeds and Pattents to him or them under whome he claymes made by the former Governors of this Province as by virtue of a certain Pattent or Confirmation under my hand, and seale of the province, bearing date the second day of May, 1684: stands Lawfully and Rightfully Seized of & HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 115 in all that Tract or parcell of Land Beginning at a cove on Kill Van Cull, on the east bounds of the lands of Garret Cruise [Cruser] and so running in the woods by the said Kill to a marked tree, and thence by a line of marked trees according to the natural position of the poles, south and by east two degrees and thirty minutes southerly according to the compass south, there being eight degrees and forty live minutes variation ffrom the north westward, and from thence by the reai-e of the land of Garret Cruise & Peter Johnson, east & by north two degrees and thirty minutes to the line of Peter Johnson's wood lott, & by his line south and by east two degrees and thirty minutes south sixty-one chains, and thence by thereareof the aforesaid lott & the lott of John Vincent northeast & by east one degree northerly to the southeast corner of the hind of John Vincent thirty three chains & a halfe, from thence by his east line south & by west two degrees thirty minutes northerly to a white oak tree marked with three notches, bearing northwest from the ffresh pond, from thence to a young chestnutt tree the south- west corner of the land of Piiillip Wells & so by a line of marked trees east nine degrees & fifteen minutes southerly by south side of a small ffresh meadow to the north & to the north of the ffresh pond including the pond to the land of Mr. An- drew Norwood & so by his land as it runs to the reare of the land of Mary Brittaine & so by the reare of the Old Town lotts to the land of Isaac Bellevv & Thomas Stilwell & from thence upon the Iron Hills, to the land of William Stilwell & by his land to the land of George Cummins & ffroni his northeast cor- ner, to the southeast corner of the land of Mr. James Hubbard at the head of the ffresh kills & so round by his land to the reare lotts at Karles neck & so by the lotts to the highway left by Jacob puUion & the great swamp to the land of John ffitz Garrett including the great swamp, thence by the soldiers lotts and the reare lotts of Cornells Corsen & company to the south- west corner of theire ffront lotts & so by the runne which is theire bounds to the mill pond including the mill pond to the sound or Kill Van Cull & so by the sound to the cove where ffirst begun. Containing with all the hills, valleys, ft'resh meadows & swamps within the above specified bounds live tliou- sand one hundred acres be the same more or less. Also a great island of salt meadow lying near the ffresh kills & over against long neck not yet appropriated — and all the messuages, 116 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. tenements, fencings, orchards, gardens, pastures, meadows, marshes, woods, underwoods, trees, timber, quarries, rivers, brooks, ponds, lakes, streams, creeks, harbors, beaches, fBshing, hawking and ifowling, mines, minerals (silver and gold mines only excepted) mills, mill dams," etc. By the patent it was also constituted one lordship or manor " to be called the Lordship and manor of Cassiltuvvne." It was subject to an annual quit-rent of one lamb and eight bushels of winter wheat, to be paid if demanded on the 25111 of March in each year. On the 29th of September, 1677, Governor Andros executed a patent to GaiTet Croosen (Cruser) for one hundred and sixty acres of land on the north side of Staten Island, which is bounded on the west by "a small runn of water." It is diffi- cult, if not impossible, at this day to trace the boundaries of some of the old patents, but we assume that the "runn of waler " mentioned in the patent is the stream issuing out of the ''boiling spring" on the Bement estate, as that spring was formerly called the "Cruser spring," and in conveyances of even recent date the "runn" is called the "Cruser Spring brook." The land conveyed was one hundred and seventeen rods in breadth, which would reach nearly or quite to the Pel- ton estate. This estate once belonged to one of the Cruser fam- ily, but probably it was by a subsequent purchase The Palmer patent begins at a cove on " Kill Van Call," on the east bounds of the lands of Garret Cruser ; j^robably the word east is a cler- ical error, and should have been west, but even on that sup- position the boundaries described in the latter patent would embrace Lovelace's property. If we assume " the cove" to be that next west of and adjoining the Pelton estate, the bound- aries would embrace the properties both of Lovelace and Cruser. The natural outlet of the Cruser spring brook was at or near the place where the surplus water from the works of the New York Dyeing and Printing Establishment now enters the kills. The pond of this establishment is an artificial structure, made nearly a century ago for the use of a mill which stood on the " Factory Dock." The main stream which supplies this pond is also an artificial canal ; the natural outlet of the water which now supplies the pond was through Bodine's pond into the kills. In Governor Dongan's days, these waters supplied a pond in the rear of the reservoir of the gas company on the HISTOKY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 117 south side of Post avenue, for the use of his mill, which we have elsewhere alluded to as the mill in which guns were said to have been concealed at the time of the papist panic. On the 16th day of April, 1687, John Palmer and Sarah, his wife, conveyed the territory described above to Thomas Dongan, " for a competent summe of lawfull money," after an owner- ship of about a fortnight. It is now quite impossible to trace the lines described in the patent, as the most of the land-marks mentioned therein have disappeared. If by the terms "great swamp" is meant that extending from Graniteville to New Springville, and which is so designated in a variety of other ancient documents ; and if by " ffresh kills" is meant the waters now known by that name, and which are also frequently alluded to by that name in similar documents, it is evident that the territory conveyed embraced not only the greater part of the present towns of Castleton and Middletown, but a large proportion of North- field also. Dunlap says that Governor Dongan, having doubts about Staten Island belonging to New York, and in order to be doubly sure, procured a patent in 1687 for the same land from the proprietors of East Jersey. In the following year, 1688, Governor Dongan erected his manor house, which remained until the present decade, and though externally modernized in some degree the oak frame, hewn out of the adjacent forest, was the identical one erected by him, the date of its erection having been marked upon one of the timbers with white paint. The house alluded to stood in the middle of the square bounded by the shore road on the north, Cedar street on the south, Dongan street on the east, and Bodine street on the west, at West New Brighton. There is now a gradual descent of the surface of the land from the site to the shore road ; but, originally, the earth was as high on the southerly side of the road as it now is at the place where the house stood, forming a sand hill between the house and the road, and which entirely concealed the house from view when standing in the road in front of it. When this sand bank was removed, several skeletons, evidently of Indians, besides nu- merous other Indian relics, were unearthed, indicating this spot as having been one of their burial places. This time- honored relic was at last destroyed by fire. A large barn, 118 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. standineon the mill road which was also built during the early years of the proprietorship of Governor Dongan, was burned on the 18th of July, 1862. Through this extensive domain a road was opened at an early period toward the village of Rich- mond, and this early road still bears the name of Manor road. A tide mill stood until a recent date on the causeway across Palmer's run. The old Dongan mill stood farther south, on an old road which ran around the head of the pond, the course of which in part has been followed by the construction of Post avenue in West New Brighton. After the construction of the causeway the old road, which before had been the only way of passing between the localities of West New Brighton and Port Richmond, ceased to be used until the opening of Post avenue. The pond which is alluded to in the Palmer patent received the tide, and boats at high water could reach the door of the old mill. This mill was largely patronized by the people of Bergen Point and its vicinity, as well as by the j)eop]e of the island. When the present avenue was constructed, the foundation stones, and some of the decayed oak timbers of the old mill, were unearthed, but no cannon. In the latter part of the last century, a flouring mill was bnilt on the present steamboat wharf at West New Brighton, and the most of the water which had propelled the old mill, was diverted from its natural course by a canal which led it into the large pond at the foot of the pres- ent Water street, which i^ond was then constructed to hold the water in reserve for the use of the new mill ; this was built by a McVickar, though it subsequently passed into the hands of the Van Buskirk family, and was better known as Van Bus- kirk's mill. This mill was burned a few years ago, and the wharf, the pond and the canal for more than half a century have belonged to the New York Dyeing & Printing Establish- ment. After the construction of the causeway, and the divert- ing of the water, tlie pond has gradually tilled up, until now it can scarcely be utilized for the purpose to which it was once devoted. In a review of the life and acts of one so intimately asso- ciated with the island as Col. Thomas Dongan was it is proper to give some notice to his antecedents and the stock whence he came. We find Governor Dongan associated with the nobility of England and Ireland. In a list of the baronets of Ireland, HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 119 with a list of their creations, we find the name of AValter Don- gan, of Castletown, in the county of Kildare, to which is at- tached the date 1623. Castletown park is in the northeast corner of the county of Kildare, about ten miles southwest of the city of Dublin. Sir Walter Dongan, who was made baronet October 23, 1C23, belonged to a family who were jironounced " valiant, active and faithful." They were in 1646 and later on connected with the army, and in recognition of their faithfulness and de- votion to their king, William, a brother was promoted to the dignity of viscount of Claine, county of Kildare, in 1661. In 1685 he was made earl of Limerick. At the battle of theBoyne he lost an only son, who was killed by a cannon ball. The son was buried at Castletown, the seat of his father. Lord Dongan, earl of Limerick. The estate of Lord Dongan was forfeited, he being attainted April 16, 1691, but was restored again by act of parliament, December 15, 1699. In " Burke's Encyclopedia of Heraldry" a^jpears the following description of the Dongan coat of arms : " Quarterly first and fourth, gu. three lions pass, or, holding in the dexter paw a close helmet argent garnished or the second ; second and third azure six plates on a chief or a demi lion rampant gules. Crest — A lion passant or, supporting with the dexter foot a close helmet argent garnished of the first." To this noble family Col. Thomas Dongan belonged, though what his relationship was to the Earl of Limerick we have not the means of determining. Some claim that he was a brother Colonel Dongan having a commission as governor, arrived in New York August 27, 1683. His commission was dated Sep- tember 30, 1682. To him the present state is indebted for many of its existing records and laws. He was a firm believer in the religious and political faith of James 11, except, perhaps, that Dongan was far more tolerant, and hated the French, under whom he had once served as a military officer. Though a pro- fessed papist, he was a decided enemy to the French, who.se schemes of aggrandizement on the northern frontier he per- sistently opposed, even against the expressed wishes of his master, the Duke of York, afterward James II. The people of the province, and especially of the island, where he resided, lived in constant dread of his religion. Later on he was or- dered to proclaim James II king, to assist at the conference between Lord Effingham and the Five Nations, and in causing 120 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. the king's arms to be set up through all their villages and to l)lace arms in their hands. Colonel Dongan had the Indian affairs very much at heart, and had gained the respect and esteem of the Five Na- tions. He was deeply interested in the intercourse of the French and English with them, and jealous of the action of the former. In carrying forward this work in which he was so much in- terested, he was obliged to mortgage his property to Robert Livingston to secure the payment of the expenses of the ex- pedition to Albany in 1689. This mortgage is dated May 1, 1689, the sum which was secured by it was £2,172, 6s, S^d, which Livingston had, by Dongan's order, laid out for eight month's provisions for the troops and presents for the In- dians. The term of the mortgage was five years. It covered not only the manor of Castletown, but other parcels which Dongan had bought on the island. These were one hundred and eighty acres at Old Town, bought of Mary Britton, another parcel at Old Town, bought of Peter None, and another, on the south side, bought of James Largie. Besides these possessions on Staten Island, Governor Dongan had a large tract on the Hudson river, extending from Haver- straw to Murderer's creek, a tract of four hundred acres in Queens county given him by the people of Hempstead town for renewing their patent, and another tract on Martha's Vineyard, besides property in the city of New York. On Staten Island he had a "hunting lodge." The city records contain an account of a meeting of the council at which Governor Dongan was ab- sent "being engaged at his hunting lodge on Staten Island, killing bears." At the time of the papist panic in 1689 it was suspected that Colonel Dongan was in sympathy with the plot, and his mill was searched, and four guns were found in it. These it is said were secreted under some bags and blankets. Leisler issued orders for his arrest, but we do not know that it was accomplished. After his release from office Colonel Dongan retired to his pos- sessions on Staten Island, where he I'emained till the spring of 1691, if not longer. Later, but at what time is not known, h« retired to his native country, Ireland, where it is said he finally succeeded to the earldom of Limerick. In a conveyance now on record in the clerk's office of this county bearing date 1715, he is styled as such. HISTORY OF UICUMOND COUNTY. 121 On the 9tli of May, 1715, Colonel Thomas Dongan, by the conveyance just mentioned (which is in itself a curious and rare specimen of legal skill, on account of its complex limitations and conditions) "being willing to preserve and uphold and ad- vance the name and family of Dongan, and having no issue of his own to continue the same," conveyed to his nephews, Thomas, John and Walter, and to the male issue of the survivor or sur- vivors of them, "in tail male for ever,'' all his manor of Castle- town, together with property situated elsewhere. This act and its final results is a demonstration of the scripture passage Avliich we quote from the XLIX Psalm : "Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations ; they call their lands after their own names. Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not : he is like the beasts that perish." Having thus disposed of his estate in this country, he died, as some think, in London, in 1715, at the ripe old age of 81 years. He was buried in St. Pancras" church-yard, Middlesex, just north of London. This old church-yard has long been noted as the burial place of such Roman Catholics as die in London and its vicinity. It is accounted a desirable resting- place for different reasons, one of which is that St. Pancras' was the last church in England where mass was held after the Refor- mation. The sepulchre of the late Governor Dongan bears the following inscription : — "The Right Honble. Thomas Dongan Earl of Lyjierick, died December the fourteenth. Aged Eighty one years. 1715. Requiescat in pace. Amen.'''' Leaving the founder of the name and estate of Dongan on Staten Island we will now follow as well as we are able the descent of the family and title line of the estate. Of the nephews we know but little. John probably had but little or nothing to do with Staten Island. Beyond the appearance of his name in a list of sub- scribers toward finishing Trinity church steeple, dated May 1, 1711, we have found no trace of him. He may have been unmar- ried, or died without male issue and therefore had no share in the estate on Staten Island. Thomas is but little known in records pertaining to Staten Island. It is said that he sold his share of the possessions of 122 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. his uncle. He may have been a man of high passions and sumptuous living, with reckless habits. He was involved in a duel with Dr. John Livingston, September 7, 1713, in which Livingston was killed. The trial of Dongan by the supreme court took place two days later, and he was found guilty of manslaughter. Without knowing what his subsequent fate was, we are obliged to leave him here. There is slight ground for the conjecture that he left this country for Ireland and died there in 1721. Walter has left some evidences of being a man of honor and business ability. He occupied the manor house and a large portion of the landed estate. His custom was to lease his lands to tenants. He was surrogate of the county in 1731^. He mar- ried for his first wife, Rath, daughter of Richard Floyd (2d), of Setauket, L. I., whose wife was Margaret, daughter of Colonel Matthias Nicoll, the secretary of the colony. Walter and Ruth Dongan had three children, Thomas, Richard and Elizabeth. Ruth, who was born August 6, 1699, died July 28, 1783. Walter afterward married a Miss Sarah Herriman of Elizabeth, N. J., by whom he had a son, Edward Vaughn Dongan. Walter died July 2o, 1749, being fifty-seven years of age. His estate on the island descended mainly to his oldest son Thomas, and his widow afterward married John Herriman, of Elizabeth. The daughter Elizabeth was born in 1729, and died July 1, 1749, aged 19 years and 7 months. Her grandfather, Richard Floyd, remembers her in his will, dated February 27, 1738, in the fol- lowing item: " I give also unto my Grand Daughter Dongan, that is to say the Daughter of my beloved Daughter Ruth Dongan Deceased, one hundred Pounds Current lawful Money of Xew York to be paid on her Marriage Day."' As she died unmarried, this item was never executed. Edward Vaughn Dongan was born January 3, 1749. After his father's death he went with his mother to live in Elizabeth. He was brought up a lawyer and lived at New Brunswick, N. J., where he married a daughter of Squire La Grange, a lawyer of that place. On the outbreak of the revolution he made himself obnoxious on account of his adherence to royalty and was driven from his home before the British landed in New York. His father-in-law and family were in sympathy with him, and their estate was afterward forfeited. Edward Vaughn Dongan HISTORY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. 123 was in command of a body of loyal troops, witli the rank of colonel, and was posted at the Morning Star at the time of Sul- livan's raid on Staten Island, August 22. 1777. In this engage- ment he received a wound from the effects of which he died in the hospital in New York city on the first of September. His only child, which with its mother had suffered great exposure on the day referred to, died on the same day, and was buried in the same grave with him. His widow afterward went with her family to reside at Farmington, Hackney, England. Richard Dongan, the second son of Walter, went to sea when a young man. During the French war he was impressed on board a British man-of-war, and in the service lost an arm. He married Miss Cornelia Shanks of Long Island, by whom he had a son, Walter, who was born January 2, 1763, and another son who died young. Richard died January 1, 1780, in his 61st year ; and his wife died April 28, 1814, in the 83d year of her age. This Walter had a distillery, located near a copious spring on the Richmond turnpike, near Four Corners. He also possessed a large farm at that place, whether by inheritance or purchase we have not learned. He had two sons, Thomas and Richard, and four daughters, one of whom married a Mr. Toombs, another married Peter La Forge, and the names of the other two were Abigail and Ruth. Walter died in February, 1855. We now take up the direct line in which the manor house with its accompanying estate was held until it passed out of the pos- session of the family altogether. Thomas Dongan was the eldest son of Walter, the nephew of the ex-governor. His first wife was Rachel, and she died April 25, 1748. at the age of 24 years. Slie had one daughter, who died December 22, 1749, 3 years of age. Both wife and daughter are buried in the old Moravian cemetery. Thomas afterward married Magdalen, the eldest daughter of Rev. Richard Charl- ton, rector of St. Andrew's church. By her he had a son, John Charlton Dongan. Thomas Dongan appears as a vestryman of Trinity church. New York, from 1748 to 1759. In order to ad- just the claims upon him to which his young half brother Ed- ward V. wvas entitled, he on the 15th of April, 1757, gave a mortgage to John Herriman and Sarah his wife (the step-mother of Thomas, she being the late widow of his father) on several tracts of land lying in the manor of Castletown, adjoining each 124 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Other, and then being in possession of tenants, to secure tlie payment of £40 a year till Edward Vaughn should reach his majority, and the payment of £1,000 when that time arrived. In consideration of these payments Edward Vaughn should relinquish all claim against the said Thomas or the estate of the late Walter Dongan. The aggregate extent of land covered by this instrument was about seven hundred acres. The will of Thomas Dongan bears date March 8, 1765, and it appointed his wife, Magdalen, sole executrix, and by it he bequeathed to his son John Charlton Dongan, all his estate, and in case of his death, while in his minority, the estate was to go to his mother and to her heirs forever. Of the time of his death we are not informed. John Charlton Dongan, son of Thomas, and grandson of Walter the nephew of the governor, was educated for a lawyer, and was admitted to the bar May 6, 1791. He was a man of some prominence in his time. He was a supervisor here in 1785, and was in the state legislature several times, where in 1788-9 he was a prominent leader of the Schuyler or federal party and served on some important committees. As an attorney-at-law he had an office at 25 Courtlandt street, New York, in 1795. He possessed a considerable land on State street, New York, in addition to the estate on Staten Island, which then comprised about six hundred acres, all of which he inherited from his father. He is said to have been an honor- able man, but being a free liver and given to drink, he fell into careless habits and descended the scale of respectable standing and financial advantage until he reached the lowest extreme. His wife was Patience Moore, of Newtown, L. I., a sister of Benjamin Moore of that place. She, it is said, was of little ad- vantage to him, being herself also a partner in his failings. They had only two children, Thomas Charles Bradish, who died November 25, 1789, and John Charlton, Jr., who died October 23, 1791, a little over 5 years of age. His State street property was sold and its proceeds lost in speculation. He became in- volved and, about 1795, sold the manor house and the accom- panying estate to his brother-in-law McVickar, whose wife was sister to his wife. He then had a general vendue and sold off all the stock and movables belonging to the estate, and the sale returned about $10,000. He and his wife agreed to put this in bank and live on the proceeds. She returned to her own fam- 1'9 > :: S: :; S -J — ■■ ■* '~L 1^ ■ ''"i-- ^~- ^ ■ 'V J^r \ 4 I. ^-' ^ A *^ *i «r ^ - 'C * », >-- , ■ tf' I 1 -<.. f ---^ HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUKTY. ISil ily, the Moores, at Newtown, and he, sinking still deeper in intemperance, accepted the position of a sergeant of foot or marines and went on a voy^-e at sea on a man-of-war. This was in 1798 or 1799. He was familiarly known as "Jack" Dongan. The last of his financial resources were finally ex- hausted and, broken down in health, he became a public charge for his living. Fortunately he had a god-mother, who lived in Jamaica, West Indies, and she learning his condition, sent money to pay his passage, and he went thither to complete the measure of his broken down life under her generous care and patronage. The remnant of the lordship containing the manor house was sold by John C. Dongan to John McVickar. He occupied it as a country seat from 1795 to 1802, when he sold it to Alexander McComb. McVickar constructed a canal two miles long from Fresh pond to the mill, took a hand in many public enteri^rises, and helped Mr. Vanderbilt the elder to funds with which to procure a piragua and dock at Factory ville. McComb sold the place to John Bodine, the younger, and he to his father. By the latter it was sold to Judge Edwards for Abraham Varick. But why continue to follow the changes. The glory of the manor has departed ; the last lord of its dominion has a long time slept in his grave, and the venerable manor house has been swept away by the devouring flame. Surely "man in honor abideth not." "This Following Pattent foraPeeceof Land LyeingattKarles Neck att the Fresh kill on Staten Island Granted to Barne Ty- sen being Omitted to be Recorded when Granted is Now Entred att the Request of the said Barne Tysen this 29th day of Nu- vembr. 1681. " Edmund Andros Esq'". Seigneor of Sausmarex Lievt. and Governor Generall under his RoyU. Highs. James Duke of Yorke and Albany &c. of all his Terretorys in America Where- as by Virtue of my Warrant y. hath Benn Laid out for Barne Tysen a Certaine Peece of Land Lyeing at Karles Neck at the Fresh Kill uj^on Staten Island being in Breadth by the Meadow side fforty and five Rods Ranging South East two hundred Eighty and fouer Rods Being Bounded to the Southwest by the Land of Thomas Morgan to the South East by the Commons and to the North East by the Land of Wolford Proll with tenn 126 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUIfTy. Acres of Salt Meadow fronting to the said Land and f ouer Acres of Fresh Meadow upon the Hills in the Reare of the Neck Con- teining in all Ninety foner Acres as by the Returne of the Sur- vey und' the Hand of the Surveyor: Doth and may appeare Know Yee that by vertue of his Maties Letters Pattents and the Commission and Authority unto me Given by his Royll Highs I have Given and Granted and by these Presents Doe hereby Give and Grant unto the said Barne Tyseu his Heires and Assigns the afore recited Peece of Land and Premisses with their and every of their Appurtenuces. To have and to hold the said Peece of Laud and Premisses unto him the said Barne Tysen his Heires and Assignes unto the proper use andBehoofe of the said Barne Tysen his Heires and Assignes For ever Hee making Improvem* thereon according to Law and Yeelding and Paying therefore Yearly and everj' Yeare unto his Royli Highs use as a Quitt Rent one Bushell of Good Winter Wheate unto such Officer or Officers as shall be Empowred to Receive the same. Given under my Hand and Sealed with the Seale of the Province in New Yoike this twenty Ninth Day of September in the 29tli Yeare of his Mat'^s Reigne Annoq Dumini 1077. The Meadow to be pro^jorconable with the Rest of the In- habitants. E. Andross. " Examined by me " Matthias Nicolls Seer. I do hereby Certify the aforegoing to be a true Copy of the Original Record Comiiared there with By me. " Lewis A. Scott, Secretary." " Recorded at ye Request of Daniell Lake & Compa " William the third by the Grace of God of England Scotland fifrance and Ireland King Defender of the ffaith &c To all to whome these p^'sents shall Come Sendeth Greeting. Whereas our Loveing Subjects Daniell Lake and Joseph Holmes have by their Petitions Presented unto our trusty and well beloved John Nanfan Esqi' our Lt Govern'' & Commander in Cheif of our Province of New Yorke and the Territories Depending thereon in America &c Pray our Grant and Conlirmation of a Certain Tract of Land on Staten Island in the County of Richmond HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 127 Beginning at ye Nortliwest Corner of the Lott of Land Laid out for Peter Billjean in the Reer of his three Lotts Granted by Sr Edmond Andros & Runs thence IXorth Westerly by the Line of Abraham Lakerman & William Barker to ye Land of Tennis Eghberts and Vincent fountain & so runs alongst his Line North Easterly to the South East Corner thereof thence to the Northwest Corner of Jacques Guyen & so by the Reer of of Bitteans Lotts Westerly to ye Place where begunn being Bounded on the Northwest by Abraham Lakerraan & William Barker on the North East by Tennis Eghberts and Vincent fountain on the South East by the Lotts of Isaac Billjean & on the South West by the Lotts of Peter Billjean Conteining two hundred acres w^'li reasonable request wee being willing to Grant Know Yee that of our Speciall Grace Certain Knowledge and meer motion wee have Given Granted Ratifyed and Con- firmed & by these pi'sents Doe for us our Heires and Successors Give Grant Ratifye and Confirme unto our s*^ Loveing Subjects Daniell Lake and Joseph Holmes all the aforecited Tract of Land within our County of Richmond & within the Limitts & Bounds aforesd together with all and Singular the Woods Under- woods Trees Timber feedings Pastures Meadows Marshes Swamps Ponds Pools Water watercourses Rivers Rivoletts Runs Streams fishing fowling hunting and hawkeing Mines Mineralls Silver and Gold Mines Excepted and all other Profitts benefitts Privilledges Liberties Advantages Hereditamts and appurte- nances whatsoever to the afoerecitd Tract of Land within the Limitts and bounds aforementioned belonging or in any wise appertaining to have and to hold all the afoerecited Tract of Land together wth all and Singular the woods underwoods Trees Timber feedings Pastures Meadows Marshes Swamps Ponds Pools watercourses Rivers Rivers Rivoletts Runs Brooks Streams fishing fowling hunting and hawkeing Mines Mineralls Silver and Gold Mines Excepted & all other Profliitts Benefitts Privilledges Liberties Advantages Hereditaments and appurte- nances whatsoever to the aforesd Tract of Land within the Limitts and Bounds aforementioned belonging or in any wise appertaining unto to them the said Daniell Lake and Joseph Holmes theii' Heires and assignes to the only Proper use benefitt and behoof of them tbe said Daniell Lake and Joseph Holmes their Heires and assignes forever to be holden of us our Heires & Successors in free and Comon Soccage as of our Mann^' of East 128 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Greenwch in our County of Kent within onr Realm of England Yielding Rendring & Paying therefore Yearly and every Year unto us our Heires and Successors at our Uity of New Yorke on the feast Day of the Nativity of our blessed Saviour the annuall and Yearly Rent of twelve Shillings Currt Money of New Yorke in Lieu and Stead of all other Rents Dues Dutys Services and Demands whatsoever In Testimony whereof wee have Caused the Great Seale of our said Province to be here- unto affixed Witness John Nanfan Esqi" onr Lieu* Govern' & Comander in Cheif of our Province of New Yorke &c at our ffort in New Yorke the 20th day of Aprill in the fourteenth year of our Reign. " John Nanfan. " By his honrs Comand M: Clarkson, Secry. "I do hereby Certify the aforegoing to be a true Copy of the Original Record. "Compared therewith By Me "Lewis A. Soott, Secretary." Many other patents were granted for lands on Staten Island. These we have already said were generally for small i)arcels. From the quit-rents affixed to such grants the colonial governors obtained a considerable revenue. A patent was granted by Governor Fletcher, December 20, 1697, to Sarah Scidmore for a tract of land on the south side of the island, at Old Town. The annual quit-rent on this was four shillings. The tract was soon after in the possession of Jacob Berger, and by the middle of the century belonged to John Keteltas in whose family it remained foi' several generations. A patent was granted by Queen Anne, September 1, 1708, to Francis Vincent for several parcels of land on the island, in which mention is made of the following adjoining owners : Peter Lecount, Albert Janson, one Pinhorne, John Melyore, John Breveele, Francis Welton, John Bodine, Benjamin Cooper, Mark Dussassway, Abraham Cannon, Jacob Galliott, John Cashee and Joshua Carsoon. In locating these parcels the following neighboring points are mentioned : Courtlandt, Fresh kill (16 acres of salt meadows at the mouth of it, "being almost round a certain Hammock of Upland," which is included, the whole "bearing N. W. from the house of HISTOKY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 129 John Morgan"), Daniel's neck, Thomas's creek, Charles's neck, and Abraham Cannon's creek. The last royal patent for lands on Staten Island was granted by Queen Anne, to Lancaster Symes, on the 22d of October, 1708. It conveyed all unappropriated lands, meadows, etc., etc., on the island, at an annual rent of six shillings current money of New York, payable on Lady-day of each year. It is recorded at Albany in book No. 7 of Patents, page 371, and quite recently recorded in this county. The following receipts copied from the originals will be of in- terest to show the manner in which the business was done. Numerous receipts of the kind may be found in all parts of the county. "Received of Arent Van Amer Two Bushells and a half of Wheat in full for One years Qaitt Rent of two Lotts of Land on Staten Island, one Granted to Philip Bendell & the other to John Taylor the 15th December 1680, being to the 25th March last, as Witness my hand this 12th August 1761. Rich" Nicholls Dep'y Recr Geni." " Received of Arent Van Amer Five bushells of Wheat in full for two Years Quitt Rent of the two Lotts of Land above mentioned to the 25th March last. As Witness my hand the 10th June 1763. RiciiD. Nicholls Dep*J' Recr Gen'." "Received of Aarnt Van Amer Five Bushells of Wheat in full for two years Quitt Rent of the two Lotts of Land above mentioned to the 25th of March last. As Witness my hand this 2'd May 1765. RiCHD. Nicholls Depty Red- Gen'." The above receipts are all written in a distinct, but very cramped hand on a scrap of paper 4 by 6 inches. The three following are written on the reverse side of the same paper. " Received of Arent Van Amer two bushells and a half of Wheat in full for one years Quit Rent of the before mentioned Lotts of Land due 25 March last. New York 14 May 1766 John Moore Dep. ReC. Gem." 9 130 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. "Received of Arent Van Amer Two Bushells & a half of Wheat in full for One Years Quit Rent of the before mentioned Lotts of land due 25 March last. Witness my hand 13 May 1767 John Moore Dep. Rec''. Gen'. )) "Reed of Arent Van Amen Two Bushells & half of Wheat in full for one Years Quit Rent of the above mentioned Lotts due 25th March last. Witness mv hand the 6th July 1768." There are three other receipts for wheat, bringing the pay- ment down to March 25th, 1775. The individual mentioned by the names of Arent Van Amer — Van Amen — Van Naum, was Aaron Van Name, the grandfather of Mr. Michael Van Name, and his brother Charles Van Name, both of Mariner's Harbor. " Patent granted to John Taylor for a Tract of Land on Staten Island dated 15th Decemr 1680 at One & a half Bushel Wheat per Annum. I From 25 March 1775 y ^ Aaron Van Nanm - to 25 May 1787 is 12 ; 2 ( Deduct 8.— 4. 2 @ 9/ £1. 17. 6 14 years commutation — 9/ 6. 6. - £8. 3. 6 Reced New York June 21st 1787 from Aaron Van Naum per the hands of Joshua Mercereau Esq. Public Securities which with the Interest calculated thereon to the 25th May last amounts to Eight Pounds three shillings & Six Pence in full for Arrears of Commutation on the above Patent. £8. 3. 6 Peter S. Cartenius State And''" It will be observed that during the royal government the quit rent was payable in wheat, according to the terms of the patent. Under the federal government it appears to have been com- muted for money. Resuming the order of our narrative we find the commotions HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 131 which had disturbed the people here for many years and finally reached the culmination of disorder and unrest in the usurpa- tion of Leisler, were followed by an extended period of com- parative tranquility, during which the colonial government was established upon a more equitable basis and was more uniform in its administration. From this time forward till the disrup- tion of the colonial government in May, 1775, the throne of Great Britain held undisputed control over the colony of New York. The government, as then constituted and afterward maintained, was composed of the governor and council, ap- pointed by the tlirone, and the assembly, whose members were elected by the freeholders of each county. The council at first numbered seven members, but was afterward increased to twelve. The governor was the chief executive. The legislative power lay in the governor, council and assembly. All laws were further subject to the revision of the king, to whom they were always to be sent within three months from the date of their passage. Governor Slaughter appears to have shown more regard for the rights and wishes of the people than his predecessors had done, or some of his successors did. He succeeded, as far as the nature of the government would allow, in quieting the commotions that had disturbed the peace of the people, and in restoring harmony and friendly relations in the colony. Among his first acts was the confirmation, under the seal of the prov- ince, of all grants, charters or patents that had previously been issued. We may say that with his administration a new era commenced. The gubernatorial reins passed in frequent succession from one to another down through the prosj^erous years of the colony. The governors and time of their administrations were as follows, those who died in office being marked by an asterislv (*): Henry Slaughter,* 1(391 ; Richard Ingoldsby, 1691-92 ; Ben- jamin Fletcher, 1692-98 ; Richard, Earl of Bellmont,* 1698- 1701 ; John Nanfan, 1701-02 ; Lord Cornbury, 1702-08 ; John, Lord Lovelace,* 1708-09; Richard Ingoldsby, 1709-10; Ger- ardus Beekman, 1710; Robert Hunter, 1710-19 ; Peter Schuyler, 1719-20; William Burnet,* 1720-28 ; John Montgomery,* 1728- 31 ; Rip Van Dam, 1731-82 ; William Casby*, 1732-36 ; George Clarke, 1736-43 ; George Clinton, 1743-53 ; Sir Danvers Os- borne,* 1753 ; James Be Lancey, 1753-55 ; Sir Charles Hardy, 132 HlSTOliY OF r.ICHJIOND COUNTY. 1755-57; James De Lancey,* 1757-60 ; Cadwallader Golden, 1760-61 ; Robert Monkton, 1761; Cadwallader Golden, 1761-65; Sir Henry Moore,* 1765-69 ; Gadwallader Golden, 1769-70 ; John, Lord Dunmore, 1770-71 ; Willam Tryon, 1771-77. We now turn to notice the courts, the officers connected with them, and some of their works, during this period. The courts were at first held in different places in the county, wherever . convenience indicated. It is not known at what time they were first held at Stony Brook as a regular place for them, but we find the custom prevailing during the early years of the eigh- teenth century. At the .same time the jail .seems to have been at " Guckoldstown," the early name for Richmond, where it was built in 1710, as the following order would indicate : "Ordered that Mr. Lambart Garisone and Mr. Wm. Tillyer. See the prison House built at Guckols Towne — y<' Dimensions Twelve foot in breadth, fourteen foot Long, Two Story high, six foot y'^ Loer Room from beam to plank, and the uper Story Six foot, all to be built with stone, and for building of the sd. prison the Said Undertakers have hereby power To take the Monys out of the Collectors hands for carying on the sd. work & the order of y^ sd. Undertakers & Receipts shall be a Suffi- cient discharge to y^ sd. Collectors." This building proved inadequate to the purpose as is seen by the fact that at a court of sessions held in the court house at Stony Brook, on the 5th day of March, in the ninth of his Ma- jesty's' reign (1723), "Benjamin Bill Eq-" high Sheriffe of the County of Richmond Complains to the Court of the Insuffi- ciency of his majesty Goal for the said County that it is all to- gether soe Insufficiency that it is impossible to keep any pris- oner safe as the Said Goal Divers prisoners having lately Es- caped thereout and therefore the said sheriffe protest against the Inhabitants of the County of Richmond for Repairing the said Goal and against all waits Escapes that may Ensue for the Insufficiency of the said Goal and pray that his protest may be entered accordingly." In 1725, Nicholas Larzelier, then high sheriff, repeated the same complaint in the same terms. Two years after he repeated it again, but what result attended the complaints we are not in- formed. A new court house and jail were probably erected at Richmond, whence the county seat was removed and estab- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 138 lislied. The earliest mention of the court of sessions being held at Richmond is dated September 2, 1729. Previous to the erection of a court house the courts were held in private houses or taverns. The following entry gives some hints : "March 2, 1713 Court a journed till to morow at Ten of the Clock in the forenoon to the North Side To Coll Grahams Court opened, and ajourned Till y^ fist Tuesday on 7ber [Sep- tember] next.— God Save the Queen." Col. Aug. Graham was one of the Judges of the common pleas and sessions. Debtors were arrested and obliged to give bail or go to prison. The return of the precept of arrest by the sheriff or constable was " Cepi Corpus." In almost every instance where a prisoner was acquitted by the jury, he was discharged by the court upon payment of costs. The courts of general sessions were fre- quently conducted by an overflowing bench, as for example, on the 22d of September, 1761, there were present the first, second and third judges, and nine justices, making in all a bench of twelve. It was a common thing for a court to be constituted with eight, nine or ten judges. The following abstracts from court records will be read with nterest : •'At a Court of Sessions held for the county of Richmond March 3, 1712. "Jos. Arrowsmith, Lambert Garrison, Nathi Britton, Abm. Coole [Cole], Peter Rezeau, Esq^ "March ye 4th. Court opened and Grand Jury calld. The presentmts of the Grand Jury brought in ; the Court orders prosess to be issued out against those presented— viz. Peter Bibout for beating Mr Mony [Manee] and his wiffe. Barnt Mar ling, Andrew Bowman, William Foord & The Taylor peter peryne & Vn. Battler, Peter Catherick and Nath^ Brittin Junr. all for fighting. John Dove and John Bilevv for carrying of Syder upon the Sabbath Day. Abraham Van Tyle for allowing his negroe to Cary Irone to the Smiths on the Sabbath day, and Mark Disosway for being drunk on the Sabbath day." At a court of sessions held March 5th, 1716, " it was ordered by the court that Nicholas Brittin pay Twelve shillings fRne for his misbehavior to Nath' Brittin Esq. and also ordered that 134 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. he beg Justice Brittins pardon and promise to doe so no more, and also to pay all the charges of this action." September 3d. 1717, all the retailers of strong liquors were summoned to appear before the court of general sessions to show by what authority they retailed ; thereupon appeared "Mauris Williams, Jean Brown, Anthony Wright, Barnt Symerson, Daniel Lane, John Garrea, David Bisset, Cornelius Eyman, Lamb* Garrittson Jun. Benj" Bill, Jacob Johnson, Isaac Symerson, Joseph Bastido " — thirteen in the whole county. Simon Van Name was a justice of the peace, and a prominent man in his day. We give below copies of a coux)le of legal documents issued by him: " Richmond County To the Constable of the north diuision where as Complaind is made by Euert van name unto me Simon van name one of his Magistices Justice of the peace that Hennery day owith him the Sum of Seuen Shillings and neglect to Pay the same this is theair for to require you to somins the satne hennery day to apear before me at my dweling house on thursday next at one of the aclock in the after noon which will be the 13 day of this instient month els Jugment shall go against him by The fault giuen from under my hand this the tenth day of March Ano domini 1728-9 SiME VAN NAME." The following venire has a paper attached to it containing the names of twenty pei'sons, the first twelve of whom are num- bered, and probably constituted the jury in the cause: " Richmond to the Constable of County the North devision Where as there is an action depending between Tommas mor- gan plantif & Isaac Garrison Defended Both of the County Abousd [above said] and the Defendant Desires a Jury upon the sd Action These are therefore in his Maiestyes Name to Require & Command you to Svmnions Twelve Sufficient Men to Appear Before me on Wensday next at Twelve of the Clock in the forenoon of the Sameday at my Dwelling Hous to Serve as Jvrers upon the sd Action Depending Whereof fail not Given under my hand Thee twenty seventh day of July Annoq. Dom. 1730 SiME VAN NAME." HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 185 Names attached; " 1 Abraham corshon, 2 richard crips, 3 John mengalroU, 4 garet cruse, 5 philip merel, 6 honas deker, 7 barnt sweme, 8 ranses bodine, 9 nicholes stilwell, 10 nichles dejiue, 11 John boker, 12 tunas te bout, nickles bush, mr couanouer, art simanson, Jacob benet, lambart garison, thomas lisk, alexander lisk, ben goman ayrs." On the reverse of the venire are the following endorsements: " Richmond County July the 29 the Jui'y finds for the sd defendant. venire 0. 1. 6 to the constabel 0. swaring the Jury 2. swaring y evdens 1. 6 swaring the Constel 6 Entring verdeck 1. 6—6 The last court of common pleas and general sessions in this county under the colonial government was held September 26, 1775. Following that a period of nearly nine years elapsed be- fore another court of the kind was held. The following names appear as justices of the peace in this county at an early period: Ellis Duxbury, 1692; John Shotwell, 1692; Abraham Lackman, 1693; Cornells Corsen, 1689-90; Joseph Billop, 1702-3. The only case of capital punishment executed under a decree of the colonial courts, of which we have learned, took place about two or three years before the revolutionary war. We depend entirely upon tradition for the account of it, which is as follows : A negro, named Anthony Neal, was accused of break- ing into and robbing the store kept by Col. Aaron Cortelyou. The goods that were taken from the store did not exceed in value twenty dollars, and they were all found secreted in a wheat feald near by. The accused negro, after being imprisoned about two months, was tried and convicted and hung. The ex- ecution took place just by the school house at Richmond, the negro protesting his innocence with his latest breath. It is said that on the day following the execution his wife confessed that she had committed the theft herself. A slight outline of certain important events in European his- tory now appears necessary as an introduction to the memorial 136 IIISTORV OF RICHMOND COtXNTY. of an interesting incident, of which Staten Island was the scene in the autumn of 1761. Between the years 1756 and 1763 the seven years' war raged in Germany. In this remarkable contest the great Frederick had to defend his recently acquired Silesia and the new kingly dignity of his house against the combined powers of France, Austria and Russia. This war with " the three petticoats " (Elizabeth, Maria Theresa and the Pompadour), as he facetiously termed them, was in fact, on his part, a desperate struggle for existence, in which he would per- haps have succumbed but for the aid of England. In that country Frederick, whose religious ideas were of the most un- orthodox liberality, came somehow to be regarded as " the Protestant hero," and after ignominiously defeating the French he naturally became the popular idol. This same seven years' war covers in American history a space of nine years, and is known by the name of the French and Indian war, beginning in 1754, with the disputes about the French and English colonial boundaries in the Mississippi and Ohio valleys, and blending ultimately with the great European contest. In the spring of 1755 the colonies made extensive preparations for an attack on the French, but owing to the ig- norance of their commanders in regard to the tactics of Indian warfare the campaign was utterly unsuccessful. Crown Point and Niagara were both assailed, but neither captured. In the campaign of 1756 the English losses were even greater, their fort at Oswego, with 1,600 men, being captured by the French. This was followed by the still more unsuccessful campaign of 1757, in which Fort William Henry, on Lake George, with its garrison of 3,000 men was compelled to surrender to the French. In 1758, William Pitt (afterward Lord Chatham) was placed at the head of the government as prime minister of England. A new imi^ulse was now given to the energies of the nation, and success followed. In July, Louisburg, which at the former peace had been restored to the French, was recaptured. Fort Frontenac was captured soon after, and the French were compelled to abandon Fort du Quesne. General Abercrombie attacked Fort Ticonderoga, but was obliged to retire. Encouraged by these successes, the colony of New York re- newed her exertions with the utmost energy. In 1759, during the short jieriod of five months she raised a sum of $625,000 to aid HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 137 in carrj'ing on the war, and levied a force of 2,680 men. In that levy the qnota for Richmond connty was 55 men. Ticonderoga was captnred bj" General Amherst, early in the season, and Crown Point surrendered a few days later. In July, General Prideanx invested Fort Niagara, and though he was killed in the attack. Sir William Johnson, his successor in the command, effected its reduction. On the 18th of September, General Wolfe laid down his own life in the moment of victory, when the English banners floated over the towers of Quebec. In 1760, the French made an unsuccessful attempt to recapture Quebec, and on the 8tli of September, all the French possessions in Canada, except the two small islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, were surrendered to the Eng- lish. The provincial forces who had been engaged in its reduc- tion, now turned their faces homeward, while a large body of British troops were established in a camp on Staten Island, where they remained for several months. General Robert Moncton had command of this army. During their encamp- ment here an important ceremony, the investment of Sir Jeffery Amherst with the "Order of the Bath " took place, and to this interesting event our introductory remarks under this sub- ject pointed. Probably Staten Island was never honored with being the scene of a more dignifled or important royal ceremon}^ On the 28th of August, 1761, General Amherst, having rode on horseback down the west side of the Hudson river from Albany, arrived in camp at Staten Island. The 35th regiment of British regulars, called Otway's regiment, from its com- mander, had arrived in the Staten Island camp from Albany about two weeks previous. The ceremony of investing General Am- herst with the knighthood took place October 25, 1761, in the presence of all the dignitaries of the province and a large con- course of spectators, assembled at the camp on Staten Island. The explanation will not be out of place here that the mili- tary order of Knights of the Bath originated, as is supposed, about the time of Henry IV, of England. At the coronation of that king, in 1339, a number of esquires were made knights of the bath because they had watched and bathed meanwhile during the preceding night. From that time it was usual for the kings of Great Britain to create knights of this order on great and joyous occasions, such as their own coronation or the birth or marriage of ])rinces or on the eve or following the successful 138 HISTORY OF KICIIMO^MD COUNTY. issue of some great foreign expedition. The investment of General Amherst was probably in honor of the advantageous conclusion of the struggle with the French on the Canadian frontier. The badge of the order was of pure gold, a sceptre of three united imperial crowns, from which grew the rose, the thistle and the shamrock, and aronnd which was inscribed the ancient motto, " Tria juncta in u/io.'''' It was hung by a red ribbon from the collar obliquely over the right shoulder. Other accessories of the insignia a massive gold collar, rich in engraved designs, and a silver star resembling the badge and with a glory of rays proceeding from its center, to adorn the left shoulder. The order was divided into three ranks, desig- nated in importance as first, knights grand crosses ; second, knights commanders, and third, knights companions. The proper place for their installation to be celebrated was in the nave of Henry the Seventh's chapel, Westminster Abbey, which in this instance was impracticable. The warrant for the ceremony here was found in the following letter from the prime minister of England: "Whitehall, July 17th, 1761. " Sir, "His Majesty having been graciously pleased, :is a Mark of His Royal Approbation, of the many and eminent Services of Major General Amherst, to nominate him to be one of the Knights Companions of the Most Honorable Order of the Bath; and it being necessary that he should be invested with the En- signs of the said Order, which are transmitted to him, by this Opportunity; I am to signify to you the King's Pleasure, that you should perform that Ceremony; and it being his Majesty's Intention, that the same be done in the Most Honourable and Distinguished Manner that Circumstances will allow of, you will concert, and adjust with General Amherst such Time and Manner for Investing him with the Ensigns of the Order of the Bath as shall appear to you most proper for shewing all due Respect to tlie King's Order, and as may, at the same Time mark in the most publick Manner, His Majesty's just sense of the Constant Zeal, and Signal Abilities, which Gen- eral Amherst has exerted in the Service of His King and Country. " I am &c. "^V. Pitt. "Honourable Robert Monckton." HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 139 In presence of the concourse of people assembled at the time and ijlace ajipointed for the ceremonies General Moncton read the foregoing letter, and tlien proceeded to place the ribbon over General Amherst's shoulder, meanwhile making an apology that circumstances would not admit of more formal investi- ture. To this General Amherst replied in the following short speech : " Sir: I am truly sensible of this distinguishing mark of His Majesty's royal approbation of my conduct, and shall ever esteem it as such. And I must beg leave to express to you the peculiar satisfaction I have, and the pleasure it gives me to re- ceive this mark of favor from your hands." Demonstrations of applause followed the ceremony, and a few days later, when General Amherst went from Staten Island to the city his arrival there was greeted by the firing of seven- teen guns from Fort George. He was now spoken of as "his Excellency Sir Jeffery Amherst, K. B., from the army on Staten Island." Following this ceremony General Moncton was installed governor of New York, and the city was illumi- nated. Governor Moncton did not remain in the seat of state, but appointing a deputy, he went with the army on its expedition to the West Indies. The army encamped on Staten Island com- prised eleven regiments who had returned from the Canadian frontier, under Generals Moncton, Amherst and Otway. The encampment was on the central part of the island, and they remained here from August till November. Here they formed a market and invited the farmers to bring in stock and produce to sell to the army. When all was ready the army embarked on board of a fleet of one hundred sail of vessels, which on the 15th of November put to sea with a fair wind. Reviewing the French war, we find but little in which the people of Staten Island were directly connected with it. They raised their proportion of money and their quota of men as contributions to sustain the cause. Of the men we have no knowledge farther than that Thomas Arrowsmith was captain of a company in 1758 and '59, and Anthony Waters was a captain in 1760. One of the most important services was the capture of the French Fort Frontenac, on the 27th of August, 1758. With 3,000 men, mostly provincials. Colonel Bradstreet traversed HO HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. the wilderness between Albany and Lake Ontario, carrying with liim eight pieces of cannon, and three mortars. Among these troops was a regiment commanded by Colonel Corse, of Qneens county, and in that regiment was Captain Thomas Ar- rowsmith's company of Staten Islanders. This regiment con- tributed materially to the success of the expedition. Corse volunteered to erect a battery during the night of the 26th, and effected his purpose under a continuous fire from the fort. On the morning of the 27th, this battery opened on the enemy, who at once deserted the fort and fled. Tlie material captured with the fort consisted of forty-six pieces of cannon, sixteen mortars, and a very large quantity of military stores, provisions and merchandise. In connection herewith the following advertisement which appeared in April, 1756, affords interesting suggestions and ex- plains itself, though we do not know the I'esult: SCHEME Of a Lottery for raising One Hundred and Fifty Pounds. "Whereas the Free holders and Inhabitants of the County of Richmond, are enabled by an Act of the Governor, Council and General Assembly, of the Colony of New York, to raise by Way of Lottery a Sum not exceeding the sum of One Hun- dred and Fifty Pounds, to purchase Arms and Accoutrements, for the Use of such Persons, in the said County, as are unable to provide themselves therewith, in Cases of Necessity. And whereas the said County of Richmond is a Frontier County, and liable, in Case of an Attack, to be the first invaded, it is hoped all Lovers of their Country will generously encourage the said Lottery. No. of Prizes. Pieces of Eight. Whole Value. 1 of 375 is 375 2 187 and a half are 375 4 125 500 10 25 250 25 12 300 40 10 400 60 5 300 142 Prizes. 858 Blanks. 1,000 Tickets at 2 and a Half Pieces of 8 is 2,500 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 141 '• As soon as the Lottery is finished Drawing, the Prizes will be published in the New York Gazette, and the Money paid to the Possessors of the fortunate Tickets, fourteen Days after the Drawing of the said Lottery, Fifteen per Cent, being first de- ducted out of the Whole ; which several Deductions of Fifteen per Cent, are to be applied for the Purposes aforesaid. "Proper Notice will be given by the Persons appointed to manage the said Lottery, of the precise Time of Drawing the same ; which Persf)ns are Mr. Samuel Brooms and Colonel Ben- jamin Seamans, wlio are to give Bond, and be under Oath, for the faithful Performance of the Trust reposed in them. "Tickets are to be sold by the said Managers at their respect- ive Dwellings, in the said County, and by the Promoters hereof." Some description of scenes and physical improvements under the colonial period will be of interest, and may perhaps be pre- sented here as fitly as elsewhere. The laying out of roads was one of the first forms of public improvement, some of which remain in their original position to the present day. As matter of interest in connection herewith we copy the following record. " This following Instrument was Recorded for the Inhabit- ants of the west divishone by the order of the worshipefull bench sitting in Coarte of seshones the week In September 1694 for the Regelating & Laying out all the highwayes with in said quarter & Entred upon Record the : 9th day of septi' 1694. Richmond County this first day of September annoque dom: 1694: By vertue of Awarend dyreckted to the Constabell of the west dyvishone with In the fore said County to sommonse the free holders of said quarter to Asemble & meete to Gather to Ereckte Apoainte & Lay out such hyghwaies with in said quar- ter As the Inhabitants shall thinke futt and most Conveainent for the youse & behoofe of his magistie and his subgeckts & for the Inhabitants That lives back in the woods to transport them- selvfes & Goods to the water sid. The freeholders having mett to Gather on the day & yeare Above written And ordred and apoainted & Laid out the highwayes as heare after are spresi- fied : 1 : ordered one highway of six Rod to be betwene Anthoney deshon and lofa fonoay Cut by Consent AUtred and Laid out betwene Anthoney deshon and Jerome deshon begining att the Could spring 142 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. : 2 : To one highway betwene Clays Lazeleare & John Cor- nealisone of six Rood : 3 : To one highway betwene Williame Elstones Land de- ceased & abraham Coole of six Rod. : 4 : To one highway betwene mr Leflore & peter Jonsea wide of six Rod : 5 : To one high way betwene Adame hud & nir Emet next to adem hud of six Rod : 6 : To one high way betwene fransis barber & the Copper Planes of six Rod : 7 : To one high way betwene John Ray & markes disosway of six Rods : 8 : To one highway betwene mr John Lecount & Capten bilope of six Rod : 9 : To one highway from the west side begining att mr Le- counts frount & Runes Cleare over throw the wods by the Line of Capten bilope to the widow bealies house : 10 : To one highway betwene Cornell dongones Land and anthoney Tyse throw the wods To the west side betwene the Guset and Richard wods Land but Left out of the Guset & soe downe betwene Abraham Cooles & the Land that was williara Elstones : 11 : To one high way betwene mr Cathentone & the widow haule of six Rood : 12 : To one high way betwene domeney tarsmaker & John bodine of six rood : 13 : To one high way by the water side from John bodines to Capten bilopes Land of eight Rod : 14 : To one high way by the water side begining att mr John Lecounts & soe to the pipe makers and from thence throw the woods to the water side by peter Jonseames his house and from thence by the water side to the Land of John hendriksone : 15 : To one high way from peter Jonseameses alongst the water side in the frount of mr Stimorles Land & adaham huds & Elishea parbers and soe alongst the water side to the Coper planers :16: To one high way from the koirb of John hendrikesone alongst the water side To Clais Laseleare This is atrew Record by the order of the Coarte of seshones "Entred & Recorded by mee " Jacob Corbett : Cla : " HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 143 In cunipliance with a similar order of the court of sessions March 4, 1700, relating to the inhabitants of the north division, the following roads were laid out in that quarter and recorded the 17th day of March, 1700 : "1 : To one highway along the front of Karels neck Six Rods in breadth & so along royl land where Oswald ford liveth : 2 : To one high way between the Land of Christian Corsson & Segir gerritse running to Coecles Town Six rodd in breadth." There is a tradition that tlie Richmond road is the oldest road on the island, but at what date it was opened we are not in- formed. Very probalily it follows the course of a pre-historic Indian trail. It is said that it was originallj" laid out eight rods in width. The object of this was to prevent as much as possible the danger of Indians lying in ambush and attacking travellers unawares, by giving a chance for clear vision some distance ahead. A road from Betty Morgan's house to Dongan's lower mill was closed and another opened in its stead April 8, 1758. The latter ran from the road that connected Karle's neck and Rich- mond, beginning on that road at a point on John Betty's land, thence past Betty Morgan's house, taking on its way the course of the "gully running to Mr. Totten's Bridge," and other lines and paths till it reached Colonel Dongan's lower mill. A road from Darby Doyle's ferry to Billop's ferry, and another from the Narrows or Simonson's ferry to meet the other at tlie school house of Garrison's were laid out March 14, 1774. A road from the soldiers' lots to John Bodine's was laid out at the same time. From a publication in London, dated 1760, we abstract the following description of Staten Island at that time : " Staten Island at its east end has a feny of three miles to the west end of Long Island ; at its west end is a ferry of one mile to Perth-Amboy of East Jersies ; it is divided from East Jersies by a creek ; is in length about twelve miles, and about six miles broad, and makes one county, called Richmond, which l)ays scarce one in one and twenty of the provincial tax ; it is all in one parish, but several congregations, viz., an English, Dutch, and French congregation ; the inhabitants are mostly English ; only one considerable village called Cuckold' s-town." Professor Kalm, a Frencli traveller, made the journey from Philadelphia to New York, by way of Staten Island, on horse- 144 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. back in 1748. The party of which he was a member left Phihi delphia October 27th, and came by way of Bristol, Trenton, Princeton, New Brunswick, Woodbridge, Elizabethtown and Staten Island. From his accounts of the places on his route we make the following extract. "At night we took up our lod.f:;mgs at Bllzabethtown Point, an inn about two English miles distant from the town, and the last house on this road belonging to New Jersey. The man who had taken the lease of it, together with that of the ferry near it, told us that he paid a hundred and ten pounds of Pennsyl- vania currency to the owner. " Octoher the 3()th. We were ready to proceed on our jour- ney at sun rising. Near the inn whei'e we had passed the night, we were to cross a river, and we were brought over, together with our horses, in a wretched, half rotten ferry. This river came a considerable way out of the country, and small vessels could easily sail up it. This was a great advantage to the in- habitants of the neighboring country, giving them an oppor- tunity of sending their goods to New York with great ease ; and they even made use of it for trading to the West Indies. The country was low on both sides of the river, and consisted of meadows. But theie was no other hay to be got, than such as commonly grows in swampy grounds; for as the tide comes up in this river, these low plains were sometimes overflowed when the water was high. The people hereabouts are said to be troubled in summer with immense swarms of gnats or musque. toes, which sting them and their cattle. This was ascribed to the low swampy meadows, on which these insects deposite their eggs, wliich are afterwards hatched by the heat. " As soon as we had got over the river, we were upon Staten Island, which is quite surrounded with salt water. This is the beginning of the province of New York. Most of the people settled here were Dutchmen, or such as came hither whilst the Dutch were yet in possession of this place. But at present they were scattered among the English and other European inhabitants, and spoke English for the greatest part. The prospect of the country here is extremely pleasing, as it is not so much intercepted by woods, but ofl'ers more cultivated fields to view. Hills and vallies still continued, as usual to change alternately. " The farms were near each other. Most of the houses were HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 145 wooden ; however, some were built of stone. Near every fanii- honse was an orchard with apple trees ; the fruit was already for the greatest part gathered. Here, and on the whole jour- ney before, I observed a press for cyder at every farm-house, made in different manners, by which the ijeople had already pressed the juice out of the apples, or were just busied with that work. Some people made use of a wheel made of thick oak planks, which turned upon a wooden axis by means of a horse drawing it, much in the same manner as the people do with woad ; except that here the wheel runs upon 7:)lanks. Cherry trees stood along the enclosures round corn-fields. "The cornfields were excellently situated, and either sown with wheat or rye. They had no ditches on their sides, but (as is usual in England) only furrows; drawn at greater or less dis- tances from each other. "In one place we observed a water mill, so situated that when the tide flowed the water ran into a iwnd : but when it ebbed the floodgate was drawn up, and the mill driven by the water flowing out of the pond. " About eight of the clock in the morning we arrived at the place where we were to cross the water, in order to come to the town of New YorJc. We left our horses here and went on board the yacht : we were to go eight Englisli miles by sea ; however we landed about eleven o'clock in the morning at Nem York. We saw a kind of wild ducks in immense quantities upon the water : the people called them Blue bills, and they seemed to be the same with our Pintail ducks, or Linnaeus' s Anasacuta : but they were very shy." Without any especial attempt at order in arrangement or date we shall now review such of the customs and habits of the people of this period as the sources of our information afford us a glimpse of. In colonial times the people used wooden trenches and pew- ter platters and other dishes at their meals, the poorer classes using the former and the more wealthy using the latter. They were very fond of pewter mugs and porringers, which were a kind of round bowl with a handle prettily carved, and was used more particularly for drinking chocolate, that beverage being then more common than tea or coffee. Chocolate was the common drink for supper. Coffee and tea were little used, though it is said coffee was introduced here about 1650. When 10 146 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. tea was first introduced here there seems to have been some un- certainty as to what was its most appropriate use, An amus- ing story is told of one Mr. Crocheron, who, having heard of the new herb called tea, bought a pound of it and took it home. When he wished to boil a ham he thought the aromatic qualities of the tea would improve it, so he strewed his pound of tea over the ham and boiled them all up together. To have her pewter ware scoured clean and bright, and well arranged for display on the shelves of her kitchen was the pride of the in- dustrious housewife. Feather beds were in common use, sum- mer and winter. The general breakfast of rich and poor was suppaun and milk. Toast and cider was a very common article of diet, the bread being toasted and put into the cider, and sometimes the cider was substituted by chocolate. They often had four meals a day. After the breakfast described above came dinner in the middle of the day, at which a favorite dish was "samp-por- ridge," a kind of soup made with meat, potatoes, turnips and the like. Between daylight and dark they took a light lunch, with, perhaps, a cup of tea, then had supper about nine o'clock. This consisted of suppaun and milk, or bread and milk, or toast and cider again. Thus it will be noticed that though they liad frequent meals their bill of fare was a very plain one and was not remarkable for its variety. To ride on horseback was a much more common method of travelling than it is now. It was indeed then the most com- mon one in use. A man took his wife and a young man took his girl, on the same horse with himself, the lady riding behind her cavalier. Sometimes a pillion was used, but thej' generally rode bare-back. Vehicles were very rare, and consisted almost entirely of farm wagons and carts, which were used for pur- poses of pleasure as well as business. Carpets on the floors were then almost unknown, but the tidy housewife of those times kept the floors of her living rooms well scrubbed, bright and clean, and then sprinkled white sand over them, distributing it in frescoes over the floor by artistic flourishes of the broom. Shortly before the revolution, tradition asserts that the people were unusually superstitious. A number of stories of witches and strange apparitions are handed down. One tells of a child that was seen at night all clothed in red on a certain rock at Springville which lay across the road from the school house. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 147 but has since been blasted. Another tells us of a mysterious black dog as large as a horse that used to frequent a spot called " the signs," and at night would appear beside horseback riders and trot along with them. One negro who was riding with a broad-axe in his hand, had the boldness to strike a terrific blow, but the dog vanished from beneath it and the axe fell to the ground. Another tells of a negro slave who ran away and a well disposed witch brought him back and jilaced him in his bed at night. But he was so much exhausted from the rough handling of the witch that he could not get out of bed for three or four days. There were also the " Haunted Woods," on the road to Old Town, and the "Haunted Bridge," on the road to Amboy, each of which had its tale of supernatural mystery. Had the sage of "Sunnyside" pitched his tent for awhile on Staten Island he might have embalmed some of them in the charms of classic literature, where perchance they would have been rivals for " Sleepy Hollow " or " Rip Van Winkle." In the time of which we are speaking fiax was raised here, and linen manufactured from it in the families of the farmers. "Flax bees" were social merry-making occasions on which labor was combined with entertainment. The flax having been properly rotted was " crackled," "hatcheled" and othei'wise prepared for the more tedious work of spinning and weaving. After the work of the evening was done girls and boys would join in a dance for a considerable part of the balance of the night. And who shall say that the sturdy youths and ruddy faced girls of that day, in their plain home-spun clothing, after an evening's vigorous toil and surrounded by the rustic appurten- ances of the homes in which they were assembled, did not en- joy tile sweets of social intercourse just as fully as the beaux and belles of to-day with all the dainty luxuries of modern dress and surroundings. Nearly all the farmers had slaves in those days. These were uniformly well treated. It was customary for them to live, eat and sleep in the kitchens. After their household duties for the day were accomplished the black women were commonly en- gaged in spinning linen or twine. The men also would spin with an instrument called a " haspel" the yarn for ropes, to be taken to the rope-walks to be made up. A list of the names of slaves, male and female, above four- teen years of age owned in the north division of Staten Island ]48 HISTORY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. in 1755, is still preserved. We give the list, with the names of their owners, as it appears. " A List of The Names Male and Female belonging to Males. Females. Thomas Dongan 1st Thomas Tice 1st Philis 2d Ceaser 2 Peg 3d Jack 3 Hanna 4th Jack Mollato 5th Joe 6th Robbin 7th Parris Jacob Corssen Ceneor 1: Japhory 1: Mary 2: Sam 2: Nanne 3: Jupeter Jacob Corssen Juner 1 Rose 2: Nans John Vegte 1: Tom 1: Bette 2: Primes 2: Jean Gerardus Beekman 1 Bristo In the Care of G. Beekman and Belonging to John Beekman in New York. 1: One Negro Na. Sam 2: One Negro Na. Jo 3: One Negro Na. Warwick Antony Watters 1: One Negro Na, Sam 2: One Negro Na, Will Henry Cruse 1 June 1: One W Leana 2: One W Phillis 1 One negroNa Charles Cornelius Cruse Simon Simonson 1: One Negro Na Napten Johanis de Groet 1: One negro Na Jack 1: One WNa lade 2: One W na Dina 3: One W na Sary 1: One W na Dina 1: One W. Na Susanna HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Joseph Rolf 149 1: One negro Na, sam 1: One W, Na Jude 1: One W, Na Sary Cristeiaen Corssen 1. One Negro Na, Jack 2: One Negro Na Nenes Josuah Merseral 1: One Negro Na Flip 1: One W, Na Darkis John Deceer 1: One Negro named Jem Garret Crussen 1 : One W, Na Jane 1: One W, Na mat 1: One W, Na bet 1: one Negro Na Bos. 1 one, Na Jack 1. one Na. for ten 1. one Na Sam one na Bink 1 Negor N harry 2 Dto N John 1 Negro Tom 1 Negro Na Quam 1 Negro Na Jack 2 Dto Na Tom 1 Negro Na Ben 1 Negro Na kos 1 Negro Na Kinck 1 Negro Na Tom 2 Dto Na Cornelias 3 Dto Na harry Garrit Post John Roll Junr Barent marteling Richard merrill Otto Van tuyl Bastian Ellis John Veltmon Abraham Prall Charles Mecleen Margret Simonson Joseph Lake John Roll 1. One W, Na flore 1: One W Na Sary One W Na Title One W Na Sary 1 W Na Jane 2 W, Na Jude 1 Wench Na Hage 2 Dto Na Jane 3 Dto Na Bet 1 Wench Na floar 1 Wench Na Peg 1 Wench Na Sary 150 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Elenor haughwoiit Negro Na Liie Negro Na Tom 1 Negro Na Sambo 1 Negro Na harrv 1 Negro Na frank 1 Negro Na Harry Abraham Croclieron Barn it De Pue John Crocheron David Cannon Aron Prall Chary ty Merrill Joseph Begel 1 Wench Na Bet 1 Wench Na Mary 1 AVench febe 1 Wench Na Bet 1 Wench Na Philis Cornelias Korsan Wench Na Susanna " A list of the Negroes of my division in the North Compeny of Staten Island. " Jacob Corsskn Jur " While we are speaking of slavery the following cojiy of an advertisement dated July 5, 1756, will throw some light on the customs of the time in regard to the subject: " Run away the 2d Instant July^ from Jolin Decker, of Staten Island, a negro Man, being a short chubby Fellow, with extraordinary bushy Hair, is bare foot, and has a Soldier's red Great Coat on. Also run away from the Widow Haugh- toout, of the said Island, a negro Wench, of middle Size, is with Child, and speaks broken English, and has a Bundle of Clothes with her. It is sui:)posed they went together. Whoever takes up the said negro Man and Wench, and secures them so that they be had again, shall have Forty SJiillings Reward, and Charges paid by the Owners, John Decker and Widow HaugJi- wout.'''' As the life of a slave was doomed to be one of labor, intellect- ual cultivation was deemed unnecessarj' ; some few, however, were taught sufficiently to enable them to read the Bible, and as they were admitted to be responsible hereafter for the deeds done in this life, religious instructions in pious families were not neglected. It was not unusual to see master and slave working together in the fields apparently on terms of perfect equality, but there were lines drawn, beyond which neither HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Ii51 males nor females dared to trespass. In the kitchen, especially in the long winter evenings, the whites and blacks indiscrimin- ately surrounded the same huge fire, ate apples from the same dish, poured cider from the same pitcher, and cracked nuts and jokes with perfect freedom. The dwellings of the eai'ly settlers were unavoidably rude and more or less uncomfortable and inconvenient. As the so- ciety ripened into the Colonial period, however, some improve- ment was made. At first necessity compelled them to erect their houses without regard to anything but that. Log cabins wei'e built by almost every family, and when properly con- structed, were comfortable and durable. They were one story high, with wooden chimnies and thatched roofs. In process of time, as their means increased, many of them erected spacious, and in some instances costly houses of stone, some of which may still be seen in various parts of the island, but they were almost without exception in the Dutch style of architecture — long, low and massive. The kitchen, which was usually a sep- arate structure, but connected with, the main house, was fur- nished with a spacious fire-place — in some instances occupying one entire end of the apartment. It is said that some of these kitchens were furnished with doors, in front and in rear, large enough to allow a horse and sleigh loaded with wood, to be driven in at one door (the wood to be unloaded into the fire- place) and driven out at the opposite, but we will not pledge our historical veracity for the truth of the assertion. Usually a "back-log," of green wood, too large to be managed without the aid of bars and levers, was rolled into the house and placed against the back wall of the fire-place, then smaller materials were built up in front of it and ignited, and soon a bright and glowing fire was kindled, giving heat, and at night, light enough for ordinary purposes. The materials for these houses were abundant on almost every man's farm ; stones were either quarried or found on the sur- face ; timber grew in his own woods, where it was felled and dressed ; shingles were cut and split in the same place, and the boards and planks were sawed at some neighboring mill. Of these saw-mills there were several on the island ; the ruins of one or two of them are still to be seen. The nails were made by the hands of the neighboring blacksmith. Lime of the best quality was made by burning the shells, which were found in 152 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. many places near the shores in large quantities, deposited there by the aborigines. It required much labor, and occupied much time to build a house of this description, but it was built to be occupied by generations. In the construction of houses of the better class, the chimneys were made of bricks imported from Holland, frequently as ballast, but when it was discovered that an article quite as good could be manufactured from American earth, importation ceased. Ovens were usually built outside of the house, and roofed over to protect them from the weather. The barns were low in the eaves, but very capacious, and some farmers had several of them, according to the size of their farms. One of the most important of a farmer's out-of-door arrange- ments was his hog-pen ; the number of swine which he fattened annually was proportioned to the number of the members of his family. Beside swine, every farmer fattened a "beef," and when the season for slaughtering came round, which was in the fall, after the weather had become cold, there was a busy time both without and within doors : what with the cutting up and "corning" of the meat, the labor of making sausages, head- cheese, rollitjes, and many other articles, even the names of which are now forgotten, both the males and females of the familj- were occupied for a fortnight or more. After the work of "killing time" was over, the long fall and winter evenings were devoted to the manufacture of candles, "moulds" and "dips." Every farm had its smoke-house, in which hams, shoulders, pieces of beef, and various other articles of diet, were hung to be cured with smoke. With his corned and smoked meats, his poultry, mutton and veal, the farmer's family was not without animal food the year round. Game of various kinds abounded in the forests for a long time, and was usually hunted by the younger members of the family. With few exceptions, the people were agriculturists, and their method of cultivation did not differ materially from that of the present day. Their implements of husbandry were usually brought from the old country, and, compared with those of the present day, were clumsy and ponderous. Prior to the introduction of harrows, which is of comparatively recent date, branches of trees were used in their stead. Every house was furnished with two spinning wheels: a large one, for the manufacture of woolen thread, and a small one for HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 153 linen. A thorough, practical knowledge of the use of these instruments was deemed an indispensable part of a young lady's education; let her other accomplishments be what they might, without these she was not qualified to assume the care of a family. After the tliread had been spun it was dyed; sumach, the bark of- the black oak, chestnut, and other trees furnishing the materials for that purpose. Large families had looms of their own, with which the cloth for family use was woven, though there were professional weavers, whose skill was in demand when bed-spreads and other articles with fancy pat- terns were required to be made. Girls, at a very early age, were inducted into the mysteries of knitting, and were the re- cipients of many a boxed ear for " dropping stitches." Provi- dent families were well supplied with woolen and linen gar- ments, and quantities of cloth of both materials laid aside to be manufactured into household articles when they might be re- quired. The prudent housewife made it her care to provide an ample supply of clothing, not only for the living, but she had also laid aside grave clothes for the members of the household to be ready at hand when they might be required. There were itinerant tailors, who went from house to house, spending several days at each, making overcoats and such other garments as the women of the family could not make; and itinerant shoemakers, who, once each year, went on their circuit, making and repairing boots and shoes. People sometimes lived at great distances from each other, yet social intercourse was not neglected. On Sundays they met at church, and, both before and after service, family and neigh- borhood news was communicated and discussed. On court days the men from all parts of the county met at the county seat, where they talked over their agricultural exj^eriences, and other matters of interest. But the most cheerful of all social assemblages, especially for young people, took place in the winter when the sleighing was good; then it was that those who were yet unmarried sought each other's society, and met at Richmond to indulge in the merry dance until the waning hours admonished them to return to their homes. The attrac- tions of these meetings have proved too powerful to be entirely abandoned, and they are still continued by the same class in society. The early Dutch settlers on Staten Island, though not a 154 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. literary, were a pious people ; the greater part of them were able to read and write, as the Dutch family Bibles, and the beautiful chirography in many of them testify. The Walden- sian and Huguenot elements which amalgamated with them, served to intensify their religious sentiments; indeed, it could not well be otherwise, for it was to enjoy the peaceful exercise of their religion that these latter had forsaken the homes of their childhood and the graves of their fathers, and cheerfully submitted to the inconveniences and sufferings of a life in the wilderness; religious duties had a claim paramount to all others, and long before they were able to erect churches for themselves, their dwellings were thrown open for the accommodation of their neighboi's, when the ministers from the city periodi- cally visited them. Tiie language of Holland was, of course, the first in use. The Huguenots brought their French with them, but as the several nationalities mingled and intermarried, it gradually died out, and the Dutch became the prevailing tongue until after the conquest, when in its turn it succumbed to the language of the conquerors. The Dutch, however, continued to be used in social intercourse and the services of the sanctuary for a long time after the conquest, and less than half a century ago its uncouth accents were still heard in some dwellings. The Dutch were never addicted to the observance of holidays; Custydt, or Christmas, and Nieuw Jaar, or New Year, were about the only ones of a religious character in which they in- dulged ; Paas, or Easter was surrendered to the children, and Pingster or Whitsunday to the negroes. Children liave not yet resigned their claim to their especial holiday in Dutch com- munities. Religious services were regularly held on Christmas, and on the first day of the New Year, on which occasion the newly elected church officers were formally inducted into their respective offices, and this ceremony was called " being married to the church." The following extract from the records shows the process of accomplishing marriage to satisfy the requirements of the law in early times : " Thes Are to giue notes to whome It may concarn that Richard Fathfall (?) and Elisabeth Larans [Lawrence] hath bin Publeshed A Cording to Law by Danill Stillwell on this 15th day of Oversear Jenewery 1682 HISTORY OF HICHMOND COUNTY. 155 " The A Boue [above] Mentioned Parsons Ar Mared [married] By Me on the 25th day of Jenewery 1682 Richard Stillwell Jiistes "By order . obadiah Hulmes Clarck." It was a common practice ±''>r farmers to allow their stock to run at large in the woods and wild pastures. To provide against loss of stock and to avoid disputes in regard to the ownership of animals thus running at large two institutions of the period were brought into requisition. These were "pounds" and " ear-marks." The first record that we find of the former is the following decree of the Court of Sessions : September 6, 1720, "Ordered that a good sufRctpublick pound be erected and made at or near the burying place by the Dutch Church in the North precinct ; and Ordered Likewise that there be another pound erected in some convenient place at Smoaking point in the West precinct. Whoever will be at the charge of making sd. pounds shall have all profitt, accruing by pound- age." We do not know who built the pounds, or when they were built, or how long they were maintained. Ear-marks were various slits and cuts in the ears of cattle and sheep, and, perhaps, some other animals that were to be turned loose, by which they could be identified. A descrip- tion of the peculiar mark of each stock-owner was registered upon the books of the town, and the entry was generally ac- companied by a rude illustration of the mark. The following entry is an illustration of the registration : " March 30th Aniioq Domini 1774 " Gilbert Tottons ear mark for his cattle & sheep &c is a slit in the end of both ears viz. from the tip end down towards the head & a half moon on the upper part of the right ear. Entered the day and year above written by " Paul Micheau Clk." The following figures, showing the population of the island at different times during the Colonial period, are arranged from tables in the documentary history of the province. Years. Men. Women. Children. Blacks. Total. 1698 328 208 118 73 727 1703 505 1712 1279 1.^6 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. White Males. White Females. 1723 640 611 255 1506 1731 686 827 304 1817 1737 777 763 349 1889 1746 856 835 382 2073 1749 887 858 409 2154 1756 862 805 465 2132 1771 1150 1103 594 2847 In 1693 the following persons were civil officers of Richmond County : Ellis Duxbury, Esq., jndge of the common Pleas. Abraham Cannor (Cannon), Abraham Lakeman (Lockman), Dennis The- nnisse and John Shadwell, justices ; John Stilwell, Esq., sheriff. The militia of the county consisted of two companies of foot, 104 men in all, under the command of Capt. Andrew Cannon. The following are the names of civil and military officers of the county of Richmond for the year 1739 : Judges of the Court of Common Picas. Jacob Corseii, Colonel. John Le Conte, Judge. Christiene Corsen, Lt. Col. Christian Corsen, 2d Judge. Thomas Billopp, Major. Gozen Adrianz, 3d Judge. ^-orth Dirision. Nicolas Britton. Justice. John Veghte. Captain. Richard Stilwell, do. Frederick Eerge, Lieutenant. Joseph Bedell, do. Jacob Corsen, Jun., Ensign John Veghte, do. ^ ,. South Divhioru _ o 17 n 13 1 J Cornelius Stoothoff, Captain. Rem Vander Beek, do. j^^^^ Berge, Lieutenant. John Latourette, do. Aris Rvertse (Ryerss), Ensign. Thomas Billop, do. west Division. Cornelius Corsen, do. Nathaniel Britton, Captain. Joshna Mersereau, do. Marthias Johnson, Lieutenant. Abraham Cole, do. Abraham Maney (Manee), Ensign. Barent Martling, do. „ . -^ ■ ,^ ^?°^\ ^ <■ ■ T.T- ■• 1 T 7 oi a: Peter Perrin (Perine), Captain. Nicholas Larzelere, Sheriff. (.^^.^.^^ ^.^.^^^^^ Lieutenant. John Hillyer, Coroner. Wynant Wynants, Cornet. Daniel Corsen, Clerk. Danul Wynants, Qr. Master. CHAPTER V. THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD— 1775 to 1783. Events Prior to the Declaration of Independence. — The Coming of Howe. — In- cursions and Skirmishes.— Tlie Close of the War and the Evacuation of New York and Staten Island. — Incidents of the Revolutionary Period. DURING the period of the revolution Staten Island was the theater of many imiiortant events. Located as it is so convenient to the metropolis, it became a favorite spot for the encampments of the British army, and was made the seat of much activity. Owing to this wealth of historic associations we shall be pardoned for devoting liberal space to the notice of this period. The island was not in a condition to defend itself against the incursions of any foe who might approach it with re- spectable force. As an example of the poverty of its martial strength shortly before the war we submit the following extract from the records : "January 6. 1770 then the Supervisars Examined into the ac- count of the arms that was bought for the county and Benjamin Semans Esq Brought in the account of What quantity Was in his hands, thair Was in his hands £36 — Delivered to Captain Wright 12 guns and 12 hangers and guns With Bagnits to Mr. Broons and one Gun With a bagnit to Cornoral Dongan." While the war clouds were gathering and the preliminary steps were being taken in other parts there seems to have been but little stir here in the direction of sustaining the cause of independence. The people were not unanimous in their senti- ments, but were probably held in check by nearly an equal di- vision between the cause of the colonists and the cause of the king. The geographical situation of the island gave a direction to the political sentiments of the people. Commanding the ap- proach to the metropolis and the province, whatever nation possessed it, took advantage of its natural facilities in a mili- 1j)8 history of RICHMOND COUNTY. tary point of view. The Dutch had a battery on the heights of the Narrows at one time ; the English enlarged the military works at the same important point, and the United States have not failed to improve its advantages. Whoever, then, possessed this important point, before the revolution, to a certain extent might be said to possess, or at least to control the island and the metropolis. Whilst the English held the government of the province, the people naturally imbibed English sentiments ; freedom of opinion on political subjects, so far as the nature and character of the government was concerned, was not toler- ated. It is not to be wondered at, then, that a people who for more than a century had been taught to believe that it was little short of treason to doubt the divine origin of monarchy, and especially of the English monarchy, should be conscientiously opposed to a change which was calculated to overturn all their most cherished institutions. More than half of the population on the island, at the dawn of the revolution, were either of English birth or descent, and few, perhaps none, entertained the idea that the rebellion could by any possibility succeed, and even among the whigs themselves there were probably thousands who hoped against hope. Nearly all the descendants of the early Dutch settlers were whigs or patriots, and those of French descent were divided between them and the English. Many of the French having settled here before the conquest of the province by the English, had intermarried with the Dutch, who were then the dominant class, and had imbibed Dutch opinions, manners and customs, and had even fallen into the use of the Dutch language. In some of the families bearing French names and of French de- scent, at the present day, are to be found family records, such as they are, written in the Dutch language. There was, how- ever, another and more marked difference between the people of the several nationalities than mere political sentiments and opinions ; the Dutch were imbued with a deep religious feel- ing ; they were not generally as well educated as the English, but they could read and write, and keep their own accounts ; the English had their religion, too, but they were more formal and less earnest and devoted than their neighbors ; the French in this, as in other respects, accommodated their religion to that of the class with which they had amalgamated. The whig cause throughout the country was calculated to foster religious HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 159 euthublasni, for, being conscious of their own weakness as com- pared with the mighty power and resources of Great Britain, they naturally looked to a higher power than that of man to sustain them in what they conscientiously believed to be the cause of right. In February, 1775, this county was represented in the colonial assembly by Christopher Billop and Benjamin Seaman. When, on the 2ad of the month, a motion was before the house " that the sense of this House be taken, on the Necessity of appoint- ing Delegates for this Colony, to meet the Delegates for the other Colonies on this Continent, in General Congress, on the 10th Day of May next," these representatives of Richmond voted in the negative. That bad blood was being stirred up here and in the immedi- ate vicinity thus early, is shown by the following affray which took place in Elizabethtown about the time of which we have just spoken. On the 8th of February, about noon, a Staten Island man was approaching the shore at Elizabethtown, when a party of men seized his boat, which was loaded with oysters, and forcibly dragged it up into the street and then distributed the oysters among themselves with an unceremonious and peremptory hand. The cause appears to have been that the owner of the boat was supposed to be one of a party of men from " that ever loyal Island," as a tory paper describes Staten Island, who had as- sisted in violating the order of congress prohibiting the impor- tation of goods after the first of February of that year. The man was James Johnson, of Richmond county, and he applied to a justice of the peace, who advised him to remain quiet for a few hours until the riotous collection of people who were then in the street had become more cool, which he did, and the re- sult of this caution was the aversion of any further violence. Though this affair was of but small magnitude yet it served as an occasion for ^'■Bh^inf/ton^ s Gazette,'" the leading loyal paper of the time in New York, to set forth an exaggerated account of the disorderly and lawless character of the whigs. The people of the island assembled on the 11th of April fol- lowing, to take action in regard to sending delegates to the provincial congress which was to convene in New York soon after. The report says that the result was almost unanimously against sending delegates. 'J'he whigs must have improved 160 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. some later opportunity for gaining a representation, for when the congress convened, on the 22d of May following, we find Richmond county was represented by Paul Micheau, John Journey, Col. Aaron Cortelyou, Richard Conner and Major Richard Lawrence. The strong tory sentiment on the island made association with the people here undesirable to the people of New Jersey at Elizabethtown. The committee at the latter place had refused to allow commerce between the two places to be carried on. We have seen the result of a disregard of that restiiction, in the riot of the preceding February. The committee seem to have relented, however, for on July 17th they passed the fol- lowing order, Jonathan Hampton, a prominent "rebel" being then chairman. " The Chairman of this Committee having received a letter from Mr. Richard Lawrence, a Delegate of Richmond county for the Provincial Congress of the colony of New York, in- forming that the inhabitants of said county had, in general, signed the Association recommended by the Committee of New York. This Committee are therefore of opinion that the in- habitants of said county be restored to their commercial privi- leges with the inhabitants of this town." September 1, 1775, David Burger, of New York, sent a letter to the congress complaining that sundry persons in Richmond county had supplied a transport with live stock, and the matter was referred to the members of that county to make inquiry on the subject. On the 1st of December, 1775, Paul Micheau, one of the depu- ties from Richmond county in the first provincial congress, ad- dressed a letter to the secretary of the congress, in which he says that he had requested the county committee to convene the people to elect new deputies ; that a meeting of the com- mittee had been called, and that only a minority appeared, who for that reason declined to act, and requests congress to write to them and learn their reasons for not convening the people, and concludes by hoping the congress may be able to keep tranquility and good order in the province, and make peace with the mother country. He then gave the names of the committee as follows: Capt. John Kittletas, Capt. Christian Jacobson, Capt. Cornelias Dussosway, Henry Perine, David Latourette, Esq., Peter Mei'sereau, John Poillon, Moses Depuy, HISTORY OF rjCIIMOND COUNTY. 161 Lambert Merrill, John Tysen, Josepli Christopher, George Bar- rus and David Corsen. To this comniunication congress replied the next day in a let- ter addressed to "John Poillon, John Tysen and Lambert Mer- ril, of the committee for Ricliraond County," urging them to elect deputies to represent them without delay, and they added emphatically, "rest assured, gentlemen, that the neighboring- colonies will not remain inactive spectators if you show a dis- position to depart from the Continental Union." They con- cluded their letter in these words : "We beg, gentlemen, you will consider this matter with that seriousness which the peace, good order and liberties of your county require." To this the committee made the following reply: "Richmond County, Dec'r 15th, 1775. Mr. President: Sir: — Your favour of 2d Decem'r. we hereby acknowledge came safe to our hand, and with the majority of our committee considered the contents. We, agreeable to your request, have caused by advertisement the freeholders and inhabitants in our county to be convened on this day, in order that their sense might be taken whether they will choose deputies to represent them in a provincial congress or not. Accordingly, a number of the said freeholders and inhabitants did appear ; a regular poll was opeuf-d, and continued till 6 o'clock; at the conclusion of which it appeared that a majority vvas, for the i^resent, for sending no deputies. Our former conduct in sending of depu- ties to represent us in Provincial Congress, was elevated with encouraging hopes of having, ere this, obtained the so much desired point in our view, namely, a reconciliation with Great Britain. But, with anxiety we express it, that the hopes of obtaining so desirable an event, is now almost vanished out of our sight ; and, instead of which, we behold with horror, every appearance of destruction, that a war with Great Britain will bring upon us. Under these apprehensions, and in our particu- lar situation, we hope you will view us, and when candidly con- sidered, we trust will furnish yon with sufficient reason, for the present, to forbear with us. "We wish and pray that if yet any hojae of reconciliation is 11 162 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. left, that measures might be adopted, if possible, to obtain that desirable end, in wishing of which we conclude ourselves. Your most obt. And most humble serv'ts, John Tyson, Christian Jacobson, Daniel Corsen, Peter Mersereau, Joseph Christopher, Lambert Merrill, John Poillon. To Nath'l AVoodhull, Prest. of Provl. Congress, New York. "P. S. — Should the congress think it necessary for further in- formation of the state of our county, they will please to order two of our committee to appear before them for that purpose." On the 21st, congress passed several resolutions, censuring Richmond county for its delinquency, and resolved that if within fifteen days a list of the names of those who oppose a representation in congress be not sent to that body, the whole county shall be considered delinquent, and entirely put out of the protection of congress, and that intercourse with them shall be interdicted, and that the names of delinquents shall be pub- lished in all the newspapers of the colony. During the recess of the congress, the committee of safety was in session. On the 12th of January, 1776, Richard Law- rence and Christian Jacobson appeared before the committee and represented that the majority of the people of Richmond county were not averse, but friendly to the measures of con- gress ; Lawrence was a member of the committee for Richmond county. On the 23d of the same month the following letter was le- ceived by the committee of safety from the Richmond county committee. "Richmond County, Jan'y 19, 1776. ^'■Gentlemen — Whereas the committee for this county have caused by advertisement the freeholders to be convened on this day, in order to elect two members to represent this county in Provincial Congress ; accordingly a poll was opened for that purpose, without any opposition, at the close of which it ap- peared by a majority, that Messrs Adrian Banker and Richard HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 163 Lawrence was duly elected to represent this county in Provin- cial Congress until the second Tuesday in May next, which we hope will be agreeable to the rest of that body. We are, gentlemen. Your mo. obt. and most humble servts. Christian Jaoobson, Lambert Merrill, John Tyson, Peter Mersereau, George Barnes, Moses Dupuy, David Latourette, Daniel Corsen, Henry Perine, Joseph Christopher. " To the Committee of Safety on recess of the Provincial Congress in New York." The reputation of Richmond county for its want of sympathy in the cause of the colonies seems to have gained more than a local hearing. It reached the ears of the continental congress, and that body made it the subject of action, as shown by the following extract from the minutes : "In Congress, Feb'y8th, 1776. "The inhabitants of Richmond county, in the Colony of New York, having refused to send Deputies to represent them in Provincial Convention, and otherwise manifested their enmity and opposition to the system and measures adopted for pre- serving the liberties of America ; and as a Just punishment for their inimical conduct, the inhabitants of that Colony having been prohibited by the Convention from all intercourse and dealings with the inhabitants of the said county ; and this Congress being informed by the Committee of Safety of that Colony, that the freeholders of the said county did afterwards, without any opposition, elect Deputies to represent them in Provincial Convention ; but as the proceedings against them had been submitted to the consideration of Congress, it was ap- prehended Deputies would not be received until the sense of Congress should be communicated. "■Resolved, That it be referred to the said Provincial Conven- tion to take such measures respecting the admission of the Deputies, and revoking the interdict on the inhabitants of the 164 lIISTOItY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. said county, as they shall judf?e most expedient, provided that the said Deputies and major i:)art of the inhabitants of said county shall subscribe the association entered into by that Colony. "Extract from the minutes. Chas. Thompson, Sec'y." It was then ordered by the provincial congress that the reso- lution of the continental congress be transmitted to the deputies lately elected by the people of Richmond county. The congress being apprehensive that General Clinton would attempt to land upon Staten Island for the purpose of making depredations and carrying off live stock, had requested the pro- vincial congress of New Jersey to send Colonel Herd, with his regiment, to the island to prevent it, and lest he might not get there in time, a like request was made to the committee of Elizabethtown. This measure excited the apprehensions of the people of Staten Island, who were suspicious of the errand of Colonel Herd and his regiment. Accordingly, on the 19th of February, the two deputies, Adrian Bancker and Richard Law- rence, hastened to inform the congress that they had subscribed to the association entered into by the colony, and that seven eighths of the people had done so likewise "long since," and that the coming of Colonel Herd, "with a large body of men, to call the people to account for their inimical conduct," just then when many of the people were coming into the measures, and the cause gaining ground daily, would have an injurious effect, and they suggest that the stopping of the New Jersey forces would quiet the minds of the people. On the same day con- gress replied and assured the deputies that Colonel Herd's er- rand to the island did not in any manner relate to the people of the county, except to protect their property, and that a counter request had been forwarded to New Jersey. The two deputies were requested to attend the congress and to bring with them the proof that the majoritj^ of the people had subscribed to the association, to enable them to take their seats. The committee of Elizabethtown had caused the apprehension and imprisonment at that place, of Isaac Decker, Abraham Har- ris and Miune Burger, and had held Richard Conner, Esq., under bonds to appear before them, upon charges not specified. The congress of New York entered into a correspondence with I he committee of that place, and requested them to send the HISTORY OF RICHSrOND COUNTY. 165 delinquents to the county where they belonged, to be tried by the county committee. The committee of Richmond were also informed of the action of the congress, and were instructed to try the delinquents and mete out to them impartial justice, and report to congress. On the 23d of February, Mr. Adrian Bancker's name appears among those of the members of the congress. On the 28th of February, Decker and Burger were returned to their own county, and the charges against them and Richard Conner were also transmitted to the committee of Richmond. Nothing is said of Harris. The committee of Elizabethtown, at the time of surrendering them, disclaimed all knowledge of their offenses, but intimated that they had been arrested by Colonel Herd, at the instance of either the New York or the continental congress. The proposed expedition of Colonel Herd to Staten Island to protect the live stock there, originated with General Lee. Hav- ing communicated his apprehensions to the committee of safety, that body, on the 10th of February, 1776, addressed a letter to the provincial congress of New Jersey, in which they say : "The entrance of Genl. Clinton into our jiort on pretence of merely paying a visit to Govr. Tryon, though he has been followed by a transport with troops, which we have good reason to believe are only a part of 600 that embarked with him at Boston, rend- ers it highly probable that some lodgement of troops was in- tended to be made in or near this city ; " and as no troops from New York could be spared from its defense, and as Colonel Herd's regiment was so near Staten Island, General Lee deemed it proper that he should be sent over for its protection. The next day the committee addressed another letter to the same convention, informing tlieiii that the "Mercury," ship of war, with two transports under her convoy, had left the port, and anchored near Staten Island, and expressed their fears that the Colonel would arrive too late. In reply, the New Jersey con- gress informed the committee on the 12th that Colonel Herd, with seven hundred men, had been ordered to march immedi- ately to Staten Island. On the 17th, congress expressed their thanks to Colonel Herd for his alacrity in their service, but as the danger had now passed (probably by the departure of the ships) his services would not be required. On the 8th of March, Hendric Garrison, of Richmond county, forwarded a complaint to the congress, that while he was attend- 166 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. ing as a witness before the committee of said county, and while under examination, the said committee permitted the defend- ants, Cornelius Martino, Richard Conner and John Burbank, to insult and abuse him, and he asked the protection of congress, as he considered his person and property unsafe. Lord Stirling, as commander of the continental troops in New York, issued a warrant to apprehend John James Boyd, of Richmond county, and to have him brought before the congress. Captain John AVarner, to whom the warrant was delivered for e.xecution, laid it before that body on the 14th of March, when it was consid- ered and decided that the said Boyd was so unimportant and in- significant a person as not to deserve the trouble and expense of apprehending him. Boyd resented this depreciation of his im- portance, and on the 21st sent a note to the committee of safety claiming to be "a steady and warm friend to his countrj^," and pronounced any accusation against him unfounded. On the 1st of Api-il, 1776, Christian Jacobson, as the chairman of the county committee, reported the organization of four companies of militia in the county, the officers of which were oi'dered to be duly commissioned. On the 3d of April Mr. Law- rence, a member from Richmond, reported that the county was already furnished with fourteen good flats or scows, which were sufficient for the removal of the stock from the island, and that the building of two more, as previously ordered, would be a use- less expense. These scows, or flats, were held in readiness to re- move the cattle to New Jersey, if the English ships of war on the coast should attempt to seize them, as they had done in several other jjlaces. On the 12th of April, Lord Stirling informed the committee of safety that he had General Putnam's orders to march with a brigade of troops for Staten Island, and that he would be under the necessity of quartering the soldiers in the farm-houses for the present ; he requests the people to be notified of the fact, so that they might prepare quarters most convenient to them- selves, and to be assured that he would make the residence of the troops as little burdensome as possible. The committee of Richmond were requested to prepare empty farm-houses, barns, etc., for the reception of the soldiers, and to use their " influence with the inhabitants to consider the soldiers as their country- men and fellow citizens employed in the defence of the liberties of their country in general, and of the inhabitants of Richmond HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 167 county in particular, and, endeavour to accommodate them ac- cordingly." The question has been raised as to whether or not General Washington was ever on Staten Island in person. To this question Mr. Chite, the historian of Staten Island, has sug- gested the following considerations : "The only evidence of the fact which is attainable at this day is contained in the extract from his carefully kept accounts with the government of the United States, which we here present. " 1776. Ap^- 2.5th, To the Exps of myself and party reccte the sev' landing places on Staten Island £16 10 0." " It may be said that the reconnoitering, which is almost un- intelligibly abbreviated in the original account, might have been done on the water, and quite as efficiently as on the land. The following objections, however, exist to this view of the subject : " First. — The object of Washington was to erect fortifications and other defences on the most eligible sites, as the British did when they took possession on the following July ; and some parts of the shores — perhaps the most important — could not be examined with such an object in view, from any position at- tainable on the water. " Second. — The Commander-in-Chief expresses himself in the above extracts, in terms similar to those used in other parts of his accounts for similar services in places not accessible by water, and " Third. — There were two or three British vessels of-war lying near the Island, on on« of which Governor Tryon had taken up his quarters, and from which he kept up an intercourse with royalists on the Island, and a reconnoitering of the shores by water would not have been jjermitted, to say nothing of the danger of capture." Whether he came here and travelled over the land himself or not, certain it was that General Washington had his attention drawn to this spot, and regarded Staten Island with more than ordinary concern. There were two points of importance which called for his attention ; the sentiments of the people, and the peculiar geographical position of the island. The action of congress having somewhat modified the former, it was to the latter that he gave most of his care. Lying between the ocean and the metropolis, and on the high- 168 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTT. way from the one to the other, Staten Island, early in the war, was regarded as an important location in a military point of view. Its importance was enhanced by the fact that it was situated in a bay more than half surrounded by the main land of New Jersey, and commanded not only a great part of Long Island but New York city, and a large extent of country em- bracing nearly all the northern part of New Jersey; the posses- sion of it therefore became a matter of importance to both belligerents. Washington was as prompt to perceive the natural advantages of Staten Island in a military point of view as were the British. Within a week after his personal visit to the city, he established a look-out at the Narrows, which, when the British made their appearance, sent a message by express that forty of the enemy's vessels were in sight. This informa- tion was at once forwarded to the several posts on the Hudson, with instructions to prepare to give them a warm reception if they should attempt to ascend the river. But the ships, upon their arrival, anchored off Staten Island, and landed their trooi^s, and the hillsides were soon covered with their white tents. Military works were at once erected upon every avail- able point, thus intimating their intention of taking a perma- nent possession. The opinion wliich Washington had formed of the people of Staten Island, as well as of their immediate neighbors at Am- boy, may be learned from the following extract from one of his lettei's: "The known disaffection of the people of Amboy, and the treachery of those of Staten Island, who, after the fairest professions, have shown themselves our inveterate enemies, have induced me to give directions that all persons of known enmity and doubtful character should be removed from these places." On the 2d of May, Mr. Garrison (Hendric), chairman of the county committee, was present at the meeting of the committee of safety, and inquired whether the people would be jsaid for lire-wood furnished to the trooj)s in Richmond county, and for their labor in preparing the guard house, at the i-equestof Lord Stirling, and was referred to Colonel Mifflin. Hence, we infer that some of Lord Stirling's trooi)s had taken up their quarters on the island. On the 6th of May, General Washington wrote to the com- mittee of safety, informing them that Peler Poillon, of Rich- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 169 mond county, had been arrested for supplying the king's ships witli provisions. On the 8th, Poillon was brought before the committee and examined. He did not deny the charge, but pleaded in e.xtenuation that the regulations for preventing in- tercourse with the king's ships had not been published in Rich- mond county until the 2d or 3d of that month, and that there- fore he was ignorant of them; he stated farther, that he left home with a considerable sum of money to discharge a debt in Kings county, together with some articles of provision for New York market of the value of about three pounds; that while passing the ship of war "Asia," at as great a distance as he safely could, he was tired at and could not escape; he proved further, by rejiutable witnesses, tliat he was a respectable man, and had always been esteemed a friend to the liberties of his country. He was discharged with a caution hereafter to keep at a safe distance from the king's ship, and to warn his fellow citizens of Richmond county to do the same. May 18th 1776, a certificate signed by Christian Jacobson, chairman of the Richmond county committee, dated Aj^ril 22d, 1776, was presented to the provincial congress, and attested bj'^ Isi-ael D. Bedell, clerk, and directed to Paul Micheau, Richard Conner, Aaron Cortelyou and John Journey, was read and filed, whereby it appeared that these gentlemen had been elected to represent Richmond county in that body, with power to any two of them to meet to constitute a quorum, the second Tuesday of May, 1777. On the 5th of June, 1776, congress issued an order for the arrest of a number of persons in several counties who were in- imical to the cause of America; those from Richmond county were Isaac Decker, Abm. Harris, Ephm. Taylor and Minne Burger. They also ordered that several persons who held office under the king should be summoned to appear before the con- gress, and among them are found the names of Benjamin Sea- man and Christopher Billop, of Richmond. There is nothing in the "Journal of the Congress" to show that these orders and resolutions were ever carried into effect. During the early part of the year 1770 the popular feeling in the colonies had become so much aroused that the officers of the king were obliged in many cases to use considerable caution in order to save their own persons from violence. William Tryon, the last of the royal governors, had indeed retired from the city 170 HISTOKY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. of New York, and taken his position on board the ship " Halifax," during the previous autumn, and there lie wrote to Mayor Whitehead Hicks, of New York, October 19, as follows: " Sir, " Finding your letter of yesterday insufficient for the secur- ity I requested from the Corporation and Citizens, and objec- tionable for the mode in which you obtained the sense of the inhabitants, my duty directed me for the present instant to re- move on board this ship; where I shall be ready to do such business of the country, as the situation of the times will per- mit. The citizens, as well as the inhabitants of the province, may be assured of my inclination to embrace every means in my power to restore the peace, good order, and authority of gov- ernment. " I am, Sir, " Your most obedient servant, William Tryon." In January, 1776, General Clinton having been sent by Howe on an expedition along the Atlantic coast, while on his way from Boston to Virginia, came to anchor at Sandy Hook and had an interview with Tryon and other friends of the king who had been obliged to take shelter in vessels, after which they went on their way southward. Howe, with his army, about 12,000 strong, evacuated Boston March 17th, and falling back to Halifax awaited with the fleet the arrival of his brother with reinforcements from England. Becoming impatient of delay he made ready and sailed from that place for the expected seat of war at New York on the 12th of June, and arrived off Sandy Hook on the 25th. Here he waited for the arrival of the Heet, which came up on the 29th. Admiral Lord Howe, with part of the reinforcements from England, arrived at Halifax soon after his brother's departure, but without dropping anchor he fol- lowed and joined him here. The British general, on his ap- proach, found every part of New York island, and the most exposed parts of Long Island fortified and well defended by ar- tillery. Finding Staten Island had not been so well fortified for protection the fleet anchored near here and it was determin ed to make use of this spot for a rendezvous while awaiting the arrival of other forces and the completion of arrangements for penetrating into the country and maturing any other plans for action. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 171 On the 3d of July the fleet moved np to the Narrows, and the grenadiers and light infantry were landed under cover of the frigates and sloops of war. General Howe declared this was done " to the great joy of a most loyal people, long suffering on that account under the oppression of the rebels stationed among them, who precipitately lied on the approach of the shipping." The remainder of the army were landed in the course of the day, and the whole were distributed in canton- ments, where they found the best refreshments. The headquar- ters were at Richmond. The landing of the troops was made in a very orderly manner, under the direction of Captains Ray- nor, of the ship "Chatham," and Curtis, of the ship "Sene- gal," and to the entire satisfaction of General Howe. As the Americans were strongly posted and in great force, both on Long Island and at New York, having upwards of a hundred cannon for defending the city, Howe resolved to defer his scheme of ascending the North river, and to remain in his present position until he should be joined by Clinton and the expected reinforce- ments from England. The latter arrived at Staten Island on the 12th of July, and Lord Howe assumed the command of the fleet on the American station The fleet numbered one hundred and thirteen ?ail and they lay in a line e.x'tending from the mouth of the Kill von KuU to Simonson s ferry at the Narrows. As they were coming in, the "Asia," which brought up the rear of the fleet, was fired at from a small battery on Long Island commanding the Narrows. The fire was returned by about forty 24-pounders, one of which lodged in. the wall of a private house there. Another shot struck the house of Mr. Denyse Denyse afterward of Staten Island, wounding a negro servant in the foot and narrowly missing the kitchen, where a number of the family were at work. A second shot struck the barn on the same place, and a third destroyed much of the garden fence opposite the front door of the mansion house. This is said to have been the first blood shed in this quarter in the war. The following items from the '■'■ PeiinsyUania Journal'''' of July 10, 1776, are of interest in this connection. " As soon as the troops landed they paraded the North Shore, and on Wednesday morning made their appearance near Eliza- beth-Town Point; but the country being soon alarmed, they retreated, took up the floor of the draw-bridge in the salt meadows, and immediately threw up some works. 172 HISTORV OF RICHMOND COUNTY. "Their near approach to Elizabeth-Town Point greatly alarmed the inhabitants of Essex county, and particularly the lieople of Elizabeth-Town and Newark, but they are now in a condition to receive them whenever they may think proper to approach. "Two young men from Elizabeth-Town crossed the river in a canoe last Thursday, and fired upon the Regulars ; but a num- ber of them rushing out of the woods, they were obliged to retreat and cross the river again. "A sloop of twelve six jjonnders, belonging to the fleet from Halifax, laying in the Kills, near Mr. Decker's ferry, was almost torn to pieces last AVednesday morning, by a party under the command of General Herd, from the opposite shore, with two 18-pounders. The crew soon abandoned the sloop, and we sup- pose she is rendered entirely unfit for any further service. " We hear two men of war now laj' near Amboy, in order 'tis supposed, to stop all navigation that way." Lord Howe and General Howe, having thus established their trooi)s and naval forces upon and around Staten Island, issued a proclamation on the 14th of July, inviting all persons to return to their allegiance to the king. Their combined forces were estimated at about 24,000 men, though onl_y a part of them were encamped on the island. The number of tlie latter has been variously estimated at from nine to fifteen thousand men. Let us now turn aside from the field of active movements to notice the deliberations of the parliamentary head of govern- ment. On the 9th of July the provincial congress convened at the courthouse in White Plains, Westchester county; the British then having taken possession of Staten Island, there were no deputies from Richmond county in attendance. At this meeting the declaration of independence was received and read ; it was also reported that the British had taken posses- sion of Staten Island without opposition, and detachments had advanced toward Bergen Point and Elizabethtown. The declar- ation having been read, it was unanimously adopted, and the congress passed a resolution to support the same, "at the risk of our lives and fortunes.'' It was thus ordered to be published. It was then " Resolved and Ordered, that the style or title of this house be changed from that of the ' Provincial Congress of the Colony of JVew York,' to that of 'The Convention of the Representatives of the State of K"ew York.' " HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 173 The convention recognized the impracticablity of electing senators and members of assembly in the southern district of the state, Westchester excepted, and as it was reasonable and right that the people of that district should be entitled to i-ep- resentation in legislation, they proceeded to appoint these of- ficers ; and for the county of Richmond, Josliua Mersereau and Abm. Jones were appointed ; the latter was subsequently de- nied his seat, on account of his sympathy for the enemy. After this the county does not appear to have been repre- sented in the legislatui-e of the colony or state for a long time. There were representatives who were entitled to their seats, but they were not permitted to leave the island. Communication with the main land, or with New York, or Long Island, was prohibited, except by permission, and consequently in th« suc- ceeding sessions of the legislature the name of a representative from Richmond does not appear. The first object to engage the attention of General Howe was the conciliation of the American loyalists, and, to this end, he had numerous interviews with Governor Tryon and other prominent individuals in New York and New Jersey, all of whom led him to believe that large numbers of the people were anxious to flock to his standard the moment it was un- furled. Delancey, of New York, and Skinner, of Perth Am- boy, were made brigadier-generals, and Billop, of Staten Island, colonel, of the native loyalists or tories. Proclama- tions were issued promising protection to the people so long as they remained peaceably at home and manifested no sym- pathy for the rebels or their cause Misled by the specious promises which Howe had promulgated, hundreds of the whig inhabitants of Staten Island remained peaceably at home to reap the fruits of their credulity in having soldiers quartered upon them — in enduring, submis-sively, the insults and out- rages committed upon themselves and families, their houses and barns openly and defiantly plundered, their cattle driven away or wantonly killed, their churches burned, and, not in- frequently, some of their own number barbarously, and with- out provocation, murdered. There were some, however, who had no faith in the protesta- tions of the British commander, and also had too much man- hood to conceal their sentiments; to these the political atmos- phere of the island was decidedly unhealthy, and they had to 174 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. escape for their lives. Among them was .Colonel Jacob Merse- reau. He was the son of Joshua Mei'serean and Maria Corsen. He was baptized May 24th, 1730, and died in September, 1804, in the 75th year of his age. He resided in the old stone house in Northfield, not far from Graniteville, since occupied by his son, Hon. Peter Mersereau. Soon after the beginning of the war he became apprehensive for his personal safety and fled to New Jersey. During his protracted residence there, he made occasional stealtliy visits to his family by night, and on one of these occasions had a very narrow escape from capture. Hav- ing crossed the sound, and concealed his boat, he took his course for home across fields, avoiding the public roads as much as possible. While crossing a road he was met by a young man by whom he wap recognized at once. There was no British post just then nearer thwn Richmond, and thither the young tory hastened to inform the commanding officer of his discovery. Preparations were made immediately to effect the arrest of the colonel, but it was near daylight in the morning before the party set out. The family had arisen early, but they did not discover the soldiers until they were within a few rods of the house. The alarm was immediately given, which, being perceived by the approaching party, a rush was made, and as they reached the door the colonel sprang out of the upper northwest window of the house upon a shed beneath it, and thence to the ground. He was discovered before he had gone far, and at once pursued. Crouching on " all-fours " behind a hedge to keep himself out of sight, he reached a swamp in the middle of which he found a place of concealment. The swamp was discovered, and it was at once concluded that he was there concealed, but as the pursuers were ignorant of its intricacies, they could proceed no further. Dogs were then put on the track, which they followed to the edge of the swamp, where they chanced to scent a rabbit, and away they went in pursuit of the new game. Here the pursuit terminated, and the colonel, after remaining concealed the whole day, escai^ed during the following night to ISTew Jersey. For a week thereafter a close watch was kept on the house by day and by night. When the British took possession of Staten Island, they im- mediately threw up strong intrenchments. Sinicoe says : "In the distribution of quarters for the remaining winter, Richmond was allotted to the Queen's Rangers. This post was HISTORY OF RICHMOND COTJXTY. 175 in the center of the island, and consisted of three bad redoubts, so contracted, at various times and in such a manner, as to be of little mutual assistance ; the spaces between these redoubts had been occupied by the huts of the troops, wretchedly made of mud ;" these Lieut. Col. Simcoe had thrown down, and his purpose was to build ranges of log houses, which might join the redoubts, and being loop-holed, might become a very de- fensible curtain. Other fortifications were erected in other parts of the island — one at Xew Brighton, on the height now known as Fort Hill, which commanded the entrance to the Kills ; another was built at the Narrows, near the site of the present national fortifications, and in several other places. Many rem- nants of British occupancy have been found in and around these old fortifications, such as cannon balls, bullets, gun locks, etc. t^kirraishing between the forces on Staten Island and the Americans on the Jersey shore was of frequent occurrence. A considerable cannonading took place between the forces at Perth Amboy and batteries of the British on the Staten Island shore on the 2ot.h of July. This was occasioned by the firing of the former upon four or five shallops as they were coming down the sound. The account continues : " Captain Moulder, with his two field pieces, was ordered to the shore (Perth Amboy), but being encamped at some distrnce, before he could come up the shallops had all nearly past, how- ever, he began a well directed fire, and though the y had got to a considerable distance, hulled one of them. " When the vessels were past, the firing ceased on both sides. We had the misfortune of loosing one of the Second battalion, and having another wounded. * * * * There was a horse killed which was standing in a waggon near theG-eneral's door. The enemy appear to have some very heavy field pieces. They sent some 12-pounders among us. It is surprising they did not do more execution, as there were so many of our people on the bank opposite to them without the least covering. " The enemy appear to be very strong, and are constantly re- inforcing, as our troops come in. They are throwing up breast- works along the shore to prevent our landing." Major Turner Staubenzee was commander of the Second bat- talion of light infantry on the island. He employed a stout negro, who happened to fall into his hands, to carry a note to 176 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. another officer. Tlie negro on his way decided to change his course and, tnrning aside, escaped beyond the lines, and fled to the city, where he delivered the note to the Americans. It ran as follows . "Dear Stanton: "The bearer I have sent you, thinking him a strong able fel- low, and fit to cut throats ; so if j^ou approve him, keep him in your corps. " Yours, &c. " T. Staubenzee." By the end of July the American posts opposite the island were well secured. Above five thousand troops were distributed at the different stations from JN'ewark bay down the sound to South Amboy, while the headquarters were at Amboy city, the strongest point of the line. The strength of the British was unknown to them, but believed to be about ten thousand. The latter had sentinels all along the shore of the island on the north and west sides, and the houses and barns of the inhabi- tants were occupied by the troops. It was also supposed that a considerable encampment was established behind the low bluff at Tottenville, and one account of the engagement on the 2oth says that "in less than half an hour after our fire on the shallops began, a large body were seen coming over that hill." The British evidently were ignoraat of the numbers of the Americans on the opposite shore, and regarded it as necessary to fortify against an expected attack from the forces which in reality were not moi"e than one third the strength of their own. They had concealed guns — six, eight and twelve pounders — planted along the shore in different places. The waters of the lower bay presented a scene of considerable activity at that time, from the frequent going out and returning of men-of-war and transports belonging to tlie fleet which occu- pied the inner bay. Additional numbers of vessels joined the fleet at different times, and transports were bringing provisions and supplies. The capture of the city of New York was the immediately de- sirable thing to General Howe, and an attack upon some other point, by which a flank movement could be effected, and the city approached by more accessible means than a direct attack, was expected. Long Island and the Jersey shore both stood in suspense, ready to take alarm at the first movements of the HISTORY OF KICIIMOND COUNTY. 177 British in either direction. About the 8th of August deserters from the fleet carried the news to the Americans that Howe was taking' liis field i:)ieces on board and preparing for an attack by land and water simultaneously upon Long Island and the city. On the other side the people of Elizabethtown were about the same time aroused by an alarm that the regulars were about to make an immediate attack upon that point. Every man capa- ble of bearing arms was summoned to defend it. As three or four young men were going out from one family, an elderly lady, their mother or grandmother, after assisting them to arm, said to them : "My children, you are going out in a just cause — to fight for the rights and liberties of your countrj- ; you have my blessing and prayers, that God will pi-otect and assist you, but if you fall, His will be done. Let me beg of you, my children, that if you fall, it may be like men, and that your wounds may not be in your back parts." These alarms, however, appear to have been without important results until the latter part of the month. In the meantime the forces of Howe were strengthened by the arrival at Staten Island of the fleet which returned from South Carolina undei' Clinton and Cornwallis in the early part of the month, and the first and second divisions of foreign troops which arrived in the Lower bay on the 12tl]. The fleet which brought the latter numbered about one hundred and ten sail of vessels, on board of which were eight thousand Hessians and Waldeckers and a few English guards. These were sent into camp on Staten Island. Estimates of the numbers on Staten Island at this time make them to be about twenty-two thousand men. The naval forces were accommodated on board the ships " Asia "' and " Eagle," each carrying sixty-four guns, and the "Roebuck" and "Phoenix," of forty-four guns each, about twenty frigates and sloops of war and above three hund- red sail of transports, store ships and prizes. The slate of affairs on the eve of the decisive battle of Long- Island is told more effectively in the following extract than we could otherwise tell it. The extract is from a letter written at New York, August 22, 1776 : "This night we have reason to expect the grand attack from our barbarous enemies, the reasons why, follow. The night be- fore last, a lad went over to Staten Island, supped there with a friend and got safe back again undiscovered, soon after he went 13 178 HISTOKY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. to General Washington and upon good authority reported,— That the English army amounting to hfteen or twenty thousand, liad embarked, and were in readiness for an engagement — That seven ships of the line, and a number of other vessels of war were to surround this city and cover their landing, — That the Hessians being 15,000 were to remain on the island and attack Perth-Amboy, Elizabeth-town point, and Bergen, while the main body were doing their best here ; that the Highlanders expected America was already conquered, and that they were only to come over and settle on our lands, for which reason they had brought their churns, ploughs, &c. being deceived, they had refused fighting, upon which account General Howe had shot one, huug live or six, and flogged many. " Last evening in a violent thunder-storm, Mr. (a very intelligent person) ventured over, he brings much the same ac- count as the above lad, with this addition, — That all the horses on the island, were by Howe' s oi'ders killed, barrelled up and put on board ; the wretches thinking that thej^ could get no landing here and of consequence be soon out of provision. That the tories were used cruelly, and with the Highlanders were compelled to go on board the ships to fight in the charac- ter of common soldiers against us. The British army are pro- digiously incensed against the tories, and curse them as the in- struments of the war now raging. Mr. further informs, that last night the fleet was to come up, but the thunder storm prevented. The truth of this appears, from the circumstance of about three thousand red coats landing at ten o'clock this morning on Long Island, where by this time it is supposed our people aie hard at it. There is an abundance of smoak to-day on Long Island, our folks having set tire to stacks of haj% &c., to prevent the enemy's being benefited in case they get any ad- vantage against us. All the troops in the citj^ are in high spirits and have been under arms most of the day, as the fleet have been in motion, and are now, as is generally thought, only waiting for a change of tide. — Forty-eight hours or less, I be- lieve, will determine it as to New York, one way or the other." The state of the British army on Staten Island at this time is shown by the following list, from an English autliority : Commander in Chief, General the Honourable Sir William Howe, K. B.; Second in Command, Lieutenant-General Henry HISTOKY OF inciIMOND COUNXr. 179 Clinton; Third in Command, Right Honorable Lieutenant-Gen- eral Earl Percy. 1st Brigade. — Major-General Pigot ; 4th Regiment, Major James Ogilvie ; 15th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Bird ; 27th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel J. Maxwell ; 45th Regiment, Ma- jor Saxton. 2d Brigade. — Brigadier- General Agnew ; 5th Regiment, Lieu- tenant-Colonel Wolcot ; 28th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Rob. Prescot ; 35th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Carr; 49th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Henry Calder, Bart. 'M Brigade. — Major-General Jones ; 10th Regiment, Major Vatass ; 37th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Abercrom- by ; 38th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Wm. Butler ; 52d Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Mungo Campbell. Uh Brigade. — Major-General James Grant ; 17th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Manhood ; 40th Regiment, Lieutenant- Colonel James Grant; 46th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Enoch Markham ; 55th Regiment, Captain Luke. 5th Brigade. — Brigadier-General Smith ; 23d Regiment, Lieu- tenant-Colonel J. Campbell ; 43d Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel George Gierke ; 14th Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Alured Clarke ; 63d Regiment, Major Francis Sill. Qth Brigade. — Brigadier-General Gou. Robertson ; 23d Regi- ment, Lieutenant-Colonel Benj. Bernard ; 44th Regiment, Ma- jor Feury Hope ; 57th Regiment, Lieutenant John Campbell ; 64th Regiment, Major Hugh McLerocli. 1th Brigade. — Brigadier-General Wm. Erskine, quarter-mas- ter general ; 17tii Light Dragoons, Lieutenant-Colonel Birch ; 71st Highlanders, 1st Battalion, Major John Macdowell ; 2d Battalion, Major Norman Lamont. Brigade of Guards. — Major-General Matthew ; Light In- fantry Brigade, Brigadier-General Honorable Alexander Leslie; 1st Battalion Light Infantry, Major Thomas Musgrave ; 2d Bat- talion Light Infantry, Major Straubenzie ; 3d Battalion Light Infantry, Major Honorable John Maitland ; 4th Battalion Light Infantry, Major John Johnson. Reserve. — Right Honorable Lieutenant-General Earl of Coru- wallis ; Brigadier-General the Honorable John Vaughan ; 33d Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Webster ; 42d Regiment ( Royal Highland), Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Stirling; 1st Battalion Grenadiers, Lieutenant-Colonel Honorable Henry Monckton ; ISO HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 2d Battalion Grenadiers, Lieutenant-Colonel William Meadows; 3d Battalion Grenadiers, Major Thomas Marsh ; 4th Highland Grenadiers, Major Charles Stuart ; Royal Artillery and En- gineers, Brigadier-General Cleveland. General Howe having signified to the admiral that it was his intention to make a descent in Gravesend bay on Long Island, on the morning of the 22d the necessary dispositions of the fleet were made, and seventy-five fiat boats, with eleven bat- teaux and two galleys (built for this service) were prepared for landing the troops. Howe delegated the direction and suijerintendence of the embarkation of the. army from Staten Island entireh' to Commodore Hotliam, by whom it was con- ducted with the greatest dispatch and good conduct. In the afternoon of the 21st the troops who were to compose the second and third debarkations were put on board transports which had been sent up from the Hook to Staten Island for that purpose. Early in the morning of the 22d the " Phoenix," " Rose," and " Greyhound," frigates, commanded by Captains Parkei", Wal- lace and Dickson, together with the " Thunder " and " Carcass," bombs, under the direction of Colonel James, were placed in Gravesend bay, to cover the landing of the army. As soon as the covering ships had taken their respective sta- tions, the first embarkation of the troops from Staten Island commenced. These, consisting of the light infantry and there- serve, both forming a body of four thousand men, and under the command of General Clinton, made good their landing with- out opi^osition. The transports with the brigades which com- posed the second debarkation, consisting of about five thousand men, moved at a little distance after the flat-boats, galleys and batteaux, and by eight o'clock were ranged on the outside of the covering ships. The transports, with the remainder of the troops, followed in close succession, and before noon fifteen thousand men and forty j)ieces of cannon were landed on Long Island. On the 25th Howe ordered General de Heister with two brig- ades of Hessians from Staten Island to join the army ; leaving one brigade of his troops, a detachment of the Fourteenth regi- ment of foot from Virginia, and some convalescents and recruits, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Dalrymple to take care of Staten Island. The landing of the troops on Long Is- hmd was effected without opposition. There is no need of re- HISTOKY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 181 capitulating the story of the battle and its unfortunate result — the}' are well known ; the British succeeded in gaining posses- sion of New York, which was their main object To keep pos- session after having obtained it, required a strong force, and, in consequence, the greater part of the British forces on the is- land were withdrawn ; enough, however, were left to defend it against any force tlie Americans might be able to bring against it. The result of the battle, on the whole, was beneficial to the people of Staten Island, as it left fewer soldiers there to depre- date uj^on them, and rob them of their substance. Howe, who was undoubtedly sincere in his oft-expressed desire for peace, sent General Sullivan, who had been taken prisoner at the battle, with a verbal message to congress, requesting that body to appoint some of its members in a private capacity, to meet him for the purpose of adopting such measures as might be agreed upon for the restoration of peace in the country, intimating that he was clothed with sufficient power for that purpose. By the same messenger con- gress returned answer that they could not send any of their number, except in their official capacities as members of their body, and a committee of that character they would send for the purpose expressed in the message. Accordingly, on the 6th of September, Benjamin Franklin, of Pennsylvania, John Adams, of Massachusetts, and Edward Rutledge, of South Carolina, were appointed as such committee. On the 14th they met Howe on Staten Island ; the interview took place in the "Old Billop House,"' still standing. It had been occupied as a barrack for soldiers, and was in an exceedingly filthy condition; but one room had been cleaned and purified, and furniture placed therein, for the purpose of the meeting. Howe met the committee in a courteous manner, and at once proceeded to ex- plain the nature of the power with which he had been invested, which was simjMy to extend the royal clemency and full par- don to all repentant rebels who would lay down their arms and return to their allegiance. The committee informed liim that they were not authorized to entertain any propositions which did not recognize the political independence of the colonies. Howe replied that he had a great regard for the Americans as a people, but that recognition of their independence was a matter beyond his authority, and could not for a moment be enter- tained, and that their precii^itancy was painful to him and 182 HISTORY OF IIICHMOND COUNTY. perilous to tliemselves. Franklin answered that the people of America would endeavor to take good care of themselves, and thus alleviate as much as possible the pain his lordship might feel in consequence of any severities he might deem it his duty to adopt. This terminated the brief interview, and the com- mittee rose to depart. Howe politely accompanied them to the shore, the party walking, both in coming and returning, between long lines of grenadiers, who, to use the language of Mr. Adams, "looked as fierce as ten furies, and making all the grimaces and gestures, and motions of their muskets, with bay- onets fixed, which, I suppose, military etiquette requires, but which we neither understood nor regarded." On the way down, his lordship again expressed his regret that he was unable to regard them as public characters, to which Mr. Adams replied, "your lordship may consider me in what light you please, and indeed, I should be willing to consider myself for a few moments in any character which would be agreeable to your lordship, ex- cept that of a British subject." To this Howe replied, "Mr. Adams appears to be a decided character." The consequence of this exhibition of Mr. Adam's independ- ent and fearless spirit was subsequently apparent, when the list of unpardonable rebels was published, prominent among which was the name of John Adams. It must have been humiliating in the extreme to the pride and arrogance of the British gov- ernment to be obliged to receive this proscribed rebel as the first minister plenifjotentiary of the new government of the United States of America. The remark of Mr. Adams did not prevent Lord Howe continuing his courtesy, for he sent them over to Perth Amboy in his own barge. After the failure of the interview above described, Howe de- termined to effect a landing at Kipp's bay, and accordingly sent five frigates from the Staten Island fleet to that point. On the evening of September 13th they passed up the East river, where by keeping close to the Long Island shore they were able to en- dure without serious damage the constant fire of the Americans from the fortifications on the New York side. Three battalions of Hessians were also sent from the encampment here to take part in that expedition, the particulars of which belong to other pages of history than these. The British affected to believe that it was the desire of Washington to obtain possession of the post at Richmond, HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 183 though what peculiar value either he or they attached to it in a military point of view, except that it commanded one of the entrances to the island through the Fresh kills, is not apparent. To give the rebels, as well as his own semi-barbarous Hessians, employment, Knypliausen sent out frequent expeditions from the island into the Jerseys, where the most horrid atrocities were sometimes committed. These were not usually sent forth on their errands of robbery and murder, unless they were known to be much superior in number to the patriots, who were likely to meet and oppose them, or had some other important advantage. These preda- tory excursions, however, were not confined to the British; the Americans, on their part, sadly annoyed their enemies by strik- ing at them whenever the opportunity offered. The first of the hostile demonstrations on the pai't of the patriots occurred in Oc- tober, 1776. General Hugh Mercer, who was in command of the American forces in that part of New Jersey contiguous to Staten Island, planned anattack upon theBritish intrenchments at Rich- mond. Passing over to the island with part of the troops posted at Perth Amboy, on the night of the 15th instant, he advanced to within a few miles of Richmond, at which point he had been in- formed three companies— one of British troops, one of Hessians and another of Skinner's militia — were stationed. Colonel Griffin was detached with Colonel Patterson's battalion and Major Clarke at the head of some riflemen, to fall in upon the east end of the town, while the remainder of the troops en- closed it on the other quarters. Both divisions reached the town by break of day, but the enemy had learned of their ap- proach and were prepared to flee, exchanging only a few shots with Colonel Griffin's detachment. Two of the enemy weie mortally wounded, and seventeen taken prisoners, two of the Americans being killed. Colonel Griffin received a wound in the foot frr)m a musket ball, and Lieutenant Colonel Smith was slightly wounded in the arm. Among the prisoners taken in the action were eight Hessians. The attacking party also brought away forty-five muskets and other implements of war and one standard of the British Light Horse. Later in the month the British fleet was anchored partly at the " Watering Place " and partly in Prince's bay, from the latter of which troops were frequently disembarked to the Jersey sliore and up the Raritan to make predatory excursions 184 HISTOKY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. among the people in adjacent localities. Bergen had already been abandoned by the Americans as a place too much exposed and of too little importance to continue to occupy in the face of the possibilities of the British falling u^ion the stores of hay and provision that had been gathered there. During the latter part of the year the king's forces under Cornwallis proceeded to New Brunswick, professedly to protect the magazine there, but probably desiring to provoke an en- gagement with Washington. The latter, however, refused to be drawn into an engagement to which he feared his forces were unequal, but spread his army over the Jerseys, taking positions at Newark, Elizabethtown and Woodbridge, thus com- manding the coast opposite to Staten Island. In these towns he established his army during the remainder of the Winter. So alert were his troops that they could not be surprised ; and so strongly were they posted that any attempt to di.slodge them by force must have been attended with great hazard and loss. The following from an English autliority relates the position from that standpoint : " Of all the great conquests which his Majesty's troops had made in the Jersies, Brunswick and Amboy were the only two places of any note which they retained after the action at Princetown ; and however brilliant their success had been in the beginning of the campaign, they reaped little advantage from them when the winter advanced, and the contiguity of so vigilant an enemy forced them to perform the severest duty." During the winter Howe was employed in forming several provincial corps from the Americans, British and Irish who had separated from their countrymen of their own choice, or had been obliged to leave their homes because of the tory sentiments they expressed. These new levies strengthened the British army by several thousand men. Several hundred of the citizens of Staten Island were among the number. They were placed on the same footing, as to i)ay, subsistence and clothing, as the regular troops. As a farther encouragement to the privates and non-commissioned officers, they were at the end of the war to receive certain proportions of land, according to the rank which they might, then hold. These provincials were placed under command of the late Governor Tryon, who was now made HISTOKY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 185 a major-general, and part of them were stationed on Staten Island. In Februar}', 1777, a detachment under Major Gordon marched from Richmond to Cole's ferry, where they embarked for Sandy Hook, where it was learned a considerable body of Americans were lying. After being detained on board by bad weather and violent winds for three days they, numbering about two hundred, effected a landing on the beach about two miles below the American posts, which they surprised before daylight in the morning. The Americans were driven from the Never- sink hills, sustaining a loss of several killed and seventy-four taken prisoners. Predatorj' warfare and petty skirmishes were of frequent oc- currence. On the 27th of February, Major Tympany crossed from Staten Island to Elizabeth town with about sixty men on a foraging expedition. He came into collision with a body of Americans, two or three of whom were killed, but the former escaped, bringing with him back to the island four or five pris- oners and ten head of cattle. Early in March a party of Americans made an attempt to gain the light-house at Sandy Hook, but were unsuccessful, the men posted there being protected by the guns of the " Syren " which lay at anchor near the spot. About the same time a partj- of Americans came down the Jersey shore and fired on some boats that were taking in forage at New Blazing Star, on the island. Major Tympany thereupon crossed the river with about forty men and pur- sued the "rebels" about three miles, on his return bringing back ten head of cattle and thirty sheep. The following extract from a letter addressed by Tryon to "Christopher Billop Esq ; Colonel of the Militia of Richmond County, Staten Island," dated May 19, 1777, appeared in a New York paper of June 9, with the annexed remarks by the editor of the newspaper : "It is my earnest recommendation, that the inhabitants of Rich- mond County, who had the tirst opportunity of testifiying their loyalty to their Prince, and fidelty to the British constitution, on the arrival of the Kings troops, and which was most graciously accepted by his Majesty, should, on this occasion, eagerly fol- low the api^roved example of the militia of King's county, by liberally raising a sum of monej' for the comfort and encourage- 186 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. ment of the Provincial troops raised in this province. T enclose the form of the instrument which is adopted for the in- habitants of the city and (county to subscribe; copies of which will by sent to Queen's and Suffolk counties, for a similar pur- pose. Any suggestion of fears and apprehensions from circum- stances of situation, must, and assuredly will be construed into a lukewarmness at this crisis, to the King and the old constitution. Therefore, let the loyal subjects now distinguish themselves by free donations, and dare the worst from men who have struck at the root of their liberty and property." The following editorial remarks are appended: " We have the pleasure to inform the Public, that the loyal inhabitants of Statex Island have already subscribed Flee Hundred Pounds for the Encouragement of the Provincial Corps of this Colony, and transmitted the same to our worthy Governor, to be applied to that laudable Purpose. The Sub- scription in other Parts meets with great Success among his Majesty's loyal Subjects, both in this City and County, and in the Counties upon Long Island, almost every one being desirous to give this Test of Loyalty and Love of constitutional Fi"ee- dom. Trimmers and some doubtful Characters, it is expected, will be made manifest upon this Occasion, and of course be properly noticed." On the (3th of June a party of about twelve British made a raid into Elizabethtown, where they were fired npon by the Americans, and a skirmish ensued, in which two or three were killed and several wounded. The British succeeded in stealing a fiat bottomed boat large enough to carry one hundred men. About this time the Bi'itish commander caused to be issued the f(jllowing proclamation, which sufficiently explains itself. " Office of Covimlssary-General, New York^ June 12, 1777. " Whereas his Excellency Sir William Howe, General and Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's Forces, hath thought fit to order and direct Magazines of Forage to be established, for the better supplying of the troops under his Excellency's com- mand: Notice is hereby given to the several Land-holders, Farmers and others, upon York-Island, Long-Island, and Staten-Island, who may be able to supply the said Magazines with Hay, Straw, Oats, and Indian Corn, that the following- rates will be paid for the same, viz.: HISTORY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. 187 " Good Fresh Hay, at the rate of Five Shillings per Hundred Weight. " Straw, at Two Shillings per Hundred Weight. '' Oats and Indian Corn, according to its quality. " And for the better encouragement of sucli persons to sup- ply the said magazines, an allowance of One Shilling per Mile, for every Ten Hundred Weight, will be paid, over and above the price stipulated aforesaid, for the carriage of the said Forrage to the respective Magazines hereafter mentioned, viz.: York Island. " King's-Bridge, Marston's Wharf, City of New- York. Long-Island. " Brooklyn Ferry, Hempstead-Harbor, Oyster-Bay, Great- Neck. Staten-Island. " Cole's-Ferry, Decker' s-Ferry. "At which said several places i^roper persons will be appointed to receive the same, to ascertain the weight thereof, and to cer- tify the delivery : and upon certificates, ascertaining such weight and delivery, being produced at this office, the said For- rage will be paid for immediately. " His Majesty's service requiring these Magazines to be es- tablished as soon as the season will permit, it is e.xpected and required that all persons who raise forrage, do furnish a certain quantity, proportionable to the produce of each person respec- tively. " Daniel Wier, " Commissary GeneraV Howe and a large portion of his army were at this time in New Jersey. The objective point was Philadelphia. During the early part of the preceding winter the army had reached Trenton, but at the time when it seemed as though nothing lay in the way of their marching to Philadelphia and gaining an easy victory a sudden and unaccountable apathy seemed to seize the British commander, and he rested until the army of Washington was in a better position to resist his onward prog- ress. By this time Howe's army had returned to Amboy, and the j)i'oject of reaching Philadelphia by land seemed to be abandoned. Another attempt, however, was made to di'aw Washington away from his fortifications, so that the British army could surround him. Having retreated slowly across the 188 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. state, while Greene was harassing liis rear, he prepared to cross from Amboy to Staten Island, having determined to attemjjt to reach Philadelphia by water. Throwing a bridge, which had been constrncted for crossing the Delaware, across the sound, he sent the heavy baggage and all the incumbrances of his army over to the island under the escort of some troops, while prep- arations were making for the passage of the rest of the army. Intelligence of this was received by Washington, who supposed that the British army was retreating in earnest, under a mis- apprehension of the strength of his own army. He accordingly descended from the hilly country where he was entrenched, and moved forward as though pursuing a flying enemy. Tlie British general, now thinking he had nearly gained his point, determined if possible to get between Washington and the mountains and force him to a general action on his own terms or cut off some of his detachments if he should retreat. He accordingly returned to Amboy, and on the 26th of June put his army in motion, advancing toward the pursuing forces of Washington. The forces came into collision and the British pursued as far as Westfleld, but finding, as a British chronicler states, " that the caution and prudence of General AVashington had rendered his schemes abortive." General Howe returned with his army to Amboy on the second day after its expedition against Washington, and on the 29th passed again over to Staten Island. In the meantime Washington wrote to congress from his camp at Middlebrook, June 2Sth, as follows : " Sir, On Thursday morning General Howe advanced with his whole army in several columns from Amboy, as far as West- field. We are certainly informed, that the troops sent to Staten Island returned the preceding evening, and it is said with an augmentation of marines : so that carrying them there was a feint, to deceive us." The campaign of Howe in New Jersey and its results were summed up by a paper of the time in the following paragraph : " Since our last we have certain intelligence, that soon after the skirmish with Lord Stirling's division, as mentioned in our last, the enemy filed off from Westfield to Amboy, and from thence to Staten Island, and left us in entire possession of New Jersey, in a small part of which they had been pen'd up for six HISTORY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. 189 months, unable to do any great matters, except stealing a few cattle, and making Whigs of the wavering and diffident." Among the troops stationed on the island at this time was a rising young man whom subsequent events made a conspicuous figure in the history of the revolution. This young man was Major John Andre, the spy. Though he was not prominent on the island, yet while here he made his will, and the in- tex'est which naturally attaches to his name must be our apology for the insertion of a copy of that document in this connection. " Tlie following is my last Will and Testament and I appoint as Executors thereto Mary Louisa Andre my Mother, David Andre my Uncle, Andrew Girardot my Uncle, John Lewis An- dre my Uncle. "To each of the above Executors I give Fifty Pounds. — I give to Mary Hannah Andre my Sister Seven Hundred Pounds. — I give to Ann Marguerite Andre my Sister Seven Hundred Pounds. — I give to Louisa Katherine Andre my Sister Seven Hundred Pounds. — I give to William Lewis Andre my Brother Seven Hundred Pounds. — But the condition on which I give the above mentioned Sums to my aforesaid Sistei^s and Brothers are that each of them shall pay to Mary Louisa Andre my Mother the sum of Ten pounds yearly during her life. — I give to Walter Ewer Jun'r of Dyers Court Aldermanbury One Hun- dred Pounds. — I give to John Ewer Jun'r of Lincoln's Inn One Hundred Pounds. I desire a Ring value Fifty Pounds be given to my Friend Peter Boissier of the Eleventh Dragoons. — I de- sire that Walter Ewer Jun'r of Dyers Court Aldermanbury have the Inspection of my papers. Letters, Manuscripts, I mean that he have the first Inspection of them witii Liberty to de- stroy or detain whatever lie thinks proper, and I desire my Watch be given to him. And I lastly give and bequeath to my Brother John Lewis Andie the residue of all my Effects whatsoever. — Witness my Hand and Seal Staten Island in the province of N. York, N. America the 7th June 1777. " John Andre Capt'n in the 26th Reg't of Foot [L. S.] "N. B. The Currency alluded to in this Will is Sterling Money of Great Britain. — I desire nothing more than my wear- ing Apparel be sold by public Auction, J. A. " City and Province I of New York. f ^^• Be it remembered that on the Ninth day of October in the 190 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty per- sonally came and appeared before me Gary Ludlow, Surrogate for the City and Province aforesaid, Henry White and William Seaton both of the City and Province aforesaid Esquires who being severally duly sworn did declare that thej^ were well ac- quainted with the hand writing of John Andre formerly Cap- tain in the twenty-sixth Regiment of Foot and since Adjutant General Deceased that they have frequently seen him wi-ite, And that they verily believe that the before wiitten Instrument purporting to be the last Will and Testament of the said John Andre bearing date the seventh Day of June One thousand seven hundred and Seventy Seven with the Subscriptions there- to are all of his the said John Andre's own proper hand Writ- ing and further saith not. "Cary Ludlow Snrr." It will be seen by the above that the will was admitted to probate just a week after the execution of its maker at Tappan on the 2d of October, 1780. Howe having determined to approach Philadelphia by water began early in July the embarkation of his army from Staten Island. On the 5th he began placing on board of transports such corps as he wished to take with him, amounting to thirty- six battalions of British and Hessians, including the light in- fantry and grenadiers, the queen's rangers, a powerful artillery, and a regiment of light dragoons. The troops that remained in the vicinity of New York were placed under command of Gen- eral Clinton, while under him General Knyphausen had com- mand of Staten Island. Though preparations began thus earlj- it was not until the 23d of the month that the fleet, consisting of two hundred and sixty-seven sail, passed outside of Sandy Hook. At this time there seems to have been a desire on the part of the British to starve out the "rebels," or at least to weaken and perplex them by preventing their obtaining any supplies from New York either directly or through Staten Island. To carry this out all commerce between here and the Jerseys was prohibited. It was difficult, however, to enforce such prohibi- tion. On the 17th of July Sir William Howe issued a procla- mation relating to the cargoes of vessels arriving at the port of New York. He appointed Andrew Elliot, Esq., superintendent of all imports and exports passing between New York and HISTOUY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 191 Long Island and Staten Island, and in order that the inhabitants of the latter islands might be furnished with necessary supplies and at the same time to prevent supplies being conveyed to the "rebels" through these channels, he ordered that no craft of any kind should carry from the city to either of these islands, without special permit from the superintendent's office, any larger quantities of rum, spirits, sugar or molasses than one barrel of each, or of salt exceeding four bushels. No quantity of any other kind of merchandise larger than might be con- sidered sufficient for the use of one family should be taken at one time. The penalty for the violation of the restrictions of this proclamation was forfeiture of the vessel, large or small, and the goods found on board, and imprisonment of the master in charge. Similar proclamations were subsequently issued. After the removal of the trooj^s from the island for the ex- pedition to Philadelphia there were only about three thousand men left here. The principal part of this number were com- prised in two regiments of Hessians, other troops being of the British and some of the provincial corps. In the early part of August a party of Americans crossed the kills and landed somewhere on the shore at West New Brighton, and directed their course for Richmond. As they approached that village they were met by a party of British, who, after a slight resistance, retreated slowly until they reached St. An- drew's church, w^hicli they entered; the Americans fired at the windows until every pane of glass had been broken; they then approached, and fired through the broken windows until the British were driven out; a reinforcement from the vicinity of the quarantine had been hurried forward, who reached Rich- mond just as the church had been vacated. It was now the turn of the Americans to retreat, which they did by the Fresh kill road, keeping the prisoners which they had taken in their rear. These consisted not of soldiers only but of citizens also, whom they had captured on their way; this prevented the British from firing, lest they should kill their own friends, or at least non combatants. After the Americans had descended the hill and crossed the bridge at the locality now known as Laforge's store, Westfield, thev concealed themselves in a corn- field, where they waited until their pursuers were within reach, when they fired a volley at them and the British colonel in command was killed. Continuing their retreat until they 192 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. reached the shore of the sound, they drove their prisoners, some thirty in number, into a large hog sty, wliile they them- selves seized what boats they required, and effected their es- cape. While they were crossing, tlie British reached the shoie and opened on them with their artillery, which they had not yet had opportunity for using, and killed several of them. On the 19th of the same month Colonel Dongan and Major Drummond, of the Third battalion of provincials, mostlj^ from New Jersey, with about sixty men, set out from Staten Island on a predatory raid into New Jersey. They marched about twenty-seven miles into the interior, on the way capturing fourteen prisoners, about seventy cattle and horses, and twenty stand of arms, besides destroying a quantity of powder, shot, .salt and rum. The transporting of the stock and prisoners across the sound at Amboy was covered by a guard on the Jersey side. One of the most important engagements of the war on the island took place on the 22d of August, the particulars of which are as nearly in accordance with the following statements as we can gather the facts. General Sullivan, of the American forces, being then stationed at Hanover, N. J., some twenty miles or more from Elizabethtown, determined to make reprizals for the predatory raids that the Staten Island troops had been making into New Jersey. He learned that the British forces were distributed on the island about as follows: Colonel Buskirk, with a regiment of two hundred and hfty, was en- camped near Decker's ferry ; Colonel Barton, with his regiment of about the same number, near the New Blazing Star ferry ; Colonel Lawrence, with one hundred and fifty provincials, near the Old Blazing Star ferry ; Colonel Dongan (Edward Vaughn Dongan) and Colonel Allan, with one hundred men or more each, about two miles apart, between the latter point and Amboy ; and two regiments of British regulars, two of Anspachers and one of Waldeckers were encamped by their fortifications near the "Watering Place," their numbers being unknown. Sullivan well knew that any movement of troops by daylight in the country near the shore would be reported by toi'ies in time to allow the enemy an opportunity to prepare to oppose him. To avoid this a long march by night was the only resource. Accordingly his troops at Hanover were X)Utin motion at about three o'clock in the afternoon of the 21st. These were selected HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 19(:> from the brigades of Generals Smallwood and De Borre, and numbered about one thousand men, who were supposed to be most ably prepared to endure a long march. The body reached Elizabethtovvn at about ten o'clock in tlie evening. The forces were now divided, so as to make a simultaneous attack on two different points on the island. Colonel Ogden, with his own and Colonel Dayton's regiment, joined by one hundred militia under Colonel Prelinghuysen, marched from Elizabethtown in the evening to a point opposite the Fresh kill, where they were conveyed by boats across the sound and up the creek, their object being to attack Lawrence's regiment in the rear. The remainder of the troops crossed from Halstead's point or Elizabethtown point, approaching the island on the north shore. General Smallwood' s brigade was to attack Bus- kirk's, and General De Borre's brigade was to attack Barton's regiment, each leaving one regiment on the main road to cover their rear, and to pick up such as might escape Colonel Ogden or the attacking parties. Ogden was instructed to move for- ward, should he complete the reduction of Lawrence's regiment, and attack Dongan and Allan, otherwise to hold his ground till Sullivan came up from the north side to join him. In crossing the water some difficulty was experienced on account of a scarcity of boats, but the whole force were safely landed on the island before daylight, without being discovered by the British. About day-break Ogden fell upon Lawrence and after an en- gagement of two or three minutes routed him, taking the colonel himself and about eighty privates and small officers prisoners. He then moved forward toward the po.sitions of Don- gan and Allan and drove them back. They fell back to the neighborhood of Prince's bay, where they found inti'enchments which made their position too strong for the fatigued assailants to press against. Ogden now fell back toward Old Blazing Star and took position to wait for Sullivan. In the meantime the alarm had I'eached the commander at the fortifications on the northeast part of the island, and he, General John Campbell, at once marched with the Fifty-second British and Third battalion of Waldeckers toward Richmond, under the supposition that that point would be approached by the invaders. Soon after the moment of the attack made by Ogden, General Sullivan moved with De Borre's brigade to attack Colonel Bar- 13 194 HISTORi' OF RICHMOND COUNTY. ton's regiment that laj' at the New Blazing Star (or Decker's ferrj'). Here lie found the hitter drawn up to receive him, but upon the main body moving np to charge they broke ranks and fled. Sullivan had stationed Colonel Price off to the right to prevent the escape of the enemy, but many of them seized the boats that lay at the ferry and crossed to the Jersey shore, while others being acquainted with the intricacies of the swamps and woods were able to evade their pursuers. A considerable num- ber of arms, blankets, hats, etc., were taken, and about forty privates, with Colonel Barton himself, were made prisoners. A barn and about thirty-five tons of hay were also burned. At the same time General Smallwood,with his brigade, moved in another column to the neighborhood of the Dutch church, where they attacked what they supposed was Colonel Buskirk's regiment. General Smallwood's guide, instead of bringing him in the rear of the regiment, led him to a position in their full front. The latter had formed on the east side of the bridge and Smallwood's men, in a solid column, were moving over to attack them. The British, however, upon the first tire, broke and fled back to the fortifications on the northeast part of the island, where they were later in the day rallied by General Skinner, to whose corps they belonged, and were led by him to pursue the retiring Americans with the other regiments under Campbell. In their precipitate retreat before Smallwood's brigade, however, they left their stand of colors, which was taken by the Americans, and their tents which the latter de- stroyed, as they also did a quantity of hay and stores. Small- wood's men also burned several of their vessels which lay in the kill or creek near by. The forces of Sullivan and Smallwoodnow effected a junction and moved inland toward Richmond to join the detachment of Ogden. About noon they reached Old Blazing Star and found that Ogden, after waiting till longer delay seemed unnecessarily hazardous, had sent his division across the river. Sullivan had sent a messenger to bring the boats from Elizabethtown point (Halstead's point)down the sound to help transfer his men across, but the messenger was detained on the way and the boats failed to come. In this emergency Sullivan began at once to trans- port his men by means of the three boats which Ogden had used, but before this could be accomplished the accumulated forces of Campbell, Skinner, Dongan and Allan were upon his HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 195 rear and his chances of escape were growing uncomfortably small. The rear was now covered by about eighty of Small- wood's Marylander's, commanded by Majors Stewart and Til- lard, who ably maintained the honorable reputation of that brigade by their unflinching tenacity against overpowering odds. The bravery of this little party was highly commended by Sullivan and others at the time. By their determination the enemy was held back until all the troops except this company were safely conveyed across the river. So hotly did they con- test the ai^proach of the enemy that the latter were several times driven back with great confusion. They were, however, forced to retire and take new positions nearer the water, until they stood within twenty rods of the shore. The British at last brought up their heavy artillery which, with "grape and canister," so commanded the sound that the boatmen refused to face the fire and come after the rear-guard. Seeing this, and their ammunition also failing them this little band of heroes at last surrendered, though several of them escaped, seven of them even swimming across the channel, and others, perhaps, being drowned in the attempt. About forty of them were taken prisoners. Various estimates were given as to the losses in this day's engagement on the island. The total loss to the British was one hundred and thirty privates and eleven officers taken prisoners, and probably twenty-five to one hundred killed and wounded; while that of the Americans was ten killed, fifteen wounded and one hundred and twenty-seven privates and nine officers taken prisoners. Besides this the British lost arms, baggage and a number of cattle carried away and stores and vessels destroyed, wliile the Americans lost a few whale boats which Campbell's command succeeded in capturing. General Sullivan, in a letter to congress, in which he urged an investigation into his conduct relating to the ailair, in order to clear himself from some charges which he regards as unjust, gives a summary of it in the following language: "In this expedition we landed on an island possessed by tlie enemy; put to rout six regiments; killed, wounded and made prisoners at least four or five hundred of the enemy; vanquished every party that collected against us ; destroyed them great quantities of stores ; took one vessel, and destroyed six ; took a considerable number of arms, blankets, many cattle, horses, 19G HISTOKY OF RICHMOND COUNTy. etc.; marched victorious through the island, and in the whole course of the day, lost not more than one hundred and fifty men, most of which were lost by the imprudence of themselves, and officers. Some few, indeed, were lost by cross accidents, which no human foresight could have prevented." After this raid the British i-ested less easily. They were more watchful, and suspicious of another attack. Rivington's Gazette, of October 25, contained the following paragraph, which furnishes some suggestions in reference to the subject before us : "By a Gentleman who has lately escaped from confine- ment in New Jersey, we have been favoured with the following particulars ; * * * It is imagined that another expedition is determined upon against Staten-Island under the command of Mr. Philemon Dickenson, who has assembled near 400 men about Elizabeth Town ; boats and scows are also prepared, with a floating raft, to cross Bridge creek, and thereby secure a le- treat to the point. Gen. Sullivan was, on his late unsuccessful attempt on this island, highly reprehended for not using this expedient, and, as he has been again blamed for his conduct at Brandywine, in Pennsylvania, he some time ago resigned his commission in disgust, and withdrew himself from the rebel army." Tories who were so strong in their sentiments as to make a residence among the friends of independence undesirable, were frequently coming over to the island to join the British army or to take advantage of its protection. Some Quakers, whose peculiar principles forbade their taking any active part in war- like transactions, fled to the island as an asylum from the ap- peals of their active whig neighbors. Sullivan, in his raid on the island, claimed to have taken twenty-eight tories in addi- tion to his other trophies, but the accounts from the other side represent that they were not toi-ies but peaceable Quakers. The fears of the British, above referred to, were not ground- less. Daring November a number of raids were made by the Americans from Elizabethtown. On the night of Tuesday, the 18th, just before the rising of the moon, a party landed in the meadow, where they concealed themselves until they had the advantage of moonlight, when they surprised the picket, but after a brisk skirmish were obliged to abandon the scheme and return to Elizabethtown. Another attack was made the follow- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 197 ing day, but so far as we can learn with no better success. Again, early on Thursday morning, the 20th, a body of "rebels," commanded by Philemon Dickenson, before spoken of, landed on the island and advanced upon the encampments of Campbell. No sooner had they opened fire on them, how- ever, than they discovered reinforcements approaching and sev- eral ships of war steering for the island. Seeing that thej' would be overwhelmed by numbers they retired, and with the loss of a few prisoners made good their escape to the Jersey shore. On Fi'iday another attempt was made to approach the island, but with no better results. In these raids more or less stores and provisions were carried off. At the final evacuation on Friday, the removal of what stores they had collected was ex- ecuted under cover of an armed vessel, which apju'oached the shore near the present site of Mariner's Hai-bor and fired occa- sional guns at the houses on the island. Some difficulty seems at this time to have been experienced in enforcing the restrictions against the exportation of salt from New York to Staten Island, by which channel that article of necessity was smuggled into New Jersey. By a proclamation on the 15th of November, Clinton directed that the inhabitants of Staten Island should be allowed to carry salt for their family uee, not exceeding three bushels for a family, on obtaining a certificate from a Justice of the peace attesting that they were jjroper persons to be trusted with it. This regulation soon fell into abuse, and on the 18th it was amended by a further proc- lamation that all persons from the island applying for a permit to carry salt thither must have a certificate from either General Campbell or General Skinner, and general authority was given to any one who should intercept any person carrying salt with- out the requisite pei-mit, to seize and appropriate the salt to his own use and purposes. On the 20th of December General Clinton issued a remarka- ble proclamation regulating the prices of farm products, the arguments, objects and substance of which are shown in the following extracts : " Whereas it is consonant not only to the common princi- ples of humanity, but to the wisdom and policy of all well regulated states, in certain exigencies to guard against the ex- tortion of individuals, who raise the necessaries of life, without which other parts of the community cannot subsist ; and where- 198 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. as the farmers on Long-Island and Staten Island are possessed of great quantities of Wheat, Rye, and Indian Corn, for sale, beyond what they want for their own consumption, and it is highly unreasonable that those who may stand in need of those articles, should be left at the mercy of the farmer-, and whereas it is equally just and reasonable that every encouragement should be given to the industry of the husbandman ; * * * * * * and whereas the present rates at which Wheat, Flour Rye-Meal, and Indian Meal are sold, do vastly exceed in pro- portion the advanced price of those articles which the farmer stands in need of purchasing, ***** (Jq hereby or- der and direct that the prices to be hereafter demanded for the said articles shall not exceed the following rates, "A Bushel of Wheat weighing Fifty Eight Pounds, Twelve Shillings, with an Allowance, or deduction in proportion for a greater or lesser weight. "A Bushel of Rye, or Indian Corn, Seven Shillings. " Merchantable Wheat Flour, Thirty-Jive Shillings per Cwt. "Rye Flour, Twenty Shillings per Cwt." "Indian Meal, Seventeen Shillings per Cwt." The proclamation further stipulated that the farmers of these two islands should at once make returns to the commanding of- ficers of militia in their respective localities, showing the quan- tity of each kind of grain they had, and what quantity they would need for the use of their families during the year. He also ordered the farmers to thresh one third of their grain at once ; another third by the first of February and the remaining third by the first of May next. A refusal to comply with any of the requirements set forth in the proclamation should be punishable by confiscation of the entire crop of grain lielong- ing to such offender, and imprisonment of his person. In January, 1778, the prisoners taken in the raid of Dicken- son during November preceding had not been exchanged, but on the contrary, some had been summarily dealt with, when the following correspondence passed between General Robertson and Governor Livingston of New Jersey, which, as it throws light on the condition of affairs and the results of the Novem- ber raids on the island, we insert in full. "New York, January 4, 1778. "Sir, " I am interrupted in my daily attempts to soften the calami- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 199 ties of prisoners, and reconcile their case with our security, by a general cry of resentment, arising from an information " That officers in the King's service taken on the 27th of No- vember, and Mr. John Blown, a deputy-commissary, are to be tried in Jersey for high treason ; and that Mr. Ilifl and another prisoner have been hanged. " Though I am neither authorized to threaten or to sooth, my wish to prevent an increase of horrors, will justify my using the liberty of an old acquaintance, to desire your interposition to put an end to, or prevent measures which, if pursued on one side would tend to prevent every act of humanity on the other, and render every person who exercises this to the King's ene- mies, odious to his friends. "I need not point out to you all the cruel consequences of such a proceedure. I am hopeful you'll prevent them, and ex- cuse this trouble from. Sir, " Your most obedient humble servant, "James Robertson. "N. B. At the moment that the cry of mui'der reached my ears, I was signing orders, that Fell's request to have the liberty of the city, and Colonel Reynold to be set free on his parole, should be complied with. I have not recalled the order, be- cause tho' the evidence be strong, I can't believe it possible, a measure so cruel and impolitic, could be adopted where you bear sway. " To William Livingston, Esq., &c., &c." To this Governor Livingston re2:)lied : ''January 7, 1778. "Sir, "Having received a letter under your signature, dated the 4th instant, which T have some reason to think you intended for me, I sit down to answer your inquiries concerning certain officers in the service of your king taken on Staten Island, and one Browne who calls himself a deputy commissary ; and also respecting one Iliff and another prisoner (I suppose you must mean John Mee, he having shared the fate you mention) who have been hanged. " Buskirk, Earl and Hammel, who are, I presume, the officers intended, with the said Browne, were sent to me by General Dickenson as prisoners taken on Staten Island. Finding them all to be subjects of this state, and to have committed treason 200 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. against it, the council of safety committed tliem to Trenton goal. At the same time I acquainted General Washington, that if he chose to treat the three first who were British officers, as prisoners of war, I doubted not the council of safety would be satisfied. General Washington has since informed me that he intends to consider them as such; and they are therefore at his service, whenever the commissary of prisoners shall direct concerning them. Browne I am told committed several rob- beries in this state before he took sanctuary on Staten-Island, and I should scarcely imagine that he has exjjiated the guilt of his former crimes by committing the greater one of joining the enemies of his country. However, if Gen. Washington chooses to consider him also as a prisoner of war, I shall not interpose in the matter. "Iliff was executed after a trial by jury for enlisting our subjects, himself being one, as recruits in the British army, and he was apprehended on his way with them to Staten-Island. Had he never been subject to this state, he would have forfeited his life as a spy. Mee was one of his company, and had also procured our subjects to enlist in the service of the enemy. "If these transactions. Sir, should induce you to counte- nance greater severities toward our people, whom the fortune of war has thrown into your power, than they have already suffered, you will pardon me for thinking that you go farther out of your way to find palliatives for inhumanity, than ne- cessity seems to require; and if this be the cry of murder to which you allude as having reached your ears, I sincerely pity your ears for being so frequently assaulted with cries of mur- der much more audible, because much less distant, I mean the cries of your prisoners who are constantly i^erishing in the goals of New York (the coolest and most deliberate kind of murder) from the rigorotis manner of their treatment. " I am with due respect, " Your most humble servant, "William Livingston. "James Robertson, Esq., &c. &c. "P. S. You have distinguished me by a title which I have neither authority nor ambition to assume, I know of no man, sir, who bears swap in this state. It is our peculiar felicity, and our superiority over the tyrannical system we have dis- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 201 carded, that we are not swayed by men — In New Jersey, Sir, the laws alone hear sioayy The winter of 1777-78 developed a considerable amount of smuggling, which taxed the genius of General Clinton to the utmost to prevent. . He appointed Alexander Gardiner wharf officer at Staten Island, and required all vessels carrj'ing goods to the island to land them at Cole's ferry and nowhere else, and there all cargoes should be inspected by the said officer, who would allow goods to be taken thence to their places of destination on the island. This officer was also authorized to seize and confiscate all goods not corresponding to the superintendent's permit accompanying them, and also to seize and confiscate any vessel found employed in such illicit traffic. The e£fort to prevent commerce between the island and New Jersey was not confined to the British authorities. It was prohibited also by the colonists. An illustration of the the efforts made to prevent commercial intercourse with the enemy is furnished by the following anecdote. In January, 1778, one William Pace, of Schooley's mountain, and Thomas V. Camp, of Somerset county, were both on their way to Staten Island, the latter with a quantity of fiour and the former with four quarters of beef, intended for the British general. They were both arrested and taken before the council of safety on the 28th. It would have been regarded as high treason had evidence been sufficient to prove clearly that their cargoes were designed to supply the wants of the enemy, but this proof was wanting. Still there was evidence sufficient to warrant the council in confiscating the flour and beef and further imposing a fine upon each for asking a price for their goods higher than the law established. On the following day, however, evidence was produced that one Jacob Fitz Randolph, who lived at the Jersey side of the Blazing Star, had met them at " Sparck-Town," a locality infested by tories on Railway river, several miles southwest of Pilizabethtown, and engaged to take their cargoes across the sound when the ice broke up if they would bring them to his house. They were accordingly apprehended and confined in jail for procuring provisions for the enemy. Early in the morning of the 10th of June three boats were loaded with men at Elizabethtown and i^roceeded down the 202 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. sound to the month of the Fresh kill, and landing between the Blazing Star and Burnt island in the mouth of the kill, they surprised the picket, but being unable to drive them back they retired and waited on the Jersey shore until near daybreak, when they returned with an increase of numbers and attempted to land at the same place, under cover of their batteries. They met with such vigorous resistance from Skinner's brigade, who were guarding that point, that they were obliged to abandon the undertaking, and retired, with small loss on either side. In the meantime the British were thoroughly alarmed, and the corps of royal artillery which had been posted at the redoubts between Ryers' and Cole's ferries were put in motion with two six-pounders, and the troops at the different posts on the island were also under arms and marching toward the expected scene of action. The timely retirement of the Americans, however, made their presence unnecessary and probably saved them- selves from the serious consequences of an encounter with superior numbers and the raking lire of artillery. But little transpired on the island during the summer to be worthy of special notice. The operations between hostile forces were mainly confined to the petty depredations, smuggling and raiding of foraging parties on a small scale, which were of too frequent and continual occurrence to be worthy of special remark. In September (10th) the commissary of forage required the farmers to thresh out their grain at once "as the Straw is wanted for use of his Majesty's troops," for which they were to be paid legal rates on delivery at the magazine at Cole's ferry. On the evening of the SOth of September an expedition hav- ing been fitted out with troops, embarked from Staten Island, set sail for Little Egg harbor, off which point they arrived on the .5th of October, having been delaj'ed by adverse winds. As the hard winter of 1778-9 came on proclamations were issued fixing the prices of various common necessities as fol- lows : Walnut cordwood, or any other kind of wood, four pounds per cord ; upland hay, eight shillings per cwt. ; salt hay, four shillings per cwt. ; straw, three shillings per cwt. ; Indian corn, ten shillings per bushel ; oats, seven shillings per bushel. Other proclamations of similar character were after- ward issued. The following item, though not regulated by the military authorities of the island is of interest. It is from a paper of December 26. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 203 " The intense cold weather has, within these two days, oc- casioned the quick-silver in the weather-glass to fall four de- grees lower than has been observed for the last seven years ; several ships, &c., and many lives have been lost by the mon- strous bodies of ice floating in our Bay." In March, 1779, Sir Henry Clinton, by proclamation gave per- mission to any loyal subjects of the king to enclose and culti- vate for their own benefit portions of the cleared woodlands and other uncultivated lands of persons who had left their homes on Staten Island and Long Island, and were not under the pro- tection of the government, and such loyal subjects were also permitted to erect temporary habitations upon such lands. The ''New YorTi Gazette'' of March 22, 1779, says: "Last Thursday morning a party of Rebels from Jersey, commanded by one Richmond, came to Prince's Bay in order to carry off a Boat that lay there loaded with wood ; but before they could accomplish their Design a few of the Inhabitants assembled on the Beach and kept up such a brisk Fire upon them that they were obliged to relinquish their Prize, which happened to be aground, and make the best of their way home. Mr. Sleight, an Inhabitant of Staten Island, received a Wound in his Breast on this Occasion, but it is hoped he will do well. " Two or three different Parties of them have been lately at the Seat of Col. Christopher Billop of the same Island in order to captivate him once more, with a view to get him for an Ex- change." At the same time parties from the island were making fre- quent incursions into New Jersey. As examples the two fol- lowing paragraphs from Gaine's " New York Gazette,'' will suffice. [April 26] "Last Wednesday Lieutenant-Colonel Buskirk sent off Capt. Ryerson, Lieut. Buskirk, and Ensign Earle with a Detachment of 42 Men of the 4th Battalion of New Jersey Volunteers, who fell in with the Rebels about Day-Break, im- mediately charged and put them to the Rout, killed and wounded a considerable Number, whom they passed on the Field beg- ging for Mercy, Avhile they followed the rest until reinforced by their Main Body, consisting of about 100 Carolina Troops and sixty militia; Captain Ryerson perceiving his Men much fa- tigued drew off his little Party to a rising Ground, where in- stead of being attacked by them so much superior in Number, 204 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. he saw them Retreat. His Loss on the Occasion was one Man missing and two wounded." [July 3] " Last Tuesday Night a Detachment from his Ma- jesty's 37th Regiment, with a Party of CoL Barton's and some Refugees, went over from Staten-Island to a Place called Wood- bridge Raway, where they surprized a Party of Rebels in a Tavern, killed their commanding Officer Captain Skinner of a Troop of Light Horse, and another Man, and took the following Prisoners, viz.: Capt. Samuel Meeker, Christopher March, Joseph Stephens, Benjamin Willis, David Craig, Stephen Ball, Lewis Marsh, Jotham Moore, Jesse Whitehead, John Thorp, Thomas Bioomfield, Jeremiah Corey and David Hall." As has before been intimated. Col. Christopher Billoj) was a conspicuous object, and the whigs of Jersey were anxious to secure him as a prisoner. Several attempts were made. At last, on the 23d of June, a party of about twenty landed near the house under cover of some trees, and undiscovered by the in- mates of the house approached it and seized their victim, and bore him away to Jersey. On the same night a party landed and carried off another prominent tory, Colonel Cortelyou, and with him one William Smith of Woodbridge, who was his guest at tlie time. We are prompted in passing, to give the following extract from a tory paper of September 18, 1779, which, though not openly germain to the subject, contains a hidden sarcasm, which may be seen in the light of the fact that the atmosphere of New York was strong with "loyal" sentiment, Avhile the op- posite was true in New Jersey. " The old inhabitants of Staten-Island assert, that the cause of the Fever and Ague's having been so prevalent of late there, was the want of the usual quantity of Thunder and Lightning. But what shall we think of the cause, to which a Lady from Jersey attributes the sickly state of the inhabitants of that Prov- ince? She affirms it is entirely owing to the scarcity of Mus- ketoes. — If what she affirms be true— how easily can we account for the great health abounding in this city. We Jiane Phlebot- omists in 'plenty. Genuine.''' The following records are suggestive and appropriate to this time: " Sept. 28th 1779 Richmond County. Received of John Bedel HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. SOS Esq. the sum of Fifty one Pound six shill for the use of the Gun boat as appears by tlie following receipt * "Richmond County Sept the 28. 1779 "Received of Mess'' Richard Conner, Christian Jacobsou Henry Ferine, Cornelis Corson supervissors for said County the suin^f Eighty four Pound being in full for my selfe & Eight men belonging to the gun boat commenceing the fourteent of august last and continued for one month by me Jas. Stewart Capt" There are allusions to the gun-boat in several places in the records ; it was probably one of the means used by Colonel Bil- lop to enforce the order to prevent communication between New Jersey and Staten Island. This boat, for a time at least, ap- pears to have been under the direction of Colonel Billop, and was an unpopular affair to the people on both sides of the water. It was an almost daily occurrence that those on board fired at any person within their reach on the Jersey shores ; with what efifect, however, is not known. A company of a half dozen Jer- seymen once attempted to get possession of the boat, but failed. It was lying at anchor one bright moonlight night under the shore of the island, and as no person was seen moving on board, they supposed their opportunity bad come. Accordingly, one of their number was sent in a small boat to row up some distance above the gun-boat, and then to drift silently down with the ebb tide, and, as he passed, to observe whether there was any person on her deck. He succeeded in accomplishing his purpose, but discovered a man sitting Hat upon the deck, apparently engaged in strajjping a knife upon his boot. When he reached the shore he made his report, and the enterprise was abandoned for the time, nor do we know that it was ever after renewed. The sloop "Neptune" was kept as a guard-boat, stationed above Decker's ferry. She was in command of Captain Palfrey. By some untoward circumstances she drifted or by some means fell within range of the guns of the fort at Elizabethtown point on the morning of October 15th, and there she grounded. Captain Coogle, who was in command at Decker's ferry, discovered her situation and sent Cornelius Hetfield, who had command of a gun-boat at that post, with twenty men to recover the sloop. The latter was at once joined by Job Hetfield in another boat, well manned, and they both set off for the "Neptune," which by 206 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. this time had been boarded by about thirty men from the oppo- site shore. The latter, seeing the superior numbers and strength of their assailants, abandoned the sloop and the Hetfield party went on board. The cannon from the fort now opened on the sloop and the fire was returned bj^ the Hetfields. For several hours the vessel remained aground, before the tide arose suffi- ciently to float her, and during that time firing continued with more or less activity. Though several men were wounded, and perhaps some killed, and considerable damage done, the boat was able to escape to her station. November 24, 1779, Sir Henry Clinton issued his proclama- tion to procure fuel for the approaching winter. It was well that he thus early made preparation for the needs of his army during what proved to be a long and extremely cold winter. He required all persons who had obtained permission to cut wood "off certain lands on Long Island and Staten Island im- mediately to bring what wood they have cut to this market," and required all owners of woodlands on those islands to cut and cart their wood to the most contiguous landings in such propor- tion "as will fully answer the intent and meaning of this proc- lamation and prevent the disagreeable necessity of granting permission to their wood to be cut by others."' Later in the winter, Governor James Robertson, of the province of New York, issued a proclamation forbidding the cutting of wood on the estates of persons " supposed to be in rebellion." The third important attempt to invade the island was made during this winter — which is known as the hard winter of 1779- 80. The American forces were quartered in New Jerse^v for the winter, but poorly clothed, provisioned and armed. Gen- eral Washington, in his quarters at Morristown, planned this expedition, and left its direction to General Stirling. From their peculiar exposure and suffei'ings at the moment, the com- mander-in-chief, perhaps, suggested this attack, to divert the minds of his discontented men from their numerous and fear- ful forebodings. The American army was then encamped on the hills back of Morristown, the encampment extending sev- eral miles into the country. Their canvas tents afforded but a miserable security from the rain, sleet and snow. On the 3d of January came one of the most tremendous snow storms ever remembered. Some of their sheltering hovels and tents were blown down or torn to pieces, and the soldiers becama like HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 207 sheep under tlie snow, which fell to a depth of from four to six feet. So obstructed were the roads as to prevent the usual re- ceipt of supplies, and for ten days each man had but two pounds of meat and some even were entirely destitute. But why con- tinue the details of the condition of the American army durinsj that hard winter ? They are matters of general history. We have given enough to show that it was under the most disheart- ening circumstances that the plan of invading Staten Island was conceived and set in operation. General Stirling was dispatched with a body of the troops to attack the outposts of the enemy on Staten Island. They pro- ceeded in sleighs, and crossing the river on the ice at Elizabeth- town point, took up their line of march toward the present site of Port Richmond. The bridge of ice was sufficient to allow the passage of any force across the kills, and it was supposed that the same obstruction would prevent the movement of re- inforcements to the enemy by means of their shipping in the bay. The detachment under Stirling numbered about two thousand five hundred men. When a little east of Port Richmond the column divided, part marching onward toward New Brighton, where the British post had been erected on the hills, and the other wing proceed- ing up Mill lane, the present Columbia street of West New Brighton, and approached the mill which stood at the head of the pond. The night of the 14th, on which they made this long passage from camp to the designed scene of action was a starry night, bright and clear, but so intenselj^ cold that about one third of the men were more or less wounded by the biting frost. The Intent was to surprise Skinner's brigade of new re- cruits, but it was soon discovered that their designs had been anticipated by the enemy, information having reached them through the kind offices of their tory friends. A surprise was now out of the question, and as the works of the enemy were well situated and apparently strong, and the means of receiv- ing reinforcements from New York not obstructed as had been expected, it was deemed unadvisable to make an assault. The troops spent the day of the 15th of January and the fol- lowing night on the island, in snow waist deep, protecting them- selves as well as they could from the inclement weather by making huge fires of the cordwood which they found piled up where they halted. The British during the day sent a boat to 208 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. New York, whicli returned at evening with reinforcements. On the morning of the 16th Stirling withdrew his detachment to Elizabethtown. The official report of Stirling concludes with the following statements : " The retreat was effected in good order, and with very little loss. A party of the enemy's horse charged our rear guard under Major Edwards, but was immediately repulsed. The major had three men killed. Some few of the men were frost bitten, and though we look all the pains in our power to have all those unable to march transported in sleighs, yet I imagine a very few may have been left behind. " Immediately after crossing, a party was detached under Lieutenant-Colonel Willett, to Decker's house. The corps there had been alarmed and barely made its escape. The house as a garrison place, and 8 or 9 small vessels were burned. A con- siderable quantity of blankets and other stores were found. " While the troops were upon the island, a number of per- sons from this side [Elizabethtown] took advantage of the oc- casion to pass upon the island, and plunder the people there in the most shameful and merciless manner. Many of them were stopped on their return, and their booty taken from them. In addition to which, I have sent an order for publication, requir- ing those who had eluded the search to restore the articles in their possession, and exhorting the good people at large, to as- sist in detecting them. All the soldiery on recrossing the ice, were searched, and the little plunder they had taken from them, and their names noted, that they may be brought to punish- ment. The articles recovered are, and will be deposited with the Revd. Mr. Caldwel, who is exerting himself in the affair, to be returned to the owners. I am happy to inform your Ex- cellency, that a very inconsiderable part indeed, of the troops, dishonored themselves, by particijmting in these enormities." Additional light is thrown upon the affair by the following extract from a letter from an officer on board the British brig " Hawk," lying off Staten Island at the time. " On the loth inst. at Day break, the Alarm wae given, that the Rebels were on Staten Island, an Exj^ress was sent on board from Gen. Sterling to prepare for Action; we immedi- ately got a Spring on our Cable and cleared Ship, the Rebels appeared on the Hill over the Ferry, and brought a Field Piece to bear upon us, which we perceiving, fired our bow Gun twice HISTOUY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 20!J at them, the second shot roused them from a Meal they were making of broiled Beef Stakes; their Fire from the Field Piece was well directed, but the Shot fell short of us some Yards. A large Party of Rebels came down to burn the Houses and For- age, we fired on them, shot one Man's Arm off; he bled to death and now lays in the snow; our Firing made them retreat as fast as possible up the Hill to their main Body (which by the In- formation of two Prisoners and a Deserter that we had on board, consisted of 4,000 Foot, 200 Horse, 6 Brass Field Pieces 6 Pounders, and a dumber of Artillery Men) Gen. Skinner sent a Letter on board, thanking us for the Service we did. 'Tis certain that the ' Hawk' prevented the Forage, the Tavern, and all the Houses in that Neighborhood from being burnt. A Number of Men, Women and Children came on board for Ref- uge with their Goods and Effects." Another British account contains so much that will be read with interest that it is presented here. Proper allowances must be made for the partisan coloring in these statements of inter- ested persons at the time : " On Friday Night the 14th inst. a large Detachment from the Rebel Army, consisting, it is supposed, of between 3 and 4000 Men, with 6 Pieces of Cannon, and 2 Howitzers, moved suddenly from the Neighborhood of Morris-Town, and being (as it is reported) transported in Sleighs over the Ice, reached Staten-Island before Day break in the Morning of the 15th, bending their Marcli towards Decker' s-Ferry. Colonel Buskirk commanding the 4th Battalion of Brigadier- General Skinner's Brigade posted there, having received Intelligence of their Ap- proach, Judged it proper to retire towards Ryerson's Ferry, uot being in Force sufficient to oppose so considerable a corps. The Rebels pursued their March, and before Noon took Post upon the Heights, near the Redoubts, constructed at the North End of the Island : from their Position, cutting off the Com- munication between the Corps hutted there, and the Troops at Richmond and the Flag Staff : they remained in this Situation till early in the Morning of the 16th, when they were observed retiring from Staten Island, without attempting any Thing ; they burnt Decker's House, and a very few small Vessels frozen in by the Ice at that Place. A small Detachment which har- assed their Rear, made a few Prisoners ; and several Deserters came to the different Posts during their Stay on the Island. 14 210 HISTORY OF KIOHMOND COUNTY. " They committed many Excesses, in plundering and dis- tressing the Inliabitants. "Sixteen Prisoners have been already sent to Xew York ; and it is imagined there are others not yet arrived from Staten Island." It may be noted in passing that the ice soon after became more solid, and there was a bridge across the bay from the is- land to New York, over which loaded sleighs and other heavy burdens were drawn. A paper of February 7 has the item that eighty six loaded sleighs passed over on the ice the day before. The most intense frost, accompanied by great falls of snow be- gan about the middle of December, and shut up navigation to the port of New York from the sea for many weeks. The se- verity of the weather increased to such an extent that about the middle of January all communication with New York city by water was cut off, and new means opened by the ice. The passage of the North river from the city was about the 19th of January practicable for the heaviest cannon, a circumstance previously unknown in the memory of man. Soon after pro- visions were transported in sleighs, and detachments of cavahy marched from New York to Staten Island upon the ice. The East river was also blocked up for many daj's. In this state of their communications the British on New York island were ap- prehensive of an attack from the army of Washington, and set on foot a project for putting the loyal expressions of the in- habitants to a test by raising about fort}^ companies of troops among them. This gave them good courage and they actuallj^ began to hope that the Americans would make an attack, so well prepared did they feel to resist it. It was not until the 20th of February that the frost abated so as to allow the waters surrounding New York to become navigable. General Knyphausen, who had command of the Hessian troops on Staten Island, early in June, 1780, resolved to make an incursion into New Jersey, Springfield being the point to which his efforts were to be directed. On the night of the 6th he passed over with about five thousand men, accompanied by Generals Robertson, Tryonand Sterling to Elizabethtown point. The militia stationed near there fired upon them and Sterling was wounded in the thigh. The British troops, however, maintained their march and reached the town (Elizabeth) early in the morning of the 7th, whence, after a halt, they moved on HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 211 toward Springfield. Finding the forces in that direction too strong to oppose, he drew back to Elizabethtown and awaited the arrival of Clinton and Arbuthnot on their return from Charlestown. The main strength of Washington's army now being engaged in guarding points along the North river which were threatened by the British commander, Knyphausen hav- ing been reinforced marched again toward Springfield, where he engaged the Americans under Green and Dickenson, on the 23d. From this engagement he returned the same day to Eliza- bethtown, and during the night following brought his entire army across to Staten Island. Toward the end of October, 1780, there was great excite- ment among the British on Staten Island, caused by a rumor that Lafayette had arrived in the vicinity of Elizabethtown with a large force, and furnished with boats on wheels, and that he meditated an attack on the British posts on the island. Every precaution was taken to prevent a surprise; the defenses were all strengthened, and defects which they sup- posed would not be observed by the inexperienced and unedu- cated eyes of the American officers, but which the more culti- vated observation of the French would readily detect, were re- paired so far as time and means permitted. Simcoe marched his rangers down from Richmond to Billop's point toward the close of the day, in full view of the people on the opposite shore, to create the impression that an inroad into New Jersey was about to be made, and then marched them back again through the interior after dark. Reinforcements were sent from New York city, and Simcoe issued the following procla- mation : " The Lt. Colonel has received information that M. Lafayette, a Frenchman, at the head of some of his majesty's deluded subjects, has threatened to plant French colors on the Rich- mond redoubts. The Lt. Colonel believes the report to be a gasconade; but as the evident ruin of the enemy's affairs may prompt them to some desperate attempt, the Queen's Rangers will lay in their clothes this night, and have their bayonets in perfect good order." He also had orders from the commander-in-chief to abandon his post "if the enemy should land in such force as to make, in his opinion, the remaining there attended with risk."' Noth- ing, however, came of this alarm. 212 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. The following letter, sent by Washington to Captain Judah Alden, commanding officer at Dobb's ferry, indicates that the American leader had some important scheme in contemplation which for some reason or other was never carried out, and the details of which are unknown to us. Nevertheless we consider the letter worthy of preservation, as it shows that Wasliing- ton's eye was frequently turned toward Staten Island, and that he had a lively sense of the importance of this little bit of terri- tory in the great struggle. " Headquarters, 23d Novem., 1780. " Sir : I impart to you in confidence that I intend to execute an enterprise against Staien Island to-morrow night, for which reason I am desirous of cutting off all intercourse with the enemy on the east side of the river. You will therefore to- morrow at retreat beating set a guard upon any boats which may be at the flat or neck, and not suffer any to go out on any pretense whatever until next morning. Toward evening yon will send a small party down to the Closter landing, and if they find any boats there you will give orders to have them scuttled in such a manner that they cannot be immediately used, but to prevent any possibility of it the party may remain there until to- ward daylight — but are not to make fires or discover themselves — and then return to your post. I depend upon the punctual observation of this order, and that you will keep this motive a secret. Acknowledge the rec't of this, that I may be sure you have got it. " I am, 8ir, Yr. Most obt. Servt., " Geo. Washington." On Friday evening, February 23, 1781, Capt. Cornelius Het- field, with a party of five tory refugees from New Jersey, crossed over to Elizabethtown and attacked the command of Captain Jolin Craig, who was posted there. Seizing them by surprise the assailants were able to secure the captain and ten men as prisoners, and with them they returned to Staten Island. A similar raid was made on the night of March 1st, when a party of tories brought off Commissioner Clossen and an ensign and another man. The same method of partisan warfare was being prosecuted by the whigs from New Jersey, who made frequent descents upon the tories of the island, carried away prisoners and plundered their families. On the 20th of March a party of militia and refugees from the HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 213 island, under command of Lieut. Richard Seaman of the militia and Joseph Shotwell of the refugees, made an incursion several miles into the country in the township of Woodbridge, where they captured and brought off two subalterns and eleven pri- vates of the New Jei-sey militia.. On their return they boasted with apparent pride that they had not stooped to the mean- ness of plundering the houses of those who fell in their power. The leader of the above exploit was at this time desirous to dispose of his farm, as will be seen by the following announce- ment, which is too much of a curiosity to be thrown away. " To be sold at Vendue, On Thursday the 19th inst. The Farm belonging to Richard Seaman, very pleasantly situated on the south side of Staten-Island (formerly the mansion house and part of the valuable plantation that did belong to Mr. Jaquis Poilloin, deceased) containing 190 acres, exclusive of the beach and flats on the front of the said farm, which will be included in the purchase on which comes great quantities of sea weed (a very valuable manure.) On said farm is a good house, barn, and all other necessary out-houses, a very good apple orchard of above 200 ingrafted trees of the best fruit, now in its prime, with most sorts of other fruit trees, common to this country. The natural advantages of this plantation are so well known, that it is unnecessary to say any more on the subject. The vendue will be held on the premises, where the conditions of sale will be made known by Richard Seaman." On Saturday evening, the 21st of April, Capt. Cornelius Het- lield, with some of his tory refugees and a detachment of Gen- eral Skinner's corps under his command, crossed over to Eliza- bethtown, where they surprised and drove in the x^icket. Here they engaged in a skirmish, in which one of their number, Elias Mann, a tory, was killed. Hetfield and one private were also wounded. The party succeeded in liberating one Michael, a tory, who was held there in chains, and then made good their return to the island. A return of this kind of excursion took place on Tuesday, May 9th. Captain Hendricks, accompanied by a sergeant and eleven men, came from Elizabethtown to the island and at- tempted to take the patrol of the First battalion of New Jersey h)yalists. Finding it impossible to surprise them they secreted themselves in the woods until they supposed the patrol had left the neighborhood, but were discovered later and a skirmish 214 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. ensued, in which one man was killed, another wounded, and two of the assailants made prisoners. They then retired to the Jersey shore. We give the account of another of these incursions as related from tlie British stand-point. On the 29th of June a party, con- sisting of thirtj^eight of the First battalion of New Jersey vol- unteers, with about thirty-four militia and refugees, the former under the command of Lieutenant Hutchinson and Ensign Barton, and the latter under command of Captains Durham and Robbins, landed at Twembley's point, near the mouth of Rah- way river and surrounded a tavern in hopes of taking three rebel light horse, who were supposed to be stationed there to give notice of any troops approaching from Staten Island. Not finding these men here they proceeded to the house of one Captain Amos Morse, who was surprised and taken out of his bed, with four other " rebels." The party then went in search of cattle, and succeeded in capturing about forty head, and eighty sheep. As they were driving them to the landing at Twembley's point about forty of the "rebels" having collected, pursued them, and a skirmish ensued, in which twenty of the pursuers were made prisoners and some others were wounded. The Britisii and tories were then able to land their booty and prisoners on Staten Island. July 21st Captain Hetfield made an incursion into New Jer- sey and brought oft' Lieutenant Obadiah Meeker and fourteen privates of the "rebel" militia as prisoners, with whom he re- turned to Staten Island. On the night of the 23d of August a party from New Bruns- wick, under command of Captain Hyler, in six boats, landed on the island and took off with them three tories and nine horses. They also collected about one hundred head of cattle on the shore, but the militia of the island being apprised of their movements, they were unable to convey them away. The incident related in the following paragraph, taken from a newspaper of November 12, 1781, shows the social possibili- ties under a martial condition such as that in which Staten Island then lay : " Last Saturday William Hetfield, an inhabitant of Elizabeth- Town, Railway, came to Staten Island with a small quantity of flour to dispose of, that he might get some hard money which would enable him to pay the taxes imposed by the rebel Gov- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 215 ernor : Oa his return in the evening, he was met in the Sound by one Peter Terrat, a noted thief, who supports himself and a gang of such miscreants, by robbing and plundering ; to him and his party Hettield surrendered himself ; but after he was a prisoner, Terrat thought Hetfield threw something overboard, on which the infernal fiend tDok a pistol out of his pocket and shot him dead, laid the body on the bank of the Sound, and went off exulting with the other prisoners he had taken. " Hetfield has left a wife and several children to lament their loss. It is said the people of the county, detesting such horrid violence, intend making enquiry into the murder, and punish the villain as he deserves. "We since hear that a Jury has brought a verdict against him guilty of murder, on which he Hed from justice." Captain Adam Hyler, who has been already mentioned, made many predatory raids on Long Island, Staten Island and in New Jersey. He was an active partisan in and about that part of New Jersey where he resided. As his expeditions against the enemy were chiefly conducted by water, and in small boats, it is probable that he held his title of captain by courtesy, and not by commission. In January, 1782, a party of infantry from Staten Ishind, in six boats, went up the Raritan to New Bruns- wick, and before daylight succeeded in capturing all his boats. In Jess than a month thereafter Hyler launched a large new boat bnilt for thirty oars. The following, taken from a paper published in New York, in the interests of the royalists, is another instance of the enter- l^rise and indomitable resolution of Hyler. The date is July 15, 1782 : " Last Tue.sday night Mr. Hyler took 2 Ashing boats near the Narrows, and ransomed them for $100 each. One of them has been twice captured." The same day " a little before sunset, Mr. Hyler, with 3 large 24-oared boats, made an attack on the galley stationed at Prince's Bay, south side of Staten Island. There being little or no wind, he came up with a good deal of resolution, but Capt. Cashman gave him an 18-pounder, which went through the stern of one of the boats, and obliged Hyler to put ashore on the Island, where, after a smart combat, he was obliged to leave one of his boats and make the best of his way home with the other two." 216 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. " John Althouse, with 12 men, was on board a guard-boat at anchor in Prince's Bay, when two whale boats were descried under South Amboy shore. It was calm. The cable was sprung and a 24-pounder brought to bear, which sent a shot through Hyler's boat. His crew were taken in the other boat, (Dickey's") and all made off for New Brunswick with Gen. Jacob S. Jack- son, whom they had captured in South Bay, and kept prisoner till he was ransomed." The mantle of Captain Ilyler appears to have fallen on other shoulders after his death. The New Jersey Gazette of Novem- ber 13, 1782, says: "The brave Capt. Storer, commissioned as a private boat-of-war, under the States, and who promises fair to be the genuine successor of the late valiant Capt. Hyler, has given a recent instance of his valor and conduct in capturing one of the enemy's ve.ssels, and in cutting out a vessel lying under the iiag-staff and within half pistol shot of the battery of 14 guns, at the watering-place, Staten Island." But the years of wai' were drawing to a close. The tale of plunder, rapine and murder, committed under the pretext of war was closed, and on the 16tli of June, 1783, Adjutant Gen- eral De Lanrey issued from his headquarters in New York the proclamation by which all estates on the island were to be im- mediately delivered up to their proprietors or their attorneys. This, however, did not entirely conclude the condition of war, oi' abolish the presence of a soldiery. A few months of hesi- tancy ensued. On the 25th day of November, 1783, the British finally evacu- ated New York and Staten Island. Eight years before, thej' had entered the country with the expectation that, in less than as many months, they would overrun it from north to south, and trample out the rebellion. The people should be made to bow with abject submission befoi'e the invincible power of Great Britain, and humbly sue for the jjrivilege of lying in the dust and having her foot placed upon their necks. The march of the army through the land, from its beginning to its end, was to be an uninterrupted triumph. But they now returned overcome and crestfallen. The I'ebellion which they came to conquer had conquered them, and their overweening arrogance and pride had received a blow such as it had never received before nor has since. An eye witness of their departure described the scene as in the highest degree impressive. Several days before the 25th HISTQRY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. S17 had been occupied in conveying the troops, cannon, tents, etc., from the hand to the vessels, both in New York and on Staten Ishuid. W^hen all was ready, they passed through the Narrows silently ; not a sound was heard save the rattling of the cordage. "We stood," he said, "on the heights at the Narrows, and looked down upon the decks of their ships as they jaassed. We were very boisterous in our demonstrations of joy ; we shouted, we clapped our hands, we waved our hats, we sprang into the air, and some few, who had brought muskets with them, fired a feu-dejoie. A few others, in the exuberance of their gladness, indulged in gestures, which, though very expressive, were neither polite nor judicious. The British could not look upon the scene without making some demonstration of resentment. A large seventy-four, as she was j^assing, fired a shot which struck the bank a few feet beneath the spot upon which we were standing. If we had had a cannon, we would have re- turned it, but as we had none, we ran away as fast as we could. A few rods from us stood another group, composed of men and women, who gazed silently, and some tearfully, upon the pass- ing ships, for some of the females had lovers, and some husbands on board of them, who wei'e leaving them behind, never, ju'obably, to see them again. It was long after dark when the last ship passed through the Nari'ows."' But they did not all go; .many of the soldiers, especially Elessians, who had no home attractions across the water, when they learned that peace had been declared, and that the arm.y would shortly leave the country, deserted, and sought places of concealment, from which they emerged when the power to arrest them had departed. Many had formed attachments which they were unwilling to sunder. But many more were detained by admiration of the country, and a desire to make for themselves a new home in a new world. From some of these have descend- ed men whose names are written in the country's history. Let us turn now for a brief space to review the period of the war and its general eifect upon the people. If the history of the sufferings of the people of Staten Island during the war could be written, it would present a picture too dreadful to contemplate. Neither age, sex nor condition were exempt from insults and outrages of the grossest character; no home was too sacred to protect its inmates from injury; the rights of projv erty were not recognized, if the invader coveted it; even the 218 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. temples of God were desecrated; the law of mlcjht alone pre- vailed. Proclamations and professions of good will and protec- tion were repeatedly promulgated, but those who relied on them usually reaped disappointment. It was useless to appeal to those high in authority, for the complaints of the people were unheeded, and redress of injuries, except under pecu- liar circumstances, could not be obtained. If a British officer's horse was in need of hay or oats, a tile of soldiers was sent to any farmer who was known to have a supi^ly, to sieze and take away what was wanted. If the officer himself needed a horse, the same method was adopted to procure one. Money, provisions and even bedding and household furniture, were taken by force; sometimes promises of payment were made, but these were seldom fulfilled. The course adopted by the British while in possession of the island, effectually alienated many of the friends of the royal cause, and hence it was that so man}' of them, at the close of the war, eagerly took the oath of al- legiance to the new government, and so few adhered to the cause of the king, and followed its fortune. Numerous instances of suffering are preserved in the tradi- tions of some of the old families of the island. There was one man of local notoriety whose name is still remembered and mentioned by the descendants of those whose misfortune it was to suffer at his hands; his name was Nathaniel Robbins; he resided at what is now known as New Spriugville, but the house which he occupied was demolished many years ago. It stood near the corner of the roads leading to Rich- mond and Port Richmond, fronting on the former. He was an Englishman by birth, dissolute in his habits, and the terror not only of those who dwelt in his neighborhood, but of the whole county. His wife was a native of Staten Island, and a daughter of the widow Mary Merrill. The opinion which his wife's mother entertained of him may be inferred from a clause in her will, which was dated January 10th, 1789, and in which she bequeaths to her daughter Mary Robbins the sum of £40, " so as never to be in the power or at the command of Nathaniel Robbins, her present husband." His depreda- tions were generally committed under some disguise, which he supposed effectually concealed his identity, though he was often betrayed by his voice or some other tell-tale circumstance. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 219 He had his associates it is true, who were also well known, but Robbins was regarded as the leader and soul of the gang. Those families residing near the sound, or " the lines," as it was called, suffered more from marauders than those who dwelt in the interior, because the opportunities for approach and escape there were more convenient. As part of the local history of the island, authenticated chiefly by family tradi- tions, which are accepted as reliable, several instances are subjoined. At or near Chelsea dwelt several families of the name of Prall,some of whose descendants are among the most respectable of our citizens at the present day. Among them were two brothers, Abraham and Peter, both prosperous farmers and men of substance. The house in which the former resided has since been considerably modernized, on the Chelsea road, at no great distance from the Richmond turnpike. The Chelsea road at that time was little better than a private lane leading to these residences from the main r"ad, and passing through dense woods. On one occasion a man who was indebted to Abraham Prall called on him and paid him a considerable sum in gold. The next evening the family were surprised by the approaoli of two men, who were evidently disguised. Their errand was at once suspected, and the old man had just time enough to take the money he had received out of the cupboard in whicli he had deposited it, and put it into his pockets. When the strangers entered one of them presented a pistol at him and said, "Prall, we know you have money, so deliver it up at once." He was very much alarmed, and his wife, per- ceiving his agitation, said, "Father, don't be alarmed, these men are our neighbors." She had detected the speaker by his voice, and knew him to be the same person who had paid the money the previous evening, and had seen it deposited in the cupboard. " Do you suppose," said the old man, "that I am so unwise as to keep any large sum of money in my house in times like these ''. You are welcome to any money you may lind in the house." They took him at his word, and the cup- board was the first place visited. The rest of the house was also searched, but without success. They then turned to go, but directed the old man to go before them through the lane to the public road. The path through the woods was intensely dark, and he managed, as he went 220 HISTORY OF RICHMOND CorNTY. along, to drop his guineas, one by one, upon the ground, until b\^ the time they had reached the highway he had none I'emain- ing in his pockets. Here another effort was made to compel him to tell what he had done with it, but all the reply they could extort from him was, "The money I had in my house yesterday is not now in my possession." He was then searched, and made to solemnly swear that he would never divulge the circumstances of their visit, nor mention any names he might suspect. The oath, though by no means obligatory, he scrui^u- lously kept. The next morning he retraced his steps of the pre- vious night, and picked up every piece of his money. A younger member of one of these families, while on his way homeward, at a late hour, on horseback, near the corner of the Port Richmond and Signs roads, New Springville, was suddenly stopped by a man, who rushed out of the bushes, seized his horse by the bridle, and ordered him to "deliver up." The horse was very spirited, and with a touch of the rider's spur suddenly sprang forward, throwing his assailant violently to the ground. Then, at the utmost of his speed, he made for home, springing over every fence or other obstacle, until he reached his stable door in safety. At another time, two young men took a sleigh ride to the south side of the island. When they returned, before remov- ing the harness from their beasts, they ran into the house for a moment to warm their hands, when one of the family came run- ning into the room saying that somebody was taking their horses away. Rushing out together, they saw two men in their sleighs driving rapidly in the direction of the sound. As pursuit was useless they stood still, and saw the thieves cross the sound on the ice, until they reached the Jersey shore, and then dis- appear in the country. They never saw their horses afterward. Mr. John Bodine, who then lived on the present poor house farm, having received a considerable sum of money, suspected that the fact was known, and if so, that an attempt would be made to rob him. He therefore buried it under the step-stone at his back door. His suspicions proved to be well founded. His expected visitors made their api:»earance the following even- ing and demanded all the money he had in the house. It was in vain that he protested that there was no money in the house. They insisted on searching for it, but before doing so bound him hand and foot, and then proceeded with their villainous \ HISTOKY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 221 work. Nothing, however, was found. But they were not dis- couraged. If the money was not in the house he had concealed it, and must reveal the place. He concluded that if prevarica- tion was ever justifiable it was under just such circumstances as those in which he was then placed, so he persisted in his de- nial of haviug any or having concealed any. They threatened to shoot him. He told them to shoot away, he could not give them what he had not. Perceiving that the fear of death did not intimidate him, they resorted to torture. They heated a shovel, and proceeded to burn him on various parts of his body, but all in vain ; he persisted in his denial, and they finally de- sisted, supposing it to be improbable, if not impossible, for any man to endure so much agony for any amount of nionev. It was not only money that excited the rapacity of these thieves. Household furniture, clothing, linen, anything that had value in their eyes was ruthlessly carried away. One family had a vault constructed under the floor of a cider mill in which beds, bedding and other articles, except some of the most com- mon description, and in constant use, were concealed. Several years after the war a man who resided near " the lines," being on business in New Jersey, discovered in one house a mirror and several pictures belonging to himself, of which his house had been robbed during the war. We are indebted for the following incident to a man who died more than a quarter of a century ago, then in his ninetieth year. One afternoon, late in the fall, two British officers on horse back rode into his barn-yard, and having dismounted, entered the barn, and seeing two horses in their stalls, peremptorily ordered him to take them out and put theirs in. They then directed him to see that their beasts were well fed and other- wise cared for. From the barn they went into the house, and ordered the mistress to show fhem her best room. This being done, they proceeded to the upper part of the house, and after having examined every apartment, selected one, and directed her to prepare two beds in that room, and to see to it that they were clean and comfortable in all respects, and that the best room was furnished with everything suitable for the accommo- dation of gentlemen. They then descended into the cellar, and examined the family stores there and in the out-houses. Hav- ing ascertained the conveniences of the place, they ordered their 222 HISTORY OF KIOHMOND COUNTV. supper to be prepared and served in the best room, informing her that they intended to reside there for some lime, and ex- pected to have their meals served regularly every day when they were at home. They brought no luggage with them except what was contained in two large valises strapped to their saddles. They remained in that house until spring. Tlieir clothes were thrown out every week to be washed, and by their order a supply of tire-wood was constantly ready at their door. They did not always take the trouble to put the wood on their own fire, frequently calling on some one of the family to do it for them. One of them was a tory officer from Amboy, the other was an Englishman. Said the old man, "They lorded it over our house for that whole winter, and all we had to do was to obey them. There was no use in complaining or remonstrat- ing. If we had done so, we would have been requited with a curse and a blow of their swords. I felt like poisoning them, and verily believe I should have done so if it had not been for fear of the consequences. They left us as unceremoniously as they came, without even a ' thank you ' or a ' good-bye.' " It is related of a young woman, the daughter of a farmer residing in the vicinity of the Fresh kills, while engaged one morning in boiling soap, two soldiers entered the kitchen and ordered her to prepare breakfast for them ; she declined to do so, as she was otherwise engaged, and could not leave her employment to oblige anybody. This reply excited their wrath, and one of them approached her with an intention of striking her. Seizing a large dipper, she filled it with the boiling liquid and dashed it at him. Perceiving her intention, he wheeled suddenly around and thus saved his face, but received the whole charge upon the back of his head and neck. His companion, fearing a similar reception, escaped as quickly as possible, but the scalded ruffian, in endeavoring to remove the hot soap, took all the hair off with it, which never grew again, but left the back of his head bald ever after. Another farmer in the same vicinity, while he and t)ne of his sons were engaged in the l)arn one morning, was suddenly alarmed by a cry for help from the house. Each seizing a hay- fork, the farmer and his son ran in and found three soldiers in the house, one of whom was holding one of the young women by the arm. They both rushed at him, first one stabbed him HISTOKY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 223 in the shoulder, aud the other in the thigh, disabling him at once. With the same weapons they attacked the other two, driving tliem all before them out of the house, and pursuing them for some distance down the road. The following romantic incident, though traditional, is well authenticated : Forty years ago or more there stood an old stone house nearly on the site later occupied by the residence of Capt. R. Chris- topher, in West New Brighton. For many years before it was demolished it was owned and occupied by the late Nathaniel Britton, Jr., but the name of the occupant during the early years of the revolution had entirely escaped the memory of the narrator. He was, however, a prominent tory, and the father of a daughter said to have possessed more than an ordinary de- gree of personal attractions. Before the commencement of the war she was afBanced to a young man named Mersereau, who resided at or near Holland's Hook. A young British lieuten- ant saw and admired her, and probably from the outset marked lier for a victim. He succeeded in becoming acquainted with her, and to the gratification of her father, became very assid- uous in his attentions. She, however, rejected his advances. After several months, finding he had utterly failed in impress- ing her with a sense of the honor (jf his alliance, he resolved to possess himself of lier person, at all hazards. The same young tory who, on another occasion, betrayed Colonel Mersereau's presence with his family, and who, it would appear, was some- what noted for his unscrupulousness, was applied to by the lieutenant. The plot agreed upon between them was carried into execution, with results as follows : Almost directly opposite the junction of the road from Grar- retson's station with the old Richmond road, then called the King's highway, there is a deep ravine, penetrating some dis- tance into Todt hill, at the farthest extremity of which there is a spring of water. Near this, before the war commenced, a solitary individual had built a rude cabin, in which he dwelt for several years, but when hostilities began he disappeared, leaving the cabin vacant. The approach to it was by a foot path through the dense forest which lined the hills on either side of the ravine. One evening the young tory called at the residence of the young lady, and informed her that he had been sent to convey her to tlie residence of her aunt, near Richmond, 224 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. who had been taken suddenly ill, and had requested her to come to her. Suspecting no evil, and being much attached to her relative, she Avas soon ready to accompany him. Springing into the wagon which he had brought, she was rapidly driven away. When they reached the entrance to the ravine, two men rushed out of the bushes, seized the horse by the bridle, and ordered the occupants of the wagon to alight. One of them pretended to take possession of the driver, while the other led the young lady up the foot-path into the ravine, cautioning her that her safety de^jended upon her silence. So far the plot had been carried out successfully, but there was an avenger nearer than they suspected. They had taken but a few steps in the direction of the cabin, when several men rushed out of the bushes and seized the lieutenant, for it was he who had possession of the young lady. One of them took her hand, assuring her that they were her protectors, and that she need be under no apprehensions. Though they were all disguised, she at once recognized Mersereau by his voice. Those who had possession of the lieutenant proceeded to tie his hands, informing him that they intended to do no further harm than the infliction of a severe flogging ; and if he attemjjted to cry out they would gag him. A bundle of supple rqds was at hand, and two of them, one after the other, inflicted the chastisement which they had promised. Having punished him to their hearts' content, they released him, with the warning that if, after the expiration of a week, he was found on the island, they would capture him again and cut off his ears. The young lady was safely returned to her home by the same conveyance, but not tiie same driver, for he had, by some means, disappeared. The lieutenant also saved his ears by departure before the week ex- pired. How the villainous plot was discovered was never posi- tively known, but it was shrewedly suspected that the young tory had played a double part, and for a consideration had be- trayed his military employer. The horse and wagon remained in the possession of Mersereau unclaimed tor several weeks, but was Anally stolen one night, and never heard of after. There is an instance of extraordinary self-possession and prompt decision related of a young man named Housman, which probably saved his life. He resided in the vicinity of the Four Corners, and one morning, after a slight fall of snow during the nighl, he went out with his gun in quest of rabbits. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 225 Though the people of the island, during its occapany by the British, were prohibited from keeping tire-arms of any descrip- tion in their houses, some few had succeeded in concealing guns, which, from the associations connected with them, or for some other reasons, were valuable to them. Such was the gun car- ried by young Tlousman on this occasion. While tramping through the woods, a sudden turn in the path brought him in sight of two soldiers, who were probably out on the same er- rand. They saw each other simultaneously, and each party stopped. The young hunter thought of the loss of his gun, and probably of his life also, but suddenly turning his back to the soldiers, he waved his hand as if beckoning to some other per- sons as he stepped back round the turn, and shouted out, "Huny up, here are two Britishers; three of you go round to the right, and three to the left, and the rest of you follow me ; hurry up, before they run away." What the "Britishers" had to fear we know not, but hearing these directions, and fear- ing there might be a small army about to surround them, thej- turned and fled, throwing away their arms to facilitate their flight. What report they made when they reached their quar- ters is not known, but a detachment was sent out to capture the young man and his army. Their surprise and mortiflcation must have been extreme, when at the turn in the path they could only And the tracks of a single individual in the snow. A farmer, whose name has passed into oblivion, residing " in the Clove," left home late one day, leaving only his wife and a lad of seventeen years at home. It was after dark before the boy completed his work about the barn, but just as he was coming out he saw a soldier enter the house with a musket in hand. Before he had time to reach the house he heard his mother shrieking for help. He rushed forward, and as he entered saw the soldier holding his mother by the throat with his left hand, while his right was drawn back to strike her. When he entered, the soldier had placed his musket by the side of the door in the passage ; the son seized it, and at the risk of shooting his mother, levelled it at the ruffian's head and sent a ball crashing through his brain, killing him on the spot. But there was still cause for alarm. If the shot had been heard, and should attract any person to the spot, an ex^wsure must necessarily follow and the lad would be executed, for no cir- cumstances would be admitted as justiflcation for killing a 15 226 HISTORY OF Richmond county. soldier. Fortunately, however, the noise had not been heard, or at least had attracted no attention. All that could now be done was to conceal the body until the return of the husband and father in the morning. This was done by dragging it under the stairs, where it was not likely to be seen by any person but themselves. The next morning, when the farmer returned, he removed a part of his barn floor, under which he dug a grave; and after dark the evening following the body was thrown into it, and the musket also, and buried, and there they j^rob- ably remain to this day. The family kept their own secret until after the close of the war, and the evacuation of the island by the British. A man named Cole, residing in Southfield, was the proprietor of a remarkably fine gray horse. Several of the officers of the army had offered to purchase him, but he declined to part with him at any price. He had before sold a horse to an officer, who had promised to pay for him within two months, but two years had passed, and the debt was not yet discharged. At another time a Hessian officer, who had been quartered upon him for a short time, when he left, forcibly took away another horse, and Cole had repeatedly vowed that no other officer should have another horse of his unless he stole him ; he would shoot him first — the horse, not the officer. Early one bright winter even- ing he heard a commotion in his stable, and, always on the alert, he thrust two pistols in his pockets and hastened out. At the stable door he saw two soldiers atteniptiag to put a halter on the head of his favorite horse. "Hi, there," he cried, "what are you going to do with that horse 1" "Going to take him away," replied one of them; "Colonel wants him, and sent us to get him." " Well," said Cole, "you just make up you minds that neither you nor the colonel shall take that horse away without my consent." "Stand aside, you d — d rebel," said one of them, as Cole attempted to take the horse from them, at the same time pointing a bayonet at him, "or I'll make a hole through your heart." Without far- ther reply, he drew one of his pistols and shot the horse through the head ; "There, you infernal thieves," he exclaimed as he threw the pistol down, "now you may take him." For a moment the soldiers were amazed as they gazed on the struggles of the dying animal, but soon recovering themselves, they prepared to rush upon him with their bayonets, when Cole, HISTORY OF RICHMOND COIJXTY. 227 presenting the Other pistol, exdaimed, " Come on, you thieves and robbers, with your bayonets, and I'll drop one of you at least." The soldiers considering discretion, in this instance, the better part of valor, turned and walked away, threatening him with the vengeance of the colonel. ''Go tell your master," said Cole, as he followed them to the gate, " that I'll serve him, or you, or any other thief who comes upon my premises at night to steal my property, as I served that horse." The majority of the English, of all ranks, regarded the colo- nists as physically, intellectually and morally inferior to them- selves. In their social intercourse with them as well as in their plundering, they made but little distinction between loyalists and rebels. But there were some exceptions. Among the officers of the British army were some who were gentlemen by nature and by culture, and a few were eminently pious men, who found no difficulty in reconciling their obligations to their king with their duty to their Maker. These two latter classes were ever ready to listen to the complaints of the oppressed, and as far as lay in their power, to redress the wrongs of the injured. Of this class was Captain John Yoke, of whom the following anecdote has been preserved. He was billeted upon a farmer in the vicinity of Richmond for some two or three months, and, unlike many other officers, regularly paid for his board and lodging. A few days after he had removed his quarters, the farmer came to him and informed him that daring the previous night his house had been entered and robbed of a sum of money, and that he suspected that it had been done by soldiers, be- cause beneath the window through which the house had been entered, and which had been left open, he had found a button, by means of which, perhaps, the culprits might be delected. The captain took the button and promised to give the matter his immediate attention. The button indicated the regiment as well as the company to which the loser of it belonged. During the parade that same day, he closely scrutinized the company indicated, and found a soldier with a button missing on the front of his coat. After parade he communicated his suspicions to the colonel of the regiment, and the soldier was sent for. When he arrived, the colonel, using a little artifice, informed him that he suspected him of being implicated in a drunken brawl the night before at a tavern a mile or two distant. This 228 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. the soldier denied, saying that he could prove he was nowhere near that tavern, or even in that direction, during the night pre- vious. " Were you out last night?" inquired the colonel; "Well — yes," answered the soldier, "but not in that direc- tion." "Where were you?" "In various places, but not at that tavern." "By whom can you prove that you were not at that tavern " The name of another soldier was mentioned, and the colonel sent for him. When he arrived, he corroborated all the tirst had said, adding that they two had been together all the night. " Then," said the colonel, " you two are the burg- lars who entered the house of Mr. through a window last night, and robbed him of twenty guineas. Lay down the money upon this table, or you shall both be executed for burglary and robbery." The affrighted soldiers, taken by surprise, confessed their crime, and each placed ten guineas upon the table. What punishment was meted out to the culprits is not related, but Captain Voke had the satisfaction of returning the money to the owner thereof in less than twenty-four hours after it had been stolen. Though there were, in the royal army, both among the Eng- lish and Hessians, a great many idle, dissolute and very wicked men, officers as well as privates, there were also among them many exemplary and industrious men, some of whom were me- chanics and some agriculturists. An army doing garrison duty has generally a good deal of idle time, which was employed by these men to their own profit and advantage. Shoemakers, for instance, frequentlj^ made boots and shoes for the officers and their families, when they had any, and for the citizens of the county ; and were permitted to take their surplus work to the city to sell to dealers, for all of which they were generally well paid. The government supplying all their personal wants, the money thus earned accumulated until, at the close of the war, many had large sums at their command. It was generally this class who contrived to stay behind, purchase land, or commence business on their own account, sometimes, it is said, under as- sumed names. Some of the agriculturists obtained permis- .sion from the neighboring farmers to clear and cultivate an acre or two of land which the owners, in many instances, had con- sidered worthless, because it was overgrown with bushes and briars, and would cost more to clear, as they said, tlian the land was worth. It is said that these industrious men literally made HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 229 the wilderness " blossom as the rose." By a thrifty system of culture which they applied they were able to produce, as a ven- erable informant declared, "more from a single acre than I could raise on five." That there was no lack of patriots on the island during the war is shown by the following anecdote : A man named Taylor^not of the Staten Island family of that name — came over from New York, and took up his abode here for the avowed purpose of trading with the Englisli vessels. He carried on the business for several months openly, and in defiance of all the cautions he had received by means of anonymous letters, which he openly exhibited in public jjlaces, and held up to ridi- cule. He defied any power which the rebels possessed to pre- vent his doing as he pleased in the matter of trading with the ships. One very dark and stormy night, five men entered his dwelling unannounced. They were all disguised, and while a part of them seized and bound him, the remainder per- formed the same service for his wife. With pistols at their heads, they were cautioned to make no outcry. Having se- cured Taylor, they led him to his own barn, put a noose around his neck, threw the rope over one of the beams, and hoisted him from the floor by his neck ; then having fastened the rope to a post, left him and went their way. His wife hearing the men depart, apprehended something ser- ious had occurred, and made most desperate efforts to loose the thongs which bound her, and finally succeeded. Fortunately a lighted lantern stood in an adjoining room, which she seized and ran into the barn, where she found her worst apprehensions realized by seeing her husband struggling in the agonies of death. Finding she could not untie the knot ai'ound the manger post, she found a hatchet, with which she cut the rope and let him down upon the floor. Having removed the noose around his neck, and finding him insensible, she ran to a neigh- boring house for assistance, and at length succeeded in restor- ing him to consciousness. Two or three days afterward Taylor removed back again to New York, but he was accompanied by a guard of soldiers all the way to the city. At some time between the cessation of actual hostilities and the evacuation by the British, the following incident is said to have occurred : There were many ships of war lying at anchor in various 230 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. parts of the harbor, mostly in the vicinity of the city ; there were some, however, which lay in, and even beyond the Narrows, and these were anchored as near the shores of Long and Staten Islands, as could safely be done, for the convenience of easy access to the land in all conditions of the weather, in order that the officers might obtain supplies of butter, vegetables, etc., from the farms in the vicinity. One day a boy, some seventeen or eighteen years of age, was in search of some stray cattle in the woods near the water, and saw a ship's boat with two sailors approaching. Supposing he might as well keep out of their sight in that solitary place, he concealed himself behind a large tree ; he saw them land, and while one of them remained in chai'ge of the boat, the other, with a basket in his hand, en- tered the wood. After having proceeded a few rods, until he was out of sight of his companion, and of everybody else, as he supi:)osed, he took off his coat, knelt down at the foot of a large, gnarled tree, and, with an instrument resembling a ma- son's trowel, dug a hole in the earth, and having deposited something therein, carefully filled the hole again with earth, and laid a large flat stone upon it. This done he arose to his feet, and took a long and careful survey of the surroundings, then proceeded on his way. The youth kept in his place of concealment for two full hours, when he saw the sailor return- ing with his basket appai-ently filled with vegetables. He passed b}' the place where he had dug the hole, scrutinized it closely, and then proceeded to the boat, which was still in waiting for him, and returned to the ship. Assuring himself that the coast was clear, the young man went to the place, re- opened the hole, and found therein a heavy canvas bag, evi- dently containing, as he judged by its sound, a quantity of money. Securing the prize, and without waiting to re-fill the hole, he hastened away, and found some other place of deposit, known only to himself. A day or two thereafter posters were put up in every public place, offering a large reward for the recovery of three hundred guineas, which had been stolen from one of his majesty's ships, being the property of the govern- ment, and an additional reward for the detection of the thief, but the boy kept his own counsel. The theft occasioned a good deal of talk at the time, but it was soon forgotten in the ex- citement consequent upon the declaration of peace and the preparations for the departure of the British from the country. HISTORY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. 231 For nearly four years the young man kept his own secret, at which time he had attained his majority ; and then, when he purchased a farm for himself, and paid for it, did he first re- veal, to his parents only, the manner in which he obtained his means. During the whole time of their occupancy of the island the British kept a lookout on some convenient elevation for the arrival of vessels. At one time a sentinel was stationed in the top of '' a large chestnut tree which grew upon the summit of the island, about a mile from a small wooden church which stood near the King's highway." There is a tradition confirma- tory of this statement, which says that the British kept a num- ber of soldiers on the top of Todt hill to guard the road and to keep a lookout over the land and water. From the locality indicated this might have been done very easily, for it com- mands a view of the outer bay and Sandy Hook in one direc- tion, and the kills, and 'New Jersey beyond, in another. The sentinel in the tree was provided with a platform upon which to stand, and signals to elevate iipon a pole lashed to the high- est limb of the tree. This i)Osition was a perilous one in a heavy wind, and peculiarly so daring a thunder storm. It is said that on one occasion a soldier on duty in that elevated place was overtaken by a sudden storm of rain, thunder and lightning. The ladder by which he had ascended was blown out of his reach, and he was unable to escape from the dangers which surrounded him. When the storm had passed away his body was found on the ground beneath the tree, with his neck broken; and certain livid marks on his p*^rson, together with the condition of the tree itself, indicated that he had been stricken by lightning and fallen to the ground. About a month afterward another storm passed over the same locality, and the lookout descended from his elevation as quickly as possible, but he had no sooner reached the ground than the tree was again struck, and he was killed at its foot. After that the place of lookout was changed, and brought down the hill neai-er the church, probably in the vicinity of the light house. The following season the doomed tree was again struck, and riven to splinters. An aged man named Britton, residing in Southfield, with his wife and granddaughter, a young lady about seventeen years of age, were seated before a bright fire on the hearth, one chilly 232 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. autumn evening. On a table stood a mug of cider, and in the fire was one end of a long iron rod, with which, after heating it, the old man was in the habit of " mulling " his cider, a bever- age of which he partook every evening before retiring. AVhile thus waiting the outer door suddenly opened and a huge Hes- sian soldier entered. After regarding the family group for a moment, he walked to the corner in which the young lady was sitting, and seated himself beside her. "Hey, missy," said he, attempting to put his arm around her waist, "how j'ou like a big Dutchman for a husband, hey?" " Go away, you Dutch brute," said she. " Oh, no," he answered renew- ing his attempt at familiarity, " me not go away yet." "Go away," she repeated, " or I shall hurt you." Laughing at this Ihreat he persisted in annoying her, until suddenly she stooped down, and seizing the iron rod, thrust the red hot end of it into his face. He uttered a yell, and in the effort to spring up, fell over his chair. She continued her assault upon him, by pushing the rod into any part of his person she could reach and when he regained his feet and made for the door, she con- tinued to pursue him, even follownng him out of doors. He made repeated attempts to strike her, but her rod being longer than his arm, effectually prevented him from touching her. He also attempted to seize the rod, but it was too hot to hold, and every such effort only burned him the more. Foiled at every jwint, he turned and ran away. During the war British officers were quartered at the house of a Mrs. Dissosway, near the present site of Tottenville. Her husband was a prisoner in the hands of the British. Captain Nathaniel Fitz Randolph, who was very troublesome to the British, was her brother. A tory colonel once promised to procure the release of her husband if she would prevail upon her brother to remain quietly at home and become a neutral party. "And if I could" she replied, with a look of scorn, at the same time drawing up her tall figure to its utmost height, " if I could act so dastardly a part, think you that General Washington has but one Captain Randolph in his armyf On one occasion after the establishment of independence, it is related that several families of those who had suffered dur- ing the war were returning from a religious service in sleighs. As they approached the house of a certain tory captain, they all drew up in front, and Dissosway, the leader, went to the HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTT. 233 front door and with the butt of his driving whip rapped. When liis call was answered by the captain the former ex- plained, " We stopped to let you know we rebels have been to church. It is our turn now to give thanks." A Mrs. Jackson resided on the island during the war. Her husband was for nine months in the provost, and for two years afterward on parole. During his absence the house was the abode of British officers and soldiei-s. One day this resolute woman caught a soldier carrying her tin milk pail through the house to take it to his master, who wished to bathe his feet in it. Seizing the pail and tearing it from his grasp she fearlessly retorted, "Not for yoiir master's master shall you touch what you have no business with." This lady used to send provis- ions to the American army on the opposite shore. To do this the utmost secrecy was i-equired. To avoid suspicion she would often set her husband's mill going and attend to it herself while the black man who usually performed that service left his work to go across the river with provisions. One day she kept a fatted calf muzzled under her bed all day to send it to the Americans at night. On one occasion she received intelligence that the Americans were coming to surprise and capture the British who were lodged in her house. She gave no warning to the latter till the whig force was just at hand; then, not wish- ing to have a bloody contest in her house, she told them the whigs were coming. " Run, gentlemen, run, or you are all pris- oners." They did run, without ceremony, but the whigs were upon them. After Jackson's return the house was robbed. A knock was heard at the door one night, and on opening it a disguised man apjjeared, with a pistol which he p)laced at the head of Mr. Jackson andenjoined silence under pain of instant death. A little daughter standing by involuntarily screamed out, when one of the ruffians struck her a blow on the head, which laid her in- sensible on the floor. The house was then stripped of what- ever articles the thieves desired to take away. Their path next morning could be traced by the articles they had dropped by the way in their haste as they departed. The family believed they were a band of tories, who were often more cruel and ra- pacious than the British soldiers. The following incident is related as being one of the most daring exploits of the revolution. A colonel of the American 234 HISTORY OF RICUMOND COUNTY. army having been taken prisoner, and tliere being no British otEcer of a similar grade in their possession with whom to re- deem him, three men entered upon the perilous enterprise of taking a colonel from the very midst of the enemy then sta- tioned on Staten Island. They crossed the sound on a dark night, and approached the house where several officers were lo- cated, but found it strongly guarded. Proceeding with the utmost caution they were able to evade the guard in the dark- ness, and approaching the house took their stand near a window, through which they could see what was going on within. Watching a favorable opportunity they entered the house, and placing a pistol to the breast of a colonel they ordered him to march out as their prisoner, threatening to shoot him in case he made the least noise or resistance. They took him away from his companions, out through the guai'd by which the house was encircled, and delivered him safely in Elizabethtown by sunrise the next morning. One of the men who performed this daring feat was Henry Willis, who died about forty years since, but of the names of the other two we are ignorant. The murder of Stephen Ball and its attendant circumstances are so intimately associated with Staten Island that we may be excused for introducing here an account of the matter. Ball was in the habit of supplying some of the British on Staten Island with such beef and other provisions as he had to sell. Upon one occasion a tory sent out from the British as a spy, had been taken by the Americans, tried by a regular court mar- tial and, being found guilty, was hung. One Hetfield, the leader of a notorious band of ruffians, vowed vengeance by re- taliation, and the next time Ball came to the island they seized him. This Avas in January, 1781. He was taken before General Patterson, and then before General Skinner, charged with being a spy, but they both knew his mission on the island and refnsed to try him, directing his release. The Het- field gang, however, were determined to execute their threats of vengeance, and accordingly, after robbing him of whatever valuable articles he had with him, took him over to Bergen Point and there hung him to a tree. This act of independent violence appears to have been deprecated by the British authorities as well as the Americans, from the fact that the victim was acting no partisan character, but simply engaged in a commercial transaction. The party engaged in it consisted of Cornelius, HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 235 John, Smith, Job and James Hetfield, Elias and Samuel Mann and Job Smith, all of New Jersey. At the close of the war, Staten Island, New York island, and a part of Long Island, were peculiarly circumstanced; through- out the country the several state governments, and the minor county and town governments under them had been organized, and were in full operation, except in the counties mentioned ; these had been under the control of the British military au- thorities, and whatever civil government thej' had continued to be under the English laws ; any attempt to organize a gov- ernment which had the least tincture of republicanism would not have been tolerated a moment ; therefore, when the English evacuated the country, the government which had directed its destinies for a century, was, so far as these counties were con- cerned, annihilated as it were in a day, and the people, without any previous instruction or experience, were suddenly brought under the influences of a new code of laws. It would be inter- esting to trace the steps taken by the people of the island to acclimate themselves to the political atmosphere which they were thereafter to inhale, but here the resources fail. In proportion to its population, Perth Amboy contained more tories than any other place within the limits of the state of New Jersey. Many of them enlisted in the regiment known as the Queen's Rangers, and in the several companies composing Colonel Billop's regiment. We have been able to obtain the names of but two of the captains of the companies, viz.: Abra- ham Jones, a native Staten Islander, and David Alston, an Englishman or Scotchman by birth, but for years before the war a resident of New Jersey, in the vicinity of Rahway, and, after the war, of Staten Island. Many of the British officers, in all parts of the country, remained after the cessation of hostilities, but many more of the rank and file. This was particularly so on Staten Island, and many of the families now residing here are the descendants of these officers and soldiers. There were not as many tories on the island at the close as at the beginning of the war. It is, after all, a doubtful matter whetlier there were many of the people on Staten Island who were really tories from prin- cii^le. The Seaman and Billop families, and two or three others not quite so prominent, were all beneficiaries of the British government; they were the proprietors of large and valuable 236 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. estates bestowed upon them for merely nominal consideration; tliey were also the incumbents of lucrative offices, which gave them a power and an influence which otherwise they would not have possessed. The British officers, both of the army and navy, were lavish of their gold, and the people of the island, so far as money was concerned, were never in better circum- stances. The temptation then to infringe the resolutions of the pnn'incial congress, prohibiting all intercourse with the vessels of the enemy, was irresistible, more especially as the congress was powerless to enforce its own ordinances, or to punish the infraction of them. The injustice and cruelty of the British during the war, and the frequent disrespect of their own promises, often repeated, as well as the inhumanity with which they treated the American prisoners who fell into their hands, had caused many to regret the step they had taken in publicly advocating the cause of the crown, and gradually they became converts to the cause of their native country, so that when the end came, there were few left who declined to take the oath of allegiance to the new government, and fewer still who were so infatuated with royaltj'' as to abandon their property and the land of their nativity, to follow its fortunes. Of this latter class we have been able to find but two families, the Billops and the Seamans. The jn-operty of these families was confiscated and sold by Isaac Stoutenburgh and Philip Van Courtland, com- missioners of forfeiture for the Southern district of New York. On the 16th day of July, 1784, they sold to Thomas McFarren, of New York, the Manor of Bentley, containing 850^ acres for £4,695 ($11,737.50) forfeited to the people of this state by the attainder of Christopher Billop. The boundaries given in this conveyance are as follows: "Bounded southerly by the Bay or water called Prince's Bay, westerly by the river that runs be- tween the said Land and Amboy, Northerly partly by the Land of Jabob Reckhow and partly by the road, and Easterly jiartly by the road and partly by the Bay." The land was then occu- pied in different parcels by different individuals as follows: 373 acres by Samuel Ward; 200 acres by Albert Ryckman; 50 acres b\' John Manner; 50 acres by Edmund Wood; 50 acres by An- drew Prior; 25 acres by James Churchward; 67|^ acres by Benja- min Drake; 23J acres by Joseph Totten; and 11^ acres by Jacob Reckhow. ' HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 237 On the same day, the same commissioners sold to the same individual, for £1,120.16 ($2,802), about eighty acres of land in the town of Castleton, consisting of eight lots, all bounded southerly by "a road leading from the Rose and Crown to Don- gan's Mill," which tract of land was forleited by the attainder of Benjamin Seaman. On the 30th day of April, 1785, the same commissioners sold to Cornelius C. Rosevelt, of New York, two hundred acres of land, more or less, for £3,000 ($7,500), forfeited to the people of this state by the attainder of ^Benjamin Seaman, the same being then in the possession of Paul Micheau. OLD iilUTlSlI 1()1;T. The policy of the government of the United States appears always to have been of a pacific and conciliatory character toward its enemies, after they had been subdued and rendered powerless for evil. All tories, as well as foreign foes, were permitted to take a position among the citizens of the country upon taking the oath of allegiance. All animosities were buried, and the descendants of a great number of these re- pentant royalists, now residing on the island, are ignorant of the position their ancestors took in the great political ques- tions which agitated the country a century ago. Some marks of tlie British occupancy of the island have remained to designate the localities of their encampments and 238 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. the scenes of some of their active operations. One of the most conspicuous of these evidences is the old fort which oc- cupies a commandino; hill to the west of Richmond. The site overlooks the valley in which mainly lies the village. The embankment encloses a space about fifty feet square and is situated near the brow of a hill which descends by a steep slope nearly three hundred feet to the salt marshes which lie at the base. The earth works, now beaten down by the ravages of a century, are still several feet in height, in the form of a square, facing the three directions in which the hill overlooks the surrounding country, while the entrance to the fort was from the fourth side, on the northwest, where the natural grade renders approach easy. More than thirty years ago Major Howard found a consider- able excavation in or under the hill that rises just west of Nau- tilus Hall at Tompkinsville. Being anxious to know its origin, he made numerous inquiries but without success until he was. referred to an old black man, about eighty years of age, who, on being shown to the spot, explained that it was the saw pit where the British sawed timber for their barracks. The negro had often seen them engaged in that work. The hills were covered with a thick growth of heavy white oak timber which the British cut away, and subsequently pine and cedar came in and occupied the ground. The British had here a cantonment for seven thousand men extending along the foot of the hill and up the ravine partially followed by the present course of Arietta street. The timber was cut down to build these barracks. The troops were here for seven years, and as the old black man remarked, "On fine days and in summer the hills would be just covered with the red coats." As late as 1832 the remains of some of the dwelling places of the Hessian soldiers were distinctly to be seen along the Richmond road, at the foot of the hill in the rear of Stapleton. These consisted of excavations in the side of the hill, eight or ten feet square, which had been covered with planks or pieces of timber, upon whicli earth or sods were placed to form roofs. The fronts had been boarded up, and probably the sides. How they had been warmed in winter or whether they had been warmed at all was not apparent. They must have been miser- ably dark, damp caves, but probably, in the opinion of their English masters, good enough for Dutch mercenaries. HISTORY OF KICHMOXD COUNTY. 239 In clusiug this chapter of revolutionary history, we can per- haps give no more lifelilve pictures of those times in general than may be gathered from the substance of interviews with living witnesses who gave their impressions and recollections of many scenes and events that passed under their notice. The facts gathered at a few such interviews with persons then liv- ing at advanced ages, but now long since dead, were noted down by Professor Charles Anthon, more than thirty years ago — about the years 1850 to 1853; and from the notes of those interviews we have condensed the most interesting items referring to the revolution, in the following paragraphs. These facts are given as nearly as may be to the manner and form of their development in the interview, without regard to any order in matters of time or topic, or even harmony of state- ment. From a conversation with Captain Blake, March 15, 1851 : He was about 13 years old when the British landed. It was three or four days before any of them were seen where he lived. Then four soldiers came along and said they wanted something to eat. When they had finished they each threw down a half dollar, to the great surprise of the people. The soldiers in gen- eral behaved at first very well, paying for everything that they took, but when they came back from Jersey they stole every- thing they could lay their hands on. In general the people were well treated. Fifteen pence was the price for a dozen eggs. The cun-ency used was principally English. Dollars passed for 4s. 6d. The soldiers were very liberal. All the vacant buildings were occupied by them. At Ryers' there was a "Fives' Court," a kind of game at which the British ofBcers spent a great deal of time in playing. During this time a man by the name of Housman occupied the old Dongan manor house. The Hessians wore large whiskers, coming up to the corners of the mouth. He once saw two Hessians receive two hundred lashes apiece. They used to come around and buy cattle. The Fortj^-second regiment lay in Bodine's orchard. They were Scotch and wore the Highland uniform. The Het- fields were all robbers. There were several brothers of them. They frequently brought over thirty or forty head of cattle from Jersey to the British. On one occasion they threw a man into a hog-pen and required him to eat corn. On his refusal to do so they took him out and hammered his toe-nails off. 240 HisrroRV of Richmond county. Decker's house was on the site of the Port Richmond hotel (now St. James). It was of brick. At the time of the invasion under Sullivan tlie Americans burned it. The Dutch church was burned on the same occasion. Mr Blalve's father was cross- ing the mill-dani, and when he readied the west side he came all at once among the Americans. They remained there until the British troops aiipeared with light-horse. 'I'hey fired and killed a light-horseman, then ran away through the woods like so many frightened horses. From an interview with Rev. Dr. Van Pelt, June 5, 18.51 : A man stopped at his house about the year 1804, he then living in the Port Richmond hotel. That man said he was in the en- gagement at the Dutch church. The weather was cold, but the heat of the action caused them to sweat profusely. The church, which was like a hay stack in form, was completely riddled by balls. Dr. Van Pelt said that when the war broke out there were two other Dutch churches on the island ; one in VVestlield and another at Richmond. The latter had just been completed when the war broke out. It was a frame building, and the British used it gradually up for firewood. Judge Micheau was a witness of this, but was afraid to say anything, lest he should be suspected of disaffection. The few on the island who were attached to the American cause belonged generally to the Dutch church. Many persons living here professed attachment to the British, but secretly sent very valuable information to General Washington. A Mr. Latourette was engaged in carrying wood to the city during the hard winter of 1779-80, as long as a pas- sage remained open, and would often enable American officers de- tained as prisoners in the sugar house to escape. It was neces- sary for every one who wished to leave the city to present him- self to General Howe for permission to do so. Latourette would go before the general with these officers in disguise, and say, " General, I have brought you a fine load of wood, and am go- ing directly down for more ; I have some countrymen here who would like to go with me." The general would give them a hasty look and say, "Let them ail pass." Then they would go aboard the boat and make sail for Staten Island. At the mouth of the kills an armed vessel was stationed to examine all boats that passed, but Latourette being well known was allowed to pass without examination under the plea that he was in a hurry to bring another load of wood to General Howe. HISTORY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. 241 So havin,i^ the officers secreted in the vessel he was able to land them safely where they conld easily effect their escape. From an interview with Mrs. Bird, November 22, 1851, she then being 91 years of age : — She was 15 years old when the Bi'itish landed. They landed mostly at Van Bnskirk's dock. As they were landing they interchanged rifle shots with the Americans on the opposite shore of the kills. The first she saw of the British was a body of Highlanders who came marching up into the Clove (where she was living), from the direction of Van Duzer's ferry in quest of lodging. Some of them were quartered in their barn. She lived with her adoptive father, Thomas Seaman, whose house at that time was the first one on the left, as you turn out of the clove road into the Little Clove. General Knyphausen was a very fine looking man and used to ride a great white horse. The Hessians were all fine looking men. Their dress was nearly all blue, and both dress and ac- coutrements were very heavy. Some wore beards and some did not. During the war the people along the north shore did not dare to burn lights at night, even in cases of sickness or other extreme need, lest they should be suspected of showing signals to the rebels. People in general had to be very discreet, and keep their mouths shut. "Parson Charlton" of St. Andrew's church wore a very white wig. The "Rose and Crown"" was a public house during the war, and the headquarters for tiuit part of the island. The "Black Horse" was also a tavern then. The Queen's Rangei's were then stationed at the point since called the "Telegraph." There was a Presbyterian meeting house in the west quarter, which the British first converted into a hospital and then destroyed. From an interview with Mr. Isaac Simonson, December 26, 1851, he being 90 years of age :— The camp on Staten Island be- fore the revolution, to wliich the troops came on their return from Canada, in the time of the French war, was at the quaran- tine or watering place. At the time of the revolution, General Howe, within a few days after landing, employed Isaac Decker, a noted man and a great friend of the British, who was a captain of the light horse, to go all over the island and direct the farm- ers who were willing to dispose of their cattle or sheep, of which there were a great number on the island, to drive them to the watering place. None were taken by force. When the farmers had brought them they were all paid by the officer 16 242 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. whose duty it was to attend to tliat business. When these cat- tle arrived at the watering place they were turned into the Helds of the " Glebe," among the young oats and wheat, and mowing grass. Guards were stationed to watch them, as the fences were all destroyed, not a rail being left in three months. At that time things were very cheap. After the British came prices more than doubled. The next day after the British landed, Mr. Simonson, with some other boys, went down to what is now Port Richmond to see them. They landed during the night. When the fleet ap- proached the Lower bay they anchored outside of Sandy Hook to wait for pilots to bring them in. The same Isaac Decker, before mentioned, was a fisherman, and with others of the same occupation who accompanied him, went down and brought in the ships. Decker piloted them to a landing place, and lauded himself in the first boat. The spot was called the "White Rock." The exploit made Decker suddenly famous in a local way. The church at Port Richmond had eight corners and then went up high to a balcony, above which was a steeple which contained a bell. The sides were shingled from the gi'ound up. The soldiers lived in it. The building finally blew down, no one being in it at the time. The Isaac Decker spoken of lived in the house known as Decker's which was burned at the time of Sullivan's invasion. At that time the Americans burned this house and three vessels, also Dongan's or John Bodine's barn, in which the British had a hospital, which was afterward rebuilt after the same model and on the same foundation, by John C. Dongan. When the Americans had got out of the woods and on the meadows they halted, while the forts on the Jersey side near Elizabeth town fired on the British, who were still on the upland and had no cannon. Cole's ferry was the same as Van Duzer's and Darby Doyle's. After the revolution all about the quarantine grounds was commons. Colonel Billop was a tall, slim man. His father-in- law. Seaman, owned a large tract in the manor, off which he sold the wood. Toward the latter part of the revolution he had teams cutting and carting there. The inhabitants commonly worked on the roads on Saturdays. One very warm day Mr. Isaac Simonson remembered working in company with others on the road that runs down from Four Corners to the north side, when Colonel Billop and Colonel Seaman came along, riding on HISTORY OF KIOUMOND COUNTY. 243 horseback. They stopped and chatted with the road-master, and gave something to tlie men, as was then customary, but the men were dissatisfied with the smallness of the gift. John and Peter Latourette lived at Fresh kill. Thej^ were great patriots, and when the British came, lied to Jersey, whence they used to make visits in whale-boats to the island. Many of the inhabitants of the island were placed in confinement by the British, on account of being whigs. Among these were Hezekiah and Abraham Reckhow, brothers of Mr. Simonson's wife's mother. They were both at first confined in the guard- house in the fort at Dr. Westervelt's, but her father succeeded in getting the former out, as he was subject to fits. Abraham was taken from the guard-house to the prison ship, " Jei-sey," where he suffered greatly. Mrs. Peter Woglam was put into the same guard-house for standing up for her husband, but having friends on the other side who interceded for her, she was released. Those Staten Islanders who were thus confined were principally from the west quarter (Westfield). The guard- house mentioned was very dark and partly under ground. General Skinner lived within or about a hundred yards north from the fort. The British had redoubts all along the heights. There were no prisoners kept at the fort that was located near the site of the pavilion. The property at the entrance of the kills was occupied by Judge Ryers as a farm before the war. He sold it to Buskirk. It was not a regular ferry till the war, when one Mackatee hired it. Joshua Mersereau was the first militia colonel on Staten Is- land. The old colonel was no friend to the British, but to his country. The enemy wei'e after him two or three times. He had notice of their coming and hid himself in a swamp. The Hethelds were a rough set of men "and feared neither God nor Devil." Cornelius, their leader, held a major's commission from the British. They accused Ball of being one of those who killed Long. Ball was a trader who brought things such as poultry, beef, and the like from the Jersey side. The Het- field's caught him and took him to Mackatee's. They took him at Squire Merrill's, and intending at first only to make a prize of his wagon load of beef, poultry, etc., they told him to go on and they would follow with his wagon, but he would not leave it. They took him to General Skinner, at the fort at the Narrows, but he would have nothing to do with him, but told 244 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. them, " He is your prisoner ; do what yon please with him." They took him across tlie kills ; got a table from Ham Britton's at the mill on this side ; placed the table under a big tree and stood Ball upon it; then, having fastened a noose about his neck and tied it to a limb, they kicked the the table from beneath his feet and hung him till he was dead. Mrs. Simonson saw it from the Staten Island side. Jake Hetfield kicked the table from under the feet of Ball. They all belonged to Jersey, e.\'- cept one called "Tow-head Jim," who was also born in Jersey, but served his time as a ship-carpenter on Staten Island. Long was the man who was hove into the hog-pen. He was on the British side, and was caught in Jersey. John and Cornelius Hetfield were both afterward tried for the murder of Ball, but neither was condemned. The Hetfields were not all brothers. Cornelius was an only son. He was a fine looking man, with dark hair, fair skin, and fine, ivory-like teeth. His father was very rich, and Cornelius was either brought u^j a minister, or at any rate received a fine education. He was very active and strong, and he would preach and pray like a minister. (The name is spelled sometimes Hetfield and sometimes Hatfield.) He had one sister, who married a man by the name of Blanchar. The large property which his father left to Cornelius Hetfield was transferred to his brother-in-law to prevent its confisca- tion. The night when Hetfield and his party burned the church in Elizabethtown they came back and had a meeting in the large mill at Port Richmond. They went in there and Hetfield preached a sermon, and prayed like a minister. Hilliker bought this old mill, which was a large building containing a dwelling house, and had two runs of stone. It afterward caught fire and burned down. Hilliker built a smaller one in place of it, and that was burned, after which another was built. Daniel Selter was a great friend of the American cause. He was almost the first settler at Fayetteville, and built a public house there and cleared away the woods during the revolution. Col. Aaron Cortelyou kept a store where Edward Taylor since lived. It was this store that the negro Anthony Neal broke into, or was accused of breaking into and was hung for the offense. From an interview with Mr. Peter Wandel, January 8, 1853 : When the British first landed on the island they destroyed all the fences, and when they went to Jersey proclamation was HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 245 made to put them up again, but when they returned they de- stroyed them again. The forts abandoned by the British were never occupied by American soldiers. The buildings that were in them were afterward gradually removed. There were bar- racks, and in the fort at the Narrows there was a magazine un- der ground, made of timbers laid very close together, like a wall. This was built a year or two before the end of the war. After the evacution of New York city by the British they made no stay on the island. They left things here in a very damaged state. All was commons about the quarantine grounds. Cor- nelius Hetfield was a noble looking fellow, but capable of do- ing almost anything. He was, probably, not under General Skinner's command, but a kind of commander himself. He ought to have been hung. He, however, went to Nova Scotia after the war. Smith Hetlield was a great bully. The refugee post on Bergen Point was opposite to Port Richmond. There was a whole company thei'e. Wandel once came near being- made a prisoner by Hyler. He was with others on the banks fisliing when Hyler, with his party in three boats, came upon them and took several of them. He probably would have taken the whole fleet of twenty-two tishing boats had it not been for the interference of an armed schooner that happened to pass. An appeal was afterward made to the governor, and he sent down a gun boat, and the next time they went down to fish the gun boat kept Hyler off. When Stirling came upon the island Peter Wandel, then a youth, served in the fort that stood back of Dr.Westervelt's, as a volunteer for the occasion. For this his father gave him a good whipping. Stirling could have taken all the forts in half an hoftr had he known their weakness and scantiness of provisions and ammunition. But instead of doing this he strung his troops all over the island. They were ex- tended all along the heights, the snow being four feet deep, and the weather intensely cold. The light horse went along the north shore in pursuit of them, and took some prisoners, but not many. No reinforcements came to the forts that day, but subsequently two hundred sleighs came down, and Ned Beattie, one of the Hetfield gang, availed himself of the opportunity to bring down a barrel of rum. The route they followed in coming down from the city was first to cross from the Battery to Powle's hook, and then come down over the flats and along 24G HISTORY OF RICHMOTSTD COUNTY. the Jersey sliore, and cross the kills from Bergen Point, taking Shooter's island on the way. The village of Richmond in the time of the war was generally called Cuckold's town. Todt hill was not so called before the war, but the name began to be used during the latter part of the war. Decker's ferry was afterward called Ryers', and still later Mersereaix's. Opposite to it was a house called Duf- fy's ferry, on the Bergen Point side. The wood cut by the British during the war was chiefly from the hills behind quar- antine, which were covered with all kinds of timber. Between Old Town and New Dorp it was very wild, with scattered trees and huckleberry bushes. There was heavy timber all around Fresh pond. The riflemen from Virginia were very fond of fresh water fish, and would make a raft of rails upon which they would go out on the pond and catch cat fish and very lai'ge eels. The cat fish sometimes weighed eight or ten pounds apiece. Wandel, when a boy, went to school to Mr. Rogers, in a small one-story house that stood just above the Port Richmond church ; afterward taught by Mr. Riley, and moved to a point near the dock. His father's house was a short distance east of the Snug Harbor site. He stood at the door of his father's house and saw Hetfield's party engaged in hanging Ball on a tree on Peter Buskirk's farm. The night the British arrived his family was up in the clove, his father having removed them all thither through fear of the troops, but being assured of safety they all returned the next day. The British turned their horses in upon the growing crops on the farm. No com- pensation was ever received for it. At that time then there were not over nine houses between Van Duzer's and Richmond. When the fieet came up to Prince's bay the children all went up into the garrets to look out to see the ships come in. All the people in the neighborhood immediately got fresh provisions ready and killed great numbers of their young cattle. The English came ashore to purchase these articles. After the ships had come to at quarantine, the sailors took the sails off, and made tents of them for some of the soldiers. The encampment extended from New Brighton to Stapleton. In all the space occupied by them, in a short time there was not a blade of grass to be seen. Everything was trodden down by the troops, who were kept " forever marking time."' Before HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 247 t the arrival of the main body of troops three vessels kept cruis- ing in the waters about Staten Island. These were, in the or- der of their size, the "Asia," the "Phoenix" and the "Sav- age," the last being a sloop. At this time there were on the island a body of New England troops stationed at the Narrows and another of Virginia riflemen, among whom were some men sixty years of age. These were billeted among the farmers on the north side. The British vessels stopped at the watering place to get water one day, the " Savage " lying quite close to the shore, while six or seven of her men were engaged in get- ting water. The Virginia riflemen heard of it, and taking Peter Wander s father for a guide, started for the spot. They rushed upon the sentinel so suddenly that he had not time to fire be- fore he was seized and made a prisoner. As they continued their course down the hill they were seen from the sloop and fired upon by those on board. The riflemen protected them- selves behind rocks and trees as well as they could, and none were hurt by the fire. The men who were getting water ran into the sti'eam up to their chins, but being ordered to come out under pain of death, they obeyed, and all were taken prisoners. One of the men on board the "Savage" went up into her "round top" with a blunderbuss, but the riflemen shot him off. The British were prevented from getting water on this occasion. This was the first blood shed in the war in this quarter. On the American side none were injured except Neddy Beattie, who heard the firing and took a walk over the hill to see what was going on. He was struck by a spent ball, but without receiving any serious wound. There were three forts during the war near the Watering Place, one near where the pavilion now stands, one at the " Marble house," and one behind Dr. Westervelt's. Colonel Billop was accounted very clever, a large, stout, noble looking man. He pretty muc^h governed the island during the war. Some robbers from Jersey plundered a Mrs. Marshall who lived near Rossville. She had a mare and colt. They took the former but left the latter. The next morning the mare came home again, swimming across the sound. During the war little " bush shops" were frequent all over the island. Their whole stock in trade consisted of rum and a gill cup. The latter hav- ing no handle the dealer would put his thumb in it to hold on by and at the same time lessen the quantity requii-ed to fill it. 248 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. From a conversation with Mr. Dissosway, December 26, 1850: There was an encamiiment of British soldiers in Edwards' orchard, on tlie Shore road corner toward New Brighton. In malving excavations while erecting one of the buildings on this property an entire skeleton was dug up. From time to time several baskets full of bones have been uncovered at the same place. It was the custom to send the invalid soldiers of the British army to Staten Island. There was another encampment at Belmont's hill, where the Hessians lived undergi'ound. The Fort Richmond hotel, or the building that occupied its site and was the property of Judge Ryers, a leading tory, was the scene of a great deal of fun during the revolution. Ryers was the grandfather of Dissosway. He made a fortune out of the British. He was a contractor for supplies to the British troops. The Americans would drive their cattle over from Jersey to be sold. These would be kept at the slaughter-house, which was near Bard's. The Americans would come over at night, steal the cattle and sell them again to Ryers, who never said any- thing. He was a man of large size and great business tact. His first wife was killed by fright at the landing of the British. From a conversation with a Mrs. Blake, who had been a Miss Merrill: She was born near Bull's Head. There were a number of Americans who came over from the Jersey shore one day and were making merry at a drinking house. An English officer who was staying at her father's house appeared at dinner with his ruffles all blocdy. He explained that he had killed half a dozen drunken Americans. She recollected seeing a negro woman covering one dead body with brush. Captain Blake said: Bodine's mill was the third one erected on that spot. During the war the Scotch Forty-second regi- ment was quartered in Dongan's orchard. The Hessians lived near about the " marble-house," in caves. He had visited them in their underground habitations to get the money for a beef which had been run through by them. They were fed on slices of i^ork, and rum with sugar shaken up in it, vsrhich later they called " Schnaps." From a conversation with Mr. Peter Jacobsen, October 18, 1851: His grandfather. Christian Jacobsen, was killed in his own house by the British. Four soldiers came at night, when he was in bed. They entered the kitchen and aroused the blacks, demanding to know where their master kept his money. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 249 and threatened to kill them if they did not tell. An old black woman passed by a secret ronte to the I'oom of Mr. Jacobsen and aroused him. He opened the kitchen door and asked what the noise was about, whereupon one of the soldiers returned some insolent reply and at the same time fired upon him. The ball entered his side and he died in a few hours. The soldiers were made known to the officers, and the man who did the firing was hung. CHAPTER VI. UNDER THE REPUBLIC— 1783 TO 1883. Condition at close of Revolution. — Population. — County Buildings. — Manners and Customs. — War of 1812. — Extracts from the Records. — The Militia. — Growth and Improvement. — Earthquakes. — Quarantine. — -The Civil War. — Some Notable Events. WE come now to the history of a period of almost uniform prosperity and advancement, with perhaps varying degrees at different times, but with no more such eras of de- vastation as that which we have been reviewing. Returning peace found tlie island in a demoralized state of desolation. But the sunshine of peace quickened its capabilities into new life. We see it now as a new era of prosperity has dawned upon the land. The clouds have rolled away and the vigorous youth of a new government, set out to run the race of its exist- ence, fills the prospect with cheering promises. The whigs who had left their homes and property at the be- ginning of the war now returned and began the work of rebuild- ing the places that had been laid waste. The condition in which they found their property need not be described. It was what may readily be imagined as the result of seven years' oc- cupancy by a lawless military force and frequent raids of x^lun- derers from abroad. But the town organizations were re-estab- lished and the wheels of government gradually set in motion. It would be interesting to note the manner of doing this, but the records are too scanty to give us much knowledge. On the 26th day of September, 1775, there was a court of common pleas and general sessions held at the court house, in Richmond town, after which there is no record of any court having been held in the county until Monday, the 3d day of May, 1784, " being the lirst Court held after the Declaration of Independence being published." This court was held at the house of Thomas Frost, the court house having been burned by the British, David Mersereau, Esq., being judge. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 251 The lirst case on the record is entitled, " TJte State vs. Thovias Frost.'' The grand jury brought in a bill of indictment against the defendant for profanity, " and the Deft, being in Court was called and the Indictment Read to him.— Whereupon he pleaded not guilty and entered into recognizance himself in twenty pounds and Peter Mersereau his security in ten pounds to appear at the next Session to Try the Traverse." Unfortun- ately there is no record of the result of this indictment. The next court whose proceedings are recoi-ded was held in Septem- ber, 1794. It may be a matter of interest to know the names of the officers of the first court held under the new government ; they are as follows : David Mersereau, Esq., judge ; Cornelius Mer- sereau, Hendrick Garrison, Peter Rezeau, Anthony Fountain, John Wandel, Gilbert Jackson and Lambert Merrill, associate judges; Abraham Bancker, Esq., sheriff; Jonathan Lewis, cor- oner ; Daniel Salter, James McDonald, John Baker and Abra- ham Burbanck, constables. The fii'st act was to read the com- missions of the sevei'al officers. The first civil suit on the cal- endar was Richard Housman against Henry Perine. Trespass, damages £50. Subsequent to this the courts of this county were regulated by the following act of the state legislature passed February 5, 1787: "Beit enacted," &c. " That the Courts of Common Pleas and General Sessions of the Peace, in and for the County of Richmond., shall be held at the Court-House in the same County, on the fourth Monday in January, the first Monday in May., and the fourth Monday in September, in every year, and may continue and be held until the several Saturdays next following, inclusive." It is probable that in the work of restoring order and improve- ment to the desolated farms and homesteads the surplus ener- gies of the people were so much engaged that they had little time for unnecessary litigation. A paper of May 9, 1788, con- tains the following item : " A correspondent observes, much to the credit of the inhab- itants of Staten-Island, that the courts of general session, and common pleas, on that Island, county of Richmond, held on the 5th instant, in four hours after their convening, adjourned to September term, not having found a single bill of indictment, 252 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. or a recognizance, presented. — Who, except lawyers^ would not wish to become a resident in so virtuous a community ?" A record under date December 1, 1789, contains the following accounts: " To Richard Scarret for digging a Grave £0. 10. "To Lewis Dey for Boarding the Carpenters when repairing the County House & Building the Gallows & Furnished 100 shingles 1 Bushel of Lime a pair of hinges & For fetching Anthony Cornish from New York Goal fees &c &c £6. 0. "To Lewis Ryerss [then sheriff] for two locks for the Goal, for going to New York for to Report Anthony Cornishes Escape from Goal, for Going to New York when he was aj^prehended, for Fetching him from New York, Making the Gallows & Exe- cuting of Anthony Cornish, for Expence of Apprehending of sd Cornish at New York, Goal costs £16. 16. 0" "We have been unable to find a more detailed account of this case. A very aged man, living when this was written (1875) and nine years old at the time of the execution, and who remembered it well, said that the prisoner was known as ' Black Antony,' being a negro ; he had committed a murder on board of a vessel in the sound. The place of execution was near the site of the present school house in Richmond village." The explanation above is that made by Mr. Clute. We have in another chapter given an account of the execution of a negro, which corresponds so nearly in some jjoints with the above as to make it quite probable that it was the same case. But if such is true, there are differences enough to make one or the other inaccurate. As we have not the means at hand to de- cide which is the correct one, we leave them both for the judg- ment of others to decide. "Oct. 19: 1790. The following is the amount of the In- habitants of the county of Richmond as numbered by the Supervisors and Assessors of said county Agreeable to an Act of the Legislature passed the 18th day of February 1790. Males. Females. Slaves. Town of Southfield Town of Westfield Town of Northfield Town of Castleton Souls in Richmond Co. In all 3942 1593 1530 819" 309 330 258 440 451 267 463 409 167 381 340 127 HISTORY OF UICHMOND COUNTY. 253 The growth of the countj' in population during the decades from that time to the present is as follows :— 1790, 3,838 ; 1800, 4,564; 1810, 5,347; 1820, 6,135; 1830, 7,082; 1840, 10,965; 1850, 15,061; 1860, 25,492; 1870, 33,029; 1880, 38,991. The following extract from the records tells its own story of the preliminary steps toward building a new court house. " July 7 : 1792 At a meeting of the Supervisors Together with the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas for the County of Richmond the 26th of June 1792 Lawrence Hillyer, Joseph Barton Jun. were unanimously appointed Commissioners to Superintend the Building of a Court House in the Town of Richmond on a Lott of ground given by Doctor Thomas Frost, HOUSE OP ISAAC M. MARSH, FORMERLY USED AS THE COURT HOUSE. and Thomas Frost having since been appointed a Commissioner to be with the said Lawrence Hillyer and Joseph Barton to Superintend Said Court House and to Advertise for Undertakers & to receive proposals that may be Consistent with seconomy and the Interest of the County. "Richard Conner Clk Supervisors." In 1792 a tax of £315 ($787.50) was levied upon the county for building the court house, and the sum of £15 ($37.50) was paid to Dr. Thomas Frost in payment for the "Lott" which the previous entry says lie had ffioeti for the purpose. The record 254 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. does not give the name of the " undertaker" to whom the con- tract was awarded. This building is still standing opposite the hotel known as the Richmond County hall. When the present court house was built, the old court house proi)erty was sold to Walter Betts, who converted it into a dwelling. It is now (1875) owned and occupied by Isaac M. Marsh, Esq. While this building was used for a court house, the brick building on the opposite cor- ner was the prison. The same year, 1792, anothei' tax of £84 ($210) was levied for hnishing the court house. The completion of it was delayed for nearlj' two years, for under date of October, 1794, we are informed that the supervisors met in it for the first time. The lot on which the present court house stands was con- veyed to the supervisors by Henry I. Seaman and wife, by deed bearing date April 19, 1837, at a nominal price, for the purpose of erecting a court house thereon; according to the terms of the convej^ance, when the property shall cease to be used for that purpose, it shall revert to the said Seaman or his heirs. On the 22d December, 1847, Farnham Hall and wife, in consideration of fifty dollars, conveyed to the supervisors the lot in the rear of that on which the court house now stands. In one of the old record books containing minutes of the pro- ceedings of the supervisors, is the following entry: "1827, May 5th, At a meeting held this day, present Har- manus Guyon, John Totten & Nicholas Crocheron, Supervisors, also Richard Crocheron, Esq., James Guyon, Esq., and Walter Betts, Esq., Commissioners appointed according to a law passed April 10th, 1826, an act to provide for Building a Fire proof Clerk and Surrogate's office in the County of Richmond, whereby it was made the duty of the Supervisors at their an- nual meeting to cause to be levied and collected a sum not ex- ceeding One Thousand five hundred Dollars, over and above the expense of Collecting the same, for the purpose of building a fireproof Clerk and Surrogate's Office for Said County, to be located in such part of Said County as the Judges of the Said County, or a majority of them shall direct, and in which all the public Records and Papers belonging as well to the Clerk as the Surrogate of the Said County shall be kept, and the said HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 255 Judges have fixed Upon the Cite of the Old County-house on the East side of the Goal for the locating the same. " Whereupon resolved hj the Said Supervisors Present that the county-house be sold and removed without delay to make a clear Cite for the purpose of erecting Said Clerk and Sui-ro- gate's office, and also that the proceeds of such sail be paid to the County Treasurer, subject to the order of the Supervisors, and also that the said Commissioners be and hereby are em- powered to sell Said County house for the best j^rice that can be got for the same at public Vendue, notice to be given of the sime (sic) of such sale. And the Supervisors having caused to be raised and paid into the Treasury of Said County the sum of six hundred dollars for and towards the Building Said Clerk and Surrogate's office. Also resolved by the Supervisoi's that they will in case the six hundred dollars raised for the purpose of building Said Clerk and Surrogate's office should be Insuffi- cient to pay for building the same; In such case they will Bor- row as much as will be sufficient to complete the same. Pro- vided however that the whole cost of building such office shall not exceed one thousand five hundred dollars. Signed Herms Guyon, Nicholas Crocheron, John Totten. " Whereupon it was ordered by the Supervisors that their Clk shall Immediately give to said Commissioners an order on the County Treasurer for the said sum of six hundred Dollars. "Which said order was in due form made out and delivered to one of the said Commissioners for the Payment of the said six hundred Dollars as aforesaid. Richard Conner, Clk ) $ C. of the board of Supervisors ( 600 00.'' The above document is given in full, as a specimen of the verbose and exceedingly precise style in which Col. Richard Conner, as clerk of the supervisors, kept all the county records under his official care. The " Goal " herein alluded to is that building which stands on the corner, north of the old dilapidated hotel called the "Richmond County Hall," and the clerk and surrogate's fire- proof offices, built on the "cite" of the former county house is the brick building adjoining it on the east. The cost of 256 HISTORY OF KICH3I0NU COUNTY. erecting it is not known, but bills for material and labor to the amount of §941.08 were audited that year. The building was completed during that and the following years, as will be seen by the following record dated October 7, 1828. " It is Resolved by a Majority of the Supervisors of the County of Richmond that three men be appointed to take charge of the records of the County of Richmond, in conse- quence of the 111 liealth of the present County Clerk, Jonathan Lewis, Esq., and that they make an Inventory of such Books and Papers as they shall lind in the office of Said Clerk, and shall deposit such Books and Papers in the office now erected BUILDING FORMERLY USED AS A CLERK'S OFFICE AND JAIL. in the Village of Richmond for that purpose. Resolved that Walter Betts, Esq., Richard I). Littell, Esq., and Abraham Auten, Deputy Clerk, is hereby appointed to take an Inven- tory of said Books and Papers and deliver them to the said Abraham Auten, Deputy Clerk, on his giving a receipt for such Books and Papers on the Schedule or Inventory, and deliver such Schedule so signed to the Supervisors of Said County." The old court house and the lot in which it stands was sold at auction to Isaac M. Morris December 17, 1837. That build- ing still stands on the west side of the street, nearly opposite HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 257 a point midway between the old Dutch Reformed church and the old jail above referred to. It is a two-story-and-basement building, and is now devoted to private uses. The present jail, in the yard in the rear of the present court house, was built in 1860. A new county clerk's office, on the opposite side of the street from the court house, is now being completed. PRESENT COURT HOUSE AND JAIL. We have but little evidence of the use of the whipping-post and stocks in this county. All that we have at hand is the record of the supervisors under date of October 26, 1801, when a bill was audited for the amount of $12 to Lawrence Hillyer "for Erecting a Public Stocks according to Law." In giving a glimpse of the domestic and social customs of the early years of the republican period we condense from an interview made years ago with one whose personal recollection 17 258 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. extended back to that time. Most articles of home consump- tion were then made at home. Each member of the family had one new pair of shoes every year, made by a shoemaker who came to the house in the fall. It was the custom of that craft to go from house to house in annual rounds of repairing and newly fitting shoes for the feet of the family. There was little money on the island. People were j^aid in articles of pro- duce. A girl who could spin at the rate of seven hundred strands to the pound was considered a good spinner. The young ones spun tow. It was customary for the negroes to raise tobacco for their own use. All people drank a great deal of cider. It was offered to every neighbor or stranger on ar- riving. It was a custom to put into the pitcher of cider a piece of hot toasted bread or a doughnut, to warm the beverage. This hospitality was indulged on the occasions of the people assembling at some neighbor's house for a religious service. The conveyance then in use was the farm wagon, with a pair of clean sides to be put on it after it had been all the week used for carting manure or other dirty substances. The old fash- ioned rush-bottom chairs were placed in it for seats. To this the horses were hitched and their movements were guided by means of a single rope rein on the outside of each horse and a connecting rope running across from one bit to the other. These were called " couple-towse." Men of somewhat wealthy or aristocratic pretensions wore knee-buckles. A silver- mounted riding whip was considered a great acquisition to the make-up of an aspiring man. Two-wheeled gigs were some- times used. They had no tops, but had wooden springs, called " grasshopper springs." It is said that John C. Dongan brought to his wife, from Europe, the first silk dress ever seen on Staten Island.- He pronounced it only a " middling good one," having cost but fifty pounds, when for one hundred pounds he could have ob- tained a really good one. A schoolmaster, by tlie name of Pritchett was remembered as coming to the employer to get his pay for teaching. He took it in fresh meat and other articles. After spending the evening, chatting and drinking cider, he went home, having prepared for his lonely walk through the woods by having a stout hickory stick burned to a live coal at one end. By brandishing this stick in the air he kept the HISTORY OF RICHMOND COTINTY. 259 wolves, with which the woods abounded, and which woukl be attracted by the smell of the meat, from attacking him. It was cvistomary for the most respectable persons to go to taverns. One of the highest repute was the "Bull's Head," then kept by a man named Johnson, and later by one Garrison. The "Black Horse" was of rather inferior tone, being frequented by those who ran horses on the road there. Flax was raised in considerable quantities, not onlj' for the linen fibre it yielded, but for the seed, large quantities of which were shipped to Ireland, where it brought a good price. John V. D. Jacobsen, who lived at New Dorp, and was accounted one of the three richest men on the island in his time (Judge Seguine and Jacob Mersereau being the others), died in 1826, his property being valued then at seventeen thousand five hun- dred dollars. In those times the price of a drink at a tavern was three cents, but in the time of the war of 1812 this was in- creased to four cents when sugar was taken. Cigars cost twenty-five cents a hundred, and were frequently kept by land- lords to be given away whenever asked for. The war of 1812 passed without leaving any considerable traces upon this island that are now discernable. Fortifications were thrown up for defense in case the British fleet should come into the bay. One of these was located on the summit of the hill at Prince's bay, a little north of the light-house. The embankment was on the seaward margin of the height, and part of it has evidently been washed away by rains and the tide un- dermining the bank. It is said that the fort contained a block house, the stones of which were afterward used in the con- struction of the light-house and keeper's house adjoining. Another earthwork was at Little Fort hill, near the site of the present fort that commands the narrows. The general laws of the state from time to time enacted for the gradual extinction of slavery were the same in their appli- cation to this county as elevvhere. The records of the differ- ent towns show some interesting relics of the custom. We have only space for a few. Here is a transcription from the Westfield town records : " I Winant Winants of the County of Richmond and State of New York and Town of Westfield, Yeoman Doth Certify that I have Had a Female Negroe Child Born of a Slave the 260 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 26th July 1799 Named Bett from its Birth to this Date is Six months and Twenty Four Days old. " WiNANT Win ANTS. " Recorded this 19th February, 1800. "Henry Parlee, Town Clerk." This is also from the records of Westfield : "This is to Certify that on the third Day of February 1800 the Negro wench' a Slave Belonging to Benjamin Larzelere, Yeoman of the Town of Westfield in the County of Richmond and State of New York was Dilivered of a male Child wich is now Living by the Name of Tom. "Given under my hand the 7th Day of April 1800. " Benjamin Larzelere. " Recorded this seventh Day of April one thousd Eight Hundred 1880 " Henry Parlee, Town Clerk." The following are from the records of the town of Castleton: "I do hearby certify that a male negro child named Nicholas thePather of whom named Sam belongs to me, and the mother named Bett belongs to Cornelius Cruser, was born In my House at Castle Town the eight day of may in the year of our Lord one thousand Eight hundred, and I request that this return of the Birth of the Said Child may be Entered agreeable to the directions Contained In a late Act for the gradual Abolition of Slavery. " John Mercereau." "Castletown Janiuiry 15th, 1801." " Richmond County 30th wit : " Personally came & appeared before me John Garretson, first Judge of the said County, the Rev. Peter I. Vanpelt, who being duly sworn deposeth and saith, that he has a coloured boy named Harry born February 1803— also that he has a col- oured Girl named Eliza born August 1810— also a coloured girl named Dian born June 29th 1814— also a coloured boy named Ned— born Febry 28th 1818 And further this deponent saith not. " Peter I. Vanpelt " Sworn before me this 6th clay of april 1818 "John Garretson HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 261 " To be recorded by the Town Clerk of Castletown as the Law directs." "This is to Certify that my Woman of Colour named Mary had a female child born the fifteenth day of December in the Year 1814 named Mary and also same Woman had a male child born the Second day of March 1817 named harry and also my woman of Colour named Jane had a male child born the tenth day of July one thousand eight hundred and sixteen named Murry which Certificate I hereby request the Clerk of Castletown to record. Dated at Castletown the 9th day of May, 1817. "James Guton " "To the Clerk of Castle Town. I hereby certify to you that a female negro Child named Mary, born of my slave Jane the fifth day of February last, which was given up to be recorded, I do hereby Manumit and give up all my riglit & title to the service thereof given under my hand at Castle Town the third day of February, 1804 "Jacob Loziek" " Richmond County ) Town of Northfield )" To whom it may Concern know ye that on the 24 day of April in the year of our Lord one thousand Eight hundred & Eleven T Joseph Ryers a free Black Man do by thease presence Manumit and abandon all My Rite and title to the service of my son Harry and he is hereby pronounced By me to be a free man agreable to the Laws of the State of New York as witness My hand his "Joseph X Ryerss" mark During the years of the first half of this century, as well as those of the eighteenth century that followed the revolution, the people paid attention to the training of their able bodied citizens in the manipulation of weapons of defense and military movements. Years afterward, when the settled condition of peace seemed to lull the public mind into indifference in regard to preparations for war, the custom fell into disuse. The mil- itia system was under similar regulations in this as in other counties of the state. It was held as the bulwark of that con- fidence which the people had in their own dominant might ; the dearest feature and safeguard of freedom ; the life guard of a 262 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. nation, drawn out yearly before the view of its rulers, showing them their own proper orbits by a display of numerical strength which it would be madness to oppose, and at the same time showing to the eyes of foreign powers the muscle of the nation, against which it would be folly to make conquest. Reviews of the militia were held on the broad plain which was spread out on either side of New Dorp lane. Here tlie re- view by the officers annually took place, and those occasions were gala days to the people who witnessed them, as well as to those who took part in the parade. Officers and men were on the alert to make the best possible exhibition, for critical eyes were upon them, as well, as was often the case, the eyes of loved ones, the fair and the beautiful. A sumptuous dinner and gen- eral merry-making, often accompanied by the perverted good cheer that flowed from the old decanters and made discord where harmony was intended, usually followed the military review. The militia of Staten Island in 1837 composed the One Hun- dred and Forty-sixth regiment, which was a part of the Sixty- fifth brigade, in the Second division of New York state in- fantry. The division was then in command of Major-General VanBuren, the brigade was under Brigadier-General D. Denyse, and the regiment was commanded by Colonel Tompkins. The " Mirror,^'' a local paper of the time, in its issue of September 7, 1837, contains the following picture of one of these militia parades. " On Friday last we were witness to a parade of the officers of the 146th regiment. Major Tompkins of the staff of Major General Van Buren, has lately been promoted to the command of this regiment, and this was his first parade, or drill of offi- cers. We unexpectedly met the battalion on its way to Rich- mond village; the sounds of martial music reverberated along the hills, and prickled up'the hairs on our horse's ears, his whole frame quivered with alarm; steed threatened steed with high and boastful neighings; cows scampered off like militiamen at the clarion's sound; our own impatient nag turned tail upon tlje army, bearing safely away his interesting burthen; the very mud-turtles, that inhabit the ponds in the neighborhood, plunged headlong into the tide and hid their coward heads; but all this consternation and dismay was occasioned by the rascally exotics who were hired for the occasion to make a racket with HISTORY OF BICHMOND COUNTY. 263 their drums and trumpets. The detachment themselves were as peaceable a set of men as ever shouldered arms; and we were much better pleased with their manual exercise than we have been with like exhibitions in Xew York. The officers of the Tompkins Guards looked well in their new uniforms, and the non-commissioned officers behaved like soldiers. One thing we have to commend Col. Tompkins for — his orders were given cor- rectly and in good time; but on the march his guides of the left were poorly covered —this is a matter of some importance, and should be attended to. We understand that the field and staff are about adopting the United States infantry uniform — good. Old Richmond begins to pick up spirit on everj^ hand — she'll do presently. Go it fellow sogers." A statute fixed the first Monday in September of each year as the day for annual military parade, for all tlie enrolled militia of the state to parade by companies in each company district. This occasion was frequently denom- inated the "September training day." Those "September training days" were remarkable occasions, landmarks in the lives of the sturdy yeomanry. To get the crowd into shape was a task indeed for the officers, and the line would often be a marvel of curvature — straight as a new moon. This might be accounted for in a measure by the fact that it was the only time in each year when the privates were drilled by companies, and was also the day when the corporal would bring in his new recruits, and report their enrollment. Those new recruits, the boys, were not required to be equipped at their first appearance, but simply to answer at roll call, and when any of them remained in the ranks during the drill, it was only to have a good time generally. If those young sol- diers appeared with anything less crude than a hoe handle or a riail staff instead of a musket, the officers were to be con- gratulated. The regimental parade, or "general muster," as it was called, was neither boys' play nor a drill with wooden guns in a half circle. Upon the adjutant, who was chief of the colonel's staff, devolved the duty of forming the companies into one regimen- tal line and to equalize the divisions, then the whole was turned over to the colonel commanding, and after drill and evolutions in his discretion the regiment was reviewed by the division and brigadier generals, each with his staff officers all mounted. 264 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. After passing in review, the field officers and the colonel's mounted staff were all insjDected in the saddle by the brigade inspector. Then followed the inspection of the officers and privates in the line, the inspector having dismounted. Every sword, musket, lock and flint, cartridge-box and bayonet, as well as the uniform of the officers, must pass the ordeal, and the belt or buckle that betrayed any sign of weakness was at the risk of being sundered by a little extra force of the inspec- tor's arm. The confusion and loose discipline of the " Septem- ber training day " had no place in the " general muster." The colonel commanding was required by law to issue an order annually, summoning the regimental and staff officers, the commissioned and non-commissioned officers and musi- cians of the whole island to rendezvous at some place designated by him in the order, three successive days, for drill and in- struction, which was conducted by the regimental officers under the supervision of the colonel. To be buttoned to the chin in the i-egulation coat, and exposed to the rays of the hot summer sun, under a brimless beaver chapeau, was an ordeal that was dreaded by those who had to pass through it, but the blasts of the sun on the parade field were not to be compared in their destructive effects with the blasts of gunpowder on the field of battle. About forty years ago the state laws were materially changed, and all those old military organizations were disbanded. An era of improvement seemed to open upon the island about the year 1836. In the following year it was said that more buildings were then in process of erection or had just been completed than at any previous time since the revolution. In Richmond village a new street had just been opened and seven new houses had been built upon it. The village had grown dormant, but this dash seemed like the pushing forth of a new life. Tompkinsville was estimated to have doubled its jiopulation within a short space of time, a rapid growth de- veloping toward Stapleton. New Brighton was unusually full of life and bustle. Factoryville had suffered somewhat from the decreased activity in its manufactures, yet the recent erection of many new homes gave it a cheering glow of promise. Improvements were also noticeable at Rossville, the name of wliich had not long before been changed from the old cognomen, " Blazing Star." HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. '265 That there are two sides to every question of public policy, and that there was a strong sentiment against some enterprises tliat are generally welcomed, is seen by the action of the people of this county taken in regard to the establishment of a bank, a wlialing company and a steam ferry company in 1838. These three enterprises were projected here in 1838,and notice was duly given that applications would be made to the legislature for acts to incorporate them. A public meeting was called at Fac- toryville, at the " Shakespeare Hotel," January 11, 1838, in which call the "citizens of Richmond County, without dis- tinction of i)arty, opposed to all monopolies," were invited to join in opposing the granting of charters to the aforesaid companies. The meeting, which was said to be "large and respectable," was presided over by Hon. Samuel Barton, while Paul Mersereau acted as secretary. Animated discus- sions followed, and a number of resolutions were passed, the result of which was to decide upon a remonstrance to the legislature against granting charters to any of the proposed incorporations. The sentiments prevailing in these expressions declared that " we view the application for a baidc at the pres- ent as a most flagrant and daring insult to the good of the People * * * * antl tli^t we will use all honorable means to bring into contempt our present odious banking sys- tem;" that they regarded the incorporation of a steamboat com- pany as entirely unnecessary; and in general that all acts of special incorpoi'ation come from the people and that the people have a just rigiit to inquire into the necessity of such acts, " and if found wanting in the balance of justice, to instruct t)ur representative to veto the applications in the bud, and thereby save ourselves a vast amount of money which is ex- pended in payment of legislatures for discussing topics which thej^ of right have no business to meddle with." In tlie re- monstrance the following jiassage appears, which we think worthy of notice here: " Your petitioners think it preposterous in any government to lend its aid to carry into effect the mad schemes of specu- lators, to permit them by the aid of their corporate privileges to appropriate all the profits arising therefrom to their private use, as long as successful, by which they often ac- quire princely fortunes, and then by their private property being exempt from the payment of their corjiorate debts, 266 HISTORV OF RICHMOND COUNTr. enable them, when unsuccessful, to throw the burthen of their losses on the community. It is no longer a novelty to see the individual stockholders of a bankrupt institution living in splendor and rolling in wealth, while from the poor mechanic and laborer they withhold the amounts justly due to them, and thereby deprive them of the means of supporting their destitute and unhappy families. It is also a bitter reflection that such cruelty and injustice is sanctioned by the laws of our beloved country, from which there is no earthly appeal." As we follow the chronological order of our history circum- stances invite our attention for a moment to the remarkable peculiarities of the season of 1843. The early i)art of the I>receding Avinter had been quite mild, but it became very severe about February, and so continued until near May, when the weather became suddenly warm. Exti-emes of heat and cold followed in frequent alternations. But little spring weather was developed. On the 3d of June ice formed in the Clove road an eighth of an inch thick. All vegetation was stunted. Early in that month extreme heat commenced, accom- panied with drought which extended into Julj'. The seventeen- year locusts appeared early in June, doing a great amount of mischief to young trees. They remained about six weeks. On the 2d of July the thermometer marked 94° in the shade, and in the afternoon of that day a terriflc tornado passed over the island, adding to the damage of frost, drought and locusts. Early in August a deluge of rain followed the drought. Early in September a remarkabl}^ cold week necessitated fires to keep warm by, and this was followed by a spell of extreme heat. The island has several times felt the shock of earthquakes. On the 21st of February, 1845, between 7 and 8 o'clock in the evening, a shock was felt. Persons seated at the time could feel the chairs oscillating beneath them. The same impression was perceptible in different parts of the island. On the 25th of the following October, another shock was sensibly felt on the island, this one moving from east to west. February 4, 1846, still another similar shock was felt. The j^receding summer was one of great heat and extreme dryness. On the 8th of Septem- ber, 1848, about 11 o'clock at night, an earthquake was felt on the island. One who remembers it, thus describes his im- pressions. "I was in bed at the time, and in an imperfect sleep HISTOKY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 267 and was awakened by it. It shook the house and was accom- panied by a noise as of many carriages passing over the paved streets of a city. Its course seemed from southwest to north- east, and it continued several seconds. But perhaps tlie most severe earthquake shock ever felt here was that which visited the island, in common with some other parts of the country, on tlie afternoon of Sunday, August 10, 1884. It passed at 10 min- utes past 2 o'clock, and was preceded by a deep rumbling sound, which increased in volume till every house on the island trembled, shaking sashes, doors and shutters, throwing dishes from tables and shelves and jostling bricks off the tops of chim- nies. Some supposed that the Standard oil works on Bergen point had exploded. At the Pavilion hotel the guests were at dinner. Great confusion prevailed, men and women rushing into the halls and about the house, while some ladies fainted. More or less confusion prevailed in other houses, but no serious damage was done. We come now to notice one of the most conspicuous barriers to the prosperity and growth of Staten Island that its history can show. That "barrier" was indeed long since "burned away." We refer to the quarantine hospitals, which were located at Tompkinsville, and the removal of which is one of the most striking examples of the determination to which a community may in very desperation be driven by a persistent course of oppression, even when pursued under the cloak of state authority. As the commerce of the jjort of New York extended itself) and vessels from all parts of the world visited its harbor, and sometimes brought infectious diseases with them, it became an imperative necessity that the authorities should establish a quarantine for the protection of the people dwelling within its limits. Accordingly, the colonial legislature, in 1758, enacted a law creating a quarantine establishment, and located it upon Bedloe's island, where it remained thirty-eight years, and from which it was removed to Nutten, or Governor's island. In 1799, the yellow fever was brought to New York, and it was decided that the establishment was altogether too near the metropolis to be of any service in protecting the people, by preventing the spread of malignant diseases. Commissioners were then ap- pointed by ac; of legislature to procure a site on Staten Island. They selected a parcel of land containing thirty acres, belong- 268 IIISTOIJY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. ing to St. Andrew's church, beautifully located on the northeast shore of the island. Strong opposition was made not only by the owners of the land, but by the people of the island gener- ally, to its location among them, but it was taken, notwith- standing, by what in law is termed " the right of eminent domain." Hospitals and other necessary buildings were erected, and during the first year of its existence on the island, twenty- five cases of yellow fever occurred among the people residing outside of its boundaries, all but one of which proved fatal. Almost every year thereafter contagious diseases, in some form, found victims among the people. In 1848, the number of per- sons sick from infectious diseases outside of the quarantine amounted to one hundred and eighty. In that year an earnest petition for relief was presented to the legislature by the people of the island, supported by powerful influences from New York and Brooklyn, and a committee was appointed by the legisla- ture to examine into the matter, and rejjort at the following session. This committee at once proceeded to the performance of the duty assigned them, and in 1849 " unhesitatingly recom- mended the immediate removal of the quarantine." While the committee were engaged in performing their duty, the yellow fever again broke out, and extended itself to various other places. In April an act was passed for the removal of the quar- antine establishment from Staten Island to Sandy Hook. The measure had its opponents among the shipping merchants and others in New York, wlio were not idle ; the state of New Jer- sey also interi)osed its objections, and the jjersons appointed by the legislature of New York to carrj^ out its intentions, took no action whatever, so that the removal act I'emained a dead letter on the statute books. The fearful visitation of yellow fever in 1856 once more aroused the people of the island, and another application for relief was made. In March, 1857, another act was passed for the removal of the quarantine from Staten Island, but the op- position of the commissioners of emigration, the board of underwriters of New York, and the shipping interests of that city, again thwarted the beneficent designs of the legislature. Tlie precautions adopted by the local authorities to protect the citizens and their families from infection, were opposed by the health officer, and every possible obstacle was thrown in the HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 269 way of the local ofBcei's to embarrass them in the performance of their duties. The largest hospital building in the enclosure was three stories high, one hundred and thirty-six by twenty-eight feet, and had wings thirty-seven by twenty-eight feet at each end. A hospital building near the water was three stories high, fifty by forty-five feet, with wings at each end sixty-six by twenty- six feet. These two buildings were designed to accommodate four hundred patients. The small-pox hospital was two stories high, eighty by twenty -eight feet, with a piazza running along the front and rear. It was designed to accommodate fifty patients. There were twelve other buildings on the grounds, viz. : health-officers residence, deputy health-officer's residence, assistant physician's house, steward and farmer's house, work- house, house for barge-men, boat house, office, carpenter's shop, ice and coal house, wagon house and barn. The board of health of tlie town of Castleton was organized August 2, I806, with Richard Christopher as chairman and Dr. Isaac Lea as henlth officer. Frequent meetings were held, and the health of the villages of the town, and the effect of the quarantine upon them frequently considered. Carelessness was prevalent in the management of that institution, and diseases were frequently propagated from the hospitals among the people living in the town. These diseases were communicated by em- ployees of the quarantine going out among the peojjle, and by miasmatic transmission through the atmosphere. The history of the action of this board and the progress of the popular sentiment which kept pace with it would be interesting to those who have time to read, but space forbids following it in any detail during the thi-ee years of its growth up to the culminat- ing point. Dr. E. C. Mundy was appointed health officer dur- ing this time, and at timesa guard was emi)loyed to keep sur- veilance over the enclosure, to prevent as far as possible the commerce of its employees with the people outside. At a meeting July 15, 1858, health officer Doctor Mundy stated that a persistent determination was manifest to thwart the ac- tion of the board by misrepresentation and ridicule. In order to counteract in some measure the influence of such efforts he made a statement as follows : " We have located in our midst a lazaretto, whence emanates those noxious effluvia which produce disease and death. This 270 HISTOBY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. monstrous nuisance, it seems, from the result of the efforts made for the accomplishment of its removal by the people of the county for several years past, we are doomed still to bear with and submit to, and hence it becomes necessary to adopt such measures as the law authorizes to mitigate as far as pos- sible the evils of its presence and protect our citizens from the influence of its deadly miasmata. For this purpose and no other, the Board of Health was organized, and at its last meet- ing adopted rules and regulations by which all persons engaged off shore or on board of any infected or quarantined vessels, and all passengers and luggage landed from such vessel shall be prohibited from comingoutside of the quarantine enclosure and from going to the City of New York upon any of the boats of the Staten Island Ferry Company." Though the approval of the quarantine health officer. Doctor Thompson, seems to have been secured, harmony did not exist with the commissioners of health of New York city. Notwith- standing all efforts of the health officers he reports July 23 — " Stevedores and lightermen, passengers and luggage from in- fected vessels, continue as previously to pass from the quarantine enclosure to other parts of the town and on board our public ferry boats." The spirit of discord between the quarantine authorities and the local board of health increased until Doctor Mundy declared his conclusion " that the health authorities of the port of New York look upon the health and lives of the people of Richmond county as matters of secondary imjjortance, and hardly worthy their consideration." Several cases of yellow fever occurred, all of which were directlj' traceable to viola- tions of the board of health rules. It was also evident that great laxity existed in the administration of quarantine rules, men being allowed to pass to and from infected vessels where- ever they pleased. At a meeting of the board August 19th it was reported that seventeen gases of yellow fever had occurred outside of the quarantines walls. A district at Tompkinsville was then infected with yellow'fever. Power was given to Doctor Mundy, as health officer of the board, to make and attend to the enforcement of such rules and regulations as he thought proper, and the pen- alty afl5xed for the violation of such rules in the name of the board was limited at one thousand dollars fine or two years im- prisonment. August 27th the board met again. The infection HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 271 of yellow lever which was spreading into the town, was clearly caused by the presence of a fleet of infected vessels lying at quarantine. Doctor Mundy in his report at that meeting said : "But over this source of evil I am aware that your honorable Board has no control, and therefore I have no suggestions to make in relation to it." Subsequent events, however, showed that suggestions were alive from another source, of which we have no written record to tell us of their growth. The same re- port gives another cause of the transmission of disease by in- fected articles being conveyed to the home of one of the em- ployees whose di;ty it was to burn them. He did not do so, but carried the clothing to his residence and there washed it. The whole district lying in the triangle surrounded by the bay, the hospital buildings and Griffin street was infected. The doctor recommended prompt, decisive action to prevent a re- currence of the offense. At a meeting of the board on the 1st of September the follow- ing resolutions were unanimously passed, and ordered to be published : "■Resolved, that the whole Quarantine Establishment, located as it is, in the midst of a dense population, has become a pest and a nuisance of the most odious character, bringing death and desolation to the very doors of the people of the Towns of Castleton and Southfield. '■'■Resolved, that it is a nuisance too intolerable to be borne by the citizens of these towns any longer. '■'■Resolved, that this Board recommend the citizens of this Town and County to protect themselves by abating this abom- inable nuisance without delay." On the night of that and the following day, September 1 and 2, 1858, about thirty men entered the quarantine enclosure, and after removing the patients from the several hospitals, set fire to and burned down every building connected with the establishment. That some excesses should be committed by an exasperated populace, was to be expected. There was so much system, however, in their mode of operation, that it was evi- dent everything had been previously arranged, and that the people were carrying out instructions previously received. During the continuance of this intense excitement, it was re- markable that not a single life was sacrificed, nor was anj' one seriously injured. 272 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. These summary proceedings of the people of Staten Island produced great excitement, not only in the city of New York, but throughout the state, and indeed throughout the country. The people engaged in them were termed in the public prints barbarians, savages, incarnate fiends, sepoys, and in fact no epithets were considered too vile to be applied to them. Bat they were all borne with equanimity, sustained by the con sciousness that sooner or later there would be a revolution in public opinion. After all the mischief had been done, the gov- ernor of the state declared the island to be in a state of revolt, and sent over several regiments of militia, who were for some time encamped upon the grounds immediately north of the quarantine. A matter of a character so serious, could not, of course, be passed over in silence. Legal proceedings were at once insti- tuted, and Messrs. John C. Thompson and Ray Tompkins, who were regarded as the instigators and ringleaders of the incend- iaries, were arrested on a charge of arson, and arraigned before the county judge, Hon. H. B. Metcalfe, for e.xamiiiation. His opinion, which was extensively copied and read, had great in- fluence in changing public opinion. His closing remarks merit repetition and preservation. "Undoubtedly the city of New York is entitled to all the protection in the matter that the State can give, consistently with the health of others ; she has no right to more. Her great advantages are attended by correspondent inconveniences; her great public works, by great expenditures; her great for- eign commerce, by the infection it brings. Bat the legislature can no more apportion apon the surrounding communities her dangers, than her expenses ; no more compel them to do her dying, than to pay her taxes ; neither can be done." Thus ended the charges brought against the prisoners ; no person was punished for any complicity in the matter, but the county, very unjustly in the opinion of many, was compelled to pay for the value of the property destroyed, both public ajid private ; nevertheless, the people consoled themselves with the reflection, that even at that price, they had cheaply, as well as effectually, rid themselves of a grievous nuisance, which had not only depreciated the value of their property, and exposed themselves and their families to contagion in its worst forms, HISTOKT OF KICIIMOND COUNTY. 273 but had actually been the direct cause of the death of hundreds of their relatives and neighbors. The board of health emphjyed a force of special police, twen- ty-five by day and an equal number by night, to keep a con- stant guard around the quarantine enclosure, to allow no com- munication between it and the town. The infected district at Tompkinsville was more effectually quarantined, and the health officer was instructed to prevent all intercourse with the dis- trict, even by fencing it in if he should deem it necessary. Meetings of the board were held daih% and all physicians were required to report daily all cases of infectious diseases. On the 14th of September the board passed unanimous resolutions that immediate steps be taken to prevent the re-establishment of the quarantine buildings, and appointed a committee to legally re- strain the board of health of the city of New York and the health commissioners and commissioners of emigration "from re-erecting the said hospitals, buildings and shanties — or in do- ing any act by which the said nuisance may be re-established, continued or maintained in the Town of Castleton." The quarantine establishment was never rebuilt here. A floating hospital was arranged and anchored in the Lower bay in 1860, and later hospitals were erected on two small islands in the Lower bay nearly opposite New I)orp, but far enough from the island shore to give freedom from any apprehensions of in- fectious communications. Under an act of April 16, 1860, a commission was authorized to investigate the damage sustained by the state in the destruc- tion of the old quarantine hospitals. The commission met in June, and after an extended inquiry, made their award, ii.xing the whole amount at $121,598.39. The supervisors of Richmond county in December accepted the award, and soon after issued bonds of the county to meet the same. These were given to the cornmissioners of emigiation, who sold them as occasion re- quired and appropriated the proceeds to the expenses of their work. By an act of the legislature, passed in 1870, the bonds then remaining, to the amount of S10,72o, were ordered to be surrendered and cancelled by the comptroller. At the beginning of the year 1861 clouds of discord and po- litical strife began to darken the sky and obscure the prospects of the island in common with other parts of the land. Fanat- icism and hot headed indiscretion had accomplished their work 18 274 HISTOIIV OF lUCHMOND COUKTY. > and the direful results were then hidden behind the veil which was about to remove and disclose the horrors of four years of civil war. As the opening events developed, the people in some measure were able to la\' aside party spirit and join with some show of unanimity in the work of sustaining the government in Its efforts to contend with a gigantic rebellion. In accordance with the recommendation of the president, Wednesday, Jan. uary 4th was observed as a day of fasting and prayer, that the threatened war clouds might pass away. One of tlie iirst acts of hostility in which Staten Island was directly concerned was the seizure early in that month, of the schooner " S. W. Lutrell" of Staten Island, at Norfolk, Va., for violation of the inspection laws of that state for preventing the escape of fugitives and slaves. A large and enthusiastic Union meeting said at the time to be the largest mass meeting that had ever convened on the is- land, was held at Tottenville on Saturday the 26th of January. A banner was raised, bearing upon it the motto, " The Consti- tution and the Union," and the most enthusiastic expres- sions of loyalty and devotion to the country of our fathers were indulged in. Guns were fired for the states of the Union, for General Scott and for Major Anderson, and resolu- tions were ado^jted, among which was the following : " Resolved, That the peace and happiness of this country depend not on mere amendments to the Constitution, nor con- cession to the slave jiower, Init upon a strict adherence to the Constitution, and a wise, firm and determined execution of the federal law." In April preparations were made to meet the expected call for troops to defend the nation. The island began thus early to assume a martial appearance. Uniformed men might be seen hurrying to and fro, and recruits from almost every household were answering to the call, and making ready to go into camp. On the 20th of the month a number of young men who had joined the Seventy-first N. Y., embarked with the regiment on board the steamer " R. R. Cuyler." Others enlisted in the Seventy-third and other regiments. The llames of patriotism burned high, and party feeling was forgotton in the desire to maintain the inttigrity of the nation. An editorial in a local paper said — "We know that the soldiers of Staten Island go with no vindictive feelings towards the South to gratify. They HISTORY or RICHMOND COUNTY. 275 go with the sword in one hand, and tlie olive branch in the Other ; and the secession traitors South, as well as the abolition traitors North, are the objects of their special abhorrence." The community now began to be greatly agitated in regard to the war in prospect. Handbills were posted throughout the county calling for recruits in the Scott Life Guard in New York ; sign boards, bearing the words " Death to all Traitors," were nailed up on trees along the shore roads ; in one instance an effigy, with protruding tongue, was hung by the neck from a stake in the center of a mill pond, while on his breast the figure bore a placard, on which were the words ''Tlie Traitor's Doom;" a secret combination was said to have been foi-med on the island, whose members assumed the duty of learning who were pos- sessed of traitorous sympathies and inclinations, and warning them against manifesting those sympathies too freely; recruit- ing officers frequently visited the island from the city and drew away large numbers of the young men ; flags were raised on vessels in the river and bay, on house tops and public build- ings, on horses and vehicles in the street, and were even worn upon the persons of ladies and gentlemen, some, however, sub- stituting rosettes instead of flags. During the month the Sev- enty third was engaged in recruiting its ranks, and tendered their services to the governor. The regiment was under com- mand of Colonel Ray Tompkins. At the close of the month it was under marching orders. The Middletown guard, an inde- pendent organization commanded by Captain Stahl, also pre- pared to take an active part in the war. The ministers in the different parts of the island made reference on Sunday to the national troubles. The arrival of Major Anderson and his com- mand in New York, after the evacuation of Fort Sumter, set free a blaze which swept over the whole northern states; and Staten Island, so closely connected with New York, could not but feel a double portion of the patriotic enthusiasm that glowed already with such a fervid heat. A mass meeting of the citizens of the county was called at the old quarantine grounds in Tompkinsville, on Saturday the 27th, "to take measures for the prompt action of Richmond County at this crisis." This meeting, though not large, was enthusiastic. It was addressed by Mr. Clark and Henry J. Raymond. Tlie vig- orous prosecution of the war was urged, and the following reso- lutions offered by Mr. G. W. Curtis were adopted : 276 IIISTOKY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. " Whereas^ The people of the United States within the Union, and under their own Government, have for three- quarters of a century enjoyed an unparalleled prosperity and progress, for the continuance of which the Constitution of the United States is the perpetual guarantee ; and, " Wliereas^ That Constitution provides for a constant refer- ence of every disputed political policy to the peaceful decision of the people at the polls, and of every question arising under the Constitution and laws to the judgment of the Suj^reme Court of the United States, thereby removing all conceivable occasion for forcible resistance to the laws ; and, " ^Y^lereas^ An armed rebellion now threatens the very ex- istence of that Government, seizing the forts, arsenals, navy- yards, vessels and hospitals which belong to the people of tlie United States, and consummating its crime by firing upon tiie flag of the nation, the glorious symbol of our unity, our liberty, and our general welfare. " Resolved, That it was the duty of all persons in the country, who felt themselves aggrieved, to resort to the peaceful and legal means of redress provided by the Constitution ; and that when, instead of so doing, they took up arms and organized resistance to the Government of the country, they struck at the very heart of organized civil society. " Resolved, That the Government of the United States has properly sought, by every kind of forbearance, to avoid the sad necessity of asserting its authority by force of arms, but that it is at length manifest to the whole world that it must now subdue or be subdued. " Resolved, That in forcibly maintaining that authority every- where within its dominions, and at every cost, the Government wages no war of invasion or conquest, but simply does its duty, expecting every citizen to do the same, and to take care that the doom of the rebels and traitors who would ruin the most beneficent Government in the world, and so destroy the hope of free popular institutions forever, shall be swift, sudden and overwhelming. " Resolmd, That when the supreme authority of the Govern- ment of the people of the United States shall have been complete- ly reestablished, we, with all other good citizens, will cheerfully cooperate in any measures that may be taken in accordance with the Constitution, fully to consider and lawfully to redress HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 277 all grievances that may anywhere be shown to exist, yielding ourselves, and expecting all others to yield to the will of the whole people, constitutionally expressed. ^'Resolved, That we, loyal citizens of Richmond County hereby, before God and man, take the oath of fidelity to the sacred flag of our country, and to the cause of popular liberty and Constitutional Government which that represents, pledging ourselves to each other, that by the love we bear our native land, and our unfaltering faith in the principles of our Govern- ment, we will transmit to our children, unimpaired, the great heritage of blessings we have received from our fathers. " Resolved, That a committee of three from each town in the County be appointed by the Chair, to solicit subscriptions for the benefit of the families of residents of the County, who may be absent upon actual service, and for the equipment of volun- teers; and that this fund shall be distributed by a Committee consisting of the Supervisors of the Countj'. '^Resolved, That it be recommended to the citizens to form companies in their various neighborhoods, to elect their own officers, to drill regularly, and to hold themselves ready to an- swer the call of their country. " Resolved, That knowing the readiness of the women of this country to take their part in the holy struggle, we invite them, by the immediate formation of local societies of relief, to pre- pare bandages and lint for husbands, sons, brothers and lovers, that all hands may work, as all hearts are beating, for God and and our native land." Several regiments of soldiers, among whom were Wilson's Zouaves, were encamped in the quarantine enclosure at that time. They were marched out and drawn up in line at this meeting and much of the speaking was addressed to them. To the question put to them, "Are you ready to march through Baltimore?" they gave a heartj^ response expressive of their determination and earnest readiness to face the conflict which was before them. An uni^leasant feature of the presence of these troops tempo- rarily stationed here soon began to manifest itself. These re- cruits, fresh from the low haunts of New York city and unused to the restraints of military discipline, were not held by the orders, however strict, forbidding them to leave the enclosure of the quarantine grounds. They frequently scaled the walls 278 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. and in j^arties, sometimes as many as thirty, roamed along the shores and over the country, visiting the houses and annoying the inhabitants. Many petty depredations and thefts were com- mitted by them. A few were arrested and taken back to the encampment. The island now became a rendezvous for many regiments and parts of regiments while waiting to fill their ranks with recruits or for orders to move forward toward the seat of war. The ladies also, acting on the suggestions contained in the resolutions alreadj'- quoted, formed associations in the different villages of the county, and wbile the sterner sex' were drilling and equipping for the hard experiences of the battle-lield they were preparing lint and bandages and other conveniences and comforts for the disabled, the sick and the dying. The supervisors, in resjionse to the people's resolutions, met at Tompkinsville on April 27th and appointed W. S. Pendleton as treasurer to hold the fund that might be raised for the equipment of volunteers and the support of their families during their absence. They also authorized him to dispense the fund, with the concurrence of one or more supervisors. A number of young men, constituting an organization known as the '"Young American Guards," began drilling at the Conti- nental hotel at Port Richmond, under the direction of Abraham C. Wood. "When the first recruits were equipping themselves for the war, great difficulty was experienced in finding a sufficient supply of uniforms and equipments. The market in such things was soon run dry, and men who were anxious to be off for the seat of war were delayed until the necessary equip- ments could be obtained or manufactured. After the first installment of Staten Island boys had gone out in the Seventy-first and other regiments, their friends looked anxiously for tidings from them. And as their ac- quaintances and even strangers on the island were desirous of hearing from them, their letters were often published in the local papers and were read with great interest. During the following summer the popular feeling must have been agitated to a fever heat. Besides the commotion caused by the exciting news from the war, and the presence of large numbers of soldiers in the midst, and the recruiting, flag-rais- ing, speech-making and other work for the cause of the nation, HISTOKT OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 279 there were other causes generating agitations that helped still further to inflame the public mind. In partisan politics the outbreak of the war and other influences had greatly disturbed the lines of the old political parties, and a new organ- ization called the Citizen's Union party, which was favorable to sustaining the Union arms and i-eforming some local abuses, was growing up amid a vast amount of partisan friction. The unsettled condition of the quarantine management also was a cause of frequent alarm for fear that the occupation of the old grounds might be renewed, or the floating hospitals in the bay might be drifted near enough to bring infectious diseases to the island. The frequent disturbances created by drunken soldiers and the consequent insults and annoyances that the people suffered from them, together with the discord generated by the eft'orts that were made to suppress liquor selling to the soldiers, and the resistance of a numerous and determined band of liquor dealer's who were tempted by the unusual profits to continue in the business, all conspired to add more fuel to the flames of popular passion. The petty depredations frequently committed by soldiers en- camped here, and the fear of still greater insecurity from that source led to the organization of a "Home Guard," and a volunteer police force, to be called out by the supervisors in case of any general disturbance that might be caused by the lawlessness of men from the encami^ments. Reasonable means were taken by tiie authorities of the camps to prevent the men going out to obtain liquor or to prey upon the peace of the community. At the circuit court held in November, 1861, the grand jury delivered to the court the following presentment, which is sug- gestive. " The Grand Jury of the County of Richmond, upon the ter- mination of their duties, respectfully present, that they are gratified that no serious violations of law have demanded their investigation during the present session of this court, and re- gard that as a gratifying evidence of the peaceable and law- abiding character of the citizens of this County. Such cases, however, as have fallen under their notice disclose the fact that many violations of public order may be traced to the indulgence and use of intoxicating liquors, and they would recommend that the Commissioners of Excise should stringently, and with 280 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COTJNTT. energy, prosecute all persons who are engaged in the sale of strong and spirituous liquors without license, and collect the penalties prescribed for such violations of the law. In this con- nection, the Grand Jury would intimate that inasmuch as those penalties are directed by the statute to be appropriated when collected for the benefit of the poor of the County, that no com- promise of any suits instituted for their recovery can be legally authorized." Some idea of the extent to which the people resjwnded to the calls of the nation may be gained from the fact that up to the end of November, 1861, in the town of Castleton, there had been subscribed three thousand two hundred and fifty dollars for the families of volunteers. There had volunteered from this town one hundred and twenty-eight men, leaving sixtj-- four dependent families to be cared for. At a meeting held at the court house on the evening of No- vember 13th, a committee was appointed to obtain blankets, mit- tens, stockings, and other useful articles for the soldiers in the held. Other meetings were held in other villages to further the same object, which was the work of the sanitary commission. All through the years of the war the ladies were not lacking in their readiness to engage in labors of love and mercy in doing what they could for the comfort of those on the field of battle and in hospitals. After the first recruits wlio went out in the spring of 1861 had served their three months in the war, the work of recruiting for the war settled down to actual business. Meetings were now held at different places to arouse the enthusiasm and patriotic devotion of the strong-armed men of the county to go forth to fight the battles of their country. At a meeting held in Demp- sey's hall, Factory ville, September 2, 1861, for tlie purpose of organizing a company of young men of the island, James Bo-- dine made a patriotic address, and at its close about fifty young- men signed the roll. A station was opened during that month, in a large carpenter's shop that had been previously owned by James G. Burger. Unusual inducements were offered to re- cruits to join a companj' which was to be transferred to Colonel Tompkins' regiment (Second New York state militia) already at the seat of war. Forty-two of these recruits, belonging to Com- pany A, left Port Richmond on the 23d to join the regiment at Poolsville, Md. Recruiting was now said to be more lively than HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 281 it bad been before. The following are the names of those of this company who were from the island : Peter Pero (corpo- ral), Lewis D. Johnson (corporal), John E. Johnson, Joseph B. Johnson, John J. Simonson, James H. Munson, Daniel Mallett, Eugene Daily, Henry D. Spong (corporal), Alexander Fitz Sim- mons, Edward M. Sharrott, Jeremiah Leary, Charles Steers, Thomas J. Gushing, George F. Burbank, James H. Simonson, Jacob T. Selzer, Cornelius Degraff, William D. Maskell, Charles H. King, William Eccles, Joseph K. Plant, Henry Sharp, Jos- eph B. Barnes, Joseph L. Thompson, James Post, Isaac Lock- man, C. P. B. Slaight, Jr., Henry Mercereau, Cornelias Mar- tineau, Jacob Lockman, James B. Burbank, Simon V. N. Decker, Albert Mason, Matthius B. Stewart, James B. Halli- day, Albion Noble, John Reynolds, Abraham Turner, Francis M. Tarsney, William H. Fullagar, Arthur Haughian, George Conner, Thomas Conner, Joseph Simonson, Henry T. Paulson, Henry Decker, Samuel Warrender, John W. Tynan, James Simonson, Thomas Flanelly, Frigero Gassq, John E. Green. The Seventy-third, under Colonel Tompkins, composed of the citizen soldiers of Staten Island, was by a resolution of its of- ficers at a meeting held at Tompkins' Lyceum, June 9th, 1862, offered to the government for three years or the war. It was expected that it would be attached to Spinola's brigade. In accordance with the direction of the governor, the super- visors, in July, appointed men to meet with others to form a committee for this senatorial district to superintend the raising of troops for the ai-my. The men appointed from Richmond county were Col. Xathan Barrett, Richard Christopher, William II. Vanderbilt, J. Bechtel, W^illiam Corry, Henry L. Norris and Edward Banker. During July a number of Staten Island men enlisted in the Seventy-ninth (Highlanders), which was already in the field. The raising of recruits, however, proceeded slowly, and the authorities seemed backward about taking earnest hold of the matter of raising troops. It seemed necessary that some means should be taken to arouse the public mind to the importance of action. Accordingly, one of the largest and most enthusi- astic war meetings ever gathered in the county was held at Port Richmond on the evening of August 11th. Its object was to encourage enlistments to fill the calls for six hundred thousand men which had recently been made by the president. 282 HISTORY OF RICIIMOXD COUNTY. The quota of Richmond county nnder these calls amounted to seven hundred and eighty-four men. The meeting assembled at the steamboat wharf, near Oriental hall, where more than fifteen hundred people were present. Resolutions were passed, heartily approving of the call for troops, declaring it to be the imperative duty of men enjoying the protection and benefits of the government to do all in their power to sustain it ; declaring for the perfect union of the states and the maintenance of the authority of the government at whatever cost ; calling for immediate, prompt, constant and energetic action until the cause for such action should cease ; branding as enemies all who should refuse to speak or act when occasion required for the preservation of the country, and fi- nally that "we have come here to-night to act, and that we will, without delay, contribute liberally of our means to forward en- listments and carry out the great measures now being instituted for tile earnest and vigorous prosecution of the war, well as- sured that the greater the sacrifices we now make the more speedily we shall see our country rejoicing in the blessings of peace, and the whole constellation of stars in our political heaven restored to their accustomed brilliancy and beauty, never again to be dimmed nor obscured." Hon. Erastus Brooks then made an eloquent and stirring ad- dress, during the delivery of which he was frequently inter rupted liy apjilanse. A bounty of fifty dollars each was ofl'ered to volitnteers, and the chairman was apjjointed to receive sub- scriptions to a fund for that jjurpose. The list was headed by a subscription of five hundred dollars, and several others of one hundred dollars each, and enlistments and subscriptions flowed in. Other meetings were held in other parts of the county and efforts made to meet the demands of the hour, but the results were not sufficiently rapid to prevent apprehensions that a draft might be resorted to. The possibilities of a draft in the future developed a peculiar feature in the eagerness with which some endeavored to evade those possibilities. Like the invited guests of a certain great supper of old, they began to make excuses. Men who had never thought of complaining of any ailment now assumed, with the best jjossible grace, the role of invalids, or found, often by hard stretches of truth, perhaps, that some good reason ex- isted to relieve them of military duty. One has the bronchitis. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 283 another an affection of the jaw, another finds his eyesight very poor and bought spectacles after the order for a draft was made, another has one leg shorter than the other, another is " thick of hearing," another has a sick wife, another gets out of breath very soon, and many others are over forty-five years old or hold some office that exempts them. Mass meetings were held in the diffei'ent towns in August, for the purpose of encouraging enlistments and raising subscrip- tions from which to pay a bounty of §50 to volunteers and to furnish aid to take care of their dependent families during their absence. Such a meeting for Northfield was held at Elm Park on the 16th, at which some two thousand persons were present, and resolutions were passed expressing the same sentiments as those of the previous meeting and calling on the supervisors to raise by taxation on the towns of the county ten thousand dol- lars to be appropriated to the relief of the families of volunteers. Voluntary subscriptions for the same purpose were also received. In New Brighton a similar meeting was held on the 18th. at which over thi-ee thousand dollars was subscribed for a relief and bounty fund for the town, and a committee appointed to at- tend to dispensing it and collecting more. Another meeting of the people of Castleton was held on the 21st, at Factoryville. Speeches, resolutions, subscriptions and enthusiasm flowed freely on these occasions. This relief fund, which had been established in 1861, had already received and dispensed above five thousand dollars, and at this time had more than one hun- dred families dependent on it. The citizens of Middletown held a meeting on the 2()th, at which resolutions were passed expressive of a full determination to sustain the government in carrying on the war and calling on the supervisors of the county to appropriate twenty thousand dollars to be distributed to the families of volunteers who had or should enlist from this county. One of these resolutions is in the following language : — ^'Resolved, That much as we may differ as to questions of policy in minor matters, we are one in the conviction that it is our individual duty to stand by the government of our fathers, and to swear eternal hostility to treason and its abettors whether at home or abroad." The meeting adjourned in a full blaze of enthusiasm, and several enlisted at once. A meeting at Southfield was held on the 21st, at which some two thousand persons were present. Patriotic resolutions, ex- 284 HISTOHY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. pressive of full sympathy with the war, were passed, among which were the following : "That the people of the town of Southfield are heart and soul devoted to the national cause at the present vital crisis, and that they will make any sacrifice to preserve our national existence, which is now menaced by a band of lawless traitors." "That while differences of opinion exist among us on politi- cal questions, we are satisfied that this is no time to agitate them — when the life of the nation hangs trembling in the bal- ance, and foreign despots look on exultingly, expecting and hoping to see the failure of democratic institutions thoroughly demonstrated by this war." " That we now call upon the supervisor of this town to co- operate with the other supervisors of this County in appropri a ting a sum of $20,000 as a bounty for volunteers, and for the support of their wives and children, trusting to the legislature to legalize the act." Westfield was not behind her sister towns in answering the country's call. Two meetings were held, and the enthusiasm generated was sufficient to excite the resolution to raise a com- pany of seventy-five men, which should be officered from the town. The supervisors of Richmond county met on the 27th of August and resolved to issue the bonds of the county to the amount of twenty thoiisand dollars, the i3roceeds of which should be used for the payment of extra bounties and relief for tile families of volunteers. Though this action was at the time contrary to law, yet it was deemed expedient in view of the ex- treme circumstances, and the loud call for it which the popular meetings in the difl'erent towns had made on the board. It was presumed that the legislature would sanction it, which was done when that body met in the following winter. Enlistments were now very brisk, the war spirit having, by the enthusiastic speeches and action of the people, become thoroughly aroused. A new company mostly from the town of Castleton was formed, with Louis Schaffner, captain ; Orville D. Jewett, first lieutenant, and Clarence Bai'rett. second lieutenant. Recruiting offices were opened at Dempsey's hotel, Factoryville, and at the white lead works of John Jewett & Sons at Port Richmond. An extra bounty of fifty dollars each was paid volunteers. John C. Green of Castleton, gave one HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 285 thousand dollars toward paying these bounties. Barracks were erected for the use of this company on the corner of Broadway and Church street, in Port Richmond. It was decided to attach the company to the regiment of Colonel Minthorne Tompkins. A meeting of the citizens of the county was held at Clifton park, August 30th, amid the flaunting of banners, the strains of stirring music, and the cheers of the multitude. Enthusias- tic speeches were made by Judge H. B. Metcalfe, who presided, George William Curtis, General Busteed, Honorable Erastus Brooks, and others. The following resolutions were passed : " Whe7-eas, The County of Richmond has not been hitherto, and will not be hereafter behind any county in the State in loy- alty ; that her sons are figiiting in regiments in almost every division of the national army, and that among the men who still remain at home there are scores who will be proud to face the foe for the sake of the Union. Therefore, '^ Jiesolved, That we will relieve the Government from the necessity of making a draft in this County by providing volun- teers to fill our quotas under both calls. " Resolced, That it is the duty of every man to support the Government by every means in his power, by his voice, his ex- ample, his money and his good right arm. " Resolved, That the schemes of the unscrupulous traitors who have dared to raise their fratricidal liands against their brethren are deserving the most extreme punishment, and that the Government is justified in adopting any and all measures known to civilized warfare to suppress this infernal and wicked rebellion at any and every cost. " Resolved, That the action of the Su|)ervisors of the County in appropriating the sum of $20,000 for the relief of the fami- lies of volunteers meets with our hearty approval, and we here- by endorse the same, and call upon the next Legislature to legalize the said acts of the Supervisors. " Resolved, That the local Committees thoroughly canvass each Town and procure all the subscriptions they can in aid of the enlistment, and the support of the families of volunteers." The governor at this time had appointed two citizens in each town, who, with the aid of the supervisor and assessors, were charged with the duty of enrolling all persons liable to mili- tary duty, which they proceeded to do. The war committee of the First senatorial district was held 286 HISTOHY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. at Jamaica, on Thursday, the 4th of September, for the purpose of aiding in the organization of a regiment of volunteers and to equalize tlie quotas of tlie several counties of the district and apportion any deficiencies in those counties among the towns that compose them. In this committee Riclimond county was represented by Hon. Smitli Ely, William Correy, Nathan Bar- rett, William H. Vauderbilt and Henry Lee IVorris, the latter of whom was one of the secretaries of the meeting. Among other business done it was resolved to recognize and adopt the regiment being formed by Colonel Minthorne Tompkins as the regiment of the district, and the committee pledged itself to spare no effort to fill up the regiment as rapidly as possible, and to organize it so as to make it most etficient in the field and a credit to the district as well as the country. Recruiting stations for this regiment were opened in all parts of the Lsland. it was said that the officers at these rendezvous wore smiling countenances and made encouraging reports of the progress of the work. Fears of a draft were imminent, and this stimulated some to volunteer and others to contribute to the fund for extra bounties and relief for the families of volunteers. Up to the 6th of September there remained three hundred and ten of the quota of the county to be made up, bnt little more than half of the quota under the two last calls being filled. About this time several deserters were captured on the island and returned to their regiments. The freedom of speech and of the press were shown to be capable of abase, to the injury of the common interest. At this time it seemed important to guard against such abuses. Occasionally a man was arrested and con- fined in Fort Lafayette for disloyal expressions, but they were not held in such confinement for any considerable length of time. A large number of Staten Island men about this time, Sep- tember, 1862, enlisted in Spinola's brigade, which was encamped at East New York. As the months wore along recruits came in so that by the middle of the month fears of an immediate draft subsided, the quotas being nearly full. Southfield had ex- ceeded hers, and Westfield and Northfield had filled theirs. The volunteer fund of Castleton was receiving liberal contribu- tions. Of those which up to September 11th amounted to $100 or more the following is a list : Barrett, Nephews & Co., $300; Wm. S. Pendleton, $300; John S. Westervelt, $300; Daniel Gr. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 5:87 ♦ Bacon, S3U0; Crabtree & Wilkinson, S'^00; Francis G. Shaw, $300; Lucius Tuckerman, $100; Edward F. Davison, $100; Bodine Brothers, $100; George C. Ward, $300; John Martin, Jr., $150; J. Freeman Tyson, $100; Cornelius Du Bois, $100; New York Dyeing and Printing Co., $500; Thomas M. Rian- hard, $100; Jolin C. Green, $1,000; Ernest Fielder, $100; John M. Pendleton, $100; Edward Benient, $200; C. C. Taber, $300; Mrs. William Bard, $200. Under the famous internal revenue act, which went into effect about this time, the following persons were appointed assistant collectors for the towns of this county, which composed col- lection districts, each numbered as indicated: Westfield, No. 16, William A. Brown; Castleton, No. 17, Robert Rakestraw; Middletown, No. 18, Henry Mendell; Northtield, No. 19, Daniel Zeluff; Southfield, No. 20, John B. Jacobson. By the latter part of October the material of the island had become so much exhausted by recruiting that the regiment which was intended to represent Staten Island, and be under command of Colonel Minthorne Tompkins, lulled up slowly. The prospect of filling it soon became so faint, and the need of men in the field was so urgent that an order was issued by In- spector-General Van Vechten to consolidate three of its com- panies with the One hundred and Fifty-sixth which had left Kingston, Ulster county, with seven hundred men, and was then in the barracks in NewYork city hall park. Accordingly, on the 13th and 14tli of November, the companies of Captains Schaffner, Shelton and Vaughn were transferred to that regi- ment. This gave rise to great dissatisfaction, and great excite ment prevailed, amounting almost to a riot. In the midst of the tumult one man was stabbed in the back with a bayonet. The remaining island companies of Tompkins' regiment became disordered and took to the woods and hills, leaving the camp at Factoryville almost deserted, being occupied by onlj' about forty officers and men. While in this condition, on Monday morning, the 17th, the barracks took fire and were nearly de- stroyed. The fire was supposed to be the work of an incendiary. The Richmond county regiment, which numbered (with a com- pany of one hundred men from Flushing which was expected to join it), six hundred and fifty men, was now broken up. The remaining companies were transferred to the One hundred and Fifty-seventh, then encamped at East New York. Of these. y, I 288 HISTORY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. two companies, under Captains Mark Cox and William Hilde- brandt, were mainly composed of Staten Island men. Colonel Tompkins was offered a position as lieutenant-colonel in the One hundred and Fifty-eighth, but declined. His adjutant was retained and his senior captain was made major of the One hundred and Fifty-sixth. In this sluggish condition of the work of recruiting the pi'os- pect of a draft again began to rise. The day was appointed for the drawing to take place, and Judge H. B. Metcalfe was ap- pointed commissioner for superintending it, and William G. Eadie examining surgeon. These officials sat daily at the sur- rogate's office, at Richmond, from October 22d till the day be- fore the draft was to take place, to hear any claims of persons liable to military duty for exemption. But the eff'orts which were made here, by enthusiastic public meetings and other means, were sufficient to push forward the worli so that no draft was required in Richmond county. At a meeting of the senatorial district committee at Jamaica on the 6th of November, the county was able to show the following encouraging report: Towns. Quota. Enlisted. Middletown 193 211 Castleton 209 241 Northffeld ., 150 127 Southfield 113 123 Westfiedd 123 94 County 788 796 List of men recruited on Staten Island by Charles G. Smith, First Lieutenant Company B, One Hundred and Thirty-second regiment, up to November 19, 1862. From Soutlijield: William Church, Edward Henkel, Bryan Carney, Edward Jaspart, Peter Schmidt. From Middletown: Caspar Elmer, William Elmer, James Foley, Patrick Gorman, Smith W. Higgins, Robert Huston, William L. Ludlum, George Lambert, Conrad Liebacher, Edward B. Murray, Thos. McKee, Charles Ockhert, Bernard Schmit, Theodore Simonson, Fred- erick W. Taxter, Addison White, John Williams. The following list was recruited at Port Richmond, by David Stothers, ffrst lieutenant, afterward cai)tain of Company K, the same regiment. NortJifleld: Charles H. Jones, Jacob V. P. Long, Cornelius HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 289 Jones, sergeants; Charles J. Elms, Freeman W. Jones, corpo- rals; Charles Applebee, Wm. G. E. Decker, John R. Patter- son, Joseph Emery, William Durrua, George W. Smith, James W. Houseman, John H. Leonard. Castleton: James Ma- honey, David McConnell, George Turner. Southfield: Gilbert H. Randolph. The above were honorably discharged at the disbandment of the regiment. The following were discharged previously: Hiram C. Decker, John A. Taylor, Hyacinth Burke, Michael Valliere, Andrew P. Van Pelt, John B. Corsen, and Garrett E. Van Pelt, Northfield; William C. Dunn, Southfield, and Joseph H. Caine, Castleton, for disability; Richard C. Johnson, Nich- olas Cubberly, Vreeland Johnson, Bedell Jones, John Brinly, and Peter S. Brinly, Northtield, transferred to the navy; Henry Valliere, iSTorthfield, to be Hospital Steward; Henry B. Tibbetts, Northfield, to U. S. Signal Corps; Charles E. Smith, Castleton, to Ninety-ninth regiment N. Y. V.; Jacob Bowman, Northfield, killed at Bachelor's Creek, N. C. ; Edward V. Ford, sergeant, Northfield; Benjamin B. Kinsey, sergeant, Northlield; Abram B. Houseman, Castleton; George Davis, Northfield; James Wilson, Castleton, and Aaron Beatty, died in Andersonville prison; Jacob R. Decker, and AVilliam W. Stilwell, Northfield; Isaac B. Lewis, and James G. Woglom, Westfield, died of disease contracted in service, and James Shaunessy, Castleton, deserted. We have the following particulars in regard to the Staten Island men who were in company B, of Tompkin's regiment, which after the consolidation with the One Hundred and Fifty- sixth became company K, of that regiment. Captain Sheltou resigned at Long Island, on account of sickness. The officers then became James J. Hoyt, of Castleton, captain; Magnus Bouscher, first lieutenant, and Edward Openshaw, second lieutenant. The first and second served through the war, the third till June, 1864. First Sergeant Charles Westren, of Mid dletown, was promoted to be a captain, and remained, being now a captain in the regular army. William Seaton, of Cas- tleton, sergeant, was promoted to the rank of a captain. John J. Farrell, of Castleton, sergeant, returned from a rebel prisf)n at the close of the war, having been taken at Cedar Creek. John Peterson, private, became a first sergeant. Isaac Fullagar, Cas- tleton, corporal, served through the war; Evan Riley, Castle- 19 290 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. ton, served through tlie war; Michael Cotter, Castleton, dis charged for physical disability; William Gill, Castleton, and Cornelius Sullivan, drummer, served through the war, — were members of this company. Early in January, 1863, the supervisors passed a resolution, authorizing an additional loan of twenty thousand dollars on the bonds of the county, for the payment of bounties and re- lief, trusting to the action of the legislature to sanction the same. The bill legalizing tliis action, us well as that previously had in raising money for war purposes passed the legislature February 21, 1863. Most of the towns drew upon this fund. The town of Southfield was the onlj^ one in the county that did not, but filled its quota under the calls of July, 1862, and paid its bounties entirely by voluntary contributions. These contri- butions in that town amounted to seven thousand four hundred and sixty-two dollars. Bounties were paid to one hundred and twenty-two recruits, amounting to seven thousand three hundred and twenty dollars, and the balance was used for other pur- poses. In Northfield eighty-eight recruits received fifty dollars each, and ten dollars each additional was paid for recruiting them, making five thousand one hundred and thirty dollars paid in that town for filling these calls. In Westfield five thousand one hundred and forty dollars was expended for the same purpose. Meanwhile, the energies of the benevolent were constant in contributing to the relief and support of the fami- lies of those who had gone to the scenes of war, and to works of love and tender regard in tlie preparation of articles of ne- cessity, comfort and luxury for the soldiers in the army and in the hospitals. That some fear of opposition to the proposed draft of 1863, and to the plans of the government, was entertained thus early is shown by the following newspaper paragraph, printed in April, though what grounds there were, or to what extent they were manifest, does not appear. The opposition was not, how- ever, of sufficient magnitude to bring about any serious results: "A United States Detective paid a visit to the North Shore last week, to ascertain vvhether any anti-conscription meetings had been held in that quarter ; and, if so, to get the names of the officers and speakers, what was said and done, and who at- tended the meetings. He states that he has the names of thir- ty-three individuals who require looking after ; also that their HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 291 places of rendezvous are watched, and that the government has established a reliable telegrai^h station in the midst of them, or in other words, a spy to report their movements. The detective is said to favor grave stones as convenient places of observa- tion." The names of persons appointed to make the enrollment un- der the conscription act of 1863, which was made in June, were as follows : For Castleton, Edward Jones ; Middletown, J. J. Clute ; Northfield, Simon Haughwout ; Southfield, John Jacob- son ; Westfield, . The quota of Kichmond county in the call of 1863, was for four hundred men, who were to be taken from those enrolled between the ages of twenty and thirty-five, unless a deficiency in that class should necessitate drawing upon the class bej^ond that age. While the question of enforcing the draft was being discussed, and its execution api^eared as a probability of the near future, events developed which gave this locality a sudden and undesirable notoriety. From its proximity to New York citj^ this county could not but feel every pulsation of popular emotion that disturbed the bosom of that city, and when the celebrated draft riots of July, 1863, filled it with the horrors of an inferno it is perhaps no more than a reasonable consequence that some kindred spirit should find expression here. On the island the public mind was in a state of high fermentation. Riot was in the air, and it would seem that men hardly knew what they did. For two years the public mind here had been almost constantly wrought up to fever heat, and now the prospect of a draft being made to fill the quota of four hundred men in this county under the recent call, but few of whom were already enlisted, made a strain upon the public nerve which it was in a poor condition to bear with tranquility. For a moment the steadj' arm of patriotism seemed to falter, weakened as it had been by the drain upon it caused by the withdrawal of hundreds from the community to the field of the war. Sober counsels wavered and the influence of men of means was weak, because of the -D county. be made to seize a negro prisoner who was in the jail on a cliarge of rape, obtained a military force from the camp at New Dorp and had the jail guarded for a day or two, and then had the prisoner referred to conveyed to the Tombs in New York city. In tliis highly excited condition of the public mind a mass meeting was held at Clifton on Wednesday, the loth. This was presided over by Messrs. William Shaw, Dwight Townsend, and Mr. Fellows, and was attended by many respectable citi- zens, the bulk of the meeting being made up of the laborers at the fortifications. The Rev. Father Lewis addressed the meet- ing with conciliatory language, exhorting respect to law and assnring them that no iinjust demands would be made upon them. Speeches were also made by Messrs. Dwight Townsend, Robert Christie, Jr., and Mr. Hull, after which the following preamble and resolutions were passed : " W7iereas, In the sense of this meeting the Conscription Act sought to be enforced by the Government is oppressive and un- just in its enactments, and under present circumstances un- called for ; be it therefore " Hesolved, 1. That we call upon the Governor of the State of New York to, without delay, have the constitutionality of this Conscription Act tested before our State courts, by whose decision we pledge ourselves to abide. " 2. That in case our State Courts should decide the Con- scription to be constitutional, we will, under the $300 clause, procure a substitute for every drafted man in the town of Soutli- lield who is not able or not willing to leave his home and family. " 3. That we pledge ourselves, one and all, to support, with all our might, the Government in its great efforts to restore the Union and the full force of the Constitution in all the States ; and to uphold everywhere, byword and example, the principles of law and order." Handbills were also distributed, signed by the town officers, announcing that the draft had been stopped. This action probably averted any uprising of rioters that might have been brewing in that section of the island. But it would appear that riot was in the atmosphere and as though violence had a free license for the time. On Thursday, the 16th, two ruffians attacked John Ryan, of Cherry lane, Castleton, as he was going home from work, and brutally beat HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 295 him and robbed him of liis clothes which lie wore, leaving him only a shirt on his person. They had stolen a horse and wagon at Port Richmond, and continued their evening's riot by knock- ing another man down, smashitag a vehicle and "cleaning out" a tavern, after wliich they were secured and committed to jail. But a still move serious affray occurred at Vanderbilt land- ing on the 20th. In the early evening two or thi'ee soldiers were in a diinking saloon, when one of them fired his musket at a boy. This enraged some others who were present to such an extent that they set tipon the soldiers and beat them so badly as to leave them for dead. A train of cars came itp just then, having on board a company of soldiers, who came out and com- menced firing uj^on the crowd that had by this time collected. They no doubt took the crowd to be a mob gathering and de- termined to scatter it. In doing so their shot took effect in the body of one Charles Murphy with such force that he died shortly after. About ten men were arrested by the soldiers and taken to camp. One or l)otli of the soldiers who began the disturbance died within a few days. The county subsequently paid damages for property de- stroyed in these riots as follows, to which expense may be ad- ded about ten thousand dollars incurred in contesting several of the claims in the courts : John B. Smith, $61.00; S. I. R. R. Co., $1,336.00; J. M. Evans & Son, $222.38; Henrietta Corson, $91.50; William Wilson, $3,697.96; Sarah Cornish, $585.21; Jacob Gunsett, $215.46; Rosetta Graves, $791.97; Mary Brown, $197.95; Abraham Wilson, $352.08; Aaron Dunn, $297.18; Pat- rick Sullivan, $900.00; M. Tool, $382.50; John Lewis, $17.00; Levi Purnell, $700.98; Edward Felix, $888.94; Charles Worms- ley, $330.18; Oliver Wilson, $354.40; J. J. Galligher, $120.95; Daniel A. Lewis, $798.87; Eleanor S. Wormsley, $1,187.08; David Wormsley, $3,638.44: total, $17,207.99. On the 25th of August the supervisors passed resolutions au- thorizing the county treasurer to raise, on the bonds of the county, fifty thousand dollars to be appropriated as might be necessary in providing for those who might be drafted and were not able to pay the exemption fee of three hundred dollars, un- der the conscription act which, it was expected, would be en- forced in the First congressional district. The enrollment had been revised and corrected throughout the county preparatory to such a draft. 296 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. The draft took place at Jamaica, on Monday, August 30th, under the supervision of Provost Marshall Edwin Rose. The day passed without any disorderly demonstrations. The num- ber enrolled from this county was 2,205, which was distributed among the towns as follows: Castleton, 559 ; Southfield, 463; Northfield, 444; Westfield, 438; Middletown, 301. The number to be drawn from these was five hundred and ninety-four, which included an addition of fiftj^ per cent, to make up the deficiency which should result from exemptions. After the draft was made notices were served on the drafted men, requiring them to appear before the provost marshall at Jamaica by a certain time or be accounted as deserters. The officer whose duty it was to serve these notices, while so en- gaged in Wood road was set on by the women of the neighbor- hood, armed with brickbats and hot water, and so fierce was their onslaught that the officer fled before them Later he se- cured the assistance of a squad of men from a neighboring camj^ and completed the fulfillment of his duties. But few men were actually gained for the service by this draft, the majority of those who were held paying the commutation fee of three hundred dollars. The supervisors meantime raised the proposed loan for this purpose from fifty thousand dollars, as it had been fixed by their vote of August 25, to seventy-five thousand dol- lars. This action was approved by resolutions passed at a mass meeting of the citizens and tax-payers of the county held at the pagoda at Clifton park on the 19th of September. The bonds issued for this purpose were disposed of in a very few days. The five hundred and ninety four drafted men were ac- counted for October 14th, in the following manner: Seventy-four were aliens ; ten furnished substitutes ; ninety-four were exempt for physical disability ; one hundred and three were exempt for other causes ; one hundred and sixty-two commuted, and one hundred and fifty-one failed to report. Under (he call of the president for three hundred thousand men made in October, 1863, which was to be filled by January 5, 1864, the quota from each town of this county was: Castleton, seventy-seven ; Southfield, sixty-five ; Northfield, sixtj^-two : Westfield, sixty-two ; Middletown, forty-two. Two months passed seeing but little done toward meeting it. A mass meeting was called by the supervisors, which convened at the court house on the 19th of December, to give popular ex- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 297 pression to the means to be adopted to meet the call. Resolu- tions were passed calling on the supervisors to raise one hundred and twenty thousand dollars, or as much of that sum as might be necessary, and to pay to each volunteer, drafted man or substi- tute, counting in the quota, four hundred dollars, and to open a recruiting office in each town and to appoint suitable persons to attend to the same. About the 1st of January, 1S64, re- enlistments were taking place in the field, and these were allowed to count to the credit of localities as though they had taken place at home, when so specified and arranged. By this and other means the supervisors were able to fill the quota and so avoid a draft. The quota was completed early In March. We may remark in passing, that the early months of 1864, witnessed an unusual degree of activity in business on the north shore of the island. Real estate seemed unusually active there and also on other parts of the island, especiallj' on the western shore. Another call for troops was made in March, 1864. To provide for it the supervisors met on the 18th and determined to con- tract with some responsible party to fill the quota of one hun- dred men which belonged to this county to furnish. They published an advertisement on the following day inviting par- ties wishing to contract for filling the quota to present themselves with their sureties at a meeting appointed for the 22d instant. A draft was ordered for April 15tli, if the quota was not other- wise filled before that time. The supervisors on the 11th preceding, offered three hundred and fifty dollars each for men — two hundred dollars of which was to be paid to the recruit, and one hundred and fifty dollars to the party who should pro- cure him. The quota was filled during April. A new enrollment of persons liable to do military duty was ordered in May, and the work of enrolling began about the 1st of June. The names of all who could prove causes of exemp- tion were stricken off, and those who had been omitted or had since come within the range of age or residence were added. In July a call was made for 500,000 more. To arrange for filling the quota under this a mass meeting was held at Clifton Park on the 26th, when resolutions were passed placing the entire business of raising money and filling the quota in the hands of the supervisors and calling upon them to exercise 298 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. those duties. On August Stli the committee which had been appointed to solicit subscriptions to a loan reported to the supervisors that they had secured 875,000. Under this call the quotas for this county were: Middletown, 123; Southiield, 70; Westfield, 77; Castleton, 154; Northfield, 119; making a total of 543. The supervisors, on the 22d of August, resolved to establish a recruiting office on the island, and offered s200 for each recruit and $200 additional to the agent or broker procuring him, or 8400 to every man liable to draft who should secure a substitute to be credited to the county. Camp Wasli- ington, just outside the quarantine walls, was designated as the recruiting depot. For 8600 deposited with the supervisors by any citizen liable to draft, before September 5th, they would un- dertake to procure a substitute for him, such substitutes to be supplied in the order in which api^lications and deposits were made. The prices mentioned were not sufficient to procure the needed recruits. The price advanced until 8700 apieue was paid for them. Then about the latter part of September the quota was still one hundred and eighty men short, and the county had no ready money with which to pay for more. Arrangements were effected, however, by which the county bonds were exchanged for men, and the quota was filled, though a form of drafting was begun on the 3d of October. About this time large sums of money were made speculating in recruits. Human flesh was bought and sold like cattle in the shambles. Fresh emigrants from foreign countries and others, whom circumstances in various ways had brought to this step, were seized and controlled by brokers who understood the means of holding them, and offered in the market where they would command the highest price. The poor victims them- selves received perhaps a paltry hundred dollars, more or less, while the greater part of the money paid by the people went into the pockets of brokers, officials and others who had the manipulating of the business. Enormous sums of money were raised on corporate obligations and appropriated with a reck- lessness that would have been appalling at any other time than under the exigency of the hour. Charges of complicity with the brokers and sharing in the spoils were often made by popular gossip against the servants of the people. It was impossible at the time and is still more so at this late day to reach the facts which would decide in every case whether those HISTORY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. 299 charges were true or false. Whilst the meagre and often im- perfect records which boards of supervisors and other officials left sometimes give reasonable ground for suspicion that crooked work was being carried on behind the scenes, it is doubtless true that many an honest man, whose actions were prompted by patriotic and unselfish motives, has been made the object of unjust imputations in connection with this busi- ness. These remarks are founded on observations made in tiie history of different counties. They apply to Richmond as well as to many others. A revision of the enrollment was made in December, 1864, under the direction of an enrolling board in each town, which was composed of the supervisor, town clerk and one inspector of election. A mass meeting was held at the court house, January 6, 1865, to provide for raising the quota under the call of December 19th, for 300,000 men. The supervisors were instructed to fill the quota and raise the money necessary on the credit of the county. They later resolved to raise two hundred men. Fre- quent meetings were held by the board, but the work of filling the quota progressed slowlj'. A draft finally took place on the 25th of February, at which four hundred and forty-six names were drawn. Previous to the drawing the supervisors, Feb- ruary 18th, offered bounties of i?300 for one year's men, $400 for two years' men, §600 for three years' men and $100 additional "hand money" to the person presenting the recruit, or the same additional sum to the recruit presenting himself. The same bounties, but not the " hand-money," were offered to men liable to draft who should secure substitutes before the draft. The drafted men were not required to report as long as enlistments were active. Great dissatisfaction arose during the latter part of 1864 and the early part of 1865 in regard to the management of the county finances. It was charged that the supervi-sors and officials acting under their authority were using more money in procur- ing recruits than was necessary, and intimations were even pro- mulgated that those officials were using their positions to en- rich themselves by sharing with the brokers the enormous commissions that were allowed for procuring recruits. Whether much or little foundation existed for this dissatis- faction, it arose to such a pitch that public meetings were held 300 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUKTY. in some of the towns to discuss measures for the pi'otection of the tax-payers against the wanton increase of their burdens. The debt of the county at the beginning of 1865 had reached an amount exceeding $700,000. Such a meeting was lield at Giesser's hotel, Middletown, on the first of February, at which resolutions were passed declaring that in the opinion of the majority of the citizens of the town there was great misman- agement in town and county offices, owing to a lack of capacity and economy in public matters, resulting in enormous taxation for which the citizens received no due return; that a new, in- telligent and economical administration of affairs must be inau- gurated; that to accomplish this end they would lay aside party considerations and put forth their utmost exertions to elect such men as by public consent were without suspicion or reproach; and to appoint a committee to aid in bringing before the state legislature the petition of the people of the county for a thorough investigation of the accounts of the supervisors. A similar meeting was held at Fireman's hall, Port Richmond, on the 8th inst., at which similar resolutions were passed. The result of this agitation was the election of a board of supervisors, nearly all of whom were new members, and men in whom the people had full confidence as to their ability and disposition to dischai'ge the responsible duties of their office in a conscientious and creditable manner. Still however, a change in the board of supervisors did not remedy all the evils which annoyed the people. Abuses existed in the management of the i-ecruiting office, as the following paragraph from the " Ga- zelte,'''' at the time will illustrate. " A Swindling shop. — The recruiting office at Nautilus Hall, Tompkinsville, Staten Island. The majority of the persons brought to this place, or going there voluntarily are swindled out of a large part of the bounties they receive from the Count}', and the harpies who make part and parcel of the machine operated there, fill their pockets with the plunder. These facts we have from the most credible witnesses, from whom we can obtain dates, names, amounts and particulars of trans- actions, if necessary. The iniquities have become known to the Sui:)ervisors, and they have made strong efforts to prevent their continuance, but in spite of all their labor and remon- strances, there is but too much reason to know that they have HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 301 continued with unabated force, although possibly disguised to some extent." By the end of March, ISGii, the quota under the last call was filled, to the number of about two hundred and eighty- eight men. The surroundings of the recruiting station, and the management of that work, as well as the labors of the board of supervisors to reform its unrighteous practices, are graphically pictured in the following language by a local paper at the time. "Col. Barrett, Supervisor of Castleton, and Hon. Thomas Child, of Northfield, visited the recruiting station almost daily and remained several hours. The attention they gave to the matter and the vigilance they exercised considerably facilitated the operations, although we understand that many men were fleeced of their money almost under their very eyes, and they were quite unable to prevent it in consequence of want of power over the physician and the mustering officer in charge. * * * "A sight of the cormorants, vultures, haipies, blacklegs, loafers and swindlers who have held high carnival in and about the recruiting station ever since there were men to be gulled and robbed, and tricks to be played, would have disgusted any one but his infernal majesty himself. Nor were these vile char- acters all imported, but some of our own citizens, slyly at first, and then more openly, indulged in similar practices, and to their lasting shame be it said, greedily grasped at and got a share of the spoils. Men of mature years, men of respectability as the world defines the term, came to look upon an association with the lowest grade of society, and the reception of a hand- ful of bank notes from unfortunate wretches whose families at that moment lacked bread, as a thing quite unobjectionable! As there is now nothing left to pick but the bones, we trust the creatures will disperse, and that such a crew will never assem- ble again on this side of Tophet." The various sums authorized to be raised on bonds of the county for the purposes of the war at different times were as follows, the dates given indicating when the resolutions were passed by the board of supervisors : Aug. 22, 1862, for relief of volunteers' families $20,000 Dec. 16, " " " " " 20,000 Aug. 25, 1863, for relief of drafted men 50,000 Sept. 9, " " " " 25,000 302 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Dec. 29, 1863, to obtain volunteers 125,000 Feb. 13, 1864. " " 180,000 July 28, " bounties for volunteers 25o,000 Jan. 28, 1865, for filling the quota 75,000 Feb. 16, " " " 75,000 Feb. 25, " " " 75,000 Total amount $895,000 Not only in the disbursement of funds for the relief of its citizens and the support of dependent families of volunteers, but in supplying the strong arm of her native citizens to fight the battles of their country, Staten Island bore her full propor- tion of the burdens of the war. Material was furnished to forty- five regiments of infantry, six regiments of artillery, and four of cavalry, besides some to the contingents of other states. The island was more especially represented in the Empire brigade, where it had nearly two companies ; in the Excelsior brigade of the armj^ of the Potomac ; in the Eighty-second, One hun- dred and Thirty-third, One hundred and Fifty-sixth and One hundred and Seventy-fifth New York infantry ; in Serrell's famous Engineer regiment in the far West ; in the old Seventy- ninth "Highlanders"; in the "Mounted Rifles"; in the Fourth artillery ; and in the Fifth, Sixth, Ninth, and Fifty- third "Zouaves." According to careful estimates more than eight hundred men joined the army from this county. Of this number, who left their homes full of health and vigor, it is esti- mated that about one hundred and eighty fell on the field or died of sickness or wounds in our camps. Nearly forty were brought back here to be buried among their kindred. The Seventy-ninth Highlanders, N. Y. S M., left New York for Washington on Sunday, June 2,1861, having, in one company connected with it, the following men from Staten Island : John W. Morse, Herman C. Buecke, Walter N. Brown, Theodore Hall, George H. McCready, William White, J. J. Thaxter, A. Miranda, Rheinhart Snyder, Richard Wall, James Bancker, Edward Bancker, John Conghic, David Wilkins, Benjamin Wilkins. Daniel Beatty, William B. Lusch, William Simon- son, Edward Barker, James Breen, Edward Brice, Michael Kirkman, Robert Kelly, Patrick Carlin, Bernard Scanlon, Thomas McAdams, George Howarth, David Howarth, Eugene Burke, John Johnson, James Colgan, William HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTV. 303 Ross, John Racey, John Breen, David Sands, Peter Tushingham, William Smith, J. Smith, Richard Barrett, Charles Wilhelm, Charles Piratzki, Philip Daly. During the war the island was made a rendezvous for bring- ing together different parts of organizations preparatory to mov- ing forward to the seat of war. A large number of regiments were encamped here for longer or shorter periods, while awaiting more perfect organization or drill, or more definite orders for moving. No complete record of these can be given, bat we have, at considerable pains, gathered fragments from which we are able to give the list of camps and manj' of the organizations that occcupied them, with some indication of the dates when they were so occupied, and occasionally some other information in regard to them. This information we condense in the fol- lowing paragraphs : Camp Washington was located at the quarantine grounds, partly inside and partly outside the walled enclosure. Bar- racks were erected on the outside. Here were Wilson's Zouaves, May and June, 1861 ; Serrell's regiment of artizans and en- gineers, August and September, 1861 ; Yates' Rities, August, 1861 ; the Empire Zouaves, August, 1861 ; German Rangers, September, 1861 ; Siegel Rifles, September, 1861 ; Swain's Cav- alry, Mai'ch, 1862 ; Colonel Tompkins' Regiment, September, 1862, whence it was moved to barracks erected for it on land of Colonel Barrett at Factoryville ; Second Duryea's Zouaves, Oc- tober, 1862 ; inside the walls were Allen's Regiment, May, 1861; Colonel Bartlett's Naval Brigade, May, 1861 ; Third Irish Vol- unteers, August, 1861 ; Union Rities, September, 1861 ; Scott's Nine Hundred (Eleventh N. Y. Cavalry), March, 1862 ; Eighty- first N. Y., March, 1862 ; First National (Monitors), August and September, 1862. Camp Arthur was located near the quarantine grounds. It was established in June, 1861 ; the British Volunteers and Mc- Clellan Rifles were here in August, 1861 ; and the Lancers in September, 1861. A camp was made on the Dr. Smith farm at Old Town in May, 1861. This farm presented a level sward of about one hundred acres, giving a fine jjarade ground. The old stone house was occupied by the officers. Camp Vanderbilt was near New Dorp. Here the Washington Zouaves were encamped in September, 1861. o 304 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Camp Yates was at New Dorp. Here were the Seventh regi- ment and the Thirty-second cavalry in May, 1861. While the latter regiment was here the ladies of Staten Island presented it with a flag. The presentation was made with appropriate ceremonies on June 5th. About seventy-flve ladies were present. Dr. Ephraim Clark made the presentation with a very happy little speech, which was responded to by Mr. Matthewson, the officer in command. The flag was then raised on its staff, amid the cheers of the assembled multitude. Camp Lafayette was at New Dorp. It was occupied by the Garde Lafayette (Fifty-fifth) in August and September, 18G1 ; and by the Warren Rifles in March. 1862. Camp Leslie, at Clifton Park, was neai' Fort Tompkins. Here were Col. Cone's Clinton Guard, August, 1861; and the D'Epeneuil Zouaves (Fifty third regiment), September, 1861. Camp McClellan was on land of Samuel Burger, near Fac- toryville, on land lying between the Shore road and Castleton avenue. A high, board fence was built around it, and a guard house and other buildings were erected. The McClellan rifles were here Sejitember to November, 1861. Their departure for the front, on the twenty-second, was, according to a local paper, "to the great joy of those who resided in the vicinity of the camp. They burned four hundred feet of Mr. Edward Be- ment's fence, had a great liking for chickens, and some of them were not averse to anything that hands could carry off." Camp Herndon was located at Stapleton flats, and here the Ira Harris cavalry was encamped in August and September, 1861. Camp Morrison was on A. Ward's land, at the base of Pa- vilion hill. It was occupied by the Cameron light infantry in August, 1861. Camp Low, at Elm Park, after being occupied a few weeks by the Morgan artillery, was broken up about the middle of No- vember, 1861. Of their departure it was said : "'Such a scene as ensued on Wednesday night and the suc- ceeding morning baffles descrii:>tion. Suffice it to say that in the afternoon, when preparations were being made for the de- IJarture of a portion of the regiment, a large number of men were found with their eyes in mourning, holes in their heads, bloody noses, palsied legs and tongues, torn clothes, and in a dilapidated condition generally. There were, of course, many honorable exceptions to this rule. Companies A to H left the HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. • 305 camp and took their way to tlie shore, and were received on board of the steamboat Atlas, and thence transferred to the cars. Quite a number of men were missing. Those whose legs refused to support them were carried down in carts ; such as had only a small brick in their hats managed to get along pretty well with a comrade supporting them on either side. While waiting at the wharf the soldiers indulged in cheering." Camp Ward was at Port Richmond. It was occupied by Colonel Doubleday's regiment while forming from November, 1861, to February 10, 1862. Camp Scott, one of the most notable camps of the period, was atStapleton. Here were the Excelsior Brigade, May, 1861; Ira Harris Guards, September. 1861 ; Second Ira Harris Cavalry (Sixth N. Y.), December, 1861 ; and Corcoran' s Irish Legion, September to November, 1862. While it was occupied by the Excelsior Brigade it was under the command of Col Don. Wil- liamson. In order to preserve the peace and security of the neighboring inhabitants an order given by General Sickles was promulgated throughout the camp on the 30th of May, requiring field officers to be present with their regiments in camp, forbid- ding officers or privates leaving camp without the permission of specified officers and in accordance with certain restrictions, requiring a regular system of drill, directing the severe jiunish- ment of trespassing on or interference with the property or per- sons of citizens, forbidding the sale of intoxicating liquors in or about the encampment, and calling upon the local authori- ties to withhold licenses from taverns in the neighborhood. By the enforcement of these orders and improved discipline, the annoyances of drunken and marauding bands of men from the encampments were in a measure obviated. A picket was placed at the door of every open liquor saloon in the neighborhood to prevent the men from the camp getting liquor. The following description of the camp was given in June, 1861 : " Camp Scott wears a beautiful and jjicturesque appearance. Across the broad plateau selected for the encampment, large numbers of white tents gleam in the sunshine. Among them are broad streets and avenues, and with their four thousand ten- ants the place seems the site of some bustling city sprung into existence in a night. Stricter discipline prevails than in most of the camps we have seen. Around the edge, but in no in- ■ stance inside of the lines, men and women with apples, candies, 30 306 IIISTORV OF RICHMOND COUNTY. oranges, nuts and various tempting articles, ply their trade, and do a good business. On Sunday afternoon, in the e.xpec- tation of seeing a full dress parade, great numbers of visitors were upon the ground. Carriages, carts, and jaunting cars of all sorts and sizes ; men, women, children and babies of all kinds and degrees were there." The condition of this camp and its surroundings in the latter part of 1861 are set forth in tlie published diary of an army surgeon (Thomas I. Ellis, M. D.) who had medical supervision over it for a while, and wlio writes as follows . "The wooden building used as a guard house I found one of the most wretched and filthy holes imaginable ; the roof leaky, the boarded Hoors had been torn up and used for kindling wood by the prisoners confined in it, and all those who for weeks had been locked up there had accumulated a heap of filth, composed of the rejected food and offal of every kind, which sent forth an intolerable and unhealthy stench. I at once determined on the removal of the prisoners to better quar- ters, and on examining the dozen or more unfortunates, ordered four to the hospital, and recommended to tlie commandant of the post, who accompanied me, the discharge of four others. The remainder being deserters, confined under written charges preferred against them, who, at great trouble and expense, had been brought back from Boston, he had no authority or desire to liberate. To obtain a suitable building to use for a guard house was a matter of no small difficulty, there being but three others near the camp : one, the hospital, I had nearly full of patients; another, the post sutler's establishment, was too large, and was indispensable to the camp, as most of the officers' and all the hospital food was cooked in it. I found, however, a smaller wooden building which belonged to the former sutler of the Sickles Brigade and recommended the command ant of the post to take possession of it and make the necessary changes to adapt it for use as a guard house. "Having niade these arrangements, and having had the hospi- tal building repaired and heated with large stoves, and the bed- ding properly cared for, I was able to control the epidemic then raging ; and, before two weeks had expired, the sick report de- creased from one hundred and six to sixty-four. There was still another fruitful source of disorder and disease, which, though not in the camp, exercised a wonderful and pernicious HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 307 influence on the men. On the roadside whicli led to the steam- boat landing, and within an eighth of a mile, there stood a frame cottage in which the vilest liquor was sold, and from whence it was daily smuggled into camp, causing drunkenness with all its attendant ill consequences, and sickness from ex- posure, as the men, on getting intoxicated, would I'amble off into the adjoining woods, and there lie down on the damp ground, certain to awake in the morning with a violent cold or the prevalent sore throat ; besides these ill effects the officers found this place a source of great annoyance, and I was not at all grieved on passing the place one day where this rum-mill had stood, to find it torn down. On inquiry, I learned that the evening previous a fight occurred between the keeper of the place and some of the soldiers, who, maddened with the vile stuff drank on the premises, proceeded to blows, and in the vielee which followed, the cottage was entirely gutted, and then levelled to the ground. Several of the men who participated in this affair were, I found, on my daily visit to the guard house, doing penance for it ; but, as a few days showed that the removal of the groggery was a blessing to the camp, they were let off with a lighter punishment than would otherwise have been their lot. [This groggery was familiarly known as "The Canteen."] ''The isolated position of the camp was one of its strongest recommendations, and went far in influencing the selection, in spite of the soft, muddy nature of the ground, and the difficulty in guarding it against desertion by the men, and thieving by the Staten Islanders— a nest of whom from Rocky Hollow made nightly visits, and generally succeeded in carrying off some booty. One night it would be a government saddle ; another, a sack of oats, or even a horse ; the aggregate loss to the govern- ment, by these depredations, was considerable, nor could the utmost vigilance of the officers prevent it." Late in December, 1861, Camp Scott was vacated, and it was not again occupied until the Corcoran Legion occupied it in the summer of 1862. They remained until the early part of Novem- ber, and when they left, the following article was printed in a local paper, giving us a glimpse of the estimation in which they were held by the community in whose neighborhood they had been encamped. "The Corcoran Legion has departed, and who is sorry * Not 308 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. the farmer whose hen roosts were robbed and whose fences were carried away for camp fires — not the peaceable citizen who fonnd his safest place to be within his own house after night- fall, nor his wife and daughters who were insulted in broad daj^ and jeered at with foulest language by tlie ruffian soldiery — not the public officers of the county whose writs were disobeyed and who dare not arrest a man of their number unless they run the risk of having daylight let through their unfortunate bodies by bayonet thrusts — not the city police who were paid for re- turning deserters by a volley of stones at their heads, and con- sidered themselves lucky in escaping with whole bones. We trust that the quiet of Camp Scott may never again be disturbed, and night made hideoiis by such a collection of barbarians as the Corcoran Legion for the most part were. There were good men among them, but they were rare. Should we relate all the well authenticated tales of horrible things connected with this camp from its organization to its breaking up we would scarce be believed. " Men have been kidnapped and taken to the camp and made to serve against their will — their calls for help wasted upon the wind, and the efforts of their friends for their release found to be useless. Young boys and others, many of them sickly and unfit for duty, have been seduced by the wiles of the recruiting officers from homes where they were tenderly reared and where affectionate parents, when they learned their loss, mourned their children as dead. Some rushed to the courts and judges for aid for relatives and friends, only to learn with dismay that even the ragged sentries who guarded the camjj were more pow- erful than the learned judge upon the bench, and that the colonels and captains defied the process of the courts and cursed all who interfered with military rule. " A gentleman informed us last week that he saw one of the officers strike an unoffending drummer boy in the face with his sword, cutting him through the cheek to the bone, and break- ing loose several teeth, so that the boy spit them out of his mouth with the blood! The boy was at a distance from an affray which was taking place, and neither spoke nor acted with regard to it, and the blow could only have been caused by the desire of the officer to vent his brutality upon some one, it mat- tered not whom." Camp Decker was the camping ground of the Second regi- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 309 ment of Fire Zouaves in August, 1861; and of the Governor's Guard in September, 1861. At Tompkinsville were also en- camped the Second light artillery in December, 1861; and the Seventy-eighth regiment in March, 1862. At New Dorp the Thirteenth Brooklyn regiment was encamped in September, 1861; the Stanton Legion, July to September, 1862; the One Hundred and Sixty-ninth N. Y., October, 1863; and the One Hundred and Fifty-ninth, November, 1862. Camj) Sprague was located at New Dorp. The following de- scription of it by a visitor in May, 1863, will be interesting to many: "It consists of a row of barracks upon three sides of an ex- tensive field, capable, it is said, of accommodating ten thousand men. On the fourth side it is protected by a high board fence, through which is the entrance to the camp. This fence is erected not so much to keep outsiders from going in as to pre- vent insiders from coming out; and though easily' scaled from the outside, presents an insurmountable barrier to the poor skedaddler within. After considerable parleying at the gate, and a severe sci'Utiny of our countenance, and the summoning of the officer of the guard, and the officer of the day, until we were thoroughly impi'essed with our utter insignificance, we were finally admitted, but having entered, we were at liberty to go whither the spirit moved us. " The camp is under the command of Colonel Lansing, but under the immediate charge of Lieutenant Colonel LcBve, a very plea.sant and gentlemanly officer, with considerable do7i hom- mie expressed in his countenance. His headquarters are very tastefully decorated in front with grass plats and flower beds, and pleasantly shaded by three or four pear trees in full bloom. "We next visited the hospital, which is under the charge of Dr. Ephraim Clark, of our island, who was recently appointed to the post by General Wool. We are informed that when the Doctor first took charge of the hospital, nothing could exceed the filthy and comfortless condition of the place— now It is a model of neatness and comfort, with a complete assortment of medical stores and surgical instruments. The ladies of the neighborhood, whose sympathies he has enlisted in behalf of the camp, have kindly presented the Doctor with jellies and domestic wines for the use of the sick. There are but few con- 310 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. fined in the hospital at present. We noticed one poor fellow suffering from a pistol shot wound in the arm received some time since while insubordinate. He showed us the ball, which was completely flattened in its passage through the bone. "From the hospital we visited the gardens in front of the men's barracks, which we had heard highly spoken of. Thej' certainly exhibited a great deal of taste and skill, and would do credit to any landscape gardener. Here was a beautiful Union shield blooming in green sod and moss, with the word ' Liberty ' engraven in evergreen upon it — there an Emerald Harp from the Emerald Isle, in a soft bed of white sand — and beside it a full spread eagle with a shield on his breast, and a streamer with the motto '■ E Pluribus Unuvi.' A little further on, a mortar of sod mounted on a little bank threatened hourly destruction to a little band of flowers who were endeavoring to scale the bank and take possession. Still further on, the en- gineers had erected beautiful models in sod of rifle pits and earthworks, like Lilliputian forts. There were many other pretty designs, and the lettering in all cases was particularly well done. In the center of this camp ground a large flag staff is about being erected, which will add greatly to the beauty of the camp. " There are about eleven hundred men at present in camp, although we believe the roll calls for over fourteen hundred. There are regiments and parts of regiments among them — the ' Seymour Cavalry,' ' Les Enfants Perdus ' or ' Lost Children' (a French Regiment), and a corps of engineers. There are, we are informed, representatives from almost every European na- tion — English, Irish, French, Sjianish, Italian, German, Swede, Dane, Russian and even John Chinaman. It is quite a little Avorld in itself, and one is forcibly reminded in visiting it, of the confusion of tongues at the Tower of Babel. " The Rev. Dr. Irving, we understand, is laboring earnestly among them, and has already effected much good. Bibles and tracts in different languages have already been largely circu- lated among them." A serious riot took place at this camp on the 13th of May, 1863, which resulted in the death of one soldier and the wound- ing of two others. Some of the troops quartered here had been in camp for several months without receiving any of the bounty money which was due them. This fact had given rise to great HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 311 discontent on the part of those who had been thus slighted. Desertions from camp were taking place every night, so that the ranks were tilling up very slowly. On the morning of the day above referred to groups of men could be seen collecting in different pai"ts of the parade ground discussing with vehemence and indignation the subject of their complaint and declaiming bitterly against the deception which had been practiced upon them. In vain did several officers try to appease their wrath with the oft repeated story that their grievances would shortly be adjusted. They determined to take matters into their own hands, and leave the camp. Accordingly, about noon the Burnside Rifles armed them- selves with clubs, axes and stones, and headed by two drum- mers, marched defiantly toward the main entrance of the camp. Here, however, they were met bj^ Colonel Loeve, who had been informed of the threatened movement and had provided a strong guard of picked men for the emergency. Upon being ordered by the colonel to return to their quarters, the men set up a yell of defiance, one of them hurling a large stone which struck the colonel a violent blow on the side. As soon as he recovered from the shock he sprang into the midst of the mob and ar- rested the man who threw the stone; the others, being cowed by his resolute action, offered meanwhile no i-esistance. The mutineers now turned in another direction. Marching directly to the south side of the barracks they determined to cut their way out. and about twenty-eight men actually suc- ceeded in doing so before their progress could be stopped. The " Enfants Perdus" were marched to the scene of action and ordered to fire upon them, which they did, resulting in the death of one man and the supposed mortally wounding of an- other. The twenty-eight who had escaped were subsequently captured by a revenue cutter while attempting to cross over to Jersey in a boat which they had taken for the purpose. They were subsequently conveyed to Governor's island, where they were put in irons. In the course of the day a demonstration was made against the sutler's department, but was put down without much trouble. About ten o'clock in the evening flames were seen is- suing from the stables adjoining the hospital department. The energy of the officers and men succeeded in saving some valu- able horses that were in these buildings, and also, by great ex- 312 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. ertions, the hospital itself, which was at one time seriously en- daugered. The patrol guard was strengthened, and this effectually prevented any making their escape amid the confu- sion consequent upon the fire. Squads of soldiers were detailed that afternoon to go to the different ferries and look out for any deserters who might at- tempt to leave the island by the ferry-boats. One of the guard at Stapleton landing, named Spellissy, while attending to this duty, attempted to arrest two young men whom he took to be deserters, but who claimed to have been honorably discharged from the service. In the scuffle which ensiled one Donahue, a by-stander, came to the assistance of the young men, and after a hand to hand encounter with Spellissy broke from him and lan away, when the latter fired upon him, the ball making a wound in the thigh of Donahue, and also striking the knee of a little child in its X'assage. Spellissy was arrested, and barely escaping being lynched at the hands of the incensed populace, was confined in Richmond jail. It would appear to be the fact that some grounds of complaint existed with the men, owing to their treatment and their fare. One who had inquired into the subject somewhat wrote: "All through the winter complaints have come to us from soldiers quar- tered at New Dorp and Tompkinsville that their bounties have been withheld ; and for a long time, at the latter camp ground, miserable fare has been loudly talked of, and on more than one occasion the men have demolished the cook-house where, they insisted, decayed food had been prepared for them. I have con- versed with a large number of these men, and discovered that they were not of the commoner sort, being very intelligent, and many of them sons of thrifty farmers in the northern and west- ern sections of this state ; consequently tliey know what decent treatment is, and felt that they had a right to expect it at the hands of the government or its officers. Hundreds of them have 'skedaddled' in disgust, and doubtless have borne to the ears of the community to which they belong, dismal tidings of the state of affairs in Uncle Samuel's camp, and pictured in their mental vision scenes to which tJiey are likely to remain strangers, at least as far as they are able." A small number of skeleton organizations, or parts of organi- zations, were brought together here and consolidated in June, 1863. Among these remnants were the "'Tompkins,"' ''H. HISTORY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. 313 Seymour" and "Davis" cavalry, the "Blair Rifles," " Sey mour Light Infantry," "Defenders," " Burnside Rifles, "Pratt Guard," and the " Westchester Light Infantry." General McClellan was j) resent at a grand review which took place at this camp September 8, 1863. There were about three thousand five hundred men in the various commands then or- ganizing here, and the occasion called out about eight thousand spectators. The affair was said to be one of the most brilliant military demonstrations ever witnessed on the island. General McClellan having taken a position, the troops marched in re- view before him, the following regiments taking part and mov- ing in the order named : Eleventh N. Y., Thirty-first, Duryea's Zouaves, Thirty-fourth, Ninth, Twelfth cavalry. Coming's Eighteenth light cavalry. Twenty-first cavalry (dismounted), Seventeenth, Thirteenth and some other regiments. After the column had passed the general addressed the soldiers, many of whom had been in the service with liim, in the following lan- guage : " My CoiiRADES— I am glad and sad and proud to meet you again. (Loud cheers). I am glad because we are all glad to meet old comrades and brothers in arms. (Renewed cheering). lam sad because I am reminded in seeing you, of your brethren slain on our fields of battle. I remember, too, our last fight, opposite Warrentown. I am proud because I call to mind all our battles from Yorktown to Antietam. I am proud because you who are here are some of the old Array of the Potomac, on which I have looked with pride, and ever shall. (Tremendous cheering). When you return to your comrades say to them that their old commander has continued to watch their every battle with as much interest, feeling and pride as when with you, and that he will ever do so. (Cheers). I am also glad to know that so manj^ of you are returning to the service. I thank you, comrades, for the kind welcome you have given me. I will not say good-bye again. We have said that once before, and I trust never to repeat it." Early in November, 1863, four or five hundred men remaining, discontent arose and insubordination was manifest. This culmi- nated on the night of the 4th in the burning of the barracks. At about one o'clock of the following morning fire was dis- covered on the east side of the camp. The alarm was given by the firing of howitzers, and several apparatus companies came 314 IIISTOKY OF RICHMONI) COUNTY. to the scene, Excelsior Bucket Company No. 1, Protection Hose, of Stapleton, and Neptune Hose, of Tompkinsville, being the first to arrive. The flames were extinguished, but not until all the eastern side and about one hundred feet of the northern side of the camp were destroyed. Unusual vigilance was exer- cised on the following night, but flames again appeared at about the same hour of the night, and before any available assistance could reach the spot the remaining part of the structure was burned to the ground. A few days later a jDlot was ex- posed by one of the men implicated in it, which had been planned for the purpose of burning the hospital which was filled with sick men. The man who exposed the plot had not the hardened heart to allow him to carry out the scheme of crime that he had engaged in, and he named the ringleaders, who were arrested and put in irons. On the following day General Canby ordered all the men except about forty cavalry to be removed to Governor's island. The camp was now de- serted except by the few men who remained to guard its ruins. When the encampments of soldiers were first made on the island considerable alarm was felt for the safety of the inhabi- tants and the security of their projierty against the molestation of the troops. A police force was talked of and steps toward a regular organization, to be employed and paid by the public funds, were taken. There wei'e dift'erences of opinion, some believing that such a force was necessary and others arguing that it would be a needless expense, and that the camp regulations would be sufficient to protect the people against any serious damage or molestation. A line of sentries was stationed by the commandant of Camp Scott as far as Vanderbilt landing, about two miles from the camp. Thus, as we have seen, now and heretofore in this article, the most vigilant effort was in many cases made to protect the people from the annoyances of the encamped army. But this could be but imperfectly done. The local and government authorities sometimes came into conflict, when soldiers who had been arrested and imprisoned for offenses against the civil law, were demanded by the officers of the military organizations to which they belonged to move with the organization to the seat of war. In this way many a guilty criminal escaped pun- ishment. This emboldened others to be more reckless in their HISTORY OF KICIIMOND COUNTY. 315 offensive conduct, especially when it was known that their regiments were to move forward before a trial in the civil courts would be had. One of the frequent manifestations of lawlessness was seen in the work of the incendiary torch. The frequency of tires in 18(52 is thus referred to in a paragraph in a local papei- at the time: " Fire Number 26. — Notwithstanding the general desire to efface party lines there is still a party on the North Shore which keeps up its organization and performs its labors with much diligence. We allude to the barnburners. These nota- ble individuals enjoyed themselves for the twenty-sixth time on Sunday morning, at half-past three o'clock (the usual hour for such fun), by setting tire to the barn of Mr. Henry Cornell on the Mill Road, Castleton. It was burned to the ground — loss about $300. The inhabitants all get awake in time to see the tire, but the incendiaries are generally supposed to be in- visible. " Many of the people are said to be so used to the alarm of fire that when they discover it is not their barn they go to bed again." Incendiary fires, burglaries, thefts, assaults, and drunken tights were of daily occurrence during much of the time. The expenses of the county for the services of constables and patrol- men for the year 1862 was eight thousand six hundred and forty-five dollars and twenty one cents. About two thousand six hundred arrests for criminal offenses were made during the year. The bills of the justices of the peace for acting on these cases amounted to five thousand two hundred and twenty-three dollars and seventy-one cents ; making an aggregate of thirteen thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight dollars and ninety-two cents paid for preserving the public peace, which after all was continually in a precarious condition. The summer of 1865 was notable for the frequency of assaults, robberies and other examples of ruffianism. Many of the per- petrators of outrages of this character upon the peaceable citizens, which occurred almost daily, were returned soldiers, who had been schooled amid scenes of war, and being without any principle of honor, were ready to practice theft and violence upon unprotected citizens in a land of peace. The island was overcome by a tide of ruffianism and crime that rendered life 316 HISTOKY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. and property here decidedly unsafe. It was a publicly admitted fact that crime was enormously on the increase. Highway rob- beries, house breakings, violent assaults and batteries, riots and other heinous offenses, almost without number, were committed. Any attempt to give a detailed list of specific instances would be a sickening task. Many arrests were made and the guilty parties were imprisoned in the county jaiL But even here their bold defiance of law manifested itself in threats of using the political influence which some of them claimed to have to de- feat at the ballot box the public officials who should dare to bring them to j^unishment. Despite such threats, however, the grand jury at the next court of sessions, in September, found indictments against thirty-eight prisoners, nineteen of which were for assault and battery, four for burglary, two for assault with intent to kill, and the remainder for various crimes. But the period of war is closed. Let us be done with the lawlessness, the riots, the contentions, the destruction of prop- erty, the ill feelings, the excitements, the sorrowings and all the train of skeleton forms that attend on a time of war. And how mean a recompense is the blare of martial music, the graceful evolutions of military parade, the glitter of dazzling uniforms and equipments or the gallant carriage of a command- ing liero on the field ! Let us pray kind Heaven that this fair island may not again be desecrated by the presence of an en- camped soldiery preparing themselves for scenes of carnage and destruction. From the scenes in which men were engaged — the scenes in which their aim was to shed the blood of their fellow men, it is refreshing to turn a moment to the scenes in which honorable women were meanwhile engaged — the work of staying the crim- son tide, healing the wounds that men had made and relieving the sufferings that were the inevitable fruits of war. While the men were at work fanning the flames of passion to make them burn higher for the destruction of their fellows, the ladies were unobtrusively working away, preparing articles of use and comfort for the soldiers at the front or the sick and wound- ed in hospitals. Organizations were effected in the different villages, preparing articles of clothing, such as stockings, shirts, drawers, handkerchiefs, mittens, besides lint, bandages, blank- . ets, preserves, and other little delicacies and luxuries. There were the "Mariner's Harbor Soldiers' Relief Society," com- HISTOEY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 317 posed largely of active young ladies, the "Ladies' Relief Society of New Springville," the ''North Shore Soldiers' Aid Society at Factoryville," and others whose names or work are not before us now, but which were equally noble, self-sacrificing and worthy of grateful remembrance. We will, in closing this chapter of war, apj)end the following list of Staten Islanders who served during tlie War of the Rebellion, in Company I, One Hundred and Fifty-sixth New York State Volunteers : Orville D. Jewett, Castleton, first lieutenant; captain; re- signed 1863. Clarence T. Barrett, Castleton, second lieutenant ; lirst lieu- tenant ; adjutant ; served as aid-de-camp on staff of Major- General W. H. Emory, commanding Nineteenth army corps; then on staff of Major-General E. S. Canbj', commanding de- partment of gulf; captain and aid-de-camp. United States army; brevet ted major for gallant and meritorious services at the capture of Mobile. Charles W. Kennedy, Castleton, first sergeant ; second lieu- tenant ; first lieutenant ; captain ; served for two years on staff of Third brigade. Second division. Nineteenth army corps, as brigade commissary, and acting assistant adjutant-general. Edward Steers, Castleton, sergeant ; first lieutenant ; served until the end of war. William Cortelyou, Southfield, sergeant; second lieutenant; . wounded at Cedar Creek ; served until the en-d of war. Bennett H. Buel, Castleton, sergeant ; served until the end of war. George G. Cadmus, Northlield, sergeant ; discharged for disability. Charles T. Pine, Castleton, corporal ; discharged to accept commission on corps d'Afrique. George Mersereau, Castleton, corporal ; sergeant ; served un- til the end of war. Edward Haggerty, Northfield, corporal ; killed before Port- Hudson. Nathan M. Barrett, Castleton, corporal color-guard ; served until the end of war. William C. Simonson, Southfield, corporal ; sergeant ; served until the end of war. 318 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Oscar Guyon, Southfield, corporal ; sergeant ; served until the end of war. Albert P. Heal, Castleton, corporal ; served until the end of war. John Vanderbilt, Castleton, corporal ; discharged to accept appointment as master of arms United States navy. Thomas Steers, Castleton, corporal ; discharged to accept commission as assistant engineer United States navy. John G. Bott, Castleton, private ; served until the end of war. William Bamber, Castleton, private ; corporal ; served until the end of war, Robert Bell, Southfield, private ; died of disease in service. Henry V. Buel, Castleton, private ; died of disease in service. Edmund Blake, Castleton, private ; wounded at Winchester ; served until the end of war ; died from effects of wound. James Brogan, Castleton, private ; served until end of war. Nathan F. Barrett, Castleton, private; sergeant-major; sec- ond lieutenant; served until end of war. Abiel H. Burbank, Southfield, jn-ivate ; died of disease in service. Ebenezer Chichester, Castleton, private ; served till close of war. Daniel Collins, Castleton, private ; served till close of war. Dewitt C. Connoi", Southfield, private ; killed in action at Fort Bisland. Edward Clary, Castleton, private ; wounded at Cedar Creek ; served i^ntil end of war. Patrick Colbert, Castleton, private ; served until end of war. Thomas F. Donnelly, Castleton, private ; sergeant ; served until end of war. Richard Dawlin, Castleton, private; wounded at Fisher's Hill ; discharged. Albert G. Denton, Castleton, private ; discharged for disabil- ity. Daniel Elms, Northfield, private ; served until end of war. Jacob N. Guyon, Southfield, private ; corporal ; discharged for disability. .Nelson Gilby, Southfield, private; served until end of war. Joseph Jacobs, Castleton, private ; served until end of war. Bernard Jacobs, Castleton, private; drum-major; served un- til end of war; HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 319 Albert Jones, Castleton, private ; died of disease in service. James E. Hood, Castleton, private; discharged for disability. Ira McVeigh, Castleton, private ; wounded at Cedar Creek ; discharged. Reuben S. Miller, Castleton, private ; served until end of war. Philip J. Miller, Soutliiield, private ; corporal ; served until end of war. Mark Mallett, Castleton, i^rivate; taken prisoner at Cedar Creek ; discharged. John Prosi, Castleton, private ; served until end of war. Edward N. Pomeroy, Castleton, private ; discharged to re- ceive commission in corps d'Afrique. Augustus W. Sexton, Jr., Castleton, private; discharged to receive commission. William B. Smith, Castleton, private ; served until end of war. Robert Stewart, Castleton, ijrivate ; served until end of war. George Wackerhagen, Castleton, private ; discharged to re- ceive appointment as hospital steward United States army. Thomas Wright, Castleton, private ; wounded at Montesino Bayou ; served until end of war. James Watson, Castleton, private ; taken prisoner at Cedar Creek ; died from exposure. The death of President Garfield occasioned one of the most remarkable and general jjopular demonstrations of sorrow that has ever been witnessed here. The newspapers of the island were dressed in mourning. Memorial services were held by nearly every church and organization on Monday, October 26, 1881. In the north side villages a parade was organized. This was composed of Washington Engine Company No. 1, Port Richmond Engine Company No. 3, Lincoln Club of New Brighton; New Brighton Engine Company No. 4; Zephyr Hose Company No. 4; Aquehonga Hook and Ladder Company No. 1; Medora Hook and Ladder Company No. 3; Metamora Council No. 650, American Legion of Honor; Continental Council No. 27, O. U. A. M. The line of march was taken along the shore road from the Pavilion hotel at New Brighton to Port Richmond, where a speaker's stand had been erected in the open field on Heberton avenue opjjosite the school house. Here appropriate services were conducted, consisting of singing and addresses, the latter by Rev. Jesse S. Gilbert and Hon. Erastus Brooks. 320 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Appropriate services were also held at the church of tlie Ascension, West New Brighton, at 11 o'clock. Rev. Mr. Cornell officiating in the absence of the rector. Services on the pre- vious Sunday at Trinity M. E. church had reference to the sub- ject, and similar services were held at the Moravian chui'ch at New Dorp. At the Reformed church memorial exercises were conducted on Monday at 2 o'clock by Rev. Dr. Brownlee, as- sisted by Rev. Dr. John Robinson and Rev. Mr. Vansant. The Rev. C. A. Princke at the German Lutheran church, St. John's, conducted memorial services in German at the same hour. High mass was celebrated at St. Mary's, Clifton, by the Rev. John Lewis and the Litany of the Saints, in which is included prayers for all people, governors, rulers and officials, was recited in re- spect to the occasion, on the same dayi An elaborate service was conducted at St. John's, Clifton, which included the prescribed service, music, and addresses by Rev. Dr. Eccleston, the pastor, and Mr. W. W. MacFarland; while at Christ church. New Brighton, the liturgical and musi- (ial services were supplemented by an address by Rev. George D. Johnson, the rector. At the Park Baptist church the pastor, being absent at the time, spoke with reference to the subject on the following Sabbath. At the Seamen's Retreat chapel ser- vices were held Monday afternoon and addresses were made by Rev. Drs. Kipp and Rockwell. At the Kingsley M. E. and St, Paul's Memorial churches, Edgewater, services were held on Monday, while on Sunday morning Rev. Dr. Rockwell, of the Presbyterian church, held a commemorative service. Masses were celebrated on Monday in St. Peter's, New Brighton, and St. Rose of Lima, West New Brighton; and in the latter church, after mass, prayer for the authorities, composed by Archbishop Cai'roll, of Baltimore, was recited. There were also services in St. Paul's M. E. and the South Baptist churches at Tottenville; in St. Joseph's at Rossville, and St. Mark's at Pleasant Plains. Rev. Mr. Cole, of Woodrow, delivered an essay on the life and service of President Garfield on the pre- ceding Sunday, and Rev. Mr. Morris, of Bethel M. E. church, gave a memorial sermon on the following Sabbath. Nearly all these churches were draped, some on the inside, some on the outside and some on both. Heavy folds and cov- erings of black cloth were tastefully arranged on pulpits, chairs, tables, organs, railings, around windows, over doorways HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 321 and arches and upon supporting; pillars. Many residences, hotels and business places were also heavily dressed in mourn- ing, and in some cases bells were tolled at intervals through the day. Services at Stapleton Park were held under the auspices of Robert G. Shaw Post, G. A. R., and a large audience as- sembled, over which Mr. Justus O. Woods presided. Lenhart Post, of Tottenville, and the Staten Island Quartette Club, represented by thirty-five members, assisted in the exercises, and Ex-Congressman James W. Covert delivered an appropri- ate and touching address. Probably the most destructive storm ever known on the island was that of Sejitember, 1882. Rain commenced on Wednesday evening the 2(Jth, and continued until Saturday. Heavy rains fell during this time, and created freshets in many places, de- stroying property and rendering impossible the ordinary avenues of travel. The storm was accompanied by unusually high tides, which added to the aggregate damage along the shores. Wil- low brook was swelled to an alarming fullness. The culvert in the railroad embankment between Prince's bay and Pleasant Plains was not sufficient to give vent to the great body of water that accumulated above it, and on Saturday evening a breach was made and about thirty feet of the embankment was carried down the stream. The water by this time had risen so high as to cover many gardens and roads, and to fill many cellars, even covering the first floors in some houses. Out-houses and a nameless multitude of small articles were boi'ue away on the seething Hood. Blacksmith shops, barns and dwelling-houses were undermined or otherwise damaged, as were also their con- tents, by the water, and a number of bridges were lifted from their foundations or carried away. Nearly two weeks elapsed before a temporary track could be laid across the breach so as to allow the passing of trains. The railroad track was also badly damaged in several places in the vicinity of Richmond V^alley. At the station the track was bent and torn, and a short distance below another washout occurred, while a train which had reached this point found it- self between two impaired spots, so as to be unable to pass with safety either way, in which condition it remained till Sunday afternoon. Several bridges were destroyed in the vicinity of Rossville and Green Ridge, and deep cuts were made in the roads in many places, which made them for the time impassable. 31 322 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. AtTottenville the railroad track and turn-tables were submerged, a brick wall in the rear of John Nelson's hotel was thrown down, and sidewalks and streets were badly disfigured, cellars filled and property destroyed. Near Huguenot the South Side hotel was damaged to the extent of about two thousand dollars value, by the undermining of its foundations, caused by the outburst of Arbutus lake. In Stapleton the streets were flooded, as were a large number of houses. At New Brighton the streets were deluged, and many houses that were considered i)roof against any ordinary flood were fllled with water. The stone wall that protects the causeway over which the road crosses the meadow at Sailors' Snug Harbor gave way, and the road was flooded so that the platforms of passing horse cars were under water. At West New Brighton Broadwaj^ became a great river, its turbulent waters undermining a carpenter's shop belonging to David Pero, and another shop adjoining, cut out a great hole in the street near by, and flowed into the lower story of police station No. 2, to the depth of nine inches on the floor. The prisoners had to be transferred to the second story and the officers were obliged to sit up all night and watch them. The causewaj' between West New Brighton and Port Richmond was covered by two feet of water, and the torrent, as it swept over, took with it a cow, two pigs and a great quantity of miscellane- ous property. In this part of the island the story of demol- ished bridges, inundated floors and uptorn sidewalks and streets were on every hand too frequent to be particularized. A very appropriate and commendable demonstration was made by the people of this county on the anniversary of the second centennial of the organization of the county of Rich- mond. The credit of being the first to suggest such a demon- stration here is given to Mr. Robert Moore, then supervisor of Castleton. In accordance with that suggestion the board of supervisors called a meeting of citizens to cooperate with them in perfecting plans for such a celebration. The first meeting of citizens was held September 22d, 1883, at which Hon. Erastus Brooks was chosen president; Hon. George William Curtis, Louis De Jonge, Erastus Wiman and Dr. Ephraim Clark, vice-presidents; George H. Daley, record- ing secretary, and Charles Arthur Hollick, corresponding sec- retary. HISTOKY OF EICHMOND COUNTY. 323 At this meeting tlie subject was fully discussed, and the su- pervisors were authorized to appoint a committee of four citizens from each town, in conjunction witli themselves, to act as a committee of arrangements. This committee was afterward in- creased to nine from each town, which, together with the super- visors, was to be known as the citizens' committee of fifty. At this meeting, on motion of Dr. Ephraim Clarke, Hon. Eras- tus Brooks was unanimously chosen to prepare and deliver an historical address. At a subsequent meeting of this committee, Professor Anton G. Methfessel was chosen chairman, and Theo- dore C. Vermilye, secretary. A sub-committee of four from each town, in conjunction with the supervisors, was appointed by the chairman, to be known as the executive committee, and to them was referred the whole subject of preparing a plan for the celebration. The executive committee organized, with Frederick ^Vhite as chairman and Duncan R. Norvell as secretary, and after considerable discus- sion, a parade was decided upon, and full particulars reported to the committee of fifty. The executive committee was composed of the following men: George Bechtel, Frederick White, Philip Wolff, A. G. Meth- fessel, Nathaniel Marsh, Benjamin Brown, C. A. Hart, D. J. Tysen, Abram Crocheron, DeWitt Stafford, Robert Moore, D. R. Norvell, R. B. Whittemore, Read Benedict, Jesse Oakley, B. H. Warford, M. Conklin, P. G. Ullman, J. H. Van Clief, sr., William Ricard; Fredei-ick White, chairman; Duncan R. Norvell, secretary. Arrangements having been perfected, in accordance therewith the procession formed at Elm Park at 12 o'clock at noon on the 1st of November, 1883. The procession was made up of the following organizations in the order named: mounted police, Kickapoo Indians in a wagon. Fort Hamilton band, marshals, Staten Island Schutzen Corps, chariot containing "Goddess of Liberty," Tottenville Cornet Band and Drum Cordis, Battalion Grand Army of the Republic, Shaw Post, Lenhart Post, fifty sons of veterans, disabled veterans on a truck, citizens' associ- ation, carriages containing speakers, county officials, Staten Is- land Quartette Club and citizens,Citizens' Cornet Band of South Amboy, Red Cross Division of Knights of Pythias of South Amboy, Protection Hook and Ladder Company of Perth Amboy, Lincoln Hose Company of Perth Amboy, Totten- 324 HISTORY OF KICIIMOND COUNTY. ville Hook and Ladder Company No. 1, Kreischer- ville Drum Corps, one hundred and forty emjiloyees of B. Kreischer & Sons, New Dorp Pioneer Corps, Mulligan's Band of New York, one hundred men of One Hundred and Thirteenth regiment, Washington Band, Enterprise Hook and Ladder Com- pany No. 1 of Stapleton, Neptune Engine Company No. 6, Protection Engine Company No. 7, Sixty-ninth Regiment Drum Corps, Excelsior Bucket Company No. 1, Relief Bucket Com- pany, Engine Company No. 8 of Clifton, Columbia Cornet Band of Pleasant Plains, Clifton Hose Company No. 6, Excel- sior Drum Corps of Tompkinsville, Ben. Brown Hose No. 3, Eterick's Band of Brooklyn, Engine Company No. 9, Robinson Hose No. 9, Forty-seventh Regiment Drum Corps, Neptune Engine Company No. 1 of West Hoboken, Lincoln Club Band, Niagara Engine No. 5, Neptune Hose No. 1, Olvany's Band, Columbia Hook and Ladder, South Amboy Band, Continental Council No. 27, Order United American Mechanics, the Z. Z. Z. Z. Social Club, Newark Cornet Band, Colored Citizens' Associa- tion of Newark, Twelfth Regiment Band, Washington Engine No. 4 of Port Richmond, Osceola Cornet Band of Mariners' Harbor, Aquehonga Hook and Ladder Company No. 1, West Brighton Band, Cataract Engine Company No. 2 of West Brighton, Union Base-ball Clubs of Young Men's Christian Union of West Brighton, Elizabeth Cornet Band, Granite Hook and Ladder Company No. 2, Port Richmond Engine Comjxmy No. 3, Medora Hook and Ladder Company No. 3 of West Brighton, Joyce's Band of New York, New Brighton Engine Company No. 4, Friendship Hook and Ladder Company No. -1, Oceanic Hook and Ladder Company No. 1 of Travisville, Linoleum Social Club, In-Seine Club and sixty-seven vehicles representing trades, business, characters and fancies, among which were several four-horse turnouts, and one wagon drawn liy ten horses. A large number of i^rivate wagons followed to bring up the rear. The procession started at 12 o'clock, and proceded by the Shore road to Finger Board road and then re- turned to Stapleton Flats, where a large tent had been erected, in which addresses were made and music was given. Invitations l\ad been given to the president, governor, mayors of New York :;nd Brooklyn and Greneral Hancock to participate in the ceremo- nies, none of whom however found it practicable to attend. By the favor of the secretary of the navy, obtained through HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 325 Hon. Perry Belmont, the United States ship "Vandalia," an- chored off Stapleton, where she lay during the day, being deco- rated with flags and tired a salute of twenty-one guns at noon. For the public exercises of the occasion a large tent had been erected on a portion of Stapleton Flats. The interior was taste- fully trimmed with United States flags. At the conclusion of the parade the meeting in the tent was called to order by the secretary, Theodore C. Vermilye. Prayer was offered by the Rev. Dr. Brownlee. Dr. Ephraim Clark was made chairman of the meeting, and addresses were delivered by Hon. Erastus Brooks, Hon. Perry Belmont, Hon. George William Curtis, Hon. A. S. Sullivan, Hon. Henry J. Scudder and Hon. Brad- ford L. Prince, the exercises closing with prayer by the Rev. Mr. Palmer of Tottenville. In the evening a grand display of flreworks was made at Stapleton, and thus closed the day cele- brated to mark the completion of two centuries of the exist- ence of Richmond county. CHAPTER VII. CIVIL DIVISIONS AND CIVIL OFFICERS. The County.— The To-n-ns.— The Villages.— Hon. Daniel D. Tompkins.— Hon. Erastus Brooks. — Cornelius A. Hart. WE have already seen in a previous chapter that the county of Richmond was erected by an act of the colonial legis- lature, " to divide this province and dependencies into Shires and Counties," which was passed November 1, 1688. The act specified — "The county of Richmond to conteyne all Staten Island, Shutter's Island, and the islands of meadow on the west side thereof." Under this organization it remained till the colonial govern- ment was supplanted by that of the state, when, by the act of the state legislature passed March 7, 1788, for dividing the state into counties, the previous organization was confirmed in the following language, which differs from that in the former act only in orthography: — "The County of Richmond to con- tain all Staten- Island, Shooter'' s- Island and the Islands of Meadow on the West Side thereof." The act of March 7, 1788, dividing the counties of this state into towns, gives the division of Richmond as follows: "xlnd all that Part of the County oi Richmond, bounded northerly by Kill-Van-Cull, easterly by Hudson' s- River, south- erly by the Road leading from Van Buer soil's Ferry south- ward of the Watering -Place to Richmond-Toion, and westerly by a Lyne beginning at the Mouth of Dongan' s Mill-creek, and running from thence along the Line of the Manor of Castle-Town to the Road at the Rear of the Patent of Corsen and Company, thence along the northerly Side of the said Road westerly to the Road leading to Haughwouf s Mill, and then southerly along the westerly Side of the last mentioned Road as it runs along by Richard Conner's, to the Tavern called the Rose and Crown, on the said Road leading to Rich- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 327 mond-Town, shall be and hereby is erected into a Town by the Name of Castle-Town. "And that all that Part of the said County of Richmond, bounded northerly by the North Side of said Road leading from Van Duer son's Ferry to Bichmond-'Yo\wi\ and the Fresh- ^/W, easterly b}^ //w(r7so;i'.9-i?/«e/, southerly by the Bay, and westerly by a Line beginning on the Fresh-Kill at the North- west Corner of the Land and Meadow late of James Egberts, and running from thence southerly along the same to Egberts' Lane, and then along the same Lane to the Road called the New Road and then along the same New Road westerly to the Land of Henry Ferine, and then southerly along his easterly Bounds to the Bay shall be, and hereby is erected into a Town by the Name of South-fleld. "And that all that Part of the said County of Richmond, bounded northerly by the Fresh-Kill, easterly by Southtield, southerly by the Bay, and westerly by the Sound, shall be, and herebj^ is erected into a Town by the Name of Westfield. " And that all the Residue of the said County of liichmond, shall be, and hereby is erected into a Town by the Name of Northfleldr The following men from this county have been members of important state and national representative bodies as indi- cated: Members of the Provincial Congress: — Adrian Bancker, 2d Prov. Cong., 1775-76 ; Richard Conner, 1st and 3d Prov. Cong., 1775-76 ; Aaron Cortelyou, 1st and 3d Prov. Cong., 1775 -76 ; John Journeay, 1st and 3d Prov. Cong., 1775-76 ; Richard Lawrence, 1st and 2d Prov. Cong., 1775-76 ; Paul Micheau, 1st and 3d Prov. Cong., 1775-76. Representatives in Congress: — Daniel D. Tompkins, 9tli Congress, 1805-06 ; Henry Crocheron, 14tli Congress, 1815-17 ; James Guyon, Jr., 16th Congress, 1819-21 ; Jacob Crocheron, 21st Congress, 1829-31 ; Samuel Barton, 24th Congress, 1833-37; Joseph Egbert, 27th Congress, 1841-43 ; Henry I. Seaman, 29tli Congress, 1843-47; Obadiah Bowne, 32d Congress, ]851-53 ; Henry G. Stebbins, 38th Congress, resigned ; Dwight Townsend, 38th Congress, 1863-65 ; Henry B. Metcalfe, 44th Congress, 1875 -77. Presidential Electors .-—1808, John Garretson ; 1812, Joseph Perine ; 1836, Jacob Crocheron ; 1840, John T. Harrison ; 1844, 328 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. John C. Thompson ; 1848, James M. Cross ; 1856, Minthorne Tompkins ; 1864, Obadiah Bowne. State Senators : — Paul Mirheau, 1789-92 ; Jacob Tysen, 1828 ; Harman B. Cropsey, 1832-35 ; Minthorne Tompkins, 1840-41 ; James E. Cooley, 1852-53; Robert Christie, Jr., 1864-65 ; Nicholas La Ban, 1866 67 ; Samuel H. Frost, 1870-71. Memhers of the State Constitutional Conventions : — Conven- tion of 1788, Abraham Bancker, Gozen Ryerss ; 1801, Joseph Ferine ; 1821, Daniel D. Tompkins ; 1845, John T. Harrison ; 1868, George Wm. Curtis. Regents of the University : — Abraham Bancker, John C. Dongan, first board. 1784 ; Harmanus Garrison, second board, 1784 ; after which time the county was not represented in the board until April 12th, 1864, when George Wm. Curtis was ap- pointed, and still continues in office (1886). The following men have served the county in the offices specified during the years indicated : Judges of the County Courts : — 1691, Ellis Duxbury ; 1710, Daniel Lake; 1711, Joseph Billop; 1712, Thomas Farmar; 1739, Richard Merrill ; 1739, John Le Conte ; 1756, William Walton (He was also a member of the council from 1758 to 1768, when he died) ; 1761, Joseph Bedell ; 1775, Benjamin Seaman ; 1786, Paul Micheau ; 1797, Gozen Ryerss ; 1802, John J. Murray ; 1803, John Garretson ; 1823, Jacob Tysen; 1840, Henry B. Met- calfe ; 1841, William Emerson ; 1844, Albert Ward ; 1847, Hen- ry B. Metcalfe; 1876, Tompkins Westervelt ; 1882, Stephen D. Stephens, Jr. District Attorneys'^ .•—1818, George Metcalfe; 1826, Henry B. Metcalfe ; 1833, Thorn S. Kingsland; 1839, George Catlin; 1840, Roderick N. Morrison ; 1841, Lot C. Clark ; 1849, George Cat- lin ; 1850, George White ; 1853, Alfred DeGroot ; 1860, Abra- ham W. Winant ; 1865, John H. Hedley : 1872, Sidney F. Rawson ; 1875, John Croak ; 1881, John Gallagher. Surrogates, under Colonial Government : 1733, Walter Don- gan ; 1759, Benjamin Seaman. Under Federal Gomrnment .•—1787, Adrian Bancker ; 1792, Abraham Bancker ; 1809, John Housman ; ]810, Cornelius Be- dell ; 1811, Jonathan Lewis ; 1813, Cornelius Bedell ; 1815, Tu- nis Egbert ; 1820, Richard Conner ; 1820, John Garrison ; 1821, Tunis Egbert ; 1830, Richard Crocheron ; 1843, Lewis R. Marsh; *Thi8 was made a county office in 1818. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 329 1847, Henrj^ B. Metcalfe ; 1876, Tompkins Westervelt ; 1882, Stephen D. Stephens, Jr. County Clerks:— IQS2, Francis Williamson; 1684, Samuel Winder; 1689, Jacob Corbet; 1691, Thomas Carhart; 1698, Thomas Coen; 1706, William Tillyer; 1708, Alexander Stuart; 1728, Adam Mott; 1738, Daniel Stilvvell; 1739, Daniel Corsen; 1761, Paul Micheau- 1781, Abraham Bancker; 1784, John Mersereau; 1798, Joseph Ferine; 1810, John V. D. Jacobsen; 1811, Joseph Ferine; 181f), Jonathan Lewis; 1828, Walter Betts; 1843, Joshua Mersereau, Jr. ; 1852, Israel C. Denyse; 1855, James Cubberly; 1858, Israel C. Denyse; 1861, Abraham V. Connor; 1864, Michael F. O'Brien; , Joseph Egbert; 1869, John H. Van Clief, Jr.; 1873, David H. Cortelyou; 1876, Abraham V. Conner; 1879, Cor- nelius A. Hart. School Superintendents, e^c..'— Harman B. Cropsey, county superintendent, appointed 1843. David A. Edgar, Henry M. Boehm, Isaac Lea, James Brownlee, county commissioners, elected. Sheriffs:— ims, John Falmer; 1684, Thomas Lovelace; 1685, Thomas Stilwell; 1689, EliCrossen; 1691, Thomas Stilvvell; 1692, John Stilwell; 1698, John De Fue; 1699, Jacob Coulsen; 1700, Christian Corsen; 1701, John De Fue; 1702, Lambert Gfarrison; 1709, William Tillyer; 1722, Benjamin Bill; 1730, Charles Garri- son; 1736, Faul Micheau; 1739, Nicholas Larzalere; 1751, John Hillyer; 1775, Thomas Frost; 1784, Abraham Bancker; 1788, Lewis Ryerss; 1792, Benjamin Barker; 1796, Isaac Cubberly; 1799, John Hillyer; 1802, Jacob Crocheron; 1806, Jonathan Lewis; 1810, Daniel Guyon; 1811, Jacob Crocheron; 1813, Jacob Hillyer; 1815, Henry Ferine; 1819, John Hillyer; 1821, Jacob Crocheron; 1825, Walter Betts; 1828, Harman B. Cropsey; 1831, Lawrence Hillyer; 1834, Israel Oakley; 1837, Andrew B. Decker; 1840, Jacob Simonson; 1843, Israel O. Dissosway; 1846, Jacob G. Guyon; 1849, Israel O. Dissosway; 1852, Abraham Ellis; 1855, Abraham Lockman; 1858, Isaac M. Marsh; 1861, Moses Alston; 1864, Abraham Winant; 1867, Jacob G. Winant; 1870, Moses Alston; 1673, William C. Denyse; 1876, Benjamin Brown; 1880, Abraham V. Conner; 1883, Benjamin Brown; 1886, John J. Vaughn, Jr. Members of the Colonial Assembly : — John Dally, 1691; Lam- bert Dorland, 1691 ; Ellis Duxbury, 1691-95-98 ; Thomas Mor- gan, 1692-98-1702 ; J. T. Van Felt, 1692-97-98 ; John Shadwell, 330 HISTORY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. 1693-95 ; Thomas Stilwell, 1693-98 ; John Tunison, 1694-95-98 ; John Woglom, 1698-99 ; Garret Veghte, 1699, 1702 ; John Stil- well, 1702,-25 ; Abraham Lakerman, 1702-26 ; Richard Merrill, 1725-37 : John Le Count, 1726-56 ; Adam Mott, 1737-39 ; Richard Stilwell, 1739-48; Paul Micheau, 1748-51; William T. Walton, 1751-61; Benjamin Seaman, 1756-75; Henry Holland, 1761-69; Christopher Billop, 1769-75. Members of Assenibly for Rlclimond County, under the State Government : — Abraham Jones, 1777-78; Joshua Mersereau, 1777-78; no name recorded, 1778-79, Joshua Mersereau, 1779- 80, 1780-81, 1781-82, 1782-83; Adrian Bancker, 1784; Johannes Van Wagenen, 1784; Joshua Mersereau, 1784-85; Cornelius Corsen, 1784-85; Joshua Mersereau, 1786; John Dongan, 1786; John C. Dongan, 1787; Thomas Frost, 1787; John C. Dongan, 1788; Peter Winant, 1788; Abraham Bancker, 1788-89; John C. Dongan, 1788-89 ; Abraham Bancker, 1789-90 ; Peter Winant, 1789-90; Peter Winant, 1791; Gozen Ryerss, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794; Lewis Ryerss, 179.5, 1796, 1797; Paul J. Micheau, 1798, 1799; John P. Ryerss, 1800; Paul J. Micheau, 1800-01, 1802, 1803; John Housman. 1804; John Dunn, 1804-05, 1806; David Mersereau, 1807, 1608, 1808-09; Richard Conner, 1810; James Guyon, 1811, 1812; James Guyon. Jr., 1812-13, 1814; Jesse Oakley, 1814-15; Richard Corsen"i 1816; Richard C. Corsen, 1816-17, 1818; Harmanus Guyon, 1819, 1820; Samuel Barton, 1820-21, 1822; Isaac R. Housman, 1823; Henry Ferine, 1824; Harmanus Garrison, 1825; no election, 1826; Aljraham Cole, 1827, 1828; John Vanderbilt, 1829: John T. Harrison, 1830, 1831; Jacob Mersereau, 1832, 1833; Paul Mersereau, 1834; Lawrence Hillyer, 1835; John Garrison, Jr., 1836; Lawrence Hillyer, 1837; Israel Oakley, 1838, 1839; Bornt P. Winant. 1840; Israel Oakley, 1841; Henry Cole, 1842, 1843; William JSTickles, 1844; Peter Mersereau, 1845; George H. Cole, 1846, 1847; Ephraim J. Totten, 1848; Gabriel P. Disosway, 1849; Benjamin P. Frail, 18.50; William H. Anthon, 1851; Lawrence H. Cortelyon, 1852 ; Henry De Hart, 1853; Nicholas Crocheron, 1854; John F. Raymond, 1855; William J. Shea, 1856; Joshua Mersereau, 1857; Eben W. Hubbard, 1858; Robert Christie, Jr., 1859; Theodore C. Vermilye, 1860; N. Dane EUingwood, 1861; Smith Ely, 1862; Theodore Frean, 1863; William H. Rutan, 1864; James Ridgway, 1865; Thomas Child, 1866; Nathaniel J. Wyeth, 1867; John Decker, 1868-71; David W. Judd, 1872; HISTORY OF UICH3I0ND COUNTY. 331 John B. Hillyer, 1873; Stephen D. Stephens, Jr., 1874-75; Kneeland Townsend, 1876; Samuel R. Brick, 1877; Erastus Brooks, 1878, 1879, 1881, 1882, 1883; Oliver Fiske, 1880; Ed- ward A. Moore, 1884; Michael S. Tynan, 1885; Edward P. Doyle, 1886; Edward A. Moore, 1887. Supervisors of the several towns in Richmond county since the beginning of the year 1706, alphabetically arranged: Castleto7i:— Barnes, George, 1792-93; Barrett, Nathan, 1837- 38; Burbanck, Abraham, 1794-98; Gary, Richard S., 1804; Christopher, Richard, 1846, 1849, 1857-8-9, 1868-9, 1874-5-6; Clute, John J., 1860; Conner, Richard, 1766 84, 1786-92; Crab- tree, James H., 1865; Crocheron, Abraham, 1832-3; Davis, George B., 1853; De Groot, Jacob, 1839; Dongan, John C, 1785; Ely, Smith, 1861-2; Esterbrook, Joseph, 1866; Gardiner, David L., 1864; Garrison, John, 1803; Garrison, John, Jr., 1834 5-6; Hazard, Robert M, 1847-8; Heal, Nathan M., 1867; Herpeck, Charles A., 1877; Housman, John, 1799 to 1802, 1810; Hous- man, Isaac R., 1822-31; Laforge, Peter D., 1841-2; Martling, Joseph B. H., 1850-52; Martino, Gabriel, 1855; Mersereau, Joshua, 1854; Minturn, Robert B., 1871; Pell, D. Archie, 1870; Thompson, John C, 1840; Tysen, Jacob, 1811-21; Tysen, John, Jr., 1805-09; Vermeule, John D., 1872-3: Vreeland, Eder, 1844- 5; Ward, Albert, 1843. ]Vort7ifleld:—BedeU, Cornelius, 1790, 1794; Burger, James G., 1855; Child, Thomas, 1863; Corsen, Cornelius, 1779-84; Croch- eron, Henry, 1800-04, 1808-14; Crocheron, Nicholas, 1805-7, 1825-30, 1846 7; Crocheron, Richard, 1816 23; Denyse, Israel C, 1866-7; Hillyer, John, 1767; Hillyer, John B., 1872; Hillyer, John, Jr., 1772-3; Hillyer, Lawrence, 1851, 1856; Laforge, Peter C, 1862; Lake, Daniel, 1795 97; Latourette, Henry, 1767; La- tourette, Richard, 1876-77; Martin, Oliver R., 1848; Mersereau, David, 1815; Mersereau, Jacob, 1792-3, 1799; Mersereau, John, 1788; Mersereau, Peter, 1841-44; Moore, Richard C.,1854; Perine, James, 1831-32; Post, Garret G., 1850, 1857 61; Prall, William, 1824; Ryerss, Gozen, 1785-87; Simonson, Bornt, 1774-78; Si- monson. Garret, 1873-76; Simonson, Jacob, 1833 40, 1849; Tysen, John, 1789, 1791, 1798; Wright, Garret P., 1852; Van Clief, John H., 1808-71; Van Name, Charles, 1853,1864; Van Name, Michael, 1845. SoidJifiekl:— Barnes, George, 1789, 1800; Barton, Edward P., 1869; Barton, Samuel, 1852, 1857; Brady, Philip, 1870; Britton, 332 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Alexander H., 1844; Clark, Ephraim, 1866-67; Cocroft, James, 1865; Coddington, Samuel, 1841-43, 1857; Cole, George H., 1845; Corry, William, 1876, 1877; Cortelyou, Peter, 1789 98; Egbert, Joseph, 1855-56; Fountain, Anthony, 1767, 1769, 1784; Gar- rison, John C, 1849, 1858-60; Greenfield, George J., 1872 to — ; Guyon, Harmanus, 1816-20, 1822-33; Guyon, James, 1782-3, 1785- 6; Guyon, James, 1838-40, 1847-8, 1850-51; Hall, Farnham, 1846; Jacobson, Christian, 1772-81; Jacobson, John Y. D., 1802-15; Johnson, Anthony, 1834-36; Keeley, Dennis, 1861-64, 1871; Ketteltas, J. S., 1868; Mersereau, Jacob W., 1853-4; Ferine, Henry, 1821; Poillon, John, 1766, 1768; Tysen, John, 1795-98. Weslfield .■—Band^er, Adrian, 1772-73; Cole, Cornelius, 1788, 1794; Cole, Gilbert A., 1857, 1862; Cropsey, Jacob R. 1844-45; Depuy, Nicholas, 1766 to 1769; Eddy, Andrew, 1846; Ellis, George W., 1870-71; Frost, Samuel H., 1851 to 1856; Guyon, Jacob, M., 1876; Jackson, Richard, 1828; Larzelere, Benjamin, 1789, 1795 to 1801; Latourette, David, 1835-36; Merserean, Daniel, 1829-33; Micheau, Paul, 1790-93; Oakley, Israel, 1840; Oakley, Jesse, 1850; Ferine, Henry, 1774-83; Rutan, William H., 1858-61; Seguine, Henry H., 1874, 1877; Seguine, Joseph, 1826, 1837-39; Tstten, Ephraim J., 1847, 1849; Totten, Gilbert, 1802-25, 1827; Totten, John, 1784, 1809-25, 1827; Winant, Peter, 1785-87; Winant, Bornt P., 1834, 1841-43, 1848; Wood, Abraham H., 1864-65; Wood, Abraham J., 1866 69, 1872-73. Mkldletown: — Armstrong, John E., 1873; Bechtel, John, 1864; Bradley, Alvin C, 1872; Brick, Samuel R., 1868-71; Davis, George B., 1861; Frean, Theodore, 1866, 1877; Frost, Henry, 1876; Hornby, Alexander, 1862; Lord, D. Porter, 1865, 1867; White, Frederick, 1874; Wood, Jacob B., 1860. N. B. — There is no record of supervisors' names eaiiier than 1766, except in a few instances noticed below. The names of the supervisors of 1770 and 1771 are not recorded. It is pos- sible that the names of some of the earliest supervisors are arranged under the wrong town, as in no case are the names of the towns and supervisors connected. Supervisors prior to 1766 : — 1699 — William Tiljeu, North; Anthony Tyson, West; Abm. Lakeman, South. 1703 — Richard Merrill, North; Stoffel Garrison, South; Anthony Tysen, West. 1704 Merrill, North; Tunis Egbert, West. 1705— Aron Prall, North; Tunis Egbert, West; Stoflfel Van Sant, South. 1706— Tunis Egbert, West; Aaron Prall, North. 1709 -Alex- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 333 ander Stuart, South; Jacob Corsen. North; Tunis Egbert, West. The earliest record of a town election in Castleton now to be found is that dated 1781. At that election the following officers were chosen: Richard Conner, supervisor; Peter Housman, clerk; James Lisk, constable and collector; Peter Housman and George Barnes, assessors; Peter Housman and Daniel Corsen, commissioners of roads, and other officers. The following list, dated December 22, 1783, in Castleton, contains the " Names of the persons that swore to the State of New York." Hendrick Garrison, John Wandel, John C. Dongan, John Dorsett, Matthew Decker, Tunis Egberts, Na- thaniel Britten, Abraham Egberts, Joseph Barton, Daniel Corsen, Joseph Christopher, Abraham Housman, Matthias Smith, John Housman, Thomas Kingston, Edward Blake, Samuel Van Pelt, James Johnston, John Lisk, John Bodine, Nicholas Bush, William Van Pelt, Edward Egberts and George Barns. The town of Middletown was erected by an act of the state leg- islature passed April 16th, 1860. It was formed from parts of Southiield and Castleton, the new town being bounded by a line "commencing on the bay or shoi'e on the east side of Staten Island at the point where the Richmond turnpike strikes said bay; thence running westerly along said Richmond turnpike road to the town of Northfield; thence southerly on the line between the towns of Northfield and Castleton to where said line terminates at Southfield; thence northeasterly on the line between Castleton and Southfield, along the Richmond plank- road to Vanderbilt avenue; thence easterly along the south- erly side of said Vanderbilt avenue to the bay of New York; thence northerly along the shore or bay of New York to the point of beginning." These bounds included the eastern por- tion of Southfield and the southerly portion of Castleton. The first town meeting of the new town was held at Nautilus hall, on the second day of May following, and the act appointed Thomas Standerwick, Thomas Garrett and Cary Deverj^ to pre- side at that meeting. The village of Edgewater, comprising part of Tompkinsville, and all of Stapleton and Clifton, was originally incorporated in 1860, being then divided into nine wards, but some legal defect having been detected, a new charter was obtained the following 334 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. year. The names of the first trustees, under the new charter, and the wards they represented were as follows : William C_ Denyse, 1st ; David Biugher, 2d ; George Bechtel, 3d ; Theo- dore Frean, 4th; Dr. Thomas C. Moffat, /5th; James R. Robinson, 6th ; Alfred Wandell, 7th; Dennis Keeley. 8th: J. Duigan, 9th. The officers then were : Theodore Frean, president ; Henry F. Standerwick, clerk ; Thomas Garrett, police justice. The experiment of village government was not as successful as might be desired, and many were in favor of returning to the former status under the town. The village charter was, how- ever, amended by acts of legislature in 1870, 1872, 1873, 1874, 1875, 1877 and 1884. Under the cliarter of 1875 the village was divided into only two wards, with one trustee each, and a third trustee at large, who was to be president of the village corpora- tion. Under this charter the first ward trustees were Benjamin Brown and Mr. Fellowes ; and William Corry, president. Henry F. Standerwick was elected clerk. By the charter of 1884 the village was divided into five wards, and the number of trustees was correspondingly increased. The boundaries given in that cliarter are as follows : "Commencing at a point on the shore of the bay of Xew York, where the center line of Arietta street, if prolonged, would intersect the shore of said bay, and running thence along said center line of Arietta street, southwesterly to the center line of the Richmond Turnpike ; thence along the said center line of the Richmond turnpike, southwesterlj' to the south- westerly side of the Clove road ; thence along the southwester- ly side of the Clove road southeasterly to the Richmond road ; thence along the easterly line of the Richmond road, southerly to the northerly line of the Old Town road ; thence along the northerly line of the Old Town road six hundred feet ; and thence on a line parallel to and at a distance of six hundred feet from the easterly side of the Richmond road, and continu- ing thence on a line parallel to and at a distance of six hundred feet southerly from the southerly line of the Fingerboard road, and westerly line of Sand lane to where said line intersects the Old Town road ; thence in a due southeasterly line to the lower bay of New York ; and thence along the lower and upper bay of New York, northeasterly and northerly to the place of be- ginning." The village of New Brighton was incorporated by act of the HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 335 legislature, April 26, 1866, and embraced the northerly half of the town of Castleton. It was about two and a half miles long in a straight line, and about one mile in width. Tiiis territory was divided into four wards, and the trustees appointed by the same act to carry its provisions into effect were: Augustus Prentice, first ward ; James W. Simonson, second ward ; Fran- cis G. Shaw, third ward ; and William H. .T. Bodine, fourth ward. The portion of the town remaining unincorporated was verj^ sparsely populated, but was obliged, nevertheless, to have a full corps of town officers, some of whom resided within the village, and exercised the offices without, as well as within, and the duties of some, such as the commissioners of highways, which office had been abolished within the village, could be performed only in the unincorporated remnant of the town. The bills rendered by these officers for their services at the end of each year were so large, that the taxes outside of the village were greater than those within. The only method the people could resort to for ridding themselves of this burden, was to seek admission into the corporation, which they did, and in 1872 the remainder of the town was added to the village, and divided into two wards, the fifth and sixth. The dimensions of the village now are, about four miles long and two miles wide. In 1871, a large and elegant village hall was erected on Lafay- ette avenue, corner of Second street, at a cost of about thirty- six thousand dollars, including the land. The first village election was held May 22, 1866, for the election of a police justice. One of the first ordinances of the village trustees, on the 12th of May, "ordained" that a public pound be established on the premises of Edward Roe on the Mill road, and the said Roe was appointed i^ound master. The expenses of the village incorporation for the first year, to June 1, 1867, were twenty-two thousand three hundred and twenty- six dollars and forty-two cents. The charter was amended by acts of the legislature in 1867, 1871, 1872, 1873 and 1875. Its limits are now identical with those of the former town of Cas- tleton. The office of village president has been held by the following: Augustus Prentice, 1866 ; John Laforge, 1867-69 ; Anson Livingston, 1870 ; George M. Usher, 1871 ; M. J. Fowler, 1872 ; D. A. Pell, 1873 ; William Chorlton, 1874 ; R. B. Whitte- more, 1875-76 ; William 11. J. Bodine, 1877 ; Harry L. Horton, 1878-79; David J. H. Willcox, 1880-84; John J. Featherston, 336 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNXy. 1885. The village clerks have been: Mark Cox, 1866-69 ; George Bowman, 1870 ; C. T. McCarthy, 1871-78 ; James C. Hill, 1879- 81 ; John J. Kenney, 1882-85. The village of Port Richmond was incorporated by act of April 24, 1866, but by reason of the unconstitutionality of the act, which appointed trustees for the village, no organization was effected until after the passage of an amendment on April 25, 1867. Pursuant to this last act an election was held May 11, 1867, and Nicholas Van Pelt, George W. Jewett, William A. Ross, Garret P. Wriglit, James B. Pollock, and Henry Miller, Jr., were elected trustees. The boundaries of the village given in the charter are as follows : "Northerly, by the river Kill Von KuU ; easterly, by the line between Castleton and Northfield ; southerly, beginning on a point at the bridge about three hundred feet southerly from the German Lutheran church and running thence westerly to the southerly side of the residence of Jacob Hatfield ; thence west- erly to a monument on the southwest corner of the Richmond granite quarry at the Morning Star road; thence running a westerly course to the southernmost line of the property of the Methodist Episcopal church on the new road at Mariner's Har- bor ; thence following the center of the road a northerly course to the river Kill Von Kull ; thence following the river to the place of beginning." Captain Nicholas Van Pelt occupied the position of president of the board of trustees continuously from the first till his death in December, 1881, when he was followed by Captain Garret P. Wright who has held the office till the present time (1885\ Frederick Groshon, the first village clerk, held that office till his death, March 12, 1872, when he was succeeded by De Witt Stafford, who continues in the office. James B. Pol- lock has been treasurer from the beginning to the present time. At the time of the organization of the village there was only about five hundred feet of sidewalk, mostly of biick, in the whole village. Improvement of the streets has since been steadily carried forward, including the widening of Shore road, Richmond and Jewett avenues, and other roads of less importance, until now every street of any considerable note is not only flagged, curbed and guttered, but thoroughly macadamized. In 1884 the village was supplied with water by contract with the Staten Island Water Company. Gas had HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 337 been introduced previous to the organization of the village, though the corporation does not yet light the streets. A public park is owned by the village, through a gift of Messrs. Peter N. and VAer V. Haughwout who dedicated this spot for that purpose. These gentlemen, in 1836, purchased the farm of Judge David Mersereau, which lay between Richmond avenue on the west and Cottage place on the east, and the kills on the north and what is now Bond street on the south. Upon this they laid out what has since become the principal part of the village. THE JAQUES GUION HOUSE. = NEW DORP. B The territory now in the village limits lying east of the tract just described and on the south of it as far west as Church road belonged to the Jolin Simonson farm and was a part of the original patent to Cornelius Corsen. Cornelius Sebring owned a considerable tract lying on the west side of Richmond avenue (originally called Church road), as far west as to take in the lots facing on the west side of Mechanics' avenue, now called Lafayette avenue. A large tract on both sides of Morn- ing Star road, and on which are situated the granite quarries, was formerly owned by Vincent Fountain, and was purchased by one David Sand, by whom it was laid out into lots, and it now constitutes the thriving middle and southerly portion of the village, a part of it lieing known as Elm Park. The Haughwout tract before referred to may be more definitely described as being bounded on the north by the kills, west by 23 338 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Richmond avenue, south by the south line of Bond street and a continuation of that line westward to Richmond avenue, and east by a line about twelve feet east of the east side of Cottage place, and a continuation of the same line north to the Ivills. This was part of a tract whicli was granted by Governor Andros to Cornelius Corsen, Andrews Urianson, Derriclv Corneliusen and John Peterson, December 30, 1G80. That grant extended from Palmer s run and the mill pond, eighty-eight rods along the shore of the kills to the little creeli between the store of Johnson and the Speer ship- yard, and comprehended 320 acres. Other village incorporations have been attempted, but their existence has been of short duration. In 1823 the legislature passed an act incorporating the village of Richmond, but the organization was not consumated. Tottenville was incorporated by an act of April 28, 1869, which was amended April 14, 1871. This charter also became inoperative through the failure of the people to approve its conditions. Hon. Daniel D. Tompkins, governor of the state of New York and vice-president of the United States, whose later years were spent on Staten Island, and after whom the village of Tompkinsville is named, was born at Scarsdale, Westchester county, N. Y., June 21, 1774. The son of Christian parents he was brought up in the Protestant faith. His delicate constitu- tion and aptness to learn induced his father to place him at the grammar school of Malcom Campbell in New York, September, 1787; whence, at the end of a year, he was removed to the academy in North Salem. Here he continued till 1792, when he entered the sophomore class in Columbia College. During the last year of his college course he served in the law office of Peter Jay Monroe, Esq., and two years after graduating at the head of his class in 1795, he was admitted an attorney of the suj)reme court and subsequently a counsellor. He early inter- ested himself in politics. He became a staunch republican, and in the party struggles of 1799, 1800 and 1801 lie took a promi- nent and conspicuous part. His influence in the city of New York, especially in the Seventh ward, in which he had married Miss Hannah Minthorne, daughter of the wealthy and respect- able alderman of that name, was early felt, and to him in a great measure was due the election of Thomas Jefferson to the V9.-\n\'eer, 78 Vacant, 67 Vacant, 79 Fytie Mersereau, 68 Slaria Mersereau, 80 Lena Van Wagene, 69 Frausyntje Post, and another erased, 81 Maria PraU, 60 Marigrita Sitnonze, 83 Annietie fountain, 61 Marriije Burbank, 83 Wintie Van Tuyls, 63 Nelicte Vreelandt, 84 Rebecca Staats. 63 Ainafie Martlinghs, It will he observed that the numbers from 60 to 69, both in- clusive, are duplicated. It will also be observed that according to the universal custom in the olden times, the sexes were sepa- rated in their seats. Across the ends of 76, 77 and 78 are written the words '' Stoelen voor den Predikant " — Chairs for the Preacher. This was the second church edifice ; it was built about 1714, partially destroyed by fire by the British early in the revolu- tion as a rebel church, and what was left standing was subse- quently blown down, in a heavy gale. The name of Daniel Corsen does not appear among those of the pew-holders; but as he was generally the incumbent of some civil office, his seat was in No. 1 or 2. He was county clei'k at the time he made the diagram. Soon after the settlement of Dr. Van Pelt the plan of re- building the church at Richmond was revived, and through the energetic efforts of the pastor, it was carried successfully into execution. The church now standing was built, and ready for service in July, 1808, when it was dedicated ; the Rev. Dr. Livingston, of New York, conducting the services. From that time on Doctor Van Pelt ministered to this church and that at the north side until 1835, when Doctor Brownlee, his successor, ministered to both until 1853. The connection between the two churches was dissolved in 1854, when the church in Richmond became a distinct and separate ecclesiastical organization. Its first pastor after that event was the Rev. Thomas R. G. Peck, HISTORY OF PaCIIMOKD COUNTY. 367 and liis successors have been Rev. Erskine N. White, Rev. Jacob Fehnnann, Rev. J. H. Sinclair, and tlie pulpit was for a while supplied alternately with that, of the church of the Huguenots, by Rev. Dr. F. M. Kip. This church has a chapel at Giflford's. The building of a new church was talked of in 1818, and Governor Tompkins gave two lots at Tompkinsville, on which to erect it. The work was commenced and the corner stone laid October 20, 1818. The church was completed, and dedi- cated July 23, 1820. Rev. Peter I. Van Pelt of the Port Rich- mond church occupied the pulpit till May, 1823, when this church became a distinct society and separate charge, its incor- poration being eiYected the same year. This enterprise was car- ried to completion through the perseverance of Doctor Van Pelt, assisted by the munificence of Vice-President Tompkins, who donated the land and contributed a large sum of money toward building the church. Doctor Van Pelt supplied the pulpit until 1823, when, as an independent church, the Rev. John E. Miller became its pastor. He wa.s installed October 19, 1823, and for nearly- twenty-four years was pastor of the church. He died August 24, 1847, and the Rev. Alexander R. Thomjjson became the second pastor, in 1848. During his incumbency, some of the members withdrew their connection, and organized a church at Stajileton, nearer their own residences, with which Mr. Tliompson identified himself, after having served this church three years and three months. The vacancy thus left by him was filled by the Rev. Philip M. Brett, who was in- stalled December 24, 1851, and died January 14, 1860. He was succeeded by the Rev. Edward ^V. Hitchcock, who was ordained and installed August 8, 1860. It was his first pastorate. He resigned March 1, 1866. It was during his pastorate that the new church edifice was built, on what is known as Brighton Heights, on a hill commanding a fine view of the bay. New York city and Long Island. The corner stone of this church was laid October 27, 1863, and it was dedicated November 3, 1864. The cost of the church was $14,300. Its site is diagon- allj' opposite the northwest corner of the old quarantine grounds. The old church building was sold, and has since been used for a variety of purposes, at times as a feed store, confectionery shop, political headquarters and carriage shop, in which use it 368 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. is still occupied. Some of the older people, as well as the former pastors, who have precious memories connected with religious work within the ancient edifice, deplore the action which consigned the building to such unhallowed uses. It may justly be claimed that a respectful regard for the good and faithful ones who founded the church, and the pious tnen and women who maintained its services during so many years of its history, and a wholesome reverence for the cause it re- presented, ought to have prompted those who had the manage- ment of the matter, to have held the building from the pur- poses of secular business, for the possibilities of further use in connection with some of the enterprisHS of the church. Rev. Herman R. Timlow was installed October 24, 1866, and resigned November 1, 1867. Rev. I. Ralston Smith supplied the pulpit in 1868. Rev. Thomas G. Watson was installed May 13, 1869, and resigned September 11, 1871. Rev. William T. Enyard was installed April 13, 1873, and resigned on account of ill health, July 13, 1871). He died April 26. 1880. Rev. William Walton Clark,thesucceeding pastor was installed March 16, 1880. During his pastorate, the church was entirely released from debt, and a beautiful Sunday school and lecture room was built in the rear of the church. The expense of building and furnishing the Sunday school and lecture room, and repairing and refurnishing the church in 1881, amounted to $9,980.73. The Ancient Baptismal Record of the Early Dutch Church. This book, beginning in 1696, and containing apparently a complete record of the baptisms of the early Dutch church on Staten Island for a jieriod of more than half a century, is still in existence, being now in the keeping of the consistory of the Dutch Reformed church at Port Ricmond. This venerable and valuable relic several years ago fell into bad company and be- came degraded to the level of common garret rubbish. While in this condition, and just as it was about to be consigned to a bonfire by those who had no knowledge of its value, it was rescued from destruction by Mr. Alfred de Groot, who promptly placed it in the hands of its proper custodians. Its records contain valuable genealogical data touching almost every old family of the island and many others. It is written in Dutch, and is now considerably defaced by time and wear, HISTOKY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 369 and much of it quite difficult to read. Those who would con- sult it also find a still greater difiicalty in the utter absence of any order in its arrangement, so that to surely find whether any desired name is contained in it or not, the whole book must be gone through. These obstacles united render the record practically a "sealed book," except to those who have the ability to read faded Dutch manuscrij)t, and the time and patience to search through such a long list to find the names they wish to see. Believing that the service of unlocking this sealed treasure will be appreciated by those who may have occasion to refer to it, we have transcribed the entire list, as far as it has any genealogical significance, and have arranged the entries all in the alphabetic order of the surnames of the fathers. The custom prevailed of baptizing children at a very tender age. In the early years of the record occasionally the date of birth is given together with the date of baptism, as in the following entry : " Cornelis Tyssen zyne gedoopte Kinderen zyn Dochter Elizabeth is gebooren den 1705 28 van May ende heef t zynen Doop ontfangen den 2 Augustus De Getuygen bennen Leenert Smack de ende Sara Smack." In the veiy early records it will be noticed the mother's name is not given. In most cases two "getuygen" or witnesses, names appear in connection with each baptism, though in some only one appears, and in others none at all. The record contains many old Dutch words and phrases now more or less obsolete, which, through the kindness of Dr. Brownlee, who has made tlie book a matter of considerable study, we are able to bring together in the following list, with their parallel English words or expression. We give the Dutch in Roman type, and the corresponding English in italics : Onwders—parenis; kinderen— children; getruygen — witness- es ; gedoopt — 'baptized; den — the ox then ; de — the; van — of; dese — these; zyne — his ov her ; soon, or zoon—5o?i / bennen— are; dochter — daughter ; en — and; geborn — horn; met — with; gemelle, or tweelings— ^!^o/'«s/ bediening— q^ce, employment or service ; heef t — has ; de compeer — god-father ; de -^Qet— god- mother; doo\)—ha2)tism; CXmaielycken— Christian; onfangen— obtained or received; haar, or haaren— 7ie?- ; vervolgh— co«,^m- uation; eene— a or one; yoov— for; op— of; het—the; genaemt 24 370 msTOKY OF RICHMO^"D COUNTY. — is named ; zie—see; dezer— this ; donderdagli — Thursday; dingsday — Tuesday; sonne opgang— 5«»?vse; omtrent — about; Heeren — the Lord; naam — name; opgegeven — giten up. The book also contains records of later date, of children baptized by Rev. William Jackson for the Eefornied Protestant Dutch church at the north side of Staten Island, July 9, 1786 to October 29 of the same year, 7: in the " new church at the North Side," from May 27, 1787 to October 11. 1789, 31: by Rev. Peter Stryker, from October 17, 1790 to November 14, same year, 9. Mr. Stryker was installed in this church by Mr. Livingston, Thursday, November 11, 1790. The record of bap- tisms was kept by Mr. A. Ryersz. The fee of one, or some- times two shillings, which was sometimes paid, was duh* en- tered. The names of ''parents or witnesses" accompany the entry of each baptism in that list in such a way as to leave no way of distinguishing between the two classes, hence the omis- sion of all names on that list. The title page bears the following inscription: "Register Boek Van De K d Namen Der Kinderen De- welck Gedoopt Bennen Op Staten Eylandt Van D Beginne Van flet Jaer Anno 1696." In the following list, the date of baptism is followed by the names of child, father and mother, in the order mentioned. Oct. 8, 1721, Hilletje, Gozen .\driaannsz, Femmetje vand'rBilt. May 17, 1724, Leah, Jan Andrevet, Leah Sweem. Apr. 7, 1729, Jan, Jan Andrevet, Leah Sweera. Aug. 26, 1722, Neehje, Jan Andrevet, Leah Sweem. Mar. 27, 1720, Rebecca, Pieter Andrevet, Rebecca Cole. Dec. 25, 1723. Elisabet, Pieter .\ndrevet, Rebecca Cole. Jan. I, 1726, Elisabet and Anna, twins, Pieter Andrevet, Rebecca Cole. Mar. 25, 1 701, Andrys, Andrys .\ndryssen. 1707. Lontys, Joseph Bastido. July, 3, 1707, Rossanna, Joseph Bastido. July, 26, 1711, Bastido, Joseph Bastido. May 4, 1714 Jan, Joseph Bastido. Jan. 18, 1717, maria, Joseph Bastido. Oct. 18, 1719, Pieter, Joseph Bastido, Judith Ryke. Apr. 22, 1707, Tryntie, Nicolaas Backer. Oct. 31, 1756, Jacob, Niclos Backer, Liesabet toret. Feb. 26, 1758, Mary, Niclos Backer, Liesabet Latoret. Oct. 21, 1707, Nicolaas, Hendricus Backer. Aug. 24, 1729, Catharina, Jacobus Bakker, Rebecca Staats. Jan. 30, 1734, Nicolaas, Jacobus Bakker, Rebeeca Staats. Mar. 28, 1736, Geertje, Jan Barbank, Leah Hagewout. Dec. 8, 1728, Thomas, Jan Barbank, Leah Hagewout. Mar. 28, 1736, Maria, Lucas Barbank, Martha Baile. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTT. 371 Jan. 16, 1732, Maria, Jan Barbank, Lea Hagewout. Apr. 13, 1742, Catharina, Lucas Barrabank, Martha Eaely. Oct. II, 1719, Maria, Thomas Barbanck, Marritje Martling. Sep. 22, 1723, Abraham, Pieter Barbarie, Elisabet du Secoy. Jan. I, 1729, Cornelia, Jacob Bergen, Maria Croesen. Sep. 23, 1731, Jacob, Jacob Bergen, Maria Croesen. May 6, 1745, Grietje, Jacob Bergen, Grietje Bennet. June 10, 1747, Gerretye, Jacb bergen, Margrietye bennet. May 3, 1749, adriaen, Jacob Bergen, maragreta Bennet. Sept. 4, 1737, Cornelia, Jacob Bergen, Maria Croesen. Apr. 29, 1722, Gerritje, Fredrik Bergen. Gerritje Veghte. Sept. 26. 1725, Henrik, Frederik Bergen, Gerritje Veghte. Mar. 12, 1732, Elsje, Fredrik Bergen, Gerritje Veghte. May 21, 1727, Elisabet, Jacob Bennet, EHsabet Brouwer. May 26, 1729, Willem, Jacob Bennet, Elisabet Brouwer. Dec. 20, 1724, Juriaan, Jacob Bennet, Elizabet Brouwer. Sept. 24, 1732, Cornelius, Jacob Bennet, Elisabet Brouwer. Oct. 28, 1722, Aaltje, Jacob Bennet, Elizabet Brouwer. Apr. 22, 1707, Aeltie, Thomas Berbanck. Nov. 2, 1754, Cattriena, Abraham Beckelo, Cattriena Ebis. July 28, , Gerret, Berkelo, EUes, Oct. 13, 1747, Cornelius, Abraham berkelau, catrina Ellis. Oct. 19, 1708, Daniel, Issac Bellin. Mar. 14, 172^^, Maria, Jacobus Biebaut, Maria Sweem. May 5, 1729, Petrus, Jacobus Biebant, marytje Sweem. Feb. 19, 1727, Elisabet, Jacubus Biebant, ^Laria Sweem. July 16, 1721, Jacobus, jacobus Biebant, Maria Sweems. Nov. 2, 1718, Isaak, Teunis Bogaart, Catharina Hegeman. Dec. 18, 1720, Adriaan, Teunis Bogaart, Catharina Hegeman. 1722, Margareta, Simon Bogaart, Margrietje Ten Eyk. 1729, Gysbert, Simon Bogaart, Margrietje ten Eyk. 1719. Elisabet, Simon Bogaart, Margrietje ten Eik. 1726, Simon, Simon Bogaart, Margrietje Ten Eyk. 1723, Abraham, Teunis Bogaart, Catharina Hegeman. Mar. 28, 1725, Maria, Teunis Bogaart, Catharina Hegeman. Mar. 2, 1729, Cornelius, Teunis Bogaart, Catharina Hegeman. Feb. 13, 1732, Sarah, Simon Bogaart, Margrietje Ten Eyk. Nov. 29, 1719, Jean, Francois Bodin, Maria Dey. Nov. 3, 1754, Eliesebeth, Nettenel Bos, Jannetye Post. Sept. 17, 1758, Gerret, Nettenel bos, Jannetye Post. 1706, Samuel, Josua Bosch. May 6, 1745, .'Vntje, Nicklas Bos, Elisabet Drenkwater. Sept. 8, 1734, Barent, Nicolaas Bosch, Elisabet Drinkwater. Nov. 21, 1 73 1, Margareta, Nicolaas Bosch, Elisabet Drinkwater. July 13, 1740, Nicolaas, Nicolaas Bosch, Elisabet Drinkwater. Nov. 24, 1728, Eduard, Nicolaas Bosch, Elisabet Drenkwater. Dec. II, 1737, Samuel, Louis du Bois Jun'r, Catharina van Brunt. Apr. 22, 1718, Anna, James Hosier, Sara Pereine. Apr. I, 1728, Forms, Andries Bowman. Mar. 20, 1716, Andries, Andries Bowman. May 6, 1745, aeltje, Cornelus Bowman, Aeltje Titus. Apr. 19, 1715, Neeltje, Cornells Bouwman. Dec. 30. Jan. 19- Oct. 18, May 19. Apr. 21, 372 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Sept. 14, 1742, Neeltje, Jacob bowman, Maria Williams. Jan. 16, 1732, Harmen, Pieter Bouwman, Elsje van Pelt. Sept. 14, 1742, Neeltje, pieter bowman, Elsje Van pelt. Apr. 23, 1739, Pieter, Pieter Bouwman, Elsje van Pelt. July 24, 17 10, Joris, Harmen Bowman. Oct. 23, 171 1, Tryntie, Harmen Bowman. May 4, 1 7 14, Jacob, Harmen Bowman. June 15, 1716, Cornelis, Harmen Bowman, Neeltje Staats. May 15, 1720, Neeltje, Cornelis Bouwman, Antje Staats. Apr. 22, 1707, Elisabeth, Jores Bowman. Sept. 22, 1709, Johanna, Jores Bowman. Feb. 12, 1758, Catriena, Antony brat, neety haagewout. July 20, 1718, Cornelis, Cornelis Brees, Sara Schilmans. Aug. 18, 1741, Jan, Johanes Brestede, Trintie Hagewout. Aug. 16, 1743, Pieter, Johannes Brestede, Treintje hagewout. Apr. 22, 1746, Eckbert, Johannes brestede, Catherina hagewouyt. 1 715, Johannes, VVillem breetstede. 1715. Andries. Willem breetstede. Jan. 18, 1719, Andries, Willem Breetstede, Christina Bouwman. Aug. 13, 1721, Engeltje, Willem Breetstede, Christina Bouwman. Sept. 9, 1722, Henrik, Henrik Bries, Dina du Cecoy. Jan. 31, 1725, Sara, Henrik Bries, Dina du Secoy. Apr. 9, 1732, Sara, Nathanael Britton, Esther Billeville. Apr. 23, 1707, Jeams, Joseph Britten. Oct. II, 1708, William, Nicolaes Britten. Apr. 20, 1740, Maria, John Brown, Susanne Roseau. Aug. 16, 1743, Jan, Jan burbanck, Leea hagewout. Apr. 22, 1746, Abraham, John burbanck. Lea hagewout. Feb. 23, 1724. Nathan, Elias Burger, Susanna Whitman. Oct. 19, 1 7 18, Samuel, Samuel Burnet, Obiit, Antje Mangels Ral. June 8, 1735, Sara, James Butler, Sara Parain. Apr. 9, 1732, Jan, James Butler, Sara Parem. Nov. 18, 1733, Andries, Dirk Cadmus, Jannetje van Hoorn. Oct. 31, 1731, Cathrina, Dirk Cadmus, Jannetje van Hoorn. July 19, 1724, Rutgers, Dirk Cadmus, Jannetje van Hoorn. Dec. II, 1720, Frederyk, Dirk Cadmus, Jannetye van Hoorn. Apr. 22, 1746, Elizabeth, Jan Cahon, maria Egberts. Aug. 26, 1739, Catharina, Jean Canon, Maria Egberts. July 19, 1748, Jacobus, John Canone, Maria Egberts. Oct. 22, 1707, Margriete, Beniamin Carenton. June 6, 1715, Jannetie, Joseph Carrinton. Nov. 29, 1719, Philip, Philip Casier, Catharina Hooglant. Aug. 28, 1726, Casparus, Jsak Caspers, Elisabet Lisk. Jan. 21, 1739, Cornelia and Antje, twins, Johannes Cavelier, Catlyntje Andriessen. April 10, 1726, Jacobus, Phillippe Cazier, Catharina Hooghlant. Mar. 15, 1724, Dirk, Philip Cazier, Catharina Hooghlant. Jan. 14, 1722, Catharina, Philip Cazier, Catharina Hooglant. Aug. 23, 1730, Petrus, Phillipe Cazier, Catharina Hooghlant. Sept. 14, 1718, Elsje, Pieter Cielo, Blandina van Pelt. Oct. 14, 1722, Peter, Pieter Ceilo, Blandina van Pelt. June 6, 1725, Cornelia, Peter Ceilo, Blandina van Pelt. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUXTY. 373 July 9, 1727, Sara, Pieter Ceilo, Blandina van Pelt. Jan. 12, 1729, Daniel, Pieter Ceilo, Blandina van Pelt. Mar. 14, 1731, Wilhelmus, Pieter Ceilo, Blandina van Pelt. Nov. 16, 1735, Johannes and Maria, twins, Peter Ceilo, Blandina van Pelt. Aug. 4, 1703, Niclaes, Barent Christoffelzen. Apr. 23, 1706, Catharyna, Barent Christoffelzen. Apr. 20, 17 — , Rebecka, Barent Christoffelzen. 1710, Maria, Barent Christoffelzen. Aug. 13, 1716, ane catryn and Barent, Barent Christofer. Jan. II, 1 7 19, Susanna, Barent Christopher, Anna Cathrina Stihvel. Nov. 27, 1726, Barent, Nicolaas Christpher, Christin.i Bowman. Sept. 26, i73i, Anna Catharina, Nicolaas Christopher, Christina Bouvv- man. Apr. 16, 1732, Johannes, Hans Christopher, Jane Arrowsmith. Apr. 14, 1734, Barent, Hans Christopher, Tane Arrowsmith. Aug. 8, 1736, Joseph, Hans Christopher. Jane Arrowsmith. Sept. 30, 1739, Richard, Hans Christopher, Jane arrowsmith. Oct. 22, 1701, Femmetye, Derek Claassen. Apr. 20, 1703, Hendrickie, Derek Claassen. Apr. 23, 1706, Jacobus, Derek Claassen. June 8, 1718, Francyntje, Jan Claatz, Maria de Chene. Apr. 22, 1707, Ferametie, Cobus Claazen. Aug. 30, 1743, Maria, Walter Clendenne, pieternel Olfer. May 6, 1745, Johannes, Walter Clendenne, Nieltje ollifer. Apr. 22, 1747, Jacob, waiter clendenne, peternella Oliver. Sept. 17, 1748, Cathilyna, Walter Clendenne, Piternela Oliver. May II, 1735, Patience, adam Clendenny, Eva Johnson. Oct. 31, 1756, Jeams, Jeanis Clendeny, rabecke Jonson. June 24, 1759, Antye, Walter Cleninne, nelli alever. Oct. 21, 1707, Dorote, Jan Clerck. Apr. 19, 1709, Dorothea, Jan Clerck. Apr. 17, 1711, Jan, Jan Clerck. July 14, 1 7 13, Sara, Jan Clerck. July 14, 1 7 13, Rachel, Clindinne. July 28, , Walteris, Clindinne, nelli alver. May I, 1753, Pieternelle, waiter Clindinne, Pieternelle alver. Feb. 16, 175s, Joseph, Walter Clindinne, nelli allever. Mar. 13, 1720, Abraham, Jan Cochean, Elisabet Jackson. Apr. 18, 1725, Femmetje, Teunis Coevert, Femmetje vander Schure. Oct. 5, 1766, willim, Andru Colter, Mary Clendenny. Aug. 26, 1759, Andries, David Cornon, Aaltye Praal. Nov. 2, 1754, Aront, Davit Cornon, Aaltye Praal. Jan. 29, 1756, Davit, Davit Cornon, Aaltye Praal. Aug. 26, 1759, Danal, Peatar Cornon, Mally Stebs. May 4, 17 14, Cornells, Beniamin Corsen. Aug. 13, 1716, Maria, Benjamen Corssen. Aug. 3, 1718, Benyamin, Benyamin Corsen, Blandina Vile. Nov. 24, 1723, Maria, Cornelius Corssen, Jannetje Boskerk. Aug. 13, 1725, Pieter, Cornelius Corssen, Jannetje Boskerk. Feb. 26, 1727, Christiaan, Cornelius Corssen, Jannetje Boskerk. Feb. 23, 1728, Cornelius, Cornells Corssen, Jannetje van Boskerk. 374 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Feb. 21, 1731, Cornelius, Cornells Crossen, Jannetje van Boskerk. Oct. 10, 1731, Henrik, Cornells Croesen, Helena van Tuyl. Oct. 22, 1732, Jacobus, Cornelius Corssen, Jannetje van Boskerk. Sept. 19, 1736, Catharlna, Cornelius Corssen, Jannetje van Boskerk. Mar. 25, 1701, Suster, Jacob Corssen. Oct. 21, 1707, Jacob, Jacob Corssen. Apr. I, 1718, Beniamyn, Jacob Corssen. Apr. 18, 1743, Cornelia, Jacob Corsen, Cornelia Croesen. Dec. 23, 1739, Maria, Jacob Corssen Junior, Cornelia Croesen. Oct. 13, 1747, Jacob, Jacob Corsen Jun'r, cornelia kroese. Aug. 25, 1751, Neelty, Jacob Corsen Juner, Cornelia Croesen. Nov. 7, 1753, Richard, Daniel Corsen, Maria Stilwell. Nov. 7, 1753, Daniel, Daniel Corsen, Maria Stilwell. Sept. 17, 1758, Cornelius, Daniel Corsen, Llesebeth bogert. Oct. 5, 1755, ragel, Douwe Corson, Janntye Conein. Nov. 4, 1722, Pleter, Jaques Coteleau, Jacomyntje van Pelt. Dec. 26, 1720, Debora, Jaques Coteleau, Jacomyntje van Pelt. May 29, 1726, Neeltje, Jaques Coteleau, Jacomyntje van Pelt. Nov. 21, 1731, Maria, Samuel Couwenhoven. Sara Drinkwater. Apr. 3, 1720, Anna, Jacobus Craven, Antje Iniaart. Dec. 23, 1722, Christina, Jacobus Craven, Antje Iniaart. Sept. 26, 1725, Esther, Jacobus Craven, Antje Iniaart. Apr. 22, 1707, Elsie, Cobus Creven. July 27, 1714, Johannes, Cobus Creven. Apr. 1, 1718, Gillis, Cobus Creven. Mar. 30, 1740, Abraham, Daniel Crocheron, Maria du Puy. Dec. 8, 1723, Henrik, Gerrlt Croesen, Henriks Zoon, Geestruyd van Tuyl. Sept. 13, 1728, Femmetje, Gerrlt Croesen, Henriks zoon, Geertruyd van Tuyl. Aug. 6, 1732, Abraham, Gerrlt Oroesen, Henriks zoon, Geerttuyd van Tuyl.' Aug. 27, 1740, Cornelia, Gerrlt Croesen, Claasje Brlnkerhof. Apr. 18, 1743, Maria, Gerret Croesen, Claesje Blenkerhof. June 24, 1752, Hendrlck, Gerret Croesen, Claesye Blinckerhof. July 29, 1733, Abraham, Cornells Croesen, Helena van Tuyl. Mar. 9, 1735, Daniel, Cornelius Corssen, Jannetje van Boskerk. Aug. 8, 1736, Cornelius, Cornells Croesen, Helena van Tuyl. July 14, 1 7 13, Elisabeth, Jan Crosson. Oct. 5, 1760, Marya, Charsels daecr, maccy maral. Aug. 26, 1759, Andro, Sammual Danges, Jenny ryt. Feb. 7, 1720, Samuel, Henry Day, Maria van Pelt. June 7, 1724, Petrus, Henry Day, Maria van Pelt. May 30, 1726, Maria, Heny Day, Moria van Pelt. Aug. II, 1728, Simon, Henry Day, Maria van Pelt. Feb. 15, 1730, AVilliam, John Day, Anne More. Oct. 31, 1736, Johannes, John Day. Hanna More. June 7, 1719, l-aurens, Gideon de Camp, Hendrikje Elles. Aug. 30, 1724, Bastiaan, Gideon de Camp, Hendrikje Elles Oct. 15, 1727, Gideon, Gideon de Camp, Henrikje Elles. Aug. 2, 1 7 19, David, Hendrlk de Camp. Maria La mes. May 21, 1721, Gideon, Hendrlk de Camp, Maria La mes. HISTORY OF lilCHMOND COUA'TY. 375 Feb. 13, 1726, Christoffcl, Hendrik, de Camp, Maria La Mes. Feb. 6, 1728, Charles, Charles Dekker, Lena Sweem. Apr. 5, 1730, Matthys, Charles Dekker, Lena Sweem. Oct. 29, 1732, JVIagdalena, Charles Dekker, Lena Sweem. Mar. 16, 1735, Mattheus, Charles Dekker, Lena Sweem. Jan. 8, 1738, Esther, Charles Dekker, Lena Sweem. May 7, 1741, Eva, Charles Decker, Helena Sweam. July 28, 1 75 1, marya, Charlis Deckker, helena Sweem. July 3, 1726, Maria, Johannes Dekker, Maria Sweem. Apr. 21, 1728, Sarah, Johannes Dekker, Maria Sweem. Apr. 19, 1743, Johannes, Johannes Decker, nence Merrel. Apr. 26, 1748, Richard, John Decker, Anna Merrell. Apr. 22, 1747 Elstye, mattheus decker, Elstye Merrill. Sept. 7, 169-, Johannes, Mattheus De Decker. Oct. 21, 1707, Abraham, Mattheus De Decker. Apr. 17, 171 1, Elisabeth, Matthtus De Decker. , 1715, Mattheus, Mattheus De Decker. July 27, 1755, Cattriena, Pieter Degroot, Claartye Post. July 25, 1758, Geertruy, Pieter Degroot, Claartye Post. Aug. 6, 1745, Verelije, B.dtes Dehart, Maria Phillipel. Sept. 17, 1746, catalyna, b.iltus dehart, mary phillipse, May 20, 1750, Samuel. Samu-l Dehart, Abigael Jones. Sept. 21, 1718, Maria, Pieter Dekker, Susanna Hetfeel. July 24, 1720, Johannes, Pieter Dekker, Susanna Hetfeel, May 24, 1724, Susanna, Pieter Dekker, Susanna Hetfeel. Oct. 23, 1726. Sara, Pieter Dekker, Susanna Hetfeel. June 10, 1728, Mattheus, Pieter Dekker, Susanna Hetfeel. Mar. 26, 1732, Eva, Pieter Dekker, Susanna Hetfeele. Api"- 7i '735. Abraham, Pieter Dekker, Susanna Hetfield. May 7, 1741, Jacob, Peter Decker, Susane HelfeuU. Apr. 5, 1730, Eva, Seger Dekker, Elisabet du puy. Apr. 8, 1733, Eva, Zeger Dekker, Susanna Jones. May 24, 1730, Matthys, Johannes Dekker, Maria Sweem. Mar. 25, 1739, Eva, Joh; Dekkers, Marytje Sweem. Apr. r3, 1742, Johannes, barend de pu, Elsje Peljoung. Oct. 13, 1747, Elizabeth, barent depuy, Elsye poilyon. Nov. 3, 1754, Johannis, Barent depue, Elsye Puelyon. Oct. 21, 1707, Lambert, Jan Dorlandt. Apr. 17, 171 1, Joris, Jan Dorlandt. Apr. 17, 17 t7, Isack, Jan dorlandt. Apr. 3, 1720, Harmpje and Eva, twins, Jan Dorlant, Barbara Aukes. Aug. 29, 1725, Abraham, Jan Dorlant, Barbara Aukes. Oct. 26 1729, Anthony, Cornelis Dorlant, Saartje van Pelt. Jan. 17, 1754, Marin, Thomas Doghety, Sara Van Naame. June 3, 1739, Margrietje, Pierre Drageau, Elisabet Gewan. Oct. 9, 1720, Cornelius, Michiel du Chene, Susanno vandr Hoven. May 21, 1 7 16, Valentyen, Machayel Due Seen. May 20, 1750, Martha, Barent Dupue, Elsye Puilyon. Apr. 6, 1734, Catharina, Nicolaas du puy, Neeltje Dekker. Nov. 7, 1749, Benyamen, Jacus Ecbers, Catharina Backer. June 6, 1715, Abraham, Abraham Egbertsen. Apr. 10, 1720, Johannes, Abraham Egbertsen, Francyntje Parain. 376 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COITNTY. Jan. 17, 1722, Elisabet, Abraham Egbertsen, Francyntje Parain. Apr. 17, 1744, Elisabet, Abram Egbertse, Elisabet Gerresen. July 28, 1751, Hester, Abraham Egbertse, Elizabet Gerrelse. July 13, 1713, Abraham, Egbert Egbertsen. Apr. 10, 1720, Isaak, Egbert Egbertse, Francyntje de Chene. May, 20, 1722, Johannes, Egbert Egbertszen, Francyntje du Chene. Feb. 14, 1720, Maria, Jacodus Egbertsen, Catharina Dey. Oct. 8, 1 72 1, Teunis, Jacobus Egbertsen, Catharina Dey. July, 14, 1723, Johannes, Jacobus Egbertzen, Catharina Deuy. Mar. 24, 1724-5, Laurens, Jaqnes Egbertszen, Catharina Deuy. Mar. 23, 1729, Nicolaas, Jaques Egbertszen, Catharina Bakker. June, 7, 1731, Piecer, Jaques Egbertszen, Catharina Bakker. Nov. 4, 1733, Susanna, Jaques Egbertsz, Catharina Bakker. Apr. 18, 1736, Abraham, Jaques Egbertsen, Catharina Bakker. Aug. 20, 173S, Elisabet, Jaques Egbertzen, Catharina Bakker. Oct. II, 1743, Catrina, Jacus Egberts, trintje Backer. Apr. 22, 1747, Antye, Jacus Egberts, Catrina backers. Aug. 10, 1718, Teunis, Teunis Egbertsen, Jannetje Chesne. Dec. 12, 1745, Johines, Teunes Egbertse, Peternel Depey. Oct. 13, 1747, abrahem, tunes Egbertse, Peternella depuy. Nov. 7, 1749, Barent, teunis Egbertsen, Pieternelle depu. Apr. I, 1 7 18, Altje, Cornells Egmont. Apr. 30, 172 1, Fenimetje, Cornelis Egmont, Elsje de Camp. July, 21, 1723, Zeger, Cornelis Egmont, Elsje de Camp. Jan. 2, 1726, Christoffel, Cornelius Egmont, Elsje de Camp. May, 7, 1719, Johannes, Charles Ellens, Marytje de Camp. Aug. 30, 1724, Catharina, Bastiaan EUes, Sara Neesjes. Nov. 7, 1725, Cornelius, Bastiaan Elles, Sara Neesjes. Oct. I, 1727. Hagtje, Bastiaan Elles, Sara Neesjes. Jan. 31, 1730, Sara, Bastiaan Elles, Sara Neesjes. Apr. 22, 1746, Maria, basteyaen Elles, Sara neefyes. Aug. 26, 1759, Saara, Cornelius ellis, Leena vanderbilt. Apr. 17, 1744, Antje, Wellim Elsewart, Babecca Stilwel. Apr. 17, 1744, Mareitje, Wellim Elsewart. Apr. 18, 1743, Elisabet, Mathies Enjard, Elisabet Gerreson. July, 28, 1728, Esther, Andre Escord, Catline Richand. Jon. 4, 1730, Maria, Andre Escord, Catline Richaud. Oct. 18, 1 7 15, Susan, tunes E.xberson. May, 4, 1 7 14, Hieronimus, Stieven Feteto. Feb. 8, 1769, Daniel, hanry fiaban, eghije vanwinkel. May, II, 1729, Antje, Anthony Fountain, Belitje Byvank. Nov. 20, 1754, Johannis, Antoni founten, Anaatye gerretson. Nov. 3, 1754, Antoni, Antoni founten, Anaatye Gerretson. Mar. — , 1756, Maragrietye, Antoni founen, Anaatye Gerretson. Dec. 23, 1759, Cornelus, Antony founten, Annaetye Gerritson. Feb. 17, 1723, Usselton, Robert Frost, Sara Usselton. Mar. 21, 1731. Christopher, Isaac Garritzen, Maria Christopher. June 12, 1726, Metje, Jacob Gammaux, Dirkje van Tilburgh. June 27, 1736, Daniel, Cornelis Gerritzen, Aaltje van Winkel. Apr. 12, 1719, Charles, Charles Gerritsz. Nov. 4, 1759, Neeltye, Christeyaan Gerrebrans, Marya Post. Nov. 4, 1759, Maragrietye, Johannis Gerritson, Marritye demot. HISTOKY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 377 May 5, 1696, Daniel, Lambert Gerritzen. July 14, 1 7 13, Lambert, Lambert Gerritzen. Mar. I, 1719, Magdalena, Lambert Gerritysz Junior, Lysbet Swvveera. July 2, 1721, Nicolaas, Lambert Gerritz Junior, Lysbet Sweem. Aug. 25, 1723, Abraham, Lambert Gerritzen Jun'r, Lysbet Sweem. May 24, 1730, Elisabet, Lambert Gerretzen, Lysbet Sweem. May 26, 1729, Elisabet, Frans Gerbrantsz, Neeltje Corssen. Apr. 19, 1743, France, Frances Gerrebrats, Nieltje Cossen. Sept. 17, 1746, Daniel, frans Gerrtbratse, neeltye corsen. June 26, 1726, Nicolaas, Nicolaas Gerritson, Christina v. Woggelum. Jan. 28, 1728, Susanna, Nicolaas Gerritsen, Christina V. Woggelum. Sept. 14, 1729, Jan, Nicolaas Gerritzon, Christina van Woggelum. Aug. 13, 1732, Lambert, Nicolaas gerritzen, Christina van Woggelum. Aug. 12, 1738, Zeger, Nicolaas Gerritzen, Christina van Woggelum. June 15, 1740, Blandina, Nicolaas Gerritzen, Christina v. Woggelum. , 1742, Zeger, nicklaes Gerresen, Crestina Van Woglom. Sept. 18, 1744, Abraham, Nicolaes Gerresen, Cristina Van Wogelom. June 3, 1734, Marytje, John Gold, Antje Wynants. Oct. 5, 1735, Jan, John Gold, Antje Wynants. Aug. 13, 1716, Johannes, Jacob Gramo. Oct. 26, 1718, Catharina, Jacob Grameaux, Dirkje van Tilburgh. Aug. 6, 1721, Anna Catharina, Jacob de Garemeaux, Dirkje van Til- burgh. Nov. 24, 1723, Matthys, Jacob de grammeaux, Derkje van Tilburgh. May 26, 1728, Agneta, Jacob de Gramo, Dirkje van Tilburgh. Dec. 25, 1731, Jacob, Jacob de Gramo, Dirkje van Tilburgh. Apr. 15, 1734, Dirkje, Jacob ke Gramo, Dirkje van Tilburgh. Oct. 18, 1 7 19, Martinus, Thomas Greegs, Lena du Puy. May 7, 1721, Preternelle, Thomas Greegs, Lena du Puy. May 20, 1722, Anna, Thomas Greegs, Lena du Puy. Apr. 19, 1724, John, Thomas Greegs, Lena du Puy. Dec. 12, 1725, Maria, Thomas Greegs, Lena du Puy. Sept. 15, 1723, Isaak, Abraham Gray, Ariaantje Aarisen. Apr. II, 1731, Pieter, Jeah Grondin, Marguerite du Bois. Oct. 10, 1731, Robbert, Johannes de Groot, Elisabet Sikkels. Feb. I, 1736, Johannes, Johannes de Groot, Elisabet Sikkel. July 30, 1750, Elizabeth, Pieter D Grood, Claertye Post. Aug. 25, 1751, Gerret, Pieter D Grood, Claerty Post. May I, 1753, Johannes, Pieter D Grood, Claertye Post. Apr. 20, 1729, Susanna, Louis Guineau, Anna Cisenu. Nov. 5, 1738, Esther, Elisec GuUedet, Magdelaine Gendron. May 4, 1 7 14, Derckie, Egbert Hagewout. Mar. 8, 1772, Danniel, egbert haugvvout, elener garebrantz. Oct. 16, 1720, Aaltje, Jan Hagewout, Elisabet Hooghlant. Apr. I, 1718, pieter, pieter hagewont. Dec. 26, 1719, Nicolaas, Pieter Hagewout, Neeltje Bakkers. Feb. 25, 1722, Dirkje, Pieter Hagewout, Neeltje Bakkers. Oct. 16, 1726, Egbert, Pieter Hagewout, Neeltje Bakkers. Dec. 22, 1728, Neeltje, Pieter Hagewout, Neeltje Bakkers. Mar. 14, 1731, Jacobus, Pieter Hagewout, Neeltje Bakker. Jan. 13, 1734, Geertruyd, Pieter Hagewout, Neeltje Bakker. Oct. 3, 1736, Margreta, Pieter Hagewout, Neeltje Bakker. 378 HISTORY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. July 28, 175 I, neeltye, Pieter Hagewout, aeltye Bennet. June 24, 1752, Pieter, Pieter Hagewout, aeltye bennet. May I, 1753, Annaetye, Peter Hagewout, aeltye Bennet. July 27, 175s. Gryetye, Pieter Hagewout, Altye Bennet. Mar. 12, 1758, Necclos, Pieter liaagewout. Altye bennet. Apr. 20, 1760, wynant, Peter Haagewout, .^altye bennit, Sept. 28, 1735, Isaak, Symon Hanszen of Symons, Helena Sweem. Aug. 18, 1728, Jacob, Benvamin Haste, Jannesje Johannis. Mar. 29, 1730, Johannes, Benyamin Haste, Jannesje Johannis. Mar. 19, 1731-2, Benjamin, Benjamin Haste, Jannetje Johannis. Aug. 6, 1 72 1, Jacob, Jonannes Hasten, Marytje Johannesz. Mar. 21, 1724-5, Johannes, Johannes Hasten, Marytje Johannetz. Oct. 22, 1707, Daniel, Daniel de Hart. Apr. 17, 1711, Saartie, Daniel de Hart. i7i5> Matthys, Daniel de Hart. Apr. 19, 1715, Elisabeth, Daniel de Hart. Aug. — 1717, Sameuel, Daniel de hart. 1700, Elisabeth, Ryck Hendrickzen. 1700, femmetye, Ryck Hendrickzen. 1700, Marytie, Ryck Hendrickzen. May 22, 1718, Symon, Ryk Hendriksz, Ledy Henriks. May 22, 1718, Jan, Ryk Hendriksz, Ledy Henriks. Feb. 26, 1727, Catharina, Johan Henrick Packer, Anna Maria Juger. Jan. 7, 1722, Sara, Jaques Hervan, Charite Bries. May 17, 1724, Cornelis, Jaques Hervan, Geertje Bries. Sept. 3, 1721, Jenneke, Dirk Hogelant, Maria Slot. Apr. 26, 1748, Cornelia, Christo|5hel Hoogelandt, Jannetye Veghten. May 5, 1696, Marytie, Jores Hoogelandt. Apr. 6, 1735, Rachel, Clement Hooper, Mary Stilwell. May 26, 1723, Joseph, obadias Holmes, Susanna du Puy. May 30, 1725, Susanna, obadias Holmes, Susanna du Puy. June 18, 1727, Johannes, Obadias Holmes, Susanna du Puy. Oct. II, 1743, Elisabet, Johannes huisman, Weintje Seimesen. Oct. 6, 1765, baarent, Johannes Huisman, Antye Merling. Oct. 31, 1756, Mary Miglen, Matteus hus, Attrena hus. Nov. 23, 1718, Anna, Johannes Huysman, Christina Hoppe. Jan. 15, 1721, Rachel, Johannes Huysman, Christina Hoppe. Sept. 4, 1726, Anna, Johannes Huysman, Wyntje Symons. May 26, 1728, Pieter, Johannes Huysman, Wyntje Symons. Feb. 15, 1730, Aarz, Johannes Huysman, Wyntje Simons. Jan. I, 1732, Margareta, Johannes Huysman, Wyntje Sym(ms. Jan. 13, 1734, Johannes, Johannes Huysman, Wyntje Symons. Feb. 29, 1736, Dirk, Johannes Huysman, Wyntje Symons. Dec. 9, 1739, Abraham, Johannes Huysman, Wyntje Symons. July 19, 1748, Jemynna, Johannes Huysman, Wyntye Symensse. Jan. I, 1738, Maria, Johannes Huysman, Wyntje Simons. Apr. 22, 1746, Catherina, Johannes huysman, wyntye Symonson. Jan. 7, 1730, Matthys, Matthys Jniaart, Elisabet Gerritzen. Apr. 22, 1746, nicklaes, matthys inyard, Elizabeth Gerretse. June 12, 1725, Rachel, Gerrit Jacobusz, Ann van nes. Mar. 25, 1701, Jacobus, Jacob Jansen. Apr. 22, 1707, Johanna, Jacob Jansen. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 379 1707, Wyntie, Jacob Jansen. Apr. 19, 1709, Jacobus, Jacob Jans. June 12, 1716, Beletje, Tyes Jansen. May 22, 1718, Maria, Thys Jansz. July 17, 1726, Elisabet, Jan Janssen, Jannetje Glascovv. Apr. 19, 1719, Johannes, Johannes Jansz, Johanna Stol. June 19, 1720, Matthys, Mathys Jansz, Elisabet Ward. Jan, 17, 1722, Rachel, Matlhys Jansz, Elisabet Ward. July 14, 1713, Marytie, Hendrick Jansen. May 29, 1719, Matthys, Hendrik Janszen, Abigail Britton. July 16, 1727, Henrik, Hendrik Janszen, Francyntje Parein. Apr. 22, 1728, Belitje, Hendrik Janszen, Francyntje Parein. Aug. 31, 1729, Esther, Hendrik Janszen obit, Francyntje Parein. Apr. 6, 1724, Sara, Cornelis Janszen, Sara Manbrut. Feb. 20, 1726, Maria, Cornelis Janszen, Sara Manbrut. Dec. 25, 1728, Rachel, Cornelis Janszen, Sara Mambrut. Nov. 10, 1728, Elsje, Jan Janszen, Mayke Verkerk. May 5, 1696, Winnefrit, Lambert Janzen. Sept. 7, 1698, Aefye, Lambert Janzen. Aug. 29, 1731, Wynant, Matthys Janszen, Geertje Wynants. May 30, 1726, Thomas, Thomas Janszen, Antje van Pelt. Dec. 16, 1733, Femmetje, Williem Janszen, Lena van Gelder. Jan. 13, 1737, Henricus, Willem Janszen, Lena van Gelder. Mar. 18, 1739, Wynant, Willem Janszen, Lena van Gelder. 1710, Johannes, Michiel De Jeen. Apr. 17, 1744, Aentje, Jan Jennens, Aeltje Marteling. July 19, 174S, Enne, Joseph Jeuvson, Wenne Johnson. June 5, 1720, Sara, John Jennes, Antje Wouters. Sept. 17, 1748, Willem, John Jenner, .^eltye martlinghs. Sept. I, 1734, Elsje, John Jennes, Johnson. Oct. I, 1752, Elsye, Joh Jenners, aeltye meerlings. Oct. II, 1748, Maria, Lambert Jenners, .-Vnna Martelinghs. Apr. 22, 1746, John or Jan, John Jennens, aeltje martlings. May 6, 1745, Sara, Lummert Jinnens, annatje Marteling. June 24, 1752, Antye, Willem Jinnes, Jannetye Gerretse. June 22, 1735, Esther, Eneas Johnson, Sara Morgan. Feb. 29, 1736, Thomas, Johannes Johnson, Jannetje Glascow. Nov. 7, 1753, Pieter, John Johnson, Cornelia Ceilo. June I, 1729, Albert, Johannes Johnson, Jannetje Glascow. Nov. 19, 1738, Henricus, Nathanael Johnson, Sophia van Gelder. June 17, 1746, Wynant, nathaniel Johnson, Mary Cole. July II, I 731, Francyntje, Niers Johnson, Sara Morgan. Dec. 23, 1739, Sara, Niers Johnson, Sara Morgan. Oct. 2, 1755, Johnneton, Pieter Johnson, malli lister. June 30, 1738, Casparus, Thomas Johnson, Anna Bouwman. July 20, 17 18, Eduard, Eduard Jones, Catharina Dekkers. Nov. 8, 1719, Mattheus, Eduard Jones, Catharina Dekkers. Apr. 22, 1722, Abigail, Eduard Jones, Catharina Dekkers. Aug. 14, 1726, Eduard, Eduard Jones, Catharina Dekkers. June 7, 1730, Maria, John Jones, Rachel van Engelen. Apr. 10, 1732, Elisabet, John Jones, Rachel van Engelen. Mar. 9, 1735, Johannes, John Jones, Rachel van Engelen. 380 HISTOKY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. Sept. i8, 1737, Rachel, John Jones, Rachel van Engelen. Mar. 30, 1740, Lucretia, John Jones, Rachel van Engelen. May 6, 1745 Jan Jones, Ragel Van Engelen. Apr. 22, 1747, Isaac, John Jones, rachel van engelen. June 7, 1743, Catrina, Mateus Jones, Margrietje Gowen. May I, 1753, Jannetye, Abraham Joons, Jannetye peestnet. Dec. 17, 1732, Gillis, Matthys Jniaarx, Elisabet Gerritzen. May 4, 1735, Susanna, Matthys Jniaars, Elisabet Gerritzen. Apr. 23, 1739, Catharina, Matthys Jniaars, Elisabet Gerritzen. July, 30, 1750, Eefye, Joseph Juessen, Wynty Clindinne. Jan. 15, 1721, Johanna, Jan Jurks, Agneetje Staats. May 23, 1723, Pieter, Jan Jurks, Agnietje Staats. Oct. 10, 1725, Rachel, Jan Jurks, Agnietje Staats. Apr. 28, 172S, Catharina, Jan Jurks, Agnietje Staats. May 20, 1746, Joseph Juwsen, Joseph Juwsen, Venne Johnson. July 24, 1752, Sara, David kanon, Aeltye Prael. May 1, 1753, marytye, David kanon, aeltye Prael. May 7, 1 741, Abraham, Jan Kanon, Maria Egberts. June 24, 1752, Jenneke, Joris katraus, Jannetye vreland. Mar. 27, 1720, Samuel, Samuel Kierstede, Lydia Deuy. Apr. 14, 1723, Johannes, Samuel Kierstede, Lydia Deuy. Feb. 14, 1725, Lydia, Samuel Kierstede, Lydia Deuy. Aug. 7, 1754, Liesabet, Jacob Korson, Cornelia Kroeson. Mar. 3, 1734, Samuel, Samuel Kouwenhoven, Sara Drinkwater. Oct. 23, 1 7 II, Cornelis, Gerrit Kroese. Dec. — 1698, raaritje, Heuderyck Kroesen. May 20, 1703, gerret, Henderyck Kroesen. Oct. — 1708, Cornelis, Henderyck Kroesn. Apr. 22, 1713, neelje, Henderyck Kroesen. Aug. 26, 1759, Cornelius, Cornelius kroeson, Beelitye Degroot. Dec. 18, 1755, Geertruy, Gerret Kroesen, Klaasye Blencrof. Oct. 18, 1 7 15, dirrick, Gerrit Kroesen. Apr. I, 1 7 18, son, gerret Kroesen. Oct. 19, 1708, Gornelis, Hendrick Kroesen. , 1715, Neeltie, Hendrick Kroesen. Oct. 30, 1716, Cornelya, Hendrick kroesen. May 5, 1696, Niekasa, Derek Kroessen. Oct. 22, 1701, Derek, Derek Kroessen. July 30, 1707, Hendrick, Derek Kroessen. Sept. 17, 1758, Geertruy, Abraham Kroeson, Antye Symonson. Jan. 14, 1760, Johannis, Abraham kroeson, Antye Symonson, Oct. II, 1748, Claeseye, Gerret kroose, Claesye Blinckerof. Feb. 26, 1758, Isak, Nattenal Laacerman, marya marel. Nov, 3, 1754, Susanna, Nettenel Laakerman, Mareytye Merrel. Oct. 31, 1756, Nettenel, Nettenel Laakerman, Mareytye Merel. June 10, 1747, Jacob, Jan laarens, Caatye backer. May 3, 1749, Jan, John Laarens, Catherina Backer. July 28, 1 75 1, Antye, John Laarns, kaetye Backer. Nov. 26, 1752, Catharina, John laarns, Catharina Backer. Oct. 19, 17 18, Thomas, Thomas Lake, Jannetje Stryker. Mar. 26, 1 731, Abraham, Joseph Lake, Aaltje Barbank. May 23, 1731, Louis, Isak Lakerman, Catharina Christopher. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 381 Feb. :o, 1760, richard, John Larns, Caatye backer. Mar. 3, 1728, Daniel, Pierre La Tourette, Mariamne Mersereaux. Oct. II, 1730, David and Jaques, twins, Pierre La Tourette, Mariamne Mersereaux. Mar. 24, 1734, Marie Siisanne, Pierre La Tourette, Mariamne Mersereaux Apr. 26, 1736, Elisabet, Pierre La Tourette, Mariamne Mersereaux. Mar. 19, 1732, Jaques, David La Tourette, Catherine Poillon. Sept. I, 1734, Marie, David la Tourette, Catherine Poillon. Apr. 24, 1726, David, Jean La Tourette, Marie Mersereaux. Sept. 8, 1728, Marie, Jean La Tourette, Marie mersereaux. Jan. 24, 1 73 1, Henricus, Jean La Tourette, Mane Mersereaux. May II, 173s, Maria, Joseph Leak, Aaltje Barbank. Apr. 13, 1735, Jacob, Richard Lean, Sara Johnson. Oct. 10, 1736, John, Richard Lean, Sara Johnson. Apr. 20, 1708, Joseph, Abraham Leeck. July 25, 1 7 10, Margariet, Abraham Leeck. 17'S, Abraham, Abraham Leeck. Mar. 25, 1701, Jan, Jeems Lesck. July 27, 1755, Necclos, John Lerns, kaatye backer. Sept. II, 1757, Mareia, John Lerns, kaatye backer.' Jan. 21, 1728; Jacob, John Lisk, Rachel Hagewout. Aug. 24, 1729, Sara, Thomas Lisk, Catlyntje van Pelt. Mar. 26, 1731, Margriet, Thomas Lisk, Catlyntje van Pelt. Nov. 4, 1736, Sara, Thomas Lisk, Catlyntje van Pelt. May 6, 1745, Martha, tomas lisk, Catlintje van Pelt. Sept. 17, 1746, antye, thomas leisk, catlyna Van Pelt. Dec 5, 1 73 1, Neeltje, John Lion, Maria Haumens Bouwman. 171S1 Elisabeth, Engelbart Lot. June 18, 1717, Pieter, Engelbart ].,ot. Aug. 6, 1745, Wellem, John Lawrance, Derkje Van pelt. May 21, 1744, Elisabet, Carel Mackleen, Maria Corsen. Jan, I, 1721, Maria, William Mackelien, Elisabet Merl. Oct. 13, 1747, Jannetye, Charles McClean, Maria corsen. Nov. 7, 1753, Maria, Charles McLean, Maria Corsen, Sept. iQ, 1749, Willem, Cherles makleen, Marytye Corsen. Apr. 20, 1708, Margriet, Jan Maklies. May 26, 1723, Abraham, Abraham Manez. Anna Jansen. Apr. 20, 1729, Petrus, Abraham Manez, Sara du Chine. Oct. 25, 1730, Antje, Abraham Manez, Sara du Chene. ^ Jan. 4, 1732, Maria, Abraham Manez, Sara du Chesne. Apr. 4, 1736, Catherine, Abraham Manez, Sara du Chesne. Mar. 26, 1738, Rachel, Abraham Manez, Sara du Chesne. Mar. 30, 1740, Sara, Abraham Manez, Sara du Chesne. Aug. 8, 1725, Maria, Pieter Manez, Mary Brooks. Jan. 1, 1758, John, John marel, Anna marel. Aug. 13, 1716, Isack, Pieter Marlyngh. Aug. 6, 174s, Maria, Barent Marteling, Susana Gerresen. Oct. 13, 1747, Jannety, barent martlinghs, Susanna gerretse. Apr. 15, 1722, Anna, Isaak Martling, Anna van Namen. Jan. 10, 1724-5, Aaltje, Isah Martling, anna van namen. Feb. 21, 1731, Johannes, Isaak Martling, Anna van Namen. June I, 1718, Petrus, Pieter Martlings, Antje Vielen. 382 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. June 26, 1720, Barent, Pieter Martlings, Antje Vilen. Aug. 19, 1722, Debora, Pieter Martlings, Antje Vilen. Nov. 18, 1733, Catharina, Pieter Martlings, Marytje Andries. Oct. II, 1743, Johannes, peter marteling, annatje hegeman. Apr. 26, 1748, Johannes, Piter martlings, Jannetye Heereman. Apr. 22, 1746, rachel, Josua niasciro, maria Corsen. Jan. I, 1760, inarya, John Marssero, Marya Praal. Mar. 4, 1759, John, Denel marsero, Cornelia vanderbilt. Oct. 31, 1750, Mareya, Jacob marsero, fitye rol. July 27, 1755, Cattriena, Cherls mechleen, maria Corson. Oct. 31, 1756, Annaetye, tammas Merel, eva yoons. Aug. 26, 1759, tammes, tammas Merel, eva yoons. Jan. I, 1721, Lambert, Richard Merl, Elsjc Dorlant. Sept. 13, 1724, Susanna, Richard Merl, Elsje Dorlant, Sept. 22, 1709, Richard, Richart Merrel. 1715. Richard, Richart Merrel. Apr. 1, 1708, elsje, Richart Merrel. Sept. 14, 1 741, Jan, Jan Merrel, .^eltie Bennit. May 6, 1745, Sara, Jan Merrel, Aeltje Bennet. May 6, 1745, Seimon, Jan Merrel, .\eltje Bennet. Oct. 2, 1755, Sara, John merrel, Anna merrel. Apr. 19, 1743, Annatje, Richard Merrell, Jannetje Gowns. Nov. 7, 1753, Wintie, Jan Merrell, Anna Merrell. May 3, 1749, Gertruyt, John Merrell, Anna merrell. July 4, 1725, Catharina and Susanna, twins, Philip Merril, Elisabet Bakker. Feb. 24, 1727, Phillip, Phillip Merril, Elisabet Bakker. Sept. 9, 1726, Geertruyd, John Merril, Geertruyd Symonsz. Oct. 31, 1736, Annatie, Richard Merril, Thomas Zoon, Jenne Gewan. Nov. 24, 1728, Nicolaas, Philip Merril, Elisabet Bakker. Jan. 17, 1731, Mary, Philhp Merril, Elisabet Bakker. Apr. 8, 1733, Elisabet, Philip Merril, Elisabet Bakker. Mar. 9, 1735, Neeltje, Philip Merril, Elisabet Bakker. Mar. 8, 1772, anney, honnis merril, cherrety merril. Jan. I, 1738, Margareta, Richard Merril, Thomas Zoon, Jenne Gewan. Apr. 22, 1747, richard, Johannes Merrill, aeltye Dennet. Apr. 22, 1747, Joida, John merrill, antye merrill. Dec. 12, 174s, Elsse, Lodewik Metchel, Ragel Sayler. Nov. 2, I 7 18, Elisabet, Charles Messiel, Marytje. Aug. 30, 1 7 19, Aaje and Abraham, twins, Johannes Metselaar, Cath- ryna neesjes. Oct. 15, 1721, Harmpje, Johannes Metzelaar, Cathryna Neesjes. July 21, 1723, Cornells, Johannes Metzelaar, Cathryna Neesjes. Dec. 26, 1725, Cornnelis and Sara, twins, Johannes Metzelaar, Cath- ryna neesjes. Feb. II, 1728, Joha.nnes, Johannes Metzelaar, Tryntje Neesjes. Apr. 19, 1715. Jacobus, Abraham Metzelaer. July 8, 1722, Harmpje, Pieter Metzelaar, Maria Neesjes. June 7, 1724, Cornelius, Peter Metzelaar, Maria Neesjes. June 26, 1726, Aaghije, Pieter Metzelaar, Maria Neesjes. May 20, 1750, abraham, Pieter meerlings Jun. anne Heereman. Sept. 17, 1752, Benyaman, Pieter meerlings Junier, Annaetye Heereman. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 383 June 24, 1752, Antye, Barent meerlings, Susanna Gerretse. Daniel, Estienne Mersereaux, Anne Michel. Jan. I, 1735, Marie, Estienne Mersereaux, Anne Mitchel. May 25, 1740, Richard, Estienne Mersereaux, Anne Mitchel. Oct. 13, 1728, Josua, Josue Mersereaux, Maria Corsen. May 24, 1730, Jacob, Josue de mersereaux, Maria Corssen. Mar. 26, 1732, Johannes, Josue Mersereaux, Maria Corssen. Jan. 20, 1734, Elisabet, Josue Mersereaux, Maria Corssen. Oct. 9, 1768, Allada, John Mercereau, Mary Prall. Feb. 28, 1731, Josua, Jean Mersersaux, Elisabet Creage. July 18, 1731, Daniel, Jean Mersereaux, Elisabet Mersereaux. Apr. 22, 1707, Hendriekie, Evert Mesker. , 1707, Necltie, Evert Mesker. , 1715, Mattheus, Evert Mesker. , 1707, Neeltie, Harmen Mesker. July 23, 1707, Johannes, Harmen Mesker. Oct. ig, 17 14, Abraham, Harmen Mesker. Nov. 7, 1749, Barent, Barent merilings Juner, Susanna Gerretse. Jan. I, 1739, Francyntje, Thomas Milbourn, Anna Preyer. Apr. 22, 1747, harmentye, leuues mitchel, rachel tyler. Nov. 7, 1749, Joannis, Lewis Mitchel, Rachel Teeler. Apr. 18, 1743, Elisabet, Josua Mossero, Maria Corsen. July 4, 1731, Elisabet, Laurens More, Sara Mambrut. July 7, 1734, Johannes, Laurens More, Sara mambrut. Aug. 20, 1738, Rachel, Laurens More, Sara Mambrut. Oct. 23, 1703, Margrietye, Jarels Morgen. Apr. 20, 1708, Sarah, Jarels Morgen. May 9, 1725, Maria, Charles Morgan, Sara Lorson. Dec. ri, 1726, Thomas, Charles Morgan Jun'r, Sara Rutan. June 28, 1730, Abrahm, Charles Morgan, Sara Rutan. July 30, 1732, Charles, Charles Morgan, Sara Rutan. •Apr- 7, 1735, Thomas, Charles Morgau, Sara Rutan. May 5. 1696, Abraham, Thomas Morgen. Sept. 7, 1698, Martha, Thomas Morgen. Feb. 7, 1725, Elisabet, Thomas Morgan, Magdalena Staats. Feb. 12, 1727, Magdalena, Thomas Morgan, Magdalena Staats. Mar. 9, 1729, Pieter, Thomas Morgan, Magdalena Staats. Oct. 10, 1731, Thomas, Thomas Morgan, Magdalena Staats. July 18, 1736, Annatje, Thomas Morgan, Magdalena Staats. Sept. 16, 1739, Sara, Thomas Morgan, Magdalena Staats. Apr. 22, 1746, Pieter, Pieter nartlings, anna heeveman. 1700, Metye, Cornelis Neesies. 17071 Cornelis, Cornelis Neesies. Dec. 13, 1724, Pieter, Johannes Neesjes, Antje gerritsz. June 19, 1717, Eeohtje, Jornis nestjes. Sept. 13, 1 7 19, Johannes, Joris Netsjes, Willempje Borkelo. Oct. 15, 1721, Margarietje, Joris Neesjes, Willempje Borkelo. Jan. 12, 1724, Pieter, Joris Neesjes, Willempje Borkelo. Jan. 30, 1426, Aaghje, Joris Neesjes, Willempje Borkelo. Sept. 14, 1718, Dirkje, Johannes Neul, Geertje Hagewout. Mar. 6, 1720, Henrik, Johannes Neul, Geertje Hagewout. Dec. 24, 1721, Margareta, Johannes Neul, Geertje Hagewout. 384 JIISTORY OF RICiniOND COUNTY. Apr. 17, 17 1 1, Cornell's, Joris Nevins. 1715. Margrietie, Joris Nevins. 17151 JaOi Joris Nevins. Oct. 23, 171 1, Cornells, Johannes Nevins. July 14, 1713, Gerrit, Johannes Nevins. Sept. 16, 1739, Carel, Carel nyts, Rebecca Winter. Sept. 8, 1717, Annetje, Cornelis Oenaert Apr. 19, 170Q, Margarietie, Donckin Oliver. July 27, 1718, Catharina, Samuel Olivier, Catharina du Puy. Aug. 12, 1722, Petronella, Samuel Oliver, Catharina du Puy. Jan. 16, 1734, Eduard, Jean Parlie, Abigail Jones. Jan. 20, 1740, Petrus, Pierre Parlier, Martha du Bois. June 13, 1736, Pieter, Jean Parliez, Abigail Jones. Apr. 26, 1748, Adriaen, Johannes Pelt, Anna Huysman. June 13, I 731, Jannetje, George Personet, Jannetje Mangels. Aug. 17, 1735, Johannes, George Personet, Jannetje mangels. May 31, 1730, Elisabet, Charles Petit, Anna Perliez. June 7, 1730, Willem Jorisze, Arent Praal, Marytje Bouwman. Oct. 7, 1733, Henricus, Arent Praal, Marytje Bouwman. May II, 1735, Henderske, arent Praal, Marytje Bouwman. June 6, 1715, Elisabeth, Aron Praal Junior. Apr. 17, 17 17, Aaron, Aron Paraal. Feb. 14, 1720, Anna, Arent Praal Junior, Antje Staats. Sept. 20, 1724, Pieter, Arent Praal Junior, Antje Staats. July 28, 1 75 1, Lowies, Isaak Prael, marya de baa. Nov. 2, 1754, Abraham, beniemen Praal, Sara Sweem. Aug. 26, 1766, Johannis, beniemen Praal, Sara Sweem. Apr. 13, 1742, Catharina, Isaac Praal, Maria du bois. July 19, 1748, Maragritye, ysaac Praal, Maria Dubaa. Oct. II, 1 7 19, Aaltje, Johannes Praal. 1698, Arent, Pieter Praal. 1705, Abiaham, Pieter Praal. Oct. 21, 1707, Antie, Pieter Praal. July 25, 1 7 10, Isaac, Pieter Praal. May 21, 1744, Petrus, Isaak Pral, Maria Du bois. Sept. 16, 1746, Allye, ysack prael, maria de baa. Sept. 8, 171 7, pieter, Valeteyn Presser. Feb. 17, 1722-3, Andries, Jacob Preyer, Lea Beekman. July 31, 1726, Johanna, Jacob Preyer, Lea Beekman. Feb. 14, 1732, Pieter, Jacob Preyer, Lea Beekman. May 20, 1722, Anna, Johannes Preyer, Maria Ral. Dec. 12, 1725, Andries, Johannes Preyer, Maria Rail. Oct. 20, 1728, Jannetje, Johannes Preyer, Maria Rail. Mar. 18, 1733, Catharina, Johannes Preyer, Marytje Roll. June 10, 1747, Jan, andries Pryor, helena Dorlandt. 1698, Jan, Thomas Possel. Aug. 7, 1754, Gerrit, Gerrit Post, Sara ellis. Mar. 12, 1758, Abraham, Gerrit Post, Sara ellis. Apr. 19, 1743, Abraham, Johannes post, Antje huisman. July 28, 1751, Leya, Johannes Post, Antye Huysman. Oct. 22, 1707, Elisabeth, Johan Pue. July 27, 1714, Moses, Johan Pue. BISTOUY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 385 Dec. 9, 1739, Elsje, Barent du Puy, Elsje Poillon. Oct. 9,-1726, Mattheus, Nicolaas du Puy, Neeltje Dekkers. June 27, 1726, Johannes, Nicolaas du Puy, Neeltje Dekkers. Jan. 4, 1730, Nicolaas, Nicolaas du Puy, Neeltje Dekkers. Oct. 29, 1732, Moses, Nicolaas du Puy, Neeltje Dekker. Aug. 26, 1739, Aaron, Nicolas du Puy, Neeltje Dekkers. May 26, 1740, Fytje, Jan Ral Junior, Fytje van Boskerk. May 20, 1746, Abraham, Joseph ralph, neeltye Croese. Apr. 26, 1748, Benyamen, Joseph Ralph, Neeltye Kroose. Nov. 7, 1749, Elizabeth, Joseph Ralph, Neltye kroesen. Oct. 18, 1715, Elesabet, Reick Reyken. May 6, 1745, Susanna, Jacob Resoe. Susanna Merrel. July 24, 1752, Geertruy, Jacob reso, Susanna merrel. Nov. 2, 1754, Catriena, Jacob resoo, Susanna merel. July 17,1720, Lea, Joh: Richaud, Amy Carber. Oct. 20, 1728, Elsje, Johannes Richand, Amy Corbet. Sept. 17, 1748, margret, William Richardson, Anne fisher. Apr. 23, 1707, Jacob, Johannes Richau. Oct. 22, 1707, Daniel, Paul Richau. Dec. 25, 1725, Rachel, Johannes Richaud, Amy Carbet. Apr. 20, 1708, Isaack, Johannes Richgan. Apr. 17, 171 1, Mary, Sohannes Richgan. 1715. Antie, Johannes Richgan. June 18, 1745, Ragel, Abraham Rigga, annatje Van Woglom. May 23, 1749, Philip, Charlens RoUens, Susanna merrell. Sept. i8, 1744, Cornelia, Joseph Rolph, Nieltje Croesen. Apr. 19, 1743, Weintje, Jacob Rooso, Susanna Merrel. Feb. 25, 1739, Petrus. Jacob Roseau, Susanne merril. Sept. 14, 1 7 18, Nicolaas, gerret Rosen, Judith Toers. Aug. 13, 1717, Jacob, Pieter Rycke. Mar. 25, 1701, Johanes, Pieter Rycken. Apr. 20, 1703, Hendricus, Peter Rycken. Apr. 23, 1706, Pieter, Pieter Rycken. Apr. 17, 171 1, Abraham, Pieter Rycken. July 14, 1714, Isaac, Pieter Rycken. Feb. 16, 1755, Luwes, Adriaan Ryerse, Hester Debaa. Aug. 17, 1718, Femmetje, Abraham Ryke, Anneken Oliver. Jan. 25, 1 720-1, Abraham, .Abraham Ryke, Anneke Oliver. Nov. 23, 1 7 15, Abraham, Johannes Ryke. Oct. 19, 1718, Femmetie, Ryk Ryken. Oct. 23, 1711, Lena, Ryk Ryken. May 4, 1 7 14, Sofia, Ryk Ryken. Mar. 15, 1 719, Henricus, Ryk Ryken, Willempje Clement. Dec. 18, 1726, Rebecca, Albert Rykman, Catharina Christopher. Oct. 26, 1729, Albert, Albert Rykman, (obit), Cathrina Christopher. May 20, 1722, Maria, Jacob Ryt, Anna Ral. Sept, 25, 1757, Hanna, richard Sandars, ragel. Oct. 5, 1760, Sara, richard Sandars, ragel. Dec. 22, 1728. Jacoba, Corn: v. Santvoord, Anna Staats. Oct. 7, 1733, Zeger, Corn: v. Santvoord, Anna Staats. Mar. 6, 1720, Maria Catharina, Corn: v. Santvoord, Anna Staats. July 23, 1721, Anna, Corn: v. Santvoord, Anna Staats. 25 386 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Mar. 8, 1723. Cornelius, Corn: v. Santvoord. .\nna Staats. Mar. 21, 1725, Staats, Corn: v. Santvoord, Anna Staats. July 27, 1755, Susanna, John Schinnis, Aaltye Maerling. Apr. 17, 1720, Adriaan, Ary Schouten, Maria van Pelt. June 3, 1722, Anna, Israel du Secoy, Geertruydvan Deventer. Apr. 20. 1703, Gabriel, Marcus Du Secoy. Sept. 22, 1723, Johannes, Job du Secov, Sarah Denis. Dec. 12, 1725, Jonas, Jean Seguin, Elizabet Hooper. Mar. 3, 1728, Sara, Jaques Seguin, Lady mambrut. Mar. 19, 1732, Jean, Jaques Seguin, Lady Mambru. Mar. ig, 1732, Jaques, Jean Seguin, Elizabet Hooper. June 12, 1716, tabeta, Sande Semson. May I, 1753, Antye, Chrisstoffel Seymonse, Catharina van Schuere. Nov. 26, 1752, Sara, Daniel Seymonse, mareytye Decker. Sept. 16, 1746, maria, Seymon Seymonse. Sara Von pelt. Oct. 13, 1728, Jacob, Fredrik Sharman, Margreta Winter. July 19, 1730, Thomas, Fredrik Sharman, Margreta winter. July 27, 1755, Saartye, Daneel Silof. Henne klerrc. Aug. 26, 1759, Danel, Danel Silof, Henne klac. Aug. 7, 1754, Clandiena, Pieter Sielof, Marya vanpelt. May 6, 1745, Catrina, Cristofel Simesen, Catrina Van Seuren. Apr. 19, 1743, Cristofel, Cristofel Simeson, Catrina Van Schuerse. June 7, 1743, Blandena, Hans Siraonsen, antje Van pelt. Apr. 13, 1742, Van Pelt, Simon Simonsse, Sara van Pelt. May 3, 1749, Jeremyah, Simon Sinionsen, Helena Sweem. June 8, 173s, Thomas, Thomas Simon, Maria Johnson. Apr. 20, 1708, Simon, .\ert Simonszen. , 1710, Hans, Aert Simonszen. Oct, 23, 171 1, Aert, Aert Simonszen. July 14, 1713, Aert, Aert Simonszen. May II, 1729, Aaltje, Jan Philip Simsenbach, Ule Catharina Pikk- erling. May 2, 1754, Lammert, Wellem Sinnis, yannetye gerretse. Mar. 26, 1732, Pieter, Matthew Skane, Jannetje Tites. Dec. 4, 1768, Peggy, Abraham Skirmen, Alizabeth. Oct. 22, 1707, Johan, Barent Slecht. Apr. 19, 1709, Cornelis, Barent Slecht. Mar. 27, 1720, Maria, Henrik Slecht, Catharina Wynants. Jan. 7, 1722, Hilletje, Henrik Slecht, Catharina Wynants. Dec. 13, 1724, Barent, Henrik Slecht, Catharina Wynants. Mar. 20, 1726, Jacob, Henrik Slecht, Catharina Wynants. Mar. 17, 1728, Jan, Henrik Slecht, Catharina Wynants. Apr. 17, 1720, Cornelia and Catharina, twins, Johannes Slecht, Cathar- ina Berger. Feb. 29, 1736, Elisabet, Johannes Slecht, Elisabet van Engelen. Dec. 9, 1739, Catharina, Johan Adam Schmit, Maria Margareta Staat. July 23, 1707, Annetie, Johannes Smack. July 26, 1711, Marytie, Johannes Smack. '7°7. Jsn. Thomas Sotten. Feb. 25, 1721-2, Syrje, Baay Spier, Catalyntje Hasten. July 27, 1755, Edword, Willim Spree, Cattriena Maerling. .Feb. 26, 1758, Caty, Willim Spree, Cattriena maarling. HISTORY OF RIOHAIOND COUNTY. 387 Mar. 25, T760. — Willim Spree, Cattrena maarling. Oct. 21, 1707, Isaak, Abraham Staats. May 5, 1696, Cornelia, Johan Staats. June 20, 1700, Annetye, Johan Staats. Oct. 22, 1707, Rebecka, Johan Staats. Apr. 20, 1708, Edmond. Pieter Staats. May 4, 1 7 14, Pieter, Pieter Staats. June 7, /731, Francyntje, Daniel Stillwell, Marie Poillon. Apr. 4, 1736, Daniel, Daniel Stillwell, Maria Poillon. Mar. 26, 1738, Jaques, Daniel Stillwell, Marie Poillon. July 31, 1737, Catharina, Daniel Stilwell, Catharine Lazilier. Nov. 25, 1739, Richard, Daniel Stilwell, Catherine Lazelier. Jan. 30, 1726, Thomas, Elias Stilwell, Anna Barbank. Mar. 24, 1728, Daniel, Elias Stilwell. Anna Barbank. Nov. 15, 1719, Johannes, Jan Stilwell, Elisabet Pardin. June 24, 1752, Eleyas, Jan Stilwil, helena van namen. May 23, 1749, Richard, Joachim Stillewel, Anna Jenners. July 28, 1751, Jan, Joackim Stilwils, antye Jinnes. Sept. 21, 1735, Nicolas, Richard Stilwell, Jenneke van namen. Dec. 22, 1723, Thomas, Thomas Stilwell, Sara van Namen. June 10, 1747, Elias, Thomas Stillwell, debora martlings. Sept. 17, 1752, Annaetye, thomas Stillewil, Debera meerlings. Feb. 16, 1755, Antoni, tammes Stillwel, nensy founten. Sept. 6, 1 719, Willem and Daniel, twins, Willem Stilwell, obiit, Sara Pareyn. Sept. 5, 1 731, Christoffel, Jan Philip Sumsenback, Ule Cathrina Pik- kerling. Oct. 18, 1715, Magyel (son), Wellem Swane. May 5, 1728, Maria, Anthony Sweem, Anna Brooks. Nov. 7, 1 73 1, Johannes, Barent Sweem, Marie Canon. Apr. 20, 1708, Annetie, Johannes Sweem. Apr. 17, 1711, Magdalena, Johannes Sweem. Oct. 19, 1714, Antie, Johannes Sweem. , 1715, Martha, Johannes Sweem. , 1715, Tys, Johannes Sweem. Apr. 1, 1718, Lysabet, Johannes Sweem. Oct. 18, 1 7 15, Albert, Johannes Swame. July 20, 1 718, Jan, Johannis Sweem, Senior, Jannetje La Forge. Mar. I, 1 7 19, Jacobus, Joh: Sweems, Anthonysz, Mary Rue. Aug. 25, 1723, Elisabet, Johannes Sweem, Mary Ferine. Apr. 22, 1 7 18, Rachel, Johannes Sweem, Mary Row. Oct. 5, 1760, Marya, John Sweem, Cornelia bergen. , 1707, Maydaleen, Matthys Sweem. Apr. 19, 1719, Anthony, Matthys Sweem, Catharina Mangels Ral. Oct. 22, 1727, Jannetje, Matthys Sweem, Catharina Mangels Rol. Apr. 21, 1734, .Matthias, Matthys Sweem, Cathrina Mangels Rol. Apr. 19, 1743, Matties, Mateis Swem, Catrina Merrel. May 6, 1745, Martinus, Mattas Swem, Catrina Merrel. Sept. 16, 1746, benyamen, matthys Sweem, catherina merrill. May 23, 1749, Catherina, Matthys Sweem, Catherina merrell. July 28, 1751. Isaak, Mathys Sweem, Chatarina Merril. May I, 1753, Susanna, matheus Swem, Catharina merrel. 388 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Sept. i8, 1737, Geertruyd, Tys Sweeni. Cafharina Merril. Mar. 18, 1739, Johannes, Tys Sweem, Catharina Merril. Oct. 18, 1719, Johannes, Willem Sweem, Marya Lageler. Mar. 18, 1722, Cornelius, Willem Sweem, Marie Lageler. — , Abraham, Symon, Prael. Oct. 6, , Vredrick, Symonse, Sweem. Nov. 4, i754,fransintye, Aart Symenson, fransintye Morgon. June 10, 1717, Christoffel, Auert Symensen. Aug. s, 1722, Anna, Aart Synions, Margriet Daniels. July 26, 1724, Daniel, Aart Symons, Margriet Daniels. Oct. 16, 1726, Susanna, Aart Symons, Margriet Daniels. July 14, 1728, Barent, Aart Symons, Margriet Daniels. Aug. 23, 1730, Cornelius, Aart Symons, Margriet Daniels. Aug. 4, 1734, Isaak, Aart Symons, Margriet Daniels. Mar. 25, 1 701, Wyntie, Barent Symessen. , 1707, Johannes, Barent Symessen. , 1 7 10, Aron, Barent Symessen. Aug. 24, 1718, Maria, Barent Symonssen, Apollonia Messeker. June 17, 1746, Symon, christoffel Symonse, Catherina Van Spensc. April 26, 1748, nicholaes, Christophel Symonson, Catherina van Schaarc. Jan. 24, 1759, barant, Cornells Symonson, liesebat depne. June 9, 1754, , Daniel Symeson, Mally Decker. Feb. 26, 175S, Abraham, Daniel Symenson, Mally Dacker. Sept. 14, 1735, Annatje, Hans Symons, antje van Pelt. Jan. 7, 1739, Maria, Hans Synions, Antje van Pelt. May 23, 1749, Wyntye, Hans Symonse, Anna Van Pelt. June 12, 1720, Jeremias, Isaak Symons, Antje vand'r Bilt. July 8, 1722, Maria, Isak Symonsz, Antje vand'r Bilt. Dec. 17, 1732, Isaak, Isaak Symons, Neeltje Coteleau. Feb. II, 1733, Antje, Johannes Symons, Dina van Leuwen. June 22, 1735, Isak, Johannes Symons, Dina van Leuwen. Oct. 3, 1736, Geertje, Johannes Symons, Dina van Leeuwen. Sept 9, 1739, Aaltje, Johannes Svmons, Dina van Lawa. June 9, 1742, Johannes, Johannes Symonsse, Suster Corsse May 20, 1746. Johannes, Johannes Symonson, Antye Van Pelt. July 21, 1758, Geertruy, Johnnis Symonson, Antye banpelt. Oct. 2, 1755, Marretye, rem Symeson, Geertroy boskere. May 2, 1725, Antje, Symon Symonsz, Maria Woertman. Apr. 9, 1727, Marritje, Symon Symonsz, Maria Woertman. Mar. i6, 1729, Maria, Symon Symonsz, Maria Woertman. Apr. II, 1 73 1, Simon, Symon Symonsz, Maria Woertman. July 15, 1733, Cornelia, Symon Symonsz, Maria Woertman. Aug. I, 1736, Anna, Symon Symonsz Aarts Zoon, Sara van Pelt. Nov. 4, 1739, Aaltje, Symon Symons aarts Zoon, Sara van Pelt. Apr. 17, 1744, Art, Symen Symonson, Sara Van pelt. July 19, 1748, Elizabeth, Symon Symonson, Sarah van Pelt. May 2, 1754, Johennis, Symon Symeson, Sara vanpelt. Dec 18, 1755, Eevert, Symon Symeson, Sara van Pelt. Nov. 20, 1757, Sara, Symon Symonson, Sara vanpelt. Oct. 23, 171 1, Ephrum, Abraham Talor. May I, 1715, Altje, Abram Talor. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 389 Nov. 23, 1715, maregriet, Abraam taylor. Aug. 21, 1720, Rachel, Abraham Tailor, Harmpje Hagewout. Nov. 25, 1722, Aaltje, Abraham Tailor, Harmpje Hagewout. July 4, 1725, Pieter, Abraham Tailor, Harmpje Hagewout. Apr. 6, 1729, Ephraim, Abraham Tailor, Harmpje Hagewout. Jan. 8, 1720-1, Isaak, Auke Tansz, Catharina Sabering. Nov. 23, 1715, Johannes, Pieter telburgh. Sept. 16, 1746, david, Samuel teeler, Suster Waggelom. May 5, 1696, Margrielie, Ephraim Thealer. 1696, Jan, Ephraim Thealer. Aug. I, 1731, Margreta, Timothy Thorp, Margrietje Heermans. Aug. I, 1731, Abigail, John Thorp, AppoUonia Heermans. Jan. 16, 1732, Marytje, Teunis Ticbout, Margrietje Drinkwater. Jan. 14, 1733, Teunis, Teunis Tiebout, Margrietje Drinkwater. Dec. II, 1720, Willem, Pieter van Tilburgh, Metje Bouvvman. Feb. 24, 1727, Henricus, Pieter van Tilburgh, Metje Bouwman. Feb. 25, 1722, Cornelis, Syrah Tites, Aaltje Webs. Aug. 16, 1724, Aaltje, Tites Tites, Blandina van Pelt, Apr. 10, 1726, Sara, Tites Tites, Blandina van Pelt. Mar. 24, 1728, Maria, Titus Titusz, Blandina van Pelt. Mar. 6, 1730, Syrah, Titus Titusz, Blandina van Pelt. Apr. 15, 1734, Antje, Titus Titusz, Blandina van Pelt. May 2, 1736, Marytje, Titus Titusz, Blandina van Pelt. May 26, 1740, Teunis, Tites Titesz, Blandina van Pelt. June 25, 1727, Benjamin, Woodhul Tourneur, Anna Lawrence. Mar. 29, 1725, \Villem, Willem Tribs, Catlyna de Hart. Apr. I, 1718, Jorms, Pieter tylborgh. Aug. 2, 1705, Elisabeth, Cornelis Tyssen. Safya, Tytes, Van Pelt. Oct. 30, 1 7 16, Saertie, Seynien van Amen. Apr. 22, 1728, Rachel, .Matthys van Brakel, Rachel Jansz. Mar. 30, 1730, Maria, Matthys van Brakel, Rachel Jansz. Apr. 19, 1709, Laurens, Hendrick Van Campen. Apr. 17, 17 1 1, Lammert, Hendrick Van Campen. 171S1 Aeltie, Hendrick Van Campen. 1 7 'Si Hendrick, Hendrick Van Campen. Apr. 17, 1717, Johanes, Hendrick Van Campen. Apr. 23, 1707, Martha, Johannes Van Campen. Apr. II, 171 1, Christina, Johannes Van Campen. June 6, 1 7 15, Arent, Johannes Van Campen. Apr. 17, 17 17, gerret, oydeon Van Campen. Apr. 26, 1736, Jan, Cornelius van Cleef, Sara Mashal. July 27, I 714, Geesie, Rut Van Den Bergh. Oct. 21, 17:3, Hilletie, Rem Van De Bilt. July 21, 1758, Liesabet, Conradus vanderbeeck, Catlyntye Lisk. July 26, 1 7 19, Jan, Rem vander Beek, Dorothea Cateleau. May 28, 1721, Rem, Rem vander Beek, Dorothea Cateleau. June 2, 1723, Jaques, Rem vander Beek, Dorothea Coteleau. Jan. 21, 1728, Dorothea, Rem vander Beek. Dorothea Coteleau. June 18, 1745, Doritje, Jan Van Derbek, Annatje Martens. June 3, 1736, Lena, Rem vander Beek, Dorothea Coteleau. Mar. 27, 1720, Hilletje, Jacob vand'r Bjlt, Neelje Denys. 390 HISTOKY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Feb. 3, 1722-3, Jacobus, Jacob vander Bilt, Neeltje Denys. Dec. 25, 1725, Magdalena, Jacob vander Bilt, Neeltje Denys. Dec. 25, 1728, Johannes, Jacob vander Bilt, Neeltje Denys. Oct. 24, 1731, Cornelius, Jacob vander Bilt, Neeltje Denys. Feb. 24, 1734, Antje, Jacob vander Bilt, Neeltje Denysz. May 19, 1739, Femmetje, Jacob vand'r Bilt, Neeltje Denys. Jan. 21, 1739, Gerrit, Hendrik vander Hoef, Eva Slot. Apr. 19, 1719, Lea, Job: vand'r Hoeven, Anna Sweeni. Mar. 18, 1722, Cornelius, Johannes vand'r Hoeven, Anna Sweem. Feb. 2, 1723-4 Lea, Johannes vandr Howen, Anna Sweem. May 29, 1726, Elizabet, Johannes vander Hoeven, Anna Sweem. Feb. 18, 1728, Johannes, Johannes vander Hoeve, Anna Sweem. Jan. 24, 1731, Anthony, Johannes vandr Hoeven, Anna Sweem. Aug. 13, 1727, Catharina, Jacob van Dyk, Catharina van Brunt. Feb. 8, 1730, Catharina, Jacob van Dyk, Catharina van Brunt. Feb. 13, 1732, Zacheus, Jacob van Dyk, Catharina van Brunt. Apr. 14, 1734, Cornelius, Jacob van Dyk, Catharina van Brunt. 1698, Annetie, Hendrick Van Dyck. June II, 1 72 1, Henricus, Lambert van Dyk, Marritje Hogelant. ."^pr. 14, 1723, Elisabet, Lambert van Dyk, Marritje Hooglant. Oct. 22, 1709, Rachel, Ahasuerus Van Engelen. Apr. 17, 1718, Johannes, Ahasuerus Van Engelen. Aug. 9, 1719, Frederyk, Hendrik van Leuwen, Geurtje Cateleau. Oct. 6, 1727. Lena, Hendrik van Leuwen, Geurtje Coteleau. July 19, 1748, Aron, Aron Van namen, Maria Maclean, July 28, 1 75 1, rachel, Aron van namen, Mary Mackleen. Mar. 23, 1760, Moses. Aron Vannamen, Maria Macleen. Feb. 16, 1755, Antye, Aron Vannamen, Maria Macleen. Apr. 12, 1719, Johannes, Engelbert van Namen, Marytje de Camp. Oct. 15, 1 72 1, Sara and Mcria, twins, Engelbert van Namen, Marytje de Camp. Apr. 22, 1709, Joseph, Evert Van Namen. Aug. 3, 1718, Alaria, Evert van Namen, Wyntje Benham. May 18, I 718, Pieler, Johannes Van Namen. Mar. 29, 1725, Sara. Johannes van Namen, Marytje van Pelt. Aug. 17, 1 718, Aaron, Symon van Namen, Sara Praal. Feb. 21, 1725, Moses, Simon van Namem, Sara Praal. , , Jannetye, Van Pelt, Valkenburgh. Oct. 13, 1747, maria, Antoni Van Pelt, Jannetye Symonse. July 30, 1750, Elizabeth, Antony Van Pelt, Jenneke Seymense. Jan. I, 1760, Sara, Antony vanpelt, Jenneke Symeson. Dec. 10, 1 721, Maria, Aart van Pelt, Christina Jmmet. May 5, 1696, Annetie, Hendrick Van Pelt. Mar. 25, 1701, Aeltie, Hendrick Van Pelt. Apr. 12, 1 7 19, Catlyntje, Hendrik van Pelt, Margrietje de Hart. Jan. I, 1721, Hendrik, Hendrik van Pelt, Margrietje de Hart. Apr. 17, 1 71 1, Jan, Jacob Van Pelt. — , 1715, Derckie (girl\ Jacob Van Pelt. — , 1 7 15, Marytie, Jacob Van Pelt. Apr. 16, 1717, Pieter, Jacob Van pelt. Nov. 8, 1719, Cytlyntje, Jacob van Pelt, Aaltje Hagewout. Sept. 27, 1724, Catlyntje, Jacob Van Pelt, .Aaltje Hagewout. HISTORY OF RICHMOND OOUNTY. 391 Oct. 15, 1727, Jan, Jacob Van Pelt, Aaltje Hagewout. Jan. 25, 1 7 19, Sara, Jan van Pelt, Aaltje Hoogslant Oct. 16, 1720, Catlyntje, Jan van Pelt, Aaltje Hooghlant. May 25, 1729, Jan and Susanna, twins, Jan Van Pelt, Anthony's zoon, Susanna La Tourette. Apr. 25, 1731, Maria, Jan van Pelt, Jan's zoon, Tryntje Bouwman. Apr. 15, 1733, Anthony, Jan van Pelt, Anthony's zoon, Susanne la Tourette. Mar. 28, 1736, Antje, Jan van Pelt, Pieter's Zoon, Jannetje Adams. Apr. 4, 1736, Joost, Jan van Pelt, Anthony's Zoon, Susanne La Tour- ette. Sept. 14, 1742, Trientje, Jan Van Pelt, maria Bouman. Apr. 13, 1742, William, Jan Van Pelt, Jannetje Adams. Apr. 17, 1744, Jannetje, Jan Van pelt, Jannetje Adams. May 6, 1745, Nieltje, Jan Van pelt Jun'r, Catrina Bouman. Apr. 22, 1746, maria, Jan Van Pelt, Jane adams. Apr. 26, 1748, maragritye, Jan Van Pelt, Jane Adams. May 20, 1750, Samuel, Jan Van Pelt, Jane adams. Apr. 23, 1707, Blandyena, Johannes Van Pelt. Apr. 20, 1708, Simon, Johannes Van Pelt. , 1710, Cathalyn, Johannes Van Pelt. Apr. 19, 1715, Simon, Johannes Van Pelt. Apr. 16, 17 17, Petrus, Johannes Van Pelt. June 7, 1719, Johannes, Johannes van Pelt, Sara Le Roy. Jan. I, 1 72 1, Sara, Johannes van Pelt, Sarah Le Roy. Feb. 16, [755; Susanna, John Van Pelt, Maria Joons. Mar. 8, 1772, Mary, John vanpelt, Catherine lawrence. May 4, 1714, Catharina, Joost Van Pelt. Sept. 8, 171 7, Johannes, Joost Van Pelt. Mar. 20, I 7 16, Joost, Joost Van pelt. Oct. 21, 1707, Jan, Pieter Van Pelt. July 25, 1710, Samuel, Pieter Van Pelt. Nov. 23, I 715, Willem, Pieter Van pelt. Apr. 16, 1717, Sameul, Peter Van Pelt. Apr. 18, 1743, Maria, Petures Van Pelt, Barbera houltie. Sept. 16, 1746, Johannes, Pieter Van Pelt, barbara, hoolten. Sept. 17, 1748, Barbara, Pieter Van Pelt, Barbara hoelten. Nov. 7, 1753. Jacob, Petrus Van Pelt, Barbara Hulten. Oct. 12, 1755, David, Pieter vanpelt. Barber Houlton. Aug. 26, 1759, Sara, Piater vanpelt, Barber . July 19, 1748, Pieter, Samuel Van Pelt, Maria falkenborgh. Apr. 18, 1743, Maria, Simon Van pelt, Maria Adams. Aug. 6, 1745, Sara, Scimen Van Pelt, Maria Adams. June 10, 1747, Jennie, Symon Van Pelt, Malli adams. May 23, 1749, Peterus, Symon Van Pelt, mria Adams. , 1696, Marritsie, Theunis van Pelt. Oct. 9, 1726, Anthony, Teunis van Pelt, Maria Drageau. Feb. 14, 1731, Johannes, Teunis van Pelt, Marie Drageau. June 3, 1734, Maria, Teunis van Pelt, Marie Drageau. May 19, 1737, Joost, Teunis van Pelt, Marie Drageau. Nov. 19, 1738, Teunis, Teunis van Pelt, Marie Drageau. Oct. 22, I 701, Stoffel, Stoffel van Santen. 392 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. — , 1706, Josua, Stoffel van Santen. Feb. 7, 1719-20, Otto, Abraham van Tuyl, Femmetje Denytz. Oct. 2, 1705, Geertruyt, Abraham Van Tuyl. Sept. 22, 1709, Elena, Abraham Van Tuyl. June 2, 1734, Jan, Abraham van Tyl Isaak's zoon, Marytje ven Pelt. Nov. 18, 1739, Femmetje, Abraham van Tuyl, Metje Vreelans. May 7, 1 741, Machiel, Abraham Van Tuyl, Metje Vrielandt. Aug. 16, 1743, femmetje, Abraham Vantuyt, Mitje freeland. Aug. I, 1731, Abraham, Denys van Tuyl, Neeltje Croesen. Sept. 8, 1734, Denys, Denys van Tuyl, Neeltje Croesen. Mar. 4, 1739, Neeltye, Denys van Tuyl, (obit), Neeltje Croesen. Sept. 22, 1709, Catharyntie, Isaac Van Tuyl. May I, 1720, Catharina, Isaak Van Tuyl, Sara Lakerman. Apr. 6, 1724, Geertruyd, Isaak van Tuyl, Sara Lakerman. May 4, 1735, Abraham, Jan van Tuyl. Sept. 17, 1738, Johannes, Johannes van Tuyl, Belitje Byeank. Sept. 16, 1746, Abraham, otto Van Tuyl, Tryntye boskek. Nov. II, 1722, Fenmietje, Jan Van Voorhees, Neeltje Neesjes. Nov. II, 1722, Willemsje, Jan Van Voorhees, Neeltje Neesjes. Nov. II, 1722, [The two last, no doubt were twins.] May 9, 1725, Jacobus, Jan van Voorhees, Neeltje Neesjes. Mar. 24, 1728, Roelof, Jan van Voorhees, Neeltje Neesjes. Apr. 16, 1732, Neeltje, Jan van Voorhees, Neeltje Neesjes. Oct. 23, 1737, Maria, Roelof van Voorhes, Coteleau. Dec. 12, 1745, Aentje, Cornelus van Wagenen, Hellena Bon. Sept. 17, 1746, maragrita, Cornelius Vanwagenon, helena bon. July 24, 1752, Catharina, Cornelius van wagenen, helena Bon. Feb. 16, 1755, Lena, Cornelus Vanwagenne, Lena Bon. June 24, 1752, marregrietye, Hendrick van wagene, Palli Seymense. Nov. 7, 1753, Annatje, Hendrick Van Wagenne, Maria Simonse. Feb. 16, 17S5, Johannes, Hendrick Van Wagenne, Maria Simonse. Oct. I J, 174S, Johannes, Johannes Van wagene, Elsye Berge. Mar. 9, 1729, Aaghje, Daniel van Winkel, Jannetje Vreelant. July 27, T729, Adriaan, Adriaan van Waggelum, Celia Preyer. Aug. 8, 1731, Abraham, Adriaan van Woggelum, Celitje Preyer. Sept. 18, 1726, Jan, Douwe van Woggelum, Jannetje Staats. Feb. 25, 1728, Jan Staats, Douwe van Woggelum, Jannetje Staats. May 21, 1716, Jan, Arey Van Woglom. July 19, 1724. Zuster, Douwe van Woggelum, Jannetje Staats. June 28, 1730, Cornelius, Douwe van Woggelum, Jannetje Staats. June 27, 1736, Catharina, Douwe van Woglum, Jannetje Staats. Sept. 14, 1742, Antje, Douwen Van Woglom, Jannetje Staats. Apr. 17, 171 1, Nicolaes, Jan Vechten. Oct. 22, 1 71 7, Catharyna, Johan Vechten. Mar. 20, 1 7 16, Gerret, Jan Veghte. Nov. 8, 1719, Johannes, Jan Veghten, Cornelia Staats. Jan. 24, 1725, Jannetje, Jan Veghte, Cornelia Staats. June 25, 1727, Henrik, Jan Veghte, Cornelia Staats. Apr. 7, 1734, Jan, Nicolaas Veghte, Neeltje van Tuyl. Nov. 7, 1753, Jannetje, Jan Veldtman, Jannetje Jurks. July 28, Hendrick, Vellman, Jurks. Sept. 18, 1744, Maria, Jan Veltman, Jannetje Jurcks. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 393 Apr. 22, 1746. Jan, Jan Veldtman, Jannetye Jurks. Sept. 17, 1748, Geertruyt, Jan Veltman, Jannetye Jurks. June 12, 1 7 16, jjetrus, Steven Vetyto. Aug. 5, 1739, Michiel, Michiel Vreelant, Janneke van Houten. Sept. 17, 1752, Joliannes, Helmig vreland, neeltye van hoor. Nov. 3, 1754, Wachgiel, Helmis vrelant, Neeltye vanhoren. Oct. 8, 1738, Jacobus, Joseph Walderon, Aasje Healaken. Apr. 22, 1707, Lambert, Lambert VVels. June 26, 1720, John, John Whithead, Elisabet Bakker. Mar. 6, 1725 6, Maria, Johannes Wimmer, Wyntje Symons. Feb. I, 1730, Jesuias, Jan Winter, Martha Bug. Feb. 14, 1732, Maria. Jan Winter, Martha Baile. May 31, 1719, Frans, obadias Winter, Susanna du Puy. May 8, 1737, Thomas, Thomas Wilmot, Elisabet Mersereaux. Apr. 22, 1707, Christyntien, Johan Woggelum. July 26, 171 1, Suster, Johan Woggelum. Dec. 25, 17 19, Johanna, Aryvan Woglum. Celia Preyer. Jan. 3, 1722, Anna, Aryvan Woglum, Celia Preyer. Jan. 27, 1725, Andries, Aryvan Woglum, Celia Preyer. Aug. 7, 1720, Hendrikje, Cornelis Woinat, Tryntje Bouvvman. Sept. 19, 1725, Jannetje, Stephen Wood, Geertje Winter. Dec. 24, 1727, Steve and Obadia, twins, Stephen Wood, Geertje Win- ter. July 13, 1731, Richard, Stephen Wood, Jomine Mott. Apr. 20, 1703, Cornelis, Jacob Wouters. Oct. 23, 171 1, Beniamin, Jacob Wouters. Apr. ig, 1709, Sara, Lambert Wouters. 1729, Henricus, Henry Wright, Aaltje Martlings. May 29, 7726, Susanna, Jacob Wright, Antje Role. May 26, 1723, Elisabet, Cornelis VVynant, Maria Cole. Dec. 25, 1725, Maria, Cornelis Wynant, Maria Cole. Feb. 6, 1728, Cornelius, Cornelis Wynant, Mary Coles. May 4, 1729, Cathryr.tje, Johannes Wynants, Lena Bird. Mar. 19, 1732, Pieter, Johannes Wynants, Magdalena Bird. Apr. 23, 1707, Pieter, Pieter Wynants. Mar. 27, 1720, Pieter, Wynandt Wynandts, Ann Cole. Mar. 14, 1725, Abrahan, Wynant Wynants, Ann Cole. Oct. 9, 1726, Jacob, Wynant Wynants, Ann Cole. Apr. 22, 1728, Daniel, Wynant Wynants, .\nn Cole. Feb. 28, 173 1, Joseph, Abraham Yates, Hester Drinkwater. Sept. 17, 1758, .Mareya, John yennes, AUye merling. Jan. 13, 1734, Christiana, Johan Philip Zumsenbach, Ule Cathrine Pikkerling. Mar. 28, 1736, Hanna, Johan Philep Zumsenbach, Ule Catharine Pikkerling. July 19, 1726, Abraham, Abraham Zutphen, Marytje Borkelo. June 4, 1727, Maria, Abraham Zutphen, Marytje Borkelo. Oct. 26, 1729, Antje, Abraham Zutphen, Marytje Borkelo. Oct. 24, 1 731, Jannetje, Abraham Zutphen, INIarytje Borkelo. July 25, 1710, Sara Gennens fuly 25, I 7 10, Mary Gennens. Apr. 8, 1733, Eva. 394 HISTORY OF UICIIMO^'^D COUNTY. Sept. 14, 1 741, Maryya, Tamlisck Kadlyne van peldt. Apr. 19, 1743, hester, Ragel Willmsen. June I'S, 1745, Jucres, Sara Van namen. May 2, 1754, Isack, Merya Sinnis May 2, 1754, Jan. Sara Dey. It is supposed that religions services after the forms of the church of England were occasionally held here previous to 1704, for in October of that year the Rev. William Vesey, of Trinity church, New York, in reporting the state of religion in this county to the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts," says there was a tax of forty pounds a year laid upon the people and they desired to have a minister sent to them. The foundation for this tax lay in the act which was passed under the direction of Governor Fletcher in 1693, which in effect established the church of England in the counties of New York, Westchester, Queens and Richmond, under the patronage of the government. By this act the inhabitants of each county named were to choose annually ten vestrymen and two church wardens. These officers were empowered to make choice of the minister or ministers for each district, and for the support of these ministers a certain sum was directed to be assessed on the inhabitants of all denominations in each county. The act indeed did not especially enjoin that the min- isters so chosen should be of the Episcopal church, and by an explanatory act, passed several years afterward, it was even de- clared that dissenting ministers might be chosen. By lodging the right of choice, however, with the vestrymen and church wardens alone, it was well known that Episcopal ministers would of course be always elected. Though this law remained upon the statute book during the colonial period it became to a degree inoperative, through the munificent bequest of Judge Duxbury made some years later. In 1706 Rev. John Talbot was sent here as a missionar}', but a church m New Jersey shared his ministrations. Soon after he was succeeded by the Rev. Eneas McKenzie. Catechists or schoolmasters were employed under the direction of the so- ciety as early as 1712. Before this time even, the matter of erecting a church building was talked of. They were then using the French church for their worship. On the 6th of August, 1711, William Tillyer and Mary, his wife, gave to the society a building site for a church and burial ground at the HISTORY OF RICiniOND COUNTY. 395 head of Fresh kill, on Karle's neck. In 1713 a donation of one hundred and fifty acres of land was made to this church by the generosity of Adolphus Philips, counsellor; Lancaster Symes, a captain in Fort Lewis; Ebenezer Wilson and Peter Faulconer, merchants, all of New York. This was sold by the trustees, and another piece of ground, more conveniently lo- cated, was purchased for a glebe. During the year 1713 a church was erected on the ground which two years before had been given for the purpose. This was a plain stone structure, and as far as anything is known stood on substantially the same site now occupied by St. Andi-ew's church at Richmond. In the year last mentioned Mr. McKenzie writes to the society that during the first seven years of his ministry here he had preached "ujion sufferance in a, F'rench Chnvch,''^ but the church people had now "got a pretty handsome church of their own to preach in," and a house was about being built on the recently purchased glebe. The church was now established under the royal charter of Queen Anne, who also presented the church with prayer books, a pulpit cover, a silver communion service and a bell. The names of prominent freeholders on the island, attached to this church, appear in the charter, as follows: Ellis Duxbury, Thomas Harmer, Augustin Graham, Joseph Arrowsmith, Lambert Gerritson, Nathaniel Brittain, William Tillyer, Rich- ard Merrill, John Morgan and Alexander Stewart. In 1718 Ellis Duxburj^ bequeathed to this church an extensive tract of land. His will bears date May 5, 1718, and it was ad- mitted to probate October 22 following. The property was a plantation of two hundred acres, situated on the northeast ex- tremity of the island; and consequently the point of land at New Brighton was, until a recent date, generally known as "Dux- bury's Point," and sometimes '' The Glebe." It was bequeathed to the minister, church wardens and vestry of St. Andrew's church, for the onl}^ use and maintenance of the minister and incumbent. The property still owned by the church at Tomp- kinsville and its vicinity is a part of this bequest. Being a de- vise to a religious incorporation, it was void by law, but as the title of the church was never disputed, and as the state by sev- eral acts incidentally recognized its validity, to say nothing of a possession of more than a century and a half, the title has long ago become unimpeachable. By the same will the church re- 396 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. ceived £ • foi' building additions to the church, in addition to the above bequest. The salary of Rev. Mr. McKenzie, in 1717, appears to have been raised to £50 a 3'ear. At what time he closed his labors here we are not informed, but in 1733 Mr. Harrison appears as the missionary on Staten Island. Two years later the numerical strength of the church was about fifty communicants. Mr. Har- rison at this time writes that he has baptized nearly seventy children since he came here, also " that he hath baptized one Irtdian Woman, two adult Negroes, and three Negroe Children ; that he preaches on Sundays once ; catechises and exj^ounds after the second Lesson, and teaches the Negroes after Service is ended, and the Congregation gone home ; for many of them live far from Church, and will not come twice, nor stay long." The labors of Mr. Harrison ended with his death, which took place October 4, 1739. The vestry then elected a Mr. Arnold, a missionary who had been traveling in New England, to be mis- sionary on Staten Island. In 1743 Mr. Arnold writes " that his church is Church is increased twofold and he hath lately baj)- tized ten Negroes, and is still preparing several more for that Sacrament." He resigned in 1745, and Rev. Richard Caner was appointed to the mission. In 1747 the Rev. Richard Charlton became rector ; his eldest daughter was connected by marriage with the Dongan family, be- ing the wife of Thomas Dongan, and mother of John C. Dongan; and another daughter was the wife of Dr. Richard Bailey, who was health officer of the port of New York, and died in 1801 ; his remains are interred in the grave yard of the church. Dr. Charlton's ministry continued thirty-two years; he died in 1779, and was buried under the communion table in St. Andrew's church. After the decease of Mr. Charlton the pulpit was supplied for a brief term by the Rev. Mr. Barker. On the first day of May, 1780, the Rev. Mr. Field became the rector ; he had been a chap- lain in the British army, stationed in the fortifications in the vi cinity of the church. His first baptism is recorded as having been performed two weeks after that day. Mr. Field died in 1782, and was buried by the soldiers of the Seventy-seventh regiment of British troops, the place of his sepulchre being be- neath the church. During the whole revolutionary war, the island being in pos- HISTORY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. 397 session of the British, divine service was generally suspended in all the churches except this. The same is true of all other parts of the country whei-e the British were in possession. Where the whigs had power none were closed except such Episcopal churches, the rectors of which refused to omit the prayers for the king. In 1783 the Rev. John H. Rowland became rector. He was a native of Wales, and had been previously settled in a parish in Virginia. In 1788 he removed to Nova Scotia, and died in 1795. In October, 1788, the Rev. Richard Channing Moore became rector. He was born in the city of New York, August 21st, 1762 ; he studied medicine and practised physic for a few years, when he became a student of Bishop Provost. His first minis- try, after receiving orders, for a very brief period, was at Rye, in Westchester county, and at the date above mentioned he came to Staten Island, where he remained until 1808, when he accepted a call to St. Stephen's church. New York. In 1814 he was elected Bishop of Virginia and rector of the Monumental church in the city of Richmond, and was consecrated May 18, 1814. During his incumbency, in 1802, a chapel was built on the north side, and called "Trinity Chapel," which has since become the Church of the Ascension. He died November 11, 1841. Fi-om 1793 to 1801 he officiated also at Amboy at stated times. In May, 1808, Dr. Moore was succeeded by his eldest son, the Rev. David Moore, who continued rector for the period of forty- eight years. Rev. David Moore, D.D., was born in the city of New York, June 3d, 1787 ; he studied theology with his father, and was admitted to the diaconateinl808, when he immediately took charge of his parish. In the northeast corner of the burial ground of St. Andrew's church stands a beautiful marble monu- ment, with the following inscription on one side : Rev. David Moore, D.D., Rector of St. Andrew's Church, Including Trinity Chapel, Staten Island. Born June 3d, 1787, Died Sept. 30th, 1856, Aged 69 Years. 398 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. On a mural tablet within the church is the following: " Sacred to the memory of Rev. David Moore, D. D.; or- dained Deacon in Trinity Church, Maj' 8, 1808. Received priests' ordei's in old St. Andrew's, June, 1811. After a min- istry of 48 years in this parish, entered into rest on Tuesday evening, September 30, 1856. In his life and character he was an exemplary pattern to his flock, possessing in an emi- nent degree those qualifications which endeared him to the hearts of an attached people, and raised in their affections a monument which will endure when the church militant on earth shall receive the full fruition of the church triumphant in Heaven." ■^/./,:^"^ ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH, RICHMOND. Dr. Moore was succeeded by the Rev. Theodore Irving, LL. D., February 5, 1857, who resigned in November, 1864. In June, 1865, Rev. C. W. Bolton became rector, but resigned in the following January, and was succeeded by the Rev. Kings- ton Goddard, D.D., of Philadelphia. Dr. Goddard died Octo- ber 24tli, 1875, and was succeeded by the Rev. Dr. Yocum, who was installed June 15th, 1876. It is a circumstance worthy of note in connection with the revolutionary history of this church that although services in it were continued throughout the war while other churches were either closed or burned, the baptisms did not average more HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 399 tlian three in a year, and some of these were children whose parents belonged to the arm}-. The Episcopal churches on the island have at different times been the recipients of donations and loans from Trinity church, New York. Among these may be noticed a grant of $1,000 to the church on the North Side in 1800; one of $1,000 to St. Andrew's in 1802; and one of $1,500 to St. Luke's in 1846. In 1802, Trinity chapel, in connection with St. Andrew's church at Richmond, was built upon a lot of land on the north shore, conveyed for the purpose by John McVicar, Esq. Rev_ Richmond Channing Moore, rector of the church at Richmond, officiated in it until he left the parish. After his departure, his son. Rev. David Moore, succeeded to the rectorship, and preached, usually every Sunday afternoon, until a short time before his decease, being assisted in his duties in both places by several other clergymen employed for the purpose. After his death, the services in the chapel were conducted by several clergymen temporarily engaged until May, 1869, when another parish was organized, and Trinity chapel became the Church of the Ascension. The first rector after the organization was Rev. Theodore Irving, LL. D., of Newburgh. The congregation in- creased so rapidly that the old frame building was found to be insufficient, and the erection of a new church was determined upon. The corner stone of the new edifice was laid with ap- propriate ceremonies on the 30th day of August, 1870, and was first opened for divine service on Ascension Day, May 16, 1871. Dr. Irving continued in the church until February, 1872, when he resigned. In July, 1872, the present rector. Rev. James S. Bush, of San Francisco, was settled. The officers of the church at the time of the erection of the chapel, were Rev. Richard Channing Moore, rector; James Guyon and Peter Mersereau, wardens, and Peter Laforge, John Latourette, John Van Dyke, Nicholas Journeay. Paul Micheau, Joshua Wright, Paul J. Micheau, and George W. Barnes, vestrymen. The material of which the church is built is Staten Island granite; it is cruciform, and has several beautiful memorial windows; it has a turret on the northeast corner, and a tower and spire one hundred and fifteen feet high on the northwest corner. St. John's parish was an offshoot from St. Andrew's. It was organized in May, 1843, when that part of the island was 400 IIISTORV OF RICIUrOND COUNTY. peopled bj^ the families of metropolitan wealth, enterprise and social distinction. The first house of worship was a modest frame building standing on the west side of the avenue, nearly opposite the present church and in the midst of a natural growth of young forest trees. The corner stone of this church was laid July 14, 1843. William H. Aspinwall, Levi Cook and W. B. Townsend were the building committee. The first wardens were Charles M. Sinionson and William H. Aspinwall; and the vestrymen were Levi Cook, James U. Boardman, M. D., W. B. Townsend, W. D. Cuthbertson, Lewis Lyman, D. B. Allen, W. A. Fountain and W. H. White. The cornerstone of the present .J- ST. JOHN'S CHURCH AND RECTORY. church was laid November 10, 1869. This is a handsome stone building, of ample dimensions and graceful proportions and, is in keeping with the culture and resources of the congregation. The material of which it is built is mostly a rose colored granite, from Lyme, Conn., with string jpieces and ornamentations of Belleville stone. The architecture is of the Gothic style of the XIV th century. The windows are of stained glass, with designs highly executed from Italian religious art. The great south transept window is a memorial of the beloved physi- cian, Dr. Anderson, who was long a celebrity at quarantine HISTORY OF mClIMOND COUNTV. 401 and in St. John's. The north side window in the chancel is a figure of surpassing loveliness, a memorial of the daughter of John Appleton, one of the most munificent and devoted friends of the parish, who is himself memorialized in an elab- orate mural tablet of polished brass, just within the chancel arch. The stained glass window architecture is said to be the finest specimen of rural church architecture in the diocese. The church was consecrated by Bishop Horatio Potter, September 30, 1871. The first rector of this parish was Kingston Goddard, from June, 1844, to June, 1847. Later rectors have successively been: Alexander G. Mercer, June, 1847, to Sei^tember, 1852; R. M. Abercrombie, January, 1853, to February, 1856; John C. Eccles- ton, April, 1856, to January, 1863; Thomas K. Conrad, March, 1863, to October, 1866; and John C. Eccleston, D.D., again from 1867 to the present time. In 1862 a commodious rectory was built adjoining the church. A parish building, known as the Mercer Memorial chapel, was erected on the same plot of ground in 1865. Within the last, sixteen years one hundred and fifty thousand dollars have been spent in parish improvements. John C. Eccleston, M.D., D.D.— Probably no man on Staten Island has attracted by his talents a greater amount of atten- tion, or possesses a reputation more to be envied than does the Eev. John C. Eccleston, M.D., D.D., rector of St. John's church, Clifton. The doctor has enjoyed a pastorate of more than twenty-six years in his present pulpit and during that time his energy and eloquence have done much to stamp his in- dividuality upon the community in which he lives. Doctor Eccleston was born in Kent county, Md., May 6, 1828. He is a descendant of the Ecclestons who came from the village of Ecclestown in England, with the first Maryland colonists, tak- ing an active part in the revolutionary struggles, by means of which they forfeited large landed estates in Great Britain. His father was judge of the supreme court of Maryland, and his uncle, Samuel Eccleston, archbishop of Baltimore and Metro- politan of the Roman Catholic church in tiie United States. The doctor graduated from the Roman Catholic college of St. Sulpice in Baltimore, July 20, 1847, and on March 31, 1850, re- ceived the degree of M. D. from the University of Maryland. For a year he followed the medical profession in the city of 36 402 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Baltimore, after which he entered the General Theological Sem- inary in New York city. From there he graduated June 27, 1854. On August 22d of the same year, he was ordained to the diaconate by Bishop Alonzo Potter, and on April 11, 1855, he assumed priestly orders. He received his first call to St. John's church, February 27, 1856, assumed the rectorship of Trinity church, Newark, N. J., January 1, 1863, became rector of St. James church, Great Bar- rington, Mass., May 1, 1866, and returned to St. John's, at Clifton, November 1, 1867. The new stone church consecrated September 30, 1871, was ei-ected largely through his energy and enterprise. The doctor has been twice married and has four children still living. His brother. Doctor J. H. Eccleston, is the distinguished rector of Emmanuel church, Baltimore, Md. Doctor Eccleston' s preaching is forcible and eloquent. Large numbers of people from all denominations and from all parts of the island are regularly attracted to his church by the power of his reasoning and by the magnetism of his manner. He has no sympathy with wrong doing, never shrouds his true meaning in mystical language and is as independent in his private and political life as he is in the pulpit. His secular lectures which have been many, are characterized by a strength and vivacity equalled only by their instructive and useful qualities, and his thirty-one years of public speaking have won him a distin- guished place among the orators of his day. On Staten Island he is universally known and his name is connected with every really aggressive movement. Free in lending his influence to the advancement of everj^thing that is noble, free and good, the doctor has made for himself many lasting and powerful friends, and the memory of his good works will long survive to testify of him. We take pleasure in presenting the citizens of Rich- mond county with this short sketch of one of the oldest and most respected of its living clergymen. The organization of St. Paul's church was effected at a meet- ing held at the Planters liotel, Tompkinsville, March 11, 1833. Previous to that time members of the Episcopal denomination attended religious services at St. Andrew's ; and for a time ser- vices were lield in private houses here, by the Rev. Samuel Haskell. The first officers elected were Henry Drisler and Richard S. Gary, wardens ; and Daniel Van Duzer, Sr., Caleb JOHN C. ECCLESTON v*\o\'(\t^ \. ^\\.^%yv.\)-\^ u. 1. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 403 T. Ward, Richard Harcourt, Charles Simonson, George Brown, Daniel Simonson, Richard Sharrott and Henry B. Metcalfe, vestrymen. The Rev. F. H. Cuming was called to the rector- ship at a salary of S300 a j^ear and ferry tickets for himself and family to pass freely between the island and New York, where he resided. He commenced his services here in July, 1833. The number of communicants became during that year, seven- teen, and measures were set on foot to build a church. Success attended those efforts, and the corner stone of an edifice was laid on the 3d of July, 1834, Bishop Onderdonk officiat- ing. Rev. Mr. Cuming resigned on the 3d of May, the same year, and Rev. William Curtis was called in his stead. He entered upon his duties August 1st, fol- lowing, and his labors were cut short by his death on the 21st of the same month. He was buried by the parish in St. Andrew's churchyard. The first church was built upon ground given by Caleb T. Ward, on what was then Richmond avenue, now known as St. Paul's avenue. The church was consecrated June 22, 1835, and was used for religious services until 1870. Its cost was $5,831.34. The financial condition of the church was for many years considerably depressed, and finally the building was sold under a foreclosure in 1861. It was jjur- chased by Mr. Ward, and by him resold to the church on easy terms of jmyment, Still later, this generous benefactor of the church. Judge Albert Ward, proposed to erect at his own ex- pense a handsome stone church and donate it to the parish, on certain conditions, which were accepted, and the corner stone of the new church was laid September 29, 1866. The condi- tions referi-ed to were that the parish should build a rectory and furnish the new churcli. This building of the new church was completed in 1870, and the first service held in it on Easter day, April 17th. The church was formally consecrated May 31st, following, the corporate name having been changed to " St. Paul's Memorial Church, Edgewater." The " memorial " was with respect to Miss Mary Mann Ward, a sister of the donor. The building is one of very substantial architecture and con struction, and is said to have cost about $50,000. The rectors acting in this church have been : William H. Walter, 1836 to December 3, 1838, except during a leave of ab- sence from November, 1837, to the time of his resignation, his place meanwhile being temporarily filled by Grordon Winslow 404 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. and R. C. Shimeall ; William Walton, December 27, 1839, to October 1, 1843 ; Gordon Winslow, May 1, 1844 to April, 1852 ; Charles A. Maison, July, 1852, to April, 1857; E. H. Cressy, October, 1859, to November, 1861 ; T. W. Punnett, November, 1861, to February, 1875 ; diaries B. Coffin, April, 1875, to his death, July 10, 1875; Albert U. Stanley, November, 1875, to May 1, 1882 ; and Henry N. Wayne, July 1, 1882, the present rector. Of St. Luke's Church, Rossville, we have been able to pro- cure only a meagre account. The parish register appears to have been imperfectly kept. The church edifice was ei-ected in 1843, and its first rector was Rev. C. D. Jackson ; he officiated some six or seven years, when he died in Westchester county. He was succeeded by the Rev. William H. Rees, who officiated about five years, when he died at Newark, N. J. The next rec- tor of whom we find any account was the Rev. Jesse Pound, who died in the parish after a service of some nine or ten years. He was succeeded by the Rev. Henry H. Bean, who, after sev- eral years' service, also died in the parish. There have been other rectors, but there is no record of them. The present rec- tor is the Rev. William Wardlaw. The Church of the Holy Comforter, located at Eltingville, was opened for worship October 8, 1865, its erection being largely due to the efl'ortsof Mr. Albert Journeay, assisted by the ladies of the neighborhood. The building was designed by Mr. Up- john, the architect of Trinity church. The parish was organized October 24, 1865 ; the incorjwrators were Albert Journeay, James Guyon, Edward Banker, Jr., S. K. Raymond, John W. Mersereau, Jr., and Charles E. Robins. The church edifice was consecrated May 29, 1868. The rectors have been as follows : J. W. Payne, from Novem- ber 29, 1865, to August 9, 1866 ; W. W. Holley, from October 4, 1866, to October 24, 1867 ; W. Leacock, from February 26, 1868, to September 23, 1868 ; Newland Maynard, from Septem- ber 27, 1869. to May 23, 1871; and Frederick M. Gray, from August 1, 1873, to Christ Church, New Brighton, was organized on the 9th of July, 1849, its nucleus being an offshoot from St. Paul's at Tompkinsville. The nave of the present church was built in 1850, the transepts being completed at a later date. The first wardens were William Pendleton and David A. Comstock; and HISTORY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. 405 the first vestrymen were George Wotherspoon, Samuel T. Jones, Travis B. Cutting, Mattliew Morgan, George E. Kunhardt, Peter Stuyvesant, Philip P. Kissam and Charles D. Rhodes. A hand- some Sunday school building was completed in 1 874. The church is a frame building, and stands in the midst of tastefully ar- ranged and well kept grounds on the west side of Franklin avenue and just south of Second street. The Sunday school building stands in the rear, on the same grounds. The first rector of this church was Pierre P. Irving, who be- gan with the early existence of the church, and continued for a term of twenty-five years. During the last two or three years he was assisted in his duties by Hamilton Lee. The present -rector, George D. Johnson, succeeded him in 1875, and has min- istered to the church since that time. The present number of communicants is about three hundred, representing about two hundred and twenty families. The present officers are : L. Sat- terlee and H. E. Alexander, wardens ; and W. P. Raynor, E. Wiman, A. Rich, E. B. Crowell, W. H. ISIotley, N. S. Walker, C. Whitman and R. I. Fearon, vestrymen. The establishment of the Baptist church on the island was due to the efforts of missionary work on the part of New York city pastors and licentiates. The first meetings of which we have any knowledge were held by Reverends John Gano and Elkanah Holmes in the summer of 1785. They were open air meetings, and were held at different i^laces on the eastern shore and inter- ior of the island. Evening meetings were held in barns and pri- vate dwellings. The Methodists were in the meantime pursuing a similar course, occupying neighboring hills and orchards with their open air meetings, and sometimes the same buildings for their evening services. An important revival attended these early efforts. A church, under the name of the " First Baptist Church of Staten Island," was constituted on the BOtli of De- cember, 1785. This was composed of the following persons, who had been baptized during the autumn preceding : Belichy Fountain, Anthony Fountain, Jr., Hannah Fountain, Nicholas Cox, Margaret Kruser, Mary Van Name, Mary Lockerman, Susannah Wandel, Jacob Van Pelt, John Wandel, Jr., Charles Van Name and John Lockerman. The Rev. Elkanah Holmes became the pastor of this church, and continued as such about ten years. Rev. Daniel Steers was ordained on or about August 23, 1797, and at once became" pas- 406 HISTOEY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. tor of this church, which he continued to serve nntil about 1808, when he resigned. He was succeeded by Rev. Nicholas Cox, wlio had been ordained to the ministry, but died shortly after- ward, when the pulpit was supplied by diiferent ones for a year or more. Up to this time meetings had been held iu the open air, pri- vate dwellings and school houses. In the early part of 1809 it Avas resolved to build a meeting house. This resolution was carried into effect, and the house being sufficiently completed, was opened for divine worship on the 24th of the following Oc- tober. The lirst sermon in it was delivered by Rev.W. Parkin- son, of the First Baptist church in New York. This building was about twenty by thirty feet in size, and it stood on the side of the hill at the junction of the old Clove road and the Rich- mond road, in the town of Southfield. Though the building has long since disapjjeared, its site is still marked by the graves which were made near it, of some of the oldest members of the denomination. This was the only edifice owned by this denomi- nation in the county up to the year 1830. It was known as the " Old Clove Church," and for many years, even after the date mentioned, was the favored center to which members of the sect came to worship from many of the surrounding villages. Rev. James Bruce commenced his pastorate here. May 1, 1810, and was ordained at the First church in New York, on the 21st of June following. He was then a young man, and soon en- deared himself to the church by his efforts as a faithful and earnest pastor. His career was cut short by death in February, 1811. Rev. Samuel Carpenter was called in September follow- ing, and was pastor of the church until his resignation in March, 1813. Different ministers supplied the pulpit now until the pastorate of Elder Robert F. Randolph, of Samptown, N. J., which began August 6, 1817. He resigned in the spring of 1819, and in May of that year was succeeded by Thomas B. Steven- son, then a licentiate. Baptisms were at that time frequently performed on the shore near John Lockerman's farm at Mari- ner's Harbor, as well as on the shore on the south side of the island. Mr. Stevenson was ordained on the 2oth of August, 1819, and continued to labor successfully with this congrega- tion until August, 1822, when he resigned to become a mission- ary. After another period of unsettled supply the pulpit was filled by Arma R. Martin, a licentiate of Bethel Baptist church HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 4U7 of New York for several months from October 5, 1823. He was finally settled, on a salary of three hundred dollars a year and some perquisites in the line of provisions for family use. He was ordained June 9, 1824. At this time the membership of the church numbered fifty persons, consisting of fifteen males and thirty-live females. The work of the church now moved steadily forward. Meet- ings were held in the neighborhood of Rossville, then known as the "West Quarter.'' A parsonage, standing opposite the church, was purchased during the first year of Mr. Martin's pastorate, and the final payment on it was made in December, 1827. The history of the church was uneventful during a period of several years, except that the Mariners' Harbor mem- bers grew stronger in their desire for a church building nearer their homes, and in 1830 succeeded in erecting one at Granite- ville. In May, 1834, the membership of the church was seventy-six. Mr. Martin's pastorate closed with his death, October 26, 1835. Rev. Samuel White was called and became the pastor of this church June 1, 1836. Under his ministrations the membership increased until in 1840 it reached one hundred and thirty-four. In 1841 however, it was reduced to ninety-three, by the with- drawal of the church at Graniteville. The old church now fell into a decline, and for several years was barely able for a part of the time to maintain regular Sabbath services. Elder White was assisted in the few last years of his life by supplies who preached in the branch church and part of the time in the Old Clove church. He died May 3, 1863, after a pastorate of twenty- five years, during which time he had baptized two hundred and fifty-two jiersons, of whom several became licentiates or or- dained ministers. In much of his revival work he was assisted by the Rev. Mr. Arthur, father of Ex-President Chester A. Arthur. Mr. AVhite's remains were deposited in the family vault in the grounds of the church at Graniteville, on the Gun Factory road. During the summer of 1863, Mr. Patterson, a son-in-law of Mr. White, became pastor of the church and continued in that cai)acity until May, 1865. Following that date the church had supplies for several years, and during that time its life seemed to dissolve into that of the branch church at Graniteville. In 1868, the title to the Old Clove church became vested. la tka 408 HISTORY OF RICHJIOND COUNTY. heirs of Mr. White in liquidation of a claim which he had long held against the church. The building was afterward used as a school house for several years, but in 1877 it was taken down, and a local writer of its history very appropriatelj'^ says : "Only the crumbling, moss-covered stones which mark the resting places of the long-buried baptist dead remain, as fitting symbols to mark the spot where died the fairest, brightest, fondest hopes of the early converts and the mother cluarch. Should not the denomination at least secure and preserve this site, this resting place of the baptist dead ? " A new house of worship was built by the old church on a site at Graniteville about half a mile east of the "North" church. This is the building which stands on the " Gun Factory road." It was opened for worship in April, 1842, the Rev. Spencer H. Cone i>reaching the first sermon. This branch of the old "Clove" seemed to prosper for a time, but after the death of Mr. White it fell into decline. From 1867 to 1870 it was seldom opened for worship. Mr. Waters was employed a few months in the latter year. John A. Wilson preached dui'ing the latter part of 1871, to May, 1872, and Henry Willels followed a short time. In September, 1872, Duncan Young became pastor and continued three years. Rev. Jackson Ga Nun labored eight months, beginning in January, 1876. John B. Palvert, in December, 1877, began serving as a supply, after the house had been closed over a year. He remained till July, 1879. James B. Drysden and George Nock held services in tlie church for short periods, but no services have been held in it since 1880. About 1882 the society disbanded. The later history of this church seems to have been a race between it and its child the " North " church which afterward became the "Park" church, in which the old church, though for a time running well, was by the logic of circumstances obliged at last to give up the prize of existence. About the year 1810 meetings were held bj' the Baptist de- nomination in the vicinity of Howland's hook. These early meet- ings were often held in tlie orchard on John Lockerman's farm, just west of Summerfield avenue, and in other available locali- ties near there. A number of members of the Old Clove church lived in this vicinity, and they began several years later to con- sider the question of having a church more conveniently located. Regular services were begun in June, 1825, on Sabbath after- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 409 noons, in tlie school house at Mariners' Harbor. A piece of ground for a building site, on the Richmond road at Granite- ville, was given by Jedediah Winant in 1829, and a building thirty-one by forty-one feet, and twenty feet high, was erected on it. This was completed and duly opened on the22d of July, 1830. It stood upon what is now the burial ground known as "Hillside Cemetery " on the Richmond road directly oppo- site from the school house at Graniteville. The pulpit was sup- plied on Sabbath afternoons and alternate Sabbath evenings by the pastor of the Old Clove churcli. The first Baptist Sunday school on the island was organized in this church on the third sabbath of August, 1832. This branch soon began to break away from the mother church. In 1836 it had a communion service and officers by it- self. The question of separation from the old church was fre- quently under discussion, and such a step was finally resolved upon at a meeting February 3, 1841. The "North Baptist Church" was accordingly organized with fifty-three members, March 1, 1841. The Rev. J. T. Seely became its pastor on the 4th of May. During his pastorate a remarkable revival oc- curred, known as the " revival in the old Rubber B"'actory " at what is now West N"ew Brighton. Fifty-one baptisms were the result of this. The members of this church now resolved to build a house of worship at Port Richmond. This, a modest frame building, was erected, and it was dedicated February 27, 1843. Services were then held in both houses; at Granite- ville in the morning and Port Richmond in the evening. This arrangement continued until February 15, 1857, when the Gran- iteville edifice became the property of the Mariners' Harbor church, organized at that time. The labors of Mr. Seely closed August 1, 1845, and he was succeeded by Rev. David Morris, whose service continued till May 1, 1849. He was followed by Rev. B. C. Townsend, who served the church from May, 1850, to May, 1852. Aaron Jack- son, the fourth pastor, gaye nine months' service. John Seage became pastor in May, 1853, and resigned in May, 1856. He was followed by Z. P.'vVild, May 1, 1856, to May 15, 1858, dur- ing which time, February 15, 1857, forty-eight members were dismissed to constitute the Mariners' Harbor Baptist church. The energies of tlie Port Riclimond cliurch were now concen- 410 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. trated. ni)on its own locality, though it was weakened by the witlidrawal of so large a number. George W. Dodge became pastor in August, 1858, and re- signed in June, 1859. In December, I860, W. A. Barnes became pastor, but was dismissed about two months later. The out- look of the church at this time seemed dark, and for several years its existence seemed a struggle between life and death, in which the chances trembled in the balance. IS^ot until the summer of 1864 did the church enjoy the ministrations of a settled pastor, though for a while the Rev. W. B. Schrope served them as a supply. Extreme depression followed, in which the church was on the point of deeding its property to the Mariners' Harbor church and disbanding its membership. But the members aroused themselves to make one more effort for existence, and the Rev. D. B. Patterson was invited to the vacant pulpit, July 24, 1864. He resigned early in 1866. At this time the membership of the church had become reduced to thirty-one, and the house was closed for several months. Rev. D. W. Sherwood was called to the pastorate in December, 1866, and resigned in 1870, having been instrumental in holding the church to its status and perhaps giving it a new impulse for- ward. S. G. Smith was pastor from October 1870 to 1877. Dur- ing this time the church hud grown stronger; tif ty-seven persons had been baptized, and the church edifice remodelled, at an ex- pense of $13,000. The name was changed to the Park Baptist Church, of Port Richmond, and the present brick church was erected. Rev. A. S. Gumbart became pastor April 1, 1878, was ordained May 16th following, and resigned in June, 1880, having received forty-nine members into the church. Rev. J. J. Muir entered upon his duties as pastor in March, 1880. He was succeeded in 1883 by Rev. J. B. L'Hommedieu, the present pastor, who be- gan his service in that capacity October 1, 1883. Since that date sixty-eight persons have been added to the church, and the outlook is encouraging. Thomas Davis, jr., has for several years been sui:)erintendent of the Sunday school. February 15, 1857, forty-eight members were dismissed, at their own request, from the North Baptist church to organize the church at Mariners' Harbor. This church was constituted by a council held March 12, 1857, and a full oi-ganization effected by a meeting at the house of George F. Thompson on the first HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 411 of April following. The first trustees were David Van Name, Geoi'ge F. Thompson, William Lisseriden, John Thompson and David Van Name, Jr. The first deacons were George F. Thomp- son, William Lissenden and Jacob Van Pelt. The corner stone of a new edifice was laid September 9, 1857, and the building having been completed was dedicated May 5, 1858. Meetings were held in the old Graniteville church until the completion of the new one. The cost of this building and grounds was about 810,000. The Graniteville church had been granted to this society by a resolution of the North church made January 17, 1857. In 1868 the church was cleared of debt. The church has enjoyed a wholesome degree of prosperity, and the present membership numbers about two hundred. The successive ministers who have served it have been : Z. P. Childs, 1857 to 1858 ; J. N. Tolman, 1858 to 1861 ; G. P. Folwell, 1861 to 1862; J. L. Benedict, 1862 to 1864 ; J. J. Brouner, 1864 to 1869 ; W. B. Harris, 1869 to 1872 ; J. W. Taylor, 1872 to 1875 ; C. W. Hull, 1875 to 1877 ; W. R. Moore, November, 1877, to the present time. As early as 1826 meetings began to be held by the Baptists in private houses in different parts of the town of Westfield. At different times within a few years such meetings were held at the houses of Edward Weir in Pleasant Plains, Mrs. Gillatta Murray in Rossville, Israel Journeay and Mrs. Cath- erine Ely, and in school houses. The.se meetings were conducted under the auspices of the old First Baptist, or "Clove" church. The corner stone of a branch church at Kreischerville was laid March 31, 1847, and the building dedicated ou the 16th of Sep- tember following. It was a frame building, thirty bj' forty-two feet. Tills remained as a branch or chapel, until the year 1848, when the " West Baptist Church of Staten Island" was organ- ized on the 24th of May. The constituent members were Israel Journeay, Aaron Van Name, Edward Weir, Catherine Journeay, Gillatta Murray, Catherine Ely, Alice A. Ellis, Phoebe Andro- vette, Malvina Ellis, Mahala Arnett, Sarah Ann Storer, Ann Androvette, Hannah Martin and Mary Benedict. A Sunday school was opened the first Sunday in May, 1849, with Mrs. Catherine Ely, superintendent. The first pastor of this church was William Pike, of Haver- straw, who, after preaching for a while on probation, entered 412 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. the pastorate June 1, 1848. John Burnett became pastor No- vember 1, 18.'54. His salarj' was S350 and house rent. He also preached at Tottenville on stated evenings, in a chapel which had been built by Harmon Kingsbniy. Mr. Burnett died March 1, 1858. His successor was Thomas W. Conway, who was called July 1, and ordained October 20th of the same year. He remained till October 30, 1860. December 30, 1859, ten members withdrew to form the " South Church" at Tottenville. This left the church with a membership of thirty. Rev. Arthur Day became pastor of both churches January 1, 1861 ; and resigned in January, 1863. Supplies followed until William James was settled over both churches in January, 1865, continuing to February, 1866. William B. Harris was pastor from February 26, 1867, to March 1, 1869. David Taylor was pastor one year from June 1, 1869. The connection be- tween this and the South church in ministerial supply, was dissolved in 1870. Since then this church has had no separate pastor, but has been occasionally supplied by renewal for short j)eriods of the association with the South church. From 1852 to 1858 Reverends Pike and Burnett of the West church, assisted by the Rev. Geo. F. Hendrickson of Perth Amboy, held occasional services at different private houses in the village of Tottenville, and also in a free chapel which had been erected by Harmon Kingsbury, near his grove. Tiie Tem- perance hall was secured in the spring of 1859, and services were thereafter held in it on Sabbath mornings. After lengthy discussion the organization of a church here was effected De- cember 11, 1859, by the name of the "South Church of Staten Island." The members of this new organization, who had with- drawn from the West church, were T. W Conway, John Tucker, S. B. Hazelton, George D. Fisher, William Cooley, Isabella Fisher, Mary Wrille, Sarah A. Ellis, Maria T. Hazelton, Isa- bella Ayer, Melvina Cole, Ann Storer and S. D. Reed. The corner stone of a new edifice was laid, and recognition services held, Monday, February 8, 1860. The church was sup- plied with ministerial service in connection with the West church until 1870. The church was cleared of debt in August, 1871, which hapjiy condition was brought about largely by the generous assistance of Mr. John Turner, who himself assumed one half the burden, and in addition erected at his own expense a lecture room in rear of the church. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 413 The pulpit was filled by temporary supplies from October 1871, to September, 1875, when the South and West churches were again united in pastoral support under the ministration of Isaac W. Brinckerhoff, who continued to serve them till July 1, 1881. Calvin A. Hare became pastor of the South church April 10, 1882, and remained until 1884, when T. Burdette Bott was called. The membership now numbers about one hundred. The First Baptist church of 'New Brighton has been recently organized. The favorable location and the earnest work put forth bid fair to establish a large Baptist interest here. Rev. J. B. McQuillan was the first pastor. The church was or- ganized in June, 1884, with thirteen members. In November of the same year the church, having secured a lease of the Uni- tarian house of worship on Clinton avenue, e.xtended a call to the Rev. J. B. McQuillan, then of Patterson, N. J., to become their pastor. His pastoral term began on the first Sabbath in January, 1885. A baptistery has been placed in the church, and several candidates have been immersed, the first in New Brighton for upwards of forty years. The church now num- bers thirty-one members. It was duly recognized, according to the custom of the denomination, by a council of the Southern New York Baptist Association, on the 2d of February, 1886. Mr. McQuillan resigned July 1, 1887, and the church is at present without a regular pastor. The introduction of Methodism on Staten Island is due to the persevering efforts of a few zealous individuals connected with the denomination in New Jersey and elsewhere. The first Methodist sermon preached on the island was in November, 1771, by Francis Asbury, in the house of one Peter Van Pelt, only twelve days after his arrival in America. It is to the unwearied labors of Thomas Morrell and Robert Cloud, two preachers attached to the Elizabethtovvn circuit, that this church is chietiy indebted for its organization. Of Morrell it is said that he had been a soldier, and bore upon his person scars of wounds received in fighting for his country. He was also a man of more than ordinary abilities and acquire- ments. Of the local preachers, William Cole was most prom- inent, and during the intervals between the visits of the itin- erants, frequently officiated in private houses, school houses, barns or any other "place that offered. On the fifth day of May, 1787, the first Methodist society on 414 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Staten Island was organized, and the following persons were elected trustees to take care of the temporalities of the church, viz.: Abraham Cole (at whose house the meeting was held), Benjamin Drake and John Hillyer, first class, to serve one year; Gilbert Totten, John Slaight and Joseph Wood, second class, to serve two years; Joseph Totten, Elias Price and Israel Dis- osway, third class, to serve three years. Measures were then adopted to erect a house of worship, and the following appeal to the Christian community was i^romul- gated: " To all Charitable, well-disposed Christians of every denom- ination of Staten Island. Whereas the Inhabitants on the West end of said Island are destitute of any Place of Public Worship, so that numbers, more especially of the poorer and middling ranks of People who have not Carriages, &c., are necessarily precluded from attending the Worship of God in a Public manner, their Children also lose the benefit of Pub- lic Instruction, and it is to be feared the Consequence will be to the rising Generation a settled Contempt for the worship of God and the ordinances of the House. "To remedy as far as human prudence can Extend the afore- said, and many other Inconveniences that might be named, the members of the Methodist Episcopal Church on said Island have chosen trustees agreeable to Law in order to Erect a Church for the Performance of Divine Service, and tis Supposed by the Blessing of God this may be the means of not only benefitting the present Generation, but that Numbers Yet un- born may have reason to Praise God for the pious Care of their forefathers. But as this will be Attended with a heavy Expence, to which the members of said Church are Inadequate, thej^ hereby Resi^ectful solicit the Donation of all such who are will- ing to promote so Laudable an Undertaking, we therefore the subscribers do hereby promise to pay or cause to be paid to the said Trustees or any Person Impowered by them to receive it, the sums affixed to our Several names, as Witness our Hands this Seventh day of June, In the Year of our Lord one Thou- sand Seven Hundred and Eighty-seven." Then follow the names of eighty-seven contributors, whose united subscriptions amount to nearly three hundred and fifty dollars. The largest contributors are Gilbert Totten, £8; Israel Disosway, £15; Benjamin Drake, £8; Mark Disosway, £5; Peter HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 415 AVoglom, £6; Joshua Wright, £5; Jacob Reckhow, £5; John Androvat, £5; Peter Winant, sr., £4.15; John Slaght. £4.15. Among the subscribers we find the names of individuals at- tached to otlier churches, suclias Bedells, Swains, Taylors, Lar- zeleres, Micheaus, La Tourettes, Mersereaus, Pralls, Con- ner, etc. It is said of Israel Disosway, that in addition to his subscrip- tion, which is the lai'gest on the list, he gave the timber for erecting the new chni'ch, out of his own woods. WOODROW M. E. CHURCH. With the small sum realized bjr the subscriptions just men- tioned, the first Methodist church on Staten Island was built on the site now occupied by the Woodrow church in Westfield. This'building is described as a low, roughly built house, with gable to the road, and having small windows and a plain batten door, the fastening of which was operated by the old fashioned latch-string. The interior showed a unique altar, high backed, uncushioned seats, and bare rafters overhead. Its site was 416 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. amid the natural grandeur of the luxuriant forest, broken by scattered clearings and the primitive habitations of a few hardy settlers. That the trustees took excellent care of the temporalities of the church will be perceived from the following extract from the original " Day Book : " " At a meeting held in the Methodist Church for chosing a Saxon to serve for one year in said church to keep said house swept and sanded and scraj^ed when the Trustees shall direct, and all other necessary dutys of a saxon for the sum of five dollars ; Richard Mier was chosen and accepted." Subse- quently, the ''saxon" was allowed one shilling "for every fire he makes in the stove," additional. In 1842 the present church edifice was erected on the site of the former. This edifice is considerably larger than the first, and encroaches upon some of the graves in the surrounding church-yard that were made near the old house. This old burial ground contains many old graves of the early inhabitants. The first white marble stone erected here, we are told, is that to the memory of Rev. Joseph Totten, one of the first members of the Methodist church on the island. He was for twenty-six years an itinerant preacher of the gospel, and died May 20, 1818, while in charge of the society of St. John's church at Philadelphia. Immediately in front of the church stands a plain marble monument, which marks the grave of one of the most deeply revered preachers of the church, well known as "old Father Boehni." The monument bears the following inscription : " Sacred to the memory of Rev. Henry Boehm, born in Lan- caster, Pa., June 8, 1775, died on Staten Island, December 28, 1875. A centenarian, who was for seventy-six years an hon- ored and beloved Methodist minister, as eminent for social. Christian and ministerial virtues as for longevity : the associate of Bishop Asbiiry and his compeers in labors on earth, he now rests witli them in heaven." On the twelfth day of February, 1822, at a meeting held at the house of James Totten, it was unanimously resolved to build another house of worship, in the town of Westfield, to be called " The Tabernacle." A church appears to have been or- ganized, and trustees duly elected. In August, 1823, a public meeting was held "in the Tabernacle;" the edifice must there- HISTORY OF RICHJIOND COUNTY. 417 fore have been erected immediately. The building was removed several years since, the establishment of churches at Totten- ville, so near by, doing away with the necessity for a church here. Its site was a few rods southeast of the railroad station at Richmond Valley. Some of the foundation stones are still lying there. The membership of the original church was so large in the neighboi'hood of Tottenville that in 1841 it was deemed advis- able to organize another society there. This was done, and the name "Bethel Church" given to it. A church was erected in 1842, and the society prospered. The church cost about $14,000. It was destroyed by fire on Sunday night, January 10, 1886. The building at that time, with its furniture, heating apparatus and organ, was valued at about $23,000. St. Paul's, located also at Tottenville, was organized in 1860. Immediate steps were taken to erect a house of worship. The corner stone to this was laid September 6, 1861, and the walls were rapidly raised, and the building advanced toward comple- tion. A debt hung over the church until November 13, 1881, when by a liberal effort it was cleared. The debt then amounted to $4,500. Among the foremost names on the subscription for that purpose and at that time were the following : Mrs. E. P. Wood, $1,100 ; David C. Butler, $250 ; Henry Van Name, $200 ; Aaron Van Name, $200 ; Paul Van Name, $100 ; Daniel Butler, $125 ; John S. Sleight, $100 ; Wesley Patten, $100 ; Sylvester Joline, $100 ; Moses J. Van Name, $100. The early Methodists did not confine their efforts to the town of Westfield; for, not long after they had become domiciled there, a small class, under the leadership of Elias Price, who afterward became a local jireacher, was organized in the town of Northfield, which, in 1802, had expanded sufficiently to warrant the creation of a new society, and the erection of a new church, which now is recognized as the Asbury church at New Springville. For more than thirty years this church was the only place of public worship possessed by the Methodists of Northfield and Castleton. It was connected in pastoral supply with the church at Mariners' Harbor from 1839 to 1849, when the latter church .secured a minister independently of this. A branch of this church, called Bloomtield church, was estab- lished by the laying of its corner stone in June, 1885. It stands at the head of Merril avenue, on a plot of ground which was 27 418 HISTOKV OF RICHMOND COUKTY. given by Joseph Ball, of Bloomlield, and Rev. J. B. Hillyer of New Springville. Its erection is mainly due to the labors of Messrs. J. B. Hillyer and Thomas Standering, two local preachers of the congregation. In 1838 those residing along the shore in Castleton and North- tield began to agitate the matter of building a new church nearer their own residences, and at or near Graniteville. The next year Mr. Robert C. Simonson offei'ed a lot of land on the Pond road, Port Richmond, as a free gift, if they would erect a church thereon. This offer was at once accepted by those re- siding in that vicinity, and the proposed church at Graniteville was abandoned. The church on the Pond road was erected and dedicated early in the winter of 1839, the conveyance of the lot from Mr. Simon- son being dated December 1, 1839. The Westtield and North field charges were divided in 1840, and Daniel Cross became the preacher on this circuit, which was called the Northfield and Quarantine mission. In 1841 this was again divided and made two circuits, that of Northfield comprehending Asbury and Mariners' Harbor, while this was known as Quarantine and Port Richmond. Of this Rev. R. Lutton became pastor. His name appears with those of Benjamin Day and Jefferson Lewis, between that date and 1848. They were succeeded by pastors as follows: Alexander Gillmore, 1848-49; Charles E. Hill, 1850-i51; Kelly, 1852-53; T. Pierson. 1854-55; N. Yansant, 1856-57; M. E. Ellison, 1858-59; J. M. Freeman, 1860 61; R. S. Arndt, 1862-63; J. C. Winner, 1864; J. F. Hurst, 1865-66; Owen, part of 1866; T. H. Smith, 1867-69. The house erected on the Pond road, now occupied by the German Lutheran church, continued to be their house of wor- ship until 1853, when they erected the large and commodious brick church edifice at the corner of the Shore road and Dongan street, West New Brighton. The original building and lot were sold April 28, 1853, to the German Evangelical Lutherans for the sum of $1,500. The new church took the name of Trinity, and was incorporated under that name January 10, 1853, the trustees being Jasper G. Codmus, John W. Snedeker, Lewis Edwards, Azariah Dunham and John Simonson. The land on which the present church and parsonage is built, consti- tuted the lots numbered 45 and 46 of the estate of John Bodine, Sen., and was purchased of Noyes P. H. Barrett, June 25, 1851, HISTORY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. 419 Jasper G. Codmus, John W. Snecleker, Lewis Edwards and John Simonson being trustees. It was subsequently discovered that the title was defective, inasmuch as the land was con- veyed to the above named jiersons individually, and before the incorporation; therefore on the 10th day of July, 1869, the same individuals quit-claimed the property to the trustees of the church, and thus remedied the defect. The bell and clock in the tower of this church were procured by the contributions of the people residing in its vicinity. The stewards in 1885 were William Snedeker, Noah Sellick, William Bamber, T. D. Lyons, M. D., Benedict Parker, George Pero, E. L. Kennedy, Ephraira Smith, C. E. Surdam, A. H. Richards and J W. Bodine. In 1838 the Methodists of Mariners' Harbor resolved, inas- much as a church for their accommodation had become a neces- sity, to erect one nearer their own homes. Accordingly on the 6th day of April, 1839, a new society was organized by the election of Peter Braisted, Henry Jones, Benjamin B. Kinsey, John L. Richards and Daniel Simonson as trustees. The cer- tificate of incorporation was recorded on the 4th day of May following, and immediately thereafter — that is, on the 11th of the same month — a lot was purchased for the consideration of $275, and during the following six months the church was erected, and on the 1st day of December, 1839 it was dedicated. For several years the same preacher served this church, and the one on " the Neck" (now Asbury), but in 1849 the connection was severed, and each church became independent of the other. In 1854 a parsonage was purchased. The membership of the church having rapidly increased, it was found necessary to erect a new and larger house, which was accordingly done, and the new edifice, which has since been known as the '• Summerfield Church," was dedicated on the 10th day of October, 1869. The old church, which is the southwesternmost building within the corx>orate limits of the village of Port Richmond, was sold for $1,500, and is now occupied as an African church. The new church is nicely finished and the interior tastefully furnished. The society rejoices in the fact that it is clear of debt. The minister's salary has been raised from $1,000 to $1,500, and the church is now ranked as the fourth in the Eliza- beth conference district. Grace church was originally called the "North Shore Free M. E. Church." It was organized under that name, January 420 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 23, 1867, being then composed of forty-eight persons, the most of whom had withdrawn from Trinity M. E. church. The meet- ing for organization was lield in the Baptist church at Port Richmond, at which place the first Sabbath services of tliis church were also held, on the 27th of the same month. At the first election of trustees, on the 18th of February, 1867, the present name was adopted. The trustees then elected were Read Benedict, Ward McLean, John Q. Simonson, William Greer, IST. P. H. Barrett, John S. Spragg, William Bamber, Dr. Frank G. Johnson and George F. Heal. Previous to the erec- tion of the present church a tabernacle, which cost $600, was temporarily used for public worship. The corner stone of the new church was laid August 1, 1867, and the church was dedicated December 29, 1867. The church lot is bounded on the north by Bond street, on the south by Cornelius street, and on the west or front by Heberton street, the land having been purchased of Cornelius B. Mersereaii. The building was erected at a cost of about $10,000. The pastors of this church have been: Alexander M. Mead, 1867 to September, 1868; P. D. Day, September 15, 1868, to the end of the conference year; John Coyle, 1869 to 1871; A. J. Palmer, 1872; J. J. Read, Jr., 1873; W. I. Gill, 1874 to 1876; T. H. Landon, 1877; Joseph A. Owen, 1878; J. S. Gilbert, 1879 to 1881; E. C. Dutcher, 1882 to 1883; R. S. Arndt, 1884 to 1886. In July, 1872, the church known as St. Marks, at Pleasant Plains, was dedicated. For a brief period it was considered as under the patronage and supervision of the Woodrow church, but in 1873 it became an independent organization. The Kingsley Methodist Episcopal church, situated on Cebra avenue near Saint Paul's avenue, Stapleton, is one of the oldest of the denomination on the island. The traditional history, strongly supported by documentary evidence, is that Rev. Henry Boehm, a minister in the Philadelphia conference of tlie Methodist Episcopal church, and stationed at Woodrow, organ- ized a class in the spring of 1835, at the house of \Vidow White, on "Mud Lane," now known as St. Paul's avenue, and directly < ipposite the present site of the church. The names of this class, as nearly as can be ascertained, were: Mrs. James White, Wil- liam Howard, William Thoon, Mr. and Mrs. Kirby, and Mr. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 421 and Mrs. Capt, Hart. William Tlioon was made the leader of the class. Public services were first held at the residence of Mrs. James White, the lady above referred to, and afterward, until the first church was built, in the "Village Academy." The first board of trustees was elected on the 21st, and the "Society" was incorporated ou the 22d of July, 1835, under the name of the "Methodist Episcopal Churcli of Tompkins- ville, Staten Island." The board of trustees consisted of John Totten, Josepli Smith, A. C. Wheeler, Henry Cole and Law- rence Hillyer. The present site of the church is the only one the society lias ever owned, it originally consisted of four lots, and was do- nated by Mr. Caleb T. Ward, of Stapleton, in December, 1835. on condition that it be used only for church purposes. Mr. Ward, many years afterward, gave the land in fee to the society, and an additional piece of land, so as to bring the site of its western boundary to Marion avenue. On the 8th of June, 1837, plans for a church building thirty- eight by sixty feet were agreed upon, and estimates were re- ceived for its erection. The contract was finally awarded to Mr. J. H. Quilthot for one thousand one hundred and sixty dollars. Mr. Quilthot mysteriously left the place before the house was completed, and it is said was never heard of afterward. The church, when it was finished, cost the society one thousand five hundred dollars. The corner stone was laid about the 1st of July, 1837, and the building was completed and dedicated about the 1st of September, 1838. In 1853 the building of a new church was agitated, the old one being considered not well located and unsuitable. Nego- tiations were entered into with Mr. Richard Smith for the pur- chase of lots located on Richmond road, near Beach street, and three hundred dollars was jiaid on them by the trustees of the society. When the trustees made application to Mr. Ward for the privilege of selling the old site, it was found that in at- tempting to buy a new site before the old was sold, they had reckoned "without their host," for Mr. Ward refused to re- move the proviso in the deed, and so they lost their three hun- dred dollars. The idea of a new location was then abandoned, but the agitation for a new church continued, until finally, on the 28th of May, 1855, the first church building was sold at pub- 422 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. lie auction. Mr. S. X. Havens was the purchaser, for two hun- dred and fifty dollars, and he removed it at once to New Brighton, and converted it into a dwelling house, where it still stands. The present membership of the Sunday school is one hundred and twenty. For fifteen years after the organization of this church, it was connected with other M. E. churches on the island in what is called the "Circuit" plan, making the pastor of this church also the pastor of all the others embraced in the circuit. With this explanation, the first pastor was Rev. Henry Boehm, who had been the travelling companion of Bishop Asbnry, one of the first bishops of the M. E. church in the United States. Father Boehm, as he was afterward called, lived to the advanced age of 100 years, and died on Staten Island the 28th of December, 1875. The society has had twenty-nine pastors, viz.: Henry Boehm, two years; Mulford Day, two years; John S. Begle, one year; Mr. Lutton, one year; Mr. Lewis, one year; Benjamin Day, two years; George Wisnor, two years; Watters Burroughs, two years; John Stephenson, two years; Mr. Miller, one year; J. B. Graw, two years; D. F. Reed, one year; Mr. Bishop, eight months; Rev. E. Clement, four months; William H. Dickerson, one year; A. S. Burdett, fifteen months; C. R. Snyder, twenty- one months; S. ]V. Bebour, one year; J. B. Faulks, two years; J. Coyle, three years; H. Spellmyer, three years; J. Cowans, one year; G. Smith, one year; H. Simpson, two years; T. Michael, one year; J. F. Andrew, two years; C. S. Woodruff, three years; C. W. McCormick, one year; R. B. Collins, three years. In April, 1885, this society completed a beautiful and com- modious, parsonage at the cost of $3,500, It is situated on the west side of the church, and has a commanding view of New York bay and Coney Island. The whole church property is valued at $15,000. The above history was prepared for this work by Rev. R. B. Collins, pastor of the church. The corner stone of the second church building was laid about the 1st of June, 1855, during the ministry of Rev. J. B. Graw, and was dedicated to the worship of Almighty God in December of the same year. The new church was known, thereafter, as the '' Stapleton Methodist Episcopal Church." HISTORY OF RICHMOND OOUNTY. 423 In 1870, during the ministry of the Rev, Henry Spellmyer, the church was remodelled, enlarged and refurnished, at a cost of $12,000. After these improvements, its name was changed again, this time to Kingsley Methodist Episcopal church, Stapleton, after Bishop Calvin Kingsley, of the M. E. Church, who while perforniing a tour of Episcopal visitation of the world, and when on his way home, was attacked by disease and died at Berut, Syria, April 6th, 1870. The building has a seating capacity for 700 persons, and with a commodious lecture room for Sunday school and social meetings, has every covenience in the way of room to carry on its work. The present membership of the church is one hundred and thirty. The Sunday school was organized in 1838, during the ministry of Rev. J. S. Begle. William Thorne was the first superintendent. So far as is now known, the first of the denomination of Chris- tians called Moravians, or United Brethren, on Staten Island, was Captain Nicholas Garrison. It is said that the ship which he commanded, while on a voyage from Georgia to New York, was overtaken by an exceedingly violent storm. Among the passengers on board was the Bishop Spangenberg, who remained calm and undisturbed amidst the confusion and terror which prevailed on board, spending most of the time in earnest prayer. This ship was built for the purposes of the Moravian church, most of the exjjense having been borne by Bishop Spangenberg himself. She made many passages across the ocean, and on a subsequent voyage was captured by a French privateer and finally wrecked on the coast of Cape Breton island. In 1742, David Bruce, a very zealous servant of God, was sent to visit the scattered flocks in New York, and on Long and Staten islands, and he was probably the first Moravian preacher who ever officiated as such on Staten Island. Of those most prominent in sustaining this church on the island the names of Jacobus and Vettje Van Der Bilt are mentioned in September, 1747, at which time the church in America compre- hended three localities, viz.. New York city, Staten Island and Bethlehem, Pa. After the arrival of the first colony of Mora- vians in June, 1742, these three places jointly constituted a field in which their evangelists labored. Among those who thus labored in these early years were the Brethren David Bruce, Aimers, Gambold, Jasper Payne, Thomas Rodgers, Thomas Yarrell, Neisser, Richard Utley, Owen Rice and John Wade. 4-24 illSTOKY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. In referring to the early period of this cimrch, Mrs. Bird, an aged lady who was interviewed by Professor Anthou years ago. said : " Mr. Gambold was a nice old man. The church on Christmas eve used to be beautifully decorated with greens, and artificial flowers, such as roses, pinks and such like, of their own make. The pulpit was covered with flowers from top to bottom, and the windows were also adorned. But the custom of celebrating Christmas eve was not kept up in later years so much as in earlv times." OLD MORAVI.^N CHURCH AND PARSONAGE. Between 1742 and 1743, about a dozen different clergymen of the denominatiuu came occasionally to the island to officiate. In 1756 there were only three communicant members on the island, viz.: Jacobus Vanderbilt and his wife Vettje or Neiltje, and the widow Elizabeth Inyard. The religious services were usually held in a school house, which, as some say, stood on or near the site of the present church, but as others say, with more probability, at the corner of the roads at what is now^ called Egbertville. In 1762, Richard Connor, Stephen Martiuo, Jr., Tunis Egbert, Jacob Vander Bilt, Aaron Cortelyou, Ma- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 425 thias Enyard, John Baty, Cornelius Cortelyou, Cornelius Vander Bilt, Cornelius Van Deventer, Stephen Martino, Mary Stilvvell, Cornelius Martino and Peter Ferine, applied to the church authorities at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, for the estab- lishment of a Moravian church on Staten Island. On the 7th of July, 1763, the corner stone of a church and parsonage was laid, and on the ensuing 7th of December the church was con- secrated. The identical building is still standing, and is shown in the illustration accompanying this notice. The custom of the Moravians at that period was to combine church and par- sonage under one roof, hence the arrangement; and un-church- like appearance of this old building. The last religious exer- cises in this church, before its removal from the original site, were held on Thursday, October 26, 1882. They were con- ducted by Rev. W. H. Vogler, the pastor of the church. The first regularly settled pastor was the Rev. Hector Gam- bold, who had come to the field August 17, 1763, and pending the completion of the parsonage was accommodated in another house. On the 21st of December, he and his family moved into the rooms now made ready for his occupancy, and here he found his home during his long pastorate, which extended to the year 1784. Following him for brief periods were James Birkly and E. Thorp, and in 1787 Frederick Moehring assumed the pastor- ate. His tei-m of service continued until 1793, when he was followed by Mr. Birkly again. The latter remained till 1797, when Mr. Moehring returned and exercised the pastoral func- tion until 1803. His successor that year was Nathaniel Brown, who held the position until removed by death in 1813. He was a native of Nazareth, Pa., where he was born July 9, 1763, two days after the laying of the corner stone of this church. His father, Rev. Peter Brown, was for upward of twenty years a missionary of the United Brethren on the island of Antigua, and he had himself been a missionary to the island of Jamaica, whither he was sent in 1789. His stay there was not long, his return to the United States following shortly after the death of his wife, Elizabeth Chitty. He afterward married Anna Cath- erine Frederica Unger, in Maryland, about two years before he came to this charge. He was followed by John C. Bechler, from 1813 to 1817, and others followed successively as named : George A. Hartmann, from 1817 to 1837 ; Ambrose Rondthaler, from 1837 to 1839 ; H. G. Clauder, from 1839 to 1852 ; Bernhard de 426 HISTOKY OF RICHMOXD COUNTT. Schweinitz, from 1852 to 1854 ; Amadeus A. Reinke, from 1854 to 1860 ; Edwin T. Senseinan, from 1860 to 1862 ; Eugene Leib- ert, from 1862 to 1867; Francis F. Hagen, from 1867 to 1870 ; William L. Lennert, from 1870 to 1876; William H. Vogler, from 1876 — present incumbent. The early dates and events given above have been derived chiefly from denominational sources, the I'ecords of the church having been destroyed during the I'evolution, when some Brit- ish soldiers forcibly entered the parsonage at night, and after MORAVIAN CHURCH, NEW DORP. w^antonly destroying furniture and other articles belonging to the occupant, carried off the archives of the infant church. About the same time, probably on the same night, the house of Capt. Christian Jacobson, in the vicinity of the church, was also entered, and he was killed by being shot. He was an eminently pious man, and captain of the Moravian ship " Irene," after the retirement of Captain Garrison. The society was incorporated April 15, 1808. The land on which the church was erected was sold by John Baty to Thomas HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 427 Yarrell, the minister, and Henx»y Van Vleek, of New York city, and Cornelius Van Deventer and Ricbard Conner, of Riclnnond county, June 19, 1763, for £25 10s. This parcel of ground con- tained live and a half acres, more or less, and was boifnded on the southwest by Cornelius Cortelyou, northwest and northeast by John Baty and southeast by the King's highway. A deed of contirmation was given for the same, to the representatives of the denomination, by Edward Baty, executor of his father, John Baty, March 2, 1790. The present church edifice was erected in 1845, being conse- crated May 15th of that .year. The old church was re-arranged for school purposes and dwelling apartments in 1851. Mr. N. J. Ostrander, superintendent of the cemetery, moved into a part of the house in 1872. The old church has the honor of having been the first house of worship on the island in which an organ was used. This statement is made on the authority of an old lady whose mem- ory extended back into the pre-revolutionai'y time. The Sunday school first organized July 19, 1829, has con- tinued to flourish to the present time. On the 31st day of Au- gust, 1878, the chapel and Sunday school building at the Four Corners was dedicated. It was built on land donated for the purpose by Mr. Cornelius Du Bois; the lot is one hundred feet square. The whole j)remises are estimated to be worth over seven thousand dollars. The donations of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt to this church of his forefathers have been munificent. When the present church edifice was erected, he contributed the sum of one thousand dollars toward its completion. On the 20th day of December, 1865, he gratuitously conveyed to the trustees of the "United Brethren's Church on Staten Island," eight and a half acres of land on the east side of the original five and a half acres, and on the 30th day of October, 1868, about forty- six acres more on the north and west sides thereof. A new parsonage, a very handsome building of modern style, was erected by the gift of William H. Vanderbilt in 1880, and Mr. Vogler moved into it on the 21st of December of that year. In 1882 Mr. Vanderbilt also purchased property of Mrs. Susan Jane Fountain, comprising about four acres, with the buildings on it, at a cost of five thousand dollars, and presented it to the trustees of the church on condition that certain improve- 428 irrsTORY of Richmond county. merits should be made, which conditions were accepted. This stands on the opposite side of the Todt Hill road from the par- sonage, and was given for a residence for the superintendent of the cemetery. By this accession to the church propery its line of frontage along the Richmond road was extended to nearly four thousand feet in length. The old church was moved back to its present site, and protected by paint and repairs to pre- serve it against the encroachments of time and the elements, while the surroundings were imiDroved and beautified. Up to that time it was estimated that the Vanderbilt family had made gifts to this society, in cemetery property, buildings and im- provements to the amount of thirty-seven thousand dollars. In addition to this, the society received by bequest of William H. Vanderbilt, whose will bears date September 25, 1884, and whose death occurred December 8, 1885, the princely gift of one hun- dred thousand dollars. The first Roman Catholic church on Sraten Island was organ- ized on the first day of April, 1839, at New Brighton. For some time prior to this, however, a few individuals professing this faith, assembled regularly every week in a small apartment of the '■■ Gun Factory," an establishment which stood at the corner of Richmond terrace and Lafayette avenue, and consisted of the factory proper and a row of brick two-story cottages. The ground on which the church ^St. Peter's) was built, was do- nated for the purpose by the "New Brighton Association," and will revert when it ceases to be used for a church of that faith. The first pastor was Rev. Ildefonso Medrano, a native of Old Spain ; he remained until December, 1845, and was succeeded by Rev. John Shanahan, whose bi-ief pastorate terminated in August, 1846. Rev. James Rosevelt Bailey was the next pastor for a still briefer period, from August to December, 1846. He was afterward bishop of Newark, and later, archbishop of Balti- more. Then came Rev. Patrick Murphy, who was pastor from March, 1846, to February 11, 1848, when he died of yellow fever, and was interred under the altar. He was immediately suc- ceeded by his brother. Rev. Mark Murphy, who was succeeded by the Rev. James L. Conron, in August, 1852. He continued un- til within a few years of the present time. Rev. John Barry has since been pastor of the church. The two brothers Murphy were remarkably quiet, unassum- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 429 ing, and faithful men. In the church is a mural tablet to the memory of Patrick, in the following words : " Hie Jacet In Spem Beatse Resurrectionis Eev^us Patricius Murphy, Presbyter Primus, ut creditur, Qui in hac Insula Mortuus est. In Hibernia natus juxta oppidum Enniskillen, Seminarii S*^ Maria Ad Montes Alnminus, et in Neo- Eboraco ordinatus, pastor Ecclesise hujus et Insulge Totius Constitutus est. Ubi Morum suavitate, Vitae integritate, Zelo et eloqnentia ])ro Deo et Tancta Fide, ira se commendavit ut Ab ommibus vere bonus pastor, et Quasi Apostolus Insulfe habere tur, Labore tandem et morbo gravi. Oppressus, Anno aetatis su?e 30™o- Meuse post ordinationem 15™°- die llmo- Februarii 1848, animani Deo reddidit, Memoriam sui relinquens non cito Perituram, sed qute diu inter Fideles in benedictione Servabitur. Requiescat in Pace." ( Translation. ) Here lies, In the hope of a blessed resurrection, Reverend Patrick Murphy, Believed to be the first priest Who died on this Island. Born in Ireland, near the town of Enniskillen, graduate of Mount St. Mary's Seminary, And ordained in New York, and Appointed pastor of this Church, and Of this whole Island, where, By the amiability of his disposition and integrity of his life, 430 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Zeal and eloquence for God, and Holy faith, he so commended himself, that By all he was considered a truly good 2>astor, and As it were, the Apostle of the Island. At length, worn down by labor and a fatal disease. His soul returned to God, In the thirtieth year of his age, and the Fifteenth month after his ordination, February the 11th, 1848 ; Leaving a memory not soon to be Forgotten, but which shall long remain Among the faithful in benediction. May he rest in peace. Rev. John Barry. — Wo face is more familiar upon the streets of Staten Island than that of Rev. Father John Barry, whose residence of twenty seven years in Richmond county has re- sulted in great benefit, not only to the church with which he is connected, but to the community at large. Father Barry was born in Cork, Ireland, January 6, 1830. He graduated from "St. Vincent's Seminary," in that city, in 1850, and in the following year came to New York city. Shortly after his arrival he entered "St. Joseph's Seminary," at Ford- liam, N. Y., from which he was ordained to the priesthood in 1854. After his ordination he was appointed by Archbishop Hughes first assistant at Old St. Patrick's cathedral, and re- mained in this iwsition for five years, serving also during the latter portion of the term as chaplain and secretary to the arch- bishop. It was while he held this honorable and important post that the celebrated controversy between Archbishop Hughes and Hon. Erastus Brooks took place. Father Barry was the bearer of the bishop's letters to the ^'Courier mtd Enquirer.'''' Dur- ing this time also the cornerstone of the new cathedral was laid. Father Barry acting as deacon on the occasion. His valuable services were shortly afterward rewarded by an appointment to the Parish of Rossville, S.I., which then included the villages of Richmond and Graniteville, though the archbishop had talked of sending him as chaplain to the Sixty-ninth regiment, then about to be ordered to the front. Father Barry remained in this charge for nineteen years, dur- -^^.■^iryA H ~utc>-^'' HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 431 ing which he erected and beautified the Rossville church, pur- chased ground for and laid out and consecrated the cemetery. He also built the Richmond church, and rebuilt the old chui'ch in Graniteville. On the death of Rev. Father Conron he was transferred to St. Peter's church, at New Brighton, where he spent eight years, and still remains. During this time he has completely changed the grounds and beautified the interior of the church at great expense, besides lowering the debt of his congregation. He also procured as a gift from Mr. William McSorley a piece of ground adjacent to St. Peter's cemetery in West Brighton, which he added to the cemetery, making it the largest and best Catholic burying ground on Staten Island. Father Barry is one of the most active, and at the same time one of the most cordial of men. He bends his whole thought and energy to the task before him. He is at present engaged in collect- ing funds for the erection of anew Catholic school in the parish, which is intended to be one of the most commodious and at- tractive in Richmond county. Essentially a public man, Father Barry has continually used his influence for the promotion of all that is enobling and that is substantial among the people with whom he has lived. The good work which he has ac- complished, and the buildings which he has erected for charita- ble purposes, will long remain when he has passed forever from the scene of his earthly labors, monuments to his usefulness. In October, 1852, the parish and congregation of St. Marj^'s church, Clifton, were organized by the late Archbishop Hughes, and the Rev. J. Lewis was appointed pastor thereof, and has continued in the same pastorate ever since. Immediately after his appointment, Father Lewis erected a temporary chapel and schools at a cost of about $6,000; these were used for five years. In 1857 Archbishop Hughes laid the corner stone of St. Mary's church, on New York avenue, and the edifice was completed the following year, and cost about $58,000; it is the handsomest Catholic church on Staten Island. In 1858 and 1859 the rectory adjoining the church was built at a cost of $10,000. In 1862 Father Lewis purchased seven acres of land of the Parkinson estate in Southfield, and laid it out as a ceme- 432 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. tery; he also built upoa it a neat cottage for the keeper's residence. A large school house, an orphan asylum for the parish, a residence for the sisters of charity, and another for the male teachers of the school were built in 1864, at a cost of about $36,000. These schools are among the largest on the island; the books show a daily attendance of nearly four hundred pupils, who are gratuitously instructed by six sisters of charity under the supervision of the pastor. Father Lewis is entitled to com- mendation for his zeal and fidelity in his efforts to promote the spiritual and temporal interests of his parishoners. St. Mary's hall for lectures, concerts, dramatic performances and other meetings was erected in 1878 at a cost of $9,000. It holds about eight hundred people and is complete for its purposes, with scenery, footlights, dressing rooms and the like. The " Catholic Young Men's Literary Union Hall" was built by Father Lewis in 1883, for the young men of his parish. Here they congregate in the evenings for i-ecreation and literary exercises. It cost $2,600. In 1882 Father Lewis built, at his own expense, a very handsome chapel, in the heart of Stapleton, for the convenience of the aged and infirm of his parish. It cost $10,000, and is called the "Chapel of Ease of the Clifton Parish," and was dedicated July 9, 1882. Father Lewis is de- servedly held in great esteem among all classes on Staten Island for his business tact and his unselfish devotedness to his parish. It is the fortune of few clergymen to spend a term of thirty- five years in one pastorate, still less is it usual for any public man to remain that length of time among one people, retaining through it all their unqualified approval and respect. That Rev. John Lewis, or Father Lewis, as he is generally called, has done this and has at the same time accomplished such results in the way of benefit to the church which claims his devotion, speaks volumes for his good judgment and taste. Father Lewis was born in France in 1821 and came to America in ISni. Soon after his arrival he was appointed to establish a new parish at Clifton, and how well he has succeeded is gener- ally known throughout Richmond county. From the time of his arrival at Clifton he devoted his whole thought to the work before him, and what he has accomplished has been the result of his constant and unwavering efl'orts. The commodious WV,'\ii\1»^, t, ■*,\^%^-\fc.^'V, H. 1. HISTORY OF UICHMOND COUNTY. 43;-} cliiirch, rectory, schools, residence of sisters of charity, orphan asylnm, St Mary's hall, literary hall for young men, St. Mary's cemetery, chapel of ease, in Stapleton, etc., make up to day one of the most complete and beautifnl parishes in the diocese of New York and betray his clear-headedness, unflagging energy and sound financiering abilities. It may be said to his credit also that lie has not confined himself entirely to the work of his own denomination, but has been and is ever ready to lend a helping hand in all liberal and charitable movements. Father Lewis has been through life a hard student and has attained for himself an honored position among the learned men of his day. Refined in taste and manner without affec- tation, with a countenance full of candor and goodness of heart, a ripe scholar, speaking fluently five or six language.s, of mature exjjerience, much enlarged by traveling, a thorough champion of his own church, yet kind and forbearing to those who differ from him, and ever ready to give credit to the honest convic- tions of others; all these are the qualities which have enabled him to make such a remarkable success of his undertakings on Staten Island, and have won for him the love and esteem of his fellovr men. St. Mary's Roman Catholic church. Port Richmond, was or- ganized as an out mission of St. Peter's chui'ch, New Brighton, about forty years ago. The Rev. Father Metrano celebrated the first mass for about forty Catholics, which was the whole number of that denomination living in the town of Northfield at that time. The place of worship was the old stone house which still stands near the granite quarry at Graniteville. Father Metrano continued celebrating mass there once every month, for about three years, when he was succeeded by the Rev. P. Murphy. Father Murphy's time was short ; he died from an attack of yellow fever contracted while performing his sacred functions to members of his flock in the yellow fever hospital. After a service of about two years, he was succeeded by his brother. Father Mark Murphj'. At this time the num- ber of catholics had increased to about one hundred and fifty members. After a few years he purchased a large piece of land on Quarry hill, and built a frame building, sixty by thirty feet, two stories high, for a school house. He used it for a church, intending to build a larger and more commodious building for church purposes. He officiated for about eight years, when he 28 434 JIISTOKY (»F ]{ICHMOND COUNTY. was succeeded by the Rev. Father Caro, who was appointed pastoi' of St. Joseph's church, Rossville, and St. Mary's was attached as an out mission. He served about two years. He was succeeded by Rev. Father McCrausen, who officiated about two years. Up to this time there was no regular Sunday school. In 1858, Rev. Father Barry of St. Patrick's, NewYork, was appointed pas- tor. Services still continued to be held once a month, but after a few years they were held twice a month. The catholic popu- lation afterward increased to about four hundred, and services were held every Sunday. During his time a regular Sunday school was formed, and in 1873, T. F. Donovan was appointed superintendent, a position which he has since held. Father Barry officiated for nineteen years. During his time the tract of land which was laid out in previous years for church pur- poses, was converted into a cemetery. In 1877, the number of catholics had increased to live or six hundred. The church authorities deemed it advisable to make St. Mary's a separate jiarish, and therefore appointed Rev. H. S. O'Hare, pastor. He served one year and three months. In 1878, Rev. J. C. Campbell was appointed pastor. His ap- pointment marks the forward stride of St. Mary's churcli. He worked solely for the temporal and spiritual welfare of his people. The end of the lirst three years of his pastorate found the church completely clear of debt, and several needed im- provements made in the old frame building which Father Mur- phy had built thirty years previous, and which was still used as a church. He next had the parish enlarged by getting it ex- tended to Bodine's Mill creek. The number of Catholics belonging to St. Mary's was now about eight hundred. The old church was now too small to accommodate the grow- ing congregation, and its location was such as to prevent a great many from attending their own church. Father Campbell saw that something should be done to supply the wants of his people. He accordingly, in 1882, purchased for one thousand five hundred dollars, a large piece of property on the Shore road, near Port Richmond, and erected on it one of the handsomest church edifices on Staten Island, at a cost of thirty thousand dollars. The new church is one hundred feet long by fifty-seven feet wide, with slate roof, and has a steeple one hundred and twenty-five feet high. The inside is finished in polished oak, HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 435 and lias a seating capacity of six hundred ; all the windows are of stained glass, and were donated by the members of the church. The corner stone was laid bj^ Archbishop Corrigan on the 19th of August, 1883. It was ready for services the follow- ing May, and on the 4th of that month it was dedicated by Archbishop Corrigan. In April, 1885, Father Campbell pur- chased a magnificent organ to be placed in the church, at a cost of two thousand five hundred dollars. It was used for the first time on the iirst anniversary of the dedication. He has since purchased a large piece of property adjoining the church prop- erty, to be used for church purposes. Daniel D. McCarthy donated a bell weighing two thousand pounds, which is placed in the tower of the church. St. Joseph's church, Rossville, was built in 1851, and for three years after that time was under the care of the church at Clifton. About 1854 Rev. Father Caro became its pastor. He was succeeded by the Rev. Bernard McCrausen in 1857. He remained until 1859, when the Rev. John Barry became its pastor, and the latter remained till the year 1877. Rev. Ed- ward A. Dunphy succeeded him, remaining until the present time. The congregation of this church comes from Kreischer- ville, Tottenville, Green Ridge, Eltingville, Annadale, Hugue- not, Prince's Bay, Richmond Valley and Rossville. The church is a frame building sixty-one by twenty-five feet on the ground, standing near Shay's lane. The interior is tastefully decorated with oil paintings, and the house is furnished with stained glass windows. It has a seating capacity for about three hundred. St. Patrick's church, located at Richmond, was built in the year 1861. It is of brick, seventy-one by forty feet in size, and is capable of seating about four hundred people. It owes its existence largely, if not wholly, to the persevering efforts of Rev. Father Barry, who for many years was its faithful pastor. St. Rose of Lima, located on Castleton avenue, at the corner of Roe street, West New Brighton, was erected in 1864, on a lot seventy-five by one hundred and fifty feet, which had been purchased of William Jones for nine hundred dollars. Its building was due to the energy of Rev. Father Conron, then pastor of St. Peter's church at New Brighton. The church was appropriately dedicated on Sunday, December 4, 1864, by the celebration of high mass, and a performance of classic music by artists from St. Peter's church, of Barclay street, ]Sew York, 436 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. and the "Italian Opera Company." A notable event took place here on Sunday, May 22, 1881, when one hundred and fourteen males and an equal number of females were confirmed by Archbishop Corrigan, assisted by Father Poole, pastor of the church, and others. In 1850 a number of the members of the Reformed church in Richmond, residing at such a distance therefrom as to render their attendance inconvenient, organized a new church at Bloom- ingview, now known as the " Church of the Huguenots." A plain but substantial church building was erected on land donated by the Hon. Benjamin P. Prall, and the Rev. James A. M. Latourette, a descendant of a Staten Island Huguenot family, became its first pastor. Soon after, however, he re- signed his charge, having connected himself with the Protest- ant Episcopal church. Mr. Latourette was succeeded by the Rev. Thomas B. Greg- ory, who also, after a brief term, resigned. The Rev. Herman B. Stryker, a native Staten Islander, and son of the Rev. Peter Stryker, formerly pastor of the church on the north side, then supplied the pulpit for several years. After his resignation, the Rev. I')r. Francis M. Kip assumed the duties of the pastoral office. "The First United Independent Christian Church of Staten Is- land" (Unitarian) was organized at the house of Minthorne Tomp- kins in Stapleton, February 19, 1851, bj' the election of Dr. A. Sid- ney Doane, Minthorne Tompkins, Daniel Low, F. S. Hagadorn, William Emerson, P. C. Cortelyou, John C. Thomi^son, H. M. Harding, John Crabtree, A. J. Hamilton, John Bendernagel, and Philii) Bender, as trustees. This society held their meet- ings at the Lyceum in Stapleton, where the Reverend Messrs. Bellows, Chapin and Osgood often kindly officiated until the Rev. John Parkman, of Boston, who had recently become a resident of the island, acceisted the charge. On the 21st of September of the same year (1851") "The Con- gregational Church of the Evangelists of New Brighton " was established by the initative of Messrs. James Parker, Lucius Tuckerman, W. C. Goodhue, George W. Jewett, John Crabtree, A. J. Hamilton, George A. Ward, Robert C.Goodhue, William W. Russell, Smith Ely, S. M. Elliott, John D. Sloat, J. E. Kun- hardt, William F. Gary, John Jewett, Jr., L. G. Wyeth and Mrs. M. Pendleton. This society held their meetings at the HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 437 Belmont house, New Brighton, Mr. Parkman preaching on al ternate Sundays there and at the Lyceum, for about six months, wlien, unable to obtain a suitable place for worship, the orf^ani- zation was dissolved, and the members joined the congregation. Mr. Parkman was called to the pastorate of the united body, and the name of tlie corporation was changed to that of " The Church of the Redeemer," Messrs. Daniel Low, George A. Ward, W. C. Goodhue, John F. Raymond, Lucius Tuckerman, H. M. Harding, A. J. Hamilton, John Crabtree and Daniel G. Garrison being the board of trustees. A building for church purposes was erected on Richmond turnpike at the foot of Cebra avenue, an isolated situation, apparently selected because, be- ing about equi-distant from the several villages, it wasnotmoi'e inconvenient to one than to another. It was dedicated June 29, 185;}. The church flourished and increased, and it was thought necessary to enlarge the building. This was done, and the number of pews almost doubled. In a comi)aratively short time, however, the disadvantages of the situation became more and more manifest ; the roads were bad, and there were no sidewalks; most of the congre- gation lived at a distance; access to the church was difficult, almost impracticable at seasons to those on foot; the zeal of many of the original members diminished; some died, more left the island, and their places remained empty. Mr. Parkman, with his family, went to Europe, and was succeeded tempora- rily by Rev. Charles Ritter, and by Rev. R. P. Cutler, and finally in November, 1865, after an unsuccessful attempt to in- duce Mr. Parkman, on his return to Boston from Eixrope, to resume his former charge, the church was closed, the building sold and removed, the land also sold, and the proceeds invested in United States bonds. The corporation was continued, how- ever, and its members patiently awaited the time when more favorable circumstances should call it to renewed activity. That time came in 1868, when the population of New Bi-ighton, hav- ing greatly increased. Rev. W. R. G. Mellen, then secretary of the Hudson River Conference, gathered the congregation to- gether, and attempted its reorganization. Meetings were held at the Union Sunday school room in New Brighton, at which he conducted the services, and after much patient and earnest en- deavor on his part, the desired result was attained. A reor- ganization was effected, and Messrs. Daniel Low, George W. 438 HISTORY or Richmond county. Jewett, John C. Henderson, Charles C. Goodhue, George W. Curtis, John H. Piatt, Edward B. Merrill, J. Frank Emmons and Andrew M. F. Davis, were chosen trustees. A lot of land on the corner of Clinton avenue and Second street, New Brigh- ton, was purchased, and a church edifice erected thereon at the cost of nearly $15,000. The larger part of this sum was paid by the funds in hand and by subscriptions, but a debt of nearly $6,000 remained. Rev. W. C. Badger was called to the pastorate, but was com- pelled by ill health to resign in about eighteen months. The pulpit was afterward supplied by different clergyman for a while, but for several months the services were conducted by Mr. George W. Curtis, who read such printed sermons as he judged would interest and nelp the congregation. In May, 1871, Rev. W. R. G. Mellen, who had, in the meanwhile, been preach ing at Detroit, was settled as pastor, and remained in charge until May, 1874, when circumstances compelled him to I'esign. After this the services were iirincipally and gratuitously con- ducted by Mr. Curtis, in the manner above mentioned, to the continued delight and satisfaction of the hearers. During this period a fine organ was purchased and paid for, mainly through the exertion of Mr. J. W. Simonton, who had gratuitously conducted the musical services of the congrega- tion since the reorganization; the debt was paid off, Mr. Daniel Low, deceased, having contributed largely for that purpose, and the society was enabled to give assistance to other weak churches, and to deserving charities. The revenues of the " Church of the Redeemer" were raised by subscription and not from the rent of pews, the seats being absolutely free. All persons of both sexes, of full age, who had been stated attendants on worship with the society for one year, and had contributed five dollars annually to its treasury were entitled to take part, and to vote at all its pro- ceedings. When, after a few years, Mr. Curtis relinquished the con- duct of the services the society invited various clergymen to preach, and finally asked the Rev. Alphonso Weeks to become the pastor. He was obliged to decline and the religious ser- vices were then suspended. The church remained unoccupied for a time, but in 1884 it was let to a Baptist society which holds regular worship in the building. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 439 Tlie First Edgewater Presbyterian church is located on Brownell and McKeon streets, Stapleton. It was originally called "The First Presbyterian Church of Clifton." The or- ganization took place Wednesday afternoon, May 14, 1856, at the residence of Gr. W. Gerard, Townsend avenue, Clifton, when the Thi>d Presb^'tery of New York city met for that purpose. There were present of that body Rev. Dr. Samuel D. Burchard, A. E. Campbell, Rev. W. Roosevelt, D. T. Mc- Langhton, and Elders David Stevens and J. C. Hines, the com- mittee ai^poiuted by the body for this service. After religious service, twenty-one persons from the Reformed Dntch church of Stapleton, and five from other churches presented letters of dismissal to the new church, and having assented to the con- fession of the faith and covenant were organized into a Pres- byterian church. John D. Dix, E. S. Sa.xton, and G. W. Ger- ard were elected elders; E. A. Ludlow, and Davidge deacons; and were forthwith installed. Rev. Dr. Burchard officiating. The first communion of the Lord's Supper was celebrated in the home of Elder Gerard, May 18, 1856, when all the members of the church were present. Rev. Alonzo Brown became pastor of the church October 1, 1856. This pastorate was dissolved November 30, 1857. The Rev. Samuel W. Cruttenden was the next pastor, and served the church from April, 1858, until November 9, 1859. On the 25th of January, 1860, the Rev. W. Howell Taylor was elected pastor, and he continued as such until October, 1864. The Rev. J. H. Sinclair was next invited to supply the pulpit for eight months. February 20, 1865, the Rev. David R. Frazer, of Bal- timore, was called to become the pastor. He resigned the pastorate, and was on October 8, 1868, released from the same. In December, 1865, the first official steps were taken toward the building of a new church, and resulted in the purchase of the present church edifice, then occupied by the Dutch Reformed church, and owned by them. On April 13, 1868, a congrega- tional meeting was held to consider an overture from the Re- formed Dutch church of Stapleton respecting a union of the two churches, which was effected. At a meeting of the congrega- tion, May 20, 1868, the name of the church was changed to the "First Presbyterian Church, Edgewater." The Rev. Dr. J. E. Rockwell, of Brooklyn, was elected pastor of the church August 5, 1868. His pastorate was terminated by 440 HISTORY OF ItlCHMOND COUNTY. his death, in the year 1882, after a long and useful ministry. On October 29, 1882, the Rev. G. M. McCainpbell, the present pastor, was called to the church. The chapel, or Sunday school room of this church, which formerly stood on Gorge street, now Broad street, was destroyed by an incendiary lire. After this the present oiie was erected. This costly and commodious chapel of the church, erected in 187C, stands on the corner opposite the jiresent church edifice, and is used for Sunday school purposes and the weekly devo- tional and other meetings of the congregation. It is a spacious and elegant brick edifice, erected chiefly, if not wholly, through the munificence of a lady, who donated $8,000 for the purjDose. The present membership numbers two hundred and forty. There are three hundred children in the Sunday school. The benev- olent contributions during the last year amounted to $1,400, while for congregational expenses $4,000 were raised. The Calvary Presbyterian church, of West New Brighton, was organized November 17, 1872, under care of the Presbytery of Brooklyn. It was organized with thirty-five members, most of these having been previously connected with the Dutch re- formed church of Port Richmond. Tlie following were its first officers : R. N. Havens and Augustus W. Sexton, elders ; Ralozie Fuller and William J. Ladd, deacons. The chapel, situated on the corner of Bemenl and Castleton avenues, had been erected before the organization of tlie church. It was built during the summer of 1872, at first to accommodate the Sunday school, which had been oi'ganized May 14th of that year. The church was reallj^ the outgrowth of a Sunday school. From its beginning until April, 1873, the pulpit of the church was supplied by the Rev. James S. Evans, D. D., who, as syn- odical superintendent of church extension, had rendered great assistance in effecting the organization. On the evening of March 11th, 1873, a call was extended to the Rev. J. Milton Greene, pastor of the Second Presbyterian church, of Brook- lyn, wliich was accepted by him, and he was installed pastor of the church on tlie evening of March 3d, 1873. He continued to minister to the church for eight years, when he resigned to enter upon missionary work in Mexico. During this time, be- ginning in May, 1881, Presbyterian services were conducted in the old school house between Travisville and Linoleumville, by HISTOUY OF HICHMOND COUNTY. 441 Kev. J. Milton Greene and Chaplain Jones of Sailors' Snug Harbor. Constant g-rowth characterized the organization, so that in September, 1874, it was found necessary to enlarge the chapel by one half of its original size. The present pastor, Rev. T. A. Leggett, was installed in December, 1881. The church has had a health}' growth, and its present membership is two hundred and fifty. The Sabbath school is one of the largest on the island, and is admitted by all to be the most popular and flourishing. The chapel, since its enlargement, is capable of seating from four to five hundred j^eople; and the interior is beautifully and tastefully finished and furnished. The church owns land ad- joining the chape], and expects to erect upon it a substantial church. The "German Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. John," at Port Richmond, was organized October 17, 1852. This be- longs to the sect, U. A. C. (Unaltered Augsburgian Confession). This confession was drawn up at Augsburg by Melancthon, and by him and Luther presented to the Emperor Charles in 1530. The original members were: John Rathyen, Paul Schmidt, Charles Keutgen, John Hettsche, Carl Senne, A. Knop]3, Ernst Senne, Louis Koenig, John C. Schiegel, Augustus Senne, J. H. Matthius, Diedrich Senne, Gottlieb Bertsch, Carl Neidthart, Adam Fuegel, A. Ilulsebus. The pastors of the church have been as follows: Bernard de Schweinitz; Pr. Boeling, from 1853 to 1855; H. Roel, from 1855 to 1856; J. F. C. Hennicke, from 1856 to 1857; K. Goehling, from 1858 to 1859; M. Termenstein, from 1860 to 1867; J. E. Gottlieb, from 1867 to 1875; C. Frincke, Jr., December 5, 1875, to 1884; J. P. Schoener, Ajiril 19, 1885, to the present time. In 1884 the church had one hundred and fifty-seven commu- nicant members. The congregation has a day school of sixty- two pupils, mostly children of the members. The school had a few years since one hundred scholars. It is conducted in German and English. Some studies are given in either lan- guage. It is prominently a religious school. The church edi- fice was purchased from the Methodists. (See Trinity M. E. church). The Unitarian church on the Turnpike road was purchased 442 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. in 1865, by this congregation, wlio were then worshipping iinder the leadership of Rev. Karl Goehling. The price, whicli inclnded a fine pipe organ and the other furniture of the liouse, was three thousand five hundred dollars. The liuilding was re- moved to the corner of Beach street and Richmond road, on ground donated in jjart by Albert Ward, Esq., for the site of a church. This congregation had previously used the Methodist Episcopal church on Cebra avenue for their meetings. There is a Lutheran church at Edgewater, of which we have been unable to procure information. It has a parish school connected with it. The organization of St. Peters congregation having been per fected Rev. Dr. L. Mohn projjosed Mr. Jacob Ganss, a student of theology, as preacher, to whom accordingly a call was sent. Mr. Gauss preached his first sermon here on the lirst Sunday of the Advent of 1881. His zeal for the welfare of the congrega- tion was of such a sacrificing nature as to insure the success of Doctor Mohn's undertaking according to the principles advp- cated by him. After having passed a most satisfactory exam- ination he was by recommendation of the classis of New York ordained a minister of the gospel, and on November 16, 1883, was duly installed as minister of the "German Evangelical St. Peter's Church of Kreischerville," by three members of the classis of New York. A full choir of ladies and gentlemen was organized and is under the leadership of the minister. One of the members of the congregation acts as organist. Services are held every Sunday from 10 to 11 A. M., and Sunday school meets from 9 to 10 A. M. A weekly lecture for the benefit of the chui'ch is given by the minister. The church is located in the midst of a small village near the Stateu Island sound. The front of the church is visible from the public highway leading from Tottenville to Rossville. The establishment of a German church here dates back to the year 1881, where the now deceased Rev. Dr. L. Mohn, of Hoboken, N. J., by his zeal in bringing about German worship, was moved to begin his labors in a small chapel, kindly offered by the Methodist Episcopal congregation in the village. On the 23d day of October, 1881, the church was incorporated by the Honorable Classis of New York, and the first consistory was organized by representatives of the classis. The increased popularity of the services rendered the auditorium inadequate HISTOKY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. 443 to the number of members in attendance, so that it became necessary for the congregation to provide a clinrch of its own. The hirge majority of tlie congregation being German and of German extraction, consisting mainly of employees of the firm of B. Kreischer & Sons, Mr. B. Kreisclier, the senior member of the lirm, having been an inhabitant of tlie place since 1852, seeing the necessity of a house of public worship, proceeded to erect a tine church for their benefit at his own expense. He personally superintended the erection of the building, from laying the foundation to the completion of the structure. On the first day of July, 1883, a fine little church was ready to open its doors to those who were anxious to hear the praise of the Lord expounded in the German language, the building having cost Mr. Kreischer fifteen thousand dollars. In the pres- ence of every member of Mr. Kreischer' s family the church was delivered to the congregation, and services to celebrate the oc- casion were conducted by the Rev. Dr. L. Mohn, assisted by the Rev. Jacob Ganss. The Sunday school connected with the church, and which is in charge of the consistory, was at the same time organized. At the present time there are about two hundred members of the congregation, and one hundred and sixty children belong- ing to the Sunday school. The meetings of the consistory are held in a room fitted up for that purpose in the church build- ing. The first preacher and founder of the church was Rev. Dr. L. Mohn. The present members of the consistory are: Charles C. Kreischer, Edward B. Kreischer, elders ; August Nyck, secretary ; Julius Meerowski, George Werner, deacons ; Edward B. Kreischer, treasurer. Two societies of the Young Men's Christian Association have been organized on the island. The association of the north shore was organized in Trinity Methodist Episcopal church, July 15, 1867, and was incorporated on the 3d of September fol- lowing. The incorporators were : Mathew S. Taylor, George A. Middlebrook, Mnlford D. Simonson, JohuD. Vermeule and Eugene DuBois. The corner stone of their beautiful edifice was laid Tuesday, August 15, 1871, with appropriate cere- monies, and was dedicated November 22, 1872. The building contains a reading room, sitting room, associa- tion meeting room, and an auditorium capable of seating four 444 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. hundred and eighty persons. The total cost of the building was $19,755.32. On the 18th of June, 1883, a band of young men, numbering thirty-seven, met in the Sunday school room of the Brighton Heights Reformed church and resolved themselves into a soci- ety under the name of the Young Men's Christian Association of the East Shoi-e. As the society gained a footing and its vari- ous liranches of work were organized, religious meetings were held as often as twice a week, besides a tneeting on Saturday afternoon for boys. Literary entertainments and debates were held during the winter, occasional lectures were given, a read- ing room was provided with the weekly and daily papers, and a library of about five hundred volumes. A parlor, supplied with an organ and other attractions, was open every evening, social receptions were occasionally held, and a gymnasium was fitted U13 for the use of members. At the end of the first year the membership of the association numbered one hundred and fifty, divided into three classes, active, associate and sustaining. CHAPTER IX. EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. The Schools of the Colonial Period. — The Public Schools under the State Gov- ernment. — Richmond County College. — Brighton Heights Seminary. — Staten Island Academy. — The Natural Science Association. — Newspapers. — George William Curtis. — John Adams Appleton. — The Smith Family. IN respect to intellectual culture and attention to popular education Staten Island has ever sustained a creditable position in its generation. It has indeed been remarkably favored in this particular, even more so than most localities in its neighborhood. Alw^ays the home of men prominent in scien- tific, literary, educational or political fields — men who were among the foremost in the councils of the province, state or nation, in the various fields of mental action, it has profited by their leadership, energy and enterprise. Then again, being- situated, as it were, under the wing of the great American metropolis, it has had the benefit of its attractions, patronage and benefactions. The early inhabitants of the island gave assiduous attention to the education of their children. Very meagre fragments only of history may now be found to tell us how they accom- plished this work, but enough may be found to convince us that they appreciated the importance of giving their cliildren the common education of the times. The first education was very naturally of a religious character, and given under religious patronage. The earliest note that we find touching this subject is one in the records of the " Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts," an English society sustained under the ausj)ices of the Episcopal church, for the year 1710, which is as follows : "Mr. Mackenzy, the Society's Missionary in Staten Island, in the Province of New York, having informed them how much they wanted School-Masters to instruct the Children of the English, Dutch and French, in the said Island, and having 446 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. recommended Mr. Adam Brown and Mr. Benjamin Drewit for that Purpose, the Societj' made choice of them both." These early schoolmasters were also sometimes called cat- echists. The two seem to have been continued — at least tiiat number was emjiloyed— during the two years following, but in 1712 the men appear to have been changed. That year Francis Williamson and John de Puy were employed as school- masters under the patronage of the "Society." They received ten pounds a year for their salary, and their work was emi- nently satisfactory, as the testimony of the missionary. Rev. Mr. Mackenzy, together with the approval of the justices of the county abundantly proved. So beneficial to the people did the work of these early schoolmasters appear to be that the society determined in 1713 to employ three more catechists or schoolmasters at once. We have the report of Mr. Brown of Richmond, one of these teachers, the report being dated April 10, 1713, by which we learn that he had continued to keep school in the south precinct of the county ; that he had taught, during the year preceding, thirty-five children to "read, write and cypher ; " and the cat- echism of the church, with the explanations thereof, to such as were capable ; that he had twenty-four of his scholars publicly catechized in the church, and the readiness with which they answered all questions was admired by all who heard them ; that he taught them the use of tlie "common prayer," so that the children could join with the congregation in the divine ser- vice. This report was certified to by the minister and the board of justices of the county. In 1717, Charles Taylor appears as the schoolmaster of the " Society," with a salary of fifteen pounds a year. He appears to have occupied the position for several years. In 1722 and 1723 he was teaching respectively, forty-three and forty two scholars. Besides the scholars in regular daily attendance he also at that time kei>t a night school for teaching negroes and those children who had to work during the day-time. The salary received from the " Society" was not his only reliance. He received an additional pittance from his patrons as a I'ule, though his own interest in the cause and the poverty of some of his pupils induced him to teach some without any other pay than the salary of the society. He continued to exercise the functions of a schoolmaster for many years. He died in the HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 447 service in 1742, as the following abstract from tiie "Society's" minutes will show : "And Mr. Taylor, the Society's Schoolmaster at Staten Island being dead, the Society upon a Petition and Recommenda- tion from the Reverend Mr. Arnold, their Missionary, and from the Chui-ch-wardens and Vestry of the Church of Staten Island, of Mr. Andrew Wright, as a Person of good Morals, and a con- stant Communicant, and well qualified to teach, hath appointed him School-master there to instruct the poor white, and black Children also, if any such are brought to him, gratis, in the Principles of Christianity, and to read the Bible and the Com- mon-prayer Book." It is hard! J' to besupposed that these schoolmasters employed by this society were the first or only teachers engaged at the time in the instruction of children. But we have been unable to find any definite data in regard to the early operations of the Dutch in the cause of education. During the colonial period the secular schools were generally under private patronage. To show the contrast between a teacher's certificate of that time and those under whicli teachers pass at the present time we give the following copy : "We whose names are under wq'itten Do Certify that the Bearer hereof, James Forrest, lias lived in the West end of Staten Island two years and six months, During whicli time we know nothing of him but what is Just and honest. Teaching and Instructing of Pupils in such parts of Literature as their Capacity Could Contain: with great Fidelity and Justice, Giv- ing due and Regular Attendance in said school to our mutual & Intire Satisfaction and Likewise Instructed them in their Parts and Honours to our great Felicity, and now to part at his own Request. As Witness our hands 6th of August Seventeen hundred and Sixtynine 1769. Isaac Doty, William Bp:nnet, Abraham Winant, Peter Androvet, David Laforge, John Garrison, Zackeus Vandyck, George Garrison, Cornelius Dusosway, John Dubois, Daniel Winant, John Gould, Isaac Prall, Jacob Reck how, John Story, Isaac Doty, Daniel Stilwell, Thomas Butler, Moses Doty, John Totton, Henry Butler, Joseph Speagg, Gilbert Totton, Christopher Billopp, Jacob Spragg, Isaac Mani;, Daniel Winant, Jun'r." 448 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. After the establishment of the state government the subject of popular education began to receive notice in the legislature. The lirst step in that direction was the incorporation of the Regents of the University, which was done by the first legisla- ture after the adoption of the constitution. In 1789, the state set apart certain public lands for gospel and school purposes. In 1795, an act was passed for encouraging and maintaining schools, appropriating fifty thousand dollars annually for five years for that purpose. In 1799, an ace was passed authorizing and providing for raising the sum of one hundred thousand dollars by means of four successive lotteries, the money to be appropriated to the encouragement of schools. In 1805, an act was passed by which five hundred thousand acres of the public lands of the state were to be sold and the proceeds devoted to the establishment of a permanent fund, the income of which was to be annually distributed among the school districts of the state for the support of common schools. No system for carrying out the beneficence of the state had been devised when Governor Tompkins, at the opening of the se.ssion, in 1810, addressed the legislature, urging attention to this matter. The income of the fund at that time amounted to about twenty-six thousand dollars annually, the fund itself having reached the sum of one hundred and fifty-one thousand one hundi'ed and fifteen dollars and sixty-nine cents. In 1811 Governor Tompkins again urged the matter upon the legisla- ture, and the result was the passage of an act organizing the common school system as it existed until 1838. The first dis- tribution of money under this system was made in 1813, the law establishing it having been passed June 19, 1812. This system divided the several towns into school districts, and placed the affairs of each district in the hands of three trustees. The school money was apjjortioned to the towns on the basis of their population, and again divided to each school district on the basis of the number of children in each, between the ages of five and fifteen years. Each town was required to raise for school pur- poses a sum equal to that which it received from the state. The first superintendent of common schools was Gideon Hawley, whose term extended from 1813 to 1821. But it is not our purpose to give here even an outline of the development of the common school system of which to-day the Empire state may Justly boast. That system, in its operations, HISTORY OF KICHJIOND COUNTY. 449 is not different in Richmond county from otlier jrarts of the state. Its present status is shown by the following figures from the reports of the schools for the year last closed : Town op Castleton. Four Coi-ners West New Brighton . New Brighton New Brighton Ml ■o 'If, ^ u " •^'Z C.2 c-S iiQ u^ TD "^ bC J= — -.H-S u o 387 175 1,584 813 1,466 889 711 268 M rt jscrt c/j-a — tiO S^ o u d. a o E 5 «-c < > 1,500.00 3,500 9,720. .'-.3 12,000 8,405.03 40,000 5,700.00 10,000 391,800 885,700 1,256,968 633,601 Town of Middletown. Tompkins ville — Edgewater . Stapleton — Edgewater Todt Hill New Dorp 772 429 4,320.31 16,000 3,160 1,284 8,749.44 28,000 168 73 600.00 500 147 74 660.00 1,200 497,754 1,101,310 190,435 125,995 Town of Northfield. Richmond New Sjiringville Linoleumville Port Richmond Mariners' Harbor Port Richmond, Village of. Traversville Port Richmond. 116 78 550.14 650 123 50 500.00 400 149 130 1,000.00 2,500 147 74 550.00 800 450 380 3,518.12 2,500 866 591 5,692.50 10,000 134 74 500.00 250 69 53 364.00 350 194 125 800.00 800 100,000 147,916 100,917 143,208 446,760 946,940 67,938 46,354 102,040 Town of Southfield. Clifton Concord. . . New Dorp. 878 360 3,513.61 13,600 603,730 430 234 1,378.00 3,000 333,498 63 41 600.00 1,000 83,855 Town of Westfield. Richmond Valley. Sea Side Green Ridge Rossville Tottenville Prince's Bay. . Kreischer ville . Sea Side 156 91 575.00 ■700 82 63 600.00 1,000 141 66 4.50.00 800 181 94 600.00 800 533 361 2,750.00 13,000 282 176 1,300.00 1,000 360 305 980.00 1,500 135 70 700.00 1,200 130,180 133,875 169,810 151,655 135,930 176,730 155,850 136,375 In the popular instruction afforded by public lectures and literary entertainments of a high order, the people of Staten Island have enjoyed unusual facilities. For many years in- structive lecture courses have been maintained in some of the 39 450 UISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. villages. The support given to them speaks well for the intelli- gent good sense of the people. The evidences are not wanting to show that the people of Staten Island have been disposed to appreciate the value of pojjular education in many ways, and to give a generous sujiport to whatever means were presented for its accomplishment. The proximity to New York city, how- ever, which circumstance has proven favorable to some means, has been unfavorable to the maintenance here of collegiate schools or academies of high grade. Attempts have been made to establish such institutions, but the results until recently have not been eminently encouraging. An explanation is readily seen in the fact that the best institutions of the great metropolis, with advantages which a rural countj^ like this could not be expected to emulate, are dailj^ accessible to the residents of the island. We shall notice but a few of the at- tempts to found schools for higher education on the island. The Richmond county college was incorporated by an act of the legislature passed April 21, 1838. A condition of its exist- ence was that it should within two years own property to the value of $80,000, in default of which the charter was to become null and void. Ogdeii Edwards'^ , Walter Patterson, Charles T. Gatlin, Jacob Tysen, Thomas McAuley, Charles A. Porter, John S. Westerpelt, William Wilson, George Howard, Caleb T. Ward, William W. Phillips, Thomas Wilson, M'uithorne Tompkins, William A. Sceley, John N. McLeod, Thomas Gum- ming, Billowy B. Seaman, William C. Brownlee, Robert PaUison, David Moore, Alexander Martin, Thomas E. Davis, James O. Smith, William Scott, Louis McLane, John E. Miller, James Pollotik, James B. Murray, Duncan Dunbar, Samuel Barton, AVilliam Agnew, Thomas J. Oakley, JoJm R. Satterlee and William Soul were constituted the body corporate and politic, and the first trustees. Several efforts were made to convene the trustees without success, and the matter finally died away and was forgotten. Brighton Heights seminarj^ for girls is located on St. Mark's place, nearly opposite the Reformed church. The large prop- erty of Horace R. Kelly was purchased for it. It was estab- lished in 1883. Its first principal was Mrs. Hartt, the widow of the late Professor Charles F. Hartt, of Cornell University. It * The names in Italics were residents of the island. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 451 was intended to make the school equal to the best New York and Brooklyn schools. The " Brighton Heights Association" was formed in the spring of 1883, by a number of gentlemen, residents of Staten Island, who purchased property at a cost of $20,000, formerly the resi- dence of George Wetherspoon, Esq. The interior was re- modelled and htted to the new purpose at a cost of over $3,500. The school was well patronized by all parts of the island, and the building was found too small, so an addition was made at a cost of $6,000, built in 1884, on the south side of the grounds fronting St. Mark's place. It is connected by a covered passage way with the first building. The size of the new addition is forty by forty-one feet, two stories high. The basement is of brick, the building frame. A kindergarten has been added. Preparatory, music, drawing and French are taught. The pres- ent principal is Dr. George W. Cook. The Staten Island academy is the fullillment of a desire long felt and discussed, to provide for this populous suburb of New York a school so organized that it should furnish graded in- struction complete and of a high order, from the primary to the collegiate years. An earnest effort in the sfk-ing and sum- mer of 1884, shaped a movement which resulted in the estab- lishment of an incorporated school, planned from the outset to furnish such instruction and especially to give the carefullest preparation for the university or schools of technology. The school was first opened September 15, 1884. It is char- tered under the laws of the state of New York. Its general management is given to a board of trustees elected by the stockholders. It offers systematic courses of study in all primary and academic grades, with the strictest features of a thoroughly classified school maintained in every department. The school is exclusively for day scholars and receives pupils of both sexes from the jjrimary grade upward. The building now occupied by the school is on Richmond road, opposite the Lyceum, and stands in one of the quietest and most attractive parts of Stapleton. It is supplied with modern school furniture, electric bells, gas, water, toilet rooms and all that may contribute to the comfort of scholars and the efficiency of their class work. The trustees of the academy have designed to provide here a complete Froebel kindergarten, and to this end two rooms have 452 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. been fiirnislied with all that; relates to kindergarten work. In one of these the children are bnsy with their various occupa- tions, while in the other and larger one they have ample space for the beautiful games and exercises of the Froebel system. Care is taken that the children shall be surrounded by all that can help develop a taste for the beautiful, and a habit of kindness to the lower animals. An aquarium of tishes, a mini- ature Hower garden, singing birds, pictures, and designs, of which many are the specimens of the children's own handiwork, adorn the rooms. The entire organization of the school properi^y, its courses of study,etc.,has devolved upon the present principal, Frederick E. Partington, A.M., of Brown University, who was the first to take charge at the opening in September, 1884. The school registers now over two hundred students, and can admit no more, except when vacancies occur, and it has a list of thirty or forty who are waiting to enter when the chance comes. The trustees have lately acquired a large property, and steps have been taken to erect a large and permanent structure which will accommodate four hundred i:)upils, and be provided with a fine gymnasium, assembly hall and all the appointments of a modern preparatory school. Among the more prominent citizens of the island closely interested in its development are Hon. Geoi'ge William Curtis, Erastus Wiman, Esq. and Dr. John C. Eccleston. The present board of trustees are: Augustus Schoverling, Dr. John L. Feeny, Carl von Dannenberg, Hermann Garbe, Frederick W. Graef, August Horrmann, Algernon K. Johnston, Dr. Rudolph Mautner, Anthon G. Methfessel, William Rock- stroth, Reinhardt Siedenberg, Hugo Schering and Erastus Wiman. St. Austin's School, for boys, at West New Brighton, was established in 1883, through the efforts of Rev. Alfred G. Mortimer, the present rector. From its beginning this school has met with unusual success. In February, 1885, the property of the late W. T. Garner, on Bard avenue, consisting of fifteen acres of ground with the buildings thereon, was purchased for the school. Class rooms and gymnasium, with a front of one hundred and fifty feet, were erected near the main building. The faculty includes nine resident masters from Brown, London, Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, Edinburgh, and Dublin. The Natural Science Association, growing out of the infcel- IHSTOIIY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. 453 lectual culture of the island, developing in a demand for scien- titic investigation of the works of nature on the island, was organized in November, 1880. Its members are mainly per- sons of enthusiasm and energy in the particular direction in which the investigations of each are absorbed. In the study of the animals, reptiles, insects, birds, fishes, plants, trees, rocks, earths, formation and the Indian relics, the members of this association are performing an amount of labor that is per- fectly bewildering to the mind of an observer, when viewed in the aggregate. The society numbers about fifty active mem- bers, and they hold meetings monthly at the village hall in New Brighton, when the results of the labors of tlie different mem- bers are reported and notes of information compared. A col- lection of several hundred objects has been made, and this is all the time increasing. The present officers are: Dr. A. L. Carroll, president ; Samuel Henshaw, treasurer ; Ernest A. Congdon, recording secretary ; Arthur Hollick, corresponding secretary, and William T. Davis, curator. An incorporation, under the provisions of Chapter 319 of the Laws of 1848, was effected by the execution of the required certificate, January 19, 1885, which was duly filed with the county clerk on the 30th of the same month, and with the secretary of state February 19, 1885. The business and objects, as set forth in the certificate, are '• to collect and preserve objects of natural science and antiquity, with special reference to local matters, and to diffuse correct knowledge in regard to the same, by means of publications, meetings and public lectures." The management of its business and affairs is in the hands of a board of five trustees, which, for the first year of its incorporation, were : Alfred Ludlow Carroll, M. D., Ernest A. Congdon, Arthur Hollick, Ph. B., William T. Davis and Samuel Henshaw. The first Staten Island newspayjer, of which we have any knowledge, was ]iublished on the 17th day of October, 1827 ; it was called the ^^ Richmond Republican,''^ and was edited by Charles N. Baldwin ; it hailed from Tompkinsville, but was printed in Chambers street. New York. Its publication day Avas Saturday, and in politics it was rabidly democratic. Its editor announced that he also sold lottery tickets, and solicited orders for sign and ornamental painting. It appears to have continued in existence for several years, but we are not informed at what date its publication closed. 454 HISTORV OF RICHMOND COUNTY. The ^^ Riclimond County Mirror^'' was published at New Brighton in 1837 and 1888, by Francis L. Hagadorn. The '' Riclimond County Gazette''' was established at Staple- ton in February, 1859, with Charles Vogt as editor. Its origi- nal name was the "S'epoy," and it had its birth in the excite- ment which followed the burning of the quarantine buildings. Since 1864 it has been edited by Thomas J. Folan, Ernest F. Birmingham, James S. Spencer, Colon K. Urquhart, James E. Lee and William A. Suydam. Tt was consolidated with the " Sentinel;'' May 10, 1882. The '' North SJiore Advocate''^ was started at West New Brighton, by John J. Clute. in June, 1869. It continued under the same management until 1877, when its publication was suspended. The ^'Richmond County SentmeV was started in April, 1876, by Thomas Humphrey and Hans S. Beattie. It was pur- chased in 1881 by Erastus Wiman, and shortly afterward con- solidated with the *' Gazetted The '' State?i Island Leader'' was first issued in 1866, its publication office being at Stapleton. It publisher has been P. H. Gill. The '' Staten Island Adiiertiser," started in 1877, at West New Brighton, was afterward merged in the " Leader^ It is now published by the Macklin Brothers. '^ Der Deutsche Staten Islander, '" a German newspajier, was started at Stapleton, in 1867, by John Schiefer, editor and pub- lisher, by whom it is still continued. The '■'■ Staten Islander Deutsche Zeitung;'' a German paper, was established in 1876, by Caii Herborn, by whom it was edited and published two or three years, at Stapleton. The '' liichmond County Standard'" was established April 9, 1881, by Robert Humphrey and Colon K. Urquhart, in the village of New Brighton. After January, 1884, by the with- drawal of Mr. Urquhart, the proprietorship fell entirely to Mr. Humphrey, and Ira K. Morris was eni]3loyed as editor, in which jiosition he is still retained. The '■'Richmond County Democrat '''' was first issued in Sep- tember, 1880, by William J. and J. H. Browne. The publica- tion office is in the village of New Brighton. In 1883 the paper was enlarged, and a power press and steam were added to the working material of the office. Its publication is still con- HISTORY OF KICIIMOND COUNTY. 4P5 tinuecl by the original proprietors. Tiiomas J. Folan is its editor. The "' Rlclimoiid County Herald'' was established August 27, 1880, at Stapleton, by Gilbert C. Dean, by whom it has since been continued. The "■ Staten Island Star"' was established at West New Brighton in 1877. It is still published by Oscar A. Douglas. The publication of '• The Citizen''' was begun at Port Rich- mond, in September, 1885, by Ii'a R. Bamber and George D. Swart wout. George William Curtis. — For years it lias been the priv- ilege of Richmond county to number among its residents one of the foremost of American authors, journalists and statesmen, George William Curtis. Although Mr. Curtis has never held a political office, he has made a profound study of states- manship, and possesses a knowledge of public affairs second to that of no other man in the country ; but his greatest and best work has been achieved in the field of journalism. Starting out on his youthful career as the author of several charming books of travel, and afterward drifting into literary engage- ments with the New York '^ Tribune,''' '■'■Harper's Weekly," and other journals, he was at an early age, and in common with thousands of earnest young men in the North, driven by conviction to take part in the great moral revolution which cul- minated in the war for the Union and the abolition of slavery in the United States; and throwing himself with fervor into this new field of activity, he abandoned a profession in which he might have obtained high honors, for the one in which he has achieved his great reputation as a leader and teacher uf men. It will be interesting to trace the ste^js by which he came into his chosen career of work. Mr. Curtis was born in Providence, R. I., February 24, 1824, but he was partly of Massachusetts descent, his father having been born in Worcester, in that state, of which an ancester was the first settler. His mother was the daughter of James Bur- rill, Jr., at one time chief justice of Rhode Island, and after- ward United States senator. In 1830 he went to boarding school at Jamaica Plain, near Boston, where he remained for four years. Pleasant reminiscences of his school days there are found in the early chapters of his novel, " Trumps," narrated 456 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. with a Fresbness and enthusiasm which remind the reader of " Tom Brown at Rugby." Meanwhile be hjst his mother; and in 1839, his father, who had married again, removed with his family to New York, and, desirous that his son should pur.sue a mercantile career, placed him, after a yeai"'s study with a iwivate tutor, as a clerk in a German importing house in Ex- change place. But mercantile life was not agreeable to the youth. His tastes were decidedly literary, and in the course of his reading he be- came deeply interested in the transcendental movement in which so many of the best and jiurest minds of New England were at that time engaged. Accordingly, after about a year of uncon- genial drudgery in the importing house, he went to " Brook Farm," in company with his eldest brother, who shared in his tastes and aspirations. It is unnececsary to repeat the story of failure and disappointment which led to the breaking down of that amiable experiment; but the incident of his taking part in the endeavor to create an ideal society is interesting as show- ing the earlj' tendency of Mr. Curtis' mind. He is still called an idealist by those who use the word as a term of reproach, as though it were folly in the youth to believe that society may, in time and by j)ersistent effort, be organized on a higher and purer basis than at present, and still greater folly in the man to retain such optimistic views. The millennium may be far away; but its coming will not be hastened by deriding the prin- ciples whose application in social and political life may make it possible at some distant period; and men who endeavor to bring society into harmony with those principles are xn-ophets and apostles of the Utopia that is to come. Mr. Curtis and his brother remained at " Brook Farm " until 1844, and they then passed two years in Concord, Mass., study- ing and farming. Here Mr. Curtis became very intimate with Emerson, Hawthorn and Henry Thoreau, forming warm friend- ships with them which were broken only by death. In his " Homes of American Authors" he has printed some interest- ing notes of his intercourse with the philosopher, the romancer and the hermit. In 1846 Mr. Curtis determined on making an extended tour in the old world, which, at that time, was a more eventful and important undertaking than it is now, when the " Atlantic Ferry " will take you across in a little more than a week. In I '^'7^.«u^^^^=2^:^i:.^t.**t. ^-^^'-iTi^^ V*0-\. tt ?1'\^^"^■^"i'i.^ "i-- %\'i.%^Mv^'^, H. 1. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COHNTY. 457 August of that year he sailed from New York for Marseilles in a passenger packet. The voyage occupied nearly fifty days. From Marseilles he went by steamer to Leghorn and from that city to Pisa, where he lingered awhile to admire the wonders of the Leaning Tower, the Cathedral, the Baptistery and the Campo Santo. Prom Pisa he passed on through the luscious vintage to Florence. The winter was spent in Rome. In the spring of 1847 Mr. Curtis visited Naples and other portions of Southern Ital3% then made his way slowly northward, back to Florence, where he remained some time, finishing the summer by a long and delightful sojourn in Venice, in the congenial society of Kensett, Hicks and other American artists. In the autumn he traveled through Lombardy to Conio, and over the Stelvio through the Tyrol and Salzkammergat to Vienna, reaching Berlin in the middle of November. The spring of 1848 found him in Dresden, Prague and again in Vienna, whence he sailed down the Danube to Pesth, returning to Switzerland for the summer. He traveled through Switzerland with all the delight of leisure, and not with the modern American frenzy, which counts as lost time every hour consumed in passing from place to place. In the same manner he studied the cities, the people and the art of Holland — who indeed could hurry through Holland — and in the autumn sailed from Malta to Alexandria. Mr. Curtis was fortunate in visiting the land of the Pharoahs when the spirit of modern progress had scarcely begun its devastating work within the shadow of the pyramids. The de- struction of the picturesque is surely not an evil necessarily attendant upon social, political and industrial progress; but progress is very apt, when suddenly aroused, to play sad havoc with things which might better be preserved than destroyed. Were there not quarries of stone in Egypt, that temples old as human tradition must be despoiled to build new cities '. Doubtless the railroad and the steamboat are great conveniences for people who ai'e in a hurry, but they have unmade the Egypt of history and the imagination. They had not done so when our Howadji looked upon the pyramids and sailed slowly up the Nile to the second cataract. The sacred river still flowed "through old hushed Egypt and its sands, like some grave, mighty thought, threading a dream," and the effect of that hushed and dreamy life upon his imagination found delightful expression in his " Nile Notes," which are full of the flavor and 458 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. perfume of the East. Ten years afterward they oonlcl not have been written. Stephens visited the Nile still earlier; but he was a man of merely dry observation. He had no enthusiasm, no imagination, and the record of his journeyings is as dull as a ledger in comparison with the Howadji's dreamy musings and charming descriptions. A journey across the desert by way of Gaza to Jerusalem, of whicli he wrote an account in the " Howadji in Syria," ended Mr. Curtis' eastern travels. He spent the early summer of 1850 in England and returned home in August. His pen had not been idle during his wanderings. Besides his journal, he had written letters for the "^Courier and Enquirer,''' of which Henry J. Raymond was then managing editor, and for the New York " Tribune,'" where his friend, Mr. Charles A. Dana, held the same position. On his return, he entered upon an ac- tive literary life. He became musical critic and editorial writer on the " Tribune,''^ and wrote out his " Nile Notes," which were published in 1851 by the Harpers. In the autumn of that year he wrote a series of picturesque traveling letters to the " Tribune.''' from the Catskills, Saratoga, Trenton, Niagara, Newport and Nahant, which were published in 1852 as "Lotus Eating," beautifully illustrated by his friend Kenseit. In the same year the "Howadji in Syria" was published, and Mr. Curtis wrote some sketches of social life for '•'Harpers MontMy. The establishment of " Putnavi' s MontTdy,'" in 1853, opened a new field to Mr. Curtis, who, in conjunction with Parke God- win and Charles F. Briggs, assumed the editorial management of that periodical, which was destined to a brilliant though brief career. Within the first year of its existence he wrote the jiapers on Emerson, Hawthorne, Longfellow and Bancroft, in the series on "The Homes of American Authors." To this magazine Mr. Curtis contributed "The Potiphar Papers," a brilliant satire on certain phases of New York society, and " Prue and I," a series of delightful sketches, rather than a story, which was published in 1857. When the magazine passed into the hands of Messrs. Dix & Edwards, Mr. Curtis and Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted became connected with the firm and were involved in its failure. Considering himself morally, if not legally, responsible for a portion of the indebtedness, Mr. Curtis refused to avail himself of the technicalities of the HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 459 law and set himself to the work of paying the creditors. He devoted himself diligently to literary work. The amount of labor he performed was literally enormons. Besides filling the " Easy Chair "of " Harper' s Magazine,'''' in which he had just taken his seat, and writing "The Lounger" in ^' Harpefs WeeMy,'' he delivered a long series of lectures, sometimes speaking a hundred nights in a season, and traveling, almost without rest, from place to place at the insatiable call of man- agers and committees. No man was ever more popular as a lecturer. The charm of his manner was irresistible; he had not only something to say which the people wanted to hear, but knew how to say it with the grace and ease which belong to the true orator. One of the most popular of his lectures was that on that perfect soldier of chivalry, Sir Philip Sidney. Scarce!}^ less popular were his Lowell lectures on the mod- ern English novelists, which were repeated in New York, Brooklyn and other places. The physical and mental strain involved in this labor was so excessive that many people wondered that he was willing to undergo it. A few only of his immediate friends knew ihat the proceeds of all his lectures during a period of almost ten years, and a part of his salary as editor, were devoted to the liquidation of the debt from which the law, but not his high sense of moral responsibility, would have absolved him. During these years the slavery question had gradually ab- sorbed public attention and had become the paramount theme in the jiress, the pulpit, and the lyceum. In his Newport loungings Mr. Curtis had noted the effect produced on northern society by the slave power, and his attention had been called to the necessity of combating the evil influence by every popular means. Accordingly, in all his lectures, like many of the ly- ceum speakers at that time, he discussed fhe subject with great freedom and force. The lecture lyceum, indeed, did much to arouse and enlighten public opinion on this vital question, and to prepare the way for the great revival of anti-slavery feeling in the north which followed the personal assault on Chai'les Sumner in 1856. It is necessary to recall these times in order to form a just estimate of Mr. Curtis, and his career in public affairs. He was one of a lai'ge number of young men who felt, when that assault took place, that there were more imperative duties than the delights of dalliance in the primrose paths of 460 HISTO]lY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. literature. In the year just mentioned he delivered a college address at Middletown on the "Duty of the American Scholar to Politics and the Times," in which the situation and the impending crisis were discussed from an anti-slavery point of view. He went on the stump for Fremont, in that year, speak- ing in New York, New England, New Jersey and Pennsylvaniaj and entered actively into politics on Staten Island, where he lived, and where for many years he was chairman of the repub- lican county committee. Mr. Curtis was a delegate to the second national convention of the republican party, which assembled at Chicago on the 16th of May, 1860. It will be remembered that the construction of a " platform " was a labor of considerable difficulty. There were still many republicans who wished to conciliate tlie border states, and when Joshua R. Giddings moved in convention to add to the first resolution the "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness" clause from the declaration of independence, the oi^position was loud and determined. The motion was lost by a large vote and Mr. Giddings, who had urged its adoption in the most eloquent and impressive manner, proposed to with- draw from the convention ; but Mr. Curtis took an early oppor- I unity to renew tlie motion, in a slightly modihed form. There were again loud cries of opposition. Mr. Curtis asked whether the party was prepared at its second national convention to vote against the great charter of American liberty, and cautioned the delegates to beware how, there in the broad prairies of the west, they receded from the position which the party had occupied at Pittsburg, and refused to repeat the words of the fathers of the revolution. His eloquent periods acted like magic on the convention. The amendment was adopted unanimously amid wild excitement, the great multitude rising and giving round after round of applause. "Ten tliousaud voices," says a coniemporary report, "swelled into a deafening roar, and for several minutes every attempt to restore order was hopelessly vain. The crowd of people outside took up and re-echoed the cheers, making a scene of excitement and enthusiasm unparal- leled in any similar gathering." It was a great popular triumph, and was of vital service to the party, not only in retaining the influence of Mr. Giddings and his followers, but in swelling the enthusiasm which greeted the platform and the candidates. The same earnestness of purpose which charac- HISTORY OF RICiniOXD COUNTY. 461 terized him in the convention of 1860 was manifested in tlie action of Mr. Curtis at the convention of 1884. Tlie nomination of Mr. Blaine for the presidency lie believed to be a mistake of too grave a nature to be passed by him in silence, and his sub- sequent refusal to support the republican candidates was in simple conformity to the dictates of his conscience. It was a notewortliy event in the history of American journal- ism when, in December of 1863, Mr. Curtis became the political editor of "-^ Harpef s WeeJcly^' He had been conducting a de- partment called "The Lounger," begun in the autumn of 1857, which consisted at first of essays in the lighter vein on social and literary topics, very much in the manner of the "Easy Chair." After the beginning of the war Mr. Curtis frequently introduced subjects of a national and political character in this department, but his field was comparativelj' restricted. From the moment, however, that he took his seat in the editorial chair, his discussions assumed a wider scope, embracing all the great issues before the country. Thoroughly equipped for his new position by mental training and political experience, and in t\\\\ sympathy with his audience, he made ^'' Harpef s Weekly'' a power in the republican party. He was hampered by no office restrictions. The publishers knew the secret of real responsibility, and, giving him their confidence, gave it unre- servedly. There was, of course, entire harmonj^ of principle and purpose between Mr. Curtis and his publishers ; and while there was also, of course, occasional differences of judgment as to men and measures, there was never any interference with the course pursued by Mr. Curtis, nor any attempt to dictate the tone of the paper. This unrestricted independence gave Mr. Curtis a commanding influence in republican councils and over his readers. He won and has kept the enthusiastic personal sup- port and admiration of his audience, as no other editor has suc- ceeded in doing, with the single exception of Horace Gi'eely. The relations between Mr. Curtis and his readers are, in fact, almost personal in their nature, and he has never seriously entertained proposals, however brilliant and tempting, that would interrupt those relations. Thus, although he could serve as a regent of the university, and a non-resident professor at Cornell Univer- sity for four years, he declined in 1869, upon the death of Henry J. Raymond, who had previously asked him to become assistant 462 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. editor, an invitation to the chief editorship of the New York '■'Times." No other man has done more to create and maintain a healthy l)opular sentiment on the subject of civil service reform. In '' Harpef s WeeMy,'''' and in his public addresses, he has expounded and advocated this important measure with a per- sistency which has drawn upon him the wrath and ridicule of those who are pleased to style themselves "practical" politi- cians. "Sentimentalist" and "Visionary" are among the mildest names applied to him by his political opponents ; and he has been accused frequently of treachery to party allegiance, because of the outspoken manner in which he has exposed and denounced obnoxious measures within the ]>arty. But Mr. Curtis acknowledges no party allegiance, in the sense that " machine" politicians understand the term ; his only allegiance is to right, to high principle, to honor. He has the loftiest con- ceptions of the duty of the citizen. He holds that it should be the aim of every man, not only to keep himself pure, but to assist in tlie purification and elevation of ijolitics ; that it is the duty of every resjiectable citizen to take part in civil affairs and to keep them out of the control of the baser elements of society. Between "sentimental" politics like this, and "i^ractical" politics, which implies pandering to those baser elements, there can be no room for choice. As Charles Sumner once said, in his imperious way, to one who asked him to consider the other side of the slavery question : " Sir, in a matter of this sort there is no other side." That the views which Mr. Curtis holds will win in the end admits of no doubt. Many a failure may yet be in store for their advocates, but, unless free institutions are destined to go under, civil service reform must ultimately triumph. Mr. Cur- tis was not discouraged by its failure under President Grant's administration. He accepted the chairmanship of the civil service commission, in 1871, with sanguine hopes of success. The president was sincere and earnest in his desire to thus sig- nalize his administration ; but, in 1873, becoming convinced that, yielding to the pressure of "practical" politicians. Gen- eral Grant had changed his views, Mr. Curtis resigned, and the next year the president formally abandoned the project. It had been well for the president, and for the republican party, Lad he listened to wiser councils. Even those who have always HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 463 sneered at " Sunday school" politics begin now to discern the signs of the times; and the president's recent recommendations in his annual message, and the various bills hurriedly intro- duced in congress, favoi'ing reform in the civil service, show that the views which Mr. Curtis advocates have taken a strong- er hold on the public than was dreamed of by his opponents. Mr. Curtis has never accepted a political office, although often pressed to do so. By Mr. Seward he was offered the consul- generalship to Egypt ; President Hayes urged him to accept the post of minister to England, and afterward that of minister to Germany ; but he could not be tempted away from his edito- rial position. Once he accepted the nomiiiatiou for representa- tive to congress, knowing that his district was hopelessly democratic, and tliat there was no prospect of his election. In 1867, he served in the state constitutional convention in which he was chairman of the committee on education. He frequently took part in the debates, and made a speech in favor of the ex- tension of the franchise to women — a measure of which he has been for years a consistent advocate. Mr. Curtis was married in 1857, to a daughter of Mr. Robert G. Shaw, the eminent philanthropist, recently deceased. For many years he has resided in West IS'ew Brighton, Staten Island, except during the summer months, when he seeks rest and relaxation in a pleasant, old-fashioned country home in the village of Ashfield, Mass. His devotion to journalism and ijolitical affairs has prevented Mr. Curtis from pursuing authorship as a profession if we are to regard authoi'ship as the writing of books; but althougli he has put forth no volume since the publication of "Trumps," the readers of the "Easy Chair" in '■^Harper's Magazine,'''' and of "Manners Upon the Road" in '^ Harpef s Bazaar'' will recognize in him the most cliarming essayist of the day. The delicate, graceful humor of these papers, the purity of style, the wide range of culture and observation whicJi they in- dicate, but which is never obtrusive, give them a distinctive character of their own. The "Easy Chair" is the first part of the magazine to which the reader turns. The author of "Trumps," "The Potiphar Papers," and " Prue and I," could hardly have failed as a novelist, had he chosen to pursue that path of literature ; but we will not regret his choice, for while we have many novelists, where shall we look for another name like his in the field of American journalism ? 464 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. John Adams Appleton, one of tlie members of the firm of D. Appleton & Co., publishers and importers of books in New York city, and for many years one of Staten Island's most prominent and respected residents, was born in Boston, Mass., January 9, 1817. As a young man he entered the business with his father and brothers, and in the prosecution of that business upon sound and manly principles he met with gratifying suc- cess. He acquired a large fortune which he wisely used, not only for the benefit of his immediate family and friends, but also for the good of the community in which he lived, and especially for the cause of the church to which he was devotedlj^ attached. There were several points in Mr. Appleton' s character which deserve to be noted. He was first of all, a devout, consistent Christian; one who was neither ashamed nor afraid to acknowl- edge his faith in his Savioui', and one who strove to remember always that he was a steward of God placed in charge of large means and opportunities for promoting the spread of the Gospel and the happiness of his fellow-men. Through life he con- tinued steadfast in his faith, and when the summons came he laid down the burden of life with firm, unwavering confidence in the mercy of our Heavenly Father in and through Christ Jesus our Lord. He was for many years senior warden of St. John's Church, Clifton, and was one of its largest benefactors. It may, indeed, be called his monument. A mural tablet has been erected in the church of his affections, commemorating his quiet life of faith and service as a Christian. It was done by the members of the church, his friends, and the employees in his business. In admirable keeping with this inner life of faith, Mr. Ap- pleton always proved himself to be a gentleman of the truest type. He was uniformly courteous and considerate toward others, never wounding the feelings of any one, however ob- scure or lowly his lot, and always ready with a pleasant word and kindly act. Though of a rather nervous temperament, and disliking everything of the nature of parade or show, lie was fond of congenial society, and took delight in dispensing cordial and unostentatious hospitality at his beautiful residence on Staten Island. As a business man Mr. Appleton was deservedly esteemed, an honor to the name. He took his full share in upholding the HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 465 reputation which the house of D. Appleton & Co. has always sustained for integrity and fairness in their vast busi- ness transactions. He was jealous for the good name of the house, and desirous, by every effort oh his part, to extend its honorable influence. A few years previous to his death he was severely injured by being thrown from his carriage, and he never fully recovered from the shock which was thus given to his system. His last illness was aggravated by a complication (if disorders, and he sank rapidly under the attack, passing away in the early morning of Wednesday, July 13, 1881, in the sixty- fifth year of his age. He was endeared to all with whom he was brought into close business relations, as touching evidence of which may be ad- duced the spontaneous gathering of the employees of the house, the day after his death, and the resolutions unanimously adopted at the meeting. Especially was he respected and esteemed upon Staten Island, where his liberality and charity won for him a host of admiring and constant friends. Perhaps no private citizen ever received a more universal eulogium from the press at the time of his death than did Mr. Appleton. The Smith Family. — Richard Penn Smith, better known on Staten Island as Col. Penn Smith, is a descendant of the Smith family of Philadelphia so many members of which have made themselves famous by their literary and artistic abilities. The great-grandfather of Mr. Smith was the Rev. Dr. Smith, first provost of Philadelphia College in the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania. He was a man of gi'eat talent and one who had enjoyed a highly finished European education. For twenty-five years Doctor Smith stood foremost among the eminent persons of his time. He was a profound and varied scholar, a vigorous thinker and a writer of great beauty and energy, many of his literary productions being compared by British reviewers to those of Massillon and Bossuet. Doctor Smith was prominent in all the aggressive movements of his day, and was among the first to recognize and assist Benjamin West toward the eminence which he afterward achieved. His writings have been collected into several volumes which have passed through various editions, meeting always with marked approbation. The eldest son of Rev. Dr. Smith, William Moore Smith, was also a man of note. He inherited from his father a love of 30 466 HISTORY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. Study, especially of the classics. Early in life he published a volume of poems, characterized by brilliancy of fancy, ease of versification, justness of sentiment and chaste and nervous diction. The poems were reprinted in England, where they were made the subject of much commendation, a fact at that time of such unfrequent occurrence that it deserves to be re- membered. Mr. Smith enlarged his views by extensive foreign travel, after returning from which he became a barrister in Philadelphia. Here he rajmlly rose to eminence in his pro- fession, from which, however, he retired at an early age, spending his after years in the family mansion on the Schuylkill. Richard Penn Smith, son of the preceding and father of the subject of this sketch, was a man of distinguished ability both as a literateur and as a dramatist. He followed in the foot- steps of his literary predecessors, and is remembered among the best magazine writers of his day. He was for five years proprietor of the '■'■Aurora,'''' a well known Philadelphia paper and, thcmgh its editor, found leisure at the same time to con- tribute many articles to the periodical literature of the time, besides producing several dramatic pieces, some of which were not only cordially received at their first representation, but still continue to maintain their place on the stage. Among his earliest plays were the "Disowned, or the Prodigal" and "Deformed, or Woman's Trial." These plays were performed at the Chestnut street theater, Philadelphia, after which they were taken to London where tliey created a most favorable im- pression. Besides these dramas Mr. Smith wrote tragedy and numerous petite comedies and farces. He composed, at the request of Edwin Forrest, the tragedy of "Caius Marius," which was performed by that actor at the Arch street theater, Philadelphia. While quite young Mr. Smith composed a novel in two volumes, entitled the " Forsaken." In 1836 he published two volumes, under the title of "The Actress of Padua and Other Tales," which had an extensive sale. In the same year he gave to the public "Colonel Crockett's Tour in Texas," a pseudo autobiography which purported to have been written by the gallant Tennesseean prior to the field of the Alamo. In the course of a single year upward of ten thousand copies were sold in the United States besides an extensive sale which the work received in England. This book was the most popular of all the . J^^^j^u,^^ ^ '^ iB^|^*^0 . ^;^''> ^p-r*\- '* . # pM i^ ^►.:i Ik. '.« 4^''S1 EmIjIi^ rEBK. BEECHLAWN. RESIDENCE OF COL, R. PENN SMITH V4^ z z a -3 z h. U (/) D I CHAPTER X. THE PROFESSIONS OF LAW AND MEDICINE. The Bench and Bar.*— Henry B. Metcalfe.— AlvinC. Bradley.— Tompkins Wester- relt.- Lot C. Clark.— Robert Christie.— John and WilUam H. Anthon.— Theodore C. Vermilye.— List of Practising Attorneys.— Augustus Prentice.— Richmond County Jledical Society.— I. K. Ambrose.— Herman Beyer.— Alfred L. Carroll.— Ephraim Clark.— Alva D. Decker.— Henry S. Earl.— Joseph Feeny.— John L. Feeny.— R. Henry Colder.— Edwin A. Hervey.— George C. Hubbard.— Robert M. Ames.— F. E. Martindale. — James J. O'Dea. — S. A. Robinson.— Robert Rogerson. —Henry W. Sawtelle.— Samuel Russell Smith. — Walker Washington, Jr.— J. Walter Wood.— Notes of Quarantine Superin- tendence, etc. RICHMOND county, owing to its being, as a matter of fact, simply one of tlie many places of habitation for the business men of the city of New York, whose business is done in the city and by city lawyers and before city courts, has not in the past become the residence of any great number of the most eminent members of the bar. In the distribution of judicial districts and departments Richmond county is attached to the Second judicial district and department, and in the selections of judges for the higher state courts " little Richmond," by which appellation the county is known, has never been honored. Although lawyers have never been wanting competent and willing to fill the position of county judge and surrogate, such was the universal respect for and confidence in Judge Metcalfe that he held the position from the adoption of the constitution of 1846 until his age precluded him from further service. Judge Tompkins Westervelt and Judge Stephen D. Stephens, his successors, are noticed in sketches subjoined. The writer is unable to recall any litiga- tions of great public importance in the county, excepting the quarantine riot investigation (1859) and the murder trial of Polly Bodine (1844). The county has not, however, been lack ing in litigations of more than ordinary interest, such as *By Sidney F. Rawson. 470 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. the will case of Mrs. Gardiner (the motlier-in-law of President Tyler), the Seguine will case, the ferry litigations between Cor- nelius Vanderbilt and George Law, John H. Starin and Erastus Wiman, and the late William T. Garner and the Xorth Shore Ferry Company. We append sketches of the lives of some of the more promi- nent of the legal fraternity. Hon. Henry B. Metcalfe was born January 20, 1805, at Johns- town, then Montgomery, now Fulton county, N. Y., and died at his residence in the town of Southfield, Richmond county, February 7, 1881, and was consequently in his 77th year at the time of his death. Judge Metcalfe was one of the seven chil- dren of Geoi'ge Metcalfe, who was at one time a man of consid- erable prominence in this state, having been appointed in 1796 as.sistant attorney-general under Governor Jay, and having held the office of district attorney in this county — of which he be- came a resident in 181G, when his son Henry was 11 j^ears old. The Metcalfes were of English extraction, the progenitor of the family having come to this country from England in 1765. The family in England was one of some note. Henry Bleeker Met- calfe studied law with his father, and at his arrival at majority, in 1826, was admitted to the bar, a special examination having been accorded to him by the chancellor, in order that he might be admitted as an attorney, so as to become eligible to hold the office of district attorney, made vacant by his father's death. He was also appointed a master in the court of chancery, which latter office he held until the abolition of that court in 1846. He held the office of district attorney until 1833 — between that time and 1830 he was employed by the Staten Island Ferry Com- pany. In 18-10 he was appointed county judge and in the same year he became a United States boarding officer at quaran- tine, which latter place he held until 1843. In 1847 he was elected (that being the first election to that office under the constitution of 1846) county judge and surrogate of this county, which office he held continuously till 1875, at which time he re- signed to take his seat as a member of congress for the first congressional district of New York, in the forty-fourth congress, to which he had been elected. Judge Metcalfe was also a j^rominent member of the Masonic fraternity, and for many years was the active manager (in his office of secretary) of the Richmond County Mutual lusur- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 471 ance Compan}\ The above is a brief record of Judge Metcalfe's ofRcial career. His life was an exceptional one, having held almost uninterruptedly, for a period of almost fifty-three years, some public office, and for all his adult life some place of trust. He was more favorably known to the people as surrogate than in any other capacity. His unvarying kindness to all who came in contact with him, his readiness at all times to render aid, give advice and otherwise help those who in sorrow and adversity sought his counsel, made him probably the most popular man in this county, and secured his election from time to time, sometimes without any, always without substantia], opposition. With one exception Judge Metcalfe held the of- fice of county judge and surrogate longer than any other officer in this state. As county judge he was more noted for his good sense and endeavors to get at the right of such matters, civil and criminal, as came before him, than he was for his knowl- edge of abstruse and intricate legal questions. He was the pre- siding judge of the court of sessions when, in 1856, several pub- lic officers of this county were indicted and convicted, as he was in 1872 when similar results were obtained. In their prosecu- tion Judge Metcalfe held the scales evenly balanced— neither jjopular prejudice nor personal friendship being allowed to inter- fere with the due course of the law — and when at the time of the quarantine riots several parties were brought before him on the serious charge of arson, Judge Metcalfe discharged the prison- ers, and took strong ground against the right of the city of New York to cast her infected dead and dying upon the shores of the island. In congress his most notable vote was perhaps that given for the creation of the electoral commission, for which he was somewhat criticised by his party friends, but his judgment was that the danger of anarchy and civil war which threatened were far greater than any harm that could come from a peace- able solution of the then pending question. He was the owner of a farm a short distance frcjm Richmond village, where he passed the latter years of his life, and where he i^eacefully passed away, surrounded by his family and friends. Judge Metcalfe's memory was honored at a bar meeting held at the Richmond county court house October 9, 1881, Hon. Cal- vin E. Pratt presiding. A suitable memorial, presented by Ex-District Attorney Sidney F. Rawson, was entered upon the 472 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. irinutes of the court, and addresses were made by Hon. T. Westervelt, E. B. Merrill, Esq., and others. Among the many lawyers who have from time to time made their homes on Staten Island none have been more worthy of an enduring monument by the use of the " art preservative of all arts " than the late Alvin C. Bradley, who died at his residence near Castleton Corners, on Wednesday, February 23, 1881, aged 70 yeai'S and 7 months. Mr. Bradley was not a native of Richmond county, having removed hither from the western part of the state about 1851. He purchased the fine farm of Mr. Garrett Martling, located l^artly in Middletown and partly in Castleton, and removed into the farm house upon the premises. After residing there a few years, he erected a very commodious and tasteful man- sion iqion another portion of the farm from designs which were made under his personal direction. In this very comfortable and agreeable home he resided till his death. During the time of his residence on Staten Island, he con- tinued the practice of law in the city of New York, in which he had been engaged for a number of years previous, and which was of an important character, bringing him often very promi- nently before the jjublic. He took part in many interesting- trials and was engaged in arguments of much moment in the higher courts. One of the many cases in which he appeared was that of referee as to the alimony question in the great For- rest divorce case, a matter of great moment to the parties in the suit and involving a large amount of money. He was a lawyer of superior ability and was possessed of an acute and subtle mind, to the cultivation of which he had brought ver}' extensive reading. In politics, Mr. Bradley belonged to the old whig j)arty dur- ing its existence, and at one time ran for member of assembly on that ticket in this county. He afterward united with the republican party and continued a very ardent member of that faitli. About 1873 he was elected supervisor of the town of Middletown and served for one term. With him from the other ■towns were gentlemen of much public spirit and intelligence, and the board which they composed was called the " Reform Board," and accomiilished very much in the way of regulating the affairs of the countj^, and bringing matters to a condition wherein the laws were more strictly observed by public officers. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 473 * Mr. Bradley gave himself almost without intermission to the duties of his office and performed an immense deal of hard work in connection with it, for which the public were exceedingly grateful and are still enjoying the benefits of the same. The deceased was an invalid for three years, but found enjoy- ment during his enforced retirement in reading the books contained in his large and valuable private librarj'. At a meeting of the members of the bar shortly after Mr. Bradley's death, at which Hon. Calvin E. Pratt, justice of the supreme court, presided, a memorial on the life of Mr. Bradley was pre- sented and oi-dered entered upon the minutes of the court. Ed- ward B. Merrill, Esq. (now of the New York bar, then of Rich- mond county), delivered a very able address, and remarks were made by Hon. Tompkins Westervelt, George J. Greenfield, Hon. Theodore Frean, Sidney F. Rawson, Isaiah T. Williams, and others — and a letter was read from Charles O'Connor, saying that " his brethren not only I'ecognized the able lawyer but the true and honorable citizen, and as such they deplore his loss and honor his memory." Hon. Tompkins Westervelt was the son of Doctor John S. Westervelt and Hannah, his wife, the latter being the daughter of Hon. Daniel D. Tompkins. He was born and always resided at New Brighton, Staten Island. He graduated at the age of 21 years at Columbia College; was almost im- mediately admitted to the bar and continued in jDractice to the time of his death. He was a courteous gentleman and able lawyer, and perfectly upright in all his transactions. He was for several terms trustee of the village of New Brighton; was a vestryman in St. John's Protestant Episcopal church at Clifton; one of the founders of the S. R. Smith Infirmary; a director in the Staten Island Sav- ings Bank and for many years its counsel. In 1871 he was twice a candidate for the office of district attorney but was defeated each time. In 1875 he was elected county judge, which office he held with honor and distinction for six years. Judge West- ervelt died April 20, 1882, aged 52 years. At the term of the supreme court held in Richmond county in May, 1882, Hon. E. M. Cullen presiding, a meeting of the bar was held and a committee consisting of County Judge Stephens, Ex-District Attorney Rawson and George J. Greenfield. Esq., presented the following resolutions on the death of Judge Westervelt : 474 JIISTORY OF KICIIMOND COUNTY. " Whereas, Tompkins Westervelt, a native of this county, who for lifty years resided thei-ein, and who for tliirty-one of these years was a practising lawyer, and who was honored by the people of his neighborhood and of tlie county by being placed in many positions of trust and responsibility, notably that of County Judge and Surrogate, has recently died, and " Whereas, During all those years. Judge Westervelt has led a blameless life, and has left to his family and friends a precious legacy in his record as a Christian gentleman, an able lawyer, an upright Judge and an honorable citizen; now, therefore, ''Resolved, That the members of the Bar of Richmond County, and the profession generally, have in the death of Judge Westervelt lost an honored friend and an able member of their body; ''Hemlved, That the people of this community have sustained a great loss in the death of Judge Westervelt. inasmuch as he was in every resi:)ect a good citizen, having at all times in his l^rivate, as well as in his public caj^acities, the best interests and welfare of the community at heart; ''Resolved, Also, that in the Christian life of Judge Wester- velt we find the true attributes of manhood, and that we may all profit by his example; "Resolved, Further, that the Court be requested to order these resolutions to be entered at length upon its minutes." Eulogiums were pronounced by Mr. Greenfield, Mr. Rawson, Judge Stephens and others. LotC. Clark, who died at his residence in Seventeenth street, New York city, on February 11, 1880, in the 62d year of his age, was well known and highly respected throughout Rich- mond count^^ He was born in Chenango county, this state, being the son of Lot Clark, a distinguished lawyer, and at one time a member of congress. He was graduated at Yale, studied law in the office of the late Nicholas Hill, at Saratoga springs, and began his practice in Richmond county. Becoming district attorney in 1841, he filled with distinguished ability the office for eight years, diiring which time he prosecuted several noted cases, among them that of Mrs. Polly Bodine, who was indicted for the murder of her sister-in-law and her infant niece and for arson. Three times was this case tried, the final trial resulting in an acquittal, but during its continuance Mr. Clark won for himself a lasting rejjutation as an energetic, well instructed and HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 475 able lawyer. Opposed to Mr. Clark in this case were Clinton De Witt and David Graham, the latter of whom especially became afterward recognized as one of the leading criminal lawyers. In 1856 Mr. Clark was married to Miss Frances Sutherland Irving, a daughter of Rev. Dr. Theodore Irving, and grand- daughter of the late Jacob Sutherland, a justice of the supreme court. In 1870 Mr. Clark removed to New York city. He was an active lay member of the Protestant Episcopal church, and his funeral took place from Calvary church, New York city. He was at one time at the head of the law firm of De Groot, Rawson & Stafford. Immediately after the decease of Mr. Clark the members of the bar met at the court house in Richmond county. Honor- able H. B. Metcalfe presided, Mr. George Gallagher was secre- tary, and large numbers of tlie legal profession were present. A committee, consisting of Honorable Tompkins Westervelt, George J. Greenfield, Esq., and Ex-District Attorney S. F. Rawson, was apjiointed to submit resolutions, and the following were presented and adopted, viz.: " WJiereas, The Bar of Richmond County has just sustained a severe loss in the death of Mr. Lot C. Clark, for many years its leading member and brightest ornament, and " Whereas, We desire to testify publicly our sense of this loss and our estimate and appreciation for our departed brother: ""Resolved, That the Bar of Richmond County have learned with i^rofound sadness that Mr. Lot C. Clark has departed from the scene of earthly activity and usefulness; and recognizing in this event the serious loss sustained by themselves and the legal fraternity at large. " Resolved, That in Lot C. Clark we see one who combined all the best and highest attributes of the lawyer — purity of life, absolute faithfulness to the trusts confided to him, clear and discriminating intellect, legal erudition, unwearied toil and con- stant study, and great forensic ability; and added to these, those qualities that mark the good citizen — a dutiful son, a de- voted husband and father, a warm and unvarying friend, a good neighbor and a humble, devout Christian, •' Resolved, That the life and example of Lot C. Clark should be studied and followed by his surviving brethren, who, 476 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. if they cannot reach the high rank which he held, can at least do their duty bj' striving to attain it by the means which he pur- sued, and can find in his course an encouragement to more earnest efforts. " Resolved, That these resolutions be presented to the court, with a request that the same be entered upon the minutes: " Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be prej^ared, at- tested by the chairman and secretary of this meeting, and trans- mitted to the family of the deceased." Eloquent addresses were made by Messrs. Westervelt, Green- field, Metcalfe and Rawson and the resolutions unanimously adopted. These addresses may be found in full in the Rich- mond county •'■Sentinel''' of February 21, 1880. Among the lawyers of prominence in the profession who are now deceased mention should be made of Hon. Robert Christie, who was state senator from the First senatorial district in 1864-5, and who was one of Richmond county's most active politicians and prominent lawyers. He resided for some time at Clifton in an elegant mansion and died there about 1873. He was a man of imposing personal appearance and had great natural talent, whicli, added to his legal training, made him one of the most talented lawyers of his day. The brothers John and William Henry Anthon (sons of John Anthon, an eminent lawyer of New York city), were for many years residents of Richmond county, and for a time controlled a large part of the legal business therein. John became grand master of the Masonic fraternity of New York state. William Henry was member of assembly from Richmond county in 1851, and judge advocate general of the state of New York in the early jiart of the civil war. Both of them were lawyers far above the average. John died about 1873, and William H. about 1875. Theodore C. Vermilye, who died about 1879, Avasa lawyer of considerable abilitj\ He was member of assembly in 1860, counsel to the board of supervisors of Richmond county for many years, was justice of the peace, town clerk and police justice of the village of New Brighton. Lawyers residing in Richmond county, in 1886 : Acker, Augustus, West New Brighton ; Alston, Lot C, Port Richmond. Benedict, Charles L., New Dorp post office. United States HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 477 district judge, Eastern district ; Birmingham, D. Walton, Stapleton ; Bonner, George W., New Brighton; Boardman, Albert B., New Brighton ; Bntler, Aaron, New Brighton ; Butts, Thomas W., Marinei's' Harbor. Collins, William A., New Brighton ; Clark, Lester W., New Brighton; Crook, John, ex-district attorney. Port Richmond ; Crowell, E. B., New Brigliton ; Gary, Melbert B., New Brighton. Davison, C. Stewart, New Brighton; DeGroot, Alfred, ex- district attorney. Port Richmond ; DeKay, Sidney, New Brighton ; Delavan, Edward C, New Brighton ; Delavan, Ed- ward C, Jr., New Brighton ; Duer, John, New Brighton. Everett, William, Tompkinsville ; Elliott, Walter T., Totten- ville. Finch, Richard L. N., Tompkinsville; Fitzgerald, Thomas W., Mariners' Harbor, Fitzgerald, Daniel H., Mariners' Har- bor ; Frean, Theodore, Stapleton. Gallagher, George, district attorney Richmond county. West New Brighton ; Greenfield, George J., Staj)leton. Hubbe, Edward S., Stapleton ; Heydenreich, A., Tompkins- ville ; Hornfager, W. S., Stapleton; Huebner, Max C, Staple- ton. Johnston, George H., Port Richmond ; Jones, Patrick H., Port Richmond. Kenney, John I., New Brighton ; Killian, B. D., Totten- ville ; King, J. Travis, Port Richmond. McNamee, James, Stapleton ; Maccafferty, Augustus, Tomp kinsville ; MacFarland, William W., Stapleton; Mackellar, George M., West New Brighton ; Marsh, Nathaniel, Stapleton; McCarthy, John A., Tompkinsville; McMahon, Thomas, New Brighton ; Middlebrook, Charles T., New Brighton ; Mullen, William M., Stapleton ; Martin, John M., Port Richmond ; McNamee, Charles, Stapleton ; McKeon, Joseph I., Stapleton. Openshaw, Edward, New Brighton. Powers, William J., West New Brighton ; Prentice, Augus- tus, New Bi-ighton. Rawson, Sidney F., ex-district attorney. Port Richmond ; Robinson, Robert E., New Brighton ; Rawcliffe, Henry Alonzo, Stapleton ; Robinson, George W., Stapleton. Stafford, Dewitt, Port Richmond; Scoheld, George S., Jr., Stapleton.; Stewart, William A. W., New Brighton; Stephens, Stephen D., Richmond county judge. New Brighton. 478 HISTORY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. Talbot, John E., Stapletoa ; Telfair, Jacob E., Tompkins- ville ; Thompson, E. G., New Brighton; Townsend, \Villiam B., Stapleton ; Townsend, Henry D., Stapleton. Ulman, H. C, Stapleton; UUraan Percival G., Hnguenot, Rossville post office. "Vermilye, Theodore C, Tompkinsville ; Van Hoevenbnrgh, James D., Tompkinsville; Van Name, C. D., Mariners' Harbor; Van Ness, William E.. Mariners' Harbor. Welch, Joseph A., New Dorp; Warner, John Dewitt, New Brighton; White, Elias M., Stapleton; Willcox, David J. H., New Brighton; Wyeth, Nathaniel J., New Dorp ; Whitehead, A. P., New Brighton ; Winsor, Thomas, Rossville. Augustus Pkentice was born in New London county, Connec- ticut, September 30, 1826. A genealogy of the Prentice family in America, published in 188B, shows his ancestors on the father's side to have emigrated from Essex county, England, in the year 1631, and to have settled in Roxbury, Massachusetts. In the year 1700 one branch of the familj^ settled in the town of Nortli Stonington, Conn., and from this branch Mr. Prentice is a direct descendant. His father (Asa Prentice) was born in New London county, Conn., February 13, 1792, and at this date (1887) is still living and in the enjoyment of good bodily health and all his faculties. His ancestors on the mother's side were also among the earlier settlers of New England. His great- grandfather on the mother's side was a wholesale merchant and extensive real estate owner in Newport, Rhode Island, at the time the English bombarded that place during the revo- lutionary war, and had several houses nearly destroyed by English cannon balls. Until he arrived at the age of about 10 years his father was engaged in the dry goods business in Springfield, Mass., and Montpelier, Vermont, and in both places Mr. Prentice attended the public school. His father then retired from the mercantile business and pui-chased and moved to a large farm in Tolland county. Conn., where Augustus continued attending the public school for several years, after which he was sent for a year or two to a private school. Here his inclination to study began to show itself and he made rapid and thorough progress in the more substantial branches. Prom this private school he went, at about the age of 17 years, to Wilbraham academy, at Wil- braham, Mass. His attendance at this academy extended over 1 1 iiii-iiiai - \ I' -■^^ ■'"oyAEriitc'mi. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 479 a period of three or four years. During tlie winter montlis lie tauglit school at West Hartford, Farmington and Old Windsor, in Conn., and one winter on Cape Cod. Having prepared him- self for college and made all his arrangements, even to packing his trunk preparatory to leaving the following day for college, he was brought to a sudden halt in his course. He was seized with violent hemorrhage which returned at periods for several months. Medical aid seemed of little avail, as the doctors pro- nounced his case one of enlargement of the heart. In the fall of that year he came to IVevv York city for the first time in his life to procure further medical advice. He was advised that his trouble arose from the lungs and that he must at once leave for Florida, which was then just coming into favorable notice. This advice was followed and though he had left home expecting to return, he immediately changed his plans, and late in Decem- ber was rowed from the Battery to a Maine vessel anchored just below bound up the St. John's I'iver, Florida, for lumber. He remained in Florida that winter, the following summer and the second winter before he left the state. About May of the second year he made a visit home and remained in New Eng- land during the summer and in the fall returned to Florida and spent his third and last winter in that state. Upon his return he comTnenced the study of the law in the office of Thomas W. Gierke, who was subsequently judge of the supreme court for the city of New York. He continued in Judge Clerke's office until his admission to the bar in the fall of 1851. lu the spring of 1852 he commenced practice in the city of New York. He was married at Gales Ferry, Connecticut, in June, 1855, to Catharine A., daughter of William Browning, Esq., and they commenced their married life in a house Mr. Prentice had just l^urchased in the city of New York. His attention having been accidentally called to Staten Island, and being much pleased with the place they determined to rent their city home and move to the island, which they did in the spring of 1858, when he built the house on Tompkins avenue in the village of New Brighton, where he lias long resided. At that time tliere were no incorporated villages on the island, the usual govern- ment of towns alone existing. In the summer of 1865 Mr. Prentice, having come to the conclusion that village govern- ment was desirable for that end of the island, proceeded to draft such a charter as he thought was suited to the wants of 480 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. the community. Late in the fall he issued invitations to many of his neighbors and gentlemen active in public affairs to meet at the St. Mark's hotel and hear the proposed charter for the proposed village of New Brighton read, which was done, the charter approved, and a committee api)ointed to go to Albany and procure its passage. The village government first organ- ized in 1866. .January 30, 1866, their only child was born to them and was named Augustus Browning Prentice. Mi'. Prentice has steadily continued in the practice of his profession, through which he early formed the acquaintance of a large circle of business men in the city of New York. Through many years he has retained the legal business of most of them. Various corpora- tions have at different times come under his control as counsel, among them the Artizans' Bank, the St. Louis and St. Joseph Railroad Company, the St. Joseph and Denver City Railroad Company, which he formed by consolidating several smaller companies. In the constraction of this railroad he formed one of the executive committee. These corpoi-ations materially in- creased his already well established practice. Mr. Prentice's iinancial success has been due largely to his business tact and his ability to make good investments, which he has coutined largely to real estate, and of which he is an owner both on Staten Island and in New York city. He has a large income from his real estate, to say nothing of his income from his profession, from which alone he has made his fortune, as it is said he never speculates. Though often requested to become a director in different corporations, he has invariably refused. He did, how- ever, after much solicitation, accept the position of president of the Bank of Staten Island, which i)osition he holds at present. Richmond County Medical Society. — On the 10th of July, 1806, five physicians met at the court house in the village of Richmond, for the purpose of organizing the first medical society in this county. Their names were Benjamin Parker, Isaac Stewart, Richard Henderson, I. B. Halsey and John R. B. Rodgers. This organization was the consequence of the enact- ing of certain laws of the state (April 8 preceding) which were deemed necessary to regulate the practice of physic and surg- ery, pronouncing none but members of county societies whose diplomas must have been filed in the office of the county clerk HISTORY OF KICinrOND COUNTY. 481 to be regularly authorized physicians. Meetings of the society were regnlarly held down to 1832, since which time there are no records of the meetings until a reorganization was effected. The records do not state who the first president was, but at a meeting held July 17, 1807, Benjamin Parker was chosen pres- iden t. On the evening of January 17, 1855, a meeting was held at the Tompkins Lyceum, Tompkinsville, for the purpose of tak ing preliminary measures to reorganize the " Medical Society of the County of Richmond." The meeting was composed of the following physicians : John S. Westervelt, James Harcourt, Isaac Lea, John W. Sterling, William C. Anderson, James R. Boardman, F. Campbell Stewart, Joseph Feeny, E. W. Prender- gast, Y. Hestizka, C. Gr. Rotha, H. R. Baldwin, Theodore Walser, J. C. Cavelti and Edward C. Mundy. A committee was appointed to prepare or revise the constitution and by-laws and report at a subsequent meeting. The chairman of this meeting was Doctor Westervelt. At the next meeting, held at the same place, February 2, 1855, the report of the committee was presented and accepted, and the constitution and by-laws prepared by them were adopted. Dr. John W. Sterling was chosen president of the society. The officers in 1886 were : R. Henry Golder, jDresident ; F. U. Johnston, vice-j)resident; E. D. Coonly, secretary and treasurer; J. Walter Wood, Herman Beyer, T. J. Thompson, censors. The members are : J. K. Ambrose, Clifton; Frank Anderson, U. S. N. ; J. A. Andrews, Clifton; Herman Beyer, Stapleton; A. L. Carroll, New Brighton; F. E. Clark, West New Brighton; J. G. Clark, West New Brighton; E. D. Coonly, Mariners' Harbor; J. L. Feeny, Stapleton; R. H. Golder, Rossville; H. R. Harrison, Port Richmond; G. C. Hubbard, Tottenville; F. U. Johnston, Stapleton; I. Lea, Stapleton; Anna Lukes, West New Brighton; F. E. Martindale, Port Richmond; I. L. Mills- paugh, Richmond; Jefferson Scales, Stapleton; Thomas J. Thompson, Clifton; J. J. Van Rensselaer, New Brighton; T. Walser, New Brighton; W. C. Walser, Port Richmond; E. J. Westfall, Tottenville; Rudolph Mautner, Stapleton; Mary R. Owen, Eltingville; F. Walter Wood, Port Richmond; W. E. Bowne, Tompkinsville. In addition to those belonging to the medical society the fol- lowing physicians are registered in the countj^ : Henry E. Earl, 31 482 JIISTOKY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. West Brighton ; Alice Avery, Nursery and Child's Hospital ; S. V. R. Bogart, New Brighton; Samuel Adams Robinson, West New Brighton ; Caleb Lyon, Rossville ; Robert Roger^on, Port Richmond ; David Emory Holman, Stapleton (Seaman's Re- treat) ; Eugene B. Sanborn, Quarantine: Alva D. Decker, Pleasant Plains ; James Oliver Van Hoevenberg, Eltingville ; Gottlieb Stein, Stapleton ; William M. Smith, Clifton ; Thomas Washington Donovan, New Brighton ; Ferdinand Gustav Behine, New Brighton ; Thomas B. Newby, Stapleton ; George Milton La Rue, Tottenville; James J. O'Dea, Stapleton; Thomas Sheppard Goodwin, West New Brighton ; Theodore D. Lyons, Port Richmond ; Edward Francis Arnoux, N. Y. city ; A. C. Montgomery, West New Brighton ; Henry Mitchell Rogers, Tompkinsville; Frank E. Wilson, Stapleton; Albert D. Jaupet, West New Brighton; L. L. Doolittle, Stapleton; William Bryan, West New Brighton ; William Francis Bowue, Tompkinsville ; Edwin A. Hervey, Rossville ; Henr\' W. Sawtelle, Stapleton ; Robert P. M. Ames, Stapleton ; William Rose, Stapleton ; David Coleman, Tottenville ; Charles Wooster Butler, Port Richmond ; Joseph Henry McDougall, New Brighton; Walker Washington, Tottenville. The following brief personal notes of some members of the medical fraternity will be an appropriate sequel to the fore- going : L K. Ambrose, lately a resident of Townsend avenue, Clifton, but at present residing in New York city, still practices on the island. He is a member of the Richmond County Medical So- ciety, and was for a term county coroner. He was born in Ii'e- land, about forty-eight years ago, received his early education in colleges in Ireland and France, and graduated in medicine and surgery at the Long Island College hospital, in Brooklyn, in 1870. During his stay on Staten Island, he became a general favorite, especially among the Irish, and had a large practice. He was known as the " Irish Doctor," being the only one of ,that nationality in the county at the time. Dr. Herman Beyer was born in Coblentz, Germany, in 183S. Having received a private Latin school education he studied phar- macy in Westjihalia, as a preliminary step to the study of med- icine, in 1856 he served in the Prussian army as pharmaceutist. He sailed for this country in 1860. In April, 1861, he enlisted as a private in the Eighth regiment, N.Y. V. In 1862 he was trans- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 4S3 ferred to the medical department, where he served as pharma- ceutist until the end of the war. He then began the study of medicine at Bellevue hospital, where he graduated in 1869, and took an extra cour.se in 1877 and 1878, besides a private course of Dr. F. Knapp's, in 1878 and 1879, in the Eye and Ear In- firmary. He commenced practice at Astoria, L. I., in 1869, and removed to Staten Island in 1880. Alfred Ludlow Carroll was born in the citj' of New York on the 4th of August. 1833, educated at sundry private schools, and in the University of New York, studied medicine with the late Dr. Valentine Mott, and was graduated M. D. from the Uni- versity of New York in 1855 ; removed to Staten Island in 1870; elected secretary of the state board of health in March, 1884 ; resigned February 1st, 1866. Dr. Ephraim Clark, who for many years has been actively and intimately associated with most of the prominent move- ments and public enterprises of the island, was born in Rah- way, N. J., in 1797. He studied medicine with Dr. Valentine Mott, of New York, and afterward graduated in the college of the state medical society at New Brunswick. In 1820 he came with some friends on a gunning expedition to the island, and was so well pleased with the people and surroundings of Port Richmond that he decided to make that place his home. He accordingly located there, and soon found himself in the en- joyment of a lucrative practice. He grew into popular favor, and, being a remarkably active and ready man, he naturally fell into a prominent position in nearly every benevolent and progressive movement of the day. On the arrival of General Lafayette, on bis last visit to this country, Dr. Clark was a member of the committee that re- ceived the distinguished soldier at the residence of Governor Tompkins, who was then vice-president of the United States, at the old mansion at Tompkinsville. The general came to Staten Island before going to New York city, and remained at Gov- ernor Tompkins' residence during his sojourn. On the evening of his arrival a grand reception was given, and throngs of people gathered at the j^lace to greet the gallant Frenchman. Among the guests were the leading men of the country. On his departure for New York city on the following morning business was suspended, shops and stores were closed, and the people thronged the landing and the shore of the bay to see 484 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. him oflP, while the water was literally alive with all manner of craft which came to witness or escort his passage from the island to the city. Over the grand concourse of shipping, said to be the most magnificent ever witnessed in New York bay, floated the flags of all nations. On this occasion Governor Ogden, of New Jersey, came to greet Lafayette. They had been intimate friends during the revolution and as they met now they squarely embraced each other, and Doctor Clark says he never witnessed a more affectionate greeting than was mani- fested by them. Kossuth, on his visit to America, was a guest of Doctor Doane, health officer at quarantine, and was entertained at his residence. The reception committee were Doctor Westervelt, Doctor Clark, Samuel French, Judge Clavvson, and Richard Adam Locke. The latter delivered the welcoming address. General Garibaldi was present, and made a pleasing address. Kossuth made an affecting reply, and the words of the great patriot found a warm place in every heart. A large procession formed and escorted the distinguished visitor to the old Dutch Reformed church, now used as a carriage manufactory in Tompkinsville, in which the Tompkins Guards, a local infantry company, took the lead. When General Jackson made his famous visit to New York, Doctor Clarke was also a member of the reception committee that met the old soldier at Port Richmond and escorted him to New York city, where they landed near the present site of Castle Garden. Other members of that committee were Colonel Barton, Doctor Van Pelt, Doctor Harrison and Colonel Barrett. Doctor Clark was with Doctor Harrison, an attendant physi- cian to Aaron Burr, during his sojourn on the island. He was also the committee appointed by the officers of the Reformed church to secure the services of a pastor, and through his agency the Reverend Doctor Brownlee was brought to this church, which he has so acceptably served for more than half a century. Doctor Clark was appointed surgeon of the One Hundred and Forty-sixth regiment of infantry by Governor Yates in 1823, and having resigned that position was in 1837 appointed sur- geon of the Sixty-fifth regiment, N. Y. militia, by Governor Marcy. He was afterward an aid-de-camp, with the rank of polonel, to the general commanding the second division of in- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 485 fantry, receiving liis appointment from Governor Seward. During the rebellion he was appointed post surgeon at Camp Sprague, New Dorp, and while holding that position examined over 4,000 men. He was a delegare to the Charleston conven- tion of 1860 that nominated Breckenridge and Lane ; and held at different times offices of trust among his fellow citi- zens, such as supervisor of the town, physician of the county jail, a charter member of the first Masonic lodge on the island, and others. His was a life of action, up to the very end. He died at a ripe old age, in November, 1885. Dr. Alva D. Decker was born at Marksboi'o, N. J., July 8, 1848 ; educated in public schools, and in the collegiate institute of Newton, N. J.; studied medicine under Doctors Sayre, of Newton, and Miller, of Andover, N. J. ; attended lectures at, and received his di]iloma from the Long Island College Hos- pital, Brooklyn, in the class of 1876. He located at Pleasant Plains, S. I., in June, 1877, and is still practicing in the same town, and also has a drug store in connection with his prac- tice. Henry E. Earl was born at Clapham, England, May 26, 1837. He is a graduate of Columbia Veterinary College, Apiril 23, 1879 ; also of the United States Medical College, March 4, 1880. He is now president of the New York State Academy of Veter- inary Science and Comparative Pathology, and second vice- president of the National Veterinary Medical Association. Older residents of Staten Island will recall, as they read this sketch, the studious features and scholarly bearing of Dr. Joseph Feeny, whose name was for many years conspicuous as a leader in the social, business and intellectual life of Richmond county. He was born at Sligo, in Ireland, March 19, 1813, and was the first of his family to settle in America. A person of more than average mental vigor, he gave his early years to the acquirement of a thorough classical education (in Trinity Col- lege, Dublin) which he afterward used with effect in his profes- sion as a teacher. The obtaining of an education with him, as with the majority of young men of his daj', was a combined struggle for knowledge and physical support. In 1836 he entered the " University of the State of New York, College of Physicians and Surgeons," from which he did not graduate till 1850, his course being divided between the years 1837 and 1839, and again between 1840 and 1849. During these intervals 486 HISTORY OF Richmond county. he was engaged in teaching, a capacity in whicli, perhaps, thougli his later years were mostly spent in mercantile pursuits, he will be best remembered on Stateu Island. He was first engaged as Latin and Greek tutor in the academy of Doctor Fitch, but from ]841 to 1849 he conducted a highly successful classical school of his own in which many of Staten Island's most prominent men were pi'epared for college and business. In 1849, shortly before his graduation, Doctor Feeny opened a drug store at Stapleton, the first one in Richmond county. It stood on the same ground as that now occupied by his son, James Feeny, and is in fact the same store, with alterations necessary to the times. Previous to its establishment Rich- mond county physicians had been obliged to supply their own medicines, but the new enterprise revolutionized matters in this respect. Doctor Feeny continued to conduct this store till 1863, when he sold it to his son, James Feeny, who still conducts it, and who received his diploma from the " Board of Pharmacy of the City of New York," in September, 1872. In 1863 Doctor Feeny began practicing regularly as a physi- cian, removing his office to Jersey City in 1864. In 1865 he was appointed health officer of that city, and on January 9, 1866, he died. In Jersey City, as on Staten Island, Doctor Feeny won the esteem and approbation of his fellow citizens by his careful at- tention to his own and the public affairs. At his death the common council of the city passed resolutions of sympathy, and many influential gentlemen took occasion to express their sorrow at his loss. He was an unostentatious man. His man- ners were quiet but impressive. A constant student, and one who, during his life, took advantage of every favorable circum- stance to increase his store of knowledge, he became and was recognized as a man of culture and great attainments. During his medical course he enjoyed the advantage of attending the lectures of Willard Parker, Robert Watts, Jr., Gurdou Buck and Professor Gillman. This, together with his extended ex- perience, made him an authority on medic-al subjects. He had seven children, of whom four still survive. Of these, three reside on Staten Island : James, who succeeded his father in the drug business, John L., and Anna, who graduated from the state normal school at Albany, and who is the wife of Thomas Gordon of Stapleton. She was for some time princijjal ^^'hyABBitc*!^- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 487 of district school ISTo. 2, town of Middletown, and many who studied under her have since achieved distinction. John L. Feeny, M.D., present health officer of the village of Edgewater, and one of the foremost physicians on Staten Is- land, was born at Stapr^'^on, May 29, 1845. His early educa- tion received the special attention of his father, and at the age of fifteen he entered the ''Coaiiiau's P-^t- — <: ~^ ..r>;f-] " >aere he remained for eight years. After a preparatory course un- der Dr. T. C. Moflfat, he attended the " University of the City of New York, Medical Department," from which he graduated among the highest in his class, in 1866. During his college course he studied under the famous physicians, Valentine Mott, Alfred C. Post, William H. Van Buren, Alfred Loomis and John T. Metcalfe, also under Professors Budd, Paine and the three Drapers. After leaving the university he supplemented the instruction there received with a special and private course under Professor Ayelette. Almost immediately upon the completion of his student life he received an appointment as house physician of the "Sea- man's Retreat," which he resigned in 1869 to enter on private practice in Stapleton. Here he still remains. In 1870 he was appointed physician to the " Metropolitan Police," and detailed to special duty. To obtain this position he was obliged to un- dergo an examination before the eighteen physicians who, at that time, constituted the board. For the last four years he has held the position of health officer of the town of Middle- town and the village of Edgewater, is at present examining physician of the "Mutual Reserve Fund," and has been .since its organization vice-president of the "Staten Island Academy." He is also a member of the Richmond County Medical Society and of the Presbyterian church. As a republican he has taken a pj'ominent part in the politics of the county. Doctor Feeny has now been in active practice more than sixteen years, during which time many remarkable cases have come un der his notice and have been treated by him. He adds to his large experience an intense love not only of his profession but of all scientific and artistic study. He is up in the classics, has travelled considerably, and has taken a deep interest in historic research. His cordial manners and general intelligence have long been noticed by those who enjoy his acquaintance, and have resulted in endearing him to them. This is shown in the 'o 488 HISTORY OF EICHMOKD COUNTY. fact that he has several times been tendered nominations to po- litical office, which, however, private interests have necessitated him to decline. He was married Jnne 9, 1870, to Miss Emma L. Bateman, of Portland, Me.* They have had five c'lildren, one of whom is dead. No physician has to any greater degree succeeded in winning the confidence or aflfectij"- of those around him than has Doctor Feeny. The deep interest which he has taken in the health of the community in which he lives, and the county at large, and especially the freedom with which he responded to calls made on him for lectures on hygienic subjects during the recent cholera agitation will long be remembered with pleas- ure by the people of Staten Island. Dr. R. Henry Golder has been president of the connty medi- cal society since July, 1884. He was born in 1820, at Phila- delphia, Pa., moved to New York city in 1839, received a diploma of license from the New York Medical Society in 1846; received the degree of M. D. from the University Medi- cal College of New York city in 1851. He practised in the town of Westfield thirty-five years, and in New Jersey for five years i^revious. He has held the following offices in this county : sui:)erintendent of common schools, commissioner of highways, associate judge for four years of the courts of oyer and terminer and sessions, and is at present health officer of the town of Westfield. Edwin A. Hervey was born January 16, 1824, in South Dur- ham, Greene county. New York. He I'eceived his early educa- tion in the district schools of his native town, and from private tutors. At the age of 17 years he was invited to teach the school in his district which he accepted, and continued in that vocation for live years in the different schools of his county. He was then offered a situation near Ellenville, Ulster county, as clerk and bookkeeper in a store, tannery- and saw- mill, where he remained two years. He then engaged as teacher in Westfield, Richmond county, New York, vrhere he continued about ten years, during the last six of which he re- sided with Dr. E. W. Hubbard, and received his prej^aratory course of medical instruction. He then entered the University *She was a daughter of John F. Bateman, who distinguished himself, together with De Lesseps, in the Panama Construction Company, of which he was chief engineer. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 489 Medical College of the city of New York, whence he graduated in March, 1859, and has since practiced in Rossville. George C. Hubbard, M. D., is a grandson of Fairchild Hub- bard, who resided in Jefferson county, N. Y. By his marriage to Miss Ward were born fouv ions and four daughters, the eldest, Heber W. Hubbard, also a native of the same county, having removed to Ohio, where he engaged in the practice of medicine. He was united in marriage to Honor Martha Kingsbury, of Massachusetts, and had children, George C, Delia D., wife of D. C. Clapp, Van Buren, William W., Edwin K., and Alice S., wife of David Pepper. The birth of George C, the eldest, occurred on the 8th of June, 1831, in La Grange, Ohio, from whence he removed with his parents to Elyria in the same state. Here he pursued his academic studies, and subsequently entered Dela- ware College, located at Delaware, Ohio. Soon after he entered mercantile life and remained thus occupied until 1856, when the profession of medicine proving more attractive, he became a student in his father's office, and was graduated from the New York Medical University in 1859. Doctor Hubbard began his professional career at Tottenville, where his father had previously removed, and has since that time continued in active practice at this point. On the 16th of September, 1862, he entered tlie United States service as assistant surgeon of the One Hundred and Sixty-fifth Regiment New York Volunteers, was later commissioned surgeon, and continued with this regi- ment until his discharge Sejitember 16, 1865. The doctor on his return from the service resumed his practice at Tottenville, where he has since resided. His thorough medical training and wide experience have enabled him to take a leading rank in his profession, and brought a correspondingly extended field of labor. His skill in diagnosis and success in the treatment of disease in its various forms have caused his presence to be much sought in consultation. In 1883 he was appointed physi- cian to the mission of the Immaculate Virgin at Mount Loretto, Staten Island. The doctor is a member of tlie Richmond County Medical Society. He is also an active mason, and was master of Huguenot Lodge, No. 881, of Tottenville, and High Priest of Staten Island Chapter, No. 196, R, A. M. Doctor Hubbard was married February 26, 1866, to Miss Carrie L., daughter of Joseph Wesley Totten, of Tottenville. Their children are: Van Eber, Fannie, deceased, and George C, Jr. 490 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Dr. Robert M. Ames was born in Springfield, Mass., October 20, ISHT, and was edncated in the same place, taking a collegiate coarse, after graduating from Springfield high school in 1876. His diploma (medical) was received from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pa., in 1880, after a three years' course. He is a past assistant surgeon in United Stales marine hospital service, and executive officer of the station which rents the Sea- man's Retreat building, and has from one hundred and twenty- five to one hundred and fifty patients in hand all the time. Dr. F. E. Martindale is a native of Sandy Hill, Washington county, N. Y. , being the youngest of three sons of the late Hon. Henry C. Martindale, at the time of his death the oldest and most distinguished member of the bar in his section of the state. Dr. Martindale is an alumnus of Union College, where he graduated in 1849. He took his degree of M. D. at the Al- bany Medical College, as a pupil of the late Dr. Alden March, who then occui)ied the chair of surgery in that institution. Soon afterward he was appointed deputy health officer of the port of New York, during the administration of Gov. Myron H. Clark. Doctor Martindale is one of the oldest and most es- teemed of the medical profession in Richmond county, occupy- ing the responsible positions of president of the medical board of the " Nursery and Child's Hospital," and visiting surgeon to the S. R. Smith Infirmary. He was in the medical corps of both the army and navy, at different periods during the late war. Dr. James J. O'Dea was born in Toronto, Canada, September 6, 1837. He received his classical education at Upper Canada College, and at the College of Saint Sulpice, Montreal, and his medical education at Trinity College, Toronto, and Mc- Gill University Medical College, Montreal. He received his diploma as doctor of medicine and surgery, from McGill Univer- sity in the spring of 1859. He began the practice of medicine in his native city where he soon attained prominence. After practicing six years in Canada he removed to New York, where he acquired position as a writer and practitioner. He contributed to the " New Yorlc Psycliological Journal,^^ and to the " New York Medical Journaiy He was also corresponding member of the Canadian Institute, and in 1871 was chairman of the committee on criminal abortion which drew up the law on that offense as it now exists in this state. HISTORY OF IIICHMOND COUNTY. 491 After laboring for six years in New York lie removed to Staten Island, where he acquired a large practice to which he has devoted himself. In 1882 he published, through Messrs. Putnam's Sons, a volume on suicide, the first of the kind by any American writer, which was r"^':5eived with favoi^' v^*^"- - ^^^^ and abroad. Besides this, his Magnum Opus, ne has written on a variety of scientific subjects, of which the following are chief: " Hereditary Influence in Mental Diseases," " Plea of In- sanity in Criminal Cases," " Sphere, Rights and Obligations of Medical Experts," " Principles of Criminal Law as applied to Insanity," and " The Physiology and Psychology of Dreams." Samuel Adams Robinson, M. D., was born in Franklin, Pa. He is a son of Rev. John Robinson, D. D., a native of Freder- ick countj^, Va., who was a direct descendant of the Scotch- Irish family Robinson, settled in Ulster, Ireland, by James I. in 1603. The parents of Reverend Doctor Robinson, John and Rosanna Robinson, were the first representatives of the family in America. They brought with them a strong faith in the Protestant doctrine, with which they had been early inculcated, and their son, on finishing his collegiate course at the age of 21, immediately entered the ministry of the Methodist Episco- pal churcli. In it he labored with great success for more than fifty years, being widely known in Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York and Ohio, and filling every position in the gift of his church except that of bishop. He now resides with the doctor, and though over 80 years of age retains his mental and physical powers to a remarkable degree. The doctor's mother, Hannah Walker Adams Plumer, was born at Pittsburgh, Pa., and died at the residence of her son in 1886, in the 76th year of her age. She was a noble example of Christian womanhood, admired and respected by all who saw her and beloved by all who knew her. Her mother, Patty Adams, was born near Boston, Mass., and was closely related to Samuel and John Adams, the well-known statesmen and orators of the American revolution. Patty Adams was the wife of Major Samuel Plumer, of I^ewburyport, Mass., a member of the old Plumer family of that state. Major Plumer was the son of Nathaniel Plumer, who settled at Pittsburgh, in Penn- sylvania, where he purchased a large estate, much of which his descendants still own. The granite mansion which he built, 492 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. and in which Doctor Robinson s mother was born, has always been occupied by the family. The major settled in Venango county, Pa., when it was a wilderness. He became i^ossessed of large trar«^° oi land and established a family which is among the .1- -oi prominent in that state. Both of Doctor Robinson's grandfathers died in middle life, leaving their wives, neither of whom married again, to bring up large families, which they did admirably, training them to lives of usefulness and honor. Both lived to old age, retaining their mental powers till the last and enjoying the satisfaction of knowing that every child was doing well. The Hon. James Robinson, of West Virginia, Judge Benjamin Adams Plumer and the Hon. Arnold Plumer, of Pennsylvania, were the most prominent of their childi'en. Doctor Robinson was chiefly educated by his father. He showed an early predilection for medicine and began study for his profession with Dr. Edward Lawrence Lakin when about 16 years of age, finishing a regular four years' course and re- ceiving the degree of M. D. at Cleveland, Ohio, before he was 20. He has since spent six years in professional study, princi- jially in N"ew York, London, Paris, Vienna and Berlin. He is a highly esteemed member of Crescent Lodge, No. 402, F. & A. M., Palestine Commandery, No. 18, K. T., and of the four regular A. A. Scottish I'ite bodies of New York city; also of Tyrian Chapter, R. A. M., of Staten Island. He took an active part in founding Saint Austin's school, of which he is a trus- tee, also in the organization and establishment of the Kill von Kill Working-men's Club and Institute of West New Brighton, of which the Hon. Erastus Brooks was the first president, and upon the death of whom Doctor Robinson was unanimously chosen to succeed him. He is also a director in one of the largest life insurance companies of New York city and chair- man of its investment committee. He has a large and v^ery select general practice, extending into New York and Brooklyn, in each of which cities he treats many excellent families. In chronic diseases he has patients frf)m the most distant states of the Union. He has been a widower since 1874. His wife was the eldest daughter of the Hon. Hiram Greely Butler, of Pennsylvania, who was a cousin of Horace Greely. He has but one child. Rush Robinson, wliu resides with his father. Doctor Robinson is well known in HISTORY OF RICHMOND COlJNTy. 493 professional and social circles and enjoys the esteem of all with whom he is brought into contact. In addition to his acknowl- edged skill and large exx^erience he has a high sense of personal and professional honor, which renders him at once the safe confidant and true friend of his patients. Dr. Robert Rogerson was educuated in the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and graduated there as an L. M. in 1859; also in September, 1859, he graduated in Glasgow, Scotland, as physician, surgeon and accoucheur. During the last sixteen years he has practiced in Port Richmond, his practice being that of the liberal school. Dr. Henry W. Sawtelle was born in 1842, at Sidney, Maine, and was educated at Waterville, in the same state. He was graduated at the University of Georgetown, D. C. (medical de- partment), March 3, 1868, and began practice on the island in May, 1883. Being an officer of the United States marine hos- pital service, he moved the hospital from Bedloe's Island to the old Seaman's Retreat, which was leased in behalf of the gov- ernment for use as a marine hospital in 1883. He remained in charge until June 15, 1885, when he was ordered to another port. Dr. Samuel Russell Smith was born at Waterbury, Connec- ticut, on the lOtli day of April, 1801. At the age of fonr- teen he became a clerk in a bookstore in the city of New York, and later entered the drug business, and at the same time com- menced the study of medicine, in due time graduating at the University of the State of New York, in the class of 1828. In May of that year, he came to Tompkinsville, and began the practice of his profession, which he pursued successfully until his death, which occurred December 24, 1851. He devoted himself assiduously to his profession, in which he was remarkably successful. He was no respecter of persons, for all ranks and conditions of life equally received his atten- tions when required. The following instance of the goodness of his heart is related by Clute : "One cold winter night, after a more than ordinary fatiguing day's work, he was awakened bj^ a loud rap at his door. Upon an.swering the call, he found a poor lighterman there, who said his wife required the doctor's services as soon as possible. 'I will come immediately,' was his reply. Without delay he prepai'ed himself to face thf^ snow-storm which was raging 494 HISTORV OF RICHMOND COUNT V. without, and hastened to the lighterman's dwelling. After he had performed the duty required of him, and as he was prepar- ing to return to his home, the lighterman tendered him five silver dollars, at the same time remarking, ' I have been saving up this money for several weeks, knowing that I would soon need your services, but as there is but little doing in my busi- ness at this season of the year, it is all I have been able to raise.' " 'No, no,' replied the doctor, putting his hand behind him, ' you need that money just now more than I do ; your ex- penses, in the present condition of your family, will be heavier than usual, so instead of taking your money, you must allow me to add to it,' at the same time laying a five-dollar bank note on the table, and hurrying away to avoid hearing the poor man's expressions of gratitude. This was so characteristic of the man, that when the recipient of the doctor's bounty related the circumstance to his fellows on the following morning it created no surprise whatever, but one of them remarked, 'That's just like Doctor Smith.' Though the saying that a man ' had not an enemy in the world ' has become exceedingly trite, it was never more applicable than to the subject of this sketch. The grief of the community at his death was universal." Dr. Walker Washington, Jr., was born near Fredei'icksburg, Va., on the 23d of November, 1860. He attended school under a private teacher for several years, until he commenced his colle- giate education. He spent three years at the Randolph Macon College, of Ashland, Hanover county, Ya., and completed his collegiate course at Richmond College, Va. After leaving there he took up the study of medicine and received his diploma from Bellevue Hospital Medical College, in iNIarch, 1885. He removed to Tottenville, Staten Island, October 28, 1885. Dr. J. Walter Wood is the youngest child of Walter D. and Catherine S. Wood, and a descendant of the Dongan family. He is a native of the island, and was born at Mariners' Harbor, April 23, 1856. The doctor attended the district school of his native place and several private schools. He then moved to the city and graduated from " Grammar School No. 35." He im- mediately entered the "College of the City of New York," in the academic department, passed through it with honors and received the degree of A. B., in 1878. He then entered the " College of Physicians and Surgeons," from which he gradu- ated three years later. He afterward settled in Madison, N. J., HISTOKY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 495 and in September, 1881, married Miss Mat tie Sprague, second daughter of Pi'of. J. S. Sprague, then of West New Brighton. In September, 1882, his health failing, he sold his practice in New Jersey, and located at Port Richmond, S. I., where he soon gained a lucrative practice. He stands high in the Masonic order, is an active member of Richmond County Medical So- ciety, and is one of the stewards of Giace M. E. church. Major George Howard, a resident of tlie city of New York, after having been boarding officer of the port for eleven years, was appointed keeper of pul)lic stores at Staten Island in the year 1830; consequently he moved with his family to the island. He erected on Brighton Heights a tine mansion, the tirst one built on the Heights. After occupying it a few years, he sold the house and grounds to John Anthon (in the year 1838), for $22,000. He then removed to the village (Tompkinsville) where he resided until the year 1844, when (owing to political changes) he resigned his office as public storekeeper. Dr. John T. Harrison was for many years mate of the marine hospital, and subsequently health officer. Dr. John S. AVester- velt served five years as mate to the marine hospital, from 1823 to 1827, inclusive, under John T. Harrison. Dr. Westervelt was appointed health officer in the year 1829, in which capacity he served till 1836. Dr. Daniel M. Hitchcock at that time was mate and deputy. Dr. William Rockwell (successor to Dr. Westervelt) served as health officer four years. During the first two years of office. Dr. Charles A. Vanzandt was deputy, and the last two Dr. Henry Van Hoevenbei'g. Dr. James Har- court was at that time mate of the marine hospital. Dr. A. J. Doane succeeded Doctor Rockwell, and held the office three years. Dr. Henry Van Hoevenberg, Doctor Doane' s successor, commenced his official duties in 1843. He appointed Dr. James Harcourt deputy health officer. During Doctor Harrison's, also Doctor Westervelt's term of ofiice, vessels were only boarded seven months in the year, viz., from April 2d to October 31st, inclusive, unless a vessel arrived in the interim having on board contagious or infectious diseases, which was seldom the case. The hospital was generally closed about November 1st, and remained so until April 2d. At the clo.sing of the hospital the inmates were sent to the New York Hospital, their board and medical attendance being paid for by the commissioners of health, from the funds of the institution. 496 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. During the last two years of Doctor Van Hoevenberg's term of office, the law was changed, making it obligatory on the health officer to board vessels from foreign ports having passengers, all the year round. Dr. Harcourt was on the hosjDital ship " Falcon," in 1866 with Dr.'Bissell, attending to cholera patients. Dr. Bissell was attacked with cholera but recovered. Doctor Swinburne was then health officer. o z z < ^ I o CHAPTER XL OLD FAMILIES AND PROMINENT INDIVIDUALS. Alston. — Androvette. — Bedell. — Barnes. — Samuel Ward Benedict. — Read Bene- dict. — Bodine. — W. H. J. Bodine. — Blake. — Bogart. — Braisted. — Britton. — Biirbanck. — Burgher, Burger. — Bush. — Butler. — Cannon. — Christopher.— Cole. — Abraham Cole. — William A. Cole. — Colon. — Conner. — Corsen. — Cor- telyou. — Crips. — Crocheron. — Crviser. — Cubberly. — George William Daley. — George Henry Daley. — Decker. — De Groot. — De Hart. — Depuy. — Disosway. — DuBois. — Dustan. — Eddy. — Andrew Eddy. — Egbert. — Ellis. — Enyard. — Fountain. — Frost. — Garrison. — Guy on. — Hatfield. — Haughwout. — Charles A. Herpich. — Hillyer. — Holmes. — Housman. — Jacobson. — Johnson. — Jones. — Journeay. — La Forge.— Lake. — Larzalere. — Latourette. — Lawrence. — Lisk. — Lockman.^Manee. — James M. Manee. — Martling. — Martino. — Men-ill. — Mer- sereau. — Metcalfe. — Nicholas C. Miller. — Morgan. ALSTON. — Originally this was a Scotch faniih'. One of its most noted members was Charles Alston, a celebrated Scotch physician and author. He died in 1760. Joseph Alston, the son-in-law of Aaron Bnrr, and a former governor of South Carolina, was also of this family. The tirst of the name on Staten Island was David Alston, who came here from 'New Jersey, somewhere about the beginning of the revolution. He was com- missioned a captain in the British army; his company was com posed of provincial loyalists or tories; he owned the property recently belonging to the estate of Samuel Decker, deceased, in Northtield. The large stone house in which he lived and died was demolished a few years ago. He died between the 6th and 14th of May, 1805, for these are the dates of his will and its probate. He speaks, in that document, of his sons Warren, Japhet and David. It is said that he continued to draw his half-pay from the British government as long as he lived. His son Japhet, at the time of his death, which occurred July 31, 1842, at the Four Corners, Castleton, was the father of Moses Alston, Esq., late twice sheriff of the county, and of liis brothers David, Japhet, Adam, George and William. 32 498 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Androtette. — This is one of the old families of the island, but it was never very prominent nor very numerous; the notices of it therefore are few. They api)ear to have confined them- selves chiefly to Westfield. The name occurs nowhere in the civil list of the county. John is mentioned in the count}' records as having bought land of Tunis Egbert, January 27, 1699, and as having sold land in 1705. Peter and Rebecca Cole had the following children : Daughter Rebecca, baptized March 27, 1720; daughter Elizabeth, baptized December 25, 1723, died in infancy; twins Elizabeth and Anna, baptized January 1, 1726. John and Leah Swaim had a son, John, baptized April 7, 1729, and a daughter, Leah, baptized May 17, 1724; this John we find mentioned as collector of the West Division in 1767 and 1768. Peter, and Caty, his wife, had a son Peter, born July 6, 1765; he made his will December 21, 1792, proved Marcli 17, 1802, in which he speaks of his wife Catharine, his daughter Catharine, wife of Dow Storer; daughter Elizabeth, wife of Peter Latourette; daughter Mary, wife of Joseph Totten; sons Peter, Charles and John. These three sons were married as fol- lows : Peter and Elizabeth Slack, January 4, 1789; Charles and Margaret Slack, September 11, 1797; and John and Ann Cole, August 21, 1802. The family is at present represented by the three brothers, Cornelius C, John and Benjamin; their grand- father was usually known as Major John, and their father as young Major John. Bedell. — We find this name at an early date in America, but not in connection with Staten Island. In 1678 we find Robbert Beedill, Daniel Beedel, Mathew Beedel, and John Beddel, enrolled among the inhabitants of Hempstead, Long Island. It is nearly a century after that date, that we find the name in any of the records of Richmond county. In 1767, Silas ren- dered a bill for " docktering," whence we infer that he was a physician. In the same year mention is made of John, who was county treasurer when he died, in the early part of 1781. There is a Joseph also mentioned in 1770, but not the Joseph alluded to elsewhere as having been taken prisoner by the Americans when a boy ; thev were father and son. The father made his will October 28, 1793, proved November 19th of the same year, in which he speaks of his sons Jesse and Joseph, and his daughters Mary, Pattie, Pegge, Catharine and Jane ; his wife's p-yiZ/'^/'^J-^^i^C «^i-<^ HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 499 name was Catharine ; his son Joseph was born October 24, 1763 ; Jesse was born in 1778, and died August 28, 18i52. Stephen and Catharine Latourette were married in May, 1766, and had a son David born July 19, 1771. Silas (the doctor) and Mary his wife, had the following child- ren : Phebe, born November 19, 1770; James, born April 9, 1773 ; John, born March 28, 1775. James married Hetty Parker January 12, 1806. There was another John, wife Catharine, who had a daughter Hillite, born April 7, 1771. Stephen and Mary Donelly were married March 9, 1808; Israel died at Elizabethtown, N. J., August 30, 1830; he was the father of the Rev. Gregory Townsend Bedell, D.D., an eminent divine of the Episcopal church, who was born at Fresh kill, October 28, 1793, and died August 30, 1834, just four years after his father to a day. Rev. Dr. Bedell was the father of the Rev. G. Thurston Bedell. Gregory Townsend Bedell was born on Staten Island, in the harbor of New York, on the 28tli of October, 1793. His father, Israel Bedell, was a man of true excellence of character, of a peaceful temper and spirit, and much beloved by those who were connected with him. He lived to see fourscore years, to witness the full eminence and usefulness of his only son, and to receive many happy proofs of his filial gratitude and love. He died at Elizabethtown, in New Jersey, on the 30th of August, in the year 1830, in the comfort and confidence of a Gospel hoj^e, and leaving behind him a character unblemished and unre- proached. His mother was a sister of the Right Rev. Bishop Moore, of Virginia. She was remarkable both for her mental accomplishments and for her external beauty, adorned with a most amiable disposition, and kind and benevolent to the poor. She was early admitted as a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church, and honored the doctrine of her Saviour by a consistent walk of faith and piety. She was married late in life, and lived only until her son was nine years old. He was the only son of his parents. His father had three daughters, the children of a former marriage, who were in a most eminent degree affectionate and useful sisters to him, and made, in the hands of God, the main instruments in educating him for the work in which his life was so usefully employed. They were permitted to receive from him in return the most 500 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. unequivocal proofs of his affectionate gratitude, and two of them survived him to lament his departure from the earth. Barnes. — George Barnes and Roger Barnes, brothers, came from England many years before the revolution, but it is not certain that they came together. Roger bought land in South- field in February, 17G2; George, about 1770, bought land in Castleton, and settled upon it. This was a large tract lying at the southwest corner of the turnpike and Manor road. Con- stanz brewery and the Child's Nursei'y occupy a part of it. Roger's wife's name was Ann, and they had a son Robert, born May, 1760, and a daughter Margaret, born April 8, 1766. George's wife's name was Dorothy, and they had the following children: Elizabeth, born July 18, 1767; John, born October 11, 1768; Roger, born January 7, 1771. They had also a son George. Roger married Sally Lake, a sister of Bornt Lake, who was killed (see Lake family), and after the death of Roger she mar- ried Richard Wood. John married Margaret Ferine, May 2, 1793, and they were the parents of Captain John W. Barnes, of Port Richmond, and grandparents of Barnes Brothers, of the same place. Samuel Ward Benedict was born at Danbury, Conn., in 1798. He was a direct descendant of Thomas Benedict, who was born at Nottinghamshire, England, 1617, and came to this country seventeen years after the landing in Massachusetts bay. He soon sought the more thinly populated region of Long Island, then comparatively inaccessible from the main land in the winter. The late Hon. Erastus C. Benedict, in the complete genealogy of this family, thus writes of him: "He was charged with the power of magistrate and substan- tially with the power of the government; he was a pillar in the church; he was the arbitrator of differences, civilized and savage; the jaacilier of the olTended Indian chief; he was a leading member of the legislative body to create and to codify the system of the law on the island, after the conquest from the Dutch, and afterward of the colonial legislature." Samuel W. Benedict established himself in the watch and jewelry business in New York in 1818; first in Broadway at the corner of Maiden lane, and some time previous to the great tire in 1835 he moved his establishment to Wall street at the corner of William street, where the custom house now stands. :^^^^^:^^'^ RAVENHURST. HOUSE OF READ BENEDICT. West New Brighioii, N. Y. kM^J^X?^^ \. WVlAW^i-^^ H. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 501 At that time the first stage or omnibus line had started from in front of his store and the drivers were accustomed to ask Mr. Benedict if it were time for them to start. At this early date and here it was that " Benedict's Time" first became a synonym for the correct time. In 1836 he purchased from Daniel Winant and Benjamin Brewster their adjoining farms, near Rossville, Staten Ishmd, and removed with his family to that place. The old family mansion stood on the Winant place, and at that time was one of the most substantial as well as one of the oldest houses on the island. It was ex'ected in the latter part of the seventeenth century, and was claimed by Daniel Winant to have been built and occupied by David Pietersen De Vries. The walls were built of rough stone and Dutch cement, thick and strong enough to withstand a siege, and no doubt in that day it was intended as a place of security as well as a residence. The old house was burned in 1858. After the inside and all the wood work were consumed the walls remained standing, apparently as firmly and securely as when they were erected nearly two hundred years before. Mr. Benedict built a new house on this same site, and con- tinued to live there in a quiet and unostentatious way, beloved and respected by all his neighbors until his death, which oc- curred in the spring of 1882. The farms still remain in the possesesion of three of his sons, Edwin P., Frederick and Samuel. Read Benedict, son of Samuel W. Benedict, although born in the city of New York, has been a life resident of Staten Island. In 1856 he married Mary E., daughter of Mark Winant, Esq., of Rossville, whose family were among the oldest settlers of the island. His father, Peter Winant, during the revolu- tion, although a lad at the time, owing to the strong Tory feel- ing prevailing, was obliged to flee to New Jei'sey, and returned only after peace was declared. Peter Winant was one of the first members from Richmond county to the state legislature, serving in 1788, and again in 1790 and 1791. He was supervisor for the town of Westfield from 1785 to 1787; serving many years as justice of the peace he became known only as "old Judge Winant." The beautiful residence and ample grounds of Mr. Benedict 502 HISTORY OF BICHMOND COUNTY. are situated between the Manor and Jewett avenues, in the vil- lage of New Brighton. It is said that the house stands on the identical foundation of the old family residence of the Vander- bilts, and here it was the late commodore was born. The place is accessible from the avenues through a picturesque carriage- drive, bordered on either side by evergreens and cedars. A sloping lawn, with a beautiful bronze fountain, lies before the house, wliich stands on a terraced eminence. Mr. Benedict is the senior member of the well known firm of Benedict Brothers. He was one of the founders of Grace Methodist Ej^iscopal church, a growing and prosperous organization. As an influ- ential member of the community, he is looked upon as one of our leading citizens and prosperous business men. Of his private life, as husband and father, we are not per- mitted to speak ; but, judging from the outward appearance of his beautiful home and flourishing family, we may form very pleasing conclusions. BoDiNE. — This family is of French origin. The name is not mentioned by Smiles among the Huguenots. The first historical allusion to the name that we have met is a brief biographical account of John Bodin, who was a native of Angers, studied law and lectured at Toulouse; he wrote several works, and died of the plague at Laon, in 1596. The date of the immigration of the family to this country is not known, but it must have been in the latter part of the seventeenth or very early in the eighteenth century, for we find the name of John Bodine men- tioned in the county records as having purchased land in 1701, and he was still living in 1744, as we find his name and that of his wife Hester mentioned as having sold land at that date. Men- tion is also made in records at Albany of John Bodein, in 1707. It is probable that he was an emigrant, as we find him preserv- ing the French orthography of his name, Jean, and of his son who came with him, Francois, a witness to a baptism in the Keformed Dutch church, in April, 1720; he was therefore a Protestant, or Huguenot. Francois married Maria De}% and they had a son named Jean, baptized in the same church November 29, 1719. Of tliis second Jean, or John, we find no account except that his wife's name was Dorcas, and that they had several children baptized. They were undoubtedly the parents of John Bodine, who waiS born in February, 1753, and of James Bodine, born in Janu- '^'V- %-AEKtt<*i« l^ HISTORY OF KIOHMOND COUNTY. 503 ary, 1759. John died in March, 1835, nearlj^ 82 years of age, and James in May, 1838, nearly 80 years of age. John mar- ried Catharine Britton, sister of the late Mr. Nathaniel Britton; their sons were John, usually recognized in the local history of the north shore ns " Squire John," Jacob (the father of W. H. J. and Edmund Bodine. constituting the present firm of Bodine Brothers, the late Captain John, James, Jacob and Albert, and three daughters), and Vincent, who removed from the island. James was the father of the late Mr. Abraham Bodine, of Mariners' Harbor, and of several sons and daughters now dead. "Squire John" owned considerable property on the north shore, among which was the mill and the pond and the land east of it, including the old Dongan manor house, which he subsequently sold to his father, who died in that house in 1835. William H. J. Bodinp:. — The Bodine family is of Huguenot descent. Its first representatives in this country were three brothers, who came to America shortly after the massacre of St. Bartholemew. A branch of the family found their way to Staten Island, and of this branch William H. Bodine is a de- scendant. He was the third of nine children of Jacob Bo- dine and Johannali Houseman, of Northfield. His father was formerly a prominent business man in Richmond county, and from him he inherited many of the substantial qualities which have been instrumental in makng him one of Staten Island's most successful business men. Mr. Bodine was born at Castleton, February 4, 1821. He was educated by private tutors and in the district school, after which, in his thirteenth year, he became engaged in the business with his father, and in which he remained till the age of twenty. At that time he entered into mercantile life on his own account, in which he still remains. He carries on a general business in building materials and fuel. By care in the management of his affairs and the practice of thorough integrity in all his dealings he has won for himself not only a competency, but also the re- spect and esteem of the entire community. Mr. Bodine is the possessor of valuable real estate in West Brighton. He is also a stockholder and director in the Rich- mond County Gas Company. Since his youth he has taken a prominent part in politics, and his services in the republican party entitle him to recognition as one of its foremost men on Staten Island. For six years he was president of the village of 504 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. West Brighton, of whicli, together with Francis G. Shaw, Au- gustus Prentice and James Simonton, under the name of trus- tees, he was one of the incorporators. His long connection with the life and prosperity of Richmond county, together with the prominent part which lie has always taken in its every aggres- sive movement, have won for him a lasting place in its history. Blake.- — This family is of English origin; the date of their arrival or settlement on the island is not known, though it was probably about or just anterior to the middle of the last cen- tury; like most of the other families of tlie same nationality, they were decided royalists during the revolution. The first name of the family we find on the records is that of William, who married Maiy Woglom, and had the following children: John, born September 28, 1763, died September 30, 1852; Wil- liam, born April 21, 1766, died January 16, 1852; and Edward, born 1773, died December 14, 1845. John married Tabitha Merrill, and died childless; William married Ann Corsen, and had the following children: Daniel, (deceased), William (di'owned), Richard C. (still living in Illinois), Edward and George. Edward was the father of Mrs. Margaret Minott, of West New Brighton. John, usually known as Captain John W. Blake, owned and occupied the now valuable property corner of Mill and Manor roads. West New Brighton, extending westward on both sides of Cherry lane, and embracing the site of the dye worlis of Barrett, Nephews & Co. William owned and occupied the property on the Little Clove road, subsequently owned by D. Porter Lord. Daniel, son of William, deceased, was the father of Daniel, captain of the police force of the county. BoGAKT. — This family is of Dutch extraction. The name was originally written Bogaert. The earliest mention of the name in the province occurs in an assessment roll of Breucklen (Brooklyn), dated 1673, where Theunes Gisbertse Bogaert is named, having the largest assessment on the roll. We find him again assessed in 1683. In 1715 we find the name of Simon enrolled among the militia of Kings county. Our theory is that this Simon had a brother Tunis, and that they were sons of Gysbert, for, in the assessment mentioned above, he is rated for three polls (himself and two sons); that these sons married HISTORY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. 505 Simon Bof^aert and Margarietje Ten Eyck had the following children: Elisabet, baptized October 18, 1719; Margareta, bap- tized December 3, 1722; Simon, baptized May 19, 1726; Gysbert, baptized January 19, 1729; Sarah, baptized February 13, 1732, and perhaps others. Tunis and Catharine Hageman had the following children: Isaak, baptized November 21, 1718; Adrian, baptized Decem- ber 18, 1720; Abraham, baptized April 21, 1723; Maria, baptized March 28, 172.'5; Cornelius, baptized March 2, 1729, and per- haps others. Simon (probably son of Simon) and Martha, his wife, had the following children: Mary, born December 4, 1746; Simon, born June 19, 1754; Richard, born February 22, 1757. Isaac and Rachel had a son John, born October 14, 1770; also a son Simon, who was the father of Timothy C. Bogart, near the Four Corners. Braisted. — Though this name has been identihed with the county for a century and a half, the earliest notice of it in the old church records, is that of William and Christina Bouw- man his wife, who liad a son Johannes, baptized in 1715, and a son Andries, August 18, 1719. In the county records we meet with him as having purchased land in 1730. Johannes, or John, son of William, married Trintje Haughwout, and had a son Jan, or John, baptized August 18, 1741, and a son Peter, bap- tized August 15, 1743. We then lose trace of the family for thirty years ; then it appears again in the name of Egbert and Rachel his wife, who had a son Egbert, born May 6, 1773. The next and only remaining notice we have of the family in the last century is the marriage of John and Nautchie (Anna) Mart- ling, daughter of John Martling, February 14, 1790. The family is now represented by Capt. J. Braisted, of Edgewater, and a family or two at Watchogue. Bkitton.— This family is of French descent, and their name was originally written Breton, another example of the change of French names into English. The earliest mention of the name in connection with the island, is that of Captain, some- times called Colonel Nicklos, who was born in 1679, and died January 12, 1740. The following is a coi)y of the inscription upon the tomb- stones of Colonel Nicklos Britten and his wife . 506 HISTORY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. on Long Island, the one a Ten Ej'ck, the other a Hageman, and then purchased land and removed here. " Here lies ye Body of Col. Nicklos Britten, aged 61 years, Deceased Jan. 12, 1740. Here lies a man of tender hart Unto the poor in every part He never sent the poor away Which well is nown unto this Day." " Here Lyes ye Body of Frances, wife of Col. Nicholas Brit- ton, aged 66 years, Deceased May ye 7, 1748. This Woman who is buried here This county has nown for many a year A loving mistress, a faithful wife A Tender mother all her Life." These stones are still standing in the Moravian cemetery. William was defendant in a suit at law October 3, 1680. Nathaniel was plaintiff in a suit in July, 1681, and again in a suit with Lewes Lakerman in the same year. These two last named were adults when "Col. Nicklos" was an infant, but the consanguinity between them cannot now be ascertained. There was another William, a son of Nicholas, probably Col. Nick- los, born October 11, 1708. There was a Joseph, perhaps a brother of William, who had a son James, baptized April 23, 1707, and a daughter, in 1708. There was also a Richard, who purchased land in 1694. Nathaniel made his will in 1683, but he was still living in 1695; he was probably the same individual who was a party to the law- suit alluded to above. Nathaniel and Esther Belleville had a daughter, bai:)tized Aj^ml 9, 1732. Nathaniel and Mary his wife, had the following children : Joseph, born November 15, 1760 ; Eichard, born March 22, 1766 ; William, born Sep- tember 19, 1768. Samuel and Mary had the following daugh- ters : Addra, born July 7, 1771; and Mary, born July 31, 1773. Nathaniel and Catharine had a daughter Mary, born April 4, 1775; at her baptism, the father was also baptized. Samuel and Polly Latourette married May 24, 1797. The present representative of one branch of the family is J. A. H. Britton, Esq., of New Dorp; his father was Nathaniel, whose place of interment is marked by the marble monument at the southwest corner of the Church of the Ascension. Na- thaniel was born in 1764 or 1765; he was twice married; his first wife was a Van Buskirk, of Bergen, and they were the jjarents HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 507 of Debora, wife of Joshua Mersereau, born August 4, 1782, died March 26, 1840; Cornelius, born July 1, 1785, died April 3, 1867; he resided at Fresh kill for many years before his death. Abraham, born August 20, 1787, died August 26, 1866, resided on the Clove road in Castleton, and was the father of Henry and Abraham, both deceased, who resided on the paternal pi'o- perty. iN'athaniel, Jr., born in 1792, died February IB, 1841, owned and resided on the property on the east side of Broad- way, West New Brighton, extending the whole length of that highway. He had also another son, John. Nathaniel's second wife was Margaret Bedell, who was born January 5, 1768, and died September 21, 1849; she was the mother of J. A. H. Britton, Esq., as before mentioned. BuRBANCK. — Abraham, John and Peter Burbanck, and two sisters, names unknown, came from the Netherlands, Holland, in the ship "Caledonia;" the vessel was partly wrecked on the passage and the sisters were lost. The brothers landed in New York in the seventeenth century, and Abraham settled on Staten Island. John went to New England, and was made freeman in Rowley, Mass., May 13, 1640. In his will of April 5, 1681, he mentioned his wife Jimima, and his children John, Caleb and Lydia. Peter went to Old England and was never heard from. They were of French and German stock; Abraham married a French lady, name and date of marriage unknown. Abraham, son of Abraham the first, was born November 20, 1745, died May 12, 1823, married and had children as follows: Jacob, born April 9, 1771, died September 14, 1854; Abraham, born 1780, died 1838. The dates of births and deaths of Isaac, John, Peter, Rebecca and Mary Ann are unknown. Descendants of Jacob Burbanck, son of Abraham the second: Jacob Burbanck was twice married; he married Ann Wandel who was born July 7, 1772, and was married by Mr. Eaton at New Windsor July 14, 1793. He married Lucy Hennell in 1830. She died November 16, 1865. No children by the second mar- riage. Had children l)y the first wife as follows: Ann, born May 3, 1794, died November 29, 1854; Abraham, born August 13, 1797, died August 26, 1797; Jacob Lockman, born June 22, 1799, died April 6, 1885; John William, born April 4, 1806; Aletta Eliza, born December 6, 1809. Ann, daughter of Jacob and Ann Burbanck, married Abra- ham Egbert, born April 26, 1791, and was married by Rev. John 608 IIISTOUY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. C. Beekler, December 23, 1815; had children as follows: Jacob Burbanck Miles, boru December 8, 1816, died August 14, 1879; Ann Eliza, born April 12, 1818; Margaret Jane, born Januarj- 25, 1820, died March 21, 1873; Abraham Edward, born October 12, 1821; Stephen Henry, born December 8, 1823, died February 11, 1865; Rebecca Maria, born March 30, 1826; Catherine Han- nah, born January 29, 1828; James, born September 4, 1830. Jacob Burbanck Miles Egbert, first son of Abraham and Ann Egbert, was twice married; his first wife was Maria Simonson, his second wife Catherine Simonson, sisters, both of Clifton, Staten Island. The first wife had children as follows: Mary Elizabeth, born November 4, -1845; James and Lavina, dates of birth not known; they reside at Clifton. By the second wife, he had sons Cornelius and Chester. Mary Elizabeth Egbert married James J. Garretson October 1, 1808, and has children as follows: Mary Elizabeth, born Au- gust 8, 1869, George Jacob, born March 8, 1871; Margaret Cor- sen, born January 28, 1873; Alice May, born November 10, 1874; Irene, born February 4, 1877; Ella, born September 12, 1878; Sarah Louise, born October 10, 1880; Arthur, born Sep- tember 13, 1882; Susie Bird, born March 27, 1884; Jessie, born March 27, 1884; Henry, born June 14, 1885. James Egbert, son of Jacob Burbanck Miles Egbert, married Sarah , has children and resides at Clifton, Staten Island. Lavina Egbert, second daughter of Jacob Burbanck Miles Egbert, married William Rase and has children. Ann Eli?.a Egbert, first daughter of Abraham and Ann Egbert, married Nathan Britton, have children: Anna and John. Margaret Jane, second daughter of Abraham and Ann Eg- bert, married Nathaniel Swaim, had children: a son George and a daughter who died in infancy. Abraham Edward, second son of Abraham and Ann Egbert, married Mary Jane Burgher. They have one daughter Mari- anna, who married Franklin, of Brooklyn, N. Y., and they have one daughter named Mabel. Abraham Edward re- sides at Stapleton, Staten Island. Rebecca Maria, third daughter of Abraham and Ann Eg bert, married John Barnes. No children. James, fourth son of Abraham and Ann Egbert, married Amelia Laforge. Has children as follows: Pauline, Alice, HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 509 Herbert, (Elizabeth and Percy died). James Egbert resides at Tompkinsville. Abiaham Borbanck, the third son of Abraham Burbanck, second, married Catherine Houghwout, and liad children as fol- lows: Margaret, born 1806; married Nicholas Youngman; Catherine, born 1808; Charlotte, born 1820 (by second wife), married Mink of Albany, N. Y. ; Richard C, born 1822, married Catherine M. Douglas, and had children as follows: Margaret, Louisa, Emma, Sarah and Catherine; George, married Catherine Relyea, and resides in Albany, N. Y. ; Joseph; Ann, married George Holt, of Chicago, Illinois. Isaac Burbanck, son of Abraham second, married Sarah Eg- bert, and had children as follows: Mary Ann, married Vincent Bodine, and had two sons, Jacob and Vincent. Her husband died. She then married Stephen Martling, and had two daughters. She died and her second husband married her sister Sarah Jane, and she had children, Elizabeth and Mary Ann. Isaac Bui-banck had three children: Mary Ann, Sarah Jane and Edward. Edward, son of Isaac and Sarah Burbanck, married and has a son Edward married and living at New Dorp. Elizabeth Martling, first daughter of Stephen and Sarah Jane Martling, married James Vreeland of New Dorp; has childi'en and resides at New Dorp. Mary Ann Martling, second daughter of Stephen and Sarah Jane Martling, married Bogart. John Burbanck, son of Abraham the second, married, and had children as follows: Ann, Mary, Daniel, Henry, John and Catherine. John and Peter Burbanck, sons of Abraham second, reside at New Brighton. Rebecca Burbanck, first daughter of Abraham second, mar- ried Austin Barton, had children : Saraii, and one, name not known. Sarah married Conklin, living at Patchogue, Long Island, and has one daughter. Mary Ann Burbanck, second daughter of Abraham second, married John Deeker. Jacob Lockman Burbanck, second son of Jacob and Ann, married Martha Washington Graham, August 4, 1830. Born June 1, 1799; died December 5, 1879. Was married by Rev. John Ernest Miller, and had children as follows: Elizabeth 510 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Anderson, born July 29, 1831; George Ed^ar, born June 27, 1833, died December 30, 1834; Margaret Ann, born January 31, 1836; Frances Louise, born July 19, 1838, died July 4, 1880; William Dudley, born September 14, 1841, was married May 17, 1870, to Susan Jane Wood, of Pleasant Plains, who was born October 18, 1840, and has children as follows: Jacobson Lockman, born May 10, 1871; William Dudley, born May 1, 1874; George Graham, born August 1, 1877; Mary Eleanor Wood, born June 18, 1880; David Morris Ware, born April 19, 1883, died January 24, 1884. John William Burbanck, third son of Jacob and Ann, was twice married; his first wife was Gertrude Egbert, and his sec- ond wife Ann Egbert, sisters. Ann died December 19, 1878; had children as follows: By first wife, Hiram A., Ferdinand and and Mar}' Adelaide; by second wife, Evelina, Anna and John Alfred. John William resides at Castleton Corners, and is the oldest living descendant of Jacob Burbanck the first. Hiram A. Burbanck, son of John William and Gertrude, married Mary , and had one son, John William, and a daughter, who died. Hiram resides with his father at Castle- ton Corners. Evelina Burbanck, daughter of John William and Ann, mar- ried William Alston, and has one son, Theodore. Anna Burbanck, daughter of John William and Ann, mar- ried Sylvester Cobb, and has children Mabel and Edward. John Alfred Burbanck, son of John William and Ann, died March 28, 1873. Aletta Eliza Burbanck, second daughter of Jacob first and Ann, married Samuel Wood, and has children as follows: Cath- arine Ann, Ellen, Jane Louisa, Benjamin, Jacob, Augustus B., and Beekman. Samuel Wood died, and his Avidow resides at City Island, Westchester county. New York. Catharine Ann Wood, daughter of Samuel and Aletta E. Wood, married Joseph Brown, and has children and grand- children, resides at Astoria, N. Y. Ellen Wood, daughter of Samuel and Aletta Eliza Wood, married Benjamin Van Clief, had one son Charles, now living at West New Brighton, married and has children. His parents are dead. Benjamin Wood, son of Samuel and Aletla Eliza Wood, mar- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 511 ried and has children and grandchildren residing at Astoria, N. Y. Augustus B. Wood, son of Samuel and Aletta Eliza Wood, married and has children and grandchildren, residing at City- Island, AVestchester county, N. Y. Samuel Buibanck, Jacob Lockman Bnrbanck's cousin, resides at South Beach, and his son, Samuel Burbanck, resides at New Dorp. Burgher, Burger. — These, at the present day, are two dis- tinct families, who write their names as above. Johannes Burger, from Cliesman, came over in the ship '■Stettin," September, 1662; but where he settled is not known. There was an Elias Bni'ger and Susanna Whitman, his wife, who had a son Nathan, baptized February 23, 1724, and this is the first record of the name in the county. Colonel Nicholas Burgher was born January 23, 1768, and died May 23, 1839; he was the father of Matthias, John, James G., David and several other children. John was the father of David Burgher, of Edgewater, the present representative of the family spelling their name with an li. The other family, who eschew the li, and adhere to the origi- nal orthography, are of comparatively recent connection with the island. David D. Burger was born in South Carolina in 1777, and sectled on Staten Island in 1814, where he died in February, 1831. He left several sons, of whom Nicholas, of Four Cornel's, and Samuel, of Bull's Head, survive. Bush. — This name, written BoscJi in the Dutch records, is found here early in the last centur3^ This family was never very numerous nor prominent, consequently the notices of its members are very few. Joshua, or Josiah, had a son Samuel, bajitized 1706; Nicholas and Elizabeth Driidvwater had the following children: Edward, baptized November 24, 1728; Barent, baptized September, 1734; Nicholas, baptized July 13, 1740. Garret had a daughter Mary, baptized September 30, 1787, and a daughter Elizabeth, baptized August 30, 1789. Joseph and Mary Johnson were married De- cember 10, 1792. Lambert and Mary Stillwell were married January 27, 1795. The family name, though not as old as some others on the island, was in tlie province at an early date. Among the emigrants who came over in the ship "Fox" in 512 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. August, 1662, we find the name of Jan Bossch from West- phalen. There was another family of this name descended from John Bush, an Englishman, who fought at Banker Hill on the side of the Americans, and subsequently took up his residence on Staten Island, where he married, and had at least one son, whose name was Williaiu, who was tlie father of the late Mr. John Bnsh, of Watchogne, Northtield, and of Mrs. S. D. Ken- nison, of West New Brighton. Butler. — This was another of the royalist families which was here before and during the revolution. The earliest men- tion of the name in the church records is in 1732, when James and Sarah Carem had a son John, baptized March 26. In St. Andrew's records we find the following: Henry and Balaesha (Baletta) had a son James, born May 8, 1759 ; and a son Na- thaniel, born March 23, 1768. Thomas and Mary had a son James, born October 19, 1758, and a son Antony, born Novem- ber 17, 1769. John and Rachel had a son Daniel, born October 29, 1758. John and Mary had a son Henry, baptized March 11, 1776. Thomas and Susan had a daughter Maria, baptized May 13, 1790. Thomas and Mary Herod married December 20, 1789. Daniel and Elizabeth Pray married December 29, 1807. The family is at present in part represented by Mr. Talbot Butler, of Port Richmond, whose father was Thomas, and mother Eleanor Crocheron, daughter of Abraham. Thomas had several brothers — James, John, Elias and Henry, and they were the sons of John and Kingston his wife. Thomas was twice married, his second wife beinga widow Blake, maiden name Wood. Cannon. — On Staten Island the name is usually accented on the last syllable. The family was here as early as 1680, but it was never very numerous or prominent ; its members appear to have been of a retiring nature, and are never found mentioned in any official character, except in one instance where one of them held a minor military office. Andreas ^Andrew) was plaintiff in a suit in 1680, and was probably the progenitor. We find no further mention of them until John and Maria Egbert had a son Abraham, baptized Maj- 7, 1741 ; a daughter, April 22, 1746, and a son Jacobus, July 19, 1748. David and Aeltje (Alida) Prall had tlie following children ; A daughter, baptized May 2, 1753 ; a son, Arent, baptized No- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 513 vember 2, 1754 ; a son, David, January 29, 1758, and a son, An- dries, Angust 26, 1759. David is also mentioned in 1755 as owner of a slave. Andrew and Mary Wright were married in December, 1795. Christopher. — The original of this name is Christoffel, which is the Dutch for Christopher. The earliest mention of the family occurs in a church record, as follows : Barent and Anna Cath- arina Stilwell had the following children baptized : Nicklaas, August 4, 1703 ; Catharyna, April 23, 1706, died young ; Re- becka, April 20, 17 — ; Maria, , 1710; Susanna, January 11, 1719; they had twin children, Catharinaand Barent, baptized August 13, 1716. This Barent is mentioned in the county records as having sold land in 1704. Stoffel also sold land the same year. Catharine Christopher, widow of Albert Rykman, had a posthumous child, Albert, baptized October 26, 1729. Hans (John) and Jane Arrowsmith had the following child- ren baptized : Johannes, April 16, 1732 ; Barnt, April 14, 1734; Joseph, August 8, 1736 ; Richard, September 30, 1739. Nicolas and Christina Bowman had a son, Barnt, baptized November 27, 1726, and a daughter, September 26, 1731. Richard (above) and Esther his wife, had the following child- ren : John Garrison, born September 18, 1770 ; James Grover, born August 30, 1772; Joseph, born May 9, 1775. Joseph, son of John, had a son, Joseph, who was father of Capt. Richard Christopher, of West New Brighton. Cole. — We have nowliere found the slightest allusion to the origin of this family, but an individual of the same name was on the island before the beginning of the last century ; in the county records we find the name of Abraham Cole as having sold land in 1695, which, of course, he must have purchased at an earlier date. In the church records we find no further men- tion of the name for more than half a century, though the name of Abraham appears to have been perpetuated. Abraham and Hannah had a daughter Ann, born May 11, 1762 ; a son Abraham, born March 6, 1766, and a son John Be- dell, born July 31, 1770. Peter and Susannah Latourette had a son Henry, born February 6, 1765. Richard lived in the county in 1766, and Cornelius in 1772. Cornelius and Ann Dyelland were married in May, 1766. Stephen and Ann had a daughter Ann, born July 22, 1768; a son Stephen, born Septem- 33 514 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. ber 11, 1771; a son John, February 5, 1775, and a daughter Mar- garet, who married Samuel Holmes. Stephen, the son, married Jane Mersereau, October 16, 1796, and John, the son, married Mary Winant, April 1, 1797. Isaac and Esther, his wife, had a son Edward, born April 8, 1770. Richard and Mary Sprang were married in October, 1774, and had a son Abraham, born March 6, 1775. John and Catharine, his wife, had a son Abra- ham, born April 6, 1775. Cornelius and Frances Cole were mar- ried November 11, 1797. John and Eliza Drake were married December 24, 1801. William, the pioneer of Methodism on Staten Island, was born in 1769, and died in 1843. Abraham, born , 1751, died February 19, 1798. Abea.h.\m Cole. — Isaac Cole, the great-grandfather of the subject of this biography, and one of the earliest residents of Staten Island, was an extensive farmer and land owner at Prince's bay. Among his children was a son, Abraham, who Inherited a portion of the ancestral estate, and followed farm- ing pursuits. He married Abagail Johnson, and had children : William, Ann, Isaac, Lydia, Abraham. Esther and Phoebe. Abraham, of this number, was born in 1778, and died in 1833. By occupation a sea-captain, his voyages were chiefly to south- <>rn ports, where for manj^ years he engaged in trade. He mar- ried Ann, daughter of David Johnson, of Staten Island. Their •children were : Johnson, Isaac, Abraham, Susan Ann, Harriet, Mary, Jacob W. and Abagail. Of these Abraham was born September 23, 1810, on the homestead adjacent to the old church at Woodrow, Staten Island. After enjoying such ad- vantages as the schools of the neighborhood afforded he became interested in his father's pursuit, and at the age of twenty-one took command of a packet-schooner sailing for southern ports. He gradually acquired by thrift a considerable interest in the vessels he commanded, and continued thus employed until 1856, when, retiring from the perilous life of a mariner, he es- tablished near Tottenville, Staten Island, the coal and lumlier business, now successfully conducted bj^ his sons. Here he was actively engaged during the remainder of his life, his sons being admitted to a partnership, and later assuming entire charge of the increasing trade. Mr. Cole was, on the 30th of September, 1840, married to Ann M., daughter of Cornelius Disosway, of Staten Island. Their children are : Cornelius, married to Harriet K., daughter of James C. Robinson; Jacob V«.M\\XSt^ t. '6\\.»^\k^'\^ V. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 515 W., married to Mary C. (deceased), daughter of George H. Pendexter; Susan A., wife of Paul M. Van Name ; James T., married to Elmira De Hart, and Abram, married to Blanche, daughter of Captain Abei Martin. Mr. Cule, in his political sentiments, was an old line whig, and later joined the ranks of the republican part}\ Politics were little to his taste, and as a consequence he rarely gave an active support to his party, and never aspired to the offices within its gift. His energies found a more congenial field of labor in the Bethel Methodist Epis- copal church, of which he was treasurer, trustee and steward. The following tribute to his memory, from a leading jjeriodical, may with propriety be quoted. "His religious life was uniform, and was not, as is too often the case, marred with frequent relapses. He professed no extra- ordinary attainments in piety, but all who knew him took knowledge of him that he had been with Jesus. He was faith- ful and systematic in his home duties, and regular in his attend- ance at the church and the means of grace when able to go. He was ready with his means to contribute his share toward the support of the church. As a husband and father he was considerate and kind. He was even in temper, a lover of peace, and a promoter of harmony. His confidence in the promises of God never failed." The death of Mr. Cole occurred September 14, 1876. William A. Cole. — The direct ancestor of William A. Cole was Col. William Cole, colonial secretary of Virginia, who em- igrated from London about the year 16.50, and whose descend- ants settled early in 1700 in Maryland, from whence they later removed to Staten Island. In the direct line from this progen- itor of the family was Abraham Cole, born in 1736, grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Among his children was John B. CoIp, born in 1770, who was twice married. His two sons by the first marriage, Henry and George Cole, each represented their district for two terms in the state legislature and were act- ive in promoting the interests of Richmond county. His second wife was Mary A. Cole, a descendant of the Cool family, who emigrated from England to Holland, and abmit the year 1680 came to America. Her father. Rev. William Cole, was well known as the pioneer of Methodism on Staten Island. His memory is still fresh, his influence still apparent, and his name cherished by the church to which his life-work was ded- 516 HISTOKY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. icated. William A., the only son of John B. and Mary A. Cole, was born October 15, 1836, at New Dorj), Staten Island, and re- ceived an academic education at Pennington Seminary, New Jersey. Deciding upon a business career, he came to New York in 1855 and accepted a position as cashier with a mercan- tile house. This thorough experience was of inestimable value in the busy commercial life which subsequently opened to him. In 1862 he organized, and has since been the active member of, the house of W. J. Wilcox & Company, extensively engaged in foreign exports. The tirni have been since their organization large exporters of manufactured products, and early gave their attention to the production of a superior quality of lard, uni- form in color and sweetness and capable of withstanding cli- matic influences. To the well directed and untiring energy of Mr. Cole must be attributed the gratifying success which has attended their efforts. For bis zeal in furthering the interests of Franco-American commerce the French government, in 1879, conferred upon him the decoration of the Legion of Honor. In 1875 the firm of W. J. Wilcox & Company became a corpora- tion, with Mr. Cole as president, which office he still fills. He has for some years been a leading factor in commercial circles, having during the years 1877-78 filled the office of president of the New York Produce Exchange. He is at present one of the trustees of the Bowery Savings Bank and the Corn Exchange Bank of New York. His interest in the cause of education prompted his acceptance of the position of commissioner of the board of education of New York. He is chairman of its build- ing committee, as also of that of the New York College. Mr. Cole was married June 12, 1860, to Mary E. Hiscox, and has three children living: Mary A., Frederick A. and Helen. Colon. — James Colon, George Colon and John (elsewhere written Jonas) Colon, were naturalized in May, 1770. These were probably the progenitors of the family of that name, which once were numerous, but now nearly extinct. There was also a Peter Colon in the county in 1774. Conner.— Richard Conner came to Staten Island from Ire- land about 1760, as he purchased his landed estate at that time. He was a man of respectable acquirements, and superior business qualifications. His worth appears to have been soon discovered, for he was almost immediately placed in responsible offices, and continued to serve the public in various capacities ■ji£}iia- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. SIT until the time of his death. He was born in 1723, and died Feb- ruary 1, 1792. His wife Catherine died June 24, 1787, at the age of 62. He made his will February 4, 1790, jiroved February 6, 1792, in which he speaks of his daughter Ann, deceased, and of Catharine and Elizabeth, and liis son Richard. One of his daughters married into the Garrison family, and was the mother of Mr. John C. Garrison, of Garrison's Station, S. I. R. R. His only son Richard, universally known as Colonel Conner, was for many years a prominent surveyor in the county, and held various offices of trust. He was born in 1763, and died April 5, 1853, leaving several sons, of whom Mr. A. V. Conner, once clerk of the county, is one. The family were always attached to the Moravian church. There was another family of the same name in the county in 1761, as appears by a record of a baptism of Adam, son of Jeremiah and Ann, in October of that yea,r, but they were of a distinct family. CoRSEN.— This is one of the oldest and at one time among the most influential families on the island. In this instance, as in most of the other old families, we have been able to obtain only shreds of its history, none of those now bearing the name being in possession of a genealogical descent. From 1650 to 1690 we find the names of Hendrick, Peter, Jan, Philip, etc. , as residents of New York, or some parts of Long Island. The first mention of the name in connection with Staten Island occurs December 30, 1680, in a patent bearing that date, con- veying to Cornelius Corsen, Andries Juriansen, Derrick Cor- nelison and John Peterson 180 acres of land, 60 acres of which belonged to Corsen, and 40 acres to each of the others. This land is referred to in the patent of Governor Dongan to Palmer, and mentioned as land belonging to Cornelius Corsen and com- pany. Another patent to the same parties, of the same date, conveyed 320 acres of land lying westward of and bounded by the Mill creek, besides 32 acres of salt meadow "where most convenient." This Cornelius is designated as captain in a record in Albany, dated December 21, 1680. We find him men- tioned again in the county records as being plaintifl' in a suit in January, 1681. He died December 7, 1693, as his will was proved on that day. He had at least three sons; Christian, second judge and lieutenant-colonel in 1738, Cornelius, a justice, and Jacob, who made his will October 8, 1742, by which he makes the following bequests : his homestead to his son Jacob, £70 581 HISTORY OF KICHMOND COUNTF. (SI 75) to his daughter Suster, wife of Johannes Simonson; £70 to his daughter Mary, wife of Joshua Mersereau; £70 to his son Douwe; £70 to his son Benjamin; £70 to his daughter Rebecca, wife of John Blom; to his sons Douwe and Benjamin all his lands in Hunterdon county, N. J.; to his daughter Suster all his lands on the west side of Staten Island; to his son Jacob his silver-hilted sword and silk sash, and all his other goods to his children equally. Daniel Corsen, who was county clerk in 1739, was probably another son of Captain Cornelius. In the church yaid of the Reformed church at Port Richmond there are still to be seen two headstones with the following in- scriptions in the Dutch (Holland) language : Hier onder rust het lyk. van Cornelius Corsen, Esq., overleden den 36 Maart — A. D. MDCCLV on— — ynde LIII. Here under rests the body of Cornelius Corsen, Esq., ■n-ho died the 26 March, 1755, in his 53d Hier legt het Lighaam van Jannetia Van Boskerk, Huys Trouw van Cornelius Corsen Overleeden den JIDCCXLIX Zyiide L Jaar Here lies the body of Jane Van Buskirk, wife of Cornelius Corsen died the , 1749, in her 50th year. This good old lady was probably a nati\^e of Bergen, N. J., where there were several families of the Van Buskirks, there being none of that name on the island at that date. Cornelius and Jannetje Van Buskirk had the following child- ren : a daughter, baptized November 24, 1723 ; Peter, baptized August 13, 1725 ; Christian, baptized February 26, 1727 ; Cor- nells, baptized February 23, 1729, died an infant; Cornells, baptized February 21, 1731 ; Jacobus (Jacob), baptized Oc- tober 22, 1732 ; Daniel, baptized March 9, 1735, died May 22, 1801; a daughter, baptized September 19, 1736; and a daughter, baptized September 23, 1738. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 519 We append the following, collected chiefly from church records : Cornelins. son of Benjamin, baptized May 4, 1714 ; Daniel, born 1714, died January 26, 1761; Captain Jacob, born 1707, died 1772; Benjamin and Blaudina Vile (Viele) had a son Benjamin, baptized August 3, 1718; Jacob and Cornelia Cruser had the following children : Jacob, baptized October 13, 1747, and three daughters, between 1739 and 1754; Douwe (son of Jacob) and Jannetje Cosin, had a child baptized October 5, 1755; Daniel and Maria Stilwell had sons Richard and Daniel, both baptized November 7, 1753 ; Cornelius, Jr., had son Cor- nelius, baptized September 2, 1787, and a daughter Jannetje (Jane), baptized October 17, 1790; Richard had a daughter Catharine, baptized August 30, 1789; Daniel and Elizabeth Bo- gart had a son Cornelius, baptized September 17, 1758, and a son William Howe, born November 24, 1776. Daniel and Elizabeth Bogart his wife, had also three other sons, John, Daniel and Richard ; Richard married Elizabeth Egbert, and they were the parents of Mr. Abraham E. Corsen, of Mariners' Harbor. Daniel built the stone house still stand- ing near the Richmond turnpike, and since the property of A. C. Bradley, Esq.; subsequently he owned a farm on the Clove road, now or recently the property of Haynes Lord, Esq., where he died, and the place came into the possession of his son Richard. William Howe Corsen lived to have a family of his own ; a short time previous to the war of 1812, he was mur- dered, and his body concealed under a bridge on the public road. Evidently he had been robbed. The perpetrators of the crime were never detected. Jacob had a daughter, baptized March 25, 1701, a son Jacob, baptized October 21, 17o7 (see Captain Jacob, above) and a son Benjamin, baptized April 1, 1710. Corsen and Elsey Ayro were married November, 1801; Hiram J., of New Springville, is the son of Cornelius V. B. ; he was the son of Richard ; and he was the son of Cornelius. CoETELYOu. — This name, in some of the old records, is writ- ten Corteleau ; it is of French origin, but was changed through a long residence in Holland, previous to emigration to America. The family was in this country at an early date ; Jacques Cor- telliau (so written by himself) was the surveyor, who. In 1657, laid out the town of New Utrecht, on Long Island, into twenty lots, of fifty acres each, one of which was assigned to him for 520 ■ HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. his residence. He came to America in 1652, for in 1687, when (he inhabitants of Kings county took the oath of allegiance to James II., the name of Jaques Corteljou is found among them, with a note attached, that he had then been in the country thirty-five years. He had four sons, all of whom had been born on Long Island; their names were Jacques, Jr., Cornells, Pieter, Willem; still, in the assessment roll of New Utrecht for the year 1676, neither of their names appear. The family on Staten Island is undoubtedly descended from that of Long Island, though when the removal took place is uncertain ; a part of them remained on Long Island, as in 1738 we find the names of "pijeter kartelijou,"' and " ailte kartelijou," still at New Utrecht. The first mention of the name in the church records on Staten Island is that of Jaques, and his wife Jacomyntie, (Jemima) Van Pelt, who had a daughter Debora, baptized De- cember 26, 1720. Aaron, who was born 1726, and died August 22, 1789, was undoubtedly the son of Jaques and Jacomyntie, as they appear to have been the only family of the name on Staten Island. Aaron had a son Peter, born December 27, 1768, and died February 3, 1857, and he was the father of Judge Lawrence H. Cortelyou. Aaron was one of the original mem- bers of the Moravian church. There was a Jacob, probably a brother of Peter, born August 26, 1760, and died February 7, 1817. There is a record of a Peter, who married Sarah Van Pelt, December 31, 1801. Crips. — This family can scarcely be numbered among the old families of the county, though at one time they were tolerablj" numerous; they are now almost extinct. The earliest notice we have found is the marriage of John Crips and Margaret Bety (Beatty) January 5, 1761. They had a son William, born April 28, 1764. William and Sarah had a daughter Elizabeth, baptized June 23, 1771; Thomas and Mary Ferine were married in November, 1791; James and Elizabeth Blake were married October 1, 1801; there was a Richard, mentioned in the county records in 1766. Crocheron. — The first representative of this family of whom we have any definite knowledge was John, a jjlanter, whose will was dated December 13, 1695; and he appears to have died within a year from that time, for the will is recorded September 8, 1696. His wife's name was Mary, and they had two sons, HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 521 Nicholas and Anthony, the former being the elder. Further data respecting them is wanting. Henry Crocheron and Nannie his wife had the following sons: John, born April 13, 1770; Henry, born December 26, 1772; Jacob, born August 23, 1774 (he married Mary Oakley, Febru- ary 22, 1797; he was sheriff of the county, etc.), and Reuben, baptized September 24, 1789. Abraham Crocheron and Eliza- beth his wife had a son Nicholas, born August 9, 1761, and died December 30, 1817 (he was familiarly known as "Squire Nick"), and Henry, born March 22, 1766. There was another Abraham, and Margaret his wife, who had a son Daniel, born January 15, 1770. Daniel and Sarah his wife had a daughter Mary, born April 8, 1775. John Crocheron and Jenny his wife, had a daughter Mary, born March 4, 1773. Abraham and Mary Prall his wife had a son Abraham, born September 4, 1787, and a son Benjamin, baptized June 28, 1789. (Benjamin died a few years ago on the Old Place road ; his wife was Susannah Prall, his cousin. Abraham, the father, formerly owned the farm now a part of New Brighton). Another Daniel had a son Daniel born June 9, 1788. John and Hannah Housman were married February 10, 1792. Daniel and Jane Jones were married November 29, 1798. Nicholas and Winant were married May 28, ISOl. The Crocheron family have been prominent in the county; Henry was member of congress 1815-17. Jacob was njembftr of congress 1829-31; presidential elector in 1836; sheriff 1802, 1811 and 1821. Nicholas was member of assembly 1854. Richard was county treasurer and surrogate in 1836, and for several years thereafter. The family is of French descent. Ckuser, Cruise, Ckoes, Kroesen, etc. — The family is of Dutch descent. It is impossible now to ascertain when Garret, who was probably the first of the name in America, emigrated. In 1676 we find him rated in Breucklyn, but after that date his name does not apjjear among the freeholders of that place. It is probable that he removed to Staten Island the following year, for then Sir Edmund Andros granted him a intent for one hun- dred and sixty acres of land on Staten Island. He had, prob- ably, the following sons: Hendrick, Cornelius, Dirk or Derick, Garret and Jan. Hendrick, who was perhaps the eldest, had several children baptized on Staten Island between 1698 and 1716. Cornelius married Helena Van Tuyl, probably a daughter 522 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. of Otto Van Tnyl, and bad the following 'children baptized here: Hendrick, October 10, 1731; Abraham, July 29, 1733, died March 11, 1770; and Cornelius, August 8, 1736. Derick had the following children baptized here: Xicklas, May 6, 1690; Derick, October 22, 1701; Hendrick, July 3, 1707. Garret had the fol- lowing children bajitized here: Cornelius, October 23, 1711; Derick, October 18, 1713; Garret, April 1, 1717. Jan had a daughter Elizabeth baptized July H, 1713. Cornelius, son of Cornelius and grandson of Garret, married Beeltje de Groot, and had a son Cornelius, baptized August 26, 1759. Abraham, son of Cornelius and grandson of Garret, married Antye Simonson, and had a son Johannes, or John, baptized J une 4, 1760. (This John had a daughter Elizabeth baptized May 10, 1789.) Garret, son of Garret and grandson of the original Garret, married Claartje (Clara, Clare, Clarissa) Blencroft, and had a daughter Cornelia baptized August 27, 1740; a daughter Clarissa baptized October 11, 1748; and a son Hendrick June 24, 1752, and others. Garret, son of Hendrick and grandson of the original Garret, married Gertrude Van Tuyl, and had the following children: Hendrick, baptized December 8, 1723; Femitje (Euphemia ?) September 13, 1728; Abraham, August 6, 1732. The late Morris H. Cruser and brothers are the direct descendants of John, mentioned above. The family was once numerous and promi- nent, but like many other of the old families, is disappearing. CuBBERLY.— This family is of English descent, but came to Staten Island from New Jersey. The name originally was writ- ten Coverle. The tirst of the name on Staten Island was Isaac, who resided here in 1769. Probablj^ he came here a young man, for he married here, in the Jonrneay family. His sons were Stephen, Joseph, James, Thomas and Isaac. Isaac mar- ried an English woman named Brongliton, and had two sons — William, now living in New Jersey, and James, once clerk of the county; Mrs. Charles E. Racy, of West New Brighton, is also his daughter. Isaac resided at the noted locality known as "The Elm Tree," where, though a large jjart of his property is now submerged by the waters of the ocean, his dwelling house still stands. There is another branch of the family which we are unable to trace, viz.: Joseph and Auder (sic) his wife had a sou James, HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 523 born October 18, 1776; this James married Eleanor Ralph, Jan- nary 20, 1799. The late William Cubberly, of Port Richmond, is descended from this branch. . George William Daley, for many years prominent in the politics of Richmond county, was born in Whitehall, New- York, October 7, 1814. He was the eldest son of Erastus and Hannah (Stone) Daley. His fal her's family came to America in the seventeenth centnry. During the war of independence, his great-grandfather, Solo- mon Daley, was a soldier in the continental army, and one of the budy of men known as the "Commander-in-Chief's Life Guard." His mother was the daughter of Elijah Stone, also a revolutionary soldier, and was a descendant on her mother's side of Andrew Ward, of Watertown, Mass., and George Hub- bard of Guilford, Conn., both of whom came to America about 1630. Mr. Daley early manifested the courage that character- ized him in later life, when, at only twelve yeai's of age, he car- ried the mail on horseback between Whitehall and Vergennes, Vermont, a work of responsibility and often of danger. He received his education in the district schools of his native place, where he remained till a short time after his marriage, in 1840, to Miss Helen S. Blanchard, of Rutland, Vermont, when he went to reside in Albany and was emj^loyed there as agent for the Merchants' Transportation Company. In 1851 he removed to New York, and in May, 1853, to Staten Island. After this he was for several years general passenger agent for the New York Central Railroad Company. In 1862 he enlisted in the One Hundred and Thirty- third regi- ment of New York volunteers and took an active part in the civil war. He rose from the rank of private to be a lieutenant of his company and served for two years in Virginia and Louisiana until prostrated by sickness from exposure. On his return from the army he was employed first by the commissioners of emigration and afterward in the custom house department, which position he occupied at the time of his death. He died Sunday morning, November 2, 1873, at his home in Edgewater, Staten Island. He had five children: Helen A. Daley, Amelia E., widow of Rev. Joseph Alden, D. D.; Charlotte F. Daley, George Henry and William Seymour Daley, all of whom, with his widow, survive. 524 HISTORY OF EICHMOND COUNTY. Mrs. Daley resides in New York city with her daughters, two of whom are professional artists, and a third, Mrs. Alden, is an autlior. One son, William S., married Miss Margaret Nixon, of Albany, N". Y., and resides in his native city, while George Henry, of the firm of Devlin & Co., New York, is a j^rominent man of the present day in the history of Staten Island. From early life Mr. Daley was warmly interested in politics, exerting, first as a wliig and then as a republican, a wide in- fluence in the politics of his county, and even of his state. He was a manly, straightforward and generous man, a warm hearted and faithful friend, whose promises were always to be relied upon. George Henry Daley, oldest son of the preceding, was born in Albany, N. Y., November 1, 1844. After his father's removal to Staten Island he attended first the public school and afterward the private school conducted by the Rev. J. H. Sinclair at Tompkinsville. In June, 1862, he entered, as a clerk, the office of Devlin & Co., clothing merchants. New York city, and has maintained ever since an unbroken connection with this large house, rising by untiring energy, devotion and industrj^ to be a partner in the firm. In 1867 he married Miss Elizabeth A. Wood, a daughter of Mr. William Wood, of London, England. One of their chil- dren, Helen S., died in infancy. Their sui'viving children are Elizabeth, George Herbert, Edwin Wood, Charles Stanley, Alice Wood, Mary Wood and Marjorie Carew. Mr. Daley's rare executive genius and sound business quali- ties have become widely known and brought him into many positions of trust, where confidence and sterling integrity were needed. In 1883 he succeeded Messrs. John A. Stewart and David H. Decker as trustee of the large estate of the late Hon. Albert Ward, a trust of great responsibilities and judgment, lo which he devotes much of his time. He is also a director of the Staten Island Savings Bank, a stockholder in tlie First Na- tional Bank of Staten Island, and in the Staten Island academy and Latin school, while he was one of the founders of the Bi'ighton Heights seminary. For several years he was a promi- nent stockholder in the Staten Island Publishing Companj* and piesident of the corporation issuing the " Gazette and Sentinel.'" He was active in procuring the " Five Ward Amendment'' f,.-^^^-^. Mt:^ HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 525 to the charter of the village of Edgewater, and at the ensuing election in the spring of 1884 he was chosen to represent the First ward as trustee of the village. He held the office for two years, and for a short time in the latter part of his term he was the president of the village. Mr. Daley resides in the old "Vanderbilt Mansion," which he bought in 1881, the spacious and imposing old structure form- ing a striking example of a later type of colonial architecture. As an energetic and careful business man, from the beginning of his mercantile career he has believed in the principle of hard, persistent work and honesty of purpose as the only sure ground of success. His stern application of this principle, and his unswerving devotion to duty all through his business life have brought to him and to tlie firm with which he is connected a lasting success. A republican in j^olitics, he took an active part, from the fall of 1881 to the spring of 1886, in all the local affairs of govern- ment, and for his prudence, integrity and nuinly course won the respect of even those who had opposed him. Decker. — This family is by far the most numerous, as well as one of the oldest, on the island. Its progenitor was Johannes De Decker, who arrived here in April, 1655. He was a promi- nent man in the colony, filling various offices of responsibility, and after a public service of many j'ears finally settled down for the remainder of his life on his farm of one hundred and twenty acres on Staten Island. His numerous descendants have so frequently intermarried that at this day it would be difficult to trace their genealogy. Some of the elder members retained the prefix De, but it has long ago fallen into disuse. Mattheus De Decker, probably a son of Johannes, had John, baptized September 7, 169—; Abraham, October 21, 1707; Elizabeth, April 17, 1711; and Mattheus, , 1715; to this baptism Pieter De Decker was sponsor, who was also probably a son of Jo- hannes. This Pieter, and Susanna Hetfeel (Hatfield), his wife, had the following children baptized : Maria, September 21, 1718; Johannes, July 24, 1720; Susanna, May 24, 1724; Sara, October 23, 1726; Mattheus, June 10, 1728; Eva, March 26, 1732; and Abraham, April 7, 1735. John (probably a son of Mattheus) and Maria Swaira had a daughter baptized July 3, 1726. John (son of Pieter) and Nancy, or Anna Merrell, had a son Johannes, baptized April 526 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 19, 1743, and a son Richard, April 26, 1748. Charles (above mentioned) and Lena Swaim had a son Matthj^s, baptized April 5, 1730, died in infancy; a son Matthens, baptized March 16, 1733; and a daughter, January 8, 1738. Richard, known as "colonel," born May 15, 1747, died May 26, 1817; his mother was a Merrill (see above), and his wife was Wynchie Merrill. They had a son Richard, baptized October 26, 1788. Matthew (son of Charles), and Merrian, his wife, had a son Israel, baptized August 28, 1763, and Israel had a daugh- ter baptized February, 1788. John (son of John, above) and Elizabeth, his wife, had a son Reuben, born August 6, 1766, and Reuben and Mary Swaim were married July 25, 1790. Abra- ham and Phebe, his wife, had a son N'oah, born March 26, 1773, and a son Charles, born April 10, 1775. Moses and Elizabeth Wood were married in April, 1769. Matthias and Lidde (Lydia) Milburn were married in November, 1775. Isaac and Margaret Jones were married August 7, 1791. Jacob and Leah Depue were married June 5, 1796. Sylvanus and Sarah Parker were married October 24, 1800. Isaac and Elizabeth Christopher were married October 13, 1804. Matthew made his will April 26, 1787, proved September 15, 1787, in which he mentions his wife Catharine, son Mat- thew, a minor, and daughters Margaret, Elsie, Elizabeth, Ann and Catharine, who was lame. Hon. John Deckei', of Port Richmond, represents one branch of this family; his brothers were Matthias, Benjamin and David, the two first deceased. Their father was David, and their mother Catharine Decker; David's brothers were John, Benjamin and Abraham; they were the sons of Benja- min and Mary Egbert. De Gkoot.— This family, though originally French, and known as Le Grand, for centuries past has been regarded as Dutch, the name by which it is now known being simply a translation of the French name. The eminent scholar and ad- vocate, Hugo de Groot, otherwise known as Gi'otius, was a member of this family. Motley, in his life of John of Barne- veld, says of him: "He was then (June 5th, 1619) just 36 years old. Although comparatively so young, he had been long regarded as one of the great luminaries of Eurojie for learning and genius. Of an ancient and knightly race, his immediate ancestors had been as famous for literature, sci- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 527 ence and municipal abilities, as their more distant progen- itors had been for deeds of arms in the feudal struggles of Holland in the middle ages. His father and grandfather had alike been eminent for Hebrew, Greek and Latin scholarship, and both had occupied high position in the University of Leydeu from tlie beginning. Hugo, born and nurtured under such quickening influences, had been a scholar and poet almost from his cradle. He wrote respectable Latin verses at the age of seven; he was matriculated at Leyden at the age of eleven. When fourteen, he took his bachelor's degree. On leaving the University, he was attached to the embassy of Bar- neveld, and .lustinus van Nassau to the court of Henry IV. In France, before he was flfteen, he received from the Univei-sity of Orleans the degree of Doctor of Laws. At seventeen he was an Advocate in full practice before the Supreme tribunals of the Hague, and when twenty-three years old he was selected by Prince Maurice from a list of three candidates for the im- portant post of fiscal or attorney-general of Holland. At twenty-six he published Mare Liberiim— a little later, his work on the antiquity of the Batavian Republic. At twenty-nine he had completed his Latin History of the jSTetherlands. His great work on the Rights of War and Peace was afterward written." There were two emigrants of this name to America, viz., Willem Pietersen de Groot, wife and five children, came over in April, 1662, in the ship called the "Hope;" and Staes de Groot, who came over in the "Spotted Cow," the succeeding April. The name is not found in any of the old state documents, ex- cept on Staten Island and in Albany county. The emigrants settled in these places, the latter on Staten Island. The earli- est notice in local records is as follows : Johannes (a son of Staes) and Elizabeth Seckkels, his wife, had the following children : Peter, baptized April 2, 1729; Robert, baptized Oc- tober 10, 1731; Johannes, baptized February 1, 1735. Peter married Claartje (Clare) Post, and had the following children : Garret, baptized August 25, 1751; John, baptized May 2, 1753; Katrina, baptized July 27, 1755; Gertrude, baptized July 17, 1758. John, son of Peter, married Mary Wood, and they were the parents of Jacob de Groot, who died March 11, 1875, aged 86 52S HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. years, and grandparents of Alfred de Groot, the present rep- resentative of the family in this county. De Hart. — Of the ancestors of this family on tlie island, there is but little to be learned from the local records. What we have been able to glean is as follows : Daniel had a sou Daniel, baptized October 22, 1707 ; a daughter, April 17, 1711 ; a son Matthias, baptized in 1715 ; a son Samuel, baptized in 1717, died May 17, 1798. BaUus and Mary Phillipse had daughter Catalyn, baptized 1746-7. Matthias, born A.ugust 21, 1749, died October 20, 1840. Edward had a son Jacob, baptized October 24, 1790. Stephen married Margaret Ryers in September, 1792. Depuv. — At the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, there was a Protestant family of this name in Langaedoc. Two brothers of this family, Philip and David, then fled to Holland, aad be- came officers in the arilly^ William of Orange ; they accom- panied him to England, and were both killed at the battle of the Boyne. Another brother, Samuel, was an officer in the British army, and served in the Low Countries. But some of the name were in America before the revocation. In 1662, Nicolas du Pui, with his wife and three children, came to this country in th*^ ship called the " Purmerland Church;"' he prob- ably settled on Staten Island, and was the progenitor of the family here, as we find his baptismal name perpetuated among them. If this assumption is correct, then the names of two of the three children were John and Francis, for we find them mentioned in the public records as early as 1680 ; John as de- fendant in a suit in March of that year, and Francis as owning a tract of woodland near Fresh kill, in December of that year. We do not meet with the name of Francis after that date, but lind the name of John again, in the church record, as having a daughter Elizabeth baptized October 22, 1707. and a son Moses,"july 22, 1714. Nicolas, perhaps a grandson of the original, and Neeltje (Cornelia) Dekker had tiie following children: A daughter, baptized April 6, 1724 ; and sons John, baptized June 27. 1725 ; Matthew, baptized October 8, 1726 ; Nicholas, baptized June 4, 1730; Moses, baptized October 27, 1732; Aaron, baptized Au- gust 26, 1739. Nicholas, last mentioned, was supervisor of Westfield in 1766. John, last mentioned, and his wife Sarah, had a son Nicholas, baptized in 1757. Moses, last mentioned, HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUXTY. 529 and his wife Leah, had the following children: John, born January 10, 1759 : Nicholas, bom June 3, 1766 ; Moses, bom January 17, 1769. Barent. who probably was another son of Nicolas and Xeeltje, and his wife Elsie Poillon, had the follow- ing children : Martha, baptized May 20. 1750, and Elsie, bap- tized December 9. 1739. There was a Barent, who made his will June 4, 1792. which was probated August 17, 1792, in which he speaks of his wife Mary, and the following children: Nicholas. Barent, Daniel, A+)raham. Mary, Elsie, Sallie and Elizabeth. These two named Barent may be identical, but if so, he was twice married, and his daughter Martha was dead when he made his will. Diso-swAY. — Marc du Sauchay, the progenitor of the Disos- way family, was a native of Picardy, from the valley of the Somme. The lords du Sauchaj' came from the House of Cler- mont, in the Beauvaisis : one of them is known to have been with the Duke of Normandy at the conquest of Britain. Many Hugaenots of Picardy were sentenced to banishment or im- prisonment. Among this number was Marc du Sauchay. The nearness of the low countries offered facilities of escape, and thirty families made their home in Harlem, and from Holland, subsequently crossing the ocean, founded the new Harlem, on Manhattan island, then a wilderness. In 1655 Marc made his fii-st voj-age to New Netherland; suf- ficiently pleased with the countr\-, he decided to make it his future home. He returned to Leyden, and married, March 11, 1657, Elizabeth, daughter of Guilliame Rossignil, and on April 2, again sailed from Amsterdam for Manhattan in the ship '•Draetaat,"' Captain Bestevaer. taking vnih him his bride, two laboring men, and two boys over twelve years of age. The names of the men were Johannes Swedes, of Gelderland, and Jean Guenon, of Leyden. In 1057 he bought a farm in Brook- lyn, and April 10, 1661, tmnsferred his church connection from New Amsterdam to this place. July 2, 1675, we find his name as purchaser of a "book of martyrs and others." from the estate of Jean le Comte for eight}- gilders. In November, 1679, he bought lots on Haarn's hook, but sold them " presently." June 7. 1683, he and his wife took letters from the Dutch to the French church newly formed under Rev. Pierre Daille. He moved to Staten Island April 5, 1684, and was still living Oc- tober 1, 1706. His children, so far as known, were: Madeline. 530 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. who married Martin Hardewyn; Marcus, Jeanne, who married Conrad Hendricks, of Harlem ; Jean and Marie. His son Mar- cus inherited his faihers hinds and died in 1714, leaving each child a farm ranging from eighty eight to ninety-five acres. Three sons were then living — Job, Israel and Gabriel. His daughters were Elizabeth, wife of Peter Barbarie ; Susanne, wife of Daniel Hendricks ; Mary, wife of Thomas Eyres; Diane, wife of Hendrick Brees ; and Sarah, unmarried. Part of the old stone house, built by their ancestor, is still owned by a de- scendant. In the county records, often copied by careless or illiterate clerks, the name has received many curious changes from the original. In the Dutch baptismal records it was al- ways written Du Secoy or Du Secay. The late Gabriel P. Dis- osway was a descendant of Israel du Sauchay, the son of Mar- cus, who died in 1714. He was well known as a philanthropist and writer, and was especially interested in anything relating to the history of Staten Island and the Huguenots, from whom he had descended. He died July 9, 1868, leaving five sons and seven daughters. He married Diana F. Riddick, daughter of Col. Mills Riddick, of Suffolk, Va. His eldest son, Wilbur Fisk, is living, from whom the genealogy is traced. Wilbur Fisk, son of Gabriel Poillon and Diana Riddick, son of Israel and Anne Doty, son of Israel and Judith Poillon, son of Israel and Gertrude Van Deventer, son of Marcus du Sauchay, son of Marcus du Sauchay, of Amiers, Picardy, France. Sons of Gabriel Poillon and Diana T. Riddick, born 1798 : Wilbur Fisk, Clement, Israel, Cornelius Doty, Mills Riddick, Richard Henly. Sons of Israel and Anne Dory, born in 1773 : Israel Doty, Mark, Gabriel Poillon, Cornelius Ryers, William Phoebus. Sons of Israel and Judith Poillon were Israel and Mark. Sons of Israel and Gertrude Van de Venter were Israel (died 1738), Mark, Cornelius, Gabriel (died 1753) ; a daughter Annoitie. Sons of Marcus du Sauchay were Job, Israel, Gabriel ; the daughters were Elizabeth, Susanne, Marie and Diana. Sons of Cornelius, the son of Israel and Gertrude Van de Venter, left six daughters and two sons, a mansion on Staten Island, slaves, plate, gold watch, sleeve buttons, a riding chair, with particular instructions regarding the education of his children, believing it to be of the highest importance in life. He died in 1786. Israel, his brother, left four sous — Israel, Mark, Cornelius and HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 531 Gabriel, and one daughter. He left property in slaves, plate, furniture, and land in Middlesex, N. J. The late Gabriel Poillon Disosway was his direct descendant. The name remained little changed until after the revolution, at that time it was spelled Dusocay in the county records. The grave of Judith Poillon is one of the oldest in the Moravian , cemetery, the date being 1776. She was twice married, her first husband was Israel Dusocay, her second Judge Ryers, who built and lived in the hotel now known as the " St. James " hotel at Port Richmond. Tradition says that she was frightened to death by the arrival of the British troops on Staten Island. The descendants of Cornelius Dusocay remained in the stone mansion built by the ancestor, Marcus du Sauchay, for many years. It still stands, a substantial, comfortable home, the oak timbers bidding fair to out-last many modern structures. The independent spirit of the Picard and Huguenot blood of their ancestors clung to them during the American war for free- dom, and the Disosway' s names were found among the list of patriots in times that tried men's souls. Du Bois. — This was a large family, some of them residing in Brittany, and some in French Flanders. Antoine Dubois, and some of his relatives, fled to England as early as 1583, to escape persecution for their religious opinions. It is not known when the family hrst came on the island, nor who was the first of the name; the earliest name mentioned in the church record is that of Louis du Bois, Jr., whose wife's name was Catharine Van Brunt; they had a son Samuel who was baptized December 11, 1737. They had also a son Benjamin, and a son John. Ben- jamin became a minister of the Reformed Dutch church in 1764, and was immediately settled over the churches of Free- hold and Middletown, N. J., where he remained sixty-three years. John and Hester his wife had a daughter Mar\^, born June 27, 1766; he made his will January 17, 1703, which was proved Feb- ruary 1, 1794, in which he speaks of his wife Hester; his daughters, Hester, wife of Lewis Prall; Martha, wife of Daniel Winants; Elizabeth, wife of Charles Laforge; and Mary, wife of James Laforge, and his son Richard. There was another John who had a son, Nathaniel R., and died at the age of 87; his son, Nathaniel, died in May, 1874, aged 85 years; his wife was Frances Butler. 532 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Lewis and Jane Mersereau were married January 12, 1804. The family, once tolerably numerous and highly respectable, are almost extinct in the county. A family by the name, to which Mr. Eugene Dn Bois belongs, purchased the old Walter Dongan farm at Castleton Corners in 1859, and still occupy it. No connection between this faliiily and the first is known. The ancestors of the latter came from Artois, France, in 1675, and settled in Ulster and Dutchess counties. DusTAN. — This family has for many years been identified with the island. William and Peter were natives of Scotland, and emigrated to America at an early age. The former, locally known as Major Dustan, was born September 11, 1759, and died on Staten Island, May 23, 1841, nearly 82 years of age. He left one son, Isaac Kip, whose melancholy death is recorded on his monument in the Moravian cemetery, as follows: " This monument is erected a tribute of esteem to the mem- ory of Isaac Kip Dustan, aged 38 years and 7 months, who lost his life while in the discharge of his duties as Captain of the ill-fated Steamer Atlantic, off Fisher's Island, during the mem- orable gale of the 28th of November, 1846." Eddy'. — Among present representatives of this family are Cornelius C, of Stapleton, and his cousin James, of Huguenot, in Westfield. The former is the son of William, who was killed by his horse running away, in January, 1828; the latter is the son of John, also deceased. William, J(jhn and Andrew, who is still living near Woodrow church, Westfield, were brothers, and sons of William, the first of the name, who came here from New Jersey during the war of the revolution, with the inten- tion of remaining but a short time; but either the refusal of a pass, or protracted delay in furnishing it, detained him on the island, until finally, having probably formed some attachment, he relinquished the idea of returning, and settled permanently. Andrew Eddy. — William Eddy, the father of the subject of this biography, a native of the state of New Jersey, was pressed into the service during the war of the revolution. On his dis- charge he engaged in agricultural pursuits and married Cathe- rine Du Bois, a lady of Huguenot lineage. Their children were: James, John, Elizabeth, wife of Abraham Cole ; Catherine, married to Andrew Prier ; William, Andrew, and Mary, mar- ried to Patrick Leddy. The death of Mr. Eddy occurred in 1831, at the age of 78 years, and that of his wife in 1832, in her ^ w 06>^^c^^ ^ ^^ ^ W^^Q-^-t^t^ \. %\\'i.'r,-\\^-\^ V. HISTORY OF KICIIMOND COUNTY. 533 70th year. Andrew Eddy was born April 3, 1801, in Woodrow, where the early years of his life were devoted to the work of the farm, with a brief period at school during the winter months. Being ambitious to render himself independent by the mastery of a trade, he chose that of a carj)enter and was for a period of six years thus employed. Embarking then in public life he was elected constable and collector for Westfield town- ship, served several years in that capacity, and was subsequent- ly made assessor. Mr. Eddy was then elected supervisor and afterward filled a second term as assessor of the township. Unsatisfied to remain idle while not occupied with official duties, he engaged in mercantile pursuits at Woodrow, and later, re- sumed the labor of the farm. He was, in 1822, married to Catherine Poillon, daughter of John P. Poillon, of Staten Island. Their children are: Edwin V., Carnes, William H. and George W. Mr. Eddy, though deprived by death of the comiDanionshiii of his wife on the 20th of August, 1878, con- tinued upon the farm until 1884, when, on his removal to Tot- tenville, he built the dwelling which is his present residence. A lifelong democrat in politics he has relinquished the exciting scenes of public life for the quiet and retirement of his home. He espouses the faith of the Methodist Episcopal church, and was formerly treasurer and trustee of tlie church at Woodrow. Egbert. — The first emigrant of this name was probably Govert Egbert, who came to America in the ship called the "Spotted Cow," in 1660, but it is not certain that he ever lived on Staten Island. The first mention of the name in connection with the island is that of Tunis, who bought land in 1698, and sold land to John Androvat in January, 1699. His will, dated July 6, 1721, mentions seven sons, Egbert, John, Abraham, Jacque, Isaac, Lawrence and Tunis. Besides these he had four daughters, whose names are not mentioned. Tunis married Petronella Dupuy, and his son John was bap- tized December, 1745. John had sons, in the order of their birth— Joseph, John, Tunis, Samuel, Edward, Thomas, Holmes, Cornelius, Henry and William. Of these there were still liv- ing in 1876: Edward, on the Manor road, Castleton ; Cornelius, on the Amboy road, Southfield, and William, at Graniteville. This Cornelius Egbert married the daughter of Bornt Lake, who was murdered by Christian Smith, and occupies the same 534 HISTORY OF RICHMOKD COUNTY. house Lake occupied at the time of his death. His brother William married another daughter of Lake. Probably the same Tunis liad another son named Abraham (born September 21, 1747, died October 2, 1816), who was the father of the following sons : Abraham, Joseph, Tunis, Corne- lius, John, Stephen, James and Edward; two sons and seven- teen grandsons, besides grand-daughters and daughters, whose names are not given. We subjoin the following, indiscrimi- nately, as we have collected them from several records. James is mentioned in the county records in 1724, and in 1766. Peter is also mentioned in 1767. Tunis, probably a son of the original Tunis, born 1720, died May 19, 1805. Tunis, born January 11, 1759, died November 5, 1825. Moses and his wife Caty had a son Abraham, born November 8, 1768, "about three o'clock." Moses, the above, was born October 21, 1742, and died November 13, 1831. Jacus (James ^) and Trientje Backer (Baker ?) had a daughter, baptized October 11, 1743. Abraham and Elizabeth Gerresen had a daughter, baptized April 17, 1744, and a son Benjamin, born August 25, 1768. Abraham and Francyntje Parain (Francina Ferine) had a son Abraham, born May 22, 1715 ; a son John, baptized April 10, 1720 ; a daughter Elizabeth, baptized June 17, 1722. Jacobus (James) and Cath- arine Deny had a son Johannes, baptized July 14, 1723 ; a son Laurens, baptized March 24, 1724. Jaques and Catharine Bak- ker (Baker?) had a daughter Susannah, baptized November 4, 17R3, identical with the above Jacus. Anthony and his wife Mary had a son, Reuben, born September 13, 1770, on "Thurs- day, about ten of the clock in y^ morning," a daughter Martha, "born April 25, about ten of y^ clock in y" morning, 1772, on Saterday," a daughter Eleanor, "born August 7, about one of y'' clock in y« morning, 1774." John and Catharine his wife had twins, Tunis and Eleanor, born November 11, 1771. Barney and Ann Taylor were married October 4, 1801. Ellis. — There seem to have been three branches of the Ellis family, who emigrated to this country at an early date. Gar- ret Ellis, of English ancestry, one of Staten Island's pioneers, was born in 1720, and died in 1797 ; his son Capt. Garret Ellis, a wealthy farmer, was born in the town of Westheld, Staten Island, in 1756, died aged 71 years. He was one of the heroes of the war of 1776, and always remained loyal to the cause of liberty; during that struggle he was arrested at midnight on HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 585 Staten Island, and compelled to walk shoeless over frozen ground, almost the entire length of the island, and was incar- cerated in old Fort Richmond, where he was detained a prisoner until the close of the war. Capt. Garret Ellis married Miss Mary Tappen of New Jersey, who was born in 1767, died at the age of 77 years ; she was of Dutch descent, and both were members of the Dutch Reformed church. They had ten children, five sons and five daughters ; the three eldest died while young; their oldest son Capt. Cornelius, married Miss Bealy Butler; they had five children, two of whom, Jacob Ellis, a prominent shipbuilder, and Cornelius, ship captain, both re- side in Tottenville, Staten Island. Their second son, Capt. Gar- ret, married Miss Susan Butler; they had thirteen children. Their third son, Abraham, once sheriff of Richmond county, married Miss Allice Murry; they had ten children. George W., the eldest, now chief clerk of the police department, and for- merly supervisor of Richmond county, lives in Kreischer- ville. Capt. Garret Ellis' eldest daughter, Fannie (born 1785, died in her 82d year) married Capt. Peter Winant, who died at sea in 1823. Miss Leah married Jacob Simonson, Miss Lany married Henry Butler, and Miss Polly married James Johnson, all deceased. Eny.\rd. — In the county records is found the name of Jollis Inyard, who purchased land on the island as early as 1687, and sold land in 1692. In 1708 the same individual, under the name of Yellis Ingart, sold land. The names Jollis, Yellis, and Gillis are the same, being Dutch corruptions of Giles. He had a son Matthys (Matthias) whose wife was Elizabeth Gerritson, and they had the following children : Matthys, baptized January 7, 1730; Gillis, baptized December 17, 1732; Susanna, baptized May 4, 1735; Catharine, baptized April 23, 1739; Elisabet, bap- tized April 18, 1743; Nicklaes, baptized April 22, 1746. Xicholas married Jemima Wood, in July, 1768. They had a son Elias, who was the father of Mr. John Enyard, of Port Richmond, and grandfather of Rev. William T. Enyard, formerly pastor of the Reformed church. Brighton Heights, S. I. Fountain. — This family is of French origin. James Fon- taine, or de la Fountaine, as it was formerly written, the story of whose escai:)e from France after the Revocation, is given by Smiles; Fontaine, the French fabulist. Sir Andrew Fontaine, the antiquarian, and many others, eminent in science and the 536 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. arts, are of this family. The progenitor of those of the name in America was not driven from his native land by the revoca- tion of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, for there is the notice of a " Chavel Fontej'n, a Frenchman, and wife," who came to Amer- ica in the shij:) called the " Golden Beaver," in 1658; there is also a record of Antone Fountain, aged 30, who was a witness in a snii on Staten Island, in 1680. The family is not as numer- ous in the county as formerly, some branches having become extinct, others having removed from the county. Mr. Vincent Fountain, of West New Brighton, is the son of the late Capt. Henry Fountain, who was born in 1787, and died May 28th, 1867. He lived for many years in the large house between the Church of the Ascension and the building of the Young Men's Christian Aesociation, on the north shore. Capt. Henry and his late brother John, of Tompkinsville, were sons of Vincent Fountain, who was born in 1748, and died December 11, 1819. Vincent was probably the son of Anthony Fountain, who was supervisor in 1767. Besides the above, there is mention in the county or church records, of the following: Antone Fontayne, who purchased land in 1686; probably he was the same who was witness in a suit six years before. Vincent, who both bought and sold land in 1697. Richard also bought in 1702. Anthony and Belitze (Isabella) Byvank, his wife, had a daughter baptized May 11, 1729. Anthony and Annatje Geretson, his wife, had a son An tone, baptized November 3, 1754, a son John, November 20, 1757, and a son Cornelius, December 23, 1759. Anthony and Susannah, his wife, had a son Charles, baptized September 25, 1756. John Fountain and Catharine Fountain were married December 24, 1804. Cornelus Fountain died January 27, 1813, and his wife Elizabeth lived but four days after, having died January 31, 1813. They are buried by the side of each other in a lield in the town of Southfield, a few rods south of the Old Town road, and east of the Staten Island Railroad. Frost. — The first of this name in the county, as far as can now be ascertained, was Dr. Thomas Frost; he resided at Rich- mond, and from the fact tliat courts, supervisors' meetings and other public bodies met at his house sometimes, we infer that he also kept an inn or tavern. That he was a decided loyalist or toi-y, is evident from the indictment found against him by the first grand jury which was impanelled after the evacuation of HISTORY OF RICHMOlvrD COUNTY. 537 the island by the British, as maybe seen in another place. The first court house built in the county after the formation of the new government, was upon land purchased from him, which building is still standing, though in a modernized form, and is now owned and occupied by Isaac M. Marsh, Esq. That Doctor Frost was here just before the revolution is seen by an entry in the baptismal record of St. Andrew's church, which records the fact that Thomas and Tamar Frost had a son named Wil- liam Errell, born February 17, 1774. They had at least three more sons, viz., Samuel, Henry and John; what became of the two last mentioned we do not positively know, but Samuel continued to reside on the island; he was twice married, the first time to a lad}" from New Jersey, the second time to Catha- rine Bedell, by whom be had one son, the late Samuel H., who married Louisa, daughter of the late Mr. Stephen Ketteltas; their children were Henry and Stephen K. Gakkison. — There were several of the name who emigrated from Holland; the earliest were Gerret Gerretson Van Gelthuys, a tailor — came over, in 1658, in the ship " The Gilded Beaver;" John Gerretson, baker, with his wife and child, came at the same time and in the same ship. Wouter and Stoffel came over in February, 1659, in the "Faith;" Gerret and Jan came over in Decembei' of the same year in the same ship. There were several others of the name who came over in succeeding years. Whether the family on the island have all descended from one immigrant, or from more, it is now impossible to determine. The earliest mention of the name on the island occurs in 1691, when Jacob gave his brother John a power of attorney to sell land on Smoking Point, from which we infer that Jacob was not a resident of the island and John was. From 1698 to 1702 we find the names of Frederick, Christopher Lambert and Seger, all as land owners. The name seems to have been interchanged with that of Van Wagener. For example, Hendrick Van Wagener bought of Thomas Dongan a piece of ground on the main road from the Narrows to Amboy, May . 23, 1755. This was sold by Van Wagener (as Garretson) to Parkinson; by him to Britton; by him to others, and is now known as " Concord." We have the statement of the late Judge Metcalfe that all of Van Wagener's brothers went by the name of Garretson, and that he himself finally took the name. The change of Garritson to Van Wage- 538 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. ner. is partially accounted for by the fact that they had come from Wageningen, in Holland, while others of the same name had come from other places, as certain lists of immigrants pre- served in the documentary history show, and by careless cus- tom the name of his birthplace became the name of the man. Hendrick is mentioned in the county records in 1768; he lived on the Clinch property, Richmond road, near Fingerboard road. His son Harraanus was born in April, 1732, and died July 3, 1813. Harmanus' son John (always named as John, Esq.), was born in 1761, and died December 19, 1837; he was county judge from 1803 to 1823, presidential elector in 1808, and surrogate in 1820. John's son Harmanus was member of assembly in 1825; it was humorously said of him that he carried more weight in the assemblj' than any other member, for he weighed over three hundred pounds. This Harmanus had three brothers, John, Jr., George and Garret. John, Jr., was member of assembly in 1836; his sons are Jacob C. and John of Fresh kill. John C. was born March 15, 1788; he is the son of John, and his mother was Elizabeth Conner, sister of the late Col. Rich- ard Conner; his grandfather was usually called Hannis, which is an abbreviation of the word Johannes. In addition to the above, we find in the .several church rec- ords mention made of the following: Jacob, born September, 1766, died July 3, 1847; he married Catharine Simonson, Janu- ary 18, 1789; John, known as " Co!.,'" born 1761, died August 15, 1839; he had a daughter baptized September 7, 1787; Nicho- las and Christina Van Woglom, son Abraham baptized Sep- tember 21, 1744. Daniel and Mary had the following children: Charles, born February 11, 1755; Jacob, born Jane 13, 1757; and Daniel, baptized August 22, 1762. Daniel made his will December 21, 1792, proved Decern her 5, 1793, in which bespeaks of his wife Mary, and his children Daniel, Jacob, Charles, Cathai'ine Buskirk and Mary. Isaac and Maria Christopher, son Christopher baptized March 21, 1731. John and Susan Lake married December 23, 1806. Charles, sheriff in 1730, and Adrianche, mentioned in the county records in 1763, we find no further traces of. The following particulars in regard to the Garretson family have been furnished by Mr. John H. Garretson of Green Ridge. '* Gerrit Gerritsen and Annetje Heermanse his wife, and one child, Gerret, then two years old, came from Wageningen in HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 539 Gelclerland. Tliej^ arrived in tlie ship " Faith " Dec. 23, 1660. He was the founder of the family now spread over Hudson, Bergen, Passaic and Essex counties in New Jersey, and Staten Island. He brought a certificate of good character and Christ- ian deportment from the Burgomasters of his native city. He settled at Communipaw and died Oct. 4, 1696, his wife having died Sept. 7th of the same year. They had seven children: Gerrit, Jannetje, Fitze, Harmanus, Aeltze, Hendrick and Johan- nes. Six of these were married. Some of them took the name of the place their father came from for their family name, others did not. Gerrit, the eldest married Neesje Pieters, May 11, 1681, and had children: Elizabeth, Peter, Gerrit, Annetze, Jo- hannis, Abraham and Jacob. The Staten Island Garretsons are descendants of Johannis of this family, who married Mar- garet Sip, May 22, 1713. " Johannis had children, — Gerrit, Johannis, Coi-nelius, Jacobus, Hendrick, Abraham, Harmanus and Hannah. The last was born on Staten Island, as is supposed, the family mov- ing hither in 1732. He had property sufficient to give these children a good start in life. His home place was on the old Town road, now occupied by H. Meyer. This he gave to his second son, Johannis, who, following the custom already alluded to, adopted the name of Van Wagenen. Cornelius, the third son, married Claasje Pieters, and settled in Metuchen, N. J. Jacobus married a Simonson, and settled at Clifton, on his wife's farm. " Hendrick married Catlieriue Paulerson, December 3, 1747, and lived on the John Britton place on the Richmond road. Garrison's Station is on property of his descendants. Abra- ham married and lived in Bergen. " Harmanus married Autty Simonson, Apr. 26, 1759, and lived on the old Town road till 1790, after which he moved to the farm now owned by Mr. Erastus Wiman. They had three children. These were Margaret, John and Dinah. The first married Harry Guyon, and inherited the Guyon place, the second married Martha Cadmus and had the old town farm, and the third married Joshua Mersereau and moved to Steuben county. "John Garretson and his wife Martha had children: Jane. Har- manus, Alida, Dinah, John, George, Richard, James, Garret and Martha. Jane married Henry Seguine and had children: 540 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Joseph and John. Harmanus married a Miss Cadmus, had a son. Jasper, who lived in Bergen, the early home of his mother. Harmanus had three other wives but left no other children. Alida married George Van Pelt; Dinah married John Tysen; John married Ann Crocheron and left two children, Jacob C. and John H., now of Green Ridge; George married Susan de Groot and had a son, George and a large family of girls; Richard and James died unmarried; Garret married Mary Ann Clauesson, and left children, John J., William and three daughters; and Martha married twice — John Sawyer and James Laforge. " Jacob C. Garretson married Harriet N. Ketcham and had children: John, Philip, Henry, Jacob C, Erskine White, Sarah (married John Eadie), Ella (married Craig Ketcham) and Har- riet (married Albert Serrell). The last named, Jacob C, had sons, Henry and Jacob, who are married." GuYON. — This is an ancient and honorable French Protestant family. Some of them escaped at an early date from the per- secutions in their native country, and came to America; others remained until the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, when most of them escaped to Holland, but a few remained to face the peril. AVilliam de Guyon de Geis fled to Holland, and took service under William of Orange, and lost an arm in that ser- vice in Germany; he died in 1740. Several of his descendants held commissions in the English army. Of those who remained in France, an aged pastor was arrested, and upon being searched a letter from Claude Brousson, who was a proscribed preacher, was found upon him, and he was forthwith exe- cuted, and the house at Nismes in which he was captured was razed to the ground, as a punishment to its owner for giving him shelter. The last Count Guyon was in the Austrian service as late as 1848. There were, probably, two of the family who came to New York at an early date — Gregory and Jaques. The former lived at New Rochelle in 1710, and was then 44 years of age, and his wife, Mary, was 40. The latter settled on Staten Island, and received a patent from Sir Edmund Andros, dated March 27th, 1675, for about 178 acres of land on the island at a quit rent of eight bushels of wheat. This patent is still in existence, and the land is still owned and occupied by his direct descend- ants, the family of Mrs. Dr. Ephraim Clark. We find in the county records notices of two law suits: one, " Jacob Jeyoung against Isaac See, in 1678; the other. Jaques Jeyoung against HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 541 flfrancis Martinoe, March 6,1781." As he was the only individual of thy name of Guyon — or Jeyoung, which is nearer the French pronunciation — he was, without doubt, the plaintiff in both suits, the name Jacob being either a clerical error or an instance of clerical ignorance. He had a son James, bora January 5, 1714. James had a son James, born March 16, 1746, whose wife's name was Susannah, and they were the parents of the late Major James Guyon, father of Mrs. Clark. Major James is known in our civil list as James, Jr., was born December 24, 1778, and died March 9, 1846. He was member of assembly in 1812-18, and representative in congress in 1819-20. He was mar- ried three times: first, to Ann Bedell, mother of Mrs. Clark; second, to Ann Ferine; and third, to Martha Seguine; the two last were childless. The present Major James Guyon was the son of Harmanus and his wife, Elizabeth Holmes, married May 2, 1802. Har- manus — usually called Harry — was member of assembly 1819-20. He was the son of James by his second wife, Margaret Garrison, and half-brother of James, Jr. In the old church records of St. Andrew's we find the follow- ing, which we are unable to place: John and Elizabeth Butler, married January 12, 1800. Cornelius and Getty Mersereau, married May 16, 1807. Hatfield. — The tradition of the family is that James Hatfield and a brother came from England long before the revolution; the brother settled in New Jersey, but James on Staten Island. During the war James was a decided whig, a rare occurrence, particularly on Staten Island, and was incarcerated by the British, or tories, somewhere in New Jersey, but was soon released by the Americans. His sons were James and John D., the latter of whom was born April 5, 1777, and died December 3, 1856. He married Mary, daughter of Jacob Van Felt, and they were the parents of the following children : John, Moses (both of whom were lost at sea in December,. 1889); Maria, wife of Captain J. W. Barnes, of Port Richmond; Jacob, died in infancy; Jacob, born March 17, 1817. There is a record of a Benjamin Hatfield, who married Nanne Merrill, January 10, 1765, and of Susanna Hatfield, who was the wife of Pieter Decker, and had a child baptized as early as 1718. (See the Decker family). Whether these were members of the same family, it is impossible now to determine. 542 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Haughwout. — The date of the arrival and the name of the progenitor of this family are lost. It was never very numerous, and the notices of it in the county and church records are few. The earliest mention of it is where Egbert Haughwout was sponsor at a baptism April 2U, 1709, and where Peter Haugh- wout sold land in 1708. Egbert had a daughter baptized May 4, 1714, and Peter and Neltje (Cornelia) Bakker, his wife, had eight children baptized between 1710 and 1736. Jan and Eliza- beth Hooglant had a daughter baptized October 16, 1720. Peter and Aaltje (Alida) Bennett, of Long Island, had the following children: ^Neltje (Cornelia), baptized July 28, 1751: Peter, June 24, 1752; Nicholas, March 12,1758; and Wynant, April 20, 1760. He owned a large property at the locality now known as Wil- low Brook, or the Gun Factoiy, in Northfield. He made his will December 15, 1787, probated September 6, 1792, in which he speaks of his wife Alle (or Altje), his sons Peter, Nicholas and Wynant. and his daughters Alle Webb, Nelly Cozine, and his grandchildren, the children of his daughter Nelly, and Alettee, Garrett, Peter and Jacobus. His son Peter was the father of the late Peter N., of Port Richmond. His son Wynant was the father of Simon, of Gran- iteville, and his son Nicholas was father, of Nicholas, now de- ceased, who was engaged in the oyster business, and was said to be the first to introduce oysters "on the Canal street plan," that is, stewed or otherwise cooked, before which they could only be procured raw. Egbert and Elenor Garebrantz had a son Daniel, baptized March 8, 1782. Nicholas had a daughter baptized August 6, 1786. Wynant had a sou Isaac, baptized October 28, 1787. Peter had a son Daniel, baptized June 7, 1788. Charles A. Herpicii is of German descent, and the grand- son of Carl Augustus Herpich, a cloth manufacturer who re- sided in Grossenhain, Saxony. His children were two daugh- ters and three sons, of whom the youngest, Carl Augustus, re- moved to Berlin and engaged in the fur business. By his mar- riage to Emily Opperman, of Berlin, were born children : Charles A., Julius F., Rudolph G., and one daughter, Theresa Amelia. The birth of Charles A., the subject of this sketch, occurred on the 25th of February, 1831, in 13erlin. In youth he entered a grammar school, afterward received a collegiate education, vMR'\xs\.» \.. w^.^^.'!,^^.\>\^ % i. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 543 and on the completion of his conrse of study began his business career as a furrier with his father, during his apprenticeship of four years becoming familiar with all its branches. He par- ticipated actively in the revolution of 1848, was captured and for a brief period confined in the fortress of Spandau. On his release Mr. Herpich, l)eing disinclined to military service, to which he was liable, determined to emigrate, and in February, 1849, joined a party en route for Sonth Australia. After a brief experience in the colonies he returned in 1850 to Berlin, later spent some time in travel in Germany and England, and in August, 1851, sailed for America, landing in New York. He at once accepted a situation, continued for two years thus em- ployed, and in 1853 embarked for Europe with a view to mak- ing his first purchases as a dealer in furs in New York city. He speedily established an extensive business in all parts of the country, as a successful merchant in skins and tiie manu- factured goods. Mr. Herpich has devoted little time to inter- ests apart from his legitimate pursuits. He is president of the German Club of Staten Island, and has been a member of the board of trustees of the village of New Brighton. His public spirit induced him to accept the office of supervisor of the town of Castleton, but aside from this he has declined such honors. He is a member of the German Lutheran church of Stapleton and president of its board of trustees. Mr. Herpich was mari-ied on the 22d of February, 1857, to Miss Matilda, daughter of Ephraim Hoffman, of Weissenburg, Bavaria. Their only son, Carl Augustus, is now jjursuing his studies. HiLLYER. — John Hilh^er, sometimes written Hilliard, lived on Staten Island in 1693, and married Elizabeth Dej^ in 1714. their children were : John, Elizabeth, Mary, James, William, Nathaniel, Simon and Lawrence. The present families of the name are descended from the youngest son Lawrence. His son John was born in July, 1763, and died in July, 1848. His wife Elsie Merrill was born in November, 1768, and died in August, 1858. Their children were : Lawrence, and John B., the father of James A., late of the firm of Pine, Hillyer & Co., of West New Brighton; and Abraham, of the firm of Hillyer & Hartley, of New Brighton, beside several other children. Other Hillyers are mentioned in the records of St. Andrew's church as follows : John and Esther his wife had a daughter, 544 HISTORY OF KICIIMONB COUNTY. born September 19, 1756; a son, Nathaniel, born October 2, 1765; a daughter, born November 14, 1768. John, Jr., had a son Abraham, born January 20, 1759. William and Dinah his wife had a daughter, born December 24, 1748, and a daughter, born September 11, 1756. John and Mary his wife had a daughter, born March 29, 1774; a son, John, born April 18, 1776. Lawrence and Ann Larzalere married December 4, 1808. Holmes. — The jarogenitor of this family was Obadiah, or, as he sometimes wrote it, " o Badiah." He came from England in the latter half of the seventeenth century, and obtained a patent for a valuable tract of land in Southlield, which remained in the family for several generations. His name is found in the county records as early as 1683. There is a link missing in the family chain, which it now appears impossible to supply. There is no record of the names of his children. His grandson Samuel lived and died on the paternal estate, and had six daughters and two sons, Baker and Samuel. The latter married Margaret, daughter of Stephen Cole, and had the following children : Samuel, James, John, Cornelius, Van Rensselaer, George VV., Eliza, and Ann, wife of David Mersereau, of Northlield. HousMAN. — We have no means of ascertaining when the first of this name came to America from Holland. The earliest men- tion of the name is found in the assessment roll of Boswyck (Bushwick), L. I., where the name of Charles Housman occurs in the years 1675 and 1676. The earliest mention of the name in a church record on Staten Island is as follows : John and Wynje Symons (Simonson) had a daughter, baptized September 4, 1726; a son Aart (Aaron or Aithur) May 24, 1730; a daughter , June 1, 1732; a son Dirk, February 29, 1736, died July 29, 1807; a son Abraham, December 9, 1739: a daughter Eliza- beth, October 11, 1733, and a daughter Jemima, July 19, 1748. Isaac, born November 4, 1775, died December 2, 1857, he was married to Hannah Ferine April 9, 1807. Peter had a daughter baptized August 6, 1785, and another December 7, 1788. The most prominent members of the family were John, who was for many years one of the inferior judges of the common pleas, mem- ber of assembly 1804, surrogate 1809, and supervisor repeatedly, and Isaac R., also one of the judges, member of assembly 1823, and supervisor repeatedly. The Sailors' s Snug Harbor property was purchased from him. Notices of the family are exti-emely meager in the county records. James made his will November HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 045 1, 1801, which was proved September 22, 1803, in which he speaks only of his brothers Anthony and Jacob. Jacobson. — The first of iliis name upon the island, of whom anything is known, was Christian Jacobson. He was a sea- faring man, and captain of a vessel belonging to and sailing for the Moravian sect, mention of which is made in connection with that church. His nationality has been variously credited to Sweden, Denmark and Holland, with the weight of evidence pointing toward the latter. He bought and enlarged a farm in New Doi'i:), where he lived. During the revolution a party of British soldiers visited his house at night and shot him, the wound proving fatal in a few hours. He was a man of consid- erable wealth. His son, John Van De Venter, was born in 1768, and died in 1826. He had sons, Peter, Cornelius, Bedell, Israel and Abraham ; and a daughter, who became the wife of Israel Bedell. Cornelius married a daughter of Isaac R. Hous- man, and settled on Long Island. The will of Christian Jacobson bears date January 10, 1782, and is signed by his mark, attested by sworn witnesses, from which circumstance it is thought probable that it was made in his dying hours, after he had received the fatal shock, and when he was physically unable to write his name. The will mentions his wife Ann, his son, John V.. daughters Catharina and Elizabeth, and brother-in-law, Cornelius Van. deventer. To the first of his daughters he gave £1,050, and to the second £1,000. The will also contains the following item: "I give to the Brethren's church on Staten Island the sum of Twenty Pound, and to the Reverend Mr. Gambold the sum of ten pound, and to the said mr. Gambold the sum of Twenty Pound for the use of the Missionaries among the Indians." Johnson. — It is impossible to trace the Johnsons back to their several progenitors in this county. Evidently, they are not of the same origin. The name is English, but some of them are of Dutch extraction, having Anglicized the Dutch name of Jansen. We give extracts from the various records indiscrimi. nately, leaving each one of the name to appropriate his own ancestors. The earliest is Peter, who was i^laintiff in a law suit in 1680. Thomas and Ann Bouwman, son Casj)er, baptized June 30, 1728. Johannes and Jannetje (Jane) Glascow, son Thomas, baptized February 29, 1736. Nathaniel and Sophia 35 546 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Van Gelder, son Henricks, baptized November 19, 1738. Niers and Sara Morgen had daughters, baptized in 1731, 1739 and 1740. Peter and Mary Taylor were married October 24, 1754. Isaac and Elender Bowman were married in 1764. Peter and Malli (Molly) Lister, son Jouneton (Jonathan), baptized Oc- tober 2, 1755. John and Cornelia Ceilo, son Peter, baptized November 7, 1753. The above are from the Dutch church records, excejjt the marriages of Isaac and Peter, which, with the following, are from St. Andrew's. Do we and Margaret, daughter Ann, born May 7, 1771. Do we made his will Novem- ber 10, 1783, proved June 7, 1788, in which he mentions his sons Dowe and James. Winaut and Mary had a daughter Sophia, born December 17, 1772, and a son David born April 13, 1774. Winaut, not the above, made his will June 18, 1803, proved June 30, 1803, in which he mentions his wife Mary and sons Winaut and Jesse. These sons married : Winaut, Catharine Guyon, November 27, 1797, and Jesse, Rachel Totten. January 11, 1804. Mattice (Matthias) had a son William, born July 17, 1751, who was baptized in May, 1772, then an adult. George had a son Thomas, born August 17, 1771. Isaac and Ploney (Appolonia) Frome were married in March, 1772. Nathaniel and Catharine Woglom were married November 9, 1791. Louis and Phebe Van Pelt were married December 24, 1793. John (born in 1770, died June 2, 1832), and Patty (Martha) Bedell were married March 23, 1794. He was a potter and carried on his business on the Shore road, in the vicinity of Elm Park, Port Richmond. They had the following sons : John, merchant at Richmond, S. I., born January 3, 1795, died December 19, 1859; Joseph B., merchant at Port Richmond, born in November, 1786, died Juh' 4, 1849; Israel D., merchant at Port Richmond, born April 15, 1803, died February 9, 1873 ; and James. Jacob, brother of the potter, married Eliza Haughwout, Jul}' 28, 1795; their sons were Peter H., James, Isaac, Benjamin and Jacob. William, brother of the potter, married Catharine Martling, Ai)ril 28, 1802; their sons were John, James, William, Edward and Channing; they had also a daughter Sarah, who married Hugh Gibson, and died August 25, 1826, in her 69th year; their son John, born Februarj^ 13, 1803, died November 3, 1865. Edward, brother of the potter, born October 12, 1776, died September 4, 1856. Abraham and Jane Jennings were married September 24, 1794. David and Jane Winaut were HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 547 married June 23, 1796. Ephraim and Catharine Laforge were married October 10, 1797. James and Letitia Totten were mar- ried February 20, 1805. Anthony and Fanny Oakley were married January 28, 1807. Esek, of Tottenville, was grandson of James, and son of Abraham, who built one of the first houses on the Billop estate, after the sale by confiscation. Jones. — There were several families of this name in the county from early dates, between whom there appears to have been no relationship whatever. We submit a brief genealogy of some of the early families of this name. The earliest one named is Edward, whose wife was Catharine Decker, and they had the following children: Edward, baptized July 20, 1718, died young; Mattheus, baptized November 2, 1719; Abigail, baptized April 22, 1722; Edward, baptized Au- gust 14, 1726. Mattheus, above named, married Margaritje (Margaret) Gowan, and they had a daughter Catharine, baptized June 7, 1743. There was a John, whose wife was Rachael Yan Engelen, and they had the following children: Elizabeth, baptized April 10, 1732; Johannes, baptized March 9, 1735; a daughter, baptized in 1737; Lucretia, baptized March 30, 1740; Isaac, baptized April 22, 1747. Abraham and Janneije Persnet had a daughter Jane, baptized May 2, 1753. Edward and Martha, his wife, had a son Abraham, born March 31, 1772. Abraham died on a pass- age from Shelbourne, N. S., in July, 1792. JouRNEAY'. — Moillart Journeay, from Pays de Vaud, came to America in April, 1663, in the ship called "The Spotted Cow," but where he settled is not known. The earliest mention of the family in connection with the island is in the following court record: "Administration Granted to Mr. Paulus Richards & Obadiah Holmes on the Estate of Malliard lournei. " Whereas Malliard lourie late of Staten Island, did in his Last will & Testament give & bequeath all his Estate of what nature or kind soever unto his wife Elizabeth du Mon, for the Maintenence of her Selfe & Children during her Widdowhood, but in Case shee should happen to Remarry then the Estate shee should Leave to be divided Equally, the one half or Moiety to his wife; the other halfe or Moiety to her Cliildreii nominat- ing & appointing David De Marez & loost Van Obinis E.xec- uto.rs in Trust to see the pformance of the S.d Will, And it Soe 548 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Happening that the sA Elizabeth hath since Joyned her selfein marriage to anotlier pson upon Staten Island, but the afore- named David De Mai-ez & loost Van Oblinis have neglected their duty in Causeing a division to bee made of the Estate of the deceased as directed or takeing any other Care thereof, of which Complaint was made at the Court of Sessions for the West Riding of Yorke Shire upon Long Island, held at Graves- end June last, who nominated & appoynted M^ Paulus Rich- ards of this City Merch.t & Obadiah Holmes of Staten Island in their Stead & Places. " Dated in New Yorke the 8 day of July 1678." John Journeay bought and sold land in 1700. The name is not again met with in any church record now in existence, until we find it in that of St. Andrew's church, about the middle of the last century, as follows: John and Martha his wife had the following children: John, born January 4, 1752; Albert, born March 8, 1755; Nicholas, born August 22, 1756; William, burn August 6, 1759, and Richard, born August 7, 1771. The above named Nicholas is mentioned in the county rec- ords in 1791 as Nicholas, Jr.; there must therefore have been another Nicholas, whose name we have nowhere met. Nicho- las, son of John, had a son Nicholas, baptized November 1, 1789. Josei^h and Mary Winant were married December 29, 1807. John and Patience Cole were married in July, 1802. John (not the last named, unless Patience Cole was his second wife) made his will March 7, 1803, proved April 21, 1803, in which he speaks of his wife Patience, his sons Albert, Robert, Abraham, John, William, James and Richard, and his daugh- ters Martha Randolph,- Catharine Fountain and Maria, wife of Dr. Henderson. Maria Journeay was married to Dr. R. Hender- son in 1792. Lafokge. — The name of De la Forge appears in the assessment roll of Boswyck (Bushwick) in 1676, and among those who took the oath of allegiance in Kings county in 1687, is the name of Adrian La fforge, who had then been in the county fifteen years. In 1738 there was an Adrian Laforge, who bought land on Staten Island. From the similarity of the name, the inference is natural that if they were not identical, they were connected; this is, however, conjecture. There appear to have been two branches of the family, the Castleton and the Westfield, who may or may not have had a common origin. The >■% THE BARNE TYSEN HOUSE. Karle's Neck. Built about 1680. THE DANIEL LAKE HOUSE. New Dorp. Built before 1 TOO. w*\>xT>vt, ^ >4\l*^■^v^J^., h. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 549 present living representative of the Castleton branch is Mr. G. M. Laforge, of Illinois. The late Mr. Peter D. Laforge, also of Illinois, and the late Capt. John Laforge, of West New Biigh- ton, were his brothers. Their father was David, and their mother Gertrude, daughter of John Martling (see Martling family). David's father was Peter, who was the son of Benjamin; David's brothers were Peter, John, Benjamin, Jacob, Richard Channing Moore. Peter, David's brother, was the father of Mr. Peter C. and David, of Port Richmond. Of the Westheld branch, we have only the following notices: David and Catharine had a son Henry Seguine, baptized May 15, 1790. John and Phebe Bedell married September 15, 1804. James and Catharine Winant married February 8, 1806. David and Ann Johnson married July 8, 1S07. Lake. — This family is of English origin and settled on Staten Island about 1670. Daniel Lake applied for a grant in 1679. He had two sons, Daniel and William. Daniel died in 1723, leaving a son Daniel, who was boi-n January 26, 1719, died July 10, 1762, leaving a son William, born January 7, 1750, died March 21, 1783, leaving a son Daniel W., born September 9, 1780, married Miss Mary Gifford, daughter of William Barnard Gilford, Esq., March 31, 1803, died October 6, 1835. He left sons, John still living at Buffalo, N. Y., and Arthur G., born Octo- ber 14, 1811, died April 22, 1887. Joseph, born July 8, 1753, and his wife Catharine, born June 2, 1755, both died March 14, 1813, within one hour of each other. They had a daughter Pa- tience, born May 30, 1790. There was another Joseph, also born in 1753, and died May 24, 1843, in his 90th year. There was still another Joseph, born in 1773, and died March 16, 1854. He lived on the Manor road near the Four corners, Castleton. Wil- liam and Mary Tysen, his wife, had the following sons: William, born November 16, 1769; Bornt, born March 25, 1771, killed October 27, 1815; Joseph, born May 12, 1777. Bornt had the following sons: William, Joseph, Daniel and John, of whom John was living in 1876 at Graniteville. Daniel and Margaret, his wife, had a son Daniel, born May 12, 1777. Cornelius and Susan Androvet were married April 6, 1794. Joseph and Eliza Van Pelt were married January 20, 1798. Daniel and Margaret Jackson were married June 5, 1802. Daniel Lake made his will October 13, 1789, proved September 4, 1792, in which he men- 550 HISTORY OF KICiniOXD COUNTY. tions his wife Sarah, his sons Daniel and Joseph, and his grand- son Daniel, son of his son William, deceased. Larzklere. — The earliest mention of this name occurs in the county records, where Jacob bought land in 1686. Nicholas bought land in 1693; he was at one time sheriff of the coixnty. There was another Jacob, probably a son of Nicholas, whose wife's name was Alice; they had a son Daniel, born June 16, 1757, and a son Benjamin, born October 22, 1761. Nicholas, probably a brother of Jacob, whose wife's name was Sarah, had a daughter Johanna, born January 7, 1768. Jacob and Elsy (or Alice, the same mentioned above) had a son Rich- ard, born June 18, 1771. Benjamin (not the one mentioned above) was born July 6, 1740, and died October 6, 1802; he made his will June 17, 1802, in which he mentions his wife Sarah, and his children Benjamin, Jacob and Catharine. The family, once an important one in the county, is now nearly, if not quite, extinct, and it is impossible to obtain a con- nected genealogy. There was a Reverend Jacob, a minister of the Reformed Dutch church, in North and South Hampton, Penn., from 1797 to 1819, who was probably connected with the Staten Island family. Latourette. — The original Latourette was a French Hugue- not, but when he came to America is unknown. The family is not among the earliest settlers on Staten Island. The first men- tion of the name we have found is as follows : Jean and Maria Mersereau had the following children : David, baptized April 24, 1726, David Latourette, sponsor; Anthony, January 24, 1730; and Henry, January 24, 1731. Pierre La Turrete and Mariamne Mersereaux had a son Daniel, baptized March 3, 1728, and twin sons David and Jaques, October 31, 1730. David and Catharine Poillon, son Jaques, baptized March 19, 1732. James, probably one of the Jaques mentioned above, and Elizabeth, his wife, had sons, John, born December 11, 1764; Jonathan, born January 31, 1766; and Henry, born April 22, 1775. David and Elizabeth, his wife, had a daughter Catharine, born No- vember 9, 1766. John and Susannah, his wife, had a son John, born September 30, 1764. James and Mary, his wife, had a son David, born July 7, 1786. David and Phebe Cole married No- vember 12, 1808. Henry, of Fresh kills, weaver, made his will January 19, 1794, proved December 30, 1794, in which he speaks of his wife Sarah, his brother Henry, deceased, his sons Henry, HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. ^51 John and Peter, and his daughters Susan, wife of Peter Cole, and Ann, wife of William de Groot. Peter's wife was Elizabeth Androvette. Lawrence. — William Lawrence settled at Great St. Albans, in Hertfordshire, England. He had three sons and one daugh- ter : John, William, Thomas and Maria. All of these, except- ing Thomas, embarked for America Api'il 2, 1635, in company with Governor Winthrop, and landed at Plymouth, Mass., in the same year. The other brother, Thomas, came over a little later. Not many years later they were all four living at New Amsterdam or on Long Island. John, the oldest son, became mayor of the city of New York in 1672, and held the same of- fice again in 1691, and in 1692 became Judge of the supreme court, which office he held until his death in 1699. The third son was Thomas Lawrence, born about 1624, emigrated from England after his two brothers and sister, and settled in Mil- ford, Conn., in 1639. In 16.1.^ he was living at Newtown, on Long Island, and was town clerk of Newtown from 1659 to 1662, and one of the patentees of Newtown of March 16, 1666, as were three of his sons, Thomas, William and John, under the Dongan patent of November25, 1686. Hiswife's name was MaryTownly and it is said she was the Mary Townly, the heiress of the famous Townly estate in Lancashire, England. He died at New- town in July, 1703, leaving his widow Mary and several children surviving him. Their second son was William Lawrence, who married, in 1676, Annetje, daughter of Samuel Edsall, and was a cornet of dragoons, one of the committee of safety, and one of the council of Governor Leisler. In 1702 and until 1706 he was one of the six who formed Lord Cornbury's council. Their only son was William Lawrence, who resided at Newtown, on Long Island. He married, May 26, 1727, Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel Hallet. His will is dated December 3, 1731, and he died December 11, 1731. Their youngest son. Dr. James Law- rence, was born March 1, 1732, married, November 29, 1763, Anne, daughter of Charles Jandine, a French Huguenot, lived in New Yoi'k and Staten Island, and died in New York January 9, 1804. His wife died November 15, 1807. They left no son, but two daughters : Sarah Lawrence, born February 27, 1759, married Joseph Ridgway. and died in February, 1823, leaving Ann, Joseph, Mary, James and Elizabeth ; and Catharine Law- rence, born January 18, 1763, married Jacob Winants, and died 552 HISTORY" OF RICHMOND COUNTY. January 12, 1820, leaving four children, Elizabeth, Peter, Daniel Winant and Jacob. Jacob Winant's oldest son, Cap- tain Peter, was born in 1784 and died at sea in 1823. He mar- ried Miss Fannie Ellis, who was born in 1785, and died in her 82d year. They left six children, four daughters and two sons: Mary, Catharine, Garret E., Laney, Sebastian and Sarah Ann. LisK. — This family was never very numerous on the island, and we iind little mention of it in any records. James, the earliest mentioned, had a son John, baptized March 25, 1701. He is also mentioned as having bought land in 1706; he had a son Thomas, who married Catalyntje Van Pelt, and had daughters baptized in 1729, 1731, 1739 and 1745; John, son of James, mar- ried Rachel Haughwout, and had a son Jacob baptized Jan- uary 2, 1728. Matthias and Anastasia had a son Moses born December 7, 1766. John and Mary had a son Thomas born September 19, 1756; he made his will August 24, 1793, in which he mentions his children Thomas, Franky and Catharine. There is an Alexander Lisk mentioned in the court records in 1724. LocKMAN. — This is one of the oldest of the Dutch families in the province. The first mention of the name is that of Govert Lockermans (sometimes spelled Lookermans), who arrived in America in 1633, in the carvel "St. Marty n." He was a minor when be arrived, and came as an apprentice, but was immedi- ately taken into the service of the company. He soon contrived to make himself conspicuous, especially in leading attacks on the Indians on Staten Island and elsewhere. The earliest mention of the name in the records occurs in 1680, when Abraham Lakeman is said to have owned a parcel of woodland on the south of the Fresh kill. About this time there were several of the name on the island — Abraham, mentioned above, whose name is found again on the records in 1684 and 1692; Lewis, who was defendant in a suit July 6, 1681; and Peter, who sold land in 1684. These three probably were brothers. There was an Isaac, iierhaps a son of one of the the above, of whom we only know that his wife was Catharine Christopher, and that they had a son Lewis, baptized May 23, 1731. Abraham, and Elizabeth his wife, had two daughters born — Sarah in 1762, and Margaret in 1767, and a son Abraham, born April 4, 1772. Isaac and his wife Martha had the following sons: HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 553 David, born January 26, 1768; Jacob, born July 21, 1771, and Joseph, born October 7, 1775. William and Mary, liis wife, had a dano-hter Sarah, born October 4, 1772. Isaac and Margaret, his wife, had a son William, born November 24, 1772. There was another Isaac, born 1758, and died May 1, 1814. Samuel and Catharine Crowal were married March 16, 1790. Nathaniel made his will December 12, 1795, proved May 24, 1803, in which he mentions his wife Martha, his daughter Susanna, and his sons Isaac and John. This family is also gradually dying out. Manee.— Originally written Manez. This is a Westfield family concerning which the notices, in either county or church records, are exceedingly meager. We have found but few shreds of its history. Peter and Mary Brooks, his wife, had a daughter baptized August 8, 1725. Abraham and Anna Jansen, his wife, had a son Abraham, baptized May 26, 1723. Abra- ham and Sarah du Chesne had a daughter Sarah, baptized March 30, 1740. Abraham had a son Isaac, baptized May 15, 1790. Peter and Mary Pryor were married January 4, 1804. William and Elizabeth Prier were married April , 1808. Abraham and Mary Woglom were married October 8, 1808. Isaac made his will May 14, 1794, proved July 18, 1794, in which he speaks of his brothers Abraham and Peter, and sister Hannah Prior. His will is dated on the day of his death, at which time he was 46 years old. James M. Manee. — The progenitor of the Mauee family on Staten Island was Peter Manee, who, on his emigration, ob- tained a patent for the land on which he settled on the island. His son, Abram, was united in marriage to a Miss Johnson. Their children were: Peter, Abi'am, William, Isaac, Jacob, Deborah (who became Mrs. Edwai-d Wier), and Ann, who never married. William Manee, who was born in 1788 and died in 1828, married Elizabeth Prier, of Westheld township, and had children: Lydia (Mrs. Louis Androuvatt), Susan (Mrs. Charles Androuvatt), Elizabeth (Mrs. Abraham Latourett), Catherine (Mrs. Israel La Foi'ge), Lany (Mrs. James Totten), Mary (Mrs. Cornelius Cole), Elsie (Mrs. John Latourett), and three sons: William, married to Elizabeth Bedell, James M. and Abram, whose wife was Emeline Latourett. James M. Manee was born February 14, 1819, at Woodrow, Westfield township, and removed with his parents to Pleasant Plains when but eight 554 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. years of age. His attention having been early directed to farm- ing, this employment was continued until 1844, when he em- barked in oyster planting near his home at Prince's bay. Find- ing this both a congenial and lucrative pursuit, his capital has never been directed in other channels. Mr. Manee was on the lltli of December, 1839, married to Catherine, daughter of Nicholas La Forge, of Staten Island. Their children are: Ellen L., wife of David M. Ryder; James, deceased; William W., now a resident of Indiana; Mary Jane, wife of Francis A. Legget, and Nicholas, deceased. Mr. Manee, as a whig and later as a republican, was formerly active in the arena of politics. Aside from the office of assessor of the township he has declined all jiroffers of official position. He is identified with the Bethel Methodist Episcopal church in which he filled the office of steward, and is still a zealous worker. Martling. — This name is not met with at a very early date: when its connection with the island began is unknown; the earliest mention of the family in our local records is in 1724, when Isaac Martling and Anna Van Name, his wife, had a daughter batized January 10; a son John, January 21, 1731, a Barent Martling being present as a sponsor. He died in in- fancy. M.\ETiNO.— Gaston Martineau, a surgeon of Dieppe, settled in England in 1685, and was a French refugee. He had several sons, whose descendants still reside in England, and many of them are distinguished. The family in America is a collateral branch, and were in this country and on the island before Gas- ton left France. We find the name of Francis in our county records as defendant in a suit with Jaques Jeyoung in 1681, and as selling land in 1691. Francisco Martino received a pat- ent from Governor Dongan for land in Richmond county in 1686. Stephen was born in 1727, and died May 9, 1801; he owned and resided on the property known now as the Poor House farm. He was one of the corj^orators of the Moravian church. Ben- jamin, brother of Stephen, was born in 1742, and died May 17, 1724. Benjamin, son of above, was born April 4, 1766, and died November 20, 1814. He was father of Gabriel Martino, of Four Corners. Stephen was father of Gabriel Martino, of Bull's Head. ^^ i^C^i^^^.e.,:_ HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 555 Merrill. — This family have descended from Richard Merrill and Sarah Wells, his wife, natives of Warwickshire, England, who emigrated to America about the year 1675 and settled on Staten Island. As their family was the only one of the name on the island, they had among their children the following sons: William, Richard, Thomas, Philip and perhaps John, for we find in the Albany records the name of William as owning land on Staten Island in 1683 ; Philip bought land of Richard (father or brother ?) in 1711. Richard married Elsie Doi'lant, and had the following chil- dren: Richard, baptized September 22, 1709, who died young; Elsie, baptized April 1, 1708, by Dominie Freeman; Richard, baptized 1715; Lambert, baptized January 1, 1721, and Susanna, baptized September 13, 1724. Philip and Elizabeth Bakker (Baker), his wife, had the following children: Catherine and Susanna, twins, baptized July 4, 1725; Philip, baptized Febru- ary 24, 1727; Nicholas, baptized November 24, 1728; Elisabet, baptized Aprils, 1733, and Neelrje (Cornelia) baptized March 9, 1735. Thomas and Jenne Gewan had a son Richard — no date of baptism. John and Gertrude Simonson had a daughter, bap- tized September 18, 1726. Of the descendants of William we have no account. The above are the children and grandchildren of the original pair, so far as the church i-ecords throw anj' light upon the mat- ter. Richard, son of Thomas, had the following children: Margaretta, baptized January 1, 1738, and Annatje (Anna\ bap- tized April 19, 1743; no others mentioned. Jan and Aeltje (Alida) Bennet had a son Simon, and a daughter baptized on the same day. May 6, 1745. Thomas and Eva Jones had a daughter baptized October 31, 1756. This Thomas made his will December 31, 1791, proved April 30, 1803, in which he mentions his wife Eva and his sons John, Thomas and Matthew. John, son of Thomas and Eva (known in the family as Honnis), was born in 1742, and died December 19, 1826. His wife's name was Charity. Thomas (known as " Sawmill Thomas"), son of John and Eva, had a son John, baptized August 17, 1788. There was a John, Jr., who had a daughter, baptized No- vember 7, 1790, and John Y., who was born in 1770, and died June 6, 1858, but they are probably distinct persons; John, Jr., more probably was the son of Joseph and Martha, and was born April 4, 1765. Joseph also had a daughter Mary, born 556 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. January 16, 1763. John and Ann his wife had a daughter bap- tized November 7, 1753. Lambert (son of Richard and Elsie) and Tabitha, had a son Richard, born July 9, 1765; a son Jon- athan, born May 24, 1774; a daughter Tabitha, born February 18, 1770, who married Capt. John W. Blake, and died January 12, 1861, aged nearly 91 years; also a daughter Elsie, born 1768, married John Hillyer 1785, and was the mother of Hon. Law- rence Hillyer and Hon. John B. Hillyer. William and Ann Meri'ill were married in August, 1776; Abraham and Ann Merrill were married October 3, 1790; Mary, widow of Merrill, made her will January 10, 1789, proved November 30, 1789; reference has been made to this will before, and the bequest made to her daughter Mary, the wife of Na- thaniel Robins. The familj' was once numerous, and have largely intermarried with other families of the island. The i3ro]3erty belonging to them in Northfield was extensive, and a part of it is still in the possession of some of them. The public road known as Lam- bert's lane, leading to Watch ogne, was named from Lambert Merrill, mentioned above. Mersereau. — John Mersereau was a native of France, and a Protestant. In his youth he was possessed of extraordinary physical strength. He studied law, but disliking the confine- ment of study, he learned the trade of a saddler, which he sub- sequently carried on extensively. He died young, and left three sons — Joshua, Paul and Daniel — and two daughters, Mary and Martha. These children, with their mother, fled from France to England in 1685, immediate]}^ after the Revoca- tion, and subsequently all except Paul continued their flight to America. They had intended to settle at Philadelphia, but they were driven to New York by stress of weather. They settled on Stateu Island, where their mother died, and was buried in the French church yard (on the Seaman farm. West- field). Daniel was a tailor; Joshua married a Latourette, and died May 23, 1756, aged over 93 years. They had a son Joshua, who was born May 18, 1696, and died July 9, 1769; his wife was Maria Corsen (sometimes written Mary), daughter of Jacob Corsen; she was born October 24, 1704, and died July 3, 1763. Their children were : Joshua, born September 26, 1728, died June 10, 1804; Jacob, born April 23, 1730, died September 7, HISTOKY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 557 1804; Jolm, born March 2, 1732, died ; Elizabeth, born Jan- uary 4, 1734, died in infancy; David, born November 10, 1735, died July 19, 1763; Mary, born January 14, 1738, died ; Cornelius, born July 27, 1739, died July 27, 1814; Paul, born B'ebruary 23, 1741, died January 26, 1823; Elizabeth, born No- vember 26, 1742, died ; Eachel, born February 27, 1746, died July, 1769. Jacob made his will July 16, 1804, proved September 18, 1804, in which he speaks of his wife Charity, and his children John, and Mary, wife of Thomas Cubberly; Elizabeth, wife of Daniel De Hart; Sophia, wife of John Crocheron; Jacob, David, and Peter. He was the Col. Jacob Mersereau whose escape from the British during the revolution is alluded to elsewhere. His son Jacob was the father of Johh T. and Alfred Mersereau, of Graniteville. His son Peter, born in 1788, was member of assembly in 1845. Col. Jacob had also a son John by his first marriage, who married a Cruser, and lived in an old stone house, on the turn of the road west of the Snug Harbor, and was father-in-law to the late Judge Abraham Crocheron. Paul, son of Joshua and Maria Corsen, married Elizabetli Barnes, born April 21, 1751, died May 26, 1833. Their children were : Joshua, born February 7, 1773, died March 7, 1847; Nancy, born April 4, 1775, died November 30, 1851; Mary, born February 2, 1777, died June 6, 1858; Elizabeth, born June 20, 1779, died May 8, 1S.')5; Rachel, born June 30, 1781, died February 23, 1863; Paul, born March 14, 1784, died July 21, 1856; Margaret, born March 27, 1787; Gertrude, born November 30, 1789. Joshua, son of Paul and Elizabeth, married Deborah Britton, January 7, 1801. She was born August 4, 1782, and died March 26, 1840. Their children were : Nathaniel, born October 18, 1802, died in infancy; Paul, born September 20, 1804; Mary, born January 29, 1807; twins, born January 19, 1810; Cornelius, born May 12, 1811; Joshua, born January 28, 1814; Elsey, born August 30. 1817, deceased; Elizabeth, born May 5, 1820, deceased; Debora, born April 7, 1823; John, born May 28, 1826, died in infancy, and Margaret. Thus far we have traced but one branch of the family; what notices we have found in the public records, of other branches, we give indiscriminately. There was a John mentioned in the county records in 1730; 558 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. lie was probably the same with Jean, whose wife's name was Craage; they had a son Joshua baptized February, 1731, and subsequently a son Daniel. This Daniel married Cornelia Van- derbilt, and had a son John, baptized March 4. 1859. Etienne (Stephen) and Ann Mitchell had a son Daniel baptized, no date; a daughter January 1, 1735, and a son named Richard, May. 1740. There was a Joshua who had a son Harmanus baptized Jane 8, 1788. There was a Paul here as early as 1728, sponsor at a baptism. Peter and Rebecca his wife had the following children: Sarah, born March 23, 1769; Daniel, born August 27, 1771, died July 10, 1855, and John, baptized November, 1775. Peter died June 16, 1803, born 1734. There was a John born December, 1737, died July 30, 1811. John and Charity had a son John born April 13, 1757; son Lawrence March 28, 1761. Paul and Frances had a son John born May 2, 1759. Stephen and Lydia had the following children: Sarah, burn September 8, 1766; Daniel, born December 6, 1768, and Stephen, born February 14, 1774. Joshua and Mary had: Stephen, born May 5, 1770; and Joshua, baptized September 6. 1772. Daniel and Susan had a daughter Ann baptized July 6, 1789. Daniel and Ann had a daughter Cornelia baptized June 26, 1791. Henry and Eliza La- forge were married September 6, 1790. Jacob and Mary Croch- eron were married Septembers, 1798. Daniel and Alida Lake were married October 6, 1798. Daniel and Eliza Winant were married February 8, 1800. Stephen and Lanali (Helen) Winant were married November 21, 1802. John and Ann Parlee were married December 31, 1803. Joshua and Susannah Story were married December 10, 1805. Pnter Mersereau made his will May 6, 1800 (proved July 25. 1803) in which he alludes to his wife without naming her, and mentions his children Elizabeth, Rebecca, Catharine, Ann, Sarah, Daniel and William. Among the prominent citizens of Staten Lshind of the past, may be mentioned the late David Mersereau, Esq. He was born about the year 1769, and died in Api'il, 1835, aged sixty-six years. His remains lie in the burial ground of the Reformed church at Port Richmond Early in life he married Cwnelia, the daughter of Abraham Rolf, who owned i^roperty in New Brighton, through the middle of which the public road called Burger avenue now runs. Shortly after his marriage he re- moved to Currituck, Virginia, where he opened a store, which, under the management of his wife, proved a success, Mr. Mer- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 559 sereau himself being occupied with other pursuits. He re- mained at the South several years. On his return north, he and his family embarked on a small schooner, encountered a violent storm, which capsized the vessel, and all except Mr. Mersereau were drowned. For forty-eight hours he clung to his precarious support on the keel of the capsized vessel, until a passing Philadelphia vessel rescued him. In November, 1779, he purchased of his father-in-law Rolf the property above mentioned, containing one hundred and forty acres. The farm house, built by the father of Mr. Rolf, stood near the site of the present mansion house of Mrs. De- ment, and after the fashion of the day was constructed of stone, long and low. On this farm Mr. Mersereau built a tannery, which he placed under the superintendency of Stephen Wood. The tanner" s house stood on, or very near the site of the residence of A. W. Sexton, and the remains of the vats were visible until recently. Mr. Mersereau' s second wife was Maria Bennett of Long Island, a sister of the wife of the late Rev. P. I. Van Pelt, D. D. By her he had but one child, a daughter, who married Henry F. Heberton, Esq., of Philadelphia, and they were the parents of Mrs. C. J. Good and her sister, Mrs. Curry, of Port Rich- mond. Besides the farm already mentioned, Mr. Mersereau was the owner of several large and valuable parcels of real estate. At one time he owned all those lots lying between the Mill road and the pond, and extending from the Shore road to the Post fann. He also owned the mill afterward known as Bodine's mill, and the property adjacent; he built another mill at the termination of the Old Place road; the two brick houses on the Shore road. Port Richmond, were built by In'd Ryers for his two daughters and subsequently bought by Mr. Mersereau, who lived and died in one and sold the other to Dr. Van Pelt. They are now owned by Owen and Edward McSorley, who occupy them. In connection with this house he owned thirty acres of land which his executors sold to Peter N. and Eder V. Haughwout, and which now constitutes an important and beau- tiful portion of the village of Port Richmond. The large building usually known as the Port Richmond or Continental hotel, at one time belonged to him; it is still in the family, being now owned by Mrs. C. J. Good. From the wharf in front of this hotel, 560 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. John Ryei's ran a feri-y boat to New York, fare 25 cents. John Hilleker, who built the house next east of the brick house oc- cuijied by Mr. Mensereau, built a wharf nearly opposite his residence, the remains of which are still to be seen, from which he ran an opposition ferry, fare eighteen cents. Mi'. Mer- sereau bought both of these ferries, and ran his boats from the old wharf. At the time Ryers ran his ferry, the place was known as "Ryers' Ferry;" after the change of owners it was called "Mersereau's Ferry," by which name it was known until that of Port Richmond supplanted it. Mr. Mersereau was member of assembly from this county in 1807, 1808 and 1809, supervisor of Northtield in 1815, and for many years one of the judges of the court of common pleas. Metcalfe. — Though not among the oldest, this family is among the most prominent ones of the county. Simon, the progenitor of the family on Staten Island, came from England in 1765, and settled in New York city, and was subsequently appointed deputy surveyor of the colony. He left his son George in England to be educated, until he was 17 years of age, when he joined his father in this country. After studying law, George resided at Albany for a time, then went to Johnstown, Fulton county, N. Y. He married the daughter of Commodore Silas Talbot. In 1796 Gov. John Jay appointed him assistant attorney-general, which office he held until 1811. He then re- moved to New York, where he practiced law until 1816, when he removed to Staten Island, and in 1818, when the office of district attorney was made a county office, he was appointed to perform its duties. He died in 1826. His children were Maria, who manned William S. Root, of Tompkinsville; Silas Talbot; Simon; Catharine, who was the first wife of John B. Simonson; Henry Bleecker; Georgiana, who married Daniel Fenn, of Mas- sachusetts, and Louisa, twins, and George. Henry Bl-eecker was born January 20, 1805, studied law with his father, and was admitted to the bar in 1826. The same year he was appointed district attorney for Richmond county, which office he held until 1833. In 1840 he was appointed a county judge, and the same year United States boarding officer at quar- antine, in the revenue department, which place he occupied un- til 1843. In 1847 he was elected county judge and surrogate, the two offices having been united, and re-elected from time to <.V,-\Q-\'v. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 561 time until near the close of 1875, at the end of which year he would have been leo;allj' disqualified by age, but he resigned to take his seat as member of congress, to which he had been elected as representative of the First congressional district. He died at his home on Staten Island, February 7, 1881. Nicholas C. Miller. — Prominent among the aggressive cit- izens of the village of Port Richmond is Nicholas C. Miller, who was born in New York city November 9, 1838. His ancestors were among the original Dutch settlers of Manhattan island and the i)laces in its vicinity. After receiving a good education Mr. Miller began business in the dry goods trade, entering first the employ of Burr, Griffith & White, at 61 Cedar street, and after- ward that of Spaulding, Vail & Fuller and their successors. In January, 1864, he began his career as an insurance man by ac- cepting the casbiership of the International Insurance Company. During the same year he assisted in the organization of the Star Fire Insurance Company, becoming its secretary, and after- ward, from 1868, till the present time, its president. Rapidly familiai'izing himself with the technical management of lire underwriting, Mr. Miller acquired ere long a broad and practical knowledge of its principles. He was made secretary of the committee on rates and surveys of the New York Board of Fire Underwriters, and in that capacity rendered important services previous to and during the trying times of the great Chicago and Boston fires. For two years he was the efficient president of the board. On retiring from that position in 1886, Mr. Miller was tendered by his associates in the board of underwriters a highly complimentary testimonial to his value as an officer and the esteem with which he was regarded as a man. In June, 1885, Mr. Miller was elected a trustee of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York city, and has since that time constantly taken an active part in promoting its interests. He is also connected as a director with several corporate enter- prises in New York, Staten Island and Chicago, among them the North River Bank of New York city and the First National Bank of Staten Island. He is business-like by habit and cour- teous in manner, familiar with the progress of the country both east and west, and cultured by travel abroad. He possesses an experience in affairs and a knowledge of men most valuable to an enterprising American. 36 562 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Since I860 Mr. Miller has been a resident of Richmond county, in the affairs of which he lias been deeply interested. He is a member of the Reformed church of Port Richmond and is well known in the social life of Staten Island. He married Miss Emma Crojjsey, daughter of Jacob R. Cropsey, and they have four children, three of whom reside with their parents. Morgan. — This family was on Staten Island at an early date, but the notices of them in the records are very few. Thomas Morgan was a member of the colonial assembly from this county in 1692. This is the first occurrence of the name in the county records. His name occurs again in the Dutch church records as having a son Abraham, baptized May 5, 1696. and a daugh- ter Martha, September 7, 1698. Thomas (probably a son of the former) and Magdalena Staats, his wife, had the following children : Elisabet, baptized Febru- ary 7, 1725; Magdalena, baptized February 12, 1727; Pieter, baptized March 9, 1729; Thomas, baptized October 10, 1731; and Sarah, baptized September 16, 1739. The name does not again appear until December 16, 1754, when William Morgan and Elizabeth Winter were married. It is pi'obable that William was the son of Pieter mentioned above, though not certain. William had a son John, who lived and died in the vicinity of Xew Springville. Among his children was a son Charles, who married a Vroom, and they were the parents of Mr. Henry C, of Travisville, and his brother, the late John Vroom, of Mariners' Harbor. CHAPTER XII. OLD FAMILIES AND PROMINENT INDIVIDUALS (Concluded). Ferine. — Poillon. — Post. — Frail. — Aquila Rich. — Alfred Z. Ross. — Ryerss. — Seguine.— John G. Seguine. — Henrv S. Seguine. — Sharrott. — Francis G. Shaw. — Simonson. — Stilwell. — Sprague. — Taylor. — Totten. — Epraim J. Tot- ten. — Tyson. — Van Buskirk, Van Duzer. — John H. Van Clief. — The V'ander- bilts.— The Van Name Family.— Van Pelt.— Waudel.— Albert Ward.— Stephen AVhitraan. — Winant. — Garrett Ellis Winants. — -Woglom. — Wood. — Abraham C. Wood. — Jacob B. Wood. — Abraham J. Wood. — Other Families. — Eminent Men and Women of .Staten Island. Peri:n^e. — The original orthography of the name was Perrin. Count Perrin was a Huguenot refugee from Nouere; the Ameri- can family are not descended from him, but the original emi- grant was akin to him. The first occurrence of the name in this county was in 1687, when Daniel Perine sold land, and he was probably the progenitor of the Perines of the present day. Like many other old families in the county they have a family record, bnt very imj^erfect, except, perhaps, for the last two or three generations. The branch which we are able to trace, lived for a century and a half, or more, in the same house, which is still standing, and occupied by them, on the Richmond road, a short distance north of Garrison's station, on the Staten Island railroad. It is probably the oldest dwelling house in the county occupied by the family who built it. Cornelius S. and Joseph E. are the sons of Simon S., who was the son of Joseph, born June 4, 1759, died April 16th, 1814. Joseph's brothers were Edward, born July 6, 1766, and Henry, born November 29, 1768, and married Mary Winant, June 21, 1795 ; they were the parents of Mrs. Elizabeth, relict of the late Richard Tysen, Esq. Joseph's parents were Edward and Ann ; Edward died during the revolution. We are unable to trace the pedigree of any branch of the famih- beyond Ed- ward, with any degree of certainty. Probably Edward was the son, possibly the grandson of Daniel, whom we suppose to be the original. 564 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. In addition to the above, tlie following are found on the county and church records, on tomb stones, etc. Henry and Susannah his wife had a son Edward, born February 19, 1758 ; a son Peter, born May 22, 1764. Henry made his will April 10, 1788, which was proved June 7, 1788, in which he mentions his wife Susannah and his children, David and Cornelius, then minors, and his other children, Edward, Margai'et and Susan- nah, Abraham, Henry, Nancy and Mary. This younger Henry was a weaver, and made his will October 29, 1792, which was proved April 2, 1793, in which he speaks of his brothers, David, Cornelius and Edward, but alludes to no wife nor children. Henry and Ann his wife had a son Abraham, born February 1, 1766. Henry and Hannah his wife had a son Henry born June 5, 1767. James and Nannie had a daughter Sophia, born July 17, 1767. William and Miranda his wife had a son Peter, bap- tized J une 27, 1790. Edward and Patience Mersereau were mar- ried June 7, 1790, and had a daughter Mary, born October 9, 1790. Abraham and Sarah Rezeau were married August 24, 1790, and had a son Peter Rezeau, born September 20, 1791. Peter and Mary Bedell were married December 31, 1788. Ed- ward and Adriar Guyon were married January 20, 179] . Henry and Magdelena Simonson were married June 19, 1800. Corne- lius and Mary McLean were married March 31, 1804. Edward, born in 1745, died November 22, 1818. James G., born August 29, 1796, died September 17, 1833. There was a Peter, living in 1766, and a Henry in 1767, who were interested in the purchase or sale of land. PoiLLON. — The first mention of the name found was in connec- tion with Staten Island when Jaques Poullion was appointed a justice for Richmond county, December 14, 1689, by Leisler. The family were very numerous. Jaques is frequently men- tioned as buj'ing or selling land prior to 1703. After him we have no notice of any member of the family for half a century; then John and Margaret, his wife, had sons: John, born June 6, 1753; Peter, born January 27, 1763, and James, baptized No- vember 3, 1772. James and Frances, his wife, had a son John, baptized November 14, 1762. Peter and Margaret, his wife, had a son John, born October 28, 1770, and a son Peter, born March 6, 1772. This Peter was a communicant in St. Andrew's church, 1792, after his father's death. Abraham and Susan Cole mar- ried June 17, 1790; he died young. John and Elizabeth Seguine HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 565 married July 5, 1792. Abrahan] made his will July 20, 1791, proved August 8, 1791, in which he mentions his wife Susan, and his son Peter, a minor. John, named above, made his will March 16, 1802, proved February 18, 1803; mentions his wife Margaret, his daughters Mary, Margaret, Ann, Sarah and Catharine, and his sons Peter, John and James, deceased. There were three or four Johns, but they had all disappeared many years ago. Post. — Adrian Post, who was, without doubt, the progenitor of the family on Staten Island, was commander of a ship which brought emigrants to the colony before 1650. He was subse- quently the superintendent of Baron Van deCappelan's planta- tion on the island. The Indian massacre of 1655 drove him temporarily from tlie island, but he soon returned, and resitmed his residence there. His family consisted of his wife, live chil- dren and two servants. John, who was probably a grandson of Adrian, married Anna Housman, and they had the following sons baptized: Abraham, April 19, 1743, and Adrian, April 26, 1748. Garret and Sarah Ellis had the following sons baptized: Garret, August 7, 1754, and Abraham, March 12, 1758. Abra- ham had a daughter Miriam, born July 31, 1790. There was another Garret, born in 1720 and died March 31, 1797. Prall. — The later representatives of the family are Hon. Benjamin P. Prall, of Huguenot, Westfield, and his brother Captain Arthur Prall, of New Springville, Northtield. Their father was Peter Prall, born 1763 and died November 1, 1822; his father was Benjamin Prall, born 1733 and died 1796; his father was Abraham Prall, born 1706 and died September 28, 1775; his father was Peter Prall, whose name we find recorded as a witness or sponsor at a baptism in 1708; he had an older son than Abraham, viz.: Arent, born 1698, and a younger, Isaac, born 1710. Tliis brings us very near or quite to the original of the family. There was, however, an Arent Prall, who probably was either father or brother of the last mentioned Peter. We find his (Arent' s) name on record as owning one hundred and twenty acres of land on Long Neck in 1694. Other members of the family, not in the above line, were Peter, born April 9, 1735, and died February 28, 1822, and his brother Abraham, born 1740, died May 6, 1820. He had two sons, viz.: Daniel, drowned October 10, 1817, and Ichabod, a merchant 566 HISTORY OF RICiniOND COUKTY. in New York; Daniel married Ann Mersereau January 22, 1794. Scattered tlirough various records we find the following, whom we are unable to place, viz.: Aron, Jr., and his wife Antye Staats, had a daughter born May 21, 1715; a son Aron in 1717; a daughter in 1719, and a son Peter in 1724. Aron, or Arent (not Jr.) and his wife Maritje Bowman had a son William Joris, born 1730, and a son Hendrick born 1735. Isaac (prob- ably the son of Abraham above mentioned) and his wife Maria Debaa or Dubois, had a daughter born in 1746, and another in 1748; a son Peter in 1744, and a son Lewis in 1751. Benjamin and his wife Sarah Swaim had a son Abraham born in 1752, and a son John in 1766. John (wife's name not given) had a daughter born in 1719. Abraham and Sarah Cannon were married in August, 1776. John and Martha Latourette were married January 14, 1802. There was a Wolford Praule, who was a freeholder as early as 1695, but he was not probably connected with this family, as his name was spelled differently, and there is no further notice of him. Aquila Rich. — Prominent among New York business men residing on Staten Island is Mr. Aquila Rich, of the well known firm of C. T Raynolds & Co. Mr. Rich's ancestors were among the first New England settlers, and many interesting facts con- cerning them are contained in the " History of Cape Cod." The family coat of arms is still preserved and a copy is now in Mr. Rich's possession. His grandfather, after whom he is named, was a sea captain and shipowner, and twice suffered im prisonment for his loyalty to the American cause. During the revolutionary war he was captured by the British and confined in Dartmore prison, England, for three years, and in the war of 1812 both himself and his ship were taken while in the act of running the blockade. He was retained in Halifax as a prisoner of war and died there on the day upon which he was to have been exchanged. Mr. Rich's father, who is still living, and who resides at Waltham, Mass., was for many years an active New England merchant and manufacturer, and it is from him that Mr. Rich inherits his energetic and persevering quali- ties. In youth he was apprenticed to a silversmith, became a manufacturing chemist at Boston, Mass., and finally a glue manufacturer at Woburn in the same state. It has been his misfortune to suffer from blindness during the past few years. L\c\nacL / itch HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 567 Aquila, of whom we write, was born in Boston, March 23, 1885. He attended the " Hawes " public school In South Boston, from which he o;raduated in 1850. At the age of fifteen lie was ajiprenticed in the old English style to the wholesale drug house of Brewers, Stevens & Gushing, sign of the good Samaritan, Washington street, Boston, where he remained four years. At the expiration of that period he received a flattering offer from a cousin doing business in Xew York city and came thither, but the unsuccessful termination of his cousin's enterprise a year later left him without a position, and his tastes leading him in that direction he decided to follow the sea, which he did in sev- eral capacities till 1859. He then entered the employ of Ray- nolds, Devoe & Pratt, dealers in paints, oils and artists' ma- terials at Nos. 106 and 1U8 Fulton street, Xew York city. Here he remained as a clerk for twelve years, after which he became a member of the firm, much of its subsequent success being due to his clear head and business ability. Since he entered the house in 1859 the firm name has twice changed; first to Raj'- nolds, Pratt & Co. and later to C. T. Raynolds & Co., as it is at present known. The influence of the house in the business world is far-reaching and powerful, and its policy is character- ized by careful integrity and honorable dealing in all its vast transactions. In' 1871 Mr. Rich removed to Staten Island, where he pur- chased his present residence and where he has since acquired other property. He early connected himself with Christ church, in which he has served for many years as vestrjauan and of which for the last three years he has been treasurer. He is a life member of Beacon Light Lodge No. 701, F. & A. M., of New Brighton. In 1885 he w^as appointed Deputy Grand Master of the order for Richmond county and was reappointed the following year. He is also a life member of the " Staten Island Athletic Club." For several years he has been a trustee of the Smith Infirmary, and has served for five years as treasurer of the committee and manager of the annual charity ball held in aid of that institution. He is also a member of the building com- mittee. Though in no sense of the word a politician he has been a strong republican, and as snch twice elected to the county con- vention, on both of which occasions Mr. George William Curtis was chosen as delegate to the national convention. Both of 568 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. these elections were simple tributes to the trustworthiness which is his prevailing characteristic, and were not brought about either directlj' or indirectly through his instrumentality. Mr. Rich is whole souled and cordial. The varied travels and adventures, together with the extended business relations which have diversified his career, lend to his conversation a charm and vivacity which places all who are brought into con- tact with him, of whatever station in life, at their ease, and make their possessor a favorite in social circles. His simple but comfortable home partakes of a warmth which is the result of family love, jealously guarded by parents who understand the value both of religious and social training to their children. Mr. Rich married in June, 1861, Miss Beales, of Brooklyn. He has four children still living, a daughter Susie having died. The remaining children are: Harvey B., who is a member of the New York Stock Exchange and one of the well known firm of Horace L. Hotchkiss & Co., brokers; Aquila B., Seton Heather and Clara O., all residents of Richmond county. Alfred Z. Ross, for many years prominent in real estate and business circles in Richmond county, is the son of John Ross, formerly a resident of Staten Island. John Ross (Scotch) married Miss Sarah P. Zeluff, of an old Staten Island familj' (German), and of their two children Alfred was the second. He was born at Port Richmond July 26, 1844. During his youth he attended the private academy of Theodore A. Thomp- son, from which he entered the Ashland Seminary at Ashland, Greene county, N. Y. Subsequently he studied in the public school in Port Richmond, leaving it at the age of seventeen, to engage in sail-making. He continued this till 1867, when he became a clerk in the employ of Barrett, NejihewsA Co., dyers, where he remained till 1874. In November of that year he em- barked in the real estate business at Port Richmond, in which he still remains. Mr. Ross, by care in the management of his con- cerns and the practice of thorough integrity in all his transac- tions, has won for himself an enviable reputation among business men as well as a sound financial success. He combines with the real estate an extensive insurance business, being the represen- tative of several companies both at home and abroad. Mr. Ross has also been prominent in the politics of Rich- mond county. During the year 1879 he represented the town of Northfield in the board of supervisors in such a manner as V»^<1\'<»1, I. «M«i^WT, », ■<. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 569 to win the commendation of thinking men of both parties, and his long attacliment to the republican party entitles him to a prominent place in its ranks. His genial temperament and thorough business qualities are constantly winning for him the esteem of all with whom he is brought into contact. He was married June 2d, 1867, to Sarah E., daughter of Captain Garrett P. Johnson. Ryekss. — We find this name at an early date on Long Is- land. Arie Ryerse and Maerte Ryerse were assessed as owners of property at Middelwout, now Platbush, in 1676, but when their connection with Staten Island began is unknown. Adrian was born in 1715, and died December 12, 1779; his wife was Hester Debaa (Dubois) ; their son Lewis was born December 7, 1754, and died April 13, 1806. Axis, another son of Adrian, had a daughter baptized July 27, 1786, and a son David, bap- tized October 17, 1790. Gozen, also a son of Adrian, made his will October 21, 1800, proved January 13, 1802, in which he speaks of his son John P., and his daughter Margaret, his brother Lewis, and his grandsons Gozen Adrian Ryers, and Ryerss De Hart. He was an exceedingly obese man, and re- quired two ordinary chairs to sit upon; his wife was in the same condition. He was a wealthy man, and owned property in various parts of the county. In 1791 he became the owner of 300 acres of land, in the eastern part of the state, which, when the line between New York and Massachusetts was finally de- termined, fell within the latter state. To compensate him for the loss of this land, the state of New York gave him a patent for 1,800 acres in Wilmington township, Essex county, which is known as Ryerss' grant to this day. He dwelt for many j^ears preceding his death at Port Richmond, in the large house known as the St. James Hotel. He was a very prominent and useful man. Seguine. — We ai-e obliged to be content with such informa- tion as can be found in the local records, the earliest of which is: Jean and Elizabeth Hooper had a son Jonas, baptized De- cember 12, 1725. Jaques and Lady Mambrut, daughter Sara, baptized March 3, 1728. A son Jean, baptized March 19, 1732. Jean and Jaques stood sponsors for each other's children; thej' were probably brothers. The above are from the records of the Dutch church ; the following are from those of St. Andrew's : James and Elsee, daughter Sara, born April, 1756 ; son James, 570 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. born December 10, 1760. John and Sarah had the following children : Elisha, born May 31, 1760 ; James, baptized July IS, 1762 ; and Henry, born February 4, 1764. Lawrence and Ann, daughter Sara, born April 2, 1761. James and Caty, son Stephen, born March 22, 1764 ; and son James, born April 5, 1766. James made his will June 13, 1795, proved October 7, 1795; mentions his wife Catharine and his children Barnt. Jo- seph, Frederick, John, Henry, Stephen and James. John and Rachel Mitchel were married in ^November, 1775. John and Margaretta, sons John, baptized October 24, 1790, and Henry, baptized October 27, 1793. James and Mary Giiyon, married June 30, 1791. Stephen and Susanna Poillon, married Novem- ber 8, 1792. Henry and Jane Garretson, married August 13, 1800. Stephen and Margaret Guyon, married March 5, 1805. John G. Seguine was born June 14, 1805, on the family es- tate at Seguine's Point, Staten Island. His youth was unevent- ful, the neighboring country school absorbing so much of his time as was not devoted to farming. He continued to reside upon the homestead until his marriage and subsequent pur- chase of a farm at Prince's bay, near the light house, upon which he resided until Rossville became his home. Mr. Seguine was mariied February 15, 1830, to Harriet, daughter of Andre Mille, the lattei', who was of French extrac- tion, having been a soldier under Bonaparte. Their children are : Louise M., married to Henry S. Seguine ; Henry J., mar- ried to Phebe A. Vail ; John J., married to Cordelia Vail, and Andre, married to Catherine Jane Winant. Mr. Seguine hav- ing retired from active business life, now enjoys the repose and comfort which a career of industry has brought to him. He has never been attracted by the excitement or rewards of pub- lic life to enter the list as a candidate for office, though always loyal to the principles of democracy. He has been for many years a vestryman of St. Andrew's Protestant Episcopal church at Richmond. The grandfather of Mr. Seguine was James Se- guine, whose son Henry married Jane, daughter of Judge John G. Garretson, of Staten Island. Their two sons were John G.. above mentioned, and Joseph H., who was both a farmer and manufacturer, and prominent as a leading citizen of the county. Henry Stewart Seguine.— The Seguine family, which has long been prominent in Westfield township, is of Huguenot antecedents. James Seguine, the father of Henry S., and the '■Xf.iyAKBitohic C^C^^^^^ ^fe^ HISTORY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. 571 son of James Seguine, married Mary, daughter of Joseph Guion, of Staten Island, also descended from Huguenot stock. Their children were: Catherine, wife of John Cluion ; Joseph G., James G., James S. and Henry S. The last-named son was born near Annadale, on Staten Island, in 1812. The family residence being located here much of his youth was spent at this point. Joseph Ct. Seguine, his uncle, then resided at Rossville, where he founded the mercantile interest still successfully conducted, built the wharf, and engaged in x>ublic life as judge of the court of common pleas. His nephew, Henry S., became a mem- ber of his uncle's family, and ultimately inherited the estate, which included the business as also the mansion in which the family reside. He married January 7, 1857, Louise M., daughter of John G. and Harriet Seguine, of Staten Island. Their chil- dren are a son, Henry G., and a daughter, Harriet M. Mr. Seguine' s character and means gave him an inhuential position throughout the county. Jfotwithstanding, he possessed all those qualities calculated to endear him to men. In business transac- tions he was strictly honorable and upright, possessing a kindly nature and conferring substantial sympathy and aid when de- served. His charities were of the practical kind and calculated to bestow permanent aid as well as meet the present necessity. His convictions of right were decided and firm, and maintained with energy. No compromise was ever effected with wrong or injustice. Faithful as a friend and true to his woi-d, though a positive man, he viewed the faults of others with charity. Active and public-spirited as a citizen, his rarest pleasures were found within the circle of his own home, where his hospi- tality was dispensed with unsparing liberality. A member of St. Luke's Protestant Episcopal church of Rossville, of which he was warden, vestryman and treasurer, Mr. Seguine exempli- fied in daily life the creed he espoused. He was in the fullest sense of the term the Christian gentleman. His death occurred on the 2d of July, 1884. Sharrott.— Richard Sharet, the first of the name on Staten Island, according to the family traditions and records, was a Frenchman by birth, of Huguenot parentage, and for a short period after his emigration resided in New England. He came to Staten Island either just before or just after the commence- ment of the revolution. Here he married a woman of German 572 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. parentage named Mary Heger. Their children were William, Richard, John, James, Susan and Mary. John married Mary Ann Burbank, October 9, 1789; their children were Peter (died February, 1875, aged 86), John, Jere- miah, Richard, Abraham, William Henry, Mary, Susan, Cath- arine, Eliza and Louisa, some of whom are still living. Francis George Siiaw was the oldest child of Robert Gould Shaw and Eliza Willard Parknian. His father was an eminent merchant of Boston, in which city Mr. Shaw was born on the 23d of October, 1809. He was fitted for college at the Boston Latin school, and entered Harvard University in 1825. He left college in 1828, before his graduation, to enter his father's counting room, and engaged actively in business. In 1839 he passed a year in Europe, and he married in 1835 his cousin Sarah Blake Sturgis. In 1841, with health impaired by unre- mitting attention to business, Mr. Shaw withdrew from active participation in it and removed to West Roxbury, near to "Brook Farm," where an experiment in associative life in which he was interested had begun under the leadership of the Rev. George Ripley. After a few years his friends abandoned their enterprise. But although experiments in associative and co- operative life have been often failures: although benevolent and reformatory agencies, originating in kind hearts and keen intel- lects, have as yet little diminished the evils they seek to remove; and although the immediate outlook often seemed to him dis- couraging, Mr. Shaw never lost his faith in an ultimate happy future for the human race in this world. He rejected the familiar doctrines of political economy that brutalizing poverty, vice and crime are necessary as footholds in the march of prog- ress; that one portion of the race must be trodden under foot in order that another jiortion may advance, leaving no hope of compensation to the sufferers save in the future of another ex- istence. He believed that " the right of eminent domain" over land could be wisely carried much further than the law now aj)- plies it; and he held that it would yet be possible for societj^ without wronging any man, to secure to the use of all men the land, which is the only source from which man can derive his sustenance, and access to which is as necessary to his normal de- velopment as the air he breathes. In 1847 he left West Roxbury on account of Mrs. Shaw's health, and after living for more than three years upon the V^-Hi^-tVt, K. %\\.V.\\V,^\^ H. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 573 north shore of Staten Island near the Sailor's Snug Harbor, he went again to Europe with his family. After four years he re- turned in 1855 to Staten Island where, in the same neighbor- hood to which he had tirst come, he resided until his death. Upon coming of age Mr. Shaw acted with the whigs in poli- tics, taking part in ward and other meetings until 1840. Mean- time the anti-slavery movement had begun, and interested him profoundly, so that he withdrew from the whig party and did not vote again upon national questions until 1856, when the re- publican party was formed, of which he was a liberal and active, but always an independent, member. He was one of the dele- gates from the island to the first republican convention in 1856, which nominated General Fremont, and he was deeply inter- ested in the election of that year and in that of 1860. Although not personally engaged in the war of the rebellion he was earn- estly devoted to the cause of the Union, giving freely of his time and labor, and counsel and money, and his only son, Robert Gould Shaw, fell in the assault upon Fort Wagner at the head of his regiment of colored troops. Without per- sonal political ambition, Mr. Shaw had the highest sense of public duty, and he was pre-eminently a public spirited citizen. While living at West Roxbury he was a member of the school committee and one of the overseers of the poor, a justice of the peace and president of the first common council of Roxbury when that town became a city. He was also foreman of the jury of Norfolk county which first proposed the establishment of the State Reform School for Massachusetts. During his resi- dence on Staten Island he was a trustee of the village in which he lived, a trustee of the Seaman's Retreat and of the S. R. Smith Infirmary, treasurer of the American Union of Associa- tionists and of the Sailor's Fund, president of the National Freedman's Relief Association and of the New York Branch of the Freedman's Union Commission, and connected with vari- ous local organizations. He was also a hereditary member of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati. Bred a Unitarian under the preaching of the Reverend Di's. Channing and Parkman, Mr. Shaw, with his wife, shortly after their marriage, became a member of the Boston Society of the New Jerusalem, to which the Reverend Thomas Worcester then ministered. After his removal to West Roxbury he joined the congregation of the Reverend Theodore Parker. Subse- 574 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. quently, during his sojourn in Rome, some of the Italian friends of his rlien recently deceased brother, Joseph Coolidiije Shaw, who had been a Catholic priest and a Jesuit, manifested great interest in his behalf. But, after passing through many " phases of faith," he remained extremely "liberal" or, per- haps more, justly, "radical" in his opinions upon theological questions, happy that he was never led to doubt the existence of a divine power which works for good. His energetic temperament prevented him from permitting leisure to stagnate into idleness, and to his various local ac- tivities he added the literary labor of translation. He trans- lated and published "Consuelo," and other tales of George Sands ; "Zchokke's Historj' of Switzerland," the " Swiss Fam- ily Robinson," "Life of Charles Fourier," and other books. Toward the end of his life he withdrew more and more into the retirement of his home, and devoted himself more exclusively to the management of his own affairs. But his interest in pub- lic affairs was not relaxed. The immortal youthfulness of his spirit asserted itself always, and after an illness, which, as he had wished his last illness to be, was very short, he died on the 4th of November, 1882, and was buried in the Moravian cemetery. This recapitulation of a few^ facts in the life of Mr. Shaw serves only as a preface to the true portraiture of the man, which was drawn by his friend and neighbor of many years, Sidney Howard Gay, who knew him intimately, who greath^ loved and honored him, and whose faithful and most affectionate deline- ation, with all its warmth of feeling and felicity of jihrase, does not exaggerate in any degree a remarkably noble, manly and beautiful character. " Were we to preach a sermon its text should be from those desponding words, ' The good man is perished out of the earth; there is none upright among men ;' an assertion, which, how- ever true it may have been in the time of Micah, is not true in our time. How untrue it is every man and woman in this community will bear witness in the death of a good man among us, who, in a long life of seventy- three years, has never known a fellow creature except as a friend, and whose single aim in living has been, that when he went out of the world he might leave it a little better than he found it. Not that it ever oc- curred to him that his ways and wishes differed from those of many other men of like opportunities ; not that he ever could HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 575 have said — we do not believe that he ever once assumed in thought— that any special purpose belonged to his life; thai he was called to any exceptional duty, or that he was pecu- liarly faithful to that duty. The modesty that distinguished him made anj' such self-consciousness impossible. There are men who are born saints, and men who are saints by education through much travail and sorrow. The great difference is that the born saint never knows that he is one ; he has no measure of himself between what he wants to be and what he is not by gift of nature. He is as Cxod made him, and he can no more be or conceive of being anything else, than he can be or conceive of being a man of another race in some far-off countr}-. "Let this not be understood as mere words of eulogy, for it is meant to be a simple statement of the fundamental truth in regard to this one man who has just perished out of the earth. His life should not be permitted to fade away from us without a recognition of its character, its beauty, what there maj' be in living, and of what a man may be to his fellow men. The elders, indeed, may not need to be reminded of it, but the younger should be taught to understand and remember it. "In one of the many notices of Mr. Shaw's death it was said that there was in him a singular mixture of modesty and man- liness, as if there were something incompatible in those quali- ties. Rather, it should be said, he was singularly modest because he was singularly manly. Probably never in his life was he outraged by a single word or look of insult, for his perfect self-command and self-respect could never irritate or provoke resentment. He honored manhood, and as he maintained his own, so he respected it in others, and kept anger at bay, if there were occasion for anger. Not the humblest would he permit to outdo him in personal courtesy, not from any pre- tense of humility on his part, but from spontaneous reverence for human nature. If he was ever impatient of anything it was of servility as a respect paid, not to the man, but to accident of position. It was almost a personal humiliation to him that any man should forget that first of. all he was a man. 'Mr. Shaw,' said one who has long been in his employment, 're- spected every man who respected himself." For himself, could he have chosen his path in life, it wovdd have been one where, whatever he might be, whatever should be bestowed upon him of honor and of wealth, would not have been due to fixed cir- 576 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUKTY. cumstances, but to liis own manliness and his own energy. His modesty, in tlie original sense of that word, was in the accurate measure he took of his own powers, making no mistake as to what he could do and what he could not do ; neither over-esti- mating himself nor under-estimating others. Had no pre- arranged good fortune fallen to his lot, he would, doubtless, have achieved it, as certainly he would have been glad of the chance of trying. " With these qualities went naturally the highest kind of courage. It was not merely the courage of his convictions, which is common enough, but the courage of coming to con- clusions of his own without regard to either private or public opinion. One might be sometimes almost impatient with him, because he did not seem open to conviction. In one sense he was not; but it was because he was so singularly faithful to the obligation of coming to an impartial judgment of his own and then adhering to it. He stood alone in the court-room of his own conscience, and the conclusion he came to was the conclu- sion as between right and wrong, as it was given to him to see it. Then he was immovable — till he. moved, if at all, on his own motion for an appeal to his own court. Then he admitted no argument of counsel, no personal bias, no consideration of self interest, no dictates even of affection to plead a cause. " It was impossible not to respect his opinions, however one might differ from them; for it was impossible not to see that he maintained them simply because he thought them true, and not because he thought they were his. With those who did not agree with him he could not be resentful, and he was rarely im- patient for a moment, even with the most vapid foolishness. His modesty never let him forget the limitations of human in- telligence, and that no man is entitled to set up his opinions as wiser and better than those of all other men. That perfect in- tellectual freedom whicli he maintained as his own right, he re- cognized to the full as the right of others. His own unbiased judgment and conscience were guides infallible to him; but he no more set them us as guides for other people than he would accept their judgments and consciences in place of his own. " One who thought so much for himself must needs do a good deal of thinking, for second-hand opinions were of no use to him. He shirked no responsibility lest he might have to lift the burden alone; nor was he ever afraid of intellectual or HISTOKY OF UICIIMOND COUNTY. 577 moral solitude. The problem of human society was by no means satisfactorily settled for him, because in the lottery of life his ticket had turned up a prize. He early put to him- self the question, why should the few, himself among them, have all that worldly prosperity can give, while the many, com- paratively almost all, are sunk from the beginning to the end in the slough of poverty, wretchedness, ignorance, darkness and crime, from which no struggle of theirs, even when they know enough to struggle, promises any release? He believed too much in man to believe this state of things as the will of God. He was confident, never more confident than in the seventy- third year of liis age, that there was somewhere a law divine, if only we could be wise enough to see it, and good enough to live up to it, whereby all men would become equal inheritors of the earth and the fruits thereof, whereby the gifts of genius, of in- dustry, of energy, and of forethought should contribute to the common welfare and happiness of all men, not to be hoarded for the benefit of their possessors only, and so often to the injury of almost all the rest. This was not in him — as with so many for whom the lottery of life turns out nothing but blanks— a blind and resentful instinct that would pull all down to a common level; but a sublime faith that all may be lifted to the highest point of culture, of. com- fort and of material happiness that humanity has reached in certain classes, or ever can reach. He saw a promise of it in his earlier years, in the philosophy of Fourier, and sj^ared neither labor nor zeal nor fortune so long as hope lasted. He saw it lately in the doctrine of Henry George upon land tenure; and that he upheld with all the enthusiasm and devotion of his earlier years, and died in the hope that therein was found the divine law. All good causes, the help of the poor, the ignor- ant, the criminal and the enslaved, had always his ready sympathy and his hearty supjiort, as partial remedies for misfor- tune and wrong; but underneath them all he was always seek- ing for the great remedy that should strike at the root of all the evils, and inequalities, and suffering which the world inherits from generation to generation. Whether he was right or wrong in his profound belief, whether the establishment of any such order of human society as he hoped for be possible, this is not the place to discuss; but this, at least is true— that he who lived out more than the allotted term of three score years and ten, 37 578 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. and for fifty of those years governed his life and relations to his fellow-men by a faith so pure, so beneficent as that, was one whose memorj' should not die, for it will be indeed ill for the world when the good men have so ' perished out of the earth' that 'none upright." such as he, can any more be found. " It was in accord with this faith that Mr. Shaw should have held wealth as an estate in trust. Xo one knows and no one will ever know, among all of those whose hearts are sorelj' bruised at his death for love of the man, how many there are who also mourn the loss of a benefactor: for literally his left hand knew not what his open right hand did. And in this, as in all things else, he was guided by that calm judgment and eminent sense of justice which distinguished him. He could turn his back promptly, and squarely and peremptorily to any appeal, whether for private aid or for a public purpose, that did not commend itself to his own judgment; regretting perhaps that he might grieve a friend by a denial, but never giving a thought to how much he might shock public opinion. So, also, he was never in danger of wasting his possessions in his zeal for pro- gress. Earnest as his hopes and labors were that the world should be better and happier, he was too wise to suppose that the breakers in which the ship was tossing could be stilled by throwing overboard his little cask of oil. He put it to a wiser purpose, caring generously for his own, recognizing as a first duty that nearest at hand, and enjoying and making the best possible use of his own prosperity as an unquestionable per- sonal right, the sacrifice of which would not advance one jot the general good he had so much at heart. But he was what is considered, perhaps a little too devoutly, the highest type of civilization, 'a good business man,' who knew how to draw exact limitations and how to abide bj" them. His disposition of his income was systematic. Undoubtedly the number of wealthy persons who believe wealth has its duties is increasing; but there are still very few who, like Mr. Shaw, believe that they are entitled to a moderate proportion only of that in their hands, and that the rest should be held as a trust fund to be conscien- tiously and wisely used on behalf of those less fortunate than themselves. " Of his amiability and equanimity of temper, his charming personal presence, the uniform courtesy, the unvarying kind- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUXTV. 579 ness of manner and of speech, little need be said in a com- munity where he was so universally known to both old and young. The pleasant smile, which was in his eyes as well as upon his lips, was not merely a greeting; it was a benediction. One could hardly meet him and not feel the better for it, almost without knowing why. This inborn grace of a noble and kindly nature 'made his face to shine' with an uncommon beauty in the morning of his days; so in the evening of his years it was as the golden sunset. He was indeed unworthy from whom it could be averted. If we read aright this was the lesson of his life — a profound reverence for human nature; a profound belief in man's high destiny; and an untiring de- votion to what he accepted as his duty to his fellow creatures. "He died willingly, even gladly; no more questioning than he •would question that day shall follow darkness, that he was about to join a heavenly company of loved ones who had gone before, and that beyond the grave he should find that king- dom of heaven which he had hoped might come on earth, and the way to which he had sought so diligently and so long." SiMONSOx. — AVillem, the founder of the family on Staten Island, came from Holland in a vessel, the " Fox," in 1662. His descendants have become so numerous on the island that it is impossible to trace the different branches. They have been large freeholders, and many of them at the present time are prominent in the political and church affairs of the island. Aert (Arthur) in 1721 purchased an estate of one hundred and sixty acres at Carle's neck, now called New Springville, and the larger part of this land, with the old homestead, is still in possession of his family, having passed from father to son in each generation. The house is a picturesque old stone struc- ture shaded by a magnificent elm, probablj' the largest in the county. David Simonson, a direct descendant and the present owner and occupant, is one of the largest freeholders on the island. Isaac, a grandson of Aert, was an officer of the old Dutch Reformed church at Port Richmond, and in 1793 signed the call of the Rev. Thomas Kirby as pastor. John, a grandson of Isaac, served in the war of 1812, and was noted as a man of deep learning and the possessor of a fine library containing many rare and ancient books. Jacob, a grandson of Isaac, purchased part of the original estate and erected a handsome residence upon it. He lived 580 UISTORY OF KICIIMOXD COUNTY. there for the greater part of his life, and bequeathed the same to his children at his death. He served as supervisor of the town of Northheld from 1833 to 1840, and in 1840 he was elected sheriff of the county, and was again elected supervisor of his town in 1849. He died April 4, 1883, in his 8oth year. His children are: John, William, who died in 1882; Isaac J., a flor- ist in Barclay street. New York; Jacob, a dentist in Newark, and Eliza J. Waters, residing in New York. John W., son of Jacob and Ann E. Bedell, his lirst wife, was born on the old estate December 23, 1826, and died at West New Brighton, December 28, 1882. In 1857 he was elected a vestryman of the old St. Andrew's church at Richmond, and served for a number of years. In 1863 he was appointed one of the United States assessors of the internal revenue on Staten Island, and after serving the government nine years resigned the office. He was also the resident agent for the island of the Continental, Phoenix and Hanover Fire Insurance Companies of New York from 1865 to 1872. In 1875 he was elected a trustee of the village of New Brighton. In 1880 he was elected president of the New York City Fire Insurance Company and served until his death in 1882. In 1881 he was appointed resident manager for the United States of the Standard Fire Office of London, a large English corporation. He was also prominent in the Masonic order, being a Knight Templar and a member of Palestine Commandery, New York. In 1851 he married Charlotte A., daiighter of Stephen D. Stephens, a prominent citizen of the island. Three of their children, Stephen D., Anne E. and Charles E., are now living at the family residence in West New Brighton. Stephen D., the eldest son of John W., is the junior member of the firm of Miller & Simonson, who are the agents for Staten Island of the Liverpool and London and Globe and other leading fire insur- ance companies. And he is also one of the trustees of the Richmond County Savings Bank. Stilwell. — This family is of English origin and was here at an early date. The first mention of the name, with reference to the island, is in the Albany records, where a piece of wood- land on the south side of Fresh kill is mentioned as belonging to Daniel Stilwell in 1680. There is also mention made in our county records of Richard in 1689, of John in 1695-6 and 1708, HISTORY OF RICHMOND COtJXTY. 581 and of Thomas in 1697 and 1704. It would app*ear then that at the close of the seventeenth century there were at least four families of the name in the county. We subjoin the names of those found in the several church records. Elias and his wife Anne Burbank (she was probably the daughter of Thomas Burbank and Maritje Martling. See Bur- bank family), had a son Thomas baptized June 30, 1726, and a son Daniel baptized March 24, 1728. Thomas married Debora Martling, and had a son Elias baptized June 10, 1747. Nicholas born Januarj', 1747, died April 26, 1819. Abraham born March, 1750, died September 12, 1S24. The Stilwells were for a long time an influential and prom- inent family in the county, and members of it filled many local offices (see civil and military lists), while there are yet several highly respectable individuals among them. Sprague. — The tradition in the family is that three brothers, Joseph, Edward and John, emigrated simultaneously from England, but the date of that event is lost; it must have been early, however, as we read of Jacob Spragg, who must have been a son of Joseph, as early as 1729. Of these brothers, Joseph took np his abode on Staten Island; of the other two, one settled on Long Island, and one in Khode Island. Wil- liam, whose name we find in the county records in 1767, and Joseph in 1772, were undoubtedly grandsons of the original Joseph. Tlie original Joseph had three sons, Jacob, John and Edward, notwithstanding, the family lias not increased verj'' rapidly, and at present numbers but a few families, mostly con- fined to the town of Westfield. The only notices of the name in the old record of St. Andrew's church, are the following : Andrew and Catharine Pryor married. June 28, 1800. Jacob and Margaret Wood married July 12, 1800. Daniel, whose wife's name was Annatje (Anna), had a daughter Susannah, baptized July 18, 1762. There was another Daniel whose wife was Maria Poillon, and who had a son Jaques baptized March 26, 1738, and a son Daniel, baptized April 4, 1736, whose wife's name was Ariantje, and had a son Jeremiah, born December 1, 1763. Here we abandon the attempt further to trace the genealogy, and give the remaining names wliich we have collected, leaving it to the members of the family to discover their own an- cestors. Sarah Pareyn (Perine), wife of William '■'obiit,'' had 582 HISTORY OF KICIIMOND COUNTY. twins, William and Daniel, baptized September 6, 1719 (Post- humous). Jan and Elizabeth Parein (Penne) had a son John, baptized November 15, 1719. Thomas and Sarah Van Name had a son Thomas, baptized December 22, 1723. Daniel and Cathai'ine Larzalere had a son Richard, baptized November 25, 1739. Joachim and Anna Tenners had a son John, baptized July 28, 1751, and a son Richard, May 23, 1759. Thomas and Nancy Fountain had a son Antone, baptized February 16, 1755. John and Helena Van Name had a son Elias baptized June 21, 1752. Richard and Jenneke (Jane) Van Name had a son Nicho- las, baptized September 21, 1785. The above are from the records of the Dutch church; the fol- lowing are from St. Andrew's : Nicholas (son of last mentioned Richard) and his wife Effey (Eva) had a daughter Catharine, born November 13, 1761. Jeremiah and his wife Yetty had a son Peter, born April 30, 1764. John and Oily Taylor were married Sep- tember 15, 1757. Samuel and Hannah Van Pelt were married June 9, 1755. Richard and Mary his wife had a son Daniel, born February 7, 1770. Taylor. — Abraham and Harmintje Haughwout had the fol- lowing children : Ephraim, baptized October 23, 1711, died young; Altje, (Alida), baptized May 18, 1710, died young; Rachel, baptized August 21, 1720; Altje, baptized November 25, 1722; Peter, baptized July 4, 1725; Ephraim, baptized April 6, 1729; and Margaret, baptized November 23, 1715. Ephraim married Elizabeth Morgan, January 4, 1756. Another Ephraim, probably father of Abraham, had a son Jan, and a daughter Marietta, both baptized in 1696. The above family, though English in name, had assimilated with the Dutch, as is evident from the names of some of them, and are found in the records of the Dutch church. The fol- lowing are found in the records of St. Andrew's church, and are of another family. Oliver was born 1687, and died August 24, 1771; there is nothing to indicate that he was born on the is- land, though he died here. Henry and Judith had a son John, born September 20, 1770. Oliver and Sarah, daughter Eliza- beth, born August 24, 1771. Henry and Lydia, son Abraham, baptized in 1775. John and Fanny, son Oliver, born September 24, ]791. Benjamin and Ann Decker married September 9, 1791. John and Sarah Yates married January 7, 1804. f/{ ^^M^ W'«,-\lJ-\\V'i,^ \. %\\%-i,-\iSi\^ w. ^. HISTORY OF KICHMOjSTD COTrWTT. 583 ToTTEN.— We can scarcely consider this family as among the old families of the island, thoiigh the name is found in local records for more than a century. In the records of St. Andrew's church the name occurs two or three times, until the organiza- tion of the Methodist church, when it becomes identified with that church. Gilbert was one of ihe first, and leading men, connected with that society. The residence of the families bearing the name has been al- most exclusively in the town of Westfield, and the thriving village of Tottenville in that town perpetuates their respecta- bility and influence. The only notices of the name in church records, other than those of the Methodist church, are as fol- lows : Silas and Charity, his wife, had two sons : Joseph, born August 10, 1765, and Ephraim, born February 24, 1768. Joseph and Mary Cubberly wei'e mari-ied December 11, 1804. Ephkaim J, ToTTEN was born March 30, 1806, on the home- stead at Tottenville, where he remained lantil seventeen years of age. Finding the life of a mariner more attractive than the labor of the farm, be, at the age of nineteen, became mas- ter of a vessel sailing to southern coasts, and for a period of twenty-two years continued to follow the sea. In 1850, Mr. Totten, with many other adventurous spirits, started for the Pa- cific coast, and engaged in mercantile pursuits in San Francisco. He had, meanwhile, purchased the homestead farm, his present residence, and California no longer proving an attractive point, Tottenville became the scene of his business experiences. Here, until 1874, he continued a leading and successful merchant, finally abandoning the store and retiring to his attractive farm. As a republican, Mr. Totten has been an influential factor in politics. He filled the office of supervisor for the years 1846- 47, was a member of the state legislature in 1848, and has held other less important positions. He has also been assessor and member of the excise board. Public spirited and enter- prising, Tottenville and its various interests have been ma- terially advanced through his agency. He was one of the pro- jectors and an early director of the Staten Island Railroad. Mr. Totten is a zealous member of the Bethel Methodist Epis- copal church, of which he has been for thirty-three years re- cording steward, and equally long a trustee. The lot upon which the edifice stands was donated by his father. Ephraim J. Totten was nuirried, June 27, 1827, to Harriet, daughter of 584 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUXTY. Jesse Oakley. Tlieir children are: Gilbert, Julia A., George O , William W., Frances E., John J., James B. and Ella G. The death of Mrs. Totten occurred in August, 1866, and he was again married, in 1870, to Mrs. Elizabeth Downer, daughter of Jeremiah T. Brower, of Belleville, IST. J. The Totten family are of Welsh extraction, three brothers having emigrated from Wales. Gilbert and Joseph settled on Staten Island, the latter attaining distinction and influence as a Methodist divine. Gil- bert became an extensive land owner on Staten Island, married Marj" Butler and had children : James, John, Joseph, Rachel, Mary, Letitia, Elizabeth and . John, of this number, was born in 1771, and died in 1847. He married Xancy Cole, of Staten Island, and had twelve children, one of whom is the subject of this biography. Tysen. — This family is of Dutch origin. Barne Tyseu came from Amsterdam about the year 1660. He married Maria Kroesen in 1672. He applied for a grant of land in 1674 and obtained grant by x')atent from Edmund Andros in 1677. He built the old stone house on the land granted by Andros. He had three sons : Abraham, Cornelius and David. Abraham had a son, Abraham DeDecker Tysen, who was baptized October 21, 1707, and Cornelius married Clymer Morgan Classen in 1703 ; but we have been unable to trace their descendants. David married Magdalena Morgan in 1698 and died in 171(», leaving a son, Barent Tysen, who was born February 4, 1699, married Elizabeth Swain October 20, 1723, and died December 29, 1752, leaving one son, John Tysen, who was born October 10, 1731. He married Cordelia Bergen May 1, 1757, and died March 7, ISOS. He was elected trustee of the " Reformed Dutch Church on Staten Island'" in 1787, ordained elder in 1797 and was several times supervisor of Northfield. He had two sons, John and Jacob. John was born March 17, 1758, and married Miss Elizabeth Jaques March 21, 1798. He was elected deacon and treasurer of the "North Dutch Church" in 1802 and remained its treasurer until his death, February 6, 1827. The records of the church contain the following : "Whereas, God in his Sovereign Providence has removed by Death Capt. John Tj'sen, Treasurer of this Church, who died yesterday, Feb'y 6, 1827, Elder of this Church and accordingly member of the Consistory of the same. Whereupon it was unanimouslv HISTORY OF RICHMOND OOUNTV. 685 " Hesolved, . That the surviving members of the Consistory, as a suitable mark of respect for tlie usefulness, piety, faithful- ness and zeal of said deceased Elder, we do wear crape on the left arm for the space of thirty days from the date hereof.'' He left a large family, of whom one is now living — Charles Tysen, residing at Port Richmond. David Jaques, his eldest son, was born August 28, 1807, married Miss Elizabeth P. Lake December 29, 1831, and died March 27, 188.5, leaving two sons, Daniel W. and David J., both residing at New Dorp. Isaac F., another son of John, was born in February, 1814, married Miss Cordelia H. Jackson January 11, 1837, and died March 26, 1886, leaving one son, Robert F., residing in New York city. Jacob, son of John, Sen., was born October 8, 1773, and mar- ried Miss Mary Housman February 6, 1794. He became treas- urer of the North Dutch church at the death of his brother John. He was judge, state senator and member of congress. He died July 16, 1848, leaving three sons : John, Richard and Raymond M. John, the eldest, was born February 1, 1808, and is still living at Schraalenburgh, N. J. Richard was born May 13, 1805, married Miss Elizabeth W. Ferine May 19, 1830, and died February 2, 1866, leaving two sons : Jacob Raymond, residing at Jacksonville, Florida, and Edward P., residing at New Dorp. Raymond M. was born October 14, 1819, and died May 8, 1851, leaving no male issue. The records show that this family has been largely interested in Staten Island realty, and David J. Tj^sen is now one of the largest owjiers of real estate in the county. As was the custom with many of the old settlers, for a century or more they buried in their family burying ground on their homestead, John Tysen being the last buried there in 1808. Van Buskirk, Van Dczer. — Neither of these can be re- garded as old Staten Island families. There was a Cornelius Van Buskirk here during the revolution, but he came from Bergen. The sites of tlie Pavilion, at New Brighton, and St. Peter's church now occupy a part of his farm. His dwelling house stood along the Shore road, at the foot of the hill upon which St. Mark's hotel stands, and is alluded to elsewhere. He had a son who owned a farm on the road leading from Quaran- tine to Richmond near the Clove road. Another son lived at f)86 }IISTOEV OF RICHMOND COUNTr. WestiN'ew Brighton, and owned the mill which formerly stood on the "Factory Dock;" his wife was a Schermerhorn from Schenectady. The Van Buskirks were among the earliest settlers on Bergen Point, and were a very respectable though not a numerous familj% on the island. Mrs. Van Duzer, mother-in-law of Hon. H. B. Metcalfe, married a son of the original Cornelius Van Buskirk, and after his death married the late Daniel Van Duzer. The Van Duzer family originally came from Long Island, and settled on Staten Island near the close of the last century. Daniel Van Duzer left at least two sons, John H. and Daniel C, both now deceased. John H. Van Clief is one of the prominent business men of Richmond county who, by industry and careful methods, has won for himself success and reputation. Mr. Van Clief is a grandson of Daniel Van Clief, of German extraction, who settled (m a farm near Garrison's Station, S. I., previous to the revolu- tion, and who was four times wounded during the colonial struggle for independence. The family enjoys an enviable record for patriotism and loyalty, members of it having served in the war of 1812, in the Mexican war and in the war of the rebellion. One of its members, Benjamin "Van Clief, died on Staten Island of a wound received in the war with Mexico. He was a son of Jesse Van Clief, and a brother of the subject of this sketch. Jesse Van Clief was a man of indomitable courage and energy. He was a ship blacksmith and was employed in the construc- tion of many famous war ships, among which was the "Consti- tution." While working upon her he broke his leg, and in order that her completion might not be delayed he allowed himself to be transported from Staten Island to the Brooklyn navy yard on a couch, after which he superintended the rigging of the vessel in his invalid condition. Afterward he fought in the war of 1812, in which he had the misfortune to lose his hearing. Jesse Van Clief married Miss Margaret Moore (English) and of their ten children John was the fourth. He attended private school in the neighborhood of his home till his father's death left him, at the age of ten, an orphan. Though thrown upon his own resources for support he did not give up the idea of edu- cating himself, and with this end in view he spent many of his ■^«f fhryAS,P^tcni£. ^^--^--C^ HI3T0RT OF KICHMOND COUNTY. 587 evenings in the night school at Tompkinsville. The same spirit which characterized him in this has attended him through liis whole business career. At the age of seventeen he com- menced learning the trade of a carpenter, and at twenty-one he engaged in contract work for himself. In 1854 he discontinued contracting and started in the lumber business at Port Rich- mond. The success which he has attained in this, as in his other ventures, is well known on Staten Island, and is entirely- due to his foresight and good judgment. Mr. Van Clief has never held political office, though he has long been identified with the politics of the county as a staunch democrat. For thirteen years he was a member of the Rich- mond County Guard, and during a portion of that time served as sergeant of the company. He has interested himself in real estate on Staten Island of which he is a large holder, and his advice in regard to real estate and land values generally, is highly esteemed by business men. He was married July 17, 1836, to Miss Janette Vreeland. He has had seven children, all of whom survive. The Vanderbilts. — Staten Island is remarkable in that it was the birthplace of the distinguished American railroad king (Commodore) Cornelius Vanderbilt, and for many years the residence of his world-famous son and heir, William H. Van- derbilt. Without a sketch of their lives, whose names and those of their descendants are interwoven with so many inci- dents of its jDrogress, a history of Richmond county must be incomplete. Commodore Vanderbilt was of Holland Dutch descent. The common ancestor of the family from which he came, Jan (John) Aoertsen Van der Bilt, arrived in this country from (van) der Bilt or Bylt, the hill, in Holland, about 1650, and took up his residence near Flatbush, Long Island.* A grandson of the latter, Jacob Van der Bilt, in 1718, purchased from his father, *Jan Aoertsen Vander Biklt married Dierber Cornelius. He married three times. The second wife is assumed to liave been the ancestress, as the name Cornelius is repeated in the family. Jacob Janse (son of John), married, August 13, 1687, Maritje (Mary) Vander Vliet (of the stream). Jacob, Jr., born 1693, bought a farm on Staten Island, 1718, whence he had removed from Flatbush, L. I. It will be seen how long a time the Vanderbilts have been associated with the island. He connected himself with the Jloraviau church ; married Neeltje (Cor- nelia) Denyse. Jacob, born 1723, married Mary Hoogland. Cornelius married Phiebe Hand, February 8, 1787. The Cornelius Vanderbilt of this sketch was their son. 588 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. of the same name, a farm on Staten Island, to which he re- moved with his wife, Eleanor. It was he who founded the Staten Island branch of the Vanderbilt family. For more than a century his hardy descendants developed nothing of a remarkable character. They were quiet, indus- trious farmers, pious, perhaps to a fault, and liberal in their support of the little Moravian church, to the faith of which they were converted by some of the persecuted followers of John Huss, then settled at New Dorp. "Not slothful in busi- ness, serving the Lord," is a motto which they seem early to have adopted, and to have followed through the long years with most commendable consistency. On May 27, 1794, Cornelius Vanderbilt was born, at the home of his parents, near Stapletoii.* He was the son of Cor- neliusVan Derbilt and Phoebe Hand, and the great-grandson of Jacob Van der Bilt. His boyhood and youth were spent very much after the manner of other farmers' sons, in the pursuit of amusement and the performance of minor tasks about the homestead. He did not love school, and early acquired a taste for a seafaring life. But his mother, a woman of sound com- mon sense, won him from his dreams with a practical proposal, the acceptance of which by him started her son on that won- derful career which finally seated him. if not in the highest, then in the most useful i^osition offered by modern civilization as a goal for ambition. The proposal was this, that in case of his comi^leting an almost impossible i^iece of work upon the farm before a certain date he should have one hundred dollars, with which to purchase for himself a boat. He accepted the terms, and with the assistance of other boys, whom he interested in the project by offering them the privilege of sailing with him, he won the prize. This took place in his sixteenth year, and shortly after he began the transportation business by carry- ing passengers to and from Staten Island for an established toll of eighteen cents. Often when he first started in this business he would forego his meals to ferry excursion parties to the city and secure the extra reward sure to follow. He made money rapidly. At the end of the first year he gave *The name Vanderbilt, like most Dutch names, has been sulijected to modifi- cation in its spelling. Commodore Vanderbilt always signed it with a capital D, wliile his son, William H., and the ])resent representatives of the family write it without division — Vanderbilt. ^"f^hjiAHKichie. ^J^^^^-T 2^^-tC^ C'C^^^^ HISTORY OF RICmiOND COUNTY. ,'589 one hundred dollars to his mother for the boat, and one thousand dollars besides. At the end of the second he gave her another thousand dollars, and had secured a fractional interest in two or three more boats. The war of 1812 also furnished him many opportunities to add to his regular business, which he eagerly seized, and from which he profited largely, insomuch that he began to be regarded as a remarkable youth. While engaged in this manner he developed many of the peculiarities which so distinguished his after life, especially that of never allowing himself to be underbid or circumvented by any person or in any way.* In his nineteenth year Mr. Vanderbilt fell in love with, and married, his cousin. Miss Sophia Johnson, the daughter of his father's sister Eleanor. The ceremony took place November 19, 1813. Immediately after it he redoubled his efforts to place himself on a solid bnsiness foundation. From the profits of a contract with the commissary department of the United States for delivering food to the six forts in New York bay, together with other moneys which he had accumulated, he built a small schooner for the coasting trade, which he called the "Dread." The following year he built a much larger one named after his sister Charlotte, and placed it on the line between New York and Charleston. About this time, also, he began to study the modelling and planning of vessels, which finally ended in his abandoning sails for the then modern invention, the steamboat. The end of 1817 foiand him twenty- three years of age, mar- ried, with nine thousand dollars in his possession, and out of business. He had heartily espoused the cause of Gibbons, proprietor of the steam line between New York city and New Brunswick, N. J., in the fight which that gentleman was con- ducting against the Pulton Livingston New York steamboat monopoly. Mr. Gibbons, knowing his quality of determination, and appreciating the assistance which he had rendered him, offered Mr. Vanderbilt the command of the small steamboat "Mouse of the Mountain," which he accepted at a salary of one thousand dollars per annum. For twelve years he remained with Gibbons, fighting continu- ally against his monopolistic opponents. During this period he *Many interesting incidents in the life of Commodore Vanderbilt may be found in a racy little volume, by W. A. Crofiut, entitled " The Vanderbilts " — Bedford, Clarke & Co., 1886. 1590 HISTORY OF RICHMON^D COUNTY. added considerably to his income by the purchase and mainten- ance of the Half-way House at New Brunswick, where ten of his thirteen children were born. Finally, the lawgiving Fulton Livingston the sole right to run steamboats in the waters of New York stale was repealed, and Mr. Vanderbilt, feeling that he could greatly increase his income by engaging in business for himself, even though Gibbons offered him an equal partner- ship in his line, then paying forty thousand dollars a year, turned his eyes in the direction of tlie Hudson river and Long Island sound traffic. For the purpose of facilitating the accom- plishment of his projects, he sold his hotel and removed to Xew York city wath his family in 1829. He resided for a short time in Stone street, also in East Broadway, after whieli he removed to Stapleton, Staten Island, where he built the commodious and stately residence at present in the possession of Mr. George' H. Daley. From the time of his leaving Xew Brunswick, Mr. Vander- bilt made money rapidly, and the schemes which he put into operation for the increase of his fortune followed each other in quick succession. In the spring of 1830 he commenced running a line of boats, which had been built for him and which con- tained many improvements of his own invention, on the Hud- son river. At first he was ojiposed in this by the Stevenses, Daniel Drew and Dean Richmond, all of whom, however, rapidly disappeared before his unconquerable management and indomitable industry. For five years after leaving Gibbons he made thirty thousand dollars a year, which he doubled after the expiration of that period. At the age of forty he had more than a score of vessels running in all directions, and the num- ber was so rapidly increasing that he began to be called the Commodore, a name which ever afterward clung to him. Be- tween 1840 and 1850 his receipts were enormous, and he realized that people were looking upon his extensive oj^erations and growing wealth with that curiosity which phenomenal success always attracts. In 1849 he commenced his famous battle with the Pacific Mail Steamship Company bj' transporting passengers across Lake Nicaragua, located among the tops of the Andes. To accom- plish this he was obliged to get a small side-wheel steamer ("The Director") up the San Juan river, full of cascades and rapids, which he succeeded in jumping by tying down the safety valve, HISTORY OF RICH5I0XD COUMY. 591 to the great consternation of the accompanj-ing engineers. He made more than one million dollars a year in Nicaragua, besides the income from his other enterprises at the same time. In 1853 he sold out the route to the Transit Line and started on his voyage in the "North Star," then the largest steam yacht ever constructed. Accompanying him were his wife and eleven children. Everywhere through Europe Mr. Vanderbilt was re- ceived with marked respect by the various sovereigns and peo- ples, who looked upon his self-made wealth with surprise and wonder. This trip gave a great impetus to emigration, and was influential in bringing to this country many who recognized in him the legitimate product of free institutions. On his return to America Commodore Vanderbilt became en- gaged in an altercation with the Nicaragua Transit Company, which, in his absence, had grown rich by systematically de- frauding him. The course which he took on that occasion was characteristic. After first warning them of his intentions, he put on an opposition line, and in one year the Transit Company was bankrupt. Nine years longer he continued in the California business, accumulating not less than ten million dollars; but the filibuster Walker put an end to further operations bj- seiz- ing the Vanderbilt franchise and nearly capturing his steamers. Mr. Vanderbilt' s next venture was in the direction of the transatlantic traffic. At that time this was divided between the Cunard Line of English steamers and the Collins Weekly Line (American). These furnished only half the service required. The commodore offered to form a partnership with Collins, but the latter declined, fearing that if Mr. Vanderbilt once got his hand on the European trade he would monopolize it and in all probability crowd him out. For some time the commodore waged war with his voluntary antagonist over the United States mails, which had heretofore been carried at an enormous rate; and tinalh', when Mr. Collins' power at Washington was too great to be overthrown, he offered to cai^y the mails for noth- ing. President Pierce vetoed the Collins subsidy and Mr. Vanderbilt placed the three steamers, "Vanderbilt," "'Ariel " and "Harvest Queen," on the route. With the.se he beat the Collins steamers nine times out of ten. He soon made his line the favorite of travelers, and before long succeeded in so mo- nopolizing the trade that the Collins line disappeared from the ocean. For years he continued the transatlantic traffic, and 592 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. gave it up only when lie found that the rapidly growing railroad interests of the country furnished him with a better invest- ment for his money. At the time he commenced to put money in railroad stock he had built lif ty-one steamboats and steam- ships, besides schooners and other vessels,and he was the largest employer in the country. He owned nearly a hundred vessels, and his powerful hand was felt in every commercial circle in the world. The war of the rebellion, in its effect uj^on a man of Mr. Vanderbilt's wealth and temperament, was of the greatest im- portance. From its outbreak he favored offensive measures, and, together with Thurlow Weed, interested himself in the sending of troops to the front. Mr. Lincoln, noticing the ardor with which he espoused the federal cause, sent for him, after the sinking of the " Cumberland" by the " Merrimac," and offered him money to stop the progress of the rebel ram. Re- fusing compensation, he returned to New York, received a quota of government seamen aboard his favorite ship "Van- derbilt," and soon afterward was steaming up the James in quest of the confederate ram. The "Merrimac" did not reappeax", however, and the commodore wrote to Mr. Lincoln offering him the loan of his ship till the close of the war. Congress ordered a medal struck in his honor and presented to the donor, and the " Vanderbilt," then probably the handsomest and best equipped steamer afloat, and representing a value of eight hun- dred thousand dollars, i^assed into the possession of the United States government. In the winter of 1862-63, Mr. Vanderbilt made his first invest- ments in railroad stock, a move which at the time was consid- ered by his friends to be impolitic. He was then in his 69th year, and it was thought that the intricate methods of Wall street would be too much for his declining days. But the fact that in the next fourteen years he succeeded in withdrawing his immense fortune entirely from its maritime investment, doubling it four times over, and obtaining for it the most solid of all security then known to the American financier, shows the mental power which he possessed and the clearness of his judg- ment. His first investment was in Harlem, then selling at from seven to nine. Under the impetus of his name it soon rose to thirty, and shortly afterward to par, on his obtaining from the common council of New York city a franchise for a street rail- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 593 road to the Battery. The phenomenal rise thus given the stock excited the bears, who, after selling immense quantities of Har- lem short, attempted to injure the fomnHiiline by influencing the withdrawal of the street franchise. They succeeded, by forming a combination with the aldermen, in having the charter repealed; but found to their sorrow that he had outdone them by purchasing all the stock and holding it in his possession. Some of it sold as high as two hundred and eighty-five, and from the millions which he realized in this cornering of Harlem Mr. Vanderbilt began investing in Hudson Eiver stock, then (in the fall of 1863) selling at twenty-live. His idea was, if pos- sible, to control the road and secure its consolidation with the Harlem. For this purpose he went to Albany and secured the promises of a majority of the legislators tliat they would give their votes in favor of the measure. Again, as in the instance of the common council, he found that duplicity was being prac- ticed upon him. The honorable members of assemblj^ and their friends were selling Hudson River short, itreparatorj' to break- ing their jjledges and defeating the bill. This caused Mr. Van- derbilt to form a combination with John Tobiu, afterward pves- ident of the road, and Leonard Jerome. Tliey secured, as in the Harlem corner, nearly all the stcick of the road. The legis- lators went on selling till they had disposed of twenty-seven thousand more shares of stock than existed, and when the time came to cover their shorts there was a panic in Wall street. Hundreds were ruined outright, and Mr. Yanderl)ilt"s reputa- tion as a railroad manipulator was firmly maintained. The acquisition of the Hudson River Railroad by the com- modore gave him great power over the transit of the state, which was, however, hampered to a certain e.vtenr by tlie arbitrary conduct of the New York Central, under rlie control of Dean Richmond and Peter Cagger. These gentlemen adopted a course with Mr. Vanderbilt which was from rlie tirsr calculated to excite his displeasure. They refused f(» unite witli him in any measure for the better accommodation of either passengers or freight, and caused him to retaliate by a bold movement, which finally gained him j^ossession of the Xew York Central road. Richmond and Cagger had been in the habit of using Drew's river boats as an outlet for their freight in New York city during the summer months, but in the winter they were obliged to send it over the Hudson River road. Mr. Vander- 38 594 ['history of kichmond county. bilt took advantage of this fact, and refused to run any trains to Albany during the winter, thus reducing the stock of the Central more than fifteen per cent., after which he bought large amounts of it, and gained the management. Three years later, November 1, 1869, he secured its consolidation with the Hudson ."River road under the name of the New York Central and Hud- son River Railroad Company'. Even now Mr. Yanderbilt found that his path was not entirely clear. New difficulties ])resented themselves in the senseless and ruinous rate cutting of the Erie road, against which all his remonstrances were in vain. After trying in various ways to outwit Daniel Brew and his friends, then in control of that companj% he decided that his only plan would be to i^urchase the road. He accordingly commenced a rapid absorption of Erie stock, while Drew, Fisk and Gould sold short. For a while the issue of the battle between these giants of finance seemed doubtful, but the odds were in favor of the commodore. No one suspected the trick which Drew and his companions were about to put in practice; nothing less, indeed, than the issue of bogus stock. One hundred thousand shares of this were suddenly thrown on the market, and Mr. Vanderbilt unknowingly bought the whole issue. Immediately on discovering the fraud, he put the machinerj' of the law in motion. Drew, Fisk and Gould tied to New Jerse\', carrying nearly seven million dollars of greenbacks with them. But they were finally pressed to such an extent by Mr. Vanderbilt' s lawyers that they agreed to a restitution of several millions. The commodore, however, never fully recovered his loss in this transaction. After the matter had subsided, he made no further effort to obtain control of the Erie road, and for some years devoted his energy to the improvement of the properties already in his possession. He caused the tracks of the Harlem and New York Central and Hudson River Roads to be relaid and reballasted, new rolling stock was added to their outfit, the St. John's Park property was purchased and the freight depot erected. A charter was also obtained for an immense union de- pot at Forty-second street, and the building was constructed, together with the splendid system of viaduct tracks forming the entrance to the city of the northern, western and eastern railroads. This was accomplished at a cost of six million live hundred thousand dollars, half of which was borne by the city of New York. On November 10, 1869, the famous Albert de HISTORY OF KICHMOXD COUNTY. 595 Groot bas-relief, emblematical of Commodore Yanderbilt's career, was unveiled in the presence of more than ten thousand people. The design was most happy, and plainly tells the story of his rise from farmer's boy to railroad king. It occupies a position over the east front of the depot at St. John's Park, and it is said to have cost in the neighborhood of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The vast improvement which Mr. Vanderbilt made in his roads by the constant exercise of his managerial skill, together with their ever-increasing traffic, add- ed greatly to their value, and he at last applied to the legis- lature for permission to increase their capital stock from thirtj'- tive million dollars to ninety million dollars. This was granted, and he derived as his jjersonal share of profit from the transac- tion twenty-six million dollars. In November, 1873, Mr. Vanderbilt found himself obliged by the death of his son-in-law, Horace F. Clark, who had formerly, through his position of president of the Lake Shore & Mich- igan Southern, controlled for the New York Central road an outlet in Chicago, to purchase the former road. The advantage secured by rival railroad managers through the combination of the Grand Trunk and Great Western railroads also obliged him later on to secure the Canada Southern and the Michigan Central, which, when added to his former acquisitions, composed the finest and best equipped railroad property in the world. The commodore met with the loss of his wife August 17, 1868. Her death took place at the residence of her son- in-law, Horace F. Clark, where she was visiting. It was a great blow to her husband and family. Mrs. Vanderbilt was one of the noblest of women, affectionate, thoughtful and self-denying. She had borne thirteen children, twelve of whom reached ma- turity. Her burial took place at New Dorp in the presence of a crowd of affectionate friends. Among the pall bearers were A. T. Stewart and Horace Greely. A year later, in 1869, Mr. Vanderbilt married, at the little town of London in Canada, another of his cousins, Miss Frank A. Crawford. Augustus Schell and James Tillinghast were the sole witnesses of this ceremony. The second Mrs. Vanderbilt exercised a softening and refining influence over her husband and made him a loving and attentive companion in his old age. It was largely due to her influence that he established the "Van- derbilt University," of Tennessee, at a cost to himself of §1,000,- 596 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 000, and also that lie purchased for the friend of his latter days, Rev. Dr. Deems, "The Church of the Strangers," costing $50,000. On January 4, 1877, the great railroad king, then at the age of eighty-three, died. His funeral excited an intensity of inter est equal to that shown toward no other man, purely of a private character, who had preceded him. A large number of friends followed his body to its last resting place at ISTewDorp, and the items of his will were telegraphed to all parts of the world, where they were eagerly sought by thousands whose interests they might incidentally affect. Thus passed from the stage of usefulness perhaps the ablest man of affairs the world has ever seen. He left behind him a large family, of whom William Henry Vanderbilt was the eldest son. On examination of the will it was found that the commo- dore had left the bulk of his fortune, amounting to nearly $90,- 000,000, in his hands. How well he managed the trust imposed on him by his father will be seen in the following sketch of his life. William Henry Vanderbilt was born at New Brunswick, N. J., May 8, 1821. For four years he attended the public school in that place; but shortly after his father's removal to New York city, in 1829, he became a student of Columbia Grammar school. At sixteen he began his business career as a ship chandler, and two years later he entered the office of Drew, Robinson & Co., bankers on Wall street, the senior partner of which was Daniel Drew. The young man had been for some time consid- ering the adverse opinion which his father seemed to have formed of him. He saw that it was an obstacle to his progress, and resolved if possible to remove it. With this end in view, he devoted himself unreservedly to his work, and as a result, his advancement at the bank was a rapid one. On entering it liis salary was placed at $150 per annum. The second year it was $300, and the third it was $1,000. At the age of twenty he married Miss Maria Louisa Kissam, daughter of a Brooklyn clergyman of the Dutch Reformed church, and with her he went to board in East Broadway. His father was then worth in the neighborhood of $1,000,000, but he had made up his mind that his son was reckless and that helping him would but be wasting money; so he allowed him to live on as he had started, without his aid. At last the young man's health 1 ■^•f 'i^AXIUtshie ^y^ZyVf^^ c^^:^^^^^^^ HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 597 gave way, and his physicians notified his father that he must be taken from the banlv or the result might prove fatal. The commodore looked about for some means of employing his son, which would at the same time enable him to recover his health. Finally lie decided on purchasing for him a farm at 'New Dorp, S. I., between the old Moravian church and the sea, and to it William and his wife removed (in 1842) with the deter- mination that they would make the best of the situation. The house to which they went was a plain two-story structure facing the sea, with a lean-to for a kitchen. It probably did not contain more than five rooms. The farm also was very small, and was a part of the neglected barrens of Staten Island. It needed to be carefully tilled and abundantly fertilized to make it fruitful. From the first Mr. Vanderbilt made a success of farming. As at the bank, he gave his undivided attention to the task before him, and got as much as was i^ossible out of his narrow acres. His rule was hard work during the day, and rest at night. Essen- tially a domestic man, he lived, while at New Dorp, and, in fact, during his whole life, always with and for his family. When he left Staten Island, on his father's accession to the control of Harlem, he had by his own efforts enlarged his farm to three hundred and fifty acres, re-built his house, now one of the finest farm-houses of Richmond county, and his produce was yielding him $1,000 a month or §12,000 a year. The construction of the Staten Island railroad shortly before the war was a scheme in which Mr. Vanderbilt had deeply inter- ested himself. This thoroughfare ]3roved of great convenience, especially to the farmers and residents in the southern portion of the island, but owing to bad management it was soon over- laden with debt, and it became necessary to place it in the hands of a receiver. Through his father's influence, who was then a principal stockholder, he was appointed to the ijlace. He had no experience as a manager, but he began by applying rnles of common sense to the task before him ; and at last suc- ceeded, by reducing expenses, stopping leaks, discovering new sources of patronage, and connecting the road with New York city by an independent line of ferries, in i^lacing the company on such a footing that its stock, from being valueless, rose to $175 a share. All this was accomplished in two years, and as a result Mr. Vanderbilt was made president of the road. From this time forward, the commodore looked upon his son 598 HISTOKY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. with more favor. He soon afterward sent him to Europe to look after a brothei", Captain George Vanderbilt, whose health had been wrecked in the war of the rebellion, and who had been spending a year in the Riviera. This young man, his father's favorite, died at Paris, not long after his brother's arrival, and subsequently William occupied his place in the paternal affec- tions. When his father assumed control of the Harlem Rail- road he was made vice-president, and the management of the commodore's schemes for the imjirovement of the property were all intrusted to his care. He soon after became vice-president of the Hudson River Railroad, and on the consolidation of the lat- ter with the New York Central he was elected vice-president of the combined system. He put into operation the same methods in the reconstruction of these roads which had been used by him with such success in that of the Staten Island road. Expenses were reduced to a minimum ; old ties and old cars were burnt and replaced with new material ; ornaments were removed from locomotives, superfluous and incompetent employees and officers were either dispensed with entirely or replaced by men whose ability was undoubted, and who, together with the intelligence which directed their movements, made the Vanderbilt system of railroads what it is today — the finest and most thoroughly equipped in the world. Its value was so greatly enhanced by Mr. Vanderbilt's management that, although the amount of stock was nearly doubled, its selling price was increased from S~5 to $200 a share. In superintending his father's roads, Mr. Vanderbilt was me- thodical and industrious, and in familiarizing himself with routine work he gave attention to the minutest details. He carefully investigated every department of the vast machinery under his charge, and probably no railroad manager in the country ever became more conversant with the necessities of his roads than did he. Together with his father, he controlled the" great trunk line to Chicago with an ability never before mani- fested, and his addition to the New York Central railroad of two extra tracks for freight, made that road the greatest com- mercial highway in the country. At the age of fifty-five, on his father's death, Mr. Van- derbilt became the possessor of the greater part of his estate amounting to nearly 890,000,000. The interests which the com- modore held seemed to render this disposition of his fortune HISTOKY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. SQQ necessary, and the wisdom of bis will has been many times re- cognized by the American public since his death. The passage of this immense amount from father to son was unaccompanied by any downward tendency of values, and was managed by Mr. Vanderbilt with such ability that it created no iar or friction in financial circles. He at once became president of all the roads of which he had before been vice-president; but his relation to affairs remained substantially the same. The first year after his father's death was signalized by vig- orous rate cutting among the trunk lines in west bound freight. Mr. Vanderbilt from the first looked for a peaceful solution of , the difficulty, and his suggestion in favor of a compromise was finally adopted. But trouble in this direction was hardly over when the railroad strikes and riots began. The cutting of rates had been the cause of reduced wages, and ten percent, had been taken from the employees of the Vanderbilt roads. At the time Mr. Vanderbilt was at Saratoga, from which place, appre- hending an outbreak, he sent out a proclamation to the effect that the IVew York Central would give to those in its employ, the departmental and clerical forces excepted, $100,000, to be divided ratably. He also promised a restoration of old rates as soon as the br;siness of the road warranted the action. This quieted the appi'ehensions of his employees, and subsequently no difficulty of the kind has been known on any road under his control. In the life of a man of Mr. Vanderbilt' s prominence, im- portant events follow each other rapidly. No sooner liad the last mentioned trouble been obviated than an attempt was made by one or two of the commodore's heirs to break his will. The interests which he had at stake compelled Mr. Vanderbilt to defend himself to the extent of convincing aspiring contestants that his position was entirely tenable. When he had gained this point, however, he brought the suit to a peaceable termina- tion by compromise. To his epileptic brother, Cornelius J., he gave §1,000,000, and to each of his sisters 8500,000, in addition to the amounts already given them by the will of their father. After the commodore's death, Mr. Vanderbilt completed the purchase of the Canada Southern Eailroad. This, together with other acquisitions which he made, added. considerably to his already immense income; and he soon began at Fifth avenue and Fifty-first street the construction of the elegant residence 600 lIISTOItY OF RICHMOND COrNTY. in which he died, and descriptions of which have been plenti- fully circulated in the newspa]jers ever since its completion. Work was begun on the building in 1879, and was pushed with such energy that the structure was completed in two years. Six hundred workmen were employed upon it and sixty sculp- tors, brought especiall}^ from Europe, were kept busy during the same length of time. The cost of the double home was §2,000,000, and the art gallery was furnished at an additional exi)ense of 81,500,000. The collection of paintings, two hun- dred in number, representing the best modern artists of France, is said to he the most complete in the world. Mr. Vander- bilt gave much attention to its construction, as a result of which he proba1>ly secured for himself the finest private residence in America. The love of Mr. Vanderbilt for out door exercises, and especi- ally for fast driving, was a theme of conversation in sporting circles, not only throughout this country but also in Europe. After the decease of his father he essayed to take his place upon the road. He bought Lady Mac to match with Small Hopes, and astonished the public by driving the team to a top road wagon over the Fleetwood park course in 2.23^. This was the beginning of the rage for fast teams. Others competed with Mr. Vanderbilt, and the excitement on the boulevards and avenues above Central Park was unprecedented. Discovering that Small Hopes and Lady Mac would not be able to main- tain his prestige, he secured Aldine and Early Rose, which were driven together at Hartford in 2.16^. Shortly afterward Frank Work's team beat the record, and on June 14th, 1883, Mr. Vanderbilt took Ids fastest ride behind his team, Maud S. and Aldine. in 2.1.5+, the wagon together with himself weighing four hundred pounds. This time has never been beaten. Among other fast horses which Mr. Vanderbilt owned were Leander and Lysander, and Bay Dick and Charles Dickens. It is not nor will it ever be known how much Mr. Vanderbilt gave to charities. His method of doing this was so secretive that his contributions seldom reached the public ear. His hand was constantly in his pocket. Realizing the fact that he had duties toward those who were less fortunate than himself, he jjerformed them without hesitation. Old friends of his father who were ueedy. employees of the Central suddenly afflicted or disabled, he helped without stint. He added §200,000 to the HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 601 endowment of the Vanderbilt University, and gave $100,000 for the Theological school. The latter went to build a hall which was dedicated on the donor's birthday, May 8, 1881. Two weeks before his death he gave $10,000 for the formation of a library for use at the university. No one was more sensitive to public opinion than was he. He studiously avoided public honors, and always gave, where he could, to already established institutions. In pursuance of this custom he gave to the "College of Physicians and Surgeons" §500,000, to which his daughter, Mrs. Sloan, and her husband, William J. Sloan, one year later added 8250,000. At the time of the Grant- Ward failure, he made strenuous efforts, without avail, to induce Gen- eral Grant to accept as a gift §150,000 previously loaned him, but which obligation the general through unforseen difBculties had been unable to meet. Among his minor gifts were $50,000 to remove the debt of the church of St. Bartholomew and $10,000 to the Deem's fund for the education of poor young men at the University of North Carolina. He also con- tributed to the University of Virginia, and made innumerable private donations of which the public has no knowledge. In his will he left $900,000 to charity, and it is said that the last check signed by him, within three hours of his death, was for a charitable object. When spoken to in regard to the re- moval of the obelisk to this country from Egyjjt, he immedi- atelj' agreed to bear the expense, amounting to more than §100,000. In his latter days Mr. Vanderbilt' s health became much im- paired, and he was disposed to lean upon his sons for counsel and advice. He also took frequent and more extended vaca- tions, sometimes going to Eurojie and returning on the same steamer. It was partly for this reason, and partly to silence the senseless clamor of the socialistic elements of society, that he sold $35,000,000 of the New York Central stock, which he ac- complished at one time without weakening its value or depress- ing the money market. This immense number of shares was l^urchased by a syndicate composed of the following: J. S. Morgan & Co., of London, Drexel, Morgan & Co., August Belmont & Co., L. Van Hoffman & Co., Morton, Bliss & Co., Winslow, Lanier & Co., Edwin D. Morgan, Cyrus W. Field, Jay Gould, Russell Sage and others. They took 250,000 shares at 8120, ten points l)elow the market price, on condition that 602 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COXJNTT. the syndicate should have a corresponding representation in the directory of the Central, and that Mr. Yanderbilt should not l)lace any of the stock of the road upon the market for one year. The $35,000,000 thus withdrawn was promptly reinvested in government bonds, which, together with moneys already X>laced in the same manner made a total of $53,000,000 in gov- ernment bonds, of which Mr. Vanderbilt was the possessor. During the construction of the " JS^ickel Plate" railroad, Mr. Vanderbilt' s interests compelled him to make every effort to prevent its completion. Finally, when these failed, he purchased the road. His second son, William K., carried on the negotia- tions, and was shortly afterward elected its president. After this transaction, on May 3d, 1883, Mr. Vanderbilt resigned the presidencies of the various railroads of which for more than six years he had been the honored head. The event was heralded by the press in all parts of the world, and various reasons were assigned for the action. The truth of the matter was simply that he was overworked and his health fatally impaired. De- cember 8, 1885, three years after his resignation, he died at his home in New York city, of paralysis, a second attack. His latest operations were made in Chicago & Northwest- ern, Omaha and F'hiladelphia & Reading. He also arranged the details of the purchase of the bankrupt West Shore rail- road. Mr. Vanderbilt left behind him his wife, four sons and four daughters. He had more than doubled the fortune left him by his father, and was reputed at the time of his death to be worth in the neighborhood of §-2()0,O00,O00. The manner in which this was invested admitted of a more equal distribution than his father had been enabled to make of his estate ten years before, and of the eight children surviving him, not one received less than $10,000,000. The two eldest sons, Cornelius and William K., however, inherited the bulk of the fortune, amounting to nearly $120,000,000. Of the two, the oldest, Cornelius, now in his forty-second year and worth probably $80,000,000, is prop- erly recognized as his father's chief successor. He has long been looked upon in the financial world as a young man of far- seeing and correct judgment, and he has already evinced great skill and ability in his management of his immense estate. In concluding this sketch of two individuals whose names during the last half century of the country's history have at- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 603 tracted so much attention and inquiry, it is perhaps proper for us to glance a moment at the qualities which succeeded ingath- ering, and those which retained this greatest of all the vast estates of which the world has any knowledge. Commodore Yanderbilt, the founder, was a poor farmer's son. He inherited a strong physique, indomitable energy and an earnestness of purpose which is noticable through his whole business career. To these he added ambition; one which en- abled him to laugli at obstacles and even at defeat, and carried for him many points which, had they gone adversely, might have ruined his prospects forever. Armed thus, and with an intelligence capable of grasping with ease problems which had been the bane of linanciers and statesmen for years, he stepped upon the field of action at a time when the present all-pervad- ing spirit of mercantileism was in its infancy. The first issue which stared him squarely in the face was the necessity for hard work and earnest endeavor in his own behalf. Where others might have bemoaned the ill fortune which compelled the ac- tion, he accepted the world for just what it was, strove vigor- ously, and, seizing the tide of fortune at the ebb, marched on to usefulness and to success. No man ever exercised a more im- portant influence on the times in which he lived than did he. Many passages of his life read like romances and suggest the providence of the Almighty in placing such a man in such a position. For many years he busied himself in providing ways and means for the transportation of population and commerce to and from his native laud, and finally, when he found the in- ternal highways of his country blocked and in the hands of wreckers, he made his entry upon the scene, and like the hero in the play, struck boldly at the evil, and provided a sure remedy. He and such as he are in the highest sense useful. They may acquire fortunes which are looked upon by large numbers with envious eyes, but they give to the state what they can never take away, far-reaching prosperity resting on a basis sound as their own judgment. No less useful, but far different in his characteristics, was the commodore's favored son and heir. The father was cold, gruff and inclined to argument; the son the direct opposite in every respect. Each seems to have been made for a special sphere in life, and each to have occupied it. It is doubtful whether or not, had the commodore lived till now, his naturally uncom- 604 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. promising disposition would have been able to deal as success- fnlly with the railroad strikes, the Nickel Plate and West Shore difficulties, or even the cutting of west-bound freight rates, as did his son. That he would have met these troubles there is no doubt, but his disposition would probably have led him to fight them all to the bitter end, a course which, in the present state of the country and of the transportation system, would have proved a mistake. William H.Vanderbilt left behind him the record of a life well led, a course well run. His lat- ter days were not his happiest. The great fortune in his hands was not a means of comfort. It weighed heavily upon him as a public trust, and not as a source of pri- vate gratification. He finally sank with a sigh of relief, wearied beneatli its weight. How api^ropriate that he should be buried on Staten Island in sight of the very home in which he spent so many happy hours with his loving wife and children bj' his side. The same breezes which, as they pass the vaults and headstones of gamblers and railroad wreck- ers, shriek and groan disapprobation, smile as they take from the costly mausoleum at New Dorp the clear records of Com- modore Vanderbilt and his son and hurry them on to their de- scendants in the metropolis beyond. A heritage of usefulness such as they left to their children is of more value, and will be justly considered so by thoughtful and conscientious people, than all the dollars which Providence has placed in their hands. Captain Jacob Hand Vanderbilt was born on the eastern shore of Staten Island, on September 2, 1807. His ancestors were of Dutch origin, and had resided on the island from the earliest times. A few year's before his birth, his father, Cor- nelius Vanderbilt, had removed from the north shore, where he had lived on the site of the present residence of Read Bene- dict, Esq., and where the captain's brother, Cornelius, had been born in 1794. The homestead on the eastern shore was located on the west side of the shore road, in the settlement now known Stapleton, and adjoined, on the south, the site upon which Com- modore Cornelius Vanderbilt subsequently built a residence for himself. Connected with it was a farm of about forty acres, extending to the south and west. In those early days of Staten Island neighbors were few, and life quiet and simple. Between Duxbnry's Point, a short distance north of the r HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 605 United States Lighthouse grounds, and the Narrows there were but twelve houses, and these were occupied by farmers, who also took no small interest in the neighboring fisheries. The meal and Hour for family use were ground at the Clove mill or by the tide mill on the South beach, and each farmer supplied l\is family with meat from his own cattle. Doctors and lawyers were very few and rarely employed ; there were no shops on the island, and the pedlar with his pack, or the merchants of the neighboring city, who were visited once or twice a year, supplied the various necessary articles which a farming and fishing community could not produce. A conch shell, sounded in the morning toward the hills from the little wharf in front of the Vanderbilt homestead, hastened the pace of the farm horse or the feet of the laggard that bore to the ferry the traveller to the city. The undecked periauger of farmer Vanderbilt, Senior, with its two lug sails, would at last draw out from the shore, perhaps have a brush with the rival boat of his near neighbor. Van Duzer, and then settle down with a steady favoring breeze for a six mile run to Whitehall slip in the city, or, perhaps, a slow trij) in a calm over the Jersey shallows where oars and poles furnished the motive power. Mrs. Phebe Vanderbilt, the mother, was a woman of ability, force of character and piety. In her co-operation her husband always felt that he had a powerful resource, and to the quali- ties which she transmitted to her two sons they have been largely indebted for the prominence and influence which they subsequently attained. Under these influences of surrounding nature and domestic life young Caj^tain Vanderbilt grew up, acquiring the common school education of the times, and at an early age began to "follow the water." At the age of eighteen he had risen to the command of a steamboat, and from that time onward he rose steadily in the importance of his business engagements and adventures, which were chiefly connected with the conduct of steamboat lines on Long Island sound, the Connecticut and Hudson rivers. In 1834 he married Euphemia Maria Banta, a descendant of General Israel Putnam, whose personal and mental charms, joined with her widespread benevolence, made her a leader in society and, at the same time, beloved of the poor and dis- 606 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. tressed, from an early age until her death which occui'red in 1877. Three of Captain Vanderbilt's children are living: a son, bearing his own name ; Ellen, widow of Herman D. Cfesar, son of Senator Cfesar, of Bremen, and Clara, wife of James Mc- Namee, of the bar of New Y(jrk. Since the close of the rebellion Captain Yanderbilt has lived in a beautiful home, known as "Clove Hill," on the heights of Staten Island, in retirement from business, excepting that, in- stead of completely ceasing from the activity of a long and busy life, he hlled for nearly twenty years before 1884 the ]iosi- tion of president of the Staten Island East Shore railroad and ferry. Many of his contemporaries have passed away and men of different training and stamp have come and are coming upon the scene of business life, but to his many friends and acquain- tances, who yet survive out of the multitude that have known him. Captain Yanderbilt will always be known as a man of ac- tion, sturdy integrity, modest disposition, yet great force of character, kind heart, notwithstanding a certain direct and sometimes brusque address, and always a comforter of the desponding. His love of horses is well known, and the furious speeding of his favorite trotters over the "Lane," in New York city, and on the roads of Staten Island will long be remembered. The old-fashioned race of native Americans, to whose laboi', energy, disdain of ease and hatred of underhand business methods this country is indebted for its foundations, has nearly passed away. To this class of men Captain Yanderbilt belongs, and to those who know him and the history of his life, he is to-day the most picturesque and interesting figure among all the residents of his native island. The Yan Name Family.* — The family of Yan Names, from tradition, originally came from Holland, and the exact time they came to Staten Island seems to be unknown, as it appears no record can be produced to establish their authenticity of set- tlement. This much we must rely upon from a church record produced from Mr. John J. Clute's statement, which, however, is incomplete in many instances. * By David M. Van Name. HISTORY OF RICH.MOND COUNTY. 607 The earliest mentioned, according to the records, is Evert, who married Wintje (Wilhelmina) Benham. Tlie number of children by tlie union is not known, unless the subsequent names taken from the records are his, which seems quite proba- ble. These were : a son Joseph, baptized April 22. 1709 ; a daughter August 31, 1718; Simon, born October 29, 1713: Sarah, born August lo. 1717 (this was probably the daughter above baptized); Aaron. August 11, 1718; and Moses, February 8, 1725. There also appear under the same, other members. For instance, Simon and Sarah Frail had a daughter baptized Octo- ber 80, 1716, which might possibly have l)een brother to Evert; also an Englebert mari'ied to Maria DeCamp; son John baptized April 12, 1719; twin daughters, October 15, 1721; and a Johan- nes had a son Peter, baptized May 18, 1718. According to dates, Aaron and Simon must have been brothers, there being about five years difference between their ages. Aaron and Mary McLean had the following children : Aaron, Catharine, Simon, William, Ann, Moses and Charles. Moses (the son of Aaron) married Mary La Grange, and they had the following children : John, Mary, Moses, Elizabeth, Catharine, Michael, Sophia, Rachel, Aaron and Charles. Charles (the son of Moses), married Elizabeth Mersereau, only daughter of Judge Paul Mersereau, by whom he had the following child- ren : Joseph H.. Paul M., David M., Nancy M. and George W. David M. (son of Charles) mai-ried Sarah M. Wyckoff, of Xew Brunswick, New Jersey. Charles, son of Aaron (who was a son of Simon), made his will April 8, 1805, which was probated May 21, 1805, in which he mentions his sons Anthony and Aaron, both minors. Aaron, last named (son of Charles), had a son Cornelius, who married Rebecca Corson ; the last named were the parents of William Henry Van Name (now deceased", who married Eliza- beth Ann, only daughter of Benjamin Decker, of Mariners' Harbor, and had one child. Counselor Calvin D. Van Name, of Mariners' Harbor. Moses (son of Aaron) was born February 23, 1760, married June 9, 1782, died October 16, 1811 ; Mary La Grange (wife of Moses) was born September 8, 1763, married June 9, 1782, died February 3, 1846 : John (son), was born June 18, 1783, married Elizabeth Wright, died April 1, 1853 ; Mary was born July 19. 1785, married April 15, 1803, to Edward De Hart, died 608 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. January 13, 1870 ; Moses was born April 9, 1788, married Janu- ary 2S, 1811, to Mary Pierson, died July 28, 1871 ; Elizabeth was born June 30, 1790, married to Matthias De Hart, died July 25, 1873 ; Catharine was born February 16, 1793, married De- cember 1, 1811, to Henry Simonson, died July 27, 1869; Michael was born November 14, 1795, married April 20, 1817, to Ger- trude Cortelyou, died June 5, 1883 ; Sophia was born August 29, 1798, married October, 1816, to William Lake ; Rachel was born March 10, 1801, married September 4, 1821, to Peter Thatch- er, died 1885; Aaron was born October 1, 1803, married January 24, 1827, to Mary Mersereau, died July, 1882 ; Charles was born August 25, 1806, married November, 1832, to Elizabeth Merse- reau (cousin to Mary), and died July 15, 1883. This generation have all died, excepting Mary (wife of Aaron) and Elizabeth (wife of Charles). The family of Charles Van Name.— Charles (son of JMoses) and Elizabeth, his wife, had the following children : Joseph H., born March 27, 1835, married December 31, 1856, to Caroline Gibson ; Paul M., born June 12, 1837, married July 3, 1860, to Elizabeth Scott, of New Jersey ; she departed this life March 4, 1872. Family of John Van Name.— John Van Name (son of Moses), born June 18, 1783, married January 8, 1809, to Elizabeth Wright, died April 1, 1853 ; Elizabeth, his wife, born July 2, 1792, died May 22, 1875. Their children were: Mary La Grange, born October 12, 1809 ; Caleb Halsey, born February 7, 1813 ; Judy Johnson, born September 2, 1815 (now dead) ; Moses J., born March 9, 1818 ; Catherine, born October 27, 1820 ; Sophia Lake, born May 9, 1823 ; John Poiner, born February 2, 1826 ; Andrew Wright, born July 11, 1828; Elizabeth Jane, born April 28, 1831, died May 23, 1855 ; Charles Joseph, born January 28, 1834. David M. (son of Charles), born January 1, 1840, married November 18, 1869, to Sarah M. Wyckoff, of ISew Brunswick, N. J.; Nancy M., born November 24, 1842, married May 10, 1865, to John Todd Crittenden, of Virginia ; George W., born October 20, 1845, married April 10, 1870, to Kate A. Van Name. She departed this life April 10, 1881. The family of David M.Van Name. —David M. and Sarah M., his wife, had the following children : Travilla, born October 1, 1870 ; Lizzie Irene, born April 3, 1872 ; Ada D., born February HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 609 11. 1876 ; Florence Adelaide, born September 20, 1879 ; Sara Vida, born June 14, 1882. Family of Joseph H. Van Name.— Joseph H. and wife had one child,- a son George, who married Louisa Ricard. Familj' of Paul M. Van Name.— Paul M. and wife had the following children: Alice Jane, married to Thomas Simonson; Charles Winfield (dead); Edward Everett; Zenetta, married to A. Lnske; Frances Marion; Paul M. (dead), and Charlotte (dead). The last two were twins. Family of Nancy M. Crittenden.— Nancy M. and husband had the following children: Pauline, born July 28, 1866; J. Howard, born November 7, 1871. Family of George W. Van Name. — George W. and wife had the following children: Edgar, Irving and Pearly Louise. The family of Van Names have ranked as a very prominent class of people from the ancient name in Holland down to the present day, and have lived and labored mostly during all these years at their island home of nativity. Charles was a merchant for forty years, and educated his sons in the same line. Joseph H. and George W. are pursuing the course of their father, Paul M. may be found at Jewett's white lead factory, and David M. is a commission merchant in New York city. Charles was supervisor of the town of Northtield during the late civil war. He was always active, and discharging his duties in the most honorable manner, was beloved by his towns-people and re- marked for his courteousness with all. Van Pelt. — We read of individuals of this name in New Utrecht several years before we meet the name in connection with Staten Island. Thus, Wouter (Walter), Anthony and Aert Van Pelt are mentioned as early as 1687, living on Long Island. The first Van Pelt we meet in the Staten Island records is Hen- drick, who had seven children born between 1696 and 1701. He was probably connected with the Long Island families, as we find their names perpetuated on Staten Island. At or about the same time there was a Peter Van Pelt, who had a son Jan bap- tized October 21, 1707, and a son Samuel July 25, 1710. This John and Jannetje (Janet) Adams had: A daughter, baptized March 28, 1736; a son William, April 13, 1742, and a daughter, April, 1744. Jacob and Aaltje (Alida) Haughwout, his wife, had a son John, baptized October 15, 1727, and a daughter Cat- alyntje, September 27, 1724. John and Susanna Latourette, 39 610 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. his wife, had twins, John and Susanna, baptized May 2.5, 1729. Tunis and Maria Drageau. his wife, had the following children: Anthony, baptized October 9, 1729; Johannes, baptized Febru- ary 14, 1731; Maria, baptized June 3, 1734; Joost, baptized May 19, 1737, and Tunis, baptized November 19, 1738. Peter had a son William, baptized November 23, 1715; a son Samuel, April 16,"1717. Simon and Maria Adams had a son Peter, baptized May 23, 1749, and a daughter, April 18, 1743. John (An- thony's) son and Susanna Latourette, his wife, had Joost, bap- tized April 4, 1736, and Anthony, baptized April 30, 1733. This Anthony married Janneke Simonson, and had a daughter, bap- tized June 11, 1760. Peter and Barber Houlton had a daughter, baptized April 18, 1743, and a son David, baptized October 12, 1755. Jan and Maria Bouman had a daughter, baptized September 14, 1742. Jan, Jr., and Catrina Bouman had a daughter, baptized May 6, 1745. John had a daughter, baptized October 29, 1787. Samuel, son of Peter, mentioned above, and Maria Falkenburg had a son Pieter, baptized July 19, 1748. Aart and Christina Immet, daughter Maria, baptized December 10, 1721. John and Margaret, his wife, had the following children: Tunis, born Au- gust 8, 1760; John, born February 10, 1765; James, born May 13, 1761, and Peter, born November 13, 1769. Peter and Phebe had a son Tunis, born June 6, 1768. Anthony and Susanna had a daughter Susanna, born May 10, 1766, and a son George, born March 1, 1769. Joseph and Elizabeth had a son James, born August 5, 1767, and a son Tunis, born December 2, 1771. John and Catharine Lawrence had a daughter Mary, baptized March 8, 1772. Jacob and Elizabeth had a daughter Mary, born March 11, 1768. Peter, son of John and Margaret, above, married Mary Colon, December 5. 1797. David and Hannah Wright married June 21, 1801. He was born in February, 1779, and died March 30, 1838. Wandel. — The first of the name in our county records is John, who, with his wife Letitia, executed a mortgage to Groom, May 1, 1767, and cancelled it by payment the next year. He was a cordwainer by trade, and carried on the tan- ning business on Todt hill. John and Letitia had a son Peter, bornjJanuary 10, 1766. Peter married Sarah Van Clief in March, 1789, and died May 17, 1857, over 91 years of age. His sons X ^ HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 611 were Matthew, Daniel, John, Peter S. and Walter I., the latter only still living, April, 1876. Hon. Albert Ward. -The late Hon. Albert Ward, first judge of the Eichmond county court of common pleas, was a descendant of the Ward family of Westchester county, N.Y., a family of such distinction and patriotism during the war of independence as to win extended notice from its local his- torians.* The family -was originaly English. Its first representative in this country, Andrew Ward of Watertown, Mass., freeman, 1634, came with the first settlers to Connecticut, was elected a magistrate in 1636, removed to Long Island in 1643, and became a resident of Fairfield, Conn., in 1649. His eldest son, Edmund, removed to East Chester in Westchester county, K". Y., where Edmund's eldest son, also named Edmund, was brought up and afterward distinguished himself as a member of the '•Colonial Assembly." Hon. Stephen Ward, second son of the lattei', was judge of the county of Westchester and the owner of the famous " Ward Mansion " in East Chester, which became the headquarters of the American troops and the scene of many bloody engagements. He was liroscribed by the loyal- ists, and a bounty was set upon his head, because of his pat- riotism and devotion to the colonial cause. Stephen Ward was the father of James Ward who married Phoebe, sister of Daniel D. Tompkins, governor of New York state, and afterward vice- president of the United States. Caleb T. Ward was a son of James and Phoebe (Tompkins) Ward and the father of Judge Ward of whom we write. Caleb T. Ward was a man of careful business habits and a worthy representative of the noble and self-denying family from which he came. His only son, Albert, was born in the city of New York November 27, 1816; and a few years later Caleb and his family removed to Staten Island, where he built the " Ward Mansion" on the hill now called by the same name, and commanding one of the most striking and beautiful views on the Atlantic coast. At his death he left two children : Al- bert, just mentioned; and Mary Mann, to the memory of vvhum St. Paul's Memorial church was built. * The genealogy of the Ward family is given in full in Bolton's " Histoiy of Westchester County ; " and many interesting facts in regard to the family are contained in the recently published history of the county by L. E . Preston & Co. 612 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. In his youth Albert Ward received a careful training, and choosing the law as his profession, was admitted to the bar, November 1, 1839. Subsequently, he divided his time and at- tention between his practice and the care of the large estate left him by his father, and which he largely increased by skill- ful management and tireless industry. March 16, 1844, he was appointed by the governor of New York state, first judge of the court of common pleas for Richmond county; and during the two years in which he held that office he distinguished himself for his ability and foresight. In 1846, the new constitution of the state made the office which he held, elective, and not caring to mix in the politics of the county he gave up the position. His large private interests made Judge Ward a man of infiu- ence, not only on Staten Island, where he owned a large proper- ty, but in the financial circles of New York city. He wasastocl^. holder in the Fulton Bank, National Park Bank, Bank of Com- merce, Shoe and Leather Bank, Mechanic's Bank, Metropolitan Bank, Bank of America, Bank of New Yorl\, Gallatin National Bank, United States Trust Company, Union Trust Company, New York Life Insurance and Trust Company, and of the Greenwich, Hope, Hoffman, and the Arctic fire insurance com- joanies. He was president of the Arctic Insurance Company, and a director in a number of tlie corporations above named. His many business associates found in him a staunch friend, a man whose experience taught him how to give good advice, and one to be always and implicitly trusted. But the chief charm of his character was the deep religious feeling which pervaded his whole life and manifested itself in all his acts. For many years it had been his desire to devote to the service of the Lord enough of his means to erect a church for the parish in which he had given much of his energy and thought. His gift to St. Paul's parish of the St. Paul's Memorial church, a beautiful and substantial edifice built of native granite, was the flowering of this generous desire. It was presented, as he says in a letter to the rector, dated Apnl 28, 1866, as a " memorial to an only and dearly beloved sister." From a sermon delivered in this church in memory of Judge Ward, by the rector, Reverend Albert U. Stanley, Advent Sunday, 1878, we quote the following : " His donation of this church edifice was consistent with his life-long interest and devotion to the parochial prosperity. The old records show that his father, his mother, his sister and HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 613 himself were together baptized by the Reverend Francis H. Cuming the tenth of November, 1833, and that these were the first baptisms in this parish, then known as St. Paul's church, Castleton. His father, Caleb T. Ward, was one of the first vestrymen appointed when the parish was organized, the 11th of March, 1833. He himself was elected a vestryman Easter, 1841. In 1853 he was appointed warden, an office which he held till the day of his death, making more than twenty-five years of service as warden. It would be impossible for me to relate in full the obligations of this parish to his wise judg- ment and sturdy churchly sense. But I know that once he stood alone in the gap, saved by his own unaided effort the parish from extinction, and then helped to restore the life to what was almost a body inanimate and motionless." Judge Ward was married in early life to Miss Catharine U. Parker, a woman of sweetness and beauty of character, as shown by her zeal in all works of charily and benevolence. She was always interested in relieving the distress and suffer- ing of the poor, and many will remember the help she carried so quietly to the homes that came to know her as an ever-ready messenger of peace and mercy. Sustained so amply by the liberal spirit of her husband she was enabled to accomplish her good work effectively, and to gratify her own kind and sympa- thetic nature. Toward the latter part of their married life a gradual decline in health left her at the last a complete invalid, and not only stopped her own great usefulness, but shadowed the declining years of her honored husband. Four children were born of this union : Elizabeth Parker, wife of Amos Booth ; Marj^ Ward, Kate Kearney Ward, and Sarah Bonnett, wife of Ed- ward Wanty, all of whom, with the widow, survive and reside on Staten Island. Judge Ward died at his residence in Edgewater, October 28, 1878, and was buried beside his illustrious ancestors in the churchyard at East Chester. He left a very large estate in the village of Edgewater, consisting of land beautifully situated on the hills overlooking the bay and embracing the most desirable sites on the island. The whole estate is ably managed by George H. Daley, Esq., who has been its trustee since 1883. The death of Judge Ward closed a life, the value of which to the business and religious community cannot be over-estimated. 614 HISTORY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. It was a life unusually fruitful of good deeds and good results, and his liberal nature found expression in practical and attrac- tive forms, which endear his memory and ensure for him a lasting place in the history of the island. Captain Stephen Whitman, for more than ten years trus- tee of the village of Port Richmond, and one whose foresight and business ability have done much for the promotion of its welfare, was born in Boston, Mass., March 18, 1825. He early contracted a fondness for the sea, which he followed from his fourteenth year till he entered, in 1861, upon his present sphere of usefulness as a stowage and cargo inspector in New York city. He is at present the senior member of the firm of Whit- man & Fisher, doing business at 99 Peai'l street. Captain Whitman's talents as a seaman raised him rapidly from a position before the mast to one of command, and he had charge in his day of several famous packet ships in the New York and Liverpool trade and one of the smartest of the California clippers. He was also intrusted with the important command of one of the steamers of the old New York Mail Steamship Company, and later of steamers of the Cromwell line to New Orleans. A master seaman and officer, he made a reputation for the safety and rajiidity of his trips and obtained for himself a popularity among passengers seldom enjoyed by seafaring men. During the war of the rebellion Captain Whitman saw much active service, and while in the old ''Escort" he tells of a lively chase by the "Alabama," from which piratical craft, by good management, they contrived to escape. The captain has been an active member of the " Produce Ex- change" for the last thirteen years, also of the "Maritime Ex- change" and the "Marine Society," the latter the oldest in America. In 1861 he took up his residence in Port Richmond, where he still remains. Shortly after his arrival on Staten Island he purchased the property which he occupies at the present time, and where it is his delight to meet and entertain liis many friends. He is married, and has two cliildren still liv- ing. His genial and gentlemanly qualities, together with his extensive business relations, have made him well known and widely res^Dected both on Staten Island and in New York city. WiNANT. — This is one of the oldest families on the island, and is so ramified that it is impossible to trace all its branches to their sources. We select that branch which is probably best i^/C^ ^>i^2LX, HISTORY OF RICHMOI*rD COUNTY. 615 known, and is represented by Abraham and liis brother Jacob G., both of whom have been sheriffs of the connty. They are the sons of Hon. Bornt Parlee Winant, of Rossville. His parents were Abraham Winant and Mary Parlee, who were married August 1, 1807. The father of Abraham was Winant Winant, who made his will July 5, 1804, which was proved August 11, 1804, between which dates he must have died. In that instrument he mentions his wife Mary, and his children Abraham, John G., Jacob G., Mary, Frances and Ann. The father of Winant Winant was Abraham, who was the son of the elder Winant Winant, who was the son of Peter Winant, the jirogenitor of the family. The following is the inscription ni3on his tombstone : " Here lies the body of Peter Winant, born in the year 1654, who departed this life August 6th, 1758, aged 104 years." He was a native of Holland, but the date of his emigration and settlement on the island, which are identical, has been lost. As his family was the only one of the name then in the county, the following must have been his sons, viz.: Peter, who had a son Peter, baptized April 23, 1707. Winant (men- tioned above), whose wife was Ann Cole, who had the fol- lowing sons baptized : Peter, March 27, 1720; Abraham, March 24, 1725; Jacob, October 9, 1726, and Daniel, April 22, 1728. John, whose wife was Lena Bird, had a son Peter baptized March 19, 1732; and Cornelius, whose wife was Maria Cole, had a son Cornelius baptized February 28, 1728. The following are other members of the family, whose names we tind in the county and church records : Captain Peter, born December 4, 1784; he was captain of the schooner "Thames," which was wrecked on Absecom beach, November 4, 1823, when he lost his life. Peter, born October 5, 1802, died February 8, 1867. Abraham and Mary his wife had a daughter Ann, born September 30, 1758, and a daughter Elizabeth, born March 3, 1770. Daniel and Rachel his wife had a son Daniel, born May 10, 1760. Daniel and Susannah his wife had a daughter Ann, born June 27, 1762. Daniel and Elizabeth his wife had a daughter Rachel, born October 4, 1765. Peter and Christiana his wife had a son George, born September 6, 1770; this George married Eliza Winant November 15, 1794. John and Hannah (or Johanna) his wife had a daughter Elizabeth, born July 29, 1774, and a son Jacob, May 15, 1776. Peter and Charity his 616 mSTORV OF RICHMOND COUNTi'. wife had a son Isaac, born February 1, 1775; this Isaac married Patty Winaut January 16, 1796. Peter and Ann his wife had two chiklren, Daniel and Ann, baptized November 20, 1785; Peter Winant made his will May 9, 1793, which was proved July 26, 1793, in which he mentions his wife Ann, his father Daniel, and alludes to his children without giving their names. Cornelius and Catharine his wife had a daughter Cornelia, bap- tized November 21, 1790. Peter and Mary Winant were mar- ried July 14, 17D0. Moses and Catharine Winant were married August 7, 1800. Daniel and Eliza Oakley were married Decem- ber 19, 1801. There are four ways of spelling the name of Winant, some of the branches have dropped, others have added a letter, but all trace back to the same stock. Jacob Winants, of English an- cestry, a wealthy farmer, was born in Westtield, Staten Island, in 1749, and feeling himself called to preach the Word, gave his life service to the Methodist church as a traveling preacher, often officiating in private residences, school houses and other places that offered. He died at the age of 76 years. He married in the Lawrence family, who claim to be remotely con- nected with the wealthy Townlej^ family of England, now under investigation as to who are ihe rightful heirs to inherit that large estate. Jacob Winants' wife's father. Doctor James Law- rence, was born in Newtown, Long Island, in 1732, and after- ward lived on Staten Island. In 1753 he married Miss Anne, daughter of Charles Jandine, a French Huguenot, who died in New York, aged 72 years. His wife died in 1807; they left two daughters. Sarah was born in 1759, married Joseph Ridgway, and died in 1823, leaving five children: Anne, Capt. Joseph, Mary, James and Elizabeth. The second daughter, Catherine, born in 1763, married Jacob Winants, and died in 1820. They left five children, four sons and one daughter; Elizabeth, the oldest, died when young. His oldest son. Captain Peter, was born in 1784, married Miss Fannie Ellis, daughter of Garret Ellis; she was born in 1785, and died in her 82d year. Captain Peter was an officer in the army, and served his country through the war of 1812, and was always found to have been a true patriot and ever loyal to the cause of liberty. He was shipwrecked at sea in 1823. By this disaster he lost his life at the age of 38 years. He left six children, four daughters and two sons: Mrs. Mary Cortelyou, Mrs. Catherine Mills, Garret E., Mrs. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 617 Laney Appleby, Mrs. Sarah Ann Gongh and Sebastian; all deceased except Garret E. and Mrs. Appleby, who reside at Bergen Point, New Jersey. Jacob Winant's second son, Daniel, married Miss Polly Laforge; they had three children, all de- ceased. Jacob Winant's third son. Captain Winant Winants, married Miss Mary Johnson, of Westlield; he died in 1872, aged 83 years. They left three sons: Captain James J. Winants, of Rossville, S. I. ; Captain Jacob, of Jersey City, and Coi'nelius, of Brooklyn, all living. Jacob Winant's fourth son, Jacob, died in 1867, aged 67 years, without issue. Garret Ellis Winants, a self-made man, was born on Staten Island, state of New York. He is of Dutch, English and French ancestry, his progenitors having emigrated to this country at an early date. The family name on Staten Island, where most are to be found, is spelled Winant; in the south, Winans; in the west and north, Winan. His father, Capt. Peter Winants, was lost at sea when young Winants was about 9 years of age, being shipwrecked when on a homeward voyage; the vessel and cargo being lost, and all the passengers and crew, except the mate and two sailors, finding a watery grave. By the loss of this vessel and cargo, of which Captain Winants was part owner, and upon which there was no insurance, his widow and six orphans were left in comparatively indigent circumstances, there remaining only the farm or homestead, and a few thousand dol- lars invested. Shortly after his decease this money was called in, reinvested by his widow, and subsequently lost. Through such a chain of disadvantageous circumstances our youthful subject was deprived of an early education from books. At that period the farmers were in the habit of employing a teacher onlj' through the winter season, for one quarter, or more fre- quently a half quarter, keeping their children on the farms the residue of the year, claiming it to be more profitable to keep their boys and girls at work during planting and harvesting than to allow them the privilege of education. That he has largely overcome this early neglect may be gathered from either one of his entertaining and instructive volumes, " Journal of Travels over the Continents of Europe, Asia and Africa, and the Islands of the Sea," published in 1872, "Around the World," published in 1877, and other works not yet in print. He is 618 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY . widely known througliont New Jersey and elsewhere by his writings on travel. As he approached manhood his first choice was to follow the sea — a desire strongly opposed by his excellent mother, who did not wish to expose her only son to the possible fate of his father. At the age of 18 he left the parental roof to seek a livelihood for himself, and with a view to assist his mother, possessed of a limited edncation and less than a dollar in money, with not a friend to whom he could apply, if need be, for a loan of so much as ten dollars, excepting his mother, who had done her all. His first engagement was on a schooner as a hand be- fore the mast, at eight dollars per month. In the hope of hav- ing a nice little sum to aid his mother in running the farm, he allowed his wages to remain for three months, and was at that time deprived of them by the dishonesty of the captain. He next procured a berth at twelve dollars a month. He soon made, by his activity and perseverance, many friends, and was re- warded at 19 years of age by a few persons Joining together and building for him a freighting schooner of forty tons burden, named " Gilletta," with the proviso that as soon as young Wi- nants could pay for any part thereof he should have an interest therein. After some three years' struggle he succeeded in pur- chasing this vessel, and shortly afterward took on a cargo of plaster of Paris and was shipwrecked on Long Island sound, nearly losing his life by the disaster, which swept away his all. Thus he was compelled to commence the world anew; yet, with undaunted courage, somewhat despondent, the young captain after a time succeeded in building a lai'ger vessel, named " Ellis Amanda." From this time fortune smiled upon his efforts, and he continued building and buying vessels until his fleet numbered in all fifteen, thus enabling him to conduct a much larger maritime trade, some being engaged in bringing pine wood from Virginia, others running to Albany in the lumber trade, and still others in the transportation of street-sweepings and coal-ashes from the city of New York. During the rebellion Captain Winants built and equipped five steamboats, which he chartered to the United States gov- ernment for war purposes, one being placed in the revenue department of the port of New York, three on the coast of North and South Carolina and the James river, and one car- -A-^4^. '^i^^Ckyzyz-t HISTORT OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 619 rying the United States military mail between New Orleans, Cxalveston and Brazos de Santiago. At the close of the war Captain Winants sold out his fleet of vessels and retired from active business. For several years previous thereto^he had the contract from New York city for the removal of coal-ashes and street-sweepings. He purchased some forty acres of water-front in Jersey city, formerly known as Harsimus bay, opposite the city of New York, paying there- for over one hundred thousand dollars. About nine-tenths or nioi-e of this land was covered with tide-water of the Hudson river, and the ordinary class of vessels sailed over it in the pursuit of commerce. Here he deposited the street-sweepings, and ashes gathered under his contract with the city of New York, and for more than ten years he was engaged filling in this land, building docks, grading, paving and sewering the streets rendered necessary by the impi-ovemeut, which added largely to the growth and revenue of Jersey city by way of taxes, etc. On this property are located the large terminal depots occupied by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, steamship i^iers, and now there is in course of construction two first-class ferries, one from the foot of Cortlandt, and one from Debrosses street to ply between New York and this property in Jersey city; besides on this land are located the immense tobacco factory of P. Lorillard & Co., one of the largest in the United States, and other factories and buildings which have added much to the growth and prosperity both of Jersey city and Hudson county. There was one who, while living, gave impress to the state, who at every fitting opportunity testified to the character of Mr.Winants,'and was his warm and devoted friend, viz., ''Hon. Dudley S. Gi'egory." Mr. Gregory was himself a self-made man, and his sympathies always leaned toward such, and he was also a large land-holder in Jersey city, who highly com- mended the matured plans and enterprise of Mr. Winants, which gave development to Jersey city and atti'acted to its water front the steamships of Europe and commerce of the old world. This property, once covered with water, comparatively worthless, is rapidly increasing in value, a large part of which Mr. Winants still retains. He is also a large owner of real estate in the city of New York, Plainfield city, Elizabeth city, Hudson city, Hoboken citj-, and Bergen Point, N. J., to which 620 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. latter place he came in May, 1872, and where he now resides. He married February 10, 1841, Miss Amanda, danghter of James Miller and Abigail Birdge. They had four children; one daughter, Mary Frances, who died in 1872; and three sons, James M., Ellis Sebastian, and John Frederick, the two latter of whom died in early childhood. Mary Frances married George H. Hillyer, who also died in 1877, leaving two sons, Clarence W. and Frank Ellis Hillyer. Upon retiring from active business in 1862, Mr. Winants devoted much time to travelling, and in company with his wife made several lengthy tours, one around the world, traversing some twenty-seven thousand five hundred miles ; another over the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa and the islands of the sea, embracing some twenty thousand miles; still another tour through Central America, and along the border of South Amer- ica, up the Pacific coast to San Francisco, crossing the continent, covering about eleven thousand miles; besides travelling in and through the West and East India islands, Mexico, Canada, and have seen every state in the Union, except Kansas, of which they made the circuit twice, and passing through several of the terri- tories, in all traversing about one hundred and thirty thousand miles, seeing many of the wonders and glories of the natural world. On his extensive tours he was shipwrecked twice and railroad-wrecked three times, and escaped without any bodily harm having befallen him. During their travels Mr. Winants kept a daily record, in accordance with a habit of some forty years past, part of which he has given to the world in two hand- some volumes, elaborately illustrated, full of valuable and instructive information, written in a clear, forcible and interest- ing mannei'. In former years, while a resident of New York city, Mr. Wi- nants took an active part in politics, but had no aspiration to office, and on two occasions was tendered by the democratic party the nomination for alderman, and could have held other important places for trust had he desired, but all of these he re- fused to accept and now favors men in preference to party. As a director of the Union Dime Savings Bank of New York for thir- teen years he aided largely in strengthening that successful insti- tution. He is an elder in the Dutch Reformed church, president of the board of the American Bible Society of Hudson county, X. J.; member of the supervisory board of trustees of thetheologi- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 621 cal seminary at New Brunswick; also trustee in the board of domestic missions, delegate to the general synod and one of the principal financial pillars in that denomination. Mr. Winants' paternal grandfather, Jacob Winants, a wealthy farmer of Staten Island, felt himself called to preach the Word, aud gave his life service to the Methodist church as a travelling preacher, refusing to accept financial aid, but only souls for his hire, and from him our subject would seem to have inherited similar desires. He has given largely of his abundant means to the church and kindred associations, irrespective of sect or creed, besides educating young men for the ministry. The ma- ternal grandfather of Mr. Winants, Captain Garret Ellis, was one of the heroes of the war of 1776, always an uncom- promising patriot, and ever loyal to the cause of liberty. Mr. Winants' father, Capt. Peter Winants, was of similar patriotic heart, and served his country through the war of 1812, follow- ing in the steps of his ancestors witii unflinching faith. During our last war, beginning in 1861, G. E. Winants, though not go- ing to the war himself, when the nation was in distress and needed the full support of all loyal citizens, gave substantial aid in the interests of the Union armies by his means and coun- sel, and thus was one of the pillars to support every measure of the government to suppress the rebellion. The writer is largely indebted to Ex-Governor Bedle and Hon. A. A. Hardenbergh, of New Jersey, for the material facts of this sketch, and they saj' of him, "It is impossible to do justice to a character which has made so strong an impress upon his fellows." Men of his marked characteristics have acquired fame, aud their names have been repeated by history. Bold, honest, defiant in his nature, as befits his physical manhood, yet kind and genial in his disposition, it may well be said of him, " None know him but to love him, None name him but to jjraise." t And yet why is this; we may be asked, but the answer is readily found; wealth and affluence have detracted nothing from the sincerity of his character, nor have circumstances or position palsied any energy in his devotion to the common weal through life. Charity never fails in its mission when Mr. Wi- nants is required to set his seal upon the act, and the young and timid in the race of life gather from his kindly spoken 622 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. words at once a benediction and blessing. There is something heroic in the strong and stalwart man who has achieved snccess on the battlelield of life, still more so when snch snccess has been marked by devotion to principle, when its honors are gathered beyond the voice of criticism, and its monuments are found in missions of public benevolence, and the daily exercise of hid- den deeds of kindness. Besides being devoted to his family and faithful to his friends, he has always been full of energy and enterprise, and readj' to make sacrifices when demanded for the public good. It is by such self-made men that the charac- ter of the community is conserved, the better interest of the state made safe, and the happiness of the republic assured; if it be not so, we may have but limited faith in our republican institutions. "WoGLOM. — This name was originally written " Van Woge- lum." John sold land in 1696; this is the earliest mention of the name in the local records; the next is Grysie Woggelum, who was witness at a baptism in 1698. John Van Wogelum had a daughter Chrystyntien, baptised 22, 1707, and a daugh- ter Suster, baptized July 26, 1711. Ary (Adrian) and Celia Pryer had the following children: Jan, baptized May 21, 1716: Anna, baptized June 3, 1722; Andries, baptized June 27, 1725; Adrian, baptized July 27, 1729; and Abraham, baptized August 8, 1731. There was a Douwe Van Wogelum residing on the island in 1742. The next notice of any members of the famil}' are from the records of St. Andrew's. Abraham and Hannah Parlee were married November 18, 1790; Joshua and Martha Cole were mar- ried February 10, 1796; John and Lanah Pryor were married December 24, 1808. Wood. — This family is of English origin. The name is com- mon everywhere, and it is exceedingly doubtful whether the Woods on the island have descended from the .same original. Samuel B. Wood, Esq., of Garrison's, is the son of the late John B., who, with his brother Samuel are sons of Samuel. Samuel's brothers were Joseph, John, Stephen and Jesse, and they were the sons of John, the great-grandfather of Samuel B., Esq. It is impossible to trace the genealogy of any other branch, but we subjoin the names of such as are to be found in the several church records. Stephen and his wife Geertje (Ger- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 623 trade) Winter, had twins, Stephen and Obadia, baptized De- cember 24, 1727. Stephen and his wife Jemima Mott had a son Richard, baptized June 13, 1731. The above are from the records of the Dutch church ; the following are from those of St. Andrew's church : Stephen and Mar}', his wife, had a daughter Mary, born September IS, 1772; a son Stephen, baptized June 5, 178.5. John and Margaret, his wife, had a son Stephen, baptized August 1, 1773, who married Damy Housman, February 3, 1794. (This Stephen was one of the live brothers mentioned above as sons of John.) Stephen and Alice, or Elsy, his wife, had a son John, baptized June IS. 1783 ; he married Barbara Van Pelt, December 23, 1804, and another son, Abraham, born September 22, 1788. Timothy and Sarah Rezeau were married inJanuarj^ 1769. Isaac and Susan Lewis were married February 9, 1794. John and Sarah Lock- man were married March 23, 1794. Richard and Catharine Lockman were married January 7, 1795. James and Els- ton (Alston ?) were married June 1, 1799. Charles and Joanna Dongan were married December 11, 1806; she was the daughter of the late Walter Dongan, of the Four Corners, and the mother of Mr. Walter D. Wood, of Mariners' Harbor. Jesse and Catharine Marshal were married July 9, 1807. James, men- tioned above, lived at Long Neck, or Travisville, and his sons were : Charles, mentioned above, John, Peter and Abraham ; Charles was well known in his day as a local preacher in tiie Methodist church. John, brother of Charles, married Mary Jones, and was the father of James and Edward. Abraham C. Wood, son of Benjamin Wood, was born in New York city, March 1, 1819. He came to Staten Island with his father in the year 1821. Prom early life he was a prominent and useful member of the Reformed church. Port Richmond. He commenced his business life in the employ of the New York dyeing and printing establishment at West Brighton. In 1851 he became a member of the firm of Barrett, Nephews & Co., Staten Island fancy dyeing establishment, the works located in Cherry lane. West Brighton. As secretary and treasurer he controlled the office in New York city. In this position he con- tinued during his life. He was for many years trustee of pub- lic school No. 2, of Castleton. He also served in other positions of honor on the island, among which were supervisor and mem- ber of the board of police. The following resolution was placed 624 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. on file by his associates of the board of trustees of school No. 2: '' Hesolved, That this board of trustees feel called upon to testify its appreciation of the great loss the people of this dis- trict have sustained in the death of this tried and faithful officer, whose integrity and purity of purpose were beyond all question. It is with sorrow not wholly unmixed with pride that we remember our worthy colleague, the public spirited citizen, the efficient friend and laborer for public schools, the loving husband and parent, the conscientious Christian, and record for the benefit of those who come after us, that Abra- ham C. Wood lived a long and useful life amongst us, and laid down the burden of life generally esteemed as one of the most conscientious, worthy and public spirited citizens that ever lived among us." He died April 30, 1884, and rests in the Moravian cemetery at New Dorp, Staten Island, awaiting the call to a blissful imm(jr- tality. Jacob B. Wood, son of Benjamin Wood, was born in New York city, August 22, 1811, and came to Staten Island with his father in the year 1821. He was, during his life, connected in business with the custom house in New York city for a number of years as entry clerk, and afterward as head of the firm of Wood, Niebuhr & Co., custom house brokers, which last posi- tion he held until his death. He was also, as his father, con- nected with the Brighton Heights church. In business and in church relations he was always prominent. In nobility of char- acter and loftiness of spirit he closely resembled his father. In the minutest particular he was always the gentleman, and every- where courted for his high social qualities. He vvas a great lover of books and works of art. In 1851 he visited Europe. On his return he published a small volume entitled " Notes of Foreign Travel." The book reveals a lively appreciation of every sight he witnessed and of all the incidents that marked his tour. He had a mind and heart of very high order. His home was on Staten Island from 1821 until 1863. He served as supervisor a number of years, and was a marked and prominent man in every good work going on around him, and esteemed and beloved by all with whom he came in contact. He died at Piermont, Rockland county. New York, August 1, 1885, rest- 'nyANSatd'U' HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 62;") ing in faith awaiting the trumpet call to a blessed immortality. His body lies beside his father in the Rockland cemetery. Abraham J. Wood.— Abraham Wood, the grandfather of the subject of this biography, died at Springville, Staten Island, September 20, 1796. To his wife Ruth were born sons, Moses Abraham, James C, Walter; and daughters, Nelly, married to David Price, and Mary, married first to Samuel Baily, and a second time to Isaac Sprague. James C, the third son in order of birth, was a native of Staten Island and by trade a chairmaker and mechanic, after which lie became and contin- ued for many years a merchant at Tottenville. He was an ex- emplary Christian, zealous in the cause of temperance, and an honored exhorter in the Methodist Episcopal church with which he was connected. By his first marriage to Catherine, daughter of Elias Price, were born Abraham J., Esther Ann, wife of Andrew Sprague, and Elias P. His second wife was Hettie, also a daughter of Elias Price, whose children were Catherine M., wife of Isaac Bedell, Alfred, Emily, wife of John T. Winant; Rachel, married to Sebastian Butler; Drusilla, wife of James Booth, and James. Abraham J., the eldest son, was born January 29, 1812, in Hudson county, N. J., from whence he removed when but 5 years of age to Staten Island. Receiving but limited advant ages of education at Tottenville, his home, at the early age of 16 he engaged in the oyster trade. New York afforded a ready market, and his regular trips were rendered more i^rofitable by the occasional transportation of passengers. At the age of 24 his attention was turned to farming and butchering for a limited time. His former vocation again attracted him, and to the present time his energies have been chiefly di- rected to oyster planting, with such successful results as to have placed him in a condition of independence. He now re- sides on his attractive farm at Prince's Bay. Mr. Wood, in 1860, opened a store at Prince's Bay, of which he is still the owner. As a citizen he is enterprising and public spirited. As a business man, clear headed and thrifty, his ventures have usually been crowned with success. An early democrat, Mr. Wood on its formation found the principles of the republican party to harmonize with his views, and consequently Joined its ranks. He has been a delegate to state conventions, served as justice of the peace, held for six 40 626 HISTOKY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. terms the office of suiiervisor, and in various otlier capacities served his township, county and state. In all these relations he has won respect as a conscientious and able public officer. He has also been for a quarter of a century postmaster of Prince's Bay. Mr. Wood was, Maj^ 24, 1834, married to Cath- erine, daughter of James La Forge. Their children are Abra- ham E., Catherine E., Frances A. and James A. Besides the foregoing, there are several names that have at one time or another been prominent in the county. Some of these we notice in the following paragraphs : Arrowsmith. — Of this name there were two on the island during the first half of the last century — Thomas and Edmond. They wei-e Englishmen, and appear to have aspired to an aris- tocratic position in society. Their public services were chiefly of a military character. Beatty. — John, and his son Edward, who died Julj' 17, 1825, aged over eighty-one years. They owned the property lying between the Moravian church and the Patten house, and were prominent as friends and supporters of that church. BiLLOP. — The name is introduced here only to notice the fact that Colonel Christopher, so eminently notorious during the revolution, had a son, John Willett, baptized June 11, 1769, of whom we hear nothing more. If living at the time of the evacuation of the island he was a lad of fourteen or there- abouts, and probably accompanied his father to the British ijos- sessions. Borland. — In the latter part of the seventeenth century we meet the name of Lambert Borland frequently. He was a mem- ber of the colonial assembly in 1691, and therefore must have been a man of considerable importance. The name has now en- tirely disappeared from the island. Dunn. — In our local records, church or county, this name oc- curs only in connection with a single individual, who is desig- nated as John Dunn, Esq. He appears to have been a man of superior acquirements, and was twice elected member of assem- bly from the county, 1804 and 1805. He died December 21, 1826, aged fifty-seven years. Mrs. Abraham Housman, of Port Rich- mond, is his only surviving child in the county. GiFFORD. — This name also occurs in the records only with ref- erence to a single individual, as early as 1770. He was a man of HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 627 considerable influence, and bis name is perpetuated in the public road called from him, Gilford's lane, near Richmond. Harrison.— John Talbot Harrison, M.B., was born October 2, 1785, and died March 6, 1868. His appointment as health of- ticer of the port introduced him to the island, where he subse- quently took up his residence. He was a member of assembly for the county in 1830 and 1831, presidential elector in 1840, and member of the state constitutional convention in 1845. He was highly respected as a man and as a physician. He was the father of H. R. Harrison, M.D., Port Richmond. Le Count, or Le Conte, John.— Was a man of great influence in the county early in the last century; he was a member of the colonial assembly in 1726, and again in 1756; he was also county judge from 1739 to 1756. Marlet. — There were two brothers of this name, Paul and Abraham, residing in the county, between 1680 and 1700 ; they possessed considerable property, but the name has become ex- tinct. They both appear to have been highly respected in their day and generation. MiCHEAU. — During the last half of the last century, and the beginning of the present, there were several families of this name in the county, some of whom were men exceedingly popular. The first of the name, Paul, was sheriff in 1736, and member of the colonial assembly from 1748 to 1751 ; his son Paul, however, appears to have been a great favorite with the people of the county ; he was chosen to the provincial congress in 1775-6 ; county clerk for twenty years from 1761 ; county judge for eleven years from 1786, and state senator from 1789 to 1792. His son, Paul J., was member of assembly 1798-9, 1802- 3, and Benjamin, county treasurer in 1787. There was never a more jiopular or influential family in the county, but they have all disappeared. They were residents of Westfield. Besides the above, there were individuals and families who once exerted a powerful influence in the county, who have now totally disappeared ; among them are the names of Berge, Adriance, Stoothoff, Veghte, Vanderbeck, Staats, Yeltman, Clendening, Garrabrantz, Hoogland, Ralph, Jenners, Van Wagenan, Slecht, Carenton, Spier, Hafte, Swaim, Neflus, Ryke, Schouten, Gray, Zutpheu, Rykman, Van Engelen, Metzelaer, Van Tuyl, Pryor, Jurks, De Grammeaux, Vander- hoven, Richaud, Wimmer, Gaspers, Packer, Van Dyck, Sim- 628 HISTOKY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. senbach, Brebant Bosler, Tillburgh, Van Brakel De Camp, Carhart, Corbitt, Tillou, and others. EMINENT MEN AND WOMEN OF STATEN ISLAND. By Hamilton Willcox. Forgotten corner of the world though most strangers deem Staten Island, it has been the home of as many famous persons as most places of renown. Since, yes, before, the time when Governor Dongan built his residence on the shore of Kill Van Kull, overlooking the scene where white men began the long record of outrage and murder on the occupants of the land, and built his shooting lodge on the west slope of the hills, that just above Castleton Corners look toward the Orange mountains, Staten Island has been the abode of numerous men and women whose memories are historic. Lest partiality should seem to be shown, the writer has been unwilling to trust to his own knowledge or recollections. No- tice of the preparation of this chapter has been furnished to the journals of Richmond county, with a I'equest for memoranda regarding those who could properly be deemed distinguished. If any who should be included here are left out, it will be be- cause the needful information has not been supplied. Our space will mainly be devoted to those who are no longer living, or now dwell elsewhere. Above all the ligures of its past, towers that of Daniel D. Tompkins, whose great mansion yet stands on a hill overlook- ing the first village incorporated in the county, and named for him. Assemblyman, judge of the supreme court, representa- tive in congress, governor of New York state ten years, includ. ing the trying time of the war with Great Britain, and by his courage and patriotism, when his state was invaded on the St. Lawrence river and Lake Ontario, and his own home was in peril from British ships, distinguished as "New York's war governor ;" as governor, obtaining the passage of the noble law which abolished slavery and secured freedom to ten thousand human beings and to their posterity forever ; also as governor, approving the various acts whereby the legislature removed the burden of disfranchisement from several classes of people ; leaving the governor's chair to become vice-president of the United States, in an administration which had the glory to allay partisan strife, and receiving an almost unanimous re- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 629 election ; during tliis second term as vice-president almost elected governor agiiin ; presiding over the convention which revised the state constitution, and serving as vice-president al- most to the day of his death ; few American statesmen have had so brilliant and honorable a career. One of the great forts, which at the Narrows guard New York on the Staten Island shore, fitly bears his name, and is his lasting monument. The spirit of the elder Tompkins was transmitted to his son, the courtly, scholarly, brave, genial and eloquent Minthoi-ne Tompkins, who resigned his seat in the state senate in 1840, sacrificed a career which lay before him probably as brilliant as his father's, rather than withhold his hostility to slavery in other regions, and espoused the cause of liberty when it was political ruin to befriend the slave. In a state where his father was so long governor he had the nerve to accept a nomination for that ofBce as the candidate of the free soil party (with John P. Hale for president and George W. Julian for vice-president), when his supporters could give him but 19,000 votes. To his generous sympathy hundreds of poor families on the island owe their houses, for he it was who broke up the great estate his father left into small lots, sold these lots to poor families, and allowed them to pay him as they could — five or ten dollars at a time. The people of the county remembered this, and on two occasions, when he headed the county ticket of his party, which was in a hoj^eless minority, he was honored by a vote much beyond the strength of that organization. In 1855, when his party (republican) was beaten nearly three to one, Minthorne Tomi)kins failed of election to the assembly by only seventy- five votes. During the war of the rebellion he spent much time and pains in raising the " Staten Island Regiment," of which he was made colonel, though of an age that well exempted him from military service; and when the exigencies of war obliged the government to consolidate the regiment with others before he could complete its numbers, and to hurry to the front the men he had recruited, he gave up his command without a mur- mur. For many years he served, in the latter part of his life, as a member and president of the board of port wardens. He died, not long since, beloved and regretted by friends all over the state and country. Another vice-president, a predecessor of Vice-President Tompkins, and a man of a very different career, ended his days 630 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. at Port Richmond. Soldier of the revolvition, leader of the bar, attorney-general, senator of the United States, inventor of the methods of American politics, manager of the tremendous struggle of 1800 which placed Jefferson and the party of the people in power by carrying New York city, hence the state, and so turning the scale; while vice-president engineering the Hi ST. JAMES HOTEL, PORT RICHMOND.— HOUSE WHERE AABON BUKR DIED. act of 1801, by which the legislature relieved tens of thousands from disfranchisement, and presiding over the first convention which revised the state constitution; missing the presidency only by want of generous and hearty loyalty to Jefferson; can- didate for governor, driven from the state by a combination of HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 63] politicians who used the death of Alexander Hamilton to crush him, would-be emperor of Mexico — when Aaron Burr came to the end of his eventful life, it was on Staten Island, where he had passed much time at intervals, that he died. Jacob Dolsen Cox, one of the most honored of living Ameri- cans, who has filled the posts of major-general of volunteers in the civil war, governor of Ohio, secretary of the interior in General Grant's first cabinet, representative in congress, presi- dent of the Toledo, Wabash & Western railroad; dean of Cin- cinati law school, and almost senator in place of John Sherman, was in his youth a clerk in the Wall street office of Anthony Lane, and was a resident of Port Richmond, as was also his brother, Charles F. Cox, secretary of the Canada Southern railroad. Some of the leading names of the world in science belong to Staten Island. Dr. John William Draper, one of the most ma- jestic minds the world has known, whose researches revolu- tionized many departments of knowledge; who gave to man- kind the art of i^hotography; who during half a century's laborious investigation freely gave the public, without seeking patent or other monopoly, the fruits of his toil and study; who set forth, in books of wide circulation, facts commonly deemed dry with language that fascinated the reader; who handled the history of Europe with skill that from an adverse critic (the Westminster "^eo/eio") extorted the confession that "what Buckle attempted for England, Draper has done for Europe;" who for more than forty years daily instructed large classes in chemistry, physiology, botany, geology and kindred sciences; who helped to found the New York University Medical College, and as its secretary and president built it up to a great institu- tion. Doctor Draper, while making the discoveries and writing the works which first gave him European as well as American celebrity, lived in a modest house on Cherry lane, not far from the Hatfield farm. His sons. Dr. John C. Draper, successor to his father's university chairs, in that father's lifetime professor of chemistry and mineralogy in the New York City College, and of analytical and practical chemistry in the university, author of several scientific works; and Dr. Henry Draper, also author of a number of scientific works, builder of a silvered glass re- flectory telescope which eclipsed that of Lord Rosse; first pho- tographer of the moon, ])hotograplier of the sun through the 632 HISTORY OF Richmond county. telescope, surgeon and captain in the war of the rebellion, author of numerous i^apers, articles and books on scientific sub- jects, resided in boyhood in the Cherry lane house with their father. Alexander Del Mar, author of "A History of the Precious Metals," a " History of Money in Ancient Times," " The Science of Money," and other works, probably the greatest ever written on political economy, and certainly the ablest and most labor- ious ever written by an American, lived both at New Brighton and Stapleton. -At one time he was financial editor of eight different journals, and founded also the flourishing " Commer- cial and Financial Chronicle and Neio York Daily Bulletin.'' As director of the bureau of statistics he reorganized the United States commerce and navigation returns so as to make them re- liable, which was a herculean task; and by one sharp exposure he prevented, in 1868-9, the plunder of the United States treas- ury to the extent of one hundred millions of dollars. As orig- inator and officer of the United States monetary commission of 1876, he brought the country back to the use of both silver and gold as currency, and thus greatly aided to prevent the threat- ened disaster of a vast paper inflation. Dr. Samuel Mackenzie Elliott, whose discoveries in occulism largely advanced that art and brought him an income of $30,000 a year, also founded the settlement along Bard avenue which still bears his name; built, and for years maintained, an astronomical observatory, whose dome may still be seen on the roof of his former residence, on the hill above Stapleton. Under his care at Elliottville, among many remarkable cures, sight was restored to Professor Edward L. Youmans, whose enthusi- astic lectures and writings on chemistry and kindred branches, delivered to audiences all through the counti-y, widely spread the knowledge and interest on these subjects which are now common. He founded the " Fopular Science Montliln,'' made that great thinker, Herbert Spencer, known to Americans, and saved his wondrous system of philosophy from suppression. Dr. John Swinburne, too, whose discoveries in the art of healing broken bones and dislocated joints, and whose success- ful application of those discoveries to thousands of sufferers in civil life, in the war of the rebellion, and in the siege of Paris (1870), earned for him unnumbered blessings and amazed the skilled surgeons of France; who as health officer saved New HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 633 York from a plague, and who was elected mayor and congress- man in Albany by large majorities in a community strongly op- posed to him politically, was long a resident of Tompkinsville. Dr. Carl C. Schmidt, publisher of the " Leipsic Medical An- nual," and other valuable publications, a scholar and physician of unusual attainments and singular dignity and beauty of person, driven from Germany in the revolution of 1848, settled at Willow Brook in Northtield, and there ended his days. I)r. Frederick Hollick, whose books and lectures on physi- ology did much a generation since to spread knowledge of that science in America, has long been a resident of the island, as has Dr. A. L. Carroll, formerly editor of the " Medical Gazette,'" translator and author of several scientific works, and secretary of the state board of health. Prof. N. L. Britton of Columbia College, a nativ.e of West- field, though still a young man, has made a name among scien- tists by several works on topics in natural history. Sir Edward Cunard, American manager of the singularlj^ careful and successful ocean steamship line which bears his name, long lived on the hill overlooking the Narrows, where he could see from his window every vessel of his line come in sight of New York and disappear thence. William H. Aspinwall, long a leader in developing trade with California, and for whom the city of Aspinwall in Panama is named, was long a dweller at New Dorp. M. B. Brady, the famous photographer, long dispensed a generous hospitality to distinguished guests from many climes, at a residence on Grymes hill. Daniel B. Allen and Samuel Barton, agents of Commodore Vanderbilt's steamship lines; Jeremiah Simonson, a prominent shipbuilder; Bernhard Westermann, the leading German book- seller of America, have also been residents of Staten Island. George Cabot Ward, American agent of the famous banking house of Baring Brothers & Co., dwelt on Bard avenue, as did Robert B. Minturn the younger, of the widely known house of Grinnell, Minturn & Co., and president of the American Free Trade League. At Clifton lived John A. Appleton, of the immense publish- ing house of D. Appleton & Co., and Nathaniel Marsh, presi- dent of the Erie railroad ; at New Brighton— Daniel L. Apple- ton, of the celebrated Waltham " American Watch Company,'' 634 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. and at different times president of the Mercantile Library and of the New England Society ; at West Brighton — Hiram H. Lamfort, president of the ubiquitous Continental Fire Insur- ance Company ; on Grymes hill — George Law, who succeeded Cornelius Vanderbiltas the leading steamboat owner of the har- bor, and after Law's death John J. Cisco, the banker, for years United States assistant treasurer ; Hugh J. Jewett, president of the Erie Railroad ; Roderick W. Cameron, of the Australian steamship line ; Erastus Wiman, head of the original mei'can- tile agency, which reaches all over the country, and promoter of other business enterjirises ; William T. Garner, head of the great Cohoes Mills, and commodore of the New York Yacht Club. The list of Staten Islanders who have been commercially distinguished is far too long for insertion here. Gen. Antonio Lopez Santa Anna, styled the ablest of Mexican generals, and the wiliest of Mexican iioliticians, repeatedly president and dictator of Me.xico, and as often expelled from that country, during his last exile lived for a considerable time at West Brighton, on the Manor road, just north of Cherry lane. Gen. Richard Delafield, of the United States army, was long stationed at Fort Tompkins, and as colonel of engineers had charge of the construction of Fort Wadsworth. Gen. Joseph G. Totten, chief engineer of the army, is said to have been a resident of Tottenville. To the navy Staten Island has contributed: Alban C. Stimers, chief engineer, who took personal charge of the engines of the "Monitor," in her fight with the " Merrimac ;" Commodore Stephen Decatur, the younger, who, struck with blindness through the terrible blunder of a physician at the outset of a fine career, resided long at EUiottville, in the vain hope that Doctor Elliott's skill might succeed in undoing the injury; and Commodore A. Colden Rhind, whose daring exploits in the cap- ture of New Orleans, and the ascent of the Mississippi by Far- ragut and Porter, made him renowned. Commodore .Tames Mc- intosh was also long a resident of Clifton. William W. Win- throp, judge advocate, general of the army, was for some time a resident of West Brighton. To the revolutionary volunteers Northfield contributed Capt. Joseph Mersereau ; to the tory forces Westfield furnished Col- onel Billop. It also contributed to the side of liberty the de- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 6^5 voted patriot, Mrs. Disosway, of Tottenville, who refused to urge her brother to cease his attacks on the British, though promised the release of her husband from captivity if she would do so. To the war of 1812 Richmond county, so far as known, did not supply many prominent actors; but Capt. Benjamin Wood, who raised and largely equipped a company for the defense of New York, becoming captain in the Twenty-seventh regiment, United States infantry, as such boarded, in 1815, the British frigate (at Sandy Hook, where he was stationed) that brought the news of peace, being the first American to receive this glad news ; who mounted and fired the first gun placed on Fort La- fayette at the Narrows ; was twenty years (1821-41) revenue boarding officer at the quarantine station, a resident of Tomp- kinsville, and a leader in county affairs. To the volunteer service in the rebellion the island contrib- uted, besides those heretofore named: Robert Gould Shaw, of Bard avenue, colonel of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts colored regiment, who fell, with scores of his command, at the storming of Fort Wagner, and whose remains lie with those of the dusky comrades whom he led, his generous parents deeming that com- panionship their fittest sepulture ; and Major Theodore Win- throp, the explorer, novelist and orator, whose country saw him last by the flashes of musketry against the black night of a Virginian forest, standing on a gun, striving to rally the Union troops whom surprise had confused and disordered, and who, while going to his death, wrote to a companion of his country walks, "Ah, me ! in these sweet, balmy May days I miss my Staten Island." When the Union army set out to reach Richmond. Va., by way of the James river, Mariners' Harbor furnished a hundred skilled pilots, who knew every foot of the way, selected from its oyster fleet by Capt. John J. Housman. Before the war Gen. Francis C. Barlow, said to be the bravest man in the Army of the Potomac, afterward attorney general, secretary of state and United States mar.shal, was a tutor in a private family of Staten Island. In literature, besides those heretofore mentioned, there are many, too many to specify all; but above all stands George Wil- liam Curtis, author of the "Nile Notes," which soon after its publication became a text book in Oxford for students of a pure 636 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. English style, and whom Charles Dickens declared to be mnch the finest speaker he had ever heard ; author of other notable books, such as "Prue and I," and "Trum^js." As orator, journalist and statesman, ever unselfishly striving to lead pub- lic sentiment toward justice and purity, no man since the days of Governor Tompkins has so won the hearts or aroused the pride of his fellow islanders. In this connection, too, must be remembered the scholarly, eloquent and kindly Erastus Brooks, forty years editor of the " iV^ew York Express,'" and longer than any other man the representative of Richmond county in the state legislature. Richard Adams Locke, author of the famous "Moon Hoax'' in the ^' New York Herald,'' which, before the days of transat- lantic steamers and cables, led Americans to believe that Sir John Herschel, peering with his great telescope through the clear air of South Africa, had discovered men and women in the moon, lived long at Tompkinsville. Mrs. Laura Winthrop John- son, the poet-sister of Theodore and William Winthrop; Chris- topher Pearse Clanch, one of the most exquisite of American poets and artists; Gabriel P. Disosway. author (in the columns of the '■' Staten Island Union'') of the first history of the island, and of other historical works; his daughter. Miss Ella Taylor Disosway, the novelist; and many others mentioned in other connections, form an army of literarj^ workers of which Richmond county may well be proud. Charles Mackaye, the well-known English poet, was for some years a resident of Clifton, and of Dr. Elliott's observatory cot- tage on Grymes hill. Mrs. Catherine N. Sinclair, long a prom- inent actress under the name of Mrs. Forrest, lived a long time in the opposite cottage with her brother-in-law, Mr. Henry Sedley, of the New York " Times." Henry D. Thoreau, author of " Walden," etc., an uncommonly able writer and thinker, who was for some time tutor in the family of Judge William Emerson, brother of Ralph Waldo Emerson; Clarence Cook, the author, journalist and critic; Maria J. Mcintosh, the novel- ist; Rev. John F. Hurst, since president of Drew Theological seminary and now bishop of Iowa, who published his " History of Rationalism" while pastor of Trinity Methodist church, West Brighton; Richard L. Dugdale, author of the famous work on crime and pauperism called " The Jukes," for a long time assistant secretary of the Prison Association, also secre- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 637 tary of the Society for Political Education, the Civil Service Reform Association and the Sociologic Section of the New York Association for Advancement of Science, and treasurer of the New York Liberal Club, much of whose closing years were passed on Bard avenue; may be added to the list. Among painters may be mentioned William Page, delineator of "Venus" and many other skillful pictures; and among musical men. Max Maretzek, the effective manager, resided here. Among inventors should be mentioned William F. Cas- ton, deviser of the "Night Signals" system used by the gov- ernment ; Prof. John M. Hawkins, contriver of vivid and startling optical effects of the "Thaumascope"; Horace Board- man, inventor of the Boardman boiler; and Antonio Meucci, one of the early contrivers of the telephone and the host of Garibaldi in that hero's exile. When the New York draft rioters of 1863 came to be tried, the foreman of the Jury which convicted them, Hugh Auchin- closs, was a former Staten Islander. Caleb Lyon, at one time representative in congress and after- ward governor of Montana, was for a time resident of Rossville. Judge George C. Barrett, just unanimously re-elected to the bench of the supi'eme court for another term of fourteen years, was for a time a resident of West Brighton. Frederick Law Olm- sted, whose architectural and landscape engineering skill trans- formed a mass of shanties, pigsties and rocks into the resplen- dent beauty of the Central park, and also turned the capitol grounds at Washington into charming surroundings instead of the eyesore and public disgrace they had been, author of "A Journey Through the Seaboard Slave States," and other able works, was long a resident of the south shore. Dr. Bedell, Episcopal bishop of New Jersey, was a native of Staten Island. Besides all these, there is a class of Staten Islanders whom we should hold especially dear, because their efforts were sig- nally directed to abolishing oppression and wrong, and to pro- moting virtue and freedom. The Latourettes, Dupuys, Freneaus and other Huguenots and Waldenses, who bore imprison- ment for conscience's sake, took part in the heroic defense of Rochelle and other points in France, more than two centuries ago, and afterward left their homes forever, rather than lose their liberty, should always have a place in our hearts. As the writer once stood on the walls of the ancient strong- 638 HISTORY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. hold Perpigman, with the Pyrenees towering behind and on either hand, while before stretched away the sunny plains of France, it seemed for a moment the world had rolled back two centuries, and from those plains rose the sad sound of the lament of many exiles who afterward became Staten Island's colonists : — " Alas ! we must leave thee, Dear, desolate home. To the sijearmen of Uri, The slavelings of Rome ; To the serpent of Florence, The vulture of Spain, To the pride of Anjou, And the guile of Lorraine. " One look, one last look, To the sti'eams and the bowers, To the fields and the trees, To the cots and the towers ; To the church where the bones Of our fathers decayed, Where we_fondly had hoped That our own should be laid. "Farewell to thy fountains, Farewell to thy shades, To the song of thy youths. And the dance of thy maids; To the cool of thy garden. The bum of thy bees, And the long, waving line Of the blue Pyrenees. " Farewell, and forever. The priest and the slave May rule in the halls Of the free and the brave; Our hearths we abandon; Our lands we resign; But, Father, we kneel To no altar but thine." General John C. Fremont, who saved California from the curse of slavery, was one of its first senators, and in 1856 bore the banner of free soil as candidate for president, was at the latter time, as he has repeatedly since been, a resident of Staten Island. Joseph Karge, a Polish nobleman, for seeking the liberty of his country, was condemned by the Russian government to HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 639 death. EscaiMng to America, be found a home at Elliottvllle; in the war became a general of cavalry, and later a member of the faculty of Princeton College. When Louis Kossuth, driven from Hungary for defending his country's liberty, found a refuge in America, Staten Island was the first American soil he trod, and a Staten Island regi- ment gave him his first welcome. Gustav Struve, the colleague of Frederick Hecker in establishing a republic in Baden in 1848, driven from Germany, and afterward from Switzerland, found a home, and opportunity to write his " History of the World," on the Northfield plankroad near Graniteville. Many yet living recall his venerable and dignified form, and the electric eloquence and wonderful master.y of English where- with he advocated the election of Lincoln. Delia Tudor Stewart Parnell, daughter of Admiral Charles Stewart (commander of the famous frigate "Constitution," who bore the name of " the bravest man in the American navy"), wife of an Irish country gentleman, seeing the misery of the people of her adojited country, trained her son Charles Stewart Parnell to become the leader of his countrymen in peaceful, legal and resistless move- ment toward self government; and when his great work in the house of commons began, she, with her daughters, whom she had reared in the same noble spirit, traveled, spoke and per- formed enormous labor in organizing and teaching the great Irish population of America to co-operate with the great work which her son was guiding. In the thick of this work, mother and daughters resided for some time at New Bi'ighton. But of all the lofty and heroic souls who have hallowed our island's soil, who will deny the first place to him who for liis country's weal refused a crown, and gave away a realm, and whose life and sword were ever at the call of freedom, in his own or other lands? Forced to leave his native soil by the pressure of organized numbers wielded by despotic hands; in exile and povertj', the house of a compatriot at Clifton afforded a refuge and home to Joseph Garibaldi. In the dwelling of that friend, the faithful Antonio Meucci, hangs still a portrait painted then; and the worn, weary face, the sunken, melan- choly eyes and the well nigh despairing expression, tell a touching tale of the sufferings the hero had borne, and of his feelings in that terrible hour, when throughout the European continent liberty was crushed by armed hosts; while the look of C40 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. fearless and immovable resolve bespeaks the leader who within ten years returned at the head of conquering armies, drove out tyrants, and made Italy united and free. When Garibaldi died, how new the world must have seemed to him, with justice and self-government everywhere growing up, compared to what it was when he wandered through Clifton's groves beneath our summer skies. Truly, "Freedom's battle, once begun, tliongh baffled oft, is ever won." America may be proud to have given Garibaldi an asylum, and for ages to come Italia' s sons and daughters shall revere his name as that of one of the noblest in her long line of heroes. The truth is that Staten Island's soil has been trodden by numbers of men and women whose lives and deeds have done them honor, and made this ground historic. Our air is full of memories of worthy souls and acts; and these memories should nerve us all to equal and outdo the characters and achievements that make these men and women remembered and admired. o H H UJ o J CHAPTER XIII. CHARITIES AND PUBLIC WORKS. The S. R. Smith Infirmary.— The Seamen's Fund and Retreat.— Home for Desti- tute Children of Seamen.— County Poor House.— Staten Island Diet Kitchen. —Cemeteries.— Staten Island Water Supply Company.— The Crystal Water Works.— The Sailors' Snug Harbor.— The Police and Fire Department. BENEVOLENT movements of all kinds have ever found hearty supporters on Staten Island. Whether in time of peace to provide succor for the unfortunate or distressed, or in time of war to provide for the destitute, and supply the lan- guishing with what comforts human aid can provide, the people of the island have proved themselves ready to sympathize with their suffering fellows, and to take a hand in whatever benevo- lent work may from time to time present itself for their atten- tion. In this connection we are prompted to speak of an item which appears in a number of an old paper, printed in 1828. From that we learn that the ladies of Tompkinsville met at the school house on Monday, March 5, 1828, " to purchase and make up clothing for the suffering Greeks," and a few weeks later the " New York Greek Committee" acknowledged the receijit of one hundred and seventy three garments from the inhabitants of Tompkinsville. But it is more particularly of the home charities that we wish to sjDeak in this chapter. Some of the most prominent institutions of this kind we shall notice. The S. R. Smith Infirmary grew out of a need that ajjpeared at the outbreak of the late war, in a then prospective increase of the call for means and facilities for the care of the sick poor, and for the reception of casualties, which it was anticipated would follow the departure of so many heads of dependent families to the defense of the country. The suggestion came from the Richmond County Medical So- ciety in April, 1861. This society had maintained a dispensary 41 642 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. for the relief of ont-door poor, but were convinced tliat the charity should be placed on a broader basis in order to meet the increasing demands upon it. They accordingly placed be- fore the public the proposition to establish an iniirmary for the reception of the indigent sick, to be called the Samuel R. Smith Infirmary, making the name an appropriate tribute to the mem- ory of a well known and highly esteemed citizen and distin- guished physician, whose reputation for activity in the line of benevolence which the proposed institution should follow, sug- gested his name for this honor. The constitution provided that the payment of $5 should make any one a member, and $25 a life member. The affairs of the infirmary should be managed by seven trustees, four of whom should be members of the medical society, who should be elected at the annual meetings of the members. The attendance at the infirmary was to be under the charge of the medical society. An organization was more perfectly effected at a meeting called for ihe purpose, at the Lyceum, on the 2Sth of April, 1864, when the following directors were elected: Messrs. Shaw, Marsh and Despard, and Doctors Anderson, Lea, Moffatt and Eadie. The commissioners of quarantine granted the use of two of the hospitals on the late quarantine grounds to the in- firmary until such time as the grounds should be sold. The infirmary was formally opened in this building on Mon- day afternoon, June 20, 1864. Mr. William Shaw presided, and prayer and addresses were made. Since then the institu- tion has gone steadily forward with its work of benevolence, bringing comfort to many a desponding and weary heart. The following trustees were elected at the annual meeting, June 11, 1885 : Livingston Satterlee, Erastus Wiman, C. C. Norvell, George William Curtis. L. H. Meyer, E. C. Delevan, G. S. Sco- field, Sr., Aquilla Rich, S. M. Davis, De Witt C. Stafford, E. C. Bridgman and T. M. Rianhard. An organization known as the "Ladies' Auxiliary of the S. R. Smith Infirmary" was effected November 20, 1863, and did noble work during the time of the war in supplementing and assisting the work of the infirmary. A constitution was adopted, and under it the following were the first officers elected : Mrs. H. R. Ball, president; Mrs. Rev. T. Skinner, vice- president; Mrs. S. B. Whitlock, secretary; and Miss C. Ehn- niger, treasurer. It was a part of the plan that auxiliary soci- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 643 eties, us branches of this, should be organized in every congre- gation on the island. Meetings were held monthly and a lively interest was awakened in the society's work. The ninth monthly meeting was held in the building, June 7, 1864, being the first meeting held there. The building was then being fitted up for their benevolent work. Subscriptions to de- fray the current expenses of the society then amounted to a little more than nine hundred dollars per annum, and the com- mencement was made in the full belief that the one thousand two hundred dollars per annum, which had been thought neces- sary to maintain the work designed, would soon be registered on the treasurer's book. Beds, bedding and articles of furni- ture had been purchased, and a committee was then appointed to supervise the domestic economy of the institution and visit it as frequently as convenience would permit or expediency dictate. A system was established years ago by which all foreign sail- ors entering the port of New York j)aid a certain fee for each voyage. The accumulation of these fees became a fund in the state treasury known as the " Seamen's Retreat and Hospital Fund," the object of which was to care for and maintain such seamen when they were sick. For this purpose this " Retreat " was established. A large sum was afterward diverted from this fund to other chai'itable uses, amounting to three hundred and forty thousand dollars. Subsequently financial embarrassments came uijon the retreat, and to recover from them it became necessary to place mortgages upon the property, which mort- gages amounted to fifty-five thousand dollars. The state after- ward liquidated those mortgages, and in 1879 made a further restoration for what had really been a misappropriation of funds, by appropriating fifteen thousand dollars to the retreat. In 1881 ihe institution asked for sixteen thousand dollars more of its money, in reply to which the state gave eight thousand, and appointed the governor and comptroller a commission to investigate the matter and report what was best to be done with the institution. On the 22d of April, 1831, the legislature of the state of New York enacted a law which directs tliat the moneys levied and col- lected by law upon masters, mates, mariners and seamen arriv- ing at the port of New York, be paid to the trustees of the " Seamen's Fund and Retreat," in^the city of New York. These 644 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. trustees were to consist of the mayor, collector of customs, president of the Seamen's Savings Bank, president of the Marine Society, the health officer of the city of New York, together with five shipmasters of the city of New York, to be chosen annually. The second section of the act directs that convenient and suitable buildings be erected in either New York, Kings or Richmond counties. This act received various modi- fications subsequently, and was the authority for establishing the present " Seamen's Fund and Retreat." A tract of forty acres was purchased of Cornelius Corsen the same year for $10,000. This was located on the east side of Staten Island, fronting on New York bay. In addition to the buildings upon the land when it was purchased, others were immediately erected, and the institution was opened on the first day of October, 1831, when thirty-four patients were re- ceived from the marine hospital at the quarantine. The report for that month states that seventy- three patients had been re- ceived and thirty-two discharged. Dr. Peter S. Townsend was the first resident physician. Rev. John E. Miller, of the Reformed Dutch church at Tomp- kinsville, was the first chaplain, which office he retained until his death in 1847. Captain James Morgan was appointed superintendent in July, 1832, but in October following Captain Henry Russell was appointed at a salary of $1,000 with house and subsistence. By an act passed in 1847 the trustees of the Seamen's Retreat were directed to provide for the support of destitute, sick or infirm mothers, widows, wives, sisters and daughters of seamen, and the sum of $10,000 was applied to the erection of suitable buildings. An association of ladies, styled "The Mariners' Family Industrial Society," was incorporated May 9, 1849, hav- ing for its object the relief of the destitute families of seamen. The building was completed in December, 1853, opened in May, 1855, and dedicated June 9th of the same year. The retreat is, in many respects, unlike any other hospital in the world. It is a retreat indeed. The sailor who has been from one United States hospital to another, and spent in each the allotted period of four months, at the end of which he must seek for quarters elsewhere, finds a home here where, if dis- eased beyond the reach of medical or surgical art to restore him, he is provided for for the remainder of his days. If worn HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 645 out in the bard service of the sea, hopelessly cripjiled or super- annuated, he is transferred, if entitled, and he desires it, to the Sailor's Snug Harbor, or sent, at the expense of the board of trustees, to his home and friends, however distant. The cemetery of the retreat is located upon a knoll at the wrestern end of the grounds, overlooking the bay and city of New York. Here poor Jack finds a quiet resting place by the side of his comrades, when his life of hardship, privations and peril is ended. The "Home for Destitute Children of Seamen" was estab- lished in 1846 by a society of ladies who took a small house at Port Richmond, for the purpose of rescuing from misery a few children whose fathers had gone to sea and whose mothers could not support them. It was decided that Staten Island afforded the best location on account of its healthfulness as well as from the standpoint of economy, and also for its vicinity to New York, where many of the managers resided. When, with the growth of the family to be cared for, the house became too small, another was taken at Stapleton, where the children were domiciled until 1852, when they were re- moved to the new building which had been erected. Ground for the site of this building was leased of the trustees of the Sailoi's' Snug Harbor, and a building was erected speci- ally for the purpose. This building was partly paid for by the donations of the managers at the time, and the balance, advanced by the Snug Harbor trustees, was secured to them by a mort- gage on the premises. In 1857 the "Home" was so much in debt, that it was thought best to sell the house to the mort- gagee, so as to get rid of the mortgage. In the following year such a sale was effected, and the building passed into the pos- session of the Sailors' Snug Harbor, the privilege being re- served to the "Home," however, of occupying it, rent free, for a term of fourteen years. The parents or guardians of the children received here are expected to pay fifty cents per week for each child, for which food, clothing, education, and in case of sickness, medical care, are furnished. Children placed here are surrendered to the managers at least for one year, none are received under two or over ten years of age, and if they remain here until they have attained a proper age, they are either returned to their parents, or provided with respectable places. 646 HISTORY OF Richmond countt. The institution was incorporated in 1851. An annual pay- ment of two dollars constitutes a member, and a single pay- ment of twenty-five dollars makes one a life member. This is chiefly supported by ladies, and the yearly expenditure is about $7,000. The inmates usually have numbered about one hun- dred. Prior to the establishment of a county poor-house, the desti- tute poor were provided for by being boarded in private fam- ilies, and sometimes under circumstances such as now would not be tolerated, as when children were paid for taking care of their helpless parents, of which there were several instances. On the second day of May, 1803, Joseph Barton, Sr., car- penter, and Mary, his wife, sold to the supervisors, justices, and overseers of the poor of the county, for the sum of $262.50, two acres of land, on the road leading from Richmond to New Dorp, on which was a small fi-ame house, containing two or three rooms. This property was purchased for the purpose of a county poor-house, though it was not able to accommodate one-fourth of the poor of the count}', who appear to have been more numerous in proportion to the population than they are at present; the remainder were disposed of as before stated. The public charity continued to be disjiensed in this manner for more than a quarter of a century after the purchase. In January, 1829, the supervisors called a public meeting of the taxpayers of the county, to devise some cheaper method of supporting the poor, "as the taxes were becoming burden- some." Whatever methods may have been proposed at that meeting, the proposition to purchase a farm large enough to enable the poor to earn their own subsistence by their own labor was adopted, and John Guyon and Richard D. Littell were ap- pointed to ascertain what farms could be purchased, and at what prices, and to report at an adjourned meeting. The legis- lature in the mean time passed an act, April 8, 1829, author- izing the supervisors to sell the house and gi'ound then owned, and to appropriate the proceeds to the purchase of a new one, and to raise by tax a sum sufficient to meet the expense of such purchase, but not to exceed the amount of §4,000. The farm of Stephen Martineau, located in the town of North- field, and containing about one hundred acres, was purchased for $3,000, and on the 30th of April, 1830, the old property was ARROCHAR. RESIDENCE OF W. W, MAC FARLAND Clifton. N. Y, v*T(i-^-\«s.^ ^. 'ixtv.'.'ivtt-t^ s. ^- HISTORY OF RICHiMOND COUNTY. 647 sold to William D. Maltbie for $150. This lies near Richmond, opposite the parsonage of St. Andrew's church. On the 18th of October, 1836, the supervisors purchased four- teen and eight-tenths acres of salt meadow from John Egbert for $205. On the 7th day of January, 1842, the supervisors Ijurchased five acres of woodland adjoining the county farm on the west, from William Decker, for $250. The establishment has been regularly maintained, new build- ings have been erected as circumstances developed their neces- sity, among which are apartments for the insane, a pest house, and a respectable school house. The " Staten Island Diet Kitchen," a benevolent association, having for its object the supplying of wholesome, nutritious food to the sick poor, was organized at the parlor of the Ger- man Club rooms at New Brighton, Thursday afternoon, Decem- ber 8, 1881. The "kitchen" was opened January 9, 1882, and the association was incorporated June 21, of the same year. The ofBcers then elected were : Mrs. W. W. Macfarland, presi- dent ; Mrs. Lowery, vice-president ; Mrs. F. U. Johnson, secre- tary ; Mrs. L. H. Meyer, treasurer. The charter members of the association were : S. B. Macfarland, Eliza Macdonald, Mar- garet A. Johnston, Caroline L. Peniston, A. C. H. Meyer, Eliz- abeth W. Clark, Clara K. Oehme, Mary T. Ripley, Reverend J. C. Eccleston, L. H. Meyer. The first ofiicers were : Mrs. W. W. Macfarland, president ; Mrs. Francis Macdonald and Mrs. Daniel how, vice-presidents ; Miss Peniston, treasurer ; Mrs. F. U. Johnston, secretary ; Mrs. George B. Ripley, assistant secretary; Mrs. W. W. Clark, auditor; Mrs. F. G. Oehme, pur- chaser; Mrs. L. H. Meyei", bookkeeper. The work of the society is maintained by subscriptions, dona- tions in money, and contributions of various articles of food, delicacies, fiowers, etc. The treasurer's report for the first year showed the sum of $1,084.77 received in cash, and $803.77 ex- pended. In response to the requisitions of the physicians du- ring the year 2,756 orders were filled to 540 patients, in 2,115 pints of beef tea, 540 pints of mutton broth, 69 pints of chicken broth, 2,901 pints of milk, 399 portions of farina, 191 of rice, 194 of oat meal, 183 of hominy, 11 of barley and grits, and 1,210 eggs. There had also been substantial donations of meats, fruits and luxuries at Thanksgiving and Christmas times, 648 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. which the "kitchen" had been able to distribute among those who would appreciate them. The presiding ofRcers have been the same from the begin- ning. The treasurer is now Mrs. Edward L. Bridgman (for- mei'ly Miss Low), one of the original directresses. The meetings of the association are held on the first Tuesday of each month at the "kitchen." The corner-stone of a new building for the purposes of the association was laid Januaiy 9, 1886, most of the ceremonies connected therewith being held at the house of the president, on account of inclement weather. There are several cemeteries on the island, among which are the Staten Island and Fountain cemeteries, at West New Brighton , the cemetery of St. Peter's church, on the Clove road ; Silver Mount and Woodlawn cemeteries on Richmond turnpike, in Middletown ; Springville and Sylvan cemeteries, in Northfield ; St. Mary's cemetery in Southfield, and the Mo- ldavian cemetery at New Dorp. The latter, containing over sixty acres, is larger than all the others combined. This was a burial ground more than twenty years before the Moravians obtained possession of the land. It is a site of great natural beauty, and this has been greatly im- X)roved by the hand of art, in regulating the grade, clearing the wild growth off, constructing a pond, planting trees, and water- ing and keeping in order the velvet-like sward with which the older established parts of the ground are covered. It contains several objects of special interest. One of these is the tomb of Commodore Vanderbilt. This stands on the elevated ground, about ten rods west of the church. The tomb is a granite structure, rather |)lain in design, about ten by twelve feet on the ground and twelve feet high, surmounted by a pyramidal spire, six feet square at the base and twenty feet high. The cemetery also contains a number .of handsome monuments, among which is that erected to the memory of Colonel Robert G. Shaw. In this cemetery is also located the magnificent mausoleum of William H. Vanderbilt. This was begun during the summer of 1885, and was several months in process of con- struction. Besides those already mentioned there are numerous other re- I)Ositoriesof the dead, of smaller size, many of which are located around or near .some of the churches of the island. In that of the HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 649 Dutch Reformed church at Port Richmond may be found the family names of Van Pelt, Cortelyou, Haughvvout, Zeluff, Cor- sen, De Hart, Merrell, De Groot, Kruser, Mersereau, Prall, Post, Housman, Crocheron, Tysen, Jaques, Martling, Vreeland and Van Name. In the churchyard of St. Andrew's Episcopal church at Richmond we find among others the following family names : Taylor, Journeay, Crocheron, S^guine, McQueen, Lake, Barnes, Parkinson, Guyon, Disosway, Holmes, Betts, Moore, Blake, Egbert, Biddle, Butler, Silva, Wandel, Mersereau, Prall, Seaman, Mundy, Poillon, Van Diizer, Jones, Lockraan, Perine, Bedell, Van Dyke, Larzelere, Latourette, La Forge, Bowne, Robins, Dongan, Alston, Hillyer, Wood, Braisted, Simonson, Metcalfe and Johnson. The works of the Staten Island Water Supply Company were begun in 1880. Steps were taken to provide a water supply for the village of New Brighton as early as 1879. A contract was entered in August of that year, but nothing was done. The contract was again made on October 5, 1880, and work was be- gun. The works were built by John Lockwood and associates, under a contract with the company, for one hundred thousand dollars in cash and two hundred thousand dollars in stock. The works progressed during the season of 1881, and by the end of July they were completed. The works were first operated on August 4, 1881. The formal completion, however, was dated September 29, 1881. At that time the water supply was at the rale of one million gallons a day. The pumping engine had a capacity of delivering one and a quarter million gallons a day into a reservoir two hundred and ten feet above tide. The well from which water is taken is twenty-seven feet deep and thir- teen feet in diameter, giving an exhaustless supply of beautiful, clear water. Cast iron mains to the extent of eighteen thou- sand feet in length were laid to the reservoir, and about fifteen miles of delivery pipes through the streets of New Brighton were laid. The reservoir on Fort hill occupies a lot of land one hundred and thirty by one hundred feet, and has a depth of seventeen feet. It is estimated to hold six hundred thousand gallons. The village of New Brighton was supplied with one hundred and fifty hydrants. In the summer of 1882 an additional plot of ground was purchased in the rear of the engine house, and a new pumping 650 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. engine and boiler were put in, having a capacity of one and a half million gallons in ten hours. The company was granted permission, by the town board of Northfield, to lay their pipes in that town July 25, 1881, to leave all roads in as good condition as they found them, and to complete their contract in five years. Some preliminary surveys were made with a view to locating the "Crystal Water Works," at the deep ravine back of Eg- bertville, in July, 1883. The scheme contemplated the con- struction of a large reservoir, which would have an elevation of one hundred and thirty-seven feet above the sea, and the work was to V)e done by November following. Another site was, however, found and this field of operations was abandoned. Works were erected at Bull's head. Water was led thence to New Brighton, and a reservoir constructed at Castleton corners. A tank was erected on Grymes hill, which has a capacity of eighty thousand gallons. The pumping station, erected at Bull's head, has a capacity of one million five hundred thou- sand gallons a day, the water being drawn from ten wells. A distributing reservoir, having a capacity of four million gallons, was constructed, and a pumping station at the junction of Clove and Little Clove roads, for elevating water from the large main to the tank on Grymes hill. In August, 1885, the companj^ had mains extending into New Brighton, Northfield and Middle- town. The Sailoks' Snug Harbor. The title of this institution was given by its founder. The motto is that of its seal, which was adopted July 7, 1806, and signifies that those who are disabled by the toils and dangers of the sea here take refuge in a place of rest and safety. Over the main entrance stands a memorial window of nautical de- sign, rich in varied and brilliant color, containing the following synopsis of its history. " Sailors" Snug Harbor, for aged, decrepit and worn out Sailors, founded by Robert Richard Randall. " How great, how plentiful, how rich a dower." " Founded 1801. Incorporated 1806. Erected 1831. Dedi- cated 1833." HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 651 Though compai'atively little is known of the early history of its founder, no stroke of doubtful tradition, or touch of fiction is needed to lead us to a view of his character. Stripped of the fog of unreliable legend and tales founded on surmise or mixed with the specious pleadings of contestants of his will, we have presented the fact that a sea captain, actuated by sympathy for the unfortunate of his own profession, carefully and wisely matured a plan for their benefit and generously devised for its establishment and i)ermanence. By deed bearing date June 5, 1790. Frederick Charles Hans Bruno Paelintz — commonly called Baron Paelintz — conveyed for five thousand pounds to Robert Richard Randall the prop- erty known as the " Minto farm," consisting of twenty-one acres and more of land lying in the (now) Fifteenth ward of New York city, the southern boundary of which was then the upper end of Broadway. Fourteen acres of this land was under the Stoutenburgh patent, from Gov. Petrus Stuyvesant to Petrus Stoutenburgh April 7, 1661, and about seven acres from the Perro family; both tracts having been in the years 1766 and 1768 conveyed to Andrew Elliot, and in 1785 conveyed to John Jay, Isaac Rosevelt and Alexander Hamilton, and by them July 8, 1787, to Baron Paelintz. The mansion on this estate was built of brick and was one of the most notable residences of the city. It was erected by Lieut. -Gov. Andrew Elliot, who was a son of Sir Gilbert Elliot, lord chief justice, clerk of Scotland. In 1764 he received the appointment of collector and receiver-general of the province of New York, where he established his residence. In 1780 he was appointed lieutenant-governor of the province, performing the duties of governor until the city was evacuated by the British. His daughter was married here to Lord, after- ward Earl Cathcart, then a major in the British army, on duty in this city. In this house Captain Randall resided from 1790 till the time of his death, which occurred June 5, 1801, and near it he was buried. In the early corporation manuals of the city Captain Randall is spoken of as a merchant and a ship master, and was uniformly by his contemporaries styled " Captain," both historically and in the recorded proceedings of the trustees by him appointed. In 1771 Captain Randall, then a young man, became a mem- ber of the marine society of New York, an organization for the 652 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. relief of indigent and distressed masters of vessels, their Avidows and orphan children. The leaven of his inspiration to provide an asylum for the needy sailor may be traceable to his long connection and intimate acquaintance with the work of this society, and to his knowledge of the fact that provision such as he devised would so far relieve the society as to enable it the better to provide for the wants of widows and orphans; which result his action did in fact accomplish. Further evi- dence of this design as well as of his confidence in the society, is shown by his naming as trustees under the will, its president and vice-president. In 1778 he became a member of the Cham- ber of Commerce of 'New York. The president of this body he also named as a trustee. The property left by Captain Randall for the Sailors' Snug Harbor consisted of the "Minto farm" and four lots in the First ward of the city, together with stocks valued at about ten thousand dollars. The four lots in the First ward he inherited from his father, Thomas Randall, a merchant of New York, who died in 1797, leaving two other children: PaulR. and Catharine, wife of George Brewerton, and appointing Catharine his execu- trix. Both the other children survived Robert Richard. In his will Captain Randall, after bequeathing certain specific legacies, gave the residue of his estate, real and jaersonal, unto the chancellor of the state of New York, the mayor and the recorder of the city of New York, the president of the Chamber of Commerce of New York, the president and vice-president of the Marine Society of New York, the senior minister of the Episcopal church in said city, and the senior minister of the Presbyterian church in said city, for the time being, and their respective successors in the said offices, forever in trust, for the purpose of maintaining aged, decrepit and worn out sailors. He also expressed therein his desii-e that the said trustees should apiily to the legislature for an act of incorporation, if his intent could thereby be better executed. Such an act of in- corjioration was passed February 6, 1806. It was Captain Randall's intention, as expressed in the will, that the Sailors' Snug Harbor should be located on the estate conveyed; but with the delay incident to a sufficient increase of income properly to conform with his stipulation — that the pro- ceeds of the said estate should be sufficient to "support fiftj^ of the said sailors and upwards" — the changes attending the HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 653 growth of the city and other " impervious circumstances," ren- dered it advisable in the judgment of the trustees to address a memorial to the legislature in February, 1817, for authoi'ity to locate the institution elsewhere; suggesting a site at the entrance of the harbor or on the margin of the bay, and representing that they were tendered gratuitously for such purpose a lot of land — not less than ten acres — situate on the bay between Fort Diamond and the quarantine ground. This generous offer was made by his excellency Governor Daniel D. Tompkins, who aided General Hamilton in the drawing of the will of Cap- tain Randall. Notwithstanding repeated apjilications to the same effect, amendment to the act of incorporation enabling the accomplishment of this design was not obtained until April 19, 1828. The death of Governor Tompkins in the meantime rendered his proffer unavailable. In March, 1830, the last of the many suits which had been pressed by alleged heirs of Captain Randall was finally settled by the supreme court of the United States. The harass and anxiety to which the trustees had for a quarter of a century been subjected was forever ended, and the legal acumen of the great lawyers who drew the will was demonstrated. After visiting many proposed sites on Long Island and on Staten Island, Captains John Whetten and William Whitlock, president and vice-president of the Marine Society, having been duly authorized, selected the present location, and in May, 1831, concluded its purchase. Proposals for the erection of buildings thereon were at once advertised for, and the work of construc- tion began. October 21, 1831, the corner stone of the Sailors" Snug Harbor was laid with appropriate ceremonies, Chancellor Walworth delivering the address. August 1, 1833, the dedicatory services took place and the institution was formally opened. Thirty seamen were then installed as inmates, and addressed by Reverend Doctor Phillips, Captain John Whetten, of the board of trustees, then being the governor in charge. The opening by the city authorities of Eighth street through the Randall property, rendered it necessary to remove Captain Randall's remains from his chosen resting place, and on June 21, 1825, they were conveyed by tlie trustees to St. Mark's church and there deposited in a vault, to await the selection of a tinal place of burial. August 21, 1834, they were removed 654 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. thence to Staten Island, where they were awaited by the inmates of the " Harbor," who, uniformly clad in blue jackets and white trousers, followed them in silent procession to the marble mon- ument erected to his memory in front of the center building of the institution, beneath which they were deposited and now re- pose. The following is a copy of the inscription on this memorial stone, which was added in the following year : NortJt side. " The Trustees of the Sailors' Snug Harbor erected this monu- ment to the memory of Robert Richard Randall, by whose munificence this institution was founded." East side. " The humane institution of the Sailors' Snug Harbor con- ceived in a spirit of enlarged benevolence with an endowment which time has proved fully adequate to the objects of the donor, and organized in a manner which shows wisdom and foresight. The founder of this noble charity will ever be held in grateful remembrance by the partakers of his bounty." South side. " Charity never faileth ; Its memory is immortal." West side. " The Trustees of the Sailors' Snug Harbor have caused the remains of Robert Richard Randall to be removed from the original place of interment and deposited beneath this monu- ment on the 21st of August, 1834." Great praise is due for the excellent judgment evinced i-n the choice of the site for the institution. It is a situation as health- ful as it is beautiful, and commands by day a constantly ' changing view of the waters of the Kill Von KuU and the har- bor, and at night is in sight of the lights of the great bridge, which, like a sti'ing of Hashing diamonds, unites the two great cities of New York and Brooklyn ; while that of the adjoining country affords a sense of peaceful quiet in delightful contrast. The original tract contained one hundred and thirty acres, to which, within a few years, thirty-five acres more were added, and still more recent acquisitions have increased it to about one hundred and eighty acres, furnishing a present frontage of nearly two thousand feet. Thirty acres on the front are en- closed by a substantial iron fence with granite coping, within which are erected the buildings, thirty-five in all. There are HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 655 eight large dormitory buildings, capable of accommodating one thousand men, a hospital with beds for two hundred patients, whicli compares favorably in all respects with the best in the land, a church, dwellings of officers and employees, laundry and clothesrooms, machine shop, with engine room attached, blacksmith shop, carpenter shop, with steam sawing and plan- ing machines, paint shop, boiler houses, ice house of six hun- dred and fifty tons capacity, constructed with refrigerating and meat rooms, kitchen buildings, morgue, hot houses, lodges and barns ; also sheds for building materials. In the central building are located, on the ground floor, the governor's suite of offices, the reception rooms, library and reading rooms, all opening out of the grand entrance hall, which rises to the full height of the building and is surmounted with a dome. This hall and the principal rooms are handsomely embellished in fresco and stained glass ; the designs, though varied in subject, are mainly of a nautical and astronomical character. Pacing you, upon entering, stands the marble bust of the founder. In the reception room hang the portraits in oil of the formergovernorsof theinstitution and other paintings. This hall, about fifty feet in depth, is bisected by another, which ex- tends east and west through the entire chain of the five con- nected buildings; about five hundred feet from which there is an entrance to the chapel for morning and evening service. This is also tastefully and appropriately decorated. These five buildings are connected by two wide corridors and a covered way with three rear main buildings. These corridors, suitably furnished, serve as recreation and sitting rooms. The central rear building contains the four dining-rooms, steward's office and store-rooms, and from this a corridor connects with the main kitchen below, and the matron's office and clothes- rooms above. The face of the five front edifices is of marble with massive columns, and the hospital is of granite of similar style; otherwise the buildings are of brick with stone or iron trimmings. The yards and courtways adjoining the buildings are neatly kept and pleasing views are gained from the win- dows. A continuous lawn, elegant in the wealth of its grand elms, extends across the entire front. About fifty thousand gallons of water per day are furnished from springs at the rear of the property, and a reservoir with a capacity of five hundred thousand gallons is available in 656 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. case of fire or other emergency and also serves for washing pur- jDoses. On May 30, 1884, occurred the unveiling of a heroic statue in bronze of the founder, by Augustus St. Gaudens. Addresses upon the occasion were made by the Hon. Algernon S. Sullivan and Hon. Pkastus Brooks. It is erected upon a pedestal of polished granite and located uijon the lawn between the main buildings and the governor's residence, upon a slight elevation which commands a pleasing view of the surrounding and ad- jacent lawns and the park beyond. Looking southward on a June day the eye traverses a plain of beauty, picturesque and rare. Gravel walks intersect the green expanse, the limits of which, rendered deceptive by the artistic grouping of varied and ornamental shrubs, and serve as rambles past beds of radiant rhododendrons and fragrant azaleas to the little lake beyond, whose glittering Surface mirrors shadows of surrounding beauty, and serves as the arena for contesting miniature yachts constructed and sailed by the inmates. The lake is fed by an artificial brooklet springing from a rocky bed, spanned by a rustic bridge, which forms a link in the path which encirles the lake and connects with the driveways from the southern and western gates. But perhaps some of the loveliest and most diversified views upon this beautiful island are obtained from the upper wards and balconies of the hospital. Beyond the limits of the grounds proper, the land of the in- stitution is devoted to the production of milk, vegetables, and supplies for the inmates. In providing for their other numer- ous requirements, it may be said that, in the fullest sense, everything needful for their comfort is furnished in a liberal and thoughtful manner. Suitable workrooms and facilities are available to such inmates as desire to engage in light employ- ments, like the manufacture of baskets, useful and ornamental mats, hammocks, nets, and miniature craft of all rigs, which are disposed of for their own benefit. This is a feature of the institution interesting to visitors. The regular religious services are conducted in the Presbyterian form, but Roman Catholics are permitted to attend churches of that faith. Beneficiaries of the institution must be of the class denominated by the founder: "aged, decrepit and worn out sailors," who have sailed at least five years under the fiag of the United States. Rules and regulations tending to good order and the comfort HISTORY OP RICHMOND COUNTy. 657 and welfare of all the inmates, are assented to by each upon entering the institution, as conditions of enjoying its privi- leges. The total number admitted up to June 1, 1886, is 3,175, of whom 805 were those remaining, including twenty in asylums for the insane, where they are provided for at the expense of this institution. The mortality of the inmates is about ten per cent, per annum. In the numerous departments necessary to the proper con- duct of the affairs of this little municipality is everywhere evidenced that systematic and harmonious action due to care- fully devised method and wise administration. The prudence, sagacity and fidelity which has uniformly characterized the management of the trustees, which is, perhaps, without a parallel in the history of public charities, is forcibly indicated by the fact that in addition to the vast amount expended in bringing this institution to its present condition of excellence, and in fulfilling every requirement of the trust, the annual in- come, which, in 1806, was $4,243, is now increased one hun- dred fold. Men sometimes build even more wisely than they plan, and the marvelous growth of New York has made Captain Ran- dall's bequest valuable beyond his thinking; yet the form of his bequest displays a wisdom commensurate to all possible growth and contingency. Familiar with the characteristics of seamen, the vicissitudes of their lives, knowing their helpless- ness as a class when deprived of their accustomed vocation, and in full sympathy with their needs, his one great object was to provide "for aged, decrepit and worn out sailors." Tlie elaboration of a plan for the fultilment of this purpose, which circumstances and events impossible to foresee would be likely to frustrate, was wisely avoided; but with his purpose clearly indicated he selected representative men, who by their posi- tions and professions, would be best qualified to administer the trust. His will is dominated by a settled idea; it is not the chance disposal of a fortune he knew not what to do with, or the mere good-natured befriending of the sailor in response to some chance suggestion. No man was in a better position than himself to know the desirability of such a charity. The man who generously dedicated his fortune to this purpose, and wisely directed its husbanding until the plan could be applied 42 658 HISTORY OF niCHMOND COUNTY. on a reasonably large scale, had the qualities of heart and head to devise it. The Sailors' Snug Harbor is itself the most appropriate monument to the memory of a man who deserves in the highest degree the gratitude of his beneficiaries, and the admiration of the world at large. It is grander and larger, perhaps, than its founder dreamed of, yet in its greatest development it is but the culmination and completion of the general purpose of Captain Randall. Had the property not increased so remark- ably in value, the same instruments would have been the best to conserve and administer the more humble estate. But great or small, the gift was a noble one, the object was a worthy one, the manner was wise, and with all credit to those who have so well fullilled the trust imposed in them, the man who is, and will be, and should be commemorated by this unique and benefi- cent institution is Robert Richard Randall. The officers and managers of the institution in 1886 were as follows : Board of Trustees :* William R. Grace, mayor of the city of New York; Frederick Smythe, recorder of the city of New York; James M. Brown, president Chamber of Commerce; Ambrose Snow, president Marine Society of N. Y. ; Edward G. Tinker, vice-president Marine Society of N. Y.; Rev. Morgan Dix, D.D., rector of Trinity church; Rev. Richard D. Harlan, minister First Presbyterian church. Officers of the Board. — Ambrose Snow, president; Thomas Greenleaf, secretary and controller; Richard Luce, agent. Resident Officers : G. D. S. Trask, governor; Henry D. Joy, resident physician; S. V. R. Bogert, consulting physician; Charles J. Jones, chaplain; Joseph K. Clark, steward. Subordinates : Charles A. Decker, builder; J. H. Miles, chief engineer; Hugh Clark, farmer; Mrs. A. G. Hammond, matron. The governors of the institution have been since its establish- ment, Capt. John Whetten, from August, 183-5, to September, 1844; Dr. S. V. R. Bogert (acting), from September, 1844 to September, 1845; Capt. A. F. Depeyster, from September, 1845, to November, 1867; Capt. Thomas Melville, from Novem- ber, 1867, to March, 1884; Capt. G. D. S. Trask, from March, 1884, the pi-esent incumbent. * By the new constitution of the State of New York, adopted November, 1846, the office of chancellor was abolished from and after tlie first Monday of July, 1847. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 659 The general arrangement of the various buildings and grounds at the "Harbor" proves conclusively that, from its conception to the present moment, its destiny has been guided by the hand of refinement and judgment. Its marble and granite blocks, which adorn the prominent portions of the main buildings, stand out in bold relief, and aid to form the picture, which is completed by the beautiful surroundings. Gracefully curving walks and drives wind their way through the velvet lawns, which are tastefully dotted by rare and fragrant flowers, and shaded by broad elms that have become a pride to those who look upon the "Harbor" only in the light of home. The little silvery lake, whose pure and silent water reflects the soft green shadows along its rugged edge, adds a dreamy fascination to the scene, and furnishes material for reflection to those brave old seamen who have come here to await their summons to em- bark upon the waters of eternity. It is while contemplating tliis scene that one can appreciate the hallowed motive of him whose heart and mind laid the foundation of this institution, and whose beneficence gave a home to brave men that will live on through the generations to come, embalmed, as it were, with their prayers and gratitude and thankfulness. Growing, as it does, each year, in import- ance and usefulness; fostered, guarded and beloved by one faithful trustee after another, as time and death enter their little circle, it seems impossible to contemplate the limit of its lasef ulness, or the ending of its power to alleviate the sufferings of those who have "gone down to sea in ships," and at last, homeless and decrepit, have anchored safely in this protecting harbor. There is a mystic tradition that Michael Angelo, the greatest of artists, at one time deXerrained to make the grandest effort of his life — to place upon canvas a painting that would live on and on, as a monument to his memory. But, after spending a number of years at the task, death came to him, and the work was left unfinished. More than one artist undertook the task of completing the jucture, but each attempt only proved a fail- ure. It requires no imaginary effort to place the Sailors' Snug Harbor beside tlie great painting of Michael Angelo. The noble work was begun by Captain Robert Richard Randall, no doubt with equal pride and ambition; but other hands were called to render it complete. How beautifully have their efforts been 660 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. crowned ! How noble and grand is its mission ; for it stands to-day without a peer — without a rival in the world. Police and Fire Departments. In 1867 the law placed Staten Island within the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan police force of New York city. A small force of men were enlisted and detailed for the express duty of patrolling the island. Criminals arrested by those officer's were taken before police justices within the limits of Edgewater and New Brighton, and throughout the remainder of the county they were disposed of by justices of the peace. In 1870 a law was enacted by the legislature which made Kichmond county a separate police district, and gave it power to establish a dejpartment with its essential duties and pow- ers. The act placed the control of the department under three commissioners, who are elected by an appointing board, con- sisting of the county judge and the iive supervisors of the county. These commissioners must be residents of the county, and are elected for three years, the term of office of one of the board expiring on the 10th of May annually; but shall hold office until his successor is appointed and duly qualified. The expenses of the department are provided for in the county budget, adopted by the sui>ervisors, and are collected from all real and personal property subject to taxation. On May 9, 1870, Messrs. William C. Denyse, of Middletown; Abram C. Wood, of Castleton, and Garrett P. Wright, of ]Sorthfield, having been elected commissioners, met to organ- ize. They "drew lots'' as to terms with the following result: Mr. Wood, one year; Mr. Denyse, two years; and Mr. Wright, three years. Mr. Wood was elected president; George H. Hitchcock, chief clerk; John Laforge, captain; Dr. Isaac Lea, surgeon; James J. Esterbrook, sergeant; Daniel Blake, rounds- man; Edward Roe, Alexander Mcllhargy, Edward Brice, Robert Lyons, James E. Brown, Stephen McEvoy, Alexander Young and Edward F. Roy, patrolmen. May 20th the various incorporated villages made a demand upon the department for police as follows: Port Richmond, 7; New Brighton, 7; Edgewater, 14, and Tottenville (which was an incorporated village for about ten weeks), 2. The experiment of having mounted police was made during the first month, but was soon abandoned. One of the first general orders issued at HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. C61 headquarters was the careful observance of the excise laws. Ou the 28th of June a police station was established in Port Richmond, opposite the park, in a building belonging to ex- Chief Engineer Decker, of the old volunteer fire department of New York city. During the first year the force was increased to thirty men. In May, 1871, the appointing board unanimously elected one of its number, George W. Ellis, supervisor from Westfield. Mr. Wood, the outgoing commissioner, earnestly protested against the election; nevertheless Mr. Ellis took his seat as commissioner and was made president of the board. The mat- ter was strenuously fought in the courts, and was finally set- tled, after a period of four months, in the court of appeals, against Mr. Ellis. During Mr. Ellis' incumbency, however, a number of changes were made in the department. Commis- sioner Wright refrained from attending any of the meetings of the board. Captain Laforge refused to obey the orders of Presi- dent Ellis and was suspended, and notwithstanding an effort was made by his friends to re-instate him at a later period, he was unsuccessful, and Sergeant M. I. Holbrook was appointed in his place. Chief Clerk Hitchcock also refused to obey orders, and Peter H. Wandel was appointed to serve in his place. Mr. Isaac M. Marsh was appointed to fill the vacancy caused by Mr. Ellis' departure, and besides being president of the board for a number of years was repeatedly re-elected until May, 1883, when he retired, and was succeeded by Mr. Edward P. Barton. Under the reorganization of the board Mr. Hitchcock was reappointed clerk. In May, 1872, Major Clarence T. Barrett, of Castleton, was elected commissioner, and served until 1878, when he was suc- ceeded by Mr. Philip Wolff, of Middletown. At the October term of the court of oyer and terminer. Judge Tappen took occasion to compliment the police depart- ment of the island in very flattering terms for the efficient aid it was rendering the courts in detecting and aiding to punish criminals. Mr. Wright served as commissioner until 1879, when he was succeeded by Francis McQuade. In 1882, Mr. R. B. Whitte- more, of Castleton, was appointed. October 21, 1880, chief clerk Hitchcock resigned and Mr. George W. Ellis was appointed to succeed him. 662 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Tlie organization of the department at present is as follows : Commissioners — Richard B. Whittemore, president; Philip Wolflf, treasurer; Gaston D. L'Huillier, purchasing committee; George W. Ellis, chief clerk; Isaac Lea, M. D., surgeon; Daniel Blake, captain; Joseph Cobb and Paul Cornell, sergeants; Thomas Drummond, Philip Sharrott, John H. Cook and Henry Brand, roundsmen, acting sergeants. There are forty-two regular patrolmen and about the same number of special officers serving under the department au- thority, but not drawing pay from the county. The headquarters of the department is at Station No. 1, Bay street, Edgewater. Station No. 2 is a handsome new building located on Richmond terrace, near Broadway, West New Brighton. The stations at Port Richmond and Tottenville were long ago abandoned. The last appropriation made for the maintenance of the department was $54,000. A second attempt to render the force moi-e efficient by hav- ing mounted patrolmen, was made during the winter of 1883-4, when a number of good horses and necessary accoutrements were purchased. The men selected to perform that branch of the service unfortunately were not used to the saddle, and the experiment was, after a brief trial, given up, greatly to the regret of residents in retired parts of the island. The force is a credit to the island, and is composed of men who are directly interested in its progress and welfare, being, probably, without an exception, real estate holders. The strictest discipline is enforced, and the men have grown to look upon their routine life in a similar light to that of regular soldiei-s who know nothing beyond the straight lines of duty. The Edgewater Fire Department was organized in 1871, with Benjamin Brown as chief engineer. James R. Robinson and James Garvey were afterward elected chiefs. The department was re-organized in 1879, with William Burbank as chief. The following companies form the department : Niagara En- gine Company, No. 5 (organized in 1873 as the Neptune Hose Company, and re-organized in 1878 as an engine company); Neptune Engine Company, No. 6, organized 1867; Protective Engine Company, No. 7, organized October 16, 1858; Clifton Engine Company, No. 8, organized June 2, 1863; Rescue En- gine Company, No. 9, organized May 1, 1879; Enterprise Hook and Ladder Company, No. 1, organized December 5, 1856; HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 66^ Columbia Hook and Ladder Company, No. 5, organized March 15, 1880; Neptune Hose Company, No. 1, organized March 16, 1878; Benjamin Brown Hose Company, No. 3, organized Jan- uary 1, 1869; Clifton Hose Company, No. 6, organized Septem- ber 6, 1863; Robinson Hose Company, No. 9, organized Feb- ruary 17, 1880; Excelsior Bucket Company, No. 1, organized October 20, 1858; Relief Bucket Company, No. 2, organized May 11, 1863, also has a chemical engine attached; Tompkins- ville Fire Police Company, organized 1859. The officers of the department at present are as follows : Chief engineer, William Schick; assistants, James Lestrange and Thomas Willshaw. The board of representatives, which is composed of two mem- bers for each company, holds regular monthly meetings in the village hall. The officers are as follows : President, N. J. Macklin; vice-president, John Potthoff ; secretary, Joseph Scott; treasurer, Robert Goggin. Much valuable property has been rescued from destruction by the efficiency of this department. The men receive no compensation for their services, and the annual appropriation, which is divided among the various companies, am.ounts to only $2,500. There are four hundred active firemen on the rolls. The North Shore Fire Department, which is composed of the companies located in the towns of Castleton and Northfield, was organized on April 2, 1874, and was chartei'ed on March 10, 1875. The first meeting of the board of representatives was held in the house of Zephyr Hose Company, Port Rich- mond, on Monday, May 18, 1874, when W. M. Washburne was elected jjresident and Wilbur F. Disosway secretary. The following companies formed the department: Washington En- gine No. 1, Port Richmond; Cataract Engine No. 2, West Brighton; Port Richmond Engine No. 3; New Brighton Engine No. 4; Zephyr Hose Company No. 4, Port Richmond, and Medora Hook and Ladder Company No. 3, of West Brighton. Immediately after the companies were drawn together as one organization, a parade was held, which seemed to create a good feeling throughout the department, the effect of which is quite visible even to-day. Visiting companies and distinguished guests were present, and it was a gala day for Staten Island. 664 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Later, a movement was made to create the office of fire marshal for the county; but it was so strenuously oi:)posed by this department that it never took effect. At times two or three companies have been rendered in- capable of efficient service through the loss of members; but dui'ing the past two or three years special efforts were made to revive the old time spirit of the department. Credit is due to Chief Engineer E. A. Bourne, who has just retired from office, for materially aiding to reorganize the department and to replace it upon an efficient footing. The most successful firemen's parade ever witnessed on the north shore was under Chief Bourne's command on Thanksgiving day, 1885. Two great conflagrations will ever cause this officer's memory to be honored by the citizens of New Brighton, viz.: the burning of the cotton warehouse at Tompkinsville, on January 20th, where the firemen were in service for days; and the burning of Bodine Brothers' lumber yard, West Brighton, on March 1, 1886. The latter occurred during the severest weather of the month, and continued for two days and two nights, during a heavy wind that threatened to spread the flames for miles along the north shore, and to totally destroy at least two-thirds of New Brighton. The department, aided by friendly companies from Bergen Point, under the direction of Chief Bourne, re- mained at the posts of peril until there was no longer any danger. A single mistake on the part of the chief would have lain waste the most valuable part of the village. The department now is composed of the following companies: Washington Engine Company No. 1, Port Richmond, organized October 7, 1853; Cataract Steam Engine Company No. 2, West New Brighton, organized August 19, 1844; Port Richmond Steam Engine Company No. 3, organized August 24, 1859; New Brighton Steam Engine Company No. 4, organized Oc- tober 4, 1856; Aquehonga Hook and Ladder Company No. 1, Mariners' Harbor, organized January 1, 1879; Granite Hook and Ladder Company No. 2, Graniteville, organized August 4, 1881; Medora Hook and Ladder Company No. 3, West New Brighton, organized June 10, 1868; Friendship Hook and Ladder Company No. 4, New Brighton, organized August 8, 1876; Zephyr Hose Company No. 4, Port Richmond, organized February 22, 1861; Oceanic Hook and Ladder Company, Travis- ville, organized 1880; Steady Stream Hose and Bucket HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 665 Company No. 2, Port Richmond, organized November 14, 1885; Alert Hose Company No. 1, New Brighton, organized 1885; Lafayette Hose Company No. 3, New Brighton, organ- ized in 1885. Starin Hose Company No. 5, West New Brigliton, was recently organized. The officers of the department are as follows: Chief engineer, Elijah R. Vanderbilt; assistants, W. S. Sheehan, William James, Robert Brown, Jr., and Matthew Porter. The board of representatives is composed of two members from each company. The officers are: President, John L. Dob- son; vice-president, John S. Ward; secretary, Charles M. Schwalbe; treasurer, D. D. Simonson. CHAPTER XIV. MUTUAL ASSOCIATIONS. Staten Island Athletic Club. — Clifton Boat Club. — Staten Island Rowing Club. — Kill Von Kull Rowing Association. — Staten Island Cricket and Base Ball Club. — German Association. — Grand Army of the Republic. — Masonic So- cieties. — Odd Fellows Lodges. — Miscellaneous Organizations. THE idea of starting an athletic club on Staten Island was first thought of in 1877, by an old athlete named William Iken. He was joined by Messrs. Oliver T. Johnson, Robert T. P. Fiske, Fred and Frank Janssen, John W. Edwards and W- J. U. Roberts. These gentlemen soon took steps toward or- ganizing the " Staten Island Athletic Club," which was accom- plished in the latter part of that year. The ofiicers for 1878 were as follows: William K. Soutter, jiresident; D. J. H. Willcox, recording secretary; H. A. Ceesar, treasurer; R. T. P. Fiske, corresponding secretary; O. T. John- son, captain; C. Thorp, first lieutenant; D. H. Rowland, second lieutenant; John D. Vermeule, John W. Edwards, Louis Hen- derson, D. R. Norvell, Arthur T. Shand, F. L. Rodewald, trustees. Not until the fall of 1878, did the club hold its first success- ful games, open to all amateurs. A grand stand of planks and beams had been built for the occasion, and the never-tiring mem- bers, Johnson, Chute, Collins, Hayward, Wemple, Dedrechsen, Shand and Charles F. True could be seen with their hats, coats, vests, collars and cuffs all off, working like laborers, with the sun's rays pouring down upon them, stretching an old lighter's mainsail over the top of the so-called grand stand, to keep the fair sex from being burnt brown. But the games proved a suc- cess, and the club was greatly benefitted by them, while, during the winter months plan^ and arrangements were being made for the following year's work. The new boat house was started in 1880, and was finished far enough for habitation the following season, so the club moved HISTORY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. 667 what few boats, etc.. it had to its new quarters, and thus boat- ing was added to the already many attractions of this club. This fine house started a boom in the membership, as the roll soon ran up to two hundred and sixty, while a year before but sixty names were enrolled in all. The boat house is one of, if not the finest around New York, and the members are always delighted to show their friends and visitors around at any time. The club belongs to the " National Association of Amateur Athletes," the " Kill Von Kull Rowing Association," and some smaller associations. The roll stands now (1886) at two hun- dred and seventy, including eighteen life members. For several years past this club has been contemplating buy- ing some land where an athletic track, grand stands, club houses, etc., could be built, in keeping with its elegant boat house. This piece of land has now been obtained on Bement avenue (the same street the present grounds are now located on), and it is intended to make here the finest track and grounds in Amer- ica. The club also intends taking up tennis, base ball, foot ball and lacrosse, in addition to their now many sports, and the members will take part in all these games, while the club in- tends giving matches, tournaments and such like entertainments. The new grounds are four hundred and twenty by four hundred and fifty feet, and at present (in its rough state) the field has but one and one-fourth feet grade over its entire surface. The grounds cost $10,000 cash. The present officers are as follows: John W. Edwards, presi- dent; Henry O. Bailey, vice-president; William C. Davis, re- cording secretary; George M. Mackellar, treasurer; Edgar Hicks, corresponding secretary; William C. Rowland, captain; R. T. P. JFiske, first lieutenant; Anson L. Carroll, second lieutenant. The trustees are: Oliver J. Johnson, William A. Lentilhon, Frank G. Janssen, J. Eberhard Faber, W. F. Disosway, A. L. Faris, Harvey B. Rich. The "Clifton Boat Club" was organized in 1881, commencing with a membership of eight, which has steadily increased. The club house is charmingly situated at Clifton, and is a delightful place to visit during the boating season. The house is sixty- six feet deep by thirty-five feet wide, with a piazza twelve feet wide on two sides, facing the Narrows. This club was started as a social organization, and until last year, when a large crew 668 •HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. was sent to compete in the Kill Von Kull regatta, had not taken part in rowing regattas open to other clubs. In September, I880, the Clil'tons held a fair for their benefit which cleared the handsome sum of one thousand three hundred and twenty- nine dollars and fifty cents, and this, together with good manage- ment, has placed the club in excellent financial condition. The present membership is seventy-five, and the value of the house and other property is about six thousand dollars. The club has purchased some new boats, and now owns one six-oared barge, one four-oared gig, one paired-oared gig, twelve singles, and two four- oared barges. The following comprised the officers for the year 1885 : I. K. Martin, president; W. Hodges, vice- president; Gregory McKean, secretary; S. Howard Martin, treasurer; George A. Post, captain; Arthur D. P. Wright, lieu- tenant. Board of trustees : N. Marsh, W. B. McKean, B. B. Hopkins, C. M. Dodge, C. Barton. The " Staten Island Rowing Club " was established at New Brighton, Staten Island, in the spring of 1878, with a member- ship of fifty and the following officers: A. P. Stokes, president; H. L. Horton, vice-president; E. Kelly, captain; G. B. West, secretary; G. S. McCuUoh, treasurer; C. D. Ingersoll, lieu- tenant. The club has not participated in any of the regattas or races with other clubs, but has confined itself to the quieter exercise of steady daily pulls. Every year the circuit of Staten Island (forty miles) is made four or five times, the quickest time for the distance (five hours and twenty minutes) having been made by the four-oared barge crew in 1884. In 1883 a day was set aside in each week for the instruction of ladies in rowing in the boats of the club, and a large number of ladies are now enrolled as members. The officers of the club in 1885 were: H. R. Kelly, president; A. B. Boardman, vice-president; W. Hodges, treasurer; J. E. Bonner, secretary; E. Flash, Jr., captain; B. Leaward, lieu- tenant. The "Kill Von Kull Rowing Association," which is now one of the best known organizations of oarsmen in the country, was organized in 1880. It comprises the following strong boat clubs: The Argonauta Rowing Association, Bayonne Rowing Associa- tion, and Viking Rowing Association, of Bayonne City; the Staten Island Athletic Club and Clifton Boat Club, of Staten r >- 5 z ? d U "' ^ £ ll, aj a "C z 7 c u * n Cl (/) u HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 669 Island; the Alcyone Rowing Association and Arthur Kill Row- ing Association, of Elizabeth. At the first three annual regattas all these clubs but the Clif- ton, were represented, and in the last two regattas every club in the association contested one or more of the races. These re- gattas have always excited great interest among oarsmen, and the ofiicial record of the time made has invariably been accepted without question in boating circles throughout the country, a fact which speaks volumes us to the standing and management of the association. The regattas have usually been held upon the kills, but as this course is objectionable for many reasons, it was decided at the annual meeting of the association in 1885, to hold the re- gattas thereafter on the Newark bay course. The officers of the Kill Von KuU Association for 1886 were : "William C. Davis, of the Staten Island Athletic Club, president; Pierson Haviland, of the Argonauta Rowing Association, sec- retary and treasurer. Regatta committee : R. C. Annett, of the Argonautas; W. A. Lentilhon, of the Staten Island Athletic Club; Joseph Elsworth, of the Bayonnes; George A. Squire, of the Newark Bav Boat Club. The " Staten Island Cricket and Base Ball Club," which is the leading amateur cricket and base ball club of New York state, had its grounds for thirteen years near the present ferry landing of St. George, immediately on the bay, and one of the most pictui'esque locations imaginable In 1886, owing to the fact that the railroad company pur- chased the grounds hitherto used by it, the club purchased the Delafield property, at the foot of Bard avenue. New Brighton, for the sum of $40,000. The grounds can be reached within thirty minutes from the Battery, the nearest station being Livingston or Cricket station. The club has over five hundred members, and the meetings are held monthly during the summer months. The officers in 1886 were : William Krebs, president ; George S. Scofield, Jr., vice-president; N. S. Walker, Jr., secretary; E. J. Shriver, treasurer, all of whom, with the following, comprised the board of directors: W. M. Donald, W. K. Jewett, I. A. Vyse, G. C. Allen, W. H. Davidge, James W. Pryor, D. R. Norvell, W. H. 670 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Clark and E. H. Outerbridge. The club was incorporated in January, 1886. The principal games played by the members are cricket, base ball and lawn tennis. Most of the famous cricket matches which have taken place within the last few years in New York state have been arranged by this club. It has a Junior member- ship of one hundred. Starting in 1873 with only about thirty members, each year has added to its growth until to-day it has a membership of over live hundred, and is one of the largest, if not the largest club of its character in the United States. Having only a lease year by year of its former grounds, it was never able to erect a large club house. It has always been one of the social attractions of the island, and sets aside one day (Friday) in each week for the ladies, who have exclusive use of the grounds on that day. The Ladies' Club has a membership of over three hundred, being- known as the Ladies' Club for Out Door Sports. The cricket match played between the visiting team of gentlemen of England and the Staten Island Cricket Club, which took place on the grounds of the Staten Island club in September, 1885, was one of the most important events in the annals of cricket in this country. The "German Association Erheiterung" of Staten Island has for its object the social, dramatic and musical entertain- ment and instruction of its members, who are among the best elements of our German-American citizens. The association was organized December 10, 1861, and incorporated June 15, 1865. The presidents have been in succession the following : John C. Cavelti, M. D., Charles A. Herpich, A. G. Methfessel, Albert Krohn, Charles H. Graef, Otto Lindemann and Charles A. Herpich. In addition to the German-American portion of its member- ship there are a few native born Americans in the club. The building at Stapleton, the seat of this club, formerly known as the " Lyceum," was in 1874 remodeled and rebuilt by this asso- ciation at an expense of about $40,000, and is now occupied as their club rooms. It contains the finest hall on the island. The club is in a flourishing condition, and has a membership of about one hundred and fifty. The "Robert G. Shaw Post, No. 112, G. A. R.,'' was named in honor of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, son of the late Francis HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 671 G. Shaw, and brotherin-law of our distinguished citizen, George William Curtis. He was colonel of the Fifty-fourth Massachu- setts regiment (colored), and was killed while leading his men at the storming of Port Wagner. The expression of the rebel commander is now historic. It was : " Bury him with his nig- gers." In after years, his father was requested to signify his wish to have the remains found and sent to Staten Island, where, in the Moravian cemetery at New Dorp, there is a beau- tiful granite cenotaph sacred to his memory, and which Post Shaw decorates every year with garlands and other costly floral ornaments. The father replied: "He led a despised race to freedom; let him rest with his soldiers." The present post was organized in 1881, the first officers elected being the following : William Wermerskirch, C. ; Stew- art C. Allen, S. V. C. ; John R. Dodge, J. V. C. : Dr. H. C. King, S. ; Henry Holder, Q. M.; Henry Gardiner, Adj.; Henry Waugenstein, 0. D.; Thomas Mc Adams, O. G. ; Alfred S. Nor- man, Chaplain. The officers in 1886 were: H. M. Keyes, M.D., C. ; James Burke, S. V. C; Andrew Peatherston, J. V. C; Edward F. Vett, Adj.; John H. Eadie, Q. M.; Dr. Van Hoevenberg, S. ; Eugene Burke, Chaplain; Hermann Schultze, O. D.; James Caffrey, 0. G. ; John Herrel, S. M. ; James McCarthy, Q. M. S. There was a post named "Post Shaw" organized in 1868, but after two years' existence it disbanded. Its officers included the late Colonel D. Archie Pell, of General Burnside's staff, and other able and efficient veterans of the war. It was succeeded in 1871 by Thomas Prancis Meagher Post, No. 88. of which the first commander was Michael T. Burke, and the first adjutant James Burke. Rivalry of ambition caused the downfall of this post. It is hoped that the green-eyed monster will never find a dwelling place in the halls of " Post Robert G. Shaw." "Lenhart Post, No. 163, Department of New York, G. A. R.," was organized on the twenty-second of May, 1880, with the following charter members : William Tysen, Jacob Cougle, John J. Vaughn, Jr., William De Waters, D. S. Reckhow, Da- vid Newberry, Joseph Morey, H. R. Yetman, Andrew Abrams, Wesley Marshall, Nathan Reckhow, William Stewart, John W. Corson. David J. Johnson, John W. Gibbs and David C. Johnson. The first officers were: D. S. Reckhow, C; William De Waters, 672 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. S. V. C. ; Jacob Cougle, J. V.C. ; David C. Johnson, O. D. ; Andre w Abraras, Q. M. ; William Stewart, Adjt.; David Newberry, O. Q. The commanders for the following years were : D. S. Reck- how, 1881-2-3; Charles Thrall, 1884; J. C. Heney, 1885, to the present time. The officers for 1886 were: J. C. Heney, C; W. Stewart, S. V. C; W. J. Slaughter, J. V. C; William De Waters, O. D.; B. H. Warford, S.; D. S. Reckhow, Q. M.; D. S. Johnson, Adjt.; Nathan Reckhow, C. ; Jacob Stein, O. G.; Jacob Cougle, Q. M. S.; Charles Thrall S. M. The post was named after Chaplain Lenhart, U. S. N., who went down with his vessel, the "Cumberland," in Hampton Roads, being, as we understand, the first Union chaplain that lost his life in the rebellion. At the time of his death he was a respected citizen of Tottenville. The post is small in numbers (having only at the present time thirty-nine members) but is large in charity. It meets on the first and third Tnesday eve- nings of each month, in G. A. R. hall, Main street, Tottenville. "Richmond Post, No. 524, Dept. New York, G. A. R.," was organized on the north shore of Staten Island, and was in- stituted November 22, 1884, at Johnson's hall, Port Richmond. The first officers were : Moses H. Leman, commander and aid- de-camp to commander-in-chief; Alfred G. Kinsey, S. V. C. ; John Bronley, J. V. C. ; Benjamin J. Bodine, O. D.; Garrett Van Pelt, 0. G. ; James Mullen, Adjt.; Samuel Decker, Q. M.; Bedell Jones, S. M. ; Richard Johnson, Q. M. S. ; Reverend Web- ster R. Maul, C; Edgar E. Coonley, M. D., surgeon; John Leonard and Abram Decker, sentinels. The oflacers for the year 1886 were the same as above, with the exception of the following : Bernard MuUer, J. V. C. ; Al fred Richards, O. G.; Charles H. Dickenson, S. M. ; Captain H. H, Burnett, Q. M. S. ; Thomas Marsh, outside sentinel. The rank and file of Richmond Post are composed of soldiers and sailors, who have an honorable discharge from the United States government for services rendered in upholding the ma- jesty of our laws and in vindicating the honor of our glorious tiag and perpetuating the Union of our fathers. All the com- rades have seen active service and smelt powder. Some have been inmates of Anderson and Libby prisons, and have suffered untold misery in those hells of inhumanity. The jjost is in a u w > < w < o w u 2 u Q uj X (J) u 2 >• HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 673 prosperous condition, and numbers in its ranks some of Rich- mond county's most respected citizens. "Tompkins Lodge, F. & A. M.," was instituted in 1853. Ou the 6th day of December, 1853, the grand lodge of the state of New York located at " 600 Broadway " (there being two grand lodges at the time), issued a warrant to Isaac Lea, M., Jacob B. Wood, S. W., and James Harcourt. J. W., authorizing them to open a lodge at Stapleton, Richmond county. New York, to be known as Tompkins Lodge, No. 145. This warrant was signed by Mordecai Meyers, G. M., Nathaniel F. Waring, D. G. M., James Jenkins, S. G. W., Col. O. C. Denslow, J. G. W., and James Herring. G. S. The lodge was accordingly opened, and its meetings wei'e held in the Tompkins Lyceum (now known as the German Club rooms), on the Richmond road, corner of Prospect street. The first election of officers was held December 28, 1853, when the following were elected and appointed, and installed the same evening: Isaac Lea, M.; Jacob B. Wood, S. W.; James Har- court, J. W. ; John F. Raymond, secretary; George Chambers treasurer; G. Scott, S. D. ; George A. Weaver, J. D. In May, 1856, the lodge room was located on the upper tioor of Masonic hall, Arietta street, Tompkinsville, a short distance from the ferry landing, where it remained until the building was burned down (probably in 1857). The furniture, regalia and books of the lodge were all destroyed, and there is no evi- dence that the lodge ever met again under its warrant No. 145. On the 31st day of March, 1859, in response to a petition signed by Jacob B. Wood, Philip Bender, John McKee, S. Herzka, John Mousley, Philpot Wolfe, John S. Westervelt^ James Harcourt, Henry M. Weed, Thomas C. Burns, Charles S. Kuh, Ray Tompkins, M. Politzer, Aaron Vanderbilt and Rich- ard B. Locke, a second dispensation was granted to Tompkins Lodge by M. W. Brother John L. Lewis, who appointed Isaac Lea, M., Henry Crabtree, S. W., and Mark Cox, J. W., and authorized them to open the lodge in Southtield (now Middle- town), Richmond county. New York. The first communication under this dispensation was held on the evening of April 5, 1859, in the Tompkins Lyceum, wliere the lodge had first organized under the number 145. At the following session of the grand lodge, held in June of the same year, a wai'rant was issued to Tompkins Lodge, No. 471> 43 674 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. signed by John J. Lewis, G. M., John W. Simons, D. G. M., Finlay M. King, S. G. W., Clinton F. Page, J. G. VV., and James M. Austin, G. S. The lodge continued to meet in the Lyceum until February, 1864, wlien rooms were secured in the Weed building, on the west side of Griffin street, Tomi^kinsville, a few doors south of the old Reformed Dutch church. In May, 1866, the lodge fitted up rooms in what was known as Egbert hall, on the east side of Griffin street, Tompkinsville, about five hundred feet south of the Weed building, where it continued to meet for ten years. During the winter of 1875-76 the lodge resolved to change its place of meeting from Tompkinsville to Stapletou, and at the expiration of tlie lease (May 1, 1876) vacated Egbert hall. A lease was taken of the upper floor of Tynan's building, then in course of erection, on the coi'ner of Bay and Dock streets, Stapletou. The floor thus secured was laid out suitable for lodge purposes, and the rooms were newly furnished. The lodge still continues to meet and is in a flourishing condition, the present membership being about one hundred. The successive masters of the lodge have been: Isaac Lea, 1859-1867; Francis Hamilton, 1868: John L. Feeney, 1869; Henry Seguine, 1870; George F. Hallock, 1871; Isaac Lea, 1872; Sylvanus C. Hall, 1873-1874; Henry Seymour, 1875-1876; Syl- vanus C. Hall, 1877; Peter W. Silvey, 1878-1879; Charles Didler, 1880-1881; John Bale, 1882; William L. Ludlum, 1883; H. W. Jewell, 1884; S. R. Brick, 1885. The officers in 1886 were : Charles Didler, W. M. ; Robert McDowell, S. W.; Charles A. Harreus, J. W. ; J. E. Armstrong, treasurer; James A. Ware, secretary; Barnett Brisk, S. D.; Joseph H. White, J. D.; Oliver H. Griffin, S. M. C; Frank I. Rieff, J. M. C; R. G. Summers, organist; George L. Troutt, T. " Richmond Lodge, No. 66, F. & A. M," is the oldest, and numerically, the strongest in the county; and from this other lodges have eminated. Meetings are held on the flrst, third and flfth Monday nights of each month. The lodge was organ ized A. D. 1825. The first master and wardens were : Benjamin Wood, master; A. S. Lawrence, senior warden; J. S. Wester- velt, junior warden. Among its past masters, now deceased, we find the name of Hon. Henry B. Metcalfe, county judge, and at one time member of congress. The past masters of the HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 675 lodge have been as follows : Edward Steers, Sr., 1857, 1859, 1860, 1862; Lester A. Scofleld, 1864; Isaac A. Bunn, 1867-8-9; James Whitford, 1871; James Davis, 1872; Edward D. Clark, 1873-4; David Muddell, 1875; R. Preston Brown, 1877-8; Thomas J. Batler, 1879; M. M. Brill, 1880; Thomas W. Butts, 1881; John Pelcher, 1882; Reon Barnes, 1883-4; Frank K. Kohler, 1885. The officers for 1886 are : William C. Carpenter, master; George H. Tredwell, S. W. ; Lucius Johnson, J. W. ; James Seaton, treasurer; George F. Hallock, secretary; Reon Barnes, S. D. ; Albert F. Dunton, J. D.; E. H. Muddell, S. M. C; A. Applegate, J. M. C; William A. Devon, chaplain; T. R. Farrell, marshal; H. G. Shutzendorf, organist; William Foun- tain, tyler. " Klopstock Lodge, 'No. 760, F. & A. M," is the only German lodge of this order on the island. It was chartered September 27, 1875, the charter members being F. B. Bardes, Aug. de Jonge, Charles J. Francke, August Horrmann, E. de Planque, John F. de Planque and Emil Zesch. It meets on the second and fourth Mondays of every month, at the building of the Staten Island Savings Bank, Stapleton. The present member- ship is thirty-eight. The presiding officers have been : Emil Zesch, August Horrmann and Herman Sterzing. The jaresent officers (1886) are the last named, master; W. M. Wermerskirch, and F. Bertuch, wardens; John Bardes, treasurer; Henry J. Llngg, secretary; H. Muller, C. Schabeiitz and A. Schwarzkopf, trustees; P. Kuhne, J. Kryszewski and H. Methfessel, financial committee; P. Kuhne, S. D.; Daniel Hess, J. D.; J. Kryszewski, S. M. of C; A. Schuster, J. M. of C; John Schiefer, organist; and George L. Trout t, tyler. "Beacon Light Lodge, No. 701, F. & A. M," meets at the Village hall, New Brighton, on the second and fourth Mon- days of every month. '• Aquehonga Lodge, No. 685, F. & A. M.," meets at Rich- mond on the second and fourth Tuesday evenings of every month. •'Neptune Lodge, No. 152, I. O. O. F.," meets on Thursday evenings at No. 219 and 221 Bay street, Stapleton. "John Jacob Astor, Sr., Lodge, No. 432, I. 0. 0. F.," meets at No. 7 Broad street, Stapleton, every Tuesday evening. It VFas first recognized in the order August 20, 1875. Ladies are admitted to the lodge as well as gentlemen. The present mem- 676 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNXy. bersliip is fifty-two. The presiding officer at present is Joseph Schindler, and the next in power is Ludwig Meier. "Eichmond County Lodge, No. 88, I. O. O. F.," meets on AVednesday evenings in Odd Fellows hall, West New Brighton. "Salome Lodge, Daughters of Rebecca, No. 46, L O. O. F.," meets on the first Thursday of every month at No. 7 Broad street, Stapleton. It admits only the unmarried sisters and daughters of Odd Fellows. Its work is carried on in the Ger- man language. The district deputy grand master for Richmond county, is Reinhard Kaltenmeier. The lodge has fourteen members. The "German Ladies' Benevolent Society of Staten Island," has for its object the care of the distressed, sick and needy, and the assistance of those who wish to help themselves. It is sus- tained by payments of monthly dues by the membership, do- nations and various public festivals and entertainments. It meets on the last Tuesday of every month, in the German Club house. The president is Mrs. M. Herpich ; vice-president, Mrs. E. Scheiing ; treasurer, Mrs. S. Stake ; and secretary, Miss A. Garbe. The " Dutch American Citizens' Union," a political organi- zation, having for its object the election of good and capable men for public officers on Staten Island, without regard to party lines, was organized in October, 1878, and re-organized in Sep- tember, 1884. It meets at Credo's hotel on the first Wednes- day of every month, and has about one hundred members. Its president is Charles H. Graef ; vice-president, August Herr- mann ; secretaries, H. Kunemund and John F. dePlanque; and treasurer, Edward Meurer. The " Deutscher Fraunen, K. U. Verein," of Staten Island, was, until August .'5, 1877, a branch of the German society, un- der the name of " Louisen Zvveig, No. 2." At the date men- tioned they declared themselves independent under the present name. The object is set forth in the title. It is a mutual bene- fit association. Meetings are held on the first Sunday of every month at Zorn's Germania hall, Tompkinsville. The president, from the organization, has been Mrs. Julie Zorn. The "Staten Island Quartette Club" is one of the most prominent and respectable of the German associations of the island. It was founded in 1861. Its ambition is to emulate the excellence of the German Msennergesang and to stimulate its HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 677 members to higher attainments in the musical art. The club meets at Hotel Credo, Stapleton, weekly, and has now about one hundred and fifty members. Mr. H. Sterzing has for many years been the musical director and the soul of the organiza- tion. The " Richmond County Lodge, No. 155, Harugari," was founded February 16, 1868. It is a benefit society and. meets semi-monthly at Stapleton. All business in the lodge is at all times done in the German language. The presiding oSicer is Philip Bruchheuser. " Der Freundsc hafts- Verein, No. 1," of Staten Island, also a benefit society, was founded. November 18, 1856. They own a burial plot in Woodlawn cemetery, worth one thousand dollars. The present membership is thirty-six, and the president Michael Koflfer. The " Staten Island Schutzen-Corps," a sporting club for the practice of marksmanship, was formed in May, 1872, by F. Bachmann, George Bechtel, C. Bryner, Julius Credo, Louis Gieser, A. Hageman, A. Hubner, Charles Meorlin, Charles Schafer, Jacob Schoen, F. Winsch and Philip Wolff. Their headquarters are at Credo's hotel, where monthly meetings are held, and their shooting ground is at Gebhardt's park, where a shooting festival is annually held. "Atlantic Lodge, No. 55," of the Order Germania, a mutual benefit society, was started March 20, 1880, by John Glaser, Carl Feist, Peter Otto, Aug. Tripke, Chr. Hetzel, Fr. Pankratz, Jak. Schweikert, R. Lemperle, R. Hartmann, A. Giegeich, John Litzenberger, Theo. Schiedemantel and Aug. Wolf. Its president is George Bettke. The "Staten Island Lodge, No. 18, Orden der Hermanns- sohne," was founded September 16, 1858, and has at present twenty members. Regular semi-monthly meetings are held at No. 7 Broad street, Stapleton. It is a mutual benefit associa- tion, and admits both men and women to membership. The " Staten Island Liederkranz," a singing societ.y, was or- ganized at JSew Brighton, in 1882. It meets weekly at Parabola hall. The society now has forty members, and is in a prosperous condition. Ernst Haas is the musical leader. CHAPTER XV. TRANSPORTATION AND TRAFFIC. The Ferries. — Bridge Across the Sound. — The Staten Island Railroad. — The Shore Railroad. — North and South Shore Railroad.— The Richmond County Rail- road. — The Staten Island Rapid Transit Railroad. — Lewis Henry Meyer. — Eckstein Norton. — Roderick W. Cameron. — John Frank Emmons. — Hany L. Horton. — Reon Barnes. — Orlando A. Wood. BEGINNING with the time when the first settler established himself upon the island, the necessity existed for some form of a ferry to facilitate commerce and travel between it and the neighboring settlements. At first, of course, boats were nsed as occasion required and means permitted, without any attempt at regularity of movement. When the first ferry, with some regard for regular appointment and accommodation was established, we are nnable to learn. The custom seemed to grow up into definite form so gradually and imperceptibly, nourished by the constantly pressing necessity, that it is no more easy to say when the ferry system began to exist than it is to say at what hour the contents of an egg begins to be a chicken. The first definite statement that we have been able to find, with regard to the existence of a ferry between Staten Island and New York, is to the effect that such a ferry was established in 1755. Whether any other had been in operation previous to that or not Ave are not informed, but the language of the fol- lowing advertisement, which appeared in the " Nem York Post Boy,''^ of November 10, 1755, leaves room for the suspicion that such a ferry had been in operation : " Publick Notice is hereby given to all, Gentlemen Travellers and others. That Martin Ducket has rented the noted Ferry House on Staten Island, lately kept by John Watson, where he intends to keep the best Entertainment for Man and Horse, with three good Boats constantly attending said Ferry to and from New York and Statten Island, in company with Scotch (7 HISTORY OF KIOHMOND COUNTY. 679 Johnny of said City, Tavern-Keeper ; as also a oommodious Stable, vvitli all kinds of Provinder, for Horses, &c., near the White Hall Slip, where all Gentlemen Travellers may be as- sured of the best Entertainment for themselves and Horses; vFith the most careful and expeditious Passages across the Bay, or to Long- Island (if requir'd), by applying to said Scotch Johnny, near the White-hall Ferry stairs, or said Ducket on Staten Island aforesaid : And in Case a Boat show'd be wanted on any Emergency, there shall be one in Readiness, on Notice given to either of the Persons above mentioned." The ''New York Gazette,'''' of December 13, 1756, has this item : "Capt. Ducket, Keeper of one of the Ferries from Staten- Island to this Place, was found dead in one of his Passage Boats, on Monday Evening last, soon after he had assisted one of his Boats to go from the Wharf with Passengers. Verdict from the Jury, Apoplexy." The following extract from the ''Neio York Gazette'^ of March 15, 1756, touches the subject of the early ferries : "Thursday last about 12 o'Clock, happen'd a very melan- choly Accident in our Bay, when one of the Ferry Boats from Staten-Island, being coming over, in a pretty high Wind, with 13 Men and 3 Horses on board, a rough Sea, near Oyster-Island, overwhelmed the Boat, and she sank down directly: by which Means 11 of the Men and the three Horses were drowned : As it happened to be just on the Edge of the Flats, about three Feet of the Boat's Mast continued above Water after she sank, to which several of the Men clung for a considerable Time : And upon its being discovered from this City, two other Boats immediately put off, who, tho' upwards of four Miles distant happily reached them Time enough to save two of the Men, the rest being quite spent with cold and wet, could not hold out; and those saved were almost ready to drop like- wise : Persons saved were Capt. Williams, de- signed a Battoe-Man, and one of his Men : Those drowned were Thomas Harrison, Israel Rose, Daniel Fling, and James Jones, designed Battoemen under Capt. Williams; Mr. Thomas Alston of Raway; Moore of Piscattaway; Denyse Van Tyle. the Boatman; William Smallpierce, a Soldier belonging to Shirley's Regiment; and three Gentlemen Strangers." The same paper a week later has the following : 680 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. " Monday Morning last was taken up on the Jersey Shore, and brought into the White Hall Slip, the Ferry-Boat in which the melancholy Accident happened the Thursday before in our Bay. Daniel Fling, one of the Battoe-Men drowned, was found in the Boat, and soon after buried; and the Saddle-Bags that were still in the Fore-Castle, discovered that the three Strangers mentioned in our last to be likewise drowned, were, William Lawrence, of Raway; and John and William Miller, of Sotaii- ket, on Long- Island." Besides the local demand for a ferry to New York the island at an early period became a part of a popular route of travel between New York and Philadelphia. This route was by way of Amboy. The first notice of it that we have seen appeared in 1753, of which the following is a copy : " A commodious stage-boat will attend at the City Hall slip, near the Half Moon battery, to receive goods and jiassengers, on Saturdays and Wednesdays, and on Mondays and Thurs- days will set out for Perth Amboy Ferry; there a stage wagon will receive them and set out on Tuesdays and Fridays in the morning, and carry them to Cranberry, and then the same day, with fresh horses to Burlington, where a stage-boat receives them, and immediately set out for Philadelphia." The stage-boats of those days were the periauguas, or piro- gues of the present; they were vessels without keels, heavj' lee- boards, two masts and two large sails; the improvement con- sisted in substituting these boats for the small sloops used be- fore. When wind and weather permitted, the " outside pass- age" was made — that is, through the Narrows and around the eastern side of Staten Island; at other times they passed through the kills and sound. But the passage by water all the way was perilous and tedious, and it was soon found that an imp)rovement could be effected by bringing in a stage route across Staten Island as part of the journey. The establishment of this is seen in the following announcement, which appeared in a newsj)aper of January 31, 1757 : "Whereas the Subscriber hath been instrumental of propa- gating a Stage between Philadelphia and New York, and by Experience, finding some Difficulty some Times to pass bj^ Water from Amboy Ferry to New York; Notice is hereby given, That a Stage- Waggon is erected, to proceed from Mr. Isaac Dote's, opposite to Perth- Amboy, on Monday the 17th HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 681 Instant, January, and to pass through Staten Island, Load or no Load, to Mr. John Watson's, Mrs. Ducket's, and Mr. Van- tile's, and on Tuesday proceed back to the aforesaid Dole's, and so in like Manner every Day in the Week; when due Attendance will be given, and Passengers meet with the best of Usage by me. "Joseph Richards. " N. B. — To hinder any Disputes or Resentments that may arise hereafter, I have thought fit to inform the Publick of my Price and Custom; Each Passenger to pay Three Shillings, be fore they proceed on their Journey, and in Proportion for other Things, (except Letters, which are to be carried gratis.) Hope- ing therefore that all Well-wishers of such an Undertaking will give me the Encouragement it deserves, I remain "Their very humble Servant, J. Richards." In another advertisement of this Joseph Richards he states that his charge of three shillings is the same whether passen- gers take the stage or leave it at either Watson's, Simonson'sor Yantile's ferries. This is in July, 1757, when Ducket's seems to be occupied by Simonson. Richards also jjledges himself to make good any damage caused by failing to take passengers through as he promises. He adds that he lives near the middle of the island, " at the sign of the stage-waggon and horses." In 1761 he was still running the stage, and in a newspaper letter at that time we have his statement that his was the only " Stage- Waggon " on the island. The ferry on the west end of the route was then called Billoji's ferry. Destruction of life and property seems to have been of quite frequent occurrence in the history of the early ferries. We can here notice but a few of the most notable events of this kind. The account given below is from a New York paper of August 18, 1763. " We have just received the melancholy News that last Night in the sudden Squal, which came up about Sun Set, Mr. Wat- son's Ferry Boat, going to Staten Island, was over-set at a Place called Robin's Reef, about two Miles from the Shore, and im- mediately sunk, so every Person on Board was drowned, ex- cept the Ferry Man, who, with much Difficulty swam a-shore. The Names of the Persons we have heard of, who lost their Lives by this melancholy Event, are Mr. Robert Kennedy, a Scotch Gentleman. Mr. Chapman, and Mr. Anderson, of Phila- delphia, M. De Loge, of Surinam, and his Negro Boy, Mr. 682 HISTORY OF RICiniOJJ^D COUNTT. David Gainmel, Mrs. Henderton of this City, and Mrs. Rey- nolds, Wife of Capt. Reynold's, now at Sea." The perils of the passage from the '-Blazing Star" (meaning the sign of a comet), being four or five miles from the ferry at Staten Island, may be illustrated by the fact that the Baron De Kalb, when he was a colonel in January, 1768, was the only one of nine persons crossing in the scow, who was not so frozen as to lose life or limb; some losing toes, others feet, fingers, etc.; the scow sunk on a sand island, leaving them out all night. He alone would not go to the fire when rescued, but put his feet and legs in cold icy water, took some refreshments, went to bed, and got up unhurt. A Mr. George died before they were re- lieved. Another route to Philadeli^hia was that which crossed from New York to Paulus hook (Jersey City), where stages started, running down to Bergen Point, where they were taken across on large scows to the " Dutch Church," now Port Richmond, whence they took the road to Blazing Star, near Rossville, where they were again transported by scows across the sound, and pur- sued thence their journey to Philadelphia. Improved accom- modations and quicker time were demanded by the traveling public of those days as well as at the present time, and the am- bition of those who served that public strove to answer that de- mand, as will be seen by the following announcement. John Mersereau then lived at the new Blazing Star. " This is to give Notice to the Pnblick, That the Stage- Wag- gons kept by John Burrowhill in Elm-Street in Philadelphia, and John Mersereax at the New Blazing Star, near New- York, intend to perform the journey from Philadelphia to New York in two days also — to continue seven Months, viz: From the 14th of April to the 14th of Nov. and the remaining five Months of the Year in three Days — The Waggons to be kept in good order, and good Horses, with sober Drivers. They piirpose to set off from Philadelphia and Powlas-Hook on Mondays and Thursdays punctually at Sunrise, and be at Prince-Town the same Nights, and change Passengers, and return to New- York and Philadelphia the following days; the Passengers are de- sired to cross Powlas-Hook Feriy the Evening before; the Waggon is not to stay after Sunrise ; Price each Passenger from Powlas-Hook to Prince-Town, Ten shillings, from thence to Philadelphia, Ten shillings also; Ferriage fee. Three Pence HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 683 each Mile any Distance between. Any Gentlemen or Ladies that wants to go to Philadelphia can go in the stage and be at home in five Days and be two Nights and one Day in Phila- delphia to do business, or see the Market Days. AH Gentle- men, and Ladies who are pleased to favour us with their cns- tom, may depend on due Attendance and civil Usage by those Humble Servants " Jnne23, 1776. " John Mersereak, "John Bakrowhill." The following notices of ferries and stages on the island during the time of the revolution will throw more light on the subject than a summary of their contents could, hence we in- sert them in full : " Staten-Island, May 30, 1777. " Next Tuesday being the third day of June instant, a Stage will set off from the place known by the name of Doyle's Ferry, rear the Watering Place, or Staten-Island, now kept by Cajit. William Leake, and will proceed to John Stillwell's Ferry, on the west side of the Island opposite Amboy, and con- tinue the same every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and carry passengers at Eight Shillings each; and goods as low as possible. The best usage will be given, and great care taken of every thing sent by the said waggon. The waggon will set off in the morning as soon as passengers arrive, agreeable to the tide." The following is from a paper of P'ebruary 15, 1779 : "To be sold, the noted and very commodious Ferry known by the name of Ryerson's ferry, at the east end of Staten- Island, and at the entrance of the Kills, it is a pleasant situa- tion, and commands a great deal of business; there is one hun- dred acres of good land, and two orchards, a dwelling house with 5 rooms on the first floor, and 4 rooms on the second story; a garret, a cellar kitchen and cellar, a well at the door, two new wharfs which form an exceeding fine harbor for ferry and other boats." "Staten Island, Jan. 12, 1779. " Complaint having been made, that an exorbitant price is exacted by the different proprietors of the Ferry Boats, for the fare of the passengers between this and New-York. It is 684 HISTORV OF RICHMOND COUNTS. Brigadier General Leslie's orders that the boats shall ply at the following prices, viz. " Two Shillings currency for each passenger. (Sic) Do Six Do. for each Horse. "A Boat to go off with six or more passengers, and on com- plaint being made of noncompliance with the above regula- tions, the offender shall forfeit the liberty of plying with his boat to or from this island. "A. Leslie, Brig. Gen." The following fragments have been gleaned from various sources: Frederick Simonson owned a ferry at the Narrows in 1777, and for several years previous to that date. It was probably used to cross to Long Island. No stated ferry has been main- tained there since tlje lirst few years of the present century. A ferry was established across the Kill Von KuU from Staten Island to Bergen Point in 1764. It was at the present site of Port Richmond. In 1777 it was known as Decker's ferry; after- ward it was called Ryers', and still later Mersereau's. In 1774 the New Blazing Star ferry was occupied by Reuben Fitzrandolph. In the following year it was occupied by John Mersereau. It was occupied by Francis B. Fitch in 1827. In 1761 James Johnston ran a ferry at Staten Island. In 1763 Adoniah Schuyler, of Elizabethtown Point owned a ferry to Staten Island, together with the road or causeway from the sound to the uplands on the island. Schuyler died during the year mentioned. The ferry was spoken of by a writer about 1770 as " a wretched, half-rotten ferry." The Amboy ferry, sometimes called Doty's and sometimes Billop's, was kept by Isaac Butler for forty years, beginning immediately after the revolution and extending to the time of his death, about 1828. The ferry at the Narrows was known at different times as Watson's, Ducket's, Darby Doyle's, Cole's and Van Duzer's. It was known as Cole's ferry in 1777. In 1775 it was owned by Darby Doyle, the plant including barn, storehouse, barracks, dock, garden and twenty acres of land. There were two ferries plying between the northeast part of the island and New York from the middle of the last century. November 10, 1755, the ferry was "continued to be kept by HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 685 Oths Van Tyle at Statten Island and Abraham Bockee at Whitehall," they having three boats for the purpose. The first steam ferry boat running here was the " Nautilus." She began running November 29, 1817. The following an- nouncement was made in the newspapers on that day: "The new Steam-Boat, intended to ply regularly between this city and Statten-Island, commenced running this morning. She is to start daily from White-Hall Dock, at the hours of 7, 10, 1, and 5. We understand that she carries Passengers this day without charge." Ten years later two steamboats were in operation on the ferries here, during a part of the year at least. They were the "Nautilus," Captain Robert Hazard, and the "Bolivar," Captain Oliver Vanderbilt. They advertised to leave Staten Island at 7, 8 and 10 A. M., and 12.30, 2.30,4.30 and 6 ?. M. Returning they left New York at 8 and 10 A. M., and 12.30, 2.30, 4.30, 5.30 and 7 P. M. The fare then was 12^ cents. During the winter season trips were not made so often and the fare was 25 cents. The " Marco Bozzaris " was theii a new steam- boat, and she plied between the city and the quarantine grounds every two hours. One after another during the following yeai's improvements were made, and facilities for comfortable, rapid and frequent passage between the island and the city augmented as the de- mand seemed to increase. In 1860 the steamers " Thomas Hunt" and "Flora" were making six trips daily, on the North Shore ferry, the fare being six cents. Boats on the East Shore ferry were making trips every hour during the day, from 7 A. M. to 5 P. M. The Huguenot line was running be- tween Mariners' Harbor and New York four times a day, the boats employed being the "Red Jacket" and the " Kill Von Kull." About that time the " Westfield," " Clifton," " Thos. P. Way," " Southfield," "Hunchback," "Josephine"" and "Sylph" were also employed on these ferry lines. Some of them were sold to the government in 1861, to be used as trans- ports in the war. The management of the ferry to New York from Castleton and Northfield had been unsatisfactory to the people — faie too high, boats old and slow, number of daily trips insufficient, of- ficers and employees rude and unaccommodating. The North Shore Staten Island Perry Company was formed in the spring 686 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. of 1860, and obtained a charter as a stock company. The jjeo- ple from New Brighton to Mariners' Harbor took stock in the new company, and manifested a lively interest in its success. Large and enthusiastic meetings were held, thirty thousand dollars were subscribed, the steamboats "'Flora" and "Thomas Hunt" were purchased, and the " People's Line " was placed in successful operation, with the fare at six cents. The capital stock was subsequently increased to sixty thousand dollars, the number of owners holding shares being something over three hundred. The steamer "Pomona" was built for the route and was at the time the pride of the company. On the organization of the new company the old management reduced its fare from twelve cents to three cents, but the new company was the child of the people, and received their support. In 1864 the capital stock was raised to one hundred thousand dollars. Within a few years past the project of building a bridge across the sound or Arthur kill has been frequently and vigorously agitated. It has been argued that such a bridge was desirable to afford some trunk line railroad from the south and west an outlet to tide water in the vicinity of New York city. A bill authorizing the construction of such a bridge has repeatedly been before Congress, and it is said that it has the approval of the war department. The senate reached a vote on May 20, 1886, and passed the bill by a large majority, notwithstanding the state of New Jersey and the Pennsylvania railroad were strongly opposed to it. This bridge project is no new scheme. As long ago as June 10, 1812, the state of New York, by its act of legislature, incor- porated a company for the object of building a bridge across the sound from New Jersey to Staten Island, at some point to be decided on by commissioners appointed for the purpose. The act named Joseph Perine, David Mersereau, Jacob Croch- eron, John V. D. Jacobson, Jesse Oakley, James Guion, Sr., Tunis Egbert, John Garrison and John Hilliker. The capital stock was to consist of two thousand shares of fifty dollars each, and the commissioners appointed to designate tlie site of the bridge were John C. Yanderveer, William B^urman and John Lefferts, of the county of Kings, and Gabriel Furman and John Yanderbilt, Jr., of the city and county of New York, who were to act with an equal number to be named and authoi-ized for the [)urpose by or on the part of New Jersey. The bridge aiSTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 687 was to be not less than twenty-six feet wide, and toliavea draw of not less than thirty feet over the sound to allow the passage of vessels. The toll for the passage of two horse pleasiu-e car- riages over the bridge was seventy-five cents, business wagons fifty cents, man on horseback twenty-five cents, and foot pas- sengers six cents. TheStaten Island Railroad, extending from Vanderbilt's land- ing to Tottenville, is thirteen miles in length, and its original cost was about $300,000. The first meeting of citizens to discuss the practicability of constructing the road, was held in the village of Richmond, on the 2d day of August, 1851, at which articles of association were submitted, discussed and adopted, and filed in the office of the secretary of state, on the 18th daj^ of October, 1851. On that day an election was held for the first board of directors, and resulted in the election of the following gentlemen, viz.: Joseph H. Seguine, Joel Wolfe, Edwin R. Bennet, Stephen Seguine, Henry Cole, Henry I. Seaman, Henry Van Hovenberg, Peter C. Cortelyou, John G. Seguine, William Totten, George White, William King, and Cornelius White. Joseph H. Seguine was elected president, Stephen Seguine, treasurer, and George White, secretary. The first annual re- port was made to the state engineer and surveyor on the 30tli day of September, 1852. Numerous obstacles presented them- selves to prevent the speedy completion of the road, not the least of which was the difficnlty of securing a right of way over the lands of several landed proprietors, and in January, 1855, it became necessary for the company to apply to the legislature for an extension of time to construct their road. The first re- ceipts from passengers were on the 32d day of April, 1860, the trains running only a part of the way, but on the 2d day of June, of that year, the formal opening of the road took place. The road became the property of the Staten Island Rapid Transit Railroad Company, July 31, 1884, and its destinies since that time have been in common with those of the latter company. A line of telegraph was erected from quarantine grounds along the shore to the railroad, and then along the railroad to Amboy in 1863. A horse railroad from the Narrows around the shore to Mariners' Harbor was proposed in November, 1863, and it was then expected to be running by the early part of the following 688 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. spring. A company was formed and a charter obtained, under the title of the Staten Island Shore Railroad Company, with a capital of §350,000. The following were the first directors chosen : Minthorne Tompkins, S. B. Coles, Henry A. Morrison, George Catlin, Thomas Colgan, John C. Burling, Cornelius Mc- Ardell, Alfred Hornby, Joseph G. Ward, Earl K. Cooley, John Ellard, P. H. Ward, and George Sexton. The iirsc offi- cers were Joseph G. Ward, president; George Catlin, vice- president; C. McArdell, secretary and treasurer. While it was in process of construction (March, 1864) various opinions were expressed concerning it, as to whether it would prove a benefit or an injury. But few living immediately on the line were disposed to favor it, but those residing off the street through which it was laid generally advocated it. Its general patronage by the people shows it to be a thing of approved imblic utility. It makes hourly trips. Its western terminus lias not as yet been carried over the causeway to Port Richmond. The "'North and South Shore Railroad" was projected to run from Elm Park, in the town of Northfield, to Seguiue's point, in the town of Westfield. The company was organized in 1882, with W. R. Soutter as president and R. Penn Smith and others as directors. The route was surveyed under the direction of the company, and ground was broken at Elm Park on Tuesday, November 28, 1882. The plan of this road was to run from a point near the steam- boat landing at Elm Park to Graniteville; thence through the lands of James Bennett, John Hall, Charles E. Racy, John M. Perine, Nicholas D. Egbert, Abram P. Tyson, Samuel White, Isaac Winant, estate of C. Merrill, James Davidson, Mrs Thomas Lisk, Quinlan, Charles Simonson, John Blake, Decker B. Merrill and Jacob Honsman, at Bull's Head, where a depot was to be located; thence passing on through lands of the heirs of Joseph Simonson, deceased, John Blake, John Hatfield, Mrs. Hiram J. Corson, John H. Garretson, Hiram J. Corson and Arthur Prall, it reached Springville, where another station was to be located. Its course thence lay through lands of Harriet Whitney, Jacob Simonson, David Simonson, Mrs. Daniel Blake, Matthias Simonson, Sam uel Decker, Barnet Depuy, Peter Van Buskirk, Richard La- tourette and the heirs of Harriet Wheatley, at Richmond. Here the course of the road described a horseshoe, approaching HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 689 the village from under the hill on which the old fort stood, and turning at a point about ten minutes' walk from the court house. On this bend it was intended to locate a depot, and thence a street was to be opened to the village. From this point the road lay in the direction of Green ridge, through the lands of Cyrus McVeigh, Douglass Turner, James Lake, Herbert B. Brewer, H. S. Samuels, Mary Metcalfe, Byron H. Beal, the heirs of T. C. Benham, Lawrence H. Cortelyou, George White, Mrs. Edward Bancker, and heirs of Stuyvesant, where it crossed the Staten Island Railroad, and took a direct line for the shore, passing through the lands of John Dempsey, B. Kreischer and Henry T. Niles to the farm owned bj^ the com- pany, where a large hotel was intended to be built and other improvements applied for making a seaside resort. Work upon it continued till late in the summer of 1883, when the grading of the road bed was nearly completed, and ties were purchased and on their way to the island. There seemed to be some mystery connected with the building of the road. Added to this the rumor gained circulation that the Standard Oil Company intended to erect buildings at the terminus on the Perkins farm. The work was then abandoned. The " Richmond County Railroad" is a street railroad, run- ning from West New Brighton steamboat landing to Castleton Corners. Its charter was granted by the state legislature in March, 1885, and work upon it began May 11 following. The road was completed, and the formal opening took place Julj'^ 18, 1885. The route lies from the steamboat landing up Broad- way, Castleton avenue, Columbia street and Manor road, end- ing at Eckstein's brewery. The first directors \yere John Mc- Donald, Monroe Eckstein, Hiram Dixon, Robert Moore, Clar- ence Delalield, H. D. Leslie and E. A. Moore. The first officers were: Hiram Dixon, president, Monroe Eckstein, treasurer, and H. D. Leslie, secretary. The scheme of concentrating the ferry trafiic into one line of boats running to one point on the island, that point being the one nearest to New York city, and connecting with arms of railroad which should reach out and deliver passengers along either shore, was for some time in process of development be- fore it assumed definite shape and tangible existence. A com- pany was organized in 1883, and incorporated under the general railroad law of the state, having a capital of five hundred thou- 44 690 HISTORY or RICHMOND COUNTY. sand dollars, which was fnlly paid. Surveys were then made for the prospective line along the eastern and northern shores of the island. Captain A. L. King was for a time president of the company, but in Setember, 1883, he resigned, and J. Frank Emmons was elected to the position. Messrs. C. T. Barrett, Horatio Judah and T. C. Vermilye were appointed commission- ers to appraise the damages caused to land through which the road was to pass. They began their work in the latter part of September. The work of grading began, and during the spring of 1884 was pushed forward with such energy that by the end of July the road was graded and the track laid between Clifton and Tompkinsville. The first locomotive and train passed over this section of the road on July 31, 1884. It contained the man- agers and officers of the road, a few invited guests and several passengers who had come up on the train as it came on its regu- lar time from Tottenville. With the caution necessary to a train for the first time moving over a new road, the run was made from Vanderbilt landing to the Tompkinsville landing in three and a half minutes. The Staten Island Rapid Transit Railroad Company now efl'ected a ninety-nine years" lease of the property of the Staten Island Railway, and under this arrangement the railroad to Tottenville and all its appurtenances became, on the day last mentioned (July 31, 1884), a part of the rapid transit system. Work was now pushed on with vigor toward the comjjletion of the road, many obstacles, some of discouraging magnitude, appearing to impede its progress. Over much of its course the line followed the shore, under the bluifs, where ground had to be made upon which to build the road. State laws were not able to grant the right to run a railroad through the property of the United States; hence the grounds of the light house de- partment just above Tompkinsville, presented a serious barrier. The company, however, secured an act of congress permitting them to push a tunnel through the hill a short distance back from the shore. The grant was surrounded with restrictions tliat made slow progress in the construction of the tunnel an unavoidable sequence. The tunnel is about five hundred and eighty-five feet long, and is wide enough to allow the passing of two trains at once. It is protected by massive walls of masonry on tlie sides, and an arch of brick two feet in thickness over- KOX HILL, Il a. h I HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 693 railroads in the liands of receivers and reorganizing them after foreclosure. This he did with the Milwaukee & Mississip[)i, later Milwaukee & Prairie DuChien now owned by the Milwau- kee & St. Paul, the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago Railroad, now Pittsburgh & Ft. Wayne Railway Company, and the Chi- cago & Missisippi, now Chicago & Alton. He also rej^resented large interests in the Ohio Central, Scioto & Hocking Valley, Alabama & Tennessee River, Atlantic & Great Western, Kansas Pacific, Mississippi, Kansas & Texas, Steubenville & Indiana, New Orleans & Mobile, and others, most of which he. was also instrumental in foreclosing and reorgani- zing. He is now president of the Ft. Wayne Railway Com- pany. Mr. Meyer was the organizer of the Staten Island Savings Bank and was for ten years its president. He takes a lively in- terest in all Richmond county matters and was formerly presi- dent of the village of Edgewater. His residence, of which this volume furnishes a cut, is one of the handsomest on Staten Is- land. Mr. Meyer is a public spirited and courteous gentleman. His immense business interests and frequent travels have brought him a large acquaintance both in Europe and America, and he is equally respected both at home and abroad. Eckstein Norton, one of tbe most influential and success- ful men identified with the vast railroad interests of the country, is the son of William Norton. He was born at Russellville, Kentucky, December 16, 1831, and educated in his native place. At the age of fifteen he entered a store as clerk, receiv- ing a dollar and a half per week for his services, and continued for two and a half years thus employed, when he embarked in business in tlie same town. In the fall of 1851, having sold his interest to a partner, he removed to Paducah, Kentucky, and joined his brother, W. F. Norton, who had been for fifteen years a merchant at this point, in mercantile ventures. In 1852 Mr. Norton purchased the interest of his brother, and continued with success until 1854, when the Illinois Central Railroad hav- ing completed its line to Cairo, began the construction of a line to Chicago, which was finished a year later. Having effected an advantageous contract with this road, Mr. Norton removed to Cairo as the receiving and forwarding agent for all its freight. An excellent offer for the business and good will thus well es- 694 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. tablished indnced him to sell, and again he made Paducah his residence, engaging with his brother in the banking business, under the firm name of Worton Brothers. Early in 1864 he re- moved to New York, established the banking and commission house of Norton, Slaughter & Co., and later that of Ex. Nor- ton & Co., of which he is sole partner. In 1868 Mr. Norton purchased the Paducah & Gulf Railroad, afterward consoli- dated with the Mississippi River Railroad, the two forming the Paducah & Memphis Railroad, of which he became president. He also participated actively in the construction of the Eliza- bethtown & Paducah Railroad, these two roads (Paducaii & Memphis and Elizabeth town & Paducah) now forming the Chesapeake, Ohio & Southwestern Railroad. In 1884 it was discovered that a large amount of the funds of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company had been lost in speculation and mismanagement and a considerable floating debt created. The credit of the company was impaired, and grave doubts entertained as to the possibility of Its rescue from bankruptcy. A large majority of the stock was held in Europe, and the foreign stockholders, on discovering the irregularities in 1884, sent an agent to the United States to reorganize the company. Many of the directors resigned, the board was re- organized, and Mr. Norton asked to become one of its members. He remained a director until the annual meeting in October, 1884, was then elected vice-president, and assumed charge of the company's finances. Less expensive offices in New York city were secured, and an economical management of affairs in- augurated, thus saving forty thousand dollars per annum in the New York office. As a result, confidence was restored, and the credit of the company greatly improved, the beneficial re- sult being apparent on the whole system. In 1886 Mr. Norton was elected president of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, which, b}'^ lease and ownership, controls nearly four thousand miles of road running through Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Gfeorgia and Florida, and is one of the most important of the great railroad systems of the country. The remarkable business qualities which Mr. Norton possesses, embracing sound and unerring judgment, keen in- sight, and a firm and comprehensive grasp of the details of an enterprise, have all been brought to bear in his management of this railroad, and x^laced it again on a solid financial basis. RESIDENCE OF R. W. CAMERON. Clifton. Slalen Island. V^-^HT^ft, --. %\\V.=.'VV^';, N, HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 695 Since Mr. Norton's removal to Staten Island, in 1867, he has identified himself with its leading interests. He is a director in the Staten Island Savings Bank and the Staten Island First National Bank, and was one of the first incorporators and a di- rector in the Staten Island Rapid Transit Railroad. His inter- est in the canse of education is evinced in the aid he extended to the Brighton Heights Seminary for Yonng Ladies and the St. Austin's School for Boys, of both of which organizations he is president. Mr. Norton is married to Lucy M., daughter of Mrs. Mary Peyton Moore, of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Sir Roderick William Cameron was born at Glen-Nevis, Canada, on the 25th of July, 1825, and was educated at the district schools of Cornwall and Kingston, and under the late Dr. John Rae as private tutor. His youth having been passed in Canada, he came to New York in 1852 with the intention of taking passage for Australia. Wiser counsels prevailed and he was induced to invest his small capital in the charter of the ship " Revenue," which, under the guidance of his broker, the late John Ogden, was dispatched in June, 1852, as the pioneer of the line tliat has existed since that date. The business of this line has now grown to large proportions, the tonnage employed in the direct trade between New York and the Australasian colonies during the past year being not less than one hundred and thirty thousand capacity, carrying American productions solely, of several millions in value. Mr. Cameron represented the colony of New South Wales as commissioner at the cen- tennial exhibition of 1876, also acted as honorary commissioner at tjie Paris exposition in 1878, and passed a year in Australia representing the Dominion of Canada at the e.xhibitions of Melbourne and Sydney in 1880 and 1881. On his return he prepared a report on the trade relations between the continents of Australia and America, which was published as an appendix to the report of the minister of agriculture in 1881, and largely quoted from by the press of Canada and by those interested in the subject of which it treats. For his valuable services in promoting trade relations be- tween Canada and the Australasian colonies, the honor of knighthood was in 1883, conferred upon him by her majesty Queen Victoria. The subject of this biographical sketch is an enthusiastic sportsman, and in his efforts to improve the thoroughbred HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. horse has accomplished more than any other breeder of the period. He in 1861 became the purchaser of Clifton-Berley, snbseqnently the home of the imported stallions Leamington, Warminster, Glen Athol, Hartington, etc., while such famous thoroughbreds as Glenelg, Reform, Inverary and others were bred there during the period of the renowned Clifton stud. The property consists of about three hundred acres nnder the highest cultivation, surpassing in the beauty of its park like scenery anything to be found on the island. From the mansion on the central hill, built of stone, brick and wood, in the Queen Anne style of architecture, with ample halls and stately rooms, down the slopes of the shrubberied lawn, across the rich meadows and broad fields to the sea, the prospect is wide and beautiful be- yond descriiition. Surely art has here vied with nature in her rich contributions to this charming spot. Sir Roderick is not the first of his family upon whom the honor of knighthood has been conferred. One of his maternal ancestors. Sir Roderick Macloud, was knighted in the early part of the seventeenth century, and known as " Sir Rory More of that Ilk in Skye." The family were settled in Lochaber and Skye from time immemorial, and a family tree examined by the editor traces the genealogy from 1342, and recalls an ancestry of which any family may be proud. Malcolm, son of Taromade, was granted a charter by King David second, in the year 1342 of part of Gleuelg (see record called the Black Book, folio 2, register office, Edinburgh). The progenitor of the branch of the Cameron family to which Sir Roderick belongs was Donald Cameron, of Glen-Nevis, who, according to tradition, secured the lands of Morsheirlich from Lochiel. The first of whom there is authentic record is Alex- ander Cameron, born at Glenmoriston, Inverness-shire, in 1729, who emigrated to the colony of New York before 1776, and ultimately settled in the Dominion of Canada. He married Margaret Macdonell, of Glengarry, about 1760, and had chil- dren, Duncan and one daughter. Duncan Cameron, born in 1764, was one of the founders in the last century of the North- west Fur Trading Company, afterward merged into the Hudson Bay Company, a member of parliament and an influential citizen. He married Margaret, daughter of Captain William Macleod, and had three sons, Duncan, Alexander Duncan and Roderick William, the subject of this biography. The latter married in PORTLEDGE. KESIDENCE OF J. F. EMMONS. Chiton. N. Y. v%-\"i-tvt^ V, %\t%^^V^ HISTORY OF KICHMOND COUNTY. 097 1860, Anne Fleming, daughter of Nathan Leavenworth, of Pnritan descent, and Alice Johnstone, daughter of a Scottish gentleman. Mrs. Cameron died July 2, 1879. Their children are : Duncan Ewen, Roderick Macleod, Alice Leavenworth (deceased), Margaret Selina Erne, Catherine Nathalie, Anne Fleming and Isabella Dorothea, all but Alice having been born at Clifton. Duncan Ewen and Roderick Macleod enjoy the great privilege of American citizenship. May they be the progenitors of future generations as loyal to the great republic as were their forefathers to the land of their birth. John Frank Emmons, well known in Richmond county as ju'esident of the Staten Island Rapid Transit Railroad Com- pany, and one of the most active and energetic business men on the island, was born in Boston, April 26, 1839. His father, Mr. John L. Emmons, a prominent Boston merchant, married Miss Catharine Draper Vose, and of their four chil- dren, Frank, as he is commonly known, is the eldest. He re- ceived his education at the private school conducted by Mr. Adams, which he left at the age. of sixteen to enter the store of his father. Here by his industry as a clerk he won for himself a partnership in the firm of J. L. Emmons & Co., which for many years carried on an extensive business in the wholesale grocery line. Drawn by the life and business prominence of the metropolis, Mr. Emmons in 1866 gave up his interest in that tirm and removed to New York city, where he secured a partnership in the firm of George E. Cook & Co., dealers in miscellaneous securities. In 1878 he severed his connection with the house just mentioned and accepted the membership in the banking firm of H. L. Horton & Co. which he still retains. Mr. Emmons is characterized by quickness and decision. In the " Stock Exchange," of which he is a member, and in finan- cial circles generally, his advice and judgment are widely sought and accepted. His connection with the Rapid Transit Railroad Company and his constant and daily presence in the most exciting and busiest hnancial center of the world tend constantly toward bringing him into notice and give him an intimate acquaintance with all that is of value in modern finan- ciering. Since his removal to Staten Island in 1866 he has interested himself in the introduction and maintenance of the present water supply and in the building and improvement of the 698 HISTORY OF KICIIMOND COUNTY. schools and educational institutions of the island. He was also prominent in the establishment of the recently organized "First National Bank of Staten Island." Mr. Emmons built the first sewer for drainage purposes in the village of New Brighton, and soon after the organization of the board of health of that village was chosen a member, acting as its president till 1886, when he removed to Clifton. In June of the same year in which he came to Staten Island, he married Miss Mary Win- throp Cook. Mr. Emmons is among the foremost in social life both in New York city and on Staten Island. He is a member of the Union League Club and many of the social clubs of Richmond county. Though he has interested himself in politics he has never held jpolitical office and he owes no allegiance to any party, though he leans toward republicanism. During pur- tions of 1863-64 Mr. Emmons served as lieutenant of "Company E, Forty-fifth Massachusetts Infantry," then under command of General Foster in North Carolina. He still retains his in- terest in military affairs and is a member of the " Loyal Legion." His residence on Staten Island has contributed in many ways to its prosperity, and his connection with the procuring of i-apid transit for Richmond county has earned him a place in its history. Harry L. Horton, formerly president of the village of 'New Brighton, and for many years one of Staten Island's most ag- gressive citizens, was born in Bradford county, Penn., July 17, 1832. His youth gave promise of more than average business capacity, and at the age of 17 he left his father's farm to en- gage as clei'k in a mercantile concern at Towanda, in his native state. Here, by faithfulness to their interests, he won the con- fidence of his employers, and developed many of the sterling qualities which have rendered his subsequent business career a success. At the age of 22 Mr. Horton left Towanda for Milwaukee, where he engaged in the produce commission business on his own account. For nine years he continued to conduct it, but at the end of that time, in 1865, various interests dictating the step, he concluded to leave the West for New York. Immedi- ately after his arrival in the metropolis he connected himself with its stock and other exchanges, and has since conducted one of the most successful banking and broking establishments -^■^iyAfl.RilchM HISTOKY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 699 in the city. He is at present the senior member of the firm of H. L. Horton & Company, No. 56 Broadway, one of the few houses which have lionorably weathered the financial storms of the last twenty years. Soon after engaging in business in New York, Mr. Horton took up his residence at New Brighton, where he is now in pos- session of a handsome property. He early became impressed with the thought that Sfaten Island had a brilliant future be- fore it, an idea which recent events have in a remarkable man- ner confirmed. In accordance with this view he has prom- inently connected himself with every aggressive work in Rich- mond county, and is especially entitled to credit for his energy in promoting the interests of the Staten Island Water Supply and the Rapid Transit Companies. Mr. Horton has been twice married and has two children. Cordial in his social life, useful as a citizen, of sound judgment as a business man, his friendship, influence and advice are widely sought and, if deserved, are freely given. He has and is con- stantly making for himself a host of warm and valuable friends, to whose esteem he is in the highest degree entitled and will long retain. Reon Barnes. — One of the most noticeable men in Rich- mond county and one whose foresight and energy have, per- haps, done more for its development than any other, is Mr. Reon Barnes. During fifteen years he has been a resident of Staten Island, and his face has become a familiar one to the majority of its inhabitants. Like most of our prominent Ameri- can business men he owes his success entirely to his own genius, industry, perseverance and pluck. His childhood was spent in New England, and the qualities which he acquired there, to- gether with native ambition and bold maneuvering, have slowly but surely led him to the front. The family from which Mr. Barnes is descended was origin- ally English. Its first members in America were three brothers, professional men, who came to Sag Harbor, Long Island, in 1652. A branch of their descendants found their way up the Connecticut river to Middletown, where Duane Barnes, father of Reon, was born, and where he married Miss Cynthia Turner. Eleven children were the result of this union, of which the sub- ject of this sketch was the sixth. He was born at Middletown December 9, 1845, and during 700 IIISTOKY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. his youth attended the public school at that place. He also spent much of his time about the publishing establishment then conducted by his father, leaving it in his fifteenth year for New York city. Since that time his life has been a busy one and has been attended by a variety of fortune in which he has gained a vast amount of practical experience. After a few years spent in gaining a foothold in the business world, during which he traveled in various interests through every state and territory in the Union, he embarked in the general contract business which he still continues. The numerous and extensive operations which Mr. Barnes has carried on have made him a well known man in business and financial circles, not only in New York city but throughout the whole country. Among his works are many of the piers and bulkheads at Constable's hook, the South Penn Railroad, and the Wheeling & Harrisburg Railway of West Virginia. He pro- cured the local, state and government franchises for the bridge over the Ohio, at Wheeling, now in course of construction, and is at present engaged in the erection of extensive stock yards at St. Louis, to be opened in connection with the Belt Line Railroad of that city. He also has under way a project for illuminating the streets and buildings on the north and south shores of Staten Island with incandescent electric lights, which it is hoped will be in operation by the time this book is pub- lished. In 1876, four years after his removal to Staten Island, Mr. Barnes procured the sale of the Garner ferry to Mr. Starin, and thus secured for Richmond county its first comfortable means of commtinication with New York city, which, together with re- cent developments in rapid transit, have been of so much benefit to its people. He has since secured a large amount of real estate on the island consisting mostly of water front. In person Mr. Barnes is tall and portly, with features well defined, indicating the thorough man of affairs. The large ex- pei'ience he has enjoyed enables him to arrive at conclusions rapidly, and these are seldom found to be at fault. Few per- sons who approach him fail to notice his rare conversational al)ility or to be struck by the facility with which he decides on the practicability Or impossibility of the projects submitted to his judgment. He is also possessed of a most retentive memory. Persons come constantly to his office with schemes, the scenes cr-zr-C, HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 701 of which are located in all parts of the country and even of the world, and he decides on them immediately, calling upon his past reading or experience for a knowledge of the locality in which they are situated. Mr. Barnes' genial nature, the great advantage he has derived from intimacy with the most enterprising men of the times, and the constant liberality he displays in all worthy causes have made him a power in the social life of the community, especially among the younger people. Orlando A. Wood, who is ol Scotch ancestry, was born Jan- uary 30, 1803, in Tolland county. Conn. After a period of early youth spent in study he, at the age of nineteen, removed to Sa- vannah, Ga., and engaged in the ehip chandlery and grocery business. He found a congenial field in the South and re- mained until 1852, when, determining to retire from commercial life, he disposed of his interest, returned to the north and located on Staten Island, where he purchased a desirable site with at- tractive surroundings, rebuilt the residence and has since led the life of a retired gentlemen. In 1834 he abandoned business sufficiently long to make an extended European tour. Mr. Wood is, in his political preferences, a conservative and votes for men of character and ability iriespective of party. Independent in thought and action, he is not bound to any platform or party. He served as alderman of the city of Savannah and also partici- pated in the Seminole war. Mr. Wood espouses the faith of the Protestant Episcopal church and is a vestryman of St. Luke's church of Rossville. CHAPTER XVI. INDUSTRIES. Agriculture.— Shipbuilding.— The Oyster Interests.— John Scott.— Silas N. Havens. — Edward Lowrey Woodruff.— Barrett, Nephews & Co.— The New York Dye- ing and Printing Eestal>lishnient. — The Breweries. — George Beehtel. — Jlonroe Eckstein. — B. Kreischer & Sons. — Jewett White Lead Company. — Silk Jlill. —John Irving.— Linoleum Works. — Paper Mill. — Plaster Mill.— Dental Sup- plies. — Other Industries. DURING the first century and a half which followed the settlement of the island the leadino- pursuit of its inhab. itants was agriculture. The fisheries about the shores assumed a rank of considerable importance. Shipbuilding grew to be worthy of some note, and manufacturing then came in for its share of attention. Since the introduction of steam ferryboats the latter industry has greatly increased. The manufacture of various earthen products, beer and dyeing processes are largely carried on. The latest agricultural census shows the following figures: the annual product was 773 bushels buckwheat; 46,433 bushels Indian corn; 17,358 bushels oats; 2,420 bushels rye; 2,906 bushels wheat; $5,219 value of orchard products; 6,391 tons of hay; 29,662 bushels Irish potatoes; 2,725 bushels sweet potatoes; 272 pounds wool; 186,439 gallons milk; 54,088 pounds butter; and 1,000 pounds cheese. There were on farms 751 horses; 26 mules ; 54 working oxen; 901 milch cows; 541 other cattle; 49 sheep and 923 swine. There wa? once considerable activity in shipbuilding. In the early .^ears of the settlement there were but few ship carpenters here. Small vessels were in constant demand, but facilities were not at hand for constructing them. Such work was done at tiie city. But during the last century the practice of build- ing on the shores of the island grew. Oak and chestnut were plentiful and workmen could live here cheaper than in the city. "We have little data upon which to found any statement as to IIISTOUY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 703 the extent to wliicli the industry prevailed. A newspaper of June ], IllT), contains an item to the effect that a sliip of 240 tons burthen had just been launched from the yard of Mr. Richard Lawrence. The ship was named "Patty," was built for Messrs. Buchanan, and was to be commanded by Capt. Alexander Marquis. During the present century something has been done. A few vessels were built before 1861; but timber is now scarce and dear, and building is nearly gone. There are three yards on the northern part of the island, all of which are kept alive by repair work. At one of them, in Stapleton, a large marine rail- way was constructed in 1880 for future use. On the southern end of the island, at Tottenville, there are eight ship-yards, each of which does repairing and some building. There are eight marine I'ailways in these yards, all worked l)y h<)r.se-power, which take out from four to five hundred small vessels yearly for painting, caulking, and repairing. This beinga fishing locality, with the coal depots of New Jersey near, the work is largely from smacks, tugs, coal barges and oyster boats. The new work is chiefly in the way of steam tugs and propeller yachts. Mr. James M. Rutan, who carries on the shipbuilding busi- ness at Tottenville, represents a family that has long been identified with this industry. rlis grandfather, Henry Rutan, came from France in 1770, and afterward settled in Belleville, N. J. Thence his son, H. S. Rutan, father of James, moved to Staten Island in 1809, and engaged in shipbuilding for the Se- guine family. In 1820 he removed to Ro,ssville, and there en- gaged in the same business. He died in August, 1833, since which time the bu.siness has been carried on Ijy his .son, James M. Rutan, now located at Tottenville. Another branch of business is that pursued by the Coast Wrecking Company. This company has a yard and a wharf on the northeast shore of the island, and engages in the spe- cialty of saving vessels that are wrecked on the coast, or have Ijeen sunk b}' collision, or otherwise, in and around New York harbor. It owns two steamers and two schooners, and employs from sixty to one hundred and ten men. An idea of the nature of its work may be gained from the report of its operations in the census year, 1880. Tlie company's submarine divers exam- ined the bottoms of five ships, pumped out four shiixs, and stripped the hulls or saved the cargoes of twelve large vessels 704 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. that had been driven ashore. It raised one steamer, one schooner and one bark, which had sunk in the harbor, and rescued the following stranded property: two schooners, three tugs, one ship, six barks, and thi-ee steamers. For doing this work the company received from ten to fifty per cent, of the value of property saved, but even then it is said its work was conducted at a loss. The extent of the shipbuilding in this county for the census year is shown in the following figures : tlaere were thirteen new vessels built; their total tonnage was one thousand five hun- dred and eighty-two ; their value one hundred thousand dollars ; twelve boats built were valued at one thousand four hundred dollars ; the value of repairing done amounted to eighty -seven thousand four hundred dollars ; making an aggre- gate of one hundred and eighty-eight thousand eight hundred dollars as the gross product of the industry in this county for that year. During the two years following the industry was reported to be quite brisk at Tottenville and Rossville. Among the prominent men engaged in shipbuilding on the island maybe mentioned; Jacob Ellis and Son, A. C. Brown, and Messrs. Conklin, at Tottenville ; William A. H. Nichols, at Rossville ; Lewis H. St. John & Co., and William Lissen- den, at Elm Park ; David J. Jones and James Fisher, at Port Richmond ; and Thomas and John J. Lawler, at Clifton. The Staten Island Dry Dock Storage and Improvement Com- pany was incorporated April 18, 1885, for the purpose of dock- ing, loading and unloading, raising, building and repairing vessels, storing cargoes, and carrying on the general business of a dry-dock and warehoxise company, and its operations were to be carried on Jointly in Richmond and Kings counties. The trustees of the incorporation were : Chauncey Stillman, Warren Beman, Josiah L. Chapin, George Leeds and Montgomery Queen. The capital stock of the company was limited to two million dollars, and the term of its proposed existence was fifty years. Among the riches of a new country enumerated to the old world by discoverers, the products of the sea always have held a prominent place. The fishes of these waters attracted the at- tention of the earliest voyagers in a marked degree, and the mollusks (a part of them, in popular estimation) were not neg- lected. The explorers and colonists were saved any trouble HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 705 in the matter of discovering tliese beds, for the Indians were in the habit of gathering clams and oysters at all practicable sea- sons, and depended upon them lai'gely for their food. In 1621 " very large oisters " were too common atNieuw Am- sterdam to find a market, everybody being able to supply them- selves without charge. A few years later (1671) Arnoldus Mon- tanus speaks of "oysters, some a foot long, containing pearls, but few of a brown color," as one of the common advantages of the young settlement. Sir George Carteret, as one of the in- ducements, in advertising the region about the mouth of the Raritan, where be wished to establish colonies, tells intending emigrants that "the bay [i.e., of New York] and Hudson's river are plentifully stored with sturgeon, great bass, and other scale-fish, eels, and shellfish, as oysters, etc., in great plenty, and easy to take." This was in 1681. Three or four years later letters were written home to England, in which such ex- pressions as the following occur "And at Amboy point and several other places there is abundance of brave oysters." " Oysters, I think, would serve all England." " We have one thing more particular to us, which the others want also, which is vast oyster-banks, which is the constant fresh victuals, during the winter, to English, as well as Indians; of these there are many all along our coasts, from the sea as high as against New York, whence they come to fetch them." "Oyster shells upon the point, to make lime withal, which will wonderfully accommodate us in building good houses [of stone] cheap, warm for winter, and cool for summer." " We have store of clams, esteemed much better than oysters; on festivals the Indians feast with them; there are shallops [scallops] but in no great plenty." In the neighborhood of Staten Island the circumstances were especially favorable, and there were numerous beds. The northern shore is rocky and unfit for oyster growth for a considerable distance, but the southern and western sides are eminently favorable. Everywhere in these swift tide-ways oysters grew abundantly. South of the island there is a broad expanse of shallow water separating the island from the Jersey shore of Monmouth connty. into which the Raritan pours a heavy flood of fresh water. To the Staten Islanders and New Yorkers this part of the bay is known as Staten Island sound, 45 706 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. and the oysters grown in it receive the market name of " sounds." Jerseymen more often speak of it as Raritan bay, and sell the oysters they raise on their shore as " Amboys" and "Keyports." With reference to oyster matters, history is mute during the close of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth cen- tury, except that chance allusions here and there show that large numbers of persons, nearly everybody, in fact, took ad- vantage of this natural storehouse of food to supplement their luxuries in summer, and victual their cellars for winter. It is also evident that the fame of Carteret's "great plenty and easy to take," had spread abroad, and so many aliens sailed into the placid bay to rake upon the "vast banks," that at last the col- onists became alarmed for the continuance of their precious supply. Thus it arose that as early as 1715 was passed the first colonial law in relation to oysters, prohibiting under a penalty of twenty shillings any person, except native free Indians, from taking oysters between the 1st day of May and the 1st day of September of each year, during a term of five years. A simi- lar law was enacted by New Jersey in 1719. In 1730 New York again found need to make a second law in respect to shellfish, and in 1737 a third, owing to the too great demand made upon the beds around Staten Island by crews of boats from New England, New Jersey, and elsewhere, special protective legislation for these waters was obtained from the colonial legislature. The preamble of this act of 1737 states the necessity for the law, "since it has been found by daily ex- perience that the Oyster Beds lying at and near Richmond County, within this Colony, are wasted and Destroyed by Strangers; the preventing of which will tend to the great Ben- efit of the poor People and others inhabiting the aforesaid Col- ony." The act therefore forbids any one " directly or indi- rectly, to rake * * * any oysters within this Colony, and put them on board any Canoe, Periauger, Flat, Scow, Boat or other vessel whatsoever, not wholly belonging to, and owned by, Persons who live within the aforesaid Colony," under penalty of having the craft and all its contents seized. This law is almost an exact reproduction of the New Jersey statute of 1719. It then names ten citizens of Richmond county, many of whose names still figure in the oyster business of Staten Island, as a HISTORY OF EICIIMOXD COUNTY. 707 police to carry out the law, and empowers them for that pur- pose. Both states made their laws somewhat in a spirit of mischief and retaliation, for Jerseymen then, as ever since, came in con- tact with Staten Island planters, often to the extent of mutual belligerencj\ In spite of this protection, however, all the natural beds gradually gave out, and it was long ago found necessary to sup- plement them by artificial means. The precise date when oyster- planting began here it has been difficult to fix. As to native oysters, at Staten Island, they were certainly cultivated in Prince's bay at least sixty years ago. In some localities, on the opposite shore, the industry is probably older, since a suit was brought about seventy-five years ago, in old Shrewsbury town- ship. New Jersey, originating in the question whether or not a man had exclusive right to the oysters he had planted. The use of these waters for planting occasioned an immedi- ate effect upon the villages of the neighboring coast, which was very striking. "In fact,*' remarks a contemporary chronicler, "the ]irosperity and rapid increase of the poi:)ulation of that island [Staten] is owing, in a considerable degree, to the oyster- trade of this city. Before Prince's bay was laid out in oysfer- plantations there were very few persons living on it, and it was almost wholly uncultivated. * * * A few years after the first beds were planted an extent of coast of from five to ten miles was covered with oysters taken from the ' rocks ' of Vir- ginia. The number of men employed upon the beds in 1853, and who lived upon the island, with their families, was com- puted at three thousand." To encourage this new productive industry, which had thus suddenly come into existence, New York and New Jersey both enacted laws calculated to protect the planters. They have been the object of much change and amendment, as experience ripened the judgment and new circumstances arose. At present the laws of New York applying to this subject and locality are as follows: General statutes: Forbidding any natural bed being staked off for private use, or being planted upon; forbidding any person, not for six months previous a resident of the state, from taking any shell- fish within the state (but an actual resident may employ any 708 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. non-resident); and prohibiting the use of any dredge weighing over thirty pounds, or operated by steam-power. Special statutes: Asserting that no person not an inhabitant of the state may plant oysters in the waters surrounding Staten Island, "except the consent of the owner first be obtained;" and no non-in- habitant may take oysters or clams "from their beds of natural growth in any of said waters." Forbidding dredging or dragging for oysters in the neighbor- hood of Staten Island " upon beds of natural growth of oysters (not planted)." Forbidding any person taking up or disturbing oysters jalanted under all the waters of this state surrounding Staten Island, without previous permission from the owners. New Jersey's laws, applying here, are substantially similar: No summer raking or sale of oysters allowed on public ground. No dredging in any shape allowed. No oysters to be gathered to be made into lime, or to be used in iron manufacture. No pei^son not a resident of the state for six months previous may gather oysters or clams in state waters for himself or for his employer. Any owners or licensed persons may plant oysters or clams upon any flats or coves (not natural beds) and one chain beyond the same, along the shores of Newark bay and Staten Island sound, under prescribed conditions of staking out, etc. A penalty is fixed for taking oysters without authority from such inclosures. Prohibits taking " from any natural oyster banks or beds in this state any old shells other than such as cannot be removed or separated from the oysters without injuring the same; and all such shells shall be culled and thrown back again upon the said natural banks or beds ;" but this does not apply to pri- vate beds. These laws grew up one by one, and at first were Tuisunder- stood and willfully disregarded on all sides. Between New York and New Jersey, in the persons of the Staten Islanders and Jerseymen, there were constant quarrels, and even open wftr, now and then, owing to alleged infringements of the vague boundary line, by one party or the other. If one side HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 709 thought they discovered that an oysterman from the opposite shore was placing his oysters within their waters, they felt no hesitancy or compunction in at once raking his stock up, claim- ing that he had no right to this ground, and consequently the oysters he had bought and placed there were public plunder. Arrests for larceny would follow, tedious imprisonments en- sue, armed guards i^atrol the domains of the respective states, a few men get shot, perhaps, and much trouble to the whole community be caused. The accusation was constantly being made, also, chiefly by the penniless and shiftless, against pros- perous planters, that natural-growth ground had been staked off and was being used privately, to the detriment of the general welfare of the community. Then, too, there were plenty of persons who altogether disputed any rights of property in planted oysters, and failed by their conduct to recognize the law which said there were such rights. The home resources along the shores of Staten Island, in York bay and the North river, having long ago been exhausted, or greatly depleted, the planters in Prince's bay and on the Jersey shore now get "seed" oysters with which to stock their beds wherever they can. The chief source is Newark bay and Raritan river, though the North and East rivers and Long Island sound are drawn upon. A considerable quantity of seed is brought from as far away as Fair Haven and Blue Point. In most cases the planters themselves gather what they use, by going after it in their own sloops, taking a small boat and a man to help. During the war of the rebellion, when the southern fields were cut ofl' from the northern markets to a great extent, the Staten Island planters reaped a rich harvest. Their beds were unusually productive, and the prices were double what they now are, in many cases. At i)resent the receipts are about the same as have prevailed for several years, except that the season of 1878-79, following upon a period of financial depression, and characterized by misfortune in the growth of the moUusks, showed lower rates paid than ever before or since. Prices de- pend largely upon the quality of the different beds, and vary with localities. Virginia oysters from Prince's bay are consid- ered the best. Of natives, those grown in the sound are favor- ites; these supplied a large part of the shipments to Europe in 1879-80, and gave better satisfaction than any others sent. 710 HISTORY OF EICinrOND COUNTy. Perth Amboy and Keyport were the packing points. The prices received by the planters for the different kinds of Staten Island oysters in 1879 were from ten to twenty per cent, less than the previous year, up to which time the price for a long time had averaged one dollar per bushel, taking all grades and sizes together. In the fall and winter of 1879-80. however, lots sold at one dollar were rare, and the average i^rice of "Sounds" and the best "Prince's Bays" (natives) did not average over eighty or ninety cents, while Tottenville oysters, with few exceptions, failed to come up to this even, seventy- five to eighty cents being reported for the most part. The oyster interests of New York bay are the livelihood of a considerable number of people, though it is probable that the population at present supported by them is reduced at least a quarter from the total of ten years ago. All the inhabitants of the southern half of Staten Island may be called oystermen, since many of then have invested a little in the beds in some shape, or work more or less on hire for the regular growers. Exactly how many real planters there are on the island it would be difficult to learn; they are scattered everywhere, but chiefly live at Pleasant Plains, Tottenville, Rossville and Chelsea. On the north shore live many New York merchants, like the Van Names, etc., who j^lant southern oysters almost entirely. Their capital, also, with that of many other New York dealers whose names do not appear, aids a large number of outside planters who are, in fact, only managers of the under-water estates which they apparently own and operate. Tiiis is not deroga- tory to their personal worth or dignity, but only one of the methods of trade, shaped by peculiarities of the law bearing upon the subject. By the opei'ations in oyster culture in and about Staten Island, the number of families wholly supported is estimated to be somewhat as follows : At Prince's bay, fifty; at Tottenville, seventy-five; remainder of Staten Island, twenty- five. The total products of Staten Island beds during the season of 1879-80, was about as follows: This enumerates only the native oysters. About 15,000 bushels a year of southern oysters were planted around Staten Island; at Prince's bay, 50,000 bushels; by Tottenville planters, 55,000; by Chelsea planters, 25,000. We append the following abstract from the report of Fish HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 711 Cominissionei' Blackford, in charge of the oyster investigation, made to the legislature of New York in 1885, pertaining to the oyster interests of Staten Island. "Most of the lands under water which surround Staten Is- land were well supjilied, eaily in the present century, with large beds of excellent oysters, but at the present time the only lo- cality where natural beds of any account are to be found is upon the west side of the island fi'om the neighborhood of Newark bay along the Kill Von Kull to the ' Sound,' or Rari- tan bay. The northern and northeastern portions of the island were never as well furnished with oysters as were the other sec- tions, on account of the rough nature of the bottom," but even this meager supply has been destroyed by the garbage and other miscellaneous nuisances which for many years past have been dumped or poured into the upper bay, or such oysters as are to be found there at present have been rendered useless as food, as their flavor has been ruined. The largest beds were formerly to be found in the neighborhood of Prince's and Rari- tan bays, where quite extensive areas were worked with profit to the local oystermen. As already stated, there are still lo- calities in Raritan bay, or the Sound, as it is called by the oj'^stermen, where considerable quantities of oysters, prin- cipally small seedlings, can be obtained from the natural beds. But these beds are none of them in New York waters. In Prince's bay, and from this part of Staten Island out toward Sandy Hook, thei-eareat the present time practically no natural growth beds, all of the beds which originally covered an important por- tion of the bottom of this section of the bay having been en- tirely exhausted by continuous and merciless working, and the territory thus denuded has been claimed and staked out as ground for planting. It is true that on the softer bottom of the bay at some distance out from the shores of the island, where as yet little, if any, claim for planting ground has been made, there are to be found some few scattered oysters, and there are some beds of fair size in the ship channels leading out to sea, but as a rule all that part of the bottom which during colo- nial times and later furnished great quantities of oysters, is now claimed as private property and protected from all outside work- ers. Visits were made in the ' Lookout' to this section of the state waters on the 15th, and again on the 24th, of September, and a lai-ge and enthusiastic meeting of the oystermen of the 712 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. southern part of Staten Island was held at Pepper's hall, in the village of Tottenville, on Monday, the 8th of December. During the visits with the 'Lookout' dredgings were made on quite a number of the planted beds and also on that portion of the bay outside of the line of staked lands. As a rule the planted beds in both Prince's and Raritan bays are of small size, but one man may control a large number of plots, which maj' be lo- cated at considerable distances from each other, as there ap- pears to be no law for this part of the state regulating the size of the plots, or the number of them which shall be under any one man's control. The accepted rule has been, " first come, first served," and the amount of territory held seems to have been limited only by the ability of the individual to find suit- able locations, and his desire to keep such locations away from his less fortunate neighbors. No public record is kept of any of these private claims and no revenue of any kind is derived from them, either state, county or town. Each oyster planter is a law unto himself and to his neighbors, as to his own claims, and so long as he keeps his plot staked and a small or large quantity of oysters uponjiis land, the courts, by mutual consent, uphold his claims to the bed. As the law thus only tacitly recognizes these claims, while it offers no protection to the claimants, they, or at least a large number of them, have accordingly formed what is known as the Richmond County Oyster Planting Asso- ciation, for the mutual protection of their beds, and this asso- ciation hires a watchman, or watchmen, who patrol the staked areas and prevent outsiders from accidentally or otherwise lift- ing the planted crops, or one planter from poaching on another planter's preserves. "The association is thus, to a certain extent, a close corpora- tion, except that it cannot prevent any resident of the county or state from claiming or staking off any water area not already occupied. The oystermen get rich returns from their invest- ments upon their sub-aqueous territory, and have the bulk of their taxes paid by their neighbors of the upland. So long as the majority of the riparian property owners do not seriousl,y complain, it is not much to be wondered at that not many of the planters are in favor of any changes from the present con- dition of affairs, as regards the amount of land held, of any system of taxation for their property, or of any laws on the part of the state regulating the same. They would be very HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 713 willing to have the state keep outsiders from locating in this vicinity, and also have the state deed or lease them the lands in perpetuity, and jjrotect them from all harassments and injuries, but the most of them do not seem to be veilling to give any re- turn for such leasing or protection. There are some, however, who are very outspoken in their opinion that it would only be fair to place a small tax upon each acre of the land held for planting purposes. As regards the amount of land to be held by individuals, most of those examined thought that ten to fifteen acres were as much as any one person could work, although they did not believe in any limitation. Some thought there should be a limit fixed at perhaps ten acres, and one planter was very emphatic in his statement that if a person could not get a good living off from eight acres he could not from eight hundred, and branded the majority of planters as ' hogs,' who w^antedall the land they could get hold of, even though they possessed neither the ability nor the means to work all that they might be able to control; they simply wanted to keep the land out of the hands of others. The majority of the planters, on the other hand, claim that it is necessary to have at least three or four plots of ground, since the oysters in this vicinity take from three to five years to arrive at marketable size, and in order to have some ready for market each year a series of plants must be made. Thus, if they use seed one year old, and they allow this seed to lie five years, they would require at least four plots, one to be seeded each year, until those first planted are ready for market, so that they shall be able to market each season the crop planted four years before. One witness who was examined even went so far as to claim that it was necessary to let the land lie at rest, in order to recuperate, three or four years after any crop had been taken from it, jnst as if the oysters drew their sustenance from the bottom upon which they lay and thus exhausted it, rather than from the water which was coming and going above the bed. It may be true that the tearing up which the bed receives when the oysters are removed necessitates some slight period of rest in order that the bottom may settle again, especially when deeply harrowed by dredges or tongs, but undoubtedly much of the loose material stirred up when removing the oysters is carried off by the tides and does not settle back directly upon the beds. If it was indeed necessary to allow three or four years as a resting spell for 714 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTT. each bed or part of a bed, then surely would the planters of Staten Island need very extensive plots for their planting operations. "In most cases these planted beds are located at some dis- tance from the shore line of the island, in from eight to thirty feet of -ivater, but some plots extend from the upland directly ont for several hundred feet from tide limits. In these latter cases, when a sale of the adjoining upland takes place, the oyster beds may be included in the transfer deed of the property, although legally such disposal of the oyster interests is not recognized. Nevertheless, while the courts would not admit the deed, they would maintain the right of the pur- 'chaser to the property thus obtained, so long as he worked the land; or in other words, the oysters would be recognized and protected as so much property. Ordinary transfers or sales of oyster beds are mere verbal agreements and accepted by both the individuals, oystermen and the courts. In case of the death of holders of these beds, the beds become the prop- erty of the heirs, provided said heirs continue to work them. If a bed is thrown up for any reason, the first person who desires to take and work it has the privilege of doing so, when, upon staking it in and placing oysters upon it, it again becomes l^rivate property. There seems to be no recognized law or regulation whereby any one can tell when a bed is or is not worked; if it is staked off it must l)e taken for granted that it is in use, and if no oysters can be found upon it it must be taken for granted that the planter is allowing it to 'recuperate,' and that he alone is capable of telling how long this resting spell shall continue. Much complaint is heard from this cause on the part of the i^oorer oystermen, who say that large tracts of land are at the present time held in this manner. These tracts are not worked, and only a boat load or so of oysters are placed upon them. They are simply held for future use, and the 'staking in' prevents others from using them, for even if the oystermen think they are rightfully entitled to work such land when not covered with oysters, they know the uncer- tainty and worry incident to a lawsuit, and as a rule do not interfere with or disturb in any manner the land so claimed. " The amount of ground now worked is probably much greater than when the main reliance for oysters was upon the natural beds, since ground where no natural growth occurs is HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. . 715 even better than hard bottom for planting purposes, and much of this kind of bottom is utilized in this vicinity, consequently the number of bushels of oysters put upon the market now is much greater than it was then, as the beds for the most part are well cared for, or at least we found those beds which we examined to be in good condition, although there is a verj' great diflference, even in the same neighborhood. For instance, we made one haul upon a small bed ; the dredge was down two minutes, and the result was three hundred and forty-one oysters of good size and in excellent condition for sale. Upon another bed, within perhaps twenty-five rods of the first, the most we could get at any one haul was .seventy-four oysters. The oys- ters from both these places were three to four years old. In another locality, with the dredge down the same length of time, we took up one hundred and seventy oysters from a bed of three years olds, and four hundred and forty-five from abed where the oysters wei'e only two years old. If the growth of those two year old oysters represented the common growth in this bay of oysters at this age, it would seem hai'dly neces- sary to leave oysters down for five years in order to get them into fine condition for market, as the extra time would appar- ently give a greater pei'centage of lo.ss in numbers than the gain would be in size. From several dredgings which we made on the mud outside the staked beds, we were able to obtain but two oysters, showing that the territory which was not taken up was of little value as natural growth ground. The flavor of the oysters from these beds was very good, but they were too salty to suit most palates. The beds are worked mostly with tongs, but in the deejier water dredges are used from either sail boats or steamers, although dredges are not allowed on the natural grounds in this part of the State. " Before being sent to market the oysters are taken to the neighborhood of Newark bay or along the Kill Von Kull and allowed to remain in fresh water over one tide, for the purpose of freshening them, when they are ready for the purchaser, having been 'drinked' sufiiciently in that time. A goodly proportion of the seed for the planted beds is obtained from tlio ' Sound ' and from the Kill Von Kull up to and including New- ark bay. Some is brought from Virginia and Maryland, and some from the East river and Connecticut. Formerly much more seed was brought from the south than is the case at present 716 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. time. There seems to be little choice between the seed from the different sections named, although most of the planters pre- fer the native or the East river seed. Very little seed is found in the immediate vicinity of the beds, and no efforts are made by the planters to catch any " set." as they think it a waste of time to make any efforts in this directiou, although it seems probable that they might save a good deal of money which is now paid to outside parties, if they would take a little pains and employ some of their leisure moments in arranging suita- ble collectors, and this will undoubtedly be done in time. That seed which comes from outside localities costs from twentj'- iive cents to one dollar per bushel, according to quality. Among those oysters which were taken up during our cruising with the ' Lookout,' we found a few drills, but not enough to be of any moment, and the oystermen do not regard them as a serious trouble, although they destroy all that they catch. At times the star iish comes into the region in numbers sufficient to cause considerable damage, but these are rare occasions. The drum fish (Pogonias chromis) is perhaps the natural enemy which the planters here dread the most, as it is claimed that when a large school of drums makes its appearance there is no telling how much damage may be done before the fish are scared away or leave of their own volition. A small portion of a bed may be destroyed or the whole of one may be devastated, or one may be destroyed and another close by not injured at all. Some- times little damage will be done, sometimes thousands of bush- els will be eaten. The drum has the pharyngeal and palatine bones paved with large, rounded molars with which it can crush to pieces any small or thin shell, and when a school gets over an oyster bed all those oysters which can be taken into the mouth have the shells crushed, the Juicy contents sucked out and the fragments of shells scattered about on the bed. In some cases it is said that, after such a visitation, the bed looks as if an army of stone breakers had passed over it, so com pletely is it demoralized. For eight or nine years, until the past season, the drum has not visited the Staten Island oyster grounds, and the oystermen say that the mossbunker fishermen have kept them away by cruising about and drawing their nets for the menhaden. But recently a law has been passed pro- hibiting the fishermen from working in the lower bay, and just as soon, the oystermen say, as the fishermen go out the drums HISTOKY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 717 come in. It may be merely a coincidence, still the oystermen are very anxious that the bunkermen should be allowed to re- turn to their old business in the bay. "The skate is also placed among the enemies of the oyster in Prince's and Raritan bays, but while it is possible for the skate to make way with small oysters and other small shell- lish, it is not likely that they do any great amount of damage, probably not a fraction of that caused by the mussel [Mytllus edtdls), which sometimes 'sets' upon a bed of oysters iii such profusion that, in growing, they finally cover the oyster almost entirely up as with a living blanket, and the result is the de- struction of the bed. The only remedy is to take up the oysters as soon as it is found that the mussels are spreading over the bed, and after removing the mussels replace the oysters upon the old, or take them to a new bed. Practically there are, according to all accounts, but three important natu- ral enemies of the planted oyster in these waters, the drum-fish and star-fish, when they, in their rare migrations, come into the bay, and the mussel. The drill cannot work very effectively among any but small seed, and the skate can hardly be taken into account. The periwinkles, or rough and smooth whelks {Cy- cotyims canaliculatus and Fulgur carica) might be formidable enemies if they were found anywhere in very great abundance. Against all of these enemies the only refuge for the oysterman is in constant supervision of his beds. He cannot leave them to chance with any certainty that chance will throw him a win- ning card. But if he keeps his beds well worked and destroys all of these enemies he meets with, he may feel pretty confi- dent that the majority of his oysters will find a fair opportu- nity sometime of visiting the market. There are some otiier enemies, however, with which the Staten Island oystermen have to deal and against which they cannot as successfully contend as they can with those just mentioned. At times, when a strong west or northwest wind unites with a very low tide, many of the shoal water beds are left exposed, and in the winter season the oysters are liable to be frozen before any water can I'eturn to cover them, and in sevei'e storms so much mud and sand are movad about in the waters that many beds are smothered or sanded by the deposited material. Accidents of this kind are liable to happen in all shallow water regions, and no foresight can prevent them so long as the oysters are left in 718 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTT. such exposed places. Fortunately it is not often that the oys- termen of this region experience severe losses of this nature. There is one enemy, however, which certainly can be gotten rid of, if the right means are employed ; that is, the refuse ma- terial from oil works and sugar refineries, which is now thrown in the water. There can be no doubt that many of the oysters are killed every year on the beds, in this region, just as they have been in the upper part of onr bay, by the impurities which are constantly being tlu'own into the bay along both the New York and New Jersey shores, and it is not uncommon to dredge up great masses of oysters, literally reeking with oily slime and black, sticky mud, of the vilest smell. The law for- bids the placing of these refuse substances in the waters of the bay, and we heartily agree with the oysterman that the law ought to be rigidly enforced for this as well as other locali- ties." John Scott is of Scotch ancestry and the grandson of Thomas Scott, who was nearly allied to the family of Sir Walter Scott, and resided in the vicinity of Abbotsford. the home of the lat- ter. Thomas Scott's death, the result of an accident, occurred in early life. His only son, also named Thomas, resided at Winchmore Hill, Edmonton, Middlesex, England, and enjoyed an enviable reputation as a skillful engineer and surveyor, with offices at Gray's Inn Square, London. He married Sarah Mar- garet Andrews, of Newark, Nottingham, England, and had the following children: Emily, Sarah, Thomas, John, James, Wil- liam and Walter, all of whom, with the exception of the sub- ject of this biography, are deceased. Thomas Scott, later in life, emigrated to the United States, where he followed his profession. Locating on Staten Island, he laid out the village of Clifton and made other important sur- veys. His son John, who was born at Winchmore Hill, above men- tioned, in February, 1826, in October, 1835, emigrated with his parents and settled on Staten Island. He received a common school education and then engaged in farming. In 1848 he established himself in the livery business on the spot he has for forty years occupied in Clifton. He also devotes some at- tention to his farm and to an establishment for coach building. Mr. Scott has been as a citizen active and enterprising, doing much to promote the advancement of the place of his residence. v%-\«'\"(St, ^. %\t»&-\v^-\. HISTORY OF KICPIMOND COUNTY. 719 A republican in politics, while influential with his party and foremost in promoting its interests, he has declined all offices, satisfied that others should be the recipients of such honors. He is a director in the Mutual Insurance Companj^ of Richmond county. Mr. Scott was married March 9, 1856, to Mary J., daughter of Luke Fay, well known among old New Yorkers. Their children are: Agnes Mary, John Winfield, Walter Logan, Frederick Thomas, Emily Louise and David Fay. Silas N. Havens, prominent among the business men of New Brighton, is the grandson of John Havens, of Connecticut, who fought in the revolutionary army during the whole term of this country's struggle for independence. His father, of the same name as himself, was a Connecticut farmer and served as a soldier in the war of 1812. He married at Lyme, Conn., Miss Mariett Griffin and, of their twelve children Silas was the eldest. It is a remarkable fact that all the members of this large family lived to grow up and also to marry. Mr. Havens was born at the family homestead in New Lon- don county. Conn., March 2, 1827. He received his education in the district school of Lyme, after leaving which, at the age of seventeen, he came to Staten Island. Here he entered the employ of Orlando E. Lee, at that time agent of the New Brighton Land Association, After the expiration of ten years he engaged in contract work on his own account, with which he combined an e.xtensive lumber and feed business and also car- ried on large farming operations. Many of the roads in and about New Brighton are the results of liis labor, and he has suc- ceeded in making more land conveyances than any other single person in Richmond county. He has interested himself in pub- lic affairs, though he has never held political office. He is a trustee and director of the Staten Island Savings Bank and a stockholder in the recently organized First National Bank, at N^w Brighton. Mr. Havens is a member of Kingsley Methodist chui'ch of Stapleton and president of its board of trustees. He is an earnest worker in behalf of religion, and has been engaged for years in church and Sabbath school work. He married, February 24, 1858, Miss Arabella Smith, of Salem, Connecticut. They reside at New Brighton, where Mr. Havens owns considerable real estate. Both are highly respected and esteemed in social and religious circles. 720 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Edward Lowrey Woodruff, whose recent display of tal- ent in the constrnction of the buildings and pavilion of the " Staten Island Amusement Company," entitles him to special mention in a history of Richmond county, was born in Buffalo, N. Y. He is a great-grandson of Aaron Dickenson Woodruff, for twenty-four years attorney-general of the state of New Jersey, and a son of the late colonel of engineers, Israel Carle Woodruff, who spent forty-six years In the active service of the United States. On his mother's side he is descended from Thomas Mayhew, who became under the Duke of York, in 1642, governor and patentee of Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and the Elizabeth isles. From these ancestors he inherits that strength of character and zeal which he manifests in all his undertakings. When quite young Mr. Woodruff took up his residence in Washington, D. C. Here he remained for many years, devot- ing his time to securing an education. He attended the Columbian University and subsequently began a special course at the School of Mines, which ill health obliged him to discon- tinue. Shortly after he was appointed assistant in the engi- neer's office, Third Light House district, and was engaged dur- ing fifteen years in planning and constructing many light houses on Long Island sound and the North river. For four years he was associated with the late Professor Joseph Henry while making his experiments on sound, the aerial echo and oils for light house illuminants. The warm fiiendship entertained by the professor for him, together with the intimate association and frequent conversations which he enjoyed with the eminent scientist, have been of material benefit to him in his subsequent career. Mr. Woodruff is a young man of highly artistic tastes. That he possesses marked ability as an architect, the successes which he has achieved on Staten Island bear testimony. The buildings constructed by him for the " Amusement Company" display genius, not only in their design but also in their adaptation to the uses for which they were intended. He has devoted much time to the architectural adornment of the island, and already many attractive and commodious structui-es of all descriptions have been the result of his efforts in this direction. His own recently constructed residence, standing upon an eminence over_ i ) \y.\^-y^''^^ V V.v'tV.-;.T.V^^, H. ■*. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 721 looking New York bay and the adjacent country for miles in all directions, is a model of neatness and convenience. But Mr. Woodruff has not confined himself to Staten Island solely. He has prepared plans for large numbers of houses in different parts of New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Vermont, and particularly at Sea Bright. He has made a speci- alty of country residences and cottages, and has constructed many very attractive and commodious dwellings in and about New York, whose advantages are evident at a glance. Like his father he is modest and retiring in disposition, never obtrusive. He devotes his entire time to the cultivation of his art and the result of his labor speaks for itself. His residence on Staten Island has been productive of many lasting friendships to him- self, and of much benefit in the artistic and social development of the community in which he lives. Of the various industries carried on in our community there is none in connection with which the name of Staten Island is more widely known, or more favorably associated, than the business of fancy dyeing; nor, with the exception of the oyster trade, is there any branch of business that has been so long- located here, or that has been steadier or more constant in its rate of growth and development. The connection of Staten Island with the business of dyeing, printing and refinishing dress goods and other textile fabrics dates back to the year 1819, when the works of the New York Dyeing and Printing Establishment were established at West New Brighton— the locality deriving the name of Factoryville, by which it was known until quite recently, from this circum- stance. The concern of which we propose in the present article to give a brief history and description, may be termed an off- shoot or colony from the parent establishment at Factoryville; hut, like so many other colonies, it has, in its 36 years of in- dependent existence, developed so rapidly, and in so many different directions, that at present its claim to be considered second to no other concern in this line of business in the country is very generally conceded. In 1850 Col. Nathan Barrett, who had been connected witli the New York Dying and Printing Establishment from its origin, serving most of the time as general superintendent, de- termined to establish a new firm in which he would be able to carry into effect, with greater freedom from the restraints of 46 722 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. conservative routine, his ideas as to the proper method of con- ducting the business. Tlie immediate and almost marvellous success of the enterprise gave ample proof of the soundness of his judgment, and the wisdom of his course. Associating with himself, under the firm name of Barrett, Nephews & Co., his three nephews, Messrs. N. M., J. H., and E. B. Heal, and Mr. Abraham C. Wood, gentlemen who, up to that time, had held positions at the head of the various dyeing and iirinting departments, he purchased eight acres of land on Cheri'y lane, situated in the town of Castleton, and about one mile south of the village of Port Richmond. Here suitable buildings were erected, machinery of the latest and most im- proved pattern set up, and the proprietors went to work, de- termined that nothing should be lacking to make their under- taking a success, which skill, energy and experience could furnish. As has already been said the result was not long doubtful — the public speedily recognized the excellent character of the work done by the new house and the care and prompt- ness shown in the speedy return of the goods to their owners; and these qualities, which are still characteristic of the com- pany, produced their natural results in a steady increase of business and reputation. In 1865, the firm, still retaining the name of Barrett, Nephews & Co., was incorporated under the general laws of the state, with Colonel Barrett as president, Nathan M. Heal, vice-presi- dent, and Abraham C. Wood, treasurer. In the latter part of this year (1865) Colonel Barrett, whose health had been failing for some time, determined upon a tour in Europe, in which he hoped to unite business with recreation, and from which his many friends trusted he would return with renewed health, and enriched e.xperience. These hopes were not destined to be realized. After visiting much that was of interest in Ireland, Scotland and England, he crossed to the continent, but just after his arrival in Paris, he was taken ill, and, returning to London, died in that city after an illness of only a few weeks. His remains were brought to Staten Island, and buried in the cemetery attached to the Church of the Ascension, West New Brighton, of which church he had long been a valued member, and in which a handsome memorial window perpetuates his memory. His record as a patriot, jjublic spirited citizen, an en- HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 723 ergetic, enterprising and honorable man of business, and, most of all, as a kind hearted, charitable. Christian gentleman, will long be cherished by his friends and fellow citizens. Colonel Barrett was succeeded in the presidency of the com- pany by Nathan M. Heal, who held the position until 1870, when, his health becoming impaired, he was obliged to resign. In 1867, finding that, in consequence of the great increase of their business, their water supply was becoming insufficient, the company purchased the twenty-seven acres of land adjoin- ing the Mill creek, known as the "Post farm," on which were situated a number of valuable springs of water exactly adapted to the requirements of their establishment. Having connected these springs with their works, for which purpose about three thousand three hundred feet of iron pipe were needed, and hav- ing erected a powerful pumping engine they found themselves in possession of a practically inexhaustible supply of that sine qua non of a dye house, pure water. The balance of the farm, not needed to make the water privilege available was then surveyed, cut up into building lots of about half an acre each, with good broad streets and avenues running through them. So desirable did these lots prove that in a short time most of them were sold, and so many handsome residences have been built by the purchasers that the neighbor- hood — the element of time being taken into consideration — will compare very favorably with any portion of the village. The principal thoroughfare. Post avenue, running from Columbia street to Jewett avenue, preserves the name of the old farm. In 1880 Major Clarence T. Barrett, a nephew of the founder of the firm, a gentleman whose success in his profession as sanitary engineer has given him a more than local reputation, was elected president of the company, which office he still holds. Under his management very great improvements have been made in the "plant" and arrangements of the works. New machinery has been introduced, taking the place in many processes of the old style hand labor. Artesian wells have been sunk, giving an unlimited supply of excellent water on the premises, and do- ing away with the necessity of drawing from distant springs. In short, everything has been done that was needed to place the concern, in appliances and methods, on a par with the best establishments of the kind either in this country or Europe. To those who have never visited an establishment of this 724 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTy. kind, some of the figures connected with the works of Barrett, Nephews and Company, as they at present exist, will prove somewhat startling. The buildings, most of them two stories, some of them three, substantially built of brick, cover an area of about an acre and a half. The engines which drive the ma- chinery are fifteen in number, ranging from three to twenty- five horse power, and are supplied with steam by eight boilers, having an aggregate capacity of five hundred horses ; the sur- plus steam not needed for the engines being all required in the various scouring, dyeing and drying processes, and, in winter, for heating the premises. The number of hands employed during the busy season fre- quently exceeds three hundred, and in some of the depart- ments it is often necessary to keep the machinery running night and day, iu order that there may be no delay in return- ing the goods. The work, to do which all of the above appliances are found necessary, may be divided into the two great classes of whole- sale and retail. The retail work includes the cleansing, dyeing and refinishing of ladies' and gentlemen's garments of every kind, quality and texture, from a lady's silk dress, with all its dainty trimming of gauze and ribbon, to a gentleman's heavy winter overcoat. And this kind of work has been brought to such perfection, that articles, such as the above, when they have become soiled, or from any cause unfit for wear, are frequently cleaned and restored, or even re-dyed, without ripping a stitch, and sent back to their owners looking "as good as new." The dying, cleansing and refinishing of curtains and window shades, in which a large and steadily increasing business is done, may be reckoned under this head. What is known as the 'wholesale business embraces the re- dyeing and refinishing of all sorts of piece-goods, from the finest and most costly silks and velvets, ribbons and laces, to the heaviest woolen cloths and cloakings. This portion of the business is of vast extent, Barrett, Nephews & Company hav- ing customers in almost every state and territory of the Union, not excepting those on the Pacific slope. The greater part of this wholesale work consists in the redying of goods, of which the original colors have faded or become unfashionable and which have lost their original freshness of finish, but a large business is also done in dyeing and finishing goods which HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 725 come to tliem from the importer or manufacturer in what is called the "grey" state, never having been dj^ed or tinished. The imported goods of this class are principally in dress goods, French cashmeres, merinos and de laines, and in veilings, pari- siuas, bareges, velveteens, etc., etc. It is of the treatment of these grey goods, their dyeing and preparation for the market, that Barrett, Nephews & Company have made a specialty, and by liberal expenditure, and the assistance of the best foreign skill available, claim to have reached in it a degree of perfection seldom, if ever, attained in this country. It is an indisputable fact that quite frequently their work in this line cannot be dis- tinguished from the imported, even by the most skillful ex- perts. In 1884 the company experienced a heavy loss in the death of Mr. Abram C. Wood, one of the original members of the firm, who, at the time of his death, held the office of vice- president and treasurer of the company. Mr. Wood's charac- ter, uniting, as it did, the strictest integrity and straightfor- wardness in all his transactions, with a genial manner and friendly disposition, had won for him the respect and esteem of a wide circle of business acquaintances ; while his fellow- citizens and neighbors of Staten Island, amongst whom his whole life had been silent, honored him for those qualities of mind and heart which stamped the possessor as a true Christian gentleman. The present board of trustees of Barrett, Nephews & Com- pany consists of the following gentlemen : Clarence T. Barrett, jiresident ; Charles W. Kennedy, vice-president and treasurer ; Charles E. Heal, secretary; Augustus W. Sexton, Jr., Edwin B. Heal, trustees. The New York Dyeing and Printing Establishment, also known as the Old Staten Island Dyeing Establishment, is lo- cated on Broadway, West New Brighton, and was organ- ized in the year 1819, under the firm name of Barrett, Tiles- ton & Company, and continued in successful operation for a pei'iod of about six years ; a charter of incorporation was then obtained, under the present title. The late Samuel Marsh was elected president, which position he held with great credit to himself and profit to the stockholders until his death, which occurred after he had been elected president for the forty-ninth successive year. 726 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. There is no more prominent and well known locality on the island than where this large and extensive dyeing and cleaning establishment is situated, occupying, as it does, over twenty acres of ground, which they have occupied continuously for a period of three score years and ten, and though they have ar- rived at the age allotted to man, they are to-day larger, more vigorous, energetic and aggressive than at any previous period of their existence. Anything they undertake they aim to do in a manner not to be surpassed. A visit to their works is necessary to give one an idea of its vastness. Five hundred hands are employed, ten steam engines and other machinery in proportion are necessary to wield the vast fabric. That portion of their business that our readers will take the most interest in is that devoted to the cleaning and dyeing of ladies' and gentlemen's clothing, and to do this work hundreds of busy hands are constantly employed, besides they are largely engaged in the dyeing of cotton goods and the manufacture of bookbinders' cloth. It is a singular fact, and one that attests as much as anything can, the unvarying success of their business, that the descend- ants of the original proprietors still retain their interest in the company. They have fourteen offices and nearly one thousand agencies, covering the territory from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, so that no one need have any excuse for wearing soiled or faded clothing. Their principal New York offices are : 98 Duane street, 286 Fifth avenne, 870 Broadway, 610 Sixth avenue, and Broadway, West New Brighton. The Breweries are among the most prominent industries of Staten Island. On account of the number and copious fullness of the springs and the excellent quality of the water, the island has been selected as a favorite place for the establishment of this business. The establishments located here together pay an enormous revenue to the government. Bechtel's brewery, perhaps the largest of these, is located at Stapleton, where it was founded by John Bechtel, in 1853. In 1865 he sold the concern to his son, George Bechtel, the present proprietor. The capital invested here amounts to well nigh half a million dollars. In 1865 the revenue tax of this brewery HISTORY OF RICHMOND COnNTY. 727 was $10,000, and ten years later it bad increased to $60,000. It employs about fifty bands. George Beohtel was born in Germany in 1840. He came witb bis parents to America at tbe age of six montbs, and in 1851 entered tbe grammar school of Columbia College. After finisbing bis course at that institution he began an apprentice- ship in the brewery which his father bad established at Staple- ton in 1858. From 1860 to 1865 he occupied the position of sup- erintendent of tbe establishment, and while engaged in that capacity be established tbe first ice-house in the East. In 1865 he rented the property from his father, and in 1870 purchased his entire interest, becoming the sole j)roprietor. The original building proving too small for bis rapidly in- creasing business, Mr. Becbtel concluded to tear it down and in its place he built the present elegant structure, special atten- tion being given to its equipment. So energetically was the work of erection pushed that in ten weeks after tbe first stone was laid brewing had recommenced. Tbe continued increase of his business is due to tbe high quality of excellence which he maintains in all bis productions. In 1876 his beer received the' centennial exhibition medal, in 1877 the medal of tbe Gam- brinus Verein, in 1878 one from tbe Paris exhibition and in 1879 be was awarded the prize at the Sidney fair in New South Wales. About the latter year Professor Doremus, after analyz- ing bis beer, in a letter to Mr. Becbtel pronounced it to be a preparation made from pure hops and malt and free from any deleterious substances whatever. Mr. Becbtel has been foremost in all public and benevolent matters. During the negro riots in 1861 he sheltered large num- bers of these homeless people in the woods and sent them nourishment daily till the trouble bad subsided, a circumstance which tbe colored people on Staten Island have never forgotten and for which they have been ever grateful. On the organiza- tion of the village of Edgewater Mr. Becbtel was elected trus- tee of the Third ward in tbe face of strong opposition. From 1871 to 1879 he devoted himself entirely to business, taking little interest in political matters. In 1879 he received tbe joint nomination of the republican and democratic parties for super- visor and was elected by an overwhelming majority. He has since been yearly re-elected and during one year served as 728 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. chairman of the board. Prom 1879 to 1883 lie also served as trustee of the village from the First ward. At the time of his election to the supervisorship Richmond county bonds stood at 80, taxes were eight per cent., and the village of Edgewater had a debt of $125,000. Through his energy the debt has been paid, taxes have been reduced to two per cent., and the bonds are bringing $112. In addition to this the roads have been greatly improved and cannot be excelled bj' any on Staten Island. He succeeded in refunding the $50,000 war debt at four per cent, at a premium of one and one-half per cent., a financial operation which no other county in the state has shown. In 1879 Mr. Bechtel was a delegate to the state convention, the first ever elected from Richmond county. Three times he was re-elected and was twice its first vice-president. While in convention he was appointed by the first congressional delega- tion, comprising Queens, Suffolk and Richmond counties, a member of the state and executive committees. Mr. Bechtel's benevolent qualities show themselves on all oc- casions, and many poor families on Staten Island have been the recipients of his charity. It is said of him that he is ever ready to hel|) where it is needed. As a holder of office he is indis- IDensable, and the growth of the county is largely due to his infiuence. He is a man of cordial temperament and is connected with many associations, societies and clubs, prominent among which are the Arion and Liederkranz societies of New York and the German Society Erheiterung, of which he was one of the first members. He was also a charter member of the Klobpf Stock Lodge of Fi-ee Masons, to which he was transferred from the Tompkins Lodge of Richmond county. In 1879 the Japanese embassy, together with the secretary of state and several other gentlemen, paid a visit to Mr. Bechtel's brewery. As a result they ordered one hundred thousand bot- tles of beer to be sent to Japan. On their return they sent him several very flattering letters and a pair of costly vases as a token of their esteem. Mr. Bechtel is the largest tax-payer on Staten Island. He has lately added to his possessions a water-front of nearly one thousand eight hundred feet, with an average water depth of thirty feet at low tide. He has an elegant residence on the island and an enormous stable, whicli is said to be one of the HOUSE AND STABLES OF GEORGE BECHTEL. STAPUETON, N. Y. Vft^RltVt^ t. %\\.*^-\V^-\^ *. X. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 729 finest in the United States. The latter has been highly compli- mented by Mr. Bergh, president of the "Society for the Pre- vention of Cruelty to Animals," of which Mr. Bechtel is a member. Previous to the improvement of the Edgewater roads Mr. Bechtel was obliged to stable his horses in New York cit.y, running a steamboat to and from the island solely for their conveyance. The offices attached to his brewery are handsouie and complete. The furnishings and decorations are of the most elegant description, their general design being that of the Queen Anne period. A special featvire of their outfit is a commodious Russian bath, laid in cement, with imported white and blue tiles. Mr. Bechtel is now in the prime of life. He is a man of taste and foresight, and is regarded by those who know him best as a highly nseful as well as influential man. It has been his in- tention for some time to erect a hospital upon Staten Island which shall be open to unfortunates of all nationalities and sects. He will put his plan into execution as soon as the i:)ropei' site can be secured. He has just given a sum of money with a l^romise of more, if necessary, to erect a hospital for invalid Odd Fellows of the state of New York, and is at present nego- tiating with a committee from the Smith infirmary to build a pavilion costing from $4,000 to §5,000 and containing six en- dowment beds, as an addition to their projected hospital, entirely at his expense. Mr. Bechtel married, in 1865, Miss Eva Schoen, of New York city. He has five children still living, four daughters and one son. The daughters were attendants of the famous French school of Madame Colin, formerly conducted by Madamoiselles Charbonnier. The Clifton brewery, in Edgewater, is one of considerable importance. It is invested with some degree of interest from tlie fact that it was established by General Garabaldi and his partner, Antonio Meucci, in 1851. Since theirday it has passed through the hands of several proprietors, among whom were Louis Gross, Christian Trefz and Gabriel Mayer, at whose de- cease it passed into the hands of David Mayer and Fr. Bachmann. The capital invested is about a quarter of a million dollars and the work employs about fifty hands. This brewery was de- stroyed by fire on the 31st of October, 1881. The buildings were of brick, but they fell before the devouring flames, to- 730 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUKTY. gether witli an ice house and a saloon connected with the brewery. The loss was estimated at about two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. The Atlantic brewery, at Stapleton, is owned by Rubsam & Horrmann. It was established in 1870, and employs a capital of about one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars, and a force of thirty to forty men. Bischoff's brewery was established at Stapleton, in 1854, or soon after that date, by one Gillich. Subsequently it became the property of Wolf & Reinhardt, and later passed into the possession of George Bischoff. About twenty hands are era- ployed. The Constanz brewery is located at Castleton Corners. It was established in August, 1852, by August Schmid. Subsequently passing into the hands of Joseph Setz, it was conveyed by him to Monroe Eckstein, in 1875, and by him it has been greatly im- proved and is still owned. The original number of buildings was two, and its capacity until 1875 only three thousand bar- rels. Six large buildings have since been added and the ca- pacity increased to forty thousand barrels. Inproved machinery has been introduced, which is driven by steam. The water here is of first quality. About forty men are employed and ninety to one hundred thousand bushels of malt and three hundred bales of hops are annually used. There are a few other similar establishments on the island, but none so large as those we have noticed. At the centennial exhibition at Philadelphia eleven prizes were awarded to brew- ei's in the United States, three of which were awarded to Staten Island brewers, viz.: Mayer & Bachmann, George Bechtel and Eiibsam & Horrmann. Eckstein, Bischofl' and some others did not compete. Monroe Eckstein, one of the most enterprising men among the brewers of Staten Island, is the seventh of twelve children of Henry Eckstein, formerly a wealthy merchant of New York, who came to this country from Bavaria in 1835. He was born in the city of New York, June 23, 1849, and during his youth attended private and public schools in his native place. Subse- quently he enjoyed a term in the College of New York, after which, in 1865, he engaged in the tobacco business with the firm of Wertheimer & Co., of New York and San Francisco. Here his business abilities soon won for him the favor of his employers HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 731 and lie was rapidly advanced till at the time of his leave taking in 1875 he was buyer for the firm. In the latter year Mr. Eckstein purchased from Joseph Setz the Constanz brewery at Four Corners, S. I., which had been founded in 1852, by August Schmid, one of the organizers of the United States Brewers' Association. The brewery is located on rising ground whence a magnificent view of the Kill Von Kull, the Jersey country and vicinity can be obtained, and has about it twenty-two acres of ground, most of which is attrac- tively laid out as a pleasure park, with summer houses, seats, etc. The immense increase in the business which Mr. Eckstein has succeeded in bringing about has compelled him to enlarge the building from time to time, and he is at the present writing engaged in rebuilding the whole structure, and replacing the old machinery at a cost of $125,000. This will make his outfit one of the most complete brewing plants in the country. Mr. Eckstein is a public spirited and enterprising man. He takes great interest in the development of the neighborhood, and was active in the organization and promotion of the rail- road company that constructed the shore line direct to his es- tablishment. Ever since his removal to the island he has been identified with the more important enterprises on it. He is commissioner of highways, chairman of the board of school trustees of Castleton Corners, treasurer of the Richmond County Railroad Company, president of the Richmond County Savings Bank and a stockholder in the First National Bank and the Bank of Staten Island. Besides these he is an active member of the executive com- mittee of the Association of United Lager Beer Brewers of New York and vicinity, and a member of the vigilance committee of the New York State Brewers and Malsters' Association. He is also connected with many social clubs in New York city and on Staten Island. Mr. Eckstein has given large amounts to charitable purposes and his spirit of benevolence is well known throughout Rich- mond county. His genial nature and thorough integrity in the transaction of his business have won for him many and lasting friends. Mr. Eckstein married, February 1, 1882, Miss Selina Dinkel- spiel, of New York city, in which place he resides during the winter months. 732 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. The firm of B. Kreisclier & Sons, at Kreischerville, is engaged in the manufacture of clay gas retorts, fire brick, blocks, and all kindred fire clay goods necessary where high heats are ob- tained. The factory is located on Staten Island sound, two miles from Tottenville, and diagonally opposite the coal docks of the Lehigh Valley Raih'oad Company. This business was established in 1845, by Balthasar Kreisclier and Charles Mumpeton, under the firm name of Kreischer & Mumpeton, at the corner of Goerck and Delancey streets. New York city, and so continued until 1849, when, after the decease of the latter, B. Kreischer carried on the business in his own name. In 1859, his nephew becoming associated with him, the name was changed to Kreischer & Nephew, and two years later, upon the admission of Mr. Kreischer' s son-in-law, it was again changed to B. Ki'eischer & Company. In 1861 the partnershi p was dissolved, and the style of B. Kreischer again adopted. In 1870 Mr. George F. Kreischer was admitted as a partner, and the style changed to B. Kreischer & Son. The manufactory was again enlarged, and at that time occupied twenty-one full city lots. In 1873, the property becoming too valuable and ex- pensive for manufacturing, it was resolved to enlarge the Staten Island works sufficiently to raise its capacity equal to that of the New York works. Operations were at once commenced, but were somewhat retarded by the general depression of busi- ness. In the fall of the year 1876, the buildings being com- pleted,, the machinery was taken out of the New York factor.y, and all tools, moulds, etc., shipped to Staten Island. The build- ings in New Y^ork were taken down and tenement houses erected in their stead. On the eve of the 1st of January, 1877, the factory was consumed by fire, causing a total loss of sixty thousand dollars. By the energy and close attention of Mr. B. Kreischer, however, assisted by his sons, on the 23d day of April the engine was again running, and manufacturing opera- tions were resumed. The factory was rebuilt and the newest im- provements were made. In 1878 Mr. B. Kreischer retired from the business, having been active in the same for thirty-three years, and the style was changed to the present one, B. Kreischer & Sons, Mr. B. Kreischer allowing his sons to use his name. The factory now covers over three acres of ground, is two tories high, and has a capacity of twenty thousand fire brick a 'Si Z o (fl > ^ z ^ d o g 5 5 u m w HISTORY OP RICHMOND COUNTY. 733 day. A one hundred and twenty-five horse power engine, tnk- ing steam from two tnbular boilers, supplies the motive power. A line of shafting extends from one end of the main building to the other, being three hundred feet in length. The storage room for clay, etc., is composed of fourteen bins thirty- two by twenty-five feet each, taking up a space of four hundred and twenty-five feet in length, wifh a capacity of four thousand tons. In the fall of the year ISSij, a clay digging machine was purchased by the firm, which gives great satisfaction, and ma- terially reduces the labor of mining the clay. There are altogether from one hundred to one hundred and fifty men employed at the works and in the clay mines. The annual consumption of raw material is about thirteen thousand tons, and to dry and burn the material manufactured, from three thousand five hundred to four thousand tons of coal are con- sumed. The average production per annum is about three mil- lion five hundred thousand brick, or ten thousand tons gross. The fire brick manufactured are transported to New York city, a steam lighter of one hundred and twenty tons capacity being used for tliat purpose. This was built for the purpose in 1880. At the foot of Houston street. East river, the firm has a depot, where a large stock of all kinds of fire brick is constantly kept on hand, and there the financial part of the business is con- ducted. The present members of the firm are George F. Kreischer, residing in New York city, and Charles C. and Ed- ward B. Kreischer, both residing in Kreischerville, Stateu Island. For the period of almost half a century this concern has given close study and personal supervision to this important branch of manufacture. The European systems have regularly been examined by them, and valuable improvements have from time to time been made. Such untiring energy, industry and perseverance have met with the deserved reward of gaining the highest reputation for their goods wherever they have been used. Considerable difficulty was experienced about 1854, in procuring a reliable supply of clay, and the proprietor, feel- ing the necessity and the advantages of having his own mines, purchased the clay property (discovered by him) sitnated here, and here erected a building for the manufacture of fire brick. Large additions were made to the premises in 1855, providing for the employment of a large number of men. The growth 734 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. and pi'osperity of this little village, by reason of Mr. Kreischer's enterprise and snccess, was such that a post office was estab- lished and the place named Kreischerville. In the year 1860 the buildings were enlarged and the manufacture of clay gas retorts introduced, this being the first place where gas retorts of clay were manufactured in America. In 1865 valuable clay beds at Woodbridge, N. J., and Chester City, Pa., were pur- chased, and the business had become so prosperous that the New York manufactory was rebuilt, and a new system of burn- ing and drying, together with improvements in machinery, were introduced. Balthasar Kreischer, who was born March 13, 1813, at Hornbach, a small village of Bavaria, is the grandson of Nicko- las Kreischer, a native of Berschweiler, Rhenish Prussia, who settled in Hornbach as a manufacturer of bricks. His three sons were Peter, Andreas and Balthasar. The latter, born in 1776, married Susan Schlemmer, and had four daughters and two sons, one of whom is the subject of this sketch. After re- ceiving a common school education he was apprenticed to a stone cutter and sculptor. At the age of twenty-two he was selected, together with two others, to lay the corner stone of the fortress of Germersheim, near the ruined castle of Freidrichsbuhl, where Rudolph of Hapsbui'g died in 1291. In December, 1835, occurred the great fire in New York which in- fluenced his emigration to that city. Arriving in June, 1836, he immediately sought work and aided in rebuilding the burned district. Soon after he married Caroline, daughter of George Haenchen, of Hornbach, and speedily became a builder on his own account, erecting many houses and business structures. The building of bakers' ovens became a specialty, his reputa- tion being early established as the best builder of such ovens in the city, many of them of fire brick. Mr. Kreischei having discovered in New Jersey a suitable clay, determined to embark in the manufacture of fire brick himself, and for this purpose found a co-partnership with Cliarles Mumpeton under the firm name of Kreischer & Mumpeton. To overcome the prejudice against the domestic article, as compared with the English, he entered into a contract with a consumer by which a furnace was built, one-half with imported fire brick and the remainder with brick of his own manufacture, giving a bond of indemnity against loss in case his own gave out before the imported I u I if) < d J > c h U. -H w U y U z u Q S u X HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 735 article. The result was in his favor and decisive. In a few years the English article was almost entirely superseded by brick of Mr. Kreischer's manufacture. Mr. Mumpeton having died in 1849, his partner conducted the business alone, giving it close attention and introducing from time to time improve- ments suggested by his own experience and the study of Euro- pean methods. Its extension was such that the factory originally occupying one city lot, covered thirteen lots. Mr. Kriescher also found time to start a chemical works in 1850 and works for the manufacture of ultra-marine blue in 1852. He finally purchased an extensive property in Westfield township, Staten Island, built additional works near his mines, adjoining the Staten Island sound, with superior facilities for transportation, and ultimately made it his place of residence. A prosperous village soon grew up, and tlie government established a post office under the name of Kreischerville. Mr. Kreischer was in 1860 one of the originators of the Staten Island Railway which, by his subsequent generous aid, was rendered self-sus- taining. In 1865 valuable clay beds were purchased at Wood- bridge, New Jersey, on the Staten Island sound, and in Chester county, Pennsylvania. The New York manufactory was re- built and a new system of burning and drying, with various improvements in machinery, introduced. In 1867 large works were erected in Philadelphia, the New York works abandoned in 1876, and extensive additions made to the Staten Island establishment. Mr. Kreischer had meanwhile kept fully abreast of the time and maintained the highest reputation for his goods. Meanwhile his sons, George Frederick, Charles C, and Edward B., after a thorough education in their own country and in Europe, were made familiar with the business to which they succeeded in 1878. Mr. Kreischer was one of the original trustees of the Dry Dock Savings Bank. He was an active member of the Masonic fraternity and connected with various charitable organizations, much time and aid having been given by him to the Association for the Improvement of the Condition of the Poor of New York. At Kreischerville, named in his honor, he was held in high esteem for his active, intelli- gent participation in every movement tending to the moral and material advancement of the community. One of his latest acts of benevolence was the gift of St. Peter's German Lutheran Church to the congregation, free of debt. The death of Mr. » 736 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. Kreischer occurred on the 25th of August, 1886, at Kreischer- ville. The Jewett White Lead Company's works, at Port Rich- mond, on Staten Island, were established in 1842, under the tirm name of John Jewett & Sons, and have since been greatly en- larged, until they now occupy about two and a half acres of ground. The main building for manufacturing purposes is one hundred and hfty feet long, forty feet wide and three stories high. In this building the machinery is propelled by an en- gine of eighty horse power. In the year 1862 another building was erected for manufacturing purposes, one hundred and fifty feet long, thirty-five feet wide and three stories high. In this building the machinery is propelled by an engine of forty horse power. The works have a capacity for producing three thousand tons of pure white lead annually, and they consume about two thousand tons of coal and employ one hundred men. The quality of their productions is well and favorably known to dealers in all parts of the country. In the year 1882 the company was reorganized, under the name of "The Jewett White Lead Company," with the follow- ing officers : Benjamin C. Webster, president ; James W. Sel- lick, secretary ; Charles H. Jewett, secretary. The sub office for the transaction of business is at 28 Burling slip, in the city of New York. The corroding houses, of which there are three, are frame structures, each about one hundred and fifty feet long and sixty- live feet wide, and of the usual height to accommodate the beds. James B. Pollock, superintendent, has been connected with the works twenty-nine years, twenty of which he has been superintendent, proving himself a very successful and efficient one. Two of the partners, Messrs. G. W. Jewett and J. A. Dean, commenced the manufacture of linseed oil in 1869. The build- ings, which are nearly a mile west of the white lead works, also stand between the Shore road and Kill Von Kull, and partly on a large wharf. The main building is of brick, three stories high, one hundred and twenty feet long by seventy six feet wide, with an addition seventy-six by twenty-five feet, and a tower con- taining a public clock. This establishment employs about fifty men, and manufactures about half a million of gallons X a < a w Q Z < u J ir < X u u. (J) a u z u Q « HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 737 of oil annually. The works are now owned by J. A. Dean & Company. The manufacture of silk has been carried on for several years at New Brighton by the Irving Manufacturing Com- pany, under the management of John Irving. This establish- ment has been lately devoted to the manufacture of dress linings. An office is maintained at 84 Franklin street, New York. At the same place in New Brighton the Manchester Manufac- turing Company, consisting of John Irving and William G. Hartley, of Manchester, England, recently began operations. The partnership was formed in the early part of 1885 for the manufacture of silk and cotton plush, mohair, woolen uphols- tering and dress goods and velvets. Forty new looms of im- proved invention were placed in the old silk mill on Jersey street, and the work was begun during the summer. A force of about fifty men and^girls was set to work. The manufacture of a silk plush strongly resembling sealskin was made a spec- ialty. The business was commenced with the employment of about §100,000 capital. John Irving was born April 17, 1844, in County Derry, Ire- land, and educated principally at the night schools of his na- tive place. At the age of twelve he was ai)prenticed to the weaver's trade and at .seventeen embarked in the manufacture of fine linen, with such marked success that soon after he had several looms in operation. Discovering in America a wider field for his ability he, in 1866, emigrated, and settled in Patter- son, N. J., as an employee of R. & H. Adams & Co. Leaving this firm at the expiration of the third year, he spent three years in New York, and then established in Brooklyn a factory for the making of book muslins for the dry goods trade, which he was the first to introduce into this country. In 1881 Mr. Irving purchased the valuable property now owned by him in New Brighton, and began the manufacture of India linens, Victoria lawns, tarlatanes, and mohair and silk plushes for up- holstery. There being little competition in these fabrics he is able largely to control their pnKluction and finds a ready market in all the large cities of the United States. Mr. Irving devotes his attention exclusively to his extensive business, and as a consequence has no leisure to bestow upon public enter- prises or private schemes. He was married on the 15th of 47 738 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. April, 1864, to Eliza, dangbter of Robert McElroy. of County Derry, Ireland. Their children are: William, Margaret, John and Geogre W. The Linoleum works are located at the western extremity of the Richmond turnpike, on the shore of Arthur kill or Staten Island sound. The enterprise was established here a little more than ten years ago, by a joint stock company having a capital of four hundred and fifty thousand dollars, a considerable part of the stock being owned in England. The title of the corpo- ration is "The American Linoleum Manufacturing Company," and the article manufactured is a floor cloth, which is made from ground cork and linseed oil under patents held by the company. This was the first venture in the manufacture of such an article in this country, and as far as we know is now the only one in operation. The article is a substitute for oil cloth, being much more durable, and though perhaps more costly to begin with, is for the reason suggested less expensive in the end. The plant is located on a tract of about two hundred acres owned by the company. Building was begun in August, 1873, and in the course of three years the works erected covered an area of about seven acres. The manufactured goods were first placed on the market in January, 1875. Joseph Wild was the president of the company at the beginning of its operations, and J. Cartledge was the manufacturing director. The company has been eminently successful in its business, the products meeting with a general approval and ready sale. For many years the demand for their goods was ahead of their capacity to supply it. Steam to the amount of one hundred and forty horse power was used and about two hundred workmen employed, the works being run by night and by day. Electric lights were used to facilitate night work. A village was erected about the works, and this is now con- nected by stages making several trips daily over the beauti- ful macadamized road to Port Richmond, about five miles distant. De Jonge's paper factory was originally located in New York city, but as business increased and additional facilities became imperative, the works were removed to Staten Island in 1852. They are located on the south side of Richmond turnpike, -n^fiyAHRiickie.. m^. HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 739 about half a mile from Tompkinsville. Louis De Jonge and Charles F. Zentgraf are the proprietors, and carry on the busi- ness of coloring, printing and finishing fancy paper, under the style of Louis De Jonge & Co. The capital invested is about $200,000, and the annual value of the manufactures about $300,000. The works cover an area of about two acres, the principal building is about two hundred and fifty feet long by forty feet wide, with a wing at right angles of one hundred and twenty-five by thirty feet. From one hundred and ten to one hundred and twenty hands are regularly employed in the establishment, and the engines, in the aggregate, are about one hundred horse power. The office of the company is at 71 and 73 Duane street, New York city. The Windsor plaster mills, said to have been among the largest of the kind in the country, were located at New Brighton, on the shore of the kills, where they had a frontage of over two hundred feet, and near the foot of Jersey street. About ninety men were employed there. The buildings were de- stroyed by fire on the 19th- of July, 1885, destroying prop- erty to the amount of about $225,000. The works were owned by Messrs. J. B. King & Co., the "company" being Peter C. Biegel, George H. Wooster and George R. King. Tne debris was immediately cleared away and the mills were rebuilt. About twenty-five or thirty years ago a factory was estab- lished at Seguine's Point for the purpose of obtaining the oil from palm nuts, by expressing. The works were erected by a company composed of Joseph H. and Stephen Seguine, Isaac K. Jessup and Major Bennett. The work did not prove remu- nerative, and the establishment was afterward devoted to the manufacture of candles. This was also abandoned as unprofit- able, and about the year 1865 the factory was sold to Algernon K. Johnson. In the factory above mentioned, sometime after its purchase by Mr Johnston, the Johnston Brothers, of whom he was one, placed their machinery, and began the manufacture of dental supplies This work consists of a wide range of articles : gold foil dental instruments, dental chairs, brackets, engines, lathes, inhalers, and, in short, whatever a dentist needs in his l)iisincss The liquefaction of nitrous oxide gas was first accomplished 740 HISTORY OF KICHMOND COUNTV. in this country and on a commercial scale at these works. The business of Johnston Brothers, and that of the late Mr. S. S. White have been merged into the "S. S. White Dental Manu- facturing Company," and is now located here. About two hun- dred hands are employed, and the goods, which are acknowl- edged as the best made in the world, are sent all over the United States and to every part of Europe. Other manufactures have been in oj^eration on the island. Among them was the manufacture of rubber cloth, which was begun by the New York India Rubber Cloth Company in 1835. This company was incorporated by an act passed March 11 of that year, with a capital stock of $100,000, which was divided into shares of fifty dollars each. The directors appointed by the act were : Samuel Marsh, Nathan Barrett and David V. N. Mersereau. A building was erected in New Brighton, and tlie business was for a time successfully carried on. The building has since been used in the manufacture of paper hangings. McCuUough's shot factory was in operation for several years before and during the late war. In May, 1862, it was work- ing day and night to supply government contracts for min- ie balls, to the amount of several hundred tons. It stood near the steamboat landing at Stapleton. About the close of the war it was abandoned for the purpose for which it had been used, and the tower was pulled down. The building otherwise was enlarged and converted into a cream tartar fac- tory, and this, after running but a few weeks, was declared a nuisance and closed by order of the courts. The manufacture of mowing machines by the Hopkins Mower Company is about being established upon the island, but at the time of this writing their plans are not sufficiently developed to become a part of history. The company has been incorporated under the laws of New Jersey, and its of- ficers are : Alexander M. Holmes, president ; Rev. Thomas S. Yocum, vice-president ; Thomas L. James, treasurer, and A. K. Johnston, secretary. There are two gas light companies doing business on the island. These are the Richmond County Gas Light Companj', which has been established about twenty-five years, and the Staten Island Gas Light Company, established in 1884. Both have their manufacturing works at Stapleton. The former has HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 741 about fifty miles of mains laid and manufactures about thirty million cubic feet of gas per annum. Their grounds, build- ings, etc., are valued at about $100,000. The capital stock of the company is $400,000, nearly the whole of which has been actually issued. The annual dividends have generally been as high as six or seven x^er cent. RD-17 LEO 78 vP",- v/><5 ^V^ ^•^ -^^ •<:••<;■ ^°--<^. -^^ * C" ♦ ^Aq^ 0^ t-^JvL* "**« ^^•n*.. 4 o 4, vP ^^°. ^o\ <> *'7VV' ,0 ^o\^ ^°-^t. .0' o5°-*. 'k^ '.,.•■ ftf ^0-n^^ V