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The Branch Libraries
RICHMONDTOWN BRANCH
200 Clarke Avenue
Staten Island, N.Y. 10306
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REFERENCE
HISTORY
-OF-
RICHMOND COUNTY,
(STATEN ISLAND)
NEW YORK,
From its Discovery to the Present Time.
EDITED BY
RICHARD M. BAYLES.
1 Staten Island ! the name hath a charm to the ear:
1 Fair Island of Beauty ! ' k 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 like a vast garden of verdure and flowers-
Spread out in the distance, enchanting to view;
With its green, shady knolls and luxuriant bowers,
Surrounded by waters of loveliest blue,"
Anon.
NEW YORK:
L. E. PRESTON & CO.
INS?.
CTrf-M .i;;~ :.M ' W -
10306
COPYRIGHT, 1887,
BY
L. E. PRESTON & CO.
rotss or j. tttu^x PROBST,
Si', H.X.
o/o%7
PREFACE.
The preparation of a history like this involves the employ-
ment of a great variety of means, drawing from a multitude of
sources. The compiler is frequently obliged to accept the
statements of others without knowing upon what data those
statements are made. The utter impossibility of any one man
being able, during the brief term of one human life, to go to
the bottom of every fact stated in a work of this kind must be too
apparent to need explanation. There are a hundred ways by
which errors may creep in. The editor can but use his best
judgment as to the reliability of the authorities upon which he
depends for statements, and his constant and most careful
vigilance in guarding against erroneous statements. This he
has done in the preparation of this work, and that vigilance has
been rendered more effective by the experience the editor has
had heretofore in the preparation of similar works in other
h'elds.
Opportunity is taken here to make expression of our gratitude
for the generous response with which requests for information
have been met by the ministers of the different churches, the
officers of different societies, and others who were in possession
of special information that was desired, in general; and we
would also make particular acknowledgment of the valuable
assistance which we have received from Dr. James Brownlee,
Alfred de Groot, James McNamee, Governor G. D. S. Trask,
Sidney F. Rawson, County Clerk C. A. Hart, School Com-
miuioner Theodore Frean, Professor N.L. Britton, the family of
the lau Gabriel P. Disosway, Dr. Arthur Hollick, Hamilton -
iv PREFACE.
Willcox, Ira K. Morris, William T. Davis and John H. Gar-
retson.
The readiness with which these gentlemen have answered the
calls of the editor for the assistance that each could give, has
encouraged him through the many weary months of labor which
the preparation of this volume has cost.
Besides all the sources of information and assistance which
have been indicated there are many others which have been laid
under contribution which we cannot mention specifically. Two
of the most important, however, cannot be justly omitted. These
are the " Annals of Staten Island," compiled by Mr. J. J.
Clute, and the note books of Prof. Charles Anthon, both of
which have been drawn upon for whatever they contained of
sufficient value and as far as the limits of this volume would
allow. The copyright of the former was purchased from the
heirs of Mr. Clute, and the note books of the latter, from a relative
in whose possession they were. These were gathered while he
was a resident of the island and a professor in Columbia Col-
lege, about 1850 to 1854, he at the time having in view the prep-
aration of a history of the island, which project he afterward
abandoned. From these note books we have obtained many
important facts which have hitherto never been published, and
we deem it especially fortunate that the books were discovered
in time for those facts to be embodied in this work.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. PAQE.
Description of Staten Island (Richmond County) 1
CHAPTER II.
NATURAL HISTORY OF THE ISLAND.
Geology. Flora of the Island. Animal Life. Indian Relics 9
CHAPTER III.
THE PERIOD OP SETTLEMENT 1609 TO 1683.
Discovery. The First Settlement and the Settlers. Conquest by the English. 38
CHAPTER IV.
THE COLONIAL PERIOD 1683 TO 1775.
Erection of Richmond County. Arrival of Huguenots. Division of Rich-
mond into Towns. The Claims of New Jersey. Patents and Land
Grants. Establishment of the Colonial Government. Administration
of Justice. The Time of the French War. Colonial Description.
' Colonial Customs. Statistics 90
CHAPTER V.
THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD 1775 TO 1783.
Events Prior to the Declaration of Independence. The Coming of Howe.
Incursions and Skirmishes. The Close of the War and the Evacuation
of New York and Staten Island. Incidents of the Revolutionary Period. 157
CHAPTER VI.
UNDER THE REPUBLIC 1783 TO 1883.
Condition at close of Revolution. Population. County Buildings. Manners
apd Customs. War of 1812. Extracts from the Records. TheMilitia.
Growth and Improvement. Earthquakes. Quarantine. The Civil
War. Some Notable Events 2.)0
CHAPTER VII.
CIVIL DIVISIONS AND CIVIL OFFICERS.
The County. The Towns. The Villages. Hon. Daniel D. Tompkins. Hon.
Erastns Brooks. Cornelius A. Hart. . . 326
VI TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII. PAGE.
CHURCHES AND RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS.
The Dutch Reformed Churches. The Episcopal Churches. Baptist
Churches. Methodist Churches. The Moravian Church. The Roman
Catholic Churches. The Church of the Huguenots. Unitarian Church.
Presbyterian Churches. Lutheran Churches. Y. M. C. A 349
CHAPTER IX.
EDUCATION AND LITERATURE.
The Schools of the Colonial Period. The Public Schools under the State
Government. Richmond County College. Brighton Heights Seminary.
Staten Island Academy. The Natural Science Association. News-
papers. George William Curtis. John Adams Appleton. The Smith
Family 445
CHAPTER X.
THE PROFESSIONS OF -LAW AND MEDICINE.
The Bench and Bar. Henry B. Metcalfe. Alvin C. Bradley. Tompkins
Westervelt. Lot C. Clark. Robert Christie. John and William H.
Anthon. Theodore C. Vermilye. List of Practising Attorneys. Augus-
tus Prentice. Richmond County Medical Society. I. K. Ambrose.
Herman Beyer. Alfred L. Carroll. Ephraim Clark. Alva D. Decker.
Henry S. Earl. Joseph Feeny. John L. Feeny. R. Henry Golder.
Edwin A. Hervey. George C. Hubbard. Robert M. Ames. F. E. Mar-
tindale. James J. O'Dea. S. A. Robinson. Robert Rogerson. Henry
W. Savvtelle. Samuel Russell Smith. Walker Washington, Jr. J. Wal-
ter Wood. Notes of Quarantine Superintendence, etc 469
CHAPTER XI.
OLD FAMILIES AND PROMINENT INDIVIDUALS.
Alston. Androvette. Bedell. Barnes. Samuel Ward Benedict. Read
Benedict. Bodine. W. H. J. Bodine. Blake. Bogart. Braisted.
Britton. Burbanck. Burgher, Burger. Bush. Butler. Cannon.
Christopher. Cole. Abraham Cole. William A. Cole. Colon. Con-
ner. Corsen. Cortelyou. Crips. Crocheron. Cruser. Cubberly.
George William Daley. George Henry Daley. Decker. De Groot. De
Hart. Depuy. Disosway. DuBois. Dustau. Eddy. Andrew Eddy.
Egbert. Ellis. Enyard. Fountain. Frost. Garrison. Guyon.
Hatfield. Haugh wont. Charles A. Herpich. Hillyer. Holmes.
Housman. Jacobson. Johnson. Jones. Journeay. La Forge. Lake.
Larzalere. Latourette. Lawrence. Lisk. Lockman. Manee.
James M. Manee. Mart ling. Martino. Merrill. Mersereau. Metcalfe.
Nicholas C. Miller. Morgan .'. . 497
CHAPTER XII.
OLD FAMILIES AND PROMINENT INDIVIDUALS (concluded).
Ferine. Poillon. Post. Pi-all. Aquila Rich. Alfred Z. Ross. Ryerss.
Seguine. John G. Seguine. Henry S. Seguine. Sharrott. Francis G.
Shaw. Simonson. Stilwell. Sprague. Taylor. Totten. Ephraim J.
Totten. Tyson. Van Buskirk, Van Duzer. John H. Van Clief. The
/
TABLE OF CONTENTS. vii
PAGE.
Vanderbilts. The Van Name Family. Van Pelt. Wandel Albert
Ward. Stephen Whitman. Winant. Garrett Ellis Winants. Wog-
lom. Wood. Abraham C. Wood. Jacob B. Wood. Abraham J.
Wood. Other Families. Eminent Men and Women of Staten Island . . . 563
CHAPTER XIII.
CHARITIES AND PUBLIC WORKS.
The S. R. Smith Infirmary. The Seamen's Fund and Retreat. Home for
Destitute 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
CHAPTER XIV.
MUTUAL ASSOCIATIONS.
Staten Island Athletic Club. Clifton Boat Qlub. Staten Island Rowing
Club. Kill Von Kull Rowing Association. Staten Island Cricket and
Base Ball Club. German Association. Grand Army of the Republic.
Masonic Societies. Odd Fellows' Lodgos. Miscellaneous Organizations. 660
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 Railroad. The Staten Island Rapid Transit Railroad. Lewis
Henry Meyer. Eckstein Norton. Roderick W. Cameron. John Frank
Ernmons. Harry L. Horton. Reon Barnes. Orlando A. Wood 678
CHAPTER XVI.
INDUSTRIES.
Agriculture. Shipbuilding. The Oyster Interests. John Scott. Silas N.
Havens. Edward Lowrey Woodruff. Barrett, Nephews & Co. The
New York Dyeing and Printing Establishment. The Breweries. George
Bechtel. Monroe Eckstein. B. Kreischer & Sons. Jewett White Lead
Company. Silk Mill. John Irving. Linoleum Works. Paper Mill.
Plaster Mill. Dental Supplies. Other Industries 702
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PORTRAITS.
Appleton, John A 464
Barnes, Reon 699
Barry, John 430
Bechtel, Gorge 728
Benedict, l.fead 50<i
Benedict, Saiauel W 499
Bodine, W. H. J 503
Bn >ks, Erastus 342
viii TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Brownlee, James 360
Cameron, Roderick 694
CrLv Abraham 514
Cole, William A 516
Curtis, George William 456
Daley, George H 524
Eccleston, Joiu-C
Eddy, Andrew 533
Feeny, John L
Hart, Cornelius A
Havens, S. N
Herpich, Charles A ,
Horton, H. L
Irving, John 738
Kreischer, B
Lewis, John
Manee, James M
Meyer, Lewis H
Miller, N. C
Morton, Ex 693
i *-O
Prentice, Augustus *' c
-Rich, Aquilla
Eobinson, S. A
Boss, A. Z 568
Scott, John 718
Seguine, Henry S
Seguine, John G
Shaw, Francis G 573
Smith, R. Penn
Tompkins, Daniel D
Totten, E. J
Van Clief, J. H
Vanderbilt, Cornelius
Vanderbilt, Jacob H
Vanderbilt, William H
Ward, Albert
Whitman, Stephen
Winants, G. E
Wood, A. J
Wood, Orlando A
Woodruff, Edward Lowrey
VIEWS.
Old Billop House, looking toward South Amboy
The Old Billop House, Tottenville
Old British Fort
House of Isaac M. Marsh, formerly used as the Court House. .
Building formerly used as a Clerk's Office and Jail
Present Court House and Jail
The Jaques Guion House, New Dorp
Port Richmond Dutch Reformed Church
TABLE OF CONTENTS. IX
PAGE.
St. Andrew's Church, Richmond 398
St. John's Church and Rectory 400
Woodrow M. E. Church 415
Old Moravian Church and Parsonage 424
Moravian Church, New Dorp 426
" Beechlawn," Residence of Col. R. Penn Smith 467
" Tower Hill," House of L. W. Faber 468
" Tower Hill," House of Mrs. Jenny Faber 469
House of A. L. King, Clifton, N. Y 497
' ' Ravenhurst," House of Read Benedict 501
The Barne Tysen House 549
The Daniel Lake House 549
St. James Hotel, Port Richmond 630
Mt. Loretto, S. 1 641
" Arrochar," Residence of W. W. MacFarland 647
Residence of George W. White 668
Residence of James M. Davis 672
" Fox Hill," House of L. H. Meyer 690
Dining Room at Fox Hill 691
House of Ex. Norton 693
Residence of R. W. Cameron 695
" Portledge," Residence of J. F. Emmons 697
Staten Island Fancy Dyeing Works 722
The Old Staten Island Dyeing Establishment 726
House and Stables of George Bechtel 729
Fire-Brick Works of B. Kreischer & Sons 732
Residence of the late B. Kreischer 735
Residences of Charles C. and Edward B. Kreischer 736
The Irving Manufacturing Company 739
MAPS AND PLANS.
Map of Richmond County 1
Geological Map of Richmond County 9
Facsimile of Original Patent Granted to Barne Tysen in 1677 125
Plan of Christian Low Dutch Church . . 365
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
CHAPTER I.
DESCRIPTION OF STATEN ISLAND.
(RICHMOND COUNTY )
THE first thing we know of Staten Island is its name, and
we trust it will not be considered out of place to intro-
duce our subject by an explanation of its name. Its present
form is an English rendering of the name given by rhe Dutch,
" Staaten Eylandt." Hudson gave the name, which meant the
"Island of the States," as a memorial to the states general, under
whose flag he was sailing. / By the native occupants it was
called "Aquehonga Manacknong," and sometimes " Eghqua-
hous," which was probably only a slight variation of the first
part of the former. Schoolcraft interprets "Aquehonga Ma-
nacknong," as far as the place of bad woods. The meaning of
" Eghquahous" is also interpreted the place of bad woods. It
is not easy now to see the application of such a name, unless
it was that the woods here were dense, and perhaps tilled with
tangled undergrowth, that made it difficult to move through
them in pursuit of game or to secure good aim upon it.
The Island lies in or upon New York bay, but closely drawn
to the New Jersey shore. It is separated from the latter by
Newark bay and a narrow estuary called Kill von Kull on the
north, and on the west by Staten Island sound, which is crooked
and narrow but navigable by steamboats and river craft. The
south side is washed by the waters of Raritan bay, Prince's
bay and the Atlantic ocean, while the main seaward channel
of the Hudson river flows along its eastern shore. It lies
centrally in latitude 40 34', and longitude 2 52' east from
Washington, or 74 8' west from Greenwich. The center of the
i
\
2 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
island is eleven miles southwest of New York city, one him
dred and forty-three miles south of the state capital, and one
hundred and ninety miles southwest by an air line to the
national capital.
With respect to its surrounding waters we can approve the
remarks of J. Fennimore Cooper, who in his " Water Witch"
locates a scene here. He says:
"The fine estuary which penetrates the American coast be-
tween the fortieth and forty-first degrees of latitude is formed
by the confluence of the Hudson, the Hackensack, the Passaic,
the Raritan and a multitude of smaller streams; all of which
pour their tribute into the ocean within the space named. The
Island of Nassau [Long Island] and Staten Island are happily
placed to exclude the tempests of the open sea, while the deep
and broad arms of the latter offer every desirable facility for
foreign trade and internal intercourse."
Arthur kill separates the island on the west side from the
New Jersey shore, and extends from Elizabethport to Perth
Amboy. It is the grand highway for all the local commerce of
the several ports and streams on the west side of Staten Island,
as well as the inter-state commerce passing south and west
through the Delaware and Raritan canal, which connects the
Raritan river at New Brunswick with the Delaware river at
Trenton. This canal is one of the principal links in the chain
of internal navigation of the Atlantic seaboard, and has a
tonnage amounting to about two millions annually passing
through it.
What may be said in regard to the commerce of Arthur kill
is equally true of Kill von Kull. and perhaps in a still greater
degree. The latter extends from New York bay to Newark
bay, separating the north shore of Staten Island from the New
Jersey shore at Bergen Point. Through this channel must pass
the great bulk of the commerce already mentioned and that of
Newark bay and its tributaries in addition.
Neither of the channels mentioned, however, can compare in
the importance of its commerce with that of the channel which
lies along the east side of the island. That is the gateway
through which is constantly passing the commerce of our own
great nation with all other nations of the earth. Thus we see
Staten Island is peculiarly situated, as it were in a whirlpool of
the commerce of a hemisphere.
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
In passing, let ns notice the names of the bodies of water that
surround the island. The water now known as the kills was
first called by the Dutch " Het Kill van het Cul," meaning the
Kill of the Cul. The Dutch word "Kill" meant a stream or
creek, while the word "Cul," perhaps borrowed from the
French, meant a bay. Hence Kill von Kull was " the stream of
the bay," the appropriateness of which name is seen in the fact
that it connects the two bays of New York and Newark.
" Achter Cul," as Newark bay was called by the Dutch, meant
the ''Back bay." The narrow body of water known as Staten
Island sound, to which the name Arthur kill is also attached,
was perhaps regarded as only a part of the "back bay," and
so the name of the larger body, slightly corrupted, was appro-
priated to the smaller arm. A reef in the bay at the mouth of
the Kill von Kull was once frequented by seals, to which the
Dutch gave the name Robyn ; hence the name " Robyns Rift,"
which has by careless usage become " Bobbins Reef."
The shores of the island are designated with respect to the
points of the compass, as follows : The region from the Fort to
Billop's point is called the South Shore ; from the latter point
to the junction of the sound with the kills is known as the West
Side ; from the latter point (to which the name Rowland's hook
has been applied, with reference to the meadows, and De Hart's
point to the knoll of upland which overlooks it) to where the
kills meet the waters of New York bay is called the North
Shore ; and thence to the point of departure the East Side.
The shape of the island is that of an irregular triangle. The
longest line that can be drawn through it, from the extreme
northeastern to the extreme southwestern point, is a few feet
more than thirteen and a half miles ; while the longest line that
can be drawn across it, from the shore of the sound near Buck-
wheat island to the shore at the light-house near the Narrows,
is two hundred feet over seven and three fourths miles. It con-
tains about seventy-seven square miles, or 49,280 acres.
The topography of the island corresponds in general with
that of Long Island, being in the northern part hilly and stony,
and in the southern part flat and sandy. But in detail the sur-
face is more diversified. The island may justly claim attention
for the beauty of its landscapes, presenting, as they do, so many
mutations in character, through high, boldly precipitous Mid-
dletown, diversified Castleton, gently undulating Westfield,
4 HISTORY OF IM( 1IMOND COUNTY.
rolling Northtield, and low, more or less flat and marshy South-
tield. Two prominent ranges of hills extend partially across
the island, in different directions, one being near the eastern
shore and touching it at both ends. This extends from New
Brighton, on the northeastern extremity, where it reaches an
elevation of 310 feet, and sweeping inland behind Tompkinsville
and Stapleton, comes out again upon the shore of the Narrows,
with such precipitous form as to suggest the name of Clifton.
The second may be said to commence to the south and just in the
rear of West New Brighton, and extends southward, rising as
it advances, till it nearly reaches New Dorp, when it swerves
away to the westward and settles down again on the shores of
the Fresh kill. This reaches its greatest height in Toad or Todt
hill, which has an elevation of 370 feet above tide. Still farther
west it makes a prominent elevation in Richmond Hill. At
La Tourette's hill, still farther, it overlooks the village of Rich-
mond, and there you gaze far away over green, wooded, rolling
Westfield, while Fresh kill runs at its base, nearly dividing the
island in two.
To the southeast of this hilly region, which by the way may
be described as covering the northeast quarter of the island, is
a level, and probably alluvial, tract of country, composed of
upland and salt meadow extending to the ocean, where it is
designated as the south shore. To the northwest of the "hill
country" the surface is undulating, gradually declining to
level upland and salt meadows. Almost every farm in the
county is furnished with several acres of this meadow, from
which large quantities of grass are annually taken without any
expense for fertilizing or renewing.
The island is well watered with springs, some of them very
copious,*andall of them affording water of excellent quality.*
These are the sources of numerous rivulets and brooks which
irrigate the surface in all directions. At Springville, on the
western part of the island these native waters burst from the
soil in such spontaneous abundance as to suggest a name for
the locality. The water of these springs is very cold and pure. *
Their value in the arts has been discovered by the proprietors
of several large breweries and dye works as well as by the
projectors of public water works. On this subject the fol-
lowing extract from the report of investigations made in 1876
by Mr. Clarence Delafield, C. E., in regard to the available
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 5
sources of water supply for the village of New Brighton, will
be found very interesting:
" West of Port Richmond and Graniteville lies a sandy sur-
face soil; under this is an impervious clay of considerable
depth, under which again is a stratum of gravel that extends
westward under the sound into New Jersey for a long distance.
This gravel is the storage reservoir for the drainage of an im-
mense district. Springs break out at or near tide water in large
numbers in Mariners' Harbor. At Singer's factory in Eliza-
bethport, the well that furnishes the factory is sunk through
this clay stratum to the gravel, and furnishes a large volume of
water. I feel confident that an ample supply can be found in
this region for pumping.
"The geological formation is peculiar. From the Palisades
on the Hudson river, the trap rock is seen running in a south-
westerly direction, generally depressed as it passes under
Bergen hill, thence passing under Bergen Point and the Kill
von Kull, emerging at the water side of Jewett's residence,
Port Richmond, passing thence to the quarries at Graniteville,
and from there dipping under the Fresh kill, is lost sight of
until discovered on the Raritan river between Perth Amboy
and New Brunswick. West of this line lies the white and blue
clays of various depths, forming impervious strata, covering
the water bearing gravel.
"East of the line of trap described is another step of the
same rock, noticed at Bergen Point, at Gunther's residence, but
only found on the island, in digging wells just east of the Pond
road.
" Between the Pond and Mill roads there is a depression of
the rock, and wells forty feet in depth pass through a stratum
of water-proof clay into a stratum of gravel, the reservoir of
drainage of the surface above of limited area, the water rising
and falling with the rains, and often chalybeate in taste from
the deposits of hematite iron in the hills above.
" East of this line and at many points the serpentine rock
comes to the surface, and on Todt hill rises to an altitude of
about 370 feet above tide-water. Below the serpentine rock
should occur the carboniferous strata and old red sandstone,
also the Silurian rock overlaying the gneiss and granite. I be-
lieve that the serpentine rock rests upon the gneiss rock, the
usual intermediate rock being absent, and the reason for this
6 MISTORV OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
belief is that the gneiss rock of New York city is observed
dipping under the bay, rising to form Robin's Reef, and ex-
tending west to the beacon opposite Xew Brighton, probably
passing under Staten Island at the same rate of dip.
"As the result of observation of American and European
engineers, the magnesiau limestones are prolific water bearing
rocks, and the primitive gneiss liable to fissures and stratifica-
tion leading from great distances and bearing water of great
purity. The granite from its freedom from fissures or strata,
and irregular contour may form good basins, but rarely carries
water far. Geology is by no means an exact science, as far as
determining without experimental examination the probable
strata or their water bearing conditions, but the above men-
tioned conditions are an assistance in an intelligent considera-
tion of the subject now under investigation.
" I find by observation, that there is a series of admirable
springs commencing at the famous Hessian springs, near La-
fayette and Brighton avenues, below Silver lake; also the Be-
ment boiling springs, then various lesser springs, to the large
springs at the Four Corners or Constanz brewery, and so on
to the Willow brook and down to Springville. I have esti-
mated, and find the amount of water discharged is vastly in
excess of any surface drainage on the higher grounds of the
island adjacent, and am thus led to the belief that these springs
arise from the rock below, and have their source on hills far
distant."
. The climate of the island is subject to frequent and sudden
changes of temperature, but is generally more mild than that
of other localities in the same latitude farther away from the sea-
shore. The mercury varies during the year between ninety de-
grees and zero, very seldom passing either of these extremes.
The prevailing winds of winter are from the north or northwest.
In summer the south shore receives a breeze from the ocean al-
most daily, and southwest winds prevail throughout the island.
Being surrounded by salt water the island is naturally subject
to fogs, especially about the shores, though they seldom pene-
trate far into the interior. They are prevalent toward spring
and continue to occur at times until June or July and occasion-
ally at other seasons. Thunder showers in summer sometimes
suddenly arise in the north and are wafted over the island on
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. /
heavy gusts of wind, and are occasionally accompanied by a
fall of hail stones.
The island has long been celebrated for the salubrity of its
climate, except perhaps for affections of the lungs and throat.
There are few localities on the continent where the number of
instances of extreme longevity in proportion to the population
can be equalled, many of them being more than centenarians.
To show that the healthfulness of the northern part was recog-
nized we quote from an announcement in 1788 as follows: "The
healthy and clear westerly breezes on the one side, and the
thick southerly atmosphere, abstracted by a ridge of hills on
the other side, make it so healthy that it must induce gentle
men of fortune to purchase, who wish to lengthen out their
days and enjoy all the temporal happiness this life can afford."
Some very cold winters have been recorded in the climatic
history of the island. That of 1740-41 was unusually severe.
Whenever alluded to it was spoken of as the '* hard winter."
Its extraordinary severity continued from the middle of No-
vember to the end of March. Snow fell to the depth of six feet
on the level; fences were buried out of sight: domestic animals
were housed during the whole period, and many of them per-
ished: intercourse between neighbors was suspended for several
weeks; physicians were not able to reach their patients because
of the utterly impassible condition of the roads; many families
suffered for want of bread while their granaries were filled with
grain, because the mills were inaccessible; the roofs of dwell-
ings and out-buildings in many cases were crushed by the
weight of snow upon them; churches remained closed and the
dead unburied. At length a day or two of moderate weather
came and with a light, misty rain, softened the surface of the
snow, which froze hard again, and formed a solid crust suffi-
ciently firm to bear the weight of a horse. This for a time af-
forded great relief to the imprisoned people, and enabled them
to procure fuel and other necessaries. Again, the winter of
1761, beginning with January, was an exceedingly cold one,
continuing until March, meanwhile the Narrows were frozen
over. Another severe winter was that of 1768. Ten years later
brought a recurrence of climatic severity, of which the follow-
ing record, dated December 12, 1788, gives us a hint:
" The intense cold weather has, within these two days occa-
sioned the quick-silver in the weather glass to fall four degrees
8 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
lower than has been observed for the last seven years; several
ships, &c., and many lives have been lost by the monstrous
bodies of ice floating in our Bay.''
But perhaps one of the most memorable winters for its sever-
ity was that of 1779-80. The waters surrounding the island
were then firmly frozen over, so that troops, cannon and mill
rnry stores of all descriptions were conveyed hither from New
York on the ice. Sleighs were driven across the Narrows and
over New York bay on the ice. A New York paper (JRiriny-
tori's Gazette} of January W has an item saying that several
persons came from Staten Island to New York that (layover
tlic ice, and on the first day of January it records the fact that
a four-horse sleigh made the same passage.
EXPLANATION
YJy
Point of the Beach
LO Il'ER BAY.
GEOLOGICAL MAP
OF
RICHMOND CO. N.Y.
BY N. L. BRITTON.
Scale, i : 120000
CHAPTER II.
NATURAL HISTORY OF THE ISLAND.
<M'M|II-_> Fl fa of the Island. Animal Life. Indian Relics.
IN the matter of geology Staten Island presents a great
variety for so small a section of territory. For our repre-
sentations of the subject we have drawn largely upon the facts
gathered by the investigations of Dr. N. L. Britton, of Columbia
College. He tells us that within the limits of this territory we
find strata of the Archaean, Triassic. Cretaceous, Quaternary and
Modern eras, each of which will be noticed in the order of
its age.
Arclnrn n ^lin/a. True granite occurs on the shore of the
Upper bay. about four hundred feet southwest of the Tompkins-
ville steamboat landing, and directly in front of the old build
ing known as Nautilus Hall. The surface of rock exposed at
low tide is about eighty feet wide by fifty feet long: the rock
disappearing at high-water mark beneath a hill of drift some
fifteen feet in thickness. More of the same rock is exposed
about two hundred feet south of this. Elsewhere on the island
the granite is covered by newer formations. There is reason to
believe, however, that it extends in a belt of unknown width
all around the eastern edge of the main range of hills, covered
by the glacial drift and Cretaceous strata to an unknown depth,
and that the same belt continues in a southwesterly direction to
Artlmr kill, and thence across the state of New Jersey to
Trenton, where it again conies to the surface.
At the exposure at Tompkinsville before spoken of, this
granite is very coarsely crystalline in structure, and for that
reason could never be very satisfactorily employed for building
purposes. The feldspar is mainly orthoclase, occurs in large
masses, and is greatly in excess of the other two constituents;
the quartz varies in color from dark brown to nearly white;
\\-t ;tt mica there is appears to be muscovite. In places the last
\najHed mineral is absent, the rock being then a kind of peg-
10 HISTOKY OF RICHMOND rorXTY.
matite or graphic granite. No stratification is observable, but
the surface of the rock outcrop dips about fifteen degrees to the
east. Mather calls this grarJte primary, and to the best of our
present knowledge it belongs to the oldest geological formation
in Xorth America.
The magnesian rocks, serpentines, form the upper portion at
least of the main series of hills. This rock originally is sup-
posed to have been of very considerable thickness, for a large
amount must have been removed by erosion; the serpentine
area is estimated at about thirteen and a half square miles. It
is impossible to estimate accurately the present thickness, but
it is probably over one hundred feet. The most eastern exposed
boundary of the serpentine rock is marked by a series of very
sharp slopes, which are nearly continuous from Tompkinsville
to Richmond, and in some places these are as straight and
regular as they could be constructed. This regularity of the
slope is a characteristic of these hills, and is not the least
element of their beauty. It is not known how far east of the
foot of these hills the serpentine extends, but it is probably no
great distance, as the granite at Tompkinsville occurs within a
few hundred feet of it. The southern end of the ridge descends
rather gradually and is lost under the Freshkill marshes not far
from Richmond. The western boundary of the formation, or
more properly the eastern limit of the Triassic sandstone whicli
rests upon it, cannot be accurately located, as there are no out-
crops, and any attempt to designate it would be speculative
and only approximate.
The magnesian rock varies in color from light green to nearly
black, and in texture from compact to quite earthy, much of it
being fibrous. Its specific gravity is about 2.55, and ia chemi-
cal composition it is all a hydrated magnesian silicate. The
best exposures are at several places around the base of Pavilion
hill at Tompkinsville; in cuttings for streets in the village of
New Brighton; near the school house at Garretson's station; on
Meissner avenue near Richmond, and near Egbertville. The
highest point of the ridge is nearly opposite Garretson's sta-
tion, and about half way across the hills, where the elevation
measured by an aneroid barometer is four hundred and twenty
feet. Among the interesting minerals associated with the ser-
pentine rocks that have been collected at Pavilion hill and in.
NVw Brighton are compact and fibrous serpentines, marmolite,
HI>TORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. ] 1
silvery talc, apple green talc, gurhofite, dolomite, calcite and
chromite.
Near the new railroad terminus at St. George's there was
formerly an outcrop of very tough actinolite rock. This has
been covered by the filling in of the water-front at that place.
The metamorphic rocks of Staten Island are apparently a
southern continuation of those of Hoboken, N. J., and New
York island, their strike, position with regard to the other
rocks, and their composition being generally alike or nearly so.
The serpentines are supposed to have been originally highly
magnesian limestones which by metamorphic agencies were
brought in contact with highly heated carbonic acid and silica
bearing solutions, which, by removing the greater part of the
calcic carbonate and altering the magnesic carbonate to a sili-
cate, left the rocks in the condition of hydrated maguesian sili-
cates. During or at the close of this period of metamorphism,
the eastern edges of the strata were tilted up, forming an ele-
vated axis, while the extension of the formation to the west-
ward was subsequently covered by the shale and sandstone
deposited from the Triassic sea.
The true geological age of this belt of metamorphic rocks,
which runs through Staten and New York islands, extends far
northward through the New England states, where it has a
wide expansion, and has been traced southward as far as North
Carolina, is not definitely known. Perhaps of all the theories
in regard to it, that which claims it to belong to the Laurentian
age, as portions of the Highlands of New Jersey and the Adi-
rondack mountains, is the one most generally held by those
who have studied the evidences most thoroughly.
Triassic Formation. Strata of the Triassic age extend over
the parts of the island bounded by the assumed western edge
of the serpentine rocks, the submerged gneissic belt, Arthur
kill and Newark bay. This area contains about fourteen and
a half square miles. The rocks consist of red ferruginous shales
and sandstones, which dip to the northwest, and are broken
through by a dyke of diabase or trap rock. They are in part
the eastern extension of the Triassic strata that cover so large a
part of New Jersey.
The shales and sandstones are exposed in but few places and
only in small quantities. They appear on Shooter's island and
on the adjacent shore. Here the strata consist of shaly red
12 III>TORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
micaceous sandstone, which differs in no essential particular
from that so abundantly exposed in eastern New Jersey. No
fossils have hitherto been found in these rocks on Staten Island,
and the exposed surfaces are not sufficient to warrant any great
expenditure of time or labor in search for them.
The diabase ridge that disappears beneath the Kill von Kull
at Bergen Point cuts through the red sandstone of Staten Island
from Port Richmond to the Freshkill marshes, and appears as
a low, long, round-backed hill, having a general strike of south
40 degrees west, thus being nearly parallel with the serpentine.
Toward the south end its elevation is so little above that of the
sandstone that its position cannot be well distinguished. The
length of this outcrop is about five and three-quarters miles,
and its width, measuring from its assumed eastern verge to
where the sandstone covers it, has an average of less than half
a mile. Both the eastern and western boundaries, however, are
so much obscured by drift that their exact positions cannot be
determined, and the outcrop may be wider or narrower than
the most careful estimate would lead us to suppose.
The only places at which the diabase is exposed so as to be
easily studied are at and near the so-called granite quarries at
Graniteville and near Port Richmond. The rock is not a gran-
ite, but a coarsely crystalline diabase, mainly composed of
angite and triclinic feldspar, which is probably labradorite. It
has been found in well-digging within the belt that has been
indicated, extending from Port Richmond to the Fresh kill near
its junction with the sound, in the water at Linoleumville, and
in outcrops near Chelsea, on the road to Spriugville. It is
noticeable here, as in other localities, that the trap-dykes seem
to shun the exposed Archfean rocks and cling closely to the
Triassic, none being found outside of the red sandstone era.
The Cretaceous formation. This, more or less covered by
glacial and modified drift and salt meadows, extends through
all points of the island lying east and southeast of the Archaean
rocks. The area underlaid by it is therefore about twenty-eight
and a half square miles. The strata consist of beds of variously
colored clays and sands, dipping slightly to the southeast, and
having a general strike of about south 45 degrees west. They
are a direct continuation of the v ' Plastic Clay'' division of the
Cretaceous, so named by the New Jersey geologists, and lie at
the base of the formation in eastern North America.
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 13
South of the terminal glacial moraine, the strata are generally
covered by a deposit of grayish yellow sand and gravel of vari-
able thickness, known as the " Yellow Drift." This is seen on
the island only in the vicinity of Tottenville, for the area lying
southeast of the moraine near New Dorp and Garretson's is cov-
ered with modified drift, imperfectly stratified. These Creta-
ceous strata of clay and sand extend eastward to Long Island,
where their extent is unknown. The clays are white, yellow,
brown or black. They appear on the surface at a number of
places, and the purer varieties have been extensively used in
the manufacture of lire-brick, drain-pipe, gas-retorts and other
refractory ware. White clays outcrop on the road just north of
Rossville, at various places south of Rossville and near
Kreischerville, along a stream near Prince's bay. They have
been noticed near Gilford's, and are said to occur at the bottom
of a well near New Dorp, and perhaps maybe found in other
localities.
The extension of this formation to the east is indicated by an
outcrop of buff-colored clay on the shore of the Lower bay
about one-half mile south of the Elm-Tree light-house. The
fact that all the pits from which clay has been taken are in the
region between Rossville and Kreischerville does not prove by
any means that clay occurs only in that neighborhood. It is
probable, on the contrary, that the beds extend with some inter-
ruptions, across the island, but are deeply covered by the drift-
hills of the moraine, and materials washed from these which
cover all the territory assumed to be underlaid by the clays,
except that portion where pits have been excavated.
Thin beds of Limonite iron ore, of limited extent are found in
terstratified with and overlaying the clays and sands. This sub-
stance frequently cements the sand and gravel, and forms a con-
glomerate of variable coarseness. Hitherto this iron ore has
not often been discovered in sufficient quantities or sufficient
purity to warrant its use in the manufacture of iron. Lignite
and pyrites are frequently found in the clay excavations. The
former substance may also be seen on the shore of Arthur kill,
near Rossville, aud in a ravine a short distance northeast of the
same village, after slides of the banks occur. It is generally
impregnated with the pyrites, and with copperas which mani-
fests itself upon exposure to the air for a little time. No fossil
leaves or shells have been found in the clays of the island,
14 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
though it is not improbable that they may be found in more
extended excavations than have been made.
As these beds are composed of fragments of quartz, mica and
clay, or decomposed feldspar, it is evident that they are the
products of the disintegration of gneissic or granitic rocks.
That they have not been formed in place, but have been de-
posited from suspension in water, is proved from their stratifi-
cation and by the assorted state of the materials composing
them. That the waters that deposited the clays were fresh, is
indicated by the absence of fossil marine organisms, arid the
presence of shells apparently allied to the modern fresh-water
genera, in the clays of New Jersey.
The Quaternary Epoch. Deposits of material brought from
the north by the ice of the glacial epoch, are found distributed
over the greater part of the island, but do not entirely over-
spread it. The most southern terminal glacial moraine crosses
the island from the Narrows to Tottenville, and is distinctly
marked by a continuous line of hills. These hills mark the
farthest southern extension of the ice-sheet, and the line along
which the glacier deposited much of its burden of boulders,
pebbles, sand and clay, which it had torn from the rocks in its
southward journey. In many places these hills have the pecu-
liar lenticular form which they assume on Long Island and in
the Eastern states. The moraine has been partially removed
by the wash of the waves from Prince's bay northward to near
the Great kills, leaving a bluff of variable height.
The glacier moved across the island in a south-southeasterly
direction. This is proved by the markings on the trap-rock
near Port Richmond, which have about that bearing. The sur-
face of this rock is also smoothed like portions of the Palisades
and Newark mountains. There are no such markings on the
serpentine rocks, because they are too soft to retain them. The
ice extended over their whole area, however, with the exception
of a small area on Todt bill, which is east of the moraine.
North and west of the morainal hills the drift is not so abund-
ant, and rarely forms hills of any considerable size. But
boulders are to be found over all this area, except when it is
covered by newer formations and the soil is often very clayey.
"Diabase of various degrees of coarseness is the most abundant
rock in the drift. This has been carried from tiie Palisades
and the Newark mountains, and probably in part from the
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 15
trap-dyke on the island itself, and is found over the whole drift
area. Gneiss of various kinds, largely syenitic, is perhaps the
next most abundant rock, and occurs often in very large masses.
One of these large boulders rests directly on the top of Fort
hill, New Brighton; another along a roadside near Pleasant
Plains, and a third worthy of notice lies in a field near
Huguenot.
Moderately large boulders, both of trap and gneiss, abound
on the moraine between the Narrows and Garretson's. The
gneiss has come either from the New Jersey Highlands or from
much farther northward, and perhaps in part from New York
island. Triassic red sandstone, carried from New Jersey or
from the northwestern parts of the island, is often met with.
A specimen impregnated with copper salts was obtained from
the bluff at Prince's bay. This locality has yielded many other
interesting specimens illustrating the material brought by the
glacier. Among these may be mentioned Potsdam sandstone,
a number of rocks of Helderberg limestone, a specimen of
granite containing graphite, a cherty rock which may belong to
the Corniferous, and a conglomerate of uncertain age, but
thought to be of the Oneida epoch. A boulder of Hamilton
limestone occurs near Richmond, and a rock containing galena
was found in some excavations near New Brighton.
1 1 is evident that the ice-sheet passed entirely over the day-
beds of the Cretaceous formation in the vicinity of Rossville,
apparently without deteriorating them to any great extent.
At first sight it would appear that these soft, unconsolidated
strata would have been greatly eroded and almost entirely
removed down to the bed-rock, by such an immense mass of ice
moving over them, but although some was undoubtedly carried
away, the ice seems to have swept across the clays without cut-
ting into them very much. South and east of the drift line
(which flows in general in a course parallel with the south shore
of the island in some places running inland a mile or more for
short distances) boulders are almost entirely absent, being
chiefly found in the beds of brooks, where they have been
^carried by water since glacial times, and are never very large.
Modified drift, or material derived from the glacier, but more
or less sorted and stratified by water, may be seen on the plains
lying east of the moraine from near Gilford's to Clifton. The
soil over this area is seen in well-diggings to be imperfectly
ID HISTORY OF UICHMOXD COUNTY.
stratified, and to consist of loam and sand, with few pebbles
and fewer boulders. On Todt bill, near the moraine, there is
quite an extensive deposit of gravel colored yellow by oxide of
iron 1 , this is the pre-glacial drift, which has a greater develop-
ment farther south in New Jersey. Occasionally some stratifi-
cation may be seen in the morainal hills themselves, but these
are generally very heterogeneous in composition. Modified
drift also occurs in small quantities along the edge of the
moraine near Tottenville. The true glacial drift in this vicinity
is not thick, but generally forms a mere mantle over the Cre-
taceous strata, and was probably deposited by a local pro-
jection of ice in advance of the main glacier.
The era of the formation of limonite iron ore deposits is only
provisionally referred to the Quaternary. Their deposition is
supposed to have begun long before the glacial epoch, but since
the magnesian rocks, upon which they rest. These beds of iron
ore are found resting directly upon the serpentine or talcose
rocks at a number of places, in some of which mining has been
carried on. All the deposits have the same general character-
istics they are superficial, though sometimes covered by glacial
drift to a variable depth. The ore consists of the hydrated
sesquioxide of iron, limonite, and is either compact or quite
earthy in texture, and is associated with colorless, green and
red quartz. It has been extensively mined near Four Corners,
at several places on Todt hill and Richmond terrace, and along
the Clove road, and is known to occur at several places on the
serpentine hills. The deposits vary from a few inches up to
twenty feet or more in thickness, and their lateral extent is
limited to a few hundred feet in any direction. The Todt hill
mines are the only ones wholly uncovered by glacial drift, be-
ing east of the moraine.
These superficial deposits have probably had their origin in
the deposition of the material composing them from the waters
of thermal springs, which have come to the surface through
crevices in the serpentine. The iron in the solutions was prob-
ably in the form of the carbonate, which on reaching the sur-
face became oxidized by contact with the atmosphere, and was
thrown out of solution and deposited as the hydrated sesqui-
oxide, as we now find it. Magnetic iron sand occurs with the
limonite in one of the deposits on Todt hill. This was prob-
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 17
ably washed in mechanically while the hydrated oxide was be-
ing deposited from solution.
Extensive deposits of light-colored sand, similar in character
to those found so abundantly on Bergen neck, occur along the
edges of the salt meadows on the western side of the island,
from Mariner's Harbor to near Chelsea landing, sometimes ex-
tending to a distance of one-half to three-quarters of a mile on
the upland, and thus occupying a position between the trap-
dyke and the salt meadows. The material is a fine, yellowish,
loamy sand, containing nu gravel or pebbles, but rests on the
glacial drift, and is hence of post glacial age. This sand was once
the western beach of the extensive body of salt water which
formerly occupied the basin now filled with the salt-marsh de-
posits, and which extended over all the Newark and Hacken-
sack meadows, but has now been reduced to the area of New-
ark bay. The sands of this old beach were blown inland, and
formed into dunes by the generally prevailing westerly winds.
On a windy day the manner of the formation of these dunes
may slill be plainly seen. A number of pine barren plants
have been found lodging in this sandy soil, both on the island
and on Bergen neck, and it is probable that others may be
found when more exhaustive explorations are made.
Modern Epoch. Under this head are included deposits whose
formation began at a comparatively recent period, and whose
growth still continues.
Deposits of marine alluvium or salt meadows extend over an
area of about nine and one-half square miles of the island. The
material composing them consists for the most part of partially
decomposed vegetable matter mixed with a little clay and sand.
These salt meadow areas have once been shallow bays, which have
gradually been filled up, first by the deposit of silt from their
waters and the growth of marine plants, and ultimately by the
growth and decay of grasses and rushes. This latter process is
yet in operation, and thus the salt meadows keep at about the
level of the highest tides. Their most abundant grass is the
Xpartina juncea (Willd.), while the rush is Juncus Gerardi
(Lam.), commonly known as "black grass.'' A number of
other plants contribute small amounts to the vegetable growth,
making the salt-meadow Horn quite a varied one. The most
extensive areas covered by these deposits are along New creek
and the Great kills, on the eastern shore, and from Rossville
2
-
18 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
northward along Arthur kill. The thickness of the marshes is
exceedingly variable, probably as much as thirty feet in some
places and but a few inches in others. The dried material con-
sists of decaying fibres mixed with a little clay, sand and oxide
of iron. The latter substance produces the irridescent film com-
monly seen in the marshes, and popularly supposed to be oil.
Sand beaches occur along all the shores that are directly ex-
posed to the waves. The greatest accumulations of sand are
on the shore of the Lower bay. from Clifton southward to the
so-called Point of the Beach, near Gifford's, at Seguine's point,
near Prince's bay, and at Ward's point. The point near Gif-
ford's is slowly lengthening and curving in toward the shore,
and a similar point is in process of formation at the mouth of
New creek. The accumulation of sand at Ward's point, below
Tjttenville, is also quite great. These points are produced by
the combined action of the currents of the Lower bay and the
streams flowing into it, which carry the sand along the coast
until finally it is driven up on the beaches by the waves.
Sands composed of magnetic iron ore occur with the quartz
sand, a*nd are generally found in layers of a fraction of an inch
in thickness, but an accumulation of this material to a depth
of four inches has recently been found at low water on the
beach near the Elm Tree light-house, but it contains titanium
and is not likely to be of much economic importance. All the
sands originally resulted from the disintegration of rocks, and
have been carried by water down the rivers emptying into the
bays, and have also resulted in part from the direct disintegra-
tion of the coasts.
True peat occurs in but few places on Staten Island. Some
is found in the Clove Lake swamps, in several swamps near
Richmond and Gifford's, and toward Tottenville. In one lo-
cality near Richmond the peat deposit is at least ten feet thick.
The entire southeastern shore of Staten Island is gradually
being washed away. In some places the loss is very apparent.
At the foot of New Dorp lane, near where the Elm Tree light-
house now stands, a large American elm was standing not longer
ago than 1840. The place where it grew is now beyond the end
of a dock which extends some four hundred feet into the water.
This indicates an average wasting of at least ten feet per year
from the shore. At Cedar Grove, half a mile south of this
point, there has been a loss of about three hundred and fifty
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 19
feet since 1850, which shows about the same average. At
Prince's bay the government has been obliged to build a heavy
sea wall in front of the bluff on which the light house is placed,
and a like precaution has been taken at the forts on the
Narrows.
The two causes operating to effect the wasting of the coast are
the constant abrading action of the waves and currents, and
the gradual depression of the coasts. By the course of the
prevailing currents in the Lower bay the eroded material, to-
gether with part of that brought down by the rivers, is carried
southwardly along the coast, the sands being deposited as
beaches, bars and points, while the finer, muddy part is carried
farther, and finally deposited in the deeper waters of the bay, or
out into the ocean. The land on the shore is sometimes pro-
tected by building bulkheads of stone or other substantial ma
terial, running out some hundreds of feet against the southern
part of the shore to be protected. Such bulkheads break the
force of the sand-bearing currents and cause them to drop their
burdens of sand on the north side of the obstruction, and the
waves drive it up on the shore, thus actually making land. The
other cause of the decadence of the coast is found in its gradual
depression. Prof. George H. Cook has estimated that the shores
of New Jersey and Long Island are suffering a depression of
about two feet every hundred years. Others vary this estimate
slightly, but it is agreed by all that there is a sinking of the
shores slowly but continually going on. It will be seen that if
this coast settles down to ten feet below its present level, the
greater part of the plains extending south of the moraine from
Giffords to Clifton, now the most valuable land in the county,
will be covered with salt meadows within a few hundred year>.
provided they are not sooner washed away by the action of the
currents.
We must close this interesting subject with a few words on
the economic uses to which the geological products of the island
have been applied. The limonite ore of Todt hill. Four Cor-
ners, and other places, has been used in blast furnaces in con-
nection with other more refractory ores, or has been screened,
ground and washed, to produce red ochre paint. The total
amount hitherto mined may be as great as 300.000 tons. Fire
clay is employed in the production of refractory ware, at
Kreischerville, of which mention has alreadv been made. Clavs
20 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
of glacial drift origin are used in the manufacture of common
brick near Richmond and Linoleumville. Quarries of trap rock
have been worked at Graniteville and near Port Richmond for
many years. The rock is either cut into blocks and shipped to
New York to be used for street pavements, or crushed into
small pieces and employed in Mac Adam or Telford pavements
on Staten Island. Some edifices have been constructed of this
rock, but it is not well suited for building purposes. The fibrous
serpentine rock, erroneously called asbestos, has been mined near
Tompkinsville landing, to the extent of perhaps twenty-five or
thirty tons, and used fur the purposes for which asbestos is em-
ployed. Thousands of tons of beach sand are annually taken
from the southeastern coast, and used in New York and Brook-
lyn for building purposes. In some places so much sand has
been removed that property along the shore has been seriously
damaged, by exposing roads and meadows to the action of the
waves.
The variety in the geological formation, already described,
exerts a powerful influence over the occurrence and distri-
bution of the vegetation, which is surprisingly rich in its
number of species. In 1879 Messrs. N. L. Britton and Arthur
Hollick. to whom we are indebted for the facts which we give
under this head, after three years of careful search aud study,
compiled and published a catalogue of the flowering plants
with the ferns and their allies, known to grow on Staten
Island independent of cultivation. This catalogue enumerated
1,050 species and varieties. The following year an appendix
was issued enumerating forty-six more. In 1882 the second
appendix was published containing sixty-seven additions.
A third appendix, showing forty-six more, was issued in
1885, and now the fourth appendix is found necessary, con-
taining a farther list of thirty-six species. In other words
there are at the present time 1,245 species and varieties of
wild plants known on Staten Island, which has an area of
only about fifty-nine square miles, while the entire flora
of New York state, covering an area of about 45,000
square miles, numbers only about 1,800. So that little
Richmond county is the possessor of two-thirds of the state
flora as known at the present time. About fifty of the species
were not known in the state until discovered and reported from
this county. The surprising richness, as previously stated, is
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 21
due in part to the fact that the cretaceous sands and clays
in the region around Tottenville and Kreischerville carry with
them a large number of the plants characteristic of that for-
mation in New Jersey known as the "Pine Barren" flora;
while the drift, which covers the rest of the island with a
mantle of sand, loam, gravel and " hard pan," affords a home
for many of the plants which occur to the north and up the
Hudson river valley. There are also several species which are
confined entirely to the ridge of serpentine or soapstone rock r
which forms the backbone of the island, extending from St.
George to Richmond.
The physiographic conditions are also of importance, as the
island occupies a position surrounded by salt water, besides
having several large ponds of fresh water, running streams and
perpetual springs. There are also high and dry hills, low and
wet swamps, and some artificially-made ground. The latter has
mostly been filled in with refuse, and ballast from vessels, and
through this agency about thirty of the species have been intro-
duced. The inevitable march of progress, while it has intro-
duced a few plants, mostly troublesome weeds, such as the
"pig-weed," " worm-seed," stramonium, amaranthus, and other
pests of our fields and gardens, has destroyed and crowded
out many of our native species, or completely destroyed
them in certain localities where they were formerly abundant.
The forest trees were the first to suffer, as they are in all com-
munities in which immediate gain is counted higher than ulti-
mate utility. The entire island, except on the salt marshes,
was, it is said, originally covered with a thick growth, in which
oak and chestnut predominated. In the time of the revolution,
most of this forest was cut down, and there are now but com-
paratively few trees that have seen one hundred years of growth.
The mass of the forest growth at the present time is probably
about half that age, or a little more, although there are a few
isolated examples which are noteworthy. One of the most con-
spicuous objects near Garretson's station is a huge white oak.
standing alone in the middle of a field, on the south side of the
track. In a little secluded valley t,j the north of the station is
a chestnut whose trunk measure* eighteen feet in circumference.
Tt is, so far as known, the largest tree on the island, in regard
to girth. The next largest is probably a white oak which
stands in a field at Green Ridge. Its circumference is fifteen
22 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
feet two inches, and it is a remarkable object, but its existence
is known by but few people, on account of its distance from
any road.
The willow trees at the Billop house. Tottenville, follow
next, the largest one showing a circumference of thirteen
feet seven inches. Near Court House station are two of the
finest examples of perfect symmetry in tree development to be
found anywhere. They are both white oaks. One of them,
with a circumference of eleven feet, is in a field close by the
station, and the other is in a patch of woods about a quarter of
a mile away. The latter one has a girth of eleven feet six inches,
with branches that spread for a distance of thirty or forty feet,
often almost touching the ground. A magnificent grove of
white pine formerly flourished on the hill back of Clove lake,
but within a few years it has 'been cut down. There are a few
scattered groves of these trees in other parts of the island,
notably in Westfield, and many fine specimens may still be seen
there. In a swamp at the rear of the school house at Green
Ridge are a number of elms, each averaging over eleven feet in
circumference, and there are many beautiful specimens of this
tree which have been planted, notably at New Springville.
The sycamore is undoubtedly dying out for some reason, and
probably the present generation will see its almost entire ex-
termination. Almost the only really fine example of this tree
now to be seen here is in front of a cottage on the north side of
the road between Rossville and Kreischerville. Among the
tallest trees the tulip tree will probably bear the palm. It is
seldom very large in circumference, the greatest thus far meas-
ured being under ten feet, but no tree can present a finer spec-
tacle when it is in full bloom.
The list of notable forest trees found here would not be com-
plete without the sweet gum, which was the source of a gigantic
hoax some ten years since. Its peculiar corky bark is familiar
to most people, yet certain individuals found a ready sale for
the branches in the streets of New York under the name of
" alligator wood/' A market was even found for it among the
citizens of the island, many of whom brought it back with
them as a great curiosity. The beech is abundant, and often
conspicuous for its size. Several fine examples are to be seen
standing isolated in the partially cleared land back of Clove
lake. In one limited locality the sugar maple grows, in com-
HISTORY OF IUCJIMOXD COUNTY. 23
pany with the slippery elm, but fortunately they have thus far
escaped notice. Magnolias flourish in three widely separated
localities Tottenville, Cliffords and Watchogue. The trees
have been sadly mutilated by parties who gather the flowers
for sale in Xew York, but as they grow in thick swamps they
are not likely to be entirely exterminated until the swamps are
drained and cleared. The red maple is one of the commonest
trees in the lowlands, and is very conspicuous in the autumn,
owing to the endless change in color which its foliage assumes.
They often reach a considerable size, one in a swamp at Totten-
ville being twelve feet three inches in circumference, and hol-
low, so that a person can readily get entirely within the trunk.
There are five species of dog-woods known here, but only one is
familiar to any extent as a tree. This is the Cornus ftorida (L. ),
with large conspicuous white blossoms. The others hardly ever
rise above the dignity of large shrubs or bushes. The well
known evergreen holly (Ilex opaca, Ait.) was formerly far more
abundant than it now is, although it still grows in considerable
quantity in the vicinity of Richmond and Eltingville, and small
scattered individual specimens are to be met with in nearly
every part of the island. Not far from Cliffords is a most beau-
tiful example of this tree. The main trunk is four feet six inches
in circumference, and each main branch measures two feet, ten
inches. Its height is about twenty-five feet, and' the symmetry
would be perfect except that some vandals have hacked oil'
branches on one side, presumably for Christmas greens.
The catalpu, paulownia, and locust (liobinia, Pseudaca<-< <.
L.) have all more or less escaped from cultivation and are
thoroughly established in a wild state in many places; in fart
the latter, there is good reason to believe, is native here. The
ailanthus is likewise seeding itself quite extensively and seems
likely to become a permanent feature. The two species of ash
(Fruxinus pubescens, and Fraj'iiiioi Americana) are found
sparingly throughout the island, but are mostly represented by
isolated trees. The wild cherry is every where abundant and the
cultivated one has been extensively plavted in woods and copies
through the agency of birds. Peac'a, pear and apple trees are
also frequently met with in the woods and along old fence lines
and hedge rows, where the seeds have been accidentally
dropped. The sassafras is common and well known every-
where. The hackberry, or sugarberry (Celt is o<:<:i<h nialia,
24 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
L.) is plentiful in restricted localities, notably on Kiclmiond
hill and at Tottenville. Its peculiar warty bark and insect
bitten branches always attract attention wherever seen. The
white and red mulberry may now be found in nearly all parts
of the island, distributed by birds from trees, a large part of
which were planted during the silk worm craze some years ago.
The remains of some of these plantations may yet be seen, being
all that is left of the visions of silk culture that prevailed at
the time they were planted. Many black walnut trees may yet
be seen, some of them very imposing specimens. Their near
relatives, the hickories, number five different species, common
everywhere. (Carya alba, Nutt., C. tomentosa, Nutt., C. por-
cina, Nutt,, C. amara, Nutt., and C. microcarpa, Nutt.) The
first mentioned, which is commonly known as the "shag" or
" shell bark," yields the hickory nuts of the markets. This
species is plentiful enough in certain places on the south side to
be of some economical importance. The oaks number ten dif-
ferent species. The chestnut, swamps, white and red oaks are
known everywhere, forming the bulk of the woods, but the post
oak (Quercus obtustloba, Michx. ) and black oak (Q. nigra, L. )
occur only in a few places, notably Tottenville and Watchogne.
The dwarf oak (Q. prinoid.es, Willd. ) is also restricted to the
same localities. It seldom grows more than six feet high and
appears like a thick bush. The willow oak, (Q. Pkellos, L. ), so
far as known, is represented bv a single tree, growing in ;i
swamp at Tottenville. The chestnut was formerly very abund-
ant, and is yet along Ocean terrace, but it has been laid under
such heavy contribution for fence posts and rails, telegraph and
telephone poles, railroad ties, etc., that its complete extermina-
tion in the near future seems inevitable. Hornbeam or " iron
wood" is plentiful, especially in wet places. There are three
species of birch, two of which are common and well known,
namely the black and white. The third, which is known as the red
or " river birch " (Betulanigra, L.), is very rare, only a few trees
being known, and they are on the borders of a pond near Bull's
Head. These are likel" to be destroyed very shortly, on ac-
count of certain changes now being made by the Crystal
Water Company. There are Tine willows, all common, in addi-
tion to the " weeping willow." which is so well known in culti-
vation. With the exception of the white (>'"//> aJba, L., rar.
vitelliua, Ofr. ) and the black (S. n <ra, L.), they are shrubs
HISTORY OF UK IIMOXD COUNTY. W 2.")
mostly confined to low or swampy situations. Botanically they
are known as SalLr tristis, Ait., 8. humilis, Marshall, 8. dis-
color, Muhl., S. sericea, Marshall., S.lucida, Muhl., S.fragiUs,
L., and 8. cordata, Muhl. The poplars include, besides the
well known cultivated species, the white, Lombardy, and "balm
of Gilead," three wild ones, viz.: Poptilus tremuloides, Michx.,
commonly called "aspen," P. grandidentata, Michx., and P.
JieteropJiylla, L.
There are four species of pines, all comparatively plentiful.
The pitch pine is found everywhere. The white and yellow
pines are not so common, and the "scrub," or New Jersey pine,
is found only in the neighborhood around Tottenville and
Kreischerville, excepting for a few isolated trees near Four
Corners. The cedar is very common, forming many beautiful
groves at different parts of the island. Very large specimens
are to be seen near the Billop house at Tottenville, and at
Kreischerville. Two of these trees measure respectively 5 ft.
10 in. and 5 ft. 4A in. in circumference. Only one specimen of
the juniper is known to be in existence in the county. This is
in the cedar grove at New Dorp, near the beach. Persimmons
are very common at Tottenville and Kreischerville, although
rarely met with elsewhere.
Among the shrubs and bushes are many highly ornamental
species, besides some of economic importance. The common
barberry is spreading quite rapidly, especially in the vicinity of
Tottenville, where it is a conspicuous object in the autumn, on
account of the drooping racemes of bright scarlet berries. Near
the same locality the "burning bush" (Euonymus atfajuu
pureus, Jacq.) has escaped from cultivation. The black-cap
raspberry, high bush and trailing blackberries, are in some lo-
calities abundant enough to pick for market. The English
ha \vthorne has become established in several localities, notably
along a brook at New Dorp, where there are a number of very
large bushes. Three varieties of the " shad bush " have been
found here (AmelancJiicr Canadensis, T. & G., var. But ft/
apiitm, car. oblong if olium, and var. rotundifolium.) It some-
times grows large enough to be called a tree, as is the case at
Totfenville, where there is one measuring 3 ft. 4i- in. in cir-
cumference. When in blossom this tree is a sight to behold,
appearing in the distance like a bank of snow. Unfortunately
some vandal has hacked off one of the main branches, thus
26 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
ruining its former symmetry. Small hushes are plentiful every-
where, and have attracted such attention that the florists have
introduced them successfully for shrubbery. The witch hazel
is plentifully distributed along nearly all the watercourses and
in wet locations generally. Probably the best known of all the
bushes is the "nanny berry" ( Viburnum prunlfolium, L.)
which is so abundant in a certain place near West New Brighton
that it is called " nanny berry hill." It is used successfully for
hedges, not only in rough places, but in cultivated gardens, and
should be a favorite, as it is never winter-killed like so many of
the introduced hedge plants. The "huckleberries" number six
species, besides several varieties. The one which produces the
huckleberry of the market is known as the " high " or "swamp
huckleberry," although the others are all used more or less. In
the vicinity of \Vatchogue they are abundant enough to be of
some economical importance. Kalmia Intifolia, L., better
known as the "laurel," is still quite common, especially at
Tottenville, but is too conspicuous and handsome a bush to
stand long near a thickly settled community. The Rhododen-
dron nuLi'tiitum, L., has already suffered for its beauty and has
become completely exterminated on the island, within the
memory of people now living here. The azalea seems destined
to share the same fate, although not so rapidly. It has already
disappeared from hundreds of acres where it was abundant a
few years ago. Benzoin (Lindera Benzoin. Meisner) is com-
mon along nearly all water courses. The filbert nut forms a
considerable part of the underbrush in certain places, and is
scattered along hedge rows and the borders of woods in others.
Mi/rica cerifera, L., the "wax myrtle" or "sweet bay," is
common throughout, and was formerly the source from which
the early settlers derived considerable of their tallow for candles
and other purposes by boiling the berries. The alder (Alnus
serrulata, Ait.) forms the bulk of the thick underbrush in
swamps and along the borders of fresh water. Rosa Carolina,
L., the swamp wild rose, is common in low places, and JR.
I /i<-!<la, Erhardt, is abundant in drier locations. There are five
species of sumach, including the too well known "poison ivy '
(RTius Toxicodcjnlron, L. ) They are plentifully distributed
everywhere, with the exception of the "stag's horn sumach,"
which only occurs sparingly at Tottenville, Prince's bay and
Ocean terrace.
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 27
Wild grapes are represented by four species, of which the large
fox grape ( Vitis labrusca, L.) is said to be excellent for pre-
serves. It is the original stock from which the Isabella and
other cultivated varieties have sprung. V. aestipalis, Michx.
and V. cord if of la, Michx., known as "frost grapes," are com-
mon everywhere, the small black fruit being ripe laie in
autumn. The second named frequently attains a large size,
climbing to the tops of the highest trees and becoming very
thick at the base, A magnificent vine formerly grew in the
ravine near the Kellet place, measuring 1 ft. 11 in. in circum-
ference at a distance of about two feet from the ground. It was
cut in two a short time ago, apparently for mere wanton de-
struction, and all traces of it will soon be obliterated. The
"Virginia creeper" (Ampelopxix quinquefolia, Michx.) and
"bitter sweet" (Celaslrus scandens, L.) are rapidly gaining
favor as ornamental vines for houses and fences. The
autumnal tints of the first are unsurpassed by any other plant,
and the bright orange and scarlet berries of the latter remain
unchanged almost throughout the entire winter. The Chinese
honeysuckle has escaped from gardens in places and may be
seen climbing over trees and bushes, apparently perfectly at
home. Such plants no doubt started from pieces thrown out
in rubbish heaps. The wild honeysuckle or "woodbine" is
quite common and is sometimes seen in cultivation. The
"trumpet vine" is thoroughly established in fields arid along-
hedge rows from Tottenville to Prince's bay, near the beach.
Ipnmnii /niinl nrata, Meyer, sometimes called " wild potato
vine'' and " man-of-the-earth," is common at Tottenville, es-
pecially in the pine groves. The flower resembles a convolvulus,
and the root is sometimes as large as a man's arm. It is
deeply buried in the ground, however, and requires considerable
digging to extract it.
"Catbrier" is common everywhere, forming dense and im
penetrable thickets in places, affording fine cover for birds and
small animals. The few game birds and rabbits that yet remain
on the island owe their existence to this plant more than to
almost any other cause. Clematis Virginiana, L., commonly
called "clematis" and "virgin's bower," is extensively gath-
ered for household decoration in the autumn, when the bunches
of feathery tailed seeds are ripe. Another species of clematis
(C. oclirolt'iti'it, Ait. ) is abundant on Todt hill and near Rich-
28 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
mond. It is a low plant, about a foot or two in height, bearing
heads of feathery seeds similar to the first mentioned. It is one
of Staten Island's characteristic plants, as it is very rare in
other parts of the United States, being known in bnt few
localities, mostly in Pennsylvania and Virginia. Botanists
from all over the country have made trips to Staten Island to
collect specimens, and they are now contained in nearly all the
large herbaria of the land. Another plant, rare elsewhere, is the
"mouse-ear chickweed" (cerastium oblong (folium, Torr.) It
grows in company with the latter, especially on and near Todt
Hill, in the rear of the Moravian parsonage. About the latter
part of May the flowers are in full bloom, forming conspicuous
white tufts and masses. This locality will well repay a visit
at this season of the year, as "bird's foot" violets and the
delicate little "bluets" are at their best about the same time,
and all grow in luxuriance together.
" Trailing arbutus " or " Mayflower" was, and is yet, abund-
ant from Eltingville to Tottenville, near the salt water. Un-
fortunately its location is known to many people in both New
York and Brooklyn, who organize " arbutus parties " every
year and carry it away by basketfnls. There is no doubt that
the near future will see its entire extermination if the present
rate of destruction continues. It is one of the earliest flowers
to bloom in the spring, generally showing itself before April,
and sometimes during the first week in March. Other early
flowers are the " liverwort," which is common everywhere, and
the " whitlow grass " (Draba verna, L.), which is particularly
abundant at Tottenville. In the warm sandy soil of the latter
place it is sometimes in bloom during February, and may fairly
be considered as our earliest spring flower. In company with
it grows the "crane's bill (Erodium cicutarium, L. Her.). This
plant has been found in blossom there during every month of
the year, the late flowers frequently holding on throughout the
winter until the new blossoms appear in the spring. "Blood-
root" is abundant in several restricted localities, which are
fortunately not well known, and as the plant is in blossom very
early it is out of bloom and inconspicuous before people are
likely to be rambling through the woods. It grows well in the
garden and might become a favorite. The common " water
cress" has been introduced in several of the water courses and
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 29
thrives finely. Certain parties have for years been in the habit
of gathering it for sale.
The violets, so familiar to all, number twelve species and va-
rieties, all common, with the exception of Viola tricolor, L., var
arvensis. which is the immediate ancestor of our garden pansy.
A species of cactus (Opuntia vulgar is, Mill.) is common at Tot-
tenville and South beach, and also sparingly on Todt hill. It
readily bears transplanting, and is a beautiful object when in
full bloom. Dypsacus syloestris, Mill., the common " teasel,"
is thoroughly established along roadsides near Garretson's and
Bull's Head, and in the brick yards at Green Ridge. The pres-
ent plants are doubtless the offspring of those that were culti-
vated years ago when the hand-weaving of cloth was a home
industry.
It will probably surprise some people to know that the island
possesses nineteen species and varieties of ' golden rod ''and
twenty-five asters. Many of these are well worthy of cultiva-
tion, but are too common to attract more than passing attention.
In England, however, they are highly appreciated, and many
of these species may be seen there adorning the gardens.
\Yintergreen grows in certain small patches, but is not abund-
ant and does not seem to fruit very freely.
One of the most gaudy plants is undoubtedly the so-called
"painted cup" (Castilleia coccinea, Spreng ). It is very
abundant in the Clove lake swamp, but has not been found else-
where. Both the yellow and red grow side by side. Several
other rare plants make this place their home, among which
may be mentioned the "grass of Parnassus" (Parnassia Car-
oltniana, Mich x.) and the orchids Calopogonpulchellus, R. Br.,
and Pogonia ophioc/lossoides, Nutt. For many other plants,
likewise, it is a favorite spot, and has quite a reputation among
botanists as a favorite hunting ground.
The common "cranberry" is abundant in certain peat bogs
near Richmond, and appears sparingly near Clove lake. It is
likely soon to be exterminated in both localities, in the latter
owing to a rise in the level of the water, and in the former on
account of the drainage of the swamps. Its flourishing condi-
tion at Richmond suggests the possibility of utilizing the peat
bogs for its culture.
It is a noteworthy fact that nearly all our worst weeds are plants
that have been introduced and are now naturalized. Among
30 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
these may be mentioned Galinsoya parniflora, Cav., which was
unknown here a few years ago. but has already become a
nuisance in many places. Its advent is so recent that, although
very abundant, no common name has yet been given to it. The
eleven species of Chenopixraini and Amaranthiis. known as
" wormseed," "pigweed," " prince's feather," etc., are familial-
objects in all waste places, rubbish heaps, and cultivated
grounds. They are all introduced plants.
"Mistletoe" has been reported, on good authority, from
the neighborhood of Clifton, but no specimens have been pre-
served and it has not recently been found. Twenty-four species
of orchids, several very rare, are known to occur here. The
"ladies' slipper" (Cypripeduim acaule, Ait.) is the most con-
spicuous and is very abundant at Tottenville, Watchogue and
one or two other points. 'The "crane fly orchis" (Tipvlaria
discolor, Nutt.) is abundant in most of the deep woods, but is
so inconspicuous as to escape general attention. The so-called
' screw plants" belong here, of which there are four species,
two of which are worthy of mention. They occur only at
Tottenville and are not very common there. These are Spiran-
thes simplex, Gray, and S. gramivea, Lindl. -car Walter!, Gray.
The rushes and sedges number about ninety, and the grasses
about one hundred and twenty species. The ferns show
twenty-eight species, of which the rarest and least known
is probably Cystopteris frag His, Bernb. It is confined to a
little rocky valley near Egbertville. "Maiden's hair" is
everywhere abundant, as is also the common " shield
fern," which is evergreen. The " scouring rush" (Equisetum
hyemale, L.) is abundant at Tottenville on the bluff overlook-
ing Raritan bay. There are five species of "club moss" or
"lycopodium," so well known as "ground pine" and used for
Christmas decorations. They are, however, none of them suf-
ficiently abundant to be of any economical value.
The herbarium from which the original catalogue and appen-
dices were compiled is now in the possession of the Natural
Science Association, and is one of the most complete local
herbariums in the country. Lists of the lower forms of plant
life (Mosses, lichens, &c.) are in course of preparation by
different members of the Natural Science Association, but it
will take many years yet to make them complete.
Years ago the island was frequented by deer, foxes and some
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 31
other large animals, and within the last half century foxes have
been known, but none of these animals are now known to live
wild upon the island. At the time of the revolution it is said
there were plenty of foxes and raccoons, and some opossums.
Not many years after the war the last deer known to be upon
the island were shot. Forty years ago the skunk abounded,
and about that time a mink was caught in the act of making a
raid upon a poultry yard. Wolves were also among the trouble-
some animals during the early years of settlement here. The
records tell us that about the close of the seventeenth century
the county paid a premium on all wolves that were caught. An
entry before us shows that in 1698 Thomas iStillwell received
fifteen shillings for a wolf and Cornelius Tysen received one
pound for a wolf s head. Different bounties were offered for
animals of different sex and age, as was the custom in many
counties of the state. By this means those animals were soon
exterminated. The mammalia now known to the island are
weasels (least and common), mink, skunk, moles (common and
star-nosed and mole shrew), gray and flying squirrels, chipmunk,
jumping mouse, Norway rat, common, house and deer mice,
muskrat, rabbit, brown, red, hoary and silver black bats.
The following list, prepared by Mr. Arthur Hollick and his
indefatigable associates, represents that part of the bird fauna
of Staten Island which is known to have nested here within the
past fifteen years. Several species not in the list would no
doubt have been included had it been compiled a quarter of a
century ago, and there is a probability that continued careful
search will reveal others. The value of this list will be appre-
ciated by those who have noticed the gradual disappearance of
some of the island species, and the scarcity of others that were
formerly abundant. We omit the scientific names from this
list
Robin, wood thrush, In-own thrush, mocking bird, cat bird,
blue bird, tufted titmouse, chickadee, house wren, long-billed
marsh wren, short-billed marsh wren, summer yellow bird, oven
bird, Maryland yellow-throat, yellow-breasted chat, scarlet
tanager, barn swallow, white-bellied swallow, eave swallow,
cedar bird or wax-wing, red-eyed hang bird, white-eyed hang-
bird, yellow bird, sea-side finch, sharp-tailed finch, swamp
sparrow, song sparrow, chippy, field sparrow, English sparrow,
indigo bird, cardinal grosbeak, chewink. bob-o-link. cow bird.
32 HISTORY OP RICHMOND COUNTY.
red -winged blackbird, meadow lark, orchard oriole, Baltimore
oriole, crow blackbird, common crow, fish crow, blue jay, king
l>ird, great crested flycatcher, phcebe bird, peewee, least fly-
catcher, night hawk, chimney swallow, ruby-throated humming-
bird, belted kingfisher, black-billed cuckoo, yellow-billed
cuckoo, downy woodpecker, red-headed woodpecker or high-
older, golden-winged wood screech owl, sharp-shinned or pigeon
hawk, red-shouldered hawk, fish hawk or osprey, wild pigeon,
quail, woodcock, teeter-tail or peep, shytepoke, and clapper
rail or mud hen.
Coming down to the lower orders and lesser wing creatures
we have the following list of butterflies which have been
captured on the island. This has been kindly furnished us by
Mr. William T. Davis, to whose labors in this department of nat-
ural history we are indebted for its compilation. The list
though not supposed to be entirely complete comprises:
Papilionidae, Papilio Philenor, L. Papilio Asterias, F.
Papilio Troilus, L. Papilio Turnus, L. Papilio Turnus, dim.
var. Glaucus, L. Papilio Cresphontes, Cram. Pieris Protodice,
Bd-Lec. Pieris Oleracea, Bd. Pieris Rapae, L. Colias Philo-
dice, Godt. Colias Philodice, var Alba. Terias Nicippe, Cram,
common in 1880, saw none before or since. Terias Lisa, Bd.
Nymphalidae. Danais Archippus, F. Argynnis Idalin,
Drury. Argynnis Cybele, F. Argynnis Myrina, Cram. Ar-
gynnis Bellona, F. Euptoieta Claudia, Cram, one specimen,
Clove Valley, C. W. Butler. Melitaea Phaeton, Drury. Phy-
ciodes Tharos, Drury. Grapta Interrogationis, F. Grapta In-
terrogationis, var Umbrosa, Lintn. Grapta Comma, Harr.
Grapta Comma, var Dryas, Edw. Grapta Progne, Cram.
Grapta J Album, Bd. ; one specimen, New Dorp, Miss M. Brit-
ton. Vanessa Antiopa, L. Pyrameis Atalanta, L. Pyrameis
Huntera, Drury. Pyrameis Cardui, L. Junonia Laviuia, Cram.
Limenitis Ursula, F. Lirnenitis Disippus, Godt. Neonympha
Eurytris, F. Neonympha Canthus, L. Satyrus Alope, F.
Lycaenidae. Thecla Humuli, Harr. Thecla Calamis, Hiib.
Thecla Smilacis, Bd.; C. W. Leng. Thecla Henrici, Gr. Rob.
Thecla Niphon, Hiib, Watchogue. Feniseca Tarquiuius, G.
Chrysophanus Americana, D' Urban. Lycaena Pseudargiolus,
Bd-Lec. Lycaena Pseudargiolus, var Violacea, Edw. Lycaena
Pseudargiolus, var Lucia, Kirby. Lycaena Pseudargiolus, var
Neglecta, Edw. Lycaena Comyntas, Godt.
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 33
Hesperidae. Ancyloxypha Numitor, F. Pampliila Massa-
soit, Scud. Pamphila Zabulon, Bd-Lec. Pamphila Zabnlon,
dim. var. Pocohonfas. Pamphila Sassacus, Scud. Pamphila
Pontiac, Edw. Pamphila Otho, var Egeremet. Pampliila
Peckius, Kirby. Pamphila Mystic, Edw. Pamphila Cernes,
Bd-Lec. Pamphila Metacomet, Harr. Pamphila Verna, Edw.
Pyrgns Tessellata, Scud. Thanaos Brizo, Bd. Thanaos Juven-
alis, F. Pholisora Catullus, Cram. Eudamus Pylades, Scud.
Eudamus Lycidas, Sm-Abb; one specimen, Clove Valley. Eu-
damus Tityrus. F.
Mr. Davis has also furnished us with the following list of the
reptiles and batrachians of the island. In geographical distri-
bution some of the reptiles are almost confined to the Cretaceous
and those portions of the island covered by marine alluvium.
C. Pennsylvanicum seems to be restricted to the shallow pools
near the salt water. It occurs near New Dorp, Richmond Val-
ley station and Watchogue. Ophibolus triangulus is a rather
scarce serpent on the island. Ranahalecina, though found in
other portions of the island, is much more common on the marsh
land near Watchogue. The species of Diemyctylus have only
been observed in the hilly districts. In 1881 the "spade foot"
frog made its appearance in some numbers, but it has not since
been seen. No copperheads or rattlesnakes have been found.
Reptilia. Testudinata; Cistudo clausa, Nanemys guttatus,
Chrysemys picta, Malacoclemmyspalustris, Cinosternum Penu-
sylvanicum, Chelydra serpentina, Chelonia mydas: Ophfdia:
Heterodon platyrhinus, Tropidonotus sipedon, Storeria dekayi,
Entaenia saurita, E. sirtalis, Bascanium constrictor, Liopeltis
vernalis, Diadophis punctatus, Ophibolus doliatus triangulus.
Batrachia. Anura; Rana halecina, R. palustris, R. clami-
tans, R. temporaria, Scaphiopus holbrookii, Hyla versicolor, H.
pickeringii, Acris gryllus, Bufolentiginosus: Urodela; Diemy-
ctylus viridescens, D. miniatus, Desmognathus fasca, Heruida-
ctylium scutatum, Plethodon erythronotus, P. glutinosus,
Spelerpes bilineatus, S. ruber, Amblystoma opacum ,A. puncta
turn.
The waters about the island have from time immemorial
abounded with living creatures of value to the inhabitants. To
the aborigines the abundance of clams and oysters was a con-
sideration that attracted thousands hither. Seals frequently
have been seen about the bay, and whales have been known to
34: HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
enter and pass through the Narrows, up the river. Van der
Donck tells us that in 1647 two whales of common size swain up
the river forty miles, and one of them on its return stranded
about twelve miles from sea. The other he says ran farther up
and grounded near the ''great Chapoos falls." As late as 1841
a whale was seen sporting between the Narrows and Governor's
island, and another is reported as entering the bay some five or
six years later. The menhaden or moss-bunker abounded iu
these waters, and was formerly used in large quantities for fer-
tilizing the soil, the fishing commencing on the south shore in
June. Thirty or forty years ago these fish were sold to farmers
in large quantities at 75 cents a thousand. Soon afterward the
business of extracting the oil from them sprang up, and this
use being more profitable the price was increased until it became
about four times the one mentioned. This practically placed
the fish beyond the reach of the farmer. Clams are found in
large numbers along the shores of the island. The Great kills
was formerly noted for these bivalves. Some peculiarities in
the soft clams found at different points along the shores have
been noticed by those who have studied the subject. These va-
riations are attributed to the different conditions of the beach
upon which they are found. From New Brighton to the mouth
of the Narrows, where the shore is rocky, the clams are only
of moderate size, the ends being often broken and the outside
of the shell corrugated. On the sandy beach of the south
shore, which is open to the sea, the shells are very thin and of
even growth. All the lateral and transverse markings are com-
plete, the shells often very beautiful in form and color, and
here the largest specimens are found. About a half-mile south-
west of the "Elm Tree Light " the shore is composed of salt
meadow or peat, which is supposed to be too hard for the free
development of well formed shells, hence the clams found there
exhibit more deformities and are often more rounded in shape
than those found elsewhere. Beyond Seguine's point, however,
the shore resembles in character that of New Brighton, and the
clams also correspond to those of that shore. The oyster
growth and habits will be more particularly noticed in connec-
tion with that industry.
| Many traces of the savage occupants have been found upon
/the island. These are most common along the shores from
Prince's bay around to Watchogue. Shell heaps are found
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 35
that indicate that the work of wampum manufacture and the
preparation of clams and oysters for food was carried on in
those localities. The two most fruitful localities in affording
Indian relics are perhaps Totteiiville and Watchogue. Hun-
dreds of implements have been found, some mixed up with
debris of the shell heaps and others scattered over the fields.
These implements consist of net-sinkers, hammer stones, axes,
arrow-heads, mortars, pestles, beads, anvils, and others the use
of which is unknown. Arrow-heads were found by the bushel,
being turned up by the plow in most of the fields. Indian
burying grounds have been discovered near Tottenville, and
isolated remains at other points. In these interments various
implements accompanied the bodies, among which were arrow-
heads such as were used in war, those being distinguishable
from the arrow-heads used in hunting. Nearly all the arrows
found about the fields are of the latter kind. Among the
objects of special interest are discoidal and shuttle shaped per-
forated stones, supposed by some to have been intended as
ceremonial implements of some kind, and by others to have
been for the practical purpose of shaping bow-strings by draw-
ing the soft material back and forth through the small holes.
The discoidal stones have the opposite flat faces either ground
roughly or polished, and are of hard quartzite. The only
shuttle-shaped stone found is composed of soft banded slate.
As no material of this kind exists here it is supposed that this
specimen had been brought from Ohio or Illinois, where similar
objects had been found. Evidences of fire places have been
noticed in several of the shell mounds, specimens of cracked
and partly fused stone having been found. In some of the
stones the surface was entirely fused into a glass-like slag.
One of the most striking curiosities of this nature, however, is
the stone head found near Clifton in 1884. This was unearthed
by Mr. James Clark, in the latter part of February, while dig-
ging up the root of a blue huckleberry bush which he intended
to use in the manufacture of rustic basket work. It lay about
eighteen inches under the soil at a point two to three hundred
feet east of the railroad track, and near the Fingerboard road,
at the edge of a low dense swamp. In digging with a pick, that
instrument struck the stone and turned it up. The material is a
brown sandstone, apparently more compact than the common New
Jersey sandstone, and composed almost entirely of grains of
36 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
quartz with an occasional small pebble. The head is seven inches
high, four inches through the cheeks and six inches from the tip
of the nose through to the back of the head, and its weight is
about eight pounds. The nostrils are one and seven-eighths
inches across their base and the eyes are one and a quarter
inches long and five-eighths wide. They are raised in the cen-
ters and have a groove running around close to the lids. A
round hole one-fifth inch deep had been drilled in the lower
part of the nose, in the space between the two nostrils, evidently
for the purpose of fastening an ornament, and both nostrils
were hollowed out to some depth. The cheeks, in their lower
part, are sunken in a very curious manner, causing the cheek
bones to stand up very high. The forehead is low and retreats
at an angle of sixty degrees. A trace of what had been or was
to be the ear was noticeable on the right side. The back and
upper parts of the head are almost entirely rough and unworked,
as though the image had never been finished, or else was only
a part of some larger figure. The surface is rough and slightly
weathered, the cheeks, forehead and chin having single grains
of sand apparently raised above the surface as if by age and
exposure. The features are too well cut for a common off-hand
piece of work by a stone maker. The style is not Egyptian or
Eastern, so it does not appear that it could have been thrown
out here by any sailor or other person who had ever brought it
from across the ocean. It is said to bear some resemblance to
the Mexican, and still more to the Aztec style of work. The
spot where it was found is and has been within the memory of
man an unfrequented wild, remote from any habitation, and the
soil in which it lay is a compact sandy clay of light brown
color, in which a stone like this might lie buried for centuries
without much disintegration.
But we must draw this chapter of description to a close; but
in doing so we cannot refrain from introducing the beautiful
poem by James Biirke, entitled "The Isle of the Bay," which so
aptly describes the island whose history we are about to notice :
Up from the waters that come as the daughters
Of Neptune, the lord of the wide spreading main.
Bringing with pleasure, love, homage and treasure
To lay on the altar of Liberty's Fane,
Rises serenely, resplendent and queenly,
As far-famed Atlantis, in Hercules' day,
Sweet Staten Island, of valley and highland,
So fair that we name her the Pride of the Bay !
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 37
Summer caressing, while breathing the blessing
A mother invokes on her daughter, a bride,
Her miniature mountains and silver-spring fountains
Are dimpled and rippled with beauty and pride.
Valleys are smiling with pleasures beguiling,
And terrace-like hills from her shores roll away ;
Green are the meadows and cool are the shadows
Of grottoes and groves in our Isle of the Bay.
Winter, though bringing his terrors and flinging
Them down at her feet with a pitiless hand,
Yet is her ardor sufficient to guard her,
And laughter defies him on lake and on land.
Springtime poetic and Autumn pathetic,
Are seasons whose charms have a limitless sway,
Yet do they chasten their garments and hasten
To visit their homes on our Isle of the Bay !
Add to what's charming, her fishing and farming,
Her soil and its products both racy and rare,
Shore lines combining, by Nature's designing,
A wharfage for commerce unrivalled elsewhere ;
Gardens and goodlands, with wild ways and woodlands.
And water abundant as music in May.
Then Use and Beauty unite in the duty,
An Eden to make of our Isle of the Bay !
History rolling its gates back, and tolling
The echoes of ages receding from sight,
Figures are walking and voices are talking,
That show us our progress to Liberty's light :
First the red foernan and next the Dutch yeoman.
Succeeded by Dongan's Colonial sway ;
Hanover's scepter then subjugate kept her
Till Washington rescued our Isle of the Bay !
But though her story be studded with glory,
And Nature hath decked her with grandeur and grace,
Yet are these phases less worthy of praises
Than this that here Love finds a fit dwelling place.
Refuge from dangers, both natives and strangers,
Black, white or red, or the sons of Cathay.
All here abiding, in friendship confiding,
Find welcome and weal in our Isle of the Bay.
CHAPTER III.
THE PERIOD OF SETTLEMENT 1609 TO 1683.
Discovery. The First Settlement and the Settlers. Conquest by the English.
STANDING upon the soil of this beautiful island and
reflecting that it has a character, a history and a name
peculiar to itself, we feel a natural desire to review the scenes
which broke to the view of the first visitors from the realm of
civilization, and indeed to see what is possible of the condition
of things that existed previous to that time. Let us imagine
the wheels of time turned back two hundred and fifty years or
more. Let us wipe out all the improvement which the white
man has brought here and look at the land in the full pos-
session of its aboriginal occupants. To see it as it was then we
must silence the noise of the railroad train and steamboat
whistles and bells, tear up the railroad track and neutralize
the grade, uproot the mills and manufactories, dissolve the
villages, wipe out the farm fences and obliterate all the other
marks of improvement that now exist, then restore the primi-
tive forest, the unbroken sward, and repopulate the slopes
and plains, the hills and valleys with deer, foxes, raccoons,
wolves, rabbits and all the multitudes of animals that once
infested them. We should still see life and action. But it
would be of a different sort. Instead of all this change, which
we call improvement, we should see the work of Nature glory-
ing in her freedom, untrammeled by the arts of man. We
should see the son of the forest restored to his native haunts,
the tangled thicket, the pebbled shore and the groves of
majestic trees whose heads had bowed to the winds of cen-
turies.
It were a useless undertaking to attempt to set forth a
learned hypothesis in regard to the occupancy of this region
during the ages of the world's existence which preceded its
discovery and settlement by the European white man. That
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 39
history must ever remain as it has thus far, a sealed book. At
the time alluded to it was occupied by Indians, but their tra-
ditions threw no light upon the darkness that enshrouded the
ages which had been rolling away since the creation of the
world. They were numerous, and had been more so, even to
such an extent that in their traditions the blades of grass and
sands of the sea-shore were used as figures to represent the
magnitude of their numbers. But no memorial was left to tell
us what scenes were passing here while the great events of the
ancient world's history were agitating the people of the
eastern hemisphere. How long had they held sway ? By
what race of beings had they been preceded ( Was their
course of development progressive or retrograde ? These ques-
tions are answered only by their echoes, which the hollow
darkness of uncomputed ages gives back to us.
To approach a realization of the primitive condition of things,
let us indulge in an imaginative scene of that period. Suppose
ourselves to be surrounded by the whispering solitude of the
virgin wilderness. Along the sea-girt shore we have wandered,
listening to the hoarse song of the sea; our faces have felt the
burning; of the glancing sunlight, and we have breathed the
strong salt air as it came in upon us from beyond Sandy Hook.
From the seashore coming through the interior we see no roads,
no houses, no farms, but life is represented by the animals and
birds that start at our approach and by the fruit and flower
laden vines and shrubs that impede our movements. From a
commanding hill we can see now and then a little band of In-
dians following some obscure trail through the valley below,
as they move from place to place upon some unknown embassy
of friendship or perchance of hatred.
Looking across the valley, behold! yonder an Indian hunts-
man has secreted himself hard by a little sheet of clear, fresh
water, to watch for the deer that may come there to drink. As
we look, the sharp twang of the bow and the whirr of the
death-dealing arrow, and the commotion of the bushes where
the game has fallen in its dying struggle tell us that he has
not watched in vain.
Let us approach one of their rude settlements which is con-
veniently located on the shore of the beautiful bay, and taking
refuge behind one of these old oaks, watch the movements of
the savages before us. They know nothing of the existence of
40 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
any race of beings in the shape of men besides themselves.
Their lives, their habits, their religion and language are 1111
mixed and shall we say nncorrupted ? by contact with the
white man.
We are looking down upon a quiet Indian village in the fore-
ground, located upon a low bluff. The bay, with its partially
encircling belt of white sand, and the verdure clad hills rising
from it in beautiful undulations, presents a landscape scene of
surpassing loveliness. Beyond the glimmer and sheen of the
nearer waters, the view lakes in a glimpse of the wider expanse
which loses itself in the hazy veil that obscures the distant hor
izon. On the placid water before us half a dozen canoes are
paddling lazily about, some containing a single Indian each,
others several, returning perhaps from some neighborly errand
to another tribe or village, or perhaps from a hunting or fishing
expedition in which they have been engaged. Yonder comes a
canoe containing three half-grown boys and a quantity of long,
coarse grass or rushes which they have gathered from the bog
just across the cove. They are bringing them to be made into
mats by that group of women who are seated on the slope just
in front of us. That rude manufacture is to them one of the
fine arts. But a much finer art is being practiced by that little
company which you see away to the right of them, hovering
about that heap of shells. They are working out from the
shells, by a slow and tedious process, the details of which we
are not near enough to see, those curious little beads, which
when strung are called wampum and are used for ornaments as
well as for money. Back on the rolling elevation to the right
of us, and in rear of the little cluster of wigwams, lies their
cornfield. The women have planted and cultivated it, and now
the crop is almost ready to harvest. Some women are in the
field looking to see if the ears are ripe enough to pull from the
stalk. Here on our left two men are digging clay from the side
of the very hill upon which we stand. This clay they are roughly
forming into some sort of primitive pottery, which they will
presently harden by baking in a hot fire, when all is ready.
Seated at a little distance from them three old men sit chatting,
rather socially for Indians it may be, and pecking away at stone
arrow-heads, which they are forming for the use of the younger
and more active men, two of whom maybe seen just now return-
ing from the woods, bringing with them the carcass of a fat
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 41
buck, which their skilled aim and the magic qualities of the
old men's arrows have brought to the ground. Between the
primitive pottery works and yonder clump of cedars, which
crowns the projecting bluff, some men have rolled the trunk of
a huge tree down from a higher hill where it grew, and are
working perseveringly with fire and water and their stone axes,
digging it out and shaping it for a canoe. This is primitive
ship-building.
As we gaze upon the scene before us, ruminating on the con-
trast two hundred and seventy-five years will bring over the
face of this rock-ribbed and verdure-clothed island, two half
grown Indian girls emerge from the thicket and come running-
down the slope to where these men are at work. With excited
gestures they tell of something they have seen from the hill be-
hind the cedars. We cannot hear their story, but from the
manner of its recital and the absorbed attention the men are
ready to give to it we are led to wonder what startling news the
little girls have brought.
Presently the men throw down their implements and start
with quick and stealthy tread, following as the girls retrace
their steps, until the whole party disappears among the cedars.
Some women who were at work about the shell-heap and the
wigwams, having seen these movements, come over to where
the old men are shaping arrow-points, and ask what strange
story the little girls brought. Perhaps these old men are sup-
posed to possess some peculiar spirit charm by which they can
divine things not made known to ordinary minds. To them the
women come, but they can give no solution of this mystery.
Then the returned hunters come over to the spot, and the small
boys come running up from the shore with the same inquiry
upon their lips. The collecting group attracts the attention of
the women out in the cornfield, and they leave their work to
come and learn the cause of its gathering.
Presently the absent men and girls are seen emerging from
the thicket and running down the hill and across the valley to
where the wondering group is waiting. They are too much out
of breath and overcome with excitement to say more than that
they have seen a strange sight, which they fear is an omen of
danger. As they recover sufficient calmness and possession of
their faculties to do so they explain that away out on the great
water something is moving toward them something like a great
42 HISTORV OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
canoe, so large that a big tree was growing out of it, and a very
great blanket was hung upon the tree so that the wind pushing
against it drove the unnamed thing along. What it was they
could not tell. Whether it was a great canoe with men in it, or
some terrible monster of the sea, with wings, or a veritable
delegation from the spirit world, good or bad, is a matter of
speculation with them.
As they stand describing the strange sight to their spell-
bound listeners, the apparition itself suddenly shoots past the
cedar-crowned point and glides into full view, less than a mile
away. Its appearance is greeted by an exclamatory chorus
which we may interpret, "There it is!" and then in dead
silence the group of savages contemplate the wonderful spec-
tacle. The children cling trembling to their mothers while the
squaws crouch nearer to their husbands and the warriors, and
all draw instinctively together as they press around the old ar-
row makers, who meanwhile have thrown down their work and
sit gazing in speechless wonder at the approaching nondescript.
Fear seizes every heart, and the breast of even the bravest war-
rior is troubled with misgivings as to what this visitation may
bring forth. And well they may be disturbed. It is indeed a
kind Providence that hides from them their fate. If they could
peer behind the veil and read the future they would know that
the vision before them is the harbinger of their own dissolution;
the first breath of a poisonous wind that in a few generations
shall wrest from them their hunting grounds and sweep their
race into the great common sepulchre upon whose portal is in-
scribed, "They were, but are not:" aye, the prophetic hand-
writing which foretells their doom as surely as that which
blazed upon the walls of Belshazzar's banquet hall.
" The Great Spirit is angry," explains one of the savages, who
is the first to break the spell of silence, "and he is coming in his
big, flying canoe, to look for some warrior who has done some
wicked thing, or for some other man who has displeased him ;
but maybe he will not find the bad one here. If he wants any
of us we must go. No use trying to run away from him, so
we may just as well stay where we are."
Another explains: " I don't think it is the Great Spirit. That
is not the way he moves. It is a great big canoe, with many
men in it. They may be our enemies or they may be our
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 43
friends, or maybe they are strangers from some tribe away, far
over the water."
" No," answers a third, whose clearer vision allows him to see
those on board, " these are not men like us. They are pale-
faced, more than our dead fathers and brothers are. They
must be spirit men. That is a more beautiful canoe than any
man could make in this world. It comes-from the spirit land
where our fathers and chiefs have gone. Its wings are white
and beautiful. They are made of the skins of animals that are
hunted in that world where everything is so white and good.
Maybe the spirit men in the canoe are our friends who are look-
ing for us, to take us in the beautiful canoe to the happy hunt-
ing grounds which they have found."
But all this savage wisdom does not prevent the young war-
riors and hunters thinking that whatever may be the errand
upon which the approaching party comes, it would be well to
be ready for the worst, as least so far as the power to prepare
for it is theirs. So their bows and their arrows are made ready
and brought out with them, to be at hand in case of need.
Some of the squaws, though they have never heard the proverb,
" Distance lends enchantment," still have an instinctive convic-
tion of its truth, and acting on that conviction are retreating
beyond the corn-field as the approaching vessel nears the shore
on her passage toward the Narrows, while some of the braver
Indians move cautiously down the slope to get a closer view of
the new revelation.
As the representatives of two distinct races of men, having
nothing in language, manners nor customs alike, approach each
other the new comers are able to convey to the Indians by what
sort of language who shall ever know? the impression that
their mission is a friendly one; that they intend no harm to
them, but that they have brought some very useful and curious
things, which by way of friendly entertainment they proceed to
show them. The Indians readily see the usefulness of the
metal knives, the axes, the awls, the hatchets, the blankets, the
coats and various other articles which the pale-faces had brought
to excite their admiration and cupidity.
The setting sun that evening closed a day never to be forgot-
ten by those who participated in the events which we have por-
trayed the day that saw the meeting of two races of men upon
the soil that had been, no one knows how long, the home of one.
44 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
and was to be, no one knows how long, the home of the other.
The former should decrease while the latter should increase.
From the contemplation of these important events as they
may have appeared from the Indian standpoint, let us turn to
consider in more explicit and definite terms the discovery of
the territory by Europeans and the establishment and progress
of civilization upon the soil which for unknown centuries had
been the home of the untutored savage.
The bay of New York was first discovered, according to a
claim (which has, however, been disputed by some) in 1524 by
Giovanni da Verrazzano, the celebrated Florentine navigator.
It does not appear, however, that any attempt was made by the
government under which the navigator sailed to hold the terri-
tory discovered by him. Of course it naturally follows that
the exploration of New York bay involved the discovery of
Staten Island. But whatever may have been the facts with re-
gard to the exploration of Verrazzano, the honors of discovery
are accorded to Henry Hudson, and whatever advantages at-
tended that discovery were husbanded by the Dutch govern-
ment, under whose flag Hudson sailed.
Henry Hudson was one of those ambitious navigators who
were ready to sacrifice their ease, and even their lives, in the
exciting enterprise of searching for the northwest passage to
the Indies. A native Englishman, the early part of the seven-
teenth century found him in the employ first, of the London
Company, and after that company had abandoned the enter-
prise, then engaged with the Dutch East India Company.
Under the commission of the latter he left Amsterdam in the
" Half Moon," a ship of about eighty tons capacity, and on the
4th of April, 1609, sailed for the new world. He arrived on the
" Banks" of Newfoundland early in July, and for two months
cruised along the coast, looking for some opening that would
promise to admit him to the Indian sea beyond.
How easy it is in the light of the present day to smile at the
unavailing enthusiasm of Hudson and the folly of his scheme !
But whatever the motives that led to it the momentous conse-
quences of that exploration are sufficient to provoke our pro-
foundest gratitude. After several unsuccessful attempts to find
such an opening in the land as would indicate what he desired
to see, he entered the Lower bay and anchored inside of Sandy
Hook on the 3d day of September, 1609. Though not the first
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 45
to behold, Hudson was the first to penetrate the mysteries of
the land and water which extended to an unknown distance
before him. In one boat he visited "Coney Island," and sent an-
other, containing live men, on an exploring expedition north-
ward. These men passed through the Narrows, coasted along
Staten Island, and penetrated some distance into the kills. On
their return they suddenly encountered two large canoes, con-
taining twenty-six Indians, who, in their alarm, discharged a
shower of arrows at the strangers and killed one man, an Eng-
lishman, named John Coleman, by shooting him in the neck.
Both parties became frightened, and pulled away from each
other with all their strength. Coleman's body was taken to
Sandy Hook and there interred, and the place was called " Cole-
man's Point."
Notwithstanding the mishap, as the death of Coleman was
regarded, the natives proved to be friendly, and freely bartered
with the strangers such articles as they had to dispose of,
as tobacco, maize, wild fruits, etc. Hudson remained at anchor
until the eleventh, when he sailed through the Narrows and
anchored in the mouth of the great river which now bears his
name. On the thirteenth he again weighed anchor, and pro-
ceeded to explore the beautiful stream upon whose bosom he
was floating; he was eleven days in ascending as far as the site
of Albany, and as many more in descending. Before starling
he had had considerable intercourse with the natives, but had al-
ways prudently kept himself and his men prepared for auv
emergency, and though the natives frequently came on board
armed they made no hostile demonstrations; Hudson, however,
detained two of the Staten Island Indians as hostages, and took
them with him on the voyage up the river, as far as the site of
West Point, where they escaped by jumping overboard and
swimming to the shore. On his way he encountered many of
the Indians, who, though they manifested a friendly disposi-
tion, were nevertheless suspected of entertaining hostile inten-
tions, and it was supposed that the dread with which they
regarded the arms of their visitors alone restrained them.
On his return down the river, while lying at anchor off Stony
Point, numerous canoes from both sides surrounded the ship,
from one of which an Indian entered the cabin by climbing
through a stern window, from which he stole several articles of
clothing. As he left the ship with his plunder, the mate
46 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
detected him and shot him, killing him instantly. This was the
first blood shed by the whites. When the ship's boat was sent
to recover the stolen articles, one Indian, who appeared to pos-
sess more courage than his fellows, while swimming, laid hold
of the boat, apparently for the purpose of overturning it, but a
sailor, with a single blow of his sword, cut off his hands, and
he was drowned. It was supposed that the two Staten Island
savages who had escaped at West Point, on their way down the
river had alarmed the several tribes so that when the ship
arrived at the upper end of Manhattan Island it was met by a
large fleet of canoes filled with armed savages, who discharged
their arrows, but fortunately without doing any serious injury.
A cannon was twice discharged at them, killing some of them
and tearing their canoes to pieces, the sailors meanwhile firing
at them with small arms. The result of this engagement was
that nine Indians were killed, and many more wounded, while
the whites sustained no injury whatever. Hudson, having spent
a month in exploring the river and bay, put to sea on the 4th of
October, and arrived at Dartmouth, England, on the 7th of the
following November.
There is no evidence that Hudson ever circumnavigated the
island, but that he satisfied himself of its insular character is
evident from the name " Staaten Eylandt," which he gave to it.
Following this mere outline discovery, no notice was paid to
Staten Island for several years, at least so far as any accounts
that we have of the movements of the Dutch traders show.
Some descriptions of the condition of the island may have been
written at an earlier period, but the following extract from a
letter written by Isaack de Rasieres to Samuel Blommaert,
about the close of the year 1627 (as is supposed) contains the
earliest description of this part of the country that we have
by one who was an eye witness of those primitive scenes. The
letter was found in the Royal Library at the Hague, and trans-
lated by Mr. J. R. Brodhead. It bears no date, but was proba-
bly written after De Rasieres' return to Holland. A copy may
be found in K". Y. Hist. Soc. Collections. II. Series, Vol. 2,
page 343.
"On the. 27th of July, Anno 1626, by the help of God, I
arrived with the ship The Arms of Amsterdam, before the Bay
of the great Mauritse River,* sailing into it about a musket shot
* The North river so called after Prince Maurice of Orange.
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 47
from Godyn's Point* into Coeuraet's Bayf (where the greatest
depth is, because from the East point there stretches out a sand
bank on which there is only from 9 to 14 feet water), then sailed
on Northeast and North Northeast, to about half way from
the low sand bank called Godyn's Point, to the Hamel's-
Hoofden,^ the mouth of the river, where, we found at half ebb,
16, 17, 18 feet water, and which is a sandy reef a musket shot
broad, stretching for the most part Northeast and Southwest,
quite across, according to my opinion, and to have been formed
there by the stream, inasmuch as the flood runs in to the bay
from the sea East Southeast; the depth at Godyn's Point is
caused by the ebb flowing out along there with such rapidity.
Between the Hamel's-Hoofden the width is about a cannon's
shot of 2,000 [yards]. The depth 10, 11, 12 fathoms. They
are tolerably high points, and well wooded. The West point is
an island, inhabited by from eighty to ninety savages, who sup-
port themselves by planting maize. The East point is a very
large island, full 24 milesS long, stretching East by South and
East Southeast along the sea-coast from the river to the East
end of the Fisher's Point. 1
* * * * *
' TheHamels-Hoofden being passed, there is about a mile width
in the river, and also on the West side there is an inlet, where
another river runs up about 20 miles to the North-North-East,
emptying into the Mauritse River in the highlands, thus making
the North-West land opposite to the Manhatas, an island 18
miles long. It is inhabited by the old Manhatans ; they are
about 200 to 300 strong, women and men, under different chiefs
whom they call ' Sackimas.' This island is more mountainous
than the other land on the South-east side of the river, which
opposite to the Manhatas is about a mile and a half in breadth.
At the side of the before-mentioned little river which we call
Achter Col*[ there is a great deal of waste, reedy land ; the rest
* Sandy Hook so named after Samuel Godyn, one of the directors of the West
India Company at Amsterdam.
t The Lower bay of New York also called Port May or Godyn's bay.
Hamel's Hoofden the Narrows, between Staten and Long Islands. These
"Hoofden," or headlands, were named after Hendrick Hamel, one of the
directors of the West India Company.
Dutch miles a Dutch mile is equal to about three English miles.
I Visschers Hoeck Montauk Point.
T[The Kills.
48 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
is full of trees, and in some places there is good soil, where the
savages plant their maize, upon which they live as well as by
hunting. The other side of the small river, according to con-
jecture, is about 20 to 30 miles broad to the South river, in the
neighborhood of the Sancicans, as well as I have been able to
make it out from the mouths of the savages ; but as they live
in a state of constant enmity with those tribes the passage is
seldom made ; wherefore I have not been able to learn the exact
distance; so that when we wish to send letters overland they
(the natives) take them way across the bay and have the letters
carried forward by others unless one amongst them may hap-
pen to be on friendly terms and who might venture to go
there."
The Indians dwelling on Staten Island at the time of its
discovery were the Raritans, a branch of the great nation of
Dela wares or Leni-Lenapes. From indications found in various
localities, such as large collections of shells and bones, it is evi-
dent that they dwelt on or near the shores of the island, where
fish, scale and shell, were easily obtained ; this is also confirmed
by the fact that their burial places have been found in the
vicinity of those places, neither of these indications of human
occupancy having been found in the interior. Stone hatchets and
stone arrow-heads, and springs rudely built up with stone walls,
have been found at no great distance from the shores ; one of
the latter may still be seen a short distance northeast of the
Fresh pond, or Silver lake, in Castleton, and is known by the
name of the Logan spring.
The interior of the island was their hunting ground, where
deer, bears and other animals of the chase were found. The
shores also afforded an abundant supply of water fowls, and
thus, all their resources considered, the Indians were well sup-
plied by nature with the necessaries of life. In addition to
these, they had wild berries and fruits, maize, of which it is
said they cultivated large quantities, beans, tobacco, and other
articles of their own cultivation. The proximity of the island
to the mainland enabled them to extend their hunting expedi-
tions indefinitely. The wild animals which were found on the
neighboring continent were also found here, but they, as well
as their human contemporaries, have gradually retired or per-
ished as civilization advanced.
It is supposed that the Indians of Staten Island, in common
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 49
with those of the neighborhood, were subject to the Mohawks,
and stood in constant and mortal fear of them. Their clothing
was the skins of the beaver, fox, and other animals, and con-
sisted of but little more than a covering of the thighs and loins.
Their food was maize or Indian corn, fish, birds and wild game.
Their weapons were bows and arrows, the latter sharpened with
Hint stones or the bones of fishes. Boats were made from a
single piece of wood, hollowed out by fire. Some led a wander-
ing life, while others had fixed abodes built with rafters, and
oven-formed, covered with the bark of trees, and large enough
to accommodate several families. A few mats, wooden dishes,
stone hatchets and smoking tubes composed their scanty fur-
niture The fire was kindled in the middle of these dwellings,
from one end to the other, and the smoke let out at an opening
in the crown of the roof. On hunting and fishing expeditions
they erected temporary huts in the same fashion.
All the agriculture was done by the women, who of course
knew nothing of plowing or spading the soil, nor the culture of
wheat, oats, barley or rye. Their universal grain was maize, or
turkey corn, of which they made bread and "sapraen" or
mush. They also cultivated beans, pumpkins, squashes and
tobacco. The old men made wooden bowls, ladles and baskets.
Their hatches were made of stone, in shape like rude wedges,
about a half foot long, and broad in proportion. A notch was
made around the thick end, which received the two parts of a
stick split at one end which formed the handle. The jaws of
the handle were then firmly bound with thongs to the hatchet
and the implement was ready for use. Sometimes these hatchets
were not handled at all, but were simply held in the hands
when being used. Their chief use was to make good fields for
maize plantations, by girdling the trees and thus clearing the
ground by taking advantage of the natural course of decay and
time in removing the wood growth.
When the Indians wished to fell a thick, strong tree they em-
ployed fire. This was done by heaping a great quantity of
wood about the trunk of the tree, and burning it, continuing
this process until the trunk was burned through and the tree fell.
But to prevent the fire consuming the part which they wished
to save they made a swab with which, fastened to the end of a
pole, they kept applying water to the trunk a little above the
h're. When it was desired to hollow out a log they applied fire
4
50 HISTORY OF EICHMOND COUNTY.
in a similar way and kept wetting the part that was to be pre-
served. After thus burning and charring the inside of the
trunk they finished it by chipping and scraping the burnt parts
with their stone hatchets, Hints and sharp shells. Canoes were
often made thirty to forty feet long.
Instead of knives they used little sharp pieces of flint or
quartz or some other hard kind of stone, and these were some-
times substituted by sharp shells or pieces of bone which they
had sharpened. At the end of their arrows they fastened
narrow angular or pointed pieces of stone. These points were
commonly pieces of flint or quartz, but sometimes other hard
kinds of stone were used, and again the bones of animals or
the claws of birds were sometimes used.
They had stone pestles, about a foot long and as thick as a
man's arm. These were made of a black sort of stone, and
were used for pounding their maize, which was an important
article of their food. Sometimes they used wooden pestles.
For mortars they hollowed out the stumps or butts of trees.
The old boilers or kettles of the Indians were either made of
clay or of different kinds of stone. The former were made of
a dark clay mixed with grains of white sand or quartz, and
burnt in the fire. Many of these kettles had holes in opposite
sides of the upper edge, through which a stick was passed, and
by this means the kettle was held over the fire to boil. These
kettles seldom had feet, and were never glazed either inside or
outside.
Their tobacco pipes were made of clay, or pot-stone or ser-
pentine stone. The clay pipes were shaped like our common
pipes of that material, though they were much coarser and more
rudely formed. The tube was thick and short, often not more
than an inch but sometimes a finger in length. In color they
were like our pipes that have been long in use. The celebrated
" pipe of peace" was made of a fine red stone, not found in
this part of the country, and it was probably almost unknown
to the Indians of Staten Island.
For fishing they used hooks made of bone or the claws of
birds. Fire was kindled by rubbing one end of a hard piece
of wood against another dry one till after a time the friction
became so great that the wood began to smoke and finally to
burn.
The Indians in personal character and appearance were
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 51
healthy, strong, robust and well proportioned. In social life
they were polygamous, their chiefs having several wives. They
were faithful, however, to the marriage relations, and the
women often preferred death to dishonor, Wassenaer of
Amsterdam, who wrote in 1621-33, says that the Indian women
"are the most experienced star-gazers; there is scarcely one of
them but can name all the stars their rising and setting, the
position of the Arctos, that is, the wagon, is as well known to
them as to us, and they name them by other names." All the
natives paid particular attention to the sun, moon and stars in
connection with their seasons. The first moon following the one
at the end of February was greatly honored, and as she rose
they had a festival, feasting on fish and wild game, and drink-
ing with it clear, fresh water. The Indian year now com-
menced, and this moon was hailed as the harbinger of spring,
and the women began to prepare for planting. At the arrival
of the new August moon another feast was celebrated for the
coming harvest.
The Indians seemed to have no knowledge of God or religion.
Some of them paid homage to the Devil or evil spirits, but not
with so much ceremony as the native Africans do. They be-
lieved in good and evil spirits, and their spiritual affairs were
entrusted to Kitzinacka, a sort of weather priest. He visited
the sick and dying, and sat beside them bawling, crying and
roaring like a demon. He was a kind of Capuchin, with no
abode of his own, lodged where he pleased, and never ate food
prepared by a married woman. It must be cooked by a maiden
or an old woman.
Wampum was the universal money among the Indians. It
was made of the thick and blue part of sea clam-shells and
oyster shells. The thin covering of this part being split off a
hole was drilled through it and then the outward shape given
to it by means of a stone upon which it was rubbed or
ground. The form was sometimes eight sided, but generally
round or nearly so, and in size resembling the cylindrical
glass beads sometimes known as "bugles." The beads were
usually about an eighth of an inch in diameter. When fin-
ished they were strung upon cords of some kind, and these
strings of wampum were measured by the foot, yard or
fathom. In their manufacture from six to ten feet in length
were considered a day's work. It was of two kinds, white
52 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
and purple or black. The latter was wrought out of the
mussel shells. With the Dutch governors six beads of the
white or four of the purple were equal in value to one penny.
This currency was used by the Europeans for many years after
their settlement here. The Indians made belts of wampum
by weaving the strings into widths of several inches and they
were two feet or more in length. It was sometimes called seewan.
Both the Dutch and English recognized it as currency fora long
time. In 1683 the schoolmaster at Flatbush, L. I., was paid
his salary in wheat at " wampum value." Among other fees he
received for supplying water for baptisms twelve styvers, in
wampum, for every baptism. In 1693 the ferriage for passen-
gers from New York to Brooklyn was eight styvers in wampum
each. It was also used for ornamenting the person and as an
emblem of agreement in treaties. The belt of wampum removed
the remembrance of injuries and bloodshed. On Staten Island,
Long Island and the neighboring shores of the mainland are
found numerous beds or heaps of clam shells broken into very
small pieces. These were without doubt the scenes of this
manufacture. When we remember that this article was the
currency of all the tribes even away inland, and that the ma-
terials of which it was made were only found on the sea coast,
we can see what an important and advantageous position the
Indians of this locality, occupied.
In their burials the dead were placed in the earth without a
coffin, but with all their costly garments of skins, in a sitting
posture, upon a stone or block of wood. Near the body were
also arranged a pot, kettle, platter and spoon, with some wam-
pum and provisions, for their invisible journey to the Spirit
Land. Over the grave was heaped a pile of wood, stone or
earth. A few of these spots of sepulture have been found in
different parts of the island. One of these was on or
near the old Pelton place at West New Brighton. Here have
been found, in years long gone by, various trinkets a copper
box, copper earrings and a glass pipe. The last was found in
the mouth of an Indian skeleton.
Tradition says that the point of the island now occupied by
Tottenville was once a favorite burial spot with the Indians.
The remains of several have been exhumed there within a few
years past. One was found while digging a cistern on the
premises of Mr. Appleby, and several others were dug up on
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 53
the premises of Joel Cole. The peculiar beauty of the site, it
is said, made it attractive to the aborigines for sepulture, af-
fording as it did an uninterrupted view of the rising and the
setting sun. The site was also a favorite meeting place during
the periods of their spirit worshipping. Friendly tribes from
Long Island, Manhattan island and the Jersey shore were wont
to join the natives here, on their festive occasions, when doubt-
less the surrounding forests and the neighboring hills resounded
with the untutored songs of thousands of the children of
nature's wilds.
The treatment of the Indians by the Dutch explorers and
the Dutch government was not such as to inspire friendly re-
turns from the savages. The disgraceful barbarities with which
the Indians were often treated are too common matters of his-
tory to need repetition here. In consequence of the savage
passions which this treatment aroused Staten Island was re-
peatedly scourged by the spirit of retaliation naturally evinced
by the sons of the forest. Of some of the more notable de-
monstrations of hostility between the two races we shall speak.
In the spring of 1640 some parties, on their way from New
Amsterdam to South River, Delaware, stopped at Staten Island
to take in water, and while there stole some hogs from the settlers
on de Vries' bouweries. The Indians residing on the Raritan, and
who had manifested a hostile disposition, were at once charged
with the theft, which was regarded as a serious offense, and Gov-
ernor Kieft to punish them sent a company of about seventy
men, under command of his secretary, Van Tienhoven, with in-
structions to invade the Indian country, capture as many of the
natives as they could, and destroy their crops. When the
party reached their destination they became insubordinate, and
the secretary lost control over them. They declared their in-
tention to kill every Indian they could find, and though re-
minded that such a course would be going beyond their instruc-
tions, they persisted, and the secretary, seeeing that expostula-
tion was in vain, left them to execute their wanton determina-
tion. Several of the unfortunate savages were killed, and the
chiefs brother was barbarously murdered after he had been
made a prisoner by one of the party named Govert Loocker-
mans. Their crops were destroyed, their wigwams burned,
and other outrages perpetrated. Having satiated their fiendish
spirit, the Dutchmen retired, leaving one of their number,
54 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
whose name was Ross, supercargo of the ship "Neptune," dead
on the field.
The Indians, goaded to desperation, not only by the unjusti-
fiable destruction of their crops, and slaughter of their brethren,
but by a long continued course of frauds practised upon them
by unscrupulous men, who first intoxicated and then cheated
them in bargaining with them, resolved upon revenge. One of
their first acts was to invade Staten Island, where in 1641 they
attacked the settlement that de Vries had begun, and killed
four men and burned two of his houses.
Not long before, a young Indian, smarting under a sense of
wrong, vowed to kill the first Dutchman who crossed his path, and
he kept his vow. Governor Kief t, forgetting that he himself was
the instigator of all these outrages, announced his intention of
taking summary vengeance upon the savages. It was in vain
that the prominent men of the colony counselled moderation
in vain that they represented to him that his course would be
adding fuel to the fire he replied to all their remonstrances
that the law was "blood for blood," and he meant to have it ;
he recognized the applicability of the law to the whites, but not
to the savages. His anger was chiefly directed to the Raritans,
and he entered into an agreement with some of the river Indians
to assist him in annihilating that tribe, and to excite their blood-
thirsty dispositions, he offered ten fathoms of wampum for the
head of a Raritan, and twenty fathoms for the head of every
Indian engaged in the murdei's upon Staten Island. At this
time he built a small redoubt upon the island.
In the meanwhile, the Indians upon Long Island began to
manifest a hostile disposition, and Kieft found himself involved
in new troubles. It was evident from some of his measures
that he began to regret his precipitancy, and if nothing else
had occurred to irritate him anew, he might have consented to
forget the past, and to "bury the hatchet;" but just at this
juncture some traders happened to meet an Indian of the Hack-
ensack tribe, who was clothed in a dress of valuable beaver
skins, whom they made drunk, and then robbed. On recover-
ing his senses, the savage vowed to kill the first Swannakin
(white man) whom he should meet. He did that, and more ;
an Englishman who was a servant of de Vries on Staten Island,
was met by him and killed, and shortly after a man named Van
Vorst, while engaged in repairing a house in the vicinity of
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 55
Newark bay, met the same fate. Apprehensive of further
trouble, a deputation of chiefs of some of the neighboring
tribes, waited upon the director, whom they found greatly ex-
cited, and not disposed to reason with them. He informed them
hat the only way to keep peace was to surrender the murderer.
"We cannot do that." they replied, "because he has fled, and
is out of our reach." They offered to make compensation for
the crime, according to the customs of their people^; nothing,
however, could propitiate Kieft but the possession of the mur-
derer. The Indians represented to him, that it was not they who
committed the murders, but the white men's rum ; "keep that
away from the Indians," said they, "and there will be no more
murders;" but Kieft was inexorable he was resolved upon
war, unless they surrendered the murderer, who was as far out
of their reach as out of his.
New troubles now arose with the Long Island Indians. Thus
far they had remained quiet, but the Dutch, with an infatu
ation utterly unaccoiintable, suffered no opportunities to pass
to excite them to deeds of violence. Matters were becoming
worse daily, and an oxitbreak of Indian fury could not have
been suppressed much longer, when, through the unremitting
assiduity of the philanthropic Roger Williams, a meeting
between Kieft and several Indian sachems took place at Rock-
away on the 25th of March, and a reconciliation was effected.
The peace thus concluded was of short duration. The Indi-
ans continued to commit depredations upon the property of the
settlers, and especially was this the case upon Staten Island.
Many of them still held their residence there, and could not
resist the temptation to appropriate the products of the agri-
cultural skill and labor of their white neighbors, which were
so much superior in quantity, quality and variety to their own.
Remonstrances had proved ineffectual, and it became necessary
to adopt severer measures. In addition to this, the Raritans,
who were the offending tribe, had interrupted the communi-
cation between the two shores of the river at New Amster-
dam, and it had become perilous to attempt to land on the
west shore.
In the winter of 1G42-3 two armed parties from Fort Amster-
dam attacked the Indians at Corlear's Hook and Pavonia (Ho-
Koken) slaying thirty at the former place and eighty at the
latter. This outrage led to almost fatal consequences. From
56 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
the Raritan to the Connecticut the war-whoop was heard, and
eleven tribes declared open war against the Dutch. All settlers
they met with were murdered, men, women and children-
dwellings were burnt, cattle killed and crops destroyed. In the
spring of 1643 peace was secured, but it was unsatisfactory to
the river Indians, and the war-fires were again kindled. Pa-
vonia, and the greater part of Manhattan and Long islands,
were in the hands of the savage foes, now embracing seven
tribes and numbering 1,500 warriors. To oppose this uncivilized
body the Dutch forces amounted to not more than 200 to 300
settlers and between 50 and 60 badly munitioned soldiers. All
the "Bouweries," or plantations at Pavonia, and with one excep-
tion only on the Long island shore, were destroyed. An early
chronicle says: " Staten Island, where Cornelius Melyn estab-
lished himself (1643) is unattacked yet, but stands expecting an
assault every hour."
Early in 1644 an expedition against the Staten Island Indians
was organized. It consisted of forty burghers under Joachim
Pietersen Kuyter ; thirty-five Englishmen under Lieutenant
Baxter, and several soldiers from the fort under Sergeant Peter
Cock, and the whole being under command of Counsellor La
Montange. They embarked after dark, and at a late hour
landed upon the island. They marched all night, and when
the morning dawned, had arrived at the place where they ex-
pected to find the Indians, but there were none there. Secretly
as the whole enterprise had been conducted, the savages had
discovered it and escaped. The troops, after burning the vil-
lage, returned, taking with them over five hundred schepels of
corn.*
To the honor of a few, however, be it said the Dutch were not
unanimous in their inhuman hostility to the Indians. Promi-
nent among the few who comprehended the situation, and
understood what course of policy would have been best for the
colony, was the minister, Dominie Bogardus, and de Vries, the
patroon of part of Staten Island. They were strongly opposed
to the course pursued by the directors in their dealings with
the Indians, and the event showed the wisdom of the policy of
forbearance and conciliation which they recommended. So
persistent were they in pressing their views upon the authori-
ties, that they excited their anger, and were charged with a
* A schepel was almost three pecks.
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 57
design of ingratiating themselves into the favor of the Indians
for selfish purposes, and to the prejudice of the interests of the
colony at large. The Indians understood these men and rec-
ognized them as friends, and when, in one of the raids they
made upon the settlers on the island, they had killed some of
de Vries' cattle without knowing to whom they belonged, they
expressed their regret for the act, calling him the friend of the
Indians. At another time, when a difficulty had occurred with
some of the Long Island Indians, and Kieft found himself in a
dilemma, he was very desirous of making peace with them, but
he could find no ambassador who was willing to trust himself
in their power, until de Vries offered to visit them for the pur-
pose. He was hospitably received, and when his mission was
explained to them, and they were requested to visit the director
at the fort in New Amsterdam, they refused to go until he had
pledged himself for their safety.
On what part of the island the Indian village, which has been
spoken of as having been burned by the Dutch expedition in
1644, was located is entirely a matter of conjecture. There is
a tradition that an Indian village once stood on the shore of the
Lower bay not far from the present Annadale, but no remains
have been found to establish its site. From numerous relics
and Indian remains that have been found about Tottenville,
Kreischerville and Watchogue, it is possible that, the village
may have been at one or other of those places.
During the year 1655, another and more serious calamity be-
fell Staten Island than anj- which had preceded it. Hendrick
\ r an Dyck, former attorney-general at New Amsterdam, on
rising one morning, discovered a squaw in his garden stealing-
peaches ; in a moment of anger he seized his gun and shot her,
killing her instantly. Of this rash act, little, if any, notice was
taken by the authorities, but the Indians did not overlook it ;
immediate measures were taken by them to avenge the outrage.
Several of the neighboring tribes united, and early on the morn-
ing of the 15th of September sixty-four canoes, containing nine-
teen hundred savages, some of whom were Mohicans, and
others from Esopus, Hackingsack, Tappaan and Stamford, sud-
denly appeared before New Amsterdam. They landed and dis-
persed through the various streets, while many of the people
were still asleep. They broke into several houses on pretense
of looking for "Indians from the North," but in reality to
58 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
avenge the death of the squaw that Van Dyke had shot. As
soon as they were discovered, an alarm was sounded. The
officers of the colony and city, and many of the principal inhab-
itants, assembled, and the leaders of the savages were requested
to meet with them, which they did ; they accounted for their
sudden appearance under pretext of searching for some hostile
northern Indians, who, they pretended they had been informed,
were either in the city or its vicinity. After much persuasion
they were induced to promise to leave Manhattan island at sun-
set, but when evening came they were still there, and manifested
no disposition to leave. They became unruly and the people
became excited, and violent acts were committed by both
parties ; Van Dyck, the thoughtless author of the trouble, paid
the penalty of his rashness by being killed with an arrow, and
Paulus Leinderstein Van Der Grist, one of the city officials,
was killed by a blow with an axe. The soldiers in the fort and
the city guard were called out, and attacked the invaders, driv-
ing them back to their canoes. Crossing the river, the savages
attacked the settlements there, and killed or captured most of
the people. Thence they went to Staten Island, which at that
time had a population of ninety souls and eleven flourishing
bouweries ; twenty-two of the people were killed, and all of the
remainder who did not escape were carried away captive, and
the bouweries were desolated. The Indians continued their
ravages three days, during which time they killed one hundred
whites, took one hundred and fifty prisoners, and ruined three
hundred more in their estates. Alarm spread throughout the
entire region, and there was no safety anywhere, for the hostile
Indians were prowling about by day and by night, even upon
Manhattan island, where they killed all who came within their
reach. Stuyvesant employed every means in his power for the
protection of the settlement at New Amsterdam and the neigh-
boring settlements, and after awhile the ransom of all or nearly
all the prisoners taken by the Indians was accomplished, the
Indians receiving ammunition in return for the captives.
This bloody siege has been known as the "Peach war,"
from the circumstance of its origin as already narrated. The
island was now almost entirely depopulated, and the settlement
had to be recommenced from the beginning. Adrian Post, the
overseer for Baron Van de Cappelan was one of the sixty -seven
who escaped massacre and was taken captive He affirms, with
HISTOKY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 59
reference to Staten Island, " that all the dwelling-houses were
burned in the known conflict with the savages in 1655, and that
no other effects were then left than a few beasts, which he, after
his imprisonment by them, collected together, and of which the
greatest part died, while the few remaining were sold by him
for the maintenance of his wife and children." In relation to
the affair we also quote from the reminiscences of Altie Widelar,
wife of Thomas Burbank, who "settled at V: Duses:" " She sd.
there was 2 or 3 houses at Old Town and at Carlsneck & the
Indians run off the Island and murderd. at Old Town all Except
a little girl who run into the woods the indian put on her
fathers Cloths and Decoyd. the Girl supposing it to be her
father her they savd. The Indians Came principally from
Bergain."
The Indians of Staten Island after the coming of the whites
rapidly diminished in numbers. As they gave up their lands
to the white settlers they moved back into the country. But in
reality comparatively few of them moved in that way. Most
of them ended their days either by wars among themselves or
were destroyed by small-pox, a disease with which they are
said to have been unacquainted before their commerce with
Europeans, but which afterward made sad havoc with them.
And in addition to these causes a writer during the middle of the
last century said, " But Brandy has killed most of the Indians.
This liquor was likewise entirely unknown to them before the
Europeans came hither; but after they had tasted it they could
never get enough of it. A man can hardly have a greater de-
sire of a thing than the Indians have of brandy. I have heard
them say that to die by drinking brandy was a desirable and
honorable death; and indeed 'tis no very uncommon thing to
kill themselves by drinking this liquor to excess."
The last of the old Staten Island Indians were " Sam" and
"Hannah," and their daughter "Nance." The old couple
lived at Fresh kill near the Seaman farm, and upon it they used
to depredate for timber of which they made baskets, for this
was their occupation. They were very old during the first
quarter of this century. They sold their baskets for rum, and
then they would quarrel. Hannah finally disappeared, and no
one knew what had become of her. It was supposed that Sam
had killed her, for he always new into a rage whenever any one
60 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
asked him where she was. After the death of one or both of
her parents it is supposed that Nance left the island.
The first idea of value that was conceived by the Dutch in
view of the newly discovered regions here was not associated
with any design of forming settlements here. The climate of
Holland and other countries of Europe, rendered furs indispen-
sable to their inhabitants; hitherto these had been obtained
chiefly from Russia, and at great expense. The Dutch had dis-
covered that there were furs in the countries newly discovered,
which were easily procurable in exchange for articles of ex-
tremely trifling value; the temptation to engage in a traffic so
exceedingly profitable, was too strong to be resisted by a people
so prompt to promote their own interests. Accordingly, in 1611,
a vessel was dispatched to the Manhattans as an experiment, and
so successful was the venture, that a spirit of commercial enter-
prise was at once awakened. Two more vessels, the "Little Fox"
and the "Little Crane," were licensed, and under the pretense
of looking for the northwest passage, sailed direct for the newly-
discovered river. This was in the spring of 1613. Having ar-
rived, the traders erected one or two small forts for the protec-
tion of the trade on the river. The position of the island of
Manhattan for commercial purposes was so favorable as to strike
the Europeans at once, and the traders who had scattered in
various directions made that island their head-quarters. Hen-
drick Cortiansen was the superintendent of the business, and
with his small craft penetrated every bay or stream where In-
dians were to be found, in pursuit of furs.
The results of these expeditions were successful, and many
others were projected, and crowned with similar success. When
the intelligence of these discoveries reached the projectors of
the several voyages at home, steps were immediately taken by
them to secure to themselves the benefits of their enterprise and
perseverance. All the country lying between the 40th and 45th
degree of north latitude was called " New Netherland." Ex-
clusive privileges to trade to these countries for a limited
period were given to them. A trading house was at once erected
on an island in the Hudson, near the present site of Albany,
and the country on both sides of the river thoroughly explored
in quest of furs; and by the time of the expiration of the grant,
which was at the close of 1617, some of the merchants engaged
in the trade had realized immense fortunes therefrom.
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 61
The charter having expired, the trade of New Netherland
was thrown open, and adventurers from all parts of the father-
land eagerly enlisted therein ; the former traders, however,
held on to the advantages they had gained by their prior occu-
pancy.
Different commercial associations were formed, whose several
interests began to interfere with each other, and all contention
and disputes were at last adjusted by the consolidation of all
interests in the organization and charter of the " Dutch West
India Company."
The powers and privileges with which this company was
invested were not confined to the narrow limits of the New
Netherlands ; they embraced the whole range of the American
coast, from the Horn to the Arctic sea, and on the west coast
of Africa from the Hope to the Tropic of Cancer, not pre-
viously occupied by other nations. On the American coast
settlements had been made by the French at Canada, by the
English at Virginia, and by the Spaniards at Florida. The prep-
arations made by the directors of the newly chartered com-
pany to improve the privileges granted to them, attracted, in
England, the attention of the government, and a strong remon-
strance was sent to Holland, insisting that all the territory
claimed by the Dutch was embraced in the charter of Virginia,
and therefore was under the jurisdiction of England. The
matter was from time to time brought before the authorities of
both countries, and the discussion protracted by the Dutch for
the purpose of gaining time, that the preparations of the new
company might be completed.
Thus it will be seen that the first Europeans who visited this
part of the continent came for the purpose of trading, not of
settling permanently ; but having become favorably impressed
with the soil and climate of the country, they began to enter-
tain the idea of making it the place of their future abode, and
to devote to agriculture that part of the season when furs were
not obtainable. The country was organized into a province, a
few settlers were sent out, and a form of government was estab-
lished, with Peter Minuit at its head as director ; this was in
the year 1624. In the same year, and probably in the same ship
with Minuit, a number of Walloons arrived and settled on
Staten Island ; this is the first settlement on the island of
which we have any knowledge. These people came from the
62 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
country bordering on the river Scheldt and Flanders ; they
professed the reformed religion, and spoke the old French, or
Gallic language ; they were good soldiers, and had done efficient
service in the thirty years' war. Two years before their arrival
here, they had applied to Sir Dudley Carleton for permission
to emigrate to some part of Virginia, upon condition that they
might build a town of their own, and be governed by officers
chosen by and amongst themselves. This application was
referred to the Virginia company, and met with a favorable
response so far as the mere settlement was concerned, but the
privilege to elect their own officers was too long a step toward
popular freedom, and could not be conceded ; the permission
to settle upon the company's land was fettered with so many
conditions affecting their civil and religious liberty that they
declined to entertain it, and turned their attention to the New
Netherlands, where so many arbitrary conditions were not in-
sisted on. On their arrival here they appear to have aban-
doned the plan of settling in a colony or single community,
and separated, going in different directions, a few families taking
up their abode on Staten Island. It is supposed that among
these was a family by the name of Rapelje, among whom was
one George Jansen de Rapelje. Surrounded by the savages arid
separated from their friends at Manhattan, they did not long-
remain here. Yielding to the necessities of their condition,
lacking both food and clothing, they returned to Rapsie, the
southern extremity of Manhattan island, where they found not
much relief but were subjected with the other colonists to ex-
tremes of privation and suffering. But relief soon after came
by the arrival of a ship from the mother country. The Rapelje
family soon after removed to Wallabout, on Long Island, and
are recorded as the first European settlers upon that island.
Their child Sarah has down to the present time borne the honor
of having been the first child of European parentage born in
the colony. Her birth is dated June 9th, 1625, and though some
have claimed that it took place while the family were upon
Staten Island, the facts indicate more strongly that the honor
belongs to Long Island. She lived to be the wife of two hus-
bands and the mother of twelve children, from whom has
descended a large and highly respectable lineage.
For many years the traffic with the Indians for peltries had
been exceedingly profitable, and large fortunes had been
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 63
secured by many of the traders, but in the course of time, as
the articles of the Indian's traffic became scarcer, and the val-
ue of the Dutch commodities depreciated in consequence of
their abundance, the trade gradually decreased, until at length
the cost of sustaining the colony was greater than its revenues,
and the West India company found itself rapidly descending
to the verge of bankruptcy.
The first great landed proprietors in New Netherland were
called "patroons; " they were Samuel Godyn, Samuel Bloemart,
Killian Van Rensselaer and Michael Pauw. The two first named
settled in Delaware. Van Rensselaer obtained a patent for a
large tract on the Hudson in the vicinity of Albany and Troy,
and Pauw became the proprietor of all the country extending
from Hoboken southward along the bay and Staten Island
sound, including Staten Island ; this grant was made to him by
the directors in 1630. At the same time the country was
purchased from the natives for "certain cargoes or parcels of
goods,'' and called Pavonia. The name of this proprietor still
attaches to a part of his possessions in the locality known as Com-
munipaw. It is to be mentioned to the credit of the company,
that they made it a condition in the patents which they granted,
that the recipients should extinguish the Indian title by direct
purchase, and this was exacted in every instance. By some it
is claimed that the director general and council had purchased
the island of the Indians in 1626, but what the authority is for
the statement we do not know. The consideration paid to the
natives was not money, which would have been useless to them,
but cloths of various kinds, culinary utensils, ornaments, etc.,
but not fire-arms.
The value of the articles paid for the fee of the island varied
at different times, for the Indians sold it repeatedly. Pauw's
acquisition was not of much benefit to him ; it is not known
that he made any effort to colonize it, or that he ever cleared a
rood of it, for very soon after acquiring it, difficulties arose be-
tween him and the directors, and he disposed of his territorial
rights on the island and on the continent to his associate direct-
ors for the sum of 26,000 guilders. He was a man of conse-
quence in his own country ; he was one of the lord directors
of the company, and among their names we find his set down
as the Lord of Achtienhoven.
In 1636, David Pietersen de Vries obtained a grant for a
64 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
part of the island, and began to make settlements on it,
but the precise locality is not known ; it is supposed, how-
ever, to have been at or near Old Town (Oude Dorp). The
dwellings of the settlers, on their arrival, were generally con-
structed as speedily as possible, that their families might be
sheltered. Excavations 1'or this purpose were generally
made in the side of a hill, or other convenient spot,
and lined and roofed with rude planks, split out of the trees ;
sometimes the roofs were covered with several layers of bark ;
these were only meant for temporary dwelling places, until
better ones could be provided.
The date of the grant which had been obtained by de Vries
from Wouter Van Twiller was August 13, 1636, and de Vries
set sail for Holland two days afterward for the purpose of gath-
ering a colony to come and occupy the land. He returned with
his settlers about the end of the year 1638. This was the third
time de Vries had sailed across the ocean to the New Nether-
lands, and when the ship neared the entrance at Sandy Hook
he was called upon to pilot her in, as the following extracts
from his journal will show :
" Sept. 25, 1638. On board the ship of the West India Com-
pany, sailed from Holland.
"Dec. 26. Got sight of Sandy Hook. The captain * *
at the request of the passengers, who all had their homes in the
New-Netherlands, solicited me to pilot the ship in, which I did,
and anchored the same evening before Staten Island, which was
my property, and put my people on shore."
Other memoranda made by de Vries at different dates tell
in his own language something of his connection with the
island. Under date of August 13, 1636, he says: "I requested
Wouter Van Twiller to put Staten Island down in my name,
intending to form a colony there, which was granted." Under
date of January o, 1639, he writes: "Sent my people to Staten
Island, to commence the colony and buildings." But his pos-
session of the island was disturbed as we see by this entry of
August 20, 1641: " Arrived, the ship Eyckenboom, and had on
board a person named Malyn, who said he was the owner of
Staten Island, that it was given to him and to Mr. Van Der
Horst by the directors of the company. I could not believe
this, having left the country in 1638 to take possession of this
island, and in that time have settled there. I could not think
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 65
that the directors of the company would act in this way, it be-
ing granted by the sixth article, and we being the first occu-
pants and of course it could not be taken from us."
The two following entries give us de Vries' view of the Indian
massacre of 1641. September 1st of that year he writes : "My
people were murdered on Staten Island by the Indians of
Raritan. They told an Indian who was assisting my people
that we should now come to fight for the killing of the men as
we formerly had done for the hogs, with the stealing of which
they were wrongfully accused. It was done by the servants of
the company, then going to the South river, who landed first at
Staten Island to take in wood and water, when they stole the
hogs and the blame was laid on the innocent Indians, who
tho' cunning enough, will do no harm if no harm is done to
them. And so my colony of Staten Island was smothered in
its birth by the management of Governor Kieft, who wanted to
avenge the wrongs of his people on the Indians." On the day
following, that is, September '2, 1641, we have this entry : "An
Indian chief belonging to the Tankitekes, called Pacham, came
to the fort in much triumph, with the hand of a dead man
hanging on a stick, saying it was the hand of the chief who had
killed our people at Staten Island, who had avenged tbe wrongs
of the Swannekins, whose friend he was."
De Vries is said to have been a literary man, and was the
author of a historical work. There is no evidence that he re-
sided upon the island himself. The settlers introduced by him,
however, prospered for a time, until, as we have already seen,
their bouweries or farms were desolated by the savages. DeVries
remained in the colony for several years, and for some time
thereafter maintained his hold on the "bouwerie" on Staten
Island, but the relations existing between the Dutch and the
Indians were not favorable to the growth of a settlement here,
and though we have evidence to support the above statement in
the fact that de Vries' bouwerie was excepted from the grant to
Melyn, and also the fact that an Englishman residing here in
the service of de Vries, was killed in 1642, yet it is probable
that he soon afterward abandoned the attempt to maintain a
settlement here.
The third attempt to found a settlement on Staten Island was
made by a Dutch merchant by the name of Cornelis Melyn.*
He came from Antwerp, and his first visit was made here in
5
66 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
1639. July 3, 1640, he obtained an order from the directors in
Holland, authorizing him to take possession of Staten Island
and erect it into a "Colonie." But on his passage hither, in
February, 1641, the vessel in which he sailed was captured
by the "Dunkirkers." and he thus lost all he had on board,
and was glad to reach his native shores in safety. He was
obliged then to apply to the directors for a passage to the New
Netherlands, which he obtained, and again embarked, with his
family and some goods for trade with the Indians, to the
value of about 1,000 guilders. This voyage was made on
board the ship "Eyckenboom "(meaning "oak tree"), and he ar-
rived at New Amsterdam August 20, 1641. He received letters
patent from the directors, bearing date June 19th, 1642, for
the whole of Staten Island (excepting the bouwerie of Capt. de
Vries), and constituting him patroon of the island, investing
him at the same time with all the powers, jurisdiction and '
pre-eminences of that privileged order.
During the administration of Kieft, Melyn, the patroon of
Staten Island, lived in a state of unremitting hostility with
him. Having adopted, in a great measure, the policy of de
Vries in the treatment of the Indians, though not as success-
fully, he found himself in almost constant collision with Kieft,
who was prompt to notice and avenge every act of the savages
which he could torture into a hostile demonstration.
Kieft continued to reside at New Amsterdam for a short time
after he had been superseded, and Melyn improved the oppor-
tunity to prefer charges against him. Stuyvesant, though on
the whole disposed to deal justly with all men, would brook no
direct attack upon the dignity of the directorship, either in his
own person or in that of his predecessor, and this was the light
in which he chose to regard Melyn' s complaint, so when these
charges were preferred they were met by counter-charges from
the ex director, among which was one that Melyn had said he
could get no justice from Kieft. However true the assertion
may have been in its application to Kieft, it proved quite true
in application to Stuyvesant, for after a long investigation, the
attorney-general expressed an opinion that both Melyn and
Kuyter, who had also been implicated in the charges, ought to
suffer death. The director, however, knowing that his public
'acts were likely to be reviewed, was disposed to deal more
leniently with them ; he therefore, with the consent of the
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 67
majority of the council, condemned Melyn to a banishment of
seven years and a fine of three hundred guilders and Kuyter to
three years' banishment and a fine of one hundred and fifty
guilders.
In accordance with this sentence, the defendants were sent to
Holland.* The attention of the government was immediately
called to the manner in which justice was administered in the
colony, by an appeal which the banished patroon and his asso-
ciates took on their arrival. An elaborate investigation followed,
and the sentence was reversed; the director was also censured,
and required to return home and answer for his arbitrary con-
duct. Melyn, armed with the necessary documents, returned
triumphantly to New Amsterdam, and had the satisfaction of
serving them upon the director in person. These proceedings
on the part of the patroon were far from mollifying the direc-
tor; and, as he had proved to be a dangerous man to meddle with
arbitrarily, he gratified his animosity by acts of hostility to
Melyn' s family. Jacob Loper, the son-in-law of the patroon,
who had served under Stuyvesant in the West Indies, applied
for permission to make a trading voyage to South River, Dela-
ware, but it was peremptorily refused.
Stuyvesant 1 s representatives appeared before the tribunal
which had cited him, to answer for and defend the acts of their
principal. The opinion of the court was that Melyn had been
seriously injured in his property and person for no other crime
or cause than presuming to differ in opinion with the director.
In the meantime the trade of the colony had become less re-
munerative, and the government, both at home and in the col-
ony, had become involved in complications with other powers
to such an extent as to divert attention from Melyn' s cause,
and it was left for the time in abeyance.
*The ex-director, Kieft, was also a passenger ou the same vessel. In regard to
their treatment and the events of the voyage we may quote another chronicle:
" They were brought on board like criminals, and torn away from their goods,
their wives, and their children. The Princess (the name of the ship) was to carry
the director and these two faithful patriots away from New Netherland; but,
coming into the wrong channel, it struck upon a rock and was wrecked. And
now, this wicked Kieft, seeing death before his eyes, sighed deeply, and, turning
to these two (Melyn and Kuyter), said: ' Friends, I have been unjust towards you;
can you forgive me?' Towards morning the ship was broken to pieces. Among
those drowned were Melyn's son. the minister, Bogardus, Kieft, Captain John De
Vries, and a great number of other persons. Much treasure was lost, as Kieft
was on his return with a fortune of four hundred thousand guilders 160,000
dollars."
68 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
Melyn's appeal seems to have at last gained the reversal of
the sentence which had been imposed upon him by Stuyvesant.
But notwithstanding this, the persecutions of the governor seem
to have continued with unabated zeal. In the spring of 1650
Melyn associated with himself Baron Van Cappelan, a man of
wealth, who immediately fitted out a ship called the Ci New
Netherland's Fortune," with a cargo and some twenty colonists
for Staten Island. The ship was commanded by Capt. Adrian
Post,
The passage was one of extraordinary length and the sea was
unusually boisterous, and they were obliged to put into Rhode
Island for supplies. They did not reach New Amsterdam until
the following winter. Making this stop at Rhode Island the
occasion for another persecution, Stuyvesant seized the ship
under the pretext that it belonged to Melyn, and caused it and
the cargo to be sold. It was purchased by Thomas Willet, who
sent it on a voyage to Virginia, and thence to Holland, where
Van Cappelan replevined it, and after a protracted law suit, the
West India company was obliged to pay a large sum in conse-
quence of the illegal act of its representative and servant in
New Netherland.
The harassed patroon immediately withdrew to his " colonie"
on Staten Island, from whence he was summoned by Stuyvesant
to appear, and answer to new charges which had been preferred
against him. This summons he positively refused to obey, and
:i lot of land, with a house on it, in New Amsterdam, belong-
ing to him, was declared confiscated, and accordingly was sold.
Melyn now fortified himself on the island and established a
manorial court.
Among the charges preferred against Melyn were the follow-
ing : that he had distributed arms amongst the Indians, and had
endeavored to excite hostile feelings toward the director among
some of the river tribes. When he left Holland the patroon
had taken the precaution of furnishing himself with a "safe
conduct," as it was called, which was a sort of protection
against further aggressions on the part of Stuyvesant ; to this,
however, he paid little regard when he had the patroon in his
power ; but now that he had proved contumacious by refusing
to appear, and putting himself into his enemy's power, the di-
rector scarcely dared venture to arrest by force one who was
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 69
protected by a document of such authority ; he therefore
affected to be alarmed for his own personal safety, and applied
to the council for protection, who granted him a body guard of
four halbidiers, to attend him whenever he went abroad. Van
Dincklagen, the vice-director, had been instrumental in assist-
ing both Van Cappelan and Melyn in promoting the successful
settlement of Staten Island ; he therefore fell under the dis-
pleasure of the director, who ordered him to resign, or the
council to expel him from their body, but he refused to resign,
and defied the council to expel him, as they had no more power
to deprive him of his office than the director himself, as both
held their commissions from the same authority at home.
Nevertheless, he was arrested and imprisoned in the guard-
house, and the counsel who had defended him was forbidden to
practice his profession in the colony. After the lapse of several
days the vice-director was liberated, and immediately took up
his residence with Melyn on Staten Island.
These settlements were probably located on the east side of
the island, between the Narrows and the locality known as Old
Town, or "Oude Dorp," as it was called. But all traces of
these settlements have long since vanished, and no records are
left to tell us of their locality. Though the site was well se-
lected in some respects sheltered by hills on the north, acces-
sible by water, convenient for fishing, and comprising both up-
land and meadow it was early abandoned for other situations.
An atmosphere of misfortune, too, seemed to hover over it.
The first plantation, by de Vries, had been destroyed ; Melyn,
the patroon, and all connected with him seemed to be the
especial objects of the governor's animosity, and we now come
to the period when the settlement is again wiped out by the
bloody Indian raid of 1655, an account of which has already
been given. At that time Baron Van Cappelan' s colonists
numbered "ninety souls in eleven bouweries," all of whom
were killed or dispersed. The island was now depopulated, and
the settlement had to be re-commenced. Van Cappelan did
what he could to induce the affrighted people to return to their
desolated homes, and sent out new colonists. These efforts were
made by Van Dincklagen, his agent. To avert the probability
of another attack, he negotiated another purchase of the island
from the Indians, and made a treaty with them. This was done
70 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
on the 10th of July, 1657.* These proceedings on his part were
disapproved by the directors of the company at home, who
insisted that all settlers' titles should come through them.
Stuyvesant was, therefore, directed to declare the late purchase
void, to secure the Indian title for the company, and then to
convey to Van Cappelan what land he might require.
In 1661 Melyn returned to Holland, having, in consideration
of fifteen hundred guilders (six hundred dollars), conveyed all
his interest in Staten Island to the West India Company. The
deed was dated June 14, 1659. He was also granted an amnesty
for all offenses which had been charged upon him by either
Stuyvesant or his predecessor. Van Cappelan being dead, the
company also purchased all the title he had to any part of the
island during his life time, and thus became the possessors of
the whole of it.
About this time Johannes de Decker, who first came to New
Amsterdam in 1655, acquired title to one hundred and twenty
acres of land on Staten Island. He was a young man of good
reputation, and for a time occupied important official trusts.
By what steps he obtained possession of the land mentioned, or
where it was located, we have not learned. By some disagree-
ment with Stuyvesant he fell into discord with that turbulent
official and was dispossessed and banished. The sentence was,
however, in all probability reversed, since he was back in the
colony again at the time of the conquest of 1664. Among the
last of the Dutch patents was one granted to him for this land,
dated January 15, 1664. During the administration of JSTicolls,
however, his Dutch patriotism made him offensive to the
English government, and he was again banished from the
province.
Some time after the peace of Breda, he applied to the Duke
of York for a redress of his grievances and a restitution of his
property. This application the duke referred to Lovelace, with
*Dunlap has set forth that the island was purchased of the Indians in 1651, by
Augustine Herman, but we fail to find authority sufficient to sustain the as-
sertion. A purchase was made of the Indians December 6th of that year, by "Au-
gustine Heermans," acting for Cornells van Werckhoven, a Schepen of Utrecht,
which covered a large tract lying between the Arthur kill and the Raritan river ;
and from the incidental mention of Staten Island in giving the boundaries the
idea may have been gained that the conveyance included this island. But as
Melyn was in undisputed possession here at the time, had been for several years
previous, and continued to be for several years after, it is fair to presume that no
such purchase of the Indians was made or intended to be made.
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 71
instructions to do in the premises what might be just and
proper ; the result was that de Becker was restored to all his
rights and privileges, and he retired to private life on his farm
on Staten Island.
He was the progenitor of a numerous family now residing
on the island, by the name of Decker, and further notice of
him will be found in connection with the history of that family.
Soon after the sale of the island by Melyn and Van Cappel-
an's heirs to the West India company, the latter made grants
of land to several French Waldenses, and a still greater number
of Huguenots from Rochelle, the descendants of whom are still
residents here, and in a few instances still occupying the iden-
tical grants made to their ancestors. About a dozen families
commenced a settlement south of the Narrows. In 1663 they
built a block-house as a defense against the Indians, and placed
within it a garrison of ten men, and armed it with two small
cannons. At the request of these settlers, Dominie Drisius, of
New Amsterdam, visited them every two months and preached
to them in French, performing also the other functions of his
calling. Rev. Samuel Drisius was sent to America by the
Classis of Amsterdam, in 1654, at the request of the people,
who desired a minister who could preach to them either in
Dutch or French, which he was able to do. On his arrival at
New Amsterdam he was at once installed as the colleague of
the Rev. Johannes Megapolensis, who had resided in the coun-
try since 1642. Drisius continued to officiate at New Amster-
dam and on Staten Island until 1671. From about 1660 his
visits to the island were more frequent, being made once each
month.
It would be pleasant could we bring out a fuller picture of
the times in which these interesting people made their homes
here, but the data is very meagre. Their memory is by many
fondly cherished, and by others, some of whom live nearest
the scenes of their conflicts with the wilderness, sadly neglected.
In the shadow of the court house at Richmond, within a neg-
lected enclosure stands a tombstone bearing the following in-
scription :
SUSANNAH VAN PELT
was
The Grand Daughter of
Jacob Rezean, Sen'r
72 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
and the last of five generations
interred in this burying ground.
They were Huguenots
who left France when
persecuted for their religion ;
settled in this neighborhood ;
they selected this spot
for their last resting place
on earth.
Sacred be their dust.
Susannah van Pelt
reached the advanced age
of 99 years, 5 months, 25 days.
This monument is erected by her only surviving relative.
We come now to one of the important landmarks in the his-
tory of New York and as a consequence in the history of Staten
Island. The year 1664 was the commencement of a new era,
and one which was to give to the settlement here a better chance
for life and a more favorable atmosphere for growth.
The English claimed to have discovered, through their repre-
sentative, Sebastian Cabot, as early as 1497, the coast of North
America. Their claim extended from thirty to fifty-eight de-
grees north latitude. Voyages were made to different parts of
the coast by English navigators before the year 1606. On the
12th of March. 1664, Charles II. of England, by virtue of the
claim just stated, made a grant of land to his brother James,
Duke of York, which included within its liberal boundaries the
territory then occupied by the Dutch at New Amsterdam and
vicinity, of which Staten Island formed a part.
The duke immediately fitted out an expedition to take pos-
session of the field covered by this patent. Richard Nicolls
was commissioned deputy governor of this colony, and his
associates in the government were Robert Carr, George Cart-
wright and Samuel Maverick. Four ships composed the fleet.
and they together carried nearly one hundred guns and some
six hundred men. The fleet arrived in New York bay in August
of the same year, and Colonel Nicolls sent a demand to Governor
Stuyvesant for the surrender of the fort and the government.
The latter at first stoutly refused to comply with the demand,
but after a few days spent in consultation with the burgo-
masters and people of the city, and finding the latter strongly
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 73
in favor of such a course, he was forced to yield to the popular
sentiment, and with much reluctance agreed to a surrender.
This was accomplished on the 26th of August, and the sceptre
of New Netherlands passed from the wooden-legged warrior to
the representatives of the Duke of York.
It is worthy of remark that when the English fleet arrived in
the bay the first Dutch property seized by them was on Staten
Island, where the block house was taken and occupied.
Stuyvesant appointed six commissioners, among whom was
Dom. Megapolensis and Johannes de Decker, to meet a like
number on the part of the English, to arrange the terms of the
capitulation. These were just and reasonable, under the circum-
stances; no change was to be made in the condition of the people
but all were to be permitted to enjoy their property and their
religion to the fullest extent. As the individual rights and
privileges of no one were to be molested, the people submitted
to a change of rulers, not only with a good grace, but many
with satisfaction, as it released them from the overbearing and
arbitrary tyranny of the director.
Though de Decker had been one of the commissioners who
agreed to and signed the articles of surrender, yet, when the
English began to change the names of places, and appoint new
officers in place of those who had become obnoxious to them;
in short, when everything began to assume an English aspect,
his patriotism began to revolt, and he endeavored in some in-
stances to oppose the work of reform which the conquerors had
initiated. This brought him to the notice of Nicolls, who, to
rid himself of a troublesome subject, ordered him to leave the
colony within ten days. In the course of a few months every-
thing became quiet, and the people seemed to be content with
the new order of things. Unappropriated lands now began to
be parcelled out to English proprietors, by English authority.
Staten island, already settled by the Dutch and French, was
now to receive acquisition of another nationality. Capt. James
Bollen received a grant of land on the island; the country be-
tween the Raritan river and Newark bay was bought anew from
the savages, and settled by people from Long Island, chiefly
along Achter Cull, and four families from Jamaica began the
settlement of Elizabethtown. Besides Captain Bollen, Captain
William Hill, Lieutenant Humphrey Fox and one Coleman, all
officers of the fleet, received grants of land on Staten Island,
74 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
but as the vessels to which they were attached were no longer
needed, and were sent back to England, they had little or no
opportunity of enjoying their acquisitions.
The government of New Netherland, under the original
Dutch settlers, was committed to the director and his council,
which at first consisted of five members. This council had su-
preme executive and legislative authority in the whole colony.
It had also the power to try all civil and criminal cases, and all
prosecutions before it were conducted by a "Schout Fiscaal,"
whose duties were similar to those of a sheriff and district at-
torney of the present day. He had the power to arrest all per-
sons, but not without a complaint previously made to him, un-
less he caught an offender in flagrante delictu. It was his
duty to examine into the merits of every case, and lay them be-
fore the court, without favor to either party; he was also to re-
port to the directors in Holland the nature of every case prose-
cuted by him, and the judgment therein. In addition to the
duties above enumerated, it devolved upon him to examine the
papers of all vessels arriving or departing; to superintend the
lading and discharging of cargoes, and to prevent smuggling.
He had a right to attend the meetings of the council, and give
his opinion when asked, but not to vote on any question.
Several of the patroons claimed in a great measure to be in-
dependent of the director and his council, and organized
courts and appointed magistrates for their own territories, as
did the patroons of Rensselaerwyck and Staten Island, but
they were at constant variance with the authorities at New Am-
sterdam.
It is true that all who felt themselves aggrieved by the judg-
ment of the director and his council, had a chartered right to
appeal to the XIX at home that is, the West India Company
but the directors of New Netherland generally played the
despot during the brief terms of their authority, and if any
suitor manifested an intention to appeal, he was at once charged
with a contempt of the supreme power in the colony and most
severely punished, unless he contrived to keep out of the direc-
tor's reach until his case had been heard and decided in Hol-
land, as in the instance of Melyn, the patroon of Staten Island,
who appears to have been a thorn in the sides of both Kieft and
Stuyvesant.
The religion recognized by the government of the province
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 75
was that of the Reformed Dutch church, or the Church of Hol-
land, and though other sects were regarded with a certain degree
of suspicion, they were tolerated so long as they did not inter-
fere with the privileges of others.
When Stuyvesant \vas compelled by the popular clamor to
surrender the country to the English, he stipulated for the
preservation and continuance of all the political and religious
rights and privileges of the people as then enjoyed, allegiance
alone excepted, which was conceded by Nicolls.
After the conquest, (his stipulation was generally held invio-
late, but the civil institutions of the country were modified to
make them accord with English ideas of government.
There are instances on record of persecution for opinion's
sake on religious subjects under the Dutch, but all such matters
were at once rectified when brought to the notice of the home
government. This continued to be the practice of the English
government also.
Staten Island, Long Island and Westchester were now united
in a political division, called Yorkshire, and this was sub-divided
into three parts called "Ridings." These were respectively
known as the East, West, and Nort-h ridings. The West riding
was composed of Staten Island, together with the towns now of
Kings county and Newtown, on Long Island. The term " Rid-
ing" is a corruption of the word "Trithing," the name of a
division of Yorkshire in England, after which this American
"Yorkshire" seems to have been fashioned. The ridings were
established principally for the accommodation of courts and
convenience in apportioning taxes.
Under the duke's government each town had a justice of the
peace, who was appointed by the governor ; and at first eight,
but afterward four overseers and a constable, who were elected
by the people. Three officers were charged with the duty of
assessing taxes, holding town courts, and regulating such mat-
ters of minor importance as should not otherwise be provided
for by the laws or orders of the governor. The jurisdiction of
the town court was limited to cases not exceeding five pounds
in value.
A court of sessions, composed of the justices of the peace,
was established in each riding. This court was held twice each
year, and was competent to decide all criminal cases, and all
civil ones where the amount of difference exceeded five pounds.
76 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
Judgments rendered in this court for sums under twenty
pounds were final, but in cases exceeding that amount an appeal
to the court of assize was allowed. Criminal cases involving
capital punishment required the unanimous concurrence of
twelve jurors, but all other cases were decided by the majority
of seven jurors. The high sheriff, members of the council, and
the secretary of the colony were authorized to sit with the
justices in this court.
The court of assize was held once a year, in the city of New
York. It was composed of the governor, his council, and an
indefinite number of the justices. It entertained appeals from
the inferior courts, and had original jurisdiction in cases where
the demand exceeded twenty pounds. The governor appointed
a high sheriff for the "shire," and a deputy sheriff for each
riding. This court was the nominal head of the government-
legislative as well as judicial. It was, however, in reality the
governor's cloak, under cover of which he issued whatever reg-
ulations his judgment or fancy dictated. All its members held
their positions during his pleasure, and were virtually obliged
to sanction his views and second his opinions. Many of the
laws, amendments and orders enacted through the name of this
court were arbitrary, obnoxious and oppressive to the people.
Petitions from the people for redress of their grievances had
but little if any effect in the desired direction.
The early governors imposed duties on imported and ex-
ported goods, disposed of the public lands, and levied taxes
on the people, for the support of the government. The fi-
nances of the colony were under their control, in common with
every other department, and this power over the treasury was
doubtless often used for their own individual benefit.
In the orders made at the general court of assize, from the
6th to the 13th of October, 1675, the following appears :
"That by reason of the Separacon by water, Staten Island
shall have Jurisdiction of it Self and to have noe further de-
pendance on the Courts of Long Island nor on their Militia."
From this time forward the island has been an independent
judicial district, and the first record, which soon after began to
be kept, is still in existence in the office of the county clerk ;
it is a small square volume, bound in vellum, and besides many
quaint records of "sewts," contains the descriptions of the
ear-marks on domestic animals, to distinguish the ownership,
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 77
as the animals were allowed to run at large through the woods
and unappropriated lands.
Among some of these early court records we find the follow-
ing:
Jacob Jeyoung (Guyon) Ptf ) In A Action of the Caus
Isaac See (?) Deft \ At A Court held on Staten Island
By the Constable and oversears of the seam on this present
Munday Being the 7 day of febraery 1680 wharas the cans de-
pending Between the Ptf and deft hath Bin heard the Court
ordereth deft to Cleer his flax forthwith and his Corn out of
the Barn within ten days from the deat hearof and to clear up
his 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 present 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. 10s. 6 d. The Caus
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 soefisiont (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.
10d.; 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 this 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 Sraten
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, Allard Anthony,
Johannes Vamburgh, Gerrit Van Tright, J. Bedlow, Warn
Wessols, Constapel, William Nicolls, Humph' y Davenport,
Cornells Bedloo, Nicholas Antony.
The Indians were to have the privilege of remaining until the
HISTORY OF RICHMOND 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 Xicolls 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, propriet'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
" Pewovvahone, about 5 yeares old, a boy; Pokoques, about
8 yeares old, a girle ; Shirjuirneho, about 12 yeares old,
a girle ; Kanarekante, 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 to David Pietersen de Vries ; in 1641 to Cornelis Melyn ;
in 1657 to Baron Van Cappelan, and in 1670 to Governor Love.
lace. To this last sale they were obliged to adhere ; there was
probably more ceremony about it. which rendered the transac-
tion more impressive. In delivering possession, they presented
80 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUXTi*.
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 twenty-three vessels arrived in JS"ew York
bay, and anchored under Staten Island. Soon after their arrival
they made a raid upon the plantation of Lovelace, and carried
off 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 surrender of the fort, it was
yielded without the firing of a gun. Captain Manning, the
commandant of the fort, was afterward tried for treachery 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 RICHMOND 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 oath 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 accessions. 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 ; particularly 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, by a prominent of-
ficial of the government. If there is any truth in the tradition,
the house was, probably, the residence of de Yries, 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 the island was nearly depopulated, this house
and its occupants 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 VanBuskirks, Crocherons and Vreelands ; these
farms extended from the kills one mile into the country. Abra-
ham Crocherou, 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 abundant. 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 filling 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. 85
so high, 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 flowing 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, \ve 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 finding 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. We 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
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
then proceeded to the houses which constituted the Onde
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 Nienwe 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 have us in
her house,
"12^, Thursday. Although we had not slept well, we had
to resume our journey with the day. The man where we slept
set us on the road. We had no more villages to go to, but went
from one plantation to another, for the most part belonging to
French, who showed us every kindness because we conversed
with them in French.
" About one-third of the distance from the south side to the
west end is still all woods, and is very little visited. We had
to go along the shore, finding sometimes fine creeks well pro-
vided with wild turkeys, geese, ^snipes and wood-hens. Lying-
rotting on the shore were thousands of fish called marsbaucken,
which are about the size of a common carp. These fish swim
close together in large schools, and are pursued by other fish
so that they are forced upon the shore in order to avoid the
mouths of their enemies, and when the water falls they are left
to die, food for the eagles and other birds of prey. Proceeding
thus along, we came to the west point, where an Englishman
lived alone, some distance from the road. We ate something
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
here, and he gave us the consolation that we would have a very
bad road for two or three hours ahead, which indeed we experi-
enced, for there was neither path nor road. He showed us as
well as he could. There was a large creek to cross which ran
very far into the land, and when we got on the other side of it
we must, he said, go outward along the shore. After we had
gone a piece of the way through the woods, we came to a valley
with a brook running through it, which we took to be the creek
or the end of it. We turned around it as short as we could, in
order to go back again to the shore, which we reached after
wandering a long time over hill and dale, when we saw the
creek, which we supposed we had crossed, now just before us.
We followed the side of it deep into the woods, and when we
arrived at the end of it saw no path along the other side to get
outwards again, but the road ran into, the woods in order to cut
off a point of the hills and land. We pursued this road for
some time, but saw no mode of getting out, and that it led fur-
ther and further from the creek. We therefore left the road,
and went across through the bushes, so as to reach the shore by
the nearest route according to our calculation. After continu-
ing this course about an hour, we saw at a distance a miserably
constructed tabernacle of pieces of wood covered with brush,
all open in front, and where we thought there were Indians,
but on coming up to it we found in it an Englishman sick, and
his wife and child lying upon some bushes by a little tire. We
asked him if he was sick ? ' I have been sick over two months,'
he replied. It made my heart sore, indeed, for I never, in all
my life, saw such poverty, and that, too, in the middle of the
woods and wilderness. After we had obtained some informa-
tion as to the way, we went on, and had not gone far before we
came to another house, and thus from one farm to another,
French, Dutch, and a few English, so that we had not wandered
very far out of the way. We inquired, at each house, the way
to the next one. Shortly before evening we arrived at the
plantation of a Frenchman, whom they called La Chaudrounier,
who was formerly a soldier under the Prince of Orange, and had
served in Brazil. He was so delighted, and held on to us so
hard, that we remained and spent the night with him.
" 13th, Friday. We pursued our journey this morning from
plantation to plantation, the same as yesterday, until we came
to that of Pierre Gardinier, who had been in the service of the
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 89
Prince of Orange, and had known him well. He had a large
family of children and grand-children. He was about seventy
years of age, and was still as fresh and active as a young per-
son. He was so glad to see strangers who conversed with him
in the French language that he leaped with joy. After we had
breakfasted here, they told us that we had another large creek
to pass called the Fresh Kill, and then we could perhaps be set
across the Kill Van Koll to the point of Mill Creek, where we
might wait for a boat to convey us to the Manhatans. The road
was long and difficult, and we asked for a guide, but he had no
one, in consequence of several of his children being sick. At
last he determined to go himself, and accordingly carried us
in his canoe over to the point of Mill Creek in New Jersey, be-
hind Kol [Achter Kol.] We learned immediately that there
was a boat upon this creek loading with brick, and would leave
that night for the city. After we had thanked and parted with
Pierre le Gardinier, we determined to walk to Elizabethtown, a
good half hour's distance inland, where the boat was. We slept
there this night, and at 3 o'clock in the morning set sail."
CHAPTER IV.
THE COLONIAL PERIOD 1683 TO 1775.
Erection of Richmond County. Arrival of Huguenots. Division of Richmond
into Towns. The Claims of New Jersey. Patents and Land Grants.
Establishment of the Colonial Government. Administration of Justice.
The Time of the French War. Colonial Description. Colonial Customs.
Statistics.
IT seems convenient and appropriate in treating this subject
to regard the colonial period proper as beginning with the
administration of Governor Dongan, although it had in many
respects begun several years before. In 1683 Colonel Thomas
Dongan, having received the appointment of governor, took the
position on the 27th of August. He came with instructions
from the duke to call a general assembly of the people's repre-
sentatives. This he did, and the first assembly of the colony of
New York convened in the city on the 17th of October, 1683.
This assembly adopted a ' ; bill of rights," repealed some of the
most obnoxious of the duke's laws, altered and amended others,
and passed such new laws as they judged the circumstances of
the colony required. During the session an act was passed
abolishing the ridings, and organizing in their stead the counties,
with some alterations in the constitution of the courts.
The " Act to divide this province and dependences into Shires
and Counties," dated November 1, 1683, contains the following
in reference to Staten Island:
"The county of Richmond to conteyne all Staten Island,
Shutter's Island, and the islands of meadow on the west side
thereof."
The county at this time contained some two hundred families.
It was allowed two representatives in the colonial assembly, and
the next year, for the first time, a county tax was imposed,
amounting to fifteen pounds.
The colonial assembly met again in October, 1684. Among
the acts passed at this session was one by which the court of
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 91
assize was abolished. The election of a new assembly took
place in September, 1685, and in the following month it was
organized. Only two or three unimportant acts of this as-
sembly remain on record, and it is probable that whatever other
acts it may have passed, if there were any, were never enforced.
On the death of Charles II, the Duke of York ascended the
throne of Great Britain with the title of James II. He now
abolished the colonial assembly of New York, and re-estab-
lished the governor as the supreme head of the colony, subject
only to such instructions as the king himself might from time
to time dictate.
We now come to a period in the civil and religious history of
Staten Island of great and even romantic interest ; the arrival
of the French Protestants or Huguenots. Years before, it is
true, some had emigrated with the Dutch from Holland, but
now they landed on these shores in considerable numbers,
bringing with them useful arts, a knowledge of gardening and
husbandry, and above all, their own well known virtues, with
a pure, simple, Bible faith. Many of the descendants from this
noble stock now remain to honor the island of their birth with
the sterling character which they have inherited from their an-
cestors.
Though the Protestants of France had, under the famous
"Edict of Nantes," enjoyed the free exercise of their religion
for a time, yet after the death of Henry the Great the merciless
fires of persecution were once more kindled the rack, the gib-
bet and the galley again began their sanguinary work all over
the country, and with increased fury. The "Edict of Nantes "
was formally revoked, when the Hiignenots had now presented
to their choice three things : to go to mass, sacrifice their lives
and their property, or fly from their homes. Too true and in-
dependent to do otherwise they chose the latter expedient, and
half a million of them left beautiful but bigotted France for
foreign lands. Every Protestant kingdom in Europe received
them with open arms, where they soon became the most valu-
able citizens, and many imitating the example of the Puritans,
embarked for an asylum of safety to the new world, and to
this island.
These settlers were celebrated for their industry and frugal-
ity, and commenced the cultivation of the earth. Brave and
independent, they imparted the same excellent traits all around
92 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
them, and above all things else they cherished their religious
duties and pious customs. It is a pleasant fact in the history
of Staten Island, that the ancestors of the present population,
whether from Holland, France or England, each were careful to
maintain pure and evangelical principles in their families. Their
churches were established here at an early period. The follow-
ing record pertaining to the Huguenot church is so much of a
curiosity that we take the liberty to insert it in full, as it ap-
pears on one of the earliest books of record of the county.
" This following deed of Gifte was recorded for the french
Congreygashone Residing with In the Countey of Richmond
on statone Island the 22 day of may Annoque dom : 1698.
" To all Christiane peopell To whome Theas present wright-
ing shall Come John bevealle Seanior of the Countey of Rich-
mond and provence of new yorke weaver and hester his wife
sendeth Greeting In our Lord God Eaver Lasting now know yee
that wheare as Townas Ibbosone of the Countey of Richmond
yeoman did by his certen wrighting or deed pole under his
hand & sealle bearing date The seaventh day of feberary and in
the third yeare of the Reign of our souvring Lord william the
i hird by the Grace of God of England Scotland france & Irland
King annoque dom 169f Grant bargone sell and convay unto
John belvealle of the Countey of Richmond & provence of new
yorke weaver his heirs Exekitors Admsi 09 And asignes A serten
trakt or parcell of Land sittiate Lying and being on the west
side of statones Island neare the fresh killes begining by the
medow and strechig in to the wood by the Lyne of fransis
oseltone dyrekt south three hundred Rood from thence west six
degrees & northerly thirtey six Rood thence dyrekt north by
the Lyiie of Abraham Lacmone three hundred Rood thence
East thirtey six Rood Containing In all sixtey arcres as by the
Recited deed pole Relashone theareunto being had doth and
may more fully and att Large Appeare Now Know yee that the
said John belvealle of Statone Island And provence of New
Yorke and hester his wife Testified by her being A partey to
the Ensaling and delivery of thease presents for the Reaell
Loufe and Afeccone that they beare to the ministrey of Gods
word and the savashone of yeare soules do firmley by theas
presents firmley freeley & absolewtly Give Grante Rattih'e &
Confirme un to the french Congereygashone or Church upon
Statones Island within the Countey of Richmond wone Arcer of
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 93
up land Itt being parte and parcel! of the afore Recited Trackt
or parcell of Land Containing sixtey arcers sowld by the
said Townes Ibbosone itn to the said John belvealle which
arcer of Land being Laid out on the south & by East
side of the brige halfe an acer of the fore Recited Arcer
Lying on the south side the highway and the other halfe of the
fore Recited arcer of Land now Given by the said John belvealle
and hester his wife Lying and being on the north side the high-
way opesett against the other halfe arcer To have and to hold
the fore Recited trackt and parcell of upland containing won
arcer to the french Congreygashone now Residing with in the
Countey of Richmond To Ereckt and bnild A Chnrch upon the
same for the ministrey of the Gospell and the maintainence of
Gods holey word and ordinantsies and for noe other yowse nor
purpose unto The frensh Congreygashone their heirs Exiekitors
Admin rs: for Eaver and the said John belvealle and hester his
wife doth covinante promise and Grante to & with the overseers
of the frensh Congreygashone that they the said John belvealle
and hester his wife their heirs Exekitors Admin rs and asigues
shall and will for Eaver warend and defend the fore said frensh
Congreygashone Their heirs and sucksesors for Eaver in the
quiett and peacebell poseshone of the afore Recited wone arcer
of Land aforesaid against the said John belvealle and hester his
wife or from any other persone or persones what soe eaver Law
fnlley Clayming aney Estate Right titell or interest of in or to
the same. In testimoney of the same wee the said John Bel-
vealle and hester his wife have heare unto sett their hands and
h'xed their seales this twelfth day of Aprell and in the tenth
yeare of the Reighen of our Souvring Lord williame The third
by the Grace of God of England Scotland france and Irian d
King defender of the faith Annoque dom: 1698.
signed saled and delivered The marke of
In the presents of John 1 B belvealle O
JACOB CORBETT The marke of
D.LUCAS hester $ H belvealle O."
JEYN LA TOURRITTE
JOSEPH BASTIDOE
SAMUEL GRASSET"
As a meeting house was spoken of in 1695 as already ex-
isting, it must not be supposed that the acre above granted was
the site of the first house of worship on the island. The site
94 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
of the acre referred to is upon the estate of Henry J. Seaman,
Esq., about one mile from the village of Richmond, and near
the road to Rossville which runs along the north side of the
field in which the interesting spot is situated. It was described
a few years since as being in the third field of the Seaman resi
dence. The direction of the road was changed in 1831 so that
it no longer serves to mark the position of the acre of upland
referred to in Belville's deed. The bridge there mentioned was
removed by Mr. Seaman in 1849, but another was placed by
him on the same site, which was in- the northwest corner of the
same field, and from which the old road, after crossing the bridge,
ran southeast diagonally partly across the field, and then re-
turned joining the present road again near the northeast corner
of the field. The church stood on the half-acre which lay on
the south side of the highway. Some vestiges of its founda-
tion remained till the beginning of the present century. It oc-
cupied the northern slope of the rising ground to the south of
the old road, and about two hundred feet in the same direction
from the present road. The dimensions of the church were
about 32 by 45 feet, and the building stood due north and south.
A small stone dwelling house, probably built for a parsonage,
stood to the east of it. South of the church was the repository
of the dead. These graves were once marked by rough stones,
bearing no inscriptions, but of which as many as two hundred
could at one time be counted. The only inscriptions that have
been read upon stones found in this ground are those of
Tennis Van Pelt, died 1765, aged 65 years; Mary, his wife, died
1762, aged 59 years; another from which the part bearing the
name was broken off, but the date of which was 1784; and an-
other bearing the initials J. L. and date 1784.
This interesting spot commands a prospect of a soft and peace-
ful character. From its gently swelling knoll the spires of
Richmond are seen upon the right, and glimpses of the white
edifices of the quiet village may be caught through the trees.
Directly in front the meadow of Fresh kill spreads its level
surface, backed by the woods and rising grounds of Carl's neck,
while its meanderings may be traced, glistening in the sunbeams
or indicated by the mast of some tiny craft, till the mountains
of New Jersey bounded the scene. Such is the spot where
those noble exiles, the Huguenots of Staten Island, erected the
first edifice for the free and untrammeled exercise of their wor-
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 95
ship. Should pilgrims be attracted to the sacred place by this
notice of it Staten Islanders perchance, who can trace their
families to this illustrious source let them, as their footsteps
press the hallowed soil, recall a Huguenot Sabbath of a century
and three-quarters ago. Let imagination picture that humble
house of God, rustic in its appearance but sublime in all its as-
sociations. Mark those groups of devout and honest men, of
high souled women, the dark-eyed sons and daughters of
France! List to the foreign accents of the preacher's voice,
and as it dies away and their solemn anthem swells upon the
air, then give them their meed of praise! We grudge not the
Puritans their share of honor. Break relics, if you will from
the rock of Plymouth, but let not the Huguenots of France,
the Huguenots of Staten Island, be forgotten! By their own
children, if by no others, should the great and good be remem-
bered and revered.
But we must leave these musings and return to the thread of
our narrative. In March, 1688, Richmond was divided into
four towns Castletown, Northfield, Southh'eld and Westfield.
The town of Middletown was not organized until 1860. Before
the legal division of the county into towns, it was divided into
three precincts, the North, South and West: Castleton was not
included in any of the precincts, but was designated "The
Manor." The limits of the precincts were about the same as
those of the towns as established by law on the 7th of March,
1688. Castleton derived its name from the Palmer or Dongan
patent, in which the manor conveyed was called Cassiltown,
corrupted into the present name, and the corruption legalized
by repeated acts of the legislature; the other towns were named
from their position in the county.
Great political changes were now taking place in the province
of New York. The attempt of James II to restore the Catholic
church had made him odious to the British nation. In New
York the citizens were mostly Protestants and bitterly opposed
the Roman Catholic faith. Dongan had exhibited the greatest
religious toleration, which judicious policy displeased his
royal prince, and the wise and politic governor was recalled.
Sir Edmund Andros having been appointed governor of all the
provinces of New England received the seal of the province of
New York from the retiring governor in July, 1688. Andros
96 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
appointed a deputy governor over New York in the person of
Francis Nicholson.
James II did not long wear the crown. He was deposed dur-
ing the same year, and deserting his own children, became a
refugee in France. William, in compliance with the popular
wish, was proclaimed king, and the great Protestant revolution
was effected. A rumor spread in the province of New York
that the friends of the deposed monarch intended to massacre
the disaffected. A tierce popular excitement followed. The
New Yorkers, while recognizing generally the sovereignty of
William and Mary, prince and princess of Orange, a small party
remained who insisted that the colonial government was not
overthrown by the revolution. They contended that it still
remained vested in the lieutenant-governor and his council.
Nicholson was the deputy governor, and known to be an ad-
herent of the Catholic church, with many of his friends; and
this fact increased the distrust of the people. A mob paraded
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 people 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 RICHMOND COUNTY. 97
flame and 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. The
excitement at length subsided, and not a Protestant throat had
been cut.
Tradition says that several pieces of cannon were 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 H1STOKY 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 departure
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 3<)th 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 another 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 e s a ffrensch & disaffected P r 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 Puillion, 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
Cornells 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 the imposition of fines,
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
appointed governor of the colony, arrived and demanded pos-
session of the fort and the reins of government. Leisler at first
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 28th 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 county,
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 payment 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.
vi'lnals 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 u y will be pleased To signify Them iff s<J negers should be Ex-
cluded ffor 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 people 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 thf following residents of Staten Island, 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 president 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
property, 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
a ppli cation was does not appear.
We must here suspend, for a little, the order of onr 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 Csesarea, 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
Nicolls. 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 Elizabethtown 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 New 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 York 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 hi7n, 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 Gfov. 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 ffamilyes. *
" 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 New 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 previous owners.
This took place about the time when the province of New York
was divided into counties.
NewYork 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
rights 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 Christopher Billop first received actual possession of
the tract which fora 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 served his king before his arrival in America, 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 deprived 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 pre-
ferred complaints or charges against Andros, to the 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
that 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 COUNT'S.
"Bentley," 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 laud 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
prominent 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 Farmer, 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 RICHMOND 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 y e Body of Evjenea y e Wife of Thomas Billopp.
Aged 23 years Dec' 1 March ye 22d 1735."
"Here Lyes ye Body of Thomas Billopp Esq r Son of Thomas
Farmar Esq r Deed August y e 2d 1750 In ye 39th year of his
Age."
These stones are now lying in the barn yard near the Billop
house and are 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, he 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 Staten 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 RICHMOND COUNTY.
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 the keeper of 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,
Com. Pris. New Jersey."
The commissary at the same time regretted to Billop that
necessity made such treatment necessary, "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 Eichmond
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 mark." In this convey-
ance houses, barns, ferry-house and dock, out-houses and
stables are specified by name. From 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 affairs 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 w r as Benjamin and the other Henry.
The large estate once belonging to Colonel Billop was confis-
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 16th, 1784, was recorded in the
following memorandum :
"Sold to Thomas Me Farren of the City of New York, Mer-
chant, for the sum of four thousand six hundred and ninety-
five' pounds Lawf nil 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 Ryck-
man, Fifty 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 five 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
HISTORY 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
roman,tic 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,
mm^m
THE OLD BILLOP HOUSE, TOTTESVILLE.
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 HIST RICH3I-: :-TT.
. and about thirteen wide, finely arched, and may have
been 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 I --- here. The rooms have
been undersized in a manner approaching meanness.
As Billop was a well known and a military char-
. - . his house m \s rd many an interview of
such men as Lord E -^neral Kniphausen. Colonel Simcoe
and other officers of rank in the Br:\-.. --rvice who had
mand a: - s p - on the island. ImmediarT the
:e battle on L . - r.d. Lord Howe sent a communica-
tion _ ssem '-led in Philadelphia, soliciting that
a committee from tr_ - - : him. to confer on the
difficult:-- sea the nation- 7 this purpose. Ben-
- Franklin. John Adams and Edward Eutlei_- rere ap-
:ed. The interview took place in this house, and tl -
noble, patriotic. American s\ - ledined every propos!
for peace that would not acknowledge the independen - :
their beloved country.
This conference took place in the room at the nortL west : ner
of the house on the main floor. This momentous interview
regarde-i with extre - ::ude by the people of both the old
I and the ne* ^
jrandeur of a ^r^ barrle point and monument of -
The interview was t r - - ao reconcili-
Independejice was maintained. The result was limned
_e hand of God. and is seen ia the progess of a condnent
and the achievements of a all over the world,
-re is a beautiful lawn before the hou-
-. - : 3m the mansion ar^ -s
tens rich in'natural beauties. Direcrly io fron:
- _boy bay the :. :>- ".: a ad the Ra-
^hich LT'T -xpanding into the general ly :
- ^e wh^^ sf*m flows onward to the mighty Atk
vrd rh^f - a more remote di~ r - . the
mountains of Monmouth and the bold summi'- S - Sink.
upon whose lofty highlands, the beacon-fires of 1776 blazed to
alarm the country upon the rx Approach of the err _
.at a blessing is peace ! How changed the scene : Upon
HISTORY OF RICHMOND 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 mor
conspicuously brought before a wide range of interests, people
and times than perhaps any other.
At the time of Dongan'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 Staten 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 province. 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 Castleton 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 conveyed 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 lyeiug 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 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
between the two runues 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 : Ninety-
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
eight acres of meadow, 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 laud, 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:
" Whereas John Palmer of the City of New York Esqr. as
well by virtue of Several deeds and Patients 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 natiiral 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 five minutes variation ffrom
the north westward, and from thence by the reare 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 the reare of the aforesaid
lott & the lott of John Vincent northeast & by east one degree
northerly to the southeast corner of the land 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 Phillip 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 Bellew & Thomas Stilwell & from thence
upon the Iron Hills, to the land of William Stilwell & by his
land to the land of George Cummins & ffrom 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 pullion & the great swamp to the land of John ffitz
Garrett including the great swamp, thence by the soldier's lotts
and the reare lotts of Cornelis Cnrsen & 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, ffresh
meadows & swamps within the above specified bounds five thou-
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, flashing,
hawking and ffowling, 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 Cassiltowne." It was
subject to an annual quit-rent of one lamb and eight bushels of
winter wheat, to be paid if demanded on the 25th of March in
each year.
On the 29th of September, 1677, Governor Andros executed a
patent to Garret 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
water" 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 Cull," on the east bounds
of the lands of Garret Cruser ; probably 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
HISTORY 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 sumnie 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-
h'eld 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 lire. A large barn,
118 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
standing on 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
people 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 built 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 pond 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, the pond has gradually filled 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 Walter 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, 1623, belonged to a family who were pronounced " 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" appears 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
Xew 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 II, 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, whose
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.
ihe king's arms to be set up through all their villages and to
place 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, 2|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 live 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 remained till the spring of
1691, if not longer. Later, but at what time is not known, he
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 RICHMOND COUNTY. 121
On the 9th 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 which
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. Fancras' church-yard, Middlesex,
just north of London. This old church-yard has long been
noted as the burial place of snch 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 LYMERICK,
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 HISTOKT 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 1733. He mar-
ried for his first wife, Ruth, 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, 1733. Walter
afterward married a Miss Sarah Herriman of Elizabeth, N. J.,
by whom he had a son, Edward Vaughn Dongan. Walter died
July 25, 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 Founds Current lawful Money
of New 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 RICHMOND COUNTY. 123
was in command of a body of loyal troops, with 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. She 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. was entitled, he on the 15th of April, 1757, gave a
mortgage to John Herrimanand 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 the
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-luw 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-
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. ]'J.">
ily, the Moores, at Newtovvn, and he, sinking still deeper in
intemperance, accepted the position of a sergeant of foot or
marines and went on a voyage 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 enterprises,
and helped Mr. Vanderbilt the elder to funds with which to
procure a piragua and dock at Factoryville. 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 Pat tent fora Peeceof 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 N~o-
vembr. 1681.
" Edmund Andros Esqr. Seigneor of Sausmarex Lievt. and
Governor General! under his Royil. Highs. James Duke of
Yorke and Albany &c. of all his Terretorys in America Where-
as by Virtue of my Warrant y r . hath Benn Laid out for BARNE
TYSEN a Certaine Peece of Land Lyeing at Karles Neck at the
Fresh Kill upon 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 COUNTY.
Acres of Salt Meadow fronting to the said Land and fouer Acres
of Fresh Meadow upon the Hills in the Eeare of the Neck Con-
teining in all Ninety fouer Acres as by the Returne of the Sur-
vev und r 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 Royil
High 8 I have Given and Granted and by these Presents Doe
hereby Give and Grant unto the said Barne Tysen 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 Land and Premisses unto him the said Barne
Tysen his Heires and Assignes unto the proper use and Behoof e
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 every Yeare unto his Royii
High 3 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 Yorke this twenty Ninth Day of
September in the 29th Yeare of his Ma ties Reigne Annoq
Domini 1C77.
The Meadow to be proporconable 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 Compared 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
ffrance and Ireland King Defender of the ffaith &c To all to
whome these p r 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 Estp' our Lt Govern 1 ' & Commander in Cheif of our
Province of New Yorke and the Territories Depending thereon
in America &c Pray our Grant and Confirmation of a Certain
Tract of Land on Staten Island in the County of Richmond
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 127
ginning at ye Northwest Corner of the Lott of Land Laid out
Peter Billjean in the Reer of his three Lotts Granted by
'dmond Andros & Runs thence North Westerly by the Line
bra ham Lakerman & William Barker to ye Land of Tennis
oerts and Vincent fountain & so runs alongst his Line
h Easterly to the South East Corner thereof thence to the
hwest Corner of Jacques Guyen & so by the Reer of
B tteans Lotts Westerly to ye Place where begunn being
led on the Northwest by Abraham Lakerman & William
r on the North East by Tennis Eghberts and Vincent
in on the South East by the Lotts of Isaac Billjean & on
ith West by the Lotts of Peter Billjean Containing two
d acres w^h reasonable request wee being willing to
uiow Yee that of our Speciall Grace Certain Knowledge
>r motion wee have Given Granted Ratifyed and Con-
r , by these p r sents Doe for us our Heires and Successors
mt Ratifye and Confirme unto our s d Loveing Subjects
,ake and Joseph Holmes all the aforecited Tract of
hin our County of Richmond & within the Limitts &
'oresd together with all and Singular the Woods Under-
ees Timber feedings Pastures Meadows Marshes
mds Pools Water watercourses Rivers Rivoletts Runs
'ling fowling hunting and hawkeing Mines Mineralls
-old Mines Excepted and all other Profitts benefitts
1 Liberties Advantages Hereditam ts an( j appurte-
m. lever to the afoerecitd Tract of Land within the
Lii unds aforementioned belonging or in any wise
app> ^ 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 Rivoleits Runs Brooks
Streams fishing fowling hunting and hawkeing Mines Mineralls
Silver and Gold Mines Excepted & all other Proffitts Benefitts
Privilledges Liberties Advantages Hereditaments and appurte-
nances whatsoever to the afores d 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 their Heires and assignes to the only Proper use benetitt
and behoof of them the 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 Manm- of East
128 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
Greenvvch in our County of Kent within our Realm of Enghn
Yielding Rendring & Paying therefore Yearly and every Ye
unto us our Heires and Successors at our City of New Yor
on the feast Day of the Nativity of our blessed Saviour i
annuall and Yearly Rent of twelve Shillings Cnrrt Monej
New Yorke in Lieu and Stead of all other Rents Dues Dn
Services and Demands whatsoever In Testimony whereof
have Caused the Great Seale of our said Province to be 1
unto affixed Witness John Nanfan Esq r our Lieu* Go'
& Comander in Cheif of our Province of New Yorke
our ffort in New Yorke the 20th day of Apiill in the fourf
year of our Reign.
" JOHN NAN
" By his honrs Comand
M: CLARKSON, Secry.
" I do hereby Certify the aforegoing to '
Copy of the Original Record.
"Compared therewith By Me
"LEWIS A. SCOTT. Sf
Many other patents were granted for lands on
These we have already said were generally fr ;.
From the quit-rents affixed to such grants the c jrs
obtained a considerable revenue. A patent by
Governor Fletcher, December 20, 1697, to Sr : for a
tract of land on the south side of the island i. The
annual quit-rent on this was four shillings >vas soon
after in the possession of Jacob Berger, and by the middle of
the century belonged to John Keteltas in whose family it
remained for 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 Leconnt, 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
HISTORY 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 A rent Van Amer Two Bushells and a half of
Wheat in full for One years Quitt 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 D NICHOLLS Dep l - v Rec r 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.
RICHD. NICHOLLS Dep^' Rec,- Gen 1 ."
"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 Rec r Gen 1 ."
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 r . 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 r . Gen 1 ."
"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 my 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 Decem r 1680 at One & a half Bushel Wheat
per Annum.
( From 25 March 1775
Aaron Van Naum - to 25 May 1787 is 12
( 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 r "
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 throne, 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 prosperous
years of the colony.
The governors and time of their administrations were as
follows, those who died in office being marked by an asterisk (*):
Henry Slaughter,* 1691 ; 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, 1731-32 ; William Casby*, 1732-36*; George
Clarke, 1736-43 ; George Clinton, 1743-53 ; Sir Danvers Os-
borne,* 1753 ; James De Lancey, 1753-55 ; Sir Charles Hardy,
132 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
1755-57; James De Lancey,* 1757-60 ; Cadwallader Colden,
1760-61; Robert Monkton, 1761; Cadwallader Colden, 1761-65;
Sir Henry Moore,* 1765-69 ; Cadwallader Colden, 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 " Cuckoldstown," 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 Cuckols Towne y e Dimensions
Twelve foot in breadth, fourteen foot Long, Two Story high,
six foot y e 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
it the order of y e sd. Undertakers & Receipts shall be a Suffi-
cient discharge to y e 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-
jestys' reign (1723), "Benjamin Bill Eq r 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
t ntered 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. 133
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 e 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\ Arrowsniith, Lambert Garrison, jSTathi Britton,
Abm. Coole [Cole], Peter Rezeau, Esq 8 .
" March y e 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. Buttler, Peter Catherick and Nath 1 Brittin Junr.
all for fighting. John Dove and John Bilew for carrying of
Syder upon the Sabbath Day. Abraham Van Tyle for allowing
his negroe to Gary 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 ffine
for his misbehavior to Nath 1 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 Jim. Benjn 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 couple 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 same 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
SlME VAN NAME."
The following venire has a paper attached to it containing the
names of twenty persons, 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 Svmmons 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
SlME VAN NAME."
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 135
Names attached; " 1 Abraham corshon, 2 richard crips, 3
John mengalroll, 4 garet cruse, 5 philip merel, 6 honas deker,
7 barnt sweme, 8 ranses bodine, 9 nicholes stilwell, 10 nichles
depue, 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 Jury 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.
66
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; Cornelis 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 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
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 impulse 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 period of live months she raised a sum of $625,000 to aid
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 137
in carrying on the war, and levied a force of 2,680 men. In that
levy the quota for Richmond county was 55 men. Ticonderoga
was captured by 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 13th 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 1700,
the French made an unsuccessful attempt to recapture Quebec,
and on the 8th 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 dignified or important royal ceremony.
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 princes or on the eve or following the successful
138 HISTORY OF RICHMOND 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 around which was inscribed
the ancient motto, " Trio, juncta in uno." 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, as 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 the 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.
" W. PITT.
"Honourable Robert Monckton."
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 139
In presence of the concourse of people assembled at the time
and place appointed for the ceremonies General Moncton read
the foregoing letter, and then 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
140 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
the wilderness between Albany and Lake Ontario, carrying
with him eight pieces of cannon, and three mortars. Among
these troops was a regiment commanded by Colonel Corse, of
Queens 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. The 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 result:
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,
fin- the Use of such Persons, in the said County, as are unable
to prbvide 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
4(3 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 Persons are Mr. Samuel Brooms and Colonel Ben-
jamin Seamans, who 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 septr 1694.
Richmond County this first day of September annoque dom:
1694: By vertue of Awarend dyreckted to the Coustabell 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 Alltred 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 & mr 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 alt 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 william
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
Leconnts & 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 compliance 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 the Richmond road is the oldest road
on the island, but at what date it was opened we are not in-
formed. Very probably it follows the course of a pre-historic
Indian trail. It is said that it was originally 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, 17oS. 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 the 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 ferry 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
pays 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 French 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 lodgings -At Elizabethtown, 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.
" October the 30th. We were ready to proceed on our jour-
ney at sun rising. Near the inn where 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 there 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, which 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 offers more cultivated fields
to view. Hills and vallies still continued, as usual to change
alternately.
v ' 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 farm-
house 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 people 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 planks.
Cherry trees stood along the enclosures round corn-fields.
" The corn fields 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 pond : 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 York. We left our horses here and went on
board the yacht : we were to go eight English miles by sea ;
however we landed about eleven o'clock in the morning at New
York. We saw a kind of wild ducks in immense quantities
upon the water : the people called them Slue 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 had 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 they 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,
II [STORY 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 placed 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 flax 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 otherwise
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 the 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
148
HISTORY OF RICHMOND 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
Thomas Dongan
Males. Females.
1st Thomas Tice
2d Ceaser
3d Jack
4th Jack Mollato
5th Joe
6th Eobbin
7th Parris
Jacob Corssen Ceneor
1: Japhory
2: Sam
3: Jupeter
Jacob Corssen Juner
John Vegte
1: Tom
2: Primes
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 One negroNa Charles
1st Philis
2 Peg
3 Hanna
1: Mary
2: Nanne
1 Rose
2: Nans
1: Bette
2: Jean
1 June
1: One W Leana
2: One W Phillis
Cornelius Cruse
Simon Simonson
1: One Negro Na Napten
Johanis de Groet
1 : One negro Na Jack
1: One W Na 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. forlen
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.
Negro Na Lue
1 Negro Na Tom
1 Negro Na Sambo
1 Negro Na harry
1 Negro Na frank
1 Negro Na Harry
Elenor haughwout
Abraham Crocheron
Barnit De Pue
John Crocheron
David Cannon
Aron Prall
Charyty Merrill
Joseph Begel
1 Wench Na Bet
1 Wench Na Mary
1 Wench febe
1 Wench Na Bet
Cornelias Korsan
1 Wench Na Philis
Wench Na Susanna
" A list of the Negroes of my division in the
North Compeny of Staten Island.
" JACOB CORSSEN Jur "
While we are speaking of slavery the following copy 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 John 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-
wout, 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 supposed they went together. Whoever takes
up the said negro Man and Wench, and secures them so that
they be had again, shall have Forty Shillings Reward, and
Charges paid by the Owners, John Decker and Widow Haugh-
wout."
As the life of a slave was doomed to be one of labor, intellect-
ual cultivation was deemed unnecessary ; 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. 151
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 early 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
were built by almost every family, and when properly con-
structed, were comfortable and durable. They were one story
high, with wooden chinmies 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
family 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 thread 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 familips 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 experiences, 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 neighbors, when the ministers from the city periodi-
cally visited them. The 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 Christinas, 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 have 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 RICHMOND COUNTY. 155
" The A Bone [above] Mentioned Parsons Ar Mared [married]
By Me on the 25th day of Jenewery 1682
RICHARD STILLWELL Justes
"By order OBADIAH HULJIES Clarck."
It was a common practice for 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 suffic* publick 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 Annoq 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 pei-iod, are arranged from
tables in the documentary history of the province.
Men. Women. Children. Blacks. Total.
328 208 118 73 727
. . ; 505
1279
156
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
White Males. White Females.
1723
1731
1737
1746
1749
1756
1771
640
. 777
. 856
. 887
. 862
.1150
611
827
763
835
858
805
1103
255
304
349
382
409
465
594
1506
1817
1889
2073
2154
2132
2847
In 1693 the following persons were civil officers of Richmond
County :
Ellis Duxbury, Esq., judge of the common Pleas. Abraham
Cannor (Cannon). Abraham Lakeman (Lockman), Dennis The-
unisse 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 Corsen, Colonel.
John Le Conte, Judge. Christiene Corsen, Lt. Col.
Christian Corsen, 2d Judge. Thomas Billopp, Major.
Gozen Adrianz, 3d Judge.
Nicolas Britton, Justice.
Richard Stilwell, do.
Joseph Bedell, do.
John Veghte, do.
Rem Vander Beek, do.
John Latourette, do.
Thomas Billop, do.
Cornelius Corsen, do.
Joshua Mersereau, do.
Abraham Cole, do.
Barent Martling, do.
Nicholas Larzelere, Sheriff.
John Hillyer, Coroner.
Daniel Corsen, Clerk.
North Division.
John Veghte, Captain.
Frederick Berge, Lieutenant.
Jacob Corsen, Jun., Ensign
South Division.
Cornelius Stoothoff, Captain.
Jacob Berge, Lieutenant.
Aris Rvertse (Ryerss), Ensign.
M\'st Division.
Nathaniel Britton, Captain.
Marthias Johnson, Lieutenant.
Abraham Maney (Manee), Ensign.
The Troop.
Peter Pen-in (Perine), Captain.
J-arret Crosse, Lieutenant.
Wynant Wynants, Cornet.
Danul Wynants, Qr. Master.
AFTER V.
THF
ONARY PERIOD 1775 to 1783.
Events Prior to
cursions ar
York and
n of Independence. The Coming of Howe. In-
The Close of the War and the Evacuation of New
Incidents of the Revolutioiiarv Period.
DUF ariod of the revolution Staten Island was
of many important events. Located as it
is so c the metropolis, it became a favorite spot for
the e' of the British army, and was made the seat
of rr Owing to this wealth of historic associations
we s ' oned for devoting liberal space to the notice of
thif le island was not in a condition to defend itself
ag' rsions of any foe who might approach it with re-
ST . As an example of the poverty of its martial
? iy before the war we submit the following extract
rds :
o. 1770 then the Supervisars Examined into the ac-
arms that was bought for the county and Benjamin
Brought in the account of What quantity Was in
hair Was in his hands 36 Delivered to Captain
guns and 12 hangers and guns With Bagnits to Mr.
. one Gun With a bagnit to Cornoral Dongan."
le war clouds were gathering and the preliminary
; being taken in other parts there seems to have been
stir here in the direction of sustaining the cause of
mce. The people were not unanimous in their senti-
it were probably held in check by nearly an equal di-
tween the cause of the colonists and the cause of the
jographical situation of the island gave a direction to
tical sentiments of the people. Commanding the ap-
to the metropolis and the province, whatever nation
:d it, took advantage of its natural facilities in a mili-
KISTOUY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
tary point of view. The Dutch had a battery on die 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 itsadvai. Vhoever, then, possessed
this important point, before the <n, to a certain extent
might be said to possess, or at leas x>l the island and the
metropolis. Whilst the English i T;overnment of the
province, the people naturally imb. -lish sentiments ;
freedom of opinion on political subje, - as the nature
and character of the government was coi 'as not toler-
ated. It is not to be wondered at, then, t ^le who for
more than a century had been taught to bei was little
short of treason to doubt the divine origin -hy, and
especially of the English monarchy, should 1 tiously
opposed to a change which was calculated to o all their
most cherished institutions. More than half ol ation
on the island, at the dawn of the revolution, -r of
English birth or descent, and few, perhaps non >ed
the idea that the rebellion could by any possit 1,
and even among the whigs themselves there w>
thousands who hoped against hope.
Nearly all the descendants of the early Dutch s
whigs or patriots, and those of French descent w
between them and the English. Many of the Fre
settled here before the conquest of the province by t
had intermarried with the Dutch, who were then th.
class, and had imbibed Dutch opinions, manners am
and had even fallen into the use of the Dutch Ian'
some of the families bearing French names and of F
scent, at the present day, are to be found family reco
as they are, written in the Dutch language. There w
ever, another and more marked difference between tht
of the several nationalities than mere political sentime
opinions ; the Dutch were imbued with a deep religioi
ing ; they were not generally as well educated as the E
but they could read and write, and keep their own ace
the English had their religion, too, but they were more
and less earnest and devoted than their neighbors ; the
in this, as in other respects, accommodated their relii
that of the class witli which they had amalgamated. TJ
cause throughout the country was calculated to fos f er rt
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 159
enthusiasm, 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 23d. 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 "Rivingtoii 1 s Gazette,'' 1 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 llth 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. The 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 h'nd
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 restriction, 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 restoi'ed 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. Cornelius Dussosway, Henry Ferine, David
Latourette, Esq., Peter Mersereau, John Poillon, Moses Depuy,
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 161
Lambert Merrill, John Tysen, Joseph Christopher, George Bar-
rus and David Corsen.
To this communication congress replied the next day in a let-
ter addressed to "John Poillon, John Tysen and Lambert Mer-
ril, of the committee for Richmond 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 2A 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 opened, and continued till 6 o'clock; at the conclusion
of which it appeared that a majority was, for the present, 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 witli 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 you with sufficient reason, for the
present, to forbear with us.
"We wish and pray that if yet any hope 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 WOODHULL,
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 re-
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 JACOBSON,
LAMBERT MERRILL,
JOHN TYSON,
PETER MERSEREAU,
GEORGE BARNES,
MOSES DUPUY,
DAVID LATODRETTE,
DANIEL CORSEN,
HENRY FERINE,
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 :
"!N CONGRESS, Feb'ySth, 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 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
said county, us they shall judge most expedient, provided that
the said Deputies and major part 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 Banckerand 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 majority 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 Minne 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
the committee of that place, and requested them to send the
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 105
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 port 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 them 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
Warner, to whom the warrant was delivered for execution, 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 country," and
pronounced any accusation against him unfounded.
On the 1st of April, 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
ordered 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 places.
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. Clute, 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 L 25th, To the Exps of myself and party reccte
the sev 1 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 Comma,nder-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 one 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 permitted, 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 COUNTY.
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
troops, and t.he 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 which 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
letters: "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 paid for
fire-wood furnished to the troops in Richmond county, and for
their labor in preparing the guard house, at the requestof Lord
Stirling, and was referred to Colonel Mifflin. Hence, we infer
that some of Lord Stirling's troops 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 Peter Poillon, of Rich-
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
mond county, had been arrested for supplying the king's ships
with provisions. On the 8th, Poillon was brought before the
committee and examined. He did not deny the charge, but
pleaded in extenuation 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 reputable witnesses, that 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 April 22d,
1776, was presented to the provincial congress, and attested by
Israel 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 1776 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 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
of New York, and taken his position on board the ship
" Halifax," during the previous autumn, and there he wrote to
Mayor AVhitehead 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 whicli 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 fleet,
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 determined
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 plane for
action.
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 171
On the 3d of July the fleet moved up to the Narrows, and
the grenadiers and light infantry were landed undercover 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 fled 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 sail and they lay in a line extending from the
mouth of the Kill von Kull 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 " Pennsylvania 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 tip some works.
172 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
"Their near approach to Elizabeth-Town Point greatly
alarmed the inhabitants of Essex county, and particularly the
people 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 tired 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 pounders, belonging to the fleet from
Halifax, layingin the Kills, near Mr. Decker's ferry, was almost
torn to pieces last Wednesdaj 7 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 lay near Amboy, in order 'tis
supposed, to stop all navigation that way."
Lord Howe and General Howe, having thus established their
troops 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 only a part of them were
encamped on the island. The number of the latter has been
variously estimated at from nine to fifteen thousand men.
Let us now turn aside from the Held 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 court house in White Plains, Westchester county ; the
British then having taken possession of Staten Island, there
were no depvities 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.
1 1 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 New York,' to that of 'The Convention of the
Representatives of the State of New 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 rep-
resentation in legislation, they proceeded to appoint these of-
ficers ; and for the county of Richmond, Joshua 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 legislature 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, submissively, 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 Mersereau 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 stealthy 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 was recognized at once. There was no
British post just then nearer than 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, escaped during the
following night to New 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. Simcoe says :
"In the distribution of quarters for the remaining winter,
Richmond was allotted to the Queen's Rangers. This post was
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 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 New 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.
Skirmishing 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 25th 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 the General'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 Statibenzee 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. The negro on his way decided to change his
course and, turning 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 you 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 Newark 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 accoxint of the engagement on the
25th 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 ignorant 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 more 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 the 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 RICHMOND 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 his field pieces 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 country;
you have my blessing and prayers, that God will protect 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 under 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 12th. 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 ' Phoanix," 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 state 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
12
178 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
to General Washington and upon good authority reported,
That the English army amounting to fifteen or twenty thousand,
had 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, hung five 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 orders killed, barrelled up and
put on board ; the wretches thinking that they 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. - -farther 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 are hard at it. There is an abundance of smoak to-day
on Long Island, our folks having set fire to stacks of hay, &c.,
to prevent the enemy's being benefited in case they get any ad-
vantage against us. All the troops in the city 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 authority :
Commander in Chief, General the Honourable Sir William
Howe, K. B.; Second in Command, Lieutenant-General Henry
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 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 Woleot ; 28th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel
Rob. Prescot ; 35th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Carr;
49th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Henry Calder, Bart.
3d 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.
4t7i 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 Clerke ; 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 McLeroch.
1th Brigade. Brigadier-General Wm. Erskine, quarter-mas-
ter general ; 17th Light Dragoons, Lieutenant-Colonel Birch ;
71st Highlanders, 1st Battalion, Major John Macdowell ; 2d
Battalion, Major Norman Lament.
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 Corn-
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 ;
180 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
2d Batralion 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 Hat boats, with eleven bat-
teanx and two galleys (built for this service) were prepared
for landing the troops. Howe delegated the direction and
superintendence of the embarkation of the army from Staten
Island entirely to Commodore Hotham, 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 Parker, 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 commando!' General Clinton, made good their landing with-
out opposition. 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 pieces 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-
land was effected without opposition. There is no need of re-
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 181
capitulating the story of the battle and its unfortunate result
they are well known ; the British succeeded in gaining posses-
sion of New York, which was their main object To keep pus-
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 the 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 upon 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 simply 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 him 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 precipitancy was painful to him and
182 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
perilous to themselves. 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 plenipotentiary 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, Knyphausen 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 part 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 oue 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 from 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 shore and up the Raritan to make predatory excursions
184 HISTORY 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 upon 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 dislodge them
by force must have been attended with great hazard and loss.
The following from an English authority 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
p7-ovincial 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 pay, 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
IIISTOUY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 185
a major-general, and part of them were stationed on Staten
Island.
In February, 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.
Predatory warfare and petty skirmishes were of frequent oc-
currence. On the 27th of February, Major Tympany crossed
from Staten Island to Elizabethtown with about sixty men oil 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 party 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 first 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 approved example of the militia of King's county, by
liberally raising a sum of money 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 STATEN ISLAND have already subscribed Fice
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 Free-
dom. Trimmers and some doubtful Characters, it is expected,
will be made manifest upon this Occasion, and of course be
properly noticed."
On the 6th of June a party of about twelve British made a
raid into Elizabethtown, where they were fired upon by the
Americans, and a skirmish ensued, in which two or three were
killed and several wounded. The British succeeded in stealing
a flat- bottomed boat large enough to carry one hundred men.
About this time the British commander caused to be issued
the following proclamation, which sufficiently explains itself.
" Office of Commissary-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 RICHMOND 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 such 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 proper 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 expected 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 General."
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 project of reaching Philadelphia by land seemed to be
abandoned. Another attempt, however, was made to draw
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 his rear, he prepared to cross
from Amboy to Staten Island, having determined to attempt to
reach Philadelphia by water. Throwing a bridge, which had
been constructed 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.
The 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 Westh'eld, but finding, as a British
chronicler states, " that the caution and prudence of General
Washington 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 28th, as
follows :
" SIR, On Thursday morning General Howe advanced with
his whole army in several columns from Amboy, as far as West-
h'eld. 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 :
li 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 RICHMOND COUNTY.
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-
terest which naturally attaches to his name must be our apology
for the insertion of a copy of that document in this connection.
" The 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 Sisters 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 with Liberty to de-
stroy or detain whatever he 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 /
of New York. )' s
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
Sea ton both of the City and Province aforesaid Esquires who
being severally duly sworn did declare that they 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 write,
And that they verily believe that the before written 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.
"GARY LUDLOW SUIT."
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 early
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
HISTORY 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 troops 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, which 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 iu their
rear. These consisted not of soldiers only but of citizens also,
whom they had captured on their way; this prevented the
British from tiring, 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, they concealed themselves in a corn-
field, where they waited until their pursuers were within reach,
when they tired 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, while they them-
selves seized what boats they required, and effected their es-
cape. While they were crossing, the British reached the shore
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, mostly 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 troop's 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 fifty, 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 tories 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 put in motion at about
three o'clock in the afternoon of the 21st. These were selected
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
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 bod}' reached
Elizabethtown at about ten o'clock in the 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 Frelinghuysen, inarched 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 i*egiment 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 positions of Don-
gan and Allan and drove them back. They fell back to the
neighborhood of Prince's bay, where they found intrenchments
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 reached 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 witli De Borre's brigade to attack Colonel Bar-
13
194 HI9TOR1' OF RICHMOND COUNTS'.
ton's regiment that lay at the New Blazing Star (or Decker's
ferry). Here he found the latter drawn up to receive him, but
upon the main body moving up 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 Small wood, 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 Small wood'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 fire, 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 approach 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, while 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 affair, 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 the
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,
190 HISTORY 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 rested 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 re-
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 tories but peaceable Quakers.
The fears of the British, above referred to, were not ground-
less. During 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 they
would be overwhelmed by numbers they retired, and with the
loss of a few prisoners made good their escape to the Jersey
shore. On Friday 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 approached the
shore near the present site of Mariner's Harbor 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
use, not exceeding three bushels for a family, on obtaining a
certificate from a justice of the peace attesting that they were
proper persons to be trusted with it. This regulation soon fell
into abuse, arid 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 permit, 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 fanners 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, * * * * * d 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-five 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 belong-
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 Brown, a deputy-commissary, are to be
tried in Jersey for high treason ; and that Mr. Iliff 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 murder 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 replied :
" January 7, 1778.
" SIR,
"Having received a letter under your signature, dated the
4th instant, which I 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 ons 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 them 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 expiated 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 perishing in the
goals of New York (the coolest and most deliberate kind of
murder) from the rigorous 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 sway 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 bear sway."
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 carrying 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 effort 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 Hour 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 Elizabethtown, 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 proceeded down the
202 HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
sound to the mouth 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 tire 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 30th 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 delayed 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"^^ York 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 hare 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 Game'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, while 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 Billop 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
the 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, while 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 have Phlebot-
omists in plenty. Genuine.''' 1
The following records are suggestive and appropriate to this
time:
"Sept. 28th 1779 Richmond County. Received of John Bedel
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 205
Esq. the sum of Fifty one Pound six shill for the use of the Gun
boat as appeals by the following receipt
"Richmond County Sept the 28. 1779
"Received of Mess r Richard Conner, Christian Jacobson
Henry Ferine, Cornells Corson supervissors for said County the
sum of 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
effect, 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 flat upon the deck,
apparently engaged in strapping 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 Elizabeth town 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 by the Heth'elds. 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. 1 ' 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 Jersey 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 sufferings 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 became like
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 207
sheep under the 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 during
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 intensely 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, which 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 took 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 participating 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 15th inst. at Day break, the Alarm was given, that
the Rebels were on Staten Island, an Express 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
HISTOKV OF RICHMOND COUNTY. 20U
at them, the second shot roused them from a Meal they wer
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 Number of Art.illery 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 March 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, not
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 RICHMOND COUNTY.
"They committed many Excesses, in plundering and dis-
tressing the Inhabitants.
"Sixteen Prisoners have been already sent to New 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 cavalry
marched from New York to Staten Island upon the ice. The
East river was also blocked up for many days. 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 forty companies of troops
among them. This gave them good courage and they actually
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 Knyphansen, 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 AVashington'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 Washing-
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 Staten 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 you
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, Sir, 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
John 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
be
