Chapter I: Preface

At the time of his death, in 1885, Mr. Ostrander had completed considerable MS. for a history of the City of Brooklyn and Kings County; had prepared many chronological notes with a view to fuller writing, and had accumulated a mass of material in the form of transcripts, references, newspaper and other reports. It was his own understanding that a first volume of a proposed two-volume history might be regarded as well in hand, and that the wherewithal for the remaining chapters was advanced toward completion.

At the outset of his undertaking the editor met the embarrassment of not finding any outline which might reveal the precise form in which the author intended to cast his work. Mr. Ostrander worked with a definite idea, but did not formulate this idea in writing, and only the completed expressions of this idea remained for the guidance of the editor. It became apparent that the author intended to rearrange and extend the matter for the earlier chapters. This matter was preserved in the form of a series of articles published in the Brooklyn "Eagle," during 1879-80, covering the period from the discovery by Hudson to the beginning of the Revolution. The degree of attention which these articles attracted induced Mr. Ostrander to extend the series far beyond the range he originally intended to give to them. As a result these articles were not precisely consecutive, nor was the matter so ordered as to adapt itself to book chapters without material changes. Without knowing the author's design in detail, it was exceedingly difficult to effect these changes save upon lines which the natural symmetry of such a work seemed to suggest, and the editor has had no hesitation in so rearranging the material, and in changing such features of the narrative as had been temporarily essential to serial publication.

For the middle period, extending from the opening of the Revolution to the time of the consolidation of Brooklyn, Williamsburgh, and Bushwick, the author left a full narrative, and considerable collateral material. Beyond this point the chapters were in an unfinished sketch. In putting together the elements of this part of the work, the editor has been actuated by a wish to follow, so far as it might be apparent, the author's aim and plan. Possibly there is no occasion to offer apology for those passages in the body of the work, and particularly in the last chapter on modern Brooklyn, in which the editor has carried the narrative beyond the date of Mr. Ostrander's death. The few instances in which this occurs are obviously justified by the exigencies of the work. Nor should there be need for any defense on the part of the editor for the proportions of different elements of the work as now presented. No two historical writers would agree as to essential proportions in such a matter, and, without consultation with the author, no editor could hope to do more than compromise between such intent as appeared in unfinished work before him, and such ideal as to himself seemed wise.

Both author and editor have incurred obligations to Stiles's histories of Brooklyn and Kings County; to the "Notes" of Furman; Field's "Historic Scenes"; the Collections of the Long Island Historical Society; the histories of Thompson and Prime, and to other authorities to whom acknowledgment is offered in the notes and in the body of the work. The editor is indebted to the excellent almanacs of the "Eagle" and of the "Citizen"; to the "Brooklyn Compendium," compiled by John Dykeman, Jr., and published by order of the Common Council in 1870; to the recent compilation, "The Eagle and Brooklyn," edited by Henry W. B. Howard and Arthur N. Jervis; and to various local reports and publications which do not call for enumeration here.

A. B.

BROOKLYN, N. Y., _March 5, 1894_.

CONTENTS

PAGE

STEPHEN M. OSTRANDER xi

CHAPTER I

THE REGION OF BROOKLYN AT THE TIME OF THE DISCOVERY

Geology and Conformation of Long Island. Evidences of the
Glacial Period. Theory of the Glacial Action. "Back-Bone"
of the Island. Earliest Historical Description. Trees.
Animal Life. Indian Tribes: Their Subjugation by the
Iroquois; Habits and Habitations 1

CHAPTER II

DISCOVERY AND FIRST SETTLEMENTS

Early Voyagers. Henry Hudson. Attitude of Holland and Spain.
Motives of Holland. Hudson's Reports. West India Company.
Dutch on Manhattan Island. The Walloons and the Wallabout.
Derivation of the Name Wallabout. First authentically
recorded Settlements on Long Island. The Van Corlaer
Purchase. Bennett and Bentyn's Purchase. Joris Jansen de
Rapalje. Van Twiller. West India Company's Purchases
on Long Island. East River Lands 16

CHAPTER III

THE INDIANS AND THE EARLY SETTLERS

The Dutch Policy toward the Indians. Puritan and Dutch Policy
contrasted. Long Island Indians: Their Relations with the
Whites. Kieft's Attacks on Pavonia and Corlaer's Hook.
Uprising on Long Island. Overtures for Peace. Mission to
Rockaway of De Vries and Olfertsen. Restoration of Friendly
Relations 42

CHAPTER IV

THE BEGINNINGS OF BREUCKELEN
1643-1647

The Ferry and the Ferry Road. Settlement of Flatlands.
Flatbush. Lady Deborah Moody and the Settlement of
Gravesend. Early Settlements. The Name of Breuckelen.
Henry C. Murphy's Comments. First Schepens and Schout.
Commission from the Colonial Council. The Removal of Kieft.
Arrival of Stuyvesant 53

CHAPTER V

DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE UNDER THE DUTCH
1647-1664

Beginning of Stuyvesant's Administration. Condition of the
Colony. Character of the Early Dutch Houses. Household
Arrangement. Dress. Funerals. Marriages. The Mixture of
Races. Slavery. Religion. Attitude of Stuyvesant toward
Sects other than Dutch Reformed. Triumph of Liberal Ideas.
First Churches in Kings County. Troubles over the Church
Tax. First Schools. The Dutch and Popular Education. End of
Dutch Rule 69

CHAPTER VI

KINGS COUNTY AFTER THE ENGLISH CONQUEST
1665-1700

Assembly at Hempstead. The "Duke's Laws." Lovelace. New York
retaken by the Dutch. Colve becomes Governor. Return of
English Rule under the Treaty of 1674. Dongan and the
Popular Assembly. De Sille. Journal of Dankers and Sluyter.
The Ferry. A Dutch Dinner. The Schoolmaster and the
Constable. William and Mary and the Leisler Revolution.
Sloughter appointed Governor. Execution of Leisler, and
Subsequent Honors of a Public Reinterment. Long Island
receives the name of Nassau. Development of Privateering.
Captain Kidd visits and buries Treasure on Long Island.
Bellomont and the Suppression of Piracy. First Trial for
Treason 106

CHAPTER VII

BROOKLYN BEFORE THE REVOLUTION
1701-1775

Brooklyn becomes the Largest Long Island Settlement.
Division of the Common Lands. Regulations as to the Cutting
of Lumber. The King's Highway laid out. Brooklyn Officials
at the Opening of the Century. Lord Cornbury's Proclamation
to Long Island Justices. Slavery. Encroachments on the
Common Highway. The Trial of Zenger. Population in 1738.
Fortifying Long Island. Newspaper Glimpses of
pre-Revolutionary Life. Ferries. Kings County in the
Assembly and the Provincial Convention. Philip Livingston.
General Town Meeting in Brooklyn 157