"October 11, 1693. Att a meeting of the Justices off Kings County, held att the County Hall.
"Present, Roetiff Martense, Nicholaus Stillwell, Joseph Hagerman, and Henry Ffilkin, Esquires, Justices.
"John Bibaut, off Brookland, inn the county aforesayde, wee aver being committed bye the said justices too the common jail of Kings County, ffor divers scandalous and abusive words spoken by the sayde John against theire majesties authority, and breache of the peace; the said John having now humbly submitted himself and craves pardon and mercy off the sayde justices ffor his misdemeanor, is discharged, paying the officers ffees, and being on his good behaviour, till the next cort of sessions inn November next ensuing the dayte thereoff."
Several others were arrested and imprisoned on similar charges made by the justices. Although the fines imposed were heavy, it is not to be presumed that the offenses committed were of a serious nature, as the accused were all discharged on payment of the fine exacted.
[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.
Before the close of the seventeenth century Brooklyn had assumed a leading place among the Long Island towns. Indeed, in the number of assessed persons the village with the "ugly little church" began to exceed Midwout as early as 1675,[36] when it had sixty property owners who paid taxes.
At the beginning of the new century we find Breuckelen, if not growing rapidly as we now understand the term, at least treading steadily forward and assuming the traits of an organized community.
At a town meeting held in 1693, the common lands of Brooklyn had been divided as follows:
"All lands and woods, after Bedford and Cripplebush over the hills to the path of New Lotts, shall belong to the inhabitants of the Gowanis, beginning from Jacob Brower and soe to the uttermost bounds of the limitts of New Utrecht.
"And all the lands and woods that lyes betwixt the aforesaid path and the highway from the ferry toward Flattbush shall belong to the ffreeholders and inhabitants of Bedfford and Cripplebush.
"And all the lands that lyes in common after the Gowanis betwixt the limitts and bounds of Flattbush and New Utrecht shall belong to the ffreeholders and inhabitants of Breucklin, fred neck, the ferry and the Wallabout."