A History of the City of Brooklyn and Kings County, Volume II.

by Stephen M. Ostrander

The population of the town as ascertained by the census of 1830 was 15,292. The village contained about two thirds of the town population.

Furman, the indefatigable collector of statistics, says that in 1832 Brooklyn (the village) was divided into five districts, which together contained 12,302 inhabitants. In the village there were 110 licensed and 68 unlicensed taverns. This was at the rate of one tavern to every 69 persons. The second district appears to have enjoyed the privilege of having the most taverns. It contained 79 in a population of 2801, or one to every 36 inhabitants. In view of the fact that the proportion of saloons to population to-day is one to every 225 persons, those rash debaters who persist in finding a movement toward ruin in modern life may find the figures significant.

An interesting glimpse of Brooklyn as it appeared in 1820 is furnished by Guy's well-known picture, painted from a Front Street window, and showing a cluster of houses in the heart of the village. The scene is of winter, and the figures in the foreground snow are in most instances likenesses of people of the day. The Brooklyn Institute is in possession of the picture. At the time of the fire which, in 1890, destroyed the Institute building, then on Washington Street, and since completely obliterated to make way for the Bridge approach, it was slightly damaged; but it remains one of the most interesting memorials of an interesting period. According to the key published in Stiles, the picture represents stores and dwellings of Thomas W. Birdsall, Abiel Titus, Edward Coope, Geo. Fricke, Diana Rapalje, Mrs. Middagh, Benjamin Meeker, Mrs. Chester, Robert Cunningham, Jacob Hicks, Joshua Sands, Augustus Graham, Burdett Stryker, Selah Smith, and Dr. Ball, as well as the figures of Mrs. Harmer, Mrs. Guy, Jacob Patchen, and Judge John Garrison.

Diana Rapalje, a daughter of Garrett Rapalje, was one of the prominent figures in the village, formerly a "favorite in Presidential circles at Washington, and latterly an eccentric of haughty bearing." Her house was bought by Colonel Alden Spooner, who printed the "Star" under its roof. Near the ferry stairs was the house of William Furman, overseer of the poor, who was one of the founders of the Catherine Street Ferry, and served as the first judge of the county between 1808 and 1823. He served in the state Legislature, and filled other important commercial and political offices. His son, Gabriel Furman, was the author of the "Notes" on the antiquities of Long Island, which have been so useful to later writers. At Birdsall tavern, on the Fulton Road, people bought the New York papers, and Quakers made it a stopping-place. Near at hand was the house of Henry Dawson, who ran the "sixpenny boats." In a low stone house lived "the gentlemen Hicks," and in the same region to the south were "Milk" Hicks and "Spetler" Hicks, other prominent members of a family whose name is closely associated with the early history of the Heights. Here also were the Middagh and Pierrepont properties, which were greatly improved by a street plan originated by Hezekiah Pierrepont. On the Middagh estate was a house built by Thomas Kirk for a home and printing-office, and afterward occupied by George L. Bird, the editor of the "Patriot." To this house, too, came James Harper, the grandfather of the distinguished publishers, Harper and Brothers.

GUY'S SNOW SCENE IN BROOKLYN, 1820

John Doughty occupied the house formerly owned by Diana Rapalje. Doughty was intimately connected with Brooklyn's village life, as fireman, assessor, town clerk, overseer of highways, president of the fire department, school-committee-man, and collector of the village. A picturesque figure was Jacob Patchen, a pungent, unmanageable man, conspicuous in the village life by his obstinacy and determination.

Over the wheelwright shop of George Smith, opposite the lower corner of Hicks Street, was the court-room of Judge Garrison. Garrison was born at Gravesend in 1764. He served as fireman, trustee, school commissioner, and justice. Joralemon's Lane was a rough country road, at the foot of which had been Pierrepont's Anchor gin distillery, which was converted about 1819 into a candle-factory, and again became a distillery. The road had been laid out by Peter Remsen and Philip Livingston. The site of the present City Hall was then an open field, while the site of the county court house was occupied by a famous resort known as the Military Garden.

The Pierrepont mansion stood at the foot of Montague Street. It was built by John Cornell, and became Pierrepont property in 1802. Hezekiah Pierrepont was a dignified and influential member of a community in which his exertions were always for broad and public-spirited plans. Teunis Joralemon, who had been a harness-maker in Flatbush, bought part of the Livingston estate, on which he practiced market gardening. He filled the offices of justice of the peace and Trustee, and other offices, but was of a temperament antipodal to that of Pierrepont, hotly opposing new streets, especially through his own property, and scorning the distinction of having Joralemon Street named after him. Another prominent estate was that of the Fleets. The name of Bergen is prominently associated with the progress of the village. At Bedford Corners were the Meseroles, Ryersons, Lefferts, Vandervoorts, Suydams, Tiebouts, Cowenhovens, and other old families.

In December, 1821, the subject of removing the court house from Flatbush to Brooklyn was agitated in the papers, and on the 21st of January, 1825, a meeting was held at Duflons, whereat a committee was appointed to obtain the removal of the court house and jail from Flatbush to Brooklyn. In 1826 the subject was brought to the attention of the Legislature, and that body passed an act that the court of common pleas and general sessions should alternate between Flatbush and the Apprentices' Library Building in Cranberry Street, then just finished. The court of common pleas in those days corresponded to the county court of our time. The county clerk's office was removed to Brooklyn in March, 1819. The county court began to hold sessions in Brooklyn in January, 1827.