HISTORY OF BROOKLYN. 33

CHAPTER II.

BROOKLYN, SIXTY YEARS AGO.

Before proceeding to trace the history of the new village, it seems desirable to present our readers, as far as can be done by the aid of pen and pencil, with a view of Brooklyn as it appeared about 1816; and, with but little alteration, for about fifteen years ensuing. If, in so doing, we seem to indulge too much in minor details, we can only plead that these minutiae are indispensable to a proper understanding of what we propose. We are writing not for ourselves and our contemporaries only, but for those who are to come after us and to whom these matters may be, to a considerable extent, unattainable except through our pages; “Posterity” it has been said, “delights in details” and to many of our readers themselves, if they should live to “a good old age,“ years will bring a truer appreciation of the value of many of these little points which are now unheeded in the rush and bustle of the active present. If, therefore, any one chooses to “skip” this chapter as “stupid,” we shall content ourselves with the (in nowise improbable) prediction that, at some future day, it may prove to be even to them, the most interesting portion of the volume.1

1 Not being “to the manor born,” and having lived in Brooklyn only since July, 1856; we do not pretend to impose this chapter upon our readers as our “personal recollections.” It is, in fact, the result of long and careful study, in which we have been largely aided by the manuscript notes of Brooklyn's first historian, Gabriel Furman, who had a singularly rare appreciation of those things most valuable in a local history ; by the reminiscences, both oral and in manuscripts of Nathaniel F. Waring, Esq., upon whose memory the events of the past seem to be photographed with peculiar tenacity and clearness; and by numerous conversations with, and examinations of maps, etc., belonging to Mr. H. E. Pierrepont and Mr. Silas Ludlam. To these gentlemen, as well as other parties (ladies included) whom we have consulted in the preparation of this chapter, we return oar thanks for their kind furtherance, in every possible way, of our difficult and somewhat presumptuous attempt to effect this restoration of “Brooklyn in the Olden Time.”