Page:A history of the city of Brooklyn - including the old town and village of Brooklyn, the town of Bushwick, and the village and city of Williamsburgh (IA historyofcityofb01stil).pdf/15



In the year 1821,, a native of the town, published a little volume which he modestly entitled "Notes on the History of Brooklyn," and which, for that day, possessed great merit as a local history. After him, in the form of occasional contributions to magazines and newspapers, came the numerous productions of that worthy citizen, Gen., himself a connecting link between Brooklyn's Past and Present. , the historian of Long Island, in 1843, and the Rev., his successor in the same historic field, in 1845, each gave interesting but necessarily brief résumés of Brooklyn history; while somewhat scanty "Chronicles" in Spooner's Directory for 1848, and  "Historical Sketch," in 1810, close the list of what may properly be called histories of this Town and City. The Town of Bushwick and the City of Williamsburgh have had their histories outlined in a similar manner, by Thompson, Prime and Johnson; and by Mr., in the Long Island Family Circle, in 1852; the only work, however, which can pretend to the dignity of a volume, being the "History of Williamsburgh," published by Mr. , in 1852, as an adjunct to the Williamsburgh Directory of that year. These were the pioneer historians of Brooklyn history, to whose efforts all honor is due.

The present history had its inception, in the Fall of 1859, in a casual suggestion of my friend Mr., of this city. From that time to the present, it has been prosecuted with persistency of purpose, although with frequent interruptions, and always amid circumstances least favorable to literary composition. My purpose has been to present to my fellow-citizens of Brooklyn a full and reliable history of the city of their residence, from its early bumble beginnings to its present position as the third city of