Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/329

Rh charges brought against him, before the classis in Amsterdam. The vessel entered Bristol channel by a mistake, and struck upon a rock, going down with eighty persons, among them Bogardus and Kieft.—His wife, Annetje Jansen, corrupted into Anneke Jans, b. in Holland about 1600 ; d. in the village of Beverwyck, N. Y., 19 March, 1G63. She first came to America in 1030, with her first husband, Roelof Jansen, of Waterland, who had been sent out by Patroon Van Rensselaer as assistant steward at Albany. They afterward removed to New Amsterdam, among the earliest Dutch settlers. Here, in 1636, they obtained from Gov. Wouter Van Twiller a grant of sixty-two acres of land, the present boundaries of which are the North river, Christopher street, Bedford street. West Houston street, Sullivan street, Canal street, West Broadway, Bar-

clay street, Broadway, and Fulton street, around to the river again. Shortly afterward Jansen died, leaving Anneke with four children. In 1638 she married Everardus Bogardus. After the death of Dominie Bogardus, Anneke, again a widow, with four additional children, continued to reside in the city, and in 1654 she obtained from Gov. Stuyvesant a patent in her own name of the farm above mentioned. In her will she named as her sole heirs Sarah Roelofson, Katrina Roelofson, Jannettys and Rachel Hartgers (two children of her deceased daughter Frytie), and John Roelofson, her children by her first husband, and William, Cornelius, Jonas, and Peter Bogardus, children of the second marriage. On 27 Aug., 1664, the grant of land was confirmed by the English government, as may be found recorded in the office of the secretary of state at Albany in the " Patent Book," pp. 28-30. In 1670 part of the land, a salt meadow north of Canal street, was sold at public auction; but the sale was never carried out, on account of some alleged flaw in the title. In 1671 five of the heirs conveyed the whole farm (or houwery) to Col. Francis Lovelace, then governor of the province of New York. But one of the sons, Cornelius, did not join in this conveyance, and therefore his heirs have always claimed that they have a right to their share of the property. In 1705 the estate, then known as the " King's Farm," was leased or grant- ed by the colonial authorities under Queen Anne to Trinity church ; and, in spite of numerous con- tests, that corporation has continued to enjoy all the benefits and revenues of the vast property to this day. Nicholas Brower, one of the heirs, brought a suit in ejectment in 1750, claiming that the title was not in Queen Anne. He was non-suited by default, renewed his suit in 1760, and was again beaten. In 1807 Col. Malcolm, who had married an heir, brought an unsuccessful suit in the New York supreme court, to recover a part of the property. In 1830 three other heirs had a similar experience. Chancellor Walworth in 1834 dismissed a suit bi'ought by Jonas Humbert. In 1847 Cornelius Brower brought nine suits, all of which were dismissed. In these Vice Chancellor Sanford, after examining every fact on both sides, decided that, waiving all other points, the church had acquired a perfectly valid title by undisputed possession longer than the limitation at which title might be gained by possession in 1705, when the land came to the church. The accompanying view represents New York at that time.

BOGARDUS, James, inventor, b. in Catskill, N. Y., 14 March, 1800 ; d. in New York city, 13 April, 1874. He received the ordinary school education afforded by his native town, at the age of fourteen was apprenticed to a watchmaker, and soon became skilled as a die-sinker and engraver. His inventive ability was first manifested by an eight-day, three-wheeled chronometer clock, for which he received the highest premium at the first fair of the American institute, after which he produced an eight-day clock with three wheels and a segment of a wheel, which struck the hours, and, without dial-wheels, marked the hours, minutes, and seconds. In 1828 he invented the "ring flier" for cotton-spinning, which afterward came into general use, and in 1829 devised an eccentric mill, in which the grinding-stones or plates run in the same direction with nearly equal speed. In 1831 he made an engraving-machine with which gold watch-dials could be made, turning imitation filigree works, rays from the centre, and the figures in relief, all by one operation. The steel die from which the gold medal of the American institute is struck, and other beautiful medallions, were made with this machine. He also invented the transfer-machine for producing bank-note plates from separate dies, which is now in general use. In 1832 he invented the first dry gas-metre, and in 1836, by giving a rotary motion to the machinery, he made it applicable to all current fluids. While in England, in 1836, he produced a medallic engraving-machine, with which portraits of the queen. Sir Robert Peel, and numerous other distinguished persons were engraved, and he also agreed to con- struct in London a machine for engine-turning that would copy all kinds of known machine engraving, but could not imitate its own work. The British government in 1839 offered a reward for the best plan of manufacturing postage-stamps, and that submitted by him was selected from among 2,600 competing designs, and it is still in use. His later inventions include a machine for pressing glass, appliances for shirring India-rubber fabrics, and for cutting India-rubber into fine threads. Besides improvements in drilling-machines and in eccentric mills, he patented in 1848 a sun-and-planet horse-power, and a dynamometer for measuring the speed and power of machinery while in motion. His factory in New York city, built in 1847 entirely of cast-iron, five stories high, was the first building so constructed in the United States, and probably the first in the world. His success in this undertaking led to his engaging in the business of erecting iron-ware buildings throughout the country. He invented a pyrometer of great delicacy, and a deep-sea sounding-machine, which can be used without a line and is very accurate, and also made numerous improvements in the manufacture of tools and machinery.

BOGARDUS, Robert, lawyer, b. in 1771 ; d. in New York city, 12 Sept., 1841. He practised law in New York for nearly fifty years. In the war of 1812 he was, from July, 1813, till June, 1815, colonel of infantry. He was also a member of the New York state senate.