"History of Richmond County, (Staten Island) New York, From its Discovery
to the Present Time.", Richard M. Bayles, 1887

BEGIN

Numerous instances of suffering are preserved in the traditions of some of
the old families of the island.  There was one man of local notoriety whose
name is still remembered and mentioned by the descendants of those whose
misfortune it was to suffer at his hands; his name was Nathaniel Robbins;
he resided at what is now known as New Springville, but the house which he
occupied was demolished many years ago.  It stood near the corner of the
roads leading to Richmond and Port Richmond, fronting on the former. He was
an Englishman by birth, dissolute in his habits, and the terror not only
of those who dwelt in his neighborhood, but of the whole county.  His wife
was a native of Staten Island, and a daughter of the widow Mary Merrill.
 The opinion which his wife's mother entertained of him may be inferred
from a clause in her will, which was dated January loth, 1789, and in
which she bequeaths to her daughter Mary Robbins the sum of [pounds]40,
"so as never to be in the power or at the command of Nathaniel Robbins,
her present husband." His depredations were generally committed under some
disguise, which he supposed effectually concealed his identity, though
he was often betrayed by his voice or some other tell-tale circumstance.
He had his associates it is true, who were also well known, but Robbins
was regarded as the leader and soul of the gang.


The Church of the Holy Comforter, located at Eltingville, was opened for
worship October 8, 1865, its erection being largely due to the efforts
of Mr. Albert Journeay, assisted by the ladies of the neighborhood.
The building was designed by Mr. Upjohn, the architect of Trinity church.
The parish was organized October 24, 1865 ; the incorporators were Albert
Journeay, James Guyon, Edward Banker, Jr., S. K. Raymond, John W.  Mersereau,
Jr., and Charles E. Robins. The church edifice was consecrated May 29, 1868.


William and Ann Merrill were married in August, 1776; Abraham and Ann
Merrill were married October 3, 1790; Mary, widow of ------ Merrill,
made her will January 10, 1789, proved November 30, 1789; reference has
been made to this will before, and the bequest made to her daughter Mary,
the wife of Nathaniel Robins.


Staten-Island, May 30, 1777.
 Next Tuesday being the third day of June instant, Stage awill set off from
the place known by the name of Doyle's Ferry, rear the Watering Place,
or Staten-Island, now kept by Capt. William Leake, and will proceed to
John Stillwell's Ferry, on the west side of the Island opposite Amboy,
and continue the same every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and carry
passengers at Eight Shillings each; and goods as low as possible.
 The best usage will be given, and great care taken of every thing sent by
the said waggon. The waggon will set off in the morning as soon as passengers
arrive, agreeable to the tide.


A list of the names of slaves, male and female, above fourteen years of age
owned in the north division of Staten Island in 1755, is still preserved.
We give the list, with the names of their owners, as it appears.
A List of The Names Male and Female belonging to

Males.                                                 Females.

                        Joseph Lake
1 Negro Na Kinck                                1 Wench Na Peg 


Supervisors of the several towns in Richmond county since the beginning of
the year 1766, alphabetically arranged:
Northfield-- Lake, Daniel, 1795-97


Barnes
George's wife's name was Dorothy, and they had the following children:
Elizabeth, born July 18, 1767; John, born October 11, 1768; Roger, born
January 7, 1771.  They had also a son George.

Roger married Sally Lake, a sister of Bornt Lake, who was killed (see Lake
family), and after the death of Roger she married Richard Wood.


Egbert
Tunis married Petronella Dupuy, and his son John was baptized December, 1745.
John had sons, in the order of their birthJoseph, John, Tunis, Samuel,
Edward, Thomas, Holmes, Cornelius, Henry and William.  Of these there were
still living in 1876: Edward, on the Manor road, Castleton ; Cornelius,
on the Amboy road, Southfield, and William, at Graniteville.

This Cornelius Egbert married the daughter of Bornt Lake, who was murdered
by Christian Smith, and occupies the same house Lake occupied at the time
of his death. His brother William married another daughter of Lake.


GARRISON. There were several of the name who emigrated from Holland; the
earliest were Gerret Gerretson Van Gelthuys, "a tailor came over, in 1658,
in the The Gildedship Beaver;" John Gerretson, baker, with his wife and
child, came at the same time and in the same ship. Wonter and Stoffel came
over in February, 1659, in the "Faith;" Gerret and Jan came over in December
of the same year in the same ship.  There were several others of the name
who came over in succeeding years.
 Whether the family on the island have all descended from one immigrant, or
from more, it is now impossible to determine.  The earliest mention of the
name on the island occurs in 1691, when Jacob gave his brother John a power
of attorney to sell land on Smoking Point, from which we infer that Jacob
was not a resident of the island and John was. From 1698 to 1702 we find
the names of Frederick, Christopher Lambert and Seger, all as land owners.
 The name seems to have been interchanged with that of Van Wagener. For
example, Hendrick Van Wagener bought of Thomas a piece of ground on the main
road from the DonganNarrows to Amboy, May 23, 1755. This was sold by Van
Wagener (as Garretson) to Parkinson; by him to Britton; by him to others, and
is now known as "Concord." We have the statement of the late Judge Metcalfe
that all of Van Wagener' s brothers went by the name of Garretson, and that
he himself finally took the name.  The change of Garritson to Van Wagener
is partially accounted for by the fact that they had come from Wageningen,
in Holland, while others of the same name had come from other places,
as certain lists of immigrants preserved in the documentary history show,
and by careless custom the name of his birthplace became the name of the man.
 Hendrick is mentioned in the county records in 1768; he lived on the Clinch
property, Richmond road, near Fingerboard road.  His son Harmanus was born
in April, 1732, and died July 3, 1813.  Harmanus' son John (always named as
John, Esq.), was born in 1761, and died December 19, 1837; he was county
judge from 1803 to 1823, presidential elector in 1808, and in surrogate
1820. John's son Harmanus was member of assembly in 1825; it was humorously
said of him that he carried more weight in the assembly than any other member,
for he weighed over three hundred pounds. This Harmanus had three brothers,
John, Jr., George and Garret. John, Jr., was member of assembly in 1836;
his sons are Jacob C. and John of Fresh kill.
 John C. was born March 15, 1788; he is the son of John, and his mother was
Elizabeth Conner, sister of the late Col. Richard Conner; his grandfather
was usually called Hannis, which is an abbreviation of the word Johannes.
 In addition to the above, we find in the several church records mention
made of the following: Jacob, born September, 1766, died July 3, 1847;
he married Catharine Simonson, January 18, 1789; John, known as "Col.,"
born 1761, died August 15, 1839; he had a daughter baptized September 7,
1787; Nicholas and Christina Van Woglom, son Abraham baptized September 21,
1744. Daniel and Mary had the following children: Charles, born February 11,
1755; Jacob, born June 13, 1757; and Daniel, baptized August 22, 1762. Daniel
made his will December 21, 1792, proved December 5, 1793, in which he speaks
of his wife Mary, and his children Daniel, Jacob, Charles, Catharine Buskirk
and Mary. Isaac and Maria Christopher, son Christopher baptized March 21,
1731. John and Susan Lake married December 23, 1806. Charles, sheriff in
1730, and Adrianche, mentioned in the county records in 1763, we find no
further traces of.
 The following particulars in regard to the Garretson family have been
furnished by Mr. John H. Garretson of Green Ridge.
 "Gerrit Gerritsen and Annetje Heermanse his wife, and one child, Gerret,
then two years old, came from Wageningen in Gelderland. They arrived in the
ship "Faith" Dec.  23. 1660.  He was the founder of the family now spread
over Hudson, Bergen, Passaic and Essex counties in New Jersey, and Staten
Island. He brought a certificate of good character and Christian deportment
from the Burgomasters of his native city.  He settled at Communipaw and died
Oct. 4, 1696, his wife having died Sept. 7th of the same year.  They had seven
children: Gerrit, Jannetje, Fitze, Harmanus, Aeltze, Hendrick and Johan nes.
 Six of these were married. Some of them took the name of the place their
father came from for their family name, others did not. Gerrit, the eldest
married Neesje Pieters, May 11, 1681, and had children: Elizabeth, Peter,
Gerrit, Annetze, Johannis, Abraham and Jacob.  The Staten Island Garretsons
are descendants of Johannis of this family, who married Margaret Sip,
May 22, 1713.
 "Johannis had children, Gerrit, Johannis, Cornelius, Jacobus, Hendrick,
Abraham, Harmanus and Hannah.  The last was born on Staten Island, as is
supposed, the family moving hither in 1732.  He had property sufficient to
give these children a good start in life. His home place was on the old Town
road, now occupied by H. Meyer. This he gave to his second son, Johannis, who,
following the custom already alluded to, adopted the name of Van Wagenen.
Cornelius, the third son, married Claasje Pieters, and settled in Metuchen,
N. J.  Jacobus married a Simonson, and settled at Clifton, on his wife's farm.
 "Hendrick married Catherine Paulerson, December 3, 1747, and lived on the
John Britton place on the Richmond road.  Garrison's Station is on property
of his descendants. Abraham married and lived in Bergen.
 "Harmanus married Autty Simonson, Apr. 26, 1709, and lived on the old Town
road till 1790, after which he moved to the farm now owned by Mr. Erastus
Wiman. They had three children.  These were Margaret, John and Dinah. The
first married Harry Guyon, and inherited the Guyon place, the second
married Martha Cadmus and had the old town farm, and the third married
Joshua Mersereau and moved to Steuben county.
 "John Garretson and his wife Martha had children: Jane, Harmanus, Alida,
Dinah, John, George, Richard, James, Garret and Martha. Jane married Henry
Seguine and had children: Joseph and John.  Harmanus married a Miss Cadmus,
had a son. Jasper, who lived in Bergen, the early home of his mother.
Harmanus had three other wives but left no other children. Alida married
George Van Pelt; Dinah married John Tysen; John married Ann Crocheron
and left two children, Jacob C. and John H., now of Green Ridge; George
married Susan de Groot and had a son, George and a large family of girls;
Richard and James died unmarried; Garret married Mary Ann Clauesson, and
left children. John J., William and three daughters; and Martha married
twice John Sawyer and James Laforge.
 "Jacob C. Garretson married Harriet N. Ketcham and had children: John,
Philip, Henry, Jacob C., Erskine White, Sarah (married John Eadie), Ella
(married Craig Ketcham) and Harriet (married Albert Serrell). The last named,
Jacob C., had sons, Henry and Jacob, who are married."


LAKE. Joseph, born July 8, 1753, and his wife Catharine, born June 2, 1755,
both died March 14, 1813, within one hour of each other. They had a daughter
Patience, born May 30, 1790. There was another Joseph, also born in 1753,
and died May 24, 1843, in his 90th year. There was still another Joseph,
born in 1773, and died March 16, 1854. He lived on the Manor road near
the Four corners, Castleton. William and Mary Tysen, his wife, had the
following sons: William, born November 16, 1769; Bornt, born March 25, 1771,
killed October 27, 1815; Joseph, born May 12, 1777. Bornt had the following
sons: William. Joseph, Daniel and John, of whom John was living in 1876 at
Graniteville. Daniel and Margaret, his wife, had a son Daniel, born May 12,
1777. Cornelius and Susan Androvet were married April 6, 1794. Joseph and
Eliza Van Pelt were married January 20, 1798. Daniel and Margaret Jackson
were married June 5, 1802.


Daniel and Alida Lake were married October 6, 1798. 


THE VAN NAME FAMILY.
Sophia was born August 29, 1798, married October, 1816, to William Lake;

Sophia [Van Name] Lake, born May 9, 1823;

END