Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1881 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XX. FARMS AND THEIR OWNERS. Nearly all the landed proprietors in Flatbush are those to whom the titles of their farms have been transmitted for several generations, dating in many cases from the settlement of the Dutch on Long Island. Now the land is passing out of the hands of its former owners, the old names are disappearing, and the descendants of the first settlers are comparatively few. As long as it was possible to do so, the landowners retained their farms as such; they were not anxious to cut up their beautiful fields into city lots, or to widen the green lanes and country roads into dusty avenues and wide boulevards. The southern borders of Flatbush bound the towns on which the ocean waves measure the rise and fall of the tides; toward the north lies the ridge of hills that long kept back the ebb and flow of the tide of human life in the adjoining city. In past years Flatbush slept as quietly between the two as if the waves of the one could no more reach it than could the waves of the other. But the separating hills have been leveled, and the village has been awakened by the noise of approaching voices. The tide of increasing population within the city boundary has risen higher and higher, and has swept hitherward in larger and ever-increasing circles. The first ripple of this rising tide has touched our borders, and before long the sudden rush of some great wave will sweep away every trace of village life. Anticipating these changes, we propose to show what the size and appearance of the village are at this present time, and to measure its growth since 1842, the time at which Dr. Strong's history was written. The map attached to that history gives us the streets and houses at that date; following down the course of the...
