AGNES LAKE HOUSE
424 Neck Road
This house is always called Agnes LAKE'S house although that lady
has been dead many years. She owned the house and was born in it before
26 February 1843, the date of her baptism.
It was built by her father John I. LAKE (b. 4 April 1812 - d. 3 December 1885)
about the time of his marriage to Ann STILLWELL in December 1832. It stands
on property that was conveyed to John and Derrick LAKE on 25 May 1808.
Before his death, Derrick deeded his share of the property to
Elizabeth, widow of his brother John who died in 1824, and to their children
John I. and Maria LAKE.
After she inherited it, Agnes NICHOLS LAKE modernized the house. Before
1897 she sold the farm to M. L. TOWN but retained the dwelling with a small
plot of ground. At her death, this went to Van Brunt TANDY.
Although NICHOLS was a name closely connected with the LAKE family of
Gravesend, Agnes claimed she was no relation to that family.
John LAKE, from whom many of the Long Island, Staten Island and Canadian LAKES
are descended, was living on Long Island as early as 1652 when he witnessed the
Indian deed to Meller's (later Bergen's) Island in Amersfoort. He owned land in
Midwout which he sold on 20 September 1661. He was on the Gravesend assessment
roll of 1683. He married Ann, daughter of Thomas SPICER, who was a founder of
s'Gravensande, and died prior to 4 August 1696. In his will dated 30 September 1658,
he mentioned three children:
Margarte,
John and Daniel.
His wife was alive in 1702.
John LAKE, his son, probably lived for a time in Flatlands where he married
Neeltje CLAESSEN. He was there in 1670 when he bought a horse from James HUBBARD
of Gravesend. He was on the Gravesend assessment roll of 1683, was captain of its
militia in 1700 and elder of its church in 1714. In his will, which was proved
17 May 1729, he mentions his wife Mayke.
Daniel LAKE was on the Gravesend assessment roll for 1683, the year in which
he married Abigail, daughter of Nicholas STILLWELL. In 1695, he moved to Staten
Island and it is from him that the Staten Island LAKES are descended. His son,
John, who married Margaret SNIDER, was a Loyalist during the Revolution and
fled to Canada in 1784. From him are descended the Canadian LAKES.
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