VAN PELT - WOOLSEY HOUSE 4011 Hubbard Place

One of the most ancient streets in Brooklyn is called Hubbard Place. It was formerly Hubbard Lane and was originally part of an Indian footpath. On it stands a small house. The picket fence of early days has been replaced by a tall ledge. It was built, so the story goes, about 1791 by Aert VAN PELT, who came from New Jersey and married Sarah VAN BRUNT widow of Coert VAN VOORHIES, about 1765. Aert and Sarah VAN PELT had three daughters and a son Coert, all of whom were baptized in the Flatlands Church. When Aert died, Sarah inherited the house and farm. She died 31 March 1799 and eleven days later a vendue was held at her house. On 31 March 1810, the property was bought for £505 by Israel WOOLSEY who had married the VAN PELTS' daughter Catlina (baptized 26 January 1772 - d. 12 March 1837) on 13 October 1793. The WOOLSEYs' youngest son Roeluff (b. 17 October 1809 - d. 6 February 1860) inherited their house and farm. On 15 December 1849 he married Martha BERGEN (b. 12 August 1821 - d. 18 December 1884) and had two children: Tunis BERGEN WOOLSEY, who moved to Minnesota when a young man, and Harriet Anna (b. 18 November 1858 - d. 15 December 1907). Harriet Anna was married in her home on Hubbard Lane to Dr. Clark Beckwith GLOVER on 14 April 1881 and went to Flatbush to live. The house was then rented and finally sold. Israel WOOLSEY was probably descended from that George WOOLSEY, an English boy born in 1610, who had lived with his parents in Rotterdam and who came to America in a Dutch vessel in 1623. Later he went to Plymouth Colony but in 1647 was again in New Amsterdam where he was known as Joris WOLSEY and where he married Rebecca CORNELL on 9 December 1647. In 1648 he was a fire-warden there. He had four children, the two younger of which were baptized in the Brooklyn Church, 30 June 1678. The WOOLSEYs who lived in Flatlands early in the eighteenth century were no doubt his descendants.

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