Welcome to The Gravesend Gazette: Historical News From Southern Brooklyn, a blog of occasional pieces on my favorite topic, Gravesend, Brooklyn, New York. By no means do I claim to be the expert on Gravesend, but I have been obsessed with learning about the history of this neighborhood since childhood, and to that end have amassed a sizable collection of images, documents, and information which it is now my pleasure to share and write about.
–Joseph Ditta
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- Yours truly in front of . . .
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- . . . an 1885 map announcing the sale of the Samuel Smith estate in Gravesend.
The Gravesend Gazette 
I live in NJ and have a painting of the Gravesend Village Nursery signed and dated by Louis Saphier dated 1932. I always thought it was a painting of a nursery in my area Hunterdon Cty. in NJ. I am moving and decided to google the painting and discovered your web site. Can you give me any information of the locale of the nursery and the valve of the painting. Thank you.
Hello Katherine. Thanks so much for writing. If you don’t mind, I’m going to respond via email so I can send you some things about Saphier. -Joseph Ditta
Hi Katherine. Just wondering if you saw this update to the Saphier story: https://gravesendgazette.com/2015/01/26/breaking-news-a-gravesend-mystery-solved-at-last/
Maybe related to Conrad Saphier of Tilden High School fame?
Yes, they were brothers!
I lived near McDonald Ave…when and why was the name changed from Gravesend Ave? What is in the namer: Gravesend Neck Road? Was there a family named “Neck”?
Gravesend Avenue was renamed in honor of John R. McDonald (1871-1932), chief clerk of the Brooklyn Surrogate’s Court, in 1933. The story goes that there wasn’t much of an outcry over the name change because Brooklynites equated the name “Gravesend” with things morbid.
No, there wasn’t a family named “Neck.” The word “neck” is also a geographical term. A neck of land juts out into water. The extreme eastern portion of the town of Gravesend, bordered by Sheepshead Bay and Gerritsen’s Creek (in Marine Park), was known as Gravesend Neck. The main route to the area was called, prosaically, Gravesend Neck Road.
Hello.
I’m currently researching the original settlers of Gravesend, specifically James Hubbard and Deborah Moody, as well as those who came with them.
It is a multi-decade endeavor which I’m hoping to wrap up soon.
I’d live to correspond with anyone else interested in the earliest period of the village’s formation and its founders.
My email is hubbartt1958@gmail.com.
Regards,
Scott Hubbartt
Schertz, Texas
Hi Scott. Thanks for finding my blog! If you’ve not heard, the New York City Municipal Archives has digitized the Kings County “Old Town” records, including those for Gravesend. You can read the press release at
Click to access 2019-12-27-MEDIA-Historic_Kings_County_Town_Records_Streaming.pdf
And here’s a link directly to the Gravesend records. They’re a bit of a jumble, so you’ll need a LOT of patience to figure them out!
http://nycma.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/view/all/where/Gravesend?sort=identifier%2Ctitle%2Cdate%2Croll
I saw your post on the Gravesend Gazette. I am working on my family genealogy. My ancestors were Thomas Poland who is the first in that line of my family to come from England. It appears that he came from Gloustershire, England through Gravesend, England on the ship Scorpion to Lynn, Mass in 1624. He was born in 1590 and died in 1660 in Gravesend, NY. His son John Poling was born in 1620 in Gloustershire and died in Gravesend, NY or somewhere in Kings County NY.
Apparently Thomas followed Lady Moody to NY from Mass.
Are there any resources you can share? Do you know of a census of the Gravesend, NY cemetery. It appears that Lady Moody’s grave is unmarked from what I am finding.
I am Thomas Neil Poling, born 1955 in Chicago. My father, and several previous generations lived in West Virgina who lived in NJ, Maryland, Virginia and WVA.
Thank you for any help you can offer.
Neil Poling
Monterey, Calif
Hi joe
I e/ mailed you a few weeks ago, my question was , who is in charge of the
Vansicklen cemetary?
I am looking into a headstone for my grand mother , Ethel van sicklen
Married twice , O’Connell, Powers. Passed,1968
She is buried next to her sister Nellie van sicklen
Can you depict to someone who oversees the cemetary?
Sincerely
Lawrence O’Connell
Larryo159@aol.com
Tel 516-782-3149
My grandmother lived at 1601 Ave t. My family owns the house. Is there a way to get the 1912 picture without the tag over it?
Hi Tayla. Someone is selling a print (without watermark) on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/272128258961?hash=item3f5c1bb391:g:p7YAAOSwWTRWuQFB
I am inquiring about the copyright of the 1905 photograph of Gravesend Cemetery with the Lake House in the background. My ancestor, John Lake, one of the original patentees, is reputed to be buried there. I am writing a book and would like to include this photograph. Thank you for considering my request. Sincerely Debra North.
I’m not sure which photograph you mean, Debra, since you didn’t comment directly on the page where you saw it. Can you send a link? As a rule, any images published prior to 1925 are in the public domain.
This is the link to the photo
Ah, okay. Now I recall. I clipped that image from a PDF of a the New York Daily Tribune of March 19, 1905. I don’t remember on which site I found it.
Here’s a direct link to the newspaper page with the image: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1905-03-19/ed-1/seq-57/
Actually it’s from the Library of Congress “Chronicling America: Historic Newspapers” website.