New York & New Jersey Books

Dutch New York
Minutes of the Court of Fort Orange and Beverwyck 1657-1660 Vol II (NY Dutch) $55.00
Translated and edited by A. J. F. Van Laer
Albany: The University of the State of New York, 1923
(from the preface) The minutes of the court of Fort Orange and the village of Beverwyck, of which translations appear in the present volume, consist of four parts, each of which contains the proceedings of the court for a single year. For the years 1657 and 1660, there are no original minutes in the Albany county clerk’s office. Engrossed copies of these minutes, however, are contained in two separate records which before the Capitol fire of 1911 were bound as parts 2 and 3 of volume 16 of the New York Colonial Manuscripts, in the New York State Library. These records were fortunately salvaged from the fire in very good condition and from them the present translations have been made.
The minutes for 1658-1659 make up the first 211 pages of an original record in the Albany county clerk’s office which on he back is lettered: Court Minutes 2, 1658—1660, and underneath, in larger type, Mortgage No. 1, 1652—1660. A translation of these minutes, made by Professor Jonathan Pearson, was among the manuscripts which in 1914 were presented to the New York State Library by his sons. With the exception of these minutes, these manuscripts have since been published under the title of Early Records of the City and County of Albany and Colony of Rensselaerswyck, volumes 2—4. The present volume does not follow Professor Pearson’s manuscript translation of these court minutes, but contains a new translation. which uniform in character with that of the earlier minutes that are printed in the first volume of this series.
Among the minutes that are printed in this volume there are proceedings of a number of important conferences with the Indians which were held at Fort Orange during the first Esopus War. Translations of these proceedings were published by Mr Berthold Fernow in volume 13 of the Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York. They have been carefully revised for the present work, in which they appear in their proper chronological places. The same applies also to a number of ordinances issued by the court of Fort Orange and Beverwyck, of which translations differing in some cases materially from the present are included in the Laws and Ordinances of New Nether/and, 1638—1674, compiled by Dr E. B. O’Callaghan.
In connection with the court minutes of 1657 and 1658, attention is called to the fact that a few leaves, containing memoranda in the handwriting of Commissary Johannes La Montagne of various complaints that were made to him in those years, have by mistake been inserted after page 1 36 in volume 2 of Deeds, in the Albany county clerk’s office. A translation of these memoranda, erroneously ascribed to Johannes Dyckman, will be found on pages 245—47 of volume 1 of the Early Records of Albany, published by Professor Pearson in 1869.
336 pages, 6x9 hardbound, the covers have some of the color rubbed off, corners slightly bumped, light shelf wear. Good condition.

New York City

The Man Who Tried to Burn New York $19.95
Nat Brandt
Syracuse University Press 1986
Fascinating story of the Confederate spies who set fire to New York during the Civil War.
292 pages, softbound, new >m

Genealogy in the Bronx: An Annotated Resource Guide to Sources of Information $8.00
Compiled by Janet Butler, Edited by Gary Hermalyn
New York: The Bronx Historical Society, 1977
Table of contents:
Books on The Bronx and the New York Area Selected Vendors
Selected Resource Centers Age Search Bureau
The Bronx County Historical Society
The Bronx County Register Bureau of Vital Records Bureau of War Records
Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons) County Clerk's Office
Department of Buildings Eastchester Historical Society
Historical Documents Collection, Queens College
Huguenot and Historical Association
Long Island Historical Society
Marriage License Bureau
Military Service Records, National Archives
Mount Vernon Public Library
Municipal Archives and Records Center
Municipal Reference and Research Center
National Archives and Records Service
National Personnel Center
New York Genealogical and Biographical Society
New-York Historical Society New York Public Library
Local History and Genealogy
Microfilm and Reading Room
Map Division
Manuscript Division
New York State Historical Association
New York State Library Potter's Field
Schomburg Center for Black Culture
Surrogates Court
Westchester County Clerk and Land Records Office Westchester County Historical Society
Other Resource Centers Cemeteries of The Bronx Records Check List
Appendix
Family Tree Charts (missing)
30 pages, 9x12 typewritten photocopy, (this is the way it was published) good condition, missing the appendix.

New York Towns and their History

Revolutionary Soldiers Resident Or Dying In Onondaga County, N. Y.; With Supplementary List Of Possible Veterans, Based On A Pension List Of Franklin H. Chase, Syracuse, N. Y $69.95
Rev. W. M. Beauchamp.
Onondaga, NY:  1913. Onondaga Historical Association
Includes headstone inscriptions on some soldiers, sometimes gives wife and children. Information varies from soldier to soldier.
Table of Contents: Title page, Publications of the Onondaga Historical Association. Revolutionary soldiers in Onondaga County, Camillus, Cicero, Clay, De Witt, Elbridge, Fabius, La Fayette, Lysander, Manlius, Marcellus, Town of Onondaga, Town of Otisco, Town of Pompey, Town of Salina, Town of Skaneateles, Town of Spafford, City of Syracuse, Town of Tully, Town of Van Buren, Some names not assigned to towns, Back matter, Cemeteries, Index, Addenda, Affidavit, Cemeteries, Commission Discharge, Errata, General Plan, Land Grant, Local History, Military Tract . Index of Soldiers listed.
301 pages. Fair condition, (front cover detached) tears on spine.

Wolfert's Roost: Irving-On Hudson, New York $24.95
Carl Carmer
Washington Irving Press  1971-1st edition
247 illustrations, 16 maps Excellent condition
This book is about 1,850 acres, more or less, of land 22 mi. north of New York City, on the Hudson River.  Within its pages one finds the drama, history humor and characters which a bit of land has been host two.  From America's first great author, for whom Irvington was named, to his articulate neighbors, antecedents and successors, here is an album of nostalgia, adventure, pathos, information and involvement.
Once referred to as the richest square-mile on earth, Irvington was a mecca of the wealthy and famous.  In these pages will be met Goulds Vanderbilts, Morgan's and other "howling swells" of the Irvington's high society.  One also visits their mansions, estates and castles.  But the Smart said had no lien on gaiety in the community.  There were they immune from the day-to-day vicissitudes of sanitation, water supply and other services.  The reader shares in the colorful lives of settlers, farmers, soldiers-heroes, artists, writers-characters of many kinds, from a lonely hermit whose grave caused the route of one America's first superhighways to be altered, to the father of the Atlantic cable.
Here in the text, maps and pictures is rich and varied fair.  Wolford Lockwood, sometime Village historian, writes of life in the area over three centuries.  Clarence Dey describes a frustrating incident of the summer's day in Irvington from "life with father."  Carl Kremer, author and historian, contributes a charming essay on the Village, a romantic ghost story and a poem about unique  Octagon House.
The pictures illustrate the many-faceted scene-old-time golf, bobsledding merchants at their trades, drawing room tea times and boisterous saloons.  Compiled and edited by neighbors, all of whom live in Irvington, the scrapbook of literary highlights, human corks and lively illustrations foreshadows the community of today, a suburb particular and fascinating, in some ways a 20th-century Camelot where residents still know not only each other by name, but know the names of cats and dogs as well.
151 pages, dust jacket is ragged along the edges, book is in very good condition

Centennial History of the Library at Port Washington New York - The Library Years 1892-1992  $9.95
Richard Dodge Whittenmore
Port Washington, New York: Port Washington Library 1992
From its origin in the front hall of a modest farmhouse to its present distinguished modern building in the center of town, the Port Washington Public Library has provided continuous library service for one hundred years to a community whose population has soared from 800 in 1892 to 32,000 in 1992.
There might never have been a library in Port Washington had it not been for two determined ladies: Miss Caroline Hicks of Sands Point who wanted a Woman's Club and Miss Wilhelmina Mitchell of Shore Road who wanted a library. They combined their ideas, their talents and their energies, attracted many other ladies who shared their interests, and made both wishes come true.
The Library Years-1892 to 1992 brings to life all those people and events who have shaped the Port Washington Library, a venerable institution that refuses to show its age.
Here is the 100-Year panorama of the Port Washington Library told through old newspapers, hundreds of priceless documents, oral histories of people "who were there," Boards of Trustees meeting minutes, news clippings and more than 200 evocative illustrations.
From those first days in Miss Mitchell's front hall (125 books), soon after housed in rented parlors in the Baxter Homestead (still standing today at Shore Road and Central Drive), the library, in 1903, progressed to its own building (mortgaged to the hilt) on Main Street. It took another 23 years before a new library, of a size to adequately serve the needs of the community, could be completed on Belleview Avenue.
By 1965, after the Depression, World War 11, and the unprecedented growth of Port Washington into a thriving suburb of New York City, the limited spa and inadequate facilities of the Belleville Avenue Library were recognized by both the Board of Trustees and members , the community who voted Overwhelmingly for the present award-winning building. In the 22 years since its opening, the Port Washington Public Library has achieved national recognition as one of the 50 best libraries of its size. Not just a collection of books surrounded by four walls, but a living part of the community the Port Washington Public Library is a art gallery, a place for music, films an meetings, as well as a cultural center. Unique in the annals of public libraries, there have been only three head librarians in its one hundred year history
190 pages, 9x11½ hardbound, dust jacket, slight wear on edges of dust jacket, good condition.

New Jersey

Bergen Summer 1779 (NJ) 5.00 ($1.50 s&h)
Bergen County Historical Society, 1979
Table of contents: New Bridge - Bull's eye in no-man's land, Paulus Hook - Thorn in Bergen's side, Cast of Characters - Two white hats, one black, The enterprise against Paulus Hook, Aftermath, The Re-enactment.
46 page pamphlet, some smudges on the covers.

The Somerset Hills (Somerset County, NJ) $27.75
Ludwig Schumacher
NY: New Amsterdam Book Company, 1901
Being a brief record of significant facts in the early history the Hill country of Somerset County New Jersey.
Table of contents: General Survey, Indian Tradition and History, Society in Colonial Somerset, Pluckamin and Bedminster, Bernardsville, Basking Ridge, Lamington, Mendham, Peapack, etc., Epilogue, Notes on Illustrations.
133 pages, 5 1/2 x 6 hardbound, bumped corners, worn top and bottom of spine, good condition

New Jersey Towns

The Ramsey, NJ Volunteer Fire Department - 75 Years of Community Service 1899-1974 $8.50
Brief pictorial history of the department. Nicely illustrated. This is one of those items I could not resist picking up.
20 page pamphlet, good condition, crease on corner on cover.