1780
Oct 25
Future
New York City mayor Philip Hone is born on Dutch Street.
City
A
two-month spring drought affects the city. ** The city council calls for the dumping of all
garbage into Beekman's Swamp, on the east side, north of today's Fulton Street.
1781
March
Elected
New York City vestrymen advertise for a new renter for the Tea Water Pump.
Documentation of the results has not been found.
Aug 21
Washington
leads Clinton to believe that New York City will be attacked, then moves toward
Philadelphia and later to Virginia. He has had fires lit at the Van Cortlandt
property in the Bronx to make the British believe he’s still in that area.
Oct 1
New
Hampshire officer Alexander Scammel dies in Williamsburg, Virginia, of a wound
suffered yesterday at Yorktown. A street in Manhattan’s Lower East Side is
named for him, but it has since disappeared.
Oct 19
Cornwallis
and his 17,000 troops surrender at Yorktown, Virginia.
November
New York
public records are unloaded from the British ship Duchess of Gordon, where they had been placed for
safekeeping in December of 1775, at New York City. Many of them are badly
damaged.
City
Washington
tours Manhattan, discovers that, as a result of the 1780 freeze, the island has
been denuded of trees, used for firewood.
1782
Jul 2
In a
double wedding New York lawyer Aaron Burr marries widow Theodosia Bartow
Prevost at the Hermitage in Paramus, New Jersey, as her half-sister Catherine
de Visme marries British-born doctor Joseph Browne.
October
Retreating
British troops destroy Fort Number 8 at Fordham, the Bronx.
Dec 5
George
III addresses Parliament, announces he has accepted American independence. In
the audience are Admiral Richard Howe, painters Benjamin West and John
Singleton Copley, and canal promoter Elkanah Watson.
Dec 16
The New
York Commissary General advertises in Rivington's Royal Gazette of December 21st for those with
claims against his office to present them in person by the end of the month.
Brooklyn
Brooklyn’s
first newspaper begins publication at Brooklyne Hall, the former Fulton Landing
ferry house.
1783
Apr 3
Washington
Irving is born at 131 William Street to merchant and Presbyterian deacon
William Irving, Sr. and Sarah Sanders Irving.
Apr 23
British
general Sir Guy Carleton requests Congress' aid in evacuating New York City.
Apr 24
Congress
appoints three commissioners to aid Carleton.
Apr 26
7,000
Loyalists leave New York City for Canada and Europe.
May 9
The
first British prisoners are released, in New York City.
May 22
A
skirmish between British and U. S. ships in New York Harbor is narrowly
averted.
June
Loyalist
Peter Berton, ancestor of 20th Century Canadian historian Pierre Berton, leaves
Newtown, Long Island, outside of the town of Brooklyn, and the farm he had
bought in 1776 as a refuge from patriots. In his vessel Free Briton he leads a company of fellow
Loyalists out of the Port of New York, sails for New Brunswick, Canada.
Jul 12
New York
City museum owner Gardner Baker
marries Mary Wrighton.
Jul 21
The
British 7th Regiment stages a ceremonial review in New York City.
Jul 28
New York
City merchant Michael Price and others are indicted in Albany and Dutchess
counties for their Loyalist sympathies and ordered to appear before the state’s Supreme Court to defend their
property rights.
Aug 21
The
deadline for Loyalists to receive permission to evacuate New York.
Sep 3
Great
Britain and the U. S. sign the peace treaty in Paris.
Sep 29
A band
of arsonists is discovered trying to torch several New York City buildings.
November
The Peggy sails out of Staten Island for
Nova Scotia, with many ex-slaves aboard.
Nov 21
The
British complete their withdrawal from northern Manhattan.
Nov 24
Washington
meets with General Carleton to finalize New York evacuation plans.
Nov 25
Evacuation
Day. The final regiments of the British army leave New York, departing from
such shore points as Denyse Ferry Wharf at Brooklyn’s Fort Hamilton. Among
those departing are Manhattan merchant Michael Price with his wife and infant
daughter. In the future the day will be celebrated as Evacuation Day. George
Washington enters the city on horseback along with governor George Clinton and
others, stops for a drink at the Bull’s Head Tavern in the Bowery. Thirteen
guns are fired as the rebel flag is raised. The day concludes with a public
dinner at Fraunces Tavern - until earlier in the year known as the Queen’s Head
or Sign of the Queen Charlotte).
Nov 30
A small,
loud earthquake measuring the equivalent of 5.3 on today’s Richter Scale
strikes the area around Morris County, New Jersey, and is felt as far away as
New York City.
December
The
British arrest Ebenezer “Indian” Allen, imprisoning him first at Fort Niagara,
then at Montréal and Kingston.
Dec 1
New York
governor George Clinton hosts a dinner at Cape’s Tavern in honor of the French
ambassador, the Chevalier de la Luzerne. Washington and his officers are in
attendance.
Dec 2
A
fireworks display is held in New York City.
Dec 4
Washington
bids farewell to his officers at Fraunces Tavern in New York City, leaves for
Mt. Vernon. ** The British evacuate Long
Island and Staten Island.
City
John
Cape takes over Roubalet’s Tavern (the former City Tavern) - belonging to Loyalist Charles Roubalet
- at 115 Broadway, changes the name to Cape’s Tavern. ** Jacobus Dyckman begins to rebuild the family
home at Broadway and 204th Street – destroyed this year by the British before
their evacuation. It will be completed by 1785.
Brooklyn
Silversmith
Elijah Morgan, Jr. is born.
1784
January
The
approximate date New York City's Hardenbrook family announces they will be
selling the Tea Water Pump property by April.
Jan 24
The city
becomes the capital of New York State. Colonial public records will be moved
here from Poughkeepsie.
February
New York
City passes a fire prevention law. Water carriers are not mentioned in the
legislation, rendering it useless.
Feb 22
The Empress
of China sails
from New York City with a cargo of ginseng, seeking to open trade with China.
The cargo will sell for $30,727.
Mar 15
The Bank
of New York is organized, the first bank incorporated in the state.
April
The
Hardenbrooks fail to find a buyer as they had originally planned.
Apr 6
The
legislature passes a bill authorizing £200 for repairs to the Kings County
courthouse/jail in Flatbush, Brooklyn, which was damaged by the British.
June
New York
City butcher Henry Astor marries Dorothea Pessenger, daughter of a Fly Marker
meat seller.
Jun 9
The Bank
of New York opens, in New York City.
Jul 17
The
approximate date John Jacob Astor crosses over by ferry from New Jersey to
Manhattan.
Jul 30
Comfort
and Joshua Sands purchase lands seized - from Loyalist John Rapelye (Rajaike)
during the Revolution - by the Commissioner of Forfeiture in the Vinegar Hill
section of Brooklyn. The brothers pay $12,000 for 160 acres.
August
Christopher
Colles returns to New York City, claiming £450 from the common council for work
on the water supply system. He will receive £300 in about two-and-a-half years.
Sep 20
John
Jacob Astor advertises German flutes in the New York Packet.
October
A group
of property lots between the Tea Pump and the Collect Pond is advertised for
sale.
Oct 5
Dr. John
Henry Livingston is appointed professor of theology by the Dutch Reformed
Church Synod, establishing the first theological seminary in America, in New
York City.
November
The
state legislature, meeting in New York City, hears a plan by Christopher Colles
for improving Mohawk River navigation. He intends to bypass the Cohoes Falls
with a 4 1/2 mile-long canal with 20 locks. Nothing comes of the plan.
City
Lawyer
James Duane, just out of Congress, is appointed mayor for each of the next five
one-year terms.
** Christopher
Colles petitions the city council for £600, for himself and contractors, for
the reservoir, well and pumping engine for his waterworks. ** The council reinstates
street cleaning regulations from before the war and appoints three
commissioners to oversee compliance, but the laws prove insufficient. ** Authorities appoint a
committee to lay out streets around the Collect Pond. ** Joshua and Comfort Sands purchase 160 acres of
land, west of Gold Street, in the future Vinegar Hill area of Brooklyn. ** The legislature moves to
New York City.
Staten
Island
A
schoolhouse opens in Castleton Corners
© 2012 David Minor / Eagles Byte
