HISTORY OF BROOKLYN. 73

from a sandy beach, and covered with a fine growth of cedar-trees, which gave to the place a remarkably picturesque appearance, as seen from the New York side. The Remsen mansion was used for hospital purposes by the British during their occupation of the town in the Revolution; was afterwards occupied by William Cutting, the partner of Robert Fulton in the steamboat business, and after his death it was sold to Fanning C. Tucker, Esq. He lived there several years, and then sold it to ex-Mayor Jonathan Trotter. From him it passed to Mr. Wm. S. Packer, and its site is now marked by Grace Church. The building itself was launched down the face of the Heights, and now stands on the site of the old Joralemon street ferry-house, on Furman near Joralemon street.

Philip Livingston, Esq., became the owner of an extensive portion of the old Remsen estate, prior to 1764, and in August of that year received from the city of New York (in whom it had been vested by the Montgomery charter of 1736), a perpetual grant (subject to an annual rent of thirty shillings currency, $3.75), of all the land fronting his property, along the whole breadth of his lot, between high and low water mark. The Livingston mansion-house stood on the east side of the present Hicks street, about four hundred feet south of Joralemon street, and, during the Revolutionary War, in consequence of Mr. Livingston’s adherence to the American cause, was appropriated by the British, who then occupied Brooklyn, to the purposes of a naval hospital. After Mr. Livingston’s death, the trustees appointed by Legislative Act of February 25, 1784, to sell his estate, disposed of that portion known as “the distillery property,” to Daniel McCormick, in July, 1785, and on the 29th of April, 1803, they conveyed to Teunis JoraIemon the property south of the distillery, and the Livingston mansion thenceforward became known as the Joralemon House. It was taken down at the opening of Hicks street.

VIII.

On the 14th of November, 1642, CLAES CORNELISSEN (MENTELAER) VAN SCHOUW, received from Governor Kieft, a patent for land