JANUARY 2025 DOCUMENT OF THE MONTH
TITLE: Deed - William Bromefield to John Bowne
DATE: November 12, 1653 [New Style]
DOCUMENT ID: BFP 2018.1.01-02
Commentary by Charlotte Jackson, Bowne House Archivist
Note: for the full text of the deed, download the transcription above the document; or, scroll to the end of this post.
January is the time of new beginnings and fresh starts, so it seems like the right month to feature the very earliest document in the Bowne House Archives: a 1653 deed representing John Bowne’s first known land purchase in Flushing. (While we do have copies of earlier material, such as John Bowne’s journal and account book, the originals are no longer at Bowne House.) As one of three known purchases Bowne made before his first written mention of the house in July 1661, the property that changed hands might even be the ground on which the Bowne House was later built.
John Bowne’s journal records that he first arrived at Flushing, then known by its Dutch name of Vlissingen, in 1651 with his sister’s new husband, Edward Farrington, who was already a resident there:
“As I remember I came to Vlishing the fifteenth day of the 4th month called June Ould Style 1651 with my Brother Edward Farrington.” - Folio 45, Journal of John Bowne
John Bowne initially lived with his father, Thomas Bowne, in a cabin on the north side of present-day Northern Boulevard, where Flushing High School stands today. He did not marry and start a household of his own until 1656. However, he was evidently planning ahead for the future and acquired a four-acre lot from Flushing resident William Bromefield. Based on other 17th-century Flushing land records, this was the standard size of a home lot at the time.
According to the deed, the property had been previously owned by a William Wilson. It was bordered by the land of John Storer and by the town Common. Unlike a modern deed, this document does not describe the location or boundaries of the property with any precision, and there are no detailed maps of Flushing from the period that would show landmarks such as the Common or label plots by owner name. Even the size of the property is approximate: “four acres, more or less.” Consequently, we can’t say where the 1653 purchase lay in relation to Bowne House.
These early deeds do, however, list both the current and former owners of the land as well as the neighbors, allowing us to identify residents and flesh out the social networks of the town. Unfortunately, we know very little about the seller, William Bromefield (Broomfield or Bromfield in modern spelling.) Like many early colonists he could not write, signing the document with his “mark,” which resembles a modified “X” or a pair of scissors. His name does not appear on the original 1645 patent for Flushing issued by New Netherland Director-General Willem Kieft, nor on the 1666 Nicolls patent issued after the British takeover of New Netherland. He was not a signer of the 1657 Flushing Remonstrance. He only reappears once in the Bowne Family Papers, in a 1665 deed that lists him as the former owner of a nearby piece of land. Thus it appears that Bromefield’s time in Flushing was brief, and he left behind no writings of his own. Likewise, the land’s prior owner, William Wilson, does not appear in any other records that we have identified. He does however witness this deed, indicating that he still lived in the area and was literate enough to sign his own name.
We know somewhat more about John Storer, who owned the neighboring property. Storer was not an original 1945 Charter member of the town. However, twelve years later he signed the 1657 Flushing Remonstrance, which asserted the values of religious toleration and “liberty of conscience” in the face of anti-Quaker persecution by Director-General Petrus Stuyvesant. He may have moved away after March 1665, when he sold John Bowne twelve acres: four formerly owned by Bromefield, four formerly owned by fellow Remonstrance signer Edward Griffin, and four granted him from the Common Land. The following year, his name does not appear in the 1666 Nicolls Patent for Flushing. However brief his tenure in Flushing, as a Remonstrance signer this early neighbor of John Bowne may have helped to create the atmosphere of tolerance and openness that enabled Bowne’s “convincement” by the Society of Friends, or Quakers, by 1660 and then emboldened him to stand up for his religious freedom.
Page from the Flushing Remonstrance (NY State Archives)
This document bears another connection to the Flushing Remonstrance: the hand that wrote and witnessed it. Under the Flushing Charter, the English settlers enjoyed a fair degree of autonomy. They could appoint their own town officials and maintain their own registry of deeds. (They were however obligated to use the “New Style” or modern calendar that the Dutch had already adopted, instead of the “Old Style” or Julian calendar still used by the English. Edward Hart, the Flushing Town Clerk, later acted as the draughtsman of the Remonstrance and likely played a role in composing the petition; as an office-holder, he was briefly imprisoned and fined for this act of defiance. His distinctive hand is clearly recognizable in both documents, despite the fire damage to the Remonstrance. Hart himself disappears from the Flushing records sometime in the early 1660s. However, the early Bowne deeds remain as a tangible connection to his most memorable contribution to the story of America.
FULL TRANSCRIPTION
November the 12th 1653:
These Presents[1] witness that I
William Bromefield of Flushing have
sould {sold} and doe {do} by these presents bargaine
set over and sell unto John Bounde {Bowne}
inhabitant of Flushing in the province of
the new netherlands my foure akrees {acres} of
ground more or lesse bounded on the one side
by a lott belonging unto John Storer on
the other side by the Common which Lott
was formerly bought by mee William
Bromefield of William Willson and now
sould by mee again unto John Bounde
for him his heirs executors administrators
or assigns perpetually to possesse and injoy
forever together with all the fenceing thereto
belonging soe that neither I nor any by or
from mee shall molest or disturbe the afore
said John Bounde or his assigns from
the quiet and peaceable injoyment of the
aforesaid ground and fenceing alsoe I the
aforesaid William Bromefield doe ingage
my selfe to save the aforesaid John Bowne
harmelesse from all bills bondes morgages or
ingagements which have beene made unto any
concerning the said land by mee William
Bromefield witness my hand.
Witness Edward Heart[2] the mark X of William Bromefield
William Willson
{BACK OF PAGE}
This was entered in the office of
the North Riding[3] the 30th of July
1669
By mee Anthony Waters
Clarke
Entered & Recorded
In ye Town of Flushing by
James Clement[4]
Clerk
1 these presents: a formal term for legal documents or instruments
2 Edward Hart (dates unknown): 1645 Flushing Charter signer, Flushing town clerk, and draughtsman of the 1657 Flushing Remonstrance.
3 The North Riding included Manhattan, most of present-day Queens, Nassau Co. and Westchester.
4 James Clement (c.1643–c.1724) of County Durham, England, came to Flushing as John Bowne's indentured servant in 1663 (see BFP 2018.1.01.16) and later served as the town clerk for decades.