Many of my ancestors lived in Red Hook, Brooklyn, from the 1850s and
for a century thereafter. Their earliest sacraments in America took
place at St. Paul's Church, an Irish church founded in 1838, but by the
mid-1850s they were attending the recently founded churches closer to
home: either St. Mary Star of the Sea in what is now Carroll Gardens,
founded in 1851; or Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary at 98
Visitation Pl. (formerly Tremont St.), founded in 1854. As a result,
when I recently went to the
Brooklyn Historical Society to do some research in the
Brooklyn Land Conveyance Collection,
I was intrigued to realize that, in those record abstracts, I was
watching the parish - and indeed, the diocese - grow before my very
eyes.
|
18 May 1853, George and Eleanor Taylor to Rt. Rev. John Hughes |
According to Wikipedia, Bishop John Joseph Hughes was
the fourth bishop and first archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York,
serving from 1842 until his death in 1864. Now, what, you might ask, is
the Archbishop of
New York doing buying land for a church in
Brooklyn?
(At least, you might ask that if you knew that the Diocese of Brooklyn
and the Archdiocese of New York are two neighboring but distinct
entities.)
As it turns out, it wasn't until 1853 that the Diocese of
Brooklyn was founded (from territory that had theretofore been part of
the Archdiocese of New York). I can't find an actual date in 1853 when
the Diocese of Brooklyn was created, but it seems to have somewhat
predated the
consecration of the Right Reverend John Loughlin on 30 October of that year.
|
16 Nov 1853, John Hughes to Right Rev. John Loughlin Bishop of Brooklyn |
It appears that the land was first acquired by the
Archdiocese of New York, represented by Bishop John Hughes, in May, and
then, on 16 November, transferred to the newly erected Diocese of
Brooklyn, represented by the newly
consecrated Bishop of Brooklyn, Rev. John Loughlin.
|
18 Nov 1865 R't Rev John Loughlin Bishop of Brooklyn to Roman Catholic Church of the Visitation, Bklyn |
It's not until November of 1865 that Bishop Loughlin
transfers the same parcel of land to the "Roman Catholic Church of the
Visitation, Bklyn." However, according to several online sources, like
Visitation's Facebook page and the website of the
New York City Organ Project,
the parish was founded as early as 1854 and the church building
dedicated in 1855. I'm not sure why it took 10 years for the land to
pass from the diocese to the parish.
|
15 May 1867, Martin and Margaret Shea to Roman Catholic Church of the Visitation of Brooklyn |
In 1867, the "Roman Catholic Church of the Visitation
of Brooklyn" (sounds a little like it was Brooklyn visiting her cousin
Elizabeth in Hebron, no?) acquired another plot of land on the same
block, this one from Martin Shea and his wife Margaret.
|
1 May 1868, Timothy O'Farrell to "The Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary" |
Just about a year later, in 1868, added to that is
still another parcel of land on the block, indicating that Visitation
now owns most of the land on that block. This time, the land is
transferred from Timothy O'Farrell to "The Church of the Visitation of
the Blessed Virgin Mary."
|
2 Dec 1893, Kate A Woods to Visitation Lyceum |
Finally, in 1893, Kate A. Woods leased another
property on the block ("All that lot with buildings thereon known as 261
Van Brunt St.") to Visitation Lyceum. The Lyceum, or Visitation Hall,
was a theater, with a gymnasium in the basement, that existed until well
into the twentieth century (see the sidebar, page 13, of
this May 2012 article in the Red Hook Start Review).
However, it doesn't appear that the building was actually at 261 Van
Brunt Street, as the address for the Lyceum is more frequently listed as
being on Tremont St. (now Visitation Pl.) in the decades thereafter -
although the church itself has a Visitation Pl. address, but fronts on
Verona. Several of the addresses given for the Lyceum are on other
blocks, so I wouldn't have come across any of the associated abstracts,
as the record set is organized by block.
If anyone has any more information about the history of the parish, I'd love to hear from you!
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