Brownstone History GOLD MINE!

I might be late to the party, but I just discovered (through a real estate listing featured on Brownstoner, actually) that the Brooklyn Library has a searchable database of all Brooklyn Daily Eagle issues from 1841-1963 at https://bklyn.newspapers.com/

It’s a veritable *GOLD MINE* of information on old Brooklyn brownstones!! There are tons of sale and rental listings as well as obituaries and other random advertisements. Thought some of y’all might enjoy looking through it. If you have any other tips on tracking down information on these old houses, I would love to hear them!

Looks like this was happening at our place in March 1885… *”F.O. Matthews. Medical and business clairvoyant. Seances Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. medical interviews $1; business sittings, gents $2, ladies $1.”* Quite a lively little house back in the day!

Beyond that chuckle, I’ve actually been able to piece together a solid early history of our home. Looks like our little wood frame house went up for sale as a brownstone (?) for $6,400 in March 1887, several years before the DOB sh ows it actually existing. It was then sold again in 1915 for $2,500 (presumably as a wood frame house after the original brownstone burned down? maybe?) to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Curtis, who incidentally both died there in 1940 and 1943, respectively.

Guest User | 5 years and 7 months ago

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mattieweiser1

in General Discussion 5 years and 7 months ago

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Thanks Elle! What started out to be a really exciting search (the first post was my house for sale with photo in 1905) became really grim when I found on two separate events from two families within ~10 years, people who have died while living here. Funeral services were also conducted here… and I’m only 6 hits in… lol.

stevecym | 5 years and 7 months ago

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hey elle house:

thanks for the suggestion of an address search. the eagle had been on line since the early 2000’s (up to like 1910). i had been using it to search my great grandmother’s family as they moved across brooklyn from williamsburg circa 1840 to bushwick, circa 1890-1900 with my g, g, g grandmother finally dying on Stuyvesant St in 1907. i have been by the building she died in and figure it must have been brand new when she expired there.

i have never tried entering addresses though and since you posted this, i ran a few addresses last night, chiefly 1109 Dekalb (which my ancestor is listed as having owned in the 1880’s). i have not had any luck returning results this way and i know they sold that building about 1890, so i hoped a transfer would be listed. can you offer any insight into running an address search?

also, with respect to entering addresses, does anyone one know if there was a shift in house numbers in the area of Broadway in Bushwick? some records, chiefly census, list my ancestor as having resided at 1039 dekalb (i think, from me mory, perhaps it was 1019) yet last night i looked it up in city directories on line to run through the Brooklyn Eagle website and the address comes up as 1109 Dekalb. i have been aware of this inconsistency for years and cannot find an explanation for it.

Keep in mind there were other papers. There is an index on line for them, by state: Google “historic newspaper index on line”. Years ago i made an inquiry to the Brooklyn Historical Society and the woman there told me use this one “fultonhistory.com”. it seems that the digitized collection put together by the man who started “fulton history” is now used by the larger indexes, for NYS anyway.

i have wanted to come on here and ask people of ways to research buildings, besides the dob. if others have suggestions, i would like to read them. i am aware i can run a title search.

steve