Notes Geographical and Historical, Relating to the Town of Brooklyn in Kings

Furman, Gabriel, 1800-1854Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0
Word count
197K words
Chapters
20

Tags

English Originals Historical Geography Town DevelopmentPlace NameLocal GazetteerGeographical AccountUrban ChangeArchival Record19th CenturyBrooklynSocial ObservationAmerican Locale

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Notes Geographical and Historical, Relating to the Town of Brooklyn in KingsAuthor: Furman, Gabriel, 1800-1854,Language: English, Class: F106: United States local history: Atlantic coast. Middle Atlantic States, Release Date: Nov 29, 2017

Editor's review

This work is a valuable text for the study of nineteenth-century Brooklyn local history: Gabriel Furman, writing from the perspective of a participant, traces the development of the town of Brooklyn in Kings County. The book proceeds along two lines, geographical and historical, describing natural features such as terrain, roads, and waterways while also recording changes in town institutions, residents' lives, and public affairs. Its value lies not in literary style but in historical material: it preserves details of early Brooklyn's transition from a rural town to a city and is a primary reference for the study of New York urban history and the tradition of local-history writing. Readers should note the narrative stance and prose style of the author's era; some statements carry the laudatory tone common to nineteenth-century local history. It suits the desk reference of regional and urban historians and genealogy enthusiasts, and also readers with a strong interest in early New York history who wish to read by chapter. The electronic edition facilitates searching place names and personal names and can be read alongside maps.

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Reading tips

  1. Read the table of contents and preface first to distinguish geographical description from historical narrative, then proceed chapter by chapter
  2. Read alongside old maps of Brooklyn, marking the roads, waterways, and landmarks mentioned in the book
  3. Compile personal names and place names into a reference list for later verification and genealogical comparison
  4. Read only one or two chapters at a time, taking notes on doubtful points and leads for further verification

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20

FAQ

Is this book suitable as an introductory read on Brooklyn history? Not really as the sole introduction. It was written in the nineteenth century, and its prose and narrative framework bear the marks of its time, lacking the problem orientation and annotation system of modern historiography. Beginners may first read a contemporary general history to build a framework, then return to this book for primary details; readers with some background can more effectively identify its historical value.
How difficult is the original English, and what preparation is needed? The text is nineteenth-century English with long sentences, dense place and personal names, and many historical proper nouns. Readers with college-level English can read it through with a dictionary; familiarizing oneself with the basic geography of Kings County and Brooklyn beforehand, and preparing maps and a name index, will significantly reduce difficulty.
What use does the content still have for today's readers? Its main use is as historical material: it records the terrain, roads, public affairs, and residents' activities of the early town, and can be used for urban history research, tracing old place names, and genealogical verification. For general readers, it offers a historical perspective on how a city evolved from a town.

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About the author

Furman, Gabriel, 1800-1854 Author

Gabriel Furman (1800–1854) is an author about whom little is publicly known, and reliable details of his life remain difficult to establish. Only one of his works is held in the collection: Notes Geographical and Historical, Relating to the Town of Brooklyn in Kings. Judging from its title and subject, the book is a local history and topography devoted to the geography and historical lore of the area that is now part of New York City's Brooklyn. It combines geographical description with historical inquiry and reflects the typical style of nineteenth-century American local history writing. Such works usually drew on firsthand observation, old records, and oral accounts, preserving clues for later understanding of Brooklyn's early appearance. Furman's prose is plain and practical, concerned with recording rather than embellishment, and its value lies chiefly in the preservation and organization of local historical materials.