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The Staten Island Historian is a publication of the Staten Island Historical Society. This online edition does not include the photographs of the original issue. Reprinted with permission.

WINTER-SPRING 2001 VOLUME 18 NEW SERIES NUMBER 2

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THE TREES OF HISTORIC RICHMOND TOWN

By Bradford M. Greene

Foreword

Historic Richmond Town is a distinguished educational resource for our community and the entire metropolitan region. Its historic buildings, archival holdings and artifacts are well known. The landscape, with its rolling lawns and mature trees, is not only a beautiful setting for the 25-acre village and its historical programs, but also a major natural preserve and educational resource.

In this study of the trees of Historic Richmond Town, we learn about existing specimens as well as the trees that are likely to have grown here in earlier periods of our history. The natural landscape and the original man-made landscape of streets and fences are essential components of presenting life on Staten Island in this, the oldest extant village of this borough. The landscape of an outdoor museum unifies the presentation of history.

Brad Greene has produced for the Staten Island Historical Society a valuable study, increasing our awareness and appreciation of Historic Richmond Town’s trees, past and present. Many thanks to the Council on the Arts and Humanities for Staten Island for awarding Brad Greene an Encore Grant from NYSCA to fund the initial phase of this work.

John W. Guild
Executive Director

Introduction

The project that has resulted in this article was completed in several phases. During the inventory phase, begun in the fall of 1998, I decided to divide the village into convenient sections following the modern real estate tax blocks (Exhibit A). Each of these seven city blocks was given a letter designation, A through G. Using the modern topographical survey prepared for Historic Richmond Town by WohI and O’Mara, licensed land surveyors, each tree was plotted, photographed, and given a number together with the letter of its block designation.
The inventory recorded significant facts about each tree and recorded the number of the photo-
graph of that tree. This is the first tree in Block A:

Tree Designation A-1
Botanical Name Acer Rubrum
Common Name Red Maple
Caliper 31 inches
Condition Very poor
Age 48 years
Elevation 28.1 feet above sea level
Photo No. IV-22

The term “caliper” means diameter breast high (DBH). The elevation above sea level at the base of the trunk was noted from the Wohl and O’Mara topographical map.

To determine the approximate age of each tree I used a table developed by me showing the rate of annual caliper growth in inches. For example, an American elm having a present caliper of 36 inches would have an annual rate of growth of 7/16th inch or .41 inch. Therefore the tree would be approximately 88 years old.

My study provides a list for each block containing the above information for each tree. The entire list of 487 trees is available at Historic Richmond Town’s Museum Store.

On May 16, 1999, I gave an illustrated lecture and walking tour of Historic Richmond Town. This article provides an historical background to trees growing on Staten Island from the earliest times. It comments on the significance of existing trees, and offers suggestions for landscape restoration at four historic buildings, the Guyon Store, the Edwards-Barton House and the Stephens-Black House and Store.

The End of the Last Ice Age

This history of trees in Historic Richmond Town begins with the end of the retreating ice of the last glaciation. I will attempt to indicate the first trees to become established here and then progress through a period of several thousand years to show those native trees of the Northeast, which dominated the Richmond Town landscape between 1700 and 1900. My sources are listed in “Notes” at the end of the article.

“About 12,000 years ago, the emerging barren uplands and the lowland tundra, checkered by glacial remnants, began to support the growth of large trees.... As spruce and pine first invaded the tundra, they created a parkland environment—a broad grassy plain with scattered stands of trees. Pollen samples indicate that black, red and white spruce were some of the first conifers to return. . .”1

Where spruce were sparse, the pines took over.
“Two species of pine. . .jack pine [which] can grow on nearly pure sand [and] pitch pine [which] also favors dry conditions, can live on nearly sterile soil.... As the tundra was slowly replaced, these conifers and a few deciduous plants made up [Staten Islands] first forest cover.”2 “A few cold-tolerant deciduous plants, such as alders, birches, poplars and arctic willows, grew along with the conifers.”3

“A dramatic change occurred about 9,500 years ago. The climate became first wetter and warmer, then drier and even warmer.... In response to this change, the established plants of the spruce parklands gave way to a vegetation of temperate climates, one of deciduous hardwoods and pines. Unlike the coniferous forest that it replaced, the new forest was made up of a great variety of food-rich species. The arrival of beeches, hickories, oaks, pines and hemlocks increased the availability of substantial and dependable food resources....”4

Paleo-lndian Settlement

Between the years 7,500 B.C. and 3,000 B.C., human populations began to move into the Northeast. The Paleo-lndian culture was based on the abundance of small animals and plants and the seeds of the new forest. “The warming trend continued. By 6,000 B.C. [the Northeast] was even warmer and drier than it is today, and a temperate deciduous forest covered the land. …. Most of the species we know today were present.”5

“The bald cypress was one of the first strange and unknown trees encountered by the settlers who attempted to establish the Roanoke Colony. …. Its distribution follows the Atlantic coastline from...New Jersey to Florida.”6 Another hardwood was to be found, the black locust. It “is native to the Appalachian region from Alabama...northward to...Pennsylvania.... From [historical records] we know ... that Locust Valley, New York, was named after the tree had been introduced…into the woodlands of Long Island.”7

European Discovery

When the first Europeans entered New York harbor in 1524, Staten Island was seen, but not visited, by the sailors of the ship Dolphin. It “was commanded by an Italian in the employ of Francis I of France. His name was Giovanni da Verrazzano. …. However, for more than 75 years…Europeans paid little attention to North America.”8

During the period when the Leni-Lenape Indians lived on Staten Island, it is known that “the woods and the fields provided many berries, fruits, nuts, and other wild foods. Among those found by the ... Indians were strawberries, blackberries, plums, cherries, grapes, acorns, butternuts, hickory nuts,…wild mint, wild leek,...and mushrooms.”9

European Settlement

From 1661 when the first permanent settlement was established at Oude Dorp (Old Town) by the Dutch, until the beginning of the 18th century, hamlets and villages were to be found in parts of the island. With the exception of Coccles Town (later to become Richmond Town) few prospered until after the Revolution.

During the colonial period (1661-1776), several persons recorded their experiences and observations of the conditions of the land, the vegetation and the natural environment of Staten Island. “A vivid description of Staten Island in 1679 is recorded in the Journal of Jasper Danckaerts.... The following is an actual description of the settlement at Oude Dorp. ‘There were seven houses, but only three in which anybody lived. The others were abandoned…because the ground around this village was worn out and barren, and also too limited for their uses.’”10

Peter Kalm, the Finnish naturalist, visited America in 1748. Commenting on “the American practice of cutting down every tree within sight, Peter Kalm noted in his journal…that ‘we can hardly be more hostile toward our woods in Sweden and Finland, than they [Americans] are here; their eyes are fixed on the present gain, and they are blind to the future.’”11

Kalm visited Staten Island twice during his three years in America. He wrote in his journal, “The farms were near each other…near every farmhouse was an orchard with apple trees. ….Cherry trees stood along the enclosures around cornfields.”12 The following year Kalm wrote, “On coming to Staten Island...I found them [cherry trees] very common again, near the gardens…all travelers are allowed to pluck ripe fruit in any garden which they pass by, and not even the most covetous farmer can hinder them from so doing.”13

Late 18th-Early 19th Centuries

After the Revolutionary War, Staten Island was in ruins. The British occupation of seven years had left the island devastated. The woodlands had been leveled, some farms deserted and major buildings, such as the First County Courthouse in Richmond Town, destroyed.
Throughout most of the 18th century and well into the 19th century, planting trees for their esthetic value was not primary.

One example of where, early in the 19th century, trees were planted for their beauty was in the grounds of the White House. In Chapter 6 of White House Landscapes, Barbara McEwan writes that John Quincy Adams “did little to enhance the building itself, but he made his mark on these grounds. Large numbers of plants were purchased or collected to adorn the largely barren landscape. On the south lawn, an elm planted as a seedling by John Quincy Adams endured until 1991.”14

Trees planted during the Adams residency included cork, English and American oaks, buttonwoods, elms, walnuts, hickories, chestnuts, tulips, poplars, basswoods, and even persimmons.

Later In the 19th Century

Little more was done for the White House grounds until 1880, when, under President Rutherford B. Hayes, the famous “Ellipse” was created. It was surrounded by a row of elms and the semicircular north drive was enhanced by a row of Ohio buckeyes (Hayes was from Ohio).

“Pomology [the science and practice of fruit growing] proved a favorite hobby among amateurs during the first 50 years of the 19th century.... During this period, America was fast crowding England for its fruit laurels. An indication of the American interest in fruit can be found in the fact that up to 1850 no less than 500 varieties of fruit originated in New York State alone.”15

As an example of this local interest in fruit growing, let me refer to a book published in 1856, Village and Farm Cottages, by Cleaveland and Backus. In their final chapter, “The Garden,” they list the following varieties of fruits available in nurseries in the northeastern United States in that year.

Dwarf pears: 18 varieties, of which only three are available in supermarkets today.

Dwarf apples: Six varieties, of which only “Baldwin” and “Northern Spy” are still sold.

Peaches: Six varieties, none of which is available today.

Plums: Six varieties, of which only “Greengage” is sold today in New York State nurseries.

Cherries: Eight varieties, of which only two, “Black Tartarian” and “Napoleon,” can be purchased in nurseries today.

Apricots: Three varieties, of which only “Moorpark” is available today.

Nectarines: Four varieties, none of which is now grown for today’s market. Nectarines as a crop are no longer grown in the Northeast.

Orchards in New York State today produce only the most popular fruits that are profitable. Local fruits are being superseded by fruits available the year around from other countries. America’s taste for the fruits of Victorian days is just beginning to reassert itself.

The Trees of
Historic Richmond Town

The survey includes 487 trees of six-inch caliper or larger. The number of trees of each variety, in descending order, is as follows:

Red maple 90
Box elder 82
Norway maple 69
Black cherry 38
London plane 30
White ash 28
Red mulberry 23
Red alder 13
Willow 12
Siberian elm 10
Silver maple 9
American elm 9
Ailanthus 7
Horse chestnut 6
Various oaks 6
Various apples 6
Red cedar 5
White mulberry 4
Sugar maple 4
Flowering cherry 4
Dogwood 3
Other elms 3
Black walnut 3
Hawthorn 3
American holly 2
Hackberry 2
Magnolia 2
Catalpa 2
Fire pine 2
Honey locust 2
Sweet gum 1
Pawpaw 1
Black locust 1
Pear 1
Blue atlas cedar 1
Purple beech 1
Hemlock 1
Linden 1

Of the 487 trees I located and photographed, fewer than ten are alive today that could have been alive in 1900. Many desirable trees probably grew from seedlings either planted by earlier residents or sprouted of their own accord in olden times. Magnificent specimens, both native and introduced, are alive and thriving today.

It is likely that the oldest tree is the stately American ash (E-1) on the right of the Stephens-Prier House driveway as you face the Center Street side of the house. It was not planted by members of the Stephens family, but it is at least 97 years old.

There are several trees almost as old. A horse chestnut near the Parsonage (A-79) is about 93 years old. The large pine tree at the Stephens-Prier House (E-25) may be 92 years old.

Two elm trees, one an English elm (E-25) near the corner of Richmond Road and St. Patrick’s Place, the other an American elm (A-81) adjacent to the Parsonage, both appear to be about 88 years old. The splendid American elm at the Parsonage was probably part of the landscape created by Leah S. Flake, who resided there from 1886 until 1940.

One might question why this beautiful elm is still thriving, now that most American elms throughout the Northeast have succumbed to Dutch elm disease. This disease is spread by larvae of the elm leaf beetle and also through the roots of adjacent elms. Pest control has reduced the numbers of the beetle. American elms found living on Staten Island may have benefited from their relative isolation.

Some unusual trees, native to America but not generally found on Staten Island, are represented in Historic Richmond Town. They are the American linden (A-78), sometimes known as basswood; the willow oak (C-1), growing here at its northernmost limits; the cucumber tree (D-24), an American magnolia; and the pawpaw tree (D-20), known to have been planted here about 30 years ago.

The most desirable native tree of any reasonable abundance is the red maple. This is being supplanted by another native maple, the box elder, an intruder with few or no redeeming qualities.

Over 46 percent of the existing trees are considered generally as undesirable. These are “weed trees,” which have proliferated and are taking the place of our beloved natives.

Historic Landscape Plans

Part of the scope of this project was to create historic landscape plans for the Edwards-Barton House and the Stephens-Black House and Store. Historic photographs of these houses exist in the files of the Staten Island Historical Society. Historic atlases are also useful, showing property layout, driveways and other landscape features. Preliminary plans have been created and are being shared with Historic Richmond Town’s staff.

The Edwards-Barton House and the Guyon Store

Included with the Edwards-Barton property is the Guyon Store (currently being interpreted as a tavern). Although the Guyon Store is considerably older than the Edwards-Barton House (1820 vs. 1869), these adjacent buildings were owned by the same family for many years.

James Guyon Jr. built the store in 1820. John Edwards purchased it from him in 1832 and converted it into a residence. He and his younger brother Webley Edwards lived there until 1869, when Webley built the residence next door, known today as the Edwards-Barton House.

Webley died in the next year, but his widow Deborah and two daughters continued to live there. Mrs. Edwards made many improvements to the grounds. One of the daughters, Ella, married Willis Barton in 1878. They continued living in the house until 1915.

The restoration of the Edwards-Barton House and garden is based on a photograph of circa 1900. Trees existing today on this site would not have been planted by members of the Edwards or the Barton families. There are today two trees of excellent quality on the property: One a native elm tree, the other a clump of saucer magnolias.

The historic landscape plans for both houses will probably typify late Victorian garden designs. By the end of the 19th century, to use many different bedding plants and shrubs in the garden had become popular. Soon exotic trees were appearing on local home grounds. English hawthorns, paper mulberries, and PG hydrangeas became ubiquitous. Weeping varieties of many of our common evergreens, such as hemlocks, pines, and spruce, began to appear. Although the photographs in the Staten Island Historical Society files do not demonstrate this trend, they do picture the common evergreens available in the market, including Norway spruce and red and white cedars.

Growing on the Edwards-Barton site today is a large clump of saucer magnolias, probably about 75 years old. It could well be from a seedling of a specimen planted there by Deborah Edwards or Ella Barton. The saucer magnolia was discovered as a chance seedling in a garden of M. Soulange Bodin at Fromont, near Paris, France, in the early 1800s. It became particularly popular in the last half of the 19th century and continues to be popular today.

Another tree growing now on the Edwards-Barton site is a slippery elm, 30 inches in caliper and at least 46 years old. This tree, being native to this part of the northeastern U.S., could be from a seedling deposited here by the wind or by bird droppings. Less likely, it was planted by the owners.

Several trees are growing on the Guyon Store property. One, an 80-year-old apple tree (C-8), suggests that there may have been an apple orchard. According to William McMillen, a second apple tree of the same age grew just north of this tree. It fell about ten years ago. There was also a tall, very old pear tree within 15 feet of the back door. Other trees growing on this site today range in age from 30 to 50 years. They include an elm (C-9), two red maples (C-10, C-11), four box elders (C-12 to C-15), and a native hemlock (C-16).

The Stephens-Black House

Another historic landscape plan involves the Stephens-Black House and Store (Exhibit C). Information about this house comes from a photograph taken by Alexander and Tolman, Manhattan photographers, circa 1885-1890. The picture shows one tree by the front door and lush shrubbery planted against the east side of the house.

The house dates to 1837-1838; the first stage of the store dates to 1840. Stephen D. Stephens built the house and store and lived there for more than 30 years with his wife and family. They ran the local post office and general store, which must have been quite successful, for three expansions followed the initial construction of 1840. The first three stages were restored in 1964, but the fourth (whose roof is visible in the Alexander and Tolman photograph) is no longer extant. In 1870, Stephen D. Stephens sold the house and store to Joseph and Mary Black.
The planting surrounding the east lawn, as shown in the picture, is typical of the period. One fruit tree, likely a pear, leans close to the right rear of the house. To the right of this tree is a grape arbor. The foundation shrubbery appears to be a mixture of syringa (lilacs), honeysuckle bush, flowering quince, snowberry and weigela. “…the use of foundation shrubbery, softening the boundaries of the house and marrying it to the landscape, did not come into widespread practice until after the turn of the century.”16 The rubber tree set out on the lawn, the wickerwork chair, and the solid wood bench are all typical of the period.

Acknowledgments

I am grateful to Barnett Shepherd for devising the idea for this project and asking me to work on it. “The Trees of Historic Richmond Town” was Barnett’s original concept. He called on me to review his scheme, and suggested that I apply to the Council on the Arts and Humanities for Staten Island (COAHSI) for a grant.

I wish to acknowledge the help and support of William McMillen, Supervisor of Restoration. His knowledge, his extensive library, and his familiarity with the ongoing operations of Historic Richmond Town today have been of enormous assistance in guiding me toward the conclusion of this study.

About the Author

Bradford M. Greene is a registered landscape architect and a longtime resident of Castleton Corners, Staten Island. He has designed many landscape restorations for historic places, including the Alice Austen House Museum. Photo credit: V. Amesse.

NOTES

1. Sheila Connor, New England Natives. Cambridge, Mass. and London: Harvard University Press, 1994, P. 6.

2. Loc. cit.

3. Ibid., p. 10.

4. Ibid., p. 11.

5. Ibid., p. 13.

6. Stephen A. Spongberg, A Reunion of Trees. Cambridge, Mass. and London: Harvard University Press, 1990, pp. 1-2.

7. Ibid., p. 2.

8. Henry G. Steinmeyer, Staten Island, 1 524-1898. Staten Island, N.Y.: The Staten Island Historical Society, 1987. Revised edition, p. 11.

9. Staten Island: A Resource Manual for School and Community. New York: Board of Education of the City of New York, 1964, p. 7.

10. Ibid., p. 21.

11. Steinmeyer, op. cit., p. 31.

12. Connor, op. cit., p. 112.

13. Steinmeyer, op. cit., p. 33.

14. Barbara McEwan, White House Landscapes. New York: Walker and Co., 1992, pp. 81-85; pp. 153-158.

15. Richardson Wright, The Story of Gardening. New York: Dover, 1963 (reprint of 1934 edition), pp. 403- 404, p. 406.

16. Allison Kyle Leopold, The Victorian Garden. New York: Clarkson Potter, 1995, pp. 74-75.

BOOK REVIEW

Cecil C. Bell, by Phyllis Barton. Kansas City, Mo.: McGrew Color Graphics, 1976. 159 pp. $30.00. Available from David W. Bell, 1164 LaGrand Avenue, Napa, California 94558. Telephone: 707-252-7298. Price includes shipping and handling.

Reviewed by Michael Rosenfeld

For a while in 1999 one might have imagined that the only thing happening in the art world was the firestorm at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. There the Sensation show was raising a hue and cry, outraging, exhilarating or entertaining, depending on one’s point of view.

Yet not far from that show, in an equally venerable institution, the Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences, another and vastly different show was taking place. That no-less-sensational show was an exhibition of the work of Cecil C. Bell, a native of Seattle and longtime resident of Tompkinsville, Staten Island, who died in 1970 at the age of 64.

Organized beautifully by Peggy Hammerle-McGuire, the Institute’s Curator of Art, the 28 pieces in the show (paintings, etchings and a single lithograph) took one through the last four decades of Bell’s life, during which he produced over 800 paintings and thousands of sketches and etchings.

“Spike” Bell was no stranger to artistic controversy. He arrived in New York City in 1930, just as the Great Depression began laying waste to the golden prosperity of the 1920s. Enrolled at the Art Students’ League as a pupil of Harry Wickey and John Sloan, charter members of the Ashcan School, Bell would have found himself almost immediately confronting issues raised by Regionalists vs. Social Realists, not to mention matters of abstraction and modern art. The Museum of Modern Art had just been established (1929) to provide a congenial space for the exhibition of modern art. A tremendous furor was soon to erupt when Nelson Rockefeller ordered the destruction of Diego Rivera’s mural Man at the Crossroads (which had been commissioned for the RCA Building at Rockefeller Center) in1934.
Yet Bell, who earned his living as a free-lance illustrator, always sought to distance himself from schools, esthetic theories, and political postures. Like Hogarth, Daumier or Rockwell, comparisons he might have winced at in modesty, Bell painted and sketched from life rather than from theory. Was it ART?
“I do not think ‘art’ when I do them,” he said of his paintings. “I want to get down life as I see it and if it turns out to be art, so much the better.”

The works selected by the Institute for exhibition reflected Bell’s great talent as a painter. His canvases teem with life. Color, form and composition establish an immediate and almost conversational rapport among artist, subject, and viewer. Anyone who has attentively walked the streets of Manhattan or ridden regularly the Staten Island Ferry will, despite the passage of time, feel a sense of kinship with Bell’s paintings.

A derelict house above a listing store: Even before I saw the title, “Stapleton Corner, 1944,” I recognized the site. But the painting drove me to revisit the spot, to check the canvas and my memory; and there on a winter’s night in 2000, 56 years after Bell had painted the scene, I could still see, in spite of all the changes of the intervening years, what he had seen.

“Brooklyn Bridge in the Snow,” “Brooklyn Bridge from the South Street Seaport,” and “Dinner Under the Bridge” (with humans and gulls searching for scraps) project a palpable humanity that lets us imagine ourselves in these paintings. “Convoys in the Harbor,” a 1944 gouache, exudes the somber mood of World War II America. We all have been on “The Staten Island Ferry on a Rainy Day,” and the shoeshine man in “Shine! Staten Island Ferry” could be a younger version of the 88-year-old Italian man who still calls out “Shine!” as he walks the decks of the ferry.

Phyllis Barton’s 1976 study, Cecil C. Bell, is still available from David W. Bell, Cecil C. Bell’s nephew. It provides a useful summary of Bell’s life and does a fairly good job of situating him within the broad context of 20th-century artistic traditions.
But that is not its real contribution. This book is a treasure trove of Bell’s paintings and etchings. Here, handsomely reproduced in beautiful color, are his celebrated horse and Vermont paintings (not strongly represented in the SIIAS show), as well as his streetscapes, waterfront, and ferry paintings. Open to pp. 84-85 for a feel of what Times Square was like on V-J Day, or to pp. 86-87 for two different, yet equally romantic, views of the Narrows from Clifton.

Bell lived and loved New York and the great tide of unsung humanity that daily flooded its streets. His paintings capture that life and love: The sacred and the profane, the prosaic and the profound, the comedic and the catastrophic, just as these contradictory yet complementary qualities are found in all our lives.
A 1973 retrospective of Bell’s work at the Museum of the City of New York was titled The Vanished City. SIIAS rendered a signal public service in once again mounting a public exhibition of his work. Their outstanding job of remembrance and renewal reminded us of Bell’s legacy while introducing a younger generation to his work.

Phyllis Barton’s book has its flaws. A more scholarly life and study of Bell could and should be written. But until that time, and perhaps even after, her book will serve as a wonderful reminder of what an inspiring and life-affirming artist Cecil Bell was.

About the Reviewer

Michael Rosenfeld, a native Staten Islander and current resident, teaches history at Pace University. He is co-editor of Community, Continuity and Change: New Perspectives in Staten Island History (New York: Pace University Press, 1999).

ENDOWED FUNDS

The Staten Island Historical Society encourages the establishment of named endowment funds. Funds may be created to support many different programs of the Society or may be established for unrestricted use. The funds appear permanently on the books of the Historical Society in recognition of their ongoing support of the work of the Society. Named endowment funds are established for a gift of $10,000 or more, and once they have been established, additions may be made at any time.

The STATEN ISLAND
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
acknowledges the following BENEFACTORS who contributed $10,000 or more for general operating support and special projects:

BENEFACTORS
1981-1988
Vincent Astor Foundation Barker Welfare Foundation
Nettie Borrin Fund
Brooklyn Union Gas
Mrs. Ellsworth B. Buck
Estate of Elizabeth R. Bull Chase Manhattan Bank
Chemical Bank
Con Edison
Mrs. Norman H. Donald
Freeport McMoRan
Charles Hayden Foundation
Mrs. Francis X. Hayes
Henderson Houses of America
Estate of Elizabeth Perine Johnson
J. M. Kaplan Fund
New York Telephone
Newington-Cropsey Foundation
Procter & Gamble
Estate of J. Bay Robinson
in memory of Elizabeth Sterling
Robinson
Stanley-Timolat Foundation
Staten Island Advance
Westerleigh Savings, FSLA
Women’s Auxiliary of SIHS

BENEFACTORS
1989-1997
Vincent Astor Foundation
Barker Welfare Foundation
Booth Ferris Foundation
Brooklyn Union Gas
Estate of Constance Tyler Buck
Con Edison
Estate of Marie H. Eicke
Estate of Roland Fountain
Edna Hayes Trust
Historic House Trust
Institute of Museum Services
Estate of Marjorie G. Kerr
Estate of Anna Mae Merrill
National Historical Publications and
Records Commission
Mrs. John C. Newington
NYC Landmarks Preservation
Commission
New York Council for the
Humanities and The National
Endowment for the Humanities
NYNEX
New York State Library
Discretionary Grant Program
Dr. & Mrs. Albert L. Patrick
Richmond County Savings Bank
Estate of John P. Richmond
Margaret Robinson
Dr. & Mrs. Albert E. Roland
Rotary Club of South Shore
Staten Island Advance
Staten Island Cable
Staten Island Savings Bank
Andy Warhol Foundation
Women’s Auxiliary of SIHS

BENEFACTORS
1998-
Barker Welfare Foundation
Irving R. Boody Jr. & Co.
Chase Manhattan Foundation
Elizabeth M. Coggill
The Colonial Lords of Manors in
America
Estate of IIse Gillam
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Edna Hayes Trust
Huguenot Society of America
Independence Community
Foundation
Estate of Eleanor McMillen
NYC Landmarks Preservation
Commission
Estate of Lois Ohning
Prime Care of Staten Island
Richmond County Savings
Foundation
SISB Community Foundation
Carolyn Watson
Women’s Auxiliary of SIHS

ENDOWED FUNDS

1931--William T. Davis Fund
1971--John A. Borrin Fund
1979-- David L. Decker Fund
1988--Alma Timolat Stanley Fund
1988-- Edward C. Prehn Sr. and Kathryne M. Prehn Memorial
Publication Fund
1989-- Elmer Donald Hood Fund
1996--John A. Carr and Eileen F. Carr Fund
1998--Vincent Astor Fund
2001-- Kenneth Myslicki Fund

In Memoriam

John B. Woodall, 1914-2001

John B. Woodall, editor of the Staten Island Historian from 1983 to 1996 and retired professor of modern European history at Wagner College, died at home on March 24, 2001.

He was born in Edenton, N.C., earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Duke University. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army Counter-Intelligence Corps, coming to New York in 1946 to enter Columbia University’s doctoral program in history. The subject of his doctoral dissertation was the Roman Catholic Church and the Third French Republic. He was a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Paris, 1949-1950.

In 1951 he and Joy Smith were married in New York. Joy grew up in Orleans, Mass., on Cape Cod. From 1953 to 1956 the Woodalls lived in Austria, where John served as assistant director of the Salzburg Seminar in American Studies.
John earned his Ph.D. in 1961 from Columbia and began teaching at Wagner College. He and Joy moved to Staten Island in 1962.

He was a longtime member, vestry member, and historian of Christ Church, New Brighton. He worked on the book-length parish history, Christ Church, New Brighton: The Story of a Staten Island Episcopal Parish, for more than ten years, finally publishing it in 1993.

During his editorship of the Staten Island Historian, Dr. Woodall contributed many articles to it. A partial listing includes: “Anna Leon-owens’s Sojourn on Staten Island,” “Mrs. Sigourney’s Visit to Staten Island in 1849,” “Prohibition Park Revisited,” “John J. Clute, Historian of Staten Island,” “Isaac Almstaedt, ‘Staten Island’s Famous Artistic Photographer,’” and “St. Luke’s, Rossville: Life and Death of a Parish and Community.”

Barnett Shepherd, Executive Director of the Staten Island Historical Society during John’s editorship, spoke of him at the funeral service:
John B. Woodall was a big man. Physically tall and with big views and ideas. He had read widely and seen the world. He loved to talk about what he knew.
John loved not only ideas and the heroes and heroines of history, but he loved beautiful things as well: antique furniture and especially antique silver.
On Staten Island John made his mark at Wagner College nurturing a loyal following of history students.

John was a Southern gentleman. His slow, elegant North Carolina cadences reminded me of my Mississippi childhood and I felt right at home in his presence. His welcoming residence on Dudley Avenue, created together by him and Joy, always felt supportive and comforting. Many holiday meals with fried chicken, rice and gravy were shared with friends and were soothing to my jangled urban nerves. In hot weather long talks we shared on the screen porch gave perspective and made life’s problems easier to take. Topics ranged from current affairs to the kings of France.

John Woodall loved Christ Church and the dramatic lives our clergy and members had lived. He wrote about them in his book. These beautiful stained-glass windows and their donors first engaged his interest in Christ Church history. John’s was a life lived fully and purposefully. We will miss our friend. He lives on in our memories, especially as we look around this beautiful church.

Staten Island Historian
Claire Regan, Editor
Nick Dowen, Editorial Assistant

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©Staten Island Historical Society, 2001
Printed by Wallin Printing, S.1., N.Y.

THE
STATEN ISLAND
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
441 Clarke Ave., S.1., N.Y. 10306
Telephone: (718) 351-1611
Fax: (718) 351-6057

Web site:
www.historicrichmondtown.org

Officers and Directors
President: James R. Coyle
First Vice President: Laura Patrick
Vice President: Jack Furnari
Treasurer: James P. McCabe
Assistant Treasurer: Margaret Robinson
Secretary: Margaret Galligan
Assistant Secretary: Claire Regan
Anthony N. Correra, Aurelia Curtis,
Angela Curty, Arthur W. Decker, Donna
Donnelly, Mark Irving, Brien Kelley,
Marianne LaBarbera, Michael F.
Manzulli, Kevin Mahoney, Frank S.
Muzio, William Russonello,
Francis H. Watson

Executive Director: John W. Guild

Staff
Chief Curator: Maxine Friedman
Supervisor of Restoration:
William McMillen

E-MAIL ADDRESSES

Several departments of the Staten Island
Historical Society at Historic Richmond
Town now have e-mail addresses.

Executive Director: John W. Guild
sihs.director@verizon.net

Secretary: Sue Quadrino
sihs.secretary@verizon net

Business Office: Angela Camardo and
Kala Sureshkumar
sihs. business@verizon. net

Special Events: EiIie GalIzia
sihs.dnpr@verizon . net

The Education Department now has its
own FAX number: (718) 351-2352.

Historic Richmond Town is a joint project of the Staten Island Historical Society and the City of New York, which supports part of its operations with public funds through the Department of Cultural Affairs. The Society also receives support from the New York State Department of Education, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Office of the Borough President, corporations, foundations, and individuals.

Remember to include the Society when you prepare your will. You can do so with this simple statement: “I give and bequeath to the Staten Island Historical Society, located at 441 Clarke Avenue, Staten Island, New York, the sum of $_____.”