Scope and Contents

The Martin Schoonmaker family papers span the period 1793 to 1889 and contain materials chiefly relating to Martin Schoonmaker, though other members of the Schoonmaker family are represented as well, including Martin's brother, Richard L. Schoonmaker; Martin and Richard's mother, Elizabeth H. Schoonmaker; Martin's wife, Eliza (Emmens) Schoonmaker; and Eliza's brother, John Emmens. Materials include accounts; receipts; indentures; bonds; documents relating to Martin and Eliza's property in Gravesend, including mortgage payments, agreements, and carpenter specifications; tax documents; account books and diaries; documents concerning court cases; papers regarding Martin's appointment to the honor of Notary Public by Kings County; wills, including those of Elizabeth H. and Richard L. Schoonmaker; legal documents, assessments, and correspondence regarding Ocean Parkway; legal documents regarding Coney Island and the town of Gravesend; a small amount of genealogical materials on the Schoonmaker family; and one bound volume, serving as an account book, that was likely owned and/or authored by Martin Schoonmaker while serving as Gravesend Assessor. The volume contains numerous references to the personal and business expenditures of Schoonmaker and his wife, and also renders family, farm, and rental accounts of other individuals, with information on various landowners of Gravesend, Ocean Parkway, Parkville, and Coney Island properties. The volume also contains six loose documents relating to accounts and property assessments.

This collection also includes a substantial amount of legal, business, and property documents pertaining to Kings County residents outside the Schoonmaker family, including Jacobus Van Nuys, Adrian Martense, Edward Ridley, Richard Denys, John F. Phillips, Thomas Gerald, and Adam Balzer. Many of these documents pertain to the occupations and families of the aforementioned individuals.