Skip to main content Skip to main navigation

Joseph Sprague papers

Call Number

ARC.099

Date

1810-1842, inclusive

Creator

Sprague, Joseph

Extent

0.02 Linear Feet in one folder.

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

The Joseph Sprague papers span the period 1810 to 1842 and consist of seven items: an enslaved person's bill of sale from Jacob Duryee of the town of Bushwick to Abraham Debevoise of the town of Brooklyn, Kings County, 1802; a tax assessment roll for the town of Brooklyn, 1810; a letter written by Sprague to his brother and sister, who were preparing to leave for a religious mission, 1821; a list of nominations for officers in the town of Brooklyn, 1823; an election broadside produced from a meeting of the Republican Electors of the town of Brooklyn, 1826, announcing the nomination of Joseph Sprague to represent Kings County in the State Assembly and signed by Chairman William Furman and Secretary Henry Waring; an agreement between architect Calvin Pollard and the Mayor and Common Council of the City of Brooklyn, 1836, regarding the construction of Brooklyn's City Hall between Fulton, Joralemon, and Court Streets; and an invitation for Sprague to a Masonic supper in New York, 1842.

Biographical Note

Joseph Sprague was an influential and respected politician in Brooklyn during the early to mid-19th century. Born in Leicester, MA in 1783, he worked as a merchant in Boston, and later as a farmer back in Leicester, before moving to New York (present-day Manhattan) in 1809, where he worked for a time as a school teacher. In 1811 he married Maria De Bevoise of the village of Bedford in Kings County (present-day Brooklyn), and for the next eight years Sprague divided his time between New York and Bedford, giving up teaching to try his hand at various trades. By 1819 Sprague ran a card-making factory in New York and had amassed a significant profit, with which he was able to purchase a house on Fulton Street in the Village of Brooklyn in Kings County.

Beginning in 1823, Sprague became actively involved in the political and social life of Brooklyn and garnered much esteem in the community. He was an instrumental player in obtaining charters for the Long Island Bank and the Brooklyn Fire Insurance Company, and he was elected to the board of trustees of Brooklyn in 1825. In 1826, together with Alden Spooner, he purchased a large plot of land in what is today the Brooklyn neighborhood of Fort Greene, which he offered to the village for the use of a poor house. In 1827, Sprague was voted president of the Village of Brooklyn, a position in which he served until 1832, and in which he implemented and oversaw a major street cleaning project that dramatically improved sanitary conditions in Brooklyn. He was the major player in obtaining the charter that enabled Brooklyn to be incorporated as a city in 1834, and in that same year he became the first president of the Long Island Insurance Company, a position he held for 10 years. In 1843, Sprague was elected mayor of the City of Brooklyn, for which he served two terms.

After his tenure as mayor, Sprague served in varying capacities in several important public offices, including the Board of Supervisors and the Board of Consolidation that oversaw Brooklyn's annexation of the towns of Williamsburgh and Bushwick. He was also a vocal advocate for the establishment of Washington Park in Fort Greene, a director of the Mechanics Bank, and grand treasurer of the Grand Masonic Lodge of the State of New York, as well as a member of the Hohenlinden Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons. Sprague passed away at the age of 72 in 1854, and his funeral was highly attended by the Brooklyn citizenry.

Sources:

  1. Stiles, Henry Reed. A History of the City of Brooklyn, Volume 2. Brooklyn, N.Y.: pub. by subscription, 1867-1870.

Scope and Contents

The Joseph Sprague papers span the period 1810 to 1842 and consist of seven items: an enslaved person's bill of sale from Jacob Duryee of the town of Bushwick to Abraham Debevoise of the town of Brooklyn, Kings County, 1802; a tax assessment roll for the town of Brooklyn, 1810; a letter written by Sprague to his brother and sister, who were preparing to leave for a religious mission, 1821; a list of nominations for officers in the town of Brooklyn, 1823; an election broadside produced from a meeting of the Republican Electors of the town of Brooklyn, 1826, announcing the nomination of Joseph Sprague to represent Kings County in the State Assembly and signed by Chairman William Furman and Secretary Henry Waring; an agreement between architect Calvin Pollard and the Mayor and Common Council of the City of Brooklyn, 1836, regarding the construction of Brooklyn's City Hall between Fulton, Joralemon, and Court Streets; and an invitation for Sprague to a Masonic supper in New York, 1842.

Conditions Governing Access

Open to researchers without restriction.

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date (if known); Joseph Sprague papers, ARC.099, Box and Folder number; Brooklyn Historical Society.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Accession 1974.166 was purchased from Mrs. L.W. Butler by the Long Island Historical Society (now the Brooklyn Historical Society) in 1923. The source and date of acquisition for accession 1978.102 is unknown.

Related Materials

Related archival collections at the Brooklyn Historical Society:

Missing Title

  1. ARC.115, Williamson family papers, 1781-1923

Collection processed by

Nicholas Pavlik

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 11:21:31 +0000.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: English.

Processing Information

Minimally processed to the collection level.

The collection combines the accessions 1974.166 and 1978.102.

Oppressive descriptive language was remediated from the abstract and scope and contents notes in this finding aid as part of an anti-racist descriptive language audit performed in January 2021.

Revisions to this Guide

January 2021: Revised by Amy Lau, Archivist, to remediate oppressive language from abstract and scope and contents notes.

Note Statement

change to complete_collection_level

Repository

Brooklyn Historical Society

Container

Box: A0045 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Center for Brooklyn History
128 Pierrepont Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201