Notes for: John V. Bodine, Jr.

John's nickname was "Squire John." He named ten children in his will of October 2, 1824. It was probated March 28, 1831. See Richmond County Surrogate's records (D:68) and Richmond County Orphan's Court Records (D2, page 102). John was 50 years old at the time of his death.

There is a David Bodine listed in LDS records as born about 1821 in Richmond County, New York to a John Bodine and Elizabeth. These could be his parents. There is another David Bodine listed there born about 1825 in Richmond to a John V. Bodine and Elizabeth Cruser.

FTM CD#2, Marriage Index of NY, lists a John Bodine and Elizabeth Martino married on October 23, 1814. See 1820 Census, Richmond Co., p. 5, L. 7 - Castleton. In 1831, he was living west of C. M. Pine's residence.

Elizabeth Cruser, John's wife, was named in her grandfather's will (Cornelius Cruser). Here below is an abstract of his will sent to me by Doris at CruserSINJ at aol.com:

File # 131 Liber A:369 July 12 1807, Probate December 31 1807

Cornelius Cruser, Castletown, yeoman--

....I hereby give one sixth part to grandsons - Cornelius Cruser; one to Jacob Tucker Cruser; to John Cruser, Jr.; grandson Gozen Ryerss Cruser; Joseph Tucker Cruser; Maurice Hatfield Cruser and they to pay in legacies to Deborah Van Tuyl, wife of Abraham Van Duzer Jr.; Helena Cruser; Sarah Maria Cruser; Elizabeth, wife of John Bodine.

Executor - son, John; son-in-law John Mersereau. John Housman, John Garretson.

Dec 15 1807 Codicil: I declare that John Garretson and John Housman, John Tyson Jr and Henry Crocheron be my executors, cancelling all others.

Witnesses: William De Groot; P.I. Van Pelt.

Doris also said the following: Gerrit Dircksen Croesen/Cruser lived and died in Gowanus in Brooklyn. The Staten Island line of Crusers stems from his son Hendrick who married Cornelia Corson. Hendrick and Cornelia had a daughter Maritje, but she married Jacob Bergen and was born too late to have married Jean Bodine. There were no Maritjes, Marias, Maries or Marys in the Cruser family on Staten Island before her birth in 1696. There certainly is always name confusion among the four early Staten Island families, Croesen, Cresson, Corson and Crocheron. So it pays to examine every issue to be sure you have the right family. The names on many occasions were mixed up in church and public records. (I had asked if Maria Crocheron, Jean Bodine's wife, might have been a Cruser.)

All of the following paragraph comes from Clute's Annals of Staten Island (1877, p. 345): John owned considerable property on the North Shore, among which was the mill, and the pond, and the land east of it, including the old Dongan Manor house, which he subsequently sold to his father, who died in that house in 1835. He also owned the property now occupied by the store of Pine, Hillyer & Co., the residence of Mr. C.M. Pine, and the dwelling west of it, in which he lived at the time of his decease.

Old Dongan Manor House

Dongan's House. Erected in 1661. Destroyed by fire Christmas, 1878.

The Dongan Manor was the home of Governor Thomas Dongan of the Province of New York. The governor first granted the land to a friend, John and Sarah Palmer, on March 31, 1687. This was known as the Palmer or Dongan Patent. On April 16, the governor then bought the land from Palmer. The next year, Dongan built the manor house and began developing the land and a mill which stood on the property not too far from the house. The picture above does not show the original look of the house. This was made after the house had undergone a lot of renovation and "modernization." The house passed through the hands of some Dongan relatives before it ended up in the possession of John Bodine during the Revolutionary War. It was supposedly sold to Alexander Macomb in 1802. If that is true, I don't know how John Bodine, Sr. ended up dying there and owning the house at the time of his death in 1835.

My thanks to Janet B at the Staten Island GenWeb site for info on his tombstone. His stone in the Port Richmond DRC Graveyard is listed as "broken at the bottom and sunken in the ground concealing the lower part." Ths inscription says this:

Here only sleeps his mortal frame...

T'was only that which di...

Envy hath nothing to pr...

Nor flattery to hide.

From Ronny Bodine:

John Bodine, in his will of 2 Oct 1824, describes himself as a resident of Castleton. The will was proved 28 March 1831. Therein he named his wife Elizabeth, and children Cornelius, Catherine (wife of Peter Rolph), Mary, John, Peter, Abraham, Jacob, Lois, Ann Eliza and David (Richmond Co. Wills D: 68). On 8 Feb 1831, Abraham Crocheron, of Castleton, was appointed guardian of the minor children, John, Peter, Lois, Abraham, Jacob, Ann E. and David (Richmond Co. Guardianships 1: 217). On 27 Aug 1836, Isaac R. Housman, of New York City, was appointed guardian of John's minor son, David (Richmond Co. Guardianships 1: 284).

"Squire" John Bodine owned considerable property on the North Shore among which was the land and pond East of it, including the old Dongan Manor House, which he sold to his father. He also owned the property now (1877) occupied by the store of Pine Hillyer & Co., the residence of C. M. Pine, and the dwelling West of it in which he lived until his death." (Van Name, Elmer Garfield. "Britton Genealogy," p. 22.)

John Bodine was married at the Dutch Reformed Church of Port Richmond to Elizabeth Cruser, the granddaughter of Cornelius Cruser, of Castleton, in whose will of 1 July 1807 she was named as Elizabeth, wife of John Bodine (Richmond Co. Wills A: 369). Elizabeth Bodine must be the woman aged 50-59 living in the household of Abraham Bodine in the 1840 census of Richmond County at Castleton.