Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 157, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 July 1912 — Curious Nicknames of Old. [ARTICLE]

Curious Nicknames of Old.

Some curious nicknames are found In the Dutch records of New York In 1644, evidently due to the fact that certain persons either had no family name, or that it had been forgotten. In one Instance there is recorded John Pietersen, alias Friend John. In the Newtown purchase from the Indians, dated te 1666, one of the boundaries is “by a Dutchman’s land caljed the Hans the Boore,” and te the bushwick patent, dated October 12, 1667, one of the boundaries is “John the Swede’s meadcw> In 1668, te the Kings county records, a man is named living at Gowanus as "Tonis the Fisher.” The common council of New York, to 16*1, ordered fish to be brought into the dock “over agates* the city hall, or the bouse that Leaf. Mary formerly lived to,” and the simeyter an order was pissed “that Top-Knot Betty and her children be provided for as objects of charity.”