Items

• Deas deed conveyed from Jane Ann Fowler to James Brown - 1864

  Original handwritten deed between Jane Ann Fowler and James Brown, both of New York City, conveying a 10 acre parcel of land known as Peacock Meadows, being a part of Slaugh’s Meadow, originally conveyed to James Deas by Alexander Peacock, bounded on the east by the Hudson River, in the “Township of North Bergen” (now Weehawken), dated October 22, 1864. The deed is signed by Jane Ann Fowler, C.B. Wheeler & J. Cambreberg (witnesses), and signed and stamped by Thomas Sadler (Commissioner for New Jersey) on the commissioner’s slip. James Deas, to whom this parcel was originally conveyed, was a successful ship captain after the American Revolution and built an estate in Weehawken known as Deas Point (or Day's Point). It is believed that the land he owned encompassed a secluded area known as the dueling grounds, where New Yorkers came to duel. Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr dueled there on July 11, 1804. James Deas and Alexander Hamilton, both being of Scottish heritage, were members of the St. Andrews Society of New York and knew each other well. After Hamilton died, Deas allowed the Society to install a memorial on the dueling site in 1806. Most of the land was sold by Deas' heirs to James Gore King by about 1830, where King built his home called Highwood. James Brown's home, called Clifton was built circa 1840. Part of the home is still standing at the rear of the Shri Swaminarayan Hindu Temple ISSO, located on Louisa Place, across from the Roosevelt School.