Excerpt from History of Richmond County (Staten Island) New York: From Its Discovery to the Present Time The preparation of a history like this invo'lves the employ ment of a great variety of means, drawing from a multitude of sources. The compiler is frequently obliged to accept the statements of others without knowing upon what data those statements are made. The utter impossibility of any one man being able, during the brief term of one human life, to go to the bottom of every fact stated in a work of this kind must be too apparent to need -explanation. There are a. Hundred ways by which errors may creep in. The editor can but use his best judgment as to the reliability of the authorities upon which he depends for statements, and his constant and most careful vigilance in guarding against erroneous statements. This he has done in the preparation of this work, and that vigilance has been rendered more effective by the experience the editor has had heretofore in the preparation of similar works in other fields. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.