A Staten Island Weather Record of Sixty Years Ago 1 



By William T. Davis 



Mr. George Wotherspoon, a native of Scotland, was a resident 

 of New Brighton for many years. In 1846 he lived on the Shore 

 Road, now Richmond Terrace, in one of the houses built by the 

 New Brighton Association. Later he owned a residence and 

 several acres of land extending from Tompkins Avenue to what 

 is now Stuyvesant Place and known as the Dawson property. At 

 the time, he owned a field now occupied in part by the Corn Ex- 

 change Bank building and the buildings facing the St. George 

 ferry. 



From January 1, 1846, to May, 1852, Mr. Wotherspoon kept 

 a record of the weather, which through the courtesy, of his grand- 

 children, the Wardlaw family, has been placed in my hands for 

 perusal. 



The record consists of a book with pages six and two-eighths 

 by seven and five-eighths inches. The left hand page is divided 

 into eleven columns, giving in order the day of the month, day 

 of the week, direction of the wind, the lowest night record of 

 the thermometer and day readings at 8 a. m., 2 p. m., 10 p. m., 

 and the highest in the day. The remaining three columns are de- 

 voted to barometer records. The right hand page contains gen- 

 eral remarks, and includes during the first year a statement of the 

 number of eggs laid by his fowls. Of these remarks January 

 8, 1846, is a fair sample and reads as follows : 



" Morning cloudy. Evening fine. Cloudy at 10 p. m. 2 eggs." 



The weather as recorded in the remarks seems to have run on 

 according to season with little change, as indeed we know it has 

 done for a very long period of time, to which circumstance we 

 no doubt owe our existence on the earth today. 



In the following tables, drawn up from the record, we have 



1 Presented December 21, 1907. 



