Reminiscences of David M. Van Name? 
CuHaArLES W. LENG 
In the Staten Islander of Feb. 11, 1920, is printed an obituary 
of the late David Mersereau Van Name (born Jan. 1, 1840; died 
Feb. 4, 1920) in which reference is made to his memories of the 
old North Shore of his boyhood. These are contained in a manu- 
script in his handwriting, prepared by him for his family in 1916, 
and loaned by them to me, and the following are abstracts there- 
from: | 
“While [I was] living on the Harbor Road an election took 
place in 1844 and James K. Polk was elected president of the 
United States. There was a public parade on the North Shore 
and a barbecue held after by roasting an ox. This barbecue was 
held on the property of Captain Nicholas Bush a few feet east of 
the Harbor Road. During the parade I recollect distinctly walk- 
ing beside it not quite five years old. The oxen had their horns 
trimmed with an American flag on each. The flag pole had been 
erected for the occasion by the Democrats of the Island and a tall 
and straight hickory had been selected about 60 feet high with the 
top branches left on and they were decorated with small American 
flags over the entire top. It looked beautiful to behold. This 
tree stood at the foot of the Harbor Road on the north side. The 
Emblem stood for the Democrats and the ash tree stood for the 
Whigs.” 
“The dock at the foot of John Street was used in connection 
with the quarry at the head. . . . Large quantities of stone were 
used to build the Delaware Breakwater along the coast for protec- 
tion:of vessels as a harbor. Many streets of Charleston, S. C., 
were paved with blocks taken from this quarry, also the large 
square stone for paving Whitehall St., Broadway, and above 
Bowling Green, N. Y. City. The broken stone was sold to the 
1 Read at a meeting of the Nature Study Club Feb. 9, 1920. 
43 
