Cruikshank, Anita Lott

It is unknown how Anita Lott Cruikshank came to possess the varied documents in this collection. It is presumed that she was a member of the Lott family and that the materials were accumulated by earlier generations of the family in the course of various private, public and professional activities. Most of the collection can be connected to a Lott, either directly (i.e., transactions with, or among, Lotts; Lott estate papers; correspondence with a Lott; and the like) or through evidence of a Lott performing an official responsibility (e.g., surrogate court officer, county clerk) or acting as estate executor, attorney, or in some other role as advocate. Accordingly, this biographical note focuses first on the principal Lott family members appearing in the collection. John A. Lott appears to have been closely involved with estate matters for a branch of the Ludlow-Willink family, which is well-represented in the collection. Therefore, this biographical note also focuses on the members of that family appearing in the collection.

Lott Family

The presence of the Lott family in Brooklyn extends back to 1652, when Peter Lott, a French Huguenot, emigrated from the Netherlands and settled in the town of Flatbush in the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam. Flatbush would later become part of Kings County (now the borough of Brooklyn) in 1664 after the British took control of New Amsterdam, renamed it New York, and Anglicized its place names. Several of Peter Lott's descendants were prominent citizens of Kings County who held influential public office positions at the local and state levels. The Cruikshank collection refers to several Lotts, primarily Johannes E. Lott (1746-1811), Jeremiah Lott (1776-1861), and John A. Lott (1806-1878), all of Flatbush. Johannes E., the son of Engelbert (1719-1779) and Maritje Lott, became the first Surrogate of Kings County and was also a Judge of the County's Court of Common Pleas. He and his wife, Catharine Vanderbilt Lott (1757-1840), had several children, among them Abraham (d. 1840) and Jeremiah. Jeremiah became Surrogate of Kings County, as well as a surveyor and Clerk of the Board of Supervisors.

Jeremiah and his wife, Lydia Lloyd Lott (1789-1865), had a daughter, Catharine (1807-1881), who in 1829 married John A. Lott, the son of the above-mentioned Abraham and one of 19th-century Brooklyn's most celebrated citizens. John was a senior member of the law firm Lott, Murphy, and Vanderbilt, along with prominent Brooklyn politician Henry Cruse Murphy and Judge John Vanderbilt. He was later First Judge of the Kings County Court of Common Pleas, a member of the New York State Assembly, Senator from the first district, Justice of the New York State Supreme Court, Associate Justice of the New York State Court of Appeals, and Chief Justice of the Commission of Appeals.

Ludlow-Willink Family

John Abraham Willink, originally of the Netherlands, was a member of a Dutch family engaged in banking and finance. Willink married Cornelia Ann Ludlow (1788-1865) in 1816, and they resided in Flatbush. They had one daughter by adoption (Maria P. Selleck, later Mrs. W. K. James who, in 1911, would donate historical family artifacts to the Metropolitan Museum of Art). It is possible that Willink met Cornelia through business connections with her father, Charles Ludlow (died 1814) of New York City (Ludlow lived at 13 Broad Street and worked around the corner at 18 Wall Street). Charles Ludlow was married to Elizabeth Van Horne. In addition to Cornelia Ann, the Ludlows had a second daughter, also named Elizabeth. Elizabeth (sometimes referred to as "the younger") did not marry and lived her later years with Cornelia Ann and John Abraham Willink in Flatbush. Willink died on May 31, 1852. Cornelia Ann died on November 18, 1865. It is not known when Elizabeth the younger died, but correspondence in the collection from a Willink in Amsterdam to John A. Lott suggests her death occurred about November 1868.

Most of the Ludlow-Willink documents in the Cruikshank collection center on the above branch of the family. Several documents in the collection concern earlier generations of Ludlows and affiliated families as well; following are notes are those. Gabriel Ludlow (1663-1736) arrived in New York City from England in 1694. He married Sarah Hanmer, and they had eight children. It is the descendants of their eighth child, William Ludlow (born 1707), that predominate in the collection. William married Mary Duncan (1713-1779) in 1731, and they had 13 children. In the Cruikshank collection, the most significant child is the second, Gabriel William Ludlow (1734-1805). (The third child, Cary (1736-1814), also appears on some documents. William (1742-1814) and Mary W. (1748-1831) might also appear.) Many of the Ludlows, living in New York, were congregants of Trinity Church.

Gabriel W. married Cornelia Crooke in 1764. Cornelia was the daughter of Charles Crooke, who was the son of John Crooke. John Crooke was married to Anneke Rutgers, daughter of Anthony Rutgers. All of these individuals (or their estates) are referenced in documents in the collection. Gabriel W. and Cornelia had three children: Charles, John Crooke and Mary. Charles became the New York businessman introduced above and father of Cornelia Ann, who would marry John Abraham Willink.

Sources at Brooklyn Historical Society

For the Lott family: Van Phillips, The Lott family in America ... (call number CS71.L883.1942).

For the Ludlow family: William Seton Gordon, Gabriel Ludlow (1663-1736) and his descendants (call number CS71.L8465.1919); Proceedings at the laying of the corner-stone of the Ludlow and Willink Hall of St. Stephen's College, Annandale, N.Y. on Wednesday, June 13, A.D. 1866 (call number CS71.L8465.1866). (St. Stephen's College is now Bard College and the Ludlow-Willink Hall is used as its main administration building.)

From the guide to the Anita Lott Cruikshank collection of Kings County, N.Y., family papers, circa 1677 to 1892, (Brooklyn Historical Society)