The Bushwick Dutch Reformed Church, commonly known as the Old Bushwick Reformed Church, was organized in 1654 in the Dutch settlement of Bushwick (or Boswyck ), one of the six original towns in what would later become known as Kings County. Located at the corner of Conselyea and Humboldt Streets, the Church's second structure was erected circa 1711, and its third in 1829. The Church was part of a collegiate comprised of Dutch Reformed churches in five of the six original towns of Kings County, including Brooklyn, Bushwick, Flatbush, Flatlands, and New Utrecht, as well as the town of Jamaica in Queens County. The Church's services were alternately administered every third Sunday by the pastors of the collegiate. Notable 18th- and 19th-century pastors at the church included Martinus Schoonmaker, Peter Lowe, Stephen H. Meeker, and Henry A. Powell. The church was demolished in the early 20th century.
From the guide to the Bushwick Dutch Reformed Church records, 1713-1817, (Brooklyn Historical Society)
Ebenezer Conklin and his wife Sarah Aletta Clowes had five children, four of whom survived to adulthood. Sarah, the eldest, and Nathaniel Augustus, the third child, are represented in this collection. Sarah married George Bedell, the son of William Bedell. Sarah and George Bedell had two children, one of whom may be Elbert Bedell. William Bedell appears to have been Conklin's business partner for a time--there are several mentions in the records of a "Bedell and Conklin Company"--but the nature of this business is unclear. William Bedell was the chief proprietor of a straw and feed company; there are several receipts from his store included in the collection. While Ebenezer Conklin is represented in this collection primarily as a landlord and property owner, he was also an employee or associate of the Peter Cooper glue factory and millworks. Nathaniel Augustus Conklin, known as "Gus," served in the Civil War and later came to reside at 175 Ainslie Street. The two letters to his father included in this collection make some mention of his own business affairs. Harriet Louisa Conklin, the second of the Conklin children, is represented in this collection only by the presence of her school bills, and possibly by a letter from Gus addressed to a "sister."
(Sources: 173rd New York State Volunteer Infantry: Letters of Nathaniel Augustus Conklin. http://173rdnysvi.org/letters.htm. accessed 24 July 2007; Brooklyn Genealogy Information Pages. http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/ accessed 24 July 2007.)
From the guide to the Conklin and Bedell families papers, 1839-1917, (Brooklyn Historical Society)
