From Parade magazine, April 17, 2005, pp. 12-13.

Near the No.7 train in Flushing, Queens—one of New York City’s most diverse neighborhoods—sits an unassuming house that can rightfully be called...

The Cradle Of Our Religious Freedom

By Gerri Hirshey

TO LOVERS OF FREEDOM throughout history, there have been few sounds as ominous as the tramp of military boots followed by a knock on the door. More than 300 years ago, in 1662, there was such a banging on a one-room farm home in the town of Vlissingen (currently Flushing, Queens) in the early Dutch colony of New Amsterdam that is now New York City.

That September afternoon, John Bowne, a 34-year-old English settler, opened the door with his sickly infant daughter in his arms. His wife, Hannah, pregnant and ill, rested within. With armed men, Sheriff Resolve Waldron arrested Bowne on orders from the colony’s governor, Peter Stuyvesant. The charge was aiding and abetting an “abomination” known as Quakerism. Bowne, whose wife had converted to Quakerism, allowed a local group to worship in his home. When he refused to pay a fine or renounce the Quakers, he was locked in a dungeon with bread-and-water rations, then deported to Amsterdam, Holland.

Bowne endured a 19-month separation from his young family and the near-ruin of his estate. When he finally had a hearing before the officers of the Dutch West India Company in Amsterdam, Bowne invoked a 1657 declaration of religious freedom signed by fellow settlers, called The Flushing Remonstrance. It is now considered a precursor to America’s Bill of Rights—and one of the original documents of American democracy. It declared that a law guaranteeing "love, peace and liberty” should be extended to all residents, including “to Jews, Turks and Egyptians.” Bowne made his case and was sent home. Stuyvesant was ordered to halt his harassment of religious minorities.

Bowne’s modest home, built circa 1661, is now known as the cradle of religious tolerance in America. The saltbox-style farmhouse, expanded by Bowne’s descendants, sits in one of New York City’s most diverse neighborhoods. Yet, as hundreds of free worshippers—Hindus, Catholics, Muslims, Protestants, Jews, Rastafarians, Buddhists—tramp past daily on their way to Main Street and the No.7 subway line, few are aware of its legacy.

Though it has been a museum since 1947, the house has been closed to the public since 2000 for a critical $2 million, three-phase renovation. Like many historic sites in America, its very foundation is threatened—by rot, termites and lack of funding.

“The preservation of this house is critical to understanding who we are as a people,” insists Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel, chairperson of the Historic Landmarks Preservation Center. Having catalogued New York’s distinctive sites in her new book, The Landmarks of New York, she singles out Bowne House—the second oldest building in New York City—as among the most important. “A structure is only as significant as the people who inhabited it,” she says. “And this is one of the most exceptional families this country has produced.”

Bowne’s descendants include four New York City mayors, six U.S. Presidents and early abolitionists.  (In fact, the house is believed to have been a stop on the Underground Railroad for escaping slaves.) The family also was distinguished in business. Robert Bowne (1744-1818) founded the oldest public company in the nation, the printing concern Bowne & Co., which is still in operation today. The family produced outstanding horticulturalists as well.

There is now a renewed effort to save their homestead. Rosemary Vietor, a 12th-generation descendant and president of the Bowne House Historical Society says that the society plans to deed the house to New York City to gain access to wider sources of funding. “The community is working hard to raise the rest of the restoration funds,” she adds, “and we’re confident that, once again, it will be a great place to visit.”

“There are hundreds of sites around this country waiting to be rediscovered, preserved and treasured,” says Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel. ‘Why get involved? Landmark preservation improves the well-being of a community. It brings people together. It nurtures civic concern and pride. When you find out that history unfolded just around the corner, it really connects us to our collective past.”

The Next Step

The rejuvenation of Bowne House is part of a growing wave of preservation activity nationwide. On May 8th—to kick off the 2005 National Preservation Month—PARADE will announce a grass-roots campaign to identify and honor spots of cultural and historic importance in your community. We’ll also publish a report on the state of our crumbling national treasures and what’s being done.

The Bowne House today~ Below is an illustration of how it looked in the 19th century. Nine consecutive generations of the Bowne fami!y lived in the house until 1945, including Walter Bowne (above right),mayor of New York City from 1829-33.

United in an effort to restore Bowne House: Rosemary Vietor (I), a direct descendant, and preservation expert Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel.

ADDENDUM

On June 19, 2005, Parade magazine had this followup question and answer on the Bowne House article in Walter Scott’s Personality Parade column:

Q: A Parade article on April 17 said the descendants of John Bowne, who settled in New York in the 1600s, included six Presidents and four New York City mayors.  Can you provide their names?

A: In fact seven Presidents had Bowne connections: John and John Quincy Adams, Lincoln, Nixon, Ford and both Bushes.  The mayors were John Lawrence, Marinus Willett, Walter Bowne and Cornelius Lawrence (all before 1840).

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