^
 

278                     THE OLD MERCHAJVTS
 

CHAPTER XXXIIL

There are names, once famed in New York, that are
now extinct. Look in the Directory of 1864 for Des¬
brosses, and not one can be found. It is retained as the
name of a street in the Fifth Ward, terminating on the
North River — Desbrosses street. It v/as so named
from Alderman Charles Desbrosses, who was a great
merchant in his day, and in the year 1767 to 1770 was
Alderman of the East Ward. The reason that the
street was named after him was this : It was on the
Trinity Church property, and old Elias was a vestryman
of Trinity Church from 1759 to 1770, and a warden
from that date to 1778 ; and all those streets. Cham¬
bers, Reade, Duane, Harrison, Jay, Moore, Laight,
Desbrosses, Ciarkson, Vandam, King, Morton, &c., —
were named by Trinity Church after her prominent
vestrymen a hundred years ago.

James and Elias were sons of James Desbrosses, who
was a merchant of the city as early as 1720. When
he died, I am not aware.

In 1765 the Desbrosses family had their great distil-
ery on the Bast River. It occupied all the space on
the water that is now covered by the foot of James, Ol¬
iver and Catherine streets. The first was named from
James   Desbrosses,  the   second   from   Oliver, and  the