The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1878-12-05
REAL ESTATE jn EoonD or NEW
~ ~ YOkK CITY. e.

a WISH 10 fbuc lAhll Va 1NVOOlOb VI LNOW i
York city brings one into many peculiar
associations. A lot which, in one volume,
stands conveyed at $1,000 may, in an
otlier, be rated at $1cO, 900, and thus you
wonder Mt the imhunse fortunes which
might have been mads by holding such
lots, and often forget that generation
may have elapsed between the first and the
second conveyances. The hall in which
the library of records is contained is about
80 feet broad by SO feet in depth, and here
all the recording and searching are done.
The immense amount of real estate trans
actions occurring may be Judged from the i.
fact that so large volumes of records are
filed annually. The entire number of vol
umes of conveyances is nearly 1890, to
which is to be added l, 100 of mortgages.
The latter number indicates how small an
amount of property is paid for when pur-
chased.
Searching titles is carried on under the
supervision Of the Register, who will search .
any title, when requested to do SO, and Will
charge regular fee, out of which lie pays
his assistants. These men number eleven,
and receive salaries ranging from ST. 800 to
$4,000. Their hours of service are from
o'clock till 4 o'clock, but sometimes they
labor ten hours day. Some of them have
had long experience in this duty, and the
Oldest in point of service is Mr.. De Grove,
who has had desk here for forty years.
| The first records are in Dutch, and some of
| them are in excellent preservation after
lapse of 200 years. These have been trans
lated and copied by order of the corpora
ton, and hence their contents have been
made more accessible to the antiquarian.
| Liber A begins with 1851 and ends with
1862. The ink is good and the writing
very legible. The first deed written in
English was executed by Nicholas Bayard
in 1865, the land being described as lying
IN "Smith's Valley" a locality which, at
the present time, is utterly unknown.
| The first conveyance to John Jacob AS
tor is dated Aug. IA, 1889, being two lots
in the Bowery lane, for e25O. The next is
lated Nov. 80, 1880, and is the premises in
Little Dock street, where the great land
owner commenced trade. The lot is 36 by
SIS, and the price was $3.50. from tlls
commencement Astor went on III series OF
fortunate purchases until his death, IN the
snrjng of 1S4s. The last conveyance is
r dated Feb. 2G 1913, and was signed by
John ]. Westervelt, Sheriff of the city and
county of New York. This was but few
, days before the old man expired. During
his business career in this city, which lasted
GO wears, Astor made 1853 purchases of rea
estate, being at the rate of more than one
every quarter day during the above-men'
+ toned term. Some men are happy to col
y lect rent four times year. Astor, how
: ever, averaged q handsome purchase fou
$ times year.
About six years ago, the city Govern
! ment ordered set of indexes to be printed
d and a large number were recently sold b.
o auction for 81. per volume. They ar
j. yery convenient to those who wish to refe
;, in ready manner to the favored list G
e. landholders, and by reference we fin
that the name of Murray occurs l,2o
H. H. times, showing that this family was of Il
Al small Importance in real estate connection
y Bishop Hughes had 60 conveyances, whlc
q indicates the increase in ecclesiastc
n wealth made during his official career b
e. the Church he served. The family
Smiths is mentioned in 3,o40 conveyance
err of which 67 are to John Smith. Besid
m this, there are 165 John Smiths with NIL
e, dla initial 81 ....