Notes for: John Van Pelt Bodine, Capt.

He and Peter were twins.

From Ronny Bodine:

John Bodine was bapt. 31 March 1813 at the Port Richmond Dutch Reformed Church. He was named May 1833 in the probate proceedings of his grandfather, John Bodine and was named 13 June 1842 as an heir of his brother Cornelius Bodine. By 1848, John and Myrtilla Bodine were already living in Brooklyn at which time the city directory shows they living at 345 Atlantic Avenue. John was engaged as a crewmember of the steamer "Isaac Newton" and Mary Matilda (as she was recorded) as working with threads & needles. In 1850, John Bodine and his family were living in the 10th Ward of New York City in Kings County where he was engaged as a baker and owned real estate valued at a substantial $10,000. In 1860 and 1870, John gave his occupation as sail maker and lived in Brooklyn. Myrtilla was called Myrtella in 1850, Myrtilla in 1860 and Matilda in 1870 and 1880, in the latter year, aged 62 and widowed. In the Brooklyn city directories of 1888-1889 and 1889-1890 she was listed as Myrtilla Bodine, widow of John, living at 865 Pacific Avenue and in the 1897 Brooklyn directory she is Matilda, widow of John living at 2100 Atlantic Avenue. Although she cannot be found in the 1900 census, her death was recorded in Kings County as Myrtella Bodine on 27 Feb 1903, aged 87.

Obituary, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle of 5 May 1873.
BODINE--At Brooklyn, May 4, 1873, JOHN BODINE, son of the late Squire John Bodine, of Factoryville, S L, aged 62 years, 5 months, 17 days. Funeral services to take place at the Church of Our Father, Clermont av, near Atlantic, on May 6, at 2 o'clock, P.M. Friends and relatives are requested to attend.

The World (New York City) of 25 Dec 1897.
The widow of Capt. John Bodlne, who for fifty years commanded one of the Albany and New York steamboats, was in the Broadway Court, Brooklyn, yesterday to answer a dispossess summons for failure to pay the rent of her apartments at No. 2100 Atlantic avenue. When the case was called, Mrs. Bodine failed to respond, and judgment was recorded against her. She was present, but had not heard her name announced. As the court was about to adjourn, Justice Van Wart kindly asked an infirm old woman, who seemed to be waiting for something, if there was anything he could do for her. "I am ninety years old, Judge," she said, in a faltering voice. "This is the first time I have ever been inside of a court. You must have known Capt. John Bodine. I am his widow. My daughter is sixty-five years old. My son, John, is fifty. He is an invalid, and just got out of a sickbed to look for work to buy food for his poor old mother and sick sister. That is all there is now left of Capt. Bodine's family. "I owe some rent," the feeble old woman said.. as her bent form leaned upon the railing for support. "I'll pay every cent due if they will only give me a little time. The Bodines are poor now, but Squire Bodine, my husband's brother, once owned all of Staten Island. "I am in trouble, Judge, but the Lord never forsakes his children. For nearly half a century I have been a church member, and am now a member of Duryea Church, on Clermont avenue." Mrs. Bodine's sad story was investigated by Clerk Allen, who was directed by Justice Lemon to communicate with the Rev. Mr. Pray, pastor of the church, and to make the necessary provision for Mrs. Bodine's temporary comfort. The Bodine family was among the early settlers of Staten Island. Squire John Bodine owned what is now known as Stapleton and Sailor's Snug Harbor. The squire commemorated each addition to his family by planting a tree on the island. Mrs. Bodine's husband died twenty-five years ago.

The World (New York City) of 26 Dec 1897.
There was a touch of happiness in the Christmas of aged Mrs. Bodine after all. She and her invalid son and daughter were not evicted from their humble apartments at No. 2100 Atlantic avenue, as had been threatened, and even in that hopeful old Mrs. Bodine found reason to be cheerful. The story of the pitiful situation of the octogenarian mother and her two children--one sixty-five and the other fifty years old--published In yesterday morning's World, served to bring aid to the distressed trio. Several of Mrs. Bodine's old friends visited her and provided her with money enough to tide the little family over the holiday week. The landlady, Mrs. Diegenhardt, too, was impressed with the pathetic relation of the woes of tho family and did not have them evicted, as she had threatened. Instead she gave Mrs. Bodine a few days' time in which to hunt up other quarters. The story effected another desired end also. It stirred to compassion the heart of a neighboring expressman and he employed Mrs. Bodine's son, Gustav, as a driver. Mrs. Bodine, who Is eighty-five years old, is the widow of Capt. John Bodine, for fifty years captain of an Albany and New York steamboat. Squire Bodine, Capt. Bodine's brother, owned all of what are now Stapleton and Sailor's Snug Harbor, S. I. The Bodines were among the first settlers on Staten Island and all of them were wealthy. When Capt. Bodine died he left his widow a large fortune. According to the story told by Mrs. Bodine yesterday lawyers have swindled and robbed her of every dollar's worth of property she possessed. She at one time owned about $40,000 worth of real estate in Brooklyn alone, besides other valuable properties on Staten Island. A legacy of several thousand pounds left to Mrs. Bodine by her grandfather in England is now in chancery, and the legatee is unable to get one penny of it. Mrs. Bodine with hair as white as snow and frame bent under the weight of her four score and five years, spoke cheerily yesterday of going to work. "I am a dressmaker." she said, "and can earn enough if I can get the work to do to help support our little family. "My husband was a war veteran and I draw a small pension from the Government, but it is only a mite. It Is not in my nature to despair and I feel sure that the good God will see me and mine through our troubles." Mrs. Edward Lederle, Mrs. Bodine's daughter, is also a widow. Her husband's dead body was found on the shore at Bay Ridge about twenty years ago with two bullet holes in the heart. He was believed to have been robbed and murdered.