Pete Hamill also has another great NYC book, I think it's called Downtown: My Manhattan, though not so much about immigrants. Still, there are historical anecdotes. I recently took the Circle Tour when I was there in April and learned stuff on it I never knew, like the origin of the name Houston Street ("House Town"). The older I get the more I miss good ol' Manhattan and I can't believe my family ever gave up the rent controlled apt! Irene

Irene, Houston Street is named for Mary Bayard, who married William Houstoun in 1788. The Bayards were large landowners in the area and, presumably, part of Mary's dowry would have been land in that general vicinity. Houstoun was from Georgia and a delegate to the Continental Congress. The "toun" part of his name probably means "town" but the "Hous" part is in dispute. It may mean house, but it also may be a corruption of the name Hugh and thus mean "Hugh's town." James * * * * James Nevius author of "Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City" “A smart and entertaining window on the city of the past.” —The New York Times http://www.insidetheapple.net And don't forget to read our NYC history blog at http://blog.insidetheapple.net On Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 8:56 AM, Irene <irenersalazar@comcast.net> wrote: > Pete Hamill also has another great NYC book, I think it's called Downtown: > My Manhattan, though not so much about immigrants. Still, there are > historical anecdotes. I recently took the Circle Tour when I was there in > April and learned stuff on it I never knew, like the origin of the name > Houston Street ("House Town"). The older I get the more I miss good ol' > Manhattan and I can't believe my family ever gave up the rent controlled > apt! > > Irene > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NYC-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Great book!  I bought it last year before I came to NYC for the New Netherlands anniversary and NYG&B workshop.  Thanks for writing it. Dee in Phoenix When a person dies, a library closes. Researching: NJ: Snook, Bozarth, Dickerson, Dalton, Hicks, Asay NY: Semlear, Stoothoff, Foster, Murray, Dierks, Cairns PA: Hicks, Shaw, Roberts, Swartz/Black, Penrose Nova Scotia: Arthur, Hutt, Eisenhauer, Conrod, Morris --- On Tue, 8/24/10, James Nevius <james.nevius@gmail.com> wrote: From: James Nevius <james.nevius@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [NYC-ROOTS] Book Recommendation Request To: nyc-roots@rootsweb.com Date: Tuesday, August 24, 2010, 12:10 PM Irene, Houston Street is named for Mary Bayard, who married William Houstoun in 1788. The Bayards were large landowners in the area and, presumably, part of Mary's dowry would have been land in that general vicinity. Houstoun was from Georgia and a delegate to the Continental Congress. The "toun" part of his name probably means "town" but the "Hous" part is in dispute. It may mean house, but it also may be a corruption of the name Hugh and thus mean "Hugh's town." James * * * * James Nevius author of "Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City" “A smart and entertaining window on the city of the past.” —The New York Times http://www.insidetheapple.net And don't forget to read our NYC history blog at http://blog.insidetheapple.net On Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 8:56 AM, Irene <irenersalazar@comcast.net> wrote: > Pete Hamill also has another great NYC book, I think it's called Downtown: > My Manhattan, though not so much about immigrants.  Still, there are > historical anecdotes.  I recently took the Circle Tour when I was there in > April and learned stuff on it I never knew, like the origin of the name > Houston Street ("House Town").    The older I get the more I miss good ol' > Manhattan and I can't believe my family ever gave up the rent controlled > apt! > > Irene > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NYC-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NYC-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message