1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Tottenville

TOTTENVILLE, a former village of Richmond county, New York, U.S.A., and since 1898 a part of New York City. It is on the southern shore of Staten Island in New York Bay and on Staten Island Sound, about 20 m. S.W. of the south extremity of Manhattan Island, and is the terminus of the Staten Island Rapid Transit railway. Marine engines, terra-cotta and boats are manufactured here, and there are oyster fisheries. The “Billopp House” here (still standing) was the scene of the conference, on the 11th of September 1776, between Lord Howe, representing Lord North, and Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Edward Rutledge, representing the Continental Congress, with regard to Lord North’s offer of conciliation. This house, originally called the “Manor of Bentley,” was built by Captain Christopher Billopp (1638–1726), who sailed from England in an armed vessel, the “Bentley,” in 1667, and, by circumnavigating Staten Island in 24 hours, made it, under the ruling of the duke of York, a part of New York. From the duke of York he received 1163 acres of land, including the present site of Tottenville. The village was long known as Bentley, but in 1869 was incorporated (under a faulty charter, revised in 1894) as Tottenville, apparently in honour of Gilbert Totten, a soldier in the War of Independence.