Place:Astoria, Queens, New York, United States

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Astoria is a neighborhood in the northwestern corner of the New York City borough of Queens. Located in Community Board 1, Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City, Sunnyside (bordering at Northern Boulevard), and Woodside (bordering at 50th Street). Astoria is patrolled by the New York City Police Department's 114th Precinct.

History

Excerpt from Old Roads from the Heart of New York: Journeys Today by Ways of Yesterday, within thirty miles around the Battery page 37, 38:
A brief voyage, and you arrive at Astoria; a part of greater New York, a large, busy, crowded town, and yet a place never seen by many Manhattanites.

The northern corner of this promontory is called Hallett's Point, which name, along with that of Hallett's Cove, came from William Hallett, who emigrated to this place from Dorsetshire as early as 1652. A grant from Stuyvesant and a purchase from the Indians gave him all the land which is now covered by Astoria, and he may justly be regarded as the pioneer of this point.

It was in 1839 that the region of Hallett's Cove was made an incorporated village, and something like a boom occurred. A female|seminary was started, and John Jacob Astor, being interested in the place, promised to contribute largely to its support. The name "Astoria" was given to the new village, the ferry to Eighty-sixth Street was established, and the growth was rapid.

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