Part 1

The forces that would inevitably culminate in the marriage between Joe and Sydney at the end of the first quarter of the 21st century began to truly take shape a mere 1,000 years before the two met at 70 Lefferts Place in Brooklyn, New York.

According to 8th century historian Bede, the initial Saxon incursion into England began in 449 AD, starting a series of events that would culminate in the formation of the English language in the years following the Norman invasion in 1066. It is also in the 11th century when Jewish people began to appear in chronicles of life in Eastern Europe, as deep ties had begun to form between Jewish peoples in Constantinople and the Keivan Rus, with Yaroslav the Wise dedicating one of the three Kyvian city gates to Jewish people sometime before his death in 1054. In Italy, medieval communes in the north began to grow and reform themselves into city states that were largely modeled on their understanding of the political structure of the Roman Republic. In 1142, most of the Northeast of the continent that would become known as North America was consolidated under the The Iroquois Confederacy’s Great Law of Peace. Thus, by the early 1100s the cultural, ethnoreligious, and political forces were set in motion that would lead to creation of New York City, The United State of America, the construction of a house on Lefferts Street, and ultimately, the marriage of Joe and Sydney. Let's dive in deeper.

It can and should be argued that the creation of the United States (and later, the wedding that is the subject of this page) began with the fall of the Roman Empire upon losing the siege of Constantinople in 1453.

The final destruction of Rome created the economic incentive for christian monarchs to establish new sea routes to Asia. While Portuguese and Dutch sailors successfully navigated the horn of Africa to trade with India directly, one Italian sailor miscalculated the size of the earth set forth by Ptolomy some 900 years earlier, and sailed west. This event had a deep impact on the empires of the so called "New World", which suffered mass devastation from disease even before direct military incursion by the spanish. The conquest and looting of the Incan and Aztec empires flooded Spain, and the rest of Europe with massive amounts of gold.

This gold was devastating for the social order of almost every European state. It expanded the catholic church's practice of selling "indulgences" to fund the increasingly lavish halls of the Vatican, which, in combination with an increasing number of translated bibles, led to a crisis of faith across much of central Europe. Over the next 300 years, devastating religious wars would seriously weaken the churches hold on European politics through the Feudal system.

Additionally, more wealth meant more spending, which meant craftsmen and merchants were developing a much deeper prominence in society. This growing “middle class” of citizens were often already organized into guildes and secret societies which increased their political power exponentially throughout the later middle ages and into the renaissance and age of enlightenment.

By the end of the 16th Century complex and devastating wars had enveloped central Europe, primarily over religious differences sparked by the reformation, but also reflecting the desire of newly wealthy merchants and nobles to distance themselves from the power structures legitimized by the Catholic Church. Perhaps most significantly for our story, the English Crown renounced the pope and formed a new Church, leading to the forceful conversion of the Irish people, the banning of the Irish language, and the mass execution of Irish oral historians. On mainland Europe, the Dutch Republic was formed, and became a haven of religious tolerance as the religious wars raged throughout the rest of the continent. One group of the religious refugees, later called “the pilgrims” fled England in 1606 and settled in Amsterdam. Also that year, Henry Hudson sailed from the Netherlands and came across the island of Mannahatta.

Mannahatta was under the care of the Lenape people in the early 1600s, but following their sale of the island to the Dutch in 1626, the Lenape would become fully a part of the Iroquois Confederacy by the 1660’s. The Confederacy had suffered massive population loss through disease and they sought to repopulate through the absorption of other regional tribes. After absorbing the last of the regional tribes like the Lenape, they set out to conquer the economically critical Ohio River Valley. The Iroqouis quickly recognized the value that European steal, and gunpowder, had in their efforts to conquer Ohio, and as Europeans established small colonies along the north eastern coast, the Iroqouis offered them massive economic subsidies to ensure their survival, and consequently the Confederacy’s access to European goods. With much of the north east region firmly under the Iroquis control, the League would focus its efforts on gathering the raw material, primarily beaver pelts, they could trade with the growing number of European colonies along their coast.

These French, English and Dutch colonies were not able to replicate the success of the “get rich quick schemes” carried out by Cortez and Pizarro through rapid conquest of minerally rich, unsuspecting empires. The money they made selling beaver furs inspired them to explore novel ways of generating cash that, although smaller than their other efforts at first, would have the deepest impact on the modern economy, specifically the modern concepts of race. By cultivating cash crops, and importing enslaved Africans to farm them for free, they could generate consistent revenue streams that made them competitive players in the global economy. Millions of people from Africa would be forced to do the labor that cultivated cash crops fueling this economic engine.

All of this would rely on a first class port, something Henry Hudson may have already been aware of when he first came to Manahatta, as he describes the geographic features that would make the island destined to become such a place. New Amsterdam was well aware of its destiny as a critical leg in this new global trade network, and, unfortunately for the Dutch, so were the English who annexed the colony and renamed it New York.

By the middle of the 18th century the wealth generated by the new trade network increased the power and influence of the coastal European Colonies, and grew the tension between the European powers as a whole. While Colonists increasingly sought greater opportunities for wealth and power by conquering the west, its current stewards were in the midst of a massive religious revival that seeked to create more separation between the Iroquis and European settlers. These forces came to a head in a war that would be known on this continent as the French and Indian wars. By the end of the conflict, the Iroquis nation’s power had significantly waned, and the English had successfully cemented themselves as the predominant European power in that part of the world. In 1762 they formalized an agreement with the Iroquis that would limit European expansion in the west, which, alongside increased taxation to pay back war debt, infuriated Colonists. This furry accelerated the development of an independent political identity within the 13 colonies.

Most Europeans still lived under political systems where the church was the legitimizing authority of state violence- a system that had continually devastated the continent with catastrophic warfare since the 1400s. Colonists in North America had spent 150 years at the behest of the Iroquis, an empire that had no legitimizing authority outside of the consent of the tribes it governed. It controlled huge amounts of territory, where people with ethnic, linguistic, and religious diversity, in relative peace. The wealth of the colonies was formed through capitalistic enterprise that had almost nothing to do with the church, and the wealthiest and most powerful among them were apart of secret societies and mercantile organizations that had operated as an independent power structures in Europe for centuries. When this merchant class expressed their frustration with their empire's tax policies at the Boston tea party, they dressed as natives, symbolically demonstrating that they were willing to align themselves with the native power structures over the European ones. Enraged at attempts to disarm them, they forced English soldiers off of the colony in 1775, and reacted to their return by declaring independence in 1776. Defeating the English, they formed a new constitution that was based in enlightenment philosophy, but embraced the core structure of the Iroquis confederacy, where local governments, autonomous in their definition of democracy, consent to, and form the rule of, a larger federal authority.

And so the City and State of New York were now apart of the United States of America. The treaty limiting western expansion in 1762 was void, and after the War of 1812, the indigenous empires that had controlled the North East since the 1100s were gone. New Yorks place in the new empire that was to form was cemented by Gouverneur Morris, who was principally responsible for the construction of the Erie Canal. The Erie Canal connected New York to the Great lakes, and made it a central focal point of any of the wealth generated in the west. Now two tremendous economic forces would fuel the city, commodities crops grown by enslaved Africans, and the conquest of the western half of the continent.

Gouverneur Morris would also develop the grid system of Manhattan's streets, an urban design that required no first hand knowledge to understand. New York was now a city that anyone, from anywhere, could navigate. And so, with the adoption of the commissioners' plan in 1811, the greatest enclave of immigration in human history was formed.

Part 2

People complained about the lack of space in Manhattan from the very start. Many would try to solve this by making buildings go up, but most development in the early 19th century would focus on making people go out. Radical new technologies used steam to power ships, and when the Fulton Ferry opened in 1814, passage across the east river became decoupled from wind and most weather. The Brooklyn to Manhattan commuter was born.

Brooklyn had been passively developed by many Dutch merchants and enslavers throughout the 18th Century, concentrating their estates in between the main trails that had been carved out by the Lenapes, and used by the British to flank the Continental army at the battle of Brooklyn. As more and more steam ship companies began offering passage across the east river at regular intervals, a commission was appointed to begin mapping and naming these trails, primarily after the largest Dutch merchant families including the Lefferts. And so Lefferts' place was born. By the 1850s 4 separate trolley services connected the area around lefferts to the ferry landing, and thus another milestone, the two fare commute, was established.

While the old Dutch merchants were having their memories enshrined in streets across the borough, a new generation of entrepreneurs were expanding their operations along Manhattan's waterfront.

One such man was John Elwell, who on the morning of July 15th, 1847, stepped foot on the deck of a ship called the Nautilus that was docked in New York Harbor. While he gazed across at the borough of Brooklyn, did he think of the rapid growth he had seen since moving his shipping company from Maine 14 years earlier? We cannot say for certain. Infact, the only thing we know went through his head that morning was a piece of ship rigging that came loose and knocked him into the harbor. He was fished out, and died of his injuries at home some five days later.

His business passed on to his son, James Elwell, who channeled his grief into his work and grew the firm substantially in the years following his fathers death. Tragedy continued to pursue him, however, as his first wife, Olivia Paterson, died on a cold February morning in 1851. He did not stay in mourning for long, and was remarried by May of the next year, and looking to start a more quiet life in the suburbs of Brooklyn.

Elwell purchased a plot of land on Lefferts street, perhaps after seeing it advertised in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle as “built up with the most elegant residences.[An area of] rapidly rising in value.” For 20,000 dollars he was able to secure the entire corner lot of Lefferts and Grand Avenue, and construction soon began on an Italianate Style Villa- the common choice for young, urban professionals who wanted to show off their ability to afford the quiet suburban life of Brooklyn. The house was perhaps less important to Elwell than the garden, as his land soon boasted one of a large and diverse flower conservatory in the City. It is said Elwell spent 20 minutes every morning picking a flower for his lapel. Those who knew him came to call him “Bouquet” Elwell.

Elwell’s growing wealth could not protect him from the tragedies of the age, as in 1857, his youngest son James died at only 21 months. We can speculate that it was these tragic deaths that spurred his sense of charity and civic engagement. He served as a trustee of dozens of charities throughout his time, many focused on orphans and so called “Friendless Women and Children of Brooklyn”. It is estimated that in his lifetime he gave over 3 million dollars to charity. His love of people took simpler forms as well; His obituary in 1899 claims he ended his days on the Manhattan waterfront giving the flowers he cut that morning for his lapel to the women and children that begged along the wharfs. The thousands who came to visit his home on Lefferts in the days after his death remembered fondly how he would spend his time outside tending his garden and passing out bouquets to those who sauntered past.

Most of the surviving Elwells (and Palmers through marriage) remained at Lefferts, but began to sell parcels of the land by 1902. Brooklyn was developing rapidly, and the grand mansions of John Elwells time were replaced by far denser row houses. Forever seeking a quiet life away from the City, the Elwells retreated once more to a house in Long Island, putting the house on Lefferts up for sale in 1939.

It was not a new crop of successful capitalists that would take over the mansion in Brooklyn, indeed there were fewer and fewer of those each year as the Great Depression dragged on. Rather, it was purchased by a group that believed fiercely in the equality and dignity of all people, a belief that was instilled in them by a man who claimed to be the second coming of Christ.

Very little is known about the early life of Reverend Major Jealous Divine, who resisted all efforts at writing his biography, claiming “the history of God would not be useful in mortal terms”. All that can be said for certain is that a young preacher named George Baker was working as a gardener in Maryland, attending and preaching at a Baptist church, when in 1907 he saw a sermon by a traveling preacher named Samuel Morris. Morris was notorious for being thrown out of churches of all denominations because he ended his otherwise soft-spoken sermons by throwing up his hands and declaring “I am the eternal father!” The tactic had been entirely unsuccessful at winning any followers, but it enthralled George Baker. He joined forces with Morris, referring to himself as “the messenger” and declaring that he was a Christ-like figure to compliment the role Morris was playing as god. The duo was joined by one John Hickerson, who referred to himself as “John of the Vine”. Three gods proved too many, and the trio split apart soon after. George Baker headed south under the new moniker “Father Divine.”

His ministry did not garner the support he had hoped for in the deep south, and after dozens of fights with ministers throughout the state of Georgia, Divine was arrested and sentenced to 60 days on a chain gang. He gained some traction when he claimed an auto accident that injured several prison administrators during his incarceration was the result of his divinity. By 1914 he had amassed a small following, but facing increasing violence in the south, he turned his sights on New York City.

Father Divine's natural public speaking ability found its home in the City, and within ten years he was drawing tens of thousands of people to hear his sermons. He began to refer to his congregation as The International Peace Mission Movement, and his preaching focused on the creation of a heaven on earth, where racial equality, and non-violence flourished. As economic conditions in New York City deteriorated, residents were more and more receptive to his message. While initially his congregation was entirely black, by the 30s it was surprisingly diverse. Its Racial diversity was novel, but perhaps more so was the diversity of class, as increasingly wealthy industrialists donated to his cause.

When Elwell Palmer sold Father Divine her fathers old house, he paid her only 5,000 dollars, a quarter of what her father paid for only the land 85 years earlier. Likely the discount was seen as a large scale donation to support the growing movement.

Father Divine charity was unique in its focus on quality. At the height of the great depression, when many family struggled to put any food on the table, the International Peace Mission Movement would host free banquets for thousands, serving decadent meals to some of Brooklyn's poorest residents. Indeed, this became the main activity at 70 Lefferts, where soon the basement was converted into an industrial kitchen and anyone could get a hot meal between 6am and 11pm for as little as 15 cents. Congregants lived in the top 2 floors, and the first floor was used as a communal banquet hall.

Father Divine struggled with his own mortality following the death of his first wife. It was said that he never acknowledged her death or any grief he may have felt about it. Following an economically devastating series of lawsuits by former congregant members, he moved out of New York and into the home of a wealthy benefactor in Pennsylvania, where he died. Followers continue to insist his spirit is alive in the world, and continue to maintain his furniture just as he left it in his final home.

Spiritual leadership of the congregation passed on to his Second Wife Edna Rose Ritchings, or Mother Divine, who did her best to maintain the positive force they provided for folks in New York City. She successfully prevented Jim Jones from taking over the ministry after he claimed to be the reincarnation of Father Divine, despite being 34 years old at the time of his death.

This history of the house on Lefferts Street becomes harder to pin down after it was sold by the International Peace Mission Movement. In 1981 it was sold by Love Sweet, presumably the last of Father Divines associates to run the food program, to a Lenora Green. The Green family held it for 19 years before selling it to a Elizabeth Maitland for a mere 360,180 dollars. The Maitlands remortgage the property three times before selling it for 2,400,000 dollars in May 2006.

There was immediate fear that building would be torn down entirely and replaced with a modern building, but the community worked quickly to preserve that piece of their history. By December of 2006 the Historic Land Mark Commission held a hearing on the historic value of the property. Support was vast and diverse, with testimony from the Lefferts Place Civic Association, the Clinton Hill Society and current New York Attorney General Letitia James all demanding the building be preserved. The board voted unanimously to protect the property with historical landmark status.

Even as a historically preserved building, 70 Lefferts place continued to undergo numerous transformations between 2006 and 2020. It changed ownership at least 3 more times, and came under fire for being run as an illegal hostel in 2011.

Eventually the house was purchased by its current owner, Joseph Banda, for $2,700,000. When the house was purchased it was vacant, and remained so for a time until Banda made a chance phone call to the Subway Realty company where he met Audrey Banks, and propositioned her to lease the mansion under and LLC.

Banks connected with a group of co-conspirators who inturn formed the board of a new organization- the All in One collective, who began renting studios and 1 room apartments to artists and activists in Brooklyn in 2020. Sydney opened a studio in the collective that year, and Joe moved into a room in December of 2021.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Photos