Brockholst Ludlow Carroll (1847-1905)

Portrait from the History of the Rockaways from the Year 1685-1917.

  Following on the heels of Sag Harbor's Clothier Hathaway Vaughn, another curiously named New York village president is profiled, Brockholst Ludlow Carroll of Far Rockway. A once-prominent business leader and politician in this Long Island community, Carroll engaged in the bottling of soda and mineral water, and prior to his election as village President of Far Rockaway had served as excise commissioner for the neighboring village of Hempstead. The son of John L. Norton Carroll and the former Elizabeth Jennings, Brockholst Ludlow "Brock" Carroll was born in New York in 1847. Carroll's middle name is recorded in New York state death records as Ludlow, and this spelling can also be seen in his death notices published in the Brooklyn Times Union and the Hempstead Sentinel. An alternate middle name for him is listed on Ancestry.com, where it is given as Ludwig. Very confusing!

  Little information could be found on Carroll's early life, including mention of his education. In the mid 1870s he entered into the bottling of mineral water on Long Island, with his bottling plant being located in Far Rockaway. This business later burned in 1892, and by 1899 had been succeeded by two other bottling plants, one in Far Rockaway and another in Lawrence, located in Nassau County. 

  Carroll entered local politics in the 1870s with his service as a member of the board of excise for the town of Hempstead. He served in that capacity for twenty-five years and in 1883 was appointed as a delegate from Queens County to that year's Democratic state convention held in Buffalo. In 1887 he was named as a representative from Hempstead to a Queens County Democratic central committee, then titled the "Reorganized Regular Democracy of Queens County".

  "Brock" Carroll married in November 1882 to Johanna Dwyer, who survived him upon his death in 1905. The couple had five children, Josephine (born 1887), Elizabeth (born 1889), Benjamin Lockwood (1892-1944), Catherine (1892-1968), and Grace (born 1895).

  In 1896 Brockholst Carroll was nominated by the Citizens Party as its candidate for Village President of Far Rockway. In September of that year, he devised a novel way of courting voters by giving a clambake on the lawn of his home. Carroll spared no expense in the venture, chartering four horse-drawn carriages for the purpose of transporting partygoers to his home. A write-up on the festivities, published in the Brooklyn Times Union, records that only male residents were extended invitations. Carroll won the election that November and served one term, 1897-98, and is noted as having been the last village president of Far Rockway prior to its annexation to New York City in 1898.

  The final years of Carroll's life were spent battling rheumatism and Bright's disease, the latter claiming his life on January 29, 1905, at his home. Prior to his death Carroll rallied for a time and was able to sing several hymns, the last of which, "Think of Me", was uttered as he died. He was survived by his wife and children and was interred at Woodmere, now known as Trinity Cemetery, in Hewlett, Long Island.

From the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, January 30, 1905.

From the Brooklyn Times Union, January 30, 1905.