There were some posts recently involving the Ovington Brothers. The Middagh family, one of the earliest Brooklyn families, owned the land upon which the Ovington Brothers buildings were built, the original building was torn down (1880?0, and a second building erected, which soon burned to the ground (1882?). Only a year later, a new building was opened upon the ruins of the old one. In each stage, the Middagh family renewed the Ovington Brothers' lease. This lease generated a cotroversy in the early 1900s. Sarah Middagh Gracie passed away, and the controversy involved her estate. Cornelia Middagh Henshaw appears to have won at least one of the court battles, as she was able to initiate a distribution of the estate over the objections of Ovington Brothers. But it appears that the heirs of Mrs. Gracie, the Henshaw family, eventually lost the property through the alleged impropriety of their attorney. The property later fell into the hands of a Mr. Shaw, who had connections with the Swedenborgian Church of the Neighbor, on Clark and Monroe Streets, and only a few doors down from the Ovington Building. I'm wondering if there are any out there who have an interest in the history of the building.
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