F.Y.I.

Bronckless Boroughs

Q.: Are there any direct descendants of Jonas Bronck living today in the borough that is named for him?

A.: No.

Jonas Jonassen Bronck was a Swedish-born sea captain who arrived from Amsterdam in 1638 and established a farmstead at what would one day become 132nd Street and Lincoln Avenue. He brought with him servants and a wife, but no children, though a Pieter Jonassen Bronck signed the estate inventory after his death in 1643.

Some have suggested that Pieter Bronck, 16 years younger than Jonas, was his son, or his nephew, but Lloyd Ultan, the Bronx borough historian, says abundant evidence indicates that Pieter Bronk was Jonas's brother. Since he had no children, there are no direct descendants of Jonas Bronck.

Pieter Bronck moved to the Albany area in 1643; his many descendants have populated the surrounding towns and counties for 11 generations. A number of spelling variations have appeared in family records over the years -- Branck, Brink, Brong, Brunk, Pronck -- but Bronk became the most common version of the name. William M. Bronk of Hudson Falls, N.Y., won an American Book Award in 1982 for his collected poems. He died in 1999.

There are no Broncks listed in the New York City telephone directories, but there are a few Bronks, one of whom, Eulie Naomi Bronk, lives in the Bronx. Ms. Bronk said she was born 83 years ago in Jersey City, and moved to New York in 1934. She said hers was a very large family, but most relatives had died or moved away long ago, and she had never met a Bronck, or another Bronk, outside her own circle.

People often ask about her name. ''I get that all the time,'' said Ms. Bronk, who lives in the Mount Eden section and believes she is of West Indian heritage. ''I never thought to go into it.''

Rail Romance in Chalk

Q.: In the Biltmore Room at Grand Central Terminal, behind a new coffee bar, an aged blackboard displays the arrival times for the day's trains. But the trains that are listed -- with names like the Knickerbocker, the Missourian and the Mohawk -- haven't been seen in years. Is the board a relic from the old days, or a bit of decorative fakery?

A.: The board is the one used to post arrival times before mechanical split-flap boards were introduced in the main concourse in the early 1960's. It occupies its original spot, beneath the clock, in what was once called the incoming trains room, said Marjorie Anders, a spokeswoman for the Metro-North Railroad.

Though copied off a timetable from years ago, the handwritten entries beneath each heading date from a 1984 renovation, Ms. Anders said. When the board was in use, an employee stood on a stool with a piece of chalk and updated the information as it arrived by telegraph.

Weary travelers arriving on Tracks 39 through 42 -- the ones used by long-distance lines -- were often greeted by loved ones as they entered the 64-by-80-foot marble hall, hence its nickname ''the kissing room.'' Those dispersing into the city could pass through the double oak doors flanking the arrivals board, onto a taxi stand beneath the Biltmore Hotel. The doors were bricked shut long ago, but the taxi stand, with its vaulted driveway, is still used as an underground parking lot.

Monkeys Have Moved

Q.: Where was the area known as Monkey Hill?

A.: Between Park Row and Chambers, Rose, William and Duane Streets. The origin of the name is obscure. It was a prosperous residential neighborhood in the late 19th century, but virtually every home was razed for commercial development in the 1890's. DANIEL B. SCHNEIDER