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97^.701 M. L.

K61th

v.3

1248129

GENEALOGY

COLLECTION

f.LLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY

3 1833 01177 7122

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2010 with funding from

Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center

http://www.archive.org/details/historyoflongisl03thom

-f this work there have been printed 600 copies
a Berkshire linen, in three volumes, and 135
Dpies on French handmade paper, in four volumes.

HISTORY OF
LONG ISLAND

FROM ITS

DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT

TO THE

PRESENT TIME

BY U

BENJAMIN F. THOMPSON

A
THE THIRD EDITtblS

REVISED AND GREATLY EN^AKCED
WITH ADDITIONS Attji JQ

A BIOGRAPHY OF TH£ AUTHOR

BY | a >

CHARLES J. WE&l|ER

MEMBER OK THE LONG ISLAND tHSTO«*C/Vk SOCIETY

B O

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VOLUME h S

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in * £

NEW YORK

ROBERT H. DODD

1918

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HISTORY OF
LONG ISLAND

FROM ITS

DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT

TO THE

PRESENT TIME

BY U

BENJAMIN F. THOMPSON

THE THIRD EDITfbra;

REVISED AND GREATLY ENLACED
WITH ADDITIONS A!^> M

A BIOGRAPHY OF TH£ AUTHOR

BY | a >

CHARLES J. WEtU§ER

MEMBER OK THE LONG ISLAND £iSTO**CA^ SOCIETY

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a. <J

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VOLUJVfEh 5

III »

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O

NEW YORK

ROBERT H. DODD

1918

THE QUINN & BODEN CO. PRESS
RAHWAT, N. J.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

VOLUME III

PAGE

Smithtown 3

Huntington 22

Babylon 56

Oyster Bay 59

Hempstead 104

North Hempstead 188

Jamaica 219

Flushing 287

Newtown 33 *

Long Island City 363

Bushwick 365

Williamsburg . 379

Gravesend 389

Flatlands 412

New Utrecht 43 l

Flatbush 452

New Lots 477

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

VOLUME III

The Old Peconic House at Greenport. Reproduced in Color

From a Rare Lithograph .... Frontispiece

FACING
PAGE

Deed from Wyandanch to Lion Gardiner for Smithtown

Land (Facsimile) 7

David Gardiner's Release of His Interest in the Smithtown

Land (Facsimile) 8

Huntington . . 22

View at West Neck, Huntington 34

View at Huntington . 52

The Locusts. Residence of J. E. De Kay .... 59
Residence of Benjamin F. Thompson at Hempstead . .104

Marine Pavilion, Rockaway 173

Clifton, North Hempstead 188

Lakeville House 199

Scene at Grove Point, Great Neck 205

Old Presbyterian Church at Jamaica 219

Union Hall Female Seminary, Jamaica .... 274

View at Whitestone 287

The Fox Oaks at Flushing 300

College Point 324

The Old Bushwick Church 365

Erasmus Hall, Flatbush 452

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND
VOL. Ill

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

SMITHTOWN

Is bounded north by the Sound, east by Brookhaven,
south by Islip, and west by Huntington, lying upon both
sides of Nissequogue River, and extending easterly to
near the outlet of Stony Brook Harbor. A large portion
of the territory was the subject of a free gift to Lion
Gardiner, July 14, 1659, from Wyandanch, sagamore
of Montauk, and grand sachem of Long Island, in grate-
ful remembrance of the good offices performed by his
benefactor, in redeeming his daughter from captivity
among the Indians across the Sound. As the Nissequogue
or Nessequake tribe pretended title to the same lands, the
grantee procured a release of their right also, in the year
1662.

In 1663, Mr. Gardiner conveyed the premises to
Richard Smith, then an inhabitant of Setauket, but who
probably, as well as his father, had been acquainted
with Mr. Gardiner in New England. Mr. Smith is
named among the original proprietors of Brookhaven,
and was a magistrate there for several years, and prob-
ably until his removal to this town in 1665 or '66. But
he spent the remainder of his life between his possessions
here and in Rhode Island. He applied for and obtained
a patent of confirmation of his purchase from Governor
Nicoll, bearing date March 3, 1665, upon the condition
that ten families at least should be settled upon the land

4 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

within three years from that time. To make his first
acquisition the more secure against any future claims of
the first proprietor, he obtained previously in 1664, from
David, eldest son and heir of Lion Gardiner, a release
of the premises, confirmatory of his father's conveyance.

The territory was at first called Smithfield, and was
so denominated in the act of November 2, 1683, dividing
the province into shires and counties. In 1665, Mr.
Smith acquired from the Nissequogue sachem title to a
valuable and extensive tract upon the west side of
Nissequogue River, and a new patent was issued by Gov-
ernor Nicoll, March 25, 1667, to Smith, in which the
boundaries are as follows : " Easterly by a certain run
of water called Stony Brook, stretching north to the
Sound, and southerly bearing to a certain fresh water
pond, called Ronkonkoma, being Se-a-tal-cott's west
bounds; which said parcel of land was heretofore granted
by patent to Richard Smith by Richard Nicoll."

The omission of a western boundary in this patent
(probably by mistake) led ultimately to a long and
angry controversy between Mr. Smith and the propri-
etors of Huntington; the latter founding their claims
to all lands upon the west side of Nissequogue River, as
being within the original jurisdiction of the Matinicock
Indians, of whom they purchased. On this subject the
following proceedings took place before the governor
and council, held in the fort at New York, December 1,
1670, as appears upon the minutes:

11 Mr. Smith's peticon taken into consideracon about
the bounds of Nesaquake River; his clayme being heard
as to ye bounds of Nesaquake Lands, hee declared it to
be as farr west as the Fresh Pond, on the west side of
the River and soe to the Hollow. It is ordered, that the

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 5

bounds of Nesaquake Lands as sett forth by Mr. Smith,
being to the westermost side of ye ffresh pond, bee sent
to Huntington for them to return an answer what they
have to say to the contrary, and recommend a composure.
Mr. Smith engages to settle 10 ffamilyes if he hath the
land to the ffresh pond."

It seems that no compromise was effected. A suit was
commenced which came in to be tried at the next assizes
in New York, in which Richard Woodhull, Esq., Rev.
Thomas James, and the Rev. Nathaniel Brewster, were
cited and examined as witnesses. The result it appears
was favorable to Mr. Smith's claim, but the other parties
did not fully acquiesce in the decision then made, but con-
tinued occasionally to intrude upon the lands awarded
to Mr. Smith, and harassed him in the courts, for on
the 6th of November, 1672, he petitioned the assembly,
then in session at New York, complaining of certain
proceedings in chancery against him by the people of
Huntington on account of the same lands, and the con-
troversy was not disposed of till the court of assize in
1675, when it resulted in favor of the patentee. After
which, the more effectually to protect himself against fur-
ther difficulty of the like kind from any quarter, Mr.
Smith applied for and received a more comprehensive
patent from Governor Andros in 1677, of which the
following is a copy :

" Edmund Andros, Esquire, Seigneur of Sausmares, Lieu-
tenant and Governor-General under his Royall High-
ness, James, Duke of York and Albany, and of all his
territories in America.

" To all to whom these presents shall come,

[L. S.] sendeth greeting. Whereas there is a certain

parcell of land scituate, lying, and being, in the

6 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

east-riding of York-shire upon Long Island, commonly
called or known by the name of Nesaquake lands, bounded
eastward by a certain runn of water called Stony Brook,
stretching north to the Sound, and southward bearing to
a certain fresh-water pond called Raconkamuck, being
Seatalcott west bounds, from thence south-westward to
the head of Nesaquake river, and so along the said river
as it runns unto the Sound. Also another parcell or tract
of land on the west side of the said river, extending to
the westermost part of Joseph Whitman's Hollow, as also
to the west side of Leading-Hollow to the fresh pond
Unshemamuck, and the west of that pond att high-water
mark, and so to the Sound, being Huntington east bounds;
which said parcell or tract of land, on the east side of
Nesaquake River, was heretofore granted by patent unto
Richard Smith, the present possessor, by Coll. Richard
Nicolls, and to his heyres and assigns forever; as also that
on the west side of said river; with some provisoes and
restrictions, the which has since, by due course of law att
the General Court of Assizes, held in the year 1675, been
recovered by the said Richard Smith from the town of
Huntington. Know yee, that by virtue of his Maties letters
patent, and the commission and authority unto me given
by his Royall Highness, have rattifyed, confirmed and
granted, and by these presents do rattify, confirm, and
grant unto the said Richard Smith, his heyres and assigns,
the aforesaid parcells or tracts of land on both sides the
Nesaquake River. Together with all the lands, soyles,
woods, meadows, pastures, marshes, lakes, waters, fishing,
hawking, hunting, and fowling; and all other profits, com-
modities, and emoluments to the said parcells of land and
premises belonging, with their and every of their appur-
tenances; and every part and parcell thereof. To have
and to hold the sayd parcells or tracts of land and prem-
ises, with all and singular the appurtenances, unto the
said Richard Smith, his heyres and assigns, to the proper

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HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 7

use and behoof of him, the said Richard Smith, his heyres
and assigns for ever. The tenure of the said land and
premises to bee according to the custom of the manor of
East Greenwich, in the county of Kent, in England, in
free and common soccage and by fealty only. As also
that the said place bee as a township, and bee called and
known by the name of Smithfield or Smith town, by which
name to be distinguished in all bargains and sales, deeds,
records, and writings. The said Richard Smith, his heyres
and assigns, making due improvement on the land afore-
mentioned, and continuing in obedience and conforming
himself according to the laws of this government; and
yielding and paying therefor, yearly and every year, unto
his Royall Highness'suse, as an acknowledgement or quit-
rentfl^oebgepdri/att hkmb}BOr\t€>i4uoh. &&sisisv5¥ odfteeits?^
shall be empowered© mce^vk riieftatf«?jri©?v%ri'^into*eP^liiw
hand,0^noli sealed -with Ae, s&al of^e poiovinec ina^fcw
York/this 25th day of March, in the twttt't^hiM^ift df
his Maties reign, Anno Dom., 1677.

" E. Andros."

In an able and interesting history of Narragansett, by
Mr. Potter, we are informed that Richard Smith, the
elder, came from Massachusetts to Rhode Island at
an early period, and purchased of the sachem a tract of
30,000 acres, where he erected a house for trade, and
gave free entertainment to travelers. Roger Williams
says, he was from Gloucestershire, England, of a re-
spectable family, and on coming to this country settled
at Taunton. He remained there but a few years, as
Taunton was first settled in 1637. His dwelling stood
on the site of the present Updike house in North King-
ston, which contains some of the old materials, it being
originally a block house. Roger Williams built a house
near it which he sold to Smith in 1651, together with his

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HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 7

use and behoof of him, the said Richard Smith, his heyres
and assigns for ever. The tenure of the said land and
premises to bee according to the custom of the manor of
East Greenwich, in the county of Kent, in England, in
free and common soccage and by fealty only. As also
that the said place bee as a township, and bee called and
known by the name of Smithfield or Smithtown, by which
name to be distinguished in all bargains and sales, deeds,
records, and writings. The said Richard Smith, his heyres
and assigns, making due improvement on the land afore-
mentioned, and continuing in obedience and conforming
himself according to the laws of this government; and
yielding and paying therefor, yearly and every year, unto
his Royall Highness'suse, as an acknowledgement or quit-
rent, one good fatt lamb, unto such officer or officers as
shall be empowered to receive the same. Given under my
hand, and sealed with the seal of the province in New
York, this 25th day of March, in the twenty-ninth year of
his Maties reign, Anno Dom., 1677.

" E. Andros."

8 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

two big guns, and an island for keeping goats, which had
been given him by the sachem.

Smith and his son afterwards made additional pur-
chases of the Indians. Coginiquant leased them, March
8, 1656, the land south of their dwelling for sixty years,
and June 8, 1659, he added a larger tract for 1,000 years,
with the meadows at Sawgoge and Paquinapagogue, and
a neck of land on the other side of the cove. October
12, 1660, Scidtob and Que quag annet confirmed the same.
In 1654 the war began between Ninigret * and the Long
Island Indians, and continued with various success for
some years.

The patentee died in 1692, and was buried near his
residence at Nissequogue, where his grave, and that of
his wife Sarah, are yet to be seen. Even the gun with
which he fought in Cromwell's wars, and among the
Indians, is still preserved. His will, executed in Rhode
Island, bears date March 5, 1691, by which he devised

* In one of Ninigret's expeditions, he took captive the daughter of
Wyandanch at Montauk, it being on the night of her nuptials, and her
husband was slain. By the exertions of Lion Gardiner, the hapless
bride was redeemed and restored to her afflicted parent, at Smith's
house. His son, the patentee, spent a part of his time at Setauket, and
the remainder at Rhode Island, holding the office of magistrate in both
jurisdictions.

In the war with the Dutch, he was desired by the governor and council
to put the province of Rhode Island in a state of defence. He is some-
times styled major in the records, and was, it seems, frequently engaged
in military operations. Hutchinson says he was one of the council of
Andros in 1686.

He took possession of his Nissequogue purchase in 1664-65, and April 5,
1686, sold his Setauket lands to Samuel Eburne for £90.

In 1675 he was a deputy with Major Wait Winthrop on behalf of
Connecticut, to conclude a treaty with the Narragansett Indians, which
was effected on the 15th of July, in that year, and in which it was agreed
that if they or any of them would deliver Philip of Pokanoket alive,
to the English or to Mr. Smith, they shoujd receive 40 trucking cloth
coats, and for his head only 20 like coats. July 23, 1673, he bought 700
acres of the estate of Humphrey Atherton, in the Boston Neck purchase.

A'' / * '

David Gardiner'*, (son of Lion) release of his interest' in the
Smithtown land to Richard Smith who purchased from Lion . T\i T
Gardiner. In the form of an endorsement on back Sihrkft original
deed from Wyandanch to Gardiner.

f'hofbpfophed from : u ifkentjn possession of the Long

Island HistoricdK^Society'

/*,.<>>*■•'

8 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

two big guns, and an island for keeping goats, which had
been given him by the sachem.

Smith and his son afterwards made additional pur-
chases of the Indians. Coginiquant leased them, March
8, 1656, the land south of their dwelling for sixty years,
and June 8, 1659, he added a larger tract for 1,000 years,
with the meadows at Sawgoge and Paquinapagogue, and
a neck of land on the other side of the cove. October
12, 1660, Scultob and Quequagannet confirmed the same.
In 1654 the war began between Ninigret * and the Long
Island Indians, and continued with various success for
some years.

H^H bhsl rrwo:rrf*irn2

which he fought in CrorowblK§ <*ra#8?£fan4^rtaieifflgbdkh£

JadiawMas^felkp^esew^

Island, bears date March 5, i69i,^%yowHi<?h^hevVifevi^d

He took possession of his Nissequogue purchase in 1664-65, and April 5,
1686, sold his Setauket lands to Samuel Eburne for £90.

In 1675 he was a deputy with Major Wait Winthrop on behalf of
Connecticut, to conclude a treaty with the Narragansett Indians, which
was effected on the 15th of July, in that year, and in which it was agreed
that if they or any of them would deliver Philip of Pokanoket alive,
to the English or to Mr. Smith, they should receive 40 trucking cloth
coats, and for his head only 20 like coats. July 23, 1673, he bought 700
acres of the estate of Humphrey Atherton, in the Boston Neck purchase.

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HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 9

his lands in that province and other parts of New Eng-
land, to the children of his sister Katherine, widow of
Dr. Gilbert Updike,* those of his sister Elizabeth, wife
of John Vial, and of his sister Jane, wife of Thomas
Newton. His Nissequogue or Smithtown lands were
principally disposed of among his children by deeds of
gift. His son Obadiah was drowned in crossing the
Nissequogue River in 1680, and his daughter Elizabeth,
wife of William Lawrence, and afterwards of Governor
Cartaret of New Jersey, also died in his lifetime.

In 1707, the survivors petitioned the court of assize
to appoint commissioners, for the purpose of apportion-
ing the lands mentioned in their respective deeds, fixing
boundaries, &c. In pursuance of which, Richard Wood-
hull, John Hallock, and George Townsend were ap-
pointed, who in the next year made report of their pro-
ceedings, which was confirmed. From the account given
of the patentee by Roger Williams, and from traditions
respecting him, it is certain that he was no ordinary indi-
vidual, but a person of strong intellect, highly intelli-
gent, and endued with an uncommon share of inde-
pendence, firmness, energy, and decision. The estima-
tion in which he was held is clearly shown by many
stations of importance which he filled through a long
life. On several occasions he was principally instru-
mental in concluding treaties with the Indians, both on
behalf of Connecticut and Massachusetts. Indeed, such

*Dr. Updike (says Mr. Potter) was of a Dutch family, settled at
Lloyd's Neck, upon Long Island. When Colonel Nicoll reduced New
York, he came to Rhode Island, and married a daughter of Richard
Smith (the elder), who lived near where Wickford now is. His sons
were Lodowick, Daniel, James, &c. Three of his sons were killed in the
great swamp fight with Philip of Pokanoket, in 1676, and buried with
the others that were slain, in one large grave. Lodowick alone survived
his father, and died about 1697, leaving several children.

io HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

was his power and influence, that it created jealousy
among the leading men of that day, in New England,
and probably the ill treatment, not to say ingratitude,
he experienced there, induced his removal to Long Island.

Whether from necessity or caprice, it is alleged of
him that he made use of a large bull, for purposes usually
allotted to horses at this day. It is, however, probable
that the latter animals were neither plenty, nor generally
employed in the almost universal manner they now are;
and this may sufficiently account for what, under other
circumstances, would be thought strange. At any rate,
his posterity have ever since been designated by the term
"Bull Smith" as the descendants of Colonel William
Smith have been as universally called " Tangier Smith"
from the fact of his having once held the office of colonial
governor of that island.

In Thatcher's History of Plymouth, it is remarked
that in the early period of that colony, it was not uncom-
mon to ride on bulls; and it is a well known tradition,
that John Alden, going to Cape Cod to marry Priscilla
Mullins, covered his bull with a handsome piece of
cloth, and rode upon his back. On his return, he seated
his lovely bride upon the same bull, and walking himself
by her side, led the uncouth animal by a rope, fixed in
a ring through the nose. Had the servants of Abraham
used bulls instead of camels, it may be doubted whether
the maid Rebecca would have accepted their offer so
promptly.

This town has an area of one hundred square miles,
or sixty-four thousand acres. Upon the north, the land
is a good deal broken and hilly, while the southern por-
tion of it is quite level, and free from stone.

Wood, both for timber and fuel, is abundant, and of

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND n

rapid growth, and has long been an article of trans-
portation— in return for which, large quantities of ashes
and other manure are brought here.

The division line between this town and Brookhaven
was for some time a subject of dispute, but was com-
promised by a reference, March 7, 1725.

Nissequogue River, the only one of consequence in
the town, has its source in a great number of springs in
the southern part of the territory. By their united
volume a considerable stream is formed which, flowing
northerly, discharges its contents into the Sound, through
Nissequogue, or Smithtown Harbor. The water is of
sufficient depth to admit vessels of ordinary draught
three or four miles from the Sound. The scenery which
presents itself from the elevated banks of this river,
is beautifully diversified, and there are many eligible sites
for building.

Stony Brook Harbor, which lies mostly in this town,
is of some importance for navigation; and at the settle-
ment called the Head of the Harbor, a small stream or
brook discharges its contents into tide water.

On the east side of this harbor is the place called Sher-
awoug, and on the west is Nissequogue Neck, consisting
of many hundred acres of good soil.

Rassapeague is a peninsula, containing two or three fine
farms, and terminates on the east, near the entrance of
Stony Brook Harbor.

Over this tract, a few centuries ago, were spread a
large Indian population, of whose posterity not an indi-
vidual is now known to exist. The sites of their wigwams
are, however, indicated by extensive heaps of shells yet
remaining in various places.

Mill's Pond village consists of some half a dozen

12 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

dwellings only, located on the circular margin of a small
collection of water, common to all the inhabitants, who
are extensive and wealthy farmers.

The principal village in the town, called the Branch,1
is situated in a central part of the territory, forty-five
miles from the city of New York, in which the public
business of the town is usually transacted, and where the
clerk's office is kept. The principal office of the county
clerk is also at present located here.

A nursery for the cultivation and sale of fruit and orna-
mental trees, flowering plants, etc., was established here
a few years since, by Mr. Gold Silliman of Flushing,
which has been thus far successful, and can hardly fail
to prove profitable and useful.

The late President Dwight, who travelled through the
island in 1804, remarks as follows:

" The best land, which we saw on this day's journey, is
in and about Smithtown. Here we dined, or rather
wished to dine; the inn at which we stopped, and the
only one on the road, not having the means of enabling
us to satisfy our wishes. In this humble mansion, how-
ever, we found a young lady, about eighteen, of a fine
form and complexion, a beautiful countenance, with bril-
liant eyes, animated with intelligence, possessing manners
which were a charming mixture of simplicity and grace,
and conversing in language which would not have dis-
credited a drawing room or a court. Her own declara-
tions compelled us to believe, against every preconcep-
tion, that she was a child of this very humble uneducated
family. But nothing we saw in the house could account
for the appearance of her person, mind, or manners. I

1 Or Smithtown Branch. — Editor.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 13

was ready to believe, as all my companions were, when
we left the spot, that some

1 Flowers are born to blush unseen,
And waste their sweetness on the desert air.' "

It may gratify the curiosity of the reader to know that
the house referred to was kept at that time in the Branch
by Derick McCoun, and that the young lady (so highly
extolled by the venerable Doctor) was his daughter,
Phebe, now the widow of the late Major Nathaniel Smith,
of Patchogue.

The Presbyterian Church in this village was first
erected in 1750, and rebuilt in 1823. But there is reason
for believing that a more ancient house of worship existed
at Nissequogue, standing eastward from the river, upon
an eminence, on the south side of the highway, and nearly
opposite to the old Smith family cemetery; the ground
for which, as well as the expense of building, were con-
tributed by the children of the patentee, who also made
a donation of land to the Rev. Daniel Taylor, in consider-
ation of his agreeing to labor among them, in the work
of the ministry, for the term of four years.

This edifice probably remained till about the time of
the completion of the church in the Branch as above men-
tioned; and the present burying ground, at Nissequogue,
occupies a place near where the old church stood.

Hauppauge, on the southern border of the town, a
part of which is in the bounds of Islip, was originally
settled by the family of Wheeler, and was formerly
known by the name of the Wheeler settlement. The
meaning of its Indian appellation is sweet waters?- the

1 This is another instance where Tooker disagrees with most of the
historians. He gives " overflowed land " as the meaning. See his Indian
Names on Long Island. — Editor.

i4 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

place abounding in springs of the purest water, which
are the tributaries of Nissequogue River. Here was the
residence of the late Hon. Joshua Smith, and here he
died at the age of eighty-two years, April 12, 1845, a
gentleman well and favorably known for his intelligence,
and integrity of character. His education had been lim-
ited, and he was bred a farmer, yet such was the vigor
of his intellect, and strength of memory, assisted by a
discriminating mind, that he readily profited by all he saw,
heard, or read. He represented his county in assembly
in 1794, and again in '95, '99, and 1825. In 1821 he
was a member of the constitutional convention. He was
for several years a judge of the county courts, and from
1823 to '28, first judge. He also served a term as state
senator, and in every station of life was useful and
respectable. His son Joshua B. Smith has been a repre-
sentative in assembly, a judge of the county, and state
senator.

Fresh Ponds and Sunken Meadow are small settle-
ments in the north-western part of the town, and are
composed almost entirely of industrious farmers. The
Indian name of the former was Cowamok, and of the
latter Slongo; in the neighborhood of this last place the
British erected a fortification during the Revolutionary
War, which they called, very appropriately, Fort Slongo,
and which was captured by the Americans, under Colonel
Tallmadge, in October, 178 1. The following, from an
old newspaper, shows that the people of this town were
early aware of the importance of concerting measures
for the security of independence.

" At a town meeting, held in Smithtown, it was re-
solved, and we do fully declare ourselves ready, to enter
into any public measures that shall be agreed upon by a

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 15

general congress ; and that Solomon Smith, Daniel Smith,
and Thomas Tredwell be a committee for said town,
to act in conjunction with committees of the other towns
in this county, to correspond with the committee of New
York; and the said committee is fully empowered to
choose a delegate to represent this county at the general
congress; and that said committee do all that shall be
necessary in defence of our just rights and liberties
against the unconstitutional acts of the British ministry
and parliament, until another committee be appointed."

Mr. Tredwell was born here in 1742, and graduated
at Princeton in 1764. He was not only well educated,
but highly distinguished for his good sense, prudence, and
firmness, in the trying times of the Revolution, being
almost constantly engaged in the cause. The farm now
owned by Ebenezer Bryant then belonged to him. In
1775, he was a member of the provincial convention, and
afterwards of the provincial congress. On the surrender
of the island in 1776, his family fled to Connecticut, and
remained exiles during the war. He was in the conven-
tion that framed the constitution of this state in 1777,
and survived every other member of that venerable as-
sembly. He was one of the first senators under the con-
stitution, and in all respects fitted for the perilous times
in which he lived, receiving, on all occasions, from his
fellow citizens, the highest testimonials of respect and
confidence. He was made judge of probate in 1783, and
held the office till surrogates were appointed; when in
1787 he was appointed surrogate of Suffolk, and con-
tinued till 1 79 1. He was a member of the state conven-
tion of 1788, and opposed the Constitution of the United
States, in which he was supported by Clinton, Yates, Lan-
sing, and twenty-three other whig members. Soon after

1 6 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

the organization of Clinton County he removed to Platts-
burg, and was chosen a senator from that district. In
1807 he was made surrogate of the county, which office
he held till his decease, January 30, 1832. Chancellor
Kent says, that he was always distinguished for singular
simplicity of character, and that he received satisfactory
evidence of his well-founded pretensions to scholarship
and classical taste. He had two sons and four daughters.
His son Nathaniel H., who settled in upper Canada, had
twelve children, and his daughter Hannah P., is the wife
of the Rev. Dr. Henry Davis, a native of Easthampton,
and former president of Middlebury and Hamilton Col-
leges.

The first clergyman in this town of whom we have
any correct account was the Rev. Daniel Taylor, born in
1687. He graduated at Yale in 1707, and was living here
at the death of his wife, whose grave may be seen in the
oldest burial place of the Smiths. He subsequently re-
moved to Orange, N. J., where he died, January 8, 1747,
aged sixty.

Rev. Abner Reeve was born at Southold in 17 10, grad-
uated at Yale in 1731, and in 1735 commenced his minis-
terial labors in the old church at Nissequogue, where he
lost his wife Mary, May 6, 1747, at the age of thirty-
three years. He took his leave of the congregation soon
after, and preached in various places till 1756, when he
settled at Blooming Grove, Orange County, N. Y., from
whence he went to the First Congregational Church of
Brattleborough, Vt., where he was settled in 1770. Hav-
ing preached there about twenty-six years, he was suc-
ceeded in 1794 by the Rev. William Wells from England.
He died the next year, at the age of eighty-five years.

Notice has been taken of his son Tapping Reeve in

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 17

our account of Southold, where it appears from his tomb-
stone he was born, although his father was then resi-
dent here. His son, Paul Reeve, lived and died at South-
old, and his daughter married the late Elnathan Satterly
of Setauket, October 26, 1760, and died, aged eighty-five,
October 20, 1808. The said Paul Reeve was the father
of the late Josiah Reeve, sheriff of Suffolk County for
many years.

Rev. Napthali Daggett, the next pastor, was the
second son of Ebenezer and Mary Daggett of Attlebor-
ough, Mass., where he was born, September 8, 1727.
He graduated at Yale 1748, being distinguished for his
industry and close application to study. He settled here
September 18, 175 1, the year following the completion
of the Branch church. He was descended from John
Daggett, ancestor of all the families of that name here
and in Connecticut, who went to Attleborough from
Chilmak, Martha's Vineyard, in 1709.

He married Sarah, daughter of the third Richard
Smith, by his wife, Anna Sears. November 6, 1755, he
was dismissed, removed to New Haven, and assumed
the professorship of divinity in Yale College, where from
the decease of President Clapp, in 1766, to the accession
of President Stiles, in 1777, he officiated as president also.
Dr. Bacon says he was a preacher of the most proved and
approved Calvinism, and very acceptable to the people.

Dr. Holmes also remarks that he was a good classical
scholar, well versed in moral philosophy, and a learned
divine. Clearness of understanding and accuracy of
thought were characteristics of his mind, and he received
the degree of D. D. both at Yale and Princeton.

His daughter Mary married Robert Piatt. One of
his brothers was Colonel John Daggett, so favorably

1 8 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

known in the Revolution. Dr. Ebenezer Daggett, an-
other brother, was the father of the Rev. Herman Dag-
gett, former minister of Southampton.

During the barbarous attack on New Haven in July,
1779, President Daggett distinguished himself by the part
he acted in its defence. He was particularly offensive
to the British, because in the pulpit, and before the stu-
dents in the lecture-room, he never failed to inculcate
the duty of resistance to their enemies, by which he in-
curred their marked displeasure. Neither his advanced
age or the sacredness of his profession could shield him
from the outrages of these vandals; for he was terribly
beaten, and compelled to walk several miles in the most
extreme hot weather. This savage treatment doubtless
accelerated if it did not occasion his death, which took
place November 25, 1780, in the fifty-third year of
his age.

Rev. Thomas Lewis was born at Fairfield, Conn., in
1737, graduated at Yale in 1760, and labored here from
1763 to 1769, when he removed to New Jersey, where he
continued to preach for several years. He died in 18 15,
aged seventy-eight.

His daughter Anna married Jonas Phillips of Morris
County, grandson of the Rev. George Phillips, second
minister of Setauket, by whom she had one child, Anna,
who married Daniel Phoenix, and is the mother of the
Hon. Jonas Phillips Phoenix of the city of New York,
and eight other children.

Rev. Joshua Hart, the successor of Mr. Lewis, was
born in Huntington, September 17, 1738, graduated at
Nassau Hall 1770, was ordained by the Suffolk pres-
bytery April 12, 1772, and installed here April 13, 1774.
His wife was Abigail, daughter of David Howell of

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 19

Moriches, by whom he had ten children. His dismissal
took place September 6, 1787, after which for about
twenty years he preached alternately in the parishes of
Fresh Ponds and Hempstead, from which time he gave
his whole services to the latter, till his death October
3, 1829, at the age of ninety-one years. During the
Revolutionary War, being a whole-souled whig, he drew
down upon himself the vengeance of the enemy, and
suffered much from confinement in the prison at New
York. He was a man of large stature, possessing great
bodily strength, of which many extraordinary feats are
related; yet his disposition was mild, playful, and con-
ciliatory. Indeed, if all the well authenticated anecdotes
told of him were to be preserved, they would form a very
amusing collection.

Rev. Luther Gleason, who had been ordained by
the Strict Congregational Convention of Connecticut in
1788, and preached some time at Stillwater, Saratoga
County, N. Y., came here in October, 1796, and was
installed September 28, 1797. He remained till August
20, 1807, when, having been previously impeached before
the Long Island presbytery of practices unbecoming his
sacred officej he was suspended and October following
deposed from the ministry. Although his education was
defective, he possessed genius and humor which, with
his native eloquence, made him a popular preacher. He
was the son of Ephraim Gleason of Connecticut, where
he was born in 1760, and married Mary, daughter of
Samuel Knapp of Danbury, by whom he had five sons,
and as many daughters. After his departure from the
island, he preached again at Stillwater, and finally re-
moved to Columbus, Shenango County, where he died in
1820, and his widow in 1833.

20 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Rev. Bradford Marcy, a native of New England, com-
menced preaching here in September, 1811, and at Baby-
lon, between which places his services were divided; but
in August, 1 8 14, he left the island, was married shortly
after, and is now settled in Massachusetts.

Rev. Henry Fuller, son of the Rev. Stephen Fuller,
first Congregational minister in Vershire, Vt., was or-
dained and installed here October 23, 18 16. He married
Maria, daughter of Isaac Buffet, of the parish of Fresh
Ponds, March 17, 1818, and in 1821 removed to the
parish of North Stamford, Conn., where it is believed he
still remains. It may be noticed as somewhat remark-
able, that while he with the Rev. Piatt Buffet of Stanwick
parish (a native of Smithtown) were in the act of ad-
ministering the sacrament in his church, July 3, 1842,
both were prostrated by a stroke of lightning, and the
latter so considerably injured as to be taken up for dead,
while no other person present was materially affected.

Rev. Richard F. Nicoll came here in 1822, was or-
dained June 25, 1823, and dismissed June 5, 1827. He
is the son of the late Samuel B. Nicoll of Shelter Island,
where he was born in 1785, married Margaret, eldest
daughter of General Sylvester Dering, by whom he has
several children, and is now a respectable farmer upon
his native island.

Rev. Ithamer Pillsbury began his ministerial labors
here September 9, 1827, and was installed April 21, 1830.
He was a native of New Canaan, N. H., graduated at
Yale in 1822, and married Mary Mix of New Haven,
who died April 16, 1837, aged fifty-three. The following
year he married Caroline, daughter of James Miller,
formerly of this town. His dismission took place April
I7> x833, and after spending some time in different places

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 21

upon the island, he removed with a few other adventur-
ers, and commenced the settlement of Andover, in the
state of Illinois, where he was installed April 17, 1841.

Rev. James C. Edwards is the son of Webly Edwards
of Warren, N. J., where he was born March 12, 1807.
He graduated at Princeton College in 1830, and two
years after was appointed a teacher of languages in
that institution. He resigned in 1833, having then been
licensed to preach. He next accepted a situation in Union
Hall, Jamaica, where he remained a short time, when he
commenced preaching in the city of New York, and re-
mained till 1835. He assisted materially in organizing
the Eighth Avenue Presbyterian Church of that city.
His installation here took place May 5, 1835. His first
wife was Harriet, daughter of John Johnson, of Newton,
N. J., who died in 1836, and January 19, 1837, he mar-
ried Sarah Maria, daughter of Henry Conklin of this
town, where he still continues.

The Methodist Church at Hauppauge was built in
1806, that at Smithtown Landing in 1834, and another
of a more respectable appearance in the Branch was
completed in the fall of 1845.

HUNTINGTON

Is bounded north by the Sound; east by a line running
from Fresh Ponds to the north-west angle of Winne-
comack Patent, from thence down to the creek east of
Sunquam's Neck, then down said creek to the South Bay,
and so on to the ocean; south by the ocean; west by
Cold Spring Harbor, and a line running from the head
of said harbor to the creek, west of West Neck, then
down said creek to the South Bay, and then south to a
monument on the beach, fixed by commissioners in the
year 1797; having Smithtown and Islip on the east and
Oyster Bay, Queen's County, on the west.

Its extent on the Sound is about ten miles, upon the
Bay six miles, and from north to south twenty miles.
Area, 160 square miles, or 102,400 acres, being centrally
distant from New York City thirty-five miles. Horse
Neck, now called Lloyd's Neck, lying within the bound-
aries of the town, was, by an act passed in 1691, annexed
to Oyster Bay, of which it still makes a part.

" These boundaries and distances are of the old Town
of Huntington before the Town of Babylon was erected
in 1872 from its southern portion. Lloyd's Neck was
ceded to Huntington in 1886. See chapter on Oyster
Bay-" Editor.

The first deed for land in this town was made by the
Indians to his Excellency Theophilus Eaton, governor
of New Haven, of the tract called Eaton's Neck, in 1646;
while the first Indian conveyance to the actual settlers

I-

Hfltv -j

'jJ

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 23

was given in 1653, which comprised six square miles,
being all the land between Cold Spring and Northport,
and extending from the Sound to the old country road.

This deed includes Lloyd's Neck, but the bona fide
intention of including it was firmly denied by the grantors,
who afterwards conveyed it, in 1654, to three of the
inhabitants of Oyster Bay. The consideration paid in
1653 was six coats, six bottles, six hatchets, six shovels,
ten knives, six fathoms of wampum, thirty muxes (eel
spears) and thirty needles.

In 1656 a deed was obtained also for all the premises
from Northport Harbor to Nissequogue River, and ex-
tending from the Sound to the country road.

Some of the South Necks were purchased in 1657,
and others in 1658 and after, as well as the rest of the
lands south of the country road. The lands within the
town were claimed at the same time by the Matinecock,
Massapeage and Secatogue tribes, but the sachem of
Nissequogue, and JVyandanch, grand sachem of Long
Island, both denied the right of the Matinecocks to any
land lying between Cow Harbor (now Northport) and
Nisssequogue River, which they had thus sold to the
people of this town.

The particular and conflicting claims of these different
tribes caused a controversy between the town of Hunting-
ton and the proprietor of Smithtown, which, after an
arbitration and several. lawsuits, was terminated in 1675
by an equitable division of the territory; and thereupon
the boundary between the towns was determined to be a
line running from Fresh Pond to Whitman's Hollow, the
north-west corner of Winnecomack Patent. The first set-
tlers in all cases purchased their lands from the Indians
who claimed them; the price paid was, however, very in-

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HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

About this period the following persons appear to have
been freeholders and inhabitants of the town:

Content Titus
Samuel Wood
Richard Brush
Thomas Brush
John Green
Thomas Wickes
John Jones
Jonas Rogers
John Todd
Robert Cranfield
John Mathews
Henry Soper
John French
Abial Titus
Nathaniel Foster
Epenetus Piatt
Isaac Piatt
Stephen Jarvis
Thomas Powell

Jonathan Scudder
Thomas Skidmore
James Chichester
Samuel Titus
Jonas Wood
Thomas Whitson
Joseph Bayly
Thomas Scudamore

(or Scudder)
Mark Meggs
Joseph Cory
William Leverich
Eleazer Leverich
Caleb Leverich
Richard Williams
Robert Williams
John Westcote
Benjamin Jones
Jonas Wood, jun.

Gabriel Lynch
Richard Darling
George Baldwin
Caleb Wood
Edward Harnett
William Ludlum
John Adams
William Smith
Jonas Houldsworth
Thomas Benedict
Timothy Conkling
John Strickling
Edward Tredwell
John Titus
John Conkling
Jonathan Porter
Samuel Wheeler
Robert Seely
John Ketcham

Thomas Powell and Thomas Whitson removed, some
years after, to a part of Queens County, which they called
Bethpage, for which they obtained a conveyance from the
Indian proprietors in 1695, as hereinafter mentioned.
William Ludlum went to Jamaica, and Content Titus to
Newtown with the Rev. William Leverich and his sons,
Eleazer and Caleb. Nathaniel Foster removed to
Easthampton; Mark Meggs to Stratford, Conn.; and
George Baldwin and John Stricking to Hempstead.

In 1 65 1 the general court at Hartford appointed Lieu-
tenant Robert Seely chief military officer in this town, to
exercise the trained bands. He had been an officer as
early as 1637, and was finally killed in the war with the
Indians in 1675.

Epenetus Piatt was the son of Richard who went
from New Haven to Milford in 1640, and who in his
will of August 4, 1683, mentions his sons, John, Isaac,

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 27

and Epenetus, the last named being the first person
baptized at Milford, on July 2, 1640. In the will of
Thos. Wickes, June 13, 1670, he named his children
John, Thomas, Rebecca, Martha, Elizabeth, Mary, and
Sarah.

In 1685 Governor Dongan gave a patent for lands,
which had been previously adjudged by the court of
assize, in 1675, to be within the original patent, but about
which some doubts had been entertained. In 1686 he re-
quired the inhabitants to procure a conveyance from the
Indians, for the remaining lands within the town, prob-
ably for no other purpose than making it necessary to
apply for and take out a new patent.

The original patent was, as will be seen, made subject
to such duties as might be afterwards imposed, and this
particular condition caused in the end no inconsiderable
difficulty between the governor and the people. In order
to enforce his wishes in regard to the amount of quit-rent
to be paid, he, in the year last mentioned, seized their
patent and obliged the inhabitants to raise by tax £29,
4s. 7d., in satisfaction of rent in arrears, and for defray-
ing the expenses of a new patent, which passed the coun-
cil August 2, 1688, and was one of the last acts of that
administration.

The patentees named in it were Thomas Fleet, sen., *
Epenetus Piatt, Jonas Wood, sen., James Chichester,
sen., Joseph Baley, Thomas Powell, Jr., Isaac Piatt,
and Thomas Weekes, for themselves and the freeholders
and inhabitants of the town, saving to his majesty, his
heirs and successors, all the necks of land lying to the

♦Thomas Fleet was probably the father of Thomas, jun., who had
Luke; the latter had Thomas, David, Philitus, Melancthon, Nancy (mar-
ried Charles Cornwell), Rebecca (married John Buskind), and Simon,
who had Sarah (married Rev. Z. Greene), Augustine, and John.

28 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

south, within the limits and bounds of the said town, and
the land northward of the same, that remained unpur-
chased from the Indians. This patent contained very
ample powers, and constituted the said freeholders and
inhabitants a body corporate, by the name and style of
the freeholders and commonalty of the town of Hunting-
ton forever, reserving an annual payment of one lamb or
five shillings in money, on the 25th day of March.
Another patent was issued by Governor Fletcher October
5, 1694, by which the eastern boundary of the town was
enlarged, all former purchases confirmed, and the right
of pre-emption to other lands within the town not then
purchased, if any, secured to it. To show the extraor-
dinary charges made for these patents, it need only be
stated, that the expense of the last mentioned patent was
£56, 1 8s. 3d., of which exorbitant sum, £50 was paid to
the governor and those about him.

The names inserted in it as patentees were Thomas
Wickes, Joseph Bayley, Jonas Wood, John Wood, John
Wickes, Thomas Brush, and John Adams, who were
styled the trustees of the freeholders and commonalty of
the town of Huntington, with the usual powers of a civil
corporation, under which the municipal concerns of the
town have been ever since conducted.

The patent of Winnecomack is supposed to have been
obtained from Lord Cornbury as late as 1703, but
whether it was an original or confirmation patent only,
is uncertain. For many years after the first settlement
of the town, which was the case pretty universally in
other towns, business was carried on by means of ex-
change. Contracts were made to be satisfied in produce,
and even the judgments of the courts were made payable
in grain, at fixed prices, or in merchantable pay at the

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 29

current price. These prices were established by the gov-
ernor and the court of assize; and in 1665 tne assessors
were ordered to fix an estimate also for stock. Accord-
ingly, a horse or mare four years old and upward, was
to be taken in pay at twelve pounds; a cow four years
old and upward, at five pounds; an ox or bull of the
same age, at six, and other articles, as pork, wheat, corn,
&c, at proportionate prices.

In the draft of a contract between the town and a
schoolmaster in 1657, tne salary was to be paid in cur-
rent pay; and in 1686, the town contracted with a car-
penter to make an addition to the meeting house, to be
paid also in produce. Even executions issued by the
magistrates were to be satisfied in the same way.

" At a town meeting, held April 4, 1661, it was agreed
that a firkin of butter should be paid in, at Steven
Jarvis's house, by the middle of June, for the satisfac-
tion of a debt due from ye town to Ensigne Briant."

The more effectually to preserve the purity of public
morals, the people excluded from society those whom
they thought likely to corrupt them. In 1662 they ap-
pointed, by a vote at town meeting, a committee, consist-
ing of the minister and six of the most respectable citi-
zens, to examine the character of those offering to settle
amongst them; with full power to admit or reject, as they
judged them likely to benefit or injure society, with a
proviso, that they should not exclude any " that were
honest, and well approved by honest and judicious men; "
and they forbade any inhabitant to sell or let his house or
land to any person, not duly approved by the committee,
under the penalty of ten pounds, to be paid to the town.

In 1653 the town forbade the inhabitants to entertain
a certain objectionable individual longer than a week,

30 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

either gratuitously or for pay, under the penalty of forty
shillings.

" At a town meeting, held May 14, 1658, it was agreed
by a major vote, that tow men beeing chose to goe to
Newhaven about joining in government with them; and
also to a tend the bisnis of the ships that was caste away
on the south side ; and that they that belonge to the ships
bisnis, shall bear tow-third of the charges in sendin of
the tow men, and one-third the towne in generall shall
paye." Dec. 27th, 1658, it was " ordered that the Indians
have ten shillings for as many wolves as they kill within
our bounds, that is, ten shillings a year, if they make it
evident they were so killed." March 5, 1665, the town
court gave judgment in a certain cause and ordered the
defendant to pay the debt in wheat or peas, at merchant-
able prices.

May 17, 1660, the town having resolved to put itself
under the jurisdiction of Connecticut, the same was as-
sented to by that province, and subsequently received
the entire sanction of the commissioners of the United
Colonies. The town accordingly elected two deputies to
attend the general court at Hartford on their behalf, in
May, 1663.

The town allowed a house of entertainment to be kept,
upon a special condition that the keeper thereof should
conduct his business in a manner consistent with the
preservation of morality and good order.

In order to secure a strict and impartial administra-
tion of justice in the town, and to prevent and punish
crimes, a court was early established by the people, com-
posed of three magistrates, a clerk, and constable, who
were chosen annually at town meeting. The parties were
in all cases entitled to a jury of seven men, a majority

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 31

of whom were competent to render a verdict. In cases
of slander and defamation (which were by far the most
common) the judgment frequently contained the alter-
native either that defendant should make confession in
open court, or pay a certain sum of money in satisfaction.
In one instance of gross slander, the defendant was
adjudged to be placed in the stocks, and this appears to
have been the only instance on record of corporal punish-
ment in the town. Nor does it appear that any criminal
prosecution whatever took place in the town previous to
the year 1664, slander and trespass being the most ag-
gravated cases on record.

" Town court, Oct. 23, 1662. — Stephen Jervice, an
attorney in behalfe of James Chichester, plf. vs. Tho.
Scudder, deft., acsion of the case and of batery. Def*
says that he did his indevcr to save ye pigg from ye wolff,
but knows no hurt his dog did it; and as for ye sow, he
denys the charg; touching the batery, striking the boye,
says he did strike the boye but it was for his abusing his
daughter. The verdict of the jury is, that defts dog is
not fitt to be cept, but the acsion fails for want of testi-
mony; but touching the batery, the jury's verdict pass for
plff, that def* pay him 10 shillings for striking the boy,
and the plff to pay def* 5 shillings for his boye's insevility."
Same court. — " Rachell Turner sayth, that being husking
at Tho. Powell's, James Chichester found a red ear, and
then said he must kiss Bette Scudder; Bette sayd she would
whip his brick, and they too scufeling fell by her side ; that
this deponent and Tho. Scudder being tracing, and having
ended his trace, rose up and took howld of James Chiches-
ter, and gave him a box on the ear. Robard Crumfield
says, that being husking at Tho. Powell's, James Chiches-
ter found a red eare, and then said he must kiss Bette
Scudder, and they too scufling, Goody Scudder bid him be

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

S?1

either gratuitously or for pay, under the penalty of forty
shillings.

" At a town meeting, held May 14, 1658, it was agreed
by a major vote, that tow men beeing chose to goe to
Newhaven about joining in government with them; and
also to a tend the bisnis of the ships that was caste away
on the south side ; and that they that belonge to the ships
bisnis, shall bear tow-third of the charges in sendin of
the tow men, and one-third the towne in generall shall
paye." Dec. 27th, 1 65 8, it was " ordered that the Indians
have ten shillings for as many wolves as they kill within
our bounds, that is, ten shillings a year, if they make it
evident they were so killed." March 5, 1665, the town
court gave judgment in a certain cause and ordered the
defendant to pay the debt in wheat or peas, at merchant-
able prices.

n't***

111 'V

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HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

..■.:::■

-«:.

" Town court, Oct. 23, 1662. — Stephen Jervice, an
attorney in behalfe of James Chichester, plf. vs. Tho.
Scudder, deft., acsion of the case and of batery. Def*
says that he did his indevor to save ye pigg from ye wolff,
but knows no hurt his dog did it; and as for ye sow, he
denys the charg; touching the batery, striking the boye,
says he did strike the boye but it was for his abusing his
daughter. The verdict of the jury is, that defts dog is
not fitt to be cept, but the acsion fails for want of testi-
mony; but touching the batery, the jury's verdict pass for
plff, that def* pay him 10 shillings for striking the boy,
and the plff to pay def* 5 shillings for his boye's insevility."
Same court. — " Rachell Turner sayth, that being husking
at Tho. Powell's, James Chichester found a red ear, and
then said he must kiss Bette Scudder; Bette sayd she would
whip his brick, and they too scufeling fell by her side ; that
this deponent and Tho. Scudder being tracing, and having
ended his trace, rose up and took howld of James Chiches-
ter, and gave him a box on the ear. Robard Crumfield
says, that being husking at Tho. Powell's, James Chiches-
ter found a red eare, and then said he must kiss Bette
Scudder, and they too scufling, Goody Scudder bid him be

34 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

tery. It was purchased of the Marsapeague Indians in
1697 by John Ketcham, James Chichester, and Timothy
Conkling. In a very picturesque situation near the water
is the residence of the Hon. Churchill C. Cambreleng.

On the opposite side of the harbor is East Neck, which,
although not so large or fertile as the other, is yet a
valuable tract of land, and from its elevated surface af-
fords some of the most extensive, charming, and pic-
turesque scenery in this part of the country; on which
account, as well as for the purity of the air and the
excellence of the water, several elegant private resi-
dences have been erected. The noble mansion of Pro-
fessor Rhinelander, with its beautiful gardens, &c, is
seen with singular advantage from the surrounding
country.

Centre Port (formerly Little Cow Harbor) is situated
between East Neck and North Port, at the head of a
small bay of the same name, the settlement containing
only a few dwellings, and a small factory. The project-
ing point between this and North Port, called Little
Neck, contains 300 acres of indifferent land, which is in
part covered with forest, and on which are some beds of
fine clay and ochre of different colors.

North Port (late Great Cow Harbor) has become, in
a short time, a place of considerable business, having
about thirty dwellings, besides stores, wharves, &c, and
has a constant intercourse, by sloops and steamboats, with
the city of New York. The village of Red Hook, one
mile south, has a store, with a few dwellings, and a Pres-
byterian church, erected in 1829. Between this village
and the village of Commack is Middleville, formerly dis-
tinguished by the singular cognomen of Bread and Cheese
Hollow.

E_i!

t=5

f — J

r- 1

[651 ^

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 35

Eaton's, or Gardiner's Neck, is a peninsula upon the
north-east part of the town, projecting into the Sound,
containing about 1,500 acres of middling quality land,
divided into two or three farms. 124.8 3 ,V9

This neck, says Mr. Mather, the geologist, was for-
merly a cluster of four islands, now connected by beaches
and salt marshes. The principal of these islands and the
only part of the neck cultivated is about two and one-half
miles long and one and one-half broad. The beach con-
necting it with the main land is longer than the island
itself.

A light-house was erected on the extreme point in
1798, at an expense of $9,500. It was granted by the
Indians to Governor Eaton in 1646. His son Theophilus,
residing in England, empowered William Jones and
Hannah his wife (a sister of Eaton) to sell his part,
with their own, which they did November 13, 1684, to
Mr. Richard Bryan, merchant of Milford, Conn., and
son of Alexander Bryan deceased. Three sons of
Richard Bryan, Alexander,* John, and Ebenezer came

♦Alexander Bryan, a wealthy merchant, and one of the first planters
of Milford, Conn., died there in 1679. He is called in the records Ensign
Bryan, and is supposed to have been bred a lawyer. In his will of
April in that year he mentions his son Richard, and grandsons Alex-
ander and Samuel, and granddaughters Hannah Harriman and Sarah,
wife of Samuel Fitch. He gives £8 to the town of Milford to purchase
a bell. The said Richard was, as well as his father, an extensive and
opulent merchant, had a large house erected in Milford, and owned
vessels trading with the West Indies, in stocks, grain, &c, for which he
brought back rum, sugar, molasses, and European goods. The children
of Richard and Mary Bryan, born between 1650 and 1670, were Alex-
ander, Mary, Hannah, Samuel, John, Abigail, Richard, Frances, and
Sarah. By his second wife, Elizabeth, widow of Richard Hollingsworth,
he had Elizabeth and Joseph. The last-named Alexander married
Sybella, daughter of the Rev. John Whiting of Hartford, and lived on
Long Island, but died at Milford, 1701. His son Alexander died here
November 6, 1761, aged seventy-nine. Alexander, son of the latter, died
before his father, February 24, 1758, aged forty-eight.

36 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

here to reside, whose posterity are inhabitants of the
town, and sometimes called Bryant.

September 18, 171 1, the neck was purchased by John
Sloss of Fairfield, Conn., for £1,650; from him it de-
scended to his daughter Ellen, wife of the Rev. Noah
Hobart, and thence to her son, John Sloss Hobart,* who

• Hon. John Sloss Hobart, son of Rev. Noah (grandson of Rev. Nehe-
miah, and great-grandson of Rev. Peter Hobart of Hingham, Mass.),
was born at Fairfield, Conn., where his father was pastor in 1735; he
graduated at Yale College in 1757, and although not bred a lawyer, was
a man of sound education and excellent understanding. His deportment
was grave, and his countenance austere; yet he was a warm-hearted
man, and universally respected for his good sense, his integrity, his pure
moral character, and patriotic devotion to the best interests of his coun-
try. He possessed the entire confidence of the public councils of the
state, and on all fitting occasions this confidence was largely and freely
manifested. He was appointed to the bench of the supreme court of this
state in 1777, and continued in the office for about twenty years, and
had for his associates in judicial life, Chief Justice Richard Morris and
Robert Yates, men highly distinguished for legal acumen and solid, as
well as various, learning. We have the high authority of Chancellor
Kent for saying that he was a faithful, diligent, and discerning judge
during the time he remained upon the bench. He was selected as a
member, from this state, of a partial and preliminary convention that
met at Annapolis in September, 1786, and was afterwards elected by
the citizens of New York a member of the state convention in 1788, which
ratified the present Constitution of the United States. When he retired
from the supreme court in 1798, he was chosen by the legislature of this
state a senator in Congress. In 1793 he received the honorary degree of
LL.D. at the anniversary commencement of Yale College, New Haven.
His friend, the late Hon. Egbert Benson, caused a plain marble slab
to be affixed in the wall of the chamber of the supreme court in the
City Hall of the city of New York, to the memory of Judge Hobart,
with the following inscription upon it, which, though bordering on
that quaint and sententious style so peculiar to Judge Benson, contains
a just and high eulogy on the distinguished virtues of the deceased:

" John Sloss Hobart was born at Fairfield, Connecticut. His father
was a minister of that place. He was appointed a judge of the supreme
court in 1777, and left it in 1798, having attained sixty years of age. The
same year he was appointed a judge of the United States district court
for New York, and held it till his death at the house of James Watson
on Throggs' Neck, Westchester Co., in 1805. As a man, firm — as a
citizen, zealous — as a judge, distinguished — as a Christian, sincere. This
tablet is erected to his memory by one to whom he was as a friend —
close as a brother."

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 37

at the close of the Revolutionary War sold it to John
Watts, of New York. By him, in 1787, it was sold to
Isaac Ketcham for $10,000, who transferred it to John
Gardiner, ancestor of the present owners, in 1792, for
$12,000.

Commack, Dix Hills, West Hills, Long Swamp,1
Sweet Hollow,2 and the Half JVay Hollow Hills, are
well known localities near the middle of the island, thinly
settled and having nothing remarkable requiring a more
particular description. A large proportion of the sur-
rounding country is covered with forest and the soil is
generally of a moderate quality.

The Methodist Episcopal Church at Commack was
built in 1789, probably the first of that denomination in
the county, and was rebuilt in 1838. Another Metho-
dist church was erected there in 1831, and another at
West Hills, dedicated February 5, 1845. The Presby-
terian Church at Sweet Hollow,2 was begun in the spring
of 1829 and dedicated July 26 of that year.

Rev. Joseph Nimmo commenced his labors here in
December 1829, and left May 1, 1836. After which he
resided for some time at Owensville, Westchester County,
N. Y., but returned to this town in 1848 as a teacher.
The Rev. Chester Long, who was born in Washington
County and resided awhile in Oneida County, came here
at the departure of Mr. Nimmo, and still remains.

Babylon,3 one of the most compact, populous, and
thriving villages in the town, is situated upon Sunquams
Neck, in the immediate vicinity of the South Bay, having
a never failing and abundant stream of water upon each

1 Now South Huntington. — Editor.

2 Now Melville. — Editor.

3 Now included in Babylon Town. — Editor.

38 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

side of it, upon which valuable mills and factories have
been erected.

It is distant forty miles from New York City, and is a
place much resorted to by travellers and sportsmen, on
account of its pure air, and the plenty as well as variety
of game found in the waters of the bay.

This pleasant village owes its commencement and rapid
advancement to the enterprise and public spirit of the
late Nathaniel Conklin, who half a century ago owned
most of the ground upon which it is built, besides much
other property in this and the adjoining towns. He died
March 18, 1844, aged seventy-five, leaving one son
William.

The first Presbyterian church here was erected in
1730, and was torn down by the British soldiers in
1778, as was the case in other instances, and its mate-
terials transported to Hempstead, to serve for the con-
struction of barracks, &c. The war having ended, the
church was rebuilt in 1784, but being found too small it
was, in 1838, sold and converted by the purchaser into
a dwelling, the same site being occupied by a more con-
venient and elegant edifice, furnished also with a bell by
the liberality of David Thompson, Esq., of New York.
As this church has almost always been connected in its
ecclesiastical relations with that at Smithtown, it has
rarely enjoyed an independent ministry, till within a few
years past. The Rev. Alfred Ketcham has been em-
ployed here since January 1, 1839. He married Maria,
daughter of Zophar M. Mills, May 4, 1842. In the
year 18 17, Rev. Samuel Weed was engaged and ordained
May 12, 1 8 19, but was not installed, probably owing
to his death which occurred in Philadelphia, June 26,
1820. After him the Rev. Alexander Cummins, Rev.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 39

Nehemiah B. Cook, and the Rev. Ebenezer Piatt
preached in succession till near the time of Mr. Ketcham's
engagement.

" Mr. Ketcham preached untili847; since which time
the following pastors have officiated:

Rev. Edward I. Vail 1848 to 1851

" Gaylord L. More 1852 to 1856

" Charles W. Cooper 1857 to 1869

" James McDougall, Ph.D 1871101873

" James C. Nightingale 1875 to 1880

" Walter B. Floyd (supply only) 1880 to 1883

" James C. Hume 1883 to 1888

" John D. Long 1889 to 1905

" Robert D. Merrill1 190510 "

— Editor.

A Methodist Episcopal church was erected here in
1840; one has existed at West Neck, a few miles west,
for several years, and another was completed near the
same place in 1846.

In reference to the geological character of this town,
it may suffice generally to say, that along the Sound and
for two or three miles therefrom, the surface is rough
and hilly, and in some places stony, but a few miles to
the south, the land changes its appearance, becomes more
level, and so continues from two to four miles in dif-
ferent places, when there occur three separate ridges
or groups of hills, the West Hills, the Hills around the
Long Swamp, and Dix Hills. These are irregular, and
extend two or three miles each way. Southwesterly of
Dix Hills, after a small interval of level land, is another
group, called the Half Way Hollow Hills. From which
the descent to the South Bay is an inclined plane, and
so gradual as to be imperceptible.

1 List of pastors since 1848 kindly supplied by Rev. Mr. Merrill. —
Editor.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

side of it, upon which valuable mills and factories have
been erected.

****

«tqp

Utf.i**,

**»» .

«p*

•

w***-1*

■I

w* He died

Li. In the

gd ordained
frtfi owing

'J*. Rev.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 39

Nehemiah B. Cook, and the Rev. Ebenezer Piatt
preached in succession till near the time of Mr. Ketcham's
engagement.

" Mr. Ketcham preached until 1847; since which time
the following pastors have officiated:

Rev. Edward I. Vail 1848 to 1851

" Gaylord L. More 1852 to 1856

" Charles W. Cooper 1857 to 1869

" James McDougall, Ph.D 1871 to 1873

" James C. Nightingale 1875 to 1880

" Walter B. Floyd (supply only) 1880 to 1883

" James C. Hume 1883 to 1888

" John D. Long 1889101905

" Robert D. Merrill1 190510 "

— Editor.

A Methodist Episcopal church was erected here in
1840; one has existed at West Neck, a few miles west,
for several years, and another was completed near the
same place in 1846.

1 List of pastors since 1848 kindly supplied by Rev. Mr. Merrill. —
Editor.

- .«•

t:-

' - *

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

cctor of St. Thomas' Church, Cold Spring, then by the
Rev. Moses Marcus, now rector of the church of Sc
George the Martyr in New York, and then by the Rev.
Charles H. Hall, who was succeeded in 1847 by the I
C. Donald McLeod, and he by the Rev. Fred \Y. Shelton
in 1848.

Mr. Shelton remained until 1850.
1856, Rev. W. A. W. Ma>bin officiated,
on the list of pastors is as follows :

Rcr.

From 1852 to
From this date

lam G. Firringroo iltitc

H Williami ... :?5S 101*59

J. Lrnd

m B. Ellsworth iMoto:
A. J. Barrow
rhaddev* H. Sr

H Barrows :« itoiUs

Theodore II Pec* .1*15101*91

Chas. W. Turner 1*91101*97

'imfi F. Aitkin* 1*97101909

" Charles Edwin Cra^g". : . : : to

Lorroa.

But the first clergyman stationed here after the build-
ing of the original church was the Rev. James Grejtom,
born July 10, 1730. He graduated at Yale
in Christ Church, Boston, in 1759, came here in i~ ~
and remained till his death in 1773. He had been
for some time engaged a/ a missionary, under the d.
tion of the society for propagating the gospel in foreign
parts, and while in Boston married Mary, daughter of
John, and granddaughter of the celebrated Rev. John
Wheelwright, founder ar. : minister (

Mass.. who arrived in Boston. 1636, and with his sister-
in-law, Ann Hutchinson, was banished from that colony
for alleged religious heresy, and c t Salis V H..

November 15, 1697. Mr. Greaton had s hn and

: List of rectors kindly furnished by Rev. I ^5. — EDTTOK.

44 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

James. His widow afterwards became the wife of Dr.
Prime, and died at the extreme age of ninety years, 7th
March, 1835.

From the end of Mr. Greaton's term in 1773 until the
accession of Mr. Sherwood in 1838, there was no settled
rector here, but the following gentlemen officiated in the
capacities named:

Rev. Andrew Fowler, missionary 1789

" John C. Rudd, missionary 1805

" Charles Seabury of Caroline Church, Se-

tauket; in charge 1814101823

" Edward K. Fowler, deacon and mission-
ary 1823 to l826

" Samuel Seabury, deacon and missionary. . .1826 to 1828

Dr. Benjamin Youngs Prime, son of the Rev. Ebenezer
Prime, was born here 1733, graduated at Princeton 175 1,
and in 1756 and 1757 was employed as tutor in the col-
lege. He subsequently entered upon a course of medical
studies with Dr. Jacob Ogden, of Jamaica, L. I.
After finishing his preparatory studies, and spending sev-
eral years in the practice of physic, he relinquished an
extensive business and, with a view of qualifying himself
still more, sailed for Europe. In the course of the
voyage, the vessel was attacked by a French privateer,
and the Doctor was slightly wounded in the encounter.

He attended some of the most celebrated schools in
London, Edinburgh, Leyden, and Paris, making also an
excursion to Moscow. He was honored with a degree
at most of the institutions which he visited, and was much
noticed for his many accomplishments.

On his return to America, he established himself in the
city of New York, where he acquired a high reputation;
but on the entry of the British troops, in September,
1776, he was compelled to abandon his business and pros-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 45

pects, taking refugee with his family in Connecticut, and
opened a drug store in New Haven. He was a diligent
student, and made himself master of several languages,
in all which he could converse or write with equal ease.
Although driven from his home, he indulged his pen with
caustic severity upon the enemies of his country, and did
much to raise the hopes and stimulate the exertions of his
fellow-citizens. Soon after his return from Europe, he
married Mary, widow of the Rev. Mr. Greaton, a woman
of superior mind and acquirements, and peace being re-
stored he settled as a physician in his native place, where
he enjoyed a lucrative practice, and the highest esteem
of all who knew him, until his death, October 31, 1791,
at the age of fifty-eight. Mrs. Prime died March 7, 1835,
aged ninety. Her daughter Ann died September 18,
1 8 13, aged thirty-three. Her daughter Mary, wife of
Abel Ketcham, died February 25, 1835, aged fifty-two.
Dr. Prime's son Ebenezer was born in 1782 and died
February 20, 1842, and his son Nathaniel Scudder, born
in 1785, is a clergyman of the Presbyterian Church and
has devoted much of his time to the business of instruc-
tion.

The Methodist Episcopal Church was erected in 1825,
and the Society of Universalists have also a handsome
church, built in 1836, and being located on the burying
ground hill it makes altogether a fine appearance. It was
dedicated October 11, 1837.

The population of the village has much increased
within a few years, and great improvement has taken
place, particularly on the northern side of it, where many
new and handsome buildings for various purposes have
been erected.

Rev. William Leveridge (or Leverich) was the first

the y

i
tl o

Crjoam Mat

n »h*h he oaaoated
probably the hrat ordaaattd «*r

i Jf pr oruicr Hit support
it, he came to Botfoa is
rifcurcb there, i*d
iibury. for a tbort cant.
I n • f pa icor < 4 the chord

imi devoted aaaxfe Mine

I IndiaAt in tbat qn&r
employ* J by the

■ it I1 • .

mmg the abkat muu * in

a porrban with other* it Oyitcr

k en aaypunj tbat be drvocrd a pirt

* renv %tcr B. nttnict-

ing the nil q Long 1 tad t*aewhere. By the

tbc commits* *»era prcatntcd to the to

thit th

hum to instruct the
e ea»t end of Loaf

MlMom Ol I ONG IM WD

In he w.v cd as minister of this I

and on the ; icbruan. I :hc people, b

vote at town meeting, appointed two persons to purchase
a house and land tor a parsonage; and by a similar I
the blowing, they granted to Mr. Lcvcridge

the use oi all the meadow about Cow Harbor, on both
sidc^ c creek, as long as he should continue their

minister. For reasons which do not appear, he seen
have become dissatisfied with his settlement here, and on
the 20th c '.. 1669, sold out his possessions and rc-

moved to Newtown, where he continued to minister till

.aving been the first settled minister
of four distinct parishes, to w.:. 1j
Huntington, and .Yrtr/otm.

Rn. Eliphaiet Jones was the immediate successor of
Levcridge. He was the son of the Rev. John Jones,
who arrived 1 c Rev. Thomas Shcpard, at Charles-

town, October 2, 16 I settled at Concord, Mass

connection with the Rev. Peter Bulklcy, in 1637; but he
did not continue there I ng, as a considerable por-

tion of the church and people, finding the place ini

rie tubsiftence of so many persons, sold their
possessions, and, with Mr. Jones, removed to and set-
tled the town of Fairfield, Conn.

probably took place in 1644. He was the first
minister of that place, and continued there till his death
in : ' • • • s ton Eltphalrt, born at Concord January
9, : ltered Harvard in 1662, but did not graduate.

tationed at Greenwich, Conn., as a
mittionar) and during that year the people of Jamaica
voted to invite him * if supposed he

declined Jn April, 1673, * abitants authorized the

1 Hit Sly «l Hill*

48 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

magistrates, with others whom they named, to use their
best endeavors to procure a minister; and in January,
1676, by a like vote, Mr. Jones was desired to settle with
them (he having spent some time here) and promised
that he should have twenty acres of land, wherever he
chose to take it up. He, however, declined a settlement,
until he should be perfectly assured of the general ap-
probation of the people, which at a subsequent town
meeting, was decided in his favor, with only one dissent-
ing voice. He was therefore ordained and remained till
his decease, June 5, 1731, at the age of ninety.

He left no issue surviving him, but gave his property
to Eliphalet Hill, his sister's son. On account of the ex-
treme age and infirmities of Mr. Jones, the town, on the
2 1 st of June, 1 7 19, engaged the Rev. Ebenezer Prime,
as his assistant, who, June 5, 1723, was ordained as his
colleague, on which occasion Mr. Jones delivered the pas-
toral charge. He seems to have been a man of great
purity and simplicity of life and manners, and was a
faithful and successful preacher of the gospel.

His gravestone having been destroyed in the Revolu-
tion, a plain monument has within a few years been
erected to his memory by some of the congregation, a
thing worthy of all praise and well deserving of inmita-
tion.

Rev. Ebenezer Prime was born at Milford, Conn.,
July 21, 1700, graduated at Yale, 17 18, and com-
menced his labors here as assistant to Mr. Jones, June
21, 17 19, in which relation he continued till he was or-
dained colleague pastor, June 5, 1723, and remained till
his death, September 25, 1779. The Rev. John Close, a
graduate of the College of New Jersey in 1763, was or-
dained as colleague to Mr. Prime, October 30, 1766, but

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 49

was dismissed April 4, 1773, removed to New Windsor,
and thence to Waterford, where he died.

After the removal of Mr. Close, Mr. Prime had no
assistance to the close of his life. It is stated by one of
his descendants that he wrote more than 3,000 sermons,
and tradition testifies that he was a man of sterling char-
acter, of powerful intellect, and possessed the reputation
of an able and faithful divine. His library was uni-
versally large and valuable for the times. In short, few
ministers possessed a greater influence in general, and
few, it may be said, more truly deserved it.

His first wife was a daughter of Nathaniel Sylvester
of Shelter Island, by whom he had one son, who died
while a student of Yale College, and two daughters, one
of whom married the Rev. James Brown of Bridge-
hampton, and the other Israel Wood of this town. His
second wife was Experience, daughter of Benjamin
Youngs, Esq., and granddaughter of the Rev. John
Youngs, first minister of Southold. She was the mother
of Dr. Benjamin Y. Prime, before mentioned, and died
in July, 1733. His third wife was Mary Carle of this
town, who survived her husband several years.

Rev. Nathan Woodhull, fifth regularly installed pas-
tor of this church (of whom a more particular account
will be given under the history of Newtown) was born
in Setauket, June 28, 1756, graduated at Yale in 1775,
and was ordained here December 22, 1785. He was dis-
missed April 21, 1789, and removed to Newtown, where
he died March 13, 18 10, aged fifty-three.

Rev. William Schenck, sixth pastor, was born in New
Jersey, 1737, and graduated at Princeton in 1767. He
settled at Cape May, N. J., then at Ballston, N. Y., from
whence he removed here and was installed December 27,

50 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

1793. In consequence of age and infirmity he was dis-
missed in 1 8 17, and removed with his family to the resi-
dence of his son, General William Schenck, Franklin,
Ohio, where he died in his eighty-fifth year, September 1,
1822. His wife was Ann, daughter of Robert Cumming
of Freehold, N. J., by whom he had issue Robert, Will-
iam, John, Katharine, Mary, Garret, Nancy, and Peter.
Although not a great or popular preacher, he possessed a
good deal of personal dignity and sustained a character
which commanded respect from all that knew him. His
son Peter died May 11, 18 13. Mary, the sister of Mrs.
Schenck married the Rev. Alexander MacWhorter of
Newark, N. J. She died July 20, 1807.

The great grandfather of Mr. Schenck was Roelof
Martinse Schenck, who emigrated from Holland to Long
Island in 1660, and was one of the delegates from the
five Dutch towns that convened at Flatbush in 1664. He
had three sons and seven daughters, of whom Garret, the
youngest son, married Neeltje Courten Voorhees and
settled in Monmouth County, N. J. He had five sons
and six daughters, of whom Kortenus, the second
son, married Marike Kouwenhoven, and was the father
of the Rev. William Schenck, also of Garret, Peter,
Kortenus, Neeltje, Maria, and Patience. Mrs. Schenck
was the daughter of Robert Cumming, a native of Scot-
land, who came to America in his youth, and settled in
Freehold, N. J., where he died April 13, 1769, aged
sixty-eight. Her mother was Mary, daughter of John
Noble, a Bristol merchant, and after his death she mar-
ried the Rev. William Tennent. She died at the age of
eighty-one.

Rev. Samuel Robinson was ordained as colleague to
Mr. Schenck, November 26, 18 16, and labored part of

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 51

the time at Hempstead, till the dismission of the latter,
when he confined himself to this church till November
26, 1823, when he was dismissed and soon after left the
island.

Rev. Nehemiah Brown was the next clergyman. He
was born in 1794, graduated at Yale in 18 17, and was
installed here October 18, 1824. His pastoral relation
being dissolved June 25, 1832, he was succeeded by the
Rev. Solomon F. Holliday, April 17, 1833. His installa-
tion took place the 2d of July of that year and he ob-
tained his dismission April 19, 1836.

Rev. James McDougall, a native of Newark, N. J.,
graduated at Princeton, 1830; was ordained by the pres-
bytery of Red Stone, June 18, 1835, and installed as
tenth pastor of this parish November 2, 1836.

" He continued for over nineteen years when failing
health occasioned his resignation. In 1855 Rev. Thomas
McCauley was installed and remained until 1863. During
the last year of Mr. McCauley's pastorate, about one-
third of the church members seceded and founded a
separate congregation which became known as the Cen-
tral Presbyterian Church. On December 29, 1863, Rev.
Robert Davidson was installed, and remained until 1868,
when advancing years prompted his resignation.

11 The thirteenth pastor was Rev. Samuel T. Carter,
D.D., who was installed on September 9, 1868. His
ministry covered a period of thirty-three years and the
congregation accepted his resignation with sincere regret
in September, 1901. Dr. Carter's son, Dr. G. Herbert
Carter, is an elder of the church and a well-known phy-
sician in the town.

" Rev. George T. Eddy was installed on April 15,
1902, and officiated until 1910.

11 The present pastor, Rev. J. Jeffries Johnstone, D.D.,

52 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

commenced his ministry here during February, 191 1.
His three previous pastorates were at St. Leonard's-on-
Sea, England; at London, England; and at Stove, Eng-
land. Dr. Johnstone is held in high esteem by his parish-
ioners, and his labors here are greatly appreciated by the
congregation. He has kindly supplied the list of pastors
since 1855." Editor.

The parish of Fresh Ponds, in the north-eastern part
of the town, erected a meeting-house soon after the Rev-
olution, in which the Rev. Joshua Hart officiated for
many years before his decease. In 1829 it was taken
down and rebuilt at Red Hook, near North Port. It had
been in 18 16 united with the church of Smithtown, under
the pastoral charge of the Rev. Henry Fuller, till his
dismission in 18 19. The Rev. Ebenezer Piatt labored
here for two years from July 1822, when the Rev.
Nehemiah B. Cook was ordained over the church in con-
nection with that at Babylon, January" 19, 1826, till his
dismission in 1832. After which several ministers were
employed in succession till 1837, when the Rev. William
Townley was engaged and remained till April, 1843. He
is the son of Stephen Townley of Springfield, N. J., and
was born February 24, 1806, graduated at Princeton in
1 83 1, and ordained September 14, 1834. September 23,
1835, he was installed at Centreville, Orange County,
N. Y., and was dismissed in 1837.

Rev. Ebenezer Piatt, after about twenty years absence,
returned here in 1844, and was installed June 3, 1846.
Mr. Piatt was born in Danbury, Conn., October 23,
1794, graduated at Middlebury College 18 19, and came
here in 1822, was. ordained at Darien, Conn., September
15, 1824, and remained there nine years. In 1833, he

OX THE PKBWSES OF P/OV C.C CAMBKELEXt}

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 53

supplied the church at Old Man's or Mount Sinai and
continued till his return to this parish as before stated.

Cold Spring, called by the Indians Nachaquatuck, in
the north-west part of the town, adjoining the harbor,
is a considerable village, and enjoys a good deal of
commerce, besides having several ships owned by the
Cold Spring Whaling Company engaged in whaling. A
small portion of the village lies upon the opposite side
of the water, in the town of Oyster Bay, and will be
noticed under that head.

Beds of the purest white clay abound here and have
furnished great quantities for the manufacture of brick,
pottery, and earthen ware.

The Methodist Episcopal Church here was built in
1842, and the corner stone of the Union Baptist Church
was laid December 4, 1844. It has since been completed
and has for its pastor the Rev. Samuel H. Earle, son of
the Rev. Marmaduke Earle, of Oyster Bay.

The Hon. Silas Wood, a native and resident of this
town, was born September 14, 1769. His father was
Joshua, son of Joseph, son of Samuel, the son of
Jonas, who came from Halifax, England, to America,
and was one of those named in Kieft's patent to
Hempstead, 16th November, 1644. In 1649 he re-
moved to Southampton, and from thence to this town
in 1655. He was drowned in attempting to ford the
Peconic River, near Riverhead, in 1660. While at
Southampton he was empowered by the town to procure
from Captain Mason at Saybrook fort, arms and am-
munition for defence against an expected assault from
the Dutch and Indians, and in 1658 he was a delegate
from this town to procure an act of union between it and
the colony of New Haven, having the year before made

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

an extensive purchase from the natives for himself, as
well as for the town. Having left respectable connec-
tions in England, all his sons but Samuel went over and
settled there. The sons of Samuel went there also (ex-
cept Joseph), in consequence of which most of the prop-
erty of the family devolved upon him, even the very
premises in the village upon which said Silas Wood now
resides. The said Joseph had four sons, all of whom
lived as respectable farmers in the town, one of whom,
Joshua, had three sons, Samuel, Selah, and Silas. The
last named graduated at Princeton in 1789, and was en-
gaged as tutor there several years. He was elected to
the assembly in 1796, 1797, 1798, and 1800. In 1802
he married Catherine Huick, of Johnstown, N. Y. She
died the ensuing year, leaving a son, who died soon after.
In 1804 he was offered the position of principal in the
Academy at Esopus, and the next year chosen professor
at Union College, both of which honors he declined, and
entered upon the study of law with Daniel Cady, Esq., of
Johnstown, Montgomery County, and after his admission
to the bar, remained in connection with him till the spring
of 1 8 13. He then returned to the island where he con-
tinued his practice, and in June, 18 18, was appointed dis-
trict attorney for Suffolk County, which office he held for
three years. In 18 19 he was elected to Congress, in which
he continued from December of that year to the 4th of
March, 1829. In December of the latter year, he mar-
ried Elizabeth, daughter of Josiah Smith, deceased, by
whom he has no issue surviving. In 1830 he relinquished
public life as well as his profession and has since devoted
his attention to his books, and the cares of domestic life,
the true otium cum dignitate.

While in Congress, Mr. Wood was a highly in-

i k \ r

cm*

BcMtffl

L t» ■ e-

■ ' I

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

;';'

dustrious and useful member. His political feelings were
of a liberal cast, and he was in the habit of viewing every
subject in connection with its influence upon the best in-
terests of the whole country. Indeed, so satisfactorily
were his public duties performed, that mere party motives
had little to do in his election, for he appeared to be
cc.a.y t.oe candidate or all parties then existing, lr.at
he was a u'.-'o emar or one culture : tensive learr 02
tnd exemplary character was universally admitted,
and it is much to be regretted that he should have with-

powers were in full vigor, and his large experience

of the - crld \ ,\ d ':. a- e e ' a '- 1 c u. him cc render signal

He d ed March 2. 1:47. in tat severry-eighch
1 ge .

DIED. May. 1846

"At Whitehall on the 29th ult.. Her. Melarcahcn
Wheeler, aged 76 years.

"Judge Wheeler ""as for rrary years a very eminent
public man. He was hern at Huntington. L. I., in 177;

: was for above naif a century a resident of the tc
in which he died. He was distinguished for his abil:
and activity in all matters of public benevolenc
also for some years a Judge in the Courts ::
ton county. He was a member of tioe Con
1 S 2 1 which formed the present State C 0 nstlt
has since deem a member ;f both the Senate and

BABYLON
By the Editor

For some years previous to 1872, there existed a
strong sentiment among the residents of the southern
part of Huntington, that the town should be divided and
a separate town erected from the southern portion.

The reasons for this opinion were for the most part
geographical. That part of the town bordering on the
Atlantic Ocean and Great South Bay had increased to a
considerable degree, both in population and importance
during the first seventy years of the nineteenth century.
The settlement of Babylon was now a large and busy vil-
lage and other localities had grown in proportion. The
interests of the two parts — north and south side, were
not identical and the respective settlements were sepa-
rated by a considerable amount of sparsely settled ter-
ritory. There was no direct railroad connection between
the two and trolleys and automobiles were of course un-
heard of. In other words, to transact business with the
town offices at Huntington meant a drive of thirteen
miles across the island.

In view of these facts, 130 representative citizens of
the vicinity of Babylon addressed a memorial to the
State Legislature on January 27, 1872, petitioning for
the division of the town and the erection of a separate
town from the southern part.

The petition was favorably received, and on March

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 57

13, 1872, an act was passed erecting the Town of
Babylon.

The town is bounded on the north by Huntington, on
the east by Islip, on the south by the Atlantic Ocean and
Great South Bay, and on the west by Oyster Bay in
Nassau County. The territory included, comprises about
25,000 acres and most of the population is located along
the shore as has been stated before.

The main line of the Long Island Railroad runs
through the northern part and the Montauk division runs
along the south shore. On the line of the former are
the stations of Pinelawn, Wyandanch, and Deer Park,
with small villages about them.

Along the south shore, beginning at the western ex-
tremity of the town and working eastward, we first come
to the village of Amityville near the western boundary.
Population in 19 10, 2,517. The older part of the vil-
lage lies on the south country road and was formerly
known as Huntington South. It dates back to about
1780, and had its origin in a grist mill and sawmill erected
in that locality. George Washington, on a tour of the
island after the Revolutionary War, stopped at Zebulon
Ketcham's Inn at the settlement and begged his host to
take no trouble about the fare.

Proceeding eastward about two or three miles we come
to the village of Lyndenhurst, formerly the German set-
tlement of Breslau, founded in 1870 by Thomas Wel-
wood. The village is an eloquent tribute to the thrift and
enterprise of the German race. The population is 1,890.

Three miles further on is Babylon, principal village
of the town. Particulars of its early history will be
found under the heading of Huntington. The Babylon
of today is in great favor as a summer resort and many

58 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

fine estates line its roads. In former times the village
was a connecting point between the rail and water route
to Fire Island, long a popular seaside resort. Much of
this travel now goes via Bayshore in the adjoining town
of Islip. Babylon was a principal stopping point in stage-
coach days and it is related that Prince Joseph Bona-
parte, ex-King of Spain and brother of Napoleon, rested
here for several days on a tour of the island made in
1816. The prince travelled in sumptuous style and his
advent at the " American House " was no doubt a for-
tunate occurrence for the landlord. Daniel Webster
also stopped here. The old hostelry is still in existence
and doing business. Babylon is now an incorporated vil-
lage with a population of 3,100 in 19 15.

The Great South Bay begins at the western boundary
of the town. Crossing the bay we come to Oak Island
Beach, which is the extreme southern boundary and is
washed by the waves of the Atlantic. Gilgo Life Saving
Station is on the beach.

OYSTER BAY

Embraces the eastern part of Queens County,1 ex-
tends across the island, and in regard to territory, is the
largest town in the said county, being bounded north by
the Sound, east by Suffolk County, south by the ocean, and
west by Hempstead and North Hempstead, together
with Lloyd's Neck, lying within the general bounds of
the town of Huntington.2 The town derives its name
from that of the beautiful bay on its northern limits,
which is still distinguished for its fine oysters, and other
marine productions.

In 1640 some English adventurers, direct from New
England, under the direction of Lieutenant Daniel Howe,
attempted a settlement at Cow Bay,3 and were expelled by
persons sent for that purpose by Governor Kieft. In
1642 some others advanced as far as this place, and ac-
tually purchased the soil from the Indians, but the di-
rector general of New Netherlands again interferred,
and broke up the settlement.

The Dutch continued many years to claim a jurisdic-
tion over this portion of the island, but were in the end
compelled to abandon it. The aforesaid settlers would
have remained undisturbed had they consented to ac-
knowledge their subjection to the authorities of New
Amsterdam, but it so happened that this place, on ac-

1 Now Nassau County. — Editor.

2 Ceded to Huntington in 1886. — Editor.
8 Now Manhasset Bay. — Editor.

60 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

count of its particular local advantages and its adapta-
tion to commercial purposes, remained for some time a
disputed territory, and the boundary between the Eng-
lish and Dutch was the source of great and protracted
difficulty, as was the case likewise to some extent, upon
the opposite shores of Connecticut.

Mutual endeavors were, it is believed, honestly made
by both the contending parties to terminate the contro-
versy on this vexatious subject, by fixing upon a perma-
nent boundary between the two jurisdictions.

This desirable result was finally accomplished by com-
missioners duly appointed for the purpose. By their
decision, the English were to possess and enjoy the
whole of Long Island, eastward from the western side of
the harbor of Oyster Bay, the territorial line including
the Townsend mill property, on the side of the English.

The Dutch, to whom was alotted all the lands west of
said line, in order to secure their possessions, and pre-
vent intrusions thereon, immediately planted a small
colony on their eastern border, and to this project the vil-
lage of Wolver Hollow l is indebted for its origin. The
colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut,
and New Haven, had, as early as 1643, formed a po-
litical union for their mutual safety, and having taken
that part of Long Island not subject to the Dutch, under
their protection, deputies were annually chosen to man-
age the affairs of the different plantations, styled " Com-
missioners of the United Colonies of New England."
These formed a board of control over the aspiring tem-
per of the Dutch, ever anxious, as they were, to extend
their dominion over Long Island. The settlement of the
question of jurisdiction between the two powers, was

1 Now Brookville. — Editor.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 61

made by Simon Bradstreet and Thomas Prince, on the
part of the commissioners of the United Colonies, and
by Thomas Willet and George Baxter (both English-
men) on the part of the Dutch. In this arrangement,
the phrase " westernmost part of Oyster Bay," used to
designate the eastern limit of the Dutch jurisdiction, gave
rise to doubts as to where the precise line should be
fixed; which circumstance, coupled with the unreasonable
delay of the States General to ratify the arrangement thus
made, furnished Stuyvesant with a specious pretext for
declining to carry into effect the determination of the
deputies made in 1650. The waters of Hempstead Har-
bor formed so natural a line of boundary, that the Eng-
lish were strongly disposed to claim the territory adjoin-
ing the Sound to that place.

The first plantation in this town was commenced on
the site of the present village of Oyster Bay, in 1653, al-
though it is probable that individuals had located in other
parts of the town some years before, but without any
permanent organization as a community.

The first conveyance for land appears to be a deed
from the Matinecock sachem, as follows:

" Anno Domini, 1653. — This writing witnesseth that I,
Assiapum, alias Moheness, have sold unto Peter Wright,
Samuel Mayo, and William Leveridge, their heyres, exets,
administr, and assigns, all the land lying and scituate upon
Oyster-Bay, and bounded by Oyster-Bay River to the east
side, and Papequtunck on the west side, with all ye woods,
rivers, marshes, uplands, ponds, and all other the apper-
tainances lying between ye bounds afore-named, with all
islands to the seaward, excepting one island, commonly
called Hogg-Island, and bounded near southerly by a point
of trees called Cantiaque; in consideration of which bar-

62 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

gain and sale he is to receive as full satisfaction, six Indian
coats, six kettles, six fathom of wampum, six hoes, six
hatchets, three pair of stockings, thirty awl-blades, or
muxes, twenty knives, three shirts, and as much Peague
as will amount to four pounds sterling. In witness
whereof he hath set his mark, in the presence of
11 William Washborne,
Anthony Wright,
Robert Williams."

his

" Assiapum or Moheness, /mark."

Upon the above instrument is an endorsement as fol-
lows:

" The within-named Peter Wright and William Lever-
idge, do accept of, as joynt purchasers with ourselves,
William Washborne, Thomas Armitage, Daniel White-
head, Anthony Wright, Robert Williams, John Wash-
borne, and Richard Holdbrook, to the like right as we
have ourselves in ye land purchased of Assiapum, and
particularly mentioned in ye writing made and subscribed
by himself, with the consent of other Indians respectively
interested, and in ye names of such as were absent, acted
by him and them. As witness our hands.

" Peter Wright, Samuel Mayo, William Leverich." *

* For further information of Mr. Leverich, the reader is referred to
the articles Huntington and Newtown. Samuel Mayo died in 1670.
Robert Williams, who was a near relative of the celebrated Roger
Williams, was a Welshman, and like his kinsman, a man of intelligence
and great moral worth. His brother, Richard, was one of the early
settlers of Huntington. Anthony and Peter Wright were at Lynn in
1637, from whence they went to Sandwich, and finally accompanied the
Rev. Mr. Leverich to this town. Caleb and John Wright were sons of
Peter. John Washborne was the son of William, who, with his brother
Daniel, came here with Mr. Leverich. Daniel Whitehead became a
large land proprietor and finally removed to Jamaica. Indeed, very many
of the first inhabitants were of the Sandwich colony, who were collected
there from different places in 1638.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 63

It is stated by Hazard and other authorities, that the
vessel called the " Desire of Barnstable," which brought
the goods of Mr. Leverich to Oyster Bay, belonged to
the said Samuel Mayo, and was commanded by John
Dickerson, probably a brother of Philemon, of Southold.
She was seized in Hempstead Harbor, by one Thomas
Baxter, under pretence of authority from Rhode Island,
while cruising against the Dutch, that province having
taken part with England in the war against Holland, and
the vessel being, as was alleged, within the Dutch
territory.

The commissioners of the United Colonies interfered,
to procure a restoration, and sent a deputation to Gov-
ernor Easton of Rhode Island for that purpose. He de-
nied the right of Baxter to make the capture, but the
owner engaging to prosecute the offender in the courts
of law, the matter was dropped.*

The Dutch authorities protested against what they
called an invasion of this territory, and an infraction of
the treaty of Hartford, which the English denied, and
the matter being considered of little importance, the set-
tlers were left unmolested.

Among the early grants made by the town, is one to
Henry Townsend, September 16, 1661, for land on the
west side of the settlement, for the purpose of having a

*This Baxter was, beyond all question, a turbulent and unprincipled
fellow, and the general court at Hartford, in April, 1645, were compelled
to notice his vile conduct, and to censure him for his reproachful
speeches against that jurisdiction. They likewise imposed a fine upon
him of £50, requiring him to execute a bond in £200 for his good be-
havior for one year, and to be further responsible " to New Haven and
Rhode Island for his bad actions within their limits." Upon the com-
plaint of Mayo, for seizing his vessel under false pretences, the court
adjudged him to pay the owner £150, but that the sails, ropes, two guns,
&c, if returned with the vessel, should be accounted as £18 toward that
amount.

64 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

mill erected on the stream called Mill River. Mr.
Townsend was an experienced mechanic, and the mill was
soon after built, and has ever since been improved by his
descendants for grinding the town's grain. Mr. Town-
send had but recently removed here from Jamaica, and
was soon after chosen recorder or town clerk.

On the 25th May, 1660, the inhabitants made a pub-
lic declaration of allegiance to Charles II., and of their
willingness to obey the laws of England, but at the same
time published their determination to resist every en-
croachment from their neighbors of New Netherlands.
This declaration was repeated in equivalent terms the
next year, yet they continued to be annoyed by the con-
flicting claims of the English and Dutch to the adjacent
territory, even so late as June, 1656, when the commis-
sioners of the United Colonies, in reply to Governor
Stuyvesant, reproached him for continuing to assert a
claim to Oyster Bay, in the very face of the treaty so
solemnly made at Hartford in 1650.

This course of things caused much perplexity; for, in
order to avoid giving offence to either power, the people
here were under the necessity of observing a sort of
neutrality between the contending parties; and on the
13th of December, 1660, the inhabitants in town meeting
resolved that no person should intermeddle, to put the
town either under the Dutch or English, until the dif-
ference between them should be ended, under the penalty
of fifty pounds sterling.

In 1659 the directors of the West India Company or-
dered the Dutch governor to erect a fort, or to build a
block house, on their East Bay (meaning Hempstead
Harbor), in order more effectually to resist the encroach-
ments of the English. Although the treaty of Hartford

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 65

was ratified by the States General the 226. of February,
1656, the Dutch governor was reluctant to give up his
claim of jurisdiction over that part of the town adjoin-
ing Hempstead Harbor; but on the 8th of January,
1662, as has been mentioned, the people took a more
decided stand, avowing not only their firm attachment
and true allegiance to the British government, but their
full resolution to afford all possible protection to those
who should be molested by the Dutch for exercising au-
thority among them, at their joint expense.

It was at this important, and for them, critical period,
that they formed a more close alliance with the neigh-
boring province of Connecticut, submitting in a limited
degree to its authority and relying to a certain extent
upon its protection. The boundary line between them
and the town of Huntington was likewise for a consid-
erable time a source of irritation and mutual complaint,
which on the 5th of July, 1669, gave rise to the follow-
ing communication in writing:

" Friends and neighbors of the town of Huntington.
We once more desire you in a loving, friendly way, to
forbear mowing our neck of meadow, which you have
presumptiously mowed these several years; and if, after
so many friendly warnings, you will not forbear, you will
force us, friends and neighbors, to seek our remedy in
law, not else ; but resting your friends and neighbors. By
me, in behalf of the town of Oyster Bay,

" Mathias Harvey, Town Clerk."

On the 29th of September, 1677, a patent of confirma-
tion for the lands already purchased from the natives
was obtained of Governor Andros, in which the bound-
aries are thus described:

66 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

" Beginning on the east, at the head of Cold Spring
Harbor, and running a southward course across the
Island to a certain river called by the Indians Warras-
ketuck; then along the sea-coast westerly to another cer-
tain river called Arrasquaung; then northerly to the east-
ernmost extent of the Great Plains, where the line divides
Hempstead and Robert Williams' bounds; from thence
westerly along the middle of said plains till it bears south
from the said Robert Williams' marked tree, at the point
of trees called Cantiaque; then on a north line, somewhat
westerly, to the head of Hempstead Harbor on the east
side of the Sound; and from thence easterly along the
Sound to the afore-mentioned north and south line, which
runs across the island by the Cold-Spring aforesaid; to
Henry Townsend, sen., Nicholas Wright, Gideon
Wright, Richard Harrison, Joseph Carpenter, and Josias
Latting, for themselves, their associates, the freeholders
and inhabitants of the said town, their heyres, successors,
and assigns, for ever."

On the 26th of May, 1663, the Indians sold a part of
Matinecock to Captain John Underhill, John Frost, and
William Frost; another part on the 20th of April, 1669,
to Richard Latting; another on the 1st of December,
1683, to Thomas Townsend; and upon the 9th of Janu-
ary, 1685, the chiefs, namely, Sucanemen alias Runasuck,
Chechagen alias Quaropin, Samose (son of Tacka-
pansha,) being empowered thereto by the rest of the In-
dians, conveyed the residue of Matinecock, with some
other lands, for the price of sixty pounds current mer-
chantable pay, to James Cock, Joseph Dickerson, Robert
Townsend, Samuel Dickerson, Stephen Birdsall, James
Townsend, Daniel Weeks, Isaac Doughty, John Wood,
Edmund Wright, Caleb Wright, John Wright, William
Frost, and John Newman; and thereupon the grantees

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

agreed to accept, as joint purchasers with them, the fol-
lowing named persons, who were then among the ac-
knowledged inhabitants and freeholders of the town.
This is the most complete list of names which the records
present at that period, viz.:

John Townsend, sen.
Daniel Townsend
John Dewsbury
William Crooker
John Applegate
Thomas Youngs
John Rogers
Hannah fforman, for

her son Moses
John Robbins
Thomas Townsend
Samuel Birdsall
Josias Carpenter
Sampson Hauxhurst
Adam Wright
Thomas Weeks
Nathan Birdsall
Mathew Prior
Joseph Carpenter

John Pratt

Thomas Willets

Samuel Weeks

Joseph Weeks

Peter Wright

George Downing

Richard Harcutt

Nathaniel Coles, jun.

John Cock

John Weeks

Henry Franklin

John Townsend, jun.,
of Lusum

Henry Bell

Richard Willetts

Meriam Harker

John Williams, of Lu-
sum

Nicholas Simkins

Hope Williams, of

Lusum
Lawrence Mott
William Buckler
Josias Latting
Thomas Cock
William Hauxhurst
Elizabeth Dickson
James Bleven
Daniel Whitehead
Samuel Tiller
Robert Coles
Richard Kirby
William Thorncraft
Robert Godfrey
Ephraim Carpenter
Joseph Sutton
Nathaniel Coles
Thomas Armitage

Daniel Whitehead, having removed to Jamaica, be-
came a very large landholder there, and afterwards
purchased Dosoris, which he gave to his daughter,
the wife of John Taylor. Nathaniel Coles was the
son of Robert, who was at Salem, 1630, one of the
first settlers of Ipswich, with Governor Winthrop in
1633, and in 1653 came with Robert Williams to
Long Island. Samuel Coles, one of the signers against
the banishment of Wheelright in 1637, was the brother
of Robert. Nathaniel married Martha, daughter of
Robert, and sister of Colonel John Jackson. John
Townsend, jun., married Phoebe, daughter of Robert
Williams, her brothers were Hope and John. Her sister
Mary married a Willets, and received from her father

68 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

the land on which Jericho now stands. George Downing
was probably a relative of Emanuel Downing of Salem,
1638. The name of Thorncraft, or Thornycraft, has
been extinguished by its division into two names, Thorn
and Craft, both of which are now common here. The
name of Tiller is now written Tilley. Dewsbury, Apple-
gate, Harcutt, Harker, Bleven, Godfrey, Bell, Simkins,
and Newman, are names not now known in this town.
Robert Williams was probably a relative of Roger
Williams, and of the family of Oliver Cromwell, whose
original name was Williams, but changed for reasons not
now known.

A confirmatory patent was obtained for Musketo
Cove1 from Governor Andros, September 29, 1677, in
behalf of Joseph Carpenter, Nathaniel Coles, Robert
Coles, and Nicholas Simkins, in which the premises are
described as a certain tract of land lying by the side of
Hempstead Harbor, in the North Riding of Yorkshire
upon Long Island.

11 Beginning at a certaine markt tree, formerly marked
for Colonel Lewis Morris, ranging thence due east by
the land of the said Colonel Morris (now Dosoris)
eighty chains, ranging the same course from Colonel
Morris' eastern bounds, to markt trees upon the com-
mon, forty chains, thence south 164 chains, to certain
markt trees, thence ninety chains due west, to the rear
of the lots of Richard Kirby, Jacob Brooken, George
Downing and Robert Godfrey; thence due north by
the said lots, sixty chains, and thence due west, to the
water side, ranging thence by the water side, to the runn
of Colonel Lewis Morris, and thence nearest south, to
the first markt tree, including the swamp and mill-runn,
containing 1,700 acres, to the said patentees, their heirs
1 Now Glen Cove. — Editor.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 69

and assigns forever, they making improvements thereon
according to law, and giving to his Royal Highness' use
one bushel of good winter wheat yearly." The said
Carpenter, it appears, in consequence of having built a
grist mill upon the stream running through said tract,
agreed by a writing under hand and seal, January 14,
1677, to grind for his co-proprietor's families toll free
forever.

The whole number of owners of land within this
patent in 1786, was forty-six.

The records of the town up to 1700 contain many con-
veyances for land executed by the natives, both to the
town and to individuals, divisions, and allotments among
the proprietors, wills and contracts of different descrip-
tions.

" At a town meeting held March 21, 1689, Richard
Harcut and John Townshend were deputed to go to
Jamaica to appoint two men from the country to be at
York on the tenth of April next, to consult of the affairs
of the country." On the 19th of February, 1693, the
town met to consider the late act of assembly for settling
two ministers in the county, and decided that it was
against their judgment, and thereupon reported to the
governor that they could do nothing about it. In 1693
a purchase was made from the Massapeague Indians for
a tract at Fort Neck on the south side of the island, by
Thomas Townsend, for the sum of fifteen pounds, cur-
rent silver money, which lands on the 29th of June, 1695,
he gave to his son-in-law Thomas Jones and daughter
Freelove.

By the act of 1691, Horse Neck (now Lloyd's Neck),
which had till then been an independent plantation, and
the only manorial estate in the country, was annexed to
the town of Oyster Bay.

yo HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Lloyd's Neck, called by the Indians Caumsett, contains
about 3,000 acres of land, projecting into the Sound be-
tween Cold Spring* and Huntington Harbor. The soil
is of an excellent quality, one half of which is appropri-
ated to cultivation, and the other to the growing of
timber. It was erected into a manor called Queen's Vil-
lage in 1685, during the administration of Governor
Dongan; and an application for a renewal of the like
privileges was made by the owners to the legislature the
27th of March, 1790, which was refused. The British
troops took possession of it during the Revolution,
erected a fort, the remains of which are still visible, and
committed depredations to a great extent; having, dur-
ing the course of the war, cut down and disposed of
between 50,000 and 100,000 cords of wood. The re-
production was so rapid, that for the last fifty years
more than 1,000 cords have been annually sold. Inde-
pendent of its fine soil and many local advantages, there
is an inexhaustible mine of fine white clay, suitable
for pottery, and a bed of yellow ochre, of unknown ex-
tent, which may be employed as a substitute for paint.
The purchase of this Neck was made the 20th of Septem-
ber, 1654, from Ratiocan Sagamore, of Cow Harbor,1
by Samuel Mayo, Daniel Whitehead, and Peter Wright,
three of the first settlers of Oyster Bay, for the price
of three coats, three shirts, two cuttoes, three hatchets,
three hoes, two fathom of wampum, six knives, two pair
of stockings, and two pair of shoes. They sold out to
Samuel Andrews, on the 6th of May, 1658, for £100,
and the sale was confirmed by JVyandanch, the Long
Island sachem, on the 14th of the same month. On the
death of Andrews, the Neck was conveyed to John Rich-

1 Now Northport. — Editor.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 71

bill, the 5th of September, 1660, who obtained a con-
firmation patent from Governor Nicoll December 18,
1665. Richbill sold to Nathaniel Sylvester, Thomas
Hart, and Latimer Sampson October 18, 1666, for £450.
Sylvester released to his co-tenants October 17, 1668,
having first procured an additional patent from Governor
Nicoll November 20, 1667. James Lloyd, of Boston,
having become entitled to a part of the Neck, in right
of his wife Grizzle Sylvester (by a devise from said
Sampson) obtained a patent of confirmation from Gov-
ernor Andros September 29, 1677, and on the 17th
October, 1679, he purchased of the executors of Hart
his part of the Neck for £200, in consequence of which
he became sole owner. From that time the premises have
been called Lloyd's Neck.

Mr. Lloyd died August 16, 1698, aged forty-seven,
leaving issue Henry, Joseph, and Grizzle. His will is
dated September 22, 1693, by which the Neck was de-
vised to his children in equal portions. Henry having
purchased the interests of his brother and sister, became
sole proprietor and settled here in 1711.*

* Henry Lloyd was born November 28, 1685, and died March 10, 1763;
he married, November 23, 1708, Rebecca, daughter of John Nelson, of
Boston, one of the council of safety on the seizure and imprisonment of
Andros in 1689. They had issue Henry, John, Margaret, James, Joseph,
Rebecca, Elizabeth, William, Nathaniel, and James 2d, all of whom,
except the two first, were born upon Lloyd's Neck. The first named
James died in infancy. Margaret married William Henry Smith, of
St. George's Manor, whose daughter Anna became the wife of the late
Judge Selah Strong, of Setauket Henry was born August 6, 1709;
John, February 19, 1711; Joseph, December 19, 1716, and died at Hart-
ford June 20, 1780; Nathaniel, November 11, 1725, and was drowned in
Boston Harbor November 16, 1752; William, October 7, 1723, and died
in the island of Jamaica November 27, 1754; James, March 24, 1728,
and was for nearly sixty years a distinguished physician of Boston,
where he died in March, 1810. He was a remarkable man in his man-
ners and deportment, and was acknowledged as one of the most skilful
physicians of the age. He left a son James and a daughter Sarah, who

72 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

A difficulty at one time occurred between Mr. Lloyd
and the town of Huntington, which arose in consequence
of the Neck being virtually included within the general
bounds of that town, but on appeal to the court of assize,
Mr. Lloyd obtained a verdict in his favor, and to pre-
vent a revival of the claim at a future day, he procured
from most, if not all the freeholders of the town, a re-
lease of their interest, whatever it might be, to the whole
Neck. The division line was afterwards ascertained and
established by David Jones, Richard Woodhull, and
William Willis, persons mutually selected by the parties
in 1734. Joseph Lloyd, brother of said Henry, died in
London, and his sister Grizzle, who married Johnjiast-
wicke, resided in the island of Jamaica. Henry Lloyd
devised the estate of Lloyd's Neck to his surviving sons,
Henry, John, James, and Joseph; the first of whom, by
espousing the royal cause in the Revolution, lost his por-
tion by confiscation, which was purchased from the com-
missioners of forfeitures, by his nephew John Lloyd.

This gentleman married Sarah, daughter of the Rev.
Benjamin Woolsey, by whom he had issue Henry, John,
Rebecca, Abigail, and Sarah. Of these, Henry died a
bachelor, January 14, 1825, and his part of the estate
was afterwards purchased by his nephew, the late John
N. Lloyd.*

married Leonard Vassal Borland, now deceased. Rebecca, second daugh-
ter of Henry Lloyd, was born October 31, 1718, and married Melancthon
Taylor Woolsey, of Dosoris, one of whose daughters was the wife of
the Hon. James Hillhouse, a distinguished senator in Congress from
Connecticut, by whom he had no issue.

* James Lloyd, son of the above named Dr. Lloyd, was born at Boston
in 1769 and graduated at Harvard 1787. He was placed with an
eminent merchant of Boston, and a few years after went to Europe,
where he acquired a knowledge of trade and commerce, which he after-
wards turned to good account. At the age of thirty-five he was chosen

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 73

Rebecca Lloyd married John Broome, afterwards
Lieutenant-Governor of New York. Abigail married Dr.
James Coggswell, of New York, a man no less distin-
guished for his professional acquirements than for his
noble philanthropy and generous public spirit. He had
sons John and James, and daughters Sarah and Harriet
Broome. His widow died April 24, 1831, aged eighty-
two. James died January 15, 1832; John, April 13,
1 83 1, and Harriet B. who married Robert W. Mott, died
September 6, 1843, leaving only a daughter. Sarah
Lloyd died April 24, 1848.*

The said John Lloyd, born 1745, was about thirty
years old when the Revolution began, and having, in

to the legislature of his native state, and passed from the house to the
senate. In 1808 he succeeded John Quincy Adams in the senate of the
United States, and remained several years, proving an able defender of
the honor of the nation, and eminently useful on subjects of commerce,
navigation, and finance. Few men were his superiors in debate, and
none possessed a wider and more enduring influence on those around
him. In his domestic relations, and in the circle of his friends, he was
fitted to receive and communicate happiness. He married Anna, daughter
of Samuel Breck of Philadelphia, a lady who united gentleness with
intelligence, and had a proper appreciation of his worth. He was, in
short, too wise to be a leveler, too zealous for liberty to be a radical,
and possessed too much dignity of character to flatter others for the sake
of popularity. He suffered from ill health for a considerable period,
and died at New York in April, 1831. He left no child, and his princely
fortune was given to the children and grandchildren of his sister, Mrs.
Borland. His widow died at Bristol, Pa., July 24, 1846, aged seventy-
three.

* The said John Broome was born on Staten Island in 1738. His father
Samuel came from England in early life and married Miss Lataurette,
of a Huguenot family, who were among the ancient nobility of their
native country. Mr. Broome first studied law, but afterwards became a
merchant in New York. In 1775 he was one of the committee of safety,
was several years an alderman, and in 1804 was elected lieutenant-
governor, which office he filled till his death, August 8, 1810, at. the
age of seventy-two. His wife died in 1800, by whom he had two sons
and six daughters, of whom Sarah married the late James Boggs;
Caroline married the late Major Darby Noon; and Julia married Colonel
John W. Livingston, and died October 7, 1844.

74 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

1780, become entitled to a part of the Neck by devise
from his uncle Joseph, he suffered much in his property
by the enemy, who kept possession of the Neck during
the war. He received an appointment in the commis-
sariat, the responsible duties of which office he discharged
with a fidelity which met the approbation of the com-
mander-in-chief. On his return to his farm in 1783 he
married Amelia, daughter of the Rev. Ebenezer White,
Of Danbury, Conn. The office of judge of Queens
County was tendered to him by Governor Jay, which,
from his love of retirement, he declined. His death,
which was sincerely regretted by those who knew him,
took place at the age of forty-seven, in the year 1792.
His widow died August 1, 1818, aged fifty-eight.

His children were John Nelson Lloyd, born December
30, 1783; Angelina, September 12, 1785; and Mary,
February 9, 1791. The last named daughter died young
and unmarried; the elder married George W. Strong,
Esq., in 1809, and died leaving issue, September 20,
1 8 14. John N. Lloyd graduated at Yale 1802, and was
several years engaged in mercantile business. In 18 16
he removed to Lloyd's Neck, having in 18 15 married
Phoebe, daughter of the late General Nathaniel Coles.
She died in 1822. Mr. Lloyd survived till May 31, 1841,
when he died at the age of fifty-eight. Although he was
remarkable for his love of retirement, and very domestic
in his habits, yet he possessed, in an eminent degree,
those social qualities which made him an interesting, and
at times a pleasing, companion. His mind was of an
original cast, and well cultivated, both by reading and
observation. He devoted himself assiduously to the im-
provement of his lands, consisting of 1,239 acres, became
familiar with the best methods of farming, and carried

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 75

out in detail that systematic management upon which
success so much depends, and which was a particular
feature of his character. His children are John Nelson,
Henry, Angelina, and Phoebe. The eldest daughter mar-
ried Joseph M. Higbie, now deceased, and the youngest
is the wife of Alexander H. Stephens, M.D., of the city
of New York. The said Henry Lloyd married Caroline,
daughter of Jacob Brandegee, May 8, 1848.

The annual produce of this valuable peninsula con-
taining 2,849 acres, may be stated in round numbers at
2,000 bushels of wheat; 4,000 of Indian corn; 4,000 of
oats; 150 tons of English hay; and 100 of salt grass.
The stock, 1,500 sheep, yielding annually 3,000 pounds
of wool; and 100 head of cattle. The growth of wood
since 1783 is computed at 1,000 cords per annum.

The remains of the fort, erected upon the western side
of the Neck near the Sound, are still visible. An attempt
was made to capture this garrison in July, 178 1, by a
force under the command of the Baron de Angely, which
proved unsuccessful, partly from the want of cannon, and
partly from mistaking the true point of approach to the
fort. The place was visited during the war by Prince
William Henry, since William IV. of England. The
mansion of Mr. Lloyd is on the south of the Neck, a
beautifully romantic situation, the charms of which are
portrayed by the late Governor Livingston, in his de-
lightful poem entitled " Philosophic Solitude."

" By chapter 667, laws of 1886, passed on June 15,
1886, and taking effect immediately, Lloyd's Neck be-
came part of the town of Huntington and county of Suf-
folk." Editor.

Dosoris, situated on the Sound, two miles north of

76 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Glen Cove, has been for about a century the residence of
the Coles family.* The quantity of land in the original
tract is nearly 1,000 acres, and was purchased by Robert
Williams from Agulon, Areming, Gohan, Nothan, Ya-
malamok, and Ghogloman, chiefs of the Matinecock
Indians, November 24, 1668, and for it a patent of
confirmation was issued by Governor Nicoll the same
year, in which " East Island " is called Matinecock
Island, the extreme point of which, though improperly,
is yet sometimes called Matinecock Point. Williams,
September 24, 1670, sold the premises to Lewis Morris,
of Barbadoes, brother of Richard Morris, first pro-
prietor of Morrisania. |

May 16, 1686, Governor Dongan gave a patent to
Morris, reserving a quit-rent of one bushel of wheat
yearly. Morris conveyed the premises, August 10, 1693,
to Daniel Whitehead for £390, who for the same con-
sideration conveyed them to his son-in-law, John Taylor.
Upon his death intestate they descended to his daughter
Abigail, afterwards the wife of the Rev. Benjamin
Woolsey. This gentleman resided upon the property
from 1736 to August 16, 1756, when he died.

The name of Dosoris is supposed to be an abbrevia-

* The western mill belonging to John B. Coles was burned January 25,
1825, with 7.000 bushels of wheat and 300 barrels of flour.

t Lewis Morris of Barbadoes, and once the owner of Dosoris, a
brother of Richard Morris, first proprietor of Morrisania, arrived here
after the death of his brother in 1673. The son of Richard was Lewis,
afterwards one of the council of New Jersey, chief justice of the same,
and of New York also. He was governor of New Jersey the last eight
years of his life.

He had four sons and eight daughters, one of whom, Lewis, resided at
Morrisania, and his brother, Robert Hunter Morris, was for more than
twenty years one of the council and chief justice of New Jersey, and
was also deputy governor of Pennsylvania two years. The last named
Lewis Morris had four sons and four daughters, of whom the late
Gouverneur Morris was one.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 77

tion of the words dos and uxoris, the property having
come to him by his wife. By the common forms of lease
and release, the title was vested in the husband, who de-
vised three-fifths to his son Melancthon Taylor Woolsey,
and the remaining two-fifths to his son Benjamin
Woolsey.

In 1760 the executors of the former conveyed his part
of about 416 acres, together with " East Island," since
known as Mutelear Island, Presque Isle, and Butler's
Island, for £4,000, to John Butler. Nathaniel Coles
(son-in-law of Butler), who came here to reside, after-
wards purchased of the representatives of Benjamin
Woolsey his part of the premises, of about 300 acres,
for £3,600. He also bought " West Island," called
Cavalier's Island, and other lands adjacent, originally
included in the purchase made by Robert Williams. The
West Island, of fifty acres, was purchased some years
since by the late Hamilton H. Jackson, for $2,500; and
the East Island, of seventy-five acres, belongs to Henry
M. Western, Esq., of the city of New York.

The scenery of this neighborhood is charmingly beau-
tiful and picturesque, but the prospect from the mansion
of Oliver Coles, Esq., is the most extensive and varie-
gated, the position being more elevated, and overlooking
the surrounding landscape.

This part of the island was at a remote period thickly
peopled by Indians, and in all farming operations where
the soil is required to be moved skeletons and domestic
utensils are still discovered. The soil is exuberant and
the air salubrious in a high degree; in short it may be
considered in all respects one of the most desirable places
of residence in this part of Long Island.

In 1763 a society was organized in the colony for the

78 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

advancement of agriculture, composed of some of the
most distinguished citizens of that time, which proved
highly useful in promoting the important objects for
which it was established. At its meeting held December
21, 1767, the society awarded to Thomas Youngs of this
town a premium of £10, for a nursery of 27,123 apple
trees. It was known at the same time that Joshua Clark
and Francis Furnier of Suffolk County, had, from 1762
to 1767, set out 4,751 grape vines, which it is probable
were of the kinds indigenous to the colony.

Oyster Bay village, fronting its beautiful bay, is a
highly pleasant and convenient location. Here the first
emigrants it is supposed fixed their early residence, from
whence they soon spread over the adjacent territory.
This settlement including the Cove (so called) contains
about 60 dwellings and 350 inhabitants.

On the 4th of November, 1754, some individuals of
the church of England, obtained from the assembly a law
authorizing them to raise £500 by lottery, to finish the
church and to purchase a bell. This building which was
called " Christ Church" must have been erected more
than twenty years sooner, as an Episcopal congregation
existed here long before, and was connected with the
parish of Hempstead under Mr. Thomas and his suc-
cessors, and of course is the oldest church in the village.
It probably occupied a site near the academy, and the
proprietorship of the soil still belongs to the church. It
is doubtful if any aid resulted from the application to the
assembly, as the church fell into disuse and was finally
taken down and disposed of about forty years after. But
owing to the exertions of a few individuals, and a dona-
tion of $600 from the corporation of Trinity, a new
edifice was erected on the same site in 1844, and conse-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 79

crated by Bishop Onderdonk the 23d of July in that
year, in which the Rev. Edwin Harwood from Pennsyl-
vania officiated for a time. He then removed to the
church at Eastchester where he was instituted rector Sep-
tember 21, 1846, and October 6th of the same year mar-
ried Marion E., daughter of Dr. James E. Dekay. Rev.
John Stearns, jun., succeeded Mr. Harwood the same
year. Mr. Stearns preached until 1849.

" From this date the list of rectors is as follows :

Rev. Edmund Richards 1849 to 1851

" Joseph Ransom 1851 to 1861

" Richard Graham Hutton 1861 to 1874

" Charles W. Ward 1874101875

" James Byron Murray, D.D.1 1875 to 1876

" George Roe Van De Water 1876 to 1880

" Wm. Montague Geer 1880 to 1888

" Henry Homer Washburn 1888 to 1911

" George E. Talmage 2 1911 to

The present church building was erected in 1878." — Editor.

The academy was built in 1800, and taught by the
Rev. Mr. Earle between thirty and forty years. The
original Baptist Church was erected in 1724 and is still
standing, a curious relic of by-gone days. It is about
twenty feet square, with a quadrangular pointed roof,
but is no longer used for " lodging folks disposed to
sleep" having ceased to be used for religious purposes.

The present large commodious Baptist Church was
built in 1805, at an expense of $1,800.

The Friends have also a small house of worship, which
is more than a century old, but is rarely used; and
another is standing at Matinecock of a very ancient date.

1 Temporary supply.

2 List of rectors since 1849 kindly supplied by Rev. Mr. Talmage. —
Editor.

HIM i WO <W I |s| \\|)

thcr
r in
R

iflil CO-

• it the • khcJ in 17:4, the

■
I i ettOf * . ton «> ard

Sut tri c% him

the character

■hose • He coo-

740,

A' foi tome

year* the coOcay

1 *a% tUC-
ton Of

J ton

lM * »•'• t when he

W ■»? where hi% Jcterrkiir

i a miniftry

A' Mr Rhodes,

I • . • ! r r.c r. '♦.»--.!: a! , :cJ an

ieral took
e 00 tr •rdifUtion in

•he congregation hid
no tcttleJ putOf ian thirty >

. but d
confusion tifl

HIMtMO 01 I ONG m \\n

7$<), mhc lucnci o( th* Benjamin

apain the only son

>*eph, eldest MM § was the eldest

Daniel, brother of Nathaniel and Robert, children of
Mbcrt v Net ore ment. who r. a while

kwich and attcrma under*

lie Baptist Church in Providence. The said Benjamin
%M bom on the paternal estate n< ind-

an, George D. ( -a little south of the si!1

Vftei iing the a

Bn school in his native village, he was sent r 1 1 :np-
stad, mherc he studied the lan^ under the dr.

amucl Scabury, the I the church

•re He d stuci is at N

■pen, and finished at Kings Colic ^ \ "i rk. al-
Sngh it is believed he did not graduate

being licensed to preach. \ e time

i md, and

• chosen pastor l the Bap: renin

mtere he mas se» >m thence he

tBtcm Jersev. and settle.: hurch at 1 ell,

bathe Revolution breaking out, his patriotic feelings
ltflhin to accept the place of chaplain in the American
ail} the dawn of peace, he rcturnt at

Cltcr Bay. and mas soon after called to this church, and
t^karged his pastoral duties mith fidelity and usefulness
t^rtthin a few rears of his death, devoting a ;
to the business of classical instruct
married Man. daughter of Der

mho mas born ry 24, i;

ebruarT 8. 1 •
wo years, hit death occurring Augu< I at

of •oar ears.

82 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

His children were Rachel, James, Charity, and Ben-
jamin, who lived to maturity; the last of whom is also
a clergyman of the Baptist Church.

Rev. Marmaduke Earle was associated with Mr.
Coles as his assistant in 1810. He was born in 1768 and
graduated at Columbia College in 1790. In 1792 he
married Mary, daughter of Isaac and Mary Ferris of
Stamford, Conn., by whom he had eleven children, all
but two yet living. He lost his wife June 25, 1832, in
her sixty-third year.

Since the decease of Mr. Coles, he has continued sole
pastor of the church here, and devoted more than forty
years to the business of instruction, which, although far
advanced in life, he still pursues.

11 Mr. Earle died on July 13, 1856, and was succeeded
by Rev. Aaron Jackson, who preached but did not accept
the pastorate. On April 26, 1863, Rev. Arthur Day was
called, but remained only one year. He was followed
by Rev. Joseph Babbage, Rev. William A. Doolittle, and
Rev. Eleazer Savage, each of whom remained for a
short time only. On November 23, 1868, Rev. Charles
S. Wightman was ordained and has ministered to his flock
during an unbroken period of forty-eight years. In 1873
he published an interesting History of The Baptist
Church of Oyster Bay, and has kindly presented a copy
to the editor from which these notes from 1856 have been
taken." Editor.

The first Presbyterian Church in the town was com-
pleted and dedicated March 2, 1845, and is chiefly in-
debted for its existence to the exertions of the Rev.
Sylvester Woodbridge, of Hempstead. It is also hand-
somely located in the village, and the first minister em-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 83

ployed was the Rev. Hugh Smith Carpenter, son of Dr.
John Carpenter of New Utrecht, L. I. His wife
Louisa whom he married June 25, 1845, was the daugh-
ter of John H. Broadhead. The Rev. H. S. Carpenter
left in October of that year, being called to, ordained,
and installed in the Presbyterian Church, Canal Street,
N. Y., October 23, 1845. ^e was succeeded by the Rev.
Winthrop Bailey of Berlin, Mass., in 1847. Mr. Bailey
married Catherine Letitia, daughter of N. O. Voorhees
of Rocky Hill, N. Y., April 5, 1848.

" He left in 1850, and has been succeeded by the fol-
lowing pastors :

Church closed 1850 to 1855

Rev. Andrew B. Morse supplied the pulpit for

about six months in 1855

Horace E. Hinsdale, pastor from 1855101858

Edward A. Hamilton 1858 to 1861

William Irvin supplied for about six

months 1861 to 1862

Eben S. Fairchild 1862 to 1865

T. De Witt Talmage supplied the pulpit for

some time in 1865

Benjamin L. Swan 1866 to 1876

Alexander G. Russell 1876101911

Harry S. Dunning1 191 1 to "

— Editor.

Centre Island, formerly called Hog Island, containing
about 600 acres of the best land, is delightfully situated
in the bay and adjoining the Sound, and is connected with
Matinecock by Oak Neck, a low sandy isthmus of com-
paratively recent formation, which accounts for the
peninsula being called an island.

The position of the island, with Lloyd's Neck on the

1 List of pastors from 1850 was kindly furnished by Rev. Mr. Dunning.
— Editor.

84 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

east and other lands upon the west, completely protects
the bay from storms, and makes it a perfectly safe har-
bor for vessels in all states of the weather. The com-
merce of this village and harbor was, at a period long
past, very considerable, and continued so up to the time
of the Revolution, and probably a greater amount of
business in ship building and navigation was carried on
here, than at most other places in the state. The per-
son principally engaged in this, and who may be said to
have done the most of it, was Samuel Townsend, as-
sisted by members of his own family.

This establishment, consisting of several vessels, with
the business incident thereto, furnished a ready and
valuable market to the surrounding country for horses,
cattle, pork, and breadstuffs, which were exchanged in
the West Indies for cargoes that could be disposed of in
New York. The site of the principal ship-yard is still
called Ship Point. But little or nothing has been done in
building or equipping vessels for foreign ports since

1783-

On the west side of the village, being a part of the
ancient domain of the Townsends, is the country seat
of the Hon. William T. McCoun, vice chancellor of
the first judicial circuit, to which he was appointed in
1 83 1 — a gentleman of acknowledged abilities and of high
juridical acquirements.

This gentleman is the son of William McCoun of
this town, whose wife was Sarah, daughter of Joseph
Townsend. He was the youngest of seven sons of
Thomas McCoun, whose wife was Abigail Bailey. The
said Thomas was son of William, who, with his brother
Samuel, came from Westerly, in Narragansett, to this
town about the year 1695. They were probably both

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 85

born at Westerly, to which place their father, John
McCoun, had emigrated from Aberdeenshire, in Scotland,
prior to 1661.

Samuel, the eldest of the two brothers, married
Martha Coles, by whom he had several children, and
William married Mary, daughter of John Townsend,
and was great-grandmother of the vice chancellor.

Mr. McCoun was born October, 1786, and received
his academic education at the Oyster Bay Academy. He
studied law with the late Cornelius I. Bogert of Jamaica,
and married Emma, daughter of Gilbert Jackson, by
whom he had several children. She died March 24,
I^45, aged fifty-four. The surviving sons are William
Sidney and Joseph. His daughter married Francis F.
Marbury. His son Gilbert died March 19, 1847, aged
thirty- two.

In front of his mansion is the ancient cemetery of the
Townsends, where are deposited the remains of many of
the first settlers of the town, and where is a large granite
rock, upon which, in 1672, stood George Fox, the apostle
and founder of Quakerism, while addressing, with im-
passioned and persuasive eloquence, the assembled multi-
tude which filled the spacious amphitheatre below.*

* In the Port Folio for 1810 is a communication from the late Dr.
Samuel L. Mitchell, in which the learned writer observes as follows:
" Queens county (says he) contains the memorials of Fox and his son.
Two white oak trees yet live in Flushing, which shaded him, while he
delivered his testimony to the people in the highway; and the massy
rock is still to be seen at the village of Oyster Bay, which supported him
when he uttered the words of persuasion to an audience in the woods.
I have brought away part of the memorable rock on which the ex-
positor stood. It is granite, composed of felspar, quartz, and mica, in
which the former material predominates. In the progress of improve-
ment, the upper part has been split to pieces by gunpowder, but the basis
remains solid and unbroken. The spot was then forest, though it is now
cleared. The mind that delights in similitudes, may find pleasing com-
parisons between Fox and the rock."

86 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

On the high ground south of the village are the re-
mains of a fort erected in 1778, by a battalion of Ameri-
can royalists, called the Queen's Rangers, stationed here
to protect the harbor and village from privateers, and the
untiring vigilance of the whale-boat men from the oppo-
site shores. This corps, consisting of 320 officers and
men, was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel John
Graves Simcoe who, in 1791, was made governor of one
of the Canadian provinces, where a beautiful lake still
bears his name. This well disciplined force finally sur-
rendered at Yorktown, Va., October 19, 178 1, with
the army under Lord Cornwallis. Lieutenant Colonel
Simcoe was the eldest son of Captain John Simcoe, com-
mander of the " Pembroke," man-of-war, and died in the
expedition against Quebec in 1759. He married a
Miss Guillim, and was in 1796 made governor of St.
Domingo. In 1798 he was promoted to the station of
Lieutenant Colonel in the British army, and subsequently
to other stations. He died at Torbay in 1806. The
private journal which he published in 1787 of his pro-
ceedings in America and which was reprinted at New
York in 1843, shows that he was much better qualified for
a soldier than an author. He was the personal friend of
Major Andre, and after his arrest expressed his desire to
Sir Henry Clinton, with his men to attempt his rescue,
" not doubting to succeed," he says, " in whatever a simi-
lar force could effect." As a military man he seems to
have had much professional knowledge, and was a perfect
gentleman in his manners. It is said that he was about
to succeed Lord Lake as commander-in-chief of the
British forces in India, when he was taken away by death
at the age of fifty-four. Colonel Simcoe was the founder
of Little York (now Toronto), Upper Canada, in 1794,

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 87

which was burnt by the Americans in 18 13. It has
been rebuilt and is now one of the handsomest and most
flourishing towns in the colony. It is the seat of the
superior judicial courts, and the place in which the par-
liament of Upper Canada * assembles.

At the Cove, east of the village, in a romantic spot
called the Locusts, partially shaded with trees of various
kinds, and having a beautiful prospect of the surround-
ing scenery of land and water, is the residence of Dr.
James E. Dekay, one of the geological commissioners
of the state, to whom was assigned the zoological depart-
ment, the duties of which he has ably performed. He is
equally distinguished for private worth, literary acquire-
ments, and proficiency in science.* His Sketches of
Turkey places him far above the majority of travellers,
and to it the reading world is indebted for a more faith-
ful delineation of Turkish character and manners, than
was ever before given.

Between this place and Cold Spring Harbor, is Cove
Neck, the northern termination of which is called
Cooper's Bluff; it contains some hundreds of acres, and
several fine farms which are well cultivated. The vil-
lage of Cold Spring is situated near the head and upon
both sides of the harbor, consequently is partly in this
town and partly in the town of Huntington. The
original Indian settlement on the west side, was denomi-
nated by them Wawepex, and that on the east, as well as
the creek, Nachaquatuck, and is so called in the Hunting-
ton patent of 1666. The village collectively contains
about seventy dwellings, and 500 inhabitants, including
those employed in the different factories.

1 Now Ontario. — Editor.

* The little brown harmless snake so common on Long Island has been
named from Dr. Dekay, and is known as Dekay's snake.

Amm the otiatr

* Irwirftt^;

»P™« of and b capable

rw a owe *re

«aai

I » w • * . citcn-
and Che

Bodlof t!KK

arc

uac be
Mo \N

feen

I btdMM ami »cfl proportioned

- In .re • rrnufkiWy

•rll choaaav *- • '■ - m it tm? ifwcralm mi? enjoy a

*»J paeaaanat proved ot the

art* aa
. naafiifiua; ami i Sell, to-
** P">P< "rlitili, was faraaaifiri by the

wit of »ooi !K:t pit** buu lair • * on the

l lumber
aioofa* ami anoaarrv Uaidii *

arf\, ti ill up j to the Cold

the

CO daw church
r he city
» anktataii ao its own caertions

h< has ofwiiaxd. He settled as a
m atvJ araa tanployed also as

at vhurvh there B? ma tmiuatfy ami appli-
he ^c : himself for a teacher, and

Hb \ \P

tfcoloo and idrr the direction ol the Ki
luhmbcr|r. be vat admitted deacon of the I piscopal
Churn in engaged in the church at

Huamgtor. "cm the c>th ot Augu*

vhee he was ldnutted to the priesthood.
tame day also the corner stone of St. Johns
Cburh was bad by the hi Any of the diocese, the chu
Se«| completed and consecrated
s ; >i r vat added m 1 1 .
■Hi Core, formerly Musket o Co

pleatavthr situ an J upon the east side np-

lrhor. and apon the north side of a urcim vfc

a mile or more ah* con-

a good deal of I

h increased within
lrorabic to industry, b

district, vhich fur-
•i Bf vper ' •
of fftnt pert of the tovn vat purchased f r
W Joseph Carpenter . and

patent from Governor Andros, September
to Darnel Coles. Robert Cole
Wav

had been so
disagree
of February it^a- * vas change

uks accept i a 'all
o«K » building but iti

9o HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

location is elevated and commands an extensive land-
scape. There is likewise a respectable academy here,
besides an excellent and recently established boarding
school for young ladies. Indeed, few places afford a
more pleasant retreat for the careworn citizen, or one
where he may enjoy all the luxuries of rural life in
greater perfection. The situation far surpasses in beauty
and loveliness scores of places to which thousands annu-
ally resort for health and recreation. The following
production of a native bard is so descriptive of the beau-
ties of this place, that we cannot omit the insertion of it:

"GLEN COVE."

" There's beauty in the spangled sky,
When scattered orbs are twinkling there:
When the pale moon shines pensively,
And all above is calm and fair;
When the night wind is sighing through
The silvery foliage of the trees,
When insects also, win and woo
Each other, with their midnight glees;
And in thy brook which glides along,
Through blithesome green, and balmy grove,
Where feathered warblers tune their song,
To notes of passion and of love.
Then on thy name, I'd linger yet,
Though doomed to leave thy joys forever;
And all my life, ting'd with regret,
Can I forget Glen Cove, no, never."

The Glen Cove Mutual Insurance Company located
here, was incorporated March 27, 1837, and has thus
far been entirely successful.

Wolver Hollow, now Brookville, is the name of a set-
tlement on the eastern border of the town in a central
part of the island, commenced by several Dutch families
who removed to it from the western part of the island
toward the latter end of the seventeenth century. A

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 91

Dutch Reformed Church was soon after constituted, but
their house of worship was not completed till the spring
of 1733 and, like other churches of that denomination, it
was of an octagonal shape and pyramidal roof. It was
used till 1832, a period of 100 years, when it was taken
down. The present church was raised September 5,
1832, and dedicated January 20, 1833, and enlarged in
1849. It was one of the collegiate churches of the
county and was connected with the church at Manhasset
till 1835 when the connection was dissolved. The Rev.
Robert A. Quin, a native of the city of New York, was
installed pastor in October of that year, but left in Oc-
tober, 1 841 and removed to Pennsylvania. In April,
1842, the Rev. Thomas Gregory, an Englishman, was
installed and remained till April, 1844, when he was suc-
ceeded by the Rev. Peter D. Oakey, who was installed
in September following. He was born at New Brunswick,
N. J., and graduated at the college there in 1841. He
removed in March, 1847, t0 Brooklyn, and was succeeded
by the Rev. Nicholas E. Smith, who was installed June
:3> I^47- Mr. Smith was the son of Noah Smith, and
was born at Jamaica, L. I., in 1820, graduated at Rutgers
College, 1841, and labored at Shrewsbury, N. J., from
July, 1845, to June, 1847.

Jericho, the Indian name of which place is Liisum, is
a pleasant village near the centre of the town upon the
Jericho turnpike road, twenty-seven miles from the city
of New York. The soil on which the village is erected
was a part of the purchase made by Robert Williams in
1653, and was early settled by a number of substantial
Quaker families, whose posterity still remain here.

The dwellings number about forty, and the inhabitants
250, who are supplied with abundance of the purest

92 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

water from never failing springs, issuing from the base
of an eminence near the village. An institution called
the Athenaeum has been established here a few years, and
has already a library of several hundred volumes. The
Friends' meeting-house was built in 1689, and rebuilt
in 1780 by the celebrated Elias Hicks, in which he occa-
sionally officiated for many years.

This distinguished individual, the son of John * and
Phebe Hicks, was born at Rockaway, the 19th of March,
1748. His education was only ordinary, and at the age
of seventeen he was apprenticed to a carpenter, which
trade he pursued for several years, being laborious and
industrious in a high degree. January 2, 1771, he mar-
ried Jemima, daughter of Jonathan Seaman of Jericho,
who was born September 21, 1750, and went to reside
in the house of his father-in-law, where he spent the
remainder of his life. They had four sons and six
daughters, but only five of the latter survived their par-
ents; of whom Martha married Royal Aldrich; Abigail
married Valentine Hicks; Phebe married Joshua Willets
and Sarah married Robert Seaman. Elias Hicks's con-
nection with the Friends led him, at an early period, to
embrace sentiments which he advocated and enforced with
zeal and ability ever after. He began his public labors in
1790, and travelled over a great portion of the United
States, from Maine to Ohio, and in the province of Can-
ada. In 179 1 he visited every town upon Long Island, and
held one or more meetings in each. In 1793 he went as
far as Portland, Me.; being absent five months, and pass-
ing over a distance of 2,000 miles. In 1798 he traversed

*John Hicks died about 1780, and had, besides Elias, sons John,
Samuel, Joseph, and Jacob, of whom John was many years a member
of Assembly from Kings County and father of George, of Brooklyn.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 93

New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Vir-
ginia, a distance of 1,600 miles, and held 143 meetings.
In 1803 he entered the province of Upper Canada, and
returned through western New York to Saratoga, a dis-
tance of more than 1,500 miles. In 1806 he again ex-
plored New England, travelling more than 1,000 miles,
and held sixty meetings. In 18 10 he went to Ohio, and
returned through Pennsylvania and New York; perform-
ing a journey of 2,000 miles. These are only a part of
the labors of this indefatigable man; and it is reasonable
to believe that, during his public ministry, he must have
travelled, at different times, more than 10,000 miles, and
that he pronounced on these occasions at least 1,000 pub-
lic discourses.

He found time to write and publish much upon reli-
gious subjects, upon war, and the practice of negro
slavery. He was the friend of civil and religious liberty;
and through a long life acted up to the sentiment which
he publicly proclaimed. His wife died March 17, 1829,
and he February 27, 1830, aged eighty-one. Of his char-
acter and qualifications as a teacher, as well as the utility
of his preaching, different opinions have been and will
probably continue to be entertained.

He has been charged with being the occasion of the
controversies and dissensions which have of late so un-
happily distracted the Society of Friends; while it is
denied by others, who disclaim altogether the name of
Hicksite by which their party is designated. No one has
ever pretended to impugn his moral character, or incul-
pate the sincerity of his conduct. If he was wrong in
his opinions, we are compelled to admit the honesty of
his motives; and if a deluded man, none who knew him
can believe he was either an imposter or hypocrite.

94 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Whatever may be thought of his religious creed, it must
be owned that through a long, laborious, and active life,
few men bore a more conspicuous part, or wielded a more
powerful and enduring influence among those accustomed
to attend upon his public discourses. He was a person
of rough exterior, but of vigorous intellect; and, making
no pretensions to elegance of style, he reasoned with
much force, and addressed himself to the everyday com-
mon sense, rather than the imagination of his auditors.

Woodbury, four miles east of Jericho, upon the turn-
pike road, is only a small hamlet, although its settlement
was commenced at a pretty remote period in the history
of the town. It is altogether a good farming district,
and was anciently called by its present name, but for
many years past has been better known as East Woods,1
an appellation common to this part of the country.

St. Peter's Episcopal Church was erected here in 1787,
but was destroyed by fire two years after, and its site
is now occupied by the hotel of John V. Hewlett.

Norwich,2 midway between the villages of Oyster Bay
and Jericho, is pleasantly situated, and contains a pretty
collection of houses, the largest of which is occupied as
an hotel and stage house. Its location is upon the turn-
pike from Cold Spring leading through Flushing to
New York. The dwellings are about thirty and the
inhabitants 200. The place is much indebted for its
growth and prosperity to the spirit and enterprise of the
late Andrew C. Hegeman. The Methodist Church at this
place was erected in 1835.

Hicksville, two miles south of Jericho, owes its exist-

1 The settlement has reverted to its original name of Woodbury. —
Editor.

2 Now East Norwich. — Editor.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 95

ence to the contemplated construction of the Long Island
Railroad, which was opened to this place March I, 1837.
It was for a considerable time a principal depot of the
company, where they had a spacious car house, work-
shops, and other erections, all of which, with one or
more valuable cars were consumed by fire, as some other
buildings were soon after, none of them being rebuilt.
A large hotel and a few scattered dwellings are all that
now remain of what this part of the town once could
boast.

Bethpage, about seven miles south-east of Hicksville,
and near the eastern line of the town, was settled at an
early period, and there the first meeting-house was
erected by the Friends in or about the year 1770. The
inhabitants being mostly agriculturalists possess a soil
of considerable fertility, and the advantages of a ready
market.

Farmingdale, in the same vicinity, once called Hard-
scrabble, is now a village of several houses, stores, and
mechanic shops, originating with the completion of the
railroad, and is one of the depots of the company. It is
about thirty-two miles from Brooklyn, surrounded by a
thriving population of farmers, and destined to be a
somewhat important place. A Methodist church was
erected here in 1843.

The following is the original Indian conveyance for
the lands in this neighborhood :

11 To all christian people to whome this prsent writing
shall come, or in any wise concerne. Bee itt knowne that
we, Mawmee, alias Serewanos, William Chepy, with ye
rest of ye Indian proprietors whose names are hereunto
subscribed, Indian proprietors of Massapege, upon Long
Island, for and in consideration of £140, in hand paid,

96 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

and by us ye sd Indians received, in full payment and sat-
isfaction, have granted, sold, &c, unto Thomas Powell,
sen'r, a certaine percell or tract of land, beginning att
ye west corner, att a dirty hole upon ye Brushy plaines,
near Mannatto Hill, from thence up a Hollow on ye
south side of Mannatto Hill, and out of that Hollow a
Cross ye hills, eastward pretty near Huntington, south
line, to ye Brushy plaine on ye east side ye hills, and so
along ye east side of ye vallee that goes to ye east branch
of Massapege Swamp, the head of ye swamp being the
S. E. corner, and from thence to rang along William
ffrost line until wee come to west neck, north-east
bounder, belonging to Oyster Bay, and from ye said N. E.
bounder of ye west neck, and soe to Run on the west side
of ye Hollow that comes from ye west branch of Masse-
pege Swamp, so far as there is any trees, and from thense
to ye sd Hole of dirt and water near Mannatto Hill, called
by the Indians Messtoppass, part of above bounded lands
having been in ye possession of ye sd Thomas Powell above
seven years before the signing and dellevry hereof. And
ye aforesamentioned Indians have put ye sd Thomas
Powell in lawfull and peaceable possession by ye dillevery
of Turf and Twigg: Only the sd Indians doe reserve ye
liberty of hunting and gathering hucklebberrys upon ye sd
land, as they shall see cause. In witness whereof, we, ye
above named Indians, have set our hands and seals, this
1 8th day of ye 8th month, 1695.

" In presence of
Benjamin Seaman and
Solomon Townsend.

" Sassonemen, C his mark, [l. s.]

Ruumpass, O his mark, [l. s.]

Serewanos, X his mark, [l. s.]

William Chepy, X his mark, [l. s.]
Seurushrung, X his mark, [l. s.]
Wamussum, X his mark, [l. s.]"

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 97

This Thomas Powell died December 28, 172 1, aged
eighty. Thomas Whitson the elder died August 20,
1742, aged eighty-nine. Thomas Powell 2nd died Sep-
tember 17, 1 73 1, and Thomas Powell 3rd died March
11, 1757. The original deed on parchment was in pos-
session of one Merrit at about 1840. It is recorded on
June 2, 1698, in the Book of Entries for Queens County,
Vol. I, pp. 112-114 by A. Gibb, clerk.

On the south side of the town, in the vicinity of the
bay, is the place where the Massapeage Indians resided;
the western part of it was called by the English Fort
Neck, by reason of the existence of two old Indian forts
upon it, the remains of which, or at least one of them,
are still visible, being upon the most southerly point of
land adjoining the salt meadow, nearly of a quad-
rangular form, and about thirty yards in extent on each
side.

The breastwork, or parapet, is of earth, and there is
a ditch or moat on the outside, which appears to have
been about six feet wide. The other fort was on the
southernmost point of the salt meadow adjoining the
bay, and consisted of palisadoes set in the meadow. The
tide has worn away the meadow where it stood, and the
place is now part of the bay, covered by water. Between
the meadow and beach are the two " Squaw Islands"
and the Indian tradition is, that their ancestors, a long
while ago, erected the forts for defence against enemies,
and when they approached, the squaws and papooses
were sent to these islands, which occasioned the name.

" This general locality was formerly known as Oyster
Bay South, but is now known as Massapequa ; named
after the tribe of Indians inhabiting this part of the
country." Editor.

98 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

One of the first and most substantial dwellings erected
here by the white people, was the well known " brick
house " built by Major Thomas Jones in 1696. It was
doubtless a more than ordinary fine specimen of archi-
tecture in that day, and finished in a somewhat superior
style.

Many improbable traditions have been preserved in
regard to the owner of this mansion, and some strange,
not to say marvellous, legends have been cherished and
circulated in relation to the mansion itself, which credu-
lity and superstition have not failed to magnify suffi-
ciently, to fill the mind of the benighted traveller with fear
and anxiety. A correspondent of the New York Mirror,
a few years since (now known to be the late ingenious
William P. Hawes, Esq.), speaking of the brick house,
says: "This venerable edifice is still standing, though
much dilapidated, and is an object of awe to all the peo-
ple in the neighborhood. The traveller cannot fail to be
struck with its reverend and crumbling ruins as his eye
first falls upon it from the turnpike; and if he has heard
the story, he will experience a chilly sensation, and draw
a hard breath while he looks at the circular sashless win-
dow in the gable end. That window has been left open
ever since the old man's death. His sons and grandsons
used to try all manner of means in their power to close
it up. They put in sashes, and they boarded it up, and
they bricked it up, but all would not do ; so soon as night
came their work would be destroyed, and strange sights
would be seen and awful voices heard." This curious
and venerable relic of bygone ages, which stood for a
period of more than 140 years, unscathed, except by the
hand of time, was removed in 1837 to make way for the
extensive improvements of David S. Jones, Esq., near

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 99

which he caused to be erected an expensive and magnifi-
cent private residence.

The spacious and substantial dwelling of Thomas F.
Jones, Esq., was planned and executed by the Hon.
Thomas Jones, a little previous to the Revolutionary
War, but his subsequent attainder and banishment from
the state did not allow him to enjoy it for any great
length of time.

The population of this town in the year 1722 was
1,249, besides 116 slaves; it is now increased to more
than 6,000.

The town has been the recipient of a legacy of £300,
given in 1775 by the Hon. David Jones, the interest
of which was by him directed to be appropriated to the
education of poor children, and has ever since been ap-
plied for that purpose. A more considerable bequest
was made by the late Samuel Jones, in his will of Feb-
ruary 2, 1836, amounting to $30,000, to be called the
" Jones Fund," the interest of which was directed to be
annually appropriated to the support of the poor of the
towns of Oyster Bay and North Hempstead; which will,
it is presumed, exempt the inhabitants in future from all
taxes and assessments for that purpose.

These towns have united in the purchase of a farm,
and the erection of the necessary buildings, in which the
poor and unfortunate will hereafter be provided for, in
a manner which justice and humanity approve. In addi-
tion to the more important localities before described,
may be mentioned Lattingtown, Matinecock, Buckram,1
Wheatley, and Cedar Swamp,2 all of which are farming

1 Now included in the locality known as Locust Valley. — Editor.

2 This settlement was located a couple of miles east of the modern
village of Glen Head and north of the settlement of Greenvale. — Editor.

ioo HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

districts, having a highly respectable population, but
generally too much dispersed to be considered as com-
pact villages.

We cannot in this place omit to record the name and
qualifications of Mrs. Frances P. Lupton, who died at
the home of one of her relations in Cedar Swamp in
1832. She was the daughter of Dr. Piatt Townsend,
formerly of Cedar Swamp, L. L, and was married
early to Lancaster Lupton, Esq., a lawyer of re-
spectable attainments, who died a few years after his
marriage, leaving to his widow the care of an infant
daughter, who likewise died ere she completed her
fifteenth year. Her name was Elizabeth.

On the decease of her husband, Mrs. Lupton devoted
herself to the acquisition of knowledge, both as a source
of rational delight, and for the improvement of her child.
And having tasted the pleasures of science, she continued
the pursuit after the object which first urged her forward
had been taken away by death.

She acquired a general knowledge of natural history,
particularly of botany, of which she was very fond
and in which she made great proficiency. She spoke
French with facility, and was also well versed in the
literature of that people. She read Spanish and Italian
with ease, and had so far mastered Hebrew as to have
perused the Old Testament in that language. She was
moreover learned in the polite literature of her own
country; and her knowledge of ancient history was
distinguished for its accuracy and extent. Her taste and
skill in the fine arts excited universal approbation.

She was an honorary member of the National Academy
of Design, and executed, during her leisure, many pieces
in painting and sculpture, which elicited high commenda-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 101

tion from the most competent judges. Among all her
various pursuits she neither overlooked or despised the
ordinary avocations of her sex.

Her productions in embroidery, needle-work, dress,
and fancy articles, would of themselves, on account of
their execution, have justly entitled her to the praise of
uncommon industry. In short, she attempted nothing in
which she did not excel, and in an industrious and well
spent life, there were but few things which she did not
attempt. She however spent much time in society, and
mingled in its enjoyments with alacrity and pleasure. In
a word, she was one of those rare and highly gifted
females whose endowments are not only an ornament to
their sex, but to human nature. In all the relations of
wife, mother, relative, and friend, she was all that duty
required, or that affection could desire.

A paper published at Montreal in 1832 contains the
following obituary notices, which we consider of sufficient
interest to warrant their insertion here :

" Died at Clarenceville, Noyan, Lower Canada, April
23, 1832, aged 5 years, Frances Lupton, only daughter
of the Rev. Micajah Townsend, Rector of the Parish of
St. George:

" So fades the lovely blooming flower
Frail, smiling solace of an hour! "

" Also at the same place and on the same day, Micah
Townsend, Esq., father of the Rev. Micajah Townsend,
aged eighty-two years, eleven months, and ten days.

11 Seldom does it fall to our lot to record the death of
an individual more tenderly beloved by a numerous

102 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

family or more generally respected by a large circle of
friends. The subject of this notice was born at Oyster
Bay, L. I., May 13, 1749, O. S. He commenced his
collegiate studies at Nassau Hall, Princeton, N. J., at the
age of thirteen and graduated in 1766, and in 1769 re-
ceived the degree of A.M. Choosing the profession of
the law, he prosecuted his studies with an eminent bar-
rister in the city of New York, and in 1770 was ap-
pointed an attorney by the Hon. Cadwallader Colden,
Lieutenant Governor of the province.

" On the approach of the Revolution, which separated
the American colonies from the parent kingdom, he
retired from the scene of contest and settled in Brattle-
borough, Vt, in the practice of his profession. Here his
talents and legal acquirements were soon put into exten-
sive requisition in assisting to frame the constitution and
laws of that infant state, where his character and exer-
tions at that interesting period of its history are still
venerated. He was appointed Secretary of State and
keeper of the state records under the administration of
Thomas Chittenden, first governor, and at various times
filled other important and responsible offices.

" The report of the first Council of Censors, of which
he was secretary, is still preserved in a recent publication
of " State Papers," and is valued as one of the most able
and interesting documents connected with the early his-
tory of jurisprudence of Vermont. Having been always
partial to the British Government and institutions, he
removed in 1802 to this province and retired from all
public business to the bosom of his family. He how-
ever subsequently consented to act under his Majesty's
commissioners as justice of the peace and commissioner
for small causes, both of which from increasing infirmi-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 103

ties he resigned. His unbending integrity insured the
respect, and his amiability the love, of all who knew him.

" With a mind enriched with various knowledge, a
heart deeply imbued with pious principles, and a life of
exemplary virtue, he was eminently a sage — a philosopher
and a consistent Christian; rich in years, in knowledge,
and in rational piety, his life was useful to his country
— his death peaceful and happy, and his memory will
long be cherished and blessed."

A fourth Episcopal Church was erected in the town
at Fort Neck, 1845, and though of moderate size is a
neat and convenient building. It was consecrated April
x3> I^47, by Bishop De Lancey, and the first minister was
the Rev. William Augustus Curtis, former rector of St.
Luke's Church, Mechanicsville, Saratoga County. He
married Susan R., daughter of Robert S. Bartow.

A short distance west of the church and upon a part
of the same neck is the Massapequa House, a hotel and
boarding house, erected in 1837 by David S. Jones, Esq.,
for a residence. It was built at great expense and has
connected with it an extensive pond of fifty acres or more,
well stocked with trout.

HEMPSTEAD

Is bounded north by North Hempstead, east by Oyster
Bay, south by the Atlantic Ocean, and west by Jamaica;
area about ioo square miles, or 64,000 acres, and cen-
trally distant from the city of New York 23 miles. The
town originally extended northward to the Sound, but
the town of North Hempstead was set off from it in
1784, the dividing line being nearly through the centre
of the Great Plains.

The first effectual settlement in the county was made
in this town in 1644 by emigrants from New England,
the most of whom had resided a while at Wethersfield
and Stamford in the jurisdiction of New Haven. A good
part of the first settlers, it is believed, came originally
from a place in England called H emel-H.empsteady dis-
tant about twenty-two miles north-west of London and
incorporated by Henry VIII. , from which place this
town received its name (or as O'Callaghan says, Vol. I,
page 317, it was so named by the Dutch from Heemstede,
a town in Holland).

The colony of New Haven in 1640 purchased Rip-
powams of the Indians and called it Stamford; and the
church at Wethersfield being unhappily divided, the
minority concluded to remove to Stamford, and agreed
to settle twenty families there by the last of November,
1 64 1. Accordingly from thirty to forty families located
there during the year, among whom were those of the
Rev. Richard Denton, Captain John Underhill, Andrew
Ward, Jonas Wood, Thurston Raynor, William Raynor,

104

;fi?

I— 1

j— i

'»>

►■^

■^

„V

r-.4*f

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 105

Edward Raynor, Matthew Mitchill, Robert Coe,. Richard
Gildersleeve, Robert Fordham, John Ogden, Robert
Jackson, John Carman, besides others whose names,
from the imperfect state of the Stamford records, can-
not be ascertained.

What urged the removal of these individuals to Long
Island is not known with certainty, but the year preced-
ing a committee was sent over who obtained a conveyance
for about two-thirds of the territory which now consti-
tutes the town of Hempstead. All the evidence we have
of the purchase is the following document found upon
the colonial records at Albany :

"Dec. 13, 1643. — Be it known unto all men by these
presents that we the Indyans of Marsapeague, Meri-
cock, and Rockoway, whose names are here under-
written, have put over, bargained and sold unto Robert
ffordham and John Carman of Long-Island, English-
men, all that half-part or moiety of the Great Plains,
lying toward the south side of Long Island, to be divided
or measured by a direct or straight line from our pres-
ent town plott, northward, and from the North End of
the line, to run with a right line East and West, to the
uttermost limits of itt, and from both ends to run down
with a straight line to the South Sea ; with all the wood-
lands, meadows, marshes, pastures and appurtenances
thereunto belonging, contained within that compass of
the said lynes. To have and to hold to them and their
heirs and assigns for ever. In witness whereof wee
have hereunto sett our hands the day and yeare first
above written."

To the above are affixed the marks (or signatures)
of Tackapausha, sachem of Marsapeag, and other In-
dians, namely: Jorrane, Pamaman, Remos, Wamis,
Whanege, and Gerasco. It would seem from this ancient

io6

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

instrument that a previous purchase had been made for
the other part oi the town, and that the town plot men-
tioned had already been rixed upon by the purchasers tor
their contemplated settlement.

In the following year, 1644. the company crossed the
Sound and began to erect dwellings upon or near the site
oi the present village oi Hempstead, but with the excep-
tion of timber the materials for building were almost
entirely wanting, and their first habitations were, there-
fore, of the rudest construction, as was the case of all
new settlements at that early period.

The lands thus purchased of the natives being within
the acknowledged limits of the Dutch Government, the
settlers took early measures to obtain the sanction oi the
councils of New Netherland. The design was approved,
and a patent or ground-brief was issued bearing date
November 16, 1644, oi which the following is an
extract.

11 Know all men whom these presents in any wise
concern, that I, William Kieft, Esq., Governor oi the
province called New Netherlands, with the council oi
state there established, by virtue oi a commission under
the hand and seal of the high and mighty lords, the States-
General oi the United Belgick Provinces, and from his
Highness, Frederick Hendrick, Prince of Orange, and
the right honorable the Lords Bewint Hibbers of the
West India Company, have given and granted, and by
virtue oi these we do give and grant, unto Robert Ford-
ham. John Sticklan, John Ogden. John Karman, John
Lawrence, and Jonas Wood, with their heirs, executors,
administrators, successors or associates, or any they shall
join in association with them, a certain quantity of kind.
with all the havens, harbors, rivers, creeks, woodland,
marshes, and all other appurtenances thereunto belong-

Kfl ■

lib: ♦•* * |

nor*

***

Kr4

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

107

::::.£
^ date

ing, lying and being upon and about a certain place called
the Great Plains, on Long Island, from the East River
to the South Sea, and from a certain harbor now com-
monly called and known by the name of Hempstead Bay,
and westward as far as Matthew Garritson's Bay to be-
gin at the head of the said two bays, and for lands, with
the council of state there established, by virtue of a com-
mission under the hand and seal of the high and mighty
lords, the States-General of the United Belgick Prov-
inces, and from his Highness, Frederick Hendrick,
Prince of Orange, and the right honorable the Lords
Bewint Hibbers of the West India Company, have given
and granted, and by virtue of these we do give and
grant, unto Robert Fordham, John Sticklan, John Ogden,
John Karman,* John Lawrence, and Jonas Wood, with
their heirs, executors, administrators, successors or asso-
ciates, or any they shall join in association with them,
a certain quantity of land, with all the havens, harbors,
rivers, creeks, woodland, marshes, and all other appur-
tenances thereunto belonging, lying and being upon and
about a certain place called the Great Plains, on Long
Island, from the East River to the South Sea, and from
a certain harbor now commonly called and known by the
name of Hempstead Bay, and westward as far as Mat-
thew Garritson's Bay, to begin at the head of the said two
bays, and for to run in direct lines that they may be
the same latitude in breadth on the south side as on the
north, for them, the said patentees, actually, really, and

* John Carman (or Karman) was among the first settlers of Sand-
wich, Mass., 1637, having gone there from Lynn, the year before; and
it is probable that many of those who accompanied him there in 1644,
had come from thence. He had been a ship-master, and it is supposed
followed that business a while in this province. His sons were Ben-
jamin, John and Caleb; the last was the first white child born in this
town and, though blind from his birth, he became an intelligent and
useful man. The will of Benjamin bears date January 15, 1694, in
which he mentions his children, Benjamin, John, Sarah, Mary, and
Dinah.

108 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

perpetually to enjoy in as large and ample manner as
their own free land of inheritance, and as far eastward,
in case the said patentees and their associates shall pro-
cure one hundred families to settle down within the said
limit of five years after the date hereof: giving and
granting, and by virtue of these presents we do give and
grant unto the said patentees and their associates, with
their heirs and successors, full power and authority upon
the said land, to build a town or towns, with such forti-
fications as to them shall seem expedient, with a temple
or temples to use and exercise the reformed religion,
which they profess, with the ecclesiastical discipline
thereunto belonging; likewise giving and granting, and
by virtue of these presents we do give and grant to the
patentees, their associates, heirs, and successors, full
power and authority to erect a body politic or civil com-
bination among themselves, and to nominate certain mag-
istrates, one or more under the number of eight, of the
ablest, discreetest, approved honest men, and him or them
annually to present to the Governor of this Province, for
the time being, for the said Governor-general for the
time being, to elect and establish them for the execution
of government among them, as well civil as judicial; with
full power to said magistrates to call a court or courts
as often as they shall see expedient, and to hold pleas in
all cases civil and criminal, make an officer to keep their
records of their proceedings, with power for said mag-
istrates and the free inhabitants to make civil ordinances
among themselves, also to make an officer to execute war-
rants, process of injunction, and likewise to take testi-
mony of matters pending before them, and give the first
sentence for the deprivation of life, limb, stigmatizing,
or burn-marking any malefactor, if they in their con-
science shall adjudge them worthy; and to cause the exe-
cution of said sentence, if the party so condemned maketh
not their appeal to the chiefe court, holden weekly in the

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

109

fort Amsterdam, in which case he shall be conveyed
thither by order of the magistrates of the town of
Hempstead, who shall have power to sit in our said court,
and vote in such causes. And if the said patentees can-
not within five years, procure 100 families to settle on
said lands, that they shall enjoy "ratum pro rata," land
according to the number they shall procure; reserving
from the expiration of ten years — to begin from the
day the first general peace with the Indians shall be con-
cluded— the tenth part of all the revenue that shall arise
from the ground manured with the plow and hoe, in
case it be demanded before it be housed (gardens and
orchards, not exceeding one Holland acre, excepted.)
Given under my hand and seal of this province, this 16th
day of Nov., 1644, stilo novo."

"William Kieft " (l. s.)
The first division of land among the settlers took
place in 1647, which shows the following named persons
to have been freeholders of the town :

Richard Denton
Robert Ashman
Robert Coe
s John Carman
Jeremy Wood
Richard Gildersleevc
William Raynor
Benjamin Coe
John Ogden
Samuel Strickland
John Toppin
Jonas Wood
John Fordham
William Lawrence
Henry Hudson
Thomas Ireland
Richard Valentine
William Thickstone
Nicholas Tanner
William Smith
Edmond Wood
John Smith, Jr.

Richard Denton, Jr.
John Hicks
Samuel Denton
Thomas Armitage
Simon Searing
Terry Wood
Thomas Wilson
Henry Pierson
Joseph Scott
Henry Whitson
Richard Lewis
Thomas Stephenson
John Coe
William Scott
John Storge
William Williams
James Smith
William Rogers
Richard Ogden
Robert Jackson
John Foucks
John Lawrence

Daniel Denton
William Washburne
Nathaniel Denton
Thomas Sherman
Francis Yates
John Ellison
Abraham Smith
William Shadding
Thomas ffbster
Roger Lines
John Lewis
Christopher ffoster
Samuel Clark
John Hudd
Thomas Pope
Daniel Whitehead
Robert Williams
Edward Raynor
John Sewell
John Smith, Sr.
Samuel Baccus
John Strickland

no HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Several of the first settlers here were persons of con-
siderable distinction in New England. Thurston Raynor
had been a delegate from Wethersfield to the first gen-
eral assembly under Governor Haynes, and was, as well
as Mr. Gildersleeve, a magistrate for Stamford. Under-
bill had been greatly distinguished in the military affairs
of New England; Ward, Coe, and Mitchill were also
commissioners for Stamford; the former a judge of the
first court held in New Haven in 1636, and the last
called, in the history of that period, a " capital man"
These were among the most influential men; and the his-
torian of Connecticut, after mentioning Raynor, Mitchill,
Ward, and others, says: "They were the civil and re-
ligious fathers of the colony, who assisted in forming its
free and happy constitution; were among its legislators,
and some of the chief pillars of the church and common-
wealth, who, with many others of the same excellent
character, employed their abilities and their estates for
the prosperity of the colony." "They were (says the
Rev. Mr. Alvord) among the earliest inhabitants of New
England, coming, as we have seen, through Wethersfield
from Watertown, in Massachusetts, and from that noted
company who arrived with John Winthrop and Sir
Richard Saltonstall."

A religious establishment was a matter that early en-
grossed the minds of the settlers, and the founding of a
church, as well as directing attention to the observance
of the public worship on Sunday and other days, were
considered of primary importance as the following from
the town records shows :

" These Ordres made At A Generall court Held att
Hemsteede September ye 16. 1650 And consented unto
by a full Town meeting held October ye 18. 1650.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND m

" Forasmuch As the Contempt of Gods Word And Sab-
baths is ye desolating Sinn of Civill States and Planta-
tions, And that the Publick preaching of the Word by
those that are Called there unto is the Chiefe and or-
dinarie meanes ordayned of God, for the Converting
Edifying and saveing of ye Soules of ye Ellect, through
the presence and Power of the Holy Ghost thereunto
promised; It is therefore ordered and Decreede by ye
Authority of this generall Court; That All persons In-
habiting in this Towne or ye Limitts thereoff, shall duly
Resort and repaire to the publique meetings and Assem-
blies one the Lords dayes And on Publique days of fast-
ings and thanksgivings appointed by Publique Authority
bothe on the forenoones And Afternoones; And who
have Already and shall with out Just and necessary cause
Approved by the particular court soe offende, hee or they
shall forfeit for the first offence five Guilders, for ye Sec-
ond Offence ten Guilders, and for the third offence twenty
Guilders, And for After time; yf any manner of person
or persons shall remaine refractorie pervers and obstinate
hee shall be Lyable to the further Censure of the Court,
Eyther for the aggravation of the fine or for Corporall
punishment or Bannishment And for the due Execution of
ye Aforesaid Orders It is Agreed and Concluded that yf
any person shall informe the magistrates or the particular
Court concerning the neglect and contempt of the Afore-
said Ordre by any person or persons soever informing
shall have one halfe of the fine Allowed unto him, And the
other halfe shall be converted to Public Use.

" By Ordre from the Magistrates
was Subscribed by mee Daniel Dentonius

" Clericus."

This strictly puritanical proceeding, bearing so close an
analogy to the order adopted at Hartford a few months
before, leaves little doubt that the one was made a pre-

ii2 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

cedent for the other; the apparent severity of which is,
however, somewhat excused, when we consider that it was
the result of a popular vote, and no objection being
entered upon the record, it is reasonable to suppose that
it was unanimous. The opinions and prejudices of the
people were more favorable to the policy of Connecticut
than that of New Haven colony; and it is probable that
the rule which had been adopted in the latter, allowing
none but free burgesses (or church members) to vote
in town meetings, occasioned dissatisfaction at Stamford
and induced the planters to remove to this place, where
it was considered not only the right, but the duty of every
man to exercise his electorial privilege on all public
occasions.

It may seem strange, if not inconsistent with the strict
principles and religious discipline of those staid Puritans,
that it should have been thought necessary or even ex-
pedient to tolerate the sale of intoxicating liquors by
issuing licences for the purpose, — yet such was the fact,
and a penalty was attached for selling otherwise, namely:
that one-half of the money received on the sale of beer,
wine, or strong liquors without such authority, should
go toward defraying the public expenses, and the other
half for the education of the poor.

The people were in a few years dissatisfied with their
subjection to the government of New Netherland, and
were anxious to obtain the countenance and support of
their brethren of New England, as the plantations on the
eastern part of the island had done. And accordingly in
.1653 the inhabitants of the town addressed the follow-
ing propositions to the commissioners of the united
colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and
New Haven:

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 113

" 1. Whether by Commission from England, subjec-
tion be demanded, wee can acte any longer by the Duch
Lawes, without blame, yea or nay?

" 2. If we cannot, what then wee must doe, till another
government bee settled?

" 3. If there bee noe agreement betweene Duch and
English, how shall wee doe, for safety, having soe many
enemies round about us?

" 4. If wee must now fall off from the Duch, wee de-
sire protection from New England, under the parliament
upon reasonable termes upon both sides.

" 5. This to your considerations, whether free pardon
may not be obtained of former offences (murther ex-
cepted) to keep us on one side if Mr. Dier gett a partie;
and that will be dangerous for us on one side, some will
think to bee freed, and wee feare doe much hurt.

" 6. Whether wee might obtaine the favor of twenty
or ten men with a commander to assist us; if noe men,
yett a commander to trayne the people and goe out with
them if need be, and bear sway in towne affairs, to pre-
vent division and indeed confusion?

" 7. Whether if Mr. Dier require assistance, wee may
deny him, for wee feare hee will plunder, having resolute
fellowes with him, and fall on the Duch farmers?

" 8. Whether you can afford us powder and shott att
present?

" 9. Wee being willing to cleave to New England they
having commission thence, whether you can give power
to some amongst ourselves to beare rule till further
order bee taken; if you cannot, then to tender our con-
dition, to afford us the benefit of your power, and that
by Post, our lives and estates lye att stake, if the Lord
by some meanes, help us not.

" 10. That we might have cover and victailes from the
Maine, giving securitie that itt shall bee for the Eng-
lish only.

ii4 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

" These are the desires of the Messengers of Hemp-
stead. Middleborough desires the same.

" Robert Coe. Richard Gildersleeve.

Edward Jessop. Alexander Knowles."

These propositions were probably declined as nothing
more is heard of the matter.

On the 4th of July, 1647, the following was agreed to
and signed by the Indians at Hempstead:

" Know all men by these presents, that we the Indians
of Massapege, Merioke, and Rockaway, whose names
be hereunder written, for ourselves and all ye rest of ye
Indians that claime any righte or interest in the purchase
y* Hempsteede bought in ye yeare 1643, and wth in the
bounds and limmits of ye whole tracht of land concluded
upon wth ye Governor of Manhattans, as it is in this
paper specified, doe by these presents, ratify and confirme
to them and thiere heires and successors forever, to
enjoy wth out any molestation or trouble from us, or any
that shall pretend any claime or tytle unto itt, the Men-
toake sachem, being present att the confirmation. In wit-
nesse whereof wee whose names bee here underwritten
have hereunto subscribed."

" The mark (<vrr) of Takapasha, the Sachem of Messapeage.

The mark (Ceu) of Wantagh, the Mantaoke Sachem.

The mark (D) of Chegonoe.

The mark (Crr) of Romege.

The mark (Ew'c) of Mangwanh.

The mark (Q) of Waakeatis.

The mark (Ne) of Rumasuekaman.

The mark (4) of Ocraking.

The mark (M) of Worotum.
" In the presence of Richard Gil- ")
dersleeve, John Seaman, John > Scripsit per me,

Hicks. ) John James, Clerk."

Although in general the most pacific relations prevailed
between the planters and their Indian neighbors, yet it

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 115

was not always so for collisions would sometimes happen,
and it was considered necessary to concert measures for
preventing their recurrence, as they seemed only to exas-
perate both parties and lead to serious consequences.
For this purpose the governor convened some of the
sachems and head men of several tribes at Hempstead on
the 1 2th of March, 1656, when the following articles
were propounded and ratified:

11 Articles of agreement, Betwixt ye Governor of ye
New Netherlands and Tackpausha, March ye 12th, 1656,
as followeth:

" I. That all injuries formerly passed in the time of
the Governor's predecessors, shall bee forgiven and for-
gotten, since ye yeare '45, and never to be remembered.

11 II. That Tackpausha being chosen ye chiefe sachem
by all the Indian sachems from Massapege, Maskahoung,
Secatoug, Meracock, Rockaway and Canarisie, wth ye
names of ye rest, both Sachems and natives, doth take
ye Governor of ye New Netherlands, to his and his peo-
ple's protection, and in consideration of that, to put
under ye sd protection, all thiere lands and territoryes
upon Long Island, soe far as ye Dutch line doth runn, ac-
cording to ye agreement made att Hartforde.

11 III. The governor of New Netherlands doth prom-
ise to make noe peace with the Indians that did the spoile
at ye Manhattans the 15th of September last, but like-
wise to include the sachem in it.

" IV. That Tackpausha shall make noe peace wth ye
Indians, wth out ye consent and knowledge of the gov-
ernor.

" V. The sachem doth provide for himselfe and his
people to give noe dwelling place, entertainment or lodg-
ing to any of ye Governor's or thiere owne enemyes.

" VI. The Governor doth provide betwixt this date
and six months to build a house or a forte upon such place

n6 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

as they shall show upon ye north side, and the forte or
house shall be furnished with Indian trade or commodi-
tyes. And the sachem doth promise that all such people
as shall live thereon, placed by the Governor, shall live
in safety from him or any of his Indians.

" VII. That the inhabitants of Hemsteede according
to the lines expressed in the patent, and what they have
purchased, shall enjoy it without molestations from ye
sachem or his people, either of person or estate.

" VIII. That the sachem shall live in peace with all ye
English and Dutch within this jurisdiction of ye New
Netherlands.

" IX. The Governor doth promise for himselfe and all
his people within the jurisdiction to live in peace with ye
sd Sachem and all his people; and the sd Sachem and all
his people shall keep peace according to the aforesaid ar-
ticles with the Governor and his people.

" X. That in case an Indian doe wrong to a christian
in person or estate and if complaint be made to the
Sachem, hee shall make full sattisf action; likewise yt a
Dutchman or an Englishman shall wrong an Indian, upon
complaint made to the Governor, the wrongdoer shall
make sattisfaction according to equity."

To the above are affixed the marks of Waghtummoore,
Vugquatis, Cuppahanuum, Tackapausha, Aadam, and
Rumege, Indians; — John Stickelan, John Hicks, George
Woolsey, and Robert Jackson, Englishmen; and Cornelis
Van Houten, Govert Lockermans, and Gilbert Van
Dicke, Dutchmen.

On receiving satisfaction for the lands formerly pur-
chased from the Indians, which was made payable by in-
stalments, the following release and confirmation of pur-
chase was executed by the sachems, and sanctioned by the
Grand Sachem of Long Island.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 117

11 We, the Indians under written, do hereby acknowl-
edge to have received of the magistrates and inhabitants
of Hemsteede, our pay in full satisfaction, for the tract
of land sould unto them, according to agreement, and ac-
cording to patent and purchase. The general boundes is
as followeth : — beginning at a place called Mattagarretfs
Bay, and soe running upon a direct line north and south,
from sea to sea; the boundes running from Hemsteede
Harbour, due east, to a pointe of treese, adjoining to the
lande of Robert Williams, where wee left markt treese,
the same line running from sea to sea; the other line
beginning at a markt tree standing at the east end of
the greate plaine, and running a due south line, at the
south sea, by a markt tree, in a neck called Maskachoung.
And wee doe, further engage ourselves to uphold this
our present act, and all our former agreements, to bee
just and lawful. And wee doe binde ourselves to save
and defend them harmlesse from any manner of claime
or pretence, that shall bee made to disturb thiere right.
Whereunto we have subscribed, this eleventh day of May,
Anno 1658, stilo novo.

11 Waantanch, Tackapausha,
Cheknow, Martom,

Sayasstock, Pees-Roma."

" Subscribed by Wacombound, Montauk Sachem, after
the death of his father, this 14th of Feb. 1660, being a
general town meeting at Hemsteed.

" John James, Clark"

From the terms of this instrument it is probable that
the original contract and purchase in 1643 contained the
same general boundaries as are set forth in the patent of
Governor Kieft.

On the records of the town is a copy of a letter, which
for its loyal tone is quite remarkable. It is as follows :

n8 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

" Hemsteede, ffeb. 27, 1658.
11 To the Right Hon1. Peter Stuyvesant, Governor, &c.

"After the remembrance of our submissive and hum-
ble respects, it hath pleased God, after a sickly and sad
Sommer, to give us a seasonable and comfortable au-
tumne, wherewith wee have beene (throw mercy) re-
freshed ourselves and have gained strength of God, soe
that wee necessarily have been employed in getting
winter foode for our cattell, and thereby have something
prolonged our wonted tyme of chosing magestrates, for
ye wch wee hope yor honour will hold us excused: and
vow according to our accustomed manner, wee have
voted and put upon denomination our former magestrate
Mr. Gildersleeve, and with him William Shadden, Rob-
ert Forman and Henry Persall — all of them knowing
men, of honest life, and good integrity; therefore wee
desire yor honour too appoynt twoe of them, and always
according to our duty, shall pray the most highe God to
bless and preserve yor honour, wth much health and pros-
perity, in all yor noble designe — wee humbly take or
leave.

" Ever honoured sr, your Loyall, true and obedient
servants, the Inhabitants of Hemsteede.

" John Jeames, Clk."

The following extracts from the records of proceed-
ings of the town meetings or general court are well
worthy of being preserved:

March 28, 1658, stilo novo. — " This day ordered that
Mr. Gildersleeve, John Hicks, John Seaman, Robert
Jackson, and William Foster, are to go wth Cheknow,
sent and authorized by ye Montake Sachem, to marck
and lay out ye generall bounds of ye lands, belonging to
ye towne of Hemsteede, according to ye extent of ye
limits and jurisdiction of ye sd towne, to be known by her

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 119

markt trees and other places of note, to continue for ever.
And in case Tackapausha, Sagamore of Marsapeague,
wth his Indians, doth come according to their agreement,
then to lay out the said bounds."

April 12, 1658. — " Ordered by the townsmen of
Hemsteede, that all ye fences of ye frontiere lotts that
shall runn into ye field, shall be substantially made by ye
25th of this monthe of Aprill, and any person found
negligent, shall forfeit 5 shillings to the towne. And
whoever shall open the towne gates, and neglect to shut
them, or to put up the barrs, shall pay the like sum, one
half to the towne, and the other half to the informer." —
"Also, William Jacoks and Edward Raynor to be cow-
keeps for the year; the people to be ready, at the sound-
ing of the horn, to send out their cows, and the keeper
to be ready to take charge of them sun half an hour
high; and to bring them home half an hour before sun-
set, to water them at reasonable hours, and to be driven
beyond East Meadows, to prevent damage in the corn-
fields. To be allowed 12 shillings sterling a wreek, from
nth of May to 10th of Aug., and then 15 shillings a
week till the 23d of Oct. The first payment to be made
in butter, that is, for each cow one pound of butter, at
6d a pound, and the remainder in wampum."

"At A Court Holden at Hemsteede ye 13th of April
1658 Present

" Mr. Richard Gildersleeve Magistrate, Mr. John
Hicks, Robert Forman, Richard Willets, Assistants.

" Whereas we judge by wofull Experience that of Late
there is A Sect that hath Taken such ill effect Amongst
us to ye Seducing of certaine of ye Inhabitants, Whoe by
giving heede to Seducing Spirits under the notion of
being Inspired bye ye Holy Spirit of God, have drawne
Away wth their Eror and Misguided lighte those wch to-
gether wth us did worship God in Spiritt and in truth, And
now unto our griefe doe separate from us, And unto the

Mr***

!<>JO I

im \sn

dc. > fo Join to the ^

the govcror concerning the rtthet, vhuh are not
icrpln of »hcif i". i r be dc'

^rgt i
e town. row
herdsman ut attended their .attic is thriling* >

- com ami o-
bushel» ■ allowed by th <g a »

the price c corn it t>J a S^,
pound, bner U a pound. lodging id a n-.&t S
i mug. bord $1 a week, % Ktuah U a nr

upont
caning yea-
of acn rhe pe minimi of (t j

V" it the

ie ag- 'he Stan ol ill una 1 mi
wee nndc v day)

ic y* tame and dW ordre fha

for: llherr

fault 10 guile-

hi deretmiaaoor
'firtt odrc

»n meeting Ma reft ,a%

one ir
<if aout two arret, the .turn b<

a Wftc alkJ potV

i*fcen pence the M frtr.

n meetinf .f tM granted unto
"^omat Jacot, one hoi! . ^^ j , h

acre

lliamt. b> r
1,1 ''niendow land, form-

122 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Roger Lines, that, paying all rates and duties belonging
thereunto, he shall enjoy the said meadow for him, his
heirs and assigns for ever. Also, the same day was let
to Robert Williams the town barn for this ensuing year,
for the sum of fifty-three shillings, to be paid in corn at
the usual prices, and the yard is to be common both to
the house and barn." In 1659 the town licensed John
Smith to keep an ordinary, and to sell therein meat and
drink, and to lodge strangers in such a manner as not to
be offensive to the laws of God or man. " It was voted
and agreed at the same town meeting, that any person
absenting himself or herself from public worship on the
Lord's day, or other public days, should, for the first
offence pay five shillings, for the second ten, for the third
twenty, and after that be subjected to corporal punish-
ment, or banishment. }> " At a town meeting, held No-
vember 26, 1684, it was concluded by a major vote, that
Left. John Jackson, Justice Searing and Jonathan Smith,
sen., should go to New York to meet the Indians, and
there to agitate concerning their lands, and also to en-
deavor at the purchasing of a patent for the town; and
also the ending the difference concerning the bounds be-
tween our neighboring town, Jamaica, and us, with full
power to make a final end. There is also granted unto
Robert Williams three acres of the town land, lying in
the bevil, for the sum of three pounds, to be paid in such
corn, as, by the blessing of God, the land shall produce."

The town records contain the following curious paper,
bearing date May 26, 1659, signed by Thomas Armitage,
who was of Lynn in 1635, from whence he went to
Sandwich, and thence he came to Long Island in 1647
and was one of the first settlers in Oyster Bay. In the
document referred to, he states that his son Manassah,
then a student at Cambridge, had fraudulently obtained
his deeds and other valuable writings and that he had

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 123

forged a deed of gift of his lands; he therefore desires
that the facts should be made known and recorded in all
the New England colonies in order to guard the public
against the impositions of his son. Several affidavits on
the contrary are recorded, showing that the father had
been heard to say that having married a young wife, and
intending to deprive her of his estate, he had conveyed
all his lands to his son Manassah. The son graduated
at Harvard in 1660, and Farmers' Register states that
he died before 1698.

"March 6, 165Q. — Ordered and agreed by the towns-
men, that if either of them shall be absent, having had
due notice to meete, the party or parties absenting them-
selves wth out a lawful cause allowed off by those pres-
ent, shall forfeit for such offence one pinte of liquors, to
be paid, ye first that is to be gotten here at Hempsteede."

Town meeting June 3, 165Q. — " Upon supplication of
Henry Lenington, it was this day granted that all for-
mer proceedings agst him, concerning his banishment,
should be remitted, and he was then received again, upon
promise of reformacon, unto the libertyes of an in-
habitant."

November 18, 1659, it was resolved by the town that
if any one should suffer by the Indians, and the sachem
did not cause satisfaction to be made according to the
agreement of 1656, the town should prosecute them, until
compensation be made, first acquainting the governor with
their grievance. The town at the same time agreed to
pay Thomas Langdon six bushels of corn, for killing ten
wolves, and ordered that no reward should be paid for
any number less than ten.

Feb. 25, 1661. — " It is ordered thatt noe person ore

i24 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

persones, shall give ore selle, ore lend of any kinde of
dooges to the Indians, upon the forfiture of fifty guilders
naither Beeches, nore Whellpes, after the datte above
specified."

July 4, 1661. — " Town agreed to allow Thomas Terry
and Samuel Deering to settle upon the east side of Hemp-
sted Harbour, provided they nor any of them shall
not bring with them any to trespass on the town lands;
bring in no quakers or any such like opinionists, to be
inhabitants among them; and all who settle under them
are to have letters of commendation and approba-
tion from the magistrates, elders, or selected townsmen
of the place whence they come, that they are, have been,
and are likely to be good members."

About this time Cow Neck * was required to be en-
closed by a post and rail fence, extending across the head
of it, and those who assisted therein were by an order of
the town entitled to pasture a number of cattle propor-
tioned to the panels of fence, or standing gates (as they
were called) made by the respective individuals; and
afterwards in the division of the land upon the Neck, the
same rule of apportionment was observed. The lands at
Rockaway were also enclosed by a fence extending from
Near Rockaway 2 landing to the borders of Jamaica Bay,
and used for pasturing of horses, cattle, and sheep by
those who aided therein.

Feb. 15, 1664. — " Town voted that Capt. John Scott
should be agent or attorney to state and plead their case
or cases about their bounds. And March 23, 1664,
11 the said John Scott in consideration of £12 a year, lets
his messuage in the possession of Hope Wasburn (called
the Manor of Hope) at Herricks, to William Cramer

1 Now Manhasset Neck. — Editor.

2 Now East Rockaway. — Editor.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 125

of Setauket, till March 25, 1669, to be paid in grain or
cattle alive, or beef or pork at merchants' prices in the
town of Hempstead." "June 6, 1665, Jonah Fordham
sells to said Scott 100 acres at Madnan's Neck; also
226 acres at Matinecock, which Scott assigns the same
day to Richard Moore, Surgeon."

Copy of a letter from the town of Hempstead to that
of Jamaica:

" May 1, 1665.
" Loving ffriends.

" The inhabitants of Jamaica — We kindly salute you —
" Whereas there was a request made by your represen-
tatives, Mr. Coe and Samuel Smith, of the Little Plains
and so down to the Swamp that goes into the great bay —
that is to say, — all the meadow that lyes on the west
side of the great swamp, which you have formerly pos-
sessed. We, the inhabitants of Hempstead, do con-
descend that you shall have all the Little Plains, which
our line doth comprehend, and all the meadow that lyes
below the Little Plains ; that is to say, the meadow which
lyes on the west side of the great river, which comes out
of the great swamp.

" By order of the constable and overseers.

" Thomas Hicks, Clk."

Feb. 6, i66g. — " Ordered by the constable and over-
seers that every inhabitant shall have a sufficient ladder
to stand by his chimney, upon the penalty of five shillings,
for every one that hath not a sufficient ladder within
three weeks."

Dec. 6, 1682. — " The constable and overseers agreed
with Richard Gildersleeve Senr. to beat the drum for the
town for all occasions, except trainings, and is to have
20 shillings for the yeare."

The expense of obtaining patents was no inconsider-
able grievance to the people, but as the fees due thereon

126 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

were claimed as a perquisite of the Executive, Governor
Dongan in 1683 required the town to take out a new
patent, and thereupon the following proceedings took
place :

Town meeting, fleb. 16, 1683. — " Mr. Seaman, Mr.
Jackson, and Mr. Tredwell are chosen by the major vote
of the towne, to go downe to Yorke, in order to ye get-
ting a pattain for ye whole bounds of ye towne, and ac-
cording to ye first purchase and ye draaft drawne." The
object not being effected, it was voted March 31, 1684,
11 that those who go down to Yorke in respect of getting
a pattent, that they get it as reasonable as they can, for
the good of themselves and the rest of the inhabitants,
and also upon as good terms." Again, "April 4, 1684,
Mr. John Jackson, Mr. Symon Searing, and Mr. John
Tredwell, are chosen to goe downe to Yorke by ye Gov-
ernor's order, and to see to ye getting of a pattaine for
the towne, giving these our deputies full power to acht
for us and in our behalfes as fully and amply as if we
were personally present, provided that our lands shall
be assured to uss, our heyres and successors for ever, to
be our free land of inheritance, we rendering and pay-
ing such acknowledgement as shall be agreed unto be-
tween the Governor and our deputyes." Again, Dec. 12,
1684, " Justice Searing and Nathaniel Percall to goe and
to request ye Governor ffor a pattent for the towne, and
to gitt it on as reasonable termes as they can, and what
these oure deputyes do, shall be as authentick as if wee
was personally preasent ourselves."

Being still unsuccessful in agreeing upon the terms of
the patent, it was again voted, April 3, 1685, that John
Jackson, John Tredwell, and Jonathan Smith go to York
for the procuring of a patent, in which they attained the
object of so much anxiety.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 127

Of this patent we subjoin a copy as a sample of many
others issued by the same governor, who was at the time
a freeholder in the town, as was also John Spragg, his
secretary :

11 Thomas Dongan, lieutenant-governor and vice-ad-
miral under his Royal Highness, James, Duke of
York, of New York and its dependencies in Amer-
ica, to all whom these presents shall come, sendeth
greeting: whereas there is a certain town in Queens
county, called and known by the name of Hempstead,
upon Long Island, situate, lying and being on the
south side of the Great Plains, having a certain tract
of land thereunto belonging, the bounds whereof be-
gin at a marked tree, standing at the head of Mat-
thew Garrison's Bay, and so running from thence upon
a direct south line due south to the main sea, and from
the said tree a direct north line to the Sound or East
River, and so round the points of the Necks till it comes
to Hempstead Harbor, and so up the harbor to a cer-
tain barren sand-beach, and from thence up a direct line
till it comes to a marked tree on the east side of Cantiagge
Point, and from thence a south line to the middle of the
plains, and from thence a due east line to the utmost
extent of the Great Plains, and from thence upon a
straight line to a certain tree marked in a neck, called
Maskachoung, and so from thence up a due south line
to the south sea, and the said south sea is to be the south
bounds from the east line to the west line, and the Sound
or East River to be the northerly bounds, as according to
several deeds or purchases from the Indian owners, and
the patent from the Dutch governor, William Kieft, re-
lation thereto being had doth more fully and at large
appear.

" Now, Know Ye, that by virtue of the commission
and authority unto me given by his Royal Highness,

i28 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

James, Duke of York and Albany, lord proprietor of
this province, in consideration of the premises and the
quit-rents hereinafter reserved, I have given, granted,
ratified and confirmed, and by these presents do give,
grant, ratify and confirm unto Captain John Seaman,
Simon Searing, John Jackson, James Pine, senior, Richard
Gildersleeve, senior, and Nathaniel Pearsall, as patentees
for and on the behalf of themselves and their associates,
the freeholders and inhabitants of the said town of
Hempstead, their heirs, successors, and assigns for ever,
all the before recited tract and tracts, parcel and parcels
of land and islands within the said bounds and limits,
together with all and singular the woods, underwoods,
plains, meadows, pastures, quarries, marshes, waters,
lakes, causeways, rivers, beaches, fishing, hawking, hunt-
ing and fowling, with all liberties, privileges, heredita-
ments and appurtenances, to the said tract of land and
premises belonging or in any wise appertaining, to have
and to hold the said tract of land and premises, with all
and singular the appurtenances before mentioned and in-
tended to be given, granted, ratified and confirmed unto
the said Captain John Seaman, Simon Searing, John
Jackson, James Pine, senior, Richard Gildersleeve, senior,
and Nathaniel Pearsall, the said patentees and their as-
sociates, their heirs, successors and assigns, to the proper
use, benefit and behoof of them, the said patentees and
their associates, their heirs, successors and assigns for
ever, to be holden of his said Royal Highness, his heirs
and assigns, in free and common soccage, according to
the tenor of East Greenwich in the county of Kent, in
his Majesty's kingdom of England. Provided always,
that neither this patent, nor any thing herein contained
shall be construed or intended to the prejudice or in-
fringement of any right, claim or pretence, which his
Royal Highness, James, Duke of York, his heirs and suc-
cessors, now hath or hereafter may have, to a certain

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 129

tract of land within the bounds of this said patent, com-
monly called or known by the name of Hempstead Little
Plains, and all the woodland and plains between the said
Little Plains and the bay, which lies betwixt Rockaway
Meadows and the said Meadows, bounded on the east
with Foster's Meadow River, and on the west with
Hempstead west line, and likewise one entire piece of
land containing seven hundred acres, lying and being on
Cow Neck. And I do hereby likewise confirm and grant
unto the said patentees and their associates, their heirs,
successors and assigns, all the privileges and immunities
belonging to a town within this government. Yielding,
rendering and paying yearly and every year at the city
of New York, unto his Royal Highness, or to such office
or offices as by him shall be appointed, to receive the
same, twenty bushels of good winter wheat, or four
pounds in good current money of New York, on or be-
fore the twenty-fifth day of March. In testimony
whereof, I have caused these presents to be entered upon
record in the secretary's office of the said province, and
the public seal thereof have hereunto affixed and signed
with my hand, this seventeenth day of April, in the thirty-
seventh year of his Majesty's reign, and in the year of our
Lord one thousand six hundred and eighty-five.

" Thomas Dongan.*
11 J. Spragg, Secretary"

* The tenure prescribed in most, if not all the colonial charters, was
by "free and common soccage," (meaning by any certain and determinate
service) according to the custom of free tenure in East Greenwich in
the county of Kent, England; and not "in capite" or by Knights' serv-
ice. See the great patent of New England issued by King James in
1620, — of Massachusetts in 1629, — the prior charter of Virginia in 1606, —
that of Maine in 1639, — of Rhode Island in 1663, — of Connecticut in 1662,
— of Maryland in 1632, — Act of the General Assembly of New York, May
13, 1691, — Charter of Pennsylvania in 1681, — Patent of Carolina in 1662,
and that of Georgia in 1732. All these are substantially the same, and
may be found in the early colonial documentary collections, agreeing in
character with the patents issued in this colony subsequent to the con-
quest in 1664.

i3o HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

This ample patent gave much satisfaction, the town
having previously done much to conciliate the governor,
for on the 7th of December, 1683, they had presented
him a grant for 200 acres of land on the west end of the
plains, and on the 24th of April, 1684, 200 more on
the north side of the plains extending to Success Pond.
The town likewise gave Mr. Secretary Spragg 100
acres and a further quantity of 150, November 23, 1684,
on the south side of the plains, beyond Foster's Meadow.*

In order to liquidate the expenses of the patent, an
assessment of two and a half pence per acre was levied in
1685 upon the lands possessed by each individual in the
town.

The number of taxable inhabitants at that period was
160, the number of acres assessed 16,563, and the
amount raised thereon £177, equal to $442.50.

The following list, copied from the records, the spell-
ing of which has been preserved, exhibits the number of
freeholders in the town in 1685, and the quantity of land
owned by each :

Names. Acres. Names. Acres.

Robert Dinge 22 Hanah Hudson 22

Edmund Titus 150 William Gripman 25

Sam Titus 50 John Brick 27

♦October 6, 1685, Paman, sagamore of Rockaway, Tackpousha and
others sold Rockaway Neck, extending from the west bounds of Hemp-
stead to Rockaway inlet, to one John Palmer, a merchant of New York
for the consideration of £30, which he again sold, August 23, 1687, to
Richard Cornwell of Cornbury (Bayside), and thus occasioned no incon-
siderable trouble to the town, the said lands being considered as within
the general limits of the purchase made by the town in 1643, but which
the Indians asserted was not so intended by them in the sale and con-
veyance aforesaid.

July 11, 1691, John Stuard requests a grant of land from the town, to
settle with them to follow the trade of a Cooper, and also to practise the
art of Surgery. It is almost needless to say that his request was promptly
granted.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

131

Names. Acres.

Sam Raynor 43

John Serion 100

Simon Serion 171

James Pine, Sr 500

Nathaniel Pine 9

Solomon Simmons 163

William Smith 100

Richard Denton 50

Joseph Langdon no

William Jecoks 80

Thomas Seaman 108

John Smith, Jr., Rock 230

Daniel Bedel 130

John Williams 240

James Pine 249

Elias Dorlon 100

Aron Underdunk * 100

Widow Valentine 40

Benj. Simmons 154

John Morrell 137

Richard Elison 60

Edward Heare 70

Christopher Dene 100

William Jones 66

Samuel Embre 100

Timothy Halsted, Jr 78

Cap. Jackson 430

Samuel Denton 240

Isaac Smith 22

John Cornwell 50

Edward Cornwell 50

Joseph Baldin 50

Jona. Smith, Sr 220

John Smith, Nan 260

Joseph Smith 156

Joseph Wood 10

Jerimiah Wood, Sr 300

Josias Starr 14

Richard Stites 152

John Tounsand 46

John Dozenboro 100

Names. Acres.

John Burland 25

William Eager 55

John Hawkins 64

Sam Alin 41

William Ware 83

John Hubs 56

Christopher Yeumans 150

Elias Burland 25

William Wetherbe 30

John Pine 101

Joshua Jecocks 88

Jonathan Semans 65

George Baldin 37

Richard Minthorn 100

Thomas Gildersleve 100

Jonathan Smith 180

Thomas Southard, Sr 214

Thomas Rushmore 277

John Champain 187

Goodm. Smith, Sr. f 200

John Carl 208

John Mot 70

Thos. Elison, Sr 270

John Elison, Sr 60

Richard Gilderslieve 100

Rich. Gilderslieve, Jr 280

Richard Toton 65

Arthur Albertus 52

John Johnson 25

James Beats 59

William Lee 40

Thomas Ireland 70

Peter Johnson 50

Heniry Mandiford 75

Henery Lininton 352

Richard Osborn 183

Obediah Velantine 44

Widow Willis 172

Hope Willis 120

Harman Johnson 25

Barnes Egberson 53

* Adrian Onderdonk, who lived at Foster's Meadow as late as
1718.— H. O.

t Goodman (Goody, for a woman) is a title of honor next below
Mister; Esquire, a still higher title, was then applied mostly to justices
of the peace. — H. O.

132

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Names. Acres.

Jacob Peterson 25

John Bedell 46

Thomas Cheesman 22

John Smith, Rock * 50

Abraham Smith 150

Edward Sprag 92

Jeremiah Smith 108

John Smith, blu 368

John Carman 180

Calib Carman 180

Ben. Carman 70

Moses Embree 70

Henry Johnson 25

Abraham Frost 50

Thomas Willis 30

Robard Miller 36

William Johnson 25

Ephraim Valentine 40

Robard Bedell 3

Jer. Wood, Jr 68

William Valentine 40

Robard Bedel sJA

Sam. Pine 60

Thomas Oakle 70

Jonathan Burg 20

Joseph Ginins 80

Joseph Williams 100

Richard Valentine 71

John Bates 5

John Bates, Jr 53

John Elison 125

Mr. Beachman 130

Col. Thos. Dongan 200

Mr. Sprag 288

Edward Avery 70

Richard Combs 26

Elias Bayly 54

Names. Acres.

John Woley 139

Thos. Daniels 24

William Thorn 150

Robard Hobs 24

Robard Hobs, Jr 25

Thomas Huching 18

Nathaniel Peasal 236

Thomas Peasal 190

Henry Moles 75

Cornelias Barns 100

John Foster 55

Cap. Seman 400

Sam. Seman 3

John Coe 1 50

Peter Toton 21

John Seman, Jr 58

William Thickston 83

Daniel Peasal 190

George Peasal 190

Heniry Willis 140

Ben. Budsal 50

William Davis 50

Joseph Mott 66

John Tredwel 350

Tim. Halsted, Sr 300

James Rile 50

Adam Mot 64

Harman Flower 59

Joseph Petet 34

Sam. Smith 11

Peter Smith 11

Thomas Southard, Jr 69

John Southard 3

John Robinson 100

Whole number of acres,. .16,563

It is curious to find that many names formerly known
in the town have disappeared therefrom for at least half
a century. Among them are :

* John Smiths were so numerous even in 1685 as to need affixes to dis-
tinguish them. Thus, we have John Smith, Rock, Nan, Blue, Flag,
etc.,— H. O.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

133

Gripman

Champion

Lynus

Yeates

Dinge

Chappel

Meade

Lennington

Brick

Starr

Pedley

Ireland

Jecocks

Sturgis

Rusco

Lee

Hare

Brudnell

Houldsworth

Wescott

Shadden

Durfy

Bate

Ruts

James

Toffy

Disbrow

Egerton

Thickstone

Robinson

Yemans

Egbertson

Scott

Washburn

Flewelling

Allison

Achman

Pearce

Phessy

Wiltsie

Stickland

Fordham

Marsh

Moles

Lockerman

Boerum

Alexander

Minthorn

Van Dyck

Whitehead

French

Eager

Van Hoosen

Grading

Embree

Yeamans

Tanner

Ludlow

Perrin

Mandiford

Ogden

Sutton

Wallis

Peterson

Jaman

Halstead

High am

Avery

Hugins

Clark

Charlton

Diisenbury

Stites *

Tomans

Comstock

Many of these probably failed for the want of male
issue, but a greater part emigrated to New Jersey
and the river counties of this state, where may be
found Long Island names and families in abundance. In
short the counties of Dutchess, Westchester, and Orange,
as well as the whole territory of New Jersey, are filled
with Long Island families, and the descendants of those
once included among its inhabitants. Jonas Starr, who
was town clerk in 1684 and 1685, removed to Danbury,
Conn., and left six sons. He was the first clerk there and
one of the patentees of the town in 1702, also a Justice of
the Peace and died January 4, 17 15, aged fifty-seven.

The Rev. Richard Denton was a leading man among the
first English settlers of the town, and it is probable that sev-
eral who accompanied him had been attendants upon his
ministry in the mother country. Some of these emigrated
with him to Watertown, Mass.; thence to Wethersfield,
Conn. ; thence to Stamford, and finally to this place in 1 644.

* Frozen in boat shed.

i34 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Mr. Denton was born of a good family at Yorkshire,
England, 1586, educated at Brasenose College, Ox-
ford, where he graduated 1623, and was settled as
minister of Coley Chapel, Halifax, for seven years. The
same spirit of intolerance which produced the act of uni-
formity caused his removal, and he is supposed to have
arrived in America with Governor Winthrop in 1630.
He was engaged a while at Watertown, but in 1635 he
with some of his church began the settlement of Wethers-
field; from whence, for some reason now unknown, they
removed to Stamford within the jurisdiction of New
Haven, where he was installed in 1641. Probably the
causes of his leaving Wethersfield operated here, and
having sold his property to his successor, the Rev. John
Bishop, he and most of his church laid the foundations
of the village of Hempstead. His salary here was £70
a year, paid in articles of necessity, at the customary
prices. Yet he seems, with all his worth and excellence
of character, to have been a migratory being, for in 1659
he returned to England and spent the remainder of his
life at Essex, where he died, aged seventy-six, in 1662.
On the tomb erected to his memory in that place is a Latin
inscription, of which the following is a free translation:

"Here sleeps the dust of Richard Denton;

O'er his low peaceful grave bends

The perennial cypress, fit emblem

Of his unfading fame.
On Earth

His bright example, religious light!

Shone forth o'er multitudes.
In Heaven

His pure rob'd spirit shines

Like an effulgent star."

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 135

Four of Mr. Denton's sons remained here, Richard,
Samuel, Nathaniel, and Daniel, all of whom except the
last left families, whose posterity comprise many hun-
dreds upon Long Island, in the city of New York, and
Orange County. Daniel was appointed clerk at Hemp-
stead at the first town meeting, and held the office till his
removal to Jamaica in 1658, where he was a magistrate
and afterwards was one of those who made the purchase
of Elizabethtown, N. J., October 28, 1664. He visited
London in 1670, where he published a concise and inter-
esting history of the colony of New York; a new edition
of which has been lately printed at Philadelphia and
another at New York.

"Among those clouds," says Cotton Mather (mean-
ing the ministers who came early to New England) , " was
our pious and learned Mr. Richard Denton, a Yorkshire
man, who, having watered Halifax, in England, with his
fruitful ministry, was by a tempest there hurried into
New England, where, first at Wethersfield, and then at
Stamford, his doctrine dropped as the rain, his speech
distilled as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender
herb, and as the showers upon the grass. Though he
were a little man, yet he had a great soul; his well ac-
complished mind, in his lesser body, was an Iliad in a nut
shell. I think he was blind of an eye, yet he was not the
least among the seers of Israel; he saw a very consider-
able portion of those things which eye hath not seen. He
was far from cloudy in his conceptions and principles of
divinity, whereof he wrote a system, entitled Soliliquia
Sacra, so accurately, considering the four-fold state of
man, in his created purity, contracted deformity, restored
beauty and celestial glory, that judicious persons, who
have seen it, very much lament the churches being so much

136 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

deprived of it. At length he got into heaven beyond
clouds, and so beyond storms; waiting the return of the
Lord Jesus Christ in the clouds of heaven, when he will
have his reward among the saints."

The first church or meeting house of the Presbyterian,
or of the Independent order, was commenced in 1645,
and finished in 1648. It was a log house twenty-four
feet square, and stood a short distance north-east of the
Burley Pond,1 so-called, in the village of Hempstead.
The expense was paid by a public tax or assessment, and
the structure was used for town meetings as well as those
of a religious character. It stood till 1770, though
repaired and probably enlarged within that time, for
November 10, 1660, the townsmen were ordered to
repair it and make it comfortable to meet in.* Yet
such was the increase of inhabitants, and all being of the
same denomination, that the meeting-house was found too
small for their accommodation, and therefore :

" At A Jenerall townd meeting held in Hempsted the
7th day of Janeuary in the yere of our Lord 1677 ^
was agreed on by the major vote that they should bild
a meting house." This was confirmed at a town meeting
held " the first day of Eaperell in the yere of our Lord
1678 and mr semans and John Smith (bleu) was chosen
to go to agree with Joseph Carpenter to bild a meting
hous, the dementions of the house is as followeth, that

1 This locality is now the junction of Fulton and Franklin streets.
— Editor.

* Even so late as December 27, 1742, it was voted by the town that
Jeremiah Bedell, John Hall, and John Dorland, should take the care and
charge of the old church or town house; and being informed that sev-
eral persons had pulled and carried away a great part of it without
any authority therefor, the above named persons were to make inquiry
of those who committed the injury and to prosecute them in behalf of
the town.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 137

is, 30 feet long and 24 wide and 12 feet stud with a
lentwo on Ech side."

This edifice, erected as the the others had been, by the
whole of the taxable inhabitants of the town, was com-
pleted in 1679, and stood where the highway now is, a
few rods south-west of the present Episcopal Church.
Later on, it was found too small and an addition was
made thereto in 1700.

The Rev. Mr. Jenney, speaking in regard to this
church in a letter of June 27, 1728, says, " it is an or-
dinary wooden building, forty feet long and twenty-six
wide — the roof covered with cedar shingles and the sides
clapboarded with oak; within it is not ceiled overhead,
but the sides are boarded with pine. There is no pulpit,
but a raised desk only, having a cloth and cushion of silk;
a large table stands before the desk, where the justices
and leading men sit, when they come to church. There
are no pews, except one for the secretary clerk; the rest
of the church is filled with open benches. There is no
fence around it and the burial place is at some distance
from it." The Episcopal cemetery did not then exist.
" It stands in the open road, near a small brook, which
runs between it and the parsonage house."

In 1659, the year of Mr. Denton's departure, appli-
cation was made by the town to the Rev. Mr. Wake-
man of New Haven to become their minister, but whether
he accepted the invitation is uncertain, as his name does
not appear on the records; and in 1660 the Rev. Jonah
Fordham, son of the Rev. Robert Fordham of South-
ampton, who had accompanied the Rev. Mr. Denton to
Hempstead in 1644, was settled here, where he remained
highly respected and useful for many years. He was
so much esteemed by the people that in 1663 the town

i38 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

voted he should have allotments with the other inhabi-
tants and also a £200 estate if he pleased, which accord-
ing to the rule of valuation then adopted, amounted to
300 acres with woodland in proportion.

Mr. Fordham continued here nearly twenty years, and
returned to Southampton after the death of his father
and labored in the ministry there, probably till the ar-
rival of the Rev. Mr. Taylor in 1680.

The Rev. Josiah Fordham, who preached a while at
Setauket after the death of Mr. Brewster, was his son,
and his sister Temperance was then married to the
second Richard Woodhull. The said Josiah Fordham
was the great-grandfather of the compiler of this work.

In relation to the parsonage house, the town records
furnish the following authentic information:

" At a town meeting Jan. 4, 1682, Robert Marvin and
Richard Valitin was chosen by mager vote of the town
forthwith to hyer carpinters to build a parsonage hous
according to the dementions all redy agreed and recorded
in the town boock, and they are to agre with carpinters to
compleat all the carpinters work. It is understood that
the hous above mentioned is to be a town hous!}

On the 6th of May, 1682, the town voted to call
as their minister the Rev. Jeremiah Hobart, with a salary
of £70 and his firewood. To this call eighty-two per-
sons subscribed their names, and the town afterwards
gave him a three acre (home) lot, where it should be
most convenient, and fifty acres of woodland, to be taken
up where he thought proper; his cattle to have liberty
of commons and he to have the use of all the parsonage
land and meadows as long as he should continue their
minister.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 139

Mr. Hobart was son of the Rev. Peter Hobart of
Hingham, Mass., and grandson of Edmund Hobart, who
came from Hingham, Norfolkshire, England, in 1633;
was one of the founders of Hingham, Plymouth County,
aforesaid, and had Edmund, Peter, Thomas, Joshua,
Rebecca, and Sarah. His second son Peter was educated
at the University of Cambridge, England, ordained by
the Bishop of Norwich in 1627, came to New England
with his wife and four children, June 8, 1635, and had,
in all, fourteen children; eight were sons, six of whom
graduated at Harvard. He died January 20, 1670.
Joshua, above named, settled, as has been seen, at
Southold; his son John removed in 1681 to Pennsylvania,
married into a Swedish family, and settled on the spot
now called Kensington, a part of Philadelphia. His son
Nehemiah, born November 21, 1648, graduated at Har-
vard 1667, settled in Newton, Mass., as successor of the
Rev. John Eliot (son of the Apostle Eliot) December
23, 1674, and died August 25, 17 12, aged sixty-three.
He was succeeded by the Rev. John Cotton. His son
Enoch, father of the late Right Rev. John Henry Ho-
bart, died October 27, 1776.

The Rev. Jeremiah Hobart was born at Hingham,
England, and came to Boston with his father in June,
1635, graduated with his brother Joshua at Harvard
1650; his brothers Gershom and Japheth graduated
1667. The first, born 1645, preached at Groton, Mass.,
and died 1707, and the latter going out as surgeon of a
ship was lost at sea. Mr. Hobart officiated several
years without orders, but was ordained as successor of
the Rev. Thomas Gilbert at Topsfield, Mass., October
2, 1672, and was dismissed on account of immoral con-
duct of some kind. His wife Dorothy was a daughter

1 4o HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

of the Rev. Samuel Whiting of Lynn, Mass., and sister
of the Rev. Joseph Whiting of Southampton, L. I.
He was settled here subsequent to his call October 17,
1683, and so satisfactory were his labors that the town
made him a further donation of 100 acres of land: but
the difficulty of collecting his salary was such that com-
plaint was made to the governor, and December 18,
1686, Captain Seaman and Mr. Searing were appointed
to answer the petition against the town. Again in 1690
the court of sessions was applied to for assistance, which
ended in the laying of a tax for the support of the min-
ister. Hempstead paid him £70 per year. He removed
in 1696 because many of his people had turned Quakers,
and others were become so indifferent that they would
do nothing for his support but by compulsion. He offi-
ciated a while at Jamaica, when he removed to East
Haddam, Conn., where he was re-installed November 14,
1700, and died aged eighty-nine on Sunday, March 17,
17 17, having preached in the forenoon. His daughter
Dorothy married Hezekiah Brainard and was mother of
the celebrated Rev. David Brainard, who was born at
Haddam in April, 17 18, and died at the house of the
Rev. Jonathan Edwards, Northampton, October 10, i747>
Elizabeth, another daughter of the Rev. Jeremiah Ho-
bart, married Hezekiah Wyllys (1704), who was secre-
tary of the colony of Connecticut from 17 12 to his death
in 1734, so that his father Samuel, himself, and his son
George held said office successfully for ninety-eight
years. But the name of Wyllys, strange to say, is
extinct in that state. Joshua Hobart, brother of Jere-
miah, was the father of the Rev. Noah Hobart of Fair-
field, father of the Hon. John Sloss Hobart, a former
distinguished judge of the supreme court of New York.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

141

The parsonage above mentioned was ordered to be
built on the town lot, to be thirty-six feet long, eighteen
wide, and ten feet between the joints, to be a comfortable
house to dwell in, and when the said Jeremiah Hobart
should see cause to leave it, then it should return to the
town.

To show how the salary was raised, we subjoin the
following from the town books :

" May the 24, 1682. — We under Righten dwo Ingeage
Ech and Every of us to give these under Righten sumes
to Jeremy Hubard yearly during the time we liue under
ministry and to Pay it in Corn or Cattel at Prise as it
Pasis Currant amongst us.

Robert Jackson
John Sirring
Henry Johnson
James Ryle
Richard Minthorne
William Jecocks
Robert Bedell, Sr.
Abraham Frost
Harman Flower
Thomas Higain
Richard Tottun
John Spreag
John Ellison, Sr.
George Hix
John Smith, R. Jr.
Joseph Willits
James Pine, Jr.
Thomas Southard, Sr.
Daniell Pearsall
Abraham Smith
Joshua Jecocks
Cornelius Mott
John Mott
Robert Bedell
Caleb Carman-
Joseph Sutton
John Jackson

Jeames Pine, s.
Samuel Pine
John Waskeate
Harman Johnson
John Carman, Sr.
John Bedell
Daniell Bedell
Richard Ellison, Sr.
Robert Williams
Jeames Beat
William Valentine
Richard Osborne
Peter Mason
Charles Abrahams
Richard Gildersleeve, Jr.
Richard Gildersleeve, Sr.
Robert Maruin
Joseph Smith
Jeremy Smith
Timothy Hallsted
Thomas Rushmore
Edward Reyner
Jeremy Wood
Mathew Bedell
Samuel Rayner
Simon Sirring
Joseph Jennings

John Pine
John Tredwell
William Wetherbe
William Smith
John Smith, (b)
John Carman, Jr.
Jeremy Wood, Jr.
Richard Valentine, Sr.
John Karle
Joseph Pettit
Francis Champin
Henry Linington
Thomas Ireland
Peter Johnson
Joseph Langdon
William Hicks
John Maruin
Samuell Denton
Moses Emory
Richard Vallantine, Jr.
Adam Mott, Jr.
Josias Star
Jonas Wood
Samuel Emery
Rock Smith
George Hulit
John Smith "

142 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

August i, 1683, town voted that Jeremy Wood should
have ten shillings a year " for looking after ye opening
and shutting of the window shutters belonging to ye meet-
ing house, and to look carefully after the hour-glass"

October 30, 1702, the assembly of the colony, ordered
Major Jackson to acquaint the town of Hempstead, " that
a public school was designed to be erected among them,
and to enquire what encouragement they would give the
same."

For several years after the departure of Mr. Hobart,
the church had no regular preaching and consequently
fell into a state of great indifference. An important and
radical change was about to take place, destined to pro-
duce a revolution in the church, namely, the introduction
of Episcopacy. The people were without a pastor, and
the way was clear for the contemplated movement in
which a few prominent individuals only, probably, were
concerned.

During the administration of Governor Fletcher, a law
had been passed in 1693 f°r settling a ministry in the
counties of Richmond, Westchester, and Queens, which
was intended by the governor and his party to facilitate
the establishment of a branch of the English Church in
this province. By the same law, Hempstead and Oyster
Bay were made one precinct or parish for settling and
maintaining a minister.

The church edifice, parsonage house, and glebe were
town property, being at all times regulated and con-
trolled by the people in town meeting, and therefore by
management and cunning they might be made to subserve
the views of those, however few in number, who could,
without exciting suspicion, introduce an Episcopal min-
ister into the parish.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 143

The society for propagating the gospel (or rather
Episcopacy) in foreign parts, had been incorporated by
a charter from King William, June 16, 1701, and it ap-
pears that no time was lost by those interested to pro-
cure aid from that society for Hempstead.

The Rev. Dr. Humphreys, who was secretary of the
society from its formation in 1701 to 1728, in a history
of its proceedings published by him, among other things,
says, " that applications were made by the inhabitants of
Westchester, and earnest memorials were sent from the
inhabitants of Jamaica and Hempstead in Long Island
for ministers to be sent to them. Their wishes were
complied with and missionaries sent to those places."
That these earnest memorials emanated from the town
meetings or from any considerable number of the inhabi-
tants can hardly be pretended, the records being silent
on the subject. They probably proceeded from a few in
the confidence of Lord Cornbury, and were made for the
express purpose of bringing in a form of religion to
which the people were strangers, and to which it seems
by the letters of the missionaries themselves, they were
almost unanimously opposed.

In answer to memorials sent to England (by whom
does not appear) the society for propagating the gos-
pel sent out the Rev. John Thomas to Hempstead, ap-
pointed Thomas Gilder sleeve schoolmaster (which in-
cluded the office of catechist) , and transmitted also a
large number of common prayer books and catechisms
for distribution, the better to reconcile the people to the
services of the Episcopal Church. Mr. Thomas arrived
in 1704, having previously been engaged as a missionary
in Pennsylvania, but from his own account he was treated
with little attention or kindness by any portion of the

i44 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

inhabitants, and of course relied principally if not en-
tirely upon the countenance and support of Lord Corn-
bury, whom he represents on all occasions as a paragon
of the Christian virtues.

The people could not fail to perceive the consequence
intended and likely to be produced by this measure, and
lost no opportunity of expressing their dissatisfaction.
That the governor was actuated by great zeal for the
success of the church is satisfactorily proved by his acts,
but it is equally evident that he was zealous no further
than he could make it the instrument of his own selfish
purposes, and not as a means of increasing social kind-
ness and Christian charity. In truth the character of his
excellency for hypocrisy was quite equal to his bigotry.
The instructions of his royal mistress made it in a meas-
ure his duty to promote Episcopacy at the sacrifice of
every other form of religion.

In what temper Mr. Thomas was received will best
appear from his own declarations made in confidence to
the parent society. March i, 1705, he says:

" After much toil and fatigue I am, through God's
assistance, safely arrived, and have been two months set-
tled at Hempstead, where I met with civil reception
from the people. They are generally independents and
presbyterians, and have hitherto been supplied, ever
since the settlement of the town, with a dissenting min-
istry. The prejudice and bias of education is the great-
est difficulty I labor under. Among them, Oyster Bay is
likewise in my parish. They have been generally canting
Quakers, but now their society is much broke and scat-
tered. Deplorable ignorance is their great misery. The
country in general is extremely wedded to a dissenting
ministry, and were it not for his excellency my Lord
Cornbury's most favorable countenance to us, we might

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 145

expect the severest entertainment here, that dissenting
malice and the rigor of prejudice could afflict us with.
All we of the clergy want the influence of his lordship's
most favorable aspect. His lordship's extraordinary
respect to his clergy has set them above the snarling of
the vulgar and secured them a respect and deference
from the best of the people. Government is our great
asylum and bulwark, which my lord exerts to the utmost
when the necessities and interest of the church call for it.
The people of Hempstead are better disposed to peace
and civility than they are at Jamaica, yet my lord's coun-
tenance (next to the providence of heaven) is my chief est
safety. I have scarce a man in the parish truly steady
and real, to the interest and promotion of the church, any
farther than they aim at the favor or dread the displeas-
ure of his lordship. This is the face of affairs here, ac-
cording to the best observation I could make, in the short
time I have lived here."

In his letter of May 26, 1705, he says:

" My path here is very thorny — all my steps narrowly
watched. I am obliged to walk very singuly. I have
brought some few of the honestest, best inclined to re-
ligion, and soberest among them, to the holy communion,
and hope in time (if God enable me) to have a plentiful
harvest among them." Again, June 27, 1705, " The peo-
ple (he says) are all stiff dissenters — not above three
church people in the whole parish, all of them the re-
bellious offspring of forty-two (1642). Brother Urqu-
hart and myself belong to one county, and the only Eng-
lish ministers upon the island. We are the first that broke
the ice among this sturdy obstinate people, who endeavor,
what in them lies, to crush us in embryo; but (blessed be
God) by the propitious smiles of heaven, and the favor-
able countenance of my lordship's government, we keep

146 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

above water, and (we thank God) have added to our
churches."

" The gall of bitterness (he says) of this independent
kidney, is inconceivable, not unlike that of Demetrius and
his associates, at the conceived downfall of the great
Diana of the Ephesians. We have a great work to go
through, unruly beasts (with Daniel) to encountre, but
we trust that the great God, whose cause we stand for,
will enable us to go on.

" The fathers of these people came from New Eng-
land, and I need not tell you how averse they of that
country are to our church discipline. The people being
generally very poor, and utterly averse to the service of
the church of England.

" The inhabitants transported themselves here from
New England and have been, ever since their first settle-
ment, supplied by a ministry from thence. I have neither
pulpit, nor any one necessary, for the administration of
the holy eucharist, and only the beat of a drum, to call
the people together.

" Common prayer books (he observes) are very
wanting to be given away, for though they cannot be pre-
vailed upon to buy, (were they to be sold) yet being
given away, they might in time be brought to make use
of them. My Lord Cornbury is very countenancing and
assisting to me, and it is by an order from him, that this
building (a gallery in the church) gets forward; he is
truly one very good friend; we want nothing that the
countenance of government can make us happy in.

" The inhabitants of this country are generally inde-
pendents, and what are not so, are either quakers or of
no professed religion at all; the generality averse to the
discipline of our holy mother, the church of England,
and enraged to see her ministers established among them.
Their prejudice of education is our misfortune, our
church their bugbear, and to remove the averseness im-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 147

bibed with their first principles, must be next to a
miracle.

" His Excellency, Lord Cornbury (he continues) is a
true nursing father to our infancy here ; his countenance
and protection is never wanting to us, who being by in-
clination a true son of the church, moves him zealously
to support that wholly.

" If it had not been for the countenance and support
of Lord Cornbury and his government, it would have
been impossible to have settled a church on the island."
In 1717 he says, "I have been a considerable time in
these parts, rowing against wind and tide; first in Penn-
sylvania, against the quakers, and here about twelve
years against rigid independents. I have always observed
that the pious fraud of a caressing well modelled hos-
pitality, has captivated and inclined their affections, more
powerfully, than the best digested discourses out of the
pulpit."

In one of Mr. Thomas's letters, written in 1722, he
says: "my last summer's sickness has produced a small
dissenting meeting-house in one part of my parish, but I
thank God, it is only the scum that is concerned in it; the
people of figure and substance, being entirely of the
church's side. The cat in the fable, transformed to a
woman, could not, at the sight of a mouse, forget her
ancient nature, so it is with some of these people."

Had the people known in what language they were rep-
resented by their good pastor, it is hardly to be supposed,
that even the countenance of the pious and saint-like
Cornbury could have shielded him from the severest re-
sentment of this " sturdy obstinate peopled

The small meeting-house referred to, was erected near
where the first one stood in the year 1721, which was
used by the Presbyterians till the Revolution when it was

148 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

destroyed by the British, who exhibited on all occasions
a marked hostility to dissenting churches everywhere.

Little is known of Mr. Thomas beyond what is dis-
closed in his correspondence with the society, but that he
was better than his creed and a most worthy man there
is every reason to believe. Yet he seemed neither to sus-
pect or fear that he, like others, was influenced by the
prejudice of education.

Mr. Thomas speaks in one of his letters of having
married his wife at Brookhaven; her name, however, is
not mentioned and she was probably a second wife. His
last words are, " my heart is warm and sound, though
lodged, God knows, in a crazy, broken carcase. Pray
tell the society (says he), that, like Epaminondas, I shall
fight upon the stumps for that purest and best of churches,
as long as God indulges me with the least ability to do
it." Where he died is uncertain, though probably here
in 1724, as his will is dated the 17th of March in that
year, in which he mentions his son John and daughters
Margaret and Gloriana. It is stated in the society re-
port of February 16, 1727, that a gratuity of £50 was
voted to his widow.

John, son of Rev. John Thomas, was born here 1705,
and settled in Westchester. He married February 19,
1729 Abigail, daughter of John Sands, who removed in
17 1 6 from Block Island to Sands Point. He was first
judge of that county and a member of the colonial as-
sembly. Being a warm whig and taking an active part
in the scenes which preceded the Revolutionary War, he
became an object of resentment, and being taken pris-
oner by a British party from Long Island in 1777, was
confined in New York, where he died the 2d of May in
that year, leaving John, Thomas, Sybill, Charity, Mar-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 149

garet, and Gloriana. He was buried in the yard of
Trinity Church, which had been destroyed by fire the year
before. His widow died August 14, 1782. John mar-
ried Phebe Palmer and had six children. Thomas mar-
ried Katherine, daughter of Nicoll Floyd of Long Island,
and Margaret married Charles Floyd, brother of Kath-
erine, June 3, 1 76 1. Sybill married Abraham Field;
Gloriana, born September, 1740, married James Frank-
lin. Charity married James Ferris and had Charles
G. Ferris, late member of congress from New York,
who died July 4, 1848, aged fifty-five, and Dr. Floyd T.
Ferris, practitioner of medicine in the city of New York.
Mrs. Ferris died July 24, 1809, aged seventy-five. The
said Thomas was born June 17, 1745, became a major-
general and distinguished officer of the Continental
Army. He died May 29, 1824, leaving issue Charles
Floyd, Gloriana, Nancy, and Catherine.

The Rev. Robert Jenny succeeded Mr. Thomas, and
with him the records of the Episcopal Church commence.
He was born in 1676 and was a chaplain in the British
navy from 1710 to 171 4, from thence to 17 17 he was
in the service of the propagation society as assistant to
the Rev. Mr. Evans of Philadelphia, and also in 17 15
to the Rev. Mr. Vesey of New York at a salary of
£50 sterling. From 1717 to 1722 he was chaplain to
the fort and forces at New York, and was then appointed
missionary at Rye where he succeeded the Rev. George
Muirson and remained till his removal here in 1725,
being succeeded there by the Rev. James Wetmore. His
induction here took place May 25, 1727. But it is clear
from his letters to the society that at his arrival the
parish had not improved in their disposition toward his
church; yet he conducted with commendable prudence and

150 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

exerted himself what he could to reconcile the people to
doctrines and ceremonies to which, by education and
practice, they were opposed.
June 27, 1728, he says:

11 The Church's right to all this, (the parsonage, &c.,)
it hotly disputed, and I am often threatened with an
ejectment; first, by the heirs of one Ogden, from whom
the purchase was made; secondly, by the presbyterians,
who plead, from the purchase having been made by
them, before any church was settled here, and from their
minister having been long in possession of it, that it be-
longs to them; thirdly, by the makers, who are a great
body of people, and argue that it belongs to them, and
ought to be hired out, from time to time, as the major
part of the freeholders can agree. The body of the
presbyterians live here, in the town spot, but they are
so poor and few, that it is with difficulty they can main-
tain their minister, and we daily expect he will leave
them."

It should be known that at this time rates were made
for the support of the ministers, and persons of all de-
nominations including Quakers were compelled to pay
taxes for the purpose, after contributing to maintain their
own ministers and teachers.

The Presbyterians, who constituted a very great ma-
jority of the people in the parish, being virtually ex-
cluded from the edifice they had aided to create, held
occasional meetings in the old house; relying upon stated
preaching alone, not being in a situation to maintain a
minister. In this way they kept themselves from being
scattered or swallowed up by the new church party.

Dr. Jenny (as he was called) continued here till 1742
when he resigned, removed to Philadelphia and became

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 151

the rector of Christ Church, where he died at the age
of sixty-nine, October 17, 1745, having lost his wife in
this place December 25, 1738, aged sixty- four.

He speaks in one of his letters of having been informed
that the town had been settled some time before it had
any minister. This is a strange mistake, as the Rev.
Mr. Denton was well known to have arrived with the
first settlers and was followed very soon after his re-
moval by the Rev. Mr. Fordham. He mentions also a
great controversy that arose between the independents
and Presbyterians after the building of the second church
of which, however, there is no evidence aside from the
mere report circulated nearly fifty years after the period
mentioned. And still less correct is the assertion of their
" covenanting with one Denton to be their minister,"
more than twenty years after his departure from Amer-
ica, and when he had been in his grave many years.

In describing the church built in 1734, Mr. Jenny says:

14 It is 50 feet long and 36 wide, with a steeple
14 feet square; that the Rev. Mr. Vesey and his people
had contributed about £50; that Gov. Cosby and lady
had named it St. George's, and appointed St. George's
day, 1735, for the opening it, when his Excellency and
Lady and his son in law and Lady attended; also Mr.
Secretary Clark, Ch. Justice De Lancey, the Rev. Mr.
Vesey, some of the clergy and a large company of Gen-
tlemen and Ladies from the city, and other parts of the
province. At which time a collection was made, in which
the Governor and others were remarkably generous.
The Governor also presented the church the King's arms,
painted and gilded; the Secretary gave a crimson damask
set of furniture for the communion, pulpit and desk, and
Mr. John Marsh, of the island of Jamaica, gave a silver
bason for baptism, and to crown all the Governor pre-

i52 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

sented his Majesty's Royal Charter of Incorporation, by
the name of the "Rector and Inhabitants of the Parish
of Hempstead in Queens county on Long Island, in com-
munion of the church of England as by Law established."

Mr. Jenny preached the consecration sermon from
Psalm 84, — verses 11 and 21.

The new church was built upon ground given by the
town for the purpose and also for a burial place, April
2, 1734. It was consecrated April 23, 1735, and stood
about 100 feet south of the present church. Its charter
of 1735 was intended to transfer the parsonage and all
other church lands in perpetuity to the English Church,
which it has held and enjoyed exclusively ever since.

Rev. Samuel Seabury, who succeeded to the rectorship
in 1743, was son of John, who died here aged eighty-
six, December 17, 1759, and grandson of Samuel, a noted
physician and surgeon of Duxbury, Mass., in 1680. Mr.
Seabury was born in 1706 and graduated at Harvard
1724. Mr. Seabury was first minister of North Yar-
mouth, Me., from 1725 to 1727. He was settled as a
Congregational minister at Groton, Conn., but turning
Episcopalian, was settled as the first minister of St.
James' Church, New London, in 1728, where he remained
thirteen years, but removed to this town in 1742, where
he died of an abscess in the side, June 15, 1764, aged
fifty-eight, having returned from England only nine
days before. His first wife was Abigail, daughter of
Thomas Mumford, who died in 1731, and his second,
Elizabeth, daughter of Adam Powell, whom he married
May 27, 1733. She survived him more than thirty
years, and died February 6, 1799, aged eighty-seven.
His brother David, distinguished for bodily strength and
humorous temper, died here November n, 1750, aged

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 153

fifty-two. The children of the Rev. Mr. Seabury were
Samuel, Adam, Nathaniel, David, Abigail, May, Jane,
and Elizabeth.

Of the children of Mr. Seabury, Jane died February
26, 1774, aged fifteen. Mary married Jonathan Star of
New London; Abigail married Gilbert Van Wycke of
Hempstead, and Elizabeth became the wife of the late
Dr. Benjamin Tredwell, and died April 7, 18 18, aged
seventy-five. Adam, born 1741, became a physician, mar-
ried Marian, daughter of Valentine H. Peters, and died
March 23, 1800, aged fifty-nine, leaving Samuel, Adam,
Nancy, Elizabeth, Marian, Mary, and Jane. Nathaniel
settled in New Jersey, where he died. Daniel died at an
advanced age in the city of New York a few years since.
Samuel, the eldest son, was born at Groton in 1728,
graduated at Yale, 1748, went to Scotland for the pur-
pose of studying medicine but, turning his attention to
divinity, took orders in London, 1753, and on his return
settled in the church at New Brunswick, N. J. In 1756
he removed to Jamaica, L. I., and from thence to West-
chester in December, 1766, where he was rector of the
church and teacher of a classical school till the British
entered New York in 1776,* when he took refuge with
other royalists and remained till 1783. In 1784 he was
consecrated bishop in Scotland, being the first American
citizen who attained the title. He settled on his return
in his father's parish at New London, and presided over
the diocese of Connecticut and Rhode Island till his
death, February 25, 1796. He married a daughter of
Edward Hicks in New York, October 12, 1756. His
children were Violetta, who was born in 1756, and married

* See a curious account of his abduction November, 1775, to New
Haven by King Sears, in Hinraan's history of the Services of Connecti-
cut in the Revolution, page 548. — H. O.

i54 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Charles Nicoll Taylor; Abigail, born in 1760, married
Colin Campbell, an attorney; Mary, born in July, 1761,
died unmarried; Samuel, born October, 1765, married
Frances Tabor of New London; Edward, born in 1767,
married Miss Otis of New York; Charles, born at West-
chester in May, 1770, became an Episcopal clergyman,
and settled, as has been seen, in Caroline Church, Setauket,
L. L, where he died.

Rev. Leonard Cutting, who succeeded Mr. Seabury,
was a native of a small town near London in 173 1, and
graduated at Pembroke College, Oxford, 1754. In him
it has been said were happily blended the polished habits
of a gentleman with much classical knowledge and deep
erudition. He came to America in 1750, for some years
was rector at New Brunswick, N. J., and in 1756 was
appointed tutor and professor of classical literature in
Kings College, New York.

He settled here in August, 1766, and taught a classical
school of distinguished reputation for nearly twenty
years. Many of his students rose to much celebrity,
among whom may be mentioned the late Dr. Samuel L.
Mitchill, Edward Griswold, Esq., and Dr. Richard S.
Kissam of New York. Being a Loyalist he tendered his
resignation in 1784, and went to the southern parts of the
United States, where he died. His widow died in 1803.
His children were Leonard M., James, William, and
Charles.

Rev. Thomas Lambert Moore, son of Thomas and
grandson of the Hon. John Moore, one of his Majesty's
privy council in the colony of New York, was born in
the city of New York, February 22, 1758, was educated
at Columbia (then Kings) College, but did not gradu-
ate, the institution being in April, 1776, converted, by

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 155

order of the committee of safety, into a military hospital.
He taught during the war an English, Latin, and Greek
school, and had a large number of students. In 178 1 he
married Judith, daughter of Samuel Moore of that town,
sister of the late Right Rev. Benjamin Moore : thus unit-
ing two families of the same name not related to each
other. He went to Europe in 178 1 and was ordained
deacon in September by the Bishop of London, and in
February, 1782, priest, by Bishop Porteus. In July fol-
lowing he was engaged at Setauket and Islip as a mis-
sionary. He preached for the first time in this parish
November 7, 1784, became rector March 6, 1785, con-
tinued till his death, February 20, 1799, and was interred
under the altar of the old church. The Right Rev.
Richard Channing Moore of Virginia, who died Novem-
ber 11, 1 841, and the late John Moore, Esq., of this
town were his brothers. His widow survived him thirty-
three years, and died October 18, 1834. His sister
Mary Anne married Stephen Hewlett, and his sister
Elizabeth married Israel Bedell and was the mother of
the late Rev. Dr. Gregory T. Bedell of Philadelphia,
who died August 30, 1834.

Rev. John Henry Hobart, the next in succession, was
a descendant of the Rev. Peter Hobart of Hingham,
Mass., father of the Rev. Jeremiah Hobart of the Pres-
byterian Church in this place in 1683. He was a son of
Enoch Hobart, was born at Philadelphia, September 14,
1775, and educated at Princeton where he graduated in
1793. He commenced life as a merchant, but soon after
relinquished it and became a student of theology, under
the late Bishop White. In 1795 he was employed as a
tutor in his alma mater and received ordination in 1798.
The next year, 1799, he became rector of Christ Church,

1 56 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

New Brunswick, from whence he removed to this place,
June i, 1800. Here, according to the account given by
himself, he passed some of his happiest days. He mar-
ried in 1800 Mary Goodwin, daughter of the Rev. Brad-
bury Chandler of Elizabethtown, N. J., then deceased, a
man of considerable eminence and distinguished for his
ably conducted controversy with the Rev. Dr. Chauncy,
and an eloquent memoir of Dr. Samuel Johnson, first
president of Kings College. In December following his
settlement here, he was called to be assistant minister of
Trinity Church, New York, which call he accepted. This
situation furnished a more extended sphere of usefulness,
and one better suited for the display of his extraordinary
eloquence. May 20, 181 1, he was consecrated Bishop
of New York, as successor of Bishop Moore. In 1823
he visited Europe, travelling in England, Scotland, Swit-
zerland, Rome, Venice, and Geneva, returning again to
New York in 1824.

While on a journey through the state he was taken ill
and died at Auburn, September 12, 1830. His body was
brought to the city of New York and interred under the
chancel of Trinity Church. His daughter, Elizabeth C,
married the Rev. George E. Hare of Philadelphia, June,
1830.

Rev. Seth Hart, son of Matthew, was born at Berlin,
Conn., June 21, 1763, graduated at Yale, 1784, and mar-
ried Ruth, daughter of Benjamin Hall of Cheshire, where
she was born April 8, 1770, her mother being a daugh-
ter of the Rev. Mr. Burnham, first minister of Berlin.
He preached first at Woodbury, Conn., after which he
was six years settled at Wallingford, from whence he
removed to Hempstead as the successor of Mr. Hobart
in January, 1801. He was a man of engaging manners

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 157

and possessed a mild, sociable disposition. He was an
excellent classical scholar, and devoted many of the first
years of his settlement to the business of instruction, in
which he acquired a high reputation. He exerted him-
self with great zeal for the prosperity of the church,
which greatly prospered under his ministry. A very
severe attack of paralysis in 1828 disabled him from
discharging the more active duties of his profession and
occasioned his resignation the following year. His death
took place March 16, 1832, at the age of sixty-eight, and
that of his widow November 3, 1841, at the age of
seventy-one.

It has been doubted whether the first church here was
Presbyterian or Independent; but whether one or the
other makes no difference as to the lands set apart by
the town for the church and ministry, seeing those lands
continued in the possession of a dissenting clergy from
1644 to 1702, nor was it known or suspected during
more than half a century that there was a single church
of England then in the town. Mr. Denton, the first pas-
tor, was a Presbyterian preacher at Halifax, England, as
stated by Mr. Heywood, his successor, who could not
be mistaken. Some here had been members of his church
there, and their descendants are stigmatized by the Rev.
Mr. Thomas as stiff dissenters, who said that on his arrival
here in 1704 there were not three church people in the
whole place. The Dutch patent secured to the people
here and their posterity the privilege of erecting churches
in which to exercise the reformed religion as professed
by them, with the ecclesiastical discipline thereunto be-
longing. This patent was confirmed by that of Dongan
in 1685. The church was rebuilt by the same denomina-
tion in 1679 and enlarged by them in 1700. And yet in

158 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

four years thereafter, without any evidence of denomina-
tional change, an Episcopal missionary is sent here, and
in spite of a cold reception from every one, he receives
support from the governor, and pay from a foreign so-
ciety. Nay, he is not only smuggled into the church, but
into the parsonage and glebe. To crown this iniquity
another governor in 1735 gives the usurpers a charter
not only for the church erected by the inhabitants upon
land given them by the town, but including also the par-
sonage house and other lands to which they could have
no possible right. And all this thus unjustly acquired
has been held by them ever since, with what color of title
in equity or good conscience every intelligent person can
easily determine.

Mr. Hart left issue William H., late rector of Trinity
Church, Richmond, Va., and now of St. Andrew's
Church, Walden, N. Y., Benjamin H., Elizabeth, and
Edmund. Of these William married first Lydia, daugh-
ter of John Moore, and second Maria, daughter of
John G. Graham; Benjamin married Elizabeth, daugh-
ter of Gideon Nichols; Elizabeth married William J.
Clowes, September 3, 1834, and died December 24,
1840, aged thirty-two, and Edmund died unmarried
August 22, 1838, aged twenty-five.

The rebuilding of St. George's Church took place dur-
ing the rectorship of Mr. Hart and was completed in
1823, at an expense of $5,000, the voluntary contribu-
tion of individuals. It was consecrated by Bishop Ho-
bart, September 9, 1823. It is a large and handsome
building, having a lecture room attached to it, erected
in 1840.

Rev. Richard Drason Hall, successor of Mr. Hart, is
the son of Parry Hall, Esq. of Philadelphia, where he

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 159

was born May 1, 1789, and after the completion of his
education and qualifying himself for the ministry, he
officiated several years in different places of his own
state and settled in this parish in 1829, but removed in
1834 to Pennsylvania and officiated for some years as
rector of St. Mary's Church, Hamiltonville, West
Philadelphia. He married Mary Douglass in April,
1 815, who died in 18 17, and March 2, 1824, he married
Sarah Lucas of New Jersey, who died in 1828; October
12, 1 83 1, he again married in Philadelphia a lady of
the same name as that of his first wife.

Rev. William M. Carmichael, D.D., succeeded Mr.
Hall in 1834. He was the son of the late James Car-
michael of Albany, and was born there June 28, 1804;
graduated at Hamilton College, 1826, and married Har-
riet, daughter of Dr. Plunket Glentworth of Phila-
delphia. He studied divinity in the Theological Seminary
at Princeton, N. J., and was ordained and installed
in 1830 in the Dutch Church at Waterford; N. Y., but
turning Episcopalian, he became rector of St. Thomas
Church, Mamaroneck, February 11, 1832, and of Christ
Church, Rye, Westchester County, April, 1832, where
he remained till his removal here, November 1, 1843.
He resigned; and in conjunction with Gerardus B.
Docharty, Esq., took charge of St. Thomas Hall, Flush-
ing, which he relinquished in September, 1844. After
this he became rector of Trinity Church at Watertown,
N. Y. In 1846 he removed to and became rector of
Christ Church, Meadville, Pa.1

Rev. Orlando Harriman, Jr., son of Orlando Har-
riman of New York, was born 18 14, graduated at Co-
lumbia College in 1835, and entered the Theological

1 He published a History of the Church in 1841. — Editor.

160 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Seminary of the Dutch Reformed Church at New
Brunswick the same year, and was ordained a minister
of that denomination and installed at Hurley, Ulster
County, N. Y. ; but soon after, turning Episcopalian, he
was ordained deacon in 1841, and was for a short time
assistant minister of Christ Church, Tarrytown, N. Y.,
from whence he removed to this church and was insti-
tuted April 7, 1844. He married Cornelia, daughter
of Dr. John Neilson of New York. He resigned the
rectorship June, 1849, and was succeeded by the Rev.
William H. Moore.1

Contributed by the Editor

" Mr. Moore officiated until his death in 1892. During
his ministry the congregation prospered greatly and his
term of forty-three years was looked upon as a blessing by
his parishioners. In 1881 he published a History of the
Church, which contains a great deal of interesting in-
formation concerning the growth of the parish. The
next rector was the Rev. Creighton Spencer. He was
followed by Rev. Jere K. Cooke, whose connection with
this church and with the ministry of God was terminated
by an act of his which cannot be enlarged upon in these
pages. Mr. Cooke was followed by the Rev. C. H.
Snedeker 2 who is the present rector."

Nothwithstanding the difficulties and embarrassments
felt by the Presbyterians of this town for more than
three score years, as well from the influence of an arbi-
trary government as from those who, espousing the doc-
trines and ceremonies of the Church of England, had
monopolized the edifice erected by the people in 1679
with the parsonage and glebe ; they were enabled to sus-

1 This sentence supplied by Henry Onderdonk, Jr., after the death
of the author in March, 1849. — Editor.
* Information kindly supplied by Rev. Mr. Snedeker. — Editor.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 161

tain themselves, and in 1762 completed another church
in which they occasionally enjoyed religious services till
1772, when the Rev. Joshua Hart was permanently en-
gaged and officiated till the possession of the island by
the enemy in 1776, when their church fared like most
other dissenting meeting-houses, being used for military
purposes during the war. The building was not only
greatly injured but the monuments in the adjoining
cemetery were mostly destroyed.

The town records show that on the establishment of
Episcopacy here, sustained as it was by the patronage
of the government, affairs both civil and religious fell
into the same hands, and the church exercised very ex-
tensive influence not only in this town, but in Oyster
Bay, which together constituted one parish. The justices
and vestry harmonized perfectly with the church, as by
law established.

At the annual parish meetings, as they were called,
vestrymen, church-wardens, and all other civil officers
were chosen, and assessments were made for the support
of the rector, the maintenance of the poor, and for all
other town purposes. The vestrymen were ex officio over-
seers of the poor, had the distribution of all the public
moneys, and were aided by " a power and an arm which
the people dare not resist" so that it cannot surprise any
one that in the course of half a century a sufficient number
should be found willing to surrender the parsonage
lands into the hands of the Episcopal Church.

A small dissenting meeting-house erected some years
before, near Foster's Meadows, was taken down by the
enemy and removed hither to aid in the construction of
barracks for the soldiers in 1778.

These misfortunes could not but be felt most severely

1 62 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

by those who had so long struggled against such fearful
odds, and experienced such wanton injustice from their
own citizens; yet at the return of peace the society again
rallied, repaired their meeting-house, and were supplied
by a succession of ministers, among whom are noticed
Mr. Hart, Mr. Keteltas, Mr. Sturges, Mr. Hotchkiss,
Mr. Jones, Mr. Andrews, and Mr. Davenport. But
the end of affliction was not yet, for on the 13th of April,
1803, a fire happened in the village, by which the Presby-
terian Church was destroyed. A new building was, how-
ever, erected upon the same foundation in 1805, and
the Rev. William Provost Kuypers was installed June 5,
1805. He was the son of the Rev. Warmuldus Kuypers,
who had been called from Amsterdam in Holland to
the associate Dutch Churches of Red Hook and Rhine-
beck Flats, Dutchess County, N. Y., from whence he
went to Hackensack and Schraalenburgh, N. J., where
he died, 1797, leaving five sons and a daughter: Elias,
Gerardus, Zacharias, William P., Peter, and Aletta.
Of these Elias became an Episcopal minister and settled
at Yonkers, Westchester County. Peter was a farmer
in Kings County and the other three brothers became
clergymen of the Dutch Church.

Mr. Kuypers was born at Hackensack in 1773, mar-
ried a daughter of Minne Suydam of Oyster Bay, L. I.,
by whom he had issue Warmuldus, Suydam, John,
Minne, Catherine, and Aletta. He resigned his situa-
tion here in July, 18 12, by reason of ill health.

Rev. Charles Webster, son of the late Charles R.
Webster of Albany, was born there, April 4, 1793,
graduated at Union College, 18 13, and the Theological
Seminary, Princeton, 18 17. His installation here took
place March 17, 18 18, where he remained till dismissed

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 163

at his own request in 1837. His wife, Jane Wilson,
whom he married June 4, 18 18, was a daughter of
Captain William Brant of Connecticut Farms, N. J., by
whom he has six children now living. His son Charles
R. graduated at Princeton, 1840, and adopted the pro-
fession of the law and was a quarter-master in the Mexi-
can war. Mr. Webster preached a while at Bloomsbury,
N. J., and November 7, 1838, was settled over the Pres-
byterian Church at Middletown Point, N. J. During
his stay here the church edifice was considerably en-
larged and its interior modernized and improved.

Rev. Sylvester Woodbridge, Jr., son of the Rev.
Sylvester Woodbridge of Westhampton, L. I., was born
at Sharon, Conn., June 15, 18 13, graduated at Union
College, New York, 1830, was licensed by the presbytery
of New Jersey, October, 1834, was installed at West-
hampton, L. I., April 18, 1836, and married Mary,
daughter of Cephas Foster, Esq. of that place, May 8,

1837. His children are William Henry, Elizabeth,
Theodore, Anna Townsend, and Jane Wilson. In Octo-
ber he accepted a call to this church, being dismissed
October 31, 1837, and was installed here January 16,

1838, and dismissed again November 27, 1848, being
appointed a missionary to California. He was descended
from a long line of ministers both in England and Amer-
ica. Few families have been so distinguished as this for
ministers, many of whom have also been highly literary
and have done much for the cause of education in New
England.

The family of Woodbridge is of Saxon origin, and the
name during the fifth century was written Wodenbrig,
then Woodebridg, and IVoodebridge, to its present form.
Of the first four John Woodbridges, ministers, little is

1 64 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

known, but the fifth Rev. John Woodbridge was born
1570, settled at Stanton In Wiltshire, and married a daugh-
ter of the Rev. Robert Parker, and sister of the Rev.
Thomas Parker of Newbury, Mass. He died 1646,
leaving sons John and Benjamin, both of whom came
to America in 1634. The latter graduated at Harvard,
1642, returned and preached at Salisbury upon the
Avon, and afterwards succeeded the Rev. Dr. Twiss at
Newbury; but was silenced with 2,000 other dissenting
clergymen by the Act of Uniformity in 1662. He re-
sumed his labors in 1671 and died November 1, 1684.
Dr. Calamy says of him that he was an universally ac-
complished person of clear and strong reason and of an
exact and profound judgment. His elder brother John,
born 1 6 13, was educated at Oxford, came to New Eng-
land as aforesaid, settled at Newbury, but was ordained
at Andover, September 16, 1644; he married Mercy,
daughter of Governor Dudley in 1639, resigned his
charge 1647, returned to England and settled at Bur-
ford, St. Martins. He was ejected in 1662, his estate
confiscated and a reward offered for his apprehension,
but he arrived in America July, 1663, and was engaged
at Newbury as assistant to his uncle Parker. He relin-
quished the ministry in 1670, was an assistant to the gen-
eral court and in the magistracy till his death, March 17,
1695. His children were twelve in number, viz: Sarah,
Lucie, Mary, Thomas, Joseph, John, Benjamin, Dorothy,
Anne, Timothy, Joseph, and Martha. Of these John,
born 1642, graduated at Harvard 1664, settled at Kill-
ingworth 1666, at Wethersfield 1697, and died 1690.
Timothy, born 1656, graduated at Harvard 1675, was or-
dained at Hartford November 18, 1685, married Abigail,
widow of Richard Lord, 1692, and died April 30, 1732.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 165

She presented the first bell to Yale College in 1723.
Benjamin returned to England, settled as minister at
Bristol 1688, but came back and preached at Bristol,
R. I., and Kittery 1688. He married Mary, daughter
of the Rev. John Ward, and removed to Medford, Mass.,
in 1698, where he died January 15, 17 10. John, son of
the last named John Woodbridge, born at Killingworth
1678, graduated at Harvard 1694, was ordained at West
Springfield, Mass., June, 1698, married Jemima, daugh-
ter of the Rev. Joseph Eliot of Roxbury, November 14,
1696 and was killed by the falling of a tree June 10,
17 1 8, leaving eight children, of whom were John and
Benjamin. The former, born December 25, 1702,
graduated at Yale 1726, was ordained at Windsor, Conn.
1729, removed to South Hadley 1742, and died Septem-
ber 10, 1783. His brother Benjamin graduated at Har-
vard 1 73 1, settled at Amity, now Woodbridge, Conn.
1733, and died 1797. Sylvester, son of the last named
John, born 1753, commenced the practice of medicine at
Southampton, Mass., 1776, married Mindwell Lyman,
and died 1824, leaving John, Mindwell, and Sylvester.
Of these John became minister of Hadley, Mass., 18 10,
and obtained the degree of D.D. His sister Mindwell
married the Rev. Vinson Gould, who graduated at Yale
1800, and died 1840. Sylvester, born November 9,
1790, and father of the Rev. Sylvester Woodbridge of
Hempstead, has been noticed in our first volume.1

Contributed by the Editor

" Mr. Woodbridge was succeeded by Rev. Charles
Shields in 1849, who, remaining only one year, accepted
a call to the Second Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia

1 The long account of the Woodbridge family is explained by the
fact that Thompson was an intimate friend of Mr. Woodbridge. — Editor.

•* «t»»

HISTORY 01 LONG 19 SND

cnicnt, and well kept, in which boa:
r* can be satisfactor itcd at all sea-

tfc

public buildings arc the Hi ntnary,

:tc in 1836, incorporated th that

ul placed under the r the uni\

fan I he situation is well chosen and the

ct, is a good specimen of* who-
chitccturc. Ifl including the lar other

mprrcments, more than | -o, but hat thi.

istniction
rtlc above the level of our commoi N Ilie

publ: free school was opened in the fall of 1 850. It
>ut $2,000.

Ics the semin re the I pal Church al-

read menti >• I . opal Church, built

in [12, ami since enlarg md the new

Pr n, «>r ( >t Church ;> il a hand-

lifice, assimilated in its form to the more modern

structures.

old church, h.v. | *xj about forty -one year* » i%

rented Julv 27. 1846, and has since been com ito

1 c onage The corner stone

Mt building was \ugust 20, 1 S46. the frame

: on the :;th u | -he church finished aad dc*J
M -'>. 1847. ^ is- ap.

ite tower and its interior is «*— — m| and elcga
were first named in 1 134, and guide boa
at the intersections of them in accordance •
>f the villagers.

printing press was introduced May *. . by

im Hutchinson and Clement
sue a newspaper entitled The Lm$ It'.**.

1 68 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

and General Advertiser, the title of which was changed
February 1 1, 1831, to The Inquirer. In April, 1833, it
was transferred to James G. Watts,* who, on the 9th
of May following, altered the title again to Hempstead
Inquirer, which name it has retained ever since. On the
death of Mr. Watts the next year the business devolved
upon his son James C. Watts, who in May, 1838, sold
out the establishment to John W. Smith, by whom
August 1, 1 841, it was transferred to Charles Willets,
who sold out his interest therein on January 10, 1849,
to Seaman N. Snedeker.

In this village is the grave of the late Henry Eckford,
over which a chaste and beautiful monument has been
erected. He was born at Irvine in Scotland, March 12,
1775, and was sent in 179 1 to the care of his maternal
uncle, John Black, a naval constructor at Quebec. When
of age, he commenced business in the city of New York,
where the superior style in which his ships were built ex-
cited general attention; and the models devised by him

* James G. Watts was born at Alstead, N. H., May 22, 1792, and for
seven years succeeding 1821 was the editor and proprietor of the United
States Gazette at Philadelphia, a newspaper established about the year
1780 and always ably conducted. The delicate state of his health com-
pelled him to leave that city in 1828, and he returned to New Hamp-
shire where he pursued a more active business for some time; but not
recovering entirely he came to Hempstead in the hope of receiving bene-
fit, and not being in circumstances to live without employment took the
management of the Hempstead Inquirer. His expectations, and those of
his family, were disappointed, and after struggling for more than a year
against the approaches of pulmonary disease, he sank into the grave June
23, 1834, ln tne forty-third year of his age, leaving a widow, two sons,
and three daughters. Mr. Watts was a highly intelligent and industrious
man, and was always distinguished for his activity and enterprise. His
eldest daughter, Mary Ann, became the wife of Dr. William K. Northall,
September 16, 1835; Emma Matilda, his second, married Elijah K.
Bangs, August 4, 1839, and died June 11, 1843, aged twenty-three; Han-
nah married William Griswold; James C. married Drucilla, sister of
William K. Northall, and George C. died in his twenty-second year,
August 22, 1845.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 169

established the character of New York-built ships, over
those of any other part of the Union. During the war of
1 8 12 he was employed by the government to build a navy
on Lake Erie, and carried on his operations with more
despatch than was ever before known in this country. In
1 8 15 he was made naval architect at the Brooklyn navy
yard, where he built the " Ohio 74," one of the finest ships
ever seen. On the accession of Andrew Jackson, Mr. Eck-
ford was invited to furnish a plan for a new organization
of the navy, which he executed to the satisfaction of those
capable of estimating its value. In 1831 he built a ship
of war for the Sultan Mahmoud, and was invited to
Turkey. Having experienced heavy losses and consider-
able hard treatment here he set out for Constantinople,
where he arrived and was appointed naval constructor for
the empire. Having laid the foundation of a ship of the
line, he was attacked by an acute disease which ended
fatally November 12, 1832, in his fifty-eighth year. His
remains were brought here and interred February 22,
1833. His widow Marian, daughter of Joseph Bedell
of this place, died August 28, 1840. Issue: Janet, wife
of Dr. James E. DeKay; Sarah, wife of Dr. Joseph R.
Drake,1 Eliza, wife of Gabriel F. Irving; Henry, and
Joseph. Dr. Drake died 1820, leaving Janet Halleck,
who married George C. DeKay. He died January,
1849. Gabriel F. Irving died at Paris, May 18, 1845,
and was interred at Hempstead July 15, 1845.

The Long Island Farmer's Fire Insurance Company,
incorporated April 29, 1833, with a capital of $50,000,
was located in this village and commenced its opera-
Joseph Rodman Drake, author of "The Culprit Fay" and "The
American Flag." He was also a physician. His father-in-law, wife,
and child are buried in the Episcopal churchyard at Hempstead. The
poet's own grave is at Hunt's Point, New York City. — Editor.

170

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172 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

or his children, in 1659. It is a highly privileged place
on account of its fine landing, its proximity to the bay,
with its extensive fishery, &c, and is exceeded by few
other places as the resort of sportsmen at every season.

East Meadow Brook, a very fine stream, here dis-
charges its contents into the bay, and has upon it some
of the finest grist and paper mills in the county. The
Presbyterian Church was erected here in 1840, and was
dedicated the 29th of November of that year.

Milburn and Hicks Neck, on the west of Raynor's
South, contain a large population, a proportion of which
is generally employed in the commerce of the bay. The
spot called Lott's Landing is the principal depot for
manure, and for lumber and other building materials for
the surrounding country. A Methodist Episcopal meet-
ing-house, called the Bethel Church, was erected here and
dedicated May 4, 1844.

became rector of the united parishes of Huntington and New Stratford
(now Monroe), in the county of Fairfield, where he continued with a
good reputation for piety and eloquence, sixteen years. About the close
of this period, having embraced the doctrines of Universal Salvation, he
became pastor of the Universalist Church at Hartford, in which city he
resumed his pastoral labors, after an absence of sixteen years, Novem-
ber 1, 1828. At the expiration of four years he removed, on a pressing
invitation, to Portland, Me., where he stayed about four years, when
he was called to Troy, N. Y., where he also continued four years. In
August, 1840, he removed to the city of New York, and became pastor
of the Universalist Church in Bleecker Street. Mr. Raynor married Re-
becca, daughter of Dr. Daniel Bontecou of New Haven, July 5, 1795,
by whom he had issue twelve children, of whom nine are now living.
His son, Benjamin Lester, is the author of a life of Mr. Jefferson, a
work of considerable merit. Mr. Raynor has written much, and with
acknowledged ability, upon religious subjects. Of some of his works,
large editions have been sold. During his last residence at Hartford,
he edited and published a weekly paper, entitled The Religious Inquirer,
which was continued several years, and was conducted with distinguished
candor and ability. At Portland he also aided in the publication of a
periodical called The Christian Pilot. A few of his numerous works have
been stereotyped, and all bear intrinsic evidence of sincerity, moderation,
intelligence, and industry.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 173

Near Rockaway,1 about five miles south-west of Hemp-
stead village, at the head of Rockaway Bay, has also an
excellent and convenient landing, which can be approached
at high water by vessels of sixty tons or more, many of
which have been built and are owned here. It is an active
place and very pleasantly situated. The Methodist
Church in the vicinity was erected in 1790, being the first
of that denomination built within the limits of the town.
Near to this church is an immense grave, at the head
of which stands a marble monument, erected to the
memory of more than 100 unfortunate emigrants, chiefly
Irish, who miserably perished from on board of the
ships "Bristol" and "Mexico," in the years 1837 and
1838, the particulars of which are detailed in another part
of this work.

Among the more remarkable features in the geog-
raphy of this town is Far Rockaway,2 long celebrated as
a fashionable watering place, and annually visited by
thousands in pursuit of pure air and the luxury of sea
bathing. Here the ceaseless waves of the ocean break
directly upon the shore which unites at this place with the
main land. The house most frequently resorted to in
former times has been removed from its foundation, and
its place supplied by a more extensive establishment and
one better adapted to the character of the place, its
eligible location as the resort of strangers, and the un-
rivalled sublimity and beauty of the unbounded prospect.
The corner stone of the Marine Pavilion was laid June 1,
1833, with public and appropriate ceremonies, and the
structure was finished soon after. It is in all respects a con-
venient and magnificent edifice, standing upon the margin

1 Now East Rockaway. — Editor.

a Now included within Borough of Queens, City of New York. — Editor.

174 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

of the Atlantic; and has generally been kept in a style
not exceeded by any hotel in the United States. The
main building is two hundred and thirty feet front, with
wings on each side, one of which is seventy-five, and the
other forty-five feet in length. The peristyles are of the
Ionic order, the piazza being two hundred and thirty-five
feet long by twenty wide. The sleeping apartments num-
ber one hundred and sixty; the dining-room is eighty feet
long, and the drawing-room fifty. It was erected origi-
nally by an association of gentlemen of the city of New
York and the cost, including the land and standing fur-
niture, exceeded $43,000. It was sold by the proprietors
in May, 1836, for $30,000, to Charles A. Davis and
Stephen Whitney, Esqs., of New York and the latter
gentleman is now its sole owner. The atmosphere here,
even in the hottest weather, is fresh, cool, and delightful;
and visitors experience new inspiration and increased
vigor by repeated plunges in the ocean.

There are several excellent private boarding houses in
the neighborhood of the Pavilion, the best and most com-
modious of which is "Rock Hall," erected as a family
residence by Colonel Josiah Martin, an opulent planter
from the Island of Antigua, in 1767. Here he resided
at his death, November 20, 1778, at the age of seventy-
nine, leaving it to his son, Dr. Samuel Martin, who died
here unmarried in 1800. Upon the wall over one of
the fire-places is an original painting of a child and dog,
executed by the celebrated John Singleton Copley, father
of the no less celebrated Lord Lyndhurst, late Chancel-
lor of England. Colonel Martin had a daughter Eliza-
beth, who married her cousin, Hon. Josiah Martin,
former governor of North Carolina, and whose daughter
Mary was the child depicted by Mr. Copley. Another

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 175

daughter of the Colonel, Rachel, married Thomas Ban-
nister of Rhode Island. Colonel Martin and his son, Dr.
Samuel Martin, were interred beneath the altar of the
old Episcopal Church in the village of Hempstead.

The following beautiful song, written (for his friend,
Henry Russell) by Henry John Sharpe, Esq., is so faith-
fully descriptive of this delightful spot, that no apology
for its insertion need be offered:

ROCKAWAY

" On auld Long Island's sea-girt shore,

Many an hour I've whil'd away,
In list'ning to the breakers roar

That wash the beach at ' Rockaway.'
Transfix'd I've stood while nature's lyre

In one harmonious concert broke,
And, catching its Promethean fire,

My inmost soul to rapture woke.

O! how delightful 't is to stroll

Where murmuring winds and waters meet,
Marking the billows as they roll

And break, resistless, at your feet;
To watch young Iris as she dips

Her mantle in the sparkling dew,
And chased by Sol, away she trips

O'er the horizon's quiv'ring blue.

To hear the startling night winds sigh

When weary nature's lulled to sleep,
While the pale moon reflects on high

Her image in the mighty deep;
Majestic scene! where nature dwells

Profound in everlasting love,
While her unmeasur'd music swells

The vaulted firmament above."

Mr. Joseph Tyler, a celebrated English comedian, for-
merly kept a boarding house at this place many years,
and here he died in January, 1823, at the age of seventy-
two. At his house died, August 24, 18 17, Joseph Hol-
man, also a celebrated actor, aged fifty-two. His widow,

176 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

whose maiden name was Latimer, a beautiful woman as
well as a talented actress, married Major-General Charles
W. Sandford, a member of the New York bar. Char-
lotte, the daughter of Mr. Holman by a former wife,
married Mr. Charles Gilbert, a highly gifted musical
composer.

In Dunlap's History of the American Theatre it is said
of Mr. Tyler, " that he was in early life a barber, and
consequently was an uneducated man." It is there-
fore more to his honor, " that he could represent the pere
noble on the stage and play the noblest work of God, an
honest man in society."

Of Mr. Holman, Mr. Dunlap says, " that through all
vicissitudes he sustained the character of a scholar, the
man of honor and the gentleman. He was the son of
Sir John Holman, Baronet; was educated at the Univer-
sity of Oxford; and by the urbanity of his manners and
the force of his talents greatly contributed to exalt the
character of his profession."

Trinity Church, formerly a chapel attached to St.
George's Church, Hempstead, was erected in 1838, in
which the Rev. Mr. Carmichael officiated occasionally,
till his removal from the town. The Rev. John Car-
penter Smith was the first rector. He was born at Beth-
page, L. I., October 25, 18 16, the son of John and
Martha G. Smith. He entered Kenyon College, Ohio, in
1835, and in 1839 became a student of the Protestant
Episcopal Seminary in New York. Admitted deacon in
July, 1842, and presbyter in 1844, in the spring of that
year took charge of this church, but left for St. George's
Church, Flushing, October, 1847, and was succeeded by
the Rev. Vandevoort Bruce, November 1, 1847. Mr-
Bruce was born in New York City, graduated at Trinity

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 177

College, Hartford, in 1840, and was ordained priest June
13, 1846. The ground upon which the church stands was
a gift from the late Cornelius Van Wyck and his sister
Elizabeth. Trinity Church, New York, contributed the
sum of $500 in money and the bell was the liberal dona-
tion of Joseph Hewlett, Esq., a native of the town.

Trinity Church parish may date its origin from 18 17,
when it was presented with a building erected for and
used as a block house during the war of 18 12, in which
the Rev. Seth Hart officiated occasionally in connection
with St. George's Church, Hempstead, in 1835.

We have seen that the Presbyterian Church, erected
in this vicinity in 1770, was torn down by the British in
1778. Since which it has never been rebuilt.

The Methodists, however, completed a meeting-house
here in 1836.

On the 6th of April, 1784, an act was passed, entitled
" an act. to divide the township of Hempstead into two
towns," by which it was enacted that all that part of the
said township, south of the country road that leads from
Jamaica, nearly through the middle of Hempstead Plains,
to the east part thereof should be included in one town-
ship, and be thereafter called and known by the name of
South Hempstead; and all the residue of the said town-
ship of Hempstead should be included in one township,
and be thereafter called and known by the name of North
Hempstead. That the inhabitants of either town should
continue to enjoy the right of oystering, fishing, and clam-
ming in the waters of both. The name of South Hemp-
stead was changed to Hempstead by a subsequent act,
passed the 7th of April, 1801.

The following brief statement of the expensive and
protracted controversies, which have existed in relation to

178 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

the common lands, marshes, etc., in this town, compris-
ing probably more than 25,000 acres, cannot fail to be
interesting, and is thought material to a full and impar-
tial history of the town.

The first proceeding in this matter was a bill filed in the
court of chancery, April 5, 1808, by Samuel Denton and
six other persons, on behalf of themselves and those
similarly circumstanced (who should contribute to the
expenses of the suit) , to have their rights declared and
established, and to be let into the enjoyment of the undi-
vided plains, marshes, and beach, according to their re-
spective interests, to the exclusion of all others; so that
they should be enabled to make partition thereof among
themselves, according to the statute in such case made and
provided.

The principal ground contended for by the complain-
ants was that the inhabitants of the town of Hempstead,
previous to its division into two towns, whether heirs of,
or purchasers from, the original patentees, were tenants
in common, of all the common and undivided land,
marshes, &c, within the limits of the town.

On the other side it was alleged that the said lands,
marshes, &c, were the property of the town of Hemp-
stead as a corporation, who had at all former times con-
trolled and governed the same by rules and regulations
of town meeting, and had made frequent grants and divi-
sions thereof from time to time from the period of the
original purchase to the time of the filing of the said bill
of the complainants. After a long and learned argument
by counsel on both sides, the chancellor dismissed the
bill for want of proper parties, and upon appeal to the
court of errors the decision of the chancellor was affirmed.

Another bill was subsequently filed to recover the

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 179

same premises by persons claiming to be the heirs and
legal representatives of those who, in 1687, had con-
tributed to the expenses of obtaining the patent of 1685
from Governor Dongan at the rate of two and a half
pence per acre for all the lands then held by said per-
sons in severalty, being in number 160, according to the
list hereinbefore inserted. This claim was founded upon
the pretence that the premises mentioned in said patent
were thereby confirmed in fee to the individuals named
therein in joint tenancy; that John Jackson, the survivor
of said patentees, took the whole of said lands, and so
being lawfully seized thereof, he, by a declaration or
deed in writing, bearing date April 17, 1722, conveyed
the same to those and to their heirs and descendants who
had paid and contributed as aforesaid in the year 1687
to the expenses of the said patent; and the complainants
for themselves as well as for others in whose behalf the
said suit was brought, being such heirs and descendants,
were entitled to said common and undivided lands,
marshes, &c, in fee simple as tenants in common thereof.
To this claim the town of Hempstead made answer,
and such was the opinion of Chancellor Kent, that the
persons named in the Dongan patent like those men-
tioned in former patents, acted in obtaining the same,
not on their own behalf, but as agents, for and on behalf
of themselves and their associates, the freeholders and
inhabitants of the town as a body corporate and politic,
and that the said complainants had no other or greater
right or claim to said premises than what arose from
their being inhabitants of the town; and his honor
therefore decreed that the complainant's bill be dismissed
with costs, which decree was affirmed on appeal to the
court of errors, April 2, 18 18.

180 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

January 10, 1821, another bill was filed by the town
of North Hempstead, in the names of John B. Kissam,
Supervisor, and John I. Schenck, Clerk, against the town
of Hempstead, to recover a part of the common lands,
marshes, &c, in the latter town, notwithstanding the di-
vision of the original town into two towns in 1784, and
upon the principle that said lands, marshes, &c, were
the common property of the freeholders and inhabitants
of the original town, as cestui qui trusts, or otherwise,
consequently that the division of the territory into two
towns did not affect the vested and beneficial rights and
interests of the freeholders and inhabitants of North
Hempstead to a fair proportion of said common prop-
erty belonging as aforesaid to the freeholders and in-
habitants of the original town, and that the rights of the
complainants had not been lost or divested by adverse
possession or otherwise.

To which allegations, the town of Hempstead an-
swered by John D. Hicks, Supervisor, and Edward A.
Clowes, Clerk, as follows :

11 1. That the plains, marshes, meadows, and beach,
mentioned in the pleadings in this cause, together with
other parts of the said plains, and other meadows and
marshes now lying in North Hempstead, belonged to the
town of Hempstead before the division of that town, and
the freeholders and inhabitants thereof, as town com-
mons of the said town; and that the freeholders and in-
habitants of the said town, in town meeting assembled,
in their corporate or political capacity, were exclusively
entitled to the same, as common or town property, and
had the sole and absolute right of regulating and dispos-
ing of the same.

" 2. That upon the division of the said town, all the
said common lands, &c, which fell within the bounds of

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 181

South Hempstead, became, and have ever since been, and
now are, town commons of the said town of South
Hempstead (now Hempstead) and of the freeholders
and inhabitants of the said town in town meeting assem-
bled, who have the sole right of using and regulating the
same; and that the part of the common lands, &c. which
fell within the bounds of North Hempstead, became, and
ever since have been, and now are, town commons of the
said town of North Hempstead, and of the freeholders
and inhabitants of that town, in town meeting assembled,
who have the sole and exclusive right of using and regu-
lating the same; and that such has always been admitted,
treated, and acted upon by the said towns respectively,
as being their respective rights and titles to the same.

"3. That the town of South Hempstead (now Hemp-
stead) since the division of the original town of Hemp-
stead, having been in the exclusive possession of the com-
mon lands, &c. which fell within the bounds of South
Hempstead, claiming and exercising the exclusive right
of regulating and controlling the same, such possession
has been adverse to any right or claim of the town of
North Hempstead, and has continued, for a sufficient
length of time, to bar any such right or claim.

11 4. That the complainant's bill contains no equity on
which a decree can be made against the defendants."

The Hon. Nathan Sanford, Chancellor, decided after
a most able and elaborate argument, that by the Dutch
patent of 1644, and the English patent of 1685, the town
of Hempstead was invested with power to hold lands,
and that they constituted the inhabitants thereof a body
corporate, capable of receiving and holding the lands
conveyed. Both patents proceeded, says he, from the
sovereign, who had full power to grant the title, and to
create corporations; the construction of which patents
was supported by the constant practice of the town, from

182

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

the time they were granted. That when the original
town was divided, two new corporations were estab-
lished, in the place of one, each capable of holding
lands within its own limits. That such division was in
itself an assignment to each corporation, of the lands in-
cluded in each respectively. The division not only dis-
united the ancient title, but it severed the lands them-
selves; it was a partition of all the lands into new and
distinct portions. Upon the whole case, says his honor,
11 1 am of opinion, that the town of North Hempstead
has no title to the lands in the town of Hempstead, and
that the suit must be dismissed with costs." This decision
was likewise affirmed by the court of errors in December
term, 1828.

The increase of population may be gathered from the
fact that the number of inhabitants in the town in 1722
(including North Hempstead) was 1,951, besides 319
colored slaves. Now the number in Hempstead alone is
over 8,000.

The following is as accurate a list of the town clerks
as can be ascertained by the records :

1644 to 1658. .Daniel Denton
1658 to 1662. .John James
1662 to 1665. .Jonas Houldsworth
1665 to 1667. .Thomas Hicks
1667 to 1671 . .Joseph Sutton

1671 to 1672. .Richard Charlton

1672 to 1676. .Nathaniel Pearsall
1676 to 1680. .Thomas Rushmore

1680 to 1681. .Edward French

1681 to 1683. .Richard Gildersleeve
1683 to 1684. .Francis Chappel
1684 to 1685. .Josias Star

1685 to 1686. .Nathaniel Pearsall

1686 to 1695. .Joseph Pettit

1695 to 1709. .Thomas Gildersleeve
1709 to 1712. .William Willis

1712 to 1719. .James Jackson
1719 to 1736. .William Willis
1736 to 1746. .Micah Smith
1746 to 1783. .Valentine H. Peters

1783 to 1784. John Schenck

1784 to 1787. .Nathaniel Seaman
1787 to 1795. .Samuel Clowes

1795 to 1796. .Richard Bedell

1796 to 1817. .Abraham Bedell

1817 to 1818.. Piatt Willets

1818 to 1827. .Edward A. Clowes
1827 to 1834. .Albert Hentz

1834 to 1841. .Benjamin Rushmore

1841 to 1842. .Thomas Welch

1842 to . .Harry H. Marvin

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 183

"On January 1, 1898, that part of the town of
Hempstead extending westward from the eastern limits
of the village of Far Rockaway to the Rockaway Beach
Inlet became part of the Borough of Queens, City of
New York." — Editor.

Among the inhabitants of this town in 1660 were
Thomas Southard and his sons Thomas, John, Abra-
ham, and Isaac. Thomas, the second, had issue Abra-
ham, Caleb, Isaac, John, and Thomas. Caleb died in
1827, aged ninety-seven, and was the father of Abel and
David; the first, born 1752, died unmarried November
26, 1833. David, born 1768, died May 17, 1844; his
wife was Ruth, daughter of Seth Moser, by whom he
had four sons and three daughters. The last named,
Abraham, married Miss Barnes, and removed to Ber-
nardstown, N. J., in 175 1, with eight children, one of
whom, Henry, was born here in October, 1747. Five
other children were born subsequently. Henry married
Sarah Lewis, of a Welsh family, and resided at Basking
Ridge. He was the father of thirteen children also, and
died at the age of ninety-five, June 2, 1842. He was
among the earliest members of the state legislature after
the formation of the federal constitution, served in that
body nine years, when he was elected as representative
in congress, and continued by successive re-elections for
twenty-one years, when, being over seventy years of
age, he voluntarily retired. The late Hon. Samuel L.
Southard, one of his sons, was born June 9, 1787, gradu-
ated at Nassau Hall 1804, was elected a senator in con-
gress in 1 82 1, made Secretary of the Navy in 1823, —
afterwards Attorney-General and Governor of New
Jersey. In 1833 and 1836 he was again sent to the senate
and on the death of President Harrison, was chosen presi-

1 84 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

dent of that august body. This station he resigned a short
time before his death, which took place June 26, 1842,
only twenty-four days after that of his father. He may be
justly ranked among the greatest men of the nineteenth
century. His son of the same name was made rector of
Calvary Church, New York, September 15, 1844, and
one of his daughters married Ogden Hoffman, Esq., a
distinguished lawyer.

Died in this town in 1830, in the ninetieth year of his
age, Peter Thomas, son of Moses, and elder brother of
Isaiah Thomas, LL.D., who was for many years one
of the most extensive printers and publishers of books
in New England, if not in America. Isaiah Thomas was
the author of some valuable works, besides the History of
Printing, in two volumes, 8vo; and was the liberal founder
and first president of the American Antiquarian Society,
at Worcester, Mass., where he spent the greater part of
his life. He was born 1749, and died April 4, 1831,
aged eighty-two, leaving a character distinguished for
patriotism, integrity, and philanthropy. Among other
acts of generosity, he gave $300 to the New York
Historical Society as evidence of his ardent desire
for its prosperity. Peter Thomas was a man of good
sense, and preserved through life a character of strict
integrity.

On the 10th of August, 1835, there also died here,
in the seventy-sixth year of his age, George Taylor, a
native of Ireland, where he was born May 13, 1760, and
whence he came when a youth with his parents to New
York. In 1778 he was a clerk and afterwards deputy
quartermaster under Colonel Udny Hay. In 178 1, 1782,
and 1783, he was employed as clerk in the office of Colonel
Richard Varick, then confidential secretary to Washing-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 185

ton, and was subsequently chief clerk of Mr. Jefferson
while Secretary of State of the United States. Some
time after he held the office of Sheriff of Philadelphia,
and other places of trust. Although possessed of con-
siderable property, he was deprived of it in a great meas-
ure by his disposition to befriend others, and notwith-
standing he lived respected by those who knew him, he
died in comparative indigence.

Among the original settlers of this town were Robert
Jackson and Agnes, his wife. His will bears date May
25, 1683, and it is probable that he died soon after. He
mentions his sons John and Samuel, and daughter Sarah,
wife of Nathaniel Moore, and Martha, wife of Na-
thaniel Coles. Colonel John Jackson, the eldest son, was
the owner, it appears, of 430 acres of land in the town
in 1685, and a leading man in all public matters. His
first wife was Elizabeth Hallett, and his second Eliza-
beth, the eldest daughter of Captain John Seaman, a
man of consideration likewise. The last marriage took
place in 1671. He was high sheriff of the county of
Queens in 1691, a member of assembly in 1693, and so
continued with little interruption till 17 14. It is prob-
able he died in 1725, as his will is dated just before.
His sons were John, Samuel, and James. The first set-
tled at or near Jerusalem, and died in 1744; issue Oba-
diah, John, Parmenas, Martha (married Peter Titus),
Elizabeth (married Colonel John Sands), Nancy (mar-
ried John Hewlett), Mary (married Benjamin Sands),
Jernsha (married Morris Place), Rosanna (married
Richard Jackson) , and Abigail (married Jacob Robbins) .
Obadiah was father of the late General Jacob F. Jack-
son, John was father of Thomas, John, Tredwell, Sam-
uel, Noah, Obadiah, Charity (married John Seaman),

1 86 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

and Mary (married Daniel Underhill). Parmenas, who
was killed as heretofore mentioned, was father of Par-
menas and John. The first of whom had Benjamin
Coles, Thomas Birdsall, Noah, Obadiah, James, Mary,
and Elbert. Samuel, son of Colonel John Jackson, had
Richard, Townsend, Thomas, Ruth, Jemima, who
married James Hewlett, Letitia, who married Solo-
mon Pool, Mary, who married John Pratt, and Mar-
tha, who married Samuel Birdsall. Richard, son of
John and grandson of the colonel, married Jane,
daughter of Jacob Seaman, and had Richard, Micah,
Jacob, Phebe, who married Gilbert Wright, Mary, who
married John Tredwell, and Jane, who married Zebulon
Seaman. Thomas, son of Samuel, had Jacob S. and
Samuel T. Obadiah, son of John of Jericho, had John
and William. His brother John had Hamilton, Chris-
tiana, Maria, and Cornelia. Samuel, the other brother,
died without issue, and his large estate descended in
equal portions to his nephews and nieces.

Thomas Jackson, son of Samuel and Mary, was born
December 24, 1754, died November 25, 1842, aged
eighty-eight, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Obadiah
Jackson, and sister of the general. She was born May
6, 1762, and died September 18, 1828. Ruth, born Sep-
tember 27, 1786, married Thomas Jones, and died Janu-
ary 11, 1837. Obadiah, born March 7, 1789, married
Sarah, daughter of John Boerum. She died in May,
1848. Jacob, born April 23, 1791, married Phebe,
daughter of George Duryea. Samuel T., born October
29, 1795, married Martha W., daughter of Lewis Hew-
lett, January 10, 1820. She was born November 21,
1802; issue, Elizabeth Hewlett, born October 28, 1821,
Marian Woolsey, born September 16, 1825. Phebe,

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 187

born September 1, 1827, Thomas, born March 25,
1 83 1, Henry Hewlett, born November 27, 1836.

Robert had John (1), he a son John (2), he a son
John (3), and he Obadiah (4), father of General John
S. Jackson (5). The second John had Phebe, who mar-
ried William Jones, and was mother of Comptroller
Jackson. General John S. Jackson, born May 20, 1765,
and died January 18, 1829. His daughter Eliza, born
February 1, 1796, married Thomas Jones as third wife.

NORTH HEMPSTEAD

Was as we have seen originally a part of the town
of Hempstead, but was organized as a separate town by
the act of April 6, 1784, entitled " An Act for Dividing
the Town of Hempstead into Two Towns" by which all
that part of the town lying north of the road running
east and west nearly through the middle of the Great
Plains was constituted a separate town by the name of
North Hempstead. As the clerk of the former town,
John Schenck, was a resident of the new town, the ancient
records of Hempstead, so far as they have been pre-
served, have always remained in it, although the most of
them have been copied in several volumes for the use of
the town.*

The first town meeting in this town after its separation
was held at the house of Samuel Searing in the village of
Searing Town, April 14, 1784, when John Schenck, Esq.
was re-elected clerk, and so continued for many years.
It follows necessarily that as this town had no corporate
existence previous to the act aforesaid, whatever relates
to the ancient history of it must be sought for in the
records of the original town, and consequently is contained
in the preceding account of the town of Hempstead, al-
though many facts and circumstances purely local in
their character and application have been reserved for
this portion of our history.

In the spring of 1640 a company of emigrants from

* One of the oldest records, entitled the " mouse-eaten book," is lost.

188

^ I

C=3

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 191

any color of title, or pretence of right, by grant from
the governor of New England, or any other notwith-
standing. In testimony whereof I have made and pub-
lished this protest and intimation before John Winthrop,
one of the magistrates and council of the Massachusetts,
in New England aforesaid, and have desired that the
same be recorded there, and in other jurisdictions in
these parts, and have published and showed the same to
the said Edward Tomlyns in presence of the witnesses.
Dated at Boston the 28th of 7th month, An. Dom. 1641,
in anno Regis Domini Nostri Caroli Angliae, decimo
septimo. "James Farret."

"The above named James Farret, gentleman, did make
this protestation the 28th of the said month in the year
aforesaid at Boston, in the Massachusetts aforesaid:

" Before me — John Winthrop/'

Most of the lands in this town, and particularly the
necks adjoining the Sound, were at first reserved as a
common pasturage for cattle. Grants and allotments of
portions of the soil began afterwards to be made upon
Madnans (now Great) Neck. The land about what is
now called Westbury was next settled by the Seaman,
Titus, and Willis families, whose descendants are at this
time numerous, both on Long Island, in the city of New
York, and other places. That part of Cow Neck lying
on the head of Cow Bay, and next to Great Neck, was
called Little Cow Neck, and in the devise from Matthias
Nicoll to his son William is called Little Neck, or Cow
Neck, which, with the settlement on the east side of Great
Neck, is now known as Manhasset.

All the rest of Cow Neck, extending as far east as
Hempstead Harbor was, up to the year 1676, enclosed
by a fence across the head of it, and the individuals who

i92 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

contributed to its erection were by a resolution of the
original town, entitled to pasturage upon it, proportioned
to the number of panels of fence ma'de by them respec-
tively, called (in the language of that day) standing
gates, consequently in many subsequent conveyances of
the soil the phrase gate rights often occurs.

A division or allotment of lands upon this Neck was
agreed upon March 8, 1674, with the exception of 200
acres given to Captain Matthias Nicoll, on condition that
he would assist the town (he being a lawyer) in defend-
ing their common rights " against the pretended claims
of individuals, or other intruders whomsoever."

The number of those who had contributed to the en-
closure in 1658 was sixty, and the panels of fence 526.
In 1659 the town " ordered that noe calves shall be car-
ried downe unto the necke, but such as shall have cowes
drove with them to sucke, and if any shall drive downe
calves without cowes to sucke, shall fforfeit one-half to
him that gives the notis." The number of cattle put in
the Neck in 1659 was 306, in which year George Hew-
lett was appointed cowkeeper.

After 1670 a part of the Neck was allotted to the same
individuals or their heirs in the like ratio, except a cer-
tain tract on Pipe-stave creek, adjoining the land of Mr.
Nicoll, which the town, it seems, had in 1674 presented
to him.

The records show that September 16, 1676, John Sea-
man, Jonah Fordham, and Thomas Rushmore were
chosen by the town to lay out and divide the Neck in
severalty, among those entitled to shares therein, as
aforesaid. A large tract on the lower part of the Neck
became afterwards the property of the Cornell family,
who, in 1695 or 1696, sold the northern portion of it to

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 193

Captain John Sands, and his brothers James and Samuel,
who removed from New Shoreham, or Block Island, and
entered into possession of said lands, from which period
the northern part of the Neck has been known by the ap-
pellation of "Sands Point." James subsequently re-
sided at Matinecock in the adjoining town, for it was dur-
ing his continuance there that on the 14th of March, 1710,
he released his interest at Block Island to his brother
John, who it appears continued his maritime pursuits,
making frequent and profitable voyages between New
York and Virginia. And it was on one of these occasions,
it has been alleged, that he brought to Cow Neck a num-
ber of young locust trees, which he caused to be planted
on both sides of the cove near which his brothers resided,
from which trees thus set out, it is believed, we are in-
debted for most, if not all the trees of this valuable tim-
ber now growing upon the north side of the island. It
is extensively cultivated between Flushing and Smith-
town, being literally a mine of wealth to its respective
owners. Fences are here mostly constructed of it, and
almost every farmer has now his forest of locust, of
from 10 to 100 acres in extent.

Cow Neck, or Manhasset, contains about 6,000 acres
of excellent land, with a competent proportion of timber,
besides possessing many local advantages from its con-
tiguity to navigable waters on both sides.

Five acres at its northern extremity was in 1806 ceded
to the United States, upon which a noble lighthouse was
erected in 1809 at an expense of $8,500. It is built of
hewn stone, is of an octagon form, and rises to the
height of eighty feet.*

* This structure was erected by Noah Mason, who was thereafter ap-
pointed keeper, in which situation he remained till his death, February

i94 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Near this point, and a short distance south-east of it,
is " Mason's Island," which, although not strictly an
island, except at high tides, contains about sixty acres
of good quality land, upon which are a dwelling house
and other buildings. It was formerly known as " Kidd's
Island," for on the south side of it are the remains of an
immense rock, known anciently as " Kidd's Rock," from
a tradition that the great freebooter buried valuable
treasures near it, which have been at times anxiously
sought for by ignorant and creduluous " money diggers"
It takes its name of Mason's Island from having been
the property of the late Noah Mason, mentioned in the
note. There are a number of grist-mills upon the Neck,
mostly dependent on tide water, and of great convenience
to the inhabitants.

The western part of it, extending into the waters of
Cow Bay,1 was anciently denominated "Little Cow Neck"
and was included in the purchase of Matthias Nicoll, first
English secretary of the colony, for a part of which
he obtained a patent from Governor Lovelace in 1670,
and of the remainder from Governor Andros, August
29, 1677, in which the premises are bounded "north by
a river called Little Neck, Gut, or Pipe Stone Creek; west
by Howe's Harbor; east by a swamp that leads into said
creek; and south by a fence that encloses the whole neck."
To the lands included in this patent the town gave Mr.
Nicoll 200 acres more, by which his estate upon Cow

27, 1841. He was born at Uxbridge, Mass., 1757, and at the age of
nineteen years entered the Revolutionary array as a volunteer, in which
he served during three campaigns. He was present at the battle of
Rhode Island, and with General Gates at the capture of Burgoyne, at
which time he was severely wounded. He was always esteemed a per-
son of strict integrity, and practised industry and economy through a
long life of eighty-four years.
1 Now Manhasset Bay. — Editor.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 195

Neck, including previous purchases, was increased to
1,200 acres; Little Cow Neck alone containing 700.
Matthias Nicoll died in 1690 and the estate was sold in
17 1 8 by his son William to Joseph Latham for £2,350.
A portion of the lands included in the purchase and
known as Plandome (Place Vendome) came by marriage
into the Mitchill family, and is now owned by the Hon.
Singleton Mitchill, great-grandson of the said Joseph
Latham.

The southern portion of Cow Neck, in the vicinity
of the churches hereafter mentioned, has received the ap-
pellation of Manhasset (since extended to the whole
Neck), a name wholly inapplicable to the location, it
being the ancient designation of a famous Indian tribe
inhabiting Shelter Island. But it seems that to expect
the exercise of reason in matters of this sort would in
general be deemed entirely unreasonable by the public.

A patent for land owned by Captain Thomas Hicks,
upon the north-east part of Cow Neck, was granted to
him by Governor Dongan, November 25, 1686, and
another patent the same year to John Cornwell, Decem-
ber 13, for 100 acres, the same probably since owned
by Cornwell Willis.

Mr. Cornwell was the son of Richard Cornwell, or
Cornhill, an Englishman who, at an early period and
during the Dutch Government, made large purchases
about Rockaway. The said John gave half an acre of
his land for a burial ground, which has hitherto been
used for that purpose by the Cornwell and Sands fami-
lies. This gentleman, with his sons Richard and Joshua,
purchased another tract of land in this district from
Thomas Willet in 1702 for the sum of £600.

During the Revolutionary War, bands of marauders

196 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

were accustomed to land in whaleboats upon these
shores during the night and attack detached farm houses,
rifling the inhabitants of their money and other valuables,
which they were obliged to surrender at the peril of their
lives; then availing themselves of the speed of their
boats, they reached their lurking places among the small
islands in the Sound or on the main shore before an
alarm could well be given. Indeed, so great were the
apprehensions of these sudden attacks that many inhabi-
tants had their windows and doors secured by bars of
iron to prevent surprise; and it was not unusual for
people to pass the night in the woods and other secret
places to avoid personal violence, which in various in-
stances was wantonly and cruelly inflicted. In some
cases life was taken without any provocation, or in re-
venge, or disappointment in not finding money as was
expected. In one instance worthy of record, Mr. Jarvis,
residing on Cow Neck, aided by an old lady living in the
house, succeeded in beating off one of these gangs, with
the loss of several killed and wounded on the part of the
assailants. The night not being very dark, the villains
were seen and fired upon by Mr. Jarvis from the windows,
who was furnished with loaded muskets by the brave
old lady as fast as he could effectually discharge them.

Three miles easterly of Manhasset is the village of
Roslyn, formerly called Hempstead Harbor, very pleas-
antly as well as advantageously situated at the head of
a beautiful bay. Its present fanciful name (from Roslin
in Scotland, and recommended by Mr. Cairns) was
adopted September 7, 1844, and is also the name of the
post office. It possesses naturally an abundant water
power, which has doubtless mainly contributed to make
it a place of considerable manufacturing importance.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 197

The dwellings are probably about forty, and the popula-
tion a little over 250.

The grist mill erected in 1758, the first one in this
part of the island, was bought from J. Pine by Hendrick
Onderdonk who with his son Andrew built a mill here
also for the manufacture of paper, the first establishment
of the kind in the state. Hugh Gaine, a well known
printer and bookseller of New York, and Henry Rem-
sen were connected with these gentlemen in the business.
Since when paper making has been pretty extensively
carried on at this place.

Contributed by the Editor

" In connection with the change of name from Hemp-
stead Harbor to Roslyn, the following letter written to
Thompson by one of the chief movers in the affair can-
not fail to be of interest. The epistle is self-explanatory
and exhibits the process by which the new name of the
village was arrived at.

U i

Hempstead Harbour, Sept. 2, 1844.
" ' To B. F. Thompson, Esq.,
"'Dear Sir:

" ' I received soon after its date your polite note con-
taining a list of names which you suggest as suitable for
the village of Hempstead Harbour. This letter, together
with a list of all the Indian names which I had gleaned
from a careful perusal of " Thompson's History of Long
Island," I submitted to Mr. Bryant1 and Mr. Leggett;
and on Saturday Evening Mr. Leggett invited such gen-
tlemen as had taken most interest in this affair to meet
at his house to determine what name to submit to the

1 William Cullen Bryant. — Editor.

198 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

inhabitants for their approval. By a Rule which we had
adopted but few of the names could be admitted at all.
We wanted a short name of soft pleasant sound; one that
would not do away with the word " Harbour," and one
that had not been appropriated as the name of any Post
Office in the United States. The first part of our Rule
shut out nearly all the Indian names; the second, all
those ending in "port" or "haven"; — and the third
nearly all the rest. In looking into the " Table of Post
Offices in the United States," we found that we have al-
ready 5 Post-Offices named " Thompson," Thompson's
X Roads, Thompson's store, Thompson Town, and
3 Thompsonville, in all, eleven. Now although none of
these are on Long Island or intended to do honor to the
writer of its " History," yet one of them is in our own
state; and the gentlemen present thought it best not to
violate the Rule we had laid down, but to confine our
choice to such names as had no duplicates. Ten names
of that description were submitted to be balloted for;
when the name " Roslyn " was found to have the great-
est number of votes, and was afterwards unanimously
approved by all who were present. We signed our names
to a paper expressing that approbation, which will now
be submitted to the inhabitants generally for signature.
I hope they will be pleased with it for we have taken
much pains to get all the most suitable names that could
be found from which to make a selection. And now
whether we have made the best possible selection or not
I cannot say; but it will at any rate remedy the difficulty
in the Post-Office, and that was the principal thing we
wanted. We had about half a dozen very good Indian
names, and I was almost sorry that one of them was not
adopted. But all so far seem greatly pleased with the
name " Roslyn," a few, however, who seldom write let-
ters, or receive them or papers from a distance, will, of
course, be opposed to any change. Such do not deserve

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 199

to be consulted. As soon as we get our paper ready it
will be published in the County Papers.

" ' I am sorry to hear that you do not find so extensive
a sale for your History of Long Island as might have
been reasonably expected. But you know there may be
various reasons for not purchasing a Book entirely inde-
pendent of its merits or a desire to become acquainted
with its contents. One contents himself with thinking
that he can borrow Thompson's History of Long Island
from one of his neighbors, as he has often borrowed
other books, and thus save two or three dollars for some
other purpose, he hardly knows what; — another owns a
share in some Library where he can obtain the reading
of it at any time ; — another perhaps is taken up with the
shilling publications of the light reading of the day,
which he prefers to history, indeed to any useful read-
ing, as he is enabled to get through with vast quantities
with very little mental effort; whereas history and science
require study to make them either interesting or useful;
and some read neither history nor anything else. The
substantial merit of Thompson's History of Long Island
I have never heard called in question by anybody; and
I know enough about history composition myself fully to
appreciate the labor bestowed upon that work and what
few trouble themselves to think about, when you had got
your materials together, and was ready to set down to
write, you had the very least part of your work to do.
I am sorry you do not feel yourself sufficiently rewarded.

" ' Excuse this long scrawl of a letter; — accept our
thanks for the readiness with which you responded to my
letter, and believe me to be with great respect,
" ' Sincerely and truly yours,

" ' Ebenezer Close.' "

Ebenezer Close was a prominent personage of North
Hempstead town and a local antiquarian. He was a

200 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

vestryman of Christ Episcopal Church at Manhasset, and
in charge of the Academy connected with it for most of
the time from 1824 until 1853.

Montrose,1 a little below the head of the harbor, is
a highly pleasant and convenient place, and is equally
well calculated for a country residence or for manufac-
turing and commercial purposes. At this spot is the
late mansion of Joseph W. Moulton (who by great
learning and research has contributed much information
relative to the early history of the state) ; and the
more romantic and pleasant residence of William Cairns,
Jr. The former is now owned and occupied by William
Cullen Bryant, editor of the New York Evening Post,
and a poet of exalted reputation. The son of Dr.
Peter Bryant, he was born at Cummington, Mass., No-
vember 3, 1794. In 1 8 10 he entered Williams College,
two years after commenced the study of the law and
was admitted to the bar in 1815. In 1820 he assisted
in conducting a review, in which some of his finest com-
positions appeared. In 1821 he published " The Ages,"
" Thanatopsis," and other pieces, and in 1828 became
joint proprietor of the Evening Post, of which he soon
after became sole owner. He married Miss Francis Fair-
child of Massachusetts. In 1834 he sailed with his family
to Europe and returned the next year, but revisited it
again in 1 845 and 1 849. It is to be regretted that he should
from choice or necessity prostitute his fine talents and
improved taste to the humiliating pursuit of party poli-
tics, and spend so much valuable time in the advocacy of

1 This locality is now a part of Roslyn, and the old appellation has
been dropped. — Editor.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 201

doctrines and measures worthless in themselves and in-
jurious in their operation and tendency to the best inter-
ests of the country.

Along the shores are numerous and never failing
springs of water, gushing out from the bottom of the
hills, affording a power for almost any amount of ma-
chinery that may be required. The scenery from the
high grounds in this vicinity is sublime and highly inter-
esting. The minute grouping of landscape and water,
hill and dale, foliage and flower, with an infinitude of
light and shade, present altogether to the lovers of na-
ture a panorama which is truly delightful.

Harbor Hill in the immediate neighborhood is, except
one other, the highest eminence upon Long Island, being
319 feet above the water of the Sound, and from its
summit the prospect is grand, extensive, and beautiful.

The Methodist Episcopal Church in Roslyn was
erected in 1785. The Friends' Meeting-house at Man-
hasset is the oldest religious edifice in the place, having
been originally built in 1720 upon land given for that
purpose by Joseph Latham, and rebuilt in 1812 of some-
what larger dimensions.

Christ Episcopal Church at Manhasset was completed
in 1803, principally through the influence and exertion of
the Rev. Seth Hart of Hempstead, and in it he officiated
several years while rector of St. George's Church. The
corporation of Trinity Church, New York, contributed
toward it the sum of $2,000. Mr. Hart was followed by
the Rev. Eli Wheeler, who was settled in Zion Church,
Little Neck; after whom the Rev. James P. F. Clarke,
son of the late James B. Clarke of Brooklyn, has been
rector, except that during his temporary absence in 1839
the Rev. Ralph Williston officiated. He died in this

202 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

parish the 29th of December of that year, aged sixty-
five years. It should be remarked that the desk, pulpit,
and chancel rails of this church were a gift from the
corporation of Trinity Church, New York. They had
been put up in St. George's Chapel on the building of
that church in 1752, and were originally made from the
masts of a vessel which had been wrecked on a coast
where no other wood than mahogany could be had for
the purpose, and were presented to St. George's Chapel
by the captain on his arrival in New York and where
other timber more suitable for his vessel could be had.
It is much to be regretted that the captain's name has
not been preserved for the admiration of posterity.

Contributed by the Editor

"Mr. Clarke resigned in 1849 and was followed by
Rev. Samuel Cox in the same year, who officiated until
1857. Since then the following clergymen have served:

Rev. Dr. George W. Porter 1857 to 1864

" G. F. Bugby 1865101869

" James E. Homans 1869 to 1882

" Charles L. Newbold 1882 to

" Mr. Newbold has been Rector for thirty-four years,
and in 1903 published an Historical Sketch of his
church. He has kindly presented a copy to the Editor
from which the above facts have been taken."

The Dutch Reformed Church in this town was erected
at Manhasset in 18 16 by a portion of the congregation
worshipping at Success, of which the Rev. David S. Bogart
was pastor, in connection with the church at Wolver Hol-
low, where he commenced his labors in 18 13. He re-
moved to New York in 1826 and was succeeded by the

' HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 203

Rev. Henry Heermance, who married Catherine E., only
daughter of Edgar Laing, Esq., of Kinderhook, N. Y.,
May 9, 1832. He died, aged forty-five, December 2,
1846, leaving a widow and six children. Rev. James
Otterson was installed here July 18, 1828, and continued
till 1833, when he removed to Freehold, N. J., and was
followed by the Rev. John Robb from Scotland, who
left at the end of two years, when the vacancy was
supplied by the Rev. William R. Gordon.

This gentleman was the son of Robert Gordon of the
city of New York, where he was born March 19, 181 1,
his father dying when he was quite young. He gradu-
ated at the New York University in the first class, July
x7> x^34) and at the divinity school of the Reformed
Dutch Church, New Brunswick, in 1837. In the fall of
the same year he accepted a call to this church, and was
settled in November. Next year he married Matilda,
daughter of the late Minne Onderdonk of Flower Hill.
His dismission took place in the spring of 1842, after
which he aided in organizing a new reformed Dutch
church in the village of Flushing.

The Rev. John H. Sheffield was engaged in 1843 and
remained till 1847, and was succeeded in October of that
year by the Rev. Richard L. Schoonmaker. This gen-
tleman, son of the Rev. Jacob Schoonmaker of Jamaica,
L. I., was born there, graduated at Rutgers College, and
settled at Waterford, N. Y., in 1832, where he continued
till he became pastor of the Dutch Church at Harlem,
from whence he was dismissed in September, 1847. He
married, in 1837, Margaret, daughter of the late William
Seaman of Jamaica. His installation here took place
November 7, 1847.

In the settlement originally made by the Searing family

2o4 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

and therefor called Searingtown, a Methodist meeting-
house has existed for more than half a century; a new
one being built in 1843, which was formally dedicated
February 6, 1844.

One of the most interesting natural curiosities in this
town is the beautiful collection of water at Lakeville,
formerly known as Success Pond. It was called by the
Indians Sacut, which by a simple deflection in sound
might have been and probably was changed to Success.
The water is contained in a deep basin, situated upon a
high ridge, the summit of which may be discerned at a
great distance from the ocean. The water is very cold,
at the same time perfectly clear and of great depth. It
is about 500 rods in circumference, being surrounded by
a high bank, and is altogether a romantic and beautiful
object. It was stocked with the yellow perch by the late
Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill, who in the third volume of the
Medical Repository says: "In 1790 my uncle Uriah
Mitchill, sheriff of Queens County, and myself, went to
Ronkonkoma Pond in Suffolk County, a distance of forty
miles, in a wagon, for the purpose of transporting alive
some of the yellow perch from thence to Success Pond.
We took about three dozen of those least injured by the
hook, ?and put all but two into Success Pond in good
condition; and in two years thereafter they had so mul-
tiplied as to be caught by the hook in every part of the
pond."

It covers a surface of about 75 acres, is probably
70 feet deep in the centre of it, and more than 150
feet above the level of tide water. If it derives its
contents from springs as active as those in many other
places, it might at a comparatively small expense be
made to supply the city of Brooklyn with water. On

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 205

this subject no satisfactory experiment has been made,
and an unfavorable opinion seems to have been formed
without any adequate examination.

A Dutch Reformed Church was located here in 1731
or 1732 and the land sold for 25s. by Martin Wiltsie to
Adrian Onderdonk and C. Reyerson for the use and
benefit of the Reformed Netherland Dutch Congrega-
tion of Hempstead to worship the Almighty God
in. It was repaired in 1786 and finally taken down in
1832, about ten years afterward the new church was built
at Manhasset, the congregation having mostly joined
the churches at Jamaica and Manhasset. It was one
of the collegiate churches of the county and was supplied
with pastors in like manner as the other churches of that
denomination. It had been occupied by the enemy in
1782. The county courts were held therein, while the
present court house was finishing in 1784.

Great Neck, formerly Madnan's, extends from Lake-
ville to the Sound, between Cow Bay, anciently How's
Bay, and the peninsula of Little Neck, containing about
4,000 acres of superior quality land for agricultural pur-
poses. A patent for it was given by Governor Nicoll to
Thomas Hicks in 1666, who sold a portion of it the same
year to Richard Cornwell. Here are many commanding
sites for private residences, and upon some of them
handsome buildings have been erected. The dwelling
house and grounds of the late Robert W. Mott, Esq.,
which he named Grove Point, possesses peculiar charms;
its beautiful forest scenery and extensive water pros-
pect render it a sort of rural paradise.

This excellent man, a high-minded, noble-hearted, and
highly useful citizen, died November 19, 1846, aged
fifty years. Those who knew him most intimately can

206 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

best appreciate his worth, while to his family and rela-
tives his loss is irreparable. His whole conduct through
life bespoke the gentleman, and was ever governed by
the dictates of conscience and integrity. His character
was altogether above the reach of calumny or individual
malice, however his sensitive mind might be injured by
it; and he was most remarkable for his industry and
correct business habits. Modest and retiring in his man-
ners, his value could be only best known to his more
intimate friends. His health had always been delicate,
and since the loss of his wife two years before, disease
had attained such an ascendancy as to prostrate in some
degree his mental faculties and he fell a prey to de-
spondency which terminated in his death.

Hyde Park, so called, in the south-west part of the
town, was formerly, it is supposed, the country residence
of Governor Dongan, who owned some hundred acres
of land in the vicinity, presented to him by the towns of
Hempstead and Flushing. It was afterwards occupied
by Colonel Josiah Martin, who probably conveyed it to
the Hon. George Duncan Ludlow, and his brother
Colonel Gabriel G. Ludlow. The whole was forfeited
by the act of attainder passed October 22, 1779, and
was sold in November, 1784, to different individuals.
The dwelling of Judge Ludlow was, as has been before
mentioned, destroyed by fire December 30, 1773, by
which fire he lost his furniture, plate, and a library valued
at $3,000. It was immediately rebuilt by him and was
again burned to the ground, May 26, 18 17, during its
occupancy by the celebrated William Cobbett.

The Hon. George D. Ludlow was a gentleman of for-
tune, of a highly respectable family, and extensive legal
attainments. He, as well as his brother, was active in

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 207

promoting the cause of the enemy during the Revolution;
and having thereby lost their estates both were afterwards
provided for by the British Government. He was made
chief justice of New Brunswick, and as senior councillor
administered the government. He resided at Frederic-
ton, where he died February 12, 1808; and Frances,
his widow, in 1825, aged eighty-seven. His daughter
Elizabeth was the wife of John Robinson, son of Colonel
Beverly Robinson, who was mayor of St. John, and died
in 1828. Colonel Gabriel G. Ludlow was a colonel in
the Revolution and commanded De Lancey's third bat-
talion. He retired to New Brunswick in 1783, was
mayor of St. John in 1785; in 1792 held the office of
judge of vice-admiralty, and was a member of the
council, and colonel in the militia. He was also governor
in 1803, and died, aged seventy-two, in 1808. Ann, his
widow, died, aged eighty, in 1822. His son Francis died
at New York, aged seventy-four, in 1840, and his daugh-
ter Elizabeth married Francis, son of the Hon. Francis
Lewis of the Revolution, and was the mother of Gabriel
L. Lewis, Esq. of New York.

The open grounds south of Hyde Park were anciently
called Salisbury Plains, where a race course was estab-
lished by Governor Nicoll in 1665, and was supported
by the public authorities many years, for the purpose,
as declared by his excellency, " of improving the breed
of horses," an argument yet made use of to justify the
practice of horse racing. His successor, Governor
Lovelace, also appointed by proclamation " that trials of
speed should take place in the month of May of each
year, and that subscriptions be taken up of all such as
were disposed to run for a crown of silver, or the value
thereof in wheat."

208 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

This course was called New Market, and continued to
be patronized for the sports of the turf more than one
hundred years; when the place was abandoned for
another, east of the court house, considered more con-
venient.

In the vicinity of Hyde Park is the former residence
of Edward Griswold, Esq. He was born on the nth
of August, 1766, being the son of Joseph Griswold, a
wealthy distiller in the city of New York. His classical
education was acquired under the instruction of the Rev.
Leonard Cutting of Hempstead. At the age of seven-
teen he commenced the study of law, and was admitted
to the bar before the age of twenty years. His uncom-
mon industry and assiduous attention to business secured
him in a short time a profitable practice, and his office
was filled with students desirous of deriving advantage
from his uncommon stores of legal knowledge. One of
these was the late John Wells, son of Robert, who was
born in 1769, and whose death took place at Brooklyn, on
the 6th of September, 1823. As a commercial lawyer, Mr.
Wells was acknowledged to stand unrivalled at our bar.
He was an orator of the first order. He had (says his
biographer) a masterly manner of clothing a long chain
of connected ideas in the choicest language; and perhaps
no individual in this country ever reached the same ele-
vation, and occupied so large a share in the public eye
upon the mere footing of professional eminence and
worth. Mr. Griswold was distinguished for his good
sense, his great analytical powers, a clear discrimination
of legal principles, and their application to facts in any
particular case. His retirement from the active duties
of his profession took place many years since, yet his
advice and assistance continued to be anxiously sought

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 209

after, even by the most eminent of the profession; and
such was the deference shown to his opinions that his
authority was generally considered quite satisfactory.
More than forty years ago he visited Paris, where he
married a lady of fortune, by whom he had an only child,
Claire Felicite Caroline, married to Pierre Augustin
Berthemy, holding an important military station in the
kingdom of France. Mr. Griswold again visited Paris
in 1 8 10, where he found the late Colonel Burr, to
whom he loaned the sum of 2,000 francs at one time,
to relieve him from penury and distress. It was Mr.
Griswold's intention to remain in France, and he nego-
tiated for a country seat about twenty miles from Paris,
but the transaction was for some cause broken off, and
he returned to his farm in North Hempstead, where
he spent the remainder of his life, and where he died
suddenly by an attack of apoplexy, February 26, 1836.
Colonel Burr entertained the most profound respect for
the talents and legal acquirements of Mr. Griswold, and
said that he was the only person he ever saw who loved
the black-letter lore of the common law for its own
sake. Mr. Wells, too, in the full zenith of his reputa-
tion, spoke of the professional habits and acquirements
of his early tutor and friend in terms of the highest
respect. The example alone of such a man must have
been of very great advantage to his pupil, and in one
respect at least there was a remarkable similarity be-
tween them. This was a most powerful and singular
habit of mental abstraction, which enabled them to sit
down in the midst of their families or a crowd of com-
pany, separate themselves from the sports, the business,
or the noise around them, and, insulated and deaf to
everything that was passing, pursue their studies, equally

210 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

unconscious of anything like interruption, as if in the
deepest retirement of the closet.

North Hempstead is the shire town and seat of jus-
tice for the county, the court house having been erected
on its southern border, a part of the Great Plains, in
1788, four years after the division of the town, and five
years subsequent to the Revolution.

An act was procured on the 25th of March, 1830, to
enable the town to sell and convey its common lands, and
the whole is now under cultivation.

Westbury, called by the Indians Wallage, extends from
the neighborhood of the court house to the east line of
the town; the population of which is essentially agricul-
tural, and many of the inhabitants are members of the
Society of Friends, who, as they are divided in sentiment,
have also two houses for religious worship. The edifice
occupied by the Hicksite party, so called, is of consid-
erable antiquity, the land where it stands having been
purchased September 25, 1702, and comprising three and
a quarter acres. The other has only been erected about
twenty years.

There is considerable variety in the appearance of
this part of the island. A ridge of hills, being a portion
of the spine of Long Island, passes directly through it
from west to east, dividing it into sections entirely dif-
ferent in many respects. On the south side of the high
grounds the surface is almost level, having only a slight
declination southward toward the ocean; while the north
side declines more abruptly toward the Sound, the gen-
eral surface being not only undulating, but inclining to
the distinction of rough and hilly.

Indeed, all that portion of the island situated between
the village of Flushing on the west and Huntington on

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 211

the east, and between the hills and the Sound, deserves
particular notice for the peculiarity of its general
features.

This tract is indented for half its width between the
ridge and Sound by seven large bays or harbors, called
by the several names of Flushing Bay, Little Neck Bay,
Manhasset Bay (formerly Cow Bay), Hempstead Har-
bor, Oyster Bay, Cold Spring Harbor, and Huntington
Bay. These sheets of water occur in regular succession,
being from four to six miles in length and having in their
general form a wedge-like shape with mouths or en-
trances from one to three miles wide; and are, in almost
every case, defended by a sand-beach, a sort of natural
break-water, formed by the continual action of the tidal
currents, and leaving, in some instances, only a passage-
way or channel for vessels. The distance from the west
side of Flushing Bay to the east side of Huntington
-Bay in a direct line is about twenty-eight miles; while
the indentations of the coast produced by these bays
would make the distance upwards of eighty miles. This
extensive water-front presents a great variety of surface,
abounding in fine scenery, in which the cultivated field,
the forests, the waters of the bays, the broad expanse of
the Sound, whitened with the sails of commerce, the mill,
the farm house, and the country residence, alternately
attract the attention and delight the eye of the admirer
of the beautiful and picturesque.

The territory, therefore, bordering on the Sound in
this town and Oyster Bay, may be said to consist of a
succession of promontories, formed by the bays before
mentioned, containing from two to forty square miles
each. The villages and settlements at the heads of the
bays are connected by a turnpike road which ranges

212

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

across the head of the necks, and from which the head-
lands formed by these promontories upon the Sound vary
in distance from two to six miles.

Over this surface are to be found residences of a supe-
rior order, inhabited by a class of men who may be fairly
reckoned among our most valuable citizens; independ-
ent farmers, living upon their own estates and de-
voting a close attention to their improvement, as well as
the encouragement of arts and industry in those around
them.

So long as this description of men are prosperous and
exercise the influence that justly belongs to them, all that
is valuable in our public institutions will be preserved,
our liberties will be secured, sound morals more generally
prevail, and just conceptions of our political and social
duties and obligations will be engendered and thus the
character of all classes of our people will be saved from
degradation.

The larger portion of the population in this part of the
island, being engaged in the cultivation and improvement
of the soil, and the advantages of their situation being
somewhat remarkable, there must be of course a large
surplus of produce beyond the home consumption. This
is consequently susceptible of a cheap and expeditious
conveyance to the markets of Brooklyn and New York,
where the best prices, the legitimate reward of industry,
are immediately realized.

The average size of farms in this district is from
70 to 300 acres, and exceedingly fine crops of Indian
corn, wheat, rye, oats, and grass are annually produced.
The system in general pursued by the farmers here, as in
other places, is a rotation of different crops, while the
increased facilities for conveying manure from the city

::z

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

213

of New York have multiplied to a great extent the free
use of ashes, bone, lime, &c.

Horticulture might and doubtless will be hereafter ex-
tensively practised in this portion of Long Island, to sup-
ply in some degree the immense necessities of two great
cities. The time must come when this mode of using the
soil will be found more profitable than that heretofore
used, inasmuch as the labor and expense are less, com-
pared with the income to be derived. With the excel-
lence of her soil and her local position, in regard to the
commercial metropolis of the Union, Long Island ought
to furnish nearly all the vegetables and fruits required
by the half million of souls which that city and Brook-
lyn must soon contain.

In 1846 a printing press was established at Manhasset
by William H. Onderdonk, Esq., who as editor and pro-
prietor issued the first newspaper, entitled The North
Hempstead Gazette, on the 3d of December, 1846. In
the spring of 1848 it was removed to Roslyn, where it is
now printed by John T. Cogswell.

Having mentioned above that Mr. Cobbett, a cele-
brated political writer, and probably one of the most able
and prolific of his day, resided for a time in this town,
and in order to gratify the readers of this work, we
have collected the following particulars respecting him,
which we presume will satisfy all, that he was one of the
most extraordinary men of the age in which he lived:

William Cobbett was the son of a farmer at Farnham
in Surrey, England, where he was born March 9, 1762.
The incidents of his early life are detailed by himself in
the Life and Adventures of Peter Porcupine, published
in 1796. It contains a very interesting account of his
self-education, carried on under circumstances which

212 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

across the head of the necks, and from which the head-
lands formed by these promontories upon the Sound vary-
in distance from two to six miles.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 215

in 1800, after having fought a duel with Matthew Cary
of Philadelphia. He next established the Register in
England, which was continued during his subsequent life,
and so great was his popularity as a writer at one time
that Mr. Windham declared, in his place in the House of
Commons, that Cobbett deserved a statue of gold to be
erected to his memory. With the profits of his numer-
ous publications Cobbett purchased an estate at Botley, in
Hampshire, where he introduced and encouraged several
improvements in husbandry, and even met with some suc-
cess in cultivating Indian corn. In 1805 he became a
radical, and proved no small annoyance to the ministry
in power. In 18 10 he was convicted of a libel and sen-
tenced to imprisonment in Newgate for two years, and
to pay a fine of £1,000 sterling; the whole of which is
said to have been raised by a penny subscription among
his political friends. In 18 16 he changed the form of
his Register to a two-penny pamphlet, and sold the amaz-
ing number of 100,000 copies weekly.

The suspension of the habeas corpus act again drove
Cobbett from the country, and he arrived in America in
1 8 17, taking up his residence at Hyde Park in the town of
North Hempstead, L. I., where he remained till the
house in which he resided was consumed by fire, the fol-
lowing year. It was here that he composed some of the
best and most popular of his many publications — among
which is his English Grammar, one of the best practi-
cal works of the kind. He mixed but little in society
while here, and was generally distant and reserved in his
manners ; he consequently made few acquaintances and no
friends. His deportment toward his immediate neigh-
borhood was aristocratic and unsociable, although he pro-
fessed great liberality and benevolence. He found but

216 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

little countenance among American democrats, and re-
turned to England in 1819, when he took a warm and
decided part in favor of the persecuted Queen Caroline,
wife of King George IV. In 1832 he was elected to
the House of Commons for the borough of Oldham, and
was a member at the time of his decease, June 18,
1835 ; but it cannot be said that his parliamentary career
added anything to his reputation; and it is quite evident
that his great popularity was upon the wane. In one re-
markable feature he resembled that great apostle of lib-
erty, Thomas Paine (whose bones he carried to Eng-
land), that of addressing himself in his writings to the
common sense of the people. In this way he made a
strong lodgment in their minds, as an able and efficient
champion of the rights of the common class of citizens
against the encroachments of prerogative and the exer-
tions of arbitrary power.

Among the freeholders of Hempstead in 1656 was
Adam Mott, the ancestor of many families upon Long
Island and in other places. He was born in England 1 606,
and sailed for Boston 1636, with his wife Sarah and chil-
dren John, Adam, Joseph, Elizabeth, Nathaniel, and
JMary. He was admitted freeman at Hingham, Mass.,
1637, and came to New Amsterdam some years after.
He is next found at Newtown, from whence he came to
this town in 1656, and died in 1686, aged eighty. His
second wife was Jane, by whom he had James and Cor-
nelius. His son Adam, born 1629, married Phebe, and
had Adam, James, Charles, John, Joseph, Gershom,
Elizabeth, Henry, and Grace : — by his second wife Eliza-
beth, daughter of John Richbill, he had Richbill, Mary,

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 217

Ann, and William, and died, aged fifty-two, in 168 1.
Richbill married Elizabeth Thomas, October 14, 1696.
William, born January 20, 1674, married Hannah,
daughter of John Seaman, and died June 31, 1740. She
died June 24, 1759; issue Elizabeth, William, Hannah,
and Martha. Of these William, born August 6, 1709,
married Elizabeth Valentine, had ten sons and two
daughters, of whom none left issue but William, Henry,
Samuel, Joseph, and Benjamin. He died March 25,
1786, and his wife November 17, 1780. His son John,
born February 17, 1749, died November 11, 1823;
Samuel, born December 16, 1759, died April 1, 1791,
having married Sarah Franklin and had William F., born
January n, 1785; Walter F., born December 4, 1786;
Samuel F., born February 7, 1789; and Sarah F., born
September 25, 1791. William, son of William, born
January 8, 1742, married Mary, daughter of William
Willis, December 2, 1789, and died August 5, 1832;
issue: William W., born February 28, 1791, married
Susan, daughter of Henry Franklin, and died without
issue 1 83 1 ; James W., born June 18, 1793, married Abi-
gail, daughter of Walter Jones, who died October 12,
1836, aged forty-two, and second, Lydia, daughter of
Obadiah Townsend, November 28, 1838; Robert W.,
born October 10, 1796, married Harriet Broome, daugh-
ter of Dr. James Coggswell and had Harriet, who mar-
ried William H. Onderdonk. He died November 19,
1846, and his wife previously September 6, 1843. Henry,
son of William, born May 31, 1757, married Jane,
daughter of Samuel Way, 1784, and died 1840, leav-
ing issue, of whom Dr. Valentine Mott is one, who will
receive a more extended notice.

Henry Willis, the common ancestor of all the families

2i 8 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

of the name upon this island, was born in Wiltshire,
England, September 14, 1628, and married Mary Peace
in 1654. He was in sentiment a Quaker, arrived here
about 1672, and purchased land in a part of the town,
which he named Westbury from the place of his nativity.
He was the only son of Henry, and had issue Mary,
Elizabeth, William, Henry, John, Sarah, Rachel, and
Esther, most of whom married and had families. He
died, aged eighty-five, July 11, 17 14. William, eldest
son, born October 16, 1663, married Mary, daughter
of Edmund Titus, and had William, Henry, John, Jacob,
Silas, Samuel, and Mary, and died, aged seventy-two,
March 7, 1736. Henry, second son, married Phebe,
daughter of Henry Powell, and had Mary, Silas, Phebe,
and died November 15, 175 1, aged fifty-eight. John,
the youngest son, married Abigail, daughter of Richard
Willets, and had Phebe, Richard, Elizabeth, William,
John, and Stephen, and died May 9, 1777, aged eighty-
four. Samuel, son of William and Mary (Titus), born
June 30, 1704, married Mary, daughter of John Fry, and
had Mary, John, Sarah, Amy, Jane, Fry, Kesia, Henry,
Edmund, and Phebe, and died December 28, 1782, aged
seventy-eight.

V 1 '

r ■*-,.

OLD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AT JAMAICA, L. I.
From an old print in the possession of the Long Island Historical Society.

JAMAICA

Which occupies the south-western part of Queens
County, is centrally distant from the city of New York
about twelve miles, being bounded east by Hempstead,
south by the bay and creek, west by Kings County, and
north by Newtown and Flushing. It is quite certain that
the lands were anciently possessed by a tribe or community
known as the Gemeco Indians, a name which with small
change has been preserved. The population was prob-
ably confined to the territory lying between the Beaver
Pond and the creek below, and neither sufficient in num-
bers or power to have been considered an independent
tribe, but subject to the control of their more powerful
neighbors, the Canarsies, a few miles distant. The
original name with some variation continued to designate
the place until a new one was imposed by the Dutch,
according to the prevailing custom of the day.

The first reference of much importance to this part of
the island found in writing, is contained in an applica-
tion made to the governor and council of New Nether-
land in 1656 by Robert Jackson and other inhabitants
of Hempstead, for liberty to begin a plantation " half-
way," from their place of residence to Carnarresse, or
Carnarise, which they had agreed to purchase from the
native proprietor and concluded to call the place
Canarise, a name which does not seem to have been
much favored, as it soon gave place to the more beautiful
appropriate one of Rusdorp, meaning a country-village.

219

220 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

A favorable response was given in a short time to the
aforesaid application as follows:

" Having seen the request or desire of the inhabitants
of the town of Hempstead, and subjects of the province,
the governor-general and council have consented and
granted unto the aforesaid inhabitants, free leave to
erect or build a town according unto their place limited,
named Canarise, about the midway from Hempstead,
upon such privileges and particular ground-briefs, such
as the inhabitants of the New Netherlande generally do
possess in their lands; and likewise in the choice of their
magistrates, as in the other villages or towns, as Middle-
borough, Breuklin, Midwout, and Amersfort.

"Done at the fort in New Netherland, this 21st of
March, 1656. Peter Stuyvesant.

11 By order of the governor-general and council of the
New Netherlands,

" Cornelius Van Ruyven, Secretary."

In the confirmatory deed, which it was thought advi-
sable subsequently to obtain from the Rockaway Indians,
the following singular phrase occurs: " One thing to be
remembered, that noe person is to cut downe any tall
trees wherein Eagles doe build their nests," and it is
found that words of similar import are contained in
many early Indian deeds, from which it has been inferred
that those birds were held sacred by the natives.

One of the most intelligent and leading men in the
new settlement was Daniel Denton, who at the first town
meeting, February 18, 1656, was appointed

11 To write and enter all acts and orders off publick
concernment to ye towne, and to have a dais work of
a man ffor ye sayd employment " ; and at the same meet-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 221

ing there was granted to each inhabitant of the place a
house lot, upon the north quarter of the town. Among
the inhabitants are particularly named Andrew Messen-
ger, Samuel Mathews, Thomas Wiggins, Richard Chas-
more, Richard Harcut, Richard Everet, Henry Town-
send, John Townsend, Richard Townsend and John
Rhoades.

The certificate of purchase is in these words:

" Nov. ye 25th, 1656 — stylo novo.
11 These presents declareth y* wee whose names are
under written, being true owners by vertue off purchase
ffrom ye indians, and graunt ffrom ye Govenor and Coun-
cell, given and graunted ye 21st of March, 1656; I say
wee are the true owners by vertue off purchase and our
associates, our names being under written, living at ye
new plantacon neare unto ye bever pond, commonly called
Jemaica, I say wee, in consideracon off our charge and
trouble in getting and settling off the plase, have reserved
ffor ourselves ye ffull and just som of 10 akers off planting
land a man, besides ye home Lottes in ye nearest and most
convenient plase y* that can bee found, and soe likewise
20 akers off meadowing a man, in the convenientist plase
they can finde, and y* shall remaine as theires forever,
every man taking his Lott according to thiere ffirst right
to ye Land. Witness our hands,

Robert Coe, Benjamin Coe John Townsend

Nicholas Tanner Roger Lynes Richard Townsend

Nathaniel Denton, Samuel Matthews George Mills

Andrew Messenger John Laren Robert Rhoades

Daniel Denton Richard Everit Henry Messenger

Abraham Smith Henry Townsend Thomas Wiggins

Richard Chasmore Richard Sweet

Like as in all new settlements, it appears that some
difficulties arose with its neighbors of Hempstead, almost

222 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

coeval with the commencement of the village, as the fol-
lowing petition or complaint exhibits :

11 To the Govenour:

" Honord Sr: Wee your subjects ye Inhabitants off
Rusdorp, having a company of catle to ye number off
sixty or thereabouts, which have bin with in ye bounds
and commons off Hemsted, are by them taken up and
pounded. Wee upon intelligence sent two men to fetch
ym and demand ym in a loving and neighborly way. The
magistrates refused to deliver our catle, unless wee would
pay damage which our catle have done, in their unffenced
ffield, which wee refused to doe, and our catle are there
still kept and retained in their pound. Sr wee humbly
crave your worship's assistance in this case, y1 you would
bee pleased to grant us a Reprievement ffor our catle,
which they retain, and also a warrant to summons some
off thiere towne to answer the cause of yor high cort.
And whereas great damage may happen and accrew to
us iff the cause bee suspended, wee numbly crave your
worship, would answer our Request by the bearer.

" Soe with appreciation off all happiness to your Lord-
ship wee humbly take our leave, who remaine, your Loyall
subjects ye Inhabitants of Rusdorp. By order of the
town, scripsit.

" Superscribed. Daniel Denton, Clericus.

14 To the Right Worshipful Peeter Steevesant, Esqr.,
Govr Gen11. Off New Netherlands."

" 1658. Feb. 30th. It is ys day voted, ordered and
agreed upon by this town of Rustdorp that no person
or persons whatsoever within this town shall sell or give,
directly or indirectly, to any Indian or Indians whatso-
ever, within or about ye said town, any strong licker or
strong drinks whatsoever, or of what sort soever, either

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

223

much or little, more or less, upon the forfeiture of fifty
guilders for every offence."

In the division or allotment of lands in 1660, the fol-
lowing named persons, in addition to the above, are
found to be freeholders of the town :

John Baylis
George Woolsey, sen.
Joseph Smith
John Everit
John Carpenter
Samuel Dean, sen.
John Oldfield
Thomas Smith, sen.
John Rhodes, sen.
Thomas Ward
Samuel Mills
John Ludlum
John Wood

Nathaniel Denton, jun.
Thomas Oakley
Waite Smith
Nehemiah Smith
Samuel Davis
Fulke Davis
Abel Gale
Nathaniel Mills
Alexander Smith
Caleb Carman
Henry Foster
Jonas Hosstead
William Ruscoe

Samuel Barker
John Speagler
Samuel Messenger
Nicholas Everit
Samuel Smith
Joseph Thurston
Edward Higbie
Bryant Newton
John Rowlinson
Thomas Wellin
Robert Ashman
John Lynas
Morris Smith

January 21, 1659, one Benjamin Herbard, who had
bought a house lot without the approbation or knowledge
of the town, was required to bind himself " to behave
so in the town, y* he no waies prejudice his neighbors
by any unlawful or bad courses; and ye said Benjamin
doth engage himself if he shall fulfill not all and every
particular in yc premises to surrender of his lot again
to the town."

In 1660 a more ample patent was obtained from Gov-
ernor Stuyvesant, incorporating the place by the name
of Rusdorp.

Being characteristically jealous of any powers not
derived immediately from himself, his excellency exerted
himself on every occasion to concentrate all power in his
own person, or in his associates, the council, who were,
of course, well enough disposed to minister to his love
of authority; being entirely indebted to him for what

224 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

importance they possessed. In April, 1660, the gov-
ernor peremptorily ordered the magistrates of this place
to refer a cause then pending before them, to the council,
although, by their charter or patent, the justices were
invested with power to hear, try, and determine all cases
of the nature then in question.

In August, 1660, it was voted at a town meeting, that
the inhabitants should mow the common meadows by
squadrons, as follows, to wit: John Townsend and his
squadron at the East Neck; Robert Coe and his squadron
at the Long Neck; and Nathaniel Denton and his
squadron at the Haw Trees. It was ordered also, that
Daniel Denton should make a rate for paying the Bull's
hire by the town for the last year. The town also agreed
to cast lots for the south meadows, for which purpose
the meadows were divided into four parts, and the inhabi-
tants, as above, into four squadrons.

"Feb. 23, 166 1, voted to hire Richard Chasmore's
Bull for 20 guilders the year." Jan. 75, 1661, " ordered
y* a rate be made ffor ye wolves, one wolve off Abraham's
killing, 2 off them yl John Townsend's pit catcht, and one
bull hired 205. and 305. ffor ye dark — ye whole is £4 155."
April 14, 1 66 1, " ordered by ye towne yt noe inhabitant
off Rusdorp shall ingrosse into his hands, 2 home lots,
and if any doe contrary, they shall sell one of ym to such
person, as the towne shall approve."

April 30, 1661, " voted to hire a person to keep the
towne's cowes and calves for the year, and also to pay
Mr. Coe £11. 175. in good passable wampum out of
money lent to the towne by Nicholas Tanner." May 12,
1661, " whereas the towne are informed off one y* milkt
other ffolke cowes, being catcht by some off the town,
they have chosen William ffoster to prosecute ye cause to
ye uttermost, either here or at the Manhattans, and the

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 225

towne will satisfie him ffor what charge he shall be at
about ye business."

Jan. 30, 1662. " The town doe promis to give Abra-
ham Smith 30s. ffor beating ye drum a year."

March JJ, 1662. " It is ordered and agreed by the
town y* John Baylie shall keep an ordinary in ye towne
of Rusdorp, for ye entertaining of strangers, and also to
sell drinks, and that no man shall have liberty to sell
drinks, whether beer or liquors, or any sort of wine,
within ye towne, only the ordinary keeper aforesaid, and
y* he shall forthwith set upon ye work to provide for
strangers, and to give entertainment to such strangers as
shall come."

April 6, 1662. " It is ordered y* those wch doe not ap-
peare at ye beating of ye drum and goe to burn ye woods,
shall pay as. 6d. to those wc goe." The town voted a
trooper's coat and a kettle to the Indians, in full of their
claim for lands heretofore purchased, if they would give
a discharge to the town — this was accepted and the fol-
lowing release executed: — " We whose names are under-
written doe by these presents confess ourselves satisfyed
ffor the 8 bottles of licker y* was promissd by the town,
and alsoe ffor all rights and claymes ffor any land y* wee
have fformerly sould ye towne."

" Witness our hands this ffiveteenth of Aprill 1662 ;

" Rockause; Lumasowie; JVaumitampac."

April ye 11, 1662. " The deposition off Samuel Mills
testifyeth y* Sarah Smith did say (they being talking off
ye townsmen making ye rates) y* now ye towne was ruled
by three roges." " The same day, ordered by ye town
that a minister's house shall bee built 26 ffeet long and
17 foot wide, according as itt is agreed by covenant be-
twixt ye towne and Andrew Messenger and his son
Richard Darling and the towne are to pay £23 in bever
pay, y* is to pay, wheat at 6s. and Indian corn at 3s. 6d, ye
bushel, to bee payd after ye work is done."

226 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

The articles of agreement mentioned are as follows:

" The towne have hired Andrew Messenger and his
son in law Richard Darling, to build a house ffor ye min-
ister off 26 foot by 17, and to bee 10 foot high in ye stood,
betwixt joint and joint; ye house to bee well clap-boarded,
ye sides and ends — the roof to bee well and sufficiently
shingled wth 3 foot shingles, 2 chimneys to bee made in
the house, one below ffor a lower room, and another ffor
ye chamber; 2 floores off joice and boards, to bee layd
above in ye chamber and under foot. — to be well jointed
above and below — above a payre of steares, well and
stronglie made to goe into ye chamber — Chimneys to bee
well plastered — 3 windows, large and handsome, 2 below
and 1 above — the house to bee well braced and be done
by ye middle of August next. The towne to provide nails,
hinges, clap boards, and shingles — and alsoe sawn boards
ffor the inward work — the towne to cart all ye timber
and other stuff needful ffor the sayd house."

The town also engaged Goodman Baylie and Samuel
Smith to get stone for the back of the chimney, hearths,
and oven, as good say they, as the place will afford, and
to have 40s. therefor.

January 29, 1663, the town voted Abraham Smith 30s.
a year for beating the drum on Sabbath days and other
public meeting days, to be paid in tobacco payment, or
wheat at 6s. 8d. and Indian corn at 4s. a bushel.

The following relating to a minister bears date March
2, 1663:

11 We whose names are under written doe give unto
Mr. Walker his heirs and assigns ye house and home lot
that he lives in wth ye accommodation belonging to it, upon
ye proviso y4 iff hee goe away wth out just grounds or

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 227

cause given by ye towne y1 yn ye towne shall have ye
reffusal off it, paying ffor such labor as he shall expend
upon it, but iff ye towne shall act soe y* they be ye cause
off his going away, then ye towne to bring it ffor w* it
shall bee worth. And iff it soe happen y* Mr. Walker
die, his wife shall let ye town have ye reffusal, iff shee
shall sell it."

This was signed by Robert Coe and twenty-two other
persons.

" At a town meeting Aug. 30, 1663, it was voted and
agreed by the towne y* a meeting house shall bee built
26 foot square and y* Mr. Coe and Ralph Keeler, shall
agree wth George Norton ffor ye building off it."

This house was finished in the same year, the Rev. Mr.
Walker having already been with them one year, upon
trial.

At a town meeting February 14, 1663, Goodman
Benedic and Nathaniel Denton were authorized to supply
Mr. Walker's wants, what he should stand in need of.

The Rev. Zachariah Walker was the son of Robert,
who was made freeman at Boston 1634, where the
former was born in 1637. He was educated at Har-
vard, but for some reasons did not graduate, and com
menced his ministry here in 1662 at a salary of £60,
payable in wheat and Indian corn, at current prices,
besides the use of a house and home lot. His son Robert
was afterwards a judge of the superior court of Con-
necticut, and died at Stratford in 1772: one of whose
daughters was married to the Rev. Mr. Wetmore, and
another to John M. Breed, Esq., who was at one time
the mayor of Norwich. His son General Joseph Walker,

228 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

was a brave and patriotic officer of the Revolution, and
died at Saratoga August 1 1, 1810.

Mr. Walker removed to Stratford in 1668, where he
organized a new Congregational Society in 1670, of which
he was ordained the pastor, but removed therefrom,
with a portion of his people, to Woodbury in 1678, where
he died January, 1699, aged sixty-two. He had not
been ordained during his stay here, and this may have,
in part, occasioned his removal; for, on the 12th of
March, 1666, as appears from the records, the town
agreed to give Mr. Walker an additional sum of £5,
" provided he should continue with them from year to
year, and should likewise procure an ordination, answer-
able to the law, thereby to capacitate him not only for
the preaching of the word, but for the baptizing of
infants." But he having resolved to remove, the town,
August 7, 1668, appointed a committee to settle with him
for the improvements upon the parsonage, &c.

"Sept. 14, 1668. — At a tound meeting, the townd
voted and concluded to take the best and prudentest corse
as may be, for the procuring of a minister, as soon as
convenient time will admit." "March 29, 1669, voted
and agreed that Mr. Waters shall goe to Greenwiche, to
give Mr. Jones an invitation to visit us, that the towne
may have an opportunity to make an agreement with him,
concerning the work of the ministry."

Mr. Jones, however, declined the invitation, and was
afterwards settled at Huntington, where he died at a
very advanced age in 1731.

Rev. John Prudden succeeded Mr. Walker. He was
the second son of the Rev. Peter Prudden from Edger-
ton in Yorkshire (who was probably accompanied to

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 229

Milford by some who had been of his church in Eng-
land), arrived with the Rev. John Davenport at New
Haven in 1637, and was ordained at Milford April 18,
1640. His death took place in his fifty-sixth year, July,
1656, and he left an estate in his native country which it is
said his posterity enjoyed the benefits of many years after
his death. His children were Joanna, Mary, Elizabeth,
Samuel, John, Abigail, Sarah, Peter, and Mildred, born
between 1639 and 1654. His son John was born at
Milford, November 9, 1645, and graduated at Harvard,
1668, being a classmate of the Rev. Abraham Pierson,
first rector of Yale College.

He settled here in 1670, and (with the exception of
the time between January, 1674, and August, 1676)
remained till 1692, when he accepted a pressing invita-
tion from the church at Newark, N. J., where he went
as the successor of Mr. Pierson, and continued there
till June 9, 1699, when he relinquished his charge and
died December 11, 1725, aged eighty. Dr. McWhorter
says he sustained a worthy character as a man of sense
and religion, though he does not appear to have been a
popular preacher. Many of his descendants are still
found in New Jersey.

"Town meeting, March 9, 1692, Mr. Joseph Smith
was chosen to go with Nehemiah Smith to ye main, in
order to ye procurement of a minister; " and in October
following, the town invited the Rev. Jeremiah Hobart
of Hempstead to settle with them, and offered him many
inducements, but he then declined. The next year they
obtained the services of the Rev. George Phillips, of
Rowley, Mass., who continued with them till his re-
moval to Setauket in 1697. This year the town resolved
to erect a new and larger house for public religious

23o HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

worship, for which purpose the inhabitants were " di-
vided into five squadrons, to procure and bring to the
spot, timber, stone, lime, and whatever materials were
wanted." The next year another effort was made, but,
as yet, without success. In 1698 the Rev. Jeremiah
Hobart of Hempstead became minister of the town, yet
it is not supposed he was installed, and probably re-
mained only a year or two, but gave so much aid that
measures were put in such train for the purpose that a
large stone church was commenced during the year
1699 and completed shortly before 1700. In 1663 the
people of this town, in conjunction with those of Hemp-
stead and Middleburgh, sought the protection of Con-
necticut. The petition for this purpose will be found in
a subsequent part of this work.

A petition was presented September 26, 1664, to Gov-
ernor Nicoll, by certain inhabitants of the town, for lib-
erty to purchase and settle a parcel of land on the New
Jersey side of Staten Island Bay, now known as Eliza-
bethtown. The names subscribed to the said petition
were John Bailey, Daniel Denton, Thomas Benydick,
Nathaniel Denton, John Foster, and Luke Watson. The
parties to the deed from the Indians of the 28th October,
1664, are: Mattano, Manomowanne, and Counescomen
of Staten Island, and John Bailey, Daniel Denton, and
Luke Watson : — the tract conveyed is described as " one
parcel of land, bounded on the south by a river, com-
monly called the Raritan, and on the east by the river
which parts Staten Island and the main, and to run
northward up Arthur Cull Bay, till we come to the first
river, which sets westward out of the river aforesaid;
and to run westward, into the country, twice the length
that it is broad, from the north to the south of the afore-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 231

mentioned bounds." The consideration given for this
broad tract, was twenty fathoms of trading cloth, two
made coats, two guns, two kettles, ten bars of lead,
twenty handfuls of powder, and 400 fathoms of white,
or 200 of black, wampum, payable in one year from
the day of entry by the grantees upon the land. The
whole valued at thirty-six pounds and fourteen shillings
sterling. One of the grantors attests the conveyance,
perhaps the first Indian grant made with technical form,
by a mark opposite to his name. This, subsequently,
became the common mode of signature ; and the illiterate
sons of the American forest, like the unlettered noble
of the European feudal states, adopted as a sign manual,
occasionally, the picture of a bird, or other object that
captivated his fancy. Mattano was the only grantor who
signed, and his mark was —~— or waved line; and,
unfortunately for his business character, he had executed
a deed for the same lands to Augustus Herman, therein
mentioned. The grant, however, was duly confirmed
(probably in entire ignorance of preceding events) by
Governor Nicoll, as follows:

" Upon perusal of this Petition I do consent unto the
Proposals and shall give the undertakers all due encour-
agement in so good a Work. Given under my Hand in
Fort James this 30th of September 1664.

" Richard Nicoll."

The parties to this purchase on the part of the Indians
were Mattano, Manomowanne, and Counescomen. The
boundaries of it include Piscataway, Amboy, Wood-
bridge, Rahway, Elizabethtown, Union, Springfield, and
Westfield, containing 500,000 acres, known afterwards as

23 2 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

the Elizabethtown grant. Governor Nicoll gave it the
name of Albania, but it was called Elizabeth in honor of
the wife of Sir George Carteret, proprietor of the
province.

It will be seen that the town was careful to provide
for the support of their minister, for in June, 1676, it
was resolved that forty acres of meadow should be set
apart as a parsonage lot in the East Neck for the use
of any minister that might have occasion to use it. Other
lands were at the same time appropriated to the Rev.
Mr. Prudden to be his in fee, should he remain with
them for ten years.

This liberality may probably have induced him again
to return and resume his labors here, he having it seems
ceased to preach from 1674 to 1676, the interval being
supplied by the Rev. William JVoodroffe, one of the
ejected ministers, whom Mather calls Woodrop, and
who came to New England in 1670. He afterwards
removed from this place to Pennsylvania, where he prob-
ably died. August 23, 1692, Mr. Prudden accepted a
call to Newark, where he continued till June 9, 1699.

It should be mentioned that on the 5th of February,
1665, a patent of confirmation, for such lands as had
been purchased at different times, was granted by Gov-
ernor Nicoll to Daniel Denton, Robert Coe, Bryan
Newton, William Hallet, Andrew Messenger, Anthony
Waters, and Nathaniel Denton for and on behalf of
themselves and their associates, the freeholders and
inhabitants of the said town, their heirs, successors, and
assigns, in which the premises are described as follows:

11 All that certain tract of land, which already hath
been, or hereafter shall be purchased for and on behalf

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 233

of ye said towne of Jamaca, whether from ye native pro-
prietors or others, within the limits and bounds hereafter
exprest; that is to say, ye eastern bounds beginning on
the east side of ye Little-Plains, to extende south-east to
Rockaway Swampe; then north-east from Hempstead
bounds, to runne west as ye trees are mark't, on or about
ye middle of ye Hills, until it reach to flushing creeke
(which are their north bounds, and divides them from
the towne of flushing) according unto an order made at
the Generall meeting at the towne of Hempstead in the
month of March, 1665; then to meet Newtown bounds
at ye south west edge of the Hills, ye north-west corner
beginning at certain mark't trees at ye edge of ye said
Hills, from whence to runne in a south line to a certaine
river, that is, to ye east of Plunder's-Neck, and bounded
south by the sea."

The term sea here used, means what is now known as
Jamaica Bay, and the river referred to, is that now called
Spring Creek, which discharges into said bay, being the
eastern boundary of Plunder's Neck, a part of New
Lots, in Flatbush Town.

On the 5th of November, 1668, the town agreed
with John Waget to fence the burying-place, ten rods
square, for the sum of £4 in current pay; and on the 6th
of March, 1670, they voted to give Mr. Prudden £40
as their minister, with the house and lot formerly in pos-
session of Mr. Walker; and also that a convenient pew
should be built for him to preach in. The price ordered
by the town, November 7, 1674, to be paid to the Indians
for their west purchase, consisted of one trooper's coat,
five guns, three blankets, sixteen coats, nine kettles, ten
pounds of powder, ten bars of lead, one coat in liquors,
thirty fathoms of wampum, and a quart more of liquor.

On the 17th of May, 1686, Governor Dongan issued

234 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

a new patent to the town, in which the following persons
were named as patentees on behalf of themselves and
their associates:

Nicholas Everit Jonas Wood Richard Rhodes

Nathaniel Denton William ffoster Thomas Lamberson

Nehemiah Smith John Everit Joseph Smith

Daniel Denton Edward Higbie George Woolsey

John Oldfields Daniel Whitehead John Baylis

William Creed John Carpenter Thomas Smith

Bryant Newton John ffurman Wait Smith

Benjamin Coe Samuel Smith Samuel Mills

The said last-mentioned patent sets forth that an
agreement had been entered into the id of December,
1684, by which it was concluded and determined:

" That the town of Jamaica should make no claim to
Rockaway Neck; and that by Rockaway river should
be understood the river that runs out of Rockaway
Swamp, and to be Jamaica's east bounds; and that the
meadows on the west thereof should belong to Jamaica."

" The town being called together in arms on the 8th
of October, 1689, John Baylis, Jr., was chosen captain,
Jonas Wood, lieutenant, and Hope Carpenter, ensign."

The stone church aforesaid was of a quadrangular
form, and forty feet square, with a pyramidal roof and
balcony in the centre, surmounted by a weather-cock of
sheet copper. It stood nearly in the centre of the pres-
ent Fulton Street opposite Union Hall Street, and was
built, as we have seen, 1699, by Presbyterians or Inde-
pendents, there being, at the time of its erection, no other
in the town and very few in the colony; their first
church, called Kings Chapel, in New York, having been
built only in 1696. Of course there was no apparent
occasion for limiting the use of dissenting churches exclu-
sively to that particular sect.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 235

A very short time, however, after the building of the
church, difficulties arose which kept the parish in a con-
tinued ferment for a quarter of a century. A fatal sick-
ness having broken out in the city, the governor, Lord
Cornbury, with his council and other civil officers, took
refuge in this village; and out of respect and deference
to his excellency, the pastor of the church, the Rev, John
Hubbard, gave him possession of the parsonage house,
it being one of the best at that time in the place. Shortly
after which, it happened that Mr. Hubbard, on coming
to his church, on Sunday afternoon, found the Rev. Bar-
tow, an Episcopal minister, in possession of the pulpit,
and the body of the house filled with the governor's
friends and some others from the city. With true Chris-
tian forbearance, and with a proper regard for the day,
he invited his people to an adjoining orchard, under
whose shade he preached to them as if nothing at all had
occurred. When the governor was about to return to
the city, he not only neglected to surrender his residence
to its original occupant, but meanly delivered it to the
Episcopalians, who, it seems, had no misgivings as to
the propriety or honesty of that act. They were also
encouraged to take possession of the church and par-
sonage lands, a proceeding which produced, as might be
expected, very great disorder and contention among those
who had previously lived in the utmost harmony with
each other.

The Presbyterians, having subsequently obtained the
key, locked up the house, but early next Sunday, some
heroic spirits of the opposition broke open the doors and
kept possession of the building till the minister had fin-
ished his discourse and then fastened it up. Being
encouraged and countenanced by the civil authority with

236 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

the governor at their head, the Presbyterians were de-
prived of the church which they had built till 1728, when
after a most protracted and expensive litigation they
were restored to their rights. Chief Justice Lewis
Morris, afterwards governor of New Jersey, presided
at the trial of the cause which resulted in favor of the
Presbyterians.

His Honor did not, however, escape the malevolence
of the defeated party, who freely vented the severest
aspersions upon his official conduct; and out of regard
to his own character and the opinion of the world, he
thought it necessary to repel the odious charge of judicial
partiality by publishing a true statement of the case and
the grounds of his decision.

Cardwell, the sheriff, under the protection and prob-
ably at the instigation of the governor, was an active
agent in this nefarious transaction. He seized upon the
church land, divided it into lots, and leased them out,
for the benefit of his own party. *

This man, it seems, sustained a despicable character,
and being afterwards apprehended for some offence and
thrown into prison, hanged himself in despair.

This very unpleasant and vexatious controversy, so
unworthy the catholic spirit which at this day charac-
terizes the Christian community, may be ascribed in good
degree to the peculiar temper of the times, fostered, if
not originally excited, by the well known bigotry of Lord
Cornbury, who did more to bring disgrace upon the
administration of the colony than all his predecessors
together. For certainly no governor was ever more uni-
versally detested or so richly deserved it.

His behavior was trifling, mean, and extravagant,
while his despotism, bigotry, injustice, and insatiable

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 237

avarice at length aroused the indignation of the people,
and at the termination of his administration he was even
thrown into jail by his cheated and exasperated creditors,
where he remained till he made a partial satisfaction for
the injuries he had done them.

In the Episcopal burying-ground is the grave of Samuel
Clowes, the first lawyer settled upon the island, 1702,
who died August 27, 1760; of Catherine, his wife, whom
he married July 18, 1698, and who died August 7, 1740,
and also of his son Samuel, also a lawyer, who died May
x9> 1759. He was born at Derbyshire, England, March
16, 1674, and was instructed in mathematics by Flam-
stead, for whom Greenwich observatory was erected and
who was appointed Astronomer Royal, August 10, 1675.
He came to New York, 1697, accompanied Lord Corn-
bury to Jamaica in 1702, and was forthwith appointed
clerk of the county, which office he held till 17 10, when
the increase of his professional business compelled him to
resign. He was reputed an able advocate and was occu-
pied in many important causes. His children were
Gerardus, Samuel, John, Peter, Joseph, Alletta, Mary,
Catherine, and Millicent. Gerardus, born 1699, married
Sarah, daughter of Major Thomas Jones, and had
Catherine, Samuel, Timothy, Bagley, and John. Samuel,
born 1 70 1, married a daughter of Lieutenant Governor
Clark, and died as aforesaid. John was a physician and
settled in Delaware. Alletta married Edward Willet,
and was the mother of the late Colonel Marinus Willet.
Mary, born November 9, 1720, married Rev. Daniel
Thane of New Jersey, April 8, 1749, who died on Staten
Island in 1763. The name of Clowes seems to be com-
mon in many parts of England. William was surveyor
to Queen Elizabeth, and first surgeon of St. Bartholo-

23 8 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

mew's and Christ's Hospitals. Rev. John was many
years rector of St. John's Church, Manchester, and the
greatest printing establishment in Europe is owned and
conducted by William Clowes of London.

The Rev. John Hubbard was born at Ipswich, Mass.,
in 1677, and was the son or near relative of the Rev.
William Hubbard, the able historian of New England.
He graduated at Harvard in 1695, and was-settled here
in February, 1702, where he died at the premature age
of twenty-eight years and nine months, October 5, 1705,
being doubtless the first minister buried in the town. A
particular account of his death may be seen in the Bos-
ton News Letter of October 22, 1705. He was one of
the most excellent and amiable youths which New Eng-
land produced, and his death was extensively and deeply
lamented.

The parish in January, 1702, for the first time chose
church wardens and vestrymen under the act of 1693,
for the settling of a ministry, and they being Presbyte-
rian, called Mr. Hubbard as their pastor. This prob-
ably gave offence to the friends of Episcopacy, and may
have been one cause of the executive outrage related on
a previous page.

The Rev. Francis Goodhue was the next pastor, who
was also born at Ipswich, October 4, 1678, graduated at
Harvard in 1699, and was settled here the same year
as that of Mr. Hubbard's death. He continued here till
the latter part of the summer of 1707, when he made a
visit to New England, and died at Rehoboth, Septem-
ber 15, 1707, at the age of twenty-eight years and eleven
months, about the same as his predecessor. He was a
grandson of William Goodhue, of Ipswich, who took the
oath of freeman December 7, 1636. His son William,

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 239

father of the Rev. Francis Goodhue, was deacon of the
church at Chebacco (now Essex) and died there October
12, 1712.

The said William Goodhue the elder died about the
year 1700, at the age of eighty-five. He was one of the
most intelligent and respectable men of his day, and a
leading man in the colony of Massachusetts for many
years. He sustained the chief trusts of the town of Ips-
wich, was representative to the general court in 1666, '67,
'73, '76, '77, '80, '81, and '83. He was imprisoned and
fined under the administration of Andros for his resist-
ance to illegal taxation and other unjust measures of that
tyrannical governor. His first wife was Margery Wat-
son, by whom he had children, Joseph, William, and
Mary. September 7, 1664, he married Mary Webb, by
whom he had no issue. He lived long and his many
virtues conferred honor upon his name and family. The
gravestones of himself and grandson, the Rev. Francis
Goodhue, are still standing in the ancient burial ground
at Seekonk, once a part of the town of Ipswich.

Rev. George McNish was the successor of Mr.
Goodhue. He was from Scotland, arrived in Maryland
with the Rev. John Hampton in 1704, and settled in the
congregation of Monokin and Wicomico in 1705, from
whence he came to this church in 171 1, and was one of
the ministers who composed the first presbytery of Long
Island in 17 17, which, with those of Philadelphia and
New Castle, were the only presbyteries at that time upon
the American continent. He married the widow Mary
Smith, as second wife, August 12, 17 13. Having become
entitled, by some means, to a grant of land in the county
of Orange, he has been supposed to have removed there,
but it is now known that he died here March 10, 1723,

24o HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

being the second clergyman of this denomination buried
in the town. He had, however, ceased to labor con-
stantly in the ministry for some years before his death,
being infirm and somewhat advanced in life. His son
George married a daughter of Joseph Smith of this town,
and settled at Hanover, N. J.

Rev. Robert Cross, born near Bally Kelly, in Ireland,
in 1689, was the successor of Mr. McNish. He was
ordained by the presbytery of New Castle, March 17,
17 19, settled there for a short time, but came here in
October, 1723, and remained till 1737, when he removed
to Philadelphia, where he died in August 1766, aged
seventy-seven years.

He was greatly esteemed for his learning, as well as
extensive knowledge of the scriptures; in short, he was
accounted, at the time when he lived, one of the most
respectable ministers in the country.

Rev. Walter Wilmot was the successor of Mr. Cross.
He was born at Southampton, L. I., in 1709, gradu-
ated at Yale in 1735, and was ordained here April 12,
1738. He married December 28, 1742, Freelove,
daughter of Jotham Townsend of Oyster Bay, L. I.,
and their daughter Freelove Townsend Wilmot married
her cousin James Townsend of that place.

Mr. Wilmot was possessed of a delicate and sickly
constitution, which brought him to the grave, August 6,
1744, at the age of thirty-five years. He was, however,
one of the most amiable of men, and his death, as may
be supposed, was greatly and sincerely regretted. His
wife died before him at the age of twenty-three.

Rev. David Bostwick was of Scotch descent, born at
New Milford, Conn., in 1721, and became a student of
Yale College in 1736; he did not graduate, but soon after

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 241

engaged as instructor of an academy at Newark, N. J.,
under the supervision of the Rev. Aaron Burr, and upon
his settlement here, October 9, 1745, the ordination ser-
mon was preached by Mr. Burr, at that time president
of Nassau Hall.1 Mr. Bostwick is said to have pos-
sessed a mild catholic disposition, and confined himself
with laudable zeal to the duties of his station.

In 1756 he removed to the city of New York, and be-
came pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Wall Street,
the Rev. Joseph Treat being settled as his colleague in
1762. He died November 12, 1763, aged forty-three,
and Mary, his widow, September 22, 1778, aged fifty-
seven. Mr. Bostwick was both a good writer and an
accurate scholar, being, as the historian Smith says, " one
of the most distinguished clergymen in these parts."
He wrote and published a memoir of President Davis,
which was prefixed to his sermon on the death of George
II., in 1 76 1. He possessed, says his biographer, an
impressive, commanding eloquence, to which few attain;
and the ardor of his piety, with the purity of his life, and
the solidity of his judgment, gave him a strong hold on
public opinion.

Rev. Dr. Elihu Spencer was the next pastor of this
church. His great-grandfather, Gerard Spencer, was
born in 16 10, and is found at Lynn as early as 1638;
after which he removed to, and was one of the first set-
tlers of East Haddam, Conn., in the year 1660. His
son Samuel was father of Isaac, who was the father of
Joseph and Elihu Spencer. The former, better known as
General Spencer of the Revolution, died in 1789. His
brother Elihu, the fourth son, was born (says the Rev.
Dr. Miller, who married his granddaughter), at East

1 Princeton College. — Editor.

242 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Haddam, February 12, 1721, graduated at Yale 1746,
was ordained in Boston, September, 1748, and was settled
over the churches of Elizabethtown and Shrewsbury, Feb-
ruary 7, 1750, as the successor of President Dickinson.
On the death of this gentleman in October, 1747, Dr.
Spencer presided at the annual commencement of the col-
lege in conferring degrees, &c. In October, 1750, he
married Miss Johanna Eaton of Shrewsbury, and in 1756
removed to Trenton.

He labored here from May, 1758, to May, 1760, when
he succeeded the Rev. Dr. Rogens at St. George's,
Del. In 1770 he removed to Trenton again, where he
died December 27, 1784, aged sixty-three. His widow
died at the same age, November 1, 1791. One of his
daughters married Mr. Biddle of Carlyle, Penn. He
was the author of a View of the State of Religious Lib-
erty in the Colony of New York, and of a letter ad-
dressed to President Stiles, November 3, 1759, on the
dissenting interests in the middle states.

Dr. Spencer possessed a fine genius, great vivacity, and
eminent and active piety. In short, his merits as a
minister and a man are above the reach of flattery.

Rev. Benoni Bradner was the son of the Rev. John
Bradner of Scotland, pastor of the church at Cape May,
and first minister of the church at Goshen, N. Y., where
he settled in 1721 and died in 1732, and where his son
was born a few months after his death. He graduated
at Princeton, 1755, and came here in 1760, but removed
in 1761. He settled at Blooming Grove in June, 1786,
where he died January 29, 1804, aged seventy, having
ceased to preach for two years before. His wife was
Rebecca Briget of this town.

Rev. William Mills, son of Isaac, was born at Smith-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 243

town, March 13, 1739, graduated at Princeton 1756, was
licensed in 1760, and installed here in 1762, where he
continued till his death at the age of thirty-five years,
March 18, 1774. He was in all respects a very estimable
man, and as much devoted to his pastoral duties as a natu-
rally feeble constitution would allow. He left a widow
and six children. His sister Joanna married Nathan
Woodhull of Setauket, and was the mother of the Rev.
Nathan Woodhull, who died at Newtown. Rev. Will-
iam Mills married Hannah, daughter of Lieutenant Gov-
ernor Reading of New Jersey, and had John, William,
Isaac, Thaddeus, Mary, and Hannah. John and Thad-
deus married Halsteads. Mary married Dr. Caleb Hal-
stead, and Hannah died May 29, 1798, aged thirty-one.
Isaac went to Ohio, where he settled Elizabethtown.

Rev. Matthias Burnet was born at Bottle Hill, now
Madison, N. J., January 24, 1779, graduated at Prince-
ton in 1769, and was settled here in April 1775, where
he continued respected and useful till May, 1785, when
he removed to Norwalk, Conn., and took charge of the
Congregational Church there, November 2d of that year,
and died there January 30, 1806, aged fifty-nine.

Mr. Onderdonk, in his interesting volume of Revolu-
tionary incidents, says that " Mr. Burnet (who had
married an Episcopalian, Miss Ann Combs of Jamaica)
was the only Presbyterian minister in the country reputed
to be a friend to government, and was therefore allowed
to preach here during the whole war. Although he
saved the church from desecration, yet after the peace,
party spirit ran so high that he was forced to leave."
" The Highlanders attended his church, and sat by them-
selves in the galleries. Some had their wives with them,
and several children were baptized. Once when the sex-

244 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

ton had neglected to provide water and was about to
go for it, the thoughtful mother called him back and
drew a bottle of it from her pocket."

The second wife of Mr. Burnet was a daughter of
the Rev. Dr. Azel Roe, a native of Brookhaven, L. L,
and minister of Woodbridge, N. J., who married Re-
becca, widow of Rev. Caleb Smith, who died October 22,
1762, pastor of the church at Orange, N. J., and a
native of Brookhaven also.

Both before and after the Revolution, the Rev. Abra-
ham Keteltas officiated ocasionally in this and the other
churches in this part of the country, but had no perma-
nent parochial charge.

Mr. Keteltas was the son of Abraham Keteltas, a mer-
chant of New York, who came from Holland in 1720.
He was born in the city, December 26, 1733, graduated
at Yale, 1752; was installed in the borough of Eliza-
beth, N. J., September 14, 1757, as successor of Dr.
Spencer, and continued till his removal here in 1759,
where he spent the residue of his life, except during the
Revolutionary War, when he devoted himself to the
churches on the island and in Connecticut. In 1776 he
was one of the convention that framed the state consti-
tution, and was at all times a zealous supporter of inde-
pendence, which attitude drove him from his home in
1776, when more than 150 acres of valuable timber were
destroyed, his slaves set at liberty or enlisted in the serv-
ice of the enemy, and his dwelling occupied and injured
by British officers. The commander-in-chief, knowing his
ability to advise, frequently consulted him. He possessed
an uncommonly large and valuable library which occupied
much of his leisure. He published some excellent dis-
courses, and wrote an eulogy upon Mr. Whitefield, the

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 245

original of which is in the New York Historical Li-
brary.

He married November 3, 1755, Sarah, daughter of
the Hon. William Smith, and sister of the historian,
who died Chief Justice of Canada at Quebec in 1793.
She was born 1732 and died October 12, 18 15, leaving
issue Abraham, William (who died November 20, 1812,
aged forty-seven), John, Dr. Phillip Doddridge, who
married Levina Gerry, May 7, 1795, Mary, Jane, Eliza-
beth, Ann, Clarissa, and Sarah.

Mr. Keteltas was a member of the provincial conven-
tion, July 9, 1776, when Mr. Jay moved " that whereas
Rev. Abraham Keteltas has been solemnly devoted to the
service of God and the cure of souls, has good right to
expect and claim exemption from all such employments
as would divert his attention from the affairs of that
kingdom which is not of this world; Resolved that he be
at liberty to attend at such times only as he may think
proper, and that his absence be not considered as a neg-
lect of his duty," which passed twenty-two to eighteen.

It has been said that Mr. Keteltas was so much dis-
satisfied with that part of the constitution excluding
ministers of religion from holding civil offices, that he
soon after ceased to attend the convention, and it was
moved " that he have perpetual leave of absence."

Altje, his sister, born in Holland, October, 1696, mar-
ried Anthony Duane, May 24, 1730, and was the mother
of the Hon. James Duane, who was born February
6, 1733, and died 1797. She died in March, 1736. His
daughter Elizabeth Keteltas married Melancthon Fleet,
and died September 2, 1828, aged sixty, leaving a son,
Abraham Keteltas Fleet.

The following is copied from his tomb in Jamaica :

246 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

" Sacred to the memory of the Rev. Abraham Ketel-
tas,* obiit 30 Sept., 1798, aged 65."

He possessed unusual talents, which were improved
by profound erudition, and a heart firmly attached to
the interests of his country. It may not, perhaps, be
unworthy of record, that he had frequently officiated in
three different languages, having preached in the Dutch
and French languages in his native city of New York.

Rev. James Glassbrook, from Scotland, began to
preach here March, 11, 1786, but whether installed or

* James Henry Hackett, Esq., the popular American actor, whose char-
acter as a man and genius as an artist have shed a lustre upon the stage,
is a grandson of the Rev. Mr. Keteltas. His father, Thomas Gerardus
Hackett, came from Holland to New York in 1794, the younger son of
an English nobleman, of a family respectable for rank and talents. He
married Ann Keteltas in 1799, who died January 23, 1846, aged seventy-
one, having been born March 19, 1774. Her son, the subject of this
notice, was born March 15, 1800, and was a member of Union Hall,
under the tuition of the late Mr. Eigenbrodt. At fifteen years of age
he entered Columbia College, which he left at the end of a year, on
account of his health, and afterwards entered the office of the late
Robert Bogardus, as a law student, but finding few charms in the pages
of Bracton and Coke, he gave his attention to mercantile pursuits.
Failing in this, he turned to the stage, where he met the most decided
success, and has long sustained a high rank, both in Europe and
America, as a tragic and comic performer. His great success (says Mr.
Dunlap) has been proportionate to the enterprise and observation he
has evinced. He has been from his debut a star without regular training
or the trial of working up in a company of comedians; he has seized the
crown at a leap, and may say with Richard, "/ am myself alone." He
married early Miss Catherine D. Lee-Sugg, a popular English actress,
whom he at once took from the stage. He has not only acquired a
fortune by his profession, but has sustained in all respects a character
above reproach. None of the vices or frailties which have been thought
almost inseparable from the character of players have ever attached to
him; few persons are more respected in private life, and still fewer
have contributed so much to the stock of harmless pleasure or given
greater vigor to the morality of the stage. He has of late years, by
his splendid performance of Hamlet and others of Shakespeare's tragedies,
shown more fully the vast range of his talents. He lost his wife De-
cember 9, 1845, in the forty-seventh year of her age.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 247

not, does not appear. His stay was only till Novem-
ber, 1787, and he was succeeded by the Rev. George
Faitoute, who was born of a Huguenot family in the
city of New York in 1750, graduated at Princeton in
1774, and was settled in Greenwich, N. J., April, 1782,
from whence he came to this town in July, 1789, and
was installed the 15th of December following. He mar-
ried November 4, 1779, Euphemia Titus of Amboy,
N. J., who died September 30, 1828. Having preached
here about twenty-six years, he died, aged sixty-five, on
Sunday, August 21, 18 15, having preached in the fore-
noon of that day. In 1797 he was employed as the
principal of Union Hall. As a gentleman and divine, he
was greatly esteemed, and all that knew him admitted him
to possess first-rate abilities. He had two sons and four
daughters; James went to the West Indies, Elizabeth
married Nicholas C. Everit. Euphemia and Mary Ann
are deceased, while George and Lydia are still living.

Rev. Henry R. Weed was born at Ballston, N. Y.,
1790, graduated at Union College, 18 12; settled here
January 4, 18 16, and on the 19th February married
Phebe Biggs of Princeton, N. J. He removed to Al-
bany in 1822, from thence to Wheeling, Va., and is
now living.

Rev. Seymour Potter Funck graduated at Columbia
College, 1 8 17, and was ordained over this church March
6, 1823, but his want of health among other reasons
occasioned his removal May 9, 1825, and he died at
Flatlands, L. I., April 3, 1828, aged thirty-two, leaving
a widow, Alice Carberry (whom he married May 8,
1823) and one child.

Rev. Elias W . Crane, son of Noah Crane, Esq. of
Elizabethtown, N. J., was born March 18, 1796, being

248 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

the eldest of eight children who lived to grow up, and
was descended from one of the original settlers of that
place in 1664. He graduated at Princeton, N. J., in
1 8 14, and was subsequently employed a few years as
instructor of the Morristown Academy.

He was ordained and first installed over the Dutch
church at Springfield, N. J., January 5, 1820, and con-
tinued till about the time of his installment here, which
took place October 31, 1826. He was for several years
a director of the theological seminary at Princeton, and
like his predecessor, Mr. Faitoute, died suddenly, hav-
ing preached a few miles from his dwelling at John Car-
penter's on the same evening, November 10, 1840. His
life was a bright example of active usefulness, and his
death cast a general gloom over the community in which
he lived. He married Hannah Margaretta, daughter of
John Johnson, Esq.. of Newton, N. J., July 7, 18 19, by
whom he had issue. She died October 18, 1827, aged
thirty-one, and June 30, 1829, he married Sarah R.
Wickham of this place who survived him. His daugh-
ter Martha W. Crane married Henry N. Beach, Oc-
tober 6, 1847.

Rev. James M. Macdonald is the son of Major Gen-
eral John Macdonald; born at Limerick, Me., May 22,
18 12, graduated at Union College, 1832; ordained at
New London, Conn., December 13, 1837; dismissed
January 8, 1840, and installed here May 5, 1841. He
married Lucy Esther, daughter of John Hyde, Esq. of
Mystic, September, 1834.

" Since Mr. Macdonald's ministry, the list of pastors
is as follows : x

1 List of pastors since 1850 has been kindly furnished by Amos
Denton, Esq., Clerk of Session. — Editor.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 249

Rev. Peter D. Oakey, who was installed pastor of this
church May 25, 1850, resigned in consequence of ill-
health September 6, 1870.

The Rev. Lewis Lampman (now D.D.) was installed
November 10, 1870, and resigned to take the pastorate
of the High Street Presbyterian Church, Newark, N. J.,
November 15, 1888.

The Rev. J. Howard Hobbs (now D.D.) was in-
stalled January 24, 1890, and resigned to take the pas-
torate of the Westminister Presbyterian Church, Utica,
N. Y., November 15, 1908.

The. Rev. Benjamin E. Dickhaut was installed Sep-
tember 30, 1909, and died December 27, 191 1.

The present pastor, Rev. Andrew Magill, was in-
stalled September 27, 19 12." Editor.

The stone church, having stood 114 years, was taken
down in the year 18 13, and its materials were used in
laying the foundation of the present church edifice, which
was begun in that year and finished the year following.
It was dedicated January 18, 18 14, and is of large
dimensions, and well accommodated to the convenience
and wants of the congregation, but is a plain and sub-
stantial building.

An accurate pencil drawing of this edifice, made by the
late David Lamberson, is in the possession of his family
and gives a good idea of its appearance while standing.
This gentleman, once surrogate and judge of the county,
died suddenly May 2, 1842. He married Ann Furman
of Dutchess County, who was born there October 1 1,
1784, and was drowned by the sinking of the steamboat
" Swallow " in the Hudson River, on the night of April 2,
1845. ^ is worthy of note that she was one of ten chil-
dren, and was herself the mother of ten also.

250 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

The Reformed Dutch Church in this town was the first
of that denomination in the county; it was organized in
1702 by settlers who had removed from the adjoining
county of Kings and the city of New York, but the
church edifice was not completed till 17 15, at an expense
of £360. It was of a hexagon shape, thirty-four feet in
diameter, and stood upon the south side of Fulton Street,
in front of the present Dutch church. It was similar in
form to most of the early Dutch churches, being most
agreeable to their notions of architectural elegance, and
calculated also to accommodate conveniently the greatest
number of auditors in the least space.

The subscription for building the church was headed
by the following declaration, which exhibits the harmony
and good feeling which then prevailed:

" We, the consistory of New Jamaica, in Queens
county, on the island Nassau, consisting of the elders and
deacons of the reformed Low Dutch church throughout
the whole of Queens county, are unanimously resolved to
build a church unto the glory of God and our Lord Jesus
Christ. God hath blessed us, and enabled us to build
houses for our families; but we are also bound to show
our gratitude to God, by building a house for the Lord
and for the family of God — for all we have or possess,
is given us by a good God; and that we may induce him
to grant us greater blessings, we ought, from motives of
piety, to build a house unto the honor and glory of His
name. For thus saith the Lord : ' In all places where
I record my name, I will come unto thee, and bless thee.'
We are therefore assured, that whosoever giveth unto
the Lord for the building of his house, the Lord will
bless him with rich returns. In endeavoring, therefore,
to build an house of God for the Dutch congregation,
and to prove the love of God's children, not only in word,

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 251

but in very deed, we propose to the charitable brethren
and sisters, the following conditions, &c."

The church wardens chosen after the completion of
the house, were Jan Snedeker, Joris Remsen, Peter
Monfort, and Rem Remsen.

During the war of the Revolution, the building was
desecrated to military purposes, the floor being ripped
up, the pews torn out, and the body of the church used
as a storehouse, the congregation being compelled to
worship elsewhere, as opportunity might offer.

The first settled minister was the Rev. Johannes
Henricus Goetschius, who, when a boy, came with his
father from Zurich, in Switzerland, to Philadelphia, hav-
ing received a call to the first Reformed German Church
in that city. Young Goetschius had previously com-
menced his education at the university of Zurich, which
he completed with his father on his arrival in America.
After his ordination by the German church in Pennsyl-
vania, he preached awhile in the Reformed Dutch
churches of North and Southampton in that province,
from whence he removed in 1741, and became pastor of
the Dutch churches of Jamaica, Newtown, Success, and
Wolver Hollow,1 all of which were associate or collegi-
ate churches, and so continued for nearly a century, con-
stituting in fact one parish.

At this period, an unhappy division existed in the
churches of this denomination, relative to their subordi-
nation to the church of Holland. The one party, called
the coetus party, were in favor of declaring themselves
independent of the mother church, and managing their
ecclesiastical concerns without its interference and juris-

1 Now Brookville. — Editor.

252 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

diction; while the other, called the conferentie party,
were of opinion that no ministerial ordination would be
sufficient or valid unless obtained from the mother
church in Holland, or by its express permission and
authority.

The fatherland had heretofore supplied most of the
ministers of this church, and those who were not natives
of that country went there for ordination; it was, there-
fore, natural that prejudices should exist in favor of a
precedent which had been so long and constantly ob-
served. The church of Holland was extremely tenacious
of its authority in this matter, which had been acquiesced
in too long to be tamely relinquished. But the require-
ment was found to be vexatious, expensive, and dilatory,
and the necessity of declaring the American church to
have an independent existence, became too apparent to
be any longer disregarded.

The parties, when first formed, were about equal,
although the weight of learning was doubtless on the side
of the conferentie party; but practical preaching, zeal,
and industry particularly distinguished their opponents.
The popular opinion was likewise in their favor, and
their numbers and influence gradually increased. But
the peace of the churches was destroyed, and sometimes
members of the same congregation, taking different sides,
produced the most deplorable consequences. Houses of
worship were locked up by one party against the other,
and tumults were not infrequent upon the Lord's Day;
preachers were sometimes assaulted in the pulpit, and
public worship broken up in disorder. The coetus party,
in order to supply the want of ministers in their churches,
obtained from the governor of New Jersey, in 1770, the
charter of Queens College, and from that time no fur-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 253

ther measures were adopted by them for a reconciliation
with the classis of Amsterdam.

But to such an independent establishment, there was a
strong and decided opposition, probably fomented and
encouraged by the mother church. Towards the middle
of the eighteenth century, the English language had made
great progress among the Dutch inhabitants, and it
therefore became desirable to very many that the lan-
guage of the country should be more generally adopted
in the pulpit, while men educated in the American col-
leges should be more frequently employed in the
churches.

All these circumstances, allied to the humiliating idea
of being as heretofore dependent upon a distant republic
for a large proportion of their ministers, made a deep
and abiding impression on the public mind, and came to
be regarded by many members of the Dutch Church as
no longer tolerable.

In 1753 it was advised by the coetus to amend the plan
before recommended, and to change it into a regular
classis. Such a measure was actually adopted in the fol-
lowing year, and occasioned a scene of animosity, divi-
sion, and violence that continued a number of years, and
sometimes even threatened the very existence of the
Dutch Church in this country.

Those ministers most zealous in their opposition, and
composing the confer entie party, addressed a letter to
the classis of Amsterdam, complaining of the attempts
making to be rid of its authority, and constituting a body
here with co-ordinate powers. They likewise sent similar
letters in 1756, 1760, and 1761.

On the 27th of April, 1738, a meeting of ministers
took place in the city of New York, at which such

254 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

reports were received from the churches to which the
plan of a coetus had been communicated, as induced those
present to ratify and confirm it. The plan adopted was
sent to the classis of Amsterdam for their approbation,
but it does not appear that any answer was returned for
nearly ten years, but their concurrence was given in 1747
by the hand of Mr. Van Sinderin, who, it is supposed,
came then to America for the first time. At the meet-
ing in that year, little was done except to appoint that
the first meeting of the coetus should be held in the month
of September of that year.

The principle of independence finally prevailed, and in
October, 177 1, at a convention of nearly all the ministers
of the Dutch Church in America, an union was formed,
and harmony once more happily restored.

Mr. Goetschius, who had been settled here as above
mentioned, remained till 1748, devoting himself a part
of the time to the education of young ministers, when he
was called to take charge of the Reformed Dutch
churches of Hackensack and Schraalenburgh, where he
died in the fifty-seventh year of his age. He was esteemed
a very learned man, an eloquent divine, and was emi-
nently successful in his ministry. His name is still greatly
cherished by the aged members of the church in this coun-
try. He was one of the first trustees of Queens College
under its royal charter.

Rev. Thomas Romeyn, brother of the Rev. Dr. Dirck
Romeyn, former minister of Schenectady, and uncle of
the late Rev. Dr. John B. Romeyn of the city of New
York, was the second pastor of the associate churches in
this county. He was born at Hackensack, N. J., in 1730,
graduated at Princeton in 1750, and settled here as suc-
cessor to Mr. Goetschius in 1752, where he remained

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 255

about twelve years, when he removed, and after laboring
in several places he accepted a call to Schenectady in
1784, where he died in April 1804. His son, James
V. C. Romeyn, was the minister of Hackensack, N. J.,
and his grandson James preached at Catskill, N. Y.

Rev. Hermanns L. Boelen, the next minister, was a
native of Holland, from whence he came here in 1766,
and after officiating several years, returned again to the
country of his birth for reasons not now known.

Rev. Dr. Solomon Froeligh succeeded as pastor in
1775, and remained till the capture of Long Island by
the enemy in August, 1776, when, being an ardent whig,
he left this place and afterwards settled in the churches
of Hackensack and Schraalenburgh as successor of Mr.
Goetschius, and was appointed professor of divinity by
the General Synod of the Reformed Dutch Church, after
which he trained many young men for the ministry. He
died October 8, 1827, in the seventy-eighth year of his
age and the fifty-third of his ministry. The church edi-
fice in Jamaica was taken possession of by the British
during the war, and converted into a storehouse for
goods and provisions.

Rev. Rynier Van Neste, fifth pastor, was settled at
Shawangunk, Ulster County, from 1778 to 1784, and
came here in 1785, previously to which the church edifice
had been thoroughly repaired. His stay here was about
eight years, when he removed and was subsequently set-
tled at Schoharie, N. Y., but died near Somerville, N. J.

Rev. Zacharias H. Kuypers, son of the Rev. War-
muldus Kuypers, formerly minister at Hackensack and
Schraalenburgh, N. J., was ordained as pastor of the
four churches in Queens County, in the summer of 1794.
The sermon was preached at Success, by Rev. Dr. Living-

256 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

ston, from Matt, ix: 37. He continued to labor in the
county till the year 1825, when he was called to preach
in the three churches of Preakness, Ponds, and Wykoff,
N. J. He was living in New York in 1849, one of the
oldest ministers in the communion of the Dutch Church.

In 1802 the churches of Jamaica and Newtown sepa-
rated from those of Success and Wolver Hollow,1 and
settled in February, 1802, as their joint pastor, the Rev.
(later Dr.) Jacob Schoonmaker. He is the youngest son
of the Rev. Henry Schoonmaker, who, for more than
forty years, was pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church
at Aquacanock, N. J., where his son was born in 1777.
He graduated at Columbia College in 1799, and in 1832
he was made doctor of divinity in the Dutch Church,
and became the senior pastor of this denomination on
Long Island and in the city of New York. He mar-
ried Katharine, daughter of Richard Ludlow. It is a
curious fact that this gentleman was the grandson in
the maternal line of the Rev. Mr. Goetschius, minister of
this church more than a century ago. He completed the
fortieth anniversary of his ministry February 22, 1842,
on which occasion an appropriate discourse was deliv-
ered by his junior associate in the churches of Jamaica
and Newtown, the Rev. Garret I. Garretson, which has
been published. His son, Richard L., was pastor of the
Dutch Church at Manhasset. His daughter, Susan L.,
married William H. Conover July 26, 1842. John Henry
married Sarah, daughter of Samuel Willets, who died
July 5, 1847; Anna B. married on the same day Jona-
than D. Hull, and Elizabeth married Peter Hendrickson
in 1837.

The old hexagonal church was taken down in 1833,

1 Now Brookville. — Editor.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 257

the last sermon therein being delivered by the Rev.
Mr. Schoonmaker, in the Dutch language as the first had
been. The present church, a larger and handsome edi-
fice, was completed and dedicated on the 4th of July of
that year.

11 Rev. Dr. Schoonmaker resigned his charge in Au-
gust, 1850, and was succeeded by Rev. John B. Alliger of
Shawangunk, January 7, 1851. Mr. Alliger preached
until 1870. Since then the following pastors have
officiated:

Rev. John G. Van Slyke 1870 to 1876

■ William H. De Hart 1877 to 1886

" Oliver H. Walser 1888 to 1890

" Edgar Felton, Jr 1891 to 1898

" Robert K. Wick1 189910 "

— Editor.

Our history of the Episcopal Church here is quite in-
complete and unsatisfactory from the want of materials,
and we are under particular obligations to the present
rector of the church for much information otherwise
unattainable to us.

The Society in England for Propagating the Gospel in
Foreign Parts, almost upon its formation in 1701, sent
the Rev. George Keith, an apostate Quaker (once a
resident of Pennsylvania), as a missionary to America,
and for the special purpose, as it would seem, the better
to ascertain from personal experience and observation
the most ready mode of answering the objects of the
society. It must appear strange that one who had suffered
no small measure of persecution for being a Quaker
should become the willing persecutor of his former
friends and should moreover be selected as, above all

1 List of pastors since 1877 has kindly been furnished by Mr. Wick. —
Editor.

258 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

others, a fit instrument to assist in preparing the way
for the introduction and establishment of Episcopacy in
this colony.

He was accompanied by the Rev. Patrick Gordon, who
being intended as missionary for Long Island arrived
and died at Jamaica on the night before the Sunday on
which he was to have commenced his labors here in 1702,
as rector of Queens County, during the administration
of Lord Cornbury, who had been instructed by his royal
mistress, Queen Anne, " to give all countenance and en-
couragement to the exercise of the ecclesiastical jurisdic-
tion of the Bishop of London, as conveniently might be,"
and " that no school master from England be allowed
in the province without the license of the said bishop."

But such was the governor's inordinate selfishness, his
imprudence, and bigotry as a sectarian and above all his
anti-Christian and unfeeling severity toward other de-
moninations, that in the end he proved himself an enemy
to the best interests of an establishment which he
seemed, on all occasions, anxious to encourage.

The commission and instruction of his Lordship bear
date December 5, 1702, and he was required to take spe-
cial care to have the Book of Common Prayer read on
Sunday and holy days, and the sacrament administered
according to the Church of England. No minister was
to be preferred by him to any ecclesiastical benefice, with-
out a certificate from the Bishop of London, the minister
of each parish to be one of the vestry, and no vestry
meeting to be held without him, except in case of sickness.
He was moreover required to give an account to the said
bishop of any minister within the government that should
preach or administer the sacrament in any orthodox
church or chapel without being in due orders. And he

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 259

was to give all countenance and encouragement to the
jurisdiction of the Bishop of London, except the collat-
ing to benefices, granting licenses of marriage, and pro-
bate of wills, which were reserved for the personal exer-
cise of the governor and commander-in-chief for the time
being; and no person from England or other parts was
to be admitted to keep school without a license first
obtained.

According to the missionary's report of 1704, there
was at Jamaica a tolerably good church built of stone, a
parsonage house, an orchard and 200 acres of land be-
longing to it, and £60 per annum, settled by act of
assembly. In the church were a prayer book and cushion,
no vestments nor communion vessels. There were twenty
communicants, mostly brought over by Rev. Mr. Mott,
who with Mr. Vesey occasionally officiated here till the
induction of the Rev. William Urquhart in August, 1704,
by authority of Lord Cornbury. The church wardens
and vestry were chosen by a majority of the parish who
were dissenters, and refused to qualify themselves or to
provide bread and wine for the sacrament.

Mr. J. A. Honeyman, the first missionary here, says,
" we have a church but neither Bible nor Prayer Book,
no clothes neither for pulpit nor altar."

In a summary account of the state of the Episcopal
Church in this province by the Rev. William Vesey, Oc-
tober 5, 1704, is the following: "In Jamaica, there is
a stone church built by a tax levied on the inhabitants —
has a spire and bell, but no pews or utensils — the church
built in the street, and there is a house and some land
for a parsonage, formerly (says he) in possession of
the Independents, but now in possession of the Rev. Mr.
Urquhart, by his excellency, Lord Cornbury's favor,

260

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

who has been the great promotor of the church in this
province, and especially in this place."

In the report of the British society of February 16,
1705, it is remarked among other things, that " there
is a provision in Queens County for two ministers,
of £60. In Queens and Suffolk counties, are two church
of England congregations, many Independents, and some
Quakers and Libertines"

In their report of 1706, it is stated that, " her
majesty Queen Anne was pleased to allow the churches
of Hempstead, and Jamaica, Westchester, Rye, and
Staten Island, each, a large church bible, common-
prayer book, book of homilies, a cloth for the pulpit, a
communion table, a silver chalice and paten."

The death of Mr. Urquhart occurred in about five
years after his settlement. His will bears date August
29, 1709, in which he gives to his wife Mary all his
estate in America, and says, " I desire her that there
may be no great pomp or formality used at my funeral,
that none except my wife be put in mourning, that no
rings, gloves, or scarfs be given, but that persons fit to
be taken notice of for their service, be otherwise
gratified."

In a letter from Mr. Thomas of Hempstead, to the
society in England, of March 1, 1705, he says, " the
people of Hempstead are better disposed to peace and
civility than they are at Jamaica. Mr. Urquhart, who
is well esteemed of among the people, and myself, are
now very easy, owing to the good governor's (Lord
Cornbury's) vigorous espousing our cause."

This want of peace and civility refers probably to the
resentment shown by the Presbyterians toward the
Episcopalians and their pastor, who had, through the

J*'

31*1

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

261

•'-::t!]K

J church

- .- :,

' Rve. and

■•■

m its August
•■ ill his
: xr iit there
. :■-..■ Foneral
mag, that no

d to the

.."the

:.". who

'j Lord
>lv to the

officious and wicked interference of his lordship, deprived
them of their church and its appendages, as has been
above stated.

In addition to the representation given of Lord Corn-
bury by Smith and other historians, Grahame says, " his
character seems to have formed a composition no less
odious than despicable, of rapacity, prodigality, volup-
tuousness, and cruelty; the loftiest arrogance and the
meanest chicane. He robbed even Andros of his evil
eminence, and rendered himself more universally de-
tested than any^ other officer to whom the government of
this province was ever entrusted. In every quarter of
the province the governor offered his assistance to the
Episcopalians to put them in possession of the ecclesi-
astical edifices, that other sects had built; and to the dis-
grace of some of the zealots of Episcopacy, this offer was
in various instances accepted and produced the most
disgusting scenes of riot, injustice, and confusion."
" Finally," says Chief Justice Smith, " his perpetual de-
mands for money, his extortions in the way of fees, and
his haughty and tyrannical conduct in other respects, con-
tinued to increase, until, moved by the complaints of
New York and New Jersey, the Queen consented to
recall him."

Rev. Thomas Poyer arrived from England, and was
inducted in the rectorship, July 18, 17 10. He was ship-
wrecked on Long Island, 100 miles from Jamaica, July
7th of the same year, and saved with great difficulty
from a watery grave. Mr. Poyer was a grandson of
Colonel Poyer, who died in the gallant defence of Pem-
broke Castle in the time of Cromwell. Finding, on com-
ing here, the troubles which existed in relation to the
church and glebe, he drew up, and forwarded to the

260 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

who has been the great promotor of the church in this
province, and especially in this place."

In the report of the British society of February 16,
1705, it is remarked among other things, that "there
is a provision in Queens County for two ministers,
of £60. In Queens and Suffolk counties, are two church
of England congregations, many Independents, and some
Quakers and Libertines."

This want of peace and civility refers probably to the
resentment shown by the Presbyterians toward the
Episcopalians and their pastor, who had, through the

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 263

and a daughter Sarah, who married Aaron Van Nos-
trand in 1772, and had John and Catherine, who died
January 15, 1849, aged seventy-four.

Mr. Poyer's residence was every way unpleasant, con-
stantly troubled with the most violent controveries about
the parsonage property, which (says Dr. Spencer) " pro-
ceeded to such length, that many of the principal in-
habitants were harassed with severe persecutions, heavy
fines and long imprisonments, for assuming their just
rights, and others fled out of the province to avoid the
rage of episcopal cruelty."

In 1730 Mr. Poyer requested permission, on account
of advanced age and great infirmity, to return to Eng-
land, but he died here January 15, 173 1. The church
and parsonage land having been confirmed by the deci-
sion of the supreme court, to the Presbyterians in 1727,
the Episcopalians now held their meetings in the court
house, until their first church was built in 1734. Mr.
Poyer preached two years in the court house. Mr. Col-
gan preached here two years.

A letter of thanks was sent to Governor Hunter for
his support of Mr. Poyer " in all legal methods of
relief," and an order granted for all the expenses that
the minister should be at, in recovering his salary by due
course of law, in the shortest and speediest manner pos-
sible.

Rev. Thomas Colgan was from England, and had
been employed as catechist to the negroes in New York.
He became rector here in 1732, where he continued till
the close of his life, December 15, 1755, and was buried
under the pulpit of the church. He married Mary
Reade of New York, and had sons Reade, Thomas,
Fleming; daughters Sarah, who married a Hammersley;

264 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Mary, who married Christopher Smith; and Jane, who
married Wynant Van Zandt of New York.

The church now finished was incorporated by the title
of Grace Church, June 17, 1761. At its dedication,
April 3, 1734, Governor Cosby, his lady and family, the
council, with many ladies and gentlemen from the city,
honored the occasion with their presence, when a splen-
did entertainment was given by Samuel Clowes, an emi-
nent lawyer, residing in the village. The militia were
under arms to attend his excellency and the concourse
of citizens was great.

On this then novel and interesting event, his excel-
lency's wife presented the congregation with a large
Bible, common prayer book, and a surplice for the rec-
tor. Mr. Colgan, in a letter to the society, says of the
church, " It is thought to be one of the handsomest in
America."

But in relation to a religious excitement then existing
in the country, caused by Whitefield and other zealots,
he says, " The late predominant enthusiasm is very much
declined, several of the teachers, as well as hearers, hav-
ing been found guilty of the foulest immoralities, and
others having wrought themselves into downright
madness."

A lottery of 1,300 tickets at one dollar each, was
drawn October 10, 1747, at the County Hall, by Jacob
Ogden and Samuel Clowes, the deduction upon each
being one shilling, for the purpose of purchasing a bell
for the church.

Even at this time, says the Rev. Mr. Barclay, a ma-
jority of the vestry were dissenters, and they presented
the Rev. Simon Horton to Sir Charles Hardy for induc-
tion into the parish; he of course refused as he had not

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 265

the necessary certificate from the Bishop of London as
before mentioned, and the Rev. Mr. Seabury was col-
lated to the cure in due course.

On the death of Mr. Colgan, the governor, Sir
Charles Hardy, introduced the Rev. Samuel Seabury , who
was born at New London, where his father of the same
name was rector, in 1728, graduated at , Yale in 1748,
took orders in London in 1753, settled on his return at
New Brunswick, and removed hither in 1756, as hereto-
fore mentioned. John Troup, Esq., a wealthy citizen, con-
tributed liberally to the church, presenting also a silver
collection plate, a large prayer book, and a table for the
communion. Mr. Seabury, in a letter to the society in
England, complains of the influence of infidelity and
Quakerism upon his people, which he says, " have spread
their corrupt principles to a surprising degree." Of
Whitefield, he says, " that he with other strolling
preachers, represent the Church of England as popish,
and teach people to expect salvation by good works."
In 1766 Mr. Seabury removed to Westchester, but
during the Revolution was in the city of New York.
After the peace he settled in New London; and in the
year 1784 was consecrated (in Scotland) the first bishop
in the United States, and presided for the remainder of
his life over the diocese of Connecticut and Rhode
Island. He died February 25, 1796. The Rev. Joshua
Bloomer had been in 1759 a captain in the provincial
service from Westchester County, and afterwards a mer-
chant in the city of New York. He was educated at
Kings College, where he graduated in 1758; went to
England for ordination in 1765, settled in this town in
1769, where he died June 23, 1790, aged fifty-five, and
was succeeded by the Rev. William Hammel. Of his

266 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

salary Jamaica paid £40, Newtown £40, and Flushing
£35. This gentleman having become blind, and unable
to discharge his pastoral duties acceptably, resigned in
August, 1795. The foregoing ministers also officiated in
the churches at Newtown and Flushing, which were asso-
ciated with Grace Church; but in consequence of some
dissatisfaction, Newtown withdrew from the union in
1796; and May 10, 1797, the Rev. Elijah D. Rattoone
(former professor of the Latin and Greek languages in
Columbia College) who married Sarah, daughter of
Rev. Dr. Beach, was settled here in connection with
the church at Flushing. This gentleman graduated at
Princeton in 1787, and in 1802 he removed from this
place to St. Paul's Church, Baltimore. He was succeeded
by the Rev. Calvin White, who graduated at Yale Col-
lege in 1786, and settled in 1803; but he removed August
17, 1804, and was succeeded by the Rev. George
Strebeek, May 1, 1805. He remained only a short time,
as was the case with the Rev. Andrew Fowler, Rev.
John Ireland, Rev. Edmund D. Barry, and the Rev.
Timothy Clowes; who were successively ministers of this
church from 1805 to 18 10, for short periods.

Mr. Clowes was the son of Joseph, son of Timothy,
son of Gerardus, who was the son of Samuel Clowes be-
fore mentioned. He was born at Hempstead, March 18,
1787, graduated at Columbia College, 1808, and though
a clergyman of the Episcopal Church, devoted most of
his life to academical instruction. He was ordained No-
vember 30, 1808, and preached the two following years
at Jersey City and Jamaica. In April, 18 10, he was made
rector of St. Peter's Church, Albany, and after seven
years opened a classical seminary in his native village,
which continued three years with much success, but in

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 267

1 82 1 he became principal of Erasmus Hall, Flatbush,
where he remained for three years, when he was chosen
president of Washington College, Maryland, and rector
of the church in Chestertown. On the destruction of
the college by fire in 1829, Mr. Clowes (now LL.D.)
again opened a school at Hempstead, but in 1838 he was
invited to preside over the Clinton Liberal Institute at
Oneida, where he remained till 1842, when he removed
to Philadelphia and took charge of one of the high
schools of that city, but came back to his native place
again in 1846, and died June 19, 1847, aged sixty. He
was confessedly one of the best linguists and mathemati-
cians of the day. Indeed, his discoveries and improve-
ments in the latter science were most extraordinary.

Rev. Gilbert H. Sayres is the son of Isaac and Abigail
Sayres of Rahway, N. J. His father, a soldier and
patriot of the Revolution, died January 22, 1842, aged
eighty. His mother was a sincere and consistent mem-
ber of the Society of Friends, and brought up her son
in that way. He was born at Rahway, 1787, graduated
at Columbia College, 1808, and was called to this church
May 1, 1 8 10, where he continued to discharge his pas-
toral duties with energy and zeal, till want of health,
which had been a long time delicate, compelled him to
resign his rectorship in 1830. He married Eliza Brown
of New York in 18 10, by whom he has sons George
and Gilbert; the former was made rector of St. John's
Church, Kingston, N. Y., and the latter is a lawyer. The
other children are Jane, Eliza, Samuel, Lydia, and
William J.

Rev. William L. Johnson, D.D. (son of the Rev. John
B. Johnson, formerly minister of the Dutch Reformed
Church at Albany, afterwards of Brooklyn, who died

268

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

at Newtown, August 29, 1803, and grandson of Barent
Johnson, a soldier of the Revolution, who was severely-
wounded at the battle of Flatbush in August, 1776),
was born at Albany, September 15, 1800. His first
instructor in the languages was Joseph Nelson, well
known at the time as the blind teacher, and afterwards
as the learned and classical professor in Rutgers
College, N. J. Mr. Johnson graduated at Columbia
College, 1 8 19, was admitted to the order of deacon in
1822, when he took charge of St. Michael's parish at
Trenton, N. J. In 1825 he was admitted to the priest-
hood and removed to this parish in May, 1830, as the
successor of Mr. Sayres. He married Mary Elizabeth,
daughter of the Rev. Henry Whitlock of New Haven,
1 82 1. She was born in January 1804, and died May
19, 1848, aged forty-four. Mr. Johnson received the
degree of D.D. at Allegheny College, 1846. His
brother, the Rev. Samuel R. Johnson, formerly of Flush-
ing, and Newtown, L. I., and of La Fayette, Indiana, is

now rector of St. John's Church, Brooklyn.

" Dr. Johnson died in 1870 and therefore had been
rector of this church for forty years. He was succeeded
by the Rev. George Williamson Smith, D.D., on Feb-
ruary 6, 1872, who remained until 1881. Rev. Mr.
Smith has been succeeded by the following rectors:

Rev. Edwin B. Rice 1882 to 1892

" William M. Bottome 1893 to 1896

" Horatio Oliver Ladd, S.T.D 1896101909

" Rockland Tyng Homans 1 1910 to "

— Editor.

The present edifice of Grace Church was built in 1820,

1 List from 1882 has been kindly furnished by Rev. Mr. Homans, the
present rector. — Editor.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

269

1 y been
)., on Feb-

lid?

• r

consecrated July 18, 1822, and is in all respects a hand-
some and convenient structure, with an organ of the
finest tone. It may be noticed as a singular, yet melan-
choly, fact that of the seven persons who composed the
building committee of this church, not one has been liv-
ing for many years past.

The first Methodist Episcopal Church in this village
was erected in 18 10, and incorporated the year follow-
ing. The corner stone of a new one was laid Septem-
ber 17, 1846, and the church was dedicated March 9,
1847. ^ is a neat and well proportioned building.

Union Hall was the third academical building upon
Long Island, after those of Easthampton and Flatbush,
and was established by voluntary contributors in sums
of from one to thirty pounds, among which are the
venerable names of George Clinton and John Jay, both
of whom were, at different times, governors of the state.
The charter was signed by Governor Clinton, as the
chancellor of the university, March 9,, 1792, on request
of fifty individuals, two only of whom, Daniel Kissam
and Eliphalet Wickes, now survive. The first trustees
were :

James De Peyster
Abraham Ditmars
Dr. Daniel Minema
Rev. George Faitoute
John Williamson

Abraham Skinner Joseph Robinson

Abraham Ditmars, jun. Jacob Ogden
John Smith Rev. William Hammel

Eliphalet Wickes Daniel Kissam

Isaac Lefferts, jun. Jost Van Brunt

The institution was opened May 1, 1792, when an
oration was delivered by Abraham Skinner, Esq., and an
ode composed by the Rev. George Faitoute was sung.*

* Mr. Skinner was at this time clerk of the county, which office he
held from 1788 to 1796. He was likewise a lawyer, much distinguished
for his talents and professional eloquence. He was born at New York
in 1750, and soon after his admission to the bar the revolutionary

268 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

at Newtown, August 29, 1803, and grandson of Barent
Johnson, a soldier of the Revolution, who was severely
wounded at the battle of Flatbush in August, 1776),
was born at Albany, September 15, 1800. His first
instructor in the languages was Joseph Nelson, well
known at the time as the blind teacher, and afterwards
as the learned and classical professor in Rutgers
College, N. J. Mr. Johnson graduated at Columbia
College, 1 8 19, was admitted to the order of deacon in
1822, when he took charge of St. Michael's parish at
Trenton, N. J. In 1825 he was admitted to the priest-
hood and removed to this parish in May, 1830, as the
successor of Mr. Sayres. He married Mary Elizabeth,
daughter of the Rev. Henry Whitlock of New Haven,
1 82 1. She was born in January 1804, and died May
19, 1848, aged forty-four. Mr. Johnson received the
degree of D.D. at Allegheny College, 1846. His
brother, the Rev. Samuel R. Johnson, formerly of Flush-
ing, and Newtown, L. L, and of La Fayette, Indiana, is
now rector of St. John's Church, Brooklyn.

"Dr. Johnson died in 1870 and therefore had been
rector of this church for forty years. He was succeeded
by the Rev. George Williamson Smith, D.D., on Feb-
ruary 6, 1872, who remained until 1881. Rev. Mr.
Smith has been succeeded by the following rectors:

Rev. Edwin B. Rice 1882 to 1892

" William M. Bottome 1893 to 1896

" Horatio Oliver Ladd, S.T.D 1896101909

" Rockland Tyng Homans * i9ioto "

— Editor.

The present edifice of Grace Church was built in 1820,

1 List from 1882 has been kindly furnished by Rev. Mr. Homans, the
present rector. — Editor.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 271

Rev. William M. Thompson, an American missionary,
and accompanied him to the Holy Land, but her death
took place at the city of Jerusalem soon after their
arrival.

October 5, 1842, was celebrated here the fiftieth anni-
versary of Union Hall, on which occasion an eloquent and
appropriate address was pronounced by James De Peyster
Ogden, Esq., whose grandfather, James De Peyster,
Esq., was one of the original trustees of the academy
at its foundation.

Lewis E. A. Eigenbrodt, LL.D., late principal of
Union Hall and so long known as an able and efficient
instructor, was descended from one of the most respect-
able families of Hesse-Darmstadt upon the Upper
Rhine, and came to the United States in the year 1796.
He was destined, by his previous education, for the
ministry; but hearing, after his arrival, that a teacher
was wanted in the grammar school at Jamaica, he visited
the place, and producing satisfactory credentials of his
character and qualifications, was immediately engaged as
instructor in the classical department of the academy.
His reputation as a scholar, and his capacity for impart-
ing instruction, as well as enforcing a correct discipline,
increased with his age, and was never more exalted than
at the time of his decease. He was united, a short time
after his establishment here, with Sarah, daughter of
Mr. David Lamberson, a respected and opulent mer-
chant of the village, by whom he had several children.
He was an enthusiast in his profession, than which, there
is none, upon the able and conscientious discharge of
which, more important results to society depend, and
whose moral influence upon the future character of a
people is more important and valuable. It is, in truth,

:7-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

one of the most responsible situations in which an indi-
vidual can be placed, and by him was felt to be so; for
he made the station of a teacher, what all reflecting men
desire to make it, an honorable one. He was aware of
its dignity, as well as the obligations it imposed; and
aimed to secure the one by an exact and skilful discharge
ot the other. He was not impelled forward by the mere
feeling that so much time and labor were to be bestowed
for a certain amount of money, but with the solemn
conviction that responsibilities rested upon him, and of
his moral accountability for the gradual improvement
of those committed to his charge. By his talents, learn-
ing, great method, and untiring industry, he raised
Union Hall Academy from the condition of an ordinary
grammar school, to a high rank among the incorporated
seminaries of the state; and hundreds were educated here,
who now hold distinguished stations in every department
of society, and who must always entertain a sincere and
profound respect for the memory of their instructor and
friend.

Mr. Eigenbrodt perished in the ripeness of manhood,
and in the midst of usefulness in 1828, at the age of
fifty-four; having presided over the institution more than
thirty years, and with a character for learning and vir-
tue among his fellow-citizens which only time can
diminish. He was eminent as a linguist, and for his
attainments in literature; and had been honored with the
title of Doctor of Laws, the highest known in the
American colleges. In his manners, Dr. Eigenbrodt was
modest and unpretending; in his habits, temperate, and
retiring; and in all the endearing relations of husband,
father, citizen, and friend, kind, affectionate, generous,
and exemplary. There are those who have enjoyed a

1 r-::o;

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I ::::2ry

ed here,
irtment

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pt, and for his

scored with the

at known in the

' was

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HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

273

more brilliant reputation, and filled a larger space in the
public eye ; but none in whom the mild and gentle virtues
have shone more clearly, or by whom they have been
more steadily and effectively inculcated. The influence
and glare of exalted station, the splendor of particular
feats in arms, the triumph of an hour, are apt to capti-
vate the attention, and even obscure or pervert the judg-
ments of men, so that they may have little sympathy with,
or admiration for, the ever enduring, unostentatious exer-
tions which mark the life of such a man as Dr. Eigen-
brodt; yet, if measured by their importance, by the self-
denial they evince, the fortitude they require by the daily,
hourly abnegation of self which they imply; how vast
is the difference between such services, and the public
estimate of them — between common fame and real merit?
Such men, beyond all question, deserve more respect and
consideration from their contemporaries than they re-
ceive; few are ready to confer honor where none is de-
manded; experience shows that those most deserving of
praise are the least obtrusive, and are often thrown in the
shade by others, who, in reality, have little or no solid
claim to public respect and gratitude. The subject of this
notice was remarkable for economy and prudence, at the
same time he gave liberally for purposes of charity and
benevolence. By his prudence in pecuniary matters, he
left an ample fortune to his children, with the more
inestimable inheritance of an unblemished character,
and the animating example of a life spent in doing
good in the practice of virtue and the diffusion of knowl-
edge.

His son, the Rev. William Eigenbrodt, formerly of
Rochester, is rector of All Saint's Church, New York.
His son David is a physician in the West Indies, and his

272 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

one of the most responsible situations in which an indi-
vidual can be placed, and by him was felt to be so; for
he made the station of a teacher, what all reflecting men
desire to make it, an honorable one. He was aware of
its dignity, as well as the obligations it imposed; and
aimed to secure the one by an exact and skilful discharge
of the other. He was not impelled forward by the mere
feeling that so much time and labor were to be bestowed
for a certain amount of money, but with the solemn
conviction that responsibilities rested upon him, and of
his moral accountability for the gradual improvement
of those committed to his charge. By his talents, learn-
ing, great method, and untiring industry, he raised
Union Hall Academy from the condition of an ordinary
grammar school, to a high rank among the incorporated
seminaries of the state; and hundreds were educated here,
who now hold distinguished stations in every department
of society, and who must always entertain a sincere and
profound respect for the memory of their instructor and
friend.

Mr. Eigenbrodt perished in the ripeness of manhood,
and in the midst of usefulness in 1828, at the age of
fifty-four; having presided over the institution more than
thirty years, and with a character for learning and vir-
tue among his fellow-citizens which only time can
diminish. He was eminent as a linguist, and for his
attainments in literature ; and had been honored with the
title of Doctor of Laws, the highest known in the
American colleges. In his manners, Dr. Eigenbrodt was
modest and unpretending; in his habits, temperate, and
retiring; and in all the endearing relations of husband,
father, citizen, and friend, kind, affectionate, generous,
and exemplary. There are those who have enjoyed a

"tm m& m

;

274 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

son Lewis died June 2, 1844. The other children were
George, Catharine, Sarah, Elizabeth, and Charles.

March 11, 1843, tne corner stone of the Female De-
partment of Union Hall was laid on the Main Street,
when an appropriate address was pronounced by Abra-
ham B. Hasbrouk, LL.D., president of Rutgers Col-
lege, New Jersey, and the building being completed in
May following, it was opened under the auspices of Miss
Margaret Adrain, daughter of the late Robert Adrain,
professor of mathematics in Columbia College, who died
August 10, 1843, at tne age °f sixty-seven.

A weekly literary sheet, entitled Union Hall Gazette,
edited by the students, was commenced on the 12th
of February, 1831, and continued for some months with
considerable ability, but was finally abandoned for want
of patronage.

By referring to the names of the early settlers of this
town, it will be seen that Richard Chasmore was among
them; and the records show that by his last will, made
in 1660, he gave most of his estate to the wife and chil-
dren of his former friend, Henry Townsend of Oyster
Bay, once a resident here, and who had also experienced
much illiberality as well as ill treatment, both from a
portion of the inhabitants and from the government;
solely, it appears, on account of his Quaker principles.
Notwithstanding which, such was his benevolent feeling
and temper, and so great his regard for his fellow-crea-
tures, the victims of disease, poverty, and distress, in the
place which he had once inhabited, that he gave several
pieces of valuable land and meadow, with £176 in
money, to the town as a perpetual fund, the income of
which was to be ever after applied for the " relief of
poor widows and children, persons blind, lamed, or aged,

276

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

tains more than 200 dwellings and 1,500 inhabitants.
Here is the depot of the Brooklyn and Jamaica Rail-
road Company, with their commodious car house, engine
house, and machine shops. The company was incorpo-
rated April 25, 1832, for fifty years, capital $300,000.
The ceremony of breaking ground took place April 17,
1836, and the road was leased for a term of years to
the Long Island Railroad Company, who ran their first
car to Hicksville, March 1, 1837.

Beaver Pond in the vicinity around which once existed
a famous race course, has nearly disappeared by the
process of draining. This sport was anciently patronized
by the colonial authorities and other gentry, and here
immense sums have been staked upon a single trial.

October 16, 1779, a race for twenty guineas was run
around this pond. October 19, 1782, a purse of £50
was to be run for, free for any horse except Mercury,
Slow and Easy, and Gold finder. June 28, 1783, 100
guineas were run for by the noted mare Calf-Skin, and
the noted horse Lestley of Boston. And October 12,
1794, £100 was run for by six horses, the best of which
were the noted sorrel horse Red Bird and Polydore, the
last of which took the prize and another of £50 at a
second heat. Next day £50 was won by Young Mes-
senger from New Jersey.

Union Course, where thousands congregate at stated
periods to witness the sports of the turf, is located upon
the western limits of the town, and near the line of
Kings County; it was established immediately after the
passage of the act in 1821, allowing of trials of speed
for a term of years, during the months of May and
October in the county of Queens. In 1834 the term
was extended for fifteen years more, and trials of speed

y ■-

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N'rinaeC*

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■-:■

; •••

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

277

may now be made between the 1st of April and the 15th
of June, and from the 1st of September to the 15th of
November in every year during the said term. This
beautiful course is a few feet over a mile in length on
a perfectly level surface, with a good track; and is uni-
versally considered one of the best in the United States.
Better time has been made upon it, and more frequently,
than on any other course in the country. Connected
with it is a Jockey Club of above 250 members, who
contribute annually twenty dollars each toward the
Jockey, Club purses. There was run over this course,
the 27th of May, 1823, one of the most remarkable and
best-contested races that ever took place in America,
being a match race of four-mile heats, for $20,000
a side, between the North and the South, upon their
respective champions, Eclipse, carrying 126 pounds,
owned by Charles W. Van Ranst, and Henry, carrying
108 pounds, owned by Colonel William R. Johnson. The
race was won in three heats by Eclipse. The time
was as follows: first heat, 7' 37 — second heat, 7' 49 —
and the third heat, 8' 24; whole time, twenty-three
minutes and fifty seconds. Eclipse was bred by General
Nathaniel Coles of Dosoris, and was nine years old
when the race was run. Henry was bred by Samuel
Long, Esq., near Halifax, N. C, and was nearly four
years old. It is supposed by those present that from
forty to sixty thousand persons were on the ground,
and that probably more than $200,000 were lost and
won on the occasion. During the five days that the races
continued, the Fulton Ferry Company took over $5,000
for toll at Brooklyn, and doubtless an equal amount was
received at the other avenues to the city. This famous
horse Eclipse lived to the age of thirty-three years and

276 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

October 16, 1779, a race for twenty guineas was run
around this pond. October 19, 1782, a purse of £50
was to be run for, free for any horse except Mercury,
Slow and Easy, and Goldfinder. June 28, 1783, 100
guineas were run for by the noted mare Calf-Skin, and
the noted horse Lestley of Boston. And October 12,
1794, £100 was run for by six horses, the best of which
were the noted sorrel horse Red Bird and Polydore, the
last of which took the prize and another of £50 at a
second heat. Next day £50 was won by Young Mes-
senger from New Jersey.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 277

may now be made between the 1st of April and the 15th
of June, and from the 1st of September to the 15th of
November in every year during the said term. This
beautiful course is a few feet over a mile in length on
a perfectly level surface, with a good track; and is uni-
versally considered one of the best in the United States.
Better time has been made upon it, and more frequently,
than on any other course in the country. Connected
with it is a Jockey Club of above 250 members, who
contribute annually twenty dollars each toward the
Jockey. Club purses. There was run over this course,
the 27th of May, 1823, one of the most remarkable and
best-contested races that ever took place in America,
being a match race of four-mile heats, for $20,000
a side, between the North and the South, upon their
respective champions, Eclipse, carrying 126 pounds,
owned by Charles W. Van Ranst, and Henry, carrying
108 pounds, owned by Colonel William R. Johnson. The
race was won in three heats by Eclipse. The time
was as follows : first heat, 7' 37 — second heat, 7' 49 —
and the third heat, 8' 24; whole time, twenty-three
minutes and fifty seconds. Eclipse was bred by General
Nathaniel Coles of Dosoris, and was nine years old
when the race was run. Henry was bred by Samuel
Long, Esq., near Halifax, N. C, and was nearly four
years old. It is supposed by those present that from
forty to sixty thousand persons were on the ground,
and that probably more than $200,000 were lost and
won on the occasion. During the five days that the races
continued, the Fulton Ferry Company took over $5,000
for toll at Brooklyn, and doubtless an equal amount was
received at the other avenues to the city. This famous
horse Eclipse lived to the age of thirty-three years and

^^H^B

HISTORICAL, LITERARY AND CRITICAL.

CONDUCTED BY

SIDNEY S. RIDER,
6/ SftOW STREET, (Winthrop Building.) PROVIDENCE.. R. I.

EnLcred as Second class Matrer, at the Providence, R. I. Post Office.

50 Cents prr annum. Fortnightly. ) SiTliprjiV XX av Tt '&r>Q Vol. 15.

Single Copy 5 cents. \ OAlUhJAV MR\ I-|? ,09s* No 10.

WILLIAM WHITE.

The IMrst Bricklayer in Provi-
dence.

Early in the year 1656 the Town
Meeting of Providence made an assign-
ment of land to tbe individual above-
named. The town directed that he
(White; "be accommodated with a
houselot adjoining Benjamin Herndell
his houselot, and further according to
convenience." In the \ear following
(1657) White was granted by the town
an enlargement of his holding of land,
and still later, in 1658, White was al-
lowed "a share for his meadow lying
about the bead of Mr. Dexter 's grou id
by a little swamp, neere by Thomas
Walhng's." None of these assign-
ments of land by tbe to a n to White
were in fee simple, he simply was given
what all the citizens here then bad — the
light to use. but not the right to trans-
mit. This con; ition is shown by the
clause in a det'd for "Hearnton," his
(White's) son-in law, "the which said
right the same William White was pos-
sessed with from the aforesaid Towne
of Providence, or at least it did belong
untohim of right from the Towne of
Providence.*' This was in 1662. (Farl}
Kec, vol. 1, p. 69.) The locality of the
house lot assigned to William White

was then Dexter's lane, now called 01-
ney street.

Tbe "Herndell" house lot was bound-
ed by Herndon's lane; evolution pro-
duced Harrington's lane, then North
street, and now it rejoices in the high-
sounding' name of Rochambeau avenue,
in memory of tbe commander of the
French armv, our allies in war of the
Revolution, which lay in camp upon a
hiiliop near by. Book Notes once
gave seventeen varie ies in spelling the
notnie Harrington, and yet did rot ex-
ha st the sul ject, (Book Notes, vol. 9
p 232). The assignment of land (25
acres.; to White in 165S made him eligi-
ble to become a freeman, or voter, and
\xt \\ a - given this political right While
c me here to dwell from Boston, in tbe
Massachusetts Colony, and brought his
family, among whom was Elizabeth
White, his daughter. This young wom-
an married here Benjamin "Heaindon,"'
as it was then written, as her first
husband. He died in 1687, and in the fol-
lowing year she married her second hus-
band, Richard Fray. There is much
carious local scandal connected with
p.rv. but this was some years
before- Mrs. Hearudou's marriage and is
r.ot pertinent to thi-i inquiry. Nothing
m »re of record exists concerning Wil-
liam \S bite until the year 1662, be

282 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

desultory manner; spending a good part of his time
visiting about the neighborhood, playing upon his violin,
and sometimes upon the hearts of the ladies. Dr. Sage,
who felt a deep interest in the stranger, says, he was well
versed in the most common theories of physic; was a
most ready mathematician and natural philosopher, and
master of the principles of music. He possessed a critical
knowledge of his own language, understood French,
had some knowledge of Italian, and translated with ease
any Latin author. He also appeared to have much
taste and skill in architecture, could use almost all kinds
of tools, and even excelled in many of the mechanical
arts. It was surprising to think, that at the age of twenty
years, and with such unstable habits, he should possess
such variety and degree of knowledge. How and where
he could have acquired it all, unless by intuition, could
never be imagined. He was a runaway boy, and had
been traversing the country, without friends, poor, de-
pendent, and wretched. In the Revolution he taught
school at Stamford, Conn. In the year 1795, we find
him engaged as a teacher in Union Hall Academy, and
highly esteemed for his ability and good conduct. In
February, 1796, he sailed with Captain Gabriel Havens
to the South and arrived in Savannah, where he spent a
year, and returned to New York in August, 1797. He
came shortly after to the village of Jamaica, where he
fell sick, expired the 21st of September, 1797, and was
buried at the expense of his friends in the Episcopal
cemetery.

Joseph Robinson. Few of the old inhabitants are
more kindly remembered than Colonel Joseph Robinson.
He was born at St. Croix, in the Danish West Indies,
1742. His father and grandfather bore the same Chris-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 283

tian name, and were of Scotch descent. The latter came
to New York when a young man, and there married a
Miss Lispenard, of a wealthy family, by whom he had
a son, Joseph, born in 17 17. He went to the West
Indies, where he married Margaret Barnes, and had
issue Barnes and Joseph. The latter, who is the subject
of this notice, came to New York in 1760, and married
a daughter of James Cebra, an inhabitant of this town,
by whom he had five daughters, Margaret, Mary, Ann,
Sarah, and Elizabeth, but no son. The last married
William Bleeker, and died May 4, 1845, aged seventy.
Mary married Nathaniel Hassard, by whom she had a
daughter Maria; and after the death of her husband
married David Gelston, Esq., 181 1, who left her a
widow again, August 21, 1828. She died October 11,
1848, aged eighty-four.

Colonel Robinson was a gentleman of good education
and popular manners. He was made a colonel of the
provincial militia at the commencement of the revolu-
tionary war, and was in the regiment commanded by
General Woodhull, whom he left but a few minutes be-
fore his capture at the house of Increase Carpenter,
August 28, 1776. The island being taken possession of
by the enemy, Colonel Robinson managed to get his
family within the American lines, and lived with them at
Woodbury, Conn., till peace was restored. He returned
to Jamaica in 1783, and was made surrogate of the
county in 1787, which office he retained thirty years, till
his decease on September 17, 18 15; enjoying the confi-
dence of all that knew him as a man of the purest
patriotism and integrity.

Dr. John Jones was born here in 1729, of Welsh
descent. His grandfather, Edward, was a physcian of

284 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

eminence in his own country, and his son, Evan, father
of the subject of this notice, a physician also. He came
here in 1728, and married Mary, daughter of Thomas
Stephenson, by whom he had sons, John, Thomas, Evan,
and James, and one daughter, who married Richard
Harrison, a late eminent counsellor of New York. The
eldest, John, having finished his classical education,
studied medicine with Dr. Cadwallader of Philadelphia,
and after visiting the schools in London, settled in New
York. He was the first in that city who performed the
operation of lithotomy, and was, upon the institution of
a medical school in the college, appointed professor of
surgery, where he gave several courses of lectures, and
made known the improved modes of practice adopted in
Europe. Viewing the science in its use and tendency to
relieve human misery, he taught his pupils to despise the
idea of making it the means of pecuniary gain only. In
1772 he again visited England, and obtained subscrip-
tions for the establishment of the New York Hospital.
In 1780 he was chosen to fill the place of Dr. Redman
as physician to the Pennsylvania Hospital, and attended
Dr. Franklin in his last illness. He died in June, 1791.
His brother, Thomas, who married Margaret, daughter
of Philip Livingston, was an eminent physician of New
York, where he died. His three daughters married
respectively, David S. Jones, Maltby Gelston, and De
Witt Clinton.

Cornelius I. Bogert was an eminent lawyer of the city
of New York, and though not born on Long Island, his
memory has become in some measure identified with its
history, particularly with Queens County, where he was
extensively and favorably known, both from his profes-
sional business and practice in the courts of the county,

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 285

and his residence there in after life. He was born in
the city of New York, on the 13th of October, 1754.
His great-grandfather was Jan Lowse Bogert, who came
from Holland, and was one of the original settlers at
Harlem on New York Island. He graduated at Kings
(now Columbia) College, and studied law with the elder
Kissam, a lawyer of considerable note in his day, origi-
nally from Queens County, and was admitted to the bar
about the time the Revolutionary War commenced. He
was twice married. His first wife was Ann Murray, by
whom he had two children, the late John G. Bogert, and
a daughter, Abbey, who married Robert I. Thurston.
His second wife was Mrs. Bartlett, a widow lady, to
whom he was married in 1795, and who has survived
him. About the year 18 10 he purchased an estate at
Jamaica, a part of the property of the then late Rev.
Mr. Keteltas, where he built a country residence, to which
he retired a few years afterwards and where he spent
the remainder of his life. He died on the 16th of
February, 1832, and was buried in the Episcopal church-
yard in that village.

Mr. Bogert was a sound practical lawyer, distin-
guished for his knowledge of mercantile law, in which
he had few, if any, superiors at the bar. He possessed
a clear and discriminating mind, was an acute reasoner,
and his arguments never failed to command the respect
and attentive consideration of the bench, being remark-
able for good sense, and always well timed and to the
purpose. Beyond this, he made no pretensions to
oratory, and could not be said to be eloquent, yet his
manner was earnest, impressive, and dignified. In all
the relations of life he sustained an irreproachable
character.

286 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

" On January i, 1898, the town of Jamaica became a
part of the Borough of Queens, city of New York, and
the form of town government was abolished."

Editor.

288

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

pendences thereof, and did freely and premeditatedly
declare, with consent of Piscamoe his cousin, Wortte-
woockhow, Kackpohor, Ketachquawars, likewise owners
of the aforesaid lands, for and in consideration of a cer-
tain parcel of merchandise, which they acknowledge,
before this present act, to have received into their hands
and custody, to have transported, delivered up, and made
over in a true, just and free possession, as they do trans-
port, deliver up, and make over to and for the use of the
Directors of the General Chartered West India Company
at the Chamber of Amsterdam, all the appearants patri-
monial lands, and the jurisdiction thereof, lying upon
Long Island, in the Indian tongue called Sewanhacky, be-
ginning, in length along the south side of said island; in
breadth to Martin Gerritson's Bay, and from thence west
along the East River to the Vlacks-Kill or Plaene Creek,
with all the right and title of him Mechowod or any of
his heirs, belonging and reserved or kept by them in
quality as aforesaid, constituting the said Lords in his
stead, real and actual possession thereof, and thereby
giving to them, by these presents, full and irrevocable
power, authority and special command, that they or those
that shall hereafter receive their right, may accept, freely
possess, keep, enjoy and use the said lands and dependen-
ces— and further to deal therewith and dispose of them,
as with their own well obtained lands, without any reser-
vation or power of the transporters in the premises, but
all to the benefit before expressed, with condition that he
the said Mechowod, with his adjacent people and friends
may remain to dwell, to plant Indian corn, to fish, and
to hunt in the said lands, and so to live with his people,
under the protection of the said Lords, who shall give
him likewise all possible help and favor by their substi-
tutes in these parts. In witness whereof, and in testimony
of the truth by witnesses hereunto required, who have
been present at the time of the bargains. Done in the

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or the

to
;is
rest

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:■:
in

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lid his people-

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• substi-

^ifiwliave
i Dooc in the

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

289

Fort Amsterdam, in New Netherland this 15th day of
January, 1639."

" David Pieters de Vries, Mourits Janse, as witnesses.

" In knowledge of me
" Cornelius Van Tienhoven, Secty."

It is clear that this grant included also the lands in
Jamaica, and extended from Martin Garrison's Bay on
the east to Flushing Creek on the west, the present
boundaries of the town in those places. There is no
reason to believe that any settlement was attempted
here by the Dutch, and it is moreover satisfactorily
ascertained that the first planters were a set of intelli-
gent Englishmen, who, having resided for a time in Hol-
land, had been induced to emigrate to this region as
well from their uncomfortable condition there, as the
encouragement held out to them by the agents of the
province of New Netherlands, that they would here
enjoy to the fullest extent all the civil privileges and
religious immunities of their native country, or as if it
were a British province.

It would be highly gratifying to be able to give the
names of those brave pioneers of Flushing who, honestly
confiding in the assurances aforesaid, and the integrity
of the Dutch, chose this part of the island for their
future residence.

How well they enjoyed the advantages which had been
promised, and to what extent they were allowed to in-
dulge their religious freedom, will be fully disclosed in
a subsequent part of this article; for however much lib-
erty of conscience and freedom of opinion were talked
about at that period, it will be abundantly evident, that
its nature was very imperfectly understood, and its exer-
cise circumscribed within very narrow limits. In short,

288 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 289

Fort Amsterdam, in New Netherland this 15th day of
January, 1639."

" David Pieters de Vries, Mourits Janse, as witnesses.

" In knowledge of me
" Cornelius Van Tienhoven, Secty."

It is clear that this grant included also the lands in
Jamaica, and extended from Martin Garrison's Bay on
the east to Flushing Creek on the west, the present
boundaries of the town in those places. There is no
reason to believe that any settlement was attempted
here by the Dutch, and it is moreover satisfactorily
ascertained- that the first planters were a set of intelli-
gent Englishmen, who, having resided for a time in Hol-
land, had been induced to emigrate to this region as
well from their uncomfortable condition there, as the
encouragement held out to them by the agents of the
province of New Netherlands, that they would here
enjoy to the fullest extent all the civil privileges and
religious immunities of their native country, or as if it
were a British province.

292 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

way existed by which the city could be reached except
by a circuitous route by the way of Jamaica, owing doubt-
less to the existence of swamps, streams, and dense
forest, which obstructed a more direct route of com-
munication.

Hell Gate was then considered dangerous to naviga-
tion, except for small vessels keeping near the shore, yet
an individual who kept a store near the head of the bay,
had purchased a canoe from the Indians, capable of
conveying a hogshead of molasses and a few passengers,
whom he was in the habit of transporting to and from
the city in good weather.*

Quite anciently there stood near the site of the late
town pond a building called the Block House, in which
most of the public business was transacted, the town
records preserved, and arms and ammunition deposited.

In a comparatively short period after the organization
of the settlement, the people began to experience strong
evidence of the illiberality of those who conducted the
government of New Netherlands; indeed, the earliest
entries upon the council minutes demonstrate that a hos-
tile feeling existed between the administration and a
portion of its subjects, which led eventually, as might
have been expected, to frequent acts of insubordination,
and no little violence and bad temper on both sides.

* To exhibit clearly the scarcity of silver money in this quarter of
the world at that distant period (1647), and in the now wealthy village
of Flushing, it needs only be related, as a well authenticated tradition,
that an old English shilling having been accidentally picked up in the
highway was considered a matter of so much curiosity that the public
attention was attracted to it, and an inquiry set on foot to ascertain, if
possible, the ownership of an article so rare in that era of shell-money.
It was finally ascertained that the man above spoken of, who kept a
store near the bay, had at some time been seen in possession of a similar
piece of money, and was able to exhibit satisfactory evidence that the
coin found belonged to him.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 293

On the public records of April 8, 1648, is the follow-
ing extraordinary information :

" Thomas Hall, an inhabitant of fflishingen, in New
Netherlands, being accused that he prevented the sheriff
of fflishengen to doe his duty, and execute his office, in
apprehending Thomas Heyes, which Thomas Hall con-
fesseth, that he kept the door shut, so that noe one might
assist the sheriff, demands mercy, and promises he will do
it never again, and regrets very much that he did so. The
director and council doing justice condemn the said
Thomas in a fine of 25 guilders, to be applied at the dis-
cretion of the council."

The Rev. Francis Doughty, who, it seems, was in
Taunton, Mass., at the time of its settlement, came to
Long Island in 1644, and was the first minister of Flush-
ing, probably a Baptist, but afterwards turned Quaker;
and it is believed that all the families of that name in
this part of the state are the descendants of this gentle-
man. His salary was at first 600 guilders, and in 1647
an order was issued by the council of New Amsterdam
to assess the inhabitants of Flushing for his salary, they
having refused to pay it voluntarily. It farther appears
that after his decease, an action was brought by his son,
Elias Doughty (named in Nicoll's and Dongan's
patents), in the year 1666, to recover the arrears of
salary due to his father; but on its being shown that
Governor Stuyvesant had forced the town to sign the
articles for the maintenance of the minister, " he, taking
the people into a room one after another, and threaten-
ing them if they did not sign," the court ordered a part
only of the amount claimed to be paid.*

* This was the same Francis Doughty who was at Cohannet, now
Taunton, in 1640, and one of the first purchasers there. He is mentioned

294 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

At a meeting of the supreme council of New Amster-
dam, April 22, 1655, Thomas Saul, William Lawrence,
and Edward Farrington were appointed magistrates out
of the list of persons nominated by the town.

Tobias Feeke was also appointed schout or sheriff.
This individual was the son of Robert Feeke, who was
at Watertown, Mass., in 1630, and who is said to have
married the daughter-in-law of Governor Winthrop.
He was also one of the representatives of the general
court at Boston, and came here in 1650, where he died
in 1668 at an advanced age. The records in the surro-
gate's office in the city of New York show that admin-
istration was granted on his estate to Sarah, his widow,
then of Flushing, June 19, 1669.*

A number of individuals entertaining the opinions of
the Quakers, who had now become inhabitants of Flush-
ing, were victims of that odious intolerance so disgrace-
ful to any government, and which, beyond all question,
had a principal agency in bringing about the overthrow
of the Dutch power in 1664.

These revolting scenes, in which it was basely at-
tempted to circumscribe and prevent the exercise of
religious liberty by public authority, took place in this
town, and in some other places within the Dutch juris-

by Leechford, in his Newes from New England, as being dragged out
of a public assembly for asserting that Abraham's children should have
been baptized, which harsh treatment may well account for his leaving
that colony soon after, as he did with his wife and children.

He was the first minister in Newtown to whom and others it will
be seen a patent was granted for lands in that town in 1642, the next
year after his expulsion from Massachusetts. His posterity are numerous
and are allied by marriages with many of the old Long Island families.

* Feeke, or Feaks (as the name is sometimes spelled) was one of the
persons appointed by the colony of New Haven in 1640 to purchase from
the Indians the land now comprised in the town of Greenwich, Conn.,
but he, it is said, violated his engagement, and with a few settlers
placed himself under the Dutch Government.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 295

diction, between the years 1650 and 1664, when that
arbitrary disposition could no longer be indulged. The
odious circumstances which transpired during this critical
period in the history of the province, it is now imprac-
ticable to relate, as little reliance can be placed in the
sources whence our information must be derived.

In December, 1657, the governor and council issued an
order to the people of the town, requiring them to cease
from giving any countenance to or entertaining Quakers,
and directing them to apprehend and send to the city
such as should profess or preach the doctrines of that
heretical sect. The strong and spirited remonstrance
which was returned on the occasion, will be found in our
article entitled " Quaker Persecutions," and is a noble
exhibition of ability and independence. It is signed by
Edward Hart, clerk, and thirty other principal inhabi-
tants of the town.

Tobias Feeke, who was now schout or sheriff, at the
request of his fellow-citizens, presented the remonstrance
to the governor, and was immediately arrested, and with
Edward Farrington and William Noble, two of the
magistrates who had signed the same, was summoned to
appear and answer for their disregard of the orders
which had been issued and the placards of the governor.

" It was ascertained (says the record) that the magis-
trates had been inveigled and seduced by the sheriff, but
considering their verbal and written confession, and their
promise to conduct themselves in a more prudent manner
thereafter, their fault was graciously pardoned, and for-
given, provided they paid the costs of the examination,
&c."

The following is the apology made by the magistrates
on the occasion referred to:

296 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

" To the honorable the governor and his council, the
humble petition of William Noble and Edward Farring-
ton,

Sheweth : — That, whereas your petitioners having sub-
scribed a writing offensive to your honors, presented by
Tobias Feeke, we acknowledge our offence for acting so
inconsiderately, and humbly crave your pardon, promis-
ing, for the time to come, that we shall offend no more
in that kind. And your petitioners shall ever pray for
your health and happiness.

Edward Farrington.
his
" William X Noble,
mark
"Amsterdam, January 10, 1658."

The clerk, it seems, was also persuaded by apprehen-
sions of danger to himself, and from the temper shown
by the authorities of New Amsterdam, to apologize for
the part he had acted in relation to said remonstrance,
and therefore sent them a paper of which the following
is a copy:

" Right honorable governor and council : — Forasmuch
as I have written a writing whereat you take offence, my
humble desire is, that your honors would be favorable
and gracious to me, for it was not written in disobedience
unto any of your laws; therefore, my humble request is
for your mercy, not your judgment, and that you would
be pleased to consider my poor estate and condition, and
relieve me from my bonds and imprisonment, and I shall
endeavor hereafter, to walk inoffensively unto your lord-
ships, and shall ever remain your humble servant to
command. Edward Hart."

"Jan. 23d, 1658."

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 297

The decision of the governor and council upon the sub-
ject of this petition, was made in the form following:

11 1658, 23d January: — Being presented, and read, the
petition of Edward Hart, clerk of Vlissengen, and con-
sidered his promises that he would conduct himself more
prudently, and the intercessions of several of the inhabi-
tants of said village, that he always was willing to serve
his neighbors, and that, as one of the oldest inhabitants,
he was thoroughly acquainted with their affairs; and fur-
ther, that the sheriff, Tobias Feeke, advised him to draw
the aforesaid remonstrance of the first of January, and
then presented: and further, that he has a large family
to maintain; so is it, that the director-general and coun-
cil pardoned his fault for this time, provided that he
pays the expenses and mises of justice."

As an example of what was done in other cases, may
be cited the instance of Robert Hodgson, who arrived
from England at New Amsterdam August 1, 1657, but
finding that his preaching would endanger his safety, if
not his life, in that city, came to this town where he was
well received; but on going to Hempstead he found no
quarter, but was apprehended and transported to the city,
where he was imprisoned and subjected to the most
odious and disgusting inflictions. The inhabitants were
at length so moved by his sufferings, that they offered
to pay his fine of 600 guilders to obtain his release.

The vessel in which he arrived left for Rhode Island
on the 3rd of August, 1657, with Humphrey Norton,
Mary Clark, John Copeland, and Christopher Holden,
Quakers, some of whom, on going to Boston, fared little
better than Hodgson, and were finally banished from
that colony.

298

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Governor Stuyvesant continued to show his implacable
hatred of this sect during the remainder of his official
life. Henry Townsend who (in 1657) resided at Rus-
dorp (Jamaica) had interested himself in getting up a
meeting for one of the persons who came in the vessel
with Hodgson, for which, on the 15th of September, he
was sentenced to pay a fine of £8 ; and a law was also
promulgated by placard, fixing a fine of £50 for enter-
taining a Quaker a single night, one half of which was
to be paid to the informer, whose name was to be kept
secret; and the vessel which should bring any Quaker
into the province was to be confiscated.

The character of the government and those concerned
in its administration, from the highest dignitary to the
lowest ministerial officer, was getting generally unpopu-
lar. It was in fact an union of church and state in its
worst form; perhaps the former most prevailed, produc-
ing a sort of religious ostracism, which left the person
accused no course but stern resistance, followed by
almost certain suffering, or submission of the most de-
grading kind and yielding up the liberty of speaking and
writing freely upon matters deemed of the highest im-
portance relating to this world and the next: a mental
slavery most degrading. Notwithstanding the want of
firmness and moral courage in some, to meet the crisis
with manly resolution, there were others, neither few in
number, nor insignificant in influence, who breasted the
flood of bigotry and intolerance like men conscious of
their rights, and resolved to defend them at every
hazard.

The spirit of disapprobation progressed pari passu
with the unjust measures of the governor and council;
and the ordinances passed to restrain the freedom of

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

299

religious worship, met with an opposition unsubdued and
unsubduable, particularly in this town, where even those
who were not Quakers made common cause with those
who were, and by their union, in the end, proved an
overmatch for their opponents. Among the most sub-
stantial, and not the least respectable of this class, was
John Bowne, who, with his father, Thomas Bowne,
came early to this town ; the latter being born at Matlock
in Derbyshire, England, May, 1595, and being conse-
quently now near seventy years old. His will was exe-
cuted October 20, 1675, and he died the next year dur-
ing the absence of his son John in Europe. His daugh-
ter Truth remained in England, but his daughter Eliza-
beth, wife of Edward Farrington, accompanied him.

His son John was born at the same place, March 29,
1627. In 1 66 1 he erected part of the old Bowne man-
sion, still standing, and the remainder in 1680, as a
meeting-house for Friends. This venerable monument of
antiquity is still in good preservation, and is now in-
habited by some of his name of the seventh generation.

Most of the materials of this house which had a gal-
lery in one end, were originally of oak, being covered
with oak clap-boards, and the floors composed of the
same, pinned down, instead of being fastened with nails.
The windows were of small dimensions, set with minute
panes in leaden sash. An oak table, with other ancient
furniture, is still shown, as well as the staff used by the
aged Thomas Bowne, while laboring under the infirmi-
ties of age. And as for ancient documents, autograph let-
ters from George Fox and other persons of his day, we
venture to say that no private residence upon the island
can exhibit as much to please and gratify the lovers of
olden times as are contained in this. In this house,

298 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

The spirit of disapprobation progressed pari passu
with the unjust measures of the governor and council;
and the ordinances passed to restrain the freedom of

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

299

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 301

And soon the last surviving oak,

In its majestic pride,
Will gather up its failing limbs,

And wither at its side.

Then guard with care its last remains,

Now that its race is run;
No sacrilegious hand should touch

The forest's noblest son;
And when the question may be asked,

Why that old trunk is there —
" 'Tis but the place in olden time,

God's holiest altars were."

In addition to the above poetical tribute, the follow-
ing account was given in another publication about the
same time, and is from the pen of that close observer
of all that is valuable or curious in history, the late
Colonel William L. Stone, editor of the New York
Commercial Advertiser:

" A Veteran Gone. — The oldest inhabitant of Flush-
ing is no more ! During the windy afternoon of the 25th
inst. one of the venerable oaks, which for so many years
have been a prominent object in Bowne Avenue, near the
village of Flushing, was prostrated to the ground. To a
stranger this conveys no higher occasion for regret than
the removal of a noble tree by the operation of the in-
evitable laws of nature; but to those who have passed
many a happy hour of childhood in gathering the acorns
which fell from it, and have made it the scene of
their youthful sports, it seems like the removal of a vener-
ated relative — as if one of the few visible links, which
in this utilitarian land connect us with the past, was
severed.

" To the members of the society of Friends these trees
possessed an historical interest, from the circumstance
that beneath them, about the year 1672, the dauntless

•

m ■ r-

:'.:!

If OH I

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 301

And soon the last surviving oak,

In its majestic pride,
Will gather up its failing limbs,

And wither at its side.

Then guard with care its last remains,

Now that its race is run;
No sacrilegious hand should touch

The forest's noblest son;
And when the question may be asked,

Why that old trunk is there —
" 'Tis but the place in olden time,

God's holiest altars were."

11 To the members of the society of Friends these trees
possessed an historical interest, from the circumstance
that beneath them, about the year 1672, the dauntless

302 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

founder of their sect, with that power and eloquence of
truth which drew to his standard Penn and Barclay, and
a host of men like them, preached the gospel of redemp-
tion to a mixed assemblage, among which might be seen
many a son of that swarthy family whose wrongs and suf-
ferings elicit to this day the active efforts of his followers
on their behalf. Some seventy years since, these honored
trees were threatened with demolition by the owner of the
adjacent property, but for the sake of the venerable past
were purchased by John Bowne, a lineal descendant of the
old worthy of the same name, who listened to the preach-
ing of Fox and embraced his doctrines, for which he was
afterward sent to Holland in irons, where he was honor-
ably liberated by the Dutch Government, and a severe
reprimand administered to Stuyvesant. The time honored
mansion in which he entertained Fox, and accommodated
the regular meetings of the society for many years, is still
standing near, and in good repair."

11 Osgood Field of New York, a friend of Thompson,
composed the following poem on the Fox Oaks in 1847,
and transmitted it to the historian for publication in the
present edition of this work, which he was then compiling.
After a lapse of sixty-nine years the well-chosen words
are before the reader, and turn his thoughts to old Flush-
ing, and her stately memorial of bygone days."

Editor.

written under george fox's oak at flushing

Long Island, on thy sea-girt shore is many a cherished spot,
When I could fly from care and trial and envy no one's lot,
But Flushing most of all I love, that land of fruits and flowers,
Where Pan roams free, if yet he roams, and Flora builds her bowers;
For my forefathers, when they reached these shores, did here abide,
Here pitched their tents, here reared their homes, and called the place

Bay- side.
No voice amid the forest gloom, no footstep echoed here,
Save when the tawny Indian passed, and chased the flying deer;

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 303

Till then, no woodman's axe had made these lofty woods resound,
Nor patient ox with guided plough upturned the fruitful ground ;
Now gardens blooming all around with perfume filled the air,
The reddest rose at Flushing grows, the fairest lily there.

Beneath this oak where I now lie, George Fox the Quaker stood,

And preached, as John the Baptist preached, beneath the spreading wood.

For persecution sought to drive his followers from the land,

And here around him, came by stealth a little Christian band;

And one of these, for conscience sake, whose blood flows in my veins,

To Holland, prisoner was sent, weighed down by heavy chains.

Imagination sways me now, dim fancies crowd my mind,

As underneath the old oak's shade I lie at length reclined;

I hear George Fox with earnest voice pour forth the words of peace,

And pray the Lord that war and strife, throughout the world may cease.

Beneath the spreading canopy his followers draw near,

With holy zeal they forward press, the man of God to hear,

And save the breeze amid the trees, no other sound is heard,

Unless perchance the melody of some wild forest bird, —

The savage Indian stops anear, against a tree he stands,

He hears the messenger of peace, the bow drops from his hand, —

'Tis past — George Fox — his followers, — the Indian — all are gone,

And I, beneath the old oak's shade, am lying all alone.

I've seen Old England's oak, where once the Royal Martyr lay,

And heard the Covenanter's words, while passing 'neath its shade,

And dearer still the Hartford oak, in our own native land,

Where once the Charter lay concealed, safe from a King's command;

But this old tree which o'er me spreads, and throws its shade around

Is sanctified, and I now lie on consecrated ground.

A church it stands, whose sacrament is the turf on which I tread,

Its trunk an altar, and for arch, the branches overhead,

No splendid dome, though blessed by priest, where thousands bend their

knee
To worship God, is fitter place or holier than this tree.

A thousand years mayst thou, old oak, still flourish in the land,
Thy bough still wave above, below thy trunk still firmly stand,
Long ere the woodman's axe shall sing upon thy timbers staunch,
Long ere the robin cease to sing upon thy topmost branch,
Long ere the scathing lightning strike and send thy limbs apart;
Long ere the gnawing worm shall come and penetrate thy heart;
Long may the birds build nests in thee with oak twigs interlaid,
Long may the young lovers breathe their vows beneath thy grateful

shade,
Long may the cherished name be carved upon thy rough-hewed bark;
Long may'st thou hear above thee poised, at early dawn, the lark,

306 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

aged in their errors, but other persons are seduced and
lured from the right path, all which are transactions of
the most dangerous consequences, from which nothing
else is to be expected, as calamities, heresies and schisms,
directly contrary to the orders of the director general and
council in New Netherlands; which, therefore, deserves
to be punished for an example to others; so is it, that
the director general and council in New Netherlands, hav-
ing heard the conclusion of the matter, and the confession
of the prisoner, doing justice, in the name of their high
mightinesses the states general of the United Netherlands,
and the lords directors of the privileged West India com-
pany, department of Amsterdam, condemn the aforesaid
John Bowne in an amende of £25 Flanders, and to pay
the costs and mises of justice, with the express warning
to abstain himself, in future, of all such conventicals and
meetings, on the penalty that, for the second time, he
shall pay double amende, and, for the third time, to be
banished out of this province of New Netherlands.

" Done and condemned, at a meeting of the director
general and council in Fort Amsterdam, in New Nether-
lands, Sept. 14, 1662."

The accused, however, declining to comply with the
decision of the tribunal before which he was condemned,
and the fine not being paid for about three months —
during which time he remained incarcerated in the fort
of New Amsterdam — the following additional sentence
was pronounced:

" 1662 f 14th December. — Whereas, the prisoner, John
Bowne, a Quaker, declined very obstinately, now during
three months, in great contempt of the authority of the
director general and council, to pay the amende, in which
he was condemned on the 14th of September, by the di-
rector general and council, for procuring lodgings for,

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 307

and frequenting the conventicles of the heretical and ob-
stinate sect of Quakers, so is it, that the director general
and council, for the welfare of the community, and to
crush, as far as it is possible, that abominable sect, who
treat with contempt both the politick magistrates and the
ministers of God's holy word, and endeavor to undermine
the police and religion, resolved to transport from this
province the aforesaid John Bowne, if he continues ob-
stinate and pervicatious, in the first ship ready to sail, for
an example to others."

Accordingly on the 8th of January, 1662, we find a
further proceeding in the council, the record of which
is as follows:

" Whereas, John Bowne obstinately declines to submit
to the judgment of the Director General and council, so
is it, in conformity to the resolution of the 14th of Decem-
ber last, commanded to depart from here in the ship the
Fox, now ready to sail, while it is once more left to his
choice either to obey and submit to the judgment, in pay-
ing the amende imposed upon him, or otherwise at sight
of this, to depart in the aforesaid ship."

In a few days from the date of this definitive sen-
tence, Bowne took passage in the ship " Fox " for Hol-
land, and the account which has been preserved of this
extraordinary adventure states that the wind being ad-
verse for their arrival speedily in Holland, the ship
put into Ireland, where Bowne was permitted to land,
and pass through that country and England also, upon
his personal engagement to make his appearance in due
time before the authorities of Holland. This promise
he most honorably fulfilled and arrived in Amsterdam,
February 29, 1663, and was patiently heard before a
committee of the West India Company ; who, finding him

3o8 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

a discreet man and steadfast in his religion, set him at
liberty — with the following severe reprimand in the form
of an epistle, directed to Governor Stuyvesant:

" Amsterdam, April 6, 1663."
u Sir : — We perceive from your last letter, that you had
exiled and transported hither a certain Quaker, named
John Bowne. Although it is our anxious desire that sim-
ilar and other sectarians may not be found among you,
yet we doubt extremely the policy of adopting rigorous
measures against them. In the youth of your existence,
you ought rather to encourage than check the population
of the colony. The consciences of men ought to be free
and unshackled so long as they continue moderate, peace-
able, inoffensive, and not hostile to the government. Such
have been the maxims of prudence and toleration by which
the magistrates of this city (Amsterdam) have been gov-
erned; and the consequences have been, that the oppressed
and persecuted from every country have found among us
an asylum from distress. Follow in the same steps, and
you will he hlessed.i}

On his return the colony was in the possession of the
English, but upon calling on the puissant Stuyvesant, now
a private citizen, this individual expressed his regret for
having used so much severity toward him and his fellow
Quakers, whom he frankly admitted to be among the
most valuable citizens.

The case of Bowne is only one among many instances
in which this bigoted governor presumed to interfere
with the enjoyment of religious liberty in the province,
as will be more fully shown in the article entitled
" Quaker Persecutions," to which the reader is respect-
fully referred for further particulars of this reign of
terror.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 309

What might have been the future conduct of the
director general and his pliant council, but for the timely-
arrival of Colonel Nicoll, which stopped the swelling
tide of resentment and persecution, is matter for conjec-
ture only. But an instant and effectual change had taken
place, and the people had abundant cause for the most
heartfelt rejoicing.

By reference to the Dutch patent it will be seen that
the patentees and their associates, successors, &c, were
empowered to choose a schout or constable, and the peo-
ple were assured of the fullest liberty of conscience, ac-
cording to the manner and custom of Holland; yet it
turned out that in direct violation of their chartered
rights and privileges, the director general, on the 20th
of March, 1658, as a pretended punishment for their
remonstrance against his very arbitrary measures, abol-
ished all municipal authority in the town, and substituted,
without any color of law or precedent, a set of officers
whom he denominated tribunes; at the same time im-
posing a tax of twelve styvers per morgan, upon all the
lands of the inhabitants for the purpose, as he declared,
of maintaining what he called an orthodox minister
amongst them; and to make the matter more insulting
to the freemen of the town, it was provided that such
as disliked the imposition of the tax might within a given
time dispose of their property and leave the place.

It happened as might be supposed that very few, if
any, embraced the latter alternative, for most of the
population being either Quakers or the friends of
Quakers, resolved to brave the little brief authority of
the Dutch autocrat, by remaining on the spot which
they had chosen as their permanent home, and to wait
patiently for some political change which might better

3io HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

their condition and relieve them from the tyranny of
their present rulers.

For the want of better accommodations, and to avoid
the penalties announced by the governor's placards
for holding conventicles in private houses, they con-
vened in the woods and other secluded places; but even
this precaution was found insufficient to guard them
against the vigilance of persecution, for all meetings
whatever held by Quakers for religious purposes, were
by another placard strictly forbidden, under penalties
still more exorbitant.

The same illiberal and oppressive course of conduct
in the management of affairs, was pursued during the
continuance of the Dutch Government, and ended only
with the conquest of the province in 1664.

February 16, 1666, a patent of confirmation, drawn
in the usual form, was obtained from Governor Nicoll,
and made to the following persons, to wit:

11 John Lawrence, alderman of the city7 of New York;
Richard Cornhill, justice of the peace; — Charles Bridges,
William Lawrence, Robert Terry, William Noble. John
fforbush, Elias Doughty, Robert ffield, Edmund ffaring-
ton, John Maston, Anthony ffield, Phillip LTdall, Thomas
Stiles, Benjamin ffield, William Pidgeon, John Adams,
John Hinckman, Nicholas Parcell, Tobias ffeeks, and
John Bowne, patentees for, and in behalf of themselves
and their associates, the freeholders, inhabitants of the
town of Flushing, their heirs, successors, and assigns for-
ever, all that certain town in the north riding of York-
shire upon Long Island, called by the name of Flushing,
situate and lying and being on the north side of the said
island: which said town hath a certain tract of land
belonging thereunto, and bounded westward, beginning
at the mouth of a creek upon the East River, known by

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 311

the name of Flushing Creek, and from thence including
a certain neck of land called Tews-Neck, to run east-
ward as far as Mathew Garretson's Bay, from the head
or middle whereof a line is to be run south-east, in
length about three miles, and about two miles in
breadth, as the land hath been surveyed and laid out by
virtue of an order made at the general meeting held at
Hempstead in the month of March, 1665 ; and that there
be the same latitude in breadth on the south side as on
the north, to run in two direct lines southward to the
middle of the hills, to the bounds between the said towns
of Flushing and Jamaica."

As it had not been customary for the settlers of the
towns within the Dutch territory to obtain a conveyance
for the soil directly from the natives, the inhabitants of
this town, like many others, possessed their lands solely
by virtue of the patent formerly executed by Governor
Kieft; but it was afterwards judged most consonant with
the principles of justice, as well as most prudent, to pro-
cure, from the original and legitimate proprietors of the
soil, a deed of confirmation for the premises heretofore
enjoyed by them, from the time of the organization of
the settlement.

The conveyance executed for the purpose was made
April 14, 1684, by Tackapousha, sachem of Massapeage,
Quassawasco, Succanemen (alias Runasuck) JVerah,
Cetharum, Nunham, Shunshewequanum, and Oposum,
chiefs, styling themselves the true owners and pro-
prietors of all the lands included within the boundaries
of Flushing, which they convey thereby, to Elias
Doughty, Thomas Willet, John Bowne, Matthias Har-
vey, Thomas Hicks, Richard Cornhill, John Hinchman,
Jonathan Wright, and Samuel Hoyt, as agents for the

3i2 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

freeholders of the said town, reserving to themselves
and their heirs for ever, the right of cutting bulrushes
in any part of the said territory.

A second confirmatory patent was issued by Governor
Dongan, March 24, 1685, which was therein declared to
be made for the purpose of securing to the inhabitants
the peaceable enjoyment of the premises before granted,
and especially for preventing all controversies that
might otherwise afterwards arise, by reason of any claim
to the said lands, from Tackapousha, Succanemen,
Runasuck, or other Indian sachems, and from all per-
sons whomsoever, who should assert any title to the said
lands or any part thereof.

The persons named as patentees therein, were Elias
Doughty, Thomas Willet, John Bowne, Mathias Har-
vey, Thomas Hicks, Richard Cornell, John Hinchman,
Jonathan Wright, and Samuel Hoyt.

In 1 68 1 and 1682, on the threatened repeal or revo-
cation of the edict of Nantes (which took place October
22, 1685), originally enacted in 1598, for the protec-
tion of the Protestants of France, more than 500,000
people, it is supposed, left their native country, taking
refuge in England, Holland, and other parts of Europe,
where they were in general kindly received and enter-
tained. Many thousands of these unfortunate indi-
viduals found their way to America, by some of whom
the town of New Rochelle was founded, and a few
families came some years after to this town, where,
strange to say, few if any of their posterity can now
be discovered. They, as well as the great majority of
their fellow emigrants, were the most respectable and
valuable accession ever made to the population of our
country. A very great number of their descendants

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 313

have always ranked among the most intelligent and vir-
tuous of our citizens. Indeed, it is doubtful if a more
excellent race of men can be found in any part of the
world than they who claim to be descended from those
who have been designated by the general denomination
of Huguenots, although less is known of their origin and
subsequent history than of almost any other class of
our inhabitants. Even the name by which they have so
long been known, is involved in doubt and uncertainty,
which it is perhaps, at this day, impossible to re-
move.*

Fifty or more years since, the aged inhabitants of
Flushing could point to the former residences of these
venerable strangers, who have long since passed away
like a vision of the night, leaving few or no memorials
behind, if we except the much esteemed Lady Apple and
Belle Pear trees. Some of the identical trees of this
description, planted by them in different places, are still

* In an old work, of deserved reputation, which we have examined, it
is said that the name Huguenot is explained in many different ways.
Some, says the author, derive the word from hue nos venimus, the
beginning of the first protestation of the apologetical oration, made
before Cardinal Lotharingius, in the time of Francis II. of France.

Du Verdier derives it from John Huss, whose opinions they em-
braced, and guenon, an ape, q. d. John Huss' Apes. Others from Hugh
Capet, whose right of succession to the crown the Calvinists main-
tained, against the house of Guise. Again, it has been supposed to
take its rise from Huguenot, a piece of money, a farthing in the time
of Hugh Capet; others derive it from Hugon, a gate in the city of
Tours, where they first assembled.

In Barclay's Dictionary, Huguenot is said to be a name of contempt
given to the Protestants of France, and had its rise in 1560; for at
Tours, the people had a notion that an apparition or hobgoblin, called
King Hugon, strolled about the streets in the night time; from whence,
as those of the reformed religion met in the night to pray, &c, they
called them Huguenots, or disciples of Hugon.

Whoever wishes for more information may consult Jeurieu's Pas-
toral Letters, and Smedley's History of the Reformed Religion, Brande's
Encyclopedia, and the second volume of Littell's Living Age, page 446.

3H HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

found in various parts of the town, and, from their pres-
ent vigorous appearance, they bid fair to flourish for a
century yet to come.

The introduction of many choice fruits by these
respectable people, and by others who were encouraged
by their example, improved, as they have been, by a
well adapted soil and climate, with the advantage of a
convenient and ready market, has given rise to the
establishment of more extensive nurseries and gardens
in this town, than can be found in any other part of the
United States; accordingly, it has long enjoyed a high
and enviable reputation for the immense variety and
excellence of its fruit, plants, and ornamental trees. One
of the most noble, as well as valuable establishments of
this sort then existing in the country, was that of the
late William Prince, which was begun by his father
William in 1750, the adjoining land having been since
purchased of William Bayard and Herman Le Roy,
sons-in-law of Samuel Cornwell, who had removed from
here to South Carolina many years before. The grounds
occupied previous to 1793 contained about eight acres,
and were in that year increased to twenty-four, but, by
gradual additions as became necessary, the quantity was
in 1840 extended to about sixty acres.

So long ago as 1776, the soil then used for the purpose
was filled with the finest well-grown fruit trees, among
which were at least 30,000 grafted English cherry trees;
but, as the enemy then took possession of Long Island
as well as New York, there was, of course, no demand
for so valuable an article for the purpose of propaga-
tion, and immense quantities were disposed of for hoop-
poles, the only use which could then be made of them.

It is a fact honorable to the memory of General

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 315

Howe, and one which deserves to be mentioned, that
when the British troops first entered this town, he, of
his own accord, and from his high sense of propriety,
on the 29th of August, 1776, stationed a guard for the
protection of the garden and nurseries, which was con-
tinued so long as the same was required for safety and
preservation.

The green-house alone of this large establishment
contained, in 1840, more than 20,000 flowering plants,
and the gardens were filled with an immense variety of
fruit and ornamental trees, both indigenous and exotic,
herbaceous, flowering, and medicinal plants, bulbous and
tuberous roots, &c.

The gardens and nurseries were at that time owned
by the said William Prince and his sons, who had con-
ducted them for several years previous. The senior
proprietor, one of the best and most amiable men, died
at the age of seventy-six years, April 6, 1842; William
Prince, his father, having died in 1802, leaving William,
Benjamin, John, and Sarah, who married Charles
McNeil. He was a lineal descendant of the celebrated
Thomas Prince (or Prence), who arrived at Plymouth
colony in 1621, and was governor there for a period of
eighteen years.

The institution has long been known by the name of
the " Linnaean Botanic Garden," which name it still
retains.

Great attention has been given by the proprietors to
the cultivation of the mulberry tree, which will probably
hereafter become an object of much importance in this
country, although at present it appears to attract com-
paratively little attention.

The first specimen of the Morns multicanlis plant, now

316 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

so well known in the culture of silk, was introduced for
the first time into the United States, by the Messrs.
Prince, in the spring of 1827. They imported it from
Marseilles, where it had been brought the year before,
from the Philippine Islands, with two other varieties, the
Morus ovalifolia and Alba lascinata. It was then known
as the Morus sinensis, and also as the Morus of the
Philippine Islands; but it was not till some years after,
when it had become more disseminated in France, that it
received the name of Morus multicaulis, or many stalked
mulberry.

The original plant was obtained from Tarascon, near
Marseilles, and cost five francs, by which its merits may
be judged of, considering that it came from the very
land of mulberry nurseries.

In the fall of 1827, they received several other
varieties to complete their assortment, and to give the
public an opportunity of testing by experiment the
superiority of any one; being led to this importation by
a resolution of Congress of May, 1826, directing the
secretary of the treasury to prepare a manual of the best
practical information on the growth and manufacture of
silk adapted to different parts of the Union.

The grounds occupied by this ancient nursery and
garden were disposed of a few years since, and are now
owned by Gabriel Winter, Esq., by whose agency the
business is still carried on extensively, although some
part of the grounds has been converted into streets and
building lots; while William R. Prince and his brother
Alfred Prince have already an extensive garden and
nursery, a short distance south of the former, in which
they have an almost infinite variety of valuable and
choice trees, plants, &c, and which already nearly equals

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 317

the primitive establishment that formerly belonged to
the family.

The old Bloodgood nursery, now or lately owned and
conducted by Willcomb and King, has long been in high
reputation, and is only inferior in quantity and variety
to the Linnaean Garden.

The establishment of Parsons & Company, called
the " Commercial Garden and Nursery," is also an ex-
tensive and valuable collection, and deserves like the
others, the patronage of the public. Wiggin's " Floral
and Pomological Nursery " covers a considerable extent
of ground, and is filled with an extensive variety of trees,
shrubs, and plants of the choicest kinds.

From this brief account, it will be seen that Flushing
has not only led the way in this description of cultiva-
tion, but has obtained a rank in horticulture which is
unrivalled by any other place on the American continent.
It is true likewise that this species of commerce has
added greatly to the wealth and prosperity of the town,
and will, if continued, insure its pre-eminence for the
future.

Cadwallader Colden, former lieutenant governor of
the colony of New York, was for many years a resident
of Flushing. He was the son of the Rev. Alexander
Colden of Dunse, in Scotland, where he was born Feb-
ruary 17, 1688; he graduated in Edinburgh in 1705, and
devoted himself to medicine and mathematics till the
year 1708. The fame of Penn's colony allured him to
America in 17 10, and he practised physic in Phila-
delphia till 17 1 5, when he returned to England. Here
he formed an acquaintance with many eminent men, with
whom he maintained a correspondence ever after. From
London he went to Scotland, where he married Alice

HISTORY Ol 1/ 3i9

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318 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Christie, daughter of a clergyman of Kelso. In 171 6 he
came back to America with his wife, and practised medi-
cine in Philadelphia for two years. In 17 18 he removed
to New York, where he relinquished his profession and
became a public character. He soon distinguished himself
as a philosopher and statesman. His writings in several
departments of science attest his extraordinary industry
and ability. His correspondence with most of the
learned men of the age in which he lived, is an evidence
of the estimation in which he was held by them. His
character as a statesman will be found in his political
writings, and in his correspondence with the ministry of
Great Britain at the critical times in which he admin-
istered the colonial government. He held successively
the offices of surveyor-general of the colony, master in
chancery, member of the council under Governor Bur-
net, and lieutenant governor at several periods. He pur-
chased a tract of land near Newburgh, which he named
Coldenham, and to which he removed in 1756. Here
he occupied himself with botanical and mathematical
pursuits, carrying on at the same time a correspondence
with Collinson, Linnaeus, Gronovius, and others, in Eu-
rope; and with Franklin, Garden, Bartram, Alexander,
and others in America. He wrote treatises upon Gravi-
tation, on Matter, on Fluxions, and various other sub-
jects of science. While holding the office of lieutenant
governor, he resided most of the time at his farm in
Flushing, called Spring Hill, where he built a spacious
and substantial mansion. His death took place here on
the 20th of September, 1776, at the age of eighty-eight
years; and he was buried in a private cemetery on the
farm attached to Spring Hill. He had five sons and five
daughters, a part of whom only survived him, viz. :

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 319

Alexander, born August 13, 1716; David, born 1719,
who died an infant; Cadwallader, born May 26,
1722; John, born May 28, 1729, died unmarried in
August, 1750; David, born November 23, 1733; Eliza-
beth, born February 5, 17 19; Jane, born March 27,
1724, who died without issue March 10, 1766; Alice,
born September 27, 1725 ; Sarah, born July 6, 1727, who
died an infant, and Catherine, born February 13, 1731,
who died unmarried in June, 1762. His daughter Eliza-
beth married Peter De Lancey, Esq.; Jane married Dr.
William Farquhar; and Alice married Colonel William
Willet. Three of Governor Colden's sons, Alexander,
Cadwallader, and David, were successively surveyor-
generals and prominent men in the colony. His son
David, to whom he devised the farm at Spring Hill
(now the property of Charles J. Henshaw), becoming a
warm and active loyalist in the Revolution, lost his
estate by forfeiture and retired to England in 1784,
where he died the 10th of July of the same year. He
was bred to the profession of physic, which, however, he
never practised. He was fond of retirement, was much
devoted to scientific pursuits; and his correspondence
with learned men in Europe and America is to be found
in the publications of the time. His wife was Ann,
daughter of John Willet, Esq. of Flushing. She was
married February 27, 1767, and died in August, 178 1,
at Coldenham, Orange County. Mr. David Colden left
one son and eight daughters, viz. : Cadwallader D., Alice
Charity, Mary, Ann, Elizabeth, Catherine, Ann, 2d.,
Harriet, and Caroline. His daughter Mary, born April
7, 1770, married the late Josiah Ogden Hoffman, and
was the mother of Ogden Hoffman, Esq. of New York;
Elizabeth, born February 25, 1774, married Edward W.

322 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

united till 1809, when he confined his services exclusively
to that of Newtown.

In the same year this church obtained as third rector,
the Rev. Barzillai Buckley, and the corporation of
Trinity Church in New York gave to the society three
lots of ground, toward the future support of its min-
ister. Mr. Buckley continued here till his death, March
29, 1820.

The following summary exhibits the rotation of
ministers who have officiated in this church from 1705
to 1837, for the most part in connection with the
churches of Jamaica and Newtown, as above stated:

Rev. William Urquhart 1705 to 1707

" Thomas Poyer 1709 to 1731

" Thomas Colgan 1731 to 1755

" Samuel Seabury 1756101765

" Joshua Bloomer 1769 to 1790

" William Hammell 1790101795

" Elijah D. Rattoone 1797 to 1802

" Abraham L. Clarke 1803 to 1809

u Barzillai Buckley 1809 to 1820

" John V. E. Thorn 1820 to 1826

" William Augustus Muhlenberg 1826 to 1828

" William H. Lewis 1829101833

" J. Murray Forbes 1833101834

" Samuel R. Johnson ^34 to 1835

11 Robert B. Van Kleeck 1835 to 1837

In 1837 tne Rev- Frederic J. Goodwin was engaged.
He was a graduate of Bowdoin College, Me., in 1832,
and was settled here December 8, 1837, where he mar-
ried Catherine, daughter of James Bloodgood, deceased.
His resignation took place in January, 1844, when he
removed to Middletown, Conn., and was succeeded in
March following by the Rev. George Burcker from
Flatbush, L. I., whose death occurred June 7, 1847, at
the age of thirty-two years, and that of Susan, his

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 323

widow, on the 5th of September of the same year. The
Rev. John Carpenter Smith from Trinity Church, Far
Rockaway, was settled as his successor in October, 1847.

11 Rev. Mr. Smith officiated for fifty years, and was
succeeded by the Rev. Henry D. Waller, the present
rector in 1898. Mr. Waller is known as a historian, and
in 1899 his History of Flushing was published."

Editor.

The present church edifice was erected in 18 12, con-
secrated June 25, 1 82 1, enlarged in 1838, and is a hand-
some building with a bell, clock, and fine-toned organ.

A congregation of the Reformed Dutch Church was
organized here in June, 1842, and the corner stone of
a handsome edifice, built of granite from Blackwell's
Island, was laid August 16, 1843. The building was
completed soon after and dedicated September 10, 1844.
The Rev. William R. Gordon, removed from Manhasset
in the spring of 1842, is pastor of the church. A Metho-
dist meeting-house has existed here for a good many
years, and another of a larger size and more fashion-
able in appearance* was erected in 1842 upon one of the
main streets of the village. In the eastern portion of
the village is a good-sized Roman Catholic Church,
erected in 1840, and a meeting-house for the colored part
of the population.

This town is not only remarkable for its proportion-
ate number of wealthy citizens, but also for the number
of highly cultivated farms and magnificent private resi-
dences. The most expensive of these is that erected by
the late Chancellor Sanford, upon an elevated site in the
southern part of the village, which after his death in
1838 was disposed of at a heavy loss, and purchased by

324 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Dr. James Macdonald, who for several years past
has conducted there with eminent success a private hos-
pital for the insane.

A large educational establishment was incorporated
April 1 6, 1827, called the " Flushing Institute," occupy-
ing a fine and spacious structure in a commanding situa-
tion and every way adapted to the noble purpose of its
erection. The school was commenced in 1828, under
the direction of the Rev. Dr. William Augustus Muhlen-
berg, of which he continued the superintendence for ten
years, when he retired to the management of a new insti-
tution, St. Paul's College. After the departure of
Dr. Muhlenberg, a female school of great excellence
was commenced and continued till 1846, by the Rev. Dr.
John F. Schroeder, who then removed his charge to the
city of New York, and became rector of the Church of
the Crucifixion. In May, 1845, Mr- Ezra Fairchild
removed with his school from Morristown, N. J., to the
Flushing Pavilion, where he continued to teach until the
removal of Dr. Schroeder, when he took possession of
the premises vacated by him as principal of the Green-
brook School.

St. Paul's College is located at College Point, which is
the north-west part of Lawrence's Neck, adjoining the
Sound. It is one of the most beautiful, healthy, and
commanding situations which could have been selected.
The corner stone was laid by Bishop Onderdonk, Octo-
ber 15, 1836; and although the main edifice has been
abandoned, sufficient erections have been made for the
accommodation of more than 100 students, which num-
ber it has long since obtained. This is likewise an
Episcopal school, and from the high character of Dr.
Muhlenberg, as an able and learned instructor, there was

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HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 325

every reason to anticipate its continued prosperity and
usefulness, supplied as it was while under his control,
with competent professors and teachers in the various
departments of academical and collegiate education. Mr.
John Graeff Barton assumed the rectorship of the insti-
tution in August, 1846, Dr. Muhlenberg having become
rector of the Church of the Holy Communion, New
York City.

St. Thomas' Hall is the title of another literary and
scientific establishment in the village of Flushing,
founded by the Rev. Dr. Francis L. Hawks, former
rector of St. Thomas' Church, New York, one of the
best scholars and most eloquent divines of the age. The
buildings — some of which were erected in 1838 — are of
wood and in their architecture of the Gothic order, and
sufficient for the accommodation of 120 pupils. Able
and efficient teachers were engaged in all the depart-
ments, and the course of studies was most liberal and
complete. It is a beautiful structure, and it being an
Episcopal institution, the services of that church were
observed. Indeed, it seemed with all its appliances and
the completeness of its arrangements, to be one of the
most extraordinary foundations for education in the
state. Yet so much money had been launched upon it,
that the proprietor found it impossible to proceed, and
on the 1 2th of April, 1843, abandoned it to his creditors.
Dr. Hawks removed to Holly Springs, Miss., and the
next year accepted the rectorship of Christ Church, New
Orleans, and in 1847 was appointed president of the Uni-
versity of Louisiana, in addition to his pastoral duties.
In 1849 Dr. Hawks returned to the city of New York
and organized a new church. It may be remarked that
Dr. Hawks was formerly a distinguished member of

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

the bar of North Carolina, and published several vol-
umes of reports of the supreme court of that state, but
like his illustrious predecessor St. Paul he preferred
rather to preach than practise. After the failure of
this gentleman, the institution was purchased at a very
reduced price by Gerardus B. Docharty, Esq., a veteran
in the art of teaching, by whom the same course of
liberal instruction was pursued. St. Thomas' Hall has
since been purchased by the Rev. W. H. Gilder of Bor-
dentown, who opened it as the Flushing Female Institute,
November i, 1848.

There are besides several minor schools which con-
tribute to the literary character of this ancient and
princely settlement, which in regard to healthfulness,
convenience of situation, and facilities of intercourse with
the city oi New York, is equal, if not superior to any
other village in the country. A Public Free School that
cost about $6,000, has been built mainly by the exertions
of Thomas Legget, Jr. It opened November 27, 1848,
with seven teachers and 331 scholars. In 1849 k na(^
three departments, — the primary, the boys', and the
girls'; eleven teachers, a library, lyceum, and had enrolled
559 scholars.

A mineral spring was discovered here, in the year 18 16,
upon land of Walter Roe, which for a time attracted
some attention from the public. It was examined by
Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill, and found to be of the class
of waters called chalybeate, and in its medicinal prop-
erties nearly resembling that of Schooley's Mountain
in New Jersey. The day of its excitement however
soon passed away, and for many years little has been
heard of this once famous sanative.

The village was incorporated April 15, 1837, tne

r •

HISTORY OJ I.O.V, ISLAND

';>•',

street* first named November 2j, 1838, and the charter
amended March J 3, 1838, sine* when much ha§ been
done (or the appearance and permanent improvement
of the village, as gratifying at it if creditable to the
trustees.

In the autumn of 1841, while some persons were
employed in excavating the ground in the grading of
Linnaeus Street, through a part of what was once the
Linn a? an Gardens, a dozen or more human skeletons
were discovered and exhumed almost entire. From the
fact of leaden bullets being found among the bones
seems highly probable that the unfortunate individuals
whose relics they were, had fallen by an enemy in battle
— and from the circumstance that a very considerable
British force was stationed here during the Revolutionary
War, it is no more than reasonable to suppose that these
bones may have been the remains of some of our coon*
trymen or their opponents, who had perished in a con-
test with each other.

A press was for a time connected with St- Thomas1'
Hall, and a weekly paper was issued by Dr, Hawks,
called the Church Record, mainly devoted to the history
and polity of the Episcopal Church. The concern passed
into the hands of Charles R. Lincoln, who, March 19,
1842, published the first number of the Flushing Journal,
a well edited weekly newspaper, which has thns far been
continued.

The surface of this town is either level or moderately
undulating; the soil superior, and its agriculture, prob-
ably, far excels that of any other district upon Long
Island; the farms, which rarely exceed in quantity 100
acres, being generally protected by a stone wall and
highly cultivated. There are numerous sites for building.

326 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

There are besides several minor schools which con-
tribute to the literary character of this ancient and
princely settlement, which in regard to healthfulness,
convenience of situation, and facilities of intercourse with
the city of New York, is equal, if not superior to any
other village in the country. A Public Free School that
cost about $6,000, has been built mainly by the exertions
of Thomas Legget, Jr. It opened November 27, 1848,
with seven teachers and 331 scholars. In 1849 ^ nac^
three departments, — the primary, the boys', and the
girls'; eleven teachers, a library, lyceum, and had enrolled
559 scholars.

A mineral spring was discovered here, in the year 1 8 1 6,
upon land of Walter Roe, which for a time attracted
some attention from the public. It was examined by
Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill, and found to be of the class
of waters called chalybeate, and in its medicinal prop-
erties nearly resembling that of Schooley's Mountain
in New Jersey. The day of its excitement however
soon passed away, and for many years little has been
heard of this once famous sanative.

The village was incorporated April 15, 1837, the

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 327

streets first named November 21, 1838, and the charter
amended March 13, 1838, since when much has been
done for the appearance and permanent improvement
of the village, as gratifying as it is creditable to the
trustees.

In the autumn of 1841, while some persons were
employed in excavating the ground in the grading of
Linnaeus Street, through a part of what was once the
Linnsean Gardens, a dozen or more human skeletons
were discovered and exhumed almost entire. From the
fact of leaden bullets being found among the bones, it
seems highly probable that the unfortunate individuals
whose relics they were, had fallen by an enemy in battle
— and from the circumstance that a very considerable
British force was stationed here during the Revolutionary
War, it is no more than reasonable to suppose that these
bones may have been the remains of some of our coun-
trymen or their opponents, who had perished in a con-
test with each other.

A press was for a time connected with St. Thomas'
Hall, and a weekly paper was issued by Dr. Hawks,
called the Church Record, mainly devoted to the history
and polity of the Episcopal Church. The concern passed
into the hands of Charles R. Lincoln, who, March 19,
1842, published the first number of the Flushing Journal,
a well edited weekly newspaper, which has thus far been
continued.

330 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

which he called Spring Hill, and where it is supposed
his body and that of his wife repose. Its late owner,
the Hon. Benjamin W. Strong, once first judge of the
county, died here September 12, 1847, aged sixty-six,
a gentleman of much intelligence and great private
worth.

In the north-western part of the town adjoining the
bay and extending to the Sound at College Point, is
another fine tract of land, formerly known as Tew's
Neck, Lawrence's Neck, and Willet's Neck. It con-
tains about 700 acres, and is separated from the land
on the east by 100 acres of salt meadow.

"On January 1, 1898, the town of Flushing became

part of the Borough of Queens, city of New York, and

the form of town government was abolished."

Editor.
«

composed and published the well known memoir upon the subject. He
wrote also the life of Robert Fulton, the successful promoter of steam
navigation, and one of the greatest benefactors of mankind. Mr. Colden
died, universally esteemed and lamented, at his residence in Jersey City,
on the 7th of February, 1834. He was, in every sense of the word, a
great man, and one of whose nativity the people of Long Island may
well be proud.

NEWTOWN

Embraces the north-western part of Queens County,
and is centrally distant from the city of New York
about seven miles. It is bounded north by the middle
of the East River, east by Flushing, south by Jamaica,
and west by Kings County; including the islands in the
Sound, called the North and South Brothers, Riker's
(once Hewlett's) Island, and Berrien's Island, Luyster's
Island, and Yonker's Island.

The eastern portion of the town was known to the
natives by the name of JVandowenock, while the western
was called Mispat, or Maspeth, the latter being probably
the appellation applied to a family or tribe of Indians
residing about the head of the creek now called the
" English Kills." *

The first white inhabitants were enterprising English
emigrants, who came here by the way of New England,
and settled under the Dutch Government, by whom they
were promised and allowed many of the privileges and
advantages of an independent political community, the
enjoyment of religion, and the choice of their own
magistrates, subject only to the approbation of the
governor.

The first patent for lands in this town is that embrac-
ing the western part including the territory about Mas-
peth or Mespath, from Governor Kieft to Francis

1 Now Newtown Creek. — Editor.

33^

332 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Doughty and others, translated from the Dutch records
by Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan, author of The History of
New Netherland, from which we have copied the fol-
lowing :

" We, Willem Kieft, Director-general, and council
of New Netherland, for and in behalf of the High and
Mighty Lords, the Lords States General of the United
Netherland Provinces, his Higness the Prince of Orange,
as well as the Most Noble Lords the Lords Directors of
the General Privileged West India Company, To all those
who shall see these Letters, make known, that We have
given and granted, as by these Presents We do give and
grant, unto Francis Doughty and associates, their heirs
and assigns, in real, actual, and perpetual possession, all
and every that certain parcel of land situate on Long
Island, in this Province, with the pastures and whatever
else it includes, containing in superficies six thousand six
hundred and sixty-six Dutch acres, or thereabouts, com-
prehended within four right lines, each two thousand
Dutch perches long, the first whereof extends from the
east angle of Hans Hansson's meadow, dividing, accord-
ing to the creek, the marsh into two unequal parts, unto
the plantation of Richard Britnal, and thence proceeds
towards the northeast, passing through the middle of the
fresh marsh to the rivulet surrounding the south part of
the lands of Henry the Farmer, [Henrici Agricolae,] and
following the same even to its mouth : the other line,
taking its origin from thence, bends towards the southeast
according to the main bank, going along the same unto
the other creek, [fluviolum,] following the course of
which from its mouth until it attains the eastern extremity
of the said marsh, (from whence the aforesaid creek
arises,) thence turns again towards the southeast, until
it has gained the length of two thousand Dutch perches;

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 333

the third line taking its rise from the end of the latter,
tends towards the west, of an equal length with the
others; finally, the fourth running from the last-men-
tioned point towards the northwest, terminates at the
above-mentioned eastern angle of Hans Hansson's
meadow, at which angle a large stone is erected for the
greater certainty of the boundaries;

" With power to establish, in the aforesaid tract, a
town or towns ; to erect a church or churches ; to exercise
the Reformed Christian Religion and church discipline,
which they profess; also, to administer, of right, high,
low, and middle jurisdiction; to decide civil suits not
exceeding fifty Dutch florins; to impose definitively and
without appeal in criminal matters, fines to an equal
amount; to pronounce the first sentence in other civil
and criminal actions of greater moment, and to execute
the same, subject, however, to such execution being de-
ferred, should an appeal be made to the supreme court
of New Netherlands: Finally, to exercise all rights be-
longing to the aforesaid jurisdiction, with power, more-
over, to nominate some of theirs, and to present them to
the Director of New Netherland, that a sufficient number
may be chosen from them for political and juridical gov-
ernment: together with the right of hunting, fowling,
fishing, and of trading, according to the immunities
granted, and to be granted, to the colonists of this prov-
ince, without any exception : —

11 Wherefore the aforesaid F. Doughty and his asso-
ciates, their heirs and assigns, shall be obligated, so long
as they are in possession of the above-mentioned lands,
to acknowledge the aforesaid lords for their sovereign
Lords and Patroons; to pay, after the lapse of ten
years, the tenth part of the produce of the land, whether
cultivated with the plough, hoe, or otherwise, orchards
and kitchen-gardens, not exceeding one Dutch acre, ex-
cepted. Finally, to use no other standard than that of

334 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Holland; and so as to avoid confusion, to use Dutch
weights, the Dutch ell and all other Dutch measures.

" All which we promise, under the foregoing con-
ditions inviolably to preserve, and bind our successors
to the faithful observance of the same, by virtue of the
commission and supreme authority granted us by the
Most Mighty Prince of Orange, governor of the United
Belgic Provinces. In testimony whereof, we have sub-
scribed these presents with our hand, and caused them
to be countersigned by the Secretary of New Nether-
land, and the seal of New Netherland, to be affixed
thereto. Given at Fort Amsterdam, on the island of
Manhattans, in New Netherland, in the year 1642, the
28th of March. By order of the Director and Council.
" Cornelis Van Tienhoven, Secy.
William Kieft."

This Mr. Doughty who was in New England in 1642,
came to Long Island during the same year and, although
at first an Episcopalian minister, finally turned Quaker.
Nothing was probably done by him or his associates
immediately under the above grant, and there is rea-
son to believe that for some reason or other, no
advantage was ever obtained from it. Van der Donck,
who married his daughter, says the lands were subse-
quently confiscated, and Doughty, if he settled there, left
the place in a short time with his associates. He un-
doubtedly officiated as a minister in the town, as well as
at the Manhattans, with a salary for some time at the
rate of 600 guilders a year. He was in straitened cir-
cumstances, and therefore hindered the process of set-
tling on the lands for which a charter had been given,
by exacting from every comer a sum of money down for
every morgan, and a certain amount annually also, by

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 335

way of quit-rent, thus materially, if not effectually,
counteracting the interests of those connected with him
in the grant. He finally took up his residence in Flush-
ing, but left for Virginia in 1648.

The first permanent settlement in this town after that of
Maspeth, was begun in 1652, and was called the " New-
town," by way of distinction from the grant to Doughty
and his associates, although the general and legal appel-
lation was Middleburgh. As was customary within the
Dutch jurisdiction, the settlement was effected without
any conveyance from the aborigines. The inhabitants at
this time adopted the practice, which was usual in some
of the New England towns, of electing certain officers,
designated " townsmen" whose prerogative it was to
superintend the more important interests of the town,
and to adopt such prudential measures as the common
good seemed to require, except as to the admission of
new inhabitants and the division or allotment of lands,
matters, it seems, which were only transacted in the
primary assemblies of the people, called, as we have
seen, the general court. Whether any preliminary title
to the lands had been acquired by the Dutch Govern-
ment from the Indians, is uncertain, although the most
common sentiment of justice would, it should seem, have
dictated a proceeding so entirely proper in all respects.

A patent or ground brief was obtained from Gov-
ernor Stuyvesant in 1652, and another with more lib-
eral provisions in 1655, both of which, with many other
valuable papers essential to a knowledge of the early
history of the town, were it is generally believed lost,
taken away, or destroyed in the Revolution, the com-
manding officer of a British regiment having established
his headquarters here, and his soldiers being in full pos-

336

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

session of the town for several years. The names of
those who were residents, and probably freeholders of
the town in 1686, are as follows:

Thomas Stephenson
Gershom Moore
Jonathan Hazard
Daniel Bloomfield
Caleb Leverich
Joseph Sackett
Robert Field
Thomas Pettit
John Gray
Robert Field, jun.
John Smith
Josiah Furman
George Wood
Nathan Fish
Edward Hunt
Jeremiah Burroughs
Richard Betts
Thomas Betts
John Alburtis
James Way
Cornelis Jansen
Jacob Reeder
John Morrell
Elias Doughty
Thomas Lawrence
William Lawrence
William Hallett, jun.

William Hallett
Samuel Hallett
Hcndrick Martensen
Robert Blackwell
John Pearsall
Joris Stevensen
Thomas Skillman
John Johnson
Richard Alsop
John Denman
Henry Mayle
John Reed
Joseph Phillips
Francis Way
John Wilson
Moses Pettit
John Furman
Samuel Ketcham
John Ramsden
Rynier Willemsen
John Harrison
John Coe
Joseph Burroughs
William Osborn
Thomas Robertson
Benjamin Cornish
Francis Combs

Content Titus
Lambert Woodward
Joseph Reeder
Jeremiah Reeder
Nathaniel Woodward
John Bull
John Wood
Thomas Morrell
Theophilus Phillips
Roeloff Petersen
Benjamin Severens
Jacob Leonardsen
Luke Depaw
Nathaniel Pettit
James Hayes
Richard Owen
Peter Bockhout
John Allen
John Rosell
Engeltie Burger
Stephen Jorissen
John Lawrence
Thomas Wandell
John Kirtshaw
Jonathan Strickland
Gershom Hazard
Henry Sawtell

The settlement was begun on the site of the present
village of Newtown, where the first straw-roof tene-
ments were erected. In 1656 it was projected by a few
individuals to lay out a village or town, as it was called,
nearer to the water, and accordingly a place was selected
at the head of Mispat Creek, which was distinguished
by the name of Arnham, and the surveyor-general was
ordered by the governor " to measure and lay off the
lots and streets for building upon."

The design was, however, for some reason, never car-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 337

ried into full execution, yet a few Englishmen, some of
whom were Quakers, took up their residence there, by
reason of which its first name fell into disuse and that
of the English Kills 1 prevailed, to distinguish it from
another settlement on the opposite side of the fly or
creek made by the Dutch, which had obtained the appella-
tion of the Dutch Kills. The Quakers before mentioned
remained several years, and built a small meeting-house,
which was standing not long since, although few persons
of this denomination are now residents of the town.

Middleburgh was the name afterwards conferred upon
the plantation by the Dutch, many of whom settled
within the limits of the present town about the year
1654. It was so called probably after a town of that
name in the Netherlands, adjoining Flushing,, and con-
tinued to be so named in all the records and convey-
ances, to the time of the conquest in 1664. The rec-
ords of the town which now exist, are chiefly occupied
with details of trials before the town courts, and among
them actions of slander and defamation hold a con-
spicuous place.

The following is a sample of others which might be
quoted from these ancient chronicles :

"Middleburgh, Aug. 21, 165Q. At a cort held by
the magestrates of the place aforesaid, John fforman,
plaintive, enters an action against francis Doughty, de-
fen*, an action of slander. John fforman declared that
ffrancis Doughty charged him, that he had stolen his
choes, and therefore he was satisfied which way his
things went. The cort finds for the defen*, too guilders
for attendance and the charge of the cort, to be payd by

1 Now Newtown Creek. — Editor.

338 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

John fforman, because he doth not support his charge
that he layd against the defenV

Concerning a patent the following particulars are
recorded:

"At a general town meeting, held October 6, 1666,
voted that Thomas Lawrence, Ralph Hunt, and Jo. Bur-
rows shall be employed to get a draft of the bounds of
the town, and get a pattin for the same ; also the town
people to bear the charge according to their several pro-
portions."

Upon this application a patent was issued by Gov-
ernor Nicoll, March 6, 1667, in which was granted and
assured unto :

11 Capt. Richard Betts, Capt. Thomas Lawrence,
Capt. John Coe, John Burroughs, Ralph Hunt, Daniel
Whitehead, and Burger Joost, as patentees for and on
behalf of themselves and their associates, the freehold-
ers and inhabitants of Newtown, their heirs, successors,
and assigns, as follows :

" ' All that the said tract of land herein menconed to
have been purchased from the Indian natives, bounded
on the east by Flushing Creek and a line to be drawne
from the head thereof due south, extending to the south
side of the hills; on the north by the Sound; on the west
by the Maspeth Creeke or Kill, and a line to be drawne
from the head thereof due south, extending to the south
side of the hills; and on the south by a straight line to
be drawne from the south points of the said west line,
alongst the south side of the said hills, it meets with
the said east line soe menconed, to extend from the head

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 339

of Flushing Creeke as aforesaid; as also all that one
third part of a certaine neck of meadow called Cellars-
Neck, scituate, lying, and being within the bounds of
Jamaica, upon the south side of Long Island; as also
liberty to cut what timber within the bounds of Jamaica
aforesaid they should have occasion for, for the fencing
the said neck, and to make and lay out to themselves
what highway or highways they should think fit, for
their free and convenient egresse and regresse to and
from the aforesaid neck or parcell of meadow. And
that the said patentees, their associates, heyres, succes-
sors, and assigns shall enjoy all the privileges belonging
to any town within this government; and that the place
of their habitation shall continue and retaine the name
of Newton, and so be distinguished and known in all
bargains, sailes, deeds, records, and writings.' "

This patent evidently includes Hell-Gate Neck, so
called, Maspeth, Middleburgh, the Poor Bowery and
out plantations appertaining to what is now called New-
town.

A difficulty after arose about the division of the lands
or some of them included in this patent and a petition
was presented to Lord Cornbury in May, 1703, signed
by twenty-three of the freeholders for some relief, because
they said they had not been allowed a voice in the dis-
posal of the town lands, which from their patent they
had expected to enjoy, and prayed an investigation. The
matter was by his excellency referred to three members
of the council by an order of the 13th of January, 1704,
who on the 3d of February reported that they had in-
spected the books and papers of the town, and examined
a report on the same subject made by Rip Van Dam,
Gerard Beekman, and Caleb Heathcote, Esqs., members

340 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

of the council, and also the allegations of the petitioners
and their opponents, and found that previous to the
patent of Nicoll, a society of people had purchased and
did occupy a parcel of land called and known as Middle-
burgh, which was confirmed by said patent, and to which
was adjoined certain out plantations and made them all
one township without any distinct reservation of said
purchase to the purchasers themselves; and that the
patent of Governor Dongan of November 25, 1686,
makes the whole one town, but reserved to the original
purchasers their distinct right to the said lands and to
their heirs only; since which time the patentees had
acted according thereto, without complaint until the ex-
hibition of the said petition. Signed by Broughton,
Wenham, and Ling. Whereupon the petition aforesaid
was by the governor and council rejected.

Dec. 13, 1670. — "At a town meeting, voated that if
Mr. Leverich shall continue in this town to preach the
word of God, a rate of £40 shall be made for the build-
ing of a meeting-house, one-half to be payd in corn and
the other half in cattle."

"At a cort, held May 6, 1674, the order of the cort
is, that Thomas Case shall not entertayne William
Smith's wife, unknowne to her husband, as he will an-
swer for the contrary at his peril."

"Feb. 28, 1683-4, voated that Mr. Morgan Jones
be schoolmaster of our town, to teach on the Sabbath
days those that will come, allowing for him exercising
on that day what any one pleases."

Of this person we find the following entry made upon
the records by himself:

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 341

" Whereas I, Morgan Jones, have officiated for some
time as a minister in Newtown without any agreement
for a salary, upon the promise of some particular per-
sons of the town, to allow me some small recompense
of their own accord, I do hereby acquit and discharge
the town of all salary, moneys, goods, or wares, which
I might claim. Aug. 28, 1686, Morgan Jones."

"At a cort, held April 4th, 1688, Ann Cleven did,
in presents of the cort, own that she had spoken several
tymes scandalous and reproachful speaches against Will-
iam Francis, touching his good name ; she doth now con-
fess her fault, and says she had done the said William
wrong, and is sorry she spoke such words against him;
and hopes, for the time to come, she shall be more
careful. She owns that she charged the plaintive with
cheating her of a pound of flax, and told the people to
take notice he had stole her yarn."

"On the 29th July, 1688, voated that Edward Ste-
phenson and Joseph Sacket shall appear at the supream
cort, held at Flatlands, to defend the town's right; and
that they have full power to employ an atturney if they
shall see fit, and what they do, we will ratify and con-
firm."

"June 11, 1689, it was voated and agreed that Capt.
Richard Betts and Lieut. Samuel Moore go to the county-
town to meet the deputys of other towns, to vote for
too men out of the county to go to Yorke to act with
the rest in the counsil as a committe of safety."

11 These may certify all whom it may concern, that I,
ffrancis Combs, being accused for speaking scandalous
words and speeches, tending to the deffamacon of
Marget, the wife of John fforman of Newtown; I doe
publicly declare that I am hertily sorry that the said
Marget is any wise by me defamed, not knowing any
thing against her name, fame, or reputacon; but that
she lives honestly and grately with her neighbors, and

342 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

all other their Magesty's subjects. As witness my hand,
October 2, 1691, ffrancis Combs."

11 July 14, 1694, voted at town meeting, that the town
will make a rate toward repairing the meeting-house
and the town-house; also, for paying the messenger's
expense, that is sent for a minister, and for making a
pair of stocks."

On the 25th of November, 1686, a new patent was
granted by Governor Dongan, which, after reciting the
date of previous patents, and the boundaries of the town
as before mentioned, states that the freeholders and
inhabitants had made application to him by William
Lawrence, Joseph Sackett, John Way, and Content Titus,
persons deputed by them for a more full and ample con-
firmation of the tract or parcel of land contained in the
patent of 1666 from Governor Nicoll; therefore he, the
said Thomas Dongan, doth ratify, confirm, and grant all
the said land and premises, with the houses, messuages,
tenements, fencings, buildings, gardens, orchards, trees,
woods, underwoods, pastures, feedings, common of pas-
tures, meadows, marshes, lakes, ponds, creeks, harbors,
rivers, rivulets, brooks, streams, easements, and high-
ways, together with the islands, mines, minerals (royal
mines only excepted), fishing, hawking, hunting, and
fowling, in free and common soccage, according to
the tenure of East Greenwich in the county of Kent,
in his Majesty's kingdom of England (yielding and
paying on the five and twentieth day of March, yearly
forever, the chiefe or quit-rent of three pounds four
shillings), unto the following named persons, then
being the freeholders and inhabitants of the town, to
wit:

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

343

Richard Betts
Thomas Stephenson
Gershom Moore
Jonathan Hazard
Samuel Moore
Daniel Bloomfield
Caleb Leverich
Edward Stevenson
Joseph Sackett
Samuel Scudder
Robert Field, sen.
Thomas Wandell
John Ketcham
Thomas Pettit
John Woolstoncrafts
Johannes Lourensse
John Rosell
Joseph Reeder
Roeloff Peterson
Jacob Leonardsen Van

De Grift
Stoffell Van Laer
Abraham Rycke
Francis Combs
Thomas Etherington
Jeremiah Reeder
John Way
Robert Field, jun.
Jonathan Strickland
John Smyth
Josias Furman, sen.
George Wood
Nathan Fish
Edward Hunt
Jeremiah Burroughs
Thomas Betts

John Scudder, jun.
Jonathan Stevenson
Thomas Case
John Alburtis
James Way
John Johnson
Richard Alsop
Hendrick Barent Smith
John Reeder
Benjamin Severens
Luke Depaw
Nathaniel Pettit
Samuel Ketcham
Jan Harcksen
Isaac Gray
Content Titus
John Fish
Cornelis Jansen
Abraham Joris
John Coe
Samuel Fish
Joseph Burroughs
Thomas Robinson
James Hays
Jacob Reeder
Joseph Reed
John Reed
Wouter Gysbertsen
John Pettit
Thomas Morell
John Roberts
Isaac Swinton
Elias Doughty
Jane Rider
John Allene
Hen. Mayle, sen.

Joseph Phillips
Gershom Hazard
Francis Way
Moses Pettit
John Ramsden
Phillip Ketcham
Josias Furman, jun.
Lambert Woodward
John Moore
Thomas Lawrence
William Lawrence
John Lawrence
William Hallett, sen.
William Hallett, jun.
Samuel Hallett
Hendrick Martensen
Robert Blackwell
John Parcell
William Parcell
Joris Stevensen
Thomas Parcell
Stephen Jorissen
John Bockhout
Engeltie Burger
Thomas Skillman
Peter Bockhout
John Denman
Henry Mayle, jun.
Theophilus Phillips
Anthony Gleane
John Willson
John Furman
Rynier Willemsen
Benjamin Cornish
Henry Sawtell
Thomas Morrell, jun.

The first church edifice of which anything is known,
was built by the Independents in 1671, nearly upon the
site of the present village church, but there is good rea-
son for believing that a place of worship existed in which
the Rev. Francis Doughty preached, and before the em-
ployment of the Rev. John Moore, who was here soon
after the settlement of the town, and continued till his

344 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

death. He preached occasionally at Hempstead. He
had sons Gershom, Samuel, Joseph, and John, who with
his brother-in-law, Content Titus, came to an agreement
concerning the property of their father, June 16, 1688.
In 1 66 1 the people petitioned the governor and council to
aid them in procuring another minister in the place of Mr.
Moore, " fearing that some of the inhabitants may be led
away by the intrusion of Quakers and other heretics." It
is, therefore, highly probable that a minister was fur-
nished from New Amsterdam, who supplied the vacancy
till the arrival of the Rev. William Leverich in 1670,
from Huntington, where he was settled in 1658. He
was the first ordained minister that preached within the
limits of New Hampshire, having settled at Dover in
1633, from whence he went to Sandwich, on Cape Cod,
and continued several years, and was employed after-
wards in instructing the Indians in various places. He
remained here till his death in 1677. He was an uncom-
monly intelligent, learned, and useful man, well versed
in public business, and remarkable for his energy and
perseverance.*

In the oldest volume of the town records that has
been preserved, are about 100 pages which purport to be
a sort of running commentary upon the Old Testament,
but in an abbreviated form and in the hand-writing of
Mr. Leverich — a signal proof of his learning, patience,
and industry. He left two sons, Caleb and Eleazer.f

Rev. Morgan Jones was the next pastor after Mr.
Leverich, and served during 1680 and again from Feb-
ruary, 1684 to April, 1686. He finally removed to

* It is said that his son was killed in the expedition under General
Abercrombie, at Sabbath Day Point on Lake George in 1756.

f Samuel Leverich and several others were frozen to death in
Jamaica Bay, January, 1754.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 345

Westchester and settled in the church at East Chester,
where he probably died.

Rev. John Morse was a descendant of Edward, who
was among the first settlers of Windsor, Conn. He was
born March 31, 1674, came from the neighborhood of
Braintree, and was a son of Ezra Morse, an early set-
tler of Dedham. He graduated at Harvard in 1692
and came here 1695, and remained till his death in 1700.
Whether he was buried here is not known, most of the
grave stones having been destroyed in the Revolution
by the troops of the enemy stationed at this place. That
he left no issue is probable, for by his will of October
16, 1700, he gives his estate to his youngest brother,
Seth Morse of Dedham, who removed hither where he
died and left issue.

Rev. Robert Breck served as supply for two or three
years after Mr. Morse's death and was followed by
Rev. Samuel Pomeroy, son of Joseph and grandson of
Medad, who was born at Northampton, Mass., Septem-
ber 16, 1687, graduated at Yale 1705, settled here in
1708, where he ended his days June 30, 1744, aged fifty-
six. He married Lydia Taylor July 20, 1707, who died
February 3, 1722, and February 10, 1725, he married
Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. Joseph Webb of Fair-
field, Conn., who died November 12, 1768. He was
an excellent scholar and prepared a number of youths
for college. Of his children, Catherine, born May 4,
1708, married Jacob Riker May 25, 1729; Abigail,
born July 8, 17 10, married Jonathan Hazard Febru-
ary 13, 1740; Noah, born November 20, 17 12, died
August 5, 1714; Lemuel, born May 23, 1716, died in the
West Indies, October 11, 1737; and Elizabeth, born
November 16, 17 17, married Phillip Edsall, December

346

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

ii, 1734. His will bears date July 29, 1740, in which
he bequeaths £10 to the use of the church. His
mother's maiden name was Chauncey, and that of his
grandmother, Lyman. Benjamin, son of his brother
Ebenezer, born July 8, 1705, graduated at Yale, 1733,
and was ordained at Hebron, 1735, where he died,
December 21, 1784. The said Catherine Riker had issue
Lydia, who married a Sheldon; Catherine, who married
Dennis Caudy; and Elizabeth, who married George Col-
lins. During Mr. Pomeroy's term the church became
Presbyterian and ruling elders were appointed. Rev.
George MacNish supplied the pulpit for about two years
immediately following Mr. Pomeroy's death.

Rev. Simon Horton was born March 30, 171 1,
graduated at Yale, 173 1, settled in East Jersey in 1735,
and came here in 1746, where he continued as pastor
for twenty-five years, and finally died at the age of
seventy-five, May 8, 1786. It is shown by the records
of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, that
in 1738, the Presbytery of Long Island was united with
that of East Jersey, and he probably in that way became
acquainted with the people here, which led to his re-
moval. Abigail, his wife, died May 5, 1752, and Janu-
ary 7, 1762, he married Elizabeth, daughter of John
Fish of this town, who died January 13, 1767. His chil-
dren were Abigail, Elizabeth, Mary, Grover, and
Phebe (who married Benjamin Coe, November 14,
1762, and had Abigail, wife of the Hon. James Burt of
Orange County). Mr. Horton was so infirm for many
years before his decease as to require assistance in the
church, and the Rev. Andrew Bay, an Irishman, was
engaged in 1773, who remained till 1776. Mr. Horton
left issue Andrew, William, John, Sarah, and Elizabeth;

tea

KOI

* L

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

347

but the names of Webb, Horton, and Pomeroy are not
now found in the town.

During the Revolution the church and town were in
the hands of the enemy. After the peace, signed Sep-
tember 3. 1783, Rez. James Lyons began his labors and
served until the spring of 1785. He was followed in
May of that year by Rez. Peter Fish, who served as
supply until November, 1788. For six months of the
year 1789, Rev. Elihu Palmer preached, but his efforts
were unsatisfactory and his doctrines unsound. Soon
after his removal from Newtown, he renounced the
Presbyterian faith, preached against the divinity of Jesus
Christ, and finally left the ministry entirely.

Rez. Xathan Jf'oodhull was the immediate successor
of Mr. Palmer. Mr. Woodhull was the son of Captain
Nathan Woodhull of Setauket, where he was born April
28, 1756. He graduated at Yale 1775. was ordained at
Huntington December 22. 1785, dismissed April 2, 1789,
and installed in this church December 1, 1790, where he
died at the age of fifty-three, March 13, 18 10. He mar-
ried. March 16, 1775. Hannah, daughter of Stephen
Jagger of Westhampton, who died aged sixty-one, Oc-
tober 2, 1819. Issue, Martha. Sophia, Hannah Maria,
Sarah Strong, Eleanor Wells. Julia Ann, Ezra Conkling,
all of whom are deceased.

The character and qualifications of Mr. Woodhull as
a preacher were of a high order, and perhaps no min-
ister was ever more deservedly popular in the pulpit or
among his fellow-citizens. His manners were bland and
conciliator}-, and his conversational powers quite un-
common. Re-j. Peter Fish returned again after Mr.
Woodhull' s death and preached for six months during
1 8 10, until his death on November 12 of that year.

346 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

n, 1734. His will bears date July 29, 1740, in which
he bequeaths £10 to the use of the church. His
mother's maiden name was Chauncey, and that of his
grandmother, Lyman. Benjamin, son of his brother
Ebenezer, born July 8, 1705, graduated at Yale, 1733,
and was ordained at Hebron, 1735, where he died,
December 21, 1784. The said Catherine Riker had issue
Lydia, who married a Sheldon; Catherine, who married
Dennis Caudy; and Elizabeth, who married George Col-
lins. During Mr. Pomeroy's term the church became
Presbyterian and ruling elders were appointed. Rev.
George MacNish supplied the pulpit for about two years
immediately following Mr. Pomeroy's death.

Rev. Simon Horton was born March 30, 171 1,
graduated at Yale, 1731, settled in East Jersey in 1735,
and came here in 1746, where he continued as pastor
for twenty-five years, and finally died at the age of
seventy-five, May 8, 1786. It is shown by the records
of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, that
in 1738, the Presbytery of Long Island was united with
that of East Jersey, and he probably in that way became
acquainted with the people here, which led to his re-
moval. Abigail, his wife, died May 5, 1752, and Janu-
ary 7, 1762, he married Elizabeth, daughter of John
Fish of this town, who died January 13, 1767. His chil-
dren were Abigail, Elizabeth, Mary, Grover, and
Phebe (who married Benjamin Coe, November 14,
1762, and had Abigail, wife of the Hon. James Burt of
Orange County). Mr. Horton was so infirm for many
years before his decease as to require assistance in the
church, and the Rev. Andrew Bay, an Irishman, was
engaged in 1773, who remained till 1776. Mr. Horton
left issue Andrew, William, John, Sarah, and Elizabeth;

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 347

but the names of Webb, Horton, and Pomeroy are not
now found in the town.

During the Revolution the church and town were in
the hands of the enemy. After the peace, signed Sep-
tember 3, 1783, Rev. James Lyons began his labors and
served until the spring of 1785. He was followed in
May of that year by Rev. Peter Fish, who served as
supply until November, 1788. For six months of the
year 1789, Rev. Elihu Palmer preached, but his efforts
were unsatisfactory and his doctrines unsound. Soon
after his removal from Newtown, he renounced the
Presbyterian faith, preached against the divinity of Jesus
Christ, and finally left the ministry entirely.

Rev. Nathan Woodhull was the immediate successor
of Mr. Palmer. Mr. Woodhull was the son of Captain
Nathan Woodhull of Setauket, where he was born April
28, 1756. He graduated at Yale 1775, was ordained at
Huntington December 22, 1785, dismissed April 2, 1789,
and installed in this church December 1, 1790, where he
died at the age of fifty-three, March 13, 18 10. He mar-
ried, March 16, 1775, Hannah, daughter of Stephen
Jagger of Westhampton, who died aged sixty-one, Oc-
tober 2, 1 8 19. Issue, Martha, Sophia, Hannah Maria,
Sarah Strong, Eleanor Wells, Julia Ann, Ezra Conkling,
all of whom are deceased.

The character and qualifications of Mr. Woodhull as
a preacher were of a high order, and perhaps no min-
ister was ever more deservedly popular in the pulpit or
among his fellow-citizens. His manners were bland and
conciliatory, and his conversational powers quite un-
common. Rev. Peter Fish returned again after Mr.
Woodhull's death and preached for six months during
1 8 10, until his death on November 12 of that year.

348

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Rev. William Boardman, born at Willi amstown,
Mass., October 12, 178 1, educated at the college there,
ordained pastor of the Presbyterian Church, Duanes-
burgh, N. Y., 1803, was installed here October 31, 181 1,
where he continued till his death, March 4, 18 18, at
the age of thirty-six. His wife was Rachel, daughter
of Abraham Bloodgood, Esq., of Albany, whom he mar-
ried in 1804. She died October 17, 1844, without issue,
aged fifty-eight.

Rev. John Goldsmith, D.D., son of the Rev. Ben-
jamin Goldsmith, for forty-six years pastor of the
united parishes of Aquebogue and Mattituck, L. L,
was born April 10, 1794, graduated at Princeton,
1 8 15, and installed over this church November 17,
1 8 19. He married Eleanor Wells, daughter of the Rev.
Nathan Woodhull, March 20, 1820, who died on the
17th of April, 1 82 1. January 20, 1825, he married
Eliza, daughter of Aaron Furman of this town, who
died September 2, 1834, aged thirty-six, and October 15,
1835, he married Eliza Fish, daughter of the late
Colonel Edward Leverich.

" Dr. Goldsmith officiated until 1854, and has been
succeeded by the following pastors:

Rev. John P. Knox, L.L.D 1855 to 1882

" Geo. H. Payson, D.D 1882 to 1889

" Jacob E. Mailman 189010x895

" Wm. H. Hendrickson 1896101906

Interim six months.

" David Yule 1907101910

Interim six months.

" George Haws Feltus * 1911 to "

— Editor.

The church which had been erected in 1671, was

1 List from 1855 kindly furnished by Rev. Mr. Feltus. — Editor.

into

•L«i
tot;.
tfcuvim

;'- ■ ' i.r»»
]lZUx f Ml

********

■■■■■ •

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

349

taken possession of by the enemy in 1776, converted
into a prison and guard-house, and finally torn down;
consequently the people were compelled to attend re-
ligious services elsewhere, until the present church was
finished in 1791, during the ministry of Mr. Woodhull,
the Rev. Dr. Buell of Easthampton preaching the dedi-
cation sermon.

The Episcopal Church in this town was probably or-
ganized soon after the introduction of missionaries of
that denomination, by the Society for the Propagation
of the Gospel. By the report in 1704, it appears there
was a church or chapel at Newtown and a house for a
minister, and the people were desirous of having a min-
ister to themselves settled there, and would contribute
largely to his maintenance.

The same game was, however, acted here as at
Jamaica, the Episcopal party being supported by the
same power that prompted the outrages there, to the
great annoyance of Mr. Pomeroy and his people.*
April 19, 1733, the town gave to the Presbyterians a

* Lord Cornbury, in his great zeal for the established church of Eng-
land, took every opportunity to forward the interest of the churches of
the same denomination here, and there is proof that he interfered with
the dissenters in this town, as he did at Hempstead and Jamaica, in regard
to their churches. The Rev. Mr. Vesey, in a letter to the parent society,
October 5, 1704, says, " the parish of Jamaica consists of three towns,
Jamaica, Newtown, and Flushing. In Newtown there is a church built,
and lately repaired by a tax levied on the inhabitants. This church was
formerly possessed by a dissenting minister, but he being gone, it is in
possession of the present incumbent, (Mr. Urquhart,) by his Excellency's
(Ld. Cornbury's) favor." The original proprietors afterwards got pos-
session, but whether peaceably or by course of law, as at Jamaica, the
records, which are very imperfect, do not inform us; but it is matter of
historical notoriety that his Excellency forbade ministers to preach, even
in the Dutch churches, without his license, and that he actually impris-
oned the Rev. John Hampton in 1707 for preaching in this church con-
trary to the ordinance he had established, as he did the Rev. Francis
McKemie in New York.

35o HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

piece of ground for a burial place, and at the same time,
to the Episcopalians twenty square rods of ground, for
which a conveyance was executed by ninety freeholders.
Upon this a church was erected in 1734, and a charter
granted by Lieutenant Governor Colden, September 9,
1 76 1, under the name and style of St. James Episcopal
Church, in which James Hazard and Richard Alsop were
appointed wardens, and Samuel Moore, Jacob Hallett,
Richard Alsop, 4th, and William Sackett, 3d, vestrymen.

The church edifice had been materially improved since
it was built, and seemed yet good and substantial, but
gave place to a new one commenced in the fall of 1847
and consecrated 1848.

This church, with those at Flushing and Jamaica,
were associate churches, and considered as one parish,
the same clergymen officiating alternately in each for a
long series of years.

11 These clergymen and the dates of their labors here
are as follows:

Rev. William Urquhart (founder of the church) .1704 to 1709

" Thomas Poyer 1710101731

" Thomas Colgan 1733 to 1755

" Samuel Seabury 1757 to 1765

" Joshua Bloomer 1769 to 1790

" William Hammel 1790 to 1795

" Henry Van Dyke 1797101803"

— Editor.

The Rev. Henry Van Dyke was, it is believed, the
first rector whose services were confined exclusively to
this church. He was settled here in 1797, and removed
in 1803.

Rev. Abraham L. Clarke graduated at Yale in 1785;
and settled here in 1803, where he died December 31,

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 351

1810. The vacancy was supplied by the Rev. (now Dr.)
William Wyatt. He graduated at Columbia College
in 1809, and settled in this parish in 18 12, but was
soon after called to the rectorship of St. Paul's Church,
Baltimore, and ranks among the ablest divines of the
monumental city.

Rev. Evan M. Johnson, a native of Rhode Island,
and a graduate of Brown University in 1812, settled
here in 18 14, and remained till 1827, when he removed
to St. John's Church, Brooklyn, which he caused to be
erected, and of which he was rector till 1847. His wife
was a daughter of the Rev. John B. Johnson, who died
in 1823.

Rev. George A. She J ton is the son of the Rev. Philo
Shelton, who died rector of Trinity Church, Fairfield,
Conn., February 27, 1825, where his son was born in
1800. He graduated at Yale 1820, settled here in 1827,
and married Frances L., daughter of Jacob Bartow of
Astoria, L. I., in November, 1833.

11 Mr. Shelton officiated until 1863, and has been suc-
ceeded by the following clergymen :

Rev. N. W. Taylor Root 1864 to 1868

" Samuel Cox, D.D 1868 to 1888

" W. Hudson Burr 1888 to 1889

" Edward Mansfield McGuffy came in 1890
and up to date has served for twenty-six
years."

— Editor.

A Reformed Dutch church has existed here from a
remote period, although the records which have been
preserved do not extend back beyond the year 1731.
The society was organized in 1704, and for many years
formed a collegiate church with those of Queens County;

354 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

theology, under the direction of the Rev. Dr. Auchmuty,
rector of Trinity Church, and was engaged a few years
in teaching Latin and Greek to the sons of several gen-
tlemen in the city of New York. He went to England
in May, 1774, was ordained deacon June 24th, and
priest June 29th of the same year, by the Right Rev.
Richard Terrick, bishop of London. On his return, he
officiated in Trinity Church and its chapels, and was ap-
pointed, with the Rev. Mr. Bowden, an assistant min-
ister of Trinity Church, of which Dr. Auchmuty was
rector. The church edifice was consumed by fire in
1776, and was not rebuilt till 1788. In 1775 he was
chosen, pro tempore, president of Kings College, in the
absence of Dr. Cooper, but the institution was closed
during the Revolutionary War, although Mr. Moore, it
is believed, during this period remained in the city. In
1784 he was appointed professor of rhetoric and logic
in Columbia College, which office he sustained three
years. In 1789 he was again assistant minister of Trinity
Church, and the same year was created S.T.D. In 1800
he became rector and was elected bishop of the diocese
September 5, 1801, as the successor of the Right Rev.
Samuel Provoost, and the same year was elected to the
presidency of the college, which he held till 181 1, when
he was succeeded by the Rev. Samuel Harris, S.T.D.
He was unable, from bodily infirmity, to discharge the
duties of the pastoral office for some years before his
death, which occurred in February, 18 16, and was as-
sisted by the Rev. John Henry Hobart, who succeeded to
the prelacy on his decease.

Dr. Moore was a man of distinguished ability, and
rose to public confidence and respect and to general
esteem, solely by the force of natural talents and great

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 355

private worth. His acquirements in Greek were not so
extensive as in Latin, which he wrote and spoke with
great facility, possessing at the same time a keen relish
for the beauties of the best authors in that language.
The refined taste which was exhibited in all his writings
was imbibed at the pure classic fount.

His wife was Charity, daughter of Clement Clark
of New York (a man of wealth and respectability),
whom he married April 20, 1778. His son Clement C.
Moore, has long been professor of Oriental and Greek
literature in the seminary of the Episcopal Church, and
the ground upon which it is built was a gift from him.

The following tragical occurrence is related in an old
newspaper of 1708:

" On the 22d Dec. last, Mr. William Hallett of
Newtown, L. L, his wife and five children, were all in-
humanly murdered by an Indian man and Negro woman,
their own slaves. They were apprehended and con-
fessing the fact, they were all executed Feb. 10, 1708,
at Jamaica, and were put to all manner of torment
possible, for a terror to others. On Saturday following
two other men were executed at Jamaica, as accessories,
and several more are now in custody on suspicion."
The man was hanged and the woman burnt.

In the winter of 17 18, negro Sam and his wife mur-
dered the Rapelye family, father, mother, and three
sons. And so quick did punishment follow the crime,
that he was hanged and she burned before the family
were buried. The house of Colonel Hallett, near Hell
Gate, was burned in March, 1770, loss over £1,600.
Richard Hallett was killed in felling a tree, May 16,

1757-

356 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Maspeth or Mispat, before mentioned, at the head of
Newtown Creek or English Kills, is very pleasantly
located, and from it fine roads extend to Brooklyn,
Williamsburgh, Jamaica, and Flushing. Here was the
country seat of his late excellency De Witt Clinton, sub-
sequently the residence of David S. Jones, Esq., whose
wife was the only surviving daughter of Mr. Clinton,
and was born here February 8, 1809. The first Metho-
dist meeting-house upon the island was probably erected
a short distance from here in 1765, but has since been
converted into a dwelling, and a new one built some dis-
tance from it in 1836. A Quaker meeting-house was
built here at a very early period, and is still standing,
though it has scarcely been occupied once in fifty years,
most of that society having died or removed to other
places. A monthly meeting of Friends formerly assem-
bled here, of which one George Bowne was clerk so
lately as October 5, 1774.

An Episcopal society was organized here in May,
1847, DY the name of St. Saviour's Church, and a small
edifice erected and consecrated, May 28, 1848, of which
the Rev. William Walsh is rector.

Astoria (late Hallett's Cove) is by far the most impor-
tant village in the town, being situated upon the East
River, opposite Eighty-sixth Street, New York, and has
a steam ferryboat connecting it with the city. It is cer-
tainly to be lamented, that in the unnatural rage for
changing names, this place should also have come within
its influence, its former appellation being a respectful
and deserved memorial of its ancient owner, as the fol-
lowing document illustrates :

11 Petrus Stuyvesant doth declare, that on the day of
the date here underwritten, he hath granted and allowed,

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 357

unto William Hallett, a Plot of ground at Hell-Gate,
upon Long Island, called Jark's Farm, beginning at a
great Rock, that lays in the meadow, (or rather valley,)
goes upward south-east to the end of a very small Crip-
ple-Bush, two hundred and ten rods ; from thence north-
east two hundred and thirty rods; on the north it goes
up to a running water, two hundred and ten rods; con-
taining, in the whole, 80 Morgan, and 300 rods, (about
154 acres). This done 1, day of Dec, 1652, at New
Amsterdam, by order of the Honorable Director-Gen-
eral, and the Honorable Council of New Netherlands.

" P. Stuyvesant. [l. s.]
" Carel Van Brugge, Sec'y."

The premises were confirmed by the sachem, December
5, 1664, for the consideration of fifty-eight fathom of
wampum, seven coats, one blanket, and four kettles. A
patent of confirmation was also executed by Governor
Nicoll, April 8, 1668, and a further patent by Colonel
Dongan, April 1, 1688, for an annual quit-rent of two
shillings.

A deed was executed August 1, 1664, to William
Hallett, by Shawestsout and Erromohar, Indians of
Shawkopoke (Staten Island), by command of Mattano,
sagamore — for a tract of land described as follows :

" Beginning at the first Crick, called Sunwick, west-
ward below Hellgate upon Long Island, and from the
mouth of sd Crick, south to a markt tree fast by a great
Rock, and from the sd markt tree southward 15 score
rods, to another markt tree, which stands from another
Rock, a little westward, and from that markt tree, right
to the Point, upon an Island, which belongs to the Poor's
Bowery, and soe round by the River, through Hellgate
to the foresd Crick westward, where it began, and which
the sd Hallett did formerly live upon, to have and to

35*

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

hold, &c. unto the foresd William Hallett, his Heirs,
Exetrs admtrs and assigns forever."

[l. s.] Sealed, &c. Shawestsout N his mark.

14 John Coe." Erromohar X his mark.

The above conveyance embraced most of what is
called kk Hellgate Neck/' other portions of which were
in 1665 the property of Thomas Lawrence; and an act
was passed September 23, 1701. M for quieting, settling,
and confirming the right of his sons Thomas, William,
and John to the said tract, and vacating all under
patents, if any, clandestinely obtained.''

The village of Astoria, formerly Hallett's Cove, has
greatly increased in business and population within a few
years — indeed its extraordinary local advantages are
quite sufficient to enhance its growth and importance to
an almost unlimited extent. For manufacturing pur-
poses its situation is unequalled, so far as steam power
can be applied; and its easy access to the city adds greatly
to its other facilities.

An instance of longevity occurred in this town in the
person of Mrs. Deborah Smith, widow of Waters
Smith, who died November 21, 1838, at the age of 108
years. He was a brother of Melancthon Smith, so dis-
tinguished in the convention that adopted the Constitu-
tion of the United States. Her daughter Elizabeth
married John B. Scott, Esq., and was the mother of the
Hon. John B. Scott, late justice of the Marine Court, a
state senator, and for some years recorder of the city of
New York, to which office he was appointed in February,
ifcj

The Newtown Female Academy was erected in 1821,
incorporated March 15, 1822, and was a flourishing
institution for several years under the direction of two

jfl - - ■■
90 te

T«:rr

aifcli

zti

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

;; -

daughters of the late Dr. Isaac LedyarvL but it finally
failed, and the building is now a private residence.

Si George's Episcopal Church, in this village, was
erected in 1S2S. and was at first under the pastoral
charge of the Rev. Samuel Seabury, late editor of a
weekly re% called The Chunk mjx. and rec-

tor of the Church of the Annunciation in the city of
New York. The next rector wis the Rev. John W.
Bre graduate of Union College, who was inducted

into this church October 1. . >;-. The Rev. Her.: VY
Sweetser was assistant minister. The corporation of
Tri : Church. New York pr : 5 church $1,000 in

The corner stone of the Dutch Rcfonmcd Church was
laid upon the 1 be of the old ore V er IC>. S:

d the building finished in . v ; ~ sad the Ifo A ;\-

der Hamilton Bishop was ordained pastor of the church
N o\ ember 10. 184a \ Ic fe the son of Time: <:\op of

New Haven Susan ;ughter of Obadiah

Holmes ol Ken York, who d ed V- p at 13 > .. -. aged
thirty.

r.'-o > >: t ; iscopal Church was built in -.>„;.

■ '.; dedki wi m the list e: Sqpttgdbt hut.

The COTM S -• Q : '-• P tstq fe UD C I -
Xovembei 1846 bttstad 1 CWOMMtfttt

td the Ke\ Frederick Gn t rk, installed pas:

M.iy :S. 1 (47, he year before been ordained c

Central T esb> in Chi eh N . N. v v
Clark la le son 0 Rev P.miel A . C - . ■ ■ •

at Waterburj Conn., Oecembc ; > •

.\\ .u tho University tad 1 • • keolof t il 5c 1 *ry
of New Yoix I it ■■ \. pa i| S ih,

oldest dan ; ..' K ■ •. \ ; . s . Vston.1

358 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

hold, &c. unto the foresd William Hallett, his Heirs,

Exetrs admtrs- and assigns forever."

[l. s.] Sealed, &c. Shawestsout N his mark.

" John Coe." Erromohar X his mark.

The above conveyance embraced most of what is
called " Hellgate Neck," other portions of which were
in 1665 the property of Thomas Lawrence; and an act
was passed September 23, 1701, " for quieting, settling,
and confirming the right of his sons Thomas, William,
and John to the said tract, and vacating all under
patents, if any, clandestinely obtained."

The Newtown Female Academy was erected in 1821,
incorporated March 15, 1822, and was a flourishing
institution for several years under the direction of two

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 359

daughters of the late Dr. Isaac Ledyard, but it finally
failed, and the building is now a private residence.

St. George's Episcopal Church, in this village, was
erected in 1828, and was at first under the pastoral
charge of the Rev. Samuel Seabury, late editor of a
weekly religious paper, called The Churchman, and rec-
tor of the Church of the Annunciation in the city of
New York. The next rector was the Rev. John W.
Brown, a graduate of Union College, who was inducted
into this church October 1, 1837. The Rev. Henry W.
Sweetser was assistant minister. The corporation of
Trinity Church, New York, gave this church $1,000 in

1836.

The corner stone of the Dutch Reformed Church was
laid upon the site of the old one November 16, 183 1,
and the building finished in 1834, and the Rev. Alex-
ander Hamilton Bishop was ordained pastor of the church
November 10, 1840. He is the son of Timothy Bishop of
New Haven, and married Susan, daughter of Obadiah
Holmes of New York, who died August 29, 1847, aged
thirty.

The Methodist Episcopal Church was built in 1843,
and dedicated on the 21st of September of that year.
The corner stone of the Presbyterian Church was laid
November 30, 1846, the church finished in a few months,
and the Rev. Frederick Gorham Clark, installed pastor,
May 28, 1847, having the year before been ordained over
the Central Presbyterian Church, New York City. Mr.
Clark is the son of Rev. Daniel A. Clark, and was born
at Waterbury, Conn., December 13, 18 19, and gradu-
ated at the University, and Union Theological Seminary
of New York. He married, August 16, 1847, Sarah,
oldest daughter of Robert M. Blackwell of Astoria.

362 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

in 1846 and the buildings destroyed by a conflagration
in the summer of 1847.

The whole north shore of this town from Flushing
Bay on the east to Kings County on the west, affords
some of the richest and most varied scenery in the
world — and upon it may be seen many noble residences,
some of which have been erected by wealthy retired
merchants from the neighboring city. Among the most
magnificent of these is the seat of George M. Woolsey,
Esq., a former London merchant and now conducting
an extensive sugar refinery in New York. The mansion
house and grounds are not exceeded by any in this part
of the country, and the variety, softness, and beauty of
the scenery are unsurpassed.

The general surface of the town is undulating, and in
some places rough; the soil of a middling quality, but in
the vicinity of the Sound and Flushing Bay of great fer-
tility. There are considerable tracts of low, swampy
ground, not very easily cultivated, yet abounding in turf
or peat which is occasionally used as fuel. The islands
called the North and South Brothers are peculiarly
valuable for their position as may be said also of Ber-
rien's Island, containing about twelve acres.

Rikers Island is, however, the largest and most impor-
tant one appertaining to the town, containing more than
fifty acres, and lies nearly in the middle of the East
River opposite Flushing Bay. One Hulet, having early
lived upon it, caused it formerly to be called Hulefs
Island. The soil is of a medium quality, but susceptible
of being made highly productive. A patent for this
island was granted by Governor Stuyvesant to Abraham
Riker, August 19, 1664 (this being one of his last official
acts), and for it a patent of confirmation was obtained

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 363

from Governor Nicoll, December 24, 1667. Since which
time the property has remained with the Riker family,
and been known by the name of Rikers Island.

This section of the town including what has always
been called the Poor Bowery was purchased at an early
date by the trustees of the Dutch Church, by whom it
was for many years leased out for the support of the
poor, whence it took the name above mentioned.1

LONG ISLAND CITY

BY THE EDITOR

Previous to 1870 there existed in the western part
of the town of Newtown, a sentiment towards the uni-
fication of the several villages in this locality.

In spite of considerable opposition on the part of
the incorporated village of Astoria, and certain individ-
uals, a bill was introduced before the State Legislature
at Albany, authorizing the organization of a city to be
composed of the villages of Astoria, Ravenswood, Hun-
ter's Point, Dutch Kills, Blissville, Middletown, and the
locality later known as Steinway. The bill was signed
on May 4, 1870, by Governor John T. Hoffman, and the
news of the Governor's favorable action was generally
received with enthusiasm throughout this territory.

The municipality was bounded on the north and north-
east by Hell Gate and Bowery Bay, on the east by
Newtown, on the south by the city of Brooklyn, and on
the west by the East River.

The name of Long Island City was applied to the
newborn municipality. The honor of first suggesting

1 This sentence was added to the MS. in 1849, after the author's
death, by James Riker, Jr. — Editor.

364 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

this name belongs to Captain Levy Hayden, superintend-
ent of a marine railway formerly existing at Hunter's
Point. As early as 1853, this individual prophesied that
the locality would some day be a city and insisted that
" Long Island City," should be the name applied to it.
The name was perpetuated by Thomas H. Todd, who
on Friday, October 20, 1865, issued the first number of
a newspaper which he called the Long Island City Star.

The city was apportioned into five wards and a mayor
and other officials elected.

The city as a separate municipality existed until
January 1, 1898, when it was merged into the city of
New York as part of the Borough of Queens.

On the same date, that part of Newtown not in-
cluded in Long Island City, also was taken into the city
of New York as part of the Borough of Queens and the
form of town government abolished.

Rev. E. M. McGuffey's Historical Discourse on St.
James' Church and Older Newtown, and James Riker's
Annals of Newtown have been consulted in the editing
of the Chapter on Newtown.

BUSHWICK

Occupies the north-eastern part of Kings County ad-
joining the East River and Newtown Creek, being
bounded north and east by Newtown and the channel of
the East River, west by Williamsburgh, and south by
Brooklyn, and that part of Flatbush called New Lots.
It is about one mile wide and five miles long. Anterior
to March 16, 1840, Williamsburgh was included in this
town, consequently the previous history of the former
must necessarily be embraced in our account of the lat-
ter. It is, however, to be regretted that so much un-
certainty and confusion exists in relation to the precise
time and manner of its first settlement, the ancient rec-
ords of which, being by time and accident greatly in-
jured or entirely destroyed. What remains is mostly in
Dutch, and so abbreviated or obscurely written as to be
of little assistance to the historian.

It is highly probable that individuals had taken pos-
session of various parts of the town at a very early
period, without any view to a plantation and without any
express authority so to do, for the first inhabitants appear
to have been of a very mixed character : Dutch, English,
French, &c. The settlement, under the sanction of the
provincial government, took a more permanent form
some years after that of Brooklyn, and a few dwellings
were erected in the immediate neighborhood of the old
Bushwick Church.

But it seems that the scattered condition of the

365

366 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

inhabitants was such as made it difficult, if not imprac-
ticable, for the authorities to render them efficient pro-
tection, liable as they were from local circumstances to
be easily assailed by land or water. On which account
the Hon. " Director General and Council," ordered the
outside residents to remove from their places of abode
in the outskirts of the place and concentrate themselves,
because, say they, " we have war with the Indians, who
have slain several of our Netherland people."

The records of 1660 contain the following entries
relating to an original plantation here.

11 Feb. 16. — As fourteen Frenchmen, with a Dutch-
man named Pieter Janse Wit, their interpreter, have
arrived here, and as they do not understand the Dutch
language, they have been with the Director General, and
requested him to cause a town plot to be laid out at a
proper place; whereupon his Honor fixed upon the 19th
instant to visit the place, and fix upon a scite."

"Feb. 19. — On this day, the Director General, with
the fiscal Nicasius de Sille, and the Honorable Secretary
Van Ruyven, with the sworn Surveyor, Jacques Cortel-
you, came to Mispat, and have fixed upon a place be-
tween Mispat kill and Norman's kill, to establish a
village, and have laid out by survey twenty-two village
lots, on which dwelling-houses are to be built."

And again:

" 1 66 1, March 14. — The Director General visited the
new village, when the inhabitants requested his honor
to give the place a name, whereupon he named the town
Boswijck. — The citizens then applied for the following
privileges : —

" Firstly. For pasture-land for their cattle, and hay-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 367

land for their stock, which they requested to have on the
east side of the village limits, extending southward to
the hills, and along said hills westward to the heights of
Merck's plantation, and from said heights northerly by
Merck's plantation to Bushwick, being a four cornered
plot of land.

" Secondly. To have meadows to mow hay for their
stock, according to the landed rights.

" Thirdly. To have roads for the purpose of going
to the river and kills, to wit : one road between the land
of Hendrick Willemse, Backer, and Jan Cornelissen
Seeuw, the second upon Dirck Volkerse Norman's land,
which is named the hout (or wood) point, the third
over Steendam's land to come to Mispat Kill, the fourth
over Albert de Norman's land to get hay and other
things.

" Fourthly. That all the citizens who dwell within
the limits and jurisdiction of the town of Bushwick, and
already have village lots, shall remove to the same,
according to the order of the Director General.

"This is undersigned by the citizens, namely, by:

Pieter Janse Wit Jan Cornelissen Seeuw Jan Catiouw

Evert Hegeman Barent Joosten Jan Mailiaert

Jan Willemse Yselstyn Franssooys de Puji Hendrick Janse Greven

Jan Tilie Johannes Casperse Gysbert Thonisse

Ryck Leydecker Franscisco de neger Joost Kasperse

Hendrick Willemse Pieter Lamot Willem Traphagen

Barent Gerretse Siarel Fontyn Dirck Volkerse*

Jan Hendrickse Herry

11 Fifthly. That all persons whatsoever, who dwell out-
side of the village attend to the danger they may be in,
by remaining where they be.

* For this correction of the names inserted in our former edition we
are indebted to the kindness of James Riker, jun., who has in his posses-
sion an ancient copy of the original record, in the identical handwriting
of Cornelius Van Ruyven, Secretary of the Province.

368 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

" The Governor General has commanded that six men
be chosen, from whom he will select three to be com-
missioners over the town of Bushwick."

Six men were chosen, from whom the Director Gen-
eral selected Pieter Janse Wit, Jan Tilie, and Jan
Cornelissen Seeuw, to whom he committed the provisional
administration of the justice of the village.

It is difficult at this day to ascertain the precise spot
where the said village was intended to be established and
the greater probability is that the persons named among
the applicants subsequently abandoned the design, as
their descendants are not now found here, although there
are families who can trace their ancestry 200 years back,
many of them still possessing the same land once occu-
pied by their progenitors.

The name by which the town is designated is of
Dutch origin, and is said to be synonymous with Big
Woods, the territory being doubtless, at that time, cov-
ered by a growth of heavy timber; and such was the
case to a considerable extent down to the period of the
Revolution.

A patent or ground brief was issued as early as 1648
for lands within the original town of Bushwick, but was
confined to that portion of the soil adjacent to the Wal-
labout Bay.

The year next succeeding the conquest of New Nether-
lands by the English, the following precept was directed
to the principal executive officer of the town:

" To the Constable of the Town of Bushwick:

" You are by this required personally to appear before
His Majesty's Court at Gravesend, on the 20th of July

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 369

next, and you are required also to summon the Officers
of your town to appear at said Court of Sessions, and
not to leave the same during the term: And you are
also required to summon as many of your inhabitants
as understand the English language to attend the afore-
said Court, and not to leave the same during the term,
on pain of fine. Dated the 16th of June, 1665, in the
1 8th year of his Majesty's reign.

Jo : Rieder, Clerk of Sessions."

To prevent fraud and imposition by wicked and
designing persons upon such of the inhabitants as did
not understand the English language, it was required by
the government that all transports or conveyances, and
also hypothecations of land, should be passed, signed,
sealed, and registered by the secretary or clerk of the
town, without which formalities they were to be con-
sidered invalid.

A dispute about the meadows between this town and
Middleburgh, which had existed for some time, was
eventually decided in the assembly of deputies, which
convened at Hempstead in March, 1665, in favor of
Bushwick; which meadows are described as lying on the
west side of the oldest Dutch fence, standing on the east
side of the head of Mispat Hill.

It is worthy of note that one of the first steps taken
by the new government was to oblige the inhabitants to
provide for and maintain a minister, as is shown by the
following order:

" To the Constable of the Town of Bushwick:

" By these presents you are, in his Majesty's name,
commanded, and ordered, to call a meeting of the Offi-
cers of your Town, who shall within four months after

370 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

the first day of June, make out a correct list of all the
male persons in the town, of the age of sixteen years
and upwards; and also, a correct list or estimation of
the estate of every inhabitant of the town that he holds
in his own right, or for others, according to its true
value, designating the same particularly, and to whom
it belongs in the town, or elsewhere, as the same can
be discovered, and the tenure under which the property
is held. And also, an account, or list, of every acre of
land in the town, and the true value of the same, and
by whom owned, and further the tax each person has
to pay, from a pound to a penny, for his land and per-
sonal property, and also a report of the situation of
the inhabitants of the town : neatly written in the English
language. Hereof fail not, as you will answer for the
same. June 20, 1665. Byrne:

11 Wilhelm Welsh, Chief Clerk."

The inhabitants being at this time unable wholly to
support a minister, the other towns who had no settled
clergyman were ordered to contribute a certain amount,
and preachers from other places were directed to offi-
ciate here occasionally.

The following is a copy of an epistle addressed by
the governor to the people of the town:

11 Beloved Friends:

" As you have no minister to preach the gospel to the
congregation of your town, nor are you able wholly to
maintain a minister, therefore, it seems proper to us, that
the neighboring towns which have no settled minister,
should combine with you to maintain the gospel ministry,
and that you should jointly contribute for that purpose,
therefore, we deem it proper to order, and firmly and
orderly to establish, according to the desire of many of
your people, who have conferred with me, therefore, we

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 371

have ordered that three or four persons, duly author-
ized, appear, on Thursday or Friday next further to
confer on that matter, for themselves and the timid, and
the other inhabitants.

11 Whereupon, we greet you cordially, as honored and
respected friends, and as your friend.

" Richard Nicoll.

"Fort James, Oct. 17, 1665."

This order, it will appear, was made the year follow-
ing the surrender of the province, and notwithstanding
it was provided by the eighth article of the capitulation
that the Dutch here should enjoy the liberty of con-
science in religious matters, the civil authority began
to interfere in the matter, and to prescribe for what it
considered to be their religious necessities. Again, De-
cember 26, 1665, the governor addressed the inhabitants
as follows:

''Beloved and Honorable Good Friends:

" Before this time our order has been made known
to you, that the Honorable Ministers of this place, in
turn, will preach to your people until you are able to
maintain a Minister yourselves. By our order presented
to you, you were required to raise the sum of 175
guilders as your proportion of the salary, but in consider-
ation of the trouble in your town, we have deemed
proper under present circumstances to reduce the sum
of 175 guilders to the sum of 100 guilders, which we
deem reasonable, and against which no well grounded
complaint can exist, and ought to be satisfactory, which
last sum we demand for the Ministers' salary; there-
fore, we expect that measures will be adopted to collect
the same promptly, pursuant to this order, and to ensure
the same, we have deemed it proper to appoint Evert

372 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Hegeman and Peter Janse Wit, giving them full power
and authority to assess and collect that sum, having re-
gard to the condition and circumstances of the people
and to decide what each of them shall pay, which the
said persons shall collect or cause to be collected, that
is, ioo guilders, in three instalments, and pay the same
over to us, the first on the last day of December next,
the second on the last day of April next, and the third
on the last of August next ensuing. Whereupon, we
remain your friend, greeting, Richard Nicoll."

11 This will be delivered to Evert Hegeman and Peter
Janse Wit, and read to the congregation. R. N."

Accordingly on the next day the minister, sent by the
governor, preached his first sermon at the house of
Guisbert Tonissen; and the next year Cornelius Van
Ruyven made a demand of ioo guilders, as the amount
of salary due the ministers sent to officiate in the town,
but whose names are not mentioned. This sum, made
up by a few persons only, was annually contributed till
the recapture of the colony in 1673.

The patent heretofore granted by Stuyvesant having,
it seems, been considered either defective or insufficient,
the people of Bushwick, in 1666, at a town meeting assem-
bled for the purpose, appointed a committee to wait upon
Governor Nicoll, " to solicit him for a new patent, and
to request that therein the boundaries of their planta-
tion might be more expressly defined and set forth."

This patent was obtained the 25th of October,
1667, wherein the boundaries of the town are set forth
in the words following:

" Bounded with the mouth of a certain creeke or kill,
called Maspeth-Kill,1 right over against Dominie-Hook,

1 Now Newtown Creek. — Editor.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 373

soe their bounds goe to David Jocham's Hook; then
stretching upon a south-east line along the said Kill,
they come to Smith's Island, including the same, together
with all the meadow-ground or valley thereunto belong-
ing; and continuing the same course, they pass along
by the ffence at the wood-side, soe to Thomas Wan-
dall's meadow, from whence, stretching upon a south-
east by south line, along the woodland to the Kills, taking*
in the meadow or valley there; then pass along near
upon a south-east by south line six hundred rod into the
woods : then running behind the lots as the woodland
lyes, south-west by south; and out of the said woods
they goe again north-west, to a certain small swamp;
from thence they run behind the New Lotts, to John,
the Sweede's-meadow; then over the Norman's Kill, to
the west end of his old house, from whence they goe
alongst the river, till you come to the mouth of Maspeth-
Kill and David Jocham's Hook, whence they first
began."

From the organization of the town till the year 1690,
it was for certain purposes associated with the other
towns in the county, except Gravesend, constituting a
separate district under the appellation of the "Five
Dutch Towns;" for which a secretary or register was
specially commissioned by the governor, whose duty
it was to take the proof of wills, of marriage settle-
ments, also the acknowledgment of " Transcripts" or
conveyances, and many of the more important contracts
and agreements; all which were required to be recorded.
This office was, in 1674, held by Nicasius de Sille, who
had once held the office of attorney general under the
administration of Stuyvesant. These five towns likewise
formed but one ecclesiastical congregation^ and joined in
the support of their ministers in common. The inhabi-

374 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

tants, with few exceptions, professed the doctrines pro-
mulgated at the synod of Dort in 1618, most of whose
resolutions are still adhered to in the Reformed Dutch
churches. The churches were at that period, and for a
long time after, governed by the classis of Amsterdam,
and so continued till about the year 1772, when the
American churches became independent of the mother
church, and established classes and synods of their own,
after the model of the church of Holland.

In the year 1662, according to one authority, the
dwellings in this town did not exceed twenty-five in num-
ber, and were located on the site of the present village
of Bushwick, which, with the Hexagon Church, built in
1720, was enclosed by palisades, as most of the other
settlements were. In the minutes of the court of ses-
sions is the following entry:

11 At a Court of Sessions, held at Flatbush for King's
County, May 10, 1699. Uppon the desire of tho in-
habitants of Breucklyn, that according to use and order,
every three yeare the limmits betweene towne and towne
must be runn, that a warrant or order may be given, that
upon the 17th day off May, the line and bounds betwixt
said townes of Breucklyn and Boswyck shall be run ac-
cording to their pattents or agrements. Ordered, That
an order should be past according to theire request."

The inhabitants of this town were comparatively few
in number, even at the commencement of the Revolu-
tionary contest, yet they suffered abundantly from depre-
dations upon their property in various ways. Their
exposed situation made them liable to invasion from
every quarter, and they were of course robbed and plun-
dered, as caprice or malice dictated.

The nearness of its fine forests of wood to the gar-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 375

risons and barracks of New York and Brooklyn, led to
the entire waste of the valuable timber which abounded
at the commencement of the contest. On the return of
the owners to their homes at the close of the war, they
found not only the woods and fences destroyed, but their
dwellings, in many instances, greatly deteriorated in
value.

On the 1 2th of May, 1664, the magistrates of this
town sentenced one John Van Lyden, convicted of pub-
lishing a libel, to be fastened to a stake, with a bridle
in his mouth, eight rods under his arm, and a label on
his breast with the words, " writer of lampoons, false
accuser, and defamer of magistrates," upon it, and then
to be banished from the colony. An instance also oc-
curred, of a clergyman who had improperly married a
couple, being sentenced to " flogging and banishment,"
which sentence, on account of the advanced age of the
delinquent, was mitigated by the governor to banishment
only. Another person, convicted of theft, was compelled
to stand for the space of three hours under a gallows,
with a rope around his neck, and an empty scabbard in
his hands.

In 1664 permission was given by the town to Abra-
ham Jansen to erect a mill on Maspeth Kill,1 which was
probably the first water-mill built within the town; and
for grinding of the town's grain he was to receive the
"customary duties." November 12, 1695, the court of
sessions of Kings County made an order, " That Mad
James should be kept at the expense of the county, and
that the deacons of each towne within the same doe
forthwith meet together and consider about their proper-
cons for maintenance of said James."
1 Now Newtown Creek. — Editor.

376 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

The records of the church, like those of the town,
are so imperfect as scarcely to afford us any valuable
information, and do not extend back anterior to 1689.
The town early formed a part of the collegiate charge
of the Dutch Church and of course the same ministers
officiated here, as in the other four towns of the county,
a more particular account of whom will be found in our
account of Flatbush and Brooklyn. It is highly prob-
able that a house for public worship existed here as early
as 17 10, at which time all the Reformed Dutch churches
in the county were united, and constituted together one
collegiate charge, under the care of the different ministers
resident in the district, whose names, characters, &c,
will be found more at large in our account of the town
of Flatbush.

The church edifice was as usual at that day of an
hexagon form, with a pyramidal roof and a cupola in the
middle. Benches and chairs were used instead of pews
or seats till 1790, when the building received a new
roof, and in five years thereafter a gallery opposite the
pulpit. This church was demolished in 1829, when the
present one was built and dedicated in October of that
year.

In 1787 the Rev. Peter Lowe, a native of Ulster
County, N. Y., was installed here as collegiate pastor
with the Rev. Martinus Schoonmaker, whose residence
was at Flatbush. Having accepted a call to the asso-
ciate churches of Flatbush and Flatlands, he closed his
services in this place in the year 1808, and was succeeded
in 181 1 by the Rev. John Basset, who was descended of
a Huguenot family residing in the city of New York,
where he was born in 1764. His father, Captain John
Basset, was a mariner, and was lost upon the ocean at

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 377

an early period of life, leaving his son an infant. He
nevertheless obtained a thorough education and gradu-
ated at Columbia College, 1786. He first settled in
Albany, married Miss Ann Hunn, and continued to offi-
ciate in the Reformed Dutch Church there till 181 1,
when he was dismissed and was installed here the same
year. That he was a good scholar, as well as an able
divine, possessing the confidence of the church, appears
from his having been, in 1797, appointed Hebrew pro-
fessor in Queens (now Rutgers) College, which chair he
held for several years. His familiarity with the Dutch
language led him to translate Adrian Vanderdonk's His-
tory of New Netherlands but the manuscript having
been lost, the task was afterwards ably executed by the
Hon. Jeremiah Johnson.

Dr. Basset died in November, 1824, and his body,
buried in the yard attached to the church, was subse-
quently removed to the city of Albany. He left sons
John and Hunn, and three daughters, whose posterity
reside in the west.

The Rev. Stephen H. Meeker was ordained here
February 27, 1826. He is the son of Benjamin Meeker
and Esther Headly, born at Elizabethtown, N. J., Oc-
tober 17, 1799, graduated at Columbia College, 1821,
and licensed to preach 1824. He was dismissed April
27, 1830, being called to the Dutch Church in Jersey
City, where he remained about six months and was again
installed here in November following. The Rev. John
W . Ward was ordained pastor of this Church, September,

1849.1

There is a considerable settlement in the southerly

1 This sentence was added to the MS. by Henry Onderdonk, Jr., after
the author's death in March, 1849. — Editor.

378 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

part of the town, upon the turnpike leading from the
English Kill * to the Wallabout, while the village called
Green Point, situated between the ancient settlement and
the East River, has grown up within a few years. Here
an Episcopal church was erected in 1846, called the
Church of the Ascension, of which the Rev. John W.
Brown of Astoria is pastor, — as successor to the Rev.
John C. Brown, first appointed. There is a large body
of meadow on the easterly side of the town, adjoining
Newtown, which is occasionally covered by water at high
tide.

" On January 1, 1855, the town of Bushwick, together
with the city of Williamsburgh, was consolidated with
and became a part of the city of Brooklyn. Provision
for this had been made in Chapter 577, Laws of 1853,
and authorization for the consolidation was given in
Chapter 384, Laws of 1854. When Brooklyn was taken
into New York, in 1898, the old town of Bushwick, of
course, became a part of New York City." Editor.

1 Now Newtown Creek. — Editor.

WILLIAM SBURGH

Was taken from Bushwick and organized into a sepa-
rate town by an act of the legislature, passed March
1 6, 1840, which among other things provides that " all
that part of the town of Bushwick, in the county of
Kings, included within the chartered limits of the village
of Williamsburgh, shall be erected into a separate town,
by the name of Williamsburgh." The town was divided
by the said act into three assessment and collection dis-
tricts, and it was further declared, that all the remaining
part of the town of Bushwick should be and remain a
town by the same name.

The town at that time contained 5,094 inhabitants,
but five years thereafter the number was 11,550, being
an increase of more than 125 per cent. It has now
probably nearly 20,000.

In the act incorporating the said village, passed April
4, 1827, which gave a new impulse to business and popu-
lation, the boundaries are set forth and described as
follows :

11 Beginning at the Bay or River opposite the town of
Brooklyn, and running easterly along the division line
between the towns of Bushwick and Brooklyn to the land
of Abraham A. Remsen; thence northerly by the same
to a road or highway, at a place called Swede's Fly;
thence by the said highway to the dwelling house, late
of John Vandervoort, deceased; thence in a straight line

379

380 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

northerly, to a small ditch or creek, against the meadow
of John Skillman; thence by said creek to Norman's
Kill; thence by the centre or middle of Norman's Kill
to the East River; thence by the same to the place of
beginning."

In consequence of an application from the inhabitants,
at a subsequent day, for an extension of the chartered
limits of the village, an act was passed April 18, 1835,
extending its boundaries, and making the territory what
it now is, co-extensive with the town of Williamsburgh.
The first trustees appointed by the act of 1827 were
Noah Waterbury, John Miller, Abraham Meserole,
Lewis Sandford, and Thomas T. Morrill, of whom the
first named (a public spirited individual) was chosen
president, and under whose energy and encouragement
the board applied themselves immediately to the laying
out of streets and building lots, which act proved the
basis of its future growth. Everything else was done,
which the state of things at that time seemed either to
authorize or require, yet the expectations of the inhabi-
tants were not realized, which induced the desire of
enlarging the boundaries of the village, with powers and
privileges more adequate to the objects in contemplation.

An act for the purpose was obtained in 1835, which
among other things, confided the management of munici-
pal concerns to a board of trustees, to be annually elected;
of which Edmund Frost, deceased, was chosen president.

Within a few years, many improvements have taken
place and measures devised to ensure the prosperity of
the village, making it no mean rival of Brooklyn. Much
is fairly attributable to its increasing avenues of trade
and the establishment of ferries between it and New York.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 381

So closely is it identified with those cities, that it may be
reckoned an integral portion of both. The whole ter-
ritory of the village, which is co-extensive with the town,
comprises about 1,050 acres.

The Grand Street Ferry, 950 yards, was commenced
in 18 12, which has for several years been conducted by
steam power. The Peck Slip Ferry was established in
1836, and that to Houston Street in 1840.

In consequence of these important accessories to the
many local advantages here enjoyed, it has happened
that where a few years ago only hills and naked fields
were seen, the tide of success has produced numerous
paved streets, upon which continuous blocks of stores,
dwellings, and public buildings of great value have been
erected, many of which are not only handsome but mag-
nificent.

This town, having so recently formed a part of Bush-
wick, the following extracts from ancient records can
hardly fail of interesting those who love to revel in the
reminiscences of " olden time."

"September 8, 1664., N. S.
" Beloved Friends :

11 It has happened that the New Netherlands is given
up to the English, and that Peter Stuyvesant, Governor
of the West India Company, has marched out of the
Fort with his men, to Beur^s Paeet, to the Holland ship-
ping, which lay there at the time : And that Gov. Rich-
ard Nicolls, in the name of the King of England, ordered
a Corporal's guard to take possession of the Fort.
Afterwards the Governor, with two companies of men,
marched into the fort, accompanied by the Burgomasters
of the City, who inducted the Governor and gave him a
welcome reception. Governor Nicolls has altered the

382 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

name of the City of New Amsterdam, and named the
same New York, and named the fort, Fort James.
" From your friend,

11 Cornelius Van Ruyven."

To which may be added the following orders for the
administration of justice :

" By these presents, beloved friends, you are author-
ised and required, by plurality of votes, to cause to be
chosen by the freeholders of your town, eight men of
good name and fame, for the purpose of administering
Justice for the ensuing year, for which they will be held
answerable in their individual capacities, together with
the Constable which is elected, until the first day of April
next, (old style). You will forward the names of the
persons chosen, as is usual, to his Excellency Governor
Nicolls, who sends these presents greeting, in the name
of God. Dated in Fort James, March 23, 1665, old
style. By order of the Governor,

" C. V. Ruyven."

It seems a little remarkable that public attention was
not sooner concentrated upon a place possessing, as
Williamsburgh does, many superior advantages for the
successful prosecution of almost every species of manu-
facture and commerce. Situated as it is, opposite the
heart of the City of New York, it possesses a bold water
front of a mile and a half in extent, of sufficient depth
for all ordinary purposes, and the whole shore is under
the control of its own local authorities.

There have already been constructed, under the act of
the 22d of April, 1835, and other statutes before men-
tioned, several large and substantial wharves and docks,
affording thereby a safe and convenient mooring for ves-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 383

sels of the largest class. The ferry is, by two or three
miles, the nearest approximation to the upper wards of
the City of New York from the eastern towns of Long
Island, and Williamsburgh is connected with the upper
and lower parts of the city by double lines of steamboats
of the best construction, and remarkable for speed and
accommodations.

The ferry to Peck Slip unites the village with the Ful-
ton and Catherine markets, and the ferry to Houston
Street leads to the upper parts of the city and Harlem.
Williamsburgh now contains seventy-five streets, perma-
nently laid out, of which more than thirty have been
opened and regulated, including one macadamized, and
several paved streets.

The village also contains several extensive manufac-
turing establishments, a distillery, an iron foundry, a
spice mill, hatteries, rope walks, and probably the largest
glue factory in the United States.

Ship-building has also been introduced and is now pros-
ecuted to a great and profitable extent.

The Lyceum was incorporated May 13, 1845, f°r tne
purpose of establishing and maintaining a library, read-
ing room, and scientific lectures, and other means of
promoting moral and intellectual improvement. It has
about 300 members. There is likewise a Mechanics'
Association, which will doubtless prove a useful insti-
tution.

A press was introduced in 1835, from which was issued
the Williamsburgh Gazette, a weekly newspaper, by
Francis G. Fish, who in 1836 transferred it to his
brother Adrastus, and it was by him disposed of to Levi
Darbee in 1838. The first number of the Williams-
burgh Democrat was issued June 3, 1843, Dy Thomas

384 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

A. Devyr; but in October, 1844, it was sold to David
and Robert McAdam, and the title changed to Demo-
cratic Advocate. The Long Islander, a daily paper be-
gun November 5, 1845, by J°hn A. F. Kelly, William
G. Bishop, and Alpheus P. Ritter, was soon after dis-
continued. The first number of the Morning Post, a
daily paper, was published December 18, 1846, by I.
Anderson Smith, but the paper was discontinued in April,
1848. The first number of the Williamsburgh Daily
Times was printed February 28, 1848, by Bennet Smith
& Company.

The Williamsburgh Fire Insurance Company was in-
corporated April 28, 1836, for thirty years, with a capi-
tal of $150,000.

The first Methodist Episcopal Church was organized
in 1807, and the building erected the next year, upon
North Second Street, which underwent some repairs in
1 82 1, and was rebuilt of brick on South Second Street,
near Sixth Street, 1837, and dedicated January 8, 1840.

The Methodist Protestant Church was organized in
1833, and its edifice of wood erected the same year on
Grand, near Fifth Street.

The corner stone of the new second Methodist Epis-
copal Church, on the corner of Grand and Ewen streets,
was laid November 25, 1845, and the building was dedi-
cated November 26, 1846. It is a substantial brick build-
ing with a stone front and towers at the corners.

The corner stone of the German Methodist Episcopal
Free Church was laid September 21, 1846, corner of
Stagg and Lorimer streets, and the building has since
been completed. Rev. Charles Behre is pastor.

Besides the above there are the Asbury Methodist
Episcopal Church, North Seventh Street; the Bethel

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 385

Methodist Episcopal, Frost Street; Free Union Metho-
dist Episcopal, South Third Street; Zion Methodist Epis-
copal Church, North Second Street, all for colored peo-
ple. Two others are organized, one in the first and one
in the second district.

The corner stone of the Reformed Dutch Church was
laid on Fourth and South Second streets, August 28,
1828, the building dedicated July 26, 1829, and the con-
gregation fully organized in November following. Its
first pastor, the Rev. James Demarest, was ordained June
27, 1830, and dismissed July 2, 1839. The Rev. William
Howard Van Doren was born at Hopewell, N. Y.,
March 4, 18 10, the son of the Rev. Isaac Van Doren,
pastor of the church at that place, and graduated at
Columbia College, 1832. He married February 20,
1840, Matilda Ann, daughter of Tunis Johnson, Esq.
of Brooklyn, and was ordained over this church on the
29th of January preceding. He resigned his charge

in August, 1849.1

The Protestant Episcopal Church (St. Mark's), cor-
ner of Fourth and South Fifth streets, was erected in
1840, and consecrated April 27, 1841. It is built of
hammered stone, and is a neat structure of the Gothic
style. The interior is remarkably beautiful, presenting
a fine specimen of fresco painting. The Rev. Samuel
M. Haskins, rector, was born at Waterford, Me.,
graduated at Union College 1836, at the General
Theological Seminary, N. Y., in June, 1839, and settled
in this church in October following. He married
Adelia, daughter of Isaac Peck of Flushing, who died
aged thirty-two, January 19, 1848.

1 This sentence was added to the MS. by Henry Onderdonk, Jr., after
the author's death in March, 1849. — Editor.

386 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

The corner stone of Christ Church (Episcopal) was
laid on South Sixth Street, October i, 1846; the build-
ing was finished the same year, and the Rev. Charles
Reynolds was made rector in August, 1846.

St. Paul's Free Episcopal Church, corner of Grand
Street and Graham Avenue, Rev. G. W. Fash, rector,
and Calvary Protestant Episcopal Free Church, Rev.
R. J. Hall, rector, may also be enumerated.

The First Presbyterian Church, corner of Fourth and
South Second streets, was organized May 26, 1842, over
which the Rev. Joseph Rawson Johnson was installed
pastor, June 13, 1843. tie is the second son of the Rev.
Gordon Johnson of Killingly, Conn., where he was born
August 19, 1806, licensed to preach September 19, 1832,
and married Sophia, daughter of Andrew Penniman
of Mendon, Mass., November 26, 1832.

After preaching two years at Newfield, Tompkins
County, N. Y., and one year to the Second Presbyterian
Church, Cortlandville, Cortland County, N. Y., he was
ordained and installed pastor of the Union Congrega-
tional Society of Cincinnatus and Solon, N. Y., in Feb-
ruary, 1836. January 22, 1840, he was installed
over the De Ruyter Religious Society, Madison County,
N. Y., and was dismissed in May, 1843. He remained
here till April, 1845, when he was succeeded by the Rev.
James Woods McLane, a graduate of Yale, 1829,
whose installation took place on the 2d of September
following. All this time the congregation were without
a house of worship and unhappily divided.

Another Presbyterian church was organized by the
Presbytery of New York, April 19, 1844, who have
erected a building of brick, 62 by 75 feet
on South Third and Fifth streets, the corner stone of

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 387

which was laid August 18, 1845, and the building dedi-
cated May 10, 1846. The ground was given by Grover
Coe Furman, Esq., of New York. Of this church the
Rev. Nathaniel S. Prime was stated supply during 1844;
but the Rev. Paul E. Stevenson of Staunton, Va., was
installed pastor February 20, 1845. He is a native of
Cambridge, N. Y., and married Cornelia, daughter of
the Rev. Mr. Prime, May 18, 1841.

The Baptist Church was organized in the spring of
1839, and the building dedicated June 29, 1843. ^ ls
located on South Fifth Street. Of this church the Rev.
Lawson Mussey was the first pastor. He was born at
Dublin, Cheshire County, N. H., and was educated at
Hamilton Theological Seminary, where he graduated
August 11, 1 841, and was ordained the pastor of this
church on the 16th day of September of the same year.
His wife is a daughter of Daniel and Hester Reed of
Brookfield, Madison County, N. Y. He was dismissed
in the autumn of 1843, and was succeeded in May, 1844,
by the Rev. Alanson P. Mason.

St. Mary's Church (Catholic) was erected in 1840,
at the corner of First and North Eighth streets, of
which the Rev. James O'Donnell is priest.

The German Catholic Church of the Holy Trinity,
Montrose Avenue, was founded in 1841, and consecrated
the same year. The priest is the Rev. John Raffeiner,
at whose sole expense the ground was procured and the
church edifice itself constructed. He was born at Mais,
Tyrol, a province of Austria, in 1784, and graduated at
Rome, Doctor of Medicine and Philosophy, May 4,
1813.

The corner stone of St. Peter and St. Paul's Church
(Catholic) in Second Street, was laid by Bishop Hughes,

388 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

May 30, 1847. It is °f brick, 63 by 104 feet, of the
simple Gothic style. Rev. Sylvester Malone is priest.
The edifice was consecrated May 7, 1848.

The First Congregational Church was organized
May 28, 1843, m which year they erected a house of
worship on the corner of South Third and Eleventh
streets, and the Rev. Simeon S. Jocelyn is their pastor.

The corner stone of the Free Universalist Church on
Fourth and South Third streets was laid June 23,
1847, the society having been incorporated in August,
1845, and the Rev. Henry Lyon installed pastor October
8, 1845. The building was dedicated March 15, 1848.

Mention may be made also of the German Evangelical
Church, corner of Wyckoff Street and Graham Avenue,
Rev. H. Beusset, pastor.

A society known as the Associate Reformed Church
has lately been organized, but have as yet no house of
worship.

" The identical town and village of Williamsburgh
was incorporated as the city of Williamsburgh by an
act passed April 7, 185 1, which went into effect on
January 1, 1852. By this act the new city was divided
into three wards and provision made for public improve-
ments, etc.

11 The city had a short existence of three years, for
on January 1, 1855, together with the town of Bush-
wick, it was consolidated with and became a part of the
city of Brooklyn; provision and authorization for this
having been made by Chapter 577, Laws of 1853, and
Chapter 384, Laws of 1854, respectively." Editor.

GRAVESEND

Is the most southerly town of Kings County and in-
cludes Coney Island, bordering on the ocean. It is of a
triangular form, two of its sides being straight lines pro-
ceeding from a point on the south line of Flatbush toward
the sea, and being bounded north-west by New Utrecht,
north-east by Flatlands, and south by the Atlantic. Its
surface is generally low and flat, except near the sea,
where a few sand hills are to be seen. A considerable
portion of the town consists of marsh and salt meadows,
not more than one-third being returned as improved
land.

Unlike other parts of the county this town was settled
mainly by English people from Massachusetts, where they
had resided for different periods, but were compelled to
remove in consequence of the intolerant spirit which char-
acterized the administration of that colony. The precise
period when the emigrants arrived here cannot be ascer-
tained, but it is quite certain that a considerable number
of very respectable individuals commenced the planta-
tion previous to 1643, Dut wnv it was called by its pres-
ent name is not so easily determined. Its being an English
settlement has led some to suppose that the name is
derived from a market town so called upon the south
side of the Thames, from which some of the emigrants
may have bid adieu to their native country, or from the
circumstance of the settlers finding the shore where they
landed composed of deep and heavy sand.

389

390 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Edmund B. O'Callaghan, M.D., the learned and ac-
curate historian of New Netherland, whose sugges-
tions are of great value, speaking of the Lady Moody
says, that by the express will and consent of the director-
general and council of New Netherland the settlement
was called " 's Gravenzande," after the picturesque vil-
lage (originally a walled city) of that name at the mouth
of the river Maas, where the ancient counts of Holland
held their courts previous to their removal to The Hague.
It was the fashion with all European powers who had
possessions in the New World to transfer the names of
towns in the mother country to their new settlements in
America. The Dutch were as observant of this custom
as any other nation, of which fact any person can satisfy
himself by looking over a map of Holland.

Among the early settlers of this town was that extraor-
dinary and heroic individual so famous among the people
of Massachusetts Bay, Lady Deborah Moody, a woman
of rank, education, and wealth, who, with several of her
friends residing at Lynn, Sandwich, and other places,
entertained some religious opinions at variance with the
leading spirits of that colony, and became objects of dis-
favor and persecution, and therefore wisely concluded to
withdraw from that settlement and seek another, present-
ing a better prospect of enjoying unmolested that religious
freedom which was denied them. Having examined the
country in the neighborhood of New Amsterdam, they
finally located here, where they hoped not only to obtain
the necessaries of life but to lay a foundation for trans-
mission to their posterity: the freedom and happiness
of an independent community. Its proximity to the
ocean and the advantages which presented themselves
of making this a place of some commercial impor-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 391

tance, were among the inducements for locating at this
spot.

A committee appointed to fix upon the plan of a vil-
lage having made a report which was approved, they
proceeded to lay off a plot consisting of ten acres, cen-
trally situated, into squares and streets intersecting each
other at right angles, and so disposed as to allow of
thirty-nine lots of competent size for houses, gardens,
etc., fronting on the outer street, surrounding the whole.

The number of the lots was equal to that of the first
settlers, and served as the rule of division in all subse-
quent allotments of land in the town. The village plot,
thus designated, was next enclosed by a stockade or pali-
sade defence, erected by the proprietors of the respective
lots, composed of " half trees nine feet long and stand-
ing seven feet above the ground."

This chosen spot served as the nucleus of a more popu-
lous settlement, and the outlands were so laid off as to
make the exterior lines of every plantation converge
toward the common centre; which, it may be observed,
is their condition at the present day to a very consider-
able extent. Although the want of a sufficient depth of
water in the neighboring cove defeated the original
project of making this a commercial town, yet the place
grew into importance and became in a short space the
capital or shire town of the county, the courts being ap-
pointed to be held here, and so continuing for more than
forty years when they were removed to Flatbush. After
the danger from enemies became less considerable, and
the inhabitants more generally diffused, the idea of sup-
porting the central establishment abated, and the larger
squares were appropriated to other uses than as a place
of habitation and defence. The court house was built

392 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

upon one of them, the church upon another, and a third
was appropriated as a common cemetery. Here are a
number of graves of the early settlers, but those of the
Quakers have been levelled by the plough. According to
the custom of these people there were no monuments to
designate the place of their interment except that of
Peter Sullivan and his wife, at the head of which is a
large granite slab containing the names of the deceased
only.

It is highly probable that the first proprietors procured
a conveyance from the neighboring Indians as was the
custom in the English towns, for only a very short patent
was granted them during the Dutch Government. But a
ground brief or patent was issued by Governor Kieft to
Antoine Jansen Van Salee, May 27, 1643, " f°r I0°
morgen * of land lying on the bay of the North River
on Long Island over against the Conyne Island, stretch-
ing along the strand 253 rods. North north-west from
the strand, about north-east by east 236 rods, back again
along an height 124 rods, about south-east, and south-
west by west, 24 rods; south, 54 rods farther to the
strand, south-west by west 174 rods, with some out
hoecks, lying on the south side, amounting to 87 morgen,
and 493/2 rods, with yet an hoeck stretching from the
house, surrounded on three sides with meadow, stretch-
ing south-west by west 72 rods, 90 rods south-east by
south, being an oblong, with some out hoecks, bearing 12
morgen, 550^ rods, amounting together to the aforesaid
100 morgen."

This was probably a confirmation patent, as a grant

*A morgen was a Dutch measure, little less than two English acres,
and consisting of 600 square Dutch rods; a shepel (or Dutch bushel)
was nearly three English pecks; a guilder was about the value of forty
cents, and a stiver about that of two cents.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 393

was made to him August 1, 1639, afterwards known
as Antonie Jansen's Bowery (or farm), for which
another patent of confirmation was issued by Governor
Nicoll, June 11, 1667, but was made to Francis Bruyne
(or Brown), specifying the same boundaries as afore-
said, and concerning which an agreement was made be-
tween the patentee and the people of Gravesend, April
29, 1670.*

A patent was granted Guisbert Op-Dyck, May 24,

1644, for Coney Island, called by the Dutch Conynen
Eylandt, probably from an individual of that name who
first lived upon it. Pine Island, then called Conyne
Hoeck, was separated from the former by a small creek
which has since disappeared.

A general patent for the town, both in Dutch and Eng-
lish, was obtained from Governor Kieft, December 19,

1645, in which the patentees named were the Lady
Deborah Moody, Sir Henry Moody, Bart., Ensign
George Baxter, and Sergeant James Hubbard, their heirs
and successors, for " a certain quantity of land being
upon or about the westermost part of Long Island, be-
ginning at the mouth of a creek adjacent to Conyne
Island, and bounded on the west part thereof with the
lands belonging to Anthony Johnson and Robert Pen-
noyre; and to run as far as the westermost part of a cer-

* There is an existing tradition that this Antonie Jansen Van Salee
was by birth a Moor, and came from a place called Salee on the
coast of Africa, which caused the addition to his name, to distinguish
him from another person of the same name. As there is no known
reason why the Dutch governor should make so extensive a grant to a
native of Africa, it is more probable that he may have been a Dutchman,
who, for purposes of commerce had resided at Salee, and thus acquired
the above addition by way of distinction. He is said to have been a
man of prodigious strength; and William, a brother of his, is reported
to have carried ten bushels of wheat from his barn to the house, a dis-
tance of fifty yards, and then upstairs to the garret.

394 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

tain pond in an old Indian field on the north side of the
plantation of the said Robert Pennoyre ; and from thence
to run directly east as far as a valley, being at the head
of 'a fly or marsh some time belonging to the land of
Hugh Garretson ; and being bounded on the south with the
main ocean, with liberty to put what cattle they shall see
fitting to feed or graze upon the aforesaid Conyne Island,
and with liberty to build a town, with such necessary
fortifications as to them shall seem expedient; and to have
and enjoy the free liberty of conscience according to the
customs and manners of Holland without molestation,
and to establish courts and elect magistrates, to try all
causes not exceeding fifty Holland guilders."

The fact of a female being included and first named
also in the patent is, as far as we know, unprecedented
in the colony, and exhibits the Lady Moody and her
noble-hearted son in a very interesting position.

This circumstance very naturally excites a curiosity in
the reader to be better informed of the character and
standing of these distinguished strangers. This curiosity
we shall endeavor to gratify to the fullest extent in our
power.

In Burke's Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies, we find
the following:

" i. Henry Moody, Esquire, of Garesdon, in Wilt-
shire, created baronet 162 1-2, married Deborah, daugh-
ter of Walter Dunck, Esquire, of Avebury, in the same
county, and dying about 1632 was succeeded by his son,
viz.: 2. Sir Henry Moody, who sold the estate of
Garesdon, and settled in New England, where he is pre-
sumed to have died sine prole, in 1662, and the baronetcy
became extinct."

11 In 1625 (says another), Lady Moody went to Lon-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 395

don, where she remained in opposition to a statute di-
recting that no person should reside beyond a limited
time from their own homes. April 21, 1635, the court
of star chamber ordered dame Deborah Mowdie and
others to return to their hereditaments in 40 days. In
1640, she arrived at Lynn, Mass., and united with the
church there, and on the 13th of May, 1640, the court
granted her 400 acres of land. In 1641, she bought the
farm called Swamscot, of Deputy Governor Humphrey,
at the price of £1 100. She after, says Winthrop, became
imbued with the erroneous doctrine, that infant baptism
was a sinful ordinance, for which she was excommuni-
cated, and in 1643 removed to Long Island." Again it
is recorded, "that in 1643, Lady Moody was in the
colony of Mass., a wise and anciently religious woman,
and being taken with the error of denying baptism to in-
fants, was dealt with by many of the elders, and admon-
ished by the church of Salem, but persisting still, and to
avoid further trouble, she removed to the Dutch, against
the advice of all her friends. Many others, infected
with anabaptism, removed thither also." We shall see
that in expecting entire toleration here, they were doomed
to disappointment.

It was the religious intolerance which prevailed in the
Plymouth and Massachusetts colonies toward heretics,
that drove the Lady Moody, her son, Sir Henry Moody,
Ensign Baxter, Sergeant Hubbard, William Goulding,
John Tilton, Thomas Spicer, and their associates to seek
an asylum in some part of this province where they might
be allowed to exercise and enjoy freedom of opinion in
matters of conscience. This, as experience showed, they
vainly imagined to have been amply assured to them in
the patent of 1645, which, however, in a little time, proved
to be in great measure illusory. Even the Lady Moody

396 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

herself, whom Judge Benson designates as the "Dido,
leading the colony" was arraigned with others before
the authorities of New Amsterdam for merely asserting
that "infant baptism was no ordinance of God"

This gifted heroine, however, sustained herself in the
conflict, and rendered very essential service to her afflicted
companions. Her wealth and extraordinary abilities
commanded universal respect, to which her virtue and
courage were fully equal.

The governor and council convened at her hospitable
mansion on the 23d of November, 1654, for the purpose
of endeavoring to allay an excitement, principally occa-
sioned by a refusal on the part of the former to sanction
the nominations which had been made for magistrates of
the town, the names of Baxter and Hubbard having been
sent up for confirmation. In this exigency, his Excellency
was anxious to secure the influence of her Ladyship in
his favor, and finally, it is recorded, left the matter of
the said appointments to her discretion, which statement,
however, may well be doubted.

June 18, 1655, the governor and council resolved that
letters should be written to the sheriff, and to Lady
Moody, " as eldest and first patentee, to make a nomina-
tion of magistrates for the town."

It was during this same year that her house was as-
saulted several times by a company of Indians from the
North River, when she was protected by a guard sent for
that purpose from the city. The invaders had, however,
previously landed upon Staten Island, where they mur-
dered sixty-seven persons.

The time of Lady Moody's death is unknown, but it
was certainly before 1660, she having owned and occupied
the farm of the late Van Brunt Magaw, Esq., a part of

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 397

which was lately in possession of his son-in-law, the Rev.
Isaac P. Labagh.

In Felt's Annals of Salem, it is said that in 165 1, Sir
Henry Moody had an action there in regard to the farm
owned by his mother, the Lady Moody, called Swamscot,
which he obtained and afterwards sold to one Daniel
King.

In the council minutes of June 24, 1660, is the follow-
ing entry:

" Whereas Sir Henry Moody has informed us that he
was arrived here as Embassador of the Governor and
Assembly of Virginia, it is resolved to compliment him
in his lodgings, by two members of the Council, accom-
panied by Halbediers, and communicate to him, that the
Director-General and Council were convened to hear his
message."

" Sir Henry Moody, being complimented by the com-
mittee, appeared with them in council, and delivered a
certain letter as his credentials," which, being read, was
found to be sent by the governor and council of Virginia,
soliciting a reciprocal arrangement for the encourage-
ment of trade between the two provinces; and to say " they
have sent their well beloved friend, Sir Harry Moody,
Knight and Baronet, (a person whose honor and integ-
rity, as you cannot doubt, so we have abundance of con-
fidence,) as our interested agent, to receive from you a
confirmation of our former agreement, and to whom our
desire, is, you would give full credence, we having given
him full power and authority to resolve any doubt that
may occur in the articles agreed upon." This was accom-
panied by a private letter from Governor Berkley, desir-
ing a loan of 4,000 pounds of tobacco, to be paid in " ex-
cellent tobacco," in the November following.

The records of this town, which were uniformly kept

398 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

in the English language, are still preserved nearly entire.
They commence with the year 1645, and for a series of
years are chiefly occupied with the records of wills, in-
ventories, letters of administration, and a variety of pri-
vate contracts, bargains, sales, &c.

A few extracts will exhibit the manner of conducting
the public business at this remote period, particularly in
the town meetings :

Sept. 27, 1644, it was voted that those who had
Boweries (farms) should have fifty morgen of upland,
with meadow proportionable to their stock; and it was
further ordered, that any person who did not build a
habitable house by the last of May (then) next, should
be defaulted, and forfeit their land to the town.

In Jan. 1648, the town elected Sergeant James Hub-
bard, a man as has been seen of great respectability and
influence, to execute the office of schout or constable,
which was considered at that period of much importance.

On the 14th of April, 1649, John Furman agreed with
the town to keep their calves three months for sixty
guilders, " to be paid in money, tobacco, or corn, and
some bitters, if desired." In March, 1650, it was re-
quired of every owner of a lot of ground, to pay one
guilder toward the common charges of the town, to be
collected and paid over by Mr. Stillwell and Jos. Tilton.
In Dec. of the same year it was ordered that every man
should fence the head of his lot, adjoining the town
square, with a sufficiency of palisades, by the middle of
April following. Within this palisade enclosure, which
encircled the original town plot of ten acres, the inhab-
itants secured their cattle during the night, and them-
selves also, whenever they were apprehensive of danger
from the natives; in which latter case an armed guard
was also employed.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 399

That wolves were both common and mischievous at that
time appears from the fact that on the 8th of August,
1650, three guilders were offered for every wolf which
should be killed in the town, and two guilders for every
fox. It was ordered also that every man should be pro-
vided with a gun, a pound of powder, and two pounds of
lead or bullets. Every owner of a house was likewise
required to provide himself with a ladder, twenty feet
or more in length. It was also voted and agreed in town
meeting that whoever should transgress in word or deed
in defaming, scandalizing, slandering, or falsely accusing
any one to the breach of the peace and the reproach of
the place, should suffer such condign punishment accord-
ing to his demerit, as should be thought meet by the
magistrates, either by fine, imprisonment, stocking, or
standing at a public post.

In the year 1654 a question having been raised and
agitated as to the validity of the title to Coney Island and
Gravesend Neck, a release was obtained from the Indians
therefor, which, after describing the premises, concludes
as follows:

" The above quantity of land, being within the lym-
mits, graunted by a Pattent to certaine Patentees, Inhabitts
of Gravesend, by the late Gouernr Kieft, the said Gut-
taquoh, acknowledges to have sould all his right and
clayme to the said land called Narrioch, (the Island,)
and Mannahaning, (the Neck,) unto the Honorable the
Lords Bewint Hebbers, of the West India Company of
the Chamber of Amsterdam, for the use of the said
Pattentees and Inhabitants of Gravesend, having received
15 fathom of Sewan, two guns, three pound of powder,
together with all the meadow land and marsh land there-

4oo HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

unto appertaining. In confirmation, I have put my hand
this seaventh day of May, 1654.

" GUTTAQUOH."

Other conveyances for lands in different parts of the
town were obtained at various times, from which no
little confusion sometimes arose by the clashing of
boundaries, the descriptions being not unfrequently both
inconsistent and obscure.

April 10, 1656, the inhabitants of Gravesend having
secured their village by a palisade defence, petitioned the
governor and council for three or four big guns to be
used in time of danger, which request was granted with
a due allowance of powder and ball.

Jan. 7, 1656. — " Att a generall assemblie of ye In-
habitants, ordered, that all who tapp or drawe out
stronnge beare to sell, shall provide that ye sd beare bee
as good yt wcb is usually sould att the manhattoes, and
they are required to sell itt att ye prise of tenn guilders
the halfe ffatt."

11 And it is further agreed yt ye younge men shall bee
grattifyed with soe much as might buye 2 half ffatts of
beare, out of the moneys recevd from Peter Simpson for
the lott No. 37, and regard the sayd paye were in
tobacco, that therefore Charles Morgan should receive
£100, and the overplush when the beare is payd ffor."

Dec. 2, 1658. — " Agreed that every inhabitant shall
bring or cause to bee brought into ye commard yard, for
ffencing ye buriall place 12 pallisadoes of oak, betwixt 9,
10 and 11 inches broad, and 7 foot long, on forfeiture
of 10 shillings a man, to be distraynd."

Feb. 8, i6$g. — " The town agrees with Henry Brazier
ffor the building of a mill, within the towne, ffor ye grind-
ing ye corn of the inhabitants, and ye towne will give him

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

401

500 guilders; and every man has a team, to cart one day,
and such as have none, to give 2 days apiece, in making
the dam."

At a Court held at Gravesend on the first Wednesday
of October, 1666, it was resolved that tax burthens might
be collected in grain, beef, and pork, viz., in wheat at
5 shillings per bushel, rye at 4 shillings, corn at 3 shil-
lings, and oats at 2 shillings per bushel; in pork at 4
pence per pound, and in beef at 3 pence.

The following named persons were inhabitants and
probably freeholders of the town in 1656:

William Goulding
Jacob Swart
Walter Wall
Charles Morgan
Peter Simson
John Cock
John Laus
Lawrence Johnson
John Broughman
William Wilkins
John Tilton
John Vaughan
Bar'w Applegate
George Baxter
Edward Griffing
Thomas Greedy
Samuel Spicer
John Lake
Laurens Wessell
William Barnes
William Compton
Charles Bridges

Jacob Spicer
John Van Cleef
Thomas Spicer
Ralph Cardell
James Grover
Carson Johnson
Thomas Baxter
William Bowne
Thomas Whitlock
Richard Gibson
Richard Stout
Nicholas Stillwell
Pieter Abell
Richard Gibbins
James Hubbard
Joseph Goulding
Thomas Marshall
Christian Jacobsen
Samuel Holmes
William Smith
Thomas Delaval
Joachim Guylock

William Nicolls
Edward Brown
John Thomas
Lady Deborah Moody
Elizabeth Applegate
John Peters
John Applegate
Lyman Law
Thomas Morrell
James Curlear
John Bowne
Thomas Applegate
William Stoothoff
John Johnson
Thomas Tilton
Richard Stillwell
John Emans
Thomas Morgan
John Pollard
David Arbuthnot

It is a singular fact in the religious history of this
town that from the appearance of the first Quakers in
America, the most of the inhabitants embraced their
sentiments, and here were established the first regular
meetings of that sect. But they were no more permitted

402 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

to enjoy their opinions here than were their friends in
Massachusetts. Governor Stuyvesant took every oppor-
tunity to manifest his abhorrence of their doctrines and
discipline, and after long endurance and a visit from
their great leader, George Fox, most of the Friends
removed from the town and settled on the opposite
shores of New Jersey, where their descendants may
still be found. So that an almost total change took
place in the character of the people ; emigrants from New
Amsterdam and the adjoining plantations supplied the
vacancies made by removals, and the town which was at
its first settlement entirely English, finally became the
most purely Dutch of all in the county, and has with the
most tenacity preserved the language of the Fatherland.
A general patent of confirmation was obtained from
Governor Nicoll, August 13, 1667, in which the bound-
aries coincide with those of Kieft's patent of 1645 in
substance. And July 1, 1670, an additional patent was
executed by Governor Lovelace, which is as follows :

" Francis Lovelace, Esq'r, one of the Gentlemen of his
Magesty's Honorable Privy Chamber, and Govenor
General, under his Royal Highness, James, Duke of
Yorke and Albany, &c, of all his Territories in America
— To all to whom these Presents shall come, sendeth
Greeting. Whereas, there is a certain Town in the West
Riding of Yorkshire, upon Long Island, commonly called
and known by the name of Gravesend, situate, lying and
being on or about the Westermost part of the sd Island,
containing a certain quantity or parcel of Land, begin-
ning at the mouth of a creek adjacent to Coney Island,
and being bounded on the Westward part thereof with
the land heretofore appertaining to Anthony Johnson
and Robert Pennoyer, and so to run as far as the Wester-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 403

most part of a certain Pond in an old Indian Field on the
north side of the Plantation of the sd Robert Pennoyer,
and from thence to run direct East as far as a valey, be-
gining at the Head of a Fly or marsh sometime belonging
to the Land of Hugh Gerritsen, and being bounded on
the south side with the main Ocean, for which sd quan-
tity or parcel of Land, there was heretofore a Pattent
or Ground-brief granted from the Dutch Govenor, Wil-
liam Keift, unto several Patentees, thier Associates, and
Heirs, Executors, Administrators, Successors or Assigns,
and all other appurtenances, as also to put what cattle
they thought fitting to grase and feed upon the affore-
mentioned Coney Island, with Liberty to them the sd
Patentees to build one or more towns upon the sd Lands,
with many other particulars and privileges, as in the sd
Patent or Ground-brief, bearing date the 19th of Dec,
1645, relation being thereunto had, is at large set forth.
Now for a Confirmation unto the present freeholders
and Inhabitants of the sd Town, in thier Possession and
enjoyment of the Premises. Know ye, that by virtue of
the commission and authority unto me given me by His
Royal Highness, I have ratified, confirmed and granted,
and by these presents do ratify, confirm and grant unto
Thomas Delavall, Esq'r, Mr. James Hubbard, Ralph
Carall, William Bowne, John Tilton, William Goulding
and Samuel Spicer, as Patentees for, and on behalf of
themselves and their associates, the Freeholders and In-
habitants of the sd town, their Heirs, Successors and as-
signs, all the forementioned quantity, tract and parcel
of Land set forth and bounded as aforesaid, together
with the Inheritance of all Coney Island, (reserving only
the privilege of erecting Huts for fishing and drying of
nets there, upon occasion for all persons who shall under-
take that design for the public good,) including all the
Land within a line stretching from the westermost part
of the sd Island unto the southermost part of the old

404 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Bowery of Antony Jansen, thier East bounds being the
Strome Kill which comes to the marsh or Fly of Mathew
Gerritsen's Land aforementioned: as also the meadow
ground and upland not specified in thier former Patents,
concerning which there have been several disputes and
differences between the Inhabitants of the said town and
thier neighbor, Francis Brown, which, in part, was issued
by my Predecessors and myself, but since fully concluded
and determined between them by articles of agreements,
the which articles I do hereby confirm and allow, with
all Havens, Creeks, &c, — and all other profits, commodi-
ties, emoluments and Hereditaments to the sd town, tract
of land and premises within the limits and bounds afore-
mentioned, described, belonging, or in any wise apper-
taining, and also to have freedom of commonage for
range and feed of cattle and horses in the woods, as well
without as within thier bounds and limits with the rest
of thier neighbors, with liberty to cut timber there upon,
for thier public or private occasions. To have and to
hold all and singular, &c, unto the said patentees,
and their associates, heirs, &c, — and that the place of
their present Habitation shall continue and retain the
name of Gravesend, and by that name shall be known,
&c, rendering and paying all dues and duties, according
to the good and wholesome laws already made, or that
hereafter shall be established in these, His Royall High-
ness, his territories.

" Given under my hand, and sealed with the seal of the
Province at Fort James in New York, this first day of
July, in the 226. year of his Majestie's Reign, Annoque
Domini, 1670.

" Matthias Nicoll, Secy.

" Francis Lovelace." [l. s.]

In a short period after the conquest of New Nether-
land, and the foundation of the Ridings, this town became

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 405

the seat of justice for the county, and a court house was
erected in 1668, in which the sessions and oyer and
terminer were held till their removal in 1686 to Flatbush.
On the 26th of March, 1677, an agreement was entered
into between the towns of Gravesend and New Utrecht
in relation to their boundaries, which was confirmed in
the patent granted by Governor Dongan on the 10th of
September, 1686. The boundaries mentioned in this in-
strument are as follows :

" Beginning at the westernmost part of a certain place
called Coney Island, and from thence to the western-
most part of Anthony Jansen and Robert Pennoyer's
land; and so from thence by New Utrecht fence, accord-
ing to agreement, to the bounds of Flatbush, and from
thence along John Ditmas his land unto the bounds of
Flatlands, upon a line agreed upon between Flatlands
and Gravesend, which, from John Ditmas his land, runs
to a certain bound stake, and from thence to a white
oak tree, marked and standing near New Utrecht wagon
path, and so to the north-west corner of Albert, the
weaver's field, and so going to a certain marked white
oak tree that stands by the highway side in the Hollow,
and from thence running along the Hollow to the head
of a certain creek commonly called and known by the
name of the Strome Kill, and along the said creek to the
main Ocean, and so along the sea-side to the western-
most part of Coney Island."

The patentees in this instrument are James Hubbard,
John Tilton, jun., William Goulder, Nicholas Stillwell,
and Jocham Guilock; and the quit-rent reserved was six
bushels of good winter merchantable wheat, to be paid
on the 20th day of March annually, for his Majesty's use
at the city of New York forever.

406 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

To exhibit the peculiarity of the times, we present a
copy of an ancient document, or prohibition of certain
pastimes on the first day of the week.

" Whereas thier is a prohibition expresse by an order
from ye Govenor of all such exercises upon ye first day of
ye weeke, as gunning, ball-playing, horse-races, nine-pins,
excessive drinking, and royetting, with others ye like,
which greatly tende to ye dishonour of God, ye hindrance
of many from and in religious duties to ye reproach of
ye Govern* and shame of the place; for ye prevention
whereoff, the officers of this toune, according to their
dutye, have given due notice, that what person soever
shall in the like trangresse, shall pay ios. and answer it
before the Govenor. This act proclaimed ye 13th of 8th
month, 1675."

" At a court of Sessions held at Gravesend, June 21,
1676, John Cooke and John Tilton, being Quakers, and
refusing to take the oath, were ordered to give their en-
gagement to Justice Hubbard to perform their office as
overseers, under the penalty of perjury." " At the same
court, holden Dec. 1679, Mr. Jos. Lee, deputy sheriff,
presented Ferdinandus Van Strickland for refusing to
give entertainment to a stranger who came from Hunt-
ington about business at this court; upon which the court
do order, that if the said Ferdinandus does not make his
submission to the sheriff and the justices to-morrow, that
he be dismissed from tapping."

Coney Island, whose shores are incessantly lashed by
the ocean wave, has long been a favorite resort for
visitors in the sultry season of the year. It is more than
half encompassed by the sea, and is, of course, almost
constantly fanned by cool and refreshing sea breezes, and
affords an illimitable view upon the broad Atlantic. The

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 407

island is separated from the main land by a narrow creek,
meandering through a body of salt meadow or marsh,
which is crossed by a bridge erected by the Coney Island
Turnpike and Bridge Company. On the island are about
sixty acres of arable land, the remainder being a singular
looking mass of sand-hills, drifted about in wild confu-
sion by the action of high winds and severe ocean
storms. The extent of the island, from east to west, is
about five miles, including the points of the projecting
beaches, and in width about one mile.

This sea-girt isle is probably the first land impressed
by the feet of the venerable Hudson and his sailor com-
panions on their approach to the harbor of New York
in 1609, and their appearance, as well as that of the ship,
must have produced surprise and consternation in the
native inhabitants of the country. The accommodations
here are upon a liberal scale, the Coney Island House
being well kept by James B. Cropsey, and having been
thus far duly supported by the public. Its distance from
New York is eleven miles, and the road is almost un-
equalled. Regarding the loose materials of which this
island is composed and its greatly exposed situation, it
may be assumed that another century will nearly annihi-
late it.

We have not been able to find whether any other re-
ligious edifice ever existed in this town, except the Dutch
Church, which was first built on one of the original
squares in 1655. It was rebuilt in 1770, and in 1833 the
present Reformed Dutch Church was erected. It was
from the beginning associated with the other churches of
the same denomination in the county, having the same
ministers, and so remained until the settlement of Mr.
Labagh in 1832. From 1763 to 1785 it was associated

4o8 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

with the church at Harlem under the charge of Rev.
Martinus Schoonmaker.

Rev. Isaac P. Labagh was the son of the Rev. Peter
Labagh, an aged and respected minister of the Reformed
Dutch Church at Harlington, N. J. Mr. Labagh was
born at Leeds, Greene County, N. Y., August 14, 1804,
and graduated at Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, in'
1823. He studied theology at New Brunswick, was or-
dained December 24, 1826, preached a while at Rhine-
beck, and was settled at Waterford, N. Y., March 14,
1827. In 1832 he removed here, where he was installed
November 4, 1832, and was the first pastor whose services
were confined exclusively to this church. On July 5, 1833,
he married Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Major Van
Brunt Magaw, who died at the age of forty-seven in
March, 1831 (being the son of the brave Colonel Robert
Magaw of the Revolution, the noble defender of Fort
Washington in November, 1776, who, while a prisoner
here, married the daughter of Colonel Rutgert Van Brunt) .
Mr. Labagh was suspended by the Classis of the church
in 1842, and subsequently joined the Episcopal Church.
He was succeeded, January 22, 1843, Dv his cousin,
the Rev. Abraham I. Labagh from the island of St.
Thomas, West Indies.

Contributed by the Editor

" In 1859 the second Mr. Labagh was forced to re-
sign on account of poor health and Rev. Maurice G.
Hansen took his place. Mr. Hansen resigned in 1871
and was followed by Rev. A. P. Stockwell, installed 1872,
who resigned in 1887. Rev. Peter V. Van Buskirk, D.D.,
was next called and began his labors during the same
year that Mr. Stockwell resigned. Dr. Van Buskirk offi-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 409

ciated until 19 12, when the hand of the Lord took him
from his labors on the eve of his twenty-fifth anniversary.
He was followed on February 1, 19 13, by Rev. Philip H.
Clifford, the present pastor, who has kindly furnished the
particulars of Dr. Van Buskirk's pastorate."

A Methodist church was erected at the Cove in 1844,
and another in the south-west part of the town was incor-
ported August 14 of the same year.

Although the population of this town is less than
1,000, yet a very large proportion of the inhabitants are
industrious and enterprising farmers, a character well
deserved when it is considered that more than 40,000
bushels of grain are annually raised over and above their
own consumption. Besides this the shad fishery upon its
shores is a great and never-failing source of gain to those
who engage in it, occupying as it does, at most, but a few
weeks in the spring.

Sergeant James Hubbard, prominent in the early his-
tory of the town as we have seen, married December 31,
1664, Elizabeth, daughter of John Bailey of Jamaica,
probably a second wife. He was a justice of the peace
in 1665, and as late as 1680. His father was Henry,
and his mother Margaret of Langham, County of Rut-
land, England. His brothers were William, John, and
Henry, and his sister Margaret. This William, or his
son, may have been the minister of Ipswich and his-
torian of New England (see Farmer's Register, page
152) . The children of James Hubbard'were James, born
December 10, 1665; Rebecca, born April 20, 1667; Eliza-
beth, born January 3, 1669; John, born March 20, 1670;
Elias, born April 11, 1673, and Samuel, born May 1,
1675, all by his second wife.

4io HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

This person seems for some reason to have incurred
the displeasure of the governor, for which he was in the
spring of 1656 ordered to depart the province, but it
would appear that he was finally permitted to remain,
probably in consequence of the interference of his neigh-
bors and the following petition to the governor :

" To the Honobl Govern1" and Councell as followeth.

11 Whereas it hath been the Governour's noble good
will and pleasure att the request of some Honoured
ffriends, namely Sr Henry Moody and the Magistrates of
Gravesend to give mee the libertie for a certain tyme
heare without molestation, for which favour I due ac-
knowledge his 4ove and tenderness, as for all others past,
or that may bee. Honoured Srs, when that I were in
prisson, you may please to understand that I delivered
in to the honorable Courte a petition or requeste for my
libertie; the substance thereof were that the honorable
Courte would bee pleased to pass by what ever weak-
ness they had seene in me, as being one not seene in state
affaires, and further it were humblie requested to restore
mee to my habitation under your goverment in tender-
nesse and love. And as I then desired, soe my humble
request is the same now. But in reguard occasionallie
exceptions may bee taken by men, and that of such
spiritts as may not bee well quallified with love towards
mee, which I cannot att present charge any, but onely it is
made my greate feare, by meanes of which may incon-
venience. It is therefore my humble request that it may
bee your good pleasure, and that I maye have your good
will, to make the best of that small tittle of my Estate
which is, and soe lovinglie in convenient tyme to depart
in love; or otherwise it may please the Honbl Gover and
Councell to bee meete that I maye injoy and follow my
occasione freely in libertie without molestation, myself
desiring to attend the Rules of love and peace, and

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 411

humblie requesting all former differences may bee buried
and forgott, and that at your good pleasure herein shall
bee, a favorable issue and end in this business with your
Answer hereunto in reguard my tyme is neare expiared,
and I shall rest.

11 Yours in all humble respecte and service,

11 James Hubbard.
" Gravesend, July the 24th, 1656."

John Tilton was one of the most worthy men among
the first settlers, and probably came, as did Thomas
Spicer also, with Lady Moody. His death took place in
1688, and that of his wife Mary five years before. He
had a son Thomas, and daughter Esther, who married
Samuel Spicer, son of Thomas, and removed to West
Jersey in 1686, near Philadelphia. Their daughter
Martha married the well-known Quaker preacher,
Thomas Chalkley of that city. Their other children
were Jacob, Mary, Sarah, Abigail, and Thomas. On the
removal of Spicer and his wife, the quarterly meeting of
Friends, held at Flushing the 29th of third month,
1686, gave a certificate of their good character to the
meeting of Friends in West Jersey, a copy of which is in
the possession of the compiler, as well as a letter from
John Tilton to Governor Stuyvesant in a matter relating
to his grandson Jacob Spicer.

" On January 1, 1894, the town of Gravesend became
a part of the City of Brooklyn and was designated as the
Thirty-first Ward. On January 1, 1898, this territory
became a part of the City of New York, when Brooklyn
was absorbed by that city." — Editor.

FLATLANDS

Called originally by the Dutch New Amersfort, is
bounded northerly by Flatbush, easterly partly by that
portion of Flatbush called New Lots, and partly by Ja-
maica Bay, southerly by said bay, and westerly by Graves-
end, including Bergen Island lying in the bay, and Bar-
ren Island adjoining the ocean, the whole town contain-
ing about 9,000 acres, a large portion of which is salt
marsh, producing abundance of grass of rather inferior
quality, and with the exception of which there is little
waste or unimproved land, the whole being divided into
small farms which are well cultivated and highly pro-
ductive.

11 Within the bounds of Flatlands the first known set-
tlement by white men upon Long Island was made. It
was formerly supposed that a company of Walloons1
settled at the Wallabout in Brooklyn as early as 1624,
but later investigations have shown this to be an error.
Occasional trading posts or hunting lodges may have
been temporarily erected at points on Long Island con-
tiguous to the Fort at New Amsterdam, but for the first
actual settlement and purchase from the Indians we must
look to Flatlands.

" On June 16, 1636, Wolfert Gerretse Van Kouwenho-
ven and Andries Huddie purchased jointly a tract of land
containing 3,600 acres from the Indians, and on the same
day Jacobus Van Corlear bought an adjoining tract. The

1 From the southern Belgic provinces.

412

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 413

latter purchase was purely speculative and Van Corlear
never occupied his land. The same is also true of Huddie,
who later sold out his interest in the purchase to his
partner.

11 Kouwenhoven, on the other hand, immediately con-
structed a dwelling and laid out a plantation from which
the settlement and town of Flatlands sprung. The
pioneer called his estate 'Achterveldt,' and his dwelling
stood near the junction of Kouwenhoven Place and Flat-
bush Avenue, very close to the store conducted some years
ago by J. B. Hendrickson & Son.

" It is an interesting fact to note that his descendants
still occupy parts of the original purchase, handed down
from father to son and never outside of the family.

" As has been intimated, the settlement was started the
year of Kouwenhoven's purchase, and the first dwellings
were constructed near the pioneer's house, in which local-
ity the church and school were later erected." — Editor.

As early as the year 1659, if not before, a list of mag-
istrates was presented to the governor, out of which the
requisite number were selected and commissioned by him.

The soil was found congenial to the raising of tobacco,
and besides others, ex-Governor Van Twiller had a plan-
tation here for the cultivation of an article deemed by
the Dutch settlers almost a necessity of life. This farm
or bowery of his excellency lay upon Flatlands Neck,
adjoining to and partly included in Flatbush, and is still
known as " Twiller' s Flats "

It has not been satisfactorily ascertained that any gen-
eral grant or patent was obtained for lands in this town
till the province passed into the hands of the English, but
the inhabitants who were not very numerous continued
to maintain a good understanding with the Canarsie
Indians, the former lords of the soil of the county, whose

4i4 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

sachem and head men resided it is supposed upon a part
of Flatlands Neck, which still bears the name of this once
powerful tribe.

By the Duke's Laws, passed in 1665 in relation to pub-
lic officers, it was declared that the overseers should be
eight in number, men of good fame and life, chosen by
the plurality of freeholders in each town, whereof four
were to remain in their office two years successively, and
four to be changed for new ones every year; which elec-
tion should precede the election of constables in point of
time, and that the constable for the year ensuing should be
chosen out of the number dismissed from the office of
overseer. The following is a copy of the oath required
to be administered to the overseers elect:

" Whereas you are chosen and appointed an Overseer
for the town of fflatlands, you doe sweare by the Ever-
Living-God, that you will ffaithfully and diligently dis-
charge the trust reposed in you, in relation to the publique
and towne affaires, accordinge to the present lawes estab-
lished, without favoure, affection, or partiality to any per-
son or cause which shall fall under your cognizance; and
at times, when you shall bee required by your superiors
to attend the private differences of neighbors, you will
endeavor to reconcile them: and in all causes conscien-
tiously, and according to the best of your judgment, de-
liver your voyce in the towne meetings of constable and
overseers. So help you God."

It was the duty of the overseers, assisted by the con-
stable, to hold Town Courts for the trial of all causes
under five pounds. They, with the constable, were like-
wise frequently to admonish the inhabitants "to instruct
their children and servants in matters of religion and the

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 415

lawes of the country ; also to appoint an officer to record
every man's particular marke, and see each man's horse
and colt branded." The constable and two overseers
were authorized to pay the value of an Indian coat for
each wolf that should be killed; and to " cause the wolf's
head to be nayled over the door of the constable, there
to remaine; also to cut off the ears in token that the head
had been brought in and payd for."

Although, as has been previously remarked, no pub-
lic document yet found affords us any certain evidence
that a patent or ground brief was ever issued to the peo-
ple of this town by the Dutch Government, yet judging
by what took place in other and adjoining towns, it is but
reasonable to conclude that such an instrument once
existed.

The first English patent was granted by Governor
Nicoll in October, 1667, and is in the words following:

" Richard Nicoll, Esq. &c. Whereas there is a certain
towne wthin this Governm* situate and being in ye west
Riding of Yorkshire upon Long Island commonly called or
known by ye name of Amersford als Flattlands which said
town is now in ye tenure or occupation of severall free-
holdrs and inhabitants who having heretofore been seated
there by authority and likewise made lawfull purchase of
y6 greatest parte of ye lands there unto belonging have
also improved a considerable proportion thereof and set-
tled a competent number of Familyes thereupon. Now
for a confirmation unto ye said Freehold" and inhabitants
in their possession and enjoyment of the prmises. Know
Yee, that by virtue of ye commission and authority unto
me given by his Royal Highness, I have given, ratified,
confirmed and graunted, and by these presents do give,
ratifye, confirm and graunt unto Elbert Elberts, Govert
Lockermans, Roeloffe Martens, Pieter Claes, Willem

4i 6 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Garrits, Tho: Hillebrants, Stephen Coertsen and Coert
Stephens, as Patentees for and on behalfe of themselves
and thier associates ye Freeholders and inhabitants of ye
said towne their heirs, successors and assigns. All that
tract togethr wth ye severall parcels of land wch already
have or hereaft1" shall be purchased or procured for and
on ye bbehalfe of ye said towne whethr from ye native In-
dian proprietors or others wthin ye bonds and lymits here-
after set forth and exprest (viz) that is to say, from thier
western bounds wch begins at a certain creek or kill com-
monly called ye stromme kill, they stretch to ffilkins or
Varkens Hook which is also included wthin their limits
neare whereunto comes a certain point of land out of ye
town of New Utrecht and those belonging to this town
wth this distinction — that Flattlands meadows or valley
runs about ye end of ye said point as well as on ye one side
of it, and New Utrecht meadows lye on ye North East
side only, then from ye limits of Middewout als. Flattbush
wch lye about North West from ye said towne of Flatt-
land, beginning at a certain tree standing upon ye little
Flatts, markt by ye ordr and determination of severall
arbitrators appointed by me to veiw and issue ye differ-
ence between ye two towns concerning ye same which ac-
cordingly they did upon y* 17th day of October 1666,
A lyne stretching South East to Canarise, it includes
wthin its bounds and lymitts severall other parcels of land,
in particular that parcel or tract of land graunted by pat-
ent or groundbriefe from ye Dutch Governor Petrus Stuy-
vesant unto Jacob Steendam and Welkin Jans bearing
date ye 12th day of Nov. 1652 and upon ye 30th day of
Nov. 1662, transported and made over to ye town afore-
mentioned; as also all those lands and Canarise, parte
of which ye native Indian proprietors did heretofore per-
mit and give their consent, that ye inhabitants of ye said
towne of Flattlands should manure and plant, and since
have for a valuable consideration sould ye same unto them

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 417

wth its appurtenances, as by thier deed bearing date ye
1 6th day of April 1665, acknowledged by some of them
before me, doth and may appear, togethr with all that
meadow ground or valley, lying and being at Canarise,
divided between ye said town and the town of Flattbush
aforemenconed, by an East line, to run half a point
northerly without variation of ye compass, and so to go
to ye mouth of ye Creek or Kill; which said meadows
were upon ye 20th day of April last by common
consent staked out and by my approbation allowed; of
all wch said tract or parcels of land, meadow ground
and premises within ye bounds and limits aforemenconed
described, and all or any plantation or plantations there-
upon, from henceforth are to appertain and belong
to ye said town of Amersfort als. Flattlands, to-
gether wth all Havens, Greeks, &c. — to the sd lands
and premises within ye said bounds and limits set forth,
or appertaining; and also freedom of commonage for
range and feed of cattle and horses, into ye woods as
well without as wthin their bounds, with ye rest of thier
neighbors. To have and to hold all &c — and that the
place of thier present habitation shall continue and re-
tain the name of Amersfort als Flattlands and by which
name to be distinguished and known in all bargains &c.
Given under my hand and seal at Fort James in New
York ye 4th day of October in ye 19th year of his Maties
Raigne, Annoque Domini, 1667.
" Matthias Nicoll, Secty.

" Richard Nicoll." [l. s.]

By desire of some of the inhabitants, expressed in their
application dated January 19, 1668, alleging a mistake,
omission, or defect in the former patent, another, in-
tended as confirmatory of that, was issued by Governor
Lovelace for the lands purchased at Canarsie (or Ca-

4i 8 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

nausie), the boundaries of which it seems were not suf-
ficiently definite and explicit in the patent of Nicoll. Of
this paper the following is a copy:

" Whereas the inhabitants of the town of Amesfort als.
Flattlands did wth ye consent and approbation of ye late
Governor Coll. Richard Nicolls, make purchase of a cer-
tain parcel of land from ye Indian native proprietors, or
by ye deed of purchase bearing date ye 23d day of April
1665, doth and may appear, lying and being in ye West
Ryding of Yorkshire upon Long Island, at Canarise, wch
in gen11 terms is confirmed unto them in the grand patent
of their town by ye, by the said Governor, but ye inhab-
itants of the said town having requested me, that ye
bounds of ye said purchase may be expressly confirmed, or
set forth in the deed of purchase for an encouragem* to ye
inhabitants of the said town in their further manuring and
improving the said land; I have thought fit to ratify, con-
firm and grant and by these prsents do hereby ratify, con-
firm and graunt unto Elbert Elbertse, Govert Lochermans,
Roeloffe Martens, Pieter Cloes, William Gerrits, Thomas
Hillebrants, Steven Coerten, Coert Stevens, as Patentees
for and on ye behalf of themselves, and other associates,
ye freeholders and inhabitants of ye said town, their heirs,
successors and assigns, all that parcel of land lying and
being at Canarise as aforesaid, neare unto ye town of
Amesford, beginning from ye west side of ye Muskytehole
from certain marked trees, and stretching from thence
over ye end of ye Flattlands to certain other marked trees,
and from thence to the vale of ye fresh creek, stopping at
ye path wch goes to ye great plaines, and ye vale of ye fresh
creek, and then stretching along ye fflatt ground by ye
creek, by wch it is there lockt up and bounded, together
with all ye meadow ground or valley land, kills or creeks
therein comprehended, wth all othr profits, commodities,
emoluments and hereditaments to ye said parcel of land

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 419

and prmisses belonging or in any way appertaining. To
have, &c.

11 Francis Lovelace.
"Febr* 5th, 1668."

Another very ample patent of confirmation was given
by Governor Dongan, bearing date March 11, 1685, as
follows :

" Thomas Dongan, Lieutenant Governor and Vice
Admiral of New York and its dependencies under his
Majesty James the Second by the grace of God of Eng-
land, Scotland, France and Ireland, King, defender of
the faith &c Supreme Lord and Proprietor of the Colony
and Province of New York &c To all to whom this shall
come sendeth greeting Whereas there is a certain town
in Kings County upon Long Island called and known by
the name of Amesfort or Flattlands having a certain
tract of land thereunto belonging whose bounds begin
from the Beach called the Stormkill to the head of the
said Creek or kill and from thence along the valley to
Gravesend Path to a white oak brush and so from thence
along the fence to Utrecht Path to a white oak tree and
from thence with a straight line to the fence of Flattbush
by the marked trees and then along the Flattbush fence
up to a certain marked tree which was marked toy Arbi-
trators appointed by the Honorable Collonell Richard
Nicolls formerly Governor of this Province on the seven-
teenth day of October Anno. Dom. one thousand six
hundred sixty and six and from the said marked tree
Eastward by the North Side of a fresh swamp to a cer-
tain marked tree called Amusketahole and from thence
with a straight line over the end of the little Flatts by two
certain marked trees and so from thence with a straight
line to a certain marked tree standing upon Hempstead
Path and so along the lane until it comes to the Hollow

42o HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

and so along the Hollow on the fresh creek up to the
beach and so along the fence or ditch according to the
patent granted to the inhabitants of Flattbush in this pres-
ent year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and eighty
five as by several writings or patents from the former
Governors Richard Nichols and Francis Lovelace Esqrs.
and the agreements made by the inhabitants of Flattlands
with the towns of Flattbush and Gravesend relation to
them being had doth fully and at large appear and the
said town being now in the tenure or occupation of several
freeholders and inhabitants seated there by authority and
having by Mr. Roeloffe Martensen and Coert Stevensen
persons deputed by them desired a confirmation from me
of the aforesaid land. Now for a confirmation unto the
said freeholders and inhabitants in their quiett possession
and enjoyment of the premises. Know ye that by virtue
of the commission and authority to me given for and in
consideration of the quit rent herein after menconed and
reserved I have granted ratified and confirmed and by
these presents do grant ratify and confirm unto Elbert
Elberts, Roeloffe Martens, Pieter Claessen, William
Garretsen, Coert Stevensen, Lucas Stevensen and John
Teunissen as pattentees for and on the behalf of them-
selves and their associates the present freeholders and
inhabitants of the said town their heirs and successors and
assigns all the afore recited tract and parcels of land and
premises butted and bounded as aforesaid with their and
every of their appurtenances together with all and all
manner of edifices, buildings, havens, harbours, rivers,
rivoletts, runs, streams, feedings, pastures, woods, under-
woods, trees, waters, watercourses, ponds, pools, pitts,
swamps, Moores, Marshes, Meadows, Redd land Valleys,
Easements, profits, emoluments, commodities and here-
ditaments, fishing, fowling, hawking, hunting and other
appurtenances whatsoever to the said tract and parcel of
land within the bounds and limits aforesaid belonging or

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 421

in any wise appertaining. To have and to hold the said
tract and parcels of land and all and singular other the
premises with their and every of their appurtenances unto
the said Elbert Elberts, Roeloffe Martensen, Pieter Claes-
sen, William Garretsen, Coert Stevenson, Lucas Steven-
sen and Jan Teunissen as Patentees and their associates
the present freeholders and inhabitants of the said towne
their heirs successors and assigns to the sole and only
proper use benefit and behoof of them the said Patentees
and their associates their heirs, successors and assigns
forever to be holden in free and comon soccage accord-
ing to the tenure of East Greenwich in his Majestyes
Kingdom of England Yielding rendring and paying there-
fore yearly and every year for the use of our Sovereign
Lord James the Second by the grace of God over Eng-
land, Scotland, France and Ireland King defender of
the faith &c Supreme Lord and Proprietor of the Colony
and province of New York &c his heirs successors and
assigns or to such officer or officers as by him or them
shall be appointed to receive the same fourteen bushels
of good winter merchantable wheat yearly on the twenty
fifth day of March at the City of New York and for the
better preserving the title of the beforerecited land and
premises I have caused these presents to be entered in
the Secretarys office of this province. Given under
my hand and sealed with the seal of the Province at
Fortt James in New York this Eleventh day of March
Anno. Dom. one thousand six hundred eighty and five
and in the second year of his said Majestys Reign over
England &c.

" Thomas Dongan."

" May it Please your Honor.

" The Attorney General hath perused this Patent and
finds nothing contained therein prejudicial to his Majestys
interest.

"Ja: Graham."

422 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

An interview of an extraordinary character took
place at New York on the 2d of April, 1691, between
Governor Slaughter and a sachem of Long Island, who
was attended by his two sons and twenty other Indians.
The sachem on being introduced congratulated Slaugh-
ter in an eloquent manner upon his arrival, and claimed
his friendship and protection for himself and his people;
observing also that he had fancied his Excellency as a
mighty tall tree, with wide, spreading branches; and
therefore prayed leave to stoop under the shadow thereof.
Of old (said he) the Indians were a great and mighty
people, but now they are reduced to a mere handful. He
concluded his visit by presenting the governor with thirty
fathoms of wampum, which he graciously accepted and
ordered the sachem to attend him again in the afternoon.

On taking leave, the son of the sachem handed to the
officer in attendance a bundle of brooms, saying, " that
as Leisler and his party had left the house very foul,
he had been advised to bring the brooms with him, for
the purpose of making it clean again." In the afternoon
the sachem and his party again attended the governor,
who made a speech to them, and on receiving a few pres-
ents they departed.

In many Dutch patents or briefs, it was required that
after the expiration of ten years from the issuing thereof,
the patentees and their heirs should allow to the governor
as his prerogative, and by way of quit-rent, one-tenth
parts of all the produce of the lands cultivated by them.
And as difficulties were sometimes the result of this ex-
traordinary gubernatorial reservation, it may be re-
marked that the director general on the 6th of June,
1656, issued a peremptory order, thereby wholly prohib-
iting the people of this town, as well as those of Flat-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 423

bush and Brooklyn, from removing their grain out of
their fields, until the tithe reserved in their patents was
taken by the officers or commuted for by the owners.

This proceeding was of course a right which the gov-
ernment had the legal power to enforce, if it saw cause
so to do, but it is easy to conceive that the honest-hearted
farmers of the country had not expected such a power
would ever be asserted or put in execution by the noble-
minded old soldier, the gallant Peter Stuyvesant.

In 1706 the negroes had so much increased in number,
and become, by vice and intemperance, so disorderly and
dangerous to the peace and safety of the inhabitants,
that it was found necessary to call in the aid of the civil
power to repress or punish their repeated depredations.
On a representation of facts to the governor, he forth-
with issued the following proclamation:

" Whereas, I am informed that several negroes in
Kings county have assembled themselves in a riotous man-
ner, which, if not prevented, may prove of ill consequence;
You, the justices of the peace in the said county, are here-
by required and commanded to take all proper methods
for the seizing and apprehending, all such negroes as shall
be found to be assembled in such manner, as aforesaid, or
have run away or absconded from their masters or own-
ers, whereby there may be reason to suspect them of ill
practices or designs; and to secure them in safe custody;
and if any of them refuse to submit, then to fire upon
them, kill or destroy them, if they cannot otherwise be
taken; and for so doing, this shall be your sufficient war-
rant. Given under my hand, at Fort Anne, the 22nd day
of July, 1706.

" CORNBURY."

To exhibit the relative value of some kinds of prop-

424 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

erty at that time, the following is extracted from an in-
ventory of the effects of a deceased person, which was
taken December 16, 17 19: A negro wench and child,
valued at £60; while five milch cows, five calves, three
young bulls, and two heifers, were valued together at

£20 only.

From the following publication in Rivington's Gazette
of November 1, 1780, it will be seen that horse racing
and other sports were celebrated here during the occu-
pation of Long Island by his Britannic Majesty's forces,
and of course, whatever odium may be attached to the
custom, the people of this town were not responsible
for it.

"It is recommended, that by permission, on Monday,
the 13th inst., will be run for on Flatland Plains, five miles
from Brooklyn ferry, a purse of £60; other prizes on the
2d day. There will be fox hunting, also, during the races;
and on the 2d day, to be run for by women, white or
black, a Holland smock, and a chintz gown, full trimmed,
with white ribbons, to be run in three quarter mile heats :
the first to have the smock and gown; the 2d best to have
a guinea; and the 3d, half a guinea. God save the King,
will be played every hour."

The surface of this town is so uniformly level and in
other respects so like the adjoining territory, that any gen-
eral description would be only a repetition, affording no
valuable information. Barren Island, before mentioned,
lies upon the most south-easterly part of the town and
immediately on the ocean, being separated from the west-
ern termination of Rockaway Beach, by Rockaway Inlet,
the main entrance from the sea to Jamaica Bay, and hav-
ing on its western side Plumb Inlet, dividing it from

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 425

Coney Island. At the first arrival of the Dutch it was,
as before mentioned, not only a great deal larger than
it is now, but was well timbered. But the timber hav-
ing long since been cut off, its surface, composed mainly
of sand, was not only exposed to the violent action of the
winds, as well as the waves of the adjacent ocean, but
much of it was carried away. It is owned now by a few
individuals, and appropriated chiefly for the pasture of
sheep, for which purpose only, it seems to be any way
calculated.

It was upon a part of this island that the notorious
pirate Gibbs and his associates in crime secreted a portion
of their ill-gotten plunder, which was mostly in Mexican
dollars, the rest having been lost while attempting to
land by the upsetting of their boat.

A large amount of the money buried by the pirates
has since been found, in consequence of violent storms
and a heavy sea having disturbed the sand of which the
beach is composed, and some which was lost from the
boats has probably been washed on shore also.

The names of this abandoned and plundering gang
were Charles Gibbs, Thomas J. Wansley, Robert Dawes,
and John Brownrig, who had been engaged as hands on
board the Brig " Vineyard," and while upon the passage
from the southern part of the United States contrived to
murder William Thornby, the captain of the vessel, and
his mate, William Roberts. The life of Brownrig was
saved by his volunteering to give evidence against his
companions in guilt, all of whom were convicted of piracy
and murder and executed together upon Gibbet Island
in the harbor of New York, April 22, 1831.

Bergen Island on the margin of that part of Jamaica
Bay sometimes called Flatlands Bay, is of itself a fine,

426 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

well-cultivated and productive farm, but in consequence of
a road constructed of shells and other materials between
it and the main land, it is rarely surrounded entirely by
water. It has long been in possession of the family
whose name it bears, and is a highly valuable property.

The ancient settlement of Canarsie contains a consid-
erable population, though probably far less in numbers
than when its native tribe possessed the soil, as is incon-
testably evident from the immense shell banks which are
scattered along the borders of the beautiful bay, fronting
the town. The present inhabitants of this venerable
spot are almost exclusively engaged in the adjacent fish-
ery, a species of domestic commerce which is both exten-
sive and profitable. There are here a large public house,
schoolhouse, and Methodist Church, erected in 1844.
The most eligible and pleasant part of the town is the
village of Flatlands, in the centre of which a Dutch Re-
formed Church was built many years after the settlement
of the town. For we find that on the 12th of September,
1662, the people applied to the governor for permission
to raise money for the purpose and for aid from other
quarters. The necessary authority was obtained and the
first church erected in the following year. It was rebuilt
about the year 1730, again in 1804, and remained till
1848. The last sermon in it was preached in Dutch by
the Rev. Dr. Schoonmaker. The present handsome edi-
fice was completed and dedicated in the latter year.

The ministers of the collegiate churches in the "Five
Dutch Towns," mentioned in our account of Flatbush
and Brooklyn, officiated here, the parish contributing its
proportionate share toward their support. Some years
since the desire became pretty general that each town
should employ and maintain its own pastor, and accord-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 427

ingly the Rev. Peter Lowe, who, from 1787 had been
one of the associate clergy, was in 1808 induced to
confine his labors to this church and that of Flatbush,
which he continued to do till his decease. He was suc-
ceeded by the Rev. Walter Monteith, who was installed
over the said churches in 18 19, but removed to Schenec-
tady the next year. The connection between this church
and that of Flatbush was dissolved on the 1st of May,
1822 ; and the parish remained without a pastor being set-
tled among them, till February 6, 1825, when the Rev.
William Cruikshank was ordained over it. He was a
native of Washington County, N. Y., and after remain-
ing here till April 10, 1835, and becoming obnoxious to
some of his people for advocating the temperance re-
form, he removed to Newburgh, where he was installed
on the 23d, but resigned again December 28, 1837.

The Rev. John Abeel Baldwin, son of the late Jesse
Baldwin of the City of New York, was born there April
25, 1 8 10, graduated at Yale in 1829, at the Theological
Seminary at Princeton in 1834, and was installed over this
church and that at New Lots by the classis of Long
Island March 22, 1836, as his immediate predecessor had
been. He married in September, 1837, Elizabeth E.,
daughter of Lawrence Van Kleek, another of whose
daughters was the wife of Colonel Truman Cross, killed
by the Mexicans on the Rio Grande in the spring of 1846.

Contributed by the Editor

" Mr. Baldwin resigned in 1852 and at the end of his
pastorate the connection with the church at New Lots
was dissolved. Henceforth the church at Flatlands was
a separate parish and its pastors have devoted their entire
time to this church. Mr. Baldwin was succeeded by the

428 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

following pastors, the list of which has been kindly fur-
nished by Rev. Mr. Roeder, the present incumbent:

"Rev. J. T. M. Davie 1853101862

" T. Sanford Doolittle 1862 to 1864

" Cornelius Brett 1865 to 1870

" Anson Du Bois 1870 to 1882

" John S. Gardner 1883 to 1913

" Charles William Roeder 1914 to "

The very name of this town sufficiently indicates the
nature of its surface and general appearance without any-
thing more. The soil is of a texture easily cultivated,
being entirely free from stone, a light sandy loam, warm
and fertile, which from the skill and wonderful industry of
its farming population yields a large surplus beyond the
consumption of the inhabitants. The people as a whole
are conspicuous for their economical habits, modern fash-
ions not having extinguished their love of simplicity and
substantial comfort. Indeed, the character of this peo-
ple is not inaptly portrayed by the traveller Stewart,
when he remarks that " some of the farmers of Long
Island are wealthy, but are in general contented to live
comfortably and hospitably, with all the ordinary neces-
saries and conveniences of life without ostentation or pa-
rade, and without seeming to care so much as other
classes of people in this country do, about money."

In order to show the universal prevalence of good
order and morality in this as well as in the adjoining
towns, the following facts may be considered as affording
pretty satisfactory evidence. Elias Hubbard, Esq., a re-
spectable magistrate of this town, states that he has held
the office of justice of the peace for more than twelve
years, and for that period has transacted most of the judi-
cial business in Flatlands, Flatbush, New Utrecht, and
Gravesend; during which time he has had scarcely a

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 429

dozen trials, and only two in which a jury was demanded.
Another gentleman, who held the office of justice in
Gravesend for eight years, had, during that period, but
one jury trial, and even in that instance the difference was
compromised by the parties before the jury were pre-
pared to deliver their verdict into court. Such a pacific
temper is highly honorable to the character of the peo-
ple and creditable to the government under which they
live.

The following form of a commission issued by Gov-
ernor Stuyvesant, and another by Leisler, are inserted as
matters of some curiosity.

" Fort Amsterdam, April 24, 1660.
" Loving Friendes.

" Out of the nomination presented unto us we have
maade choice, as you may know bee theese presents off
Tunis Guisbert, the which wee for the yeare followinge
doe confirme and establish ffor magistraate off the towne
called New Amersforte, requiringe all and every one
whome these may concerne to esteeme them as our elected
and confirmed magestraate ffor the towne, so after mee
respects, I rest, your lovinge friende and Governor.

" P. Stuyvesant."

Form of a Commission from Lieutenant Governor Leisler.

11 By the Lieut. Gov. and commander in chieffe, &c. By
virtue off the authoritie unto mee, I do hereby authorise
and empowwer you Jacobus Van De Water to be Clerk
and Register ffor Kings County, giving you ffull power
and authoritie to acte and officiate therein as a Clerk may
and ought to doe, and this commission to continue till I
receive further orders from his Majesty King William.
Given under my hand and seal 20 off Dec. 1669.

"Jacob Leisler." [l. s.]

43o HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

The population of this town in 1702 was 242 ; in 1840,
802, and in 1845, 93^.

Contributed by the Editor

" On January 1, 1896, Flatlands became a part of the
City of Brooklyn and was designated as the Thirty-second
Ward. On January I, 1898, Brooklyn was consolidated
with New York, and this territory of course became a
part of the Greater City.

" In spite of these facts, certain parts of the old town
still retain their rural aspect. The Dutch Church, school,
and old dwellings at Flatlands village are still there, and
if one will walk or ride northeasterly along Kouwen-
hoven Place to Church Avenue he may imagine himself
many miles from a large city, for farm lands and the old
houses are met on every side and aged trees lend their
shade to his path. When the editor last rode along this
highway a plodding hay wagon brushed the fenders of his
car and reminded him that ' hay ' is still made in Brook-
lyn. Further on past residences of the Kouwenhoven
family, into the locality known as Flatlands Neck, you will
come to the oldest schoolhouse in Brooklyn, erected in
1836, and a little way on, to a house formerly a wayside
tavern.

"Old manners and customs clung to the town for
many years. Mr. Cornelius Kouwenhoven, a direct de-
scendant of the pioneer and an uncle of the editor, states
that his father, Cornelius B. Kouwenhoven conversed in
Dutch with members of his family as late as 1865, and
could speak no English at the time he started in school as
a small boy.

" Mr. William H. Kouwenhoven also states that his
father, grandparents, and other members of his family
commonly conversed in Dutch at their homes and that a
few other Dutch families did the same."

NEW UTRECHT

Containing about 5,200 acres, is bounded on the
north by Brooklyn and Flatbush, on the east by Graves-
end and on the south and west by Gravesend Bay and
the Narrows opposite Staten Island. An earlier period
has been assigned heretofore for the settlement of this
town than subsequent investigations of ancient records
will justify, and the compiler acknowledges himself as
well as the public, to be under peculiar obligations to
Tunis G. Bergen, Esq., late clerk of the town for aid
in translating the scanty memorials of the original settle-
ment from the Dutch language in which they were writ-
ten by the Hon. Nicasius de Sille, first councillor of
New Netherland under the administration of Governor
Stuyvesant, and a person of learning and respectability.
According to him the first regularly organized occupa-
tion of the lands in this town took place in 1657, a^"
though it is probable that some individuals may have in-
truded themselves upon detached portions of the territory
a few years sooner, as has been asserted. As a means of
defence against the native inhabitants, as well as the
hordes of other Indians, robbers, and pirates, which at
that time and for years after infested the country, a block
house or building of a like kind was early erected. In
short the protection of government was soon after in-
voked against these predatory aggressions. And it was
doubtless in great measure owing to the exposed condi-
tion of the settlement and the constant apprehensions of

431

432 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

danger from enemies, that the increase of population was
comparatively slow and gradual, for at the expiration of
nearly fifty years the number of persons including slaves
was less than 300.

A large part of the present town, if not the whole,
was, according to de Sille, originally granted to the Heer
Cornells Van Werekhoven of Utrecht in Holland, who
undertook to plant a colony here, but returned to Europe
before he had made much progress, and died there.
Jaques Cortelliau, his agent, on behalf of the heirs of his
principal, addressed a petition to the director general for
liberty to found a town on the bay of the North River.
A favorable answer was given January 16, 1657, where-
upon he laid out the land by survey, dividing it into
twenty lots of twenty morgens each to Jacques Cortelliau,
Nicasius de Sille, Pieter Buys, Jacob Swart, Jacobus Cor-
laer, Johan Tomasse, Rutgert J 00s ten, Pieter Roelofse,
Cornelis Beeckman, Johan Zeelen, Albert Albertson,
William Williamsen, Humbert Steeck, Pieter Jans en f Jan
Jacobson, Jacobus Backer, Jacob Pietersen, Claes Claes-
sen, and Teunis Jooster.

Immediate measures were taken by the proprietor to
have houses erected, the most considerable of which was
that of the Hon. Nicasius de Sille, being forty-two feet
long and covered with red tiles, doubtless brought from
Holland, and enclosed about with high palisades set close
together for safety as most of the others were. Those who
declined to build found others to supply their places, or
forfeited their lots. Difficulties, however, were experi-
enced, and much damage sustained by individuals to their
crops for want of fences around their fields, and the di-
rector general on the 12th of May, 1659, ordered the
owners of lands to build on and cultivate them within

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 433

a given period or forfeit the same, that others who had
taken up lands in the town should obtain patents there-
for, and that Anthony Van Salee, who, it appears had
made purchases from the Indians, should refrain from
trespassing with his cattle or hogs upon his neighbor's
lands. So great was the desire of the director general to
protect the planters from wilful injuries that he issued a
proclamation in which severe penalties were denounced
against offenders, who for the first offence were to be
whipped and branded, and for the second to be hung with
a cord till death ensued, without favor to any person.
This, it appears, was a mere repetition of what had been
originally proclaimed October 9, 1655, in regard to
other places.

An order that the inhabitants should draw their por-
tions of meadow by lot was made August 27, 1657, which
did not take place till May, 1659, at which the heirs of
Lord Werekhoven drew two lots, Anthony Jansen Van
Salee two lots, and twenty-two others drew each one lot.

In consequence of disagreements among the inhabitants,
and constant disorders threatening the very existence as
well as safety of the settlement, the governor, upon ap-
plication and complaint, appointed a clerk and schout to
preserve the peace, and also' an assessor with authority
to allot to individuals as he judged proper, some of the
unappropriated lands in the town, to cause the same to be
enclosed and cultivated, to lay out a street or highway
through the town, to make arrangements for erecting a
place of defence, which was ordered to be enclosed by a
palisade, a horse-mill to be built within it, a well near
by to be dug, and all to be at the common charge of the
people. He was, moreover, authorized to decide differ-
ences between individuals, and, in general, to execute the

434 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

duties which the subaltern courts in other villages were
accustomed to perform.

In 1662 the governor gave a patent to the town, which
not only confirmed the several purchases and divisions
of land already made, but invested its inhabitants with
the pre-emptive right to all the lands not then purchased,
and which were not embraced in the boundaries of any
other town. By this charter the town was not only in-
corporated, but vested with power to appoint magistrates,
subject to approval by the governor, also to hold courts
for the trial of criminal cases not above the degree of
petit larceny, and of civil causes likewise, not exceeding
in amount five pounds.

The first patent for lands in this town was obtained
by the said de Sille, as follows :

11 Petrus Stuyvesant on the behalf of the Noble and
High and Mighty Lords of the States General of the
United Netherlands, and the Noble Lord and Director
of the Privileged West India Company of the chamber
of Amsterdam, Director General of New-Netherlands,
Curacoa, Bonayro, Aruba, with their appendages, with
the consent of the Noble Lords of the Council witness
and declare, that we on the date hereunto underwritten,
have permitted and allowed to Nicasius de Sille, a parcel
of land lying on Long Island in the Town of New
Utrecht, known as number nine, in width 26 rods,
bounded on the North-east by land of Jacob Backker, on
the South-west by the village, and stretching South-east
to the woods, containing 25 morgen (50 acres) ; also a
piece of meadow land known as number 13 containing 3
morgen; also a building plot on the plain South-east of
the shore or strand way, lying North-west of Ruth Joos-
ten, in breath 12 rods, and in length 25 rods; on the ex-
press condition and terms that the said Nicasius de Sille,

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 435

or those who hereafter may obtain the same, acknowledge
for his Lord and Patron, the Noble Lord Director above
mentioned under the Sovereignty of the Noble, High and
Mighty Lords of the States General, and in all things as
a good inhabitant obey the Director General and Council,
subject at the expiration of ten years after date, when
required by the Lord Patrons, to the payment of the
tenth, also to the other charges and services to which all
the inhabitants of the land are liable when occasions arise
to require the same; constituting over the same the before-
named Nicasius De Sille in our place the actual possessor
of the aforesaid parcel of land, giving him with the same,
complet might, authority, and special charge of the afore-
said parcel of land for cultivation, dwelling, and use, the
same as he might do with his other patrimonial lands and
effects without our having any further claim thereon : But
in behoof aforesaid desisting from all such from hence-
forth and forever, promising to keep firm, valid, and in-
violable this conveyance, and to perform all its engage-
ments justly, and to stand to the same without craft or
subtlety, is this by us subscribed, sealed in red wax, and
confirmed; At Amsterdam in New-Netherlands this 22d
day of January 1660, signed

" Petrus Stuyvesant."

Other patents of like tenor were granted to de Sille
and others at different times. The said de Sille, holding
the appointment of Fiscal, or attorney-general, was vested
with authority to make rules and regulations for the
other planters, which were approved by the director
general, and he furthermore authorized the noble Lord
Nicasius de Sille, member of the council and Fiscal, to
appoint a substitute to perform his duties as schout or
sheriff in the town of New Utrecht, until the director
general and council see fit to commit the same to some

436 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

other fit person. This was done at Fort Amsterdam,
February 23, 1660. Stuyvesant about the same time
visited the place, was well pleased with its apparent
prosperity, and, having assembled the inhabitants, gave
them his best advice and admonished them to exert them-
selves to make their dwellings secure from enemies. The
flag of the Prince of Orange, presented to the town by
the Fiscal, was displayed upon a high pole, and the di-
rector general and his attendants were entertained at a
public dinner.

In October, 1660, the Fiscal, being informed of some
evil doings in the place, and apprehending the effects of
bad examples among the people, sent an half dozen
shackels, with an iron rod and a good lock in terrorem
omnium.

The practice of slaughtering cattle and hogs belonging
to the Indians became so notorious, that a proclamation
was issued to prevent the like in future, and forbid the
killing of any cattle, calves, hogs, sheep, or goats, by any
one without a permit for the purpose from a magistrate
or other person appointed for that purpose.

Many rules and regulations were in force in this as
well as in other towns for the preservation of morals,
the prevention and punishment of crimes, and perpetuat-
ing good peace and good order. The selling or drink-
ing of beer, wine, or strong drink on the Sabbath were
forbidden, or selling the same to servants or to the In-
dians; yard sticks, measures, and weights were to be sealed
and made alike according to the custom of Amsterdam in
Holland; and all persons intending to marry were to wait
one month after three publications to afford time and
opportunity for legal objections to be made, and if none
was made the party refusing to marry without lawful

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 437

reason was to pay ten guilders for the first week and
twenty for each succeeding week till some lawful reason
should be given therefor; and no man and woman were
to live together as man and wife without marriage under
penalty of one hundred guilders, or as much more or
less as the quality or ability of the offender would war-
rant; and they liable to the like penalty for every month
they continued so to offend. No person was surrepti-
tiously to hold a meeting for public worship, or sing, read,
or preach in the same on the penalty of one hundred
pounds Flemish, and the hearers were each liable to a
penalty of twenty-five pounds without regard to their
religion or sect.

After the conquest of New Netherland, and in the
year 1668 the following patent was issued to the town by
Governor Nicoll:

" Richard Nicoll Esq. Governor Generall under his
Royall Highnesse James Duke of York and Albany &c.
Whereas there is a certain towne within this Government,
scituate in the West Riding of Yorkshire upon Long
Island commonly called New Utrecht, now in the tenure
and occupation of several Freeholders and inhabitants,
who have heretofore been seated there by authority, have
been at very considerable charge in manuring and plant-
ing the lands there, and settled a competent number of
families thereupon: Know ye that by virtue of the com-
mission and authority unto me given, I have given &c,
and by these presents do give &c. unto Nicasius De Sille,
Jacques Cortilleau, Francis Browne, Robert Jacobs on and
Jacob Swaart, as patentees &c. All that tract of land,
together with the several parcells of land which already
have, or hereafter shall be purchased or procured, for
and on behalfe of the said towne, within the bounds here-
after set forth; that is to say; Begining from Nayack

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ferrd out. a* also a parcefl of raSey or aseadon hmd to
die Fa* or Varfceai Hooke or
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York on Manhattan'* Island die ■. j«. in the

jerr 0/ the Beign of oar Sosreqp* Lord Charles

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Thomat Doagan. Iieat Governor and Vice

the Second, by the

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Saprcase Lord and proprie*

Dependencies in

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HISTORY OF LjON: ISLAND

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438 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Point, stretching alongst the bay to the land belonging to
ffrancis Bruyne, and from thence run into the woods along
the said Francis Bruyne's land to the land heretofore
belonging to Robert Pennoyer neare upon a N. E. line
1 200 Dutch Rods from which goe againe in a direct line
to the North River, running 300 rods to the north of the
whole Hooke or Neck of land; and then againe alongst
the said North River to Nayack-Point, comprehending
within the said bounds or lymitts, 20 lotts as they are now
layd out, as also a parcell of valley or meadow land to
the East of Varkens Hooke or Hogg-Necke, including
both fresh and salt meadow and the reede-land thereunto
belonging, and containing about 260 acres or 130 morgen
— Together with all harbors &c. — To have &c. to the said
patentees and thier associates &c. — and that the place of
thier present habitation shall continue and retain the name
of New Utrecht by which name &c.

" Given under my hand and seal, at Fort James in New
York on Manhattan's Island the 15th day of Aug. in the
2th yerr of the Reign of our Sovreigne Lord Charles
2d of England &c. Anno Domini 1668.

" Richard Nicoll." [l. s.]

The following additional patent was granted by Gov-
ernor Dongan in 1686:

[l. s.] " Thomas Dongan, Lieut. Governor and Vice
Admirall of New Yorke and its dependencies under his
Majesty James the Second, by the Grace of God of Eng-
land, Scotland, France and Ireland, King, Defender of
the faith, &c. Supreme Lord and proprietor of the Colony
and Province of New-Yorke and its Dependencies in
America, &c. To all whome this shall come, sendeth
Greeting. Whereas there is a certaine Towne in King's
County on Long-Island, commonly called and knowne by
the name of New-Utrecht, Beginning at the North-East

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 439

corner of the land appurtaining to Mr. Paulus Vander-
beeck called Goanus to the Bounds of Flattbush Pattent,
and soe along the said bounds of the said Pattent, and
stretching from thence South-East and by South till they
meete the Limitts of Flattlands, Gravesend, and the said
Utrecht, and from thence along Gravesend Bounds to
the Bay of the North River, and soe along the said Bay
and River till it meets the Land of the said Paulus Van-
derbeeke as according to severall agreements and write-
ings and the pattent from Governor Richard Nicoll, dated
in the yeare of our Lord one thousand six hundred, sixty
eight, Reference being thereto had may more fully and
att large appeare. And whereas applicacon hath to mee
been made by persons deputed from the aforesaid Towne
of New Utrecht for a Confirmation of the aforerecited
Tract of Land and premissess: Now for a confirmacon
unto the present Freeholders and Inhabitants of the said
Towne, their Heires, Successors and assigns for ever, in
the quiett and peaceable possession and enjoyment of the
aforesaid Tract of Land and premissess. KNOW YEE,
that by virtue of the Commission and authority unto mee
given, and power in mee residing, I have given Granted,
Ratified, and Confirmed, and by these presents Doe give
grant, Ratifie and Confirm unto Jackues Corteljau,
Rutger Joosten, John Verkerke, Hendrick Mathyse,
John Kierson, John Vandyck, Giesbert Thyson, Carel
Van Dyck, Jan Van Cleef, Cryn Jansen, Meyndert
Coerten, John Hanson, Barent Joosten, Teunis Van Pelt,
Hendrick Van Pelt, Lowrense Janse, Gerrit Cornelisson,
Dirk Van Sutphen, Thomas Tierkson, Gerrit Stoffelson,
Peter Thyson, Anthony Van Pelt, Anthony Duchaine, Jan
Vandeventer and Cornelis Wynhart, on Behalfe of
themselves and thiere associates, the present Freeholders
and Inhabitants of the said Towne of New Utrecht, thier
Heires, Successors and Assigns. All and singular the be-
fore recited tract and parcells of Land, meadow ground

440 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

and premissess, butted and bounded as in the pattent and
agreements aforesaid, with all and singular the
Messuages, Tenements, Houses, Buildings, Barnes,
Stables, Orchards, Gardens, Pastures, Mills, Mill dams,
Runs, Streams, Ponds, Woods, Underwoods, Trees,
Trenches, Fencing, Fishing, Hawking, Hunting and fowl-
ing. Libertyes, privilidges, hereditaments and Improve-
ments whatsoever, to the said Land and premises belong-
ing or in any wise appertaining, or accepted, reputed,
taken or knowne or used, occupyed and enjoyed, as parte,
parcell or member thereof, with thier and every of thier
appurtences. To Have and to Hold, the said Tract and
parcell of Land, with thiere and every of thiere appur-
tences, to them the said Jacques Cortiliau (and others
above named), as Patentees for and on behalfe of them-
selves and thiere Present Associates, thiere Heires, Suc-
cessors and assigns for ever, to the sole and only proper
use and behoofe of the said Patentees and thier present
associates, thier Heirs, Successors and Assigns for ever.
And I doe hereby likewise Confirme and grant unto the
said Patentees and thiere Associates, thiere heires, suc-
cessors and assigns, all the Privilidges and Immunities
belonging to a Towne within this Government, to bee
holden of his said Majesty, his Heires and Successors in
free and common Soccage. According to the Tenure of
East Greenwich in the County 6r Kent, in his Majestyes
Kingdom of England; Yielding, Rendering and paying
therefore yearly and every yeare, on every five and
twentyth day of March forever, in Lieu and Stead of all
Services and Demands whatsoever, as a quitt Rent or ac-
knowledgement to his said Majesty his Heirs and Suc-
cessors or to such Officer or Officers as shall be appointed
to Receive the same, six bushells of good Winter Mer-
chantable Wheate att the Citty of New Yorke; and for
the better preserving the title of the above recited Tract
and parcells of Land, and Premisses and every of them, I

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 441

have caused these presents to be entered in the Secretaryes
Office of this Province.

11 Given under my hand and sealed with the Seale of
the Province att fortt James in New Yorke the thirteenth
Day of May 1686, and in the Second Yeare of his
Majestyes Reigne.

" Thomas Dongan."
" May it please your Honor:

11 The Attorney Generall hath perused this Pattent and
finds nothing contained therein prejudiciale to his
Majestyes Interest. Exam May 13th, 1686.

" James Graham/'

It does not appear that any separate ecclesiastical or-
ganization took place in this town till many years after
its settlement, but its nearness to the church at Flatbush
made it tolerably convenient for all who desired to
attend public worship there, or at Flatlands, and accord-
ingly the people of this place contributed to the main-
tenance of the Protestant Dutch Church in the county.
Church officers were also chosen, who, as was the prac-
tice in other towns, acted ex officio as overseers of the
poor, and assessors, being from their position in society
evidently well qualified to execute the important trusts
thus confided to them. ,

Indeed, the ecclesiastical and civil affairs of the town
seem to have been managed in great measure by the same
individuals, and the practice was continued to a compara-
tively recent period. The records, although very defec-
tive, began to be kept in the English language in the
year 1763, while in some towns they were continued
in Dutch down to the American Revolution. About that
period, church masters (so called), were elected at town
meetings in the manner of other town officers, and were
ex officio overseers of the poor.

444 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

years. It was the property and residence of the late
Rutgert Van Brunt, being the identical house in which the
lamented General Woodhull lay after he was wounded,
and where he breathed his last, September 20, 1776.

In 1787 this church united with the other collegiate
churches of the county in calling the Rev. Peter Lowe.
He continued to officiate in the said churches till the year
1808, when the county organization was dissolved, and the
settlement of separate pastors over the particular churches
took place. The Rev. John Beatie became the minister
here in 1809. He was a native of Salem, N. Y., and a
graduate of Union College. He continued here till Octo-
ber 14, 1834, when his pastoral relation was dissolved at
his own request and he removed to Buffalo.

Rev. Robert Ormiston Currie, the present esteemed
pastor, is the son of James Currie, Esq., a native of
Scotland, and his wife, whose maiden name was Sarah
Van Hoeson. Mr. Currie was born at Clavarack, New
York, October 1, 1805, graduated at Rutgers College,
New Jersey, in 1829, and was engaged as rector of the
grammar school there for nearly three years. He was
licensed to preach by the classis of New Brunswick,
July 23, 1834, and was ordained and installed in this
parish by the classis of Long Island, February 15, 1835.
He married Elizabeth T. Voorhees of New Brunswick,
N. J., January, 1835.

Contributed by the Editor

" Mr. Currie officiated until his death in March, 1866,
having been pastor for thirty-one years. Rev. David
Sutphen, the next pastor, came in June, 1867, and
preached until 1880. He was followed in that year by
Rev. Alfred Hamilton Brush. On June 1, 1905, Mr.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 445

Brush celebrated his twenty-fifth anniversary as pastor
of this church, and died on Sunday, April 30, 191 1. For
two years previous to his death Mr. Brush's health had
been poor, whereupon he was made pastor emeritus, being
succeeded by the Rev. Orville E. Fisher, the present
pastor." x

New Utrecht Bay, or as it is more commonly called,
the Lower Bay (that above the Narrows being named
the Upper Bay), is formed by the coast of New Jersey
on the west and Coney Island beach on the east, and
covers a surface of about twenty square miles, being
among the finest as well as the safest harbors in the world.
On the northern margin of the bay is the celebrated Bath
House, possessing one of the pleasantest sea-side views in
this country. It is besides the oldest bathing establish-
ment on Long Island, and the nearest to the city of New
York.

The site of this capacious establishment was selected
by the late Drs. Bailey, Bard, Rogers, Tillary, and
others, their medical associates, as a place of retreat for
their invalid patients whose cases required the invigorat-
ing influence of pure air and sea bathing. Here the phy-
sicians and those under their care enjoyed the luxury of
the scene, far removed from the heat and bustle of a
great city. But the building which had been erected by
these gentlemen in 1794 was destroyed by fire May 13,
1802, being then the property of Timothy Titus. It hav-
ing since been rebuilt on an extensive scale as a hotel and
boarding house by the Messrs. Brown, they have it in
their power to accommodate with every regard to com-
fort more than 150 visitors.

The Atlantic Ocean and the bay, its fleets of ships,

1 Mrs. Bleecker Bang's Old New Utrecht has been consulted for
list of pastors since 1866. — Editor.

446 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

steamboats, and other vessels, the lighthouses of Sandy
Hook, Neversink, and Prince's Bay, with the distant
points, altogether form a panorama of natural scenery
rarely equalled in beauty by any other part of the world.

Another, and the most interesting locality in the town,
is Fort Hamilton, situated on the east bank of the Nar-
rows, which is the name given to the strait connecting the
upper and lower bays, and through which all vessels must
pass to and from the city of New York. The strait is
1,836 yards wide, and of sufficient depth to admit ves-
sels of any draught.

The fortifications are so skilfully arranged as to pre-
vent, or render imminently dangerous, any hostile attempt
to reach the upper bay from the ocean.

This place was called by the Indians Nyack, and it was
while lying on board his ship the " Guernsey," at this
spot, that Colonel Richard Nicoll, afterwards governor
of New York, addressed to Governor Stuyvesant his
first communication of August 20, 1664, demanding the
surrender of New Netherlands. This historical fact is
intimately associated in the mind with another of equal
importance, that a considerable portion of the British
army landed at the same place on the 2 2d of August,
1776, for the like purpose of capturing the country, just
112 years and two days from the landing of Governor
Nicoll.

The state ceded to the general government in 1812
thirty acres of land covered by water, called Hendrick's
Reef, for the purpose of defence, and the government
subsequently purchased from the individual owners, one
hundred acres more of upland, which is occupied as appur-
tenant to the military establishment.

In this vicinity are three extensive works of defence,

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 447

so placed in reference to each other and the position of
the bay as to appear almost impregnable to any of the
ordinary forces common to most maritime nations.

Fort Richmond is upon the west or Staten Island side
of the Narrows at its entrance into the lower bay. Fort
La Fayette — sometimes, from its shape, called Fort Dia-
mond— is situated in the stream, and Fort Hamilton is
on the Long Island shore, in a line nearly with the
former. These fortifications were located and planned by
General Bernard, an eminent French engineer, employed
by the United States, some years since, to make a recon-
naissance of our coast, with a view to the selection of
sites for its defence. Fort Hamilton is of permanent
granite masonry, quadrangular in form, one face of which
is for water defence, and the other for the land. The
part commanding the channel mounts 14 casemate and
26 barbette, 32 pounders; and 32 casemate guns of large
calibre; 32 and 26 pounders are distributed along the
land sides, which also admit of musketry defence. In
addition to which there are 18 guns of similar calibre
for the defence of the ditches, which are dry and well
flanked with musketry. A redoubt 200 yards in ad-
vance, on the land side, is designed to prevent a landing
of the enemy on the beach between the fort and Bath,
and also to oblige him to establish his batteries at a
greater distance, in case of a siege. It is completely de-
filed from the neighboring hills, which might otherwise
be occupied by an enemy to advantage.

Fort La Fayette is a dependency of Fort Hamilton,
and is constructed of solid free stone masonry, mount-
ing 73 guns* in 3 tiers; the lower, 42; the 2d, 32, and
the upper, 24 pounders. Several of the newly invented
and very effective Paixham guns of large calibre have

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448 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

lately been added, which must render this one of the
strongest defences in the country. For some years past
these works had become much deteriorated by the neglect
of the government, which remark would equally apply to
every fort from the coast of Maine to the Gulf of
Mexico. Since 1841 much has been done to place these
defences upon a respectable footing.

Here is also a splendid hotel and boarding establish-
ment, called the Hamilton House, which, for its magni-
tude, beauty of location, and elegance of accommoda-
tions will not suffer by comparison with any other in the
vicinity. In 1836 a company was incorporated for the
construction of a railroad from Brooklyn to Fort Hamil-
ton, Bath, and Coney Island, which, if executed, would
doubtless add very greatly to the numbers visiting these
places.

A few years ago some workmen employed in excavat-
ing the earth at the Narrows, discovered, a few feet be-
low the surface, a large quantity of Indian stone arrow
heads lying together, which induces the belief that here
was either a manufactory of the article or place of de-
posit. They were of all sizes — from one to six inches
in length — finished and unfinished, together with blocks
of the stone of which they were made, in the same state
as when taken from the quarry. How the savages, with-
out the use of iron instruments, could make and polish
axes and other implements of stone of flinty hardness, is
to us, at this day, a matter of utter admiration and
astonishment.

St. John's Church, at Fort Hamilton, was erected
principally by the government in 1835, of which the Rev.
James Dixon Carder, chaplain to the fort and forces sta-
tioned there, was for several years rector, his chief

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 449

parochial care consisting of the troops in garrison here,
the church being considered as a chapel of the fort. Mr.
Carder is a graduate of Hamilton College of the year
1827, and being now confined to his duties as chaplain
to the garrison, the Rev. Sylvester Nash was in 1846
made rector of St. John's. At Yellow Hook, the extreme
north-west corner of the town, a Methodist Church was
built in 1844.

The soil of this town is in general of an excellent qual-
ity and is highly cultivated, some farms yielding, besides
other crops, more than one hundred tons of English hay.
On the south side of the hills, the surface is smooth and
level, but in the vicinity of the Narrows, stony and some-
what hilly. The woody ridge upon the north-west, is the
western terminus of that singular range of highlands, ex-
tending throughout the island, having its eastern termina-
tion near Oyster Ponds Point,1 a distance of 120 miles,
and is very appropriately denominated the " Spine of
Long Island."

The shad fishery in this town, at the proper season,
is unequalled in any other part of the country, it being
not uncommon to take at least 10,000 of these fish at a
single haul.

The following Dutch epitaphs are inserted as a curios-
ity to those unaccustomed to that language, and they will
be more so when the inscriptions themselves shall have be-
come obliterated by time and the elements.

Hier Legt het Ligham Hier legt 't Lighaam

Van Anne Vorhes de Van Jacobus Emans

huys vrou, Van Barnardus Soon Van Abraham

Vorhes is ge Storven Emans, en Sara Schenck

Nov'r 4d 1768. Over leeden de 6d Oct'r

1770 In't 23ste yaar
Syn Levins.
1 Now Orient Point. — Editor.

FLATBUSH

This ancient settlement of the Dutch was begun by
them in 1651, and upon it they conferred the name of
Midwout (or Middle Woods). It is probable that iso-
lated portions of the soil had been taken up before, but
without an intention of founding a town or even village.
It is bounded north by Brooklyn, south by Jamaica and
the Bay, Flatlands and Gravesend, and west by Graves-
end, and has an area of about 7,000 acres. From the
pleasantness of its situation and the excellence of its soil,
it soon grew into importance, and dwellings were erected
on the site of the present village, and upon the road or
path leading to Gravesend, the settlement of which latter
place preceded this by about ten years.

In 1652 Governor Stuyvesant gave the inhabitants a
patent for a portion of the present town, including the
village. The patentees therein named are, Jan Snedecor,
Arent Van Hatten, one of the burgomasters of the city,
Johannes Megapolensis, a minister at New Amsterdam,
and some few others. By»this instrument, they were not
only empowered to erect a town or plantation, but were
invested also with the usual privileges of other Dutch
corporations within the province. In 1656 another
patent was granted to the " indwellers and inhabitants
of Midwout," for the Canarsie Meadows, lying east
north-east of the Canarsie Indian planting ground.
Patents of confirmation were in like manner obtained
by individuals who had made particular purchases

452

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 453

from the natives beyond the bounds of the original
patent.

October 11, 1667, a general patent was issued by Gov-
ernor Nicoll, in which the patentees were the Rev. Jo-
hannes Megapolensis, Cornelius Van Ruyven, justice of
the peace, Adrien Hegeman, and Jan Snedeger, Jan
Stryker, Frans .Barents (pastor), Jacob Stryker, and
Cornelius Janse Bougaert, as patentees for and on behalf
of themselves and associates, the freeholders, and inhabi-
tants of the said town, their heirs, successors, and assigns,
for the premises described therein, as follows :

"All yt tract wt ye severall parcells of land wh already
have or hereafter shall be purchased or procured for and
on ye behalf of ye sd town; whether from ye native Indian
proprietors or others, wt in the bounds and limits here-
after set forth and expresst; That is to say, bounded to ye
south by ye hills, and to the north by ye fence lately sett
between them and the town of Amsfort, alias Flatlands,
beginning at a certain tree standing upon ye Little-Flats,
marked by ye order and determination of severall arbi-
trators appointed by me, to view and issue ye difference
between ye two towns concerning the same, wh accord-
ingly they did upon the 17th of October, 1666, and to ye
east and west by the common woodlands, including two
tracts heretofore called by ye names of Curler's and
Twillers flatts wh lye to ye East of ye town; As also a
parcell of meadow ground or valley on ye East-north-
east side of Canaresse planting land, and having to ye
South ye meadow ground belonging to Amsfort als Flat-
lands, according to ye division made by an East line run-
ning half a point northerly between them without varia-
tion of ye Compass, and so to go to ye mouth of ye creek
or Kill, which said meadows were on ye 20th of April last
by common consent staked out and by my approbation
allowed of."

454 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

On the 12th of November, 1685, a further confirma-
tory patent was executed by Governor Thomas Dongan,
to the following persons named therein as patentees :

Cornelius Vanderwyck John Stryker John Johnson

John Okie John Remsen Ditmars Lewis Jansen

Joseph Hegeman Jacob Hendricks Okie Johnson

Art Jansen Vanderbilt Direck Vandervleet Jan Jansen

Lafford Peiterson Hendrick Ryck William Jacobs

William Guilliamson Peter Lott Hendrick Hegeman

Hendrick Williamse Daniel Polhemus Garret Lubbertse

Peter Guillamse Cornelius Vanderveere Hans Bogaert

Arien Ryers Direck Johnson Hoogland

Peter Stryker Denise Teunis

■" The premises are in this patent described, as 'A cer-
tain town in King's County known by the name of Midd-
wout, alias Flatbush, the bounds whereof begin att the
mouth of ye fress Kill, and soe along by a certain ditch
which lyes betwixt Armsford and Flatbush meadows, and
soe running alongst the ditch and fence to a certain white
oake markt tree; and from thence upon a straight line to
the westernmost point of a small island of woodland lying
before John Striker's bridge; and from thence with a
straight line to the north-west hooke or corner of the ditch
of John Okie's meadow; and from thence alongst the said
ditch and fence to the swamp of the Fresh-Kill, and soe
alongst the swamp and hollow of the aforesaid Kill to the
land of Krewier's hooke; then alongst the same to a markt
white oak tree ; from thence with a straight line to a black-
oake markt tree standing uppon the north-east side of
Twiller's Flatts, having a small snip of flatts upon the
south-east side of the line, and soe from thence to a white-
oak tree standing to the west side of Mustahole upon a
small island, leaving a snip of flatts in the Flattlands
bounds; and from thence to a certain markt tree or stump
standing by the highway which goes to Flattlands upon
the Little Flatts, about twenty rod from Flattbush Lotts,
and soe alongst the fence six hundred Dutch rodd to the

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 455

corner of Flattbush fence, and soe alongst by the rear of
the Lotts to a sassafras stump standing in Cornelius
Jansen's Bowery lott of land; and from thence with
straight line to a certain old marked tree or stump stand-
ing by the rush-pond under the hills, and so along upon
the south side of the hill till it comes to the west end of
the long hill, and soe along upon the south side of the said
hill till itt comes to the east end of the long hill; and then
with a straight line from the east end of the said long
hill to a mark'd white-oak tree standing to the west side
of the roade near the place called the gale or porte of
hills, and so from the east side of the porte or gale along
upon the south side of the maine hills as far as Browklin
pattent doth extend, and soe along the said hills to the
bounds of Jamaica pattent; and from thence with a south-
erly line to the Kill or creeke by the east of the Plunder's
Neck, and soe alongst the said Kill to the sea (Jamaica
Bay) , as according to the several deeds or purchases from
the Indian owners, the patent from Governor Nicolls,
and the award between Browkline and the town of Flatt-
bush, as by reference thereto will fully and at large ap-
pear.' M

December 17, 1654, Governor Stuyvesant, who was
equally officious in ecclesiastical, as in civil and military
affairs, ordered the erection of a church in this planta-
tion, to be sixty or sixty-five feet long, twenty-eight wide,
and from twelve to fourteen feet in height under the
beams, the rear of the building to be for the minister's
dwelling. And February 9, 1655, he again ordered the
people of Amersfort and Brooklyn to assist those of
Midwout in procuring timber for the house.

Those who had charge of the work reported in Sep-
tember 1660, that the building had cost 4,637 guilders
(about $1,800), of which sum, 3,437 guilders had been

456 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

collected in New Amsterdam, Fort Orange, and on Long
Island; whereupon, the governor gave 400 guilders more
out of the public funds, leaving the balance of 800 guil-
ders against the church.

This edifice, built wholly of wood, was not entirely
finished till 1665, but was occupied some years sooner,
and was the first Dutch Church upon Long Island. The
commissioners appointed to direct the building were the
Rev. Johannes Megapolensis, Jan Snedeger, and Jan
Stryker. Lands were at different times set apart by
the town for the use of the church, amounting in the
whole to about 200 acres near the village, all of which
is still possessed by it and is of great value, although
leased at a comparatively moderate rent.

In June, 1656, the governor ordered the people of
Midwout and Flatlands to enclose a place in each of
them with palisades for their common defence. In 1660
the Rev. Mr. Polhemus petitioned the governor to have
a window placed in the church, which request was
granted; and it being reported that the church was in-
debted to the amount of 624 guilders, it was ordered to
be satisfied out of the treasury as soon as funds should
be received.

Complaint was made that the minister was inatten-
tive to his calling, holding service but once a fortnight,
and then only for a quarter of an hour, giving the people
a prayer instead of a sermon, upon which the governor
gave orders u that he should attend more diligently to his
work."

October 1, 1673, an ordinance of the governor and
council was published, enjoining it upon the sheriff and
constables to take special care that the reformed religion
be maintained to the exclusion of all other sects.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 457

The first Dutch Church erected in this country was
doubtless the one built in the city of New Amsterdam in
1642, although a society had been organized as early as
1629. And the inhabitants of Kings County attended
religious worship in the city until the church was built in
Flatbush, as above mentioned.

The Rev. Everardus Bogardus * was the first minister,
and officiated in the city from 1638 to 1647, when he
obtained permission to return to his Fatherland, which he,
however, never reached, being with ex-director Kieft, and
about eighty others persons, lost by ship-wreck on the
coast of Wales in September, 1647, as before stated. He
was succeeded by the Rev. Johannes Megapolensis, who
continued till the conquest in 1664.

The church at Flatbush was directed to be built in the
form of a cross; and the rear part of the edifice was
reserved and fitted up for the accommodation of the min-
ister and his family. The original subscription list of this
building is still preserved among the records of the church,
and exhibits the names of the principal male inhabitants
of full age in the Dutch towns at that period.

A church was also ordered to be built at Flatlands in
1662, which was completed the following year, and
another was erected in Brooklyn in 1666, all of which
constituted one general charge under the pastoral care of
the same minister.

Rev. Johannes Theodorus Polhemus, who had been in
the country some years, was engaged as minister soon
after the completion of the church here, at a salary of
1,440 guilders, or $416 a year, and the same was raised

* It was for slandering this worthy minister that in 1638 a woman
was obliged to appear at the fort in the city. She confessed that she
knew he was honest and pious, and that she had spoken falsely.

458 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

by an assessment or tax upon the estates of those who
resided in the towns where he officiated.

He was required by an order from the governor in
March, 1656, to preach every Sunday morning at Mid-
wout, and in the afternoon alternately at Amersfort and
Brooklyn. He died June 9, 1676. His wife, Catherine,
arrived here in 1656. From his sons Theodorus and
Daniel have descended all of the name in this country.

Rev. Henricus Solinus, Solyns, or Selyns, was installed
here September 3, 1660, at a salary of 600 guilders,
one-half of which was to be paid by the inhabitants,
and the other half by the Fatherland. In 1662 the
people of Brooklyn requested that he might reside there;
and the governor agreed to it, and also to pay a part
of his salary, provided he should preach every Sunday
evening in the church erected upon his farm or bowery.
In 1664 he returned to Holland, having sustained a high
reputation in the ministry. He was a distinguished man,
possessed of a good education and no inconsiderable
degree of literary enterprise.* He was moreover very
respectably connected, having married Margaretta, the
widow of the Hon. Cornelis Steenwyck of New Amster-
dam, and July 25, 1662, again married Machtelima
Specht, of Utrecht in Holland. Some time after his ar-
rival in America, he addressed to Cotton Mather, on
the appearance of his great work, the Magnalia, a

* It has been mentioned that the Rev. Mr. Solinus left the church in
1664 and returned to Holland. At the earnest solicitation of the people
of New York, he was induced to revisit America in 1682, and continued
the pastor of the Dutch Church in that city till his decease in 1701. He
was, as above mentioned, a man of classical taste and learning, and
was highly esteemed in his day. He also cultivated a love for poetry,
of which a few specimens in Latin and Dutch are preserved. He left
a complete list of the members of his congregation in 1686, which is
contained in the New York Historical Society's Collections.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 459

Latin poem, which is still extant in some editions of that
singular work. This may be called the second period of
the Dutch Church in America, extending from 1664 to
the year 1693. At this era the Dutch churches in New
York, though under the civil government of Great Bri-
tain, still acknowledged the authority of that classis and
that synod in Holland to which they had formerly sub-
mitted, and still received ministers from them as before.
And that classis and synod also continued to watch over
these American churches and to cherish them with pa-
ternal care and affection. During this period the Dutch
Church in America was somewhat extended. Two or
three more congregations were organized on Long
Island, near the city of New York. Another was formed
in the city of Schenectady; one on Staten Island, or Rich-
mond County; three or four in different towns on the
Hudson ; and several, it is believed, in the colony of New
Jersey. The precise dates, however, of these establish-
ments, it is now difficult to determine.

Such was the situation of the Dutch Church from
1664 to 1693 ; not, indeed, established by law, but greatly
predominant in numbers and decidedly pre-eminent in
wealth and respectability. This pre-eminence, however,
was in a considerable degree surrendered in the year
last mentioned. In that year Colonel Benjamin Fletcher,
who had been appointed governor the year before, a man
of great ardor and boldness, and one who was inordi-
nately devoted to the Episcopal Church, urged a kind of
religious establishment in favor of that church. It as-
sumed the air of bigotry. The Episcopalians were not
the dominant sect. There were at that time, indeed, but
few Episcopalians in the colony. These chiefly resided in
the city of New York, and in the counties immedi-

* •>.«

flfl *

46o HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

ately adjacent. They consisted, for the most part, of
the officers of government and their dependents, and a
portion of the military force. To establish the Episcopal
Church under these circumstances was so evidently unrea-
sonable and unjust, that scarcely any one would have pro-
posed it but a person of Governor Fletcher's bigoted
character. He met, and justly, too, with no small diffi-
culties in the attainment of his object. The house of
assembly, when it was first proposed to them, were decid-
edly hostile to the measure. But, being partly hood-
winked, and partly threatened and bullied into the meas-
ure by the governor, they at last reluctantly agreed to
the plan and passed an act on the 21st of September,
1693, establishing the Episcopal Church in the city and
county of New York, and in the counties of Westchester,
Queens, and Richmond. The act was drawn and the
whole business conducted in a most artful and cunning
manner. The inhabitants of each of the counties above
mentioned were directed by this act to choose annually
ten vestrymen and two church wardens. These ves-
trymen and church wardens were empowered to make
choice of the minister or ministers for each district. And
for the support of these ministers, a certain sum was
directed to be assessed on the inhabitants at large of all
denominations and raised in each county. The act,
indeed, did not explicitly enjoin that the ministers thus
chosen should be of the Episcopal Church; and by an
explanatory act passed several years afterwards, it was
even declared that dissenting ministers might be chosen.
But by lodging the right of choice with the vestry-
men and church wardens alone, it was well known
that Episcopal ministers would be always, of course,
elected.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND , 461

It has been seen that the right of soil was early ob-
tained by the first Dutch settlers from the neighboring
tribe inhabiting the place called Canarsie (or Canausee),
and that to confirm the same several patents had been
issued by the governor; notwithstanding which, in the
year 1670, a claim was interposed to the said lands by
Eskemoppas, sachem of Rockaway and his brothers, as
being the true owners thereof; and the inhabitants, to pre-
vent the consequences of perpetual hostility with the new
claimants, preferred, for the preservation of peace, and
to establish more firmly their title to the lands in dis-
pute, to agree to the payment of a certain consideration
which was mutually fixed upon between the parties. The
deed or release executed by the said Indians on this occa-
sion is as follows :

11 To all christian people to whom this present writing
shall come : Eskemoppas Sachem of Rockaway upon
Long Island, Kinnarimas and Ahawaham, his brothers,
send greeting; Whereas they the said Sachem Eske-
moppas and his two brothers aforementioned do lay claim
to the land now in the tenure and occupation of the inhab-
itants of Midwout, alias Flatbush, as well as to other
lands thereto adjacent as the right born Indian owners
and proprietors thereof: know ye, that for, and in con-
sideration of certain sums of seewant, a certain sum of
wampum and divers other goods, unto the Sachem, and
his brothers, in hand paid, and received from Adrian
Hegeman, Jacob Stryker, Hendrick Jorise and Jan Han-
sen, for and on behalf of themselves and the rest of the in-
habitants of Midwout, alias Flatbush, the receipt whereof
they do hereby acknowledge, and themselves to be fully
satisfied and paid: Have given, granted, contracted and
sold, and by these presents, freely and absolutely do, give,
grant, bargain, and sell unto the said Adrian Hegeman,

464 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

been, and is now, established as the shire town of the
county.

In the minutes of the court of sessions it appears that
in 1682, some persons having refused payment to the
minister, a complaint was made thereof by the constable,
whereupon the court ordered that the amount due from
such persons should be taken by distress. In 1685, one
Theodorus Polhemus, having been elected to the office of
constable and refusing to serve, was fined £5 to the public.

In 1677 the churches engaged the Rev. Casparus Van
Zuren, who, in about ten years, being called to his former
church in Holland, returned there in 1685. He married
Louisa Hellenius.

He was succeeded by the Rev. James Clark, who soon
left and was followed the same year by the Rev. Ru~
dolphus Varick. He continued till 1694, when the Rev.
Wilhelmus Lupardus was called, and officiated till his
death in 1701.

During the ministry of Mr. Varick, and in the year
1699, a new church was erected. It was of stone, and
had a pyramidal roof, sixty-five feet by fifty, and occupied
the site of the first one. In 1702 the churches called
the Rev. Bernardus Freeman, then pastor of the Re-
formed Dutch Church of Schenectady, who after some
delay accepted, but was not installed till November, 1705.
In the meantime the Rev. Vincentius Antonides had been
sent out by the classis of Amsterdam, and was installed
as associate pastor of the Dutch churches the same year.
The former was a man of fine talents, well educated, and
possessed a good store of general literature.

He published, among other things, a volume of ser-
mons, and a work entitled De Spiegel der Selfkennis,
(or Mirror of Self Knowledge), being a collection (in

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 465

Dutch) of ancient moral and philosophical maxims. The
work has been recently translated by the Hon. Jeremiah
Johnson for publication.

Mr. Freeman married Margretie Van Schaick in 1705,
and died in 1741. After which the Rev. Johannes
Arondens was installed in 1742, and died in 1754, Mr.
Antonides having deceased in July, 1744. The Rev.
Anthony Curtenius * was settled in 1745, and continued
till his death October 19, 1756. The Rev. Ulpianus Van
Sinderen was called from Holland and entered upon his
pastoral duties here in 1757.

At this time existed the great and disturbing contro-
versy among the Dutch churches, concerning the neces-
sity of foreign ordination. The coetus party, as we have
seen, warmly insisting on establishing an independent
judicatory in America; and the classis of Amsterdam in
the end assenting to it, Mr. Van Sinderen was made the
happy messenger of their letter of approbation. Perfect
harmony was not, however, fully restored to the churches
till many years after.

* The following notice of this gentleman is extracted from a news-
paper published in 1756: — "On Tuesday the 19th ultimo, the Reverend
Mr. Anthony Curtenius departed this transitory Life at Flat-Bush, Long
Island, in the fifty-ninth Year of his Age, after an Illness of about
four Weeks, being Pastor of the five Dutch Reformed Churches in Kings
County on Long Island: He was a gentleman regularly educated, and
remarkable for his indefatigable Diligence in the Ministration of his Func-
tion; his Actions in all the Affairs of Life have ever been accompanied
with the strictest Rules of Justice, so that none could with more Pro-
priety claim the Title of Preacher and a sincere Christian, which not
only his Morals manifested, but his glorious Resolutions to launch into
endless Eternity, saying with St. Paul, O Death/ inhere is thy Sting?
O Grave, inhere is thy Victory? His Remains were decently interred
on Thursday following in the Church of the above-mentioned Place; his
Death is universally lamented by his Relations, and all those that knew
him, particularly his Congregation, who are highly sensible of the Loss
of so inestimable a Shepherd, whose every Action displayed the
Christian."

466 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Mr. Van Sinderen was reputed a man of good acquire-
ments, yet at the same time he was eccentric and often
injudicious.

The Rev. Johannes Casparus Rubel was established
here in August, 1759, as the colleague of Mr. Van Sin-
deren, but was deposed for intemperance in 1784. In the
same year Mr. Van Sinderen resigned his charge, and
died July 23, 1796. Mr. Rubel died in 1799.

In 1785 an invitation was given to the Rev. Martinus
Schoonmaker, then preaching at Gravesend and Harlem,
which he accepted, and remained here till the close of his
life, at the age of eighty-seven, May 20, 1824. With
this venerable pastor ended the custom of preaching in
the Dutch language, a practice to which he was so much
attached that only once (1788) did he attempt to offi-
ciate in English.

He was the second son of Joachim and Lydia Schoon-
maker, and was born at Rochester, Ulster County, N. Y.,
March 1, 1737. He commenced classical studies with
the Rev. Mr. Goetschius of Schraalenburgh, N. J., 1753,
and his theological with the Rev. Mr. Marenus of Aqua-
kanock in 1759, and June 27, 1761, he married Mary,
daughter of Stephen and Ann Bassett of that place. He
was licensed to preach in 1763, and first received a call
from the congregation of Harlem and Gravesend,
which he accepted. In 178 1 he received a call from the
particular churches of Gravesend, Success, and Wolver
Hollow, in which he served till 1784, when he was elected
to preside over the six collegiate churches of Kings
County at a salary of £150 a year. He took up his resi-
dence at this time in Flatbush, where he spent his days.
His wife died in 18 19, aged eighty. He left issue six
sons and five daughters; nine of whom arrived to full

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 467

age, and seven survived their father. He had at the
time of his death, fifty-nine grandchildren and twenty-one
great-grandchildren.

In his eightieth year he was heard to declare that he
could not complain of a single bodily infirmity, even his
sight and hearing being perfect; yet that his age admon-
ished him he had not long to live. " His labors in the
ministry (says his successor) for sixty-one years, were
arduous, yet was he never known to faint in his Master's
cause, and few men have gone to the grave with a char-
acter more unblemished, or one more universally re-
spected and beloved."

The Rev. Peter Lozve, of Ulster County, was installed
colleague pastor with Mr. Schoonmaker, October 28,
1787, and continued to preach in the old church till it
was taken down in 1794. The new structure commenced
the year before was not completed till December, 1796.
It is also of stone, fifty by sixty-five feet, the materials
of the former church being used in the new structure,
which has a fine bell presented by John Vanderbilt, Esq.,
who also imported some Dutch bricks from Holland,
which were inserted around the windows and doors of
the church.

Mr. Lowe died greatly beloved, June 10, 1818, aged
fifty-four, and in the fall of that year the churches of
Flatbush and Flatlands called the Rev. Walter Monteith,
who was installed in 18 19, but resigned April 13, 1820,
and removed to Schenectady, from which time till May,
1822, the church remained vacant. The Rev. Thomas
Morris Strong, D.D., son of Joseph Strong, Esq., of
New York, was born April 18, 1797, graduated at Colum-
bia College in 18 16, and settled in the associate Reformed
Dutch churches of Chambersburgh and Shippensborough,

468 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Penn., in 1819. He was installed here November 17,
1822, and married Ellen, daughter of William Campbell
of Baltimore in 1822, who died at the age of thirty-six
years, August 14, 1832. November 26, 1835, he married
Elizabeth C, daughter of the Rev. Isaac Grier of Penn-
sylvania, and maternal granddaughter of the Rev. Dr.
Robert Cooper, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.

"Dr. Strong officiated until his death on June 14, 1861.
During Dr. Strong's last sickness the pulpit was supplied
by his son, Rev. Robert G. Strong, as assistant. Rev.
William W. Howard supplied for about two years after
Dr. Strong's death. Rev. Cornelius L. Wells was called
in April, 1863, and officiated until his death in 1904. For
a year the church was vacant, but in the spring of 1906
Rev. John E. Lloyd began to preach and continued to do
so until the spring of 19 16, when he resigned. Since then
the church has had no regular pastor." — Editor.

In 1833 a Reformed Dutch Church was begun in that
part of the town called New Lots, and was dedicated in
July, 1824. It was soon after connected with the church
at Flatlands under the Rev. William Cruikshank, before
mentioned, and after his removal became part of the
charge, as it now is, of the Rev. John A. Baldwin.

A small Methodist Episcopal Church was erected in
the eastern part of the village in 1843, which is used
only occasionally and will probably soon be abandoned
for lack of zeal as well as members to support it.

St. Paul's Episcopal Church, the only one of that
denomination in the town, was begun in 1836, the corner
stone being laid by the bishop of the diocese, August 13,
1836. It is a beautiful edifice, the cost of which, includ-
ing the organ, &c, was $8,480, about two-thirds of which
sum was contributed by Matthew Clarkson, Esq., a resi-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 469

dent of the village. Trinity Church, New York, gave
$1,000 in 1842. Of this church, on the 23d of December,
1836, the Rev. Thomas S. Brittain was chosen rector, and
the Rev. John F. Messenger assistant. The latter resigned
September 1, 1837, and the Rev. James Coglan officiated
in his place. Mr. Brittain resigned the rectorship March
29, 1838, and Mr. Coglan succeeded as rector on the
6th of April following, but resigned October 21, 1839,
and set out for Europe. The Rev. William Barlow was
inducted March 30, 1840, who resigned in April, 1842,
on becoming an instructor at St. Thomas' Hall, Flush-
ing. The Rev. George Burcker was instituted rector in
1842, but removed to St. George's Church, Flushing, in
1844, where he died in June, 1847, and was succeeded
in this church by the Rev. William H. Newman from
Rhode Island.

Erasmus Hall, which has always been among the most
popular institutions of learning, was projected by the Rev.
John H. Livingston and the Hon. John Vanderbilt, soon
after the declaration of peace in 1783. In 1786 the sum
of $2,287 was raised toward the object, of which Mr.
Vanderbilt gave $250. The building, one hundred feet by
thirty-six, was erected the same year, the whole expense
of which was $6,250. The school was incorporated by
the regents of the university, November 17, 1787, and
the first trustees were :

Comfort Sands John Vanderbilt George Martense

Phillip Nagel Walter Minto Jacob Lefferts

Peter Cornell Peter Lefferts William B. Gifford

John H. Livingston Johannes E. Lott Hendrick Suydam

James Wilson Aquilla Giles John J. Vanderbilt

Samuel Provost Cornelius Vanderveer Martinus Schoonmaker

John Mason

Among the list of contributors to the building are the

470 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

names of George Clinton, John Jay, Robert R. Liv-
ingston, Aaron Burr, John Sloss Hobart, Richard Piatt,
Brockholst Livingston, Alexander Hamilton, Edward Liv-
ingston, and thirty-two others.

The Rev. John H. Livingston, D.D., was appointed
principal in 1787, but resigned in 1792. His successors
were Peter Wilson, LL.D.; Rev. Peter Lowe, Rev.
Joseph Penny, Rev. Timothy Clowes, LL.D.; Jonathan
W. Kellogg, Rev. William H. Campbell, Rev. Dr. Penny,
Mr. James Ferguson, and the present incumbent, the Rev.
R. D. Van Kleek.

The edifice is large, spacious, and airy, and is a very
complete establishment in all respects; having sufficient
grounds, filled with forest and ornamental trees, shrub-
bery, and flowering plants. It has also a library of more
than 1,500 volumes, besides a philosophical apparatus
and mineralogical cabinet.

Among the number who have received a classical edu-
cation at this seminary, may be mentioned the following:
William A. Duer, late president of Columbia College;
his brother, John Duer; John McPherson Berrien, late
Attorney General of the United States; George M.
Troup, governor of Georgia; Rev. John Blair Linn, late
minister of the Dutch Church, New York; Rev. John H.
Meyers, Rev. Jacob Schoonmaker, D.D.; Rev. Peter La-
bagh, Rev. Peter Van Pelt, Rev. Phillip Duryee, and the
Hon. John A. Lott.

In the year 1807, one of the most extensive printing
establishments in the United States was established here
by the late Isaac Riley, who married the sister of Richard
Alsop, Esq. It continued in operation about seven years,
and was then broken up, not answering the expectations
of its projector.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 471

The Rev. Dr. Strong, in his excellent account of this
town, mentions the establishment of a public brewery,
besides private ones. The former consisting of fourteen
shares, subdivided into smaller portions, and belonged to
the several farms as appurtenant thereto, which were sold
or devised therewith, as some old deeds and wills testify.
This public brew-house was standing up at the close of
the Revolution, when it was disposed of and the pro-
ceeds divided among the shareholders. The principle
of total abstinence from all that can intoxicate, observes
the writer, was not then known, and beer or malt liquor
was the common beverage of the inhabitants.

The Poor House of the county of Kings is located at
a short distance from the village; the farm appertaining
to which contains sixty acres of excellent land, the cost
of which was $3,000. The main building, the corner
stone of which was laid July 9, 1831, is forty- four
feet square, with wings, each sixty by thirty-five feet.
The whole is two stories in height. There is also a de-
tached building which is appropriated to patients labor-
ing under infectious diseases, and another intended
for deranged persons, where the unfortunate individ-
uals are treated with all the attention that humanity
requires.

A part of the same benevolent plan for the relief of
suffering humanity is the Kings County Lunatic Asylum,
situated near the poor house, which is ninety feet by
thirty-six, three stories high, and was finished in the
spring of 1845. The apartments are eighty in number,
and warmed with hot water circulating through iron tubes;
whole cost $16,000.

East New York,1 is already a village of some impor-

1 Later included in the town of New Lots. — Editor.

472 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

tance in the north-east part of the town, and owes its
existence to the enterprise and untiring exertions of John
R. Pitkin, Esq., a gentleman not more distinguished for
his intelligence than for his singular industry and inde-
fatigable perseverance in whatever he undertakes. With
him a failure is not considered a defeat; and instead of
relaxing, adds additional stimulus to exertion. The place
will doubtless become an important location for manufac-
tures and mechanical industry, being advantageously situ-
ated on the line of the Long Island Railroad, and only
six miles from the ferry. Several streets and avenues are
partially built up, and a good deal of manufacturing has
already been accomplished. A Reformed Dutch Church
was erected in 1838, and dedicated the following spring,
when the Rev. William H. Campbell was installed pas-
tor, who removed in the fall of 1841 to the Third Re-
formed Dutch Church in the city of Albany, and the Rev.
Martinus V. Schoonmaker was installed September 25,
1842. He is the son of Jacobus, and grandson of the
Rev. Martinus Schoonmaker, former pastor of Flat-
bush. He graduated at Union College 1839, and mar-
ried Catherine Colwell of Allegheny City, Penn., January
29, 1846.

A small German Lutheran Church was also erected
here in 1847.

The following persons have held the office of town
clerk at various periods from 1650:

Adrien Hegeman Abraham Lott John C. Vanderveer

Jacob Joosten John Gancell Garret Stryker

Francays De Bruynne Adrian Hegeman Abraham Vanderveer

Michael Hainell Jeremiah Vanderbilt Adrian Hegeman

Jan Gerrit Van Marckje Petrus Van Steenbergh William Ellsworth

Derick Storm John Lefferts William Hegeman

Johannes Van Eklen Phillip Nagle John A. Lott

Johannes Schenck John Vanderbilt James V. B. Wyckoff

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 473

The number of acres of land in this town is about
10,500, and the number of inhabitants in 1845, was 2>225>
being an increase of 136 in five years.

"The Cypress Hills1- has become, it is believed, the
largest Cemetery in the Country, and artists and work-
men have been employed to lay out the grounds and em-
bellish them with taste and beauty. The location of the
Cypress Hills is on the north side of the Brooklyn and
Jamaica turnpike — less than two miles beyond the limits
of the city of Brooklyn. A high range of beautiful hills
runs through it, commanding the most extensive views of
the Ocean, Brooklyn, Williamsburgh and New York. A
more picturesque or beautiful tract of land can hardly be
found. There are 150 acres of heavy forests, 100 of
shrubbery, and a large lawn planted with trees and
flowers. There is a great number of cold Spring Lakes
on the grounds — there will be about sixty miles of fine
carriage roads through the Cemetery, and the grounds
will be richly embellished in the style of a Landscape
Garden. The Long Island Railroad passes within about
eighty rods of the Cemetery, and all the trains have their
regular stopping place there. An extra train can be pro-
cured to go to Cypress Hills at any hour of any day,
carrying out and bringing back sixty persons or less, with
a body for interment, for the low price of ten dollars.
There is a Sexton on the grounds with a hearse ready to
meet all processions at the Railway, and carry the body
to the grave.
For the use of hearse, opening and closing grave

and attendance of Sexton $2 50

(For children, 50 cents less.)
Same services without hearse 2 00

1 Cypress Hills was later included in the town of New Lots. — Editor.

474 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

For children i 50

For ground for a single grave (32 square feet)
with a warrantee certificate of same, opening
and closing of grave, use of hearse, and at-
tendance of Sexton 6 00

Same for children 4 00

" On any of the grounds now laid out, all Ecclesiastical,
Benevolent, Social and Humane Societies and Associa-
tions, who take not less than Ten lots together (half on
the avenues and half on the paths), will have them for
the low price of $30. For four lots $32.50; each and all
lots contain 400 square feet, large enough for any family.
For a lot $35, for those on the paths, and $50 for those
on the roads and avenues. The Cemetery was dedicated
Nov. 21, 1848, when an address was delivered by C.
Edward Lester."

The compiler is indebted for most of the facts con-
tained in this article to the History of the Town of
Flatbnsh, published by the Rev. Dr. Strong in 1842, in
which he has exhibited industry, talent, and antiquarian
research. Should his example be followed by clergymen
in other towns, important advantages would be afforded
to a large class of readers, and to the lovers of history
in general.

Died in this village, August 20, 18 15, Richard Alsop,
Esq., in the fifty-fourth year of his age, leaving a widow,
who died at Middletown, her native place, in October,
1829. Mr. Alsop was born at Middletown, Conn., 1761,
and was bred a merchant, but devoted himself chiefly
to literature, for which he had an unusual fondness, and
became familiarly acquainted with the literature not only
of his own country, but with that of the principal Eu-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 475

ropean nations. His love of poetry was enthusiastic.
Numerous pieces issued from his pen, and were received
by the public as evidence of his genius and industry. All
his compositions are characterized by great purity of
expression, and indicate the peculiar delicacy of thought
which appeared in his private life. As a man, a scholar,
and a writer, he will be remembered with affection and
regret by his acquaintance, and by men of letters. His
pieces met with considerable success, besides several
translations from the Italian and French. The principal
one is the Natural and Civil History of Chili, from the
Italian of Molina, in 2 vols. 8vo. In 1800 he published
a Monody in heroic verse on the death of Washington.
He wrote principally for amusement, and made little
effort at literary distinction; yet his intellectual powers
were much above the common level. With a luxurious
fancy, he united a great facility of expression and a
keenness of wit. In 1791 the Echo was set on foot at
Hartford, being a series of burlesque pieces, designed to
ridicule the inflated style adopted by the Boston editors
in describing common events. The writers were Alsop,
Hopkins, Dwight, Cogswell, Trumbull, and others, called,
by way of distinction, the Hartford Wits. From the pen
of the first is the following burlesque imitation of a piece
in one of the public papers, giving in prose a bombastic
account of the burning of a barn by lightning, and is a
fair sample of others.

" At Cambridge town, the self same day,
A barn was burnt, well filPd with hay;
Some say, the lightning turn'd it red,
Some, that the thunder struck it dead ;
Some say, it made the cattle stare,
Some, that it killed an aged mare,
But we expect the truth to learn
From Mr. Rythe, who own'd the barn."

476 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

"An unsuccessful attempt was made in 1873 t0 include
Flatbush within the City of Brooklyn, together with Flat-
lands, New Utrecht, and Gravesend. The proposition
was put before the voters of the respective towns and
Brooklyn to be decided. Although Brooklyn gave a
heavy vote for consolidation, it was turned down in the
towns by a large majority and the project abandoned.

" In 1894 a more successful attempt was made, and on
April 28th of that year Governor Levi P. Morton signed
the bill for the annexation of Flatbush to Brooklyn. The
territory became the Twenty-ninth Ward of the city.

11 On January 1, 1898, Brooklyn was consolidated with
the City of New York, and Flatbush of course became
part of the Greater City." — Editor.

NEW LOTS
By the Editor

The locality known as New Lots was erected as a town
on February 12, 1852. Previous to this date it had been
the eastern part of the town of Flatbush, called the
11 New Lots," in distinction to the " Old Lots," near the
village of Flatbush. In area it was the smallest of the
Kings County towns, but the largest in population, owing
to the rapid growth of East New York. The town con-
tained 13,681 people, according to the census of 1880,
which was the last enumeration before consolidation with
Brooklyn City.

The town was bounded on the north by Newtown and
the City of Brooklyn, on the east by Jamaica, on the south
and south-west by Jamaica Bay and Flatlands, and on
the west by Flatbush.

The town had four villages: New Lots, East New
York, Brownsville, and Cypress Hills. New Lots village
was situated on the old road leading from Flatbush and
familiarly known as the " old New Lots road." Many
substantial residences were located here, also a Dutch
Reformed Church and a schoolhouse. Most of the
original Dutch settlers lived in this locality.

Particulars of the founding of East New York can be
found in the chapter on Flatbush. In spite of the panic
of 1837, the founder, John R. Pitkin, persevered and the

477

478 HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

village weathered the storm and gradually increased. In
1853 Horace A. Miller and James Butler started devel-
opments which added greatly to the growth of the vil-
lage. Their purchase was a tract of about fifty acres
east of Wyckoff Avenue, which they divided into building
lots that were eagerly bought and populated. The vil-
lage also was a junction point of the Long Island Rail-
road, and the Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad — also the
terminal for four horse-car roads, all of which had their
part in the growth of the village. Population was 8,000
in 1880, which tremendously increased after consolidation
with Brooklyn in 1886.

Brownsville, in the extreme western part of the town,
owed its existence to Charles S. Brown, who bought a
tract of land about 1865, and divided it into business
and residential lots. In 1883 the village contained about
350 dwellings and several fine stores with a total popu-
lation of about 2,000. Of late years this locality has
become the residence of thousands of Hebrews, and is
today one of the most densely populated spots in the
Borough of Brooklyn, if not in the Greater City of New
York.

The settlement or village of Cypress Hills grew up
around the cemeteries there located. For details of the
Cypress Hills Cemetery we would refer the reader to the
chapter on Flatbush. The erection of the Brooklyn
Water Works also contributed materially to the advance-
ment of the village. The population in 1833 was about
3,000.

On May 13, 1886, an act which had passed the Legis-
lature making the town of New Lots part of the City of
Brooklyn, became a law and the form of town govern-
ment ceased. After consolidation the population increased

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND 479

as if by magic, and in 1900 there were nearly 80,000 in-
habitants as compared with 13,681 in 1880. When
Brooklyn became part of the City of New York, New
Lots was of course included.

3713

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