CEMBER 13, 1951
PAGE ONE
EDITED HARPER'S BAZAAR:
| Mary Booth Yaphank Native j
By Thomas R. Bayles
A native daughter of Yaphank who became famous for her
literary accomplishments was Mary Louise Booth, who was born
at Yaphank on April 19, 1831.
She was boxn in a small story-and-a-half house on the north
side of the road running east from 4>
the postoffice, a house which is
still standing in a well-preserved
condition. Mary's father, William
Booth, was the village miller and
schoolteacher, and a direct descen-
I dant of the first Booth who came
I to Southold in 1640. Her mother
was a daughter of a refugee of
the French Revolution.
Her father had a small woolen
mill and dye house which he op-
erated in Yaphank, and also was
schoolteacher during the winter
months when he taught the few
children of the vHlage in a small
building.
Mary Booth received her early
education in Yaphank and when
she was 14 years old her family
moved to Williamsburgh, where
her father opened a school and
she assisted him in teaching.
. Later, she devoted her time to
sTudy and literature and during
this time Miss Booth started work
on her "History of the City of
New York," the first edition of
which was published in 1859. An
enlarged edition was published
eight years later, and in 1880 a
third one was published. By this
time the author had become one
of the leading writers of the
country.
Miss Booth was strongly oppos-
ed to slavery, and with the out-
break of the Civil War began a
series of translations of French
\vriters of that day who favored
the Union cause. These appeared
in 1861 and her work was praised
by President Lincoln.
In 1867, when Harper's Bazaar
was first published, Miss Booth
was chosen as its first editor, and
held the position until her death.
She grew up during the years
when whale fishing was at its
height, and it is said that she fell
deeply in love with a young man
who was son of a whaleship cap-
tain. He sailed for the Arctic
and his ship and all on board were
lost. It is believed that this tragic
incident of her early life prompt-
ed her to devote her life to litera-
ture.
She died on March 5, 1889 and
was buried in the family plot in
Cypress Hills cemetery.
PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY
While men believe in the possi-
bilities of children being religious,
the/ are largely failing to make
them so, because they are offer-
ing them not a child's but a man's
religion men's forms of truth
and men's forms of experience.
Phillips Brooks
Its circulation
blankets Patchogue
and surrounding villages
like the dew!
THE PATCHOGUE ADVANCE
"The People's Paper"
4
i
t
/J.
YAPHANK AS IT IS,
AND
WAS, AND WILL BE.
CONTAINING
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OP ALL ITS PROMINENT MEN, THE
CHARACTERISTIC PROCLIVITIES OF ITS "FUNNY" PEOPLE, ITS
BrSIVESS AND lU'SINESS " MON'ARCHS," ITS FACILITIES
V
FOR ENTERPRISE AND IMPROVEMENT, AND AN
IMPARTIAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ADVANTAGES
AND DISADVANTAGES ENJOYED AND
SUFFERED 1JY IT'S CITIZENS.
THE SUFFOLK COUNTY ALMS-HOUSE AS IT IS.
THIS WORK CONTAINS THE MOST AUTHENTIC AND PLEASING
HISTORY OF THIS "MODEL" INSTITUTION
BEFORE THE PUBLIC.
BY L. HE EC HER HOMAN.
' Every town and city in the United States should induce its oest-infonno.d writers to put
its annals into the permanent shape of a hook, that its e-irly history may not be forgotten.
Of these volumes of local interest and value, there cannot ho too many.'' .Vew York Herald.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875,
By L. BEECHER HOMAN,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
JOHN POLHKMUS,
Printer,
11W Nassau St., New York.
EM
URL 1
TO MY MOTHER,
THE DEAREST FRIEND I HAVE ON EARTH,
thitf Worh,
THE CULMINATION OF HER FOSTERING INCENTIVE,
AND KIND, CHEERING WORDS.
INTRODUCTION.
" To know your country to its farthest veins,
Find out its heart ; there all its being tends."
I deem formality, or apology, not requisite as an em-
bellishment to the INTRODUCTION of a work that must
prove of intrinsic value to all to take an interest in the
local affairs of their country.
To become acquainted with the lives of men who have
figured in conspicuous capacities, and whose names are
familiar in coalition with the LOCAL INSTITUTIONS, UN-
DERTAKINGS, EXCITEMENTS and AFFAIRS of their times,
is an almost insatiable desire of some ; and to be familiar
with the RELIABLE HISTORY of any town or village, and
the peculiarities of the people, is an acquaintance as
eagerly sought as it is laudable and beneficial.,
To gratify that commendable propensity, I have gath-
ered and carefully compiled the RELIABLE FACTS con-
tained in this MINIATURE HISTORY, and look to the hearty
appreciation of my reading friends, and the public, as a
verification of its GENUINE WORTH.
When first I took my pen to write,
Strange bodings whisper'd " FAIL ! "
And grim prognostics did unite
To make my faint heart quail.
I knew that rhetoric were vain
In lauding OLD YAPHANK,
And that success I must attain
By writing bold and frank.
viii INTRODUCTION.
1 know the place of which I write,
And know the people better ;
Of ev'ry sentence wrong or right
I am the sole begetter.
I've tried the simple facts to write,
Impartially and true ;
And ev'ry thing that tends to blight,
])id faithfully eschew.
But if mistakes I do record
For writers sometimes will
I hope my FRIENDS will not accord
And blame an erring quill ;
For I am sure my heart was right,
And that no bias did
Encourage me to falsely write
What JUSTICE would forbid.
If I to please the Tinker write,
And not the Tailor, too,
I may be term'd a flatt'ring wight,
As "penning" Devils through.
In this fast age of Great Events,
The wonders we expect ;
And one will be " My Compliments "
From those I least respect
If Fortune ever smiles as sweet
Upon my luckless head,
Or fills my heart with joy replete
O'er things I've never said.
L. B H
[LLUSTRATJONS.
" YOUKS, TKULY," ... . * FRONTISPIECE.
WILLIAM JONES WEEKS, . . * . PAGE 36
EDWARD WICKHAM MILLS, . . ... ' 50
SERENO BURNELL OVKBTON, , . . '* G6
EDWARD LIVINGSTON GERARD, . . . " 72
EDWARD HENRY S. HOLDEN, M. D., . J>2
GEORGE FRANKLIN THOMPSON, . . ... "108
JAMES HUGGINS WEEKS, Es^., . . > . "lie
SIDNEY H. HITCH, ..... . " 128
REV. INGRAM N. W. IRVINE, . " 202
THE SUFFOLK COUNTY ALMS-HOUSE, . . . " 206
CONTENTS OP PART FIRST.
I.
YAPHANK AS IT is. PAGE.
A General Review, . . . * ' . . . 21
The Land of Local Penny-a-liners, and Eden of (Gossip, 22
As it is and was, ......... 24
II.
ITS BUSINESS.
III.
YAPHANK. AS IT is. ABBREVIATED SKETCHES OF PROMINENT
YAPHANKERS.
JOHN PHILLIPS MILLS.
His Style of Business, .* . . . . . ., 30
Personal, . . . . . . . . . . 31
His Charity, . 31
IV.
ROBERT HAWKINS GERARD.
In a Manufacturing Capacity, ...... -V2.
Personal, ........'.. 33
His Early Life, .... . .
V.
WILLIAM ,1. WEEKS.
Personal, . . . . . . . . . . 37
His Business, ...... ... 39
Public and Private, ....... 46
VI.
DANIEL DOWNS SWEEZY.
Personal, .......... 47
His Business, .......... 48
In the Family, I ... 48
Xll CONTENTS.
I
VII, PA,,..:.
EDWARD WICKHAM MILLS.
His Youthful Enterprise, ........ 51
His Sensible View of Business, ..... 52
Popular with all, ......... 52
Personal, . . . 53
VIII.
ALFRED ACKEULY.
His Business, ........ 55
In the Church, ......... 56
IX.
SAMUEL F. NORTON.
As ;i Neighbor and Friend, ....... 57
In the Church, . . . . . , . 57
At Home, .......... 58
X.
JOHN HAMMOND.
Personal, .......... 5!
At Home, in the Church, and Abroad, .... 60
XI.
SAMUEL LESTER HOMAN.
Personal, ....... v 62
XII.
SERENO BURNELL OYERTON.
Embarks upon a Mercantile Sea, ... .68
Personal The True Man, ^ 69
XIII.
EDWARD LIVINGSTON GERARD.
Personal, ; . v . . 73-74
A Review, * 75
His Accomplishments, '. . . . . ' . . .
XIV.
SAMUEL SMITH.
Public and Private, . 77
His Insanity, . . . . . . . . > . 78
His Horrible End, .78
CONTENTS. Xlii
XV. PAGE.
EDWARD HOMAN.
As a Neighbor and Friend, ....... 80
Public and Private, . 81
XVI.
Doc. JAMES I. BAKER.
Personal, 82
His Early Life, 83
Trials and Triumphs, ........ 83
A Neighbor, Friend, and Farmer, ..... 84
XVII.
MORDECAI HOMAN.
Off for the Mines, 86-87
Adventures in California, ...... 87
Success and Failure, ........ 87-88
On the Sea and Land, . 88-89
XVIII.
EDWARD HENRY S. HOLDEN, M. D.
His Moral and Scientific Worth, ...... 93
His Recommendation, . ..... 93-94
A Review, .......... 94
XIX.
NATHANIEL TUTHILL.
Mr. TuthilPs Business, 98-101
His Benevolence, ........ 102
Alexander Smith, 102-3
XX.
AUGUSTUS FLOYD.
The Descendant of a Noble Family, . . . . "*. 104
His Personal Appearance, . . . . . . 104
His Eccentric and Retired Life, ...... 10,5
A Brief Sketch, . 106
XXI.
GEORGE FRANKLIN THOMPSON.
His Qualifications as a Business Man, ..... 109
A Word to the Gentle Ones, 110
His Decided Step, . . . .- . . . .110
XIV CONTEMN.
XXII. l'A<;K.
ALFRED REID, Sit.
An Orphan's Struggle, . . . . . . .112
Being in Business, . . . . . . . . 113
A Financial Crusl i. 113
Personal, 114
XXIII.
JAMES HUGGINS WEEKS.
His Early History, 117
As a Railroad Man, . .. . . . . . 118
Personal, . 118
XXIV.
Hox. WILLIAM SIDNEY SMITH.
As a Military Tactician, ....... 122
From the Dra wing-room Across the Wilderness. . . 123
As a Public Man, ... . 123
Personal, ...:.... . 124
XXV.
SIDNEY H. HITCH.
Station Island William Gurney, - . . . . 120-30
Fall of Savannah AVraham Lincoln's Death, . . 135
Personal, . 136
CONTENTS OF PART SECOND.
I.
YAPHANK As IT WAS. CONTAINING BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF
THE MEN THAT ONCE WERE PROMINENT.
ESQUIRE MORDECAI ROMAN. PAGE.
His Small Beginning and Final Achievements, . . .-. 139
THOMAS HOMAN.
His Characteristics, .141
II.
DEA. SIMMONS LAWS. 143
i
RICHARD HAWKINS. 144
III.
JONAH HAWKINS.
His Earthly Labors, . 145
Uncle Jonah's Anterior Position, . . . . . 146
JONAS BUCKINGHAM. 140
IV.
MORDECAI OVERTON.
A Numerous Family, . . . . . . . .147
DANIEL HAMMOND.
The Social Custom of his Day, 148
V.
ESQUIRE WILLIAM PHILLIPS.
A Review, . . . . . . . . . 150
The Old Squire's Peculiarities, 150
DANIEL HOMAN. 151
VI.
ISAAC MILLS.
His Death, ... .152
XVI CONTENTS.
APPOLLAS MILLS. PAGE.
His Illustrious Wife, ..... 154
The True Man, . . . . " . . '.'* ; ' 155
VII.
DANIEL B. SWEEZEY. 156
VIII.
ROBERT H. HAWKINS, JUN.
His First Struggle, '. 159
A Tribute to His Memory, 159-61
CONTENTS OF PART THIRD.
I.
THE FAILINGS OF THE PEOPLE.
Gossiping, . . . : : . . . . . 165
Covetousness, . . . . . . .'. . . . 167
Rushing Enterprise, - * ( . -.- . . . . . 167
II.
THE BENEFICENCE OF YAPHANKERS. 169
IIL
MORAL AND IMMORAL YAPHANK. 171
IV.
YAPHANK AS IT WAS.
What comprised Yaphank in 1800, . . . . . 174
Yaphank Mills, and their History, . . . ., . ; . 176
The Old Grants, . . . . . . .... .. 177
Why Yaphank was not a City, . . . '. 178
V.
OUR DIMINUTIVE YALE.
The Yaphank District School, and its History, . . . 180
The School-house Past and Present, . . ; . 181
VI.
YAPHAXK ("KMKIKKV ASSOCIATION.
.M; ;ike my Grave in the Wild wood, . . . . . 184
Why are our Dead Promiscuously Buried ? ... . 184
An Absolute Requirement, 185
CONTENTS. XVI 1
VII. PAGE.
TEMPERANCE IN YAPHAXK.
The Noble Cause and its Sustainers,
A Brief Sketch,
VIIL
OUR RELIGIOUS HOMES.
The Centres of Christianity in Yaphank, . . .191
The Yaphank Presbyterian Church, . . 1 92
The Clergymen of the Church, 1 93
Francis Drake, . 1 93
{Charles Sturges, ... . .193
Jlark Lockwood, ..... . 194
ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH.
The Bishop's Address, .... .196
A Contrast To-day, 198
IX.
REV. INGRAM N. W. IRVINE.
His Early Struggles and Collegiate Achievements, . . 203
Personal . . 204
X.
SUFFOLK COUNTY ALMS-HOUSE.
A Model Home for the Poor, 207
The Farm, 208
The Home, .... .... . 209
The Main Building, . . . 209
Division of Sexes, . . . . . . . .210
The Attending Physician, .... 210
William J. Weeks, ... . 212
Edward L. Gerard, . . 212
Doct. E. H. S. Holden, . 213
Part First.
CONTAINING
A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF YAPHANK
AND BIOGRAPHICAL 8KKTCHE8 OK
ITS PRO M IN K N T CITIZENS
PART FIRST.
YAP HANK AS IT IS.
A GENERAL REVIEW THE LAND OF LOCAL PENNY-A-LINERS,
AND EDEN OF GOSSIP AS IT IS, AND WAS, AND WILL BE!
A GENERAL REVIEW.
Much has been said, and much written, about the listless
mode of busines, and the quiescent enterprise of much-
abused Yaphankers.
Among the many facts I am privileged to present in this
little effort, an endorsement of all those reports may be
credited.
When I began writing this record of local affairs, I was
kindly informed by literary friends and advocates, that my
future "'inky " success would be sadly marred if I matured
these my fool-hardy determinations : To publish, or chron-
icle the most interesting events that ultimately transpired
since 1800 ; and to publish a complete, reliable, and read-
able history of this oasis in the wilderness of "local edit-
ors " and " county paupers," since that " dark age." '' To
err is human."
If I too highly embellish my illustrations regarding one
peculiar class and their innate failings, please consider
them the bloated apparitions of a clouded imagination, and
not the base intentions of a prejudiced mind. As I have
seen, thus have I written. I have faithfully sketched from
original subjects, and conceitedly assert a correct transfor-
mation.
*22 YAPHANK AS IT IS.
Another idea prompted me to complete my undertaking,
although more dormant and not so philanthropical as my
first. It was the natural one of pecuniary advancement-
one of peculiar interest to me.
Some, also, declare that I have built upon a diminutive
foundation, and failure is inevitable. Well, failure, and
not success, is the general law of life ; and if I gain the
former I must content myself with the majority, if I accom-
plish the latter I certainly shall rejoice with the minority.
Yaphank is the Indian name of a creek and neck of land
on the south side of the town, at South Haven ; and the
line running north from the head of Yaphank Creek is
called Yaphank Line. Yaphank Neck is between that line
and the Connecticut River, and consequently does not in-
clude Yaphank Station ; but the name properly belongs to
the Neck west of Carman's Mills.
The name Yaphank was suggested by William J. Weeks,
about the year 1845, when application was made to the
P. O. Department to establish a post-office in this place ;
the former name, Millville, being objectionable for that
purpose, as there were already thirteen of that name in the
.United States, and one being in the State of New York.
The name Yaphank was familiar here, as applied to a
boundary line passing through the eastern part of the
village. The appellation is unique for the purpose, for the
place, for the people.
The district boundaries are more regular than any in the
town being nearly square and are two miles and five-
eighths from the north to the south boundary, and two and
three-eighths from east to west. The district contains 6$
square miles, one-quarter of which is under excellent culti-
vation.
PENNY-A-LINERS AND GOSSIPPKRS.
Arm-in-arm we meet this debris of society. One acts, and
the other reports. As the Long Island Leader recently re-
ported, Yaphank is truly made unenviably famous by its
YAPHANK AS IT IS. 23
"army of local reporters." All events, from a new door-
knob to a clam-bake, are duly reported to our country
periodicals by these " mashers" of the quill.
No one escapes. People fear to deviate from the beaten
routine, for fear their names will " get in the papers" un-
der some horrible heading. Thus many are compelled to
curb their chafing enterprise, at the risk of serious individ-
ual damage for instance, an explosion ; and poor, fretting
Yaphank must lie dormant because we support a standing
army of - - ! Why, one of our most modest male inhab-
itants purchased an elegant pair of pants, recently, and he
was struggling to "try them on," to ascertain the "fit,"
when some unfortunate mishap caused a fearful rent in the
the , and the poor fellow dared not patch them for fear it
would get in " the papers ' the patch I refer to.
The great bustling world or the busy little city would
not halt to criticise a man's misfortune or a woman's
success.
Business directs their attention towards objects more
beneficial to mankind.
Life is more informal in the village.
There every man knows, or wishes to know, every man's
business.
A new picket- fence, a repaired chimney, Mr. So-and-So's
" beautiful addition to his house," combine to form the
general digest of weekly instalments to our country papers,
as the flavored literature of the village.
It has always been questionable with me whether or not
the reading public cares if an unknown rustic has "painted
his fence," or "is going to paint his cow-shed," and
whether such information will prove interesting. It is
generally believed that country editors publish such chaff
from scarcity of interesting news.
Is there not a pleasing equivalent to this local swash \
Yes. Encourage the compilation of home facts possessing
historical interest, and welcome only such to the centre
24 YAPHANK AS IT 18.
table. If it be not as "fresh,' ? the "hash" will certainly
be more palatable for being condensed.
FIGURES AND FACTS.
To descend from the realms of poesy into the world of
tact, Yaphank is a scattered settlement, with clusters of
pretty cottages at almost regular intervals.
It. has a tine avenue, which connects it with the villages of
the east and south side.
The population, within the Post-office district, numbers
about eight hundred souls.
While such is its condition physically, Nature's fair
handiwork has been sadly marred by individual neglect and
quiescence.
The record of Yaphank is a record of one-sided prosper-
ity and aggrandisement.
The prominent citizens are " characters'' in the drama of
our village life, which I have endeavored to portray in
this book.
II.
ITS BUSINESS.
The occupation of the people is as varied as their tastes
and characters. The primitive occupation was "tilling the
soil;" but simultaneous with every limited "rush" of
emigration, other original and necessary branches of trade
followed. Now, in consummation, we present the following
"remarkable" directory of business :
1 Dry- goods and Hardware 2 Medical Offices.
Store, including the Post- 1 Shoe Shop,
office. 1 Lumber Yard.
2 Grist Mills. 2 Wheelwright Shops.
2 Lumber Mills. T Meat Market.
2 Blacksmith Shops. 1 Veterinary Establishment.
1 Printing Office. 1 Dressmaking Establish -
1 Upholstering Shop. ment.
1 Express and Stage Line.
A few years ago the people supported a factory, two
stores, and three churches. The factory has long been
closed, one store now forms the mercantile centre, and the
Christian element support but two churches. The Baptist
is immersed.
Why should not Yaphank be a city '( It certainly has
advantages that no other village in Brookhaven Town en-
joys. Its railway communications are excellent. Its water
facilities are unquestionably good for manufacturing pur-
poses, and could easily, and without much artificial labor, or
an enormous outlay, be made to supply sufficient power for
half a dozen factories of different kinds, and not hinder the
operations of the other mills in the least. Scientific men
26 YAPHANK AS IT IS.
assure me, and others of much experience in such matters
declare, that such could be easily, cheaply, and successfully
done ; and that it would certainly prove remunerative.
Labor is cheap here; living is cheap; and why can't as
good a market be obtained for articles that may be manu-
factured in Yaphank as are supplied by a Lowell or a Lynn (
But no one can awaken Yaphankers or induce them into
a new enterprise, however promising the inducements ! They
are aware that mill-owners make money here, and are the
only class of men in Yaphank, with a few exceptions, who
do. They know that labor is cheap, that transportation can
be made cheap, and that all the facilities are convenient.
They also know that they can invest in banking, railway
and other enterprises elsewhere, and draw their semi-annual
interest without the exertion an enterprise in Yaphank
would require. But I wonder if they have lost money
enough in foreign enterprises to convince them that it is riot
all success out of Yaphank ? The city banks fail, the rail-
roads pass into the hands of Receivers, curb-stone dabblers
grow fat over their false ideas of business economy, and
hundreds of dollars are lost here and thousands there ; still
our moneyed men will gather and invest their all in city in-
stitutions, double themselves up into a religious, philan-
thropical ball, wonder why Yaphank is so 'dormant" and
' far behind the times," and scorn upon the shadow of any
home undertaking, and discourage and abuse the unfor-
tunate wretch that may mention one. Such is Yaphank to-
day !
We never expect Yaphank to make a movement ! But
why discourage strangers who see our great advantages
and wish to improve them ? Why entertain the conviction
that because such a movement was never successfully es-
tablished that it never will be f For, friends, I dream my-
self, at no very distant day, stopping wondering urchins
upon the paved thoroughfares of Yaphank, and telling them
of the days when ,1. P. Mills' store was the great commer-
cial attraction, and John Hammond's shoe-shop, the mighty
repository of boot-jacks and local news.
YAPHANK AS IT IS. 27
Instead of two hundred d welling- hduses and eight hun-
dred people to occupy them, we want one thousand neat,
comfortable cottages, and five thousand people. We want
ten times the number of business institutions, and smart,
energetic people to support them.
We needn't begin building churches for many years yet !
Give one of the two already built three or four good resur-
rections, a big poke with the stick of enterprise, a little
doctoring with generous medicine, and the "bread of life"
will be broken by many more members, and by a happier
and more Christian people.
Give the other a little support, cheering words, and shove
it into the stream it will float !
You men who own land, adaptable for building lots, offer
it for sale at reasonable prices prices within the means of
the laboring classes who wish to settle here. Because
neighbor A lives only for himself and family, don't you
imitate his actions. Open your heart and ears a little to
the benefit of others. You will live happier, die"happier,
and your many friends will keep the laurels of your useful
life ever blooming in their memories.
Draw ten per cent, of the money invested elsewhere,
expend it in supporting and establishing home institutions
and enterprises, give a cheering word now and then to
struggling neighbors, grant strangers a cordial welcome,
smilingly tell them of the great advantages long lain unap-
preciated and unappropriated, and explain and emphasize
the baseness and disloyalty of those who consider it a duty
to "run down" and falsely represent their own villages,
towns or cities. Do these things do them well and pa-
tiently and the village will soon make the town, and the
town the busy little city.
Don't listen to the prejudiced, out-of-date old stumbling-
stones who will ever keep up a wicked sneering, and a
sombrous "you can't doit!" They are the rocks in the
channel to enterprise ; a gopd chart and steady nerves will
28 YAPHANK AS IT 18.
safely pass them ; and they never amount to much, in the
channel or out !
The specific and infallible remedy for the immediate
relief of a sickly village is to talk it up ! cheer it up ! and
it will soon build itself up ! Keep talking, don't lay on the
oars, and it will stay up !
MY STARTLING REVERIE.
I.
Ah, " OLD YAPHANK !" land of my birth,
My young heart yearns for thee !
Few in the great world know thy worth,
And what thou yet wilt be ;
When we thy rustic life transform
Thy car of progress move,
Thy money 'd men will then reform,
And smilingly approve.
n.
Then haste the days the palmy days
And welcome noise and din,
When enterprise shall trill her lays
When good times shall begin.
Then, cheer up, friends ; we must allow
We'll see what we will see,
.And greet the change from what is now,
And what it yet will be !
m.
Though in the coldness now we wade
That chills our social love,
'Twill change when our rich men have laid
Their treasures up above ;
When checks and bank-books are pass'd in,
And balanced every one,
We'll greet the welcome noise and din
The change we knew would come !
YAPHANK AS IT IS. 29
IV.
But oh ! how sweet will be the thought
When cold blows Winter's storm
To know their hoarded gold has bought
Them quarters nice and warm !
Methinks up* there they all will hie
To found a local bank ;
Supported, run and charter'd by
The RICH MEN OF YAPHANK !
V.
There are exceptions to the rules
God bless the Fates for it !
And we have men not Mammon's tools
True men, we must admit !
But those who do the most in prayer,
Have records black or blank :
And the Dives here, I do declare,
Are the RICH MEN OF YAPHANK !
*Down.
III.
I
YAPHANK AS IT IS.
ABBREVIATED SKETCHES OF PROMINENT YAPHANKERS.
JOHN PHILLIPS MILLS.
HIS STYLE OF BUSINESS PERSONAL HIS CHARITY.
Mr. Mills is a shrewd, successful business man ; a model
husband and father. He clings with unwavering tenacity
to the interests of his advocates and friends ; but is austere
and unrelenting toward the unfortunates who may fail in
acquiescing with his views and ideas. As a politician as
a financier he has been remarkably successful.
His anterior experience and education have proved a pre-
cise counsellor in all his speculations, and have brought
him successfully out of all his business labyrinths and un-
dertakings.
HIS STYLE OF BUSINESS.
He is very exact in keeping his contracts ; is generally
prompt in his engagements, and requires the same punctu-
ality of others. With his employees he is sharp and pre-
cise, and is very "driving" in his mode of business. He
is generally regarded as " stern " within his business circle.
If his disposition drew him thither, he would make a
"noise" in Wall street, at the "Stock Board," or as a
railroad operator. He would be successful as a banker,
broker, or at any occupation he might choose. He pos-
sesses shrewdness, tact, energy and brains. Mr. Mills'
prominent characteristic tendency is his innate determina-
tion to serve those to whom he is attached, at any inconve-
nience or cost.
YAPHA.NK AS IT 18. 31
i
PERSONAL.
In society he is affable, complaisant and interesting ; an
excellent conversationist ; ever ready with appropriate an-
ecdotes, and brief, ludicrous squibs.
He is about fifty-five years af age ; and the cares and
changes of a business life have dealt gently with him. He
appears not over forty ; has dark hair and beard, a well-
knit and developed physique.
. HIS CHABITY.
John Phillips Mills might tread as firmly on 'Change
as a Gould or Vanderbilt, and possess a limited portion of
their enterprising propensities ; but he certainly possesses
none of the charitable proclivities that immortalized the
names of Peabody and Drew.
Mr. Mills is not benevolently inclined at least not
in Yaphank. His philanthropical prodigalities are not
extraordinary rather miniature !
I have yet to learn that he ever claimed much generous
distinction, and as he does not appropriate that which is
not virtually his, we may credit it as a redeeming feature,
compared with the "features" of most public paragons.
In early life he ''tilled the soil," laboring upon his
father's farm during the Summer months, and teaching the
district ideas how to shoot, in Winter.
He has bowed before Hymen's shrine three successive
times, and wept over the graves of two wives. He has but
one heir to inherit the fruits of his invincible will and en-
terprise. He is reputed to be worth from one hundred to
three hundred thousand.
rv.
ROBERT HAWKINS GERARD.
IN A MANUFACTURING CAPACITY PERSONAL HIS EARLY
LIFE.
There will always be a niche in the history of Yaphank's
benevolent, Christian men, for Hawkins Gerard. It may
truly be said of him that he has taught many to do good,
but not one to sin. Ever the same unostentatious, energetic
man, he has pushed steadily forward, and rolled up an
ample fortune a deserved recompense for perseverance
and exclusive attention to business. His life has been ex-
emplary. A fitting guiding star for all young men to keep
in view.
IN A MANUFACTURING CAPACITY.
Coalesced in partnership with William Sidney Smith,
Mr. Gerard established a woolen factory in combination
with his milling business. A crisis in financial circles, and
the abdication of Robert Russell, the manager, caused a
suspension.
Prelusory movements have since originated to remodel it
into a cotton factory, and why the project never matured
the originators solely know.
It would, certainly, embellish the physical condition of
the village, benefit its inhabitants, and prove a remunera-
tion worthy its establishment.
In the rooms, whose walls should ring with the enlivening
din of trade, and a cheerful array of contented laborers be
seen, are piled hundreds of feet of lumber, and grim silence
reigns supreme within its empty corridors.
YAPHANK A8 IT IS. 33
In addition to his other business, Mr. Gerard has a large
lumber yard. It was a necessity long unsupplied until he
founded the indispensable convenience.
HIS EABLY LIFE.
Hawkins Gerard was born in Fire Place, Brookhaven.
He wooed and won the hand of Miss Fanny Hawkins, a
daughter of a fellow-townsman, Rev. Nathaniel Hawkins.
It is certain he has never had cause to regret the choice of
his life's companion.
While yet immature in years he came to live with his
uncle, Robert Hawkins, in Yaphank, and in the old red
mill a miniature structure he mastered the trade that
has since proved a fortune.
The original mill possessed less than one-third capacity
of the present, and soon after Mr. Gerard became possessor
it was torn down, and a much larger one built upon the old
site.
PERSONAL.
Mr. Gerard is warm-hearted, genial, and noble-spirited.
He is popular with our citizens generally ; with all classes ,
and all sects. Sociable in his friendship, he is regarded as
a fast and true friend.
In years, he has reached the apex of man's allotted so-
journ on earth ; and the iron hand of time is falling with
withering effect as he advances in years.
In person, he is thick-set and stocky. In his years of
prime he was powerful, with great enduring powers. He
has a pleasant phiz. A perfect model of the " Old School.*'
Ever considerate in his public and private life, he has
gathered never-fading laurels upon the mantle of a well-
spent career.
V.
WILLIAM JONES WEEKS.
ANECDOTE OF THE OLD SCHOOL-HOUSE ORTHOGRAPHY
ENGLISH GRAMMAR WALK TO BOSTON FIRST BOAT
NATURAL HISTORY SUPERINTENDENT OF COMMON
SCHOOLS MANAGEMENT OF BEES HEXAGONAL CELLS-
DIVISION LINE GREAT FIRE CRANBERRY CULTURE
TREASURER COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT OF THE POOR
HIS TEMPERANCE PRINCIPLES A SUBSTITUTE FOR TO-
BACCO PERSONAL.
The subject of this sketch was born in the village of
Oyster Bay, in the year 1821, and came, with his parents,
in the Spring of 1828, to reside in Yaphank. From that
date to the year 1833 he had such opportunities for educa-
tion as the neighborhood afforded ; which were chiefly at
the district school- house.
The course of studies there pursued was not very exten-
sive, nor were the text-books at that day of the most pleas-
ing and instructive kind. He relates the following
ANECDOTE OF THE OLD SCHOOL-HOUSE!
" Philosophy was not a part of the course of study, yet an
amusing incident occurred one Winter morning, which gave
the pupils an inkling of that science.
The night previous had been sufficiently cold to freeze the
ink in various ink-stands ; in one, especially, made of lead,
it was about solid, and the wooden stopple was frozen
fast.
38 YAPHANK AS IT IS.
The owner placed it on the hearth, in front of the blazing
fire, to thaw, and occasionally turned it, in order that every
side might feel the heat, little dreaming that he was thereby
evoking the latent power of steam ; when suddenly, with
a loud , report, out flew the stopple, accompanied by nearly
the entire fluid contents, which projected upward in a di-
verging column, and put in deep mourning a considerable
space of the ceiling overhead. This lesson was neither re-
peated nor forgotten/'
The district school notwithstanding its disadvantages
and discomforts was beneficial ; he thinks that he there
acquired an excellent knowledge of
ORTHOGRAPHY.
One of the teachers, to excite the emulation of the spell-
ing-class, adopted the plan of giving, daily, to the one
who stood at the he'ad of the class, a written certificate, tes-
tifying to that fact. These varied slightly in form, as his
fancy dictated.
Young Weeks was the recipient of many of these honors,
a package of which he still retains. One of them reads as
follows :
"TAKE NOTICE !
William J. Weeks is at the head of his class ; he has
not missed a word for a considerable length of time ; he
therefore stands this day at the head of his class.
Brookhaven, Jan. 7th, 1832.
J. OSBORN, Teacher.''
On one occasion the teacher was seized with a poetic
frenzy, and indited the following:
" William J. Weeks, his mind has fixt
For the reception of orthography ;
He also good improvement makes
In arithmetic- and geography."
YAPHANK AS IT IS. 39
In the Spring of 1833, when but thirteen years old, he
was sent to Southampton to attend the academy. Here he
was first introduced to the study of
ENGLISH GRAMMAR.
This subject was both novel and abstruse to him. He
had been pursuing it a few weeks, when one day lie went
with the class to recite to Peter H , the assistant teacher,
who presided in the upper room of the academy, and
in his turn, was directed to parse a word. The word and
the sentence are totally lost in oblivion ; but he is under
the impression that he must have handled the parts of
speech in a most extraordinary manner, for he had no
sooner completed his supposed task, than Peter, who
sat with his chair tilted back, and his heels balanced upon
the table, turned upon him a severe look, and said : "Sir, did
you mean to insult me ?" No explanation was vouchsafed;
and while Peter's instruction in grammar made no impres-
sion, that remark immortalized him.
After spending a year at Southampton, lie pursued his
studies for the next four years, successively, at the acade-
mies of Bellport and Miller's Place. These institutions
were then in the zenith of their prosperity.
When he was about seventeen years of age, he remained
at home for a year and a half, engaged in the labors of the
farm and garden. He was at this time a
PRACTICAL SURVEYOR
and was occasionally employed in running lines and meas-
uring land.
Having decided to enter college, he returned to Miller's
Place in 1839-40, to complete his preparation. He passed
his examination, and entered the Freshman class of Yule
College, in 1840. He completed the four years' course, and
was graduated with honor, in 1844.
During his college course, believing that a sound mind
could best be maintained by a sound body, he was careful,
40 YAPIIANK AS IT 18.
by daily exercise, to retain his physical health. This was
easy, from his naturally active disposition. At that time
the college was destitute of a gymnasium, and the students
were left to provide for themselves the means of exercise.
These were chieliy foot-ball, wicket and walking ; in all of
which he took an active part. In January, 1842, was the
ordinary Winter vacation of two weeks. Instead of a visit
home, he determined to
WALK TO BOSTON.
The distance from New Haven was more than 140 miles.
There was a considerable depth of snow. He set out with
a single companion. Before reaching Hartford, his com-
panion became discouraged, and abandoned the undertak-
ing. Thence he continued the journey alone. After several
days of steady walking, he reached his destination ; saw
Boston, Charlestown, Bunker Hill Monument, &c. He re-
turned by the way of Providence, accomplishing, on the
last day's walk, thirty-five miles, in nine hours including
a halt of twenty minutes. He was somewhat impeded by
his valise, and its contents of twelve pounds.
In the Spring of 1843, he conceived the idea of introduc-
ing the exercise of rowing among the students. He, there-
fore, purchased in New York a Whitehall boat, nineteen
feet long, and took it with him on his return to New Haven.
He induced six of his class-mates to join him in forming a
boat club.
This was the
FIRST BOAT
owned by students of Yale College, and was the origin of
the Yale Navy.
The boat was named the "Pioneer,'' and its crew the
" Pioneers.' 1
Many short and pleasant excursions were made in it about
the harbor and adjacent waters. One morning, in the Sum-
mer of 1844, he, with four of the crew, rowed across the
YAPHANK A8 IT IS. 41
Sound to Long Island, and returned in the same way, the
next morning.
At this time, after thirty-one years of the 'changes and
chances of human life, the entire seven forming the crew of
"Pioneers," are still living. Mr. Weeks early imbibed a
taste for
NATURAL HISTORY,
and was ever interested in reading anything relating to the
subject of animated nature. Subsequently, having received
some instruction in taxidermy the art of preserving the
skins of birds, animals, &c. he became an adept in that art,
and spent a portion of his college vacations in collecting and
preparing birds and other objects forming a small museum.
He has since secured some fine specimens of the native wild
animals of Suffolk County for the Long Island Historical
Society.
Mr. Weeks is not a politician nor office-seeker. He has
too much independence to intrigue for office. If he has
held any public office, it has been the voluntary tribute of
others. At the annual town meeting of his town Brook-
haven in 1847, he was elected
SUPERINTENDENT OF COMMON SCHOOLS.
The town is a large one, and embraced about forty dis-
tricts and school-houses. He discharged the duties with
ability and fidelity ; was re-elected the following year, but
declined serving, in order to attend to his private affairs.
In 1 850, we find him engaged in the
MANAGEMENT OF BEES.
He embarked in this with his usual ardor and energy.
Every treatise upon this subject he procured and perused.
He thus combined the knowledge and practice of other
apiarians with his own observation and experience.
He has facilities for observing the bees in their varied op-
erations.
42 YAPHANK AS IT 18.
In 1853, he discovered by what means the honey bee is
enabled to construct its
HEXAGONAL CELLS,
of a uniform size and shape.
This mystery had elicited the admiration, excited the
wonder and curiosity, baffled the researches of the most
astute philosophers and mathematicians, from the time of
Aristotle, more than two hundred years.
His elucidation of this was published in the Scientific
American, of May, 1860, and some years after, in the Bee
Keepers' Journal.
In 1853, he was elected a trustee of the School District
here. In this position he had an opportunity to learn the
conditions and needs of his district.
The school-house had been erected many years previ-
ously, by certain proprietors ; some of whom still claimed
their individual shares. The site had been granted to them
solely for the purpose of a school -house, and was to revert
to the grantor in case the house became "extinct."
It was erected upon the site of the highway, and had no,
tree nor convenience about it. The district owned neither
the house nor the site, nor were the bounds defined. In
this anomalous position, in February, 1854, he wrote to
the State Superintendent for instructions as to the powers
of the residents. The following extract describes somewhat
the condition of the house :
" Of course, sir, after the lapse of nearly forty-three years,
exposed to the peltings of the pitiless storm, the fervid rays
of the noonday sun, and the multifarious hack of little boys'
jackknives, the marks of age venerable, though not rev-
ered are manifest upon its shattered frame. And though
not "extinct," the hour of its dissolution is evidently not
far distant. The crisis has come, and the physicians with
low tones and solemn looks are consulting together."
It was proposed to repair the old house. A majority of
the voters decided to purchase a site and erect a new one.
YAPHANK AS IT IS. 43
There was strong opposition to this by some of the tax -pay-
ers, which neither argument nor persuasion could overcome.
Opposition to building school-houses is not an unusual
Circumstance in the rural districts.
Mr. Weeks saw that the opportunity to secure a site of an
acre, in the central part of the village, if then neglected,
might never recur. Nothing remained but for the inhabi-
tants to exercise their legal powers.
After two years, the bounds were duly defined and es-
tablished. The site was purchased, and the house erected.
During this period few are aware of his personal labor, and
the extent of his writing.
He toiled for the public good ! His efforts may have been
misconstrued, but he never cherished any animosity toward
those who caused him so much unnecessary trouble !
In 1859, he was appointed by Hons. D. R. Floyd,
Jones, and Chas. A. Floyd, then Supervisors of Oyster Bay
and Huntington, to run the
DIVISION LINE
between those towns.
This line is identical with the line between the counties of
Queens and Suffolk. It is about twelve miles in length over
the land. Portions of the line at each end were tradition-
ally located ; but the new straight line deviated from both,
and led through forest and^thicket, and across cleared fields.
The survey was completed in July of that year, and the
several monuments erected along the line in the Spring of
1860.
Tn May, 1862, occurred the
GREAT FIRE
the most extensive and destructive that ever was known in
the town of Brookhaven, or, in fact, on Long Island. It
lasted two days, urged on by high winds, and devasted in
its course his own and his father's woodland, and caused
44 YAPHANK AS IT IS.
much loss. Soon after, he spent some time in traversing
the burnt district, and preparing a map, which exhibited,
in a clear manner, the location and extent of that disaster.
Several years previous to this, the
CRANBERRY CULTURE
began to excite attention in Suffolk County.
Believing he had some land adapted to this culture, he
undertook to prepare it for that purpose. It was a swamp ;
a soil of peat, hidden under a thicket of bushes and trees.
After a series of years, with indomitable perseverance, and
the expenditure of much personal labor and money, he
brought a portion into a suitable condition for planting, and
has since grown some of the finest cranberries ever exhibited
in our county.
At a meeting held at Thompson Station, February 1st,
1865, to reorganize the Suffolk County Agricultural Society,
he was elected
TREASURER,
an office of trust, the duties of which he executed during
four successive years with marked ability.
His financial reports are models of exactness in detail.
He took an active part, also, in other respects, to promote
the prosperity of the Society.
While still engaged in the duties of this position, he was
nominated by the Republican party and elected
COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT OF THE POOR.
He aimed, during his three years' term of office, to dis-
charge every requisite duty in a thorough manner, and to
make as little expense as possible for his personal services.
In his third official year 1871 the County Alms House
was completed, and he had the chief care of getting it in
readiness for its future inmates. After the furniture and
other articles were procured, he spent several nights alone
YAPHANK AS IT 18. 45
in the house, to guard the public property from tire or other
loss.
Seeing the importance, in the first year of its practical op-
eration, of having this new institution managed with pru-
dence and an accurate account of its expenses recorded, as
a criterion for the future, he concluded to accept the charge
of it, and, with his wife as matron, resided there during the
year 1872.
No two persons could have been found who combined
more intelligence, industry, fidelity and efficiency for the
varied duties of the position, than Mr. and Mrs. Weeks.
Nor will the house ever be managed for the interests of both
the inmates and the public with more sedulous care than
was exercised by them.
Besides the active duties of supervising the house, he
conducted the correspondence, purchased the supplies, kept
the accounts and register, and never hesitated to "put his
shoulder to the wheel," whenever his skill and strength
were required. He originated and began the system of in-
terments in a uniform manner, and of registering the same
for future identification.
HIS TEMPERANCE PRINCIPLES.
He may justly be considered a temperance veteran ; for
when he was about two years old, he refused all drinks bnt
pure water. What at first might have been a freak of ob-
stinacy, became, in time, a settled principle, from which
neither persuasion nor ridicule could move him.
Before the first temperance society was formed in 1825
he was a "cold water man," and for more than fifty years
has quenched his thirst with nothing but. water, to the ex-
elusion of all spirituous liquors, tea and coffee. Nor has
he ever used tobacco in any form. He feels neither the de-
sire nor need of these articles. To his abstemiousness in
this respect, and to his physical activity, he ascribes the
long combined good health and strength with which he has
been blest.
46 YAPHANK AS IT IS.
He would urge the youth of his country, for their health
and independence, to adopt the same habits. And he would
dissuade the young men of our land from the use of intoxi-
cating drinks, and from the useless and pernicious practice
of using tobacco.
To those addicted to this habit he likes occasionally to
relate, that an ingenious citizen of Boston once devised
A SUBSTITUTE FOB TOBACCO,
The chief recommendations of which were, that it was
just as nasty, and a great deal cheaper !
PERSONAL.
Mr. Weeks is about the medium height, compactly built,
fully developed, active, and powerful. His countenance is
dominant, but intellectual. He has a pleasing address,
and is unpretending in his language and appearance. He
walks with a hurried, eager gait, and, seen upon the street,
would be taken for a mechanic, or some one with a job on
hand, and a limited time to perform it in.
He is never at a loss for something to do. With his
family cares, his bees, his garden, and work-shop, his atten-
tion and labors are ever employed and diversified.
He is skilled in the use of mechanics' tools, and his work-
shop is replete with every one in ordinary use. With his
books and the public journals his leisure time is beguiled.
He always sees something ahead not yet accomplished.
Mr. Weeks was always fond of athletic sports, and is
still a graceful skater. Although not an adept in all the
variations of the modern art, yet he has never met an equal
in delineating the capital letters of the alphabet, with his
skates, on ice.
In 1848 he married Miss Mary Ooswell, of Schoharie
County, a most estimable and intelligent lady. Their union
has been blest with twelve children six sons and six daugh-
ters nine of whom are now living.
VI.
DANIEL DOWNS SWEEZY.
PERSONAL HIS BUSINESS IN THE FAMILY.
Downs Sweezy is the eldest son and heir of the late Chris-
topher Sweezy. His father kept a tavern for many years
in the old homestead ; that has since been demolished. In
those early days, what is now Yaphank was then Millville,
or Middle Island, an almost unknown hamlet of about half
a dozen houses.
PERSONAL.
D. D. Sweezy is about sixty-live years old, sickly and
broken-down.
His sympathy for the outside world and the suffering
masses is limited. Generally agreeable and entertaining,
sometimes arbitrary and self-willed. He looks out on the
world, he sees the oppressed struggling in the sea of pov-
erty, he knows the bleak winds chill the hearts of thou-
sands, and that the inexorable demon ever haunts their
door. His ears are deaf to their cries, and his eyes rest
upon them as upon a Summer landscape.
Downs Sweezy is not a charitable man !
In his dealings with men he is called honest and honor-
able, but exacting and stringent. If there be any enviable
side of a bargain, he inevitably secures it.
The history of Downs Sweezy is the history of his
brother, Van Ransellar. God has given them much of this
world' s goods. He has made their hearts smile with plenty.
While others go down in the vortex, they prosper and are
happy. Their " munificent " gifts are ''showered " on the
48 YAPHANK AS IT 18.
church. If the spiritual demands are satiated they regard
the world and social decorum secure. But, who will ap-
pease the physical ? None can satisfy the requirements of
God with an empty stomach ! Did the Israelites in the
wilderness ? Will our local poor ? Then let our rich un-
lock their coffers ! God has blessed them witli abundance ;
but he never intended they should hoard while poor hu-
manity cries for bread. It is a solemn spectacle to see men,
whose livos hang upon brittle threads, labor more eagerly
on the road to riches as the grave draws nearer, and the cur-
tain is rolling down over their last acts !
HIS BUSINESS.
By profession, Downs Sweezy is a miller and farmer.
For years Van Ransaeller and himself worked the old mill
their father owned. Time made rapid changes. Their
father died ; Van Ransaeller sold his interest to Downs,
and the old mill was hauled down, and a more capacious
and better modeled one built on nearly the old site.
His mills have proved paying institutions, and have a
reputation of over sixty years' standing.
IN THE FAMILY.
He has a wife and one child a daughter. In them is
centered his interest. Bread would be deleterious to his
stomach if his family pronounced it unfit food. May would
be the dreariest month of the year if his family did not
enjoy it; and thus he is known in the family. He is a
pleasant man at home affable and courteous.
Of late Downs Sweezy has not given his business much
personal supervision. He has suffered many long years
with a chronic disease, and twice tottered over the brink of
the grave.
As long as the waves murmer on the shores of Willow
Lake, and the groans of Sweezy' s Mill are wafted to the
ears of the villagers, the name of Sweezy will remain fresh
on the annals of Yaphank's history.
EDWARD WICKHAM MILLS.
VII.
EDWARD WICKHAM MILLS.
HIS YOUTHFUL ENTERPRISE HIS SENSIBLE VIEW OF BUSI-
NESS POPULAR WITH ALL PERSONAL.
HIS YOUTHFUL ENTERPRISE.
The subject of this sketch was born in Middle Town,
Orange Co., the 19th day of June, 1849. He is the son of
Edmund Smith arid Elmira Finn Mills.
Early in life young Wickham evinced an enterprising
inclination, and combining an invincible will with honorable
resolutions, he launched into the business world. His
name was first brought before the commercial public in a
manufacturing capacity. Like all successful merchants and
tradesmen, he was first doomed to endure a failure, before he
could appreciate a success. His factory speculation was not
auspicious, and may be credited as one stumble in his finan-
cial career. But defeat is in dispensable to lay a facile road
to wealth. Thus, when but a youth, he became involved
in a money difficulty that would have discouraged more
mature minds.
But young Wickham was not disheartened. Though his
initiation into a business sphere slightly wilted his enthusi-
asm, it never daunted his fixed determinations and aspira
tions.
He canceled all claims against him, left the ether so
unhealthy, and came to congenial little Yaphank.
In 1859 he entered the store of his brother-in-law, as
under clerk. His restless enterprise did not allow him to
remain contented in that humble position, and giving posi-
52 YAPHANK AS IT IS.
tive evidence of greater efficiency, was deservedly promoted
to the head of Mr. Mills' mercantile affairs in Yaphank.
His increasing business increases his friends and popu-
larity. Such laudable motives in a young man are sure
prognostics of a brilliant future.
In 1872 we see him again settled upon a mercantile foun-
dation, as the dashing young successor to J. P. Mills. No
more a slave of the dry-goods counter, he is responsible for
the success or failure of his own establishment. When the
shingle of "JOHN P. MILLS, MERCHANT," was taken down,
and the glaring appellation of " E. WICKHAM MILLS"
looked out over the dormant village, a ring of joy echoed
from every home.
HIS SENSIBLE VIEW OF BUSINESS.
Mr. Mills enjoys a reasonable view of this subject. He
believes that what nature kindly bestowed upon us we
lack in ambition and enterprise ; that if we can centre cap-
italists' attention to our wasting virtues, a multiplication of
population will inevitably follow, and opposition spring
up. Opposition being the vital of trade, good effects will
consequently ensue ; thus benefiting merchants, tradesmen
and citizens alike. He believes there are stumbling stones
in every path to improvement, and that the path to Yap-
hank is no exception.
POPULAR WITH ALL.
With his customers and friends he is popular for his fa-
cetiousness and gentlemanly bearing. , Always character-
ized by his humor and jocularity, he wins a friend in every
patron.
From the four points of the compass his customers flock.
No house in Brookhaven Town has a firmer corner stone, or
*
has stood more firmly through financial eruptions and
panics, than his.
The extent of his trade is really astonishing. Far up
among the hills of Coram he sends his wares. The people of
YAPHANK AS IT 18. f>3
Bellport, Brookhaven, Southaven, Mastic, and Moriches,
use his merchandise. From the Manor and Eastport, and
other Eastern villages, the people come to buy their goods,
and to drive hard bargains. In Middle Island, Sweezy-
town, and the Ridge he is known as the luminary of
''Mills' store."
His books will favorably compare with any similar
establishment in Suffolk Co.
The head -light of his house is politeness. The tottering
old lady, with a dozen eggs and a pound of butter, is granted
an exchange as pleasantly and with the same air of polite-
ness that is showered upon the " upper tens," who carry a
rustle of nacarat and an odoriferous scent of band-boxes
about them.
PERSONAL.
Mr. Mills is about five feet eight inches in height, and
more handsome and prepossessing than business men gen-
erally are. His cheerful, agreeable manners win him friends
among the stern sex, while the Napoleonistic twists of his
elegant moustache charm the gentle element to perfection.
He has mastered the "dips" that fascinate the tender
ones, and while he possesses all the art requisite to win the
good graces of both sexes, he is also as undeniably popular
in the parlor and home circle as in the business sphere.
A polite "good morning," and a graceful bow, are ar-
ticles connected with his establishment that cost no outlay,
but are priceless to him.
He is slight in build ; compact and lithe : while a merry
twinkle beams from his guileless orbs.
He never boasts, says but little regarding his private af-
fairs, and carries concealed the tide that turns the wheels
of MB business.
He is very fond of music, and is quite an Arion in his
way. For years he has sung in the Presbyterian choir, and
he moves conspicuously at their meetings.
54 YAPHANK AS IT IS.
His heart is centered in his increasing business, in the
young ladies of his acquaintance, and in the friendship of
all. In consummation he is a model merchant, a model
Yaphanker, and ah ! were it my privilege to declare him a
model husband and papa ! Well, he is a model beau, ne
vertheless, as many blushing damsels are willing to verify.
May his lines ever be cast in pleasant places ; may his
voice never lose its ring, or his smiles fail to plant roses in
the hearts of the dear ones !
VIII.
ALFRED ACKERLY.
HIS BUSINESS IN THE CHURCH.
Alfred Ackerly was born in Patchogue, Suffolk County,
September 16th, 1818.
He came to Yaphank, December 9th, 1843, and began his
apprenticeship with Tunis Whitbeck, a wheelwright.
He is fifty-six years old, but looks much older. Like
Hawkins Gerard, his daily worth is daily substantiated ;
and it can never be said of him that his every -day life and
examples have guided souls astray.
In the death of Mr. Smith, he suffered the loss of a Chris-
tian friend and confidant ; indeed, he lamented much his
tragic end.
His is the blended features of benevolence, consecration,
and sincere piety. His heart is so evidently in consolida-
tion and in unison with his missionary spirit, the warm-
hearted Christian man, and not the egotist, wins the esteem
of all.
During the great revival of 1853, in Yaphank, he found
peace in a Saviour's love, and bowed before the God of his
fathers. He has since been a supporting pillar of the
Church ; in fact, one of the most supporting.
Many affairs of the Yaphank Presbyterian Church are
trusted with him ; and the minds of its members rest un-
alloyed by fears of his abusing their confidence, so un-
bounded is their faith in his honesty and integrity. Mr.
Ackerly wears the garb of every-day Christianity, and dons
no pharisaical robes to make good impressions, and in-
dulges in no crocodile tears to melt the hearts of the worldly.
56 YAPHANK AS IT 18.
He prays with unassuming earnestness and a heart over-
flowing with Gfodly and philanthropic love. He is a repre-
sentative Yaphanker, because, if there is any external and
internal virtue in the place, he is a representation of that
limited morality.
His habits are regular ; and it would not be difficult to
meet him on weekdays, or on the Sabbath. He seldom
deviates from the beaten routine of his business and habits.
Mr. Ackerly is a friend to every man, woman and child,
and is an earnest advocate of the Golden Rule. He knows
how to touch the hearts of sinners. Unlike many co-work-
ers in the same vineyard, he never startles his hearers with
a dreadful catalogue of crime attached to their individual
selves, except those guileless ones within the partial walls
of the churcli ! He shuns egotism in his walks with men,
thus escaping the rock upon which so many Christians
split.
He was for years the chorister of the Yaphank Presby-
terian Church and Superintendent of the Sabbath-school.
The former position he probably would have occupied to
this day, but the church, growing more aristocratic, he gave
way to an imported bellowing machine.
HIS BUSINESS.
He is a wheelwright by profession, and is considered an
excellent workman. After he was married he came to Yap
hank and mastered his trade in his brother-in-law's shop.
After he became a journeyman, and anterior to his perma-
nent residence in Yaphank, he worked as a ship mechanic in
Drowned Meadow Port Jefferson.
His patrons know him, and his work meets satisfaction.
Men that wish a job done on which reliance can be placed
carry it to his shop.
A movement was set on foot in 1872 to establish a car-
riage factory in Yaphank, and Mr. Ackerly was conspicu-
ous as one mover. It is a work still in contemplation, and
one the vicinity is incomplete without.
IX.
SAMUEL F. NORTON.
AH A NEIGHBOR AND FRIEND IN THE CHURCH AT HOME.
Mr. Norton was born at Selden, Soffolk Co., in 1814 ; he
is, consequently, 60 years of age. He married Eliza Sweezy,
a daughter of Christopher Sweezy, Yaphank, and settled
here in 1847.
AS A NEIGHBOR AND FRIEND.
If smiles and jokes scatter flowers along Life's rough
path, Dea. Norton is a benefactor to mankind. His kind
words and ever-smiling face have lightened the burdens of
many weary travelers on the Great Highway ; and where
thorns would have grown, he planted the sweet rose by his
cheering words and generous deeds.
If a neighbor or friend is in distress, succor and aid can
always be found in Dea. Norton. Whether you meet him
on the street or in the social circle, a pleasant word and
smile will greet you. He never changes. He wears the
same geniality under Winter's dark and lowering clouds as
in the sunny days of June. When clouds obscure the sun,
his jokes are just as pithy. While the storms of life are
raging without, he has an Eden within. God bless such
men! If more fathers were like him, and more husbands
imitated his example, less tears would be shed, and less
anguish be suffered !
IN THE CHURCH.
Dea. Norton is purely Presbyterian in his religious be-
lief. He has been an elder in the Yaphank Presbyterian
68 YAPHANK AS IT IS.
Church for many years, and the position he will probably
hold until he is borne to his grave. The same sympathetic
cheerfulness characterizes his movements in the church that
makes him popular without. No man in Yaphank possesses
the qualifications, or could give the universal satisfaction
that is annexed to his connection and relationship with the
church and its affairs.
He is elastic and sprightly in his disposition ; cheerful,
open-hearted, and honorable. The honor of Yaphank, his
adopted village, is always dear to him ; and the spiritual
and physical wants of his townsmen find a home in his
heart.
As long as Yaphank has a being, his name will form an
important part of its historic interest.
AT HOME.
In the family he is jovial and genial. To appreciate his
true merit, he must be seen "At Home." His primitive
occupation is " tilling the soil," but he is ingenious at any-
thing, and worked for a long period in the shop where
Alfred Ackerly is now settled. In the phrase of the country,
he is a jack-at-all-trades.
Mr. Norton is well versed in the history of his age, and
is an interesting conversationist ; not dignified and ostenta-
tious, but social and instructive. An evening could not be
whiled more integrally pleasant than with Samuel P. Nor-
ton.
X.
JOHN HAMMOND.
PERSONAL AT HOME, ABROAD, AND IN THE CHURCH.
Sketches of prominent Yaphankers, minus the history of
John Hammond, would not be complete. His burly figure
towers prominently everywhere. Strangers don't appre-
ciate the beauty of Yaphank until they gaze upon his ele-
phantine form. He is acquainted with the history of nearly
every citizen old and young. Their lives good and bad-
lie buried in his astounding memory. He can rake over the
bones of the past at will, and excite his hearers with a re-
cital of the events connected with the career of " So-and-so.'
To insure the success of any undertaking in Yaphank, Tie
must first be interviewed, his advice obtained, and ideas
consulted ; then rush impetuously onward success is
yours !
If a sensation throws the village into excitement, the de-
tails of the case can earliest be obtained of him. If one be
in doubt regarding "the scandal about So-and-so," he di-
rects his steps toward Mr. Hammond's shop. That shop
is famous ! It is as well known in this vicinity as the Mam-
moth Cave is in Kentucky, or the City Hall in New York
City.
PERSONAL.
Mr. Hammond was born in Yaphank, Nov. 25, 1814. He
is, accordingly, 60 years of age. He has a large, heavy
frame, fully six feet in height ponderous and powerful.
Mr. Hammond is a pleasant companion, abounding with
anecdotes and humor ; and did he not dive too often into
60 YAPHANK AS IT IS.
personalities, and unlock his knowledge of men and things
a more agreeable neighbor and citizen could not embellish
the record of any village.
He is an old whaleman, and made a number of voyages to
ki Greenland's Icy Mountains," during the whaling fever-
During James Weeks' administration, he was conductor on
the Long Island Railroad, and during his three years of
office he lost not one day. Mr. Hammond has traveled
uch, and has a knowledge of the great events of his day.
e can recall, with remarkable exactness, what transpired
a half century ago. It is interesting to listen to stories of
his school days, and the incidents familiar with the names
of our most prominent men.
AT HOME, ABROAD, AND IN THE CHURCH.
If John Hammond's pleasantry was not fitful and varia
ble, and his spirits governed by the clouds, and changing
events, a kinder father and husband could not exist. In
the language of an old villager : "He can be the most agree-
able, or the most disagreeable cuss on earth." But I would
inform my readers that there are more despicable characters
than John Hammond, and they exist in a land of civiliza-
tion, too, and under the ring of the Gospel. His disagree-
ableness is an exception, and not the rule of his life. He is
very blunt in the use of language, and what slumbers in
his heart, he pours out on friend and foe alike.
Mr. Hammond is a pleasant man at home, and the
wants of his family are few. The attractions of home are
dear to him, and he never wearies in extolling his children.
Abroad, Mr. Hammond would be taken for an old school
merchant, or a railroad king ; in fact, one of the solid men
of the times. At home, he would be taken for what he is.
In the church he figures conspicuously. He is called a
man of rare musical attainments, but has superiors.
Mr. Hammond is considered a partisan of the " Iron
Government" a denouncer of improvement as circum-
PAPHANK AS IT IS. 61
vention. Gyneocracy, Woman's Rights, and Ben. Butler
would be buried in one tomb if his will was supreme.
He is termed J. P. Mills' vindicator, confidant, and
champion. What Mr. Mills don't like, Mr. Hammond will
not endorse. What he does like, will be attained, if com-
bined efforts possess power. It is astonishing what vast in-
fluence Mr. Mills sways over the minds of some of our most
solid citizens ! He is indirectly responsible for the present
state of affairs in this place. In obeyance with his will,
one hundred thousand dollars would be invested in embel-
lishing the place, introducing new improvements and busi-
ness, and trebling the census of Yaphank in one year. A
dozen prospering factories would raise their smoky peaks
heavenward, and send the cheering din of trade to the lan-
guid homes, in accordance with his wish.
XI.
SAMUEL LESTER ROMAN.
PERSONAL.
S. L. Ho man was born in Henry street, Brooklyn, Jan.
31, 1823. He is not a decidedly prominent Yaphanker at
the present time, but sixteen years ago was the largest
farmer in the place. He employed more laborers, and did
more toward advancing the Noble Art, than any citizen in
Yaphank.
But fire, fraud, war and ill -health did its work with
him. When the Great Joel Smith Fire crossed the Island,
it swept away his woodland. Affliction after affliction fol-
lowed like an armed man. Piles of cord- wood rotted by the
L. I. Railroad track, which he was obliged to lose through
the rascality of the company. He looked blindly through
a veil. To recover his losses, he purchased another farm,
and enlarged his business. Ton on ton of fertilizing ma-
nure was plowed under the sod of his new purchase, and
the sky looked clear once more. Soon the boom from
Fort Sumter rolled over the land. That gun was the signal
of his downfall. The men who grasped him by the hand
in prosperity, refused him compromise or aid. He never
asked for quarter, and it never was granted. His Summer
dreams had vanished, and he went down as many strong
men have gone before. His relations proved foes, and the
waves of adversity dashed and beat him to pieces. He
was a great conceptualist, with defective concentrativeness.
When the clouds gathered, he was obliged to succumb to
unrelenting creditors, and conceded without a murmur.
YAPHANK AS IT IS. 63
His new purchase faded from view, and his loss was
another' s gain.
PERSONAL.
He is a very retired and unobtrusive man. Failure has
darkened the sky of his life, and the society of men is un-
congenial to him. He believes honest men are exceptions,
and not universal. He delights to talk of the smart men
that are gone, and dotes much on the ability of his grand-
father, Esq. Mordecai Homan. With his grandfather he
always lived, and stood beside his couch when he expired.
It has been publicly declared that Esq. Homan was, and
always will be, the most illustrious Homan that ever lived,
or ever will live, in Brookhaven Town. That assertion re-
mains to be substantiated by time ! but it is remarkable,
that among all his descendants, not one has inherited his
indomitable will and enterprise.
SERENO BUBNELL OVERTON.
XIT.
JSERENO BURNELL OVERTON.
PERSONAL EMBARKS UPON A MERCANTILE SEA THE TRUE
MAN.
PERSONAL.
S. B. Overtoil was born on the 6th day of August, 1827,
which makes him forty-seven years old. He lias a tall and
muscular form, well proportioned and developed. Person-
ally and physically he appears not over twenty five. His
invariable pleasantry and good humor have made him
friends of all who enjoy his acquaintance and society.
Mr. Overton is the sole surviving brother of a family of
live all falling victims to that implacable foe to mankind,
consumption. He is a working member of the Yaphank
Presbyterian Church ; and a supporter of that incorpora-
tion.
Tn his dealings with men, he is sharp and shrewd, but
honest and relenting. All his actions are characterized by
an original system of his own. No man pays more regard
to the laws of health, or the demands of nature, than does
Mr. Overton. He has learned that the best is the cheapest;
thus walking in light, while thousands grope in darkness
to their graves. He has, long ago, arrived at the laudable
conclusion that "it is not all to live, or all to die;" and
made the choice of eternity in 1858. Mr. Overton builds
not on the sand; he knows that life is but a breath com-
pared to the great unfathomed, and sows his seed wisely.
He is an unostentatious man at home, and in the church ;
and attracts no attention with pompous words and gilded
68 YAPHANK AS IT IS.
deeds. No man completes my beau ideal of perfection ;
for no man is free from guile. As long as the sun throws
its effulgent rays over the earth, so long will wickedness
abound. But, if more were like S. B. Overton, the sun's
beams would pierce less dens of horror, and the peals of
Sabbath bells echo over less "waste places/'
EMBARKS UPON A MERCANTILE SEA.
Mr. Overton was early apprenticed to the carpenter
trade ; and after mastering it, he restlessly gazed over more
fascinating fields than wielding the indispensable plane. In
1851, he cast aside his architectural tools, and opened a
store in Yaphank, in partnership with his eldest brother,
Osborn.
In combination with butchering and marketing, they did
an extensive business. In 18 , Alfred Ackerly and Son
purchased the business and good will, and the Overton
partnership was dissolved.
Reverses are many. Bankruptcy, and not success ; ad-
versity, and not prosperity, is the law of trade. While
many around Mr. Overton envy him his success in life, but
few possess his erfergy, shrewdness, and clear comprehen-
sion of business. What sensible mind believes that the
wheel of fortune is driven by the hand of luck ; and who
credits the virtue of luck ?
Sereno Overton had fewer opportunities to rise in the
world than most young men of his day. His parents were
poor; he early began to struggle for himself; arid if the tide
of fortune ebbed and flowed in his favor, and the billows of
adversity beat and tossed those around him, it was due to
superior business talent on his part, and poor management
on the other.
While in mercantile business in Yapharik, he was saving,
prudent, and judicious. He made money, friends, and an
honorable name ; and is more popular to-day than twenty
years ago.
YAPHANK AS IT IS. 69
THE TRUE MAN.
No one can speak depreciatingly of Mr. Overton ; no one
doubts his Christian integrity, and no one is too high or too
low to cherish his name. In Yaphank, and wherever his
popularity extends, he is honored and respected for his
unchanging pleasantness, sociality, and honesty.
He is master of his business, and makes or refuses a bar-
gain almost immediately. As a speculator in his business,
he is very successful. He would be successful at anything
he might apply himself thoroughly to. He is sagacious,
has excellent judgment and much experience, and is candid
and unwavering.
The struggle for wealth may prove the doom of many ;
many memories may be destroyed by gold, and many may
deviate from the pledged vows and narrow path, because
the glittering god shines more transplendent in the broad ;
but there are men that we naturally credit with more stabil-
ity of mind, and firmness of will, than to be swerved
by even the powerful influence of gold ; and one glance
at the genial but firm -looking gentleman at the head
of this sketch, will confirm that he can unquestionably
be included in that list of lamentably scarce individuals
who rank honor and friends and a hope in the good by-and-
by above the short enjoyments of gold. Mr. Overton is a
True Man.
EDWARD LIVINGSTON GERARD.
XIII.
EDWARD LIVINGSTON GERARD.
PERSONAL A REVIEW HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS.
Edward L. Gerard was born in Port Jefferson, March
llth, 1836. He came to Yaphank in 1842 when but six
years old and entered the family of his uncle, Hawkins
Gerard.
He early evinced decided executive ability, and soon be-
came manager of his uncle's business, and is his probable
successor. While the giddy and gay were whirling their
leisure hours in the ma/y dance, or frequenting places of
amusement, young Edward was poring over his books and
storing up the knowledge that has proved so indispensable
in his after life. Mr. Gerard began life with nothing but an
honest purpose, an invincible will, and a kind uncle and
aunt ; but by his untiring energy and his thorough compre-
hension of the details of business, he has gained for himself
an unquestionable business reputation. He is an industri-
ous, hard-working, public-spirited man, and has done much
to improve Yaphank.
In th Autumn of 1871, he was elected a Superintendent
of our county poor, in which capacity he reflects credit
upon himself and his constituents.
Honorable as is his record in business relations, it is as
a Christian and neighbor that his name is cherished. He
has long been a member of the Yaphank Presbyterian
Church, and at the present writing officiates in the follow-
ing capacities : elder, trustee, organist and secretary. In
the infancy of that enterprise, its prosperity enlisted his
74 YAPHANK AS IT 18.
uncle's sympathy, prayers, and beneficence ; while Edward,
in its success and firm establishment, in the beautiful little
house of worship, and under able pastors, greatly rejoiced.
He married in 1873, and decided to settle in Old Yap-
hank a place made doubly dear to him by business suc-
cess and friendship's sacred ties. Yaphank could ill afford
to lose so honorable and enterprising a citizen as E. L.
Gerard has ever shown himself to be.
PERSONAL.
Mr. Gerard possesses two peculiarities that won General
Grant national fame. What he knows he uses practically,
and for a purpose. He has chosen his calling, and mas-
tered it. Like our illustrious President, he is not loqua-
cious. What he says and does although sometimes gov-
erned by innate arbitrariness is intended in strict conform-
ity to honesty and honor.
He is a trifle below the average statiire ; slender in build,
with a wide-awake, X an kee look and action. His prosper-
ity is due to personal exertions ; luck is limitedly attached
to his success.
Men who envy Mr. Gerard his sunshine, could never be
induced to follow his clouds to acquire it. No man in the
town works harder, or labors more hours than he. He is
invariably at his business. Agreeable and accommodating,
he deserves success.
When Robert Smith was nominated a Superintendent of
our county poor against Mr. Gerard, he was universally
considered the strongest and most influential candidate.
Mr. Gerard's election annihilated all party fears, and he has
since grown stronger in public favor, for none doubted his
business qualifications and veracity.
Mr. Smith' s defeat while it won Gerard victory reflects
no discredit on his individual ability and qualification. The
political sea ebbed and flowed against him. Majority won,
d he lost the day.
YAPHANK AS IT IS. 75
A HEVIEW.
Mr. Gerard is sometimes amusing, but never alluring ;
sometimes pleasant, never fascinating ; often spicy, never
satirical. He would be successful in any mercantile or com-
mercial department. He would be prominent as a mer-
chant, banker, or broker ; but never as an orator or minis-
ter. He might become a second Stewart, but never a Spur-
geon.
By strangers, Mr. Gerard is seldom deemed prepossess-
ing. He is too retired unassuming and unpretentious to
please the fancy world. Steady, honorable, not supercili-
ous, nor ostentatious, he must be known to be appreci-
ated. In consummation, he is neat, but not gaudy.
HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS.
He has what wealth or position cannot buy : a contented
mind.
Dame Jenkins says "A man is contented while fortune
smiles." Oh, you cruel proverbial !
Mr. Gerard early took to beneficial study, and is consid-
ered as well informed in the current lore as the prevailing
privileges allow.
Within the classicial walls of the Miller's Place Academy,
Edward mastered the rudiments of a common education.
Even in his early life no great cables circumferenced the
earth with bonds of electricity, and no iron horses thun-
dered-over the land as at the present day, snorting their
civilization and steam enterprise into the trackless forests.
Railroads were in operation, but not extensively. Galvanic
batteries seldom shocked the skeptical nerves, and no Gre-
cian bends frightened the superstitious. Science had made
but little progress, and was crudely original. Now, steam
plows uproot the sod, and golden grain waves over the
land, where the original Americans slew the bison and built
their wigwams but a little while ago. Thus E. L. Gerard
acquired his education in an age not over a quarter of a
76 TAPHANK AS IT 18.
century ago when science had not reached the culmination
we now enjoy ; and arithmetic, writing, geography and
spelling comprised the principal academic course.
Mr. Gerard is somewhat of a musician, and is regarded
as good musical authority. He is ingenious, withal, and
has produced articles possessing mechanical excellence.
XIV.
SAMUEL SMITH.
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE HIS INSANITY HIS HORRIBLE END.
Mr. Smith was born at West Field, Selden, September
26, 1822. He came to Yaphank from the East ; he came in
search of fortune and health, and found them ; he found
the inland air invigorating and bracing ; the society proved
congenial, and he prospered and was happy. . In the
church he figured actively, and helped to sustain a num-
ber of fruitful revivals. Mr. Smith was a working Chris-
tian, and feared he failed to meet the demands of his Sa-
viour. Some say Mr. Smith pounded the anvil of his own
glory ; but it is a cruel accusation. He was a semi illiter-
ate man, and where he erred he did it blindly. With his
settlement in Yaphank, to the day of his tragic death, the
same Godly spirit guided him ; and he often drank, with
sorrow, the water of Jordan. Each heart knoweth its own
sorrow! No one suspected the trouble battling in his
bosom until the storm burst. Upon God's altar he often
poure'd out his earthly tribulations, and wept over the in-
difference of straying sheep.
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE.
He was a hard-working man, driving and precise in busi-
ness ; he was not a genius, but what he lacked mentally,
he substituted physically. Mr. Smith was a remarkably
punctual man at business, and as regular as old Sol peeped
o'er the Eastern hills he was about his calling.
78 YAPHANK AS IT IS.
HIS INSANITY.
Thursday, January 29th dawned bright and cheering
on the quiet village. No outward movement denoted that
it was destined to be a very eventful day to Yaphank. In
the cemetery men were preparing a grave for all that was
mortal of Captain George Hulse, one of Yaphank's most
respected citizens. After a protracted illness of three years,
suffering with a disease he was positive must result fatally,
he calmly and unmurmuringly yielded to the implacable
summons.
Tiie day preceding the funeral of Captain Hulse, it was
rumored that Samuel Smith was a religious maniac. He
was insane on religion, as proved. Many doubted the re-
port, and others credited all pertaining to the sensational
rumor, as Mr. Smith had established symptoms of an alien-
ation of the mind, and appeared suffering and despondent
for a number of days. Thursday morning he desired to be
carried to an asylum, as he feared his inabilit}^ to with-
stand the great mental conflict that was torturing him. The
symptoms evinced a positive aberration of the mind, and he
was no longer responsible for his acts. He was closely
watched, and why the deed was not frustrated is a mystery.
He at first attempted destruction by hanging, but a ladder
in the barn was an obstacle. His wife appeared on the
scene, and entreated him to " come into the house." She
left him a moment to call his son, and the deed was done.
With a maniac's instinctive cunning, he knew that a minute
more, some one would interfere between him and his pur-
pose. Determined to die, he grasped his pocket knife and
plunged it twice into his neck. The blows severed a main
artery and pierced his wind-pipe.
HIS HORKIBLE ENDt
Bleeding and dying, he was led into the house. Doc. J.
I. Baker was immediately summoned, and declared his re-
covery hopeless. For three hours the Doc. held his finger
YAPHANK AS IT IS. 79
in the severed vessel ; hoping a congelation of the blood
would allow a junction of the artery. All that medical skill
could execute was performed in the almost hopeless en-
deavor to save him from a suicide's grave.
He called a number of young converts around his bed,
and though insanity was the originator of ,his blameless act,
he rationally conversed with them on religious subjects,
and implored them to shun the paths wherein he had erred,
and to seek " the gold that is tried in the lire." " I hope
you will speak well of me when I am gone,'* he said;
"and regard my last acts as the work of the Fiend." He
spoke commendably of Mr. Lockwood, the Presbytefvan
minister, and declared the last sermon he listened to a most
impressive one. He spoke of friends he once knew and
loved, and lamented that he had done the deed.
He lingered until the evening of the 30th, when his spirit
abdicated its home of clay, and Samuel Smith was num-
bered among the gone.
No doubt he is singing the songs he loved to sing when on
earth, and sounding praises with those that passed over be-
fore him.
XV.
EDWARD HOMAN.
AS A NEIGHBOR AND FRIEND PUBLIC AND PRIVATE.
\
This gentleman was born in Yaphank, Dec. 22, 1820. He
married a Miss Mary Snowden in 1859, a lady then living
in the family of Nathaniel Tnthill, of Y-
AS A NEIGHBOR AND FRIEND PUBLIC AND PRIVATE.
Mr. Homan is a quiet, unloquacious man ; fond of re-
tirement and his farm. He is regarded as a gentleman of
unblemished principle and honor. What "Uncle Ed."
says is never doubted. He is a man that always appears
happy, and on good terms with himself and the .world ; but
few are aware of the clouds that sometimes shut out the
cheering rays.
He has a sister that for many long years has been a bed-
ridden sufferer, and a burden to him. Hundreds of hard-
earned dollars have poured into physicians' coffers for dear
and apparently valueless advice and attention.
Mr. Homan is an " old school " gentleman one of those
paragons of solidity and uprightness. He received a clean
record from his father, and will hand one down to his chil-
dren.
His father, Thomas Homan, reared a numerous family,
and Edward' s brothers and sisters are scattered far and near
over the land. He is the sixth or seventh child of a family
of four sons and six daughters. Edward was the drone ;
remained at home and u took care of the old folks." He-
inherited the " old farm," together with the consolations of
YAPHANK AS IT IS. 81
health and an iron constitution, and an invalid sister to
support. He never murmurs, but plods steadily along,
surmounting intervening obstructions patiently.
Mr. Homan possesses a fertile farm, with considerable
wood-land; and is reputed to be in " comfortable circum-
stances."
He has but two children a son and daughter. The
former, like Joseph, is a ''son of old age."
Mr. Homan depicts the scenes of his childhood with un-
feigned pleasure, delights to recall the names of those that
have faded in the past. He smiles as he greets those long
absent, who were young with himself; and silently mourns
as the faces of those he knew and loved in boyhood, fade
from view.
His vociferousness never will make him popular or ex-
ceedingly ill-famous ; nor will his impetuosity make him a
man to be feared. He appreciates 'oratory and eloquence
equally as enthusiastically as E. L. G-erard, and would be
about as successful an orator or statesman.
Nevertheless, like Mr. Grerard, his talents are equal to his
business and calling.
At home he is an example for all fathers and husbands,
and guards precisely his walks and talks.
As a neighbor, he is cherished for his accommodating
and honorable disposition. His virtues are not philanthrop
ically or patriotically conspicuous, but appear in a more
laudable direction than if remarkable for public spirit.
XVI.
DOC. JAMES I. BAKER.
PERSONAL HIS EARLY LIFE TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS
A NEIGHBOR, FRIEND AND FARMER.
In this connection I will introduce Doc. James Irvin
Baker, a very popular gentleman and physician.
PERSONAL.
Doc. Baker was born in 1829. He is forty -five years old,
and live feet ten inches in height, tall and gracefully pro-
portioned.
He studied and graduated in 1851 at the Albany Medical
College. It may be added that his medical career has
proved an enviable success, and an honor to that institu-
tion.
Few medical practitioners are more familiarly acquainted
with the diverse changes and hardships that must harmon-
ize, in the much-abused, and, sometimes, unappreciated
art of successful medical practice, than Doc. James Baker ;
and the number is still less who can gaze calmly back over
twenty years of daily experience, and view a cloudless sky
at the lapse of that period, a sky unclouded by the abuse
that physicians, as a class, are compelled to eat with their
porridge and blend with their pills.
When Doc. Baker settled in Yaphank, in 1860, he was
unknown save by family relations on Long Island. As
is common with nearly every young physician's practical
beginning, there are many fears to allay and doubts to
YAPHANK AS IT TS.
appease, before the public will place confidence and faith in
newly -introduced talent.
Doc. Baker met with many obstacles ; but he sur-
mounted all, and soon gained a firm footing by his acknowl-
edged skill and judgment. Professional prejudice naturally
arose, and many schemes were hatched to crush the "young
usurper." But he eluded the intrigues, stood firmly at the
wheel, and eventually sailed into an "open sea."
He is every way qualified for his calling. He has talent,
nerve and skill. He forms a prognosis quickly and accu-
rately, and is seldom misguided by existing prognostics.
A diagnosis, by James Baker, is generally satisfactorily
received by the profession and the public.
HIS EARLY LIFE TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS.
When sixteen years old he began teaching school and
studying medicine. The latter he pursued, in connection
with teaching, a portion of his time, living with his precep-
tor and aiding him in his practice during the time.
In 1849 he was matriculated into the University of the
New York Medical Department, where he remained until
March, 1850, when he entered the Albany Medical College ;
an institution he considered preferable for rapid and thor-
ough advancement.
He graduated when but twenty-two years old, and imme-
diately began business. Owing to hard work, exposure, etc.,
his health grew precarious, and he suffered repeated attacks
of bleeding from the lungs. He grew more and more
physically miserable, and, in 1860, determined to abandon
his profession. In accordance with his resolve, he disposed
of his home, drug store, etc., and visited Long Island.
His health rapidly improved, and he again entered into
his arduous duties. His pulmonary affliction vanished,
and he became a hale and hearty man ; another verifica-
tion that this is one of the healthiest sections in the wide,
wide world.
84 YAPHANK AS IT IS.
The incidents and events coherent witli his professional
life are similar to those which must universally happen to
all physicians engaged in a country practice, where the
oracles of the dead language are expected to be surgeons,
oculists, dentists, etc., etc., and to be prepared with all
medicines, instruments, and the many mysteries that doc-
tors generally carry about with them. They are expected
to comply with all calls by day or night, rain or shine, and
to unmurmuringly undergo exposures, cares and anxieties.
To enumerate one-quarter of the many amusing, sad and
remarkable events attached to his record as a medical prac-
titioner, would fill a small volume.
The Doc. informed me that the only "Reminiscences of
a Physician" he ever perused, and that ever gained much
popularity, was published in London, and caused much
trouble ; many persons believing that it alluded to them,
notwithstanding fictitious names were used.
The medical art is the most profound, sublime and classi-
cal science extant ; but one can count with the fingers the
names of men who have gained the goal of medical ambi-
tion, and who stand pre-eminent among the clique.
Quackery is startlingly prevalent, and the men are many
who professionally mislead the unwary and innocent with
delusive circulars, and ruin soul arid body with patent
poison. As long as people patronize these dabblers in life,
and disregard the warnings and advice of family physicians,
so long will a dubious cloud hover over this great science,
and a deteriorating effect be seen.
A NEIGHBOR, FRIEND AND FARMER.
To please "everybody" is an art few have acquired ; and
to please one's self and "everybody else," is accomplished
by still less. Doc. James Baker is one of those rare
paragons of pleasantry. He is determined to please, to be
agreeable and mirthful.
YAPHANK AS IT IS. 85
No one ever interviewed or whiled an evening with Doc.
Baker, without becoming captivated with his pleasantry
and humor.
He is always accostable and courteous, and be the sun
in the East or down in the West, he always greets with a
smile.
He is a member of the Yaphank Presbyterian Church,
and has held many offices of trust and responsibility in the
parish and town.
Doc. Baker is an interesting companion, a pleasant
neighbor, and a staunch friend.
He is, certainly, a "self-made" man, and his practice and
wealth were secured by personal exertions. His success is
a guarantee that " where there's a will there's a way."
XVII.
MORDECAI HOMAN.
OFF FOR THE MINES ADVENTURES IN CALIFORNIA SUC-
CESS AND FAILURE ON THE SEA AND LAND.
Mordecai Homan was born in Yaphank, December 17th,
1825.
Probably no man that ever lived in Yaphank, or lives
here at the present day, possesses a wider practical know-
ledge of the world, than the subject of this chapter.
He has circumnavigated the globe many times, and has
experienced the frozen excitement furnished by the whale
fisheries in the bleak Arctic. He has seen London in its
glory, and Paris in its beauty ; is acquainted with the ups
and downs of mining life, and familiar with the wild scenes
in Australian mines and jungles.
He visited California during the gold excitement, when
the country swarmed with desperate men and loose charac-
ters of all sorts, nations and color ; when muidering, i eb-
bing, fighting, and gambling was the universal pastime, and
mining the occupation. He has met desperate men on the
sea and on the land, and mingled with murderers, counter-
feiters, forgers, and villainous people of all nations ; with
some of the most depraved characters that ever sailed the
seas or stalked the land. Not by taste or preference did he
associate with villains and hardened men, but as a natural
consequence of an adventurous life.
When whaling was a remunerative business he made a
number of voyages to the frozen North ; but the fever soon
subsided, and his roving disposition allured him into newer
fields of adventure.
YAPHANK AS IT IS. 87
When but seventeen years old he sailed for the icy seas ;
but later in life we see him
OFF FOR THE MINES.
In 1849 he joined a stock company, which purchased the
bark ship Galindo, and sailed for San Francisco. Arriving
there, the company disposed of the ship and dispersed for
the mines.
Mordecai labored in the mountains a number of years,
when he was stricken down with the small-pox in a most
malignant form.
He was alone in a half-barbarous country, prostrated by
a deadly disease, and surrounded by cut-throats and bad
men ; but hope never forsook him, and an iron constitution
bore him through his terrible ordeal.
He arose from his couch of misery emaciated and feeble :
but kind hands and kinder hearts came to his succor, and
his wasted form grew robust and strong. After his illness,
being unable to immediately enter the mines in consequence
of physical prostration, he "kept" store for the miners,
&c., after which he sailed for Australia. There he worked
in the vein a period, going all through the Australian mines,
and remaining there about eleven months, when he sailed
down the coast of Chili* to Valparaiso. There he again
shipped in the clipper ship Mischief, and set sail for China.
The ship touched at San Francisco, where Mordecai met
an old friend and was induced to again enter the mines.
ADVENTURES IN CALIFORNIA SUCCESS AND FAILURE.
Again he swung the pick and blasted for gold. He suf-
fered many hardships and exposures ; indeed, more than
usually fell to his hardy companions.
By his efforts he had amassed a snug little fortune, and
began packing his provisions and effects from the moun-
tains toward Trinidad. He had packed and remained in an
Indian encampment one night. The Indians appeared
88 YAPHANK AS IT is.
friendly, and gave him much salmon and other tokens of
friendship. The encampment was composed of fifteen
hundred warriors, who, a few days after, gathered in coun-
cils of war.
Mordecai saw that an ominous cloud was gathering along
the frontier, and, combined with the influences and opin-
ions of prominent leaders, the company immediately started
down the coast toward Trinidad.
On the march they came upon and determined to encamp
near rich diggings, although opposed by those who were
aware of the intended Indian revolution and declaration of
war.
He left his three partners at the camp. They expected to
bury their gold dust, provisions, &c.. and then follow to
the mines.
Mordecai was then prospecting with others, when a
friendly Indian arrived and reported that the camp had
been attacked, and " all hands killed and robbed." Their
arrival at the camp verified the sad news. The Indians had
surprised the camp and butchered and robbed all.
Mordecai not only was afflicted by the murdering of his
partners, but lost seventy-five hundred dollars in gold dust,
seven pack mules, and fifteen hundred pounds of provi-
sions.
Two of his partners were killed outright, while the third
wounded and dying had dragged his mutilated body
into concealment.
He was rescued, but died soon after. The miners then
consolidated and moved directly toward Trinidad. They
met a body of soldiers on the march up the mountains, who
were sent to their aid simultaneously with the first war-
whoop.
Mordecai arid many other miners entered the ranks, and
returned to fight the dusky foe.
The incidents connected with his participation in the In-
dian war are to numerous to record. He assisted in de-
molishing Indian villages, destroying their crops, &c., and
YAPHANK AS IT IS. 89
then returned with the band to Trinidad, and thence to San
Francisco.
In 1856 he sailed for his Island home, having passed seven
years in the wilds of California and Australia ; meeting
success and failure, sickness and exposure ; and passing
through adventures and escapes that would fill a volume of
thrilling events.
PERSONAL.
Mr. Homan is about forty-nine years old crippled and
prematurely broken down. His memory is rich in reminis-
cences of travel and adventure, which makes him an inter-
esting conversationist. He is not egotistical, and is seldom
the "hero" of hair-breadth escapes and bloody encoun-
ters. He is a thorough sailor and a superior navigator.
His heart and kingdom are upon the "deep bhie," and
his love for excitement grows more enthusiastic as he sails
down the tide of life. He probably will leave his boots at
sea.
He is decidedly abrupt and unceremonious in his speech ;
but "if he stumbles with his tongue, it is the head that's
wrong, and not the heart that goes astray."
EDWARD HENRY S. HOLDEN, M. D.
XVIII.
EDWARD HENRY S. HOLDEN, L. M., M. MS., N. Y.
JUS MORAL AND SCIENTIFIC WORTH HIS RECOMMENDA-
TION A REVIEW.
HIS MORAL AND SCIENTIFIC WORTH.
I lament that I cannot grant the space and time to this
sketch of a truly learned and popular gentleman and phy-
sician, that his worth and acquirements certainly deserve.
To say that Dr. Edward Holden is a true gentleman and
scholar, would be to reiterate the oft-repeated declarations
of his admirers and patrons. Not only a physician by
title, but virtually a successful, gifted and thorough M. D.
The great men of his profession in England and America,
feel proud in ranking him a peer. In the halls of learning
in the City of New York everywhere where doctors of
high standing are wont to assemble -Dr. Holden is gladly
welcomed and appreciated for his profound learning. His
most intimate relations with such eminent members of the
fraternity as James R. Wood, Lewis A. Say re, Willard
Parker, and William Detmold, and many others of the
first rank, is an unquestionable passport.
But he relies not upon his high standing among the great
men of his profession to advance his success and public
favor, for, I can say with authority, that no physician on
Long Island outside of Brooklyn is better qualified as a
doctor of medicine than Edward H. S. Holden.
HIS RECOMMENDATION.
He came not to underrate, disparage, or depreciate
others, to establish himself in the good graces of the pub-
94 YAPHANK AS IT 18.
lie ; but with the bright laurels of his public examination
still blooming, and the voices of his English admirers and
classical collegiates bidding him God speed to the free
shores of the New World, where honor and emolument
awaited him.
How proud am I, tiiat to me was accorded the honor of
penning this miniature sketch of a truly talented, but not
sufficiently appreciated scholar. Dr. Holden is the author
of many beautiful sentiments in prose and verse, and the
varied culture of his mind is illustrated by the diversified
talents of the men he once loved to gather around him.
His nature is true and sympathetic, but untinged by any
sickliness of taste. He is a critical, dispassionate commen-
tator on the great questions of the day, with a mind that
cannot be shaken b}^ political storms. How common place
and dim the brilliancy of preceding chapters appear, when
I consider the contents before me.
A REVIEW.
Edward Henry S. Holden was born in Birmingham, War-
wick Co., England, on the 9th day of April, 1801. His parents
were Richard and Ann S. Holden. He is five feet and two
inches in height, slight in build, and almost feminine in his
physical development.
Three score years and ten have sprinkled his hair with the
silvery emblems of old age, and his stooping form predicts
a sure decline of the physical man.
In imagination we will tread back through the hazy past
of seventy years, in England, and dwell over the events of
his boyhood.
His fourth to seventh years were passed at boarding
school in his native county, in the acquisition of the arts of
spelling, reading and English grammar.
On the completion of his seventh year, his uncle being
one of the governors of Christ's Hospital, London, he en-
tered the classical department, under the Rev. Drs. Arthur
YAPHANK AS IT IS. 95
W. Trollope and F. W. Franklin, where he pursued the study
of the Latin and Greek languages, with a view to the clerical
profession, but, on the completion of his fifteenth year, be-
ing dissuaded, he abandoned the intention of studying The-
ology, and left the institution.
After some months' deliberation, he eagerly resolved to
adopt the profession of medicine, for which purpose he
went to Bath, and began his studies under the tuition of
Surgeon Walker, a former pupil of Surgeon Baynton.
He there enjoyed the most cordial friendship of the
highly accomplished scholar and judicious physician, Doc.
Caleb Hillier Parry, to whose scientific attainments he is
indebted for much information, both of a medical and liter-
ary character.
Before the expiration of his second pupilage year, he had
formed an attachment for a young lady, whose parents were
desirous of breaking off the growing affection because of
her extreme youth.
Young Holden deferred the study of medicine for a sea-
son, and returned to London, where his father then resided,
and engaged in the counting-house of an eminent commer-
cial firm until the close of the year 1821. On the 25th day
of February, 1822, banns having been previously published
in due form, he was married by Rev. J. W. Bellamy, D. D.,
at St. Mary's Abb. Church, to Ann Margaret Gladstone,
granddaughter of Sir John Gladstone, formerly of New-
castle, England, and sailed from London at the end of May
in the same year, in the ship Acasta, of the Griswold line,
bound for New York, where they arrived on Saturday,
July 13th.
The yellow fever appeared very soon after his arrival in
the great metropolis of the New World, which, causing an
interruption to business, made it imprudent to engage in
any permanent occupation.
The following year he opened a drug store, which he
steadily attended till the month of March, 1826, when he
resumed his favorite study, by entering the office of Doc.
96 YAPHANK AS IT IS.
Alexander H. Stevens, Professor of Surgery in the old Col-
lege of Physicians and Surgeons, in Barclay street, at which
college he matriculated, and attended the lectures of all the
professors during 1828 and 1829.
In the Spring of 1830 he presented himself before the
President and Censors of the Medical Society for examina-
tion.
Those gentlemen, to testify their appreciation of the
promptness and correctness of his replies to every question
propounded to him, proposed to honor him by a public ex-
amination in the hall of the college, to which he readily as-
sented. Thus, on the 15th of February, 1830 date of
his diploma Doc. Holden verified, to the satisfaction of
all, his profound and extensive learning, and the remark-
able adaptability of his genius to the great science, of
which he is an honorable and superior representative. He
was then admitted as a member of the Medical Society of
the City and County of New York, in 1832.
After practising in New York City (with the exception of
two years one in Washingtonville, Orange County, and
one in Troy) from 1830 to 1850, he moved to Holbrook,
L. I., where he remained three years. He then moved to
Middle Island, remaining there until May, 1858, when he
moved to the Manor ; from which place he moved Novem-
ber of the same year to Bast Moriches. There he lived
until November, 1859, at which period he moved to Yap-
hank, where he>till resides.
His wife now in her eighty-third year -was afflicted, be-
tween two and three years ago, with a severe and danger-
ous illness of six weeks' duration, which left her in so de-
bilitated a condition that she has never regained her previ-
ous degree of health.
Of a family composed of three sons and two daughters,
onlv one survives, the Rev. Robert Holden, an Episcopal
clergyman, and Rector of Trinity School, New York City.
Doctor Holden may well feel proud of such a noble son.
The old gentleman has not long to gaze upon the bright
YAPHANK AS IT IS. 97
things of this land, for weight of years is bearing him down,
and the smiles of the genial old man must soon fade ; but
how sweet will be the consolation of his declining years, to
know that when he is summoned to go, and the implacable
sword of death shall sever the brittle band that holds to this
vale of tears, his name will still be borne ; aye, borne up-
ward to honor and distinction in the estimation of his fellow-
men.
The pillow of death will be softened, and the agonies al-
layed, by the sweet voice of a tranquil conscience.
Tranquil, because his palmy days are o'er, and no cloud
bedims their glory ; peaceful, because he ever drank the
gall himself, and gave the sweetened honey. No thorns
will be gathered with his harvest of roses, and no troubled
conscience will mar the long, long sleep.
Soon the bitter words of foes will be forgotten, and the
taunts of enemies will cease over the grave. With me, the
little world of Yaphank will ever speak with reverence of
the man who was too good to be rich, too great to be in au-
thority, and too learned to be fully appreciated.
XIX.
NATHANIEL TUTHILL.
MR. TUTHILL'S BUSINESS HIS BENEVOLENCE.
Nathaniel Tuthill was born at West Wading River,
Brookhaven Town, January 22, 1797.
He is the fourth child and second son of Nathaniel and
Elizabeth Tuthill. His mother's maiden name was Skid-
more. She was an ambitious woman, and inculcated upon
Nathaniel's mind much that has been of service to him.
From his boyhood everything was regarded secondary
by Nathaniel, but money. When a lad he would play tru-
ant from the district school to earn a few dimes by doing
chores and cutting wood in the forests that surrounded his
early home. Those principles became habitual, and were
indelibly stamped upon his mind, and he grew to be a
man with the determination to be rich.
He worked upon his father's farm until twenty-two years
old ; he then went to what is now Baiting Hollow. There
he and his brother Benjamin labored ; they inherited a fer-
tile farm, and the well-known Conumgum Mills.
In the Spring of the year 1819 he exchanged the farm
with his brother for the old mills, and by the operation
made one thousand dollars.
During the same year he sold part of the mills to John
Buckingham, and the remaining portion to Richard Tuthill,
his cousin, in 1820.
During the Summer of 1820 he wandered about, like Mr.
Micawber, "waiting for something to turn up." The busi-
ness "turn up" was not accommodatingly profitable, and
YAPHANK AS IT 18. 99
he returned to Baiting Hollow in that Fall and purchased
back the farm from his brother.
As usual, he made money by the operation, and as in
business, so in love, he was remarkably successful.
He married in the year 1828, and came to live and die in
Yaphank.
Mr. Tuthill is about seventy -seven years old, above mid-
dle height, and a good type of the solid old men of his
time.
He has the large bone and rather loosely-knit frame of the
Long Island farmer. A narrow, small, but intellectual face,
refined away from its ruggeder prototype, and that cleanly
shaven face and powerful frame peculiar to that class of
men who believe in race and brawn. He is a rapid talker,
and one that comprehends the mighty power of words.
There is no idealism in Mr. Tuthill ; and no poetical or
romantic sentiment ever reflected in his composition.
He may see the blue sky, the majestic mountain, the
flashing cascade, the tender flower blooming upon the in-
hospitable hillside, but he strives not to fathom the great
and mysterious- lesson they teach. He will perceive more
beauty in a gold dollar, or a fine herd of cattle, than can be
reflected from all the tender flowers and flashing cascades
in Christendom.
Mr. Tuthill is an old man, and the sands of Ms eventful
life are fast running out. It would not be startling if it
were soon said that he were dead.
His wealth is signally identified with his life, but may
the gold that is tried in the fire be identified with his
death !
He is reputed to be worth nearly seventy -five thousand.
Years of practical experience with the world have sharp-
ened his shrewd, keen intellect, and made him a wealthy
man.
He is a bland, pleasing man, seldom losing that aggra-
vating equilibrium of mind and purpose that make men
successful in the trafficking world.
100 YAPHANK AS IT IS.
While others are plunged into chaos, he retains a stolid
indifference. Soft words of honeyed sweetness fall from
his well-oiled tongue, thus paving a facile entrance into all
hearts.
If a man has a bargain to give away he knows he can
find a "taker" in Nat. Tuthill. Men who are "cramped"
in business, and want money, and who are willing to grant
a liberal bonus, interview Mr. Tuthill.
He is a far-seeing business man. He knows that men
enter into undertakings that are too much for them. He
watches their movements, he marks the rocks in the channel,
and when the crisis comes he blandly offers aid.
Bankruptcy, disgrace and abuse loom up before their
bright dreams ; they accept his proffered kindness, and are
fast within his toils.
A young man just launching his frail bark in life re-
ceives little encouragement from Nat. Tuthill. He points
to his own record, and smilingly advises " To root or die. 11
He little thinks that deep down in some hearts is written
the secret of his success. Men look upon his hoary head
and bent form and exclaim, " There goes the shrewdest man
in Brookhaven Town." It is music in his ears ; he delights
to be known as cunning in trade, and as " a rich man."
He has confidence in his own ability. In his own lan-
guage, he "lays his plans, and makes them work."
Those who deal with him seldom request a compromise.
His ways are not obvious, and a mist hovers over his whole
life.
A gentleman soliciting alms for a religious purpose came
to Mr. Tuthill for aid. He subscribed twenty-five cents,
and a laborer in his employ gave one dollar. Twenty -five
cents is, apparently, his fixed charitable donation.
Nat. Tuthill is the poorest rich man in Yaphank. If he
creates odium by his actions, he smiles upon the wound,
and vanishes hatred by odoriferous words.
Everywhere he is regarded as the same comprehensive
and penetrating man ; possessing astute and sagacious
judgment.
YAPHANK AS IT 18. 101
During the religious revival of February, 1870, Mr. lut-
hill became deeply impressed. He bowed before the altar
among a chaotic crowd, and mingled his tears with the
young converts.
April 16, 1870, he joined the Presbyterian Church, and
his sins were washed away (?) Four years have elapsed,
and that great showering of the Divine Spirit is still fresh in
the memory of our people. Thirty professed to have bidden
farewell to the vain things of earth, and donned the robes
of Christianity. Where is the wheat of that beautiful har-
vest? Why are the supplications that rang in '70 dying
in '74? 'Tis one of the unexplained mysteries of Yaphank.
MR. TUTHILL'S BUSINESS.
He has been a farmer all his life, and by close attention
to business, has acquired wealth amounting to many thou-
sand dollars. Mr. Tuthill is a popular veterinary surgeon,
and has made more money at that branch of his business
than on his farm.
'" Uncle Nat." is acknowledged authority on all the mys-
teries pertaining to the agricultural art, and his counsel is
eagerly sought. He takes delight in tine stock, and reiter-
ates with pleasure the remarkable weights his animals have
attained.
When he married his wife he married a fine farm and
considerable property annexed.
In the old farm-house where he lives, lived and died the
lamented Isaac Mills. Mr. Mills was his father-in-law, and
complained much of Nathaniel's severity to him.
Although the broad, rich fields were "Uncle Isaac's,"
arid although he reared the roof above his head, he enjoyed
little fruit of his labor. In the person of his son-in-law
came a dictator, and when his daughter was led to the altar
"Uncle Isaac's" happiness was blighted upon the bunch
of matrimonial sweets.
As a veterinary surgeon, Mr. Tuthill has realized some
success, but any success at all grants a premium to ignor-
102 YAPHANK AS IT 18.
ance. How a man with no theoretical knowledge of an art,
and meagre education to achieve success, practically, can
succeed is a scientific enigma.
HIS BENEVOLENCE.
Like his wealthy neighbors, Mr. Tuthill is not public-
spirited, and he bestows as much upon religious advance-
ment as upon other enterprises where his personal interest
is not concerned.
While conversing with a friend he remarked that, if it
were possible for him to " step back" thirty years, and still
retain his knowledge of money-getting, that he could rear a
colossal fortune.
How inexorable is the law of Nature ! How blessed it is
that the rich and the poor, the triumphant and the op-
pressed, must all take equal chances in the lottery of life !
The rich man must finally bid adieu to the land of gold and
lie down as low as the plebeian. Wealth may make one
famous, but ar great man must be good. The emoluments
earned in life will fade from the tablet of memory, but honor
and principle will endure forever.
ALEXANDER SMITH
is a colored compeer of Frederic Douglas, in Mr. Tuthill' s
employ at the present writing.
How true the words of a popular writer, " That in many
unknown graves lie the mouldering mortality of men who
could have startled the world, had the blessed ways and
means been, proffered them."
How many great minds are living in obscurity to-day,
who require only the little accident to burst open the bud
of their latent talents.
How many men black and white have loomed up amid
the stately hills of New England, and made their names
way -marks in the world. How many sturdy lads have left
the plow, the lap-stone, and the anvil, to cross swords in
YAPHANK AS IT IS. 103
martial glory, and to dictate the laws of the land in their
walks and talks with men.
Frederick Douglas' youthful attainments were no more
promising than the colored subject of this sketch. Those
who are acquainted with the character I have the boldness
to present, will probably laugh at the variety of my com-
position of this work, but must acknowledge the moral
superiority of my subject to others who possess whiter ex-
teriors.
There is no regal road to fame, and no royal covering to
budding greatness.
Alexander Smith was born at Coram, Long Island, Dec.
15th, 1849. He came to Mr. Tuthill' s when but five years
old. He has a brother and sister living. There is not a
family in all Yaphank but welcome him as a friend. The
people honor and countenance him because of his uncom-
monly excellent disposition and character, Although the
slave of one of the most exacting men in Brookha veil Town,
he stands upon a whiter reputation than my preceding
subject.
He has wonderful inventive faculties, and he offered to
wager that he could properly adjust all the complicated
and complete parts of a steam engine, however distributed.
He is a working member of the Presbyterian Church, and
is respected everywhere as an upright and honorable man.
It is not presumptuous in predicting for him a brighter
future than usually falls to the luminaries of his dark race.
XX.
AUGUSTUS FLOYD, ESQ.
THE DESCENDANT OF A NOBLE FAMILY HIS PERSONAL AP-
PEARANCE HIS ECCENTRIC AND RETIRED LIFE A BRIEF
SKETCH.
Familiar and cherished is the ancient family name of
Floyd. From Gen. William Floyd, one of the revolution-
ary heroes, down to the present period, the name has been
prominently before the people of Long Island, and espe-
cially of Suffolk County.
The Floyds are a dignified and noble family, and their
lineage bears connection with a proud and haughty people,
who flourished during the reign of the warlike George.
Back, far back in the past of old England, the same aris-
tocratic blood coursed through veins of men whose illus-
trious names have been swallowed up in the vortex of time.
Augustus is a peculiar looking man. One might travel
from Maine to Texas and never meet a face that would
close!}' resemble his. In his face are the fading lineaments
of departed nobility. In the Houses of Lords and Com-
mons he would easily appear as a dignitary who had passed
from the excitements of parliamentary life into the gold
and silver seclusion of an English nobleman's retirement
Mr. Floyd makes a confidante of but few, and he greets
strangers with jealous coldness. His connections with the
outside world are through reliable agents, and men whose
family relationship secure his confidence.
He was long an honorable practitioner at the New York
bar, and a conspicuous luminary among his legal associates.
YAPHANK AS IT IS. 105
His chronic deafness forced him to exchange the bright
prospects of his profession for the quiet sweets of a village
delitescency. For many years he was slightly "hard of
hearing," but the disease gradually assumed a more aggra-
vating form, and finally culminated in his abandonment of
a remunerative and popular profession.
Mr. Floyd was born at Mastic, in this town, in 1795, and
came to Yaphank in 1849.
Mastic is, and was, the country home of some of the first
men of the country. There Gens. Nathaniel Woodhull
and William Floyd prominent in revolutionary time-
erected homes, and commuted the grim excitements of the
great struggle for independence, for the rustic enjoyments
furnished by the shores of the Great South Bay. There
lived Col. Floyd, and there grew up around him a talented
and successful family. Among them the Hon. David G.
Floyd, a brother of Augustus, and the popular Judge,
John Floyd, another brother.
David G. Floyd and the Hon. William Sidney Smith, of
Longwood, were the representatives from Suffold Co., in
the Assembly, in 1856, and old Suffolk was never better
represented.
Mr. Floyd lives a very retired life in Yapliank, and it is
seldom that the footsteps of a stranger break the routine of
his privacy.
It is difficult to gain any information from him regarding
the ups and downs of his life, and his physical misfortune
places him uncongenially with the villagers.
Men, like Mr. Floyd, who have figured much in the bust
ling world, always have interesting histories; but, of all
men, they are generally the most difficult to approach upon
matters connected with their lives, and never endeavor to
conceal their hereditary abhorrence of informing the public
about their concerns. Their stolid exteriors veil the trials
and triumphs of busy intercourse with the world, and the
humble and honored are ever minus their experience in the
field of enterprise.
106 YAPHANK AS IT IS.
Richard M. Baylis, in his elaborate sketches of Suffolk
County, dwells interestingly, in a semi-biographical sketch,
upon the lives of Mr. Floyd's most illustrious progenitors.
Indeed, it would be apprising my readers of what they
must already know, to say that Augustus Floyd is highly
connected, and bears a family name that leads limpid and
untarnished to an ancestor who lived and died in the palmy
days of England' s great men.
He never participates in our village undertakings, never
appears at public gatherings, and is seldom seen upon the
street.
His circle of acquaintances and friends is limited to the
members of a few families in highest standing, and he con-
verses freely with but few.
To the' "gentle ones" I would say that Mr. Floyd has
never borne Hymen's galling chains, and his days are
whiled in "single blessedness." What will establish him
more charmingly in their estimation^ is the extent of his
wealth. What he is actually worth I have not the author-
ity to declare, and even a hazarding estimation could not
be received as satisfactory. It is generally known that his
possessions consist principally in money investments, but
it is as absolutely unknown to what extent and where in-
vested.
In person he is tall, spare, and decidedly unpreposses-
sing. He dresses carelessly, and without artistic taste. He
walks with a sweeping gait, looks down at the ground, and
pays but little attention to what is transpiring around him.
With his books and correspondence he spends the princi-
pal portion of his time, and he sups and dines when
nature prompts him, be it at midnight or otherwise.
He gives but little to charity, and his subscriptions to
local institutions are seldom marked for their munificence.
Mr. Floyd is far down the shady side of life, and for
nearly four score years has experienced the alternate clouds
and sunshine which form the wormwood and honey of a
life.
GEORGE FRANKLIN THOMPSON.
XXI.
GEORGE FRANKLIN THOMPSON.
HIS QUALIFICATIONS AS A BUSINESS MAN A WOKD TO THE
GENTLE ONES HIS DECIDED STEPS.
This gentleman was born in Hempstead. Queens Co.,
September 19th, 1852.
Although but twenty-two years of age, he has had a
liberal experience in the world, and has acquired an accu-
rate understanding of what men must undergo to enjoy
success.
When but a lad lie was apprenticed to Thomas Calister,
of Brushville, Queens Co., a carriage manufacturer, where
he became an excellent painter, and garnered many ideas
of business life.
Of a family composed of eleven children three of which
are dead George is the eighth child and third son.
His parents are good, substantial, every-day people, and
rejoice in a family of stirring, energetic children.
HIS QUALIFICATIONS AS A BUSINESS MAN.
George has a ready intellect, and a quick perception that
is reliable and peculiarly adapted to his profession. He is
attentive and civil in his dealings with men, and "knows
how to make money." The public is a contributor to his
pocketbook, and he is determined to please.
When beginning in life, he made the resolutions to be in-
dustrious, and to never gamble or drink liquor.
He went steadily to work to learn a trade for himself.
Was frugal, industrious, and attentive. He has good
110 YAPHANK AS IT IS.
health, good prospects, and 'an inflexible purpose to bear
him onward. Such a man need never fear the frowns of the
world, or the cold billows that beat and dash the best.
His good mother is a Christian educator to her children,
and their good standing in the world is sacred to her heart.
A WORD TO THE GENTLE ONES.
Mr. Thompson is a young man, unmarried, with pleasing
manners and address. Although very young, he is a repre-
sentative man. The best society in Yaphank is pleased to
welcome him, and he is regarded as a young man of un-
questionable character and standing, with a prosperous
future before him.
As yet. Mr. Thompson is without the all-important rib,
and is a magnet of unusual value. He is considered quite
a "ladies' man," and they are undeniably earnest in their
declarations of his being " real nice."
He seems indifferent, however, about the absorbing sub-
ject of matrimony, and is apparently more enthusiastic over
fortunate speculations than the beauty and virtue of wo-
men and their paraphernial fixtures.
HIS DECIDED STEP.
When Samuel Smith died, his shop and business was
idle, and the ' ' stand " was a prosperous and much coveted
one. Mr. Thompson saw the excellent opportunity, and
purchased the shop and all connected therewith.
He makes his own money, minds his own business, and
is polite, cheerful, and honorable. People patronize him
because he and his work can be relied upon. Mr. Smith
gave much satisfaction, but Mr. Thompson gives more.
The flattery of the world never confirms his belief that
he is altogether bad, nor does he heed abuse.
Some of his happiest hours are passed with his gun and
dog. He is a splendid marksman, and a true appreciator
of athletic humanity.
YAPHANK AS IT 18. Ill
Although very young, he is a representative man. The
best society in Yaphank is pleased to welcome him, and he
is regarded as a young man of unquestionable good charac-
ter, with a prosperous future before him.
Panics may shake the country to its business centre, the
reverses may throw the business men into chaos, but there
will always be an opportunity for such as Mr. Thompson.
He keeps his own counsel, is driving, far-seeing and stir-
ring.
It is but natural that one should picture a pleasing future
for Mr. Thompson. A loving wife and a pleasant home are
the double portion he deserves.
XXII.
ALFRED REID, SR.
AN ORPHAN' $ STRUGGLE BEGINS BUSINESS A FINANCIAL
CRASH PERSONAL.
Mr. Reid was born, June 25th, 1822.
His parents, James and Sarah Reid, were steady, indus-
trious people, but death separated him from their kind,
parental attention when he was very young.
AN ORPHAN'S STRUGGLE.
When three years of age, he was deprived of a kind moth-
er 1 s care, and to his indulgent father he turned in his youth-
ful grief. But the fates were plotting against him, and in
October of 1834 his father died.
Without a cheering word to buoy his anguished heart, he
plunged lonely and inexperienced into the angry sea of ad-
versity and affliction.
But few stopped to soothe the orphan's trials, and he
earned, his bread at various callings until the close of the
year 1835, when he became an indentured apprentice to the
upholstering business.
At that he served three years and a half, when the firm
became bankrupt from the effects of the great panic and
business revulsions of 1837 ; at which time he bought his
indentures for the balance of the term he was bound to serve.
Being well advanced in his trade, he labored at journey
work earning from three to seven dollars per day until
the year 1840, when he engaged for one year with a Mr.
Charles Irving, to take instructions at the bench as cabinet
maker.
YAPHANK AS IT IS.
i
BEGINS BUSINESS.
At the expiration of that time, he admitted his brother as
partner, and they began manufacturing sofas for old Tom
Bell, the great auctioneer of Fulton street, at that time.
They continued that branch one year, when they opened
a wareroom in Bleecker street, New York City. Business
not prospering to Alfred' s satisfaction, and for other causes
of a private nature, he withdrew from the firm.
He again began at his trade, working for Mr. Abial W.
Swift, packing his work by contract, and hiring his own
assistants.
He continued in Mr. Swift' s employ until that gentleman
sold his interest to John Meads, of Albany, when he en-
gaged to Mr. Meads for two years.
By that time he had accumulated about five thousand
dollars, and he immediately established a wholesale furni-
ture house at 36 Essex street, in April, 1853.
In 1846 he had married a daughter of Nathaniel H. Van
Winkle, with whom he has ever lived happily.
He continued his business at 36 Essex street until the
year 1857, when he sold out, and bought property at 53
Bowery, where he remained in the furniture business until
the breaking out of the Great Rebellion.
A FINANCIAL CRASH.
When the bombardment of Fort Sumpter began, Mr.
Reid left his elegant home in the morning, a wealthy man,
and came back at night penniless. Over sixty thousand
dollars he lost in the period of twenty-four hours. War
severed all concurrent or reciprocal action with his debtors
in the South, and to this day he has not received the small-
est percentage of his dues.
He groaned under the cruel load for a short time, but at
last tottered and fell ; went down again to his small begin-
ning ; went down as many strong men have gone, without
hope of recovery.
114 YAPHANK AS IT IS.
He returned to his trade as a journeyman, exchanged
his colossal home and beautiful furniture, in a fashionable
part of the city, for a humble home and humble fare in
Tremont, Westchester County.
That house he soon exchanged for his pleasant home in
Yaphank, where he now resides.
Reverses came upon Mr. Reid like thunderbolts from a
cloudless sky. His health grew precarious, and life be-
came blacker and blacker to him. A fortune lost in a day !
A home among the elite to-day, and a humble cottage out
of town to-morrow, all are features of business reverses in
New York.
PERSONAL.
Trouble and ill-health have broken him down ; his hair
is grey, his constitution shattered, and his cheerful laughter
seldom heard.
He is a superior conversationalist, and always has a
pleasing fund of anecdote, humor and intercourse with the
busy world.
JAMES HUQGINS WEEKS.
XXIII.
JAMES HUGKHNS WEEKS.
HIS EARLY HISTORY AS A RAILROAD MAN PERSONAL
HIS EARLY HISTORY.
Mr. Weeks was born in the city of New York, July 28th,
1798. He was the son of James Weeks, a merchant in that
city.
At an early age he began attending select school in that
city, and although educational advantages were more prim-
itive, and classical privileges less extensive than now, he
began the study that culminated in a sound business
education .
In 1808, his parents moved from New York to Oyster
Bay, Long Island, and took up their residence upon the old
paternal farm. There young James continued his studies
in the Oyster Bay Academy, then under the supervision of
Rev. Marmaduke Earle.
In 1818 he married Susan Maria, the second daughter of
Major William Jones, of Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island,
residing principally in^Pyster Bay until the year 1827. At
the expiration of that year, he moved to Yaphank, having
previously purchased a large tract of land a portion of
Col. Smith's patent. In 1836, in conjunction with William
Sidney Smith and Robert H. Gerard, he purchased the old
Homan Mills, and erected a new and commodious one upon
the site of the old one.
Mr. Weeks' land estate is extensive. His farm is produc-
tive and valuable, and his acres of thrifty timber-land are
many. He has suffered much from repeated fires, and the
damage he sustained is considerable.
118 YAPHANK AS IT IS.
There is a system of cleanliness and exactness about
everything Mr. Weeks supervises, and his farm and build-
ings are models of neatness.
AS A RAILROAD MAN.
In 1834 a project was started by some prominent men in
the city of New York to build a railroad from Brooklyn to
Greenport.
Mr. Weeks early took a strong interest in the promotion
of the scheme, and was one of the Commissioners named in
the charter for receiving subscriptions for the capital stock.
In 1846 he was elected a director of the road, and in 1847
was chosen president continuing in that office until 1850.
He has also been a trustee of Brookhaven Town for four
consecutive years, a commissioner of highways, and filled
other positions.
PERSONAL.
Mr. Weeks is a man of the day ; fully up to the develop-
ments around him.
The record of his life-work is one that may be studied
with advantage by every one possessing sufficient spirit of
emulation to wish to learn the true secret of successful lives.
The undoubted success which he has achieved appears due
to the healthy, vigorous mental and physical education he
received. He has a wide-awake 4 practical knowledge of
the live questions that concern the world of to-day, and a
sound judgment of his own, which he ever reserves.
Mr. Weeks has but little sympathy for the struggling
masses ; possesses a calm, ev.en temperament, with no love
for notoriety, and no patience with any truckling for popu-
lar applause, and no greed for the honors of office.
His public life has been marked with judicious actions, a
iirm conviction of his own ability, and a clear comprehen-
sion of public policy and not civic rule. He and the Hon.
William Sidney Smith wielded 'great and acknowledged
influence during their active connection with the Long
YAPHANK AS IT IS. 119
Island Railroad, and Mr. Weeks' administration was a
successful and prosperous one.
Mr. Weeks has a spirit that was born to lead as well as
to follow, and is nearly coherent with that class of men who
are "born to command."
Few men have a better understanding of political and
private economy than he ; and he is a gentleman of quiet
but most genial manners, always true to his convictions of
duty, and very efficient in his quiet but usually successful
support of his ideas.
He lives apart from the village and the world in a beauti-
ful home, whose greatest charm is a loving wife, who, for
over half a century of years, has walked the sunset way
with him.
Mrs. Weeks is a refined and accomplished lady, and is
highly connected. She is a sister of Mrs. William Sidney
Smith, a lady of refined and cultivated mind and manners,
and the mother of a noble and talented famity.
Mr. Weeks never boasts of his wealth, his position in life,
or of his aocomplishments. He is a thorough business
man, and wastes no time in useless debate or parley.
From the New York Times of Sept. 26, 1866, is extracted
the following account of a daring attempt to rob Mr. Weeks,
in his home at Yaphank. The spirited and business-like
way in which Mr. Weeks usually disposes of difficulties,
will be evidently apparent in the Times 1 description, which
is as follows:
"On Saturday evening, soon after 8 o'clock, as Mr. and
Mrs. James H. Weeks, of Yaphank, L. I., were sitting in a
small front room of their house, in the eastern extremity of
the village, a gentle knock was heard at the door of a nar-,
row entry adjacent. Mrs. Weeks called the attention of
her husband to it, who arose, to open the door. Having
been in a slight doze, and not at once seeing clearly, he did
not go directly toward it, which Mrs. Weeks observing,
went herself and opened the door. As she did so, two men,
with faces disguised, pressed through the entrance. At the
120 YAPHANK AS IT 18.
same time, she saw two others standing outside. One of
the former presented a pistol toward her, with a threatening
' hush !' while the other entered the sitting-room and aimed
his pistol at Mr. W., with ' Your money or your life.'
" The words had barely been uttered, when Mr. Weeks,
now thoroughly aroused, sprang toward the fellow, and
with one hand seized the arm which held the pistol, and di-
verted its aim, while he grappled him with the other, forc-
ing him against the wall and window, and driving his elbow
through the latter. The outcry of Mrs. Weeks brought in
a domestic from another room, whom Mrs. Weeks directed
to blow a horn. In the meantime Mr. Weeks' assailant,
still firmly clutched by him, struggled toward and suc-
ceeded in reaching the entry, through which they both went
with a rush ; to avoid which the others precipitately re-
treated, and in so doing overthrew a large box of earth and
flowers, with its heavy supporting block, which, happen-
ing to fall in the way, tripped the heels of the fellow, who
fell backward, with Mr. Weeks on top of him. The fall
disengaged the parties, when the fellow sprang to his feet
and fled with the others, leaving a large black felt hat upon
the ground, where it was presently picked up, and is still
in Mr. Weeks' possession.
" Tb.e whole affair occupied less time than its recital, and
had it not been for the resolute courage and activity of
Mr. Weeks, who, by the way, is almost seventy years old,
we might have had to report what has lately became too
frequent an occurrence a bold and successful robbery, or
something still more serious, instead of this unsuccessful
attempt.
" We are happy to announce to the friends of Mr. Weeks
that, with the exception of some bruises below the knee, oc-
casioned by striking against the edges of the block, he came
out of the struggle uninjured.
" W. J. W.
Monday, Sept, 34th, 1866."
YAPHANK AS IT IS. 121
Thieves and house-breakers entertain a poor opinion of
Mr. Weeks since that occurrence, and leave him severely
alone.
Mr. Weeks is one of the marked men on Long Island,
and among the most influential. He represents the general
convictions and aspirations of the class of men with whom
he has long been connected. He may be wrong, but is
never arbitrarily so. People may curse his actions, but
can never deny his fixed and honorable motives. He has
been schooled for defeat as well as victory, and neither can
overcome him. Neither friends nor money can allure him
from what he believes to be right, and nominations for
office cannot corrupt him. He is no* political tool, and
never was, possessing no elective affinities of a great leader.
XXIV.
HON. WILLIAM SIDNEY SMITH.
AS A MILITARY TACTICIAN FROM THE DRAWING-ROOM
ACROSS THE WILDERNESS AS A PUBLIC MAN PERSONAL.
Mr. Smith is a lineal descendant of Col. William Smith,
the patentee of St. George's Manor, and was born at Long-
wood, a portion of the Manor, July 8th, 1796.
At seven years of age he was left an orphan, and his edu-
cational culture was under the direction of his uncle and
guardian, Gen. John Smith, of Mastic, Long Island. After
completing a thorough course, he entered the counting-
house of Cotheal & Russell, in the City of New York.
When twenty-one years of age he returned to his home at
Longwood, and took possession of the vast estate inherited
from his ancesters, and in the year 1823 he married Eleanor,
a daughter of Major William Jones, of Coldspring, Queens
County, Long Island, and settled permanently at Long-
wood the following year.
AS A MILITARY TACTICIAN.
Mr. Smith has been a public man for over forty years.
In 1815, while in the militia service t in New York City, he
was appointed an ensign in the 142d regiment of the New
York State Infantry, by Daniel D. Tompkins, then Gov.
of New York State, and in the following year was promoted
to the lieutenantcy of a company in the same regiment by
Gov. Tompkins. From that period until the year 1823,
he continued in the militia service. After his return to
Long Island, Gov. Yates tendered him a commission as
TAPHANK AS IT IS. 123
Brigade Major, after which he was offered a commission as
Colonel, which he declined.
FROM THE DRAWING-ROOM ACROSS THE WILDERNESS.
In the year 1819 over half a century ago Mr. Smith
undertook, and actually accomplished, a perilous journey
from New York to Natchez, Miss., 'through a trackless wil-
derness of howling forests and barren plains.
In those semi-barbarous days, and in that wild country,
life was purely original, and it must have been an effort for
a gentleman born and bred within the delicate circles of
refined life to have burst the silk and satin ties and plunged
into the then almost unexplored precincts of savage Indians
and wild beasts.
He was obliged to adapt himself to the primitive and
novel modes of travel ; the hardships of crossing mountains,
fording streams, &c., and the many inconveniences of
'' roughing it." Having accomplished the desired business,
he returned in safety, after an absence of four months.
AS A PUBLIC MAN.
Mr. Smith has held various town and county offices, and
has been a public man for nearly three score years. He
was County Treasurer for fifteen years ; has been Super-
visor of the Town, a School Commissioner, a Trustee, and a
Member of the State Assembly in 1834, '48 and '56. He has
also been a railroad director, trustee, executor of many
estates, and many minor offices of trust and responsibility
has he filled, and always with honor to himself and satisfac-
tion to his constituents.
His many years of official life are an undeniable verifi-
cation of his ability and integrity, and the utmost confi-
dence always reposed in him, a proof of his honor, ableness
and solidity of character.
124 YAPHANK AS IT IS.
PERSONAL.
Mr. Smith is of the medium height, about seventy-nine
years of age, with a slight, erect form, straight as an arrow.
His manners are quiet and unostentatious. He is a man of
great liberality, and a devout Presbyterian. He erected
a handsome residence at Longwood, and reared a family
of smart, energetic children. His sons are mostly public
men, and inherit much of their father's popular spirit.
People know Mr. Smith but to honor him. Conserva-
tives and Radicals, Democrats and Republicans, Catholics
and Protestants, say nothing ill of Mr. Smith.
There is an air of frank benignity in his manner, some-
times a tenderness in his tone, and always so sincere in his
efforts to please that one is captivated with his society.
He has a mass of information, anecdote, incident and story
about earlier clays that is interesting and. pleasing.
Mr. Smith is a generous creditor. If a man cannot meet
his contracts, and Mr. Smith is satisfied that he is honest,
he will never press him. He is a liberal supporter of the
gospel, and his family imitate his philanthropy. Like the
immortalized Sidney Smith, he is a great joker, and a more
merry, jovial man one seldom meets.
But the eye once bright is growing dim, and the ma-
chinery of life runs no more with noiseless accuracy. The
snows of many Winters have whitened the auburn hair, and
the weight of years causes the stately form to totter.
Sidney Smith has been a busy man, and has taken an
active part in the town and county affairs for many years,
but his busy days are over. A few years ago he suffered a
paralytic shock, and his health is greatly impaired.
His son Robert conducts his affairs here, and his sons
and agents in the City of New York manage his business
there and elsewhere. He is very wealthy, but to what ex-
tent cannot be definitely stated. He has interest in rail-
roads, banking and other stocks, besides thousands of
broad acres.
YAPHANK AS IT IS. 126
The pleasure is a sufficient remuneration for me to write
of such men as James Weeks and Sidney Smith, and I ac-
knowledge the honor and privilege of first recording in his-
tory the most important facts connected with their lives and
times.
Men who live peaceful, honorable and active lives, and
who live for the benefit of others as well as for themselves
and families, are men the world love to honor and read
about.
Messrs. Smith and Weeks are men that have lived for
some good in life ; men that have advanced enterprise, and
men that may die, but can never be forgotten.
SIDNEY H. RITCH.
XXV.
*
SIDNEY H. RITCH.
STATION ISLAND WILLIAM GUItNEY FALL OF SAVANNAH-
ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S DEATH PERSONAL.
Mr. Hitch was born in the village of Port Jefferson, May
27th, 1840. His parents died when he was in his fourth
year, and he was then cared for by his grandmother and
uncle, who resided at Middle Island.
His father, believing he would financially better himself
by removing South, resolved to go to North Carolina,
where, for several years, he followed the occupation of
teaching, and aided in revising the school system.
He settled in Hyde County, and was appointed Presi-
dent of the Board of Education established there.
Young Sidney was left with his uncle and grandmother,
and was happy in his pleasant home. He was sent to
school at an early age, and received such an educational
polish as could be obtained at the village school. The teach-
ers were usually very competent. Among them was Doc.
E. H. S. Holden, regarding whose ability it is needless to
comment.
On leaving school he found his store of knowledge incom-
plete, and has since been striving to add to what he then
possessed. His favorite reading is the poetry of the best
authors, such as Pope, Milton, Young, Southey, and others
of acknowledged repute.
In the year 1859 the bud of his latent ambition burst, and
he exchanged the common-place excitements of his rural
home for the startling adventures of a "life on the ocean
wave."
130 YAPHANK AS IT 18.
He led the free-and-easy life of a "jolly tar" during the
year of 1859, when he returned home and taught singing-
school during that Winter. In the year of 1860 he again
bade farewell to home, and entered as an apprentice to
the carpenters' trade. In 1862 he says, "I felt a power
of patriotism burning in my bosom. I thought, instead
of taking three pills, that I would take three years in the
army. Hearing that there was a dispensary at 308 Broad-
way, New York City, I determined to secure a prescrip-
tion. Some of my friends advised with me, and I resolved
to try a 'dose.' I soon found my name enrolled among
the ' true blues ' of the gallant 127th N. Y. Volunteers,
and met one thousand men equally as bad off as myself/'
He says, " We were sent to
STATION ISLAND,
where we remained a few days waiting for equipments,
clothing and State bounty.
"We stood guard with clubs and condemned muskets,
which soon became monotonous. At last we received our
clothing and equipments, but, instead of our State bounty,
a stirring appeal to our patriotism from our Col.,
WILLIAM GURNET."
Mr. Ritch has much of the Billings and Twain vein in
his jolly composition, and his spicy descriptions of army
life are decidedly entertaining and racy.
In one description of his soldier life he pleasingly says :
"We were cordially received at Baltimore and hospitably
treated to a sumptuous supper the last we were to enjoy for
nearly three long years. We left again, en route for the na-
tional capital, but were delayed at the Relay House nearly
all night in consequence of a severe rain-storm, which swept
away the track in places, thus rendering it unsafe for us to
proceed in the night. We at last arrived at Washington,
having passed two days and a night in cattle cars which
YAPAANK AS IT IS. 131
looked like riddles. Finding ourselves at the capital, we
expected soon to be introduced into more comfortable
quarters, or, what would have been more pleasing, in-
vited into the President's reception parlor, suffer the
agonies of a private interview with the 'old man,' puff into
oblivion a few of his choicest brands, listen to a round of
his crackling jokes, and then be politely ushered into ele-
gant sleeping apartments, whose downy couches were made
doubly soft because a Simon Cameron or John Morrissey
once found sweet repose in the perfumed foam of the snowy
coverlets.
" While we were waiting in glorious anticipation of some-
thing grand, we were sternly ordered to ' fall in,' ' right face '
and ' forward march !' We bivouacked for the remainder
of the night in the field, with the canopy of heaven for our
ceiling, the verdant earth for our bed, and a shoddy blanket
for a covering. Thus surrounded and shut in from the out-
side world, we drew around us the curtain of repose, and
for the first time laid us down to the peaceful dreams of a
soldier. The remainder of the night we passed in heavenly
slumber and bright dreams and brilliant visions of the
battles of Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, Chancellorville and
' hanging Jeff Davis on a sour apple tree.'
" In the morning we awoke at the first tap of the drum,
climbed up the hill, and fell in for roll-call. Each one an-
swered to his name with an air of much uncertainty. We
proceeded to take account of ; patriotism,' and found on
investigation that it had depreciated about ten per ent.
Some of the boys lost it all ' on the march ' the previous
night, and never deemed it worth going back* after. Dur-
ing the day the ambulances arrived with whatever had
been thrown away, with the exception of the ' patriotism.'
" We spent the Winter of 1862 in the defence of Wash-
ington, moving our camp frequently. From Arlington
Heights we enjoyed a pleasant view of Gen. Lee's house,
plantation, and beautiful surroundings. The residence is
on the bank of the Potomac, and presents a magnificent
132 YAPHANK AS IT IS.
prospect of the Capitol. Near the house is the family
burying ground of the Custis family. At the foot of the
hill and near the river is the tomb of Peyton Randolph.
Before Lee denied the authority of his country, and raised
his hand in rebellion, he possessed all that heart could
crave to bind him with endearing ties to his home and
country.
"In the Spring of 1863, we were ordered into the field.
Then began our long, tedious marches. In the outside
precincts of Frederick City we found the 7th encamped. We
entered into conversation with them, and our hearts were
stirred by their tales of suffering. Shelter tents covered
them from inclemencies of the weather, and ' Government
rations ' stilled the inner man, and supplied the fountain of
their 'patriotism.' We could decidedly sympathize with
them, for we ' feasted ' on the same kind of rations, but as
for the tents, we had not been obliged to live in them.
We were pleased to see their condition improved, for they
were then in barns, doing duty at the front.
"One of our regiment became deranged, and ran about
the field, with his fingers pointing heavenward, continually
shouting, ' There's a light in the window for thee,' which
was quite consoling, as we hourly expected to be called
into action.
" We left the 7th regiment to ' guard the barns,' and ad-
vanced towards Boonsboro. We rested for the night, and
the following day proceeded to Hagerstown. On the road
we saw a signboard, bearing the inscription : ' Kilpatrick is
not dead yet.' This was very cheering. We had the as-
surance that Kilpatrick was still ' up and doing,' and if
we were slain, ' there was a light in the window. '
"During our many days of marching, we saw much pic-
turesque scenery, and marched many poor mules to death.
It was very much like / ascending the side of a house to
climb some of the mountains. We dared not look back for
fear of falling a mile or two down the craggy sides. In
Greenfield we found only one accessible well of water, and
YAPHANK AS IT IS. 133
that was filled with calves' heads, hens, chickens, &c. We
soon cleaned out the ' little mess,' and, putting down a bag
of charcoal, shortly purified the water.
4 'One day we were called out to witness the shooting of
a deserter, a member of another regiment. The regiments
formed a hollow square, and an ambulance approached
with the victim, who calmly sat upon his coffin. He was
led to his grave, placed upon his coffin, while twelve men,
with loaded muskets, were drawn up before him. Clear
and startling rang out the command to fire, and the next
instant the poor wretch was writhing in the agonies of
death. A few moments more, and the cold clay closed
over the scene.
" During our passage to Charleston we were obliged to
boil our coffee over lighted candles, on the steamer's deck.
During the voyage an altercation took place, and in the ex-
citement I threw a chap out of a third tier bunk to the
floor. After my exhibition of physical prowess, I was po
litely informed that I had played a joke on the ' bully ' of
the regiment. Of course I did it accidentally !
" The voice of an angel used often to disturb the peace-
ful slumbers of those in Charleston. It was the ' swamp
angel' a single gun battery, mounted in the mud directly
under the guns of Castle Pinkney. From this gun the
first shot was hurled into the City of Charleston. Our lei-
sure time was occupied in fighting sand-fleas, gnats, ' sil-
very-tongued mosquitoes,' and drinking water that had
been drained through the bodies of fallen heroes. Such
was the bright side of my soldier life ! I organized a class
in singing, which I drilled in the quartermaster's tent once
a week. One dozen books were presented to us from a
friend in New York City, and four men were selected to
form a quartette, viz. : George Reeves, Van Buskirk,
Youngs, and myself. We received our appointments from
Lieutenant Col. Woodford.
"During a battle a lad of fifteen years was mortally
wounded. He was as fine a looking lad as I ever saw. and
134 YAPHANK AS IT 18.
of pure Union sentiment. He was pressed into the rebel
service, fired his gun in the air, and shortly after received
his death wound. In the agonies of death, deafened by
the din of battle, he cried out for his mother and sister.
Such incidents make tender and lasting impressions upon
the mind, even of a soldier. In another battle two of my
intimate friends were killed. While our batteries were
firing in the morning, one of them wrote in his diary : ' If I
am killed to-day, God help my mother.' Little he sus-
pected, though he penned the sentiments, that the bright
sun was beaming on him for the last time.
" One day a shell struck a cook-house of one of the regi-
ments. The building being built of logs and mud, the
shell caused a general demolition, and for a short time the
only visible objects were mess-pans, kettles, and a thick
cloud of dust. After the excitement subsided, the debris
was seen moving in a certain place, arid a moment later a
Dutch cook emerged, saying : ' Vot in heell ish de mad-
der?'"
Mr. Hitch is an amusing and gifted writer, and all of his
narrations are spicy and pleasing. I heartily wish that
time and space permitted yours truly to record more of his
elaborate accounts of "life at the front," but this con-
tracted biographical and descriptive record will not allow
more extended details, although positively entertaining.
My readers must content themselves with the broken ex-
tracts I can only present ; remember that "brevity is the
soul of wit," and "a good time is coming."
Our hero again modestly breaks forth thusly : " Well, 1
have been hungry all day, and when the shades of twilight
fell, slept on two rails to keep from sinking in the mud, so
I could find myself in the morning. I have seen men with
their heads blown off, with arms and legs, and all that
tends to make life desirable, shattered to fragments ; but
this does not seem to call forth much sympathy, because I
was not blown to atoms, I suppose. One night there came
up a dense fog thicker than a stone wall and higher than
YAPHANK A8 IT 18. 136
the tower of Babel. With this fog came the news of the
'fall of Savannah.' All the troops turned out at mid-
night and gave three cheers, a tiger, and a tom-cat. Our
bands struck up the new tunes, called Hail Columbia,
Star Spangled Banner, and Yankee Doodle all com-
posed for the occasion. I am glad to hear that they have
since become somewhat popular. Out of justice to the fog,
I would state that some of the notes didn't come down
until the next day, and some of the artillerymen got their
ramrods fast in the fog, and couldn't get 'them out until it
cleared in the morning.
" Beaureguard having heard of the
FALL OF SAVANNAH,
and of General Sherman's advance, started farther South.
While in the City of Charleston I formed some pleasant
acquaintances of course, the most agreeable of them were
with ladies, with excellent vocal talents. Many enjoyable
moonlight excursions have I whiled on the pleasant Bay.
But this is the romantic portion, of which we read so much in
books. We took possession of one of the finest and largest
churches in the city, and soon established a fine choir of
mixed voices. In the post-office I became acquainted
with General Harrison's grandson, John Taylor, Stanly G.
Trott, and others of note.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S DEATH
caused deep regret, not alone to the soldiery, but with the
citizens. Leaving Charleston, we started for Hilton Head,
and thence for New York. Talk about moonlight excur-
sions with Southern beauties, with golden, raven, auburn,
or any other tresses ! Such things are appropriate for poets
and love-sick swains to prattle about, but is naught com-
pared to a
,/ HOMEWARD BOUND,'
after a three years' knock-about in the war.
136 YAPHANK AS IT 18.
u After returning to civil life, I again took up my trade
for a season ; but finding myself not as robust as before the
war, I gave it up, and for a period was with Prof. Abby,
in New York City, receiving musical instruction. At this
time I was chorister in the Tabernacle Church, in Green-
point, where I became acquainted and rather fascinated
with the young lady organist in the same church. Both
being musicians, I thought it might prove beneficial to
study our natures a little. We used sometimes to while
whole evenings in this delightful study, until at last we
found our chords so complete that we ventured to appear
in public, where we struck the hymenal chord, from which
we have not as yet resolved into the dominant Seventh."
PERSONAL.
Mr. Ritch has a peculiar and rare gift of song. He is
tall and well-formed, with a long, flowing beard, dark and
wavy. There is a freedom from cant and affectation in his
manner. His voice is clear and ringing, and sweeps from
the lowest bass to the highest register, in tender and pathetic
notes.
His wife is a sweet lady talented and musical. Theirs
is a harmonious life, devoted to the soothing powers of
song. Mr. Ritch has taught many singing schools, and
qualified many pupils for the sweet field of music.
His whole make-up assists him ; his actions are pleasant
and natural ; he puts himself in perfect sympathy with his
audience, and- his ringing voice pours out charming music.
Whether the flowers are blooming in Spring or dying in
Autumn, the change affects not his jolly jokes. Down the
flowery path he treads, arm-in-arm with his gifted wife.
The roses and the lilies bloom for them, and their songs
mingle with the warbling notes of the birds, and are wafted
o'er the placid waters to the sweet Eden of song.
Part Second.
O L D YA P AS IT W A S .
THE
OLD LAND-MARKS THAT HAVE PASSED AWAY.
PART SECOND.
i.
YAPHANK AS IT WAS.
CONTAINING BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF THE MEN THAT
ONCE WERE PROMINENT.
ESQUIRE MORDECAI HOMAN.
HIS SMALL BEGINNING AND FINAL ACHIEVEMENTS.
While Yaphank has a history and Brookhaven Town a
record, the name of Mordecai Homan will form a prominent
feature in both.
He was the most popular and illustrious Homan and citi-
zen that *ver lived in Yaphank ; he was a sagacious poli-
tician, of keen penetration and judgment, a discerning and
judicious business man, and a noble and much-loved citi-
zen.
No man was better acquainted with the history of his
day and town than he ; for forty-two years he was Town
Clerk, a responsible and trusted officer.
When age laid its unrelenting hand upon him, and in-
firmities forced him to lay aside the quill forever, it was a
lamented period in Brookhaven. The old veteran laid down
his harness with a sigh. Long years had he been the social
friend and adviser of public men; long years had he been a
faithful servant and an honorable leader.
During all the years of his public life, not a murmur was
spoken against him. No one doubted 'Squire Homan' s ve-
140 YAPHANK A8 IT WAS.
racity and honor ; no one questioned what he discharged.
When his eyes grew dim and his steps tottering, he bade
farewell to a busy life, lived to see a successor established
and then girded on his armor for the long, long march of
his fathers.
When the cruel grave closed over him, and the mourning
ones turned toward the home made sad by the Angel of
Death, a soothing consolation cheered every heart, and
mitigated the deep sorrow ; he had left a spotless record, a
white rose of a blameless life behind him.
Those who had differed with him politically, dropped a
tear over his grave. The bad, bold politician, feared, but
loved him. When he died the sun set over a sorrowing
people.
His life was a martyrdom of care and trouble. A large
family of ailing relatives depended upon him for the things
of life, and hundreds of dollars went to alleviate physicians'
demands. With but few to assist and many to pull down,
he still trudged manfully on, and reared a snug fortune and
an enviable name.
From boyhood to ripe old age he carried that ambitious
and business-like air. He was truly a self-made /nan, and
erected the pillars of his success. He was born of plebeian
parentage, and no golden spoon held dainty morsels to
soothe his childish whims. No wealthy relatives or finan-
cial king placed him in public favor, or assisted in sus-
taining his reputation.
During the most seditious and tumultuous political
times, when the trusted and tried party men were abused
and crushed by a people who had lost confidence in them,
Esquire Homan was among the few who ran the gauntlets
unabused, and passed the ordeals unscathed.
There were no Camerons, no Wades, no Butlers or Sum-
ners in his day ; and he lived before the men of Morrissey
stamp became honorables and national dictators.
YAPHANK AS IT WAS. 141
HIS SMALL BEGINNING AND FINAL ACHIEVEMENTS.
Early in life he taught school and labored upon his farm.
He lived with his father upon his farm at Middle Island
during his younger days.
When about twenty-eight years old, he married a Miss
Polly Buckingham, in Old Milfred, Conn., and purchasing
his brother's interest in the " Homan estate," at Yaphank,
moved thither.
He evinced original ability, and his appreciating towns-
men soon elected him a Justice of the Peace. In consumma-
tion, Esquire Homan officiated in nearly every town office.
In the days of his glory, his many friends were enthusi-
astically in favor of his accepting the nomination for Assem-
bly. That nomination, and the proffered one for Super-
visor, he decidedly refused. He was, without doubt, the
strongest candidate for either position in the town, at that
time.
THOMAS HOMAN.
HIS CHARACTERISTICS.
This deceased yeoman was born in Yaphank, 1781. His
remains are buried in the Presbyterian churchyard, sur-
rounded by the graves of those who were young with him-
self.
He died Feb. 6th, I860, aged seventy-nine years and six
months.
HIS CHARACTERISTICS.
Thomas Homan was a farmer, and owned and tilled the
farm now occupied by his son Edward. He was a much
respected neighbor, and an exemplary Christian. "Every-
body liked 'Uncle Tommy,' and 'Uncle Tommy' liked
everybody." He had a small body, but a large heart ; and
his mind was invariably contented and happy.
Thomas was the youngest of a family of three brothers
Mordecai, Philip and Thomas. Their father was named
Mordecai, and their grandsire also.
142 YAPHANK AS IT WAS.
Mr. Homan lived during the "Sunny Era," before the
"new fangled things" drove the good old established cus-
toms into obscurity. He lived in Yaphank when it was
not Yaphank, and when every citizen now living was far in
the future.
There are many anecdotes connected with the lives of
these "Subjects of the Past," that would interest and
amuse ; but time and space does not permit me to record
them.
By plunging into the buried past, I contracted a more ar-
duous task than I at tirst imagined. To recall the local in-
terest of my own day is a facile effort compared to my
gleaned reminiscences of the long ago ; but I endeavored to
make my sketches as authentic as they are brief.
I smile in ray heart as I write of these old patriarchs, who,
many years ago, guided the plow and gathered the har-
vest where dwellings and business institutions now stand ;
whose lives were unbroken by fashion's tide ; whose years
were unmarred dreams of rustic happiness, remote from the
engine' s screech or the roar of enterprise.
What a grand transformation ! The old men that are
gone could never live happy in this age ! It is too scien-
tific and enlightened !
" Uncle Tommy " was an industrious man, and an un-
changeable Christian. His voice has long been silenced,
and sweet flowers have many Summers bloomed over his
grave; but when the Resurrection shall arouse the slum-
bering dead, his face will beam brighter than the flowers
that wave o'er his grave.
II.
DBA. SIMMONS LAWS.
Dea. S. Laws was born in England, 1781. and died at
Yaphank, Feb. 4, 1867, aged 86 years, 10 months and 10
days.
He came to the "States" with his parents when fifteen
years old, and settled in the Ridge. He married there, and
early moved to Yaphank, where he kept a tavern in an old
structure that stood west of his more recent residence.
To the day of his decease he was a senior elder and dea-
con in the Presbyterian Church, and quite ecclesiastically
famous.
When he came to Y he was not wealthy, but contin-
ually added to his estate, and ultimately possessed a large
tract of wood and cultivated land.
Dea. Laws was a pious man, but ignorance often caused
him to grope in darkness. He was arbitrary and self-willed,
and blindly grasped for worldly goods. Like many ex-
emplary Christians, he carried the world in one hand and
God's Word in the other. His besetting sin was an inborn
love for money ; but that peculiar failing is as universal
within the sanctuary as in the "Broad Road," and is not
generally declared a "very bad fault."
Mr. Laws lived to a ripe old age, and calmly sank to
sleep. He left many mourning friends behind him, and a
breach that has never been filled. It was a lovely winter
day when his remains were lowered to their long, long rest ;
but at the last trump his face will beam from beyond the
setting sun, and he will be judged with his fathers.
144 YAPHANK AS IT WAS.
RICHARD HAWKINS.
Richard Hawkins was born in Setauket, 1796, and died
at Yaphank, April 29th, 1865. He was fifty-nine years old.
Mr. Hawkins was a quiet, retired man, and not very
popular or exceedingly unpopular. He reared a large fam-
ily, and died poor. He died in obscurity, and in the bosom
of his family.
No lioness cast her whelps in the streets when he was
born or when he died. No warring of the elements, or
strange appearances in the heavens, denoted that a great
soul had passed into eternity ; but, calmly and serenely, as
the sun rose in the east, his spirit sank down the west.
He was a laboring man, and worked alternately at farm-
ing, tailoring and carpentering. He never gained pre-em-
inence in his combined callings, or even distinction in one.
His children are separated far and near. One son lies
beneath the dark waters of the Atlantic, and another, Rob-
ert, entered the Mexican war, came home, " went up the
Mississippi," took ill and died.
Mr. Hawkins married a daughter of Dea. Simmons Laws,
and settled in the home of his after scenes
He established no enduring name, and his good and bad
acts lie mouldering with his mortality.
III.
JONAH HAWKINS.
HTS EARTHLY LABORS UNCLE JONAH' S ANTERIOR POSITION.
This jocund old gentleman was born in West Moriches,
Sep. 3, 1790. He died Dec. 3, 1856. His epitaphic words
were: "When my soul fainted within me, I remembered
the Lord."
Jonah Hawkins was not an exceedingly fascinating man.
physically, but a more agreeable and honorable citizen
never existed in Yaphank. Always feeble and frail in con
stitution, but active and ambitious.
He was hunchbacked and very deaf ; but, notwithstand-
ing his physical deformity, he always wore a genial smile
for every one. Mr. Hawkins possessed an irreproachable
reputation while living, and left a white record of a blame-
less life.
HIS EARTHLY LABORS.
Where E. W. Mills now ''gathers in the dust" stood an
unpainted, weather-beaten, brown structure, one story and
attic high. In that old building, Jonah Hawkins estab-
lished a grocery store on a limited scale, and from behind
the low, rough-planed counter, the old gentleman would
smilingly greet his rustic customers.
In those u ye olden days," Yaphank then Millville
gloried in the accommodations of three stores. Isaac
Terry's was declared the model mercantile institution, and
he the ' princely merchant."
J. P. Mills was then unknown upon the mercantile sea.
but he soon launched his chip. He purchased Mr. Terry's
business and interest, and became possessor of the lit-
10
146 YAPHANK Af= IT WAS.
tie brown store. A larger and more commodious one was
soon erected upon the old ground, and the romantic name
of " Mills" was a business fact.
UNCLE JONAH'S ANTERIOR POSITION.
What is now Van Rensellar Swezey's carriage and store
house, forty years in the past was a popular grocery and
Yankee Notion store, where the vivacious subject of our
sketch bartered his commodities and notions for farmers'
produce, and the hard cash of the local yeomanry.
"Uncle Jonah" lived to the mature old age of three-
score years and six, and then he girded on his armor and
began the long, long march through the valley. He died as
he had lived, fearing God and loving man.
His mortality slumbers beside those of his faithful
companion, in the Episcopal graveyard in Yaphank.
JONAS BUCKINGHAM.
Jonas Buckingham was born in the town of Old Milford,
Ct, February 25, 1779. He died and was buried at Yap-
hank, February 25, 1815. He was, accordingly, 46 years
old when he laid down the things of life.
There lives not a mortal upon earth at the present day
who remembers Uncle Jonah's boyhood, or the scenes of
1779 ; and the number is meagre who can recall the period
of his marriage and residence in Yaphank.
He married a widow lady named Greene, I believe,
and settled in Yaphank on the bank of the bonny Connect-
icut.
IV.
MORDECAI OVERTON.
A NUMEROUS FAMILY.
Mr. Overton was born in Coram, May 26, 1797, and died
at Yaphank, November 17, 1866. He was, according to
mathematical exactness, 79 years old.
Mordecai was an ingenious man, and noted as a successful
watch and clock repairer. He was a son of the "illustri-
ous" John Overton, and brother of the "immortal" James.
A NUMEROUS FAMILY.
The Overtons are an almost innumerable race, and their
names appear conspicuously at every point of the compass.
They are a class that have become more remarkable for
numbers than illustrious deeds or virtues, and Mordecai
was a fair representative of the " great whole."
I know of none that begat criminals, or men eminent for
innate greatness ; in the language of the Englishman,
they "are about arf and arf." It can be safely declared
that the race never will do much damage by the impetu-
osity of family ambitions, or much national benefit by states-
manly greatness.
Mordecai lived in Yaphank many years, and was univer-
sally considered an honorable, ingenious and inoffensive
man ; a pleasant neighbor and companion.
Mr. Overton was a remarkable inventor in his humble
way, and constructed many things of decided merit. He
invented the famous crank augur now in use in every ship-
yard in the country. He also invented the combination
shovel, for digging cellars, cisterns, wells, &c. None of
148 YAPHANK AS IT WAS.
these were patented, and, like nearly every other inventor,
Mr. Overton died poor.
DANIEL HAMMOND.
THE SOCIAL CUSTOMS OF HIS DAY.
Daniel Hammond was born May 23d, 1774, and died De-
cember 30th, 1848.
Mr. Hammond was shoemaker, tanner and currier for the
vicinity, and was considered a clever workman. In the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the farmers furnished
hides to the local tanneries, and had them " done up on
shares." Cobblers visited the rural homes and " made up "
the family work once or twice a year. Cow-hides were con-
sidered fashionable, and even bare feet on the Sabbath were
not regarded as violating conventional decorum.
Mr. Hammond was not remarkable for noble deeds, or
for his individual malevolence. He was not illustrious for
his elevated magnanimity or debased malapertness.
THE SOCIAL CUSTOMS OF HIS DAYS.
It was customary, and not considered debasing, in Daniel
Hammond's time, to "tip the elbow." Men in exalted sta-
tions, and those regarded as examples, and highly respect-
able people in all capacities, drank " blue lightning."
The ring of the social glass was heard at every public and
private gathering, and was countenanced by the aristocrat
and the plebeian. Cider flowed in every man's cellar, and
"good whiskey" was no luxury in the farming homes.
But evil effects attended the old-time drunks, as it invari-
ably accompanies our more modern " carousels," and. deli-
rium tremens was as common as the toasts.
Mr. Hammond liked the "fire water," but seldom drank
to dissipation, or a pernicious extent. It was usual for
him to drink a friendly glass with such men as Esquire
Homan and Phillips, who- generally drank the great toast
of the day friendship.
YAPHANK AS IT WAS. 149
Five sons and a daughter grew up around him, and still
live to read his record.
Mr. Hammond was familiarly known among his acquaint-
ances and neighbors as "Neighbor Hammond," and by
that soubriquet was universally addressed.
He was a smart man and an excellent workman, but if he
ever suffered a besetting sin, it was a passion for intoxicat-
ing liquor.
The snows of many winters have fallen over his grave,
and his body lies, with no monument to mark its resting
place, in the Middle Island burying ground.
y
ESQUIRE WILLIAM PHILLIPS.
A REVIEW THE OLD SQUIRE' S PECULIARITIES.
Time will not permit me to dwell lengthily on the bi-
ography of this lamented man, whose appellation forms
the subject of this sketch.
He died as he had lived : in the bosom of his family, and
high in the esteem of all who knew him.
Esquire Phillips was born in 1787, and died March 22,
1858. His body reposes among the tombs of his fathers
and friends in the Middle Island bury ing-ground.
A REVIEW.
Before he was married he worked in an uncle's store as
clerk, in Connecticut. There he learned to drive sharp bar-
gains, and became acquainted with the varied tastes, dispo-
sitions and characters of humanity generally.
When still young he came back to old Long Island,
married, and settled down as a farmer. He owned an ex-
tensive and fertile farm, and, unlike our farmers of this
age, the farm made him and he made the farm.
He speculated much in wood and other staple products
of the time, and amassed quite a fortune. The 'Squire was
a hard-working man ; hale and rugged.
He made his wealth by honest toil and enterprise, and he
left four children a father's blesssing, an honest name, and
the fruits of honorable toil.
For many years prior to his death he suffered with a
painful cancer, which caused his death at last.
YAPHANK AS IT WAS. 151
He was not a professing Christian, but an exemplary
moral man. His name would fittingly adorn the scroll of
the good men of any time.
His son William, who bears his name, bears his reputa-
tion for enterprise and industry. He has done more to
benefit Yaphank than a dozen Augustus Floyds or Nath-
aniel Tuthills ever did or will.
Where the County Alms House reared its leviathan frame,
twenty -five years ago grew tall forest trees, and impene-
trable undergrowth shut out the howling wood. 'Squire
Phillips purchased the tract, and cleared the land now
known as the county farm.
DANIEL HUMAN.
Daniel Homan was born in 1800, and died at Yaphank,
Feb. 20th, 1847.
At seventeen he was apprenticed to the carpenter trade
under the vigilant instruction of Benjamin Grrover of Wad-
ing River, L. I.
In 1821 he married a Miss Melissia Griffing, and removed
with his young wife to Brooklyn, Long Island. He pur-
chased lots and built the first house ever erected on Pine-
apple street, Brooklyn.
The climate impaired his wife's health, and not proving
exceedingly congenial to his own, he returned to his old
home in Yaphank.
He was an ingenious and skillful workman. Apparently
in the flush of manhood and health, that deadly ill of the
human race consumption fastened its implacable coils
around his form, and the strong man became feeble and
emaciated. For seven years he suffered a lingering death,
when the diseased body fainted and died. He has faced the
''king of terrors," and suffers no more sickness, no more
sorrow.
VI.
ISAAC MILLS, ESQ.,
HIS DEATH.
Isaac Mills was born in Smithtown, 1769, and died at
Taphank.
Some men are born unfortunate and die miserable. Genial
smiles beam upon some from the cradle to the grave,'
and dark days never lower. Privately and publicly, no
cloud darkens their sky, but all is sunshine.
How strange and intangible seem some of God's dispensa-
tions to man ; and how varied are His dealings with us mort-
als. He allows the persecuted to suffer, nor guides a good
Samaritan to cheer the sorrowing.
Still more mysterious is His dealing with the persecutor.
The unrelenting and uncompromising man of the world
lives to a ripe old age amid the blessings of health and
mortal affairs, while the godly and moral suffer in body,
mind and soul, from sickness, trouble, and unpardonable
crimes compulsorily performed.
We cannot but believe that although Isaac Mills slept
the nights of his unhappy end away upon a bed of thorns,
that a couch of roses awaited him beyond the Great Un-
fathomed, where he is freed from the taunts and abuse of
unnatural relations.
He lived unfortunately and died unfortunately. His
earthly career was an ordeal of trouble especially his lat-
ter life.
Trouble domestic, it is asserted bore him to a sui-
cide's grave ; and, indeed, it must have been aggravatingly
YAPHANK AS IT WAS. 163
intense to have caused his committal of a deed so shocking,
for Isaac Mills was inevitably gay and buoyant spirited.
His bones are mouldered to dust, and his tongue is silent
forever, and the true reasons that caused him to commit the
awful crime that lowered the black curtain over his dreary
life, were buried with his body, and money has ever kept
the sea unruffled that rolls above the mystery.
Who or what originated the trouble that caused him to
take his life, is one of the sealed insolubles that time alone
can reveal.
HIS DEATH.
It was a lovely Sunday eve that he committed the act that
stamped his name upon the dark scroll of self-murderers.
The night wind rocked the tall trees to and fro that towered
above the old farm-house where he lived ; and the holy si-
lence of a Sabbath evening had fallen over the settlement of
Yaphank.
It was an evening in keeping with the horrible deed that
was destined to make it long remembered. The stars glim-
mered dimly through a hazy mist, and twilight the
most solemn hour of the twenty-four was slowly trans-
formed into sober darkness. The lovely twilight hour had
vanished, and evening had thrown its sable mantle over the
quiet Sabbath scene, when the night air rang with the re-
port of a shocking deed.
" Isaac Mills has committed suicide !"
The startling import roused the slumbering yeoman, and
changed the sleeping settlement into a rustic bedlam.
Behind the barn that still stands upon the old farm, lay
the subject of the report, groaning and dying.
His throat was severed from ear to ear, and the gurgling
noise caused by blood flowing into his throat, attracted the
attention of cattle in an adjoining yard, and their loud
bellowing raised the alarm.
When a sufficient number of witnesses had arrived to sus-
tain his removal, he was conveyed to his couch of thorns to
die.
154 YAPHANK AS IT WAS.
His wound was tenderly dressed by Doc. Samuel P.
Norton, of Coram, his family physician, and he was urged
to wait patiently the result. He rocked to and fro upon his
couch, in an agony of mind and body. He did not wish to
live ; oh, no ! What ! live to again undergo the trouble
that robbed him of his hapicess? God forbid.
He tore the bandages from his wound, and prayed for
death to relieve him of his agony. It came. The dreaded
monster was welcomed in that little chamber of suffering,
and the angel bore from the shores of time a great martyr.
Isaac Mills was dead !
The cold sod had closed over his remains, and Isaac Mills
was catalogued with the past. The affair created much
"talk," but the excitement finally subsided and was for-
gotten; but we are sanguine although the stain of a suicide
darkens his memory that he is, this moment, praising the
God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.
APPOLAS MILLS.
HIS ILLUSTRIOUS WIFE THE TRUE MAN.
Appollas was the eldest son and heir of Isaac Mills.
There were three sons and a daughter Appollas, Horace,
Philip, and Joanna.
Appollas married a Miss Urania Phillips, a sister of the
popular Esquire William Phillips who was seven years his
senior. But, as considerable "cash" was annexed, the
seniority was no obstacle to a happy union and such it
was.
She was a loving wife and mother, and an acknowledged
business woman. Her name deserves to be cherished
among the model women of the age, as a choice sample.
She was more illustrious and popular than her husband,
and did I represent feminine prominency in this little vil-
lage record, be assured that Mrs. Urania Mills would be
rep resented.
YAPHANK AS IT WAS. 155
Appollas Mills did nothing while on earth wherein the
world can recognize superior characteristical qualities, nor
anything that does signalize his name.
By terming Mr. Mills conspicuous, I rank his sketch
among others, who, in consequence of the scarcity of more
brilliant subjects, I am compelled to notice in keeping with
their family connections, rather than deserved eminence.
He was not loquacious, or taciturn; not classical, or illit-
erate; not obtuse, or gifted.
What was he 2 Well, he was "a man!" Yes, that is
nice ; it carries a deal of meaning with it. A man of honor !
A man in the true sense of the word !
Although he did nothing worthy fame or story; although
no historian will labor over pages of flowery words in ex-
tolling his obscure name, he nevertheless deserves a shining
throne high above the fabled heroes whose crimsoned swords
won bloody records, but not the enviable titles of "true
men."
VII.
DANIEL B. SWEEZEY.
"Died at Yaphank, April 24th, 1863, Daniel B. Sweezey,
in the 33d year of his age."
The above appeared, with the quoted obituary below, in
the Suffolk Herald of May 20th, 1863.
"On the llth of the same month, in leaping from a wagon,
he struck the ground unfavorably, and broke his leg. The
fracture was complicated, with a severe external wound
from the protruding bone, and although at first hopes were
confidently entertained, it became apparent in a few days
that he was in a critical condition. Tetanus, or locked-jaw,
supervened, and baffled all the efforts of his physician.
His funeral on Sunday, the 26th, was largely attended by
his sorrowing friends and neighbors, and was impressive as
a remarkably mournful occasion.
" In parting with Daniel, our community has sustained a
serious loss. Here, every one is known and numbered, and
his death has opened a void that cannot easily be filled.
Steady and industrious, he gained our respect ; kind and
obliging, he won our esteem and friendship. His open heart
and willing hand contributed to his usefulness. In his
dealings he was generous and liberal, and his deportment
and cheerfulness comported with his Christian character
and pleasantry. While he bore his sufferings with manly
fortitude, he was resigned to his fate, and died lamented by
all. This brief tribute is due to his memory, while his lin-
eaments are still vividly before us, and ere time shall have
wrapped all in forgetfulness. For him we may safely cher-
YAPHANK AS IT WAS. 157
ish the belief that he has exchanged the cares of earth for
the joys of Heaven."
" Lord, who's the happy man that may
To thy blest courts repair,
Not stranger-like, to visit them,
But to inhabit there ?
" "Tis he who walketh uprightly,
Whom righteousness directs ;
Whose generous tongue disdains to speak
The thing his heart rejects.
" Who never did a slander forge,
His neighbor's fame to wound ;
Nor hearken to a false report
By malice whispered round.
" Who, vice in all its pomp and power,
Can treat with just neglect ;
And piety, though clothed in rags,
Religiously respect.
" Who, to his plighted vows and trust
Has ever firmly stood ;
And, though he promise to his loss,
He makes his promise good.
" Whose soul in usury disdains
His treasure to employ ;
Whom no rewards can ever bribe
The guiltless to destroy.
"The man who, by this righteous course,
Has happiness insured,
When earth's foundation shakes, shall stand,
By Providence secured."
YAPHANK, May 15th, 1863.
158 YAPHANK AS IT WAR.
How the people mourned when Daniel Sweezey died !
Each grain of earth that fell over his grave, seemed to bear
down the lamenting hearts in deeper sorrow.
He was one of those scarce men who go down to the cruel
grave when their virtues can be ill spared.
For years Mr. Sweezey was the loadstone of J. P. Mills'
store, and when the unfortunate trip robbed him of his life?
he was fast becoming the most popular man in this vicinity.
He married the youngest daughter of Appollas Mills a
sister of J. P. Mills and entered the store as head clerk.
He left no children to mourn a father's death, but a loving
wife to suffer a husband's loss.
In the church-yard at Middle Island, he is sleeping the
sleep that knows no waking, and o'er his grave is reared a
tablet to the memory of one of nature's true noblemen. ,
VIII.
ROBERT H. HAWKINS, JUN.
HIS FIRST STRUGGLE A TRIBUTE TO HIS MEMORY.
Mr. Hawkins was a gentleman of sterling qualities, and,
although his promising future was obscured by the grim
mantle of death, his works on earth evinced his many ex-
cellent talents, and a beaming future of well-earned honors
and happiness.
HIS FIRST STRUGGLE.
When but a lad his ambitious spirit led him into busy
life. At an early age Mr. James H. Weeks gave him a
letter of introduction to a prominent mercantile firm in the
City of New York, and his movements upward began. It
led him on to the bright goal of business aspiration. It
helped him amass a fine fortune, and to form endearing
ties with many noble characters.
A TRIBUTE TO HIS MEMORY.
Mr. Hawkins died at Yaphank, L. I., December 16th,
1 855, aged 38 years.
After a short illness Mr. Hawkins was stricken down in
the prime of his manhood, and at an age when his prospects
were bright for many years of happiness with his beloved
and interesting family.
It is but a little while since he retired from an active
commercial life in the City of New York to enjoy the rural
and domestic pleasures of his native place, and to soothe
160 YAPHANK AS IT WAS.
the declining days of his aged father, who, being entirely
blind, was the more dependent upon his son.
Although the time allotted him to discharge these filial
duties was short, yet his friends can testify how faith-
fully he performed them. Kindly he guided the faltering
steps of the old man, and cheered his lonely home by read-
ing and praying with him. Not only is his death a loss to
his family, but to society, and to all to whom he had en-
deared himself by his frank and courteous manners and
generous disposition. Kind and obliging, he was always
ready to confer a favor, and ever grateful when he received
one. The disease, which terminated in an affection of the
brain, rendered him unconscious of all around, and insen-
sible to the attention and solicitude with which he was
watched by his family, friends and neighbors. They hoped
and prayed for some favorable change, that he might be
spared to his beloved ones. But no interval of returning
consciousness permitted him to bid farewell to those so
dear to his heart. Yet they are not without the ever-blessed
assurance that his peace was made with God. That he had
not neglected, while in health, to "set his affections on
things above ;" "to lay up his treasure in Heaven, where
neither moth nor rust can corrupt." Nor was he ashamed
to confess Christ before men, in partaking of the Holy
Sacrament in obeyance to the command: "Do this in re-
membrance of me." His Christian deportment and conver-
sation were apparent to all, and lie has truly left an exam-
ple worthy of imitation. Although in the enjoyment of
worldly prosperity, and occupying his new and beautiful
residence, in circumstances where pride so easily besets the
human heart, he was just as humble as in the isolated
cottage. Before its completion his beautiful home was
consecrated to prayer, and made a habitation for God.
One of the last acts previous to his death was to construct
a fence enclosing the family burial ground, through the
gate of which his own mortal remains were the first to be
borne.
YAPHANK AS IT WAS. 161
There may they lie in peace until the morning of the Re-
surrection; and, if we believe that "Jesus died and rose
again," "even so them also who sleep in Jesus will Grod
bring with Him."
A sad day, a sad hour it was when Hewlett Hawkins
was laid in the dark and stilly tomb. Every Spring the
warm zephyrs fan the sweet flowers that bloom over his
grave, and the cruel frost of Autumn cuts down the waving
grasses, as Death's pale charge cuts down the bright and
promising man.
11
Part Third.
FACTS AND FANCIES;
on,
TRUTH AND TRIFLES MOILED DOWN.
PART THIRD.
i.
THE FAILINGS OF THE PEOPLE.
GOSSIPING COVETOUSNESS " RUSHING " ENTERPRISE.
There are black sheep in every fold, and deceptive gran-
dees in all society. No village is complete without a
town pump, where the feminine portion can draw up and
lower down the characters, wealth, and social standing of
neighbors and acquaintances. As long, as long as the world
revolves, so long, so long will old maids and young, discuss
the prevalent gossip over the historical tea-table !
A stranger visits the place. No matter about the sex ;
Miss Grundy must first inspect, and establish her verdict,
before her devoted followers will unmask their batteries.
If rich, third, fourth and fifth cousins will Hock down like
the frogs into Egypt, and overflow with kindness. The past
reputation is of no consequence. The elegant and refined
grasp heartily the callous palm, and smile upon the marks
of the wash-tub. Money flings open the aristocratic gate,
and gold paves the road where the "heavy" are wont to
ramble.
Whatever excites the village, Mr. So-and-So is surely the
procreator ; and stories, like snowballs, increase in size as
they are rolled around.
Yaphankers have three failings, viz : Gossiping, Covet
ousness, and "Rushing" Enterprise. The first is uni-
versal, the second is serai, and the third demi-semi. Too
166 FACTS AND FANCIES.
much enterprise proves pernicious. Ah ! the fate of am-
bitious Yaphank !
GOSSIPING.
Gossiping is innate with some, and easily acquired by
others. No one escapes their cruelty. A book filled with
Yaphank gossip would be more thrilling and interesting
than any model effort of a Lytton or Scott. When our full
complement is at home, no place of its size can equal
Yaphank for gossip in the known world. The four winds
of Heaven toss mail bags through their doors, and the Moon
tells them hidden tales. It is impossible to please a gos-
siper, for
" We may go through the world ; hut 'twill be very slow,
If we listen to all that is said as we go ;
We'll be worried and fretted and kept in a stew,
For meddlesome tongues must have something to do
For people will talk !
" If quiet and modest, 'twill then be presumed
Thatf your humble position is only assumed ;
You're a wolf in sheep's clothing, or else you're a fool,
But don't get excited ; keep perfectly cool
For people will talk !
" If threadbare your coat, or old-fashioned your dress,
Some one, of course, will take notice of this,
And hint, rather close, that you can't pay your way,
But don't get excited, whatever they say
For people will talk!
" If you dress in the fashion don't think to escape,
For they criticise then in a far different shape,
You're ahead of your means, or you're bills are unpaid,
But mind your own business, and keep straight ahead
For people will talk !
FACTS AND FANCIES. 167
"They will talk fine before yon, bnt then at your back,
Of venom and spite there is never a lack ;
How kind and polite is all that they say,
Bnt bitter as gall when your' re out of the way
Oh ! people must talk !
" Good friend, take my advice and do as you please,
For your mind (if you have one) will then be at ease;
Through life you will meet with all sorts of abuse,
But don't think to stop them, 'twill be of no use
For people will talk !"
COVKTOU8NE8S.
The Scripture saitli, " The spirit that dwelleth in us
lusteth to envy." It is a common failing that few are will-
ing to confess they are beset with ; and if Moses kept break-
ing the Ten Commandments, or obliterated the Tenth, more
exemplary churchmen would abound than now receive
that ''coveted" appellation. The ' root of all evil "gener-
ally supports the tree of covetousness, and thus, the more
man gets the more he wants. The wealthy of every town
and village are generally the most covetous, and the world
and community are never better for their existence.
Show me the successful, grasping men of any place, and
I will name the covetous ones. It is the most debasing
obstacle in the world to true Christianity ; a rock upon
which many unsuspecting ones are wrecked, and go down
where the blind never see.
"BUSHING" ENTKRPKISE.
The proof that there can exist too much enterprise is
startlingly verified in this "Gem of the forests." The
screams of our factories shock the nerves of the aged, and
their smoke choke the dormant villagers ; while the shouts
of merry workmen startle the cattle on the hillside, and send
old women into hysterics. The voice of Improvement
168 FACTS AND FANCIES.
thunders over the hills, and down into the quiet valleys,
rousing the sleepy yeomen from their long lethargy, and
scattering surprise and astonishment everywhere. Who
says too much enterprise is not destructive ? Ah ! the fate
of Yaphank !
OUR SOLID MEN
" Can't bear the idea of Yaphank being as large as N. Y.
City." Seems hard, too! "Crime can and will hide
its black form in the bosom of a great city ; and vice
allure the unwary and innocent into its dark embrace,"
say our Solid Men. That is the reason land can't be
bought to build a second New York, I suppose ! They
also say, " That in a large town or city, none inhale
the sweet air of security breathed by the dwellers in
a quiet village." Too bad ! Well, the public never can
declare our "Gem of the woods" a second Gotham of the
Western World. Too much vice in towns for Solid Men !
II.
THE BENEFICENCE OF YAPHANKERS.
Nothing is peculiar about the beneficence of Yaphankers,
except the fountain from which it springs. Here the poor
give their mites with a smile, and the rich stand guard over
their coffers. To ride through the village, strangers would
declare Yaphank a cold, inhospitable place ; inhabited by
selfish, disagreeable people. But it's not true. Yaphank
ers, as a people, are charitable ; and no place of its si/n
contributes more toward supporting the Word of God and
hushing the cries of the poor. It is only the rich of Yap-
hank that are uncharitable ; the poor and well-to-do are
generous.
One can count with the fingers the men who darken the
name of Yaphank. and blanket its munificence. They can
be found in the church, and their names are familiar in the
business circles. Such are a curse to civilization ! They
block up the roads and highways, and swarm where their
presence is pernicious. Yaphank never will prosper until
these men balance their accounts and rest where the "wood-
bine twineth."
A stranger, soliciting alms, passed through Yaphank.
He entered a gentleman's house, and asked for money and
food. The gentleman told him he was poor, and had not
money to shower on strangers. He is a steady churchman,
and worth over fifty thousand dollars.
" You appear comfortable ; have a nice house, furniture,
and clothing," replied the stranger ; " while I am sick, and
have a large family depending on me for bread." The
stranger retired without comfort.
170 FACTS AND FANCIES.
There are men here who have retired from business, and
live off their income, who shut their doors on the poor, and
send them to Mr. - - for alms ; informing the solicitor
that "7i,e is able, and willing to give." The poor man's
sky is made no brighter, or his wants less, by the philan-
thropical virtue of some Yaphankers. But, thank God,
there are generous exceptions !
Oh ! how long will the poor cry for bread ! How long will
thousands die in abjectness and poverty in this world of
abundance ! How long will hundreds live in an Eden of
plenty, and thousands in huts of want !
The interrogation re-echoes from the unfilled mouths of
thousands of widows and orphans, "How long ?"
A very pious old lady is a member of the Yaphank
Presbyterian Church. She is the wife of a wealthy and
retired citizen ; and never wearies in lifting sinners out of
the mire of the world. It is her joy to gather children into
the Sabbath School, and tell them the " sweet story of old."
She visits the homes of the poor. She crosses their thres-
holds with God's love swelling her heart to exuberance.
She pats the ragged urchins on the head, and pours into
their ears the tale of the Cross. She tells them if they are
good and pious children, she will meet them in Heaven one
day. But she never will ! She is uncharitable. She enters
the homes of poverty ; but not to ease the bodily pains.
The ointment of Heaven she freely bestows, and mistakes
the haggard, pinched features for Heavenly smiles. She
reads God's Word blindly, and believes a continual shout-
ing in His favor the direct road to the Kingdom. There
are many Christians like her in Yaphank. God grant their
eyes may be opened on this side of the waters ; for Lazarus
cooleth no tongues !
III.
MORAL AND IMMORAL YAPHANK.
MOEAL YAPHANK.
It is not my intention to dwell protractedly on this ethi-
cal subject. An unquestionable person or place requires
no redeemer. The inborn virtues form an impenetrable bar-
rier, and paint an unassuming but unapproachable picture
for public inspection. Truly, an untarnished title requires
no aid to place it upon a favorable basis. The exemplary
life of Washington can be told in a few words, while the
varied career of the traitorous Arnold would occupy col-
umns.
In reviewing the morality of Yaphank, and comparing
with foreign samples, I am decidedly convinced that we have
as sound and tried morality in our retired little village as
abounds in other towns of more prominence, and far bolder
pretensions ; the denizens of which ever delight in speak-
ing and writing encomiastic-ally of their people and Chris-
tian advancement.
I believe the elixir of Christianity consists not in pharisa-
ical pompousness and absurd boasting of one's spiritual
virtues ; and that the reverberating echoes of individual
horns are no more a verification of individual greatness than
the ass's bray is a proof of his fondness for oats. A man's
virtues are confirmed by his deeds ; which fact is plainly
established in the biographies of all truly immortal moral
men.
The majority of our citizens are moral, highly respectable,
and all pertaining thereto ; and if less inclined toward the
mountain of self-aggrandizement and exaltation, and
172 FACTS AND FANCIES.
more curbed their avariciousness and worldly lusts, I
should be spared the painful duty of writing even a limited
account of the immorality abounding here.
My friends and the public will expect and justly require
of me an impartial and correct description of Yaphank and
the people ; and I shall endeavor to complete the obliga-
tions of my undertaking and present to the reading public
what every town, city and county should an authentic his-
tory of the inhabitants and place.
It is impossible to write in laudation of one without mak-
ing a contradictor and opponent of another ; and men who
write, confining themselves to partial and relative limits,
can never be regarded as reliable historians.
IMMOKAL YAPHANK.
What more enlightened villages would term guileless
amusement, moral arid over-strenuous Yaphank would de-
clare shockingly wicked.
While frolics are in vogue, the good congregate to offer
prayers for the giddy and read their "titles clear." One
foot must belong to the church, or the frequenters of the
unholy ball-rooms are beyond redemption.
It has originated no little amusement among strangers
visiting this hidden oasis of the woods, regarding the forced
detestation some institute against that most pleasurable of
our harmless pastimes, "a good country hop." Gene-
rally they cannot dance themselves, and never attempted
the " useless and immoral amusement." But, as fast as they
master the art, their enthusiasm overcomes their previous
aversion, and it is astonishing the number of "hops" these
"moral" ones will "get up" through the agency of some
veteran dancer. Shy at first in instigating these "evil
gatherings," they become more and more enraptured with
the harmless enjoyment, and are soon catalogued by those
yet ignorant of the delightful art among the irreparably
lost.
FACTS AND FANCIES. 173
If "tripping the light " will debar any from that heaven-
ly choir, how many innocent ones will "pass in" their
checks at Hades ! Oh ! ye Gospel-makers of cant and
dollars rof free love and anti-local-eruptions, seek not for
an occasion to come in contact with those who prefer danc-
ing their way to the Great Unfathomed to living a lethargi-
cal career of valueless gossip in mansions built of glass !
IV.
YAPHANK AS IT WAS.
WHAT COMPRISED YAPHANK IN 1800 YAPHANK MILLS
AND THEIR HISTORY THE OLD GRANTS WHY YAP-
PHANK WAS NOT A CITY.
YAPHANK IN 1800.
In the early days Yaphank Middle Island Millville
was an almost unknown hamlet of about twenty houses.
To give its present inhabitants a brief idea of what con-
stituted Yaphank in 1800, I will mention and situate the
old land-marks that have been swept away by the cruel
waves of time.
The number and sites of the cottages were as follows :
One by th,e present residence of James Weeks, and an old
dilapidated structure near the house of Appollas Mills, late
deceased. Another near the site of Gerard's grist-mill the
home of Jonas Buckingham. One upon the ground where
the house of the late William Albin now stands. The Paul
Terry homestead was then a " palatial mansion ; " it is more
familiarly known as the "old John Owen house." The
building still stands, and is the property of J. P. Mills.
Esq.
A one- story house was situated upon the banks of the
river, about twenty rods south of Richard Hawkins' late
residence the supposed home and property of Samuel
Randall, Sr. Another ancient cottage reared its moss-em-
bellished chimneys about ten rods east of D. D. Sweezy's
hacienda ; and one near the site of Samuel Norton's domi-
ciliation. An almost antediluvian dwelling stood west of
PACTS AND FANCIES. 175
the famous " Valley Farm Hotel," now the estate of Alfred
Reid, Sr., but better known as the home of the late Dea.
Simmons Laws.
The old farm-house owned and occupied by Edmund
Homan was a fashionable cottage in 1800 ; and Nathaniel
Tuthill's store-house another goodly dwelling. A few rods
north of V. R. Sweezy's residence stood an old store and
dwelling attached, owned and kept by the aifable Jonah
Hawkins. The frame was removed and is now Mr. Swee-
zy's carriage-house. Deeply imbedded in an old beam in
that frame is the bullet that hurled John Sweezy into a
suicide's grave. He was D. D. and V. R. Sweezy's uncle,
and a brother of the notorious Christopher Sweezy.
Near by Robert Hawkins' domicile, where the public
road is now established, stood another old land-mark.
Northward nestled what is now the Sell's estate. Still
farther toward the Polar Star was another ancient habita-
tion. There Daniel Hammond dwelt and reared a sturdy
family of giants among them the famous John.
Next in order comes tlie old Homan homestead an
estate owned by the justly popular Esquire Mordecai
Homan, arid by the Homan family, for over two hundred
years. There the old 'Squire conducted the financial affairs
of Brookhaven Town for forty-two years. There a large
family grew up around him, and there his spirit passed into
eternal rest. Three more dwellings stood upon the Homan
estate, and with probably one or two unnoticed in the vi-
cinity, Yaphank in 1800 was a farming settlement of about
twenty houses.
YAPHANK MILLS AND THEIR HISTORY.
THE OLD GRANTS WHY YAPHANK WAS NOT A LOWELL AND
ROCHESTER COMBINED.
THE OLD GRANTS.
The people who daily gaze upon these stately old struc-
tures, hardly realize the great metamorphosis they have
passed through.
Sturdy men bore the grists of the old-time tillers of the
surrounding farms, and the same pretty lakes carried the
groaning'stones for our forefathers in the eighteenth century.
The upper mills were first erected, and were built by a
Capt. Robert Robinson, in 1739. In the old Town Record
of Brookhaven is recorded the following Grant for the UP-
PER MILLS :
"At a meeting of the Trustees of Brookhaven Town, on
the 12th of February, 1739, there were present, Capt.
Robert Robinson, Samuel Thompson, Eleazer Hawkins,
John Smith, Richard Floyd, Thomas Strong, and Nathaniel
Roe. It was voted and agreed on and granted by the Trus-
tees of the Town, that Capt. Robert Robinson shall have
liberty to build a mill or mills on Connecticut River, above
the going-over, where William Gerard now lives, at any
place where he shall think convenient; and we, the said
Trustees, do confirm unto the said Robert Robinson,
and his heirs, forever, the full benefit of the said river
that is to say, the Town's right for the above said use for
the consideration of six shillings. To us in hand paid ; and
if he or his heirs shall improve the same, and build a mill
or mills thereon, within the space of six years, or in some
FACTS AND FANCIES. l77
convenient space of time after. Otherwise, to return to said
Town."
Twenty-three years afterwards John Homan applied for
and received a grant to erect a saw mill about one mile be-
low. The following is a fac- simile in words of the grant
given to John Homan for the privilege to build a saw mill
in Lower Yaphank, in 1762 :
"At the Town Meeting on the 1st day of Nov., 1762,
the Trustees then present, voted and agreed that John
Homan shall have liberty to build a saw mill on Connecti-
cut River, below his house, adjoining to his land ; but not
to prejudice or hinder the going of the Upper Mill in any
manner, for the sum of forty shillings.
" But not to build any grist mill thereon without the leave
and order of the Trustees. And the said John Homan doth
agree and bind himself, his heirs and assignees, to build a
good and sufficient saw mill thereon, within the space of
three years from this date ; and to keep the same in good
and sufficient repair, and to saw at the rates of other saw
mills ; and upon the whole arid faithful performance of the
above conditions, then the stream thereto to remain to him
and his heirs. But, if any failure be made in the full and
complete performance of the above conditions, or any part
thereof, then this agreement to be void, and the whole
promises to return and be again vested in the Trustees and
their successors as fully as if this agreement was never
made.
" And the said John Homan has liberty, also, to build a
fulling mill thereon, if he sees fit, upon the same conditions
and limits."
In 1771, the same gentleman received a grant to build a
grist mill near or upon the same dam with his saw- mill ;
and in the old Record is found the following curious restric-
tions and conditions of the grant :
.. . "At a meeting of the Trustees on the 4th day of February,
1771, there were present, Jonathan Thompson, Benajiah
Strong, William Floyd, Eleazer Hawkins, Richard Wood-
is
178 FACTS AND FANCIES.
hull, and Joseph Brewster. At this meeting the said
Trustees covenanted and agreed with Daniel Homan that
is to say, have granted and given liberty on their part,
unto the said Daniel Homan, and to his heirs and assignees,
that he or they may build a grist mill on the same stream,
and at the place or dam where his saw mill now stands,
with the conditions and restrictions following: That the
said Daniel Homan shall complete the said mill for grind-
ing, within the space of two years from this date ; and also
after that time, shall keep an approved miller, and also the
said Homan shall take for toll three quarts and no more,
out of each bushel of all sorts of grain which he or they
may grind from time to time. Also, he shall always keep
a bolting mill with a good country cloth, always to be
freely used by those who have their grain ground at his
mill.
"And, if the said Homan doth make default in the
above agreement and covenant, then this above agreement
and grant shall be void, and the same shall return to the
Town and be the same as if it had not been granted. In
witness thereof, I have set my hand of day and date as
above written.
" DANIEL HOMAN."
WHY YAPHANK WAS NOT A LOWELL AND A ROCHESTER.
Connected with the Lower Mills is ail interesting history.
Yaphank would have certainly been a Lowell and a
Rochester had James Weeks and William Sidney Smith
carried out their scheme.
While the Long Island Railroad was being built, the
grain crops all over the country were failures, and wheat
and other staple produce were imported from Germany and
other European nations.
Messrs. Weeks and Smith purchased the Lower Mills of
old Robert, Hawkins, in 1836, and began what they should
have terminated.
.FACTS AND FANCIES. 179
The failures of the grain crops, and Messrs. Weeks' and
Smith's influence in the building of the railroad, originated
their scheme.
They intended to bring the railroad in direct connection
with their mills, import wheat from Germany, grind it into
flour at their mill, and transport it by the railroad over the
Island and country.
To make Yaphank a Lowell, they built a woolen factory
near their other mills, and again began what they
should have terminated. Why Yaphank is not a Lowell
and a Rochester, is because Messrs. Smith and Weeks did
not make it so !
V.
OUR DIMINUTIVE YALE.
THE YAPHANK DISTRICT SCHOOL AND ITS HISTORY THE
SCHOOL-HOUSE PAST AND PRESENT.
THE SCHOOL-HOUSE.
This neat little octagonal building, with its pretty obser-
vatory as an apex, stands lonely and unadorned in an open,
unenclosed lot, opposite the residence of Doc. James I.
Baker.
Around and within it are the indelible marks of the
ruthless propensities of Young America.
The village school-house ! How meagre and unsensa-
tional seems the name of those thousands of isolated repos-
itories of learning that sparkle in the quiet valleys, on the
wooded hill- sides, and on the plains of our boundless Home
of the Free ! How many shouts of genuine happiness, and
peals of healthy laughter, have echoed from those cabins of
youthful struggles.
How fondly we all but boys and girls of larger growth
cherish the memories of our school days ! How the heart
is stirred when the recollections of those pleasant hours
bring back to us the merry voices of playmates who now
are sleeping the long, long sleep ; and whose paths of
pleasure, and school-books torn and defaced, are forever
forgotten in that golden Mansion of harps and sweet
rewards !
How the unbidden tears trickle down our cheeks as we
stand, in memory, by the little grave of a dear playmate,
who laid down his books to die ! and how silently the tears
PACTS AND FANCIES. 181
are vanished by the recollections of the many boyish bat-
tles of those pugnacious followers of the "elementary'
Webster !
How we smile as we again ''stand at the head of the
class," or sullenly walk down the narrow aisle, and shud-
der at the stern command to " hold out your hand, sir !"
How clearly the roguish faces we saw on the "last day
of school" are transformed into a panorama of inter-
mingled joy and sorrow ! and how distinctly we saw in the
boy and girl the coming man and woman.
Why should one speak in scornful depreciation of a
country school-house ? Do we ever stop to think, in these
times of costly colleges and institutions of classical refine-
ment, that men whose appellations are written in letters
of living fire, and whose names will never be forgotten, once
carved with the traditional jack-knife the rude outlines of
those self -same names upon the rough walls of a log
school- house ?
Do we ever stop to consider, in these days of Yale honors
and Harvard laurels, whether the edifice makes the man,
or the college course the true gentleman ?
Will my friends in Yaphank accept the flattery, when I
assure them, that the noble father of their country Gen.
George Washington never threw spit-balls within as
"grand a room," or stole kisses from the attending belles
of as "nice" a school as we have in Yaphank '2
It is a false conception the lads and lassies of modern
times maintain, when they believe that architectural gran-
deur is the favored producer of superior intellect ; and as
everything ever so humble may it be has a history, I
shall endeavor to give the one coherent with the
YAPHANK DISTRICT SCHOOL-HOUSE-- PAST AND PRESENT.
For many, many years, the young ideas of the past
generations struggled to master the rustic classics in a little,
red-paiiited, boxed-up shanty, bearing the half admissible
182 FACTS AND FANCIES.
name of a school-house, that stood alone in an old field in
the almost extreme upper part of Upper Yaphank.
There old 'Squire Mordecai Homan once "ruled up"
the aggravating delinquencies of his home-spun pupils, and
there William C. Booth and Brewster Saxton explained the
mysteries of the half-explored globe. There William J.
Weeks left the head-lights of his boyish propensities.
There J. P. Mills, the acknowledged Governor and pomp-
ous potentate, engraved the transplendent star of his dry-
o-oods and hardware fame, in the outlines of the dim one his
o
father carved before him. There Richard S. Homan and
Noah T. Sweezy, the former now dead, but both once
prominent New York merchants, jumped the whirling rope
and kissed the village belles. Indeed, nearly every old
gentleman now living in Yaphank, and many that have
gone down the sunset-way, and many that have made
bright names in the world, took their initiatory step in
education in that old school-house.
Generations grew up, arid the advance of railroads and
science advanced the tastes of the people. In 1856 the dear
old ship that had borne so many minds out of the breakers
of ignorance into the sea of knowledge was abandoned as a
landmark of old times, and a new and very convenient
building was erected in Central Yaphank.
A prime mover in its erection was William J. Weeks,
Esq., who, although he suffered much opposition in the
movement, at last achieved his praiseworthy object. The
busts of Washington, Franklin, Webster and Clay embel-
lish the walls of the school-room, and were presented by
Mr. Weeks.
Mr. Weeks has in his possession a vast amount of man-
uscript matter pertaining to the district affairs, written and
compiled during the school war of 1854, '55 and '56. The
children were getting education under difficulties. Mr.
Weeks took more interest in their welfare than did their
parents. He suffered abuse because he wished the district
FACTS AND FANCIES.
to abandon the old shell of a house that stood "conveni-
ently out of the way," and build the neat and attractive
one that hard work, and plenty of it on his part, at last
erected for them. Who thanks him ?
VI.
YAPHANK CEMETERY ASSOCIATION.
MAKE MY GRAVE IN THE WILDWOOD WHY ABE OUR DEAD
PROMISCUOUSLY BURIED? AN ABSOLUTE REQUIREMENT.
MAKE MY GRAVE IN THE WILDWOOD.
are words that never will be heard from the dying lips of
the most romantic in the coming age of splendid cemeteries.
The poet Percival may slumber sweetly in his lonely
grave at Hazel Green, Wis., with only an evergreen to
mark his resting-place, and Edgar A. Poe lie tranquil and
calm in an unmarked grave, but the coming poet will never
die happily without the important assurance that the awful
vault and pale marble will characterize the solemnities of
his remembrance.
The living fashionables who love to sleep in the city^ while
in life, as a counterpart, wish to sleep in the " city of the
deap" when they roll up the warp of life ; and a weeping
willow over a lone grave in the quiet valley has no charm
for the repose of their decaying mortality.
The old-time usages of burying the dead, and the manner
in which they were distributed, causes us to exclaim :
HOW LONG WILL OUR DEAD BE PROMISCUOUSLY BURIED?
In Yaphank there are over half a dozen burying
plots. Some are family grounds, and some are moss-cov-
ered remnants of a broken-down church. Here and there
by the road-side, and in the deeper secludes, lay the sleep-
ing dead.
PACTS AND FANCIES. 185
It^was an
ABSOLUTE REQUIREMENT,
when the cemetery movement began in Yaphank, and to
the founders of the Association although many declared it
but a speculation is due much praise for their thoughtful
enterprise and consideration.
It was organized according to Statute in 1870. Six
Trustees were elected, viz. : John Hammond, Alfred Ack-
erly, Samuel Smith, John P. Mills, Sylvester Homan, and
ponies I. Baker. Sylvester Homan was elected President,
John P. Mills Treasurer, and James I. Baker Secretary.
They are so classified that two Trustees are elected every
year. Four acres of land were purchased at a cost of about
five hundred and fifty dollars. The object of the Associa-
tion is to make a permanent burial-place, free from denom-
ination or church ; also, that plots could be purchased and
controlled, which is prohibited in church-yards.
A neat, substantial fence has been erected, and as the
funds increase, the grounds are to be ornamented and
made attractive.
Every person purchasing a lot becomes a member, and
consequently enjoys a voice in its proceedings. No profits
can accrue to any individual member, but be used in grad-
ing, fencing, &c., or be invested by the Association as per
Revised Statute relating to Rural Cemeteries.
VII.
TEMPERANCE IN YAPHANK.
THE NOBLE CAUSE AND ITS SUSTAINERS A BRIEF SKETCH.
THE NOBLE CAUSE AND ITS SUSTAINERS.
Early in the Fall of 1872, a movement was started by
some enthusiastics to found an order in Y .
The foes of the bottle besieged the philanthropy of our
church supporters, and begged sympathy and assistance.
The young indefatigables read the reports of the extent of
the good work in neighboring villages, and soon became
stirred into the preternatural longing to unfurl the same
glorious pennant over this obscure home of not decidedly
unquestionable "spirits."
The pillars of the church were absolutely conservative.
Its supporters, with bank accounts amounting to many
thousands, were too poor (?) to experiment in nonsensical
undertakings, and no sunbeams ever fell from that quarter.
Everywhere rang the war cry of temperance. The warriors
of " spiritual peace " were digging up the tomahawks of
total abstinence, and were laying the corner-stones of sobri-
ety in every hamlet and village around us ; but no "red
war on red wine'' was begun in Yaphank.
Were we to be ever exempt from the allurements of the
fiery fiend ? Were our sons to go out into the world with
the bad example of Christians as their " cloud of fire ?"
The rumsellers smiled upon us, and the habitual drunk-
ard gave us the hand of reformation, but Christians refused
us aid ! The men who humbled themselves in prayer, and
whose hopes were beyond "the things of earth," stood
PACTS AND FANCIES. 187
aloof and smilingly predicted failure. Sneers and jeers
echoed from lips wet with the " dews of Heaven," and tem-
perance received an unwelcome greeting in the precincts of
Christianity.
Our young people God bless them organized, and be-
gan the slow, tedious march, unaided by mature minds.
They added their link to the great fraternal chain, and be-
gan drawing the fallen from the pits of drunken degrada-
tion. They clasped hearts and hands of commiseration
with other orders, and avowed themselves champions of a
truly great cause.
The good ones guarded the contribution box to the in-
terest of the "Missionary Fund," and cheerfully sent aid
and healing balms to the far-off South Sea Islands.
Dear reader ! can it be that they paused to think of the
^broken homes, the broken hearts, and the broken ties rum
was rearing up around them ''. Can it be that they heard
the cries of the innocent ones that were hurled into the cold,
cold world to fight its battles alone \ Could they have
heard the widows' lamentations and the orphans' cries that
arose in their midst, when they poured out the "milk of
human kindness " for untamed and unappreciating heathens
in the far-off Indies ? No, it cannot be ! It cannot be that
these followers of the "only true and living" thus de-
nounced the cause unworthy, and its sustainers unscrupu-
lous, after earnest meditation !
It must have been a prejudice against moral improve-
ment, or an hereditary inclination to sleep the sleep of tra-
ditionary Rip Van Winkle, that caused their wicked oppo-
sition ; for we don't find them among the Rumsellers'
Union, or among the mass of bloated sots .
Temperance ! ah ! what has it done ?
It has torn down old breweries and drinking hells, and
unfurled the stainless flag over polluted sod ! It has made
thousands of homes happy and peaceful, and gladdened
thousands of broken hearts ! It has dried the widow's
tears and hushed the orphan's cries! It has hurled its
186 FACTS AND FANCIES.
\
shafts of conviction through tavern windows, and snatched
that buyer and seller of human souls from behind his glit-
tering vases of deadly poisons, penitent and reformed be-
fore the world ! Temperance has done all this ! aye, more !
and yet the high and good worked detrimental to the
cause !
Do they term it a Christian spirit? Do they believe God
will uphold them ? No ! Temperance is a humane cause.
The Bible tells them so, their each conscience tells them so,
and their observation confirms it all.
Without it, America with her vaunted power and wealth,
would follow imperial Rome and down-trodden Ireland, and
the fate of every town would eventually be the fate of an-
cient Babylon.
It was not my intention to give my readers a temperance
lecture, when I began ; thus I will forbear ere I weary my
patient reader with superfluous additions to an historical
sketch of Division No. 73. The public is our jury, and
you, dear reader, must officiate as your own judge. You
can easily define the spirit that rules Yaphank, and as
easily picture the obstacles that always obstruct our
way to improvement.
But after much trouble, expecting aid where we only re-
ceived jeers and opposition, it has steadily moved into the
brilliant ranks of the noble army, and at last throws out a
beacon-light to guide the "reeling" ships safe over the
Bottle Rocks, with forty enthusiastic, hard-working mem
bers to defend against the taunts of the foe, and to keep
ever brighter the Heaven-directing beacon.
A BRIEF SKETCH.
In March, 1873, the first officers were duly installed by
E. H. Hopkins, Grand Scribe of Eastern Grand Division of
New York, and P. G. VV. P. William T. Parsons. The
order was instituted in the main body of the Presbyterian
Church, and from the 15th of that month temperance has
been a bright reality in Yaphank.
FACTS AND FANCIES. 189
From March 15th, 1873, until April 1st, 1874, the meet-
ings were held in the basement of the Presbyterian Church,
when an unpleasantness arose between certain members of
both societies, and the Division was compelled to vacate the
bricked-up repository of goodness.
Until July 14th, 1874, the homes of members were abiding
places, when, through the influence of the Worthy Patri-
arch then elected, and the kindness of Doc. James I. Baker,
o mmodious Baptist Church was secured as a hall. The
church was moved to Comsewogue soon after, and the Divi-
sion was again " adrift I' 1 The inhospitality of Yaphank is
plainly apparent when it is obviously known that people
don't only " leave the place," but take their houses too.
ROSWELL V. DAVIS.
This much-esteemed young man, who, by the way, is an
untiring temperance man, has engraved his name and mem
ory in his many indelible deeds of kindness, on the hearts
of all who are fortunate enough to have made his acquaint-
ance. 'Tis the moral worth of a true man that endears Ros-
well Davis to his friends, for he has no foes. May his sky
never darken, may the flowers ever bloom in his pathway
through life, and may he ever find friends in those he has
befriended. God bless his efforts !
The following are the names of all the W. Ts. and R. Ss.
who have officiated since the date of organization, March
15th, 1873:
TBBM. WOUTIIY PATRIARCHS. 1873. TERM. RECORDING SCRIBES.
1st. ALFRED REID, Jr.
2d. CHARLES W. TRAIN.
3d. R. E. HAMMOND.
4th. S. F. HOMAN.
1st.- W. H. REID.
3d. A. E. REID.
4th. ADDIK E. TRAIN.
No. Charter Members 11
No. Initiations . . 24
190 FACTS AND FANCIES.
TKRM. WORTHY PATRIARCHS. 1874. TERM. RECORDING SCRIBES.
5th. CHARLKS W. TRAIN.
6th. Doc. E. H. S. HOLDEN.
7th. ROSWELL V. DAVIS.
8th. L. BEECHER HOMAN.
5th. A. E. REID.
6th. " " "
7th." " "
8th.--" " "
No. Initiated . . 14
No. Expelled 1
No. Withdrawn 3
No. Members 45
VIII.
OUR RELIGIOUS HOMES.
THE CENTRES OP CHRISTIANITY IN YAPHANK THEIR HIS-
TORY, ETC.
What would the world be without its sanctuaries and
Sabbath-schools? How^long would our laws be enforced
and decorum sustained, if it were not for God's temples
that dot the land ? Men would trample each other down in
the great struggle for wealth and position, and women
would become crazy in the hot-beds of vanity and vice,
fashion and frivolity. Christianity is the great barrier that
keeps our lusts within control, and that curbs our wild
passions for emoluments and glory.
Men and women love to have a place where they can as-
semble together and exchange the whirl and excitements of
the race for wealth and fame, for the nourishing and solid
food that so stimulates the crazed mind and wearied body.
Six days of bustle and trade upon the streets and in the
marts causes the reasonable minds to pause on the seventh,
and exclaim: " How hard would be the drudgery of life
if it were not for the sweet rest and sweeter words God
gives us on the Sabbath ! "
How the tired man and jaded beast must love the peal-
ing Sabbath bells ; and how sweet the voices of God's ser-
vants must break upon the ear as they pour out the cheer-
ing nectar, that the business world may sip and gather up
strength for the six toilsome days that surely come.
Thus it is the sanctuary where the bread of life is broken
and where the burdened heart is relieved that makes us
respect the laws of the land, arid causes us to turn our eyes
192 FACTS AND FANCIES.
from the fading things of life and toward the great inevit-
able and Him who so wisely vouchsafed to man, a day and
place to change and cheer his heart.
THE YAPHANK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
The Presbyterian Church, at Yaphank, was erected in
the year of our Lord 1851, by the Presbyterian Society of
Yaphank.
Our people must have had an understanding of the sim-
plicity of true religion when they modeled and erected their
little temple of worship. As God came not in the whirl-
wind, but in the still, small voice, why would He not meet
and commune with them in their fifteen-hundred-dollar
church, although no frescoed walls reflected his brilliancy ?
God has visited us ; notwithstanding our wickedness as a
people ; although so many profess a Godly life, and fall far
short of a Christian reformation, God has not forsaken us.
For many years the prayers of our good people ascended
up against the mighty. Revivals were sustained and en-
joyed, and the good work , went grandly forward. The
times were becoming faster. Steam usurped dull-edged
tools, and hovels were transformed into palatial mansions.
Was it not natural, then, that our good people began to
look upon their box-like house of worship with disgust, and
to sigh for that conical connection necessary to all similar
structures a steeple?
I am not aware that the towering spire looks down upon
more sincere worshippers, or upon a more happy and Godly
place. I do not believe the prayers are offered more fer-
vently or more impressively because our good Samaritans
erected a miniature Babel that points heavenward. But, I
do believe that the aristocratic vanity of the Presbyterian
Society was somewhat appeased when the first peal from
the bell in the little tower rang o'er the wooded hills that
surround our village, and the weather-cock first revolved to
the four winds of Heaven.
FACTS AND FANCIES. 193
In 1851 the church was dedicated by the Rev. Ezra King
and Winthrop Bayles ; and Winthrop Bayles then pre-
sided over the church, and enrolled his name among
THE CLERGYMEN OF THE CHURCH
that have officiated since its erection. After Mr. Bayles'
retirement came Francis Drake. Mr. Drake was an ener-
getic, whole-souled, working Christian, and tinmurmur-
ingly sacrificed his health and happiness in favor of ecclesi-
astical progress.
Cruel was the abuse he suffered from the men that then
were a terror to the whole Christian community. Long
nights he sleeplessly passed in fear and anxiety, knowing
not when the wild whoops of enemies would echo from the
gloom. His nights were passed in dread, and his days
were never happy after his foes began their persecutions.
In his home they abused him, and upon the street they
never ceased to annoy. His brow became furrowed with
trouble, and his jokes were never as pointed after that or-
deal of fear.
What had he done that he deserved the abuse < What
was the magnitude of his crime that his actions had stirred
the ire of those that pursued him ?
The blow to his nervous system was severe, and lie never
recovered. In the West he went to preach, and in the
West he died. In the service of his Master he was stricken
down, and in the cemetery at Southold, L. I., he calmly
sleeps. No more will he tremble with fear, and no more will
the taunts of foes break his slumbers. While the perse-
cutors are still unsummoned, the flowers bloom o'er the
grave of the martyred Drake a true disciple while on earth,
and a bright star in heaven.
CHARLES STURGES.
Charles Sturges was next called to expound the biblical
consequences of sin, and to fill the place vacated by the la-
mented Drake.
13
194 FACTS AND FANCIES.
Different in habits, different in taste, and heterogeneous
in preaching, was the slow, unenthusiastic Sturges from the
restless, ambitious and eloquent Drake.
Mr. Sturges preached mechanically ; Mr. Drake preached
inspiringly. Both were Christian men, and both labored to
achieve the one grand object the diffusing of true religion.
One was impulsive, and sometimes indiscreet, and the other
calculating and slow. One was allowed to groan in the
toils of persecution, and the other to pray -out his religious
engagement upon a tranquil bosom.
Mr. Stnrges came among us with a glowing record of
well-doing as a missionary in the lands of religious dark-
ness. He had entered the homes of bigoted idolatry, and
in their primitive veneration of hewn gods, had touched
and turned the poor heathen's heart. God nourished the
seed he sowed, and Doc. Sturgis was welcomed to the can-
nibal's home as an angel sent by the only true Great Spirit
to soothe their spiritual woes, and force the scales from
their eyes. With this bright recommendation as a minis-
tering angel, he came to " our little church in the wild
wood."
He remained until the mother church began an aggres-
sive movement, and until the holy bonds that had long
held the two together, were severed by mutual consent,
when he sought pastures green and waters still up in the
mountains of the Empire State ; and that old revivalist and
veteran soldier of the cross,
CLARK LOCKWOOD,
brought us the "Balm from Gilead."
Mr. Lockwood is still as anxious, still as faithful, and
more engaged in the field he has chosen, than ever before
marked his success.
God also suffered this good man to pass through the fur-
nace of slander, and, like his predecessor, Drake, to be the
victim of a jealous intrigue.
FACTS AND FANCIES. 195
He is known all over the Island as a free-thinking, inde-
pendent Christian, and far have his triumphs extended,
and many a weary heart has he made glad.
So earnest and devont, so kind and careful in all his ex-
amples, he is, and ever will be respected, honored, and
cherished while he remains the pastor of the Yaphank
Presbyterian Church.
With these brief remarks regarding the Presbyterian
Church and the pastors who have officiated since its erec-
tion, I hope my friends will be content.
ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH.
THE BISHOP'S ADDKKSS A CONTRAST TO-DAY.
This beautiful little edifice is situated in the eastern part
of the village, adjoining Mr. James H. Weeks' property.
Through the instrumentality of this estimable gentleman
and his wife who, for many years previously, were the only
witnesses of the church in the whole of the church district
lying around Yaphank the building itself was erected.
The death of a beloved granddaughter in the year 1850 was
the first cause of suggesting to this aged couple the idea of
establishing a church here which is now proving to be the
light of the village, and a source of great pleasure to its first
members.
The interment of their granddaughter on Nov. Both, St.
Andrew's Day, of the before- mentioned year, gave rise to
its name, "St. Andrew's Church.'' The church was opened
for divine service, on the third Saturday after Trinity, in
1864, the Rev. C. H. Gardiner having been appointed by
the Rt. Rev. Horatio Potter, D. D., LL. I)., D. C. L., oxon,
as missionary in charge. In 1861 the missionary stipend
was transferred to St. John's Church, I slip, and St. Paul's,
Patchogue, and therefore St. Andrew's was left without a
settled clergyman for ten years. Occasionally services were
held by visiting clergymen, and by Mr. W. J. Weeks, who
was appointed lay reader by Bishop Potter.
196 FACTS AND FANCIES.
Thus the church struggled along for twenty years ; yet,
for all, the courage of its two firm friends never for a mo-
ment failed. But a brighter day was dawning. The debt
of $500, which for the past twenty years was the cause of its
not being consecrated, was liquidated in the year 1872 by
Charles Jeffery Smith, of Mastic, in memory of his wife. In
the same year, Mr. and Mrs. Weeks having united in the
gift of the church and lot of ground surrounding it, to the
Diocese of Long Island, they executed a deed to that effect
to the Rt. Rev. A. N. Littlejohri, D.D., who was conse-
crated Bishop of the Island on its separation from the Dio-
cese of New York, in the year 1869.
July 14th. 1873, this church was consecrated by the Rt.
Rev. the Bishop of the Diocese, assisted by five of his
clergy, viz. : Revs. Cook, Hewlett, Prescott, Buckmaster
and Pierson. The Rev. Pierson delivered the sermon,
after which the Rt. Rev., the Bishop, delivered an address,
of which the following is a correct extract :
" We are assembled here to-day to do what may appear
to some a very needless thing. It is now nearly twenty
years since this edifice was built. During all that time
it has been used for sacred purposes. Within its walls
have been performed, with more or less frequency, the
offices of our holy religion. Here, the message of salva-
tion has been proclaimed. Here, little children have, by
baptism, been grafted into the Body of Christ, and have
been taught the way of God's commandments. Here, the
steps of youth have been directed into the way of life. Here,
manhood and womanhood have formed a heavenly balm to
soothe the cares and mitigate the sorrows of this present
world. Here, old age, bowed down with infirmities and op-
pressed with the shadows of life's evening, has been taught
to lean on the Christian's hope, which is as an anchor, sure
and steadfast within the vale. Here, too, the last rites have
been performed over the dead. And thus, by baptism and
eucharist, by preaching and worship, and all kindred means
of grace, this place has come to be regarded as the house
FACTS AND FANDIES. 197
of God, and tender memories and holy attachments have
grown up around it. What more, then, can we hope to do
for this building by the services of this day ? This office of
formal consecration will not alter a line or a timber in its
structure. It will add nothing, take away nothing, visible
to the eye. And yet, as Christians and churchmen, we be-
lieve that it will change the spiritual character of this house,
and fill it with an atmosphere of religious feeling to which
it was a stranger before. In our thoughts and associations
it will make it more sacred than before. To the eye of faith,
the divine presence and blessing will be vouchsafed as they
were not in time past. Heretofore this building has been
man's building subjected to incumbrance and alienation.
Henceforth by solemn deed and covenant, it will be God's
property, and set apart as the special tabernacle of His
glory. We are here we, the official representatives of the
church, nay, of God Himself the high and lofty One that
inhabiteth eternity to publicly and formally accept the
gift, and to put upon it the seal of divine ownership."
u And then how shall I suitably speak of the givers
those aged servants of Christ who have so long and
patiently waited for this day ? Their offering is bathed in
holy joy and gratulation it gives up to God, laden with
the prayers, the toils and anxieties of many years. They
desire me to qualify their agency, their liberality, so far as
may be required, by the grateful acknowledgment of the
gift of $500 from Mr. C. J. Smith, of Mastic, in memory
of his deceased wife, who, while living, was a warm friend
of this church.
" This gift has canceled the only debt remaining upon it,
and prepared the way for this service of consecration.
Those venerable and venerated servants of God are near the
close of their earthly pilgrimage. Their day is far spent,
and the night of death is at hand, silvered over though it
be with the sweet and restful light of eternity. What they
have done to day may be among the last things that will
198 FACTS AND FANCIES.
round out and finish their record here on earth. The act
itself is one that will speak when they shall be no more
seen. Its influence will be felt by their posterities. Their
reward is only in part seen now. On the bright shores of
the world unseen they shall reap the most of it. There it
may be permitted them to greet many a soul that, in these
courts, will have been turned from darkness unto light, and
from the power of Satan unto God. Let ns, Bishop and
Clergy and people, so far as may, enter into their feel
ing a feeling which rises into the dignity and pathos of
that holy fervor which tilled the breast of aged Simeon,
when he called upon God to let him depart in peace, now
that he had seen the glory of salvation. God grant that,
full of blessings as this sanctuary may be to others, it may
be to them, when God shall call them away, the bright and
hallowed gateway through which they shall pass from the
storms of this troublesome world, to the rest that remain -
ethfor the people of God.'"'
At the close of this beautiful nn<J impressive address, the
Holy Eucharist was celebrated.
A CONTRAST TO-DAY.
Denominations, sects and cliques may contradict the
originality of opposite organizations, may speak dispar-
agingly of others who differ in opinion and sentiment, but
the sensible world only requires the practical result.
It is not the church, 'tis not religious belief, but the good
result that absolutely proves the real. The world cares not
whether a man be a Catholic or a Protestant, if he be a
good man. Yaphank, or most of it, is like the world.
The pretty little Episcopal church, with its talented
young rector, who came fresh from the critical walls of a
Theological College, are growing higher and higher in the
popular good-will of our people.
I will stand responsible for the declaration, that the
Spurgeon of Brookhaven Town is Rev. Ingram N. W. IT-
FACTS AND FANCIES. 199
vine, the most promising young divine, of any denomina-
tion, in Suffolk County.
My sketch would be incomplete if I were not to mention
the zealous labors of Mrs. Josephine G. Collyer and her
gifted family. No desire for public applause prompts her
to shower her gifts upon the shrine of her holy religion ;
and her sweet, lady-like pleasantry is the natural and un-
aided flow from a tender and generous heart. With a grace
of heaven's forming, she takes the poor and uncultured
kindly by the hand, folds down the wrinkled home-spun,
directs the doubting heart to the portals of life, tells the
tale of Jesus and the bleeding side, and all is done with an
unassuming, unpretentious grace, and a smile that she
must wear, because she cannot frown.
'Tis the spirit of other days that is raising St. Andrew's
Church ; and oh, that it were possible to engrave the same
spirit upon the altars of other sanctuaries, and upon the
hearts of more followers of the "meek and lowly One."
Let the good work go on ! God surely assists those who
help themselves, and St. Andrew's pastor, and St. Andrew's
sustainers, will soon see the bright light of their ever-burn-
ing lamp casting its heavenly rays into the places darkened
by prejudice and sickly dislike.
REV. INGRAM N. W. IRVINE.
IX.
REV. INGRAM N. W. IRVINE.
HIS EARLY STRUGGLES AND COLLEGIATE ACHIEVEMENTS-
PERSONAL.
HIS EARLY STRUGGLES AND ACHIEVEMENTS.
The Rev. Ingram N. W. Irvine,' the present officiating
clergyman of St. Andrew's Church, is not an American by
birth. He was born in the town of Kenmare. Kerry Co.,
Ireland, July 8th, 1856.
His father, Nathaniel Irvine, a gentleman of vast estate,
was a member of the Anglican church, and his mother a
member of the Roman.
Though differing in points of doctrine, they did not ne-
glect the spiritual training of their son, who was baptized
and carefully reared in the Anglican church.
His father becoming entangled in debt, by going security
for certain extravagant friends, his whole property at length
fell into the Court of Chancery. This change in fortune de-
termined the elder brother and sister to come to America.
Their mother was unwilling that her children should leave
home alone at such an early age, and decided to accompany
them, and, after a few years, return to Ireland.
She intended leaving her youngest son, Ingram, in Dublin,
with his father, that he might read law with his uncle, Rob-
ert Harvey Irvine, a solicitor of high repute. But Ingram
was unwilling to adopt this profession as his calling in life,
and with the firm intention, if possible, to study for the
ministry, he came with them to America, arriving in New
York, May 13th, 1866.
204 FACTS AND FANCIES.
He pursued a course of navigation in the N. Y. Nautical
School, at the end of which he became a student in St.
Stephen's College, Annandale, N. Y. Thence he entered a
Union Seminary, in which was taught, as he terms it, "a
conglomeration of Catholic truth and Calvinistic error."
Although having passed through the junior class of this
institution, he became dissatish'ed with his course, and in
the following October, 1871, he entered the General Theolo-
gical Seminary, with the famous class whose gentlemanly
conduct and mental superiority will not soon be forgotten
by their Alma Mater.
During the first two years of Ms course in the General
Theological Seminary, he assisted the Rev. James Millet,
D.D., rector of the church of the Holy Martyrs, N. Y.
In his senior year he connected himself with the Associate
Mission of Long Island. He was transferred, by his own
request, from the diocese of New York, to Long Island,
May 27th, and was ordained on Trinity Sunday, by the
Rt. Rev. A. N. Littlejohn, D.D., and immediately took
charge of St. Andrew's Church, Yaphank, and St. James',
Brookhaven.
PERSONAL.
Mr. Irvine is a pleasant gentleman, with a college finish
and student air about him. He has a true Catholic spirit,
and is free from the taint of assumed vainness and ostenta-
tion. His tact is displayed in his management of the
churches over which he is pastor.
Those who see Mr. Irvine in public, know little of the
spirit slumbering in the man. Not a particle of haughti-
ness or codfish-ela,tion is in his composition. He gracefully
recognizes the rich in silk and satin, and as eagerly and
pleasantly receives the humble in station and life. He
answers the complicated questions directed at his faith by
the learned, and cheers the bare-foot school -boy with kind
greetings, and does it all with an unchanged and natural
air.
FACTS AND FANCIES. 205
His reading is extensive. He believes Christianity en-
circles social, moral, and political life. He holds up to
scorn sickly doctrines which cannot be proven scripturally
and historically. Mr. Irvine preaches for all. The clerks
behind the counter, and the professional man, can learn
something from his sermons. In dress and habits he is
simple and plain.
The old-school merchants are the only true schools, but
the new school ministers are decidedly the most popular.
Mr. Irvine is of the new school. He comprehends the vital
importance of thoroughly impressing the truths of his ser-
mons upon the minds of his hearers, and he preaches with
his tongue, his heart, and his actions. His logic is often
irresistible, his eloquence frequently fascinating, and his
arguments always substantial.
When he came to Yaphank, some gazed with jealous eyes
upon the young student. He labored on. He preached
the solid fact, and preached it right. Gradually the hearts
of the people went out towards the energetic young man,
who bade farewell to his home and father in the Emerald
Isle to complete his study and preach the religion of the
true God, in America. Gradually their hearts opened, and
he poured in the sweet truths of the Great Book. He paved
a flowery way into their good-will, and now, to-day, Ingram
N. W. Irvine is esteemed as a good, gifted, and promising
young divine.
X.
THE SUFFOLK COUNTY ALMS-HOUSE.
A MODEL HOME FOR THE POOR THE FARM THE HOUSE
THE MAIN BUILDING DIVISION OF SEXES THE AT-
TENDING PHYSICIAN WILLIAM J. WEEKS EDWARD L.
GERARD DOCT. HOLDEN.
When the project of centering the pauperism of our
county in one institution was first presented, the thinking
ones were doubtful about the economy and practicability of
the proposed system, and questioned whether the abolish-
ment of the Town -houses would not establish a disgraceful
and illy-managed hot-bed of county corruption, poverty
and expense.
What fears existed, soon vanished, and the people voted
, for, and soon began the erection of,
A MODEL HOME FOR THEIR POOR.
The Suffolk County Aims-House, at Yaphank, is publicly
and universally regarded "as probably the best for the
purpose for which it is intended, of any in New York
State."
Very few people on the Island, comparatively speaking,
are aware that such a systematical, economical, and well-
regulated institution exists so near them.
Everywhere about the place there hovers an air of stern,
yet pleasing discipline and exactness ; and the rules of
the house are rigid, but reasonable.
208 FACTS AND FANCIES.
THE FARM.
The farm was purchased in 1870, of William Phillips,
Esq., a Yaphank man, for twelve thousand seven hundred
dollars, for which amount the county pays him interest.
It contains about eighty acres of highly-cultivated land,
and ninety of growing wood-land. Nearly one-half is
cultivated, and the paupers are constantly employed break-
ing up new land. The farm is convenient, and easily tilled.
It lies in a square, level body, and is very fertile. The re-
cent owner made a snug fortune on the same farm, before
it was cultivated to its present highly-productive state, and
our county should roll up another, in its present condition.
A certain class here are never weary in extolling the
managers of this self-supporting affair, and praising the
well-oiled system in the House and on the Farm. None
can deny that all concerned deserve medals for the remark-
able order they instituted over the chaos ; but the county
pays for this system, and supplies implements, manures,
and every necessary article for properly conducting one of
the finest estates in the county. The affair should be " self-
supporting." Those of the paupers that are able, are re-
quired to work eight hours each day Sundays excepted
and when the weather is unpleasant, they do the jn-door
work of the House and Farm. Not only is basket-making,
coopering, and other trades represented, but finety-finished
wagons have been manufactured on the premises.
If the one hundred and seventy acres of land, properly
managed, cannot support an average of one hundred and
twenty-five paupers, who can be clothed and fed for
''about ninety -five cents a week, for each one," this model
home for unfortunates had better be evacuated. The many
articles manufactured on the premises, are sold, of course,
to the interest of the county, and must assist in defraying
minor expenses.
To the original cost of the establishment was appended
over five thousand dollars in repairing the building, and
FACTS AND FANCIES.
making improvements about the grounds. Much of the
land has been recently fenced, the barns have been reno-
vated, and surprising improvements made everywhere.
THE HOUSE.
The engraving of the house is a correct one. The
grounds are tastily arranged, and all the surroundings
present a neat and cheering appearance. So many elabor-
ate descriptions of the building are before the public, that
any attempt to give further details might be termed decided
plagiarism. Of the many representations, Richard M.
Bayles's is considered the most reliable and authentic.
The entire building contains about fifty rooms. The first
floor contains eighteen large rooms, the second twenty-
seven, and the third but four. The superintendents', over-
seers', and assistants' private apartments, are on the first
and second floors of the main building ; and the engineer's
and medical room are included in the number.
THE MAIN BUILDING
is three-stories high, the wings two-stories, and the entire
southern front is one hundred and ninety feet. A brick
basement extends under the whole building. Trenches two
feet deep, tilled with stone and mortar, form the foundation.
Three large water tanks in the garrets, with a capacity of
three thousand gallons each, supply the house with the in-
dispensable fluid, which is replenished from the roof, or
pumped from a well in the basement. A hall-way runs
east and west through the centre of the building, which
connects with every room on the main floor by doors. A
similar hall on the story above communicates with the
rooms on the second floor. The north and south passage,
which opens north from the long hall in the centre building,
is accessible by stairs from the rear. This passage-way
connects with the rooms where are confined the milder class
14
FACTS AND FANCIES.
of lunatic paupers. Partitions separate the inmates of
either end of the house. The propriety of
DIVIDING THE SEXES,
is here forcibly illustrated. The females occupy the east-
ern portion of the house, and the males the western. Sepa-
rate stairways lead to their respective precincts, and exit
doors to the separate yards in the rear. The kitchen and
laundry are in the rear of the main building, and the din-
ing-rooms in the rear of the wings.
The workshop, storage-rooms, drying-room, coal and en-
gine rooms are in the basement, which also contains cells
for the raving lunatics.
A powerful engine in the basement supplies the boilers,
which have pipes attached that pass through every room.
The heating apparatus is excellent the entire cost of
which was eleven thousand dollars.
Hose, which can quickly be connected with the water-
tanks in the garrets, are carefully coiled in the halls, ready
for instant use in case of fire.
THE ATTENDING PHYSICIAN
has a medical room on the second floor, with all the neces-
sary drugs and medicines. The physician of the House at
the present time is Doct. James I. Baker ; and his success
entitles him to much credit.
The laws of the Institution are stern but reasonable, and
are enforced to the letter. The paupers are obliged to retire
at dusk, and to rise as soon as the first gray light of dawn
peeps through the windows. The inmates are managed by
signals ; in fact, everything goes by " cracks and snaps."
A flowery penned reporter of a city paper says : ' 'After
rising, the pauper makes his bed, sweeps his room, and pre-
pares for the morning meal. The first bell rings out an inti-
mation to be in readiness for breakfast, and at the sound of
the second bell, the door of the dining-room is thrown open
FACTS AND FANCIES. 211
and he is requested to be seated. At the 'snap' of the
third bell, he begins eating. The sane and insane eat sep-
arately, and so admirable is the discipline, that not even a
lunatic pauper touches his food until he hears the signal
from the keeper."
" On the first floor in the wing of the building, cripples are
kept in several rooms, but allowed the free use of the halls
and ground to hobble in and out at pleasure. A bath-room
on the same floor contributes to the cleanliness and comfort
of the inmates.'"
When admitted into the House, the pauper undergoes a
thorough examination. In the examining department he
is thoroughly questioned, stripped of all clothing, shaved,
washed, and clothed in warm, clean clothing. He is then
examined as to his physical abilities. If ailing, he is sent
to the hospital department ; if able to labor, he is required
to work eight hours a day, at the labor he is best adapted to.
The ' ' Charities' Aid Society' ' comprises some of the
most wealthy and benevolent people in our County, and
has contributed much toward appeasing the minor wants
of the poor unfortunates. Many heart-sick paupers have
been cheered and made happy by the Heavenly efforts of
this Heaven-inspired Society ; and should misfortune ever
come to any of its noble sustainers, as come it may to all,
may kind faces beam upon them, and their hearts laugh for
the good works that are not forgotten.
The following named gentlemen are prominently con-
nected with the County House :
Architect : CHARLES HALLET, Riverhead.
Builders : RANDALL BROS., Greenpoint.
Mason : ISRAEL REED,
!WM. R. POST, Southampton.
LYMAN B. SMITH, Smithtown, B.
F. H. OVERTON, Southold.
( STEPHEN R. WILLIAMS, Amityville.
Superintendents : < T. COR WIN, Riverhead.
I E. HAMPTON, Mulford, Orient.
Overseer : JOHN LOUDEN, Amityville.
212 FACTS AND FANCIES.
From the observatory to the basement the house is a
model affair, and Old Suffolk may well feel proud of the
institution that is considered the best of its class in N. Y.
State.
WILLIAM J. WEEKS.
No man that has ever been connected with the County
House has been as basely misrepresented as Mr. Weeks. A
large portion of the " admirable discipline," " excellent reg-
ulations," "unrivaled system," &c., were first instituted by
him. Men envious of him, abused his best works. He
labored for the public good, and I can prove it. Schemers
heaped faggots of venom upon the fires of jealousy, and
because they could not govern him, endeavored to haul him
and his name over the coals. The beautiful pictures drawn
by roving reporters and local dabblers sound very nice to
indifferent outsiders, but we here in pent-up Y- -know
a little more and but a little, for it requires a wise one to
know the whole.
Mr. Weeks is an honorable man, and those who know
him best honor him most.
EDWARD L. GERARD.
Mr. Gerard's connection with the House was a mutually
pleasant one. No one could give more entire satisfaction
than he. He is a thorough business man, and was
thoroughly competent to transact every portion that de-
volved upon him. His recent defeat was much regretted
by those acquainted with his excellent management, and
was regarded as one of the cruel reverses of political life.
If there wer^ deception in tranascting the County affairs,
Mr. Gerard was no accessory. If there were a "ring"
during his term of office, he was a missing link.
Scheming, oily-tongued outsiders, with their own interest
in view, may have endeavored to culminate their plans
through him, but it never will be credited that Mr. Gerard
ever, knowingly, assisted in forwarding their schemes.
FACTS AND FANCIES. 213
DR. E. H. S. HOLDEN.
This genial and gifted gentleman entered the House as a
"ministering angel," Jan. 1st, 1873. Whether he failed to
kill off the paupers as fast as a miserly element wished, is
unknown ; but it is enough to know that he had hardly got
in his position before his foes clamored to get him out.
No reasonable objection could be produced against him.
unless it was the death of only one pauper during his whole
term of office. He never said that "paupers were better
dead than alive," and his acts portrayed his skill, and his
tender heart.
In the performance of his duty he might have felt con-
tempt for the daily exposure to the presumption of prepos-
terous pragmatism, but when interference with the duties of
his office prevented him from protecting the county from
the possibility of imposition, his sense of honesty was in-
compatible with a further continuance under such restric-
tions. At the expiration of the first quarter, the Superin-
tendents proposing to adopt such measures as would, in Dr.
Holden's opinion, be the most effective means of favoring
imposition, he tendered his resignation.
FAREWELL.
MY LAST REVIEW.
THE PEOPLE.
And now, kind friends, attention lend,
The pages back retrace,
While I review this book for you
The people and the place.
Ere I " unbend," please condescend
To let your ears " luff;"
With partial eyes skip o'er the lies,
And all that sort of stuff.
I first, you know, to please you, show
My own sweet featur'd (?) face ;
Which, friends have said, proves me ill-bred,
And will my work disgrace.
Next, John P. Mills the office fills
Of Governor, I ween;
Sharp, shrewd and smart, he built a mart
Where rich and poor convene.
Thus, next in line, I do opine,
Is Robert H. Gerard
A noble man earth never can
Grant him his just reward.
The next theme speaks of William Weeks
A true and trusted man,
Who ev'ry day proves what I say ;
Deny it if you can !
FACTS AND FANCIES. 215
Up in Old Yale his hearty hail,
Once cheer'd the college boys,
And classic pride his Honor's guide-
Now wells his quiet joys.
A contrast here, there will appear,
By D. D. Sweezy made ;
A man of wealth, but not of health,
Who knows that both must fade !
Words I conduce to introduce
You Edward Wickham Mills ;
High in his place, with natural grace,
That charms, and after, thrills.
A firm recluse I introduce
'Tis Alfred Ackerly ;
A Christian man, nor cliques nor clan
Doubt his true purity.
There is a man who life began
With high and lofty aim ;
For ev'ry heart loves ev'ry part
Of Dea. Norton's name.
And by his side, with pompous pride,
John Hammond writes his name ;
The man of sole, who knows the whole,
What'e'er may be the theme.
I'll next present, with your consent,
S. Lester Homan, sir;
Whoseenterpri.se all criticize,
Whose honor we prefer !
Without a blur, you must concur,
Stands S. B. Overtoil,
A Christian gent who is content
With what his works have won.
216 FACTS AND FANCIES.
E. L. Gerard we must award
The honor he deserves
To duty's call he's all-in-all
From right he never swerves.
A mantle black lies in the track
Of Samuel Smith's last days
Sadness, indeed, you must concede,
His blameless act conveys.
And now again the simple name
Of Homan, I declare !
'Tis Edward H., although not great,
Is honest, fair and square. -
Who has success must now confess
That doctors have it too,
For Dr. B., as you can see,
Has found it all way through.
I now again the funny name
Of Homan iterate ;
'Tis Mordecai, bold, brave and free,
Who's been a traveler great.
Next I will tell and fondly dwell
Upon the name I scan,
For dear to me, and e'er will be,
This fine old gentleman.
When others frown, would pull me down,
My old friend stands the same ;
If there's a thing sweet memories bring,
'Tis Doctor Holden's name.
Nat. Tuthill now will tell you how
He made the ' stamps " when young ;
'Twill please you, too, to listen to
His smooth and oily tongue.
FACTS AND FANCIES.. 217
Next in the void comes Mr. Floyd,
A man of noble rank,
Who dwells alone in the quiet home
He chose in old Yaphank.
George Thompson now will make his bow,
While ladies hold their hearts ;
Though young in years he has few peers-
Is honorable, is smart.
A moment heed, 'tis Alfred Reid,
On whom the Fates did frown;
Who'd friends enough while he was up,
But prov'd them foes when down !
Where is the man more popular than
James Huggins Weeks, Esqr. ?
Whose lofty name none can defame,
And time will not impair ;
An honest friend, who will defend
The right against the wrong,
Who loves to see all unity
To make the weak ones strong.
God bless the man ! he leads the van
Of noble men in Y ,
He's wronged no heart of the smallest part-
No bosom of a sigh !
The low in state, the high and great,
Love Sidney Smith, I know;
For that proud name shines out the same
As in the long ago.
His generous deeds the poor man feeds
With " crumbs of comfort " oft.
He makes the sad and sick heart glad,
The couch of mis'ry soft !
16
218 PACTS AND FANCIES.
And rich in name in voice the same,
Is Sidney Ritch, Esqr. ;
Whose jolly jokes mirth still provokes
The people all declare.
Now at the last, though high as class'd,
Stands Ingram H. Irvine,
A classic youth, who preaches truth
An eloquent divine.
THE PLACE.
'Tis picturesque this quiet home
Of poverty and pride,
Where Mammon rears a gilded dome,
And paupers do reside.
'Tis soft and pure the inland air
That fans the dales and hills
Of auld Yaphank ; and tell me where
Man has less torturing ills ?
Here crescent youth grows hale and strong,
And grey-haired age lives on
To tell old tales in red, ripe song,
And tell the tales anon.
Here pale, wan cheeks are painted bright
Like roses in the bud
By Health's red brush, which paints aright
The cheek, and sluggsish blood.
The sluggish blood ! the sluggish blood !
God grant may drip and die,
Until an enterprising flood
Rolls o'er the hills of Y- - !
Rolls o'er her hills ! rolls o'er her vales !
Rolls o'er her people's way !
Until the dreaming yeoman hails
A bright and sunny day !
FACTS AND FANCIES. 219
Here breezes waft in balmy flakes
The sweet, sweet seeds of health,
While singing streams and limpid lakes
Roll over untold wealth !
Roll over untold wealth, my friends,
That long, long years has lain,
Like priceless pearls, whose glow depends
On efforts made again.
No hero great this place can boast,
No sage of high degree,
And only dabblers, at the most,
Write up its history.
No lyric poet sang her fame
Within the darkling dell ;
Nor sculptor great e'er carv'd the name
Of Yapharik, to excel.
No painter ever drew the pen
For this far inland Rome,
And no great author wrote of men
Who make Yaphank their home ;
But honor's counsels guide with care
The staid old villagers,
For we've none great if any are,
They're " local editors."
Then old, old home, of good and bad,
'Tis fare-thee-well farewell !
I am not sad, I am not glad,
Still fare-thee-well farewell !
Begone, dull day ! begone, dull dame
And break, oh ! break the chain,
That long, long years has bound the name
Of Yaphank in disdain !
220 FACTS AND FANCIES.
ATM KIT
Tho' you I bore, one moment more,
Kind friend, before we part,
Here is my hand, my friendship and
Well wishes from my heart!
Think well of me, though wrong I be,
Forever be it well ;
And let the end part you my friend,
Part with a kind FAREWELL.
FINIS.
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