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Gc 974.702 N4223f 1552922
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01145 1926
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/historyoftownoff00wall_1
HISTORY OF FLUSHING
HISTORY
OF THE
TOWN OF FLUSHING
LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK
By
HENRY D. WALLER
FLUSHING J. H. RIDENOUR 1899
.
1
NEW
F 8513.95
1552922
Copyright, 1899 BY J. H. RIDENOUR Flushing, N. Y.
Press of the Flushing Evening Journal Flushing, N. Y.
-
3
PREFACE
In this age of many books one feels inclined to apologize for adding to the number. A history of Flushing has never been published. This fact has seemed to the author a sufficient excuse for the present undertaking. Mandeville's Flushing Past and Present contains some valuable material ; but that material has not been digested, and has not been arranged in chronological order. The book cannot be called a history.
The plan pursued by the author of the following pages has been, to tell the story of our town as simply and briefly as possible, avoiding the introduction of long quotations from old documents, and in foot notes referring the reader to the authority for every statement. Only so much of the history of the Province has been introduced as was deemed necessary to explain events in the town. Without this occasional broader vision, our history would in many places be but a series of disconnected and meaningless entries.
The author is indebted to many persons for kind assist- ance. The files of local newspapers have frequently been referred to, in preparing the chapter on modern Flushing. To his friend, Mr. E. A. Fairchild, the author again acknowledges his indebtedness for valuable assistance and suggestions in the correction of proofs.
CONTENTS
Part I-New Netherland
CHAPTER I.
PAGE.
DISCOVERIES AND DISPUTES,
-
I
CHAPTER II.
ESTABLISHING THE COLONY OF NEW NETHERLAND
-
7
Part II-The Dutch Colonial Period
CHAPTER III.
THE SETTLEMENT OF FLUSHING,
-
I4
CHAPTER IV.
TROUBLES WITH NEW ENGLAND.
CAPTAIN UNDERHILL
BANISHED, - - -
- 29
CHAPTER V.
ANABAPTISTS AND QUAKERS,
-
-
37
CHAPTER VI.
TROUBLE WITH CONNECTICUT.
CAPTAIN JOHN SCOTT,
48
7
vi
CONTENTS
Part III-The English Colonial Period CHAPTER VII.
THE DUKE'S LAWS.
SEDITION AMONG FLUSHING'S
MILITIAMEN.
GEORGE FOX's VISIT,
-
-
59
CHAPTER VIII.
ANOTHER YEAR OF DUTCH RULE,
CHAPTER IX.
REVOLUTIONS AND NEW LAWS,
-
I
-
- 76
CHAPTER X.
QUAKERS IN FLUSHING,
-
84
CHAPTER XI.
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN FLUSHING.
GOVERNOR
CLINTON,
-
-
98
Part IV-The Revolutionary Period
CHAPTER XII.
MEN OF THE TIME,
112
CHAPTER XIII.
BEGINNINGS OF THE REVOLUTION,
-
121
CHAPTER XIV.
THE BRITISH OCCUPATION OF FLUSHING,
-
130
72
CONTENTS
vii ยท Part V-The American Period CHAPTER XV.
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS,
-
-
154
CHAPTER XVI.
RECONSTRUCTION, - - - - 162
CHAPTER XVII.
FLUSHING'S NEW LIFE, - - - 172
CHAPTER XVIII.
MODERN FLUSHING, - - - 184
Appendix
I.
THE CHARTER
1
- 231
II.
SIGNERS OF THE REMONSTRANCE, - - 235
III.
LIST OF THE INHABITANTS IN 1698, -
-
- 237
IV.
PROVISIONS IN FLUSHING IN 1711,
-
- 249
viii
CONTENTS
V.
MUSTER ROLL OF CAPTAIN JONATHAN WRIGHT'S COM- PANY, 1715, - - 253
VI
SUFFERINGS OF THE FRIENDS IN FLUSHING, DURING
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR, -
-
255
VII.
ADDITIONAL NOTES RELATING TO
THE
HISTORY OF
FLUSHING,
-
-
-
259
VIII.
THE TREES OF FLUSHING,
-
269
IX.
TITLES OF BOOKS QUOTED OR REFERRED TO, IN THIS
-
273
HISTORY,
- 277 INDEX,
THE
HISTORY OF FLUSHING
PART I-New Netherland
CHAPTER I
DISCOVERIES AND DISPUTES
To tell our story properly, we must begin at the begin- ning. Without a clear idea of the conflicting claims to jurisdiction in New York, advanced by the English and the Dutch, or without a general knowledge of Colonial history prior to the settlement of Flushing, many of the references to our town, that may be found in the Colonial Documents, would not be understood.
Jean and Sebastian Cabot, sailing under a commission from Henry VII of England, claimed the whole of North America for their sovereign. They passed the coast of Long Island, and were the first Europeans to do so. There is, however, no evidence that they saw the New York coast. They certainly did not land on its shore.
1498
2
HISTORY OF FLUSHING
1524
Early in the next century, Jean de Verrazzano, a Flor- entine in the service of Francis I of France, entered the " most beautiful bay" of New York. In his report to Francis, he says: "After proceeding one hundred leagues, we found a very pleasant situation among some steep hills, through which a very large river, deep at its mouth. forced its way to the sea. . . We would not venture up in our ves- sel, without a knowledge of the mouth: therefore we took the boat, and, entering the river [i. e. the Narrows], we found the country on its banks well-peopled, the inhabitants . being dressed out with feathers of birds of various colours. . . . We passed up this river about half a league, when we found it formed a most beautiful lake, three leagues in circuit. . . A violent, contrary wind . . forced us to return to our ships, greatly regretting to leave this region which seemed so commodious and delightful."1
Thus the French were the first Europeans that visited New York. Plans for colonization were frequently discussed by these first discoverers, but nothing was done. Nearly two centuries later, James I of England granted a charter for the colonization of "that part of America, commonly called Vir- ginia, and other parts and territories in America either ap-
1 Letter to Francis I, dated July 8, 1524. N. Y. H. S. Coll., I (second series), 45, 46. Brodhead's New York, 1, 2.
1606
.
3
DISCOVERIES
pertaining to us, or which are not actually possessed by any Christian prince or people." The country described in this charter, extended from Cape Fear to Nova Scotia. None of the colonies organized under this charter, came to New York.
In the meantime, a rival in exploration and coloniza- tion appeared. After a long and bitter struggle, Spain was compelled to acknowledge the independence of the United Provinces of the Netherlands. The energy and dauntless courage of these, now independent, Netherlanders soon caused them to push their enterprising commerce into many lands. The legend on their earliest coinage (1562), borrowed from Holy Scripture, "Thy way is in the sea and Thy paths in many waters," was not only a description of their Father- land: it was, as well, a prophecy of their achievements abroad.
It had long been a favorite theory in Europe, that a passage to the East Indies could be found by sailing to the northwest. Henry Hudson, an Englishman, had already, in 1607 and in 1608, made two unsuccessful attempts to find this northwest passage. The London Company, under whose patronage he had sailed, declined to make further attempts. Not discouraged by his failures, Hudson sought, in Holland, assistance for another expedition. In response to his ap- peals, the East India Company fitted out the Half-Moon,
4
HISTORY OF FLSUHING
and placed him in command. The Half-Moon is described as a Vlei-boat of eighty tons burden. It was a two-masted vessel and was a fast sailer. It was manned by a crew of twenty, Dutch and English, sailors. The commander, Hud- son, was an Englishman; the "under-skipper" was a Dutchman. To Hudson's clerk, Robert Juet, we are in- debted for an account of the expedition. After an eventful voyage, Hudson entered the Narrows, Sept. 3, 1609. He had first attempted to enter the Rockaway inlet to Jamaica Bay. As he sailed up the majestic river that now bears his name, he felt confident that he had at last discovered the long- sought northwest passage to the Indies. When he reached the head of navigation, he was compelled to change his mind. But he had discovered a country rich in fur, and "the finest land for cultivation that ever in my life I have trod. "2
The Dutch were not slow to avail themselves of the opportunity offered for trade in this new country. For a time, this trade was carried on by private enterprise. 1611
Hendrick Christiaensen and Adrian Block made a voyage to the Mauritius River, as the Hudson was then called, two 1612 years after Hudson's visit. During the following year, some
2 Hudson's Journal, quoted by De Leat. Flint's Early Long Island, p. 5.
5
DISCOVERIES
influential merchants of Amsterdam equipped two vessels, the Fortune and the Tiger, and dispatched them, under the command of Christiaensen and Block, to trade with the natives at the Island of Manhattan. One of their vessels was burned at Manhattan. The Onrust 3 was built to take 1614 its place. In this, the first vessel built by a European at Manhattan, Block passed through the dangerous strait of "the Hell Gate, " and sailed up Long Island Sound, explor- ing the bays on either side. It is probable, therefore, that he was the first European to enter Flushing Bay. Block returned to Holland, during the same year. To the Am- sterdam merchants, who had inaugurated this trade with the Indians, a charter was granted, securing to them the exclusive right to trade in the regions they had explored. In this charter, granted by the States General, Oct. 11, 1614, the name New Amsterdam appears for the first time. The charter gave the grantees no power of government. It 1615 was to be in force for three years from June 1, 1615. At the expiration of that time, the States General refused to renew the charter.
During the summer of the following year, an English . vessel, commanded by Captain Thomas Dermer and owned by Sir Ferdinando Gorges, sailed through Long Island
3 Restless.
1619
6
HISTORY OF FLUSHING
Sound. Dermer, in his description of Long Island, said that the island had been "hitherto taken for main." This was five years after Block's voyage in the Onrust. Dermer passed through Hell Gate-"a most dangerous cataract, among small, rocky islands" --- and sailed as far south as Virginia. On his return, he met some Dutch traders at Manhattan, and warned them to quit the place, as it was English territory. This, it will be noticed, was ten years after Hudson's exploration, and eight years after the Dutch had established trade with the Indians at Manhattan.
CHAPTER II
ESTABLISHING THE COLONY OF NEW NETHERLAND
The Dutch soon realized the value of Manhattan, and the necessity of making definite arrangements for defending and governing this new-world possession. A charter was granted to the West India Company, empowering it to col- onize, defend and govern New Netherland. This was the beginning of a new era. The charter provided that, for the next twenty years-from July 1, 1621-no inhabitant of the United Netherlands should sail to any part of America, without the consent of the West India Company. The Com- pany was empowered to build forts, to appoint and discharge governors and civil and military officers, to administer justice and to promote trade. The appointment of governors and the instructions issued to them, were subject to the approval of the States General. All superior officers were required to take an oath of allegiance to the States General, and to the Company. The States General promised to protect the Company in the enjoyment of its rights, and to assist it with a grant of a million guilders-about $500,000.
1621
8
HISTORY OF FLUSHING
Sir Dudley Carleton, the British ambassador at the Hague, protested against the West India Company's occu- pation of territory granted by James, to Englishmen. No attention was paid to this protest. England, in her contro- versies with Spain concerning papal grants, had always maintained that occupation conferred title, and that "prescription without possession is of no avail."
The Company was not fully organized, until two years after the date of the charter. Cornelius Jacobson May was the first Director-General. To assist him, in the govern- ment of the colony, a Council was appointed, in which was vested all local authority-legislative, judicial and executive -subject to revision by the Amsterdam Chamber. The Council could fine and imprison. It could not inflict capital punishment. Persons convicted of capital offences were to be sent to Holland. Next in authority to the Director- General and his Council, was the Koopman, or Book-keeper of the Company, who acted as Secretary of the Province. Then came the Schout, whose office combined the duties of Public Prosecutor and of Sheriff. He was not a member of the Council, but was the Council's executive officer.
The Company reserved Manhattan Island for its own possession. To immigrants the Company offered as much and as they were able to improve. To any member of the
1623 1626
9
NEW NETHERLAND
Company who would plant a colony of fifty adults, would be granted the title and authorities of a Patroon -- or feudal chief. A Patroon had civil and judicial authority, within his colony. In cases involving more than fifty guilders, an appeal might be made from the Patroon's court to the Council of New Netherland.
It is somewhat strange, to say the least, that the New England Puritans protested strongly against the Hollanders' right to settle in New Netherland. It is well known that the Puritans had been treated with great kindness by the Dutch, in Holland. It may not be so well known that, when the Puritans first thought of coming to America, they asked the Prince of Orange and the States General to allow them to come as Dutch subjects-"All under the order and the command of your Princely Highness and of the High and Mighty Lords States General. " They sought protection especially against the English, who were-the Puritans asserted-'inclined to deprive this state of its rights to these lands." 1 The States General were not able to grant this petition for armed protection, but it seems strange that these Puritans should deny the right of the Dutch to settle in unoccupied territory, after they had asked the Dutch to protect them in their right to do so, and had even desired to
1 Historical Documents I, 22 et sq.
1627
10
HISTORY OF FLUSHING
come as subjects of these same Dutch. The friction be- tween the New Englanders and the New Netherlanders, so early begun, never entirely ceased. The Cavalier colonists of Virginia were always more friendly to the Hollanders in 1633 New Netherland, than were their more austere neighbors at the north. There is land enough ;"-said Sir John Harvey, Governor of Virginia, to De Vries-"we should be good neighbors. You will have no trouble from us-if only those of New England do not approach too near you. " 2
1635
The English never relinquished their asserted right to dispose of the whole of North America, from Nova Scotia to Cape Fear. 3 One of the last acts of the Plymouth Com- pany was, to convey to William, Earl of Sterling, "part of New England, and an island adjacent, called Long Island. " 4 This act gave the Director-General and the Council of New Netherland, no little trouble. Lord Sterling gave to James Farret, a power of attorney, to dispose of any of his prop-
1638
2 De Vries, p. 110. Brodhend I, 227.
3 To complicate matters still further, Charles I granted to Sir Edmund Plowden and eight other petitioners (June 21, 1634), the whole of Long Island and forty leagues square of the adjoining continent, to form a county Palatine, to be known as New Albion. Plowden was created Earl Palatine of New Albion. He spent the remainder of his life in trying to make his title good. He died in 1659. His descendants claimed the title until the close of the eighteenth century.
4 Documents III, 42. Brodhead I, 259.
11
NEW NETHERLAND
erty on Long Island or in its neighborhood. Farret selected for his own. use Shelter Island and Robins Island, in Peconic Bay, confirmed Lion Gardiner's title to the island that still bears his name, and induced a colony from Lynn, Mass., to settle on Cow Bay. He next appeared at Manhattan and, in the name of Lord Sterling, claimed the whole of Long Is- land. "His pretention was not much regarded, and so he departed, without accomplishing anything, having influ- enced only a few people. " 3 The colony at Cow Bay was broken up. Thus ended the first attempt to plant an Eng- lish colony within the present limits of Queens County.
Governor Kieft had already, at the beginning of the previous year, (Jan. 15, 1639), secured, from the Indians, a title to what is now Queens County. The land was sold "for, and in consideration of, a party of merchandise, which they acknowledge to have received into their hands and power, to their full satisfaction and content." The chief sachem reserved the right, "with his people and friends, to remain upon the aforesaid land, plant corn, fish, hunt, and make a living there as well as they can, while he himself and his people place themselves under the protection of the said Lords. " 6
1639
1640
1639
5 Thompson's Long Island I, 117, 305.
6 Historical Documents XIV, 15.
Brodhead I, 298.
12
HISTORY OF FLUSHING
1643
Kieft had, since 1640, been carrying on an unjust war against the Indians on the main land, but the Long Island Indians remained friendly to the Dutch. The Colonists, on the west end of the Island, desired to extend this war to the friendly tribes about them. The Council prevailed on Kieft to withhold his consent. This he did for two reasons ; viz., the Marechkawieks had always been friendly, and they would be "hard to conquer." Nevertheless, he added, after this commingling of gratitude and prudence, that every col- onist was authorized to defend himself, should the Indians show signs of hostility. It was not difficult to induce the Indians to exhibit the desired signs of hostility. A forag- ing expedition was set on foot and the unsuspecting Indians were robbed of two wagon-loads of grain. In the attempt. to protect their property, three Indians were killed. 7 A general uprising and a cruel war followed. One of the suf- ferers, in this war, was the Rev. Francis Doughty, who had settled at Mespat. We shall refer to him again.
Having begun the war, the Dutch found it difficult to make peace with the Indians. "Are you our friends?" said the Indians to Kieft, when he sought peace. "You are corn thieves."
7 Historical Documents I, 184.
13
NEW NETHERLAND
Peace was, however, at last secured. The ways of the strangers seemed inexplicable to the Indians. A number of them attended a religious meeting, held by the pious Domine Magapolensis. They stood about, with pipes in their mouths, regarding this strange procedure. They asked the good Domine what he wanted, standing there alone, making so many words, and not allowing the others to speak. He replied : "I admonish the Christians that they must not steal, nor drink, nor commit lewdness and murder." The Indians solemnly gave their approval of such instruc- tion, and wonderingly added: "Why do so many Christians do these things?" 8
1644
8 N. Y. H. S. Coll., (second series) III, 149-160. Broadhead I, 375, et sq.
PART II-The Dutch Colonial Period
CHAPTER III
THE SETTLEMENT OF FLUSHING
The spring of 1645 saw an end of the Indian wars that, for five years, had harassed the colonists. During these five years, they had enjoyed scarcely five months of peace. A day of Thanksgiving was proclaimed, and was observed, with great joy, on the sixth of September.
The restoration of peace, encouraged the planting of new colonies in New Netherland. The liberal policy of the Gov- ernment caused many colonists in New England to look to New Netherland for the freedom of conscience which they had failed to find among the Puritans. Francis Doughty was, by no means, the only person who found that he "had got from the pan into the fire," 1 when he went from Eng- land to New England. "In Massachusetts," says Judge Story, "the arm of the civil government was constantly
1 The Representation of New Netherland, p. 51.
1645
15
THE SETTLEMENT
employed in support of denunciations of the Church ; and, without its forms, the Inquisition existed in substance, with a full share of its terrors and its violence." 2 The Holland- ers, in New Netherland. were not always so tolerant in fact, as their laws required ; still they offered a brilliant contrast to their Puritan neighbors.
Among the many other English colonists, who sought the protection of the Dutch colony of New Netherland, were the incorporators of the town of Vlissigen. The name appears in many different forms : we shall hereafter use the modern spelling, except when quoting from old documents. There appears to be no authority for the tradition, that the incorporators chose the name, because they had at one time found refuge in the Holland town of the same name. The creek was evidently called Flushing Creek. before the arrival of the English settlers, for the charter describes the bound- ary in these words : "To begin at ye westward part thereof, at the Mouth of a Creeke upon the East River, now com- monly called and knowne by the name of fflushing Creeke" etc. 3 The patentees, or incorporators, were: Thomas Farington, John Townsend, Thomas Stiles, Thomas Saull,
2 Miscellanies, p. 66.
3 The date of the Charter is Oct. 10, 1645.
See Ap- pendix I.
16
HISTORY OF FLUSHING
John Marston, Robert Field, Thomas Applegate, Thomas Beddard, Laurence Dutch, John Laurence, William Lau- rence, William Thorne, Henry Sautell, William Pigeon, Micheall Milliard, Robert Firman, John Hicks, Edward Hart. The original draft of the charter conveyed to these men all the land between the east and west limits of Flushing, from the sound to the ocean. A memorandum affixed to the charter before it was signed and sealed, placed the southern limits of the town "as far as the Hills." This rather indefinite boundary was, in later years, the cause of much dispute with Jamaica. William Thorne had come to Flushing-or rather to the region that now became Flushing-three years before, and had settled at Thorne's Neck. John Lawrence was one of the incorporators of Hempstead, in 1614. He now joined his brother William, as an incorporator of Flushing. John Lawrence repeatedly held important offices under both the Dutch and the Eng- lish. He was several times Mayor of New Amsterdam, and, at the time of his death, in 1699, was Judge of the Supreme Court. William Lawrence was a magistrate of Flushing, under both the Dutch and the English, and held other offices of importance -= civil and military. He died in 1680. +
The original inhabitants of the region, now incorporated
4 Thompson's Long Island II, 362.
17
THE SETTLEMENT
as Flushing, were the Matinecock Indians. They sold the land to the Dutch, at the rate of fifty acres for an axe. The Long Island Indians "were a seafaring race, mild in tem- perament, diligent in the pursuits determined by their environment, skilled in the management of canoe, of seine, or spear, and dextrous in the making of seawan, or wam- pum."5 The shores of the Island supplied abundance of shells, from which this Indian currency was made. This fact gave the Island its earliest name-Sewan-hacky, i. e. the Land of Shells. Sewan, or wampum, was the common currency among the Indians and was extensively used by the colonists.6 The black wampum was made from the purple part of the quohang shell. 7 One bead of this black wampum was equivalent to an English farthing, and had twice the value of the white wampum, which was made
5 Flint's Early Long Island, p. 45 et sq.
6 The following tradition, concerning the scarcity of silver money, is taken from a note on a fly-leaf of an old vestry book of St. George's parish. The date of the writing is about 1797. "Even as late as 1670, an English shilling being found in the road, a mile east of the landing, it was immediately concluded to belong to one Lawrence, who kept a few articles to sell, as they could not think of any other person in the town who had such a thing as a silver shilling."
7 "The Quohang, or whelk, was the Buccinum Undu- latum. As that became rare, the common clam, Venus Mercenaria, was used. ". Flint.
18
HISTORY OF FLUSHING
of the periwinkle shell. 8 Long Island became the colonial mint; and the manufacture and exportation of wampum became the source of considerable profit. But even at this early date, the problem of a depreciated currency, circula- ting side by side with one of standard value, troubled the Dutch. In 1641, an ordinance was passed setting forth the fact that "bad wampum is at present circulated here, and payment is made in nothing but rough, unpolished stuff and the good, polished wampum is wholly put out of sight or exported." The ordinance, therefore, provided that the inferior wampum should be accepted for only three-fourths of the value of good wampum. 9
The government, provided by the Charter, was very sim- ple. The pantentees were to "enjoy the liberty of conscience according to the custom and manner of Holland, without molestation or disturbance from any magistrate, or mag- istrates, or any other ecclesiastical minister." They were to elect a Schout, or Sheriff, whose duty it should be to pre- serve order and arrest offenders. The offenders were to be taken before the Director-General for trial. At the end of ten years, the inhabitants of the town were to pay to the
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