USA > New York > Suffolk County > Babylon > Huntington Town records, including Babylon, Long Island, N.Y., Volume I, 1653-1688 > Part 1
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1800
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TOWN CLERK'S CERTIFICATE.
I hereby certify that I have compared, or caused to be compared, this printed volume with the original manu- script records in my office, and that I believe the same is a correct and exact copy of said original records, "errata" excepted.
BREWSTER G. SAMMIS, Town Clerk.
March 8, 1887.
PREFACE.
The Committee appointed by Resolution, passed at a town meeting in Huntington, April 7, 1885, began the performance of their duties by selecting records and hav- ing them copied for printing ; but owing to the death of Henry J. Scudder and the resignation of Jarvis R. Rolph, Stephen W. Gaines alone remained of the Committee at the end of the year. Mr. Gaines, in his report made at the annual town meeting in Huntington, 1886, says: "Many of "these (oldest records) were found to be defaced by time "and handling, with peculiarities of writing and spelling, "requiring careful copying before being in a condition for "classification or printing. For this purpose Miss Naomi "L. Street has been employed by the Committee, and has "very satisfactorily deciphered and copied manuscripts "covering a period from the first settlement of the town, "in 1653, to 1700." Mr. Gaines also resigned, as he stated, for the want of time necessary for the performance of the duties required.
The Town of Babylon having formed a part of the old Town of Huntington until the passage of the Act in 1872 creating it a separate town, and its people having a mutual interest with the people of Huntington in the printing and preservation of the records, the representatives of both towns decided to join in the common purpose and share the expenses of the publication.
At a joint meeting of the Committee representing Hun- tington, and George A. Hooper, Supervisor, representing Babylon, it was agreed that the first volume should con- tain the records relating to the territory within the present
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PREFACE.
boundaries of the Town of Babylon as well as Huntington, and that the expense of printing the same should be borne, two thirds by Huntington and one third by Babylon.
The book has been edited by Charles R. Street under the supervision of the Committee.
The original spelling, capitalization and punctuation have been followed, and all the papers have been prepared for the press with great care to make them correct and exact copies of the original records.
THOMAS YOUNG
CHARLES R. STREET Committee N. S. ACKERLY Town of Huntington.
GEO. A. HOOPER, Supervisor of Babylon.
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INTRODUCTION.
This volume covers the records of the town of Hunting- ton from its first settlement, 1653, to 1688. Pursuant to the plan of the work, every material paper is printed in the order of its date regardless of the source whence it is taken, under a brief head line, and ends with a reference to the volume and page of the record or the file of papers where it is found.
Originally these oldest records were in thin unbound volumes, in paste-board covers. The entries were made by the Recorders or Town Clerks promiscuousły, with little regard to the subject matter or the order of date ; but at the revision of the records, made by authority of the Board of Trustecs in 1873, these old paste-board covered books were grouped together and bound in volumes, and were entitled "Court Records," "Town Meetings," "Deeds," &c., according to the general subject matter of their contents, but their titles are often misleading, as they still remain a mixture of all kinds of records with little order as to dates. There is also a mass of loose papers dating back to this early period which have survived the ravages of time. All these old records are so worn and defaced, and written in such ancient and peculiar chirography, that it became necessary to copy them for the hand of the printer, retain- ing in all cases the ancient spelling, capitalization and peculiarities of letter and form-a work of mrcb difficulty and magnitude.
Out of this chaos of ancient manuscript-a dead letter to all not experienced in deciphering it-an orderly and chron- ologically arranged record of the doings of the people of
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INTRODUCTION.
the town at this early period is now for the first time pro- duced, with an index pointing to the page where any given subject may be found. Some foot notes, explanatory of events disclosed in the records, have been added by me with the sanction of the Committee. It is highly probable that some inaccuracies may have crept into these notes, but where not quite certain as to the facts, the statements are made in guarded or qualified terms.
This book contains all the Indian deeds, all the grants and patents from Colonial Governors, all the town meetings and grants of land by town meetings, and all deeds and miscellaneous records, to the date of the last paper printed. It ends not far from where the proceedings of the trustees of the town begin, no trustees having existed until the grant of the Dongan Charter of 1688. A few wills and inven- tories of estates appear, chiefly before 1665. After the latter date, and down to the close of the Revolutionary war, they were required by law to be proved and recorded else- where.
This first volume embraces what may be termed the foundation history of the town. It tells us of the pioneers who first settled Huntington, where they first located and established their homes ; how they acquired title to their lands ; their treaties and agreements with the Indians ; what tribes of Indians they found here, and of the territory occupied by these tribes. It tells us when and where the early settlers founded churches and schools, built mills for grinding their corn, and forts and watch-houses for de- fence ; of their military system, of " train bands " for mutual protection ; their long and bitter contests with rival com- munities to maintain the boundaries of their town; their method of land divisions ; their persistent hostility to the Dutch Government of New Netherlands, and their friend- ship for the New England Colonies ; the laws and regula- tions they made at town meetings ; and it unfolds to us a view of the social, political, religious and inner life of our
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INTRODUCTION.
ancestors at this remote period, which cannot be otherwise than useful and interesting to all, both in a utilitarian and a historical point of view, and especially so to the citizens of the towns of Huntington and Babylon.
Aside from Indian deeds, there are no records in the Clerk's office of earlier date than 1657, and the records from 1657 to 1660 are confined mostly to a few minutes of civil and criminal trials. The first record of a town meeting, now found, is dated 1659, six years after white men were here purchasing land from the Indians. It is fair to assume that many of the earliest records of town meetings and of other events have been lost. They were probably kept on loose papers, not recorded in any book, and have gradu- ally disappeared. Many papers bound together survive; single papers perish,-exemplifying the truth of Æsop's fable of the bundle of sticks. An opinion prevails that some of the events at the time of the first settlement were re- corded in New Haven, Hartford, Branford or other old towns in New England, as the pioneers considered them- selves within the jurisdiction of Connecticut. A corres- pondence, however, with those who have the custody of the records of these towns, has so far brought nothing very material to light, but I cannot help believing that a more thorough search might be successful. With the exception of the first seven years of the town's history, the records are very continuous to the period when this book ends. The absence of the first records of the settlement is to be much regretted.
The first settlers of Huntington were chiefly Englishmen, and they nearly all had sojourned for a time before com- ing here at one or other of the settlements in New England, and some of them in other of the oldest towns on Long Island. Of the exact time when, and the precise place where the first white man, or the first company of white people landed or located in Huntington, we have no cer- tain knowledge. Hon. Silas Wood, in his history of Sul-
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INTRODUCTION.
folk County, states that eleven families came here first, followed immediately by others. No names and no dates are given. He probably gave this as a tradition in his time, for there is nothing in the records of the town supporting it, and nothing elsewhere verifying the statement, to my knowledge.
After considerable research and careful examination of the records of Long Island and many New England towns, and of lists of immigrants from England to America, I incline to the opinion that those pioneers who came here during the first five years of the settlement came principally on at least three different lines. It is probable that the first and oldest company came across the Sound, perhaps under the leadership of Rev. William Leverich, from the vicinity of New Haven and Branford, landing at Huntington Harbor and locating principally along the valley where the eastern part of Huntington Village now is, this having been always called "the town spot," or "old town spot ; " that the second immigration was an off-shoot from the Hempstead colony, led thither by Rev. Richard Denton soon after 1640, originally from Wethersfield, Mass., and for a time at Stamford, Conn ; and that the third influx came from the vicinity of Salem, Mass., after stopping a short time in Southold and Southampton, principally in the former town. These three lines of migration are quite clearly shown by tracing the residence of these persons through successive years in more or less of the places here indicated, but the order in which they came here is not so apparent, and it may be that their arrival was nearly simultaneous. In sub- sequent years the settlement was undoubtedly recruited by frequent arrivals from the New England towns and from other towns on Long Island, several coming from Southold, Southampton, Setauket, Hempstead and Newtown, but few, if any, coming from the distinctively Dutch towns at the west.
The pioneers found the territory within the limits of the
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INTRODUCTION.
old town of Huntington occupied by three tribes of In- dians ; the Matinnecocks holding the territory on the north side to the middle of the Island, the Sucatogues the south- east part, the Marsepagues the southwest, each adjoining the Matinnecocks on the north. They were comparatively feeble tribes of Algonquin stock, their numbers having been decimated by former wars with the New England tribes, to whom they had annually paid tribute. The whites had very little trouble in managing them, and gradually ac- quired title to all their lands.
In the first years of the settlement the pioneers built their rudely constructed dwellings around and near the "town spot," where they had a fort and "watch-houses," and where the "train bands" were drilled. Their animals were daily driven out and herded under guard, some in the "east field," now Old Fields, and some in the "west field," now West Neck, and at night the cattle were driven back and cor- ralled near the watch-house. Gradually, however, the more adventurous pushed out in all directions, and made them- selves homes where they found the richest soil and most attractive surroundings, and at their meetings grants of "home lots" were made. At first the women pounded their . corn in mortars and the men wrought logs and clapboards for building with axes and cleavers; but soon dams were constructed across the streams, small mills were built for grinding grain and sawing lumber, rude tanneries were constructed for tanning leather, and spindles and looms were made or procured for the manufacture of coarse flaxer. and woolen fabrics for clothing. The ox-cart was their only vehicle for travel and "cart paths" their only highways. They used wooden ploughshares tipped with iron. Their match-lock guns were even more clumsy than the okl flint- locks, but some of their swords were wrought by Spanish artisans and were tempered with a skill that is among the lost arts.
For a period of about eleven years, down to the English
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INTRODUCTION.
conquest over the Dutch in 1664, the people here formed a little independent government of their own, making their own laws. From 1664 to 1691, a period of twenty-six years, with the exception of a brief hiatus of Dutch Conquest in 1673, they were governed by a code of laws promulgated by authority of the Duke of York, called the "Dukes Laws" and formed a part of the Colony of New York under suc- cessive Colonial Governors, with practically no voice in making the laws other than such orders relating to their common lands as were allowed to be made at town meet- ings. After 1691, under the greater freedom secured by the English revolution, they had a voice in the making of laws, and the charter given them in 1694 conferred upon them the full powers of a town corporation.
It is well to remember that nearly all the events recorded in this book occured more than one hundred years before the Revolutionary War; and that so much of this remote history of our ancestors has been preserved should be es- pecially gratifying to the people of Huntington and Baby- lon, who are alike interested in its preservation.
CHARLES R. STREET.
HUNTINGTON TOWN RECORDS.
[INDIAN DEED. THE FIRST PURCHASE IN HUNTINGTON .* ]
[1653, April 2.]
Articles of agreement betwixt Raseokan Sagamore of Matinnicoke,t of the one part, and Richard Houldbroke, Robart Williams, Danial Whitehead, of the other party, witnesseth as followeth :
Know all men whome these present writings may any way concerne that I Raseokan do sell and make over unto the aforesaid parties Richard Houldbrock, Robart Wil- liams and Daniel Whitehead, their heirs, executors or assigns, a certain quantitie of land, lying and being upon Long Island, bounded upon the West side with a river commonly called by the Indians Nachaquetack, on the North side with the sea and going eastward to a river
[*The origin of the name, Huntington, is involved in obscur- ity. Its Indian name was Ketewomoke. We have no knowledge of the signification of this Indian word. As the first settlement here was made while Oliver Cromwell was in the zenith of his power, the first Indian deed having been make in the same year and month in which he dissolved the Long Parliament, it has been suggested that this town was named after his birthplace in England, Huntingdon. On the other
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HUNTINGTON TOWN RECORDS.
called Opcatkontycke, on the south side to the utmost part of my bounds ; promising, and by virtue hereof I do prom- ise to free the above saide lands from all title off and claim that shall be made unto it by reason of any former act ; in consideration of which land the afore said Richard Houl- brock, Robart Williams and Danial Whitehead doth prom- ise unto the said Rascokan as followeth : 6 coats, 6 kettles, 6 hatchets, 6 howes, 6 shirts, 10 knives, 6 fathom of wampum, 30 muxes, 30 needles, further the said sachem doth promise to go or send some one in twenty days to show and mark
hand it is generally supposed that Huntington derived its name from the abundance of game here, which made it a desirable hunting ground.]
[+The Matinecock tribe of Indians occupied all of the north shore of Long Island from the Nesequague (now Smithtown) River on the east, to Scouts, or Cow Bay, in Hempstead, on the west.
The chief of the Matinecocks then here was Raseocon, and he was called the Sagamore of Ketewomoke, then called by the English, Huntington. Wyandance, the chief of the Montauks, who resided at the east end of Long Island and claimed to be the Grand Sachem over all other tribes on Long Island, did not sign this deed, which caused some trouble later on, but is of little consequence now.
On the same day that this deed was given by the Indians to the Oysterbay men named in it as grantees, the latter assigned all their interest in the premises to certain residents of Hun- tington who became the proprietors, and they and their de- scendants, or assigns, were ever after called the proprietors of the first or "old purchase." The original assignment seems to be missing, but I think I have seen it in former years, and its execution is attested by contemporaneous papers. The boun- daries of the premises described in this deed are understcod to include the premises between Natchaguetack, Cold Spring Harbour, on the west, Opkatkowtycke, the stream at the head of Northport Harbour, on the east, the Sound on the north, and a line where what is now known as Country Path runs, on the south ; containing about six miles square, but afterwards con- strued as not including Lloyd's Neck or Eaton's Neck. It was here that the first settlement was made-what is now Hunting- ton village being the central point, or "Town Spot " so called, -C. R. S.]
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HUNTINGTON TOWN RECORDS.
out the bounds, and in case it prove not according to expectation then this writing to be voyde & of none efectt, but in case it be, then this writing to stand in full force, power and virtue.
Witness our hands the 2th of Aprill 1653.
the mark of RICHARD X HOULBROCK, ROBARTX WILLIAMS, DANIELLX WHITHEAD.
1
the mark X of the SAGAMOR the mark X of HEWOIKES the mark of X MUHAMA the mark X of SYHAR the mark X of POYNEYPA the mark X of NAUAMARAWAS the mark X of MAHENAS the mark X of ONAMYCAS
the mark X of MANYTONY the mark X of POANEPON the mark X of PENETUN the mark X of NASCORET the mark X of SUAUSPAC the mark X of NEMAPAPAM the mark X of CAMPAS the mark X of NESCEHE the mark X of YAPACAMAN the mark X of SCANOMY the mark X of ANCHOPIN the mark X of WERCOCCU the mark X of WINHAMAS the mark X of ASGELEUES the mark X of MAMARAM the mark X of WOMPOM
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HUNTINGTON TOWN RECORDS.
This is a true coppe of the origenall deed witnes our hands.
THOMAS RICHARDS. MOSES JOHNSON Recorded in the office at New York IIth day of November 1667. Matthias Nicolls, secr (File No. 67.)
[INDIAN DEED OF HORSE (LLOYD'S) NECK TO DANIEL MAYO AND OTHERS.]
[1654, September 20.] .
September the 20, 1654.
This writing witnesseth that I Ratiocan Sagamore of Cow Harbor, have sold unto Samuel Mayo, Danil White- head and Peter Wright my neck of land which makes the east side of Oyster Bay, and the west side of Cow Harbor on the north side bounded with the Sound called by Indians Caumsett. For and in consideration of which neck of land, we the aforesaid Samuel Mayo, Daniel Whitehead and Peter Wright, do promise to pay to the afore said Ratiocan, Sagamore, three coats, three shirts, two cuttos, three hatchets, three hoes, two fathom of wampum, six knives, two pair of stockings, two pair of shoes. In witnes where- of we have interchangeably set our hands.
The Mark of X RATIOCAN, Sagamore,
The Mark of X ASPAPAM, Sagamore
The Mark of X NASTHEYE
The Mark of X ONOMICUS
The Mark of X OPATAN NATAMYE
The Mark of X CATANON
The Mark of X NOCONAST
The Mark of X PECHOCON
The Mark of X MOMINY
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HUNTINGTON TOWN RECORDS.
The Mark of X SHONHEGON
The Mark cf X MASKAN
The Mark of X COPACAFF The Mark of STAMFORD OPTAPEA The Mark of X TANSAYUSPE
SAMUEL MAYO DANIL WHITEHEAD PETER WRIGHT
In the presence of us underscribed this writing above written was owned and acknowledged to be the act and decd of those Indians that have hereunto signed which they promise forever to maintain.
Oysterbay 16, May 1658.
NICHOLAS WRIGHIT JOHN SAFFIN NICHOLAS SIMPKINS
Received in part one coat one pair of breeches.
The Mark of X RATIOCAN.
copy from the Records of the Manor of Queens Village "Vellum book" and entered in page 54, 3ª book of Massa- chusetts Colony Sept. I. 1658 .*
(File Lloyd's Neck Papers, A.)
[*This deed was hostile to the title of Huntington, as it pur- ported to convey a part of premises claimed to be included in the Huntington purchase a year earlier. It furnished the basis for the long litigation which followed concerning the owner- ship of Lloyd's, then Horse Neck. It is not strange, however, that the Indians were ready enough to sell the same land any number of times, provided they could find a purchaser who would give them wampum and trinkets .- C. R. S.]
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HUNTINGTON TOWN RECORDS.
[INDIAN DEED-EASTERN PURCHASE.]
[1656, July 30.]
This indenture made in the yeare 1656, in or abought the Laste daye of July bee twixt Asharoken Montinnicok Sachem and the reste of the Indian owners with him, on the on parte, and Jonas Wood, William Rogers, Thomas Wilkes, for themselves and the rest of theire associates, on the other parte ; Witnesseth that I, asharoken have solld unto Jonas Wood, William Rogers, Thomas wilkes all the medoe, freshe and salte lyinge and beinge upon the north side of Longe Islande, from our fourmer bounds Cowhar- ber brocke to Neesaquock river, all the medoe within these bounds weste and easte, and to the north sayd to as far as asharokens bounds goeth "Southwards, as the necke called Eatons Necke, Crabmedos, and all the reste of the medows within the a fore sayde boundes with all the arbige that is or shal bee heare after upon the woods, lands with in the a fore sayde bounds, to bee the afore sayd Jonas is Willans and Thomas is, to them and thare a sosiats, heeres and executors for ever, rasarvinge to the Indians Liberty to plante and hunte within thees a fore sayd bounds, and that for and in consideration of 2 coates, fore shertes, seven quarts of licker and aleven ounces of powther in witnes heeareof wee have set to our hands.
ASHAROKEN X his mark MAKAMAH X his mark
JONAS WOOD WILLIAM ROGERS THOMAS WILKES
SVHAR Xhis mark FOGER Xhis mark
POYNEPYA Xhis mark NAMEROWSX his mark
MOHEMOSXhis mark
MAMARAD X his mark
MANATERORYEX his mark
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HUNTINGTON TOWN RECORDS.
Entered in ye office at New Yorke the 15th day of October, 1666 Matthias Nicolls, secr .*
(File No. 24.)
[WILL OF JEFFREY ESTE.]
[1657, Jan. 4.]
Jefery Este deseased the 4th of Jenuary 57 haveing mad his will and desposed of his estat as follueth :
i he gave to his son Isak Easte sholld have A bedd and all that thar unto belonging.
[*This has always been designated as the Eastern Purchase, and as will be seen, began where the first purchase ended at "Cow Harbour brooke," or as the Indians called it "Opkatkon- tycke" and running eastward to the Nesequague or Smithtown River. The term "To as far as Asharokens bounds goeth southward," is rather indefinite but it was understood to goas far south as the old Country road, where the premises joined the lands of the Sucetogue Indians of the south side of the Island. It was claimed afterwards by Smithtown that the part of this purchase lying between Unthemamuck, Fresh Pond, and the Nesequague or Smithtown River was not owned by these Indians, but was included in valid deeds by the Nessaquague Indians to the original proprietors of Smithtown, and Hunting- ton lost this part of the territory by decree of the Court of Assizes in 1675. It was also successfully contended that under a deed by the Matinecock Indians to Theophilus Eaton, Gov'r of New Haven, made in 1646, the Indian title had already passed, so that as to this Neck the deed was of no effect, but it was held valid as to all the rest. This deed, and the old pur- chase deed, are the only ones of much importance obtained of the Indians by the settlers of the north side of Huntington. William Rogers, one of the grantees in this deed, is supposed to have been the son of Isaiah Rogers, and a descendant of John Rogers, the Martyr, 1555. Thomas Wickes, another grantee, left Wethersfield in 1635 ; was at Stamford, Conn., in 1641, and came to Huntington with Edmund Wood and others. Jonas Wood, another grantee, was probably the one designated as "of Halifax." He was the son of Edmund Wood, and came here with Thomas Wicks about 1654, via. Stamford .- C. R. S.]
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HUNTINGTON TOWN RECORDS.
2. 20 shillings in shewes of if henry skodar so can to his dafter.
-3 he bequeathed his house and lote to Jonathn Skodar the son of henary Skodar and his father to be his gardenar till his son com the age of 21 yeres and the rest of his estat to henary skodar of huntington. I henary Skodar being exetar in the presunt of thes witneses the 23 of Jenunry 59 .*
JONAS WOOD. THOMAS BENNYDICK.
(Court Rec., p. 11.)
[EMPLOYMENT OF THE FIRST SCHOOL TEACHER.]
[1657, Feb. II.]
A Covenant and Agreement made the eleventh Day of ffebruary 1657, at a Corte or Towne meeting ; Betwixt the Inhabitants of ye Towne of Huntington of the one p'tie ; And Jonas Holdsworth of the other p'tie, Whereby the said Jonas Holdsworth Doth engage himselfe to the said Inhabitants During ye terme of ffoure yeares ; to be ex- pired from the thirteenth Day of Aprill next ensuing the Day of the Date hereof, ffor to Schoole such persons or Children as shall be put to him for yt end ; by ye sd. In- habitants. And likewise the said Inhabitants Doth also engage themselves to the said Jonas Holdsworth, for to
[*Jeffrey Este was at Salem, Mass., in 1637, and afterwards at Southold. He was an old man when he came to Hunting- ton. He resided at East Neck. His children were, Tonsfield, Isaac and Catharine. Savage says that Tonsfield's wife, Mary Este, was executed as a witch, September 26th, 1692. Catharine' married Henry Scudder and after his death married Thomas Jones. This is the first record of a death in Hunting- ton .- C. R. S.]
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