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COUNTRY HOME 07 GOVERNOR UL WIT
HOME OF COL ROOSEVELT. ISTORIC HOMES ON LONG ISLAND
ANCIENT AND MODERN
bill bo ts buvable there's no place like heaven THE . PAYNE, HOMESTEADA
HISTORICAL. DESCRIPTIVE GENEALOGICAL BIOGRAPHICAL.
Yet 're chess base? from made co je es , Some fait armeveral stof erected rack . With unec. A rhyme and stopalong wayhere
Impasses the passing? il buio of a sie!
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LONG ISLAND HISTORIC HOMES ANCIENT AND MODERN
INCLUDING A HISTORY OF THEIR FOUNDERS AND BUILDERS
ILLUSTRATED
" Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam Still be it so humble there's no place like home, A charm from the skies seems to hallow it there Which, go through the world, you'll not meet elsewhere."
BY HENRY WHITTEMORE COMPILER OF Our New England Ancestors and their Descendants. Geneological Guide to the Early Settlers of America. The Founders and Builders of the Oranges. The Heroes of the Revolution and their Descendants. Battle of Long Island, etc.
LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY, New York and Chicago
PUDL
T
COPYRIGHT 1901
INTRODUCTION.
L ONG ISLAND, the land of beautiful homes and of healthful re- sorts-the paradise of the Empire State-is also a place of great historic interest, and there is } obably not another spot in the whole country where the past and present-the work of the FOUNDERS AND BUILDERS-is so closely interwoven. The rivers, streams, valleys and mountains and even many of the ancient towns bear the significant names given by the aborigines; while the tottering old chimney tops, quaint colonial houses, and ancient landmarks of every description still remain as reminders of the long ago, awakening in the mind of the beholder a desire to know something of their history, to look into the past, to know the habits, customs and history of the people who, from various causes --- love of adventure or religious persecution --- left their homes in the Old World and founded this " Paradise by the Sea" where thousands annually resort for health and pleasure, and where thousands more have erected beautiful homes-some temporary, for the summer months-while others have established permanent homes with all the home environments.
Could the Rip Van Winkles of the past enter the abodes of the Builders of the present, 'tness the changes that have been wrought-the beautiful model. .wellings erected on the sites of the old foundations, the evergreens and blooming shrubs that have taken the place of the stately forest trees, miles of smooth green lawn, with clusters of beautiful flowers,-they would be even more astonished than was the famous character of Irving's legend.
Every home and every family has its individual history --- the struggles of the pioneer and the achievements of men of modern
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LONG ISLAND HISTORIC HOMES.
times --- these form a continuous history, linked with the growth and prosperity of the Island, interesting to those of the present, and will be more so to future generations.
To preserve in permanent form all that relates to the past as well as the present --- a duty we owe to our descendants --- is the object of this work.
The old landmarks of the past form a striking contrast to the beautiful homes of the present generation. These are executed in the highest style of modern art, in steel, photogravures, etc., and no pains, or expense has been spared to make this one the most attractive work of the kind ever published.
" HOME, SWEET HOME."
THE HOME OF THE PARENTS OF JOHN HOWARD PAYNE, EAST HAMPTON, L. I.
T HE NAME of the author of "Home, Sweet Home" will ever be as- sociated with the quaint old farm house at East Hampton, even though he never lived there, and never had any place which he could really call home, being known as the "homeless wanderer." It was the only place his father could ever call home; and it was here that he brought his young bride, a native of the place, and the happiest hours of his life were spent with her beneath this roof. It was in this house that five of his children were born and it was here that the sweet, loving wife helped him in his professional duties as teacher, and her sweet winning smile was more potent than the "rod and the rule," the governing power in those days.
In is no wonder that Payne the elder was enchanted with the place which, one hundred years later, was known as the "Artist's Paradise." A writer of a quarter of a century ago says of East Hampton :
"Imagine if you can, a village scattered along the street a mile and a half long, and so wide that between the two roadways lies a grassy field, and near one end in the midst of this field a little blue pond reflects the sky where, toward sunset, groups of old cows stand drinking under the shade of the willows. The roadways are bord- ered with tall, shady trees, elms and horse chestnuts, maples and
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THE PAYNE HOMESTEAD.
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honey locusts, and back of these stand the most picturesque of houses. The oldest have their gables toward the road, and their low lean-tos pointing up the street; many are weatherbeaten gray, others are whitewashed, while here and there a crimson house shows that some one comes from the city to spend the summer months in this cool place. That white house is said to be the birthplace of John How- ard Pavne. [See correction of this statement in personal sketch of Payne.] In this one Rev. Lyman Beecher, once minister here, sat in his old chair to write his sermons.
" This with its pillared stoop is one of the Gardiner houses now occupied by the daughter-in-law of ex-President Tyler.
" However old and gray, or new and white the houses are, they are alike covered with great vines of pink and white roses, and in the little box-bordered gardens are such red poppies, larkspurs and monk's-hood that we are carried back to the days of long gone by.
" At each end of the town stands a veritable windmill over a hun- dred years old, but still doing their daily work, wind permitting; and one poor old mill stands hors de combat, solitary and alone, on a slight rise on the Amagansett road, and seems to watch with envious eyes its sprightly brother. Poor thing, its working days are over, for its arms were carried off by an August gale, and its sole purpose now is to stand as a model for the artists, a destiny it patiently fulfils.
" Half way down the village stands the academy [where Payne taught school], an ancient building with ends of cream colored brick and a roof with a graceful slope, and dormer windows surmounted by a cupola in which still hangs the old bell. Here may be seen · many quaint old-time relics-chairs and ancient costumes, and treas- ures of the sea such as delight the eye and give the proper artistic feeling."
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LONG ISLAND HISTORIC HOMES.
East Hampton was incorporated by patent, under Gov. Nicoll, March 13, 1666. The trustees named in the patent were John Mul- ford, Thomas Baker, Thomas Chatfield, Jeremiah Coneklyn, Stephen Hedges, Thomas Osborne, Sen., and John Osborne. The patent was confirmed by Gov. Dongan, Dec. 9, 1786. It was recognized as a town 1788.
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THE PAYNE HOMESTEAD.
The glory of the old Payne Homestead at this place has long since departed, and the sentimental has given place to the practical. The Brooklyn Eagle, under date of Oct. 30, 1898 says: "The once
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embowered homestead which has served as the East Hampton town clerk's office for nearly twenty-five years, and as the residence of the Osborne family since the first decade of the century has disappeared from the village street. This ancient, shingled, weather-beaten cot- tage had peculiar interest for the antiquarian, since local tradition pointed it out as the home of the father of John Howard Pavne at
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the time he was employed as a tutor in Clinton's Academy, which stands a short distance further up the main street. One of the most interesting features of the old house was a large, wide-open fireplace. This has now disappeared and the big chimney had to be taken out before the building could be moved. The kitchen, in which the an- cient fireplace stood was a favorite interior with the artists in the days when East Hampton was an artist's colony. Scores of seekers for the veritable interior where the author of "Home, Sweet Home" spent his boyhood days have represented the ancient hearthstone with the bright brass andirons, and big blazing fire of oak logs upon their can- vass. The house itself has been removed bodily and intact.
"An old faded manuscript record, written in the clear round hand of the epoch, with elaborate flourishes for the title pages and head- ings, recording the proceedings of the trustees of Clinton Academy is in possession of J. I. Gardiner, who treasures many precious docu- ments of colonial days in his library. This manuscript record shows that at a meeting of the proprietors on the 28th of December, 1784, it was voted that Mr. Jabez Peck be elected master for the Classical School, and Mr. William Payne master for the English and Writing School." The institution before the incorporation was called the East Hampton Academy, and the teachers are designated in the record as masters or tutors. It was incorporated under the name of Clinton Academy in 1778. The name of Aaron Isaacs, the father of Payne's second wife (mother of John Howard Payne) is found among the list of trustees at this time. On Dec. 26, 1787, the trustees chose Rev. Samuel Buell as principal of the academy. At this time there were three departments, the classical, the academic, and the common school departments. Tuition was charged at the rate of three shillings a month.
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LONG ISLAND HISTORIC HOMES.
THE ANCESTRAL SIRE OF JOHN HOWARD PAYNE.
So Many inaccuracies have been found and misstatements made regarding the ancestry of the Payne family and the life of John How- ard Payne, that we give herewith a condensed life and a complete genealogy of his American ancestry.
Thomas Paine, the progenitor of the family from which John Howard Payne descended was the son of Thomas supposed to have come from Kent, England, and presumably identical with Thomas Payne of Yarmouth, the first Deputy from that place to the Old Col- ony Court at Plymouth in June, 1639.
Thomas Paine (2) son of Thomas (1) came to New England when a lad ten years of age, and settled in Eastham before 1653, as he was constable there at that date. He was admitted freeman 1658. He represented Eastham at the Colony Court 1671-2-3, 1676-78- 80-81, and in 1690. He removed to Boston before 1695. He was a man of more than ordinary education, and was a very fine penman. He died at Eastham August 16, 1706. He married Mary Snow, daughter of Hon. Nicholas Snow, who came in the Anne to Plymouth in 1623, and in 1654 removed to Eastham, Mass. He married Con- stance Hopkins, daughter of Stephen Hopkins of Plymouth, fourteenth signer of the " Mayflower Compact."
The children of Thomas and Mary (Snow) Paine were : Mary, Samuel, Thomas, Eleazer, Elisha, fohn, born March 14, 1660-1, Nicholas, James, Joseph, Dorcas.
Deacon John Paine, sixth child of Thomas (2) and Mary (Snow) Paine, was born in Eastham, Mass., March 14, 1660-1. He was ad- mitted freeman June 1696. He was elected clerk of the town 1706 and re-elected until 1729. He was Treasurer from 1709 to 1736,
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LONG ISLAND HISTORIC HOME.
and Representative to the General Court at Boston 1703-9-14-16- 18-24-5. He was of a literary turn of mind, and some of his spare moments were devoted to literary pursuits. Scraps of prose and poetry written by him are still in the hands of his descendants. He died Oct. 26, 1731.
He married first Bennet Freeman, daughter of Major John and Mercy (Prence) Freeman, born March, 1671. She was " a pleasant companion, a most loving and obedient wife, a tender and compas- sionate mother, and a good Christian." By her he had John, Mary, William, born June 6, 1695, Benjamin, Sarah, Elizabeth, Theophi- lus, Joseph, Nathaniel, Rebecca, Mercy, Benjamin again.
He married 2nd, Alice Mayo, and had by her Hannah, James, Thomas, Alice, Hannah.
Lieut. William Paine, third child of Dea. John and Bennet ( Free- man ) Paine, was born at Eastham, June 6, 1695. He was a Repre- sentative to the Provincial Legislature from Eastham 1731-32-35- 38-39-40-43-44. He was appointed one of His Majesty's Justices in 1738. He took part with the Colonial forces in the capture of Louisbourg as Lieutenant in Capt. Elisha Doane's company, Col. Gorham's 7th Mass. Regiment, and died in service in 1746.
His first wife was Sarah Bacon, of Barnstable, who he married in 1727. He married 2nd, June 14, 1741, Elizabeth Myrick, a widow, the daughter of Rev. Samuel Osborn, pastor of the South Church in Eastham, and sister of Dr. John Osborn, the distinguished physician and poetical writer of Middletown, Conn. By his first wife he had Sarah, Ruth, Josiah, Jedediah. He had one child by his second wife, William, born 1746.
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LONG ISLAND HISTORIC HOME.
William Paine or Payne ( 2) son of Lieut. William and Elizabeth (Myrick neé Osborn) Paine was born in 1746, the year his father died in the Colonial service. His mother remarried and he was placed in the family of Rev. Joseph Crocker, pastor of the South Congrega- tional Church of Eastham. He commenced the study of medicine under Dr. Joseph Warren, who fell at Bunker Hill. He was inter- rupted in his studies by the events which immediately preceded the Revolution, and opened an English Grammar School in Boston, but on account of the occupation of that city by the British he gave it up and became a tutor in a private family. Writing to a friend, of his experience at that time, he says : He was obliged to be in his school " from the first entrance of light till nine in the evening." While on a visit to Barnstable he married Lucy Taylor, who died shortly after the marriage. He went to New London, Conn., and there engaged in a mercantile adventure to the West Indies. On his return he formed the acquaintance of Miss Sarah Isaacs of East Hampton, L. I., who was on a visit there, and soon after married her. Her father was a convert from the Jewish faith, who came from Hamburg, Germany, previous to the Revolution, and settled at East Hampton. He was a man of education and wealth, but difficulties in his own country and the Revolution in his adopted country induced heavy losses and left him comparatively poor. His wife, a Miss Hedges, was the daughter of a lady whose maiden name was Talmage. His uncle Talmage was the Earl of Dysant, a Scottish-English nobleman.
William Paine, or as he wrote his name, Payne, settled in East Hampton after his marriage, about 1780. Governor De Witt Clinton caused to be erected an academy there in which Payne became one of the teachers. His (Payne's) wife who was a woman of remark- able beauty, fine education and many excellent traits of character,
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assisted her husband in teaching. Payne continued there for about ten years. Several of his children were born there, and this was really the only home he ever possessed. He removed to New York in 1790, where he taught school for some years. In 1793 he re- sided at No. 5 Dey street, and he also resided and taught school on Little Queen street. In 1799 he was invited by some influential men in Boston to open a school there which became quite noted. He returned to New York about 1809 and taught school on Common near Grand street. He died March 7, 1812.
In the cemetry at East Hampton is the grave marked by a stone of Andrew Isaacs the father of William Payne's wife, Sarah ( Isaacs) Payne, on which is inscribed :
" BEHOLD AN ISRAELITE IN WHOM IS NO GUILE."
William Payne by his wife Sarah (Isaacs) Payne had issue:
I. Lucy Taylor, born 1781, at East Hampton, marriedin 1816, Dr. John Cheever Osborne, of New York; died in Brooklyn, 1865, left no issue.
JI. William Osborne, born at East Hampton, Aug. 4, 1783, died March 24, 1804.
III. Sarah Isaacs, born at East Hampton, July 11, 1785, died in New York, Oct. 14, 1808.
IV. Eloise Richards, born at East Hampton, March 12, 1787, died at Leicester, Mass., July, 1819.
V. Anna Beren Leagers, born at East Hampton, April 9, 1789, died at Newport, R. I., Oct. 11, 1789.
VI. John Howard, born in New York City, at 33 Pearl street, June 9, 1791, died at Tunis, Africa, April 9, 1852.
VII. Eliza Maria, born in New York City, Sept. 19, 1795, died there May 25, 1797.
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LONG ISLAND HISTORIC HOMES.
VIII. Thatcher Taylor, born in New York City, Aug. 14, 1796, married in New York 1833, Mrs. Anna Elizabeth Bailey, died in Brooklyn Dec. 27, 1863.
IX. Elizabeth Marv, born in Boston, Mass., died there aged about two years.
John howard Payne, sixth child of William and Sarah (Isaacs) Pavne, was born at 33 Pearl street, corner of Broad, June 9, 1791. His early education was conducted under his father's supervision. His literary tastes were developed very early in life, and at the age of fourteen, while a clerk in a counting house in New York, he edited the Thespian Mirror, a weekly journal. The following year he en- tered Union College where he remained for two years, publishing during that period a periodical called "The Pastime." He had al- ready evinced considerable dramatic talent, and at the age of sixteen he made his first appearance as an actor at the old Park Theatre, New York, Feb. 24, 1809, as Young Norval. He was looked upon at the time as a juvenile wonder, and met with great success, playing in Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and other cities to crowded houses. He appeared at Drury Lane Theatre, London, as Young Norval, afterwards playing in the principal cities of Great Britain and France, filling the various roles of actor, manager and playwright for twenty vears. His first play, a translation from the French, he sold to Covent Garden for £150. During his subsequent career he wrote, translated and adapted some sixty plays. Of his appearance at this period a contemporary wrote: "Nature bestowed upon him a countenance of no common order, and though there was a round- ness and fairness which but faintly express strong, turbulent emotions, or display the furious passions, these defects were supplied by an eye which glowed with animation and intelligence. A more extraordin-
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LONG ISLAND HISTORIC HOMES.
ary mixture of softness and intelligence were never associated in a human countenance, and his face was a true index of his heart."
While living in London and Paris he was intimate with Washing- ton Irving and wrote a number of plays chiefly adaptations from the French. In one of these-"Clari, or the Maid of Milan"_occurs his deathless song of "Home, Sweet Home." Payne soon after sold his entire collection to Charles Kemble, manager of the Covent Garden theatre for $230, including "Clari, or the Maid of Milan," the price for that being $30. At Kemble's request, Payne turned this into an opera. The elder sister of Ellen Tree took the principal part and sang for the first time, "Home, Sweet Home." It proved a success from the start, and Miss Tree made the part of Clari a great feature which enlarged a fortune; fortune for others, but left the author only the name. But Payne will be remembered long after the mul- titude of poems and dramas are entirely forgotten. Payne after- wards wrote "Charles II," which proved a very popular play, but fortune still refused to smile upon him, and he returned in 1832 to the United States, receiving several substantial benefits in New York and elsewhere of which he was much in need, being almost penniless. In 1841 he was sent as consul to Tunis, but after remaining for a time he returned and vainly sought a more congenial locality but finally accepted a re-appointment, and there died a stranger in a strange land, without ever having experienced the joys of a "Home, Sweet Home" after the death of his sainted mother, who died when he was but thirteen years of age. His body rested quietly in a strange land for thirty years, not in a "neglected spot," but in a garden of carnations, roses and heliotropes. On June 5, 1883, his remains were disinterred and taken to the little Protestant church of Tunis, where the chancel window is inscribed with his name. As
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his remains were brought into the church an Englishman at the organ softly played "Home, Sweet Home," which an American lady sang with much feeling. At the interment of the remains in Washington in June 1883, through the liberality of William W. Corcoran, the benediction of the ceremony was the blending of a thousand voices and instruments in the immortal melody of "Home, Sweet Home." Payne, like his friend Irving, having lost the object of his first love, lived a life of celibacy to the end.
CEDARMERE
THE HOME OF WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT AT ROSLYN.
IS PLEASANT to turn from the sad memories of the homeless wanderer who could so faithfully portray the beauties and joys of a homelife he had never known since early childhood, to the peaceful, quiet, yet bright and cheerful home of William Cullen Bryant.
ROSLYN.
The very name of the place is musical, and it can only be pro- nounced in a musical tone of voice. Bryant had no need to invoke
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the muses, for they were always present with him amid these delight- ful surroundings. Byron says-
"There's music in the sighing of a reed, There's music in the gushing of a rill, There's music in all things if men had ears, Their earth's an echo of the spheres."
Roslyn lies at the head of Hempstead harbor, beautifully nestling between the hills. The village was founded early in the history of the old town of Hempstead and was formerly known as Hempstead Harbor. The situation is well adapted for travel and commerce, it being located both on the harbor and on the Locust Valley branch of the Long Island Railroad.
Roslyn is abundantly supplied with streams gushing forth from the base of the hills and hurrying merrily toward the great ocean.
"Men may come and men may go, But I goon forever, forever."
Numerous dams are thrown across their courses, forming beautiful little lakelets, which besides adding charms to the scenery, furnish the power to drive the machinery of several small mills and factories, and not least important, the inhabitants have a never-failing supply of the best water for household purposes; thus beauty and utility are combined-the sentimental and the practical.
As one leaves the cars at the station, he observes a small collection of buildings, but this is not Roslyn proper. To know its charms and appreciate its beauties he must take a carriage and drive through the entire length of its winding streets. Every few rods a turn in the road reveals new scenes of woodland, lawn and water, the beauty of the landscape is enhanced by the bright coloring of flowers of every hue and shade.
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To many persons, Roslyn is best known as having within its en- virons
CEDARMERE, THE HOME OF BRYANT.
A recent writer in the Brooklyn Eagle in noting the many im- provements that were being made in and around Roslyn, says :
Of all the land changes in or about Roslyn the most radical will be that of the dismemberment of the fine property owned by the poet Bryant. When he gradually added year by year, after buying the old Quaker homestead, such portions of neighboring farms as he could buy, his intention was to make a family settlement, and to that end gave his daughter, the wife of Park Godwin, the fine estate now owned by Mrs. F. N. Goddard.
The special delight of Mr. Bryant was the upland farm, a mag- nificent tract of meadow and woodland containing some of the most ancient and beautiful trees in the country. From the brow of the hill there are several fine views in all directions. Entering the woods opposite the house is a well-beaten path broken by several old- fashioned turnstiles and long known as the poet's walk. On the hill- top Mr. Bryant had built a picturesque cottage for the sister of his friend, the celebrated Unitarian preacher, Orville Dewey.
The view from the rear of the house shown in the engraving is the most picturesque and beautiful of all the surroundings.
His own lines from "Thanatopsis" or "A Forest Hymn" are eminently appropriate as a framing for the picture.
"Stranger if thou hast learned a truth that needs No school of long experience, that the world Is full of guilt and misery, and hath seen Enough of all its sorrows, crimes and cares To tire thee of it, enter this wild wood And view the haunts of nature."
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Whatever changes may take place in time to come, Roslyn and "Cedarmere" will ever be associated with the name of Bryant, and thousands who admired the personality of the man as his writing will visit this spot, where the poet did some of his best work and drew inspiration from his surroundings.
BRYANT AND HIS ANCESTORS.
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