A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 149

Author: Ross, Peter. cn
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1188

USA > New York > A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 149

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The schools of the county are now far less

963

SUFFOLK COUNTY.

individually distinctive and far more mechan- ical. They work with magnetic energy to bring all their pupils to the same level in their respective classes. All the public schools were made free about thirty years ago. More re- cently the attendance at schools of children within certain ages has been made compulsory, and by these means the likelihood of deplorable illiteracy has been diminished.

Remarkable changes have occurred in the churches of the county. In 1850 there were as many as ten African churches, most of them Methodists ; and these about equally divided between Methodist Episcopal and Methodist Episcopal Zion. There were also African churches unconnected with each other. These African churches, for the most part, continue alive, with no great variation in the number. There were four Baptist churches. These re- main, and twice as many have been added to them. The Congregational churches then numbered fifteen, and do now. Four Lutheran churches have been organized and are flourish- ing. The Methodist Episcopal churches are forty. About half of them have been organ- ized within the period of fifty years. The Methodist Protestant churches are two, as for- merly. The two New Jerusalem churches have become one. One Pentecostal church has been organized. The twenty Presbyterian churches have become forty-two, including eight chapels in which public worship is held on Sundays. The Protestant Episcopal churches have multi- plied from five to twenty that are ordinarily served by clergymen, though several of them are open in the summer only. One Reformed church has been organized. The Roman Catlı- olic churches, with one exception, have all been established within these fifty years. They are twenty-four in number, with several missions in addition, and are served by sixteen priests. There are two Universalist churches-one formed earlier, the other later, perhaps, than 1850.

Thus the churches within the half-century have more than doubled in number, and in- creased more rapidly than the whole popula- tion of the county. This is not twice as nu- merous as it was fifty years ago. These churches combined are now served by as many as 140 clergymen. The full pastoral service of a minister does not probably exceed, on the average, twenty years. To maintain the sup- ply requires an accession of seven each year. At this rate three hundred and more come and

go in half a century. Doubtless, 200 have passed away since 1850.

In the various towns of the county, from their origin, 250 years ago, there has always been a Christian ministry of high character in morals and religion, of eminent ability, and of liberal education. There has been no lower- ing of the standard during the period under review.

Among those who have passed away in this period may be mentioned: Baptist- Charles J. Hopkins, Alvin Ackley. Congre- gationalist-Charles J. Knowles, Henry T. Cheever, Christopher Youngs, Thomas N. Benedict, Charles Hoover, Aaron Snow, Henry Woodruff, Eusebius Hale. Methodist Episcopal-Thomas G. Osborn, Seymour Lan- don, Marvin R. Lent, George W. Woodruff, Edward Warriner, George Hollis, Stephen Rushmore, Samuel A. Seaman. Presbyterian -Enoch C. Wines, Edward Hopper, Hugh N. Wilson, William B. Reeve, M. D., Augustus T. Dobson, William H. Cooper, Daniel M. Lord, Carson W. Adams, Daniel Beers, James T. Hamlin, Phineas Robinson, Abraham Luce, George F. Wiswell, Zachariah Green, Ezra King, James S. Evans, James McDougall. Protestant Episcopal-D. V. M. Johnson, J. M. Noll. Roman Catholic-John McKenna. Universalist-Dr. Emerson.

The flood of years has borne away from the legal profession some of the ablest judges, counsellors and advocates of justice who have at any time given dignity and worth to the judicial office of the county.

Selalı B. Strong was a judge who had few peers in the highest court of the Empire State -upright, impartial, recondite, diligent, con- siderate, and pure and spotless as the snowy ermine, the precious emblem of his proud and conspicuous office.

Worthy to be associated with him were the judges of our county who have passed away within the period in hand: Hugh Halsey, Abraham T. Rose, William P. Buffet, George Miller, J. Lawrence Smith. The successors of these men are their peers. There has been no abatement of the lofty judicial standard.

The Surrogates, James H. Tuthill and others, when not the same as the judges of the county, have not been inferior to them in legal knowledge, elevation of character and soundness of judgment. Their decisions have not been often contested-rarely overruled by higher courts.

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HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

Of the clerks of the county, George S. Phillips, Samuel A. Smith, Joseph Wickham Case, like the judges of the county who have died within the half-century, have been known to me. What a splendid list of courteous and capable gentlemen they and their successors present to grace the annals of our county for the last fifty years !

It has been my good fortune to be free from all unpleasant grips of the sheriffs of old Suffolk. But I have been the guest of these faithful and courageous officers who have joined the great majority, namely, Rich- ard W. Smith, Silas Horton, John Clark, Sanı- uel Phillips, John Shirley.

I have had occasion to meet the Grand1 Jury and obtain the indictments of a criminal, but it so happened that no one of the eight District Attorneys, diligent and commendable officers, whom I have known has written an official indictment against myself.

The occupants, including the Treasurers, of the chief county offices known to me in these fifty years have been Democrats, both hunkers and barn burners, Know Nothings and Republicans, and all alike have been good citizens, and nearly or quite all have been honest, capable and trustworthy officials. How their personal conduct and the performance of their public duties put to shame the partisan abuse and rancor that were so common fifty years ago.

The attorneys and counsellors who have been officers of the courts of the county in- clude a goodly array of legal gentlemen, emi- nent for honor, learning and eloquence. One calls to mind among the departed, Samuel S. Gardiner, Selah B. Strong, William H. Glea- son, James H. Tuthill, Abraham T. Rose. J. Lawrence Smith, Henry J. Scudder, Everett A. Carpenter and others.

Among the physicians and surgeons who have adorned their benevolent profession and conferred priceless benefits upon their fellow men were Doctors Ebenezer Sage, Frederick W. Lord, Henry Cook, Levi D. Wright, Ezekiel D. Skinner, Franklin Tuthill, Abra- ham B. Luce, Richard H. Benjamin, John E. Hartranft, James I. Baker, Nathaniel Miller,

Abraham G. Thompson, and a score of their compeers.

There are not many features in the face of the county where its life has made a more charming and notable change than in its live stock. Herein the Suffolk County Agricult- ural Society has been efficient, and among the chief who have made this improvement may be named Richard B. Conklin, the breeder of Rarus; Henry L. Fleet, the owner of Black Eagle : Carll Burr, David Carll and Edward Dayton, whose oxen in strength and beauty · were admirable types of their kind; and when the old Greek poets, the most tasteful and artistic of mankind, wished to put the finish- ing touch to their description of the Queen of Heaven, they called her ox-eyed.

It is not in the lower forms of life only that improvement is seen. The people of the county have advanced to a higher degree of intelligence, culture, refinement and manifold traits of Christian excellence.

In referring to this article the local paper said :

" 'Fifty years of Long Island,' at the kindly and competent hands of the Rev. Dr. Whit- aker, the Southold historian, is, it is super- fluous to say, a competent and authoritative review. No man is better qualified than Dr. Whitaker for the agreeable task; none could write with a fairer appreciation of the relative importance of the changes which have come over the eastern county during the last half- century, and his work is timely and of per- manent and historical importance. A peace- ful revolution has been wrought in the people, the industries and the characteristics of east- ern Long Island, which may be studied in detail in Dr. Whitaker's entertaining and in- structive paper. It is also well worth while to notice that the historian is an optimist as well ; that he does not return regretfully to the good old times, but speaks like 'a man of cheerful yesterdays and confident to-morrows.' The future of Long Island, largely in the hands of Suffolk county, now there is no longer danger that Brooklyn will drink it dry, would seem to be effectively assured."

HUNTINGTON VIEWS.

CHAPTER LXIV.

HUNTINGTON.

HIS township. which extended its au- thority across the entire island until 1872, when the southern half was raised into the dignity of a separate local government and became the township of Babylon, was incorporated under a patent issued November 30. 1666, by Governor Nic- olls. It is not clear when or where the first settlement was effected. The earliest Indian deed, between the Sagamore Raseokan, of the Matinicock tribe, on the one hand, and Rich- ard Houlbrock, Robert Williams and Daniel Whitehead on the other, when certain lands in the township about six miles square were sold by the Sagamore to the pioncers for "6 coats, 6 kettles, 6 hatchets, 6 howes, 6 shirts, 10 knives, 6 fathoms of wampum, 30 muxes, 30 needles," is dated April 2, 1653. and it was not until six years later that a town meeting was called, so far as existing records show. Another tract of land was in 1656 sold by "Asharoken, Mattinicock Sachem, and the rest of the Indian owners with him," to Jonas Wood, William Rogers and Thomas Wickes, "for themselves and the rest of their asso- ciates," covering land from Northport and Smithtown Harbor, and including Eaton's Neck. That neck, however, was afterward claimed and held under a supposed Indian deed dated 1646 to Theophilus Eaton. This claim was allowed in law and was confirmed by a grant by Governor Nicolls. Where the pioneer white settlers came from seems also uncertain. Mr. C. S. Street says: "I incline to the belief that the first and oldest company

came across the Sound, perhaps under the leadership of the 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, Massachu- setts, and for a time at Stamford, Connecticut ; and the third influx came from the vicinity of Salem, Massachusetts, after stopping a short time in Southold and Southampton, principally in the former town." The Indian name of the territory was Ketewomoke, and its English name may either be a corruption of that of · the old town of Huntington or of Hunting- town,-the latter being significant of the abundance of wild game when settlement be- gan. Probably the first surmise is the correct one. The Indians gave little trouble. They were few in number, remnants, in fact, of the Matinicock, Marsepagne and Seucatogue tribes, and the advent of the white man com- pleted the process of extinction which had been begun by the evil fortunes of war with the tribes on the mainland.

"In the first years of the settlement," says Mr. C. R. Street in his "Town Records," vol. I. p. 13. "the pioneers built their rudely con- structed dwellings around and near the 'town spot,' where they had a fort and watch houses and where the 'train bands' were drilled. Their

966

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

animals were daily driven out and lierded un- der 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 coralled near the watch house. Gradually, however, the more adventurous pushed out in all directions and made themselves 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 build- ing with axes and cleavers, but soon dams were constructed across the streams, small mills were built for grinding grain and saw- ing lumber, rude tanneries were constructed for tanning leather, and spindles or looms were made or procured for the manufacture of coarse flaxen or 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 old flint-locks, but some of their swords were wrought by Spanish artisans and were tempered with a skill that is among the lost arts."

The patent of 1664 covered with the priv- ilege of a township the entire region between Cold Spring and Nesaquake River and from the sound to the ocean. The exact boundaries were not very clearly set forth, neither were they in the Dongan patent of 1686 or the Fletcher patent of 1694, and this as well as the weakness of the Indian deeds afterward gave rise to much litigation, which once oc- cupied a great deal of thought and temper, but does not invite any general interest nowadays. But the town as a settled and self-governing community dates really ahead of the Nicolls patent, for the town meeting was in operation as early as 1659, and one would judge from one entry in the records that the brethren had advanced so far in the art of governing that by 1660 the stocks had been built where- with to detain and punish offenders. The

town meeting at once rose into power. It di- vided and awarded lands, voted allegiance to Connecticut, elected deputies to the General Court at Hartford, made and repaired high- ways, fixed legal fees, administered justice in criminal as well as in civil cases (thirty trials being recorded up to 1664), apparently ac- cording to the pioneers' ideas of justice until the Duke's laws were forced upon them; elected constables ; ordered fences built to keep cattle and hogs from wandering; and fined without mercy. The town meeting even ban- ished a man,-Richard Latting,-agreeing "that ould Laten shalle take away his cattel out of this town bounds within a fortnight, or 14 days, or pay to the town 10 shilling a head." His imputed offense was, according to Mr. Street, his refusal to recognize the sov- ereignty of Connecticut, but he must have been a bad man clear through, for he was af- terward expelled from the immediate jurisdic- tion of Hartford, where he had taken refuge, for his "turbulent conduct." He then appar- ently wanted to settle in Huntington once more, but the town meeting would have none of him, and resolved that if any person "shall either by way of gift or paye do give or selle entartanement to Richard Laten for more than the spase of one week every person so offend- ing shall pay forty shillings fine for every time he shall offend in brakeing this order made for the pease of the Town."

But the most significant evidence of inde- pendence was,-as in all of the town meetings in the Island towns,-that the meeting was the sole arbiter as to who should settle within their domain, and in 1662 the Rev. Mr. Lever- ich, Will Smith, Thomas Weekes, John Lum, Goodman Jones, James Chichester and Jonas Wood were appointed as a committee to pass upon the character and credentials of every applicant for admission into the little com- munity. No one interfered with the town . meeting's edicts ; it was a law unto itself; its verdict was supreme, and there does not seem to have been any idea of an appeal from its

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HUNTINGTON.

decisions to a higher court. With Governor Nicolls and the Duke's laws that state of in- dependence passed away.

Huntington was not a theocracy. Its early Magistrates were elected by the people, and if the confirmation of the General Court at Hart- ford was asked, it was more in the nature of a formality than anything else. The Rev. William Leverich, whom we have already met in our studies, was one of the pioneers and preached to the people and exercised his sa- cred offices, but he was necessarily absent from among them frequently, and besides his world- ly occupations must have occupied quite a part of his time. He built and ran the first mill in the township, and seems to have been a gen- eral merchant, selling cloth and other articles, so that while he was the first minister in Hunt- ington he could hardly be rightly described as the first minister of Huntington. A Pres- byterian Church was erected in 1666 and en- larged in 1686, but the influence of the church did not seem to become dominant any more than it would in any well-regulated Christian community. In 1676 the Rev. Eliphalet Jones was chosen as the first minister of Huntington, but he was chosen by the representatives of the town meeting, and as a result of a vote at a town meeting and not so far as we can see on the initiative of the church session and congregation, as such. Mr. Jones ministered in the town until his death, in 1731. He had then attained the patriarchal age of ninety- three years. In 1719 the Rev. Ebenezer Prime becanie his assistant and successor. In 1766 the Rev. John Close became Mr. Prime's suc- cessor, but withdrew in 1773. Six years later Mr. Prime died. By that time the British had taken possession of the church building and turned it into a storehouse and so it remained until 1782, when it was torn down. There were then two other Presbyterian congrega- tions in the township, one at Comac in 1730, and another at Fresh Pond, (now Northport), but later by several years.

In 1746 St. John's Episcopal Church was

constituted under the name of Trinity Church. It was ministered to by the Rev. Samuel Sea- bury, rector at Hempstead. In 1749 the first church building was erected, and in 1773 the Rev. James Greaton, of Boston, was settled as the first sole rector.

Loyal, in sentiment if in no other respect, to Connecticut, Huntington made short work of the claims of the redoubtable Capt. John Scott in 1663 as the direct representative of King Charles II, but we are inclined to think that if Connecticut's claims to active sovereignty, which she made in 1664, when she sent com- missioners to collect taxes and establish addi- tional courts on Long Island, had been pushed the sentiment of Huntington would not have proved powerful enough to have yielded. For- tunately the envoys of Connecticut did not reach Huntington, so the reign of sentiment continued. Governor Nicolls cut it short, how- ever. He summoned a meeting of all the Long Island towns at Hempstead, and Jonas Wood and John Ketcham were chosen representatives of Huntington. As such they attended the meeting, accepted all the Governor's promises and changes, and signed the obsequious ad- dress to him which was so heartily repudiated as far as possible by the people, and returned to their constituents with a manuscript copy of the Duke's laws, which were henceforth, except for Colve's brief interruption, to rule the roost. These two men were the most popular in Huntington when they set forth on their journey to Hempstead, but when they returned and their doings were known they lost their popularity entirely. However, it was too late. The die was cast. Long Island was a part of New York ; there was to be no more dallying with Connecticut ; a strong man was at the helm; the Duke's authority and laws had been accepted, and, having no choice in the matter, little town governments like Hunt- ington had no recourse but to accept the con- ditions that presented themselves and get along as well as possible. But it was not long before the fact was experienced that the old perfect

908

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

freedom and autonomy were things of the past ; a higher power than the town meeting had come, and come to stay, with Colve's opera bouffe sort of interruption, until the Revolution, and then, although changed in name and style, the outside power remained.

The annals of Huntington, outside of a lawsuit or two, each now an obsolete story, and a little grumbling at much of the Duke's laws, might be described as quiet and peace- ful until the advent of the Revolution, calling for the recital of nothing more than purely local and domestic in point of interest. But then the history of the Revolutionary move- ment began early in Huntington. At a town meeting held on February 21, 1670, consid- eration of a demand by Governor Lovelace for a "contribution" toward the cost of repair- ing the fort at New York was discussed with the following emphatic result: "We of the town of Huntington can not see cause to con- tribute anything toward the Repaireacon of the forte for these following reasons : First, because we conceive we are deprived of the liberties of Englishmen ; secondly, we conceive we have little or no benefits of the Law; thirdly, we can not conceive of any benefit or safety we can expect from the fort ; fourthly, we find ourselves so much disenabled by mani- fold troubles when we thought ourselves in peace that we can not imparte with any such disbursement." A copy of all this was sent to Lovelace, and he pronounced it "scandalous, illegal and seditious," and had the document publicly burned. But Huntington did not pay, and so this spirited protest was one of the earliest defiances against "taxation without representation," and accomplished its purpose.

This meeting, however, was the beginning of the Revolutionary movement in the town. When Governor Andros came in after Colve's short reign he made the usual array of glit- tering promises, and then the old restrictions and the Duke's laws were enforced more rig- idly than ever. The town meeting protested, Andros sent several of the citizens to jail, but even that did not cause the grumbling to

cease. Governor Dongan tried to pacify every one by calling a meeting of deputies at New York, but the meeting accomplished nothing practical. Dongan pretended he saw a weak- ness in the old patents of Huntington, and di- rected a new one to be made. It was drawn up in such a way as to meet the views of the local authorities, and in their fullness of heart they offered to pay £20 for the document, but Dongan fixed the price at £29 4s 6d, and this was eventually paid with much grumbling. When the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688 sent Governor Slaughter to these shores a greater meed of liberty followed, and popular repre- sentation in the affairs of government was no longer a dead letter, but afterward the blind- ness of Parliament and the unfitness of many of the royal Governors gradually aroused the spirit of opposition and led to revolt. In this Huntington was outspoken from the first, and was most pronounced and determined in its adoption of the patriotic cause. At a town meeting held June 21, 1774, it was declared, among other things :

"That every freeman's property is abso- lutely his own, and no man has a right to take it from him without his consent, expressed either by himself or his representatives.

"That, therefore, all taxes and duties im- posed on His Majesty's subjects in the Ameri- can colonies by the authority of Parliament are wholly unconstitutional and a plain viola- tion of the most essential rights of British subjects.

"That we are of the opinion that our breth- ren of Boston are now suffering in the com- mon cause of British America.

"That it is the opinion of this meeting that the most effectual means for obtaining a speedy repeal of said acts will be to break off all commercial intercourse with Great Britain, Ire- land and the West India colonies.

"And we hereby declare ourselves ready to enter into these or such other measures as shall be agreed upon by a general congress of all the colonies."

There was thus, so far as the surface indi-

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HUNTINGTON.

cations go, no thought of separation; but as events unfolded themselves and militia com- panies were formed and drilled, independence became the issue, and 100 pounds of gunpow- der was sent by the Provincial Congress to Huntington in September, 1775. On June 29. 1776, a local war committee was chosen, consisting of Joshua Ketcham, John Buffet, Platt Conklin, Platt Carll, Josiah Wood, Wil- mot Oakley, Jesse Brush, Timothy Ketcham, Gilbert Fleet. Richard Conklin, Jonas Rogers, Thomas Wicks, Benjamin Y. Prime, Timo- thy Conklin, Solomon Ketcham, David Rusco, Henry Smith, Gilbert Potter. The enrolling and drilling of the troops continued and prep- arations were zealously prosecuted for meeting the armed crisis which, it was felt, was near at hand. In a general appendix to the story of Suffolk county the names of all her military heroes are given, so there is no use in mention- ing any of them here, but on January 24 Chairman William Smith, of the Suffolk com- mittee, estimated the county's entire militia as 2,000 men. On July 5, 1776, Congress sent 1,000 pounds of powder to the Huntington committee. By that time the immortal Declar- ation of Independence had been launched, and the fiat had gone forth that "these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States." On July 22 the edict of independence was celebrated in Hunt- ington amid much rejoicing. A letter from there, written the day after and published in Holt's New York Journal, tells the story : "Yesterday the freedom and independence of the thirteen United Colonies was, with beat of drum, proclaimed at the several places of parade, by reading the Declaration of the General Congress, together with the resolu. tions of our provincial convention thereupon ; which were approved and applauded by the animated shouts of the people, who were pres- ent from all the distant quarters of this district. After which the flag used to wave on liberty pole, having Liberty on one side and George III on the other, underwent a reform, i. c., the union was cut off, and the letters George

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A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 149

Author: Ross, Peter. cn Publication date: 1902 Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1188

Author: Ross, Peter. cn
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1188