A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 16

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

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"Again," adds Stapleton, "when his father became President his wife assumed the duties of mistress of the White House till after Mrs. John Tyler's death, when they devolved upon her daughter, Mrs. Letitia Sample." Of Presi- dent Tyler's second marriage we copy the fol- lowing from Appleton's Biography, T., p. 199: "President Tyler's second wife, Julia Gardiner, born on Gardiner's Island, near Easthampton, N. Y., May 4, 1820; died in Richmond, Va., July 10, 1889 ; was a descendant of the Gar- diners of Gardiner's Island. She was edu- cated at the Chegary Institute, New York City, spent several months in Europe and in the winter of 1844 accompanied her father to Washington, D. C. A few weeks afterward he was killed by the explosion of a gun on the war steamer Princeton, which occurred during a pleasure excursion in which he and his daughter were of the Presidential party. His body was taken to the White House and

Miss Gardiner, being thrown in the society of the President under these peculiar circum- stances, became the object of his marked at- tention, which resulted in their marriage in New York, June 26, 1844."

The Brooklyn Eagle of June 27, 1844, speaks of the wedding thus: "Arrival of the President at New York-Marriage-Fete- Departure. Somehow or other, but most un- accountably, we forgot to mention yesterday that President Tyler arrived at New York for the purpose of marriage with Miss Julia Gar- diner, daughter of the late David Gardiner, who came to his death aboard the Princeton. last winter. Such, however, was the fact. The ceremony took place at the Church of the Ascension, on Fifth avenue, and the treaty between the high contracting parties was rati- fied by the Right Reverend Bishop Onderdonk and the Rev. Dr. Bedell, rector of the church. A few persons only-such as the relatives and one or two intimate friends of the parties- were present. In the afternoon they took the steamboat Essex and after navigating about the harbor and receiving salutes from the dif- ferent vessels lying at anchor, proceeded to. Jersey City, where they took the cars for Phila- delphia. The bride is said to be accomplished, beautiful, interesting, an heiress and 22. The President, on the other hand, is known to be as homely as a brush fence and 55 years of age, being a difference of thirty-three. Some of his children, therefore, are probably many years older than their stepmother. Taste is, of course, supreme in matters of this kind, but if we had an accomplished and beautiful daughter of 22 (as we have not, and proba- bly never shall have), and if an amorous youth. of 55 with gray hair and wrinkled face were to propose for her we should request, and, if necessary, assist him to move on; but, mercy on us! what are we talking about?"

Again continues Appleton : "For the suc- ceeding eight months she presided over the White House with dignity and grace, her resi- dence there terminating with a birthnight ball on February 22, 1845. Mrs. Tyler retired with her husband to Sherwood Forest, in Virginia, at the conclusion of his term, and after the Civil War resided for several years at her mother's residence, on Castleton Hill, S. I., and subsequently at Richmond, Va. She was a convert to Roman Catholicism and devoted to charities.of that church."

Again, it says : "Their son, Lyon Gardiner,

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

was born in Charles City County, Virginia, in August, 1853, was graduated at the University of Virginia in 1875, and then studied law."

It will thus be seen that President Tyler had one child by each wife. "The remainder of his days," we read in "Abbott's Lives of the Presidents," "Mr. Tyler passed mainly in retirement at his beautiful house, "Sherwood Forest," Charles City, Va., a polished gentle- man in manners, richly furnished with infor- mation from books and experience in the world and possessing brilliant powers of conversa- tion. His family circle was the scene of un- usual attractions.

Mrs. Tyler, after her husband's death, was for several years a resident of Brooklyn. She lived in a three-story brick house, still stand- ing, on Gold street, a little north of Wil- loughby, on the west side.

A much more numerous, and in some re- spects a more generally influential family on Long Island was, and is, that of Smith. In most sections of the English-speaking world the name is generally regarded with the famil- iarity which is induced by its commonness and recalls no territorial or other distinction. In Long Island it is different; and to trace descent from one of the old families bearing that name is held as equal in dignity with the blue blood of Massachusetts which can begin a genealogical tree with an Endicott, or a Bradford, or a Standish. With reference to this family we find the following interesting data in Gabriel Furman's "Antiquities of Long Island," written about the year 1830: "Upon this island, and especially in the central por- tion of it, are very many families of the name of Smith, and so numerous did they become at an early period of the settlement that it was thought necessary to distinguish the vari- ous original families by some peculiar nanie. Thus we have the Rock Smiths, the Blue Smiths, the Bull Smiths, the Weight Smiths and the Tangier Smiths.

Of the Rock Smiths there are two dis- tinct families, one originally settled between Rockaway and Hempstead some ten.or fifteen years before the settlement of the first white inhabitants in Setauket, who derived their

name from their contiguity to Rockaway; and the other located in Brookhaven, and obtained their appellation from their ancestor erecting his dwelling against a large rock which still remains in the highway of that town.

The Blue Smiths were settled in Queens county and obtained their peculiar designation from a blue cloth coat worn by their ancestor ; whether because such cloth coat was then an uncommon thing in the neighborhood, or that

he always dressed in a coat of that color, does not appear.

The Bull Smiths of Suffolk county are the most numerous of all the families of the name of Smith upon this island. It is said there are now at least one thousand males of that branch on this island. The ancestors of this branch of the Smith family was Major Rich- ard Smith, who came from England to New England with his father, Richard, in the early part of the seventeenth century, and afterward came to this island and became the patentee of Smithtown. The sobriquet of this class of

SOME EARLY FAMILIES AND THEIR DESCENDANTS.

Smiths is said to have arisen from the circum- stance of the ancestor having trained and used a bull in place of a horse for riding.

The Weight Smiths derived their name from being possessed of the only set of scales . and weights in the neighborhood of their resi- dence, to which all the farmers of the country around repaired for the purpose of weighing anything they wished to sell or buy; at least so says the tradition.

The Tangier Smiths owe their origin to Colonel William Smith, who had been the En- glish Governor of Tangier in the reign of Charles II, and emigrated to this colony in the summer of 1686, where he settled in the town of Brookhaven, on the neck known as Little Neck, and afterward as Strong's Neck, which, together with his many other purchases, was erected into a manor by the name of Saint George's Manor by a patent granted him in 1693 by Governor Fletcher. Most of the Tan- gier Smiths are now in that town, scattered through it from the north to the south side of the island.

These different appellations became as firmly settled as if they were regular family names, so that when any inquiry was made of any person on the road, man, woman or child, for any particular Smith they would at once ask whether he was of the Rock breed, or the Bull breed, etc .; and if the person de- siring the information could say which breed, he was at once told of his residence."

Richard Smith, the first of the name to hold land in Long Island, left England and arrived in 1650 at Boston, where he remained until 1665, when he became one of a colony which moved to Long Island and established the town of Brookhaven. His home was near the pres- ent village of Setauket. He was a man of means, bought as much land in the vicinity of his home as he could, held the office of magis- trate, and proved himself a public-spirited citizen generally. In 1663 he purchased a tract of land westward from Setauket and had his title strengthened by an Indian deed. Not long afterward he purchased another tract

direct from the Indians, including a section of the shore of Lake Ronkonkoma, and got a new English patent from Governor Nicolls in 1667. Owing to some trouble with the people of Huntington over the western boundary of his domain, Smith submitted the question to the courts of New York and was sustained on all points for which he contended. By this decision he extended his holdings so as to in- clude both banks of the Nesaquake River, and, to make assurance doubly sure, got a new patent from Governor Andros, in 1677, cover- ing all the territory lately in dispute. By this patent his property covered ten square miles and is contained in the present town in Suffolk county bearing his name. Of the personal his- tory of this noteworthy Smith little has come down to us excepting the remains of local gossip, such as that which makes him ride around the country on a bull instead of a horse and so win a sobriquet for his family. It is said he fought in the Narragansett War under the banner of Connecticut, and held the rank of major, but the details we have of his cam- paigning are very brief. He died about the year 1700, leaving a family of six sons-Rich- ard, Jonathan, Job, Adam, Samuel and Daniel -and one daughter-Deborah. In 1707 the real estate of the pioneer was divided among them.

In the records of the Society of Colonial Wars the following find a place among the members on account of their descent from Richard Smith (Bull Smith) :

A. Chester Beatty, New York.

Robert C. Beatty, New York.

W. Gedney Beatty, New York.

Howell Foster, Brooklyn.

Robert Cutting, Lawrence, N. Y.

R. B. Sackley, Rhinecliff.

The "Bull" Smiths, it will be readily under- stood, while they have given many reputable citizens to the island and taken a full and active part in its development, have added but little to its history or to its prominence in the general affairs of the State. They have been mostly notable for the qualities which made

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

up the true country gentleman, a life among their ancestral fields, a disregard for public office outside of their own vicinity, and devot- ing themselves closely to the upbuilding of the sections of the island in which they had set up their homes. Proud of their descent, they seemed satisfied with the eminence it afforded them and stood aside, as it were, while others pressed forward to win renown by work and accomplishment.

The other pioneer family of Smiths, the "Tangier Smiths," on the other hand, for sev- eral generations bring us in close touch with the history of the island and the nation. The founder of the family in America, Colonel William Smith, was born at Newton, near Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, England, February 2, 1655. In 1675 he received the appointment from Charles II of Governor of Tangier, where it was proposed to establish a trading colony, and he married Maria, a daughter of Henry Tunstall, of Putney, No- vember 6, 1675, and set out for his domin- ion with the title of colonel. Great sums of money were spent on this then new posses- sion of the British crown, and it was hoped that it would soon take a place among the most important trading stations of the world; but the expectations were not realized, and in a comparatively short time the station was abandoned, its costly fortifications left to go to ruin, and the little army there stationed returned to England.

Colonel Smith for a time seems to have carried on business as a general merchant in London. In 1686 he crossed the Atlantic and engaged in trade for several years. He was induced to throw in his lot with the New World probably on account of his friendship for Governor Dongan. Soon after his arrival he "went prospecting" and selected some land at Little Neck, Brookhaven, buying up the holdings of the original proprietors. There seems to have been some trouble over this purchase with some of the holders, but the influence of Dongan was exerted on his friend's behalf, and on October 2, 1687, Smith

formally completed his first purchase of Long Island lands. This purchase was afterward added to until the property 'won recognition as a manor. Smith during this time seems to have been busily engaged in mercantile pur- suits, and on the records of Brookhaven, ac- cording to Thompson, is an entry showing that the "merchant," as Smith is described, held a bill against Governor Dongan for goods to the amount of £993. Probably it was rather for "services rendered" in the devious ways known in those days and probably not altogether unknown in these passing superior days of ours. It would seem that almost as soon as he was comfortably settled at Little Neck, Colonel Smith began the acquisition of fresh lands and had them erected into Saint George's Manor by patent issued by Governor Fletcher in 1693. Soon after he made further great accessions pressing toward the bound- aries of Southampton, and these were included in the manorial title by a fresh patent issued in 1697. This manorial holding gave Colonel Smith many privileges and made his influence paramount over the extent of territory-larger than many a European principality-which it described. It gave him a right to hold court, to invite immigrants, to demand as by right a recognized share in their labor, and to a seat in the General Assembly of the province. But long before the manorial patent was issued Colonel Smith had acquired a commanding position in the affairs of the province.

In 1691 Governor Sloughter appointed him a member of Council and one of the Commis- sioners of the Court of Oyer and Terminer. When the Supreme Court was inaugurated, in that same year, Smith was appointed to one of the Judgeships, an office to which no sal- ary was attached. This arrangement was rec- tified, however, a year later, when Governor Fletcher (November II, 1692) appointed him Chief Justice with a salary of £130. He proved an upright, dignified and impartial judge, al- though he appears to have been outspoken and determined in his opposition to Leisler in the troubles which that individual's policy and

SOME EARLY FAMILIES AND THEIR DESCENDANTS.

ambition brought upon the colony. As might be expected, when Governor Bellomont, on his arrival in New York April 2, 1698, announced himself as a friend of the Leisler party and an avowed enemy of all who had shown themselves opposed thereto, the position of Chief Justice Smith became a most unenviable one. The Leislerites felt that their hour of triumph had come, the hour when the hang- ing of the self-appointed Governor would be legally branded as a crime, and restitution made in some way for the wrongs and indigni- ties which had been heaped upon those who had championed his cause and honored his memory. They felt that with such a Chief Justice as Smith on the bench nothing prac- tical could be accomplished, and with the ar- rival of the new Governor they began their schemes looking to that end. Bellomont or- ganized his Council so as to make it more amenable to his views and policy ; but he per- mitted Smith to retain his seat, as his loyalty was well known and he seems to have had some attached friends in England who would have resented his removal from a position which the Governor could reduce, and had re- duced, to simply one of honor. But the Chief Justiceship was another matter, and after wait- ing a decent time Bellomont removed him from that office, October 30, 1700.

When Governor Bellomont died Smith, then senior member of the Council, claimed and exercised the functions of the executive until the arrival of Lieutenant-Governor Nan- fan, who was hurriedly summoned from Bar- bados. Smith's claim to the office aroused party feeling to the utmost, a majority of the assembly refused to recognize his title, said majority being of the Leislerite persuasion ; and it is hard to say to what condition the prevailing confusion and bitterness might have developed had not a stop to the tumult been put by the appearance of Nanfan upon the scene, much sooner than had been anticipated. Nanfan, however, ranged himself on the side of the Leislerites and they ruled things with a pretty rough hand, almost paralleling the

case of Nicholas Bayard, a former Mayor of New York, the crime which had made the name of Leisler become a party cry, until the arrival, in 1702, of Lord Cornbury. He at once took sides with the Anti-Leislerites, and re-appoint- ed Smith to the office of Chief Justice, and by his distribution of patronage, mainly, brought about the almost complete disappearance of the shibboleth of Leislerism as a potent factor in local politics. Smith retained his judicial office until April, 1703, when he resigned, but he continued to hold his seat in the Council until his death, at Little Neck, February 18, 1705.

Colonel Smith had three sons, one of whom, the youngest, Charles Jeffrey, died when a youth. Both of the surviving members of the family inherited many of the sterling qualities of the father. The eldest son, Henry, held the office of Clerk of Suffolk County from 1710 to 1716 and was for many years one of the county judges.

His son, Colonel William Smith, was Clerk of Suffolk County from 1730 to 1750 and a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for sev- eral. years prior to the Revolution. He mar- ried Margaret, daughter of Henry Lloyd, of Lloyd Neck, and had a family of several chil- dren.

His only daughter, Anna, became the wife of Judge Selah Strong, of Setauket.

The family of Colonel Smith's second son, William, also fully sustained the honorable name of that great pioneer. William received as part of his share of Colonel Smith's estate some lands at Mastic, and he settled down there, rose to the dignity of a major in some local militia squad, and lived the life of a quiet country gentleman. His son William was for many years a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and was a member of the first Pro- vincial Congress. In 1777 he was chosen one of the State Senators, and he retained that dignified office until the close of the Revolu- tionary War. His son John was possibly the most widely known member of the family, after its founder. We refer more particularly to his career in our notice of General Wood-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

hull (Chapter XX), whose daughter he mar- ried. His brother William settled down as a farmer in Brookhaven, and died at Longwood, near Manorville, leaving his farm to his son, William Sidney Smith.

Probably no family on Long Island has contributed such a succession in each genera- tion of men eminent in the community as that of the Floyds. In one respect they stand ahead of all the others in numbering among then a signer of the Declaration of Inde- pendence ; but even without this member of a group of statesmen-whose memory is being enshrined in the national heart more rever- ently as the years pass on-the family story contains enough to inspire pride in those en- titled to wear the name and warrant the re- spect in which it is held all over Long Island.

The name of the founder of the family, Richard Floyd, appears on the list of those who in 1655 bought land at Setauket from the Indians and set up a communiy which seedis to have been intended to be governed after Presbyterian rules. Floyd was born at Breck- nockshire, Wales, about 1620, and, it is thought on religious grounds, left his native land for New England in the fall of 1653. He landed in Boston early in the following year, but probably did not find that true tolera- tion among the Puritans which he expected, and so was induced to throw in his lot with a new colony which appears to have been or- ganized by men of his own persuasion. He seems to have soon become recognized as one of the leaders of the little settlement, bought up lands as fast as he could, prospered in all his worldly affairs, was a local magistrate and a colonel of militia. He died about 1690. His wife died in 1706, at the age of eighty years.

His eldest son, Richard, closely followed in his footsteps when the family honors fell to him. Richard was born at Setauket May 12, 1661, married Margaret Nicolls, eldest daugh- ter of Matthias Nicolls, secretary of the Duke of York's commissioner who captured New York from the Dutch and became the first

Governor of the English Province of New York. Richard Floyd was one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas and held the office of colonel of militia until his death in I737.

We must here leave the direct line of prim- ogeniture and speak of the second son of Rich- ard Floyd and Margaret Nicolls. He received the baptismal name of Nicolls, and was settled on a farm at Mastic. He did not grow rich in this world's goods, but raised a family of eight children-five daughters and three sons-Will- iam, Nicol and Charles. William is the only one of the, family whose career we propose to follow here. He was born at Mastic De- cember 17, 1734, and received the usual edu- cation given in those times to farmers' sons; but his strong common sense, natural shrewd- ness and close observation supplemented his education and safely carried him through the many important roles he was destined to play in life's journey, while at the beginning of his career the influence of his family name gave him of itself a degree of standing in the com- munity which had only to be rightly guided to become of great personal advantage. He early developed many admirable traits, became an adept at farming and a prudent man in worldly affairs. Of strong religious convic- tions, he took a deep interest in the spiritual welfare of the people among whom he lived, and he implicitly believed that the practice of the Congregational Church formed the only true model upon which upright and honored civil government could be founded. He was a close student of public affairs, a keen and logical observer of the trend of the events of the day, and was outspoken and pronounced in his advocacy of the people's rights when the crisis with the mother country was ap- proaching. Early in life he was chosen as an officer in the Suffolk county militia; he was Colonel of the First Suffolk Regiment in 1775, and after the war was over he was commis- sioned a Major General, but his military ca- reer, to put it mildly, was a most evenly un- interesting one, its most startling incident be-

SOME EARLY FAMILIES AND THEIR DESCENDANTS.

ing a hurried call to prevent a small boat land- ing on Long Island early in the conflict with Britain. His talents were better fitted for the halls of legislation than for the tented field. After a short service in the Provincial Assem- bly he was sent as a delegate, in 1774, to the first Continental Congress, and was one of those who from the beginning were in favor of the independence of the colonies. He voted for the adoption of the Declaration of Inde- pendence and signed that document-his great claim to immortality. "He continued," writes Edward F. De Lancey, "by successive re-ap- General Floyd was twice married. By his first wife, a daughter of William Jones, of Southampton, he had three children,-Nicol, Mary and Catharine. The son took possession of the property at Mastic, became active in local affairs and was chosen a representative from Suffolk county in the New York Assem- pointments a member of every Continental Congress up to 1782, inclusive. At the same time, from 1777 till 1783, he was State Sena- tor under the first Constitution of New York, being regularly appointed by that body for the Southern District, then wholly within the Brit- ish lines, so that no election could be held. . bly in 1779, 1800 and 1801; Mary married Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge, one of the he- roes of the Revolution ; and Catharine became the wife of Dr. Samuel Clarkson, of Phila- delphia. His second wife was a daughter of Benejah Strong, of Setauket, and by her he had two daughters,-Anna and Eliza. The first named married George Clinton, a son of Vice President Clinton, and after his death became the wife of Abraham Varick, mer- chant, New York; Eliza married James Platt, of Utica.

From 1784 till 1788 he was duly elected to the same office from the same district. In 1787 and 1789 he was chosen a member of the Council of Appointment. In the Presidential elections of 1792, 1800 and 1804 he was cho- sen one of the Presidental Electors, and in 1801 he sat for Suffolk County in the Consti- tutional Convention of that year. He was an early and warm supporter of Jefferson. His education being only that of the country schools of his youth, he was not a speaker, nor orator, nor an accomplished writer ; but in the work of the different bodies in which he served he was noted for his assiduity, sound advice, unflagging labor and thorough knowledge of the business before them. He was eminently a practical man, and his firmness and resolu- tion were very great. Although somewhat unpolished in manner, he at the same time pos- sessed a natural gravity and dignity which made itself felt."

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A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 16

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