A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 160

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 160

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Witness of the deliverie & subscribinge this writing: Abraham Pierson, Edward Stephenson, Robert Terry, Joseph Howc, Thomas Whitehone, Joshua Griffiths, William Howe Manatacut x his mark, Manduslı x his mark, Wybenet x his mark, Howes x his mark, Secommecock x his mark, Mocomanto x his mark. These in the name of the rest.

This deed, however, elaborate as it is, did not quite satisfy the Indians, or rather the children of the original settlers. There grad- ually grew rumors of trouble and to adjust them the territory was again bought by a new deed in 1686. This pacified these children of nature, but in 1703 another generation arose and it too had to be pacified, and in that year a fresh deed was granted, which settled the claim forever.

According to Mr. Pelletreau the original settlers up to 1650 included : "Edward How- ell, Thomas Halsey, Thomas Sayre, Job Sayre, William Harker, William Wells, John Moore, Thomas Talmadge jr., Thomas Talmadge sen., Abraham Pierson, Henry Pierson, Daniel Howe, Richard Barrett, William Rodgers, Fulk Davis, Nathaniel Kirtland, Phillip Kirt- land, Thomas Farrington, John Farrington, Richard Mills, Thomas Tomson, Allen Breade, Henry Walton, Josiah Stanborough, Edmond Needham, Thomas Terry, George Welbee, John Gosmer, John Cooper, Henry Seymonds, Richard Post, John Stratton, Thomas Hil- dreth, Isaac Willman, John Budd, Thomas Burnett, Thurston Raynor, Jolin Odgen, John White, Arthur Bostock, Richard Smith, Josh- ua Barnes, Theodore Vale, Thomas Topping, Jonas Wood, George Wood, John Mulford, Richard Odell, Edward Johnes, William Browne, Theodore Robbinson, John Kelley, William Barnes, Robert Rose, Ellis Cook, John Cory, Robert Marvin, Jeremiah Howe,

1037

SOUTHAMPTON.

Christopher Foster, John Lum, William Mul- ford, Robert Talmage, Robert Bond, John Og- den, Mark Meggs, Thomas Beale, Thomas Pope, Isaac Willman, Richard Woodhull, Richard Jacques. John Hand, Tristram Hedges, Samuel Dayton, Raphael Swinfield, John Jessup, John Jagger, Thomas Doxy.

"Of these many remained but a short time, and some of them were among the first set- tlers of East Hampton. Richard Smith re- moved from the town at an early date and be- came the founder of Smithtown, and his name is celebrated in Long Island history as "Bull Smith." It is generally believed that Rich- ard Odell and Richard Woodhull, whose names appear as above, were one and the same person, who afterward settled in the town of Brookhaven, and whose illustrious descendant General Nathaniel Woodhull has left an im- perishable name as a martyr to the cause of Long Island liberty. Of the original Under- takers,' Edward Howell, the acknowledged leader, was a native of Marsh Gibbon in Buck- inghamshire, England; Thomas and Job Sayre were, as before stated, from Bedford- shire ; John Cooper was from Olney, county of Bucks or Buckinghamshire; family tradi- tion states that Thomas Halsey was from Yorkshire; Josiah Stanborough was from Stanstead, in Kent. These are the only ones of the 14 founders whose descendants are now found in the town."

A glance at the map of the township will show that it seems divided into two parts, which are joined by a narrow neck at what is now Canoe Place. The original purchase only extended to the portion eastward from this isthmus. It was not until 1658 that Wyan- dance gave a deed to Lion Gardiner for lands to the west of this isthmus ; the Quogue .pur- chase as it was called, was made in 1659 by John Ogden (it was afterward sold to the valorous Capt. John Scott), and the Topping purchase in 1662 by Capt. John Topping. These holdings led to trouble, and in 1666 Gov. Nicolls decided that all the lands so pur-

chased were to be regarded as within the bounds of Southampton.

The land in the original purchase was at first divided into 40 home lots valued at $150 each. The proprietors received lots according to the amount they had invested in the enter- prise and also a share in the undivided lands. A share or lot was afterward laid aside for the minister, and the entire number of home lots increased to 51. Sometimes a lot was subdivided into three and a third awarded to a mechanic-a mechanic whose handicraft was of general benefit and by such a gift was in- duced to offer himself as a candidate for settle- ment. But such instances of free gift were few, and it may be said in general that each settler had to pay for his lot according to the terms fixed by the Undertakers and afterward by the town meeting. The lots were carefully measured. Bit by bit the undivided lands were apportioned until 1782. The "Under- takers," and their descendants and successors, under the more modern name of proprietors. continued in reality to rule the township until 1818, when they became an incorporated body to attend simply to their personal interests.

At first the town meeting in regular or special assembly arranged all the details of local government and was the court of last re- sort. It yearly elected magistrates who really do seem to have been terrors to evil-doers and saw to it that the edicts of the town meeting were carried into effect. In 1644 a meeting formally voted to enter the Confederacy of Hartford, and as the General Court of that Commonwealth that year agreed to its admis- sion Southampton came under its jurisdiction. By this step, however, it threw off its inde- pendence and lost its power of electing its magistrates, that being the prerogative of the General Court. However, Southampton sim- ply presented three names, of which two were accepted. Outside of this, however, the con- nection was little more than a nominal one ; not even attendance at the General Court, ex- cept by proxy, being insisted on. The Con-

1038

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

stable seems to have been elected by vote and so were the "Townsmen," as those who acted as Overseers of the Poor, Assessors, etc., were called, and the town meeting continued to be as authoritative in local affairs as ever. Its allegiance was transferred to Connecticut after the union of the New Haven and Hartford Commonwealths in 1662.

The political connection with Connecticut came to an end when Gov. Nicolls began to assert his authority and to proclaim the extent of his royal master's dominion. Southampton seems to have quietly admitted his claims and submitted to his authority, yet the citizens openly acknowledged they would have pre- ferred the Connecticut arrangement to con- tinue. But when, in 1676, Gov. Andros in- sisted that the town should possess a patent the people demurred. They sent a long re- monstrance showing clearly and emphatically their sense of the uselessness and injustice of such a document and also its future danger. "The patents we have seen seem to bind per- sons and towns in matter of payment to the will and purpose of their lord and his succes- sors, and who can tell but in time to come those may succeed, who through an avaricious distemper, may come upon us with such heavy taxes as may make us or our poor posterity to groan like Israel in Egypt." But here is the protest in full :

Southampton, February 15, 1670. To the Governor :

Honorable Sir .- We, the inhabitants of this town, do hereby present unto you our hum- ble service, &c. to show our respect to your honor's pleasure, and our obedience to the order of the honorable court of assize-we are bold to manifest herein unto you some reasons why we are unwilling to receive any further patent for our lands, as followeth:

Ist, Because, as we have honestly purchased them of the natives, (the proper and natural owners of them,) so also we have already the patent right, lawfully obtained and derived from the honorable Earl of Stirling, we being to pay one-fifth part of gold and silver ore, and four bushels of Indian corn yearly.

2dly, Because the injunction laid on persons and plantations by the laws in 1666, to take forth patents for their lands from our then gov- ernor, we groundedly conceive intended not the plantations on this east end of the island, but only those at the west end who were reduced from a foreign government, even as heretofore. Those English that came to dwell within the precincts which the Dutch claimed took out land briefs from the Dutch governor.

3dly, Because those of us, who were first beginners of this plantation, put none but our- selves to the vast charge in our transport hither, we greatly hazarded our lives (as some lost theirs) here amongst and by the then nu- merous and barbarously cruel natives; yet through divine Providence we have possessed these our lands above thirty years without in- terruption or molestation by any claiming them from us, and therefore we cannot see why we should lose any of our rightful privileges, so dearly and honestly purchased, or how our lands can be better assured to us by taking out another patent from any one.

4thly, And materially because by our said patent we had license (we being but few) to put ourselves under any of his Majesty's colon- ies for government, whereupon accordingly, by willing consent on all sides, we adjoined our- selves to Hartford jurisdiction, and divers of us became members of the king's court there, and when the worthy Mr. Winthrop obtained a patent from his Majesty our present lord, King Charles II, for the said colony of Hart- ford, our town is included, and some of the then chief members of our town expressly nominated in the patent; so that this place be- came undeniably an absolute limb or part of the said colony ; and moreover, since that and after his Majesty's commissioners came into these parts, his Majesty of grace and free 110- tion was pleased so far to encourage his people of the said colony, as by his letter to assure them that their ecclesiastical and civil privi- leges which he had granted them, should not be infringed or diminished by his said com- missioners, or any others whatsoever.

5ly, It is not only in all our experience be- yond all parallel that each town should be con- strained to take forth a patent, but also the patents here imposed and those given forth, which yet we have seen, seem to bind persons and towns in matter of payment to the will and mercy of their lord and his successors, or lien- tenants ; and who can tell but in time to come those may succeed who, through an avaricious

1039

SOUTHAMPTON.

distemper, may come upon us with such heavy taxes and intolerable burdens, as may make us, or our poor posterity, to groan like Israel in Egypt.

6ly, Because people are enjoined to ac- knowledge in the said patent (if we mistake not greatly) that his royal highness the Duke of York is sole proprietor of the whole island ; which we cannot consent unto, because we know ourselves to be the true proprietors of the land we here possess, with the appurtenances thereunto belonging, and also because men are enjoined by the said patent to pay not only all just dues, but also all demands that may be made by his royal highness or his authorized agent.

7ly, Because we are more than confident his Majesty will desire no more of us than al- ready we are, even his faithful liege people, who have many of us already taken, and the rest of us are ready to take, the oath of alle- giance unto him. Willing we are to pay our just dues in town and to the country, and ready to serve his Majesty with our lives and for- tunes ; we are his subjects, and we know that .

he will not make us slaves to any.

8ly, Because General Nichols gave it un- der his hand that we at this end should have as great privileges as any colony in New England, and yet we are denied our deputies at the courts ; we are forced to pay customs for goods imported, for which custom hath before been paid to his Majesty's use in England.

gly, and lastly .- The king's commissioners, in the year 1664, by their proclamation, seemed to demand only the government, with exact and full promise that the people should enjoy whatsoever God's blessing and their own in- dustry had furnished them withal; and we see not what more a patent can assure us, especial- ly considering that the patents here taken forth by places, or particular persons, secure them not absolutely ; for it seems to us by the order of the court of assizes, even from them who have received a patent, wood and timber may be taken away without leave and without pay ; in all which respects, and some other, we can- not be willing to take forth more patent than we have. And if we do succeed otherwise than we expect, we hope we shall, like good christ- ians, patiently bear the pressure that may be permitted to fall upon us, yet never fail to be fervent votaries for your honor's real happi- ness.

[Signed by Thomas Halsey, jun., and 49 other inhabitants of the town.]

But the remonstrance was unavailing. An- dros placed little value by such things and an ultimatum was sent to Southampton, the terms of which were such that the town had to comply with the Governor's demand or lose all its township rights. So the patent was issued. As a historical document its only 'a- terest for us is that it defines for the first time and with understandable clearness the boundaries of the town. Its main features were as follows:

Edmond Andross, Esqr., Seigneur of Saus- marez, Lieut. and Governor Gen'all under His Royall Highness James Duke of York and Al- bany &c. of all his Territoryes in America, To all to whom these presents shall come sendeth Greeting. Whereas there is a certain Towne in the East Riding of Yorkshire upon Long Island commonly called and knowne by the name of South Hampton, situate, lying and be- ing on the South side of the said Island, to- ward the Maine sea, having a certaine Tract of Land thereunto belonging, the Eastward Bounds whereof extend to a certaine place or plaine called Wainscutt, where the bounds are settled betwixt their Neighbors of the Towne of East Hampton and them; Their southern bounds being the Sea, and so runs westward to a place called Seatuck, where a Stake was sett as their farthest extent that way; Then crossing over the Island to the Northward to Peaconick great River (not contradicting the agreement made betweene their Towne and the Towne of Southhold after their tryall at the Court of Assizes), and soe to run Eastward along the North bounds to the Eastermost point of Hogg neck over against Shelter Island; Including all the Necks of land and Islands within the afore described bounds and Limits ;

Now for a confirmation unto the present Freeholders Inhabitants of the said Towne and precincts, Know Yee that by virtue of his Majestie's Letters Pattents and the Commis- sion and Authority unto mee given by his Royall Highness I have Ratified, Confirmed * and Granted *

* unto John Topping (Justice of the Peace), Captain John Howell, Thomas Halsey Senior, Joseph Raynor (Con- stable), Edward Howell, John Jagger, John Foster, and Francis Sayre (Overseers), Lieut. Joseph Fordham, Henry Pierson, John Cooper,

1010

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND

Ellis Cooke, Samuel Clarke, Richard Post and John Jennings, as Patentees, for and on the behalfe of them selves and their Associates the ffreeholders and Inhabitants of said town, All the afore mentioned tract of land # with all Rivers, Lakes, waters, Quarrys, Woodlands, Plains, Meadows, pas- tures, Marshes, ffishing, Hawking, Hunting and ffouling, And all other Proffits and Com- modities # To Have and to Hold all and singular their said lands and premises,

* The Tenure of said land to be ac- cording to the custome of the Manor of East Greenwich in the County of Kent in England, in Free and Common Soccage and by fealty only. * And I doe hereby likewise Confirme and grant unto the said Patentees and their Associates all the privileges and Im- munities belonging to a Town within this gov- ernment. And that the place of their present Habitacon and abode shall continue and retaine the name of South Hampton, by which name and Stile it shall be distinguished and known in all Bargaines and writings. Yeilding and paying therefor as an acknowl- edgement or Quit rent One fatt Lamb unto such officer or officers there in authority as shall be Empowered to receive the same.

Given under my hand and sealed with the Seal of the Province, in New York, the first day of November in the Eight and twentieth year of his Majestie's reign, Annoque Domini one thousand six hundred and seventy-six.

E. ANDROSS.

Gov. Dongan, of course, insisted on the town taking one of his patents which was is- sued in 1686. It confirmed the rights, etc., of the former document and ordered that twelve trustees should annually be elected "of the freeholders and commonalty of the town of Southampton, two constables and two assess- ors." The first trustees under this patent were John Howell. Thomas Halsey, senr., Edward Howell. John Jagger, John Foster, Francis Sayre, Joseph Fordham, Henry Pierson, Sam- nel Clark, Job Sayre, William Barker and Isaac Halsey. It is noticeable that by this charter others than the proprietors or free- holders were made qualified to vote.

Southampton was a Christian, democratic town, but by no means a theocracy. Its rea-

sons for formally annexing itself in 1644 to Hartford rather than to New Haven was that, under the laws of the last named common- wealth, church membership ivas an essential to the full rights of citizenship, to the right to speak and vote at town meetings. This deci- sion, however, lost to the community its first minister, the Rev. Abraham Pierson. He had hoped that the town would develop into a com- munity in which the church would be supreme, and he had even organized the congregation with seven members before the first batch of colonists left Lynn. But from the first he probably was dissatisfied with the results. A church building was erected at Southampton in 1640, but when Pierson left he took part of his people with him and set up a new taber- nacle at Bradford, Conn. The Rev. Robert Fordham, the pioneer of Hempstead, succeed- ed Pierson in the ministry of Southampton, and concerning that Dr. W. Wallace Tooker, in an unpublished monograph from which many data have already been obtained, says:

"His arrival and locating at Southampton undoubtedly gave a boom to that weak colony, then to a great extent disorganized by the de- parture of Minister Pierson and the few who agred with him, as well as by the dissensions that occasioned it. The best and most influen- tial townsmen, however, remained to welcome 'the well-beloved servant of the Lord, Mr. Fordham,' as they expressed it, in April, 1649, in their contract with him as their minister. Before his coming to Southampton the towns- men had become dissatisfied with their 'old' town site, which possessed many disadvantag es unseen and unthought of in the haste of lay- ing out the first settlement, and after his arrival they began to lay out and to build upon the new, now represented by the present wide and beautiful main street of Southampton village. So, with Fordham's ministry, the town of Southampton entered upon a different order of things, as well as upon a new era of pros- perity, which has continued until the present day. Under Mr. Fordham a new church build-

SOUTHAMPTON.

1041

ing was erected in 1651. This church stood until 1707, when a third structure was erected, which was occupied by the congregation until 1845, when it was replaced by a more com- modious structure."

Mr. Fordham continued to act as minister until his death, in 1674, and long before that he enjoyed the reputation of being the wealth- iest man in Southampton. Yet his stipend never seems to have exceeded £80, so he must have largely engaged in mercantile affairs and been a good business man. In 1716 the church, then under the care of the Rev. Samuel Gel- ston, came under Presbyterian government.

Southampton was in favor of the move- ment for freedom in 1776 almost to a man. Three or four companies of militia and minute- men were raised in the township, in addition to two companies which guarded the great herd of cattle on Montauk Peninsula. It is supposed the Southampton company in Col. Smith's regiment took part in the battle of Brooklyn, but, unfortunately, there is nothing on record about that. But we do know that the smoke had hardly cleared away from Go- wanus Heights before Gen. Erskine's procla- mation was circulated, calling on all to submit to royal authority. Many of the best and wealthiest of the townspeople, rather than comply, crossed over into Connecticut, but Governor Tryon's oath had to be taken by all who remained. The British troops made their headquarters at Southampton and Sag Har- bor in 1778, and then followed the same story of wrong and robbery, requisitions without stint but generally without payment, the di- version of everything to the use of the mili- tary, the abandonment of work on the farms. the wanton destruction of property, growing crops, fences and buildings, which has fol- lowed us all over the island in our story of the townships. As soon as the troops left, indus- try again set in, but it was many a year before the damage done during that military satur- nalia was fully repaired.

The modern story of Southampton village

is one of quiet progress. In 1844 the first Methodist Church was organized, and a large congregation has since been built up. In 1879 the Episcopal body made a beginning with their quaint little church, St. Andrew's-in-the- Dunes, but it is only used during the summer season. The Roman Catholic Church only be- gan its work in 1886. The Civil War natur- ally created much excitement, but the demands of the Federal authorities were met. A bounty of $750 was paid to each man drafted and $500 for recruits. The local hero .of the war, Col. Edwin Rose, died at Jamaica, L. I., where he was acting as Provost Marshal, in 1864.

Southampton is now one of the most select of the summer resort towns on Long Island. It is famous for its clubs, its social life, its artistic "atmosphere." It has many of the fin- est suburban homes in America, and during the season its "functions" are many and select. It has now a population of nearly 2,000.

Many Indian legends concerning Suffolk county have been unearthed by Dr. William Wallace Tooker, of Sag Harbor and concern- ing the aboriginal inhabitants of his home town and the memorials they left behind in the way of place names, he writes as follows :

In a former time, under primitive condi- tions, on the rolling ground and plain, to the northward of the range of hills that extend west and east across the eastern portion of the present village of Sag Harbor, were located the picturesque wigwams, corn fields and other ac- cessories of the village of Wegwagonock. A large portion of the elevation, on the southern slopes of which the most compact part of the village had been situated, was leveled about fifty years ago and its contents distributed over the adjoining meadow in order to increase the area and stability of the ship and oil yards of Mulford and Sleight. The writer was in- formed by the late William R. Sleight that hu- man bones, supposed to have been those of Indians, very friable and decayed, were 1111- earthed during the excavating ; but, if any ob- ects aboriginal were deposited with them at the time of burial, they were overlooked in the haste and carelessness of the digging.

The situation of this summer dwelling place

1042

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

of the red men, which it must undoubtedly have been, for in the winter they lived back in the forests where it was less exposed and more sheltered, was highly favored naturally for their purposes and their primitive mode of liv- ing. From evidences, surface or otherwise, that have been discovered from time to time, this village extended, with the wigwams in scattered order, along the edge of the meadows where the late E. M. Cooper and Charles L. Phillips' houses stand, skirting the base of the hills as far as the Fahys Watch Case Factory. At the present day a large portion of this area has been obliterated of its aboriginal marks by the march of improvements until but a small part of the site indicates what it must have been at the period of which I write, that portion in close proximity to the depression which has been known from my childhood as the "Frog Pond" is about the only part remaining that may still be studied by the student of prehis- toric anthropology with much interest and sat- isfaction.

The conditions which give rise to this vil- lage in aboriginal times were these: First, its nearness to the tidal waters in front made their food quest an easy one, for fish abounded here. Second, the sand-flats, bare at low water, bor- dering the shore in every direction, undoubted- ly teemed, as it does to-day, with shell-fish of various kinds. The abundance of the uni- valve, commonly called the periwinkle, in the various coves and bays hereabouts, gave the name Mehtanawack, "country of the ear-shell" to this part of Long Island, thus making it a place of note to the natives on the neighboring main. There can be no doubt whatever but that the manufacture of wampum was carried on to a great extent at this Indian village, and that it was frequently visited by the Dutch for the purposes of trading in this commodity. All the facts disclosed by excavating on this village site proves it ; the numerous columella or stock of periwinkle scattered about this vil- lage site bears mitte testimony of this manufac- ture. The writer, in digging here, discovered a cache of these shells which had evidently been stored for future use. He has discovered like deposits in other places which bears out Roger Williams' observation in 1643, viz .: "Most on the sea-side make Money, and store up shells in Summer against Winter where- of to make their money." Again, at the mouthis of the tidal creeks could be found in abundance the round clam which Roger Williams said "the Indians wade deepe and dive for, and

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 160

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