A history of Mattituck, Long Island, N.Y., Part 2

Author: Craven, Charles E. (Charles Edmiston), 1860- 4n
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: [Mattituck? N.Y.] : Published for the author
Number of Pages: 418


USA > New York > Suffolk County > Mattituck > A history of Mattituck, Long Island, N.Y. > Part 2


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).


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The account of the changing of the highway is re- corded in Liber A, p. 142, of Suffolk County Deeds, and runs as follows :


"Whereas there was an Act of ye Govern't Councill and Representatives of the Colony of N Yorke made in ye 2d year of ye reigne of our sovereigne Lady Anne by ye grace of God of England &c Queen Defendr of ye faith &c for ye laying out Regulating clearing and pre- serving publick common hygh ways throughout ye sd Colony And it was thereby Enacted that Commission- ers to put ye sd Act in Execution according to ye true intent and meaning of ye same were nominated and ap- pointed for ye Respective Countyes in ye sd Colony vizt For ye County of Suffolke Mr. John Tuthill senr Lieut Joseph Peirson and Thomas Helme, which sd Commis- sioners have layd out and ascertained ye Publick com- mon high wayes within ye sd County of Suffolke as followeth :


"The Highway from Peaconnuck river to Southold to be in ye usuall road from ye sd river to Mattatucke already layd out four poles wide at ye least, ye trees generally marked on ye south side of ye way, and at Mattatucke ye highway to be on ye north side of ye pond and soe directly leading to ye old road to ye town of Southold.


"The high way from ye towne of Southold to ye westward farms on ye northside to be ye usuall road to


2.1


A HISTORY OF MATTITUCK.


Mattatucke and soe on ye northside of ye pond in ye way lately marked out to ye usuall road leading to Rich- ard Howells and from thence in ye usual road to ye beach and so on ye beach to ye fresh pond and to ye place called ye wading river."


The second year of Queen Anne was 1703. The date of the report of the finished work is July 25, 1710. It was fifty years before this, shortly after the Restoration and early in the reign of Charles II., that Mattituck was opened for actual settlement.


The exact line of the highway south of the pond be- fore 1710 is difficult to determine but certain known facts establish definite points upon it. The road now south of the pond in front of the houses of George B. Reeve and Charles W. Wickham is certainly a part of the ancient highway. Certain wills and deeds relating to the Corwin property south of the present highway also fix the farm house of James J. Kirkup as a point on the old highway. This is a modern house, but it stands where 2d Theophilus Corwin lived, and died in 1762 in his eighty-fourth year, and where his father, Ist Theophilus, son of the original Matthias, probably lived before him. Samuel, son of 2d Theophilus, .dwelt a few rods west of his father near the Corwin property line. The place where Samuel Corwin's house stood is stills discernible, a slight hollow surrounded by a ridge where the foundation stood, close to bars in the fence dividing the lands of James J. Kirkup and Charles W. Wickham. These two houses undoubtedly stood on the ancient; highway, which passed through the place . marked by) the modern bars, followed a track still plain'and to some extent used, circling around the corner of Chas. W."


THE NORTH ROAD.


26


A HISTORY OF MATTITUCK.


Wickham's orchard past the north end of the hemlock hedge into the road that runs along the east side of the pond. This line is confirmed by several early transfers of Corwin property. One in particular may be found on P. 518 of Vol. II. of Southold Printed Records. This is a deed of 1782 and is remarkable for giving measure- ments and courses of property lines: something uncom- mon in deeds of that time. This deed conveys about 45 acres of the Theophilus Corwin property from John and Elizabeth (Mapes) Case to John Corwin, Jr. It men- tions the house of the widow Hannah Harvey, which was the house of her father, 2d Theophilus, and gives measurements which led the writer to look for traces of the Samuel Corwin house and the old highway about fifty-five or sixty rods from the present highway with gratifying results.


East of James J. Kirkup's house the old highway crossed the farm of Philip W. Tuthill and probably reached the present highway not far west of Manor hill. There is little to guide one in determining the course of the old highway west of the pond. It may have followed the line of Reeve Place or it may have crossed the ath- letic grounds and the school lot. It must have reached the present highway east of the point where it branches into the north and south roads.


At a Town Meeting held Nov. 20, 1661,* "It was then agreed and confirmed by a major vote that all com- on lands att Oysterponds [Orient], Curchaug,t Occa-


*Southold Printed Records, Vol. I., p. 350.


+Corchaug and Occabauck is the spelling of the names of these districts in the list of proprietors, Vol. I., p. 352, but each Town Recorder and every writer of deeds had his own method


27


A HISTORY OF MATTITUCK.


bauck and Mattatuck should be surveyed, and layed out to every man his due proporcon in each place as it was then agreed : Vidlt :


"Oysterponnd Lands into ffortie small lots to such persons only as have given in their names for these divi- dends :- Curchaug bounds from the Townes antient bounds to the Canoe place at Mattituck. Also into fforty small lotts to those p'sons only as likewise have given in their names in writeinge for the same-and Occabauck and the rest of Mattituck lands from the said cannoe place as far as the Towne had any rights to bee divided accordinge to fforty smaull lotts, also and to remayne to such p'sons as in like manner had given in theire names in writeinge to bee the soule proprietors thereof-yet not withstanding, all the said severall parcells of Land from east to west were still to remayne in comon as for- merly in respect of feedinge the herbage that should grow thereon, save'g such only out thereof as should bee ymproved by them and fenced from the comon Land."


The Town's "antient bounds" extended "From Toms Creek east to Puckquashineck west."* "Puckquashineck" is what we know as Pequash Neck, now the property of the Fleets. This neck then belonged to the first Wm. Wells, and was the westernmost holding included in the old bounds. The settlers believing that the time was come to lengthen their cords and strengthen their stakes, determined to divide all the outlying common land, en-


or variety of methods of spelling these names. The writer has noted thirty or forty ways of spelling each, ranging from Cachauk to Cautchchaug, and from Occoback or Accobauk to Hauquebauge.


*Southold Printed Records, Vol. I., p. 146.


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A HISTORY OF MATTITUCK.


couraging settlement in the outlying districts, at the same time wisely providing that the allotted land should con- tinue to be used for the common pasturage of cattle until it was actually fenced and improved. It seemed con- venient to make three great divisions of the land to be allotted. One of these, east of the settlement and ex- tending to Orient Point, they called the Oysterponds Dividend. The much larger district lying westward they marked out as the Corchaug Dividend, extending from William Wells' Puckquashineck* to the Canoe Place at Mattituck, and the Occabauck Dividend extending from the Canoe Place westward. This Occabauck Dividend, as actually laid out, did not include all the land "as far as the Towne had any rights to bee divided" as was first proposed. It extended only so far as the present village of Riverhead. This was afterwards known as the First Division in Occabauck and later smaller divisions or divi- dends known as the Second and Third were allotted, ex- tending all the way to the Wading River, that separated Southold from Brookhaven town. Thus it will be seen the name Mattituck was lost for a time as the designa- tion of an extended district. "The Canoe Place at Matti- tuck" became merely the dividing line between Corchaug and Occabauck. For many years thereafter property was. described as lying in Corchaug or Occabauck, with the names of the adjacent owners east and west. Con- sidering that Corchaug was about three and a half miles,


*Puckquashineck, for Pequa-shinne-auke, meaning "open level land," has become Pequash Neck. This is one of the frequent instances where similarity of sound has led to the substitution of an English word for an Indian syllable of en -. tirely different meaning.


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A HISTORY OF MATTITUCK.


in extent and the First Division in Occabauck about nine miles, it will be seen that it is a difficult matter to locate precisely the lands mentioned in the old records and con- veyances, requiring much careful study. Gradually the name Mattituck reasserted itself and a lot of land would be occasionally described as lying in the parish or village of Mattituck, but this did not become a common practice until recent times. The new deeds usually repeated the descriptions of the old and as late as fifty years ago Mat- tituck property was frequently described as lying in Cutchogue or Aquebogue in Southold Town.


In 1661, when these three great divisions of common lands were ordered, there were fifty-one heads of fami- lies in Southold entitled to share in the allotment. Their rights or shares were in proportion to their services and payments in the establishment of the Town and probably also to the size of their families. The Southold Records do not state definitely the basis of apportionment. The basis was probably the same, however, as in the New Haven Colony, and in New Haven* "Itt was agreed that every planter in the towne shall have a proportion of land according to the proportion of estate wch he hath given in, and number of heads in his famyly."


In the three divisions there were 122 lots or shares divided between these fifty-one individuals, some having one lot, some as many as six or eight. Each man gave in his name in writing, making choice between the three divisions. Some men had lots in two dividends, none in all three. The men in each of the three "squadrons" drew lots for choice of lands within the dividends. One


*New Haven Colonial Records, Vol. I., p. 27.


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A HISTORY OF MATTITUCK.


having right to two or three or more lots usually selected lots adjoining, but this was not a uniform practice.


There were sixteen owners and forty lots in Oyster- ponds, twenty-one owners and forty-four lots in Cor- chaug and nineteen owners and thirty-eight lots in Occa- bauck.


The Corchaug owners were as follows :


*William Wells 3 lots Barnabas Horton 3


*William Purrier 3 Barnabas Wynes, Sr. 2


66


66


Barnabas Wynes, Jun. 2


66


*John Elton 3


*Jeremiah Vale 3


66


Richard Terry 2


*Thomas Reeves 2


Robert Smyth I


*John Booth


2


*John Corwin 3


*Samuel King I


*Joseph Youngs, Jun.


I


Richard Benjamin 2


Thomas Mapes 3 66


Thomas Brush I


*Philemon Dickeson 2


Benjamin Horton 2 Widow Cooper 3


66


Thomas Terry


I


*Those whose names are marked with the asterisk above selected lots lying between Manor Hill and the Riverhead Town line.


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A HISTORY OF MATTITUCK.


The Occabauck owners were as follows :


William Wells 3 lots


John Budd 4


*John Swasey


4


Joseph Horton 3


*John Tuthill 3


66


John Tucker 2


66


*Thomas Mapes 2


66


Barnabas Horton 2


John Conckelyne, Jun.


2


Widow Cooper


2


*William Halliock


2


66


Barnabas Wynes, Sen. I


I


Thomas Terry


I


Edward Petty 2 66


*Richard Clarke I


Samuell King I


Joseph Sutton I


66


Henry Case I


66


The Occabauck lots were large, extending from Sound to Bay, forty rods wide, each containing two hundred and fifty acres or more.


Contrary to the prevalent belief the Curchaug lots did not extend from Sound to Bay, but were divided by the King's Highway. The lots north of the highway were about thirty rods wide on the road, most of them tapering towards the Sound, and embraced from one


*Those whose names are marked with the asterisk above selected lots lying between Manor Hill and the Riverhead Town line.


66


Richard Terry


66


66


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A HISTORY OF MATTITUCK.


hundred to one hundred and twenty acres each. South of the highway the Corchaug land lies in six large "necks" separated from each other by creeks opening from the Bay. These, in order from east to west, are Poole's Neck, Robin's Island Neck, Corchaug Neck, Fort Neck, Pessapunck Neck and Reeve's Neck. Poole's Neck became the property of William Wells, and is now owned by the Fleet family, his lineal descendants. Rob- in's Island Neck, now the site of the village of New Suffolk and of much of the village of Cutchogue, fell to John Booth. The Corchaug and Fort Necks had been


divided before 1661 into many 20-acre lots. These two necks were the home ground of the Indians in the vicin- ity. On the one was their village and on the other a stockade or fort where the women and children were guarded in time of conflict with hostile tribes. A hollow in the ground, some three or four rods across, sur- rounded by traces of a circular embankment still marks the site of this fort on the eastern side of the neck, near the creek that separates it from Robin's Island Neck. The settlers found these necks already cleared for the most part, and this arable land amid the adjoining stretches of unbroken forest was very precious. For many years a twenty acre lot in this "Old Indian Field" or "Corchaug Broad Field," as it was called, was more valuable than hundreds of acres of woodland. These lots frequently changed hands by way of sale or ex- change, and early in the 18th century were owned chiefly by members of the Horton family, who also held a number of lots across the highway in the North Divi- dend.


CHAPTER II.


THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND.


In the preceding chapter a brief account has been given of the earliest ownership of the first four necks in the Corchaug South Dividend. We come now to the two necks that lie within the village of Mattituck, namely, Pessapuncke Neck and Reeve's Neck. A much fuller account of the ownership and settlement of these is now to be given. The Pessapuncke Neck was allotted in the division of 1661 to John Booth and the great neck (Reeve's) between the Pessapuncke and the Canoe Place was chosen as the three lots of William Purrier. Purrier already held the meadow on the western border of this neck, and his choice of land was probably influ- enced by that circumstance.


The Pessapuncke neck takes its name from the lo- cation upon it of an Indian "sweating place" somewhere near the water. The Pessapuncke was the Indians' Turkish bath. Roger Williams says of it, in his "Key to Languages in America," "This Hot-house is a kind of a little cell or cave, six or eight foot over, round, made on the side of a hill (commonly by some Rivulet or Brooke) into this frequently the men enter after they- have exceedingly heated it with store of wood, laid up on a heap of stones in the middle. When they have: taken out the fire the stones keep still a great heat. Ten,


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A HISTORY OF MATTITUCK.


twelve, twenty, more or lesse, enter at once starke naked, leaving their coats, small breeches (or aprons) at the doore, with one to keepe all; here do they sit round these hot stones an houre or more, taking tobacco, dis- coursing and sweating together; which sweating they use for two ends; First, to cleanse their skins; Secondly, to purge their bodies, which doubtlesse is a great means of preserving them, and recovering them from diseases, especially from the French disease, which by sweating and some potions they perfectly and speedily cure : when they come forth (which is a matter of admiration) I have seen them runne (Summer and Winter) into the brookes to coole them, without the least hurt."


The Pessapuncke Neck property, falling to John Booth, extended on the highway from Manor Hill until it adjoined the land of William Purrier at the east line of Philip W. Tuthill's property. The Hill now known as Manor Hill was at first called Booth's Hill and so for a hundred years or more. The name "Manor Hill" came into use after the purchase of "the Manor" about the year 1735. The Manor* was the name given to a large tract near Booth's Hill, extending from highway


*The use of the name "Manor," to designate a tract of land held in common by a number of proprietors, early became familiar in this region, though it is a peculiar use of a word that properly signifies the estate on which stands the mansion of a lord or other noble personage. This peculiar usage perhaps arose in this way: The Manor of St. George, now part of Brookhaven Town, was patented to Col. Wm. Smith, in 1693. In 1721 twenty men of Southold Town, chiefly Mattituck men, bought a large tract of six or seven thousand acres from Col. Smith's son, and this tract was held by them and their heirs in common until it was divided in 1793. These owners referred to this as their "Manor land," and so "Manor land" came to mean land held in common by several proprietors.


1212346


THE WOLF-PIT LAKE.


This picturesque lake on Capt. Ellsworth Tuthill's place is the modern successor of a swamp known as "The Wolf-Pit," in Thomas Reeve's lot.


36


A HISTORY OF MATTITUCK.


to Sound, which was purchased by a number of pro- prietors and held by them in common and devoted to pas- turage.


Booth sold the Pesapunck Neck to Thomas Giles, merchant, in 1677, and Giles soon sold to the first David Gardiner of Gardiner's Island. Representatives of the Gardiner family lived on this valuable property for sev- eral generations. The farm then passed through several hands until it came, about 1820, into the hands of Isaac Conckling, where he, and his son George L. after him, resided for years. The land was long known as Gar- diner's Neck. In 1841 the western half was sold to. John Wells and is now the property of Henry Gilder- sleeve. The lower part of the eastern half was long owned and farmed by D. W. Hall, and is now the beau- tiful country place of Mrs. Charity Mould, of Brooklyn.


William Purrier's property adjoining John Booth's, standing for three lots, comprised something over four hundred acres, extending on the highway from Booth's line to the Canoe Place considerably more than a mile. It will be remembered that the Canoe Place lay nearly a quarter of a mile west of the present centre of the vil- lage. The northern boundary of Purrier's land west of the Church was not the Riverhead road, but the north road. His property therefore embraced a triangle be- tween the two roads including the sites of the Presby- terian and Methodist Episcopal Churches and the bury- ing-ground and the properties fronting on both sides of Pacific Street. Purrier describes this land as follows :* "All that neck of Land as it lyeth betweene his meadowe


*Southold Printed Records, Vol. I., p. 48.


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A HISTORY OF MATTITUCK.


at Mattituck and John Tuthill's meadow on the South- west side adjoyninge to the canoe place viddct where they drawe on the canoes into Mattituck Pond :- but- tinge in the Northwest on the Land of Joseph Youngs Junr Philemon Dickinson, Thomes Reeve and William Wells : a greate ffresh pond lying within the said lands of the said William Purrier, Thomas Reeve and William Wells." Youngs, Dickerson, Reeve and Wells were


.


MARRATOOKA LAKE.


across the highway in the North Dividend. The "greate ffresh pond" mentioned is the beautiful lake, covering about sixty acres, to which Mr. Chas. W. Wickham has given the euphonious name of Marratooka, calling his farm, which is part of the original Purrier property, "Marratooka Farm," sending far and wide the deserv- edly famous "Marratooka butter," and harvesting from the lake annually a fine crop of "Marratooka ice."


When these lands were allotted the lake lay north of the highway. The transfer of the highway to the


38


A HISTORY OF MATTITUCK.


north side of the lake, fifty years later, has been spoken of above. Probably the earlier route was at first selected because the lake was more accessible as a watering place from the south side. When the highway was transferred the adjoining land, if already cleared and built upon, re- mained in the possession of the occupant. In cases where the land next to the highway was not yet im- proved the boundary lines appear to have moved with the highway without damages paid to those whose prop- erties were curtailed or assessment upon those whose acres were increased. Thus very many acres of land in the midst of Mattituck which today are held at twelve or fifteen hundred dollars an acre were shifted from one owner to another as of little or no value. When Wil- liam Purrier died, in 1675, his "farme at Mattituck and the meadow at Accoboack" were assessed at one hun- dred pounds, and probably a large share of this was for the "meadow at Accoboack." Some idea of the value of the land may be derived from comparing it with other items in the same inventory. Ten oxen were appraised at £50 and twenty cows at about £40. That is, four hun- dred acres of Mattituck land already partly cleared and farmed and with a dwelling-house and barn, together with relatively valuable meadow land, was worth as much as twenty oxen or fifty cows. Consequently when the highway was transferred, the opposite owners hav- ing not yet erected dwellings beside the road, the Purrier estate was largely increased without cost.


Purrier before his death placed his grandson James Reeve on the Mattituck farm, and dying made him his executor and chief heir. James Reeve and his descend- ants retained most of the great farm for several genera-


39


A HISTORY OF MATTITUCK.


tions and also acquired much other valuable property in the town. The old Reeve homestead stood until rc- cent years a few rods west of the present residence of Charles W. Wickham. George B. Reeve, of the sixth generation from Ist James Reeve, whose farm ex- tends from the lake to Peconic Bay, is one of the few men in Mattituck residing on ancestral property that has come down by direct inheritance from the original allot- ment of 1661. The adjoining farm to the west is owned by Miss Florence B. Reeve, daughter of the late Isaiah B. Reeve. She also, of the seventh generation from Ist James Reeve, holds title handed down by will in un- broken succession.


Let us cross the highway now and locate so much of the North Dividend in Corchaug as lay within the limits of modern Mattituck. As indicated in William Purrier's record, quoted above, Joseph Youngs, Jr., Philemon Dickerson, Thomas Reeve and Wm. Wells owned the lots or "ranges" extending from the highway to the Sound next east of Mattituck Creek, in the order named. Joseph Youngs, Jr., a son of Pastor John Youngs, se- lected the lot nearest the Creek. Youngs' is called in the Records a "first lot," Dickerson's and Reeve's were "second lots," and Wells' a "third lot." A first lot was a single lot, a second lot was two lots and a third was three lots. A first, or single lot, was about thirty rods wide on the highway. Joseph Youngs' lot, being next to the Creek with its very irregular shore line, was of necessity much wider on the highway, extending indeed almost half a mile from the Canoe Path to about the corner of Brown's or Wickham's Lane. Its east line kept closer to the north than Brown's Lane does, and


40


A HISTORY OF MATTITUCK.


can be distinctly traced in the remains of an old hedge that appears just north of the Long Creek bridge, fol- lows the Howell Road to Wm. Robinson's place, then strikes through the woods and emerges on the North Road between the places of the late Joshua Terry and Thos. H. Reeve, passing along the east line of the Helfrich place, now the property of Nat. S. Tuthill.


Joseph Youngs, Jr., never settled on this property, but dying early left it to his widow, Sarah, a daughter of Ist Barnabas Wines. Sarah sold this lot to her brother, 2d Barnabas Wines, in 1684. The deed of sale* is interesting on several accounts, especially because of the light it sheds on the relations of the Indians with the whites at that early day. An abstract of the deed fol- lows: "Be it known unto all men by these presents yt I, Sarah Yongs of Southold, ye relect weidow of Joseph Yongs leat of Southold aforesaid deceased, for the sum of thirty-six pounds ten shillings have demised granted and sould unto my well beloved [brother] Barnabas Wines, A certaine tract of Land lying and being at Mattatuck being a first lott in Cautchehaug devident con- taining one hundred and twelve acres more or less, bounded on the west side by the Mattatuck Creek-on the North by the North beach-on the east by a lott be- longing to Peter Dickerson, and on the South by the high road way, reserving onely the Indians right and in- trest therein for four yeares according to his agreement and bargain, and the yearly rent he is to pay for it I re- serve to myself."


2d Barnabas Wines had gone to Elizabethtown, N. J.,


*Southold Printed Records, Vol. I., p. 392.


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A HISTORY OF MATTITUCK.


in 1665 and there remained for some twenty years. He returned to Southold about the time of the purchase of this property from his sister, and it is probable that he took up his residence on the upper part of this tract. Dying in 1715 he left his "farm at Mattetuck" to his eldest son, 3rd Barnabas. The will was drawn in 1708 and the lot at Mattatuck was already a farm. 3rd Bar- nabas ended his days, a very old man, in 1762 on his two-hundred acre farm next east of Alvah's Lane, a second lot chosen by his grandfather in 1661 and left in 1762 to Wines Osborn, grandson of 3rd Barnabas. But in his earlier years 3rd Barnabas occupied the farm next to the creek in Mattituck, and he was suc- ceeded there by his son, 4th Barnabas. The home- stead was isolated, being far from the highway, in the neighborhood of the present residence of Mrs. Joshua Terry. The deep hollow back of Mrs. Terry's house was known as "Ivy Hollow." Both 3rd and 4th Barnabas Wines while dwelling near the creek added a sea-faring life to their farming and captained sloops which plied between New York and Mattituck Creek. The upper part of this lot next to the Creek was held by the Wines family until after 1800 when it was sold, the family holding the lot further east, purchased by 4th Barnabas somewhere about 1725, on the lower part of which James H. Wines of the seventh genera- tion from Ist Barnabas now resides.




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