USA > New York > Suffolk County > Mattituck > A history of Mattituck, Long Island, N.Y. > Part 5
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James Reevet and Deborah, Mary, Isaac, Thomas, Mary.
against him that he gave up in despair, as some persons to-day surrender in the unequal struggle against common mispro- nunciation of their names. Jonathan died intestate in 1761. He and his wife Elizabeth probably lie in unmarked graves.
*Richard Howell was the son-in-law of 1st William Hallock. His wife, Elizabeth Hallock, was dead. From Richard and Elizabeth (Hallock) Howell descend the Howells of Mattituck and vicinity.
Theophilus Corwin was 2d Theophilus, son of 1st Theophilus, son of Matthias. He was then about twenty-one years of age, and shortly after, probably, married Hannah Ramsay. Dying in 1762, he left a daughter, Hannah, the wife of Thomas Har- vey, and sons, Timothy and Jonathan. His son Samuel died a month before the father, leaving sons, Benjamin, David and Samuel. David, with his uncle Timothy, inherited the southern part of the J. J. Kickup farm. Jonathan inherited a farm near Riverhead, and died in 1798, leaving sons, Selah and Asa. Tim- othy died in Franklinville, now Laurel, in 1792, leaving sons, Thomas, Timothy and Amaziah. Amaziah lived where the can- ning factory stands. Daniel, the brother of this Theophilus, was ancestor of Mrs. James T. Hamlin, and of Mrs. John M. Lupton.
#James Reeve is 2d James. His father died the year of the census. He had a sister Deborah, and his wife was Deborah
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Thomas Tusten [2d] and Priscilla [Benjamin, the widow of Ist Thos.], and Eliza, Miriam and Grace.
Thomas, Jr., and Sarah Terrell,* and Thomas and Sarah.
Barnabas and Mary Wines, and Barnabas, Jr., Sam- uel, Bathia, Peanellope. [This was 2d Barnabas.]
William and Mary Hallocke, and William, Jr., Pru- dence, Zebulon, Mary, Jr., and Ruth Howell.
Jabez and Eliza Mapes, and Sarah, Eliza, Jr., Han- nah and Ealse.
The hundred or more residents of Mattituck about the year 1700 lived the same simple life as all their neighbors on the eastern end of Long Island. They were mostly large landholders, but had little money and little use for it except to acquire more land. Each well- to-do man owned a suit of clothes, and perhaps a "troop- er's coat" made of imported cloth. These fine suits, with such accessories as silver shoe buckles, lasted for years and were handed down by will from father to son. The rest of their clothing was homespun. Their communi- cation with the outside world, by small sloops sailing to New Haven and New York, was slow, and in winter dangerous, and they were substantially independent, suf- ficient unto themselves, having large flocks and herds, raising their own corn, wheat, rye and other simple food-
(probably Satterly). The Deborah of the census is probably his wife. Mary, Isaac and Thomas are his sister and brothers. The second Mary is probably his daughter. His son James was born in 1709.
*2d Thomas Terrell. Either Sarah named here died early and he married as second wife Bethiah Wines, named in next fam- i'y, or 3d Thomas married Bethiah. Thomas (either 2d or 3d) and Bethiah were parents of Barnabas, born 1710.
-
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stuffs, growing their flax, spinning and weaving their own fabrics, importing not much besides the English cloth already mentioned, sugar, molasses and rum, a very few books, chiefly Bibles, iron and brass kettles and a meagre supply of such other utensils as could not be made by the smiths at home, and occasionally silver tankards and spoons* that figure in their wills.
Among bequests of silver may be mentioned here, because of the interest that attaches to the persons. though the will was of a much later date than the time we are considering, a gift by will from Henry Tuthill. in 1793, to his granddaughter, Phebe Goldsmith. Henry and Phebe (Horton) Tuthill were the parents of Anna who married Capt. John Cleves Symmes in 1760, and the grandparents of Anna Symmes who became the wife of the first President Harrison and the grandmother of the late President Benjamin Harrison. In his will Henry Tuthill leaves to his great-granddaughter Phebe Gold- smith six silver spoons, mentioning that "they caust Eighteen Shilings a peas." These were to go to Phebe if she lived to be eighteen years of age. She was then about five years old, and died in 1857, the widow of James Wickham Reeve. The spoons are now in possession of Miss Mary A. Gildersleeve, her grand- daughter.
To return to the primitive days of 1700. Money was scarce, and pay was often "in kind." Even taxes were thus paid frequently. Consequently at town meeting
*The inventories of early date often mention "occomee" or "okimy" spoons, employing these strangely corrupted spellings of alchemy, a name formerly given to a mixed metal of which many utensils were made, including trumpets. Hence Milton's. "Put to their mouths the sounding alchemy."
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the rate at which food-stuffs were to be received was decided. Wheat was usually about 4 shillings six pence per bushel; corn, three shillings; wool was twelve pence. per pound, and flax eight pence. In 1686 it was ordered that the surveyors laying out meadow lots should re- ceive "four pence per Lott in money or eight pence in pay." "In pay" meant in wheat or wool or other pro- duce, and it is evident from this order that those who had real money to offer received a very substantial dis- count for cash. To make sure of payment it was fur- ther ordered that the surveyors "shall make use of every Lott till Due payment is made."
A line upon comparative values then and now can be fixed by an examination of inventories of those days and of Town accounts. A man of consequence for a day's service for the town received two shillings. A man with a team working on the highway received three shillings, and a laborer without a team received one shilling six pence .* A shilling was therefore approxi- mately equal to a dollar today, measured in terms of manual labor. Wheat then at four shillings six pence was as costly as it would be today at four and a half dol- lars a bushel. In 1665+ calves were three pounds per head, wheat five shillings per bushel, Indian corn four shillings, barley five shillings, and peas four shillings. In 1673} pork was three pounds ten shillings per barrel and beef was two pounds five. Land was low: in the same year ten acres of land§ sold for "a barrill of good
*Southold Records, Liber D, p. 10.
+Southold Printed Records, Vol. II., p. 118.
#Ibid., Vol. I., p. 311.
SIbid., Vol. I., p. 65.
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porke." Somewhat earlier* shoes were worth six pence, half-penny a pair.
In the inventory of the estate of Thomas Mapes, 1687, "One fether bed, bouldster, 2 pillows, 2 prs. of sheets, 5 blankets, I coverlid, I pr. of curtaines and bed sted, I cheste bed and boulster" were valued at ten pounds. That is, these articles represented two hundred days' work of a laboring man. "Two brass kettles, I Iron kettle, 2 Iron potts, I sckollet [skillet], one warm- ing pan, hoke [chimney hook] and other Iron" repre- sented five pounds. His "wareing cloaths" were worth five pounds, and his two swords and one gun, one pound, five shillings. His "7 Platters, 3 basons, 6 porigers, I quart pott and 6 spoons" were appraised at one pound, fifteen shillings, and three books at seven shillings. His personal estate amounted to eighty-four pounds, which was uncommonly large for his day. The cost of a coffin in 1675 appears from an entry on the back of the inven- tory of the estate of Joseph Youngs, Jr .: "Due from Joseph Youngs to Samuel Winds for his coffin, 5 shil- lings." Samuel Wines was a carpenter, and Youngs' brother-in-law.
William Hallock (whose name was written Halliok) left a very large personal estate in 1684, including "beds and bedding, 30 pounds; pewter brass and Iron, 40 pounds ; wooden and leather ware, 9 pounds ; sheets and table linen, 6 pounds; wareing cloaths, II pounds, 10 shillings ; horses cattle and swine 80 pounds, 7 shillings ; all Implements of husbandry, 12 pounds."
From the wills and inventories and other records of
*Southold Printed Records, Vol. I., p. 207.
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the time it appears that land, especially woodland, was cheap, that labor was cheap, and that products of the land, because of the small acreage under cultivation, were dear. Cattle, held in large numbers and finding their forage in the uncultivated lands, were compara- tively cheap, though very valuable as compared with the land on which they roamed. Articles that had to be im- ported, such as brass kettles, silverware, books and fine cloth, were tremendously expensive and were regarded as rare treasures. The balance of trade in those days was largely against the colonists, and there was very lit- tle English money among them. Later, the colonial cur- rency came into vogue, but its value was always sadly depreciated. For a long time the wampum of the In- dians was much used as money, but exchanges were most commonly effected by barter.
The farmers had enough to eat and wear, but some- times found it hard to meet their taxes. Then as ever some prospered and added continually to their lands, while others lost their holdings little by little. It was probably almost impossible for a man without a farm and without a trade to make a living for a family. The men with trades were as a rule prosperous. There were blacksmiths, masons, carpenters, joiners, coopers, wheel- wrights, weavers, cordwainers (shoemakers), saddlers, fullers, tailors, tanners, millers. These men usually car- ried on their trades as an adjunct to farming, and they often grew rich, acquiring much land. The blacksmith made all the nails that were used, as well as axes, ham- mers, ploughs, spades and other farming implements, chains, andirons, pot hooks, and pretty much anything that could be made of iron. The pails and tubs used
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about the house and dairy, as well as the barrels, were made by the cooper.
Another important art was that of navigation. Prob- ably before 1700 Capt. Barnabas Wines sailed his sloop between the mouth of the Creek and New York. He was succeeded in this enterprise by his son, and one or two sloops were regularly employed upon that route until some fifty years ago when the railroad, being much more accessible as well as quicker, drove them out of business. Capt. Gilbert Davis, the father of Mrs. Joshua Terry, was the last to run a sloop regularly between Mattituck and New York. Not a few of the early settlers were engaged in the coasting trade, and some made voyages to the West Indies.
So well did the fathers understand the value of a trade, that it was customary for the sons of the wealthiest families to be apprenticed in their youth to neighboring smiths or other artisans. A father dying and leaving boys usually charged his executors in his will to see that his sons were apprenticed to learn useful trades.
The houses of the early days were strongly joined with hewn oak timbers, and covered with large oak shingles which were good for many years. The foun- dations were built of large stones, mostly round, gath- ered at the shore of the Sound. The only heat was from mammoth open fireplaces beneath huge chimneys. The chimneys were built of brick which from the earliest settlement were manufactured at Arshamomack. These great fireplaces served for cooking purposes as well as heating, being fitted with cranes and hooks for pots and kettles. Baking was done in tremendous brick ovens, with iron doors. In these hot fires of wood were kindled!
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and allowed to burn until the walls were thoroughly heated. The coals were then drawn out, and the oven was ready for baking. Such a thing as a stove for heat- ing was unknown for nearly a hundred years after Mat- tituck was settled.
In the village of Mattituck there are few very old
THE ELYMAS REEVE HOUSE. This house faces the south, with its back to the road. Probably built soon after 1710.
houses standing. There are several very old barns, with oak shingles, weatherbeaten but sound, and the oak frames of some of the ancient houses are still doing service in barns and outhouses. The house on the north side of the highway now owned by Wm. Broderick, in which the Kelly sisters reside, was built about 1790 by .Joseph Parker Wickham. The house across the way
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from Jacob A. Brown's dwelling is considerably older, and no one knows by whom it was first occupied. It was built in the days when houses were placed with re- gard to the points of the compass, facing due south for the most agreeable exposure. With a fine indifference to appearances it presents its back door to the highway. If any house in Mattituck is older than this, it is the
E
THE ANCIENT TAVERN. The old part of the Mattituck House.
older part of the hotel, or Mattituck house, which was John Hubbard's tavern before the Revolutionary war. The hotel was owned by Barnabas Terrel until his death in 1791, when he left it to his grandson, 2d John Hub- bard: "that house and land which he now lives in and all the privaliges thereunto belonging." Hubbard had then been keeping the tavern for fifteen or sixteen years,
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succeeding his father, who died in 1775. The first John Hubbard had married Mary Terrell (who after his death became the wife of Col. Phineas Fanning) in 1762. From that time until his death he appears to have kept the tavern owned by his wife's father. Whether the Terrells kept this as a public house before Hubbard is a question to which no answer can be given. And there
THE HOME OF JOEL C. HOWELL. Built by 5th William Wells before the Revolutionary War.
is no record of when or how the property passed into Terrell hands. It was bought in 1719 by Joseph Gold- smith, blacksmith, who died in 1736. It is possible that the older part of the Mattituck house was built by this Joseph Goldsmith for his dwelling in 1719. If so, it is one of the oldest buildings standing in Southold Town. The house of Frank C. Barker, on Pike Street, was
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built, probably, before 1800. Before its removal to its present position it stood on the Glenwood House lot, and was occupied by Barnabas Pike, from whom Pike Street is named. Barnabas Pike purchased from the Reeves, and after a few years sold to Mrs. John Odell. But long before this had been the residence of Amasa Pike, cousin of Barnabas' father. Amasa probably built the house sometime after the Revolutionary war. Another house dating from the time preceding the Revolutionary war is that of Joel Howell, which was erected by 5th William Wells, grandfather of Joseph Wells, of Laurel, before his voluntary exile in Connecticut during the British occupation of Long Island.
CHAPTER IV.
THE FOUNDING OF THE CHURCH.
Up to 1715 all the people of Southold Town went to the old Town Church, and even after that date all were taxed for its support. On June 15th, 1715, "Sundry per- sons," inhabitants of the Town of Southold, "indented with each other to build a Meeting House at a place called Mattetucke in the said Town Ship." So says the ancient deed whereby 2d James Reeve, five months later, conveyed "unto ye said Inhabitants and to their Heirs and Successors for ever" the half acre of land on which the Presbyterian Church now stands. This deed, dated Nov. 7th, 1715, gives "half an acre of land lying and being at Mattetuck in ye sd Town between the two high ways, and to lye as near Square as may be where ye sd ways part for to set the said meeting House upon ; and for noe other use whatsoever, but for the sd meeting House to stand upon." Shortly after another deed was signed and sealed by the same donor convey- ing an acre and a half adjoining for the Burying Ground. 2d James Reeve, like his father, was a man prominent in the town, frequently serving the town in official posi- tion, and for years being one of the Town Justices. He died in 1732, and in the ground which he consecrated to the use of the parish his grave is marked with a stone on which is this inscription: "Here lyes buried ye Body
· To all Christian people to whome these prosents Shall come: and Reeve of the Town of southern minty fourty of Suffolk mit colony of new york in america sendeth Greeting the y parfors; fuldbitants way to town; have Inventer with Each other to build a naching taufe at a place calidad matter? : trache in the faid Town them as by an agreement under their howis faring date the fifteenth day of June 1715. reference being there into had with plainly appear now knowslice think hair to factory, ferme for i in conforation of a certainre fusi of current money for how i haw paid the recist where of se dothe hereby acknowledges hatten
to their theirs and successors for war halfe an were of how fyring. and bring at Mabetuch ing Is from between the two high wany and to Lye at near Square as may be where( y I ways part with af M inguter & rights numbers is appartenances and sung park to have is to hold the Is halfe dive of land with all & presently ' appartenance thecanto belonging unto them the sais in the chants their theirs & swerefest ; for Ever; for to Set the low westing House upon; and for more other ape whatso wer, but for y to treat my House to thand ipois: and the is games Reevefl ha and his theirs both promile he Is halfe nere of land with all the appartenances thereents belonging to them & I frhabitants there Hair & cassaforte for Ever for dar afour mentioned. again and every other perfon is perfor whatsoever thefully claiming demoning from by or endor finthem, or any of them shakes union and truth warrent and for Ever by these preparts daten. In withits where's " halk herento Set big band and find frig deals on the damenthe day of november iny year of our for Chrift one there/ a)
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* * Benjamin your
DEED OF HALF-ACRE FOR MEETING HOUSE.
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of ye Hono'ble James Reeve Esqr who Departed this life March 14th Anno Domi 1732 in ye 60th Year of His Age." Beside him lies his wife, Deborah (probably De- borah Satterly of the Brookhaven family), who survived him twenty years, living with her son, 3d James, in the old homestead. In all the life of the parish their descend- ants have held prominent part up to this day.
The Meeting House was probably erected immedi- ately upon this most advantageous site at the junction of the highways. The Rev. N. S. Prime, in his History of Long Island, states that it was erected by Nathaniel Warner, master builder. Nathaniel Warner lived near the present village of Jamesport, where his descendants still reside. He was a son-in-law of James Reeve, the donor of the land, marrying Reeve's daughter, Deborah. The original building stood for one hundred and fifteen years, until 1830, when the second edifice was erected. The old house, with its strong oak frame, was drawn by oxen to Greenport, where it stood until recent years on the main street near the dock, serving as a sail loft. It was finally destroyed by fire.
The old building stood where the present church stands, but faced the other way, its front door being at the south end, the high pulpit with sounding board above it being in the north end. There were also doors on the east and west sides, somewhat north of the middle. It was a plain shingled building, with a gallery along the sides and across the south end. Under the gallery the walls were plastered, but overhead were the oak beams and shingles. In those days there was no lack of ven- tilation in the churches. The swallows passed in and out beneath the eaves, and as in the ancient Psalmist's time
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found nests for themselves where they might lay their young, even in the Lord's altars. In the south end the pews ran east and west with a middle aisle, or "broad alley," as it was often called, between them. In the north end, on either side of the pulpit, the pews ran north and south. Near the side doors, between the lateral and longitudinal pews, were private chairs, owned and occu- pied by the matrons who brought their little children to church. The seats immediately in front of the pulpit were reserved for the small boys of the congregation, that they might be directly under the awful eye of the minister, while close to the pulpit on either side sat the deacons. It is said that the young men and maidens used to frequent the gallery.
The old church to the time of its removal in 1830 was never warmed in winter. The older women had their little foot-stoves carried to the meeting house. The men and the young people, not grown tender from the hot-house culture of modern times, thought nothing of sitting in the unheated church on a winter's Sabbath from ten to twelve in the morning and again through an afternoon service after an hour's intermission. The temperature was low, and the uncushioned seats were hard, but they forgot the absence of creature comforts in their close attention to doctrinal sermons an hour long, or more. The difference between those "good old days" and these lay not so much in the superior eloquence of the preachers or the deeper spirituality of the hearers as in the circumstances of the times. If the railroad tracks were torn up and the telegraph wires cut down, the newspapers and magazines discontinued and ninety-nine hundredths of the books were lost, if the thousand and
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one cares and distractions and diversions incident to the highly artificial civilization of the present day were re- moved, nearly every one would go to church, though he had to walk far, and would listen with avidity to a very ordinary preacher as long as he would talk; especially, if now as then, the preacher were the only educated man in the community.
The first Pastor in Mattituck was the Rev. Joseph Lamb, who was one of the five graduates of the year 1717 in Yale College. All of the five became ministers, as did all of the six in the two years preceding. One of the three in the class of 1715 was Nathaniel Mather,* who afterwards became pastor of the Aquebogue Church (now Jamesport). The Presbytery of Long Island, em- bracing the whole of the Island, and New York City as. well, had just been organized, and one of its first official acts was the ordination and installation of Joseph Lamb in Mattituck, Dec. 6th, 1717. The Mattituck Church was thus early in its life allied with the Presbytery. The only others on the Island connected with the Presbytery at that time were the churches of Jamaica, Newtown, Setauket and Southampton.
Not one line of record survives to tell us of the pas- torate of Mr. Lamb. Even the records of the original Presbytery of Long Island are lost. Mr. Lamb remained
*Nathaniel Mather heads the list of his class in social rank and was presumably a son of the distinguished New England family of that name, though it seems difficult to place him in the genealogical tables of that family. He died at Aquebogue. His will was proved in New York in 1748. He left sons, In- crease, who married a Brown, and Ebenezer, who married Mar- garet Downs. The will does not mention wife or daughter. According to the Salmon Record he married the widow Ruth Terry, in 1724.
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here twenty-five years or more. In 1744 he became the pastor of the church at Basking-Ridge, N. J., dying June 28th, 1749, in his 60th year. He is said to have been of Scotch descent and a worthy man. In Basking-Ridge the church. prospered under his ministry, and the people outgrowing their original log meeting house erected a new frame building that served their purposes for ninety years. Tradition has it that the frame of the new build- ing was raised the very day that the faithful pastor was called higher to the house not made with hands. His grave is near the entrance to the Basking-Ridge Church, under a magnificent ancient oak.
Pathetically enough, the grave of the wife of his youth, who died twenty years before, stands lonely in the Mattituck grave yard. "Here lyes Buried ye Body of Mrs. Patience Lamb, wife of the Rev'd Mr. Joseph Lamb; who Dec'd April 4th Anno Domi. 1729, Aged 35 years." It is probable that this Patience was the young- est daughter of Capt. Jonathan Horton. When Capt. Jonathan Horton made his will, in 1707, his two young- est daughters were Abigail and Patience, both under eighteen years of age. In the Salmon Record occurs the marriage, Aug. Ist, 1717,* of Mr. Joshua Lamb and Patience Horton. It seems extremely probable that this Joshua is an error and meant for Joseph, for there was no other person of the name of Lamb dwelling in South- old Town at that time ; certainly no other who was a per- son of distinction. The "Mr." in the Record, as in in- scriptions on tombs and in all writings of that period, is a sign of distinction, applied only to ministers of the
*Probably 1717, or perhaps 1716. The date is incomplete in the Salmon Record.
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