USA > New York > Suffolk County > Mattituck > A history of Mattituck, Long Island, N.Y. > Part 6
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gospel and persons of high social standing or official rank. In the early days the idea of social rank that came with the colonists from the old country were pre- valent, and for years the people were seated in the town church at Southold according to their social consequence. Until the year 1767 the names of Yale graduates were catalogued in the supposed order of social rank instead of alphabetically as now. When we see in the grave- yard the names of Mr. Thomas Turrill and Mr. Nathaniel Clark and Mr. John Parker and Mr. Obadiah Hudson and Mrs. Bethiah Hudson, his wife, and many others thus designated, we know that they were persons of rank. "Mrs." meant not necessarily a married woman, but was often applied to an unmarried woman of good family. The Mr. Joshua Lamb of the Salmon Record was probably therefore Mr. Joseph Lamb, fresh from New Haven, just taking up his work in Mattituck, and making a fine beginning by winning the young daughter of one of Southold's leading families. They had a daughter, Lydia, who married a Clark in 1738. Here the Salmon Record fails us, for it omits the first name of this particular Clark. If it were not for this omission it might be pos- sible to trace the descendants of the Rev. Joseph Lamb. In all probability some of them are now dwelling in Mat- tituck. He had a son, Joseph, who died in 1739 and probably lies beside his mother in one of the many un- marked graves in the church yard.
The years of the first pastorate in Mattituck were doubtless years of severe trial for both the pastor and the people of his charge. Up to that time the town pas- tor's salary had been raised like the salaries of civil offi- cials by regular taxation. The necessary adjustment to
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altered conditions must have been attended with many difficulties. The pastor's salary was of course small, but even so must have been difficult of collection among a people unused to the voluntary support of a church in- dependent of the town, and a people few in numbers and poor in purse. With his wife gone, his daughter mar- ried and his son taken from him, it is no wonder that the pastor turned to a new field of labor.
In 1720, three years after Mr. Lamb's settlement, and after the third church in the town had been organized at Oyster Ponds (now Orient), it was decided at Town Meeting* to divide the parish lands "that each minister may improve the same in proportion, according to the first purchase." The committee to effect this division consisted of Capt. James Reeve of Mattituck, Capt. Booth of Oyster Ponds, and Benjamin Youngs of South- old. This committee doubtless performed the duty as- signed, but there is no record of the result of the divi- sion. This is certain, that the Mattituck parish soon afterwards owned a valuable parsonage property, shares or rights in which were handed down by the proprietors in their wills. The name "parsonage," now usually re- stricted to the dwelling-house provided for the minister. was then given to the land or farm occupied by the min- ister. What we should call the "parsonage farm" or the "parsonage property" was then called the parsonage, and the ancient Mattituck parsonage was what is com- monly know as the "Glover place," now owned by the Rev. Wm. A. Wasson, rector of the Episcopal Church, and his brother, the Rev. James B. Wasson.
*Southold Records, Liber D, p. 119.
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This cannot have been a part of the town parish lands that were divided by the committee in 1720, for those lands were in the old town bounds, and this was a part of the property of Thomas Mapes and had de- scended to his heirs. It is reasonable to suppose that the portion of parish lands that fell to Mattituck was sold and this farm near the church was purchased. That this exchange cannot be traced in the records is not surpris- ing, for many transfers of land were left unrecorded. In 1654* it was ordered that all purchases and exchanges of lands should be recorded within one month, under penalty of five shillings, and for many years this law was fairly well observed; but through most of the 18th cen- tury the failure to record conveyances of land was ex- tremely common. The transfers of land in Mattituck from the allotment of 1661 up to 1700, though very fre- quent, can usually be traced, but from 1700 onward the lines of title are obscure in many instances.
However it came about, the parish of Mattituck owned as a parsonage some fifty acres a mile west of the church, fronting on the North Road and bounded on the west by Mapes' (now Cox's) Lane. There, no doubt, the Rev. Joseph Lamb lived and there his wife Rachel died.
An interesting document of the next generation sur- vives, being a written agreement to sell the parsonage. This agreement is as follows :
"We whose Names are underwritten Inhabitants of Southold in Mattituk Society, having Rights in the Per- sonage belonging to Mattituk, considering the Difficult
*Southold Printed Records, Vol. I., p. 324.
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Circumstances in which it lies at present, Do consent and agree that the same shall be sold, upon the Terms following (viz) that the Money arising from said Sale shall be converted to the Support of the Gospel in Mat- tituk, and we also bind not only ourselves but our Heirs, Executors, Administrators and Assigns to the perform- ance of the above Terms or Premisses as witness our hands this Ninth Day of February 1769."
This is in the handwriting of Deacon Isaac Hubbard, and is signed by Isaac Hubbard, Barnabas Wines, Bar- nabas Terrel, Joseph Mapes, Thomas Reeve, John Cor- win, John Benjamin, James Reeve, Henry Pike, James Halliock, Richard Sweesy, Mica Howell, John Gardiner, Ebenezer Webb, and Petter Halliock.
The next month, March 24th, 1769, a more explicit agreement was signed, providing that the proceeds of the sale of the parsonage "shall be devoted as a bank for the support of the gospel ministry according to ye presbyterian order in Mattituk," and that a committee, consisting of Thomas Reeve, Micah Howell and John Gardiner, and their successors, "shall have full power to hire out the sd money and dispose of the Interest for the support of the gospel ministry yearly and not to have any liberty to dispose of any of the principal otherwayes unless it be to pay out of ye principal their parts that do not live in ye parrish." The signatures to this paper were witnessed by John Wickham and Joseph Man.
ยท What were "the difficult circumstances" under which the parsonage lay does not appear. The third pastor, the Rev. Nehemiah Barker, was here then, living in a house erected at his own expense, on the south side of the North Road, not far from the present Canning Factory.
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Perhaps the parsonage building was out of repair ; per- haps it had been destroyed by fire. None can tell. There does not survive in Mattituck even a tradition that there ever was such a parsonage.
The parsonage was sold and was probably bought by Micah Howell, whose descendants afterwards owned it, but the deed is not on record. The "bank" was carried on for over forty-five years, and had a capital of nearly a thousand dollars. When the "Union Parish" was in- corporated, in 1817, a parsonage farm of twenty-three acres was purchased a mile east of the Aquebogue (now Jamesport) Church. That farm probably represented the principal of the Mattituck bank, for after the incor- poration of Union Parish the bank disappears from his- tory.
After the departure of Mr. Lamb the history of the parish is blank until 1747. In that year the Presbytery of Suffolk was organized, covering the eastern part of the old Presbytery of Long Island. At the organization of the Presbytery, at Southampton, Deacon James Reeve, the son of the donor of the church lot, was present, and subscribed his name, as a representative of the Mattituck Church, to the covenant of organization on the 9th of April, 1747. The next year, we find from the Presby- tery's Records, Mattituck Parish applied to the Presby- tery "requesting Advice with Respect to a suitable can- didate for the Gospel Ministry," and further that the ministers "would afford them some Relief by their min- isterial Labours among them under their present desti- tute circumstances." At the next meeting the Rev. John Darbe (or Darby), a recent graduate of Yale College, offered himself as a candidate for the ministry, was
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licensed, and directed "to preach to the Societies of Mat- tatuck and Aquebaug alternately till further orders, they having made application for supplies." The Aquebogue Parish had been established between 1720 and 1730, with its meeting house erected in 1731 at the place known since 1835 as Jamesport. Its pastor, the Rev. Nathaniel
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Mather, died in 1748, the year before Mr. Darby was directed to preach there and in Mattituck.
Mr. Darby came to Mattituck in April, 1749, and continued to supply the two churches for two years. He probably occupied the Mattituck parsonage property, and it is presumably from him that "Darby's Branch," reach- ing out from the west side of Mattituck Creek to the. north end of the parsonage land, takes its name. At the:
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end of Mr. Darby's first year Mattituck had its first and only heresy trial. The Presbytery was compelled to send a committee to Mattituck to "inquire into some things alleged by some against doctrines delivered in his public preaching and countenanced in his private con- versation." The committee, consisting of the Rev. Messrs. Ebenezer Prime, Samuel Buell, David Youngs and James Browne, repaired to Mattituck, treated the people to a sermon by Mr. Prime in the morning, heard and considered the charges presented by Mr. Barnabas Turrel in the afternoon, took recess for the night, met again at 7 o'clock in the morning, completed the investi- gation, which included the reading of some of Mr. Dar- by's sermon manuscripts, and found that there was not sufficient ground for the complaints. It seems that the 1 chief part of the congregation feared that this unfortu- nate opposition would drive Mr. Darby away, and they asked, "That the Presbytery would improve their inter- est and influence with Mr. Darby, engaging him to con- tinue with them some months longer." The Presbytery left it to his discretion whether to go or to remain. At the next meeting, in October, 1750, the same permission was renewed, and shortly after he seems to have with- drawn, though just when is uncertain.
At Southampton, May 27th, 1752, a call from the united parishes of Mattituck and Aquebogue was placed by the Presbytery in the hands of the Rev. Joseph Park and by him accepted. It appears from Mr. Park's Rec- ord of Marriages that he was in Mattituck as early as January, 1751. He was installed in the Mattituck Meet- ing House, June 9th, 1752, pastor of the two neighboring parishes. His ministry here was brief, for he was dis-
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missed by the Presbytery, Feb. 11th, 1756, and removed to New England. But he deserves to be held in lasting remembrance and gratitude in the parish, for he kept a Record and left the book behind him for his successors to continue. 4
The following account of his call and installation, copied from the opening pages of his Record Book, is in- teresting :
"May ye 27th 1752. Attended the Presbytery at South Hampton with Deacon James Reeve and Nath'll Warner Esqr, the Societies' Committee to represent to ye Ven- erable Presbytery ye Call given to Revd Joseph Park to the Pastoral Office &c. After Consideration the follow- ing letter was sent by the Presbytery :
"The Presbytery of Suffolk County met at South Hampton May ye 27. 1752. To ye Churches at Matta- tuck and Aquabaug, Greeting :
"Dear Brethren in the Lord :
"In Compliance with your Request to us we being freely Willing and ready to promote your Spiritual In- terests and rejoicing in your Desires and Endeavours to have the Gospel Worship established among you, have concluded to meet at ye house of Capt Barnabas Wines junior on ye 9th of June next at 8 o'clock in the Morn- ing in order to the Enstallment of your desired Pastor over you the next Day, if God in his Providence shall make the way clear for our Proceeding. And that things may be done regularly and according to the Gospel, we request and advise that those who have been members in full Communion should meet among yourselves to get into some readiness to unite together in a Church state
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under ye particular Pastoral Care of ye Revd Mr. Park, that if there should be Objection against any of the Brethren or any thing of this Nature, it may be settled and accommodated in an orderly way.
"We likewise desire that all the members Male and Female in full Communion would meet with us at ye time and Place above mentioned to make ready for your publick receiving of ye Revd Mr. Park as your Pastor under Christ.
"We likewise advise you to set apart a Day for pub- lick solemn Fasting and Prayer to God for his gracious Influences and Blessings to succeed your Undertaking to his Glory and your Souls' spiritual good, and that you all unanimously seek those things which make for Peace and mutual Edification in [illegible].
"Praying that the God of Peace may be with you and bless you with all Spiritual Blessings in Christ Jesus, we remain your hearty Friends, your souls' well wishers, and Servants in our common Lord Jesus Christ. "SILVS. WHITE, Moderator"
"June ye 4th 1752. Set apart a Day of publick Fast- ing and Prayer to God for his Direction and Blessing in resettling into a Church State. The Revd Mess. Throop and Paine attended and assisted. Revd Mr. Throop preach'd A. M. fr. Coll. 4.3. P. M. I preach'd fr. Luke 17. 7-10."
Then follows a certified copy of minutes of Presby- tery :
"Met at Mattatuck June ye 9. 1752 according to the previous appointment of ye Presbytery. Present, Mes- sieurs ye Revd Sylvs White, Azariah Horton, Samll
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Buell and James Brown. Mr White chosen Modr. Mr. Horton Clerk.
"Post Preces Sederunt qui Supra.
"The following Persons belonging to ye Pastoral Care of ye Revd Mr Lamb, and to the Pastoral Care of ye Revd Mr. Mather, or to any other Churches, who now live among them, agreed to embody and become one incorporated Church, and in Consequence hereof have chosen the Revd Mr Joseph Park to be yr Pastor, and will be ready on ye Day of his Installment to give yr publick Consent by yr Representatives to set under his Ministry, to be under his Pastoral Watch and yield sub- mission to him as in the Lord, and further that they will walk in ye Faith, Fellowship and Order of the Gospel, as Members of one and the same Body and do now give yr own personal express Consent hereto. Lieut Thos Reeve, Nath'll Warner Esq., Isaac Hubbard, Esq., James Reeve, Esq., Hezekiah Reeve, Sam'll Clark, junr, Joshua Wells, junr, Deborah Reeve, Sarah Reeve, Bethia Terril, Bethia Hubbard, Anne Hubbard, Hannah Corwin, Kezia Brown, Elizabeth Corwin, Mary Warner, Mary Parshill, Mary Reeve, Mary Leek, Rebekah Johnson, Mary Arm- strong and Hannah Soper.
"The Presbytery finding the way clear appointed The Installment of the Revd Mr Joseph Park to be attended tomorrow morning at 10 of ye Clock.
"June ye 10 Attended the Installment according to appointment. Mr. Horton began the solemnity with Prayer. Mr. Buell preached fr I Tim. 4.16. Mr. White presided, took Mr. Park's Engagement to the People, and ye Engagement to Him by ye representative Com- mittee, and gave the Charge. Mr. Brown made an ad-
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dress to ye People. Mr. Throop made the last Prayer. Mr. Park pronounced the Blessing.
"Ordered the Minutes of ye Presbytery to be read. Concluded with Prayer.
"A true Copy attested by
"SYLV. WHITE, Mod "AZAR. HORTON, Clk."
This document gives the earliest attainable list of the members of the Mattituck Church-or rather of the united churches of Mattituck and Aquebogue-7 males and 15 females-the remnant of the flocks of Mr. Lamb in Mattituck, and Mr. Mather in Aquebogue.
The Aquebogue Church, whose interests were linked with Mattituck's for a hundred years from this time, ex- cept for an interval between 1759 and 1788, was organ- ized about 1725. Some of the timbers of the meeting house built in 1731 are said to remain to this day in the Jamesport Church.
During the latter part of Mr. Mather's pastorate the Aquebogue congregation, like many others at that time, became sadly disturbed and divided by a religious earth- quake that caused all the foundations to tremble, and made rents and upheavals in the religious world of which signs remain to this day. This was the time of George Whitefield's famous evangelistic tours through all the colonies from Georgia to New England. There was a wonderful religious awakening and thousands were con- verted. But as always in this world evil is mixed with the good, there arose sad contentions in this time of re- vival. As when iron filings are shaken in a magnetic field they group themselves about the opposite poles of
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the magnet, so in the religious agitation of those days most men became extremists, either as conservatives strenuously opposing the new and strange developments, or on the other hand going beyond reasonable bounds in a zeal for religious excitement and emotional irregu- larities. The Old Lights and the New Lights opposed each other bitterly, the former accusing the latter of fanatical extravagancies and zeal without knowledge, the latter charging the former with dead formalism. The Rev. James Davenport, the fourth pastor of Southold, was a type of the latter, claiming to be led by special spiritual illumination, preaching with high emotionalism, denouncing the more conservative ministers as spirtually dead, and calling upon the people in the churches to for- sake their "blind guides" and those who adhered to them, urging the Biblical injunction, "Come out from among them and be ye separate." Those who followed this in- junction were known as "Separates." The Upper Aque- bogue Church, founded in 1758, was an outgrowth of this separation. The Lower Aquebogue Church was sorely rent. In a footnote to his minutes of April, 1747, the Clerk of the Presbytery writes, "As some of Mr. Mather's Church and Congregation had turned Sepa- rates, so others appear'd to have a List that way." In all probability the charges brought by Barnabas Terrell against the Rev. John Darby were an outgrowth of the same controversy. It is noticeable that Mr. Terrell, though still living, was not among the members who joined in receiving Mr. Park as their pastor. Perhaps others also in Mattituck had separated themselves, though there is no evidence that the Mattituck church was seriously torn by the controversies of the time. Prob-
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ably the membership had never been very large, and eight or ten years without a pastor would naturally account for some shrinkage. At any rate, there were only twenty-two communicants, representing the two churches, upon Mr. Park's taking up the pastorate.
Of these twenty-two members, fourteen belonged cer- tainly to Mattituck, five to Aquebogue and the residence of the other three, Mary Leek, Rebekah Johnson and Mary Armstrong, is uncertain.
The first named, Lieut. Thomas Reeve, now a man of 65 years, was the Thomas Reeve who had settled some forty years before near the present residence of Bryant S. Conklin, north of the highway. His brother James, who gave the land for the church, had died in 1732.
Nathaniel Warner, Esq., was of Aquebogue, and was the son-in-law of Capt. James Reeve, the donor of the land.
Isaac Hubbard, Esq., was the first of the Hubbards, so far as known, in Mattituck. The Bethiah Hubbard, mentioned later in the list, was his wife. They were the parents of John Hubbard who kept the hotel, and of Deacon Nathaniel Hubbard, and of Anne Hubbard, men- tioned in the list of communicants. Bethiah Hubbard was daughter of Thomas and Bethiah (Terry) Gold- smith, and granddaughter of Richard Terry, one of the original settlers of Southold.
James Reeve, Esq., was the eldest son of Capt. James Reeve, was then a man of 40 years, and succeeded his father and grandfather on the Purrier property. The Mary Reeve mentioned later was his wife, Mary Hud- son, the daughter of Robert Hudson, Esq., of East Hampton.
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Hezekiah Reeve was a cousin of Lieut. Thomas and Capt. James Reeve, being son of Joseph and grandson of Ist Thomas. It is uncertain when he located in Matti-
MRS. ENCY HUBBARD CLEVELAND, Daughter of Deacon Nathaniel Hubbard, wife of the late Moses C. Cleveland, of Southold.
tuck. He was twice married, both of his wives being Mattituck women. He married in 1709 Jerusha Hallock, daughter of 2d William. She died in 1738, and in 1739 he married Rachel Mapes. His youngest son was Pur-
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rier Reeve, named for his great-great-grandfather Pur- rier.
Samuel Clark, Jr., was son of Samuel Clark who lived near the residence of La Monte Gould.
Joshua Wells, Jr., was probably the son of Craavit Wells and Sarah, the daughter of Capt. James and Deb- orah Reeve. He is mentioned in the will of his grand- mother, Deborah. He was a member of the Aquebogue Church.
Deborah Reeve was the widow of Capt. James, liv- ing with her son, James Reeve, Esq.
Sarah may have been daughter of William, son of Ist Thomas.
Bethiah Terrell was the eldest daughter of Barnabas Terrell. The following year she married Major Silas Horton of Cutchogue, and after his death she married John Wickham.
Hannah and Elizabeth Corwin were both of Matti- tuck. Hannah was Hannah Ramsay, wife of 2d Theo- philus, who lived on the line of the old highway near Jas. J. Kirkup's farm house. Elizabeth was Elizabeth Goldsmith, wife of 3d John. Keziah Brown was of the Aquebogue Church.
Mary Warner was of Aquebogue, probably the daugh- ter of Nathaniel.
Mary Parshill was the widow of Capt. Israel Parshall who had died in 1738. His first wife was Joanna Swezy and her tombstone is in the Mattituck graveyard. His. second wife was the Widow Terry, who was Mary Gar- diner, daughter of David. Capt. Israel and his second wife were cousins. He was son of James Parshall, Gen- tleman, and Elizabeth (Gardiner) Parshall, the daughter
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of David the son of Lyon. Israel Parshall bought land in Aquebogue west of Mattituck and north of the North Road in 1705 and 1724. He had one son, Israel, who removed to Orange County, as did many other men of Southold Town. He had five daughters: Jemima who married Jonathan Terry, Joanna who married Christo- pher Youngs, Elizabeth who married Joseph Davis, Kezia who married Joseph Mapes, and Experience who married Daniel Reeve.
Mary Leek, Rebekah Johnson and Mary Armstrong it is difficult to place. Philip Leek, perhaps husband of Mary, united with the church the next year.
Hannah Soper belonged to a family that appears in the Church Records for some years. In 1755 Ebenezer Soper was baptized and united with the church. They were probably husband and wife. In 1762 Rachel Soper, probably their daughter, married John Clark, Jr. John and Rachel (Soper) Clark had children, John, Dorothy, Hannah, Mary, Desire, and Ebenezer Soper.
Mr. Park brought with him his wife, Abigail, a son Thomas and a daughter Anne. These three were re- ceived into the church on certificate from "The Chris- tian Church or Society in Charles Town," Mass. From this we gather that, unlike his predecessors and most of his successors, he was a man no longer young when he came to Mattituck. During his ministry there were added to the church, besides his wife and children, Philip Leek, Abigail Horton, wife of John, Jr., Isaac Howell, Mary Wells, wife of Deacon Joshua, and Ebenezer Soper, making the communicants thirty in all.
Mr. Park baptized no less than 83 children during four years in Mattituck and Aquebogue. These of course
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were not all, or many of them, children of the little band of communicants. It was customary then in the churches of New England and Long Island to baptize on the "half- way covenant," or the "indulgent plan," as it was some- times called. Parents who themselves had been baptized, though not communicants, upon owning the baptismal covenant were permitted to present their children for baptism. The fact that baptisms averaged more than twenty a year shows that most of the families in the neighborhood were adherents of the church.
The parish was large, extending from the limits of Cutchogue parish, which was organized in 1732, indefin- itely westward. The Brookhaven parish, with its Meet- ing House at Setauket, was the nearest in that direction. The county court house had stood "at the River head" for some twenty years, but there were few dwellings near it and no church. Frequently Mr. Park preached in private houses, and baptized children, as far west as "the Wading River" and "St. George's Manor," and so did his successors for many years.
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