USA > New York > Suffolk County > Easthampton > A history of the town of East-Hampton, N.Y. > Part 7
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covenant in the new meeting house." A like entry, dated April 13th, 1718, not alluding to the new house, indicated that it was not then occupied. "The halfway covenant" is probably the covenant named. In the colony of Massachu- setts and in New Haven, church membership was a prereq- uisite to qualify for voting. As all wished to exercise this privilege, ways were devised whereby the strict rule was enlarged. A profession of belief in God, in the divinity of Jesus, in the sacred scriptures, with a promise "to train their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord," was substantially without any claim of regeneration, "the halfway covenant" constituting those persons taking it quasi members of the church, entitled to its sacraments for them- selves and their children, including bap'ism and a power to vote as a free man and citizen. The tendency thus to sec- ularize the church was accelerated after the restoration by the 2nd Charles, who required of Massachusetts, in 1662, "the repeal of the laws, which restricted the privilege of voting and term of office to church members, and the sub- stitution of a property qualification instead, " and " finally the admission of all persons of honest lives to the sacra- ments of Baptism and the Lord's supper." Hildreth's Hist. of U. S. Vol. 2I, p. 455. Although church membership was never required as a qualification for voting in East-Hamp- ton, the halfway covenant traveled there from Massachu- setts and Connecticut, and out of the desire for baptism of children grew in the favor of parents. The steady, serene, persistent opposition of Jonathan Edwards to this now discarded "covenant" evoked a storm that drove him from Northampton.
The records of Huntting evince his intense interest in the progress of this church building. With exultation he records among infant baptisms, "1718, May 25th, a daugh-
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ter of Cor. Conkling, Jr. Mary, Cornelius Conkling's Jr. daughter ye first baptized child in ye new meeting house, June 22d, a daughter of Sam Parsons Jr., Hannah. Sam Parsons child ye first baptized child in ye alley by ye dea- cons seat after ye pulpit was raised and ye deacons seat put up." Thus this father took the halfway covenant and as thereby entitled on the same day presented for baptism his infant daughter Hannah. There is a tradition that all the persons in the town liable to military duty were sum- moned and present at the church raising, and that seated on the sills, they filled the whole square of the foundation.
At first there were benches for seats in the church build- ing. On the outsides these were replaced by large square wainscotted pews capped on top. Opposite the door on the south-west was the high pulpit in the middle of the north-east side, so high that Minister Huntting, as stated, . records "it was raised." Over it hung the sounding board. The galleries were reached by stairways on each side of this door, and .. fterwards a second gallery was constructed at the ends over those first built, which in the renovation of 1822 were taken down. The women were seated at the east and men at the west end, (see p. 387.) The door in the south-west side was closed in the renovation of 1822 and doors constructed at the west end opening into the vestibule, the centre of which was furnished with seats and the eastern arched opening thereof looked towards the high pulpit on the east end. This middle portion of the vesti- bule, partitioned by itself, was devoted to the sole occu- pation of colored people. At each corner near the doors, stairways wound from the doors up to a similar vestibule, the centre whereof was the bell and clock tower, and the sides by doors opened into the galleries, the north-eastern gallery being set apart for the women, the south-western
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for the men. Two wide aisles below ran from the vestibule to the pulpit stairs. The pulpit was long, narrow, with a semi-circular enlargement in the centre of its jannelled front, where the minister stood and was surmounted with the pulpit leaf and cushion thereon, and bible on that.
Four tall round pillars supported the pulpit. Between the pulpit stairs, at its ends, was the deacons' seat, in frout of that the communion table, a simple leaf of cherry-tree wood turned up on hinges when used, when not so, turned down. The double row of narrow seats between the aisles
after benches were removed were called slips. The pews on the sides and at the pulpit ends were untouched and remained the same to the end, occupied by the same fami- lies and their descendents, sometimes for nearly a hundred years, until they were rented yearly near the commence- ment of the present century. The galleries about 8 feet high, with braces framed in the posts, rested on round. turned pillars. Over them the wall was finished at right an- gles from the sides, starting at the eaves, then between the galleries and over the pulpit the wall was arched. This church of 1717, graceful, symmetric, solid, enduring, stood until some time after 1861, nearly one hundred and fifty years, when the present church was constructed. On its taking down, the main tinfbers and most of the structure were sound, massive and easily susceptible of standing an- other century and a half. Jonathan T. Jardiner, Esq., has largely and kindly contributed many foregoing facts, to whom therefor and for other valuable historic contributions due acknowledgement is made. He states that on the demolition of this venerated structure, on its southwestern side, the old door posts were found and the holes wherein had been driven the hooks on which the doors hung .. The pastor, Rev. S. L. Mershon, preached his last sermon in
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this church September 1st, 1861, from the text Psalm xliv, v. 1: "We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old." Five generations of men had worshipped in their simple sincere way within the walls of this church. They had attested the earnestness of prayer, the agony of contrition, the depth of penitence, the entirety of conse . cration, the sublimity of faith, the presence and power of the Eternal Spirit. Grave, thoughtful, sincere, these wor- shippers
"Ask no organ's soulless breath To drone the themes of life and death ; No altar candle lit by day, No ornate wordsman's rhetoric play ; No cool philosophy of speech To double tasked idolaters, Themselves their gods and worshippers."
In the devotion of this colony to the cause of human freedom, to the industrial and mechanic arts; to the edu- cation of the youth, to the promotion of virtue, to the wor- ship of Jehovah, her ancient records certify in words the most positive and clear. The stock from whence they sprang was of the choicest blood of their fatherland. By inheritance they claimed the institutions of freemen. An- cestral piety had consecrated to God, themselves and their posterity forever. Their free birthright, their schools of instruction, their church of the ever living God, they must transmit in their purity to coming generations. "Who would wish that his country's existence had otherwise be- gun. Who would desire the power of going back to the ages of fable ? Who would wish for an origin obscured in the darkness of antiquity ? Who would wish for other em- blazoning of his country's heraldry or other ornaments of her genealogy, than to be able to say that her first exist- ence was with intelligence, her first breath the inspiration of liberty, her first principle the truth of divine religion ?"
Bridge-Hampton, December 15th, 1888.
H. P. HEDGES.
CHAPTER VI.
INTRODUCTION TO VOL. IV, OF TOWN RECORDS-1734-1749.
Progress of the age, p. 86. Allottment of lands, p. 88. Cat- tle marks, p. 90. Montauk, p. 90. Town Legislation, p. 91. A dog law, p. 92. The Revolution, p. 92. Old style changed, p. 93. Gardiner's Island annexed to East-Hamp- ton, p. 94. Notices of Ministers Huntting, Buel, Beecher, Phillips, Condit, Eleazar Miller, Nathl. Gardiner, Thomas Wickham, Jonathan Dayton, Jonathan S. Conkling, Abra- . ham Parsons, Abel Huntington, M. D., David Hedges, Jr., Josiah C. Dayton, Samuel Miller, pp. 95-97. Concluding
remarks, p. 98.
The events of the century covered by this volume of the records are noticed in newspapers, magazines, histories and laws. They are perpetuated in the memorials of courts, of churches, of cities. They are recorded in cemeteries on the headstones of graves and in enduring monumental structures. The rude currency of coin or paper that circu- lated tells of finance ; the ponderous furniture tells of hon- est mechanism ; the massive chimney and fireplace tells of abounding forest ; the wide oven's mouth of abounding sus- tenance ; "the moss-covered bucket that hung in the well" of simple tastes ; the tinder-box and steel, of rude inven- tion; the tallow dip candle, of limited discovery. The spinning wheel, large and small, sung the song of industry. The reel and swifts, the hatchel and crackle, the shuttle and loom, told the tale of household manufacture. The trencher and keeler and pipkin and piggin and noggin, re-
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vealed the prevailing frugality of home life and paucity of foreign manufactures. The powder horn and shot bag, the old king's arm and the old flint-lock, tell of an age fled for- ever. These memorials of the early and even the later years covered by this volume, had but just gone out of prac- tical use at its close. No introduction can minutely remind the reader of the many events occurring in this hundred and fifteen years. The stream of history runs rapid. Like the descending current of a mighty river we get a glimpse of some cliff, some bank, and are swiftly borne to another elevation ; to some other point, or other view. Change follows change, scene succeeds scene until the objects mul- t'ply indefinitely and swiftly obscure each other by their multitude. Although this volume reaches to the age of steamboats, of friction matches and the beginning of an- thracite coal and railway travel, yet it does not reach or far extend beyond the time when the sickle and scythe had fallen before the conquering march of the reaping and mowing machines, when the horse rake had superceded the handrake ; when the horse power was threshing the grain, which by the human arm had been slowly pounded out with the flail ; when ocean steamers chased the surging bil- low from the shore of one continent to another ; when pe- troleum had come to light the world ; when the telegraph and telephone had the ear of man. Hard, grinding labor still laid his exacting hand upon the masses of mankind and claimed them for his own, The wood that warmed, the whale oil lamp or tallow candle that lighted the homes of this fair land, the food that fed the household, the coarse homespun garments that protected the person from cold in winter and unseemly exposure in summer, were obtained at the cost of almost unceasing toil. The range of the news- paper, how narrow ! the time and ability of the masses to
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purchase and read its issues, how limited ! Human com- fort, instruction and culture were rare and costly. The gifted and resolute and ambitious overcame. The weak, the undecided, the unsusceptive overcame not.
The wars of England with Spain began Oct. 23d, 1739, her war with France commencing in 1744, in which Louis- burg was captured in 1745, her later French and Indian war begun in 1755, the wars with England, of the Revolu- tion, and of 1812 all pour their ensanguined tide in the historic stream running through this volume.
ALLOTTMENT OF LANDS.
The preference for individual over joint and common im - provement of undivided lands is often and clearly shown in this volume. Long before its close the last allottment of undivided lands within the town purchase had been made. They were all made to the commonage owners ac- cording to their several interest and amount of acreage therein. They were all based upon the equitable owner- ship and acreage of commonage held by individuals entitled thereto. They were called ten, five or three acre divisions, according to the number of acres of undivided lands allott- ed to each acre of commonage. These divisions and all of them were made as to individuals of right; as such entitled to individual and varying proportions, and in no respect made as of corporate or town property. History clearly shows, and the facts show this, even if judges or courts de- cide otherwise. By the patent of Dongan, lands "not ap- propriated to any particular person or persons" were con- fined to "such as have been purchasers thereof and their heirs and assigns forever in proportion to their several and respective purchases thereof made as tenants in common," &c. The allottments followed this language of the Patent, (See Vol. II, p. 198), and never proceeded on the theory
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that the undivided lands were town or corporate property, but always individual undivided property owned by the purchasers thereof in proportion to their several purchases.
David Gardiner, lawyer, statesman and historian, the accomplished author of the "Chronicles of East-Hampton," than whom no better authority can be cited, takes this view of the construction of the Patent in the Chronicles, p. 67, and on page 40 declares "the lands which still remain undivided were not considered of much value. They are all held in tenancy in common and are subject yet to allott- ment among the heirs or assigns of the original purchasers whenever any of them may require it,"-and see introduc- tion to Vol. I of Records, p. 10 and 11, and introduction to Vol. II of Records, pp. 5, 8, 9. In the 49 lots made and drawn for June 4th, 1736, called the ten acre division be- cause ten acres of land was allotted to one acre of common- age, and in all subsequent and preceding divisions, this acreage of commonage was the measure and gave name and amount to the lands divided. The divisions recorded in this volume are nearly as follows :
Ten acre division, June 4th, 1736, p. 17 to 27, a little over 7,000 acres.
Five acre division, Feb. 6th, 1739-40, p. 64 to 81, a lit- tle over 3,100 acres.
Five acre addition, Feb. 6th, 1739-40, p. 86 to 96, a lit- tle short 600 acres.
Second five acre division, Feb. 6th, 1739-40, p. 96 to 110, a little over 2,800 acres.
Three acre division, March 30, 1747, p. 138 to 160, a little short 1,800 acres.
Thus over 15,000 acres were allotted in the years com- mencing in 1736 and ending in 1747, when the last called, the three acre division, was made. Efforts since made to
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complete and perpetuate the list of commonage owners by committees thereto appointed have been unavailing, and the town Trustees seem to have claimed title to all the yet undivided lands in the town purchase, the value whereof was reckoned so small as to create little or no opposition or adverse claim, (pp. 82, 305, 308, 312.)
MARKS.
A large portion of the wealth and means of subsistence of the people of the town consisted in their cattle, sheep and horses. They were chiefly pastured on the peninsula of Montauk, where were kept some 2,000 cattle, : ,000 sheep, and many horses. Necessity required the ownership to be designated by ear marks, and hence these, like trade marks having value, became a species of property, the subject of town record. Among the first gifts of parents to sons was an ear mark entered of record.
Montauk was some ten miles long, contained from 9,000 to 10,000 acres, was well watered, well adapted to pastur- age, required little fence, and was desired as a valuable acquisition to the town territory at an early date. In 1658 an agreement with the Indians was made to secure the pas- turage. In 1660 and 1661, after the overthrow of the Montauks by the Narragansetts, and the flight for refuge to East-Hampton, title was acquired to the "Hither End." In 1670 title was acquired to a tract between Fort Pond and Great Pond. In 1686 the remainder was acquired, subject to certain reservations and Indian rights. It was a valuable addition to the agricultural value of the town territory. Its improvement was regulated by a system of rules appropriate, and so peculiar that Chancellor Sand- ford, a proprietor, declared his inability to understand them. It remained undivided, and owned chiefly by the farmers of East-Hampton and Bridge-Hampton, until the
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year 1879, when by partition sale it passed to the purchas- er and present owner, Arthur W. Benson.
LEGISLATION.
The reader of these records will not fail to see the legis- lative power actively working in town meetings, in the meetings of the proprietors of the undivided lands, in the meetings of the proprietors of Montauk, and of the Trustees of the town. As late as 1751 the town was infested with wild cats and on ordinance thereof fixed a bounty to be paid as a premium for their destruction, (see pp. 167-176). The scope of legislation was wide, varied, penal, permissive, prohibitory, and embraced within its sphere both church and state. Trespass on the undivided lands at home, at Napeague or Montauk, was restrained, (pp. 248-266, &c.)
The pews, not heretofore hired, about 1799, were rented, (p. 309, &c.) The tything men were chosen to preserve order in the church, especially among the irrepressible youth, (pp. 320-820, &c.) . The town meeting fixed the min- ister's salary, (320-325) defined the seats for singers, (320- 335) chose the chorister and his assistants. The vote of 1802 directing that "Joseph Dimon be principal chorister and David Talmage 3d, David Sherril, David Hedges, Jr., and Isaac Dimon, Jr., be assistant choristers," seems like modern history to those who yet remember the same, and the melodious and mysterious pitch-pipe used by the prin- cipal chorister, who fairly earned the Sunday dinner voted him, (pp. 396-402.)
In 1785, in the excitement of the moment probably, over the loss of many sheep, and moved by the indignant elo- quence of some sufferer, the good people of the town voted "that all the dogs in the town be immediately killed," p. 247. Yet notwithstanding the narrowness shown in legis- lating to prohibit the export of clams, the fiery excitement
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expressed in the resolve that all dogs be "immediately killed," the ivasion of the sphere of church action in choos- ing "tything men" and "choristers" and "singers' seats," and renting pews and fixing the minister's salary, in the main ends sought the legislation was appropriate, effective, judicious, and of itself a school of instruction. We learn to swim by swimming, and as truly learn to legislate by legislating.
In all these records the action of the town as a unit by vote to enact, to execute and enforce laws, stand out in bold relief. Self-government thus began, thus progressed, thus learned to act by acting, to govern by governing, until every town in this county contained within itself the indestruct- ble elements that grew into national union and in indepen- dence. If the aggregation of our population in cities shall continue, if in place of government by towns be substitut- ed the government by counties and cities, by Boards of Su- pervisors and Boards of Aldermen, if the governing power be removed from the people in towns and delegated to Councils and Boards as is now being done, it may be ques- tioned whether the people are thereby best educated for self-government. The diminishing power of rural life and the overshadowing power of city life in legislation is yet to be proved for the perpetuity of Freedom.
THE REVOLUTION.
After the Battle of Long Island, 28th August, 1776, East-Hampton and all the Island fell within the lines of British occupation and under their rule. The records would be open to inspection and all expressions therein hostile to the royal power would incur the censure of the military authorities. Those occurring before would naturally be concealed or erased. Thereafter, until November 25th, 1783, when New-York was evacuated, none would be per-
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mitted. Hence the absence on the records of such allu- sions. Yet we know by the records of the Provincial and Continental Congress, and other sources, that the freemen of this town unanimously advocated the patriot cause, sus- tained and sympathized with their countrymen in Boston and elsewhere, fought for their liberties on land and sea, the most active in the Revolution sometimes taking refuge in the continental army or the towns in Connecticut, and thence sometimes as privateers contributing gallantly to the cause of freedom. East-Hampton nurtured no Tory and no drop of Tory blood. (See Onderdonk's Rev. Inci- dents of Suffolk Co., pp. 14, 19, 20, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, &c.)
The presence of the portion of the British forces quar- tered in Sag Harbor and the Hamptons was a standing menace, their conduct exasperating, their language provok- ing, their incessant pillaging a burden, their insults a trial, their brutality a grievance. The people of East-Hampton, not without cause, held them in utter loathing and abhor -. rence. The discipline and conduct of the officers and men on the fleet in Gardiner's Bay was more respectful. Be- tween the people and them visits were exchanged and so- cial civilities were not unfrequent. At Col. Abraham Gar- diner's a company of officers of the British fleet on one occasion dined, there meeting some young ladies of East- Hampton. Until recently one of the two large black wal- nut tables on which the provision was laid, was retained in use. There is a tradition that the carver at this dinner . asked the ladies to what they would be helped. The first one asked replied "a wing." The others, in unthoughtful diffidence, continued to answer "a wing," until the carver, seeing the supply short of the demand, said, "Madam, you will please understand that the fowl is not all wings."
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That was the age of the Eagle, this of the Dove. The sweet peace with soft wings that now reigns would not reign had that age nurtured no resolute, fiery and master- ful seuls. The spirit of Cromwell and his avenging Iron- sides lived in the Revolutionary regiments, panted for the field of conflict, exulted in the fight for freedom, shouted its battle cry-Independence. If the way to freedom was laid only through war, who shall say that their wrath was wrong, and that being angry they sinned, or that their avenging justice was not a baptism from on high? Thank God that no weak sentiment, no illusive hope, no deceitful promise unnerved their arm or stayed their march, until they stood on the mount of Independence, in the citadel of Freedom.
CHRONOLOGY.
In 1752, by act of Parliament, eleven days were dropped between the 2d and 14th of September, and the year was to commence January 1st and not March 25th, as before. In reducing old style to this new style add ten days from 1500 to 1700 and eleven days from 1700 to 1752. March in old style was the 1st and June the 4th month, &c. In writing the year 1753, or other years preceding or succeed- ing, the bottom figures represent the actual year as we reckon and the only figures to be read.
GARDINER'S ISLAND.
Gardiner's Island was originally an independent Manor or Lordship, whose proprietor had power to hold courts and maintain authority over his territory, by grant from royal authority. When Gov. Dongan, in 1686, proposed to annex this Island to the town of East-Hampton the re- monstrance of the proprietor availed to prevent it and a confirmatory patent from the Governor continued his title and rights to his Lordship. By act of the Senate and As-
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sembly of New-York, passed 7th March, 1788, it was an- nexed, probably without opposition, to this town. The Manorial and Lordship incidents conferred by royal patent fell with the royal authority at the revolution, and the an- cient inheritance from Lion Gardiner became a part of the great Republic, and its proprietors, descendants of his honored stock, ardent advocates of the free institutions of their country.
This volume commences some twelve years before min- ister Huntting vacated the pulpit, and nineteen years before he was laid in his grave. He was mild in manner, social in disposition, kind of heart, generous in feeling, profound in scholarship, logical in argument, dignified in demeanor, retiring in deportment, consecrated to the great work of the ministry ; and in the warmth of his affection, the wealth of his tenderness, the sensibility of his soul, a fitting friend and guide to his people. He died Sept. 21st, 1753, some seven years after he had resigned the active duties of the pastoral relation in which he had served the Master fifty years.
This volume covers the whole fifty-two years of the min- istry of Samuel Buell, D. D., from Sept. 19th, 1746, when he was installed, to July 19th, 1798, when he died. Ar- dent, earnest, imaginative, active, shrewd, positive, social, hospitable, cheerful, observing, magnetic within and with- out the pulpit, he was a living force long impressed upon the church and people of this town. He enlarged their views, elevated their thoughts, purified their purposes, in- spired to intellectual culture, to more thorough education, to higher devotion of the heart, to nobler ends in life. His fervent eloquence, his sparkling wit, his wide learning, his genial manners, his ready repartee, his hunting feats, his fearless riding, his indomitable energy, his flow of anecdote,
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