USA > New York > Suffolk County > Easthampton > A history of the town of East-Hampton, N.Y. > Part 8
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and variety of experience-all these are historic. But for him Clinton Academy had not been.
Lyman Beecher, D. D., of world-wide fame, successor of Minister Buel, and preaching here soon after his decease, was ordained over the church, Sept. 5th, 1799, and re- mained until 1811. At this time in East-Hampton were many gifted mer, thoughtful, inquiring, well read, argu- mentative, logical, of powerful mind, some of whom were his near neighbors. Of this number were Abraham Par- sons, Town Clerk, Justice and School Teacher ; Jonathan S. Conkling, afterwards State Senator and first Judge of the County ; Abel Huntington, M. D., Jonathan Dayton, David Gardiner, David Hedges, Jr., and others with whom Beecher often conversed and argued on questions connected with his sermons. The writer has been told that Beecher thus arguing sometimes met nearly if not quite his match, and in later life attributed his facility in debate and illus- tration to this early experience.
This volume extends over the ministry of the grave, se- date and learned Ebenezer Phillips, ordained 5th May, 1811, resigned March 16th, 1830. In the utterance of ad- monition Phillips was unexcelled. On a Sabbath morning, after two Deacons of his church had engaged in a contest at law, he read for the morning lesson Chap. vi, of I Cor- inthians, commencing, "Dare any of you having a matter against another go to law before the unjust and not before the saints ?" Possibly some aged hearer may still recall the emphasis expressed in the utterance of "dare,"-deep, prolonged, terrific, reverberating, inimitable, as the roar of "Jupiter Tonans."
This volume covers the ministry of the sweet and sainted Joseph D. Condit, from 5th Sept., 1830, to April 2d, 1835. It reaches over the ministry of Samuel R. Ely, D. D., as
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stated supply from 1835 to 1846, whose genial ways, social fondness, fatherly care, and abounding love still linger in the memory of his flock. It covers the short ministry of Alexander Bullions, 1846-1848, and almost all that of Sam- uel Huntting, begun in 1848 and closed in 1849 by his lamented death. The stream of history running through this volume, measured by the career of the many eminent men who lived and died within its years, seems still more long and rapid.
Eleazar Miller, grandson of John, the first settler, elected member of Assembly in 1748, re-elected continuously until 1769, was thence called " Assemblyman Miller." In the latter year, after a warm contest, Col. afterwards Gen. Woodhull, of sad Revolutionary fame, secured the majority for Assembly over Miller. This useful, hospitable, prudent patriot and venerable legislator died March 15th, 1788, aged over 91. Doctor Nathaniel, son of Col. Abraham Gardiner, surgeon in the army of the Revolution, represented this County in the Assembly in 1786, 89 and 90. Thomas Wickham, (Capt. of a privateer in the Revolution) was As- semblyman in 1800-1-2. Jonathan Dayton in 180. - 5-8. Jonathan S. Conkling in 1811-14. Abraham Parsons in 1817-20. Dayton and Conkling were subsequently in the State Senate. The writer well remembers these two rep- resentatives and others in public life fifty years and more by gone-men of mark, known in the councils of the State and Nation ; as David Gardiner, father of Mrs. President Tyler and author of the "Chronicles " mentioned, Abel Huntington, M. D., David Hedges, Jr., Josiah C. Dayton, Samuel Miller, and many more, men of strong intellect, practical judgment, independent thought and personal pow- er among the distinguished minds of the Nation. Fifty years since few streets, even in the great cities of the land, presented a brighter constellation of minds than East- Hampton Main street. In her palmy days it may be doubt-
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ed if the Senators of East-Hampton would compare unfav- orably with the illustrious Senate of the Roman Republic.
The instruction and teaching of her brilliant line of min- isteis and statesmen may well be summed up in the words of Josiah Quincy, of Boston : "Human happiness has no perfect security but freedom ; freedom, none but virtue ; virtue none but knowledge; and neither freedom, nor vir- tue, nor knowledge, has any vigor or immortal hope except in the principles of the Christian faith, and the sanctions of the Christian religion."
By the munificence of the Town of East-Hampton her ancient records for two hundred years are rescued from ob- livion and perpetuated in print, to be an imperishable legacy of instruction and light to the world.
Since 1849, when by invitation the writer delivered the Historical Address commemorating the bi-centennial of the settlement of his native town, forty years have gone. By the partiality of his townsmen he has been invited to write and permitted in old age to complete with his own hand, introductions to the former three and to this fourth volume of printed records. Thanks to them. Thanks to the
" Power Supreme." For the good of his native town and native isle his heart until its last expiring pulsation will never cease to beat. For the culture of our youth, for the diffusion of knowledge, for the preservation of our tradi- tions and history, for the perpetuity of our free institu- tions, his desire will never die. My nat ve isle and native town, may they be forever free !
"Free as the winds that winnow Her shrubless hills of sand ; Free as the waves that batter Along her yielding land. Than hers at duty's summons, No loftier spirit stirs. Nor fails o'er human suffering A readier tear than hers. God bless the sea-beat Island, And grant forevermore, That Charity and Freedom dwell As now upon her shore."
Bridge-Hampton, November 13, 1889.
H. P. HEDGES.
CHAPTER VII.
THE INDIANS .- Death of the Manhansett Sachem, p. 99. Sachem's Hole, p. 99. Wyandance attains supremacy, p. 100. . The Montauk Tribe, p. 100. Their Number, p. 100. Wars with Pequots and Narraghansetts, p. 100. Naviga- tion, p. 102. Wampum,, p. 102. Religion, p. 103. Mis- sions, p. 104. Cockence Long Island, p. 105. Indian In- fluence on the Anglo-Saxon, p. 107. Beman, Father and son, p. 108. Love of War, p. 109. An Epitaph, p. 110. The Trustees of the Town of East-Hampton, p. 110.
At the time of the settlement of East-Hampton this Tribe resided chiefly upon the Peninsula of "Montaukett," as their headquarters.
Poggatacut, Sachem of the Manhansetts, and brother of Wyandance, died in 1651. Tradition (recorded) tells of the funeral train that carried his remains to interment at the royal burying-ground at Montauk. On the road from Sag-Harbor to East-Hampton, the bearers rested their burden on the ground. The place where the head cested was marked by an excavation some 1} feet in depth and diameter, and was known to all as "the Sachem's Hole." It was kept clear of leaves and rubbish as a sacred spot by the Indians in my day, and was located about two rods south west of the 3 mile stone from East-Hampton. The build- ing of the Turnpike road obliterated it, realizing the dan- ger of innovation foreboded by the author of the Chronicles of East-Hampton sooner than was looked for. Writers
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speaking of this as the mark where rested the feet of the body contradict the tradition. Furman's Antiquities of Long Island strangely and mistakenly records this place as marking the place where rested the body of the Shinecock Sachem on its way, through Sag-Harbor to East-Hampton, and thence to Montauk for burial. This contradicts the tradition and the account recorded in "the Chronicles of East-Hampton," an authority remarkably full and accurate. The pre-eminence which he maintained over the other tribes of the Island, as their Sachem or Chieftain, seems to have descended to Wyandance, who thenceforth assumed the re- gal authority as Sachem of "Paumanacke," or Long Island. Under the government of Wyandance, if not previously, this tribe acquired by their martial virtues and the skill of their chieftain, a powerful ascendency over the other tribes of the Island, who by tribute, deference, or otherwise, ac- knowledged their superiority. At this time they appear to have been numerous.
Among the manuscript memoranda of John Lyon Gardi- ner, deceased, (a great antiquarian, thoroughly versed in the records and history of the carly settlement of the east- ern towns of Long Island,) I find the following :
"Eleazar Miller, Esq., formerly member of Assembly, said that when a young man he once enquired of a very old Indian, whether the Indians on the east end of Long Island were numerous. The Indian, placing his hand upon the grass, answered : 'If you can count the spires of grass, you can count the Indians that were living when I was a boy.'"
The same antiquarian, (to whom I confess myself indebt- ed for much of our early history,) has left the following record of their romantic and most unfortunate defeat :
" The Montauk Tribe of Indians were tributary or allied to the Pequots. When this country was first settled a war prevailed between the Pequots on the one part, and the
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Narraghansetts, who were very numerous, on the other. The Block Island Indians took sides with the latter, the Montauk Indians with the former. In this war the Mon- taukers received a heavy blow from the Block Island In- dlians.
" Both parties set out in their war canoes, on the same evening. It was in the summer season, and at the full of the moon. They met half way, but the Block Island Indi- ans being so situated in the glades of the moon, could not be seen, while at the same time, looking westward, they saw at a distance their enemies silently approaching in In- dian file. The word was given, and they hurried back to Block Island, laid in ambush for their enemies, and secreted their wives and children. The Montaukers, unsuspicious, arrived at their landing place, hauled up their canoes, and were silently, and as they thought, sure of success, ap- proaching the wigwams of their enemies, while as they supposed asleep. They fell into the ambush that was laid, and while one party was killing them another was destroy- ing their canoes, and slaying such as attempted to return. They were all either taken or killed, except a few who es- caped in one canoe. These brought the melancholy news to their friends. The Montaukers then moved on to the parsonage lands, at East-Hampton, and continued there a long time. Their Sachem was taken alive and carried to Narragansett. A large, flat rock was heated by building fires upon. He was then ordered on it, with his bare feet. He sung his death song, walking several times composedly across it, till his feet were burned to a coal. He fell, and they finished the scene as usual in such cases. This was the last of their wars."
The tribe continued to decrease, and although severe laws were enacted, to prevent intemperance, by the sale of intoxicating drinks among them, yet other causes operated to reduce their number. It is probable that about this period the small pox, (that terror of the Indian,) prevailed among them, and carried off great numbers. The following order upon the town books substantiates the conjecture.
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"March 2nd, 1663 .- It is ordered that noe Indian shall come to town, into the street, after sufficient notice, on penalty of paying 5s., or be whipped ; until they be free of the small pox," &c.
In language, customs, government, religion and manners, this tribe was similar to the adjoining aboriginal tribes. The lamented author of the Chronicles of East-Hampton, (than whom none was better versed in local antique lore,) says of them :-
" In their religion they were Polytheists and Idolaters. Their government was a monarchial despotism. In person they were tall, of proud and lofty movement, of active bod- ies and as straight as the arrow. They were warlike in their habits and spent most of their time in the study of military policy. Their chiefs and their braves were dis- tinguished above those of the other tribes of the Island for prowess in the field ; for a recklessness of life in battle, and for the bold and daring onset with which, under their war scream, they rushed upon an enemy."
"Their canoes in which they visited the neighboring isl- ands and the continent, as far east as Boston, and as far south as New York, were of the largest class, and in some instances capable of carrying eighty persons. That of Wy- andance required the strength of seven or eight men to draw it from the water upon the shore ; and on one occas- ion was damaged at Gardiner's Island for want of a suffic- ient number of persons to place it beyond the reach of the sea. With New Haven and the Connecticut River their intercourse was frequent. Their habits were social and they visited often and familiarly the families of neighbour- ing tribes, with whom they delighted to mix in converse and friendly gaiety."
"In the arts they had made but small advancement. The principal articles of manufacture were shell beads, called wampum, and which all accounts agree in stating were made by them in greater abundance than by any other tribe." "They were, as I have before remarked, Polytheists. They had gods in great numbers ; many of lesser influence,
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having particular charges, and two of exalted degree, the good and the evil Deity, having a general superintendence and control, as well over all other gods as over men. There was a god of the four corners of the earth, and the four seasons of the year; another of the productions of the earth ; another of the elements ; one of the day and night ; and a god of the hearth, the family, and domestic relations. The great, good, and supreme Deity they called Caulklun- toowut, which signifies one possessed of supreme power. The great evil spirit was named Mutcheshesumetooh, which signifies evil power. They worshipped and offered sacri- fices to these gods at all times. They had small idols or images which they believed knew the will of the gods, and a regular Priesthood by whom these idols were consulted. The priests were called Powawas or Powwas, and declared to the people what the gods required of them; when dances and feasts should be made ; when presents should be given to the old people ; when sacrifices should be of- fered to the gods, and of what kind. These Powwas pre- tended to hold intercourse with the gods, in dreams, and with the evil spirit in particular, who appeared to them un- der different forms, and by voices in the air. These were ghe medicine men. They administered to the sick ; relieved those afflicted with evil spirits and poison, and by incanta- tions and charms, protected the people from all harm. Subject to the Powwas' influence, neither could fire burn them nor water drown them; nor could they receive any injury whatever. The most savory sacrifice made to the great Deity was the tail or fin of the whale, which they roasted. The leviathan, from which it was taken, was at times found cast upon the sea shore, and then a great and prolonged powaw, or religious festival, was held. At these festivals great efforts were supposed to be necessary to keep the Evil One without the circle of their incantations. His presence, it was believed, would defeat the object of the Powwas in the procurement of the favor and particular regard of the good deity. Violent gesticulations, loud yells, and laborious movements of the limbs and body, with distortion of the features, were continued until the excite-
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ment produced approached to madness. When the Evil Spirit was supposed to be subjugated the dance and the feast commenced. It is among the Indian traditions, that the existence of the Evil Spirit was evidenced by his hav- ing, when driven from the feast, left the imprint of his foot upon a granite rock on Montauk, and made three holes in the ground, at regular distances, where he alighted in three several leaps from the stone on which he had stood, and then disappeared."
"They believed in a future state of existence ; that their souls would go westward a great distance, and many moons journey, to a place where the spirits of all would reside, and where, in the presence of their great Sawwonnuntoh, beyond the setting sun, the brave and the good would ex- ercise themselves in pleasureable singing, in feasting, hunt- ing and dancing forever. The coward, the traitor, the liar, and the thief were also there, but the enjoyments of the favored Sawwonnuntoh only added to the pain of the pun- ishments visited upon the misdeeds of the wicked. Servile labor, so painful to and so much despised by the Indian, was the allotment of the sinful. The making a canoe with a round stone, and the carrying water in a wicker basket, were among the perplexing exercises of those who had sac- rificed the happiness of their future existence to the will of Mutcheshesumetooh, or the Evil Power."
Efforts were, at a very early day, made to introduce civ- ilization and Christianity among this tribe, but apparently with little success. The Rev. Thomas James was employ- ed by "The Society for propagating the Gospel in New England," about the year 1660. He commenced the study of the Indian language, and made efforts to spread the knowledge of the Gospel among the Montauk Indians. Little is known however either of the length or success of his exertions.
In 1741 the New-York Committee of the same society employed Mr. Azariah Horton, (a native of Southold,) as a missionary, to be exclusively employed in the instruction
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of the Long Island Indians ; and in that year he was or- dained by the Presbytery of New-York to the work of the Gospel ministry. In this service Mr. Horton remained 11 years. From his journal, still extant, it would appear that he often preached to and labored with the Montauk Indians, and that some of them received the Gospel. These were probably the first religious impressions which to any ex- tent affected the tribe.
In 1798 the Rev. Paul Cuffee, a native Shinecock In- dian, received a commission from the "New-York Mission- ary Society," to labor with the remnants of the Long Island Indians. In their employ he remained till his death, which occurred March 7th, 1812. The principal field of his labor was Canoe Place and Montauk.
The tribe of Montauk Indians, within the memory of some of the oldest inhabitants, numbered some two hun- dred. Fifty or sixty years since, under the tuition of one Brown, an Englishman, who resided among them, they made some little advances in education. At that day they were eagerly sought for as whalemen, on account of their aptness and skill in seamanship, and their rare merits in the perilous conflicts with the giants of the deep. They manifested an equal readiness for the whaling voyage, and not a ship in that day sailed upon a whaling cruise without the necessary cemplement of Indians. The same passion has, to some extent, descended to the few survivors of the present day.
History has meagerly, romance bountifully sketched the peculiarities of the Indian. My learned friend William W. Tooker, with antiquarian perseverance and matchless skill, has traced the history of "Cockenoe de Long Island," from his capture in the Pequot war, (where the Montauks as tributary to the Pequots were involved in their destruction,)
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to his slavery in Massachusetts, his service as first inter- preter to John Elliott in his translation of the Indian Bible, his return to his native tribe at Montauk, his marriage with the sister of Wyandance, and of the other three great Sa- chems of Eastern Long Island, his career as chief counsel- lor in the Montauk tribe, his office of interpreter and agency in the large sales of Indian lands on Long Island. His intellectual eminence must have been an elevating power to his tribe, and contributed to prolong their existence and supremacy over the other neighboring tribes. The seclus- ion of the Montauks was unusually favorable to their sur- vival, as a people. The doom of destruction, that swept away the Indian race as a whirlwind, was delayed but not averted from the Montauks. The example and teaching of this high counselor and of Sampson Occum, Azariah Hor- ton and others, was evanescent. Some brief account of Gospel work among them remains. After the death of Wyandance, in 1659, by poison secretly administered, the tribe under the leadership of Weoncombone, his son, came to reside on the calf pasture south of the main street, as a refuge from the persecution of the Narragansetts. While there in 1662, the small pox raged so fatally as to threaten their extinction, and Weoncombone then died at the age of twenty-two. In my boyhood many graves remained there, reputed to be of Indians. In excavating for the foundation of the dwelling house and outbuildings of Mr. Satter- thwaite, years ago the bones of Indian bodies, bottles, an idol image and other articles identifying the site of their burial place were found. The idol may have beent he one worshipped by the young Sachem. Writers have erred in stating that with the decease of the son of Wyandance his descendants perished. His grandson Moushu, alias Poniute, signed the deed of Dec. 1, 1670, for a portion of Montauk.
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The record of impress of the intellectual and moral power of the white race on the Indian is not lacking. But who has written of
THE INFLUENCE OF THE INDIAN ON THE ANGLO SAXON ?
The contact of the Pioneers and their descendants for generations with the Indian tribes, organized or disorgan- ized, was a potent factor in the formation of character. The Indian was proud, self controlled, revengeful, subtle, thoughtful, persevering, brave, mechanically ingenious, la- conic in expression, keen in observation ; impatient of re- straint, enduring in fortitude, grateful for kindness, un- yielding to the foe; unimpressible to antagonizing or to unaccustomed influences. His nature was full of apparent contradictions. He endured hardship and hunger as a Spartan of old. He yielded to the love of strong drink as the weakest wine bibber. He was immovable in patience and perseverance. He was as restless and roving in desire as a wandering Arab. He seemed immersed in his own thoughts and yet read with almost unfailing penetration the heart of his fellow men. He took little from the Anglo- Saxon in education, in manners or religion. He left his impress on the whites. His grim wit, his stoical fortitude, his feigned insensibility to pain and suffering, his love of in- dependence, his hate of bondage, his fondness for the chase, his kinship to nature, his admiration for eloquence : all these, less on the old, more on the young, somewhat on all, were inherited as influences derived from association with the Indian. His craft and his caution gave to the soldier of the Colonial and Revolutionary wars, and to their des- cendants elements of character that fitted them the better for the duties of their arduous life and the high destiny they should achieve.
The Montauk or Shinecock squaw seventy years ago,
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often peddled baskets in the Hamptons. A strap over the head held the burden on the back. With noiseless foot- step she approached the door; unbidden she raised the latch; unabashed and unabashable, with the air of a Queen, she entered and put the query, "Spose you don't want to buy no baskets nor nothing to-day ?" A few old men and women yet live, who in the far off years heard this query and witnessed the attitude and assumption of indifference inimitable and unique.
Nearly an hundred years by-gone an Indian in East- Hampton, named Josiah Beman, preached the doctrine of Universal Salvation. it is said Lyman Beecher, as was the custom, then had his wood-pile in the street. While cutting wood Beman came along the street and this dia- logue followed : Beecher to Beman, "I hear you preach the doctrine of Universal Salvation ?" Answer, "Yes." Beech- er said, "I see no need of your preaching if your doc- trine is true, because then all men will be saved whether you preach or not." Beman said, "Mr. Beecher, I hear you preach the doctrine of Foreordination ?" Ans., "Yes." Beman said, "If your doctrine is true, I see no need of your preaching, because if men are foreordained to be saved or lost they will be saved or lost whether you preach or not."
A younger Beman (I think son of Josiah) was a bound servant boy to the Rev. Ebenezer Phillips, in East-Hamp- ton. He was a long annoying trial to the parson. At last the boy wore out the minister's patience. He collared Be- man in earnest, whip in hand, determined to give the imp a thorough threshing. Introducing the punishment with admonition, Mr. Phillips in grave emphatic characteristic tones said, "Now, Beman, I have counseled and advised you. I have remonstrated with you and warned you. I
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have threatened you ; yes, and I have reasoned with you. It all does no good, and now I must whip you." Even in the impending danger, Beman noticed the emphasis on the word "reasoned." After some dozen or more sharp, sting- ing lashes were struck, as if a new and startling thought had come uppermost, Beman sang out, "Oh ! Oh ! Massa Phillips ! Oh, Massa Phillips, stop! Massa Phillips, stop!" Expecting some new development, Mr. Phillips stopped, saying, "Well, Beman, what is it ?" Beman said, "Oh, Massa Phillips, let's reason."
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