USA > New York > Suffolk County > Southold > Griffin's journal : first settlers of Southold, the names of the heads of those families, being only thirteen at the time of their landing; first proprietors of Orient, biographical sketches > Part 14
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Joseph, the second son of John Terry, 3rd, and Mar- tha, his wife, married Sibyl King, by whom he had seven children, viz : 1st. Sibyl, born1764; 2d. Joseph, born 1766; 3rd. Prudence, born 1769; 4th. Died young; 5th. do .; 6th. Mary, born 1778; 7th. Eliza- beth born 1781.
Thomas Moore, who died near Sterling, in 1803, aged about seventy years, was for some time Supervisor, which office, I believe, he held at the time of his death. John Moore, of Rocky Point, his cotemporary, who reared a large family of sons and daughters, was, we understand, his near of akin. If so, Thomas Moore, who died in 1691, and left his property to his two sons, John and Nathaniel, was progenitor of Thomas, of Sterling, and John, of Rocky Point. This John was the son of John Moore, who was the son of Nathaniel Moore, who was the son of Thomas, who died in 1691.
John Moore, of Rocky Point, married Mehitable, daughter of John and Patience Havens. Patience was the daughter of Deacon Daniel Tuthill. Thomas Moore, of Sterling, married Mary, the daughter of · Jeremiah Vail, 3rd. Their children were, sons : 1st. Thomas; 2d. Jonathan; 3rd. Benjamin; 4th. Jere- miah. Daughters : 1st. Jane; 2d. Nancy ; 3rd. Polly; 4th. Betsey. Jeremiah, the fourth son, who was a colonel of militia, and a respectable farmer, died 21st January, 1837.
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Ezekiel Aldridge, of Upper Acquebogue, aged sixty years, is the son of the late Jason Aldridge, who died in 1829, aged sixty years. Jason was the son of Ste- phen, who died in 1800, in his eighty-first year ; Stephen was the grandson of Jacob or Gershom Aldridge, who were of the first settlers of this town. Ezekiel mar- ried Mary, the daughter of the late Jared Griffin, be- fore mentioned.
John King, the first of his family to Oysterponds, came from Plymouth, England, about the year 1650, or near that date. He, with his household, settled on the west part of what is now our village. Here he died, leaving two sons, William and Samuel. He may have had more children, but we are not informed. Samuel, who died in 1721, aged eighty-nine years, must have been his second son.
William left four sons, viz: 1st. John, whose wife was Molly Corey.
2d. Zebulon, whose wife was Anna Hawk. She died about 1774 ; he in 1776.
3rd. Samuel ; married Elizabeth Brown, of Rocky Point, now East Marion.
4th. Ephraim, who married Elizabeth Vail.
Zebulon died in 1776 ; his wife in 1774. There are none of his descendants of the name of King at this time living in Orient. Ephraim, when over eighty- four years of age, led the field as a reaper in harvesting Major Nathaniel King's wheat. His co-laborors were young, hearty men, but this old gentleman was the first amidst them in the field. There is now only one
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family of his descendants residing here, viz: Ephraim King, and he is of the fourth generation.
John Clark, of Greenport, is the son of John Clark, Jr., who died at Mattituck in October, 1855, aged ninety- three years. John Clark, Sr., died, aged about eighty- five years, thirty years since. This John, Sr., was a son or grandson of Thomas Clark, Jr., and Elizabeth, his wife ; and Thomas, Jr., was the son of. Thomas Clark, Sr., and Mary, his wife, who were with the early set- tlers of our town.
The families by the name of Clark now living at East Marion, in this town are formerly from Connecti- cut. About the year 1790, Francis Clark came to that place, then called Rocky Point, with a wife and young family of children. He was a blacksmith by trade, and an industrious man. At his death, which was some twenty odd years ago, he left three sons, viz: Benjamin, Francis and Palmer ; and daughter-Susan. Palmer and Susan (a good woman) are gone to their final rest.
Samuel Glover, Sr., who was a middle-aged man in 1698, was himself, or his father, the first of the family and name that came to Southold. His wife's name was Sarah. Their son, whose name was also Samuel, had a wife, Martha. Samuel, Jr., we should say, was father to Charles Glover, of Oysterponds, and whose wife was Elizabeth Paine. She died in 1803, aged ninety-three
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years. They had two daughters, viz : Lydia, who lived to the age of about ninety-five years, and Elizabeth, called Betsey, before noticed.
Lydia married Jonathan King, of Orient, and Eliza- beth married Jeremiah Vail, fourth, of the same place. She was great-grandmother to my neighbor, the present Gelston Vail. Mrs. Elizabeth Vail's husband was Jere- miah Vail, the fourth, as noticed-reckoning from his progenitor, Jeremiah Vail, the first, who came to Orient about 1650, and settled at or near Oysterpond Point, as it was then called. This first Jeremiah is the ancestor of the Vails at Riverhead, East Marion, and of this village. Many of the same family are scattered in other parts of our wide-spread country. There was a John Vail who came and settled at Southold, in 1700, and supposed to be not near akin to Jeremiah. This John's descendents are many-some at Southold, several families in Orange county, and in other parts of the country. Harvey W. Vail, of the town of Islip, in this county, is a descendent of said John Vail.
Simon Glover, the brother of Charles Glover, died of small-pox about 1760. He left a son, Ezekiel, who married Mary, the daughter of John Terry, third. This Ezekiel Glover, Sen., was father to Ezekiel Glover, Jr., and Jeremiah, Charles, and Mary. Ezekiel, Jr.'s, wife was Phebe, daughter of Richard and Zipporah Brown. Their children were-1st, Erastus; 2d, Jeremiah ; 3d, Warren, 4th, James ; 5th, David Tuthill; 6th, Eze-
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kiel; 7th, Phebe; 8th, Jemima. Mrs. Phebe Glover died August, 1855, in her ninty-first year.
Charles Glover, I have said, had two daughters ; he likewise had one son, whose name was Grover. Being an only son, he was delicately reared up, the beloved of his mother. He lived a bachelor. He died in 1803, aged sixty-one years, believing himself the true heir of the Hon. Richard Glover, Member of the British Par- liament, who died in 1785, leaving a very large estate, and no heirs of his body in England.
Edward Petty, the first of the family of that name to Oysterponds, was living in 1682.
Joseph Petty, who died in the summer of 1787, aged about seventy, was, we believe, the son of Joseph and Mary Petty, who were middle-aged people in 1698. This Joseph was son to John and Mary Petty, or Edward Petty, of the same family. John and Edward were owners of the farm in this place, now in the pos- session of their descendents of the fifth generation.
Joseph, first mentioned, who died in 1787, married Miss Bradley, by whom he had eight children, viz. : 1st, Mehitable; 2d, Mary ; 3d, Jemima; 4th, Hannah ; 5th, Joseph ; 6th, Daniel; 7th, Jonathan ; 8th, David. These children were born betwixt the years 1750 and 1768. All lived to have families ; and in 1830 these eight sons and daughters were all deceased. . The property of Edward was assessed, September 16th, 1675, at £95.
The present Thomas Petty is the son of David Petty, Jr., who is the son of the late David Petty, Sen., who
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was the son of Joseph Petty, second, who was the son of John Petty, who was the son of John or Edward Petty-making him of the sixth generation.
Jeremiah Vail (or Veale, as it was spelt by the first of that family to this town) came to Oysterponds about the year 1650. Some short time after his arrival here, he purchased the farm adjoining Plumgut, known as the point farm, now in the possession of the heirs of the late Jonathan F. Latham. Of Jeremiah Vail, Jr., and how much of a family he had, we are not able to say. His son, Jeremiah Vail, third, left a large family, whose descendents are scattered in many parts of our land. Jeremiah Vail, third, died in 1749, aged thirty-nine years. He had, by his wife Mary, nine children, whose names were-1st, Peter; 2d, Stephen; 3d, Abraham ; 4th, Jeremiah; 5th, Joshua ; 6th, David ; 7th, Thomas ; 8th, Mary ; and 9th, Mehitable.
Thomas married Hannah, the only daughter of Rich- ard Brown, third, and Hannah, his wife, who was Han- nah Hawk when a girl.
Abraham married Betsey Lee, the daughter of Rev. Mr. Lee who was sometime the preacher and minister of Oysterponds.
Not far from 1772, Captain Thomas Vail, as he was called, and his brother, Abraham Vail, with their fami- lies, moved into the State of Vermont. I think it was in or near the town of Pomphret where they first located, and where now a number of their descendents are living.
Stephen Vail married Hannah Petty. Their children
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were-1st, Stephen, Jr .; 2d, Thomas ; 3d, Joseph ; 4th, Daniel.
Stephen Vail, Jr., married Ruth, the daughter of Jonathan and Lydia Terry.
Thomas Vail married Abigail Dudley.
Joseph Vail married Desire Beebe.
Daniel Vail married Jemima Beebe.
Peter Vail, son to Jeremiah Vail, third, was born March 25, 1722, and married Martha, daughter of John Terry, third, who was born in 1724, by whom he had eight children, viz. : 1st son was l'eter, born 1754; 2d, Silas ; 3d, James ; 4th, Nathaniel ; daughters, viz. : 1st, Esther ; 2d, Mary ; 3d, Mehitable; 4th, Sally.
Peter Vail, Jr., married Thankful, the daughter of John Griffin, Jr., of Riverhead, N. Y. She was born in 1752. Their children were nine in number, viz. : Thankful, John, Peter, Silas, Sarah, Jasper, Charles, Patty, and Gamaliel.
Charles, the fifth son, by his wife Betsey, has had twelve children, viz .: William, Peter, Eliza, Sally, Hi- ram, infant, (died,) Louisa, Nancy, Jane, James, Susan, and Daniel.
He was about eight years old, when himself, with his brothers and sisters, were deprived of their father by death. Their mother, a strong-minded woman, left with the most limited means, supported and reared nine children.
Charles Vail is the son of Peter Vail, Jr., who was the son of Peter Vail, Sen., who was the son of Jere- miah Vail, third, who was the son of Jeremiah Vail, Jr., who was the son of Jeremiah Vail, Sen., the first
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of the family and name to the State of Vermont- making him the sixth generation.
Died, on Staten Island, on 3d February, 1853, Daniel Hull Wickham, in the eighty-third year of his age-a native of this town-in which his father, a very re- spectable member of the community, died near the close of the Revolutionary War, leaving a widow, with three sons and four daughters. Daniel, above noticed, was at the time not more than eight or nine years of age. Mr. Wickham, the father, whose name was Jo- seph, was one of five brothers, respectable townsmen. The names of these brothers were, viz .: Joseph, Parker, John, Thomas, and Hull. Joseph, Parker, and John were permanent residents of Southold during their lives. Parker, who was known as Major Wickham, died soon after the war of the Revolution. John lived to an ad- vanced life. Daniel was a man of liberal education and of sound piety. He left two sons-one a clergy- man, the other a goldsmith.
Thomas settled in Orange County, near Goshen. He became greatly respected as a physician. He died near the year 1794, leaving a widow, two sons, John and Thomas, and a daughter. One of the sons, John, was a lawyer of much promise; but he died ere he attained thirty-five years.
Hull Wickham, the fifth of the brothers, was a bach- elor, with the affable address of the old school. He died not far from 1790.
There was a Joseph Wickham, Sen., and Sarah, his wife, who were living at Southampton in 1698. We
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believe they were the grand-parents of these five sons, as this must have been forty years before the five brothers were born. Joseph and Sarah had a son at the time, who was Joseph Wickham, Jr. This son must have been their father.
Joseph Wickham, Esq., eldest son of Major Parker Wickham, was bred to the law. After the Revolution, he went to London, and boldly petitioned George III. for redress for his father's suffering in the war. He re- ceived attention to his address ; was well rewarded for his visit to Europe of a year or two; returned with a sufficiency to make his after days comfortable, as to a competency. Soon after his return he married Phebe, the youngest daughter of Dr. Micah Moore.
Joseph Wickham, Esq., died in 1806.
Capt. Thomas Wickham, brother to Joseph, died at Mattituck in 1846.
John Wickham, Esq., who died in 1836, at Rich- mond, Va., was the son of John Wickham of Cut- chogue. He stood high in his profession, and was greatly respected as a counsellor and an orator. He particularly distinguished himself as one of the counsel for Col. Burr, when tried for treason in that city in 1804.
Captain Henry King was the second son of Benjamin and Betsey King, of Oysterponds. Capt. King was, for a number of years, commander of a ship sailing from Philadelphia, and was held in high estimation by those who knew him. He died in Philadelphia, in 1801, leaving a young widow. At the time of his death he left about nine thousand dollars, the avails of strict industry.
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Elisha King was the son of Samuel and Hannah King, of Oysterponds. He too commanded a ship, from the same city, some years. He was a man of handsome acquirements, self-taught. He died near 1828.
John Brown, now in his seventy-eighth year, some thirty years ago commanded the fine ship Douglas, of New York, for several voyages, with much satisfaction to her owner.
Robert Harlow, of Oysterponds, commanded a ship from the city of Philadelphia. He was of prepossessing address, and much esteemed. He died some years since, on Shelter Island.
David Terry, of Oysterponds, and son to the late Col. Thomas Terry, was a valuable ship-master, from Newbern, North Carolina. He was lost at sea, with vessel and cargo.
John Paine was the first of the family of that name to Southold, from Europe, as early as 1660. This man must have been the father of Alsop Paine, who was born in 1700, and died in 1796, aged ninety-seven years. His property was assessed on September 16th, 1675, at £119 10s. He had two sons, viz. : Benjamin and John. Benjamin died in 1781, and his wife near that time, leaving a family of two or three children. John died August 15th, 1815 ..
The late Mr. Phineas Paine, of Southold, was the fifth or sixth son of John. Phineas was a very worthy member of society. He died suddenly, without a mo- ment's sickness, in May, 1849, in his eighty-first year. Charles H. and Hubbard Paine are his sons, of the sixth generation.
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Thomas Terry, noticed before, came to Southold not far from 1660. From old writings I have seen, I think he came some five or more years before that date. An assessment of his property was taken September 16th, 1675; amount, £129 10s. Jonathan, who was born forty-three years after this assessment, must, with his brothers, have been grandsons to this first Thomas Terry. Thomas Terry, Jr., was father to Thomas Terry, third, Jonathan, and William. The first of these three brothers came in possession of the homestead estate. The third son had three sons, viz. : Thomas, William, and Jonathan. William settled in New Jersey. Two of this William's sons, John and William, came to Long Island; the first to Acquebogue, where he died some years since, in advanced life. Major John Terry, who is at this time more than eighty-four years of age, owns the homestead. William settled near Moriches, where he died some years since. Thomas remained in New Jersey, where he died an aged man, having been mar- ried four times. Jonathan has been particularly noticed.
Mathias Corwin, who came to Southold in 1640, was no doubt father to John Corwin, whose assessment of his estate was taken September 16th, 1675, at £228 10s.
Deacon Barnabas Corwin, of Franklinville, near Mat- tituck, is about the sixth generation from Matthias Cor- win, the first of the name and family to this country. The deacon is an ornament and a pillar in the church. His good wife was the daughter of Caleb Coleman, of Goshen, Orange County. He has a brother at New Windsor, Orange County. Thomas, known as Uncle
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Tom Corwin, now living at Greenpoint, is another brother.
The late Hon. Usher H. Moore, Jr., of Riverhead, L. I., was for several years a representative in the Assem- bly of this State, and a member of the Convention chosen to frame the Constitution of this State, in 1821.
Usher H. Moore, Sen., was a soldier of the Revolu- tion. My father and Christopher Tuthill, of Oyster- ponds, were with him at the battle on Long Island, in 1776. I have heard them say that he displayed true bravery and undaunted fortitude on that occasion. Mr. Tuthill also added that Mr. Moore was one of the hand- somest men he ever saw.
Chauncey W. and John T. Moore, sons of Usher H. Moore, Jr., are at this time of the most respectable and responsible merchants in the city of New York.
John Booth came to Southold in the year 1656. He was the first of the family of his name. Thomas Booth, we believe, was his son, who, with his wife Mary, were middle-aged people in 1698.
Daniel Booth, who was born in 1700, was uncle or father to Lieut. Constant Booth, who kept an inn in the years 1755, '6, '7, and '8, at what is now Greenport.
The present Henry Booth is the son of the late Henry R. Booth, who was the son of Captain Joseph Booth, who was the son of Lieut. Constant Booth, who was the son of John Booth, who was the son of Thomas Booth, who was the son of the said first John Booth.
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John B. Booth, Esq., of Bellevue, Jackson County, Iowa, is a descendent, in a regular line, from John Booth, Sen., who, with his family, was living at this town in 1698. His grand-father was a nephew to Lieut. Constant Booth.
In the year 1757, Gen. Washington, then Colonel, was at Sterling, (Greenport,) in this town. He was on his way to New London and Boston. He stopped for several hours at the inn then kept by Lieut. Constant Booth, which house yet stands, a few rods east of the Presbyterian Church. In the sitting room, in which Colonel Washington passed his time while at this place, were five or six young ladies, two of them daughters of Mr. Booth, viz., Hannah and Mary Booth, and Misses Mary Havens and Mary Youngs ; the latter a sister of the late Judge Thomas Youngs. Braddock's disastrous battle and defeat, with the French and Indians, had then lately taken place, and young Washington's con- summate judgment and cool heroism displayed on that occasion, were known and appreciated as well by his countrywomen as men. His reputation, as a gentle- man and officer, was not second to any American in the colonies. Chance had brought him in the presence of these young women, and they observed and conversed with him with pride and much pleasure.
From Miss Havens I received my information of this interesting interview, and personal appearance at that time of this truly great man, whom Providence, it seems, had then designed should soon be regarded as "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his country-
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men." Thirty years after this, he had, without a dis- senting voice, become all this. She described him in person as rather tall and slender, but straight, and very dignified ; perfectly affable, fair complection, a placid, even cast of countenance, and brilliant eye ; mild in his deportment, with a pleasing, graceful manner. This ac- count by Miss Havens is in accordance with the historian Irving's account of him. He made himself quite at home, and passed two or three hours in their immediate company. When his servant announced to him that the boat, which was to take him across the sound, was ready, he soon rose from his chair, and with much grace, in turn took each lady by the hand, saluted her with a kiss, and gravely asked their prayers, and bade them an affec- tionate adieu.
Miss Havens was a daughter of Constant Havens, of Hogneck, in the town of Southampton. She afterwards became the wife of Mr. Nathaniel Tuthill, of Oyster- ponds, (now Orient,) by whom she had five daughters, the youngest of whom was Lucretia, the affectionate and excellent wife of the writer of this incident. Mary Booth afterwards married, and one of her grand- sons is the present William Austin Overton, of South- old, a son of the late Eleazer Overton, and nephew to the Rev. Isaac Overton, who died in 1799, and Gen. Seth Overton, who died in Portland, Conn., in 1852, aged ninety-three years.
About two years previous to this, (viz. 1755,) Dr. Benjamin Franklin passed through this island, from Brooklyn, to Southold Harbor, and in a carriage of his own construction. It was so contrived, with clock work or machinery of peculiar make, that a bell would be
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struck at the termination of every twenty rods. By this means, the Doctor measured the distance accu- rately-his object, no doubt, being to ascertain the length of the island; and it seems a little strange that he did not proceed to the end. He stopped at the inn of my grandfather, Samuel Griffin, at the Harbor,* and who took him, the following day, across the Sound to New London. The Doctor was on his way to Boston to visit his widowed mother.
The dwelling house now owned and occupied by Jonathan Goldsmith Horton, is probably the oldest in the town. Barnabas Horton, one of the first settlers of the town, built the east part of the said house, about the year 1660, which was twenty years after his first landing at Southold. He was, at the time of his build- ing said house, sixty years of age. His youngest son, Jonathan, built the west part some few years after. The east part of this house, therefore, has stood one hundred and ninety-five years !
It may not be uninteresting to many of my fellow- townsmen to know that in the year 1706, in this house, were married Henry Tuthill to Bethia Horton, and Daniel Tuthill to Mehitable Horton. Henry and Dan- iel were brothers, and grandsons of the first John Tut- hill, and Bethia and Mehitable grand-daughters of the said first Barnabas Horton.
The first house for religious worship in Southold was built in 1642, and was also used to hold law courts in.
* One hundred miles from Brooklyn, as the road was at that day.
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The benches on which the judges sat are now to be seen in the possession of Mr. Horton. The native Indians were considered, by some, dangerous enemies of the white man, and gave the then few inhabitants much trouble .. It was usual to take the fire-arms even to this place of worship, for defence against sudden surprise. In the inside of this primitive church there were boards with notches in them for the purpose, and used to stand the guns of the worshipers against during divine ser- vice.
Mr. Horton has also some of these boards, in a good state of preservation, although prepared more than two hundred years ago. We of this day have a very im- perfect conception of the inconveniences, privations, and gloom experienced in those times.
Rev. Timothy Wells, before noticed, was of Cutcho- gue until he accepted a call to take charge and preside over the church at Upper Acquebogue, about the year 1759. The members of this church had separated from the old Acquebogue church, some three or four years previous to this time. For this act, they were called "Separates ;" and by many of those from whom they had withdrawn, called "New-lights." As a body, they were a very devout people. Their meetings, which were often and well attended, were full of brotherly love and Christian harmony. Previous to Mr. Wells taking charge of the Society, they had no stated preach- ing. A Rev. Mr. Paine, Rev. Mr. Lee, and Rev. Sam- uel Sweezy occasionally ministered to them. To their small number, there were almost weekly additions of sound and sincere Gospel believers.
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Mr. Wells was a man of a strong, sound mind, and his sterling piety and exemplary life was without re- proach. He left, at his decease, a widow and four chil- dren, viz .: Timothy, Richard, Elijah, and Deborah. This daughter married Samuel Tuthill, of Cutchogue.
Richard and Elijah moved into Orange County, and were respectable farmers.
Timothy, Jr., was for some time a deacon of the church of Cutchogue, over which Rev. Zachariah Green pre- sided, with much satisfaction. Deacon Timothy was a man of sound principles, and a pious pillar in the church. He died near 1800, leaving a widow and three children, viz. : John, Polly, and another daughter.
A great-grandson of the Rev. Timothy Wells is now living at Mattituck, on the farm once the property of Mr. John Gardiner. This great-grandson, John Wells, Jr., now owns a large part of said farm. We believe he is a worthy descendent of his reverend ancestor, who . was of the fourth generation from Henry Wells, Esq., the first of the family and name to Southold.
The present Ira Tuthill, of Mattituck, is the son of the late Jesse Tuthill, who was the son of Samuel Tuthill, who was the son of Joshua Tuthill, Jr., who was the son of Joshua Tuthill, Sen., who was the son of James Tuthill, who was the son of John Tuthill, Sen., who first came to Southold, as before stated.
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