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 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19
* This family was Henry Youngs and wife, who both died, and five children. The one that survived was a son, viz :- Francis Youngs.
71
GRIFFIN'S JOURNAL.
accomplished but unfortunate Andre was taken, whose affecting, tender and sorrowful history is read with much interest by disappointed lovers and accomplished soldiers.
Here the vessel was to stop for the night. To amuse myself and see new things, I went ashore, where I met a young man who said his business was to tend a flour water-mill, which stood at the landing. If it would suit my mind, he should be pleased with having my company for the night in the mill, as there it was he took his lodgings, with his gun well loaded by his bed- side, to keep away thieves. I accepted his offer, know- ing that there was not any softer bed on board than the soft side of a board or plank. At the same time, I was wicked enough to say to myself, " Who knows but this young stranger may prove to you to be a ravenous wolf in sheep's clothing?" However, I rested pretty well on the mill floor, with a rough blanket wrapped around me.
On the second of April, 1788, our vessel was safely moored alongside of a small dock, at what was called Newpaltz, about two or three miles above the small village of New Marlborough. The owners of the ves- sel were brothers, very peaceable men, living two miles from said dock, with their families. Said they had a brother, a business man, who carried on the tanning, currying and shoemaking trades. He would, no doubt, employ me to assist him.
Drenched with rain, and traveling over a rough, rocky road, I arrived at the house of John Calvery, Sr. Was introduced to John Calvery, Jr. I was now very wet and much disheartened. A large, overgrown
72
GRIFFIN'S JOURNAL.
family of unpolished Dutchmen constituted the in- mates of Mr. Calvery's house. No prepossessing smile met me on entering this family. Perhaps some allow- ance ought to be made, as I had just come from the tender, kind, affectionate, nursing care of one of the most invaluable of mothers. It was now I felt to real- ize the insupportable weight of a separation from the greatest blessing below the skies-a mother-" sweet- est name on earth."
John Calvery, Jr., brother to the two men I came with, hired me for six months. My business was to be in the tanyard, on the farm, and in the shoe shop, as I had some superficial knowledge of the craft, but not sufficient to come near the name of an adept at that manufacture.
Samuel Brown, with whom I had left home, staid in New York to be inoculated for the small pox. Of course, I was now alone with a people who had never known me or my family. This, at the time, was quite a secluded place, surrounded with small mountains and hills, at best a rugged, rocky, sombre region. It was by its few inhabitants called Lattin Town, from a num- ber of the families residing there of that name. The Calverys' father was yet living at the age of fourscore. This old gentleman had been so attached to the cause of Mother Britain, and her failure to subdue us, that his reason, in consequence, appeared to be affected. A day or two after I had commenced with his son, while at dinner, the old gentleman very cheerfully asked me of my home, and how the people in my quarter stood affected by the late war. Not having any knowledge of the old man's passions and imbecility of mind, I
73
...
GRIFFIN'S JOURNAL.
earnestly answered that we Long Islanders were true blue in the cause of American liberty. I had hardly got to the word liberty, when, with eyes wildly flash- ing fire, and looks of indignation, he arose trembling from the table, and bellowed forth at the top of his lungs-" You young, ignorant, beardless rascal; I would have you to know that every American who has been killed while fighting against the King of England, who is the Lord's anointed, has gone to hell !"
At this horrid address and manner of delivery, I was almost petrified, and, as soon as I could, left the room. The son followed, kindly admonished me to be more guarded in future, and said he was afraid it would have been worse, as his father, when opposed, would almost become a maniac. I promised a strict amendment, and surely, I had good reason to attend to it. In fact, this large family were rabid royalists. I needed a friend and counsellor.
I passed six months in this retired region, and never saw but one man, woman or child that I had ever seen or heard of before, and that was General James Clin- ton, who passed the house one day, on horseback.
My lodging was generally in the tan, or shoe shop, up chamber, on a blanket spread on the floor, which, perhaps, had not known a scrub broom since the car- penter left it twenty years before. As it was early in April when I began my six months, the term engaged for was up in October. After settling with Mr. Cal- very, I left immediately for Long Island. On my ar- rival in New York, I called on my friends, Vail and wife, who gave me a cordial welcome. I staid one day 7
74
GRIFFIN'S JOURNAL.
in town, and then took passage for Oysterponds, where I arrived in twenty-four hours from New York. The joy at meeting and embracing my anxious parents, I acknowledge myself incompetent to describe.
On March 29, 1789, I left my home the second time for the North River country. My companion this time was Gamaliel, a son of Major Barnabas Tuthill, who was sometime an officer of that rank in the service of his country. This young man, about seventeen years old, left with me on the morning of the date above stated (it being Tuesday) for New York, on foot. Our packs, containing our scanty wardrobes, were not very weighty, but my sainted mother had not been sparing of filling our knapsacks with cakes, dried beef and .cheese, and, with prayers and tears, besought Jacob's God to overrule the perilous journey, for our eternal good. It was certainly a perilous journey for us two inexperienced boys to start, in such a way, with not much over two dollars in our united pockets.
In passing through Rocky Point, now East Marion, my sensations were such as a Petrach might be excused for attempting to describe or portray in his melting strains-
-" We passed on ; My heart no more."
Well, after a singular walk of three days, on one of which we came near being taken up as runaways, we arrived in New York, pretty well worn out. By our hospitable friend, Thomas Vail, we were pleasantly en- tertained betwixt two and three days. On the third of April, we took passage on board of a Fishkill sloop, and, after a passage of two days, landed at Fishkill.
75
GRIFFIN'S JOURNAL.
We crossed to Newburgh, from which place we travel- ed to Oxford, a distance of seventeen miles. We stop- ped the night, much fatigued, with John McDowell, Esq. With this gentleman, Gamaliel's brother, Samuel Tuthill, lived. He was now at home, while I was left a wandering stranger, not knowing what course to take. But Sterne observes-" God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb."
On the morning of the sixth of April I arose. It was a beautiful, clear morn ; but, alas ! what a contrast was my beclouded and agitated mind. After taking breakfast, I started, in company with a man from Long Island, as he said, for a place near what was called the Drowned Lands, which was about seventeen miles from Oxford, and ten or twelve miles from Goshen village. We arrived at our destined place about 12, M. I stop- ped with a Mr. Elijah Wells. I had formerly known this man at Cutchogue, on Long Island, which was his native place. He had now moved into this part of the country and bought a farm, on which he proposed to spend the residue of his days. He was a man very re- spectable in all his intercourse with his fellow men; a son of the late Rev. Timothy Wells, in Acquebogue, in 1772.
While at Mr. Wells', which was one day, I spent an hour or two with his brother Richard, who, with Elijah, moved into this section as his future home. After re- ceiving their hospitalities, I again set off to find the re- sidence of my friend, Samuel Brown, with whom I left Long Island in March, 1788. On inquiry, was inform- ed that there was such a young man as described living within a couple of miles west of Goshen, eight miles from
76
GRIFFIN'S JOURNAL.
where I was. After walking about two or three miles, it set in raining which soon drenched me to the skin. I trudged on amid the pelting rain and wet, and ex- hausted in body and mind I found myself at the house of Benjamin Moore, where I found my friend Samuel. I think I must have traveled, since leaving Well's, ten miles. Moore was a cooper; Samuel was trying to learn the trade. His location looked forbidding ; the house looked anything but comfortable ; shingles and clapboards were missing; neatness had gone abroad. He appeared to be a good disposed man ; showed a countenance shaded with disappointment and gloom. One would say from close observation, his domestic com- forts were few. We can but commiserate those unfor- tunates, who are destined to a state of hopeless wretch- edness. Samuel was glad to see me, as I was him. I stopped with him the night. He said 'his engagement was for one year with Mr. Moore, in which time he was to learn the trade. We lodged together in an unfinished chamber, where the stars, in a clear night, could meet an astronomer's gaze.
The next day Samuel, with Mr. Moore's brother Jon- athan, accompanied me to the village of Goshen. We stopped a while at Timothy Dunning's inn, where I parted with Samuel. He said his mind was to go to Long Island in a few weeks, when I could write by him to my parents and others. Now, in a gloomy, disheart- ened mood, dirty, weary, and almost moneyless, I plod- ded on about two miles, not knowing how and where I should spend the night, which was, from the looks of the sun, close upon me. Young, an inexperienced lone stranger amongst strangers, a cloud of obstacles seemed
77
GRIFFIN'S JOURNAL.
about to impede my way. Just at this crisis I met an elderly man with a Quaker coat and hair cap who pleasantly accosted me thus : "Friend, where art thou from, and where bound, as thou appearest to be unac- quainted in this place ?" As I was pleased with being thus noticed, I readily answered-"I am from Long Island; my name is Griffin." "What!" says he with much animation,." a son of my sister, Deziah Griffin ?" I said "Yes," which appeared to give him much joy. This hos- pitable man was a Mr. Joshua Brown, who had visited my father's house some few years before, and was an old resident in this region. We were near his house, to which he gave me a cordial invitation. I accepted and was well entertained by him, his wife, and son. He was truly a gentleman farmer and a very religious man ; his wife a benevolent woman, but she was so strong in Presbyterianism that their latter days were not so pleasant together. Some years before his death, Mr. Brown appeared to lose his reason. Through a long life, when himself, he was one of the excellent of the earth. He died about 1795, betwixt seventy and eighty years of age, and she some few years after, when eighty odd years old.
In the midst of this agreeable entertainment, the thought of what I should do on the ensuing morning to procure a resting place and a home, was a wretched drawback on all the good I was now partaking of.
In the morning, after partaking of a good breakfast, well relished, and, after thanking this good man and his wife for their civilities, took my departure, and shaped my course towards what was called Little Bri- 7*
78
GRIFFIN'S JOURNAL.
tain, where a Col. Smith then owned a large flouring mill ; saw mill, &c., A Mr. Dill was at this place doing quite a business in manufacturing boots, shoes, tanning, and currying. A day or two before this, I had been informed that I might get employment at Mr. Dill's.
After walking about eight miles the mills and shops appeared in view. I stopped-hesitated-looked back -thought of home-my mother ! What was I going to introduce myself to do ? As tanner, shoemaker, or miller? In fact, I began to believe I was not compe- tent for any of those arts to satisfy an employer. I was in an awful dilemma; a prey to such distressing sensa- tions that I sought relief in weeping. I retired to a secluded wood. Weakness, be it so-it was mine.
Thus doubting, hesitating, resolving, re-resolving, I turned short about and retraced the unpleasant road, rendered dismal by being recently from a frozen condi- tion flooded with rain. To say the least, the traveling was intolerable.
When I had passed Mr. Brown's I had walked about seventeen miles. Not feeling it proper to stop there, I was for some time in doubts what course to take. While my invention was on the rack, a thought struck me that Mr. Constant Terry, formerly of Oysterponds, a respectable young man, had removed three or four years before to the neighborhood of Goshen. I had known him as boys generally know young men, their seniors. I well remember him, as a rather more pol- ished, good-hearted young man, than many of his mates. I immediately determined to find out his abode. In walking about a mile I met a boy, of whom I enquired,
79
GRIFFIN'S JOURNAL.
and was informed that I was within a mile of Mr. Terry's house.
Night was now drawing nigh; I was weary and hungry ; had taken no refreshments since morning; I was soon at the door ; had some doubts about a pleasant reception ; his wife I had never seen; I made quite a halt, yet nothing appeared forbidding; I knocked ; a mild female voice bid me walk in; I did so, and was politely received ; it was Mrs. Terry ; I told her I was from Long Island ; she greeted me with a cordial wel- come. From the manner and expressions of these per- sons, I soon began to persuade myself that I had found the very place that Providence had marked out for me, and that my mother's cares for her son were always accompanied with a mother's prayers.
He soon introduced me into agreeable and respecta- ble society. Requested, yea, urged me too, at all times, while stopping in this part of the country, to make and consider his house my home and himself and wife my confidential friends. This I did, and ever after found it fulfilled, in each particular, to the letter. This glory of her sex, whose name was Sibil, died about the 10th of July, 1795, a little over six years after these favors conferred on me. She died a few hours after giving birth to a daughter, who, while the mothor was dying, she named Sibil, who in the course of years married in New York, and thirty-seven years after the mother's death died with the cholera in that city.
Constant Terry after living a widower some years, took a second wife, with whom he lived until his death in 1822.
At this time his residence was Bloomingburgh, which
80
GRIFFIN'S JOURNAL.
is about twenty-five miles from Newburgh. I proved him to be a kind, generous friend. Accommodating to his own inconvenience. Such was my friend and his invaluable wife Sibil. She was the daughter of Mr. Daniel Case, a respectable farmer near Goshen, Orange county, New York. He died about 1790, seventy-two years of age.
Constant was the son of Col. Thomas Terry, of Oys- ponds. He, the colonel, died at Saybrook, Connecticut, in 1776, aged fifty-six years. Col. Terry was the son of Thomas Terry, Jr., who was son of Thomas Terry, Sr., who was the first of that family that came to Southold.
April 15th, 1789, Deacon Azariah Tuthill's house at Rocky Point, was destroyed by fire, with nearly all the furniture and wearing apparel ; a heavy loss to his wife and daughters, who owned the entire property, which was left them by their good father, the late Mr. Na- thaniel Tuthill. It was his widow who was now the deacon's second wife. It is said the articles of the Oysterpond Congregational church were destroyed by that fire. The church was organized not far from 1700. August, 1789, I commenced boarding with Captain Joshua Brown.
I continued with Capt. Brown until 1st January, 1790. In this family, which consisted of a colored man and his wife, old Mr. Brown and his wife, and Captain Joshua.
On the 1st of January, 1790, I went into the family of the widow Tusten. Her household consisted of two sons and two daughters. The sons were James and Thomas.
81
GRIFFIN'S JOURNAL.
Mrs. Tusten was yet a mourner for her husband, Col. Benjamin Tusten, who was killed at the battle of Mini- sink, in 1781, when the Indians under Brandt gained the day, killing a large number of the inhabitants of Goshen, giving no quarters. The sword and the tomahawk was the fate of all who were taken, except one. A number of those who met this untimely fate were of the most respectable families in Goshen. Capt. John Wood was the one whose life was saved, and this he supposed, from what he observed, was a miracle. He returned home two or three years after that awful day.
I never knew a more sincere mourner than Mrs. Tusten. Her husband had now been dead eight years, and seldom a day passed, but with the tenderest emo- tions of sensibility, she would weep as one that knew the worth of the friend she had lost.
My time through this winter in this very agreeable and interesting family, was taken up in studying ma- thematics and going over my arithmetic, with a design to take a country school the ensuing spring. Whether I had ever been fitted for such a station or not, I con- ceived it at this time my duty to review and increase my knowledge before commencing the important task of teaching the " young idea how to shoot."
I left this affectionate woman and her friendly chil- dren in April, 1790, and commenced as school teacher near Minisink, about nine miles from Goshen, then a village. The men there of most note at the time were Messrs. John Hallock, Joshua Davis, James Jackson, and John Finton. My school continued until the spring of 1791. In the April of that year I visited my beloved parents, after being away from them more than two
1
82
GRIFFIN'S JOURNAL.
years. To me and to them the interview was reciprocal. And again I was permitted to meet her whose impres- sion on my heart was not to be effaced but by the icy hand of death.
" No after friendship e'er can raise The endearments of our early days."
About the time I resided in Mrs. Tusten's family, Samuel Watkins, a man of wealth and deserved respec- tability, made honorable proposals. of marriage to Mrs. Tusten. She declined, observing she viewed Mr. Wat- kins as inheriting every manly virtue and goodness re- quisite to make the marriage state pleasant and agreea- ble, and should she be disposed to change her then pre- sent lonely situation, no man would better meet her choice. But so it was. Her heart was in the grave of her departed husband, and for the last eight years she could not allow the thought of ever filling any situation while living but that of being his widow. Thus did she live, encountering many of those severe trials which Dr. Watts justly says is too often realized by those who sadly experience the melancholy and direful state of widowhood. This amiable, noble-hearted woman died in the year 1808, aged about sixty-one years. Her eldest daughter, Sally, died 1814, a little over thirty years old. We do not now recollect the other daugh- ter's name.
My friend, Thomas Tusten, died in August, 1796, aged about twenty-three years. He had always shown towards me an unshaken friendship from my first ac- quaintance with him. It has always formed a part of my reflections to cherish the memory of so agreeable and disinterested a juvenile friend. This stroke added
83
GRIFFIN'S JOURNAL.
another link to the chain of his mother's sorrows ; but she was a Christian ! James, the elder brother, lived to about the year 1836, when, in New York, by some mistep, while on the dock in the evening, he fell in and was drowned. His body was recovered and interred at Goshen ; at the time, he was about sixty-six years of age. In the war of 1812, he held the commission of Major.
I have noticed my visit to my friends on Long Island, after an absence of more than two years. In May of this year, I returned to Orange County, and engaged a school in the eastern part of Blooming Grove. In this district I taught until 1794, in the autumn of which year, I removed to the east division of Goshen.
While a teacher in Orange County, I was so fortunate as to always procure the favorable consideration of my seholars, their parents and guardians. I was, I believe, sincere in honorable endeavors to point out and urge them to walk in the road which leads to usefulness and happiness. Many of them, I am happy to believe, lived to realize their attention to my precepts, and pro- fited by lessons dictated by love and duty. My em- ployers are now all " gone to that bourne whence no traveler returns." While a stranger in their employ, I was treated with the kindest civilities and the most af- fectionate good will. Asael Coleman, Joshua Curtis, Abner Coleman, the elder Richard Goldsmith, Benja- min Brewster, Samuel Moffat, William Hudson, his venerable father, Anselm Helin, John Benjamin, Caleb Coleman, Jonathan Brooks, and others, are all names engraven on the tablets of my memory. Their inter- esting, motherly wives, too, were nurses in time of
84
GRIFFIN'S JOURNAL
:
every need. Who can forget such invaluable expres- sions of good will, bestowed on him whose pride it ought to be to cherish the memory of such virtues, such charity, and such benevolence ?
Jasper Griffin came to Southold about 1675, from Wales, England; from what town or county, I know not. He was born in the year 1648, which would make him about twenty-five years of age on his arrival here. In the course of a year or two, he purchased a small farm at the landing at Southold, within thirty rods of those beautiful banks which border that pleasant har- bor. He was commissioned as major of the militia, and charged with the care of two pieces of cannon. They were mounted on those banks, near his residence. These he fired on public days, such as their Majesty's birthdays, &c., William and Mary, and, perhaps, Ann, after the demise of her sister and lord. Jasper's wife was named Hannah. It is supposed he married her in this country. Her gravestone says Manchester, we be- lieve, in Massachusetts or New Hampshire. His family was large by this excellent woman. Four of their names have come down to us, viz :- Jasper, Ro- bert, John and Edward. These were his only sons ; the other children were daughters.
It has been said Jasper was accompanied to this country by a brother of his, who settled at or near Rye, in Westchester County, this State. A few years since, there were there some of the name. I have seen a let- ter from a member of his family, dated 1719, which was full of the tenderest interest for his well-doing.
85
GRIFFIN'S JOURNAL.
It spoke of his having two near connections, I think brothers, but am not certain, as it is more than sixty years since I read it. These brothers were then cap- tains of ships. He was dead before the letter reached this country, having died in April, 1718. His wife died April, 1699, aged forty-six years. Jasper was in the seventieth year of his age at his death. The letter mentioned above made no notice of any brothers or connections in this part of the world at that time.
The few natives which were yet remaining in and near these parts became much attached to Jasper Grif- fin, and often took occasion to show it in their natural but honest mode. One, an ingenious, true friend to Jasper, curiously wrought out a wood porringer, and, with great good will, presented it to his friend, the white man. Jasper took it with satisfaction. Soon af- ter this token of esteem from this son of the forest, he sent the curiosity to his friends in Europe. In due time it was sent back, with a plate of silver neatly lining the handle, on which was engraved the Griffin's coat- of-arms. This relic of bygone days is now in the hands of one of the descendants of the fifth or sixth gener- ation, in New York. The Prince of Wales, who was beheaded in the reign of King John, of England, was named Griffin. It is said the Griffins of this family are his descendants. It may or may not be so.
Jasper, the first son mentioned above, settled in Lyme, Connecticut, where he purchased a tract of land. I have understood that at the time of his death his years numbered more than ninety! His sons were Jasper, 3d, Lemuel, Joseph, and Nathan. These de- 8
86
GRIFFIN'S JOURNAL
scendants of Jasper, Jr., in Connecticut and other parts of the country, are numerous, and we believe honorable to their progenitor. Lemuel, the second son, was grandfather to Dr. Edward D. Griffin, a celebrated preacher of the Presbyterian order, and for some time President of Williams College, Massachusetts, born in 1770 and died in 1837. His brother George, now an aged man, has stood deservedly conspicuous as a law- yer. Jasper Griffin, 3d, grandson to the first Jasper, died at Lyme in 1783, in his eightieth year. Jasper Griffin, 4th, died in his eighty-ninth year.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.