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 9
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Previous to the year 1700, the inhabitants of Orient and East Marion, were under the necessity of going to the village of Southold, to have their grain made into meal. Not far from the above date, they, (some two or three of them,) had a wind-mill built on the South Beach, about half-way between Mr. Jonathan Trueman's house and the Orient Creek. This mill stood (answer- ing a good purpose,) until about 1760, when it was taken down, and a second one was constructed and built by Amon Taber, Sr. Its owner was Noah Tuthill, son of the late Deacon Daniel Tuthill. This second mill stood, doing good service, until 1810, and that year a third one was put up. Its builder was Nathaniel Do- miny, Jr., a natural mechanical genius, having not spent any time to learn a trade ; his father Nathaniel, Sr., is said to have been a first rate watchmaker, yet never serving any time to learn the art. This third
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windmill stands where the second stood, and cost about $2000. The father died at Easthampton not far from 1800.
Who can but admire and wonder at the facts related of the heroism and courage which marked the eventful lives of our Revolutionary mothers and wives, in the dark years of that sanguine war.
What hours of anguish ! What floods of tears must they have shed beneath their lonely roofs, during that eight years of desolation, unheard-of cruelty and injus- tice inflicted on our country by the heartless foe.
In our isolated town of Southold, there were in those days of sorrow, a number of those noble hearted women, whose fortitude, and sterling virtues rendered them worthy of the highest consideration, and their memory held precious to the latest posterity. With hearts as Deborahs', they came up to the help of the Lord against the mighty, who resorted to the most un- lawful and cruel actions to thwart the achievement of our honorable Independence.
Richard Brown, the fourth of his family, in succession, known in his day, as Ensign Brown, died at the com- mencement of the Revolutionary War, aged about seventy-seven years. His wife, who was, when a girl, named Hannah Hawk, was at the time of his demise, about sixty years of age, with an excellent constitution and a strong mind, she entered the meloncholy state of widow-hood. Her family, with those of a number of grandchildren, who were orphans now, made her house- hold large ; yet, it appears she proved to the world, and her neighbors that wisdom, prudence and discretion,
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marked her every movement in the government of the charge committed. Soon after the death of her hus- band, she commenced keeping a Tavern, or Inn ; over this establishment she presided with circumspection and dignity. At this time, Long Island was in the possession of the British, and Oysterponds was swarm- ing with British, Hessians and Tories. It was in the Autumn of 1777, on a pleasant evening, that a file of armed soldiers, without ceremony, entered the house of Mrs. Brown. The officer ordered Mrs. Brown to open the door of the room containing the liquors instantly, or he would stave it down. At this threat, accompanied with a horrid oath, she rushed between them and the door, against which she placed her back. He appeared a moment astonished at such fortitude, but collecting him- self swore her instant destruction; and with great vio- lence thrust the muzzle of his gun against the door on each side of her person, and as near as he could without hitting her. The marks of those thrusts remained vis- able for more than sixty years after. She stood facing and thus addressed him, "you unfeeling wretch, you hired tool of a tyrant, your conduct is worse than a savage, my sit ation you see here, is lonely, I am without a hu- man protector ; but know you, Mr. Officer, surrounded as you are with men and arms, that I despise your threats, and if you pass the threshold of this door, you will first pass over my lifeless body." Such language pronounced with emphasis, and true self possession from a lone wo- man, at such a time and place, was too much for his cowardly soul to withstand. He quailed, muttered and g umbled a hasty retreat.
Mrs. Hannah Brown, died in the Autumn of 1789,
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aged more than eighty years. To the poor she was hos- pitable-to the sick and distressed, attentive and chari- table. She was true to her country's cause, and did all in her power to aid those who were fighting for its inde- pendance.
In the Summer of 1781, two whale-boats, manned with twenty men, landed at Southold harbor, and march- ed up about a mile to Joseph Peck's Inn, made free with his liquors and provisions, abused his family and wounded him seriously with their weapons; they then left for their boats, insulting and robbing the inhabi- tants by the way. Near their boats was the house of Mr. Constant Lhommedieu, which they entered with words and actions becoming heathens. Mr. Lhomme- dieu, mildly spoke to their leader, at which he raised his cutlass at Mr. L's. head. Mrs. L. saw it and with true fortitude, rushed between this fiend and her hus- band, and received the blow on her naked arm. Her arm was broke, but her husband's life was saved. The wretch, at seeing such self-devotion and congugal purity, in haste left, wondering who could think of subduing a nation of such women and wives.
It was the presence of woman that cheered the lonely ocean pilgrims-of those exiles who trusted their fortunes to the frail planks of the Mayflower sloop when landing in the autumn of 1620, at Plymouth.
Who is not familiar with the part so wisely played by the heroic wives, mothers and daughters of the Re- 12*
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volutionary War ? Shining examples of their self- denial, their patriotism, constancy, and courage, have come down to us; but the hallowed story of their ef- forts, sufferings, and trials, is yet unportrayed in colors adequate to the touching, affecting story.
Abigail Moore was the daughter of Robert Hemp- stead, of Southold. She was well-informed, and, at the age of eighteen years, married John Ledyard, who then lived in Groton, Connecticut. He soon after command- ed a vessel in the mercantile business to distant ports. By Mrs. Ledyard, he had four children, viz :- John, Thomas, George and Fanny.
John became celebrated as a traveler. He was a man of great powers of mind and decision of charac- ter. His eulogy on Woman has given him an imper- ishable name in the estimation of all the sex through- out the civilized world. He died in Cairo, in Egypt, in 1778, in his thirty-eighth year.
John Ledyard, his father, died while at sea, in the prime of his life. Ilis true and amiable wife, at the time, was young, disconsolate, and left with, as before said, four young children. About the year 1765, having been a widow nine years, she was married to Dr. Micah Moore, of Southold, a respectable physician, and an or- nament and pillar to the church.
By Dr. Moore, Mrs. Moore had three daughters, viz :- Abigail, born 1765; Julia, born 1767; and Phœbe, born 1769. Mr. Moore died in 1775, leaving his widow with another young family. This was on the eve of the Revolutionary War. Distress and desolation was
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on the borders of our country. She was now about fifty years of age, with seven children. The scenes which she was destined to witness, and lived to pass through, occasioned by an eight years' war, were try- ing and dreadful, especially in the forlorn state of wid- owhood. In the immediate neighborhood of Mrs. Moore, were quartered numbers of the English and German soldiers. These last carried terror in their movements. Their language, to us, was a jargon.
Amidst and surrounded by these, she conducted her house with piety and wisdom.
It was on a certain evening, during this struggle, that she was placed in a situation to test her fortitude. An officer, with a drawn sword, entered her house with se- veral soldiers. Her children, frightened, came around her for protection. The officer, in a rough voice, ob- served, " Madam, I am informed you harbor deserters here. If it is true, by the Eternal God, I will lay your house in ashes before morning !" Mrs. Moore heard this threat and oath with perfect calmness, looked him full in the face, and said, " Sir, I am a widow, but feel myself perfectly secure under the protection of that Providence which has thus far sustained me. My trust is in God ; I have no fears from man. Allow me to re- quest who was your informer?" He quickly replied, "That man," pointing to Elnathan Burts,* who stood
* Elnathan Burts was an inhabitant of Southold-a man of not much repute-about thirty years of age, living with his father in a small house one half mile east of Ashmomogue Beach. While the British were quar- tered at Southold, he was much with them, and, as it appears, it was for no good purpose. In the spring of 1781, his neighbors attempted to arrest him for some mischievous act-John Boiseau, Nat Lhommedieu, Stephen Baily, Thomas Ledyard and Joshua Horton, all young men. Hor-
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present. She as readily answered, " He is a liar ; and, if you choose, I will prove him that, and more." They left.
Fanny, Mrs. Abigail Moore's only daughter by her first husband, Captain Ledyard, was on a visit to Gro- ton, at her uncle's, Colonel Ledyard's, when he was massacred at Fort Griswold, in September, 1781. She, as an angel of mercy, and alive to every tender feeling of humanity, was the first to enter the Fort to adminis- ter to the wounded and dying, who were left in and near the Fort after the enemy had left this scene of their fiendish cruelty and slaughter. With all the di- vine emotions of pure, affectionate woman, she flew to the wretched, disfigured, distressed group, whose bodies were covered with blood. She washed their wounds, allayed their parching thirst, and did all in her power to alleviate and assuage their pains and acute distress .*
On entering the Fort, the first object that met her eyes was the body of her dead uncle, lying in a pool of blood. Some years after this affecting scene, she mar- ried Mr. Richard Peters, a merchant of Southold, with whom she lived a number of years.+ After this, it be- came her melancholy lot to put on the sable garb of widowhood. This robe she wore until her death, which took place in 1815, in her sixty-second year.
ton, who was foremost in pursuit, was shot dead by Burts, who then went and took refuge with the British. Some year or two after this murder, Burts died of the small pox.
* Mr. Jephsa Latham was in the Fort at the time, and survived the awful catastrophe. I knew him well, and have heard him tell the dole- ful tale.
+ She has, at this time, a grandson-Richard Peters-living on the old homestead, at Southold, which was built abont 1670.
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Captain Ledyard's second son, Thomas, died near 1812, aged about sixty years. His third son, George, died about 1814, near sixty years old.
Julia, the second daughter of Mrs. Abigail Moore, by Dr. Moore, died the widow of the late Matthias Case, on the 2d September, 1855, aged eighty-eight years. She was born August, 1767. Her path through life was marked by conscious rectitude.
The self-denial, patriotism and courage of our Revo- lutionary women merit a conspicuous page in the vol- ume of American History. Many of them were truly mothers in Israel.
Mrs. Deborah Townsend, the amiable wife of Jothom Townsend, of Queens County, New York, deserves a notice for her fearless stand and strength of mind in the cause of her country.
It was in the summer of the year 1777, when the British had full possession of Long Island, the arduous cares of a family of children and their wants devolved on Mrs. Townsend. He husband had joined the army of Washington ; he had been honored with the com- mission of Captain. His fine farm was situated at what is called " Cedar Swamp," Queens County. It was in the morning, while the lonely Mrs. Townsend was im- mersed in the attentions incident to a household of children, and when she was preparing for baking, that a small party of British cavalry rode up to the house, dismounted, and abruptly entered the apartment where Mrs. Townsend was busied in her domestic duties. The officer, with warmth, apart from every vestige of civil-
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ity, demanded of Mrs. Townsend the keys of the grain- house, as, he observed, his horses must be fed immedi- ately. She, with dignity and self-possession, hesitated a compliance ; told them she had not any grain for them. He replied, with a threat, that if she did not instantly deliver them up, he would split the door down. He proceeded, as if to execute his fiendish pro- mise. She, without a second thought, seized a large bread shovel, which she wielded with such consummate courage and skill over his head, that, astonished and confounded, he and his men soon made a hasty retreat, exclaiming, with warmth, " If this woman is a sample of the wives of our opponents, it is useless to think of subduing them."
In October, 1850, John K. Townsend took me out in his carriage to the farm of his late father, Jotham Townsend, at Cedar Swamp, of a little more than two hundred acres. From the handsome sight on which the spacious house and out-buildings stand, you can see every field and orchard on the place. It is now pos- sessed by Mr. John K.'s brother, Micajah Townsend.
It was here, in this secluded retreat, that Mrs. Town- send, their mother, resided when she displayed such an undaunted, fearless and determined resolution. Such decision of character and contempt of fear, lonely and unprotected as she was, truly merits a panegyric. I was also shown the family cemetery. Two marble stones show the resting-place of the bodies of their parents. It is about one hundred rods from the house, on the borders of a beautiful grove.
The son, to whom I feel myself indebted for marked civilities, is now in his seventy-ninth year. Jotham
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Townsend died in the year 1815. Mrs. Deborah Town- send died February 27, 1841, in her ninety-fifth year. Her grandson, Dr. Charles W. Townsend, who died in · 1850, wrote the following epitaph for her gravestone : " Her path through life was that of rectitude, and Chris- tianity the basis of her faith and hope.
Charity, a colored servant of Jotham Townsend, above noticed, died in May, 1850, near the residence of her late master and mistress, at the advanced age of one hundred and five years. Humility, virtue, indus- try, and obedience, through a long life, marked her as one of the most faithful of the African family. Her pious mistress, Mrs. Deborah Townsend, was her friend and guide for more than three score and ten years.
Amon Taber, the first of the family of his name, came to Oysterponds about the year 1730, from New London, where his stay had been of short duration. His parents, or grand-parents, first located at New Bed- ford on their arrival in this country. Soon after his settlement in this vicinity, he attracted the attention of the inhabitants of this parish and Southold, as a joiner and carpenter of no common skill. In stature, he was short and stocky, and of very industrious habits. Me- chanical ingenuity and warm resolution soon procured him the deserved consideration of all who knew him. About the year 1732, at the age of twenty-six years, he was employed to finish the inside of the meeting house at Southold, which was thirty-two by fifty-two feet. Said house had been covered, and so far completed as to hold their meeting in, since 1711. Mr. Taber was to
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finish off the lower part with pews, generally of about an equal size. The whole finish of the inside was to be done by ceiling. For this purpose, the congregation had chosen a committee to superintend the work and purchase the materials. Of course, a suitable quantity of boards and planks was immediately provided for the occasion. Mr. Taber, whose skill as an artist in house finish they had heard of, was waited on, and offered the job on terms which he accepted. After viewing the premises, he took from his side pocket a rule, and com- menced measuring the inside of the church. This was done with precision. He then walked out to the pile of boards and plank, and continued to turn and over- turn them for some time, and then left.
The next morning he commenced fulfilling his job, by dividing these boards and plank into pieces of dif- ferent length and breadth. This he continued to do, with much earnestness and taciturnity, for several days. The heaps of pieces from his saw were growing large. The committee, with a scrutinizing eye, began to doubt this stranger's knowledge in what they had employed him to perform. They knew he had come from the East, and not far from Salem, the region where witches had been hung a few years before.
Their fears were aroused to a distressing point. In- stead of employing a man of approved knowledge, said they, we are entrapped in the meshes of a knave or a fool; and they decided, in short order, to wait on and request him to immediately desist proceeding in the way he was going on, and had been for a week. With great gravity, and countenances bespeaking inward un- pleasant commotions, they approached this man of rules,
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squares, and compasses, who, at the time, was using his saw with great skill and energy, and did not at all sus- pect their business. "We," said one of the men of trust, " are fearful, Mr. Taber, that your mode of doing our business is leading you and us into an unpleasant difficulty. Many of those for whom we are acting be- lieve it reasonable to doubt that these numerous pieces of lumber will ever find their place without much waste and loss, which may fall upon your employers. Had you not better commence and use what you have already prepared, before you cut up, in these small pieces, any more of this valuable stuff ?" Taber heard
this short harangue very coolly, yet with some surprise. He laid aside his saw, put his rule in his pocket, adjust- ed the collar of his shirt, and, with an eye that appeared to look through his inquisitive employers, he observed, -" Gentlemen, I am a stranger in these parts, but I have taken and entered on this contract. I feel bound to repose every confidence in you. I had your word that I should be treated as a man of integrity ; I gave you mine. I shall fulfil every promise to you, life and health permitting. I make no pretentions to anything which I am not fully competent to perform. You, gen- tlemen, I believe, know more of your Bibles than you do of building or finishing this house. You must now leave it to me; I think you will be satisfied when it is done."
This committee was all attention to this firm address of Mr. Taber. Their countenances showed their in- ward sensations to be far from pleasant. After a short space of profound silence, they stepped aside to devise
13
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means to extricate themselves from the awkward posi- tion which jealousy had led them into. In a moment after, they again slowly advanced towards Mr. Taber, who was standing in all the self-possession and dignity of determined resolution, as master of his profession. They each, with some emotion, extended their hands, which, with becoming magnanimity, he received. They observed, with apparent contrition, that they felt confident that a man of his firmness and sense would pardon this ill-timed visit, and also what had been said to him. With other such like expressions of good-will, they wished him to pursue the course suited to his mind.
Mr. Taber, in the time agreed on, finished the inside of the church with neat pews, which were occupied until 1803, a term of over seventy years. Not a piece of board or plank, it is said, in all that motley pile, but what found its place to a precision, and to the satisfac- tion of the employers.
Some years after this, I believe about sixty, Mr. Taber draughted and constructed a wind-mill on the site where the one now stands in this village.
He had three children, viz :- Patience, born 1742 ; Amon, born 1745 ; and Frederick, born 1747. Patience marrried Peter Griffin ; Amon married Sibil Terry ; and Frederick married Esther Vail, who died in this place in 1842, aged ninety-three years, outliving her husband forty years.
Rev. Mr. Prime, in his History of Long Island, says that the third church edifice in Southold, was built in 1711. It is probable that was the date, although some believe it was raised some years earlier. He (Mr. P.)
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likewise observes that a committee was chosen that same year, to have the house finished inside, by seats, &c. Now, this is not correct, as it is a fact that a Mr. Amon Taber was employed by a committee to fin- ish off said house, the lower part with pews, and the upper story with a handsome gallery, about the year 1732.
All the aged men that lived fifty years ago, at that time, seventy-five and eighty years old, often spoke of Mr. Amon Taber's finishing off the meeting house at Southold, and the curious circumstance of his com- mencement with the boards, &c. He was born in 1706 ; of course, in 1711, was but five years old, when Mr. Prime says a committee was chosen to see to the finishing of said house. He died in 1785 or '86, aged seventy-eight years. His wife was Mary Brown, daugh- ter of Samuel Brown, who was, we believe, son of Richard Brown, who died in 1686.
Frederick Taber, Jr., son of said Frederick, now liv- ing in this village, in his eighty-first year, married Mary, daughter of Joseph Terry, Sr. He has four children now living by this marriage, viz :- Mary, Henry T., Seth B., and Samuel B.
Silas Horton, of Southold, is the son of the late Col. Benjamin Horton, who was the son of Barnabas Hor- ton, who was the son of James Horton, who was the son of Jonathan Horton, who was the son of Barnabas Horton, the first of the name and family to Southold.
Silas Horton has, with much respect, held the office of sheriff of this county, and a member of the
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Assembly of this State. His affectionate wife, Mary, is the daughter of the late Captain Elijah Landon, who was the son of Judge Jared Landon, who was the son of Judge Samuel Landon, who was the son of Nathan Landon, who was the son of Nathan Landon, Sr., the first of the name and family to this town.
Colonel Benjamin Horton was esteemed as an officer, and as a valuable member of society, and a pillar of the church, as was his worthy brother, Gilbert, who, with much and deserved respect, held the rank of Ma- jor, and was a deacon of the church.
Joseph King, as a faithful, honest mechanic. was, by the community at large, held in esteem. In his own parish, and through the whole town, from the highest to the lowest, from the small boy to the old man, he re- ceived the appellation of "Uncle Joe." "Yes," said he one day, very good-naturedly, "the colored folks call me ' Uncle Joe.'" Sterns' pictures of his Uncle Toby, I have often thought, were good likenesses of Mr. King, especially when telling some extraordinary feat of his youthful days. It was "Uncle Joe King," in this community, from 1765 to 1818, at which date, he closed a long and industrious life of eighty-eight years.
He was born in the year 1730. By trade, he was a house carpenter ; a steady workman; ingenious, but not neat, as to finish. From his industrious habits, and his readiness to do work requiring a knowledge of dif- ferent trades, he was not considered a finished work- man, yet he could, in short order, draught ingeniously, calculate advantageously, and build ecomically, houses
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barns, ploughs, harrows, ovens and chimneys. I, my- self, have seen ploughs of his build go from two to eight rods without a person to hold or steady them.
In the memorable winter of 1740 and '41, when a boy of about ten or eleven years of age, he assisted in driving a drove of cattle from Easthampton to Gardin- er's Island, on the ice-a thing, we presume, never done before, and it is doubtful whether it will ever be again.
He said give him a quart bowl full of water, a good sail needle, and a bottle cork, and, with these, put him in a good vessel in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and he could navigate with success, providing the weather was good.
Through a long and laborious pilgrimage, it could not be said that he ever possessed the luxuries of life. In his exterior, he was plain, rough, and far from pre- possessing. He stood over six feet, and a little stoop- ing-raw-boned; to strangers, rather forbidding. When spoken to, his answers were quick and emphatic; his education was limited. A strong mind, with good sense, rendered him agreeable-much so to those fond of well-timed anecdotes and a well-told story. His earnest manner in communicating, with a peculiar countenance in reciting his feats of bygone days, charmed and spell-bound his audience. His account of killing five foxes, at one hunt, on Long Beach, and bringing them all home to his domicil on his back at once, was worth hearing, and always delighted his hear- ers. He married Hannah, the daughter of Zebulon King, about the year 1753, and he reared a large and likely family of sons and daughters, and sustained,
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