USA > New York > Suffolk County > Shelter Island > Historical papers on Shelter Island and its Presbyterian church, with genealogical tables > Part 5
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In response to that commandatory act of the Colonial Assem- bly, it met the following year for the first time in a Town meeting of its own, as the following record, the first that appears upon our Town records, will show: "Suffolk County, Precinct of Shelter Island, 7th April, 1730. At a meeting held at the said place and time, the inhabitants of this said precinct proceeded and chose ac- cording to an act of the Gen'l Assembly made in the Province of New York in the third year of the Reign of King George the Second over Great Britain, &c., as followeth, viz .:
WILLIAM NICOLL, Supervisor. JOHN HAVENS, - Assessors.
SAMUEL HUDSON,
EDWARD HAVENS, Collector. EDWARD GILMAN, Constable."
I have deemed it important to fix if possible the antecedents of these twenty men, who were the founders of our town, and have de- voted a great deal of labor to this matter, with the following results. We will begin with:
I. WILLIAM NICOLL, who was chosen to be the first Super- visor of the Town. He was the second son of William Nicoll, and
4I
Shelter Island and Its Presbyterian Church
is known as William Nicoll the second, also in history as Speaker Nicoll. He was born in 1702, and graduated with his brother, Ben- jamin, from Yale College in 1724. Like his father, he was edu- cated for the bar, and became an eminent lawyer, continuing his legal practice after taking up his residence on Sachem's Neck, somewhere about 1726. His father died in 1723 and bequeathed him all of his estate located on this island. He then removed to this island, where he became the representative or foremost man of the Town, serving as Supervisor for ten years. In 1739 he was elected to the Colonial Assembly, like his father before him, and continued to serve until his death, in 1768, a period of twenty-nine years, during the last nine of which he served as Speaker of the House. Thus our first Super- visor was a very distinguished man, an eminent statesman, reflecting no small honor upon Shelter Island, which continued to be his home until his death, which came to him suddenly at a house on the Hempstead Plains Dec. 3d, 1768, as he was returning from his public duties. Thompson says: "He was a man of sound and discrimi- nating mind, bold and fearless as a politician, and an unwavering asserter of the rights and liberties of the colony. In all public acts as a legislator he was diligent and attentive to every duty devolving upon him." And Wood says in his history "that he resembled his father in his political sentiments, and was a decided friend of the rights of the colonies. He is supposed to have concurred in the addresses to the King, lords and commons, respectively, which were adopted by the Assembly in 1764 and 1765, and which he signed as their Speaker. These addresses abound with patriotic sentiments. In that of 1764 they say that 'It would be the basest vassalage to be taxed at the pleasure of a fellow subject." In that of 1765 they say that "An assumption of power by the British Parliament to tax the colonies, if asquiesced in or admitted, would make them mere tenants at will of his majesty's subjects in Britain."
This William Nicoll, dying without issue, left his estate on this island to a son of his brother Benjamin, also named William Nicoll, commonly called "Clerk Nicoll," because he served as County Clerk for twenty-six years, being the last Clerk of the County under the Colonial Government. He not only succeeded his uncle in the pos- session of the Nicoll estate on Shelter Island, but was also chosen to succeed him in the Assembly, and continued to serve in that body until it was dissolved in consequence of the Revolution. This is in- deed a remarkable thing, that three William Nicolls should succeed
42
Shelter Island and Its Presbyterian Church
each other, not only as the owners of that estate, but as representa- tives in the Assembly, the first William Nicoll serving twenty-one years, and as Speaker for sixteen years of the time; the second William Nicoll for twenty-nine years, and as Speaker for nine years of the time, and the third William Nicoll for nine years, or until the Colonial Assembly was dissolved. Truly Shelter Island can refer with pride to her first Supervisor.
2. JOHN HAVENS, one of the first two assessors of our Town, was the fourth son of George Havens and Eleanor Thurston, and married a lady whose given name was Sarah. He was elected Town Assessor in 1730, 1734, 1739 and 1744, and Overseer of the Poor in 1735, 1737 and 1743. In 1744 he moved to the Town of Brookhaven with his family, where he became an extensive land-owner and the progenitor of a large family. He died in 1750.
3. SAMUEL HUDSON, the second of the first two Assessors of our Town, was the son of Jonathan and Sarah Hudson. His parents came from Lyme, Conn., to Shelter Island. Samuel Hud- son married Grissel L'Hommedieu, daughter of Benjamin and Pa- tience L'Hommedieu, and granddaughter of the original settler of this island, Mr. Nathaniel Sylvester. Mr. Hudson served as County Clerk of Suffolk County from 1722 to 1730, and in 1746, with his brother Jonathan, joined Capt. James Fanning's company of volun- teers and served in the expedition against Canada. He died Oct. 12th, 1781.
4. EDWARD HAVENS was the son of George and Mary Havens, of Fisher's Island. His father was the eldest son of the George Havens who purchased the 1,000 acres of Nathaniel Syl- vester. Very little is known of this Edward Havens, save that he married Desire Terry in 1724. He was the first Collector of the Town. His name appears but once on the Town records, namely, in 1730.
5. EDWARD GILMAN. Of this person we know the least of all the twenty. Though we have searched in every direction, nothing has been found concerning him. The name "Gilman" does not ap- pear in this region on any record save our own. The will of Joseph Moore, of Southampton, dated March 21, 1723, speaks of a daughter- in-law, "Sarah Gilman."
6. GEORGE HAVENS was the son of George and Mary Havens, of Fisher's Island, and brother to Edward Havens. He married Mary and had a son named George, to whom,
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Shelter Island and Its Presbyterian Church
with his mother, letters of administration were granted in 1734, the father and husband having died the previous year.
7. ELISHA PAYNE was the son of Cornelius and Constant (Havens) Payne. His father in 1698 bought 200 acres of land on this island from Giles Sylvester. At that time he lived on Gardiner's Island, as a husbandman. Upon becoming a landowner here he moved to this island, for in a bond of Giles Sylvester, dated 27th June, 1699, he is spoken of as a "yeoman of Shelter Island." Elisha Payne served the Town as Constable and Collector in 1740 and 1748 respectively. In 1748 he married Deliverance Tuthill, and died in 1761, leaving a widow and several children. (See census list of 1771.)
8. SYLVESTER L'HOMMEDIEU was the son of Benjamin and Patience L'Hommedieu, of Southold. He married Elizabeth More, and was the father of Samuel L'Hommedieu, a distinguished citizen of Sag Harbor, at one time a member of the Assembly. Sylvester L'Hommedieu served as Collector and Constable in 1732. He died March 9, 1788, and lies buried in the church yard at Southold, L. I.
9. HENRY HAVENS was the oldest son of John and Sarah Havens. My information is derived from the will of John Havens, of Brookhaven, in which he bequeathed to his oldest son Henry 370 acres of land on Shelter Island. The date of the will is 1749. This Henry Havens married Abigail Tuthill, sister of Noah Tuthill, one of the Town fathers. His father, John Havens, as has been already mentioned, moved to Brookhaven about the year 1745. Henry Havens was a town officer for over ten years.
IO. THOMAS CONKLING was the son of John and Sarah (Horton) Conkling, of Southold, L. I., a descendant of one of the first settlers of that ancient town. In 1732 he married Rachel Moore, by whom he had five children. His youngest son, Benjamin, was the gentleman who at his death in 1826 bequeathed a large sum of money to our church. Thomas Conkling served the Town in the various positions as Assessor, Constable and Overseer of the Poor, from 1739 to 1761. He died in 1782 at the ripe age of eighty-seven.
II. JONATHAN HAVENS was the second son of George and Eleanor (Thurston) Havens, born at Jamestown, R. I., Feb. 22, 1681. Upon attaining his majority his father gave him 200 acres of his property on this island. In 1707 he married Hannah Brown, daughter of Jonathan and Eliza Sylvester Brown, and grand-
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Shelter Island and Its Presbyterian Church
daughter of the fist Nathaniel Sylvester, by whom he had ten chil- dren. He was an Assessor of the Town for twelve years, Overseer of the Poor two years, and Supervisor one year. Mr. Havens died Aug. 5th, 1748, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, and lies buried in the south church-yard.
12. JOSEPH HAVENS was the son of Jonathan Havens and Hannah Brown. According to his tombstone in the south church- yard he was born in 1714. He was twice married. His first wife was Madam Mary Watts, a lady of refinement. She died in 1768. In 1769 he married Jemima Glover, by whom he had one son. Father, mother and son all passed away in a few years. Mr. Havens was Constable and Collector of the Town in 1737. He afterwards moved into the town of Southampton, from whence his will is dated.
13. NOAH TUTHILL was the third son of Deacon Daniel and Mehetable (Horton) Tuthill, born in Orient, L. I. The Tut- hills and the Hortons were among the first settlers of Southold, and their descendants are legion. Noah Tuthill married a relation by the name of Hannah Tuthill. Many of his descendants live among us to-day. He was a Town officer for several years. He died in 1766, and is supposed to have been buried in the family burying ground upon the Tuthill homestead in Orient.
14. JOEL BOWDITCH. Who he was the son of or whence he came we cannot positively tell. But it is presumed that he came to Shelter Island from the region of Sag Harbor. A Joel Bow- ditch is mentioned by Judge Hedges in his "History of East Hamp- ton" as a resident of that Town from 1704 to 1718. In 1718 an Abigail Bowditch married Nathan Fordham, of Sag Harbor. She had a grandchild named "Joel." Joel Bowditch, the subject of this
sketch, married Ruth and had several children. He was the progenitor of the Bowditch's who live among us, and served as Town officer for many years, or until his death, in 1746.
15. JOHN BOWDITCH. What is said about Joel Bowditch applies equally as well to this man, as far as his parentage is con- cerned. It is presumed that he was the son of Joel Bowditch. We cannot tell whether he ever married; it is rather doubtful that he ever did. His name appears but once among the Town officers, under date of 1738, when he was chosen Constable and Collector.
16. SAMUEL HOPKINS was the son of William and Rebecca Hopkins, of this place, a direct and close descendant of Stephen Hopkins and Giles Hopkins, two of the immortal Mayflower pil-
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Shelter Island and Its Presbyterian Church
grims, being the great-grandson of the former and grandson of the latter. According to the inscription upon his tomb- stone at Miller's Place, Samuel Hopkins was born on Shelter Island about 1710. His father moved to Shelter Island about 1680, and in time became a man of considerable property. In an account book of William Hopkins, the following names appear between the dates of 1680 and 1710: Gideon Youngs 1681, Samuel King 1682, John Conklin 1682, Thomas Young 1685, John Tuthill 1685, Caleb Curtis 1688, John Marlin, Feb. 19, 1689, Thomas Torrey 1691, John Carter 1695, Samuel Glover 1696, James Rogers 1700, Edward Bon- net 1701, Jonathan Hains 1703, Cornelius Pain 1705, Indian Able, Indian Squaw, John Hobson, Jonathan Brown, Jacob Conklin, Jonathan Hudson, Lion Gardner, Henry Tuthill, Richard Brown, Rebecca Crook, William King, Walter Brown, Martha Collins, John Knowling, Thomas Russell, Mr. Emmons, Mary Young (widow). Samuel Hopkins was a carpenter and mason. From 1743 until 1756 he lived at Wading River. In 1757 he bought property at Millers Place and moved there, and made it his home until his death, in 1790. In 1733 he served this Town as Constable and Collector.
17. ABRAHAM PARKER. We cannot tell definitely who were the parents of Abraham Parker. He is said to have been born in Yorkshire, England. Several Parkers lived on this island prior to the organization of the Town. As early as 1698 a Nathaniel Parker appears as a witness on the deed of Giles Sylvester to Cor- nelius Payne. In 1701 a Daniel Parke appeared in the same ca- pacity on the deed of George Havens to Jonathan his son. Abra- ham Parker married probably twice. His first wife was Sarah Hud- son, daughter of Jonathan and Sarah Hudson. His second wife was Mary Hudson, the widow of Jonathan Hudson, who was brother to his first wife. He served as Collector and Constable in 1731, as Assessor in 1736, and as Overseer of the Poor in 1738 and 1742. He died in March, 1768.
18. DANIEL BROWN was the son of Daniel and Frances (Watson) Brown, born Nov. 15, 1710. His great-grandparents, Chad and Elizabeth Brown, came from England in the ship "Mar- tin," which arrived at Boston in July, 1638. The same year they moved to Providence, R. I., where Chad Browne was one of the original proprietors of the Providence purchase. In 1642 he was ordained the first settled pastor of the Baptist church. The children of Chad and Elizabeth Brown were sons John, James, Jeremiah,
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Shelter Island and Its Presbyterian Church
Judah or Chad, and Daniel. Their daughters were Mary, Deborah and Phebe. Jeremiah, the third son, was twice married, his second wife being Mary (Havens) Cook, widow of Thomas Cook and daughter of the first William Havens. His son Daniel, who married Frances Watson, was the father of the subject of this sketch. Like his grandfather, Jeremiah Browne, our Daniel Brown married twice, his second wife likewise being named Mary Havens, whom he mar- ried Dec. 21, 1735, and by whom he had a large family. He was Supervisor of this Town for twenty years. In 1747 he enlisted in the First Battalion (foot) under Capt. James Fanning, to go against Canada. In 1775 and '76, at the outbreak of the American Revo- lution, he was a member of the First, Second and Third Provincial Congresses. These and other items show him to have been a man of great importance in the community; one highly esteemed and greatly trusted by his fellow men.
19. SAMUEL VAIL was the son of John and Grace Vail, ac- cording to Moore's Index. His grandfather was also named John Vail, and was the first person by the name in this country, coming from Wales. In 1723 Samuel Vail married Hannah Petty. He was also in time a Town officer, serving as Constable and Collector in 1735 and as Overseer of the Poor in 1741. About this date he moved with his family to Orange County and settled in what is called the West Division of Goshen. Many of his descendants are living in that region at the present time. No genealogical record of the descendants of Samuel Vail has been attempted by the writer of this book, as a genealogy of the "Vail" family is in existence, gathered together by the late Mr. Alfred Vail. It is deposited in the New York Genealogical and Biographical Library, and can there be consulted by those interested.
20. BRINLEY SYLVESTER was the son of the second Na- thaniel Sylvester and Margaret Hobert, of Easthampton, L. I., where he was born Nov. 28th, 1694. He married Mary Burroughs, daughter of Thomas Burroughs, of New York, at Southold, Dec. 2d, 1718, the Rev. Geo. Phillips officiating. He lived for awhile at Newport, R. I., whither his father had moved, upon disposing of 1,000 acres to George Havens, and engaged in business as a merchant. This left the father with comparatively little land on this island. His possessions, however, were vastly increased upon the death of his brother Giles, in 1704, who bequeathed to him of his estate an amount of land equal in extent to two-fifths of the
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Shelter Island and Its Presbyterian Church
island. This, together with what he had retained, made him owner of about one-half of Shelter Island. Upon the death of his father, Brinley Sylvester, having inherited the large family estate on this island, moved from Rhode Island to this place, where he re- sided till his death in 1752. Upon coming to this island Brinley Sylvester set about improving the property. The original manor house he displaced by a more imposing mansion, built in 1733. It is said that when he was building this new house, which was the largest structure of its kind in the three counties of Long Island, it occasioned much talk among his puritan friends, and the raising of it was made a great affair for those days, Mrs. Brinley Sylvester coming from the west end of Long Island to see it. Much of the interior work, such as the cor- nices, panels, wainscoting, and the like, was executed in England, while that which was serviceable of the prior homestead, such as the doors, sashes, tiles, etc., were worked into the new building. That house is, as you know, still standing and well preserved, though now over a hundred and sixty years old, and in some of its parts spans the whole period of the settlement of this island, that is, two hundred and forty-five years. In it Brinley Sylvester lived like a lord, far exceeding all his predecessors in the grandeur of his living. He presided over his rich and extensive estate with great dignity, being a gentleman of polished manners, scholarly in his tastes and generous to a fault. For more than twenty years he held public office in this town, sometimes discharging the duties of several offices together. During this time he was also one of the Associate Justices of the Court of General Sessions. He likewise acted as Surrogate of the County, the will of John Gardiner, the third pro- prietor of Gardiner's Island, being admitted to probate before him on the Ist of August, 1738. As yet there being no church on the island, he with his family attended divine service at Southold, going all the way by water in a handsome barge rowed by four well matched negroes. Mrs. Sylvester, his wife, used to wear on such occasions a silk velvet mantle inwrought with gold, and sometimes the ven- erable clergyman, Mr. Youngs, would say, "I am afraid you are proud of your fine barge and rich dress, Mrs. Sylvester." "Oh, no, sir," she answered. "If there is anything I am proud of it is the fine linen I make." Mr. Brinley Sylvester kept a chaplain in his family in the person of the Rev. William Adams. His family con- sisted of himself, his wife and two daughters, named Mary and
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Shelter Island and Its Presbyterian Church
Margaret. Mr. Sylvester was a man of ardent piety, a communicant of the church at Southold. He did much for religion on this island, as will be seen later on, and at his death left £100 sterling for the maintenance of religion on this island, the interest of which was to be expended in the support of a regular orthodox Presbyterian min- ister. His funeral was conducted by the Rev. William Throop, pastor of the Southold church, the sermon then delivered being afterwards printed in Boston. His body was at first buried in the Sylvester burying ground, and afterwards moved to the private cemetery in the rear of this church, where an appropriate monument is erected to his memory. In the death of this distinguished Chris- tian gentleman the name of Sylvester became extinct on this island.
To recapitulate what I have now written of the founders of the Town. It will be seen that six of the twenty men bore the name of Havens. These, as one would suppose, were related to each other. Two of them were sons and the rest grandsons of George and Eleanor Havens. They were all born in America, and two of them on this island. To these six men several of the remainder of our Town fathers were also related through marriage, namely, Noah Tuthill, Elisha Payne, William Nicoll and Daniel Brown. Of the rest Abraham Parker, Samuel Hudson, Sylvester L'Hommedieu and Brinley Sylvester were related to each other, the last three being grandsons of our first settler, Nathaniel Sylvester. Then too it is thought that Joel and John Bowditch were father and son, while of the remainder Samuel Hopkins bore the proud distinction of being a direct and close descendant of the Mayflower Pilgrims. The an- cestors of these men who were our Town fathers were English, Welsh, and in one instance French. All, except in one instance, as far as is known were born in this country, and a number of them on this island. They were sturdy men, men of intelligence, and not a few of them, men of renown. They were lovers of liberty, of virtue, of piety, ready to respond to their country's call, full of en- terprise, industry and zeal; men who in every respect were worthy to be the founders of our Town. We do well to cherish their memory and imitate their virtues.
Thus far our history has been solely occupied with the settlement of this place and its development into a Town, a period covering eighty years or more. Now we come to the time when there first appeared something like a religious society on this island, and then only in the outward or material form of a meeting house or church
THE MANOR HOUSE
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Shelter Island and Its Presbyterian Church
building. The absence of such a place of worship for these many years was not because the inhabitants lacked religious life and con- victions, for, as Dr. Woolworth said in his dedicatory sermon, "From the beginning of the settlement of this island there were not wanting such individuals among its inhabitants as feared God, pro- fessed His name and manifested a commendable concern and zeal for His sacred cause. The population was, however, for a long time so inconsiderable that no exertions were made for the introduction of regular public worship among themselves. Those who were seriously disposed attended the churches in the vicinity of the island. This was the state of things until the early part of the last century, when a decent house of public worship was erected." And thus it was that the building of a sanctuary was so long delayed. Now, how- ever, steps were taken towards the erection of a house of God, a place of worship. This was in 1732, as the following copy of a sub- scription paper will show:
"We whos names are hereunto subscribed haveing the Interests of Our Common Lord at heart and being willing to Contribute for the promoting and Incouraging the Cause and Interest of Religion upon Shelter Island, and Considering ye Small num- ber of the Inhabitants do Covenant and promise to pay or Cause to be paid the Several Sums Affixed to our names to Brinley Sylvester or Order at or before the first day of January next ensuing the Date hereof, for the erecting, building and Com- pleating a Meeting house for the publick worship of Almighty God and not otherwise. In witness whereof we have Set to our names to Geather with ye Several Sums annexed this 19th Day of August Anno Dom., 1732."
€ s. d.
£ s. d.
Benj. L'Hommedieu, Jr ..
IO
Edward Huntting
IO
Benj. Woolsey .. 2
Nath'l. Huntting.
2
Benj. Youngs, Esq. IO
David Howell.
2
David Piersen. .
IO
Elnathan White
4
Sam'l Huntting. 5
John Davies. I
6
Abraham Hallsey. 6
Theophilus Howell. 5
Francis Pelletrau. I
8
Theophilus Peirson 7
Hugh Gelston .. 15
Edward Howell.
6
Theophilus Howell. 2
6
Eleazer Miller I
8
Matthew Howell
5
Thomas Robinson 14
5
Job Peirson 6
Samuel Hutchinson, Esq. James Sell.
3 IO
Js. Smith. 15
Josiah Tapping.
6
Mrs. Stilwell 14
John Meray. IO
Edm.
IO
John Ledyard.
I2
Josiah Peirson 6
Miss Steer.
I2
Jonath. Whitehead . I
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Shelter Island and Its Presbyterian Church
Morel Lester. IO
Suton Grant I 4
Alex. Munn. .
5
Plat. Smith
14
Mat. Burnes.
IO
Ephraim Hopkins, Jr.,
S. Whitehead
IO
work. . I3
Tho. Chatfield.
IO
Received of Dr. Howell .. 5
How soon the purpose was accomplished it is hard to tell, since different dates by different writers have been given. Thomp- son, in the first edition of his "History of Long Island," says: "The first church was erected by the Presbyterians in 1733, the funds for defraying the expenses of which were collected upon the island and the adjacent towns." In his second edition, however, published some four years later than the first, greatly enlarged and far more cor- rect, he changes the foregoing statement and makes it read thus: "The first meeting house was completed in 1743, and remained until 1816, when the present church was erected on the same site." He precedes this statement with another, which goes to show that the latter date is the correct one. That foregoing statement is to the effect that in 1742 Jonathan Havens, Jr., gave a half acre of ground near the middle of the island for the setting of a meeting house and for a burying ground, and the next year, in 1743, he associated with others in erecting a building for religious worship, and to accom- plish their benevolent design contributions were solicited in the neighboring towns, and even in the cities of New York and Boston. Dr. Prime, who wrote an ecclesiastical history of Long Island, and which appeared two years later than Dr. Thompson's second edi- tion, the purpose of which, as its title would imply, brought him into closer touch with church history here and elsewhere, for which reason we may believe it the more reliable in ecclesiastical matters, confirms in general the second date of Thompson. He says: "It is difficult to ascertain the exact date of the erection of the first house of worship, but it is supposed to have been somewhere near the middle of the last century." He further adds that it was built under the supervision of Brinley Sylvester, who was the principal pro- prietor of the island. All this goes to confirm the latter date of 1743 as the correct one, being nearer to the middle of the last cen- tury than 1733, and further, being the year following the one in which the donor of the land, Jonathan Havens, Jr., set apart his gift for the purpose of "setting a meeting house and for a burying ground. And since this is the date, I am inclined to believe that the effort set on foot in 1732 was accomplished in 1743. Perhaps the completion of the purpose was hastened toward the end by the
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