History of Queens County, New York : with illustrations, portraits, and sketches of prominent families and individuals., Part 31

Author:
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: New York : W.W. Munsell and Co.
Number of Pages: 703

USA > New York > Queens County > History of Queens County, New York : with illustrations, portraits, and sketches of prominent families and individuals. > Part 31

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" The Hon. Judge Busteed addressed the jury on behalf of the prisoner, finally closing his terrific denunciations at midnight. It had consumed six hours of intense ef. fort; with the penalty of utter prostration to the great advocate-to the extent of his not being able to appear during the remainder of the trial or of hearing the reply and summing up of Mr. Downing. The address to the jury from the district attorney occupied four and a half hours. He spoke with much feeling, and it is probable that he would have spared denunciation but for the goad- ing taunts heaped on the head of the crushed girl by Mr. Busteed. Mr. Downing felt too thoroughly the frightful harangue roared with phrenzied action against the artless girl, who quivered under every blow as if a culprit under the Russian knout; and it must be ad- mitted that he was inore than equal in repayment to Mr. still more honorable record.

Busteed. He had a more manly cause to vindicate, and easily won the hearts of the thronged body that flocked to hear him."

While, however, he is zealous and indefatigable as a prosecutor, he yet realizes that he is an officer of the court charged with the administration of even-handed justice. The innocent man unjustly accused is and always has been afforded every opportunity at the hands of the district attorney to make his innocence manifest, and Mr. Downing has been the first to move to nolle prosequi an indictment when satisfied as a man and an officer that the accused is not guilty of the offense charged against him. Mr. Downing has the rare ac- complishment of being a most excellent judge of char- acter and of human nature, and very much of the success he has met at the bar and as a public officer may be at- tributed to this fact. A large proportion of the cost of conducting the public affairs of Queens-as indeed of every county in the State-comes from the expense of holding courts of criminal jurisdiction. It will be readily seen how far and to what extent a prompt, alert and vigorous district attorney can subserve the interests of taxpayers in curtailing the sessions of these courts by a proper discharge of his official duties. Mr. Downing has thus served the citizens of his county, and during his extended term of service he has made for himself the reputation of being among the first and most efficient public prosecutors in the State of New York. That his reputation as a lawyer and law officer has passed far be- yond the limits of his own county is shown by the fact that his name has been within the last few years and is now very prominently mentioned in connection with the supreme court judgeship of his judicial district.

It might be readily supposed that the conduct of a large private law practice and the full discharge of the duties of a position so exacting as the district attorney- ship of a large and populous county would more than fill the time of any ordinary man. Mr. Downing has, how- ever, seemingly unlimited capacities for work. He is what the French call "a man of affairs," and, in addition to the work we have hastily specified, he has acted as trustee of his home village, served as its president, and has for many years been one of the members of its board of education, of which body he is now the presiding officer. He has always taken a deep interest in the local affairs of his village, and has contributed very largely to build up and develop its resources. He is yet in the prime of life, with vigorous health and a robust constitu- tion. . He is noted for his acts of quiet, unostentatious charity, is firm and loyal in his friendship and self- reliant and positive in character. While he has already left his impress upon the time and locality in which he has lived and labored, there is every reason to suppose that the future has in store for him a wider fame and a

140

HISTORY OF QUEENS COUNTY.

THE NICOLL FAMILY.

The Nicoll family, of which De Lancey Nicoll, Esq., of Bayside, is the eldest male representative in Queens county, is of very ancient origin. Its coat of arms, the original of which is in the possession of Samuel Benja- min Nicoll, Esq., of Shelter Island, was issued to John Nicoll, of Buckingham, near Islip, in the county of Northampton, England, in the year 1601, and refers to a former John Nicoll, who died in the year 1467. The evidence concerning the fortunes of the English branch of the family is very scanty, nor is it possible to write with certainty of their position. The coat of arms however, recites "that, whereas, anciently from the , beginning it hath been a custome, in all countryes and commonwealthes well governed, that the bearing of certeyn markes in shields, comonly called armes, have byn and are used by persons ever of the best degree and calling, as the onlye demonstracons of their prowesse and valor in tymes of warre, as for their good life and conversacon in tymes of peace, amongst the which nomber for that I finde John Nicoll of Buckingham."

This and certain other family records have led to the conclusion that the Nicolls of England belonged to the landed gentry, if not to the nobility. The family estate in Islip is supposed to have been confiscated at the time of the English Revolution.

The ancestor of the American Nicolls was Matthias Nicoll, a lawyer of Lincoln's Inn, who accompanied his near relative General Sir Richard Nicoll to America in 1664. The Duke of York, afterward James the Second, having determined to send an expedition to America to wrest the important colony of New Amsterdam from the Dutch, selected Sir Richard Nicoll, who enjoyed his in- timate friendship, to command it. Sir Richard took with him his young kinsman Matthias, and having suc- cessfully overcome the Dutch became the first English governor of the colony thereafter known as New York. Matthias became the first English colonial secretary.

Sir Richard Nicoll soon tired of provincial life, and at his own request was recalled to England, where he died. Matthias, however, determined to remain. So satis- factorily to the Dutch citizens, who were inclined to fret at the English yoke, did he discharge the duties of secre- tary to the colony that he was elected by them to be the third mayor of the city of New York.

His son William Nicoll married Miss Van Rensselaer of Albany, the daughter of the patroon, and received from the king a patent for a tract of land in Suffolk county, some twenty thousand acres in extent, which he settled prietor but already grown to majestic size, makes the ap-

and called Islip Grange, after the estate in Islip in North- hamptonshire, England. William Nicoll was a man of much distinction in the colony, and was the speaker of the first colonial Legislature. On his death the Islip estate, which was entailed, descended to his eldest son, Benjamin Nicoll. His youngest son, William-known as "the speaker "-devoted himself to public affairs and was elected speaker of the colonial Legislature eighteen consecutive years. He received by gift from his friends

Nathaniel and Gyles Silvester a handsome estate of about four thousand acres on Shelter Island. It is a curious fact that the greater part of both the Islip and Shelter Island estates still remains in the Nicoll family. William " the speaker " was a bachelor, and left the Shelter Island property to his nephew William, the son of Benjamin, who had in the meantime inherited Islip from his father, and who thus became possessed of both estates.

This William was a man of remarkable abilities and enjoyed a great reputation at the bar.

To his eldest son William descended the estate at Islip, but during his lifetime he gave Shelter Island to his other son, Samuel Benjamin. The William last men- tioned was succeeded by his son William, who was in turn succeeded by his son William, the father of the present William Nicoll of Islip.

From Samuel Benjamin Shelter Island descended to his children, of whom there were eight. The second son, Samuel Benjamin, purchased the portions of his brothers and sisters and became the sole proprietor of the estate. On his death, in 1866, he left the property to his children -Samuel Benjamin, Charlotte Ann, William Courtland, Sarah Paine, Matthias and Anne.

The Nicolls of Bayside represent both the Shelter Island and Islip branches of the family.

Benjamin, the brother of " the speaker," had two sons. William, the eldest, as we have seen, inherited Islip from his father and acquired Shelter Island from his uncle the "speaker. Benjamin, the younger son, came to New York city, where he was educated at Kings (now Columbi.1) College, and married Mary Madalen, daughter of Edward Holland. His eldest son was Henry Nicoll, a merchant of much wealth, who purchased a large estate at Mastic, in Suffolk county. His eldest son, Edward Holland Nicoll, married Mary Townsend, of Albany. Like his father he engaged in mercantile life with suc- cess. His eldest son, Henry, was a lawyer of promi- nence in the city of New York and at one time a member of Congress; while his younger son, Solomon Townsend Nicoll, followed the footsteps of his father, and became a successful merchant. Solomon Town- send at the age of 38 married his third cousin Charlotte Ann Nicoll, of Shelter Island. In the year 1855 he purchased the present Nicoll estate at Bayside, designing it for a country seat. The man- sion is beautifully situated in a grove of cedars on a high bluff, at the foot of which is Little Neck Bay. A long avenue of elms and maples, planted by the first pro-

proach to the house resemble an English country seat. The children of Solomon T. Nicoll are: Annie Nicoll, who married William M. Hoes, an eminent member of the New York bar; De Lancey Nicoll, whose portrait is on page -; Benjamin Nicoll, who married Grace Davison Lord, daughter of James Couper and granddaughter of the famous Daniel Lord; Edward Holland; and Mary Townsend, who married James Brown Lord, a brother of of the wife of Benjamin; and . Charlotte Nicoll. Both

DELANCEY NICOLL.

143

THE NICOLL FAMILY.

Benjamin and Edward Holland are merchants in New York city, the former an importer and member of the firm of Hall, Nicoll & Granbery, and the latter in the dry goods commission business. De Lancey, Benjamin and Edward Holland are graduates of St. Paul's School, Con- cord, N. H., and of Princeton College. De Lancey grad- uated with high honors in 1874, and was admitted to the bar in 1876, from Columbia College law school. Since that date he has been actively engaged in the practice of his profession in New York city, residing, however, with his mother at the homestead at Bayside.

The Nicoll family has intermarried with many of the old colonial families, including the Van Rensselaer, De Lancey, Woodhull, Floyd, Townsend, Lawrence, Havens, Holland, Saulsbury and Keteltas families.

While no one member has attained any special distinc- tion, the family in general has retained for two hundred years that prominent position which means and education always command. Almost all the male representatives have been educated at one of the great American uni- versities and have been members of the federal or the State Legislature, while many of the females have been distinguished for personal beauty and varied accomplish- ments.

It is indeed an unusual circumstance in America to find a family, which, since the advent of its ancestor over two hundred years ago, has retained through all the changes and progressions of American life not only its integrity and traditions, but its property and landed estates, and its high social position.

HEMPSTEAD.

HE town of Hempstead is the largest in the county of Queens, containing one hundred square miles, or sixty-four thousand acres. It originally extended north to Long Island Sound, but the present town of North Hempstead was taken from it by an act of the Legislature passed April 6th 1784. The line established was " the County road that leads from Jamaica nearly through the middle of Hempstead Plains to the east part there- of," and the part south of this line was to be thereafter called South Hempstead. The same act also provided

that the inhabitants of either town should enjoy the right of oystering, fishing and clamming in the waters of both. On the 7th of April 1801 the name of South Hempstead was changed to Hempstead.

Hempstead is bounded north by North Hempstead, east by Oyster Bay, south by the Atlantic Ocean, and west by Jamaica.

Successive censuses have shown constant growth in the population of the town, except during the civil war. The figures for recent years are as follows : 1845, 8,269; 1850, 8,811; 1855, 10,477; 1860, 12,375; 1865, 11,764; 1870, 13,999; 1875, 14,792; 1880, 18,160.

RELICS OF THE INDIANS.

Many interesting relics of the aborigines have been found at Hempstead and vicinity. These relics are of local interest and of increasing value, illustrating as they do much of the life history of a people almost extinct on the island,

knew anything of the working of copper. They were

workers of stone, but not of metals. Stone axes, clubs and spear and arrow heads were found at an early date throughout the island. All these are of the same material as composes the rocks of Long Island. Flint, quartz, jasper, compact sandstone and slaty rock pestles, mortars, whetstones and pottery have been frequently found. but not as frequently as one would expect from the density of the Indian population. A large whetstone or milling stone of silicious slaty rock was found at Rockaway a few years ago; and a well-formed skull was taken from an Indian grave in Rockaway. It was found enclosed in a round urn-shaped vessel, the skeleton being upright and the vessel turned over the head; on the outside it is rudely worked or carved. The entire skull and about half of the urn were preserved.

Among other curious relics of olden times is a receipt book found in 1876 in a package of rags by James R. Brightman, of Rockville Center. It had been the prop- erty of Hendrick Onderdonk. It was leather bound, and the writing, although over a hundred years old, would compare favorably with manuscript of to-day. Many re- ceipts dated back to 1752.

THE EARLY INHABITANTS.

The first white settlement in the town was made in 1643, by settlers from Stamford, Connecticut, who had emigrated from Hemal, Hempstead, England, a few years previous. The natives had sold the territory of Hemp- stead to Rev. Robert Fordham and John Carman in 1643, and, as it was under Dutch jurisdiction, these gentlemen obtained a patent for the land from Governor Kieft on the 16th of November 1644. One of the conditions of the patent was that they should pay the government a tax of one-tenth part of their farm produce in ten years after the first general peace with the Indians. It seems that Fordham and Carman were acting as a committee for the settlers at Stamford, and as soon as the arrangements were made with the natives they removed to Long Isl- and and settled within the present limits of the village of Hempstead. The first arrival of settlers consisted of between thirty and forty families. Among the most prom- inent were Richard Guildersleeve, Edward, Thurston

In 1862 two copper axes, with four of jasper, were found at Rockville Center, in a field near the village, three feet below the surface. They were surrounded by spear heads of flint, set upright in a circle. The copper axes were evidently of native copper, and wrought into their present form by hammering. One of these, in pos- session of the Long Island Historical Society, is seven inches long by four and one-half broad. These relics are rude in pattern and the deep corrosion of their sur- face indicates that they are of considerable antiquity. These axes are doubtless from the copper-bearing regions of the upper lakes, and indicate that the Long Island In- dians were in intercourse with those of the copper region. There is no probability that the Indians of Long Island and William Raynor, Rev. Richard Denton, Matthew

145

THE SETTLERS OF HEMPSTEAD.

Mitchell, Captain John Underhill, Robert Coe, Rev. Robert Fordham, John Carman, Andrew Ward, Jonas Wood, John Ogden and Robert Jackson, nearly all hav- ing descendants on the island at the present day.

Several of the first settlers had been persons of dis- tinction in New England. Thurston Raynor and Mr. Guildersleeve had been magistrates for Stamford. Ward, Coe and Mitchell were commissioners for Stamford, Ward having been a judge for the first court ever held in New Haven, in the year 1636. Many of them had served as legislators, and all were of excellent character. The first division of land, as appears by the records, took place in 1647, and it shows that there were at that time sixty two freeholders in the town. As a general thing the most pacific relations existed between the whites or planters and their Indian neighbors; yet collisions some- times took place. It was found necessary to concert measures to prevent their recurrence, and the governor on one occasion convened the sachems and head men of the Marsapeagues and other tribes at the village of Hempstead, on the 12th of March 1656, when a general treaty was agreed upon by the governor and Tackapousha, the chief sachem. Among the articles of agreement were the following interesting provisions:

Section I .- " That all injuries formerly passed in the time of the governor's predecessors shall be forgiven and forgotten, since ye year 1645."

Section V .- " The governor doth promise, betwixt this date and six months, to build a house or fort upon such place as they shall show upon the north side, and the house or fort to be furnished with Indian trade and com- modities."

Section VI .- " That the inhabitants of Hempsteede, according to their patent, shall enjoy their purchase without molestation from ye sachem or his people, either of person or estate; and the sachem will live in peace with all ye English and Dutch within this jurisdiction. And the governor doth promise for himself and all his people to live in peace with ye sachem and all his people."

Section VII .- " That in case an Indian do wrong to a Christian in person or estate, and complaint be made to the sachem, he shall make full satisfaction; likewise if a Dutchman or Englishman shall wrong an Indian the governor shall make satisfaction according to equity.

On the 4th of July 1647 the Indians of Hempstead, represented by the sachems Tackapousha and Wautogh, with seven other Indians, probably sachems or head men representing the Indian tribes of Hempstead, ratified and confirmed the purchase which had been made from the Indians in 1643. This agreement or release was sub- scribed before John James, clerk, and in presence of John Hicks, John Seaman and Richard Gildersleeve. Upon payment of the balance due to the Indians on the pur- chase price of the lands, the last installment being paid February 14th, 1660, the following curious relase was executed by the Indians:

" We the Indians under written do hereby acknowledge to have received of the magistrates and inhabitants of Hemsteede our pay in full satisfaction for the tract of

land sould unto them according to agreement and accord- ing to patent and purchase. The general boundes is as followeth: beginning at a place called Mattagarrett's Bay, and soe running upon a direct line north and south, from sea to sea; the boundes running from Hempsteede Harbour due east to a pointe of treese adjoining to the lande of Robert Williams, where we left markt treese; the same line running from sea to sea; the other line be- ginning at a markt tree standing at the east end of the greate plaine and running a due south line, at the south sea by a markt tree in a neck called Maskachoung. And wee doe further engage ourselves to uphold this our present act and all our foriner agreements to bee just and lawful; and wee doe binde ourselves to save and defend them harmless from any manner of claime or pretense that shall be made to disturb theire right. Whereunto we have subscribed this eleventh day of May Anno 1658, stilo novo.

" Waautauch, Cheknow, Sayasstock,

Tackapousha, Martom, Pers-Roma.

" Subscribed by Wacombound, Montauk sachem after the death of his father, this 14th day of February 1660, being a general town meeting at Hemsteede.

" JOHN JAMES, clerk."

This instrument probably describes the same general boundaries as are set forth in the patent of Governor Kieft, and described in the original contract and purchase in 1643.

February 27th 1658 the citizens of Hempstead, by the hand of their clerk John James, petitioned Governor Stuyvesant as follows:

"After the remembrance of our submissive and humble respects, it hath pleased God, after a sickly and sad som- mer, to give us a seasonable and comfortable autumne, wherewith wee have beene (throw mercy) refreshed our- selves and have gained strength of God soe that wee ne- cessarily have been employed in getting winter foode for our cattell, and thereby have something prolonged our wonted tyme of chosing magestrates, for ye wch wee hope yor honour will hold us excused; and now, accordinge to our accustomed manner, wee have voted and put upon denomination our former magestrate, Mr. Gildersleeve, and with him William Shodden, Robert Forman and Henry Pearsall; all of them are knowing men of honest life and good integrity; therefore wee desire your honour to appoint two of them, and always according to our duty shall pray the most high God to bless and preserve yor honour with much health and prosperity, in all your noble designs, wee humbly take our leave.

"Ever honoured sr., your Loyall, true and obedient servants, the inhabitants of Hemsteede.

"JOHN JAMES, clerk."

To the records of the town, Thompson's " History of Long Island " and the "Annals of Hempstead " we are indebted for the following extracts:

March 28th 1658, stilo novo .- " This day ordered that Mr. Gildersleeve, John Hicks, John Seaman, Robert Jack- son and William Foster are to go with Cheknow, sent and authorized by ye Montake Sachem to marek and lay out ye generall bounds of ye lands belonging to ye towne of Hemsteede, according to ye extent of ye limits and jurisdiction of ye said town; to be known by her markt trees and other places of note, to continue for ever; and in case Tackapousha, Sagamore of Marsapeague, with his Indians, doth come according to their agreement, then to lay out the said bounds."

I46

HISTORY OF QUEENS COUNTY.

April 12th 1658 .- Ordered by the townsmen of Hem- steede, that all ye fences of ye frontiere lotts that shall runn into ye field shall be substantially made by ye 25th of this monthe of April, and any person found negligent shall forfeit 5 shillings to the towne; and whoever shall open the towne gates, and neglect to shut them or to put up the barrs, shall pay the like sum, one half to the towne and the other half to the informer; also. William Jacoks and Edward Raynor to be cow keeps for the year; the people to be ready at the sounding of the horn to send out their cows, and the keeper to be ready to take charge of them sun half an hour high, and to bring them home half an hour before sunset, to water them at reasonable hours, and to be driven beyond East Meadows, to pre- vent damage in the cornfields; to be allowed 12 shillings sterling a week from 11th of May to 10th of August, and then 15 shillings a week till the 23d of Oct. The first payment to be made in butter; that is, for each cow one pound butter, at 6d. a pound, and the remainder in wampum."

The town deputed Richard Gildersleeve, July 10th 1658, to go to Manhattan and agree with the governor con- cerning the tithes, "which are not to exceed 100 sheeples of wheat " and to be delivered, if required, at the town harbor; the charge of his journey to be defrayed by the town. The town agreed to pay the herdsmen 12 shil- lings sterling a week in butter, corn and oats, at fixed prices. Six bushels of corn were allowed by the town for killing a wolf. The price of corn was 2s. 6d. a bushel, wheat 4s., pork 3d. a pound, butter 6d. a pound, lodging 2d. a night, beer 2d. a mug, board 5s. a week, victuals 6d. a meal, and labor 25. 6d. a day.

Drunkenness being prevalent in the place, January 14th 1659 a former order was renewed as follows: "That any that have formerly or shall hereafter transgress shall pay for ye first fault 10 guilders, for the second 20 guilders and for the third to stand to the determinacion of ye Court, according to ye first order."

During the same year, at a town meeting, it was de cided that any person absenting himself or herself from public worship on the Lord's day, or other public days, should for the first offense pay five shillings, for the sec- ond ten, for the third twenty, and after that be subjected to "corporal punishment, or banishment."

" About this period Cow Neck was enclosed by a post and rail fence, which extended from Hempstead harbor to the head of the creek dividing Cow Neck from Great Neck; and every person was entitled to put in a number of cows or cattle to pasture, in proportion to the number of standing gates or pannels of fence made by him. Af- terward, in the distribution of lands, the shares of in- dividuals were adjusted by the same rule, in consequence of which this neck was divided among a small number of people. The lands about Rockaway were enclosed in like manner."

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History of Queens County, New York : with illustrations, portraits, and sketches of prominent families and individuals., Part 31

Author: Publication date: 1882 Publisher: New York : W.W. Munsell and Co. Number of Pages: 703

Author:
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: New York : W.W. Munsell and Co.
Number of Pages: 703