USA > New York > Queens County > History of Queens County, New York : with illustrations, portraits, and sketches of prominent families and individuals. > Part 84
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The Westbury Nurseries .- These nurseries, the property of Isaac Hicks & Sons, were commenced about 25 years since. They are devoted mainly to the propa- gation of hardy trees, shrubs, vines and fruits. The nursery is in a thriving condition, its effects being noticed largely on the country round about.
SAMUEL WILLETS.
The subject of this sketch was born in Old Westbury, June 15th 1795. He remained at home on the farm un- til he was 18 years old, when he went to New York and engaged as clerk in a hardware store. After two or three years' clerkship he began business for himself while yet a young man, in company with his brother, under the firm name of A. & S. Willets. At 294 and 296 Pearl street, between Peck slip and Beekman street, a hardware house was established that proved the foundation of his fortune. As the business grew, several of Mr. Willets's nephews were admitted as partners, under the firm name of Willets & Co.
After several successful years in this business the firm took large interests in whaling. This business proved very remunerative, and grew in magnitude until they at one time had an interest in 50 whaling vessels. The sales of their oils one year amounted to more than 1o per cent. of the entire receipts at American ports. They also did a heavy commission business for others. When the California trade was opened very large consignments were received from that coast.
In 1869 Samuel Willets withdrew from the firm, still retaining an office in the building, however, for his private business. He has had official connection with several financial, educational and philanthropic institutions. He was at one time president of the American Exchange Bank, and has been one of its directors since 1850. He is president of the board of managers of Swarthmore College, near Philadelphia, and has been officially con- nected with it since its foundation. He is president of the Society for the Relief of the Ruptured and Crippled; president of the New York Infirmary and vice-president of the New York Hospital.
In March 1816 Mr. Willets married Sarah Hicks, of Westbury. After 65 years of signally harmonious wedded life his estimable wife died in January 188t, beloved and mourned by all who had the good fortune to know her.
Mr. Willets has always taken pleasure in assisting his fellow men when it appeared wise for him to do so. Several prominent and well-to-do farmers in Queens county owe their start in life to the aid received from him.
Considering the amount of work Mr. Willets has done, he is wonderfully well preserved, and it is hoped he will retain his health to enjoy for many years the fruits of his well spent life.
466
HISTORY OF QUEENS COUNTY.
ELIAS HICKS.
(BY ISAAC IIICKS.)
The Hicks family of Long Island descend from Pilgrim stock. The first American progenitor, Robert Hicks, landed at Plymouth, Mass., on the 11th of November 1621, having sailed from London in the ship " Fortune," which followed the " Mayflower," and brought over those left behind the previous year by that famous vessel. Robert's family were natives of Gloucestershire, Eng- land, and traced their ancestry in unbroken line back to Ellis Hicks, who was knighted by Edward the Black Prince on the battle field of Poitiers, in 1356, for bravery in capturing a set of colors from the French.
Robert Hicks settled at Duxbury, Mass., where he lived, and died at a good old age; but his sons, John and Stephen, in 1642 joined an English company which ac- quired, by patent, an extensive tract of land about Hempstead and Flushing on Long Island. Stephen purchased several thousand acres at Little Neck and erected a large mansion, where he lived until an ad- vanced age, and died without male descendants.
John Hicks settled at Hempstead, and it is from him that the extensive family of the name on Long Island and in New York are descended. Having been educated at Oxford University he was a man of intelligence, and his natural force of character made him a leader in the youthful colony. He took an active part in public af- fairs, and his name appears in most of the important transactions of the time.
John Hicks left an only son, Thomas, who seems to have inherited his father's intellectual vigor and force of character. He occupied a prominent position in public and social life, and filled many places of trust and honor, among others that of the first judge appointed for the county of Queens, an office which he held for many years.
In 1666 he obtained from Governor Nicolls a patent for 4,000 acres, including Great Neck and lands adja- cent. Here he erected a fine mansion and introduced the English manorial style of living.
He was a remarkable man in many respects, retaining his mental and physical powers unimpaired to extreme old age. A paragraph in the New York Postboy of Janu- ary 26th 1749 states that "he left behind him, of his own offspring, above three hundred children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren." He died in his one hundredth year, and left, among other children, a son Jacob, who was the grandfather of the subject of this sketch.
Elias Hicks was born at Rockaway, Long Island, March 19th 1748. His parents, John and Martha Hicks, were in moderate circumstances, but owned a good farm and comfortable home, where their children had excel- lent moral training, but otherwise received only a very limited education.
His father being a Quaker, although not a very active member of that society, Elias early imbibed the princi- ples of that sect, but during his youth, while apprenticed
to a carpenter, seemed inclined to prefer the gay society of the young people of the neighborhood. As lie grew older he developed a vigorous and active intellect, and evinced a steadfast devotion to his convictions of right and duty which was ever one of the most marked ele- ments in his character. He early took decided ground against the iniquity of human slavery, and later in life was among the pioneers in the cause of emancipation in the Society of Friends. This was one of the battles that he felt called upon to fight in the cause of truth and jus- tice, and he devoted the energy and ability of a long life to the faithful championship of the oppressed negro. His father was an owner of slaves, and in his youth Elias plead long and earnestly until he effected their emanci- pation. Later in life, when the estate of his father-in- law, who was also a slaveholder, came to be divided, he resolutely refused to accept for his own share any portion of the money which represented the value of the slaves, but used it to purchase their freedom, and ever after took upon himself the care and support of those thus liberated; even leaving a bequest in his will for their maintenance in old age.
In 1775 he became a public preacher in the Quaker society, and from that time until his death, when over 80 years of age, he was a faithful and tireless worker in what he believed to be the cause of truth and righteous- ness. He was especially earnest in the conviction that service in the ministry should be free, and without the selfish stimulus of earthly reward, and to this end he was scrupulously careful when traveling in the service of the society, and on all other occasions, to defray his own ex- penses.
During the exciting years of the Revolutionary war he carefully maintained the peaceful principles of his sect, and such was the confidence reposed in his high charac- ter that he was permitted, in the exercise of his religious duties, to pass six times through the lines of the contend- ing armies. He was scrupulously just in his business af- fairs, holding in all cases the dictates of conscience to be superior to the fallible laws of man.
In his dress, the furniture of his house, and all outward things, he carried to the extreme the principle of plain- ness and simplicity advocated by his society. In person he was erect, of commanding stature, and possessed in a remarkable degree that intangible attribute which we de- nominate " presence." In social life he was dignified but kind, a little reserved in manner, and giving the impres- sion of great intellectual force, combined with a stern devotion to the convictions of duty. Affable in bearing, and inheriting the courtly politeness of the old school gentleman of the last century, his society was much sought by intelligent people of all classes, who were at- tracted by his rare and varied gifts as a conversa- tionist.
His public addresses were not adorned with flowers of rhetoric, nor polished by scholastic learning, but were plain, logical discourses, delivered with a natural earnest- ness and eloquence which seemed to inspire his audience with a measure of his own strong faith, and to carry
RESIDENCE OF SAMUEL WILLETS, LITTLE NECK, QUEENS CO.,L.I.
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467
THE LIFE OF ELIAS HICKS.
them onward to conviction in the principles he advo- cated with such force and sincerity.
His religious views were somewhat in advance of those popular in his day, and were the result of individual thought and experience, uninfluenced by theological reading or metaphysical study. While accepting, in its broadest sense, the Quaker doctrine that the Almighty Spirit directly influences the hearts of all mankind, and that a strict adherence to the manifestations of duty, as revealed to each individual soul, is the foundation of all true religion, he was disposed to assign a less exalted place to the Bible, as God's specially revealed guide to man, and to maintain the Unitarian view of Christ's divinity. He took strong and decided ground against the old-time belief in Satan's personal existence and active work in the world, holding that the weaknesses and unbridled passions of human nature were the actual and only evil spirit against which mankind had to con- tend. In his view God was all love, and he rejected every doctrine or theory that impugned the absolute wisdom and goodness of the Divine Being, or His uni- versal affection for all the human family, however in- dorsed by conclave or synod. As it was his nature to think out his conclusions for himself, and then to take bold and fearless ground in maintaining his convictions of right, his advanced views naturally met with the dis- approval of many of the conservative members of his
society, and after a few years of excited discussion the Quakers in America divided into two separate bodies, which have ever since remained distinct. Those who united with the sentiments of Elias were called Hicksite, and those opposed to him Orthodox, Quakers. The former are the most numerous about New York, Phila- delphia and Baltimore, while the latter compose the bulk of the society in the New England and Western States.
Like most celebrated men of strong will and earnest convictions of duty, Elias Hicks made a decided impres- sion upon the religious thought of his time, although the circumscribed limits within which the customs and prin- ciples of the Quaker society of that day confined his labors prevented his working in connection with other associations; thus restricting his efforts to the endeavor to promote a higher standard of Christian life among his own religious associates.
During his long and active career he was constantly traveling about the country, addressing the meetings of his society, and wherever he went large and deeply in- terested audiences gathered to greet him. His noble presence and eloquent words made lasting impressions upon his hearers, the memory of which was ever after- ward cherished in affectionate hearts and has been hand- ed down with a feeling of reverence to a later generation. Elias Hicks died at Jericho, Long Island, on the 27th of February 1830.
OYSTER BAY.
HE Indians who were the first known inhabit- ants of this town were of two tribes-the Matinecocks, who occupied the north part of the town, and the Marsapeagues, who occupied the south part. Their division line was the "middle of the island." The principal occupation of the males was hunting. fowling and fishing; the females practiced agriculture to some extent. Corn was the staple product, and the "old planting fields " mentioned in the early records are supposed to be fields previously cultivated by the Indians. The large piles of broken shells near the shores indicate another important occupation-the business of making Indian money. The generic name of this shell money, for which Long Island was so noted, is seawant. There were two kinds, viz. wampum, or white, which was made from the stem of the periwinkle shell; and suckan- hock, or black, made from the heart of the hard clam shell. The black was rated much higher than the white.
The arms used by the Indians previous to the coming of the Europeans were the bow, with its string of wild hemp or the sinew of a deer; the arrow, pointed with a sharp stone fastened by resin or with rawhide strings; the war club, the wooden spear and a square shield, which was worn upon the left arm. Their wigwams con- sisted of hickory saplings bent in the form of an arch and covered with bark. In the middle was the fire; a hole at the top permitted the egress of the smoke. They pounded their corn with stone pestles; their mortars were generally of wood, sometimes a hole in a large stone. The Indians ate their food from wooden bowls. Their knife was a sharpened shell, their axe a sharpened stone. There are a number of specimens of these axes preserved, and some of them show that their manufacturer had con- siderable taste in carving. The head of the axe has a deep crease on each side, to receive a handle, which is formed by the two parts of a stick, split at one end, being forced into these creases so that the ends project a little beyond the axe, and then firmly bound to their place by thongs of rawhide.
The site of the village of Brookville is often mentioned as Susco's Wigwam, and it is certain that most of the JURISDICTION AND TITLE. Matinecocks inhabiting the town resided at this place The first attempt at settlement of this town or its vicinity was the result of an agreement dated 17th April 1640, in which James Farret, as agent of the Earl of and Cedar Swamp. They also had a small village at Mosquito Cove. It is stated that Susconaman lived where Mrs. McKensie now resides. The principal | Stirling, gave permission to Daniel Howe, Job Paine and
settlement of the Marsapeague tribe was in this town at Fort Neck, which derived its name from the Indian fort at that place. The only battle of any con- sequence between the whites and Indians on Long Island was fought here with this tribe early in the year 1644, when their fort was taken and demolished by a force under Captain John Underhill, who afterward aided them and other Indians in negotiating a treaty with the whites, and was rewarded with land at Matinecock. After this the Indians when sober and well treated were peaceable, quiet and kind. The only trouble of which we have any intimation, except from "fire-water," was on account of the whites neglecting to pay them for their lands as agreed, and differences in boundary. The first was adjusted by paying them. In the second case the Indians 'also maintained their claim, which was adjusted by the settlers buying the land and paying for it.
The first experiment mentioned in the town books for the prohibition of intemperance was tried on the Indians, and it is recorded as follows: "Dec. 13th 1660 .- It is ordered that no person or persons whatsoever shall, doubly or individually, sell wine or strong liquor to the Indians, upon the forfeiture of five shillings for the first default and ten shillings for the second; and the third time to forfeit his right of meadow to the town." The Indians when selling their lands reserved their right of fowling and fishing. These rights were soon cast aside, and instead of being partial owners the natives became in many instances slaves to the purchasers. Their rec- ognized rights dwindled to an old Indian woman coming to the farmers once a year and collecting what was called quit rent. Her coming long since ceased.
They soon ceased to exist as communities here, but they have left their marks on the old deeds, and their remembrancers in the arrow-heads and axes which are occasionally brought to the surface by the plowshare. Of the few who have been inhabitants of the town during the last century one after another has passed away, until their only representative is an Indian girl living with a family in the south part of the town.
469
OYSTER BAY AND THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENT.
others to purchase lands and settle on Long Island, " with as full and free liberty both in church order and civil government as the plantation of Massachusetts en- joyed." Clothed with this authority their leader, Daniel Howe, soon after made a purchase from the Indians on the island "which extended from the eastern part of Oyster Bay to the western part of a bay called, after him, Howe's bay, and to the middle of the plains, being half the breadth of the island." About the 10th of May fol- lowing a settlement was commenced, the location of which is thought to have been on the west side of Cow Neck, near the head of Manhasset or Cow Bay, which was for- merly known as Howe's or Scout's Bay. News of the settlement having been carried to Governor Kieft, he sent a force which broke it up.
Five years later the English attempted another settle- ment, advancing as far as Oyster Bay, within the tract purchased by Daniel Howe, and were again frustrated in their design by Governor Kieft, who seized and impris- oned some of the settlers, and drove the others away. These settlers, however, could have remained had they acknowledged their subjection to the authorities of New Amsterdam, which they refused to do.
The Dutch continued many years to claim jurisdiction over this portion of the island; but on account of its local advantages and adaptation to commercial purposes it was as persistently claimed by the English. A treaty was made by representatives of the Dutch and English colonies in a convention which met at Hartford, Conn., September 19th 1650. The agreement was "that a line run from the westermost part of Oyster Bay and so a straight and direct line to the sea shall be the bounds betwixt the English and Dutch there; the easterly part to belong to the English, and the westermost to the Dutch." By this arrangement, giving to the English the whole of Long Island to the eastward of this boundary line, which merely included the site of the Townsend mill property on the side of the English, it was hoped the controversy was at an end; but this hope was doomed to disappointment. The Dutch in order to better secure their possession of the lands allotted to them on the west of said boundary line, and to prevent intrusions thereon, immediately planted a small colony on their eastern border, to which project the village of Brookville, formerly called Wolver Hollow, is indebted for its origin.
When Oyster Bay came to be settled by the English a dispute arose between them and the Dutch governor respecting the "westermost" limits of Oyster Bay; and this, with the delay of the States General to ratify the treaty, furnished the Dutch governor with a pretext for not fulfilling it. Difficulties continued, for in 1656 we find that the commissioners of the united colonies of New England (Oyster Bay being at this time under the jurisdiction of New Haven), in answer to a communi- cation from the Dutch governor, reproached him for still continuing to claim Oyster Bay, in violation of the treaty of Hartford; for, although the treaty was ratified by the States General February 22nd 1656, yet it seems that the governor never wholly relinquished his claim of juris-
diction over the town, or a part of it. We find also that in 1659 the directors of the West India company ordered the Dutch governor to erect a fort or build a block- house on their east bay (Hempstead Harbor), in order the more effectually to resist the encroachments of the English; but in 1661 the governor informed them that he had not erected the fort on Long Island, near Oyster Bay, "because our neighbors lay the boundaries a mile and a half more westerly than we do, and the more as your honors are not inclined to stand by the treaty of Hart- ford." These disputes involved the people of Oyster Bay in much difficulty and perplexity.
To avoid giving offense to one power or the other and to secure peace and quietness they were compelled to observe a kind of neutrality between the contending parties. December 13th 1660 they resolved, by a vote of the people in the town meeting, that no person should intermeddle to put the town either under the Dutch or English, until the difference between then should be ended, under penalty of £50. It is presumed that the town about this period united with the other English towns on the island east of Hempstead in voluntary sub- mission to the jurisdiction of Connecticut. These dis- putes were, however, brought to a close by a surrender of New Netherlands to the Duke of York in 1664. This brought the whole island under the English authority. By decision of his Majesty's commissioners, given No- vember 30th 1664, it was decided that Oyster Bay, to- gether with all towns to the east, should also belong to the Duke of York. This town then remained under his control except during the reoccupation ot New York by the Dutch, when in October 1673 the people, upon their demand, took the oath of allegiance to the Dutch gov- ernment. The close of the war between the two gov- ernments again brought the town under the duke's control.
As we have seen, individuals located in different parts of the town, but had no permanent organization as a town until 1653, when the first plantation was commenced on the site of the village of Oyster Bay. The first in- strument of conveyance of land appears to be a deed from the Matinecock sachem, and is as follows:
" Anno Domini 1653 .- This writing witnesseth that I, Assiapum, alias Moheness, have sold unto Peter Wright, Samuel Mayo, and William Leveridge, their heirs, ad- ministrators and assigns, all the land lying and situate upon Oyster Bay and bounded by Oyster Bay River to the east side and Papequtunuck on the west side, with all ye woods, rivers, marshes, uplands, ponds, and all other the appurtenances lying between ye bounds afore named, with all ye islands to the seaward, excepting one island, commonly called Hog Island, and bounded near south- erly by a point of trees called Cantiaque; in considera- tion of which bargain and sale he is to receive, as full satisfaction, six Indian coats, six kettles, six fathom of wampum, six hoes, six hatchets, three pair of stockings, thirty awl-blades or muxes, twenty knives, three shirts, and as much peague as will amount to four pounds ster- ling. In witness whereof he hath set his mark in the presence of William Washborne, Anthony Wright, Rob- ert Williams.
"ASSIAPUM Or MOHENESS his
mark."
51
470
HISTORY OF QUEENS COUNTY.
Upon the back of the above instrument is an endorse- ment as follows:
"The within named Peter Wright, Samuel Mayo and William Leveridge do accept of, as joynt purchasers with ourselves, William Washborne, Thomas Armitage, Daniel Whitehead, Anthony Wright. Robert Williams, John Washborne and Richard Holdbrook to the like right as we have ourselves in ye land purchased of Assiapum, and particularly mentioned in ye writing made and subscribed by himself, with the consent of other Indians respectively interested, and in ye names of such as were absent, acted by him and them. As witness our hands-Peter Wright, Samuel Mayo, William Leverich."
A copy of this deed is kept in the town records, which differs from this in style and spelling. This is from Thompson, and seems to be more in accord with the style of those days. Some corrections have been made. A patent was granted by Governor Andros in 1677, from a certified copy of which, kindly furnished by John N. Remsen, town clerk, the following is taken:
"Edmond Andros Esqr., Seigneur of Sausmares, Lieut. and Governor General under his Royal Highness James Duke of York and Albany &c. of all his Territories in America, To all to whom these Presents shall come sendeth greeting.
"Whereas there is a certain Town in the North Riding of Yorkshire on Long Island commonly called and known by the name of Oyster Bay, situated, lying and being on the north side of the Island, towards the Sound, having a certain Tract of land thereunto belonging; the East bounds whereof begin at the head of the Cold Spring, and so to range upon a Southward line from the Sound or North Sea to the South Sea, across the Island to the South East bounds of their South meadows at a certain River called by the Indians Narrasketuck; thence running along the said coast westerly to another certain River called Arrasquaung; then northerly to the Easter- most extent of the Great Plains where the line divides Hempstead and Robert Williams' bounds; from thence stretching westerly along the middle of the said Plains till it bears South from the said Robert Williams' marked Tree at the point of Trees called Cantiagge; thence on a north line to the said marked tree, and then on a north west line somewhat westerly to the head of Hempstead Harbor on the East side, so to the Sound; and from thence Easterly along the sound to the aforementioned North and South line which runs across the Island by the Sound, on the East by Huntington limmitts, on the South part by the Sea and part by Hempstead limmitts, and on West by the bounds of Hempstead aforesaid, including all the Necks of Land and Islands within the afore described bounds and limmits.
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