USA > New York > Suffolk County > History of Suffolk county, New York, 1683 > Part 106
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"Southhold, November 19th 1679 .- Know all whom it may concern yt I ye under written, having received of Joshua Horton, Constable of said town, ye sum of one hundred pounds currant payment of this place, doe hereby acquit and discharge ye said town and Constable of said sum."
"Witness my hand, JOSHUA HOBART."
The town also agreed to lay out £100 on a dwelling house. This house stood on his land on Hallock's Neck, just north of the cove in which Jockey Creek and Young's Creek unite and flow into the bay. It was a few rods southeast of the present residence of Robert Linsley. The old mansion has long since vanished, and only a few broken fragments of the materials of the chimney remain to mark the spot ; but the well from which the venerable pastor quenched his thirst still sup- plies the cooling draught, as it did two hundred years ago. In 1685 the people at his request made an ex- change of land, giving him in lieu of his lots at the North Sea a tract of land on Pine Neck, opposite and near his parsonage. This put him in possession of a fine localion, extending from Jockey Creek to Goose
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THE TOWN OF SOUTHOLD.
Creek, and forming the finest portion of the neck. He remained the owner of the parsonage till 1701, when it was sold to the town, and it was occupied by his succes- sors in the sacred office till 1787.
The clergyman at that period had other duties to per- form than such as usually belong to the sacred calling. He was most active in the political and financial affairs If the present generation were called upon to suffer as much discomfort as their ancestors in their attendance upon worship, we fear " the sound of the church-going of the town. As noticed before he was one of the com- mittee to adjust the relations between the town and the colony of New York. He was executor of wills and bell " would not call forth so generous a response as was referee in disputes between citizens of the town, and required by the laws and customs of early times. To also acted as a sort of overseer of the poor. In short he was called on to perform those duties which require not only a degree of business knowledge to perform them correctly, but also a reputation for justice and in- tegrity which will cause the decisions to be respected. say nothing of uncushioned seats, a much greater source of discomfort was found in the fact that no means were provided for warming the church building and thus mit- igating to some extent the inclemencies of the winter weather. As two services were held each Sabbath the people "between times " repaired to the dwellings of the neighbors, where the fireplaces, well supplied with blaz- ing logs, diffused a cheerful warmth. This however could hardly fail to be a burden to those whose proximity to the church rendered them liable to frequent calls upon their hospitality. To remedy this the town voted "to allow Isaac Conkling to build a house for convenience on the Lord's day on the town lot." This was doubtless provided with a fireplace, and others were erected in after years.
His life and ministry closed on the 28th of February 1716 (O. S.). Ten years after his death the town voted that a tombstone be purchased to mark the last resting place of the man of God, and on the record appears the bill, dated October 31st 1732, " for building Mr. Hobart's tomb with stone lime, & tendence, 16s. rrd." It still stands, a brown stone slab resting upon four walls. Upon the face of it was originally a tablet of some finer material, which bore the inscription. The tablet, tradi- tion says, was destroyed in the Revolution. Rev. Epher Whitaker, D. D., the learned and venerable historian of Southold, has after long search discovered a copy of the original epitaph, which is well attested. It may be found entire in his carefully prepared work, and is part in prose and part in verse. The former reads as fol- lows:
"The Rev. Joshua Hobart, born at Hingham, July into his possession he named the estate Dos uxoris 1629, expired in Southold, February 28th 1716. He was a faithful minister, a skillful physician, a general scholar, a courageous patriot and, to crown all, an eminent Christian."
Near by is the tomb of his wife, whom he survived 19 preached gratuitously in neighboring churches. He died years. The inscription cut in the stone has withstood the wear of time and the attack of vandal hands. She died April 19th 1698, aged 56. .
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The third pastor, Rev. Benjamin Woolsey, was born at Jamaica, L. I., November 19th 1687. He was a son of Captain George Woolsey jr., and a descendant in the fourth degree of George Woolsey of Yarmouth, who came to this country in 1635. He graduated at Yale College in the class of 1700. Previous to this seven classes had graduated, numbering all together 22 persons. Of these 18 became ministers. After his graduation he preached in several places. One instance which may be especially noticed is that at one time he preached in the Episcopal church in Hopewell (now Pennington), N. J. His being allowed to do so was one of the charges of wrong brought against Governor Hunter in 1712.
In July 1720 he was installed pastor of this church,
and he continued here sixteen years. This period was an eventful one in the history of the town. During its continuation new parishes were formed, and a committee was appointed to divide the parish lands proportionably, "that each minister may improve the same in proportion according to the first purchase."
In 1714 Mr. Woolsey married Abigail, daughter of John Taylor. Mr. Taylor died in 1735 and left to Mrs. Woolsey a valuable estate of several hundred acres, situated about two miles north of Glen Cove, in Queens county. Mr. Woolsey resigned his charge at Southold and removed to this estate in 1736. From the manner in which it came
(wife's dower), and this name, contracted into Dosoris, has continued ever since. During the remainder of his life Mr. Woolsey lived at this place, enjoying his estate and dispensing an elegant hospitality, and frequently August 15th 1756, and left an unsullied memory, and his native island mourned the loss of no common man. The inscription on his monument, and an extended account of his ancestry and posterity, may be found in Dr. Epher Whitaker's History of Southold.
Rev. James Davenport .- Mr. Woolsey was succeeded by a man whose influence was in after years felt throughout the length and breadth of Long Island, but that influence was not for good, and was the cause of the most bitter dissensions that ever agitated the churches of Suffolk county.
Rev. James Davenport was a son of Rev. John Daven- port of Stamford, Conn., and great-grandson of the first minister of New Haven. He was born in 1710, and or- dained at Southold October 26th 1738.
The wild and visionary enthusiasm which led Mr. Davenport a few years later to commit acts which can only be attributed to a diseased brain and an insanity which took its hue from the topic of the hour does not seem to have been developed during the first two years of his settlement. After that he was impressed with the
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THE TOWN OF SOUTHOLD.
idea that "God had revealed to him that His kingdom was coming with great power and that he had an extraor- dinary call to labor for its advancement." Religious enthusiasm was at that time the order of the day. Nearly a hundred years had passed since the settlement. A new generation was now upon the scene. The persecution for conscience sake which had driven the fathers to the wilderness was to their descendants a thing unknown, and there is every evidence that religion, which to the fathers was the breath of life, to the sons was but a lifeless thing. A sudden reaction from this state, and a remark- able development of religious fervor that swept over New England, was known as the Great Awakening. Mr. Davenport, whose mental disease now began to exhibit its worst form, became one of the wildest of enthusiasts. If we can judge of his oratory by the effect which it produced it must have been of a kind which kindled the imaginations of his bearers until in his descriptions the world of woe seemed actually present to their vision: then would follow a state of things which might well be termed half religion and half insanity. Outcries and bodily contortions among the more excitable of his au- dience were looked upon as a sure indication of con- version, though it is not at all remarkable that "converts" made after this fashion should in a short time have relapsed into their former condition, and become as wicked as before. It is a characteristic anecdote that is narrated of his kindling a fire at New London, and call- ling upon his followers and the deluded victims of his influence to come forward and cast their "idols " into the flames. The result was the destruction of not only many useless ornaments, but also of clothing and articles of value, and under the delusion that it was rooting out heresy the works of many able divines were cast into the fire. After a few years it pleased Providence to restore Mr. Davenport to his senses, and with this came a bitter sorrow and lasting regret at the acts of madness and folly which under the influence of a diseased mind he had been led to commit.
His connection with. the church at Southold ended in 1746, and he was after this settled as pastor at Hope- well (now Pennington), New Jersey. The inscription on his tomb, as copied in Dr. Whitaker's History of South- old, states that he died "November 10th 1757, aged 40 years." We can hardly reconcile this with the generally received date of his birth, 1710. His epitaph, evidently written by the hand of friendship, shows the high appre- ciation in which he was held by those who knew him in his later years, when, freed from the cloud upon his un- derstanding, he appeared "clothed and in his right mind." The influence of his early fanaticism for long years exerted a baneful effect upon the churches on the east end of Long Island, and shows how true it is that " the evil that men do lives after them."
Rev. William Throop .- The fifth pastor was the Rev. William Throop, who belonged to the Throops of Rhode Island, and especially to the Throops and Huntingtons of Lebanon, Connecticut, and was connected by marriage with the Rutherfords of New Haven, He was gradua-
ted at Yale College in 1743, and installed by the Pres- bytery of Suffolk September 21st 1748. He was a man of remarkable ability and excellence. He died September 29th 1756, aged 36 years and three months. His grave is near that of the Rev. Joshua Hobart, some rods northwest of the first pastor's. His children, Ben- jamin Brinley, Daniel Rutherford and John Rutherford, were born and baptized in Southold, and one of them died and was buried there.
Mr. Smith Stratton was graduated at Princeton Col- lege in 1755. He preached as a licentiate, and died here March 10th 1758, aged 30 years. His grave is near Rev. William Throop's.
Rev. John Storrs, the sixth pastor here, was a great- grandson of Samuel Storrs of Sutton, Nottinghamshire, England, and the eldest son of John Storrs of Mans- field, Connecticut, where he was born December rst 1735- He was graduated at Yale College in 1756, standing higher than his classmates, the Rev. Dr. Smal- ley and Judge Simeon Strong, LL.D. He was a tutor in Yale two years, 1761 and 1762. His ordination oc- curred in Southold, August 15th 1763. He had recently been married to Eunice, daughter of the Hon. Shubael Conant and widow of Dr. Howe of Mansfield. She died March 27th 1767, aged 31 years, and is buried in South- old, near the spot where the wife of the Rev. Joshua Hobart is buried by the side of her husband. Mr. Storrs was married to Hannah Moore of Southold De- cember 17th 1767. The British forces compelled him to leave the parish in August 1776, but he was active during the war as a chaplain in the army. After the close of the war of independence he returned to South- old and continued his pastoral care until be was dis- missed at his own request by the Presbytery, April 13th 1787. He removed to Mansfield, where he died Octo- ber 9th 1799. He was a man of superior mental ability and literary accomplishments, as manifested, for ex- ample, by his sermon preached at the ordination of his son, the Rev. Dr. Richard Salter Storrs of Long- meadow, Massachusetts. The sermon was printed. The Rev. Dr. Storrs of Longmeadow was the father of the Rev. Dr. Richard Salter Storrs of Braintree, Massachusetts; and the latter was the father of the eminent Richard Salter Storrs, D.D., LL.D., of Brooklyn.
The Southold church was supplied from 1787 to 1797 by not a few ministers and licentiates, among them Nehemiah Baldwin Cook, Herman Daggett and Elam Potter. The latter labored in Southold from Novem- ber 1792 until his death, January 5th 1794. His grave is near Mr. Throop's. Several of his sermons were printed. He received a unanimous call to settle as pas- tor here in 1792, but being unwilling to subscribe to the "half-way covenant " he declined and accepted a call to Southampton.
Another of those mentioned is worthy of more than a passing notice, Rev. Nehemiah Baldwin Cook was born at the village of Quogue, in the town of Southampton, in 1767. He was a son of Jonathan Cook, who was one of
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THE TOWN OF SOUTHOLD.
the first settlers in that place, and who died there March 7th 1754, aged 54.
Upon a moss-grown tomb stone in Sag Harbor burying ground may be seen the following touching inscription:
"Sacred to the memory of Nehemiah B. Cook, upwards of two years a licentiate of Long Island Presbytery, and a zealous and affectionate preacher of the Gospel. He died of the smallpox, greatly lamented by his friends, May 4th 1792, in the 25th year of his age. The following lines are inscribed at his request :
" Tho' poor, he desired To make many rich."
Rev. Joseph Hazzard was the seventh pastor. He was ordained June 7th 1797, by the Presbytery of Long Isl- and, on the call of this church. He had previously been licensed by the Presbytery of Dutchess, as well as by the Presbytery of Long Island. He was released from his pastoral care of the church by the presbytery at his own request on the 16th of April 1806.
Rev. Jonathan Huntting .- The eighth pastor was the Rev. Jonathan Huntting. He was born in East Hampton. February 13th 1778, a descendant of the Rev. Nathaniel Huntting, the second pastor of that place. He was grad- uated at Yale College in 1804, studied for the ministry with the Rev. David S. Bogart, of Southampton, com- menced preaching in Southold in June 1806, and was or- dained pastor August 20th 1807. He faithfully fulfilled his duties for 21 years, and then requested the Presby- tery of Long Island to release him from his pastoral care. This was done August 27th 1828. He continued to reside in Southold until his death, December 30th 1850, and was generally preaching in some of the neigh- boring churches. The membership of the church under his ministry increased from1 56 to 101.
The church had no pastor for eight years after Mr. Huntting's resignation. It was supplied by the Rev. William Fuller from June 1830 to June 1833. The next two years the Rev. Nehemiah B. Cook, a kinsman of the previously mentioned minister of the same name, oc- cupied the pulpit.
Rev. Ralph Smith was the ninth pastor. His parents were Epenetus and Rhoda Smith, and he was born at Smithtown, Long Island, November 27th 1811; was pre- pared for college at Clinton Academy, East Hampton, by the Rev. Joseph B. Condit, its principal, and was grad- uated at Williams College in 1830. He subsequently studied medicine at New Haven, under Dr. Knight, and was graduated as M. D. at Yale College in 1833. He commenced practice in Patchogue, but his attention was soon turned to the ministry, and he entered the Presby- terian Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey, where he pur- sued his studies two years. He was licensed to preach by the Second Presbytery of Long Island, and subse- quently ordained by the Presbytery of Long Island, and installed pastor of the Southold church June 15th 1836. He was released from this charge, at his own re- quest, April 18th 1838. After a short absence he re- sumed his ministry here, and continued it until Decem- ber 1840. He was thereafter active in the ministry at various places in New England. He died at Saugerties,
New York, November rst 1867, and was buried in Smithtown.
Among the supplies here after Mr. Smith's resignation was the Rev. Alonzo Welton, who preached in Southold more than three years.
Rev. G. F. Wiswell, D. D .- The tenth pastor was the Rev. George F. Wiswell, D. D. He was born at White- hall, New York, May 29th 1817; studied in Middlebury College, where he was graduated after he entered the ministry; pursued the full course in the Union Theologi- cal Seminary in the city of New York, where he was graduated in 1844; was licensed by the Third Presby- tery of New York, and ordained and installed pastor of the first church of Southold by the Presbytery of Long Island June 18th 1845; was released from this charge at his own request, November 12th 1850; was financial secretary of the Union Theological Seminary two years; pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church of Peekskill, New York, from 1853 to 1856; first pastor of the Central Presbyterian Church of Wilmington, Delaware, from 1856 to 1867; and pastor of the Green Hill Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, from 1867 to the present time. He received the degree of D. D. from Hamilton College in 1866.
Rev. Dr. E. Whitaker .- The eleventh pastor is the Rev. Epher Whitaker, D. D. He was born in Fairfield, New Jersey, March 27th 1820; prepared for college in Newark Academy, Delaware; graduated at Delaware College in 1847; pursued the full course in the Union Theological Seminary in the city of New York, where he was graduated in 1851; was licensed by the Third Pres- bytery of New York, ordained and installed pastor of the First Church of Southold by the Presbytery of Long Island September 10th 1851, and continues in this charge after thirty years of service. He gave to the press in 1865 "New Fruits from an Old Field," a volume of sermons and addresses. Many of his occasional sermons have been printed. He received the honorary degree of A. M. from Yale College in 1867, and that of D. D. from Delaware College in 1877.
Dr. Whitaker is also well known as an able and pains- taking investigator on historical subjects. His latest production, ".History of Southold-Its First Century," is a work of the greatest value, and the writer of this sketch embraces the opportunity to acknowledge in the most emphatic nianner his deepest obligations to its dis- tinguished author for information and assistance most willingly bestowed.
OTHER SOUTHOLD VILLAGE CHURCHES.
Methodist Episcopal .- This society was organized here in 1794 and a church building was erected in 1819. This first church stood about half a mile east of the center of the village, on the north side of the road and at the corner of the road to Greenport. It is now a grocery store. A second church was built in 1850, which on ac- count of the increase of the society's membership was enlarged and greatly improved in 1867.
The Universalist church was built in 1836.
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THE TOWN OF SOUTHOLD.
The Roman Catholic church in Southold was formerly the academy building, and was bought by an agent of Bishop Loughlin April Ist 1863, and then moved and enlarged. There is at the present time a flourishing con- gregation, under the pastoral care of Rev. Father Foley.
SOUTHOLD ACADEMV.
This institution was founded in 1834, and the lot was purchased and building erected by subscription. Four- fifths of the amount was paid by members of the Presby- terian church, and it was intended to be to some extent under the control of that denomination. The first teacher was Selah Hammond. The property was soon sold to William H: Wells. It then passed into the hands of Daniel Dickinson, who the next year sold to Cordello D. Elmer (afterward school commissioner and prominent in the educational affairs of the county). The school was taught by him from 1859 to 1862. He then sold out to William D. Cochran and he to Jacob A. Appleby, by whom the building was sold to William Wickham, agent for Bishop Loughlin, and it is now the Catholic church.
The present academy was built in 1867 and is held in the name of the trustees of the Presbyterian church. It was opened December 16th. The first principal was E. Wilmot Cummings, who after two years was succeeded by Martin D. Kneeland, who was followed in 1870 by Thomas A. Abbott. James D. Robinson was principal from 1871 to 1881. The present principal is Lemuel Whitaker, son of the respected pastor of the Presbyterian church and a graduate of Hamilton College.
GREENPORT.
In the year 1682 Capt. John Youngs among the list of his lands records the following : "One parcell of Woodland lyinge on the west side of Starling harbour att the poynt there of, being about thirtie or fortie acres given him by the Generall Courte att New Haven in May one thousand six hundred fforty nine, and sythence converted to a ffarme." Such was the piece of land
years ago. The land which tell to him as his part of the grant for maintaining the general fence, as described under the head of Hashamomack, lay north of this, so that Captain Youngs owned a large tract, extending from the bay to the sound, and including all that is now covered by this flourishing village. In addition to this he obtained a tract of land on the east side of Stirling Creek, about 250 rods in width and also extending from the sound to the bay, embracing an area of about 500 acres, and now owned by David G. Floyd and others. In 1687 Captain Youngs sold to William Booth a tract of , 200 acres more or less, bounded on the east by Stirling
the railroad and bay. There were also eight acres of meadow sold, lying at Orient. The price for the whole was £300.
This region took its ancient name of "Stirling " from the earl who was the proprietor of Long Island, and the port is called in the early records "Winter Harbor," doubtless owing to the fact that it is never frozen, and thus is accessible when "Town Harbor " and other land- ings are closed by ice. In the early part of the present century the eastern part of this village was a farm owned by Captain David Webb. His father, Orange Webb, was an inn keeper, and lived in the house now owned by George H. Corwin, on Stirling- street. In early times
there was a wharf or landing near the mouth of Stirling Creek, and the narrow road now Stirling street led to it. At the head of the street, a few rods east of the Presby- terian church, was (and still stands) the "Booth House," in olden times the inn of Lieutenant Constant Booth, and now owned by Mrs. Mary J. Worth. 1
It was at this inn that Washington staid while on his way to New London and Boston in 1757. The house of Orange Webb is noted as the place where Whitefield stopped in 1763, and while there he wrote on one of the panes of glass with a diamond, "One thing is needful." This pane of glass remained in its original place till within a few years, and may now be seen in the rooms of the Long Island Historical Society. There were two or three other houses on the south side of the road, but excepting these there were none in what is now Greenport.
After the death of Captain David Webb his farm was surveyed and divided into lots, and sold at auction, March 23d 1820. The purchasers were Daniel T. Terry, Silas Webb and Joshua Tuthill, and the price bid was $2,300. There were no roads through it at the time.
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT.
Main street was laid out in 1827, and the first set of marine railways built the same year; also the wharf, which has since been enlarged several times to accom- modate a growing commerce. The wharf at the foot of Central avenue was commenced in 1838. Previous to and after the Revolution there had been some trade car- now occupied by the village of Greenport, two hundred ried on with the West Indies, and cargoes of molasses and rum were landed at the old wharf on Stirling Creek; but in 1831 commenced a new enterprise, which was destined to be of far greater importance.
The first whaling ships which sailed from this port were the "Triad " and the "Bayard," the former com- manded by Captain Nathaniel Case and the latter by Captain John Fordham of Sag Harbor. About the same time sailed the "Potosi," which was wrecked on the Falk- land Islands. The first mentioned being successful other vessels were purchased, among them the " Delta " (com- manded by Captain Isaac Sayre of Southampton), "Car- oline," "Kanawha," "Neva,". "Nile," "Italy " and Creek and a line from the head of it to the sound. The others, twenty in all, and most of them made full sound lay on the north ; the western boundaries were voyages. Captain David Wicks of Babylon commanded the " Delta " 21 years, and died in 1870. The result of this prosperity was that the village was rapidly built up. somewhat indefinite, but it may be said to include all of Greenport lying east of Germania avenue and north of
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