History of Suffolk county, New York, 1683, Part 12

Author: W.W. Munsell & Co., pub; Bayles, Richard M. (Richard Mather); Cooper, James B. (James Brown), 1825-; Pelletreau, William S. (William Smith), 1840-1918; Street, Charles R. (Charles Rufus), 1825-1894; Smith, John Lawrence, 1816-1889
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: New York : W.W. Munsell & co.
Number of Pages: 677

USA > New York > Suffolk County > History of Suffolk county, New York, 1683 > Part 12

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Back on the rolling elevation to the right of us and in the rear of the little cluster of wigwams lies their corn- field. In it six or eight women are at work pulling weeds and stirring the soil with some kind of rude implements. Just here on our left two men are digging clay from the side of the very hill upon which we stand. This clay they are forming roughly into some sort of primitive dishes, which they will presently harden by baking in a hot fire when all is ready. A little way from them three old men sit chatting rather sociably for Indians, and

pecking away at stone arrowheads which they are form- ing for the use of the younger and more active men, two of whom may be seen just now returning from the woods bringing with them the carcass of a fine fat buck which their skilled aim and the magic qualities of the old men's arrows have brought to the ground.

Between the primitive pottery works and yonder clump of cedars which crowns the projecting bluff some men have rolled the trunk of a huge tree down from the higher hill where it grew, and are working perseveringly and shaping it for a canoe. This is primitive ship-build- ing.

As they stand there considering the proposition to send two swift-footed young men to find out what they are all anxious to know, the absent men and girls are seen emerging from the thicket and running down the hill and across the valley to where the wondering group is wait- ing. They are almost too much out of breath and over- come with excitement to say more than that they have seen a strange sight that they fear is an omen of danger. As they recover sufficient calmness and possession of their faculties they explain that away out on the great water

5 1

THE ADVENT OF WHITE MEN.

something was moving, something like a great canoe, so with them to be at hand in case of need. But some of the squaws, though they have never heard the proverb " Distance lends enchantment," still have an instinctive conviction of its truth, and act on that conviction by re- treating beyond the cornfield, as the approaching vessel anchors in the harbor and a small boat with a few men starts for the shore. Some of the Indians at the same time move cautiously down the slope. large that a big tree was growing out of it, and a very great blanket was hung upon the tree. The wind blow- ing against it pushed the thing along. What it was they could not tell .: Whether it was a great canoe with men in it, or some terrible monster of the sea, with wings, or a veritable delegation from the spirit world, good or bad, is a matter of speculation with them. They could not even tell which way the thing was trying to go, for it As the representatives of two different races of men approach each other the new comers are able to convey to the Indians-by what sort of language who shall ever know ?- the impression that their mission is a friendly one; that they intend no harm to them, but that they have brought some very useful and curious things which would move first in one direction, then in another, chang- ing its course so often that it was impossible to calculate on its intentions. While the men hold their listeners en- tranced with a description of what they have seen, the thing itself shoots out from behind the cedar-crowned point into full view less than half a mile away. Its sudden | they will show them, by way of friendly entertainment. appearance is greeted by an exclamatory chorus which And then they show them some of these wonderful con- trivances: knives of metal, so sharp that they will cut a sapling clean off at one thrust; awls, which the Indians at once see will be very useful for boring out the holes through their wampum beads; axes, bright and sharp and smooth-edged, with which they can cut a tree down more than ten times as easily as they can with their own clumsy tools; and other things which we cannot afford time or space to enumerate. The Indians are allowed to go aboard and examine the big canoe and all the appurte- nance's of civilization which the pale-faces have brought with them, until they are fairly intoxicated with curiosity and wonder. we may interpret as" being equivalent to "There it is!" and this is followed by a silent contemplation of the won- derful spectacle. The children cling tremblingly to their mothers, while the squaws crouch nearer to their hus- bands and the warriors, and all draw instinctively together as they press around the old men, who have thrown down their work and sit gazing in speechless wonder at the ap- proaching nondescript. Fear seizes every heart, and the breast of even the bravest warrior is troubled with deep misgivings as to what the end of this may be. There they stand, like so many statues, fixed and silent. Pres- ently the spell is broken, and one of the wisest of them explains this singular phenomenon to this effect:

" The Great Spirit is angry, and is coming in his big flying canoe to look for some warrior who has done some wicked thing, or for some other man who has displeased him; but maybe he will not find the bad one here. If he wants any of us we must go. It is no use to try to run away from him, so we might just as well stay where we are."

Another explains: "I don't think it is the Great Spirit. He don't travel that way. I think it is a great big canoe loaded with men. Maybe they are Pequots, may be Narragansetts, maybe Mohawks, maybe some other tribe from away off somewhere."

" No," answers a third, whose clearer vision has allow- ed him to see the faces of those on board, " these are not men like us. They are pale-faced,-more than our dead fathers and brothers are. They must be spirit men. That is a more beautiful canoe than any man could make in this world. It comes from the spirit land where our fathers and our chiefs have gone. Its wings are white and beautiful. They are made of the skins of the ani- mals that are hunted in that world where everything is so white and good. Maybe the spirit men in the canoe are our friends who are looking for us, to take us in the beautiful canoe to the happy hunting grounds which they have found."

But still the young warriors and hunters think, whatever may be the errand upon which the approaching party comes, it would be well to be ready for the worst, at least as far as the power to prepare for it is theirs. So their bows and their arrows are made ready and brought out

The setting sun that evening closed a day never to be forgotten by those who participated in the events which we have portrayed-the day which saw the meeting of two races of men upon the soil which had been, no one knows how long, the home of one, and was to be, no one knows how long, the home of the other. While the one should decrease the other should increase.

The Indians had never learned to place any particular value upon land. They knew of no use for it but that to which they appropriated it. They saw no danger of exhausting its limits; so when the new comers told them that they wanted to come and live on their lands and be friends with them, and would actually make them the owners of a certain number of these axes, awls, knives, blankets, coats and such things, which the Indians saw would be of great use to them, in exchange for some of their land, they were ready to comply with the terms and close the bargain. But when the new comers explained to them the mysteries of their fire-arms, and demonstrated their great utility, their wonder was excited to the high- est pitch, and when they were allowed to taste and ex- perience the mystical effects of that liquid substance which they afterward named " fire-water " they doubtless felt that two things were needed to complete their happi- ness, and those two things were guns and rum. To obtain these they were willing to sell their birthright, if neces- sary. The great men of the tribe agreed with the new comers that they could have to cultivate and use as they saw fit all the land included within certain boundaries, indefinitely expressed and still more indefinitely compre- hended; and to make the ceremony more impressive, as

HISTORY OF SUFFOLK COUNTY.

snow

well as to establish some sign by which they would after- ward be reminded of the circumstance, they consented to make a mark upon the piece of dressed skin which the| pale-faces had nearly covered with strangely confused and tangled lines and scratches. The territory upon which the new comers were allowed to set themselves down was inland from their own village and was of little value to them except for hunting grounds, and they had no idea that their occupancy of it would interfere much with the freedom of range over it for that purpose. So the Indians were rich and happy in the possession of those wonderful inventions which the strange people in the great canoe had brought them.

CHAPTER II.

A SKETCH OF PIONEER EXPERIENCE IN SUFFOLK COUNTY.

religious oppression far away beyond the sea-from the old England of Europe to the New England of America-to find a home for themselves and their posterity. Having visited some part of the mainland and thinking they might do better here, they had voyaged on until their eyes rested on the green hills of this beautiful island, where the "cloud " and "pillar " which seemed to guide them rested, and they felt that this was their promised land, their Canaan, their home.

Having gained, as we have already noticed, the favor of the Indians and excited their curiosity by the exhibi- tion of various articles of convenience, the founders of the little colony sought and found a desirable spot for their occupancy, and negotiated with the Indians for its purchase. The plot thus selected was at some distance from the Indian village. This selection was the most desirable to both parties. It was the part of discretion for the whites not to mix too intimately with the natives. Their safety was probably better secured by being at a distance from the latter, and the natives were doubtless more ready to sell the land that lay remote from their own settlement and was consequently of little value to them.

HE strangers whose arrival we have noticed had come from a land of political, social and broken up and planted with corn. Some spots were

The way thus prepared, the hardy sons of toil, for such we must suppose the most of them were, set to work pre- paring, as best they could, the wilderness for their occu- pancy. The settlers must accommodate themselves to the circumstances by which they are surrounded, and at first a rude hovel made of sticks braced against a ridge- pole and covered with boughs, grass and dirt served the purpose of a house until some of the land could be found sufficiently clear of timber growth to allow the work of planting to go on without serious hindrance. Then the seeds of other grains and vegetables appropri- ate to the climate were planted and cultivated. In the mean time, as their crops grew, they set about making themselves more secure against the possible depredations of their savage neighbors, and better protecting them- selves against the inclemency of the long, cold winter which would soon be upon them. Trees were felled and the logs brought together and laid up in a more perma-

THE PIONEER'S HOME.

nent form of house. Grass from the neighboring mead- | nerves him to fresh exertions, and the echoes come ows was placed upon the roof, and a chimney of sticks, quicker and stronger and the crash of falling trees more frequent, as his strong arm prepares the way for the com- ing era of civilization. "cob-housed " up and plastered on the inside with mud, answered to carry off the smoke, or a simple hole in the roof allowed its escape. Other houses were provided for the security and protection of the animals which had been brought from the English home or from their neigh- bors on the mainland.

Within his humble dwelling the domestic furniture and implements are scanty and simple. A few conveniences brought from the "mother country," and a few more simple and rude contrivances which the materials at hand enabled the settler to construct for himself, make up the equipments with which the operations of household econ- omy are carried on. The plain and homely fare which comes upon the settler's board is in keeping with the plainness and rudeness of the table upon which it is served and the appliances with which it is prepared. But he is a freeman, and he rejoices in that liberty. The thought nerves him to toil, and toil brings its own sweet reward, the keen enjoyment of rest and the comforts which his labor has earned. We venture to say no gaunt spectre of dyspepsia haunts him to bring to mind the sins that luxurious living has prompted him to commit.

We may suppose that the settler, here during the long winter, when nothing could be done in the way of culti- vation, devoted his spare time to the felling of trees and preparing from them, besides firewood, material for fences to be made on the return of spring. As he is thus busied, plying his axe through the cold winter day, we wonder what musings fill the settler's mind. Perchance the soli- tude and dreariness and coldness of his surroundings press his very, soul with overwhelming regrets that he has chosen this course for himself. Does he in his mind look back to the associations of the home that he left across the sea, with a yearning heart, and wish that it, with all its oppression and unhappy features were his again ? Does he reflect that the scenes of his early life, and the With appetite sharpened by free 'exercise, and the thought that his own exertions, aided by the genial in- fluences of nature, had obtained the food before him, he could partake of that coarse fare with a relish that a king might envy. For the clothing worn by himself and his family he had at first to depend upon the supply brought from afar, but soon he manufactured from the products of his animals and his fields most of the garments worn by himself and the members of his family. Those garments, rude though they may have been, were sub- civilization of his fathers, which were his own inherit- ance, are as dead to him here as all nature seems to be ? If such reflections cross his mind they are followed, no doubt, by the thought that brighter days are in the future, and as time will shortly remove this cold mantle from nature, and bring new life to all things around him, so it will remove the social dreariness which surrounds him, and bring new life, improvement and culture in its stead. And the thought that he is helping to bring about such a change in this naturally fair island of his adoption. stantial and answered as well the original and necessary

HISTORY OF SUFFOLK COUNTY.

purposes of clothing as the most expensive fabrics of modern manufacture could have done.

The rigor of the circumstances by which the settlers were surrounded was modified somewhat by the fact that the individual members of a company who came together were not far separated from each other in the location of their homes. This gave each the benefit of a small circle of associates of the same nationality and about the same social grade as hiniself. Of the tract of land which they had purchased of the Indians, a part was divided into home lots, to each settler a share, and other parts were enclosed in large common fields for cultivation or for pasturage of such stock as they might want to hold more more closely for immediate use. The greater part of their cattle were turned loose upon the open plains and hills to roam at large and find pasturage, while a man was employed to keep watch of them.

As one season follows another the hand of improvement widens the area of culture and adds new features of at- traction, of beauty, and of convenience to the settlers' surroundings. His stock is multiplied by the annual in- crease. The cottage and the adjoining garden have been enclosed by a substantial fence. The cottage itself has been improved by a solid roof of slabs in place of the one of "thatch," glass in the window in place of parchment stretched across a frame which had previously done duty there; while beside the door a cluster of some climbing plants, trained no doubt by the careful hand of the set- tler's bosom partner, has reached the eaves and fills the air with the fragrance of a thousand blossoms. Some

medicinal herbs have been planted beside the house, and a few choice plants, brought from the home of her child- hood, are watched over by the young housewife and mother, to whom they are dear as mementos of those as- sociations between which and herself roll the ocean and a widening expanse of passing years.

The settlers lived in harmony among themselves. Being mostly of a common nationality and having com- mon interests their sympathies were with each other, and they stood united. They worked much together, with and for each other, gathering the timber and enclosing their common fields for common cultivation or pasture, and standing firmly together in the employment of means for their protection and the general good. In this way there grew a uniformity of sentiment and habits, so strong that in some of the settlements the changes of more than two hundred years have not entirely effaced it. Standing thus unitedly, and having a well matured policy of kindliness toward the Indians, they experienced but little actual opposition or trouble from them.

As the years passed on the settlers found the country about them being taken up and occupied by other little colonies like their own, and a friendly intercourse soon sprung up between them. Roads were established for the accommodation of this intercourse, and frequent com- munication was also kept up with the settlements which had been made upon the mainland. The vicissitudes of political fortune harassed them for many years with fre- quent changes in the government with which they were at different times either permitted or commanded to as-

IMPROVEMENTS ON THE HOMESTEAD

sociate themselves. The institutions of religion and edu- cation were among the first to receive attention. In some cases the settlers were organized into religious bod- ies before they came hither, and brought with them their minister, while in all the settlements the minister of the gospel and the school teacher were the first professional men to find employment.

As the organization of the little colony became more perfect, regulations which seemed necessary were from time to time adopted for the preservation of the public welfare. Fortifications were thrown up and organization effected, a series of well understood signals adopted for alarm, and every precaution taken against a possible sur- prise from the Indians. They also passed strict regula- tions concerning the dispensing of "fire water " to the Indians. A vigilant eye was kept upon the internal af- fairs of the body politic, which had now assumed the name of a town, and held as a sacred principle its own independence. The character of those who desired to join it was closely scrutinized, and if not approved they were not allowed to become residents. Taverns were es- tablished for the accommodation of temporary sojourners, but the selling of spirituous liquors was carefully restricted to certain limits. Mills were built on some of the streams. Stores, in which a few of the common necessities of life were kept, were by degrees established, and in their trans- actions a system of barter was adopted, very little money being circulated among the settlers in that early period. Gradually the different trades and business occupations demanded by the times were introduced, the danger from

Indian aggression became less, and the little colony set- tled down to the quiet enjoyment of a moderate degree of prosperity as a factor in the colony of New York.

A hundred years have flown. The ideal settlers, whose surroundings we have pictured, have been gathered to their fathers. Succeeding generations have added their measure of improvement to the accumulating aggregate, and the humble home of the pilgrim cottager has become the almost pretentious homestead of his descendant of the fourth generation. The rude environments of the wilderness have dissolved, and their places are occupied by the conveniences and adornments of progressive culture, aided by definite calculation and well directed skill.

A new era of prosperity has dawned, and the outlook is encouraging; for the seven years of war which followed a long period of growing discontent on account of the op- pressive and unsatisfactory character of the colonial gov- ernment have passed, and the sunlight of peace is smil- ing upon the land more brightly than ever before.

After the release of the old homestead from the grasp of a foreign invader, which had been upon it during those dark and anxious years, its owner returned from his exile and speedily rebuilt the waste places. The fields and grounds which had been stripped to feed the fires of the enemy were refenced and a new barn was built in place of the old one, which had been nearly demolished by the same destroyer. An orchard has been planted, a more generous garden than ever before is being cultivated, and some attention is even paid to laying out grass-plats, beds

HISTORY OF SUFFOLK COUNTY.

and paths, and planting a few ornamental shrubs and flowers about the door. A saw-mill has been erected upon the brook, a substantial bridge spans the stream where the highway crosses, and in the opposite direction, exposed to view by the recent removal of the timber, may be seen in the distance the open door of the school- house. The earth is yielding her bounteous stores to the farmer's tillage. As he labors to harvest the generous burden from a new-mown hayfield he looks out upon the waving corn and his well-fed cattle quietly resting through the noon-day heat in the shade of the wood, and he feels that the smile of Providence is resting upon him.

The era of prosperity made rapid strides. Under the benign influence of that government which Americans have come to regard almost as an inspiration, commerce, agriculture and arts of civilization flourished vigorously. The war of 1812 cast but a passing shadow over the brilliant career of that government. The occasional out- breaks which occurred here and there within its borders and the few hostile engagements with other powers did not seriously hinder its grand onward progress. From the terrific civil struggle of four years into which it was plunged by the rebellion of 1861 it came forth "fair as the sun, clear as the moon, and terrible as an army with banners."

We turn to notice the changes that have taken place about the " old homestead " since we took the last view of it. The house which then occupied the site has been torn down, and its place is supplied by a larger one, of more recent design and construction. Lattice-work, cornice and moulding, in their appropriate places add beauty to the symmetrical appearance of the whole. A nice picket fence marks the highway line. A modern- ized barn has been erected, and carriage houses, sheds and granaries surround it. A bright winter morning looks down upon the scene, and the farmer and his boys are busy taking care of the stock. A grocery peddlar from the village store-an adjunct of modern enterprise -is driving up to the kitchen door to supply the family with whatever is needed in his line. A new bridge, an arch of stone this time, has been built over the brook, and just above it stands a mill which has been recently equipped with improved machinery. A cutter dashing down the road and a loaded sleigh from the mill give life to the foreground, while a railroad train, as it runs across the fields toward the station, half a mile away, animates the background. The forest which once ob- structed our vision has been cleared away, opening to view the scattered farm-houses, the little village and the old church in the distance. Through all these genera- tions the inhabitants of the country about here have regularly attended that church, and near it rest the re- mains of those who have passed away. The background stretching away to the distant hills is filled with cleared farms, whose thorough cultivation is increasing from year to year the wealth of their owners, and thus adding to the aggregate of the country's wealth and prosperity.

CHAPTER III.

THE COLONIAL PERIOD-GROWTH OF CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS.

HE towns of Suffolk county were all settled by English immigrants. It is the oldest county of purely English settlement within the limits of the State of New York. The first settler was Lion Gardiner, who purchased and begun to make improvements upon Gardiner's Island in 1639. During the following year settlements were made at Southampton and Southold. Easthampton was settled in 1648, Shelter Island in 1652, Huntington in 1653, Brookhaven in 1655 and Smithtown about 1663. The latter, however, was not recognized as a dis- tinct town until several years latter. Neither did Shelter Island exercise the functions of an independent town for several years after its settlement.

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