USA > New York > Suffolk County > History of Suffolk county, New York, 1683 > Part 14
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The government thereupon established by Governor Sloughter remained substantially the same for a period of more than four score years, which may be called the colonial period proper, and which closed with the advent of the American Revolution. The disturbed condition of affairs which had for so long a time prevailed was super- seded by comparative quietude and harmony. All grants, charters and patents previously issued were now confirmed. The Assembly was established again and was never afterward abolished. Courts were established, pleas, composed of a judge and the justices of the county, having cognizance of civil actions except where the title to land was concerned, and final power in cases of value less than £20; the court of sessions, composed of the justices of the county; and the justices' courts, wherein a single justice had power to decide a controversy to the amount of forty shillings. The justices were ap- pointed by the governor. Surveyors of highways, col- lectors, assessors and constables were elected by the people.
Suffolk county had in .1693 the following justices: John Howell, Samuel Mulford, Richard Smith, William Barker, Matthew Howell, Ebenetus (probably Ebenezer or Epenetus) Platt and Thomas Mapes. Josiah Hobart was sheriff at the same time, and Isaac Arnold judge of the common pleas. These names are often met with in the history of those years, and they were doubtless among the leading men of their day, and the most of them probably held office for many years. At this time
MILITIA-CHURCHES-HOME MANUFACTURES.
the militia of Suffolk consisted of nine companies of foot, numbering 533, commanded by Col. John Youngs.
The following statistics of population of the different counties of the province of New York in 1698 will show by comparison the importance of Suffolk county at that time: Albany, 1,476; Ulster and Dutchess, 1,384; Orange, 219; Westchester, 1,063; Richmond, 727; New York, 4,937; Kings, 2,017; Queens, 3,565; Suffolk, 2,679.
In the year 1700 the militia of the province numbered 3, 182 men. At the same time the militia of Suffolk numbered 614 men. These composed a regiment and its field officers were: Isaac Arnold, colonel; Henry Pierson, lieutenant colonel; Matthew Howell, major. The officers of its town companies were as follows:
The Brookhaven company-Samuel Smith, captain; Richard Floyd, lieutenant; Joseph Tucker, ensign.
The Huntington company-Thomas Wicks, captain; John Wood, lieutenant; Epenetus Platt, lieutenant.
The Southampton company-Abraham Howell, cap- tain; Joseph Fordham, lieutenant; Isaac Halsey, ensign; John Lupton, lieutenant; Joseph Moore, ensign; Thomas Stephens, captain; Joseph Pierson, lieutenant; Jeremiah Scott, ensign.
The Southold companies-Thomas Young, captain; Samuel Glover, lieutenant; Richard Brown, ensign; Jon- athan Harlow, captain; Mr. Griffin, lieutenant; Mr. Emmons, ensign; Thomas Mapes, captain; Joshua Har- low, lieutenant; John Booth, ensign.
A company in Easthampton-John Wheeler, captain; Enoch Fithian, lieutenant; Cornelius Conkling, ensign. The names of the officers of one or two other com- panies in this town are not given in the list from which we copy, though it is intimated that such companies ex- isted.
The first churches here were independent and after- ward became Presbyterian. The ministers were supported by the towns in which they officiated, and their salaries as early as 1678 were from £40 to £70 a year, with the use of a house and land. The Church of England did not find as auspicious a field here during the colonial period as it did in some other parts. One of its adherents in 1704 declares: " In Suffolk county, in the east end of Long Island, there is neither a Church of England minis- ter nor any provision made for one by law, the people generally being Independents, and upheld in their sep- aration by New England emissaries." The first churches of that denomination were established near the middle of that century.
In 1677 the people of Huntington complained that the Quakers came into their meetings and by making boister- ous noises greatly disturbed them. The sect never gained any strength in this county. In 1756 there were only nine persons who registered according to law as Quakers, of whom six were at Islip, two at Huntington, and one at Brookhaven.
Negro slaves had been introduced previous to 1678, and at that time they were valued at £30 to £35. The · institution of slavery grew moderately, and was maintained until after the Revolution.
In the early part of the eighteenth century the dispo- sition to move westward, even from this newly settled section, began to show itself. Colonies from these com- paratively old towns then branched off from the parent stem and planted themselves in other parts of the prov- ince and in the neighboring provinces; as Governor Hun- ter in 1716 remarks: "Great numbers of the younger sort leave Long Island yearly to plant in the Jerseys and Pennsylvania."
Among the products and exports of the country here as early as 1678 were corn, wheat, beef, pork, fish, timber, staves, horses, and whale oil. Considerable trade with the West Indies was carried on during the latter part of the seventeenth century. This consisted of wheat or its products, and staves, in exchange for rum, sugar, mo- lasses, and logwood. Whale oil and bone were the chief exports to Europe. The king and his representatives here used their power to prevent any trade with other countries than those belonging to the crown.
The agents of royalty looked with a jealous eye upon any effort in the direction of manufacturing which the colonists here made. The governors frequently recom- mended the home government to encourage the produc- tion of naval stores as a means of diverting the attention of the people from manufacturing. In their view the chief object of the colonies was to serve the interests of England, and to this end it was necessary to secure their dependence upon the mother country by every possible means. The people, however, had other objects and am- bitions, and they steadily pursued them.
Woolen manufacture was commenced here about the year 1700. A woolen cloth called serge was produced. This manufacture, commencing not only in Suffolk but in Connecticut, alarmed the agents of royalty, for they saw in it a strong factor of self-dependence for the colon- ies of America. Some idea of the way in which this matter was regarded by different governors at different points of the colonial period may be gained from the following ex- tracts. Governor Cornbury writes to England in 1705:
"I am well informed that upon Long Island and Con- necticut they are setting up a woolen mannfacture, and I myself have seen serge made upon Long Island that any man may wear. Now if they begin to make serge, they will in time make coarse cloth and then fine. * *
* I hope I may be pardoned if I declare my opinion to be that all these colonies, which are but twigs belonging to the main tree [England], ought to be kept entirely dependent upon and subservient to England; and that can never be if they are suffered to go on in the notions they have, that as they are Englishmen so they may set up the same manufactures here as people may do in England; for the consequence will be that if once they can see they can clothe themselves, not only comfortably but hand- somely too, without the help of England, they, who are not very fond of submitting to government, would soon think of putting in execution designs they had long harbored in their breasts. This will not seem strange when you consider what sort of people this country is inhabited by."
Caleb Heathcote, member of the council, writes to England in 1708:
62
HISTORY OF SUFFOLK COUNTY.
"They are already so far advanced in their Manu- factoryes that 34 of ye linen and Wollen they use is made amongst 'em, espetially the Courser sort; & if some speedy and effectual ways are not found to putt a stop to it they will carry it on a great deal further, & perhaps in time very much to the prejudice of our manufactorys at home."
These were no doubt the views of extremists, who pictured the case in stronger lights than the facts would warrant. The alarm raised in them is hardly supported by the following statement of Governor Cosby to the Board of Trade in 1732:
"The inhabitants here are more lazy and inactive than the world generally supposes, and their manu- facture extends no farther than what is consumed in their own families-a few coarse linsey woolseys for clothing, and linen for their own wear."
Governor Moore in 1767 writes:
"It does not appear that there is any established fabric of broadcloth here; and some poor weavers from Yorkshire, who came over lately in expectation of being engaged to make broadcloths, could find no employ- ment. But there is a general manufactory of woolen car- ried on here, and consists of two sorts, the first a coarse cloth entirely woolen, 34 of a yard wide; and another stuff, which they call linsey woolsey. The warp of this is linen and the woof woolen, and a very small quantity of it is ever sent to market. * *
* The custom of making these coarse cloths in private families prevails throughout the whole province, and almost in every house a sufficient quantity is manufactured for the use of the family, without the least design of sending any of it to market. This I had an opportunity of seeing in the late tour I made, and had the same accounts given me by all those persons of whom I made any inquiry; for every house swarms with children, who are set to work as soon as they are able to spin and card, and as every family is furnished with a loom the itinerant weavers who travel about the country put the finishing hand to the work.
The business of tanning and preparing leather for manufacture was begun as early as the latter part of the seventeenth century. From the first settlement the skins of animals were prepared for various uses, but the product could hardly be called leather. The manufacture of hats from beaver fur was begun about 1715. In 1732 this branch had received so much attention, and had grown to such threatening proportions, that it was considered necessary by Parliament to pass an act prohibiting the exportation of hats made here. The trade of hat-making grew to be an important one, and was carried on in shops in the different villages about the county. As then con- ducted the business has long since become obsolete. The farmers began to make cider from the fruit of their or- chards as soon as those orchards began to bear fruit enough for the purpose. Linseed oil began to be made from the product of the flax-fields about the year 1715. The first paper-mills were established here but a short time before the Revolution.
The limitations of space compel us to draw this sketch of pre-Revolutionary Suffolk to a close. In doing so we may present the following table of population, which will
ance in comparison with the colony of New York at dif- ferent periods. The table includes whites and negroes, but not Indians.
County
of
Province of
Dates.
Suffolk.
New York.
1650,
* 500
* 2,500
1731, +
7,675
50,289
1673 .*
1,600
* 7,500
1737,
7,923
60,437
1698,
2,679
18,067
1749,
9,384
73,448
1703,
3,346
20,749
1756,
10,290
96,765
1723,
6,241
40,564
1771,
13,128
168,007
* These figures are the result of careful estimates based upon imper- fect data.
+ In 1731 there were 715 Indians reported in the county.
CHAPTER IV.
SUFFOLK COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTION-WASHINGTON'S TOUR-THE WAR OF 1812.
T would be difficult to name any date as the point in the history of this county when the revolutionary spirit began to rise. It was like the priesthood of Melchisedec, without beginning of days or end of life. The people of Suffolk never rested easy under the yoke of royalty. The heavier that yoke pressed the more recalcitrant they grew. A general convention of com- missioners from the colonies of New York, New Hamp- shire, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland and Pennsylvania was called to meet at Albany in June 1754 to make presents to and confirm peace and friendship with the Indians of the Six Nations. During the deliberations it was agreed that a union of all the colonies was necessary for their security and defense. A committee of one from each colony represented was ap- pointed to draft a plan for such a union. In this com- mittee William Smith, of Suffolk county, represented New York. The plan decided upon by that convention may be considered the germ out of which developed in time the union of the States.
In the movements inaugurating the Revolution the people of Suffolk were not behind their neighbors in man- ifestations of patriotism and interest in the cause of American liberty. The different towns and districts of the county held special meetings and passed resolutions expressing their readiness to take part in resisting op- pression, and their sympathy with their friends of Boston. Committees were appointed to represent them in conven- tions of the county, to devise measures for the public welfare and to arrange for united action in executing those measures. "Committees of correspondence " for Suffolk met at Riverhead November 15th 1774, and passed the following expression:
"Voted, That we recommend it to the several towns in this county to set forward a subscription for the employ- ment and relief of the distressed poor in the town of show the growth of the county and its relative import- | Boston, to be collected in such manner as the committees
County of
Province of
Dates,
Suffolk.
New York.
63
REVOLUTIONARY REPRESENTATIVES FROM SUFFOLK.
in each town shall judge proper, to be in readiness to be forwarded early next spring.
"Voted, That John Foster have the care of procuring a vessel to call at the several harbors in this county, to re- ceive and carry the above donations to Boston.
"Voted, That we fully approve of the proceedings of the late Continental Congress, and recommend it to the committees of the different towns to see that the associa- tion by them entered into on behalf of themselves and their constituents be strictly observed.
" EZRA L'HOMMEDIEU, Clerk."
February 23d 1775 the committees of observation Genting the people of Huntington, Smithtown, Islip and Southampton, with some of the principal inhabitants of Brookhaven, met at Smithtown and passed resolutions approving the course of the late Continental Congress, and advising the representatives of the county in the Assembly to join in the appointment of delegates to the Continental Congress which was to be held in Philadel- phia in May following. The Assembly did not make the appointment of such delegates, and a provincial conven- tion was called for the purpose. A meeting of the com- mittees of the several towns was held at Riverhead April 6th 1775, and appointed Col. William Floyd, Col. Nathaniel Woodhull, Col. Phineas Fanning, Thomas Tredwell and John Sloss Hobart to represent the county in this convention.
The colonial Assembly having adjourned for the last time on the 4th of April, a Provincial Congress of New York was convened on the 22nd of May. In this con- gress Suffolk was represented by Nathaniel Woodhull, John Sloss Hobart, Thomas Tredwell, John Foster, Ezra L'Hommedieu, Thomas Wickham, James Havens and Selah Strong. The people were recommended to ap- point county and town committees, for the management of the government, which was done, and thus the govern- ment was wrested from the hands of English royalty. These representatives of the people administered affairs until the organization of the State government in 1777.
During the summer of 1775 several British vessels were prowling about the east end of the island. These occasionally carried off stock from the pasture fields of Montauk. In reply to a petition from the people of Southampton and Easthampton Congress gave direction for troops to be sent to guard the stock. Two com- panies raised in the neighborhood for service in the common cause were allowed to remain for that purpose. On the 7th of August thirteen sail of British shipping were seen off Orient Point. To be prepared against a raid upon the stock about the east end, which seemed imminent, four companies from Gen. Wooster's com- mand at Harlem were ordered thither under Col. Phineas Fanning, and Congress voted two hundred pounds of powder to the order of Ezra L'Hommedieu and John Foster. Notwithstanding these precautions it is said that about one hundred cattle and nearly three thousand sheep were taken from Fisher's and Gardiner's Islands.
The second Provincial Congress met December 6th 1775, and the third in May 1776, and in both bodies Suf-
folk was represented by John Sloss Hobart, Thomas Tredwell, Selah Strong, Nathaniel Woodhull, Ezra L'Hommedieu, David Gelston, Thomas Wickham and Daniel Brown.
The militia of Suffolk numbered at this time a little more than two thousand men. Companies of minute- men were organized, and preparations were made for the best possible defense of the county. January 5th 1776 Congress sent 1,000 pounds of powder to the Huntington committee. In April the force of continental troops on guard at the east end was increased to three com- panies.
Prominent among the illustrious signatures attached to the immortal Declaration of Independence is that of William Floyd, a native and resident of Suffolk, and one of the four delegates from the colony of New York to that Congress which adopted the Declaration.
The fourth Provincial Congress of New York met on the 9th of July 1776. Suffolk was represented in it by Nathaniel Woodhull, Ezra L'Hommedieu, John Sloss Hobart, Burnet Miller, Thomas Dering, David Gelston, William Smith and Thomas Tredwell. They were author- ized by . their constituents to "establish a new form of government," which that Congress immediately set about doing, and completed the following year in the or- ganization of the State government.
Toward the latter part of July the independence of the American colonies was proclaimed in the different towns and villages of Suffolk, and resolutions of the Provincial Congress approving the action of the Continental Con- gress were read amid enthusiastic demonstrations of the people. At Huntington an effigy of George III., wear- ing a wooden crown stuck full of feathers, was hung upon a gallows, and having been partly filled with powder was blown to pieces and burned. The "union " and the words "George III." were cut from the flag which had been waving from the liberty-pole, and burned with the effigy in presence of a parade of the people.
It was well perhaps that the people of Suffolk did not know the fate that awaited them; for such a knowledge might have influenced them to be less decided in their expression of patriotism, and had Suffolk faltered in that critical moment who can tell how disastrous the result might have been to the destinies of the country ? It is not all vanity that prompts Suffolk county to claim a leading influence and position in the movements of that eventful period. Besides the influence which Mr. Floyd wielded among his fifty-five associates in the famous old hall at Philadelphia, the representatives of Suffolk stood in the front ranks of the Provincial Congress of New York, while one of their number, General Nathaniel Woodhull, was president of that body all through the most trying days of its existence.
The tidal wave of enthusiasm which swept over the country after the declaration of independence was quickly followed by the disastrous battle of Long Island, on the 27th of August, by which the British troops gained full possession of the island. Suffolk in company with her sister counties now lay at the mercy. of the enemy. On
64
HISTORY OF SUFFOLK COUNTY.
receiving news of the engagement at Brooklyn and its unhappy result the few companies of regular troops within the county withdrew to Connecticut and the militia disbanded and went to their homes. Angust 29th the English general, William Erskine, to whose care the east- ern part of Long Island had been committed, issued a proclamation to the people of Suffolk, enjoining them to use their utmost efforts to preserve the peace of the county, directing all men acting under authority of the " rebels " to cease at once, requiring all men in arms to surrender, exhorting all persons to assist his Majesty's forces by furnishing cattle, wagons, horses, and whatever else lay in their power to furnish; and intimating that if such requirements were not immediately complied with he should march into the county and "lay waste the property of the disobedient."
Civil government in this county was now suspended. The various town and county committees were dissolved and the members of them compelled to revoke their former actions and disclaim all allegiance to Congress and the cause of American independence. Many of those who had been most active in the recent demonstrations left their homes and fled beyond the lines of British oc. cupancy, some to Connecticut and some to other parts of the country, while some were seized and thrown into prison. Their property was appropriated without re- serve to the use of the conquerors, or wantonly destroyed by the lawless soldiery. Presbyterian churches were used for barracks or stables, and the resting places of the dead were shamefully desecrated, graves being leveled and tombstones removed or broken to pieces. Levies were made upon the inhabitants for grain and other forage which generally required all that the farmers had to spare, frequently much more, and sometimes their whole supply. The people were compelled to take the oath of allegiance to the king. In October a testimonial of that nature petitioning for the restoration of the county to "his Majesty's protection and peace," addressed to the king's commissioners, was circulated through the county and, probably through some delusive representation, six hundred and fourteen persons were induced to sign it.
During the war British troops were stationed in dif- ferent parts of the county wherever the best fields for plunder invited, committing such acts of violence upon the property or persons of the people as their unre- strained propensities suggested. Their numbers were in- creased by enlistments of tories. But not alone from the British troops did the inhabitants suffer. They were fre- quently plundered by mercenary Whigs and tories as well, who sometimes made raids upon the island from the Con- necticut shore. From these predatory attacks neither Whig nor tory was exempt, nor was there any redress for the sufferers.
Mr. Onderdonk in his " Revolutionary Incidents " says :-
"In Suffolk county the ilicit trade forms a striking feature. This consisted in buying imported goods in New York (with the professed design of retailing them to faithful subjects in the county), and then carrying them
down the island to secret landing places, whence they were sent across the sound in whaleboats, under cover of night, and exchanged with the people of Connecticut for provisions and farmers' produce, of which the British army stood in great need. Though this trade was pro- hibited byboth American and British authority, yet the cun- ning of the smugglers (who often acted as spies) generally eluded the sleepy vigilance of government officials. This trade was protected by the sparse population of Suffolk county, the extensive sea border, the absence of a British armed force, and the proverbial insincerity of the people in their professed allegiance."
In the foregoing we have given a general idea of the condition of the county during those seven years of mili- tary rule. Details of particular engagements and affrays will be found in other parts of the work. On the organi- zation of the State government in 1777 provision was made for the representation of those parts of the State situated similarly to Suffolk by men who had moved from their homes and were temporarily staying outside the territory occupied by the British. This county was represented in that way in the State Legislature un- til the withdrawal of the British troops in the early part of 1783 closed the long reign of confusion and insecurity and allowed the people to reorganize the machinery of civil government.
The Whigs who had left their homes and property at the beginning of the war now returned and began the work of rebuilding the places that had been laid waste. The condition in which they found their property need not be described. It was what may readily be imagined as the result of seven years' occupancy by a lawless mili- tary force and frequent raids of plunderers from abroad. In view of the fact that Suffolk had been unable to join actively in carrying on the war, an act of the State Legis- lature passed May 6th 1784 imposed upon this county a tax of £10,000 to reimburse other parts of the State in the extra expense incurred by them for that purpose. The property of a few of the most prominent opposers of the American cause was confiscated and sold. Among the representatives of New York in the Continental Con- gress during its existence were the following from Suffolk county: William Floyd, 1774 to 1782; Ezra L'Homme- dieu, 1779 to 1783; Zephaniah Platt, 1785. June 17th 1788 a convention met at Poughkeepsie to adopt the constitution of the United States. In that convention Suffolk was represented by Henry Scudder, John Smith, David Hedges, Jonathan N. Havens and Thomas Tred- well. The war ended and the State government in suc- cessful operation the people breathed the air of freedom, their industries revived, and an era of prosperous growth began.
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