USA > New York > Suffolk County > History of Suffolk county, New York, 1683 > Part 30
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THE TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN.
common proprietors. Of the purchase and settlement of these we propose now to speak.
Winthrop's Patent was a tract lying between the creek called by the Indians Namke, or Namcuke, on the west, and an imaginary line drawn through a certain fresh water pond in Starr's Neck, called Occombamack, to the middle of the island. This tract was purchased of the and £360 for expenses, was distributed in 1,580 cash Indians by Governor John Winthrop of Connecticut in prizes of £3 each. This tract being within the limits of the Brookhaven town patent, as it began to be inhabited the people settling upon it took part in the political de- liberations and movements of this town. 1666, and a patent for the same was issued by Governor Andros of New York, dated the 29th of March 1680. The several necks along its southern border have been known as Blue Point, Tucker's Neck, Smith's Neck, Short Neck, Pochoug Neck, Swan Creek Neck, Pine COLONEL WILLIAM SMITH'S PURCHASE-THE MANOR OF Sr. GEORGE. Neck, Moger's Neck, and Francis Neck. The land thus held was for many years but little improved.
bounds by our deed from the Indians, and by our Pos- session delivered by the Sachem." This, however, did not settle the matter; for March 24th 1697 Andrew Gibb possession of his land at Occombamack, and the trustees agreed to defend him, and accordingly appointed Mr. Floyd and Daniel Brewster a committee to attend to the matter, with power to use an appropriation of five pounds in feeing lawyers. The result of that action seems to have been a temporary quietus; but again in 1739 the claims of Winthrop's patent and Brookhaven seem to have come into conflict. February 12th the trustees ap- pointed John Smith to employ Mr. Clowes, a prominent lawyer of Jamaica, to go to New York to search into Mr. Winthrop's patent and title to the land. It is probable that at this time the trustees were looking toward the possibilities of holding that tract of land for the proprie- tors of the town, under the terms of the town patent, if Winthrop's title was at all defective. On the 25th of the last named month the trustees appropriated five pounds to the feeing of counsel, and on the 15th they sent the town patent by John Smith to Mr. Clowes for him to ex- amine. The proprietors of the Winthrop patent had probably neglected to do anything with their property
The eastern part (two necks called Francis and Mo- ger's necks) was sold by John Still Winthrop to Thomas Strong and John Brewster October 14th 1749. The re- maining portion was sold to Humphrey Avery, of Boston, March 27th 1752, for £2,599. Avery, becoming consid- erably involved in 1756, obtained license by an act of the colonial Legislature to make a sale of this property by means of a lottery for the payment of his debts. Richard Floyd, Nathaniel Smith and William Nicoll were ap-
pointed to manage the business. They appraised the whole at £6,900, and divided it into 36 parts, varying in value from £20 to £1,000. The drawing was done in June 1758, by two sworn clerks, in presence of two jus- tices of the peace. Eight thousand tickets had been sold at 3os. each, and the overplus, after paying for the land
The neck of land lying between the waters of Con- science Bay and Cromwell Bay, now Setauket Harbor, was a favorite residence of the Indians. For many years after the settlement by Europeans the former occupants lived upon it. A part had in 1663 been bought of them, and in 1687 the Indian title to the remainder was extin-
The uncertainty of the position of the boundary line was at one time a cause of considerable annoyance to the town. September 3d 1688 the trustees appointed a committee to go over and establish the line, with Mr. Winthrop's bounds beginning at the Fresh Pond at the west side of Starr's Neck, "which we hold to be the guished. At a town meeting on the 2nd of April of that
year it was resolved that Richard Woodhull sen. and Thomas Helme should lay out and divide the common land and measure the line for the fence. The division complained to the trustees that he was disturbed in the of this land seemed not an easy task. It was a small and choice parcel of soil, and it was difficult to arrange its di- vision so as to satisfy all parties concerned. It may have been a fortunate circumstance for the peace of the little colony that at this time a particular friend of the gov- ernor of New York, in the person of Colonel William Smith, came upon the scene with a proposal to purchase the whole undivided land in a body. This proposal was presented by Colonel Smith at a town meeting October 18th 1687, he being favorably introduced by a letter from Governor Dongan and willing to pay each person inter- ested as much as any of them had sold their shares for. The Indian field was about one hundred acres in extent, and was bounded east, west and north by water, and south by a lot of land lately purchased of Richard Smith sen., another of Mr. Brewster, and "so over the highway by Samuel Muncy his lot to a place Commonly Called the Indian Well, to ye waterside."
here until it had become a question whether they had on the 14th of May 1691 to buy land of the Indians, and not forfeited their claims by that negligence. This action of Brookhaven seems to have aroused them to a more definite appreciation of their estate here, and the result prietors, where a large tract of wild land stretched away confirmed their title.
After the short reign of disorder and uncertainty which accompanied the administration of Leisler at New York, Colonel Smith obtained license from Governor Sloughter accordingly proceeded to the southeast of the territory that had already been bought by the Brookhaven pro- to the eastern settlements, thirty miles distant. In the exercise of his license he purchased on the 25th of the same month a large tract of land from the Indian John Mahew, whose good fortune or shrewdness enabled him to lay claim to a large tract of land along the south side. For the sum of £35 Colonel Smith purchased the land lying east of Mastic River to the Southold and South- ampton bounds, and back to the middle of the island, as well as south to the " main sea;" except the two necks, " being Meritces and Mamanok Necks, lying together,"
2
THE TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN.
5
by which he evidently meant to except the land after- ward covered by the Moriches patentship, which he had already sold to other parties, as will appear elsewhere.
September 11th 1691 the town meeting voted to ratify and confirm the sale to Colonel William Smith of all the land in the Little Neck called the Indian land, also all other common and undivided land in said neck, and all the meadows around it.
"At a town meeting upon the 28th of March 1693 Coll. William Smith of Brookhaven did then and there acquaint the Towne, as he did before, that with the Gov- ernor's Lycence he had and intended to purchase divers Tracts of land unpurchased of the Indian natives by the Towne, and within ye limits of theire patent and reserved to theire majtis by theire said patent ;- and did require to know whither the towne layd any claime to the same or not, and whither they were content that hee the said Smith should purchase and peassablie enjoy the same. Voated and agreed that the above saide Coll. Smith may purchase and peacably injoy as aforesaide."
The northern boundary of the larger tract purchased on the south side of the island being sometimes loosely defined as the " middle of the island," the trustees exer- cised the precautionary wisdom of securing a more defi- nite interpretation of that line, by making it " within two poles of the now country or common road to the towns eastward." This interpretation was established by an in- denture made on the 21st of September 1693, signed by William Smith and the trustees, and witnessed by the surveyor-general and others.
Finally the lands thus obtained were confirmed to Col- onel Smith by a patent from Governor Benjamin Fletcher, dated October 9th 1693. The territory laid out by the surveyor-general, Augustine Graham, and described in this patent was bounded by a line from the ocean to the west bank of Connecticut River, up that, along the west bank of Yaphank River, from the head of that in a direct north line to the Connecticut River again, thence following the west bank of that river to its head at the Country road near the middle of the island; north by the Country road; east by a line running directly south from the Country road to the head of Senekes River, and down that river to the ocean; and "south by the sea;" also the " beach meadow and bay," with "all the islands in the s'd bay" from " Huntington East Gutt" to a stake at "Coptwauge," the westernmost bounds of Southampton on the beach, said beach and bay running a distance east and west of twenty-four miles and seven chains; also the Little Neck at Setauket, " being bounded southward by a lyne running along ye east syde of the sd isthmues and by ye gate of ye now highway, so running west along ye fence between ye said Smithe's land and Justice Richard Whodhull's house lott to a creek lying on the west syde of ye said isthmus, and so bounded by ye bay, harbour and salt water round the neck aforesd, to ye marked tree by ye gate and highway aforesd;" also an island of thatch-bed lying between Little Neck and Old Field; also " a certaine part of a great thatch bedd lying alongst the easternmost part of ye said neck, called the Indian Land, as also all such thatch beds or creek thatches as
lyes with in the harbour in a direct lyne from ye marked tree by ye gate to ye southermost poynt of ye said Little Neck called ffloyd's Poynt." These parcels of land and water were by the patent constituted a lordship or manor, under the name of the Manor of St. George, and the proprietor and his heirs and assigns forever were invested with power to hold "court leet and court baron " at such times as he or they should consider proper, "to award and issue out the accustomary writts to be issued," to distrain for rents, services, etc., and with their tenants to " meet together and choose assessors within the man- nour aforesaid according to the true rules, wayes and methods as are prescribed for cittyes, townes and .coun- tyes" of the province; and to continue forever "free and exempt from the jurisdiction of any towne, towneship or mannor whatsoever; to be holden of us, our heirs and successors in free and common soccage, according to the tennour of our mannor of East Greenwich in the county of Kent in our Kingdom of England," reserving a quit-rent of twenty shillings a year.
Colonel Smith, having received this patent, lost no time in publishing it, and accordingly caused it to be read before a meeting of the trustees November 27th following its issue. The trustees consented to its limits and powers, and in consideration of forty-two shillings to be paid to them by Colonel Smith did forever acquit him " from any or all Quitt-rent due from the little Neck and his home Lots." Again, in public town meeting on the first of May 1694 the patent was read, and it was voted and agreed that the inhabitants consent to the bounds and privileges expressed therein, except that the indi- vidual rights of those who had taken up meadow at the south side within the limits of the patent should be re- spected.
Though the majority vote thus disposed of the matter, there was still a minority, composed of those who looked upon Smith's patent as an infringement upon the rights of the proprietors in the matter of boundaries, and this view gained strength, until after many years their claims were listened to and an adjustment of them was effected. By an exchange of quit-claims between Colonel Smith and the trustees of the town of Southampton, made on the 14th day of June 1694, the line of division of meadows and beach was established at a place on the beach called Cupsawege, on the east side of a certain house once occupied by a whaling company, which was also the western boundary of the Southampton patent.
By a second patent, which bears date June 17th 1697, an additional tract of land was annexed to the manor of St. George. This addition was embraced by a line start- ing at a certain pepperidge tree near Wading River, standing at a distance of 432.35 chains north from Pe- conic River and about a mile from the sound, and run- ning in a southeasterly direction, crossing Peconic River at the site of the present village of Riverhead, and con- tinuing to Red Creek in the town of Southampton, a dis- tance of fifteen miles from Wading River; and from Red Creek (called by the Indians Toyonnges) returning in a southwesterly direction to the head of Seatuck River;
26
THE TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN.
down that river in a straight line to the ocean; and on the west adjoining the town of Brookhaven and the for- mer patentship of St. George's manor. From its juris- diction, however, were excepted the necks of land which had been purchased by Thomas Willet, Henry Taylor and Thomas Townsend, and were afterward included in the patentship of Moriches.
This remarkable grant, let it be remembered, was issued by Governor Benjamin Fletcher, who became notorious for his extravagant and unreasonable grants of land to eleven Indians by name, and their posterity forever, to his friends, and whose removal from office is supposed to have been partly owing to this cause.
Unreasonable and extravagant as this grant certainly was, the following extract from a letter written by Earl Bellomont to the Lords of Trade July 22nd 1699 will show what extravagant ideas of it were entertained at that time. In this letter it is represented that for the sum of not more than £50 Colonel Smith had obtained a valuable grant of land upon Long Island, reputed to be worth more than £25,000 and said to be in extent " 50 miles long and whole breadth of the island." The letter then adds:
" Besides, Colonel Smith has got the beach on the sea- shore for forty miles together, after an odd manner as I have been told by some of the inhabitants, having arbi- trarily and by strong hand (being favor'd and supported by Colonel Fletcher and being chief justice of the prov- ince-a place of great awe as well as authority) got or rather forced the town of Southampton to take a poore £10 for the greatest part of said beach, which is not a valuable consideration in law; for Colonel Smith himself own'd to me that that beach was very profitable to him for whale fishing, and that one year he cleared £500 by whales taken there. I confess I can not have a good opinion of Colonel Smith; he knows what pressing or- ders I have from England to suppresse piracy, and if he were honest and did his duty there would not a pirate dare to show his head in the east end of Nassau Island. He is so seated towards that end of the island that he could disturb and seize them as he pleas'd, and yet that end of the island is at present their rendezvous and sanc- tuary. Colonel Smith is under a double obligation to suppresse piracy, being both chief justice of the province and judge of the admiralty court."
fied with a political faction whose sympathies and opinions were opposed to those of Governor Fletcher, of which Colonel Smith was an adherent, the reader may estimate how much of the aspersions contained in the above letter may have been prompted by the prejudice of the writer.
To provide for the necessities of the remnant of Un- cachaug Indians upon his domain at Mastic, Colonel Smith, on the second day of July 1700, gave a lease to
plant and sow 175 acres and burn the "under wood." The herbage growing after their crops were off was re- served, and the Indians were not to sell or relet any part of this land to any one else. The consideration named in the instrument was an annual acknowledgment forever of "Two yellow Eares of indian corne."
The claim of the inhabitants to the meadows which they had bought of the Indians at Mastic, now included in Colonel Smith's patent, had not been surrendered by them, and some disturbance appears to have arisen be- tween the representative of Colonel Smith and the pro- prietors. It has been intimated that at the reading of his patent before the town meeting in 1694 so much of it as might be construed to cover the ownership of the meadows in question was then objected to. The asser- tion of this claim after several years resulted in litigation, which was finally brought to a conclusion by a release given by William Smith (son of the patentee) June Ist 1734, in consideration of the payment to him by the in- habitants of £7 5s., and the award of an arbitration on the 27th of July following, which release and award con- firmed to the inhabitants the meadows on the west side of Mastic called Noccomack, lying between the upland and the river or bay, with the privilege of making stack- yards on the upland at the head of the meadows for stacking hay, foddering cattle, and placing houses for their convenience while haying; and a free pass-way to and from their meadows. The board of arbitration con- sisted of Isaac Hicks, David Jones and Epenetus Platt. The committee which had been appointed to designate the bounds was composed of Mordecai Homan, James Tuthill and Josiah Robbins.
It will be remembered that at that time piracies along this coast were alarmingly frequent, and that Governor Other disputed or indefinite matters concerning the boundaries between Smith's patent and the town were, Fletcher himself had been suspected of being secretly interested in them. The extract is of interest in show- after some litigation in respect to part of them, submitted ing the incorrect impressions which must have existed at New York in regard to the extent of Long Island and the relative position of different localities. When we remem- ber that impressions almost as wide of the truth exist in the minds of some even in these days of railroads, news- papers, maps and gazetteers, it is not so much a matter of wonder that in those days of geographical darkness it should be thought possible to locate a grant of so liberal dimensions upon the island without interfering with half a dozen patents already held; or from the retirement of St. George's to guard and protect the eastern waters, sixty to a hundred miles away, from the invasion of pi- rates.
to an arbitration, the award of which was rendered No- vember Ist 1753, to the following effect : First, that the gore piece of land bounded east by a north line from Yaphank River to the Country road, west by Colonel Smith's west patent line, north by the Country road, and south by the right bank of the Connecticut River, should belong to the proprietors of the town, the west line of Smith's patent being the north line from the head of Yap- hank River to the Country road; second, the north line of Smith's patent should be the Country road as far as the east line of the town; third, the meadow belonging to the proprietors at Noccomack should be bounded by Colonel Floyd's share of meadow (No. 50) on the south,
With the explanation that Earl Bellomont was identi- the Connecticut River on the west, the upland on the
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THE TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN.
east, and a line from a certain marked tree near the meadow, westward to the river, on the north; fourth, one- fourth part of the beach lying from the head of Long Cove on the west to the Southampton bounds on the east should belong to the said Smith, and three-fourths of it to the proprietors, the beach to be divided with respect to value and the east end to be Smith's and the west the town's; and fifth, the court charges in a certain case of trespass by ejectment then pending in the supreme court of the province should be paid by the said Smith. The men composing this board of arbitration were Eleazer Miller and Isaac Barns of East Hampton, Job Pierson and Abram Halsey of Southampton, Daniel Brown of Shelter Island, and Joshua Wells, John Salmon and Thomas Goldsmith of Southold.
Under the same date as the award William Smith quit- claimed to the trustees, in accordance with its terms, his title under the patent to the three-fourths of beach and the Noccomack meadows; also to the proprietors, in con- sideration of £5 to him paid, to the " gore piece " lying between Connecticut River and the north line from Yap- hank River to the Country road.
The account of the expense for entertainment at Lieu- tenant Robinson's while the arbitration was in progress is a curiosity, but space forbids inserting it at length. The aggregation of each different item in it is as follows, and the prices mentioned are what appear as the common prices on the bill, though there are instances of deviation: 14 bottles of wine, at Is. 3d. to Is. 6d .; 31 bowls of punch, at 9d .; 7 pots of "syder," at 2d .; 36 suppers, at Is .; 22 lodgings, at 4d .; 34 breakfasts, at is .; 47 dinners, at Is .; 81 drams, at 4d .; 10 pecks of oats, at Is .; pasturing a horse, 6d .; keeping 11 horses 4 days and nights, 15s .; 4 qts. "syder," at 4d.
On the third of March 1767 William Smith gave a deed to the trustees of the town for "all that part of South Bay or lands covered with water, and the island in the said bay situate, lying and being between a north line from Huntington East Gut and a south line from Richard Woodhull's point of meadow on the west side of The tract of land included in the agreement and con- veyances above referred to, lying between the north lines from Mastic and Senekes Rivers and the Country road and Dongan's line, covers a part of the present township of Brookhaven of which the records and historical au- the mouth of East Connecticut or Sebonnack River." On the day following the trustees gave to William Smith, for the same consideration-the nominal one of £5- one equal half of the same premises described in his deed to them. This maneuver was for the purpose of thorities tell us but little. Dongan's line, spoken of, is a strengthening the title.
Under date of March 3d 1767 the trustees and Wil- liam Smith above referred to made an agreement by which the ownership of that part of the bay described in these deeds should be forever held in partnership be- tween them and their heirs and successors, and that the profits and losses should be equally divided between them, and they are bound under the penal sum of £1,- ooo to the fulfillment of this agreement.
The division of the beach according to the award of 1753 was not accomplished until twenty years later. On the 7th of June 1773 the trustees appointed a committee to fix the dividing line with William Smith. The com- mittee did its work, made its report, and the agreement
was entered into on the 3d of July, that the dividing line should be "at a Place ye west End of a Slip of meadow between Quanch and Whale house poynt." The beach lying west of that belonged to the proprietors and that east of it to the Smith patentship. The west- ern boundary of the beach belonging to the proprietors, as has been stated, was Long Cove. The beach and ad- joining meadow lying west of the latter point as far as the jurisdiction of the Smith patent extended, viz. Hunt- ington East Gut (now Fire Island Inlet), was sold by Henry Smith of Boston, a grandson of the patentee and cousin of the occupant of the manor, to a company of inhabitants, September 15th 1789, the price named be- ing £200.
By instruments bearing date the 12th, 13th and 14th of May 1790 William Smith conveyed to the trustees of the town the East Bay, from the eastern part of Patterquash Island to Southampton's west bounds; also the beach and meadow from "Bayley's Stage," opposite a point of land at Moriches then owned by Oliver Smith, east to the Southampton line; also a tract of land bounded north by the Country road, south by Dongan's line, east by a north line from Senekes River, and west by a north line from the head of Mastic River. At the same time the trustees conveyed back to William Smith one equal half of the same premises. An agreement was then en- tered into between the parties, by which the management of all the bay, beach and land described was given to the trustees, who were from time to time on reasonable de- mand to render account and divide equally any net profits arising therefrom. Neither Smith nor the trustees could sell any of the premises without consent of the other party. By the agreement they were bound in the penal sum of £2,000 for the faithful observance of its conditions. The jurisdiction over the East Bay is still held by the trustees according to the terms of that agree- ment, the partnership interest having descended to Hon. Egbert T. Smith, of Mastic, great-grandson of Judge William Smith, the author of the above agreement.
line running west from the head of Seatuck River, strik- ing the line north from the head of Mastic Kiver about five and a quarter miles distant, its course being from two to five miles distant from the shore of the bay. It is probable that at some time during the administration of Governor Dongan a patent was issued for the Moriches tract lying south of it, and thus it was originated and named. Senekes or Senex River or Creek is that water which comes nearly to the business part of Center Mor- iches, on the west of the main avenue leading to the bay.
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