History of Suffolk county, New York, 1683, Part 33

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 33

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The following persons have held the office of town clerk :

John Tooker, 1668 (and probably earlier) to 1677 and later; Andrew Gibb, 1686; Thomas Helme, 1687; John Jenner, 1688; Timothy Brewster, 1689-1711; Daniel Brewster 1712-37; Daniel Smith, 1738-75; Amos Smith, 1776-81; Elijah Smith, 1782-88; Isaac Hulse, 1789-1800, 1802-06; Apollos Wetmore, 1801; Mordecai Homan, 1807-47; Benjamin T. Hutchinson, 1848, 1849, 1860-77; SamuelA. Hawkins, 1850-56; Lewis R. Overton, 1857-59; Henry P. Hutchinson, 1877-81.

THE BAY FISHERIES.

Previous to the Revolution the trustees of the town appear to have given but little attention to their claims upon the waters and shores over which their patent gave them jurisdiction. At the same time the successive occu- pants of the South Bay proprietorship experienced much difficulty in enforcing their claims to that water and its bot- tom. Under the partnership arrangement effected by the agreements of 1767 and 1790 the managing control of the south side bays fell to the charge of the trustees,

and they have ever since continued to exercise that power. By that arrangement the limits of their jurisdic- tion were enlarged so as to cover all the salt waters em- braced within the patent lines of the town.

The business of taking oysters from the South Bay had gained considerable magnitude, as may be inferred from the fact that as early as July 4th 1785 the trustees considered it necessary to pass an order that not more than two hundred cargoes should be carried out of the bay between that time and the next town election day. The vessels carrying oysters out of the town were by the same order required to obtain permits, the price of which was fixed at 24s. In November of the same year for this charge was substituted a royalty fee of twopence for every tub of oysters taken. Under the first date the trustees also enacted that twopence a bushel should be paid for a permit to take clams from the same waters. Fishing with net or seine without a permit was at the same time also forbidden. A fine of 4os. was prescribed for the violation of either of these provisions.

April 7th 1788 the trustees passed a regulation requir- ing every vessel engaged in taking oysters from the South Bay to be measured, and a fee of Is. 6d. for each ton of the vessel's capacity to be paid in advance. At this time it was also ordered that no fishing with net or seine should be allowed, and that no one except residents of the town should be allowed to catch oysters or clams.

About this time the trustees adopted the practice of leasing or selling the privilege of fishing in the partner- ship bays fron year to year. June 11th 1789 this right, covering all the bay west of Smith's Point, was sold to Elijah Chichester and James Berry for £24. The term for which it was sold closed with the first of the follow- ing December, and the rights of inhabitants to catch fish for their own use were reserved. The penalty for violation of the enactments in regard to fish, at first fixed at 4os., was increased May 2nd 1791 to £4. The fine for taking oysters from the town without permit, fixed at first at 40s., was in 1792 raised to £5, and a fine of £3 was to be collected of any one who should assist in loading an unlicensed vessel. The fee was also raised to 3s. a ton for the capacity of all vessels carrying oysters out of the town.

In 1794 the question of oystering and other bay privi- leges was considerably agitated. The trustees appear to have submitted it to the vote of the people in town meeting, and they were unanimously opposed to hiring out the fishing, or allowing oysters to be carried out of the town "by any person or persons whatsoever." The trustees passed enactments in accordance with that ex- pression, and fixed a penalty of fro for their violation. On the 22nd of the following October, however, this ar- rangement had proved so unsatisfactory that a special town meeting was called, and the matter was again placed in the hands of the trustees "to do with it according to their Descrecian."

The trustees have ever since continued to exercise the sublime prerogative of their "Descrecian," which has given the history of the management of the bays a char-

THE TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN.

acter too fluctuating and confusing to be followed with any respect to details within the limits of this article. Regulations similar to those already mentioned were fre- quently enacted, amended, confirmed or repealed. Dur- ing that portion of the year from May to September the taking of oysters or clams was forbidden altogether, or taxed at so high a rate as to make a practical restriction; but during the remaining portion of the year inhabitants of the town had free access to the bay, to supply their own individual needs with its products. The business of taking those products for export or profit was gene- rally heavily taxed, and severe fines were prescribed for the violation of the rules. Piracies were frequent, prob- ably induced in a large measure by the confusing insta- bility and frequently exorbitant demands of those regu- lations, together with the imperfect arrangements for en- forcing them.

May 4th 1795 the trustees decided that their jurisdic- tion extended to the drawing of seines upon the ocean shore of the beach, and accordingly they placed restric- tions upon that privilege the same as upon the bay fish- ery. At that time they also prohibited the taking of shells from the bay. The privilege of fowling on the bogs and in the marshes ot the bay was also within the trustees' authority, and that privilege was generally sold to some individual for the year. Among the first in- stances of this kind the trustees, May 6th 1799, sold the right of fowling in the South Bay for one year to Wil- liam Albeen, for $42.50. The privilege thus granted did not debar inhabitants from shooting for their own sport or use, but secured the monopoly of the business of taking birds away from the town for market. The same privilege was sold at public auction May 5th 1800 to Willet Raynor & Co. for $50, and in the following year to the same parties for $40. In 1802 the fowling privi- lege was given to William Albeen, who was to allow the town one-tenth of the proceeds. In 1807 the right was sold to Hampton Howell for $50. These claims of the trustees upon the fowling privilege were exercised for many years. As late as 1852 the gunning privilege of the West Bay was leased for three years to John Homan for $7.50 a year.

The trustees enacted that fish should not be taken from the bay to be carried out of the town. The monopoly of been modified.

fishing for market, however, was sold from year to year to individuals: for example, in 1801 to Elijah Chichester for $too, and for the year 1803 to George Brown and John Turner for $100. About this time "horse-fish " seem to have been taken considerably for manure, and it was forbidden by the trustees under a fine of $10.' The fishing privilege for 1807 was granted to Captain Josiah Smith and Hampton Howell for one-tenth of the pro- ceeds. As late as 1852 the privilege of fishing in the West Bay was sold for $50 for a term of three years. This custom had for many years been practically obso- lete, and the attempt then made to revive it proved un- successful.

cents a bushel for " horse-fish." Similar regulations were passed at different times during the years preceding and following the one mentioned. Fines ranging from $12.50 to $25 were fixed at different times for a violation of these orders. In 1833 an act was passed that no shell- fish should be taken from the waters of the north side except on Tuesdays and Fridays of each week. This was repealed during the same year. In 1844 a toleration fee of three cents a bushel was required for all hard clams carried out of the town from these waters.

In 1812 the trustees forbade taking sand from the har- bors and shores of the town. It was again forbidden in the following year, under a penalty of $20. In 1818 they allowed sand to be taken by those having permits, which were to be obtained only on payment of one cent a bushel for the sand. In 1823 they forbade taking stones from the shores without permit. Fines of $12.50 were prescribed for the violation of the enactments in regard to sand and stones.

Among the earliest records of leasing ground for laying down oysters appears a grant dated January 3d 1800, in which the trustees gave to Daniel Smith, of Setauket, the right to lay down oysters on a tract of bottom in Drown Meadow Bay, on the west side of the bay, from the " west end of the third salt pond " to the north end of the " fourth salt pond," and thirty rods out into the bay from low water mark. Leasing ground for planting oysters in the south bays commenced about 1829. March 3d of that year a tract of about ten acres was leased to William Tooker for a term of fourteen years. This practice has increased from that time, until a large extent of those portions of the bays available for the propagation of oysters, on both north and south sides of the town, is occupied for this use by individuals under leases from the trustees.

A toleration fee of two cents a bushel was established in 1841, to be paid on all oysters taken from the South Bay to be carried out of the town. This was changed several years later to a fee to be paid by each man en- gaged in the business. This fee in 1851 was 75 cents for a part of the year, or $1 for the full year if paid in ad- vance, or $1.25 if delayed until June. This in substance has been the plan since followed, though details have

Dredging in the South Bay was forbidden by an act of the trustees May 4th 1841. A fine of $12.50 was the penalty established for its violation. The law was re- pealed in 1848, and re-enacted in 1851, with the penalty increased to $50.

The ownership of the bay against a part of the town of Islip being held by Brookhaven, and the people of that section being as a natural consequence debarred from the privileges of the waters adjoining their land, there arose, as might be expected from such a collision of moral and legal rights, frequent encroachments and contentions. After the subject had been agitated for several years an agreement was effected July 13th 1880, and confirmed by an act of the Legislature in May 1881,

In 1806 the trustees ordered a fee of two cents a bushel for all clams taken out of the town, and three by which the people of Islip residing east of Conetquot

THE TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN. L

River were to enjoy equal rights with the citizens of in larger sums were made, but this list does not include Brookhaven in the fisheries of the bay. For this privi- any of them: lege they were to pay $1,500 to the Brookhaven trustees, who in turn agreed to use $1,200 of that money in the improvement of the fisheries for the common benefit of all interested. The trustees reserved the right to punish any violation of their common rules governing the bay by withholding the privilege from the offending in- dividuals.

BROOKHAVEN IN THE CIVIL WAR.

When the "irrepressible conflict" ripened into the civil war of 1861 it found the people of Brookhaven ready to take up their share of the necessary burdens. On the 18th of August 1862 the board of supervisors at River- head passed a resolution that each town should fill its own quota of men in the service, or raise its own funds independently of any associated action of the county. August 21st 1862 it was voted at a meeting at Coram that the supervisor should raise money by a loan and pay a bounty of $150 to each volunteer who would enlist to the credit of the town. About this time the government was making loud calls for men to carry on the war, and it was thought that a draft might be necessary to fill the quotas. On the 26th the supervisor and assessors met at Coram and began making an enrollment of men liable to military service, which work occupied several days. On the first of November following a commission with a surgeon sat at Coram to examine men claiming exemption from military duty on account of any physical disability. Enlistments, however, were numerous enough to prevent a draft, and, the quotas of many other towns being filled, the surplus of recruits was obtainable at a lower bounty than had been voted by the town. The supervisor at the time-who, by the way, was Nathaniel Miller, to whose kindness we are indebted for many items relating to this subject-went to New York on the 5th of November, and was there able to make up the deficiency in the town's quota by securing 107 three-years men in Corcoran's Irish brigade at $80 each, thereby making a considerable saving to the town.

After the meeting of August 21st the work of raising a loan began. It will be remembered that at that time the town had no authority to ask a loan for this purpose or to raise money by tax to pay it. At that time the political prospect was enshrouded in darkness, party spirit was rampant, and the very foundations of the govern- ment were trembling. The man who loaned a dollar to the cause took every risk himself without a scrap to vouch for its return. His only security was his faith in the final triumph of the cause and the integrity of the people and their government. The men who made that loan staked their money on this, and we think the inser- tion of their names here is no more than a just tribute to the practical patriotism by which they were actuated. The following list contains the loans made before any authority existed for their being returned at any future time. The Legislature of 1863 did sanction such loans, and granted the power to secure them, after which loans

George C. Campbell $50, Holmes W. Sweezey $50, William A. Walker $100, F. F. Darling $50, C. L. & W. T. Hulse $roo, James R. Taylor $100, Thomas J. Ritch $100, Reuben H. Wilson $50, Apollos Dayton $50, Joseph J. Harris $50, Hamilton Tooker $50, Jas. L. Bayles & Sons $100, George W. Brewster $50, Thomas B. Haw- kins $50, Van Buren Norton $50, Micah Jayne $100, Daniel Hawkins $roo, Walter Jones $roo, William R. Satterly $100, Thomas S. Strong $150, Selah B. Strong $500, S. Sylvester Hawkins $50, Algernon S. Mills $100, Nicholas Smith $100, James Hulse $100, Sylvester Hulse $50, Samuel Smith $160, Charles Dickerson, $50, Ruth Van Brunt $300, Bryant C. Hawkins $100, Alfred Darl- ing $200, Oliver Smith $200, Daniel R. Miller $100, Wil- liam M. Brown $100, George P. Helme $100, Samuel Hopkins $500, Elisha Norton $200, John Hutchinson $50, Davis Norton $100, J. T. French, J. E. Longbotham and A. R. Norton $100, William J. Gould $50, Henry Murray $100, Davis Hammond $100, Samuel A. Haw- kins Isoo, Elisha N. Hawkins $70, Samuel Dare $100, Harriet T. Norton $25, Lester H. Davis $100, F. T. Drake $50, Moses Ackerly $25, Christopher Robinson $30, Seth Raynor $25, Clinton Raynor $50, Nehemiah Hand $500, Samuel S. Thompson $100, Edward A. King $100, Ebenezer Hawkins $50, William J. Weeks $150, James H. Weeks $150, Samuel W. Ran- dall $150, Sereno B. Overton $25, Philetus Phillips $150, Nathaniel Tuthill $150, D. D. Swezey $100, Wm. S. Robert $250, Richard W. Smith $100, Mrs. Richard W. Smith $200, George P. Helme $1,800, Charles J. Smith $500, Henry Nicoll (a gift) $10c, John Sims Havens $1,200, John G. Floyd $700, Samuel Carman $100, N. Miller $roo, William Phillips $200, Edward Oakes $100, Joseph Hawkins jr. $too, Charles- E. Hawkins $50, Benjamin F. Wells $50, Isaac Bellows $80, Daniel W. Sperry $50, David T. Bayles $50, George W. Davis $100, Lewis Hallock $400, William Lester Hawkins $100, Alonzo Hawkins $50, Henry E. Smith $100, Benjamin Brewster $300, Nancy J. Brewster $100, Richard Davis $25, Samuel Hopkins $3,100, Jacob Elli- son $100, George P. Helme $100, Lewis Hallock $300, Samuel A. Hawkins $100, Joseph S. Hawkins $100, David T. Bayles $25, Samuel Hopkins $1,000, John Roe Smith $100, C. J. Randall $100, John F. Hallock $100, John Rowland $50, Abijah T. Moger $50, Lester H. Davis $300, Austin Culver $too, E. D. Topping $30, Charles S. Platt $100, Samuel F. Norton $150, J. Robert Laws $50, Edward Homan $25, J. W. Petty $10, Henry Mills $300, Edward A. King $100, Jonas Smith $1,000, William Roe $100, Sally Raynor $50, James F. Goodale $roo, Fisher & Bro's $50, J. B. Duff $500, Charles Price $100, Alfred Price $100, E. T. Moore $150, Henry Blydenburg $25, David F. Conklin $50, Stephen S. Roe $100, Oliver Wicks $100, Alfred Mott $25, Elisha Saxton $200, Joseph Petty $25, John S. Havens $150, S. S. Hammond $200, Austin Roe $150, A. Lambert $100, Edward Hammond $200, N. O. Smith $100, William Avery $100, William B. Arthur $200, J. R. Smith $50, George P. Mills $100, Richard W. Smith $400, George F. Carman $300, David Hedges $100, Daniel Robinson $100, John R. Smith $100, Phineas T. Robinson $100, Daniel Wicks $100, Mulford Hedges $100, Nathaniel T. Swezey $roo, Smith Rider $100, Azarialı F. Hawkins $150, Alfred Price $100, J. B. Duff, $100, Edward Hammond $200, Daniel Robin -. son $100, Oliver Wicks $50, Charles Price $100, Isaac Overton, Joseph O. Robinson $50, Norton Robinson. $50, Theodore Darenert $50, John R. Smith $100, J. C. C. Hurten $100, Daniel Overton $100, John Deery $50, Alvina Hawkins $50, Henry F. Osborn $roo, George-

THE TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN.

Robinson $50, John Roe $250, J. B. Terry $20, William E. Gould $150, Walter Jones jr. $50, Maria W. Hutchin- son $100, James M. Bayles $300, Walter Leek $100, F. F. Darling $50, Bryant D. Norton $125, Charles Schryver $50, Apollos Dayton $roo, Ezra Hart $25, Smith Dayton $50, Elbert Raynor $50, Noah H. Jones $50, Van Buren Norton $50.

Under the draft which took place in 1863 the town made no effort to provide for its citizens who were drafted, as the act of that year released any drafted man who paid $300.

At a special town meeting held January 4th 1864 it was resolved to raise a fund by the contribution of $25 from each man subject to a draft, the fund so raised to be divided among those who were drafted.

A special town meeting, having been legally called, was held on the 18th of February, at which it was voted that $60,000 should be raised to secure the town's quota of men for the call lately made. A town committee was appointed to collect and expend the money in employing men and finding substitutes in case of a draft. These committeemen with the supervisor spent much time in New York on this business, but as many other towns were offering larger bounties the work progressed slowly. On May 11th the draft occurred, taking from Brookhaven 201 men. Through the efforts of the men engaged in that work, substitutes were obtained for those who de- sired and, with the assistance furnished by the town, could pay for them.

Another call having been made for men, a special town meeting was held June 28th 1864 to provide for it. It was then decided to raise as much money on the credit of the town as would be necessary to pay not more than $300 each for the quota of the town, either as bounty for volunteers or to assist drafted men in finding substitutes. John P. Mills, Henry Mills and George C. Campbell were appointed a town committee to carry out the work. 'The vote of the meeting stipulated that the loan should be returned in seven equal annual install- ments, beginning with March Ist 1866. Another meet- ing.was called together on the 19th of August to decide what proportion of the $300 should be given for one- year men. The vote decided that they should receive the same as the three-years men.

Another call for 300,000 inen having been made, a special town meeting to act upon it was held on the 12th of January 1865, at which it was decided to raise a loan and pay $500 to three-years men, $400 to two-years men and $300 to one-year men. George C. Campbell and George T. Osborn were chosen a town committee to raise the money and obtain substitutes. It was also voted that with the authority of the Legislature the amount should be raised by tax within the same year. This was done.

The amount of money raised by loans for which the bonds of the town were issued during the war was $131,- 115. On the equalization of the years of service fur- nished by the different towns it was found that Brook- haven had furnished about two hundred years' service more than its necessary proportion, and on this account

there stood to its credit about $46,000, which it received in seven per cent. State bonds. The war debt, except about as much as was provided for by these State bonds, was paid by tax raised during the war and in the year 1865, and the last of the State bonds were sold and the last of the town bonds paid up in 1872, according to the original plan adopted by the meeting of June 28th 1864.

VILLAGES AND NEIGHBORHOODS.

SETAUKET.

Setauket, the original settlement in Brookhaven, lies in the northwestern corner of the town. It comprises two village centers, one Setauket proper, and the other East Setauket, each having a post-office and a few stores and shops. The "Green," an open field beside which stand the ancient landmarks, the churches and burial grounds, lies between the two centers spoken of. The population of the entire neighborhood, esti- mated in 1843 at seven hundred, is now probably more than double that number. The people are farmers, sea- faring men and mechanics. The soil is heavy, and its cultivation has been successfully carried on for two and a quarter centuries.

SHIP-BUILDING AT SETAUKET. .

Conscience Bay and Setauket Harbor, opening west- ward from Port Jefferson Bay, approach this village. at different points. Upon. these waters ship-building has for a long time been carried on. It is impossible to say just when the business was begun here. As early as 1662 the records tell us one Richard Bullock purchased tim- ber and plank of John Ketcham and built a boat here. The size of the vessel is unknown, but from the fact that he was allowed four months time in which to complete it, and that he was then to leave the town with it, we may infer that it was designed for the navigation of the sea. From that time forward the trade of ship-building has no doubt been carried on here. In the period not many years remote from Revolutionary times the business was carried on by Benjamin Floyd, a representative of the prominent family of that name. The scale upon which it was conducted, however, was at a later period en- larged. In the early part of the present century the building of sloops was extensively carried on. David Cleaves was engaged in it in 1820, and continued until about 1835. From 1832 down to the present time the brothers Silas and Nehemiah Hand and George, son of the latter, have conducted this enterprise here to a greater extent than any one else, the first taking the lead until 1838, the second till 1875 and the third since that time. N. Hand, during the active years of his business career, built 44 vessels, many of them of considerable size. The largest vessel ever built here was the ship " Adorna," of 1,700 tons measurement, which was constructed under the superintendence of David Bayles, in 1870. Another mammoth vessel, of more than double that size, was be- gun a few years later by the same parties, but owing to

THE TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN.

the remarkable financial depression of that decade the original design was never carried out, but that which was · intended to become one of the proudest specimens of marine architecture was afterward finished as an ungrace- ful barge.

SCHOOLS OF SETAUKET.

The village contains two school-houses, one located on the "Green," a very neat building of modest dimensions, placed there about ten years ago, and a larger, one in the eastern part of the village. The latter was built in 1866, is two stories high and a respectable specimen of archi- tecture, and the school within it is conducted by three teachers.

MANUFACTURING AT SETAUKET.

The first settlers of the town found some difficulty in getting their grain made into flour. There being no SETAUKET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. mills here they were obliged to endure the inconvenience, On the east side of the "Green " stands the Presbyte- rian church. This is supposed to occupy nearly the same site and to be the lineal successor of the original church, which, as we have already seen, was built about 1671. The original church was built by the town and it also served the purpose of a town hall. In 1714-15 a new meeting-house was built by the town, and it was agreed in the town meeting by a majority vote of the the risk and the delay of sending their grain to Connect- icut to be ground. To hasten their relief from this un- desirable state of things they were ready to offer every encouragement for the erection of mills at home. The townspeople accordingly granted to Daniel Lane in 1664 the right to establish a mill on the stream which then ran down into the head of Setauket Harbor. The townspeople built the dam, and the mill was established |contributors, August 9th 1714, that it should be for a previous to 1667. It was probably the same mill that December 17th of that year gave it to his sons-in-law Joseph and Jacob Longbottom. In 1674 the mill was in the possession of his widow and Jacob Longbottom. For more than a hundred years the site has been aban- doned, and where once the mill pond was there are now the highway and the stores which constitute the village center of East Setauket, while the discharge of those springs which fed the pond now quietly finds its way to tide-water through the channel of a very little brooklet. "Presbyterian meeting-house forever, and no other use in 1671 was owned by Henry Perring, who in a will dated |or uses whatsoever." This church, according to Thomp- son, was replaced by a new and larger one in 1766, which stood through the turbulent years of the Revolution, and was desecrated by the barbarities of war. Around this church the British soldiers cast up an intrenchment, not forbearing to unearth the bones of the honored dead which were buried near. The interior of the church was destroyed and the building used for the accommodation of the garrison. The present church was built during the year 1811. A handsome lecture room adjoining the north side of the building was added about five years since. The parsonage, established in accordance with a vote in town meeting May 18th 1689, "upon the land that was Goodman Moshier's, the same demensions of John- athun Smith's, to remaine a personedge house to perpet- uity," having been worn by the march of time, was aban- doned, and a new one built in 1872.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.