USA > New York > Queens County > Flushing > History of the town of Flushing, Long Island, New York > Part 3
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We have, also, an official account of the trial. It states that William Hallet, born in Dorsetshire, age about forty, "has had the audacity to call and allow to be called con- venticles and gatherings at his house, and to permit there in contemptuous disobedience of published, and several times renewed, placats of the Director-General and Council, an exegesis and interpretation of God's Holy Word, as he confesses, the administration and service of the Sacraments by one William Wickendam, while the latter, as he ought to have known, had, neither by ecclesiastical nor secular authority, been called thereto. "3
=
2 Documentary History of New York, III, 71.
3 Documents XIV, 369.
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As the result of the trial, Hallet was degraded from office, fined £50 Flemish, and banished from the Province; Wickendam was fined £100 and banished. When it was discovered that Wickendam was a poor man, with a family, and was a cobbler by trade, "to which he does not properly attend," his fine was remitted. He was, however, ban- ished, and so passes beyond our field of view. Hallet pleaded for mercy. His sentence of banishment was re- mitted, and he was allowed to remain in the Province as a private citizen, if he should pay his fine at sight. ·
In the summer of the following year (Aug. 6, 1657), 1657 the ship Woodhouse brought to New Netherland, several members of the Society of Friends. 4 Many of them went to Rhode Island, "where all kinds of scum dwell"-said Dom- ine Magapolensis. Some, however, came to Long Island, under the leadership of Robert Hodgson, and settled in Jamaica and Flushing. The Friends of Jamaica and Flush- ing, for a time, held their meetings in Jamaica, at the house of Henry Townsend. Townsend was arrested, fined £8 Flemish, and ordered to leave the Province within six weeks. A proclamation was issued, imposing a fine of £50 on any one who sheltered a Quaker for one night, one half
4 Flin's Early Long Island, p. 175. Brodhead's New York, I, 636.
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HISTORY OF FLUSHING
of the fine to go to the informer. " Any vessel, bringing . Quakers to the Province,' was to be confiscated."5 This cruel law called out the famous and noble remonstrance of Flushing, which was signed by twenty-eight freeholders of Flushing, and two from Jamaica. 6 The Remonstrance said : "Ye have been pleased to send up unto us a certain prohi- bition, or command, that we should not retaine or entertaine any of those people called Quakers. . . We cannot condemn them. . . neither stretch out our hands against them, to punish, banish or persecute them. . . We are commanded by the Law to do good to all men . That which is of God will stand, and that which is of man will come to nothing . Our only desire is not to offend one of these little ones, in whatsoever form, name or title he appears, whether Presbyterian, Independent, Baptist or Quaker, but shall be glad to see any thing of God in any of them, desiring to do unto all men, as we desire that all men should do unto us, which is the true Law both of Church and State . .. Therefore if any of these said persons come in love unto us, we cannot in conscience lay violent hands upon them, but give them free egresse or regresse into our town and houses This is according to the Patent and Charter of our
5 Laus of New Netherland.
6 Appendix II.
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town . which we are not willing to infringe or violate. "7 This Remonstrance, dated Dec. 27th., was written by Ed- ward Heart, the town Clerk, and carried to New Amster- dam, early in January, by Tobias Feake, the Sheriff, who 1658 had succeeded William Hallet in that office. Feake and Heart, together with Edward Farrington and William Noble, Magistrates and signers of the Remonstrance, were arrested and imprisoned. Noble and Farrington humbly craved pardon "for acting so inconsiderately," and, promising to offend no more, were pardoned on the tenth of January. About two weeks later, January 23rd., Heart also weakened and pleaded for mercy. He said: "My humble request is for your mercy, not your judgment : and that you would be pleased to consider my poor estate and condition, and relieve me from my bonds and imprisonment, and I shall endeavor hereafter to walk inoffensively unto your Lordships." He was pardoned, on condition that he paid the costs. On Sheriff Feake, fell the weight of Stuyvesant's wrath. The Sheriff had given lodging to "that heretical and abominable sect called Quakers," and had been foremost in securing signatures to "a seditious and detestable chartabel." For this he was degraded from office, and sentenced to pay a fine of two hundred guilders, or to be banished.
7 Documents XIV, 402.
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As the result of this disturbance, an ordinance was passed, March 26th., which stated that for this "seditious and mutinous" remonstrance, the town richly deserved "to be corrected and punished by the annulment of the privi- leges and exemptions granted . . . by patent and by the enlargement thereof. " Therefore, "in order to prevent in future the disorder which commonly arises from general town-meetings, or village assemblies," no such meetings should be held, without the consent of the Director-General and the Council. Instead of town-meetings, seven persons should "be chosen and appointed out of the best, most reasonable and most respectable inhabitants, who shall be called Tribunes or Town'smen, to be employed by the Schout and Magistrates as counselors on and about any Town matters." Whatever was decided by the Schout, Magis- trates and Tribunes, the inhabitants should obey, "on pain of arbitrary correction." The ordinance further stated, that, "for the want of a good, pious and orthodox minister, the inhabitants had fallen into disregard of Divine worship, and profanation of the Sabbath . . . into heresy and indecent licentiousness." The town was, therefore, ordered, "to look out and inquire for a good, honest and orthodox minister." Each landholder was to be required to apply for a special patent and henceforth to pay an annual
1
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tax of twelve stivers for each Dutch morgan of land, for the support of the minister-the deficit to be made up, by the Director-General, from the tithes. All persons who were unwilling to submit to these requirements, were ordered to dispose of their goods and, within six weeks, to quit the Province. All others, and all new comers, were to sign a pledge of obedience. 8
In the midst of this attempt to stamp out Quakerism, 1660 there came to Flushing a number of French Huguenots, who introduced the industry of horticulture, for which the town has ever since been famous. 9
Among the influential inhabitants of Flushing, at this period, was John Bowne, who is described as "a plain, strong-minded, English farmer."10 He was born at Mat- lock, Derbyshire, England, in 1627. In 1649, he emigrated to Boston. Two years later, he visited Flushing, with his brother-in-law, Edward Farrington. Later, we find him settled in Flushing. Here, in 1656, he married Hannah, daughter of Robert Fiekt11 (or Feke, as the name sometimes
1661
8 Laws of New Netherland, p. 338-42.
9 Flint's Early Long Island, p. 183.
10 Brodhead's New York, I, 705.
11 Underhill writes to John Winthrop, Jr., April 12, 1656: "Sir, I wase latli at Flushing. Hanna Feke is to be married to verri jentiele young man, of gud abilliti, of a louli fetture, and gud behafior." Mass. Hist. Coll. Fourth Series, VII, 183.
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HISTORY OF FLSUHING
appears), and sister to Captain John Underhill's second · wife. Bowne's house, built in 1661, still stands on the avenue that bears his name, and presents a quaint and beautiful picture of early Flushing. Bowne's wife was a member of the society of Friends. Meetings at this time were held secretly in the woods. Bowne attended these meetings with his wife, at first out of curiosity, but he soon became interested, and invited the Quakers to meet at his house. Later, he became a member of the society. The magistrates of Jamaica notified .the Director-General, that Bowne's house had become a "conventicle" for the Quakers of all the neighboring villages. Bowne was arrested, fined £25 Flemish, and threatened with banishment. 12 He re- fused to pay the fine. After three months imprisonment, "for the welfare of the community, " he was told that he would be transported "in the first ship ready to sail," should he continue obstinate. Bowne remained firm. On
12 An ordinance was passed, in September of this year, ordering, that "beside the Reformed worship and service, no conventicles or meetings shall be kept in this Province, whether it be in houses, barnes, ships, barkes, nor in the woods, nor fields, under forfeiture of fifty guldens, for the first time, for every person present, and twice as much for every person who exhorted or taught, or who shall have lent his house, barn or other place." "Seditious and erroneous books, writings and letters" were to be confiscated, and the importer and distributer of such writings was to be fined 100 guldens. Laws of New Netherland, p. 428.
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the ninth of January, of the following year, he was sent to Holland, on the Guilded Fox. He stated his case to the Directors of the West India Company, who set him at lib- erty, and rebuked Stuyvesant. They wrote to the latter : "Although it is our cordial desire that similar and other sectarians may not be found there, yet as the contrary seems to be the fact, we doubt very much whether vigorous pro- ceedings against them ought not to be discontinued ; unless, indeed, you intend to check and destroy your population, which, in the youth of your existence, ought rather to be encouraged by all possible means . . The conscience of men ought to remain free and unshackled. Let every one remain free, as long as he is modest, moderate, his political conduct irreproachable, and as long as he does not offend others or oppose the government. 13 Bowne returned to Flushing after two years' absence. At this early period, Quaker meeting was held at different houses; viz., those of John Bowne, John Farrington, Hugh Cowperthwaite, Ben- jamin Field and Dr. John Rodman. 14
1663
1665
It must not be supposed that the Dutch were exceptional in their treatment of the Quakers. The Church of England colony in Virginia had similar laws; Puritan New England
13 Brodhead's New York I, 705 et 89.
14 Onderdonk's Friends on Long Island, p. 94.
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had worse ones. In Massachusetts, Quakers were not only fined and imprisoned ; they were whipped, their ears were cut off, their tongues were bored with hot irons, and some of them were put to death. 15 Nothing can be said in justi- fication of persecution for religious belief : but, in this cruel treatment of the Quakers, something may be said by way of explanation. The early Quakers were not all the quiet. orderly persons whom we to-day are apt to associate with the name. Many of them were the wildest fanatics. To read. for instance, that certain persons were arrested, fined and imprisoned for "bearing testimony," gives one the impres- sion that the civil authorities were altogether cruel and unreasonable: but the action of the authorities does not appear so unreasonable, when we know that "to bear tes- timony" frequently meant that women went through the streets, stark naked, crying : "Woe! Woe !" and called down curses on all who differed with them. If persons, of any name, should, to-day, thus destroy the peace and shock the sense of modesty of any community, they would, without doubt, be punished. The Quakers' disregard of titles and offices, we are inclined to consider a harmless idiosyncrasy, but in those days it not infrequently amounted to contempt of court, and open insult to officials. In New England,
15 Elliott's History of New England I, 289 et sq.
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Quakers had been guilty of many excesses. 16 Some of the first Quakers that arrived in New Netherland, came from New England. The sect, therefore, had a bad name, before any of its members appeared among the Dutch. As stated above, all this is said by way of explanation, and not in justification of religious persecution. The injustice com- mitted was, in punishing a whole sect for the misconduct of some of its members. The more reasonable Quakers, them- selves, condemned the excesses of these fanatics. It is not generally remembered, that it was Charles II who compelled the Puritans to cease persecuting the Quakers. For the excessively religious New Englanders to be taught toleration by such a master, is one of the strange things in history.
16 Elliot's New England II, 299.
CHAPTER VI
TROUBLE WITH CONNECTICUT-CAPTAIN JOHN SCOTT.
1650
The line of division, between New Netherland and the colonies of New Haven and Connecticut, had, from the beginning, been the subject of much dispute. As early as 1650, a treaty, known as the Hartford treaty, was signed, which gave all of Long Island east of Oyster Bay, and that part of the main land east of Greenwich Bay, to the "United Colonies of the English," "until a full and final determin- ation be agreed upon in Europe, by the mutual consent of the two states of England and Holland." This treaty was ratified by the States General, but not by England. Six years after the treaty had been signed, the English en- croached upon Long Island, west of the line that had been agreed upon, and extended their settlements far into West Chester. 1
1 The inhabitants of Flushing were also troubled by Indians. On April 13, 1662, Messrs. Lawrence, Noble and Hallet were sent to notify the Director-General that the Indians were demanding pay for the land in Flushing. They asked that the Indians' "mouthes may bee stopped and our selves preserved from any danger." Documents, XIV, 512.
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TROUBLE WITH CONNECTICUT
Advice was finally received from Holland that all hope 1663 of settling the dispute in Europe must be abandoned. 2 Encroachment on the land of West Chester continued. Agents were sent from Connecticut to the English towns on Long Island, to stir up discontent. The Director- General, therefore, went to Boston, with the hope of settling the dispute. Nothing, however, was accomplished. The New Englanders denied that the Dutch had any right to lands in the new world. It was all the King's land: the Dutch were intruders. Stuyvesant was compelled to return empty-handed to New Amsterdam.
In the meantime, the English towns on Long Island became restless. A petition, signed by certain inhabitants of Jamaica, Middleburgh and Hempstead, was sent to Hart- ford, praying that colony, "to cast over us the scurts of your government and protecktion."
In October, Stuyvesant sent a delegation to Hartford, to make one more attempt to settle the boundary question. In vain an appeal was made to the treaty of 1650: the Hartford men declared it void. After much debate, the
2 Edward Fisher was Clerk of Flushing during this year. Richard Cornell was sent to New Amsterdam to make arrangements for the tithes, being authorized to offer 100 schepel of grain-half of pease and half of wheat. Docu- ments XIV, 531.
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Hartford deputies announced, as their ultimatum, that West Chester must be given up to Connecticut, and that the Eng- lish towns on Long Island be allowed to occupy a position of quasi-independence-Connecticut agreeing to exercise no authority over them, if the Dutch would refrain from coercing them.
New disturbances, which arose among the inhabitants of the English towns on Long Island, in November, com- pelled Stuyvesant to agree to these terms. Anthony Waters, of Hempstead, and John Coe, a "miller of Middleburgh," with a force of nearly a hundred men, went to Flushing and the other English towns, declared that the country belonged to the King, removed the magistrates, and appointed others. To make the revolution complete, new names were given to several towns. Jamaica (or, as it was then written, Gemego) became Crafford; Flushing became Newarke; Newtown (or Middleburgh) became Hastings. Stuyvesant realized that he was powerless, and hastened to accept the terms offered by the Hartford convention.
1664
The villages were now in the anomalous position of quasi-independence. They proceeded, therefore, to form a "Combination." Prominent in this agitation was Captain John Scott. 3 Scott was one of the many restless English
3 O'Callaghan's New Netherland II, 497 et sq.
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CAPT. JOHN SCOTT
adventurers to whom the unsettled state of affairs in Amer- ica offered an attractive field of operation. He had been an officer in the army of Charles I, and was banished to New England by the Commonwealth. Thence he came to Long Island, and, according to his own statement, purchased about one third of the island. On receiving news of the Restoration, he returned to England. He asked the King to appoint him Governor of Long Island, or to authorize the people to elect a Governor and an assistant. Charles II was disposed to grant Scott's request, and referred the matter to the Committee on Foreign Plantations. Scott laid his claims, and his complaints against the Dutch, before this Committee. He then departed for America, armed with a royal letter, recommending him to the protection of the New England governors. Connecticut invested him with magisterial powers, granted him a stipend for his services, and sent him to Long Island to bring the western 'towns under Connecticut's control. But many of the inhabitants of the Long Island towns had left New England because of persecution, and were not anxious to return to that affili- ation. They preferred independence, and invited Scott to assist them in maintaining it. The towns of "Heempstede, Newwarke, Crafford, Hastings, Folestone and Gravesend," therefore, formed a "Combination." Scott was elected to
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act as their President, "until his Royal Highness the Duke of York, or his Majesty, should establish a government among them." The towns further agreed to elect deputies to make laws for this new "Combination." Efforts were made to induce the Dutch towns to join them, but without success. The action of Scott, in taking part in this com- bination, soon brought down upon him the hostility of both New Netherland and Connecticut. Stuyvesant sent dele- gates to Jamaica (or Crafford, as it was then called) to con- fer with Scott. He was at the time in Newwarke4 (Flush- ing). On his return to Jamaica, it was agreed to allow the old order to prevail for the time being. This was in Jan- uary. Scott said he would return in the spring. He warned the Dutch delegates that the king had granted the whole of New Netherland to the Duke of York, who would certainly take possession of it-by force, if necessary. In March, Stuyvesant went, with a military escort, to Hempstead, to meet President Scott and the delegates from the English towns. It was agreed that the English towns should remain under the King for twelve months, or until the whole ques- tion should be settled in Europe, and that the Dutch towns should remain under the States General, for the same time.
Scott's action on Long Island, naturally, did not please
4 Documents, II, 399.
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CAPT. JOHN SCOTT
the Connecticut authorities. They considered him a traitor to their interests. In the disturbance that followed, Flush- ing was visited by two distinguished men. John Winthrop Jr., Governor of Connecticut, accompanied by deputies from Hartford, came in June. He removed the magistrates · appointed by Scott, and put others in their places. Help was promised the magistrates and inhabitants, against all who might disturb them. Next came Director-General Stuyvesant. A contemporary document tells us: "The General, accompanied by Secretary Van Ruyven, Burgo- master Cortlandt and some other principal Burghers, as an escort, went thither himself in person, to protest against such irregularity. "5 The Dutch declared that they would be guiltless of the mischief and bloodshed that would cer- tainly follow. The protest was, however, in vain. 6
5 Documents, II, 407, et sq.
6 During these troubles, the inhabitants of Flushing endeavored to secure the support of the Indians by again paying them for the land. Tapansagh, Chief of the Long Island Indians, and Rompsicka, appeared before the Direc- tor-General and Council, and stated that they had been summoned to Flushing by William Lawrence. There they met Noble, Robert Terry, Doughty and a houseful of others. They told the Indians that the land was really theirs and offered to buy it of the Indians. They also told the Indians that three ships were coming from England and would drive out the Dutch. The Indians replied that they had already, in 1635, sold the land to the Dutch and hence could not sell it again. Documents, XIV, 540. Calendar of Historical Manuscripts, I, 258.
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The General Assembly of Connecticut then drew up charges against Captain Scott, 7 and called on all civil officers to arrest him. This document declared that Scott, was guilty of "sundry hainous crimes and practices," "sedi- tions," "the disturbance of the peace of his Majesty's subjects," "gross and notorious profanation of God's word," "forgery and violation of solemn oath," and treachery to Connecticut. Scott was arrested, at Setauket, and taken to Hartford. Flushing stood by him in his trouble. A re- monstrance, signed by one hundred and forty-four inhabi- tants of Flushing, was sent to Hartford, stating that Scott had acted in accordance with the will of the people, and that, "in their silence, the very stones might justly rise to pro- claim his innocence. "8 Scott addressed "A humbell petition to the Court at Hartford." in which he confessed his wrong-doings, and begged for mercy. He was released, and afterwards lived at Ashford, now Brookhaven, where he was the proprietor of the "Manor of Hope." Later, he had trouble with the English colonial officials, and emi- grated to the Barbadoes.
In taking leave of the Dutch Colonial period, it may be
7 Thompson's Long Island, II, 321.
8 O'Callaghan's New Netherland, II, 552.
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CAPT. JOHN SCOTT
well to say something about the general condition of society at that time, and of the influence which society received from the Hollanders. 9
In the absence of shops, every farmer was, to a great extent, his own mechanic-carpenter, mason, wheelwright, blacksmith. His home was simple, but comfortable. White sand, sprinkled on the floor, took the place of carpets. High-backed chairs, ornamented with brass-headed nails around the cushioned seats and leather backs, were con- spicuous articles of furniture. Plates and dishes of pewter and wood furnished the table. In the more wealthy fam- ilies, silver plate, in the form of large trays, bowls and tankards, was not uncommon.
Both Negro and Indian slavery prevailed. A species of white slavery was also common. Indigent immigrants, in return for the payment of their passage money, sold their service for definite periods, during which time they could be bought and sold like any other slaves. 10 A public official
9 Furman's Antiquities of Long Island. Below is given a list of Flushing officials, during the Dutch period, and for a short time after :
SCHOUT-FISCALS ( OR SHERIFFS)
1647, William Hark 1657, Tobias Feake
1648, John Underhill 1658, John Mastine, (Town constable)
1655, John Hicks
1673, William Lawrence
1656, William Hallet 1674, Francis Bloodgood.
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HISTORY OF FLUSHING
known as "the negro whipper," or "the town whipper," was appointed for each town. The slaves, in Flushing, generally received very kind treatment from their masters.
Nearly all the marriages were performed under the Governor's license. 11 There was a special officer in New York, whose jurisdiction extended to Long Island, known as : "The First Commissary of Marriage Affairs." It was his duty to determine all matrimonial disputes.
MAGISTRATES
1648, John Tousend John Hicks William Toorn
1662, William Lawrence William Noble
William Hallet
1651, John Underhill Thomas Saul Robert Terri
1664, William Hallet
William Noble
1652, John Hicks (other two not recorded )
(appointed by Connecticut)
1655, Thomas Saul William Lawrence Edward Farrington
1673, John Hinchman Francis Bloetgoet Richard Wildie
1656, William Lawrence
Edward Farrington William Noble (same names until 1662)
TOWN CLERKS
1648, John Lawrence 1657, Edward Heart 1662, Edward Fisher Register of New Netherland, p. 44, 88, 105.
10 Aug. 13, 1678. Indenture. Katharine Jeffreys to serve Chas. Bridges and Sarah his wife, of Flushing, Long Island, for five years, in payment for her passage from Eng- land. Calendar of Historical Manuscripts, II, 73.
11 William Harck, Sheriff of Flushing, was fined 600 Carulus guilders and deprived of his office, April 3, 1648,
-
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CAPT. JOHN SCOTT
At funerals, a cold collation, with wines and liquor, was provided for the guests, and linen-scarfs and gloves were often distributed among them. Funerals became very ex- pensive affairs, and often very nearly resembled joyous feasts.
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