USA > New York > Queens County > Flushing > History of the town of Flushing, Long Island, New York > Part 6
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The present Meeting-house was not originally a two- storied building. A gallery occupied the position of the present upper floor, until 1763.
The meeting kept a very close supervision over the con- duct of Friends, and never hesitated to enforce its rules of discipline. Penitents were compelled publicly to "condemn" their action. If offenders refused to do this, after being "tenderly dealt with," they were "disowned." Here in a Sample (1705) of many similar entries. "William Thorne condemns his disorderly and evil action in accompanying William Ford and Mary Hait, his cousin, in their rebellious endeavor to accomplish marriage without and altogether against the consent of her parents. The meeting advise him to give Samuel Hait satisfaction by desiring his forgiveness, and to make his paper of condemnation public, as far as his action was known; That truth may be cleared, a committee visit Thomas Ford who was concerned in assisting his brother William with great endeavor to perform a disorderly
19 Minutes, I, 14, 39 No further reference to the subject can be found.
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marriage by a priest. Thomas condemns his outrunning in going to New Rochelle about his brother's disorder in attempting to get married. "20
20 Many similar cases of discipline may be gathered from the records. 1739, 7th of 12mo., R --- L- condemns himself for consenting to his daughter marrying outside of meeting, and for being with her where there was "fiddling and dancing. " Another offence was, giving her a dinner at his own home. 1782. E -- L -- is disowned. He plays cards, is extravagant in dress and address -- uses vain com- pliments. 1784, E -- daughter of S -- D -- is disowned for superfluous, and extravagance in, dress and address." 1775, "O -- W -- was at a horse race, attended with a fraudulent circumstance. He now condemns it and returns what he had so obtained." In 1774, it was reported : "Friends are clear of chewing tobacco in meeting, not clear of sleeping, no buying or importing of negroes." Manuscript History, p. 139, 173, 175, 181.
CHAPTER XI
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN FLUSHING-GOV- ERNOR CLINTON
1704
Two years after the visit of Keith and Talbot, the serv- ices of the Church of England were regularly held in Flush- ing, if not at an earlier date. The first Rector of Jamaica, the Rev. Patrick Gordon, who had come out from England with Keith and Talbot, died of yellow fever before he had begun his work. Until his successor should be appointed, the Rev. James Honeyman was licensed, by Lord Cornbury, to conduct services at Jamaica, Flushing and Newtown. He spoke of Flushing as " famous for being stocked with Quakers." The regularly appointed Rector of these three towns, the Rev. William Urquhart, was inducted in July, 1704. Of the inhabitants of Flushing, he wrote : "Most of the inhabitants thereof are Quakers, who rove through the county from one village to another, talk blasphemy, corrupt the youth, and do much mischief." He visited Flushing once a month, and held services in the
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Guard House, which stood near the corner of Broadway and Union street. 1
Mr. Urquhart lived in Jamaica. He held services in Flushing twice a month-once on Sunday, and once on a week day. He died in 1709. His controversies with the 1709
Nonconformists, concerning the possession of the church and glebe, belong to the history of Jamaica.
Lord John Lovelace, who succeeded Cornbury as 1708 Governor of New York, arrived on Dec. 18, 1708. He came down the Sound, on the Kingsale, and landed at Flushing. 2 Thence he proceeded to New York, where he was cordially received by the people. He died in the following year, and 1710 was succeeded, 1710, by Robert Hunter.
The same year brought to the three united parishes of Jamaica, Newtown, and Flushing, a new Rector, in the person of the Rev. Thos. Poyer. Mr. Poyer was a native of Wales. He sailed for America, in December, 1709. After a voyage of over three months, he was shipwrecked on the coast of Long Island, about a hundred miles from his par- ish. Mr. Poyer proved to be a faithful and hard-working 1711 pastor. In his report to the Society, May 3, 1711, he
1 History of St. George's Parish, 21, 22. Antiquities of the Parish Church of Jamaica, p. 16-20.
2 Documents, V, 67.
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wrote: "I thank God the Church of England increaseth, for among the Quakers at Flushing . . . I have seldom so few as fifty hearers." Again, two years later: "The Churches increase beyond expectation, and among the Quakers in Flushing . . . I seldom have so few as fifty, and often more than a hundred hearers." Mr. Poyer received £50, a year from the Society, and very little from any other source. The friction between the Church of England and the Nonconformists continued. Mr. Poyer wrote, in 1717 : "They make it their constant endeavour to tire me with their ill usage and to starve me. "3 The shop-keepers would not sell him provisions ; the miller would not grind his corn. The miller told him to eat his corn whole, as the hogs do. 1731 In 1731, Mr. Poyer asked to be relieved of his duties, that he might return home; but he died of small-pox, in the same year, and was buried in Jamaica. Two manuscript sermons, preached by Mr. Poyer in Flushing, are still pre- served in St. George's Church.
The Rev. Thomas Colgan succeeded Mr. Poyer, in 1733. He had been an assistant minister in Trinity Church, New York. His wife was the daughter of John Reade. Mr. Colgan's conciliatory methods did much to overcome the opposition to the Church of England. The first Episcopal
3 Documentary History of New York, III, 171.
1713 1717 1733
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Church, in Flushing, was built during his rectorship. He wrote, in 1746, that they were "in a very likely way of having a church erected in the town of Flushing, a place generally inhabited by Quakers, and by some of no religion at all."+ He expressed the hope, that the church would be ready for service in three months. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel sent. for use in the new church, a copy of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. bound together, which may still be seen in St. George's Church. "A Quaker gave some money. at the opening of the new church"-Mr. Colgan writes-"and afterwards thought he had not put enough in the plate. and gave more to the col- lector." The churchyard was the gift of Capt. Hugh 1749 Wentworth5 and Mary his wife. Capt. Wentworth was a merchant in the West Indian trade. The deed is dated, April 7. 1749 -three years after the completion of the Church. 1753
It was during the rectorship of Mr. Colgan, that Flush- ing became the temporary residence of Sir George Clinton,
4 Documentary History of New York, III, 194.
5 The New York Post Boy, of October 25, 1756, contains the following: "Capt. Wentworth. being at St. Thomas, mustered as many New Yorkers as he could find (twenty- four hands in all), and in his own vessel, indifferently mounted with great guns, put to sea in pursuit of a French Privateer cruising off the harbor and chasing New York vessels. The Privateer thought best to disappear."
1746
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the Governor of the Province. 6 How long the Governor lived in Flushing, we are unable to say. It is certain that he was here in 1753.7 On May 3, 1753, the Provincial Council met in Flushing-present: the Hon. Jas. Alexander, Speaker, Archibald Kennedy, and Edward Holland. An address was presented to his Excellency, the Governor, who responded, in these words: "Gentlemen: I thank you for this kind address, as it is a great satisfaction to me to have my conduct and administration meet with your appro- bation."
One of Governor Clinton's letters to the Lords of Trade, is dated: "Flushing upon Long Island, ye 30 June, 1753." In this letter, he speaks of his lack of health, and expresses the
6 Sir George Clinton was the youngest son of the sixth Earl of Lincoln. He became Commodore in the navy, and later, in 1732, Governor of Newfoundland. He was ap- pointed Governor of New York, in 1743, and retired in 1753. Returning to England he was appointed Governor of Green- wich Hospital ; later, in 1757, Admiral of the Fleet ; finally, a second time, Governor of Newfoundland, where he died, in 1761.
7 "He committed the error of secluding himself in the fort, or at his country seat, where he spent his time orer his bottle, with a few dependents, who played billiards with his lady and lived on his bounty. He seldom went abroad; many of the citizens never saw him; and he did not attend Divine worship more than three or four times during his whole administration." New York Gazetteer, p. 52.
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desire to return to England. 8 He also speaks of the threat- ening movements of "the French and their Indians, " and states that he had sent notice of this danger to Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania. It was probably in conse- quence of this notice, that Governor Hamilton sent Conrad Weiser, an interpreter, on a mission to the Mohawks. Weiser arrived in New York, on the first of August, on his way north. Being unwell, he sent his "son Sammy, with- one Henry Van den Ham, to Flushing, on Long Island, to wait on Governor Clinton, and deliver Governor Hamilton's letter to him. Governor Clinton being gone to the plains, they left the letter with his lady and returned the next day." Weiser proceeded on his journey, and returned to New York, August 24th. Mr. Kennedy, a member of the Council, who was going to Flushing on the following day, offered to notify his Excellency of Weiser's return. Mr. Kennedy, however, found "that all the horses and chairs over the river were employed, and that he could' get none, which prevented his going to Flushing. "9 Two days later, Weiser was able to reach Flushing. "I went"-he says- "to Flushing, on Long Island, seventeen miles from New York, to wait on Governor Clinton-he happened to be from
8 Documents, VI, 778.
9 Documents VI, 795-798.
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home, but came in by one o'clock. I paid him my compli- ments at his door-he called me in and asked me how far I had been, and signified to me that it was a wrong step in me to proceed to Albany before I had his directions. I asked pardon, and told him my reason why I proceeded. His Excellency said it was well; he did not disapprove so - much of my proceeding, as of my son's not staying for an answer. His Excellency seemed well enough pleased with my return, and of my not proceeding to Onondago, and was pleased to tell me that he intended to be in New York next Wednesday, and would then have me to wait on him and take a letter to Governor Hamilton, and so dismissed me, but would have me stay and eat a bit of victuals first, and ordered his attendance accordingly to get it for me and my companion. After dinner, I left Flushing and arrived in New York the same evening."10
Weiser did not see the Governor again. Clinton sent him his compliments, wished him a safe journey, and re- quested Weiser to present his compliments to Governor Hamilton.
These, not important, incidents are cited to enable the reader to gain something like a correct picture of the times,
10 Documents, VI, 798.
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and to realize how Flushing entered into the life of the whole Province.
The French and Indian war broke out, two years later. 1755 William Johnson, in command of the expedition against Crown Point, wrote, in October, to thank the inhabitants of Queens County for "sixty-nine cheeses and two hundred sheep, being part of one thousand raised in Queens County, on Long Island, as a present to the army. "11
The Rev. Mr. Colgan died during this troublous year, "lamented and respected by all who knew him." He had done much toward accomplishing the work he laid out for himself, when he wrote, in the second year of his incum- bency : "We are at peace with those several sectaries that are round about us, and I hope that, by God's help. peace will subsist among us. To sow the seeds thereof shall be my endeavor : to be of a loving. charitable demeanor to all men, of whatever persuasion, in matters of religion, shall be, by God's help, my practice, that so discharging my duty therein, I may contribute my mite to the good of the Church of Christ. "12
Peace among the Churches was not, however, perma- nently secured. At the death of Mr. Colgan, the old feud
11 Manderille, p. 55, 56.
12 Documentary History of New York, III, 191.
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again broke out. The dissenters secured a majority in the vestry at Jamaica, and elected a Presbyterian Minister to the rectorship of the three parishes. Governor Hardy would not allow his induction. The vestry declined to elect any one else. After waiting some time, the Governor "was pleased to collate to the care of the parish, the Rev. Samuel Seabury Jr."
1756
The unwillingness on the part of the Quakers to serve in the militia, or in any way to assist in warfare, probably accounts for the fact that fines are recorded against many of them at this time. 13
"Nine neutral French"14 were sent to Flushing, in May, to be cared for by the magistrates. On Nov. 29, the General Assembly paid Christopher Roberts £4.2.1 for their support.
13 John Thorn, James Burling, James Bowne, Benj. Doughty, Stephen Hedger, Dan'l. Bowne, James Parsons. Dan'l Lathum, Sam'l. Thorn, Caleb Field, John Thorne, were fined £2 each, except the last-named, whose fine was 1£. Documentary History of New York, III, 623.
14 These so-called "neutral French" were the residents of Nova Scotia who were drawn from their homes by the British, because, it was alleged, they, under the guise of neutrality as non-combatants, had given aid to the enemy. A great number of them were distributed throughout the Island.
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Quebec fell on Sept. 13, 1759. 15 The current number of the New York Mercury tells us how the event was celebrated, on the ninth of November. "The inhabitants of Flushing celebrated the reduction of Quebec, that long dreaded sink of French perfidy and cruelty. An elegant entertainment was provided, at which the principal persons of the place were present .. After dinner, the paternal tenderness of our gracious Sovereign for these infant colonies, the patriotism and integrity of Mr. Pitt, the fortitude and activity of our generals and admirals, etc., with every other toast that loy- alty and gratitude could dictate, were drank. Each toast was accompanied by a discharge of cannon-in all, about one hundred. The evening was ushered in with a large bonfire and an illumination. "16
1759
One year later, Sept. 8, 1760, Canada passed into the hands of the English. Peace was once more established. The inhabitants of Flushing again turned their attention to
Z 15 One of the heroes at Quebec was Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Corsa. He, with the Long Island men, volunteered to erect a battery under the fire of the enemy, during the night of August 26th. This battery was chiefly instrumental in the capture of Fort Frontenac. After the war, he returned to his farm in Flushing and resigned his commission. During the Revolution, he was arrested as a British sym- pathizer and released on parole. He died in 1807, aged 80 years.
16 Queens County in Olden Times, p. 31.
1760
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religious affairs. The Rev. Samuel Seabury, the Rector of the Church of England, does not give a flattering picture of the spiritual condition of the town. He writes: "Flush- ing, in the last generation the ground seat of Quakerism, is in this, the seat of infidelity." Again: "Quakerism has paved the way" for "deism and infidelity. "17
The Charter of St. George's Church is dated June 17, 1761-the first year of the reign of George III. 18
1761
Mr. Seabury was assisted in his work, in Flushing. by John Aspinwall, Thomas Grennell, and a Mr. Treadwell. 1762 George Harison writes, in 1762: "Mr. Aspinwall, 19 a friend of the Church, a man of fortune and public spirit, has re- ti red from business in New York, and settled in Flushing, where he found the inhabitants, chiefly Quakers, almost void of all sense of religion, a total dissolution of all man- ners, and a horrid contempt of the Sabbath. He immedi-
17 Documentary History of New York, III, 195, 196.
18 The petition for the charter was signed by the fol- lowing residents of Flushing: John Aspinwall, Thomas Grennell. Daniel Thorne, Joseph Bowne, Joseph Haviland, Jacob Thorne, Francis Brown, Foster Lewis, William Thorne, Charles Cornell, John Morrell, Benjamin Thorne, John Dyer, Jeremiah Mitchell, Nathaniel Tom, Benjamin Fowler, John Marston, Charles Wright, Isaac Doughty, Christopher Robert, John Wilson.
19 Mr. Aspinwall lived in a house which still stands on the south side of Broadway, between Union street and Bowne avenue.
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ately set about a reformation. The first step was to engage Mr. Treadwell to come and settle there as a teacher of the Latin tongue, and on Sundays to perform the service of the Church. His next step was to finish what was only the shell of a church. 20 He built a handsome steeple and gave a very fine bell. It is now one of the neatest churches in America, for its bigness : all of which was done at an ex- pense of £600 currency to himself. He and Mr. Treadwell, by their good example, have brought over many Quakers
20 On Oct. 6, 1760, Mr. Seabury wrote: "They are now finishing the Church, which before was only enclosed so as to keep out the weather, and I hope in my next letter to acquaint the Society of its being completed."
March 26, 1761: "The severe cold weather, the past winter, obliged then to suspend the work some months, but they have now resumed it and are likely to complete it in a short time, together with a handsome steeple, which was begun last autumn. The principal expense of this work is defrayed by Mr. John Aspinwall and Mr. Thomas Grenall, two Gentlemen who have recently retired thither from New York. Mr. Aspinwall has besides made them a present of a very fine bell of about 500 pounds weight, and I hope the Influence and example of these gentlemen in their regular and constant attendance on Divine service will have some good effect on the people of that town. Thro' Mr. Aspin- wall's means also, the church has been constantly supplied the last half year with a lay-reader, one Mr. Tredwell, a young gentleman educated at Yale College, in Conn., of an amiable character and disposition, and who intends to offer himself for the service of the Society and with their per- mission to go to England next Autumn." Documentary History of New York, 196, 197.
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and Calvinists, so that I myself have been a joyful witness of a numerous congregation in a church, wherein, within three or four years, seldom assembled above ten or twelve persons. ''21
From the above, we learn that the church, built during Mr. Colgan's rectorship, was not, at that time, finished ; and that the congregation collected by him had lost interest and become scattered. While both Mr. Seabury and the writer of this letter seem, justly or unjustly, to hold the Quakers responsible for the irreligious condition of the in- habitants of Flushing, we are not to understand that they accused the Quakers themselves of having lost "all sense of religion, " or having fallen into dissolute manners or having a "contempt for the Sabbath."
1763
Mr. Treadwell, the school master and lay-reader, went to England for ordination. and returned to this country in 1763. He was stationed, by the Society, at Trenton, New Jersey. An unsuccessful effort was made, at this time, to separate St. George's Church from the other two neighbor- ing parishes, and to secure Mr. Tredwell as the Rector of Flushing. 22 Mr. Seabury resigned the rectorship of the
21 Onderdonk's Antiquities of the Parish Church of Jamaica, p. 62
22 This caused an estrangement between the Rev. Mr. Seabury and John Aspinwall. Mr. Seabury wrote to the
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three parishes, in 1765, and removed to West Chester. 23 After the resignation of Mr. Seabury, the three parishes were without a Rector for more than three years, when the Rev. Joshua Bloomer was inducted to the rectorship. He was to receive from the Society in England, £20 per annum, and £30 per annum from each of the three parishes. The new Rector wrote, in 1770: "I preach at the three churches of Jamaica, Newtown and Flushing, alternately, and gener- ally to crowded assemblies, who behave during Divine service with the utmost decency and decorum. The churches are neat, well-finished buildings, but those of Newtown and Flushing, rather small for the congregations. " 24
Secretary of the Society, March 26, 1763, complaining of Mr. Treadwell's intrusion into the parish, and of his forcing an entrance into the Flushing Church. "I am utterly unable to guess at the motive of Mr. Tredwell's conduct, unless he acted under the Influence and direction of Mr. John Aspin- wall of Flushing, a man of low Birth and strong passions and violent in his resentments, who, having acquired a great fortune by privateering, removed thither from New York, and who has really done very considerably towards finishing the church and gave a good Bell." Documentary History of New York, III, 198.
23 During the Revolution, he was imprisoned as a British sympathizer. At the close of the war, March 25, 1783, be was elected Bishop of Connecticut. On November 14, of the following year, he was consecrated, in Aberdeen, Scotland, the first Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
24 History of St. George's Parish, p. 55.
1765
PART IV-The Revolutionary Period
CHAPTER XII
MEN OF THE TIME
There were several Flushing men, identified with events of this period, who deserve more than a passing notice.
The first to claim our attention is Col. Archibald Ham- ilton. Hamilton entered the British army in 1755. In 1757, he received his commission as a Lieutenant. He served against Louisburg, in 1758; was made Captain, in 1761; served in America until 1774, when his regiment returned to England. He then left the army and settled in Flush- ing. He married Alice Colden, daughter of Alexander Colden and grand-daughter of Lieut. Gov. Cadwallader Colden. On June 5, 1776, he was arrested, as a British sympathizer, by order of the Provincial Congress of New York, but was soon released on parole. 1 In August, of the
1 June 24, 1776. Archibald Hamilton gave parole that he would not, directly or indirectly, oppose or, contravene measures of the Continental Congress or of the Congress of New York.
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same year, he was again arrested, brought before the Con- tinental Congress, and sent to New Brunswick. On Sep- tember 23rd., he was allowed to return home to his family. He soon joined the Loyalists, and was made Colonel of the Queens County Militia and Aide-de-camp to Governor Tryon. 2 His headquarters were at "Innerwick, " Flushing. Judge Jones, a contemporary, speaks of him as "a man of an opulent fortune, a supernumerary aide-de-camp to his Excellency-for which he received ten shillings a day, for doing nothing, with rations of all kinds for his family."3
Hamilton was a man of an almost ungovernable temper, if we may judge from contemporary testimony. In October, 1778, he beat Thomas Kelly with the but-end of his riding- whip, because Kelly did not take off his hat to him. John Willet, seeing a negro taking from his farm a load of rails by order of Col. Hamilton, asked Hamilton why he had given the order. Hamilton leaped from his horse and ran at Willet, with a cutlass in his hand. Willet defended himself with a stick. Col. Hamilton fell upon his knees,
2 Gov. Tryon writes to Lord Germaine, Dec. 16, 1778 : "I have been obliged, from the frequent duties the militia of Kings and Queens counties have been called on to per- form, to appoint Archibald Hamilton Aid-de-camp and Com- mandant of the Militia of Queens County. " Documents and Letters, p. 237.
3 History of New York During the Revolutionary War, II, 46.
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and called God to witness that he would cut any one to pieces who opposed his orders. The same day, he fell upon James Morrell with a sword, and almost killed him. Walter Dalton also deposed, that Hamilton had twice knocked him down with a heavy weapon.4 At least a dozen similar affidavits were sent to Governor Tryon, who appointed David Colden to investigate the charges. The result of the investigation is not known. At the close of the war, on the last day of December, 1783, Hamilton sailed for England. Twelve years later, he died in Edinburgh. His farm in Flushing became the property of John Hoogland.
One of the most distinguished families in Flushing, at this period, was the Colden family. Cadwallader Colden was born in Scotland, Feb. 17, 1688. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1705, and came to Phila- delphia three years later, where he practised medicine until 1715. He then spent a year in London, where he met many noted literary and scientific men, and returned to Philadelphia, in 1716. Two years later he came to New York, and was made Surveyor-General. In 1755, he received a patent for land near Newburg. In 1760, he became Pres- ident of the Provincial Council. In 1761, he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of New York, and held the office
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