USA > New York > New York City > Leslie's history of the greater New York, Volume II > Part 47
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or cranes made their nests, and which Indians in their transfers of territory always stipulated should be spared, inasmuch as these birds were held sacred by them.
When the Dutch regime passed away and the English came into power, and the Yorkshire scheme was introduced, Jamaica and Flush- ing were relegated with the rest of Queens County east of them to the North Riding, although the compass would hardly warrant such a designation by the side of Suffolk County as the East Riding, and Newtown and Kings as the West Riding. The North Riding might have been part of either the West or East, but how its relative posi- tion could suggest anything northerly with reference to these others, it is hard to comprehend. Jamaica, of course, had its delegates at the Hempstead Convention, where the Duke's Laws were proposed and adopted, and they were no less backward than the other townships in freely criticising the same and the actions of the Governor, in 1669. The recapture of New Netherland by the Dutch in 1673. and the Leisler troubles of 1689 to 1691, left no, special events to be recorded. about the same experiences being encountered here as in other com- munities in the island. But Ja- maica had a very special experi- ence of the duplicity and general rascality of that by far the worst of many bad Royal Governors, Lord Cornbury. We have already told the story in our previous vol- CORNBURY IN FEMALE DRESS. ume (p. 104), how Cornbury was compelled to flee from New York on account of the yellow fever scourge in the summer of 1702; how the Rev. Mr. Hubbard, pastor of the Presbyterian Church, courteously placed his commodious parson- age at the disposal of His Excellency; and how, in return, the pastor was ejected both from his church and parsonage, and these were turned over to an Episcopal rector, on the ground that " the church and parsonage having been built by Public Act "-i.c., permission having been granted the people to collect tithes for finishing the build- ing and paying the minister-" it could belong to none but the Church of England." It is proper here to add some further details both in regard to the establishment of the Presbyterian Church in Ja- maica and this particular episode.
Before the Dutch rule had come to an end, and but two years after the grant of their patent, the people of Jamaica built a church. It
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was of the Presbyterian order, and the first pastor called was the Rev. Zachariah Walker, at a salary of sixty pounds a year, payable in wheat and Indian corn. Two pastors intervened between Mr. Walker and the Rev. John Hubbard, who was called in 1698. The next year a movement was set on foot to build a new church, as the original one, erected in days of feebleness and poverty, was beginning to slow signs of decay, and was, besides, too small to suit the increasing con- gregation. A tract of land had been set apart by the townspeople upon which a parsonage was to be built, as early as 1676. In consid- eration of further publie assistance in the present important project. a piece of meadow attached to the parsonage lot was again placed at the disposal of the town. In 1700 the new church was finished; it was a stone structure, and stood, as was so strangely customary in those days, in Dutch communities especially, in the middle of the road, or main street, the present Fulton Street. It was therefore still a new church when Cornbury sought refuge in Jamaica in the summer of 1702. Upon a certain Sunday Mr. Hubbard, having performed the usnal services in the morning, on returning in the afternoon for the second service found an astonishing state of affairs. His pulpit was occupied by an Episcopal clergyman, and the Governor, with his family, some members of the Council, and a few of the Episcopalians who had become residents of the village, were seated in the pews. Making no disturbance, the Presbyterian pastor gathered his flock under the trees of an orchard near by, and preached to them there. By force of the civil arm an Episcopal rector was subsequently in- ducted and a vestry appointed. In a short time after leaving the par- sonage Corubury sent the Sheriff to dispossess the Presbyterians of that also. Thus a legacy of bitterness and litigation was left which lasted for nearly thirty years, and troubled the administration of Governors Hunter and Burnett, both men disposed to be just, and without the narrow bigotry of a Cornbury. The Episcopalian element in Jamaica took advantage of technical claims under the laws of the province, so that the decision against them was long delayed, and un- happily the iniquity of Cornbury was supported by the clergy in other parts of America and in England on the pernicious principle that the end justifies the means. But, finally, in 1728. Chief Justice Lewis Morris gave back their property to the Presbyterians, even then not without bringing down upon his head the vituperations and libels of good churchmen. With such an inauspicious beginning did the Episcopal Church make its entry into Jamaica. After justice had been at last done, the society was without a building. Services were now conducted for a while in the Town Hall. But in 1734 the Epis- copalians were able to erect a church of their own, which, in a charter granted later by Colden, was denominated Grace Church. At the dedication Governor Cosby and his wife, a sister of Lord Halifax, were present, and the lady presented the church with a large Bible, a Common Prayer-book, and a surplice for the minister.
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The Dutch were slow in invading the townships ontside of Kings County, but, as we have seen in the case of Newtown, they got there in the course of time. They were here in Jamaica in mimbers enough to have a church, sooner than they were so in Newtown and more than a century before they were so in Flushing. With some uncer- tainty as to the date of organization, it is estimated that 1702 is about correct. The Dutch people had helped contribute to the Pres- byterian Church, and once in a while a pastor from Kings County would give them a service here, although on fair days they did not mind riding or walking to Brooklyn or Flatbush to hear a good square Dutch discourse. In 1715 they began to make a move toward the building of a church, and all the Dutch that could be found in Queens County were solicited to bear a hand. In 1716 it stood an accom- plished fact, and now the domines from Kings were asked to come over and help them ont with the preaching, until after a few years, as we saw, JJamaica, Success, Oyster Bay, and Newtown were formed into a collegiate Queens County parish similar to the one in Kings. It was particularly in this parish that were felt the baneful effects of the so-called Conferentie and Coetns parties in the Dutch Reformed Church. The Coetus party were those who recognized the fact that they were no longer under the Dutch rule, nor yet living in Holland. They wished to have authority to educate and ordain ministers in America, whereas it was required of all young men desirous of enter- ing the ministry to go across seas to Holland to be educated or at least ordained, usually both. Some concessions tending toward larger liberty had already been granted by the ecclesiastical authorities in Holland in 1747, a Coetns, or assembly, being allowed to form to ex- amine candidates for the ministry, and on special permission being obtained therefor, sometimes to ordain them. This went along nicely for a few years, when suddenly the Conferentie was formed, a body of reactionaries who wished to return to the closest and most obstruct- ive dependence on Holland. Congregations were grievously divided on these points. Ministers who had performed certain functions, such as baptisms, would have their acts repudiated by others of the other side. Officers installed by a pastor of one party would not be recog- nized by one of the other, and sometimes two conflicting boards of elders would stand opposed to each other in one congregation. The denomination suffered irreparably from these differences, which were not composed till 1771. For several years, on account of these troubles, pastors followed each other in Jamaica in rapid succession.
Landmarks of the olden time, and names still not forgotten, are the " One Mile," and " Two Mile," and " Three Mile " mills. The range of hills that rise north of Jamaica, and form a natural division between that township and Flushing, send forth several small streams on their way along the southern levels, and so on to Jamaica Bay. Among the largest of these is the one that starts in the vicinity of the village,
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and at a distance of three miles from it falls into a creek that dis- charges into Jamaica Bay. Along this stream the three mills named were planted, and at the distances suggestive of the terms applied to then. These appeared on the scene during the eighteenth century. But they had been preceded by several, some of which, too, were other than grist mills. In 1663 John Ouldfield, a tanner, was induced to settle in Jamaica by the gift of a lot for a house and a twenty-acre farm. For this he must put up a bark-mill, and " make such lether as will passe under ye seal." Likewise in 1669 a Mr. Hubbard was enticed away from his native Gravesend, so that he would run a mill in the township. In 1704, a fulling-mill was established by White- head and Thirstone, stimulated thereto, doubtless, by the enterprise of Newtown thirteen years before. They were granted certain priv-
AN ANCIENT STAGE COACH.
ileges provided they would full all sorts of cloth, press the same for threepence the yard, and to full for this town's people in preference to those of other towns.
The history of Jamaica in Revolutionary days, requires a brief ref- erence once more to the sad case of General Woodhull. It was here he was stationed, and practically left in the lurch by the Provincial Congress, not feeling at liberty to abandon his post till it was too late. Two miles east of Jamaica, on the road to Queens, at Carpenter's Inn, he was overtaken. In a former chapter we rather intimated that the blows inflicted after his surrender were stayed by the order or inter- position of Captain Oliver De Lancey. But some accounts reflect pretty heavily on that trnenlent Tory, and are in some respects more in accord with his well-known violent character, which gave so much trouble to Governor Clinton, and which he indulged with impunity
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because his brother, the Chief Justice, played so strong a hand against Clinton in the Assembly. The dastardly saber cuts were showered upon the defenseless head of the distinguished captive. be- cause when ordered to say " God save the King." he replied, " God save all honest men." And upon his deathbed General Woodhull declared to Robert Troup, friend and fellow-student of Alexander Hamilton, that the one who strnek him, after he had yielded up his sword, was Oliver De Lancey himself. As if this brutality was not enough, with bleeding head and mutilated arm, Woodhull was hin- ried to Jamaica and imprisoned in the Presbyterian Church, without bed or other comforts. While at Hinchman's Inn, in the village, Dr. Ogden, the physician of the place, offered to dress the gaping wounds, but this needed service and common humanity were denied the suf- ferer. The rest of the painful story is found on pages 100 and 101.
Jamaica furnishes another instance of British brutality in these early days of the war. Elias Bayliss was an aged man afflicted with blindness, and an esteemed elder in the Presbyterian Church. By the officiousness of a Tory neighbor who wished to serve the Britons, but could muster up no courage for a braver deed. Mr. Bay- liss was pointed out as an active sympathizer with the rebel cause. He was, therefore, arrested in the neighborhood of One Mile Mill, whither he had retired to escape the notice of the enemy. He was conveyed to New Utrecht and imprisoned in the church there, with two fellow-townsmen. penned together in the same pew. While there. having a good memory and being a good singer, he solaced the mon- otony and misery of their situation by singing a psalm in Ronse's Ver- sion. Desiring that one of his companions should read a chapter from the Bible to him. he asked them to get it from the pulpit. Neither of them ventured to leave their position, but advised him to get it him- self. supposing his helpless condition would be less likely to arons the resentment of the guards. He accordingly felt his way up. and was on his way back to his place when he was rudely accosted by the guard. the Bible taken from him, and he thrust back into the pew with no gentle hand. Bayliss was released and returned to Jamaica. At the evacuation the man who had cansed his arrest contemplated remaining after the British had left. But he received sneh undoubted intimations of what was in store for him that he changed his mind and went to Halifax with the rest.
All through the remainder of the war Jamaica was made the win- ter quarters for the troops. Huts were built in the side of the hill north of the village, where they were sheltered from the northern gales, and had the benefit of the exposure to a southern sun. and thus were made comparatively comfortable. Naturally there was need of frequent trips on the part of the Jamaica villagers to Brooklyn or Bedford, especially the latter, where the headquarters of the troops on Long Island were established. There accounts had to be settled. if
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they were settled at all, and reports had to be handed in of available produce, or cattle, or horses. Hence we notice that in October, 1777, a Mr. Hope Mills advertised that a stage would start from his stables at 7 o'clock a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, which would return the same day although it was to go all the way to Brooklyn Ferry. This evidently was a successful venture, for soon two competitors entered the field. At the other end of the route, Mr. Loosely, of Brooklyn Ferry Tavern fame, in partnership with a Mr. Elms, announced to the public that they proposed to run a " caravan " to Jamaica and back on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and-horrible to re- late -- on Sundays. In this way every day furnished the opportunity to make a trip to Brooklyn Ferry from Jamaica, only one day you had to go in the morning and the next in the evening. This defect was soon remedied by a second competitor for the traveling public's favor who possessed a " new flying machine on steel springs," and left for Brooklyn on "Thursday, Sunday, and Tuesday" mornings at 8 o'clock. The Presbyterian pastor at this time, the Rev. Matthias Burnet, was a loyalist, a somewhat unusual circumstance in that de- nomination. Accordingly his church was spared many of the indigni- ties nsually heaped upon dissenting places of worship. After the war Mr. Burnet did not stay very long, but went over to Connecticut. His position was sneh an anomalous one in the Presbyterian Church that he could not be comfortable in it, and so eventually he entered into Episcopal orders. The Dutch domine, Mr. Froeligh, as we have seen, was an enthusiastic patriot, whose prayers were more potent than the British liked. Hence he fled, and his church was converted into a magazine for military stores.
The return of peace and the departure of the enemy were celebrated by all of Queen's County at Jamaica on Monday, December 8, 1783, or just one day short of two weeks after the evacuation of New York. At sunrise the Continental troops that had been assigned to Jamaica for encampment, were drawn up in line, and fired a volley in honor of the day, and at the same time the flag which had finally won the tri- umph of the war was raised on the tall liberty pole which had been planted for the celebration. An elegant dinner was participated in by the prominent men of the county, with the officers of the army sta- tioned at Jamaica as guests of honor, a band discoursing stirring music during its progress. Then, as usual, thirteen toasts were duly responded to by the drinking of wine. After the banquet the guests marched in a procession through the village, thirteen abreast in each column, preceded by the band, which had done duty with the troops of the State, and on passing the colors on the liberty pole, the proper salute was given. As night fell every house in the village and for miles around it was brilliantly illuminated with fanciful displays of candles. A ball concluded the exercises. It was observed that upon every countenance were plainly pictured the sentiments of joy and
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gratitude pertinent to such an occasion. An address to Governor Clinton was voted during the day, which was promptly sent to him. signed by Francis Lewis and other Queens County patriots, to which the Governor replied on the 12th. The town officers, after martial law had lifted its burden, were Nicholas Everitt. Supervisor. and Platt Smith. Constable, elected to these positions in May, 1784. The first law passed by the Legislature after the Revolution provided that the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor should be voted for by ballot in- stead of rire roce, and this rule was extended to the election of Sena- tors and Assemblymen in 1787. All the voting in the county for such officers was then required to be done at Jamaica ; but in 1799 a change was made, and each township was permitted to have its own polling- places. It is, therefore. at Jamaica that we find the record of the votes cast for the four delegates that were to represent Queens County in the State Convention summoned to meet in July at Poughkeepsie to deliberate upon the question of adopting or rejecting the Federal Constitution. This election was held on May 30, 1788, and the re- sult of the balloting is a somewhat curious showing. The four men that received the highest totals of votes were John Schenck. 518: Samuel Jones. 517: Nathan Law- rence. 484. and Stephen Carman. 476. Yet these men in Jamaica. Flushing, and Newtown received a very light vote. Jamaica gave to each exactly 23; Flushing to each only 13. and Newtown gave 36 to the first two. 38 to the third, and 10 to the last. The remaining four GOVERNOR MORGAN LEWIS. candidates were Franeis Lewis. Hendrick Onderdonk. Prior Townsend, and Isaac Ledyard, whose votes ranged from 416 to 401: yet in Jamaica and Flushing these four men polled more than a hundred votes each. and in Newtown they each had nearly eighty. It may be noted in passing that the Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church (then but four years old) appointed June 11. 1788, as a Day of Fasting. Humiliation. and Prayer, in be- half of the State Convention to meet the next month.
We know the result of that Convention, the noble battle fonght and won by Hamilton and Jay, and the adopting vote by a bare majority on July 26. Then came the Inanguration of Washington at New York the following spring, and the Federal Republic was fairly started upon its career. Whatever else Washington may have done. Long Island is specially interested in a trip-a coaching trip it had
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to be then-which brought him to several places within and beyond the limits of the present New York, so much greater than it was then. This excursion took place in April, 1790. Washington was then liying in the Macomb mansion, where 39 Broadway is now. He sent over his carriage and horses the day before, so as to be ready and in good trim for their work early in the morning, and on Tuesday, April 20, he left his house at eight o'clock. As the journey might prove fatiguing, and it was not known what kind of entertainment could be had, Mrs. Washington did not accompany him. The first day's trip inchided Brooklyn, Flatbush, New Utrecht (where the Presidential party dined at Mr. Barré's), Gravesend, and ended at Jamaica, where His Excel- lency lodged over night at Warne's tavern, which he describes as " a good and decent house." At eight o'clock on Wednesday morning the journey was resumed. Thus for a few days the trip was extended, taking in Brookhaven, Coram, Setauket, and by way of Smithtown, Huntington, Oyster Bay, and Manhasset back to Flushing, where the party dined Saturday noon. Then passing through Newtown to Brooklyn again, the President found the road in that township " very fine and the country in a high state of cultivation," which praise was worth something, coming from the Virginia gentleman-farmer. Be- fore sundown Bedford and Brooklyn had been passed, the ferry was reached and prosperously crossed, and Washington at home again on that same Saturday evening, so that no one's sensibilities needed to be hurt by any unhallowed use of the Sabbath.
Just ten years later Jamaica paid reverent homage to the memory of the great man who had thus honored it with a personal visit. llis death having occurred in December. 1799, President Adams, by proc- lamation made the ensuing birthday a memorial day in honor of the beloved dead, as we noted in our previous volume (p. 244), to be especially observed in a religions manner by the people assembling in their houses of worship. Hence, on February 22, 1800, there was a union meeting of the Dutch Reformed. Episcopal, and Presbyterian churches, in the latter edifice. The day was ushered in by the tolling of muffled bells. A procession was formed in front of the Episcopal Church, consisting of an infantry and artillery company, the local lodge of Freemasons, the students of Union Hall Academy, the Trustees of the same, a number of citizens, guests from abroad, offi- cers of the militia in uniform, the officers of the three churches, the Committee of Arrangements, the clergy, and the orator of the day. The march extended from the Episcopal to the Presbyterian Church, which are a goodly distance apart on the same broad main street. There was singing by a choir as the procession filed into the church. The pulpit desk and the gallery were appropriately draped in black The literary exercises consisted of an ode by the Rev. Mr. Faitoute, pastor of the Presbyterian Church, and an oration by Principal Eigen- brodt of Union Hall Academy.
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One of the most interesting facts in the history of Jamaica is the establishment and snecess of this institution. On March 1, 1791, there was held a meeting of inhabitants at the house (or inn) of Mrs. Joanna Hinchman to consider the feasibility of founding an Academy. The Rev. Rynier Van Nest, a brother of that Abraham Van Nest who bought the property in Greenwich (Ninth Ward), New York, which had once been Admiral Sir Peter Warren's, was the pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church. Although he could not comfortably man- age the English language, he was made chairman of the meeting, which was a shrewd move, as Mr. Van Nest, though a clergyman, possessed a snug fortune. Twelve persons were appointed to solicit subscriptions, Francis Lewis being one of them; and lists were cireu- lated not only in Jamaica, but also in Flushing, Newtown, and even New York City. Soon £800, or about $2,000, as the pound then counted, were pledged or in hand, ground was bought on Union Hall Street, and construction commenced. On Tuesday, May 1, 1792, the building was ready for occupancy, and elaborate ceremonies were held at its opening. At 12 o'clock, noon, the Trustees marched in pro- cession from Hinchman's tavern to the Hall, the Secretary of the Board preceding them, bearing the charter. At the Hall they were met by James Mackerel, the master builder. When the company was seated a psalm was sung by a number of young ladies and gentlemen; an oration was delivered by Abraham Skinner, and an ode chanted which had been composed by the Rev. Mr. Faitoute. After these ex- ercises the Trustees returned to the inn accompanied by their guests, and sat down to a dinner. The name given to the Academy was that of " Union Hall," because the enterprise was the result of the union of effort of the three townships, Jamaica, Newtown, and Flushing. On Monday morning, May 21, attendance was given by the Principal, Mr. Maltby Gelston, at the Hall for the reception of students. The prices for tuition were announced to be: For Latin, Greek, mathe- matics. etc .. £6 per annum; writing, arithmetic, and grammar, £4; reading, writing, and arithmetic, £3 4s .; reading and writing, £2 Ss .; reading only, £2. In May, 1796, it was advertised that young ladies would be instructed there in " the refinements of the needle." The idea of female education took a wider range than this, however, as the years progressed. Early in 1816 it was announced that on May 20 the Trustees of Union Hall Academy purposed to open a female academy (in a building still standing on Fulton Street), and that two ladies had been engaged, Mrs. Elizabeth Bartlette and Miss Laura Barnum, who were competent to instruct young ladies in "all branches of a polite and well-finished education." The institution flourished to such an extent that it was determined to erect a larger building in 1820, the cornerstone of which was laid on July 12. This contained recitation-rooms for a principal and five assistants. a li- brary, and a room fitted up with " philosophical " apparatus. The
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