USA > New York > Nassau County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume I > Part 25
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume I > Part 25
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The original hostelry in Riverhead was the Griffing Hotel, estab- lished by the Griffings about the middle of the eighteenth century, and standing on Main Street near Griffing Avenue opposite the pres- ent Riverhead Theatre. Rebuilt and enlarged, the Griffing building many years later became the Long Island House whose proprietor about 1848 was Henry T. Penney, who was also deputy sheriff. In 1860 Captain Wells Griffing ran this place on the Temperance plan while also serving as postmaster. John P. Terry bought the hotel in 1864 and was its proprietor for many years. He was the father of a future county treasurer, Ellis T. Terry.
The Suffolk Hotel was established in 1834 on the south side of Main Street and was removed in 1875 to make way for the River- head Savings Bank.
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The second Griffing House was erected in 1862 on Griffing Avenue on part of the farm which had been acquired in 1773 by John Griffing from Thomas Fanning. This John Griffing had signed the Articles of Association in 1775, conveyed his grist mill property to his son Nathaniel and fled to Connecticut. He died there in 1780 without a will and his estate descended to his son John who sold it about 1800 to Benjamin Brewster. The latter sold it to the younger John Griffing's brother Bartlett who soon sold it to still another brother, William, in whose family it remained until purchased in 1864 by John P. Terry. The earliest mails from the west end were carried on horseback once a week along the old Middle Country Road, through Jamaica, Smithtown, Middle Island and Riverhead, all the way to Orient. About 1825 mail was brought to Riverhead once a week by a one- horse wagon. Later a weekly stageline followed the same route as far as Riverhead, leaving Brooklyn Tuesday morning and arriving at the county seat on the afternoon of the next day. Returning, the stage left Thursday noon to arrive in Brooklyn Friday night. All night stops were made at Thomas Hallock's tavern at Smithtown Branch. After a time there were two mails a week. The first mail route to Quogue was established in 1852. William M. Foster of Quogue that year was authorized to appoint a mail carrier to River- head at a salary not to exceed a dollar a week. He appointed John Martin.
As elsewhere on the Island, mail was distributed from post offices located in private homes. Up to 1886 the people of Wading River for sixty-five years had gotten their mail at the Miller homestead, grand- father, father and son serving as postmaster during that period. Zophar Miller was appointed to the office in 1825; Sylvester Miller in 1844, and Elihu S. Miller in 1869.
Following stagecoach days, the mail was brought by train to Manor station. Even though the coming of the railroad benefitted the economic life of the county seat and other villages along its course, on the other hand it tended to retard the growth of Wading River and Baiting Hollow through which had passed so much marine shipping.
When it seemed possible in 1835 that the railroad might some time be extended to Riverhead and probably terminate at Jamesport, Elijah Terry, on behalf of himself and other owners of about two hundred acres of land immediately north of the Court House, then on Main Street, wrote the directors of the road asking that a "stop" be placed near Riverhead, "a place of considerable business." They suggested that the railroad cross their tract and offered to give a right-of-way or to sell the whole or part of their tract to the railroad, "on fair and liberal terms."
The coming of the railroad in 1844 was the beginning of a new era for Riverhead although it brought problems. The right-of-way cut across many farms between Riverhead and Southold and often started fires and killed considerable livestock. The local courts, how- ever, made the railroad pay plenty for what it burned and killed.
The "business of lawyers and sheriffs" was not "in very great demand nor in very high reputation" commented Timothy Dwight,
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president of Yale, after a visit to Long Island in 1804. "No lawyer", he continued, "has hitherto been able to get a living in the County of Suffolk." He added that he had a "very respectful opinion of the gentlemen of the bar" and that "this exemption from litigation," was a "very honorable characteristic of the county." It is said that Chancellor Kent once came to Riverhead to hold a Court of Oyer & Terminer, but found no lawyer, no cases and no prisoner and adjourned court for want of business.
Ezra L'Hommedieu of Southold who had served as a member of the Provincial Congress, later as State Senator, and finally as County Clerk for twenty-six years until his death in 1811, was the first lawyer admitted to practice before Suffolk's old Court of Common Pleas in 1784.
Daniel Osborn, a member of the Assembly in 1787, was among Riverhead's early lawyers. His son Hull Osborn was also a prac- ticing lawyer in Riverhead for many years and served one year as county clerk.
James H. Tuthill, who was surrogate for twelve years from 1880 to 1892, studied law in the office of Judge George Miller at Riverhead and later with Judge Joseph Bosworth in New York. After being admitted to the bar in 1849 he formed a partnership with Miller. He served in the State Assembly in 1861 and again in 1866, and was district attorney from 1867 to 1875. He was director of the Suffolk County National Bank and of the Riverhead Savings Bank and legal adviser to the latter. He was the first president of the Suffolk County Historical Society and served forty-four years as superin- tendent of the County Sunday School Association.
Nathaniel W. Foster, supervisor when the second Court House was built, was a brother-in-law of James H. Tuthill and a son of Herman O. Foster. "Nate" Foster was one of the organizers of the Riverhead Savings Bank and served as director and later as president. He was also a founder of the Suffolk County National Bank, town supervisor and president and secretary of the Suffolk County Agricultural Society as well as a founder and president of the Suffolk County Historical Society.
Timothy M. Griffing and Nathan D. Petty, two of the county's outstanding lawyers in more recent years, were both born in 1842. Griffing studied law in the office of Judge George Miller, his uncle, and also with James H. Tuthill. Admitted to the bar, he opened an office at Patchogue and in 1875 another at Riverhead and soon became a lawyer of prominence. He was a grandson of William Griffing who had founded the old Long Island House.
Nathan D. Petty opened a law office at Riverhead in 1868 after graduation from Princeton. He was later assessor of internal revenue for the county, Assemblyman, District Attorney, and for twelve years Surrogate.
George F. Stackpole, born in Maine in 1843, came to Riverhead in 1875 as school principal, and became a leading lawyer, custodian of the County Historical Society and director of the Riverhead Savings Bank. Joseph M. Belford also came to Riverhead as a teacher, and
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was finally elected to Congress in 1896 and later was surrogate of the county.
Assemblymen from Riverhead in the early days included Captain John Wells, Usher H. Moore, Captain Noah Youngs, John Terry, David Warner, George Howell, John C. Davis, James H. Tuthill, John S. Marcy and Nathan D. Petty. Moore was also a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1821.
Dr. Thomas Osborn was the first physician in Riverhead village and the only one for thirty years. He commenced practice very early in the nineteenth century and died in 1849. Dr. Stephen Griffin suc- ceeded Dr. Osborn. Dr. Joseph Doane practiced there for twelve years prior to his death in 1847. A Dr. Conklin was the first physician in the town. He practiced at Lower Aquebogue, now Jamesport.
At the close of the Revolution agriculture was at a low ebb in Riverhead Town. Its people then went to Coram and to Middle Island with their ox carts to buy grain. About 1800 Riverhead farmers began the use of bunkers as fertilizer and made their land more productive. Judge John Woodhull about 1826 was the first man in the town to apply wood ashes to his land which enabled him to grow hay superior to that of his neighbors.
The Suffolk County Agricultural Society was organized in 1841. W. W. Mills was its president in 1842 and William C. Stout in 1843. The first fairs were held at different places but from 1853 to 1865 none was held. A meeting at Thompson Station in 1865, reorgan- ized the society and fairs were held that year and in 1866 at River- head on land rented from Charles Vail for $25.
The headquarters of the directors of the fair in 1866 was the house of Henry L. Griffing in Riverhead. W. H. Gleason of Sag Harbor delivered the annual address and the brass band of that place with G. W. Schellinger as leader enlivened the occasion. E. W. Davis of Riverhead exhibited a corn husker driven by horse power. The officers of the Society for that year were: president, William Nicoll, Huntington; vice president, Dr. B. D. Carpenter, Cutchogue; secre- tary, James H. Doxsee, Islip; treasurer, William J. Weeks, Yaphank; directors, H. G. Scudder, Huntington; Caleb Smith, Smithtown; Dr. A. G. Thompson, Islip; Thomas S. Mount, Brookhaven; William H. Weeks, Riverhead, and Orlando Hand, Southampton.
In 1867 the fair was held at Greenport but in 1868 the citizens of Riverhead purchased for $1,650 twenty acres of land a short distance north of the railroad station for a permanent location. The fair was held that year from September 30 to October 2. The main exhibition building was erected a year later. Seven thousand persons flocked to the grounds to hear Horace Greeley speak from the north porch of the building on "The Waste Lands of Long Island." A half mile race track was soon constructed.
On Christmas Day, 1863, the farmers of Northville met at the old church building at the corner of Church Lane and the Middle Country Road and organized what was first called The Farmers Club and later incorporated as The Riverhead Town Agricultural Society. Those who attended the initial meeting included: J. H. Benjamin, Joshua Downs, J. Horace Downs, M. W. Downs, J. Y. Downs, C. W.
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Downs, Benjamin T. Griffing, G. Wilson Hallock, Benjamin L. Hallock, S. Terry Hudson, A. F. Luce, Captain N. N. Penny, J. A. Reeve, F. H. Reeve, Samuel C. Terry, Mitchel Terry, V. R. Terry, Samuel Tuthill, George E. Warner, Joshua H. Wells, Salem Wells and N. W. Youngs.
Strawberries were introduced in this section about 1856. Daniel Downs was one of the first to cultivate them here. In 1874 an asso- ciation was formed among the local growers of strawberries and cauli- flower. Later with several other organizations it became the Suffolk County Farmers Alliance. Still later the Long Island Cauliflower Association was formed to improve the crop and promote marketing. Irrigation was first used in this section at the Baiting Hollow farm of Henry R. Talmadge. In Riverhead and Southold towns there are now nearly one hundred fifty irrigation systems serving between nine and ten thousand acres in this famous potato area.
When the town of Riverhead was formed in 1792 there were but six paupers within its territory. These indigent persons were let out for one year to the bidder who offered to maintain them at the least cost to the town. This was the universal custom of the time. It pre- vailed until 1832 when a farm was purchased by the town on Manor Lane at Lower Aquebogue.
As early as 1817 a committee was appointed at town meeting to purchase or rent a suitable place for the accommodation of the town poor. Nothing was accomplished in the matter until 1832 when a town poor farm was established. This was sold in 1871 and the inmates placed in the new county home at Yaphank.
Not much consideration was given to education until after the Revolution. Soon after 1800 there were two schools in the town, one at Lower Aquebogue taught by Judge David Warner and one at Upper Aquebogue under Josiah Reeve. Before Riverhead town was created, the first school building in the western part of Southold was built in 1790 on the northeast corner of James Hallock's land at Northville. Zachariah Halliock, Caleb Halliock and James Reeve agreed to "find the board to cover the house and 10 shillings in work a piece." James Hallock provided the "sand to set the house or timber for the shingles on one side and timber for the frame." Asa Corwin gave a "batte of shingles to cover the north side of the roof." Zachariah Halliock gave a pound's worth of "shingles or glass." Benjamin Goldsmith, Jr., contributed five hundred bricks while Selah Corwin agreed to "cart shingles," and William Simons gave "6 pounds of nails." James Reeve gave "brick" and Zachariah Halliock, Caleb Halliock and Jacob Aldrich subscribed a pound each, while Samuel Tuthill gave ten shillings and James Halliock three shillings.
At Baiting Hollow the first school house was built in 1805. It was burned in 1846, and a brick house was built in 1848. Later there were two school districts here.
Wading River had a one room school house in 1831 near the pres- ent Congregational Church. Later the village was divided into two school districts.
The Riverhead school of 1867 stood in the eastern part of the village on Roanoke Avenue adjoining the Methodist churchyard. It
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was a two story structure that was enlarged and organized as a union school in April, 1871. On June 19, 1900, it was destroyed by fire and the present high school was soon thereafter built.
Many professional and business men, prominent in the affairs of the town received their preparatory schooling in the Franklinville Academy erected in 1832 at what is now Laurel. It served the com- munity for fifty-seven years. It was financed by a local stock company and its teacher, Phineas Robinson, was the pastor of the Mattituck, Franklinville, and Aquebogue union church. Israel Fanning was its treasurer. C. E. Rosenkranz received $222.72 for conducting the school from November, 1837, to April, 1838. He was followed by Henry Clark. From 1855 to 1859 Joseph Newton Hallock was the teacher assisted by his sister Emily. The school then had sixty pupils, some coming from Greenport and Patchogue. Hallock later taught at the Northville Academy. A graduate of Yale, he afterwards published The Christian at Work.
Barnabas F. Reeve in 1860 bought up the stock, thus becoming proprietor as well as principal of the Franklinville Academy. He also preached in the union church. His assistants were M. L. Reeve, J. Skidmore and J. R. Wells. In 1877 the Academy was sold to Charles H. Howell of Riverhead who taught for four years assisted by his brother Usher Howell. The latter became president of the Riverhead Savings Bank while Charles became county school commissioner.
J. H. Maguire ran the academy from 1881 to 1883. He was fol- lowed by A. Winslow Hallock and he by a Mr. Russell in 1889. Joseph M. Belford, later congressman, taught the school at one time.
An academy existed at Northville from 1860 to 1872 and again from 1882 to 1890. Its first trustees were Samuel Hudson, Noah W. Young and Mathew P. Wells. Joseph Newton Hallock, who had previously taught at the Franklinville Academy, was the first princi- pal, serving until 1865.
In 1834 a Female Seminary was erected adjoining the River- head Congregational Church by George Miller and Dr. Joshua Fanning "to give a thorough education in all the primary branches of an English education" to girls, with Latin and mathematics added for full measure. Miller, afterwards a member of the bar and known as Judge, was in charge. A Miss Leonard came from Massachusetts to teach there and became the wife of Judge Miller. The school con- tinued in operation until about 1873. The building was later moved to Roanoke Avenue and was known as Foster's Hall, the ground floor being used as the printing plant of the Riverhead News at one time.
In 1700 the only "meeting house" in what was to become the town of Riverhead was at Old Aquebogue, now Jamesport. At the time of the Revolution the only other church edifices in the area were at Upper Aquebogue and Wading River. At Baiting Hollow a church was erected in 1802. In 1815 a separate organization was formed there by the Swedenborgians. The people of Riverhead village were yet far too few to support a meeting house. As late as 1828 they worshipped at Upper Aquebogue.
Lower Aquebogue in 1731 erected a school and Presbyterian house of worship. Nathaniel Mather was the first pastor. The build-
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ing was enlarged in 1830 and rebuilt in 1859, the church by then having become Congregational.
This church and the one at Mattituck, four miles east, evidently were united at the ordination of Joseph Parks, June 10, 1752. His successor, Nehemiah Parker, continued in charge of the united con- gregations until 1766. From that time he confined his labors to Mat- tituck until his death, in 1772. After thirteen years as pastor of the Aquebogue church, Benjamin Goldsmith effected a reunion with the Mattituck church. He continued in charge of both thereafter until his death in 1810.
At Upper Aquebogue (now called Aquebogue) a religious society was organized in 1758 by Elisha Paine, pastor of the Separate Church at Bridgehampton. The first meeting house, 24 x 33, was erected about 1759 on the site of the old burying ground on the south side of the highway. In 1797 this building was replaced by another, 30 x 42, on the opposite side of the road. In 1833 the second edifice was remodeled and rebuilt. At this time a tall steeple with a bell was placed on the building, suggesting the title of the Steeple Church by which it is still known. This second building was replaced by another in 1862 and the old building was removed to Riverhead. The old, tall steeple fell during the hurricane of 1938 and was replaced with a new steel-covered spire.
The Northville Church owes its origin to a separation of the church at Upper Aquebogue in 1829. The seceders in 1831 built a meeting house, 32 x 42, at the intersection of the Main Road and the Middle Country Road that it might serve the Northville and River- head communities as well as Aquebogue. This was known as the "Fanning Church" due to the fact that Dr. Joshua Fanning gave the south part of his farm as its site. There were one hundred thirty-five members and the building cost $2500. Christopher Youngs served as pastor during 1831 and 1832.
The division of the Upper Aquebogue Church was due largely to dissatisfaction with the minister of the time and also to the adoption of a revised Confession of Faith by those who withdrew and styled themselves the First Strict Congregational Church of Riverhead. Services were held at the Fanning Church until November, 1834. Previous to the erection of this church the people of Riverhead were limited to the use of the Court House as a place of worship. Under the conviction that there was need of a church at the county seat the Fanning Church society was harmoniously divided. One portion of the members took the meeting house and moved it to Northville where it was relocated on the north side of the Middle Country Road. The other portion formed a congregation at Riverhead. The Northville people paid the Riverhead members $350 for their share of the property.
The original Northville Church was used until 1859 when a larger edifice, with a spire ninety feet high, was erected on the opposite side of the road at a cost of $5000. The old building was then converted into the Northville Academy with a school room upstairs and a lecture room below. The new building was dedicated in 1860 and in 1864 the Northville Congregational Church Society was incorporated. That
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building was used until 1877, when it was destroyed by fire. A new building was erected on the same site in 1880 at a cost of ten thou- sand dollars but in 1901 lightning struck the church and it was destroyed. The present edifice, the fourth, was completed in 1903.
The Presbyterian Church at Franklinville (Laurel) was erected in 1830 and incorporated in 1836 with Israel Fanning, Nathaniel Horton, Walter Skidmore, John Wells, James Williamson and John T. Young its first trustees. Joseph Wells served the parish as clerk from 1846 to 1908, a period of sixty-two years. He was succeeded by his son, Robert W. Wells, who served for ten years. The society ceased to exist in 1919.
The first church edifice at Wading River was erected about 1750. It was Presbyterian until 1785 when it became Congregational. It was organized with nine members by Daniel Youngs. Jacob Corwin was the pastor in 1787. He was succeeded by David Webb. After his death services were conducted by Charles Maclean of Riverhead.
A Congregational Church was organized in 1791 at Baiting Hol- low by a group of people led by Daniel Downs. A building was erected in 1803 and rebuilt in 1839. In 1862 a new edifice was built. The first pastor, Manley Wells, served until 1802.
In 1815 some members of the Baiting Hollow Congregational Church organized a New Jerusalem (Swedenborgian) Society, with Jonathan Horton as leader. In 1839 they erected a church building. Elijah Terry, who had joined the Swedenborgian Church at Baiting Hollow in 1831, was instrumental in establishing such a church at Riverhead in 1839. In 1855 an edifice was erected by this Society at the corner of Roanoke Avenue and Second Street. The congregation having dwindled, the church and parsonage were sold in 1924. The building was moved to Roanoke Heights where it was made into dwellings. The parsonage was moved to the corner of the lot and rebuilt. A select school was conducted in the church at one time. A burying ground belonging to the society is located north of Fifth Street with an entrance on Roanoke Avenue.
Up to 1830 there being no church edifice at the county seat, serv- ices were held in the County Hall. Judge George Miller who estab- lished the Seminary was also the founder and upholder of the Riverhead Congregational Church in 1834. Services were held in the Seminary building until 1841 when a building was erected. A second structure was built in 1859 but it was destroyed by fire in 1877. The next edifice, built in 1880, was struck by lightning and destroyed as was the next church erected in 1901. The present edifice was erected in 1903. James H. Tuthill, surrogate and bank president, was super- intendent of the Sunday School for forty-four years. William I. Chalmers was pastor for twenty-eight years.
Three years after the Methodist circuit riders began holding regu- lar religious services at the County Hall, a society of nine members was organized in Riverhead and a meeting house was erected a short distance east of the Congregational Church. It was dedicated in 1835. By 1845 there were about a hundred members and in 1869 a new church was erected on the original site. It was later improved and a large parish house was added to the rear at a cost of nearly $30,000. Riverhead was first a part of the Suffolk Circuit. Afterwards for
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several years it was connected with the church at Jamesport, one minister serving both villages. The first regular preacher at River- head was Richard Wymond. .
The Methodists at Jamesport originally worshipped in a build- ing built as a school in 1833. The first camp meetings were held on their grounds south of the present depot. In 1870 the grounds were acquired by the Suffolk County Camp Meeting Association. A Free Methodist Society was organized in 1869 by William J. Selby and a small chapel was built on the east side of Maple Avenue in the east- ern part of Riverhead. After a few years the building was purchased by B. F. Howell for storage of hay and grain. It was burned in 1901.
The first Episcopal services were conducted in the town of River- head in 1871 at the home of George Pugsley by Joseph Young, a lay reader who was afterwards raised to the priesthood. The first house of worship was built in 1873 on Washington Avenue.
The town's first Roman Catholic mass was celebrated in 1844 at the home of James Magee at Aquebogue by Father Curran of Astoria, with only four persons in attendance. In 1860 a house on East Ave- nue, Riverhead, was purchased for use as a chapel. A church and rectory were erected in 1870 a short distance north of the railroad on the site of the present building, with a cemetery adjoining. The church was consecrated in 1871 as St. John's Roman Catholic Church by Bishop Loughlin.
St. Izydora's Society of the Polish Catholic Church was organized January 8, 1904, with J. M. Victoris as president, Anton Danowski vice president and Bruno Panewich secretary. The first mass was celebrated February 5, 1904, by Father Bacan. On June 5, 1905, a class of two hundred was confirmed by Bishop McDonnell of Brooklyn. In 1907, an edifice 120 feet long with twin steeples was erected at a cost of $30,000. It has a seating capacity of seven hundred. Kosciusko Hall was likewise erected in 1907. The first regular priest was Father Yaszyansky. There is also St. John's Ukranian Greek Catholic Church.
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