USA > New York > Nassau County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume I > Part 27
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume I > Part 27
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62
215
THE HAMPTONS OF SUFFOLK
successors for ever shall pay yearely to ye said EARL OF STARLING his heires or Assignes upon ve last day of September at SOUTH HAMPTON aforesaid fower Bushells of ye best Indian Corne there growing or ye value of so much in full satisfaction of all Rents & service (the fifth Parte of Gould & Sylver are to ye Kings Matie reserued alwayes excepted)".
On December 13, 1640, the company obtained from the Indians a deed whose westerly boundary was at Canoe Place. The considera- tion was "sixteene coats already received, and alsoe three score bushells of Indian corne to bee payed vpon lawfull demand the last of September, which shall be in the yeare 1641, & further in con- sideration that the above named English shall defend vs the sayed Indians from the uniust violence of whatever Indians shall illegally assaile vs,".
For eight years the pioneers lived near the Old Town Pond. The Meeting House to which they wended their way for Sunday worship was probably constructed in 1641 and, when the new Church was built, fell from its high estate to become a tavern. The settle- ment itself was owned by the Company of Undertakers. They owned their land in proportion to their respective contributions. 150 pounds was known as a full share, and for a long while 50 pounds, or 1/3rd of a share, was the smallest division. Care was exercised in admitting new commoners, and all land that was not specifically allotted remained the property of the original proprietors and their heirs.
In 1648 the town moved from its old site to the present Main Street, and the records show the adoption of the following resolution :
"June 11th, 1647, it is ordered by all the inhabitants of this towne, this daye, that this towne is to bee divided into fortie house lots, some biger, some less-as men haue put in a share sixe thousen pounds to be divided into fortie parts."
"This instant, the 23d of March, 1648, it is ordered by the fiue men apoynted for towne affaires that the whole towne shall be called together on the second day next, at the setting of the sunne, to consider of a towne plot that shall be then and there presented to them, and to determine concerning the said plot or some others that may be presented by any other mans advice, and also to consider of such home accomodations as may be most suitable to the comfort, peace & welfare of this plantation as touching the proportion to euery man in his taking vp according to his valuation, & that there be men apointed forthwith to devide the same, and this to put in execution the order aboue written."
A few days later three acres for a home lot was settled as the proportion for each fifty right. Soon thereafter a new church was built and the parishoners were summoned to meeting by Edward
216
LONG ISLAND-NASSAU AND SUFFOLK
Howell who received 25 shillings a year "For his sounding the drum on the Sabbath day twice before the meetings", for the Church lacked a bell for many years. By order of the town, the men carried their guns to the meeting, one-half of them carrying guns on one Sabbath and the other half on the next.
The first school was not erected until 1664. But Richard Mills, the first schoolmaster, who was also the Town Clerk, had instructed pupils years before that time, and in 1663 Jonas Holsworth came from Hempstead and was hired to teach school for two years at a salary of 35 pounds per annum. In the following year the town ordered the construction of a school house 20 ft. long and 15 ft. wide. Miss Abigail Halsey, in her delightful monograph "In Old South- ampton," says of this school:
"This first recorded schoolhouse probably stood in the west street (Wind Mill Lane), opposite Jagger Lane and south of the present North End graveyard. After 1683 it housed the county courts as well as the village school. The building was unpainted, and its board seats were fastened to wooden benches facing the wall. It had a fireplace at each end. The fire was kindled each morning by live coals from John Jagger's fireplace next door. Here the sticks of wood brought each day by the pupils were transmuted into the light of knowledge. Just before the morning recess two boys went next door to get a pail of water. As the gourd dipper passed from mouth to mouth, the pupils partook from that ancient drinking fountain with no fear of germs .. Like the church, the schoolhouse was swept once a week and sometimes scrubbed by the girls of the school."
The educational standards of the town must have been high, for many of its pioneers were men who, by the standards of those times, were well-educated. Sixteen of the signers of the Articles of Agreement in 1640 had signed their own names. There were only four who had been compelled to make their mark.
The population of the town continued to increase, and in the old records we find the following:
"A List of the ffreemen inhabiting The Towne of South- ampton, March ye 8th, 1649:
Edw. Howell, Gent.
Tho. Sayres,
.
John Gosmer, Gent.
Job Sayres,
John Moore, Edward Johnes,
Rich. Odell, Gent.
Josiah Stanborough
Tho. Halsey,
Tho. Talmage,
John Howell, Rich. Smith,
Rich. Barrett,
William Browne, John Coop(er).
John White.
217
THE HAMPTONS OF SUFFOLK
A list of all the townsmen, May the 10th, 1649.
1. Mr. (Edward) Howell, 16. Richard Poste,
2. Mr. (John) Gosmer, 17. Thomas Hildreth,
3. Mr. (Thurston) Raynor, 18. Henry Pearson,
4. Mr. (Richard) Odell, 19. John White,
5. Thomas Halsey, 20. Ellis Cooke,
6. John Howell,
21. Isake Willman,
7. John Coop(er),
22. Richard Barrett,
8. Thomas Cooper,
23. Richard Smyth,
9. Thomas Sayer,
24. Thomas Burnett,
10. Jobe Sayer
25. George Wode,
11. Edward Jones,
26. John Jesepp,
12. Josiah Stanborough,
27. William Rogers,
28. William Browne,
29. Robert Merwin.''
The settlers had not been long in their new homes when they were thrown into consternation by the murder of Mrs. Thomas Halsey by an Indian. A general Indian uprising was expected, and messengers were sent to Wyandanch by the town magistrates, requiring his immediate attendance. It so happened that Lion Gardiner was spending the night at the Chieftain's Lodge. The advisors of Wyandanch attempted to dissuade him from going to Southampton, saying that the English would undoubtedly kill him, but Gardiner advised him to go, courageously stating that he would remain as a hostage. Wyandanch set out for Southampton, found the Indians who were guilty of the crime, and himself took them to Hartford for trial.
Some few years later some houses were burned at Southampton by an Indian and a woman servant, and a fine was laid upon the Indians by the Commissioners of the United Colonies, which is referred to as "Fire Money." For the most part, however, the rela- tions between the Indians and the settlers were pleasant. There were minor annoyances, such as depredations by the Indians' dogs, and the Indian custom of digging vegetable cellars into which the settlers' cattle occasionally fell. The Indians, however, more than made up for these annoyances by their assistance in the whaling industry, which was of great importance in the days when whale-oil furnished the main source of illumination.
In 1644 the town was divided into wards, and in each ward two persons were chosen to cut up drift whales cast upon the beach, and others were directed to patrol the beach for whales. Anyone who refused to take part in the patrol was either to pay a fine of ten shillings or be whipped at the whipping post.
With usual foresight the early settlers were determined to extend the boundaries of the town. In 1659 there was made what is known as the Quogue purchase. Wyandanch sold to John Ogden a tract extending from the easterly end of Southampton (i. e .: Canoe Place) to Apaucuck. Some time later Ogden, in turn, sold the land to John
13. Thomas Talmage,
14. Samuell Dayton,
15. Thomas Vayle,
218
LONG ISLAND-NASSAU AND SUFFOLK
Scott, that stormy petrel who created confusion wherever he went, and Scott sold it to the town in 1663.
The so-called Topping purchase (by Captain Thomas Topping from the Indians) which extended the boundaries of the town to Seatuck, the present Eastport, was made in 1662 and four years later the Indians who had protested against the sale to Topping executed a new deed to "Our ancient and living ffriends, the townesmen of Southampton." The matter was finally determined by Governor Nicolls who made a decision directing Captain Topping and John Cooper to deliver to the town all their deeds of the property.
Hampton House, Bridgehampton
In 1676, Governor Edmund Andros granted a patent to the town, much against the will of its inhabitants who argued very emphatically that they already had a just and lawful title to the land and should not be required to take out any patent. Southold also objected. The Court of Assizes thereupon gave judgment that the two towns, for their disobedience, had forfeited all their titles, rights and privileges, and faced with this threat they were compelled to accept the patent.
From its earliest days the town had been governed by a town meeting at which all freeholders were entitled to vote, and adult males were compelled to attend or pay a fine. The town meeting enacted ordinances, elected town officials and was the Court at which important cases were tried. It appointed magistrates and other officials. It directed the erection of public stocks, where poor Edmund Shaw might be seen unhappily hanging his head after excessive indulgence in spirituous liquors, or Sarah Veale might be observed suffering the sentence of the quarter court, which directed her to "stand with her tongue in a cleft stick soe long as the
219
THE HAMPTONS OF SUFFOLK
offence committed by her was read and declared." The lady had committed the rather mysterious crime of using "exhorbitant words of imprecation."
Some of the culprits, however, were fortunate enough to escape such public ridicule. Thomas Diament was merely sentenced "for calling Joseph Raynor and John Scott dogg and hound." We are told that Isaac Willman "in a passionate manner said that some of them that voted for the raising of the mill knew noe more what belonged to the seapoose (inlet from Mecox Bay to ocean) than a dogg."
The inhabitants of the town were always zealous in the pro- tection of their liberties. When Charles II decided that Long Island should be in the Province of New York and not, as it preferred, in Connecticut, the five easterly towns were constituted the East Riding of Yorkshire. As such they came under the new provincial statutes, known as the Duke's Laws, which took away the authority of the town meeting, causing the people of Southampton and other towns to protest vigorously.
When the Dutch, having returned to temporary power, sent the frigate Zeehond to Southold to require the eastern towns to take an Oath of Loyalty to the Prince of Orange, John Cooper, South- ampton's representative, told the Dutch commissioners "to take care and not appear with that thing (the Dutch flag) at Southampton." Not content with this rebuff, the Dutch thereafter sent a number of boats to Southold, but Captain John Howell with sixty men from Southampton and Easthampton came to its assistance. Under the leadership of Governor Winthrop they forced the Dutch to sail home and they were seen no more.
In the meantime Southampton town was becoming more thickly inhabited. Watermill, which obtained its name from Edward Howell's mill, was settled, as was Bridgehampton, and there was also a westward migration.
The early inhabitants never for an instant thought that a benevolent, all-wise Government owed them a living. On the con- trary, they wrung their livelihood from the soil and the waters by their own arduous efforts. Everyone worked and worked incessantly. The Doctor and the Minister tilled the soil and fished. Every man was his own carpenter and shoemaker. The cloth was spun by the women of the household. Henry P. Hedges, in his day the Nestor of the Suffolk County Bar, and at one time the oldest living graduate of Yale, described the life of those days in the following words: "From his head to his feet the farmer stood in clothes of his own and his wife's make. The leather of his shoes came from hides of his own cattle; the linen and wool were from produce he raised. The wife and daughters braided and sewed the straw hats on their heads. The fur cap was made from fox or chipmunk he had shot, and the feathers that filled the beds and pillows were plucked from his own geese. The pillow cases, sheets, and blankets, the quilts and the towels and the table-cloths were all homemade. The harness and the lines the farmer cut from hides grown on his
220
LONG ISLAND-NASSAU AND SUFFOLK
own farm. Everything about his ox yoke, except staple and ring, he made. His whip, his oxgoad, his flail, ax, hoe, and fork handles were his own work." In addition to all these duties, every man was a soldier obliged to drill and to stand watch. He could be called upon to help to open the inlet at Mecox Bay, to help in whaling and to clear the highways.
Ship's Figurehead of the U. S. Frigate "Ohio," at Canoe Place, on South Side of Montauk Highway
While there were a few negro and Indian slaves and indentured servants, nearly all the work of the town was carried on by its freeholders and their families. Gradually, as the town grew, men became enabled to devote themselves to a single calling. Fulling mills were built, weavers, tanners, carpenters and other artisans came to the town, as well as merchants.
The first tavern was kept by Richard Mills, a busy man, who was also Town Clerk and schoolmaster. There was a cow keeper who watched the cattle.
221
THE HAMPTONS OF SUFFOLK
As the population of the town increased, and it became more and more necessary to allot the common lands, an ingenious method was adopted. The town trustees selected a number of persons whose rights taken together would be a 150 pound lot. Their names and rights would be written on a ticket and placed in a box. A number of tickets equal to the number of lots to be drawn, with the number of a lot on each ticket, would be placed in another box and tickets would be drawn alternately from each box, and the numbers of the lots and the names of the persons who drew them would be recorded. This simple process worked with complete fairness, and has been repeatedly upheld by the Courts as to its legality.
In 1686 the town was again compelled to take out a new patent, this time from Governor Dongan, by the terms of which the town paid forty shillings annually as a quit rent.
Slowly the town spread toward the west. At Canoe Place, Jeremiah Culver bought a tract of land in 1739 where he built his house, which was later enlarged and became the Canoe Place Inn, subsequently destroyed by fire and replaced by the Inn which is still operated under the same name. Not far from the Inn is the burial place of Paul Cuffee, a Shinnecock Indian, who was for many years a missionary on the eastern part of Long Island, and who traveled on foot from Poose Patuck to Montauk on many occasions during his ministry. West of Canoe Place lies the village which was originally described by the euphonious and significant name of Good Ground in the town records of 1728 written in the crabbed and ornate handwriting of an ancient chirographer, dead these 200 years, and which, for some reason which I never could understand, was later changed to the harsh and meaningless term of Hampton Bays. Here stands the lighthouse built on Ponquogue Point in 1857 and first lighted on January 1, 1858.
Farther west are East Quogue, Quogue, Westhampton Beach, Remsenburg, Speonk and Eastport.
"Happy is the nation whose annals are brief", said the ancient Roman, and from its founding to the Revolution Southampton devel- oped in peace, and its annals are short and simple, dealing largely with purely domestic matters. The character of the people, how- ever, speaks eloquently from their records, and we would do well to emulate them. While they were profoundly religious, they were tolerant of those who differed with them in religion. They stood firmly against the contention of the Reverend Abraham Pierson that only Church members should be allowed to vote in civil elections.
The witchcraft trials, which were such a blot on the history of New England, find no replica in our records. Their kindliness showed itself in the way in which they welcomed the oppressed. At the time of the cruel expulsion of the Acadians from their homes two young women, Margaret and Mary LeBarre, came to Southampton. Today Margaret's Hill, where Margaret, who became the village tailoress, lived out the remainder of her days, is the site of the Southampton Club. Her sister, Mary, married one of the young men of the village. There were also Huguenot settlers, and one of their
222
LONG ISLAND-NASSAU AND SUFFOLK
descendants was to achieve fame as a silversmith. Stephen Ensko, the distinguished authority on silverware, writes of Elias Pelletreau:
"He was born in Southampton, May 31, 1726, son of Francis Pelletreau and Joan Osborn Pelletreau. He was a prolific silversmith and successful merchant of Southampton, as shown by his account books, 1748 to 1810, listing forty- three silver tankards made from 1759 to 1775, with numerous other gold and silver work, jewelry, tortoise-shell and items of skillful craftsmanship. Pelletreau was apprenticed to the noted goldsmith Simeon Soumain for seven years, after which time he started on his historic career. Examples of his artistry are still owned by local descendants of original owners and can be seen in the important museums. He was assisted only by his apprentice Silas Howell and the captains of sailing vessels who traded his consigned merchandise. Elias Pelletreau was commissioned in 1765, 'Captain of the First Company of Militia Foot for the Township of South- ampton in the East Battalion.' That he was a patriot is attested by the fact that he refused to swear allegiance to King George and removed with his family to Connecticut, 1776-1780."
The Revolution brought bitter suffering to this town. James Truslow Adams, in his scholarly history of Southampton, writes that the Revolution caused "more havoc and personal suffering on the eastern end of Long Island than perhaps anywhere else in the country." The British over-ran the town. Many of its inhabitants were compelled to migrate to Connecticut, where they were received with the utmost kindness. Many of the tales of those days still survive. Tradition has it that old Captain David Hand was placidly forking hay on his farm when up rode Major Cochran and ordered him to hitch up his team and cart a load to Southampton. When the Captain refused, Cochran drew his sword and threatened him. The old Captain lifted his pitchfork and said, "Major, I've fastened to many a whale with a harpoon, and if you don't get out I'll fasten to you with this pitchfork." "Well, Mr. Hand," answered the Major, "I guess you and I better be friends" and he is reported to have departed with considerable alacrity.
Sag Harbor, in particular, suffered from the war. It was next in importance to the City of New York as a port. The British seized its shipping and its wharves and storehouses, and it took many years for it to recover from the blow. The English also raided the sheep and cattle on Montauk and committed other depreda- tions, and it has been estimated that a half-million dollars' worth of property was stolen by the British during their occupation. The townspeople of Southampton did what they could in their own defense. The old men formed a company, and two companies were formed from Southampton for Col. Smith's Regiment by Captains Zephaniah Rogers and David Pierson. Some of these men undoubt- edly took part in the battle of Long Island.
223
THE HAMPTONS OF SUFFOLK
In Bridgehampton, Captain John Hulburt raised a company of volunteer militia, of which Southampton men formed a part. He marched his men to Montauk to prevent a foray by a British fleet, and later was ordered to proceed with his company to Ticonderoga to take charge of British prisoners there. The company carried with it what may have been the first American flag, antedating the Betsy Ross flag by several months. It may be viewed in the building of the Suffolk County Historical Society at Riverhead.
A stirring local incident of the Revolution was the expedition of Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs. On May 21, 1777, he led a company of 170 men which embarked at Connecticut, crossed the Sound, portaged their whaleboats over a narrow strip of Southold Town territory into Peconic Bay and rowed to the vicinity of Sag Harbor in Southampton Town. Here they captured the British garrison of ninety men after having killed six, destroyed a great amount of stores and returned to Connecticut without losing a man themselves.
The men of Southampton fought on land and sea. Captain Elias Halsey of Bridgehampton was killed in the Battle of Groton. Captain Daniel Havens helped to capture the British brig Ranger, and Captain David Hand, previously mentioned, served on privateers and for a while was imprisoned in one of the British prison hulks that were anchored in the East River.
Scarcely had the people of Southampton recovered from the ravages of the Revolution when the War of 1812 arose. Again the men of Southampton rallied to the defense of their country. The town was threatened by a British fleet which sailed into Gardiner's Bay commanded by Sir Thomas Hardy, and precautions were taken against the landing of the foe. However, they were unable to prevent the British from landing on Gardiner's Island and on Montauk, where they committed their customary depredations. A fort was erected at Turkey Hill in Sag Harbor and many a time the inhabit- ants were alarmed over the coming of the British, and the women and the children were taken in wagons into the woods to shelter them from the invaders. Finally, on July 11, 1813, Sag Harbor was attacked but the enemy was repulsed.
With the passing of the war the people of the eastern end resumed their simple lives as farmers and fishermen. Judge Hedges graphically describes the harsh and primitive life of those days. "Nothing," wrote he, "was bought that could be made at home. The spinning wheel was constantly running and carried in visits to neighbors. *
* Winter, cold, cheerless, shivering winter, tried soul and body. I remember the one fire on the hearth of a cold, dark morning, so cold that a blanket hung from the hooks in the wall, encircled the family and fire as an additional protection from the cold. * *
* The simplest, cheapest diet satisfied the appetite.
* * The family meal was eaten from wooden trenchers or pewter plates and platters with the smallest possible allowance of tin and crockery ware. * *
* The old sat, the young stood, around the breakfast table. A dish of meat cut in pieces ready for
224
LONG ISLAND-NASSAU AND SUFFOLK
eating was in the middle of the table. All hands broke the Johnny cake in small pieces and with the fork dipped it in the gravy held in the meat dish, and occasionally speared out a piece of meat in the same way. It was a cold, frugal, hard, narrow, severe winter life."
The roads were primitive. Communication was largely by sea. The mail was carried by post riders, and stages ran from the city to Sag Harbor, a journey which took three days. Furman, in his delightful Antiquities of Long Island, described the trip on the mail stage. The practice then was to leave Brooklyn at about nine o'clock in the morning, then to travel as far as Babylon where the travelers lodged for the night. The stop on the next night was at Quogue.
"Here", continues Furman, "you might, after supper, on a moonlight night in the beginning of August, if you were so fortunate as to be there at such a time, as we were, cross the meadows with a guide, and walk down to the sea-beach, where, with no sound but the beating of the waves upon the shore, swelling in from a waste of waters of three thousand miles, and making the earth tremble under your feet, with scarcely a breath of air to move the hair upon your forehead, and nothing in sight for miles upon miles but the white sand hills glistening in the moonbeams on one side, and this world of waters on the other, you would more than at any other time realize the immensity of creation, and your own comparative insignificance. The following morning you would breakfast at South- ampton, after passing through a pine forest, in a portion of which, from the early hour and blindness of the road, you would probably require a guide to go ahead of the horses with a lighted lantern. You would also, this morning, before arriving at Southampton, cross the remains of the first canal constructed in what is now the United States, by Mongotucksee, the chief of the Montauk Indians, long before the white settlement of the country, and also traverse a region of hills known as the Shinecoc Hills, on which not a tree has grown since they were known to man, certainly not since the European settlement of this island; and if you are wise, you would leave the stage near this canal, and with your friend cross these hills on foot, for the stage has to make a long circuit around their base, and you may leisurely walk over them in nearly a straight line, enjoying some most delightful views, which are not to be seen from any part of the road, and reach the road on the opposite side before the stage has completed the circuit. Sag Harbor would be reached in time for dinner, after which the mail stage would travel on to its final destination at Easthampton, arriving there just before sunset on Saturday afternoon; thus occupying nearly three days to traverse a distance of one hundred and ten miles; but most pleasant days they were, and no one has ever tried this mode of journeying through Long Island who had pleasure in view, who did not wish to try it again."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.