USA > New York > Nassau County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume I > Part 36
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume I > Part 36
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Between the 1st of January, 1795, when Dr. Samuel Thompson had Lue liberated and the 5th of April, 1831, when the estate of Timothy Miller had an unnamed slave set free, there were a total of 65 male and female slaves freed in the Town.
REFERA
1
The Suffolk Home at Yaphank Showing Picturesque Entrance
On the 29th of March, 1799, and by amendment, 4 April, 1801, the Legislature passed "An Act for the Gradual Abolishment of Slavery" which required that a slaveowner should report the birth of every child born to his slaves and when the child reached his majority, he should become free. Samuel Smith made the first report of a slave child, Aner, born on the 24th of December, 1799, and the last report was made by Gen. John Smith that his slave, Paris, had had a child born on the 12th of June, 1806. Between those two dates, there were a total of 106 births of slave children reported and recorded in the Town.
Perhaps the most important event affecting the growth and development of all the Towns in Suffolk County, was the extension of the railroad to Greenport in July, 1844. The first depots (as they were called) in Brookhaven Town were at Waverly (now Holtsville), Medford Station, Bellport Station, Yaphank and Manor. Waverly
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and Medford Station were the ones used by Blue Point and Patchogue. Bellport Station was at Tooker's Turnout, over four miles north of the village. In later years, when the Montauk Division of the railroad was extended to Patchogue and, still later, through the entire southern part of the Town, a new station was established just north of Bell- port, the old station was then called Bartlett Station and soon abandoned.
The station at Manorville was first named St. George's Manor, but the "St. George's" on the station sign was painted out by some- one with a dislike of a term considered so Catholic or Episcopal,
(From an old photo)
New Village Congregational Church at Centereach, as Built, Showing Old Horse Block
leaving it just "Manor". Later, "ville" was added and the place has been Manorville ever since. It was the station serving Moriches and the other villages in the old Manor of St. George and it was where most of the firewood was cut by hand for the wood-burning engines and water was hand pumped for the engine boilers.
The first plan of the railroad company was to run the line of tracks farther north than it eventually was laid, and the proposed route is so shown on a map of Long Island published in New York by J. H. Colton & Co. in 1836. The route first surveyed was about parallel with and some little distance south of the Middle Country Road and a section of the roadbed was actually graded south of the New Village (Centereach) section before the plan was changed. The new course encountered fewer hills and is said to have been made through the influence of James Huggins Weeks of Yaphank, one of the commissioners named in the charter for receiving subscriptions for the capital stock.
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The location of the stations being so far from the villages of the North Shore, caused the railroad to lose much of the trade from there and while it speeded up their mail service-which before had been by stage coach-the people clung to the use of their sloops and schooners for passengers and shipping, for a long time after the "iron horse" came as a rival of the carriage and saddle horse.
Though the railroad became a great factor in the development of the Town, it was by no means a welcomed innovation and it made many enemies as the old wood-burning engines sometimes started serious forest fires, causing great losses to the cordwood industry, then one of the principal sources of revenue. In several instances, these fires destroyed homes and farm buildings, as well as game and other wild life.
The Civil War found the people of the Town ready and willing to do their part for the preservation of the Union. Though political party feeling was decidedly pronounced and President Lincoln was disliked by many of the "old-line" Democrats, nearly all of them united with their Republican brethren in support of his policies to free the slaves and defeat the "Rebs" in their attempt to make the Confederate States a separate nation.
The need for men in the Union army was urgent and each town had its allotted quota of men it was to furnish. Accordingly, a meet- ing was called on the 21st of August, 1862, where "it was voted that the supervisor should raise money by a loan and pay a bounty of $150 to each volunteer who would enlist to the credit of the town". This, it was thought, would induce men to enlist. Five days later, the super- visor and town assessors began making a list of men eligible to serve in the army, and on the 1st of November, a commission and physician examined men claiming exemption because of physical disability.
Even with the bonus inducement, the number of enlistments fell 107 men short of the Town's quota, so Supervisor Miller went to New York where he secured enough men from Corcoran's Irish Bridgade at $80 bonus per man to fill the quota and at a saving to the Town of $70 per man.
The soliciting of subscribers for the bonus fund was begun about late August, 1862, and resulted in a sum of $27,900 being raised. The list of 182 names of the subscribers shows the amounts loaned the Town ranged from $10 to $4600-this last amount being from Deacon Samuel Hopkins of Mount Sinai, who subscribed to the fund three times. Henry Nicoll of Mastic made an outright gift of $100. Quite a few subscribed two or more times. The average amount was $100 and the list of names shows that both Democrats and Republicans did their part to make the loan a success. It is much to the credit of those men that they loaned their money at a time when there was no assurance that the Town would be authorized by the State Legislature to collect and pay the debt with monies raised by taxes.
The Federal Draft Act of 1863 provided that any draftee could be exempted from military service if he furnished a substitute or by paying $300 for one. There were many married men with dependent
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families and some who were just plain cowards who took advantage of the act. To provide a sort of mutual benefit fund for men with families and unable to pay $300, a special town-meeting was held in Coram, 18 February, 1864, and a sum of $60,000 was voted to be raised by a tax on the Town "to procure volunteers or substitutes to supply the quota of the Town in the late call for 500,000 men to sup- port the Union". According to an elderly man long since deceased, any man who contributed $25 could draw on the fund for $300, if he were drafted, to pay for a substitute or apply that amount for the benefit of his family in case he had to go into service. The same man told your writer that he put in $25 but was never called; never- theless, he considered it a good investment as he had a wife and five dependent children as well as a mortgage on his home. There were no dependency allowances in those days. If a man went to war, his family had to get along the best it could.
As far as can be ascertained, there were 312 men (exclusive of outside substitutes) who served in the armed forces-chiefly the army-from Brookhaven Town. One hundred and sixty of this num- ber were from Patchogue. While this may seem like a small number, it represents a little more than 3 per cent of the total population of the Town, which was 9923 in 1860 and 10,159 in 1865. The number of men who never returned is not known.
In Bayles' History of the Town of Brookhaven (1882), is the statement that during the war, a total of $131,115 was raised by loans for which the bonds of the Town were issued. "On the equalization of the years of service furnished by the different towns, it was found that Brookhaven had furnished about two hundred years' service more than its necessary proportion, and on this account there stood to its credit about $46,000 which it received in seven per cent State bonds-the last of these State bonds were sold and the last of the town bonds paid up in 1872
The Spanish-American War was brief and, except for fighting in Cuba, was chiefly a naval affair. There are no figures of the small number of men who entered the service from Brookhaven Town. The war had no direct effect upon the Town in any way.
The close of the XIX Century and the beginning of the present one saw the summer hotels, commercial horse stables and shell fish businesses at the height of their prosperity. With their decline, the people engaged in them had to engage in different lines of work. It was the age of the bicycle, followed by the automobile, both of which brought in new people who saw the attraction of the villages of the Town with not a few eventually buying or building homes and becom- ing either part-year or year-round residents.
During the years preceding the 1st World War, practically all important highways in the Town were resurfaced and improved; the Town had a regular place of business established in Patchogue to
(Photo Courtesy of Edwin Johanknecht, Jr.)
Patchogue in 1868, Looking South From Main Street
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replace the private homes and stores of the various supervisors and town clerks; the Town Board came into being as the governing board of the Town instead of the ancient board of the town trustees; and people and schools exchanged the old order of things for most of the things we know and use today.
In the 1st World War-"the war to end wars"-Brookhaven had 376 men who, by draft or enlistment, are known to have served in the armed forces of the United States, exclusive of those from the incor- porated Village of Patchogue. These figures are from a roster of names compiled by the late Richard M. Bayles of Middle Island. Why all the Patchogue names were omitted by him is not known but, for- tunately, they have been preserved and a count shows that there were 264, thus making a total of 640 for the whole Town. To this number should be added an unknown number of men whom Mr. Bayles undoubtedly omitted due to his having no financial support from the Town (not even postage) and having to depend to a large extent upon such volunteer workers as he could get to send him information from the various sections of the Town.
This incomplete history of the Town of Brookhaven should not be closed without a tribute to two of Brookhaven's native sons and outstanding Long Island historians-Benjamin Franklin Thompson of Setauket and Richard Mather Bayles of Middle Island.
To Thompson's pioneer and patient research, we of today are indebted that much of Long Island's historic past has been preserved, which otherwise would have been lost forever. Though he made some mistakes-and some of them seem inexcusable-yet on the whole, his History of Long Island (in three editions) is a masterpiece and store- house of historical information. The times when he is right are so many greater than the times when he is wrong, that his history is among the few best and most inclusive histories of Long Island ever written.
As for Mr. Bayles, he deserves the great credit of having compiled the most complete and comprehensive history of his native Town and County ever done. Nothing can compare to his Brookhaven in the History of Suffolk County, published by W. W. Munsell & Co., New York (1882). The material for his history of the Town was laboriously taken, little by little, from the Brookhaven town records long before they were printed and to this he added material from other sources. His mistakes are few and nearly all of them are those he copied from Thompson, Prime and others. It is unknown where he got some of his material used for the history of the Revolutionary period, but that of the Civil War period came from Mr. Nathaniel Miller of Fire Place, Supervisor of the Town during that war, and was given by him to the Suffolk County Historical Society.
In conclusion, the writer would like to state that he fully realizes his is but a feeble attempt to compile a history of his native Town after it has been written before by others of greater capability and
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historical knowledge. In presenting it, he has done all within his ability to avoid their known errors and to omit or relate more briefly some of the facts which they have given in more detail than the scope of this history will permit. He has tried to confine himself more particularly to relating some of the events that happened within the Town which are either omitted or merely touched upon by others, leaving it to the reader to consult the other histories for a fuller account than is here given.
CHAPTER X
The Town of Smithtown Rev. Brother Urban, O.S.F., B.A., M.A.
EARLY SMITHTOWN
A S THE pleasing white ribbon of a four-lane highway rapidly unfolds before the speeding motorist, little does he heed the full beautiful, historic heritage of the towns and hamlets through which he passes. He is as blissfully ignorant of his sur- rounding landscapes as were his nomadic predecessors. How many thousands upon thousands have thus heedlessly driven through tradi- tion-laden Smithtown? A casual glance at his road map indicates that Smithtown is located on the north shore of Long Island and is bounded on the east by Brookhaven, on the west by Huntington, on the south by Islip, and on the north by the Long Island Sound. But to discover any of the particular details he must tarry and converse a while with the ancients of Smithtown. Only then will he discover an explanation of many features of the Town. But wait, all stories must begin at the beginning.
Long Island was occupied and controlled by the Indians up to the middle of the seventeenth century. In 1650 the Nissequogs made the first recorded, formal transference of what was later to be known as Smithtown. The recipients were Edmond Wood, Jonas Wood, Jeremy Wood, Timothy Wood, Daniel Whitehead and Stephen Hudson. These men, however, forfeited any legal claim to the land for two reasons: (1) they failed to register the grant with the government officials; and (2) they never permanently settled the area. Their deeds, however, give eloquent tribute both to the integrity and the businesslike procedure of these early pioneers. There appears in these documents a certain understanding, an unwritten law of honor between the white man and the red man.
Into this wholesome atmosphere, Richard Smith, an adventurous Englishman, happened. He arrived first in Boston from Yorkshire, England, and then moved to Southampton, in 1656. His name next appears on the records of Brookhaven in the year 1661. It was here that he became acquainted with a stalwart Long Islander, Lion Gardiner. Their friendship was strong and lasting. A close dependency usually developed among the citizens of such a desolate country as Long Island was in the seventeenth century. This close association was further cemented by the warlike activities of the hostile Narragansett Indians of Connecticut. On one occasion, the daughter of Wyandanch, Sachem of the Montauk Indians, was cap- tured and abducted from her father's home. Through the interces- sory offices of Lion Gardiner she was returned unharmed. As compensation for this and other friendly deeds in the course of their twenty-four years of close friendship, the Sachem gave as an outright
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gift to Lion Gardiner the land of the Nissequogue River. In 1663, Gardiner, in turn, as a token of his good will and friendship, bequeathed the property to Richard Smith. This transaction was confirmed later (1664) by David Gardiner, son of the donor.
Richard Smith, his wife and their family of nine children settled on the property and in 1665 he secured a patent from Governor Nicolls as official recognition of his claim. Smith's children were: Jonathan, Obadiah, Richard, Job, Daniel, Adam, Samuel, Elizabeth and Deborah. With the determination and persistency of purpose customary to outstanding men, Richard Smith began immediately to fulfill the obligations of his first patent. He was required by it to establish ten families on his domain. This did not prove over diffi- cult since he already had a fine nucleus in his own immediate family. The Smiths, together with such other adventurous pioneers as were invited to settle in the area, applied themselves with vigor and deter- mination to clearing the land and cultivating crops. In other honest and industrious ways, they strengthened and maintained their new domain which is referred to as both Smithfield and Smithtown inter- changeably in the patent.
In the meantime, there arose a long and arduous litigation between Richard Smith and the town of Huntington concerning the disposition of the territory west of the Nissequogue River. The rec- ords of the proceedings in both the courts of Huntington and New York City testify to the farsightedness and ingenuity of the founder of Smithtown. The particular details of the legal gymnastics will not be treated here. They are, however, readily available for exami- nation in the Executive Council Minutes of Francis Lovelace. Suffice here to mention that ultimately the decision was decided in favor of the Patentee of Smithtown. Smith next received the Andros patent, March 25, 1677. The boundaries as thus established, with the addition of the Winnecomac patent, settled the main boundary difficulties con- fronting Richard Smith. The Brookhaven line had previously been settled in legitimate and recorded ways. Nothing in the intervening years has altered these boundaries to any effectual degree. The area of Smithtown, as thus constituted, was about 100 square miles. The romantic legend of "Bull" Smith's ride around the boundaries of Smithtown, claiming all he surveyed, is rudely shattered by such cold, legal, yet indisputable testimony. Nevertheless, this unfounded legend circulates to this day among the residents. They agree that, if not true, at least it might have happened. Sober historians, how- ever, attribute the title "Bull" Smith to the English coat of arms of the original Smith family. That crest has mounted on its face the figure of a bull.
In addition to his previously mentioned traits, Smith and his family have left for the admiration of posterity a sound, Christian outlook on life. Both he and his wife, Sarah, were Christian in thought, word and deed. Their wills bear refreshing acknowledgment of their dependence on God. The first part of Richard Smith's will illustrates most effectively that spirituality which so dominated the lives of the early settlers of Smithtown:
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March 5th, 1692. In ye name of God. Amen. I, Richard Smith, Senior, of Smithtown, in ye County of Suf- folk on Long Island, in ye Province of New York, being sicke and weake in body but of sound and perfect memory, thanks be to God, calling to mind ye uncertain state of this life and that we must submit to God's will when it shall please Him to call us out of this life, doe make, constitute and ordain this our last will and testament. * * Imprimus: We give our soules to God who gave them, and our bodyes, being dead, to be decently buried in such place and manner as to our Executors, shall seem convenient.
For an equally edifying and stimulatingly eloquent acknowledg- ment of the pioneers' deep respect and abiding regard for the Almighty, the first part of the will of Sarah Smith is cited :
In the name of God. Amen. I Sarah Smith, relict of Richard Smith, Senior, deceased, of Smithtown in ye County of Suffolk and in ye province of New York, doe make my last Will and Testament in manner following. First, I commit my soul into ye hands of God, which gave it, and my body to a decent burial at ye discretion of my Executor hereafter named, in comfortable hopes of a happy and glorious resur- rection thro. the power and merits of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
The early history of Smithtown must include some mention of the manner in which the founders organized their town. Forthright- ness and mutual trust characterized the relations of the early citizens. While the original Richard Smith and his immediate family domi- nated the government of Smithtown, there was no formal administra- tion. Problems were settled by family caucus. By 1715, however, there appears the first record of Commissioners being formally appointed to handle the administration. The first book of Town Records reveals the following appointments: Daniel Taylor, Town Clerk; Edmund Smith and Obadiah Smith, Assessors; Daniel Smith, Collector; Timothy Mills and Richard Lawrence, Surveyors of High- ways; Benjamin Gould, Constable.
Communications during this era were established between the various sections of Smithtown as necessity dictated. Roads had a tendency to grow rather than to be outlined formally. They served a definite local purpose and were not built with an eye to any out-of- town expansion. The method of contact with New York City was principally by slow but convenient boat. There was stage coach service for the more hardy traveller who could bear rough roads and fast driving for twelve hours. In all developments, however, it is inter- esting to note the dynamic, thorough, progressive spirit of the early residents. No task was too repugnant or arduous for them to under- take for the improvement of their own private property or of the Town in general. A very close and abiding affiliation developed among the inhabitants.
L. I .- I-20
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Economic greed had no place in the pristine civilization of Smith- town. It was a society of cooperation, mutual dependence and trust. Each recognized this and society was ordered to that end. It was a collective struggle against the elements, forests and other obstacles. There is no record of any one individual prospering at the advantage of a fellow townsman. Each worked laboriously both for his own good and for the general welfare.
This close alliance among the people of early Smithtown developed through many years of trial and hardship, marked by an over-all humble acknowledgment of God's dominion, stimulated by coopera- tion and generosity, combined to unite the inhabitants into a force- ful, cohesive unit during the American Revolution. In 1776, a Town Meeting adopted measures for war against the tyranny of the British. All acted with the coordination of a single man. A company of soldiers was raised and outfitted. They selected their own officers, drilled faithfully and then marched off to participate in various battles during the war. Those who stayed at home to farm offered passive resistance to the British. With a population of only 800, Smithtown was rapidly conquered by the English army, moving out from New York City.
(Photo by Fred Kull)
There are several instances of Historic Presbyterian Church at Smithtown outstanding patriotism on the part of the residents. Mr. Platt, who owned a large tract of land in the area currently known as Sunken Meadow, and Caleb Smith, a direct descendant of the Patentee, resisted the British from their homes. Both buildings still stand and even yet bear the bullet and sabre scars of the attacking British.
After the successful conclusion of the war, Smithtown began the transformation from a pioneering, struggling township into a con- servative nineteenth century settlement. Thus this record of the early history of Smithtown has briefly illustrated the activity, ingenu- ity, integrity, deep spirituality and abiding success of the founders and their immediate descendants.
NINETEENTH CENTURY SMITHTOWN
Nineteenth century Smithtown, wealthy and conservative, acted as the thrifty heir to a wealthy heritage. The Town sought to con- solidate its position and strength. It encouraged commerce, farming
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and fishing, the main sources of productive wealth. It encouraged cultural advancement, maintained public schools and subsidized a library. It cordially welcomed Dr. Muhlenburg, who determined to found a colony for the poor, modeled somewhat on the Brook-Farm type. It supported the poor, participated in selected recreation and opposed the building of a state insane asylum within the Township. The large estates and their dominant control over local government further exemplified the reactionary era of nineteenth century Smithtown.
Because of the distance from the source of raw material and an inadequate local market, manufacturing never extensively influenced the economic life of Smithtown. Manufacturing did have, however, interesting and revealing periodical spurts. Town Records reveal that Timothy and Samuel Brush established a small shoe factory and tannery in Smithtown. In 1827, Blydenburgh's Cloth factory further industrialized the Town. Moses B. Hart constructed seagoing vessels on the shores of the Nissequogue River in the year 1835. Samuel Carman by far surpassed his predecessor in this enterprise and in the post-Civil War era produced several large ships. In 1877, the Long Island Rubber Works was founded. The Town Supervisor, Lyman B. Smith, invested $50,000 in this enterprise. These industrial pursuits utilized local manpower and in each instance brought a boom of prosperity to Smithtown, however fleeting it may have been. Milling became a profitable, if seasonal, enterprise because of the swift-moving waters and the ingenuity of local townsmen. In 1800, Mr. Phillips maintained a grist mill, saw mill and fulling mill. Mr. Caleb Smith and Isaac Blydenburgh operated a mill in the area com- monly referred to as "Stump Pond." The mills, which turned grain into flour, converted logs to boards, and wool into rolls, developed into an important aspect of local life.
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