USA > New York > Nassau County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume I > Part 38
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume I > Part 38
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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
As the motorist, who stopped a while in Smithtown, resumes his journey, if he leaves with some knowledge of the Town and takes with him an appreciation of the industry and ability of the "Town Fathers" in each of the three periods of the history of Smithtown, his pause will not have been in vain.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Annie Ayres, Sister Easter, George M.
Mather, Frederic Gregory
Life of Doctor Muhlenburg. Book of Wills (Suffolk County Clerk's Office).
Onderdonk, Henry, Jr.
Pelletreau, William S.
Sleight, Harry D. Smith, J. Lawrence, Town Clerk's Office,
History of Smithtown. Highway Records,
Pauper Records,
School Records, Slaves in Smithtown,
Annual Town Records.
Smithtown Messenger, (news-
paper).
Refugees of 1776 From Long Island to Connecticut. Revolutionary Incidents.
Records of Smithtown,
Information in Smith Wills.
Records of Smithtown.
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HISTORY OF ISLIP TOWN N. R. HOWELL Historian, Town of Islip
In 1666, the people of Setauket obtained a grant from the gover- nor for such lands "as they themselves might purchase from the Indian proprietors or others." The grant included the eastern part of the Town of Islip. The people did not take advantage of this grant, so no purchase is recorded. However, there might have been a number of white squatters on the lands of the town but who they were or from whence they came we have no record. Nevertheless, Historian Silas Wood wants us to accept 1666 as the date of the beginning of the Town of Islip.
The first authentic purchase of land was made by William Nicoll in 1683 from Winnequaheagh, a Sachem of the Conetquot branch of the Secatogue Indians, and the patent was issued for it the follow- ing year by Governor Dongan. This patent specified that each year, on the twenty-fifth of March, Nicoll must pay to the government five bushels of good winter wheat or twenty-five shillings in money. Altogether, Nicoll's land embodied four patents. Three of them gave him a tract of land containing about sixty square miles, extending from the Brookhaven Town line east of Bayport, westward to Wingatthappagh River, the boundary between the villages of East Islip and Islip. The line ran northward along this river to its head, then westward again until it came to the Mowbray patent, then again northward to the Country Road and from there eastward so that it included Lake Ronkonkoma.
These vague descriptions led to litigation between individuals as to where the Country Road was, and what the "middle" of the island meant. Disputes arose between the Towns of Smithtown and Islip because the north boundary was not clearly established until the third of May, 1763, through arbitration. The boundary between Islip and the Town of Brookhaven was settled the same way many years later. Lake Ronkonkoma, now owned by a private corporation, is in Islip Town, although only a part of its shores belongs to Islip.
Nicoll's fourth patent gave him control over Fire Island Beach west of Point o'Woods and some small islands and marshland between the inlet and his original holdings. The uncertainty over what islands were meant led to a dispute between Islip Town and Huntington Town when Babylon Town was formed from the southern part of the Town of Huntington in 1872. It was not until 1891 that this matter was cleared up by an act of legislature.
William Nicoll, owner of these patents, was the son of Matthias Nicoll, who was the secretary to Gov. Nicolls, the Englishman who captured New Netherland from the Dutch, and who was made its first governor. William Nicoll was a member of the bar and was very much interested in politics. He held a number of important political positions. He would not have come to reside on his lands, but it so happened that, selected a member of the Provincial Assembly
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in 1701 from Suffolk County, he was disqualified because he was not a resident of that county. The next year he built a home in what is now East Islip and called it Islip Grange. In that way he claimed residence. This is now a part of Heckscher State Park.
The name of the first settler to live on this patent of Nicoll's is not known. It is said that Nicoll sent a man to Islip after he had made the purchase. There were other early patentees but whether they came to live upon their lands as soon as they bought and obtained a patent, we can only guess. In the township there were four other patents to the west. In 1692, Andrew Gibb, Clerk of the Queens County Court and a friend of William Nicoll, was given a patent to a tract of land adjoining Nicoll's on the west. Gibb's piece was located between Winghappagh Brook on the east and Orawac Brook on the west. It comprised what is now the village of Islip. This tract was sold to Amos Willetts by Gibb's son Joseph and in 1773 Willetts' estate disposed of the eastern half to Col. Benijah Strong, brother-in-law of William Floyd. Finally this eastern half came into the possession of John T. Champlain in 1814. Since then it has been divided and sold and resold.
The next tract, seven necks of land, was purchased by John Mowbray, a tailor of Southampton, whose patent was granted in 1703. This is now Bay Shore and westward as far as Sagtikos Manor, or Thompson's Brook.
The third tract consisted of the lands now known as Sagtikos Manor. It was bought by Stephen Van Courtlandt, a New York merchant, in 1692, for the equivalent of 4 pounds. This land, now owned by Robert Gardiner, consists of 1200 acres and although it has been held from time to time by different owners, with the exception of 300 acres it is still intact. It extends from the Great South Bay north to the main line of the Long Island Railroad, a distance of eight miles. The land is still used for agricultural pur- poses and is one of the few farms in this country that have been continuously cultivated since the reign of William and Mary. The proposed Sagtikos Parkway from the Southern State Parkway to Captree Island will run through the western part of this estate.
The fourth section to complete Islip Town, up to what is now the Babylon town line, was bought by two brothers, Thomas and Richard Willett. They were Quakers who came from Rhode Island to Long Island and settled in Jericho. These four estates, together with that of William Nicoll, comprise the present Town of Islip. Very little of these great holdings still remains in the hands of the descendants of the original owners.
In organizing this section as a township in 1710, it was given the name of Islip because its most prominent citizen, William Nicoll, was born in Islipe, Oxfordshire, England.
The people did not settle in Islip Town very rapidly, for in 1720, when the Town Meetings first began, only thirty freeholders are listed. This was due largely to the inaccessibility of the place and to the extensive individual holdings. The Nicoll family prided itself on its great tract of land which for more than a century was held intact,
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in the possession of the family by entailment. In 1795 the State Legislature passed a bill taking from the Nicoll family some of its lands to sell for a sufficient amount to satisfy the debts the family had incurred during the Revolutionary War. A committee consisting of Ezra L'Hommedieu of Southold, Col. William Floyd of Mastic and Judge Selah Strong of Setauket was appointed by the Governor to carry out this act. They sold almost half of the original tract on the eastern end which today would include the villages of Bayport, Sayville and West Sayville.
Next, a large tract to the east of Great River was given to a daughter, Frances, the wife of General William Ludlow of War of 1812 fame. The entire tract has been divided so that today none remains in the Nicoll family.
Although the name of Nicoll is now spelled without a final "s", Mathias, who was the father of our William of Islip, wrote his name Nicolls, as can be seen on old documents that have been preserved, several in the Brookhaven Town Hall.
John Mowbray seemed eager to divide his holdings and it was upon his tract that the first extensive settlement was made. He built for himself a home on the west side of Awixa Brook and until a few years ago it was still standing.
All the other settlements on the island had water communication with the New England Colonies and with New York. It was through these arteries that the little settlements existed. No matter how remote a hamlet was, it had to be able to get certain necessities. Islip had no direct contact with New England. Its only water route to New York was via a treacherous inlet through which only a few dared to venture. Islip seemed to be pocketed by other townships. On account of the slow growth of this section and because the people who did make homes here came from many different localities there was no unity of purpose. They had no common church or other organization that served as a bond or tie.
It was quite impossible for the people to come to an agreement on establishing a governmental body. So it was ten years after the town was organized by act of the Colonial Legislature that the free- holders held their first town meeting and elected their first officers. Benjamin Nicoll was the first supervisor. Thomas Willett and John Mowbray, both large landowners, naturally were good assessors. Isaac Willett was the tax collector and James Saxton was duly elected constable. At this time the estimated population was one hundred fifty.
The family names of the freeholders are still familiar to us through descendants or by having some street or avenue in one of the several villages dedicated to them. Here is a list of the names of some of those early families: Arthur, Ackerly, Carll, Dow, Gibb, Green, Howell, Moger, Mowbray, Morris, Phillips, Saxton, Scudder, Smith, Tillotson, Udall and Willett.
The laws enacted in the town meetings were few. Nothing of record took place until 1735, when it was deemed necessary to pen up the hogs that were running loose. In 1765 Islip followed the
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example of the other towns in forbidding other than the townsmen to take fish out of the town waters under penalty of a fine of forty shillings. This money was to be used by the overseers-for-the-poor.
Indians must have been numerous in this section during pre- colonial times because many streams that lead to the bay gave them means of obtaining fish, oysters and clams. Many of these streams that flow into the Great South Bay had or still do have Indian names. The Secatogue Indians occupied the western part of the town. Their principal village was located on the neck of land called after them. The sachem's abode was supposed to have been at the head of Secatogue Brook, west of this neck, on the property formerly owned and occupied by Dr. Wagstaff in West Islip. On the neck of land to the east of Secatogue Neck there is said to have been an Indian burial place.
Peter John, a Shinnecock Indian, who was here about 1750, and Paul Cuffee, a Montauk Indian, 1790, preached to the Indians in a church in Islip village. Peter John is buried in the Poosepatuck Indian Reservation cemetery at Mastic and Paul Cuffee's body lies in a small enclosure by the side of the road at Canoe Place. The church in Islip where they preached is mentioned in history as an Indian church, but its location is not known.
When the first settlers arrived, the road that now connects the south shore villages was nothing but an Indian trail but in 1732 the Colonial Assembly passed an act to have a good road laid out through the town. A committee consisting of Richard Willetts, Ananias Carll and George Phillips was named to carry out this project. As a result we have the South Country Road. The route is now somewhat changed as the old road was laid out so that its entire route came within a mile of the bay and had to accommodate itself to the various rivers and streams along the way. These it could not cross and the road had to be brought up to the places where the rivers could be easily forded. It was just a one-track road, full of ruts and curves to avoid large trees and steep hills. This old road was the one that George Washington used when he made his tour of the island in the spring of 1790. He found it more comfortable at times to ride horseback than to be bumped around in his coach.
There were a number of auxiliary roads in these colonial times. The Nicoll Road that ran from the Nicoll homestead northward to Lake Ronkonkoma is still in existence at its northern end. This was used principally by the Nicolls to go to visit their northern borders and to go to New York by way of the County Road or Conklin's Road which joined the Nicoll Road and came out ten miles west of Smithtown. The County Road ran east and came out at Southaven. There was also the Wheeler Road going to Wheeler's settlement in Hauppauge. The Wheelers used it to cart hay from their meadows at Blue Point. This road ran southeasterly and crossed the headwarters of Connectquot River. Besides these roads, there were several others, namely the Burnt House Road, Ezekiel's
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Road and Gibbs Road, all of which antedated the South County Road, above mentioned.
The growth in population was very slow for the first hundred years. When Washington made his journey, the people of Islip numbered about 690, and in 1820 there were only 1106 people here, mostly tenants. The Nicoll family had many of these tenant farmers scattered over their vast estate. There were people farming in Sayville on land owned by Nicoll and even as far as Lake Ronkon-
Sagtikos Manor, Built Before 1700, West of Bay Shore
koma this family owned farms. The big landowners themselves ran large farms. On these they raised food for themselves, their workmen and the slaves in their household. Very little of their produce was sold, although cattle and sheep were raised to sell in the city markets.
The Van Courtlandt patent was named Sagtikos Manor after the Indians residing in this locality. It was known by the English also as Apple Tree Neck. This property was purchased in 1758 by Jonathan Thompson of Setauket for his son Isaac for the sum of 1200 English pounds. Judge Isaac Thompson, the son, increased the number of tillable acres and added to the manor house. The original part of the house was built in 1697. This beautiful old colonial mansion has survived two and a half centuries. A number
L. I .- I-21
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of generations of the Thompson family lived there. Today, in 1946, it is owned by a member of the Gardiner family of East Hampton who occupies the estate. It has been the scene of many historical events.
In 1772, Judge Isaac Thompson married Mary Gardiner, daughter of Col. Abraham Gardiner, second son of the fourth proprietor of Gardiner's Island. Judge Thompson brought his wife all the way from East Hampton on his horse, seated on a pillion behind him.
Although Judge Thompson was a patriot of the first order, after the Battle of Long Island when the whole island fell into the hands of the British, he submitted to them and remained on his estate. Once he was very nearly hung by some British sailors who dragged him across the road to a tree opposite his home. The Judge escaped, ran into his house and was shot at while climbing the attic stairs. The mark of this bullet is pointed out to this day to visitors at the Manor House. During the Revolution British soldiers sometimes encamped here as they passed from one end of the island to the other.
In this Manor House, President Washington and his party stayed overnight as the guests of Judge Isaac Thompson. The guest-room is still preserved as Washington used it, reverenced by the owners.
It was at Sagtikos Manor that an experiment in salt-making was carried on by the noted grammarian Lindley Murray, whose parents were connected with Murray Hill in New York City.
Although there were settlers scattered here and there over Islip Town, no hamlet or village was started before the Revolutionary War. The first church to be established within the bounds of the town was a Presbyterian Church built in 1730. It was located just east of Babylon where the West Islip Christ Episcopal Church stands today. When it was organized it was called the First Presbyterian Church of Islip and Huntington South. It was a small wooden struc- ture and was not always open for services, for it served a large territory and traveling in winter was an ordeal. In 1778 it was demolished by the British and a great part of its material was taken to Hempstead where it was used in constructing barracks. Its successor was built in the village of Babylon in 1783 near the site of the present Presbyterian church.
The first permanent church to be built in the Town of Islip was St. John's Episcopal Church at Oakdale, in 1769, at the expense of the Nicoll family. It was built on land then located in the center of the Nicoll patent. This church was at first used only occasionally for divine services and remained for a long time unblessed by pre- latical hands. In 1814 and for a long time afterward the rector of Caroline Church at Setauket devoted a portion of his time to services at St. John's. In 1843 the church was rebuilt and enlarged and duly consecrated by the Bishop. The number of communicants two years later was only fourteen. This church stands on the north side of Montauk Highway, opposite La Salle Academy. Services are still held there. In the churchyard are the graves of many of the Nicoll family and relatives.
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The first mill erected in the Town of Islip was built by the patentee, Nicoll. It is still standing on the property of the South- side Club at Oakdale, but its machinery is not in working order. An old fulling mill stood on the shore of Sampowams River, at West Islip, the west boundary of Islip Town. In the village of Islip a paper mill was also started by Ebenezer Hawkins, on the west side of what is now known as Paper Mill Brook. This mill was used to make binder's board. There was also a sawmill, built by David Willett on Manshtak Brook, west of Bay Shore, in 1772. In the eastern part of Bay Shore there was an old mill on Panothicutt River, fed by a pond above Main Street. Bayport at one time had a grist- mill on Terry's Brook, just east of Sayville.
One cannot imagine beautiful forests of oak, chestnut and yellow pine existing in Islip Town during the times just described, and up to 1840. Nevertheless, a pine belt lay along the main-line railroad, while extending south were chestnut and oak. As one approached the bay, oak predominated, with here and there a few patches of pepperidge, hickory, walnut and a few pines.
The colonial farmers cut these beautiful trees down and burnt them wherever they wished to make a clearing. Some of the best trees were used for lumber for buildings. These were taken to a sawmill where boards and timber were roughly cut. When demand for cordwood to be used for fuel in the city arose, many small shiploads were transported through the bay to New York. Then, too, pine wood was turned into charcoal through a very wasteful method, by burning it in pits which can still be found in the woods. The charcoal was used in blacksmith forges before coal became common.
Progressive farmers, during the winter, built for themselves serviceable, sea-going boats such as sloops or two-masted schooners. When their crops did not need attention they could take a load of wood to the city and bring back a load of horse manure for their farms. As the size of New York City increased, the farmers trans- ported many cargoes of hay and grain for the horses of city folks. Farmers would sometimes form groups and own shares in a boat, then hire a crew to man it the year round. Sometimes they loaded up with oysters, charcoal and other things needed in the city.
The wood business continued for a long time after people began to use coal. Many a shipload was taken up the Hudson to Haver- straw to be used in brickmaking. The progenitor of the Wicks family in Bay Shore in the early 1880s was a buyer and shipper of wood. Taking wood up the river and bringing back brick continued until well after 1885. Long before this time boat-owners and skippers began to worry about the future when wood was gone. Some of these sailormen took their boats and began to carry cargoes between ports in other states.
As the demand for cargo boats grew and the farmer had all he could do without building boats, shipyards sprang up here and there along the south shore of Islip Town. Sayville, Youngsport (now Great River), Mechanicsville (now Bay Shore), and Islip had
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a number of these enterprises. In fact, the name of Conetquot (now Great River) was changed to Youngsport because of its shipyard owned by Erastus Young in the 1840s. In 1876 Smith's yard in Islip built a yacht for which six horses were required to draw its two spars.
When the railroad came in 1844, it went through the heart of the best section of woodland. Quantities of this wood were used in its construction as well as for fuel. The greatest destruction to these forests, however, was caused by the locomotive setting fires from sparks which issued from their smokestacks.
The town population at this time was estimated to be 2602. If we were to list the principal occupations of the people in 1850 and the years that followed we would find but two important ones, "following the bay", and farming. During these years there were approximately 8016 acres of improved land, or about one-ninth of the total acreage of the town. Most of this improved land was tilled. On it were raised hay and grain for the farmers' horses and cattle, and food for themselves. About two-thirds of the male population were fishermen, seamen or skippers. The oyster, then as now the principal product of the bay, and the clam were transported by boat to market. Fin fish were not so readily shipped as "icing" was not practiced at that time.
From 1880 to 1900 the population doubled. In 1900 it was 12,545. This was the period of the Gay Nineties. Wealthy people had found out that the land along the bay was desirable for resi- dences and that the bay was ideal for boating and fishing. Also the fresh-water streams were full of fish and the woods full of game.
Many large estates were established, among the most pretentious being those of the Vanderbilts, Bournes, and Roberts at Oakdale. There was also the Lorillard place, afterwards Cutting's, at Great River; the Taylor and the Hollins homesteads at East Islip, and in West Islip the estates of Wagstaff, Gilmore and Hyde. At Oak- dale, "Idle Hour", the Vanderbilt country home, was built in 1900 at a cost of $1,600,000 on an estate of 862 acres. The grounds were beautifully landscaped with picturesque roads and canals winding through the forests. The mansion still stands, but the property has been sub-divided.
Across the water (Great River) is the Cutting estate of more than a thousand acres. Its arboretum will eventually become state- owned, as arranged by its present owner. The Roberts estate, known as Pepperidge Hall, has gone from the map. The mansion has been torn down and the property sold. To the east of this is the former F. G. Bourne estate, now the home of the LaSalle Military Academy.
Heckscher State Park now occupies the property once owned by the families of Taylor and Plumb. Other places have become developments. Part of the James Hazen Hyde estate at West Islip became the famous Southward Ho Country Club. This and a number of other old places had their own racetracks. Mr. Hyde commuted to New York in his own private railroad car, which was placed on
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his own private siding when not in use. He also drove a tally-ho with four horses.
There were hundreds of beautiful homes with spacious grounds all along the south shore of Islip Town. Before the advent of the automobile, the summer population was enormous. Large homes were crowded with friends while boarding houses were filled with paying guests. It was the custom to go bathing and sailing in the morning. After lunch and a brief rest everybody went for a drive, some in tally-hos with liveried coachmen and footmen blowing horns, others in hired buggies or two-horse carriages. From two to six in the afternoon the roads had a steady stream of traffic. They became so dusty in the summertime in the well-populated areas that they were sprinkled with water. At first the expense of doing this was borne by private subscription, but later the highway department took over the cost.
Before the days of the automobile, hitching posts stood in front of most homes and stores and there were horse-blocks for the ladies to step up on, to get into their carriages. Then came the bicycle era, first the high-wheeler of which six were owned in Bay Shore. The first owner in that village was Eugene Hulse. Bicycle paths were built between the highway and the sidewalks. These were maintained by a fifty cent license bought by the bicycle owner and attached to the front fork of the wheel. Later came the automobile, William K. Vanderbilt being the first to own one in this locality. His little two-seater speeded through the dusty streets at twenty miles an hour, the occupants wearing dusters and the ladies' hats tied down. Dr. William Hulse and Charles Willey are credited with having the first really locally owned automobiles. Dr. Hulse's was called the "Northern". A little while after these two began to use this mode of travel, Dr. George S. King became the owner of a one- cylinder "Rambler." This means of transportation scared the horses and made driving unpleasant.
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