USA > New York > Nassau County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume I > Part 42
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume I > Part 42
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In 1887, Edward Thompson Company first published the American and English Encyclopedia of Law, but in 1935, its activities were transferred to Brooklyn.
The Northport Electric Light Company, incorporated in 1893, is now merged with the Long Island Lighting Company whose main generating plant for Long Island is on Woodbine Avenue.
Northport has two newspapers: the Journal, established in 1875, and the Observer, established in 1924.
The post office of Crabmeadow was established on April 15, 1820, with Charles Scudder as postmaster. In 1840, the name was changed to Northport and in 1936 the present building was erected on Main Street.
EATON'S NECK
In 1646, Theophilus Eaton, Governor of New Haven, purchased a large tract of land from the Indians, including the neck which came to be known as Eaton's Neck. After a succession of owners, Governor Richard Nicolls granted a patent in 1667 to George Baldwin, and in 1686, Governor Dongan created it the Lordship and Manor of Eaton to Richard Bryan and his son Alexander. In 1792, John Gardiner, of Gardiner's Island, purchased the neck to which was added Duck Island in 1815. On June 16, 1798, he deeded to the United States ten acres of land for a lighthouse and a build- ing was erected thereon in 1799. A life-saving station was main- tained during the 1800s, but discontinued for some years until 1936 when $126,700 was appropriated for a new station. Much of the
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land early came into the ownership of Cornelius H. DeLamater, who in the late 1800s conducted Beacon Farm, noted for the raising of thoroughbred cattle. In 1936 the farm was sold.
CRABMEADOW
Crabmeadow suggests to the people of today the Town Park, but it also embodies lands which were included in numbers 7, 8, 9, and 10 of the ten farms, which were laid out in territory between Northport and the Nissequogue River in September 23, 1672. Among early land owners were such names as Lewis, Arthur, Smith and Skidmore.
FRESHPOND
East of Crabmeadow is the village of Fort Salonga-Fresh- pond-of the boundary "Freshpond to Sumpwams", the boundary line beginning on the west side of the Freshpond, at the junction of Bread and Cheese Hollow Road and the road from The Hook. When the post office was established in the 1880s the name was changed from Freshpond to save confusion with the town of the same name in the western part of the island, and became Fort Salonga after the fort built there during the Revolution by a British officer named Slongo. Smith, Gildersleeve, Ketcham, Skidmore and Rogers are among the names of early families here. The Presbyterian church when built in the 1700s was the only church between Huntington and Smithtown. The Reverend Joshua Hartt served a few years here while pastor at Smithtown. In 1829 the church was moved to the Hook.
HUNTINGTON STATION
Huntington Station grew up around the railroad line which serves Huntington village. The depot originally stood on the west side of New York Avenue, but in 1909-1910, the avenue was bridged and the present station built to the east. During the late 1800s, horse races were run here at what was called the Fairground. In 1890, when the post office was established in the railroad station office where A. S. Pettit combined the duties of stationmaster and post- master, the post office became Fairground. On August 24, 1912, the name Huntington Station was adopted, but at the present time there is agitation for another change, some citizens advocating Hunting- ton Manor, which was adopted by the Fire Department some years ago.
The Pettits also conducted a lumber and feed business in the property now owned by the Nassau Suffolk Lumber & Supply Corp., where for many years the post office was conducted by Mrs. Pettit. It is now located in the old school house on School Street. In 1913, The Lincoln School was built to accommodate the growing popula- tion, and a few years later the Roosevelt School was erected on Ninth Street. St. Hugh's Roman Catholic Church also maintains a parochial school.
The first church at Huntington Station was a chapel built by the First Presbyterian Church, on New York Avenue, near where
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the theater stands today. The present Bethany Church was built on West Ninth Street in 1926, and in 1928 became a separate unit, retaining Rev. Thomas McIntyre who still serves. In 1911, a branch church of St. John's Episcopal Church was built on the corner of New York Avenue and Tenth Street, through the generosity of mem- bers, among whom was Miss Cornelia Prime. Her connection with Grace Church, in New York, is thought to have inspired the name of Grace Chapel. In 1944, the church became a self-sustaining body, its first minister being Rev. Walter Tuhey. St. Hugh's Roman Catholic Church, at first a mission, became a separate unit in 1913. Other churches are: St. Peter's Lutheran, Gloria Dei Lutheran, Immanuel Baptist, Pentecostal, and the Jewish Center.
LONG SWAMP
In 1667, Nathaniel Foster was allowed to take up land "neare to the Long Swamp at the up side of Tredwell's Plaine on the east side of the south path." The name Tredwell soon disappeared, while Smiths and Fleets survived.
The old Smith homestead, built by Samuel in the 1600s, stood for many years, through Josiah, Jonathan, Josiah, Ezra and finally Elias Smith, who sold the house to the Town for the "Town farm", 1868-1871. This house stood on the east fork of Hollow Ponds Road, and served as stopping place for the stage coach, as well as for annual meetings. It is believed that it was the home of Rev. Ebenezer Prime, 1778-79, and that several marriages were performed in the old place.
GREENLAWN -OLD FIELDS
Cattle driven from the old Town Spot along Cow Harbor Lane found pasture in Old Fields. It became Greenlawn when the Long Island Rail Road station was built in 1867. Its large school building, built in 1924, replaced an earlier one of 1870. In 1875, the Presby- terian Church was organized by Rev. I. B. Smith.
EAST NORTHPORT - CLAY PITS
East Northport was first known as Clay Pits, because of its clay deposits. When the railroad spur to Northport was discontinued and the new station built in 1867, the name East Northport was adopted. Its first school was on Vernon Valley Road, replaced later by a school building south of the track. In 1939, the modern "Lark- field School" was opened and the old building was used as a library until destroyed by fire in 1945.
The Union Methodist Church, once a branch of the Northport Church, was built in 1905-6. St. Paul's Evangelical Church was organized March 15, 1914, and the present church was erected in 1923.
COMMACK (WINNECOMAC)
At Commack-Pleasant Land-Joseph Whitman was owner of the first of the "ten farms of 1672"-River Head Farm. Until the death of Ann Whitman in 1912, land here remained in Whitman
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ownership. It was then purchased by the Wyandanch Club. The old homestead stood on Indian Head Road, and it was here that Colonel George Washington dined while journeying from Boston by way of Long Island through "Joseph Whitman's Great Hollow" to Williamsburg, Va., in March, 1756. The pewter platter used on that occasion is still in the possession of Whitman descendants-the family of the late Lester B. Gildersleeve of East Northport.
Birthplace of Walt Whitman at West Hills, Huntington Town
On the north side of Burr Lane, Smith Burr kept a hotel in the 1800s, though the breeding of fine horses was his chief interest, as it was of his son, Carll S., and grandson, Senator Carll S. Burr.
This district was the military training ground for troops of the Western Regiment of Suffolk County, organized in 1775.
Two school houses served north and south Commack, until a building was erected west of Whitman's Hollow. This was replaced in 1924 by the present brick structure.
The toll-gate of the Smithtown-Huntington turnpike was at Whitman's Hollow, and just north on the east side of the road stands the Methodist Church-the oldest in Suffolk County-organ- ized in 1783 and built in 1789.
Early families who settled in Commack were Carll, Harned, Smith, Strong, Brush, Wicks and Whitman.
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WEST HILLS
At West Hills, in 1769, was born Silas Wood, congressman and historian. To the east of his birthplace, is the old Chichester home, formerly Peace and Plenty Inn, and still further east were the Whitman lands, both of these families having settled here in the 1660s. The last Whitman to live here was Jesse, whose brother Walter built the "new home" on the east plain, to which he brought his bride Louisa Van Velsor, and where their son Walt the poet was born, May 31, 1819. Four years later the family removed to Brooklyn, but Walt returned to his beloved Huntington as teacher and journalist, and established the Long Islander, of Huntington, in 1838. In 1855, he published his first edition of Leaves of Grass, his first step towards becoming one of the world's great poets.
The Solomon Smith farm on the old road which runs south from the Wood birthplace, was once known as Mount Misery. This property is now owned by the Hon. Henry L. Stimson who, as well as being a good neighbor, has earned the gratitude of his country by serving well as Secretary of War during World Wars I and II.
MELVILLE - SWEET HOLLOW
At Melville-Sweet Hollow-Zophar Ketcham, 1746-1837, wrote "Lines on the Erection of the Presbyterian Church, 1829" and "Sweet Hollow, February 5, 1833". These verses were printed in 1833 by Conklin Baylis, who tells of John Howard Smith and his wife Elizabeth, who lived together there sixty-six years, and had seventeen children, and whose descendants did "to two hundred and forty-nine amount * In later life Conklin Baylis became *", a local preacher and saw the Methodist Church of 1845 erected in Lower Sweet Hollow, now known for miles around as the "Church in the Wildwood."
HALF WAY HOLLOWS
The Half Way Hollow Hills, on the undated map of Silas Wood is indicated as of the Goshen Purchase of 1706, which included the lands of Jacob Conklin, 1677-1754. An account of money received from Jacob Conklin in 1713, for land sold to him by the town trus- tees, recorded in the town records, gives a list of some 150 names of those whose claims were satisfied, and indicates the great wealth of this man. His home in Half Hollows stood until 1918 when it was destroyed by fire, the burial ground on the hill being the only remain- ing mark of the family which lived here for almost two centuries. Baylis, Nostrand and Wicks were familiar names in the district for many years.
DIX HILLS
The most northern of the Dix Hills, lying between Old Fields and Commack, has long been known as Dumpling Hill. The south- ern Dix Hills stretch some distance south of the Jericho Turnpike. Ananias Carll settled here in 1698, since which time the name of
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Carll has persisted down in that section. The old Carll homestead north of the Turnpike is now the Doscher home.
Lands to the south of the Turnpike, east of Deer Park Avenue, were once owned by Major Timothy Carll of Revolutionary fame. The old homestead still stands, while nearby is the birthplace of "Priest Hartt". Here, on September 17, 1738, Joshua "Priest" Hartt was born. A graduate of Princeton in 1770, installed pastor of the Smithtown Presbyterian Church in 1774, he was an outstand- ing rebel in the Revolutionary War and was made a prisoner. When he returned to private life he became a surveyor.
The name of Blachley is still found among the residents of Dix Hills where in 1769 was born Moses, who became first postmaster of Huntington, held town offices and practiced medicine.
In 1931, Dix Hills and Half Way Hollows school districts united in building and maintaining a new school-The Hills School.
A 230-acre plot near Deer Park will soon be the site of an airport to be known as the "Huntington-Atlantic Airport."
THE TOWN OF BABYLON LORENA M. FREVERT Historian, Village of Lindenhurst
The Town of Babylon was created by an Act of the New York State Legislature on March 13, 1872. Prior to that date the sixty- five square miles which comprise Babylon town land on the shore of the Great South Bay were a part of the township of Huntington. The latter township acquired this area of land by purchases in the years 1657 to 1755 from Indians of the Secatogue and Massapequa tribes who claimed ownership to the east and west portions respectively.
The lush growth of salt hay on the marshy necks jutting into the South Bay attracted the Huntington settlers. In the absence of domestic grasses they found in the salt thatch a much-needed cattle fodder.
The first salt meadow necklands were purchased on June 1, 1657, by Jonas Wood "for himselfe and the rest of his neighbors of Huntington" from Wyandance, the Grand Sachem of all Long Island, and Resossechok, the chief of the Secatogue Indians who occupied the land. The deed included five necks called Sumpwams, Little East Neck, Great East Neck, Santapogue, and Neguntatogue for which the white men gave "twelve coates, twenty howes, twenty hatchets, twenty knives, ten pounds of powder, ten pounde of lead and one great Cettell and one hatt, present in hand, and doth further promise to give to the above Sachem, every yeare, a Coat for six years".
The next westerly neck called Little Neck was bought of the Secatogue tribe on July 23 of the same year for "one gun and one Pistol and two pounds of powder". Wyandance on August 17, 1658, sold the three necks of Copiague, Great Neck, and Half Neck,
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adjoining Little Neck on the west for "12 coats, 20 lbs powder, 20 dutch hatchets, 20 dutch howes, 20 dutch knives, 10 shirts, 200 muxes, 5 paire of 'handsom' stockings, one good dutch hatt, and a great fine Looking glass, and for Choconoe, for his wages and going to marke out the Lands shall have for himselfe one coat, fower pounds of poudar, six pound(s) of led, one dutch hatchet, as alsoe seventeen shilling in wampum". Tackapousha, Chief of the Massapequa Indians who possessed the land covered in this transfer, was com- pelled by Wyandance and Lyon Gardiner to sign the deed although it "grieved his heart". A few years later a dispute arose between Oyster Bay and Huntington concerning the western boundary of this purchase and the Indian Choconoe, who had marked out the land, was called upon in 1665 to point out the western-most tree he had marked. This closed that controversy.
In May of 1697 Josiah's Neck and West Neck, the two last necks and the most westerly within the bounds of the present town- ship of Babylon, were purchased from the Massapequa Indians. Josiah's Neck was deeded to John Ketcham and Jonas Platt and West Neck to John Ketcham, James Chichester and Timothy Conklin, Senior, all of Huntington.
At a town meeting of April 12, 1671, it was voted that "every man who has meadow on any neck at the south side may have the liberty to purchase what upland he can of the Indians according to his proportion of meadow provided it be on neck of that their meadow lieth". Upland purchases of fresh meadow "as hie north- ward as the Indian path" and of the brush plains beyond followed. On July 12, 1689, the Secatogue Indians conveyed the upland of Santepogue Neck to the owners of the lower neck meadows "for the kindness and great love they had unto" them. The same year the fresh meadows of Sumpwams and Neguntatogue passed from Indian hands. Copiague uplands were acquired in 1693 and Little East Neck in 1697.
The Baiting Place Purchase of 1698, a part of which lies in the northwest section of Babylon Town, and the Squaw Pit Purchase of 1699 in the northeast section transferred to the white settlers large tracts of pine brush and plain. In the former deed the Mas- sapequa Indians reserved the right of fishing and hunting and "gathering of plume and hucel bearyes".
Beachland and Great South Bay islands were also added to township territory about this time. Samuel Ketcham of Huntington bought a South Bay island in 1689 from the Secatogue Indians and Robert Kellum acquired an island in 1691. The beachland, east of the Huntington town patent line to the west side of Massapequa Gut "together with all sunken marshes and islands now unpur- chased" and including all creeks and coves, became the property of the town trustees on October 29, 1705, by purchase from the Secatogue Indians.
Indians of the Massapequa tribe transferred their last holdings in the township of Huntington in 1698 but the Secatogue tribe con- tinued signing land deeds until 1755. In all twenty-five land grants were made by these two Indian tribes.
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Inaccurate boundary descriptions in the original town patents and the overlapping title grants in the many Indian deeds led to several boundary disputes between adjoining towns and the Town of Huntington. One in 1665 involving the then existing southwest- ern boundary of the town has already been mentioned. Oyster Bay and Huntington towns continued for many years to have periodic boundary controversies. As the result of one misunderstanding boundary readings were made in 1797 and, in 1860, following another dispute, a series of monuments was erected on the west from the north to the sea.
Islip township and Huntington were involved in law suits over the boundary in the southeast portion. The Nicolls Patent in 1666 established the east line from Nesequake (Smithtown) River to the sea. The Dongan Patent of 1688 and the Fletcher Patent of 1694 changed this line from Fresh Pond to Sumpwams River and thence to the sea. A large tract between the "old patent line" and this last "confirmation line" was the territory in dispute. The con- troversy ended in a court decision in 1814 granting Huntington town the larger share of the tract. The town trustees in 1855 sold the 3000 acres to individual buyers and the greater part of the money received was used as bounty payments to enlistees from the town in the Civil War.
In 1807, William Nicoll of Islip town brought suit against the Huntington trustees for recovery of certain islands in the Great South Bay (Cap Tree, Oak and Grass Islands) and adjacent beach- lands. The Nicoll family claimed title under grants of the Colonial governors while Huntington based its claim on Indian purchases. After seven years in the courts the suit was dismissed. As a com- promise a committee from Islip in 1818 deeded all islands west of the middle of Broad Creek on Cap Tree Island to the Trustees of Huntington.
A monumented eastern boundary line between the townships of Babylon and Islip was established from surveys made in 1872 and 1884.
The Huntington settlers did not delay in making use of their acquired lands to the south. By 1670, ox-driven carts were following established Indian paths down to the necks where the salt hay was harvested for winter stock feed. The undivided town meadow lands on the necks and on the South Bay islands were held in common and were leased each fall to Huntington residents.
In the early 1700s, a few Huntington farmers moved their house- holds southward and established homes in the Half Hollow section of the mid-island ridge of hills called then as now Dicks (Dix) Hills. Among the first Half Hollow settlers was Jacob Conklin, an unwill- ing member of Captain Kidd's crew who made a successful escape from the Captain's boat while anchored near Northport. He found refuge with the Indians in the hill section and from them purchased a large tract of land. A homestead was built about 1710 and remained for four generations in the Conklin family. Later owners included General James J. Casey, a brother-in-law of General U. S. Grant, and the latter's son U. S. Grant, Jr. General Grant, while
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president, often found in visits to the old Conklin home, at Half Hollows the peace and quiet he desired. In 1918, while unoccupied, the homestead was destroyed by fire. The sand and clay found in the soil of the Conklin property were utilized in the 1800s by brick- making concerns; its reputed medicinal waters were bottled in more recent years by the Colonial Mineral Springs Company. The site of the Conklin home is presently owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn. On a nearby hill is the Conklin cemetery
(Photo Courtesy of The Historic American Building Survey, Library of Congress) Nat Conklin House, Babylon
wherein rest the remains of Jacob Conklin and many of his descendants.
The Half Hollow Hill settlers were followed by more venturesome families who went to the heads of the south necks. There they built homes along the old Indian Path called the South Road (Montauk Highway). The first home in the Sumpwams Neck area, which later became the village of Babylon, was erected on the South Road about 1760 and is said to have been that of the Nehemiah Heartte family.
Other early homes were those of Abraham Wanzer on the South Road at West Neck South (Amityville) and Zebulon Ketcham's home and tavern on the same road in East Amityville. At this latter home President George Washington dined while on his tour of Long Island in 1790. In Onderdonk's Annals it is written that "He dined at Zebulon Ketchams, Huntington South, and begged the landlord to take no trouble about the fare and on leaving gave a half 'Joe' and a kiss to his daughter". From Washington's own diary under the date of April 21, 1790, we read, "We dined at Captain Zebulon
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Ketcham's, Huntington South, which had a public house, but now a private one; that is, receives pay for what is furnished. This house was about 14 miles from South Hempstead, and a very neat and decent one". The house was razed in 1857 after Walter Van Wyck, the last owner, sold it to a developing company. To commemorate Washington's visit the Town of Babylon in 1927 erected a granite marker near the site of Ketcham's home. The Suffolk County Boy Scouts of America dedicated a Washington memorial elm tree at the same location in 1932.
The new homes along the south shore clustered principally about two points-the South Road sections of what are now the villages of Babylon and Amityville. At each place were flowing streams and ponds giving sufficient water power to operate mills. It may be con- cluded that this fact was a determining factor in the locations selected by the home builders.
At Huntington West Neck South (Amityville) Eliphalet Oakley owned and operated a sawmill about 1780 on the west bank of a pond on the South Road east of the present Broadway. Sawmill Pond became Ireland's Pond (by which name it is now known) in 1783 when Oakley's brother-in-law Thomas Ireland, formerly of the Town of Hempstead, purchased both pond and sawmill. Mr. Ireland and his descendants continued operation of the sawmill until 1880. A gristmill, which Thomas Ireland erected at the southerly end of the pond, operated under four generations of that family. In 1914, the gristmill was abandoned and part of the original building is at present a summer bungalow on Mill Island in Amityville Creek, south of the pond and the highway.
At the Babylon end of Huntington South on Sumpwams River a flour and gristmill was built as early as 1760 by Garrett Montfort. British soldiers quartered in the Huntington section during the Revo- lution obtained their flour supply from this mill. Nathaniel Conklin and Nathaniel Oakley and the latter's descendants became successive owners. Sawmill facilities were added. When David C. Ricketts acquired the property about 1865, he established a toy-whip factory in the building. Edwin Hawley, president of several Midwest rail- roads, purchased the mill and surrounding acreage in 1910. The ancient structure was demolished and on its site was built a cement spillway.
Water power of Annuskemunnica Creek and the lake it forms at the Montauk Highway at the western end of Babylon village were utilized by Timothy Carll in a cloth mill, erected by him in 1810. The building at the southeast end of the lake was destroyed by fire and rebuilt about 1849 by Isaac Willetts who began the manufacture of straw paper. As late as 1870 large quantities of the paper were being shipped to New York by water. E. B. Litchfield and later the Argyle Hotel Company acquired the property. The latter was named for the Duke of Argyle, a famous visitor of the 1880s. The old mill is now gone; its site is a part of Babylon village's World War I memorial park.
In the early years the entire southern section of Huntington town was referred to as Huntington South and a post office bearing
1
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that name was established in the eastern-most settlement of Babylon village. The first returns were made January 1, 1803, by Abraham Gardiner Thompson, son of the owners of Sagtikos Manor, West Islip, who was postmaster and proprietor of a general store. Once a week riders, called videttes, delivered the mail. One of the relay houses for this south shore express from New York to Sag Harbor was that of Zebulon Ketcham, one-half mile east of Amityville. On July 7, 1826, when the post office name was changed to South Huntington, a stage coach service was bringing two mails weekly to this area. Governmental recognition of the name of Babylon, which had been used locally for nearly thirty years, came on May 6, 1830. The Babylon post office was the only office within the bounds of South Huntington until service in the village of Amityville was inaugurated on April 15, 1850.
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