USA > New York > Nassau County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume I > Part 46
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume I > Part 46
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Rockaway was part of Hempstead which was settled in 1644 by a group from Stamford, Connecticut, comprising about thirty or forty families who located at the village of Hempstead. At that time the Rockaway peninsula was not believed to have any appreciable value, so part of it was set aside for the Indians and the remainder was used as a cow pasture, for a relatively short fence across the penin- sula would safely enclose the cattle. In 1685, the Rockaway peninsula was given by Governor Dongan to John Palmer, who sold it two years later to Richard Cornell who became the first settler there.
Flushing was settled by another party from New England who received a patent dated October 10, 1645. They were given about 16,000 acres, now bounded on the south by the hills (approximately Grand Central Parkway), north by Long Island Sound, west by Flush- ing Meadow Park, and east by Nassau County. This territory was reputed to have been named Vlissingen, about 1628, after the city in Holland, but the colonists immediately Anglicized the name to its present form. Flushing attracted the attention of Stuyvesant, the Director-General, when it accepted the Quakers who were persecuted almost everywhere. In 1657, when Stuyvesant tried to drive the Quakers out of his territory by the use of harsh measures, the people of Flushing sent him a remonstrance that they could not accept his indictment of the Quakers. This has sometimes been called the first Declaration of Independence in America. For daring to make this assertion, some of the town rights were taken away, but the people were not subdued and the Quakers continued to meet secretly and to grow in strength until Flushing became a Quaker stronghold. The culmination of this affair came in 1661 when John Bowne, who had been converted as a Quaker, built a house, still standing, in which he invited them to meet. He was jailed, assessed a fine which he refused to pay, and finally exiled. He went to Holland where he presented his case to the Directors who upheld him and ordered Stuyvesant to per- mit the Quakers to meet. This appears to be the earliest example in America of a test case in which freedom of religion was upheld.
Jamaica was probably settled during the winter of 1655-56 by a group of Hempstead residents who came here to find greater oppor- tunity. They asked permission three times before their request was granted. The first time there were no known results. The second
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time, probably in the summer of 1655, they seem to have been told that they should first buy the land from the Indians, which they bought on September 13 of that year for "two guns, a coat, and a certain quantity of powder and lead". The third request, on March 10, 1656, was granted eleven days later by Stuyvesant. However, it seems that the colonists had anticipated the permission, for the first town meeting was held February 18, 1656, and a blank was left in the minutes for the name of the town as if to indicate that it had not yet been named. Most historians have said that a patent was given to the town by Stuyvesant in 1660, but there is no known evidence to support this claim and strong indications that this is not true. Addi- tional lands were purchased from the Indians until the town of Jamaica extended from Brooklyn to what is now Nassau County and from Jamaica Bay approximately to present Forest Park and Grand Central Parkway.
The first groups of colonists to settle in Queens County were Englishmen who came here to better themselves. They lived in settlements or town spots as a protection from the Indians and for the help they could give each other. Each family had its home lot in the village with farming lots or plantations in the country. The gen- eral practice seems to have been to lay out as many tracts of land as there were families, and to assign them by drawing lots. Each family had to supply its necessities and the crops provided most or all of the food supply for the year. They raised corn, wheat, peas, rye, cows, sheep, pigs, and poultry, with tobacco as the principal item for sale. Strangers were not permitted to linger, and newcomers were admitted only by a vote of the entire community. This custom is usually attributed to moral grounds, but it was also economic for the towns did not want the burden of those who could not support themselves.
As the towns grew, the need for specialists became more appar- ent. Millers, iron workers, tanners, carpenters, ministers, and teachers were needed. It was the common practice to encourage the craftsman to come by giving him land as an inducement, or to build a mill for the miller, but the cautious people also set maximum rates which he could charge for his services. The minister was the most eagerly sought for, the towns sometimes sending committees hundreds of miles to interview available ministers.
Trade was largely by barter, and wampum, the beads of the Indians, had specified values that were set by law. Prices were often quoted and debts were paid in merchandise which was usually tobacco, corn, wheat, rye, or peas at standard prices. In Newtown in 1661, for example, a house was sold for one thousand clapboards, six hun- dredweight of tobacco, and half a vat of strong beer.
Law and order within the towns were maintained by the schout, or sheriff, and the magistrates, and when crimes did occur the sen- tence of the court was often so simple and sensible that it deserves to be retold. In the court records of Newtown in 1660 it is stated that John Forman was found guilty of stealing corn from Captain John Coe's grist mill. "Tharefore the sentance of the corte is that John
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forman shall restore to captin coe or aney other so much corne as hee has felloniously tacken away and John forman shall wallke from mr doughtys howse with to (two) Rods under each arm and the drume beating before him untell hee comse to mr Jesups howse and thare he is to have his Liberty : further the corte dus inioyne (enjoin) John forman to Refrayne wallking at unseasonabell ours (hours) for time . to come becase it geves case (cause) of suspishon to others".
More threatening than civil disturbances to these peaceful com- munities was that of the potential Indian warfare or of possible out- side enemies. To guard against these, each town formed a military company which was called a trainband because the men were trained for military duty. All able-bodied men from sixteen to sixty, except a few as the minister, constable, and schoolteacher, were required to meet for drills five times a year. Each man had to provide himself witli a serviceable gun, a sword, a quantity of powder and bullets, and other specified items of equipment. As an additional precaution each town erected a fortified place for refuge in time of danger. In Flushing there was a blockhouse at about the site of the present armory, and in Newtown palisades were set around the town house which served also as a church and parsonage.
The civil government was maintained through the town meetings at which the freeholders assembled and carried on the town's business. At the meetings, which were called at irregular intervals, they elected officers, approved the granting of land, and conducted any other important activities for the town's welfare. The officers varied, but usually there were overseers, a constable, magistrates, a clerk, asses- sors, surveyors, and others were added as the need arose. The over- seers acted for the town in most routine matters, although they were not permitted to dispose of town land; this was done only at the town meetings. The constable was provided with a staff about six feet long as a symbol of his office.
Travel was primitive in those early days. There were no public conveyances except a ferry from Brooklyn to New York, and that was only a rowboat. The first roads were the Indian trails which had been taken over with such simple regulations as "whosoever shall ffell any trees in ye highways shall take both top and body out of ye highways". And when additional roads were needed, they were laid out "often with no other labor being done upon them than a few marks cut into the trees. The course of a new highway was indicated to the traveler by a blaze on all the trees on one side of the road". Not all roads were marked even that well for in 1670 the Court of Sessions found it necessary to order a roadway to be cleared because of "several new fences having blocked up the usual old way, which causes many inhabitants, as well as strangers, to lose themselves in the woods".
Although life itself was simple, the people had difficulties with the Dutch government which tended to be paternalistic, while they wanted to be more self-reliant. The Dutch attitude, rules, and regu- lations were foreign to these Englishmen who began to wish for a government by the English, which was gradually approaching. Almost
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from the beginning the towns on eastern Long Island had voted to be under the jurisdiction of Connecticut, and as the English encroach- ments continued, the Island was divided with the Dutch retaining only that part west of Oyster Bay. In 1662, the towns in the Queens County area voted to throw off the Dutch rule and become part of Connecticut. The popular desire to be English was so strong and widespread that open meetings for that purpose were held, and even Stuyvesant was afraid to attempt to suppress them. Before anything could be done, the English fleet entered the harbor, Stuyvesant sur- rendered and, in 1664, New Netherland became New York.
The colonists who had welcomed the coming of the English soon began to regret the change for New York was made a royal province. Under it they lost some of their independence, and there was no appeal from the laws and orders of the Duke of York. Only six months after the English conquest, delegates from the towns were called to Hempstead where they were given a code of laws known as the Duke's Laws. Although these new laws covered almost every- thing, they did not mention the one thing that the people wanted and expected, a representative government with a general assembly. Another change was the creation of a county, Yorkshire, which included Long Island, Westchester, and Staten Island. This was divided into three ridings-a corruption of thriding, meaning thirds- of which Queens County, except Newtown, with present Nassau and Westchester counties formed the North Riding.
The spirit of democracy which blazed so brightly one hundred years later in the Revolutionary War was smoldering even then. In 1669 the towns in Queens County presented a petition to the governor requesting in vain the election of delegates who would participate in making the laws by which they were governed. A few years later, when the governor demanded a contribution from each of the towns for the repair of the fort at New York, the towns in Queens County refused to pay their share because they had no assembly.
In 1683, the Duke of York yielded to the people and sent a new governor, Thomas Dongan, who had permission to call an elected assembly. This legislative body passed a charter of liberties in which it declared that the assembly must concur in the passing of laws, the assessment of taxes, and freedom of religion and free elections were proclaimed. In this year, also, the present system of counties was begun. Yorkshire was abolished and on November 1, 1683, Queens County was created including the area of present Queens and Nassau Counties, and it was named for Catharine of Braganza, the Queen Consort of Charles II. Another important action of Dongan was the granting of new patents or charters to each of the towns confirming their earlier patents.
From the earliest days the church was probably the principal center of community life. Newtown and Jamaica had Independent churches that later became Presbyterian, but Flushing was Quaker. The Independent churches were established by the towns and were supported by taxation like any other public function. The salary of the minister, the cost of the church building, and the wage of the
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drummer who beat the drum to call the people together for church services, for the town meeting, and for the training days-all of these were paid by taxation. In Flushing, except for a few years, there was no official church, so it is probable that there was no church tax, but rather a popular subscription to meet the expenses of the Quaker church.
The first church in Jamaica was built in 1699 but, before that, church services had been held in the town meeting house. This first church was a square, stone building that stood in the middle of Jamaica Avenue, opposite the head of Union Hall Street, and it was used for church services until it was torn down in 1813 to be replaced by the present building. That stone church was the scene of one of the greatest religious conflicts on Long Island. In 1702, Governor Cornbury declared that as it had been erected by taxation, it belonged to the Episcopalians, for that was the established church. The Pres- byterians finally regained their property twenty-five years later after a long legal battle.
The Episcopal church was established in Queens County in 1702 with a parish that included all of the present borough, except Rock- away. The principal church was in Jamaica, but monthly services were held in Newtown and Flushing. By 1735, St. James' Church was organized at Newtown, and in 1746 St. George's at Flushing.
The Reformed church also began in Jamaica in 1702, and by friendly agreement with the Presbyterians, its services were held in the stone church. In 1716 they erected an octagonal building in Jamaica, in 1732 a similar building in Newtown, and in 1842 they organized a church in Flushing. Other churches, except the Quakers, came, beginning in the early 1800s with the Methodist and Catholic churches.
The Quakers, whose true name is Society of Friends, began here in 1657 when a few missionaries arrived from England. They were immediately persecuted and when one of them, Robert Hodgson, attempted to preach at Hempstead he was arrested and imprisoned in New Amsterdam. He accepted the punishment in such spirit that he gained the good will of many people, especially in Flushing which became a Quaker stronghold. Following the persecutions, which have already been told, they continued to meet in Bowne's home until the Quaker Meeting House was built in 1694, the same building that is used today. John Bowne's home is also standing. It was purchased in 1946 and made a public memorial for his part in the cause of freedom of religion.
Toward the middle of the eighteenth century, the French and English wars, which had long been smoldering, broke out in earnest for the final control of North America. Queens County participated in this war. A number of its men enlisted with the British forces and a thousand sheep were contributed to help feed the army. In 1758 when a great effort was made to capture Canada, Queens County sent two hundred ninety men, probably about the same ratio as the province of New York from which one-fifth of the men were in actual service. But the efforts of the war were not all made on distant battlefields.
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During the winter seasons, many troops were brought to Long Island and billeted in the homes of the people, resulting in much fric- tion. Captured French officers, too, were brought to Long Island where they were paroled to the towns. The most pitiful group was composed of neutral French, exiled Acadians who, like Longfellow's Evangeline, were distributed along the entire seacoast. One family each, consisting of the parents and seven or eight children, was sent to Newtown, Flushing and Jamaica, and an allowance of one shilling a day was made to pay for their room and board. It is not known whether these people died as exiles or were eventually returned to Nova Scotia after the war.
The capture of Canada from France weakened the ties that held the colonies to England. They were no longer threatened by a foreign power and as they now had a militia trained and experienced in the art of warfare, signs forecasting the Revolution began to appear. Following the passage of the Stamp Act in 1765, associations called Sons of Liberty were formed in Queens County to cooperate with other groups throughout the colonies in opposing this tax, and they soon succeeded in having it abolished. These groups might have dissolved after this victory, feeling that their work was done, but in 1774 the same spirit of democracy caused them to revive and consider what attitude they should take regarding the Boston Port Bill which had closed Boston Harbor because of the Tea Party.
Although the Sons of Liberty asserted their allegiance to the King, they protested against the taxes imposed by Parliament, ex- pressed their sympathy to Boston, appointed a Committee of Corre- spondence, and formed companies of Minute Men.
Not all of the residents of Queens County were willing to take these steps. A majority, although opposing the tax, hoped that they could obtain its repeal by peaceful means. Probably the best example of the size of the two groups was a vote in 1775 on whether to send delegates to the Continental Congress. Queens County opposed send- ing delegates by 788 votes to 221.
Late in 1775, the Asia, a British warship, landed arms at Rock- away for distribution to the Loyalists, but Congress ordered Col. Heard to bring troops and disarm them. A county-wide militia was formed of Whigs between the ages of sixteen and fifty who were armed for defense.
When it was rumored that the British army which had been driven from Boston was sailing for New York, detachments of men were stationed at Rockaway and along the north shore to watch for the approach of the fleet.
Late in June of 1776 the British ships appeared off Far Rock- away with so many masts coming over the horizon that one observer said it looked like a forest rising from the sea. Preparations for the coming battle included a scorched earth policy. Cattle were driven eastward and grain was prepared for burning. The British landed in Brooklyn and on August 27, 1776, they won the Battle of Long Island. The following day General Nathaniel Woodhull was captured and mortally wounded at Hollis while driving the cattle away from the
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British. The victorious English army camped at such strategic spots as Flushing and Hell Gate, but their headquarters was at Newtown where General Howe wrote his report of the battle.
Now that the Tories had the upper hand, they ruthlessly hunted down their Whig neighbors. The Tories wore a red ribbon around their hats, or a piece of red cloth tucked under the hatband, as a symbol of their loyalty to England. By their efforts a number of Whigs were arrested and held in local churches which served as col- lecting points for those consigned to the prison ships. Over twelve hundred residents of Queens County signed a petition to General Howe, the British commander, asking to have the county restored to Royal favor.
But life here was hard for all, Whig and Tory alike. The British army needed large quantities of wood, food, fodder, and other sup- plies. These were taken at prices set by the army, but often they were not paid for. In addition, there was much theft by soldiers and marauders, as well as malicious destruction.
The churches, except the Episcopal, were taken over by the British forces and used for their purposes. The Jamaica Presbyterian Church was more fortunate than the others, for though it was a prison on weekdays, it served as a church on Sundays. The Newtown Pres- byterian Church, after serving as a prison and guardhouse, finally was demolished to build huts for the soldiers. The Friends Meeting House in Flushing served as a prison, hospital and hay magazine. The Jamaica Reformed Church was used as a storehouse for food, and its pews and floor were removed to build barracks.
Troops were constantly stationed on Long Island and in the winter additional troops were quartered here between their summer campaigns. The usual hut for these soldiers was one partially sunk in the earth, with stone fireplaces, and roofed with thatch or sod. Many buildings were torn down for the boards to build these huts. Fences were taken for firewood, and produce and livestock were stolen for food. The British lookouts along the shore erected alarm poles to signal the approach of invaders, with smoke by day and fire by night. These poles were wrapped with straw and topped with a tar barrel.
Considerable excitement was created in 1780 when the frigate Hussar sank at Hell Gate, for it was carrying the pay for the English army amounting to several million dollars. It has been claimed that the money had been embezzled and the ship sunk to conceal the theft.
With the end of the war in sight and the certainty that England would lose the colonies, leading loyalists prepared to leave with the British. Sales of property by officers and loyalists were advertised in the papers. Some of these notices indicate the luxury enjoyed by the officers whose toast had been "to a long and moderate war", for they sold pianos, mahogany chairs and other valuable pieces. The loyalists packed what few pieces they could carry and left the country, some to begin a new life in Nova Scotia. Between November 22 and 25, 1783, the English troops marched from Queens County.
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On Monday, December 8, 1783, peace was celebrated at Jamaica by many citizens of Queens County. A flag with thirteen stripes was raised on the liberty pole, thirteen toasts were drunk, and people paraded thirteen abreast. At another celebration at Dutch Kills, the room was lighted by thirteen lamps symbolizing the unity of the thir- teen colonies.
Present Queens County was at that time a rural area with three small villages, Flushing, Jamaica, and Newtown (now Elmhurst), and scattered farms, its population being about five thousand.
CHOK
CRO
First post office on north shore of Queens County
Located at Little Neck, Alley Pond, Flushing Township, in 1828. Was in Buhrman's Store.
The Prince nursery was established at Flushing about 1725 by William Prince, whose family operated it until the time of the Civil War. Other nurseries were established by James Bloodgood about 1798, by Samuel Parsons in 1838, and several smaller nurseries at various times. Their founders made Flushing the horticultural center of America, and brought it fame for the variety of trees that were planted along its streets.
Until the early years of the nineteenth century, little was done to improve the dirt roads of Queens County. A law of 1703 first pro- vided for their repair and maintenance. A century later came toll turnpike roads of stone and gravel, which were privately owned and had to be kept repaired or else the toll was not to be collected. About 1850, "plank roads", surfaced with wooden planks, replaced the turn- pikes. They remained toll roads until about 1897, when the County acquired them.
In 1805 Rufus King established a country estate at Jamaica. A close friend of Washington, he became our first ambassador to Eng- land. After his death the estate became the home of his son, John
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Alsop King, who served as governor of New York. Their colonial house is now a museum in King Park.
During the War of 1812 a blockhouse, Fort Decatur, was built at Rockaway and another, Fort Stevens, at Hell Gate, but they were abandoned after the war.
In 1814 steam ferries began operation across the East River to . New York, replacing boats propelled by oars, sails or horses. Although in 1836 the Long Island Rail Road opened its line, stage coaches con- tinued to also operate for a time. The Flushing railroad was built in 1854 and the Rockaway railroad in 1880. These independent lines were eventually acquired by the Long Island Rail Road.
Rockaway, about 1830, became one of America's fashionable resorts. Built in 1834, Marine Pavilion was soon a favorite stop for celebrities. Although destroyed by fire in 1864, it had given Rockaway the start that eventually made it one of the country's best-known vacation beaches.
Queens County has been famous for horse racing ever since Governor Nicolls established a track near New Hyde Park in 1665. About 1750 a track existed around Beaver Pond in Jamaica, and in 1821 Union Course was built at Woodhaven. It has been estimated that seventy thousand spectators came to one race there in 1842. Other notable race tracks in Queens County were Fashion, at Corona, and Centerville, at Ozone Park. They have since given way to more elaborate tracks in and near this county.
A famous resident of Queens County, although unrecognized at the time, was Walt Whitman. According to his account, he taught school between Jamaica and Flushing during the winter of 1839-40, and at Whitestone during the winter of 1840-41, while during the fall of 1840 he was electioneering through the county. Sometime dur- ing this period he was employed as a typesetter on the Long Island Democrat, now. part of the Long Island Daily Press in Jamaica. Nine of his earliest poems first appeared in this paper. Twenty years later, on a return visit he wrote that it "has not been what is called a 'growing place' for many years, and probably will not be".
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