USA > New York > Nassau County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume I > Part 54
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume I > Part 54
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62
Molly Cooper, a woman of sixty odd, had help in the house from her daughter and sometimes other women. But she also had outdoor tasks. "I am up all night", she writes in March, "tending two lambs." On a Sunday in June: "Two Swarms of Bees hindered me from going to meeten. I got them in one hive." And again: "I am forst to climb the cherre tree and fetch the Bees down in my apron." There is the gathering of fruit, the drying and preserving: "I am mighte angry because the cettel is sent for before I have done my quinces."
In spite of the hard work they went often to town, on foot, on horseback, in winter in the sleigh. "I hurried away to meeting on horseback without any saddle." In summer they went by water. "Ester and Salle went to town in the canoo." "We went to town by salt."
At times six or seven people dropped in unexpectedly for the night. And not all were as considerate as old Aunt Patty Coles, of Dosoris, who, it is said, when on a visit arrived in dignity in her farm wagon, bringing her bed and bedding with her. Molly, sociable and hospitable, welcomed visitors, but if she happened to be unprepared
474
LONG ISLAND-NASSAU AND SUFFOLK
she lamented over "a slender repast, in no way Eaqueal to our appetites". And when Daddy complained of too much tea-drinking, and even refused her a turkey to roast on a special occasion, she was "so affected and ashamed, I feele as If I should never get over it".
She was filled with a devout spirit that sustained her in the trials · of her daily life. On one disastrous Sunday she was forced to get dinner and could not go to meeting at all. "Alas! how unhappy and miserabel I am, I feele Banished from God and all good." When Esther, stricken with smallpox in the epidemic of 1771, returned home after a month in the pesthouse, her mother wrote: "The Lord hath brought my Daughter home well of the small-pox. What shall I render to the Lord for all his mercies ?"
Sound pirates and whale-boat men robbed this busy farmhouse as well as others. But other boatmen came ashore in heavy storms for food and shelter. "Mr. Richards merchant of London here and three of his ship's crew. They stayed here all night and went on their sloop early in the morning." Stormy weather, however, did not keep Molly from meeting. And returning at night, "the tide was high and the wind extreme hard, but through mercy we got home. * * * Two
squaws have gone with Sister; the tide is very high, some difficulty in getting over the brook" (Cove Brook, now bridged and hidden).
Molly Cooper belonged heart and soul to the Baptist Church, the first to be organized in Oyster Bay. "Sister," Mrs. John Townsend, known as Madam Townsend, a talented and able woman, was a leading spirit in the church and often assisted in the minister's duties, preach- ing on the shore when services of immersion took place. But her strong will often clashed with that of the pastor, her son-in-law, Peter Underhill, great-grandson of the Indian fighter, and not deficient in fighting spirit. When the liberal spirits under her leadership gradu- ally broke away, forming the New Light Church, Madam Townsend finally led the flight of her followers from the meeting-house, with cries of "Babylon! Babylon!" said to have been heard two miles away.
There was a regular meeting, called the Covenant meeting, every Saturday night, which often lasted all night. At Sunday services also "Ben, and Jethro, and Siah Bauman preached all day long".
The parties remained divided, to Molly Cooper's grief. "Alas, what sorrows have I lived to see! the new lite church is divided in two. Peter and his company kept meeten at Elijah's, and the rest at the new lite meeten House. How changed is the face of the * * * Church! My heart is rent with sorrow!"
The later history of the New Lights is not known to us, but as Peter Underhill lived to the age of sixty-nine and is buried, with his wife Ethelinda and their children, near the old Baptist church, we may hope that he was reconciled and ministered to his people for many years. There also lie "Sister" Townsend and her husband and sons.
The diary ends here, three years before the outbreak of the Revolution. The dates on a row of mossy stones reveal that the beloved Esther died in February, 1778; she had married Amaziah
475
THE TOWN OF OYSTER BAY
Wheeler, her neighbor in the Cove. Her mother and father survived her only until August and November of the same year.
Sally Wright, the granddaughter, the only survivor of the family, inherited her grandfather's share of the farm on Cove Neck, and ten years later sold it to the Smiths of Centre Island. In the early 1900s it was broken up and sold, and many houses stand on it today.
"Sagamore Hill" was part of this old farm, and was bought by Theodore Roosevelt, partly from Daniel and Isaac Smith and partly from Daniel K. Youngs, who gave him the original Indian deed of the land.
At the outbreak of the Revolution Oyster Bay became a storm centre. Some families remained loyal to the Crown, but many hearts burned under British oppression. Neighbor suspected neighbor. In 1776 came the disarming of all Loyalists, the "Black List" of Queens County Tories, and the "Tory Act", which directed Colonels Heard and Waterbury of the Colonial forces to march upon Queens County and Oyster Bay from two sides. General Washington thought these severe measures necessary "in so dangerous a crisis". Fleeing Loyal- ists hid in forest, swamp and salt meadow.
The thriving shipyard at the foot of Ship Point Lane, where vessels were built to ply between the colonies and England, was taken over by the British, but within a short time Long Island rebels set fire to the yard.
Samuel Townsend, somewhat slow to renounce his allegiance to King George, at length began service in the Provincial Congress. He was appointed one of a Committee of 13 to frame a Constitution for the State of New York.
The defeat at Brooklyn in August, 1776, following which Wash- ington's brilliant retreat alone saved the American Army, caught the Kings County Light Horse driving cattle from Hog Island. Leaving them at Matinecock, this American detachment escaped the British by crossing the Sound from Huntington. Hearing of the disastrous battle, the Oyster Bay Committee, meeting at Daniel Cocks' in Matinecock, hastened home to await their fate. A petition signed by 1293 free- holders asked British General Howe to restore suffering Queens County to Royal favor.
Oyster Bay knew hardships from all sides-in raids of provincial militia, of Committees of Safety, of the British who plundered Loyal- ists and Whigs alike, of whaleboatmen from Connecticut. Tory inhabitants were kidnapped and held for ransom.
Thomas Smith of Centre Island, King's Justice, "received sub- missions", but soon resigned his office, resuming it, however, after the war. His house was plundered three times,-300 pounds hid in the clock bottom being overlooked. Horses were impressed into service even from funeral processions. Firewood must be supplied to the British in New York and farmers must deliver half their hay. Oyster Bay was the chief center for the forage fleet.
Delancy's corps and Fanning's corps were quartered in Oyster Bay, some of the troops in the Baptist church, and the Friends Meet- ing House was used as a Commissary's store. Hessian soldiers were
476
LONG ISLAND-NASSAU AND SUFFOLK
encamped in Wolver Hollow. There were a guardhouse, sentry boxes, a night patrol demanding the countersign. An offender who defied the patrol was seized, tried, tied to "a locust tree in front of Town- send's" and whipped. It was said that the offender, John Weeks, did not understand the challenge of the Hessian patrol.
Captain Solomon Townsend of Oyster Bay was obliged to leave his brig in the Port of London. He went to Paris where he met Ben- jamin Franklin and received from him a certificate of protection. He then sailed for Boston from where he went to Orange County to the home of his kinsman, Peter Townsend. There he met Peter's daughter Anne, whom he later married and brought to Raynham Hall in 1793.
Colonel Simcoe and other British officers were quartered at Rayn- ham Hall, still occupied by the Townsends, in 1778. It was Simcoe who cut down Townsend's orchard to build the fort on Fort Hill. The British officers found Oyster Bay an agreeable place with "good water, vegetables and oysters" and the bathing was "cleanly" for the troops.
Meanwhile, up in Orange County, Peter Townsend's ironworks had forged the links of the chain that was to be stretched across the Hudson to keep the British from West Point. The chain weighed over 160 tons and cost $400,000. Two of its links are still preserved at Raynham Hall.
Major Andre, who sometimes visited Colonel Simcoe at the Hall, shared the latter's admiration of the Townsend sisters, Sally and Audrey, whose brother Robert was one of Washington's trusted spies in New York. To Robert Sally sent what useful information she could gather from the British officers in Oyster Bay. One such message disclosed Andre's part in inducing Benedict Arnold to betray West Point to the British. As a result Andre was captured and hanged as a spy. Sally Townsend never married and tradition has it that she and Colonel Simcoe were in love, but that Andre's capture and death came between them.
Another Oyster Bay tradition is that the Marquis de Talleyrand Perigord visited the village in 1793 and lodged in the Wilson house which is still standing west of Christ Church.
Vice-Chancellor William T. McCoun, the first and only incumbent of that office which was abolished with the Court of Chancery in 1846, was a resident of Oyster Bay for many years, owning "Council Rock" on the west side of the Mill Pond. McCoun, who died in 1878 at the age of ninety-two, as a boy in 1790 had been lifted above the crowd to see President Washington drive through the village.
The nineteenth century brought great changes to the little north shore village. Many new homes were established there, including large estates. James H. Weekes, a descendant of Francis Weekes, one of the settlers of 1660, built his house at Cove Hill in 1809, to take the place of an older house built by his grandfather about 1746. "Cove Hill" was sold to Dr. De Kay and occupied by him for twenty years, and was afterwards bought back by John A. Weekes.
About 1845 Gabriel Irving, nephew of Washington Irving, occu- pied the house on East Main Street, later named "Tranquillity". As
477
THE TOWN OF OYSTER BAY
late as 1840 the dignified Quakers, David Cock and his wife, who addressed all comers quaintly by their first names, lived in an old house on the lower pond at Mill Neck, on the edge of the present Piping Rock Club property.
About the time the Presbyterian church was built in 1844, Ben- jamin L. Swan bought several hundred acres in the Cove extending through the woods to Cold Spring Harbor, and divided it between his two sons. Benjamin L., Jr., built first in 1852, and Edward H. Swan built shortly after. The latter place was bought in 1909 by the late Van Santvoord Merlesmith. In 1860 Bridgens' tavern was purchased by the Irvin family.
It was after the Civil War that the Roosevelts, Beekmans, Fosters, Edward M. Townsend, William H. Trotter and others dis- covered Oyster Bay. The Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club was founded in 1871, twelve founders signing the constitution, as indicated by stars in the club flag. Oyster Bay was then a village of narrow sandy roads, apple orchards, dense woodland, and willows fringing the Village Mill Pond. Mill River ran under a picturesque tangle of green down to the old Townsend Mill above the curve of the beach, and Arnold Fleet's mill in the woods below Fleet's Pond kept its waterwheel busy. There was another ruined mill at the west end of the causeway on Mill Neck marsh, not far from the entrance to "Ken- tuck Lane". The harbor was dotted with sailboats, and Captain Joe- Bill Underhill and Captain Nelse Hawks (Hawkshurst), with John Hawks, a great racing skipper, were village marine authorities.
Amos Boerum's yellow stage plied to and from Syosset with passengers and mail; Miss Baylis was postmistress; Thomas Lawless pastured his cows where now is Florence Park. A long freight dock was maintained at Ship Point until damaged by ice and removed.
One of the first Long Island country places laid out with "Italian gardens" was the beautiful spot on the Sound, near Bayville, where Mrs. Van Rensselaer Cruger (Julien Gordon) built her house. The property was sold to Winslow Pierce, and now is owned by Harrison Williams.
One may name but a few of the well-remembered figures of these days: Judge Solomon Townsend, living in Raynham Hall; the kindly old physician, Peter Y. Frye, driving endless miles in his buggy; the former clergymen of Christ Church-the Rev. George R. Vandewater, and Rev. William Montague Geer, who did such notable work later at old St. Paul's in New York; and the Rev. Alexander G. Russell, Presbyterian minister for 35 years (1876-1911), who went on foot in all weather to hold afternoon services alternately at the Cove school- house and at Syosset. His son, Henry Norris Russell, became profes- sor of astronomy at Princeton University.
Theodore Roosevelt scarcely could have dreamed, when he built his house at Sagamore Hill in the early 1880s, that he was destined to put Oyster Bay "on the map" in international importance, or that it would become the object of pilgrimage from so many quarters of the world. As a young boy he spent several summers in the Gabriel Irving house which his family had rented and called "Tranquillity",
478
LONG ISLAND-NASSAU AND SUFFOLK
and with his brother Elliott completed studies for Harvard College, while glorying in the harbor and the woods and gaining an expert knowledge of bird life and nature.
After the death of his first wife in 1884 he spent two years in the West ranching and hunting. In 1886 he went to Europe and there married Miss Carow, and they returned to live summer and winter at Sagamore Hill. Roosevelt occupied himself in writing, hunting, and in polo games introduced by Francis T. Underhill who brought polo ponies from the West. While Civil Service Commis- sioner, he spent part of his summers in Oyster Bay; as Police Commis- sioner of New York he went to town daily from here. He was made a Mason in the local lodge. The little public school- house at the Cove was the first school his chil- dren attended.
Sunday mornings he often drove his crowded three-seated open wagon to Christ Church where his family occupied the fourth pew from the door on the south aisle. He was greeted with a band when as Colonel of the (From drawing by Cyril A. Lewis) Rough Riders he returned Roosevelt Memorial Fountain in Roosevelt Bird Sanctuary, Oyster Bay. This Solid Bronze Figure is Nine Feet in Height from war in September, 1898. After serving as Governor he presented his official chair to the Oyster Bay Free Library. His secretary at Albany was Colonel William J. Youngs of Oyster Bay.
As President, the executive offices of his "summer capitol" here were over Moore's grocery store at the northeast corner of South and Main Streets. His clerical force and secret service men, some with their families, were lioused in the village. A brick post office soon replaced the small frame building; new stores and two new banks appeared. The sandy roads were widened and improved.
In August, 1903, the naval squadron was at anchor in the local bay, and in 1905 the submarine Plunger made a visit to local waters. During his activities as President when here he still found time for riding and jumping his horses, shooting on his rifle range, woodchop-
479
THE TOWN OF OYSTER BAY
ping, and cross-country hikes . with his family. Rowing, swimming, no matter how cold the water, camping out overnight, studying bird life were his pastimes.
When it was reported that historic Cooper's Bluff was to be bought by a sand dredging company, summer residents organized to buy it at double the price. It was about this time that T. R., suffering his last illness, asked to be removed from New York to Sagamore Hill where he died January 6, 1919. Since then each year that date has marked a country-wide pilgrimage to his grave in Young's Memorial Cemetery, adjoining which eleven acres of woodland have been made a bird sanctuary by the Colonel's cousin, W. Emlen Roosevelt. The Roosevelt Memorial Park on the salt meadows has been built by the Roosevelt Memorial Association.
Today the town of Oyster Bay, extending across Long Island from sound to sea, is a thriving suburban area, containing a number of attractive villages and a modern city, Glen Cove, whose history appears in a separate chapter.
Within the town is Tackapousha Park, an area owned and developed by the County of Nassau at Seaford. A few miles to the south is world-famous Jones Beach State Park, to which a broad causeway extends over several miles of bay and meadows from Wan- tagh. The Southern and the Northern State Parkways extend through- out the town on either side of the island, while Bethpage State Park, with its famous golf courses, extends over the town's easterly bound- ary near Farmingdale. Clubs and private estates in various parts of the town also maintain golf courses.
In every village are beautiful churches of various denominations. Several modern hospitals have been established in recent years in the town. And, unusual enough, for several consecutive years this town has had no town tax other than those imposed in special districts. The townspeople are served by a number of local weekly newspapers which reflect credit upon their publishers and upon the good taste of the families which read them.
CHAPTER XVI Story of Glen Cove ROBERT R. COLES Historian, City of Glen Cove
N O ONE has ever written the complete story of Glen Cove and it is doubtful if anyone ever will. Such a work demands the talents of both the historian and the poet-a combination that is rarely found. While it is true that names and dates make up the foundation upon which history is written, such items alone do not contain the essence of an interesting story. A third ingredient, belong- ing to this basic pattern of history, is the record of events. But to provide interesting reading such material must be presented so as to inspire a genuine interest in the story that is being told. To success- fully accomplish this the author must include in his account a thousand and one casual items that may be of little interest in themselves but which form the superstructure that adds color and vitality to facts that might otherwise lack interest.
Mingled with the hard, cold facts that form the pattern of Glen Cove's story are traces of legend and tradition that must be included in any account that would impart the spirit of those almost forgotten days of long ago. Believing that this material is of interest to many readers and that it should be perpetuated as the legitimate folklore of the locality, the author proposes to include two or three of these stories, but with due caution to label them as such where they appear.
The history of early Glen Cove, like that of most other settle- ments on north shore Long Island, is closely associated with the history of early New England. Many similar problems confronted the pioneer families of both regions. In some ways, however, there were differences. By the year 1668, when the land including that now occupied by the City of Glen Cove was purchased from the Matine- cock Indians, the Long Island settlers had learned valuable lessons in how to deal with the natives and, as a consequence, they enjoyed friendlier relations than did many of the early New England settlers or the Dutch who had settled at New Amsterdam and on the western end of Long Island. Nor were the men who settled in Glen Cove entering a strange and unknown land. Hempstead had been settled for a quarter of a century and Oyster Bay for some fifteen years. About five years before the settlement of Glen Cove Captain John Underhill, John Feeks, William Frost and others had purchased land from the Indians near the Sound and not far from the original bounds of Glen Cove. And there were other settlements nearby, including one on Cow Neck, now Sands Point. That land on this part of Long Island was highly valued may be judged by the fact that it had been previously claimed by both the Dutch and English and at the time of settlement was disputed by the rival townships of Hempstead and Oyster Bay.
L. I .- I-31
482
LONG ISLAND-NASSAU AND SUFFOLK
The name originally applied by the white settlers was Musketa Cove, spelled in a great variety of ways in the ancient documents. Although usually written as two words these were sometimes combined into onė. In his authoritative work, Indian Place-Names on Long Island, the late William Wallace Tooker tells us that: "It takes its name from the extensive meadows bordering the cove or creek". And the best interpretation given is "place of rushes". In 1834 the name was changed to Glen Cove, as we shall read later in this account.
The leader and chief proprietor in the settlement of Musketa Cove was Joseph Carpenter, an enterprising young man from War- wick, Rhode Island, where he had previously operated a corn mill. He was born in England about 1635, the first child of William and Elizabeth (Arnold) Carpenter, who came to America shortly there- after and eventually settled in Rhode Island. William Carpenter is mentioned in the "Initial Deed" of Roger Williams as one of the proprietors of lands in the plantation of New Providence.
In 1659 Joseph Carpenter married Hannah, the daughter of William Carpenter of Rehoboth, Massachusetts. In his excellent work, The Carpenter Family in America, Daniel H. Carpenter states that Hannah was evidently the second cousin of her husband. She died at Musketa Cove about the year 1673 and Joseph married Ann or Anna, the daughter of Francis and Elizabeth (Luther) Weeks.
According to the Oyster Bay Town Records, Joseph Carpenter had his dwelling and a corn mill at Warwick, Rhode Island, where he apparently remained until 1667. He seems to have made several trips to Long Island in those early years, however, and had friends and acquaintances at Oyster Bay. On these sojourns he must have explored the lands on the west side of Hempstead Harbor and noted favorably their suitability as a site for the erection of a saw mill. In the supplement to the second edition of the Cock-Cocks-Cox Genealogy by George W. Cocks and John Cox, Jr., the former wrote : * Here were present several congenial conditions; a fine stream, opportunity for a short dam, convenient earth supply for making thereof, and easy access to navigable water at high tide. The possible Pond area then greatly exceeded that of today, which is circumscribed by the growth of the delta of Killbuck Brook and the diluvial deposit consequent upon the several branches of the upper dam."
When the above quoted statement was written (1914) the ponds referred to were much more extensive than they are today. In the lapse of over three decades all but one, the so-called "lower pond", have been filled in. Killbuck Brook, which has now disappeared, was then a lively fresh-water stream that flowed south through the valley occupied by School Street and to the rear of a few stores and private dwellings that stood on the west side of that highway. This brook emptied into the middle pond (now entirely gone) near the present site of the Fire House, forming the deltas to which reference is made.
Carpenter immediately recognized the many favorable features of the region for the purpose he had in mind and in 1667 made appli-
483
STORY OF GLEN COVE
cation to Governor Nicolls for permission to purchase from the Indians a certain tract of land at Musketa Cove. Permission was granted and the Constable and Overseers of Hempstead were ordered to assist him in laying out the grounds. This they flatly refused to do, due to a land dispute with the Town of Oyster Bay. Both towns claimed the Musketa Cove land that Carpenter wished to settle. Hempstead based its claim on the strength of the Dutch Patent and purchase from the Indians. And from evidence to be found in the records today it would seem that they had much in their favor. But in March of that year some settlers at Matinecock, including Captain John Underhill, obtained a signed statement from the sachem Tacka- poucha and other Indians to the effect that the Indians never deeded lands at Musketa Cove to Hempstead.
This statement apparently had the desired influence on the Governor for on April 6, 1668 he issued the following order to the Constable and Overseers of Hempstead :
"Whereas, Request was long tyme since made unto me, on the behalfe of Joseph Carpenter, that he might have a certain piece of land on each side of the Ryver at Musketos Cove whare he proposes to settle two or three Plantations and to erect a Saw Mill and a Fulling Mill which may prove advantageous, and be much to the welfare of the inhabitants in Generall within this Govt. with which you have been made acquainted, and themselves (the authorities of the Town of Hempstead) have made some objection against it, yet have given me no reasonable satisfaction therin, and I having just grounds to suspect that the said land thereabout is not yet within your bounds, nor ever was really purchased by you: you having made no improvement thereupon, though you pretend to have laid it out into Lotts for some of the Inhabit- ants of your Towne. These are therefore to require you, that after the sight thereof, with all convenient speed, you cause to be laid out for the use of the said Joseph Carpenter a sufficient quantity of land on each side of the said Cove, fit for the purposes and intents proposed by him and that you make immediate return of your proceedings herin, unto me, which if you neglect, I shall without more ado take care to dispose thereof for the public good as I shall see cause.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.