USA > New York > Queens County > Newtown > The annals of Newtown, in Queens County, New York; containing its history from its first settlement, together with many interesting facts concerning the adjacent towns; > Part 16
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In 1753, Capt. Jacob Blackwell and Joseph Hallett put up a grist-mill upon Sunswick Creek, at Hallett's Cove, which was furnished with "two run of stones and bolting conveni- ences." Whether the bolting apparatus was driven by the mill wheel, or by hand, after the old manner, does not appear. As the dam necessarily obstructed the passage of boats on the creek, a canal (the course of which is still traceable,) was opened some distance above, across to the river, with a gate at either end, for the convenience of George Van Alst, John McDonnaugh, and John Greenoak, to pass and repass with " canoe or periauger." In 1756, Capt. Blackwell became sole proprietor of the above mill, and some years later sold it to
12th, 1849, by virtue of an act of the legislature and a vote of the inhabitants of the town; but a new town-hall and prison has been erected in the village during the present year.
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Hendrick Suydam, who conducted it during the Revolution, and for many years after.1
The year 1753 was attended with a melancholy disaster. On Jan. 27th, three children and a negro of John Parcell's were drowned coming from New-York. But a greater calamity happened in 1754. January of that year was unusually warm and pleasant until Monday the 21st, when about noon a violent gale set in from the north-west, and the temperature changed to piercing cold. Eight persons from Newtown, in a canoe and periauger, had gone a clamming in Jamaica Bay. Night closed in, but they returned not to relieve the anxiety of their families and friends. The next morning the neighbors turned out, but owing to the great quantity of ice, were prevented from mak. ing a thorough search until Friday, when the periauger was discovered driven on an island of sedge. On approaching it, a most afflictive sight was presented; there were the bodies of Samuel Leverich, Amos Roberts, William Sallier, and Thomas Sallier, congealed in death, the steersman sitting in an erect posture at the helm. The three former were men of families. The next Sabbath, the canoe was seen, but because of the ice could not be reached; in which were supposed to be the lifeless bodies of the other persons missing, namely, a servant-man in the employ of John Way, and " three valuable negroes," two
1 JOHN GREENOAK, the ancestor of that family, came to Newtown early in the last century, from England, and married (Mary Lawrence in 1717, who, after Mr. Greenoak's death, became the wife of Joseph Hallett, Esq. in 1728. His son, John Greenoak, located on the farm near Hallett's Cove, now owned by the Messrs. Higgins, carpet manufacturers. He married first, Jemima daugh- ter of Samuel Hallett, secondly, Elizabeth Fish, an aunt of the late Bishop Moore, and thirdly, Rebecca Clement, who survived him. He died in 1792, having four sons, John, Edward, Nathaniel, and Samuel, and three daughters, viz. Mary who married Ludlam Haire, Frances who married Mr. Dotten, and Sarah who married Melancton Lawrence. Samuel and Nathaniel Greenoak both died single. Edward succeeded to the paternal farm, married Sarah daughter of Richard Hallett, and had several children, of whom two survive, namely, David-Titus and Eliza. John Greenoak, last mentioned, acquired an estate at Hallett's Cove, now the residence of H. F. Blackwell. He married June 8th, 1775, Lydia, daughter of Robert Hallett, and died, aged 68 years, Aug. 22d, 1821, his widow surviving nine years. Their children were Eliza- beth, who married Chas. Welling; Sarah, who married Thos. Paynter; John; Phebe, widow of Jeromus I. Rapelyo; Lydia, the wife of Thos. F. Fish, of Newburgh ; Deborah, who died single ; Matilda, married successively to Jas. Suydam and Rev. Wm. Cruickshank ; and Maria, who m. Thos. Lawrence.
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of whom were slaves, one belonging to John Way and the other to John Burroughs.
The existence of slavery in this town, hitherto but incident- ally mentioned, demands a more direct notice. It originated in the scarcity and consequent high price of white labor. Its introduction was coeval with the planting of the town, and ex- tended not only to the negro but to the free-born Indian, brought hither from the South. None seemed to view it as wrong, and slaves were found even in the ministers' families. But while they were bought and sold as a chattel, and though several instances of brutality towards them are recorded, their lives were protected by law, and to the credit of our fathers be it said, they usually treated their slaves with much hu- manity. In infancy they were baptized, and at a suitable age were allowed to marry, the bans being regularly performed by a minister or magistrate, and often solemnized by a very respectable wedding. They were well fed and clothed, and ex- empted from labor on Sundays and holydays. Indeed, in a majority of cases they were taught, both by precept and ex- ample, to love the ways of virtue and religion. At almost every marriage a male or female slave was the immediate por- tion of the young folks on the commencement of house-keep- ing, and thus attachments, which had been formed in childhood, subsisted between master and slave, which tended greatly to favor the latter in his servitude. Under these circumstan- ces slavery had increased. At this date, 1755, according to returns made by the commanders of the two militia districts, Captains Jeromus Rapelje and Jacob Blackwell, the town con- tained 163 slaves above the age of fourteen years-that is, ninety-one males and seventy-two females.
From the foregoing review of the characteristics of this time, we turn to consider that exciting drama, the French and Indian war, a seven years conflict between the Anglo-American colonies and the French of Canada; in whose incidents and conse- quences Newtown was so far involved as to require some account of it to be given. The encroachments of the French upon our northern frontier led, in 1755, to the planning of several expe- ditions for their chastisement. Of two of these I will briefly speak, that against Nova Scotia, and that which under Maj. Gen. William Johnson was designed to reduce Crown Point, a for-
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midable post of the enemy on Lake Champlain. In addition to the regular troops employed in the latter enterprize, this province furnished a regiment of eight hundred men, who were enlisted during the months of May and June in New- York city, " and in the towns adjacent." Hence it is supposed that Newtown contributed her quota toward this regiment, which, in command of Col. William Cockroft, of New-York, proceeded to join Gen. Johnson, who had taken post at the south end of Lake George. On Sept. 8th, Johnson was unex- pectedly attacked by a powerful French army, under Baron Dieskau, but they were repulsed and routed with heavy loss, Dieskau himself being wounded and captured. The New- York regiment acted with distinguished bravery, and lost several men in the engagement. News of the battle of Lake George was received at New-York with applause, and the in- habitants of Queen's county signified their approbation by sending a thousand sheep to the army.
The design against Crown Point was suspended for the present, but the expedition which had proceeded to Nova Scotia, under Winslow and Monckton, was successfully prose- cuted. And of its stern consequences, the citizens of New- town were to have an impressive exhibition. The French in- habitants of that province were a simple, industrious and pious people, unalterably attached to their religion and king. When ceded to Great Britain, in 1713, they were permitted to hold their lands under a simple oath of allegiance, it being agreed that they should be exempt from bearing arms, and be regarded as neutrals. But now not only were they accused of secretly furnishing intelligence and supplies to the hostile French and Indians, but 300 of them actually joined the French forces at Fort Beau-sejour, and those who had not taken up arms, refused to take the oath of allegiance. For this rebellion the British government resolved to inflict a severe chastiscment, namely, to strip them of all their possessions ex- cept their money and household goods, and send them in exile to the English colonies. Accordingly, the forces of Winslow and Monckton seized and imprisoned the inhabitants to the number 1900, and laid waste their country to prevent their subsistence, devoting their farm-houses and villages to the flame. Many fled, terror-stricken, to the woods, either to die
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from starvation, or avoid such a fate by a voluntary return and surrender to their conquerors. At the point of the bayo- net they were embarked in British transports, and turned a last look on their loved but now desolate homes. A hundred and fifty of them arrived at New-York, in May, 1756, to be distributed in the several towns in the province. Among these wretched exiles was one Seres Etben, who with his wife and eight children found an asylum in Newtown. The jus- tices took them in charge, and procured them board in the village, at the inn of Samuel Fish, Jun. better known as " the corner house," where they were sustained for a considerable time, at the public expense, strangers in a strange land, the objects of deep commiseration to the humane inhabitants, and the dejected victims of a cruel state policy. The justices were subsequently authorized to bind out as apprentices such of them as were of proper age.
Thus did Newtown share the results of the opening cam- paign against the French. At the time the neutrals arrived, preparations were making for another, and Captains Williams and Potter were engaged in raising companies in the counties of Suffolk and Queen's. These repaired to the military posts near Lake George, but the season was spent in erecting or strengthening Fort William Henry, at the head of the above lake, and Fort Edward, on the Hudson.
While the rude alarms of war were thus agitating the pro- vince, a destructive tornado swept over Newtown, as if nature vied with man in presenting a picture of utter devastation. It occurred on Saturday, July 4th, at about six o'clock, in the afternoon. Beginning near Hellgate, it ran south, straight across the entire island, some fifteen miles, its path, in breadth, not exceeding eighty rods. It made terrible havoc, destroy- ing nearly everything in its course. The largest oak and hickory trees were torn up by the roots, split into innumera- ble pieces, and many large limbs, of several hundred weight, carried the distance of nearly half a mile from the woods. Several houses were damaged, six barns destroyed, and up- wards of eighty acres of timber ruined. A grindstone near Capt. Richard Langdon's, in Newtown, weighing over a hun- dred and fifty pounds, was removed, with its frame, twelve or fifteen feet, and thrown into his garden. Capt. Langdon's barn
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was shattered to pieces, and even the heavy timbers carried to an incredible distance. Limbs of trees, leaves, shingles, &c. fell in showers, in some places, nearly a mile from the course of the wind; two apple-trees, with a great quantity of earth sticking to their roots, were removed whole upwards of thirty rods. The tornado did not last to exceed half a minute, but the damage done by it was estimated at between two and three thousand pounds. No gale so violent had ever been known in this part of America. It was "a great harricain of wind," writes one of the people of Newtown.
The winter succeeding the fruitless campaign of 1756, a detachment of the king's regulars was quartered at Newtown, and their presence was not agreeable to the people, who were "of divers opinions " as to the mode of billeting them. At the return of the season for military operations, these troops left the town, and probably formed a part of the force that soon after sailed from New-York, on an intended expedition against Louisburg, in the island of Cape Breton. At this date, the fate of war had thrown into our hands a considerable number of French officers, who were permitted to enjoy their liberty, within certain limits, on parole of honor. Several of them arrived at Jamaica, in August, 1757, under conduct of the sheriff of the county, and some were provided with board at Hinchman's tavern, while others were sent to Newtown. whither they and their baggage were conveyed by Benjamin Waters, the constable. The next month, those at Hinchman's were distributed in private families. Nathaniel Moore took two of them, with their baggage, to his residence, in Newtown, and Richard Penfold and William Lawrence received each the same number into their houses. Others continued to come, and in this and the succeeding year the families of Cornelius Berrien, William Sackett, William Sackett, Jun. Joseph Law- rence, Thomas Hallett, Joseph Betts, and Andrew Riker, were the abode of French officers, for a longer or shorter period. Their expenses were borne by the government, which allowed seven shillings a week for their board, embracing simply lodgings and victuals. Some of them whiled away their cap- tivity by hunting the game in which the township abounded, and which was little regarded by the inhabitants.
The year 1758 was signalized by a grand but ill-fated at-
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tempt of Gen. Abercrombie, with sixteen thousand soldiers, to reduce Fort Ticonderoga, on Lake Champlain. Two hundred and ninety men from the several towns in Queen's county, were engaged in this expedition ; in the company of Capt. Richard Hewlett, Ephraim Morse of Newtown, and Dow Ditmars of Jamaica, held commissions as first and second lieu- tenants. Abercrombie attacked the French fortress, on July 8th, but was repulsed with the loss of two thousand killed and wounded, including many of the New-York provincials. The dishonor of this defeat was in a measure retrieved by the suc- cess of Col. Bradstreet, who immediately after was detached with three thousand men, including all the New-York troops, against Fort Frontenac, (now Kingston,) on Lake Ontario. That fortress surrendered to Bradstreet, on Aug. 27th, the achievement being greatly facilitated by the daring and ala- crity of Col. Isaac Corsa,1 of Queen's county, who had been recently promoted, having shown much activity in the three previous campaigns. He volunteered, with his Long Island men, to erect a battery on the night of the 26th, in the midst of the enemy's fire, which opened in the morning, cannonaded the fort, and forced a capitulation. The fortress was demo- lished, and the victors, laden with booty, returned, by way of Oswego, to the Oneida great carrying place, (now Rome,) where part of the New-York troops and others had remained to erect Fort Stanwix. With their aid the works were com- pleted by the end of November, and an important military post established. In this campaign, nearly every fifth man in the province had performed actual service. Owing to their severe duties and hardships very many lost their lives, and the New-York battalions reached their homes greatly broken down and reduced in numbers. The regular troops went into winter quarters; the 44th, or Gen. Abercrombie's regiment, Lieut. Col. Ayres, commandant, at Newtown. This num- bered not far from eight hundred men, and their presence
1 Col. Corsa was small of stature and juvenile in appearance, though an intrepid officer. In the Revolution he was a loyalist, and at its close resided some years at the English Kills, on the estate of his deceased brother-in-law, Walter Franklin, whose sister Sarah he had married. He died at Flushing, in his 80th year, May 3d, 1807, beloved as a man and a Christian. His only child, Maria-Franklin, married John I. Staples, who is yet living.
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causing the inhabitants "heavy charges and unequal burdens," the assembly passed an act authorizing a tax upon the whole of Queen's county, for the relief of this town and Jamaica, where Col. Frazier's Highlanders were quartered.
Among the important victories of 1759, the reduction of Fort Niagara, an ancient stronghold of the French, at the mouth of the Niagara river, deserves our particular notice, because there were there three hundred men from Queen's county, one third of whom were under the command of Ephraim Morse, of Newtown, who received a captain's com- mission, on April 30th of this year. His lieutenants were George Dunbar and Roelof Duryea, and exclusive of these three officers the company consisted of 97 men, the majority of whom were foreigners by birth. In March, the 44th regi- ment left their cantonment in Newtown, and embarked for Albany, whither Capt. Morse and his command followed about the middle of May. From there the whole army took up its march through the western forests, and being joined on the way by Sir William Johnson, with a large body of Indians, arrived at Fort Niagara. They invested the works on all sides, and though an accidental explosion killed Gen. Pri- deaux, the commander-in-chief, Johnson vigorously prose- cuted the siege, and forced the garrison to surrender, on July 25th, first defeating a large French force, which, under Gen. D'Aubrey, had hastened to its relief from the neighboring posts. But the victory was not gained without a severe loss; the colonel of one of the New-York battalions was killed, and the commander of the other wounded, and of the privates in both, nine were killed and forty-two wounded. During the siege, Capt. Morse and his company did important service, working at night in the trenches, standing guard, &c. A few of his men were drafted with those left to garrison the fort, the rest of the provincials returned, and were discharged, on Nov. 10th. About six hundred prisoners were brought to New-York. The recent victories were the theme of general rejoicing, and were publicly celebrated at Jamaica, by the peo- ple of Queen's county, on Tuesday, the 6th of November.
Capt. Morse held a command of a hundred and ten men in the campaign of 1760, and Roelof Duryea and Abraham Rem- sen were his lieutenants. They were present at the surrender
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of Montreal, Sept. 8th of that year, which event completed the conquest of Canada. The next year, a large armament, fitted out at New-York, subdued the French power in the West Indies, and thus terminated the old French war. The favorable issue of this struggle, and the return of fathers, bro- thers, and sons, to the bosom of their families and the pursuits of peace, must have awakened grateful sensations in the do- mestic circles of Newtown. But ah! some there were, tenderly loved, long and fondly expected, who returned not. They went to rest on the battle plains of the north, their requium was the clangor of arms, or the moaning winds that swept those dense and dreary forests.
The ultimate history of the French neutrals, who had been thrown upon the charities of the Newtown people, has not been ascertained. They had continued to experience the pub- lic sympathy ; and at the annual town meeting in 1758, the justices were authorized to " fix the place to build a house for the neutral French." But they drooped under their misfor- tunes, and, within a short period, death made several breaches in their number ; Doctor Thomas Sackett attending them dur- ing sickness. One of them, called " French John," was acci- dentally drowned June 28th, 1761. Of these neutrals in gene- ral, it is recorded that " after they had been dispersed in these provinces, they were watched with a jealous eye, and often suspected during the war of communicating intelligence to their friends. It was found difficult to assimilate them to our population ; their antipathy to our people, our religion, man- ners, and even our language, was unconquerable. Many of them pined away and died, some found opportunity to escape to France, and all who remained continued strangers and ex- iles among us, till death relieved their sufferings."
The effects of the French war was, in some respects, very deleterious upon the habits and morals of this town. Not only did it excite a martial and a restive spirit in the minds of youth, but the influence exerted by the foreign soldiery and the French officers was most pernicious-the former exhibit- ing all the vices that usually prevail in a camp, the latter breathing the poisonous breath of infidelity. Wonder not, then, that horse-racing-a thing hitherto unknown in this town-was introduced, nor that the simple manners of the peo-
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ple should have been much perverted and corrupted. It can- not be questioned, however, that a new spirit of enterprize, and an increased thirst for knowledge, was awakened. An English and classical school was established at Hallett's Cove, under the patronage of the leading inhabitants there. The fol- lowing is the teacher's card, as published in the New-York Mercury of April 26th, 1762:
TO THE PUBLIC.
This is to give notice to all whom it may concern, That William Rudge, late of the city of Gloucester, in Old England, still continues his school at Hallett's Cove, where he teaches Writing in the different hands, Arithmetic in its different branches, the Italian method of Book-keeping by way of Double Entry, Latin, and Greek. Those who choose to favor him may de- pend upon having proper care taken of their children, and he returns thanks to those who have already obliged him. The school is healthy and pleasantly situated, and at a very convenient distance from New-York, from whence there is an opportunity of sending letters and parcels, and of having remit- tances almost every day by the pettiaugers. Letters will be duly answered, directed to the said William Rudge, at Hallett's Cove.
We, who have subscribed our names, being willing to continue the school- master, as we have hitherto found him a man of close application, sobriety, and capable of his office, are ready to take in boarders at £18 per annum.
JACOB BLACKWELL, JOHN GREENOAK, RICHARD BERRIEN,
JACOB HALLETT, JUN.
SAMUEL HALLETT, JUN. RICHARD PENFOLD,
THOMAS HALLETT,
WILLIAM HALLETT, WILLIAM HALLETT,
JACOB HALLETT,
RICHARD HALLETT, JOHN McDONNAUGH.
JACOB RAPELJE,
The yet unsettled question of boundary between the towns of Newtown and Bushwick now excited attention. While the limits of the said townships were controverted and unsettled, no private suit, involving the right to property located within the disputed tract, could be determined by a course of law in the ordinary courts of justice. Mainly upon this considera- tion, and through the influence of Bushwick, a bill was pre- sented to the assembly on Sept. 27th, 1764, to authorize cer- tain gentlemen, named therein, to agree upon and run out the division line of King's and Queen's county, so far as related to the townships of Bushwick and Newtown. A copy of the bill was sent to Philip Edsall, Esq. clerk of Newtown, who was di- rected to present the objections to its passage, if any existed. Mr. Edsall soon after acquainted the assembly that he had
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many reasons to offer against the bill, and requested time to prepare them. This was given, and he again appeared in the assembly chamber on the 9th of October, with the documents deemed necessary to vindicate his assertion and the rights of his town. Deputies from Bushwick were also there. The two were widely at issue, but finally agreed to defer the matter till the next session of the assembly. Mr. Edsall, on his return, consulted with his colleague in the magistracy, Thomas Betts, Esq. and the two called the town together October 16th, " to fall upon measures to defend themselves against the unreason- able pretences of the people of Bushwick." A board of trus- tees was appointed to defend the town, consisting of Nathaniel Fish, Samuel Fish, Jun. James Way, Philip Edsall, Joseph Lawrence, and James Culver.
The subject was resumed in the assembly during the fall of 1765, and again postponed. On Dec. 23d, 1767, Abraham Schenk, Esq. a member from King's county, who had presented the former bill, introduced another of similar import, which, after amendment, became a law on Jan. 13th, 1768. It was entitled, " An Act, authorizing certain persons therein named, to settle the line of division between the counties of King's and Queen's, as far as the townships of Bushwick and Newtown extend." The commissioners specified were the Hon. John Watts, William Nicoll, and William Nicoll, Jr. Esqrs. who were fully empowered to summon the parties in controversy before them, examine their evidences, and ascertain, agree upon, and run out the said division line, within a year from the passage of the bill, and thence within six months to cause a survey thereof to be recorded in the secretary's office; and which should for ever thereafter be deemed and taken as the division line between the said two towns, and the counties in which they were respectively located; provided, moreover, that nothing contained in this act should be construed to affect any person's title, any more than if the said act had never passed.
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