USA > New York > Suffolk County > Southampton > The early history of Southampton, L. I., New York : with genealogies > Part 8
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" Oct. 29, 1645. Ordered by Generall Court that there shall be a cessation of taking armes to the Meeting House on the Lord's day from Nov. 1st to the first of March ensuing.
" Dec. 28, 1669. Whereas there was a contest in the towne about a piece of ground to set the meeting house upon, now at a towne meeting it is staked out for that purpose lying upon the front of Isake Willman's home lot. (Liber A, No. 2, p. 51.)
" Aug. 4, 1681. At a Town meeting the build- ing of the galleries of the church was postponed till another year."
The salary of the ministers in early times was
132
HISTORY OF SOUTHAMPTON.
raised by a pro rata tax as appears by the following order :
" At a towne meeting held Feb. 17, 1687, it is ordered and Concluded by the generall voate of the towne, that if any pson shall faile to pay his Re- spective Rates to Mr. Whiteing of his yearly main- tenance at or before the first of Aprill next ensuing after the said Rates shall become Due that then the Constable for the time being shall take by distress the said proportions for the year past, of the sev- erale persons so Defective for the use of the said Mr. Whiteing which is to be at ye proper cost and Charge of those soe behind in their rates.
THE PARSONAGE.
" Whereas ye towne of Southampton by unani- mous consent did set aparte a Certain parcell of Land lying in ye ox pasture unto ye quantity of Thirty acres and alsoe purchased of John Cooper a house lott of three acres more or less Cituate or ly- ing against ye meeting house and Builte a house thereon which said house and Land is now By Joint Consente of ye towne put into ye possession of Mr. John Harriman upon termes ye towne and he hath agreed on which said house and Lands ware so set apparte Dovoted or Dedicated by ye towne to be and Remaine for ever to ye use of ye ministry of this towne that so from time to time for ever here after ye said house and Lands may all ways be in Redynes for ye Entertainmente and use of such minister or ministers as being called By ye towne shall Come and perform ye work of ye ministrie in
133
CHURCH EDIFICES.
this place or plantation and for as much as ye said Lands were with much Difficulty spared and pro- cured By ye towne for ye said use and if ye towne should Be frustrate of theire said end By ye said House and Land Being hereafter Disposed of other- wise it is not to be Conceved in ye eye of reason that theire should probably be found in this towne an other suply for the ministry that would be ac- ceptable to or convenient for any minister that should come to Inhabite and officuate here, wee ye Inhabitants of this said towne of Southampton doe thirefore heare by Declaire order unanimously agree and vltimately Conclude that ye said house and Lands sequestered or set apparte as afforesaid shall according to ye Reall Intente of ye towne Be and Remaine from time to time and for ever to ye use of ye ministry of our said Towne as ye providence of God shall hereafter dispose ministers of ye word successively unto us and noe Inhabitante of this place shall ever at any time assume power to Dis- pose of ye said house or Lands or any parte there off from ye said use of ye ministry without ye full Consente of every Inhabitant of ye towne that then shall be surviving and this present agreemente and Instrumente to be Binding and of full fource to us our heirs and successors for ever in witness whereof we have heare unto set our hands this 12 day of Aprill Anno Domini 1675.
"Thomas Halsey, John Cooper, Arthur Howell, James Herrick," (and 46 others.)
The town set apart also land in Sagg for the par- sonage, when Rev. Mr. Ebenezer White was called
134
HISTORY OF SOUTHAMPTON.
as the first minister of the Bridge Hampton parish. Some years later in March 20, 1712 (or 13,) the following explicit order was promulged :
"Wee, the layers out that are hereunto sub- scribed do make our return of Laying out the twenty Acres of Land granted by the town to Bridge Hampton for the use of a presbyterian ministry and noe other."
By this it appears the people at Southampton called themselves Presbyterians, and even from the beginning they had ruling elders in the church as witness, Liber A, No. 1, p. 39, where John Cooper is named and styled as such in 1644.
The Presbyterian Quarterly of Jan. 1859, as cited by Dr. Stiles in his History of Ancient Windsor, says on this point :
" As to the constitution of the individual church in the early history of New England, it was Pres- byterian rather than Congregational. This was the case with the mother Church of Leyden, of which Robinson was Pastor, and Brewster a Ruling Elder. They seem to have borrowed their ideas of the proper and scriptural organization of an individual church, with scarce a modification from the writings of Calvin. In the French Reformed Church, as is well known, the principles of the Genevese Reformer were more perfectly and constantly carried out than in Geneva itself, and it is to the French Reformed Churches that the Leyden Church refers as the pat- tern from which they had drawn. In response to certain honorable members of his Majesty's Privy Council, Robinson and Brewster reply under their
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135
CHURCH EDIFICES.
own signatures to the effect that 'touching the ec- clesiastical ministry, namely, of pastors for teaching, elders for ruling, and deacons for distributing the Church contribution, as also for two sacraments, etc., we do wholly and in all points agree with the French Reformed Churches, according to their pub- lic confession of faith.' They add that some small differences were to be found in their practice, but such only as were ' in some accidental circumstances' and 'not at all in the substance of the things' Yet in specifying these differences, they say, 'We choose none for governing elders, but such as are apt to teach.''Their elders are annual, etc., ours perpet- ual.' 'Our elders administer their office publicly, theirs more privately.' These are the only matters of difference between themselves and the French Reformed Churches, to which they refer in connec- tion with the form of government or the constitu- tion of the individual church. In ac- cordance with such views the Leyden Church was constituted. They were of course reflected in the Constitution of the Plymouth Church in this coun- try. Bailie says, the settlers did 'agree to model themselves (i. e., the people of Hampton, Mass.,) after Mr. Robinson's pattern,' and Cotton speaks of ‘ the Plymouth Church helping the first comers in their theory, by hearing and discovering their practice at Plymouth.' The Cam- bridge Platform (1648) thus recognizes the Presby- terian Constitution of the Church. It says : 'Of elders some attend chiefly to the ministry of the Word, as the pastors and teachers ; others attend
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HISTORY OF SOUTHAMPTON.
especially unto rule, who are therefore called ruling elders.' Again ; 'The ruling elder's office is dis- tinct from the office of pastor and teacher.' His ' work is, to join with the pastor in those acts of spiritual rule which are distinct from the ministry of the Word and Sacraments.' Among the speci -. fied duties, are admission of members ; convening the church ; 'preparing matters in private' for more speedy dispatch ' etc. In accord- ance with these principles the greater part of the early New England churches were established. Of the importance of the eldership, Hooker speaks in very emphatic language : 'The elders must have a Church within a Church, if they would preserve the peace of the Church. Nor would he allow questions to be discussed before the whole body, till the proper course had been resolved upon in the Presbytery or session of the elders.'"
MANNER OF SEATING PEOPLE IN THE CHURCH OF BRIDGE HAMPTON.
About sixty years ago the pews of the church were free, but occupied, according to this regulation. Men called Assessors, were appointed to seat the people in rank of age. The oldest and most ven- erable in the congregation were seated in the front seats-next the less old, and so on till all the seats below were occupied. In the galleries by common consent, a similar custom prevailed. The young men held the front and the boys were behind them diminishing in age as they approached the walls. Thus a lad beginning with the back seat next to the wall would, if he lived to old age, by gradual pro-
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CHURCH EDIFICES.
motion, have worked his way through the whole church, sitting in each rank successively as death thinned the ranks before him. The same regulation obtained with the female part of the congregation. A wife always sat in a seat of equal rank with her husband, but always on her side of the house. It was not till pews were annually rented that the sexes were allowed to be seated together in the same seats.
In the Southampton church the old men sat in side seats on each side of the pulpit with the small boys in their front. It was not uncommon for an unlucky boy at play to be arrested by a vigorous box of the ear by one of the old men behind him.
" At a Towne meeting November the 5 1679 It is ordered that Mr. Justice Topping with the Consta- ble and Overseers attended by Henry Pierson shall appoynt all the Inhabitants of this Towne there proper and distinct places in the meeting house on the Lord's day to prevent disorder."
Now-a-days this would be the best means to cre- ate it.
The order of seating has not been handed down, yet something is known. The pulpit was very high, supported by a shaft and projected in front, leaving directly under it a space large enough for a pew called the deacons' seat, in which these officers were seated in dignity, overlooking the congregation. Directly in front of them was the communion table, between which, and the congregation, sat the magis- trates.
18
138
HISTORY OF SOUTHAMPTON.
The clock in the church was made in New Haven about the year 1765.
CHURCH BELLS.
The following correspondence in relation to the first two bells from the Records is given as a curiosity :
EAST HAMPTON July ye 25th 1693.
Received then one bord the good shipe friends Adventure of Mathew Howell a small Church Bell waighing about sixty five pound. By order and for the proper accompt and Risque of the Town of Southampton aforsaid which I promise to deliver to Mr Walter Mico marcht In London he paying for fraight the danger of ye Seas and winds only ex- cepted having given two Recepts of this tenure and deate the one being accomplished the other is voyed. I say Received p mee.
CYPRIAN SOUTHALK.
LONDON, Feb. 25, 1693-4.
MR. MATTHEW HOWELL,-
Sir according to your Desire I have caused a New Bell to be cast & itt proues of a good sound but when I came to enter itt I found itt to be prohipetted uth I could not ship uthout ye Lord Tresurers uarratt uch uil be chargeable. There is now a Bill in the house of Parlamett for ye free Exporteing of Bells & I beleave itt uill be enacted if not I will find a uaye to hang itt in Som Ship & send it you that way. *
WALTER MICO.
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CHURCH EDIFICES.
LONDON, May 19, 1694. Mr. Walter Mico writes to Matthew Howell that according to his order of July 25, 1693 for a new bell, he had one cast and ready to ship in Nov 1693 but could not, it being prohibited by law. But an act for exportation of bells having since passed, he shipped it on that day May 19, 1694 on board the European, John Foy Master. The bell weighed 173 lbs and the bill was as follows :
Bell weighing 173 lbs 14d per lb £10 01 10
Clapper & Screw 11 lbs 7d per lb 00 06 05
All other charges 01 04 11
11 13 02
Credit for old bell 54 lbs 9d per lb 02 08 00
09 05 02
The bell was hung in the church in 1695. It was carted from "Northwest" near E. Hampton, by Samuel Cooper.
The bell in the old church in 1843 weighed be- tween 300 and 400 lbs.
In 1843 a bell was purchased for the new church, but broke within two years, and another was then obtained weighing about 800 lbs.
A Mr. Boyer came over from Havre, in France, with or after Elias Pelletreau, and lived in South- ampton. He was a merchant, and boarded with the Palletreau family in the year 1729, he had made and presented to the church two heavy communion cups of silver with the simple inscription engraved upon them, "S. church, 1729." Ten years later two
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HISTORY OF SOUTHAMPTON.
others were made with the following inscriptions : on one, "Sought Hampton Church ;" on the other, " For the church of Sought hamton, 6 Decembr 1739." The inscription on the tombstone of Mr. Boyer in the Northend burying ground, is as fol- lows : "Here lyes ye body of Mr Stephen | Bowyer of Arver in France who | came to this place in ye year 1686 | Departed this life Oct ye 24 | 1780 aged 73 years."
Brief and simple as this epitaph is, it evidently contains three mistakes ; 1st, no Frenchman could have written his name Bowyer-we must strike out the w as a corruption of his English friends. 2dly, doubtless his residence in France was in Havre, not Arver, and thirdly, if he died in 1780, aged 73, he could hardly have come to this place in 1686. It is possible his father, of whom we know nothing, emigrated with Mr. Pelletreau from France, and the son Stephen followed Francis, the son of Elias Pel- letreau, from New York City to Southampton.
" 1645. Ordered by General Court that each family by turns shall sweep out the Meeting House every week, and also from the 1st October to 15th April, make a fire in it on Sabbath morning. A failure to do this to be fined 2s and 6 pence.
" May 14, 1649. It is ordered by Generall Court that the inhabitants of this towne being by the clarke of the band divided into two parts shall ac- cordinge to the sayd Clark's appoyntment, bring their armes to the Meeting House every Lord's day, that is to say, the one half the one Sabbath, & the other half the other next after & yt every man shall be provided with 4 charges of powder & shot or
141
SCHOOLS.
balles, hee that fayleth after due warning is to pay to the clarke six pence for every fault accordinge to the former order 3rd July 1648."
SCHOOLS.
From the earliest period of the settlement to this day, a deep interest has always been felt in sustain- ing the public schools. The character of the origin- al settlers itself secured this in their generation, and their descendants appreciating the importance of education, have always sustained the teacher. Some of the earliest records discovered, together with others, are here presented.
" 1663, Sept. 22. Jonas Holdsworth is engaged to keep school for two years at 35 lbs. per year.
" 1664, Sept. 5. Ordered to build a school house 20 feet long and 15 feet wide before winter at the town's charge.
"1794. John Mowbray engages to teach six months from the 1st of May to the 1st of Novem- ber, for 12 shillings per 'scholler,' teaching from 8 o'clock till eleven in the morning and from one o'clock till five in the afternoon."
The school house in use for the latter half of the eighteenth century, and even later, was a large one story building with a wide, open fireplace in each end. Capacious as the fire places were in the cold winter days, they were piled high with hickory logs, and under the genial influences thus diffused, our grandfathers and grandmothers played, or studied the old school books that now lie dusty and mouse- eaten in strange nooks and corners, in ancient houses with other garret trumpery.
142
HISTORY OF SOUTHAMPTON.
About the year 1786, the people began to agitate the question of building an Academy here, as one was much needed for all the surrounding country. At that time there was not a high school on the Is- land, at which boys could be fitted for college, and they were comparatively few in New England. To undertake this enterprise so soon after the close of the war, when this town like the whole country had been drained of its resources, certainly shows a high appreciation of the importance of learning. But the undertaking was thwarted by a spirit of rivalry in the sister town of East Hampton, and by the superior enterprise of Dr. Buel, who, learning the purposes of the Southampton people, raised his sub- scriptions, and promptly obtained a charter from the State Legislature for the Clinton Academy. This was in 1787. Another Academy was chartered on the same day, but judging from the manner in which the East Hampton Enterprise sped, Clinton Academy must have been the first incorporated, and so entitled to the honor it has often claimed, of being the first incorporated Academy in the State of New York.
However, the growth of the town at last made it necessary to erect a suitable building for a high school, and in the year 1831, such a one was erect- ed, and for the most has met with a fair degree of prosperity. M Since its erection it has exercised a marked and most beneficial influence on the com- munity.
This Academy met with a remarkable accident in the summer of 1853. A thunderstorm was pass- ing over the village, and a heavy bolt of lightning
SCHOOLS. . 143
struck it about seven o'clock in the morning. The charge divided, part passing down the chimney at one end, and on the steeple at the other. The chimney rested on two tough white oak posts on the ground floor ; one of these posts was riven and split into whips, which were scattered over the room. The charge which struck the steeple also divided- part passing directly downwards, tumbling the greater part of the steeple to the ground, tearing holes in the floors of the second and first stories and thence passing into the cellar-the other part of the charge running down the roof, hurled shingles at least twelve rods, and pushed off by main force at the north-east corner, the upper portion of the north side of the building for a little space. In the upper room now called the Academy Hall, nearly all the panes of glass in the windows were burst outwards by the rarified and expanded air.
Since its establishment eleven young men of the village have received their preparatory course within its walls, ten of whom graduated at various colleges, and one other had not yet finished his collegiate course. Of this number five became ministers of the gospel, one of whom, the Rev. Samuel Huntting, died while pastor of the Presbyterian church at East Hampton.
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CHAPTER VIII.
VARIOUS LOCALITIES-RESIDENCES OF SET-
TLERS-CHANGES OF RESIDENCE-RESI- DENCES IN 1865.
IT is to be lamented that the language of the ab- origines, the Shinnecock tribe of Indians, passed away and was forgotten before some one arose to perpetuate it on record. However, it is perpetuated in the names of various localities, though their sig- nification is lost. Other local names on the town records are now no longer known, and still others exist whose origin is obscure. Some changes too in the laying out of streets and the configuration and state of the land have taken place, since the first settlers erected their houses in the forest. The ocean has made considerable encroachments upon the land during this period, variously estimated from forty to eighty rods. The town pond extended as a creek and swamp, at least as far as Huntting's lane. A body of water large enough to be called a pond, (Frog Pond) was situated south of the village, where now there is only dry land. It was doubtless in still remoter antiquity, like the succession of ponds south of the town, an arm of a large bay extending along the coast, and separated from the ocean by a range of sand hills. One lane or street has been
-
145
VARIOUS LOCALITIES.
opened, and another closed-the former Job's lane, or the Academy lane, which was originally a portion of the Sayre homestead, and was given to the town · for a public highway by Job Sayre, the son or grand- son of Thomas Sayre, the first settler of that name. The only way of reaching the fertile land of the "Necks" was originally around the corner opposite the house where Mr. Age Halsey now resides ; there very soon after the settlement, Huntting's lane was laid out as a highway, and finally the grant of Job Sayre succeeded for the same purpose. The first settlers seem to have occupied chiefly the land in the south part of the village, in order to place the barrier of a pond between them and the Indians.
The Indian name of the Island was Paumanake, and of the town was Agawam, said to signify abun- dance of shells : that is of the shells of which their wampum was made. This name Agawam has been given to another beautiful pond of water lying in the woods between the village and North Sea, east of the highway. Another sheet of water west of the same highway is now known as Lake Minnesunk, (or Queen of the Waters.)
Mill Neck was the local name of a tract of land about two miles eastward of the village, now known as Water mill.
Eastward of this was a strong settlement from about 1660, and later, called Sagabonach, and now known by the name of Sagg.
In some of the public documents of the town, we notice Shelter Island mentioned under the name of Farret's Island. 19
146
HISTORY OF SOUTHAMPTON.
The Indian name of Canoe Place is variously spelled as Niamuck and Niamug.
Pondquogue appears to be a corruption of the original Indian appellation Paugonquague, and Quaquanantuck is now abbreviated and known as Quogue.
GREAT AND LITTLE PLAINS.
These names frequently appear on the early records, and as they are now no longer known as distinctive names of any locality, it may be worth while to describe the tracts of land so denominated by our ancestors. The Great Plains or the General Field, as it was also sometimes called, were bounded on the North by Captain's neck lane, East by the town pond, south by the beach, and west by Tay- lor's creek ; thus it included First, Cooper's, Hal- sey's, and Captain's necks.
The Little Plains were bounded north by Frog pond lane, south by the beach, east by old town pond, and west by the town pond. The following report of the execution of an order of the General Court will throw light on this matter, while for other reasons it contains items of interest. It is to be re- membered that some of the land therein mentioned now lies doubtless outside of the breakers in the Atlantic ocean.
According to an order established by the General Court, held in Southampton upon the 5th of March, A. D. 1651, the little plain was "layed forth in di- visions for the inhabitants of the said town by Richard Odell appointed for that duty, who layed forth the said land in three several dividences, one
147
VARIOUS LOCALITIES.
of every three making two acres, which two acres lying in the three dividences aforesaid was layed out to an hundred and fifty pound' lott, the said divi- dences being drawn by the Inhabitants by lottery upon the 20th day of March, 1651.
" The first dividence bounds with his front upon the pond at the West end of the said plain, only a cart way being left between the said front and the pond, the rear being butted by the side of the first lott of the said dividence along the west of the plain, every lot of the said first dividence facing ac- cording to the mark on the stakes to Mr. Smith's home lot being Northward of the said plain-half an acre in this dividence was layed to every hundred and fifty pound Lott."
Lb No No
Mr. John Gosmer, 400 17 32 Mr. Rob't Fordham, 300 3 4 Mr. Edward Howell, 350 11 19 and to have a 50 out of his son Edward's lot
Edward Howell, 100 38
William Rogers, 150 16
Capt Thos Topping, 300 18 27
Jonas Wood, 150 28
Joshua Barnes, 150 2
Ellis Cook, 100 26
Mr. J. Stanbrough, 150 20
John White, 150 15
Thomas Peale, 100 13
John Howell. 200 24
and a fifty from Isaac Willman.
Henry Pierson, 150 8
Thomas Halsey, 300 14 23
Isaac Willman,
100 10
Lb No No
Robert Merrin,
Wm. Browne, 150 21
Thomas Hildreth, 100 37 John Cooper, Sen., 150 9
Richard Post, 100 40
Thomas Cooper, 150 12 Mr. Thirston Rainer, 200 33 Joseph Rainer, 100 5
Thomas Burnett, 100 30 Richard Barrett, 150 22 Mr. Edward Joanes, 150 34
Mr. Richard Odell, 150 41
Richard Mills, 100 29
Thomas Sayre,
200 25
a fifty out of Richard Mills' lot.
John Jessup, 100 39 Mr. Smith, (Richard) 150 36 Thomas Goldsmith, 100 21 John Loom, 100 6
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HISTORY OF SOUTHAMPTON.
OX PASTURE.
This was in two divisions, north and south, and must have been so designated rather later than the great and little plains, since the southern division of the ox pasture trenched upon the northern limits of the great field. The south division lay between Cooper's and Halsey's neck lanes on the south, and Captain's neck lane on the north. The north di- vision lay between Captain's neck lane on the south, and the main highway to Shinnecock on the north -out of which tract, however, must be excluded thirty acres of parsonage land. The following order will add some light on this point, while it shows also that the eastern boundary of the ox pasture, both north and south divisions, was the town pond.
It was ordered " to erect a five rail fence to begin at a branch or creek of water belonging to Shinne- cock bay, which divides the land of Major John Howell and Isaac Halsey Sr., at the west end of said plains, (Great) and so to run said fence East- ward on the North side of the highway which di- vides the North and South division commonly known by the name of the Ox pasture division, until it comes to range with the west line of ye parsonage land, and then to turn Northward to the So. West corner thereof, and thence on Eastward upon the South line of both pieces of said parsonage land unto the town pond, which fence is to be the north bound of said general field and east bounded by the said pond."
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