HISTORY OF QUEENS COUNTY

with illustrations, Portraits & Sketches of Prominent Families and Individuals.

New York: W.W. Munsell & Co.; 1882.
pp. 409-468.





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NORTH HEMPSTEAD
The town of North Hempstead comprises the entire northern portion of the
original town of Hempstead. It is bounded on the north by Long Island Sound, 
on the east by Oyster Bay, on the south by Hempstead, and on the west by 
Flushing, and was a part of what was formerly known as the North Riding 
of Yorkshire.

The town is pretty equally divided by the "ridge of hills", a chain of miniature 
mountains which, commencing at Flatbush and Brooklyn, extends eastwardly into 
Suffolk county. In the reflecting mind the peculiar form of this ridge of hills 
awakens the inquiry whether it and the whole of Long Island were riot in the 
long past ages, a great sand beach gradually washed up by the ocean, and which 
by successive changes accumulations, decay of weeds, leaves and vegetable matter, 
was, in the process of ages, so fertilized as to prepare it for the use of man, 
and ultimately to become what it now is, a highly productive soil.

The Harbor Hill in this town is the most elevated point on Long Island. Its
height was measured in July 1816 by Dr. Mitchell and Captain Patridge by the
barometer, and was found to be 319 feet above tide water; but a later and
probably more accurate measurement, by the water commissioners of Williamsburgh,
made its height 380 feet. It is covered with a dense forest of thrifty growth.
At its summit Hon. Stephen Taber has erected an observatory. This elevated spot
is much frequented by excursionists and picnic parties in the summer season.
From its summit is obtained a grand birds-eye view of Long Island, of the State
of Connecticut and of the Atlantic Ocean. In a clear day the city of New York,
its great suspension bridge and towers, and many of its prominent buildings may
be seen by the naked eye.

GEOLOGICAL PHENOMENA.
About the year 1820 one Henry Demilt dug a well, preparatory to erecting a
dwelling house, near the middle of Cow Neck, and at the depth of about seventy
feet the well diggers came to a bed of clam shells and oyster shells which were
found there imbedded in and intermingled with dark mud of a saltish taste and of
the same odor as the mud now found at the salt marshes by the seashore. Many
persons from the neighborhood and some scientific men visited the place and
examined this remarkable phenomenon. By further digging water was reached, but
it was found brackish and unfit for use; thereupon the contemplated building was
abandoned, the well filled up and no further attempts were made to procure good
water there. The locality was a mile distant from the present salt water. A
similar indication is related in the digging of another well, at a much greater
depth, in the southwestern part of the town. In the latter case, however, good
water was reached after penetrating a great depth below the shell and sea mud strata.

On August 24th 1787 a large and strangely appearing bone, apparently of some
extinct fish or animal, was found by workmen excavating at Great Neck, which
attracted much attention and differing opinions from scientific men. The learned
Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell, then regarded as an eminent naturalist and an authority,
pronounced it to be the jaw-bone of a sea cow, but how it came in such a place,
on what is now dry land, he could not explain.

The celebrated "Kidd’s Rock," just east of Sands Point, stands
upon the shore of a small island at the northeasterly extremity of Cow Neck.
This is a very large boulder, equivalent to a cube of about 2,000 feet. Under it
tradition says the notorious Captain Kidd (who was hung in London in 1701 for
piracy) concealed vast amounts of the treasures accumulated by his numerous
piracies. This immense rock has been on all sides dug around, undermined,
excavated, blasted, and wrought with various charms and incantations by
superstitious or visionary persons, who have here repeatedly searched for Kidd’s
treasures, but all in vain. There is a similar large boulder, called Millstone
Rock, at Manhasset, a quarter of a mile southeasterly from the Friends’
meeting house, which contains 2,400 cubic feet as measured by Dr. Mitchell and
Captain Patridge; and there formerly was still another, of similar size, on the
Haydock property near the head of Cow Bay. But this latter has disappeared,
having been blasted and broken up into fencing stone. Boulders of so great a
size are an anomaly on Long Island.

ADAPTATIONS OF THE SOIL.
Much of that large portion of the present town of North Hempstead situated
south of the ridge of hills was at the Revolutionary war and for a long
time after, lying as open plains, used as commons by the townspeople for
pasturing their sheep and cattle, and was deemed almost valueless for tillage.
But in process of time small portions were inclosed and appropriated-  first by
squatters, then larger portions by regular farmers- until finally, within the
last sixty years, the greater part of it was taken up, fenced, inclosed and
cultivated; and with sufficient manuring is found capable of producing abundant
crops. Thus nearly all the land formerly called "the Plains"
(anciently known as the "Salisbury Plains") is now in a high state of
cultivation, and mostly occupied by thrifty, wealthy farmers.

On March 25th 1830 the Legislature authorized the town to sell these common
lands or "plains"; and thereupon the town sold or released its title
to them to the persons who had from time to time respectively enclosed and
cultivated portions of them, for the trifling sum of fifty cents per acre. The
southerly part of these plains lay adjoining the extensive tract more recently
purchased of the town of Hempstead by the late A.T. Stewart, and on which Garden
City is built.

The land lying north of the ridge of hills, embracing Great Neck and Cow
Neck, was always deemed the most fertile. Great Neck was earliest, and ever
since has been, occupied by prosperous and for the most part wealthy farmers.
The practice of raising and selling hay for the New York market was commenced
here about 1818-20 and soon became a profitable business, which has extended to
and is yet continued largely in all parts of the town.

The soil of this town (emphatically of the northern portion) is also
specially adapted to the growth of all the fruit trees. There were, and yet are,
here many fine orchards, from which the former owners derived large annual
returns, some of them selling a thousand barrels or more in fruitful seasons.
Among those farmers who, sixty or seventy years ago, paid great attention to the
culture of apple orchards, some of which yet continue productive, may be
mentioned Elijah Allen, of Great Neck, Joseph Onderdonk, of Cow Neck, and
Benjamin Platt, of Herricks, all of whom planted and cultivated very extensive
orchards. Of those who yet take pride in orchards and fine fruits generally,
Elbert H. Bogart, residing at the easterly side of Cow Neck, should be
mentioned. Isaac Hicks & Sons, of Westbury, have an extensive commercial
nursery for the cultivation and sale of choice fruit and ornamental trees. 
There are some other persons about Westbury, Manhasset and the two Necks who 
yet manifest some interest in the culture of choice fruits and ornamental trees 
as well.

HARBORS, LIGHT-HOUSES AND NAVIGATION.
The town is indented with bays and harbors, which are navigated by sloops of
from 30 to 50 tons. Hempstead Harbor, on the east side, separates this town from
Oyster Bay, as respects the water-line north of or below the "Barrow
Beach." This beach extends for about a mile easterly from the east side of
Cow Neck, nearly across the harbor to Glenwood, yet leaving a spacious opening
called "the Gut," through which sloops and steamboats of large size
pass and repass at all times of the tide.

This harbor or bay on either side furnishes numerous fine building sites,
some of which are occupied by elegant mansions.

Cow Bay (anciently known as Schout’s and also as Howe’s Bay), on the west
side of Cow Neck, separating it from Great Neck, furnishes a still larger number
of beautiful sites, on some of which tasteful dwellings are erected. The west
side of Great Neck, facing Long Island Sound, has also many beautiful water
fronts. Costly residences have been erected along nearly all these shores within
recent years, chiefly since the opening of the North Hempstead turnpike, giving
direct communication from Roslyn and Manhasset to New York via Flushing.

At the northern extremity of Cow Neck, on a point jutting far into Long
Island Sound, the United States government erected the Sands Point light-house
in 1809. Five acres of land there were bought of Benjamin Hewlett, January 15th
1808, upon which the light-house was built by Captain Noah Mason, who at its
completion was appointed its keeper and continued as such until his death, in
1841. Adjoining the light-house grounds a large hotel, patronized by visitors
from New York, has been built, furnishing grand views of Long Island Sound and
the opposite shores of Westchester county and the State of Connecticut as far as
the eye can reach. There are also several beautiful private residences in this
vicinity, occupied by retired wealthy persons. Another lighthouse half a mile
northerly was about 40 years afterward erected on the "Execution
Rocks," a dangerous reef directly in the track of vessels navigating Long
Island Sound. Both these light-houses are attended by the same keeper. A naval
battle on a small scale came off here September 10th 1814, during our last war
with England, between the British frigate "Acosta" and thirty American gunboats.

The bays and harbors bounding the northerly shores of the town furnish good
facilities for navigation, by steam or sailing vessels. The first attempt to
introduce steam navigation was made about 1837, when by neighborhood
subscriptions the steamboat "Statesman" was purchased, and ran daily
to New York from a newly constructed dock at Port Washington. But after running
a year or two and sinking most of the capital embarked therein the enterprise
was abandoned. A steamboat has since run from Port Washington, at irregular
intervals. More recently spacious steamboat wharves have been constructed at
Great Neck, Sands Point, Glen Cove, Sea Cliff, and Roslyn. Steamboats leave
Roslyn in the morning and return at evening, stopping at each of these places on
the outward and the inward trips. From all these latter landings regular daily
steamboat communication with New York may now be deemed permanently established.
The North Hempstead and Flushing turnpike, seconded by the permanent
establishment of steamboats, and followed by the yet incomplete railroad
facilities, have induced many strangers to become permanent residents here.

ROADS.
Formerly the entire northern portion of the town had none but a circuitous
communication with New York. Residents of that part of the town were compelled
to travel by the roundabout way of Jamaica to reach the metropolis. But about
1840, by the exertions of a few public spirited individuals, a turnpike was
constructed giving a direct route from Roslyn by way of Manhasset, Great Neck,
Little Neck, and Bay Side to Flushing, and thence to New York. Subsequently this
turnpike was extended from Roslyn to East Norwich and thence finally to Cold
Spring. This has given a great impetus to market gardening and the introduction
of visitors and settlers from New York and elsewhere, and largely promoted the
productive capacity and growth of population over the entire northern portion of
North Hempstead. The few individuals by whose exertions and money the turnpike
was constructed have lost most of their advances; but the great community has
been vastly benefited by their expenditure.

The Jericho turnpike, extending through the southerly side of this town, was
constructed many years before. By its construction improved traveling facilities
were furnished from Jericho and the southerly part of North Hempstead to Jamaica
and Brooklyn. The public highways of the town are generally in fine condition.

The Long Island Railroad with its Glen Cove branch penetrates the town
through its southerly and easterly parts. The North Shore Railroad, completed
only from Flushing to Great Neck, penetrates but a mile or so, as yet, on its
westerly side, with some promise of its early completion eastwardly to
Manhasset, as originally contracted for and partially graded, and thence
ultimately on to Port Washington and perhaps to Glen Cove, Oyster Bay, Cold
Spring, and Huntington.

SETTLEMENT AND EARLY HISTORY.
Though this and the adjoining territory had for a long time belonged to the
Dutch government, yet there had been none but very sparse settlements made prior
to about 1670. The first important settlement was made, or rather attempted,
near the head of Cow Bay, in the spring of 1640, by a small colony of English
immigrants from Lynn, Massachusetts, under the command of Captain Daniel Howe,
who came under the pretended authority (afterward disavowed) of the Earl of
Stirling. They landed on the west side of Cow Neck, near the head of Cow Bay,
and at once pulled down the Dutch arms, which were nailed to a tree there, and
in derision carved a fool’s face in their stead. They then began
erecting dwelling houses and negotiating with the Indians for the lands on Cow
Neck- extending thence southerly to the "Plains." The Sachem
Penhawitz, who had previously sold the land to the Dutch, informed them of this
trespass. All these doings, being in contempt and defiance of the rights and,
authority, of the Dutch government, were of course regarded as hostile acts. The
Dutch authorities thereupon dispatched a force of twenty-five soldiers to Cow
Bay, who summarily carried off the trespassers; and thus their attempted
settlement was necessarily abandoned and soon after entirely broken up. The same
company; later in the same year, associated with others and commenced the
settlement of Southampton.

During the next fifty years the town became gradually occupied by both Dutch
and English settlers, the English settling mostly about Westbury and Herricks,
and the Dutch generally preferring the necks. Connecticut too asserted her
authority here, and on October 5th 1662 went through the form of annexing this
and other towns, to her province; but in January of 1664 these towns combined
and threw off her authority.

The town’s history is much interwoven with the early history of the town of
Hempstead. The early settlers suffered much in person and property from the
depredations of the Indians, and were frequently compelled to abandon their
settlements. Their cattle were stolen, and their wives and children maltreated.
The whites frequently resorted to bribes as the most effectual mode of securing
immunity from them. These Indian depredations were by the Dutch ascribed in part
to instigation by the English settlers from Massachusetts and the New Haven
colonies.

Cow Neck, containing about 6,000 acres of land, was at the earliest
settlement of the original town of Hempstead used principally for pasturing
cattle by the inhabitants of other portions of the town. Great Neck, containing
about 4,000 acres of land and formerly known as Madnan’s Neck, was earliest
permanently settled, religious services being established there as early as
1676. For a long period and up to about 1676 Cow Neck continued to be used by
residents in distant parts of the town, including the present town of Hempstead,
as a common pasture; and for this purpose was fenced from near the head of Cow
Bay across to near the village of Roslyn. The freeholders of the town were
permitted to pasture a number of sheep or cattle proportioned to the number of
panels of this fence they had respectively constructed. These rights of
pasturage were bought and sold much as we now sell bank stocks or railroad
bonds. The land was divided among the claimants (probably in the same
proportions) subsequent to 1695. The part now, known as Plandome was so named by
Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell, meaning a pleasant home; or, as some say, after the
Place Vendome in Paris, which he had visited. It was known as Little Cow Neck.
Plandome mill was built either by William or Matthias Nicholls, early in the
last century. It was spoken of as "Latham’s mill " in 1746.

North Hempstead was set off from Hempstead by an act of the Legislature,
passed April 6th 1784. Its first supervisor was Adrian Onderdonk, grandfather of
Henry Onderdonk jr., of Jamaica (author of numerous historical publications
relating to Long Island), and judge Onderdonk, of Manhasset. The entire town
then contained but four churches or places of worship- the Reformed Dutch,
erected in 1732, near the lake at Success (now Lakeville); the Methodist
Episcopal, at Searingtown; and two Friends’ meeting-houses, one at Westbury an
the other at Manhasset.

COLD, STORM, AND FLOOD.
North Hempstead, like other parts of Long Island suffered greatly by the
memorable "cold summer," This occurred in the year 1816. The crops of
hay, corn wheat, rye, oats, and potatoes were shrunken up, withered and
destroyed by the long continued cold of this remarkable summer. The farmers had
great difficulty and expense in procuring food for their livestock. For the
following winter they had to rely on salt hay from the meadows and marshes.

Another calamity by which this town suffered greatly was the "September
gale," September 3d 1821, which prostrated buildings, trees, fences and
growing crops, causing immense damage.

On August 10th-13th 1826 came "the great flood," when tremendous rains, long 
continued, caused the overflow of streams, and great disasters. The flood broke 
through the dam of John T. Mitchell’s mill-pond at Manhasset Valley, and carried 
away the grist-mill there and the adjacent saw-mill. It also broke through and 
carried away the dam of William Hewlett’s mill-pond at Cow Neck. The dam of Judge 
Mitchell’s tide-water mill at Plandome shared the same fate. On the 12th and 13th 
nine inches of water fell. Roads, fields and crops in all parts of the town were 
destroyed or damaged to an extent never known before or since.

>FAMILY NAMES, ETC.
The following list comprises the names of most of the old families, original
settlers of the town, dating back to colonial times: 
Allen, 
Brinkerhoff, 
Bogart,
Burtis, 
Cornwell, 
Cox, 
Cock, 
Denton, 
Dodge, 
Hewlett, 
Hegeman, 
Hicks, 
Hoagland,
Kissam, 
Mitchell, 
Morrell, 
Mott, 
Onderdonk, 
Platt, 
Pearsall, 
Post, 
Powell,
Robbins, 
Remsen, 
Rapelyea, 
Schenck, 
Smith, 
Sands, 
Titus, 
Treadwell, 
Thorne,
Underhill, 
Valentine, 
Willets, 
Willis, 
Williams and Woolley.

The Sands family was once numerous in the town, but that name has now become
nearly extinct. They were once large landholders, especially near Sands Point
light-house, which took its name from this family. With this exception many or
most of the above named families are represented in the present population.

There were also some few families representing the names of Appleby, Adriance,
Albertson, Baker, Burr, Burt, Bedell, Bennett, Baldwin, Baxter, Craft, Covert,
Crooker, Carpenter, Cheeseman, Cornell, Duryea, Downing, Demilt, Ellison, Frost,
Foster, Fowler, Hutchings, Haines, Haviland, Hawkshurst, Hagner, Ketcham, Kirk,
Kirby, Jackson, Jarvis, Lewis, Losee, Layton, Mudge, Nostrand, Peters, Poole,
Sell, Seaman, Sealy, Townsend, Toffey, Van Nostrand, Van Wyck, Vandewater, Van
Dyne, Whitson, Wood and Wiggins. Some, though not many, representatives of these
names and families yet reside in the town.

The following names are also represented in the present population of the
town, but few if any of them were "to the manor born," having
descended from families originating elsewhere and settling here in comparatively
modern times, to wit: Arthur, Armstrong, Burdett, Baylis, Brush, Brewer,
Chester, Clapham, Conklin, Cline, Clark, Davis, Doncourt, Fleet, Field, Firth,
Fletcher, Gibson, Grace, Germaine, Hayden, Hyde, Hendrickson, Hoag, Horsfield,
Jenks, Jagger, Jayne, Kelsey, Keese, King, L’Hommedieu, Mackey, Messenger,
Morgan, McKee, Oakley, Purdy, Pierce, Porter, Prior, Rogers, Rushmore, Skidmore,
Sherwood, Spinney, Thibbets, Tilley, Travis, Taber, Thompson, Terry, Udall, Van
Pelt, Vanderveer, Velsor, Walters, Wight and Wright.

The town of North Hempstead has sent many representatives to the Legislature;
among others, to the Senate :
John Schenck in 1793, 
Andrew Onderdonk in 1797
John I. Schenck in 1828; 

The Assembly :
Hendrick Onderdonk in 1784, 
Daniel Whitehead Kissam in 1786, 
Richard Thorne in 1787, 
John Schenck in 1788, 
Samuel L. Mitchell in 1791, 
John M. Smith in 1798, 
John Willis in 1846, 
Sylvanus S. Smith in 1852, 
John A. Searing in 1854, 
Stephen Taber in 1860 and 
Francis Skillman in 1867.

The town in 1810 had 2,570 inhabitants; in 1845, 3,987; 1850, 4,291; 1855,
9446; 1860, 5,419; 1865, 5,335; 1870, 6,540; 1875, 7,217 1880, 7,562.

There were in 1880 about 1,063 persons assessed for taxation. In 1801 there
were but 310 taxpayers in the town, and the average tax was about $5.70 for each
taxpayer. The present rate of taxation is increased enormously- very far beyond
the increase in population.

The town now has the following post-offices: Old Westbury, Roslyn, Mineola,
East Williston, Port Washington, Manhasset and Great Neck.

CEMETERIES.
The oldest cemeteries are one near Sands Point, where many persons of the
Sands and Hewlett and some of the Cornwell families are buried; another and
larger cemetery, on the Treadwell farm, just north of Port Washington, where the
Motts, Cornwells, Treadwells, and others are interred; another at Flower Hill,
where the Onderdonks, Hegemans, Brinkerhoffs, Rapelyeas, Bogarts and Dodges
comprise the more numerous interments. Some of the Hewletts, Thornes, and others
have family cemeteries on their own lands. The Friends have an ancient burial
ground adjoining their meeting-house at Manhasset. The Episcopal and Reformed
churches at Manhasset have burial grounds adjoining their respective churches,
which have been used about seventy years. The Rose Hill Cemetery, at Manhasset,
adjoining the churches, has existed but about forty years. There has recently
been laid out, a mile east of Roslyn, a large cemetery, partly under the
auspices of the Presbyterian church of Roslyn. In the Friends’ meeting-house
grounds at Westbury is another ancient burial place. There are in various parts
of the town many other less extensive cemeteries, now disused.

THE JONES FUND.
The poor of North Hempstead and Oyster Bay, are now mainly supported by
"the Jones fund for the support of the poor." This fund is a legacy of
$30,000 left by Samuel Jones, of the town of Oyster Bay. For some time after
this generous bequest was made there was an undercurrent of hesitation in if not
opposition to demanding and securing this $30,000 legacy. Seeing this, one
public spirited gentleman from Oyster Bay and another from North Hempstead
called a public meeting, aroused the inhabitants of their respective towns,
procured the necessary legislation at Albany, and (all without any charge for
their services) secured to the people the lasting advantages intended by the
benevolent donor. Further particulars are given in the history of Oyster Bay.

THE WILL OF ADAM MOTT.
Although Adam Mott was a resident of Hempstead village he owned large tracts
of land in the present town of North Hempstead, whither the family subsequently
removed. The will is especially interesting in showing the manner of thought in
those days, and the stress laid on small articles of personal property. Yet when
it is considered that the people had made several homes since leaving England,
and that goods could only be replaced at an enormous cost compared with their
intrinsic value, we look with respect upon their care for little things. The
following is a copy of his will:

"I, Adam Mott, lying now very weak, do now declare this to be my last
will and testament from this day, I being through God’s mercy in my right
senses. I do humbly surrender and give my soul and spirit to God which gave it
me, and my body to the earth, to be buried in decent manner; that all just debts
that shall be made appear shall be paid justly to the creditors so applying. I
do give to my eldest son, Adam Mott, fifty acres of land that he is to take up
and five shillings in money; to my son Jeames I give two cows and a hollow lying
by the Harbor parth and my Kersey wescoat and my Searsg drawers and my new Hatt;
to my daughter Grace I give four great pewter platters, and those Hallows lying
between the Great Run and Tanner’s Hook, those two Hollows which lyeth on the
left hand of the parth going to the Town from Madnan’s Neck, and three Hollows
lying on next to the other side, of the parth by the great Run, the said land to
remain to her and her heirs forever; to my son John I do give my Lott of Meadow
lying at the Wheat Neck and my Hollow lying by the Harbor parth; to my son
Joseph I give a hundred acres of land where he shall see good to take up for his
use which is yet untaken up, and a Hollow lying by the West Hollow in the Sandy
Hollow. To my Gershom I do give five cows; to my son Henry’s three children I
do give one two years old Heifer. To my dear wife Elizabeth Mott and all the
children I have by her I do give and bequeath my house and lott upon Madman’s
Neck, and with all the rest of my said Estate except mentioned in my will
aforesaid, Moveables and Immoveables, with all and every part thereof, to stand
and remain to my wife and children, only my House and Orchard and home Lott at
Hempstead and the Mill Hollow in particular I do give to my younger son, Adam.
But in case my wife Elizabeth should see cause to marry, that then the Estate
which I have given to my wife and children shall be Equally divided into four
parts, and my wife Elizabeth to have and enjoy the one part and those children
which I have had by her shall have the other three parts, to be Equally divided
between them. And I do give unto my wife Elizabeth for her life time, If she
shall see Cause, "my House and Land on Madnan’s Neck and a Lott of
Meadow; and If my Wife doth Remain a Widow that there should be none of the
children to enjoy any of the said Estate untill they marry, Except that my wife
shall see cause to the Contrary. As to four proprietyships which I have in the
bounds of Hempstead I do give unto my wife Elizabeth and her children, first to
take her choice of two of the said proprietyships and the Other two to be
Equally divided amongst my four Eldest Sons in Equall proportions; and with all
and Every Part of this my will and Testament I do heartily desire may be
performed in all particulars, as witness my hand and seal, this 12th day of
March Anno Dom. 1681."

NORTH HEMPSTEAD DURING THE REVOLUTION.
A large majority of the people of Hempstead, of which North Hempstead was
then a part, were opposed to the Revolution and to sending delegates to the
Provincial Congress. Congress having in April 1775 recommended the appointing of
Whig committees in each town, some inhabitants of Cow Neck and Great Neck
assembled September 23d following and, taking into serious consideration their
distressed situation, and convinced of their inability to pursue proper measures
for the common safety while they were considered a part of Hempstead, resolved
that they would no longer be a part of that town in all matters relating to the
Congressional plan. They then elected a town committee, consisting of Benjamin
Sands (chairman), Adrian Onderdonck (deputy chairman), and John Farmer, a
schoolmaster (clerk). They adopted a form of association sent them by the
Congress and had it circulated for signatures. They also reorganized the militia
company by appointing the following officers and musicians: John Sands, captain;
Thomas Mitchell, first lieutenant; Aspinwall Cornwell, second lieutenant; Andrew
Onderdonk, ensign; Richard Manee, William Hutchings, Joseph Akerly, and William
Hicks, sergeants; Hosea Hauxhurst, Austin Mitchell, Andrew H. Onderdonk, and
Jonathan Hutchings, corporals; Stephen Cornwell, clerk; John Whaley, drummer;
Charles Stubbs, fifer; Gregory Ritchie, hautboy. There was also a north side
company, of 120 men, of which Philip Valentine was captain and Coe Searing
second lieutenant. The Congress on learning of these proceedings complimented
the committee for their action. Most of the persons holding offices under the
crown opposed the measures of the committee, who reported their names to the
Congress, by whose order they were arrested and carried off to prison. John
Sands was promoted colonel June 25th 1776, when Thomas Mitchell was made
captain, Aspinwall Cornwell first lieutenant and Oliver Lawrence second
lieutenant. Recruiting commenced July 23d 1776, $10 bounty being offered to
volunteers. Colonel Sands had his headquarters at Nathaniel Seaman’s,
Westbury. Some of the men were engaged in the battle of Brooklyn, August 27th,
and retreated with the army to Westchester county, where they were disbanded,
and many crossed over the sound to their homes. Some staid out of the British
lines till the end of the war. As British armed vessels were expected to come
down the sound to New York, a guard, under Sergeants Richard Manee and William
Hicks, was set at the bottom of Cow Neck and Great Neck, which was visited and
inspected August 1st 1776 by Cols. Josiah Smith and John Sands and Major Abraham
Remsen. The orders to Manee were: "You are to take your recruits to the
bottom of Cow Neck and then apply to Simon Sands, who is to reconnoitre and
choose a place for you to be stationed at, where you are to build a shelter and
place one sentinel where he will have most prospect of the sound; the sentry to
be relieved once every two hours. Should he spy any vessels appearing to be
ships of war, send express to Simon Sands, William and John Cornwell. Ask Sands
also for a long pole to hoist a flag on for a signal." William Hicks,
sergeant, was ordered to take his recruits to the bottom of Great Neck, now John
A. King’s place, then owned by Lawrence Hewlett and called Haviland’s Point.
On discovering ships of war he was to report to Major Richard Thorne or John Thorne.

Soon after the defeat of the American army at Brooklyn a detachment of the
British light dragoons rode into North Hempstead and carried off to the provost
prison in New York such of the prominent Whigs as had not left the island; among
others Colonel John Sands, Adrian Onderdonck and Major Richard Thorne. The
livestock, hay, grain, wagons and teams of rebels were at once carried off for
the use of Howe’s army. But on the 25th of October 1776 petitions were
circulated and signed by all the residents of the county praying to be at peace
with the king; and all rebels taking the oath of allegiance were once more left
in peaceable possession of their property, but subject to the inconveniences of
an armed occupation, such as having officers quartered or soldiers billeted in
their houses. The British army from time to time needed horses, wood, hay,
straw, and grain, which the farmers were obliged to furnish whether they could
spare them or not. These were paid for, at prices fixed by the British general,
in silver and gold, which the farmers hid away and buried in their cellars, and
which became at last a temptation to robbers, who tortured their victims tilt
they disclosed and gave up their hidden treasures. There were requisitions for
wood at least three times; we give one list (June 1st 1782) as a specimen:

Apportionment of 364 3/4 cords of wood to be cut under Major Kissam’s
directions for the use of the British army in New York: 
Jacob Mott, 1 1/2 cords;
Israel Pearsall, 23; 
Michael Mudge, 6; 
Richard Kirk, 6; 
Jeremiah Robbins, 5;
George Weeks, 3; 
Joshua Willis, 1 ½; 
Widow Ireland, 1; 
William Valentine, 4;
Hendrick Onderdonck, 4 1/2; 
Thomas Applebe and son, 14; 
James Hewlett, 6; 
Samuel Hewlett, 8; 
John Burtis, 4; 
William Hutchings, 2 1/2; 
John Sands, 11; 
Daniel Kissam and son, 12; 
Andrew Hegeman, 6; 
Andrew and Elbert Hegeman, 11; 
Daniel Rapeleye, 3 1/2; 
Peter Onderdonk, 6; 
widow of Tristram Dodge, 1 1/2; 
Oba. Demilt, 4 1/2; 
Thomas Dodge, 5 1/2; 
Captain St. Thorne, 6; 
Henry Sands, 19; 
John Cornwell and son, 4; 
Edward Sands, 2; 
Simon Sands, 5; 
Stephen Mott, 9; 
Adam Mott, 10; 
John Mott, 4; 
Joseph Dodge, 4; 
Robert Sutton, 4; 
Hendrick Vander Belt and daughter, 7; 
Israel Baxter, 2 1/2; 
John Mitchell and son, 7; 
Daniel Whitehead Kissam, 8; 
Joseph Kissam, 3 1/2; 
Benjamin Kissam, 1 1/2; 
Dr. Samuel Latham, 6; 
Joseph Pearsall, 5; 
Adrian Onderdonk, 3 1/2; 
Richard Thorne, 3;
Joseph Thorne, 3; 
Benjamin Akerly, 3 1/2; 
George Rapelye, 4; 
Timothy Smith, 11;
William Smith, 3 1/2; 
John Schenck, 11; 
Daniel Brinckerhoff, 5; 
Cornelius Cornell, 1; 
Charles Cornell, 2 1/2; 
George Cornell, 1 1/4; 
Samuel Mott Cornell, 1 3/4; 
Samuel Tredwell, 4; 
Henry Hawxhurst, 2; 
Richard Sands, 5; 
Charles Hicks, 4; 
Josh Cornwell, 5; 
William Thorne, 6; 
Caleb Cornell, 1 ¾.

The farmers had their teams impressed from time to time to cart baggage,
pickets, fascines for forts, and military stores for the army.

The Friends, not feeling free to aid war, were great sufferers. March 3d 1777
Elias Hicks, their great preacher, was deprived of a great coat worth 26
shillings on a demand for 12 shillings to pay the hire of men to repair the
British forts at Brooklyn; April 4th a pair of shoes worth 10 shillings was
taken from him on his refusal to stand guard; on August 28th he was distrained
of a pair of silver buckles worth 18 shillings, two pairs of stockings, worth 15
shillings, and a handkerchief worth 5 shillings, all because he would not go on
an alarm in armed pursuit of the enemy; and in June 1778 a pair of stockings
worth 5 shillings and a razor case with two razors, worth 4 shillings,
were taken from him for some like cause.

Besides the outrages of British soldiers in stealing, burning fences and
robbing at night, North Hempstead suffered greatly from the nightly depredations
of whale-boatmen, as they were called, who had their quarters in Connecticut.
Guards were stationed along the shores of the sound. After years of mischief the
head of a gang of these robbers was shot, and the governor of Connecticut, on a
representation made to him by the sufferers, refused to commission any more. On
a Thursday evening (October 26th 1782) two whaleboats with muffled oars
landed a number of whaleboatmen in Cow Bay at Thorne’s dock (afterward Judge
Kissam’s) and proceeded to James Burr’s store, Manhasset Valley. Burr had
been robbed once before, and slept in the store with his gun loaded. As soon as
they demanded admittance he fired. Judging of his position by the report, the
robbers fired diagonally through the front corners of the store. Burr received a
ball in his body, went to the bedside of his little brother, told him he was a
dead man, and fell. Being unable to force open the door, the robbers ripped off
the boards, entered through the side of the store, and loaded themselves with
goods. As they returned and were rounding the corner of John Burtis’
blacksmith shop, west of the house occupied by the late Dr. Purdy, David
Jarvis, an apprentice boy, fired on them, one after another, from the second
story window, Burtis loading the guns and Molly, his wife, handing powder. In
this way several were wounded, till at last came their leader, Captain Martin,
staggering under an enormous load of goods, who received a buckshot in the
center of his forehead and had his breast also tattooed with shot. Throwing down
his carbine, he stumbled up the hill north of Dr. Purdy’s, dropping his load,
by the way, and fell down dead on the summit, where his body was discovered by
George Onderdonk. The firing alarmed the neighbors, who had now assembled in
great numbers. Before it was yet day Joseph Onderdonk was dispatched for Major
Kissam, who came and held an examination. In Martin’s pocket-book were found a
list of his crew and a captain’s commission from the State of Massachusetts
authorizing him "to cruise against the enemies of the United States,"
but not to go on land. Captain Martin’s clothes, shoes with silver buckles,
and watch, together with the guns dropped in the flight, were given to Jarvis.
He was also presented with a pair of new pistols as a reward for his heroic
daring. Jarvis had on a previous occasion beaten off a party of whaleboatmen and
wounded one Jim Brown. Martin’s body was buried in a corner of Martin Schenck’s
land, south of the Episcopal church. The rest of the gang escaped to their
boats, which were seen by Joseph Onderdonk during the alarm of firing slowly
dropping down the bay to a preconcerted spot, probably Mitchell’s landing. The
night was overcast. Joseph Onderdonk, a lad of sixteen, was stationed with a gun
in a young locust northeast of his father’s house to fire an alarm in case the
house was attacked. While he was here a fellow ran up to him, crying out,
"D- n their blood, they’ve wounded me!" On discovering his mistake
he made off and was out of sight in an instant. Captain Martin had been a lucky
fellow, having captured a number of prizes.

The old block-house now standing at Herricks was erected for a store, on the
Jericho turnpike near Westbury, during the Revolution. It was bullet proof and
had portholes in the second story to afford protection from robbers. Not only
was there loss of property on land from the whaleboatmen, but their captures of
boats plying between here and New York were numerous. The prizes were carried
over to the Connecticut shore. Thomas Dodge was once a passenger and sat in the
cabin when a boat was taken. Hearing a noise he tried to get on deck, but found
he was fastened down. He sang out, "What are you about up there? Open the
door and let me up, or else come down yourselves, and let us drink for better
acquaintance." The captors came down, and were treated with a bottle of
spirits from Dodge’s provision basket. They had a jolly time of it, and on
Dodge’s arrival at Horse Neck he found many old friends, and was allowed to
return on parole This exempted him from the fatigues of military duty (which
consisted in frequent trainings and patrolling the coast at night) until he was
exchanged.

At the peace in 1783 many loyalists sold out and left North Hempstead for
Nova Scotia for fear of being punished by the Whigs; but some returned after
they found it safe to do so. The Legislature passed the "trespass
act," by virtue of which suits were brought against all British agents who
had impressed horses, cattle, wagons, forage, or persons, or carted off wood,
during the war. Many farmers thus recovered damages. Only two farms in North
Hempstead were confiscated to the State. One was that of Daniel Kissam the elder
(now occupied by Howell and Adrian Onderdonk, at Flower Hill). It consisted of
330 acres and was bid in by the widow for £2,000, August 5th 1784. The other
belonged to the Ludlows.

The Legislature ordered a special town meeting December 22nd 1783, when Whigs
were chosen to office in place of the loyalists who had held office during the
war, viz.: Adrian Onderdonk, supervisor; John Schenck, clerk; John Searing and
John Burtis, constables; Peter Onderdonk, Abraham Schenck and Benjamin Everitt,
commissioners of highways, etc. Such was the antipathy of the Whigs of North
Hempstead to the loyalists of South Hempstead that the Legislature, April 16th
1784, divided the town by the line of the "Country road."

OFFICERS OF NORTH HEMPSTEAD.
The first town meeting for North Hempstead was held at the house of Samuel
Searing, at Searingtown, on the 14th of April 1784. Adrian Onderdonk
was elected supervisor and John Schenck town clerk. Supervisors have since been
elected as follows:

1785, Adrian Onderdonk; 
1786, Richard Thorn; 
1787-1808, Andries Hegeman;
1809-18, Lawrence Denton; 
1819, 1820, John B. Kissam;. 
1821-28, Singleton Mitchell; 
1829, Henry J. Hagner; 
1830-37, William L. Mitchell; 
1838-45 John Willis; 
1846-52, Silvanus S. Smith; 
1853, John S. Wood; 
1855, Andrew J. Hegeman;
1854, 1856-67, 1873, 1877-81, John M. Clark; 
1868, 1869, Benjamin W. Allen;
1870-72, 1874, Henry J. Remsen; 
1875, 1876, Samuel Willets.

John Schenck was town clerk until 1818. His successors have been as follows:
1819-29, John S. Schenck; 
1830-48, George D. Ketcham; 
1849, Stephen Taber;
1850-53, John R. Schenck; 
1854, 1856-58, 1860, 1861, James M. Stilwell;
1855, J. Louis Poillon; 
1859, 1862, James M. Mitchell; 
1863-66, William A. Mitchell; 
1867-1868, Samuel V. Searing; 
1869-73, Valentine Downing; 
1874, 1875, John D. Acker; 
1876-80, William U. Nostrand; 
1881, Samuel Hooper.

The following justices have been elected since 1834: 
Richard Allen, 1835, 1839, 1843, 1847; 
John A. Searing, 1835, 1837, 1841; 
Isaac H. Dodge, 1836;
Eliphalet Mowbray, 1836, 1838; 
Lewis S. Hewlett, 1837; 
Elias B. Higbie, 1839, 1842, 1855; 
Samuel L. Hewlett, 1840; Warren Mitchell, 1841, 1844, 1848, 1852;
Elias Lewis, 1843; 
Elias Lewis jr., 1844, 1846, 1850; 
John S. Wood, 1844, 1845, 1849, 1870; 
Leonard A. Seaman, 1851, 1856, 1859, 1863, 1867; 
Francis Skillman, 1851, 1854, 1858, 1862, i866, 1871; 
A. S. Mowbray, 1851; 
George H. Horsfield, 1853; 
Monroe Henderson, 1856; 
A.J. Hegeman, 1857; 
Luke Fleet jr., 1857; 
Wessel S. Smith, 1858, 1860, 1865, 1868; 
Stephen Bedell, 1858; 
Obadiah J. Downing, 1859; 
David Provost, 1861, 1866, 1869; 
Silas W. Albertson, 1864; 
Isaac Sherwood, 1865; 
Samuel V. Searing, 1871; 
James L. Baxter, 1872, 1876; 
Willis P. Baker, 1873; 
W.W. Kirby, 1874, 1878; 
Henry C. Morrell, 1874, 1877,1881; 
J.D. Armstrong, 1875; 
Charles A. Van Nostrand, 1879; 
Selah H. Brush, 1880.

COUNTY INSANE ASYLUM.
On the completion of the new court-house at Long Island City in 1877 the
supervisors of Queens county had the old building near Mineola (erected in 1786)
repaired, enlarged and fitted up for the accommodation of the insane of the
county, who had been either sent abroad to other asylums or kept in the
poor-house in company with the paupers. The building is 60 feet by 70, with
extensions on each side. Three acres of ground are enclosed with a high fence.
There are over 100 patients under Dr. David Rogers, the keeper. The income from
paying patients amounts to nearly $4,000 per year.

AGRICULTURE.
Since its settlement by the whites North Hempstead has always been
pre-eminently an agricultural town. A few grist-mills and other small
manufactories have been scattered about in favorable locations; but the
principal occupation of its inhabitants has been and still continues the tillage
of the soil. The location of the township upon Long Island Sound, with its
shores indented by deep and safe harbors, offers peculiar facilities for the
cheap and easy carriage of its products to market, and before the construction
of railways regular lines of market boats made frequent trips to New York and
convenient landings upon the shore. In recent years the introduction of improved
wagons and the laying of plank and macadamized roads have given the farmers an
opportunity to carry the produce from their farms directly to market, and thus
avail themselves of the best prices.

The soil of the town is mostly a yellow loam overlying thick deposits of sand
and gravel. This affords excellent drainage and makes the land easy to work,
although the mold is not of sufficient depth and richness to produce paying
crops without the constant and extensive use of fertilizers. These latter are
principally the refuse from the stables of New York and Brooklyn, although of
late years artificially prepared fertilizers have been introduced with some
success.

Unlike some of the adjoining towns, North Hempstead was originally covered
with a growth of forest. This was principally of oak and chestnut, although all
the native deciduous trees flourished in the different and widely varying
locations furnished by the diversified character of the land. The old forest
fell many years ago before the axes of the early settlers, and nothing of it now
remains except occasionally an aged and solitary oak which has served as a
landmark or been preserved because of historic or family association. The
primitive giants of the forest have been succeeded by a secondary growth, which
includes all the native varieties and also several which, like the locust, have
been imported from other localities. A locust tree on the lawn of Daniel Bogart’s
residence at Roslyn is supposed to have been the first planted on Long Island.
It was raised from seed brought from Virginia by Captain John Sands in 1701, and
is still sound and vigorous. During the prosperous days of American wooden ship
building Long Island locust was much sought after for the making of "trunnels"
and for other purposes, and a very profitable business was carried on in the
planting and rearing of this quick-growing tree; but with the decay of the
shipping interest the demand for locust has so diminished that no special
attention is now paid to its cultivation. The woodland is now principally
confined to the range of hills that traverses the town from east to west; the
trees growing more rapidly there than upon the level portion, while the land is
less valuable for agricultural purposes.

Both the products of the soil and the manner of obtaining them have varied
greatly since the first settlement of the country. The early farmers cultivated
a great variety of crops, some of which, such as tobacco and flax, have long
since been abandoned. The proximity and rapid growth of the great cities of New
York and Brooklyn have constantly modified the conditions under which profitable
farming could be conducted on Long Island. North Hempstead, being more remote
from metropolitan influences than some of her sister towns further west, has
escaped the agricultural revolution that has converted their fair farms into
productive market gardens. There has nevertheless been a marked change in the
agricultural products of the town since the early days, when the farmer thought
mainly of supplying the wants of his own household and those of his immediate
neighbors, and when he had not the great markets to stimulate the raising of
special crops. At the present time, while the western section of the town has
many acres devoted to market gardening, the great body of arable land is used to
produce the two main staples, hay and potatoes, which may be called the chief
market products of the town, and those which bring in the largest revenue. All
the cereals are raised as rotation crops, and corn grows well and realizes
abundant returns.

The farmers of North Hempstead have always kept well abreast of the times in
the employment of improved agricultural machinery. Their land being well adapted
to the use of the finest and most complicated implements, they have been
enterprising and far-sighted in adopting their use as soon as convinced of their
utility.

The production of milk for use in the city of Brooklyn has come to be the
source of an important part of the farmer’s labor and income. About 9,000
quarts are daily delivered at the different railway stations in the town and
forwarded to agents in the city, who distribute the milk to their customers. 
To produce this large amount of milk necessitates the keeping of a great number of 
cows, which consume the products of the farms on which they are kept, and thus modify, 
to a considerable extent, the agricultural products of the town. It is an undoubted 
fact that the "raising of milk," as it is called, has been profitable, and has added
greatly to the wealth of the farmers.

Stock breeding has always been followed to a greater or less extent by the
people of North Hempstead, and some celebrated strains of imported and native
blood have been owned and maintained in the town; but it cannot be said that
this favorite pursuit of the farmer has ever assumed that paramount importance
in this section of the island that it has in some others.

The old agricultural families of the town have been in the main composed of
healthy, thrifty, moral men and women, who have made the very best class of
citizens. Brought up to consider hard work honorable, and an honest name their
best inheritance, they have labored perseveringly, lived frugally, and prospered
by prudence. Their well-tilled farms have afforded them a good living, and in
most instances a small yearly income besides. This little surplus, by careful
saving, has made many of them rich, and placed nearly all in comfortable
circumstances. The representatives of the old families cling affectionately to
the ancestral acres; and it is not unusual to find a lineal descendant of the
first settler of the name still residing on the old homestead, which in several
instances is held by a deed running back to the first settlement of the country
and attested by the curious signs of the Indian chiefs.

The town has had many representatives in the great cities and other busy
marts of commerce and industry, as the farmers have been in the habit of
encouraging some of their sons to fit themselves for business pursuits. Some of
the most respected and wealthy merchants in New York, both at present and in
times past, were born in North Hempstead and were the sons of farmers. These
merchants, with scarcely an exception, when they acquired a competence, have
themselves returned or sent their sons to occupy and improve some part of the
home farm; thus demonstrating that inherited love of the freedom and
independence of a country life survives amid the cares of business and the
luxuries of the city.

OYSTER CULTURE.
Cow Bay and other waters of North Hempstead have long been famed for the
excellence of their clams, but of late years their oysters, too, have come into
prominence.

The first oysters were planted here by Henry Cock, it 1832, in his mill pond,
the seed being procured from the shores of the bay. In 1840 the first were
planted it the waters of Cow Bay by Henry Cock and John Mackey These men were
followed by George Mackey, John H. Allen and others. Seed was obtained from the
natural beds in the sound and the beds in the Hudson River. The business was not
active until 1855, when Andrew Van Pelt and son, A.V.N. Thatcher, Albert S.
Thatcher, Daniel Van Pelt, John J. Thompson, Henry C. Jones and others removed
from Staten Island to this place. When they came there were no laws to regulate
the planting of oysters, or, for protecting them when planted. The oyster men
soon found themselves a power in politics and demanded legislation for the
protection of their industry. Laws for the regulation of planting oysters and
protection of the beds have been enacted, giving security to the business. At
this time there was only one store of importance in the place. There was a small
schoolhouse, no church, and not enough dwellings to shelter the people. Charles
W. Mitchel, anticipating the village’s growth, laid out his farm in village
lots. The oystermen bought these and built houses on them. They have succeeded
and paid for them. The amount of land utilized under water has been continually
increased until about all the available space is taken.

When the business was commenced there were two hundred inhabitants in the
place; there are now 1,200.

SCHOOLS OF NORTH HEMPSTEAD.
The educational history of North Hempstead is similar in most respects to
that of the adjoining towns. Running back from beyond the recollections of the
oldest inhabitants we find such records and sketches as lead us to believe that
from the earliest settlement to the present time the cause of education has kept
pace with advancing civilization, until now, as regards school buildings, school
furniture, and well qualified and well paid teachers, North Hempstead is not
excelled by any other town in Queens county, and Queens county is recognized as
holding a prominent position in the front rank of the counties of the State.

In colonial days public education was in a crude state; very little was
required of teachers, and very little was paid in return for services rendered.

Sometimes there was an exception, but generally the schoolmaster was supposed
to teach only the English language, arithmetic, orthography and "decent
behavior," and was usually paid, in part at least, in farm produce- sometimes
in wampum. In 1763 the teachers’ pay was £25 and board. After the lapse of
fifty years we find the condition of things materially improved. Teachers were
then paid from $12 to $15 per month, and taught six hours a day in winter and
eight in spring, summer and autumn.

The schools were taught six days in a week, and for fifty-two weeks in the
year, but the results obtained were decidedly inferior to the results of our
present system with five or six hours per day, five days per week and forty
weeks per year. The boys cut wood and built fires, the girls swept the school
room, and the teacher collected his own wages by a "rate bill."

Since that time the improvement has been even greater. There is not at
present a poor school building in the town, and teachers are liberally paid- men
receiving from $75 to $90 and women from $35 to $50 per month.

The intellectual qualifications of teachers and the quality of work done by
them are very much higher than fifty years ago.

There are in the town ten school districts, of which six were organized under
the common school law of 1812, and four are union free schools organized under
the general free school law of 1864.

On the 22nd of May 1819 the town commissioners of common schools divided the
town into nine districts-  the tenth was afterward formed from districts No. 2
and No.9.

District No. 1 is at Old Westbury. The present school building was erected in
1855. In 1863 it was organized as a union free school, and it has at
present an average attendance of about forty pupils. The board of education
consists of Edward Hicks, John Post and Abel Payne. Miss Maggie Hawxhurst is and
for several years past has been the teacher.

District No. 2 is a common district school at "North Side." John
Mollineaux, Valentine Velser and Joshua Powell are the trustees, and Miss J.
Florence Cady is the teacher. The average attendance is about thirty. The
school-house was built about forty years ago. District No. 3- Roslyn- is a
union free school, organized in 1864. The present school building was erected in
1862, and in 1868 a colored school was established.

The board of education consists of 
J. Augustus Prior, 
J.H. Bogart, 
M.D. Valentine Downing, 
Samuel Hooper and James K. Davis, and the present teachers are :
Wilfred M. Peck, 
Margaret Hennessy, 
Olivia Griffin, 
Hattie Hurd and Grace R. Dickinson. 
The average attendance is 140 white and 15 colored pupils.

District No. 4- "Flower Hill"- has a common district school, with James R. Willets 
trustee and Amelia M. Smith teacher. The average attendance is twenty-six. 
The school-house was built in 1869.

In district No. 5- Port Washington- is a union free school, organized in
1864. In 1870 the "old red schoolhouse" with one room was found to be
too small, and a new one (the best in the town) was erected at a cost (with lot)
of $6,000. In 1879 it was found necessary to enlarge it. The board of education
consists of 
Warren S. Weeks, 
George C. McKee, 
Edwin Henderson, 
Tilford Stevenson and Henry T. Smith; and 
Mr. N.L. Bogardus, 
Mrs. Mary F. Surdam, 
Elma Brush and Laura B. Weeks are the teachers. 
The average attendance of pupils is about 130.

Charles E. Surdam was principal of this school for ten years prior to his
election to the office of school commissioner, which office he now fills.

District No. 6- Manhasset- was organized as a union free school in 1866.
The school-house was built in 1868. The average attendance is 85. 
The trustees are 
Charles Coles, 
Charles Willets and Isaac Brinkerhoof; 
Teachers,
Mary Bunyan, 
Ella Newman and Minnie Coles.

District No. 7- Great Neck- has a common district school. The trustees are
John Birkbeck, Edward L. Crabb and Samuel Hayden. The teachers are Edward T.
Allen. Cassie Van Nostrand and Emma Potter. The school-house was built about
1872. The average attendance is 100.

District No. 8- "Lakeville"- has a common district school, with
an average attendance of about 45. Miss Addie Hicks has for several years been
the teacher. The trustees are John T. Woolley, John Remsen and Benjamin P.
Allen. In 1878 the old school-house burned and the present one (which is
probably the finest for one teacher on Long Island) was erected. This district
has also a negro school, taught by Mrs. Annie Van Horn.

In district No. 9 "Herricks"- there is a common district school.
Miss Annie Hubbs is the teacher and Jacob S. Parsell, Elias C. Everett and
Samuel V. Armstrong are the trustees. The average attendance is about forty. 
The school-house was built in 1872.

District No. 10 embraces Mineola and has a common district school. The house
was erected in 1876. The average attendance is 26. The present teacher is
Leonora Hubbs, who has taught there ten years, and the trustees are Townsend
Albertson, George W. Emory and Silas Shaw.

The only private school of importance is the Friends’ school at Old
Westbury, which is under the auspices of the "Westbury Educational
Association." About sixty years ago the orthodox branch seceded from the
Hicksite Quakers, and for thirty years each branch maintained a school under the
management of a committee appointed by the society. About thirty years ago the
building owned by the Hicksite branch was burned, after which the two societies
united in organizing the present association, which ever since has maintained a
first-class school. The building is furnished with modern apparatus, and for
several years the managers have employed none but normal graduates as teachers.
One of the first trustees (of whom there are three) was Stephen R. Hicks, who
appears to have been the active member of the board until about twelve years
since. Among the others who served as trustees were William Titus, William P.
Titus, Joseph Hicks, and Robert W. Titus. The present trustees are John D.
Hicks, William E. Hawxhurst and Edward Hicks. The first two have served in that
capacity for the past ten or twelve years. The most prominent teachers have been
Cynthia Osborne, Elizabeth Ladd, Lizzie Lutton, James Carey, Orville Libby,
Sarah Shotwell, and Mary Bunyan. The present teacher is Miss A.L. Collins, a
graduate of the Oswego normal school. About twenty years ago a hall was attached
to the school building in such a manner that both rooms can be made one. In this
lectures have been delivered by Professor Yeomans, George W. Curtis, Theodore
Tilton, William Loyd Garrison, Rev. A.A. Willets and many others.

THE NEWSPAPERS OF NORTH HEMPSTEAD.
The first paper printed and published in the town was the North Hempstead
Gazette, the initial number of which was issued December 3d 1846 at
Manhasset Valley, by William H. Onderdonk, editor and proprietor, who was then a
young lawyer, and is now prominent at the Queens county bar. In March 1848 the
office of publication was removed to Roslyn, and in June of that year Mr.
Onderdonk sold the paper to the firm of Cogswell Brothers (John. T. and Samuel
F. Cogswell), who conducted the same until April 1849, when Samuel F Cogswell
retired from the firm, and the publication was thereafter continued under the
proprietorship of John T. Cogswell, who associated with him as editor Eugene A.
Hyde. Mr. Hyde was a Connecticut schoolmaster, settled at Roslyn. This continued
until about July 1852, when Messrs. Cogswell & Hyde removed the press and
material to the town of West Farms in Westchester county, where for some years
thereafter they published a local paper under a new name.

On July 12th 1850 the Plaindealer was first issued at
Roslyn by the firm of Leggett & Eastman, editors and proprietors. Augustus
W. Leggett was a gentleman of considerable literary taste and ability, and his
partner, Henry W. Eastman, was then a young lawyer, who some three years before
had opened his office at Roslyn, and who was only anxious to find something to
do to keep himself busy- law business being then somewhat scarce in that
locality. There was a ladies department in the paper, which was very ably edited
by Mrs. Eliza S. Leggett, the amiable wife of the senior editor, and, a most
excellent and worthy woman. The paper was independent in politics, and strongly
supported all local interests. It remained a popular and successful local
journal until January 1852, when Mr. and Mrs. Leggett removed to Michigan, where
they now reside, and the press and material were sold to James L. Crowley, who
had been the foreman in the office since it started. Mr. Crowley removed the
paper and the office to Glen Cove, in the neighboring town of Oyster Bay, where
he continued to publish it under the same name until March 1853, when its title
was changed to the Glen Cove Plaindealer and Oyster Bay Standard, under
which head it survived until January 1854, when it died a natural death.

During 1876-7 The Tablet, established by Keeler Brothers (William and
P.L.A.O. Keeler), was started at Roslyn, and it continued a very erratic
existence for about a year.

In March 1878 the Roslyn News was established at Roslyn by William R.
Burling, the editor and proprietor of the Flushing Times. It is now in
the fourth year of its existence.

RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF NORTH HEMPSTEAD.
THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, WESTBURY.
When Friends’ principles first took root here we cannot say. The earliest
minute is: "1671, 23d of 3d month.- It is adjudged that there shall be a
meeting kept at the Woodedge the 25th of 4th month, and so every
First-day." Friends met at the houses of Henry Willis and Edmund Titus. In
1678 Henry Willis was fined for having his daughter married to George Masters
according to Friends’ ceremony, and on his refusing to pay it, Joseph Lee,
under sheriff, seized his barn of corn. In 1682 "the settling of the
meeting of Friends at the Farms (Jericho) and at Woodedge, whether it be
convenient for them to be in two meetings or not, is left to the consideration
of the monthly meeting." In 1690, the matter of dividing Jericho week-day
and Westbury meeting into two coming up, the sense of the monthly meeting was
"that the Friends of both places keep their weekly meetings all together at
each place" alternately. In 1697 it was decided that "a meeting shall
be kept every five weeks, on the First-day, to begin at Edmund Titus’s, the
next First-day at Jericho, next at Bethpage, next at Jerusalem, and next at
Hempstead." In 1699 "the week-day meeting is kept one Fourth-day at
Hempstead, one at Westbury, and one at Jericho, and so to keep their turn."
In "1699, 26th of 6th month," Roger Gill says: "We went to
quarterly meeting; 27th, we had a far larger and glorious meeting in a field; to
it came abundance of people and some ranters, but the Lord’s power chained
them down so that they made no disturbance. I lodged both nights at Edmund Titus’s."

In 1701, "30th of 6th month," in quarterly meeting at Nathaniel
Seaman’s, Westbury, the building of a meeting-house was spoken of. It was left
to N. Pearsall, T. Powell, Richard Willets, B. Seaman and W. Willis to examine
the places spoken of, select the most convenient, and treat with the owner for
terms. They reported that they had chosen a place (three and a quarter acres for
£4) at Plainedge, which William Willis tendered. It was referred to them to
consider the model of the meeting house and treat with the workmen.

In 1702, "29th of 6th month," Thomas Story, "accompanied by many Friends, went from 
John Rodman’s, Bayside, over the plains to Westbury quarterly meeting, where we had 
good service, and the business being all finished, the Lord gave us a glorious meeting 
on First-day, in a new meeting house "fitted up on that occasion, and many hundreds of 
Friends and abundance of other people were there. The meeting being ended, there 
came over the Plains with us at least one hundred horse to their several habitations 
in that quarter."

In 1702, "27th of 12th month," at a quarterly meeting at Richard
Willits’s, Jericho, it was "concluded, to enter in this minute-book that,
since it hath pleased God to increase the number of his dear people so hereaway
that at Jericho and Matinecock (the former places of Friends’ quarterly
meeting) they have not sufficient room; therefore they have built a
meeting-house on Hempstead Plains for that purpose and for what further service
may be needed. The first quarterly meeting at the new house shall begin
to-morrow."

In 1706, 29th of 3d month, monthly meeting was held for the first time in the
new house. The First-day meetings were held here, except on the last First-day
of every month, and then at T. Powell’s, Bethpage.

In 1708 William Willis built a stable for the Friends’ horses. In 1716
Nathaniel Seaman, for 35 shillings a year, provided wood, and did the janitor
work on the meeting-house premises. In that year meetings were appointed for
every First-day at Westbury; the meetings at Bethpage and Hempstead to be kept
as usual. In 1722 it was thought well to enlarge the meeting-house. In
1729 a stable was built, forty-two by eighteen feet with lean-tos nine feet
wide. In 1739 John Willis was engaged to fence the meeting-house ground; and
John and Henry Willis, Silas and Peter Titus and Nathaniel Seaman were "to
take care and mind the shutting up the gate and putting up the bars, and also to
speak to such as shall turn their horses into said ground (to pasture) or
First-days when there is no real occasion." In 1751 the partition of the
house was altered so as to hang on hinges and be hooked up when occasion
required. In 1753 two acres of land were added at the south end of the lot and a
gate was made at the west side, "wide enough to pass in and out with a
riding chair." In 1755 the benches were repaired. In 1757 Benjamin
Smith was "reasonably paid for his trouble in helping Samuel Willis to
record Friends’ sufferings." In 1761 all gravestones were ordered
removed. In 1762, "it being very tedious to write on monthly meeting days
in the winter season and the house being cold," Samuel Willis was
instructed to get a wood stove. In 1766 the meeting-house was enlarged for the
accommodation of the quarterly meeting. In 1780 it was recorded that
"Friends are sorrowfully affected at the schooling of their children, in
being joined with those not Friends, and masters of not good example being
employed, whereby our youth sustain a great loss in a religious sense; a
school-house is to be erected, so near that the master and children may attend
meeting." In 1781 a school-house forty by twenty feet was built on Thomas
Seaman’s land, leased for a year; tuition to be 6 shillings per quarter. In
1782 soldiers took possession of the house and broke up the school. In 1784 it
was repaired. In 1782 John Pemberton "had a large meeting of the black
people, who behaved well."

In 1784 "it was proposed whether some advantage may not arise by
appointing some meetings particularly for negroes." Four were appointed. In
1792 some Friends professed scruples about using the products of slave labor. In
1793 "several satisfactory meetings for blacks" were held; "the
consideration thereof is left off from the minutes for the present." In
March 1796 Westbury meeting sent to the poor of New York, £4 17, and
eight loads of wood; Matinecock meeting £16 12. One and two cords and one load
of wood; Cow Neck meeting , £8 2. and one and three-quarters cords of
wood. In 1799 Westbury contributed for the poor of New York £ 29 16. 9. and
five loads of wood, "half a hundredweight of Indian meal, and half a
hundredweight of rye." In 1800 a new meeting-house was built, 40 by 57
feet, with twenty-two feet posts, at a cost of £822 9. 10. In 1801
"as there is a scarcity in England and Ireland," the meeting sends
over £108 12. 11. In 1803 £15 4. was raised toward civilizing the Indian
natives, and in 1807 £11 10. In 1810 more shelter for horses was needed, and a
stable was built, costing $218.28. In 1818 a horse stable was built, 110 feet
long and 20 feet wide, at a cost of $331.19. "The burial committee
are to attend to all funerals in our ground, and see that decency and good order
are observed therein." In 1827 $2,000 was ordered raised for a deficiency
in the fund for the civilization and improvement of the Indians.

It was in the last named year that the meeting was divided. The Hicksite or
Unitarian branch of the Friends proponderating, the Orthodox branch, acting in
accordance with the meeting of that branch in New York, withdrew and built a
meeting-house on the opposite side of the road.

These societies are as prosperous as any on the island, but the members are
not as numerous as formerly.

CHRIST CHURCH (EPISCOPAL), MANHASSET.
The corporate title of this parish is "Christ Church, North
Hempstead." In age it is ninth among the churches of the diocese, the
oldest of which dates back to the year 1701. Previous to 1800 St. George’s
church, Hempstead, was the central place of gathering for the Episcopalians of
this township. In 1802 a movement was made by the vestry of that church to erect
a place of worship in Manhasset, to be a chapel under the charge of the parent
parish. The first church building was erected at a. cost of between $4,000 and
$5,000; a large sum for that time. It was consecrated by Bishop Moore, November
19th 1803. The original price of the land, which is now worth some thousands of
dollars, was only $195.47. The first purchase was of about three acres; the lot
has since been increased, by exchange, to nearly four acres, comprising the site
of the church buildings, cemetery and parsonage grounds. In 1818 the parsonage
and academy were erected, at an expense, with subsequent additions, of $5,000.
These buildings remained unaltered until 1868, when the church, which had stood
sixty-six years, was enlarged and rebuilt, retaining only the frame and floor of
the old building; The capacity of the church was increased to 100 pews, and a
recess chancel added. The cost of rebuilding and furnishing, including stained
glass windows, new bell, furnace, etc. (completed in 1870), was about $18,000.
The entire indebtedness above the subscriptions was canceled in 1873.

During its history of nearly 60 years as a separate organization this parish
has been under the charge of eight successive rectors. The Rev. Eli Wheeler, who
was assistant minister of St. George’s church, Hempstead, became the first
rector. He was succeeded by Rev. J.P.F. Clarke, who was twice chosen as rector 
(with an interval of five years) and remained in the parish over twenty years. 
The other rectors have been 
Revs. J.F. Phillips, 
M. Marcus, 
Samuel Cox, 
G.W. Porter, 
G.F. Bugbee and the present rector, Rev. James E. Homans.

During the rectorship of Rev Mr. Clarke the chapel at Glen Cove was
established, and it was under his charge from July 1837 to December 1845, when
it became the independent parish of St. Paul’s church. Services were also held
and the chapel erected in Roslyn under the direction of Rev. Mr. Porter and his
successor. This was set apart as a separate parish under the title of Trinity
Church, Roslyn.

Among the statistics of the parish of Christ Church may be mentioned as items
from the church records: Baptisms, 647; confirmations, 272; marriages, 242; deaths
711. The contributions to general, diocesan, and parochial objects have amounted
to about $65,000.

During nearly half a century Christ Church Academy, under the charge of the
rectors, was the principal place of education in this community; and until 1829,
when the public school was established, it was the only place of solid
instruction in the town. An old resident of one of the neighboring towns,
writing recently some personal reminiscences of the parish, says:

"I attended Christ Church Academy the first day it was opened, in 1818.
I heard Rev. Mr. Hart (dressed in black breeches and stockings) preach his
farewell sermon in Christ Church on its separation from Hempstead in 1819. He
wept much. The church bought the land in 1802; and some were for buying a small
piece, just enough to set the church on, but .B.T. (a long headed man) said: ‘Now
is the time to buy all we shall probably need for time to come.’ There were at
that time only two farm-houses at all near the church. In my early days there
was no ‘church-going bell.’ Some one would say, ‘Come, the minister has
gone in.’ Then the people went into church. At the academy a triangle was for
some time in use. The clerk (who sat below the reading desk in an enclosure with
a door) and the sexton were quite dignitaries in those days. The very audible
tones in which the one, responded, and the soft footsteps of the other as he
renewed the fires, are among the memories of my youth."

The parish of Christ Church is one of the most extensive in point of area in
the diocese of Long Island. It covers about fourteen square miles. The
congregation is drawn from the extremities of Great Neck and Cow Neck, eastward
beyond Roslyn and southward as far as Garden City. Two-thirds of its members
come from three to seven miles, and not more than two of its families are within
walking distance. Hence it retains much of the original character and material
of the early churches.

THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, MANHASSET.
Cow Neck and Great Neck (now Manhasset) meeting was started in 1702, when
Thomas Story visited the place. He says: "We went to Great Neck, to the
house of William Mott, a young man lately convinced by the ministry of Thomas
Thompson, where we had a large meeting, there being many other people with us,
and all very sedate." A meeting was settled at his house. Story visited
Mott again in 1704. In 1703 Samuel Bownas had a meeting at Jacob Doughty’s,
Cow Neck, there not having been any there before. A meeting every First-day was
settled at Doughty’s. In 1706 a meeting was kept one First-day at Doughty’s
and the next at Mott’s. In 1708, on Doughty’s removal, the meeting was
appointed at Richard Cornwell’s, and the Sixth-day meeting at William
Hutchings’s, Cow Neck. In 1715 this meeting was transferred from the Flushing
to the Westbury monthly. In 1719 it was concluded to build a meetinghouse at Cow
Neck, the place and dimensions to be left to Joseph Latham, William Hutchings,
James Jackson, William Mott, Jeremiah Williams and Richard Cornwell. In 1722
John Fothergill had a very large meeting; many Friends and others were humbly
affected with his testimony. On the shortest day in the year 1725, it being
snowy and stormy, eighteen persons went, in company with Thomas Chalkley, from
Thomas Pearsall’s, Cedar Swamp, to Cow Neck, where he had a good meeting,
larger than could be expected. They then went to Joseph Latham’s and had a
tender open meeting. In 1737 Chalkley went again to Latham’s. "Our
conversation was pleasant. We remembered our walking to and from school in the
suburbs of London, when we were beaten, stoned and abused for being the children
of Quakers." In 1755 and 1763 the house and stable were repaired. In 1762
Adam Mott was appointed to remove the gravestones and do up the graves of those
who had no relations. In 1780 half an acre of land was bought of Adrian
Onderdonk, the cost of which, with the fence, was 8s. In 1782 the meeting-house
was occupied by the soldiers. Friends applied to Governor Robertson, who ordered
Colonel Wormb to restore it. In 1783 it was again used as a guard-house, and
considerable damage done to the seats and fence.

In 1785 it was proposed to remove the place of worship. In 1786 the Westbury
stove was put up in the Cow Neck meeting-house and more pipe bought, but it did
not answer, and another was bought (1789) for £10 15. 3. In 1788 the
meeting wished a school-house built, the place where the school was then held
being inconvenient. In 1809 it was proposed to set the new meeting-house on
Thomas Appleby’s land, on the Middle Neck road, one hundred rods north from
Appleby’s Corner, as being more central to the Friends; but in 1812 it was
concluded, after long agitation, to put it on the old ground, northeast of the
old house. The dimensions proposed were 38 by 28 feet, and 18 feet posts, and
the estimated expense was $1,250. The building, completed in January 1813, cost
$1,547.25; the old stuff sold for $24.98, so that $272.27 was yet wanting.

At the marriage of Henry Mott and Temperance Hicks the old house was crowded,
and a bench in the gallery broke down with the weight of those standing thereon,
and the crash created a panic.

THE REFORMED CHURCH OF NORTH HEMPSTEAD.
This church, now located at Manhasset, was first organized at Success (now
Lakeville), as the Dutch Reformed Church of Success, April 11th 1730. Half an
acre of land was bought of Martin Wiltse for 25 shillings. Money was subscribed
to the amount of £173 16. for a church building, which was erected in a few
months after the organization (the corner stone is dated 1732). Adrian Onderdonk
and Martin Ryerson were chosen church masters. They allotted seats to the men
for 25 shillings each, and to the women for 20 shillings each. The church
edifice was the largest in Queens county, being 50 by 60 feet, with pyramidal
roof, and was situated in the midst of a settlement of Dutch families including
the Schenks, Onderdonks, Rapelyeas, Bogarts, Rhodeses, Remsens, Van Nostrands,
Brinkerhoffs, Cornells and others. It never had a fireplace or stove except foot
stoves within its walls. The people were accustomed in cold weather to come
early and go to Gilbert Cornell’s, across the road, to warm themselves and
prepare their foot stoves to be carried to the church. In warm weather, between
services, the people would gather under the old white oak (now gone) to eat
their basket dinner.

This church was associated under the same pastoral care with the Reformed
Dutch churches at Newtown, Jamaica and Oyster Bay until 1802, having services
but once a month. From 1802 to 1834 this with the Oyster Bay church constituted
a circuit, having services once in two weeks. Since 1834 it has been a separate
charge, supporting its own pastor and holding weekly services. The churches were
obliged to wait until 1741 for a pastor to come from Holland, when Johannes
Henricus Goetschius became the pastor for the circuit. He remained seven years.
Thomas Romeyn was pastor of the circuit from 1752 to 1758, and Hermanes Van
Boelen from 1766 to 1772. Solomon Froeleigh, noted in later years for seceding
from the denomination, became their pastor in 1775; but, being an ardent Whig,
he was forced by the British and tories to leave after the short pastorate of
fifteen months. The pulpit then remained vacant until 1785, when Rynier Van Nest
became pastor, which position he occupied until 1797. In 1794 Zachariah H.
Kuypers became collegiate minister, and he remained as pastor of the
congregation until 1824. In 1813 the northern part of the congregation withdrew
and organized a separate society at Manhasset, with David S. Bogart as pastor,
he having become collegiate minister that year. The old congregation disbanded
in 1830. The building was sold to Mrs. Maria Hegeman for $290, and taken down
after standing one hundred years.

The new congregation built a church in 1816. Judge Singleton Mitchell, Peter
Onderdonk, and Daniel Brinkerhoff were the building committee. Rev. David S.
Bogart left in 1826 and died in 1839. Henry Hermance was pastor nine months, and
was succeeded by James Otterson, who was pastor from 1827 to 1834. For a more
detailed account of ministers the reader is referred to the history of the
Reformed church of Oyster Bay. After Mr. Otterson left, the church became a
separate charge. Rev. John Robb was the first pastor under the new order, and
remained from 1835 to 1837; Rev. William R. Gordon, 1838-43; Rev. John H.
Sheffield, 1843-46; Rev. James Demarest, 1853-59; Rev. Ira C. Boice, 1859-70;
Rev. William E. Davis, 1871-80; Rev. William H. Stephenson, the present pastor,
came in 1880.

During Mr. Sheffield’s pastorate a Sunday-school of twenty members was
organized, with Warren Mitchell as superintendent. Very little interest in the
subject was then manifested by the members.

WESLEY METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, ROSLYN.
The precise date of the introduction of Methodism al Hempstead Harbor is
unknown. It was probably not many months after the formation of a class in the
Searingtown neighborhood, in 1785. Bishop Asbury visited his locality in 1787.
He writes: "Tuesday May 22 1787, Rode twenty miles (from New York)
on Long Island to Hempstead Harbor, and preached with some liberty in the
evening." Probably this evening service was not in Hempstead Harbor proper,
but in Searingtown, as the house is still standing in which he is known to have
preached. Two days later he made the following entry: "I preached in a
paper-mill, on ‘If any man will do His will he shall know of the doctrine,
whether it be of God." The location of the old paper-mill in Roslyn is well
known. A part of the same building yet remains, near the spot where the bishop
preached.

The following, from the pen of the Rev. Benjamin Abbott, may be taken as
evidence that a Methodist "class" was organized in this neighborhood
previous to 1791. Mr. Abbott was a preacher on the Long Island circuit that
year. He writes: "I went to the paper-mill at Hempstead Harbor, and
preached with great freedom. God attended the word with power, and many wept. I met
class, and had a very precious time."

The Rev. Billy Hibbard, who was circuit preacher in 1801, gives a very
entertaining account of an attempt on the part of a mob to put out the light and
break up a meeting he was holding, and then throw him off the dock into the
water. He overcame by courage and stratagem, and "Esquire Smith"
promptly undertook to humble or punish the offenders. "One," writes
Mr. Hibbard, "came forward and made confession, and promised good behavior
in the future, but the other five ran away, and none knew where to find them.
Thus the persecution ended. We had no more disturbance in Hempstead Harbor."

The oldest record of members extant is a list made in 1806, by the Rev.
Mitchell B. Bull, then a pastor on Long Island circuit. 
The roll contains the following twenty-six names: 
John Searing (class leader), 
David Buck (local preacher), 
Anna Buck, 
Phoebe Craft, 
Elizabeth Rogers, 
Joseph Starkins, 
Sarah Starkins, 
John Davis, 
Anna Davis, 
John Rogers, 
Daniel Seaman, 
Mary Seaman,
George Rogers, 
Margaret Rogers, 
Benjamin Wheatley, 
Catharine Wheatley, 
Nathaniel Brass, 
Catharine Brass, 
Lewis Wilson, 
Lucretia Wilson, 
Lydia Rogers, 
Elizabeth Sniffings, 
Benjamin Valentine, 
Anna Valentine, 
Abigail Brass, 
Catharine Wilson.

So far as known, John Searing was the first class-leader, and David Buck the
first local preacher.

Several names were added to the above roll previous to 1832, but so great
were the losses that at that date the membership numbered 19- less by 7 than it
was twenty-six years earlier.

Previous to 1814 services were held in the paper-mill and in private houses.
A subscription paper bearing date December 12th 1813 was circulated to secure
funds for the building of a meeting-house. The amount subscribed was $616.25.
The subscriptions ranged from twenty-five cents to thirty dollars. 
The following persons contributed each $10 or more: 
John Searing, 
David Buck, 
Samuel Titus, each $30; 
Lewis L. Hewlett, $25; 
James Hewlett, 
Gabriel Lawrence,
John Sands, each $20; 
Robert Glenn, 
Joseph Starkins, each $12; 
Frederick Henderson, 
Daniel Seaman, 
Richard Kirk, 
Thomas Wood, 
Rem Chisshow, 
Benjamin Sands, 
Eliza Corderman, 
Samuel Hewlett, each $10. 
The deed bears date July 20th 1814.

The date of the formal dedication, if indeed there was any, has not been
ascertained. The church was located on its present site, a short distance from
the old paper-mill, and about midway between the present railroad depot and the
North Hempstead turnpike. The building remained unfinished for ten years. By
another subscription paper, dated September 5th 1824, funds were secured to
complete the edifice. This was the first house of worship in Roslyn and the only
one for more than thirty years.

In 1823 this society was styled "Wesley Methodist Episcopal
Church." The oldest trustees’ record which has been preserved (1823)
states that, all the old trustees being dead, a new board was elected, as
follows: 
Joseph Starkins, 
Frederick Henderson, 
Richard Townsend, 
Cornell Denton,
James W. Smith.

James W. Smith was sexton in 1823, receiving a salary of $10 a year. In 1825
it was reduced to $5, and in 1828 this minute appears: "The trustees agreed
to give James W. Smith $5.50 for sextonship."

The following extremely economical figures are an exact copy of a summary of
trustees’ expenses for fifteen consecutive years, including cost of
"firewood, candlelight, cleaning, sweeping and sexton’s fees:"

1823, $15.75; 1824, $18.00; 1825, $15.28; 1826, $19.20; 1827,$14.89; 1828,
$11.50; 1829, $16.45; 1830, $19.55; 1831, $22.25; 1832, $15.00; 1833, $10.15;
1834, $12.10; 1835, $6.75; 1836, $9.25; 1827, $23.48.

A Sunday-school was, organized August 26th 1832, with twenty scholars. In a
few months the number, by weekly accessions, had increased to forty. Moses
Fowler is believed to have been the first superintendent. Noah Bigelow, A. Hulin
and E. Oldrin were the circuit preachers when the first Sunday-school was
formed. During the following year this church was favored with a revival.

In 1843 a parsonage was erected on land adjoining the church plot; Thomas
Wood was the builder.

In 1869 a building committee was appointed, consisting of Rev. T.C. Beach
(pastor), M. Valentine, C. Oakley, W.D. Wilson and W.S. Wilkey, to superintend
the work of enlarging and renovating the church building, which had up to that
time been an "uncomfortable and uncouth affair." Additions were made,
making the church 48 feet long and 25 feet wide.

The reopening services took place Sunday September 19th 1869. Sermons were
preached by Rev. Dr. E.G. Andrews (now bishop), Rev. George Stillman and Rev.
F.P. Tower. The pastor wrote thus for the Christian Advocate: "We
have now a neat and comfortable house of worship, which of itself will give
Methodism a better representation in this village. Through the energy of the
ladies the building has been tastefully furnished. All the members of the
society have given freely toward the enterprise, in which they have been nobly
aided by the people of the village, also by friends in New York, and especially
by a member of one of the Brooklyn churches, now residing with us."

This church has never been financially strong, and has always been a part of
a circuit, sharing with other churches- one or more- in the labors of the
appointed ministers. The following statement will indicate the circuits to which
this Roslyn church has belonged and the pastors, also each preacher’s term of
service, beginning with the date of Bishop Asbury’s preaching in the
paper-mill:

1787-1809, Long Island Circuit.- The preachers were: 
1787, Peter Moriarty; 
1788, Robert Cloud; 
1789, William Phoebus, John Lee; 
1790, David Kendall, William Phoebus, Aaron Hunt (supply); 
1791, William Phoebus, Benjamin Abbott; 
1792, John Ragan, James Boyd; 
1793, Joseph Totten, George Strebeck;
1794, Robert Hutchinson; 
1795, Sylvester Hutchinson, Jacob Rickhow; 
1796, John Clark, Jacob Rickhow, David Buck, Timothy Dewey; 
1797, Joseph Totten, William Phoebus, also _____ Donovan and Ebenezer M’Lane (supplies); 
1798, David Brown, John Wilson; 
1799, James Campbell, John Wilson; 
1800, James Campbell, Samuel Merwin; 
1801, Peter Jayne, Billy Hibbard; 
1802, David Buck, John Finnegan, Sylvester Foster; 
1803, Francis Ward, Sylvester Foster; 
1804, Francis Ward, Henry Eames, Henry Redstone; 
1806, James Coleman, Mitchell B. Bull; 
1807, Luman Andrus, John Kline; 
1808, Nathan Emery, Nehemiah U. Tompkins, Henry Redstone, also William Brown (supply); 
1809, Francis Ward, William Phoebus, Henry Redstone, also John Russell (supply).

1810-25, Jamaica Circuit.- Preachers: 
1810, Francis Ward, also Stephen Richmond and Coles Carpenter (supplies); 
1811, Luman Andrus, Noble W. Thomas, Samuel Bushnell; 
1812, William Thacher, Theodosius Clark; 
1813, Jonathan Lyon, Samuel Bushnell, William Blagborne; 
1814, Smith Arnold, Theodosius Clark;
1815, Joseph Crawford, Benjamin Griffin; 
1816, Thomas Ware, Marvin Richardson;
1817, William Phoebus, James M. Smith, also Nicholas Morris (supply); 
1818, Phineas Rice, Nicholas Morris, 
also Benjamin Griffin and George Coles (supplies); 
1819, Phineas Rice, Noble W. Thomas; 
1820, Samuel Cochran, Noble W. Thomas; 
1820, Samuel Cochran, Samuel D. Ferguson; 
1822, 1823, Elijah Hebard, Horace Bartlett; 
1824, 1825, Jacob Hale, Richard Seaman.

1826-32, Hempstead Circuit.- Preachers: 
1826, Daniel De Vinne, David Holmes, also Bartholomew Creagh and Oliver V. Amerman (supplies); 
1827, D. De Vinne, D; Holmes, B. Creagh; 
1828, Noble W. Thomas, Daniel I. Wright, B. Creagh;
1829, N.W. Thomas, D.I. Wright, Lemuel Green; 
1830, 1831, Jesse Hunts Gershom Pierce, Richard Wymond; 
1832, Noah Bigelow, Alexander Hulin, Edward Oldrin.

1833-41, Huntington Circuit.- Preachers: 
1833, A. Hulin, R. Wymond;
1834, Ira Ferris, Ezra Jagger; 
1835, Ira Ferris, J.B. Matthias; 
1836, J.B. Matthias, James N. Shaffer; 
1837, Jesse Carley, J.N. Shaffer; 
1838, Bezaleel Howe, Paul R. Brown; 
1839, B. Howe, Humphrey Humphreys; 
1840, John Nixon, John A. Edmonds; 
1841, Orlando Starr, J.A. Edmonds.

1842-58, Hempstead Harbor or North Hempstead Circuit.- Preachers:
1842, 1843, Edmund O. Bates; 
1844, Elbert Osborn, also James Sweeney (supply);
1845, Elbert Osborn, Oliver E. Brown; 
1846, 1847, Nathan Rice, Alex. H. Mead;
1848, 1849, Edmund O. Bates, also Robert R. Thompson (supply); 
1850, George Hollis, Henry C. Glover; 
1851, G. Hollis 1852, Henry Hatfield, J.J. Bell; 
1853, Henry Hatfield (supply); 
1854, Joshua L. Burrows; 
1855, 1856, L.B Clark (supply); 
1857, 1858, John S. Haugh.

1859-80, Roslyn and Searingtown Circuit (Manhasset and Port Washington
and Glenwood some time included).-  Preachers: 
1859, 1860, Edward K. Fanning;
1861, 1862, Thomas M. Terry; 
1863, Charles W. Lockwood; 
1864 1865, James L. Hall; 
1866, 1867, Charles Stearns; 
1868, 1869, Theodore C. Beach; 
1870, George Hollis; 
1871, 1872, Miles N. Olmsted; 
1873.75, David McMullen; 
1876, Samuel F. Johnson; 
1877, 1878, Robert P. Christopher; 
1879, William Ross; 1880, Albert A. Lathbury.

Did space permit it would be appropriate to mention some of the most honored
among the founders and supporters of this venerable and useful church. John
Searing, class leader, exhorter, and local preacher, was a "burning and a
shining light." David Buck, for several years an honored and useful
itinerant minister, afterward a local preacher and paper manufacturer, was
abundant in Christian labor, and chief among the apostles of Roslyn Methodism.
To these might be added the names of Joseph Starkins, Cornell Denton, William T.
Hendrickson, Epenetus Oakley, Moses Fowler and many others.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SEARINGTOWN.
When Philip Cox, the first circuit preacher on Long Island, entered upon his
work, in 1784, he found two Methodist societies, one at Newtown (Middle Village)
and one at Comac, with an aggregate membership of 24. The society at Jamaica had
become extinct. Methodism was established in Searingtown under the following
circumstances: "Hannah Searing, an aged and respectable widow lady, opened
her house for preaching, and very many attended until an alarm was sounded that
the false prophets foretold in Scripture had come. The word of truth, however,
did not fall to the ground. Souls were awakened, and a society formed which
remains to this day." Among the persons known to have united in forming
this first class was Albert Van Nostrand, who afterward became a useful and
honored minister of the gospel, and died in 1797.

The oldest known record of the members of this church, made in 1806, contains
the following names: 
Coe Searing (class-leader), 
Mary Searing, 
Hannah Searing,
Jacob Searing, 
Nancy Searing, 
Freelove Searing, 
Abigail Searing, 
Sarah Griswold,
James Beatty, 
Amy Doxcey, 
Anna Bacon, 
Martha Searing.

Bishop Asbury visited Hempstead Harbor in 1787, and preached at that time in
the house owned and occupied by Coe Searing, of Searingtown. The old building
yet stands- a part of the present residence (1881) of a grandson of Coe
Searing, W.C. Williams.

In the early part of the year 1788 the circuit preacher, Rev. Peter Moriarty,
personally superintended the erection of a house of worship for the Searingtown
society, a framed building 34 feet long and 30 feet wide, the second
"meeting-house" (they were so styled in those days) erected by the
denomination on Long Island; since the destruction of the original Middle
Village church building it is known as the oldest Methodist church on the
island. The land for the church, "sixty feet deep and fifty feet wide,
on the north side of the road which leads from the plains to Searingtown,"
was given by Jacob Searing, the nominal price being one shilling. The deed bears
date May 4th 1788, and the original trustees named therein were Coe Searing,
Jacob Searing jr., and Daniel Searing jr.

The life of Rev. Benjamin Abbott contains the following account of that
celebrated preacher’s first visit to this place in 1791: "I went to
Sister Searing’s (an old widow woman in Searingtown), and preached in the
meeting house to a very attentive congregation, and met class. The members spoke
of the dealings of God to their souls, and I was happy. Mr. G’s daughter
(probably Griswold) asked me to preach at her father’s. Thanked her and told
her to have it given out in four weeks."

In 1842 Rev. E.O. Bates was preacher in charge of the circuit including
Searingtown. He found the building in a dilapidated condition. Up to that time
it had not been lathed or plastered. Before the unpainted ceiling had been
nailed to its place, in 1788, the workmen had walked on the boards with bare
feet, and there were the mud stains, the prints of their feet plainly visible
after the lapse of fifty-four years. Not a few yet call to mind their childish
wonder at the strange power of the man who could have walked on the ceiling,
head downward, with bare feet! The pulpit reached almost to the ceiling, the
room was dark and cheerless, and the fence was out of repair. Mr. Bates refused
to preach in the church while it remained in that condition. The frame was then
stripped and re-covered, and the people of Searingtown rejoiced that their old
building was made new. The preacher engaged for the dedication failing to
appear, Rev. Mr. Bates preached from the words - "Lord, I have loved the
habitation of thy house, the place where thine honor dwelleth." The expense
of rebuilding was provided for by the contributions made on that occasion.

Besides the addition of a porch a few years since there has been no increase
of the original size of the building. An organ was introduced into the church
not many years ago, and later still new seats of modern and improved style were
purchased and good horse-sheds built. The first sheds were erected on land
bought for that purpose in 1852. The church was reseated under Rev. Mr. McMullen’s
administration.

About 1834 Miss Ruth Searing, seeing the children neglected, gathered them
together Sabbath afternoons for religious instruction. There was until recent
years no formal or permanent establishment of a Sunday-school. The pastor in
1860 reported to the quarterly conference "a small Sunday-school in
Searingtown." In 1862 the report was "no Sunday-school, for
want of children." Later a Sunday-school session has been regularly
maintained, Thomas E. Pearsall being elected superintendent from year to year.

An old record shows that in 1843 the number of members was thirteen, one more
than in 1806. It further states that the entire amount to be raised on the
circuit during the year for the preachers was $592, of which Searingtown was 
to pay $47.

The earliest pastoral record of Long Island circuit is as follows: Philip Cox
traveled the circuit in 1784; Ezekiel Cooper in 1785; Thomas Ware in 1786; Pete
Moriarty in 1787. Thomas S. Chew was presiding elder in 1785, John Tunnell in
1786, Thomas Foster in 1787. The preachers thenceforward are the same as those
of the Roslyn Methodist Episcopal church.

On the tombstones in the burial ground connected with this church one may
read the names of the godly men and women who were the founders of this society.
Here also repose the mortal remains of two eminent ministers, David Buck and
Richard Seaman.

A large proportion of the Searingtown church is corn posed of descendants of
the Searings and others who were members in earlier years, although it is
noticeable that the name Searing, which occurs in the old list so frequently,
has disappeared. These Searingtown Methodists exhibit many of the admirable
traits of their fore fathers- intelligence, thrift, economy, simplicity and
piety. One service a week, on Sabbath afternoon, preceded by a Sunday-school
session, satisfies the demand of this scattered congregation, but these services
are usually well attended. They are conducted by the ministers of the Roslyn and
Searingtown circuit, residing in the parsonage at Roslyn.

The reader is referred to Warriner’s forthcoming "Cyclopedia of Long
Island Methodism" for a full and accurate biographical record of the
pastors and members of this church.

AFRICAN M.E. ZION CHURCH, LAKEVILLE.
This society was formed in the year 1821, with Rev. William Carman as pastor.
Moses Coss, Jacob Mastias, Henry Chappell and others were the worshipers. They
then met at the house of Moses Coss, at Little Neck, and in 1829 moved their
place of meeting to his new house at Success. In 1833 the society bought land
and erected a frame building convenient for worship. At this time a number of
members were added, increasing the membership to 35. William Carman was still
pastor, but soon died, and was succeeded by his assistant, George Treadwell.

There have been about twenty pastors in all. The present church membership is
40. The value of the church property is $2,000. The trustees are T. Treadwell,
S.E. Smith, Edward Smith, Stephen Smith and George B. Smith, the assistant
pastor.

The Sunday-school was organized in August 1869, with Richard Schenck
superintendent. The school has 50 pupils.

There is another small African M.E. church at Roslyn, also a negro Baptist
church at Westbury.

PORT WASHINGTON METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
The oldest record of Methodism in this vicinity is found in the old Hempstead
circuit record (August 1832), when "Cow Neck" was included as a
preaching place on the circuit, the preachers being N. Bigelow, H. Hulin and E.
Oldrin. Two dollars was the amount of the first payment of "quarterage,"
and William Wood was the man by whom it was collected. About the same date the
record of a class at Cow Neck was made in the membership list of Hempstead
circuit, consisting of Daniel Wanzer, Alexander Smith, Ann Baxter and Leonard
Wanzer. This little company was soon scattered.

A second effort to establish a Methodist society here, in 1843, is thus
narrated by Rev. E.O. Bates: "With brother E. Oakley, a member of the
Roslyn church, we visited Manhasset Bay (now Port Washington), and held meetings
weekly at the house of Mr. Mackey (James M). His house soon became too small. On
invitation of Captain Peck, of the steamer plying between that place and New
York, we occupied the saloon until the close of their visits. We then removed to
the house of Mr. Moore. A revival was enjoyed. Over 30 professed conversion. I
organized a class, and brother Mackey was the principal man. The preachers met
the class." This year (1843) the eleven members comprising this class were
to pay $25, their portion of the $592 "allowance" to the preachers on
the circuit, as "quarterage" and "table expenses."

Ere long this new society became extinct. Rev. George Hollis, thus describes
its permanent reorganization: "Before I left the North Hempstead circuit,
in 1852, about the last thing I instituted meetings, and organized a class in
Port Washington (Cow Bay). Perhaps there had been something before; it was a new
departure. I appointed an old captain class leader." This was doubtless
Captain James M. Mackey, mentioned above. Captain Mackey died in 1854, and the
little society, though it continued to exist, with occasional meetings, was in a
languishing state.

It is reported that when the "Congregational, Methodist" society
was organized, in 1858, some friends of the original Methodists (rude and
ungodly though they were) in a sort of partisan zeal determined that the old
Methodists of the regular order should have a chance to hold their own against
what was taken to be an effort to supersede them. To do this they must have a
preacher. Whereupon, they contributed toward the expense of procuring the
services of the circuit preacher from Roslyn, Rev. John S. Haugh. A protracted
meeting was held in the school-house, continuing two months, with very marked
success. Among the sixty converts were thirty married persons, including some of
the most talented and influential people in the place, and many who had been
notoriously addicted to Sabbath-breaking, gambling, profanity, and other forms
of vice. Mr. Haugh wrote to the Christian Advocate that previous to the
revival the village had been noted for wickedness; there were only six Episcopal
Methodists, and only now and then a preaching service. The amount paid for
preaching advanced at once from nothing to $400 a year. A church building
enterprise was commenced, which resulted in the building of the "Union Free
Chapel" in which the Methodists as well as other denominations, worshiped
till 1871.

It is stated on the authority of Warren S. Weeks that a little neighborhood
Sunday-school, claimed by no particular denomination, was held in the
school-house during the summer months for a number of years. Later (1859) a
"union mission Sunday-school" was organized largely sustained by the
Episcopal Methodists, and super intended, successively, by Henry Baxter (a
Baptist), William B. Mackey, Warren S. Weeks, W.H. McKee, James E. Bird and
Edward M. Weeks. About 1872 the school being practically a Methodist
institution, it was so recognized by vote, and it has continued to meet on
Sabbath afternoons in the union chapel, superintended by E.M. Weeks and Charles
E. Surdam.

In 1871, R.P. Christopher pastor, a church was built too far from the center
of the village to be convenient, but on a most commanding site, the land having
been contributed by Charles W. Mitchell. The church, a chaste and beautiful
edifice, with all its appointments, furniture, carpets, heater, lamps, bell,
cushions, books, etc., was the gift of John Wesley Harper, eldest son of John
Harper, of Harper Brothers. It is 39 feet wide and 5 feet long, with a tower 63
feet high. The sides are low, and the roof rises in good proportions. Its style
is the old English rural, allied to the gothic, and the windows are of stained
glass. It was dedicated November 19th 1871, by Bishop Ames, Rev. H.F. Pease and
others participating in the services, and Rev. Charles Fletcher preached in the
evening. The sermons were eloquent and powerful.

A beautiful parsonage, in a central and pleasant location, was purchased in 1874.

The pastors from the origin of the society till 1870 were the same as those
of Roslyn Methodist Episcopal church, and for subsequent years the list is as
follows: 
1870, P.W. Howe (supply); 
1871-73, R.P. Christopher (supply); 
1874, Charles Backman; 
1875, 1876, William H. McAllister; 
1877, William J. Robinson;
1878, 1879, E. Watt; 
1880, H.S. Still; 
1881, F.G. Howell.

The membership, including probationers, is 97. The church property (1881) is
valued at $9,000. The amount paid in 1880 for ministerial service, exclusive of
house rent, was $829.

The church purposes building a new Sunday-school room.

TRINITY CHURCH (EPISCOPAL), ROSLYN.
The corner stone for a building was laid by the bishop of the diocese as far
back as 1835, but nothing further seems to have been done at that time toward
its erection. Mission services were held in the place with more or less
regularity up to 1862, when through the kindly interest and generosity of Mrs.
A.E. Cairns a lot was procured and the present building erected, under the
supervision and management of the rector and vestry of Christ Church at
Manhasset. The building was consecrated by Bishop Potter, of New York, December
5th 1862, and designated as Christ Church Chapel. In June 1869 it was organized into a 
separate parish and called Trinity Church, with the Rev. S.A. McNulty as the first rector. 
A comfortable rectory has since been erected on the church lot, which is situated in 
one of the pleasantest spots in the village. The property is valued at $6,000. The 
rectors have been as follows:
Rev. S.A. McNulty, from June 1869 to March 1873; 
Rev. Charles Pelletreau, from April 1873 to May 1875; 
Rev. James W. Sparks, from November 1875 to November 1878; 
Rev. William P. Brush, since May 1880.

ST. BRIDGET’S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.
St. Bridget’s church is situated near Westbury station, on a farm
containing 120 acres, owned by Bishop Loughlin. The building was dedicated by
Bishop Loughlin on the 27th of July 1856, and was the second Catholic church
built east of Brooklyn. Father McGinnis was the pastor. The congregation at that
time numbered about 300, coming from Little Neck, Manhasset, Port Washington,
Roslyn, Glen Cove, Cold Spring, Huntington, Babylon, as far west as Rockaway,
and from intermediate places.

Rev. James O’Donnell held the first mass in these parts about 1840, at the
residence of Bernard Powers, now Thomas White’s, near the insane asylum. The
congregation consisted of Mr. and Mrs. B. Powers, James Sweeney, Patrick Grady,
and three children who were baptized. Previous to building the church, services
were held the first Sunday in each month at Bernard Powers’s, then one and a
half miles east of Hempstead village. Since building the church, services have
been held every Sunday. Those who have officiated here are the Revs. Edward
McGinnis, Arthur Fearly, Father Kelly, and Revs. James McEnroe, Eugene McShery,
and P. Kearney, the present incumbent.

ROSLYN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
In the autumn of 1849 Mrs. James Losee, seconded by other members of her
family, took the first steps toward the establishment of a Presbyterian church
in Roslyn, the first sermon being preached on the 26th of October of that year,
by the Rev. Franklin Merrill, who conducted the services for some months,
occasionally assisted by the Rev. Mr. Graves, a Congregational minister located
at Hempstead. The meetings were held in the academy building, the free use of
which was given by H.W. Eastman, until the latter part of January 1851, when
they were moved to a room near where the church now stands, owned and offered
free of charge by Mr. Pinkney. The meetings continued to be held in this room
until the completion of the present church.

At first the meetings were held on a week day evening, but they were soon
changed to Sabbath afternoon and during the summer of 1850 to Sabbath morning,
and they have so continued, with an additional service in afternoon or evening
and sometimes a prayer meeting during the week.

The first meeting of the congregation for the purpose of becoming a corporate
body was held in the academy building Thursday evening January 24th 1850. The
corporators organized under the name of the Roslyn Presbyterian Association, and
Messrs., James Losee, Stephen A. Ketcham, James W. Smith, Joseph J. Hegeman and
Franklin Merrill were appointed trustees, Mr. Ketcham being elected permanent
clerk and Mr. Losee treasurer. The proceedings of this meeting were duly
recorded in the county clerk’s office, and thereafter meetings were regularly
held and the minutes kept by the permanent clerk. There was no ecclesiastical
organization until May 1851, when a committee of the Presbytery of Long Island,
consisting of the Rev. Messrs. James McDougall, N.C. Locke and Franklin Merrill,
met at Roslyn for the purpose of organizing a Presbyterian church. On the day
first appointed, the weather being very stormy, the Rev. N.C. Locke preached a
sermon and the committee postponed the other exercises until the next Sabbath,
which was the last in May. On that day, as no other members of the committee
were present, the Rev. Mr. Merrill proceeded to complete the organization. The
following persons were received and declared members of the church: James W.
Smith, Maria Losee, Elizabeth Ketcham and Elizabeth Losee. James W. Smith was
chosen and ordained as ruling elder, and served in that capacity until the time
of his death, in January 1879.

After the organization the Presbyterian association transferred all its books
and property to the Presbyterian church and congregation, and the following
persons were chosen as trustees: James Losee, Daniel Brinkerhoff, S.A. Ketcham,
Joseph J. Hegeman, Henry W. Eastman and Caleb Kirby.

Immediately after the incorporation measures were taken to raise funds for
erecting a church edifice, and the foundation was laid that fall. About $1,000
was subscribed in Roslyn and vicinity, the balance being donated by the
Presbyteries of New York and Long Island, the churches of Newtown, Jamaica,
Hempstead, Babylon, Huntington, Sag Harbor, East Hampton and Southampton, and at
the time of the laying of the corner stone and the dedication, the entire cost
of the building and lot was $1,900; $170 being afterward raised in Roslyn for
the purchase of a bell.

Rev. Franklin Merrill continued in charge of the church until June 1853. His
salary was at the rate of $150 per year.

From that time until May 1854 Rev. H.B. Burr and others conducted the
services. Rev. Samuel R. Ely, D.D., then became the stated supply, and so
continued until the spring of 1870.

In the spring of 1853 a Sabbath-school was established, but it was only kept
up for a few months. In May 1854 William S. Ely and Samuel R. Ely jr.
reorganized the school, which has, with the exception of the winter of 1854 and
1855, continued in a flourishing condition.

In August 1858 Mrs. W.C. Bryant, the wife of the poet, was baptized and
admitted into the fellowship of the church.

Rev. W.W. Kirby supplied the pulpit from spring of 1870 until July 12th 1871,
when Rev. Charles R. Strong was unanimously called as the first installed pastor
of the church.

The report of the church to the General Assembly in May 1872, showed a
membership of 45 and a Sabbath-school attendance of 75.

On July 12th 1873 the session passed resolutions of sorrow for the death of
Rev. Samuel R. Ely, D.D., who had been for 17 years the stated supply to this
church, all of that time devoting himself to the interests of the church without
receiving any regular salary.

During the summer and autumn of 1874 the Rev. Mr. Cate supplied the pulpit,
the pastor being in Europe on account of ill health. During the spring of 1877,
for the same reason, the pastor was absent, the pulpit being supplied by the
Rev. Mr. Jefferson. On the 27th of July 1877 the Rev. Mr. Strong resigned the
pastorate. From December 19th 1877 the Rev. Charles S. Symington was pastor
until June 22nd 1879, when he resigned to accept another call. The Rev. Dr.
Buchanan and others supplied the pulpit until January 1881, when Rev. George S.
Payson, son of Rev. E.H. Payson, of the Presbytery of Utica was unanimously
called, and on the 2lst of April 1881 he was duly installed as pastor.

The membership at this time was about 65, with an average attendance, at
morning service, of 50, and a Sabbath-school with over 60 on its roll.

CATHOLIC CHURCH, MANHASSET.
The Catholic church here was dedicated October 14th 1857, and the society is
the parent of the Roslyn church. It is ministered to by the pastor of the Roslyn
church.

THE FREE CHURCH, PORT WASHINGTON.
About the year 1859 a meeting of inhabitants of school districts No. 4 and 5
decided to build a free church. At that meeting trustees were elected and a
subscription list started. The land was given by Henry Cock, with a stipulation
that it should be free to all Protestant Christian denominations. The whole cost
of the building was $2,000.

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, ROSLYN.
Previous to the establishment of a parish, from 1866 to 1871, Roslyn was
attended from Manhasset by Rev. I.A. Strain, who said mass for the people in
John Campbell’s’ house. In June 1871 Rev. William O’Donnell, who was
appointed pastor, built a humble wooden building, in which he said mass until
his death in November of the following year. He left a reminder of his labors in
a new brick church, of gothic style, 95 feet long by 45 feet wide. Rev. B.F.
Sheridan, a Jesuit, succeeded him on the 15th of November 1872. During his
pastorate he fitted up the basement of the church, where he held services. In
May 1876 he was transferred to the new church at Great Neck, a section taken off
Manhasset. He was succeeded in the same month by the present incumbent, Rev. M.C.
Brennan, from St. Mary’s Immaculate Conception, Brooklyn, E.D., where he had
for five years acted as assistant. During his first two years at Roslyn he
completed the church up stairs, at an expense of $4,200, to which the members of
other churches in the place contributed generously. The church was dedicated
June 23d 1878. It still needs about $3,000 expended to make its architectural
designs complete, though it is now considered the finest Catholic church on Long
Island outside of Brooklyn. Thirty years ago the first Catholic, a domestic in
the home of a lady who is now an honored great-grandmother, came to Roslyn to
live. The Catholic community in Roslyn at present numbers about 500.

GREAT NECK METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
The church edifice is located on the Flushing and North Hempstead turnpike,
about midway between the Great Neck railroad station and Manhasset village, on
one of the highest inhabited portions of Long Island. The erection of a house of
worship in this place was accomplished in 1872, solely by the munificence of
Joseph S. Spinney, then engaged as a commission merchant at 47 Exchange place,
New York, and residing at "Forest Grove," on the Great Neck shore of
Manhasset Bay. Mr. and Mrs. Spinney had been induced to establish a temporary
residence in. this place, in the hope of finding the country air favorable to
the health of their little child. The child died, but although the parents moved
hither for its sake alone they had now become so attached to their country home
that they determined to remain.

The Methodist Episcopal church, the denomination to which Mr. Spinney
belonged, had up to this time obtained no place or influence in this community.
Great Neck and Manhasset had been visited in previous years by Methodist
preachers, but they had left no visible or permanent impression. For a
considerable time Mr. Spinney worshiped with a feeble society of Methodists in
their chapel at Little Neck, and greatly aided and cheered that needy church.
Desirous also of accomplishing good nearer home, he and his father-in-law, L.B.
Loder, with occasional assistance from others, conducted prayer and praise
meetings, which were largely attended, in the Great Neck union chapel, and in
the town hall at Manhasset. The good effect produced by these meetings upon many
who were not regular attendants at any place of worship convinced Mr. Spinney
that there was room in this community for a Methodist Episcopal church, and real
need of the work which such a church could accomplish. Accordingly he proceeded
at once to provide a house of worship for a church that was to be. Having
purchased a large portion of the celebrated "Ben. Wood property," he selected about 
four acres on a delightful eminence as the site for a church and parsonage.

Rev. John Pilkington was appointed pastor, having been transferred from the
Wyoming to the New York East conference. Mr. Spinney paid him a salary, and
intrusted him with a general oversight of the enterprise. Mundell & Teckritz,
of Brooklyn, were employed as architects; J.M. Carpenter, of Great Neck, as
builder of the church, and Samuel Travers, of Port Washington as builder of the
parsonage. The work was commenced in June 1872.

It betokened great faith as well as great generosity on the part of Mr.
Spinney to provide, at large expense, complete appliances for a church while as
yet there was no church organization and but few who might be expected to unite
in forming one.

When completed the church building was very much admired. It is 66 feet long
by 34 feet wide, with bell-tower and spire. The windows are of stained glass,
beautiful in shape and tastefully ornamented. The edifice was dedicated on
Sunday morning October 6th 1872, by Bishop Simpson. He preached on the occasion
an eloquent sermon from the words "I will make the place of my feet
glorious." The discourse was stenographically reported, and published in
the Christian Advocate. The singing at these services were conducted by
the choir of the Hanson Place Methodist Episcopal Church, Brooklyn.

In the afternoon of the same day a Sabbath-school was organized, consisting
of twenty-five scholars and seven teachers. Lewis B. Loder was then elected
superintendent, and he has continued in that office to the present time (1881).

At a meeting held in the church edifice October 21st 1872, "The Great
Neck Methodist Episcopal Church" was by vote adopted as the corporate name
of the organization. L.B. Loder, J.M. Pray, J.E. Hicks, J.M. Carpenter and
Edward H. Dodge were elected as the first board of trustees, and a proper
certificate was filed in the county clerk’s office.

The church was thus incorporated, but had no actual membership until November
3d, 1872, when, on the occasion of the first communion service, certificates of
removal were presented by some thirteen persons, and the names of two
probationers were taken, whereby a small society was formed. Their names were as
follows: Full members, Joseph S. Spinney, Emily A. Spinney, Lewis B. Loder,
Catharine A. Loder, Joseph M. Pray, Mary B. Pray, Kate C. Baker, Park Brewster,
Daniel D. Gordon, Mary A. Gordon, Mrs. John Pilkington, Emma Skidmore;
probationers, James M. Carpenter, Richard I. Pray.

As soon as the organization was effected the entire property (including land,
completely furnished church and parsonage, barn, sheds and other buildings, paid
up policy insuring the buildings for five years, organ, communion service and
Sunday-school library) was presented to the Great Neck Methodist Episcopal
Church by Mr. Spinney and his wife, subject to the conditions that it should be
used for M.E. church purposes and that the seats in the church edifice should be
free. The bills on file show the cost to have been about $21,000.

The first board of stewards was appointed December 1st 1872, viz.: 
J.S. Spinney, 
L.B. Loder, 
J.M. Pray, 
J.M. Carpenter, 
J.E. Hicks, 
D.D. Gordon. 
The first class leader was Charles H. Colby. The first chorister was L.B. Loder; 
the first organist, Mrs. D.S. Skidmore; the first sexton, Charles Valentine.

Four pastors have served this church to date. Rev. John Pilkington was the
stationed preacher three years (1872-74). His name is pleasantly associated with
the origin of this church. He labored with energy for the accomplishment of a
work which was evidently dear to his heart. He left, at the expiration of his
term, as the result of a faithful improvement of an excellent opportunity, a
beautiful church property, a prosperous Sunday-school and a growing membership.

Rev. Charles Backman was pastor three years (1875-77). He witnessed an
extensive revival of religion in the congregation, and rejoiced in a large
accession to the church.

Rev. Marcus D. Buell was the conference preacher for one year (1878). Mr.
Buell’s excellent sermons were greatly appreciated. His instructions to the
young people in vocal music, and his little paper, Pastor and People, printed
at the parsonage and issued monthly, were notable features of his brief
administration. An opportunity offered to visit Europe and the East, and he left
the charge in the spring of 1879.

Rev. Edwin Warriner is pastor at the date of this writing (February 1881), having 
been in charge nearly two years (1879, 1880)- a pleasant and prosperous term.

The pastor’s salary has uniformly been estimated at $1,000, but the actual
receipts have exceeded that amount.

Some notable facts appertaining to this church are:

1. Its singular and providential origin, as chronicled above. The late Rev.
Dr. Dashiell, in a sermon to this people some years ago, founded upon the words
"And a little child shall lead them," discoursed feelingly and beautifully concerning 
the circumstances which led to the founding of this church.

2. Remarkable growth; beginning with a membership of 13 in a sparsely
populated place, it increased in numbers tenfold in less than five years.

3. Eminent visitors. On important occasions, such as missionary days and
anniversaries of the dedication, the worshipers on this hill-top have been
permitted to listen to some of the most eloquent and distinguished preachers of
the denomination. Some of these are Bishops Foster, Gilbert Haven, Wiley, Foss
and Hurst, and Doctors Dashiell, Crooks, Reid, Newman, DeHaas, Kidder, Hunt and
Fowler. Few audiences in the country chapels have been so highly favored.

4. Extraordinary interest in the Sunday-school. The superior blackboard
illustrations by D. S. Skidmore, S.E. Warren and others have aided greatly in
the teaching of the Word. All observers agree that it would be difficult to find
in any other Sabbath-school such lifelike and beautiful representations of
scripture scenes, illustrating the lessons, as are prepared for this school by
the assistant superintendent, Mr. Warren.

At each Christmas anniversary Mr. Spinney has distributed hundreds of dollars
worth of presents to the members and friends of the school. He has also each
year paid the entire expense of a first-class Sabbath-school picnic, furnishing
ice cream, band of music, etc. The monthly "children’s meetings,"
held Sabbath evenings, have attracted large numbers of people, many attending
from a distance of several miles.

The Sunday-school in the first year or two reached a membership of 175, which
it still retains.

5. Wise financial management. No bills remain long unpaid. The accounts have
shown a balance in the treasury at the close of each year. Two church fairs
netted respectively $1,200 and $400. Besides giving due attention to repairs and
improvements, the Ladies’ Aid Society has accumulated a fund for the erection
of a chapel and Sunday-school building.

6. Benevolent contributions. While Mr. Spinney has largely supplemented his
original offering by his constant and systematic support of the various
interests of this church, the people have been schooled in the principles and
practice of Christian benevolence, and they have not forgotten the sentiment,
"Freely ye have received, freely give." Mr. Spinney adds dollar for
dollar to the collections taken in this church for benevolent objects. In the
average amount per member contributed to the various benevolent enterprises of
the denomination this has been the leading Methodist church in Queens county,
and among the foremost in the New York East Conference. The annual offering for
missions has been as large as $500.

7. Complete harmony and fellowship with Christians of other denominations.

At a meeting of the members and friends interested in "the Great Neck
Methodist Episcopal Church," held in their house of worship on the morning
of December 25th 1879, a preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted,
thanking Mr. Spinney for his benefactions to Methodism at Great Neck. This
testimonial was written by Rev. E. Warriner, beautifully engrossed by S.E.
Warren, and elegantly framed, embellished with beautiful emblems and
illustrations, including a picture of the church and parsonage. It was signed by
Rev. E. Warriner, pastor; C.R. Disosway, J.E. Hicks and H.J. Combs, on behalf of
the church and Sabbath-school, and J.B. Hill, C.M. Fletcher and C.W. Rogers, on
behalf of friends.

THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF PORT WASHINGTON.
Meetings were started here April 22nd 1873, the result of which was
the formation, on September 14th, of a regular Baptist church. Rev. J.D. Fulton,
D.D., preached the sermon on the day of organization.

The original members were 
Andrew Van Pelt, 
John C. Jones, 
George Fleet, 
Jacob Pierce, 
Dr.____ Hall, 
James E. Bird, 
Eliza D. Bird, 
Jane Van Pelt, 
Martha Fleet and Jane Scott. 
George Fleet and Andrew Van Pelt were chosen deacons, and James E. Bird clerk.

The Sunday-school was organized in June 1873, with 65 members.

In 1875 the church had increased its membership to 35,and the Sunday-school
its membership to 125. The church has since declined to a membership of 17. The
Rev. Nelson Palmer served as pastor from October 1873 to January 1875; Uriah B.
Gurscard, from January 1875 to May 1875; James T. Carr, from May 1875 to June
1876; and Duncan Young, from October 1877 to June 1879.

The church has never owned any real, estate and has held its services in the
free church. The Sunday-school was organized in the old school-house, but the
services were held after the first year in the church.

ST. ALOYSIUS CATHOLIC CHURCH, GREAT NECK.
The edifice of this name was built in 1876, being dedicated May 20th of that
year. About 200 regular members attend. Rev. P.F. Sheridan, the first pastor,
was in charge three years, and was succeeded by Rev. E.J. Smith, the present
incumbent, whose charge commenced April 25th 1880. This is the first Catholic
church built in this part of the island. It is a neat little church in the
gothic style, situated about 200 feet from the main road and a mile from the
railroad depot. The value of the church is estimated at $8,000. The pastor has
recently built a parsonage. The Sunday-school is in charge of some of the young
ladies of the parish, the pastor being the superintendent. About 60 pupils
attend Sunday after Sunday, and the strictest order and discipline are
preserved. This church is destined to be one of the most attractive of its kind
on the island, as far as art and piety can make it so.

WESTBURY UNION SUNDAY-SCHOOL.
About twenty years ago a Sabbath-school was organized at Westbury. It
continued to be held during the summer seasons with varying success. It was
superintended first by S.P. Titus. July 1st 1875 it was opened as a union
school. Among those prominent and very helpful was Albert W. Hendrickson, who
had for years been an earnest worker in Sabbath-schools; and to him and other
interested friends the school owes a debt of gratitude for much pecuniary aid.
I.C. Titus, who suggested the organization, acted as superintendent for some
time. There are at present about 40 pupils. Miss Henrietta Titus is the
superintendent.

OLD FAMILIES AND PROMINENT INDIVIDUALS.
T.W. ALBERTSON.

Thomas W. Albertson, son of Benjamin Albertson, was born March 26th 1813, in
the town of North Hempstead, and resided in the town most of his life. His
father was a farmer, but filled some of the important offices of the town,
serving as supervisor, trustee of the Jones fund, etc. Thomas W. devoted his
life entirely to the farm. He was married May 30th 1846 to Miss Harriet
Townsend, of Cedar Swamp, in the town of Oyster Bay. They removed the following
year to the farm at the village of Mineola, opposite the present Queens County
Agricultural Society’s grounds, where the family have since resided. Since
that time all the present farm buildings have been erected and the many other
improvements made. Mr. Albertson was a man of integrity, a man of thought,
active and successful in his chosen avocation. He was among the first in his
section to introduce from the city the use of brewers’ grains for feeding
stock. His mind had an inventive turn, which he utilized in many ways on the
farm, one of which was the erection of the wind grist-mill.

Mr. Albertson died May 6th, 1874, leaving four children, viz.
Townsend, Alice, Ethelena T. and Thomas W. jr. Townsend resides on a farm about
three miles north of the homestead. The others of the family, including the
mother, reside on the homestead.

Mrs. Albertson was born September 28th 1820, and is a daughter of Hewlett
Townsend. Her father owned and resided on the farm at Cedar Swamp on which the
Glen Head depot now stands. The farm descended to him by inheritance, though his
father, Timothy, from hi grandfather Richard Townsend 2nd, who purchased it in
1717. (Richard 2nd was a son of the original Richard Townsend mentioned in the
history of Oyster Bay). Mrs. Albertson’s father was an Episcopalian, and her
mother a Friend. She united with the Reformed (Dutch) church at Brookville,
October 5th 1844, and on coming to Mineola after her marriage united with the
Presbyterian church at Hempstead.

JOHN M. CLARK.
3
John M. Clark is one of the best known and most popular men in Queens county.
His father was James Clark, a native of Scotland, who emigrated to New York when
quite young. He had gone to sea when little more than a mere lad, and had even
then visited remote parts of the world. He was for some time in the employ of
the late John Jacob Astor in the East India trade. Later he was chiefly
instrumental in establishing the Havre line of packets between New York and
Havre, France, and he was prominently connected with this line until his
retirement from active business life. He died in November 1835. Mr. Clark’s
mother, whose maiden name was Mary McKie, was a daughter of John McKie, then a
prominent business man of New York in the lumber and timber trade. She survived
her husband only about a year and a half.

Mr. Clark was born in New York, January 1st 1821. He attended the public
schools in New York, and later was a student at the grammar school at New
Brunswick, New Jersey, connected with Rutgers College; but abandoned his studies
there about the time of his father’s death and entered, as a clerk, the
shipping house of Boyd & Hincken, agents for the Havre line. Later he was
for a time employed with his uncle in the lumber and timber business in the then
upper part of New York city. In 1840 he removed to Great Neck village, where he
resided and was connected with James Udall in the lumber business till 1849,
when he moved on to his present farm, which he had purchased the previous year.

In 1849 Mr. Clark married Miss Matilda S. Udall, of Great Neck, who is living
and in the enjoyment, in common with their household, of the elegant and
hospitable home which Mr. Clark has made for them. Mr. and Mrs. Clark have two
children- Mary C. (now Mrs. Julian A. Udall) and Richard U.

In 1854 Mr. Clark was elected supervisor, and he is now serving his
nineteenth term as the incumbent of that office, the duties of which he
faithfully and satisfactorily performed during the exacting period of the late
civil war. He has several times been chosen chairman of the Queens County Board
of Supervisors. In 1881 he consented to become a nominee for the responsible
office of county treasurer.

His connection with the Republican party dates back to the Fremont campaign
of 1856, and he has ever been an active, earnest, conscientious and liberal
abettor of its principles and measures; and so great is the public estimation of
his probity that he enjoys the respect of his fellow citizens of whatever
political affiliation. He is a director of the Glen Cove Mutual Insurance
Company, and has long been a trustee and is now president of the Roslyn Savings
Bank.

Mr. Clark’s father’s family were members of the Reformed Church, the
services of which he early attended. His simplicity of character and dislike of
all religious ostentation have led him to the Society of Friends, upon the
ministrations of whose preachers he and his household attend, though he is a
liberal contributor to the support of all of the churches in his vicinity as
occasion may seem to offer.

ISAAC E. HAVILAND.

The person who acquaints himself with the history of Queens county will
assign to Isaac E. Haviland a place among its representative men. His birthplace
was Chestnut Ridge, Dutchess county, N.Y., where he was born June 26th 1803. His
ancestors, who were English were for several generations classed among the
substantial farmers of the county. His father, Eleazer Haviland, was a minister
of acknowledged ability in the Hicksite order of the Society of Friends.

After completing his education at Providence, R.I., Mr. Haviland spent his
time in performing the duties and enjoying the pleasures of home life until his
marriage to Ruth, daughter of Stephen Titus and niece of Samuel Titus, to whom,
he being childless, she was as a daughter. Their ancient homestead, situated at
Hempstead Harbor, became his home in 1828. Here he resided, surrounded by all
the pleasant and enchanting attachments which the possession of ancestral
inheritance can bring.

In person he was tall, noble and commanding, with an attractive and cheerful
face, which betokened the genial soul within and the generous heart, ever ready
to aid with sympathy or more substantial comfort. Possessing many of the
qualities necessary to a leading public character, he was often able to guide
and direct where he had not the power to control. His learning, his ready
judgment and his clear perception, joined to an affable and engaging demeanor,
made up for certain elements of character which enable others to attain a higher
popularity; while the possession of those solid qualities which always command
respect enabled him to leave perhaps a more enduring impression upon the
community under his influence. His merits were appreciated and honored by his
appointment, May 12th 1843, by Governor William C. Bouck, and his reappointment,
March 20th 1846, by Governor Silas Wright, to the office of first judge of
Queens county, which office he filled until the election of Judge Hagner, under
the new constitution, in 1847. As to the ability with which he discharged the
duties of that office and the estimation in which he was held while occupying
the position, the language of Judge Armstrong, who has kindly furnished the
dates of his appointment, etc., is here adopted as expressing the general
sentiment of the people of the county and of the legal profession:

"Judge Haviland, though not trained to the legal profession, had a clear
comprehension of principles of law that governed the ordinary transactions of
life, and upon the bench was firm, courteous and impartial. His views upon a
novel and important question of law relating to a private right of way were made
the subject of review by the court of appeals of this State, and that tribunal
unanimously sustained Judge Haviland’s position, and this case to-day is the
leading case in this State upon the principle involved."

He was a director in the Long Island Railroad Company from 1837 to 1843
(during which time the railroad was completed to Greenport), in 1846, and from
1850 to the close of 1855. He was elected president of the company in
1850 and 1852. His health became impaired in 1855 and has so continued to the
present time.

Coming to the county at a period when the various elements of society were
more widely separated, and it was less imbued with the intrigues of city
politics, he was enabled the more readily to impress upon the community by which
he was surrounded the influence of his upright character. Without brilliant
attainments he had at his command a general fund of useful knowledge and common
sense; and either in his official or his business career his judgment was rarely
at fault. Never hesitating in asserting his principles, he yet deferred to the
opinion of others, and in his intercourse with men sought to gain as well as
impart information. In his social and private life the kindly glow of his warm
heart shed happiness and delight upon every one that it reached; and the
ancestral halls of "the old brick" homestead can never lose the charm
evoked by the memory of his presence.

THE HEWLETT FAMILY.
              
The Hewletts have been identified with Queens county since about the time
Long Island was first settled by white people, but the date of their emigrating
from England, the particulars of their occupying what is now Riker’s Island,
and the history of their final settlement on the south coast of Queens county
are matters of tradition rather than history. Traditions agree, however, that
the ancestor was George Hewlett, who, with his four sons, came to America about
1660. After sharing the hospitality of the Riker family for a short time they
took possession of the two small islands formerly known as Hewlett’s Islands,
now called "The Brothers." They remained here but a few years at most
then removed to the south side of Long Island and settled at a place now called
Merrick, in the town of Hempstead.


In due time the sons made settlements for themselves. Daniel, the eldest,
staid on the homestead at Merrick, and left at his death five sons and three
daughters, some of whose descendants still reside here. George, the second son,
settled at the foot of Great Neck, in the present town of North Hempstead. He
left three sons and two daughters, whose descendants are still among the
prominent residents of the place. Lewis, the third son, settled at the head of
Cow Neck, where Henry T. Hewlett now resides, and left at his death two sons and
five daughters. John, the youngest son, took up his home at Rockaway, and had
six children- two sons and four daughters. One son remained at home; the other,
known as John 2nd, married Hannah, the sister of Col. John Jackson, and removed
to East Woods (now Woodbury), in the town of Oyster Bay. Many of his descendants
still reside here, at Cold Spring and in other parts of the town.

Samuel Hewlett, probably a grandson of Lewis Hewlett, was married when sixty
years of age to Ruth Willis, of Cedar Swamp. They spent the remainder of their
lives in the house now occupied by Henry T. Hewlett. Five children, four sons
and a daughter, grew up as their family. Lewis, the eldest, lived and died on
the old homestead. Phoebe, the second child, married Walter Jones, and in her
widowhood came and lived with her youngest brother, William. James, the second
son, died at sea, leaving no family. Samuel, the third son, married a Miss
Hewlett from Cold Spring, and spent his life on a farm in Stonytown.

William Hewlett, whose portrait appears at the head page 432, the youngest of
this family, was born on the 19th of October 1784. His first wife was Martha,
daughter of Thomas Thorne. Their first home was on the farm now owned by John S.
Morrell. Mrs. Hewlett coming into possession, by inheritance, of half of her
father’s farm they removed thither about 1820, and subsequently purchased from
a sister the remaining half. The old house which is now standing was built by
one of the Kissams, who formerly owned the property. Mr. Hewlett was a member of
the Episcopal church at Mathasset for many years, and until her death. Her
children were William Henry and Martha M., the late wife of John S. Morrell. Mr.
Hewlett was again married August 2nd 1852, to Susan Armstrong, of Poughkeepsie
who survives him.

Mr. Hewlett devoted some part of his time during his whole life to farming.
He was for some time engaged in the manufacture of paper in a mill on the stream
in front of his home. He was also a manufacturer of cotton goods, which industry
yielded him some profits. He built, in 1827, the saw-mill which is still
in use. He never coveted political honors, but on the contrary preferred to
follow a quiet life, his prominent characteristics being unostentatious
benevolence, humility, and the unassuming life which he led. He died October 5th
1866, leaving, as the result of his industrious and frugal life, a good property
to his widow and his only son, William Henry Hewlett, who now together occupy
the homestead. The surviving Mrs. Hewlett and the son are both members of the
Episcopal church at Manhasset. He inherits largely those sterling traits of
character which gave his father such a firm hold upon the confidence of all with
whom he had business relations. This son, whose portrait appears above, is the
last descendant of this branch of the family who bears the name Hewlett. He
succeeded at his father’s death to the management of the grist-mill on the
premises, a mill which in his father’s time was patronized by hundreds of
those whose children and grand-children will read this page when the mill and
the miller have passed away.

JOSEPH LAWRENCE HEWLETT.

The branch of the Hewlett family that has given name to Hewlett’s Point, in
North Hempstead, traces its descent from George Hewlett, who was one of those
mentioned on page 432 as early residing on Riker’s Island. George Hewlett
after a brief stay on Riker’s Island removed to the central part of Long
Island, and for several years was a resident of Hempstead. In 1746 one of this
family removed to what is now known as Great Neck, and here in 1756 his
descendants became owners of that part of the neck which has since borne the
name of "Hewlett’s Point." The title deed was executed by Luke
Haviland, and conveyed about 250 acres to Joseph Hewlett. The document was
acknowledged May 6th 1757 and passed for record by "Joseph Kissam, one of His 
Majesty’s Justices (assistant) of the court of Common Pleas." The grantee named in 
this deed bequeathed the property at his death to his son Lawrence Hewlett, and he 
in turn left it by will to his son Joseph Lawrence Hewlett, who was the last to 
own the whole of the original estate.

The homestead house was on that half of the estate now owned by George
Hewlett, and, although it has been modernized to meet the taste and comfort of
the present generation, it still has the characteristic architectural features
of the old mansions of a century ago. The illustration on the opposite page
shows this house, with its picturesque surroundings and its beautiful location
on the east shore of a small bay branching south from the sound. "Oriental
Grove," a part of which appears in the left of the illustration, is also on
this estate. This for several years has been a popular picnic resort for
Sunday-schools, societies and churches.

Still farther to the northward, on the left of the picture, is the handsome
residence of Joseph L. Hewlett, eldest son of Joseph Lawrence Hewlett. He owns
about 30 acres of the original homestead. Northward again, to the extreme limit
of the "Point," is the country seat of the Hon. John A. King. He
purchased here some twenty-five years ago, erected a mansion, and has handsomely
laid out and improved its surroundings.

The first building erected by the Hewlett family here, was built before the
purchase of 1756. It was a stone structure, and stood where its ruins are still
to be seen- on the place now owned by William Mitchell Smith. Thus briefly
sketching something of the past and present of this family and its estate, we
turn to notice more fully those representatives of the family who are or have
been the personal acquaintances of those now living who will be readers of this
work. The Joseph Lawrence Hewlett mentioned as the last who owned the entire
estate was born July 12th 1780, and died July 3d 1849. He was first married at
Jamaica, on the 20th of August 1800, to Hannah Wickes. She died March 4th 1816,
leaving one son, Joseph Lawrence jr., and one daughter, Harriet. The former was
born January 4th 1809, and was married January 20th 1836 to Mary T. Cornwell. He
owns a very valuable portion of the estate, and is enjoying in his mature years
the quiet of a rural life. Harriet was born November 1st 1814, and, May 23d
1834, was married to William Mitchell Smith.

The late Mr. Hewlett’s second wife (December 15th 1818) was 
Elizabeth Van Wyck, who died August 29th 1875. 
Their children were 
Sarah, 
Elizabeth, 
Mary,
Susan M., 
Abraham Van Wyck, 
Helen, 
Josephine L., 
Cyrus and George.

The portrait at the head of this page shows Mr. Hewlett as he is remembered
by those who knew him a few years before his death. He was a gentleman who never
sought the honors of public life, and never held any office except such as his
native town called upon him to fill. He was always an admirer of the beautiful
in nature, and became a farmer from the love of rural pursuits. To this natural
qualification he added another quality or habit not less necessary to the
successful farmer - thoroughness and exactness in all business intercourse with
others.

He was always a conservative Democrat of the old school, and in his religious
life was a worthy member of the Protestant Episcopal church. He contributed
liberally to the cost of erecting Christ Church at Manhasset, and to the close
of his life he was a staunch supporter of the various financial interests of the
parish.

In personal appearance Mr. Hewlett was a noble man to meet, a gentleman of
pleasing address and an intelligent, active mind.

THE KISSAM FAMILY.
The Kissam family in its various generations since its first settlement in
this county has contributed many valuable men to positions of trust and honor,
as well as to the medical and legal professions. John Kissam, its common
ancestor in America, when quite young, was with his parents among the early
settlers of Vlishing or Vlissingen (now Flushing). His father-  whose Christian
name is lost with the town records up to 1789, which were burned- died in a
brief period after their arrival, and left an estate for his son, in the hands
of "Antony Waters, of Jamaica, and John Cockram, of Newtown, as
overseers" until he arrived at lawful age.* The said John, who was born in
July 1644, married Susannah Thorne of Jamaica, July 10th 1667,** and
removed from Flushing to Madnan’s (now Great) Neck in 1678. He had sons Daniel
and John, the latter of whom with his wife Elizabeth- probably a daughter of
Adam Mott- settled in the town of Freehold,*** Monmouth county, N.J; and there
is traditional evidence that he had another son, Thomas, also a resident of New
Jersey.

Daniel Kissam, the eldest son of John and Susannah (Thorne), was born in 1669; 
he was a farmer on Great Neck, and was elected a vestryman in St. George’s
parish, Hempstead, in 1703. He married Elizabeth Coombs. Issue: Daniel 2nd;
Elizabeth, who married Henry L’Estrange, of Rye, October 9th 1726; Joseph;
Martha, who married James Woods, a lawyer in New York city; Levina, who married
John Carman August 18th 1731; and Hannah, who became the second wife of Lewis
Hewlett. He died in 1752.

3d Generation.- Daniel, 2nd, a son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Coombs), born in
1701, married Ann, daughter of Richbell Mott. Issue: Daniel 3d and Elizabeth. He
died in 1728, and his widow married Jotham Townsend, of Oyster Bay (second
husband), October 11th 1730.

Joseph, the second son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Coombs), born in 1703, was a
farmer on Cow Neck, a justice of the peace for many years, and a member of the
vestry of St. George’s Church, Hempstead, from 1751 to 1761. He married
Deborah, daughter of Jonathan and Sarah Whitehead, of Jamaica, February 7th
1727. Issue: Daniel Whitehead; Benjamin; Joseph 2nd; Elizabeth, who married
Jacob Mott October 20th 1761; Daniel; Deborah, who married Edmund
Smith September 2nd 1763; and Samuel.

4th Generation.- Daniel 3d, son of Daniel 2nd and Ann (Mott), born October
13th 1726, also a farmer on Cow Neck, was treasurer of this county from 1759 to1782,
member of Assembly from 1764 to 1775, and justice of the peace until his death.
He married Peggy, daughter of Col. Benjamin Tredwell, of North Hempstead, April
20th 1746. Issue: John, who married Phebe, daughter of John Allen, March 8th
1782; Phebe, who married Richard Jackson April 1st 1767; Anne, who married David
Allen November 29th 1773; Sarah, who married Elijah Allen Oct. 14,1777; Daniel
4th, who married Phebe, daughter of Philip Platt, December 15th 1785; Elizabeth,
who married Thomas C. Thorne August 10th 1786; and. Benjamin Tredwell, who
married Mary, another daughter of Philip Platt, April 3d 1793. Daniel 3d died
August 4th 1782. Of his children John was appointed "Major" by Gov.
Tryon December 9th 1776 and was clerk of the board of supervisors from 1797 to
1820; was vestryman in St. George’s parish from 1814 to 1819. Daniel 4th was a
member of Assembly from 1809 to 1819, and Benjamin T. in 1821 and 1823.

Daniel Whitehead, son of Joseph and Deborah (Whitehead), born February 24th
1728, was also a farmer in this town, and a member of Assembly in 1786. He
married Ann (daughter of George) Duryea, July 4th 1776. He died March
8th 1808, leaving no descendants.

Benjamin, son of Joseph and Deborah (Whitehead), chose the legal profession,
and settled in New York city. He was eminent in his profession, and in his
office such men as John Jay, Lindley Murray and Cornelius J. Bogert were law
students. He was a member of the "Committee of One Hundred," and of
the first and second Provincial Congresses. He married Catharine, daughter of
Petrus Rutgers, of New York, Oct. 5th 1755. Issue: Peter Rutgers, who married
Deborah, daughter of Penn Townsend, Aug. 4th 1779; Benjamin, who married
Cornelia, daughter of Isaac Roosevelt, in 1786; Joseph, who died in infancy;
Richard Sharpe, who, Dr. Francis, in his "Old New York," page 307,
says, was New York’s most popular surgeon for twenty years; Adrian, a lawyer,
who married Mrs. Elizabeth Bayard in 1794; Samuel, and Helena. The last married
Philip L. Hoffman November 18th 1787, and was the grandmother of ex-Governor
John T. Hoffman. Benjamin died Oct. 25th 1782. His son Peter Rutgers graduated
at Columbia College, in 1776, and was a merchant in New York; Benjamin graduated
in medicine at Edinburgh in 1783, and was a professor in Columbia College from
1785 to 1792, a trustee in the same until his death and a vestryman in
Trinity Church for many years.

Joseph 2nd, son of Joseph and Deborah (Whitehead), was born August 22nd 1731,
and died May 20th 1815. He was also a farmer, and justice of the peace in this
town; married Mary, daughter of George and Hannah Hewlett, October 9th 1752. 
Issue:
Benjamin, who married Martha Hewlett December 17th 1773; Phebe, who
married William Duryea May 16th 1785; Daniel Whitehead, who married Elizabeth,
daughter of Dr. Benjamin Tredwell, June 26th 1787, and was a well known
physician in Suffolk county; and Hewlett, who married Ann Wilkins, March 25th 1786.

Daniel, son of Joseph and Deborah (Whitehead), born in 1739, was a prominent
lawyer and judge in this county and was clerk of the county from 1796 to the
time of his death, which occurred June 3d 1812. He was vestryman in Grace
Church, Jamaica, for many years, and a delegate to the first convention of the
Protestant Episcopal Church in America, held in St. Paul’s chapel in the city
of New York in 1785. He married Mary, daughter of John Betts September 19th
1763. His children were: John Betts who married Mary Searing May 2nd 1784;
Elizabeth who married Samuel Sackett Nov. 9th 1786, and was the mother of
Clarence D. and Grenville A. Sackett, late counselors at law in New York
city(4*): Sarah, who married Jedediah Sanger, a judge in Oneida county; Daniel
who married Jemima Searing; Maria, who married Zedekiah Sanger; Catharine;
Whitehead, who married Agnes Allen May 3d 1806; and Benjamin, who graduated as
M.D. at Columbia College in 1805, married Mary Atkinson May 9th 1807, and
settled in New York city.

Samuel, the youngest son of Joseph and Deborah (Whitehead), born in 1745, was
a student of Rev. Samuel Seabury at Hempstead, where he was prepared for
college, and was the first person graduated (1769) as M.D. at Kings (now
Columbia) College. He settled and practiced medicine in the West Indies.

The descendants of the fifth and later generations are too numerous for
mention in these pages. In New York the name is connected by marriage with the
old families of Rutgers, Roosevelt, Lefferts, Livingston, Bayard, Tredwell,
Townsend, Embury, Vanderbilt, Aymar, Adriance, Walton, Lord, etc.

This family, attached to the Church of England, was divided in its support of
the principles involved in the American Revolution; some of its members were
Whigs, but the large majority were Loyalists.

BENJAMIN W. ALLEN.
                  
There have lived but few men if any in this county whose public and private
life reflects more credit upon their age and generation than do the life and
public services of the late Benjamin W. Allen, of North Hempstead. No event of
striking importance seems to mark any separate period in his personal history.
He was the son of a plain farmer, and coming into possession of the homestead at
the death of his father, John Allen, of Great Neck, he gave most of his life to
agricultural pursuits on the farm where he was born. The father was successful,
as success was reckoned among farmers of his time, and from him the son received
what became under his care the nucleus of a snug fortune. The mother was a woman
who gave to her son many of the elements of his disposition all traits of his
character which made him through life a man to be loved. She was the daughter of
Abram Schenck, and through him was descended from one of the oldest and most
worthy families in the town.

The usual opportunities afforded by the district schools and a clerkship in
an uncle’s store at Manhasset Valley were the principal educational advantages
enjoyed by the young man. In 1839 he was married to Miss Mary W. Burtis, the
marriage being celebrated by the Rev. William R. Gordon; then the pastor of the
Reformed Dutch church of North Hempstead, of which Mrs. Allen has for several
years been a member. The whole of his married life, from December 11th 1839
until his death on the anniversary of that day in 1870, was a model of domestic
felicity, and here in a comfortable home still lives the lady whose love was the
crowning glory of his life.

She is the daughter of John S. Burtis and a granddaughter of John Burtis, who
was a soldier under General Washington. Her mother was Eliza A. Willets Burtis,
a daughter of George Willets. Their home was at what is now Port Washington, and
there on December 9th 1817 Mrs. Allen was born. Married in the bright noon of
her womanhood, her life was a very happy one until she was left to mourn the
loss of him whose affection was the center of all her joys, and whose life with
hers had so long been one.

Although Mr. Allen was not a member of any church organization, yet he was a
contributor to the financial enterprises of the several religious organizations
in the town. Politically he was a lifelong Democrat. In 1868 he was elected by
that party supervisor of his native town, and in the following year his townsmen
put their seal of approval on his services as such by re-electing him to the
office for the term in which he was serving at the time of his death.

The data for this memoir were kindly furnished by several persons who knew
Mr. Allen, but the following letter, from a professional gentleman whose
relations with him were peculiarly favorable for knowing him as he was, is so
fair an expression of the general estimate of the man that we commit it to
record here as stating very succinctly just what is proper to say of its
subject:

                    
GREAT NECK, L.I., July 30th 1881.
                 
DEAR SIR: I have read over the enclosed paper concerning the late Mr.
Benjamin Allen- an old, and highly esteemed friend; whose loss was a great
affliction to me-  but concerning the details of his life I am unable to give
you more information than you already have.

The exact date or place of his birth I do not know, nor anything concerning
his ancestry, but personally he was a man who had the love and esteem of all who
knew him, and whose whole life was above reproach. His perfect integrity and
strong, clear, common sense, united to a remarkable intuitive good judgment,
made him a valuable citizen, whose aid and support were in constant demand in
the community in which he lived and always freely and willingly given, while his
great kindliness and genial, open hearted manner made him a much loved neighbor.

In the quiet, simple way of life in a farming community it would be difficult
to find one who more fully possessed all the requirements of a good citizen, and
in his death was lost a wise counsellor, a good husband, an ever-ready help in
time of need, and a model of manhood for those who were growing up around him.

His life, though uneventful, was full of all that men love and admire in a
citizen, neighbor and friend, and I am glad that through your efforts we are to
have a record of it.
                    
Very truly yours,
                 
A.W. ROGERS, M.D.

The portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Allen which appear above were engraved from miniature 
likenesses taken a few years prior to his decease.

JAMES H. L’HOMMEDIEU.

James H. L’Hommedieu was born at Smithtown, Suffolk county, February 5th
1833. His parents were Harvey and Julia Ann (Gallaway) L’Hommedieu. The elder
L’Hommedieu devoted his energies to agriculture; hence James H. was reared on
the farm, and his educational advantages were limited to those afforded by the
public schools in the old "Landing district." When he was seventeen
his mother died, and soon afterward his father disposed of his interests in
Smithtown and removed to Port Jefferson, where he lived until his death; about
ten years ago. At the time of this practical breaking up of his father’s
household, James H. went with his uncle, David C. L’Hommedieu, then a
prominent builder of Smithtown, to learn the trade of a carpenter and builder.
There he remained about three years and a half, during which he developed such
talent for the work of his choice that he was often referred to as a youth who
would probably one day be an architect of ability and reputation.

At the expiration of this period of apprenticeship Mr. L’Hommedieu engaged
with Messrs. Meeker, Angevirie & Co., builders, of New York, and was
employed at "journey" work during the three and a half years
following. He removed to Great Neck in June 1857 and for thirteen years lived in
Manhasset Valley, where he established a shop for the manufacture of builders’
materials of all kinds, and carried on an extensive business in contracting and
building. During this time he designed and erected some of the most costly and
elegant residences in the country round about, establishing a reputation second
to that of no other architect either on Long Island or in New York city; and
attracting the attention of the late A.T. Stewart, between whom and Mr. L’Hommedieu
business relations were inaugurated, which existed to their mutual satisfaction
during Mr. Stewart’s life and have continued uninteruptedly between Mr. L’Hommedieu
and the Stewart estate, represented by Hon. Henry Hilton, up to the present
time. An idea of the extent of the business transacted for Mr. Stewart and his
estate by Mr. L’Hommedieu may be gained from a knowledge of the fact that the
latter has erected, under contract, every building in Garden City, including the
cathedral, except five, besides other buildings elsewhere. The relations between
Mr. Stewart and Mr. L’Hommedieu were of an exceptionally pleasant nature, and
in them Mr. Stewart exemplified that liberality and thoughtfulness which
characterized him throughout his long and remarkable business career. Since the
death of the great merchant Judge Hilton has dealt with Mr. L’Hommedieu in a
manner that affords him cause for the greatest satisfaction.

It is probable that during his professional career Mr. L’Hommedieu has
erected more detached houses than any other architect and builder in the United
States. About three years ago he established his present steam mill and
warehouses at Great Neck, where he manufactures or deals in lumber, hardware,
paints, oils, varnishes, lime, lath, brick, cement, drain pipe, doors, sashes,
glass, blinds, mouldings, brackets, and all other kinds of building material,
doing all varieties of turning and scroll-sawing, and is prepared at any time to
furnish entire the materials for a building of any specific size or style.

January 24th 1857 Mr. L’Hommedieu was married to Miss Henrietta Good, of New York. 
They have eleven children living, named, in the order of their birth,
Julia, Howard A., James H., George, Emma V., Theodore A., Henrietta, Caroline
R., John K., Joseph S. and Ida. Three, Charles, Stewart and Alfred, have died.
The family residence of Mr. L’Hommedieu on the Middle Neck road, leading from
the Great Neck steamboat landing to Hyde Park, is one of the largest and most
elegant and home-like of the many inviting homes of Long Island, and the
hospitality of its inmates is as well known as the skill and architectural
talent of its owner.

Mr. L’Hommedieu is not a politician, but he is an earnest and consistent
Democrat, who is never found wanting in time of need. With his family he is a
regular attendant upon the services of the Episcopal church. As a man and a
citizen he is above reproach. As a husband and father he has endeared himself to
a family of whom any man might well be proud.

ROSLYN.
Roslyn lies at the head of Hempstead harbor, beautifully nestling between the
hills. The village was founded early in the history of the old town of Hempstead
and was formerly known as Hempstead Harbor. Its situation is well adapted for
travel and commerce, it being located both on the harbor and on the Locust
Valley branch of the Long Island Railroad. A steamer plies daily to and from New
York via Sea Cliff and Glen Cove, acting in healthy competition with the railroad.

Roslyn is abundantly supplied with streams gushing forth from the base of the
hills and hurrying merrily toward the sound. Numerous dams are thrown across
their courses, forming beautiful little lakelets which, besides adding charms to
the scenery, furnish the power to drive the machinery of several small mills and
factories; and, not least important, the inhabitants have a never-failing supply
of the best of water for household purposes.

As one leaves the cars at the station he observes a small collection of
buildings; but this is not Roslyn proper. To know its charms and realize its
beauties he must take a carriage and drive through the entire length of its
winding streets. Every few rods a turn in the road reveals new scenes of
woodland, lawn and water.

The means of acquiring an education in Roslyn were formerly provided by
private schools and an academy. These have been superseded by a graded union
school.

Roslyn is abundantly supplied with business establishments, consisting of
stores of general merchandise, hardware, drugs, furniture, and shoes, a harness
shop, a wagon shop, a meat market, a bakery and minor establishments. There are
four hotels and two livery stables. The Hicks lumber and coal yard does an
extensive business.

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.

To many persons Roslyn is best known as having within its environs Cedarmere,
one of the homes of the late distinguished poet and journalist Bryant. Hence the
record of his illustrious life appropriately forms a part of the history of this
village.

William Cullen Bryant was born in Cummington, Hampshire county, Mass.,
November 3d 1794, and was a son of Peter Bryant, a physician of literary
attainments as well as good professional standing. The latter was a grandson of
Stephen Bryant, who came to Plymouth in the "Mayflower." The poet
displayed the bent of his mind even in childhood, making metrical translations
from the Latin before he was ten years old, and writing "The Embargo"
and "The Spanish Revolution" in his fourteenth year. Entering Williams
College in 1810, he remained but two years, during which he took high rank in
literary studies. He chose the legal profession, and was admitted to the bar in
1815, and subsequently practiced at Plainfield and Great Barrington, devoting
much attention, however, to literary labor. "Thanatopsis," written in
his 18th year, was published in the North American Review in 1818, and
Mr. Bryant contributed prose-articles to the same periodical. He was married
while living at Great Barrington, and there he wrote some of his finest poems.

In 1825 Mr. Bryant removed to New York, and became the editor of the New
York Review; this magazine was soon after merged in the United States
Review, for which he wrote poems and criticisms. In 1826 he became one of
the editors of the Evening Post, and he retained his editorial connection
with that journal throughout life, having exclusive control of the paper except
for a few years after becoming connected with it. His championship of free trade
was perhaps the most characteristic feature of the Post under his
editorship.

A complete edition of Mr. Bryant’s poems was published in 1832, and
republished in England, giving the author a European reputation. In 1832, 1845,
1849 and 1857 he traveled in Europe, his observations furnishing the material
for his books entitled "Letters of a Traveler" and "Letters from
Spain and other Countries." He translated the Iliad into English verse in
1870 and the Odyssey in 1871, and a complete edition of his poems was issued in
1876. The "Library of Poetry and Song," a volume of poems selected and
edited by Mr. Bryant, was perhaps the most successful and popular work of its
kind ever published.

Mr. Bryant was often called on to preside at public meetings and to deliver
memorial and other addresses. The last of these was his oration on Mazzini,
delivered May 19th 1878, in Central Park, New York. The sun shone hotly upon him
while speaking, and on entering the house of General James Wilson after leaving
the park be fainted and fell, his head striking the doorstep. He partially
recovered and was removed to his own house in Sixteenth street, where he died
from the effects of his injury, in the morning of June 12th.

The Bryant residence was built in 1787, by Richard Kirk, a Quaker. The
property was owned for ten years by Joseph W. Moulton, whose writings furnish a
valuable contribution to the early history of the State of New York. Mr. Moulton
was one of the first of the New York business men who came and settled here. He
sold the place, then containing forty acres, to Mr. Bryant in 1846. The original
style of the residence has been materially changed. The farm now contains 200
acres. One peculiar feature is the stiles scattered over the farm. On the
property is a famous black walnut tree, reputed to be the largest tree on the
island. Its age is about 170 years. The circumference of its trunk is
twenty-four feet, while its shade measures 130 feet between perpendiculars. This
tree has a neighbor, a red maple, of fourteen feet six inches girth twenty
inches from the ground, with drooping branches of great spread. Mr. Kirk
constructed the embankment which forms the artificial lake.

This gathering in of the mountain springs was at first utilized to run a
paper-mill and other machinery. The lake is now surrounded by rare trees and
shrubs of many kinds, brought from many regions. Among them grow the native
cedars, and from these and the pretty lake the place derives its name Cedarmere.

Parke Godwin, the journalist and historian, who is a son-in-law of Mr.
Bryant, lives in a beautiful residence across the way.

BRYANT CIRCULATING LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
At a meeting of the inhabitants of Roslyn and vicinity held November 13th
1878 a stock company was formed, which was subsequently chartered as the Bryant
Circulating Library Association. This company was formed in accordance with the
plans of William Cullen Bryant, who had erected the hall, which, with the site,
was deeded as a free gift to the association by Miss Julia S. Bryant, according
to her father’s request. The value of the gift is estimated at $15,000. The
building is divided into apartments for library and reading room, a public hall,
and a residence for the librarian who has the care of the building.

The board of trustees is the same that was first elected, and consists of
Parke Godwin, Stephen Taber, Henry W. Eastman, John Ordronaux, Daniel Bogart, J.
Augustus Prior, Benjamin D. Hicks, Thomas Clapham and James R. Willets.

ROSLYN SAVINGS BANK.
This institution was organized in December 1875. The following officers were
elected in 1876: Stephen Taber, president; John M. Clark, first vice-president;
Daniel Bogart, second vice-president; Henry W. Eastman, treasurer; Frederic M.
Eastman, secretary. Mr. Clark is now president. The character of the twenty-five
members of the board of trustees ought to entitle the institution to the
confidence of the people. The bank accommodates about 300 depositors, who have
$63,000 on deposit. The operation of the bank has been successful and regular
semi-annual dividends have been paid.

MILLS AND FACTORIES.
There have been numerous mills and factories at Roslyn. Prominent mention of
woolens manufactured here has been made at earlier expositions. It is believed
that the paper-mill erected here in 1773 by Hendrick Onderdonk, Henry Remsen and
Hugh Game, proprietor of Game’s Mercury, of New York, was the first in
the State. It is rendered certain by remarks made in the Mercury that it
was preceded by no other for any length of time. A part of the old building is
still standing here. Several paper-mills have since been erected here. The only
one remaining and in use is owned and operated by Myers Valentine. General
Washington, while making his tour of Long Island, in April 1790, was entertained
by Hendrick Onderdonk in the old mansion now occupied by Daniel Bogart. On that
occasion General Washington visited the grist and paper-mills, and spoke
approvingly of their management.

Roslyn Mills.- It appears that one John Robson applied to the town and
was granted permission to erect a dam and build a grist-mill on the stream at
the head of Hempstead harbor. At a town meeting held at Hempstead April 2nd
1698, said Robson agreed to build the dam and mill within one year. He failed to
fulfill his contract, and by the wording of the grant it became void and
reverted to "ye Towne." In 1701 he applied to the town meeting for a
renewal of the grant. No action was taken other than the appointment of a
committee to have the matter in charge. No report seems to have been made or
recorded. In 1709 Robson deeded to Charles Mott the dam and mill, one iron crow
and some other implements for the consideration of £100; so the dam and mill
must have been erected prior to that date. In 1741 a deed of the property
mentions an improved dam and a new and spacious mill, that was built and
maintained on the stream by Jeremiah Williams. The present mill, according to
the data, was built about 1735. The property has passed through many changes of
ownership and many fortunes have been made and lost on it. During the wars,
especially the Revolutionary and that of 1812, the profits were large, the
owners made money fast, and maintained expensive households. When the Erie Canal
was opened, and products from the west supplied the market of New York, the
millers on Long Island felt the effect severely, and De Witt Clinton found many
political enemies among them, and many that were not without political influence
as well.

The farmers were, during the millers’ affluence, much annoyed by their
insolence, as when they brought a grist to the mill they were obliged to carry
it in and wait till the miller could conveniently grind, then turn the bolt to
sift the bran from the flour themselves; as the grant from the town reserved the
right of the public to one pair of stones to have their grists ground on, but
did not mention the bolting arrangements. The old mill has not yet passed to the
modern methods of converting wheat into flour, but still plods on in methods
similar to those in use a century ago.

Roslyn Silk Manufacturing Company.- This enterprise was started here in
the latter part of 1880, by William Taber and Louis Dumas, in a building
formerly used as a glass-cutting establishment. After feeling assured of
success, and in order to strengthen and facilitate the undertaking, a stock
company was formed, which was chartered January 14th 1881. The capital stock is
$12,500; the stockholders are Hon. Stephen Taber, Benjamin C. Kirk, J.J.
Johnson, Louis Dumas, William Taber and Mrs. Martha Willets, all of whom are
trustees, except Mrs. Willets. The old building has been repaired and much
enlarged, and a new brick engine-house built. The works now have forty-two
looms, and are employing upward of fifty hands. A superior grade of silk is produced.

Butter and Cheese Factory- This factory was opened here April 3d 1881 by
the Westbury Dairy Association. The object is to provide means for the
profitable disposition of milk when prices are ranging too low for profit in
Brooklyn. The expense has been small, but the plan succeeds. The members of the
association are Isaac H. Cocks, Thomas W. Willets and William Willets, the last
of whom is superintendent both in Brooklyn and here.

THE ROSLYN CEMETERY.
The initiatory movement in founding this cemetery was the gift of four acres
of land for cemetery purposes by Mrs. Ann E. Cairnes. The land was bought by
Mrs. Cairnes from Caleb Kirby and, on her order, deeded, December 8th 1860, by
him to the board of trustees of the Roslyn Presbyterian church. A grant to
establish the cemetery was obtained from the board of supervisors of Queens
county, October 1st 1861. May 25th 1864 ten acres more were bought from Stephen
Taber by the trustees and added to the cemetery. The first trustees were Samuel
R. Ely, Daniel Bogart jr., James Losee, Warren Mitchell and Singleton M. Mott.
Although the cemetery is nominally the property of the Presbyterian church, all
denominations and sects have been equally free to use it, and have availed
themselves of the privilege. Roslyn’s late illustrious citizen William Cullen
Bryant lies here. His monument bears the following inscriptions:

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, 
Born In Cummington, Mass., Nov. 3 1794,
Died In New York June 12 1878. 
FANNY FAIRCHILD BRYANT,
 
the beloved wife of William Cullen Bryant, an humble disciple
of Christ, exemplary in every relation of life, affectionate, sympathetic,
sincere, and ever occupied with the welfare of others.

The poet’s grandchildren, children of Parke Godwin, are buried in the same
plot. Some of the names of others buried in this cemetery are Abercrombie,
Bogart, Brown, Cahart, Chamberlain, Clapham, Denton, Dickenson, Ely, Francis,
Hegeman, Ketcham, Killpatrick, Kirby, Losee, McNally, Mott, Moulton, Oakley,
Rogers, Smith, Snedeker, Strong, Underhill, Vickers, Wanser, Wiggins and Wilson.

THE BURNING OF THE "SEAWANHAKA."
As Roslyn is the terminus of the steamboat route to which the "Seawanhaka"
belonged, it seems in place here to chronicle the dreadful catastrophe which
overtook this ill-fated steamer, a catastrophe which affected families in every
section of the northern half of the town, as well as many of Sea Cliff, Glen
Cove and vicinity. This disaster was the last of a series of six happening in
the neighborhood of New York within three weeks.

The "Seawanhaka" left pier 24 East River at 4 P.M. on June 28th
1880, and after calling at the foot of Thirty-third street had over 300
passengers on board. Between Randall’s and Ward’s islands the boat was
suddenly enveloped in flames. Captain Charles P. Smith was at the wheel, and,
although severely burned, remained at his post and ran his boat on to a low
marshy island called the Sunken Meadows. Fortunately most of the passengers were
forward, and as the boat struck they jumped into the water, and many were saved.
A number were severely burned before going overboard, and many were drowned.

SAMUEL T. TABER.

Samuel T. Taber was descended from an old New England family, whose ancestral
home was in Massachusetts. His grandfather, William Taber, left the paternal
homestead in early life and settled in the State of New York, purchasing a farm
on Chestnut Ridge, which lies in the most fertile portion of Dutchess county.
This fine property passed by inheritance to his son Thomas, the father of
Samuel, who in 1828 represented the district in the XXth Congress.

In the old-fashioned, roomy and comfortable farm house at Chestnut Ridge
Samuel T. Taber was born, on the 13th of April 1824. He early evinced a taste
for intellectual pursuits, and after completing his youthful education entered
Union College, from which he graduated in 1842. His preference being for the law
he passed a year in the law school at Cambridge, Mass., and afterward continued
his studies for two years more, and until 1845, with a law firm in
Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; at the end of which period he was admitted to practice.
Inheriting ample means and possessing quiet and studious tastes, he did not
enter upon the active practice of his profession; but, having in the same year
that he was admitted to the bar married Miss Kate Hiller, of Chautauqua county,
N.Y., preferred to retire to the home farm on Chestnut Ridge, where he passed
several years in agricultural pursuits. In 1856, having inherited from his
mother’s family the fine estate and ancestral home of the Tituses in Queens
county, he removed to Roslyn, and thenceforth was a resident of Long Island. In
his new home he found himself in the midst of congenial surroundings, and seemed
to enter upon a life of quiet and uninterrupted happiness. His fine farm was
under a high state of cultivation, and he took constant pleasure in improving it
by adding the latest inventions in agricultural machinery, and in introducing
the most approved methods of using them. He was much interested in fine stock of
all kinds, but especially in poultry, swine and cattle, the best strains of
which he always kept. His herd of thoroughbred Durhams was the finest on the
island, and year after year won the highest prize at the county fair. His
cultured taste made him also an admirer of all that was beautiful in nature.
Trees and flowers were especial favorites, and the ample lawns surrounding his
residence were tastefully planted with choice varieties of shade and ornamental
trees, while a fine conservatory attached to the house was always kept well
stocked with beautiful and rare plants. He was an excellent practical botanist
and an authority on the native flora of the island. His quiet and studious
habits withdrew him from active public life, and he modestly shrank from
assuming the leading position in politics which his ability and social standing
would otherwise have given him. He was nevertheless a man of sincere and decided
convictions, and never hesitated to espouse promptly and earnestly any cause
that he believed just and right. He was quick to respond to calls of patriotic
duty of every kind, and all legitimate schemes for public improvement or
political advancement found in him an earnest advocate and a generous supporter.

While Mr. Taber’s inclinations turned toward the quiet life of a country
gentleman, wherein he found his greatest pleasure in the cultivation of his
fertile acres and the enjoyment of the home circle, he was a man of excellent
business capacity, and managed his estate and the various important interests
intrusted to his care with prudence and success, evincing great natural ability
for mercantile pursuits. He was in the board of directors of the Brooklyn-Bank,
and also president of the North Shore Transportation Company, which latter
corporation, under his careful supervision, achieved a marked success.

In 1866 the Queens County Agricultural Society, which had been leading a
species of nomadic life, decided to make for itself a permanent home To this end
a tract of 40 acres of land donated by the town of Hempstead was accepted, and
the work of planting trees, erecting buildings, and otherwise preparing the
ground immediately begun. In a few years nearly thirty thousand dollars had been
expended in these improvements, and the society could justly take pride in
having the best arranged and most beautiful agricultural ground in the State. In
this great and laborious undertaking Mr. Taber was a leading spirit, and to him
more than to any other person are the people of Queens county indebted for its
successful accomplishment. He was president of the society three consecutive
terms, and during those years, by his energy, good judgment and generosity,
converted a doubtful experiment into a permanent success, and established the
society on so firm a basis that it has ever since gone prosperously onward. He
was also greatly interested in the State agricultural society, and at the time
of his death was one of its vice-presidents, as well as a leading manager in its
affairs. Had he lived a few weeks longer, and until the annual meeting, he would
probably have been elected to the presidency.

On the 24th of May 1841, during Mr. Taber’s junior year in college, ten
Union College men, of whom he was one of the leaders, met and founded the since
well known college fraternity of Chi Psi, which now numbers twenty-three alphas
or chapters, in as many of the leading colleges of America. He was honored with
the highest office in the gift of this society, and always maintained a warm
interest in its affairs.

Mr. Taber was by birth a member of the religious society of Friends, and,
although never professing to adhere in all things to the more rigid rules of the
sect, was a conscientious and respected member of the society, and lived up
squarely to his ideal of the highest and most advanced principles of Quakerism.
While a thorough gentleman in appearance and address, he was especially plain
and unassuming in all things, inheriting the Friends’ aversion to personal
vanity and ostentatious display. Although generous and hospitable in a marked
degree, he was conscientiously careful to waste nothing in useless luxury, and
evinced through life the effect of his early Quaker training in frugality,
industry and simplicity.

He was a keen sportsman and loved his dog and gun, although in this, as in
all other matters, he maintained a sensible moderation, and never allowed
pleasure to interfere with the strict performance of duty. He used frequently to
make excursions to the locality where game was found, and took great
satisfaction in sharing the results of his luck and skill with his neighbors. It
was during one of these gunning trips that he contracted the malady which caused
his death. He, with several friends, leased a large tract of meadow and marsh
land on the borders of Currituck Sound, in North Carolina, and in the autumn of
each year it was his custom to spend a week or more in hunting the wild fowl
that frequent these waters. It is supposed that during his last visit to the
south the malaria lurking in the swampy lands of his shooting grounds poisoned
his system, and thus was the indirect cause of his death, which occurred a short
time after his return, and on the 4th of February 1871.

STEPHEN TABER.

Stephen Taber, brother of Samuel T. Taber and son of Thomas Taber who was a
member of the XXth Congress, was born in the town of Dover, Dutchess county,
N.Y., March 7th 1821. After receiving an academic education he removed in 1839
to Queens county, where he engaged in farming and has so continued to the
present time. In 1845 he was married to Miss Rosetta M. Townsend, by whom he had
five children, four of whom are still living, namely William, Adelaide, Gertrude
and Thomas. The oldest son, Samuel, at the age of 18 was lost at sea in the
great storm of October 21st and 22nd 1865; no tidings of vessel or crew having
ever been heard after the vessel (the bark "Tillie Van Name," bound
from Philadelphia to New Orleans) left the Capes of Delaware.

From an early age Mr. Taber has taken an active interest in local and general
politics. In 1860 and 1861 he represented the first Assembly district in the
Legislature. The Rebellion having broken out in the latter year, he sustained
with his vote and his counsel, as well as in his private acts, every legitimate
measure for its speedy and thorough suppression. Much perplexity arose at this
time as to the best method of filling the quota of troops demanded by the
government from the different States, and Mr. Taber is entitled to the credit of
having made the earliest suggestion looking toward the solution of this problem,
by recommending that such quotas be filled by towns rather than by counties.
This plan met with the hearty concurrence of the late William C. Bryant, who in
connection with Mr. Taber was sent by the citizens of North Hempstead to Albany
for the purpose of pressing it upon the attention of the authorities. In this
they were successful- Governor Morgan and the State officers adopting the plan
proposed. As a result a new impetus was given to recruiting, and our regiments
were speedily filled up.

Although at all times believing in and maintaining the cardinal principles of
the Democratic party, as those which had they been faithfully carried out would
have averted the great civil war, and also believing that the Republican party
was in a greater measure responsible for its inception than even the most
radical wing of the Democratic party, there seemed to Mr. Taber but one course
for every loyal citizen to adopt when once acts of overt rebellion had been
perpetrated. That one course was to suppress the Rebellion by every legitimate
means at the disposal of the government. From this course of conduct he never
swerved during the entire war.

While in the Legislature he introduced and finally carried through, against
the most vigorous opposition, the law extending the general navigation act to
Long Island Sound and its adjacent waters, a law under which the Long Island
North Shore and numerous other navigation companies have since been organized.

In 1864 he was elected a representative to the XXXIXth Congress from the
first district of New York, comprising the counties of Suffolk, Queens and
Richmond. During this term of office he served as a member of the committees on
public lands and public expenditures. His course proving satisfactory to his
constituents he was reelected to the XLth Congress, where he served upon the
committees on public lands and public expenditures and was made chairman of the
committee on ventilation of the hall. As a member of the committee on public
lands he was a sturdy opponent of all special legislation, and of all
appropriations intended for merely local purposes; holding resolutely to the
principle that the public domain should no more than the public moneys be
appropriated for any other works than those of a national character. At the risk
of even his own home popularity he persistently refused either to ask for or to
encourage any improvements affecting his own district or neighborhood, except
such as were at the same time of national benefit and importance. As a member of
this committee he also earnestly and vigorously opposed the bill declaring
forfeited to the United States certain lands granted to aid in the construction
of railroads in the States of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida; on
the ground that those roads were great public thoroughfares, and that the
companies owning them had acquired vested rights in those lands and without them
would be unable to push to completion improvements that were absolutely
necessary for the development of the resources of those different States.

It having been charged while Mr. Taber was a member of the committee on
public expenditures that corrupt means had been employed to secure the purchase
of Alaska, and there being evidence tending to show that the Hon. Robert J.
Walker had received a gratuity of $20,000 from the Russian government to aid in
promoting this transaction, Mr. Taber presented a minority report strongly
condemning the practice of American citizens, especially those who had held high
official positions under the government, accepting fees from foreign powers for
the use of their influence to shape the action of Congress in such matters.

Since the expiration of his last term in Congress Mr. Taber has held no
official position, although taking such active interest and part in politics as
he has always believed it to be the duty of every intelligent citizen to take.
He has uniformly opposed all those methods so popular among trading politicians,
and, in true consistency with the principles of square dealing which he has ever
exhibited, he has invariably set his face against all organizations of a
political character the object of which was to control or forestall the
independent action of the people in their primary capacity; and he has never
hesitated to openly condemn such organizations as tending to corrupt and unduly
bias many who, if left to their individual judgment, would in general act
honestly as well as intelligently. No one has done more by personal effort and
example than he to maintain the purity of the ballot box and the independence of
the voter.

In matters of local public improvement he has borne his full share of the
burdens of contribution; he helped to organize the Glen Cove Steamboat Company,
which built the steamboat "Glen Cove," a vessel which in her day was
known as the fastest and best boat on that route. Succeeding Mr. Irving, he was
president until the dissolution of the company. He also helped to organize the
Long Island North Shore Transportation Company, and served as its president for
the first three or four years of its existence. He also served as a director of
the Long Island Railroad Company during the construction of the Glen Cove branch
of that road. While acting in this capacity he was able to secure the whole
right of way from Mineola to Glen Cove at a very moderate cost, and that too
without in a single instance having to apply to any court for the appointment of
commissioners to award damages. When the Roslyn Savings Bank was organized Mr.
Taber was selected by unanimous vote of its trustees to act as its first
president, and he continued in that office three years, when at his own urgent
request he retired, to assume the position of trustee, which he still holds.

HENRY W. EASTMAN

Henry W. Eastman was born in Roslyn, then known as Hempstead Harbor, on the
8th day of May 1826. While still a boy he entered the law office of Pierpont
Potter, Esq., at Jamaica. His certificates of clerkship show that he began his
studies there on the 9th of May 1840, and continued until May 10th 1841, when he
entered the office of Henry M. Western in New York city. In this office he
remained until May 25th 1842, when he passed into that of Horatio G. Onderdonk,
Esq., of Manhasset. From May 25th 1842 to May 1st 1847 he continued a student in
this office, completing in this way the seven years of study for the bar then
required of those who had not received a collegiate education. Mr. Western’s
certificate states a significant fact to the credit of his young student in
describing his clerkship as being "without vacation," an illustration
of the innate energy with which he began his life labors and pursued them unto
the end.

On the 14th day of May 1847 he was admitted to the bar of the supreme court
as an attorney, under the rules creating the two classes of attorneys and
counsellors at law. On the 24th of the same month he was admitted to the court
of chancery as a solicitor. His two certificates of admission bear the
distinguished names of Greene C. Bronson as chief justice and Reuben H. Walworth
as chancellor. On the 28th of June 1847 he was licensed by Isaac E. Haviland,
first judge of the court of common pleas of Queens county, to practice in that
court as an attorney and counsellor. Having thus qualified himself for the
duties of his profession he returned to his native village, where he opened a
law office in what was formerly known as Roslyn Hall.

Pending the arrival of business he accepted the position of assistant tutor
in the academy, where he found opportunity to supplement his resources, which
were then quite circumscribed. Young as he was his powers of direction and
organization seemed to call for immediate employment, and we find him taking the
part of a leader among his fellow citizens in all the varied public enterprises
of that day. He allied himself with the great temperance movement then agitating
the country, and was a constant attendant upon meetings held in its interest;
became secretary of the Queens County Temperance Society, and finally a
delegate, when only 21 years of age, to a State temperance convention, called
for the purpose of forming a distinct ticket in the ensuing election. In the
same spirit of public activity he associated himself with the Manhasset Lyceum,
acting as chairman of its lecture committee, and undertaking the onerous duty of
supplying the requisite speakers to fill the winter’s programme.

Not content with these multifarious duties, with the exactions which they
made upon his time when super-added to his professional labors, he established
in 1850, in conjunction with A.W. Leggett, a weekly paper known as the Plaindealer.
Fortune, however, did not smile upon this enterprise, and despite his best
efforts and those of some of his personal friends the paper died in its infancy.
It was perhaps well that it did, for the law is a jealous mistress, not
willingly dividing her favors, either with politics or general literature. He
who would live from her altar must serve with fidelity and undivided allegiance.
Mr. Eastman soon discovered that fact, and from this time forth gave himself
with untiring energy and assiduity to the practice of his profession.

He had no forsenic ambition, being content to organize and direct movements
through other agencies than speech. This seemed singular in one of his
fulminatory temperament, backed as it was by great moral courage; and yet with
all this he was haunted by a retarding self-distrust which kept him off his feet
and out of court. Even in general meetings, whether political or otherwise, he
deferred to the presence of others, rarely speaking, and if at all, briefly,
lucidly and with great emphasis.

He early appears to have turned his attention to real property law as a
source of profitable practice, more particularly to that branch of it included
in conveyancing, with the legal incidents of leases, incumbrances, partitions
and foreclosures. He became the financial adviser and counsel of a large number
of capitalists, who relied upon his judgment in making loans for permanent
investment. In this way his reputation grew from year to year. He was regarded
as authority upon values, both actual and prospective, of real estate, and was
often selected to unravel the tangled meshes and conflicting subtleties of real
property law with which some unfortunate testator had tied up his estate, or to
smooth out the wrinkles from the assets of a bankrupt. He was also trustee and
guardian of many estates, and at the time of his death was the superintending
attorney of over $1,500,000 of loans on real property.

In August 1862 Mr. Eastman was appointed assessor of internal revenue
for the first Congressional district of New York. This field was an entirely new
one in our country. There were no precedents by which to guide these new revenue
officers. Each assessor became a law unto himself in his interpretation of the
federal statute, and, although the commissioner of internal revenue was
empowered to adjudicate questions of pending differences, yet his opinions did
not always carry conviction with them. They were looked upon as only
interlocutory orders, to be subsequently reviewed. It is a satisfaction to know
that from the first Mr. Eastman’s rulings in his district were considered in
Washington as unexceptionable in their character, exhibiting as they did a
knowledge of constitutional law which enabled him to establish some most useful
precedents for the benefit of the internal revenue bureau. The writer had
occasion to confer with E.A. Rollins, the commissioner, on this point, and was
gratified to learn from him that Mr. Eastman’s administration of his office
was conspicuous for the absence of errors of judgment, either in construction of
the statute or in enforcement of its provisions. His record stood pre-eminently
faultless and unimpeachable, as testified to by a letter from Mr. Rollins,
bearing date December 12th 1866, in which he says "No reports have ever
reached me in relation to your services otherwise than such as were satisfactory
to myself, and must have been agreeable to you had you been made acquainted with them."

In 1876 Mr. Eastman was one of those who helped organize the Queens County
Bar Association, of which he was the first treasurer, and president at the time
of his death. His direction of its funds was such that it grew to be a
flourishing institution, with a gradually increasing library and a surplus to
draw upon. In like manner, and with the same public spirit which was ever his
guiding impulse, he interested himself in organizing the Bryant Library
Association in Roslyn, an association founded upon the bequest of a hall by the
late William C. Bryant to that village.

In March 1878 Mr. Eastman organized the Roslyn Savings Bank for the purpose
of supplying a neighborhood want, as he felt it to be. This bank was wholly his
own creation, the offspring of his conscientious desire to help the poor find a
place of safe deposit for their little earnings, and to found an institution of
recognized standing in the community. With this end in view he accepted the
position of treasurer, a position which he filled to the time of his death,
giving his services to its administration with a fidelity and self-denial which
commanded the admiration of his colleagues and the community. All knew that his
midnight lamp was never extinguished while anything remained to be done in the
interest of the bank. However arduous might have been the labors of the day he
was never too tired to be unable to do something more in its behalf.

Mr. Eastman was the candidate of the Republican party for county judge of
Queens county at the elections held in 1869 and 1873. Though his party was in
the minority he polled its full vote. He was also its candidate for delegate to
the constitutional convention of 1867, but failed to be elected.

His last illness, which wits brief, told too plainly the story of an
overworked system, whose vitality had been consumed in advance of its years. As
his ambition to labor knew no limits, so his energy knew no bounds, and he fell
a victim to that fever of unrest which is characteristic of our professional
life. He died on the 30th of March 1882, not having yet reached his 56th year.

At a meeting of the bar of the county, held on the following day, appropriate
resolutions commemorative of his worth were adopted, and at the opening of the
April term of the circuit court, held in and for the county of Queens on the
moth day of the month, the same were duly presented and ordered to be entered on
the minutes of the court.

The trustees of the Roslyn Savings Bank, the Queens County Bar Association
and the Bryant Library Association passed similar resolutions expressive of
their respect and appreciation of his worth.

Mr. Eastman was married on the 16th of February 1848 to Miss Lydia Macy,
daughter of Frederick H. Macy, of Williamsburgh. He left seven children, of whom
three are sons and four daughters.

MINOR VILLAGES OF NORTH HEMPSTEAD
GREAT NECK.
The settlement of this neck of land commenced about the middle of the
seventeenth century. May 19th 1679 Thomas Rushmore was granted permission to
build a grist and saw mill on the west side of Great Neck, with privileges
similar to other mills, and to cut timber on unoccupied land.

The village of Great Neck is the terminus of the north side railroad and is
mostly of modern growth. It contains a number of business establishments, among
which are the hardware store of Vincent Barnes and the two stores occupied by
the Haydens. There are two churches and a good school building in the vicinity.

HON. SILVANUS S. SMITH.

The subject of this sketch was born at Herricks, in North Hempstead, July 4th
1802. His father was Silvanus Smith, a farmer well known in the county (having
held the offices of county treasurer and justice of the peace for several years)
and highly respected and esteemed for his probity in all of his business
transactions in public and private. His mother was Mary Toffey, daughter of
Daniel and Phebe Toffey, of Herricks. She died in 1812, leaving a family of
three daughters and two sons, Silvanus being the younger.

Mr. Smith received a common school education and later attended Union Hall
Academy, at Jamaica, after which he accepted a clerkship in the house of
Stephens & Underhill, and at a later date he entered the service of Warring
& Kimberly, wholesale grocers, of New York. In 1822, at the request of his
father, he returned home to take charge of the farm, of which he became owner
upon the death of his father, in 1825.

In 1830 Mr. Smith was married to Elizabeth Louisa, daughter of Thomas and
Altie Tredwell, of Great Neck. In 1835 he purchased a farm at Great Neck and
erected buildings thereon for his future home, having disposed of his property
at Herricks. In 1839 his wife died and in 1846 he married his second wife, Helen
Livingston, daughter of Stephen and Margaret Olivia Mitchell, of Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Mr. Smith’s official career began in 1832, when he was elected town
assessor and commissioner of common schools, in which capacities he served
several years. He was elected supervisor of his town in 1847, and served seven
years. In 1851 he was elected to represent his county (then entitled to but one
member) in the Assembly. On the organization of the house in 1852 he was
appointed one of the committee on the erection and division of towns and
counties, and also one of a select committee of five appointed by the speaker on
the license question, to report to the house the result of their deliberations.
Two reports were made, the majority opposing and the minority favoring licenses.
Upon a vote of the house the minority report, presented by Mr. Smith, was
adopted. In 1853 he was re-elected to the Assembly. The house was organized by
the election of William H. Ludlow, of Suffolk county, as speaker. Mr. Smith was
chairman of the committee on agriculture. Both houses adjourned without passing
the supply bill. The governor, Horatio Seymour, issued a proclamation calling an
extra session. A recess was had for only one month, when both houses
reassembled, passed the supply bill and disposed of the unfinished business of
the regular session, and adjourned. On his return home Mr. Smith’s friends
urged him to allow them to present his name to the Congressional convention as a
candidate for member of Congress from the first Congressional district, assuring
him that he could have the nomination; but, though a nomination was equivalent
to an election, the district being strongly Democratic, he declined, having
decided to retire to private life, which is more in consonance with his domestic
taste and disposition. Since 1854 he has enjoyed his elegant home, "Forest
Hill," at Great Neck, untroubled by the jar and conflict of political struggles.

WILLIAM MITCHELL SMITH

William Mitchell Smith, of Great Neck, is known as one of the most genial,
hospitable and companionable gentlemen of Long Island. He is a direct
descendant, in the sixth generation, of Richard Smith, the original proprietor
of Smithtown. His father was Daniel E. Smith, who was born in Smithtown and was
a merchant in New York prior to 1832, after which he lived retired at Great Neck
until his death. His mother was Miss Susan H. Mitchell, daughter of William
Mitchell, in whose honor Mr. Smith was named, and on the maternal side Mr. Smith
is descended from and related to the Hewlett family, which is numerous and
prominent on Long Island.

Mr. Smith was born at Great Neck, May 13th 1816. His early life was spent
there, and in the public schools there he obtained the rudiments of his
education, later attending a private school in New York for a time. Though not a
graduate of any college, Mr. Smith is one of the best informed men on the
island. Of quick observation and much addicted to reading, gifted with a
remarkably retentive memory, his knowledge of men and events, and especially of
the early history of Long Island, is extensive and varied. He began his business
life in New York, and about 1840 removed to Great Neck, where he has since been
engaged in farming.

Mr. Smith married Harriet, daughter of Joseph L. Hewlett, of Great Neck. She
has borne him three children. Two daughters, Harriet and Susie H., are living.
William Mitchell jr., a son, died soon after he had attained his majority.
Inclined to domestic life and dearly prizing the comforts of home, Mr. Smith has
never been tempted to relinquish them for public or political honors, though he
takes a thoughtful and intelligent interest in affairs of national importance
and has at heart the welfare and progress of his town, county and State. He and
his family are communicants in the Episcopal church, of which he is an earnest
and liberal supporter.

THOMAS MESSENGER.

Thomas Messenger, younger son of John Messenger Esq., of England, was born in
the year 1810, in the county of Surrey, and came to America when he was still
very young. Settling at first in New York city, much of his early life was spent
on Long Island, in the development of which up to the time of his death he
always took a lively interest. Although he retained many of the characteristics
of the inhabitants of his native soil, still his love for his adopted home was
entirely unclouded by those prejudices so common to his countrymen. He was
thoroughly imbued with whole-souled and disinterested devotion to America’s
free institutions. He combined in himself the tenacity of purpose, high sense of
honor, an impregnable integrity of an English gentleman, with the enterprise,
public spirit and sound judgment of an American merchant. A long and successful
business career in New York city never dimmed the lustre of his integrity, and
during a well earned rest toward the end of his life his spirit of enterprise
remained undiminished.

During his commercial life Mr. Messenger was well known through the many
offices of trust in financial and charitable institutions which he filled in the
most satisfactory manner. While conducting a large and prosperous business of
his own, he was for 25 years president of the Brooklyn Bank; 20 years trustee of
the Brooklyn Savings Bank; at the time of his death senior director of the Home
Insurance Company of New York; treasurer of the Brooklyn City Hospital; trustee
of the Aged and Infirm Clergy fund of the diocese of Long Island, the Brooklyn
Eye and Ear Infirmary and the Industrial school; besides filling other offices
of public and private trust, in all of which he displayed untiring activity,
intrepid fidelity and rare sagacity.

But to Long Islanders, and especially to the inhabitants of Queens county, he
was best known by his spirited and disinterested devotion to the advancement of
economical and profitable agriculture. Among the strongest instincts which he
carried with him through life from his English cradle was an innate love for
country life and agricultural pursuits. So strong was this feeling that it fell
little short of being a passion, and prompted him during the busiest years of a
very busy life to purchase a small farm at Great Neck, Long Island, to which
from the very first he gave his personal attention. As opportunity presented
itself the original farm was gradually increased, until Mr. Messenger became the
largest land owner on Great Neck. He devoted his attention mainly to the
introduction and breeding of the finer kinds of foreign cattle. His efforts in
this direction were recognized by several prizes at the New York State
agricultural shows. He was also one of the largest contributors of articles to
the Queens county show when it was comparatively in its infancy, and at a time
when such contributions were needed to give interest and success to it’s
annual meetings. Appreciation of his valuable services in this direction, as
well as his general high standing it the community, and his well known executive
ability secured him the election to the presidency of the Queens County
Agricultural Society a few years ago. To the exercise of the duties of this
office he brought those high qualities of geniality and tact which through his
whole life had served to so thoroughly endear him to those whose good fortune it
was to be brought in contact with him in his domestic and social relations.

Mr. Messenger was also identified with the railroad development of Long
Island, being actuated thereto more by his zeal for its best interests than by
any desire of profit for himself. He was the original promoter and largest
bondholder and a stockholder in the Great Neck branch of the Flushing and North
Shore Railroad, of which he was also receiver at the time of his death, in his
seventy-first year.

On the 20th of October 1881 he finally succumbed to the disease against which
for several years he had manfully struggled. By Mr. Messenger’s death Queens
county was deprived of one of its most zealous well-wishers and active, workers
for its prosperity.

MANHASSET.
The location of this village has been previously described. It now contains
three churches, a Friends’ meeting-house, a union free school, a new and
elegant town house, a hotel, a blacksmith shop and a well ordered store. Christ
Church Academy was once a prominent seat of learning here. The place was
formerly known as "Head of Cow Neck," but by the effort of some of the
citizens the name was changed to Manhasset about 40 years ago.

Manhasset Valley (about a mile westward) lies at the head of Cow Bay. The old
grist-mill here was built by Dr. Charles Mitchell about the year 1800, at the
east end of the dam, but removed afterward to its present site. The village
contains a hotel, a wagon shop, two blacksmith shops, a bakery, a harness shop,
hardware, grocery and shoe stores, and the old store recently enlarged, repaired
and occupied by John E. Hicks. George K. Dodge is the postmaster and keeps the
office in his bakery and grocery establishment.

PORT WASHINGTON.
This place was formerly called Cow Bay, from the water on which it is
situated, and derived its importance as a village from two tide-water
grist-mills, built here early in the eighteenth century. These mills were
formerly supplied with wheat from the Mediterranean Sea, and did a thriving
business. The name of the village was changed to Port Washington when the
post-office was established here (about 1857). Thomas McKee, merchant and
coroner, was the first postmaster and the principal merchant in the place.
Others now engaged in mercantile pursuits are A.C. Bayles, T. Velsor, John H.
Burtis and Mrs. E. Pearce. There are two hotels, and other enterprises necessary
to a thriving business. There are in this place two churches and a first-class
union school building. The financial prosperity of Port Washington is so much
the result of the culture of oysters near by that the history of the place and
that of its absorbing industry are inextricably interwoven.

HYDE PARK.
"Hyde Park, so called," says Thompson, "is in the southwestern
part of the town, and was the former property and residence of the Hon. George
Duncan Ludlow, one of the judges of the supreme court of the colony, as well as
his brother Colonel Gabriel Ludlow, who commanded a regiment of American
loyalists during the Revolutionary war. In consequence of the adherence of these
gentlemen to the cause of the enemy, and their active co-operation in the
measures of the British ministry against the colonies, their estates were
forfeited to the country. The mansion which had been erected by Judge Ludlow was
destroyed by fire in 1817, during its occupation by the celebrated English
political writer William Cobbet. The open grounds south of Hyde Park were
anciently called Salisbury Plains. A race-course was established here by
Governor Nicolls in 1665, and was supported by public authorities many years,
for the purpose, as declared by his excellency, of improving the breed of
horses, an argument yet made use of to justify the practice of horse racing. His
successor, Governor Lovelace, also appointed, by proclamation, that trials of
speed should take place in the month of May of each year, and that subscriptions
be taken up of all such as were disposed to ‘run for a crown of silver or the
value thereof in wheat.’ This course was called Newmarket, and continued to be
patronized for the sports of the turf for more than a hundred years; when the
place was abandoned for another, considered more convenient."

The village of New Hyde Park lies south of the site of the old, on the Long
Island Railroad, and is furnished with a hotel, several stores, blacksmith
shops, etc.

A. Herkomer, manufacturer of ladies’ and gentlemen’s scarfs, tubular
ties, etc., has his factory here.

WESTBURY.
Westbury is one of the finest farming sections on Long Island. The
substantial buildings and well kept farms bear witness to the industrious habits
of the people. An examination of the land titles convinces us of their
inclination to cling closely to the acres their ancestors tilled; and a glance
at the educational history of the town shows the care exercised in educating
their children.

Henry Willis and Edmund Titus were among the first (whose families are now
represented) to settle in this immediate vicinity. Henry Willis was born at
Westbury in Wiltshire, England, September 14th 1628. He was a Quaker, and,
suffering persecution on this account, emigrated to America. He arrived about
1670 and bought land at this place which he called Westbury from his native
place. Some of the other older families here are the Hickses, Posts, Rushmores,
Seamans, Townsends, Treadwells and Willetses, most of whom are members of the
Society of Friends.

At the time of the Revolution there were several stores and taverns near here
on the Jericho turnpike. A post-office near this place was formerly called North
Hempstead. At present the old store occupied by J.P. Kelsey (who has branch
stores at Westbury and East Williston stations), two wagon shops and one
blacksmith shop carry on the business in their line. Stephen R. Hicks has a
grist-mill which is propelled by wind.

The Westbury Nurseries.- These nurseries, the property of Isaac Hicks
& Sons, were commenced about 25 years since. They are devoted mainly to the
propagation of hardy trees, shrubs, vines and fruits. The nursery is in a
thriving condition, its effects being noticed largely on the country round
about.

SAMUEL WILLETS.

The subject of this sketch was born in Old Westbury, June 15th 1795. He
remained at home on the farm until he was 18 years old, when he went to New York
and engaged as clerk in a hardware store. After two or three years’ clerkship
he began business for himself while yet a young man, in company with his
brother, under the firm name of A. & S. Willets. At 294 and 296 Pearl
street, between Peck slip and Beekman Street, a hardware house was established
that proved the foundation of his fortune. As the business grew, several of Mr.
Willets’s nephews were admitted as partners, under the firm name of Willets
& Co.

After several successful years in this business the firm took large interests
in whaling. This business proved very remunerative, and grew in magnitude until
they at one time had an interest in 50 whaling vessels. The sales of their oils
one year amounted to more than 10 per cent. of the entire receipts at American
ports. They also did a heavy commission business for others. When the California
trade was opened very large consignments were received from that coast.


In 1869 Samuel Willets withdrew from the firm, still retaining an office in
the building, however, for his private business. He has had official connection
with several financial, educational and philanthropic institutions. He was at
one time president of the American Exchange Bank, and has been one of its
directors since 1850. He is president of the board of managers of Swarthmore
College, near Philadelphia, and has been officially connected with it since its
foundation. He is president of the Society for the Relief of the Ruptured and
Crippled; president of the New York Infirmary and vice-president of the New York
Hospital.

In March 1816 Mr. Willets married Sarah Hicks, of Westbury. After 65 years
of signally harmonious wedded life his estimable wife died in January 1881,
beloved and mourned by all who had the good fortune to know her.

Mr. Willets has always taken pleasure in assisting his fellow men when it
appeared wise for him to do so. Several prominent and well-to-do farmers in
Queens county owe their start in life to the aid received from him.

Considering the amount of work Mr. Willets has done, he is wonderfully well
preserved, and it is hoped he will retain his health to enjoy for many years the
fruits of his well spent life.

ELIAS HICKS
(By ISAAC HICKS.)
The Hicks family of Long Island descend from Pilgrim stock. The first
American progenitor, Robert Hicks, landed at Plymouth, Mass., on the 11th of
November 1621, having sailed from London in the ship "Fortune," which
followed the "Mayflower," and brought over those left behind the
previous year by that famous vessel. Robert’s family were natives of
Gloucestershire, England, and traced their ancestry in unbroken line back to
Ellis Hicks, who was knighted by Edward the Black Prince on the battle field of
Poitiers, in 1356, for bravery in capturing a set of colors from the French.

Robert Hicks settled at Duxbury, Mass., where he lived, and died at a good
old age; but his sons, John and Stephen, in 1642 joined an English company which
acquired, by patent, an extensive tract of land about Hempstead and Flushing on
Long Island. Stephen purchased several thousand acres at Little Neck and erected
a large mansion, where he lived until an advanced age, and died without male
descendants.

John Hicks settled at Hempstead, and it is from him that the extensive family
of the name on Long Island and in New York are descended. Having been educated
at Oxford University he was a man of intelligence, and his natural force of
character made him a leader in the youthful colony. He took an active part in
public affairs, and his name appears in most of the important transactions of
the time.

John Hicks left an only son, Thomas, who seems to have inherited his father’s
intellectual vigor and force of character. He occupied a prominent position in
public and social life, and filled many places of trust and honor, among others
that of the first judge appointed for the county of Queens, an office which he
held for many years.

In 1666 he obtained from Governor Nicolls a patent for 4,000 acres, including
Great Neck and lands adjacent. Here he erected a fine mansion and introduced the
English manorial style of living.

He was a remarkable man in many respects, retaining his mental and physical
powers unimpaired to extreme old age. A paragraph in the New York Postboy of
January 26th 1749 states that "he left behind him, of his own offspring,
above three hundred children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and
great-great-grandchildren." He died in his one hundredth year, and left,
among other children, a son Jacob, who was the grandfather of the subject of
this sketch.

Elias Hicks was born at Rockaway, Long Island, March 19th 1748. His parents,
John and Martha Hicks, were in moderate circumstances, but owned a good farm and
comfortable home, where their children had excellent moral training, but
otherwise received only a very limited education.

His father being a Quaker, although not a very active member f that society,
Elias early imbibed the principles of that sect, but during his youth, while
apprenticed to a carpenter, seemed inclined to prefer the gay society of the
young people of the neighborhood. As he grew older he developed a vigorous and
active intellect, and evinced a steadfast devotion to his convictions of right
and duty which was ever one of the most marked elements in his character. He
early took decided ground against the iniquity of human slavery, and later in
life was among the pioneers in the cause of emancipation in the Society of
Friends. This was one of the battles that he felt called upon to fight in the
cause of truth and justice, and he devoted the energy and ability of a long life
to the faithful championship of the oppressed negro. His father was an owner of
slaves, and in his youth Elias plead long and earnestly until he effected their
emancipation. Later in life, when the estate of his father-in-law, who was also
a slaveholder, came to be divided, he resolutely refused to accept for his own
share any portion of the money which represented the value of the slaves, but
used it to purchase their freedom, and ever after took upon himself the care and
support of those thus liberated; even leaving a bequest in his will for their
maintenance in old age.

In 1775 he became a public preacher in the Quaker society, and from that time
until his death, when over 80 years of age, he was a faithful and tireless
worker in what he believed to be the cause of truth and righteousness. He was
especially earnest in the conviction that service in the ministry should be
free, and without the selfish stimulus of earthly reward, and to this end he was
scrupulously careful when traveling in the service of the society, and on all
other occasions, to defray his own expenses.

During the exciting years of the Revolutionary war he carefully maintained
the peaceful principles of his sect, and such was the confidence reposed in his
high character that he was permitted, in the exercise of his religious duties,
to pass six times through the lines of the contending armies. He was
scrupulously just in his business affairs, holding in all cases the dictates of
conscience to be superior to the fallible laws of man.

In his dress, the furniture of his house, and all outward things, he carried
to the extreme the principle of plainness and simplicity advocated by his
society. In person he was erect, of commanding stature, and possessed in a
remarkable degree that intangible attribute which we denominate
"presence." In social life he was dignified but kind, a little
reserved in manner, and giving the impression of great intellectual force,
combined with a stern devotion to the convictions of duty. Affable in bearing,
and inheriting the courtly politeness of the old school gentleman of the last
century, his society was much sought by intelligent people of all classes, who
were attracted by his rare and varied gifts as a conversationist.

His public addresses were not adorned with flowers of rhetoric, nor polished
by scholastic learning, but were plain, logical discourses, delivered with a
natural earnestness and eloquence which seemed to inspire his audience with a
measure of his own strong faith, and to carry them onward to conviction in the
principles he advocated with such force and sincerity.

His religious views were somewhat in advance of those popular in his day, and
were the result of individual thought and experience, uninfluenced by
theological reading or metaphysical study. While accepting, in its broadest
sense, the Quaker doctrine that the Almighty Spirit directly influences the
hearts of all mankind, and that a strict adherence to the manifestations of
duty, as revealed to each individual soul, is the foundation of all true
religion, he was disposed to assign a less exalted place to the Bible, as God’s
specially revealed guide to man, and to maintain the Unitarian view of Christ’s
divinity. He took strong and decided ground against the old-time belief in Satan’s
personal existence and active work in the world, holding that the weaknesses and
unbridled passions of human nature were the actual and only evil spirit against
which mankind had to contend. In his view God was all love, and he rejected
every doctrine or theory that impugned the absolute wisdom and goodness of the
Divine Being, or His universal affection for all the human family, however
indorsed by conclave or synod. As it was his nature to think out his conclusions
for himself, and then to take bold and fearless ground in maintaining his
convictions of right, his advanced views naturally met with the disapproval of
many of the conservative members of his society, and after a few years of
excited discussion the Quakers in America divided into two separate bodies,
which have ever since remained distinct. Those who united with the sentiments of
Elias were called Hicksite, and those opposed to him Orthodox, Quakers. The
former are the most numerous about New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, while
the latter compose the bulk of the society in the New England and Western States.

Like most celebrated men of strong will and earnest convictions of duty,
Elias Hicks made a decided impression upon the religious thought of his time,
although the circumscribed limits within which the customs and principles of the
Quaker society of that day confined his labors prevented his working in
connection with other associations; thus restricting his efforts to the endeavor
to promote a higher standard of Christian life among his own religious
associates.

During his long and active career he was constantly traveling about the
country, addressing the meetings of his society, and wherever he went large and
deeply interested audiences gathered to greet him. His noble presence and
eloquent words made lasting impressions upon his hearers, the memory of which
was ever afterward cherished in affectionate hearts and has been handed down
with a feeling of reverence to a later generation.

Elias Hicks died at Jericho, Long Island, on the 27th of February 1830.

 

 

 

 

* See "Orders," vol. 2, page 226, in office of Secretary of State,
at Albany.

** See Register of Marriage Licenses, by O’Callaghan.

*** See Queens County Records, Book B, No.2 of Deeds, page 115.

(4*) See Address of William Alfred Jones before the Long Island Historical
Society, November 6th 1863.


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