History of East
Hampton, New York
Including an Address
Delivered at the Celebration of the Bi-Centennial Anniversary of its
Settlement in 1849,
INTRODUCTIONS To the four printed volumes of its Records, with other
Historic Material, an Appendix and Genealogical Notes BY HENRY P. HEDGES.
"They haunt your breezy hillsides, green vales and thundering floods,
They linger by your gliding streams and mid your moss-draped woods, They
sit beside your green old graves in shadow and in sheen, And move among
your household gods though voiceless and unseen. Then ye who make your
happy homes where once their homes have been, Deem also this your heritage,
to keep their memories green, To shield within your heart of hearts, the
glorious trust ye hold, And bear unstained the names they bofe, those brave,
proud men of old." --Cornelia Huntington.
SAG-HARBOR: J. H. HUNT, PRINTER. 1897.
PREFACE
An address was delivered in 1849, at the celebration of the two hundredth
anniversary of the settlement of the Town of East-Hampton. Introductions
were printed with the four volumes of the Town Records. That address forms
the first two and the introductions the next four chapters of this book.
The writer was advised to revise and re-cast all these. But the address
is by age almost historic. That and the Introductions are existing unities
hard to transform. The writer is in his eightieth year, with limited activities,
and unable to do this work. It must be in this shape and now or never.
The last six chapters comprise results of years of thought and study, as
the pressure of business and the practice of an arduous profession permitted.
The appendix contains material historically invaluable. The genealogy is
compiled with care and an aim for exactness more than quantity. The years
of toil and historic labor embodied in this book, the experienced alone
can know. That it is not more symmetric none more than the writer regrets.
It is far below his ideal. For the reasons stated perhaps its criticism
should be gentle. To the many friends aiding in this work, whose number
prevents special mention, thanks! The history of this town is worthy of
the most unremitting toil and the loftiest genius. The memory of our forefathers
demands the best their sons can give. Back, far back in the early English
settlements of this fair land are found the springs from whence its rich
blessings flowed. But for the virtue, the piety, the self denial, the wisdom,
the genius of the fathers, this Nation in the largeness of its freedom,
the breadth of its education, the universality of its equal rights, the
solidity of its unbroken union, the grandeur of its territorial greatness,
the march of its beneficent mission, could not have been. As a guiding
constellation in the heavens, such thoughts have cheered the labors, softened
the cares, dispersed the gloom, inspired the gratitude of the writer in
compiling this work. May it inspire like thoughts in the hearts of the
living and of coming generations. With that hope it was written. To that
high purpose it is dedicated.
H. P. HEDGES. BRIDGE-HAMPTON, July, 1897.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
ADDRESS OF 1849.
Topics Covered within:
The Introduction, The Settlement, The Settlers, Culture of the Soil, Whaling,
The Courts, Connecticut Laws adopted, The Indians, Growth of the
Settlement, Amagansett and Wainscott settled
CHAPTER II
ADDRESS OF 1849 CONTINUED.
Topics Covered within:
Combination and Laws of Connecticut Adopted, Witchcraft, The Churches,
The Ministers, The Spirit of Freedom, The Petition for Representation
in Government, The Patent of 1686,. Samuel Mulford, The Revolution,
Capt. John Dayton, Clinton Academy, Thoughts suggested, Conclusion
CHAPTER III
INTRODUCTION TO VOL. I OF THE TOWN RECORDS, 1649-1680.
Topics Covered within:
Invitation to the Writer, Government a Necessity, Value of the Records,
The Town Meeting, Representative Government Denied,The Settlement
Extended, Witchcraft, Whaling, The Title to Lands, The Church,
Lion Gardiner, Character Fixed
CHAPTER IV
INTRODUCTION TO VOL. II OF THE TOWN RECORDS, 1680-1720.
Topics Covered within:
The Growth of the Colony, State of the Church, The Robber Government
of the Province, The Town Resists their Oppression, The Address
of 1685, Leisler-Sloughter, Improvement of Lands in Common a Failure,
Whaling, Farming, Shoemaking, The Fort, The Burying Ground,
Death of Minister James, Rev. Nathaniel Huntting, the Ocean
CHAPTER V
INTRODUCTION TO VOL. III OF THE TOWN RECORDS, 1702-1734.
Topics Covered within:
The Mother Country, The Plague in London, The Great Fire of
1666, The Wars, Emigration, The Power of Great Britain
Predominates, Samuel Mulford, Simplicity of Manners,
Genealogy, Trade, Commerce, Manufactures, The Church, Structure raised
in 1717
CHAPTER VI
INTRODUCTION TO VOL. IV OF THE TOWN RECORDS, 1734-1849.
Topics Covered within:
Progress of the Age, Allottment of Lands, Cattle Marks, Montauk,
Town Legislation, A Dog Law, The Revolution, Old Style
Changed, Gardiner's Island Annexed to East-Hampton, Notices of Ministers
Huntting, Buell, Beecher, Phillips, Condit, Eleazer Miller, Nathaniel Gardiner,
Thomas Wickham, Jonathan S. Conkling, Abraham Parsons, Abel Huntington,
M. D., David Hedges, Jr., Josiah C. Dayton, Samuel Miller, Concluding Remarks
CHAPTER VII
Topics Covered within:
THE INDIANS--Death of the Manhansett Sachem, Sachem's Hole,
Wyandance Attains Supremacy, The Montauk Tribe, Their Number,
Wars with Pequots and Narraghansetts, Navigation, Wampum,
Religion, Missions, Cockenoe de Long Island, Indian Influence on the Anglo
Saxon, Beman Father and Son, Love of War, An Epitaph, The Trustees of the
Town of East-Hampton
CHAPTER VIII
Topics Covered within:
The Original Dwellings and their Location, The Later Dwellings and their
Surroundings, Progress, Home Manufacture, Economic and Social Life, Literature,
The Galaxy of Mind,. Health, County of Kent, Maidstone, Substitutes
for Money, Religion, The Sabbath, Care of Indians, Pity for the Poor
CHAPTER IX
Topics Covered within:
Government Impartial, Prudent, Forest Protected, Combination with Connecticut
and New England, Assembly of 1665, Duplicity of the Duke of York, Southampton
Disputes the Line, Some Old Lots Located, Emigration, Wealth and Population,
The Tea Kettle, Standpoint for a View
CHAPTER X
Topics Covered within:
The Revolution, p Major Cockeaue, The Refugees, The Culloden,
Major Andre, Dr. Gardiner, Dr. Buell, Population, The Quit
Rent, Shipwrecks, The Storm, The Amistad Case
CHAPTER XI
Topics Covered within:
Three Beechers in One Day, John Howard Payne, Miss Cornelia Huntington,
General Training, The Whale Chase
CHAPTER XII
Topics Covered within:
Sag-Harbor
APPENDIX
Indian Deed for East-Hampton, 1648 and
Assignment thereof, 1651 |
Trial of Wyandanch |
Oath of Town Officers |
Address at a General Training in June,
1682 |
Tax List of East-Hampton, Sept. 8, 1683 |
Montauk Deed, Aug. 1, 1660 |
"
" Hither End, Feb. 11, 1661 |
"
" Abstract, Dec. 1, 1670 |
"
" The Eastern part, July 26, 1687 |
"
" Abstract, 1702-3 |
Dongan's Patent of the Town, 1686 |
Letter of Freeholders of Suffolk County
asserting rights, etc., 1701 |
General Association of 1775 |
Muster Roll, Capt. Ezekiel Mulford's Company,
1776 |
List of Town Officers, 1650 to 1750 |
List of Supervisors, 1699 to 1848 |
List of Church Members removed, 1696 to
1800 |
J. Madison Huntting's Journal, 1841
to 1864 |
Facetia |
Soldiers and Seamen who served in the
War for the Union 1861-65 from E. Hampton |
Genealogy Of East Hampton Families
Additional names of persons or families, transient
or resident in East Hampton near the years named
Names of early settlers are not now in
East-Hampton |