^I^ f ^^;^^:^^^^^^^I^^^^S'¥^<^ -^ HISTORY OF^V- Suffolk County, •^ COMPRISING THE-i- >C , V. ADDRESSES DELIVERED AT THE CELEBRATION OF THE BI-CENTENNIAL OF SUFFOLK COUNTY, N. Y., IN RIVERHEAD, NOVEMBER 15, 1883. BABYLON, N. Y., BUDGET STEAM PRINT, 1885. ^ ■v!Sso»..jN„ 3-^bW- Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1885, By STEPHEN A. TITUS, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTORY:— page. "The growth of Suffolk county in Population, Wealth and Comfort, " by EPHER WHITAKER, D. D. , 9 "The Formation of the Civil Government of Suffolk county," by Hon. henry J. SCUDDER, 19 "Religious Progress and Christian Culture of Suffolk county," by SAMUEL E. HERRICK, D. D., 29 "Development of Agriculti^re in Suffolk county," by Hon. HENRY P. HEDGES. 39 "The Commerce, Navigation and Fisheries of Suffolk county," by Hon. HENRY A. REEVES, 55 "Literary Culture in Suffolk county," by Hon. JOHN R. REID, 79 "Evacuation by the British, " by Hon. CHARLES R. STREET, 85 APPENDIX:— Letter and Statistics, by JOSEPH NIMNO, Jr. , 93 Menhaden Fishery 98 Incidents of the Fishery 103 Ship Building and Tonnage -. 106 INTRODUCTORY. PATRIOTIC citizens of the county of Suffolk conceived the idea of celebrating the Bi-Centennial of the birth of the County, which was organized on November i, 1683. The initiative steps were taken by Mr. B. Van Dusen, editor of the Southold Traveler, who addressed to prom- inent citizens of the different towns forming the county, the following letter: Southold, Sept. 7, 1883. Dear Sir: — The matter of celebrating the Bi-Centennial of our County has attracted some attention during the past few months. All, so far as I am aware, who have expressed an opinion on the subject, assert that a suitable observance of the event would be not only becoming, but an advantage to the present dwellers in our venerable County, inasmuch as it would attract more attention to it from the outside world and, in addition, afford an opportunity such as it would obtain in no other way, to disprove the too common opinion abroad that Suffolk County is but little better than a "howling wilderness, " and that its inhabitants are from fifty to one hundred years behind the times. As I have said, all agree that the event should not be allowed to pass unobserved, but as yet no one has taken the initiative steps necessary for its consummation. Therefore, on the suggestion of another — not from choice — I take the trouble and responsibility of sending out this circular- letter, and ask that the following named persons be a committee to take the matter in charge, and meet to make the necessary arrangements, in the Supervisors' Room, in the Court House, at Riverhead, on Tuesday, Sept. 1 8th (Court week), immediately on the arrival of the mail train from the west, about 1 1 :30 a. m. : East Hampton, • — Brinley D. Sleight, Supervisor Baker. Southampton, — Henry P. Hedges, Supervisor Pierson. Brookhaven, — Richard M. Bayles, Supervisor Floyd. IsLiP,- — Seth R. Clock, Supervisor Vail. Babylon — James B. Cooper, Supervisor Titus. Huntington — Thomas Young, Supervisor Street. Smithtown — J. Lawrence Smith, Supervisor Bryant. Riverhead — James H. Tuthill, Supervisor Perkins. Southold — Rev. Epher Whitaker,.D. D. , Supervisor Reeves. Shelter Island — Dr. Nicoll, Supervisor Cartwright. This letter was accompanied by a sketch from the pen of Rev. Dr. Epher Whitaker, giving a short outline of the formation and growth of the County. In response to the foregoing letter the committee met at Riverhead on the day named and perfected plans for the celebration. INTRODUCTORY. Mr John R. Perkins, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors was elected chairman of the committee, and Mr. Chas. R. Street, Secretary. It was agreed that the Bi-Centennial should be celebrated at the County seat on Nov. 15, 1883, and a programme proposed by Rev. Dr. Whittaker was slightly amended and unanimously adopted. It contem- plated several addresses, which would present the chief features of the life and growth of the County during the last two centuries. The topics were arranged in a logical order as follows: First, the growth of the popula- tion and of their wealth and comfort; secondly, the improvement of civil government, jurisprudence and the administration of justice; thirdly, the increase of education, literary culture and literary productions; fourthly, the progress of religion, Christian culture, and the spread of the various branches of the Christian Church; fifthly, the cultivation of the soil and the increase of its products; sixthly, the commerce, navigation and fisheries, including the whaling and the menhaden industries. To these subjects was added, seventhly, the evacuation of the county by the British forces in ^ Q ^ To carry out this plan an executive committee of five persons was ap- pointed viz: JohnR. Perkins, Esq., Hon. Henry A. Reeves, Hon. Brinley D Sleight, Hon. James H. Tuthill and Hon. Nathan D. Petty. By* this committee the topics to be presented were assigned to the following persons: The first to Rev. Epher Whittaker, D. D., of Southold, second to Hon. Henry J. Scudder, of New York; third, to Judge John R Reid of Babylon; fourth, to Rev. Samuel E. Herrick, D. D of Boston; fifth, to Judge Henry R Hedges, of Bridgehampton; sixth, to Hon. Henry A. Reeves, of Greenport; and seventh, to Hon. Charles K. Street, of Huntington. , ' ,, . At a subsequent meeting of the committee the following persons were appointed committees for their respective localities. East Hampton— Jos. S .Osborn, A. S. French, James M. Strorig J. Mason SchelUnger, J. Henry Barnes, David H. Huntting, Geo. A. Miller, • Wm. B. Barley, Jacob O. Hopping, Hiram Sherrill. , , -^ „ Shelter Island— H. H. Preston, B. C. Cartwnght, Jr., E. H. Payne, N. P. Dickerson, C. H. Smith, Jr. Southampton— Hon. E; A. Carpenter, Benjamin Huntting, W^ W. Tooker, Charles A. Parks, Samuel Thompson, Henry Squires, N. Hal- lock, E. H. Foster, Oscar Howell, Henry Gardiner, M. D. Howell. 'brookhaven— George T. Osborn, Chas. S. Havens, Henry W. Car- man, Wilmot M. Smith, Chas. E. Rose, Roswell Davis, Gilbert H. Ray- nor A R. Norton, Selah B. Strong, Thos. H. Saxton, Jas. E. Bayles. ' Smithtown— Hon. J. Lawrence Smith, Jacob B. Conkhn, Coe. D. Smith Herman T. Smith, Wm. Henrv Mills, Theo. W. Smith, Elias S. Piatt, Robert B. Smith, Edmund N. Smith, Wallace Donaldson. IsLip— W. R. Suydam, John Wood, Wilson J. Terry, Chas. Z. Gil- lette Hon Wm. H. Ludlow, Wm. NicoU, Dr. A. G. Thompson, James H. boxsee, H. Duncan Wood, W. W. Hulse, Dr. E. S. Moore, Perry Wicks, Arthur Dominy, John M. Rogers. -n • td Babylon— D. S. S. Sammis, Elbert Carll, John Robbms, Benj. P. Field, Hon. John R. Reid, Ferdinand Beschott, Geo. A. Hooper, Stephen R. Williams, Jesse Purdy, Henry A. Brown. Huntington— Thomas Atkin, Hon. Thomas ^ oung, Edmund Jones David Carll, Jesse Carll, Edward Carll, Douglass Conkhn, W. Sanlord INTRODUCTORY, 7 Hudson, Carll Burr, Henry G. Scudder, Walter J. Hewlett, John F. Wood, Isaac Rogers, W. H. Skidmore. The people of Riverhead had determined to add several popular fea- tures to the celebration; a parade of the county Posts of the Grand Army of the Republic, the fire companies, and various other organizations of a benevolent and social kind, as well as a grand display of fireworks and a general illumination of the village. To carry out this part of the pro- gramme, the following persons were appointed a committee of arrange- ments: J. Henry Perkins, Gilbert H. Ketcham, George W. Cooper, Nat. W. Foster, Hubbard Corwin, George H. Skidmore, Clifford B. Ackerly, Horace H. Benjamin, Charles Hallett, Geo. F. Stackpole, Oliver A. Terry, Walter E. Gerard, Geo. Raynor, Timothy M. Griffing, Ahaz Bradley, Nathan D. Petty, James H. Tuthill, John R. Perkins, Simeon S. Hawkins, J. Edward Wells, Charles M. Blydenburgh, David F. Vail, Rev. W. I. Chalmers. The weather on the appointed day was perfect and in view of the shortness of the time for preparation, these popular features of the celebra- tion were remarkably successful, and eminently honorable to all engaged therein. The parade was orderly and beautiful. The decorations were appropriate and tasteful. The fireworks were splendid. The illumina- tions were brilliant, and marked by a charming variety and originality. The meetings afternoon and evening were held in the Methodist Episcopal Church, Hon. William Nicoll, of Islip, presiding. The musical part of the programme was assigned to the efficient di- rection and leadership of Prof D. P. Horton, of Southold. He was specially aided by a quartette of gentlemen from Greenport. The selec- tions were judicious and the singing praiseworthy. One of the pieces was a grand choral, printed in the appendix to the Horton family Bible, which was brought to Southold about 1640, and which is now in the possession of ex-Sheriff Hon. Silas Horton, who is in his 90th year. Another of the pieces, the Pilgrims' Planting, is one of Professor Horton's many and ex- cellent compositions. It was rendered by the choir with much skill and spirit. It was deemed advisable to preserve the speeches delivered on the oc- casion as they contained matter of historical interest compiled carefully and for the first time collected together for the public. Everything that experience could suggest has been done to secure the greatest accuracy so that the publisher feels confident in presenting this book to the public, he is placing before them a complete and authentic history of the County of Suffolk. Babylon, Dec. i, 1884. THE GROWTH OF SUFFOLK COUNTY IK POPULATION, WEALTH AND COMFORT. BY fipHER "S®^HITAKER, S. S. THERE is very generally a close relation between the character and condition of men and the soil on which they dwell, which they culti- vate; and whose products afford them food and sustenance. The climate in which they live, the air which they breathe, whether cold or hot, dry or moist, rare or dense, must also greatly affect their in- crease in number, as well as their health, longevity, thrift and comfort. It would be vain to seek among the grand and lofty mountains for men of softness and delicate sensibilities. Mountaineers are generallv courageous, resolute, often harsh and stern. It is the dwellers upon broad, fertile, sunny plains, who have feeble frames, smooth features, in- ,ert habits, and subtle and sensuous dispositions. Those who live neigh- bors to the sea, may feel the attractions of its grandeur and vastness, and be as venturesome and daring as those who dwell amid the sublime heights of the mountains. They may be even more enterprising. But there is, none the less, a difference between the highlanders and those whose home is upon the level slope by the shore of the ocean. Considerations of this kind may be kept in mind in regarding the character and consequent growth of the population of our county for the last two hundred years. In all the higher forms of life upon the earth, much also depends upon race and blood. No sportsman attempts to train a St. Bernard to point birds, nor a greyhound to recover game from the water; and just as little does a horseman undertake to train a Shetland pony to distance all racers on the course. Blood is not only thicker than water; it is also stronger than training. Man's connection with the inferior creatures that serve him, is inti- mate enough for him to show, in unlike races, the same difference of apt- itudes and abilities for various employments and ends, which characterize them. " One touch of Nature makes the whole \vorld kin." But it is Nature herself that makes men differ in form, size, strength and quickness; in language, and alertness' of body and mind; in all those manifold dis- parities and unlikenesses among races which afford not the sameness and unison, but the diversity and harmony of tones in the universal anthem of mankind. The one blood, of which all men are made, shows its richness in producing that variety in unity which is the essential condition, or even the source and soul of beauty. JO POPULATION AND GROWTH. Look at the countries which have been the homes of the world- shaping peoples, the great historic nations, to which mankind must own indebtedness for all those efficient means and mighty agencies which pro- mote the beneficent increase in the number, wealth and comfort ot the earth's population. It is plainly seen, that it was the character of the people to a greater degree than the nature of the land of their birth and abode which determined their course and history. The mountains ot Tudea'rise under the same stars that beheld them when they were traversed by the feet of our Lord and His apostles. The (}reeks, m the days of Achvlus and Plato, breathed the same air which now maintains the he of the inhabitants of Athens. The Rome of Caesar stood on the same hills that support the Rome of Humbert. The founders of Venice may have been driven into the sea and compelled to make their home on a group ot low and marsh v islands; but it was the Venetians, and not the islands, that created the Queen City of the Adriatic, won for it the richest commerce of the world and made it, in many features, until this day, the sanctuary of the finest art upon the face of the earth. But why call upon the records of the past to show man's superiority to his environments ? It is Holland, the free and the rich, that discloses how men turn the bottom of the ocean into a land of fruitfulness, and built the freshest and sweetest institutions of humanity where once flowed the ddes of the briny, bitter and boisterous seal And England, the mother country of most of us, the daughter of the fatherland of others here— England may have the waters for her defense,- but even more, her ramparts have been the wooden and the iron walls ot her'ships and the strong minds and stout hearts of her shipmen. It is generally and mainly the virtue, courage, knowledge, industry and justice of England, that make the realm of Victoria, God bless her! the- head ot the grandest, widest, mightest empire that ever spread the sacred protec- tion and immense benefits of civil government over hundreds of millions of people. , , ■ And what is true of an empire whose territories are so vast that ttie sun forever shines upon its possessions, is also true of much smaller re- ^'^^The soil of Suffolk county generally has excellent qualities; and this has tended to increase the population. Much of it has been submitted to the plough and now yields the richest products of the earth for human sustenance. Much more of the same fine soil will hereafter be possessed by the hand of culture, and thus promote the growth ot the population Doubtless the increase of both culture and population will advance with swifter speed in coming years. Suffolk county has a climate unsurpassed for health and comtort by that of any place between the Lakes and the Gulf— the Kennebec and the But it is the character of the people, more than the tuiturc of the place, that has determined the growth of the population, wealth and comfort of the county during the last two hundred years. Three centuries ago the soil here was naturally as fertile, the waters as productive, and the salubrity as great, as they were two centuries ago. The same heavens bent over the savage inhabitants then, that now smile upon a people of virtue, intelligence and refinement. The same waters surrounded our island. The same healthful air gave vitality and vigor to its inhabitants. Its bays and shores swarmed with the same forms ot fishes POPULATION AND GROWTH. II and were frequented bv the same kind of birds. The natural means of human support and comfort were not less abundant in the days of the red men than they are to-dav. But the heathen people themselves were in- ferior to their successors, to the Christian Englishmen who supplanted them. They lacked virtue, knowledge, spiritual culture, industry. And " Natiire lives by toil; Beast, bird, air, fire, tbe heavens and rolling world All live by action." * * * "Hence utility Throug;!! all conditions; hence the joys of health; Hence strentjth of arm, and clear judicious thought; Hence corn and wine and oil, and all in life Delectable. What simple Nature yields (And Nature does her part), are only rude Materials, cumbers on the thorny ground. 'Tis toil that makes them wealth," " Industry alone is wealth; Wliat we do is ours." The people, whose new civil organization, two hundred years ago, formed the county of Suffolk, were mainly English Puritans. A few of them were Welsh, like the Griffing, the Llovd, and the Havens families. A good specimen of t"his race mav be seen in the Wines family, of South- old, to which family belong Gen. Wines of our Revolutionary period; the Rev. Abijah Wines, D. D. , a native of Southold, the founder of the Con- gregational Theological Seminarv which is now at Bangor in Maine: and the Rev. Enoch Cook Wines, D. D. , LL. D. , formerlv the pastor of East- Hampton, eminent -as a philosophic and religious author and college President, and especiallv famous with an international reputation as a philanthropist in his official relations to the Prison Associations of the State of New York and of the United States. The founder of the promi- nent family of the Eloyds, who have taken such an active and responsible part, not in our countv only, but also in the State and the Nation, was a Welshman. Perhaps the most distinguished family of Welsh descent con- nected with our earlv Suffolk countv people are the Sewards, including the Hon. William H. Seward, who became in his young manhood the Governor of our Commonwealth, and at a later date a member of the United States Senate, and the vSecretarv of State of the United States, the chief member of the Cabinet of President Lincoln throughout the great civil war. Among the people of our countv two centuries since were some Hu- guenot families of great excellence. Here belong the Gerards, the Sal- liers, the Boisseaus, the Pelletreaus. the Fithians, the Perrins, the Dia- ments, and others. The most notable family of this superior French stock are the L'Hommedieus; and we must regard the Hon. Ezra L'Homme- dieu as the chief man of the race in Suffolk countv. The founder of the familv, Benjamin L'Hommedieu, settled in Southold soon after the formation of the county. It is believed that he came from Rochelle im- mediately after the renewal of the persecution of the French Protestants imder Louis XIV in 1685. He was a merchant, who became prominent in the place of his American home. He doubtless came to Southold through acquaintanceship with Captain Nathaniel Svlvester, the owner and occupant of Shelter Island, which was then called Sylvester's Island. Capt. Sylvester was a man of wealth and enterprise, great intelligence, ex- tensive correspondence, generous disposition and boundless hospitalitv. Quakers and foreigners, Frenchmen and Dutchmen, as well as his own J 2 POPULATION AND GROWTH. countrymen, found delightful entertainment in his allUicnl ami prolccting home Here Benjamin L'Hommedieu met, wooed, won and married Capt.' Sylvester's daughter Tatience. They had a large family, and he lived to be ninety-two years of age. Their eldest son, who bore his father's name, married for his second wife Martha Ikmrne, of Sandwich, Mass. These were the parents of Ezra L'Hommedieu, who was born in Southold, August 30, 1734, graduated at Yale College in 1754, and was soon active in his profession as a lawyer. In 1765, he married Chanty Floyd. She was a daughter of Nicoll Floyd, and a great-grand-daughter of Richard Floyd, one of the first setders of the county and the founder of the Floyd family in America. Her brother William became the celebrated General Floyd, 'a member of the United States Congress during the Re\o- lutionary war, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a Senator of the United States, a Presidential Elector, and very active and prominent in the service of his country in many offices and relations for half a cen- tury. He was born in the .same year as his brother-in-law, Mr. L'Hom- medieu, and they were several years together in Congress at the same time, and also together at the same time in other important civil offices. For example, they were both in the State Senate from 1784 to 1788, in which Gen. Floyd had been a member from its formation in 1777. They wxre also both members of the Council of Appointments and of. the Constitu- tional convenUon of 1801, as they had been at an (Earlier period in the Provincial Convention. They were admirable representatives of the Welsh and the French elements in the early population of our county. After the death of the Hon. Ezra L'Hommedieu's wife, Charity Floyd, in 1785, he married, in 1803, Catharine, daughter ot Nicoll Havens of Shelter Island. They had no sons— three daughters. One of these, born in 1806, became the wife of Samuel S. Gardiner, Esq., of Shelter Island, whose children in- herited the Sylvester Manor. Mr. L'Hommedieu died in 181 1. There were also, in the formadve period of our histoiw worthy rcj); resentatives of the Dutch people, and among these may be mentioned those who bore the family names of Schellenger, Vorich, Klaus, Alberlsttn, and others. It would have been marvelous had there been here not even a few representatives of the intelligent and enterprising countr>- to which the roval house of the Stuarts properly belonged, as did also William Alexan- der, Earl of Sterling, to whom was issued the first patent for the whole territory of Long Island. Accordingly we find at an earl}- dale such Scotch names as Ramsey, Simpson, Muirson, and others. But the people very generally were English Puritans and their de- scendants, who had been settling and increasing here, both by immigra- tion and birth, for a period of forty to fifty years before the formation of the county. A few of them preferred the Episcopal Establishment of the native country of themselves or their flithers; but far the greater part were Presbyterians and Independents. If all did not desire the union of Church and State as closely and fully as Christendom generally then desired it, nearly all desired at least the union of Church and Town. They brought with them the wonderful genius of the Anglo-Saxon race for organization; much of the spirit and not a few of the customs of the ancient (;erman village community and co-operation; and the priceless inheritance of the Engtish common" law. But they brought with them also a full determina- tion to maintain here a purer social and religious life, and freer and more POPULATION AND GROWTH. I3 equitable civil institutions, than men had ever before possessed and en- joyed on earth. They were resolved on the establishment and maintenance of the supremacy of law, in both religious and civil government; and they were equally resolute to be themselves the interpreters of the law in both Church and State; and this was a new departure in the organization of hu- man society. In their feebleness, they found it necessary to exclude from iheir own scattered and struggling settlements all those who were hostile to their purpose of maintaining the new order in Church and State which they had come to found and to enjtjy. In the meetings of the people for the enactment of laws and rules for the government and welfare of the community, they entrusted the right of voting to those only who were friendly to their comprehensive and main objects — the enjoyment of the gospel in purity and peace. They were determined that their lives, their liberties, their possessions should be under the control of such persons as were Heeing from England to avoid the persecution and injury there in- llicted upon those who were intent upon more liberty and .safety in the kingdom, and more freedom and purity in the church than they possessed. In 1639, the freemen of the several towns of Connecticut associated and conjoined themselves to be as one public State or commonwealth, "well knowing, " as they said, "where a people are gathered together the word of God requires, that to maintain the peace and union of such a people, there should be an orderly and decent government established according to God, to order and dispose of the affairs of the people at all seasons as occasion shall require. '" On this ground, they formed a permanent or- ganization, " to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the gospel 01' our Lord Jesus which we now profes.s, and also the discipline of the cimrchjs, which, according to the truth of the said gospel, is now prac- tised among us; as also in our civil affairs to be guided and governed ac- cording to sucii laws, rules, orders and decrees as shall be made, ordered and djcrejtl." In ttie same year, 1039, the government of the Colony of Xew Haven was organized on essentially the same principles and for the same purposes. Tne following year, in 1640, our towns of Southold and .Soathampton were settled, the rirst under the New Haven jurisdiction from Its origin, and the second soon after united itself to Connecticut. In 1643, tfie Puritan colonies of New England formed their Union, and said in tne Preamble to their Constitution: " We all came into these parts of America with one and the same end and aim, namely, to advance the kingdom of (jur Lord Jesus Christ, and to enjoy the liberties of the gospel in i)urity and peace." Men of tnis character, with these principles and aims, could not fail to be sober, industrious, thrifty and virtuous. Planted on such a soil as Long Island's, in this genial climate, with the rich advantages of the land and seas which they have possessed, they were bound to grow and pros- per. They were generally intelligent i)eople for those times, most of the lull grown men being able to read and write, and some of them possessing- scholarly attainments. Not a few were venturesome and restless, and nearly all desired to increase their worldly estates and make provision for their children, on earth, as well as lay up their treasures in heaven. Their style of living was simple and ine.xpensive. But the hardships of their Condition did not chill their love of home, nor hinder the rapid increase of their descendants. The families were generally large and healthy, though sufiering from the wants of medical skill. (Plad there been a phy- I ; POPULATION AND GROWTH. sician in any of the towns before the organization of the county ?) Parents often IWed^o see their descendants number scores and sometimes hun- dreds They were fit in mind and body to make sure of a rapid increase of noDulation, wealth and comfort. ■ j ■ .^ ,„c P When the act of 1683 organized the county, it recognized six towns. Soutl^M the oldest, was settfed in 1640, and Southampton m the sarne year Ea^^^^^^^^ 1649; Huntington, a few , years later; Brookhaven L I6SS and Smithfield. now Smithtown, soon afterwards though its or- lanizition as a town seems to date from the formation of the county ^ The population of the county, at that time, may have been wo thou- sand persons Fifteen years later, in 1698, it was 2,679; and of this nurn- ber 2 1 2 were white people. Five years later, m .1703, the whole number was Vu6 Twenty years thereafter, in 1723. it had nearly doubled and wa 6 mi" Only eight years later, in 1731, it was 7,675, and without rbatemen 'in the growth; for, six years later, in I737. ^t had becoine 7,9^3, whenhere were 328 freeholders in the county. The causes of this rapid Inlar-er^ent continued; and, in 1746, it had risen to 9,254. Thus, in the nrevfeurfortyel.ht years, the resident population had increased 360 per Lm n 749 it was 9,387. Of these, 8,098 were whites, and i 289 were classed 'as blacks^tSe percentage of i-rease - the par of the whites, in the previous half century, outstripping tha «yh%blacks In i7=;6 the numbers were, whites, 9,245; blacks, 1,045. Ihe enumeration if fvV the last census previous to the war of Independence, shows that the^umberorthe people had become 11.676 whites and 1,452 blacks, makino- a total population at that time of I3,i2». • ^^ ;„ Thus the increase of that part of the population which remained m the county had been such as to cause the number of the people to advance five-fold n seventy-three years. The increase of the people, born 11 the coumy X haZremoved to other parts of our country, may have been far^Strr in nlber than those who remained here; for our county, from, heist 'enerat on of its christran people, has never ceased to be a busy, ■ruitfu swarm ng hive. Such towns as Chester; New Jersey, and Palmy- Ae' Snal Cabmet 'under Presidents Monroe, Jackson, F.taore and ""'united State Senators Hobart. Smith, Southard, Dickinson SWord Corwin, Seward and Conkling also belong by residence, brrth or ancestry '° "VoZZs of States. Ogden, Southard, Cor»in, Seward, Young, ^''X"ngrreatir4;x-ot^^it:. r^rwxr^^^^^^ HobarrToVping Reeve, Nathan Sanford and Selah B. Strong as repre- ^^"'th'oro:ltl°''nrry^?«:matives ,n Congress can be traced to ^'"^^UrTtK^rSidents of Yale College were thenrselves or their incestOTS ctizens and Christian pastors of our county. Perhaps half a s're of other college presidents Save been as closely connected wrth us, like Storrs and Wines. POPULATION AND GROWTH. 1 5 Of the Ministers of the Gospel who have attained the degree of Doc- tor of Divinity, perhaps not fewer than one hundred (in Southold town alone not fewer than thirty), could be named who were or are themselves natives or residents, or the descendants of natives or residents of our county. More than one of these were severally the first Professors of Di- vinity in the great theological seminaries of our country, like Henry White, of the Union Theological Seminary of New York city, and Abijah Wines, ■ of the Bangor Theological Seminary, Maine. What a multitude of great merchants has Suffolk county produced, like Christopher R. Robert, born near Moriches, the founder of Robert College near Constantinople in Turkey! What sea or port of the globe bears not witness to the science, skill and courage of our eminent shipmasters ? It is the growth of population in our county that has been effective in producing these men and hundreds upon hundreds more of great emi- nence and worth. It is the character of the population that Suffolk county has possessed and has freely given to our whole country and to the world of mankind, that is the greatest honor of the east end of Long Island. A population af virtue, industry and piety grows in number as well as in wealth and comfort; for " godliness is profitable unto all things." The increase, as shown by the United States census firom 1790 to 1880 inclu- sive, ranges in our county from some two thousand to seven thousand in each ten years. Thus the population in 1790 was equal to 16,440 per- sons; in 1800, 19,735; in 1810, 21,113; i^ 1820, 23,930; in 1830, 26,780; in 1840, 32,469; in 1850, 36,922; in i860, 43,275; in 1870, 46,924; in •1880, 53,888. It is proper at this point gratefully to acknowledge the courtesy of the Hon. C. W. Seaton, the Superintendent of the United States census, for the foregoing figures of each census from 1790 to 1880. To fames H. Wardje, Esq., a native of Suffolk county, a citizen of the village of Riverhead, who is the Superintendent of the Agricultural De- partment of the United States census, I am very greatly indebted for an elaborate and valuable table, showing the population of the county by its several towns, according to every United States census from 1790 to 1880 in decades, and also in half decades partly from other sources from 1820 to 1880. This table is as follows: i6 POPULATION AND GROWTH, o < -J Oh o a. 00 CO H H 2 O t^ i cj O in o o ^ b- o OS r-* cq 00 <5S 05 ^ OS CO o o cq o T-H t» cq ->* cq CD cq o ^^ cq T-l 1-H CO 1-1 CO rH CO CO o tH .-«*< * iH rH T-> -* cq iO la eo CO o ^ CO OS . t~ rH ~lji (M a> OS la "* jH "* t- CO lO 00 cc la ^ CO 00 eo CO la ■* iH S K5 rH 'St* rH rH tH -* cq o 1-H o la 00 d CO ~~co~ o CO o o 00 OS CO 00 tfi r-i CO 00 in t- o CO lO CD O CO CO 00 Oi CO CO 1-H lO 1— 1 cq rH ^ cq 1835 ^ CO ~Os'" 00 00 00 ~^~" " O^ ""lO^ ~1d t- CO rH OS cq CO CO 00 t~ eo (M 00 00 ^ »o r-t CO lO cq cq CD cq OS t- (M CD rH cq r^ CO CO 00 • 1—1 OS 1 1—1 kO CO 00 CO CO t~ cq tH t~ CD. la tX OS t- ^ OS rH OS kO ^ r-l t- o CO 00 cq rH CO t^ CM CO cq cq 1-H t- -* (^ 1?^ "O (M 1-H cq o CO cq . r-< CO o (M OS !M 00 o -* 00 t- O cq 00 OS lO 1— 1 '^ CO lO CO os lO t~ 1-1 «2 CO 00 ~"cq~ cq ~"cq~ cq ^co~ 1-H CD -* 00 rH CO co~" "b-"" 1-H CD CO OS -* '^ 00 CO 00 CO cq l>. o CO r-t r-i cq t~ ^ o CO CD 1—1 -* 1 OS CM 00 CO cq cq o' CO »o O 00 i-H iO CO t- ""^ ffO m t- (M CO cq ^ -* ^) CO o CO (M OS (M OS 00 o ko T-\ CO 00 ^ OS cq 00 CO CO cq CO lO CO 00 1-1 OS OS T-t '~05~' ""ccT ~~cb~~ ~~o~ ~ifi~ ~^~" cq CO lO y-^ o 'jH cq lr~ 00 •OS t~ 00 1—1 CO 00 cq cq iO o cq • 00 rH CO CO t- OS OS cq CD '^ OS ^ o t» CO co OS eo o t^ ^ t- cq tH CO la iO cq t- CO OS CO co 1-H 00 rH la ^ rH 1-H cq t~ lO eo cq CO CD O rH 00 S ^ in 00 CO OS cq OS cq t- T-< OS in CO CO ^ lO CO GO t- O in o ^ OS t~ cq CO r<\ CO ■tH 1-H 1-H cq CO CD CO cq CD t~ a 3 o O a> Si > Xi O O u A a a 2 a ^n W a ■4-3 a 3 H n 60 a fl s w a o 73 c3 3 > t5 s • d .^ — , o ri o -1-3 >> 01 o ■4-3 G, ^ s> > a as 2 PQ 2 Si -u -1-3 a ^ 3 en o o O CQ CQ CQ 4^ t= t3 Population aJid GRowtit. 17 The value of the property in the county two hundred years ago in- cluded, of course, the worth of all the acreage of to-day. The price of the land was then low; but for many reasons the price of horses, cattle, sheep and other useful animals was high. The assessed value at that time was less than two hundred thousand dollars. It was nearly an hundred dol- lars for each inhabitant; but who knows how many persons there are in the county now who have each more than the value of the whole county in 1683.? The property in the county was then in the sevei follows : Southold, Southampton, East-Hampton, Huntington, Brookhaven, Smithtown, ^10, 8iy 00 00 16,328 06 08 9,075 06 08 0,8 1 1 10 00 5,036 00 00 1,340 00 00 There is no doubt that the true value of the propert}- in the county now is not less than $500 to each inhabitant, even deeming the present population to be sixty thousand. It is safe to say, that the population has grown thirty fold in the two centuries, and the wealth five times thirty fold. The assessment made by the several towns this year amounts to $14,567,521. The equalized valuation for the present year is $15,654,564. 13ut this sum doubtless needs to be doubled to approximate the true value. It may therefore be deemed that while the population has increased thirty fold, the wealth has increased one hundred and fifty fold in the last two centuries. It is not so easy to measure the progress in the comfort of the people. It is difficult even to understand the rudeness of that age. Their lowly dwellings contained tables, chairs, desks, drawers, chests, bedsteads, beds, bedding, shovels, tongs, andirons, trammels, pothooks, pots, pans, knives, wooden ware, pewter ware, especially plates and spoons; sometimes a little earthenware, and perhaps a few pieces of silverware, as a tankard or a cup. Nearly every man had a gun, and a few had swords and books. But stoves, tin ware, plated ware of every kind, china, porce- lain, queens ware, and all kitids of fine pottery were almost or altogether unknown among them. They used no table cloths, and the first genera- tion, at least, no table forks. Their log cabins or low houses were covered with roofs of grass or straw. These abodes were furnished in the plainest and cheapest manner. The wills and inventories of that date show the prop- erty of the people and their style of living. They had land, houses, barns, fences, horses, cattle, sheep, swine and fowls. I'hey used a few rude uten- sils to cultivate the soil — carts, ploughs, harrows, hoes, forks, rakes, scythes, sickles, axes. A few mechanics and artisans had the tools of their respective trades— carpenters, blacksmiths, weavers, shoemakers. The peo- ple generally wrought directly upon the land or the water. They had no carpets. Few had any pictures, clocks, watches, musical instruments, or works of art of any kind to adorn their homes. Some had candlesticks — very few, lamps. There were simple ihiplements for the manufacture of flax and wool into cloth, and the families generally had scissors and needles to make and mend the homely garments which they wore. Almost no articles of food, nor even condiments, were brought from be- yond the county— no coffee nor tea, little sugar. They had little more fruit than a scanty supply of wild berries. The mortar and pestle were in daily use to prepare their grain for cooking. They had no fine flour. l8 POPULATION AND GROWTH. They hail nets and boats for tishing and other purposes; but how un- like those of the present day! Their highways were mainly water. There were few roatls and no bridges. The sea, the sound and the bays were the paths of their meagre trade and small social intercourse, ^rhev had few books and no printed newspapers. The destitution and want of the early inhabitants of our county can- not be understood, so greatly did their means of comfort differ horn our own. But though their hardships were so severe, they made us their im- measurable debtors. Their virtues and piety opened for us those living fountains of liberty, prosperity and benign influences of many kintls, which so greatly enrich and comfort us to-day, and which will continue to afford intelligence, wealth and gladness to our descendants for ages to come. There is no exact measure for the growth of comfort sine ■ their day. But it is safe to say, that there are now more and better means for it in hundreds of dwellings in Suffolk county than could be found two hundred years ago in an}' ducal or royal palace. In the narrow conditions and sharp privations of their time, our an- cestors here did their work faithfully and well. It becomes us to com- memorate their deeds, and to celebrate their worth, not only: but also to emulate their devotion to the welfare of posterity, and to increase the pop- ulation, wealth and comfort of our countrymen through all future genera- tions. THE FORMATION —OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF SUFFOLK COUNTY. BY • $0N. $ENRY ■^. ;S)CUDCER. THE perfection of human government is the assurance of the largest personal liberty with the most thorough protection of every personal right. To achieve such a government has engaged the thought of the philanthropist and philosopher. Possibly it will not be given to man to consummate his hopes in this direction, but certainly it is given him to hope and labor for their fulfillment. We hail with rapture every struggle that advances us toward this form of government and deplore the errors and calamities that hinder our progress or reverse our steps. Slow as the development of ruling systems has heretofore been, en- couragement is yet derivable from its study. That study illustrates the complexity of human wants and the necessity of new provisions for new conditions constantly arising. The beneficial improvement of an existing political power, the intro- duction of a new principle into a code of laws may be, and often is, the achievement of a century of struggle and, when embodied and promul- gated seems so far the consummation of all reasonable ambition that the citizen rests upon it, and ceases further toil. New exigencies will soon disturb his repose, and demand greater ex- ertions. Thus in the grand scheme of perfecting human government, se- ries of measures (and not single and disconnected movements), are ob- servable. We have to deal with one of these. We celebrate an occasion when out of prolonged, persistent and weary labor of many generations there came the birth of a great political principle, a new and grand politi- cal dispensation, in whose being, constitutional liberty of the person and assured protection of his rights were advanced beyond any limits to which they had before been pushed. The establishment of a town, county or State, is always memorable; but the foundation of a benevolent charter for the ruling of" a community infinitely nn>re memorable. In celebrating the formation of Sufi'olk coun- ty, we render appropriate homage to those who inhabited its confines and administered its public affairs at that juncture; but if we reduced our com- memoration to the simple consideration of the territorial jurisdiction of a county; if we overlooked or failed to recall and liwell upon the character of the government it secured, we would lall short of celebrating that wliich 20 CIVIL GOVERNMENT. gave to its inhabitants the blessings of peaceful liberty, social and political eminence, and grandest of all, freedom of conscience in religious belief and worship. Suti'olk County as established b}- the Act of the General Assembl}- of the Province of New York, on the ist of November, 1683, differed in no essential of geographical area from the East Riding of Yorkshire, as that was constituted at the convention held in Hempstead, Queens county, in 1665, and apart from the assignment to it of a high Sheriff instead of a Deputv, its municipal character would have remained unchanged by the act, and the mere gift of a name exhausted all that act con erred upon it. Far more serious purposes than the affixing names to portions of the Prov- ince animated the Assembly of 1683, and these purposes, their origin, sup- port and final triumph command our attention in this season of commem- oration. A full re\-iew of the steady progress of the organic law ot' the county from its settlement to the year it took position as a county, is for- Ijidden by the circumstances ot the present hour, simple references to im- portant events, and controlling characteristics of its people, their deter- mination to frame a government upon the generous ami stable foundations of personal liberty and protection of property, must suffice fur this paper. The settlers of Suffolk Count}- were Puritans. Few of the Church of England were found here during 20 years after Farret's small colony was expelled from Cow Bay by the Dutch, and found security and permanent homes at Southampton; and the few so adventuring impressed upon the public affairs of the communities little that is traceable through the ob- scure annals of those early days. These founders of Suffolk were already inured to the new life of the wilderness. At Lynn, in Massachusetts, and Hartford and New Haven, in Connecticut, they had learned the hardships of pioneer adventure, and were ready for the sacrifices their new settlement in Long Island exacted. They were intelligent and some even learned, resolute in pur})ose and fearless of difficulties. There were those among them who could recall the infamous decree of James L, that every minis- ter in Scotland should declare from his. pulpit ' ' that those who attend church on Sunilays should not be disturbed or discouraged from dancing, archery, leaping, vaulting, having Whitsun ales, Morris dances, setting up May poles and other sports therewith used on Sundays after divine ser- vice, ■■ a nd the punishment of those earnest ministers who refused to read such declaration as an impious breach of the command to keep holy the Sabbath day. They could testif}- to the flight of the Elect from a realm where the true Word was thus perverted, and the stormy passage to Holland in search of a refuge for conscience. Others had witnessed the accumulating j)ower of the people of En- gland in its struggle with a monarch whose chief doctrine of government was his faith in the divine right of kings. And others yet had participated in the great uprising against this divine right, and had seen it and its vota- ries swept from existence by Cromwell and his Ironsides on the plains of Naseb}'. I'here were those, too, who had gathered from the Pilgrims the rich experiences and conclusions gained during the twelve }ears residence in Holland, and the study of the free, genial, and hearty systems of the Dutch. These could understand the benefits of a Representative Govern- ment, and the value of the principle of taxation through representation only, established among the Dutch for a century and more. CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 21 The Puritans, however, were disincHned to imitation, original in de- vice, they were obstinate in adhesion. Theirs was not a disposition will- ingly yielding to contentment. Indulged beyond ordinary generosity by the kind-hearted Dutch, they were unable to resist the opportunity for gloom}' criticism upon the usage of the Sabbath by their gentle hosts. They came to the New World self-poised, indomitable, fearing God, but fearless of man, to hew their path to fortune, and hew out of that path all who stood in their way. It was no worldly fortune they sought, but the fortune of grace in the Church, and freedom in the State. They were here on Long Island to lay the foundations of a govern- ment that should unite freedom with protection, and through years of la- bor, misfortune, trial and oppression, they laid those fountlations, and on them, this day, rest our prosperity and happiness. They brought the common Law of England as their s}-stem of juris- prudence rather to draw from its powerful and rich principles whatever might suit occasions, than to establish it as the law of their new land. The disposition of our Puritan ancestors necessarily inclined them to codes. They found in the laws of Moses a system of compensatory penalties that fitted their stern and solemn views of individual relations, and borrowed from its suggestive principles in framing their temporary government. With such a people you may conceive that morality in the State would be inflexibly administered, and the early history of our countv assured us that no indulgence was granted to the vicious or indolent. Virtue and in- dustry were compelled by the authority of the communities. Upon what did any authority during the 43 years following the settle- ment of the county and preceding its legal formation rest .'' Could any man show a commission as Justice under the Broad Seal ? Could any man in arresting an ill-doer point to his warrant and justify his act bv its teste in the name of a magistrate deriving power from the Crown; or from any government acknowledged among nations ? "Will you know,'' writes the brilliant and elegant Bancroft, "will you know with how little government a community of husbandmen mav be safe," and he points to East Jersey in its comparative infancy as a prac- tical answer to his question. Far more striking, as an instance of a well-ordered community, exist- ing without other government or laws than such as originate from the exi- gency of the hour, and the wisdom and purity of character of a handful of colonists, firm in religious fiith and devotion to civil liberty, is presented l)y the scattereil English settlements within the limits of this county Co^ forty-three years succeeding their first establishment at Southampton. These early societies formed distinct political bodies upon the geographical bases of their respective purchises from the Indian owners. Habit suggested the township as a form of municipal organization. No statute determined its limits, or regulated the duties and obligations of its citizens Society, in some respects, was returned to its original elements. In New England, Royal charters were the source of authority. Direct communication with England enabled the colonists of Plymouth — the Bay — and those as well on th J Connecticut river, to maintain a relation of legitimate dependence and avail of protection from the powerful Home Government, vet enter upon undertakings tiiat government sharply disapproved. Tlius the New En- gland settlements were iavored. No charter existed here. The opposite 2 2 CIVIL GOVERNMENT. condition was visited upon our ancestors. Anxiety respecting the Indian led to treaties with Connecticut, and an alHance for military aid that bor- dered upon i^ubordination. but never centered in it Here, if ever, was witnessed for a 2:eneration and a half a system of petty governments resting fir their existence and power solely upon the consent of the governed. Townships erected upon the area of a grant from Indian Sachems found their inhabitants compacted in a small locality as well for protection and assistance as for the gratification of social tastes. Great distances intervened between these settlements, and these distances forbade general communication. Thus the laws of townships, framed by no com- mon body of representative legislators, lacked harmony, and presented differences in penalties and observances. The common law is sustained by the foundations of prudence, wisdom, and precedent. Its wholesome principles were imbedded in the tastes, habits and personal rights of the colonists, but they had faith in a better law. The abuses suffered in England were under the administration of the common law, and their recollection brought along with no agreeable taste the system of jurisprudence that allowed their perpetration. Our fore- lathers therefore set to the task of framing laws upon principles that should prevent sharp definitions, and dispose by adequate punishment of all offences toward individual or commiinitv. Thev modified the laws of property as well as of person. The feudal characteristics of the common law disappeared from a field where everv State was acquired upon one basis of purchase and without pure entailments. If the ordinances reeulating personal rights and obligations were harsh, they pointed to the Pentateuch, and silenced their opponents by the provisions of Jewish Statutes, having Moses for their founder. True to the Decalogue, they imposed death for violation of manv of its decrees. In enforcing obedience to parents thev visited with capital punisiiment anv child who after sixteen years of life should curse or strike its father or mother. They ended the complaints of nervous women by sharp bodily inflictions. " You have brought me," said a weary, homesick wife, " to a land witTiout Chu''ch or Magistrate." The moaning utterance was true, the penalty inevitable. " For this unseemly speech," say the magistrates, " you shall pav £t,, or stand in public with a split stick upon your tcmgue. " And thp latter barbarism was applied, for the j[t, cannot be raised. But these laws have come from the people, thev are all enacted at gen- eral assemblies of the freeholders of the diflferent colonies or towns. His- tory presents no purer democracy than that g-overning the English settle- ments here from 1640 to the Convention at Hempstead, in 1665, and the institution of the Duke's Laws. If its enactments move us, in more liberal times, with indignation, if we view with sentiments akin to honor an order of civilization that strangely combined learning and religious enthusiasm with vindictive and barbarous dispensations in matters of personal obliga- tion, we are to reflect that our fathers framed their systems as best for their times, and their vindication is asserted in the blessings that crown their posterity. The organization of the town meeting, that simple, effective political power that ensure.-> civil liberty, was an institution peculiar to the colonial period. Necessity was its source, but its virtues soon embedded it in the structure of government. From it sprang the determination to representative power in the State. Had the colonists been controlled by Ihe direct flow of power from the Throne or Protectorate of Great Britain, CIVIL GOVERNMENT. ^3 the town meeting would- never have been inaugurated. With a free and more kindly government in Holland, the Dutch of New Netherlands \vere denied any personal participatic)n in the administration of their public affairs. The W.-st India Company vested the Dutch directors with abso- lute power. Appeals from their decisions lay to the States General, but who dared make them. " If I was persuaded," thundered truculent old Stuyvesant to the accusers of Krift, his mercenary predecessor, "that you would complain of my sentences or divulge them, I would have you hanged on the highest tree^ in New Netherlands. " The colonial annals of Suffolk County reveal no such assumption of tyrannical authority. If our magistrates dealt severely with their subjects, they dealt openly and in con- formity with the law to which the subject had assented, and in framing which he had his free voice. He had discussed the merits of the rule in the town meeting, and if it fell harshly upon him later because of his in- fraction he could assert neither ignorance nor inability to protest against its adoption, as reasons in mitigation of its effect upon himself To the town meetings of these times we clearly trace and owe the firm establishment in our organic law of the principle of civil liberty in the people, and the inauguration of their right to participate in legislation through representation. From these local assemblies sprang the great Re- publican principle of government, and upon them it still reposes in confi- dence and honor. Increase of wealth and power begets respect, and Con- necticut from its attitude of friendly ally, began to measure the advantage of permanent absorption of the Long Island settlements into its body pol- itic. The advantages of political consolidation were reciprocal. The habits, tastes, religious belief and laws of the two establishmrnts were in common. As our ancestors encountered the Dutch at Ovster Bay and ex- perienced the antagonisms of characterist.es, they sought for strength in closer attachment to a powerful colony with which the\- were in sympathv. Had Charles II. deferred his R'jyal Grant of 1664 to his brother fames for a few years, there is probability that this good County of Suffolk would have formed part of the State of Connecticut, to-day. In 1664 the elements of liberal government were fully developed in Eastern Long Island. The people had become accustomed to the exer- cise of power. Their magistrates and officers were .selected at their general town meetings. At these assemblies new laws were enacted. The Church received its support from their ilecisions, and such taxes as were necessary were here levied. Here, too, applications for admission as citizens into the little community, were heard. The simple, but effective tnachinerv of government was thus in full operation. A pure democracy is fitted only to small societies. It can never satisfy the needs of a large population or scattered collections of individuals. (The experiment that failed centuries agv) on the banks of the Vistula had taught this lesson to the political thinker). Reprtsentative forms of government approximate nearest to pure democracy and alone answer the demands of popular government. rwent\-four years after thj sjttlement ,of Southampton and Southold the necessity for a inor^i central power than the town meeting, had become fully ap,)aront. Tlv:: diversil\ of interest among the towns swelled with their growing population. A central and regulating administration had forced itself upon the thoughts ol" the wise and patriotic as a necessity no longer to be deferred, and uni jn With Connecticut seemed the only solu- tion of an embarrassment from which popular interests were sadly suffer-- mjr. 24 CIVIL GOVERNMENT. The Roval Letters Patent under which James, Duke of York and Alban3^ acquired tithe to T>ong Island empowered the Duke to establish a government, and clothed him with powers of well nigh regal extent. The condition of Long Island was represented at Whitehall as surpassingly ex- cellent. Among the aims of the Duke the supremacy of this portion of the possessions granted him by his brother seems paramount. John Scott had moved his cupidity by tales of wealth that were founded wholly upon imagination. Careful in the selection of subordinates, James found in Richard Nicholls an incomparable agent for his financial work. "You may inform all men that a great end of your design is the possessing of Long Island, and reducing that people to us and our government, now vested in our brother, the Duke of York," wrote Clarendon in his commis- ' sion of instructions to Nicolls, and the other Commissioners dispatched by the Duke to regulate the affairs of the provinces. Winthrop, Governor of Connecticut, attends upon Nicolls at Gravesend before the surrender of New Amsterdam, examines his Commission and the letters patent, and yields all claim on behalf of his colony to iurisdiction over Long Island, and declares it "in view of His Majesty's pleasure to have ceased and be- come null." And thus in August, 1664, the various towns of this County passed from a state of independence and elementary government into one of rigor, method and oppression. However great the difficulties attending their separation from other colonies in the parent State the inestimable boon of freedom and self-dependence was an ample requital. We shall witness its fruits in the Assemblv, whose acts we reverence now. The intervention of Nicolls was marked by the Convention of Depu- ties from Long Island, Staten Island and Westchester, ,at Hempstead in 1665. Here a body of Laws was submitted by Nicolls and approved by the delegates. This code, well known as the "Duke's Laws," was fami- liar to our eastern towns. It simplv embodied regulations in force in New England, but in its application to the tenure and institution of office in the towns, it wrought a radical change and was bitterly offensive. No states- man needs to be taught the elementary lesson that a people once pos- sessed of power never yields it without resistance. The Duke's Laws sub- stituted appointment of magistrates and other officers by the Governor for the old usage of election. To the remonstrances of the delegates upon this measure, Nicolls candidly responded that the election of magistrates was entirely unknown to the laws of England, and a Parliament of En- gland could neither make a Judge nor Justice of the Peace. All legisla- tion was vested in the Governor and Council and Court of Assize, whose officers were of the Governor's appointment. Petty town tribunals were suffered, the overseers of which were subjects of popular choice, but the free voice of the people in the selection of their other officers was now silenced by despotic power. The propagation of the Duke's Laws and the general labors of the Assembly stirred the Puritan population of the East-Riding of Yorkshire, as this County was styled by Act of this Assembly. The Deputies return- ing to their homes met no such cordial welcome as they had chosen to convey to His Royal Highness in an address that followed the end of their legislative labors. Exactions attended in the train of the new govern- ment. Titles were questioned and confirmation refused, except upon payment of excessive charges. Perhaps none of ^the colonial Governors surpassed Nicolls in integrity, prudence, or fidelity to trust as representa- CrVIL GOVERNMENT. 25 tive of the Duke and of the Crown. Perhaps no successor strove to lighten the task imposed by a mercenary master upon his subjects with greater zeal or more generous humanity. Under James there could be no popular government. His largest inheritance was stubborn resistance to popular rights. Exile taught him no lesson, and experience as a Ruler, no wisdom. The period of eighteen years from the establishment of the Colonial power of England over our County, and the establishment of the County, is marked by the exercise of despotism and the violation of faith. Love- lace, succeeding Nicolls, bore with him instructions to make no altera- tions in the laws of the government settled before his arrival. He was of a ''generous mind and noble," and there are not wanting instances of the exercise upon his part of an enlightened understanding of popular needs. His letter to a minister will stand as an example of excellent intent to in- troduce liberality in the Church. Upon the other hand he reflected the policy of the colonial Governors in his letter to Sir Robert Carr, Governor of New Jersey, advising that the best method to keep the people in order was, "to lay such taxes on them as may not give them liberty to enter- tain any other thoughts, but how to discharge them. " We have seen that the Court of Assize sitting in New York combined the powers of the Ju- diciary and Legislature. The mischief sure to develop from committing to Judges the power to legislate is so obvious that argument will not in- crease the force of the proposition. If added to this anomalous lodg- ment of power, the Judges are appointees of the Governor and removable at his will, you find a form of government in which liberalit}' is the merest pretence, and tyranny the sure [)rinciple. The Duke's Laws were endur- able in all that pertained to personal rights and obligations, and were broad in their favor of the institutions of Religion and the local Church establishments. While the structure of these laws and their tendency were illv adapted to the improvement of a community, yet they could be tolerated and the growth of society not seriously retarded by their opera- tion. But in stripping the people of their power to choose their leaders and to participate in general legislation, and particularly in all questions of taxation, the government instituted by Col. Nicolls gave birth to a spirit of discontent and revolt that no force in its possession could allay or quell. Lovelace's policy in this behalf, to stifle complaint by taxation so heavy that the citizen could think of nothing but how to pay, was the reproduction of the oppressive system encouraged in the Palace of White- hall, but sure of defeat when aimed at a hasty, zealous, resolute people who for more than a quarter of a century had bowed the knee to no maS" ter save the Almighty. The administration of justice in localities was ac- ceptable when the cases submitted concerned such trifling interests as afforded jurisdiction to the elective courts. 'As the determination to re- sist a rule that allowed no popular voice became settled, the inevitable consequence was developed. The citizen refused to pay taxes under the resolution adopted by a general meeting of his Town, ministers joined in denunciation of the authorities, arrests, fines and imprisonments upon the part of the Colonial Government were sweet morsels to a body of Puritans who hailed martyrdom as an assured election, and who wielded the Sword with the devout conviction that it was an instrument of biblical invention, and with the skill that years of steady use had imparted. These heated disturbances arrested productive labor, and impoverishment set in where 26 CIVIL GOVERNMENV, abundance should have prevailed. The eastern towns made overtures to Connecticut. Huntington flatly refused to pay a levy for the repairs ot Fort James because "they were deprived of the liberties of EngHshmen. " The brief period of Dutch conquest and rule increased the sufferings of the colonists. Col. Andros, not yet knighted, brought to his post of gov- ernment the most odious qualities. Extravagance, injustice, oppression, relentless cruelty were characteristics of most of the colonial Governors, and specially of this one. The towns were forced to accept new charters and submit to onerous exactions. Taxes were levied without semblance of authority and upon the personal dictation of the Governor alone, and all protests of the people were treated with scorn. The Duke was hum; bly petitioned for a popular legislative assembly. He replied to Andros that popular assemblies were dangerous to the government and he saw no use for them. Meantime, disappointed in the revenue he had confi- dently expected from his American possessions, he was assailed by peti- tions for redress of grievances, and by representations of the evil lot of his subjects. That lot was indeed evil, and mitigated by only a single so- lace. The consolations of religious faith present their greatest value in the deepest affliction, and brighten most as the hours darken. The un- believer is tossed upon an uncertain and stormy sea. No light assures him of a haven, for there is no haven for him. Above is the blackness of darkness, below the fury of the tempest, on every side the lurid flash of Heaven's thunderbolt. ' The Christian discerns light through the clouds, and knows that in the severest peril there is safety in the "Rock of Ages cleft for him." Through the dark days of oppression undef the Duke of York, the pure religious sentiments of the colonists sustained and cheered them. Their welfare and the cause of civil liberty demanded resistance, and they made it under prayer, and sought Divine aid in its behalf The Court of Assize joined in the supplication for a new form of gov- ernment, and through brave John Young, of Southold, High Sheriff of Yorkshire, addressed the Duke "representing the great pressure and la- mentable condition of his Majesty's subjects in your Royal Highness' colony, " and submissively praying that "for the redressing of the griev- ances the government of this your colony may, for the future, be settled and established, ruled and governed by a Governor, Council and Assem- bly, which Assembly to be duly elected and chosen by the freeholders of the colony. It may be well questioned if the Duke would have yielded to any petition or representation from people or Court. He had recalled Andros and subjected him to examination for misgovernment. Two in- fluences now operated from diverse sources to procure the end desired by the colonists. New Amsterdam had been a charge upon the West India Company, and its example stood as a constant menace to the Duke's scanty purse. He was in ill favor with Parliament as well as people, and could hope for no relief from either. Thus his dread that the settlements in the New 'Wprld would be an expense, inclined him to their surrender to the Crown. At this juncture of critical moment to the colonies, he took counsel of one of the most extraordinary men of the times. The instruments appointed to accom- plish important results are frequently as unexpected as they are successful. "William Penn, accomplished in the Fearning of the Universities and of Lincoln's Inn, polished by foreign travel and courtly society, master of CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 2/ the sword, and of such manly exercises as became the son of an Admiral of England, had experienced the conviction that God dwells in the inner conscience, and come to believe all men equal before Jehovah's throne. He was in high favor with the King and Duke. His renunciation of proffered honors, coupled with sincere humility, as well as the accept- ance of a tract of wilderness peopled by Savages in discharge of a Royal debt, won for him such love as Charles was capable of bearing toward any subject. His absolute sincerity and non-resistance equally commended him to James, who was as true to his word plighted to men as he was shameless in its breach toward the opposite sex. Penn believed in pop- ular governments. "You shall be governed by laws of your own mak- ing," he wrote to the settlers in his new territory of Pennsylvania. He resisted the temptation to exercise the great powers of a Ruler abundant- ly conferred by the Court with the noble resolution, ' ' I purpose for the matters of liberty that which is extraordinary, to leave myself and my successors no power of doing mischief" Under the great elm on the banks of the Delaware he entered into indissoluble treaty with the Indians, saying: " I will not call you chil- dren, for parents sometimes chide their children too severely, nor brothers, for brothers differ. We are all one flesh and blood." And the red men, deeply touched by the testimony of equality, pledged themselves, "We will live in love with William Penn and his children as long as the sun and moon shall endure." No act proved of greater value than this of the Duke's calling Penn into private consultation upon the course to be pursued with the colonies. The advice could be easily anticipated. The Duke adopted Penn's coun- sel, and the Colonies were now to have liberty acknowledged if not vet I)racticed. Dongan appointed to inaugurate the new policy called a Gen- eral Assembly, composed of delegates chosen by the freeholders, and on the 17th of October, 1683, its sessions began. On the 30th of October the Great Charter of liberties and privileges received the approval of the Governor and Council. On the ist of November, among the twelve Counties created by the Assembly, this of Suffolk came into being. This great Charter of liberties and privileges consummated the hopes and prayers of our forefathers. It recognized the People as the power in leg- islation. It opened with the grand avowal, " For the better establishing the government of this Province of New York, and that justice and right may be equally done to all persons within the same," and then declared, " Be it enacted. That the Supreme legislative authority under His Majes- ty and His Royal Highness, James, Duke of York and Albany, Lord Pro- prietor of the said Province, shall forever be and reside in a Governor, Council, and the People met in General Assembly." Thus was constituted a Representative body to which the people could forever appeal for redress of wrongs and administering of right. Through all the vicissitudes of authority the recognition of the people as the great power in legislation, has never been lost in this State from that time. It has been embodied in our Constitutions and borne down through these two centuries in entire integrity, and to-day the enacting clause of every statute of our Legislature presents it in the form— "The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and As- sembly, do enact — " The Duke ascending the throne refused to confirm the charter, assert- 28 CIVIL GOVERNMENT. ing that the use of the phrase, "the people," was unknown in any charter. The concession, however, had been granted, and it remained until a cen- tury later, when the evacuation of our shores by the Royal armies left us to perfect the sentiment and power in the Great P^ederal Charter that en- sures liberty and protection. The careful student of history will never re- gard this concession of a Representative Assembly as voluntary on the part of the Duke. It was forced from him against his inclinations by the per- sistent efforts of the colonists in this County. That the resistance of the settlers, and their constant demand for representation, wrought upon the fears of the Duke, and that he acquiesced in their solicitations, detracts nothing from the merit of the liberal movement here, and in no respect creates any claim to generous recognition on his behalf The strong qualities of character displayed by our forefathers are dis-. cernible in their descendants throughout the two hundred years succeeding the event we commemorate. No County in the State surpassed this in its bold utterances for freedom from the Mother country at the outset of the Revolution, and none suffered more severely for its patriotism during that period. The administration of justice has blended mercy with vigor. The laws have received their proper enforcement, but freed from the manifesta- tion of personal prejudice or power. The peaceful disposition of the population has afforded few opportunities for violence, and small inclina- tion to personal disputes. In 1820 Dr. Dwight assures us that no lawyer had been able to support himself in this County upon the fruits of his pro- fession. Instances exist of sessions of the Court with no litigation to en- gage its judicial functions. The temple of justice has been maintained in purity and order. Let us not overlook those who have presided at its altars or ministered in its sacred rites. Silas Wood, historian, scholar and statesman, who from long and efficient labors in the National Councils won the affection and esteem of the leaders of the day, was at the head of the bar in my youth. Strong, tenacious of memory, replete with 'law learning, adorned the Bench. Floyd, chivalrous and genial, was here. Rose, brilliant and fascinating; Buffet, keen, logical and sagacious; Wickham, deliberate and laborious; and he, over whose new made grave the cold November winds sweep the falling leaves; he whose heart was in this celebration, and who through a life-time of physical suffering did his work without murmur, was also here. Were it decorous to touch upon the living, bright examples of professional merit and distinction could be freely gathered, but of these we are not at this hour to speak. We have traced the formation of the County to its sources, and have found it consecrated by sacrifices and ennobled by devotion. Let us here, in commemorating its origin, enter into a sacred pledge that we will trans- mit it to our descendants undiminished in its confines, enlarged in its civ- ilization, more memorable than ever in the honor of its sons and the vir- tues of its daughters. "^eli^iou^ Pi^O^^i^e^^ k^i C!l\ri^tikr| dultui^e -OF- OCDXJXsJ-T-Y'. ^)AMUEL ^. Derrick, I AM invited to address you upon the Religious Progress and Christian Culture of Suffolk County for the last two hundred years. My theme has thus been stated very definitely and very happily, as it seems to me, by the committee which have done me the honor to extend to me this in- vitation. Religious progress has Christian culture for its end. The one is the path, the other the goal of the traveler; the one the growth o( the tree, the other the ripened fruit which the tree produces. The one relates to the various processes of breaking up the soil, and applying to it the methods of tillage, the selection and sowing of the seed, the attention and care be- stowed upon the growing crops, the fcjstering which they get from the brooding skies, the suns which shine, and the storms which beat upon them, as well as the cultivation of human skill. The other signifies the yellow fields of ripening grain, the wealth of sheaves which the reaper gath- ers in his bosom and garners in his barns. I am to say something to you of the thought, and toil, and anxieties of the fathers, and the abounding joy and comfort and prosperity of the children resultant thereupon. " Dav unto day uttereth speech. " The days of old are speaking to this day of ours. I am to tell you what these old days seem to be saying into our ears, and what response these days of ours are gratefully or ungratefull}- returning to the past. But progress of any sort involves not only a goal, but a point of de- parture. There must be, as the philosophers say, a tertninus a quo as well as a terminus ad quern. To fintl the beginnings of our county's progress for the period assigned therefore, we shall be obliged to go back of its politi- cal formation. Our religious institutions are of venerable origin. They are rooted in that great movement whicb brought the Pilgrims to Plymouth, and the Puritans to Massachusetts Bay. To-day our fathers share the honors, as two hundred and fifty years ago they shared the privations and the sulTerings, of the men of whom James the First declared that he would make them conform or he would ' 'harry them out of the land. " That Suffolk County is, peopled as it is to-day, is due to the fact that the royal tyrant was as good, or rather as bad, as his word. 30 RELIGIOUS PROGRESS AND CHRISTIAN CULTURE. Two hundred years! As one stands under the shadow of the pyramids which looked down upon the exodus of Israel, or even under the English Cathedral roofs which sheltered the followers of the Conqueror, two hun- dred years seem but a little time; as yesterday when it is passed. But in a country like ours, where everything is new, this story of the exodus of our fathers is a venerable and sacred possession. And we do well to cherish it, not only because it is the most venerable possession we have, but because in its principle and its motive, it appeals to that which is best and truest, and most permanent in the universal human heart. It was from no impulse of momentary pique, or of disappointed selfishness, nor from any greed of gain, or passion of adventure, or ambition of discovery, that these men left the old for the new, the known for the unknown. There was in truth a divine call, pressing its authority upon them, summoning them, as ingenuous and true men have been called in 'every age — as Abra- ham himself was called — to go out not knowing whither they went, relin- quishing country, and kindred, and father's house, the graves of their sires, and the precious traditions of many generations. They felt the weight of human tyranny; there was doubtless in many a heart the spring and im- pulse of repressed indignation. But after all, they felt like one of old who could look up and say: '' When men of spite against me join I'hey are the sword, the hand is Thine." They felt the sword, but they recognized more the hand that was behind it. It was for God that they came. A deep reverence for religion, and a desire to divorce it from all accretions of superstition and to cleanse it from all the profanations of licentiousness, a profound regard for public morals, a love for the Sabbath, the sanctuary, the family, and a determination to uphold the authority and the sanctity of each by safeguards of just law, and pure government, these motives overtopped the feeling of indignation and the sense of injuries received at the hands of any human authority. In one of the public squares of Boston there stands a statue, recently erected to the memory of John Winthrop. It represents the old first Gov- ernor of Massachusetts as stepping from a gang-plank to the shore, hold- ing in one hand the charter of the newly formed colony, and pressing to his heart with the other the Word of God; the latter copied carefully from the old family Bible, which the Governor himself brought over with the charter, and which is now in the possession of his honored descendant, the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop. The sentiment of the statue is true to fact. With all respect for human laws the fathers loved the divine. They would have faith with freedom, religion with liberty; a liberty as Governor Win- throp himself defined it, " to do that only which is good and just and honest. The founders of our religious institutions in Suffolk County were of these New England puritans. There are no honors belonging to Massa- chusetts or Connecticut which we may not equally claim for our own an- cestors. North Sea was another Shawmut, Southold a repetition of Quin- nipiac. Even when in 1664, Charles II., by letters patent to the Duke of York, cut off these eastern towns from their political connection with New England, the ties of religious and ecclesiastical sympathy refused to be severed. Their brethren were on the northern main. To them they looked for counsel, and when they needed it for material help, and did not look in vain. And to this day Long Island is essentially a part of New En- RELIGIOUS PROGRESS AND CHRISTIAN CULTURE. 3! gland in feeling, in moral character, in intelligence, in social customs, in speech, in family surnames, as it ought to be, in the speaker's humble opinion, in geographical and politi'cal allotment. Such havin.;: been the point of departure, and such the motives and in- fluences under which progress was begun, we turn now to view the process of moral and religious development. The chief formative influence with- out doubt, at that time was the pulpit. The ministry was not subordinate to, so much as it was co-ordinate with, the magistracy. Indeed, in some respects the latter was subordinate. All civil regulations being based upon the Mosaic code, and the minister being the authorized interpreter of that code, to him the magistrate often looked for judicial direction. The func- tion of the pulpit in those days was large. The minister had to read and think for the entire community. He was the fountain not only of Theol- ogy, but of Philosophy, moral, political, social, natural. No review or newspaper invaded his province. The pews had never read in advance of the Sunday's sermon. The pulpit was the type of that modern invention, the phonograph, which gathers into its ear whatever voices may be stir- ring in the air, and grinds them out again with an intonation of its own, for the benefit of the curious bystanders. What the ministers were think- ing about in those days, what were the subjects which enlisted religious and speculative thought, is a question which it would be interesting to fol- low out, It was not Evolution. It was settled more firmly in their minds, than the everlasting hills upon their foundations, that the universe visible and invisible was created out of absolute non-entity in si.x literal days of twenty-four hours each. It was not Inspiration. The Book as they held it in their hands was the immediate product of the breath of God, blowing through human lips and tremulous in the penman's stylus. The Hebrew of the Old Testament was, by that fact, acknowledged the Holy tongue once spoken in the Karthly Paradise and to be spoken again by all redeemed souls as the one dialect of Heaven. It was not Eschatol- ogy. The last thmgs to be revealed were as fixed and palpable to their anticipations, as were the unchangeable facts of the past to their memory. What then were they thinking about ? If anyone shall wish two hundred years hence to know what themes engaged the thoughtful men of this year of grace 1883, I leave for him now this piece of advice: that he go to the libraries of our Colleges and Theological Seminaries and hunt up, if thev are then in existence, the Commencement programmes containing the themes of our graduates. Vour Commencement orator prides himself in wrestling with the problems of the time. Now during the first century of our country's history there was a suc- cession of remarkable men filling the pulpits of these churches who were graduates of Harvard College. These were: 1. Nathaniel Brewster, in Brookhaven, 1665 — '90. 2. Joshua Hobart, in Southold, 1674 — 171 7. 3. Joseph Whiting, in Southampton, 1680 — 1723. Of whom Cotton Mather writes in the Magnalia: "Joseph is at this day a worthy and pain- ful .minister of the Gospel, at Southampton, on Long Island." 4. John Harriman, in Southampton, 1675 — '79. 5. Joseph Taylor, in Southampton, 1680 — '82. 6. George Phillips, in Brookhaven, 1697 — -1739. 7. Ebenezer White, in Bridge-Hampton, 1695 — 1748. 8. Nathaniel Huntting, in East-Hampton, 1696 — 1746. 32 RELIGIOUS PROGRESS AND CHRISTAIN CULTURE. 9. Timothy Symmes, in Aquebogue, 1738 — 1750. 10. Sylvanus White, in Southampton, 1727 — 1782. These men, whose pastorates averaged 32.9 years, or, if we make no account of two brief pastorates, of four and two years, respectively, more than 40 years, were leavening the thought and directing the morals, and in- spiring the piety of their time. Our fathers learned from these men sobri- ety of thought, accuracy of judgment, reverence for life. They filled the civilization of their day with fine forces which perpetuated their influence to these later times. If now you look at the Commencement programmes of Harvard Col- lege* for this period, you will learn something about the questions politi- cal, theological, speculative, social and scientific, that were filling the minds, of thoughtful men and so percolating downwards from them into the thought of the community. You will find that, while they were still under the fringes of the cloud of mediaeval superstition in some respects, they were fast emerging into the clearer light of modern time. While they were still maintaining great respect for constituted authority, they were already claiming the right to investigate its foundations, and criticise its action and, if need be, revolutionize its methods. You can hardly fail to detect the germs of our revolutionary movements when you read from the pro- grammes of the middle of the seventeenth century such questions as these: " Is a monarchical government the best ?" Afiirmed in 1698.' " Is the royal power absolutely by divine right ?" Denied in 1723. "Is civil government originally founded in the consent of the people.-'" Affirmed in 1725. " Is unlimited obedience to rulers tauglit by Christ and His apostles ?" Denied in 1729. " Is the voice of the people the voice of God. ^'' Affirmed in 1733. ' ' Are we bound to observe the mandates of Kings, unless they them- selves keep their agreements with their subjects.''" Denied in 1738. " Is it lawful to resist the Supreme magistrate if the commonwealth can not otherwise be preserved .-'" Affirmed in 1743, by Sam. Adams. Thought was progressing and ripening very evidently. There is great advance here upon that first proposiaon, "that monarchical government is best " in 1698. The culmination comes in 1770, when these two ques- tions are discussed, and the affirmative maintained: " Is a government tyrannical, in which the rulers consult their own in- terest more than that of their subjects }" ''.Is a government despotic, in which the people have no check upon the legislative power .'" The farmers were about ready for Lexington and Concord then. Among these questions here and there appear hints also of that conflict which was then in the far future, which we have now passed, and which may well be called our country s second Revolution. " Is it lawful to sell Africans.'''" No! was the respor>se from the Commencement boards of 1724. " Is it lawful to subject Africans to perpetual bondage .'" No! in 1 76 1 . Mark the ominous date ! ' ' Are the off"spring of slaves born slaves .''" " No!" said these men of Suff"olk in iVIassachusetts, and of Suffolk on Long *For the questions which follow, I am indebted to an exceedingly interesting paper, rf-ad before the Mass. Historical Society 111 June, 1880,. l)y the Rev. Eing each others line of march, but enlisted in the same cau^e and fighting the same enemy. They came into the field — these Methodists — light- \rmed, with lively music, making ra|)id charges, going where the old-tashioned heavy artillery could not, and with their swift and rattling fire doing no slight execution. How much have they done to break up a fatalism, which was almost Alahommedan in its grasp upon the hearts of good men, and which often furnished laz;r and batl men their best e.xcuse for continuing in th^ir ways of sin and listlessness. I have not been able to learn that any Sunday school was stirted in this county earlier than that which was instituted in Southampton by Rev. Peter H. Shaw, in 1821. It seems strange to us now that such a move- ment should ever hiv.j been regarded as an innovatiim of verv dmbtful ex- pediency. And yet goo.l people opposeJ it on various grounds The\- said that it was a novelty. They and their fathers had got ah^ag well enough without it. It was enough if the district school-teacher on ever\- Saturday morning made his scholars say the catechism. A school, too, on Sunday was an infriiigement on the sanctity of the Sabbath. It was the en- tering wedge. It required the performance of labor which would soon ob- literate all distinction between common and holy dme. As if children were not to be lifted out of the pit of ignorance, or it were not lawful to do good even on the Sabbath day! But how has wisdom been justified of her children ! The church has learned the lesson how much better it is to go tpiietly into the orchard and gather the delicate fruit by hand than it is to wait for some gale to come and shake it bruised and broken to the ground. Suffolk county has had an honorable part in the institution of great re- forms. No man probably had more to do with the incepdon of the tem- perance movement throughout the land than Dr. Lyman Beecher. And it was during his East-Hampton pastorate that the fire was kindled which in a few years swept through the county and burnt the wretched side-board social tippling habit out of multitudes of Christian households. Ministers and people had been pretty much alike. The jug and the decanter held a place almost as respectable and were regarded about as indispensable as the Bible and the catechism. It is quite customary now to have a calendar of Scr'pture that sliall furnish a text for every day in the year. It was far more common at the beginning of this century to fortify against every dav's de- mands by a morning dram. "My spirit was greatly stirred," says Dr. Bjecher, "at the treatment of the Inilians by unprincipled persons who sold them rum. One man would go down with his barrel of whiskey in a wagon to the Indians and get them tip.sy and bring them in debt. He would get all their corn and bring it back in his wagon. In fact he stripped them, Then in winter they must come up twenty miles, buy their ^8 RELIGIOUS PROGRESS AND CHRISTIAN CULTURE, own corn and pack it home on their shoulders or starve. Oh, it was hor- rible! horrible! It burned and burned in my mind, and I swore a deep oath to God that it should not be so. I didn't set up for a reformer, but I saw a rattlesnake in my path and I smote it." And the same lusty hand smote down another rattlesnake. The mur- der of Alexander Hamilton at the hand of Aaron Burr aroused his wrath, and in its white heat he forged there at East-Hampton those discourses which needed no repetition, but swept out forever from the Northern mind that false standard of honor which demanded blood-atonement for real or fancied insult. In no respect, perhaps, is the contrast between this century and the last so great as in the systematic and unceasing benevolence which charac- terizes our religious life. It would seem as if every form of human want material and spiritual had now its own organized charity. Pipes are laid from the reservoir of the churches' wealth to almost every species of neces- sity. They are not kept as full as they ought to be, nor as full as they will be when men shall have come under the full pressure of the constraining love of Christ. But the brotherhood of all men, irrespective of race or color, or language, or condition, is asserting itself A want pressing with- in the polar circles announces itself almost instantaneously in the tropics. The whole earth has become sentient. Nervous cords cover it as it were some mighty organism .quick with tender feeling. Suffolk is not a frag- ment of Long Island, but a member of the world. It has felt the throb- bings of most distant pain.' It has responded with generous aid. To the ends of the earth have gone its money, its bread, its Bibles; yea, its living teachers — its own life blood. Through agencies our fathers never dream.ed of, but for which they nevertheless faithfully prepared the way, and for which the honor is due more to them than to their children, through Bible, and tract, and missionary, and Sunday-school, and temperance societies, the old Puritan faith is spreading like leaven in the meal. That same old faith is getting into the world's secular life. Dropping its hardness it has become facile and fusile, using the sunbeam rather than the blast to work its way. It runs along the lines of good neighborhood. It asserts itself in wholesome law. It makes itself felt in the elevation of social customs. It rises in the increasing intolerance of untruth and unrighteousness. It glows in the charitable fellowship of men who think diversely in non- essentials. It compels more and more the assent of men to the supreme excellence and beauty of Christly character. This, sons and daughters of Suffolk, is your best inheritance — the faith of your Puritan ancestry. It made them brave. It has made you prosperous. It will make your chil- dren what you wish them most to be, high-minded, pure, and safe. Development of Agriculture IN ^ON. ^ENRY 1^. ®EDGES. IN these centennial exercises the subject assigned to me was "The Devel- opment of Agriculture." Agriculture, new and old, what it was two hundred years gone by, and what it is now in Suffolk county. From 1639, when Lyon Gardiner made the first English settlement in the county of Suffolk, and within the present bounds of the State of New York, other colonies were founded at Southampton and Southold in 1640; in East-Hampton in 1649, and extending to Shelter Island, Setauket, Smithtown and Huntington, soon thereafter covered by charter the terri- tory of the county of Suffolk. At the organization of the countv in 1683, forty-four years had passed since Gardiner came to his island. This coun- ty comprised about two-thirds of the territory of Long Island. The census of 1875 gives the area thus: hnproved, woodland, other, total. Kings county, acres, 9, no 600 1,174 11,090 Queens cpunty, " 117,686 29,736 24,561 171,983 Suffolk county, " 156,760 102,550 129,135 388,445 Total area, 571,518 One-third is 190,506 Area of Kings and Queens is 183,073 Area of Suffolk over one-third is — acres 7,4 33 The precise population of the State or county in 1683, I have not as- certained. There was a partial statement in 1693, and the apportionment of militia to each county, thus: City and county of New York, 477 Queens county, rgo Suffolk " . 52 5 Kinffs " 219 Albany 359 LHster county and Dutchess, . 277 Westchester county, 283 Richmond " 104 Total, 2,932 40 DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE. Suffolk was the third county in the colony in the Quotas. In i6y8, 1703 and 1723, the population is thus given: 1698. 1703. 1723. New York, 4,937, 4,436, 7,248. Queens county, 3-565, 4,392, 7,191. Suffolk 2,679, 3^46, 6,241. Kings 2,017, • 1,915. 2,218. Albanv ' ' 1,476, 2.273, 6,501. Ulster " ) 2,923 Dutchess " \ 1,384, i,66y, 1,083. Richmond, 727, 504, 1,506. Orange, 268,- 1,244. ^^'estchester, 1,063, 1,946, 4,409. Total, 17,848 20,749 40,564 These results show that SuJolk County in population wis the third in the State in 1693 and 1703. and the fourth county in 1723. A similar com- parison will show that by the census in 1731 and 1737 this county held the same rank. In 1746 and 1749 it was the third; in 1756 the fifth, and in 1771 the sixth county of the State in numbers. In these periods reaching over almost one hundred and forty years, when the State was largel}- agri- cultural, the population of this county, chiefly so sustained, was nearly one-sixth of thit in the entire State. In 1790 it was the eighth county, and containetl 16,440 out of 340, 120 in the State — a little under one-twentieth of the whole amount. On the 17th day of May, 1683, the tax of the province of New York vvas ti cjd at ^2556 4s. od. , ahtl was apportioned thus: The city and county of New \ ork to pay 434 County of Westchester, " 185 City and county of Albany, " 240 County of Richmond, " 185 County of Ulster, ' " 408 Kings County, " 308 Queens County, " 308 County of Suffolk, " 434 * Dukes County, • " 40 Countv of Orange " 10 Thus at the organization of the county its farmers were taxed to piy over one-sixth part of all the taxes paid in the then ten counties oi" the prov'nce ol New York, and as much as the city and county of New York, an I more than any other county that alone excepted. Unless the county of Suff"olk was then a producdve territory, agriculturally, the tax was un- equal, oppressive and unjust. Assuming its equality, it is given as an evi- dence that even then ag'iculture had so far progressed that in wedth, in substantial comfort, in ministry to the necessities of mankind, this county as an agricultural county stood even with the then commercial metropolis of the province, and second to none in the province. In 1693 Queens s. d. 10 00 15 00 00 00 15 00 00 00 08 00 oS 00 10 00 00 00 00 00 *NOTE. — The County of Dukes comprised Nantucket, Martlia's" Vineyara and tlie Eliza- bath Islands. Development of agriculture. 41 County furnished the highest number of militia men by 47, Suffolk County the next highest number by fifty-six over the number assigned to New York, which latter county came then third on the list of Quotas. In the Journal of the Legislative Council of New York, under date of September 28, 1691, I find a memoradum of the Address of the House of Representatives, setting forth their sense of the displeasure of Almighty (}od for their manifold sins "by the blasting of their corn," etc. , and an order that the first Wednesdav of every month, until the month of June following, be observed and kept a fast day, and that proclamation be is- sued through the government to enjoin the strict observation thereof, and that all persons be inhibited any servile labor on the said days. Thus the uncertainties of unfavorable seasons, sometimes occurring now, clearly prevailed widely at that early day. In the Journals of the same Council, under date of October 16, 1738, among the bills read before the Council is one entitled " An act to en- courage the destroying of wild cats in Kings County, Queens County and Suff"olk County." By an act of February 16, 1771, a like provision ap- plied to Suff"olk County, and later, up to the first constitution of the State, and acts passed under it, similar provision was made, until the matter was, after the Revolution, devolved, by statute passed March 7th, 1788, upon the several towns in the State. Thus, for nearly one hundred and fiftv years, the agriculture of the county, from its infancy, contended against the depredations of wild animals, as well as the blights and mildews of ad- verse seasons. Through all this period it encountered a greater obstruction in the method of conducting it. In all early settlements, when the axe clears the forest and the plow inverts the virgin soil, where ages of repose have stored up treasures of fertility, those treasures appear for years unexhausted and inexhaustible. It so seemed to the first settlers on the Mohawk Flats, in the Genesee Valley, in the vales of Ohio, ©n the prairies of the far West — and it so seemed to our ancestors on the shores of Long Island. They cropped field after field with little, and oftenerno manure; they fenced large farms; they plowed, and raising more oats, and little wheat, and more rye, left the land unseeded with grass for eight, ten or fifteen vears, hoping that rest would restore the exhaustion of cropping. Up to the time, and long after the Revolution this skinning process went on all over this county and Island. What manure was made, and that was small in quantity and poorly cared for, was applied on the few acres of mow land, and was thought to be wasted if put on pasture. The vast old pasture lot, com- prising often one-half the area of the whole farm, impoverished and skinned, produced a few old bayberry bushes, such few weeds as worn out land could grow, and the everlasting five-fingers and briers. Nine pasture lots in ten were blackberry lots in my early days. This skinning process, that run down the averages of ^vheat per acre on the Mohawk flats, in the Gen- esee Valley, and through Ohio, to twelve or thirteen bushels, was per- petuated here for nearly two hundred years. The pasture where I, when a child, was sent to bring home the cows, was such a vast waste that often in a fog I was lost for a time and could find neither cows nor the way to th?'m or to my home. With all the abundance of fish in the waters, I find no evidence that they were caught and applied as a fertilizer to any notice- able extent until after the Revolution. The application of fish, ashes, bone dust and other fertilizers, to any considerable extent, upon the farms 42 DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE. of this county, with few exceptions, dates within the last sixty years. Within that time the production of grass, grain and root crops in the coun- ty, I thinl<, must have been more than doubled by the increased and in- creasing application of fertilizers. So little change occurred in the modes of farming and farm life that the farm and farmer of 1683 might well stand as a picture for those of 1783 — the same tools, the same methods, the same surroundings. Grass was cut with the scythe, raked by a hand-rake, pitched by the old heavy iron fork; grain was reaped with the sickle, threshed with the flail and winnowed with a riddle; land was plowed with a heavy wooden framed plough, pointed with wrought iron, whose mole board was protected by odd bits of old cart wheel tire; harrows were mostly with wooden teeth; corn hills wer.e dug with the hoe; the manure for the hill was dropp-ed in heaps, carried by hand in a basket and separately put in each hill. The farmer raised flax and generally a few sheep. Threshing lasted well into the winter, and then out came the crackle and swingle, knife and board. The flax was dressed, wool carded, and the wheel sung its song to the linen and woolen spun in every house. The looms dreary pound gave evidence that home manufacture clad the household. From his feet to his head the farmer stood in vestment produced on his own farm. The leather of his shoes came from the hides of his own cattle. The linen and woolen that he wore were products that he raised. The farmer's wife or daughter braided and sewed the straw-hat on his head. His fur cap was made from the skin of a fox he shot. The feathers of wild fowl in the bed whereon he rested his weary frame by night, were the results acquired in his shooting. The pil- low-cases, sheets and blankets, the comfortables, quilts and counterpanes, the towels and table cloth, were home made. His harness and lines he cut from hides grown on his farm. Everything about his ox yoke except staple and ring he made. His whip, his ox gad, his flail, axe, hoe and fork-handle, were his own wofk. How little he bought, and how much he contrived to supply his wants by home manufacture would astonish this generation. The typical farm house of 1683 and 1783, were much alike. It was a single house unpainted, the front two, and the sloping rear roof made that one story. Four Lombardy poplars, tall, slim and prim, its sole orna- ment in front. The well pole, a few feet in the rear of the kitchen, pointed 45 degrees towards mid heaven — underneath swung the bucket, " The old oakea bucket," immortal in song. Two small windows, of 6x8 glass, dimly lighted his front room. A large beam ran across its upper wall. Houses then were built to stay. The floor was uncarpeted. The chimney and fire-places were capacious masses of masonry, looking with contempt upon the Lilli- putian proportions of like structures of these modern times. The mass of chimney and oven and fire-places contracted into an entry what would otherwise be a hall. The front stairs zig-zagged and turned, and wound and squirmed towards the upper rooms. Over the fire-place hung the old King's Arm, with flint-lock wherewith he had brought down deer and wild ducks, and brant, and geese in no small numbers. Outside hung his eel spear, clam and oyster tongs. Close at hand was the upright hollow log that was his samp mortar. The barn-yard was near, and in view of the kitchen, and on the farther side his small barn. One roof sloped down low in the yard, and on that in the cold winter's day he spread his sheaves of flax DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 43 to dry for crackling. All-day he labored in the fields. In the long autumn and winter evenings he husked corn and shelled the ears over the edge of his spade. No horse-rake; no corn sheller; no horse pitch-fork; no horse- mower or reaper — the life of the farmer was literally a battle against the forces of nature for little more than the actual necessities of subsistence, and with the most rude and unwieldy supply of weapons for the war. The mo- notony of ^his life was relieved by hunting and fishing in their season. The farmer raised rye and corn, rarely wheat, for bread. He ate fresh pork while it lasted, and salt pork while that lasted. Corn was pounded into samp; ground into hominy and meal; baked or boiled into johnny-cake, Indian bread, griddle-cakes, pudding, or what the Dutch called "sup- pawn " and the Yankee "hasty pudding;" and in a variety of ways eaten with or without milk. In some shape corn was a chief article of diet. Rye bread, the chief bread, and wheat bread a rare luxury. Oysters, clams, eels and other fish, with game of the forest or fowl of the air, helped out the supply of food in the olden time. The statistics of ancient agriculture, if to be found at all, is not accessible to me. I turn to the State census reports of 1865 and find: Improved acres in New York State, 14,827,437 " " " SuiTolk County, 148,661 Unimproved acres in New York State, 10,411,863 " " " Suffolk County, 230,5561-2 Showing that Suffolk County contains a trifle less than one-hundredth part of all the improved lands in the State, and over one-fiftieth of all its unim- proved lands. The extensive beaches and woodlands of the county consti- tute its unimproved lands. The same census reports thus: Corn. Bushels Bushels harvested. average. New York State, acres plowed, 632,213 1-4 17,987,763 1-4 28 Suffolk County, 16,460 1-4 Wheat. 580,015 35 N. Y. State, it a 399,918 3-4 5,432,282 1-2 14 Suffolk County, 10,563 1-4 Oats. 199,941 1-4 short 19 N. Y. State, i( li I, 109,910 19,052,833 1-4 over 17 Suffolk County, it a 10,945 Rye. 289,575 over 26 N. Y. State, " " 234,689 2,575,3483-4 short II Suffolk County, a 977 11 Onondaga, 49,251 05 Orange, 63,410 00 Queens, 79,597 00 Saratoga, 52,576 53 Ulster, 55,292 12 Westchester, 75,643 75 Suffolk, 47,708 75 DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 45 nearly one-eightieth of all the potatoes. It produced nearly one-fortieth of the total pork, and our average weight of hogs exceeded that of ,the State by 38 pounds. Suffolk County is credited with less poultry in 1865 than any of the twelve counties I have named, but sold more in 1864 than any counties in the State except Queens and Dutchess. Suffolk County beat all other counties in the State on eggs, and sold nearly $5,000 more than Dutchess County, which is the next highest on the list. The census of 1875 gives these figures: Improved lands in the State, acres, i5>875, 552 Unimproved lands in the State, acres, 91783,714 Suffolk County, improved lands, 156,760 '• " unimproved lands, 332,685 The relative proportion of lands in the State and county remained nearly as in 1865: Value of all stock in the State, $ 1 46, 497, 1 54 " " " " Suffolk County, 1,879,073 " " tools and implements in the State, 44,228,263 " " " " " " Suffolk County, 541,158 Value of all farm buildings other than dwellings. In the State, $148,715,775. In Suffolk County, $2,161,675 Value of all fertilizers purchased in the State, $1,767,352 " Suffolk County, 316,737 Area mown in the State — acres, 4,796,739 " " " Suffolk County, 38,744 Hay produced in the State, tons 5,440,612 " Suffolk County 41,980 Corn. — The State produced 20,294,800 bushels; Suffolk County pro- duced 582,690. Oats. — The State produced 37,968,429 bushels; Suffolk County pro- duced 280,566. Winter Wheat. — The State produced 9,017,737 bushels; Suffolk County produced 182,867.' Potatoes. — The State produced 36,639,601 bushels; Suffolk County produced 405, 237. Number of cattle slaughtered in the State, 85,571 " Suffolk County, 889 " '' hogs " in the State, 521,490 " " " " " Suffolk County, 11,585 Pork made in the State, lbs., 121,184,622 " " " Suffolk County, lbs. " 2,708,759 Gross sales of farm produce in the State, $121,187,467 " "" " " " Suffolk County, 1,019,617 Apples produced in the State, bushels 23,118,230 " Suffolk County, bushels 308,315 Poultry sold in the State, value $1,772,084 " " Suffolk County, value - 65,572 Eggs sold in the State, value 2,513,144 " Suffolk County, value 118,049 Two counties sold more poultry, and two only, viz. : Dutchess County sold $77,188; Queens County sold $88,403. Onondaga sold eggs in value next to Suffolk, and to the amount of 46 DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE. A careful comparison of these tables show results not unfavorable to the agriculture of Suffolk County, and the averages of crops of the State and county are these: PRODUCTION COMPARED. AVERAGES OF STATE AND COUNTY J5ushels Corn, New Y ork State, per acre 32. Barley, ' ' Oats, 22. 28. Rye, Potatoes, " I I. 102. Hay, Hogs, I ton. 223 lbs. Bushels Suftblk County, per acre. 35- 25. 28. I2\ 96. I ton. , 233 lbs.' All fractions are rejected in the foregoing figures. Suffolk County contained in value one-seventieth of all the farm build- ings, exclusive of dwellings in the State of New York. Its farmers owned in round numbers one-eightieth of all the farm tools and machinery in the State. They purchased one-sixth of all the fertilizers purchased in the State. The value of the stock in the county was over one-eightieth part of all owned in this State. The acres mown to feed that stock was less than one-hundredth of all mown in the State, and the average cut of hay was within a fraction of the State average per acre. The riumber of cattle slaughtered in the county was oyer one-hundredth of all slaughtered in the State. The pork made' in the county was over one-fiftieth of all made in the State, and the average weight of hogs in the county beat the State average ten pounds. Of all the corn raised in this State, Suff"olk County produced over one-fortieth; of winter wheat over one-fiftieth, and of pota- toes about one-ninetieth. The proportion of oats raised in the county was about one hundred and thirty-fifth of the State production. It was thought Suffolk County would be a poor county for the production of fruit, and yet the apple crop of the county was over one-eightieth of the whole State production. In the amount of poultry sold Suffolk County stands third in the list of counties in New York State. In the value of eggs sold this county stands first, beating every county, and beating Onondaga by over $26,000. The results of the oat crop of the county as reported in the tables were a disappointment to me. I knew that in 1865 our average and aggregate product put this county among the foremost. Why in 1875 it was among the hindmost seemed unaccountable. The census of 1875 reports the pro- duct of 1874. Consulting my record of 1874, I found that I had ten acres in oats. 1 remembered that the crop never promised better for from 50 to 60 bushels per acre than then. 1 threshed 50 bushels, and the army worm threshed the rest. That clears the m}'stery. The loss on oats that year in the best oat region of the county on the south shore was ten times more than the amount harvested. Generally in my section none were threshed. In round numbers 10,000 acres were sown in the county. I estimate the loss by the.army worm to be not less than 100,000 bushels, of the value of 55 cents per bushel, and in the aggregate $55,000. This loss should be credited to the county in any lair calculation of averages with other coun- ties not so ravaged. This is pre-eminently the age of criticism. Moses and the Pentateuch are questioned. All the old foundations are pried up to see if they have good corner-stones. Men build capitols, and monu- ments, and bridges, and hotels by the job, covering up vast frauds. Prac- DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 47 tical men, and literary men, and mechanics, and the professions, believe nothing until it is demonstrated. The whole earth is a war of question and denial and call for proof. I anticipate this question: If Suffolk County is the purchaser of one-third of all the fertilizers sold in the State in 1865, and on>sixth in 1875, it must be a poor county; if not, why not? Other counties purchase little or none, while Suffolk is so poor it must purchase to produce, and unless the production is increased so as to pay the cost of fertilizers, Suffolk County is still in arrears. All that may be said regard- ing the necessity of restoring fertilizers to a soil long abused by the skin- ning process in this old county and the li'ce necessity that will come to other counties will avail nothing. All that may be said showing that feed- ing produce to animals on the farm while in the main good farming lessens the amount of sales and appirent profit, will avail nothing. More largely than in other counties Suffolk fed on the farm the hay, corn, oats and roots, and sold proportionately rr.ore meat, lessening not really but appar- ently her farming profits. All this is apparent, but still the demand comes and must be met or avoided. The excess and value of county over State avei ages mav be thus stated for 1865: Acres. Total. Price per bush. Value. Com, 7 bushels, 16,460 I -4 115,221 3-4 $1 00 $115,221 75 Wheat, 5 10,563 I -4 52,816 ' 1-4 2 60 137,322 25 Oats, 9 ' ' 10,945 98,505 80 78,804 00 Rye, 8 5.353 42,824 I 10 47,106 40 Barley, 12 " 498 5,976 I 10 6,573 60 Turnips, 75 " 689 51,675 40 20,670 00 The like excess for i :875 Acres. Total. Price per liush. Corn, 3 bushels. 16,304 48,932 $1 00 $48,932 00 Wheat, 3 9,388 28,164 I 25 35,205 00 Barley, 3 " 186 568 I 00 568 00 Rye, I 4,333 ' 4,333 I 00 4,333 00 Apples I " trees 130,406 130,406 50 65,203 do Loss on oat crop by army worm, Total value of county excess. Add for permanent improvement of land by fertilizers. 55,000 00 $614,939 00 100,000 00 $714,939 00 Total, .... Deduct for less county average. Acres. Total. Price. 1865. Potatoes 13 bu. 3,439 1-2 44,713 1-2 $0 80 $35,770 80 1875. " 6 " 4,208 25,248 o 50 12,624 00 Total to deduct. Balance of county over State production, Cost of fertilizers in i86'5, " " " " 1875, Amounting to $294,429 40 316,737 00 $48,394 80 $666,545 20 611,266 40 Balance credit to the county over the State average after deducting cost of all fertilizers, . . $55,278 80 In this calculation I have disregarded the item of fertilizers purchased 48 DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE. liv other counties and have under-estimated the amount of permanent im- provement which I believe the land derived from the lars^e application of fertilizers. No account is made of any extra straw or stalks thereby grown, and none of the extra market value of Long Island potatoes. All these items in the statement would make it still more favorable to the county, and would add force to the demonstration that Suffolk County can afford to purchase, and actually profits by the large application of fertilizers. It is usually the farmer who purchases judiciously the most manure who makes the most profit. |. H. Wardle, Esq. , has kindly sent in advance sheets of the census of 1880, from which I give these figures: No. of farms in the State of New York, 241,05.8 •" " " " Suffolk County, - 3-379 *' " acres improved in the State, 17,717,862 *' " " " " " Count}', 156,223 " " " unimproved in the State, 6,062,892 " " " " " " County, 152,694 " " " woodland in the State, 5> 195.795 " " " " " " County, " 134,836 Value of farms in the State, $1,056,176,741 " " " " " County 17,079,652 ( ( " farm tools and machinery in the State, 42,592,741 ( ( I ( ( i I i ' < "- " " County, 563,225 il " live stock in State, 117,868,283 i i " " " " County 1,359,047 " " fertilizers pmrchased in State, 2,715.477 " " " " " County, ' ■ 272,134 i ( " farm productions in State, 178,025,695 i I it 11 i< " County, 2,198,079 Bushels. Acres. Barle; Y, in the State, 7,792,062 356,629 " " " County, ■ 5,459 199 Acres. Bushels. -Indian corn, in the State, 779,272 25,690, 156 " County, 18,097 624,407 Oats, in the State, 1,261,171 37,575,506 '< " County, 9,556 311,581 Rye, in the State, 244,923 2,634,690 " County, 3,931 47,471 Wheat, in the State, 736,611 11,587,766 i i " County, 5,660 182,537 Area mown acre.s. crop, tons. Hay, State, 4,644,452 5.255,642 ( I County, 33,197 40, III Numbers poultry. 6,448,886, Eggs produced, in 1 the State, dozens 31,958,739 160, 173, " ' SutTolk County, 910,848 214, ,59c, - " -Erie 1,116,191 194,950. " ■ Cayuga 932,947 183, 395. " • Oneida " " 1,008,330 204, 295. " Onondaga " 972,206 DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 49 199,840, Eggs produced in St. Lawrence Co. doz. 1,073,385 217,826, " " " Steuben Co. " i»037, 509 Acres. Bushels. Irish potatoes, State 340,536 33,644,807 County, ^ 3,796 493^078 Orchard products value, State $8,409,794 County 17', 248 Market garden products sold. State value 4,211,642 Co. 118,293 Amount of cord-wood cut. State, 4.187,942. County, 34,228. Value of fruit products sold. State, $8,759,901. County, 1127,960. The results of the figures of the census of 1880, are these: The area of farms in the State averages over acres, 73 " " " " " " County " " " 45 measured by the acres of improved lands. Less than one-hundredth of all the improved lands in the State lie in Suffolk County, yet the county has nearly one seventieth in number of all the farms, showing thereby a more general distribution of land among the masses of people. Suffolk County contains about one-fortieth part of all the unimproved lands in the State, ?nd a fraction over that proportion ol all the woodlands. The farms of this county in value aggregate over one sixty-second part of the whole State valuation. Suffolk County owns over one-eightieth part of the farm tools and ma- chinery in the State, and over one-eightieth in value of all live stock in the State. Suffolk County purchased over one-tenth of all the fertilizers pur- chased in the State. The aggregate farm production of the county was over one-eightieth of all produced in the State. This county raised over one-fortieth of all the corn raised in the State, nearly one-hundreth part of all the oats; over one-sixtieth of all the rye, and over one sixty-fourth of all the wheat. Suffolk County mowed less than one-hundred and fortieth of all the acres mown in the Statn. It produced nearly the one-hundred and thirty-first of all the hay crop cut. The State average per acre was a little over one and one-tenth tons, and the county average per acre a little over one and two-tenths tons. Suffolk County produced nearly one-thirty-fifth of all the eggs in the State, from less than one-fortieth of all the poultry, rank- ing the seventh in product of eggs, and holding in number of poultry by over twenty thousand less than any of the six counties which produced more eggs. In acreage Suffolk County had of potatoes a fraction less than one- ninetieth contained in the State, and produced therefrom a fraction over one- seventieth of all the bushels produced. In value of orchard product the county, compared with the State, fails to come up to anything which mi"-ht in former results have been reported. In value of market garden products sold, the county sales were over one thirty-fifth of all sales made in the State. Suffolk County cut less than the one-hundred and twenty-second part of all the wood cut in cords in the State, but sold in products of the forest over one-seventieth of all sold in the State. '56 DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE. The State and county averages compare thus per acre: Bushels. Bushels. Barley, State, 21.85 County, 27 3-10 Indian corn, " 32.97 " 344-10 Oats, " 20.79 " 32 6-10 Rye, " 10.76 " 12 Wheat, " 15.73 . " 18 8-10 Potatoes, " 986-10 " 1298-10 In all these products the county, rejecting fractions, exceeded the State averages thus: Per acre, on barley, 6 bushels; on corn, oats and rye, two bushels each; on wheat, three; and potatoes, twenty-one bushels. The deficiency of the county in potatoes in the years 1865 and 1875, is more than offset by its surplus per acre in 1880. The former surplus reported for the State in oats, in 1875, when our county suffered by the army worm, does not continue in 1880. In the great staples of corn and winter wheat the surplus average of this county continues through alL these years, to the credit of the county It will be observed that while Suffolk County pur- chased in 1865 one-third, in 1875 one-sixth, and in 1880 one-tenth of all the fertilizers purchased in the State, other counties were increasing their proportion of fertilizers after her example, and following more closely her methods. I introduce this account to show that such purchase pays: The whole farm products of the State in value are $178,025,695 " " " " " County, " " 2,198,079 The county owns less than i-ioo of all the improved lands of the State, and measured thereby, i-ioo of the pro- duct is, . . . . ... 1,780,256 Credit of surplus product to the county is $417,823 Cost of fertilizers purchased in " " 272,134 Excess product, , $145,689 These figures add force to all former statements favorable to the qual- ity of land or purchase of fertilizers to make farming pay in the county or State. The variety of soil in Suffolk County is seldom found elsewhere. For corn, no land on the continent is better suited. Midway between the cold blasts of a northern climate and the extreme heat of a southern, it is peculiarly adapted to the growth of that crop. In the production of wheat its conditions are favorable. The low, moist lands of the southern sea coast are well suited to raise oats. For vegetable growth and root crops, both the variety of its soil and temperature of its climate are favorable. The hardier fruits, like apples and pears, flourish here. The cauliflower and strawberry are so extensively cultivated that for the transportation of both crops extra railroad trains are specially run, and for the latter steamers from Greenport to Boston. The tables of the census demonstrate much of these remarks. But those of 1875 were compiled before the culture of these crops had reached their present very large proportions, or become a largely developed industry and been proved to be so profitable in pecuniary re- sults. It is a matter of regret that no records exist whereby the precise ex- tent of production in these crops can be ascertained. Yet it is significant that as New York city has judged the flavor of Long Island potatoes to be 130 superior as to command a premium in her markets, so Boston seeks in preference the strawberry that grew in Suffolk County. How this old \ DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 5I county from the acorn grew in wealth and comfort to the soHd oak; what changes occurred from its primitive government, jurisprudence and the ad- ministration of justice; how the Hght of education, intelhgence and literary culture shone from its early dawn to the brightness of the present day; what progress it has made reaching for the wisdom that comes from above; how its commerce, navigation and fisheries were pursued by its adventurous citizens. All these ar^ subjects assigned to other speakers and prohibited to me. Of that glad acclaim which echoed from the shores of th's county m exultation to Heaven, when in i yS^ the last British soldier evacuated -orever its soil — even to speak of this is to tread on ground dedicated to another. But in all these historic events the farmer of Suffolk County was the central figure, and the tillers of the soil the prominent actors. The first settlers derived their subsistence chiefl}- from the farms they cleared in the wilderness. The early primeval government organized was instituted, and perpetuated, and developed by farmers. The diffusion of the light of edu- cation, intelligence and literary culture was mainly due to the farmer. If true devotion spoke anywhere to the power on high, it spoke at the hearth- stone and fireside of the (armer. If commerce and navigation carried ad- venturous enterprise to the remotest sea, the sons of the farmer manned and sailed the ship. If fisheries were followed on stream or bay, on harbor, or sound, through strait or ocean, his hardy sons cast the net, threw the line or harpoon with the foremost pioneers. In colonial conflicts with the In- dians or with the French, or both, the yeomanry of this county contended side by side with their compeers of other counties. The numbers they armed and the tax they paid were often among the largest contributed by any county in the State. • In the long Revolutionary war, from the first, the farmers of Suffolk County were solid in resisting the oppressions of the Crown. In the disastrous battle of Long Island her sons bled in defence of the country. The seven dark years of captivity and desolation that fol- lowed, what historian can record ! what pencil can paint ! Abandoned by countrymen, oppressed by foe, plundered and derided by both, this county suffered its long hours of agony, upheld by the hope that the power that rules the universe would bring deliverance to them. From its household altars ascended in devotion the thought in a later day beautifully embodie'"' thus: " If for the a^e to come, this hour Of trial hath vicarious power; And blest by thee our present pain Be Liberty's eternal gain — Thy will be done ! Strike; 'I'hou the Master, we thy keys, The anthem of the destinies ! The union of thy loftier strain ; Our hearts shall breathe the old refrain, Thy will be done !" In every line of the record of the historic past; in every great crisis of the colony or" State, the farmers of Suffolk County have imperishably re- corded their names with the illustrious dead. (}o to the Declaration of In- dependence, and with the s.gners to that indestructible landmark of the Nation is written the name of William Floyd, a farmer of Suffolk County ! Look for the consecrated dust of those who fell martyrs in the Revolution- ary struggle, and within the limits of this county find buried one of her larmers over whose memory broods unceasing regret, and over whose 52 DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE. name burns the undying fire of patriotism. Monuments may perish; age may obscure; yet after monuments have vanished, after ages have passed the name and memory of General Nathaniel Woodhull will remain in the minds of his countrymen linked forever with the remembrance of that great contest in which he fell. For the farmers of Suffolk County I might and I must say more. But for them there had been no Suffolk County as it now is. The bed rock of Agriculture underlies all other occupations; is the mother of all arts, of all manufactures, of all navigation, subsisting on the products of the prolific earth, all these may flourish. Thereby manufactures may expand ; the mechanic arts make progress, and commerce be carried, for exchange of products over every ocean. But for Agriculture there had been no plant-' ing of colonies on these shores; no commerce over her waters; no United States on this Continent. The farmer made all this possible. Mainly by his strong arm; the feeble colonies grew in numbers and power, into States, and fought successfully the great Revolution that made them free and in- dependent of all other nations. All honor to the farmer! all praise to ag- riculture! Not least of all to the agriculture and the farmer of Suffolk County. The mariners who from this county traversed every sea; the mechanics who wrought in all the arts of industry; the professions which shone as lights in theology, in medicine, in jurisprudence; the Legislators who sat in the halls of the State or Nation, were born and reared on the farms of Suffolk County.' Therefrom came her Senators in both. Thence- forth marched that woundrous tide of emigration from colonial days to other counties of this great State, north and west, and to east and west Jerseys, as then known; and through after ages to the expanding West and the remotest Pacific coast. That mighty tide, enlarging, enriching, aug- menting the population and power of other counties and States and terri- tories, diminished the growth of this county while it enlarged theirs. The proximity of Suffolk County to the large cities of the continent attracted visitors from the earliest days. The invalid and wayworn found its ocean breeze bracing in summer and mild in winter. The sportsman found game running in its forests, swimming in its abounding waters, and fiying in its air. The lover of quiet and repose found it here. The good cheer and substantial comfort of its old taverns and farm houses were wide- ly and well known. From the tip ends of Orient and IMontauk Points to its western limits, in early, and increasing in later days, Suffolk County was the resort of hundreds now grown to thronging thousands. Dominy's and Sammis' hotels were almost as well known as the Astor House and Delmonico's; yet Fire Islaad and Bay Shore were but two, out of scores of other resorts where, on both shores of the county, and extending eastward, then and now the interior and the cities pour their residents on the sea coast of this county. The products of its soil were largely consumed by boarders in farm houses, and hence the returns of those products foot up relatively less for this than other counties in the census reports. If elsewhere the farmer communes with nature and comes nearer her gates than other industrial classes; if elsewhere the contest to overcome the obstacles nature interposes to impede the fruition of his desire, is wag- ing; if elsewhere the study of her laws and mysteries awakes close obser- vation, minute search and absorbing thought; if elsewhere conformity to her laws be the requirement of success in the battle of wrestling from the soil its products; if elsewhere the vastness of her range, the uniformity of DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 53 her constitutions, the precision of her methods, the inexorable power of her elements, the evidences of design in her arrano;ements, reveal the hand and mind of a mighty Maker. In all these surroundings the Suffolk Coun- ty farmer lives within a field as vast, as varied, as full of all that animates observation, impels to study, excites to wonder or elevates to devotion as his brother farmer in other locations, here the fields of green grass or wav- ing grain are varied with the growth of the forest. Here the parching drouths of summer's long day are relieved by the munificent dews of the evening. Here the oppressive heat of winds from north and west is over- come by the breeze of ocean. The glimmer of stream and creek, of harbor and bay and Sound, add to the charm of rural landscape — and over all the sound of ocean's wave. Since 1683, when under Governor Thomas Dongan, Suffolk County as a county was organized; six generations of its farmers have passed away. The simple funeral rites of those times strangely contrast with the pomp, display and pageantry of the present. " The Power incens'd the pageant will desert." On the bier on the shoulders of the living the dead were reverently carried to their final rest. The stars of heaven shine upon their graves as they shone then; the blue vault that o'er arches us, hung over them; the anthem of ocean that sung their funeral dirge, age after age, rolls on, and will sound in our expiring breath and over our crumbling dust. Celebrating this day that great event that two hundred years gone by organized the then living generation in one compact body as a county; pay- ing our tribute to them and their descendants; honoring their virtues and their patriotism; blessed with the results of their toils, their fortitude and their courage, as if standing beside their opened graves, we bear our un- worthy offering to their memory and their solid worth. They built this time-honored county and made it what it is; sire and son, after each other, transmitted to coming posterity the fruits of their industry, the immunities they gained, the free institutions they formed possessing this fair inheritance from them, let our thanks be given from age to age, constant as the lights or the voices that Nature gives. In this let us not fail, as these never fail. " The harp, at Nature's advent strung. Has never ceased to play; The song the stars of mourning sung Has never died away; And prayer is made, and praise is given By all things near and far; The ocean looketh up to heaven And mirrors every star. Its waves are kneeling on the strand As kneels the human knee; Their white locks bowing to the sand, The Priesthood of -the sea. The winds with hymns of praise are loud, Or low with sobs of pain; The thunder organ of the cloud. The dropping tears of rain. The blue sky is the temple's arch; Its transept earth and air; §4 bEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULWRE. The music of its starry March The chorus of a prayer. So Nature keeps her reverent frame With which her years began, And all her signs and voices shame The prayerless heart of man." 'he €!ommerce, Mayigation inisiiElI=LIE]S OF- STJI^IJ^OUjI^ OOXJISTTY" ;0N. ^ENRY ^. JEEVES. THERE is a French saying, whose age not less than its manifest merit entitles it to respect, that whoever essays to excuse himself thereby becomes his own accuser. I recognize the full force of this truth, yet I am constrained to incur the risk and accept the condemnation it implies. Indeed, I freely confess that no one of this audience, even while the dis- appointment that doubtless awaits them is fresh in mind, can be more swift or less sparing in sentence than is the culprit who stands before them, while I realize the rashness and improvidence of which I was guilty when, at the instance of your committee, I weakly consented to stand in the gap of some better man and to undertake a task of which I then had but a dim and distant appreciation. I yielded to importunity and fell a victim to my own complaisance, mainly because I then supposed that, whatever anticipated obstacles might arise from the lack of suitable preparation, by reason of any adequate previous familiarity with the topics to be treated, and from want of time in the midst of other engrossing cares and duties, to bestow the proper deliberation and thought upon those topics, there would be no serious difficulty in gathering the material of facts and figures out of which to construct a sufficient framework for future elaboration — the foundation stones on which to build, if not a palace to be admired in the daylight, at least a modest dwelling in which to be comfortably housed and entertained for a single evening. But on proceeding to act upon this idea and to search out the necessary data and statistics which I had thought to be readily available, I was, to my great surprise as well as discomfiture, forced to the unwelcome conclusion that they do not exist in any actual or ac- cessible form. Many hours of unfruitful labor have been devoted to this search, many barren inquiries have been made in quarters where inform- 56 COMMERCE, NAVIGATION AND FISHERIES. ation seemed likely to be had, many letters have been written which yield- ed little or no valuable return. The Commerce, Navigation and Fisheries of Suffolk County are almost wholly a sealed book, or, rather, the book has not been written that even assumes to record their origin, growth, past development or present condition. None of the histories or historical documents relating to Long Island, so far as I have been able to discover, treat separately and with either any considerable fullness of detail or exact- ness of statement, the subjects which go to make up the several topics cov- ered by my theme. In attempting to do it even the scant justice which such an occasion permits, I am left to grope in the dark, with no clear and fixed illumination to guide my steps in any direction. Instead of the de- scriptive accounts from which some definite and trustworthy generaliza; tions might be drawn, there are but the barest and- briefest references, which neither satisfy inquiry, nor supply information; instead of precise data, which are essential to historical accuracy, there are loose assertions, unverified conjectures and random remarks. Even the statistics which appertain to certain branches of the general subject, though gathered in recent years with painstaking fidelity by ofiicials or agents assigned to the work, are comprehended in the fio^ures of other and larger districts, and thus fail to shed light on the particular section to which attention is nec- essarily confined. It would seem even easier to discuss with some degree of satisfaction the Commerce, Navigation and Fisheries of the State of New York or of the United States, than to sift from numberless bushels of chaff the grains of truth which miy give in. meagre outline some idea of what ought to be said of the Commerce, Navigation and Fisheries of Suffolk County, to which, by the mistaken indulgence of your committee, I have been restricted. Amid some physical disabilities and many pressing en- gagements I have tried faithfully and arduously to collect and combine the elements from which might be composed a worthy testimonial to the last- ing influences, the large results and the wide bearings of these topics in their manifold relations to- the development, material, moral, mental and spiritual, of the people who inhabit our good county. My own concep- tion of the scope and character of such a contribution to this bi-centennial celebration as ought to be and as could be made from a proper treatment of the theme assigned me, is a far higher one than, as I am deeply con- scious, has been attained or perhaps approached in performance. In truth, I have been compelled to be content with some general and doubt- less crude observations more or less pertinent to the two first topics, and after considering the last in a similar incomplete way to add some facts which have been secured by dint of diligent research in a field where neither landmarks nor mile posts were ever erected and where one must do his own digging to unearth even small fragments of that full knowledge which probably will never come to the surface. As proof that I am not exaggerating the difficulty attending this inquiry in order to shield myself from your displeasure at not receiving such an exposition of the theme as vou may have been led to expect, I may be allowed to quote the conclud- ing sentence of a letter from Joseph Nimmo, jr. , the accomplished and indefatigable Chief of the Bureau of Statistics in the Treasury Department at Washington, himself a loving son of Old Suffolk, written in answer to my application for aid from his Bureau. After reciting various insupera- ble drawbacks to the proper preparation of a paper on this theme, he says: " If you should fail to meet the expectations of your audience you will COMMERCE, NAVIGATION AND FISHERIES, 57 certainly be entitled to plead in defence the fact that you were asked to do the impossible thing, and you may, if you choose, summon me as witness in your defense. "* The two first topics of my theme, C ommerce and Navigation, are so far connected, in the limited sense in which the former word is ordinarily used and in which 1 have used it, that they may properly be taken together. Commerce, in its widest signification, means intercourse between different individuals or communities for the purpose of exchanging commodities. Practically it is synonymous with trade or traffic, but its use is preferred where the trade is carried on upon an extensive scale, the distinction being one of degree and not of kind. Of course, in this sense, it matters not how its operations be conducted — whether in vessels upon open waters; in boats upon canals or rivers or lakes; in wagons upon public lOads; in railway cars or whatever otTier conveyances. I'o commerce between different places within the same country the qualifying terms internal or domestic are applied; to describe the commerce between different coun- tries the vv'ord foreign is used. In the United States the commerce between ports in the same or different States on the seaboard is called the coasting- trade, while the commerce with other countries is called foreign trade. Though, properly speaking, as before noted, commerce takes no account of the means or agencies by which its work is done, yet in common usage we understand by it that kind of trade which is carried on upon the water by means of vessels propelled by sails or steam power. It is in this latter sense that I have chiefly considered the word as it concerns the present occasion, and in this sense I have felt justified in treating it and its cog- nate title Navigation as parts of one whole. Certainly this conjunction must fairly be held to be allowable, if not an absolute necessity, during more than four- fifths of the period over which we are called to cast a re- trospective eye. Until after the extension of the Long Island Railroad through the county, which was completed in 1844, and for a considerable time afterwards, by far the largest part of the commerce of Suffolk County, both domestic and foreign, was carried on in vessels engaged either in coasdng or in .foreign trade. It is true that some intercourse was had by stages running from different points to Brooklyn and New York, and an exchange of some home-grown or home-made commodities was effected between the north and south sides of the island by wagons, or rather by ox-carts driven laboriously over the long and lonely forest roads; but the stages seldom carried anything beside passengers and their personal lug- C^age, and it was rare indeed that any of the products of fields or woods were carted to the cities or that goods and merchandize were brought back from the cities to the then relatively distant wilds of Suffolk. For all this time, embracing fully 160 years, the main part, almost the whole, of the 'rade between the people in this county and New York was done in ves- sels, as likewise, by a natural necessity, was all trade with their northern neighbors of New England to whom they were continuously drawn by the closest ties of an unbroken community Df sympathies, sentiments and in- terests. * Beside its intrinsic value the letter here referred to may serve sufficiently to set forth some phases of the general subject which, in order not to unduly extend the limits of this paper and because of the recognized impossibility to give precise or even approximate data, I deemed it best to omit from the reading altogether. It has therefore been thought proper to print it in full as an appendix, and readers will find it of interest. gg COAlMEkCE, NAVIGATION AND FISHERIES. Even to this day, substantially all the trade of the county with New York not done by the railroad is done by vessels. The railway traffic within recent years has had an immense expansion, and its volume swells visibly from year to year; in its course it bears away enormous amounts of the products of the soil, the forest and the water, and it brings back vast burdens of fertilizers, lumber, brick, coal, manufactured goods, groceries and even of breadstuffs which, under changed agricultural conditions are no longer grown at home in quantities anywhere near large enough to feed our resident population, to say nothing of the many thousands of tempo- rary sojourners who come among us for some months of summer recrea- tion. I have sought to procure from its officials some details that would show authentically the progress made in this species of domestic commerce during the last quarter of a century, but I have not' been able to procure any. It is stated that the early records were destroyed. Could the exact figures be given they would, I am sure, prove startling in their magnitude as well as conclusive as a demonstration of the activity, the energy and the skill with which the people in this so-called "slow and easy," con- servative old county of Suffolk are subduing to their needs the earth and the sea within their bounds. Yet, great and swift as has been the growth of our railway traffic, it may be doubted if the commerce by sea from and • to the several ports that line the north side and the eastern end of the county and the shores of the Great South Bay, does not exceed it in ex- tent, in variety and in value. It seems to me proper, then, to consider the Commerce and Navigation of our county as practically one subject and to treat them from the same point of view. A single word as to the nature and high function of this branch of the theme may be pardoned. If it be true, as has been aptly said, that Com- merce is the handmaid of civilizadon, is it not equally true that she is the foster-sister of agriculture and the industrial arts ? While the former might supply mankind with the simple necessaries of existence, and while the latter might enable them to grasp a fuller measure of comfort and conve- nience than they could otherwise hope to enjoy, or even to acquire some of the luxuries of life, yet the kindly offices of commerce are needed to diffuse the blessings derived from each of the other two, and without her beneficent interposition neither could attain unto its complete develop- ment. We assemble to-day to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the forma- tion of Suffolk County as a distinct civil division of this State. On Nov. I, 1683, an act was passed by the Governor, Council and General Assem- bly of the Colony, to divide the province of New York into counties; and Suffolk was described as containing the towns of Huntington (from which Babylon has since been set off), Smithfield (now Smithtown), Brookhaven (first known as Setalcott or Setauket), Southampton, Southold, East- Hampton to Montauk Point, Shelter Island, the Isle of Wight (another name for Gardiner's Island), Fisher's Island and Plum Island. These isl- ands subsequently became integral parts of the towns of East-Hampton and Southold. This, then, is the area within which my theme limits me to a consideration of the commerce, navigation and fisheries during the past two centuries. The founders of the first settlements in this county, and many of those who during the first century followed them to its shores, were from Suffolk county in the Southeast part of England, a sea-coast county whose allu- dDMMERCE, NAVIGATION AND FISHERIES. 59 vial meadows and marshes fronted the turbulent North Sea. Many^of them had been mariners and fishermen by occupation, as their fathers had been before them; and from generations of descent not less than by per- sonal habitudes, they had inherited or acquired much of the sturdy self- reliance, the dauntless courage, the unshrinking fortitude, the bold spirit of restless enterprise, the physical vigor and the strong, stout, active man- hood, which characterized the British sailor at his best estate. How large a share of these sterling elements of moral and physical stamina were add- ed to and immovably embedded in the character of the present population of this county, no man can accurately estimate; but the indelible impress of these grand qualities has always been and still is plainly discernible in the lives and careers of every generation that has succeeded the first settlers. From their prolific loins have gone out multitudes to blaze the way Of coming civilization in all the spreading wilderness that has since been sub_ dued and made to blossom as the rose, westward, northward and south- ward from the Mohawk Valley toward the setting sun. Everywhere, as one travels over the vast area which comprehends our Uncle Samuel's wide domain, he either meets or hears of descendants from Suffolk county fam- ilies, some of them foremost in the ranks of workers and thinkers. The spirit which impelled them to face known and unknown perils, to endure years of grievous privation and toil, and to encounter, sometimes single- handed, all the hazards and the hardships of frontier life, was largely re- cruited from the sailors and the fishermen who at some period of a more or less remote antiquity had crossed dieir blood with the less swift but not less healthy and pure stream that flowed in the veins of the landsmen of Suffolk County. We owe to those hardy and chaste and manly seamen who came over from the Suffolk of England to the Yennacook of the Long Island Indians and brought to it across the sea the name beloved at home, some of the noblest elements which go to make up human character. Naturally, Long Island, with its extended shore line, indented with its numerous bays and creeks, its abundant waters pop- ulous with the finny tribes, its smiling valleys and wooded head- lands green to the depth of verdure and radiant under the sunlight of skies more bright than those which bend over the famed land of poesy and song, had an irresistible attraction to those dwellers by the low-lying shores of the distant English sea. In skirting Long Island Sound they en- tered Peconic Bay and at Town Harbor found the first "fair haven" of their desires, where they laid the foundation of the town of Southold. Al- most or quite coeval with this landing at Town Harbor, settlers from other parts of New England, all of them emigrants from the old England, commenced the settlement of Southampton. While no definite records exist to put the facts beyond question, there seems to be good reason to believe that early in the infancy of these eastern towns, and of the other settlements which developed into the present towns of East-Hampton, Brookhaven, Smithtown and Huntington, small open boats and canoes, with a few of larger size and decked -over, sloop-rigged though called ketches and pinnaces, were built from the native woods, with sails and rigging made stoutly though to modern eyes uncouthly, by men who had but slight acquaintance with the arts of either sail or rope making; but zeal and perseverance overcame all obstacles and they put together sub- stantial and staunch craft, however clumsy or slow, and in them they voyaged to New York, New Haven, Hartford, and even as far as to Bos- 60 COMMERCE, NAVIGATION AND FISHERIES. ton Bay — carrying with them Uttle beside such occasional surplus of corn as might have been grown above the needs of the settlers, the skins and furs of wild animals procured from the chase or by traffic with the Indians, and the oil and bone of whales drifted on shore or captured by their own strong arms, and bringing back modest stocks of goods from the mother country adapted to their most urgent wants. Sometimes these voyages were made wholly or mainly for pleasure, to visit relatives and friends from whom they had long been parted. To us, who are brought by daily steam communication so near to the places named, it may not be easy to esti- mate the serious nature of such an undertaking as a trip at that time from Eastern Long Island to the Dutch settlement of New Netherlands or to the New England ports with which their commercial, like their political and civil intercourse, was more intimate and frequent. Except for the compass to guide their course, no aids to navigation then existed. No buoys marked the channels and shoals of water ways; no beacons or light- houses shed friendly instruction by day or night over the dangerous pas- sages or the shores and rocks to be avoided. By the compass alone, when not close in with the land, they steered through the day, and by the light of moon or stars they sometimes sailed at night, but often when the weather was not fair they sought the shelter of some bay or cove and cast anchor or drew their boats to land till morning. It may not have been a display of such subUme faith and such calm courage as were shown by the heroes who a century before turned the prows of their frail barges from the old world toward the unknown new and boldly pressed on into the welter- ing waste of Atlantic waters; but it was a great enterprise and an actual achievement, into which the same elements of faith and courage and skilled seamanship according to the conditions under which' it was then exercised, may be said with no less truth, though in less degree, to have entered. Coincident with the first settlement of Southold in 1640, Thomas Weatherby (appropriately named) is mentioned as a mariner and as having bought a house and lot at Town Harbor for ^15, on October 25, 1604- In Book A of the Town Records is entered the sale of a ketch of 44 tons. Though this word is usually given to vessels of 100 to 200 tons or over, having main and mizzen masts and decked over, it is probable the vessel referred to was a sloop whose tonnage rated by the measurement now in vogue would perhaps not exceed 12 to 15 tons. Pinnaces were also men- tioned in the old records, and were small open boats navigated with oars or sails; if with the latter they generally had two masts but were sloop- rigged. As the colonies slowly grew in numbers and increased the products of their industries, this commerce, especially with New . England, to whom the affections and the alliances of our ancestors went out with especial force, kept equal or more than equal pace in the extent, variety and vol- ume of its operations. The size of the vessels was enlarged and their equipments improved. Sloops of 10 to 20 or 30 tons were built and used in carrying produce, whale oil and bone, peltry, etc., and passengers, across the Sound or to Massachusetts' ports, returning with such wares as were fitted to the few and simple wants of a Puritan people. While there were no Custom Houses and no records before the latter part of the last century, we have reason to believe that the coasting trade along the shores of New England and Long Island was already active and considerable, though conducted in small craft. It is evidence of Long Island's having COMMERCE, NAVIGATION AND FISHERIES. 6l even tnen shown marked advances toward that commercial development which its natural conditions invited and which the enterprise of its people made necessary, that by an act of Congress in 1788 Sag Harbor was con- stituted a Port of Entry and U. S. Collection District, being named first in the act, which also erected the port of New York. It was then and for some time afterward relatively the more important port of the two. It has continued a port of entry and a collection district ever since, though under- going great variations in the amounts of tonnage registered and business done within its jurisdiction. David Gardiner, of East-Hampton, wrote and pub- lished in the Sag Harbor Corrector about the year 1840, a series of " Chron- icles of the town of East-Hampton," which were afterwards revised, gathered into book form, and printed in New York in 187 1. In this work, on page 71, he says, what the historian Prime had already said in almost the same words, apparently adopting them from the Corrector s print, that "As early as 1 760, when yet the commerce of New York was carried on principally with schooners and sloops, a small trade was had from this port (meaning Sag Harbor) with the West Indies. Col. Gardiner owned two brigs en- gaged in that trade, and there were several sloops employed in the fisheries and coasting business partially owned by the inhabitants of this town. On the conclusion of the war Dr. N. Gardiner and his brother purchased a ship called the Hope and sent her upon a whaling voyage under command of Capt. Ripley, she being the first ship that sailed from Sag Harbor. About the same time they dispatched a brig of the first class upon a like voyage. These voyages were unsuccessful.'' John Gelston, of N. Y. City, a native of Bridge-Hampton, was the first Collector of customs, having been appointed under Washington. He served about a year and was succeeded by Henry P. Dering who held the ofiice for 31 years until 1821, when his son, Henry Thomas Dering, was appointed, and for many years he, too, served in that ofiice to the great satisfaction of all who had to do with it. On page 91 of Gardiner's Chronicles it is recorded that "The princi- pal commercial intercourse was had with Boston, and several sloops were employed in the trade ; among others as early as 1765, the sloop Endeavor, Abraham Schelling master. Cattle, horses, sheep, goats and oil were bar- tered for lumber, the produce of the West India islands, and such articles as merchants deal in." The trade with the Indians which began with the first settlement and continued throughout on a basis of practically uninter- rupted friendship and good will, consisted mainly in an exchange of rum, ammunition and guns for pelts and furs. * The boundary line between the English and Dutch was established at Hartford by commissioners, who fixed it at the westernmost line of Oyster- bay southerly to the sea. From 1640 to 1664, the settlers were virtually their own masters and owned allegiance to no one lower in authority than the British Crown itself. The first individual English settler in this county and State was Lyon Gardiner, on Gardiner's Island, in 1639. The dates *A brief extract from the introduction to the excellent History of New London by Miss Frances Manwaring Caulkins may not be out of place here : "Here lies Connecticut and Long Inland forever looking at each other from their white shores with loving eyes, linked as they are by the ties* of a common origin, c ongen- ial character and similar institutions; and guarding with watchful care that inland sea which, won from the ocean, lies like a noble captive between them, subdued to theii- service and enclosed by their protecting arms-" 62 COMMERCE, NAVIGATION AND FISHERIES. of settlement of the towns were : Southold and Southampton, 1640 : East- Hampton, 1648; Shelter Island, 1652; Huntington, 1653; Brookhaven, 1655; Smithtown, 1663. On Nov. 30, 1664, commissioners appointed by Governor Nichols decided L. I. Sound to be the boundary, and for the first time all Long Island came under English rule. During later years there has been a great expansion of the trade and ton- nage of the county. Larger vessels came into play, and longer voyages became common. The extensive forests of pine and oak that covered the larger part of the county furnished and continue to furnish great quanti- ties of w^ood for fuel or for the dunnage of ships bound on foreign voyages, and its transportation to market gave and still gives employment to many vessels. ' The surplus of farm produce and the products of the whale and other fisheries, with brick and fire clays, sands, gravel and other materials for use or consumption in other places, served to swell the volume of out- going commodities for which the goods and merchandize of the cities and the products of labor or art were exchanged. In 1794 the Sag Harbor Custom House had on its books 472 tons of registered and 473 tons of enrolled and licensed vessels ; in 1800 it had 805 of the former and 1,449 of the latter; in 1805, 1,916 and 2,228; in 1810, 1,185 and 3,223 ; in 181 5, 808 and 2,719 (this decline being caused by the war) ; in 1820, 2,263 ^^^ 3A^^ — a total for the last named year of 5,679 tons From that time on it showed a steady and rapid advance until the Califor- nia exodus, the great fire, and other causes that co-operated to depress the whale fishery, began to cut down its large proportions. In the Great South Bay, that remarkable and noble body of water which forms the chief natural feature of the southern border of the county for its greater length, and at the same time is the main source of subsistence for the people inhabiting its northern shores, the early settlers quickly be- gan to navigate its shallow waters in canoes, flat-bottomed boats and scows, and in later years small sloops and schooners of light draft "were built to ply from place to place or, byway of the inlets from the outer ocean, to make trips to New York and other ports. As early as 1760 to '70 a few sloops traded through the Bay, carrying wood and produce. This trade, feeble as it had been, was closed by the war of the Revolution. It re- vived with renewed vigor and by 1785 there were 12 sloops and pirogues (or canoes) trading on the East Bay. By 1800 the number had increased to 30, among them being the sloop Woodcock built and owned by Hon. John Smith, at that time United States senator, which vessel was burned off" Fire Island in 18 14 by the British sloop-of-war Nimrod. In 1830 there were 50 vessels ranging from 25 to 50 tons engaged in carrying wood and farm produce. Since then, with some fluctuations: the business has devel- oped into great importance, employing many vessels and many persons to man them, though the building of the railroad along the shore of the bay has materially modified this business there, as railway competition has done elsewhere in the county. In 1806 three gun boats were built at Smith's Point, on the East Bay, for use in the Tripolitan war, and went out with Decatur, under whom they were put to good service. In all, 12 of these vessels were built. Many vessels of larger dimensions, from 100 to 400 tons, including some splendid specimens of marine architecture, have been built on the bay shore and launched into its placid waters. From 1825 to i860, one informant states, was the palmy period of this business on that bay. Some of the finest and fleetest vessels, as is claimed, built anywhere COMMERCE, NAVIGATION AND FISHERIES. 63 during that period, were built by Boss Hiram Gerard and afterward by Boss O. Perry Smith at Patchogue, by Post Brothers, at Bellport, and one or two other builders — vessels of 1 50 to 300 tons, owned principally or wholly by Brookhaven or Islip men and employed in regular lines between Savannah, Charleston, Wilmington, Newbern, Richmond and other south- ern ports. Trade was active for most of the time, freights were well sus- tained, and the owners got a fair percentage on their investments. With the introduction of steamers in those lines of coastwise trade the old mode of transportation must needs give way to the new, and the larger and better class of schooners were put into foreign trade. By the partial cessation of demand for that class of vessels, as well as by the death of the old build- ers, the business of ship-building on the Bay has been restricted to the smal- ler craft, cat-rigged and sloop-rigged boats, with a few schooners, which are employed in the oyster or other fisheries. Those that are left in the coast- ing trade are confined to coal or other coarser freights which the steamers do not care to handle, and are paid rates below what they used to get, so that the business is now less profitable. At present the vessels in which South Bay people are owners and which are engaged in foreign trade, are of 400 to 1,000 tons burden, are commanded by experienced men from Brookhaven and Islip towns, and by frugal and careful management pay a moderate profit. On the whole it may be said that both the foreign and the coasting trade as carried on by south side men and vessels is in a fairly prosperous state. These remarks, with the proper changes of names and places, may ap- ply to the north side of Brookhaven, Smithtown and Huntington towns, and also to ports on Peconic and Gardiner's Bays. On Port Jefferson and Conscience Bays, Setauket and Stony Brook harbors, and the waters of Smithtown, Northport bay and harbor, Centreport, Huntington, Lloyd's and Cold Spring harbors, more or less of ship-building and ship-owning grew up with the growth of the communities on their shores, and, especial- ly at the first named place, ran far beyond the proportional development of the village itself A number of conscientious, careful and skillful builders, taking a just pride in the work of their hands and laudably ambitious to excel in their chosen art, turned out of their small and poorly equipped yards some of the handsomest, swiftest and best constructed vessels of their class ever put afloat — vessels that gave renown to American ship-building and that made the name of Brookhaven (by which general term, in the absence of any separate port from which to hail, they were designated on the marine papers), known throughout the maritime world. A race of bold, active, hardy, energetic and intelligent seamen and masters grew up to man and to command these vessels, and they brought to their quiet homes on the wooded slopes or amid the grassy vallies of the beautiful North Side, tro- phies of peaceful conquest over the forces of nature or the combined power of time and space. To all the main marts of trade on all sea coasts they resorted, and from the least accessible and most distant markets they wrested something of the gain which is the soul of commercial activity. Time would fail me to speak in detail of the several places at which this industry of building and owning vessels to engage in fishing, in coasting, or in foreign trade, has been prosecuted by the enterprising descendants of those stout hearted and brawny-limbed settlers from the Suffolk of Old England which looked out upon the restless North Sea. At Sag Harbor, a Stirling and at Green. Hill (afterwards Greenpoift), at East Marion an4 64 COMMERCE, NAVIGATION AND FISHERIES. Orient, at the places previously named on both the north and south side of the county, many thousands of tons of shipping, comprising the smallest class of boats and yachts and rising to the majesty of one " big ship" that never floated, but actually including a ship of over 2,000 tons, have been added to the mercantile marine of our country. In the construction of these vessels large quantities of Long Island grown oak, chestnut and lo- cust timber have been used. There are now on the books of the Survey- or's office at Greenport 235 steam and sailing vessels aggregating 15,268.- 82 tons engaged in actual and active commerce ; at Sag Harbor 20 vessels with an aggregate tonnage of 1,063.44 ; at Patchogue there has been a steady increase from 57 vessels and 934 tons in 1875 to 203 vessels and 2,611.53 tons in 1883 ; at Port Jeff"erson there are 114 vessels and 14,858 tons; at Cold Spring 99 vessels and 4,574.82 tons. This makes an aggregate of 671 vessels and 39,376.61 tons of shipping owned mostly in this county and engaged actively in commerce or the fisheries, manned by several thousands of Suffolk County's hardy seamen. The number of these seafaring men who are residents of our county is not definitely known, but I estimate it to be close upon 3,000, or about one-third of the active male inhabitants. A few words ought to be given to the specific matter of aids to navi- gation through the waters in and about this county. It was not till near the close of the last century that the general government, to which the con- stitution entrusts exclusive jurisdiction over the coastwise commerce and navigation of the country, began to provide light-houses, beacons and buoys for lighting and marking the coasts and channels of the waters of this county. Previously, for over a hundred years from the first settle- ment, the daring and adventurous men who went down to the sea on ships from our ports made their voyages without any of these aids to navigation. Long Island Sound, not less than the northern seaboard and the eastern bays, lay in darkness and in uncharted obscurity so far as can now be learned. Mariners upon its broad bosom had to steer their courses and note their distances unhelped by any other resources than their own quick eye and ready memory. Many year later, when much had been done in the direction of supplying this need, Daniel Webster remarked in substance that L. I. Sound ought to be lighted as brilliantly as a ball room. This was said in view of the large growth to which its commerce had then at- tained, long before Hell Gate improvements had been begun. Could he have lived to see the immense expansion which has gone on since that day and to note how vast the tide of tonnage that constantly flows up and down this noble arm of the sea, how much more of emphasis and weight might not have been added to his notable saying. The federal government has from time to time expended considerable sums in providing light-houses and light-vessels for points of prominent exposure on or off" the coasts of Long Island, and it has been liberal in placing buoys to mark the channels of its bays, and creeks, but there are other places that still need attention, and the necessity of one or more harbors of refuge on the long stretch of coast be- tween Orient Point and Port Jefferson Bay grows yearly greater. It has done an excellent work in improving the entrance to the last named bay and it is now building a breakwater to preserve part of the harbor at Greenport. Other points present claims to like improvements — claims which sooner or later will be heeded. The first light-house within the limits of the county was at Montauk, lighted for the COMMERCE, NAVIGATION AND FISHERIES. 6$ first time in 1795 ; the latest is one in Cold Spring Harbor not yet com- pleted, and a light-ship is to be placed on Cerberus Shoal off Gardiner's Island. Long Island forms part of the Third Light-House District, which extends from Gooseberry Point, Mass., to include Squan Inlet, New Jersey, with its headquarters at I ompkinsville, Staten Island. The following is a list of light-houses, 14 in number, now in actual operation within this county, made up in the order of their establishment. I have the list here, but omit its reading ; it will be found in a footnote.* I come now to the Fisheries of Suffolk County. References made in the previous pages pyint out the facts that the early setrlers were from a section of England largely engaged in fishing, and that they were attracted to this island by the facilities it offered for commerce and for fishing. To their experienced eyes it was as evident then as it is to their descendants now, that a large, a wholesome, and a nutritious part of their subsistence might be obtained from the waters that enclose and interlace the land in loving embrace. Swimming and shell fish abounded and were easily taken in quantities to supply their wants. Should other resources fail, should nature frown upon their agriculture and the earth refuse its fruits, should the wild game desert its haunts and the untended flocks of the air omit to make thetr annual migrations, they yet had a sure reliance in the teeming storehouse that always lay open to their industry. With hooks and rude nets they came provided, and beds of fat oysters and succulent clams, of meaty mussels and prodigious periwinkles, spread invidngly before them. No fear of famine need oppress their thoughts as with busy axes they at- tacked the wilderness and let in the sunlight upon their little clearings. The advantages afforded by. the nearness of water to all parts of the eastern section of the county were appreciated as soon as seen, and account for its priority of sstdement. The same advantage led originally to the settlement and cultivation of the lands along the north and south sides of the county, *LIGHT-HOUSES AND I.IGHT-VESSELS IN SUFFOLK COUNTY WATERS. Remarks. Daboll's Trumpet. Steam siren ; south side of entrance to L. I. Sound. North of Setauket. East side of Fire Island Inlet. Bell; entrance to Sag Harbor. " Fisher's Island Sound. North point of (iardiner's Island. Huntington Bay; S. E. point of Llofd's Neck. Horton's Point, north of Southold vil- lage. Pondquogue Point. Entrance irom Gardiner's Bay to Onent and Greenport harbors and Peconic Bay; bell. Middle Ground, L. I. Sound, trumpet and bell. Off Fisher's Island Point, to mark north side of entrance to L. I. Sound. Bell, west end of Plum Island to mark enterance to Plum Gut, Cold Spring Harbor — not yet built. Cerberus Shoal — light- ship to be placed thereon. Name. Montauk Eaton's Neck Little Gull Island First Lighted. 179s 1798 1806 Old Field Pomt Fire Island Cedar Island North Dumpling Gardiner's Island Lloyd's Harbor 1823 1826 1839 1848 1855 1857 Horton's Point 1857 Shinnecock Long Beach Bar 1857 1871 Stratford Shoal 1877 Race Rock 1878 Plum Island 1827 66 COMMERCE, NAVIGATION AND FISHERIES. to the comparative neglect of the central portions, though much of the lat- ter is arable and sufficiently fertile. It is of course known to all that the bulk of the population of the towns of Brookhaven, Smithtown, and Hunt- ington on the north, and Babylon, Islip and Brookhaven on the south, in- habit the regions lying within a few miles from the shores respectively of the Sound and Bay, while large tracts in the middle section are still given up to pine forests or scrub-oak plains. This peculiarity of the topographi- cal distribution of Suffolk County's population may be attributed, primarily, to the fact that its early settlers were fishermen and were naturallv drawn to the water side in preference to the interior. That they began the catching of fish for their own tables as soon as they landed may be said to be past doubt. While for many years no records exist to show what progress was made in this indus- try, it is reasonably certain that from the first they took out of the waters by their doors not only enough of food for present needs but also quant tics to be salted, smoked or dried for winter use. This would be likely enough in the nature of things, but its probability is increased toward certainty when we find from the records that with the first year of their settlement the Southampton people commenced the pursuit of whales in boats from the shore. How great a degree of hardihood and courage, of pluck and per- sistence, was needed to prosecute this conquest of Leviathan, \vith such rough boats or canoes and such inadequate gear as was then at hand, bold- ly chasing him out to sea, striking him with their rude harpoons and lances, holding tenaciously to their warps as he dragged them over the boiling surges for miles on miles, watching warily his death flurries, and then toil- somely towing his huge bulk to the shore, only those can estimate who, as I have done, have seen this mightiest game which any nimrod of land or sea pursues, stretched upon the sand and rolling grandly in the surf. As early as 1644 the male inhabitants of that town were divided into four squadrons, each having a ward or division of the beach to watch. Starbuck, the author of the only complete and comprehensive History df the American Whale Fishery, in a private note to liiyself, says : "I. look upon the set- tlers of Southampton and vicinity as among the first, if not the first, in our country, to pursue the art of whaling as an organized industry, as will ap- pear in my own work — pp. 9, 10, 11, etc. He there records this fact, con- clusive of'both the antiquity and the importance of the business, that " In 1672 the towns of Southampton, East-Hampton, and Southold presented a memorial to the court at Whitehall, in which, as the ground for an appeal from Dutch oppression, they set forth that they have spent much lime and pains, and the greater part of their estates, in settling the trade of whale fishing in the adjacent seas, having endeavored it above these 20 years but could not bring it to any perfection till within these 2 or 3 years last past. " This shows that prior to 1652 the whale fishery along the south shore of the Island had become a settled and a diligently prosecuted industry. Mr. Egbert T. Smith informs me that in 1700 Martha Tunstall Smith, wife of his ancestor Gol. Smith, owned a whaling station at Smith's Point, manned by a crew of Indians who on an average killed 20 whales of a winter, and sent their oil and bone to England. In 1850 he himself established a sta- tion at which the crew had good success. In 1703, Lord Cornbury. Gov ernor of the Province, moved thereto by the fact that no whale oil was sent to New York from eastern Long Island, whence, as he says, "the greater quantity" of it then came, wrote to the Lords of Trade in England COMMEPCE, NAVIGATION AND FISHERIES. d*] complaining that Connecticut fills the island with European goods cheaper than New York can, and that the people here, being full of New England principles, would rather trade with Boston, Rhode Island and Connecticut than with New York. " In another letter he says that in 1 707 Long Island made 4,000 barrels of train oil, adding that " about the middle of October they began to look out for fish ; the season lasts all November, Decem- ber, January, February and a part of March ; a yearling will make about 40 barrels of oil, a stunt qr whale will make sometimes 50, sometimes 60 barrels of oil, and the largest whale that I heard of in these parts yielded 1 10 barrels of oil and i, 200 weight of bone. " In 1678 a Boston merchant, named xMfred, had permission from the Dutch authorities to clear a vessel from Southampton direct for England with oil bought at that place. I cite these scattered facts in illustration of the extent and value to which the whale fishing in boats from the shore had grown in the first century after the settlement, not only because of their intrinsic interest, but because they are attested by undoubted records and may be accepted without hesitation. From them, in the absence of definite proof, it may safely be inferred that men who could with such rare skill and success prosecute the highest branch of fishing, would be equally skillful and successful in pursuit of the lesser fisheries. Beside the moss bunker or bony fish, which, then as now, came in countless numbers, and, while very palatable as food, were, then as now, overshadowed by the superior toothsomeness of other species and were thrown aside when caught or used merely as manure, the better sorts of fish most common in these waters were the sea and striped bass, black fish, cod, chequet, eels, flounders, flat-fish, frost fish, mackerel, perch, 'porgies, shad, sheepshead, tom-cod, etc., while of shell fish the most abundant and important were oysters, clams, crabs, lobsters, escalops, mussels and winkles. When the taking of these various swimming and shell fish in quantities beyond the needs of the local markets, and the sending them across the sound or to New York for sale, began to be a regular branch of trade, it is not possible to say, but it is probable that it did not become a business of much magnitude till long after the Revolution. Smacks, or vessels provided with wells in which to carry live fish, or with apartments for preserving them in ice, were not built till after the present century began. Neither were the modes of fishing at an earlier date such as to admit of keeping the fish any great length of time. They were caught with hook and fine, with seines, or with gill nets, and were dead when brought to land. As late as 1825 or '30, it is stated thar there was no demand in N. Y. market for dead fish. Using ice in which to box and ship dead fish is a modern invention and has grown up mostly within the past 20 or 25 years ; it was perhaps suggested and made possible by the putting on of steam packets, with the old propell- er Albany as one of the pioneers, to ply between our eastern bays and New York, and was promoted by the flicilities afforded to fishermen by the L. I. R. R. Co., which has derived and does still derive a large revenue from the transportation of boxed fish — how large, I could not ascertain. The earliest knowledge I have had of building fishing smacks in the county goes back to about 1810, when, and during succeeding years, several were built at Rocky Point (now East Marion), a few miles east of Stirling (as Green- port was then called), by Boss Jerry Brown, whose old shipyard was where 68 COMMERCE, NAVIGATION AND FISHERIES. the elegant country seat of Thomas A. Howell, Esq. , now is.* In 1818, as I have from the pen of a venerable friend, Mr. William O. Winters, of Brooklyn, formerly of East Marion, and long- engaged in the business, there were 11 smacks belonging at Rocky Point, Orient and Stirling, but hailing from ^ag Harbor. As an item of local it not general interest I mention their names and the names of their Masters. These were : — the Rover, Capt. Robert Clark^; the Independence, Capt. Warren Griffin ; the Fame, Capt. Jamts Beebe ; the Comet, Capt. William Roberts ; the Rose, Capt. Warren Youngs; the Charlotte, Capt. James Gri fling ; the Jane, C.ipt. NoahRack- ett ; the Wasp, Capt. S. Rackett ; the Java, Capt. Gilson Vail; the Echo, Capt. E. Beebe ; the Dolphin, Capt. Daniel Harris. They were not clink- er built, as were the smacks first built at Mystic, Ct. , which were soon con- demned because of their tendency to leak, but were deep keel boats, with bluflf bows ; the lines of their models were not so sharp and graceful as those built now, but they were strongly put together and were excellent sea-boats, riding like ducks over the highest waves and sometimes safely encountering the fury of the severest storms in which larger craft went to the bottom or were helplessly disabled by the violence ol the sea. They ranged in size firom 15 to 22 tons, were sloop-rigged and had wells in which * After the foregoing had been written and this paper completed, I received from another venerable friend, Capt. John A.. Rackett, of Orient, in answer to an application a letter giv- ing some fresh informatioil and going a few years further back in point of time. The let- ter is of so readable a character that it has been thought proper to print it in full, as follows; Orient, January 16, 1884. Hon. Henry A. Reeves — Dear Sir: After an exhaustive investigation, from such dates as jve have, we find that in 1795 there were a number of men from the village oj Oysterpcnds (now Orient) engaged in the cod-fishery at the Straits of Bellisle on the coast of New Foundland. A few years afterward, so 1800, some of the young men of our own and the adjacent village of Rocky Point (now East Marion) were employed as fi=hermen in "well smacks" owned at New London and Mystic. A little anterior to the last date a nu.nber of families emigrated from the places last named to Rocky Point, 'they were directly or indirectly engaged in smack-fishing be- fore leaving those Connecticut towns. Induced doubtless by their description of the business as well as a desire to share in its profits, a number of young men from Oysterponds, Rocky Point and Sterling engaged in the business in smacks owned at New London and Mystic, some as fishermen, others as marketmen. Among the new comers was Capt. Amos Ryan, who settled at Rocky Point and built the house now occupied by Capt. Maxon Tuthill. The name of his smack we have not been able to ascertain. Capt. Ryan was an active, energet- ic man. On his way to Charleston, on one occasion, he fell in with an abandoned ship near the western edge of the gulf stream. With his small craft he succeeded in towing the ship to Charleston bar, where he had to anchor her, the wind preventing his getting her into harbor. During the night an easterly gale, came up and forced the ship ashore. Next morning the beach was strewn with cases and bales of dry goods. It seems hard that with a fortune so near his reach he was not permitted to enjoy it. Next we find the smack Patriot, Capt. Elisha Rackett. The transfer papers of this vessel are in our possession. They bear the date 1813. Whether or not this was the first smack built in our town we have not been able definitely to determine. The next was the Jupiter, Capt. Eliphelet Beebe. She was burned by the British in the war of 1812-14, and her remains lie embedded in the sand not far from the Long Beach phosphate works. The next, the Little Jay, was commanded by Capt. Henry iJeebe, ot Sterling. The fifth was the Jefferson, Capt. Grant B. Rackett. The sixth, aud last we have been able to find out about, is the Sylph, Capt. Barzellius Beebe. The above we believe to have been the pioneers of the smack-fishing industry in 1 le three villages or hamlets of Oysterponds, Rocky Point and Sterling. The names of the smacks immediately Succeeding those named above, we believe yi'U have. The ilate ol the commenc:ement of building and navigating the fishing smacks by the people of this town, we bdievetohave been about 1800. Respectfully yours, JOHN A. RACKETT. COMMERCE, NAVIGATION AND FISHERIES. 69 over 1,000 average codfish could be kept. About 1820 Boss Brown built three others, viz : the Mary, Capt. Moses Griffin ; the Emeline, Capt. Gamaliel King ; the Mars, Capt. Sylvester Rackett. After 1825, within a few years, 10 or 15 other smacks were built, and new fishing grounds ex- tending from Florida to New Foundland were occupied, while several new varieties offish were found. From 1836 to 1840 a larger size of smacks began to be built, and some were rigged as schooners. The first smacks' crews consisted, beside the masters, of two and sometimes three men and a boy who acted as cook. They started about the middle of March for cod- fish, cruising off" Montauk, Block Island and No Man's Land. An aver- age catch would be 800 to 1,000 fish, taken with the hook from the vessels deck. They carried their cargo to the old Fly Market in Burling Slip, N. Y. , where fish were retailed by a man assigned to each smack and receiving an average share with the crew ; the vessel paid 2-5ths of the expense and took 2-5ths of the proceeds, and the remainder was divided among the crew equally. About May i they began fishing for mackerel at Sandy Hook, using trolling lines, each man looking alter two lines — a slow mode of taking this nimble fish. About the middle of June they went to their for- mer ground and also to Vineyard Sound for sea bass. This was kept up' till Oct. 1st, when, on the same grounds, they resumed codfishing until December or January. A fair catch of sea bass would be from 1,500 to 1,800. For this fish a new ground was discovered about 1823, off the Capes of the Delaware, where fish were plenty but small, seldom exceeding a pound in weight, and in 2 or 2.]/^ days they would catch from 2,000 to 2,300. The season there lasted from May to August. On June 4,. 1825, in violent storm, two smacks were lost with all on board, viz ; the Fame, Capt. James Beebe with his son Stafford and Joseph and Benjamii' Griffin, brothers ; and the Emeline, Capt. Daniel Griffin, his brother David, Joel King and Horace Clark. These are names that occur to-day in the business of smack fishing from East jNIarion, which has long been and now is more distinctivel\- a community of fishermen than any oth- er in the county or p^^rhaps the State. At the present time there are hail- ing from the port of (ireenport, which includes East Marion and Orient, 21 schooner and 4 sloop smacks, of an aggregate tonnage of 937.36 tons ; same of them areas handsome craft, with as fine lines, shapely models, clean run, and complete outfit of rigging, sails and all needed equipments, as it they had been designed for pleasure yachts. In those little smacks of 15 or 18 tons, with no chronometer clock, no binocular glass, no marine in- strument other than a compass and a quadrant, and with no further aid to safety than the imperfect charts of those days, four or five bold, self-reliant mariners bravely threw themselves upon the broad ocean and made trips as tar south as Charleston, Savannah, or even Key West ; sometimes passing months in fishing in those waters and finding markets for their catch in the cit'es named, and going and returning not by any inside canal route but out on the open sea, past the stormy Hatteras and down the inhospitable beaches of the Carolinas. Taking in about $150 worth of provisions in N. Y. , with 5 gallons of rum at a shilling a quart to last the cruise, thev made harbors if occasion required but if caught in a gale would lay to under a trysail and ride it out like a petrel of the storm, when a frigate might have foundered. When fishing they were in 12 to 20 fathom water, and when loaded with bass would run into port; in this business they would occupy 6 to 9 months, generally from October to July, but sometimes 70 COMMERCE, KAVIGATION AND FISHERIES. would go down to Jacksonville to get sheepshead for Charleston or to Key West to get groupers for Cuba. One of the first smacks built, the Venus, Capt. Simeon Price, with a crew of four foundered in Charleston Harbor, inside of Sullivan's Island, and was never seen afterwards. Blue-fish, now so prominent as a food fish, were not much thought of till about 1852. [In the course of the inquiry before the U. S. Senate Committee investigating the causes of the alleged scarcity of food fishes, in 1882, Samuel H. Wilier, a Brooklyn dealer in fish for 49 years, testified that he could remember when 2,000 pounds of blue-fish could not be sold in New York in one day, at 2 cents per pound ; and Caleb Hale}', a veteran fish dealer in Fulton Market, testified that it was only within ten years pre- vious to that date that blue-fish had become a desirable market fish. Striped bass were abundant along the south shore ; immense hauls, sometimes amounting to many wagon loads, were taken in seins and often sold for 2 or 3 cents per pound ; they ranged in weight from I to 80 pounds, and tradition tells of one one-hundred pounder. * Sometimes better prices prevailed and good profits rewarded the fishermen's labors. At and near Smith's Point, for the use of the shore to low water mark as a landing place for the use of their nets, bass fishermen have paid the owner as high as $500 in a year. The privilege at that place is still paid for. In early times there were three inlets into Great South Bay east oi Patchogue, the last one of which did not close till 1820. In consequence the water was salt and all the better sorts of fish abounded, as did oysters and clams. The fisheries were productive and valuable ; the\- were held under the Smith patent and the patent to Brdokhaven town — the latter in its agreement with William Smith assuming a penal obligation of $20,000 to duly attend to the fisheries. About the years 1S25 to 1840 bass fishing in the bajs and ocean was extensively carried on during the Fall and \Mnter. Large quantities were convened to New York m wagons. It is estimated that the quantity sold would net at least $5,000 yearly, though at times the price was only lor ijj cents per pound. Eels were also plenty and many thousands of dollars' worth were annually sold : eeling is still a large in- dustrv, though less than at that time. Sheepshead were sometimes abun- dant, but were not the high-priced luxury they have since become. In 1828. the East Bay being full of bass, there came on a hard storm early in the winter and drove all the bass into Quantuck Bay, a body of water cov- ering some 200 acres. During that winter, by a count kept by a resident of Quogue, 75,000 bass were taken out of that bay, all the barns and out- houses "being filled with them through the winter. When gray-beards of 50 or 60 years were boys, eels were so numerous that, even at 7 or 8 cents per dozen, any industrious m^n could earn $100 with his spear in a winter. Of recent years large quantities of perch have been taken in the East Bay, and in the winter of 1 882 over $10,000 worth was sold. Crabs in the same bay have also become an important item, as many as 200 barrels hav- ing been shipped in a day from one station. Within a few years the taking of codfish in the ocean from Quogue to Moriches has grown to large proportions, about 150 men being engaged last winter and from West-Hampton depot 285,000 pounds of cod were ♦Subsequent to this writing the largest cod fish on record — a fish weighing over 100 pounds, whose dressetl weight was S9 pounds — was caught in the ocean off Montauk by N. Doniiny's company of East-H;unpton fishermen. COMMERCE, NAVIGATION AND FISHERIES. 71 sent by rail, besides large quantities from Quogue and other stations. Of the oyster fishery in the Great South Bay and the bays on the north side of the county, I sliall not attempt to speak in any detail. The facts are too many and the ideas they suggest are too extensive, to be compressed into such an article as this. Its growth, its present extent, and its prospective greatness are all themes that might occupy attention for hours. Enough to say that several hundreds of boats, thousands of persons, and large amounts of capital are engaged in its prosecution, and in the South and East Bays alone it has been computed that the value of the boats, scows, and apparatus used in the fishery is fully half a million dollars, 'while the number of families supported wholly or in part from this source is from 900 to 1,000, besides 200 to 300 unmarried men earning wages. Its yearly products count up into the hundreds of thousands of bushels. The taking of clams for the market from Peconic and Shinnecock bays, and in the waters of the north shore, especially Smithtown harbor, has grown to be a large business, but does not date back much, if any, further than 40 or 50 years ago. The Connecticut markets have long been supplied from the east end and the bays along the north side have sent quantities of both the long and round varieties to New York. Escalops are of still later introduction as an item of commercial fish- ing- — comparatively fe>/ being taken 15 years ago. Of recent winters large quantities have been taken by boats from New Suffolk, Greenport and other places on Peconic Bay, and to a lesser extent in Northport and Hunting- ton Bays. Lobsters were found many years ago near the rocks along the north shore of Southold town, and at Montauk ; also near Plum Gull and Fisher's Ishmd and in some years considerable quantities have been caught at thosj places. The fishey that might have the greatest popular attractiveness for the romance and picturesqueness attaching to many of its incidents; for the striking illustrations of personal heroism it developed; for the extent to which it was carried and the wide .scope of its operation, covering the acces- sible waters of every ocean; for the number of persons and amount of capi- tal engaged and the values of its products; and for the general prominence before the country and before the world which it gave to Long Island mariners, vessels and ports, is now extinct within our county, where once it flourished to a degree not easily appreciated at this remove of time. Of course I refer now to the whale fishery as it was carried on at Sag Harbor, Greenport, New Suffolk, Jamesport and Cold Spring. I have here a mass of notes and memoranda relating to this fishery, drawn from all the sources to which I could gain access, including every historical document or works available to my examination, and many traditionary and individual remi- niscences, with espe,ial stress to be laid on a manuscript sketch of the whaling business at the ])ort of S.ig Harbor prepared by the late Luther D. Cook, of that place, and most kindly placed at my service by his son, Ben- jamin A. Cook, of New York, and which I have found a storehouse replete with recitals of the utmost interest to aJl descendants of the whalemen whose voyages formed so larg:i a part in the past prosperity of my native village. But, with great reluctance, I am constrained to lay them all aside as their reading would tax too severely your patience, perhaps already wearied with this necessaily discursive and ill-digested paper. I will, how-ever, detain you a moment longer on this head to group a few prominent facts in illustration of the magnitude and value of this 72 COMMERCE, NAVIGATION AND FISHERIES. now vanished trade. Starting in 1790 with one brig of 150 tons, it grew slowly 'till 1820, when six vessels brought to port 531 barrels of sperm and 7,850 barrels of whale oil. In the 30 years from 1820, to 1850, for which period Mr. Cook has full records of arrivals at the port of Sag Harbor, with their car- goes, the aggregates are 490 vessels bringing in 83,101 1-2 barrels of sperm and 812,595 1-2 barrels of whale oil and 6,728,809 pounds of whale- bone, worth at very low average prices nearly 115,000,000. In 1847 there were 32 arrivals, bringing 3,919 barrels of sperm and 63,712 barrels of whale oil and 605,340 pounds of whalebone, worth, Mr. Cook says, at then current rates, $996,413. In that year Sag Harbor owned 63 whale ships, with an aggregate of 22,233 tons. The whaling business at that port was then at its highest level, and from that year may be dated the be- ginning of its decline. I must ask your attention for but a short time longer to what is now the most important fishery interest in our county — an interest that has grown up with the life time of one generation, and yet overtops all other interests of the sort within this State, except, perhaps, the oyster fishery. When first our ancestors began to utilize that branch of the herring family which is now known as the menhaden by using them to fertilize their fields, cannot be precisely stated. The earliest mention, so far as I have learned, is in Spofford's Gazetteer, where it is stated that about the year 1797 a seine at Town Harbor, Southold, drew to land at one haul 250,000 moss bunk- ers. The knowledge of this fact was derived by the compiler of the Ga- zetteer from a paper entitled " Observations on Manures" read in 1795 before the Society (State) for the Promotion of Agriculture by Hon. Ezra L'Hom- medieu, of Southold village, one of the foremost men in the long period of his active career and one of the brightest intellects to which Southold Town ever gave birth. In this paper he says: "This year I saw 250,000 taken at one draught, which must have been much more than 100 tons;" and he adds: " One seine near me caught more than one million the last sea- son, which season lasts about one m'onth."' As this paper was read in March, before menhaden ordinarily visit these waters, it is fair to presume that the paper was prepared during the previous Fall or Winter, and that the words " this year" must have referred to the season of 1794. How much earlier than this latter date the industry of taking menhaden for ma- nure had become established as an important adjunct to the agriculture of the eastern towns, it is impossible to say, but doubtless it had been prose- cuted more or less for forty or fifty years — perhaps longer. [See note B, page 77. Both in Peconic Bay and Long Island Sound, and on the ocean shore in the Hamptons, seines were used from an early period in the history of the eastern towns to take bunkers for manure. Regular organizations were formed, seines and boats adapted to the work were procured, and fish houses for storage and for dwelling, were put up at suitable points on the bay or beach shores, and for several weeks of the Spring and Fall the crews made a business of fishing whenever the weather served and fish were to be seen — the catch being shared among themselves and the owners of the outfit. This practice, while superseded or mainly forced to give way by later improved methods, is still maintained to some limited extent, at a few points. But the use of Menhaden as a material for the manufacture of oil for COMMERCE, NAVIGATION AND FISHERIES. 73 tanning and dressing leather, for rope making, for painting, and foi" various other uses, while it was known that those fish contained oil and the process of extracting it had been actually applied many years before in some scattered and inconsequential way, may be said to be not yet forty years old. The late Judge Osborn, of Jessup's Neck, on Peconic Bay, w-as the first to put up try works for rendering menhaden by boiling the fish in water in large iron pots set in masonry, and skmiming off the oil that rose to the surface. Those pot works, as such estiblishments were called, were put up in a lot near his house and not tar from the shore, where the fish could be conveniently landed from the seine and carted to the works. This was in the year 1847 or 1848. The oil made in this way was heavy, black and rank, and was used, by the Judge, for coarse painting and other purposes on his [)remises, and some small amounts were sold to other parties. Some years later he put up steam works on Jessup's Point. On July 4, 1850, thirty-three years ago, the first steam factory in Suffolk County, for making oil and guano from menhaden, was begun at Chequet Point, Shelter Island, directly opposite Greenport, by Daniel D. Wells and his oldest son lienry E. Wells, both then residents of Greenport, the former since deceased, the latter yet living and one of its foremost citizens, from whose lips I have received entertainnig information concerning this pioneer undertaking which led the w^ay for the great enterprise that now lifts itself into the fore-front of the nation's marine activities. They had visited and inspected the works of Judge Osborn, and benig acute practical observers and shrewd men of business, they had noted its possibilities and needs. They procured a steam boiler, which not proving powerful enough was exchanged for a larger and that again for a still larger. The fish were procured from shore seines at Orient and East Marion. The Yaphank seine, in the latter harbor, on one occasion enclosed a vast school of fish and 1,000.000 were landed from it; an equally large haul was made by a seine in the upper bay; and 1 believe that on Short Beach a seine once landed nearly or quite i 1-4 millions of fish. Usually at first thev had some two million fish in a season, afterwards three millions, and within a few years the supply largely increased. The very first year of the business they dried some of the scrap or refuse, as an experiment, on a small plat- form, and then ground it in a large cofiee mill — this being the first dried and ground scrap ever exhibited. After continuing in the business for two years at Chequet Point they bought land at White iiill, a little ways west of Prospect, Shelter Island, and moved the factory there in the spring of 1853, but before the work of rebuilding had been completed they sold the estab- lishment to Colonel Morgan, of Poquannock, near Groton, Conn., where it was removed and erected, being the first factory of the sort in that State. The same flill they built anotht.T factory at White Hill, in connection with Harmon and Maxon Tuthill and the latter's brother-in-law, Mr. Strong, all of East Marion. They bought their first purse-net of Capt. Benj. Tallman, of Portsmouth, R. I., who originated this mode of catch- ing menhaden in deep water — an invention, not patented, but which has been relatively of as great utility to this fishery as Whitney's invention was to the production of cotton. The first purse-net used in Peconic Bay was bought a year or two previous by Capt. David Smith and others. The Wellses bought out the Tuthills' and Strongs' interest, and from 1854 till now the business has been conducted under the same firm name of D. D. Wells & Sons. At one time they had one seine fishir^g in Orient Harbor 74 COMMERCE, KAVlGAtlON AND FISHERIES. and two' purse-net gangs fishing in the bays; afterwards a third. At first cat-rigged boats were used both for the seines and for carryaways to convey the fish to the factory; sloop yachts, after handsome and finely equipped . vessels costing several thousand dollars, were introduced about 1868, and being built chiefly for speed, they made, until steam supplanted them a few years ago, a most picturesque as well as novel feature of a busin -ss strictly utilitarian — perhaps the only business which ever did or fairly could warrant the employment of vessels fitted by model, rig, finish, and sailing qualities to rank with pleasure yachts. In 1870 a small steamer designed for towing the carry-away boats — in which manhaden are carried from the place where a haul or "set" of the purse-net may he made to the factories — about the Bays, with a view to saving time in delivery of the fish, was built at the ship- yard of Boss Oliver H. Bishop in Greenport; but she -was not adapted to the work in all respects, and did not develop spoed enough to make her profitably serviceable, and so after full trial she was sold to the Greenport and Shelter Island Ferry Company to be converted to its use as a ferry boat between the two places. In 1872 Messrs. Wells & Co. had built for their Maine factory the steamer Vvm. A. Wells, modeled, constructed and engined with special referenc(; to the business of following menhaden into deep water off" the coast of Maine, towing or following the purse-boats to the fish, hoisting their catch by steam scoops into the hold, and after steam- ing back to the factory discharging them in the same way into cars that carry them on inclined railways to the rendering tanks. In the following year the Ranger Oil Co. , of Greenport, of w^hich Thomas F. Price was (and is) managing agent, built at South Bristol, Maine, the steamer E. F. Price, for Cap. Elijah Tallman, of Rhode Island, who has remained in the service of the same company ever since, and is now ''commodore" of its flejt; this was the first menhaden steamer actually employed in fishing on Peconic and Gardiner's Bays. The first steamer ever built for this fishery was the Seven Brothers, built, and I believe still owned, bv the enterprising firm of Church Bros., of Tiverton, Rhode Island. Hawkins Bros., of Jamespcjrt. in 1874, brought their first steamer into the Bav. Wells & Sons, after carrying on the business at White Hill- for nearl\- 20 years, with varying fortune but with a preponderance on the right side of the account, were led by the growing opposition of their new neighbors at Prospect to pull up stakes in 1871 and remove to North West, in East- Hampton town, where they now have their factory in active operation, its cash products for the past .season exceeding $53,000. Their largest sea- son's catch was in 1879, ^^hen 18,000,000 fish, caught by two gangs and averaging 4 gallons of oil to the thousand fish, were rendered. On another year, from 6,200,000 fish they made 62,000 gallons, or a full average of 10 gallons to the thousand. That year, from one particular boat load of fish, which was kept separate and accurately measured, an average yield of 24 gallons to the thousand was got. The fattest fish and largest yield of oil ever known, is reported from Shinnecock Bayf where some menhaden that had been shut up in brackish water grew to such size and fatness that they yielded at the rate of 48 gallons to the thousand. Wells & Co. , a firm with D. D. and H. E.Wells holdingone-third interest were the first to build a steam factory in the State of Maine, having put up one at South Bristol in 1864, two years before any others in that State. Five years later they removed to Virginia, at Farmer's Creek, it being also the first factory in that State; not succeeding there they removed 't back to COMMERCE, NAVIGATION AND FISHERIES. ^5 the same place in Maine, where they still own it but it is not now in opera- tion, the tish having deserted that coast for four years past, until late in the present season. Capt. B. C. Cartwright, of Shelter Island, one of the veterans of this fishery, began with a steam factory at Ram Head in i860, and in 1872 removed it to Bunker City, where be now carries it on success- fully. I have not time to enumerate the various factories and pot works that have been started on Shelter Island and descril)e their several vicissi- tudes. Of the 15 or 16 that have had longer or shorter careers on that island, only that of Capt. Cartwright, known as the Peconic Oil Co., and of Hawkins Bros., near the same place, remain. On Gardiner's and Pe- conic Bays, beside 8 or 10 now closed or dismantled, there ^re 12 factories in active operation, viz: at Promised Land, Abbe & Co., George F. Tuthill & Co., Di.\on, Jonas Smith, T. F. Price & Co., Elsworth Tuthill & Co., O. H. Bishop and the pot works of Wilham M. Tuthill & Sons; at North West, D. D. Wells & Sons and Sterling Oil Co. ; at Bunker City, Peconic Oil Co. and Hawkins Bros. ; at Long Beach, Orient, the Atlantic & Virginia Fertilizer Co. During the season just about to close, these factories empioyed 7 double and 20 single gang steamers costing ■ $10,000 to $25,000 each and averaging 29 men for the former and 16 for the latter, or a total of 528 men on the steamers, beside 6 sailing gangs averaging 13 men, or 78 in all, while the factorits employ an everage uf 30 men, ur 360 in all, making an aggregate of nearly 1,000 men employed m this industry on the two bays. A careful approximate estimate of the past season's catch, by which is meant the fish brought and rendered at the factories on those bays is 145,000,000, ot which about 134,000,000 were taken in steamers, averaging something over 5,000,000 to a steamer; while the sailing gangs have averaged about 2,000,000. Wells & Co., have made 894 barrels of oil and 1,100 tons of scrap, and have consumed about $5,000 worth or 1,000 tons of coal. The carrying of coal and salt to the factories and taking oil and scrap from them to market, makes freight lor many vessels. In 1880 the total value of products of the menhaden fishery in the State of New York, as tabulated for the U. S. Census of that year, was $1, 114, 158, of which all but the products of lour factories on Barren Island, one of them owned by Hawkins Bro.s., of Jamesport, and all of them mainly or wholly supplied with fish by fishermen from this county, was a result of the combination of capital, labor and skill by residents ot Suffolk County in a manufacture of which the raw. material had no value until taken out of the teeming sea and applied to the uses of mankind. Certainly, than this no branch ot human industry could be more intrinsically worthy of commendation and encour- agement. Mr. Louis C. d'Homergue, Secretary of the U. S. Menhaden Oil and Guano Association, which was organized in January 1874, was the first to make a business ot drying scraps and shipping it to Europe; he had a fac- tory for this purpose at Hay Beach, Shelter Island, previous to 1876. He has kindly furnished me with many useful data respecting the work of the Association and the stadstics of the business in the United States for every year since its organization, but I regret to find my time will not allow me to make use of them. In 1882, writing to U. S. Senator Lapham, he esti- mated that the business then employed about $4,000,000 of capital, over 90 steam and 250 sailing vessels, and 3,000 men; that the 71,000 tons of dry scrap manufactured that year was used as the basis in the composition 76 COMMERCE, iSTAVIGATION AND FISHERIES. of 284,000 tons of commercial fertilizers, applied in the South at the rate of 250 pounds per acre to raise one bale of cotton, and that thus the scrap or guano made from menhaden after the oil has been expressed becomes the active ammonial agent in raising 2, 272,000 bales of cotton, besides corn, sugar cane, and other products. A few words more and I am done. Many of this audience may have but an inadequate idea of the actual extent to which the fisheries, of our County are carried, and it is certain that by the world at large they are quite generally underestimated, if, indeed, they are known at all. For information of those who care to know somethinij of this topic, I read from an official statement kindly sent me by Mr. Nimmo, some figures respecting only the products of the fisheries (menhaden and edible swimming and sh^ll fish) brought into the U. S. Customs District of- Sag Harbor — which includes the Surveyor's District of Greenport — from 1872 to 1883, inclu- sive, the fiscal year being meant in each case and ending June 30. It will be noted that this leaves out of computation the products of the oyster, clam and other fisheries in L I. Sound, in the ocean, and in the bays on the south and north sides of the county, and relates only to the towns bordering on Peconic and Gardiner's bays. During those twelve years the total reported value brought in from the sea at those ports was $7,822,928. In the one year of 1882 the value so reported was $1,400,850. While, in the absence of authentic figures returned from any other portion of the county, it is impossible to give accurate results as to the products of fisheries in the large aria unreported, it' may, I think safely be reckoned that their value would range each year from $400,000 to $600,000, and that a low average would be half a million dollars — making for the twelve years referred 10, an aggregate af at least $6,000,000. 'Indeed, with every disposition to be moderate in ths esfmate, I deem it entirely within bounds to believe that the fisheries of Suffolk county during the past twelve years have yielded to thdse engaged in them fully $15,000,000, or the large yearly average of $1,250,000. In this estimate account is made only of commer- cial values, omitting altogether the large quantities of fish taken from the waters of the county and consumed by its inhabitants, the cash value Oi which it is obviously impossible to state. [See note C. page 78 1. Note A. — The following should have appeared as a foot note on page 64, but through an oversight was omitted: It is perhaps proper, as a passing tr.bute to one of the foremost men to whom Suffolk County ever gave birtli, to refer to the eminent services rendered to his country by Nathan Sanford, who was born at Bridgehamp- ton 1777, became a Senator of the United States, succeeded the immortal Kent as Chancellor of this State, was again a Senator and the colleague of VanBurjn, and in 1825 was defeated by John C. Calhoun as a candidate for the Vice Presidency. In 1815, at the close of the unequal but glorious struggle which this country had maintained for three years against all the naval power of Great Britain to assert and defend "Sailors' Rights and the Freedom of the Seas,'' Mr. Sanford devoted the full energy of his powerful intellect to a .restoration of American commerce, prostrated by the war, and aided largely in bringing about that restoration on a sound and healthy bas s. This much seems due to a Suffolk County statesman, who remem- bered the ancestors from whom he sprung, and the toilers by the sea among whom his early years had been spent. COMMERCE, NAVIGATION AND FISHERIES. 77 Note B. — As showing the extent to which the business of taking men- haden in shore seines for manure had been carried in the waters of Southold town during the first half of the present century, I quote from the Repub- lican Wokhfiian, of July 4, 1835, the following "statement of fish (called bunkers) that have been taken in the waters of the town of Southold the present season," and append theret-^ the proof of its authenticitv in the shape of a certificate from the assessors of the town: We, the undersigned, do certify that the foregoing is a correct state- ment of fish taken in the to>vn of Southold, the present season, being drawn up under our supervision. That the length of seine employing ten men is about 150 rods, exclusive of line, which is generally double that length. 'I'hat those seines employing a greater or less number of men are in the same proportion in regard to length. That the average time employed in fishing has been about five weeks. That the number of fish requisite for manuring an acre of land sufficient for any crops is 15,000. That the prices of fish have ranged from 50 to 75 cents per thousand, and consequently the expense of manuring an acre will range from seven dollars fifty cents to eleven dollars twenty-five cents. ^ That the number of porgies, or skippaugs, taken in Southold bay by fishing smacks and carried through Helgate to New York market, at a single tide, on or about the i8th inst. , has exceeded 100,000; the average weight of the same is one pound each, and the proceeds of the sale 3, 500 dollars. John Clark, ] Oliver Corey, | Assessors of the Henry H. Terry. \- Joshua Hallock, | Town of Southold. Barnabas Wines, J Southold, June 30th, 1835. It is further stated that about 12,000,000 menhaden were taken in the town of Riverhead, the same season. Name of Seine. Number of Fish. Number of Men on Each, Weazle 540 000 9 Dragon I 300 000 10 Cove 2 900 000 20 Coots I 340 000 16 Crow 850 000 8 Shunks I 500 000 10 Munfudgeon I 440 000 8 Wolf I 416 500 10 Sea Serpent I 750 000 10 Turks 3 320 000 20 Hawks I 70c 000 10 Greek I 650 000 10 Owl 200 000 8 Water Witch 400 o«o. 8 John Garner 480 000 8 Jackson 2 ^Z3 000 10 Union 2 450 000 12 Opposition 574 000 7 Night Hawk I 100 000 7 Indian Chief 2 000 000 10 78 COMMERCE, NAVIGATION AND FISHERIES. Name of Seine, Number of Fish. Number of Men on Eacli. Little Jackson 500 000 5 Little States 515 006 5 Pipe's Neck 550 000 5 *Two seines not heard from. 31.218,500 220 Note C- — In partial acknowledgement of the kind help I have had from various quarters toward the preparation of material for this paper, it is due that I should mention those to whom I am under obligation for some of the more important information it contains. These are: Joseph Nimmo, Jr., Treasury Department, Washington; James H. Wardle, Census Bureau, Washington; Hon. Perry Belmont, House of Representatives, Washington; Geo. R. Howell, State Librarv, Albany; Alex. Starbuck. Waltham, Mass,; Benj. A. Cook, New York;' Charles P. Cook, Sag Harbor; L. C. d'Homergue, Brooklyn; Wm. O. Winters, Brooklyn; James E. Bayles, Port Jeflferson; Jesse Carll, Northport; Jesse Jarvis, Northport; E. M. Jones, Cold Spring; Charles R. Street, Huntington; O. Perry Smith, Patchogue; W. J. Terry, Sayville; Egbert T. Smith, Mastic; Dan'l B. Cook, West-Hampton; James H. Pierson, Southampton; B. D. Sleight, Sag Harbor; John H. Hunt, Sag Harbor; Gilbert H. Cooper, Sag Har- bor; Wm. Lowen, Collector, Sag Harbor; B. C. Cartwright, Shelter Island; N. Hubbard ■ Cleveland, Southold; Rev. Dr. Epher Whitaker, Southold; W. Z. King, Surveyor of Customs, Greenport; Dan'l. T. Vail, East Marion; John A. Racke'tt, Orient; Edwin P. Brown, Orient; Ira B. Tuthill, Jr., New Suffolk; Wm. E. Parrotte, Northport. -^LITERHRYfCDLTURE,^ sxj:En:Enoi_.:E^ ooxjistt^'. lON. "^OHN 'EID. TO attempt a formal or extended address at this late hour would be an inexcusable trespass upon your patient forbearance. In listening to the elaborate, scholarly discourses which have occupied the day and evening, you have faintly realized the ordeal to which the fathers were sub- jected fifty-two times each year. Instead of our suggestive seven, their sermons were divided into two parts. When audience and preacher were exhausted, a brief respite was permitted for a frugal dinner; and then, re- freshed and strengthened for their w'ork, the afternoon would be occupied in completing the masterpiece and enforcing its precepts. The gentlemen who have for many hours entertained, instructed and, I trust, not wearied you by their sermons, allow me the clerkly. office of saying "amen" to their local ofterings — hence my talk must be passing brief, even though it be iliscursive and obscure. I fully realize that even a hurried glance at the topics consigned to my tender mercy, must be, to adopt a Motleyism, a kind of Barmecide's feast in which my hearers have to play the part of Shacabac and believe in the excellence of the lamb stuffed wdth pistachio nuts, the flavor of the wines, and the perfume of the roses, upon my prejudiced assertion and without assistance from their own perceptions. The people of this county were so engrossed in subduing a wilderness and substituting civilization for barbarism that during the early years of their advent but few memorials of their progress have given jo}' to the his- torim. They evidently ileemed their 'acts hostages for worldly fame and failed to exhibit the egotism of making a written commendation of their personal achievements. Indeed, we find this reticence one of the pecu- liarities of our colonists, and they neither became their own trumpeters nor paid a professional flatterer to make them — on paper — the grandest gentlemen the world e'er saw. Fortunatel}' their children have outgrown this inexQusable modesty, and the would-be great and good of the Nine* 8o ■ LITERARY CULTURE. teenth Century will not die and make no sign concerning the unequalled merits which they are unable to conceal. By careful groping, we occa- sionally find a land-mark in the dusty dells of departed years; and by con- trasting these with the history we are making, we may ascertain whether the precepts of the past have brought guerdons to the practical prosaic, present. The sponsors of our county organization were strong men — bold, in- dependent, intelligent. While few could boast a classical education, there were less who were profoundly ignorant. The Bible, Milton and Shake- speare, could be found in many homes of every neighborhood, and they were earnestly studied not pedantically displayed. They had left a world of statesmen, philosophers and poets whose works have immortalized their authors. Algernon, Sydney, Cromwell, Newton, Bacon, Locke, Milton and Dryden — intellectual kings who would be the pride and glory of any age — were to our progenitors as familiar as household words. Their at- tainments, though limited, were solid and substantial, not flippant and fanciful. Thought preceded action, and wisdom brought its own exceed- ing great reward. The)' regarded a great book as a ship deep freighted with immortal treasures, breaking the sea of life into fadeless beauty as it sails; carrying to every shore seeds of truth, goodness, piety, love, to flow- er and fruit jierennially in the soil of the heart and mind. Their methods of education blended literature andreligion. Having no public schools, the clergynian of each parish devoted five and a half days in each week- during the winter, for the summer was given to man- ual labor — to instructing the children in " the three R's, '' ending in a Sun- day sermon whose length was only exceeded by its breadth and brimstone. That was the orthodox era, and earthly threatenings and contemplated punishments in the world to come made the Day of Doom a continued guest and fireside companion. At that time our county comprised about eighteen hundred souls — the entire province numbered but ten thousand — and less than forty preacher-pedagogues moulded the minds of the young and strengdiened the faith of the mature. This method was varied but little during Suftblk"s first century; and it seems to have been akin to that adopted by its sister counties. About this time, William Smith, the histo- rian, wrote of the educational condition of our people: " Our schools are "of the lowest order — the instructors want instruction; and through along "and shameful neglect of all the arts and sciences, our common speech is "extremely corrupt; and the evidences of bad taste, both as to thought and "language, are visible in all our proceedings, public and private." Yet the people were striving for something better, anticipating the coming day when generous culture should make men little less than gods. While they were hampered by iron fortune, they held a kinship with those grand spirits of whom Lowell wrote that the country grew "Strong thro' shifts, an' wants, an' pains, Nussed by stern men with empires in their brains." At the time our county was organized, there was not a newspaper on this continent; now we claim fifteen, and in the United States there are more than six thousand. In the entire world there were not so many as are now published on Long Island alone. Our first newspaper was pub- lished at Sag Harbor in 1791. Public libraries seemed then as far removed as the stars; now w^e can boast of one in every school district, with extra ones of thousands of vol- LITERARY CULTURE. 8 1 umes in Greenport, Bridge-Hampton, Patchogue and Huntington. The private collections in the homes ot our count}' are extensive in numbers and of rare value; and I doubt if it would be extravagant to say that our people have at least one million dollars invested in books, comprising more than three hundred thousand volumes. We have now 142 public schools with 223 trained teachers; our school property is valued at $240,000; and the public money allotted to our schools, this year, was $32,386.95. These figures, like Gadgrind's facts, cannot lie; and they tell of ad- vancement in the cultivation of mind which exceeds the wildest dreams of the patriarchs of our county who saw in Harvard the only college which this continent could boast. This is the culmination of the good work commenced long ago and continued unremittingly. Indeed, we had so far progressed in 1840, that N. S. Prime, the historian, said there were then but fourteen individuals in Suffolk County who could not read and write. According to the average of white people in the balance of the United States, we should have had more than 1,250. And this reminds me of the envy of our sister county which was displayed by one of its magnates, afterwards Governor of the State, in announcing with ja*/,^ /rwi/, that he "contemplated a missionary expedition into the dark and benighted regions of Suftblk." And the speaker deemed himself a King in his own right. The great landmark in the Educational history of our County was the establishment of a Teachers' Association, through which those who con- trolled our common schools might meet for counsel, advice and guidance. Thought had been awakened concerning the great problems entrusted to our educators and the importance of unity in action realized. In 1852, Hon. James H. Tuthill, now our Surrogate, was the President of the County Association. He brought to his high office, ripe scholarship, rare culture, and practical experience in the school room. He appreciated the high calling of those who moulded mind, and strove to make them magnif\- their offices. He valued the teacher's occupation as one of the most exalted known to man — vivifying and self-sustaining in its nature, to struggle with ignorance, and discover to the inquiring minds of the masses the clear cerulean blue of heavenly truth. To him this vocation was the most widely- extended survey of the actual advancement of the human race in general, and the steadfast promotion of that advancement. He respected men and women fitted for their chosen task as instructors, and bestowed but little sympathy upon the educational shams who made their schools simply stepping stones to other callings or the advertising mediums of advantage- ous marriages. He wished teachers who were worthy and well-qualified, w-ho loved their profession, and had scholarship equal to the demands of the age. Like Virgil, he loved not those superficial scholars who "Lightly skim. And gentlv sip the dimply river's brim. " With Horace Mann he believed that the education already given to the people created the necessity of giving them more. What has been done has awakened new and unparalleled energies; and the mental and moral forces which have been roused into activity, are now to be regulated. These forces^are not mechanical, which expend their activity and subside to rest: they are spiritual forces, endued with an inextinguishable principle of life g2 LfTERARY CULTURK. and progression. The coiled sprino^ of the machine loses power as it unwinds; but the living soul of man, once conscious of its power, cannot be quelled: it multiplies its energy, and accelerates its speed, in an upward or downward direction, forever. For our teachers to form a County Association under the leadership of a President imbued with such ideas, was to ensure the success which soon made them the recognized leaders in public schools throughout the state. Doubdess much also was due to the earnestness and wise co-operation of the School Commissioners of our county. One of them (the Chairman of this Meeting) made himself con- spicuous for his zeal, his wide knowledge of the requirements of the schools under his immediate supervision, and his devotion to the most advanced methods of education. I remember well his sympathy with the teachers, his magnetism in the school room, his sunshine which made teachers and pupils alike rejoice whenever he visited their schools. Aiding and strength- ening the County Association, insisting upon a high standard of scholar- ship, bringing the brightest minds in contact with each other in discussing the perplexing questions of the school-room, he did a work for our schools \\^hich will keep his memory green forever. Alter a few years of such guidance, we could boast of better schools an'd better teachers in Suffolk County, than in any other County of the State. Our educational torch- bearers did not hide their light, and scores of them became missionaries in school work in other fields where the educational wants were greater and their folden calls more winning. Cruikshank, Higgins, Merwin, Davis, Funnel, were our avant couriers; and through those we sent abroad, the citizens of Brooklyn and other cities of our state gained practical knowl- edge of our advancemerit in the best methods of .moulding immortal minds. How poor was the gift of Midas, fabled to possess the power of turning whatever he touched into gold, compared with the power of turning o-old into knowledge, and wisdom and virtue ! And to-day, Suffolk remains a recognized leading County in educational matters. When any of our sister Counties desire a teacher of marked superiority, attention is given to our County and its school exemplars. We have yielded many of our brightest and best, and still we point with pride to the little army that remains, each fitted to command, all worthy to be termed teachers in fact as well as in name. With Principals Hall, Gordon, Shaw, Hallock and their compeers, Suffolk may well feel proud of her educators. And I must not forget that in Prof Stackpole, who has but so recently surrendered his throne in your village, our County possessed a teacher equal to any who ever held the master's sway in any school of our State; and hundreds of his pupils will rise up to call him blessed. If we look at the subjects taught in our common schools; the facilities for illustration; the mechanical conveniences; the improvement in every external aid, including admirably lighted, well ventilated and cozily con- structed school-houses, and contrast them with the inconveniences to which our ancestors were subjected, we need no longer wonder at the marvelous advancement of our children compared with die children of a century ago. Especially is this mere common-place to us, when we see that now the teachers' office is not so much to impart knowledge as to show his pupils how to get it; to give strong impulses to their minds and lead them, in conscious self-reliance, to put forth their utmost enersjies. To thus inspire them with a love of study and delight in mastering difficulties, till they feel all the incitements of victory and are encouraged to go on from conquest LITERARY CULTURE. 83 to conquest. Many subjects which were matters of speculation to our pro- genitors have become estabhshed truths under the guidance of the discov- ering minds of the nineteenth century; and it has been well said that our children ha\e more correct notions of nature and natural phenomena than had Plato. And this is but the legitimate outcome of our common schools — the peoples colleges — th? perfection of which is the grandest tribute to man's wise ambition. They are, indeed, the glory of our nation, and when they cease to be its glory, this nation will cease to be the glory of the world. To secure so g-and a result has cost not only infinite labor but vast treasures. The fathers recognized education as our only political safety; that outside of this ark all was deluge. That the people must spend money to educate their children, or they must pay taxes to build prisons to punish crime. That good government means the acts of wise and good men organized for the general good. That honesty and intelligence must go hand in hand. It is said that when President Lincoln was urged to appoint an ignorant ofiice-seeker becnuse he was "honest," remarked "I don't see any difference between an honest blank fool and any other blank fool," and he refused to make the appointment. It is sometimes suggested that if our intelligence were measured by our votes, we might not be pleased with the standard which justice would designate. Yet it is no less true, that suffrage should practically exemplify our knowledge and justify our claim to be the most enlightened people under heaven. And this reminds me that once many of the worthy followers of the Wesleys, thought to interpret the Bible demanded inspiration and no worldly knowledge. It is said that a local preacher, speaking in the pres- ence of Bishop Simpson, thanked God for his ignorance. To which the Bishop remarked, "you have a great deal to thank God for." Now in every hamlet, we find a church spire pointing to heaven; and in each temple of the Father there is a clergyman whose pure and holy life is adorned bv the learning of the schools and the culture which exemplifies the highest evidences of education. Turning from our schools to their graduates and to the people of our County, we find fitting illustrations of that progress which marks the English speaking race in its highest attainments. In Art, our country will not forget Suffolk's sons, William S. Mount and Shepard A. Mount — men of genius whose works made them known throughout the civilized world. In History, Wood, Prime and Thompson form a trio who will not be forgotten. In Poetry, Terry, Gardiner and Tooker, hold no mean place; and in Journalism, the editors of the county are the peers of their brethren throughout the State. In the Law, Buftett, Strong, Wickham, Sanford, stand like stars in the night — the lesson of their lives being their best monuments. In forensic oratory, Judge Rose is remembered with pride while recalling the Hoffmans, Emmetts, Grahams, VanBu'en, Jordan, and equal celebrities, who charmed jurors and delighted audiences in other parts of the State — our Orator not suffering by the comparison. In our churches, the eminent divines are legion. With this passing glance at the select few, let us remember the thous- ands who are the sons and daughters of Suffolk. It will be conceded that we are a prosperous people, and Macauley has well said that the progress of elegant lit'^nture and th'^ fin? arts is proportionate to that of the public prosperity. We cannot be intelligent, happy or useful, if we lack the §4 LITERARY CULTURE. culture and discipline of education. It is this that unlocks the prison-house of the mind and releases the captive. Carlyle calls literature "the thought of thinking souls". It is that part of thought that is wrought out in the name of the beautiful. A poem like that of Homer, or an essay upon Milton, or Dante, or Caesar from a Macauley, a Taine, or a Froude, is created in the name of beauty, and is a fragment in literature, just as a Corinthian capital is a fragment of art. When truth, in its outward flow, •joins beauty, the two rivers make a new flood called "letters"'. It is an Amazon of broad bosom resembling the sea. The advantage in literature, as in life, is of keeping the best society, reading the best books, and wisely admiring the best things. In the words of De Quincey, There is flrst the literature of knowledge; and secondly the literature of power. The function -of the first is to teach, of the second, to move ; the first is a rudder, the second an oar or sail. The first speaks to the mere discursive understanding; the second speaks ultimately, it may happen, to the higher understanding or reason, but always through aff"ections of pleasure and sympathy. If we consider how much literature enlarges the mind, and how much it multiplies, adjusts, rectifies and arranges the ideas, it may well be reckoned equivalent to an additional sense; it aff'ords pleasure which wealth cannot procure, and which poverty cannot entirely take away. It is indeed the garden of wis- dom; and if we wish to gather its choicest flowers, we must enter its divine precincts through the. gate of learning. Nevertheless it is so. common a, luxury that the age has grown fastidious. The moralist is expected to allure men to virtue by his beautiful rhetoric; philosophy must be illus- trated by charming metaphors of captivating fiction; and history, casting aside the odious garb of formal narrative, is required to assume a scenic costume, and teem with the connected interest of a facinating tale. Edward Everett pronounced it the voice of the age and the state. The character, energy and resources of the country are reflected and imaged forth in the conception of its great minds: they are organs of the time; they speak their own though s; but under an impulse like the prophetic enthusiasm of old, they must feel and utter the sentiments which society inspires. There is no reason why the brown hand of labor should not hold Bryant or Longfel- low as well as the plow. Ornamental reading shelters and even streno-thens the growth of what is merely useful. A cornfield never returns a poorer crop because a few wild-flowers bloom in the hedge-row. The refinement of the poor is the triumph of Christian civilization. In our County, we have few who are immensely rich in land or gold. But we have not a dozen families so poor that they have no books, nor so ignorant that they cannot profit by them. And the character of the books read by our people shows their literary culture in a practical manner. As we deter- mine a man's condition by the company he keeps, so we judge the culture of our people by the authors they study. In almost every house, a selection of the classics may be found. Works in science, literature and art; philosophy, history, poetry; the leading writers of Europe; and those of our real sovereigns, Bancroft, Prescott, Motley, Emerson, Channing, Franklin, Adams, Hamilton, Jeff'erson; Cooper, Irving, Hawthorne, Mitchell, Aldrich, Howells, James, Curtis; Doane, Simpson, Durbin, Bascom, King, Chapin; Longfellow, Bryant, Whittier, Lowell, Holmes, Saxe— these and the ofierings of scores of others, are as familiar to our people as the surgings of the mighty ocean that kisses our shores. And LITERARY CULTURfi. 85 while the cheapness ofbooks have added largely to their ownership, to the credit of our people's morals, to their refined taste and literary culture, we find but few copies of questionable books in . any part of our County. French Novels and Poetry of the Byron and Swineburne schools are as eifectually banished as if they were rire-brands arrows and death to all we hold dear. Dime-novels and demoralizing journals find few patrons in our County, and the best Reviews, the choicest Magazines, the most scholarly edited journals, are as plentiful as leaves in Valambrosa. Our people aim to enrich themselves with the spoils of all pure literature, knowing that he who would make a favorite of a bad book, simply because it contams a tew beautiful passages, might as well caress the hand of an assassin because of the jewelry which sparkles on his fingers. Our people generally can earnestly respond to the apostrophe of Doctor Channmg: No matter how poor, I am; no matter though the prosperous of my own time will not enter my obscure dwelling; if the sacred writers will enter and take up their abode under my roof; if Milton will cross my threshold to sing to me of Paradise, and Shakespeare to open to me the worlds of imagination and the workings of the human heart, and Franklin to enrich me with his practical wisdom, I shall not pine for want of intellectual companionship, and 1 may become a cultivated man though excluded from what is called the best society in the place where I live. Having organized our County politically and developed in a marvel- ous degree its material resources, we should make longer strides toward literary culture and eminence. We must not ignore the progress already made, nor fail to profit by it. The most celebrated historical models of antiquity have been surpassed; Gibbon, Grote and Macauley, are decidedly superior in general merit to Herodotus, Thucydides, and Tacitus; and, besides, our historians have opened up a wider field of study, and have found new methods of ascertaining the truth. Historical criticism has taught us how to separate the mystical from the historical in ancient story, and linguistic ethnology and archaeological and philological research have opened up vast realms of knowledge. We have learned to distinguish be- tween the history of our race and that of a few individuals who happened to hold olhce, and our historical composition is changing from a personal to a philosophical character. Let us with the new light beaming upon us add largely to that culture which has given us so prominent a place in the historv of counties throughout the State. And to make my leaden discourse not worthless by reason of the gold wedded to it, I cannot better conclude my rambling remarks than by giving you a few pearls from the matchless casket of Emerson. Culture is the suggestion fi-om certain best thoughts, that a man has a range of afiinities, through which he can modulate the violence of any master-tone that have a droning preponderance in his scale, and succor him against himself Culture redresses his balance, puts him among his equals and superiors, revives the delicious sense of sympa- thy, and warns him of the dangers of solitude and repulsion. Books, as containing the finest records of human wit, must always enter into our notions of culture. The best heads that ever existed, Pericles, Plato, Julius Caesar, Shakespeare, Goethe, Milton, were well-read, universally educated men, and quite too wise to undervalue letters. Their opinion has weight, because they had means of knowing the opposite opinion. We look that a great man should be a good reader, or, in proportion to the spontaneous power should be the assimilating power. Good criticism is 86 lite!rary cVlture. . very rare and always precious. I am always happy to meet persons who perceive the transcendent superiority of Shakespeare over all other writers. I like people m ho like Plato. Because this love does not consist with self- conceit. Let me say here, that culture cannot begin too early. In talking with scholars, I observe that they lost on ruder companions those years of boy- hood which alone could give imaginative literature a religious and infinite quality in their esteem. 1 find, too, that the chance for appreciation is much increased by being the son of an appreciator, and that these boys who now grow up are caught not only years too late, but two or three birlh:^; too late, to make the best scholars of And I think it a presumable mo- tive to a scholar, that, as, in an old community, a well-born proprietor .is usually found, after the first heats of youth, to be a careful husband, and to feel a habitual desire that the estate shall suff'er no harm by his administra- tion, but shall be delivered down to the next heir in as good condition as he received it; — so, a considerate man will reckon himself a subject of that secular melioration by which mankind is mollified, cured, and refined, and will shun every expenditure of his forces on pleasure or gain, which will jeopardize this social and secular accumulation. The fossil strata show us that Nature began with rudin^.cnt:.! forms, and rose to the more complex, as fast as the earth was fit for t .eir dwelling place; and that the lower perish, as the higher appear. \'ery few of our race can be said to be, yet finished men. We still carr} sticking to us, some remains of the preceding inferior quadruped organization. We call these millions men; but they are not yet men. Half engaged in the soil. pawing to get free, man needs all the music that can be brought to disen- gage him. If Love, red Love, with tears and joy; it Want with his scourge; if War with his cannonade; if Christianity with its charity; if Trade with its money; if Art with its portfolios; if Science with her telegraphs through the deeps of space and time; can set his dull nerves throbbing, and by loud taps on the tough chrysalis, can break its walls, and let the new creature emerge erect and free, — make way, and sing paean ! The age of the quad- ruped is to get out,— the age of the brain and the heart is to come in. The time will come when the evil forms we have known can no more be organized. Man's culture can spare nothing, wants all the material. He is to convert all impediments into instruments, all enemies into power. The formidable mischief will only make the more useful slave. And if one shall read the future of the race hinted in the organic effort of Nature to mount and meliorate, and the corresponding impulse to the Better, in the human being, we shall dare affirm that there is nothing he will not overcome and convert, until at last culture shall absorb the chaos and gehenna. He will convert the Furies into Muses, and the hells into benefit. [It is but proper to state that Ex-Judge Reid's address was made ex- tempore, after ten o'clock at night, and with great rapidit}^ Having taken but few notes, the foregoing may be termed the intended rather than the real address — although it embodies most of the topics discussed by the speaker. — Ed. J lYacuation by the British. 4ON. f^HARLES ^. g)TREET. BY a remarkable coincidence the two hundreth year since the formation of Suffolk County happens to be the one hundreth year since the triumph of the American Colonies over British oppression and the departure ot the British troops from Suffolk County. I am assigned to speak to you concerning the memorable events which cluster around this, as it were, "halfway house" in the history of our country; events which always stand out in bold relief and the memory of which always stir the hearts of all patriotic citizens with the deepest emotion. The lew minutes only given me in which to deal with this topic will only enable me to pre- sent a "bird's eye" view of the subject. You are all familiar with the story of the Old Revolution and how one hundred years ago, out of the terrible sufferings, the gloomy apprehensions and the desolation of seven years of war, the patriots suddenly emerged victorious: How Suffolk County, desecrated with the tramp of invadinti: armies and environed with hostile fleets, was in 1783, one hundred years ago, liberated, and freedom and independence established. Some of you who are about my age will remember how in our youth the gray haired men of the Revolution were seen on the platforms at all Fourth of July Celebrations, and how we then listened to the story of the war as it fell from the lips of our grandfathers and grandmothers. Now they have gone to their graves and our children only read in books a his- tory of these events. The old time hon<^red custom of celebrating Inde- pendence Day by popular assemblages of the people, by music and oratory has largely fallen into disuse, but we may well, at least in this centennary of the triumph of our forefathers, honor them and their cause with a few moments of our thought. And what was the oppression from which the people of Suffolk County were then liberated.'' antl in what way did the relief come ? My friends, go back with me in imagination, just a moment, to the period of the outbreak of the Revolution. Suffolk County then occupied a strong and prominent position in the Colony of New York. In numbers, wealth, resources, the physical and intellectual power of its people, and in political influence, it stood in the front rank. For more than a hundred years these people, and their ancestors through many generations, had been building for themselves homes in this land and had incessantly struggled a» EVACUATION BY THE BRITISH, for liberty and equal rights against arbitrary power. Look at the situation. Suffolk County had its ablest men as delegates in the Continental Congress at Philadelphia — the declaration of Independence, announcing the separa- tion of the Colonies from Great Britain and the fundamental principles of liberty, had been proclaimed by that Congress. All but about five hundred of the three thousand male inhabitants capable of bearing arms in this County were devoted to the Patriot cause. All over the land these men were organizing in military companies. In Southold, Southampton, East- Hampton, Brookhaven, Smithtown and Huntington, the old towns of that period, the militia were drilling and preparing for the struggle. Washing- ton, anxious to save Long Island from subjugation, had thrown such force as he could spare across the East River, under General Green, occupying fortifications on Brooklyn Heights. It was midsummer. The fields of golden grain waved in the sea breezes which fanned the Island. At all the farm-houses the impending invasion occupied the thoughts of all, and the hearts of all men and women throbbed with apprehension of the approach of startling events, when sud- denly there came horsemen riding swift as the wind' into all the villages who announced in breathless tones that Lord Howe had arrived in New York harbor with an immense fleet of war ships and transports and thirty thousand soldiers threatening a landing on Long Island, and threatening to sweep it with fire and sword. The militia of ■ Suffolk ' County, though weak in numbers, de' termined to make a bold stand. The work of drilling and organizing for resista:nce was pushed with renewed vigor. Col. Josiah Smith, then at Southampton, was, on the loth of August summoned by the Continental Congress to take command of the Suffolk County militia and hasten to Brooklyn in aid of General Green. In about four days he had gathered a men of about four hundred men — the towns in the County each contrib- uting about their proportion of this force. General Woodhull, of lamented memory, a son of Suffolk County, was also ordered to the front with the force at his command. In all the homes of the Patriots, intense excitement and hopeful courage prevailed. The question was which of the sons should go to the war; and who can describe the emotion written in the faces, and the tender words of parting which fell from the lips of the mothers of that day as their sons hastily gathered their arms and left their homes, many to be absent in the Continental Armies for long years, and many never to return. But bitter humiliation and defeat, for a time, awaited the patriot cause. The story of their subjugation is short. The Battle of Long Island was fought at Brooklyn, August 27th, 1776, and lost. Long Island lay prostrate at the feet of a conquering army. The military plans of General Washington for the defense of New York and Long Island have met with adverse criticism, as do all plans that fail, and the movements of the two armies at the battle of Long Island, in which the British had about 15,000 soldiers partially engaged and the patriots about an equal number, are involved in considerable obscurity, but there is evidence enough to show that the Suffolk County Militia were in the thickest of the fight for two d:\ys — that they stood in the trenches two nights in the face of the enemy — that they suff'ered excessive loss owing to their isolated position and want of support, and that they bravely main- EVACU.VriON BY THE BRITISH. 89 tained their position until withdrawn from the field by order of General Putnam in the retreat to Westchester County. The news of the disaster flew fist through all the villages and hamlets, carrying terror and dismay to a people cut off from communication with the rebel army and too weak to resist the overwhelming force of t^e in- vaders: and to add to the alarm British ships were landing troops near Wading River who were pillaging the country. Five days from this, British infantry and cavalry entered Huntington village, tore out the seats in the Presbvterian Church and converted it into a stable for their horses. Proc- lamations went forth from General Erskine commanding obedience and submission by Suffolk. County and that the people take the oath of alle- giance to the King. At first these demands were met with stern refusal. The people had not yet tasted fully of the bitter cup of humiliation in store for them. General Tryon with an army of looo men swept Long Island from end to end of its horses, cattle, grain and stores for food for the British Army. General Clinton was at Southampton with 2, 500 soldiers and dragoons and twenty-five British war vessels lay in Sag Harbor. Everywhere violence and pillage accompanied the march of the British soldiery. With a long extent of vulnerable sea coast, its best commanders and soldiers in the Continental armies, destitute of necessar\' cannon, ammunition and the ap- pliances of war, and their communications cut oft" from Washington's army, the people of Suftolk County were compelled to submit. At the point of the bayonet or under threats of confiscation or banishment of themselves and families, hundreds signed the o.ith of allegiance to the King. They took the oath as an outward form but inwardly revolted against it. They yielded to the King a lip service extorted by force too great to be overcome, but mentally abhorred the act, and all their sympathies were with the patriots who were fighting with Washington. There were those however who refused to tike the oath of allegiance to the King, and we cannot help admiring that band of patriots whose spirit could not be broken, and who at the approach of winter abandoned their homes and farms, gathered wife and children, and fled to within the lines of the Con- tinental armv. They were worthy descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers whose invlomit.ible souls and iron nerves never knew defeat. We read in history the events of the long years of war, oppression, destitution and vassalage which followed. Time does not permit me here to describe them. Let us change the scene seven years later on. Imagine yourselves on the threshold of 1783, the year of which this is the centen- nial. It is winter. British soldiers swarm in all the large villages of Suffolk County. The invader is the master — the native of the soil is the servant, driven to menial service as hewers of wood and drawers of water for an arrogant soldiery. Forts and barrfcades bristling with guns frown upon the disarmed and impoverished people. Troops of dragoons with gaily caparisoned horses prance along all the great highways. Trains of military wagons are conveying the scanty food of the people to the camp of the enemy. The churches and places for worship of Almighty God are turned into stables or barracks for a ribald, blasphemous soldiery, and their ministers driven into exile or in prison under the brutal Provost ilNIarshal Cunningham. From Fort Golgotha in Huntington, there comes the sound of revelry and music, as gay dragoons move in the dance over a floor made of the tombstones of the, torn up dead from the grave- 90 EVACUATION BY THE BRITISlt. yard on which the fort is buih. But the avenging angel had not been idle. Justice, though to mortal conception sometimes tardy, moves with unfaltering tread and reaches the goal at the appointed hour. There comes swift ridingf couriers now, from the camp of the victorious army of the patriots. With trumpet sounding over all the hills and valleys, the glad words are heard "Peace has come ! The armies of Washington are triumphant ! — Glory to God in the highest !" If we could call from the tomb these pa- triots of old and they could stand in our midst to-night, with what unspeakable joy they would join in this celebration. If their souls hover over us in the shadowy unseen world, may they not look wiih gratitude and loving approbation upon their children who here commemorate the hundreth year of their glorious victory. Since these events we have had a war for the preservation of the Union which called forth greater armies and was waged on a vaster field; and though the battles of the old Revolution may be dwarfed in comparison with the gigantic military operations on land and sea which larger numbers and advanced military science has made possible, yet the value ot the principles which the Revolutionary Fathers' contended for, remains undim- inished, and the justice of their cause, the purity of their purposes, their unfaltering courage and patriotism, continue, as they ever have, to challenge the admiration of mankind. |fft%! APPENDIX. APPENDIX A. Washington, D. C, Oct. ii, 1883. Hon. He.vryA. Reeves, Greenport, L. I., N. Y. : My Dear Sir. — Your letter of the 8th inst, requesting statistical information in regard to the commerce, navigation and fisheries of Long Island, is received. I must sympathize with you, and am very sorry that I cannot felicitate you upon the task assigned to you, viz: that of preparing a paper upon the Com- merce, Navigation and Fisheries of Suffolk County, to be read on the oc- casion of the County's bi-centennial celebration. Long Island probably con- sumes fully her share, if not more than her share, in proportion to popula- tion, of foreign goods imported; but they are all imported at New York, and appear as the imports at that city with imports for consumption in all parts of the United States; for with respect to foreign commerce. New York represents the whole country. It would be utterly impossible to find out the value of foreign goods consumed in Suffolk County, unless you were to inquire of every village merchant as to the amount of foreign goods which he had bought and sold during the year, and, besides that, propound the same question to every lady in the county who has gone down to New York in the morn- ing and done her shopping during the day. That, you see, would involve something in the nature of a census work quite unique as a governmental operation. Besides, .it would be entirely too inquisitorial, I fear, for the average Long Islander. In the second place, there is probably a very small part of the products of Suffolk County exported to foreign Countries, but she performs indirect- ly a very important service in feeding the population of New York City which is so extensively engaged in this great foreign commerce of the country, as well as in its much more important domestic commerce and industries. You and I know that Long Island is the garden spot of this Country, if not of the world, and we also know very well that Suffolk County is the most beautiful and best part of Long Island.. We also know the important ser- vice which Long Island renders in sustaining the vital forces of New York City, the commercial centre of this country, from the time of the first ap- pearance of water cresses and early spring greens, until the last harvest home of the Autumn crops. Next, I will touch upon navigation. It so happens that under our Jaws both the northern shore and the southern shore of Long Island are ^4 APPENDIX. embraced in the customs district of New York City. The onlj district which at all lepresents Suffolk County is the customs district of Sag Har- bor, embracing the waters between Oyster Pond Point and Montauk Point. I will have the tonnage of that district made up for the last five years and also the amount of tonnage belonging to that district for the decennial vears back as far as 1830. The only customs officer on the north side of Long Island is located at Port Jefferson. He is a Surveyor and reports to the Collector of Customs at New York. I will send you a table extending as far back as possible, of vessels built at Port Jefferson and the tonnage owned there; also the same as to Patchogue. Some time ago I tried to formulate some commercial statements in regard to Long Island and re- gretted very much that there was not a Chief of Bureau of Statistics of Suf- folk County, clothed with ample powers to collect information. The most valuable commercial expression which you could get would I think, be a statement of tonnage and of passengers carried by the Long Island Railroad to and from Suffolk County; but there again jou would meet a difficulty, for the Long Island Railroad Company does not separate its traffic by counties. I think, however, that they may be able to give you something which would show the growth and present magnitude of the traffic east of Farmingdale. I would advise you to apply to the secretary of the Company for such data. The railroad is now the principal highway of the commerce of Suffolk County and railroad cars are the vessels in v/hich she carries on trade with the outside world. As we know, there are many sloops and schooners trading between New York and points along the entire shores of the County, and a few steamer lines, but their opera- tions, I fancy, embrace only a comparatively small part of the commerce of the County— what part it is impossible to tell. The collection of such in- formation in full as to Suffolk County, would not only be a serious incon- venience, but I fear be an insufferable perplexity to the people of this county. As neither the National Government, nor the State, nor the Countv itself, raises any revenue from internal commerce, there is no suf- ficient reason why the people of the'County should be required to report all their commercial transactions. In regard to the Fisheries of Long Island, the difficulties in procuring exact data are even greater than those with respect to commerce and navi- gation. Many years ago Long Island was, to some extent, engaged in the whale fisheries. I am having prepared for you a statement upon this sub- ject which you will find enclosed herewith. During the last century, and first part of this century, those monsters of the deep were so accommodating as to present themselves as living sacrifices to the temporal interests of the people residi..g at the east end of Suffolk. All those people had to do was to go out from the shore in whale boats and capture the welcome visitors. But that has long .-;ince ceased, and the vessels engaged in whale fisheries have also disappeared. I also enclose herewith astatementshowing the value of the products of American Fisheries of all kinds brought into the United States at the Customs District of Sjg Harbor. This embraces only small fisheries, but Long Island has to-day fishing interests exceeding in value those hereinbefore mentioned. I refer to the fisheries of the Great South Bay, and all along the eastern and northern shores. But the value of these fisheries cannot be esdmated upon any trade standard such as obtains in Fulton Market The chief value of the ie fisheries is in the liae of sport «d of recreation from wAPPENDIX. 95 business cares in the great city. If you should undertake to ascertain the value of these fisheries you would have upon your hands a most perplexing work. You would have to hunt up every man who has enjoyed the exhil- arating sport of trolling for blue fish. But then not one of them would be able to tell you what he estimated to be the value of his day's catch; for in catching fish, he also caught hea'th and recreiiion and joy. Besides fish so caught are not usually sold. I remember a notab'eclay's fishing on the Great South Bay many years ago which has an ever increasing value in its pleasant recollections. Then again you have all amund Long Island, trout ponds and trout streams, almost all of which are uow pr.vaLe preserves. Who can estimate the money value of these fisheries .^ For example: Suppose you should apply to my friend, the Hon. Henry J. Scudder, of Northport, for the annual value of the catch on his trout pond, which is not only a source of pleasure to himself and his family, but adds a charm to the landscape wh'ch takes in his beautiful home. To estimate the value of the fish taken on that pond during a season upon the basis of value per pound in Fulton Market, would, I think, be very disgusting to Mr. Scudder. Then, again, you have your oystering interest, for the enterprising citizens of Suffolk County have gone out upon the bays and harbors in front of their properties along the water line, and through a recognized principle of squatter sovereignty have acquired exceedingly valuable ri- parian rights. Ichlhyologically the oyster is not a fish; but, commercially, oystering and the fisheries are commonly embraced in the same category. It would be about as difficult, I think, for you to ascertain the value of oysters, clams and escallops, taken annually in the waters of Suff"olk County, as it would be (or you to ascertain the value of the imported goods consumed by the people of that county. I enclose a statement in regard to the population of Suffolk County according to the censuses, running back as far as possible, also acreage in farms, value of lands in farms, and value of manufactures. Some time ago I wrote an article for the North American Rnnew, a copy of whicti I send to you. In this, you will find some allusion to Long Island which may interest you. If you should fail to meet the expectations of your audience you -will certainly be entitled to plead in defence the fact that you were asked to do the impossible thing, and you may, if you choose, summon me as witness in your defense. Regretting my inability to serve you better, — I am. Sir, very respect- fully yours, JOSEPH NIMMO, Jr., Chief of Bureau, 96 APPENDIX. Statement of the tonnage belonging to and built in the customs district of Sag Harbor, New York, during the years named. YEARS. TONNAGE BELONGING TO THE DISTRICT. TONNAGE Sail. Steam. Total. 1830 1840 1850 i860 1870 1880 1882 Tons * 6,390 20,406 14, III 18,498 7,960 H,939 14,027 Tons. 121 5,223 208 i>955 2,547 Tons. 6,390 20,406 14,232 23-, 72 1 8,168 16,894 16,574 Tons. Not stated 207 532 . 419 472 755 704 Treasury Department, Bureau of Statistics, Oct. 11, 1883. Joseph Nimmo, Jr., Chief of Bureau. *0f this tonnage, 3,072 tons was employed in the whale fishery, and 859 tons in other fisheries. Statement showing the amount of tonnage belonging to the customs dis- trict of Sag Harbor, N. Y., which was engaged in the Whale and Cod Fisheries during the years named. 1830 1840 1850 i860 1870 1880 1882 Treasury Department, Bureau of Statistics, Oct. 12, 1883. JOSEPH Nimmo, Jr., Chief of Bureau. The words "Cod Fisheries" as used above, for the years 1870, 1880, and 1882, doubtless includes all fisheries other than whale. 97 Population, value of" Farms and of Manufactures of the County of Suffolk, Long Island, N. Y. (From the United States Census.) YEARS. population. VALUE OF FARMS. VALUE OF MANUF's. SHI 1790 16,440 no data no data 1800 19,735 " " ti << 1810 21,113 (( a i( (I 1820 23,930 Cl (I " " 1830 26,780 < I i< a < ( 1840 32,469 a a ec << 1850 36,922 7, 195,800 182,140 i860 43>275 12,641,940 I, 114,111 1870 46,924 16,324,870 1,940,184 1880 53,888 17,079,652 2,176,613 Statement showing the Total Value of the Products of American Fisheries brought into the United States, at the Customs District of Sag Harbor, N. Y., from the Fiscal Year 1872 to the Fiscal Year 1883 inclusive, as reported by the Collector of that District. Years. Dollars. 1872 337,240 1873 234,870 1874 456,300 1875 590,045 1876 622,109 1877 678,400 1878 577,250 1879 712,274 1880 678,450 1881 726,890 1882 1,450,850 1883 758.250 Total 7,822,928 Treasury Department, Bureau of Statistics, Oct. 13, 1883. Joseph Nimmo, Jr., Chief of Bureau, 98 APPENDIX. MENHADEN FISHERY. APPENDIX B. MENHADEN FISHERY. It has been deemed useful to give in an appendix some data respecting this fishery which could not be embodied in the paper itself without unduly extending its length; and I have accordingly sought to select out of the mass of material furnished me, such facts as seem to possess the most value or interest. The menhaden, a branch of the herring family, are a migratory surface fish, moving northward in early spring and southward in late fall, and col- lecting in immense bodies called by the fishermen "schools". Their food is xn insect too minute to be seen by the naked eye. They are found on the l-tlantic seaboard from the British Provinces to the Gulf of Mexico, but their favorite summer resting places seem to be within the belt along shore seaward 50 or 75 miles from the Capes of Virginia to Cape Cod. More than two-thirds of the annual catch in recent years is taken between Cape May and Narragansett Bay. Neither their spawning grounds nor their time of spawning are fully determined. Great differences of opinion pre- vail on these and other points touching the habits and movements of these fish. No sufficient study has yet been made by naturalists to warrant definite conclusions, and fishermen who within their range of experience have been careful observers during many years, confess that they cannot decide on some elementary questions. This lack of certainty as to the movements of menhaden may fairly be held to justify the claim that there should be no legislation affecting the business of taking and rendering them except in some few particulars of regulation which may be manifestly safe and proper, or may be acquiesced in by those engaged in the business. Proceeding from some mistaken ideas respecting an alleged effect of the catch of menhaden upon the supply of certain food fishes in the market, there have been various efforts to regulate or restrict by State or Federal legislation the taking of menhaden, but so far they have either proved abortive altogether, or, where enacted into laws, no appreciable benefit has resulted from their passage. The business needs little if any protection from law, and no other industry needs protection from it by law. That in nature and effect it is of a character to deserve the most liberal encourage- ment and support rather than repression, must be obvious from the con- sideration that it takes out of the sea a material otherwise waste and worthless and from it makes articles of prime importance to the uses of mankind, amounting in yearly values to millions of dollars, and in doing so it affords an honest livelihood to several thousands of worthy citizens. To illustrate the progress it has made within the past decade I collate in l^arallel columns the statistics as certified by the United States Menhaden i88i 64 Factories - - - - 97 - 871 Men at Factories - - 2,805 - - 1.567 Fishermen - , . 2,406 283 Sailing vessels - - - 286 - 25 Steamers (19 not in use) - 92 2,372,837 Oil (gallons) - - 1,266,549 50.976 Scrap* (tons) - - 33,619 492,878,000 Fish caught* - - 454,192,000 $2,500,000 Capital invested - - $4,750,000 APPENDIX. MENHADEN FISHERY. 99 Oil and Guano Association for the years 1874 (the first reported after its organization) and 1881: 1874. Factories Men at Factories Fishermen - Sailing vessels Steamers Oil (gallons) - Scrap (tons) Fish Caught ' Capital invested - *Scrap in 1881 was all dried; in 1874 all crude or wet; when wet it weighs two-thirds more than when dry. *No fish were taken on the coast of Maii'e in 1881; all reported were caught between Cape Cod and the Capes of Virgin.... and were of unusu- ally poor quality. The above Association was organized a* the U. S. Hotel, N. Y. City, on Jan. 7, 1874, with the following officers: President, Luther Maddocks, Maine; Vice-Presidents, George F. Tuthill, Greenport, L. I., and R. L. Fowler, Guilford, Ct. ; Secretary and Treasurer, H. L. Dudley, New London, Ct. ; Executive Committee, L. Maddocks and H. F. Brighton, Maine, and David F. Vail, Riverhead, L. L Among its members were: Falcon Oil Works, Greenport; Wells & Co., do. (and South Bristol, Me.); T. F. Price, Greenport; Vail & Grifiing, Riverhead; W. H. H. Glover, Southold; B. C. Cartwright, Shelter Island; M. P. Green, Promised Land; J. Morrison Raynor, Greenport; Henry E. Wells, do. ; Wm. M. Tuthill & Sons, East Marion; A. R. Comstock, Sayville; J. S. Marcy, Riverhead; Benj. L. Potter (of East Marion,) Harvey's Wharf, Va. ; Belloste & Griffing, do., do. ; Excelsior Oil & Guano Co., O. H. Bishop, Greenport. T. F. Price was the Committee on Statistics for Long Island. Its annual state- ments show the number of factories, of men employed therein, of fishermen, of steam and sailing vessels employed, of gallons of oil and tons of scrap manufactured, of fish caught, quantities of oil and scrap on hand at date of report, average yield of oil, and capital invested. At the time of organiza- tion the statistics reported (for 1873) were: Factories,62; capital, $2,388,- 000; fishermen employed. 1,197; men at factories, 1,109; sailing vessels, 383; steamers. 20; fish caught, 287,275,000; gallons oil, 2,214,800; tons scrap (crude), 36,299. Inasmuch as a summary of these reports, not available elsewhere, may be of value for the light they shed on various important questions connected with the business, it is hereto annexed. 1873 and 1874 — given in foregoing exhibit, 1875 — Factories, 60; men, 2,633; steamers, 39; sailing vessels, 304; fish, 563,327,000; gallons oil, 2,681,487; tons scrap (crude), 53,625; capital, $2,650,000. [At the meeting — Providence, April 5, 1876 — when these statistics were reported, Mr. L. C. d'Homergue addressed the Association on the advantages of drying the scrap so as to put it in condition for export.] 1876 — Factories, 64; sailing vessels, 320; steamers, 46; men, 2,758; capital, $2,750,000; fish, 512,450,000; gallons oil, 2,992,000; tons scrap (crude), 51,245. [At the meetings of 1875 and 1876, papers were read by Sf Li Goodalej of SafcOj Me. , Upon the possibility 6f makihg' frem rti^- lOO APPENDIX. MENHADEN FISHERY. haden a food extract like the extract from beef, and, as declared by scien- tists, equal to it in nutritive qualities. ] 1877 — Factories, 56; sailing vessels, 270; steamers, 63; men, 2,631; capital, $2,047,612; fish, 587,624,125; gallons oil, 2,426,589; tons scrap (crude), 55,444. [During the year 5,600 tons of dried scrap were reported. ] 1878 — Factories, 56; sailing vessels, 279; steamers, 64; men, 3,337; capital, $2,350,000; fish, 767,779,250; gallons oil, 3,809,233; tons scrap (crude), 53,719 — dried, 19,377; cash value of oil and scrap at the factories, at average market prices for the year, $2,289,172. 1879 — Factories, 60; sailing vessels, 204; steamers, 81; men, 2.296; capital, $2,502,500; fish, 637,063,750; gallons oil, 2,258,901; tons scrap (crude), 67,059 — dried, 29,563. 1880 — Factories, 79; sailing vessels, 366; steamers, 82; men, 3,261; fish, 776,000,000; gallons oil, 2,035,000; tons scrap (crude), 44,995 — dried, 25,800. 1881 — Factories, 97; sailling vessels, 286; steamers, 73 (19 not in use); men, 2,805; ^sh, 454,192,000; capital, $2,460,000; gallons oil, 1,266,549; tons scrap (crude), 7,592 — dried, 25,027., 1882 — Factories, 92; sailing vessels, 212; steamers, 83; men, 2,.3i3; fish, 346,638,555; gallons oil, 2,021,312; tons scrap (crude), 10^029 — dried, 17,452; capital $2,838,500. [Attacks having jjeen made, and others threatened, upon the safety and welfare of the business, the Association voted to defend its members in any part of the United States in the; legal, legitimate right of fishing along the seaboard.] 1883 — Factories, 78; sailing vessels, 136; steamers, 69; men,-,.2,427; fish, 613,461,776; gallons oil, 1,166,320; tons scra;p (crude),. 20,920 — dried, 34,246; capital, $2,051,000; average yield of oil per 1,060 fish, 1. 96-100. The reports for 1883 — the last year reported — show great quantities of fish mosdy very poor, a small yield of oil. High prices of scrap in 1882 forced manufacturers of phosphate fertilizers to look up substitutes ^or scrap out of which to obtain ammonia, such as nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia, cotton seed, oil cake, tankage, meat scraps, etc. This fact, with the large production of scrap in 1883, so lowered prices and 'reduced demand that factory owners made comparatively little profit on the large supply of fish. . . i'884 — The statistics of the Association for this year had not, at time ot writing, been made up; but I have from a gentleman engaged in the business a careful and close approximation to the figures of catch of fish and make of oil and scrap at the twelve factories on Gardiner's and Pecon- ic Bays, which foots up the following aggregates: Fish caught,' 176,500,- 000; gallons of oil, 883,000; tons of scrap (dried), 13,125. At low aver- age prices these products of the menhaden fishery on the two bays during the season of 1884 were worth close upon six hundred thousand doUais. And, as showing its local development, I condense from figures given me at different times by W. Z. King, Surveyor of Customs at, Greenport, the following abstract of reports made to his office for the district including the towns of Shelter Islaiid, Southold and . Riverhead in the year 1880. Number of meijhaden rendered at fe.ctories,. 202,000,000; value of pro- ducts, $627,450; numbers taken in district but rendered outside, 140,000^- COO. Ai?PEJfDlX. — MENHADEN FISHERY. lOl In that year the aggregate value of fishery products reported at his of- fice was $1,083,850. There were registered in his office that year 233 sail and 23 steam vessels, aggregating 15,192.72 tons. In 1879 '^he number of "fish taken in the Bays and rendered at factories reporting at his office w^as 211,000,000; gallons of oil made, 1.013,300; tons scrap (dry), 22,100; estimated total catch in district, 400,000,000; estimated total value of pro- ducts of fisheries within the Bays, $975,000. In 1883 the number of fish rendered in factories reporting at his office was 178,050,000; gallons oil made, 369,900; tons dry scrap, 15.278. A brief statement of the practical operation of the fishery may not be out of place. The purse net or seine, now in use will average 1000 feet in length by 75 to 100 feet in depth; but steamers often take nets for deep and shallow water fishing — the former 140 or 150 feet in depth, the latter 70 or 80 feet; those used in deep water are generally 180 fathoms, or 1,080 feet long, while in shoal water they are 130 fathoms, or 780 feet, in length. The former would require about 50 feet depth of water; the latter about 18 feet. On the upper line or rope to which the net is fastened cork floats are strung at short distances apart, in order to keep the net floating in the de- sired position; the underline is weighted and fitted with rings for drawing, or, as it is technically called, "pursing"' the net together. Half of the net is placed in the end of each of two seine boats which, when a school offish has been descried by the lookout and the vessel has approached sufficient- ly near, are rowed in dift"erent directions to make a circuit of the water where the fish are known or supposed to be. The time occupied in going round a school is ordinarly 10 to 20 mmutes. When the ends have been brought together and the net has been "pursed" by hauling the lines, the upper ones over and the under ones below the fish, the upper lines are tied com- pactly together, leaving an opening fi-om which to bail the fish. The ves- sel comes close alongside, and, if a steamer, uses a scoop net swung on a crane and lifted by steam, to bail the fish from the net into her hold; the scoop holds 1,000 fish of standard measurement, which is 22 cubic inches, and repeated trials prove that this method of counting by scoop-luls will not vary materially, with fish of average size, from counting by hand. By the use of steam the fish may be bailed at the rate of a scoop-ful a minute, or 60,000. an hour. On sailing vessels the bailing has to be done by hand. Experience has determined the size of mesh most serviceable for catching menhaden of standard size, to be 21-2 inches, but sometimes nets are used of 2 1-4 or 2 5-8 inches. A full grown lish commonly weighs i to i 1-4 pounds, but sometimes "fat fish" will range from i 1-3 to 2 pounds, and yet heavier specimens have been seen. The temperature of the water most congenial to menhaden is from 52 deg. to 58 deg. Fahrenheit. The first to enter upon the drying of scrap exclusively as a business was Mr.'L. C. d'Homergue, of Brooklyn, then of Greenport, who also was first to make shipments of the dried scrap to England and Germauy. He had a factory at Hay Beach, Shelter Island. Tiie results of his experi- ments and observations there made were embodied in a paper read before the Association in 1876, and set forth more in detail in a paper read before the American Institute on March 8, 1877. The following synopsis of facts reLiting to the menhaden oil and guano manufacture on Great South Bay is from a letter kindly sent me by Wilson J. Terry, of Sayville; Samuel W. Green, of Say ville, was the pioneer in the business. He built works at that place in 1861, at a cost of ^2,500. tpi AP^KNDIX. MENHADEN FISHERY. There were then no purse nets used on the bay, and he depended wholly on bay fishing with seines, which was then very good. War prices pre- vailed; crude scrap sold tor $20 per ton, and oil for 90 cents to $1.00 per gallon. Induced by these figures Green bought a purse net and engaged a captain from Jamesport too instruct the bay fishermen in its use. A few years later he sold out to his brothers and put up works on the South Beach; but the business becoming unprofitable he sold it to other parties; this factory is now owned and run by Smith & Yarrington, of Sayville. In 1863 Mr. Terry and others bought works at Cape May, New Jersey, and moved them to Cap Tree Island, near Fire Island Light; he directed this factory 'till 1877, when he bought out the other owners and purchased of Wall's Sons (of Williamsburgh) their works at The Ranges, consolidating the two in one and still carrying on the business, which has paid him a moderate profit. Wall's Sons expended a large sum on their factory, vessels, nets, etc., and employed John M. Rogers, as Superintendent. After about 6 years trial they had sunk fully one hundred thousand dollars, and then sold the es- tablishment to Mr. i erry for less than 10 per cent, of its cost. Willett Green and others removed their works from Saville to the South Beach and the second year afterwards it was burned, causing them a heavy loss; it was not rebuilt. Edgar Gillette put up pot-works at Blue Point and run them lor a few years, but the business proved unprofitable and he gave it up. John S. Havens and others put up pot-works at Swan Creek, near Patch- gue, and ran them for some ten years; the Bay fishing fell oft' and they were too far from Fire Island Inlet to get fish by means of purse nets, so they closed up the business. In 1880 George Comstock erected works on the South Beach, where he and his brother are still engaged in the business. The three factories now running are: The South Bay Oil W^orks, W. J. Terry owner; the Smith & Yarnngton, and Comstock Brothers. For four years past none of these have paid much profit owing to scarcity of fish, while that year (1883) the fish were so small and poor that the three factor- ies closed up ocean fishing on Sept. 15. On the whole the menhaden fish- ery in the Great South Bay has not been a source of profit to factory owners but it has artorded a fair livelihood to the fishermen. To exhibit more clearly the actual extent ot the menhaden interest in Suff"olk County for the year 1883, the appended table has been prepared; it includes two factories, located on Barren Island, in Kings County, which were supplied with fish by Suff'olk County fishermen, and were owned or operated by Suffolk County men. To the total catch on Peconic and Gardiner's Bays should be added some four mdlion fish ren- dered at the pot-works of W. M. Tuthill & Sons, at Napeague, but the other figures of their operations have been mislaid and cannot be replaced. APPENDIA". MENHADEN FISHERY 16^ Peconic and Gardiner 's Bays. Fish Taken. Gallons Oil. T. scrap dried. ^S2 Capital. Sail Ves'ls Hawkins Brothers, 7, ooo, ooo 15,615 500 2 50 50,000 H. E. Wells, - 14,764,600 43.315 1, 100 2 85 25,000 2 Falcon Oil Co., 19,983,600 40, 185 1,524 2 67 60, OOO I Excelsior Oil Co., 9,619, 122 26,000 726 2 46 35,000 Sterling Oil Co., '14 500,000 41,400 1,070 2 60 30,000 2 Ranger Oil Co., 19,750,000 52,500 14,00 3 65 75,000 I B. C. Cartwright, 12,000,000 24.000 93° 2 45 40, 000 Dixon Mf'g Co., - - 10,000,000 30,000 756 2 58 75,000 Abbe 18,500,000 49,500 1,350 3 75 80,000 Jonas Smith - -, 13,000,000 30,000 1,000 2 70 60,000 E. Tuthill & Co., 15,000,000 35>ooo 1, 150 2 70 60,000 Totals, 153951 322 387,515 11,506 24 691 580,000 6 Great South Ba' V. South Bay Oil Works, 4,500,000 4,000 360 -- 38 12,000 4 Comstock Brothers, 5,000,000 5,000 460 — 48 10,000 4 Smith & Yarrington, 2,000,000 3,800 130 - 32 7,000 3 Totals, 11,500,000 12,800 950 118 29,000 II Barre ^ Island. Jones & Co. , 22,000,000 22,000 1,900 - 85 120,000 6 Hawkins Bros., 27,000,000 44,385 2,200 4 50 125,000 - Totals • 49,000,000 66,385 4,100 4 135 245,000 6 Aggregates 214451 322 466.700 16,556 28 944 854,000 23 APPENDIX C. INCIDENTS OF THE FISHERIES. Monroe Conkling, of Orient, keeper of Little Gull Island light prior to 1852, in connection with the Manwarings of Connecticut, used to take considerable numbers of lobsters in pots set near the reefs off that island, and smacks stopped there to receive the catch for market. His successors, Sineus Conkling, Wm. Booth, Wallace Reeve, and others, continued the business, which is still carried on to some extent. The late Capt. Henry B, Gardiner, of East Marion, for several years made a regular trade of taking lobsters in pots set in Gardiner'^ Bay, and carrying them to New Haven for sale. Lobsters are also taken in L. I. Sound, oft' Arshamom- oque. Fisher's Island from the earliest date has been noted as a fishing 104 APPENDIX. INCIDENTS OF THE FISHERIES. Station. The Pequot Indians when in possession made it one of their chief resorts for fishing. Gov. Winthrop, )Rho had a grant of the island from Massachusetts, was confirmed in it by an act of the Connecticut Court in 1 04 1 "so tar as it hinder^ not the public good of the country, either tor lortifying lor defense, or s^jtting up a trade for fishing, or salt, or such Lke. ' Prom the "Ant.eniest ±5ooke" of New London records it appears thit in 1649 leave was granted to Mr. John Wmthrop to set up a were (weir or wear) and make use of the river at Poquonnuck "for to take fish.'" Tfiis is the earliest local mention 1 have seen of this contrivance for taking fish. The island itself, with a smaller one off Mystic and close under the Connecticut shore, was included in the Duke of York's patent of 1664 and has ever since been regarded as belonging to Suffolk County; but the small island off Mystic reverted to Connecticut on the adoption of the boundary hne between the two States. In i6b8 John Wmthrop, its owner, recog- nized the soverignty of New York by procuring from Gov. NichoUs a patent whiCh settled h.s title to the island, and it remained in his family until transferred to the late Robert Fox, of New London, to whose estate the greater part of it now belongs. Adrian Block, the Dutch navigator, who in 16 J4 was the first to explore Long Island Sound, when he sighted Montauk Point called it Fisher's Hook, but that term was not accepted by the English. It IS believed that Matthias Rowland, of Norwalk, Ct., formerly of Suffolk County, and Capt. Gould Hoyt, of Norwalk, were tlie first to open escalops for market purposes; this was about 28 years ago. Charles Fanning, late of New Suffolk, deceased, was the first one on Peconic Bay to engage in the busmess, which has since grown to very considerable proportions, giving employment, mostly in the winter months, to a fleet of 40 to 50 vessels manned by over 200 men and boys. Some winters ago Capt. James M. Monsell, of Greenport, in a boat with two men and six dredges, from a bed of escalops at Promised Land, East-Hampton, took 500 bushels in one day. In January, 1837, the Z. /. Slar printed an account of a summer ramble over Long Island, and in that part of it which treats of the country between Riverhead and Orient, particularly of the facilities for fishing, etc., speaks of an old gentleman telling the writer that when he was young a great seine was used to catch porpoises, out of which they made oil from the blubber and leather from the skins. In Transactions of the "Society " Instituted in the State of New York for the Promotion of Agriculture, "Arts and Manufactures, ' printed in 1794, is an article by Ezra L'Hom- medieu, of Southold, a Vice-President of the Society, entitled "The Man- "ner of taking Porpoises at the East End of Long Island." By the kindness of Hon. B. D. Sleight, I have examined an original ■"indenture" dated March 26, 1744, which recites that Benjamin L'Hom- medieu, Jr., Benjamin Bailey, John Vail, Saml Landon, John Prince, Elijah Hutchinson and Isaac Hubbard, all of Southold, have joined them- selvts to be partners toi^ether in the trade or design of catching porpoises and other fish along the coast, shore or liarborsof Long Island, to continue six months Irom April 4th, the arrangement being that L'Hommedieu should furn.sh a boat, porpoise seine, and one other seine for other fish, with tackling, &.C., and two men, one experienced and skilled in the use thereof, while the others, either personally or by substitute, were to furnish APtENBIX. INCIDENTS OF THE FISHERIES. I05 each a capable man and to pay each one-tenth cost of provisions — L'Hom- medieuto have five-elevenths of the profits and the others each one-eleventh. At Orient, June 5, 1833, a seine at one haul took 12,250 drum fi.h averaging ^^ pounds in weight; the total catch weighing 202 tons and 250 pounds. Fifty years ago Trout fishing on Long Island had already become of recognized importance. The numerous swift streams of clear, old and pure water, Rowing from the higher level of the central region to the north and south shores — especially to the latter — make superior feeding and breed- ing haunts for the "speckled beauties,'" and it is held that the mingling of these fresh streams with the salt waters of the Bays serves to [ romote the growth and the delicacy of flavor for which the brook trout of Long Island have long been noted. However this may be, it is certain that Long Island trout have been and still are favorites in the city markets, commanding the highest prices. Within the past thirty to forty years private individuals and Clubs have bought up ponds and streams along the South Side, in the towns of Babylon, Islip, Brookhaven and Southampton, and have expen- ded lage sums in enlarging, cleaning and protecting the ponds and in arrangements for the propogation or protection of trout therein; and now comparauvely few public waters can be found in which the taking of natural trout yields any considerable return of either pleasure or profit. — To how great an extent this occupation of the trout ponds and streams of our county by individuals or corporations has gone I am unable to state with exactitude; but a careful estimate of the present cash value of the trout preserves in the county places it at about one million dollars. As long ago as 1837, in its issue of August 5, the Spin'/ of the Times had an account of a trip of several weeks on Long Island spent in making a tour of the trout ponds and streams, which were described at some length, the writer being strongly impressed by what he saw. He also referred to troll- ing for blue fish on the Great South Bay and to perch fishing in Lake Ron- konkoma, and specified among the fish then more commonly taken from the Bay — blue fish, black fish, weak fish, (chequet), porgies, sheepshead and striped bass. On September i6th, 1837, the schooner Oneco, Captain Rogers, from the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, arrived at Greenport with 25,500 cod- fish to Dr. E. D. Skinner. At that time the bounty on codfish was large enough to stimulate enterprises of this sort, and several were undertaken from Greenport and Sag Harbor. In 1807 there were brought to Sag Har- bor 6,600 quintals of codfish. Traping fish, or the use of various devices other than hooks or ordinary nets and seines, has been practiced from the earliest period, indeed, it may fairly be inferred that this mode of fishing was more general in the first than in the second century of the county's history, since in its earlier years the procuring or making of nets and seines was attended by greater relative expense and difficulty than it came to be when improved methods of manu- facturing twine, cordage and nets had cheapened their cost. By virtue of their ancient patents, confirmed by acts of the Legislature and upheld by judicial decisions, the towns of Brookhaven and Hunting- ton claim and exercise exclusive property rights in the Ian J under water of the bays, &c., within their jurisdiction. Much contention and some dis- turbance have arisen from conflicting views and claims growing out of this ownership by the towns, and out of their management, through Trustees, I06 APPENDIX. INCIDENTS OF THE FISHERIES. of the business of takini( oysters and clams, which, being bottom fish, are held to be proper subjects of local control, From the earliest dates, under these patents, more or less dispute has attended the management of the oyster and clam fisheries, and the controversy continues to this day. But while those engaged in the business differ widely on some points of regii a- tion and government, they agree in opposing outside interference and are tenacious upholders of the town's exclusive jursdiction. Though sonu- times grumbling at particular demands they have submitted to the trustee , authority and have resisted all attempts to bring on intervention by the State Legislature. For the sake of better enforcement of pr.)hibitioris on certain obnoxious methods or practices in the fishery, recoar.^e lias been had to the Board of Supervisors, who have power to impose larger pei.al- ties than the Trustees can do; but this is merely to supplement and reinfo \ e not to contravene or supplant the latter's authority. As early as 1771 ih; Trustees of Brookhaven ordered "that no oysters or clams '^hdl be takj.i "out of ye South Bay, opposite our town, within our patent, unless first "obtaining liberty of us, ye Trustees, or from our order, and whoever sh ill "go contrary to this act shall piy for every such ofTenci ye sum of Twen y "Shillings, to be recovered before any Justice of the Peice as any oth:r " debt." In 1788 the Trustees fixed the charge for each t )n of ovsters tak jn out of the bay, at i shilling 6 pence, and soon afterwards in the same year amended it by making the charge " 2 pence prr tub of oysters or clams." APPENDIX D. SHIP BUILDING AND TONNAGE. I have striven with much pertinacity and zeal to recover authen- tic data whicn might enable me to present a pretty comprehensive and complete view or the business of building vessels within the limits of our County; of the builders whose handiwork became a part of the glory of the American comercial marine; of the yards in which they worked; of the names and other particulars of the vessels they built, and of the skillful sea- men who manned and commanded them; and by the kind help of friends at some places I have succeeded in getdng tolerably full lists of name, rig and tonnage of vessels launched at those places; but there are others, some ot them in my immediate neighborhood, at which I have so far failed to get even approximately correct lists and have therefore felt obliged to omit all fu ther reference to them. I do not despair of eventually receiving facts enough to o-ive a fair idea of the busirv.ess at these places, but it is a slow p oces> and will take much time. It is not claimed that the lists herewith given are complete or are absolutely correct, but they are based on careful in- quiry and research by friends at the places named, and may be accepted as reUable in all essendal particulars. APPENDIX. - — SHIP BUILDING. 107 Patchogue. Rig. Schr Vessels built at Ritchogue by Bo«s O. Perry Smith from 1850 to 1872. Tonnage. 160 Brig Schr Date. 1850 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 i860 i860 1864 1864 1865 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1872 Name. Ida Maillor R. H. Vermilyea A. Mason J. A. Stanley T. D. Wagner Kate Merrill A. Stewart Phebe S. T. Baker Daniel Holmes John Shay Not named (when launched Harry Doremus Not named (when launched) Alida Ricardo Barros Minnie Phebe J. W. Boyle 140 340 320 476 360 170 180 300 350 480 80 85 55 70 170 360 240 120 Total 4.556 During the same period^he built 19 sloops for the oyster trade, ranging from 20 to 40 tons and averaging say 30 tons, or 570 in all, making the total tonnage constructed by him in that time something over 5,000. The larg- er vessels were employed in coastwise trade, as fruiters from the West Indies, or in other lines of foreign trade. Some of them have been remark- ably successful as sailors; thus: the R. H. Vermilyea made the trip from Cuba to New York in 6 days; the Phebe (2nd) made the trip from ban Bias to New York in 12 days, the quickest passage between the two ports; and others have made notably quick voyages. Edward Post built at Patchogue in 1882 a schooner yacht of about 160 tons. In the same year Martenus Smith, son of O. P. Smith, built the schooner Grace Bailey, 1 20 tons. A very large number of sloops and small schooners, designed mostly for the oyster trade, have been built in and near Patchogue; any exact figures of number or tonnage would be im- possible, but the aggregate would probably count up several thousand tons. To Edward T, Moore, Surveyor of Customs at that port, I am indebted for the following: Statement of Tonnage at the Port of Patchogue on June 30, 1875, the year of its establishment as a Port of Delivery and each year thereafter. Date, No. of Vessels. Tonnage. June 30, 1875 57 934.00 1875 134 2,523.12 1877 161 2,716.96 1878 179 2,766.00 1879 209 2,925.26 1880 207 2,730.39 1881 201 2,485.70 to8 APPENDIX. SHIP BUILDING. " 1882 202 2,415.42 " 1883 208 3,611.45 Other Soi'th Bay Ports. At Bellport several large schooners have been built, but 1 cannot give their names, etc. Numerous small schooners and sloops, chiefly for the' ovster trade or for bay freighting, have been built at Bellport, Moriches, PatchogLie, Sayville, Islip, Bay Shore, Babylon and Amityville, but the work of ascertaining their names and tonnage would bealmost an intermin- able and hopeless one. It is considered a low estimate to reckon the total tonnage of this class of vessels constructed on the shores o!' the Great South Bay in Suffolk County within the past hundred and hfty years at not less than fifty thousand tons — in fact, the strong probability may be that for the past fifty years an average of thirty boats, averaging twenty tons, ha\e been built each year. Port Jefferson. Lying at the head of a land-locked bay of deep and quiet water, with sufficiently bold shore, this place seems to have been designed by nature for a location adapted to the ship-builder's art. The earliest settlers recog- nized these natural advantages, and while yet there were but five houses at what was then known as Drowned Meadow, in 1797, John W;lsie is re- ported to have built on the east side of the harbor, at the place now locally called " Homan's Hollow," a sloop loyally named the King George — the forerunner of a large and noble fleet that, receiving their baptism and christening in the waters of Port Jefferson Bay have since borne the hailing name of Brookhaven to all the seas ploughed by the keels of commerce. Speaking commercially not less than in respect to ship-building, the chief if not the only drawback to a much greater development than has actually taken place in and on this bay, and in and on the bays that connect with it, has been the narrow and shoal channel at its entrance from the Sound. So far back as 1835, in October of that year i\iq Jeff ersonijn had an article in favor of an appropriation to build a breakwater at Drown Meadow, \Vhich name at a public meeting in the following March was changed to Port Jefferson. On other occasions public attention was drawn to the de- sirability of improving the entrance to this fine harbor, but no action was taken until the 41st Congress ordered a survey and upon a favorable report made an appropriation to begin the construction of a breakwater on the east side ol the channel. Subsequent appropriations have been made and expended, and the channel is materially improved, but a further sum is needed to be used for dredging a still wider and deeper passage-way. Through the unwearied efforts of Mr. James E. Bayles, himself prom- inently connected with the industry in question, who has had recourse to Custom House records so far as tliey were available, and to local records and traditions, verified whenever possible by conference with the oldest residents of the locality, 1 am enabled to present a list o" vessels built at Port Jefferson from the launching of " King George" down to the present time. It is believed to be substantially correct and complete though some of the dates, especially those between 1840 and 1850, may not be entirely accurate. Its preparation extended considerably over a year and required much patient labor. Capt. John Wilsie in 1799 or 1800 and following years built the schooner CuUoden and sloops Collector, Ontario, Oneida and Jane. APPENDIX. SHIP BUILDING. 109 Date 1812 1815 Capt. Thomas Bell moved there m 1802 and built the following : Sloops, Argus, Hector, Hussa; ship Boyne and a gunboat of about 30 tons for the U. S. Government, which was begun in 1807, but, not being called for sooner, was not finished till 1814. Richard Mather began in 1809. He built the following: Rig. Name. Date. Rig Name. Sloop Invincible 18 10 Sloop Independence " General Pike , 18 14 " Adeona Sloop, Catharine Rogers, 18 16. [He was the father of John R. Mather, the present noted builder, and was killed by an accidental fall from the last named vessel when nearly ready for launching. ] James Still in 1809 or 18 10 built the sloop Elector. Thomas Bayles in 18 16 built the sloop Beaver. Titus Mather. Name. Date. Rig. Calhoun 1823 Sloop Triumph (Nov.) 1824 Brig Sloop, Escort, 1826, Capt. Wm. L. Jones Name. Date. Rig. Virginius 1827 Schr. Charles E. Thorn 1834 Sloop Elisha Bayles. Date. Rig. 1830 Sloop Edgar Brown. Date. Rig. 1830 Sloop (smack) Vesta Edward Post. Name. Cybele Benjamin Brown. Rig. SIOOD Schr: Rig. Schr, Rig. Sloop Ris:. Name. Date Mongomery (Apl.) 1824 Name. Alonzo Name. Amos Palmer Name, Pearl. Radiant Name. James Gorham Name. Sloop (t^mack) Uranius Rig. Sloop 1825 Date 1862 1836 Date 1834 Date 1832 Date 1829 Rig- Sloop Name. Invincible Juvenile Export James Nelson Date. 1832 1834 1840 184) Rig. Sloop Name. Verille Ariel Date 1838 Rig. Rrig Sloop Schr Cumberland Register Pizarro C. L. Hulse Franklin Bell Sloop Nancy Anna, 1852. Isaac Ritch. Name. Aeolus- Lewis Hulse. 1832 Sloop 1835 Schr 1841 MaryH. Williams 1848 Jacob Duryea 1851 Date 1839 1853 Editor Southerner Flordia Wm. Thomas D. C. Hulse 1834 1840 1845 1849 1855 no APPENDIX. SHIP BUIL] DING. Smith & Darling. Rig. Name. Date. Rig- Name. Date Brig Florida 1832 Brig Amelia Strong 1833 Sloop Emeline 1833 Sloop S. B. Packet 1834 " Empire 1834 Active 1834 Brig Darien r835 Congress 1835 Schr Volta 1836 Unity 1836 Sloop Sylph 1837 Gleam 1837 1 ( Report 1837 Senate 1838 Brig Long Island 1839 Schr Smith & Darling 1840 Sylvester Smith. Rig. Name. Date. Rig. Name. Date Schr. Martha Maria 1843 Schr. Panama 1844 < < Alert 1845 ( i J. E. Smith 1845 << Aratus 1846 " Orianna 1846 Matthew Darling. Rig. Name. Date. Rig. Name. Date Schr. Maria M. Klots 1842 Schr. Charles Hopkins 1842 < ( Iowa 1844 " Mary Eliza 1842 (< Martha Jane 1845 < ( Gen. Marion 1845 (( Corbulo 1846 ( ( Charles Mills 1846 <( Jacob Smith 1847 " Mary J. Peck 1846 Schooner, Oregon, 1848. Syl\t:ster Smith & ]. Darling. Rig. Name. Date Schr. Athal ia 1846 J. Darling. Rig- Name. Date Sloop , Clio 184001 :i84i Charles & J. Darling. Rig. Name. Date. Rig. Name. Date Schr. New Republic 1848 Schr. Governor 1848 Sloop Home 1848 <( William Tyson 1849 Schr. Aurora Borealis 1849 <( Galota 1850 Charles Darling Rig. Name. Date. Rig. Name. Date Schr. Sea Flower 1851 Schr. Selah B. Strong 1852 James M. & C L. Bayles. Rig- Name Tons Date Sloop t < Miami Native 68 61 1836 '1838 Brig Bel del Mar 125 1839 Schr. Denmai •k 135 1841 Sloop Adelia 48 1843 Schr. Belle 126 1845 or 1846 ( > Telegrai ph 143 1846 Sloop Mary R ". Kirby 65 1846 Schr. Edward L. Frost 150 1847 t( William Ei CoIIis m «84r APPENDI.X". — «HIP BUILDING. Schr. (yacht) Breeze ICO " Rainbow H5 ( i Francis A. Baker 80 Sloop Phebe Ann 42 (( Eliza A. Jane 76 " Senator 70 Schr. C. L. Bayles 154 " James M. Bayles 170 " Maria L. Bavles 176 ( i Willett S. Robbins 180 "■ Stephen H. Townsend 260 " Stephen Taber 304 " (yacht) Elliptic 112 " Breeze 254 Sloop Flying Arrow 60 Schr. Henry Janes 261 " Thomas W. Alcott 203 " Lucinda A. Bayles 286 James M. Bayles, Rig. Name. Tons. Schr. M. H. Reed 221 tt A. Hammond 219 < < Moonlight 263 Brig Mary E. Jones. 265 Schr. E. A. Conkling 260 Sloop Yankee 85 Schr. Anna Shepard 167 " Ann Amelia 89 i i Glenwood 148 Joseph Rowland. Rig- Name. Tons. Sloop (yacht) Irene L. M. Rowland 59 Rig. Name. Tons. Schr. Flora Temple 23 " Starlight 32 James M. Bayles & Son (J AMES E.) Rig. Name. Tons. Schr. Annie Lewis 3^3 <( Anna W. Collins 20Q << Julia E. Willetts 243 (( Julia A. Rider 276 New Tonnage. (( Annie V. Bergen 184 . < Katie J. Hoyt 220 it Ann E. Valentine 316 i < Circle 42 (< Matilda Brooks 333 (< George H. Mills 2^6 Brig Susan Bergen U7 I ri 1840 1849 1849 1849 1849 1850 1850 1851 1851 1852 1852 1852 1853 1853 1853 1854 I8S4 1861 Date 1854 1854 1855 1856 1856 1857 1858 1859 1861 Date 1852 Date 1861 1865 Month Year July 1863 April 1864 July 1864 Dec. 1864 Jan. 1865 Aug. 1865 ( i 1866 May 1867 July 1867 Aug. 1867 1 1 1868 112 APPENDIX. SHIP BUILDING. Bark Schr. Steamer Bark Sloop Schr. Ship (whaler) Bark Schr. Brig Sloop (\ acht) Schr. Rig. Schr. Brig Schr. Sloop Schr. Carib 294 Oct. 1868 Henry A. Taber 129 June 1869 Alert [43 ( ( 1870 Jennie Rosalene 342 Aug 1870 Millie Frank 60 Sept. 1870 Henrietta 30 June 1871 Thomas R Ball 430 Aug. 1871 Thyra 205 Dec. 1871 Nomad 476 April 1872 Ada Rhame 25 May 1872 Eliza Rhodes 25 June 1872 William H. Keeney 314. April 1873 Mary Emmor 52 June 1873 De Mory Gray 402 Nov. 1873 Rosa Eppinger 293 May 1874 Annie A. Booth 208 June 1874 Clara E. Bergen 481 Sept. 1874 James E. Bayles 431 Nov. 1874 Manuel R.Cuza 298 Oct. 1875 William E. Clowes 571 Dec. 1875 Eleanor 35^ May. 1876 Horatio 349 July 1877 Fleetwing 328 Oct. 1877 Comet 301 Nov. 1877 Jimmie 20 June 1878 Nellie Floyd 457 . March 1879 H. & J. Blendermann 399 Dec. 1879 Oracle N. 415 Jan. 1880 Transit 30 May 1880 Chatham "3 July 1880 Waccamaw 459 Aug. 1881 Atalanta 352 Dec. ri88i Whitby 30 • June 1883 Lillie Holmes 407 Sept. 1882 Ocean Child 37 Nov. 1882 Nellie W. Craig r468 Aug. 1883 Elsie A. Bayles 302 Oct. 1883 Nettie Shipman 322 < < 1884 John R. Mather. Name. Date Caroline E. Thorn 1838 Alfred F. Thorn 1839 Excelsior 1840 Wm. L. Jones Tons. 1841 Lady Suffolk 100 1846 Thomas A. Hawkins 1849 Wm. H. San ford 98 1850 John R. Mather 1851 Magnolia 139 185a Neptune's Bride 2o6 1853 War Stfeed 153 18^4 APPINDIX. ^SHIP BUILDING. "3 << Millard Fillmore 240 1856 << Willow Harp 139 1858 It B. Jones 216 1861 t< Wm. M. Jones 374 1871 (< B. I. Hazard 392 1872 Brig John McDermott 564 1878 Schr. George R. Congdon 450 1879 (( Bessie Whiting 560 1882 << D. K . Baker 493 1883 <( J. H. Parker 521 1884 C. L. Bayles. Big. Name. Tone. Date, Rig Name. Tons. Date. Schr. Edward Slade 285 '855 Jeremiah Darling. << Susan E. Jayne 204 1855 Bark James L. Davis 461 1857 << Anna M. Edwards 119 1856 " D. Jex 222 1858 <( Reindeer 197 1856 " Holland 360 1859 Brig Yankee Blade 275 1857 Brig Eaglet 198 1859 Bayles & Wines. Darling & Wines. Schr. Ida A. Jayne 211 1863 Schr. C. M. Newins 384 i860 (( Lavinia Bell 154 1864 Brig Cacique 201 i860 " (yacht) John Swan 30 1865 Schr. S. C. Evans 281 i860 c< S. T. Wines 224 [864 Brig Water Lilly 197 1861 (( Madison Holmes i8q 1864 Ahira Hawkins & Wm. Darling. C. L. Bayles & Son. Schr. Montezuma 120 1847 Schr. H. N. Squire 308 [867 " Northern Light 1849 Brig Helen M. Rowley 390 [867 " Francis H. Hopkins 1848 <( L. L. Squires 425 [868 " Esther Burr 1850 ( H. T. Young 65 " Kate 140 u Emma Smith 60 Sloop Irene 60 « Bulldog 10 " Water Witch 40 i< Harriet Amelia 9 " Silas Wright 160 « Angeline 12 " Martha 40 It Henry Herbert 15 " Northport 20 « Crescent 15 " Motto 15 « Kate Cannon 60 " Alcamus 60 <( Idu Viola 21 " Borealis 70 « Armenia 25 " Grey Gull 80 « G. B. McClellan 20 S. Prior Hartt. t( George Milner 21 Tonnage and date not give: D. c Wanderer 80 Sloop Fanny Kemble Schr. Viola 69 «' A. Darling Sloop Katy Did 10 " Alamonde K Unexpected 9 Brig Caroline E. Piatt M Laurel 10 Schr. Golden Eagle " (smaok) Nettie 8 Sloop Lady Emil « Contest 22 Schr. William Ellis i* /I-,.-.:!*- K.r 1 < Beebe) 9 " Sea Bird Isaac ScuDDER Ketoham. " Tickler Dates not given, out commencing in " Maxon Rogers 1820. « Alfred Chase Slooi ) Constitution 60 *' Jonas Warren « Planet 70 Sloop Delaware Ii6 APPENDIX.— ^HIP BUILDING. S. Pbioe Haett. Uig. Name, ' rons. Year Elg. N^me. Tons. Tear. Schr. S. S. Brown 115 1868 Sloop Three Siaters Stmr. Pastime 100 1869 ,'f, Phebe Ann Levinus " Tourist 100 1869 ; *t Mischief " Passport 100 1873 " Adelaide Sloop Pell 30 1874 " William Middleton " Billard 20 1874 " Chief Stmr. Ripple 100 1876 " John Abeel Jesse Jaevis. Schr. Nettie Sloop Orange 69 1841 '^ Eobert B. Coleman Schr. Detroit 100 1844 " David Crocker Sloop Ann Strong 60 1844 Sloop Sarah Elizabeth " (yacht) Hector 14 1847 " Maltby " Johnny Leviness 80 1849 " Lady Elizabeth Schr. Henry J. Scudder 98 1852 Moses B. Haett. Sloop Robert Freeman 20 1853 (Brother of S. Prior Hartt. ) " Louise 27 1854 Sloop Mary A, Smith 65 1849 Schr. (sm'k) Eliza L. Kogers 68 1859 Schr. Peerless 175 Shcr.(Pilot boat) Edna C. . 40 1860 " Wm. Cogswell 235 " Flying Fish 46 1860 " Blackbird 130 Sloop Harriet 20 1860 :. " Kingbird 130 Schr. Marianua 100 1862 " Milton 100 Sloop Gleam 58 1862 « J, M. Kissam 90 Schr. (smack) Petrel 72 1863 Sloop George Edwin 60 1870 " (yacht) Mattie 50 1863 Edwin Leffbrts. Sloop Dictator 19 1863 Sloop Mollie 15 " Bolton 16 1864 " Sarah Louise 30 " Marianna 22 1865 " Alvaretta 35 " Stanley Howard 33 1865 " Sallie 15 Schr. Phil Sheridan 128 1866 Schr. Eva Lewis 100 1867 " (sm'k) Eliza J. Kings- Sloop Emma Brush 60 land 58 1867 Sclir. Wm. W. Wood 110 " Racer 87 1868 ■•♦. Lillie Wilson 80 " Ella 80 1869 " Wm, Miller 175 Sloop Lena Becar 54 1870 *♦ George Edwin 120 1879 Schr. J. S. Curtis 228 1870 Erastus Haett. Sloop Cornelia 70 1870 (Son of S. Prior Hartt.) Stmr. Wilmington 76 1870 Sloop Harah Lucinda 30 1858 Sloop Bride 50 1871 " Elsie May 35 1861 " (yacbt) Mischief 30 1872 " Helen A. Brown 65 1864 " (smack) Isaac Walton 29 1874 " John Eoach 45 1864 " James Kirby 24 1875 " Mary Suydam 35 1865 " Louise 19 1879 Stmr. L. J. N. Stark 800 1866 Stmr. F.E.Browne 54 1881 Sloop A. Bi'ush 65 1867 " Lizzie Woodend 58 1883 Jesse Carll. Of all the Northport shipbuilders perhaps the most successful and widely known isBoss Jesse Carll, a native of Huntington town, who, when 17 years old began an apprenticeship of five years with Boss James M. Bayles, of Port Jefterson. In 1855 he began business at the yard now occupied by him, then one-half its present size in connection with his brother David Carll. In that year they built for Seth R. Robbins, of Brooklyn, two sloop lighters each of about 80 tons, but their names are not given. In the following year they built for the noted Appleton Oaksmitt a fine bark of about 650 tons — a large vessel in those days, having a poop-deck and two full decks— named the Storm Bird. She was launched inside of 87 APPENDIX. — ^SHIP BUILDING. II 7 days from the laying of her keel, which was a notable instance of energy and expedition when the limited resources of the yard at that early day are considered. Through sharp practice they were cheated out of the fair profit they would have made on this contract, but the young firm were not dis- couraged thereby. They then paid their workman from |4 to $4. 50 per day. The partnership was dissolved in 1865, David returning and after- ward opening a yard at City Island. Jesse Carll has since 1865 built some large and highly successful vessels, which are regarded as specially excel- lent in respect to beauty of model, speed and staunchness. He did not preserve any record, however, and cannot give exact figures, but in the following list accuracy is approached sufficiently for all practical purposes, though in some cases the tonnage is not the registered number of tons but indicates the carrying capacity. Some of the more noteworthy vessels built by him, with incidents in their careers, are: Schooner Storm Cloud was sold and sent to California. Schooner Joseph E. Nickerson, a keel boat, built for Boston and Cape Cod parties, the builders retaining a quarter interest, was sold, and after 15 to 20 years of service Mr. Carll, with Messrs. Yates & Porterfield, of N. Y. , the leading firm in the West African trade, bought her for that trade ; after making several voyages in command of Capt. Israel Whitman, she was seized by the natives while on a trading voyage up the Congo River and destroyed. Schooner Wm. Mazyck, built for Capt. Conklin, of Smith- town, was named after a Southern rice planter and employed in the trade to Georgetown, S. C. , after one trip, in 1861, to avoid seizure she had to make a hasty departure. Schooner Lucetta, designed expressly for the fruit trade, was the second vessel of her kind built up to that time. The years 1862-63 were dull in the building line, but the yard was fully oc- cupied with repairing and rebuilding, in which branch of the business there is less renown but more profit. In 1866, Mr. Carll, then running the yard alone, built his first vessel, the schooner Goddess. In 1867 he built for the Mediterranean fruit trade the schooner Jesse Carll, then declared to be the handsomest craft of her class sailing out of New York ; she was also a fast sailer, once making the trip from Gibraltar to Baltimore in 20 days and beating by 5 days the fastest English fruiter afloat ; several thousand dollars changed hands in bets on the passage, between the charterers of the two vessels ; she was finally stranded on the Spanish coast in a hurricane, while discharging cargo at an open roadstead. Brig Moses Rogers, com- manded by Capt. Edward M, Jones, of Cold Spring, in the Malaga trade, was of about 600 tons burden (383 registered). Schooner Ann E. Carll, built for Capt. Benj. Tyler, was a fine craft, and after ten years service, during which she was twice stranded — once off Norfolk, Va. , and once on Block Island — was finally wrecked on a low coral island 60 miles from Cienfuegos, Cuba ; it was inhabited only by alligators who came near devour- ing the crew before they could make fires to protect themselves, but at last the tables were turned (literally) and the crew, having used up all the pro- visions they had been able to save, were forced to eat the alligators ; the vessel was whole when they were taken off by a Spanish gunboat, but the expense of floating her would have been more than she was worth. Brig Osseo, of about 700 tons burden (454 register), 21 feet deep in after hatch, with two full decks and poop, was designed for the Mediterranean trade ; is a large and expensive vessel, costing about $40,000; is still running, and 1 1 8 APPENDIX. — SHIP BUILDING. Mr. Carll retains an eighth interest in her. Bark Carrie L. Tyler, 565 tons register, carrying about 750 tons, having two full decks and a poop, is engaged in foreign trade and Mr. Carll is a part owner. The schooner yacht Clio was rebuilt at his yard and her speed greatly increased by being lenghtened 12 feet and almost completely re-constructed. The schooner yacht Ariel was served the same way with a similar result; she is now on the Pa- cific, having sailed to California by way of the Straits of Magellan. Schooner Joseph Rudd, a double-decked, centreboard vessel, built for the Texas trade, owned bv the builder and Messrs. Woodhouse & Rudd, of N. Y. , achieved distinction by an accident unique of its kind and a deliverance equally notable. In a norther off the mouth of the Rio Grande she was car- ried two miles inland and left upright and tight, but so far from her " native element " that it seemed hopeless to think of her ever flouting again. Her owners expended $23,000 in digging a canal to the sea, and after a year's enforced absence she was again clasped to the bosom of the Guli, an ex- perience only paralleled by that of the brig Atalanta, built by J. M. Bayles & Son at Port Jefferson, which vessel was driven on the Mexican coast in a norther and lay there for nearly a year before she could be put afloat, without sustaining any appreciable strain or any worse apparent injury than the loss of part of her copper sheathing. Schooner Herbert E., built for Woodhouse & Rudd's Texas trade, carried about 600 tons, was valued, new, at $35,000. In 1880 bark Mary Greenwood, the largest vessel built at that vard, of about 1,100 tons capacity, was launched ; is now in Aus- tralia under command of Capt. Tooker, and Mr. Carll owns three-eighths of her, the balance being held by N. Y. parties. Schooner Fanny Brown, of about 800 tons capacity, having two full decks and a poop, is a fine vessel, principally owned in Richmond, Va. The last vessel launched from his yard is the schooner Allie R. Chester, built on his own accoun and still principally owned by him ; a vessel of somewhat similar type, size and style to the Fanny Brown, and commanded by Capt. George Tyler, of Smithtown. While no record has been kept, he thinks that in all, of large and small craft he has built or aided in building between 40 and 50 ; but finding the margin for profit small on new work he has, for the past tvventy years, sought to do only enough of it to keep his men steadily employed ; his force of workmen during that time ranged from 25 to 95. Three times in the same period he has had to make Southern trips for the benefit of his health, impaired by constant and close application to business. The lists below are made up mainly from memory and are not com- plete, but excepting tonnage as above noted, may be accepted as practically correct : Jesse & David Cakll. Tons. Year. Sloop (lighter) 80 1855 "" 1834 " « 80 1855 1835 Bark Storm Bird (about) 680 1856 1837 Schr. Joseph E. Niekerson 350 1858 1840 '• Storm Oloud 280 1858 1846 " Helen Burton 150 1859 1847 .« Orvletta 230 1S59 1849 " Wm. Mazyck 140 1860 1850 '« Lucetta 250 1861 1878 1882 N. B. "White. Big. Name • Tons. Sloop Competent 60 " Ben Franklin 75 Sohr. Henry Chase 65 Sloop Roanoke 80 Schr. Globe 136 " T. B.Smith 132 Sloop 25 " Augusta 36 Schr. N. K. White 30 Sloop Idea 25 APPENDIX. — ^SHIPBUILDING. II9 Jesse Cakll. Sloop Mary & Martha (ab't) 100 1871 Schr. GoddoBs (ai. out) 250 1S66 " " 75 1872 " Jesse Carll " 300 1867 Bark Carrie L. Tyler " 750 1873 Brig Moses Rogers " 600 1867 Schr. Joseph Rudd " 450 1874 (yacht) Addie Voorhis 55 1875 Sohr. Gailiard 80 1868 Sloop (lighter) " 90 1868 " 90 1868 Schr. Ann E. Carll " 400 1868 " Francis E. Hallock". 350 1869 Annie Webb 200 1876 Herbert E. (ab't) 600 1877 Frances 600 1878 EmmaRitch " 400 1879 Brif^i- Osseo " 700 1870 Bark Mary Greenwood " 1,100 1880 Sloop Farmer 70 1870 Schr. Fanny Brown " 800 1883 Schr. Florence 160 1871 " AUie R. Chester " 800 1884 This makes a total, so far as stated, of 179 vessels, including 91 sloops, 2 sloop yachts, 4 sloop lighters, i sloop smack, 58 schooners, 2 schooner yachts, i schooner pilot boat, 3 schooner smacks, 3 brigs, 3 barks, 8 steamers. Reducing tonnage capacity where so given to average of regis- ter, there are of recorded tonnage built at Northport about 16, 500 tons, and allowing fair averages for the vessels whose tonnage is not given, the ag- gregate will be close upon 18,500 tons of shipping built at that port. Centreport. Eligibly situated at the head of Centreport Harbor, an offshoot from Northport Bay, this small but thriving village early engaged in the business of shipbuilding and car ied it on to a moderate extent, but in recent years little or none has been done there. Mr. Parrotte has kindly sent me the subjoining list of vessels built at Centreport between 1814 and 1884, but did not give names of builders or dates of launching : Rig. Name. Tons. Rig. Name. Tons- Sloop Enemy 25 Brig Buckley 150 " Capital 50 Sloop Cinderella 60 Schr. Consort 100 Schr. Intent 100 Sloop Farmer 50 Sloop Gen. Lewis 55 " Select 50 " Adelia 12 " Lady Jackson 45 " Record 25 Schr. Metamoras 40 " Brief 11 A total of 14 vessels and ']']t, tons. East Setauket. Occupying a favorable location at the head of Setauket Harbor, which connects with Port Jefferson Bay, residents of this place engaged m ship- building on a small scale early in the present century, but I have not been able to get any data anterior to 1836, in which year BossNehemiah Hand, still a hale and vigorous man, widely known for the active and prominent part he has taken in commercial affairs and especially as a representative of the American Ship Owners and Masters' Association, began a long and highly successful career. In 1864 he associated with himself his son George S. Hand, and, after adding half a dozen fine boats to his fleet, in 1873 he re- tired leaving his business to be prosecuted by his son. During this long period of almost forty years he built many large, handsome, swift and staunch vessels, that were a credit to himself and an honor to the county ; some of them are still in active service and able to hold their own in comparison with later built craft, whether for speed or seaworthiness. He and his son own two sets of marine railways, which for twelve years past have been kept I20 APPENDIX. — SHIP BUILDING. pretty fully occupied with vessel s to be repaired or rebuilt. His list is a re- markable one, as follows : Nehemiah Hand. Brig T. W. Rowland 471 1855 Rig. Name. Tons. Year. Bark Urania 4('5 1856 Schr, Delight 41 1836 Schr. Andniraeda 261 1857 Sloop Eliza Jayne 35 1837 BmiI< Palace 368 1859 " Hardscrabbie 74 1839 Schr. Aldebaran 180 1860 " Helen Jayne 43 1841 Brig Mary E. Rowland 280 1862 Dart 18 1843 N. Hand & Son. " Comraerce 84 1844 Brig Ampricu< 498 1864 Schr. Nancy Mills 109 1845 " Marv E. Thaver 272 1868 " Mary A. RowlaDd 135 1847 Bark Desaldo 492 1870 " Albemarle 154 1847 Brig Daisy 476 1871 " Soutli Hamilton 180 1848 Barlceniine Tilos. Brooks 4G0 1872 " Marietta Hand 137 1849 Schr. N. Hand 191 1873 " Nassau 169 1850 Bark Ferris S. Thompson 500 1875 Brig N. Hand 263 1851 Brig Irene 475 1877 Sloop Chase 181 18.^2 Bark Lottie Moore 938 187y Schr. Flying Eagle 182 1853 " Monrovia 360 1879 Bark 0. W. Poultnev 487 1854 Steamer Florence 50 1882 The above lists make a total of 33 vessels launched from that yard, comprising one steamer, 7 barks, i barkentine, 7 brigs, 1 1 schooners, 6 sloops, with an aggregate (registered) oi'8,964 tons. In 1870 the largest vessel ever completed in a Suffolk county — perhaps in a Long Island — yard was launched from the yard of David Bayles at East Setauket. This was the full-rigged ship Adorna, built by Capt. James Davis for the cotton trade between New Orleans and Liverpool and still engaged in foreign trade, though now sailing under the German flag. She registered 1,460 tons and has a capacity of over 2,000 tons. Capt. Davis, who was largely interest- ed in the cotton trade and had made a great deal of money, set out to build the largest vessel afloat, and spent much money and time in collecting material at Boss Bayles' yard ; work was begun and the frame put together for a ship that was to measure 235 feet in length, 40 feet beam, and 31 feet in depth; but owing to some speculations that turned out disastrously Capt. Davis' resources were crippled and he was forced to abandon the un- dertaking ; the frame was finally sold to the New Jersey Railroad Co. , by whose direction it was cut down to a depth of 20 feet, finished as a propel- ler or steam coal barge, carrying over 2, 000 tons, and named the Wilkes- barre. Bayles & Bacon. Rig. Name. Tons. Sloop Emily 80 Schr. Arrow 164 " Edna C. 200 Sloop Fashion 100 David B. Bayles. Schr. E. W. Brown 290 Francis Satterly 200 " Marcenas Mon8on,jr.ll5 " Charles T. Smith 117 Schr. Wide W.)rld 200 185* Year. " (3-masted) Fleet Wing 520 1855 1847 " Dexter Oaks 175 1855 1848 " D. B. Bayles 180 1856 1848 Sloop Meteor 50 1857 1849 Schr. Harriett Brewster 180 1859 Brig Conflict 80 1859 1850 Ship Adorna 1,460 1869 1851 '♦ (unfinished) after- 1852 ward coal propeller 3,700 1876 1853 appendix. — ship building. 121 Setauket. Wm. Bacon. This builder constructed in all. forty vessels, ranging from looto 700 tons burden, but is unable to give the exact tonnage, and application for further information proved resultless. At Riverhead John Davis built schooners Artist and Citizen, and sloops Olive Branch, Copy, Wm. Penn, John Adams, Sophronia, Marsh, and Signal. Frank Davis built schooner Mt^ry E. WoodhuU a.nd sloop yacht Peerless. Cold Spring. More or less of shipbuilding and ship-owning has been carried on upon the shores of this admirable harbor, one of the best on L. I. Sound, from an early date; but persistent inquiry has failed to elicit any very definite information respecting the vessels or their builders in early days. The bay and harbor form a fine shelter for both large and small craft, being deep, spa- cious and safe in all kinds of weather ; hence, naturally, the vicinity became the home of many seafaring men and has so continued since the settlement of the town. Beside the lists ofjrecenl builders some facts may be stated relating to the earlier part of the present century. In 1836 the sloop Premier of 130 tons burden, Capt. Wood, traded from Cold Spring to South Carolina ; the sloop Mediterranean, 100 tons, Capt. Jones, was in the Albany trade. In 1846 the schooner Silas Wright, 130 tons, Capt. Conklin, traded with the West Indies ; the schooner J. B. Gager, Capt. Fowler, traded in the Gulf of Mexico. Since that date the following are some of the vessels hailing from that port: Schr. Sarah Maria, 175 tons, Rogers, Central America ; schr. Narcissa, 120 tons, Jones, Boston ; schr. John D. Jones, Ber- dell, Virginia ; brig John H. Jones, 500 tons. Mills, Mobile ; brig Mary E. Jones, Capt. E. M. Jones, Malaga ; schr. Eliza J. Raynor, Sally Mer- ritt, Wm. L. Peck and others. Previous to the War of 181 2, Cold Spring was largely engaged in the manufacture of flannels and broadcloths, and also ground large quantities of grain for eastern markets, freighting the grain from North Carolina and from the Hudson River. Cold Spring was the second place on the Sound shore at which a steamboat connection with New York was formed. Elwood Abkams. John Bennett. Rig. Name. Tons. Year. Rig. Na-^ie. Tons. Tear. Sloop E. A. Willis 35 1868 Schr. Sarah L. Merritt 67 1866 Schr. Fortuna 37 1870 " Wm. L. Peck 78 1867 Sloop Sarah F. looker 15 1872 Daniel Gillis. Schr. Hattie Chevalier 37 1873 Schr. Ann Dole 185 1868 Stony Brook. More or less of shipbuilding has been carried on at this place from an early date. It occupies a favorable location on the east side of a good harbor projecting southward from the eastern side of Smithtown Bay. A portion of the village lies on the western side of the harbor, in the town of Smithtown. One of the prominent builders, Mr. David T. Bayles, who in recent years has practically retired from the business, in sending me his list does not claim for it entire ac- curacy as to tonnage by either the new or old custom house standard of measurement, or by what is called the "carpenter's measurement"; his ii2 APPENDIX. SHIP BUILDING. books do not contain these data, and he has to rely on memory for the carrying capacity or dead weight tonnage. Since, some nine years ago. he turned his attention to other business, his yard, except for some repairing, lay idle till about i8 months ago, when he built for Greenport parties the handsome schooner B. F. Jayne. David T. Bayles. Rig. Name, Tons. Rig. Name. Tons. Schr. (S-raasted) Royal Arch 600 Schr. Reneloha Hallock 250 " Golden Ray 140 B. W. Hawkins 500 " Wm. R. Knighton 800 Village Queen 300 *' (3- masted) Anna 800 Luna 170 •' Caribbean 350 Golden Rule 125 " B. F. Jayne 150 Ocean U8 380 To the firm of Jonas Smith & Co. , shipping merchants at 66 South St., N. Y., lam indebted for the following compilation of vessels built at Stony Brook (other than those built by Boss D. T. Bayles), between the years 1835 and 1868 : Jonas Smith. Ebenezer Hallock. Rig. Name. Tons. Rig. Name. Tons. Schr. Repeater 150 Schr. Monterey 150 (( Vindicator 200 " Harriett Hallock 175 " Ann Smith (No. 1) 100 " Julia M. Hallock 180 C( Regulus 120 " Adell 175 ' Illinois 70 Jesse Davis, « Orator 70 Sloop Copy 50 APPENDIX. SHIP BUILDING. 1 2 3 At Setauket, on the stream below the grist mill, sloops Mechanic and Brilliant, each of about 60 tons, were built in 18 16 ; in the summer of that year (ever since known as the "cold summer"), mechanics at outdoor employments worked in their overcoats. Southampton Village. One of the places least hkely to be supposed a possible site for ship- building is the ancient village of Southampton, which, though bordering the Atlantic, has no direct water connection with it and would seem to of- fer no possible mode of putting afloat any vessels that might be built there. But to the right kind of will there is said always to be a way ; and fifty years ago this good old village had not only a man of will and original ideas in respect to shipbuilding, but also a connection, somewhat remote but direct and sufficient, with the ocean, through an inlet into Shinnecock Bay, into which bay Heady Creek flows from the west part of the village, making the eastern boundary of the Shinnecock Neck or Reservation. At the period referred to William French resided on what is called Hill street, which runs westerly toward the Neck, and at some litde distance from the creek. He was noted as a man of ideas, not always practical and, like others whose fate it is to be ahead of their times, was often laughed at and perhaps despised. But this did not prevent him from experi- menting and trying earnestly to carry out some of his new notions. Among other things he conceived the idea of building a three-masted centre-board schooner ; and the claim is made for him that he was the first to construct such a vessel. At any rate he started to build, in the wide street before his house, a vessel of light draught, primarily designed for the trade in pine wood which than constituted almqst the whole traffic between eastern Long Island and New Y9rk, and spent some time m collecting material from the native woods of the vicinity. At first he set out to build her himself with the help of some house carpenters, but after a while he found that this course would never do, and after spoiling much good timber he procured the help of a master shipbuilder and assistants. After a long time, during which he exhausted most of his available means, in October, 1835, by the help of many yoke of oxen, the novel craft-estrange in rig, in model and in construction, and doubly strange by reason of the apparent solecism in- volved in its being built in such a place — was trundled laboriously from the house of Mr. French down into the waters of Heady Creek and there, not without hitches and halts, was finally floated. She was loaded with wood and taken through the inlet out to sea and sailed to New York, where she and her cargo Vere sold to relieve her builder's pressing neces- sities. It is said that she attracted a great deal of attention and was much admired for her shape, fine lines and general cleverness of model ; she proved a fast sailer and was employed for a time in trade with Southern ports, making trips as far as New Orleans, and afterwards she went into the L. I. Sound trarde. An unverified tradition asserts that when last heard from she was a slaver on the Spanish Maiii . She measured about 80 tons burden. It is said that Mr. French took his idea of the extremely sharp bow which he gave to this vessel from observing, in N. Y. city, one of the famous clip- per ships which were beginning to be built in those days. She had two centreboards, and was named the Sarah Helen. About 8 or 9 years aftei wards Mr. French built at the same place an- other craft — a two-masted schooner, considerably smaller; which was 124 APPENDIX. — SHIP BUILDING. launched in the same way and was employed for some years on L. I, Sound ; her ultimate end is not known. The chief peculiarity about this vessel was the fact that instead of planking on the outside in the usual way, she was covered with boards or strips laid on crosswise and nailed at the intersections ; this idea did not work well, as she soon became leaky. She was named the Phantom. Greenport. John Port, at Greenhill. Eig. Name. 8chr. Crysolite " Expedite " Charles Henry " J. Truman " Trade Wind Sloop Long Island " Antecedent Post & Hand. Sloop Sea Witch Silas E. Hand, South of I he Railroad. Schr. Wm. E. Dodge " Maria Morton Tons Schr. Wm. C. Kundson Sloop (smaek) J. H. Racey Wild Pigeon " Emma Johnson 81 E. Thornhill. 92 Sloop Grampus 136 Harmon D. Bishop. Who had yards on both sides of Main street. Name. Jane A. Bishop Eastern Star Emeline Haight Hannah M. Johnson Siam Union Rig. Bark Brig Schr. 12 Tons. 238 105 Slooj> As to many of the earlier built vessels, some of which are mentioned above while others are hidden from the light of investigation, few and in- complete details could be procured. Aside from those mentioned a num- ber were built at different limes, of which no data was obtainable. At Southold John C. Wells built the schooner John C. Wells and the sloops Fox and Defiance, Gilbert Davis built at New Suffolk the sloop Sarah Alice ; he also built two sloops at Greenport and rebuilt the sloop D. D. Webb. At Jamesport John Dimon built the schooner North State, 2o tons. W. H. Corwin built the schooner Anadir, 73 tons, sloop Sylph, 1 2 tons and sloop yacht Sirocco, 20 tons. Several other vessels, including SI number of large schooners, were built at New Suffolk and Jamesport. Richard Benjamin. Rig. Name. Tons. At Tanning's Point, south side of Sloop(smack)VVyaadankab't40 Railroad Rig. Na'-e. Tons. Schr. Wm. H. Rowe 156 " David G. Floy! 191 Sloop Native 20 At East Marion. Schr. Tamanlipas about 200 " 0. & C. Brooks 135 Harriet Foster 80 Year. «' R. Benjamin 15 1865 1855 Hiram Bishop. 1856 [Between the years 1839 and 1855, 1859 at the yard on the north side of Cen- tral avenue (formerly Amity street) 1862 since occupied by his son Oliver H. 1865 Bishop and now the property of At yard west side of Main street. Elizur Matthews, successor to Mat- Schr. Charles Henry 139 " J. Freeman 132 Sloop Long Island 88 •' Jotin Post 38 « D. F. Ives 5] " (smack) Silas Henry 40 " Mary Elena 15 " (yacht) Wavelet 20 " Albatross 40 " (smack) Oal Wells 39 1847 thews & Fordham.| 1847 Schr. Sterling 1847 Brig Thos. Cook 1849 do Pecoaic 1849 Schr. John O. Ireland 1849 do Sarah Strong 1850 do Minerva 1851 do Alida 1852 do Almeda 1852 do D. W. Dickinson 43 APPENDIX. — SHIP BUILDING, 125 Rig. Name. Tons. Schr. H. H. Talman do H. E. Bishop do Ruth Halsey do Rainbow Sloop (smack) Storm Child 43 do Nearchus 46 do Frances A, Bishop 13 Schr. Henry , 57 Sloop (smack) Reindeer do Margaret E. Wells Schr, Black Diamond 12© Sloop Mary Frances Boss Bishop also built the follow- ing other vessels : At Moriches the schooners Consul and Texas, and sloops TrafQc, Tradesman and Cadet. At bpeonk the sloops Three Brothers and David Lamphier. At Squire's Landing, Peconic Bay, schooner Ore- gon and sloop Lexington. At Wading River sloop . He also rebuilt out of other vessels the sloops Em- blem and Floyd S. Warner. In and near the same yard Calvin Horton built sloops Hannah Maria Webb, Van Buren, Odd Fellow and Greenport. H. E. & O. H. Bishop.' Sloop (smack) Sophia 1855 Oliver H. Bishop. Sloop(omaok)ChariPS Miller 42 1860 do B. C. Cartwright 14 1865 do Dolphin 14 1866 Schr. Ada M. Hallock 29 1866 do smack A. M. C. Smith 44 1866 do do W. W. Dickinson 44 1866 do Mai shall O. Wells 88 1867 do Olive Branch 59 1869 do Maria L. Davis 61 18i59 Stmr. Cambria 33 1871 Sloop yacht Lulu 1871 do Agnes 13 1871 Schr. (3-masted) Charles W. Alcott 296 1872 do do S. C. Tyron 423 1873 do do Hattie M.Crowell 432 1873 do do Allen Green 489 1874 do do Lizzie Titus 200 1875 Sloop (sharpy) Centennial 20 1876 do Eva 8 1876 Rig. Name. Tons. Schr. Lena R. Kaplan 76 1878 Matthew & Fokdham (same yard.) Sloop Kansas City 25 1880 Schr. (s'k) Samuel L. Storer 118 1882 Ketcham & Smith. Schr. Aimira Wooley 224 1867 do Emmu M. Fox 238 1867 Sloop Mary A. Sisson 21 1867 do Joseph Smith 12 1867 Schr. S. B. Franklin 243 1868 do (s'k) Thos. S. Rogers 62 1868 do Abel C. Buckley 234 1869 Smith & Bekbian. Sloop Swan 24 1870 dfe I^evada 27 1870 do J. E. DeBlois 27 1870 Schr. Luther Eldridge 15 1871 Sloop (yacht)Tho'8 G.Hunt 22 1872 do do Annie Homan 22 1872 Schr. (3-masted) Mary Free- land 398 1872 Charles M. Smith. Barkentine Melville Bryant 594 1874 Smith & Terry. Sjhr. (smack) Josie Reeve 45 1878 BarkejJtine Wandering Jew 667 1880 Schr. (3-m't'd) Freddie Hen- chen 326 1882 do do Felton Beat re- built into the Barkentine Mascotte 594 1882 Schr. (^mack) J. T.Becker 48 1884 do do Peter Cooper 50 1884 do do Julia L Grattan 52 1885 Silas Hand — Greenport. Schr. Bleecker 120 1847 :Jo S. E. Hand 200 1848 do Sophia C. Davis 150 1849 Sloop 8ea Wi.ch 100 1860 Schr. Trade Wind 120 1851 Silas E. Hand— Greenport. Sloop (smack) J. H. Kacey 60 1862 do i'lying Cloud 80 1853 do (smack) Wild Pigeun 50 1854 Schr. Wm. E. Dodge 175 1855 do C. B. Knudson 200 1856 ao Maria Morton 125 1856 do Jennie M. Vandeveer 100 1860 Silas E. Hand— Bellport. do Raynor 100 1863 Ji?< u V