[Illustration: (signed) Stephen M Ostrander]
A HISTORY
OF THE
CITY OF BROOKLYN
AND
KINGS COUNTY
BY
STEPHEN M. OSTRANDER, M.A.
LATE MEMBER OF THE HOLLAND SOCIETY, THE LONG ISLAND HISTORICAL
SOCIETY, AND THE SOCIETY OF OLD BROOKLYNITES
_EDITED, WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES, BY_
ALEXANDER BLACK
AUTHOR OF "THE STORY OF OHIO," ETC.
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOLUME I.
BROOKLYN
Published by Subscription
1894
Copyright, 1894,
BY ANNIE A. OSTRANDER.
_All rights reserved._
This Edition is limited to Five Hundred
Copies, of which this is No. 21.
PREFACE
At the time of his death, in 1885, Mr. Ostrander had completed
considerable MS. for a history of the City of Brooklyn and Kings County;
had prepared many chronological notes with a view to fuller writing, and
had accumulated a mass of material in the form of transcripts,
references, newspaper and other reports. It was his own understanding
that a first volume of a proposed two-volume history might be regarded
as well in hand, and that the wherewithal for the remaining chapters was
advanced toward completion.
At the outset of his undertaking the editor met the embarrassment of not
finding any outline which might reveal the precise form in which the
author intended to cast his work. Mr. Ostrander worked with a definite
idea, but did not formulate this idea in writing, and only the completed
expressions of this idea remained for the guidance of the editor. It
became apparent that the author intended to rearrange and extend the
matter for the earlier chapters. This matter was preserved in the form
of a series of articles published in the Brooklyn "Eagle," during
1879-80, covering the period from the discovery by Hudson to the
beginning of the Revolution. The degree of attention which these
articles attracted induced Mr. Ostrander to extend the series far beyond
the range he originally intended to give to them. As a result these
articles were not precisely consecutive, nor was the matter so ordered
as to adapt itself to book chapters without material changes. Without
knowing the author's design in detail, it was exceedingly difficult to
effect these changes save upon lines which the natural symmetry of such
a work seemed to suggest, and the editor has had no hesitation in so
rearranging the material, and in changing such features of the narrative
as had been temporarily essential to serial publication.
For the middle period, extending from the opening of the Revolution to
the time of the consolidation of Brooklyn, Williamsburgh, and Bushwick,
the author left a full narrative, and considerable collateral material.
Beyond this point the chapters were in an unfinished sketch. In putting
together the elements of this part of the work, the editor has been
actuated by a wish to follow, so far as it might be apparent, the
author's aim and plan. Possibly there is no occasion to offer apology
for those passages in the body of the work, and particularly in the last
chapter on modern Brooklyn, in which the editor has carried the
narrative beyond the date of Mr. Ostrander's death. The few instances in
which this occurs are obviously justified by the exigencies of the work.
Nor should there be need for any defense on the part of the editor for
the proportions of different elements of the work as now presented. No
two historical writers would agree as to essential proportions in such a
matter, and, without consultation with the author, no editor could hope
to do more than compromise between such intent as appeared in unfinished
work before him, and such ideal as to himself seemed wise.
Both author and editor have incurred obligations to Stiles's histories
of Brooklyn and Kings County; to the "Notes" of Furman; Field's
"Historic Scenes"; the Collections of the Long Island Historical
Society; the histories of Thompson and Prime, and to other authorities
to whom acknowledgment is offered in the notes and in the body of the
work. The editor is indebted to the excellent almanacs of the "Eagle"
and of the "Citizen"; to the "Brooklyn Compendium," compiled by John
Dykeman, Jr., and published by order of the Common Council in 1870; to
the recent compilation, "The Eagle and Brooklyn," edited by Henry W. B.
Howard and Arthur N. Jervis; and to various local reports and
publications which do not call for enumeration here.
A. B.
BROOKLYN, N. Y., _March 5, 1894_.
CONTENTS
PAGE
STEPHEN M. OSTRANDER xi
CHAPTER I
THE REGION OF BROOKLYN AT THE TIME OF THE DISCOVERY
Geology and Conformation of Long Island. Evidences of the
Glacial Period. Theory of the Glacial Action. "Back-Bone"
of the Island. Earliest Historical Description. Trees.
Animal Life. Indian Tribes: Their Subjugation by the
Iroquois; Habits and Habitations 1
CHAPTER II
DISCOVERY AND FIRST SETTLEMENTS
Early Voyagers. Henry Hudson. Attitude of Holland and Spain.
Motives of Holland. Hudson's Reports. West India Company.
Dutch on Manhattan Island. The Walloons and the Wallabout.
Derivation of the Name Wallabout. First authentically
recorded Settlements on Long Island. The Van Corlaer
Purchase. Bennett and Bentyn's Purchase. Joris Jansen de
Rapalje. Van Twiller. West India Company's Purchases
on Long Island. East River Lands 16
CHAPTER III
THE INDIANS AND THE EARLY SETTLERS
The Dutch Policy toward the Indians. Puritan and Dutch Policy
contrasted. Long Island Indians: Their Relations with the
Whites. Kieft's Attacks on Pavonia and Corlaer's Hook.
Uprising on Long Island. Overtures for Peace. Mission to
Rockaway of De Vries and Olfertsen. Restoration of Friendly
Relations 42
CHAPTER IV
THE BEGINNINGS OF BREUCKELEN
1643-1647
The Ferry and the Ferry Road. Settlement of Flatlands.
Flatbush. Lady Deborah Moody and the Settlement of
Gravesend. Early Settlements. The Name of Breuckelen.
Henry C. Murphy's Comments. First Schepens and Schout.
Commission from the Colonial Council. The Removal of Kieft.
Arrival of Stuyvesant 53
CHAPTER V
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE UNDER THE DUTCH
1647-1664
Beginning of Stuyvesant's Administration. Condition of the
Colony. Character of the Early Dutch Houses. Household
Arrangement. Dress. Funerals. Marriages. The Mixture of
Races. Slavery. Religion. Attitude of Stuyvesant toward
Sects other than Dutch Reformed. Triumph of Liberal Ideas.
First Churches in Kings County. Troubles over the Church
Tax. First Schools. The Dutch and Popular Education. End of
Dutch Rule 69
CHAPTER VI
KINGS COUNTY AFTER THE ENGLISH CONQUEST
1665-1700
Assembly at Hempstead. The "Duke's Laws." Lovelace. New York
retaken by the Dutch. Colve becomes Governor. Return of
English Rule under the Treaty of 1674. Dongan and the
Popular Assembly. De Sille. Journal of Dankers and Sluyter.
The Ferry. A Dutch Dinner. The Schoolmaster and the
Constable. William and Mary and the Leisler Revolution.
Sloughter appointed Governor. Execution of Leisler, and
Subsequent Honors of a Public Reinterment. Long Island
receives the name of Nassau. Development of Privateering.
Captain Kidd visits and buries Treasure on Long Island.
Bellomont and the Suppression of Piracy. First Trial for
Treason 106
CHAPTER VII
BROOKLYN BEFORE THE REVOLUTION
1701-1775
Brooklyn becomes the Largest Long Island Settlement.
Division of the Common Lands. Regulations as to the Cutting
of Lumber. The King's Highway laid out. Brooklyn Officials
at the Opening of the Century. Lord Cornbury's Proclamation
to Long Island Justices. Slavery. Encroachments on the
Common Highway. The Trial of Zenger. Population in 1738.
Fortifying Long Island. Newspaper Glimpses of
pre-Revolutionary Life. Ferries. Kings County in the
Assembly and the Provincial Convention. Philip Livingston.
General Town Meeting in Brooklyn 157
CHAPTER VIII
KINGS COUNTY DURING THE REVOLUTION
1775-1783
Kings County at the Opening of the Revolution. Participation
in Events leading to the Crisis. Military Officers. Long
Island Tories. The Continental and Provincial Congresses.
Fortifying. Declaration of Independence. General Greene on
Long Island. Draft in Kings County. Landing of the British
at Gravesend. The Battle of Brooklyn. The Night Retreat.
British Occupation of the County. Temptations to Disloyalty
toward the American Cause, and Action of the People under
British Pressure. The County in Congress. Losses in the
Battle. Incidents. Prisoners billeted on the Inhabitants of
Kings County. Long Island Refugees. Conspicuous Figures of
the Period. Peace 211
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
VOLUME I
PORTRAIT OF STEPHEN M. OSTRANDER _Frontispiece_
THE FIRST BROOKLYN FERRY _Facing page_ 38
THE FERRY IN 1746 102
BROOKLYN CHURCH AND DUFFIELD HOUSE IN 1776. (Drawn from
Illustrations in Stiles's History of Brooklyn) 174
FIRST FIRE ENGINE USED IN BROOKLYN. (Drawn from
lithographic illustration in Manual of the Common
Council, 1863) 206
BROOKLYN DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. (From the Map by Gen.
Jeremiah Johnson) 260
STEPHEN M. OSTRANDER
The name of Stephen M. Ostrander has been honored in the city of
Brooklyn as that of a man whose career exemplified a stainless
citizenship. The honors have been not those of public favor offered in a
citizen's lifetime, nor of memorials after he has passed away, but the
monuments of a cherished memory, the recognition of a generous and
wholesome personality.
Stephen M. Ostrander was born February 3, 1832, in the city of Brooklyn.
He was of Dutch stock, his earliest ancestor in this country being
Pieter Ostrander, who came to America in 1659. When Pieter Ostrander
reached America with his wife and three children--a son, Pieter
Pieterszen,[1] and two daughters, Tryutje and Geertje--Peter Stuyvesant
was Governor of New Amsterdam, and the settlement on Manhattan Island
occupied a small patch of land on the southern point of the land now
occupied by the vast metropolis of New York. Settlers had been living on
the Brooklyn side of the East River for a little more than twenty
years, and the Indians were still a formidable obstacle to the peace of
the struggling young communities. Dutch immigration had not yet been
checked by that bloodless conquest of the British, which five years
later transformed New Amsterdam from a Dutch to an English colony, and
changed its name to New York.
We afterward find Pieter Pieterszen living at Kingston. This second
Pieter among the American Ostranders was born at Amsterdam, Holland, in
1650, and before coming to this country with his father had been
enrolled as a cadet in the army of the Dutch king. In 1679 he married
Rebecca, daughter of William Janszen Traphagen and Joostje Willems Van
Northwyck. Among the children from this marriage was Hendrick Ostrander,
born at New Hurley, N. Y., in 1693. Hendrick acquired the ownership of
two thousand acres of land at Plattskill, which were evenly divided
among his ten children. He was "a staunch adherent of the Reformed Dutch
Church,"[2] and served in the army previous to the Revolution. His
marriage to Elizabeth Van Bommel, of Kingston, took place in 1724. His
son Christoffer, born and died at Plattskill, was the father of Stephen
Ostrander, born at Poughkeepsie in 1769, and afterwards of Pompton
Plains and Brunswick, N. J., who was an eloquent minister of the Dutch
Church. An illustration of the conditions prevailing at this period is
offered by the fact that Stephen Ostrander preached in both English and
Dutch.
The clerical Ostrander, who made an interesting reputation as a preacher
in the early part of the present century, married Maria Duryea in 1796.
His son, Abraham Duryea Ostrander, born at Pompton Plains in the
following year, came to New York in his twelfth year, and began an
energetic business career. From his earliest years he was of a studious
tendency, and his self-acquired learning gave him an excellent mental
equipment. He became a ripe scholar and influential citizen. For many
years he led the first Sunday school in the Reformed Dutch Church of
Brooklyn (corner of William and Fulton streets), walking to the
meeting-place from his home at Flatbush. In 1820, he married Margaret T.
Wilson, daughter of Peter Wilson, LL. D., of Columbia College, the tutor
of Charles Anthon and other well-known scholars, and distinguished for
having drawn up the constitution of the State of New Jersey.
Abraham Duryea Ostrander's three sons were Peter Wilson, George A., and
Stephen M. Ostrander. George A. Ostrander, a graduate of Columbia
College and of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, was the first
house surgeon of the Long Island College Hospital. The other two
brothers became lawyers, and it is among the interesting traditions of
the Kings County bar that they were frequently in opposition in the same
case. Under such circumstances their professional steel clashed
brilliantly, but the firm affection between the brothers had no hint of
strife or rivalry.
Stephen M. Ostrander, born 1831, was educated in this city and at
Columbia College. He was admitted to the bar and began the practice of
law while a decidedly young man, but soon made his personality felt in
the life of the city. If his tastes led him to a studious life at home,
his gifts and ambitions drew him into those features of political
activity which demand voice as well as counsel. He championed the
Democratic party, and until the close of his life he spoke his loyalty
in no uncertain tones. He became one of the "war horses" of the party in
campaign times, and was a respected adviser in those political times of
peace when parties prepare for war. He would have made an admirable
public servant, but party conditions did not bring him to the front as a
candidate, though they welcomed his voice on the platform. He wished to
be surrogate, but the nomination he sought was given to Jacob I. Bergen.
He was not an insistent candidate within his party, and the rewards
which might reasonably be considered to have belonged to him had not
been bestowed at the time of his death.
As a lawyer, Mr. Ostrander was conscientious, painstaking, forcible. His
genial personality made him popular wherever he appeared. His strong
figure fitted his character, which was staunch and equable. By
temperament he was inclined to see the whimsical side of things, while
quick to exclude any element of this sort from matters commanding his
serious thought.
Stories concerning him reveal his quick humor. One day a witty but not
especially well-versed Irish lawyer called upon him for assistance in
preparing a case. One point of perplexity with the inquirer was as to
the motive power on the ferries before the use of steam. Knowing
Ostrander's familiarity with early Brooklyn history, the inquiring
lawyer demanded information as to this point. "Before the days of
steam," said Ostrander, "they used to have horse boats." "Horse boats?"
queried the lawyer, with a look of continued perplexity. "Yes." "Did the
horses swim ahead of them?" "No," solemnly returned Ostrander, "they had
four holes cut in the bottom of the boat; the horse's legs passed
through these holes, permitting him to walk on the bottom, and thus
propel the boat." "Good!" said the listener, "I'll win the case." And he
did.
Mr. Ostrander's interest in American history was perhaps a natural
result of his ancestry and his tendencies as a student. He early began
the accumulation of historical material, and finally formed a definite
plan for writing a history of the city of Brooklyn and Kings County. He
was an active member of the Society of Old Brooklynites, frequently
addressing that body, and as a member of the Long Island Historical
Society,--in whose handsome hall, on Pierrepont Street, he was the first
to lecture under the auspices of the society,--he found many
opportunities to further his hobby of historical investigation. He also
entered that fraternity of descendants of Dutch stock, the Holland
Society of New York.
During the later years of his life he was a frequent contributor to the
newspapers and local magazines, generally upon topics directly related
to local history. Debated questions as to historical matters always
interested him, and his pen was ever ready with a casual comment. He was
a good debater, though not pugnacious, and never an ungenerous opponent.
In his profession, in his political associations, in his relations with
his fellow-citizens and with fellow-members of the different societies
to which he was attracted, he was always well poised, highly respected,
uniformly welcomed. His catholic tastes and sympathies gave him many
interests, as they gave him many friends. It was as natural that he
should be prominent in the Presbyterian Church, which he attended, as
that he should be a leading figure in the Masonic fraternity, to which
he was proud to own allegiance. His commanding figure, good voice, and
easy manner made him a popular speaker on social as well as public
occasions.
Mr. Ostrander married Annie A. Hammond on August 7, 1866. His domestic
relations were in keeping with the fine symmetry of his character. No
marriage could have been happier. In the preparation of the historical
work which was incomplete when his short illness closed his life, he had
the loyal appreciation and assistance of his wife.
He died on November 19, 1885. The extent of his practice and income
might have indicated the probability of a considerable fortune, but he
was too open-handed to have become a rich man. He died worth a good
name.
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
CHAPTER I
THE REGION OF BROOKLYN AT THE TIME OF THE DISCOVERY
Geology and Conformation of Long Island. Evidences of the Glacial
Period. Theory of the Glacial Action. "Back-Bone" of the Island.
Earliest Historical Description. Trees. Animal Life. Indian
Tribes: Their Subjugation by the Iroquois; Habits and
Habitations.
The geology of Long Island has always been regarded as a particularly
interesting theme for those concerned in the study of such matters,
since the examination of its phases brings into view so many and such
various points of speculative interest. Prime in his "History of Long
Island"[3] remarks that "when we consider the retired situation of Long
Island, and how little it has excited the notice of travelers, it is not
surprising that its geological character as well as other peculiarities
should have remained so long unexplored. Until quite recently very few
scientific men have even deigned to give it a passing notice, though the
assertion may be safely hazarded that scarcely any other tract of land
of equal extent on the American Continent furnishes more abundant room
for the _imagination_ of geologists to play upon, or that imposes a
stronger necessity for _conjecturing_ the operation of some tremendous
agency, which in its freaks had invaded the domains of both the land and
the ocean, and after completing its sport had silently retired without
leaving a track to determine its origin or identify its form."
The geologist of the present day does not seem to regard the field as
one calling in the same degree for the exercise of the imagination,
though the more definite knowledge acquired and made familiar since the
time of the publication just quoted has in one sense vastly extended the
opportunity for speculation. Certainly it no longer can be said that
scientific men have neglected the investigation of the subject.
Commenting on the investigations of Dr. Dwight, Prime says:--
"From all these considerations, the inference has been regarded
as legitimate that Long Island was once through its whole extent
attached to the main; and some powerful agency, the form of
which is now left entirely to conjecture, forced the separation
which is now marked by the intervening Sound. One of the most
plausible suppositions is that the separation has been effected
by some resistless torrent of water, which, under peculiar
circumstances that it is impossible now to determine, has swept
out the intervening land, and left its channel to be occupied by
the waters of the ocean."
Thus vaguely were the early speculations set forth. With a well
developed glacial theory to aid him the modern geologist is able to
present a fairly circumstantial picture of probable conditions in the
past. We now know with reasonable certainty that Brooklyn rests on soil
that is a monument to a vast force quite different from any that were
included in the hesitating speculations of the early writers.
In an admirable review of the subject written by Charles M. Skinner we
are presented with a picturesque outline of the glacial theory. We are
reminded that Brooklyn stands on rubble that was rolled down from the
New England mountains to the northward by a glacier larger than the
combined areas of all the glaciers now existing on the earth. How many
thousands of years ago this great glacier began its work we may only
guess within somewhat liberal margins. This continent of ice covered the
whole of the northern part of North America, burying mountains beneath
its bulk and hollowing the beds of the great fresh-water seas that
Chicago and its sister cities front upon to-day, burying, too, for aught
we know, the remains of civilizations, though nothing at present has
been taken out of the glacial drift, except rude stone implements, to
show what the probable condition of man was at that time.
This ice lay so deep that not even Mount Washington barred its advance,
and to-day geologists find the summit of this mountain heaped with
blocks of stone that were dragged from other points and left there when
the ice melted; for glaciers are not stationary, like ice on ponds and
marshes, but have an onward movement toward their point of melting that
varies, with the slope of their beds, from six to thirty-six inches a
day. In Greenland the whole interior is covered with ice thousands of
feet thick, the movement of which is hindered by a wall of mountains
that nearly surrounds that island, but wherever a valley opens a way for
it the ice sends down a tongue to the sea, and from these tongues the
ocean currents break off the icebergs that float down the Atlantic. In
their descent these glaciers act as plows, wearing off so much earth and
rock from the hills that the icebergs are freighted with them, and where
they melt their stony burdens sink to the bottom of the sea, forming the
Grand Banks of Newfoundland.
The ice that buried upper North America acted in the same manner as the
Greenland ice to-day: it eroded the mountains, it sent off bergs, and
the rocks and gravel that it tore from the hills by a pressure of a
thousand tons to the square yard were dropped at its foot, where they
formed a moraine, as it is called. These moraines, which may be seen at
the feet of the glaciers in Switzerland and British Columbia, and that
sometimes make heaps and hills of rock, like rude forts, forty and fifty
feet high, are trifling affairs to the shoals left by the great glacier
of the ice age, for that can be traced from the Atlantic coast nearly to
the Mississippi River. Long Island, measuring approximately 120 miles in
length, is a small part of the dump of this glacier, and it is
sometimes possible to tell where the stones came from that are found on
the surface. For example, there are in Brooklyn anthophyllite from
Westchester county, feldspar and green mica from Fort George, basalt
from the Palisades of the Hudson, and a block of labradorite was found
on Myrtle Avenue that had been carried down from the Adirondacks, three
hundred miles.
The members of the United States geological survey, supported by the New
York and other state surveys, have studied into the course and volume of
the glacier and mapped its moraine from Montauk Point westward nearly
half across the continent. By this survey we learn that the gneiss that
crosses under the East River and approaches the surface at Astoria, is
the only bed rock to be found on Long Island, Brooklyn resting on a
cushion of glacial drift that in some places is three hundred feet deep.
Originally there were cliffs of gneiss edging the Atlantic, but the
great glacier shaved these down to mere ledges. Central Park, New York,
preserves a number of these ledges, rounded off into "sheep backs" and
scratched by the pieces of stone that formed a grinding surface to the
under side of the ice, while every now and then a boulder comes to the
top of the ground in Brooklyn that is scored and almost polished by
rubbing against those ledges. Pieces from that very outcrop in Hell Gate
are found in Brooklyn streets.
We are also reminded in Mr. Skinner's review that manufacturers of
brick, tile, terra cotta, pottery, and porcelain in other states have to
rely in part on the clay beds that environ Brooklyn for their material,
and, in fact, that clay and sand are the only economic mineral products
of Long Island. The explanation of this is that Brooklyn clays are rich
in silica, which is apt to be deficient in the clays of New Jersey.
Without silica the clays are weak, and bricks and utensils made from
them readily crack and crumble; but by mixing properly the best results
are obtained. Excellent sand for glass-making is also found in and near
Brooklyn.
There are many evidences in support of the theory that since the
completion of the great glacier's work the surface of Long Island has
subsided considerably. A recent writer[4] on the geology of Long Island
says:
"The shore at the west end of the island has also undergone
decided changes--even within the memory of persons now living.
Personal witnesses have testified that about the first of this
century Coney Island was composed of high and extensive sand
hills, which have since been flattened down to a low beach,
sometimes covered by the tides. About the same time salt
meadow-grass was annually cut on a part of the beach now far out
into the ocean. We are also informed that cedar-trees were cut
for fence-posts, and other timber for firewood, about 150 years
ago, on land which is now submerged by the ocean a mile and a
half or two miles from the shore. There was also a house
standing upon what was known as Pine Island, the site of which
is now beneath the breakers, at a considerable distance from the
present shore."
Within the range of Kings County a stratum of salt meadow has been found
at a depth of one hundred and twenty feet, and at other points within
the county shells have been found fifty and sixty feet below the
surface. What is generally called the "back-bone of Long Island" is a
ridge of low hills beginning at the western end within the limits of
Kings County and running almost the whole length of the Island. Of the
boulders or erratic blocks found on the Island in this central range of
hills and between them and the north shore, Mr. Bayles writes:--
"The boulders or erratic blocks found upon the Island are mostly
met with on the central range of hills and between them and the
north shore. They are often contained in a stratum which is
interstratified with deposits of sand, clay, and gravel, and is
often exposed along the coast. Some of the blocks, when first
disinterred, exhibit scratches upon one or more of their sides.
Rocks of the same constituent formation are found in Rhode
Island, Connecticut, and along the Hudson River. And those of
the Island, in their variations, correspond so accurately with
the rocks of the localities mentioned that it seems probable
that they came from those localities. For example, the boulders
on the east end are like the granite, gneiss, mica slate,
green-stone, and sienite of Rhode Island and the east part of
Connecticut; opposite New London and the mouth of the
Connecticut River are boulders like the granites, gneiss, and
hornblende rock of those localities; opposite New Haven, are
found the red sandstone and conglomerate, fissile and micaceous
red sandstone, trap conglomerate, compact trap, amygdaloid and
verd antique; opposite Black Rock are the granites, gneiss,
hornblende, quartz, and white lime-stone, like those in
Fairfield County; and from Huntington to Brooklyn, hornblende,
crystalline lime-stone, trap, red sandstone, gneiss, and
granite, are the same in appearance as those found in the
vicinity of the Hudson River."
The earliest historical description of Long Island, in Daniel Denton's
"A Brief Description of New York, formerly called New Amsterdam,"
published in London in 1670, remarks that "the greatest part of the
Island is very full of timber, as Oaks, white and red, Walnut-trees,
Chestnut-trees, which yield stores of Mast, etc." The same record says:
"For wild beast there is Deer, Bear, Wolves, Foxes, Raccoons,
Otters, Musquashes, and Skunks. Wild fowl there is a great store
of, as Turkeys, Heath-hens, Quails, Partridges, Pigeons, Cranes,
Geese of several sorts, Brants, Widgeons, Teal, and divers
others. Upon the south side of Long Island in the winter lie
store of Whales and Grampusses, which the inhabitants begin with
small boats to make a trade, catching to their no small benefit.
Also, an innumerable multitude of seals, which make an excellent
oyle; they lie all the winter upon some broken Marshes and
Beaches or bars of sand before mentioned, and might be easily
got were there some skilful men would undertake it."
Prime (1845) mentions the "remarkable fact in the natural history of
this small territory, that of all the _land-birds_ belonging to the
United States, either as resident or migratory, two thirds of them are
to be found on Long Island; of the _water-birds_ a still larger
proportion."
It is estimated that at the time of its discovery representatives of
thirteen different Indian tribes occupied Long Island. The region of
Kings County was occupied by the Canarsie tribe, which included the
Nyacks at New Utrecht, the Marechawicks at Brooklyn, and the Jamecos at
Jamaica. The headquarters of the tribe was in the vicinity of modern
Canarsie. From the names of the other tribes scattered over the
Island--the Rockaways, Montauks, Merricks, Manhassets, Patchogues,
Shinnecocks, etc.--many of the town and village names of the Island are
drawn. The names Paumanacke and Seawanhacka have been applied both to
the grand sachems elected by all the Indian tribes and to the Island
itself, which has also been given the title of Wamponomon.
The last mentioned name was evidently suggested by the fact that the
chief business of the tribes in this region was the making of _wampum_,
the shell-money of the Indians, and an article of manufacture for
ornamental purposes also. The Island was rich in shells, and these were
ground, polished, pierced for stringing. In the earlier tradings for
land the red men were eager to get _runxes_, a brad awl with which they
pierced the shell. They made various forms of earthenware for domestic
purposes; their war implements were often of admirable workmanship; and
their canoes were of a size and strength demanded by the hazards of the
journeys they undertook upon sea and Sound.
"In regard to their religion," says Prime, "the Long Island
Indians were polytheists and idolaters. Besides the good and the
evil spirit, to each of which they seemed to ascribe supreme
power, they had a god for each of the four corners of the earth,
the four seasons of the year, the others of the elements of
nature, the productions of the earth, the vicissitudes of day
and night, besides a number of domestic deities. The good deity
they called _Cauhlantoowut_, and the evil spirit was named
_Mutcheshesumetook_; to both of which they paid homage and
offered sacrifices. They had small idols or images which, they
supposed, were acquainted with the will of the gods, and made it
known to the _pawwaws_, or priests. These possessed unbounded
influence, from their supposed intercourse with the gods and
knowledge of their will. Their religious festivals were attended
with the most violent gesticulations and horrible yells, as well
as other disorders. They firmly believed in a future state of
existence, in a far distant country to the west, where the brave
and good would enjoy themselves eternally in singing, feasting,
hunting, and dancing; while the coward and traitor, the thief
and liar, would be eternally condemned to servile labor--so much
despised by the Indian--which in its results should be attended
with endless disappointment. The dead were buried in all their
personal attire, and, if warriors, in their arms. The body was
placed in a sitting posture, and after being covered up, a bowl
of _scaump_ (pounded corn) was placed on the grave to support
the occupant on his imagined journey. The period of mourning
continued a full year, the close of which was celebrated with a
feast, accompanied with dancing that continued from the setting
to the rising of the sun. It was a peculiar custom of this
singular people never to mention the names of their departed
friends after their remains were deposited in tombs, and it was
regarded as an insult if repeated by others. Every wigwam in
which death occurred was immediately demolished, and a new one,
if needed, erected in its stead."
The wigwams of the Indians were designed each to accommodate a number
of families, the bark-covered frame being of eighteen to twenty feet in
width, and a length of one hundred and fifty feet or more, as might be
required by the number of the families that were to occupy it. An
opening at the ridge gave escape to the smoke from the family fires.
The Long Island Indians, notwithstanding the strength which might be
presumed to have resulted from their insular position, were under the
rule of the masters on the continent. The tribes to the east yielded to
the New England Pequods. The Canarsies bowed to the majestic despotism
of the Iroquois.[5]
Under the species of "protection" enforced by the Iroquois, the
Canarsies were obliged to pay regular tribute for the privilege of being
unmolested, and much of this tax was doubtless paid in wampum. The
collection of this tax seems at the time of the first white settlements
to have been intrusted to the Mohawks, who were members of the
confederacy. When the tax was due it had to be delivered, or the
debtors were likely to hear from headquarters. Samuel Jones, writing in
1817, says[6] that there is no evidence that the Indians on Long Island,
eastward of about thirty miles from New York, were tributary to the Five
Nations; and adds that "we have no reason to believe that the Five
Nations had any war with the Indians on Long Island after it was settled
by Europeans." Furman[7] regards this statement as extraordinary, and
offers evidence of the fact that farmers coming to New York city in the
fall of the year from the east end of Long Island, during the early
period of settlement, brought with them quantities of wampum to be
forwarded as tribute to the Iroquois masters at Albany. It has
frequently been claimed by historical writers that the consistory of the
Dutch Church at Albany were for many years the agents for the receipt of
tribute from the Montauks and other Indians on the eastern end of Long
Island, which, if a fact, was, as we shall see, entirely consistent with
the conservative attitude of the Dutch pioneers.