Suffolk
County, which was established by the Colonial government
November 1, 1683, occupies the eastern two thirds of Long
Island, and is about ninety miles in length. It is composed of
the towns of East Hampton, Southampton, Riverhead, Southold,
Shelter Island, Brookhaven, Smithtown, Huntington, Babylon, and
Islip.
The courts of
the county were established at Southold in 1683, and moved to
Riverhead (called County Hall) in 1729.
Negro slaves
were kept during the early years, and on Dec. 13, 1677, John
Thomas, of Setauket, bought from Isack Ranier, of Southampton, a
negro named Samboe, and “the said Ranier doth engage to bring
him safe and sound, wind and limb, and deliver him unto the said
John Thomas at Setauket.” The price was nineteen barrels of
good whale oil. Most of the slaves were not set free until
shortly after 1800, and a list in 1788 shows about 200 slaves
held by the residents of Brookhaven town.
A school was
established at Southampton a few years after the settlement of
the town in 1640, with Richard Mills, the inn keeper, as the
teacher. In Huntington Jonas Holdsworth taught the school for
twenty five pounds a year, which was paid in “trading wampum,
butter, corn, wheat and cattle.” Robert Ryder was engaged as
the first teacher in Brookhaven town at Setauket in 1678, and
his pay was thirty pounds, one third as a tax on the people, and
two thirds by the parents of the pupils.
Church bells
were unknown on the island in the early years, and drums were
beaten in the church doors on Sunday mornings to call the
worshippers together. James Herrick was employed in Southampton
in 1665 to “beat ye drum on ye Lord’s Dayes” for twenty five
shillings a year. In 1668 at Setauket “Obed Seward is to beat
the drum twice a Sabbath day on the Meeting House Hill.”
The Puritan
principles were strongest in the eastern towns, and in Southold
church membership was necessary for admission to the privileges
of freemen, and only such were allowed to have a vote in the
civil government of the town.
The sale of
intoxicating drink was regulated by the towns and the amount of
drink sold to one person within a certain time was specified by
the court. Inn keepers were forbidden to allow anyone to become
intoxicated, and special regulations were imposed for dealing
out strong drink to the Indians.
In some of the
towns the people were required to bring their guns with them to
church on Sunday morning, so as to be ready for any attack that
might be made by the Indians, although they were always friendly
with them. In East Hampton it was ordered by the town that “no
Indian shall travel up or down, or carry any burden through our
town on the Sabbath day.”
The whipping
post was a common method of punishment, and in East Hampton in
1727 R. Symes was employed as a “common whipper,” and paid three
shillings for each person whipped. Lying, slander, and
drunkenness were subject to a fine, and a woman who used harsh
words was to be stood up in court with a spilt stick on her
tongue.
The whaling
business was carried on extensively from Sag Harbor for nearly a
hundred years until it began to fall off about 1860, after
kerosene oil came into use. There were 61 vessels operating out
of Sag Harbor in 1845, and over 800 men were employed. In one
year 23 ships brought in 31,000 barrels of whale oil and 236,000
pounds of whale bone. Whales were also caught from the ocean
shore by small boats.
The first post
route was established through the island in 1764, and was called
the circuit. The mail was carried on horseback once in two
weeks eastward through the north side, and returned along the
south side.
According to
Skinner’s New York twice a week for the east end villages to
Orient on the north side, Riverhead on the middle line and Sag
Harbor on the south side. Rates of postage was ten cents for a
letter of a single sheet (double that for two sheets) up to 80
miles, and for over 400 miles it was 25 cents a single sheet
letter. Most of the letters were sent with the postage to be
collected on the delivery end.