Footnotes to Long Island History
Early Land Purchases On L.I
by
Thomas R. Bayles
Gardiner's Island Deed Recorded in 1639 - Second Grant
Covered all East
Hampton Town except Montauk and Gardiner's.
The earliest recorded purchase of land on eastern Long Island from
the Native American proprietors was that of the island called by the
aborigines Manchomacke (the land or place of the dead.) This was
known to English settlers as the Isle of Wright, and afterwards
named Gardiner's Island. This was purchased by Lion Gardiner, the
first white English settler within the boundaries of New York State.
The first record of the town of East Hampton relates to this
purchase and is dated March 10th, 1639.
The deed known as
the Town Purchase of 1648 is the second entry in East Hampton town
records and relates to the purchase from the Indian Sachems,
Poggatacut, Wyandanch, Momowetow, and Nowedona by Theophilus Eaton,
Governor of the Colony of New Haven and Edward Hopkins, Governor of
the colony of Connecticut. This covered all the land from
Southampton to the east side of Napeak, with the whole breadth from
sea to sea.
This grant from the Indians was assigned by Edward
Hopkins to in inhabitants of East Hampton April 16th,
1651 in consideration of 30 pounds four shillings, eight pence. This
covered all the land of East Hampton town except Montauk and
Gardiner's Island.
In 1658 an agreement with the Indians was made to
secure the pasturage on Montauk for seven years, with the privilege
of purchasing the land if the Indians cared to sell. Title was
acquired to the portion known as Hither Woods, lying west of Fort
Pond, in 1660 and 1661, after the overthrow of the Montauk Indians
by their foes, the Narragansett’s, from across the sound. The
remainder of the Montauk tribe fled to east Hampton, where they were
sheltered and protected by the settlers. In 1670 title was acquired
to the tract of land lying between Fort Pond and Great Pond, and in
1686 the remainder was acquired, subject to certain reservations and
Indian rights. It was agreed that the Indians should “have leave
to plant what corn so ever they have occasion for to plant from time
to time, themselves and their heirs forever upon the land as
purchased of them by us.” They also had the right to pasture 50 head
of cattle, and to take wood for fuel and fencing.
From the first
agreements with the Indians in 1658 concerning the privilege of
pasturage, until the sale at auction in 1879 to Arthur W. Benson, the
10,000 acres which comprise the peninsula of Montauk East of Napeague
beach remained undivided and used as a common pasturage
ground by the farmers of East Hampton town, who help proportional
shares in the land.
The Montauks were probably the most powerful
tribe on Long Island, east of the Canarsee territory, and held all
the other tribes or groups as some historians call them, under
tribute. Wyandanch, the chief of the Montauks at the time of the
first settlement by the English, was recognized as the Grand Sachem
to whom all the other chiefs owed allegiance. No deed of any other
tribes or groups was considered valid without his signature. The
Montauks in turn paid tribute to the fierce, warlike Pequot’s across
the sound around New London, and continued to do so until the white
settlers subdued the Pequot’s.
During one of the invasions of the Montauks by the Narragansett's,
they surprised the wedding ceremony of the daughter of Wyandanch,
and seized the bride captive and carried her across the Sound, where
she was afterward rescued by Lion Gardiner. In gratitude for
the return of his daughter Wyandanch gave Gardiner a tract of land
which now compromises most of the town of Smithtown. In 1658 a
disease swept through the Indians and it is said that two-thirds
died before it was brought under control.
As late as 1895 there were
two or more families of Indian descent living in East Hampton. One
family were the children of David Pharaoh and his wife Maria, who
were known as the king and queen of the Montauks. A brother, Stephen
Pharaoh was famous as a walker and frequently walked from Montauk to
east Hampton in the morning, cradled three acres of wheat, and
walked back to Montauk in the evening. Another brother, Elisha
Pharaoh was a famous basket maker and was a familiar figure in East
Hampton as he went around with his huge pile of baskets, made of
rushes, covering completely like a haystack.