Aug 6
The widow of Chief Wyandanch, in gratitude for the kindness shown
to her late husband and his people by Maidstone (East Hampton),
ratifies an early deed of land and makes an additional allotment
to the town, for a payment of £10 and ten bushels of Indian
corn, paid annually over a ten-year period. By forfeiting the
payment the Indians are given permission to live on the land at
Montauk.
September
Maidstone and the Montauketts petition the New England commissioners
for a zone of safety, six miles in all directions, protecting
themselves from marauding Naragansetts.
Sep 25
Maidstone residents are told that none of the recently-purchased
high land at Montauk Point called Meantaquit (Mantack, Meantaucutt,
Meantucket, Meantauk, or Munnawtawkit) is to be resold to outsiders,
on pain of a £30 fine.
Oct 10
Maidtone (East Hampton), Southamption and Southold are given permission
by Connecticut to defend themselves against invading Indians.
Nov 15
Asser Levy is the first kosher butcher to be licensed in New Amsterdam.
City
Population raeches 1500.
State
A French mission is established at Boughton Hill (Gannagaro).
The name means Place Where the Basswood Bark Lay, possibly referring
to a bark water pipeline running down a hillside, perhaps the
first pipeline in America. ** The first Esopus War begins. **
Long Island's Montaukett Indians move west to the Maidstone (East
Hampton) area to avoid marauding Naraganetts and are permitted
by pastor Thomas James to camp near the parsonage.
Indians
Due to adoptions from conquered peoples the Iroquoian population
peaks at about 25,000.
Niagara
Jesuit priest François Gendron reports hearing about the
Falls.
Jun 26
Heavy rains cause the Mohawk River west of Schenectady to overflow
its banks, preventing local communication and delaying land sales
for nearly a month. A large portion of grain crops are spoiled
for planting purposes and will be used instead for fodder.
Jul 18
Arent Van Curler (Corlear) appears before the Council of State
and applied for permission to purchase the site of Schenectady
from the Mohawk Indians, and for a patent from the government.
July 27
Van Curler and his associates buy the site of Schenectady from
the Mohawk Indians. Settlement begins later in the year.
City
Oude Dorp (Old Town) is founded on Staaten Eyelandt (Staten Island).
** The approximate date the sheriff is instructed to remove substandard
privies. ** A ferry between the city and Communipaw, New Jersey,
goes into service.
State
A slave in the colony successfully petitions for his freedom.
Feb 6
In appreciation for East Hampton settlers' aid given against the
Narragansett Indians the Montauketts deed land lying west of Fort
Pond to the town.
May 16
East Hampton makes an agreement with John and Stephen Hand and
Isaak Hedges for the men to tend the cattle herd at Meantaquit
for the equivalent of 20 shillings a week.
Oct 9
The Connecticut General Assembly institutes imprisonment and fines
for any settlers, including those on Long Island, leaving to live
with the Indians.
Nov 7
East Hampton gets a dog pound when they agree to pay John and
Stephen Osburne £8 a year for keeping two older dogs of
the village and to build the Osburnes a shed on their barn for
the animals.
City
Lithuanian Protestants settle in the colony. ** Flushing Quaker
John Bowne is imprisoned and fined for allowing fellow Quakers
to meet in his home. Bowne appeals the case in Holland to the
directors of the Dutch West India Company; they instruct Governor
Peter Stuyvesant to overlook such cases where they do not actually
interfere with local government. ** Dutch emigrant Willem Gerritsen
dies in Brooklyn.
State
Arent Van Curler takes possession of his land near Schenectady,
begins moving settlers in. ** The Dutch West India Company grants
Fort Orange (Albany) municipal privileges. ** The approximate
date the name of Maidstone, Long Island, is changed to East Hampton.
New England
Charles II grants a charter uniting the Connecticut River towns
with New Haven and towns on Long Island.
England
Historian Thomas Fuller refers to the gullible qualities of people
of the mythical Gotham.
Jan 17
East Hampton divides into three parts for the purpose of processing
whales. The Reverend Thomas James and Lion Gardiner will give
a quart of liquor to each whale cutter in exchange for freedom
from cutting the catch themselves.
Feb 11
The Proprietors of East Hampton and Southampton approve the selection
of Quashawam (Heather Flower) as chief of the Montauk and Shinnecock
tribes.
Mar 2
East Hampton orders Montauketts to stay out of the village until
they are free of smallpox. ** Early East Hampton settler Lion
Gardiner dies at the age of 64.
April
Citizens of Wiltwijck (later Kingston) New York, petition the
government to pay the Esopus for Indian land settled on. Nothing
is done.
Jun 7
The Esopus raid Wiltwijck, burning the 12 houses of the village,
slaughtering 18 inhabitants, among them the wife of court secretary
Matheus Capito, and taking 10 prisoners. Catherine DuBois, an
ancestor of George S. Patton, Jr., annoys the Indians and is singled
out to be burned at the stake. She fends off her captors by loudly
singing hymns until help arrives. The Second Esopus War has begun.
Jun 10
Magistrates of the Wiltwijck region report the massacre to Stuyvesant
in New Amsterdam.
City
Caught trying to sell his wife, Laurens Duyts is flogged and loses
an ear. ** Willem Gerritsen's widow Mary marries Gerrit Remmersen.
** Stuyvesant travels to Boston to meet with the Commissioners
of the United Colonies. ** Stuyvesant convenes the second Provincial
Assembly.
State
Cornelius Viele opens Schenectady's first tavern, on the southwest
corner of Mill Lane and State Street.
North America
A major earthquake strikes the area between the Adirondack Mountains
and the St. Lawrence valley.
Mar 12
Charles II grants his brother James, the Duke of York, the land
between the Delaware River and the Connecticut River, including
all of Long Island. Annual payment is forty
beaver skins, payable if demanded. Charles transfers all feudal
power to James.
Mar 21
East Hampton's Isack Hedges agrees with the town to maintain a
drum and drummer at the rate of forty shillings a year.
Mar 25
After a lengthy debate the town of East Hampton decides the purchase
costs of the patent shoul be borne by all, in proportion to the
amount of land each owns.
Apr 2
The Duke of York names Richard Nicolls as deputy-governor of New
Netherland, still held by the Dutch, orders him to sail at once.
Apr 10
The First Assembly of New Netherland delegates convenes in New
Amsterdam.
July
New Amsterdam carpenter Willem Abrahamsen Van der Borden and Red
Lion Brewery owner Daniel Verveelen file a complaint against the
town for allowing the establishment of a tannery between their
two Prinsen Straet properties, endangering the water in their
wells. They are ignored. ** New Amsterdam learns by way
of Boston that an English fleet has recently departed.
Aug 29
When Nicolls demands the colony's surrender Stuyvesant stalls,
playing for time.
Sep 8
When the council refuses to back him Stuyvesant surrenders the
town to the English. It will be renamed New York City. The transfer
ceremony is held at the Stadt-Huys. The newly-named Albany (for
James, Duke of York and Albany, formerly named Fort Nassau, Fort
Orange, Beverwyck, New Albany, and Willemstadt.
Sep 24
Albany surrenders to the British.
Oct 4
Nicolls looks on as East Hampton reaches an agreement with the
sachem Quashawam, granting the Indian 4000 acres east of Fort
Pond on Montauk Peninsula.
Dec 1
Long Island is removed from Connecticut's jurisdiction and placed
under the Duke of York's. ** Lion Gardiner's widow Mary
dies at the age of 64, leaving New York's Gardiner's Island to
her son David, to be passed down from oldest son to oldest son.
Dec 21
East Hampton declares laws promulgated under Connecticut shall
stand until replaced by New York Laws. Also, that it will be first-come-first-served
at the mill for grinding corn.
Dec 25
East Hampton's Samuel Dayton family contracts out son Jacob to
Thomas and Alice Baker for a 14-year period.
City
New Amsterdam's population reaches 1500. ** Law courts are
held at the State House. ** Dutch settlers avoid sailing
around the dangerous waters off Brooklyn's Red Hook by digging
a canal from the East River to Gowanus Cove.
State
Early in the year governor Peter Stuyvesant orders Schenectady
lands surveyed and apportioned among its settlers. ** Mahican
Indians on the upper Hudson River move to the Stockbridge, Massachusetts,
area under pressure from the Mohawk.
Sport
Governor Nicolls establishes Newmarket race course at Hempsted
Plains, Long Island, for horse races.
©2002 David Minor / Eagles Byte