Celebration of the 250Th Anniversary of the Formation of the Town and The
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CELEBRATION OF THE 250TH OF THE FORMATION OF THE TOWN AND THE CHURCH OF SOUTHOLD, L. I. Jhxgrzst 27, 1890. Efthev2 \M V\l;Va ke-r* SOUTHOLD: PRINTED FOR THE TOWN. 1890 . I INTRODUCTION. On the twenty-seventh day of March, 1888, the Rev. Epher Whitaker, D.D., the Pastor of the First Church of Southold, organized on the twenty-first day of October, 1640, presented to the Auditors of the Town of Southold a resolution having in view the appointment of committees by the Town and the Church severally to unite and make arrangements for the proper celebration of the two hun- dred and fiftieth anniversary of the formation of the Town and the Church. The Board of Auditors, consisting of the Hon. Henry A. Reeves, the Supervisor of the Town, Wil- liam A. Cochran, the Clerk of the Town, Jonathan W. Huntting, Charles E. Glover, Abram Gifford, Salem R. Davis, John E. Gildersleeve, Esquires, Justices of the Peace, unanimously approved of presenting the resolution to the Town Meeting to be held on the third day of April following. Accordingly the Hon. Henry A. Reeves, the Supervisor of the Town, presented the resolution to the Town Meeting in behalf of the Board of Auditors of the Town. The resolution was considered, the desirableness of its object set forth by several persons, and then it was unani- mously adopted. On the motion of the Rev. Dr. Whitaker, it was voted that the committee should consist of five persons, to unite with a similar committee of the First Church, should one be appointed, in order to make the proper prepara- tions. : 4 southold’s celebration. The President of the Town Meeting, Jonathan W. Hunt- ting, Esquire, appointed the Committee as follows : The Hon. Henry A. Reeves, the Supervisor of the Town Mr. ; Marcus W. Terry, the Hon. James H. Tuthill, the Surro- gate of Sufholk County the Hon. Thomas Young, the ; judge of Suffolk County; and William H. H. Moore, Esquire. For the appointment of a similar committee, the Elders and Trustees of the First Church together called a con- gregational meeting, which was held in the Chapel of the Church on the nineteenth day of April, 1888. The follow- ing persons were on nomination unanimously chosen by the Church as a committee with full power to act for it in reference to the purpose of its appointment, namely The Rev. Epher Whitaker, D.D., Henry Huntting, Esquire, Treasurer of the Board of Trustees Elder Stuart T. Terry, ; President of the Board of Trustees and Superintendent of the Sabbath School Mr. David P. Horton, Organist and ; Leader of the Choir and Mr. Barnabas H. Booth. ; These committees met and united on the ninth day of August, 1888. There were present at this meeting the Hon. Henry A. Reeves, Mr. Marcus W. Terry, Judge Thomas Young, the Rev. Dr. Whitaker, Ruling Elders Henry Huntting and Stuart T. Terry, and Mr. David P. Horton. The united Committee formed its organization by unan- imously electing the Rev. Dr. Whitaker, Chairman; the Hon. Henry A. Reeves, Secretary and Elder Henry ; Huntting, Treasurer. The Committee met on the thirteenth day of March, 1889, at the residence of the Chairman, and adopted a gen- eral plan for the celebration. At this meeting the follow- ing members were present : The Hon. Henry A. Reeves, Mr. Marcus W. Terry, the Rev. Dr. Whitaker, Elder Stuart T. Terry, and Mr. Barnabas H. Booth. The Chairman was directed to report the plan of the Committee to the next Town Meeting, with a view to its approval. This was done, and the plan was unanimously approved. INTRODUCTION. 5 The members of the committee who were absent from this meeting having been previously consulted respecting the general features of the plan adopted, and having ap- proved them, the Chairman was directed to take the first steps for the accomplishment of the plan and in behalf ; of the Committee to report the results to the Town Meet- ing of 1890. This was done. The Committee met again at the residence of the Chair- man on the twelfth day of April, 1890, and gave five con- secutive hours to the business in hand. At this meet- ing all the members of the Committee were present except Judge Young and Messrs. Marcus W. Terry and Stuart T. Terry, who were unable to attend the session. The Committee of Arrangements having previously appointed Messrs. David P. Horton and George B. Reeve a Music Committee, it also appointed an Executive Com- mittee with power to act for the whole committee. Other committees were appointed as follows: Reception Com- mittee, Luncheon Committee, Platform and Grounds Committee, Decoration Committee, Finance Committee, Stenography, Reporting and Printing Committee, and Ushers. The general plan included a meeting in the house of worship of the First Church during the forenoon of the day of the celebration, and also in the evening, with a procession from the village of Southold to Oak Lawn, and a meeting there in the Grove during the afternoon. It was proposed to have, at these meetings, suitable odes, prayers and addresses, with both vocal and instrumental music. On the ground of general convenience, but for no his- toric reason, the twenty-seventh day of August was selected for the day of the celebration. The Chairman was directed to invite General Benjamin Harrison, the President of the United States, in view of his descent from Southold ancestors, to attend the cele- bration as the guest of the Committee. The Chairman 6 southold’s celebration. was also authorized by the Committee to invite such other persons as he might deem suitable and proper to be its guests. The Committee in due time, through its Chairman, in- vited the Rev. Richard S. Storrs, D.D., LL.D., President of the Long Island Historical Society, to deliver an ad- dress in the forenoon, and Charles B. Moore, Esquire, au- thor of the “ Personal Indexes of Southold,” to prepare an address for the evening meeting. Happily for Southold these invitations were accepted. The Towns of Shelter Island and Riverhead, formerly parts of Southold, were severally invited to appoint dele- gates to attend the celebration, and these invitations were accepted and delegates appointed by each of these Towns. Representatives of the Suffolk County Historical So- ciety, of the New Haven Colony Historical Society, and of the American Historical Association severally received and accepted invitations. Mrs. Martha J. Lamb, the editor of the “ Magazine of American History,” consented to be the Committee’s guest, and was present throughout the celebration. The Hon. Henry P. Hedges was invited to address the meeting in the afternoon as the representative of the sis- ter Town of Southampton, which is not greatly younger than Southold, having become organized and united to Connecticut in 1644. The Rev. William F. Whitaker, of Orange, New Jersey, was invited to speak in the afternoon as the representative of the present generation of Southold. The Music Committee gave a general invitation to the choirs of the various churches of the Town, about twenty in number, to unite and form a chorus for the celebration. The Cornet Bands of Mattituck, Orient, Shelter Island, and Southold received and accepted severally an invita- tion to play at intervals in the procession and during the meeting at the Grove. Other desirable arrangements were also made by the Music Committee, including the composition of odes and music especially for the day, and INTRODUCTION. 7 the proper rehearsal thereof under the direction of the gentlemen of the Music Committee. The formation and direction of the Procession was com- mitted to Mr. Alva M. Salmon, who called various per- sons to his aid, especially Mr. Charles Floyd Smith, as as- sistant marshal. To the enterprise, skill and taste of Mr. Salmon the eminently gratifying character of the Proces- sion is chiefly due. The interest in the celebration was increased by the publication in many newspapers of New York city, Brooklyn, and various villages of Long Island, of sketches of the history and character of this oldest Town on Long Island. These sketches, published before the celebration, were of unlike degrees of fullness and accuracy. Some of them had illustrations from photographs, and others had no pictorial embellishments. Thousands of the descendants of former Southolders looked forward to the significant event with cheerful ex- pectation and a delightful feature in the preparations ; was the interest manifested in the prospective celebration on the part of kinsmen and friends beyond the sea in Southwold and Suffolk County, England, whence many or most of the chief founders of our Town and Church came hither about two hundred and fifty years ago. These dwellers in the old home have a fit representative in the Rev. Proby L. Cautley, Vicar of Southwold, Rural Dean of Dunwich, and formerly Inspector of Diocesan Schools of Suffolk County, England. The Executive Committee, in due time, with the aid of the Music Committee and others, prepared the programme, which will be found in its fulfillment on subsequent pages and two thousand two hundred copies of it were ; printed for the use of the public. For this purpose, Mr. David P. Horton, the Chairman of the Music Committee, generously gave the Committee of Arrangements the priv- ilege of using both his copyright music and his stereotype plates thereof. As the day of the celebration drew near, the various : 8 southold’s celebration. committees addressed themselves with commendable vigor to their respective tasks. The committees are as follows COMMITTEES. COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS. {On the part of the Town .) Hon. Henry A. Reeves, Secretary, Mr.