SAG HARBOR IN EARLIER DAYS A SERIES OF HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF THE HARBOR AND HAMPTON PORT BY HARRY D. SLEIGHT SAG HARBOR, N. Y. 1930 Two Hundred Copies Printed, and the Type Then Destroyed Printed By THE HAMPTON PRESS Bridgehampton, N. Y. 1930 SAG HARBOR IN EARLIER DAYS In 1711 there is an entry in Town Records of ,South­ ampton in which the Great Meadow (at Sag Harbor) is called "Bridge Hampton Harbor." 1"his is the _only time this occurs, as far as discovered. After the allotment of the Great Meadow, Theophilus Howell busied .himself buying what lands he could at the "Harbor." He bought from Joseph More, the weaver, Lot 2, just "rest of the wharf; from Josiah Halsey, lot 3, next west; from Edmund Howell, meadow . near the Brushy N eek bounded east by woods, north by water and south by highway; of Elisha and Lemuel Howell, part of Lot 2; ,_of John Fordham, gentleman, a piece of Smith's meadow, which Pelletreau says is north of Brushy N eek, but appears to be nearer Ligonef! creek or brook; all of these purchases \;Vere made before 1695. Others who sold lands at Sag Harbor were: John Cooper sells to his father-in-law, Capt. Daniel Sayre, a piece that lies over against the Great Meadow and 20 acres at Hog Neck for 107 pounds. Prices of land have increased in this decade for the date is 1710-11. This is lot 20. The same year Thomas Topping sells to Peter Norris all his right at a place called Great Meadow, bounded north by beach, south and west by woods. This is lot 19. 2 SAG HARBOR IN EARLIER DAYS John Post sells to Theodore Pierson. Thomas Cooper sells to Theodore Pierson, Lot 5, in 1710. James White sells to Theodore Pierson a part of Lot 1, in 1711, bounded north by beach, south by Theophilus Howell, west by beach. James vVhite, son of James v\rhite, late of Southamp­ ton, carpenter, sells part of Lot 1, to Jonah Rogers. Theophilus Howell sells ~ome of the Smith Meadow to John Morehouse, in 1713. Morehouse also buys more of the same meadow from i\nthony Ludlam, who owns most of the Little Hog .N eek and some m·eadow adjoining to the west, not reserved by the town for a beach road. Nathaniel Howell sells to his brother Theophilus Howell a piece called by name "Sag Head." It comprised two acres or two 50 rights, an amendment to Lots 23, 24, 25, 26, in the South Division. It is noted here because this is the first time _"Sag Head" occurs in the records, 1715. The spot was on the road from Sagg to Sag Har­ bor, north of the country road. Good meadow land was the most .valuable in the earlv., years of settlement. i\. piece of meadow, 7 acres at North :5ea, sold for 48 pounds, in 1718. Sacataco, Indian of l\1ontocket, sells to Robert Cody of .East Hampton "All that Island lying and being in the Spund or Harbor between Hog N eek and Sag Harbor or thereaboute called Mankesack, or Stony Island. Price 5 pounds, 1712. This Stony Island was sold to Ezekial Sandford .of Southampton by Cody for 10 pounds in 1713. (Traditio11 is that this ,vas near Hoganock. Could it have been Little Gull Island in our bay?) Thomas M. Sayre and others sell. to Benjamin Glover, Brnshy N eek, bounded scu th by Hugh Gelston, west and SAG HARBOR IN EARLIER DAYS 3 north by water, east by Peter Hildreth, 50 acres, in 1818, for $1,850. Jonah Rogers sells to Theophlius Pierson an acre of Great Meadow, at Sag Harbor, 1722, bounded north by bay or water, east by Pierson, south by ,undivided land, west by Lydia Hildreth. Job Pierson sells to Theophilus Pierson n1eadow lot No. 1, .which is called \:\lhite's Lot, in 1731. 'fhe north end of Lumber lane, at Bridgehampton, was called the settlement of Huntington. .L\'Iay 16, 1762, the Southa1npton highway commission­ ers, who were Theophilus Howell, John Post and Christo­ pher Foster, made report that "then ye highway running northeast through brushey plain down by little pougoso­ baug and so running northward to j:he road that runs from Sagg to ye harbour ( Sag Harbor) and so runs in that road near the east end of L.ong Pond and to run northward to the slade that comes up from the head of Ligonee swamp and there it divides, one running to Dayton's hollow and so along the path that now is to the harbor at the great 1neadows; the other highway runs down to _the harbor at Liganee on the west side of the swamp and the said high­ way from Easthampton path down to the harbor shall be six poles all the way." In the old record appears a note: "Vooted .that Rich­ ard Shaw shall have liberty to sett up a warehouse at Sag Harbor in sum place at ye discretion ,of Elisha Howell and Isaac Jessup, where they shall think most convenient." There is no date given. The time, however, is after 1700, perhaps a lull generation. The historian has to rely upon Hedges, to a great extent, in writing of Sag Harbor. He says: "Uniform tradition dates the settlement of Sag Har­ bor about the year 1730. At first places of refuge from the storm were mere holes dug in the cliff at Turkey Hill SAG HARBOR IN EARLIER DAYS (near foot of Division. street). Then huts were construct­ ed to shelter fishermen, and then small houses. The first houses were set in the Hill, one story under, and one above ground. The first of the houses were µpon poles or staun­ chions.'' .....\.lso: "Settlement preceded wharf building some thirty years." L. D. Cook, ,who wrote of Sag Harbor, and read an essay· before the Lyceum, in 1858, says: "About 1760 there were only three houses at Sag Harbor occupied severally by John Foster, Daniel Ford­ ham and James Howell." There were probably other habitations, for Capt. Nathan Fordham's tombstone, in Old Burying ,Ground, says he was born at Sag Harbor, in 1721. Capt. Ephraim Fordham was born at Sag Harbor in 1737. He went whal­ ing out of Nantucket in 1753. He was mate of the first whaling sloop out of Sag .Harbor, in the 60's, of which Daniel Fordham was the master. Capt. Ephraim Fordham commanded the _first whal­ ing vessel to quest for whales, after the Revolution, the "Eagle". These vessels did not make what were called ocean voyages. Not until .1784-1785 did vessels venture to the Brazil Banks, from Sag Harbor~ for whales. Sag Harbor vessels were trading with West Indies, before 1770, and that year the first section of Long Wharf was built. The old wharf, built about 1761, stood further west, close by. The Town Trustees gave a grant April 7, 1761~ to Nathan Fordham, Jr., and James Howell to build a wharf and set up a try house at Sag Harbor. Before this in 1742, they had sent a comn,ittee to Sag Harbor to choose a place for a wharf, and Zachary Sand­ ford's ,vharf ,vas the first ,vharf constructed, but just what SAG HARBOR IN EAR.LIER DAYS 5 year, there is no record. It, too, stood further west at about the foot of Glover street, on the Point. Between 1760 and 1770 Sag Harbor was aug1nented in population by addition of many reputable families who came over fron1 Connecticut. The record notes that in 1738, at Sag Harbor 12 1-2 acres of land were j:o be sold to the highest bidder in order "'for to defray ye charge of laying out ye undivided lands." Sa111uel Russell lived at Sag Harbor in 1739,• for the record of drawing in the 12-acre division ( south of Wash­ ington street, north of Union street) says "to heirs of San1uel Russellp showing he was dead in 1761. Samuel Russell bought four poles of land 1at Sag HarLor in 1739, "'adjoining his meadow," and the presumption is this Rus­ sell was one of the first to live at Sag Harbor. The record further says: "September 7, 1764, have given unto Na than Fordham, Jr., all the land that his warehouse now stands on and a gore piece to the north­ ward of his house he had of Mr. Russell" .( which stood near the site of the railroad depot). The same note further says (1764) "his (Fordham's) and Foster's warehouse." 1745-There was a highway (already) "of uncommon breadth laid out att Sagg ,harbor." 1731-"The good sloop called the 'Portland Adven.­ ture', no,v riding at anchor in the harbor of Sagg, ye 26th of November, 1731" 1747-Sloop "Hampton", bound for West Indies, De­ ~ember 21, 1747, attested by B. Sylvester, Dep'y Collector & Surveyor. The above mentioned sloop "Hampton" is stated to be "Plantation built." That means the vessel was built in the Colonies of America, but there is nothing to indicate the vessel was built either in East Hampton or Southamp­ ton towns. I am inclined to believe vessel building as a SAG HARBOR IN EARLIER DAYS business came at a later date than 1747 in these towns. This is deduced from the fact that much of the wood that went into such home-built vessels was cut at Montauk, and the earliest notice of this is given in East Hampton Town Trustee's Journals, after the Revolutionary war. A good trade had been btiilt up, coasting and foreign ( to West Indies) from eastern Long Island before .the Revolution, but there is no record extant ref erring to pre­ revolutionary home built vessels.