11. ANNALS OF THE SEVERAL TOWNS, RELATING CHIEFLY TO ECCLESIASTICAL MATTERS. BY NATHANIEL S. PRIME. NEW YORK: ROBERT CARTER, 58 CANAL STREET; LIBRARY OF THE LELAND STANFORD JR. UNIVERSITY. A40315 Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1845, by ROBERT CARTER, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New-York. MAR 29 1000 H. LUDWIG, PRINTER, 70 & 72 Vesey street. PREFACE. A history of Long Island, with special reference to its intellectual, moral, and religious condition, from its first settlement to the present time, is confessedly a desideratum. If well executed, it cannot fail to be deeply interesting and instructive to the present inhabitants of the island, and their numerous kindred, scattered as they are, in almost every part of this wide-spread land. The tide of emigration, from this strand in the sea, has been much greater than is generally imagined. You can scarcely go into any quarter of the country, without finding those who were natives of this island, or who proudly claim descent from those that were. With all such, it has long been a maxim, that "even a Long Island dog is a welcome guest." The clannish feeling probably exists in greater strength in no part of our country, than among the natives and descendants of Suffolk County. The writer has been literally embraced by a perfect stranger in the forest, and bid welcome to his cabin, merely because, as he said, “I am from Long Island, and I understand you are. And this same man, who had learned by a long residence in the wilderness, to despise the God of his fathers, and neglect the gospel of his Son, was willing to travel miles on foot, again and again, to hear the message of salvation from the lips of a native of his native isle; and even professed to yield his heart to the obedience of faith. Whether sincere or insincere-deceiving or deceived, the case illustrates the position assumed. Nor is it to the natives of the island or their descendants alone, that such a history will be interesting and instructive. It is a part of the country, which, till within a few years, was scarcely known to non-residents. It was so far removed-so difficult of access, and presented so few inducements to wander through its forests, and wade through its sands, that for the space of 200 years it has remained, in a great measure, terra incognita, to almost the whole world. It is true, that most people have learned from their geography and maps, that there is such an island, stretching along the broad Atlantic, defending the city of New York and the whole shore |
