History History

Did You Ever Wonder Just How Smithtown Came To Be?

Many have heard the legend of “The Bull Rider.”

To me, history is like a giant jigsaw puzzle, and the more pieces you fit together, the more accurate the picture becomes.

I like to think of “legends” as guesses people make of the picture on the jigsaw puzzle, when not all the pieces are properly placed… or in many cases, not enough pieces are present.

The legend of “The Bull Rider” has a few versions but the most common theme is that Richard Smythe (Smith) makes a deal with the tribal land holders to be given all the land that he can ride around in a single day (sunrise to sunset).

This is a fairly unreasonable concept as “bulls” – or oxen, as the English colonists would have called them – are powerful but extremely slow. An ox drawn cart is lucky to travel an average of one mile per hour. Even if Richard did his ride on the longest “day” of the year, that only gives him 16 hours of daylight and not nearly enough time to ride the perimeter of the town dimensions— which also would have to be done without the aid of roads for the majority of the trip.

So, what would be a more reasonable story and one that we have facts to back up?

The early inhabitants were tribal folks who migrated south from Canada. There were many sub-tribes of the tribal nation that came to settle on what is now Long Island.

These sub-tribes were governed by chiefs and, for illustrative purposes, reported up to a Sachem. A “Sachem” was a kind of chief of chiefs and had the power to convey the tribal land to others.

We know that the land that is now Smithtown did not have many inhabitants for hundreds of years and, in fact, some literature claims had none until the 1200’s or 1300’s. The 1790 census shows just over 1,000 total residents, so, at the time of the founding, there were likely less than a couple hundred tribal folk spread over the approximate 54 square miles of land. 

European settlers did not start coming to the eastern part of the island until about the 1630’s. At that time, the English were the ones to settle much of the northeast, calling it “New England.” What is now Nassau and Suffolk County was considered “New England” and part of “The Connecticut Colony.”

What is now the five boroughs was claimed by the Dutch West India Company and called “New Netherland” (sometimes called New Holland). Southern Manhattan was called “New Amsterdam.” Settlement here began in about 1625.

Let’s just say that the Dutch and the English did not see eye to eye.

In these early days, an English military engineer was sent to the new world to build fortifications along the Connecticut River for the Connecticut Colony. This engineer was named Lion Gardiner.

At the time Lion Gardiner made his way to Long Island in the middle 1630’s, the Sachem for the Montaukett tribe was Poggaticut and his younger brother was Wyandanch.

How the Village of the Branch was Founded 

The Village of The Branch is part of the Township of Smithtown, one of 11 towns in Nassau and Suffolk County, Long Island. 

There is a legend that Richard Smythe, one of the first settlers in the mid’1600’s, bought the Smithtown area from the Nesquake Indians who told him that he could own as much land that he could cover riding a bull in one day.  He waited for the longest day of the year, rose at sunrise and covered an area that is approximately 27 square miles today.  However, there is evidence that Smithtown was acquired by Lion Gardiner, an Englishman, who was a good friend of Chief Wyandanch, a Montauk Indian.  Heather Flower, Wyandanch’s daughter, was kidnapped on her wedding day.  Gardiner earned the Nesquake land as part of negotiations with Chief Wyandanch in the release of Heather Flower.  Gardiner then handed the land over to Richard Smythe. 

There were more than 700 residents in the Town of Smithtown in the 1700’s.  History tells us that they suffered severely during the American revolution spreading debt and hardship.  During the 19th century, the commercial center became known and the Village of the Branch where the first school was constructed.

The Village of the Branch was incorporated in 1927 with a population of 131 in an area of approximately one square mile comprised of large estates, open fields and cultivated areas.   Today the village has almost no vacant land and is comprised of shopping centers, office buildings, residential subdivisions and historical sites.  The populations exceeds 1,895 people.

 In the 1920’s the unpaid Mayor and two Trustees administer the needs of the village holding only four meetings a year.  Today the village has a budget of over half a million dollars, elects a Mayor, four Trustees and two Justices.  An election is held every two years on the 3rd Tuesday of March.  Monthly meetings address all village business.

The issue that sparked the movement to incorporate was the desire to establish a municipal water plant.  A group against this plan decided to leave the jurisdiction of the Township of Smithtown by incorporating.  They would thus gain control over such matters as zoning, planning, services such as water, highway maintenance, police and fire protection.

The proposition for the incorporation of the Village of The Brach, dated February 5th, 1927, was circulated.  The proposition stated that the requirements for incorporation had been met, the territory did not exceed one square mile, it was situated entirely within the Town of Smithtown, it did not include any part of any other village, there was a populations of at least 50 but not more than 200 people.

The petition was followed by a consent to the proposed incorporations signed by owners of at least one-half of the real property value.  On this document were such Smithtownites as Miller, Goetchius, Blydenburgh, Huntting, Walker, Lawrence, Hewlett, Nicodemus, Arthur, Arnold, Turrell, White, and, of course, Smith.

A public hearing on the subject was held on March 29, 1927, all of the 16 ballots were cast:  11 yes votes and 5 no votes.

Opposition to the incorporation took many forms.  Some felt that it was only a threat to prevent the municipal water plant from being pursued while others felt it was the secret ambition of the gentry who wished the incorporation to ally themselves with the already incorporated Village of Nissequogue.  Others felt that incorporating villages would mark the end of the town.  In 1927 proceedings were started to form incorporations of the Village of The Landing, which fell on hard times and was dissolved a few years later.

After a court challenge to the incorporation process, the Village of The Branch became an incorporated village.    Until this day, the village continues to work with the Town of Smithtown officials for the benefit of the residents.

As there were less than 6,000 people of either culture on the entirety of Long Island at the time, it was inevitable that Poggaticut, Wyandanch, and Gardiner would meet in about 1637.

Gardiner negotiated to “buy” what is now Gardiner’s Island from the Montaukett and Poggaticut in 1639. He called it “The Isle Of Wight.”

Gardiner’s stronger bond was made with Wyandanch.

Eventually, Wyandanch rose to power, replacing his brother, by being a deal maker and trading with the European colonists to the benefit of both cultures.

Lion Gardiner had a similar mindset and used this skill to maintain peace while he constructed the fortifications along the Connecticut River. 

Wyandanch looked to Gardiner to help protect the Montaukett from the Pequot and other Connecticut tribes as it seems that the tribes in the area got along worse with each other than the Dutch and the English did in their European culture clash.

Meanwhile, another Englishman (Richard Smythe) landed in Southampton sometime around or shortly before 1643. This is the same general area that Lion Gardiner had settled. Gardiner is credited as being one of the founders of East Hampton.

As the story goes, Richard and Gardiner became friendly.

This was not the case with Richard and the folks of Southampton and, by 1656 he had worn out his welcome after 13 years living in the area. Those in power banished Richard, putting him in search of a new home.

Just prior to Richard becoming homeless, our friend Wyandanch was having problems with the Niantic tribe on the north side of the Long Island Sound.

Their chief Ninigret was in a power struggle and sent a party across the sound to attack the Montaukett.

The massacre took the lives of 30 Montaukett and twelve more were kidnapped. The captured were brought back to Connecticut and held for ransom. One of the captured was Wyandanch’s own daughter.

Ninigret wanted Wyandanch to swear allegiance to him in exchange for his daughter’s return.

Wyandanch reached out to Lion Gardiner for help.

Negotiations were complicated. Paying of the ransom was not clean and double-crosses were part of the whole mess. Wyandanch’s daughter was, however, returned.

For his part in the safe return of the daughter and his support of Wyandanch, Gardiner was “conveyed” more land. The land the Sachem conveyed was the land that is now Smithtown. The date Lion Gardener officially took ownership was on July 14th, 1659. Much of this land had belonged to the sub-tribe the Nesaquake, or Nissequogue.

The homeless Richard Smythe, living with friends in Setauket for nine years, then legitimately purchased the land from Gardiner in 1663. It is logical that Smyth was able to scout the land near the Nissequogue while in Setauket. Securing the purchase a little at a time, Smythe did not file the deed/patent until after Gardiner’s death later that same year (1663) and the transfer was done via Gardiner’s son David.

Gardiner died the year prior to the English defeat of the Dutch in 1664, thus turning New Netherland into New York. Richard Smythe filed the deed, or patent, for Smithtown with the New York Royal Governor Sir Richard Nicolls. The patent was officially recognized on March 3rd, 1665.

The above was an extremely condensed version of the real history, and there were twists and turns along the way not captured here.

For more on Richard Smythe, see the article written by retired Smithtown Historian Brad Harris HERE.

So, how did Richard become known as “The Bull Rider,” lending ammunition to the legend? There are multiple versions of that, and we will likely explore at least one in the future.