THE TOWN AND VILLAGE OF FLUSHING.  The first half of the seventeenth century was crowded with incidents and events of the gravest importance to the history at large; and in no quarter of the globe was this more noticeable the case than on the Western hemisphere.  The previous century had given an impetus to the spirit of adventure, and to commercial enterprises, that even the disasters attending the Spanish colonies or the almost ceaseless warfare in Europe had failed to check; and there had sprung up in the hearts of thousands, proscribed and exiled for their religious views, the hope that on the shores of America was to be found a haven of spiritual peace and freedom from persecution.  That this feeling was prudently fostered by one or two of the European powers is well known to the readers of history, and in this wise and liberal course the States-General of Holland were so far the leaders as justly to entitle that country to the grateful memories of those who to-day enjoy the sunlight of free thought in this land of the free; and it may be well to remark here that, although we shall have occasion to censure the arbitrary acts of local officials, there is no evidence that such acts were other than the unauthorized officiousness of a governor, and there is much to prove that his course was not dictated by orders from the home government, but, rather, was severely censured.

The writer is inclined to differ from many American historians as to the influence of certain events on the national character, and to believe that to the Dutch settlements under the Prince of Orange is due an equal if not a greater effect on the character of our institutions than can be traced to an contemporaneous colony.  Antedating the Massachusetts settlements nearly a quarter of century, the Dutch possessions had become influential when that of Plymouth Rock was still struggling against the disadvantage of a sterile forest-covered soil and fighting hostile tribes of Indian; and by eighteen-years elapsed after the landing of the "Mayflower" before the growth of New Amsterdam had extended to the locality whose history this article narrates, and the first settler of Vlissingen staked out a home at the head of the bay.  That these first settlers were Englishmen does not invalidate our claims as regards the Dutch, as they were English refugees, who came from their temporary residence in Holland, to which they had been driven because of their creed, belonging as they did to the community of Friends or Quakers.  There is little doubt, however, that the love of their native land proved too strong for their allegiance to the Dutch government, and was a prominent factor in the final transfer of Long Island to the British; one of the instances, not infrequent, where English intolerance and injustice became the cause of her profit, and one which confirms the belief that the author of the famous adage "Honesty is the best policy" was not a Briton, or, if he was, that he did not draw the inspiration for his proverb from a perusal of British history.

SETTLEMENT AND ACQUISITION OF LAND.  The best attainable data place the first settlement on Flushing Bay at about 1643, and in the next seven years the number of settlers had increased by additions of Friends from Holland, and several who were accredited as coming from the Massachusetts colony, and who were driven here by the practical operator of the strange interpretation placed on their boasted motto "Freedom to worship God," by the proprietors of that colony.

The oldest official document throwing light on the first settlement of this place -- Vlissingen, as it was then called, after a village in Holland in which the English refugees had lived, and of which name Flushing is a corruption -- is dated in 1645, and is a charter for a town, granted by Governor Kieft and found embodied in a confirmation granted by the State of New York in 1782.  The original manuscript, including a renewal granted by English authority in 1685, was lost in the destruction of the town's records by fire in 1789; and on the 24th of February 1792 an exemplification of Flushing patent was issued by Attorney-General James Graham, which is now on file in the town hall.  The English renewal of Governor Kieft's charter was by Governor Dongan, in the name of James II., the reigning king of England.  The tract in question was granted, according to the governor's announcement, in 1666 to John Lawrence, alderman of the city of New York, Richard Cornell, Charles Bridges, William Lawrence, Robert Terry, William Noble, John Forbush, Elias Doughty, Robert Field, Edward Farrington, John Marston, Anthony Field, Philip Udall, Thomas Stiles, Benjamin Field, William Pidgeon, John Adams, John Hinchman, Nicholas Parcell, Tobias Feakes and John Bowne as patentees, for and in behalf of themselves and their associates, the freeholders and inhabitants of the town of Flushing, their heirs, successors and inhabitants, forever, and was described as follows:
"All that Certaine Town in the North Riding of Yorkshire upon Long Island called by the name of Flushing, Scituate, lying and being in the north side of said island; which said hath a Certaine tract of land belonging thereto, and bounded westward beginning at the mouth of a creeke upon the East River known by the name of Flushing Creeke, and from thence including a certain neck of land called Tuesneck, to run Eastward from the head or middle whereof a Line is to be run South East; in length about three miles and about two miles in breadth as the Land hath been surveyed and laid out by virtue of an order made at the General Meeting held at the town of Hempstead in the month of March one thousand six hundred and sixty four; then that there may be the same lattitude in Breadth on the South Side as on the North, to run in two direct Lines Southward to the middle of the hills, as is directed by another order made of the General Meeting Aforesaid; which, passing East and West as the two are now marked, is the Bounds between the said Towns of Flushing and Jamaica; for the greatest parte of which said tract of Land and premissess there was heretofore a Pattent granted from the Dutch Governor William Kieft, bearing date the tenth day of October one thousand six hundred and forty five, Stilo Novo, unto Thomas Farrington, John Lawrence, John Hicks and divers other Patentees, their Successors, Associates and assignes, for them to improve, manure, and settle a competent number of familyes there upon."

The document then recites that on the 14th of April 1684, Elias Doughty, Thomas Willett, John Bowne, Matthias Harvey, Thomas Hicks, Richard Cornell, John Hinchman, Jonathan Wright, and Samuel Hoyt, agents of the freeholders of the town of Flushing, to perfect their title, bought from certain Indians who claimed their territory, "all the lands, situate, lying and being on North Side of Long Island, called and knowne by the name of Flushing, within Queens County, the first bounds whereof begin to the West with Flushing Creeke, to the South by Jamaica Line, to the East by Hempstead Line, and to the North with the Sound, for and in consideration of a valuable sume then received."

It is further stated that the inhabitants of Flushing and Jamaica agreed upon their boundaries as follows:  "That from the foot or bottome of the hills upon the South side of Town of Jamaica shall have Seven Score Rood upon a direct and straight point unto the hills in all places from the Eastermost Bounds of Jamaica, being at a marked Walnut tree upon Rockie hill, standing upon the West Side of the Road between Flushing and Hempstead, to the Westermost Bounds of Jamaica and Flushing in the hill;" also that "by another Certaine Writing or agreement, dated the last day of June one thousand six hundred eighty four, made by Elias Doughty, John Seaman, Thomas Willett and John Jackson, the Bounds between the towne of Flushing and Hempstead are to begin at the middle of the bay, where Capt. Jacques runn the line, and to hold the same until comes to the land Called by the name of the Governor's Land, and then from the South side of the Governor's Land towards the End of the plaine to the former markt tree that stands in the Hollow, and to run from thence upon a direct line unto the Rocky hill Westerly, where Carts usually goe to Flushing;" also that the patentees and their associates "have, according to the Custom and Practice in this Province, made several divisions, allottments, distinct settlements and improvements of severall pieces and parcells of the above recited tract," and that application had been made to the governor by Joseph Smith and Jonathan Wright for a confirmation of the patent.  In view of these facts Governor Dongan issued the following:
"Now, for a Confirmation unto the present Freeholders and Inhabitants of the said Towne, their heirs and Assigns, in the Quiett and peaceable possession and enjoyment of the aforesaid Tract of Land and premises, Know Yee  that, by virtue of the Commission and authority, I have ratified, Confirmed and Granted unto Thomas Willett, John Lawrence Seignor, Elias Doghty, Richard Cornell, Moriss Smith, Charles Morgan, Mary Fleake, Wouter Gisbertson, John Masten, John Cornelis, John Harrison, Denius Holdron, John Hinchman, William Yeates, Joseph Thorne, John Lawrence Junior, Matthias Harveye, Harmanns King, John Farrington, Thomas Williams, Elisabeth Osborn, Joseph Havyland, John Washborne, Aaron Cornelis, John Bowne, William Noble, Samuel Hoyt, Madeling Frances Barto, John Hoper, Thomas Ford, John Jenning, John Embree, Jonathan Wright, Nicholas Parcell, William Lawrence, Richard Townly, Edward Griffin Junior, John Lawrence at the Whitestone, Henry Taylor, Jasper Smith, Richard Wilday, Thomas Townsend, John Thorne, Anthony Field, John Adams, Richard Stockton, James Whittaker, Hugh Copperthwaite, Richrd Chew, James Clement, Margaret Stiles, Samuel Thorne, Thomas Hedges, William Haviland, Thomas Hicks, John Terry, David Patrick, James Feake, Thomas Kimacry, Phillip Udall, Thomas Davis, Edward Farrington, Thomas Farrington, Matthew Farrington, John Field, Joseph Hedger, John Tahnan, William Gael, William White, Elizabeth Smith, Thomas Partiridge, William Hedger and Benjamin Field, the present freeholders and inhabitants of the said Towne of Flushing, their heires and Assignes for Ever, all the  before recited tract and parcell or neck of land set forth, limited and bounded as aforesaid by the aforementioned patent, Indian deed of sale, and agreements; together with all and singular the houses, Messages, Tenements, Fencings, Buildings, Gardens, Orchards, Trees, Woods, Underwoods, Highways and Easements, whatsoever belonging or in any ways appertaining to any of the above recited tract, Parcell or neck of land, divisions, Allottments and settlements made and appropriated before the day and date hereof. * * * And as for and connecting all and every such parcell or parcells, tract or tracts of land and Meadow Remainder of the Granted premissess not yet taken up or appropriated to any particular person or persons before the day the date hereof, to the use and behoof of the purchasers above recited and to their heires and assigns for Ever, to be Equally divided in proportion to the above recited Inhabitants and Freeholders aforesaid and to their respective heires and assignes for Ever, without any let, hindrance or molestacion, to be had or reserved upon pretence of joint tenancy or survivorship, or anything herein Contained to the Contrary in anywise notwithstanding:  To be holden to his Most Sacred Majesty, his heires and successors, in free and Common Socage, according to the tenure of East Greenwich in the Kingdom of England, Yielding therefore and paying Yearely and Every Yeare an acknowledgement or Quit-rent to his Majesty, his heires and successors as aforesaid, or to such officer or officers as shall by him or them be appointed to receive the same, at New Yorke, in lieu of all services and demands whatsoever, Sixteen bushels of good Marchantable winter wheate on Every five and twentieth day of March."

Attached to this is the official indorsement of George Clinton, governor of the State of New York, bearing the date of February 24th 1792 and the great seal of the State; well named, as it is nearly half an inch in thickness and three and one half inches in diameter, made of wax and covered with paper.

Subsequent events seemed to prove that the charter granted by Governor Kieft was one which, while it fully guaranteed the freedom of its recipients from any more burdensome exactions than the patent confirmed by the British governor, was a source of annoyance to Kieft's successor in office, as the sturdy independence of the patentees led them to resist any encroachments of the governor upon their vested rights and to refuse to render to the colony any resistance other than that nominated in the bond.

The Indians mentioned in the above instrument were the chiefs of the Matinecock tribe, once very numerous and whose principal settlements within the town limits were at Little Neck and Bayside, at which places they "dried" oysters and clams for winter use, and engaged in the manufacture of wampum of a very superior quality, which was the circulating medium of the locality for many years.  In fact the Matinecocks operated the first mint ever opened on the island, and, though its raw material was not intrinsically valuable, yet the coin, even though made of sea shells, was the natural progenitor of the "fiat money" idea that is now attracting attention among financiers.  So full a description of this tribe is given elsewhere in this volume that no more space need be devoted to the subject in this article, further than to say that here as elsewhere the edict "Move on" was early enforced, and that the annals of the period of which we are now writing make but slight allusion to them.  It is, however, a credit to the pioneers of Flushing that they conceded to the poor red man some title to the soil; and that though, as Mandeville relates, the price paid for the fee simple was only one axe or its equivalent for each fifty acres, yet the present owners of the soil can trace their titles untainted by the robbery by which so much of the landed wealth of America was wrested from the aborigines.  The extensive vlaies or salt meadows were probably among the inducements which led the agricultural people by whom the town was settled to locate here, as within four years after the date of the charter a writer described the town as a handsome village, tolerable stocked with cattle.

More to come:
Civil Troubles
Incidents of Trade and Agriculture; 1656-1695

Excerpts from "History of Queens County New York", 1882, New York:  W.W. Munsell & Co.