Opening from On This Site - Native Long Island

Hempstead: Colonial Claims and Native Challenges

English settlers used a Dutch colonial patent to build and govern Hempstead. Native people later challenged payment and the authority claimed over their land. Deeds, colonial institutions and Native objections tell different parts of this regional history. A patent strengthened settler government without resolving Native objections. Naming the people who challenged payment and another sachem’s authority makes clear why a colonial paper title is not the whole history of this homeland. A homeland larger than Hempstead village Hempstead in this history is not simply today's village. Colonial claims reached across the central plains, north-shore country and southern meadows. The surviving 1643 deed copy names Masepeage, Merriack and Rockaway people. Woods, grasslands, marshes and waterways were connected places of livelihood and community life. A map of later town claims must be read beside...