Opening from On This Site - Native Long Island

Hempstead Plains Deed Landscape, 1643

Merrick, Merriack, and Meroke records are connected to the 1643 Hempstead purchase, described as part of the great plain toward the south side. The transaction involved English purchasers Robert Fordham and John Carman and Native leaders associated with Massapequa, Merrick, and Rockaway communities. This deed landscape points to different understandings of land, use, authority, and ownership that shaped later dispossession. The 1643 Hempstead Plains record is a key entry point into Merrick land loss. It presents dispossession as a legal, ecological, and community transformation across Native homelands. Merrick, Merriack, and Meroke records are connected to the 1643 Hempstead purchase, described as part of the great plain toward the south side. The transaction involved English...