Opening from On This Site - Native Long Island

Smithtown: Contested Land and Native Rights

Nissequogue people challenged Richard Smith’s claim to their land. Agreements recorded payments and retained rights; colonial patents then strengthened an inheritable estate and required English settlement. Land loss was a process involving agreements, contested claims, colonial institutions and restrictions on Native access. Read the actors, obligations and continuing communities together; a broad outline does not mean every Native right ended on one date. A Native homeland, not an empty estate The Nissequogue River and the land around it were a Native homeland before they became Smithtown. The surviving documents do not tell a simple story of Richard Smith acquiring an uncontested estate. They record Native objections, overlapping claims among colonists, negotiated payments, and rights that Native people expressly retained. Records of the Town of Smithtown, Long Island, N.Y. A Native...