The Sylvesters of Shelter Island

 The Sylvesters of Shelter Island came from England and the Netherlands. The map below shows on the far right of Long Island, a tiny name, Shelter Island.

On Ancestry 11) Capt. Nathaniel Gascoigne Sylvester is listed as being born either in 1610 in London City, Middlesex, England or between 1615-25 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands,
and dying on 13 Jun 1680 in Sylvester Manor, Shelter Island, Suffolk County, New York.

I'm glad to find new information about his life by looking a bit more closely at the Wikipedia information. (I'll just quote it all below)

Impossibly small picture, no idea what the script at the bottom says, I don't know where it came from, sorry!

The Sylvesters were my 7 greats grandparents.

His wife was 11) Grizzell Brinley Sylvester (born 16 Jan 1635 in Datchet, Buckinghamshire, England and died 13 Jun 1687 at Sylvester Island, Suffolk, New York) 

signature of Grissell Brinley Sylvester

 

St Mary the Virgin, Datchet

Datchet Mead and Datchet Ferry in 1686 with Windsor Castle in the background

Where Grizzell Brinley Sylvester was born: 

Datchet (Buckinghamshire, England) was a village on the River Thames, England. which developed because of its close proximity to Windsor and the ferry service which connected it to the main London road across the River Thames.

Dachet Village center

When Grizzell was 17, she married Captain Sylvester, in 1652 on Shelter Island, NY. She had come to the American colonies with her sister, Ann Brinley, who married William Coddington (who became governor of Rhode Island.) Grizzell's sister, Mary Brinley, married Nathaniel Sylvester's younger brother Peter Sylvester. 

In Nathaniel Sylvester's last will and testament he mentions that he owns half of the island originally known as "Nanhansack Ahuquashunamock" now Shelter Island, and all the negroes and livestock on it. He also was half owner of Roberts Island. He left everything to his beloved wife (and here the scribe didn't use any "," comas to separate the names) Grizzell Sylvester Francis Brinley James Floyd Isaak Arnold Lewis Morris and Daniel Gould to have and to hold...[the islands, houses, stock and all...] It was dated 1679, so it's supposed that he died sometime shortly afterward.

He mentions a brother, Joshua, who was very young (maybe 4 years old) to receive his brother Constant's aid through Constant's will, as well as anything else needed by Joshua until he was able to support himself.  His will stipulates that all his sons should equally share the islands and the estate, unless they decide otherwise. His daughters are all to receive one hundred pounds. His will has many details about his slaves, as well as his livestock. 

In his will he mentions how the Dutchmen of New York did invade their island and take much of the things they owned. He also says his brother Constant Sylvester and Thomas Middleton may be part owners of the Mill and Millhouse. He sets aside the house, gardens and orchard for his wife.  But he tries to make his sons and their heirs the only ones who may ever own the island, so when one dies, the rest will divide his portion. Since I know at some point Shelter Island finally was sold away from the family, the last survivor of Nathaniel must have finally died.

I admit that is where I stopped reading the will, written in cursive by a scribe of the court probably...and with many difficult spellings...after I waded through 5 pages of it.  Nathaniel finishes saying he's signing it, and it is dated 19 March 1679 and 80, (that's the way the year is designated.) But the signature is missing because all of this is apparently a transcription from the original, made in the town of Jamaica, New York, 30 Dec 1880.

With all his mention of his negroes, I must say something about the enslaved people on this "manor" or "plantation." There were many who were born and died there. Nathaniel made his fortune from sugar plantations of Barbados. That meant he was part of the Sugar/slave/rum triad of trade probably.  

The Sylvesters also were known as sheltering persecuted Quakers from the Puritan colonies around them. They had 12 children, all of whom saw their 30th birthdays, and at least one who lived to 101 years.

There's a monument on the property, a table, with names inscribed below it of those who are buried in the cemetery, as well as the lineage from Thomas Brinley (Grizzell's father)

Photo of the original Sylvester Manor as it is in modern times.  It was inhabited (and rennovated) by family members for 12 generations, from 1652.

Sylvester Manor as rebuilt in 1737, as it looks today (2016?)  

Ann Sylvester was a daughter of Nathaniel and Grizzell, and Ann married Jonathan Bower of Somerset, MA, and a long long way down the line comes myself.

There's an Ancestry Publication (originally published elsewhere and Ancestry offers it on line to view) about the Sylvesters and Shelter Island.  It covers much of the history, up to it's publication date of 1932.

I looked up Sylvester Manor on Shelter Island, and Google Maps has a few images (copyrighted probably) of the manor house and calls it an educational farm now.

Sharing with Generations Cafe' group on Facebook for 52 Ancestors, 52 weeks

Week 43 (Oct. 22-28): Dig a Little Deeper

The Sylvesters of Shelter Island

The Sylvesters of Shelter Island (repost and edited from March 15, 2015)

 I may have many ancestors of whom I had been totally oblivious.  And these were some of them, and I've become more interested in them since I now have a friend who used to live on Long Island (very near where Shelter Island is located.)

They are part of my family tree of my gandmother, Ada Swasey Rogers.

Shelter island is at far right (East) end of Long Island

First, what is Shelter Island?  Where? Long Island, New York State. There was also a movie by this name, which I know nothing about.    If you wish to read all about the Sylvesters settling of Shelter Island, I'll copy from Wikipedia at the end of this post.*

Shelter Island at eastern end of Long Island

On Ancestry 11) Capt. Nathaniel Gascoigne Sylvester is listed as being born either in 1610 in London City, Middlesex, England or between 1615-25 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands,
and dying on 13 Jun 1680 in Sylvester Manor, Shelter Island, Suffolk County, New York. I just discovered one of his brothers, Peter Sylvester, is listed as being born in Holland, as well as Nathaniel, and there are parents given which means I need to chase these new (to me) ancestors also. 

In the Wikipedia quotation below, his birth was given as Rotterdam, where he later did business in shipping.  There are so few records, and yet he did have a family because his brothers were in business with him at times (and yes, I've seen these records).

Impossibly small picture, no idea what the script at the bottom says...it may have been a fictionalized portrait from an Ancestry member, I don't know where it came from, sorry!

His wife was 11) Grissell Brinley Sylvester (born 16 Jan 1635 in Datchet, Buckinghamshire, England and died 13 Jun 1687 at Sylvester Island, Suffolk, New York) 

signature of Grissell Brinley Sylvester

 

St Mary the Virgin, Datchet

Datchet Mead and Datchet Ferry in 1686 with Windsor Castle in the background

Where Grissell Brinley Sylvester was born: 

Datchet (Buckinghamshire, England) was a village on the River Thames, England. which developed because of its close proximity to Windsor and the ferry service which connected it to the main London road across the River Thames.

Dachet Village center

When Grissell was 17, she married Captain Sylvester, in 1652 on Shelter Island, NY.

The Island

 Quote from Wikipedia on Shelter Island

In 1651 the island [was sold] to a group of Barbados sugar merchants for 1,600 pounds of sugar. Nathaniel Sylvester (1610–1680), one of the merchants, was the island’s first white settler. He was among a number of English merchants who had lived and worked in Rotterdam (where he was born) before going to Barbados. His connections there and with the Netherlands helped him establish a far-flung trading enterprise. On March 23, 1652, he made the purchase official by agreement with Youghco (called Pogatticut), the sachem of the Manhanset tribe. The other owners, Sylvester’s brother Constant, and Thomas Middleton, never came to Long Island. In 1673 Nathaniel Sylvester claimed ownership of Shelter Island, Fishers Island, and other parts of Long Island.^[3] By that time the Manhansett had declined in number and power.^[4]

In 1652 Sylvester constructed a house on the island for his 17-year-old bride, Grissell Brinley from London. Her mother was Anna (Wase) Brinley and her father Thomas Brinley had been an auditor in the court of King Charles I. With the Revolution he had lost his position; Grissell had gone to the colony with her older sister Anne, who had married William Coddington, the governor of the Rhode Island colony.^[4] Archeological research in the 21st century has revealed there may have been two early house complexes. The Sylvesters had eleven surviving children. The more elaborate manor house, which survives today, was built in 1733 by a Sylvester grandson [see  photos above.]

The Sylvester estate was developed as a large provisioning plantation. It raised food crops, as well as livestock for slaughter, sending casks of preserved meats and other supplies to Barbados. Labor was provided by a multicultural force of American Indians, enslaved Africans and English indentured servants.  His descendants continued to use slaves on the plantation into the 19th century. An estimated 200 blacks are buried at the Negro Burying Ground on the North Peninsula.^[4]

The Sylvesters gave shelter to many persecuted Quakers. Sylvester Manor stands today, just off New York State Route 114, and is controlled by Sylvester descendants. All but about 24 acres of the original thousands of acres have gone into other hands.^[4]

Following the death in 1680 of Nathaniel Sylvester, Shelter Island was divided between his two sons, Giles and Nathaniel II. In 1695, William Nicoll, a resident of Islip, bought from Giles the area now called Mashomack Nature Preserve. Three years later, in 1698, another newcomer, George Havens, bought 1,000 acres (4.0 km²) from Nathaniel II. This parcel comprises what today is the Center; it stretched south to South Ferry and west to West Neck Creek. Over time these estates and parcels were split and divided by marriage and purchase, so that by the early 18th century, 20 families lived on Shelter Island. By order of the Provincial Government, the Town of Shelter Island was established in 1730.

Note: Most of the photos are from public domain Ancestry collections, or Wikipedia.

Photo of the Sylvester Manor as it is today. It was inhabited by family members for 12 generations, from 1652.

Sylvester Manor as rebuilt in 1737, as it looks today (2016?)  These windows have the ability to go up from the bottom or down from the top.

Ann Sylvester was daughter of Nathaniel and Grissell, and Ann married Jonathan Bower, and their home looks like this (below)...also still standing. Their home was the first built in Somerset, MA in 1723, not on Shelter Island.

These are incredible windows!

Obviously the window with the air conditioner is newer, but I notice the one with diamond panes below it swings out to the side, of the older part of the home.