As Historian for the Town of North Hempstead, I read with interest Michael Miller's recent Viewpoint columns entitled The Hempstead Myth. He did a good job of describing the divided loyalties of the residents of the Town of Hempstead just prior to the Revolutionary War. In 1775, most people in the Town really didn't want to go to war, though a growing number were discontented with increasingly burdensome tax measures and restrictions laid upon them by the British. However, Miller's statement that, "The story that North Hempsteaders declared their independence even before the congress in Philadelphia falls apart with even a cursory examination" is the one that falls apart.

Divided Loyalties

Though Miller is correct that the population was divided about equally among Loyalists (Tories), Patriots (Whigs), neutrals and those who hoped the troublesome issues would just go away, some of the leading citizens of the northern part of the Town, men from Great Neck and Cow Neck (the Port Washington Peninsula) were sufficiently committed to the cause of freedom from British rule and sufficiently dissatisfied with the strong loyalist stance of their Town government that nearly 10 months before a celebrated Declaration of Independence was issued on July 4, 1776, they issued a strongly worded statement to that effect.

The stalwart group of prominent men-those who signed the declaration of September 23, 1775, staunch Patriots with strong influence in their home communities. By the end of the war in 1783, there surely were many more Whigs. (The occupation of Long Island by the British following the defeat of George Washington's Army at the Battle of Long Island may well have caused many neutrals to join the cause, particularly those in whose homes troops were billeted and the farmers whose crops the British requisitioned.)

Independence at Issue

The 1775 statement was not a declaration of independence from the British Crown, but a statement of withdrawal from the jurisdiction of Hempstead Town and is so recognized by many Long Island Historians of the 19th and 20th centuries. The document, said in part,

"1. Resolve, That during the present controversy, or so long as their general conduct is inimical to freedom, we be no further considered as part of the township of Hempstead than is consistent with peace, liberty and safety; therefore in all matters relative to the Congressional plan, we shall consider ourselves as an entire, separate and independent beat or district."

The statement was signed "John Farmer, Clerk of the Meeting. In Committee for the District of Cow Neck, Great Neck, etc., in Queens County," Present were Daniel Kissam, Henry Stocker, W. Cornwell, John Burtis, Daniel Whitehead Kissam, Adrian Onderdonck, William Thorne, John Cornwell, Simon Sands, Benjamin Sands, John Mitchell, Martin Schenck, Peter Onderdonck and Thomas Dodge, all avowed Patriots and residents of Cow Neck and Great Neck.

The declaration in its entirety appears on page 38 of Revolutionary Incidents of Queens County by Henry Onderdonk, Jr., published in 1846. It can also be found on page 433 of Long Island, Two Great Counties: Nassau and Suffolk, edited by Paul Bailey, 1949. Berenice Schultz, author of Colonial Hempstead, printed in 1927, said the provincial congress "considered this move so important that it was entered into the journal of the day, and a commendatory resolution was passed. Thus, to some extent, at least, ended the unity of the ancient town."

Thomas Field, distinguished author of the exhaustive Battle of Long Island published in 1869 endorsed the Patriot's statement on page 29 of his carefully annotated tome by saying, "At Great Neck, and Cow Neck, the New England influence was so strong that a large number solemnly declared their section of the township independent of the town government of Hempstead, on account of its adhesion to the crown......Thus, on September 23rd, 1775, the first declaration of independence in these colonies took place, at Cow Neck, in Queens County, by the secession of that district from the royal government of the town of Hempstead."

I agree with Miller that the principal reason for the division of the Hempstead Town in 1784 was the practical one; the increasingly populous Town was just too large to be efficiently run from one central location, considering the transportation and communication limits of the day. But the lingering sentiments of an earlier day must certainly have played a part and, of course, the desire for Home Rule is well established in the Long Island psyche to this day.

Joan Gay Kent

Historian, Town of North Hempstead