Timeline
1639 Lion Gardiner granted Isle of Wight by deputy of the Earle of Sterling
1640 English arrive in what will be called Southold and Southampton
1648 New Haven and Connecticut Colony governors obtain land from Southampton to the east side of Napeague from Indian sachems
1649 English arrive in East Hampton
1650 Fines established for selling powder, lead, or shot to Indians
1651 Thomas James hired as East Hampton minister; he is an enslaver
1651 Meeting house ordered built
1653 First meeting house completed and thatched
1653 Indians prohibited from entering town armed, watch permitted to shoot Indians coming to town at night.
1654 Earliest known reference to an enslaved person in East Hampton, a Black child who died on Gardiner's Island.
1663 Indians prohibited from entering town for fear of small pox
1657 First named reference to an enslaved person in East Hampton, a woman named Boose
1659 Peter, a free Black man, is offered a land-swap in Southampton
1664 English take New Netherlands from the Dutch
1664 East Hampton denied request to remain part of the Connecticut Colony
1665 Mary Gardiner leaves Japhet, Boose, and "increase" to her son David Gardiner
1666 East Hampton comes under authority of the Duke of York in a patent from Governor Nicholl
1672 England declares war against the Netherlands
1674 Dutch retake New York from English
1674 East Hampton asks to be Joined with Connecticut but is denied
1676 John, a free black, is allowed land for a house and garden. It must revert to town ownership upon his departure or death
1686 Dongan Patent
1695 Line between Southampton and East Hampton formalized
1696 Thomas James, minister, died
1696 Rev. Nathaniel Huntting came to East Hampton; he is an enslaver
1698 Southampton records indicate 84 enslaved residents of African hertiage
1717 Second church raised
1718 Second church occupied (vestibule middle portion for "colored people")
1730 English establish Sag Harbor
1746 Samuel Buell installed as third East Hampton minister; he is an enslaver
1753 Rev. Nathaniel Huntting died
1776 Battle of Long Island. East Hampton under British occupation
1770 Wharf to be built at Sag Harbor
1784 Clinton Academy built
1785 First whaling vessel sent to southern latitudes
1799 Lyman Beecher installed as minister
1811 Ebenezer Phillips installed as minister
1817 Argonaut sails from Sag Harbor
1819 Argonaut returns with 1,700 bbls of sperm oil
1830 Ebenezer Phillips died
1839 Amistad off Montauk