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==History== For centuries, clusters of the [[Algonquin people]] known as the [[Mohegan|Montaukett]] Indian Nation occupied the territory known as [[Mohegan-Pequot language|Secatogue]], now the town of Islip. They lived in clusters located at [[West Islip, New York|West Islip]] (Secatogue), [[Bay Shore, New York|Bay Shore]] (Penataquit), Great River, and [[Oakdale, New York|Oakdale]] (Connetquot). On November 29, 1683, William Nicoll (Nicolls), founder of the Town of Islip and son of New York City Mayor [[Matthias Nicoll]], was awarded the first [[letters patent|royal patent]] to the east end of what is now the Town of Islip. Nicoll purchased land from [[Sachem]] ([[Paramount chief]]) [[Winnequaheagh]] of Connetquot. He named his {{convert|50000|acre|adj=on}} plantation (an {{convert|8|by|10|mi|adj=on}} tract of land) "Islip Grange", in honor of his ancestral home of [[Islip, Northamptonshire|Islip (UK)]] in [[East Northamptonshire]], England, from which Matthias emigrated in 1664. Nicoll's domain extended from East Islip to [[Bayport, New York|Bayport]] and embraced the present-day communities of [[Sayville, New York|Sayville]], [[West Sayville, New York|West Sayville]], [[Oakdale, New York|Oakdale]], Great River, [[Islip Terrace, New York|Islip Terrace]], [[Central Islip, New York|Central Islip]], [[Hauppauge, New York|Hauppauge]], [[Holbrook, New York|Holbrook]], [[Bohemia, New York|Bohemia]], [[Brentwood, New York|Brentwood]], [[Holtsville, New York|Holtsville]], and a portion of [[Ronkonkoma, New York|Ronkonkoma]]. Nicoll paid an annual [[quit-rent]] (tax) to [[Thomas Dongan, 2nd Earl of Limerick]] and [[Governor of the Province of New York]], of five bushels of good [[winter wheat]] or twenty-five (25) [[shilling]]s payable annually on March 25. Other early land patentees were Andrew Gibb (Islip hamlet), John Mowbray (Bay Shore, originally Awixa), Stephan Van Cortlandt ([[Sagtikos Manor]]), and Thomas Willets (West Islip). William Nicholl also purchased five islands from Winnequaheagh on November 19, 1687, including [[H. B. Hollins#Hollins Island|Hollins Island]] (a.k.a. [[Fire Island#Other small islands around Fire Island|East Fire Island]].) The purchase was confirmed on a patent by Governor Dongan on June 4, 1688. Altogether William Nicoll acquired four patents for land β the final purchase was on September 20, 1697, issued by Governor [[Benjamin Fletcher]]. Under Col. Fletcher, [[piracy]] was a leading economic development tool in New York City's competition with the ports of [[Boston]] and [[Philadelphia]]. New York City had become a safe place for [[Benjamin Fletcher#Freebooters and commerce|pirates (freebooters)]] who carried "real money" into the impoverished colony.<ref name="ranlet">Philip Ranlet, [http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/nyh/90.1-2/ranlet.html "A Safe Haven for Witches? Colonial New York's Politics and Relations with New England in the 1690s,"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130815132252/http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/nyh/90.1-2/ranlet.html |date=August 15, 2013 }} ''New York History'', Winter-Spring 2009 (September 13, 2012).</ref> Nicoll's estate eventually became the largest [[Landed property|manor]] on Long Island. By 1710, the [[Province of New York|colonial government]] passed an act to enable the precinct of Islip in the County of Suffolk to elect two assessors, a collector, a [[constable]], and a supervisor. The people finally had a voice. Growth, however, remained at a standstill until the [[American Revolutionary War]] ended when in the seventeen (17) years that followed there was more progress than in the fifty (50) years preceding. This activity was partly due to the impact of American shipping. Great River hamlet was formerly known as [[Great River (LIRR station)|Youngsport]]. In the 1840s the Youngs family lived about one and a half miles south of [[Montauk Highway]] on Great River Road. Erastus Youngs and his family began building and repairing boats on the west shore of the Connetquot River near Great South Bay. With hardly anyone else around (21 houses), the place was called Youngsport for thirty years. Youngsport had one store and a freight station on the [[South Side Railroad of Long Island]] two miles north of it. The inhabitants were principally known as [[Great South Bay|bay men]]. Alva Vanderbilt (later [[Alva Belmont]]), the Oakdale socialite [[suffragette]], bought the Youngs' home and gave it to Trinity Lutheran Parish of [[Brooklyn]], which used it as a [[summer camp]] called "Seaside Camp" for city children.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.trinitybrooklyn.org/|title=Home|website=TrinityBklyn}}</ref> Youngsport Village's name was changed to Great River in either 1870<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.eastislip.org/Pages/Great%20River/Great%20River.htm|title=East Islip Historical Society β Great River}}</ref> or 1881.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=http://arrts-arrchives.com/YOUNGSPORT.html|title=YOUNGSPORT|website=arrts-arrchives.com}}</ref> William Lawrence Breeze purchased {{convert|290|acre|adj=on}} "Timber Point Farm" from William Nicoll in 1883. The Great River freight station was enhanced to a passenger station in the summer of 1897. William Nicoll 7th (great-great-great grandson of the original William) served as School Commissioner of East Islip. He was the last owner of Islip Grange. He served as Warden of Emmanuel Church in Great River for 22 years, and ministered to the small cemetery there in which he is now buried. William 7th donated part of the land on which the present [[Islip Terrace, New York#Education|East Islip Junior High School]] now stands. [[Heckscher State Park]] ({{convert|1600|acre}}), named for the industrialist [[August Heckscher]], was part of Nicoll's original estate and the location of the Nicoll Manor house. Heckscher Park's land (Nicholls Neck) was once the location of the 19th-century estates of J. Neal Plumb (original location) and in 1886 George Campbell Taylor ({{convert|1500|acre}}). This should not be mistaken for the similarly named, fairly close but much smaller ({{convert|18.5|acre}}) national [[Historic district (United States)|historic district]] of [[Heckscher Park (Huntington, New York)|Heckscher Park]] in [[Huntington (CDP), New York|Huntington]] on the [[North Shore (Long Island)|North Shore]] of Long Island.
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