Place:Southampton (town), Suffolk, New York, United States

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Southampton, officially the Town of Southampton, is a town in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, United States, partly on the South Fork of Long Island. As of the 2020 United States Census, the town had a population of 69,036. Southampton is included in the stretch of shoreline prominently known as The Hamptons.

Stony Brook University's Southampton campus is located in the Town of Southampton.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

The town was founded in 1640, when settlers from Lynn, Massachusetts established residence on lands obtained from local Shinnecock Indian Nation. The first settlers included eight men, one woman, and a boy who came ashore at Conscience Point. These men were Thomas Halsey, Edward Howell, Edmond Farrington, Allen Bread, Edmund Needham, Abraham Pierson the Elder, Thomas Sayre, Josiah Stanborough, George Welbe, Henry Walton and Job Sayre.^[1] By July 7, 1640, they had determined the town boundaries. During the next few years (1640–43), Southampton gained another 43 families and now there are thousands of people in southampton.

From 1644, the colonists established an organised whale fishery, significant in the history of whaling as the first in New England. They chased pilot whales ("blackfish") onto the shelving beaches for slaughter, a sort of dolphin drive hunting. They also processed drift whales they found on shore. They observed the Native Americans' hunting techniques, improved on their weapons and boats, and then went out to ocean hunting.

The first meeting house was on a hill that is the site of the current Southampton Hospital. The town's oldest existent house is the Halsey House at 249 Main Street, which was built by Thomas Halsey, one of the first Englishmen to trade with the Shinnecocks.

Southampton has 47 public and private cemeteries, not including Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, which is claimed as an Indian burial ground that is no longer in active use. Southampton is named after the port city of Southampton in Hampshire, England.

The Town of Southampton operates an official historical web site. The site shows the locations of over 100 points of interest, historic markers, and historic districts as well as over 1500 photos.

Native American land claim

In 2005, the Shinnecock Indian Nation filed a lawsuit against the state seeking the return of 3,500 acres (14 km²) in Southampton near the tribe's reservation, and billions of dollars in reparations for damages suffered by colonial land grabs. The disputed property includes the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, which Shinnecock say is the location of tribe burial grounds. The tribe challenged the state legislatures' approval of an 1859 sale of the 3,500 acres of tribal land. The tribe alleged this broke the terms of a 1,000-year-lease signed by Southampton colonial officials and the tribe in 1703. The suit charged that in 1859, a group of powerful New York investors conspired to break the lease by sending the state Legislature a fraudulent petition from a number of Shinnecock tribal members. Although other tribal members immediately protested that the petition was a forgery, the legislature approved the sale of 3,500 acres (14 km²) of tribal land. In 2006, the court ruled against the tribe finding the lawsuit was barred by laches.

Research Tips

External Links

• Outstanding guide to Southampton family history and genealogy resources (FamilySearch Research Wiki). Birth, marriage, and death records, town histories, cemeteries, churches, newspapers, libraries, and genealogical societies.